17136	----	Selected Official Documents OF THE South African Republic AND Great Britain. * * * * * A documentary perspective of the causes of the war in South Africa. * * * * * EDITED BY HUGH WILLIAMS, M.A., B.L.S., _Library of Congress_, AND FREDERICK CHARLES HICKS, Ph.B., _Library of Congress_. PREFACE. The universal interest in the affairs of the South African Republic is responsible for the idea that a selection of documents illustrative of the South African controversy will be appreciated by American readers. The documents which are here reprinted are by no means unobtainable; but, to the general reader, they have been hitherto quite inaccessible. Only the largest public libraries have the proper sources of information, and even with these books at hand the student has been forced to delve in a mass of irrelevant material for the hidden object of his desire. The present compilation has been made in the hope of meeting the immediate demands of the public. To avoid cumbersomeness, many important documents have necessarily been omitted; yet as far as possible, the editors have given a complete series of documents. The arrangement is partly chronological, and we hope altogether logical. Commencing with the London Convention of 1884, which defines the status of the South African Republic in its relations with Great Britain, we follow with the revised Constitution of 1889, and its complementary law of June 23, 1890, which granted representation in a second Volksraad to burghers of two years' standing. The latest legislation concerning the right of franchise is given in the enactment of July, 1899. This law, together with negotiations looking toward further concessions to the Uitlander population forms the subject of our third chapter. No agreement having been reached, and numerous complications having arisen, conspicuously the movements of British troops, the Ultimatum of President Kruger on October 9, precipitated a state of war. In presenting this Ultimatum President Kruger knew that the Republic would not have to fight alone, but that there would be practically a war of the South African Dutch against the English. The declaration of the Orange Free State to Great Britain will therefore be of interest, as expressing the grounds of sympathy between the South African Republic and the Orange Free State, and the latter's view of the _causa belli_. Lastly we add the constitution of the Orange Free State that the political status of the two republics may be appreciated by comparison of their constitutions. The documents have been compiled from the _Codex van de Locale Wetten der Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek. Gröningen, 1894_; _The Political Laws of the South African Republic. London and Cape Town, 1896_; and the _State Papers of Great Britain, London, 1884-99_. WASHINGTON, _February 10, 1900_. CONTENTS. PAGE CHAPTER I. 1. Convention of London, February 27, 1884 7 2. Ratification by Volksraad, August 8, 1884 14 CHAPTER II. 3. Constitution of the South African Republic, revised and published December 25, 1889 16 4. Establishment of the Second Volksraad, June 23, 1890 40 CHAPTER III. _The Franchise._ 5. The Franchise Law. July 26, 1899 47 6. Proposed modification (a) Proposal of Great Britain for a joint inquiry, August 2, 1899 53 (b) Alternative proposal of the South African Republic--The five year franchise, August 19, 1899 53 CHAPTER IV. 7. Ultimatum of South African Republic, October 9, 1899 57 8. Reply of Great Britain, October 10, 1899 61 CHAPTER V. _Dual alliance of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State._ 9. Resolution of Orange Free State Volksraad, September 27, 1899 62 10. Correspondence between Great Britain and Orange Free State, October 11, 1899 63 CHAPTER VI. 11. Constitution of Orange Free State, revised and published, 1868 65 CHAPTER I. CONVENTION OF LONDON, _February 27, 1884_. _A Convention Between Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the South African Republic._ Whereas, The Government of the Transvaal State, through its Delegates, consisting of Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, President of the said State, Stephanus Jacobus Du Toit, Superintendent of Education, and Nicholas Jacobus Smit, a member of the Volksraad, have represented that the Convention signed at Pretoria on the 3rd day of August 1881, and ratified by the Volksraad of the said State on the 25th October 1881, contains certain provisions which are inconvenient, and imposes burdens and obligations from which the said State is desirous to be relieved, and that the southwestern boundaries fixed by the said Convention should be amended, with a view to promote the peace and good order of the said State, and of the countries adjacent thereto; and whereas, Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, has been pleased to take the said representations into consideration: Now, therefore, Her Majesty has been pleased to direct, and it is hereby declared, that the following articles of a new Convention, signed on behalf of Her Majesty by Her Majesty's High Commissioner in South Africa, the Right Honorable Sir Hercules George Robert Robinson, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, Governor of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, and on behalf of the Transvaal State (which shall hereinafter be called the South African Republic) by the above named Delegates, Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, Stephanus Jacobus Du Toit, and Nicholas Jacobus Smit, shall, when ratified by the Volksraad of the South African Republic, be substituted for the articles embodied in the Convention of 3rd August 1881; which latter, pending such ratification, shall continue in full force and effect. ARTICLES. ARTICLE I, II. (Articles I and II relate entirely to the settlement of the boundary lines of the Republic.) ARTICLE III. If a British officer is appointed to reside at Pretoria or elsewhere within the South African Republic to discharge functions analogous to those of a Consular officer, he will receive the protection and assistance of the Republic. ARTICLE IV. The South African Republic will conclude no treaty or engagement with any State or nation other than the Orange Free State, nor with any native tribe to the eastward or westward of the Republic, until the same has been approved by Her Majesty the Queen. Such approval shall be considered to have been granted if Her Majesty's Government shall not, within six months after receiving a copy of such treaty (which shall be delivered to them immediately upon its completion), have notified that the conclusion of such treaty is in conflict with the interests of Great Britain or any of Her Majesty's possessions in South Africa. ARTICLE V. The South African Republic will be liable for any balance which may still remain due of the debts for which it was liable at the date of Annexation, to wit, the Cape Commercial Bank Loan, the Railway Loan, and the Orphan Chamber Debt, which debts shall be a first charge upon the revenues of the Republic. The South African Republic will moreover be liable to Her Majesty's Government for £250,000, which will be a second charge upon the revenues of the Republic. ARTICLE VI. The debt due as aforesaid by the South African Republic to Her Majesty's Government will bear interest at the rate of three and a half per cent. from the date of the ratification of this Convention, and shall be repayable by a payment for interest and Sinking Fund of six pounds and nine pence per £100 per annum, which will extinguish the debt in twenty-five years. The said payment of six pounds and nine pence per £100 shall be payable half yearly, in British currency, at the close of each half year from the date of such ratification: _Provided always_, That the South African Republic shall be at liberty at the close of any half-year to pay off the whole or any portion of the outstanding debt. Interest at the rate of three and a half per cent. on the debt as standing under the Convention of Pretoria shall as heretofore be paid to the date of the ratification of this Convention. ARTICLE VII. All persons who held property in the Transvaal on the 8th day of August 1881, and still hold the same, will continue to enjoy the rights of property which they have enjoyed since the 12th April 1877. No person who has remained loyal to Her Majesty during the late hostilities shall suffer any molestation by reason of his loyalty; or be liable to any criminal prosecution or civil action for any part taken in connection with such hostilities; and all such persons will have full liberty to reside in the country, with enjoyment of all civil rights, and protection for their persons and property. ARTICLE VIII. The South African Republic renews the declaration made in the Sand River Convention, and in the Convention of Pretoria, that no slavery or apprenticeship partaking of slavery will be tolerated by the Government of the said Republic. ARTICLE IX. There will continue to be complete freedom of religion and protection from molestation for all denominations, provided the same be not inconsistent with morality and good order; and no disability shall attach to any person in regard to rights of property by reason of the religious opinions which he holds. ARTICLE X. The British Officer appointed to reside in the South African Republic will receive every assistance from the Government of the said Republic in making due provision for the proper care and preservation of the graves of such of Her Majesty's Forces as have died in the Transvaal; and if need be, for the appropriation of land for the purpose. ARTICLE XI. All grants or titles issued at any time by the Transvaal Government in respect of land outside the boundary of the South African Republic, as defined in Article I, shall be considered invalid and of no effect, except in so far as any such grant or title relates to land that falls within the boundary of the South African Republic; and all persons holding any such grant so considered invalid and of no effect will receive from the Government of the South African Republic such compensation, either in land or in money, as the Volksraad shall determine. In all cases in which any Native Chiefs or other authorities outside the said boundaries have received any adequate consideration from the Government of the South African Republic for land excluded from the Transvaal by the first Article of this Convention, or where permanent improvements have been made on the land, the High Commissioner will recover from the native authorities fair compensation for the loss of the land thus excluded, or of the permanent improvements thereon. ARTICLE XII. The independence of the Swazis, within the boundary line of Swaziland, as indicated in the first Article of this Convention, will be fully recognized. ARTICLE XIII. Except in pursuance of any treaty or engagement made as provided in Article IV of this Convention, no other or higher duties shall be imposed on the importation into the South African Republic of any article coming from any part of Her Majesty's dominions than are or may be imposed on the like article coming from any other place or country; nor will any prohibition be maintained or imposed on the importation into the South African Republic of any article coming from any part of Her Majesty's dominions which shall not equally extend to the like article coming from any other place or country. And in like manner the same treatment shall be given to any article coming to Great Britain from the South African Republic as to the like article coming from any other place or country. These provisions do not preclude the consideration of special arrangements as to import duties and commercial relations between the South African Republic and any of Her Majesty's colonies or possessions. ARTICLE XIV. All persons, other than natives, conforming themselves to the laws of the South African Republic (_a_) will have full liberty, with their families, to enter, travel, or reside in any part of the South African Republic; (_b_) they will be entitled to hire or possess houses, manufactories, warehouses, shops and premises; (_c_) they may carry on their commerce either in person or by any agents whom they may think fit to employ; (_d_) they will not be subject, in respect of their persons or property, or in respect of their commerce or industry, to any taxes, whether general or local, other than those which are or may be imposed upon citizens of the said Republic. ARTICLE XV. All persons, other than natives, who establish their domicile in the Transvaal between the 12th day of April 1877, and the 8th August 1881, and who within twelve months after such last mentioned date have had their names registered by the British Resident, shall be exempt from all compulsory military service whatever. ARTICLE XVI. Provision shall hereafter be made by a separate instrument for the mutual extradition of criminals, and also for the surrender of deserters from Her Majesty's Forces. ARTICLE XVII. All debts contracted between the 12th April 1877 and the 8th August 1881 will be payable in the same currency in which they may have been contracted. ARTICLE XVIII. No grants of land which may have been made, and no transfers or mortgages which may have been passed between the 12th April 1877 and the 8th August 1881, will be invalidated by reason merely of their having been made or passed between such dates. All transfers to the British Secretary for Native Affairs in trust for Natives will remain in force, an officer of the South African Republic taking the place of such Secretary for Native Affairs. ARTICLE XIX. The Government of the South African Republic will engage faithfully to fulfil the assurances given, in accordance with the laws of the South African Republic, to the natives at the Pretoria Pitso by the Royal Commission in the presence of the Triumvirate and with their entire assent, (1) as to the freedom of the natives to buy or otherwise acquire land under certain conditions, (2) as to the appointment of a commission to mark out native locations, (3) as to the access of the natives to the courts of law, and (4) as to their being allowed to move freely within the country, or to leave it for any legal purpose, under a pass system. ARTICLE XX. This Convention will be ratified by a Volksraad of the South African Republic within the period of six months after its execution, and in default of such ratification this Convention shall be null and void. Signed in duplicate in London this 27th day of February 1884. [Signed] HERCULES ROBINSON, [Signed] S.J.P. KRUGER, [Signed] S.J. DU TOIT, [Signed] N.J. SMIT. RATIFICATION BY VOLKSRAAD. _August 8, 1884._ The Convention was ratified on August 8, 1884 by the Volksraad in a resolution as follows: "The Volksraad having considered the new Convention concluded between its deputation and the British Government at London on 27th February 1884, as likewise the negotiations between the contracting parties, which resulted in the said Convention, approves of the standpoint taken by its deputation that a settlement based upon the principle of the Sand River Convention can alone fully satisfy the burghers of the Republic. It also shares the objections set forth by the deputation against the Convention of Pretoria, as likewise their objections against the Convention of London on the following points:-- "1st. The settlement of the boundary, especially on the western border of the Republic, in which the deputation eventually acquiesced only under the express conditions with which the Raad agree. "2nd. The right of veto reserved to the British Crown upon treaties to be concluded by the Republic with foreign powers; and "3rd. The settlement of the debt. Seeing, however, that in the said Convention of London considerable advantages are secured to the Republic, especially in the restoration of the country's independence, "_Resolves_, With acknowledgment of the generosity of Her Britannic Majesty, to ratify, as it hereby does, the said Convention of London." CHAPTER II. CONSTITUTION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC. ARTICLE 1.--This State shall bear the name of the South African Republic. ARTICLE 2.--The form of government of this State shall be that of a republic. ARTICLE 3.--It desires to be recognized and respected by the civilized world as an independent and free people. ARTICLE 4.--The people seek for no extension of territory, and desire it only in accordance with just principles, when the interest of the Republic makes such extension desirable. ARTICLE 5.--The people desire to retain and maintain their territory in South Africa unimpaired. The boundaries thereof are fixed by proclamation. ARTICLE 6.--Its territory is open for every foreigner who obeys the laws of this Republic. All who are within the territory of this Republic have equal claims to protection of person and property. ARTICLE 7.--The land or farms situate in this territory which have not yet been given out, are declared to be the property of the State. ARTICLE 8.--The people claim the utmost social freedom, and expect the result from the maintenance of their religious belief, from the observance of their obligations, from submission to law, order and right, and the maintenance of the same. The people permit the spread of the Gospel among the heathen under fixed precautions against deceit or misleading. ARTICLE 9.--The people will not allow any equalization of the coloured inhabitants with the white. ARTICLE 10.--The people will not suffer any slave trade or slavery in this Republic. ARTICLE 11.--The people reserve to themselves the protection and defence of the independence and inviolability of the State, subject to the laws. ARTICLE 12.--The people entrust the legislation to a Volksraad--the highest authority in the land--consisting of representatives or deputies of the people, chosen by the enfranchised burghers; but with the reservation that a period of three months shall be left to the people to enable them if they so wish to communicate to the Volksraad their verdict on a proposed law; except those laws which can suffer no delay. ARTICLE 13.--The people charge the President with the task of proposing and executing the laws; he also brings before the Volksraad the appointments of all civil servants for ratification. ARTICLE 14.--The people entrust the maintenance of order to the military force, the police, and other persons appointed by the law for that purpose. ARTICLE 15.--The people place the judicial power in the hands of a Supreme Court, Circuit Court, Landrosts, Juries, and such other persons as shall be entrusted with judicial powers, and leave all these free to discharge their function according to their judgment and consciences, according to the laws of the land. ARTICLE 16.--The people shall receive annually from the Volksraad an estimate of the general income and expenses of the State, and learn therefrom how much every man's taxes shall amount to. ARTICLE 17.--Potchefstrom, situated on the Mooi River, shall be the capital of the Republic, and Pretoria the seat of Government. ARTICLE 18.--All services rendered on behalf of the public are remunerated by the public. ARTICLE 19.--Freedom of the press is granted provided the printer and publisher remain responsible for all the documents which contain defamation, insult, or attacks against any one's character. OF THE PROTECTION AND DEFENCE OF THE STATE. ARTICLE 20.--The people shall only appoint as representatives in the Volksraad those who are members of a Protestant Church. ARTICLE 21.--The people desire the growth, prosperity, and welfare of the State, and with this view provision for suitable school teachers. ARTICLE 22.--Providing also that in time of peace precautionary measures are taken to enable the State to wage or withstand a war. ARTICLE 23.--In case of a hostile attack from outside, everyone, without distinction, shall be held bound to lend his assistance on the promulgation of martial law. ARTICLE 24.--No treaty or alliance with foreign powers or peoples may be ratified until the Volksraad has expressed its feelings upon the same, the treaty requiring to be ratified and passed or else cancelled according to the judgment of the Volksraad, with exception of those treaties which the Government is empowered by law or Volksraad resolution to make. ARTICLE 25.--In case of threatening danger for the State or in time of war, the right of judging as to whether such treaty or alliance is advisable or not is left to the Commandant-General advised by the Military Council, if the commandos are in the field, and there is no time to consult the Executive Council. OF THE VOLKSRAAD, THE HIGHEST AUTHORITY, OR THE LEGISLATIVE POWER. ARTICLE 26.--The Volksraad shall be the highest authority of the country, and the legislative power. ARTICLE 27.--No civil servants are to be representatives of the people. ARTICLE 28.--The Volksraad shall consist of at least twelve members, who must possess the following qualifications:-- They must have attained the age of thirty years, and be born in the Republic, or have for fifteen consecutive years been burghers entitled to vote, be members of a Protestant Church, reside, and possess immovable property, in the Republic. No persons of notoriously bad character, or who have had a dishonouring sentence pronounced against them, and no uncertified or unrehabilitated insolvents shall be eligible. They may not be related to each other in the relationship of father and son or stepson. No coloured persons or bastards shall be admitted into our Assemblies. In like manner no military officer or official of the State, who draws a fixed annual or monthly salary, shall be eligible as member of the Volksraad. ARTICLE 29.--The members of the Volksraad are elected by a majority of votes from among the electors of each district. No one shall be considered as elected who has not obtained at least sixty votes. Every one who is born in the country and has attained the age of twenty-one years, or has become naturalized, shall be a burgher qualified to vote. The members of the Volksraad are elected for the period of four years. ARTICLE 30.--No one shall be eligible who has not received a requisition signed by at least twenty-five voters. The voters in one district are at liberty to vote for a candidate living in another district. (That is to say, they may be represented by a candidate who resides in a district other than that in which the voters reside.) ARTICLE 31.--Every enfranchised burgher is allowed, if he wishes, to bring accusations against the President or members of the Executive Council for contravention of their duties or official crimes, and send those accusations to the President of the Volksraad, under the address; "To the Hon. President of the Volksraad," who then shall act according to his judgment of the affair. ARTICLE 32.--The election of members for the Volksraad shall take place in the month of January or February, or in exceptional cases upon such times as shall be fixed. For each district two members shall be chosen, except the districts Pretoria, Potchefstrom, Rustenberg, Lydenburg and Vryheid, for which three members shall be elected. Elective districts on the Gold-fields shall each elect one member. At the expiration of the second year it shall be decided by lot which half of the members shall go out; the other half shall vacate their seats at the end of the fourth year, and so on. New members of the Volksraad shall be chosen from the districts whose members fall out. Retiring members are re-eligible. ARTICLE 33.--The Volksraad appoints, outside its members, a Secretary, to be proposed by the Executive Council. ARTICLE 34.--A Volksraad member who absents himself, and does not comply with the notice to attend, incurs a penalty of Rds. 75. ARTICLE 35.--The reasons for a Volksraad member's non-appearance are:-- (1) Indisposition and bodily infirmity, to be proved by the member chosen or summoned, by a signed declaration of the Landrost, Commandant, or Field-Cornet of his division. (2) Such unforeseen circumstances, being actually proved, as make it impossible for him to be present, or to remain there. ARTICLE 36.--All objections, excuses, and notices mentioned in Articles 34 and 35 shall be sent into the President and be decided upon by the Executive Council. Provision shall be made as soon as possible to fill in the places open in consequence. ARTICLE 37.--The members of the Volksraad shall, before taking up their official duties, be sworn by the members of the Volksraad who are present on the day of the session; their oath shall be of the nature of the following:-- "As elected member of the Volksraad of this Republic, I declare, believe, and swear solemnly, that I have neither made nor promised gifts to anyone to reach this office; that I shall be faithful in this office to the people; that I shall act in accordance with the Constitution and other laws of this country, according to the best of my knowledge and conscience, and consider only the furtherance of the happiness and welfare of the public at large." ARTICLE 38.--The members of the Volksraad present choose their Chairman after the opening of the session, and before the annual business. ARTICLE 39.--All deliberations shall be settled by a bare majority of the votes of the members voting. ARTICLE 40.--The Volksraad does not separate before all matters of business which must be treated of are finished, and the session is closed by the President of the Volksraad. A member can obtain leave of absence from the Volksraad, if he is in such case as mentioned in No. 2, Article 35. ARTICLE 41.--The members of the Volksraad doing service as such shall be free from military service, without being free from the costs which the military authorities may exact from them: they shall enjoy remuneration for the period of their stay during the cessation of their private business. ARTICLE 42.--The meetings are held with open doors, unless the Volksraad decide that the discussions upon some proposition be taken in secret. The persons present who have no seat in the Volksraad may only speak when they answer a question of the President. ARTICLE 43.--The President shall bring forward for discussion the proposals for laws which have come in before the Volksraad, whether the latter have been made known to the public three months before the commencement of the session, or whether the same have come in during the session of the Volksraad. ARTICLE 44.--When the notices of laws and Government notices to the public have not been given in time, the President shall examine with whom the blame of that delay lies. A Landrost found guilty hereof shall have a fine of Rds. 50 inflicted, and a Field-Cornet or lesser official of Rds. 25. ARTICLE 45.--A copy of every law which has been adopted shall be sent in by the Chairman to the President for execution. ARTICLE 46.--When a new President is appointed, the Volksraad shall depute four of its members and the Secretary to invite him to come and take his official oath in the meeting of the Volksraad. ARTICLE 47.--On the appointment of the members of the Executive Council and the Commandant-General, the Volksraad shall give them written notice thereof, in order to enable them to take the official oath before the Volksraad at a time to be fixed. ARTICLE 48.--The President shall annually submit a list of all officials appointed during the year for the approval or disapproval of the Volksraad. ARTICLE 49.--In the event of the Court, contemplated by Article 8 of the Amendment of the Grondwet of 1877, declaring the State President, or the Supreme Court, contemplated by Article 115 of the Grondwet, declaring the Commandant-General or other members of the Executive unfit to occupy his or their office, the Chairman of the Volksraad, upon the receipt of the decision of such Court, shall convene the members of the Volksraad, who shall be bound to attend, in order to dismiss the official or officials found guilty; and to provide for the filling up of the vacancy or vacancies so caused. ARTICLE 50.--The members of the Volksraad assemble in the Council Hall annually on the first Monday in May, or such other time as may be indicated in their summons, whenever the President judges it necessary that the Volksraad should come together; and daily from that time onwards at nine o'clock in the morning, so as to be at work not less than four to five hours a day. The assembly of the Volksraad shall be opened and closed with a suitable prayer. ARTICLE 51.--The President of the Volksraad is responsible that the meetings are held according to regulations in Article 50, on neglect of which the Volksraad can fine him in 5 to 50 Rds. ARTICLE 52.--The maintenance of order among the persons present, as mentioned in Article 42, must be entrusted to the Field-Cornet appointed to that purpose by the Landrost of the district where the session is held. ARTICLE 53.--The Landrost shall also appoint a messenger to be at the service of the Volksraad during the meeting. ARTICLE 54.--The Volksraad judges all contraventions of regulations fixed by the Volksraad, and committed in the hall of the Volksraad, and punishes the infringers without further appeal. ARTICLE 55.--Notice is given by the Secretary of all fines inflicted by the Volksraad, to the Landrost under whom the persons fined reside, and the latter sees to its execution. OF THE STATE PRESIDENT AND MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL.--THE PROPOSERS OF LAWS. ARTICLE 56.--The executive power resides in the State President, who is responsible to the Volksraad. He is chosen by a majority of the burghers entitled to vote, and for the term of five years. He is eligible for re-election. He must have attained the age of thirty years, and need not be a burgher of the State at the time of his nomination, and must be a member of a Protestant Church, and have no dishonouring sentence pronounced against him. (By a subsequent law the President must be chosen from _among_ the burghers; he _must_ be a burgher. Outsiders are excluded.) ARTICLE 57.--The President is the first or highest official of the State. All civil servants are subordinate to him; such, however, as are charged with exercise of the judicial power are left altogether free and independent in its exercise. ARTICLE 58.--As long as the President holds his position as such he shall fill no other, nor shall he discharge any ecclesiastical office, nor carry on any business. The President cannot go outside the boundaries of the State without consent of the Volksraad. However, the Executive Council shall have the power to grant him leave to go outside the boundaries of the State upon private affairs in cases of necessity. ARTICLE 59.--The Vice-President assumes authority in case the President is dismissed or incapable of acting, or is absent from seat of government. ARTICLE 60.--The President shall be discharged from his post by the Volksraad after conviction of misconduct, embezzlement of public property, treachery, or other serious crimes, and be treated further according to the laws. ARTICLE 61.--If in consequence of transgression of the Constitution or other public misdemeanors the Volksraad resolve that the President shall be brought to trial, he shall be tried before a special court composed of the members of the High Court, the President and another member of the Volksraad, while the State Attorney acts as Public Prosecutor. The accused shall be allowed to secure assistance of a lawyer at his choice. ARTICLE 62.--The President is charged with the proposing of laws to the Volksraad, whether his own proposals or others which have come in to him from the people; he must make these proposals known to the public by means of the _Staats Courant_ three months before presenting them to the Volksraad, together with all such other documents as are judged useful and necessary by him. ARTICLE 63.--All proposals for a law sent in to the President shall, before they are published, be judged by the President and Executive Council as to whether publication is necessary or not. ARTICLE 64.--The President submits the proposals for laws to the Volksraad, and charges the official to whose department they belong first and foremost, with their explanation and defence. ARTICLE 65.--As soon as the President has received the notice of the Volksraad that the proposed law is adopted, he shall have that law published within two months, and after the lapse of a month, to be reckoned from the publication, he shall take measures for the execution of the same. ARTICLE 66.--Proclamation of martial law, as intended in Article 23, shall only be made by the President with the assent of the members of the Executive Council. This proclamation must, however, take place in case of pressing danger, and the law shall then at once be put into execution; the decision with regard to the danger is left to the President and the members of the Executive Council, and is on their responsibility. The Commandant-General must be present at the consideration and decision of military affairs in the Executive Council in virtue of his office, and shall have a vote as such therein. ARTICLE 67.--The President, with advice of the Executive Council, declares war and peace, with reference to Article 66 of the Constitution; the Government having first, if possible, summoned the Volksraad before the declaration of war. Treaties of peace require the ratification of the Volksraad, which is summoned as soon as possible for that purpose. ARTICLE 68.--The President appoints all officials, either personally, by commission through the head officials, taking into consideration that all officials must be enfranchised burghers, or must produce good testimonials to the satisfaction of the Government, and that so far as they are charged with financial administration, must find adequate security therefore at the choice of the Government. ARTICLE 69.--The President complies, as far as possible, with the desire of the people, as referred to in Article 21. ARTICLE 70.--The President shall submit, yearly, at the opening of the Volksraad, estimates of general outgoings and income, and therein indicate how to cover the deficit or apply the surplus. ARTICLE 71.--He shall also give a report during that session of that Volksraad, of his actions during the past year, of the condition of the Republic and everything that concerns its general interest. ARTICLE 72.--After examination of the election returns for the members of the Volksraad, sent in to the Executive Council, he shall summon that Raad, yearly, on the first Monday of May, and whenever necessity so demands. ARTICLE 73.--He publishes in the month of March or April the names and residences of those chosen members of the Volksraad. ARTICLE 74.--The written summons of the members of the Volksraad shall be sent to their houses three weeks before the opening of the same. ARTICLE 75.--The President and one member of the Executive Council shall, if possible, visit the towns and villages of the Republic where Landrost's officers are, once in the year; he shall examine the state of those offices, inquire into the conduct of the officials, and on these circuits give the inhabitants during their stay an opportunity to bring before him anything they are interested in. ARTICLE 76.--The President has the power, saving his responsibility to the Volksraad, to dismiss officials from their offices, to make provisional appointments, and to fill all open places. He reports to the first following session of the Volksraad with regard to these transactions. ARTICLE 77.--The President signs all appointments of officials, gives them their instructions himself, or has it read and explained to them by qualified officials, administers the oath, makes them sign it, and after their appointment puts into their hands a copy of instructions. ARTICLE 78.--The President is charged with the administration of the public service, the Postal Department and Public Works; he and the members of the Executive Council are at the same time charged with the supervision of the powder magazines and cannon of the State. ARTICLE 79.--Correspondence with foreign powers shall be carried on by the President and the Executive Council. The dispatches shall be signed by him and the Secretary of State. ARTICLE 80.--The President with the Executive Council has the right to diminish or remit sentences of punishment passed for misdemeanours or crime, on recommendation of the Court that has passed the sentence, or upon petition of the person condemned, after having taken the advice of the Court thereupon. ARTICLE 81.--Before accepting his office he shall take the following oath before the Volksraad:-- "As elected President of the Republic, I promise and swear solemnly, that I shall be faithful to the people; and that I shall act according to right and law in my office, according to the best of my knowledge and conscience without respect of persons; that I have done no one favour, nor made presents to reach this office; that I shall not accept from anyone any present or favour, if I can suppose that this present or favour should be made or done with a view of gaining from me a resolution in favour of the person who does the favour or makes the gifts; that I shall act according to the Constitution of the Republic, and intend alone the furthering of the happiness and welfare at large of its inhabitants." ARTICLE 82.--The President exercises his power along with the Executive Council. An Executive Council shall be joined to the President, consisting of the Commandant-General, two enfranchised burghers, a Secretary, and a Notekeeper (_notulenhouder_), who shall have an equal vote, and bear the title of members of the Executive Council. The Superintendent of Native Affairs and the Notekeeper shall be _ex-officio_ members of the Executive Council. The President and members of the Executive Council shall have the right to sit, but not to vote, in the Volksraad. The President is allowed, when important affairs arise, to invite the head official to be present in the Executive Council whose department is more directly concerned with the subject to be treated of. The said head official shall then have a vote in the Executive Council, be equally responsible for the resolution taken, and sign it along with the others. ARTICLE 83.--According to the intention of Article 82 the following shall be considered "Head Officials": The State Attorney, Treasurer, Auditor, Superintendent of Education, Orphan-Master, Registrar of Deeds, Surveyor-General, Postmaster-General, Head of the Mining Department, Chief Director of the Telegraph Service, and Chief of Public Works. ARTICLE 84.--The President shall be Chairman of the Executive Council, and in case of an equal division of votes have a casting vote. For the ratification of sentences of death, or declarations of war, the unanimous vote of the Executive Council shall be requisite for a decision. ARTICLE 85.--Regularly once a month, and at such other times as the President shall judge necessary, the Executive Council shall sit at his office. ARTICLE 86.--The President with two members form a quorum. ARTICLE 87.--All resolutions of the Executive Council and official letters of the President must, besides being signed by him, also be signed by the Secretary of State. The latter is at the same time responsible that the contents of the resolution, or the letter, is not in conflict with the existing laws. ARTICLE 88.--The two enfranchised burghers or members of the Executive Council contemplated by Article 82 are chosen by the Volksraad for the period of three years, the Commandant-General for ten years; they must be members of a Protestant Church, have had no sentence in a criminal court to their discredit, and have reached the age of thirty years. ARTICLE 89.--The Secretary of State is chosen also by the Volksraad, but is appointed for the period of four years. On resignation or expiration of his term he is re-eligible. He must be a member of a Protestant Church, have had no sentence in a criminal court to his discredit, possess fixed property in the Republic, and have reached the age of thirty years. ARTICLE 90.--Before the members of the Executive Council and the Commandant-General receive their office, they take the official oath before the Volksraad and sign the same. That oath shall be of similar contents to that of the President, as modified to the title or office of the person sworn, and that of the Commandant-General to the contents of Article 108. ARTICLE 91.--Before the Secretary of State receives his office he takes a similar oath to the members of the Executive Council, with a small modification suitable to the nature of his office. ARTICLE 92.--In case the Volksraad decide to give effect to the complaints mentioned in Article 31, it shall put the complaint in the hands of the State Attorney with a view to its examination. If it appears from such examination that the complaint is well founded, then the Volksraad shall send the complaint to the High Court, or the Court contemplated in Article 61, with notice of such sending to the said Attorney. This Court, which then will have to deal with the case, shall take cognizance of the case, and in the last resort pronounce sentence. OF THE MILITARY FORCE AND MILITARY COUNCIL. ARTICLE 93.--The military force consists of all the men of this Republic capable of bearing arms, and if necessary of all those of the natives within its boundaries whose chiefs are subject to it. ARTICLE 94.--Besides the armed force of burghers to be called up in times of disturbance or war, there exists a general police and corps of artillery, for which each year a fixed sum is drawn upon the estimates. ARTICLE 95.--The men of the white people capable of bearing arms are all men between the ages of sixteen and sixty years; and of the natives, only those which are capable of being made serviceable in the war. ARTICLE 96.--For the sub-division of the military force the territory of this Republic is divided into field-cornetcies and districts. The dividing lines of the field-cornetcies and districts are fixed by and in a common council of the President, Commandant-General, and the adjoining Commandants and Field-Cornets; and each inhabitant shall be bound to obey the authorities of the field-cornetcy or district in which he lives. ARTICLE 97.--The men are under the orders of the following officers, ascending in rank: Assistant Field-Cornets, Field-Cornets, Commandants, and a Commandant-General. ARTICLE 98.--The officers are chosen by a majority of votes, viz., the Assistant Field-Cornets and Field-Cornets, by the enfranchised burghers of the wards, so also the Commandants by the enfranchised burghers of the districts, and the Commandant-General by all the enfranchised burghers of this Republic. Enfranchised burghers, according to this Article, are burghers who have reached the age of eighteen years. The ballot-boxes for the election of officers shall be attended to by the Landrosts, who shall be bound to send them up to the Executive Council. The Executive Council shall be obliged to give notice to the chosen Commandant-General of the choice which has fallen upon him. ARTICLE 99.--Their appointments are:--The Commandant-General for ten years, the Commandants for five years, the Field-Cornets, and the Assistant Field-Cornets for three years; and on expiration of this term, they are re-eligible. The Commandant-General shall be discharged, or relieved of his post, on conviction of crimes, as mentioned in Article 60. ARTICLE 100.--Not more than one Commandant shall be chosen for each district. ARTICLE 101.--The military force, with the exception of the hired natives, is summoned for the maintenance of order, for commando duty on the occasion of home rebellion, and without any exception for the protection of the country, and to fight with foreign enemies. ARTICLE 102.--The Assistant Field-Cornets and Field-Cornets are charged with the maintenance of order; the Commandants are charged with the commandos on occasion of rebellion at home; the Commandant-General with commandos for the purpose of quelling disturbance among the white population, the protection of the country, and fighting with foreign enemies, in which case the Commandant-General shall have supreme command over the whole army. ARTICLE 103.--We must understand by (_a_) Maintenance of order: the execution of the laws, the carrying out of sentences after receiving orders, and the consideration of measures of general and local interest; also the supervision over the natives, and the repression of vagrancy and vagabondage in the field-cornetcies. (_b_) Commandos on occasion of rebellion among the natives: bringing Kaffir chiefs to their duty. (_c_) Commandos for the suppression of disorders among the white population: dispatching sufficient force to the district where disorder has broken out; and by (_d_) Defence of the country and carrying on war: carrying out martial law and taking the field at the head of the army. ARTICLE 104.--All subordinates receive orders from the officers and officials placed above them. ARTICLE 105.--All the officers except the Commandant-General shall be, before taking up their office, sworn by the President in accordance with Article 77. The Commandant-General shall be sworn by the Volksraad, according to Articles 90 and 106. ARTICLE 106.--This oath shall be of the following contents: "I promise and swear solemnly allegiance to the people of this Republic; that I shall act in my office according to the law, right, and justice, according to the best of my knowledge and conscience, without respect of person; that I have made or promised to no one gift or favour to reach this office; that I shall receive from no one any gift or favour if I can suspect that this should be done or shown to persuade me in the duties of my office in favour of the giver or favourer; that I shall obey the commands of those placed over me according to the law, and consider only the prosperity, welfare, and independence of the country and people of this Republic." ARTICLE 107.--The Field-Cornets shall, lawful prevention being excepted, give a report every three months to the Landrost of events among their subordinates in the wards in the past months, and as often besides that time as a report is required of them. With regard to military matters, the Field-Cornet is also obliged to report to the Commandant placed over him, besides the Landrost. If he does not comply therewith, or in case of negligence, he shall be fined in Rds. 10. ARTICLE 108.--The Commandants send the three-monthly reports of the Field-Cornets, with the addition of their own report, besides their remarks, to the Commandant-General. The latter acts in the same way with the reports of the Commandants in sending his report to the President, and without delay these reports must be sent to the President. ARTICLE 109.--The Field-Cornets shall keep a list of those in their wards who are liable to duty, and must draw up that list in such a way that it appears therefrom who must be summoned for the maintenance of order, so that the duties of the men may be proportionately divided amongst them. ARTICLE 110.--The Commandant-General sits in the Executive Council as member of the same. ARTICLE 111.--In the field the Commandant-General has the supervision of the war ammunition of the State. ARTICLE 112.--The Commandants and Field-Cornets comply with the commands of the Landrosts, so far as they, according to the regulation of the laws about the judicial administrative power, come into relation with the same. ARTICLE 113.--Notice of the contravention mentioned in Article 107 is given by the officers to the Landrosts of their districts, who will have to see that the fines are called in. ARTICLE 114.--A month after the expiration of a commando the President shall, by means of the Landrost, take care that the assigned share of the booty comes to the seriously wounded, the widows and orphans of the dead. OF THE JUDICIAL POWER AND MAINTENANCE OF JUSTICE. ARTICLE 115.--The people entrust the administration of justice to: (_a_) A High Court. (_b_) A Circuit Court. (_c_) The Landrosts, in their capacity as such, and such other officials as are clothed with judicial competence by the law. The Courts give judgment as soon as possible after the close of the case. The Chief Justice and puisne judges must be duly graduated in law (_in de rechten gepromoveerd_). The public ministry of public prosecution rests with the State Attorney, and under his supervision with the public prosecutors of the various districts. The members of the two first Courts are appointed for their lives. The law regulates the manner in which the discharge shall be granted them, either honourably or the reverse, in case of misconduct or incapacity. ARTICLE 116.--The Landrosts are appointed by the Executive Council on every occasion on the occurrence of a vacancy. Two persons possessing the qualifications for officials according to the Grondwet are proposed to the enfranchised burghers of the district concerned, so as at the very latest within the period of two months to decide between the two such candidates by free voting, and to give written notice of the result of such voting to the Executive Council. The Landrosts must have been a year enfranchised burghers and be members of a Protestant Church, have had no criminal sentence to their discredit, and have reached the age of thirty years. ARTICLE 117.--The Landrost of the place where the seat of Government is shall be appointed on recommendation of the Executive Council by the Volksraad. To be capable of receiving the appointment, it shall not be required to have been for any time a burgher of the State. ARTICLE 118.--The Landrosts must at the same time duly provide security before accepting their office. ARTICLE 119.--The jury shall be enfranchised burghers who have had no criminal sentence passed upon them to their discredit, and have reached the age of thirty years. ARTICLE 120.--The summons of the jury must be served in such time that they have, besides the time for the journey, three free days at their disposal. ARTICLE 121.--The persons chosen as Landrosts shall, if they intend to make objections to the choice which has fallen upon them, send in their objections to the President within the first thirty days after the choice has fallen upon them. ARTICLE 122.--If within that time they send in no objection, they are considered to accept that office. ARTICLE 123.--The juryman who does not comply with the summons, mentioned in Article 120, is fined in Rds. 100, unless he can allege matter of excuse as mentioned in Article 35. ARTICLE 124.--The Landrosts, before taking their office, take the following oath before the President and members of the Executive Council:-- "I promise and swear solemnly allegiance to the people and laws of this Republic, and that I shall act in my post and office justly and equitably, without respect of persons, in accordance with the laws and according to the best of my knowledge and conscience; that I will accept present or favour from no man, if I can suppose that this has been made or done with a view to persuade me in favour of the giver or favourer in my judgment or action. Outside of my office as judge that I shall obey according to the law the commands of those placed over me, and in general only consider the maintenance of the law, justice and order, to the furtherance of the prosperity, the welfare and the independence of the land and people." ARTICLE 125.--The members of the jury shall take the following oath before they hold session:-- "I promise and swear solemnly to act in my office as juryman, justly, equitably, without respect of persons, according to the best of my knowledge and conscience, and to give judgment upon the cases and accusations laid before me for judgment according to law; that I have accepted present or favour from no man from whom I can suspect that this has been given or done in order to persuade me in favour of the giver or favourer in my sentence, and forthwith to consider only the maintenance of law, right and order, to the furtherance of the prosperity and welfare of this Republic." ARTICLE 126.--The Field-Cornets as much as possible settle the differences between the inhabitants of their districts, and prevent the bringing of processes. For this end every one is entitled to summon for this purpose the person with whom he is at variance at a time to be fixed by the Field-Cornet. The Field-Cornet's costs shall be paid by the parties according to a tariff. ARTICLE 127.--All sentences in civil as well as in criminal cases are delivered in public, and executed in the name of the people of the South African Republic. Punishments which can be inflicted on white criminals in this Republic are:-- 1. Imprisonment; 2. Hard Labour, with or without irons, according to the nature of the case; 3. Transportation or Exile; and 4. Death. No white man can be condemned to lashes on the body, if not expressly so fixed by law. ARTICLE 128.--The plaintiffs in appeal shall pay, in case their appeal be found groundless or be refused, for an appeal from the sentence of the Landrost's Court 5 Rds. If it appear afterwards that this appeal is good, then that money is returned. ARTICLE 129.--The copies of the documents filed by parties shall be made up by the clerks, and each page thereof shall have 25 lines, and each line, taking one with another, contain twelve syllables; the clerks shall charge two shillings and four pence for every page. ARTICLE 130.--In case any one is not able to carry on a case, and nevertheless thinks he has good grounds for so doing, he shall serve a written petition to that end upon the Landrost of the Court, before which he must bring his case. That Court shall grant him the right of carrying on his case, and exempt him from the payment of law costs, provided: (_a_) He has produced a written proof from his Field-Cornet and two of his neighbors that he is not able to carry it on; (_b_) That the Court, after a preliminary examination of his demand, and after having heard the opposite party thereupon, has found that his demand may be well founded. ARTICLE 131.--The sittings of the Courts of law shall be held: Those of the Landrosts every day from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Higher Courts according to proclamation and rules making provision therefor. ARTICLE 132.--The clerk who without sufficient reason leaves his place unfilled, can be suspended by the Landrost, with notice to the President, from his office for a definite time, and another can be appointed in his place after the latter has taken the oath according to law. ARTICLE 133.--The Courts of law shall, in fixing punishments, bear in mind, that as the same punishment can be lighter or heavier for one man than another, it is the intention of the legislators, to punish each one equally severely for a similar transgression of the law; and that punishments may be fixed in accordance therewith. ARTICLE 134.--The Courts of law shall try as far as possible to hasten the hearing of cases, and give judgment thereupon as soon as possible. ARTICLE 135.--The clerk or the Landrost shall keep a register of all cases which are brought by parties before the Court, and enter this register up daily. OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE POWER, OR THE CIVIL SERVANTS. ARTICLE 136.--The administrative power of the home government derives its power from the Executive Council, and is under the commands of the President and the members of the Executive Council. ARTICLE 137.--It (_i.e._ the administrative power) is in the hands of such officials as are fixed by law. ARTICLE 138.--The territory of the State is for these purposes of government divided into districts, to which belong divisions and towns or villages. Changes in the division of districts or wards take place according to Article 96. ARTICLE 139.--Each district is governed by a Landrost, assisted by such officials as shall be joined to him by the law. The Commandants and Field-Cornets of the division are, as far as those purposes of government are concerned, under the orders of the aforesaid civil servants. ARTICLE 140.--District Council and town or village boards can be established where the population so desires. At the head of each district is a Landrost, who is _ex-officio_ chairman of the District Council, to be chosen by the burghers of the district, consisting of as many members as there are field-cornetcies. ARTICLE 141.--To the District Councils is entrusted the care of the public roads and other public works in the district, besides all other matters conferred on them by law. ARTICLE 142.--With the exception of the salaries fixed by law, all costs of the district board are borne by the district itself. Yearly an estimate for that purpose composed of expenses and income is fixed by the District Council, and sent up to the Executive Council for ratification. Each year similarly account is rendered for the past civil year, which is closed by the District Council, and sent up to the Executive Council for final ratification. The District Council shall receive the ratification of the Volksraad beforehand before the raising of any tax. ARTICLE 143.--At the head of each town or village government recognized as such by the law stand a burgomaster and a council of six or eight members, according to the population. All costs for the defraying of this local administration are borne by each place. Before the raising of any tax by a town or village board the ratification of the law is requisite. For the local estimate and accounts the same rules hold good as fixed in the preceding articles for those of a district. ARTICLE 144.--All publications are published in the _Staats Courant_ and made public by the Field-Cornets in their divisions by calling the inhabitants of those divisions together. ARTICLE 145.--All officials are obliged to answer as soon as possible the official letters received by them, and to deal with their contents. ARTICLE 146.--The Field-Cornet shall keep an exact register of all new inhabitants who come in their division; of all changes or removals of the inhabitants elsewhere; of all deaths taking place among them; and of all male persons who have reached the age of sixteen years. ARTICLE 147.--All small traders who enter this territory shall not trade until they are provided with a license, which has been obtained at one of the Landrost's offices, and signed by the Landrost. ARTICLE 148.--It shall not be permitted that newly-arrived persons should settle in any uninhabited districts in this Republic without the knowledge and permission of the Government of this State. ARTICLE 149.--Where such is not entrusted to a town or village council, the Landrosts are charged with the duty of overseeing a town or village, together with all subordinate functions, so that everything may take place in regular order. OF THE FINANCES OF THE STATE. ARTICLE 150.--The income of the State and taxes of the inhabitants are regulated by the law. ARTICLE 151.--All farms and grounds of the inhabitants are guaranteed by the Government as fixed property, with the right reserved to the Government to lay down a public road for the use of the inhabitants over such farms when it is demanded. ARTICLE 152.--All who, living outside of the Republic, possess uninhabited ground or farms in this Republic shall pay for each farm as long as it is uninhabited a double tax yearly. ARTICLE 153.--The tax for each "erf" in the towns shall be regulated by the law; and no money for water rights shall be exacted from the public. ARTICLE 154.--All surveyed or inspected farms must on sale be conveyed within the period of six months, and the proprietary due (_heerenrecht_) be paid within the period of six months; in case of neglect to comply with above, after the promulgation of this law, the proprietary due shall be double. The ground is conveyed from the first owner. ARTICLE 155.--The taxes to be paid by the people, where no other officials are appointed by law, are paid at the office of the Landrosts of the districts. ARTICLE 156.--All uninspected farms which are under application must be inspected as soon as possible. ARTICLE 157.--Every one who owns property and chooses to do so, shall, besides the inspectors, be able to make use of a surveyor, for the surveying and charting of his ground. ARTICLE 158.--No civil servant shall have the right to defend cases before the courts of law except for himself. ARTICLE 159.--All earlier laws and resolutions in conflict with the contents of these laws are altogether suspended. S.J.P. KRUGER, _President._ C. VAN BOESCHOTEN, _Acting Secretary of State._ GOVERNMENT OFFICES, PRETORIA, 19th November, 1889. * * * * * LAW No. 4, 1891. FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE CONSISTING OF TWO VOLKSRAADS. ARTICLE 1.--The legislative power shall rest with a representation of the people, which shall consist of a First Volksraad and a Second Volksraad. ARTICLE 2.--The First Volksraad shall be the highest authority in the State, just as the Volksraad was before this law came into operation. The First Volksraad shall be the body named the Volksraad until this law came into operation. From the period of this law coming into operation, the name of that body shall be altered from the Volksraad to the First Volksraad. The persons forming that body as members shall, however, remain the same, only they shall from the said period be named members of the First Volksraad instead of members of the Volksraad. All laws and resolutions having reference to the Volksraad and the members thereof shall remain in force and apply to the First Volksraad and the members thereof, except in so far as a change is or shall be made by this and later laws. ARTICLE 3.--The First and the Second Volksraad meet at least once a year. This ordinary meeting is opened in a united session on the first Monday in the month of May, under the Presidency of the Chairman of the First Volksraad. Extraordinary meetings can be summoned by the President as often as he judges it necessary in the interest of the country. ARTICLE 4.--The number of the members of the Second Volksraad shall be the same as of the First Volksraad. This number shall be fixed later by the First Volksraad for both Volksraads. ARTICLE 5.--Each member of either of the two Volksraads takes the following oath on accepting his office of dignity before the Chairman:-- "As elected as member of the First (or Second) Volksraad of the representation of the people of this Republic, I declare, promise, and swear solemnly that I have neither made nor promised present to anyone to reach this honour, that I shall be faithful in this office of dignity to the people and its independence, that I shall behave according to the Constitution and other laws of this Republic, according to the best of my knowledge and conscience, and that I shall always aim at the furtherance of the happiness and prosperity of the inhabitants in general." ARTICLE 6.--The manner of election of the members of the Second Volksraad shall be the same as that of the members of the First Volksraad. ARTICLE 7.--The members of the Second Volksraad shall enjoy the same allowance as the members of the First Volksraad, and have the same obligations with regard to informing their electors of their laws and resolutions. ARTICLE 8.--The members of the Second Volksraad are chosen for the period of four years. In the first ordinary session of the Second Volksraad it shall be decided by lot which members shall belong to that half which must resign already after the lapse of the first two years. ARTICLE 9.--The members of the First Volksraad are chosen by those enfranchised burghers who have obtained the burgher right, either before this law came into operation, or thereafter by birth, and have reached the age of sixteen years. The franchise for the First Volksraad can besides also be obtained by those who have during ten years been eligible for the Second Volksraad, by resolution of the First Volksraad, and according to rules to be fixed later by law. ARTICLE 10.--The members of the Second Volksraad are chosen by all enfranchised burghers who have reached the age of sixteen years. ARTICLE 11.--No one is allowed to offer himself for election for both Volksraads, or in more districts or election divisions than one at the same time. ARTICLE 12.--The members of the Volksraad may not stand to one another in the relation of father and son or stepson. ARTICLE 13.--No military officer or official who enjoys a fixed yearly or monthly salary, as such, may offer himself for election as member of either Volksraad. ARTICLE 14.--No coloured person or bastard, nor persons of public bad conduct, or those who have had a discreditable criminal sentence passed on them, nor any non-rehabilitated bankrupts or insolvents whatsoever shall be eligible as members of either Volksraad. ARTICLE 15.--To be able to take a seat as member of the First Volksraad, he who has been lawfully chosen must be thirty years old, and member of a Protestant church, live in the Republic, have obtained fixed property there and the burgher right, either before this law came into operation, or thereafter by birth, or have obtained the franchise for the First Volksraad according to Sub-section 2 of Article 9. ARTICLE 16.--To be able to take a seat as member of the Second Volksraad, he who has been lawfully chosen must be thirty years old, have been enfranchised burgher during the two immediately preceding years, be a member of a Protestant church, live in the Republic, and have fixed property there. ARTICLE 17.--Each Volksraad chooses its own chairman from among its own members. ARTICLE 18.--Each Volksraad appoints, from outside its members, its own secretary on proposal of the Executive Council. ARTICLE 19.--Each Volksraad shall have to judge if elections and the qualifications of its own members are according to law. ARTICLE 20.--Each Volksraad shall establish its own arrangement of order, shall regulate the process of its transactions, and the power of the Chairman shall be defined by itself. ARTICLE 21.--The President and the members of the Executive Council shall sit in both Volksraads, with right to take part in the discussions, but without a vote. ARTICLE 22.--The quorum of both the First and the Second Volksraad shall consist of twelve members. If there is no quorum present in the Second Volksraad, its secretary shall at once give notice of the same to the First Volksraad. ARTICLE 23.--The sessions of both Volksraads shall be held in public, unless the majority in special cases resolve to revoke the publicity. ARTICLE 24.--Each Volksraad shall keep minutes of its transactions. It shall have these published regularly in the _Staats Courant_, except the notes of the secret sittings, which shall only be partly published with the consent of the First Volksraad. ARTICLE 25.--Each Volksraad has the right to punish its own members for disorderly conduct. Each Volksraad has, in addition, the right to suspend a member with two-thirds of the votes given. ARTICLE 26.--A period of three months shall be left to the people to enable those who so wish to express their judgment of a proposed law to the Volksraads, except those laws which can suffer no delay. ARTICLE 27.--The Second Volksraad shall have the power to pass further regulations on the following subjects as is necessary, either by law or resolution:-- (1) The department of mines. (2) The making and support of wagon and post roads. (3) The postal department. (4) The department of telegraphs and telephones. (5) The protection of inventions, samples and trademarks. (6) The protection of the right of the author. (7) The exploitation and support of the woods and salt-pans. (8) The prevention and coping with contagious diseases. (9) The condition, the rights, and obligations of companies. (10) Insolvency. (11) Civil procedure. (12) Criminal procedure. (13) Such other subjects as the First Volksraad shall decide later by law or resolution, or the First Volksraad shall specially refer to the Second Volksraad. ARTICLE 28.--All laws or resolutions accepted by the Second Volksraad are as soon as possible, that is to say at the outside within forty-eight hours, communicated both to the First Volksraad and to the President. ARTICLE 29.--The President has the right, when he has received notice from the Second Volksraad of the adoption of a law or a resolution, to bring that law or resolution before the First Volksraad for consideration within fourteen days after the receipt of such notice. The President is in any case bound, after the receipt of such a notice, to communicate it to the First Volksraad within the said time. ARTICLE 30.--If the President has not brought the law or resolution as communicated before the First Volksraad for consideration, and the First Volksraad has not on its own part thought it necessary to take said law or resolution into consideration, the President shall, unless with the advice and consent of the Executive Council he thinks it undesirable in the interests of the State, be bound to have that law or resolution published in the first succeeding Volksraad, unless within the said fourteen days the First Volksraad may be adjourned, in which case the publication in the _Staats Courant_ shall take place after the lapse of eight days from the commencement of the first succeeding session of the First Volksraad. ARTICLE 31.--The law or resolution adopted by the Second Volksraad shall have no force, unless published by the President in the _Staats Courant_. ARTICLE 32.--The legal effect of a law or resolution published by the President in the _Staats Courant_ may not be questioned, saving the right of the people to make memorials about it. ARTICLE 33.--This law comes into operation two months after publication in the _Staats Courant_. S.J.P. KRUGER, _President._ DR. W.J. LEYDS, _Secretary of State._ GOVERNMENT OFFICES, PRETORIA, 23rd June, 1890. CHAPTER III. FULL TEXT OF THE FRANCHISE LAW. PUBLISHED JULY 26, 1899. LAW NO. 3. WHEREAS, It has appeared desirable to amend and amplify certain provisions of the laws with reference to naturalization and the obtaining of the full franchise; and WHEREAS, These amendments will not permit of delay by being published three months beforehand in terms of Article 12 of the Grondwet, and as they have already been accepted by the people in principle; it is hereby enacted that: ARTICLE 1.--Each white male stranger, who has reached the age of sixteen years, and who settles or has settled in the South African Republic with the intention of residing there, shall in future be able to obtain letters of naturalization, provided that he fulfills the following provisions and enactments-- (_a_) The applicant shall produce a certificate from the Field-Cornet and the Landrost of his ward and district, countersigned by the Commandant of the district, to show that he was, during the time--required in his case--preceding the naturalization, continually registered on the Field-Cornet's list; was during this time domiciled in the South African Republic; and during this time obeyed the laws of the land and committed no crime against the independence of the South African Republic. If the Field-Cornet and Landrost are not from their personal knowledge able to grant such certificate, they shall do so on the strength of affidavits of the applicant and two well known, fully enfranchised burghers of the ward and district, declaring that the applicant has, during the necessary period, been domiciled in the South African Republic, and has during that time obeyed the laws of the land, and has committed no crime against the independence of the South African Republic. If the Field-Cornet and Landrost and Commandant refuse to grant such certificate or to sign it, the applicant may appeal to the Executive Council. If the Field-Cornet's books are destroyed or lost the applicant shall prove to the satisfaction of the State Secretary and State Attorney, by means of affidavits, that he was registered. (_b_) The applicant shall produce a sworn declaration made by himself to the effect that he has had no dishonouring sentence passed on him, and shall produce further proof of good behavior. By dishonouring sentence shall be understood a sentence for the crimes of high treason, murder, rape, theft, fraud, perjury, or forgery. (_c_) The applicant shall produce proof that he possesses unmortgaged fixed property to the value of £150, or pays rent to the amount of £50 per annum, or draws a fixed salary or wage of £100 per annum, or makes an independent living by farming or cattle-breeding. (_d_) The person desiring to be naturalized shall, before the official granting of the letters of naturalization, take the following oath, by which he will be understood to renounce and give up all burgher rights enjoyed in and burgher duties and subjection to any State or ruler: "I swear (or I solemnly declare that the taking of an oath is not permitted by my religion, and promise), faithfully in all righteousness, and in terms of Law No. ____, of 1899, with which I declare to be acquainted, that I shall be loyal to this State, shall honour and support its independence, shall subject myself to the Grondwet and the lawful authorities of the land, and shall in all respects conduct myself as it behooves a loyal burgher of this State. So truly help me God--or that I solemnly promise." Before a person who has already been naturalized is admitted to the full franchise, he shall, when he makes application therefor, besides fulfilling the other requirements of this Law, again produce proof of fulfilment of the provisions and enactments of Sections _a_, _b_ and _c_. No person shall be entitled to or be allowed to obtain letters of naturalization or full franchise unless he has fulfilled the aforementioned provisions, with the exception of cases for which this or any other Law makes special provision. ARTICLE 2.--Each person who comes or has come to the South African Republic to stay shall, after at least two years, and after fulfillment of the provisions of Article 1, be able to obtain letters of naturalization, and shall, at least five years after naturalization, be able to obtain the full franchise, provided that in both instances, six months before the expiration of the fixed period, he gives written notice of his intention to apply therefor to the State Secretary through the Field-Cornet and Landrost of his ward and district. The Field-Cornet shall be bound, under pain of a fine of not more than £10 in each case of neglect, to send this notice to the State Secretary through the Landrost as soon as possible, and at the most within thirty days of the sending in thereof, for publication in the _Staats Courant_ for general information, and the State Secretary shall without loss of time publish such notice three consecutive times in the _Staats Courant_. ARTICLE 3.--Each person who comes or has come into the South African Republic to stay shall, at least seven years after sending in to the Field-Cornet a notice of his intention to be naturalized, in accordance with the form contained in Schedule A, be able to obtain letters of naturalization with the full franchise on fulfilling the provisions of Article 1. Such notice shall be sent by the Field-Cornet to the State Secretary and be published by him, all under the same provision and punishment as set forth in the foregoing article. If the person desires to obtain letters of naturalization with full franchise after seven years, he shall also, at least six months before the expiration of the period, give written notice to the State Secretary, the Field-Cornet and Landrost of his ward and district. This notice shall also be sent to the State Secretary by the Field-Cornet, and the latter shall publish it in the _Staats Courant_, all under the same provision and punishment as set forth in Article 2. The applicant shall then, on application for the letters of naturalization with full franchise, further give proof that he has sent in the notice, in accordance with the form of Schedule A, mentioned in the first paragraph of this article, for proof of which it will be sufficient to produce a copy of the _Staats Courant_ in which the notice was published. ARTICLE 4.--Each person who has come to the South African Republic to stay before the coming into force of this Law shall, on fulfilment of the provisions of Article 1, be able to obtain letters of naturalization at least seven years after his coming into the country. In case the applicant is not entitled to the full franchise six months after the coming into force of this Law, he shall give proof that he, within six months after the coming into force of the Law sent to the Field-Cornet of his ward a written notice of his intention to become naturalized. If he neglect to send in this notice, in accordance with the form contained in Schedule A, or if he does not produce the certificate mentioned in Article 1, Section _a_, the applicant shall not be entitled to the full franchise in terms of this Article, but only in terms of Articles 2 and 3. Such notice shall be sent by the Field-Cornet to the State Secretary, and the latter shall publish the same in the _Staats Courant_, all under the same provisions and punishment as set forth in Article 2. If he is naturalized after this Law comes into force, he may obtain the full franchise after five years from the date of his naturalization, and, if he chooses, in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article. ARTICLE 5.--Nothing provided in this Law shall prevent the Executive Council from granting letters of naturalization with or without the full franchise to persons who take a position in the service of the country, or have rendered services to the country, or who have in any other respect rendered themselves of service to the country, although in their case they have not fulfilled the provisions of the Law provided that they take the oath in accordance with Article 1. ARTICLE 6.--Youths not born in the State, and whose fathers have obtained letters of naturalization or full franchise before they (the youth) had reached the age of sixteen years, have the same franchise as their father. Youths born in this State, whose fathers were neither naturalized nor had the full franchise, may be naturalized at their sixteenth year by taking the oath mentioned in Article 1, and may, five years after that, obtain the full franchise by fulfilling the provisions mentioned in Article 1, Sections _a_ and _b_. They shall also, on their sixteenth year, by giving notice as contained in Schedule A, be able to obtain the full franchise five years thereafter, on fulfillment of the provisions contained in Article 1, Sections _a_, _b_ and _d_. ARTICLE 7.--The application for naturalization and the full franchise must be sent with the necessary proofs to the State Secretary by the Field-Cornet, through the Landrost, and the latter shall refer these to the State Attorney, who shall send them back to the State Secretary with his advice. If the State Secretary and State Attorney have no legal objection to the granting of the letter of naturalization or full franchise, then this shall be granted. If there is any objection, the Executive Council shall decide. The letters of naturalization and full franchise shall be signed by the State Secretary and State Attorney. The State Secretary shall cause the letters of naturalization and full franchise to be granted by an official appointed for that purpose, and cause the necessary oath of naturalization to be taken before this official. The letters of naturalization shall bear a stamp of £2 sterling; the granting of the full franchise to persons who are already naturalized shall be free of cost. ARTICLE 8.--No person who is not considered as a white inhabitant of the South African Republic shall obtain the franchise, in accordance with Article 9 of the Grondwet. ARTICLE 9.--All laws and provisions, in so far as they are in conflict with this Law, are hereby repealed. ARTICLE 10.--This Law comes into force immediately after publication in the _Staats Courant_. S.J.P. KRUGER, _State President._ F.W. REITZ, _State Secretary._ GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS, PRETORIA, July 26, 1899. * * * * * SCHEDULE A. I ___________________ at present resident at ______________ in the South African Republic, formerly residing at ________________ in ___________ whose occupation is __________ desiring to reside for good in the South African Republic, hereby give notice that I, _______ years from date, will make application for letters of naturalization with the full franchise, and declare that I am acquainted with the duties imposed on me by Law No. ____, 1899, to obey the laws and commit no crime against the independence of the South African Republic. * * * * * PROPOSED MODIFICATIONS. PROPOSAL OF GREAT BRITAIN FOR A JOINT INQUIRY. _British Agent to South African Republic, August 2, 1899._ Her Majesty's Government authorize me to invite President of South African Republic to appoint delegates to discuss with delegates to be appointed by me on behalf of Her Majesty's Government, whether Uitlander population will be given immediate and substantial representation by franchise law recently passed by Volksraad, together with other measures connected with it, such as increase of seats, and, if not, what additions or alterations may be necessary to secure that result. In this discussion it should be understood that the delegates of Her Majesty's Government would be free to make any suggestions calculated to improve measures in question and secure their attaining the end desired. Personally I wish to add the expression of my earnest hope that Government of South African Republic may accept this proposal, and that we may proceed to discuss the composition of the proposed Commission, method of procedure, and place of meeting, at once. Government of South African Republic will, I feel sure, agree with me that, if proposal of Her Majesty's Government is accepted, the inquiry should be held as soon as possible. ALTERNATIVE PROPOSAL OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC. _F.W. Reitz to British Agent._ _19th August._ _Sir_, With reference to your proposal for a joint enquiry in your dispatches of the 2nd and 3rd August, Government of South African Republic have the honour to suggest the following alternative proposal for consideration of Her Majesty's Government, which this Government trusts may lead to a final settlement: (1) The Government are willing to recommend to the Volksraad and the people a 5 years' retrospective franchise, as proposed by His Excellency the High Commissioner on the 1st June, 1899. (2) The Government are further willing to recommend to the Volksraad that 8 new seats in the First Volksraad, and, if necessary, also in the Second Volksraad, be given to the population of the Witwatersrand, thus with the 2 sitting members for the Goldfields, giving to the population thereof 10 representatives in a Raad of 36, and in future the representation of the Goldfields of this Republic shall not fall below the proportion of one-fourth of the total. (3) The new burghers shall equally with the old burghers be entitled to vote at the election for State President and Commandant-General. (4) This Government will always be prepared to take into consideration such friendly suggestions regarding the details of the Franchise Law as Her Majesty's Government, through the British Agent, may wish to convey to it. (5) In putting forward the above proposals Government of South African Republic assumes: (_a_) That Her Majesty's Government will agree that the present intervention shall not form a precedent for future similar action and that in the future no interference in the internal affairs of the Republic will take place. (_b_) That Her Majesty's Government will not further insist on the assertion of the suzerainty, the controversy on the subject being allowed tacitly to drop. (_c_) That arbitration (from which foreign element other than Orange Free State is to be excluded) will be conceded as soon as the franchise scheme has become law. (6) Immediately on Her Majesty's Government accepting this proposal for a settlement, the Government will ask the Volksraad to adjourn for the purpose of consulting the people about it, and the whole scheme might become law say within a few weeks. (7) In the meantime the form and scope of the proposed Tribunal are also to be discussed and provisionally agreed upon, while the franchise scheme is being referred to the people, so that no time may be lost in putting an end to the present state of affairs. The Government trust that Her Majesty's Government will clearly understand that in the opinion of this Government the existing franchise law of this Republic is both fair and liberal to the new population, and that the consideration that induces them to go further, as they do in the above proposals, is their strong desire to get the controversies between the two Governments settled, and further to put an end to present strained relations between the two Governments and the incalculable harm and loss it has already occasioned in South Africa, and to prevent a racial war from the effects of which South Africa may not recover for many generations, perhaps never at all, and therefore this Government, having regard to all these circumstances would highly appreciate it if Her Majesty's Government, seeing the necessity of preventing the present crisis from developing still further and the urgency of an early termination of the present state of affairs, would expedite the acceptance or refusal of the settlement here offered. _21st August._ _Sir_, In continuation of my dispatch of the 19th instant, and with reference to the communication to you of the State Attorney this morning, I wish to forward to you the following in explanation thereof, with the request that the same may be telegraphed to His Excellency the High Commissioner for South Africa, as forming part of the proposals of this Government embodied in the above-named dispatch: (1) The proposals of this Government regarding question of franchise and representation contained in that dispatch must be regarded as expressly conditional on Her Majesty's Government consenting to the points set forth in paragraph 5 of the dispatch, viz.: (_a_) In future not to interfere in internal affairs of the South African Republic. (_b_) Not to insist further on its assertion of existence of suzerainty. (_c_) To agree to arbitration. (2) Referring to paragraph 6 of the dispatch, this Government trusts that it is clear to Her Majesty's Government that this Government has not consulted the Volksraad as to this question and will only do so when an affirmative reply to its proposals has been received from Her Majesty's Government. NOTE. In reply to the above proposals of the South African Republic, the Secretary of State for the Colonies declared Great Britain "unable to appreciate the objections entertained by the Government of the South African Republic to a Joint Commission of Inquiry," and refused to enter into a consideration of the alternative proposals of the South African Republic. As a consequence of this refusal, the South African Republic communicated to Great Britain that the "proposal for a five years' franchise and extension of representation of the Witwatersrand with the conditions attached thereto" had lapsed, whereby also lapsed the necessity of laying it before the representatives of the people for ratification. During the month of September following, the negotiations failed to produce any agreement, and matters remained in this unsatisfactory state until, on October 9, 1899, the ultimatum of President Kruger brought affairs to an actual crisis. CHAPTER IV. ULTIMATUM OF SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC, OCTOBER 9, 1899. The Government of the South African Republic feels itself compelled to refer the Government of Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland once more to the Convention of London, 1884, concluded between this Republic and the United Kingdom and which in its XIVth Article secures certain specified rights to the white population of this Republic, namely, that "All persons, other than natives, conforming themselves to the laws of the South African Republic (_a_) will have full liberty, with their families, to enter, travel, or reside in any part of the South African Republic; (_b_) they will be entitled to hire or possess houses, manufactories, warehouses, shops, and premises; (_c_) they may carry on their commerce either in person or by any agents whom they may think fit to employ; (_d_) they will not be subject, in respect of their persons or property, or in respect of their commerce or industry, to any taxes, whether general or local, other than those which are or may be imposed upon citizens of the said Republic." This Government wishes further to observe that the above are only rights which Her Majesty's Government have reserved in the above Convention with regard to the Uitlander population of this Republic and that the violation only of those rights could give that Government a right to diplomatic representations or intervention while, moreover, the regulation of all other questions affecting the position or the rights of the Uitlander population under the above-mentioned Convention is handed over to the Government and the representatives of the people of the South African Republic. Amongst the questions the regulation of which falls exclusively within the competence of the Government and of the Volksraad, are included those of the franchise and representation of the people in this Republic, and although thus the exclusive right of this Government and of the Volksraad for the regulation of that franchise and representation is indisputable, yet this Government has found occasion to discuss in a friendly fashion the franchise and the representation of the people with Her Majesty's Government, without, however, recognizing any rights thereto on the part of Her Majesty's Government. This Government has also, by the formulation of the now existing Franchise Law and the Resolution with regard to representation, constantly held these friendly discussions before its eyes. On the part of Her Majesty's Government, however, the friendly nature of these discussions has assumed a more and more threatening tone, and the minds of the people in this Republic and in the whole of South Africa have been excited and a condition of extreme tension has been created, while Her Majesty's Government could no longer agree to the legislation respecting franchise and the Resolution respecting representation in this Republic, and finally, by your note of 25th September, 1899, broke off all friendly correspondence on the subject, and intimated that they must now proceed to formulate their own proposals for a final settlement, and this Government can only see in the above intimation from Her Majesty's Government a new violation of the Convention of London, 1884, which does not reserve to Her Majesty's Government the right to a unilateral settlement of a question which is exclusively a domestic one for this Government and has already been regulated by it. On account of the strained situation and the consequent serious loss in and interruption of trade in general which the correspondence respecting the franchise and representation in this Republic carried in its train, Her Majesty's Government have recently pressed for an early settlement and finally pressed, by your intervention, for an answer within forty-eight hours (subsequently somewhat modified) to your note of the 12th September, replied to by the note of this Government of the 15th September, and your note of the 25th September, 1899, and thereafter further friendly negotiations broke off and this Government received the intimation that the proposal for a final settlement would shortly be made, but although this promise was once more repeated no proposal has up to now reached this Government. Even while friendly correspondence was still going on an increase of troops on a large scale was introduced by Her Majesty's Government, and stationed in the neighborhood of the borders of this Republic. Having regard to occurrences in the history of this Republic which it is unnecessary here to call to mind, this Government felt obliged to regard this military force in the neighborhood of its borders as a threat against the independence of the South African Republic, since it was aware of no circumstances which could justify the presence of such military force in South Africa and in the neighborhood of its borders. In answer to an inquiry with respect thereto, addressed to His Excellency the High Commissioner, this Government received, to its great astonishment, in answer, a veiled insinuation that from the side of the Republic (_van Republikeinsche zyde_) an attack was being made on Her Majesty's Colonies and at the same time a mysterious reference to possibilities whereby it was strengthened in its suspicion that the independence of this Republic was being threatened. As a defensive measure it was therefore obliged to send a portion of the burghers of this Republic in order to offer the requisite resistance to similar possibilities. Her Majesty's unlawful intervention in the internal affairs of this Republic in conflict with the Convention of London, 1884, caused by the extraordinary strengthening of troops in the neighborhood of the borders of this Republic, has thus caused an intolerable condition of things to arise whereto this Government feels itself obliged, in the interest not only of this Republic but also of all South Africa, to make an end as soon as possible, and feels itself called upon and obliged to press earnestly and with emphasis for an immediate termination of this state of things and to request Her Majesty's Government to give it the assurance (_a_) That all points of mutual difference shall be regulated by the friendly course of arbitration or by whatever amicable way may be agreed upon by this Government with Her Majesty's Government. (_b_) That the troops on the borders of this Republic shall be instantly withdrawn. (_c_) That all reinforcements of troops which have arrived in South Africa since the 1st June, 1899, shall be removed from South Africa within a reasonable time, to be agreed upon with this Government, and with a mutual assurance and guarantee on the part of this Government that no attack upon or hostilities against any portion of the possessions of the British Government shall be made by the Republic during further negotiations within a period of time to be subsequently agreed upon between the Governments, and this Government will, on compliance therewith, be prepared to withdraw the armed burghers of this Republic from the borders. (_d_) That Her Majesty's troops which are now on the high seas shall not be landed in any port of South Africa. This Government must press for an immediate and affirmative answer to these four questions, and earnestly requests Her Majesty's Government to return such an answer before or upon Wednesday the 11th October, 1899, not later than 5 o'clock p.m., and it desires further to add that in the event of unexpectedly no satisfactory answer being received by it within that interval it will with great regret be compelled to regard the action of Her Majesty's Government as a formal declaration of war, and will not hold itself responsible for the consequences thereof, and that in the event of any further movements of troops taking place within the above-mentioned time in the nearer directions of our borders this Government will be compelled to regard that also as a formal declaration of war. REPLY OF GREAT BRITAIN. _October 10, 1899._ Her Majesty's Government have received with great regret the peremptory demands of the Government of the South African Republic conveyed in your telegram of 9th October, No. 3. You will inform the Government of the South African Republic, in reply, that the conditions demanded by the Government of the South African Republic are such as Her Majesty's Government deem it impossible to discuss. CHAPTER V. DUAL ALLIANCE OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC AND THE ORANGE FREE STATE. _Resolution of Orange Free State, September 27, 1899._ The Volksraad, having heard the second paragraph of His Honor's opening speech and the official documents and correspondence relating thereto which have been handed in, having regard to the strained state of affairs in South Africa which have arisen in consequence of the differences between the Governments of South African Republic and Her Britannic Majesty, which constitute a threatening danger for bringing about hostilities, the calamitous effect of which would be incalculable for all white inhabitants of South Africa, being bound to the South African Republic by the closest bonds of blood and alliance and standing in most friendly relations towards Her Majesty's Government, fearing that should a war break out a hatred would be generated between the European races in South Africa, which still in the far future will impede and restrain the peaceful development of all States and Colonies of South Africa, being sensible that serious obligations rest on the Volksraad to do all that is possible to prevent the shedding of blood, considering that in the course of negotiations with the British Government which have extended over several months, every endeavor has been made by the Government of the South African Republic at a peaceful settlement of the differences which have been brought forward by Uitlanders in the South African Republic and which have been adopted as its own cause by the Government of Her Majesty, which endeavors, unfortunately, have only had the result that British troops have been concentrated on the border of the South African Republic and are still continually being reinforced: "Resolves to instruct the Government still further to do everything in its power to preserve and establish peace and to contribute by peaceful methods towards the solution of the existing differences, always provided that it can be brought about without injury to the honour and independence of this State or of the South African Republic, and wishes unmistakably to declare its opinion that there exists no cause for war and that if a war is now begun or occasioned by Her Majesty's Government against South African Republic, this would morally be a war against the whole of white population of South Africa and would in its results be calamitous and criminal; and further, that Orange Free State will honestly and faithfully observe its obligations towards South African Republic arising out of the political alliance between the two Republics, whatever may happen." CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND ORANGE FREE STATE. _Sir Alfred Milner to President Steyn, October 11, 1899._ In view of resolution of Volksraad of Orange Free State communicated to me in Your Honour's telegram of 27th September, I have the honour to request that I may be informed at Your Honour's earliest possible convenience whether this action on the part of the South African Republic has Your Honour's concurrence and support. _President of Orange Free State to Sir Alfred Milner, October 11, 1899._ I have the honour to acknowledge Your Excellency's telegrams of this evening. The high-handed and unjustifiable policy and conduct of Her Majesty's Government in interfering in and dictating in the purely internal affairs of South African Republic, constituting a flagrant breach of the Convention of London, 1884, accompanied at first by preparations, and latterly followed by active commencement of hostilities against that Republic, which no friendly and well-intentioned efforts on our part could induce Her Majesty's Government to abandon, constitute such an undoubted and unjust attack on the independence of the South African Republic that no other course is left to this State than honourably to abide by its Conventional Agreements entered into with that Republic. On behalf of this Government, therefore, I beg to notify that, compelled thereto by the action of Her Majesty's Government, they intend to carry out the instructions of the Volksraad as set forth in the last part of the Resolution referred to by Your Excellency. CHAPTER VI. CONSTITUTION OF THE ORANGE FREE STATE. _Chapter I.--Citizenship._ SECTION I.--How Citizenship is Obtained. 1. Burghers of the Orange Free State are: (_a_) White persons born from inhabitants of the State both before and after 23 February, 1854. (_b_) White persons who have obtained burgher-right under the regulations of the Constitution of 1854 or the altered Constitution of 1866. (_c_) White persons who have lived a year in the State and have fixed property registered under their own names to at least the value of £150. (_d_) White persons who have lived three successive years in the State and have made a written promise of allegiance to the State and obedience to the laws, whereupon a certificate of citizenship (burghership) shall be granted by the Landrost of the district where they have settled. (_e_) Civil and judicial officials who, before accepting their offices, have taken an oath of allegiance to the State and its laws. SECTION II.--How Citizenship is Lost. Citizenship in the Orange Free State is lost by: (_a_) Obtaining citizenship in a foreign country. (_b_) Taking service without consent of the President in foreign military service, or accepting commission under a foreign government. (_c_) Fixing one's residence outside the country with an evident intention of not returning to this State. This intention shall be considered to be expressed when a man settles in a foreign country longer than two years. _Chapter II.--Burgher Service._ 2. All burghers as soon as they have reached the full age of 16 years, and all who have obtained burgher-right at a later age, are obliged to have their names inscribed with the Field-Cornet, under whom they have their place of residence, and are subject to burgher service to the full age of 60 years. _Chapter III.--Qualifications of those Entitled to Vote._ 3. All burghers who have reached the age of 18 years are qualified to exercise the right of voting for the election of Field-Commandants and Field-Cornets. 4. All burghers of full age are qualified for the election of members of the Volksraad and of the President: (_a_) Who have been born in the State. (_b_) Who have unburdened fixed property under their names to the value of at least £150. (_c_) Who are hirers of fixed property, which has at least a yearly rent of £36. (_d_) Who have at least a fixed yearly income of £200. (_e_) Who are owners of movables to a value of at least £300, and have lived at least three years in the State. _Chapter IV.--Duties and Powers of the Volksraad._ 5. The highest legislative power rests with the Volksraad. 6. This Council (Raad) shall consist of a member for each Field-Cornetcy of the various districts, and of a member for each principal town of a district. This Council is chosen by majority of votes by the enfranchised inhabitants of each ward of each principal town of a district. 7. Every burgher is eligible as member of the Volksraad, who has never been declared guilty of crime by any jury, nor been declared bankrupt or insolvent, his residence being within the State, has reached an age of at least 25, who also possesses fixed property of at least £500 in value. 8. A member of the Raad ceases to be such in any of the following cases: (_a_) If he neglects to come to the Raad during two successive yearly sessions. (_b_) If he loses one or more of the qualifications as required in Article 7. 9. Members of the Volksraad are chosen for four successive years, and are re-eligible at the end of the period. The half shall withdraw after two years, and the first half be regulated by lot. 10. The Volksraad in its yearly meetings chooses a Chairman out of its own members. 11. The Chairman of the Volksraad shall decide in case of an equality of votes. 12. Twelve members shall make a quorum. 13. The Volksraad makes the laws, regulates the government and finances of the country, and shall assemble for that purpose at Bloemfontein once a year (viz., on the first Monday of May). 14. The Chairman shall be able to summon an extraordinary session of the Raad according to the state of affairs. 15. The laws made by the Volksraad shall have force of law two months after the promulgation, and shall be signed by the Chairman or by the President, saving always the right of the Raad to fix a shorter or longer limit of time. The members of the Raad shall, as much as possible, make the laws which have been passed, known and clear to their own public. 16. In case of insolvency, or if any sentence of imprisonment is passed against the President, the Volksraad shall be able to dismiss him at once. 17. (_a_) The Volksraad shall have the right to try the President and public officials for treason, bribery and other high crimes. (_b_) The President shall not be condemned without the agreement of three to one of the members present. (_c_) He shall not be condemned without the full Raad being present, or at least without due notice being given, to give all the members opportunity to be present. (_d_) If a quorum is summoned, and is unanimously of opinion that the President is guilty of one of the above-mentioned crimes, they shall have the power to suspend him, and to make provisional arrangements to fulfill the duties of his office. But in that case they shall be obliged to call the whole Raad together to judge him. (_e_) The members of the Volksraad shall take their oath at the commencement of said examination. (_f_) In case the President should come to die, or should resign his post, or be discharged, or become unfit for the discharge of his office, the Volksraad shall be empowered to appoint one or more persons to act in his place until such unfitness cease or another President is chosen. (_g_) The sentence of the Volksraad in such cases shall have no further effect than discharge from their office, and the declaration of unfitness ever to hold any post under the Government. But the persons so sentenced shall none the less be liable to be judged according to the law. 18. The Volksraad reserves the right to examine the election lists of members for the Volksraad itself, and to declare if the members have been duly and legally elected or not. 19. The Volksraad shall have regular minutes of its transactions kept, and from time to time publish the same, such articles excepted as ought in their judgment to be kept back. 20. The agreement or disapproval of the various members on any question put to the vote must, on the request of one-fifth of members present, be inscribed in the minutes. 21. The public shall be admitted to attend the consultations of the Volksraad and to take notice of the transactions, except in special cases where secrecy is necessary. 22. The Volksraad shall make no laws preventing free assembly of the inhabitants, to memorialize the Government, to obtain assistance in difficulties, or to get an alteration in some laws. 23. The furtherance of religion and education is a subject of care for the Volksraad. 24. The Dutch Reformed Church shall be assisted and supported by the Volksraad. 25. The Volksraad shall have the power to pass a burgher or commando law for the protection and safety of this land. 26. After this Constitution shall have been fixedly determined, no alteration may be made in the same without the agreement of three-fifths of the Volksraad, and before such change may be made, a majority of three-fifths of the votes shall be necessary for the same in two successive yearly sessions. 27. The Volksraad shall have the power to inflict taxes or to diminish them, to pay the public debt and to make provision for the general defence and welfare of the State; similarly to take up money on the credit of the State, and also to dispose of Government property. _Chapter V.--Duties, Powers, etc., of the President._ 28. There shall be a President. 29. The President shall be chosen by the enfranchised burghers; however, the Volksraad shall recommend one or more persons to their choice. 30. The President shall be appointed for five years, and be re-eligible on resignation. 31. The President shall be the head of the Executive power. The supervision of all public departments and the execution and regulation of all matters connected with the public service shall be entrusted to the President, who shall be responsible to the Volksraad, and whose acts and deeds shall be subject to an appeal before the Volksraad. 32. The President shall as often as possible visit the towns and give the inhabitants of the same and of the district an opportunity to bring forward at the towns matters in which they are interested. 33. The President shall make a report in the yearly assemblage of the Volksraad about the state of the land and of the public service, shall assist the same with counsel and advice, and if necessary, lay bills upon the table, without, however, being able to vote upon the same. 34. The President shall also be able to summon an extraordinary meeting of the Volksraad. 35. The President shall have the power to fill up all empty posts in the public offices, which fall vacant between the times of the meeting of the Volksraad, subject to the ratification of that body. 36. The President shall have the right to suspend public officials. 37. The President with a majority of the Executive Council shall exercise the right of mercy in all criminal sentences. 38. The President with the consent of the Volksraad declares war and makes peace. 39. The President shall be able to make conventions, subject to the consent of the Volksraad. 40. The President shall not be able to make any treaty without consent of the Volksraad. 41. The President, or any member of the Executive Council, shall have the right at all times to inspect the state of the finances, as also the books of the officials. _Chapter VI.--Executive Council._ 42. There shall be an Executive Council, consisting of the Landrost of the capital, the Secretary of the Government, and three unofficial members, chosen by the Volksraad, to assist the President with advice and assistance. The President shall be the Chairman, and have a decisive vote. 43. The Executive Council shall hold session on the second Monday of each second month, and at such other times as the President may desire. 44. The Executive Council shall be bound to make a yearly report of its transactions to the Volksraad. 45. A majority of the Executive Council shall have the right to summon an extraordinary meeting of the Volksraad. 46. The President and the Executive Council shall have the power of declaring martial law. _Chapter VII.--The Judicial Power._ 47. The Landrost holds the power of civil commissioner and resident magistrate. 48. The judicial power is exclusively exercised by the courts of law, which are established by the law. 49. Legislation also regulates the administration of criminal justice, as also that in police cases, always understanding, however, that criminal cases brought in the first instance before the higher Courts are judged by a jury. _Chapter VIII.--The Military System._ 50. The Field-Cornets shall be chosen by and out of the burghers of their wards. 51. A Field-Commandant shall be chosen for each district, by and out of the burghers of the same. 52. The assembled Field-Commandants and Field-Cornets who are united on a commando shall choose from amongst themselves, in case of war, their own Commandant-General, which General must then receive his instructions from the President. 53. The assembled Field-Commandants and Field-Cornets have the right, during the course of the war, when they have just cause for so doing, to discharge the Commandant-General who had been chosen by them, and to appoint another, they being bound in that case to give notice to the President thereof, who on receipt of such announcement, and on finding the assigned reasons well founded, fixes the day on which a new election shall take place. 54. After the war there exists no longer any Commandant-General as such. 55. The Field-Cornets must be resident in their own wards and possess property therein. 56. The Field-Commandants must be resident in their own districts, possess fixed property to the amount of £200, and have lived one year in the country. _Chapter IX.--Miscellaneous Subjects._ 57. The Roman-Dutch law shall be the principal law of this State, where no other law has been made by the Volksraad. 58. The law is for all alike, always understanding that the judge shall exercise all laws with impartiality and without respect of persons. 59. Every inhabitant owes obedience to the law and the authorities. 60. Right of property is guaranteed. 61. Personal freedom, provisionally on remaining within the limitations of the law, is guaranteed. 62. The freedom of the press is guaranteed provisionally on remaining within the law. 
15106	----	Proofreading Team. ORIGIN OF THE ANGLO-BOER WAR REVEALED The Conspiracy of the 19th Century Unmasked By C.H. THOMAS of Belfast Transvaal formerly Orange Free State Burgher SECOND EDITION LONDON: HODDER AND STOUGHTON 27 PATERNOSTER ROW MCM _Butler & Tanner The Selwood Printing Works Frome and London_ NOTICE The present book had been intended for publication in South Africa before the end of 1899, with the object of laying bare the wicked and delusive aims of the Afrikaner Bond combination, to which the Anglo-Boer war alone is attributable, and to counteract its disastrous influences so far as then still possible. But until quite lately circumstances had conspired so as to prevent the writer from leaving the Transvaal, and when he at last obtained the required passport to Lourenço Marques he was there denied a permit to visit a colonial port. He therefore sailed for London in order to publish this book without more loss of time. Though too late to serve as a deterrent, the contents may be effective towards showing up the really guilty parties--the instigators and seducers of the deluded Boer nation, and so pave and widen the avenue of peace and of conciliation between Boer and Briton who were duped and victimized alike. The exposure of the actual culprits and originators should also operate favourably, and in mitigation in behalf of the much less guilty Boers, so as to dispose the victors to the exercise of magnanimous consideration. In exposing the villainy of the Dutch coterie in Holland, the writer is far from impugning the honourable character of that nation, the better part of whom, when once undeceived, will be the first to reprobate and disown those arch-plotters who sacrificed the peace of South Africa for personal and national advantage. Some other information regarding the Boers and South Africa will be found interspersed in this study, which will be found of use to the uninitiated and to intending emigrants to that sub-continent. As the reader proceeds with the examination of this book it will suggest comparisons and even analogies which may commend themselves as singularly apposite and instructive in relation with the study of the presently budding Eastern question. C.H. THOMAS NOTE TO SECOND EDITION The issue of a Second Edition has afforded an opportunity to correct a few linguistic blemishes, but the work has only been very slightly revised. CONTENTS PAGE NOTICE V INTRODUCTION 1 CURSORY HISTORY OF THE BOER NATION 6 PROSPERITY OF BOERS AND POLITICAL RELATIONS WITH ENGLAND UP TO 1881 16 TRANSVAAL HISTORY--SUZERAINTY 21 TREATMENT OF UITLANDERS, FRANCHISE, VENALITY, BRIBERY 25 MONSTER PETITION, JAMESON INCURSION, ARMAMENTS 37 BLOEMFONTEIN CONFERENCE, BOER ULTIMATUM 43 BOER LANGUAGE 52 THE DUTCH COTERIE, ITS SEAT IN HOLLAND 57 AFRIKANER BOND--OUTLINES AND PROGRAMME 62 PACIFIC POLICY OF GREAT BRITAIN 70 PRESS PROPAGANDA--SECRET SERVICE--TRADE RIVALRIES 72 DISLOYALTY OF COLONIAL BOERS 82 PORTUGUESE TERRITORY--TRANSVAAL LOW VELDT--MALARIA--HORSE SICKNESS 89 CLIMATE AND TOPOGRAPHY 95 BOER PREPAREDNESS FOR WAR 108 ALLIANCE OF ORANGE FREE STATE WITH TRANSVAAL--SUZERAINTY SQUABBLE--TRANSVAAL ARMAMENTS PRIOR TO JAMESON RAID 115 THE TRANSVAAL DYNAMITE AND EXPLOSIVES MONOPOLY 122 BOER FIGHTING STRENGTH 124 BOER CONSERVATISM, EDUCATION, DUNDEE DOSSIER, ANTI-ENGLISH PAMPHLET ENTITLED "A HUNDRED YEARS' INJUSTICE" 126 AN OLD FREE STATER'S ADMONITION 137 MODUS VIVENDI SUGGESTED BY OLD FREE STATER 143 MR. CHAMBERLAIN'S POLICY TO AVERT WAR 150 AFRIKANER BOND GUILT IN GRADATIONS 155 RÉSUMÉ 161 BOERS' NATIVE POLICY 167 ENGLAND'S NATIVE AND COLONIAL POLICY 172 OCCULT OPERATIONS AND AGENCIES 178 RELIGION 184 PHYSIQUE AND HABITS 193 PRESIDENT KRÜGER 207 PEACE ADJUSTMENTS 212 INTRODUCTION Apart from the progress of the present Anglo-Boer war a world-wide interest has been excited also upon the question of its actual origin. Much disparity of opinion prevails yet as to how it was provoked and upon which side the guilt of it all lay. English statesmen of noblest character and best discriminating gifts are seen professing opposite convictions; one party earnestly asserting the complete blamelessness of their Government, whilst the other, with equally sincere assurance, denounces the responsible Ministry for having provoked a most unjust war against a totally inoffensive people, whose only fault consisted in asserting its love of freedom, and for thus plunging the entire British nation into blackest guilt deserving universal reprobation, a blot and stigma upon Her Majesty's reign. In following the course of the arguments which have led to those opposing verdicts, one is impressed with the paucity and the clashing character of the information adduced. The marked reticence on the part of the British Cabinet in regard to its diplomatic proceedings tends further to mystify the inquirer, and leaves the bulk of the British nation in a painful state of suspense without conclusive data for judging whether the war is really justifiable or not. Nor do the various pamphlets and Press articles furnish sufficient light for exploring the maze and producing an approximate unanimity of conviction. It is hoped that the succeeding pages will be found to supplement the material so essential for diagnosing those grave questions with some degree of certainty, and to locate the guilt more precisely. Since my youth I have passed nearly forty years in uninterrupted and intimate intercourse with all classes of Boers, resulting in a sincere attachment to that people, with no small appreciation of its many good traits and character. Besides making myself familiar with the earlier portion of that nation's history, I have had leisure and opportunities to closely follow up its later interesting phases up to the present moment. These presented a more perplexing aspect during the last decade, adding a zest to my endeavours for unravelling them, and happening to be a good deal in the know I felt that I might not remain quiet. Being anything but anti-Boer, nor an Englishman, but a foreigner, born of continental parents and brought up in Europe, these facts should exempt me from a supposition of bias in exonerating England. It is with real grief that I must record my convictions against the Boer nation as solely and entirely guilty, but with this qualification, that its responsibility is much attenuated by the fact, as I will endeavour to show, that the bulk of that people has been unconsciously decoyed as tools of a gigantic intrigue, a conspiracy which was originated some thirty years ago by an infamous Hollander coterie, and operated since by its product and engine, the now well-known "Afrikaner Bond Association," with its significant motto of "Afrika voor Afrikaners"[1]--its object being no less than the eviction of all that is English from South Africa, and to substitute a federation of all South African States into one free and independent Republic, the affiliation to be with Holland instead, and Dutch the common and official language, other nations, in return for afforded aid, to participate in the trade and other advantages wrested from England. I only regret that my ability falls so much short for the task of demonstrating all this in an approved style--for doing justice to the subject. Its investigation embraces a wider range of details to serve as evidence than may, upon first thought, be held as relevant; but I believe that a willing study will show their connection as serviceable for arriving at an independent and unhesitating verdict. A very strong and convincing case is indeed needed for remodelling opinions where there is preconceived Boer partisanship, and where party spirit or else foreign jealousy have already warped judgment and established bias. It would be no small relief to every honest-minded person, especially in England, to be clear upon the subject that England is free of guilt--equally so to the soldier who is called upon to fight her battles. But other objects of no less importance are in view, viz., to open the eyes of the misguided Boer people to the wicked artifices by which it has been seduced from friendly relations with England into an unjustifiable war, to deter the still wavering portion from joining the ranks of sedition, and, lastly, the grounds for palliation being recognised, to pave the way to an early termination of the war by adjustments which could restore mutual goodwill and respect between the contending parties, and so bring about a speedy return of South African prosperity and progress. The writer is fully prepared to give data and names of the incidents adduced in this paper in support of their authenticity. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 1: Africa for white African citizens.] CURSORY HISTORY OF THE BOER NATION The two principal elements of the Boer nation were the settlers of the Dutch trading company at the Cape of Good Hope, sturdy farmers and tradesmen belonging to the proletarian class of Holland, and a subsequent contingent of French Huguenot refugees and their families who joined as colonists soon after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. I mention below the names still existing which form a large proportion of the present Boer nation of Huguenot descent:-- Billion Blignaut Bisseux Delporte Du prez Du Toit De la Bey Durand Davel De Langue Duvenage Fourie Fouché Grove Hugo Jourdan Lombard Le Roux Roux Lagrange Labuscaque Maré Marais Malan Malraison Maynard Malherbe De Meillon De Marillac Matthée Naudé Nortier Rousseau Taillard Theron Terblanche De Villiers Fortier Lindeque Vervier Vercueil Basson Pinard Duvenage Celliers de Clercq Leclercq Devinare Men of the best French stock, noted for honour, energy and perseverance, rather than recant their Protestant faith, abandoned seigneurial homes, high positions and lucrative callings to carve out fresh careers, and even to become humble farmers wherever they found asylums and tolerance, men who became very valuable accessions to the nations who received them and a correspondingly significant loss to France. To those two main elements were added sparse accessions from other nations at later intervals, and also a strain of aboriginal blood, of which a more or less faint tinge is still discernible in some families, an admixture which many deplore and others consider as most serviceable, supplying a subtle piquancy for perfecting the general stock. The early Cape Governors aimed at the prompt assimilation of those French people with their own colonists--to make Dutchmen of them. Among other drastic enactments to enforce that object, no other language but Dutch was permitted to be used in public of pain of corporal punishment. Not a few noble Frenchmen were subjected to that indignity for inadvertent breaches of that draconian law, but, as conscientious observers of biblical commands which enjoin subjection to all governmental rule, they willingly submitted and obeyed. Intermarriages with their Dutch fellow-colonists further promoted assimilation into one cohesive community. At the same time the Huguenot faith was transmitted to their descendants, and had a marked influence in sustaining common religious fervour and consistency. They did not look for a reward or compensation for the sacrifices endured, for the sake of faith, by those refugees, though a gracious providence, as the sequel showed, held in store a most ample restitution--magnificent heirlooms for their later descendants, heirlooms which are now unhappily staked in this present war. In 1814 a payment of six millions sterling received by the Prince of Orange closed the transfer of the Dutch Cape settlement to Great Britain. Immigration of English settlers followed and the area of the colony soon largely extended. As under the Dutch _régime_, the practice of slavery had continued until its abolition in 1833 by the ransom payable by the English Government to the owners of slaves. The Boer colonists deeply resented that act, and especially the next to impracticable condition which provided that payments could only be received in England instead of on the spot. Many were cheated of all their emancipation money by their appointed proxies or agents, or else had to submit to exorbitant charges and commissions; a great number voluntarily renounced all in disgust. By that time the existence had become known of promising tracts of country lying north of the Orange River beyond the confines of the British colonies, and a large number of Boers combined with the intention of establishing an independent community northwards free from British restraint. The British authorities appeared at that time not to fully realize that that movement was rife with future dangers and complications to their own colonial interests, that it meant the creation of a nucleus of a people openly averse to the English, and who would independently carry out practices in near proximity, especially in dealing with aborigines, which would seriously compromise them and become a standing menace against peaceful expansion and civilization. It was, on the other hand, anticipated that the movement could only end in disaster, the people being too few to make a successful stand against the numerous hostile Kaffir tribes. The Government, therefore, refrained from preventive measures, and confined its efforts to discouraging the emigration and to reconcile the malcontents. Those efforts, however, proved fruitless; the people held to their project with resolute fearlessness and self-confidence, and were even content to sacrifice their farms and homesteads, their sale being in some cases forbidden by special enactment. The terms of "Boer" and "Boer nation" do not convey or mean anything disparaging, rather the contrary. Boer simply means farmer, as a rule the proprietor of a farm of about 3,000 to 10,000 acres, who combines stock-breeding with a variety of other farming enterprises as well, according to the soil and locality. As a national designation, the term "Boer" conveys the distinction from the recently arrived Dutchman, who is called "Hollander." Hollanders, again, delight of late to claim the Boer nation as their kith and kin, but prefer to ignore the existence of the French Huguenot factor. The great "trek," with families and movables, as the emigration movement is called, occurred in 1836; some families started even before, and other contingents followed shortly afterwards. After many vicissitudes and nearly twenty years of wanderings, and a nomadic life attended with untold hardships and dangers, intermittent conflicts with native tribes, and at times also contests with British forces, they were eventually permitted, under treaty with England, to settle down and to constitute the independent Orange Free State and Transvaal Republics. That was in 1854 and 1852 respectively. But, until then, progress in the British colonies and peaceful relations with the several Kaffir nations had at times been sadly impeded by the aggressive native policy pursued by the Boers after the pattern adopted from the previous Dutch _régime_, which admitted of slavery, whilst English law had abolished and forbade that practice as contrary to a soundly moral method of civilizing natives and inimical to prosperous and peaceable colonial progress. Broils and wars between Boers and Kaffirs had been almost incessant, and intervals of peace only proved their mutually latent hostility. Besides being occasionally engaged in unavoidable wars with neighbouring tribes themselves, it became frequently incumbent upon the British military authorities to intervene in conflicts induced by the Boers, alternately protecting them against natives and natives against the Boers, and all that at the unnecessary expenditure of much blood and treasure. The Boer occupation of Natal was found to be wholly prejudicial to British interests on aforesaid accounts, and was, besides, contrary to the express declaration of the Boer emigrants at the time of their exodus from the Cape Colony, which was that their new settlements should be located north of the Orange River. Stepping in to the eastward and claiming part of the littoral constituted a rivalry in conflict with that understanding, and England therefore considered it within her rights to expel the Boers from Natal, and to proceed with the colonization there with British settlers instead. That temporary occupation of Natal had been fraught to the Boers with most stirring episodes--some of the most melancholy description, and others representing records of really unsurpassed heroism, which can but arouse deepest emotions and admiration in any reader of their history. There was the treacherous massacre of Retief and Potgeiter and his party by the Zulu king Dingaan at his military kraal, followed by other wholesale massacres of men, women, and children at Weenen and other Boer camps in Natal. Then came the punitive expedition of 450 Boers, armed with flint-locks only, who utterly defeated Dingaan's most redoubtable impi of 10,000 warriors, and resulted in the complete overthrow of that Zulu monarch. When that punitive Boer commando was about to start upon its mission it was solemnly vowed to observe a day of national thanksgiving each year if Divine aid were vouchsafed to accomplish the object. That brilliant victory had occurred on the 16th December, 1838, and the day has ever since been religiously observed as had been vowed. The celebrations in the Transvaal take place at Paarden-kraal, near Johannesburg, and some other accessible and central camping grounds, where the burghers with their families congregate in thousands--a sort of feast of tabernacles, lasting three days, undeterred by the most boisterous weather. The declaration of independence fell on that same date at Paarden-kraal in 1879, and it was also in December of the succeeding year that the Boers proved victorious over the British troops in Natal, after which the Transvaal had its independence generously restored by the Gladstone Ministry (subject to treaty 1881). On those anniversaries stirring speeches would be made by the elder leading men, rehearsing the events of the nation's history so as to grave them upon the minds of the younger, and to revive the thankful memories of the elder people. It is only in human nature that unsympathetic feelings against the English would intrude upon the thanksgivings on those occasions, especially as it continues yet to be averred that the British authorities had incited the Zulu king Dingaan to those massacres. Nevertheless, except in instances of implacable natures, the predominant sentiments at those gatherings were those of gratitude to the Almighty and good-will towards all men. After the peace of 1881, it used to be publicly recognised that the English were entitled thenceforth to a first place in the nation's friendship, and that the retrocession put a term to all recriminations applying to previous dates. The sequel has shown that soon afterwards another spirit was allowed to intrude to displace those good and just sentiments, and that without any reason or provocation and despite a persistently loyal and sincere attitude of friendship and confidence observed towards the Boers by the, British Government and the English people in South Africa. As instances may be cited: (1) England's conceding spirit in assenting to a modification of the convention of 1881 and agreeing to that of 1884; (2) genial treatment of the colonial Boers on perfect equality with English colonists, sharing in the privileges of self-government, the Dutch language also raised to equal rights with English; (3) most harmonious relations with the Orange Free State; (4) reduction of transit duties for goods to the Republics to 5 per cent, and later to 3 per cent.; (5) unrestricted privilege for the importations of arms and ammunition to both Republics. In lieu of friendly reciprocity the return began to be rancorous mistrust and revival of hatred. In the course of our study to account for this sad and unwarrantable change on the part of the Boers we will be following the trail of the serpent and track it right up to its Hollander lair and to its at first unsuspected product, the Afrikaner Bond. PROSPERITY OF BOERS AND POLITICAL RELATIONS WITH ENGLAND UP TO 1881 A period of about twenty-five years following the establishment of the Orange Free State and Transvaal Republics was marked with much progress and prosperity in the Cape Colonies and Natal, both Republics also having cause to rejoice over similar advancement. The evil influence which aimed at rending good relations between Boer and English became more apparent after 1881. During the preceding era the two races actually had been in a fair way towards friendly assimilation. Mutual appreciation was further stimulated by the reciprocal benefits arising from trade and economic relations. Intermarriages became more frequent under such friendly intercourse, a respectable Englishman being truly prized in those days as a Boer's son-in-law. The English language also largely advanced in favour and prestige not only among the Cape Colonial and Natal Boers, but also in both Republics, and anti-English sentiments were fast being supplanted by amity and goodwill. The principal event in the Orange Free State during that period was a three years' exhaustive war with the Basuto nation, which ended in the latter's defeat in 1867. Their chief Moshesh then appealed for British intervention. The Basutos thus came under England's protection, and a peace resulted which has ever since continued, through British prestige and authority as well as good government. The Orange Free State gained a large tract of the territory conquered by that State, but had to renounce the rest. Then, in about 1870, came the discovery of the diamond-fields, situated on the then still ill-defined western limits of the State. According to a boundary line claimed by Great Britain, those diamond-fields fell outside Free State territory. That State received £90,000 compensation for improvements and expenses incurred during its short occupation of that disputed strip of diamondiferous ground. The diamond-fields at Jagersfontein and Koffyfontein were subsequently discovered and lie deep within the confines of the State. President Brand had proved his sagacity and discretion in concluding the negotiations with England upon the question of the peace with the Basutos and then again in submitting to the boundary delimitations, it being contended even yet that the Orange Free State had the weightier arguments in its favour in both instances. The people of that Republic proved however to be the ultimate gainers in those adjustments; they did not miss the more solid advantages attending the discovery of the diamond-fields. Believed of the grave responsibility involved in governing a turbulent population of foreign diggers, the geographical position of the Kimberley fields secured to the Free State farmers an almost entire monopoly in the supply of products; trade also flourished apace, all tending to enrich the inhabitants and the State revenue as well. But the Orange Free State derived a permanent advantage, quite unique and more than compensating the apparent set-back suffered by the loss of the diamond-field territory and by British intervention in the Basuto war matter, in that the method of those procedures saddled England with the responsibility of guaranteeing the internal safety of the State from those hitherto unprotected borders "altogether at her own cost." The Keate award completed the British cordon around the Free State, excepting only in regard to the Transvaal frontier. No need thenceforth for costly military provisions for the protection of the State--it was, as it were, walled and fenced in at British expense, and the State revenue was thus for ever relieved of a very heavy item of expenditure, which could be devoted to the increase of the national wealth instead--a peaceful security accompanied with an intrinsic gain constituting a veritable and permanent heirloom for the people of that State. It is notable that the position of the Orange Free State, without any other access to the sea-board than from colonial ports, made its status and welfare entirely dependent upon the friendly and loyal good faith of England. Up to the present unhappy war that State enjoyed unaltered the best relations without being ever subjected to even a trace of chicanery from the part of Great Britain. By what illusion, it may well be asked, could that hitherto friendly people have been deluded to risk all in a disloyal breach with England by joining the Transvaal in a "Bond" issue against her best friend? Towards the Transvaal also had England proved her earnest desire to maintain an intercourse on the basis of sincere amity, desirous only of reciprocity, which indeed could be expected in willing return, seeing that England took upon her own shoulders to provide for the protection and welfare of the entire area of South Africa by sea and land, whilst both Republics freely participated in all the great benefits so derived. These considerations should substantially disprove the wicked aspersion lately made that British policy aimed at the subversion of republican autonomy in those two States. All that Great Britain needed and confidently expected in return for her goodwill was friendly adhesion, and a willing recognition of her paramountcy in matters affecting the common weal of South Africa as a whole, and also such reciprocity and mutual concern in the welfare of all as consistently comport with common interests. How fell and malignant the "influence" which operated a treacherous ingratitude and hostility instead! TRANSVAAL HISTORY--SUZERAINTY The references made to the history of the Transvaal so far reach up to the rehabilitation of its independence and the convention of 1881. Some of the conditions of that treaty, especially the subordinate position imposed by the suzerainty clause, were found to be repugnant to the burghers. Delegates were therefore commissioned to proceed to England in order to get the treaty so altered as to place the State into the status provided by the Sand River convention, which conceded absolute independence. Mr. Jorrison, a violent anti-English Hollander, was the chief adviser of the members of that delegation. To that the English Ministry could not assent, but sought to meet the wishes of the people by agreeing to certain modifications of the convention of 1881. This was effected with the treaty of 1884. The delegates had specially urged the renunciation of the suzerainty claim, but that claim appears not to have been abandoned, to judge from the absence of such mention in the novated treaty. Had its renunciation been agreed to, as has been since averred, it is quite certain that the delegates would not have been content without the mention in most distinct terms of that, to them, so important point. It may therefore be assumed as a fact that the negotiations did not result in an active suspension of the relations as set forth in the convention of 1881, and that the Transvaal continued in a status of subordinacy to England, but only with a wider range in regard to conditions of autonomy. To most lay minds it therefore appears perfectly clear that the Transvaal delegates had well understood and accepted, and so had also their Government, that the convention of 1884 was _de facto_ a renewal of that of 1881, with the only difference that it provided an enlarged exercise of autonomy, but without in the least abrogating the principles of respective relations, which were left intact, or at least latent. It has been averred and a strong point made in the theory of repudiating suzerainty or over-lordship that Lord Kimberley had given the assurance that the right of Transvaal autonomy and independence was meant to equal that of the Orange Free State. This need not be contested, as that Minister obviously relied upon a similar observance of staunch adhesion towards England which that State had shown during a period of thirty years previous; the fact that the Transvaal was quite differently situated as to adjoining territory imposed the necessity, if only as a matter of form, to preserve the written conditions of Transvaal vassalage. Lord Kimberley, in 1889, intimated the readiness of his Government to afford advisory and other co-operation with the Transvaal Government in order to cope with the new element of foreign immigration, resulting from the discovery of the rich gold-fields, and to provide appropriate relations with a new floating population, without materially altering the status of Transvaal authority, or the methods of government then in practice. The Transvaal Government, however, preferred to ignore that loyal offer, and to be guided by Bond principles instead. That circumstance affords another proof that England did not then see the necessity, as has subsequently been the case, of strengthening her position against Bond aggression by imposing a demand of general franchise for Uitlanders. One aspect of the prolonged controversy _re_ suzerainty forced upon England would be to denote a lack of honour, which is not of unfrequent occurrence when one party to a contract seeks by cavil and legal quibble to evade compliance with some of its conditions, simply because the written terms appear to afford scope for doing so. But the principal reason of the Transvaal contention proceeded from the project of gaining over some strong foreign ally who would see an obstacle, if not scruples, in joining common cause whilst England's claim of over-lordship remained unshaken. But for that consideration the Transvaal Government inwardly viewed the whole of the treaties as waste paper, since it was not only intended to violate them all, but also to bring about, at an opportune moment, a hostile severance from England. In the meantime, the academic squabble was to serve as a decoy to hide Transvaal identification with any such sinister objects, and to divert attention and suspicion. TRANSVAAL HISTORY--TREATMENT OF UITLANDERS--FRANCHISE To resume the cursory history of the Transvaal. Mr. Burger, during his Presidency in the early seventies, went to Europe with the mission of attracting capital to the development and exploitation of gold, etc., then already authentically discovered; also, to provide for the building of a railway connecting with Delagoa Bay. The Transvaal Boers were at that time exceedingly poor, and without a sufficient revenue for properly maintaining the administration. Beyond creating a lively interest, his success was confined to an agreement with a company in Holland for building a section of that railroad, which, however, fell through, because the Transvaal proved ultimately unable to furnish its quota of the necessary funds. The present President fared better. A Dutch company styled "The Nederlandsch Zuid Afrikaansche Spoorweg Maatschappy," abbreviated "Z.A.S.M.," undertook the work and completed it in 1887, from the Portuguese border to Pretoria. The line from Pretoria to the Natal border was soon after built, as also several extensions around the Wit-waters Rand, and that from Pretoria to Pietersburg. The section connecting Delagoa Bay as far as the Transvaal border had previously been completed by McMurdo, and is the subject of the present Berne arbitration.[2] The contract conferred to the Dutch Company a monopoly, and most advantageous financial terms as well. By that time great strides had been made in the development of the Transvaal gold-fields, especially at the Wit-waters Rand (Johannesburg); and immigration on a large scale from all parts of the world had set in, and was constantly increasing with vast amounts of investments in mercantile and other enterprises, as well as in mining industries. At first, equitable laws governed burghers and Uitlanders alike, administered by an independent judiciary. All desirable security was afforded for person and property, with confidence in the safety of investments, and great general prosperity kept pace with ever-increasing activities and enterprise. It was a great satisfaction to Uitlanders that the peace of 1881, and the reinstatement of Transvaal independence, had restored harmony between Boer and English, and that a policy was being followed to preclude friction between the respective Governments. Those facts largely stimulated investments and enhanced confidence. By 1887 the alien population had already exceeded 100,000, and the capital investments £200,000,000 sterling, and the desire so ardently entertained by the people of the land, for twenty years back, was gratified at last. The burghers shared in the prosperity to a very large degree, and in lieu of former poverty, competence and wealth became the rule, and many of them became exceedingly rich. It was not unusual to hear Boers expressing undisguised gratitude, not merely for the natural gold deposits, but specially also that people had come to prospect and to invest capital, without which the wealth of the land would have remained unexploited and lain fallow. Harmony and cordiality were the proper outcome between foreigners and Boers. The influx of capital and of immigrants continued to increase, but not so the happy conditions. These were gradually getting marred by a spirit of variance, no one seemed to know how. The study of this paper will reveal it. The variance between Boers and Uitlanders began to be specially discernible from 1887 and had been increasing like a blight ever since. This was noticeably coincident with the numerous arrivals of educated Hollanders employed for the railways and the Government administration. In the earlier period of the Transvaal Republic, one year's residence was first held sufficient for acquiring full franchise or burgher rights and voting qualifications. The condition was successively raised to two, three, and five years; but in 1890 laws were passed which required fourteen years' probation, with conditions which virtually brought the term to twenty-one years, and even then left the acquisition of full franchise to the caprice of field-cornets and higher officials. Englishmen and their descendants were at one time totally and for ever excluded and disqualified just merely because of their nationality whilst Hollanders were admitted in very large numbers without having to pass any probation at all or only comparatively short terms. The English language became a target for hostility and as good as proscribed; impracticable and ludicrous attempts even were made to exclude its use in Johannesburg, where hardly any Uitlander understood Dutch, whilst every Boer official was well versed in English: market and auction sales were to be conducted only in Dutch; bills of fare at hotels and restaurants were also to be in full-fledged Dutch only--and all this, it must be remembered, some years before the Jameson incursion took place. The judiciary, which, according to the "Grondwet" (Constitution), was the highest legal authority, was by one stroke of enactment rendered subservient and subordinate to the First Volksraad. The then Chief Justice (Kotzee) was ignominiously deposed for honourably contending against the grave departure from right and justice in subverting the sacred prerogative due to the highest tribunal, which Boer and Uitlander alike relied upon for independent justice. A new system of education was next introduced which admitted only High Dutch as the medium of instruction in public schools. As only Hollander children could benefit by such tuition, and whereas those of other immigrants could not understand that language, the effect was that parents of English and other nationalities had to combine in establishing private schools or else to employ private teachers at their own expense--whilst paying, in the way of taxation, for Hollander public schools as well. That oppressive system was subsequently somewhat modified in a manner which admitted the English language as a medium for a portion of the school hours, the proportion so accorded being larger in Johannesburg and other such wholly English-speaking centres than in other parts of the State; but the amelioration did not take place until after much irritation and expense had been occasioned, nor did it meet the case of hardship more than half-way. I may here place the remark that the public educational department is conducted without stint of expenditure in providing from Holland the amplest and best school equipments and highly salaried Dutch professors and teachers. Irritating class legislation began to be systematically resorted to, to the prejudice of Uitlanders (the majority of whom, it will be borne in mind, were English), which painfully pointed to a fixed determination on the part of the Boers to lord it over them as a totally inferior class, allowing them no representation, and to treat them, in fact, just as a conquered people placed under tribute and proper only to be dominated and exploited. Boers could walk or ride about armed to the teeth, whilst Uitlanders were forbidden to possess arms under penalty of confiscation and other punishments (except sporting-guns under special permit). The like irritations became rampant by 1890 already. The alien population were at first too much occupied with their prosperous vocations to combine in the way of protesting against such prevailing usage. The Press was, however, eventually employed, and the Government was approached with respectful petitions praying for redress of the most glaring causes of discontent; but those were invariably either disdainfully rejected or ignored, or, if some matter was relieved, other more exasperating enactments were defiantly substituted. They were cynically told that they had come to their (the Boer's) country unasked, and were at liberty, and in fact invited, to leave it if the laws did not please them. This was said, well knowing that to leave would involve too great sacrifices of homes and investments. The Uitlanders could not, however, be brought to the belief that the Government of a conscientious people could persist in dealing with them as if a previous design had existed--first to inveigle them and their capital into their midst, with the object of goading and despoiling them afterwards. The course of petitioning and respectful remonstrances was therefore persevered in, but all to no purpose. Indignation and resentment were the natural result of those failures. There appeared no alternative but to submit or else to abandon all and leave the country. It is true that numerous Uitlanders acquired competences, and some were amassing fortunes, but such prizes were comparatively few. The majority just managed, with varying success, to reap a reasonable return for their outlays and energies, or only to live more or less comfortably. The fashion of luxurious and unthrifty living, so prevalent among the "_nouveaux riches_" and the section who vied with them, impressed the Boers with the notion that all were getting rich, and that soon there would be nothing left for them in the race. In their Hollander Press they were reminded that the gold, in reality belonging to them, was rapidly being exhausted, and the wealth appropriated by aliens, whose hewers of wood and drawers of water they would finally become. All this galled them to the heart, and the Government readily lent itself to proceedings intended to balance conditions in favour of their burghers, as the process was described. I will adduce a few instances. As is well known, it is only burghers and some privileged Hollanders who are employed in Government service, from President down to policeman. There are very few exceptions to this rule, which also applies to the nominations of jurymen, who are well paid too. The salaries of all, especially in the higher grades, had been largely augmented; the President receiving £8,000 per year, and so on downwards. For Government supplies and public works the tenders of burghers only, and perhaps of some privileged persons, are accepted. In many instances the tenderers are without any pretence of ability for the performance of the contract, but are nevertheless accepted, performing only a _sub rosa rôle_. One such instance occurred some years ago when a burgher who did not possess £100--a simple farmer and a kind of "slim" speculator--received by Volksraad vote the contract for building a certain railway.[3] The price included a very large margin to be distributed in places of interest--as douceurs of £1,000 to £5,000 each, and £10,000 for the _pro forma_ contractor and his Volksraad confederates; all those sums were paid out by the firm for whom the contract was actually taken up. Similarly in contracts for road making, repairing, and making streets, etc., etc. On one occasion a rather highly placed official obtained a contract for repairing certain streets in Pretoria for £60,000. The work being worth £20,000 at most, the difference went to be shared by the several official participants. One of the first instances of glaring peculation occurred about fifteen years ago in relation with the Selati railway contract obtained by Baron Oppenheim.[4] The procedure was publicly stigmatized as bribery. It had transpired that nearly all the Volksraad's members had received gifts in cash and values ranging each from £50 to £1,000 prior to voting the contract, but what was paid after voting did not become public at the time of exposure. The acceptance of those gifts was ultimately admitted, in the face of evidence adduced in a certain law case; denial became, in fact, impossible. The plea of exoneration was that those gifts had been freely accepted without pledging the vote. The President publicly exculpated the honourable members, expressing his conviction that none of them could have meant to prejudice the State in their votes for the contract; and as there had been no pledge on their part, the donor had actually incurred the risk of missing his object. From that time the practice of obtaining and selling concessions or of sinecures and other lucrative advantages grew quite into a trade; and receiving douceurs became a hankering passion from highest to lowest, but happily with not a few exceptions where the official's honour was above being priced. There was nothing shocking in all this venality to the bulk of the Johannesburg speculator class and others of that category. The rest assessed official morality at a depreciated value, but hoped the blemishes might be purged out with other and graver causes for discontent, if Uitlanders, were only granted some effective representation in public matters. That appeared to be the only constitutional remedy. But this continued to be resentfully refused, even in matters which partook of purely domestic interest, such as education, municipal privileges, etc. The latter were opposed upon the specious argument that such extended rights would constitute an _imperium in imperio,_ and thus a condition incompatible with the safety and the conservation of complete control. In the usual intercourse with burghers and officials a great deal of exasperating and even humiliating experiences had often to be endured, Uitlanders being treated as an inferior class, with scarcely veiled and often with arrogant assumption of superiority. I witnessed a field cornet enjoying free and courteous hospitality at a Uitlander's house, while being entertained by his host and others in the vernacular Dutch, peremptorily object to the conversation in English in which the lady of the house happened to be engaged with another guest at the further end of the table. His remark was to the effect "that he could not tolerate English being spoken within his hearing"; this was in about 1888. No wonder that under such conditions and ungenial usage Englishmen and other Uitlanders were put in a resentful mood, and many of them bethought themselves of methods other than constitutional to improve their position. Identification was resorted to with the Imperial League, a political organization called into being in the Cape Colony to stem Boer assertiveness there and to restrain Bond aspirations. It was also seriously mooted to obtain the good offices of Great Britain as an influence for intervention and remonstrance. It was not that the Transvaal Government was unaware of its duty and responsibility to remove causes which produced discontent and resentment among by far the larger section of the people under its rule. It seemed rather that the Uitlanders were provoked with systematic intention. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 2: The Berne award has, as is well known, since been given.] [Footnote 3: The Ermelo-Machadodorp branch.] [Footnote 4: These very details were since made public in the Belgian Law courts in the recent _cause célèbre_ of "The Government of the South African Republic _versus_ Baron Oppenheim."] MONSTER PETITION--JAMESON INCURSION--ARMAMENTS It was at this stage in May, 1894, that a monster petition with some 25,000 signatures was presented to the Volksraad, setting forth the entire position, and praying for a commission to be appointed to examine the merits of the Uitlander complaints, and to frame a programme of reforms, the interests of the mining community needing such in a most urgent degree, not only for the sake of its own prosperity, but for the welfare of the entire State. A commission was indeed appointed, who reported in favour of the petitioners, and suggested a series of reforms; but the final Volksraad vote resulted in an angry rejection of the petition and denunciation of its organizers. As on the occasion of previous memorials, some few abuses were redressed, but those benefits were made worse than nugatory by enactments in other directions of a still more galling nature. The petitioners found themselves snubbed and in the position of humiliating defeat. Treatment of Coloured British Subjects A glaring instance of oppression practised by the Transvaal Government was its cruel treatment of coloured British subjects who had been admitted into the State. Among these figured some thousands of educated Asiatic traders, including numerous cultured Indian and Parsee merchants with large stakes in the State and well-appointed residences, people whose very religion exacted the most scrupulous cleanliness and who had all proved themselves obedient and law-abiding. These were classed under one rubric with the vastly inferior coolie labourer, with Kaffirs and Hottentots, and actually compelled to abandon their stores and residences to reside in one common ghetto upon the outskirts of the towns, a measure which entailed great losses apart from the gratuitous humiliation--to many it involved ruin and in fact meant their expulsion. It will be remembered that some years before already the English Government had felt it incumbent to advocate the cause of coloured British subjects and to remonstrate against their ill-usage. The matter was ultimately submitted to arbitration at Bloemfontein, under the umpireship of Sir Henry de Villiers, whose award, contrary to expectation, was adverse to the coloured people. Here was indeed a unique occasion for the Transvaal Government to exercise geniality upon a point sorely felt by the British Government; but the very contrary course was adopted under the ægis of that notorious award, and upon the untenable plea that sanitation and regard to public health necessitated that measure of segregation. Despite the fact that no royalty was yet exacted upon the gold output, probably to please French, American, and German investors, there seemed to exist a veiled hostility against the representatives of mining capitalists, as if the Government regretted to have allowed the exploitation of the mines to fall into private hands and would welcome an opportunity to take them under State control altogether. The Uitlander Press vented public sentiment and denounced the Government attitude in unmistakable terms; there were besides some angry public demonstrations. It was an alarming time of impending crisis, rife with signs of open revolt; the Government looking calmly on awaiting developments. It was then that the President's since famous saying was pronounced, viz., "that the tortoise must first be allowed to put out its head before it could be struck off, and that he was ready for any emergency." The situation had a truly anomalous aspect. More discoveries of gold and even of diamonds followed apace, and the scope for mining, commercial and industrial enterprises expanded to an incalculable magnitude. All that was needed was a stable and good Government to encourage the needful investments. A most tantalizing picture indeed, based upon undeniably well-grounded facts. As it was, the situation was one of alarm for capital already invested--a stake then of over 300 millions sterling in a country where more than half of the population were in almost open revolt against a Government commanding very large repressive forces, and resolved to maintain its stand. British intervention appeared to be the only means of salvation to restore security, and to give a fillip to the brilliant prospects of the country, for the good of the burgher estate as well as for the sake of Uitlanders. As the Government continued deaf and obdurate to representations, other means were sought for. No wonder the Uitlanders longed for a change, not by any means with the object of altering the style of Republican status, but to get the Augean stable of misgovernment cleansed, to escape oppressive and rapacious Boer domination. The farcical failure of Dr. Jameson was the outcome of those endeavours. The unspeakable cowardice of his Johannesburg confederates was the chief feature of that puny attempt. Laurels, like those gained by Lord Peterborough, Warren Hastings, or Lord Clive, were not decreed to that ill-advised emulator. Nothing could have been more propitious than that very Jameson incursion to fan race hatred and to advance the projects of the Afrikaner Bond--"Afrika voor de Afrikaners," for, whilst no one acquainted with the facts can for a moment doubt the guilt of the Transvaal Government for having systematically provoked that attempt at revolution, "Bond" propaganda and paid journalism had a rare chance to set up the theory that annexation on behalf of Great Britain had been foully planned--the Prince of Wales even being an abettor of the attempted _coup d'état_ purely to gratify the lust of greed for the gold and diamonds of the poor innocent Boers. No terms were too vituperative to denounce the enormity. Millions of honest persons all over the world were deluded--there was a bitter cry of almost universal indignation. The Boer Government posed as innocent; the designs of the Afrikaner Bond were not even suspected--its ranks, in sympathy with those delusions sped on filling up faster than ever, and the father of lies was scoring another very sensible triumph. In lieu of reforms, Bond projects and armaments were secretly pursued with redoubled vigour towards the climax which should install Afrikanerdom supreme in South Africa, financially as well as politically. BLOEMFONTEIN FRANCHISE CONFERENCE--BOER ULTIMATUM Capitalists had already begun to feel nervous about the final security of their investments; operations and credit became restricted, fresh projects were abandoned and a persistent withdrawal of capital set in. Trade and prosperity were progressively waning, accompanied with still more ominous portents for the Uitlanders' future. It all meant a very extensive weeding out of investments under enormous losses, except such as stood in relation with dividend-paying mines. England, though apparently apathetic and inactive, was not inattentive to the situation. Whoever had a stake, whether in South Africa or abroad, looked to Great Britain as the Power upon whom the duty devolved to provide a peaceable remedy. The suzerainty controversy was then followed by other questions of diplomatic difference, among which that of the franchise reform. Upon this matter English intervention took an insistent form. It clearly turned all upon that--and once it were satisfactorily arranged, the amicable solution of other questions might in turn be expected to follow. As to suzerainty, that claim appeared relegated to remain in abeyance. A conference was convened at Bloemfontein early in June, 1899, for the discussion of those topics between the Colonial Governor, Sir Alfred Milner, and the Presidents of the two Republics. The outcome was a final demand for the right of representation of the Uitlander interests in the legislative bodies of the Transvaal, amounting to one-fifth of the total aggregate of members, the voting qualifications to consist in the usual reasonable conditions and a residence in the State of five years, operating retrospectively. We may here consider whether such a demand contained any real feature of unfairness to warrant refusal. Three-fifths of the entire white Transvaal population were Uitlanders, the majority of them English. They own four-fifths of the total wealth invested in the State. About half of them have been domiciled, with house and other fixed property, for periods of from five to ten years and more. The preponderance is not only in numbers and wealth, but also in intelligence and in contributing at least four-fifths of the total State revenues. Is it right or prudent to exclude such interests and such a majority from legislative representation? Could a minority of one-fifth, that is to say, twelve Uitlander members against forty-eight Boer members, be said to constitute a menace to the status or to the conservative interests of State? Do Uitlanders not deserve equal recognition with the burghers in respect to intrinsic interest in the land, seeing that the former supplied all the skill and the capital to explore and exploit the mine wealth, all at their risk, and without which it would all have remained hidden and the country continued fallow and poor? Though one-fifth would be so small a minority, it would at least have afforded the constitutional method of declaring the wishes of Uitlanders, and have done away with the disquieting and less effective practices of Press agitations, public demonstrations, and petitions. The measure could also have been expected to open up the way towards reconciling relations between the English and Boer races, beginning in the Transvaal, where it was hoped that the burghers would be gained over as friends, and so to stand aloof from the Afrikaner Bond. These were the supreme objects for peaceful progress and not for annexation. Solemn assurances from highest quarters were repeatedly given that no designs existed against the integrity of the Republic, that nothing unfriendly lurked behind the franchise demand, but that necessity dictated it for general good and the preservation of peace. Nor were other diplomatic means left unemployed to ensure the acceptance of the franchise reform. In addition to firmness of attitude and a display of actual force, most of the other Powers, including the United States of America, were induced to add their weight of persuasion in urging upon the Transvaal the adoption of the measures demanded by England for correcting the existing trouble. It may be urged that the display of force in sending the first batches of troops would have afforded grounds for exasperation, and be construed by the Transvaal as a menace and actual hostility, tending to precipitate a conflict which it was so earnestly intended to avoid. To this may be replied that the 20,000 men sent in August were readily viewed as placing the hitherto undermanned Colonial garrisons upon an appropriate peace effective only; but not so with respect to the army corps of 50,000 men despatched in September--this was felt as an intended restraint against "Bond" projects, to enforce the observance of any agreement which the Transvaal might for the nonce assent to, and above all it was tending, unless at once opposed by the Bond, to weaken its ranks by producing hesitation and ultimate defection from that body; the die was thus to be cast, duplicity appeared to be played out--the ultimatum of 9th October was the outcome; and England, though unprepared, could not possibly accept it otherwise than as a wilful challenge to war. As the pursuit of our study will show, the success of Mr. Chamberlain's diplomacy to avert war depended upon the very slender prospects that the Transvaal Government might have been induced to waver, and finally to break with the Afrikaner Bond--a forlorn hope indeed, considering the perfection which that formidable organization had reached. Its cherished objects were not meant to be abandoned. The advice of "Bond" leaders prevailed. War was declared and the Rubicon crossed in enthusiastic expectations of soon realizing the long-deferred Bond motto: "The expulsion of the hateful English." It is true the Transvaal had made a show of acquiescence to British and foreign pressure. This first took the shape of an offer of a seven years' franchise, and then one of five years, exceeding even Mr. Milner's demands as to the number of Uitlander representation. That of seven years was so fenced in with nugatory trammels and conditions that it had for those reasons to be rejected; whilst that at five years was coupled with the equally unacceptable conditions that the claim of suzerainty should be renounced, and that in all other respects the Transvaal should be recognised as absolutely independent in terms of the Sand River Convention of 1852. Those offers could hardly have been made in sincerity, but rather as a temporary device and to meet the susceptibilities of the advising Powers, for all the time preparations for war were never relaxed for a moment, but were pushed on with extreme vigour. On the other hand, the British programme seeking to ensure peace by the franchise expedient had been strictly followed without deviation. When the Transvaal Government professed irritation over the disposition of some British troops too near the Transvaal border, they were promptly removed to more remote and less strategic positions, rather than incur the risk of rupture. During the month preceding the outbreak of the war, some large continental consignments of war munitions were, as usual, permitted to reach the Republics unhindered through several Colonial ports, portions being actually smuggled over the Colonial railways as merchandise addressed to a well-known Pretoria firm, but on arrival were secretly delivered, under cover of night, at the various forts and arsenals. These proceedings were carried out with the connivance of the Colonial Bond authorities, and though known to the British Governor, it was all winked at rather than hazard the momentous objects of peace by the introduction of another knotty subject. To sum up the situation, it was a diplomatic contest on the part of Great Britain aiming at peace and to safeguard her possessions and prestige, while the Afrikaner Bond, on the other part, continued active in the work of sedition and preparing for a war of usurpation. Every one must admit that the demand of the British Ministry for an immediate and adequate representation proceeded from the necessity and the desire to overcome the South African crisis in a just and pacific way. The measure was counted upon to effect conciliation between the Uitlander and burgher elements, and as a further result was earnestly hoped to bring about the secession of the Transvaal from the Afrikaner Bond, and so reduce that dangerous confederacy to a somewhat negligible impotence. To discover other objects of a sinister sort lurking behind needs a more than inventive genius. A united Afrikaner Bond, persistent to carry out its fell project, definitely meant war sooner or later. Its first step in launching out to it was that notorious ultimatum, which was tantamount to snatching back the feigned offers of the seven and five years' franchise. According to original programme, the very next step to accomplish the _coup d'état_ was the immediate seizure of all Colonial ports, and to complete a general and irrevocable Boer rising all over the Colonies. All the while the old device had been put into practice of hiding Bond guilt by accusing England of designs against the integrity of the Boer Republics. But directly after, in the exultation of victorious invasions, the mask was shamelessly dropped, and Boerdom stands out defiantly and nakedly self-confessed, aiming at conquest and supremacy over all South Africa. Will the ensuing century have in store an instance to match that record plot of artifice and dissimulation, and see half the world duped into partisanship with it--by journalistic craft? It may well be imagined that Mr. Chamberlain and his noble colleagues had anything but beds of roses whilst pursuing the diplomacy adopted to checkmate the Bond. They had to gain national support without divulging their own proceeding, and were at the same time reduced to a situation which imposed a spartan fortitude in concealing and repressing involuntary perturbation in the presence of an impending national crisis, and also the stoical endurance of bitter recriminations on the part of an opposition comprising a large and honourable but poorly informed section of the English nation. BOER LANGUAGE We come now to the topic of language, which will be found relevant, showing Hollander and Bond influence in using that also as a hostile weapon. What the Boers still speak is a vernacular or dialect so far removed from High Dutch as to be unintelligible to the uninitiated Hollander. It took its form from the dialects brought to the Cape of Good Hope by unlettered Dutch colonists and a large admixture of locally produced idioms, with a slight trace of the structure of the French language in expressing negations. In the two Republics High Dutch rules for official purposes, but in common intercourse the vernacular Dutch is still about the same as it had been a hundred years ago. For an English-Dutch interpreter the thorough knowledge of the vernacular is essential. Preachers and teachers have to adapt their speech by combining High Dutch with the dialect, the one or the other predominating according to the capacity of the hearers. Hollanders follow the same method when learning the vernacular Dutch. In towns and villages, not only in the Colonies, but also in both Republics, English is almost exclusively used. The Boers, and especially the younger generation, have a much greater aptitude and penchant for learning English than for High Dutch; and generally it has been held more important by the parents that their children should become proficient in English, that language being more easily acquired and of vastly greater use than Dutch. The latter, it was truly averred, would be learnt as they grew up quite sufficiently for all purposes. The feeling thus existed some twenty years ago that English would become general, and ultimately oust both Dutch and the vernacular. Numerous Boer patriots then devised the remedy of preserving the vernacular by raising it to the standard of a written and printed language for official as well as common use. The Rev. du Toit, later appointed Minister (or Superintendent) of Education in the Transvaal, worked tenaciously towards making that movement a national success. He had the co-operation of many other educated patriots likewise. The _Paarl Patriot_, a journal published in the vernacular, is one of the surviving efforts. Vocabularies, school books, etc., etc., were printed in that dialect, and the translation of the Bible had also been brought to an advanced stage, when the project had to be abandoned, principally through Hollander influence, aided by some of the Republican leaders and Bond men. Dr. Mansfeld, the present Superintendent of Education in the Transvaal, was subsequently appointed--a very able Hollander, but also a very strong advocate in the general Hollander Bond movement for proscribing the use of the English language, and making High Dutch the compulsory medium of instruction. Since then, and during the past ten years, considerable progress has been made by the average Boer children, and even the grown-up people, in approaching a better knowledge of High Dutch. Before 1880 hardly any Boer cared to read a newspaper except, perhaps, the _Paarl Patriot_, the vernacular journal referred to. High Dutch and English papers were equally beyond his ready knowledge, but since then the interest in politics gave an impulse to a reading tendency, and at this moment the majority of the Boers manage to read and understand fairly well what is presented in simply written High Dutch by the local Press. They also are fond of simply written books of travels, and especially of narratives of a religious trend. With the Bible they are most familiar from childhood, but literature in High Dutch is beyond them as yet. Greater pains have of late years been taken to qualify Boer sons for the administrative service of the Republics, where imperfect knowledge of High Dutch is an obvious bar to advancement, and Hollanders would otherwise continue to monopolize the better positions. Taking the fairly educated Free State and Transvaal youth, the average proficiency in English compared to that in High Dutch is as two to one, whilst many possess even a literary mastery in English whilst quite poor in the other language. In the Cape Colony the above comparison among the Boer section is still more in favour of English. It may be judged what an important _rôle_ the educated Hollander group can take in those Republics, and are yet aiming at in the Colonies. It is also worthy of reflection why and how the Dutch language has been raised to equality with English in the Cape Colony, seeing English was more generally understood by the Boers there than High Dutch, and none of the Boer legislators or members of Parliament even now know more than the Dutch vernacular, the High Dutch language having actually yet to be learnt by the Boer population--an important step thus gained by Afrikanerdom under the indulgent ægis of self-government, the thin end of another wedge to nurse sedition and treason introduced by that odious Bond under pretence and veil of Boer patriotism and loyalty. As one of the world's languages, Dutch figures under a very sorry _rôle_ indeed. It had been ignored everywhere outside of Holland and her distant Colonies. The consequence to Hollanders is that they are of necessity subjected to the ordeal of learning several other continental languages for commercial intercourse, and in order to keep at all abreast with the progress of science, literature, and culture. Dutch is in the moribund stage; its salvation from imminent extinction consists in the expansion of its sphere. Boer successes in South Africa would just accomplish that. THE DUTCH COTERIE: ITS SEAT IN HOLLAND As has been shown, the conditions of the two Boer Republics, with High Dutch as the official language, lent themselves to favour the immigration into those States of educated Dutchmen (Hollanders, as they are styled, to distinguish them from the old-established Boer Dutchmen). These were indeed indispensable, as none of the Boers possessed the competence in High Dutch requisite for the conduct of the more important portion of the clerical work in the administration. The professional branches were recruited from Holland likewise, in natural sequence. They were men of high attainments and possessed of energy and astuteness and of various qualifications--doctors, lawyers, editors, clergymen, teachers. Those who did not receive Government appointments quickly found lucrative positions in their vocations. The scope increased as time went by and as those States developed with the growth of the populations and the establishment of numerous towns and villages, especially after the discovery of the diamond-fields in 1870. Every year brought fresh contingents from Holland, including also the commercial class, artisans, and even servants of both sexes, and agriculturists. Preserving a constant intercourse with their native country, those Hollanders also maintained cohesion and clanship among themselves in their newly-adopted homes. Nor did Holland fail to realize the great advantages accruing to that country and its people from the new South African outlets--regular preserves with almost unlimited scope for further extension and for increasing permanent, profitable connections. A formidable barrier presented itself in the gradually ascendant tendencies of the English language and English trade, with corresponding neglect of the Dutch factors. Regretful forebodings aroused energetic efforts to check rival interests. The prize was too valuable, and increasing each year in importance. A dyke needed to be erected to stem the English encroachments and to preserve and consolidate the Hollander position of vantage. The ablest men in Holland and South Africa exercised themselves with that task with an ardour impelled by jealous hatred against the English and intensified by successive revelations of more startling discoveries of gold and other mineral wealth in the Transvaal. It was then, about thirty years ago, that a well-informed, influential and unscrupulous coterie in Holland devised the fell projects which developed into that potential association since known as the Afrikaner Bond. The building of the Transvaal railway lines brought other large accessions of educated Hollanders, and as they were completed some thousands more were added to serve as permanent staff. Dutch influence was thus attaining strength to assert and consolidate its interests with an expanding impulse. The monopolized railway company promoted immigration from Holland by largely increasing the salaries to such of the staff who were married. The Transvaal Government, under the advice of their educational chief, Dr. Mansfeld, provided similar premiums to secure married teachers from Holland and by raising the salaries of married Hollander officials already placed. The Hollander population attracted to the Transvaal since 1850, and which did not number above 500 in 1870, had increased by 1898 to fully 12,000, representing, as ranged with the Boers, by far the largest factor of educated intelligence, attached to and dependent upon the Government and its staunch allies. The men received full burghership as a rule soon after arrival, exempt from the formalities and probation prescribed by law. Holland being the locality of the inception, I may say the ingestion, of the Afrikaner Bond, one's thoughts are apt to retrace, by way of contrast, that little nation's creditable past. The view presents those dykes, monuments of labour's heroism; then that glorious resistance against the mighty persecutor of religion, those unsurpassed performances in the arena of culture, arts, and sciences, and that long epoch of success in exploits of colonization, finance, and commerce. "But view them closer, craft and fraud appear; Even liberty itself is bartered here."--_Goldsmith_.[5] One notes the placid landscapes intersected by those still but deep-flowing rivers and canals, scenes so conducive to mental exercise--the Dutch patriot mourning over the transition of former national prestige to present condition of decadence presaging complete national submersion, but at the same time courageously employing his fertile brain in devising far-reaching projects of remedy over distant perspectives so as to stem that tide of decadence and declension and to erect a firm barrier against that menace--to gain (by inspiration from the titular genius of commerce and craft so conspicuous in that famed art representation[6] exhibited in his Bourse) a dazzling prize for his nation by one fell swoop and, so to say, with folded arms, just by pitting against the English his almost forgotten and long-neglected clan, the Boer nation, inciting them to usurp Great Britain in South Africa, Holland sharing the spoils. See here the master mind exulting in the conception, gestation, and birth of the Afrikaner Bond conspiracy; note the Hollander patriot's glitter of satisfaction at the vista of realizing the restoration of Holland to a position excelling its former glory, of a moribund language revived to significance, and of witnessing besides a sweet vendetta operated upon England, the old enemy and despoiler of his nation, to compass the humiliation and disintegration of the British Empire. Patience, dear reader; preserve judicial composure. Evidence is following on the heels of the charge. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 5: This is of course not directed against the nation as a whole. See also notice, page vi.] [Footnote 6: Oil painting in the Amsterdam Exchange building representing Mercurius.] AFRIKANER BOND--OUTLINES AND PROGRAMME The late Mr. Jan Brand, that noble President who was succeeded by Reitz and now by Steyn in the presidency of the Orange Free State, appeared to have had early intimations, or at least presages, as to the true nature of the Afrikaner Bond, for during the early eighties that association had yet posed as a harmless body, intended to preserve old Boer traditions upon perfectly constitutional lines. President Brand and some others then already suspected more, as the following incident will show. In 1883 President Brand officially opened the new wagon-road bridge over the Caledon River at Commissie drift, near Smithfield, Orange Free State. Towards the conclusion of the ceremony, one of the other speakers, Mr. Advocate Peeters, member of the Volksraad for Smithfield district, in the course of his speech formally suggested that President Brand should accept the leadership of the Orange Free State section of the Afrikaner Bond. The President, addressing the burghers and all present, replied in about the following terms: The proposal just then made by Advocate Peeters had pained and offended him; the festive event would be marred by that incident were it not that it afforded him the opportunity, which he otherwise would have missed, of telling them all what he thought of the Afrikaner Bond--that it was an evil thing; he could not find terms strong enough to warn the people against its subtle seductions. The Afrikaner Bond professed its objects to be peace and harmony, but it really contained the pernicious seeds of division and strife, to set up enmity between English Afrikaners and Boer Afrikaners. He pointed out the sincerity of friendly relations on the part of England towards both the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republics. The peace which restored to the Transvaal its independence a few years before was one big proof; his Government had many proofs of England's good will, too. It suited both parties to maintain harmony--it behoved every Afrikaner to be one-minded in friendly reciprocation. Through a gracious Providence both Republics were prosperous and enjoyed independence. All over the world the prosperity of States depended upon good relations with their neighbours--this was especially so as regards the Orange Free State. They knew what kind of bond the Bible enjoined. It was the bond of peace and concord; and he concluded by declaring his well-grounded fears that the Afrikaner Bond was a device of the devil directed against the well-being of the entire Afrikaner nation. Instead of being encouraged, it should, like the "Boete Bosch"[7] (_Xanthium spinosum_, burr weed), be extirpated from the soil of South Africa. MEMORANDA OF BOND PROGRAMME, EMANATING FROM HOLLAND (TRANSLATION FROM GLEANINGS). The Afrikaner Bond has as final object what is summed up in its motto of "Afrika voor de Afrikaners."[8] The whole of South Africa belongs by just right to the Afrikaner nation. It is the privilege and duty of every Afrikaner to contribute all in his power towards the expulsion of the English usurper. The States of South Africa to be federated in one independent Republic. The Afrikaner Bond prepares for this consummation. Argument in justification:-- (_a_) The transfer of the Cape Colony to the British Government took place by circumstances of _force majeure_ and without the consent of the Dutch nation, who renounce all claim in favour of the Afrikaner or Boer nation. (_b_) Natal is territory which accrued to a contingent of the Boer nation by purchase from the Zulu King, who received the consideration agreed for. (_c_) The British authorities expelled the rightful owners from Natal by force of arms without just cause. The task of the Afrikaner Bond consists in:-- (_a_) Procuring the staunch adhesion and co-operation of every Afrikaner and other real friend of the cause. (_b_) To obtain the sympathy, the moral and effective aid of one or more of the world's Powers. The means to accomplish those tasks are:-- Personal persuasion, Press propaganda, legislation and diplomacy. The direction of the application of those means is entrusted to a select body of members eligible for their loyalty to the cause and their abilities and position. That body will conduct such measures as need the observance of special secrecy. Upon the rest of the members will devolve activities of a general character under the direction of the selected chiefs. One of the indispensable requisites is the proper organization of an effective fund, which is to be regularly sustained. Bond members will aid each other in all relations of public life in preference to non-members. In the efforts of gaining adherents to the cause it is of importance to distinguish three categories of persons-- (1) The class of Afrikaners who are to some extent deteriorated by assimilative influences with the English race, whose restoration to patriotism will need great efforts, discretion, and patience. (2)The apparently unthinking and apathetic class, who prefer to relegate all initiative to leaders whom they will loyally follow. This class is the most numerous by far. (3) The warmly patriotic class, including men gifted with intelligence, energy, and speech, qualified as leaders and apt to exercise influence over the rest. Among those three classes many exist whose views and religious scruples need to be corrected. Scripture abounds in proofs and salient analogies applying to the situation and justifying our cause. In this, as well as in other directions, the members who work in circulating written propaganda will supply the correct and conclusive arguments accessible to all. Upon the basis of our just rights, the British Government, if not the entire nation, is the usurping enemy of the Boer nation. In dealing with an enemy it is justifiable to employ, besides force, also means of a less open character, such as diplomacy and stratagem. The greatest danger to Afrikanerdom is the English policy of Anglicizing the Boer nation--to submerge it by the process of assimilation. A distinct attitude of holding aloof from English influences is the only remedy against that peril and for thwarting that insidious policy. It is only such an attitude that will preserve the nation in its simple faith and habits of morality, and provide safety against the dangers of contamination and pernicious examples, with all their fateful consequences to body and soul. Let the Dutch language have the place of honour in schools and homes. Let alliances of marriage with the English be stamped as unpatriotic.[9] Let every Afrikaner see that he is at all times well armed with the best possible weapons, and maintains the expert use of the rifle among young and old, so as to be ready when duty calls and the time is ripe for asserting the nation's rights and be rid of English thraldom. Employ teachers only who are animated with truly patriotic sentiments. Let it be well understood that English domination will also bring religious intolerance and servitude, for it is only a very frail link which separates the English State Church from actual Romanism, and its proselytism _en bloc_ is only a matter of short time. Equally repugnant and dangerous is England's policy towards the coloured races, whom she aims, for the sake of industrial profit, at elevating to equal rank with whites, in direct conflict with scriptural authority--a policy which incites coloured people to rivalry with their superiors, and can only end in common disaster. Whilst remaining absolutely independent, the ties of blood relationship and language point to Holland for a domestic base. As to commerce, Germany, America, and other industrial nations could more than fill the gap left by England, and such connections should be cultivated as a potent means towards obtaining foreign support to our cause and identification with it. If the mineral wealth of the Transvaal and Orange Free State becomes established--as appears certain from discoveries already made--England will not rest until those are also hers. The leopard will retain its spots. The independence of both Republics is at stake on that account alone, with the risk that the rightful owners of the land will become the hewers of wood and drawers of water for the usurpers. There is no alternative hope for the peace and progress of South Africa except by the total excision of the British ulcer. Reliable signs are not wanting to show that our nation is designed by Providence as the instrument for the recovery of its rights, and for the chastisement of proud, perfidious Albion. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 7: Literally "bush of fines" (fines imposed on landowners where the burr weed was not eradicated).] [Footnote 8: Africa for the African citizen or African-born whites.] [Footnote 9: It is notorious that from about 1890 such marriages were denounced from the Boer pulpits and on the occasions of the Independence day anniversaries (16th December).] PACIFIC POLICY OF GREAT BRITAIN During the period of, say, twenty-five years after the inception of the Afrikaner Bond, and while its organization and development were secretly kept at full pace with occurring events, the British Government consistently and openly pursued the policy of bringing about the unification of South Africa. Mr. Froude, a speaker of rare gifts, was sent to lecture upon the topic: this was in about 1873. The Colonial Governor, Sir Bartle Frere, strenuously advocated that union. The lines suggested were a general federation under one protective flag, self-government in the Colonies, and the continuance of uncurtailed autonomic independence in the two Republics. The benefits which such a coalition promised to all concerned in South Africa are obvious. It would guarantee harmony between the two white races without involving the least sacrifice of liberty with any party--it simply meant coincident peace, prosperity and security, and would relieve England of a considerable burden of anxiety. The scheme promised to find all-round acceptance, but, unaccountably, except to Bond men, its greatest opponents were the Cape Colonial Boers. It was, however, confidently hoped that, with patience, opposition and indifference would be overcome, and in view of this no opportunity was lost to prove England's loyal sincerity by genial treatment, by conciliating the various interests, and gratifying the wishes of the Boer communities, and so to ensure the desideratum of complete _rapprochement_ between the white races. Conferences were convened with the objects of coming to agreements for the establishment of a general South African Customs Union, and for adjusting railway tariffs upon fair bases and a more reliable permanency of rates suggesting reciprocal terms advantageous to the Republics. These efforts also proved fruitless through similar opposition. The Afrikaner Bond party, as the reader will understand, had ranged itself against all such attempts, whilst successfully masking its own object all the time. Other differences, which, with a friendly and united spirit, were capable of easy adjustment, were welcomed by that party as grist to its mill in order to widen the gulf and to increase the tension. Besides the chagrin over the failure of its peace policy, the British Cabinet had finally to admit itself confronted with a very real and ominous national peril, face to face with the South African Medusa, Afrikanerdom, defying Great Britain in preconcerted aggression and revolt. That apparition was all the more startlingly disquieting because of the suddenness with which the magnitude of the menace and its wide perspectives had begun to expand into clearer view. It was interesting to note how the English ministry responded to the call upon its fortitude; the terrifying apparition did not seem to petrify that body of men, despite the galling handicapping consequences through the opposition of part of the nation, which was indeed tantamount to encouraging South African rebels and usurpers. BOND PRESS PROPAGANDA--SECRET SERVICE--TRADE RIVALRIES The Bond leaders in Holland and South Africa had at an early stage acted upon Stuart Mill's recognised saying, "that conviction in a cause is of more potent avail than mere interest in it." Among those leaders there was no lack of men of erudition and of psychological science, than whom no one knew better the prime importance of ensuring uniformity of convictions among the Boers and their partisans, and that the public mind needs to be framed and trained so as to view the Boer cause as just and that of the English as odiously wicked. They knew how indispensable the Press is for attaining those objects, how journalism is capable of plausibly representing black as white and to convince people so--that, in fact, it is on occasion an agency of persuasion more potent than armies are. Its needs are unscrupulous pens and ample payments. For money is the sinews of journalism as well as of war, whether the projectiles be charged with lyddite or with lies, whether it is bullets or throwing dust into people's eyes. We have seen how a few articles (for which a leading French paper received £100,000) were instrumental in enabling the Panama Canal Co. to swindle the French public of forty million pounds sterling, and more recently, where through Press agency it became feasible to a combination of Jesuitism and militarism to seduce by far the greater portion of the noble French nation into frenzied agitation and anti-Semitic excesses, and load the entire people with almost ineffaceable guilt in the matter of that unfortunate Dreyfus. In its Press campaign the Afrikaner Bond employed several leading Colonial organs--the Bloemfontein _Express_, the Pretoria _Volksstem_, the _Standard and Diggers' News_ of Johannesburg, and numerous papers of note abroad as well. These were coached, in the usual masterly manner, sophisticating and perverting truth. Whenever a lull occurred in treating one or other of the more salient questions, those South African papers would invariably contain--especially in their Dutch columns--aspersive articles, coupled with invective comments to prejudice the Boer mind and to reawaken anti-English sentiments. It is notable as a proof that the Bond party lacked all occasions for recriminations, so that those papers had to resort for material for their vituperation to distorted incidents of Transvaal history prior to the peace of 1881. There would, for example, be dished up falsely rendered and dramatically coloured and perverted selections, such as the treacherous massacre of Retief's party in 1838, averring that the Zulu king, Dingaan, had been incited thereto by the British authorities; tragic descriptions of events, coupled with the massacres by Zulu impis soon after at Weenen and Blaauwkrantz, averred also to have taken place at the instance of the English Government, and ever and anon references and full tragic descriptions of the Slachtersnek execution in 1816, omitting to state that the Boer culprits were hanged after fair and open trial and conviction by a "Boer" jury for high treason in conspiring with Kaffirs against the Government, which crime had led to bloodshed, and that their relatives had been ordered to witness the execution because they had been abettors and privy to the crime. Books teaching the history of South Africa were adapted for school use wherein denunciations against the English appear in almost every chapter. Poetry in the vernacular Dutch and pamphlets teeming with like burdens and calumnies also did their share in inspiring race hatred. Pro-Boer journalism in England and elsewhere abroad had assumed such dimensions, especially during the past decade, as to bring the Secret Service expenditure on that head during recent years to over £100,000 per annum. Dr. Leyds, the Transvaal ambassador, now (December, 1899) in Europe, is known to some to have with him some £250,000 to defray Press expenditure, etc., apart from the millions to which he is authorized to engage his Government in diplomatic projects, such as procuring allies, or to create embroilments and diversions to the prejudice of England. To sum up the success achieved by anti-English propaganda, we find the Boer nation, from the Zambesi to the Cape, unanimous in convictions as to their fancied claims, their own absolute innocence, and the immeasurable guilt of the British Government, abetted by capitalism--guilt which cries to heaven for retribution; and those convictions take with each man the form of a resolute patriotism wherein mingled fanaticism and religious fervour in their cause form a powerfully sustaining part. Partisanship outside of Africa counts by millions of individuals and entire peoples; with these it is not so much conviction, but rather persuasion induced by political hatred and the souring effects of jealousy and unsuccessful rivalry. This feature is, of course, most accentuated in Holland, where, with the eyes set upon the loaves and fishes in South Africa, that nation has for some time been "publicly praying" for Boer victory over England. These are instances of mere interest in lieu of genuine convictions. In England the spectacle is more varied. There we see interest where there are paid agencies, and persuasion more or less pronounced induced by political party spirit and also by real convictions. It is in regard to the latter category where perverted journalism triumphs most and stabs deepest, where men of honour and patriotism have adopted views which clash against public interest, and convictions which torture their own minds with grief and shame under the supposed idea of England's unjust attitude towards the Boer people, assuming that a Government majority allows itself to be actuated by base motives. Is it not attributable in a large proportion to misguided as well as to venal journalism that the Boer cause has so heavily scored? Was all this not manifest in the divisions of England's counsels, in the hampered progress of her diplomacy, her fateful hesitancy and delay in providing appropriate preventive and protective measures in South Africa? And as regards the tenacity of those convictions, it is with them as it is in plant life. The longer a tree is in maturing, the harder is it to uproot it. The activities of Bond propaganda have been in continuance for many years, and the prejudices fostered so long are correspondingly deep-rooted. Bond patriotism was not long subjected to the strain of individual contributions and unpaid performances. When the Transvaal revenues advanced with such giant strides the Afrikaner Bond leaders in that State contrived arrangements by which the financial requirements were supplied from State receipts. Nor was the least compunction felt in doing so. Was the revenue of the State not chiefly derived from the Uitlander element--from Uitlander investments, which all throve from the nation's own buried gold wealth? No scruples existed to provide from those sources the armaments and all else needed for the common cause of conquest. A secret service fund of some £40,000 per year only was placed upon the budget list. But this amount was vastly exceeded by the growing requirements of the Afrikaner Bond for expenditure in South Africa alone. It was easily contrived to divert, _sub rosa_, large State receipts to supply the remaining financial needs. Among these figured, besides the heavy outlays in journalism abroad, gratuities, etc., a large bill also for secret agencies, spies, and the like. The entire expenditure was under the direction of a few only of the trusted leaders and audited by the chiefs, all being kept otherwise undivulged. The Transvaal thus became the treasury as well as the arsenal of the entire Afrikaner Bond. Hundreds of agents were in constant employ in the Cape Colonies and Natal suborning the Boer colonists; many of them occupied positions in various branches of the Colonial Government, and were able to supply information upon any subject and even to influence elections. There were numerous permanent agents drawing large emoluments in Europe also, and emissaries to different places abroad, some touring in America, England, and the Continent, as the Rev. Mr. Bosman did recently, and also the P.M.G., Isaac van Alphen. Much energy and money were also devoted to electioneering campaigns, as had notoriously been done in the Cape Colony towards bringing in a Bond majority. Large sums are spent in the diplomatic arena in Holland to propitiate foreign statesmen, soliciting sympathy, and in coquettings for Transvaal allies. One of these attempts that failed had been with Germany. It would appear that some progress had been feasible some years ago in temporarily luring Emperor William to favour a Holland-Transvaal combination, but when that sovereign had at last penetrated the infamous business that lay behind it all, he, as a true "_Bayard_" promptly washed his hands clean of it, preferring to forego obvious brilliant advantages for his people than to sully Germany's fair fame in a connection amounting to no less than abetting a foul conspiracy. The readers of the Johannesburg _Standard and Diggers' News_ will remember among the staple attacks upon capitalism quite a series of articles intended to decoy mining artisans and operatives to Boer views. Secret agents were also employed for that purpose, and to induce the belief that the Government was the enemy of capitalism, and would champion its victims (the mining operatives) in the State. It would support miners and the working class generally against attempts to curtail the just rights of labour, and to parade its sincerity actually passed a law constituting eight tours a legal day's labour. With such coquettings it was hoped to gain the miners' confidence and adhesion. Those men were, however, not to be taught by quasi-socialistic professions of concern, and when, some months later, the exodus prior to the war occurred, they nearly all left, much to the disgust and discomfiture of the Government, which had counted upon them to stay to work the mines for its own account when the moment should arrive. The appropriation of gold mines and their exploitation for Government benefit bring about a singular anomaly for a nation engaged in war, viz., that of a plethora of gold and a scarcity of paper currency, the Transvaal mint coining the sinews of war at the expense of its victims, but the plundered gold after all not equalling commercial paper values. In connection with the foregoing remarks the following may also be said. States professing neutrality still permit themselves to trade with the Transvaal to a large extent. It is notorious that that State possesses no funds available for payments except the gold derived from the misappropriated mines. The output is seized in its entirety, and not limited to the extent accruing to British scrip holders only. The hustling rivalry of doing business with the Transvaal thus involves receiving stolen money in payment of trade accounts. We see the receivers eager to stand upon the same platform as the thief, thus not only as his political partisans, but also as his accomplices. DISLOYALTY OF COLONIAL BOERS The Boer section in the Cape Colonies represents nearly one-half of the white population there. Their representatives in the administration were ever profuse and assertive in professions of loyalty to the Queen and to the English Government, and any aspersions to the contrary were always indignantly and stoutly repelled. The Afrikaner Bond was averred to include nothing to clash with loyal sentiments, no severance from England, but, on the contrary, that its principal objects were to strengthen the lines of amity and joint solidarity in view of a general federation of South Africa upon Imperial bases. In support of such sentiments one of the first acts of the Bond party when recently come into power was a vote of £30,000 per year towards British naval outlays, and in grateful recognition of naval protection; it was at the same time mooted, in fact almost pledged, that the Transvaal would similarly offer £12,000 as well. The sequel has proven these to be Athenian gifts, for no sooner had the Republican commandoes invaded the Cape Colonies in November last than those identical men enthusiastically welcomed the Queen's enemies as their friends and deliverers from hateful English dominion. There they stood--self-avowed and unmasked traitors. Members of the Legislative Assembly met those Boer invaders with addresses and speeches, assuring them of their own and of every other true Afrikaner's aid and fidelity in their common cause. "The star of liberty," they said, "had arisen at last--it had been the nation's desire and prayers during the past fifteen years." "He could thank God with tears of joy for having granted those prayers." Such were the words of Mr. van der Walt, M.L.A., uttered at Colesberg. Mr. de Wet, M.L.A., Mr. van den Heever, M.L.A., and other colonial notables were spokesmen in similar terms of enthusiasm on other occasions as the invasion advanced. All this is sadly notorious, but still it seems a hard task to convince people who prefer to remain blind or only see a presumptuous adversary in any one who seeks to enlighten them upon this glaring and premeditated treachery. October and November were months of unrestrained exultation to the Boer party, to judge from letters and articles which appeared in the _Standard and Diggers' News_, Johannesburg, dated 22nd November, 1899, and in the Pretoria _Volksstem_, dated 20th November, 1899.[10] There one sees the mask off, in language of defiant insult and of scurrilous mendacity against all that is English, avowing that the present Anglo-Boer War has been the outcome of preparations during the past thirty years. That letter is not all suitable reading for the tender sex, but should serve as evidence to the still unconvinced sceptic that the Boers are fighting for something more than their mere independence and liberty, viz., for conquest and the domination of Afrikanerdom. His Excellency Dr. Leyds may deny all those too previous intentions with his placid effrontery of assumed innocent calm. He may denounce Mr. Chamberlain, Rhodes, Jameson, and even the Prince of Wales, and he may use the old device of posing as innocent by accusing others. The detected robber, however, does not always escape with his booty by running off himself, whilst shouting "Stop, thief!" Something refreshingly analogous to such attempts of screening and exculpation has been extemporized in Cape journals of late. There, in an ingeniously pretended dissertation, it is invented how ill founded the aspersions are against Mr. Premier Schreiner, and that the acts, upon which he was so wrongly suspected as an amphibious helmsman, are really attributable to another person--by the way, to one at a safe distance, viz., to Mr. F.W. Reitz, the Transvaal State Secretary; whilst this gentleman again, when lecturing at Johannesburg in July last, naively deplored the confusion of people's ideas who see anything wrong in the Afrikaner Bond, adding: "Lord, forgive them, for they know not what they do or talk about." "The peace of South Africa is only possible under Boer supremacy," is the Bond shibboleth. The end justifies the means, even to sedition, to a war of conquest and the wholesale plunder of investors. Many of the younger Boers in the Cape Colony and Natal had shown a singular ardour in joining the several volunteer corps. They were equipped with uniforms and best weapons, were drilled into efficiency, received pay, and all went on well until the oath of allegiance was to be tendered. This they refused, preferring to resign and to provide arms from other sources--Mauser rifles by preference. This happened some considerable time before the outbreak of the war. Boer Arguments Denying Uitlanders' Complaints Many plausible arguments are proffered to prove that Uitlanders' grievances and irritations are purely fictitious, but few, I venture to say, will bear examination. Taxation, for example, is stoutly averred to fall alike upon burgher and Uitlander, but a glance at the long rubric of articles specially taxed will show that the selection is contrived to hit the latter and to spare, or even to protect and benefit, the burgher section. The gold industry is not charged with a royalty as is customary in other gold-producing countries, but with 5 per cent. only upon the net profits; but here an intolerant and corrupt domination proves much more prejudicial than a heavy royalty would be. Proper representation would be the remedy and afford contentment, even with higher taxation, but that is refused upon Bond principles. The Anglo-Boer War is attributed to base motives on the part of the British Government, operating in collusion with capitalism--to England's passion for annexation, her rapacious greed for the Transvaal gold, her inordinate ambition to universal commercial supremacy, etc. What a confusion of assertions and of self-refuting contradictions! Would England really acquire the Transvaal gold by the annexation of that State, seeing that its mines are already capitalized and as good as expropriated in favour of the host of shareholders, some of whom are English, but the greater portion German, French, and of other nations? What advantage would accrue to shareholders? Would England, in case of forcible annexation, not be under the necessity of incurring a heavy charge in the increase of her South African garrisons, and so be justified in levying a considerable royalty upon the output, which would materially reduce the dividends? What advantage would arise to England by substituting an unproductive and costly war in South Africa for conditions of peace and prosperity, which alone can yield her commerce profit? England can only derive profit from wars waged between other peoples. And as to the incentive of commercial supremacy, England, while possessing that to a large extent already, freely and voluntarily allows all comers from other nationalities to share the benefits with her by her principle of free trade. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 10: Extract from Pretoria _Volksstem_, 20th November, 1899, from a long letter averred to have appeared in the London _Times_, dated 12th October, 1899, said to have been signed by a well-known Cape Boer, then in England:-- "We have desired delay, and we have had it, and we are now practically masters of South Africa from the Zambesi to the Cape. All the Afrikaners in the Cape Colony have been working for years past for this end. "For thirty years the Cape Dutch have been waiting their chance, and now their day has come; they will throw off their mask and their yoke at the same instant, and 200,000 Dutch heroes will trample you tinder foot. We can afford to tell you the truth now, and in this letter you have got it."] PORTUGUESE TERRITORY--TRANSVAAL LOW VELDT--MALARIA--HORSE SICKNESS Between the north-eastern borders of the Transvaal and the coast lies the Portuguese colony Mozambique. Its frontier railway station, Ressario Garcia, is near that of the Transvaal, viz., Komati poort, which is 53 miles from Delagoa Bay. A low-lying country extends from the coast about 100 to 200 miles inland, and is tropical. Except some elevated spots, the whole of it is almost uninhabitable in summer by whites on account of malaria. During some specially bad seasons natives even succumb to that malady. The only comparatively safe months are from June to November. Marshy localities, and wherever there is shaded rank vegetation in low-lying parts, are dangerous all the year round; in such places the water is deadly at all times unless first boiled. This malarial poison is distinct from that which produces yellow fever in America, and is so far unlike it as it is not contagious. The theory is that the poison is produced below the surface by decaying vegetable matter in low and dank parts during the more inactive but still warm and sunny winter season and during the hot months preceding the summer rainfall. Upon the first rains the malarial poison escapes through the then softened crust in the shape of vapoury miasms. This happens during the night, after the surface of the earth has been cooled off. Those miasms are dissipated or neutralised by the action of the sun. The dewy grass retains the poison until it is thoroughly dried to the root. All surface water is liable to that poisonous impregnation. Malarial manifestations occur all over South Africa, but in progressive degrees of virulence with the advance to warmer latitudes, and with the descent from the high table-lands to the coast levels. On the Transvaal high veldt, for example, a mild form is developed which, in midsummer, to a small extent, affects and kills sheep. It is called _blaauwtong_, and does not affect horses. Descending further, this danger to sheep increases and begins earlier. Below 5,000 feet altitude in the Transvaal the summer season is dangerous to sheep, and horses and mules are subject to horse sickness; whilst lower still the same malaria attains sufficient virulence to attack human beings, and becomes very deadly upon levels nearing the coast. Komati poort, the frontier railway station already mentioned, is dreaded as a still worse death-trap than even Delagoa Bay, where it is very unsafe, say, from December to end of April. The season of horse sickness terminates upon the appearance of the first sharp frost in May. The safeguards for human beings consist in avoidance at night and early morning of low-lying localities, or such elevated places even which are subject to be invaded by miasmatic emanations produced on and wafted from dangerous lower levels. Drink no unboiled water except that from deep wells or rain-water; maintain careful and moderate diet, active habits, but avoiding extreme exertions and excitements; a very sparing use of alcoholic drinks, preferably taken with the regular meals, is admissible. Donkeys, horned cattle, and goats are exempt from malarial risks. For horses and mules no certain remedy appears as yet to be known. The best research, on behalf of the Transvaal Government, by specially requisitioned French bacteriologists, assisted by that famous microbe-hunter, Dr. Theiler (Dr. Theiler is the Transvaal veterinary surgeon and chief of the Medical Laboratory, Pretoria, a noted Swiss savant, who, with the aid of the said French experts, discovered the rinderpest inoculation remedy), has failed to find the bacillus of horse sickness. Barely five per cent, of the horses attacked recover, and about ten per cent, of mules. These are then called salted, and are immune from horse sickness; they can after that be safely used in the worst localities, and are correspondingly more valuable. They are, however, liable periodically to light after-attacks, when it is safer to exempt them from work for a day, or for a few hours at least. Some proprietors of mail coaches are in the habit of administering doses of arsenic to their horses and mules, which are said to operate in lessening the death rate and to favour the salting process. As safeguards for horses and mules, the following rules have been found to minimise losses in dangerous tracts where the low clinging miasmatic vapours are so deadly during the night and earlier parts of the morning. (During rainfall there is hardly any danger, nor is there after a night's rain for the day following):-- Do not traverse low suspicious tracts during the hours between 9 p.m. and, say, two hours after sunrise, lest poisonous vapours be encountered and inhaled by man or horse. Choose the most elevated spots for camping out at night. No grazing to be allowed from 10 p.m. to about 10 or 11 a.m., unless it is raining. Dewy grass is fatally poisoned; the heavy moist air close to the surface is also suspected. Grazing is only safe after the soil and grass are dried of all dewy moisture. Avoid all water of at all a stagnant nature; rather let the animals remain thirsty. If the animals have been fed with dry fodder during the night, let the first morning stage be moderate and not exhausting. With empty stomachs the task might be somewhat increased, but even then it should be less than any other succeeding stage. When the first symptoms of sickness are noticed they may pass over if the animal is at once freed from work and allowed to rest, or is at most led when marching. Among the most dangerous places for horse sickness and for fever to human beings are the luxurious dongas, ravines, and valleys which abound along the long stretches of mountains and broken country immediately below the high plateaux. The passes leading up to the high veldt are few in number, and so precipitous as to be almost impracticable for vehicles. Of late years those roads have been allowed to fall into disrepair, in order, it may be supposed, to check wagon traffic and to promote that by railway; apart from the railway, communication with Delagoa Bay would now be impossible. What with the fever climate in summer, and the formidable mountain barriers, the Transvaal high veldt is well protected from aggression from the direction of Delagoa Bay. A few thousand men distributed at the few mountain passes, blocking the tunnel at one of these (at Waterval Boven), and breaking up some few bridges, would effectually arrest the progress of any invading force. CLIMATE AND TOPOGRAPHY From the tropical Zambesi regions and the torrid Kalahari plains, down to the 34th parallel at Cape point, a great diversity of climatic conditions is met with. To the north and north-east are the steaming, death-breeding low lands, abounding with dank virgin forests and scrubby stretches; and to the north-west extend the arid, sandy, and stony levels. There are the temperate and fruitful inland reaches along the southern and south-eastern littoral, and again further inward the vast plateaux at 2,000 to 6,500 feet elevation, which represent nearly one-half of the sub-continent with quite other climatic aspects. In the southern and western provinces of the Cape Colony the rainy season occurs during the winter months, probably because of the proximity to the trade wind influences prevailing over the South Atlantic; over the rest of South Africa the winters are dry and sunny, the rains falling in summer, most copiously in December and January, the effect being that there are hardly any winter rigours, and the heat of summer is minimised. The most agreeable climate is that on the higher plateau levels: never hot nor altogether cold, and yet virile and bracing; something like the climate on sunny days found in the higher Alpine regions in summer and in the mild Algerine winters. This climate is found from the Queenstown district at about 3,000 feet elevation, extending north and westwards over the Stormberg, the Orange Free State, and along the lordly Drakensberg range and its spurs some 200 to 300 miles into the Transvaal, where the highest plateau levels occur between Ermelo and to near Lydenburg, viz., 6,500 feet. The Harrismith district near that mountain range is at a similar altitude with an identical climate. These high tracts are called _hoogeveldt_ or highlands. Their altitude rises steadily with the advance northwards towards warmer latitudes, and with the compensating effect that the climate in the Queenstown district, Bontebok Flats for example, at 3,000 feet elevation, is exactly similar to that in the eastern portions of the Orange Free State at 5,500 feet, right up to near Lydenburg at 6,500 feet altitude, and being some six degrees further north than Queenstown. The northern half of Natal also partakes of that character, though there, as well as over the rest of the eastern slopes of the Drakensberg mountains, the country is more broken and hilly than on the western side. The Cape Colonial high veldt near the Drakensberg range is intersected by high continuations or spurs, but north and westwards those plateaux assume more the real aspect of continuous high plains. There is a gradual descent to the west; from occasional hilly ranges those dwindle to kopjes, and to still less elevated "randjes" occurring in clusters more and more apart, until yet further westwards one gets to the merely undulating sterile approaches of the Karoo and the plains around and beyond Kimberley, which merge at last in the still lower Kalahara desert. Within 200 or 300 miles from the Drakensberg slopes the country is well-watered, and the rainfall ample and generally regular, but westwards this abundance progressively decreases with a more tardy and precarious rainy season, occasioning at times severe droughts accompanied with correspondingly protracted and very hot weather. Those high plains make up one vast green sward from the time of the spring rains in September to April. From May the absence of rain, together with the night frosts, shrivel up the herbage, giving the country a pale-brown aspect. This continues until the return of spring, varied with large expanses of black, caused by accidental or intentional grass fires, and here and there a few green spots in specially sheltered and moist localities. Those burnt spaces may extend for miles, and are for the time veritable deserts. The landscape being quite black and the atmosphere generally very clear, it is obvious that objects of any lighter colour would be conspicuous at very long distances: an ideal background for khaki targets. Most of the land is well suited for agriculture, but by far the largest proportion is as yet used only for raising sheep, horses and cattle. Angora goats also thrive in the hillier parts. About forty years ago the Karoo plains, the Orange Free State, and Transvaal were, so to say, monopolised by milliards of game. Standing upon an eminence or a swell one could see in all directions, as far as the eye could reach, innumerable herds of all sorts of game grazing, resting or gambolling; the different kinds would be ranged in separate groups and could be distinguished by their special colours--the black-looking wildebeest (gnu) next to the striped quag-gas, the white-flanked springbocks, blesbocks with a blaze on their foreheads, the larger elands and other kinds of the antelope species. Almost all those vast herds have disappeared since, having been killed off by natives and Boers for their hides and for food, or else scared away farther north, where rinderpest extirpated nearly all the rest in 1895-1897. In the earlier days, and even not so long ago in some parts, the farmers' crops required guarding during the night against the depredations of game. This is still so in the north-western plains of the Cape Colony, as already remarked. In May most of the Harrismith district farmers and those of the Transvaal high veldt move their sheep, horses and cattle to winter in Natal, Swaziland, and to the other extensive low lands most adjacent, to return after the spring rains in September or October. Sheep and horses could not with safety remain longer in those warm regions, as then the fatal malarial _blaauwtong_ begins there to attack sheep, and horse sickness becomes virulent as well. The high veldt, as said before, is exempt from that danger. Some of the wealthier farmers can arrange it so that they and their families can winter at their comfortable high-veldt homes and send attendants with their cattle to the low veldt, while others, not so well favoured, must close up their houses and accompany their flocks to winter in the warm tracts, where they live in their wagons and tents and escape the outlay for winter clothing. Owing to the scarcity of wood on the high veldt, kraal fuel used formerly to be the staple substitute. This would be obtained by penning up sheep over-night. The deposits were after a month or two dug out in thick flags, which, after being stacked and dried over the kraal wall, would burn nearly as well and as brightly as wood. The discovery of coal beds in so many accessible places in the Cape Colony, Natal, and in the two Republics has since superseded that sort of fuel to a great extent. The small divergence between summer and winter temperature upon the high table lands will be seen from the following table taken from observations at 5,500 to 6,000 feet altitude in the Transvaal:-- Fahr. Fahr. In winter--28° to 40° at night; 35° to 70° by day in the shade. In summer--40° to 60° at night; 50° to 90° by day in the shade. It is not often that 85° is reached, and rarely above. This applies equally to the more southern and thus colder latitudes of Queenstown, at 3,000 feet elevation, and to the eastern half of the Orange Free State, at 4,000 to 5,000 feet, the warmth increasing, as said before, proportionately with the descent in altitude, and on occasions of tardy summer rains. The winter is the most enjoyable of the seasons, being an almost uninterrupted continuation of fine sunny weather. On occasions there would be spells of boisterous weather with a rather sudden and inclement decrease of temperature, brought on by cold south-east winds; if these are accompanied with rain in winter, which, however, rarely happens, it would sometimes turn to sleet or even snow, or else to hard freezing at night. The snow would, however, thaw with the warmth of the sun, and so restore the temperature as before. The bracing quality of the climate mostly consists just in those variations of cool nights and warm days, and the occasional days of comparatively cold, boisterous weather. The latter must indeed be provided against, for even in December--that is to say, in the middle of summer--it would be imprudent to travel without great-coats as well as waterproofs, so as to be protected against unexpected changes, from say, 100° in the sun, almost suddenly to 40° with a driving wind, accompanied perhaps with rain. Such transitions are trying in the open, even if one is well clad, and the blustering weather is sometimes so severe, if it happens in winter or early spring, as to approach the character of a blizzard. One such lasted about thirty hours in the early spring of 1881. It swept over the entire South African plateaux and destroyed great numbers of sheep and cattle. These fell exhausted in their flight before they could reach some sheltering hills or ravines. In situations where such protections from the cold south-east wind were far apart the veldt was on the following day found strewn with their carcases, and upon the still more extensive and unbroken plains antelopes even perished in enormous numbers simply from exhaustion in trying to escape and find shelter from the cold wind. I will just describe one of those occurrences, the severest in my experience and well remembered by the Free State and the Transvaal Boers--it was, I think, in 1881. One sunny day, early in August (spring time), at a place about twenty miles east of Reddersburg, in the Orange Free State, the wind veered to the south-east, and by afternoon had begun to blow fairly hard and cold, about 35° Fahrenheit--that is to say, about 35° below the temperature of a few hours previously. I had managed to get some milch cows driven near to the kraal, where there would have been very fair shelter for them, but luckily, as the sequel proved, they refused to enter, and rushed past in a scared way, just snatching up one mouthful of forage which had been thrown down to entice them to stay, and making off as hard as they could. The wind did not abate till the day after, when tales kept pouring in of terrible losses of sheep and cattle killed by the cold wind; sheep in open plains had suffered most, and cattle which had been kraaled were nearly all dead, whilst the herds of cattle and horses which had been left grazing out had been driven away and were also believed to have died. At the farm of a certain Andries Bester, near by, some seventy head of cattle in very good condition were found dead, piled up to the level of one of the kraal walls, showing the struggle which some thirty others had in escaping over the mound of dead cattle to the outside of the kraal. The next day all those thirty head were found grazing some fifteen miles westwards under the lee of hills near Reddersburg, where they had found safe shelter. Everybody's cattle were recovered which had not been kraaled, including mine. This was the case as well with cattle which had been tethered to their transport wagons and which succeeded in breaking loose, whilst the rest were found dead where they had been tied. There was no possibility of restraining cattle or horses from stampeding--they did it from the instinct of self-preservation, for, whilst running with the wind, its force of driving cold was proportionately lessened, and some loss of heat was made good by the exertion of running, which they had to keep up till in safe shelter of hills or ravines. Had such a cold storm overtaken an army or patrol, the situation would have been exactly similar, and would have been an ordeal even to experienced Boers or Colonial farmers, and if an enemy had been located near Reddersburg, all the cattle and horses would simply have fallen into his lap. The obvious safeguard would be a rug for each horse and mule, and for oxen the erection of a shelter against the wind, consisting of all available wagons and stores, or else, if practicable, to move at once to a sheltered locality and always provide a good reserve supply of forage or other provender. That sort of boisterous, cold weather continues sometimes, with more or less severity, two or three days. The want of food and inclemency besides would result in killing the weak cattle and weaken the rest so as to be incapable of work for some days after. The difficulty consists in that such inclement changes occur so suddenly, and that their severity and duration cannot be forecasted. Upon other much less severe occasions entire gangs of 20-50 Kaffirs, travelling from the warm north to the diamond-fields or gold-mines, and not sufficiently provided with blankets, would be found at their camping places huddled together, nearly all numbed to death. The months when such surprise weather is most liable to occur are from "July to October," before and during the earlier spring rains. It is then, and even up to December at times, that the Drakensberg and other mountains resume their snow-capped winter decorations for some days. There is a saying which fairly well applies to the high-veldt climate, _i.e._, that cold and inclement weather is not met with until well in towards summer, especially about the time of spring rains, and that hot weather of any considerable continuance mostly occurs in spring. This will be understood upon considering that the midsummer months, December to February, are cooled by very frequent and copious rains, whilst the heat accumulates more during the preceding sunny spring months, which are interrupted at rarer intervals by short showers only. Upon the whole, and despite the few eccentricities mentioned, the high veldt is favoured with a climate which, for genial comfort all the year round, exempt from prolonged winter rigours and excessive summer heat, is not found anywhere else in the world, or only in rare privileged spots. It is withal most healthy, promoting the highest possible physical development and even longevity. Under such favoured conditions the hand of man only is needed in providing good habitations, planting trees, in the culture of the soil, and some irrigation labour, to transform nearly every little farm within five to ten years from a bare pastoral monotony to a really idyllic spot. There are many such already in Basutoland, the Orange Free State, and the Transvaal, as well as in the Cape Colonies and Natal--veritable Eden-like places, as it were bits dropped from heaven. With a continuance of peace these could be multiplied to any extent each year, thus rendering those sparsely inhabited tracts the most beautiful areas in the world, with a prosperous self-sustaining population, quite apart from considerations of mineral wealth. The foregoing description of the high-veldt climate points to clothing composed of woollen fabrics as the only _rational and safe_ attire for men travelling or taking the field. No constitution could be expected to hold out against the ever-changing temperature and weather if depending upon being clad, for example, in a cotton suit; this would only do on warm days for men who are certain of being safely housed at night and sheltered during rainy weather. Horses and mules in the open should be provided with woollen rugs during winter and spring. BOER PREPAREDNESS FOR WAR The ultimatum cabled to England had no sooner expired at 5 p.m. on the 11th October last than the same evening and on the very next and succeeding days appeared, published all over the Orange Free State and the Transvaal, "Government Gazettes extraordinary," filling scores of pages, comprising proclamations of martial law, and the hundred and one enactments and provisions regulating that new condition. Their preambles stated: Whereas in secret session on such and such dates (that is to say, months previous) the honourable First Volksraad had passed this or that law--or whereas the two Volksraads, assembled in secret session, had authorized the Government to frame such and such laws, to come into force immediately after publication. This shows at least a studious purpose months beforehand to be in complete readiness, for it obviously took no little time to prepare all those laws, and have them ready in type for despatch and publication as had been done. It accords with the assumption that war had been predetermined, and this is further confirmed by numerous statements, publicly made by Volksraad members, and also by President Steyn's famous and now historic message to President Krüger some short time before, in the laconic and oracular words, "We are ready." That the Afrikaner Bond had been for years past preparing for its _coup d'état_ is further shown by the following incidents which can be substantiated by the writer:-- During the days of the Jameson raid a very prominent Transvaal Boer, holding office and who had two sons at the scene of the disturbance, remarked at a public place in conversation with other burghers:-- "England just wants to annex the Transvaal, and no doubt the Orange Free State too. This we know; but what she does not know is, that we can at this moment reverse the tale--we can seize in one day Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, East London, and Durban, and within a very short time turn every Englishman out of the Colonies, out of the land which England has robbed us of." Those words were spoken by a Bond man who is known to rarely speak in public. When asked by a Uitlander how it could be done, he relapsed into his usual prudent reticence, and merely remarked grimly, "We can do it." But for subsequent revelations and the present sequel those words would have been forgotten, and were at the time attributed by some to mere boastful exuberance. In July last the topic was discussed by some Boers at the house of a highly placed military official, about the five per cent. tax upon the profits of the gold industry. One said it should be raised to twenty-five per cent. for the benefit of the burgher estate. That official, who, by the way, had just returned from a gathering of country officials at Pretoria, sententiously replied "that it was no more a question of any tribute, but of taking the mines altogether out of the capitalists' hands"; and when another burgher interposed a doubt as to the fairness of such a proceeding, that official continued by saying, "Fairness indeed! it is we who have submitted to unfairness only too long--_ons wil nou Engelse schiet_ (we want now to go on the battue of Englishmen)." When the Transvaal Government had secured the assent of both Volksraads to the seven years' franchise measure it was thought desirable, as a matter of form and to gain time, to defer the formal passing of the law until after it had been referred to the burghers. This was not done till August last. A large section of the people were known to be against extending the franchise, but the Government had no misgivings about the result, counting upon the persuasive influence of the Volksraad members who were to preside at the plebiscite meetings, and had before been drilled up to their task. Their success was as desired, and the measure became law in due course. Those meetings in the different districts and wards of the State were characterised by almost uniform proceedings, so that the description of one of them can serve for all. The burghers assembled on the appointed day at the local Government Office. The Landdrost, or chief official of the ward, took the chair. There were four Volksraad members, who each in turn recommended the adoption of the seven years' franchise measure. The burghers were invited to express their views. The majority appeared dead against it, but were gradually appeased, and they finally assented to a motion of approval presented by the chairman, which also conveyed full confidence in the Government and their representatives to deal with the enactment and to modify it as they might consider appropriate. One of the burghers had in his speech stated in passionate terms that no dictation on the part of Uitlanders could be tolerated; they must either obey the laws or leave the State. The function and prerogative of making laws belonged to the burghers. They had been ill-used enough by the English; it would be still worse, he said, if they were invested with legislative rights. "On the contrary, it is the Boer nation which is entitled to supremacy, not only in the Transvaal but right to the sea. The Cape Colonies," he continued, "are ours by divine right, and so is Natal, and no Afrikaner may rest until we are reinstated." General approbation and stamping of feet followed that passionately rendered speech. Not a word of restraint or censure from any of the four Volksraad members. Some of these had addressed the meeting already, and the others in turn followed. Their speeches had one import, viz., "Burghers! The Government and the two Volksraads have carefully and prayerfully weighed this seven years' franchise measure. You may safely approve of it; it can result in no harm; it will strengthen our cause. We know that England wants our land because of the gold in it; but this law will contribute to thwart her, though it will not avert war. We were a small nation when our fathers trekked to this side of the Orange River; we have become united and strong since. It will be soon seen that our people have to be reckoned with among the other nations of the earth; we have right on our side, and, with God's help, we are certain to prevail. Burghers, you may trust us as your representatives; we are all of one mind with you; you may safely approve of the proposed franchise law, and leave possible modifications in the hands of the Government." Then followed tumultuous approval from the great majority, motions of confidence and of thanks. Those burgher meetings were convened during July and August. * * * * * President Krüger is famous for employing clever and original similes in order to illustrate a policy as he wants his people to understand it. It has already been noted that the Franchise Law of 1890 excluded Uitlanders from full burgher rights until after twenty-one years' probation. The reduction to seven years was proclaimed to be a concession to meet Mr. Chamberlain's demand. The simile, as addressed to the Volksraad and published in the journals, ran as follows:-- "First my coat was demanded of me, which I gave; next were asked my boots, vest, and trousers. I surrendered these as well; and now, as I stand in my bare shirt, my limbs are wanted besides." The people were thus led to be unanimous in the resolve to oppose any further concession, and to view Sir Alfred Milner's unconditional insistence for a five years' franchise as a conclusive proof that England in reality wanted no less than the country itself. In this way the Boer mind was designedly fashioned into the conviction that war was inevitable, and that both President and people were absolved from all responsibility in it. Had the offered franchise of seven years and the subsequent one of five years been honestly meant, there should, indeed, have been little difficulty for adjusting in the one case the difference of two years; but it being so surrounded by impossible trammels that what purported to be an egg proved more like a stone, and even that was not intended to be given, it was a mere subterfuge to gain time for carrying out Bond designs. ALLIANCE OF ORANGE FREE STATE WITH TRANSVAAL--SUZERAINTY SQUABBLE--ARMAMENTS BEFORE JAMESON RAID The project of alliance between the Transvaal and the Orange Free State had been mooted before 1890. After that came conferences between the respective Presidents and delegates for closer union as it was then styled. Mr. John G. Fraser, one of the noblest and most distinguished Orange Free State statesmen, was conspicuous among the few opponents. His arguments against federation were so logical and conclusive that it seemed for a while that the idea would have to be renounced. Among other grounds adduced against that alliance was the fact that England possessed claims of suzerainty over the Transvaal, and, the Orange Free State itself being entirely independent, the incongruity and incompatibility were obvious of joining a vassal State. There was trouble if not danger lurking behind it, if such two States were to join in an actual federation. Whatever was desirable for mutual advantage might be attained without offensive and defensive alliance. The two Governments, however, knew how to manipulate matters. The closer union scheme was carried through before the Jameson incursion, and soon after that event an offensive and defensive alliance completed the federation. The Afrikaner Bond then had advanced another important stage. Mr. John G. Fraser's persistent objections to federation, upon the ground that the Transvaal stood under British suzerainty, had given that question a prominence operating against the Afrikaner Bond project, viz., that of gaining a strong Power as ally to its cause. It was felt that no Power could, with decency, enter into a connection with that State while such a claim was maintained. To overcome that obstacle the Transvaal Government proceeded to raise a controversy with England, taking up the position of repudiating the claim of suzerainty, and averring the complete independence of the State, subject only to the one clause _re_ treaties with foreign nations. Another object would be gained, viz., of diverting England from Bond aims by that and similar controversies. To make a show of sincerity about it all, the opinions (foregathered, of course) of certain eminent jurists in England and Holland were obtained, who refuted the claim in elaborate disquisitions and with that readiness of apparent conviction so peculiar to some advocates' affected faith in their clients' cause. Thus England was decoyed into a protracted tournament of words and phrases without any practical result, but gratifying and inspiring no doubt to certain well-paid _soi-disant_ champions of the principle defined as the "_perfection of justice_," who revel in a display of forensic erudition, which, however, only illustrates to the unedified lay mind how speech is adaptable to veil inward conviction, and how a mass of rhetoric can be employed to justify the breach of simple and well-understood engagements. It continues to be clumsily insisted upon in official and paid Press organs how the need of providing Transvaal armaments became realized only with that Anglo-capitalistic plot of 1895-96 against Boer independence, and that, in fact, Dr. Jameson was worthy of the Boer nation's lasting gratitude for opening their eyes to their helplessly unarmed and unprepared condition up to that time. In those papers it is declared with unblushing inexactness how the Transvaal at that epoch possessed only two hundred and fifty inefficient and ill-equipped artillerists, with only a few cannons of various antiquated types, and how the burgher element had, up to that time, continued unarmed and in unsuspecting insecurity. To stamp these misstatements as false, it needs only to be considered that from the time of the Boer trek in 1835-38 every Boer had been a hunter and guerilla soldier possessed of the best firearms then extant, ready at any sacrifice to provide still more effective weapons as inventions in arms of precision in turn progressed. His passion to be well armed only equalled that of his love for land. From 1881 every Transvaal and Orange Free State Boer without exception had, and was obliged to have, his Martini-Henry rifle. The Government arsenals were supplied with reserves of that up to recently unsurpassed weapon and with large stores of ammunition. The authorities supplied that rifle at £4 each, and even gratis in the case of indigent burghers. At the frequent reviews (_wapenschouwingen_) each burgher had to appear mounted, with his Martini-Henry rifle and thirty rounds ammunition. To maintain proficiency in rifle practice, prizes and honours were distributed at Government expense in each ward, whilst there was plenty of private emulation encouraged among young and old in the science of sharp-shooting, the Governments of both Republics contributing ammunition at below cost price. In about 1893 the Transvaal Government introduced about 10,000 new rifles of the Guede pattern, firing a steel-pointed bullet, but the issue did not become general, as the Martini-Henry rifle continued to be held more effective for game and for war. The Mauser rifle was only provided, after long hesitation and much diffidence, for its rapid-firing quality in war, whereas for game it is still considered inferior to the larger bored Martini-Henry. On the occasion of the Jameson incursion, the Transvaal had in readiness extensive parks of the most modern quick-firing Maxims and Nordenfeldts of various calibres, and breech-loading field artillery of the Krupp make. The Orange Free State hurried to their assistance with similar artillery, each burgher armed with a Martini-Henry rifle. Besides all that, there was the dynamite and explosives factory equipped to manufacture all sorts of modern ammunition as it does now, and this is why President Krüger described that factory as one of the corner-stones of Boer independence. In the face of these facts it is a most singular departure to say that the Transvaal only thought of arming when becoming alarmed for the future by the Jameson attempt, and that statement could only have been intended to mislead the uninformed at a distance. "_Qui s'excuse s'accuse_" is applicable in this as well as in other ruses for hiding those sinister Bond aims and to pose as the guileless and victimized Boer nation. It was just the other way about--it was England who was unprepared and exposed to imminent risk of aggression on the part of the Boer combination. What had amazed and actually exasperated many Boers was the ludicrously puny attempt made by Jameson and the Johannesburg revolutionary concert. It was at the time thought that the invasion of some 700 men was only a first installment, and that much larger developments were in preparation to attack the State. It was for that reason that only a few batteries of artillery were despatched at a late moment to Doornkop under Commandant Trichaart to operate against Jameson's party, while the bulk was held in reserve with an extensive mobilization of burghers to resist other supposed opposition of an altogether more formidable but yet undefined character. When nothing further transpired, the feeling uppermost with the people was unbounded derision at that impotent fiasco, and a loathing contempt for the cowering Johannesburg rabble who betrayed and sacrificed the insensate doctor. It was loudly asserted that the combined forces of the two Republics were competent to resist an invasion a hundred times stronger than the one so foolishly attempted; but, with cooler counsels, it was resolved to adopt the appealing attitude of the deeply injured party who miraculously and providentially escaped a great national peril. Upon these lines the raid incident afforded an immense advantage to Afrikaner Bond tactics, and an impulse to Bond propaganda which enormously increased Boer partisanship, inflicting at the same time a fatal check upon the diplomacy of England and upon the essential peace-preserving measures for safeguarding her South African interests. The circumstances, however, served to embolden many hitherto undecided sympathisers into openly declared and vehement Boer partisans, revealing the singular spectacle, among English people even, of a morbid cult apparently ready to sacrifice their nation just to vindicate their judicial dicta about Boer innocence and to parade their own darling sense of shocked and violated national honour. Quite other and more emphatic terms apply to the revolting sewerage such as the socialistic platform and other purulent nurseries for breeding wilful and hypocritical abettors, at so much a score, of misguided and treason-hatching Afrikanerdom. THE TRANSVAAL DYNAMITE AND EXPLOSIVES MONOPOLY The factory pertaining to this enterprise, situated near Pretoria, is recognised to be the most extensive and best equipped of its kind in existence. It is capable of turning out all the dynamite and similar blasting material needed for the gold and other mines of the State, also every description of explosive needed for modern ammunition. Its equipments include ateliers and laboratories under the conduct of eminent scientists and men of most advanced technical proficiency. The site is a farm named Modderfontein of about 8,000 acres near Pretoria. The industry provides employment for over 5,000 persons. In connection with this factory is a foundry at Pretoria for casting shells, etc. The various ingredients, such as sulphur, guhr, saltpetre, etc., are believed to be plentiful in the State, but their exploitation is found to be more costly than it is to import the pure articles from Europe. The investment is represented mostly by French and German shareholders, the Transvaal Government also possessing a portion of the shares. The contract with the State conveys a complete monopoly for the manufacture and importation of all descriptions of explosives, and is so framed as to base its subsistence upon international rights. One of the conditions is that the issue of ammunition is relegated to State control. In this manner burghers only get supplies, whilst Uitlanders are limited to very small quantities for sporting purposes by special permits. BOND FIGHTING STRENGTH IN BEGINNING OF 1899 Efficiently _Mounted Infantry._ At least about 142,000 trained. 15,000 Orange Free State, between 18-50 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20,000 25,000 Transvaal, between 18-50 years . . 30,000 40,000 Cape Colonies, between 18-50 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60,000 2,000 Natal and elsewhere, between 18-50 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,000 18,000 Of above, aged 16-18 and 50-60 . . 30,000 ------- ------ 100,000 _Artillery_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,000 600 Orange Free State, including trained reserves . . . . . . . . 600 1,400 Transvaal . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,400 ------- ----- ------- 102,000 . . . . . . . . . . . Total at least about 144,000 102,000 highly efficient, and 42,000 partly trained. The mounts are docile, hardy and nimble, with large reserves available. The above includes 500 Johannesburg Mounted Police, a picked body of men armed with carbine, revolver, and sabre. _Small Arms_ . . . . . . . . . About 250,000 Martini-Henry rifles in Orange Free State } } 100,000 " " " in Transvaal } Guede rifles in Transvaal . . . . . . . . 10,000 Mauser rifles in Transvaal . . . . . . . . 120,000 Revolvers in both States . . . . . . . . . 20,000 ------ _Artillery, both Republics_ . . . . . . . . 140 Maxims and Nordenfeldts, modern . . . . . 50 Field cannon and Howitzers " . . . . . 70 Siege and heavy guns " . . . . . 20 BOER CONSERVATISM Rudyard Kipling truly said "the Boers are the most conservative people on earth." Habits and views which had prevailed two hundred years ago with their forefathers are still tenaciously preserved by them. We see this in matters of language, religion, in certain antipathies, and even in attire. They are justly famed for hospitality, not only amongst themselves, but also towards strangers, and a very pleasing trait, no doubt handed down from the seigneurial Huguenots, is the genial politeness which a stranger will receive in an otherwise wholly uncultured Boer family. On his farm the Boer is chief and supreme after the patriarchal fashion--no thought of tolerating an equal or a rival in authority. Collectively also, as in governmental representation, he is extremely averse to the introduction of any foreign element; such a factor would meet with his undisguised suspicion and jealousy. It must be Boer supremacy, and to this strangers must submit; the Boers to figure as the only caste or military aristocracy privileged to carry arms, very much like the Samouris nobles of Japan, who from of old until recently had represented the feudal estate, and had made quite a famous cult of personal bravery, chivalry and devotion to their Mikado and for their independent caste. Long intercourse and inter-marriage with a Boer family would ultimately remove the barrier. With such rooted exclusiveness it is only in accord with Boer nature to be reluctant in admitting Uitlanders to burgher franchise, and the greater their numbers and influence of wealth the more would they be viewed as an innovating menace and their admittance to political equality be resisted. Upon newly occupied farms a Boer will always seek to locate one or more squatters of his own nation upon allotments ultimately intended for the occupation of some of his own children as soon as they are grown up. The usual conditions for privileges of residence, grazing, and cultivation are that the squatter builds a dwelling and does all the other permanent improvements at his own cost, that he accounts to the owner for half or one-third of all products raised, and that he and his family should render services whenever required. When the squatter acquires land of his own he will in turn adopt similar feudal methods to get it improved and to obtain services without expense. Should the conditions accorded to the squatter result in advantages which prove any way lucrative to him, the owner would in nine cases out of ten immediately impose more exacting conditions, upon the plea of making provision for his own children. Such dependants are otherwise treated with familiar equality, as are also other white employees, and are admitted at the common table like any of the family, but below the salt. To acquire farms is a Boer's greatest ambition. The love of land is his special passion, so that his children also may be independent owners of farms. Formerly such land acquisitions were made by encroachments upon the possessions of natives or by purchases from them and by barter, and failing those means, by conquest. Since 1885, however, the stipulations in connection with the Anglo-Swaziland settlement effectually barred expansion and encroachments in any direction. The Boers resent this check as an exceedingly sore point. There is not enough land for the sons who have since grown up. These cannot possibly compete with the educated Hollanders in quest of good positions, nor are they taught any handicrafts, and the galling prospect is inevitable that they will have to content themselves with very humble stations in life, dependent even upon the more prosperous Uitlanders. No wonder these Boers fell an easy prey to the seductions and deceptive fallacies of the Afrikaner Bond doctrine of conquest, for dispossessing England of her Colonies, and to resume a free hand for expansion northwards as well. In connection with the stated inadequacy of spare land it is well to note that, of the two Republics, the Transvaal only possesses undeveloped Government reserve land. This is all situated in more or less low-lying and fever-stricken parts, large tracts being absolutely uninhabitable for that reason, especially in summer. Some of the rest is occupied on terms of lease by burghers, and has up to the present afforded scope for some of the less aspiring class. About one-quarter of the aggregate Transvaal farms are owned by Uitlander individuals or by companies who are mostly English. But the bulk of the land owned by burghers in both States has gradually become cut up by the process of succession into holdings so small as to admit of hardly any further division. There are, of course, numerous exceptions of wealthy farmers who can still bequeath to each of their sons a whole farm of 6,000 acres, or half a farm. In the face of these restrictive circumstances a scheme has been in preparation during the past years, promoted by the Bond coterie in Holland and the Governments of the two Republics, to effect a large emigration from Holland to those States. A company has thus been formed, called "Nederlandsche Emigratie Maatschappy voor Transvaal en Oranje Vry Staat." The prospectus describes the objects as agricultural, pastoral, and industrial, but, as "members," only such are invited as are disposed to join hands with the Boer cause. That scheme came into operation before the outbreak of the war. What else does it reveal but a thinly veiled recruiting device for auxiliaries against England? Education What has been said about the ignorance and illiteracy of the Boers may be admitted to apply to the great majority of the grown-up and of the more maturely aged population; those of youthful age have of late years had the benefit of a better education than had before been possible to provide. But the great drawback consists in the still very imperfect knowledge of High Dutch, and it will take many years yet before a more general proficiency in that language will qualify the youth for more than purely elementary studies. There are numerous exceptions, however, of very creditably educated Boers, whose parents have been able to get them taught at Colonial schools, such as the Stellenbosch seminary, and even in Holland. Besides this, there are the children and grandchildren of the many educated Hollanders who have continued to stream into the Republics since 1854, and who had the advantage of learning High Dutch from their parents. Those, as a rule, bestowed great attention to their children's education, and in many cases sent them to Holland to complete their studies. The greatest factor of the educated Dutch element in South Africa consists of the mass of Hollanders itself, who have made their way to the Republics, and especially to the Transvaal, during the past eighteen years, among whom are many of highest European attainments, so that altogether a big muster is made up of well-instructed people, comparing well enough with other nations, and ample to meet all the exigencies of the two rapidly developing Republics. This educated contingent is being continuously supplemented by like arrivals from Holland, including eminent technical experts and scientists. It is a well-known feature that many chief posts of the administration are filled by aged, uneducated burghers who are altogether without the qualification required for the exercise of their function, but this drawback is effectually remedied by the expedient of providing proficient Hollanders as working adjuncts and secretaries, in which manner all the branches of the administration are nevertheless efficiently and most creditably served. Hundreds of young Boers are admitted as supernumeraries into the various offices to prepare them for responsible positions later on. Dundee Secret Dossier The greatest stir was made upon the discovery of secret documents left behind by the British military at the hurried evacuation of Dundee (Natal). It was made public that those documents contained all the details of a plan of invading the Orange Free State, and that it furnished most incontestable proofs of British designs as early as 1896 against the independence of both Republics. It was promised to publish those details, but this has not yet been done. It appears, however, that no incriminating details exist. Nevertheless, the matter has been made to serve calumniating reports on a considerable scale in the pro-Boer Press abroad, declaring that those documents conveyed absolute proofs of England's perfidious intentions of attacking the Orange Free State unawares, whilst all the time professing friendly relations and undertaking to respect the complete integrity of the Republican status of both States. What actually has transpired is that the whole thing was a mare's nest, simply and nothing more than military information under cover marked "secret," giving topographical and other details upon the Orange Free State--a proceeding which is carried out by all military authorities of any pretensions to prudent activity in the information department, and no more construable into actual hostile intentions than are other geographical surveys for general instructions or for school use. The incident again shows the absence of tangible grounds for accusations against England when a foolish invention as the one cited must do duty for such, and to rekindle race hatred. The interest and the manipulation devoted to that fabrication by the pro-Boer Press have, however, scored another success to Bond propaganda in fixing the belief with Boer partisans, of England's really predetermined designs to annex both Republics. Every Boer has since been more than ever so persuaded, the conviction fanning the fervour of patriotism and stimulating his eagerness to resist the would-be ravishers of his country. Considering, on the other hand, that the English Government had known much about the Afrikaner Bond menace, it is singular that precautionary measures had halted with that bare effort of making military observations. The only way to account for this apparent lethargic inaction is the assumption that a persevering patience and friendly attitude was expected in time to effectually dissipate all trouble in South Africa, and that a display of anxiety or of force would have frustrated such peaceable tactics. In refutation of the aspersion against England, it may be sufficient to point to the fact that during those very years (1896-7) both Republics were in a condition of complete helplessness through the rinderpest scourge which was then raging. If any hostile designs had in reality existed they could have been carried out with utmost ease then, as that scourge presented no obstacle to England. But it was the programme of peace which was pursued as undeviatingly then as since, with a constancy which refused to be foiled. Pamphlet entitled _A Hundred Years of Injustice_ A mass of so-called proof against England of her guilt in provoking the present war and justifying the Boer attitude was presented to the public in South Africa and abroad in November last in the shape of a voluminous pamphlet entitled _A Hundred Years of Injustice_ (published both in English and Dutch, and later even translated into French). That production covers Boer history and its troubles with England up to 1881. It then travels over the diplomatic appeals of the Transvaal delegation, which resulted in the renewed convention of 1884. Then it wades through all the mire of academic squabble _re_ suzerainty, etc. After exhausting the Jameson episode with bitter invective, and seeking applause for the Transvaal Government for its professed desire to conciliate and to propitiate England by the offer of a seven years' franchise, the reader is, in conclusion, 'treated to a literary display of pyrotechnic denunciations and prophetic burdens against wicked Albion, with appeals to divine justice for righting the cause of an innocent nation so foully driven to a war of pure self-defence. Lest he be taken unawares the reader of that pamphlet would do well to note the significant fact in connection with those preferred accusations and aspersions that not a single act construable to the prejudice of England is adduced dating after the Anglo-Transvaal peace of 1881, that peace which had been mutually understood to close up all by-gones. But the recriminations all revert to previous history, nothing having occurred since 1881 to form real grounds for accusations. There had, on the contrary, been an exhibition of unwearied friendly endeavours on the part of Great Britain to maintain loyal peace with an ever-shifty and truculent Government, and to induce it to desist from scandalous intrigue against imperial interests in South Africa, and to adopt a more rational attitude towards Uitlanders, which in itself would have precluded troubles like that of the Johannesburg revolt and the Jameson raid. AN OLD FREE STATER'S ADMONITION The doctrines of the Afrikaner Bond coterie have been so assiduously and deeply instilled into the Boer mind that demonstrations are utterly futile in shaking the national conviction of the divinely approved justice of his cause. The first occasion when I saw this illustrated, and also the people's unreasoning adherence to their leaders' opinions, happened about ten years ago at burgher meetings which had been convened to discuss the then projected law for restraining Uitlanders from admission to Transvaal franchise and other political topics. An old Free State burgher was led then and subsequently to express his views upon the subject in about the following strain: "It is our duty to guard our nation against being swamped out or supplanted by strangers; they are in great force already, and their number will constantly increase, yet what attracts them, as you know, is our gold. That will give out eventually, when the majority will again depart. Those strangers, who then elect to remain with us, might be admitted to full burgher rights. In the meantime it behoves us to reserve the full franchise, nor will many aspire to it if they are only treated well as strangers should be, as we should wish to be treated if we were in their place. This is what they expect from us, and it can well be done without giving full franchise, which they indeed do not need and will then not claim. They will be content if their own interests are not hampered or interfered with, and will be satisfied with such rights and privileges as are reasonably due to guests, and we may say welcome guests (for it is plain that the land is also largely benefited by their presence). In other respects let us support law and order to suppress evil, which they desire as well as we do. "Does the Bible not say, 'The Lord loveth the stranger?' so also then must we; and again, 'Thou shalt not devise mischief against the stranger who dwelleth in peace with thee.' We are reputed as a God-fearing people. Is it not well that we should take great care to act in accordance? But I have observed with shame that instead of love and peace a spirit of hatred and strife has been allowed to gain upon us. Let us strive to expel that evil, lest we fall under God's displeasure and forfeit His favour. We cannot afford to lose that." At this stage the speaker was interrupted by violent remarks about England's incurable perfidy and the like, when he added, prolonging his speech more than he had probably intended: "Yes, we may not trust England, but what we must do is to trust in God. Did God not pull us through all along? was it not He who provided the peace of 1881 which restored our independence? And can that gracious Lord, if we only let Him act, not also protect us against any wiles and dangers if such should occur in the future? As yet none such have arisen. The Lord was with us in our battles for liberty; He was equally present and prompted the sense and conditions of that very convention of 1881, which the people were subsequently dissatisfied with and in their own wisdom sacrificed for that of 1884. It is just possible that that presumptuous act of wanting to improve upon the Lord's work will result in trouble and prove to our sorrow that we have simply tampered and tinkered with a good thing and spoilt it to our hurt. "'Thou shalt not provoke thy children to wrath lest they be discouraged and be tempted to do evil,' applies specially also to the duties of Governments. Our rulers need wisdom in this direction, and will be responsible if our strangers are subjected to unfair laws. The older people here will call to mind, when the old voortrekkers were obliged to go hundreds of miles, as far as Pietermaritzburg, for their supplies, that we prayed for shopkeepers in our land so that we might be spared those long journeys. What was done soon after we had attracted strangers to establish businesses with us? We were seduced to deliberately attempt their ruin by starting those _nationale Boerenwinkels_ (national Boer stores), supported by our own capital, but governed by Hollanders who eventually squandered our money. Was that dealing fairly by confiding strangers? Later on, again in response to our prayers, we got railways; skilled men and much capital from foreign countries, first to prospect for gold and then to develop and exploit the mines. Their labour and hard-earned money were risked when the return was still problematic. Shall we begrudge them their successes now, seeing that our whole land is equally enriched at the same time, and but for them and their enterprise the gold would still be lying uselessly hidden in the depths of the ground? There are now, in 1890, over 100,000 such strangers in the land, and probably over 200 millions capital invested. Shall they be treated in a manner to justify the accusation that they were inveigled into our land with the object of despoiling them afterwards after the style of 'Come into my parlour, says the spider to the fly'? These people count upon our honest friendship, especially the many English among them who ground that confidence upon the honourable peace accorded us in 1881. Shall we deceive them? May we hate them for old questions which that peace was intended to bury for ever? Think of the Lord's dealings with our people--poor, wandering, and despised at first. He had blessings in store for the tried voortrekkers and their children. 'The beggar was raised from the dunghill [_asch-hoop, i.e._, ash-heap, was the word he used] to sit with princes'--'a table laid for us in the sight of our enemies.' All this is literally fulfilled. Our President and others representing us have been to Europe and sat with princes, and we have a country full of riches enough to make any enemy to rage with jealousy at the sight. Who else but the devil is that enemy? It is he who persecuted our Dutch and Huguenot ancestors for their faith, and is pursuing us since. It is he and his army that rage the most at our unexampled blessings. It is he who wants us to forfeit them all and the Lord's favour as well. It emanates from the evil one that so many among us are seduced into wicked political plans to subvert authority installed by God, to incite our brethren to sedition in the Colonies, wanting to dispossess the English. For the Queen's Government there is as much from God as are the authorities over us here and in the Orange Free State. "God saith by Solomon (Prov. xxiv. 21-22): 'My son, fear thou the Lord and the king; and meddle not with them that are given to change: for their calamity shall rise suddenly; and who knoweth the destruction of them both?'" and he finally warned them of the risk they incurred, after having been advanced and blessed in an unexampled way, of being flung back to their previous ignoble position upon the ash heap. There are plenty of respectable Boers in whose ears those expressions still tingle. The man, who is no speaker, was, nevertheless, apt to grow warm and impressive, drawn out probably by interruptions and opposing views. The speeches terminated on one occasion by one of the party saying in violent Bond fashion: "The English hired the Zulus to massacre our people. They robbed us of Natal, and drove us from the Colonies. There can be no peace with them until we have our own. God helps them who help themselves. Whoever takes their part is against us and against every true Afrikaner." _MODUS VIVENDI_ SUGGESTED BY OLD FREE STATER As is known, the conference between Sir Alfred Milner and President Krüger, assisted by President Steyn, took place at Bloemfontein during the first days of June last (1899), and resulted in the refusal to a demand of a five years' franchise made on behalf of the Transvaal Uitlanders, which refusal was some time later modified by enacting a law admitting them to full burgher rights after a probation of seven years, but coupled with restrictive forms and conditions which made that measure unacceptable. Some time before that conference the old Free Stater already mentioned obtained several prolonged interviews with the hon. State Secretary Reitz, at Pretoria, with the object of dissuading the Transvaal Government from conferring with Sir Alfred Milner while as yet no sufficient friendly _rapprochement_ had been reached and no advance had been made as to mutually approved bases upon which to confer. He strongly deprecated the idea of granting "full" burgher rights to Uitlanders, but held that their needs and wishes could be met by allowing their interests to be amply represented without impinging upon the special privileges which should be reserved for the burgher status proper. He was finally invited by Mr. Reitz to submit his scheme in writing, with the promise that it should receive careful consideration. That old Free Stater complied, and supplied President Krüger with a duplicate separately as well. The scheme ran in substance as follows: "_Modus vivendi_" The population of the Transvaal to be divided into two classes, pending the continued presence of the large floating portion consisting of Uitlanders who derive their subsistence from the mining industries, viz.:-- 1st Class.--The fixed or burgher estate. 2nd Class.--The floating or alien estate or Guests. The 1st Volksraad to be elected by burghers only, and to represent the highest legislative and administrative powers. The 2nd Volksraad to be elected by Uitlanders and burghers, and to be vested with all such reasonable legislative powers as will cover the domestic, industrial, and vocative interests of both burghers and guests. The Uitlander franchise shall be limited to representation in the 2nd Volksraad, and be extended under usual fair conditions of eligibility to all white persons after two years' residence, retrospectively reckoned. Aliens may be admitted to full burgher rights and vote for 1st Volksraad, President, and Commandant-General, after five years' residence, if approved of by two-thirds of the burghers of his ward, possesses landed property to the value of £1,000, and has not been convicted here or elsewhere of any degrading crime. Members of both Volksraads and for public service shall be eligible without respect of creed. The exploitation of mines shall be subject to a tax of 25 per cent., reckoned upon the yearly net profits, such revenue to be applied at the discretion of the 1st Volksraad solely for the benefit of the burgher estate--schools, hospitals, universities, pensions, by means of permanent endowments. The Government of the Transvaal undertakes:-- 1. There shall be no identification or co-operation permitted, on the part of any of the Transvaal people, with the association known as the Afrikaner Bond, or any such-like political complot. 2. The recognition of British paramountcy over South Africa, including the Transvaal, in so far as it does not clash with the intentions and provisions set forth in the conventions of 1881 and 1884, and does not extend to interference with or curtailment of complete internal autonomy. 3. Renunciation of indemnity claim _re_ Jameson incursion. 4. To regulate the question of coloured British subjects resident in the Transvaal upon a genial basis, irrespective of the Bloemfontein arbitration award upon that subject. 5. Poll and war taxes shall be abolished. 6. Dual rights equal with the Dutch language shall be accorded to the English language, similarly as is done in the Cape Colony for Dutch. 7. The railways and dynamite factory to be expropriated as soon as possible--the loans required thereto to be amortized within twenty years, and pending those expropriations the freights upon coal and oversea goods shall be reduced 10 per cent, and the price of explosives 20s. per case, these reductions to be met from the revenue accruing to the burgher estate from the tax upon mining profits. 8. To join a general Customs union upon equitable conditions. 9. Restore the High Court to independent power in terms of constitution. The sequel has shown that Bond counsels prevailed over the suggestions of that old Free Stater. As to the seven years' franchise offered under the pretence and colour of meeting Sir Alfred Milner's demand, it had clearly been intended to serve as a decoy and stop-gap pending the contemplated war of conquest, and to mask Bond duplicity while further preparations were to be completed in diplomacy abroad and in the seditious conspiracy in the Colonies. Natal was at that time swarming with Boer emissaries, and Transvaal artillery officers with Hollander engineers in disguise were seen inspecting Laing's Nek tunnel and other strategic points in that colony. Not knowing at the time that State Secretary Reitz was an inveterate Bondman, that old Free State patriot had roundly denounced to him the wickedness of Bond aims, and added the remark that the establishment of a united Boer Republic apart from British supremacy in South Africa was a deceptive dream. England has a mission in Africa--that of the Boers can only be subordinate to it. It would need the aid of a powerful maritime combination to supplant England. The case of America does not present an analogy; there England only was actually interested, but here various other nations were concerned in their respective huge investments. They would have a voice in the business. Armed intervention would lead to a big European war and extreme misery to entire Africa--just what the devil wants, but not the investor. Indiscriminate franchise will cause the loss of national independence, and so might ultimately cosmopolize and obliterate their distinctive nationality, but so would also a war with England, with the total sacrifice of their independence into the bargain. Let the Government rather prove to England its sincere friendship and agree to deal well by the Uitlanders, treating them as privileged guests, then the unhappy strain in relations will cease. Above all, renounce that wicked Afrikaner Bond with its motto of conquest. The demand for franchise is England's device of self-protection against Bond designs. England will desist from that demand if we renounce the Bond and prove our friendship. That old Free Stater had moreover expressed his most earnest conviction that a _modus vivendi_ upon the lines suggested would find ready consideration as an alternative to the five years' franchise demand, and that the British Government would hail with the utmost satisfaction and relief any tentative towards a sound _rapprochement_ based upon the contentment of the Boer people within the areas of their Republics and which would terminate Bond aspirations for Boer supremacy in South Africa. Had he been permitted, the old Free Stater would gladly have called upon the British agent at Pretoria, Mr. Conyngham Greene, and felt confident that the _modus vivendi_ would lead finally to a complete cessation of British interference and to best relations and prosperous conditions for all instead. He also cautioned the Government at Pretoria, giving chapter and verse, against counting upon "the arm of man." They would find they had trusted on reeds--it would be so in regard to any foreign help, and even in regard to men of their own nation in the Cape Colony. During one of the interviews Mr. Reitz had remarked that he had a special theory in regard to the situation; but it varied from that of the President, who, in reality, was King, and whose will overcame all opposition. MR. CHAMBERLAIN'S POLICY TO AVERT WAR Seeing that twenty years of patient, loyal endeavours and friendly conciliatory proceedings following upon the rehabilitation of the Transvaal independence had utterly failed in advancing the object of uniting the English and Boer races, and that instead the existing gulf was ever widening through the spread of those fell Afrikaner Bond doctrines, it had become imperative, on the part of British statesmen, to employ special efforts to overcome the serious menace hanging over South Africa. The critical situation designedly brought about by the action of the Transvaal Government and by the influence of the Bond party indicated the remedy. A liberal franchise in favour of the Uitlanders would at one stroke correct that evil, and counteract the other impending danger as well. With a large accession of legitimized voters working in accord with England's desire for peace and progress, that good influence would be potent, first to shackle Bond action and ultimately to reduce it to Colonial limits. The Transvaal would then no longer be the giant ally, the arsenal, and the treasury of the Afrikaner Bond, and that organisation would then be checkmated into impotence for evil. The success of such a remedial and defensive measure would naturally depend upon the adequacy of the franchise aimed at. Mr. Chamberlain and his colleagues were not a little sanguine in expecting that a five years' qualification for voting and a representation equal to one-fifth of the total number of seats in the Legislature would be effective for all that which was needed; nor could it be averred that the Transvaal burghers would be swamped out thereby. The Bond chiefs did not fail to at once penetrate the object when the demand for a five years' franchise was made, and in vain did Sir Alfred display that firm attitude and exhaust his arguments at the historic Bloemfontein conference. He had pointed out to President Krüger in a rudimentary fashion which was no doubt convincing enough--that it was incompatible with professions of concord and desire for peace while persisting in excluding from representation a large majority of the population accustomed to and expecting liberal treatment, and which, moreover, held four-fifths of the wealth invested in the State. There could be no other result than a dangerous tension and alienation from the Government, instead of the peaceful co-operation so essential to security and progress. In these days of advanced ideas of personal and political liberty people will resist domination by a minority. They want to be consulted, and to have at least the opportunity of making their wishes known by means of representation. The right of petitioning could not meet that need, and in fact implied the recognition of an inferior status so repugnant to any one's sensibility. When people are ignored they resent even light impositions and taxes, but if allowed a voice will cheerfully submit to heavy burdens, because they then become, in a manner, self-imposed. Representation is the panacea against popular disaffection and for assuring governmental stability. To concede to Uitlanders one-fifth of the seats in the Legislature could not operate to the prejudice of burgher interests, but less would not meet the case. It was, however, not President Krüger alone who had to decide--it affected the Bond as a whole. The diplomatic contest so far proved just the thing to ripen conditions for the meditated Bond _coup d'état_. An alternative offer of a seven years' franchise was interposed as a mere ruse. Never for a moment did the Afrikaner Bond leaders waver or quail in the face of resolute firmness, display of force, or even of moral pressure and notes of advice from imposing quarters, as Mr. Chamberlain had at first still fondly hoped. To the Bond it had all resolved itself to a mere question of time, of choosing the most opportune moment when to assume the aggressive. British attitude had only hastened the issue. Mr. Jan Hofmeyer had indeed been sent for from the Cape so as to assure that section of the Bond of Transvaal firmness, but he found no sign of flinching or of renouncing the common object laboured for so long and then so near fruition. The only difficulty was that British action had hastened the issue somewhat too fast. Hence the repeated hurried visits of the Bond leaders--Jan Hofmeyer, Abraham Fisher, and others--the frequent caucus meetings of the Executive in consultation with those delegates, the secret midnight sessions of the combined Volksraads and Executive, the prolonged telegraphic conferences between the two Presidents, and the final resulting word of "ready" which preceded the fatal war ultimatum. The Gordian knot had been in evidence many years ago; it is now recognised with regret that England had deferred action for cutting it much too long. But why not agree to arbitration, it will be asked, that peaceable method so strenuously appealed for by the Transvaal Government and advocated by her partisans, to adjust all differences, of which the suzerainty claim and the Uitlander question appeared to be the principal ones? The reply is not that England was unwilling, but because the Transvaal was insincere, and the request was a cover for shameless duplicity, for, while it had been declared by the former that the claim to suzerainty would be left in abeyance and that infractions of convention which had been committed by the latter would be overlooked in consideration of future friendly relations and co-operation, the Transvaal Government in reality never for a moment meant to be content with less than British overthrow and complete Boer supremacy in South Africa, and efforts and intrigues were never relaxed, in concert with the Bond, to compass those objects. AFRIKANER BOND GUILT IN GRADATIONS The promiscuous details and incidents, together with the circumstantial and _primâ facie_ evidence thus far adduced in arraigning the Afrikaner Bond combination, point mostly to conditions existent before the war broke out. We had the smoke before the conflagration--it is a wonder how people could manage to ignore the menace. Now the war torch is over us in its full luridness. Ordinary fires, if not kindled, originate either from accident, spontaneous combustion, or incendiarism. With war the origin may be traced to similar causes either singly or in combination, or, when we cannot hit the exact diagnosis, we explain it with a handy word and call it evolution, as we may do in the case of the present Anglo-Boer conflict. We may for a moment review the material and then also the agencies and incentives which operated that evolution against harmony and peace, and to which the conflagration is due. We have noted the legal acquisition of the Cape Colonies by Great Britain, the equally recognised occupation under treaties with England of the two Boer Republics, the English and Boer races in progress of friendly assimilation and in happy prosperity all over South Africa. This was essentially the position in 1881, until it became gradually marred by an invidious element. We have further noted the declining condition of Holland, its moribund language, and finally the prospects which South Africa presented for that nation's restoration to powerful significance, the English factor only standing in the way. The next aspect brings out the marring manifestations: greed of land and of conquest with the Pretoria-Bloemfontein combination; malignant sedition in the Cape Colonies, urged by lust to participate more directly in the wealth of gold and diamonds in the north and to share general plunder--both categories of covetousness merged into one purulent fester by men of conceited ambition, all cemented with collusion, but the whole of it devised, engineered, and operated by the most malignant agencies from Holland under the coaching of the evil one himself. The reader may be able to assess the degrees of guilt of each category--of the Republican Boer aspirant for land, the Colonial Boer rebel seeking his particular profit, the accomplices who for ambitious ends lead the first two, and the insidious Hollander intriguers who seduced and actuated all in order to seize the lion's share of the spoliation. To sum up, the respective rewards which lured them all are: Plunder for the Boers and rebels, laurels and "fat" places for the Bond leaders, and a substantial harvest for entire Holland, with pæans of praise for the coterie and Dr. Leyds from a grateful people for successfully restoring the good fortunes of the Dutch nation, and for effecting a retributive vendetta upon England, all under world-wide, gloating acclaims of gratified and vindictive jealousy. The Hollander coterie may plead patriotism which pointed to the duty of using the tempting opportunity presented in South Africa in saving Holland from national submersion and political extinction by means of the Boer nation, but against this stands the unparalleled vileness of expedients and the treacherous deceptions employed to attain that object. It involved the wholesale seduction of one section of that nation into sedition and rebellion against a most beneficent and just Government under which they prospered and enjoyed the highest conceivable degree of liberty and even special privileges, and of pitting the other section into hostility and war against a Power which meant nothing else than peace and amity towards them, thus placing both into a position of risk to forfeit all their prosperity, apart from the inevitable horrors of a war evoked by their rapacious and murderous Hollander malice. The Bond scientists in Holland had fully persevered in their craftily laid programme. After having succeeded in producing race hatred between Boer and English, the next step had been to convince the Boer leaders and the people of the inevitableness of a contest for ensuring the supremacy of the Afrikaners, coupled with the absolute necessity of the complete expulsion of the entire British element. As arguments were adduced that the British element had proved itself unassimilable and irreconcilable, its retention in South Africa would necessitate continuous provisions to keep it in a state of subjection. The existence of such conditions would be inconsistent and incompatible with the true ideal liberty as intended for the whole of South Africa, and which must be linked with all-round equality and fraternity. The presence of a British factor would be an unsurmountable bar to that consummation, hence the necessity of its total removal. The Bond leaders are the next in guilt; with these the incentive is principally ambition, which, by degrees, became mis-shaped into a specious patriotism. It is known how an ardently desired object pursued for a long period is apt to so monopolize and infatuate the mind as to totally vitiate and pervert the sense of discernment between right and wrong, both as to the legitimacy of the object and the means to be employed for its attainment. As the realization remains deferred and the efforts are increased, the object from being considered legitimate is by degrees invested with merit, a halo of virtue is added to the aspect, its pursuit is viewed as a duty by fair or by questionable means, the end justifying the latter. All, it is said, is fair in love and warfare. This diagnosis appears particularly applicable to President Krüger and State Secretary F.W. Reitz, both men of sincere piety (perhaps also to Mr. Schreiner), who would have abandoned their project and renounced and repudiated the Afrikaner Bond if ever they had doubted its legitimacy of principle. So also with most of the other Boer leaders and their clergy too. The agencies must have been exceedingly subtle, and the jugglery and artifice superhuman, to operate such processes of reasoning, such deception and aberration in honest-minded and even godly persons. As to the bulk of the Boer people, they are simply led by their chiefs and superiors, in whom they repose unquestioning confidence. They go unreasoningly with the stream of opinion under the firm belief that all is divinely sanctioned, including rebellion and violence, and blindly obey their call, considering their cause analogous to that of the Jews of old, who were enjoined to spoil the Egyptians and then to pass over and conquer their land of promise. No papal bull of indulgence ever freed people's consciences more than the Boer people now feel in regard to the warfare in which they are engaged. RÉSUMÉ The Boers in the Cape Colonies have been prospering in a marked degree since the British accession in 1814, enjoying ideal liberty and good government upon perfect equality with the English colonists. The people of the Orange Free State fared equally well under best relations with the British Government up to the outbreak of the present war. In the Transvaal the Boers were more handicapped, being furthest removed from profitable Cape connections, and having to cope with powerful hostile tribes within their border. The most redoubtable, under Secoecoenie, was subdued during the British occupation in 1878. Then followed the short war of 1880, with the voluntary retrocession and peace of January, 1881. All appeared to progress remarkably well for about ten years after, until the irrational treatment by the Boers of British subjects in the Transvaal furnished the first cause of friction, and engendered at last the Johannesburg crisis with the Jameson incursion, followed by four years' vain attempts on the part of England to bring about satisfactory and peaceful relations. The Afrikaner Bond had been inaugurated some thirty years ago, under the mask of a constitutional organization, professing loyalty to England; that body had succeeded in hiding its object, which was no less than the expulsion from South Africa of all that is English, and which object was brutally avowed since the outbreak of the war by declarations in the Press and by incendiary speeches of Colonial Bond leaders and members of the Cape Parliament. The British Government did not view very seriously the information it received regarding the Bond menace until the definite action of the Transvaal Government partially opened its eyes prior to the Johannesburg revolt. The hope was, however, still clung to in an undefined way that patience and forbearance would yet overcome Boer prejudice and disperse racial antipathies, and with characteristic self-confidence as well, things were allowed to drift rather out of hand. The two Republics had been _de facto_ allied some time before the Johannesburg crisis in 1895. Both were then already provided with very abundant armaments of up-to-date types, with equipments and preparations far and away above any conceivable needs except indeed for a _coup d'état_ against British supremacy and to sustain a Colonial revolt. On the occasion of the Jameson incursion the Orange Free State promptly appeared near the scene with best equipped mounted Boer commandoes and artillery to assist the Transvaal if needed. Before 1881 and some time subsequently there had been continued progress towards the assimilation of the English and Boer races in South Africa. This was marred by Afrikaner Bond doctrines and intrigues proceeding from a Hollander coterie, the formula being "Afrika voor de Afrikaners"--the aims including the usurpation of British authority in the Colonies, supremacy of the Boer nation under one great Republican federation, and an affiliated status with Holland which should restore that people, all to the prejudice of England, to a political and economic significance and power surpassing its former epoch of European and Colonial eminence. As to the incentives to the Boer nation, these were principally the plunder of capital investments and land conquests, which the people had learnt to consider legitimate and in fact incumbent as a duty to themselves and descendants. The means employed in that conspiracy were a subtle, so to say, occult propaganda to seduce a simple people to false convictions, to induce the creation of gigantic armaments, a secret service employing at a vast cost journalism, emissaries, and agencies, to gain partisans and allies outside South Africa, the Transvaal mint to coin the sinews of war from the appropriation of the mines and their output, the dynamite factory (that Bond corner-stone for manufacturing ammunition[11]), a system of immigration from Holland towards supplanting the English factor and to introduce auxiliaries. Other such means were: laws for admitting auxiliaries to immediate full burgher rights and privilege to carry arms, from which Uitlanders were rigorously excluded, the rabid campaign proscribing the English language and fostering High Dutch instead (which was much less understood by the entire Boer people, and much harder for them to learn than English). To the above list of devices came the exhaustive efforts to obtain an independent seaport for the Transvaal, first at St. Lucia Bay, then at Delagoa Bay (ostensibly with a German syndicate, and since by subsidizing Portugal or suborning Portuguese notables and officials). The climax of duplicity is reached when it is averred that the pursuit of such an organized programme during the past twenty years and more had meant peace only, never a thought of conquest, as Ambassador Leyds so innocently declared after failing to gain abroad the hoped-for support for the monstrous Bond enormity. The Afrikaner Bond leaders would have preferred the war to have been deferred a little longer--preferably to a moment when England might be embroiled elsewhere. It was also thought of importance that the Transvaal should first realize the auriferous "underground rights" situated around the Johannesburg mines, which Government asset was expected to net at least fifty million pounds sterling. The sales had already been advertised, and were in preparation when the outbreak of the war intervened. Upon the word "ready," flashed from Bloemfontein, followed at once the fateful Pretoria ultimatum. The proceeds of those underground rights must now come in afterwards to defray the war bill. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 11: President Krüger's reference to that factory is well known, styling it as one of the corner-stones of Boer independence.] THE BOERS' NATIVE POLICY Boer views regarding coloured peoples are those retained from Dutch practices of a hundred and more years ago, when the Cape of Good Hope still belonged to that nation. Servitude, if not absolute slavery, was then generally recognised as the proper status for coloured aborigines, and that principle of differentiation continues to be upheld and applied in a modified form, it must be admitted, in all the Colonial possessions of Holland. The authority for this stand is sought from ancient biblical history, where the descendants of Ham appear marked out for servitude, and from that basis it is interpreted that people so marked are not designed for tuition or evangelization until after they have been subjugated. According to such a doctrine the injunction to preach the Gospel to every creature would be limited to civilized whites, and might only be extended to such coloured peoples who have been fitted, as is said, for the reception of the Christian faith by being placed under the subserviency of whites, as their sponsors if not their actual masters, and requiring mundane tuition and education as essential bases to precede conversion. For the refutation of such monstrous doctrines it may be urged that, according to Scripture, savage as well as cultured peoples have a consciousness of guilt towards the Divine Judge. The object of the Gospel is to end the history of the culprit as such and to place him upon a new standing--"the wind bloweth as it listeth": a new birth operated by the acceptance of the Gospel proclamation addressed to every creature, black as well as white. Growth and moral amendment properly "follow" that spiritual birth; neither is conceivable before, except purely human education, which is incapable of effecting a change, and in fact tends only to fortify the natural man in his implacable hostility against the newly implanted element, each lusting against the other.[12] History records how the Spanish and other early explorers operated with the aborigines in the regions discovered by them. The territories with their inhabitants were declared possessions accruing to their respective sovereigns, whose main policy was the exploitation of all the wealth possible. The aborigines were dispossessed, treated as conquered peoples, and forced to do the exploiting labour. No other results could follow than the gradual diminution and final exhaustion of all the wealth and the partial, if not total, extinction of the aboriginal races. What retribution overtook those nations is also on record. Those enslaved peoples were forced to accept the religion of their conquerors. Can true converts be made to order by constraint, motives of self-interest, or by baptizing them _en bloc_? What else but deepest aversion and mistrust could a religion inspire which is professed and taught by a people who practise spoliation, murder, and other descriptions of wickedness abhorrent even to a savage mind? The aborigines would daily behold their own land and possessions enjoyed by usurpers and "would be teachers," who subjected them besides to slavery and abject misery. Could the religion of such teachers ever find favour with their victims? How could doctrines of righteousness and love be understood when so glaringly violated by their preceptors? It presents a sad paradox to see that the Boers, who are in many respects consistently religious and even exemplary, could uphold principles which place coloured people out of caste, not only in regard to political rights but also as to the common religious standing before the Creator. It would be unjust to charge the Boers with actually barbarous practices towards the natives--what they do enforce is their submission to the condition of servants. The Boer people ever chafed against the restraining action of the British Government as to their practice of slavery, and they have not hesitated either to exhibit their hostility to missionary enterprise. The confiscation of Protestant mission sites in the Orange Free State is one of the instances; another was exemplified in a raid perpetrated about forty years ago by the Transvaal Boers upon the inoffensive Bechuana tribe, whose chief and many of his people had accepted the Christian faith through the teaching of Moffat, David Livingstone, and other evangelists. The pretext for that raid was a lying report that that Bechuana chief had bartered some 400 guns from traders to fight the Boers with. The Boers sent an ultimatum requiring the surrender of those weapons. Despite the protestation of the chief and his people that not more than eight guns had been bartered for hunting, which had later proved true, a commando was sent against them under Commandant Paul Krüger, now President Krüger. Many of the natives were slain, their villages burnt, their cattle seized, and great numbers of the tribe taken captive for distribution as servants among the Boer farmers in the Transvaal. That raid was further signalized by the total destruction of Moffat's mission station--church, school buildings, and industrial shops. These, after being looted, were all consigned to the flames, as also the missionary dwellings, among which was that of David Livingstone, with his furniture, books, and belongings. There are abundant records, besides that of the Bechuana nation, that barbarous and idolatrous peoples are amenable to Christianity without the prior influences of civilization or individual education, or that they should be subjugated first, as the Boers would have it. What indeed is of immense aid for moral and economic advancement is the operation of civilized and liberal governmental authority, repressing slavery, under which proprietary rights and justice are equally afforded to black and white, and where the Gospel might have a free course without constraint and without inducements of material advantages. It seemed that such conditions were on the eve of eventuating for the rescue and disenthralment of darkest Africa. This is what Moffat, Livingstone, Coillard, and many other devoted servants of the Gospel had prayed for all their lives, what has been and still is the burden of the prayers (no doubt all inspired) of millions of Christians. The interior is no more a blank on the map. Much is done for the suppression of slavery. The whole continent is parcelled out among different nations, who have assumed the task of civilizing their respective spheres. The world's energy and capital stand available for the object, and it appeared that many souls were being seriously aroused to the responsibility of obeying the charge pronounced in Ezekiel xxxiii. 1-11. But sinister influences have not failed in attempts to bar beneficent dispensations. We have seen fanaticism resulting in the fierce revolt of Mahdism in the north, and are now awaiting the issue of the war brought on by Afrikaner Bondism in the south. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 12: Another has aptly illustrated the change by comparing such a man's new condition to a hotel that has come under totally different and perfectly new management and controlling proprietorship.] ENGLAND'S NATIVE AND COLONIAL POLICY Until the earlier parts of this nineteenth century England has been conspicuous among other nations in tolerating slavery in some of her possessions, and in permitting her people to engage in systematic man-hunts, with the accompanying atrocities and horrors of a regular slave trade. Manifestations of national abhorrence and condemnation of that inhuman traffic and of slavery in general appeared during the first quarter of this century. The nation hid its shame and contrition in acts towards remedying its share of the evil committed. These took the shape of expending some twenty million pounds sterling towards the emancipation of slaves and various other costly measures to repress the trade in human beings, and in proclaiming personal freedom for all slaves in her dominions. The desire to do justice to coloured races was further exemplified in the adoption, dating some fifty years back, of a totally altered colonial and native policy. Up to then the practice with all colonizing Powers had been to utilize their foreign dominions as preserves for financial exploitation, involving the most crying injustice to aborigines. The departure then effected consisted in a policy of just laws instead, directed to ensure to those people equitable treatment and a recognition of their rights to fixed property and to a position before the law equal with that of white inhabitants. The revenues produced by the Colonies were thenceforward all to be devoted to the advancement of their own local prosperity. Free trade followed that _régime_ of liberty and equity, and, as intended, such Colonial dominions began to partake of the character and were constituted off-shoots of the mother country, with a like status of liberty and enjoying the benefit of British protection at the same time. Many were the auguries that the experiment would result in political and economic failure, but the good results to all concerned proved to be so far-reaching as to startle even its most sanguine advocates. The extension of privileges and rights operated upon the natives as a magical incentive to labour and emulation for the improvement of their economic condition; people who had before preferred an indolent, semi-nomadic existence betook themselves more to agricultural and sedentary habits, living in much greater comfort and steadily increasing in wealth. Civilization went on apace, and with it the moral improvement of the aborigines, paving the way as well for the spread of Christianity. All this was accompanied with an immense and ever-advancing expansion of trade with England and the recognition of British prestige as a successful colonizing power. Numerous other principalities courted the privilege of coming under the ægis of the English flag, their potentates and people readily submitting to the abolition of practices which were not in accord with humane and civilized usages and eager to share the benefits and advancement of civilization which were enjoyed under British rule. In not a few instances it was, however, not feasible to extend the protectorate so coveted. While other nations were engaged in wars during the past half-century, England had opportunities to largely expand and consolidate her Colonial dominions. At the same time British trade, industries and shipping advanced with gigantic strides, and that nation has since gained the foremost rank as a commercial and Colonial empire, governing over the choicest portions of the globe some four hundred millions of loyal and contented subjects, who enjoy liberty and a degree of prosperity unequalled elsewhere as yet, the whole being protected by a navy which constitutes England as champion on sea as well. All this national success and example of liberal government have had a salutary influence upon the rest of the world in evoking wholesome competition and emulation. But another and very untoward effect is that widespread and deep-rooted envy and jealousy have also been aroused, which on occasion are apt to develop into pretexts for actual hostility, or hostile partisanship as is now the case. What signalises the beneficent reign of Queen Victoria more than anything else is the peculiarly devoted manner in which that august lady has personally acquitted herself of her duty and responsibility in regard to the elevation and rehabilitation of the hitherto socially enslaved condition of womanhood in her Indian empire; for it is well known how the philosophic religions of the East have been subtly adapted for establishing the political and social pre-eminence of certain classes of a population over its majority, at the same time dooming womanhood generally to the lowest rank of drudges, perpetual contempt and ignorance, refusing them education (as had been done in the case of the Roman slaves)--specially despised if without a husband, and if a widow, immolated at last upon her husband's funeral pyre. Step by step, by means of strenuous and disinterested exertions, employing prestige and encouragements, by legislation and otherwise, a breach was effected which bids fair to break down that caste-fenced and chained thraldom, and to raise over a hundred millions of her humble subject sisters from unnatural degradation to occupy the honourable and responsible rank assigned by the Creator to woman as man's social help, meet for him, and to whom honour is due as to the weaker vessel. Millions of women have already found emancipation and recognition of their right position, to man's reciprocal joy and to the felicity of their families. Their sons and daughters in turn now form armies to complete the mission of liberty so zealously inaugurated by their beloved Empress, their own peculiar star of India. Maybe this and similar earnests evinced during that noble Queen's reign, among which the shelter afforded to the Jewish people, will come into remembrance in mitigation of visitations deserved by the nation for its previous complicity in the hideous traffic in African souls of men. It throws a light upon the credulity and simplicity of the bulk of the poor deluded peasant Boers when, in the face of most genial rule and almost an excess of liberty and privileges, Bond artifice could succeed in conjuring up contrary notions, and to poison them into the monstrous belief that they, the Boers, were an oppressed people, whose downfall was designed by rapacious England, and that no other remedy existed for preserving independence, religion and homes than to expel that wicked English people from African soil. This is, then, what Bond artifice effected in the absence of actual cause and in order to dissimulate its own nefarious objects. It was the work of twenty years' sedulously applied deception and calumnious machinations. The Hollander coterie has at last succeeded in its ardently desired purpose of pitting the Boer nation against England, and to bring about the present war. What is even more astounding is the success of those villainous artificers upon intelligent partisans of the Boer cause outside of Africa and in England even. OCCULT OPERATIONS AND AGENCIES Will it be considered the mere fancy of enthusiasts, which admits the thought of occult forces of a sinister kind set in array to overturn beneficent dispensations, that the evil one, the father of lies, has been active in all this marring of peace? Had that personage or evil principle, if this term is more acceptable, not scored with his malignant skill of deception 6,000 years ago, and been walking up and down his domain ever since, intent upon undoing redemptive provisions and counteracting all endeavours to ameliorate the miseries of humanity? His malice would seem discernible against the Boer nation, the people who continued in the simple faith which had been kept by their ancestors despite the persecutions heaped upon them in France and by the oppressor of Holland; he must have viewed with growing rage the designs of a gracious Providence surrounding that very people with the blessings of security and peace and accumulations of unparalleled riches, all construable as in compensation for the sacrifices so willingly submitted to by their forefathers and for their own fidelity to the faith. Would he tamely brook that--and not bend on all his artifices to reverse those provisions and to divert those rich dispensations in favour of his own devotees instead, or else rather cause them to be devoured by wasting war? He has so far succeeded in instigating the Boer nation to acts which involve the forfeiture of their special heirlooms. He would also thwart the programme of the world's nations for the civilization of Central Africa, and would gratify his malice against the people to whom is largely attributable the spread of governmental principles of equity and liberty. He would seek to stamp with failure those hitherto successful and self-rewarding methods, and so strike an effective blow against their further adoption as being goody-goody, weak and inefficient. We see civilized humanity congested with over-population, excess of energy and of production and suffering from a plethora of capital, the entire condition rife on the one hand with prodigal waste and on the other fraught with the cruel want of toiling and jostling millions vainly fighting for space and the most modest means of existence--conditions which presage an inevitable and universal crash unless checked by a Malthusian or else by a beneficent and humane remedy. We know the right remedy for at least staving off the impending universal crisis lies in the manifold opportunities of creating outlets. These exist to the full in the vast fallow regions of Africa, and in the scope for industries and commerce in Asia and elsewhere. Each well-devised colonizing scheme, every railway built, and every other new investment would afford improved employment and relieve the general strain; every true convert gained by the spread of Christianity would become an obedient and reliable unit towards the menaced stability of authorized Governments. We see capital impelled to vast enterprises, as it were by secret forces;[13] we are aware of the activity of nations singly and in co-operation in promoting and sustaining such projects. All those efforts and outlets would serve as safety-valves for the discontent of the ill-provided masses, and their success would render them governable at a lesser cost, and even admit the reduction of standing armies and other objects treated by the recent Peace Conference at the Hague. The essential thing, indeed, is peace, and that in turn would consolidate security and progress. But the enemy is interested exactly the other way. His ascendancy is coincident, not with the mitigation of the conditions of human existence, but in accentuating the misery of the masses, driving them to desperation and to embrace illogic and deceptive maxims of socialism and violent anarchy. It is with those forces that he intends to uproot and usurp divinely instituted authority expressly set up to repress evil and to protect person and property. He wants by licence and not liberty to hasten the advent of that murderous political power prophetically depicted with the statue standing upon feet of clay and iron: supreme authority vested in the world's proletariat in unstable and uncohesive union with militarism, Satan himself the actual lawless animator.[14] As to the scope for outlets in the East, it is more restricted to industries and commerce, but those enterprises, however brilliantly promising, are fraught with the risks incidental to hostile rivalries and political complications, while in Africa the openings are at least as vast and inviting immigration on a huge scale as well, but all with much greater security, inasmuch as the spheres of operation are definitely apportioned to various nations, and where in the nature of things the success of each would be promoted by joint-solidarity, and thus afford a guarantee for the peaceable and prosperous development of the whole continent. Our common enemy would fain frustrate it all with his Afrikaner Bond device, and then finally gloat over the accomplished ruin of his deluded Boer victims. Africa has for some thousands of years been the enemy's favourite and undisturbed haunt for his gory orgies, for the hecatombs of millions of immolated victims each year, the teeming recruiting preserve for his contingents. Is he likely to surrender it all to an invading beneficent operation? Will he not rather continue a most determined and desperate resistance and oppose the most advanced of his subtle devices? The malignant power of his agencies is ever and anon manifest--if restrained in one direction his sway is doubly asserted in another. While the Boer war is proceeding a diversion upon a large scale is being effected in Asia which may result in deferring progress in Africa, or history may be brought to repeat itself by the production of some African Attila or Grenseric or a Saladin or another Moselikatse or Mahdi, whose overrunning hordes will efface all the good work thus far done and restore conditions in accord with his murderous sway, whilst at the same time revelling over the ominous developments looming in Europe and America for the production of giant strikes and other imminent socialistic outbursts which could all be prevented, or at least staved off for a long time, if the existing immense spheres for civilizing outlets could only be peaceably utilized. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 13: One of those enterprises is the railway which is to connect the Cape with Cairo.] [Footnote 14: Pro-Boer Propaganda is persisting in designating England as answering to that prophetic image destined to signal destruction.] RELIGION The old voortrekkers who emigrated from the Cape Colony all belonged to the Dutch Reformed Protestant persuasion. With very little learning, the Bible, catechism, and the orthodox "psalm and hymn-book" constituted their sole means for building up their faith. The scope of their education was likewise limited to these simple aids during their chequered wanderings for nearly twenty years, proving ample, however, in preserving themselves and children from the tendencies of receding into barbarism. The Bible was the recognised reference and guide in private and public affairs, and it is so still. It is, indeed, notable with what wisdom and prudence those simple people managed to frame their treaties with native potentates, their conventions with the Portuguese and the British Governments, and, finally, in compiling their own constitutions. Their experiences teem with incidents of extreme sufferings, dangers, and reverses, and also with many signal deliverances, which all operated in deepening religious fervour and dependence upon the Almighty. Their vicissitudes led them to make analogous comparisons with ancient Jewish history. This practice resulted in some erroneous conceptions, notably in regard to their relations with aborigines and general native policy, as referred to in previous chapters. It also imperceptibly fostered sentiments confounding legality with grace, and the by-product of that subtle corrupting leaven which is apt to see a splint in the eye of another whilst unmindful of the beam in one's own. Upon the whole, the religious status of the Boers may be fairly compared to that of the old American pilgrim fathers, only much less intolerant, fairly strict sabbatarians, and jealous in maintaining national and individual morality. About forty years ago a small group seceded from the Dutch Reformed Church and formed a separate connection under the name of "Enkel gereformende Kerk" (simply reformed Church), more generally known under the sobriquet of "Doppers." This cult is identical with the parent Church, and differs only in a somewhat stricter church discipline and the rejection of the hymns from the common psalm and hymn-book upon the ground that many of them are tainted with dangerously anti-scriptural doctrine.[15] These Doppers are really very worthy people, but noted for their strong conservatism and adherence to old habits and customs, even in the matter of dress. President Krüger is one of their prominent members and so is General Piet Cronjé. The devotional habits of the Boers form one of their national characteristics. The family collect at dawn for morning worship, led by the parent or else by the tutor--it consists of a hymn, Scripture-reading, and prayer--similarly before retiring at night, devout grace before and after each meal. These practices are not relaxed when travelling with their wagons or when in the field. On Sundays an extra (forenoon) service is added. Strangers and travellers receiving hospitality are always courteously and unostentatiously admitted to those family devotions. One may thus meet with one or more wagons camped in the wilderness and find a cluster of men, women, and children engaged in happy devotions and singing psalms or hymns in the familiar old "Herrenhut" melodies, or one may come upon a scene where men just returned to camp, begrimed and still perspiring from a day's hunt or battle, join with husky voices an already assembled group in the customary service. Such practices of piety cannot fail to have a salutary effect upon the young, nor can it be with justice said that the bulk of the people are inconsistent in their conduct, though formality and insincerity are sadly frequent enough, and in late years a decadence in seriousness and an increase of frivolity instead have marked the present epoch, especially among those who are exposed to the pernicious influences and contaminations incidental to town life. The old Free Stater mentioned before expressed the expectation that the present war and trials will tend to check that declension, and in that way prove to have a compensating character for good. During my frequent travels it had been my privilege as a guest to make the acquaintance of numerous truly Christian Boer families, both well-to-do and poor. On one occasion I had to accept the hospitality at a farmhouse of one named Brits,[16] nicknamed "vuil" or dirty Brits. This was an old blind widower; his household was composed, besides himself, of an old brother, also a widower, and the family of a son-in-law. After the evening meal the service was led by the blind man, the daughter reading some chapters in the Bible indicated by him. The two old men and I occupied separate cots in one small side room. Happening to wake up at dawn the following morning, I saw those old men sit up facing each other, with their feet upon the floor, and begin their morning hymn of praise, after which the house resounded with younger voices from the other end with a similar song. I do not call to mind any special untidiness at that poor blind man's house to warrant his sobriquet; my recollections are, on the contrary, of the happiest, and I mentally called him clean Brits, clean every whit. In another part of the country I was privileged to meet with a family, which included a grown-up blind daughter,' who had St. John's Gospel in raised letters. While reading with her fingers her upturned face would shine with joy when repeating some of the salient, consoling, and sustaining verses. And how common are the records among those simple Boers of happy and triumphant death-bed scenes of old and young, softening the grief of the bereaved believers. Frivolous education and advanced surroundings are accountable for a certain waning of the original habits of serious piety; this is to some extent more the case among the Cape Colonial and Orange Free State Boers, the declension appearing greatest with those residing in or in close proximity to towns. Among the men of exemplary and consistent piety in the Transvaal are conspicuous: President Krüger, State Secretary Reitz, Commandant-General Joubert, General Piet Cronjé, and others holding highest positions, and also many of the Volksraad members, including the late General Kock. Upon the occasion when the Transvaal Executive, with the assembled Volksraads, finally determined upon war, and the momentous matter had been considered of handing over the passports to Mr. Greene, the British agent, just before signing them, President Krüger was observed occupied in silent prayer for a few moments, while many of the others bowed their heads similarly engaged, after which the documents were firmly completed. When the first commandoes were about to depart for the field, the President addressed a farewell to the burghers, assuring them that God's aid could confidently be implored for their just cause; he also quoted part of the Verse, "Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it," intending it as an exhortation for the timorous, warning them of the greater danger incurred by retreat or flight than when maintaining a manful stand. (The reader will know that the above quotation does not complete the verse, the rest being, "But whosoever shall lose his life for my sake or for the Gospel shall preserve it.") It points to the operation of most persevering and subtle agencies and potent illusions that could mislead and carry away the chief men and the most intelligent of the Boer nation so far as to engender the erroneous convictions which caused them to court the present war and to consider it just. As to the bulk of the people, they are in turn led astray by their leaders' example and opinions as victims of the general delusion. These convictions, together with the acceptance of Afrikaner Bond doctrines, have developed into quite a national infatuation, a kind of Boer Koran, invested with similar fanaticism. Analogies are assumed as existing between the case of the Israelites brought by Moses through the wilderness, and led by Joshua into the conquered possession of their promised Canaan. Following those prototypes, Paul Krüger is held as having guided the Boer nation thus far through the mazes of political troubles, and so also is General Joubert,[17] now their leader in the conquest, South Africa in its entirety being considered as rightfully belonging to them. The Orange River stands for Jordan, dividing as yet the possessions of the people, and the analogy only needs completion by a Pisgah for President Krüger. That such hallucinations have taken deep root appears from the fact that the wife of President Krüger dreamt of the accomplishment of such a typical history, and that her husband had died at an early stage of the conquest. Such complete faith is attached to the prophetic import of that dream that the President was prevailed upon to permit its publication in full detail some time in November last. The President's death was anticipated within two months after. (I am far from referring to those incidents in a mocking mood, but rather to show the intense sincerity of Boer convictions, confounding the Christian's exalted calling with one which is temporal; and I fancy that those very Boers, if equally well instructed, might sadly eclipse some of us who have the privilege and also the responsibility of enjoying correct teaching.) The writer has endeavoured to represent in a true light both the character of the Boer nation and its responsibility in regard to the origin of the present deplorable war. The reader will be able to judge whether that people is wilfully guilty, or whether the circumstances admit of generous, mitigating condonement, always considered apart from that horrible Hollander element which has been the root and instigating cause of all the evil. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 15: Some readers will recognise the significance, the protective competence, the keen and reliable instinct which enable untutored believers to discern and detect doctrinal leaven insidiously concealed in the garb of worship.] [Footnote 16: At Modder River, on the road between Bloemfontein and Kimberley.] [Footnote 17: At the time, December, 1899, when this was intended for publication.] PHYSIQUE AND HABITS We have noted in former pages that the Boers' ancestry some two centuries ago was composed of about two-thirds of sturdy Dutch peasants, artizans, etc., while the other third consisted mostly of French Huguenots. It is known that the immigrant class, though generally somewhat poor, are uniformly men and women endowed with an adventurous, self-reliant spirit and with unimpaired health. Naturally none but robust persons were permitted to join the Dutch settlement at the Cape of Good Hope. We see in that combination the patient, resolute quality prevailing in Holland and the more ardent, vivacious, and chivalrous character found with the French people. The Huguenot refugees belonged undisputably to the cream of that impulsive nation--intellectual, educated, and fearless--whilst both portions were pervaded with deep-rooted religious fervour and habituated to moral and temperate lives. Those combined qualities and habits would naturally be transmitted to the progeny; prosperity and splendid climatic conditions tended still further to develop a virile physique of first order. The moral and physical standards were maintained by the practice of men and women marrying early in life, and by occupations which required the people to pass most of their time in the open. Educationally, there was unavoidably some retrogression, but there is always plenty of scope in the existence of colonists in a new country for the exercise of a vigorous mind in the study of nature, in overcoming difficulties and in cultivating the faculty of resourcefulness. Whilst missing the intellectual benefits of advanced civilization, the people escaped the dangers of its vitiating tendencies, thus preserving a healthy mental calibre as well as robust physical health. In addition may be mentioned a very notable fecundal power, which accounts for the phenomenally rapid increase of the people. All those conditions have continued to be maintained with the successive generations up to now. Those who joined in the exodus north of the Orange River in 1835 and the years following comprised the most indomitable and best endowed of that stalwart race. Twenty years of a nomadic life after that and until they got somewhat settled down served to weed out the weaklings among them; since then their mode of life accorded well to keep up the highest physical standard, not pampered with many comforts, inured to hardships and to out-of-door exercise, with a diet consisting very largely of meat and venison, coupled with energetic exercise of mind and body (the women sharing in the less arduous duties). All this constituted a regimen and training which did not fail to keep the people in a constant condition of high efficiency and equipoise for the performance of tasks and for surmounting difficulties needing more than usual strength, endurance, and fortitude. The rough labour all over South Africa is done mostly by Kaffirs and other coloured people. A Boer farmer will have from two to ten or more Kaffirs (men and women) employed for out-of-door work and for domestic drudgery. Often absent from home on hunting trips and sometimes on commando, the men entrust their work on such occasions (as is now the case during the present war) to the care of their wives and daughters, assisted by some younger sons, if the family includes any, or else simply with the aid of Kaffir servants. Sometimes they are without any such help, when they take a pride in doing it alone. Girls as well as boys learn to ride on horseback when quite young. It is quite a usual thing to see women riding astride fashion, collecting sheep and cattle, or driving their horse carts and spiders (carriages), unattended by males, over distances of over twenty and thirty miles--women spanning in ox-teams to their travelling wagons, driving them with long whips on journeys occupying one or more days. During the Kaffir wars the Boers used to trek (travel) in bodies with their wagons, which would serve to form a laager or fort, their families and belongings being placed in the centre. During an attack the women would attend to the men's wants, reload their rifles, and even take a more active part in repelling the enemy, many of them being also crack shots. The above-stated efficient and hardy habits with men and women apply more to the people in the two Republics, and particularly so to those of the Transvaal, while the Colonial Boers on the whole have had no such experience, but instead have lived in uninterrupted peace and comfort for generations, and may be classed with farmers of any other well-governed and protected country or colony. The Boer farmers in the northern portions of the Cape Colony, however, approximate to those of the Orange Free State in hardy habits and ability to fend for themselves when in difficulty. But with the Transvaal Boers the training incident to wars, hunting, and nomadic movements has been more sustained, and they are thus in best form and fitness of efficiency compared with all the rest. In the Orange Free State nearly every man above fifty years of age has had the experience of the three years' Basuto war in 1865-67, and almost all above forty are very expert huntsmen and crack shots. Quite a good number have also taken part in the Transvaal war against the English in 1880; the rest have been trained by the elder veterans, and, though not so well seasoned, are good horsemen, expert with the rifle, and competent in the field. As to the Transvaalers, the men have all had plenty of field practice before the previous war with England and since, in subduing formidable Kaffir rebellions, the last being the operations against the Magato chief, which terminated just before the outbreak of the present Anglo-Boer war. Besides this, game had continued longer in abundance in the Transvaal, and is still hunted with success in the northern low veldt and in the adjacent Portuguese territory. Added to this, the young Boers in the Cape Colony, Natal, Orange Free State, and Transvaal have been encouraged to attain proficiency in rifle practice and competence in the field, ostensibly for the gratification of keeping up old traditions, but in reality to be prepared for the struggle against England meditated by the Afrikaner Bond. About thirty odd years ago the Orange Free State and Transvaal were still swarming with all sorts of game. Venison was the staple diet. Lions and leopards also infested those States, but these and the game have been pretty well extirpated since, except in some of the lower parts of the Transvaal. In the earlier days ammunition was costly and hard to procure, and the use had to be husbanded accordingly. It became thus a practice never to pull a trigger unless with intense aim and the certainty of an effective shot. A man would go out stalking for an hour or so with perhaps but one or two charges, and would rarely fail in bringing home the kind of game wanted--either a springbock, blesbock, or wildebeest (gnu). In hunting lions, the lads would form part of the company for the purpose of being taught. The boys would learn that if a lion meant to attack he would approach to within twenty or thirty yards, and then straighten himself up before making the final charge. It was during that short halt that the disabling or killing shot would have to be delivered. Father and son would then be standing ready--the son to fire first; if unsuccessful, the animal would be brought down by the father. If there were a larger party and the lions numerous, the lessons would be learnt so much better by way of emulation. The boys soon realized that a lion, means business only when he advances silently and with smoothed gait, but that bristling up and roaring is a sure prelude to his skulking off. What we read of the terror-inspiring roar is to the Boer stripling pure romance and non-sense; but what he does realize is that he must hit the animal in a vital spot at the right moment or else run the risk of being clawed and bitten. The confidence, however, which he has in his gun gives him all the requisite nerve, and mishaps are of very rare occurrence. Those lion hunts used to be very profitable, not only for the valuable skins, but especially when a number of young cubs were also caught, which would realize considerably high prices from menagerie purveyors. At the age of about eight years a boy would be taught to ride on horseback; when twelve years old he would be an expert horseman and a deadly rifle shot as well; at sixteen he would be able to perform all farm duties and rank with pride and confidence as an efficient burgher to take the field against any enemy. His brain is not addled with school lore, but is thoroughly versed and taught from nature's book. Hardened to the fatigue of long rides over unfamiliar country in search of stray cattle, the Boer youth has often to subsist upon a bit of dried biltong (junked beef or venison), endure at intervals scorching heat and drenching rains, swim rivers, and pass the night with a stone for a pillow and his saddle as the only shelter, while his horse, securely hobbled, feeds upon the grass around. Never will he lose his way; if landmarks fail him and clouds hide moon and stars, he is guided by wind, the run of water or his horse's instincts. Accustomed to wide horizons, he can promptly distinguish objects at a distance, which, to an ordinarily good eyesight, would need careful scanning through a field-glass. He is expert in finding and following any trail, and can promptly tell the imprint from whatever animal it might be, or of whatever human origin; an ideal scout and unsurpassed as a pioneer. When travelling over roadless country the Boer's instinct will direct him in tracing the most practicable route for his wagons, and with his experience he can foretell what kind of topography he will in succession have to traverse, avoiding unnegotiable spots and unnecessary detours, and when about to halt, a surveying gaze will locate the safest and most suitable position for his temporary camp. Such capacities serve with obvious advantage in defensive and offensive war tactics. Prompt in seizing an advantage and in avoiding danger, he has also learnt to be an adept in ruses to decoy and mislead an enemy, and as for self-help and resourcefulness, there is hardly a situation or difficulty conceivable which will not be successfully surmounted. The usual Boer can also fend for himself and cope with the minor perplexities of every-day life in the field, which would strand a less initiated man. He can cook, bake bread, mend clothes, make boots, repair saddles, harness, and vehicles, and is full of expedients and able to make shift. Most of them know how to shoe their horses, whilst many of them are expert also in working wood and metals and similar handicrafts. In short, the Boers make ideal scouts and are unique as colonizing pioneers. In their nomadic wanderings and frequent wars, the Boers have gained much useful experience in tactics, strategy, and in the wiles of diplomacy too. They also learnt to adopt methods of organization, of cohesion, combined action, and a certain amount of discipline among themselves. They elect as subordinate and chief leaders men whose abilities and influence have commended them for such responsible appointments. Before committing themselves to any very important step these leaders would first confer with the people, who in turn would generally be easily swayed to their opinions, and who found by experience that it was safest to follow their judgment. It thus also became a habit to leave the main thinking over to those leaders, which enhanced unanimity and led to a self-imposed obedience and discipline recognised as necessary for the common welfare and also indispensable for common safety. So prevalent had the practice become of deferring to the opinions of their leaders that it engendered an apathy among the people against considering political and public matters which were not altogether of engrossing importance. Public meetings would be poorly attended, and at elections not half the votes were recorded. "Let the elected heads see to it; they are paid for doing the controlling and thinking work"--that used to be the general feeling. But during the past twenty years public interest has by degrees been successfully aroused by the activities of the Afrikaner Bond; the former apathy and distaste to the consideration of public concerns have given place to a more lively identification even with politics, but the tendency of being swayed by men of influence of their own kind remains unchanged. The Boers are great smokers--tobacco appears to have no hurtful effects whatever upon them, but seems rather to serve as a grateful sedative. The first thing offered on meeting a Boer is his tobacco pouch, and if one is a guest at his house, this is followed by one or more cups of coffee. This is drunk by men and women in large quantities, often without sugar, but very weak. The people are justly famed for cordial hospitality to strangers, and the pleasing tact and unostentatious correct politeness met with from the most ordinary and uneducated Boer are only accountable for on the theory that that particular culture of manners has been transmitted from his noble French ancestry of a couple of hundred years ago. In stature the men near the average of six feet (say five feet ten inches)--full-bearded, brawny-limbed, and of stalwart build, suggesting a homeric capacity for aggression and resistance. They present a standard of sturdy and active manhood, which would have delighted the critical eye of Frederick the Great for the formation of his very best regiments. What is really singular is the infinitesimally small proportion of ineffective and sickly men found left behind when all the commandoes are called out, and also the considerable number of hale old men above sixty who voluntarily join the field. And when the hardy training and general high efficiency are considered down to the youth of sixteen, one may estimate the formidableness of such a foe, all well mounted on tough and nimble horses, well provisioned and provided with the best weapons extant, guided by very competent chiefs and European advisers--withal self-reliant and conscious of a superior aggressive and defensive capability for repeating their splendid ancestral records of prowess. Add to this inbred patriotism stimulated to an enthusiasm approaching fanaticism by a mind fashioned to the belief that their war is against an unjust usurper destined to be overthrown; it all sums up a long way towards balancing numerical inferiority and inexperience in the science of modern warfare. As to military science, they are apt to become quickly tutored into proficiency by daily observation and experience, and by the coaching of the numerous military officers who have joined their ranks. Another advantage upon the Boer side consists in complete acclimatization and perfect knowledge of the country. Lastly, but by no means less important, is the rational practice of always going as light and unencumbered as at all possible, preferably with stripped saddle, and to subsist mostly upon meat when in the field, both serving to enhance staying power and to provide a reserve of stamina and of energy for occasions of supreme effort, which often decide the fate of battle against combatants, however courageous, who are fagged out with marching on foot, and through being overladen with accoutrements and pack and a lumbersome diet as well. What can such panting, unsteadied men do in conflict with Boers who are fresh and in well-preserved form, and whose steady sharp-shooting simply results in Calvaries for their opponents, however brave, disciplined and well equipped they may be? Yet to be noted is the small commissariat needed for Boer horses and mules. These are accustomed to subsist altogether on grass, and when it is plentiful, during summer and fall, to keep in good condition, working six to ten hours daily, if only allowed to graze during the rest of the time. They are then usually knee-haltered, _i.e._, one foreleg tied to the halter, with about eighteen inches space between. A few feeds of dry mealies (maize) will be amply supplementary when the pasture is inferior, or if the animals have to be picketed much. As said before, alcoholism does not prevail among the Boers, and any tendency to it is sedulously checked by legislation and public reprobation. President Krüger is an absolute abstainer from intoxicants, and even at banquets he will sip water only when joining in a toast. His contention is that the effects generally go beyond a harmlessly exhilarating point; the action of alcohol unbalances the nervous equilibrium, producing in most cases an excitement above the normal level, followed by a corresponding depressive reaction below it, creating an appetite for repeating the potation, with exactly similar and progressively aggravated results. Then man's moral standard and general efficiency and dignity become impaired, to the serious damage of his own welfare and involving the common weal as well. When at the outbreak of the war the sale of intoxicants became totally prohibited the measure was received with willing submission and hailed with general approval, which speaks volumes for the burgher population and without doubt also tends to preserve their efficiency and stamina. PRESIDENT KRÜGER Stephanus Johannes Paulus Krüger is about the most accessible President on record. Every morning--except Sundays and holidays, after family worship, that is to say, from 5.30 in summer and 6 in winter to 8 o'clock--he gives audience to Boer and Uitlander, rich or poor alike, and also on each afternoon, from 4 to 6 and even later. His residence in the west end of Church Street, Pretoria, is quite an ordinary modest building of the bungalow type. The only distinction observable is two crouching lion figures, life size, on pedestals about three feet high, at the balustrade entrance to the front verandah. A lawn of about thirty feet across extends to the street limit, where at a very unpretentious gate two armed burgher guards are constantly stationed. These will receive an intending visitor's name, an unarmed domestic guard will then come forward, who, after a short scrutiny, if the person is a stranger, will report to the President and will immediately return to conduct you to that dignitary, who may be sitting under the front verandah or in the adjoining reception-room. There the President will readily shake hands and point to a chair, rather near by because he is slightly hard of hearing, the domestic guard standing or sitting between, but a good way back. By his questions and final remarks one feels assured that the topic introduced has been attentively listened to and fully grasped. While conversing, other audience-seekers would drop in, and, while waiting their turn, coffee would usually be served to all. The manners observed are devoid of any stiffness of etiquette, but rather marked with a cordial decorum approaching intimacy, most assuring to the simplest and humblest visitor. The only leisure the President enjoys is the interval from 12 to 2, between his official labours at the Government buildings, which are about half a mile distant from his house. He drives there and back in a modest carriage attended by a guard of mounted policemen. His Honour is invariably dressed in black cloth, with the usual tall silk hat. Six feet high, with a slight stoop, broad shouldered, deep-chested, with well-developed limbs, arms rather long, the President presents a stately, burly figure, portly without obesity. When younger he was noted, as something like a Ulysses, for personal strength and prowess as well as for sagacity. Although seventy-five years old now, Mr. Krüger has still a remarkably hale bearing and an intellect of undiminished quality. His eyesight, however, has been suffering of late, rendering the attendance of an oculist necessary. His Honour is in his fifth term of presidency, and has held the office twenty-two years. His salary is £8,000 per annum, of which he probably does not expend £1,000, his habits being exceedingly simple and frugal, Mrs. Krüger being equally conservative and thrifty, preferring rather to expend money for her children and in unostentatious benevolence than in superfluities. President Krüger is an exemplary Christian, an earnest student of the Bible since his youth, ever ready to employ his gifts to strengthen the faith of his people and to maintain their religious standard. He often occupies the pulpit, and on other occasions gives exhorting discourses. Upon the completion of the imposing Johannesburg synagogue his Honour was requested to preside at its dedication. It was an impressive function, and withal so anomalous and unrabbinical a departure--the head of the State, a devout Christian, opening the edifice for Jewish worship and addressing a discourse to the thousands of assembled Israelites. In his zeal and concern Mr. Krüger could not refrain from adverting to their blessed Messiah, the God-man of Jewish stock, rejected through ignorance by their forefathers, exalted since, but who loved His people nevertheless, as typified by Joseph's narrative when he revealed himself to his brethren in Egypt. He adjured them to a prayerful reading of their Old Testament, and he invoked God's mercy to remove the veil which obscured from their eyes their own and also the Gentiles' glorious Immanuel. The ceremony was concluded with perfect decorum, despite the surprise that the address had drifted into an impassioned Gospel sermon. This grand old Boer is the very personification of noble patriotism and devoted concern for the welfare of his nation. While admiring and loving the man, what sorrow on the one side and indignant execration on the other do not overwhelm one, seeing that such a pattern and leader of men should have become the victim of that heartless Hollander coterie! One cannot but marvel at the same time at the alert skill and wily patience which must have been employed during the many years past to hold President Krüger with State Secretary Keitz and President Steyn in the Afrikaner Bond leash ready to let loose with unshaken convictions upon the supreme contest designed for them and their people by the machinations intended for upraising Holland at the risk of immolating the victimized Boer nation. PEACE ADJUSTMENTS Upon this topic a few remarks may be placed under the assumption that the arch enemy's triumph in the present war will be circumscribed by the havoc and the bereavements created by it, and by the forfeiture inflicted upon the poor deluded Boers of their special heirlooms. One of the considerations would be the war cost and its recoupment, and another important one is the measures needful to prevent a repetition of a Bond revolt. As to the war indemnity: it is well understood on all hands that the supremacy of Great Britain, when once established as the result of the war, will greatly enhance the value of all existing capital investments--10 to 50 per cent., and many even 100 per cent. It is not to be denied that capitalism has evinced decided eagerness that English supremacy should be asserted, and it is in a manner amenable together with the Afrikaner Bond, for secretly striving to bring about the contest each independently in its own way, but without the least concert with each other. It appears therefore equitable that capital should become contributable to the cost of the war which will eventually result in so largely enhancing its invested values. A tax of 2-1/2 per cent. upon the aggregate investment values and a royalty upon the mining industries of 25 per cent. of the net profits would appear reasonable. The 2-1/2 per cent. tax might bring a sum of ....... 15 millions The royalty could be reckoned at capitalized value ............................................ 50 " The confiscations might reach ...................... 10 " And the underground rights around the Johannesburg mines might realize .............................. 50 " Thus together 125 millions, possibly not sufficient to cover the entire war cost if pensions are to be included. It is a sad reflection to note that the entire wealth which constituted the national heirloom of the Transvaal will have been wasted, and comes far short to cover the actual war expenditure. In regard to preventive measures against another Bond war, nothing appears clearer than the necessity of applying the _lex talionis_ upon the Hollander element in South Africa (though not in that inhuman fashion as was practised upon the English refugees before and at the commencement of the war). Whilst not so guilty to the same extent of enormity as the coterie in Holland, who devised all the Bond mischief at a safe distance, the Hollanders in South Africa were nevertheless their eager abettors and sedulous henchmen. It will be remembered that the Bond cry had been "Drive the English into the sea, out of Africa," and that the first earnest in carrying out that fiat was practised some months before the outbreak of the war upon the unaggressive coloured British subjects, traders, merchants, etc., whose removal from their residences and businesses to ghettos outside the towns practically compassed their ruin and expulsion from the Transvaal. This was followed, first by a voluntary and afterwards by the forced exodus of Uitlanders at the rate of thousands per day--men, women, and children packed in uncleansed coal and cattle trucks, together with Coolies, Kaffirs, and Hottentots, and hustled over the Portuguese border, dumped down at that death-trap Komati Poort if unable to pay the railway fare for fifty-three miles further to Delagoa Bay. Those refugees were obliged to abandon or sacrifice their belongings--they had no time allowed to realize them; it meant their financial ruin. That Hollander element comprises the most insidious menace, and, like a cancer, must be unsparingly excised from South Africa, unless encouragement is intended to be given for an attempt to go one better next time, with a repetition, or rather an aggravation, of the horrors of war and the cost in life and treasure, turning the sub-continent into a second vast Algeria, with perhaps such another "Abd El Kadr" to subdue, and without any reserve asset, as now, to fall back upon towards reimbursing the expense. Their expulsion should, however, not be effected without giving some fair notice affording them time for the realization of their estates. As to the Dutch language, it will not entail any excessive hardship if it is equally banished as an official language, seeing that English is on the whole not more unfamiliar to the bulk of the Boer people than pure High Dutch is, and seeing that the dual right was accorded to Dutch as an official language under this almost inconceivable feature, that it admittedly had yet to be learnt to become of any practical use or utility other than as an instrument for keeping the races apart and to facilitate the Bond objects of usurpation and revolt. FINIS 
17968	----	BOER POLITICS BY YVES GUYOT _Translated from the French_ LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET 1900 INTRODUCTION. A word in explanation of this English edition is perhaps not unnecessary. It will be remembered that the arguments in the following pages appeared originally in the columns of _Le Siècle_, and from the correspondence between M. Yves Guyot and Dr. Kuyper and M. Brunetière (Appendix B), the reader will understand how the publication of _Le Siècle_ articles in pamphlet form arose. In the month of May when M. Yves Guyot's _La Politique Boer_ made its appearance, the supply of literature by more or less competent judges on South African affairs was already so formidable in this country, that an English publication of his pamphlet was apparently not wanted. Moreover, as my master's arguments were written for readers on the continent and not for those of Great Britain, such a publication was not thought of at the time. Of the first editions of _La Politique Boer_ placed before the reading public in various countries, a few thousand copies were sent to London. The demand, however, exceeded the supply to such a large extent, and so many letters were received at this office from British readers (unfamiliar with the French language) asking for a translation, that an English dress of _La Politique Boer_ was decided upon. As the translation was proceeding various incidents of importance in connection with the South African crisis took place. These were commented upon by M. Yves Guyot in _Le Siècle_ and added to the existing pamphlet; the English edition is consequently more up-to-date than the original. Our thanks for valuable assistance given in the translation are largely due to Mrs. Ellen Waugh and Mr. Charles Baxter. M. Yves Guyot has renounced his author's rights, and the profits to _Le Siècle_, resulting from this publication, will be handed in two equal shares to the societies here and in South Africa which represent the interests of the widows and orphans of English and Boer combatants who have given their lives for their countries. JULES HEDEMAN. THE LONDON OFFICE OF _Le Siècle_ 32, CHARING CROSS, S.W. _25th October, 1900._ CONTENTS. PAGE PREFACE. 1. State of the Question.--2. Pro-Boer Argument, and the Jameson Raid.--3. Profits of the Jameson Raid.--4. Logical Consequences of the Jameson Raid ix. CHAPTER I. BOER APOLOGISTS. 1. Disregard of Facts, and Subordination to the Vatican.--2. The Boers, the Natives and Slavery.--3. "Essentially a Man of War and Politics" 1 CHAPTER II. ENGLISH AND BOERS. 1. The ideal of the Boers.--2. The English in South Africa.--3. "The Crime."--4. British Sphere of Influence in 1838.--5. England, the Transvaal and the Orange Free State 9 CHAPTER III. THE ANNEXATION OF THE TRANSVAAL AND THE CONVENTIONS OF 1881 AND 1884. 1. The "Gold Mines" Argument.--2. Boer Anarchy.--3. The Boers saved by the English.--4.--The Annexation of the Transvaal, and the Conventions of 1881 and 1884.--5. The Convention of 1881 inapplicable.--6. Violation by the Boers 17 CHAPTER IV. ARTICLES OF THE CONVENTION OF 1884. 1. Krüger's point of view.--2. England's Obligations.--3. Equality of Rights among the Whites according to Mr. Krüger in 1881.--4. Preamble of the Convention of 1881.--5. Articles, 4, 7, and 14 of the Convention of 1884 24 CHAPTER V. LAW AND JUSTICE IN THE TRANSVAAL. 1. Contempt of Justice.--2. Confusion of Powers 31 CHAPTER VI. POLICE, JUSTICE AND LAW, ACCORDING TO BOER METHODS. 1. Legal and Judicial System of the Transvaal.--2. The Police (the Edgar Case).--3. An ingenious Collusion.--4. The Lombaard Case 36 CHAPTER VII. "SECURITY OF INDIVIDUALS" ACCORDING TO BOER IDEAS. 1. The Amphitheatre Case.--2. Valuation of Bail.--3. The Uitlanders' Petition.--4. Security of the Individual according to Boer Ideas.--5. The Murder of Mrs. Appelbe 42 CHAPTER VIII. Boer Oligarchy 48 CHAPTER IX. THE GOLD MINES. 1. "That Gold is mine!"--2. The Proportion of Gold per Ton.--3. Cost of Production.--4. A Gold Mine is an Industrial Exploitation.--5. Distribution of the Gold Production.--6. Cost of Production, and the Transvaal.--What the "Vultures" brought 52 CHAPTER X. FINANCIAL POLICY OF THE BOERS. 1. Receipts of the Boer Exchequer.--2. Budget Assessment of the Burghers.--3. Salaries of Boer Officials.--4. The Debit side of the Boer Budget.--5. New Taxes.--6. Attempt to raise a Loan.--7. Fleecing the Uitlander 59 CHAPTER XI. MONOPOLIES IN THE TRANSVAAL AND THE NETHERLANDS RAILWAY COMPANY. 1. Article XIV. and the Monopolies.--2. The Dynamite Monopoly.--3. Railways.--4. The Drift Question.--5. Methods of Exaction 66 CHAPTER XII. CAPITALIST INTRIGUES AND THE WAR. 1. A war of Capitalists.--2. A Local Board.--3. A deliberating Council.--4. Timidity of the Chamber of Mines.--5. The Petition and the Despatch of May 10th 73 CHAPTER XIII. THE FRANCHISE. 1. Impossible Comparisons.--2. Policy of Re-action.--3. The Bloemfontein Conference 80 CHAPTER XIV. THE FRANCHISE AFTER THE CONFERENCE OF BLOEMFONTEIN. 1. A Krüger Trick.--2. The Bill passed by the Volksraad--3. Pretended Concessions.--4. The Joint Commission.--5. Bargaining.--6. The Conditions, and Withdrawal of Proposals.--7. The Franchise is Self-Government 87 CHAPTER XV. THE SUZERAINTY OF ENGLAND AND THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC. 1. Who Raised the Question of Suzerainty?--2. The Suzerainty and the Conference of the Hague 95 CHAPTER XVI. THE ARBITRATION QUESTION. 1. How the Transvaal interprets Arbitration.--2. Mr. Chamberlain's Conditions 101 CHAPTER XVII. THE BOER ULTIMATUM. 1. Dr. Kuyper's Logic.--2. Despatches of 8th and 22nd September.--3. The Ultimatum 108 CHAPTER XVIII. DR. KUYPER'S FINAL METAPHOR. 1. Where are the Peace Lovers?--2. Moral Worth of the Boers.--3. A Lioness Out of Place.--4. Moral Unity by Means of Unity of Method 113 APPENDIX. _a._--ENGLAND, HOLLAND AND GERMANY 119 _b._--DR. KUYPER'S ADMISSION 1. Offer to Dr. Kuyper to Reproduce his Article.--2. Dilatory Reply of Dr. Kuyper.--3. Withdrawal of Dr. Kuyper.--4. Mr. Brunetière's Refusal.--5. The Queen of Holland and Dr. Kuyper's Article 124 _c._--THE LAST PRO-BOER MANIFESTATION 130 _d._--SOUTH AFRICAN CRITICS 136 _e._--THE TRANSVAAL AND THE PEACE CONFERENCE HELD IN PARIS FROM SEPTEMBER 30TH TO OCTOBER 5TH, 1900 151 PREFACE. THE QUESTION. I have endeavoured in the following pages to separate the Transvaal question from the many side issues by which it is obscured. In the "Affaire Dreyfus" I constantly recurred to the main point--Dreyfus was condemned upon the "bordereau"; Dreyfus was not the author of the "bordereau," therefore he was not responsible for the documents named in the "bordereau." In this case, in like manner, there is but one question:--Has or has not the government of the South African Republic acted up to the convention of 1884, and is the English government bound to regard that convention as of no effect with regard to the Uitlanders who have established themselves in the Transvaal on the faith that England would insist upon its being respected? _Pro-Boer Argument._ Pro-Boers refuse to recognise this point, as did M. Cavaignac when, in his speech of July 7th, 1898, he abandoned the "bordereau" to substitute for it the Henry forgery. They keep talking of the Great Trek of 1836; of England's greed; of the gold mines; and, above all, of the Jameson raid. The Jameson raid is their pet grievance; it takes the place of all argument. The Uitlanders may well say that "Jameson has been Krüger's best friend." Notwithstanding, the Jameson raid is the best proof of the powerlessness of England to protect the interests of her subjects against the pretentions of the Pretoria Government. In 1894, Lord Ripon had already made ineffectual representations to that Government concerning the contempt with which it was treating the Convention of 1884. The Uitlanders had approached the Volksraad in a petition signed by 14,800 persons. The petitioners did not ask that the Republic should be placed under the control of the British Government; on the contrary, they postulated the maintenance of its independence; all that they asked was for "equitable administration and fair representation." This petition was received with angry contempt. "Protest, protest as much as you like," said Mr. Krüger, "I have arms, and you have none." It is contended that if President Krüger did provide himself to a formidable extent with munitions of war, it was not until after the Jameson Raid. Here the connexion between cause and effect is not very clear; Jameson once beaten there was no further cause to arm against him. But from the Uitlanders' petition, to which allusion has been made, it is evident that armaments had begun before. Among the alleged grievances we find the following:-- "A policy of force is openly declared against us; £250,000 have been expended on the construction of forts; upon one alone, designed to terrorise the inhabitants of Johannesburg, £100,000 has been spent. Large orders have been given to Krupp for big guns and maxims; and it is said that German Officers are coming to drill the burghers." The Uitlanders of Johannesburg treated with contumely, adopted the theories made use of by the Boers in their Petition of Rights of February 17th, 1881, by which they justified their insurrection against British rule, of December, 1880. "Then the cause was unexpectedly helped on by the courageous resistance of O. Bezuidenhout against the seizure of his household effects for non-payment of taxes. Here was a breach of the law easy to lay hold of; here was a crime indeed! It was illegal, undoubtedly, but illegal in the same sense as was the refusal of Hampden to pay the four or five shillings "ship money"; the taking of den Briel by the Watergeuzen (Waterbeggars) in 1572; as was the throwing overboard of a cargo of tea in Boston; as was the plot in Cape Colony against the importation of convicts. All these acts were illegal, but of such are the illegalities in which a people takes refuge, when a Government fails in its duty to a law higher than that of man." In virtue of the principles invoked by the Boers, the Johannesburg Uitlanders entered into a conspiracy; Jameson was to come to their aid after they had risen. Messrs. Leonard and Phillips put themselves in communication with Cecil Rhodes. He listened to their manifesto, and the instant they came to the mention of free trade in South Africa, he said: "That will do for me." The supposition that he desired to annex the Transvaal is absurd.[1] He has admitted that he gave his personal co-operation to Jameson without having first consulted his colleagues of the Chartered Company. Jameson was to have gone to the assistance of the Uitlanders; not to forestall the insurrection, which was fixed for January 4th. On December 29th, Jameson invaded the Transvaal with 480 men. They got as far as Krugersdorp, about 31 miles distant from Johannesburg, and after a fight at Doornkop, in which the Raiders' losses were 18 killed and 40 wounded, and on the Boers' side four killed and five wounded, they surrendered on the condition that their lives should be spared. That stipulation is forgotten when we fall to admiring President Krüger's magnanimity in handing over Jameson to the British Government. [Footnote 1: Fitzpatrick. "The Transvaal from Within." p. 122.] _The Profits from the Jameson Raid._ The trial by the Government of Pretoria of the sixty-four members of the "Reform Committee" was held in Johannesburg. Four of them, Mr. Lionel Phillips, Colonel Rhodes, Mr. George Farrar, and Mr. Hammond were condemned to death. The remainder were sentenced to two years' imprisonment and £2,000 fine, or failing payment, to another year's imprisonment and three years' banishment. The Executive reserved to themselves the right to confiscate their property. In commutation of the four death sentences, the Government exacted £100,000; fifty-six other prisoners paid in a sum of £112,000. One of the accused died, another who had pleaded not guilty, was so ill that his sentence was not carried out; Messrs. Sampson and Davies refused to pay the fine. The British Government left Mr. Krüger a free hand in the matter; it cannot be reproached with having interposed on their behalf--although it was its own representatives who persuaded the Johannesburg conspirators to deliver up their arms. In the moment of danger many and various hopes were held out by Mr. Krüger in his proclamation of December 30th, 1895. The danger once past, the promises were forgotten. He remembered the Jameson Raid only as an excuse for demanding an indemnity of £677,938 3s. 6d. for material damages, and a further £1,000,000 for damages "moral and intellectual." In February, 1896, Mr. Chamberlain proposed to him "the autonomy of that portion occupied by mining industries" (see details of the proposal, letter of Mr. Chamberlain, published in _Le Siècle_, July 5th, 1899.) Mr. Krüger refused contemptuously. At the same time he got the Volksraad to pass a bill giving him the right to expel any foreigner, at his discretion, at a fortnight's notice. Mr. Chamberlain reminded him that this bill was contrary to Act 14 of the Convention of 1884. Krüger took no notice of this remonstrance, and the bill became law on October 24th. In December, 1896, Mr. Chamberlain made a renewed protest. The correspondence continued. Mr. Chamberlain recapitulated the breaches of the Convention of 1884 committed by the Boer Government. In the summer of 1897, the act was at last repealed, but always with the unavowed intention of re-enacting it in another form. Mr. Krüger persistently continued to refuse all demands for reform, becoming more and more insolent, while, thanks to the wealth brought to the exchequer by the gold mines, he continued to increase the very armaments against which the petitioners of 1894 had protested. To all representations, his answer was "The Jameson Raid." To all Europe, his plea was "The Jameson Raid." If you mention Transvaal affairs to a Pro-Boer, he shuts you up at once with "what about the Jameson Raid?" He will listen to no arguments; and loses his temper. If you suggest that the Jameson Raid bears a certain analogy to the expedition of Garibaldi's One Thousand, he gazes at you with amazement. If you proceed to remark that the Jameson Raid took place at the close of the year 1895; that we are now in 1900; that it is _res judicata_; that the British Government left Boer Justice a free hand to deal with the conspirators, he accuses you of having been bought by England. Not a whisper, of course, is heard about the millions of secret service money placed at the disposal of Dr. Leyds. _The Logical Consequences of the Jameson Raid._ According to the Boers, they are briefly: (1) The Jameson Raid of Dec. 29th, 1895, gives the South African Republic the right in perpetuity to regard the Convention of 1884 as null and void. (2) The Jameson Raid gives the Government of the South African Republic the right to treat all Uitlanders, especially the British, as Boers treat Kaffirs. (3) The Jameson Raid gives the Government of the South African Republic an undefined and perpetual right to plunder the Uitlanders. YVES GUYOT. CHAPTER I. BOER APOLOGISTS.[2] 1.--_Disregard of Facts and Subordination to the Vatican._ I notice with satisfaction, that people, who a short time ago would not listen to a word about the Transvaal, are now no longer animated by the same spirit of confidence, and are even beginning to wonder whether they have not fallen into the same mistake made by so many in the Dreyfus case, who only began to entertain doubts after the exposure of the Henry forgery. I have been asked "Why have you not answered Dr. Kuyper's article in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_?" and it appears that Dr. Leyds has been heard to say in Brussels: "M. Yves Guyot has made no answer to Dr. Kuyper's article." As though it were unanswerable! I might well retort with the question: "Why does the Pro-Boer press never reply to counter arguments save by vague phrases, and evading the real issue? Why does the French press, in particular, confine itself to lauding "the brave Boers" and the "venerable President Krüger," and to extolling the virtues with which it credits them, instead of studying their actual social condition, and giving its readers the plain facts? Why do we not find one word in our papers of the articles by M.M. Villarais and Tallichet, published in the _Bibliothèque Universelle_.[3]" It is an exact repetition of the method employed by the Anti-Dreyfusard papers in the Dreyfus case. But the odd thing is, that many who were then exasperated by it, now look upon it as quite natural, and are not surprised to find themselves bosom friends of Drumont, Rochefort, Judet, and Arthur Mayer. The Transvaal question unites them in a "nationalist" policy, which, if it were to go beyond mere words, would result in a war with England and might complete, by a naval Sedan, the disaster of 1870. The majority of Frenchmen have brought to the scrutiny of the matter a degree of pigheadedness that clearly proves the influence of our method of subjective education. We state our faith on words, and believe--because it is a mystery. The _Revue des Deux Mondes_, in which Dr. Kuyper's article is published (February 1st), has become an organ of Leo XIII. Those free-thinkers, protestants, and Jews in France who take part in the Anglophobe movement, are thus naively furthering the aims of the Vatican and the Jesuits, whose endeavour has ever been to stir up Europe against England--England that shall never be forgiven for the liberalism of her institutions, for the independence of her thinkers, and for her politics, to which they attribute, not without reason, the downfall of the temporal power. The apologetic portion of Dr. Kuyper's article shows the Boers in their true light. Far from refuting it, I will quote from it. The critical part obscures the points at issue. I will clear them up. [Footnote 2: _Le Siècle_, March 20th, 1900.] [Footnote 3: See _Le Siècle_, February 3rd and March 14th, 1900.] 2.--_The Boers, the Natives, and Slavery._ Dr. Kuyper's article begins with the words: "Once more the yuletide has sent forth the angelic message 'Peace on Earth,' even to where the natives gather at the humble chapels of our missionaries." Dr. Kuyper then undertakes to show us how the Boers understand "the angelic message" in their treatment of the coloured race. He begins by waxing wroth with the English who, in 1816, in consequence of the representations of their missionaries, had instituted an enquiry as to the manner in which the Boers treated their slaves, "England humiliated them before their slaves," he says. The English also protected natives. Dr. Kuyper says:-- "With little regard for the real rights of their ancient colonists, _the English prided themselves on protecting the imaginary rights of the natives_." The italics are his own. This virtuous protester continues:-- "Deceived by the reports from their missionaries, little worthy of belief, and led astray by a sentimental love for primitive man, 'The Aborigines Protection Societies,' so drastically exposed by Edmund Burke, saw their opportunity. With their Aborigines Societies, the deists posed in the political arena as protectors of the native races, while, in religious circles, the Christians with their missionary societies posed as their benefactors." Dr. Kuyper forgives neither the deists nor the missionaries. And what of the Boers? "The Boers had introduced a system of slavery copied from that adopted by the English in their American colonies; but greatly modified. I do not deny that, at times, the Boers have been too harsh, and have committed excesses.... "The Boers are not sentimentalists, but are eminently practical. They recognised that these Hottentots and Basutos were an inferior race.... "The Boers have always resolutely faced the difficulty of the colour question so persistently kept out of view by the English." And Dr. Kuyper goes on to speak of the multiplication of the blacks in South Africa. He dare not point to the logical solution, which would be to regulate matters by extermination, pure and simple; but he gives vent to his hatred of the English who, far from checking that multiplication, assist it by their humane treatment of the natives. He is especially wrathful with English missionaries, "those black-frocked gentlemen." He states that the Boers do their best "to keep them at a distance"; and he cites, as a fact, which fills him with indignation and alarm:-- "A coloured bishop has been appointed president of a kind of negro council in Africa." I confine myself to quoting Dr. Kuyper. He shows too plainly the character, passions, and hatreds of the Boers, to render comment necessary. He acknowledges that the Great Trek, the emigration northwards, did not begin till after 1834, when, according to the manifesto of 1881, known as the Petition of Rights, "in consequence of the enforced sale of their slaves, the old patriarchal farmers were ruined." This document represents that it was treating them "with contumely" to offer them money compensation, adding regretfully "that the greater portion of the money remained in the hands of London swindlers." The regret and the contumely are difficult to reconcile. Ancestors of the Boers had more than once acted in a similar manner towards the Dutch East India Company when dissatisfied with their administration, and unwilling to pay their taxes. But Pro-Boers have a curious habit of magnifying things. One would imagine, to hear them speak, that every Boer in the Cape had packed wife, children, and goods into ox-wagons and had trekked north. As a matter of fact, the greater proportion remained behind, and their descendants formed the majority of the 376,000 whites enumerated in the census of 1891. The Great Trek was really composed of various detachments which started one after another in 1836. Statistics of the numbers of trekkers vary from 5,000 to 10,000. I have not been able to trace whether these figures refer only to adult males, or whether they include the women and children. In any case, when discussing South African affairs, we must always bear in mind the small number of persons concerned, in comparison with the vast extent of the area in question. Not only these trekkers, but all who, from the period of the seventeenth century onwards, had had the tendency to wander from the Cape, belonged to the most adventurous and warlike portion of the population. They had spread themselves over an enormous tract of country, and were in close touch with kaffirs and bushmen, cattle-lifters using poisoned arrows. Living in isolated families, they acquired, in the course of their unceasing struggle with their savage neighbours, not only their qualities of daring and warlike skill, but habits of cruelty and cunning as well. 3.--_Essentially a Man of War and Politics._ Between the Dutchman of Amsterdam, Haarlem, the Hague, or Rotterdam, installed in his comfortable dwelling, cultivating his tulips, priding himself upon his pictures, and drinking his beer, and the Boer, pure and simple, there is not the slightest analogy. This Dr. Kuyper acknowledges. The Boer population is a compound of Dutchmen, Frenchmen, Hugenots, Germans and Scotchmen. Krüger and Reitz are of German, Joubert and Cronje, of French origin. Here is what Dr. Kuyper, himself, says of the Boers:-- "The word Boer signifies 'peasant,' but it would be a mistake to compare Boers with French peasants, English farmers, or even the settlers of America. They are rather a _conquering race_, who established themselves among the Hottentots and Basutos, in the same manner that the _Normans, in the XIth Century, established themselves among the Anglo-Saxons_. Abstaining from all manual labour, they devote themselves to their properties, sometimes as much as 5,000 to 6,000 acres in extent, and to the breeding of cattle and horses. Beyond this, their object in life is hunting lion and big game. _The Boer is essentially a man of war and politics._" Here we have the true Boer, and not the idyllic "small farmer" pictured to us by a contributor to _Le Temps_. He is essentially the "man of war and politics," the counterpart of an Arab chief, the sole difference being that the Boer is not a polygamist and has no tribe under him; on the contrary, the Boers swarm off in isolated groups or families. Their conception of life is, however, the same. I quote here from my treatise on The Evolution of Property (p. 46) on the subject of Pastoral Tribes:-- "It was at one time the fashion to hold up pastoral tribes and the patriarchs with their long flowing beards, as subjects of admiration. Long-bearded patriarchs were objects of veneration. Despite the quarrels of Esau and Jacob, and the story of Joseph sold by his brethren, pastoral life was pictured to us as mild as milk, as innocent as that of sheep in the fold, until Renan pointed out its qualities and defects. At the same time we were told of the Bedouins "with saddle, bridle, and life on the Islam," always mounted, always armed, always engaged in war or razzias and mutual pillage; of the Turkomans and their motto: 'Thy soul is in thy sword'; and those who thus celebrated the amenities of pastoral life, and the heroic adventures of the Arabs of the desert, never perceived the contradictions they had fallen into." At the end of that Chapter I spoke of the Boers, according to Levaillant, "the most carniverous of men," as having turned out of their possessions the nomadic Hottentot and Kaffir shepherds. _The Boers represent that form of warlike and political civilisation in which production is indirect, and obtained by utilising the labour of others._ It is a type of that ancient pillaging civilisation which we call war-like, when its methods have been reduced to rules. In this stage politics mean the organisation of pillage. Mr. Kuyper is right. "The Boer is essentially a man of war and politics." He has employed his talents at the expense of Hottentots and Kaffirs; he has continued to employ them to the detriment of the Uitlanders; and he thought the time had come to realise his programme of February 17th, 1881, formulated by Dr. Reitz at the end of his official pamphlet,[4] "Africa for the Africanders from the Zambesi to Simon's Bay." We have seen what view, according to his apologist, "the man of war and politics" takes of his relations with the natives; we shall now see how he regards his relations with the whites. [Footnote 4: "A Century of Injustice."] CHAPTER II. ENGLISH AND BOERS.[5] 1.--_The Ideal of the Boers._ No French Pro-Boer has reproduced the portrait I have published, as given by Dr. Kuyper. It disturbs the conception presented to their readers by journalists, whose dishonesty is only equalled by their ignorance. Quoting his own statements, I have shown Boer relations with the natives; I will now proceed to show their relations with the English. In addition to Dr. Kuyper's evidence, I will avail myself of a document from Boer sources: The Petition of Rights, addressed to the President of the Orange Free State, February 17th, 1881, and bearing Krüger's name at the head of the list of signatures. This document clearly shows not only the manner in which Boers write history, but also that, five years before the discovery of the Gold Mines, they cherished as their ideal, not only the preservation of their independence, but the driving out of the English from all South Africa: "From the Zambesi to Simon's Bay, _Africa for the Afrikanders!_" This is the rallying cry with which the document ends, and we find it repeated by Dr. Reitz, as the concluding words of his pamphlet, "A Century of Injustice." [Footnote 5: _Le Siècle_, March 23rd, 1900.] 2.--_The English in South Africa._ Dr. Kuyper cannot forgive the English their occupation of the Cape. Yet, they had only followed the example of the Dutch who, during their war with Spain, 1568-1648, had seized the greater portion of the Portuguese colonies, because Portugal had been an ally of Spain. Holland had been forced into an alliance with France, and in exactly the same way, in 1794 and 1806, England seized the Cape. In 1814 she bought it from the Prince of Orange. Dr. Kuyper does not deny that the price was paid, but remarks that it did not replenish the coffers of the prince. Be that as it may, the treaty is none the less valid, and the "Petition of Rights" begins by protesting against "the action of the King of Holland who, in 1814, had ceded Cape Colony to England in exchange for Belgium." The English valued the newly acquired colony only as a naval station; they did not endeavour to extend the territory they occupied. Professor Bryce clearly shows in his "Impressions of South Africa" that if England had enlarged her possessions it had been in despite of herself, and solely to ensure their safety; although, from the treatise "Great Britain and the Dutch Republics," published in _The Times_, and reproduced in _Le Siècle_, it is evident that she had always considered that her rights in South Africa extended to the frontier of the Portuguese possessions; that is to say, to the 25° of latitude, in which latitude Delagoa Bay is situated. Dr. Kuyper begins by himself putting us somewhat on our guard concerning his feelings towards England; for, not only does he decline to forgive her the occupation of Cape Colony, but also her triumph over Holland in the eighteenth century. "Nowhere had resentment against 'perfide Albion' penetrated national feeling more deeply than in the Netherlands. Between the Dutch and English characters there is absolute incompatibility." As a rule, I attach little faith to such generalities; in this case, I am sure, rightly. Forgetting his dictum of "absolute incompatibility" (p. 449), Dr. Kuyper, at p. 520, shows that, as far as he is concerned, it is only relative; for in speaking of England, he goes on to say:-- "Were I not a Dutchman, I should prefer to be one of her sons. Her habitual veracity is above suspicion; the sense of duty and justice is innate in her. Her constitutional institutions are universally imitated. Nowhere else do we find the sense of self-respect more largely developed." Dr. Kuyper further admits that the "incompatibility" is relative as far as Afrikanders are concerned, it is only "absolute" as applied to the Boers. After giving us this example of the consistency of his views, Dr. Kuyper speaks of the English as being "unobservant." A reproach somewhat unexpected, when directed against the countrymen of Darwin. As a proof, he presents us with this metaphor, equally unexpected from the pen of a Dutchman--a dweller of the plains:-- "Because, in winter, the English had only seen in these insignificant river beds a harmless thread of frozen water, they took no thought of the formidable torrent which the thawing of the snow, in spring, would send rushing down to inundate their banks." "The torrent" is of course the war now going on. Lord Roberts seems to be successfully coping with the "inundation." 3.--_"The Crime."_ Dr. Kuyper approves of the "Petition of Rights" of 1881. It sets forth that the South African Dutch do not recognise the cession made by the King of Holland in 1814; it does not admit that he had the right to "sell them like a flock of sheep." There have been Boers in rebellion since 1816. One of these was a man named Bezuidenhout. In resisting a Sheriff who tried to arrest him, he was shot. His friends summoned to their aid a Kaffir Chief, named Gaika. The English authorities condemned five of the insurgents to be hanged. The rope broke. They were hanged over again. Dr. Kuyper, and the "Petition of Rights" found their indictment of the British upon this event which they denominate "the Crime." The scene of the execution was named "Slachtersnek," "hill of slaughter." This act of repression was violent, but it may possibly have been indispensable. At any rate, it bears but a very far off relation to the events of to-day. Dr. Kuyper in resuscitating, and laying stress upon it, follows a method well known in rhetoric; he begins by discrediting his adversary. However, despite his good intentions, he has not increased our admiration for the Boers by pointing out to us that the most serious grievances they can allege against the English are the protection accorded by the latter to the natives and slaves, and the final emancipation of the latter. 4.--_British Sphere of Influence in 1838._ In a few lines Dr. Kuyper draws a conventional picture of British policy with regard to the Boers, making it out to be ever greedy of power. The contrary is the truth. A vacillating and timid policy has been England's great mistake in South Africa; it is this very vacillation that has brought about the present war. Dr. Kuyper bitterly reproaches the English for having in 1842, six years after the Great Trek, claimed those emigrants as British subjects. The Great Trek was similar to the emigration of the Mormons. The United States have never admitted that they were at liberty to found a separate State within the limits of the national possessions. If on the same ground alone English had proclaimed their suzeranity over the Boers who were endeavouring to form States in Natal, the Orange Free State, and the Transvaal, they would have been perfectly within their rights; but Dr. Kuyper forgets that as far back as 1836 England promulgated the _Cape of Hope Punishment Act_. The object of that Act was to repress crimes committed by whites under English dominion throughout the whole of South Africa, as far north as the 25° South Latitude; that is, as far as the Portuguese frontier; and it is so thoroughly imbued with that idea, that it specially excepts any Portuguese territory south of that latitude. It is thus proved that with the exception of the portions occupied by the Portuguese, England claimed, as comprised within her sphere of influence, the whole of the remaining South African territory. A certain number of Boers, irreconcilably opposed to British rule, so fully recognised this, that they trekked as far as Delagoa Bay. Another object of the Act was the protection of the Natives against the Boers. The constantly recurring and sanguinary conflicts between the Boers and the Zulus led England to extend her direct sovereign rights to Natal for the peace, protection and good government of all classes of men, who may have settled in the interior or vicinity of this important part of South Africa. 5.--_England, the Transvaal, and the Orange Free State._ Far from being anxious to assume direct control over these territories, the Cape Government for a long time disregarded the petitions for annexation addressed to it by the inhabitants of Durban; until one fine day, a Dutch vessel laden with provisions for the Boers, arriving in Port Natal, the Captain, Smellekamp, took it upon himself to assure them of the protection of the King of Holland. Thereupon, England established a small garrison under the command of Captain Smith. It was attacked by the Boers; a volunteer, named Dick King, contrived to make his escape from the town, and after an adventurous journey reached Grahamstown. Troops were despatched by the Government, and it was incorporated with the Cape Colony; some of the Boers left Natal, some remained; their descendants are there to-day. In 1848 the Government entered into a series of treaties known as the "Napier Treaties," for the constitution of Native States extending from Pondoland, on the frontiers of Natal, to the district of which Kimberley forms the centre (see _Great Britain and the Dutch Republics_). Great Britain demanded no more than peace and guarantees of security on her frontiers. Dr. Kuyper himself admits this, when he sums up in the following sentence, the history of the emancipation of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. "Natal was to remain an English Colony, but the English were to retire from the Orange and Vaal rivers; it was thus that the Independence of the Transvaal was recognised by the Treaty of Sand River, of 17th January, 1852; and the Independence of the Free State by the Convention of Bloemfontein, of 22nd February, 1854." Dr. Kuyper is compelled to admit that England was not forced into this act of generosity, she having on the 29th August, 1848, defeated the Boers at Boomplaats, on the Orange table land. But Dr. Kuyper forgets to say that the majority of the Free Staters were far from desiring the gift made to them by the British Government in 1854. They considered it not as a measure of liberation, but as an abandonment to the tender mercies of the Basutos. Some years later the Orange Free State entered into an arrangement with Sir George Grey, for forming a Confederation with Cape Colony. This was not ratified by the Cape Government. Nor do we find that Dr. Kuyper takes notice of certain stipulations contained in the above Conventions; among others, the abolition of slavery, and free permission to merchants and missionaries to travel and settle where they pleased; which obligations continued to England the right of control over the administration and legislation of those States. The development of subsequent events is explained by Dr. Kuyper in the simplest possible manner:-- "The promptings of selfish and aggressive materialism now took unchecked sway, and, although bound by solemn treaties which England could not thrust aside without open violation of pledged faith, she did not hesitate. The diamonds of Kimberley in the Free State flashed with a too seductive brilliancy, and the Gold Mines of the Rand became the misfortune of the Transvaal." I would here observe to Dr. Kuyper that England's friendly relations with the Orange Free State, remained unbroken until October 9th, 1899, when, led away by Krüger's promises, it committed the folly of engaging in war with England. As for the Transvaal, it was annexed by England in 1877, but not on account of the Gold Mines, which were only discovered ten years' later. Dr. Kuyper has a trick of neglecting dates, and arranging his facts after the fashion of an advocate who supposes that those whom he is addressing will be content with his assertions, and not trouble to verify them. For his rhetoric, I shall substitute the actual facts. CHAPTER III. THE ANNEXATION OF THE TRANSVAAL AND THE CONVENTIONS OF 1881 AND 1884.[6] 1.--_The "Gold Mines" Argument._ When Dr. Kuyper asserts that "the gold mines of the Rand became the misfortune of the Transvaal," it is clear, that in his endeavour to convince his readers, he has no regard to the facts of the case, but that his aim is to suggest the idea that England's sole object in the present war has been to possess herself of the gold mines. Here Dr. Kuyper employs the arguments of _L'Intransigeant_, _La Libre Parole_, and _Le Petit Journal_; for he is perfectly well aware that England will derive no benefit from the gold mines, nor will she take possession of them any more than she has done of the gold mines of Australia. They are private property. Further, Dr. Kuyper well knows that the gold mines of the Rand were only discovered in 1886, and he himself states that the annexation of the Transvaal took place on April 12th, 1877. The annexation therefore was prompted by other motives than the possession of the gold mines, but Dr. Kuyper is careful not to suggest these to his readers. He informs us that Sir Theophilus Shepstone "entered Pretoria at the head of a small army." In reality, he had with him five-and-twenty policemen. Why then did the Boers, "so essentially men of war and politics," permit this? "Once again, the fate of the natives served as pretext," Mr. Kuyper adds "but the wheel of fortune turns; two years later the English, themselves, were at daggers drawn with the natives, and massacred 10,000 men, women and children." That is how Dr. Kuyper writes history! The pretext was not the fate of the natives, but the fate of the Boers, who, having gone to war with Sekukuni, had been beaten. This is admitted in the "Petition of Rights": "At first, our operations were not very successful, our opponents declare that we were unable to defend ourselves against the natives." [Footnote 6: _Le Siècle_, March 26th, 1900.] 2.--_Boer Anarchy._ The truth is, that after the Sand River Convention, the most complete anarchy existed among the Transvaal Boers; and that as much after the promulgation of their Constitution of 1857 as before. The republicans of Potchefstroom had taken the title of _The South African Republic_, but their Raad maintained authority only over a small district; Lydenburg, Zoutpansberg, Utrecht, formed themselves into independent republics. It is estimated that, at that time, the entire population of the Transvaal consisted of 8,000 Boers; admitting that this number comprised only the young men and adults capable of bearing arms, and old men, then each republic would be composed, approximately, of 2,000 men. On the death of Andries Pretorius and of Potgieter, who hated each other like poison, the son of Pretorius conceived the design of making himself master of the Orange Free State, so as to secure to himself later on the foremost position in the Transvaal. A war was on the point of breaking out, but came to nothing, as Pretorius hastily recrossed the frontier in the face of an advance by Boshof, the Free State President, at the head of a commando. This action, which demonstrated that his courage and resource were less lofty than his ambition, did not however prevent his being elected President of the South African Republic. In 1860 the union took place. Notwithstanding his incursion and subsequent flight, Pretorius succeeded in getting himself elected president of the Orange Free State also. But the Transvaal burghers dreaded absorption by their neighbours, and deposed him. A petty civil war between his partisans and opponents was the consequence; several presidents were elected and deposed. Krüger, whom we now see making his appearance, and Schoeman, in turn, chased each other out of Potchefstroom. In 1864 Pretorius forsook the Free State, and was re-elected President of the Transvaal, Krüger contenting himself with the office of Commandant-General. The Orange Free State was at war with the Basutos. The English Government intervened, and finally annexed Basutoland (1868). In the same year, the Transvaal Government, disregarding the Sand River Convention, issued a proclamation extending their frontier in the east to the seaboard; in the West to Lake Ngami, and in the North to Mashonaland. The Portuguese and English Governments entered protests and the matter dropped. No minister of the Reformed Dutch Church had accompanied the Boers in their Trek. They therefore formed themselves into a separate reformed Church, whose members called themselves "doppers" (round-heads). They allow no liberty of thought; they believe in literal inspiration. If they had ever heard of Galileo, they would have looked upon him as an impostor. They place the authority of the Old Testament above that of the New. There are three contending sects in the Transvaal, whose hostility is such that both before and after 1881 threats of Civil War were indulged in. 3.--_The Boers saved by the English._ In 1871, the question of fixing the frontier between the Transvaal and the Barolongs, a Bechuana tribe, was submitted to arbitration. The decision was given by Mr. Keate, Governor of Natal. President Pretorius having accepted it, the Boers deposed him, and continued to occupy the territory to which they laid claim. They were at a loss whom next to elect as President. Overtures were made to Mr. Brand, President of the Orange Free State; but he wisely refused. They next turned to a Cape Afrikander, a former minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, Mr. F. Burgers, a capable, intelligent man. It was his desire to correct abuses; to repress the slavery that was being carried on under the name of "apprenticeship"; to introduce railways and schools; he claimed the right to impose taxation, he got to be credited, in the long run, with the belief that the devil's tail was not as long as it is represented in the old Bible pictures. When the Boers were defeated by Sekukuni, they looked upon it as a punishment from God for having a "free thinker" for President. The commandos disbanded themselves. At the same time Cetewayo, the Zulu Chief, was threatening the Boers in the south. Caught between two fires, without resources or organisation, annihilation was before them. Now the English, for their own security, had the greatest interest in preventing the extermination of white men by natives; and on that ground, apart from all sentimentality, they had never ceased to protest against the methods employed by the Boers, as the surest means of bringing about that result. Theophilus Shepstone, who possessed great influence over the Zulus, was sent to Pretoria. Unable, even with the help of their President, to bring any order into the Government of the Transvaal, he ended by annexing it on 12th April, 1877. He annexed it in order to save it. Had the English abandoned it to itself, the Boer territory would have been occupied by Basutos and the Zulus, and the Boers would have disappeared from the face of the earth. 4.--_The Annexation of the Transvaal and the Conventions of 1881 and 1884._ M. Kuyper is very unjust when he reproaches the English with the massacre of the Zulus; for it was all to the profit of the Boers, who, it may be added, rendered no assistance. Once delivered from their native enemies by the English, the Boers appointed, December 16th, 1880, a triumvirate, composed of Pretorius, Krüger and Joubert. They demanded the re-instatement of the South African Republic, under British protection; they commenced attacking small detachments of English troops, and on February 27th they surrounded a force on Majuba Hill, killing 92 officers and men, General Colley among them, wounding 134, and taking 59 prisoners. That is what is called "the disaster of Majuba Hill." An army of 12,000 men was on the way out; Mr. Gladstone, in his Midlothian Campaign, had protested against the annexation; and, although, after he became Prime Minister, he supported it in the speech from the Throne, the hopes he had given to the separatists proved well founded, for after this defeat he became a party to the Convention of 1881, by which the independence of the Transvaal, under the suzerainty of England, was recognized. 5.--_The Convention of 1881 inapplicable._ It must be confessed, that the Liberal Government committed a grave error. It seemed afraid of a rebellion among the Afrikanders of the Cape; and these quickly learned that threats only were needed to induce the English Government to yield to their demands. The English Garrison in Pretoria was withdrawn; no reparation was exacted from the Boers who, under the command of Cronje, had conducted themselves in an infamous manner at the siege of Potchefstroom, and had been guilty of actual treachery in the case of Captains Elliot and Lambert. True, the Convention prescribed the suppression of slavery; gave guarantees for the safety of the persons and property of alien whites; placed the foreign relations of the Transvaal under the control of the British Government. But, in reality, it was of little value, for the English Resident was in the position of a man who has been conquered with the pretension of controlling the actions of the conquerer. At the first election under the new conditions, Krüger, who represented the extreme reactionary party, was elected President, although he had accepted office under the British Government, while Joubert, who had declined any dealings with them, was defeated, being suspected of sympathising with the Uitlanders. His defeat does not prove him to have been in the minority. His partisans affirm, with a fair show of reason, that Mr. Krüger never greatly respected the sanctity of the ballot. 6.--_Violation by the Boers._ The powerlessness of the British Government to ensure respect for the Convention of 1881, explains its consent to the modification of 1884. "It would be easy to find a _casus belli_ in the behaviour of the Boers," said Lord Derby in the House of Lords. But the Government had no wish to find one, and added to the weakness it had displayed after Majuba a fresh show of weakness, which convinced Mr. Krüger that the violation of a convention was the easiest method of obtaining anything he wanted. In point of fact, it is the British Government that is responsible for the present war, through having inspired President Krüger with the conviction, that he had only to continue in 1899 the policy which had succeeded so well in 1880. CHAPTER IV. ARTICLES OF THE CONVENTION OF 1884.[7] 1.--_Krüger's Point of View._ Dr. Kuyper has a simple method of solving difficulties. Speaking of Article 4 of the Convention of 1884, which gives England the right of veto on all treaties contemplated between the South African Republic and foreign powers, he says:-- "This is not Mr. Krüger's point of view. He, like us, has always stigmatised the occupation of 1877 as a violation of the Sand River Treaty." Mr. Krüger did not stigmatise it thus when he accepted office from the English Government. But, in any case, he was party to the negotiations which resulted in the Conventions of 1881 and 1884. Dr. Kuyper tells us that neither he nor Mr. Krüger recognise them, considering them to have been vitiated by the Annexation of 1877. Be it so; but in that view discussion is useless. Mr. Krüger held them as null and void. He has chosen his own time to declare war. A government has always the right to tear up a treaty just as a private individual has the right to refuse implement of a contract. In the case of the individual, his refusal exposes him to a claim of damages; in the case of a country, the result is war. It is the simplest thing in the world; but then why go seeking for pretexts and explanations, and worrying oneself about making everybody believe that it was England who brought about the war, when after all she was only claiming the due execution of a convention? [Footnote 7: _Le Siècle_, March 27th, 1900.] 2.--_England's Obligations._ When Mr. Gladstone committed the error of entering into the Convention of 1881, he fully believed that he was guaranteeing the rights of English and foreign residents in the Transvaal, of the Boers who might have compromised themselves with the English, and also of the natives. At a meeting in Birmingham, on March 8th, 1881, on the motion of Sir Wilfrid Lawson, a resolution was passed demanding that "satisfaction should be given to the claims of the Boers, without prejudice always to the rights of the natives and English residents." On July 25th, Sir Michael Hicks-Beach reminded the House of the necessity for exacting the necessary guarantees, and of ensuring the tranquillity and security of the English possessions.[8] He reminded the House of the position of those 3,700 Boer petitioners who had asked for annexation, and of the British residents who had invested capital in the Transvaal, upon the guarantee of the British Government. Mr. William Rathbone proposed a resolution demanding equal political rights for all the white population in the Transvaal. Mr. Chamberlain stated that "loyal settlers" should be protected in their legal rights, lives, and property. Mr. Gladstone, at the close of the debate, stated that "they would all be in a position of most perfect equality with the other inhabitants." (July 25th, 1881.) Thus, the British Government deliberately affirmed its obligations towards the foreign, British, and black population of the Transvaal, and its determination not to forsake them. [Footnote 8: Britain and the Boers. "Who is responsible for the War in South Africa?" By Lewis Appleton.] 3.--_Equality of Rights among the Whites according to Mr. Krüger in 1881._ The Blue Book of May, 1882, contains the report of the meeting of the British and Transvaal Commission of May 10th, 1881. Mr. Krüger was a member of the latter, Sir Hercules Robinson was Chairman. Here is a dialogue between the Chairman and Mr. Krüger:-- "The Chairman: 'Before the Annexation, did British subjects enjoy the rights of complete freedom of trade throughout the Transvaal? Were they on the same footing as the citizens of the Transvaal?'" "Mr. Krüger: 'They were on the same footing as the burghers. In accordance with the Sand River Convention there was not the slightest difference.'" "Sir Hercules Robinson: 'I presume you do not object to that continuing?'" "Mr. Krüger: 'No. There will be equal protection for everybody.'" "Sir Evelyn Wood: 'And equal privileges?'" "Mr. Krüger: 'We make no difference so far as burgher rights are concerned. There may be, perhaps, some slight difference in the case of a young person who has just come into the country.'" On the 26th May, Dr. Jorissen, a Boer delegate, reverting to the question, said:-- "Concerning the paragraph referring to a young person, I desire to remove what may create an erroneous impression. What Mr. Krüger meant to say is this; according to our law, a newcomer is not immediately considered a burgher. The words 'young person' have not reference to age but to length of residence. According to our ancient 'Grondwet' (constitution) you must have resided one year in the country to become a burgher." These minutes were not compiled for the present occasion, for they were published in 1882. 4.--_Preamble of the Convention of 1881._ The preamble of the convention is in the following terms:-- "Her Majesty's Commissioners for the settlement of the Transvaal territory, duly appointed as such by a Commission, &c., the 5th day of April, 1881, do hereby undertake and guarantee on behalf of Her Majesty, that from and after the 8th day of August, 1881, complete self-government, subject to the suzerainty of Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, will be accorded to the inhabitants of the Transvaal territory." It is evident that this is not a treaty between two parties contracting on a footing of equality. The English Government grants the Transvaal the right of self-government, reserving the suzerainty under certain conditions. I have already shown the difficulties in the way of carrying out the Convention of 1881, the false position of the Resident who was as one conquered, was supposed to control the actions of the conqueror; and I have also spoken of the great and long suffering of the English Government. Mr. R.D. Faure, who acted as interpreter to the Conference of 1884, has stated that "the Transvaal delegates asked for a clause suppressing the suzerainty, and that Lord Derby refused it." To this Mr. R.G.W. Herbert, Permanent Under Secretary for the Colonies, replied "that the Commissioners did not venture to ask for the abolition of the suzerainty." They confined themselves to asking in their letter to Lord Derby of November 14th, 1883, that "the relation of dependence, _publici juris_, in which our Country finds itself placed with regard to the Crown of Great Britain should be replaced by that of two contracting parties." Lord Derby on 29th November, answered that "neither in form, nor in substance could the Government accept such a demand." The Government thus refused to substitute a "treaty" for a "convention" in which the Queen granted to the Transvaal the right of self-government under certain conditions. 5.--_Articles 4, 7 and 14 of the Convention of 1884._ These conditions are determined by the articles 4, 7 and 14 of the convention of 1884, of which the following is the text:-- "Article 4. The South African Republic will conclude no treaty or engagement with any State or Nation other than the Orange Free State, nor with any native tribe to the Eastward or Westward of the Republic, until the same has been approved by Her Majesty the Queen. "Such approval shall be considered to have been granted if Her Majesty's Government shall not, within six months after the receipt of a copy of such treaty (which shall be delivered to them immediately upon its completion), have notified that the conclusion of such treaty is in conflict with the interests of Great Britain, or of any of Her Majesty's possessions in South Africa. "Article 7. All persons who held property in the Transvaal on the 8th day of August, 1881, and still hold the same, will continue to enjoy the rights of property which they have enjoyed since the 12th April, 1877. No person who has remained loyal to Her Majesty during the late hostilities shall suffer any molestation by reason of his loyalty; or be liable to any criminal prosecution or civil action for any part taken in connection with such hostilities; and all such persons will have full liberty to reside in the country, with enjoyment of all civil rights, and protection for their persons and property. "Article 14. All persons, other than natives, conforming themselves to the laws of the South African Republic (_a_) will have full liberty, with their families, to enter, travel, or reside in any part of the South African Republic; (_b_) they will be entitled to hire or possess houses, manufactories, warehouses, shops, and premises; (_c_) they may carry on their commerce either in person or by any agents whom they may think fit to employ; (_d_) they will not be subject, in respect of their persons or property, or in respect of their commerce or industry, to any taxes, whether general or local, other than those which are or may be imposed upon Citizens of the Republic." In Dr. Kuyper's estimation the Articles 7 and 14 are as nothing. I do not even think he makes mention of them in his article (fifty-three pages in length), that has appeared in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_. Thus, nothing is easier than to argue in the vacuum he creates about his readers. They hear nothing but words; of the facts they are kept in ignorance. CHAPTER V. LAW AND JUSTICE IN THE TRANSVAAL.[9] 1.--_Contempt of Justice._ I stated at the close of my last article that I did not think that Dr. Kuyper had even made mention of Articles 7 and 14 of the Convention of 1884. I find that I was mistaken. He has said a few words about the latter, to draw from it the inference that it did not give the right of franchise to Uitlanders. He is right. But Articles 7 and 14 guarantee to all white men, civil rights, the protection of their persons and property, the right to enter into trade, and equality of taxation. How did the Boers construe the application of these conditions of the Convention of 1884? As early as 1885 Mr. Gladstone found himself obliged to send Sir Charles Warren to prevent the Boers from invading Bechuanaland. Mr. Krüger had already attacked Mafeking, and annexed the territory. The Boers retreated, but brutally murdered a man named Bethell who had been wounded by them. That same year, the case of Mr. James Donaldson came before the House of Commons. He held property in Lydenburg. He had been ordered by two Boers (one of whom was in the habit of boasting that he had shot an unarmed Englishman since the beginning of the war, and had fired on several others) to abstain from collecting hut taxes on his own farm. On his refusal he was attacked by them; three other Boers joined them, and he was left in such a condition that he was thought to be dead. Upon the representations of the English Government the aggressors were condemned to pay a fine; but the Government of Pretoria remitted it! An Indian, a British subject and man of education far superior to that of the greater part of the Boers, while following a bridle path trespassed on the farm property of a member of the Volksraad, named Meyer. He was arrested, and accused of intent to steal. Sent before the owner's brother, who was a "field cornet" (district judge), he was condemned, with each of the Hottentot servants accompanying him, to receive twenty-five lashes, and to pay a fine. Rachmann protested, declared that the field cornet was exceeding his authority, intimated an appeal, and offered bail of £40; notwithstanding, he received the twenty-five lashes. George Meyer, the field cornet, knew perfectly well that he was exceeding his authority, but thought it too good a joke to desist. The Court, presided over by Mr. Jorissen, condemned him to pay damages to Rachmann. This was reimbursed to Meyer by the Government, and, despite the judgment of the Court, the President said he was in the right, and that he would protect him. This is the way in which Mr. Krüger understands justice towards Europeans and European subjects; let us see how he understands it with regard to natives. A Kaffir, named April, having worked several years on a farm, asked for his salary as agreed in cattle and a pass. The farmer refused him the cattle, and wanted to force him, his wives, and children, to continue working for him. The Kaffir appealed to the field cornet Prinsloo, who treated him as an unruly slave. The Court condemned Prinsloo for abuse of power. Some days later the President announced that he had reimbursed Prinsloo his expenses and damages, remarking: "Notwithstanding the judgment of the Court, we consider Prinsloo to have been in the right." [Footnote 9: _Le Siècle_ 29th March, 1900.] 2.--_Confusion of Powers._ The Volksraad confuses legislative and judicial functions. Should a judgment displease it, it arrogates to itself the right to annul it. Nor is there any more respect shown by the Volksraad for contracts, and, on one occasion, it solemnly accorded to the Government the right to annul clauses which had ceased to be satisfactory. It is unnecessary to add that the principle of the non-retrospectiveness of laws is altogether unknown to it. In the Dom case the Volksraad passed a resolution disabling the aggrieved individual from taking action against the Government. Early in the year 1897, the Government appointed for a given day, the allocation of the Witfontein farm in "claims" (mine concessions of 150 by 400 feet). At the last moment it was announced that the claims would be decided by lottery; several persons having made known that they intended to sue the Government for their claims already pegged out, a measure was passed by the Volksraad declaring all such actions null and void. A Mr. Brown, an American, took proceedings. The President of the High Court, Mr. Kotzé, pronounced that this law was unconstitutional, and gave judgment in favor of Brown, but left the amount of damages to be determined later after hearing further evidence. Upon this, Mr. Krüger introduced a law known as Law I. of 1897, which empowered him to exact assurances from the judges that they would respect all resolutions of the Volksraad, without testing whether they were in accord or contradiction with the Constitution; and in the event of the President not being satisfied with the replies of the judges, it further empowered him to dismiss them summarily. The judges protested in a body that they would not submit to such treatment. The High Court was suspended and all legal business adjourned. Sir Henry de Villiers, Chief Justice of Cape Colony, came to Pretoria to endeavour to avert the crisis. Mr. Krüger promised to refrain from enforcing Law I. of 1897, and to introduce a new law. The judges resumed their functions. In February, 1898, a year later, President Krüger had not introduced a new law; President Kotzé wrote to Krüger reminding him of his promise. Mr. Krüger at once applied to him Law I. of 1897, and dismissed him. Kotzé was replaced by Mr. Gregorowski, who, at the time the law was passed had solemnly protested that no honourable man could continue to act as a judge in the Transvaal until the law was repealed. Now what does Dr. Kuyper think of the Volksraad's mode of legislation, and of the manner in which Mr. Krüger, that man "of intelligence and superior morality," interprets respect for justice? CHAPTER VI. POLICE, JUSTICE, AND LAW ACCORDING TO BOER METHODS.[10] 1.--_Legal and Judicial System of the Transvaal._ In the Transvaal, law is an instrument made use of either to favor or oppress the individual, according to circumstances. If necessary it is made retrospective. To provide for the case of judges refusing to apply such laws, Law I. of 1897 has been passed, which compels them to swear obedience to the President and gives him the right to dismiss summarily such as prove insubordinate or lukewarm. The President of the High Court, Mr. Kotzé, fell under the action of this law, in February, 1898. Before that law, the President annulled any judgments that displeased him and caused the fines or damages inflicted upon the delinquents to be paid out of the public Treasury. Such is judicial and legal rule in the Transvaal; and there are European lawyers of the opinion that the Uitlanders must be the most contemptible and lowest set of adventurers for not being satisfied with it! Dr. Kuyper declares that "the factitious discontent existed only among the English"; and adds with contempt, "Let us look into the Edgar, Lombaard, and Amphitheatre cases--mere police affairs." Well; let us consider Mr. Krüger's interpretation of the duties of the police. [Footnote 10: _Le Siècle,_ March 30th, 1900.] 2.--_The Police._ The chief of the departments of justice and police is called the State Attorney. In 1895, when Mr. Esselen was promoted to the post, he stipulated that he should have full liberty of action. As chief detective officer he appointed an officer belonging to the Cape Administration, Mr. Andrew Trimble, who entered upon his duties with vigour and determination. The gold thieves and receivers and the illicit canteen keepers who supplied the natives with liquor were up in arms at once and appealed to President Krüger. They represented Trimble as having served in the English Army, and as being in receipt of a pension from the Cape Government, further stating that his appointment was an insult to the Boers, who had been thus judged unworthy to provide from among themselves a Head of Police. Mr. Esselen, who stood his ground, was dismissed and replaced by a Hollander, Dr. Coster. Mr. Trimble, chief of the detective force, was replaced by a man who had previously been dismissed, and has since been dismissed again. As it was useless to depend upon the police for the arrest of thieves, the directors and officials of the _City and Suburban Gold Mining Company_ took upon themselves the risks and dangers of police work. They caught two notorious characters, known thieves, with gold in their possession. The thieves openly boasted that nothing would be done to them; the next day, one was allowed to escape, the other, a notorious criminal, was condemned to six months' imprisonment. Mr. Krüger regarded this penalty as excessive, remitted three-fourths of the sentence, and had him discharged unconditionally. The police of Johannesburg, a town almost entirely inhabited by English, do not speak English--an excellent method of ensuring order! They are chosen from among the worst types of Boers, some of whom are the descendants of English deserters and Kaffir women; whence comes the fact that some bear English names. The policeman Jones, who killed Edgar, is a case in point. The murder of Edgar was a small matter in the same way as the Dreyfus case was a small matter; only when a case of this nature arises, it reveals a condition of things so grave that it excites widespread feeling at once. Edgar was an English workman, a boilermaker, who had been a long time in Johannesburg; a well-conducted man and generally respected. He was going home, one Sunday night in 1898, when three drunken men insulted and set upon him. He knocked one of them down. The other two called the police. Edgar, meanwhile, entered his own house. Four policemen broke open his door, and the instant Edgar came out into the passage, Policeman Jones shot him dead with a revolver. "A mere police row," says Dr. Kuyper. Jones was arrested next morning, but straightway released upon a bail of £200. The money was not even paid in, but carried over to be deducted monthly from the future salaries of other members of the Johannesburg police force. Feeling was strong among the other English workmen, many of whom knew Edgar; and this feeling was intensified by the subsequent parody of justice. 3.--_An Ingenious Collusion._ The State Attorney, Mr. Smuts, informed the Acting British Agent, Mr. Fraser, that it would be better to bring a charge against Policeman Jones, for "culpable homicide" than for murder, but that he considered the chance of his conviction by a Boer jury to be very small. The word "culpable," says Webster (English Dictionary) is "applied to acts which have not the gravity of crime." In this instance, it made Jones' action excusable on the grounds that Edgar struck him with a stick, at the moment of his entering the house. A journalist, Mr. J.S. Dunn, Editor of _The Critic_, commented upon the action of Dr. Krause, the First Public Prosecutor. Dr. Krause took criminal action against Mr. Dunn for libel, and, before proceeding with the murder trial, appeared as witness in his own case, and swore that he did not consider that Jones had been guilty of murder; he not only made this statement on oath, but called the Second Public Prosecutor who gave similar evidence. Nor was this all. He brought forward the accused himself, as witness to state that the First Public Prosecutor was right in not committing him for murder! When this ghastly farce had been performed, which is much on a footing with the examination of Esterhazy by Pellieux, the murderer was free to present himself confidently before a Boer jury. Not only was he acquitted, but the presiding judge, Kock, who had claimed a judgeship as a "son of the soil," in pronouncing judgment added this little speech: "I hope that this verdict will show the police how to do their duty." This amiable conclusion did not seem very re-assuring to the Uitlanders. At the same time Mr. Krüger suppressed two newspapers, _The Critic_ and _The Star_. (See Blue Book C. 9, 345.) 4.--_The Lombaard Case._ Dr. Kuyper states that Edgar was in the wrong, that Jones acted within his rights, that the Public Prosecutor and the jury fulfilled their duty. As for Lombaard, "he too," Dr. Kuyper tells us, "was a Johannesburg policeman, and like Jones a little rough in his mode of action".... "He committed no outrage; the sole reproach attaching to him was that he conducted his search at night, and without a special warrant." And Dr. Kuyper is very contemptuous of any who may be disposed to question such proceedings. The truth is, that Lombaard, at the head of sixteen or eighteen police, had taken upon himself, without warrant, to enter the houses of coloured British subjects, men and women, to demand their passes; to send them to prison whether right or wrong; to ill-treat and flog them. A mere trifle; scarce worth talking about; they were only people of colour, and Dr. Kuyper has told us his ideas on that subject. The Edgar case was the origin of the petition of the 21,000 Uitlanders to the English Government, to ask the protection it had undertaken to extend to them under the Convention of 1884. The facts which I have given in _Le Siècle_ of the 29th March, and those I now give here, are sufficient to prove that under Mr. Krüger's Government, police, justice and law do not exist in the Transvaal. CHAPTER VII. SECURITY OF INDIVIDUALS ACCORDING TO BOER IDEAS.[11] 1.--_The Amphitheatre Case._ Dr. Kuyper proceeds with charming serenity: "The affair called the 'Amphitheatre Case' is more ridiculous still." And this is his mode of telling it:-- "One day the _South African League_ wished to hold a meeting in the Amphitheatre, and, through Mr. Wybergh, intimated to the State Attorney that they preferred not to be hampered by the presence of the police. In conformity with this wish, the State Attorney telegraphed to the Johannesburg police to keep away. But scarcely had the meeting commenced before the opponents of the League invaded the hall; and the few police stationed at the door were unable to separate the combatants quickly enough. There followed complaints to London ..." This is Dr. Kuyper's account. I would ask him, in the first place, why he does not give the date of this meeting, which took place on the 14th of January, 1899, one month after the death of Edgar. Secondly, what was the object of this meeting? Dr. Kuyper is silent on these points. He speaks of the step taken by Mr. Wybergh, but he altogether misrepresents it, forgetting that Mr. Wybergh has given his own account of it. In the serious condition of affairs in Johannesburg at that time, he went to the State Attorney and the Secretary of State, to acquaint them with his intention to hold a meeting in a large building, called the Amphitheatre, generally used as a circus. He informed them that the meeting was convened for three objects: 1. To protest against the arrest of Messrs. T.R. Dodd and C.D. Webb; 2. To protest against the law of public meetings; 3. To obtain signatures to a petition praying for the protection of Queen Victoria. The State Attorney and Secretary of State replied that "although the objects of this meeting were naturally distasteful to the Transvaal Government, they did not forbid the meeting. Only, all persons who should commit acts of violence, or who should make use of seditious language, would be held personally responsible." Ladies were invited to attend the meeting, which was held at four o'clock in the afternoon. The members of the League were unarmed. When they arrived, they found the hall already in possession of three or four hundred burghers, who had been recruited by Papenfus, Acting Road Inspector, and were acting under the orders of Mr. Broeksma, Third Public Prosecutor, and Mr. de Villiers, Second Public Prosecutor. These men were placed in groups about the Amphitheatre. No sooner had the meeting begun, than, on a signal given by Mr. Broeksma, chairs were broken, and, under the orders of Sergeant Smith, of the municipal police, of Erasmus, of the special police, Lieutenants Murphy and Keller of the secret police, and, with the assistance of policemen in uniform, they commenced an assault upon the members. Lieutenant Posthuysen, on horseback in the arena, encouraged the rioters. Nothing could show Dr. Kuyper's manner of stating and interpreting facts better than the following sentence:-- "It was simply a matter of the careful protection of British subjects, or rather of the worthy apostles of Johannesburg, who had begun by saying to the magistrates of the Transvaal 'keep away your police!' and who, later, crawling back from this meeting, after being well thrashed, complained bitterly that the police had not protected them." Dr. Kuyper seems to think it highly amusing that the "worthy apostles of Johannesburg had been well thrashed." When we find a European Dutchman, a man of letters, showing such animus in the examination of facts, one may judge of what the Boers are capable, ignorant and rough as they are, and inflated with the conviction that they are the elect people. [Footnote 11: _Le Siècle_, March 31st, 1900.] 2.--_Different modes of estimating bail._ We have seen that one of the objects of the meeting had been to protest against the arrests of Messrs. Dodd and Webb. These two gentlemen had been arrested as the organisers of an illegal meeting in the public market square, a public place, where no speeches had been made, but where the petition to the Queen had been openly read, before they had taken it to the British Vice-Consul. To obtain their release they had each to find sureties of £1,000, while Jones, Edgar's murderer, had been set at liberty on bail being found for £200 unpaid. 3.--_The Uitlanders' Petition._ These proceedings only resulted in more signatures to the petition addressed to the Queen. When Sir Alfred Milner, March 28th, 1899, forwarded a copy to Mr. Chamberlain it contained 21,684 signatures. Sir Alfred Milner did not undertake to guarantee the authenticity of them all, but gave reasons for considering the greater number as _bonâ fide_. Mr. Wybergh in a letter of April 10th, to the British Vice-Consul, explains the measures that had been taken to collect and verify the signatures. They were such as to inspire confidence. He states that among the whole number, only 700 are of illiterate or coloured people; and adds, that after the dispatch of the petition 1,300 other signatures were sent in, thus raising the total to 23,000. The Government of Pretoria, after a lapse of more than a month succeeded in raising a counter-petition addressed to itself, which, at first, it stated, contained 9,000 signatures; some time later, on the 30th of May, the British Government was informed that it numbered 23,000 signatures. Krüger wished to prove that he had at least the same number of partisans. Only he had out-witted himself in the drawing up of this counter-petition. His signatories affirmed that security of property and individuals was assured in the Transvaal. Pangloss, himself, would not have gone so far. 4.--_Security of the Individual according to Boer ideas._ Krüger's petitioners further asserted that the petition to the Queen was "the work of capitalists and not of the public." As a matter of fact, incensed at the murder of Edgar--a working man--the men who were the first to sign that petition were working men. The principal mining company of Johannesburg had shown an example of that prudence we see too often among capitalists, and had dismissed Mr. Wybergh, the President of the _South African League_, who was one of their employés. The President of the Chamber of Mines, Mr. Rouliot, in his statement of January 26th, 1899, took pains to dissociate it from the campaign of agitation. This display of weakness availed nothing. The Government of Pretoria took up the attitude that has succeeded so well in deceiving public opinion: that of a council composed of honest men, innocent victims of capitalist rapacity. 5.--_The Murder of Mrs. Appelbe._ Here is a proof of the security enjoyed by the Uitlanders, at the very time when the Government of Pretoria closed its list of signatures to the counter-petition. On Friday April 28th, Mrs. Appelbe, the wife of a Wesleyan minister of Johannesburg, was going to chapel accompanied by a Mr. Wilson, a chemist. They were set upon by a band of men in the pay, it is said, of canteen keepers, sellers of liquor to the natives. Mrs. Appelbe received such severe injuries that she died on the Thursday following. Mr. Wilson, who was badly wounded in the head, eventually recovered. On May 8th, the police affected to know nothing of the outrage; nor did they ever discover the murderers of Mrs. Appelbe, thus proving the grand irony of the apologist petition which "emphatically" affirmed the complete security of life and property in the Transvaal. CHAPTER VIII. BOER OLIGARCHY. Dr. Kuyper, who has juggled with these facts, enumerates with a sort of amazed frankness the reproaches addressed to the Transvaal Government: The relations between legislative and judicial authority give rise to comments which cannot be considered groundless.... It has been called scandalous that the Chief Justice of the High Court should have been deposed. But, in 1839, President Johnson, of the United States, met the difficulty by making a majority of nine in the High Court, thus assuring to himself a compliant majority. There is a mis-print in the Article in the _Revue de Deux Mondes_. The date should be 1869 not 1839; and truly Dr. Kuyper has lighted upon a good example in his selection of President Johnson; the only President of the United States who has been impeached! I know that sort of argument generally employed by people who are in the wrong and especially employed by people whom Dr. Kuyper can scarcely bring forward as models. "All very well, but what of that little slip of yours." ... Dr. Kuyper might as reasonably invoke _la loi de dessaisissement_ voted by the French Chamber last year. Our answer to him is that the violation of the most elementary principles of justice in one country, does not justify it in another. He proceeds: "The Boer Government is said to be an oligarchy. And yet every citizen has his vote--Throughout the land there are juries...." Really Dr. Kuyper affects too great _naïveté_. The Boers may have created a democracy among themselves; with regard to natives and Uitlanders they are an oligarchy. "Every citizen has his vote": But Mr. Krüger's argument for refusing the franchise to Uitlanders is that they numbered 70,000, while the Burghers were only 30,000. Here we have a minority governing the majority; what else is an oligarchy? "Throughout the land there are juries"; yes, but juries made up of Boers who try Uitlanders, treat them as enemies, and find that the policeman Jones acted rightly in killing Edgar. That way of constituting a jury is a certainty of injustice to the Uitlanders, and not a guarantee of justice. President Krüger promised to do something for the municipal organisation of Johannesburg; this is how he keeps his promise. Each division of that town elects two members, a Burgher and an Uitlander; according to the last census, the burghers living in Johannesburg, numbered 1,039; the Uitlanders 23,503; thus 1,039 burghers had as many representatives in the municipal Corporation as the 23,503 Uitlanders. The Mayor, who was nominated by the Government, had the right of absolute veto. In modern law there exists a principle introduced by England, which is the true basis of representative Government: "no representation, no taxation." It is the right of every citizen who contributes to the taxes to approve of them and to control the use of them. In autocratic governments, he has no such right. In oligarchic governments, the governing class imposes burdens upon those it governs. This is the case in the Transvaal. In an oligarchy, taxes are not levied with a view to the general good of the community, but for the benefit of the ruling class; and this is the political conception of the Boers. Dr. Kuyper says, in speaking of the Uitlanders: "No one invited them here; they came of their own accord." Therefore they possess the right to be taxed, but nothing else. Dr. Kuyper's assertion is not strictly correct; for he forgets the invitation addressed by Mr. Krüger, in London in 1884, to all who were willing to take their abilities and their capital to the Transvaal, in which he promised them rights of citizenship and assured them of his protection. But the matter of invitation is of little account. Let us allow that there was no invitation. Neither did Fra Diavolo invite the travellers he despoiled; _ergo._, according to Dr. Kuyper, he had the right to despoil them. The Uitlanders are travellers, at whose expense the government of Pretoria has the right to live, and to support the Boers. Such is plainly the idea of Mr. Krüger and of the majority of the 29 members of the Volksraad, and we shall see that that idea underlies the whole of its political economy. Mr. Krüger was, however, in error in supposing that he could practise this system indefinitely in these times of ours, and with respect to the citizens of a country which represents the modern conception of industrial civilization. Professor Bryce, a strong opponent of the present policy of England, says in his _Impressions of South Africa_ (p. 470): "A country must after all take its character from the large majority of its inhabitants, especially when those who form that majority are the wealthiest, most educated, and most enterprising part of the population." Mr. Krüger has aimed at realizing this paradox: the oppression and plunder of the most enterprising, most educated, the richest and most numerous portion of the population by the poorest, most ignorant, most indolent of minorities. CHAPTER IX. THE TRUTH ABOUT THE GOLD MINES.[12] 1.--_That Gold is Mine!_ Let us see in what terms Dr. Kuyper justifies the Boer policy of exaction: "The Leonards and their set are very ready to tell us that the taxes in Johannesburg exceed in proportion those levied in every other country.... As to the quota paid by Uitlanders to the State, we beg leave to remind the British of two points: first, that they are exempt from all military service; secondly, that it is a far more serious matter for the Boers to pay with their lives, and the lives of their sons, than it is for these wealthy owners of gold mines to pay so much per cent. upon their enormous dividends; and that if they do pay the Transvaal some thousands of pounds, they pocket their millions. Moreover, love for the Transvaal has never entered their metallised hearts." This little gem merits careful analysis. Mr. Kuyper shares the belief that one has only to go to Johannesburg to shovel in the gold. If the working of mines were so simple a matter, Boer intelligence would be equal to the undertaking. As they are not worked by them, it must be because there are difficulties. These difficulties have been overcome for them by the Uitlanders. Once overcome, the Boers present themselves and say: "That gold is mine!" "Why then did you not take it yourselves?" The Boers, who pride themselves upon driving their teams of oxen, but who consider that to in-span them is work only fit for Kaffirs, consider gold mining beneath them, let alone that they have not the capacity for it. They leave it to the Uitlanders: all the same, Dr. Kuyper holds it just that it is they who should take the profit. [Footnote 12: _Le Siècle_, 3rd April, 1900.] 2.--_The Proportion of Gold per Ton._ Gold ore is found in infinitesimal quantities in large deposits of waste matter. In 1898 of the 77 Gold Mining Companies at work, three-fourths reported a yield of 1/2 oz. per ton; some only 6 to 7 dwts. per ton. Consequently we find mines worked where one ton of rock will yield 1/2 oz. of ore, or perhaps only half as much. There are other mines which swallow up the capital, and give no return at all. 3.--_Cost of Production._ In 1892 gold producing in the Transvaal cost 35s. 6d. per ton; in 1897 the cost was reduced to 28s. 6d.; in 1898 to 27s. 6d. This reduction of cost is in no way due to any reforms made by the Government, but to improvements in the methods employed, and especially to the more extensive use of compressed air drills. Out of 8,965,960 tons of ore raised in the Witwatersrand nearly 18.2 per cent. had to be thrown out; that is: about 1,634,500 tons of ore were rejected as sterile. In some cases the proportion of sterile ore has amounted to as much as 40 per cent. The cost of production from the deep levels is 34s. 6d. Out of the profits of each month, expenses and the cost of working material have to be met. (Speech of Mr. Rouliot, President of _The Chamber of Mines_, January 26th, 1899.)[13] Mr. J.H. Curle in his valuable work _The Gold Mines of the World_, published in 1899, estimated the debts of the Rand Companies at £5,515,000. "It is not unusual," he writes, "for the directors of a deep level mine to spend £500,000 before one single ton has been crushed." [Footnote 13: See the _Revue Sud-Africaine_ (Paris), February 26th, 1899.] 4.--_A Gold Mine is an Industrial Undertaking._ According to the report of the Industrial Commission appointed to inquire into the mining industry, there were, in 1896, 183 gold mines in the Transvaal. Of these 79 had been gold-producing, while 104, still in process of development, had as yet produced nothing. Of the 183 only 25 had paid dividends. In 1898, a year of great progress, of the 156 mines situated in the Rand, 40 only were paying dividends, representing, on an average, a return of 8.7 per cent. In reality, a gold mine is as entirely an industrial undertaking, as is any other form of commerce; for its proper development it requires men of the highest capacity, not a mere set of adventurers, as Dr. Kuyper and other Pro-Boers tell the simpletons who judge without examining facts. This is what is said on the subject by Mr. Curle, who saw the mines at work during his extended and conscientious enquiry: "The average mine manager, whether in South Africa, or India, or Australia, or wherever I have met him, is an extremely capable man. Of course, there are exceptions--some managers are not capable; some are not even honest, but, as a rule, those in actual charge of our gold mines to-day are men who can be relied on, but I do not wish to confine my praise to the managers only. The mine captain, whose valuable qualities are known more to the manager than to outsiders, is usually a most capable man, and devoted to his work. Many and many a time, after his hard day's work should have been over, has a mine captain cheerfully started off with me on a three or four hours inspection of his workings, only too delighted to oblige, and asking merely that his visitor should show an intelligent interest in what he saw. To these men, and to the other heads of departments, to battery managers, cyanide works managers, assayers, samplers, surveyors, office staff; the shareholders in every mine owe a debt which they do not realise and which is often inadequately acknowledged. Amongst these men--I could give hundreds of examples--there is the greatest sense of duty to their employers, and from one year's end to another, by day and night, in the bush, on mountain tops, in fever swamps, in wild and deep places all over the world, they faithfully carry through their arduous work." Such is the type of Uitlander the gold mines have attracted; add to them, mechanics and the most highly skilled artisans: for it is to the interest of the mines which pay high salaries to employ the most skilled labour. A population such as this, has nothing in common with the adventurers who rushed to the placers of California, or with the fancy picture of the "wealthy metal-hearted mine owners," presented to us by Dr. Kuyper. 5.--_Distribution of the Gold Production._ Dr. Kuyper speaks of "the vultures" who come to rob the country of its gold; we would point out to him that before gold can be extracted from the rock, a vast amount must be sunk in it. We have just seen that the cost of production often exceeds the profits. Dr. Kuyper, in his childish innocence, imagines that "the vultures" carry off the gold as soon as it is extracted. Had he taken the trouble to ascertain the facts, he would have seen that the greater part of this gold remains in the Transvaal, and either goes to the Government, or to defray the cost of production. I borrow the following figures from the supplement to _The Critic_ of July 8th, 1899. Let us take the last five years:-- Gross Profits. Dividend to Paid to Boer Shareholders. Government. 1894 £7,930,481 £1,595,963 £2,247,728 1895 8,768,942 2,329,941 2,923,648 1896 8,742,811 1,918,631 3,912,095 1897 11,514,016 2,923,574 3,956,402 1898 15,942,573 4,999,489 3,329,958 ----------- ----------- ----------- £52,898,823 £13,767,598 £16,370,387 =========== =========== =========== Thus upon £52,898,823 worth of gold produced between the years 1894 and 1898 only 25 per cent. of this amount went to the shareholders, 30 per cent. was paid to the Transvaal Government, while the cost of production absorbed 45 per cent. The two last figures show that about 75 per cent., that is to say, three-quarters of the entire production remained in the Transvaal; and we have only taken the average of the last few years, during which the cost of production has been reduced to a minimum, thanks to the perfecting of the methods of working. Let us add that while according to the above table in 1898 the estimate of the revenue was £3,329,000, the expenditure rose to £3,476,000. In 1899, the estimate of the revenue was £4,087,000. From 1894-97 the amount paid directly into the Transvaal Exchequer had exceeded the shareholders' dividends; and when the reverse happened in 1898, the Government of Pretoria determined to put that matter right. 6.--_Cost of Production and the Transvaal._ Dr. Kuyper also complained that the entire cost of production was not absorbed by the Transvaal. In his statement of January 26th 1899, Mr. Rouliot proved that the greater portion was in point of fact expended there. He gave the following figures concerning the expenditure of fifty-six companies in 1898. The mines had only imported direct to the amount of £369,000, paid for machinery, which could only be constructed in Europe, and for Cyanide, to avoid having to buy the latter from a local trust, which raised the price 100 per cent. Through local firms they had imported machinery and certain products to the amount of £324,438. From local merchants they had bought machinery, &c., to the amount of £2,487,660. They had paid £767,600 to the Dynamite Monopoly. They had distributed £3,329,000 in salaries to their employés, native or European. If we take it that the expenditure of the sixty other Mining Companies, gold or coal, in the vicinity of Johannesburg, was similar to the above, we have a total of something like nine million pounds sterling put in circulation, _plus_ purchases of dynamite, _plus_ merchandise bought through the medium of local tradespeople. Thus we see that the bulk of the cost of production actually remained in the Transvaal. 7.--_What the "Vultures" brought._ Before Dr. Kuyper's "vultures" came to despoil it, the Transvaal was in a very shaky condition. It was heavily in debt and the Exchequer was empty; the Boer having always had a horror of paying his taxes. In 1884 when Messrs. Krüger and Smits came to London to sign the famous Convention, and stayed at the Albemarle Hotel, they found themselves, after the first few weeks unable to pay their bill, and Baron Grant had to come to their assistance. Now the "vultures" have been pouring some millions annually into the coffers of the Transvaal; a certain proportion of which has stuck to the fingers of Mr. Krüger, his family and intimates. The "vultures" have brought riches, industry, and civilisation into a wild and uncivilised country. The simile of the bird of prey is more applicable to the Boer than to the Uitlander. CHAPTER X. FINANCIAL POLICY OF THE BOERS[14] 1.--_Receipt of the Boer Exchequer._ Like every true aristocrat, the Boer has always had a horror of paying taxes; he only approves of taxes paid by others. At the time of the annexation of the Transvaal by England in 1877, the Government was being crushed by debt, the burghers resolutely refusing to pay their taxes. Some order was brought into the finances by England; but the Boer revolt in December, 1880, was caused by the determination of Colonel Owen Lanyon, the English Resident, to seize the bullocks and wagons of recalcitrant tax-payers. The Transvaal Government obtained the Convention of 1881. In 1883, the budget showed £143,000 revenue, and £184,000 expenditure. From April 1st, 1884, to March 31st, 1885, the revenue rose to £161,000, the expenditure remained at £184,000. In 1886, the gold mines were discovered, and in 1889, the revenue rose to £1,577,000. The crisis of 1890 caused it to drop below the million; in 1892 it rose again, reaching in:-- 1894 £2,247,728 1895 2,923,648 1896 3,912,095 1897 3,956,402 1898 3,329,958 In 1899, it was estimated at £4,087,000. These figures do not include the sale of explosives from 1895 to 1898; the share of licences of claims from 1895 to 1899; nor the Delagoa Bay customs dues paid to the Netherlands Railway for 1898 and 1899. [Footnote 14: _Le Siècle_, April 4th, 1900.] 2.--_Budget Assessment of the Burghers._ According to the _Staats Almanak_, the white population numbers 300,000, of whom 175,000 are males. The number of burghers aged between sixteen and sixty, entitled to vote, is 29,447; that of Uitlanders, between the same ages, 81,000. These 30,000 Boers who represent the electoral portion of the community, do not pay one-tenth of the revenue of the state. They represent, however, a budget of over four millions of pounds; or, £133 per head. If our 10,800,000 electors in France had a proportionate budget at their disposal, it would amount annually to £1,436,400,000; or considerably more than our whole National Debt. The burghers are thus fund-holders in receipt, per head, of a yearly income of £133 from the Uitlanders. Never has there been an oligarchy so favoured. It is true that all do not profit in the same proportion. "The Transvaal Republic" says a Dutchman, Mr. C. Hutten, "is administered in the interests of a clique of some three dozen families."[15] [Footnote 15: _The Doom of the Boer Oligarchies_. (_North American Review_, March, 1900.)] 3.--_Salaries of Boer Officials._ The salaries of the Transvaal officials amounted, in 1886, to £51,831; in 1898, to £1,080,382; and in 1899, they were estimated at £1,216,394. Salaries amounting to £1,216,394 for 30,000 electors! Such are the figures of the Transvaal Budget. Here we find undoubtedly a great superiority over other countries; and the officials in receipt of such salaries would look down with profoundest contempt on the much more modest pay of their European colleagues if they knew anything about them. Each elector represents more than £40 of official salaries. At the same rate the pay of the French Government officials would amount annually to about four hundred and thirty-two millions pounds sterling (£432,000,000)! This is not all. In 1897, a member of the Volksraad asked what had become of some £2,400,000 which had been paid over to Transvaal officials, in the form of advances of salary. He received no reply. 4.--_The Debit Side of the Boer Budget._ In a pamphlet, by M. Edouard Naville, _La Question du Transvaal_, and also in the _Revue Sud-Africaine_ of October 22nd, 1899, we find a list showing the expenditure of the Pretoria Government, from which may be gathered the extraordinarily rapid rate of increase: In the fourteen years--1886-99--the budget expenditure amounted to £37,031,000, of which nine-tenths have been defrayed by the gold industry. From information supplied by the Government of Pretoria itself, we find that five sources have absorbed more than half:-- Salaries, &c. £7,003,898 Military expenditure 2,236,942 Special expenditure 2,287,559 Sundry services 1,581,042 Public works 5,809,996 ----------- £18,919,437 ----------- Leaving a surplus of £18,111,601 =========== Under the headings of "special," and "sundry services," are concealed the secret service expenditure, remuneration to influential electors, and the various political expedients by which Mr. Krüger has proved "his intellectual and moral" superiority. The official salaries of 1899, estimated at £1,216,000, included a sum of £326,640 for the police. We have seen what kind of police it is. The legislature is composed of two Volksraads, each consisting of twenty-nine members; or fifty-eight in all. Now the estimate of salaries for the legislature is £43,960, or about £758 each, more than double the allowances of the French senators and deputies. It is somewhat imprudent of Dr. Kuyper to refer to the educational expenditure. The expenditure amount allocated for the education of the children of Uitlanders in 1896, was £650, or at the rate 1s. 10d. per head, while the gross estimate for education in the budget for that year amounted to £63,000, which works thus out at a cost of £8 6s. 1d. per head for the Boer children. Dr. Mansveldt, Head of the Education Department of the Transvaal, a Hollander, seems to have but one aim: to enforce the use of the _taal_, the Boer patois--a language spoken by no one else--the use of which keeps them in isolated ignorance. The English language is banned. 5.--_New Taxes._ This revenue, employed almost exclusively for the benefit of the Boers, did not suffice for the insatiable government in Pretoria. At a meeting of the Chamber of Mines, on November 21st, 1898, Mr. Rouliot summarized a statement by Mr. Krüger in the Raad, as follows:-- "But recently, Mr. Krüger had said he would give the mines the chance of establishing themselves before a percentage should be imposed upon their returns; and that no tax would be levied till the diggings had been completed, and the machinery set up. It appeared to him, however, that the government intended to appropriate some of their profits, although it had given no facilities for the preparatory works on the mines, during which it should be remembered that their capital had been burdened by exceptionally heavy indirect taxation. The moment that capital began to be productive, it was to be taxed." (_Blue Book_, No. 9345, p. 48.) In four-and-twenty hours, Mr. Krüger had unexpectedly managed to pass a law levying a new tax of 2-1/2 per cent. of the gross production from mynpachts (mining leases), and 5 per cent. from the gross production of other mines. In his report of January 26th, 1899, Mr. Rouliot says: "Had this new tax formed part of a general scheme for the readjustment of taxation, it might have been defended, but those who are considered best qualified to express the views of the government, content themselves by saying that it has the right to take a share of the profits realised by the mines and add that this tax is only a beginning." 6.--_Attempt to Raise a Loan._ Not content with increasing taxation, the government now wished to raise a loan. The attempt failed. The Government of Pretoria blamed the mining companies for the failure. Mr. Rouliot said, on January 26th: "It is true that the companies did not actually support the government in its efforts;" but he added:-- "Neither the Chamber of Mines, nor, to my knowledge, anyone directly, or indirectly, connected with mining interests did anything to embarass the government in its financial negotiations. It is useless to abstain from plain speaking; on the contrary, I hold it to be my duty to be frank and to state to the government that if it failed in its negotiations, it is due to its bad financial policy; to its want of an efficient system of audit; to its costly and terribly wasteful administration; to the want of precise information as to the object of the loan, and the manner in which it was to be expended." In fine, Law I. of 1897, and the fantastic method of legislation adopted by the Volksraad, show that the Government of Pretoria offers no better guarantee to people dealing with it than did the Grand Turk, some fifty years ago. 7.--_Fleecing the Uitlanders!_ Taxation, to the Boer, means getting all he can out of the Uitlander, the old characteristic of all oligarchies. The Boer may cheerfully augment both the taxes and his expenditure. It is not he who will suffer. I admire the Frenchmen, Belgians, Swiss, &c., who pretend that the Uitlanders are a bad lot for not being delighted with such a government. CHAPTER XI. MONOPOLIES IN THE TRANSVAAL AND THE NETHERLANDS RAILWAY COMPANY.[16] 1.--_Article XIV. and the Monopolies._ The avowed taxes are far from representing the whole of the burden laid upon the Uitlanders by the Government of Pretoria. The Convention of 1881 guaranteed freedom of commerce; nevertheless, from 1882 onwards "the triumvirate who ruled the country," says Mr. FitzPatrick (_The Transvaal from Within_), "granted numbers of concessions, ostensibly for the purpose of opening up industries. The real reasons are generally considered to have been personal." In 1884, Article XIV. renewed the guarantee of freedom of commerce; the Volksraad itself one day passed a resolution condemning monopolies in principle: and in December 1895 the President granted a monopoly for the importation of products, under the guise of a government agency with a commission to the agent! One of the first monopolies established was for the manufacture of spirits. The quality of liquor it supplies to the natives is atrocious. To drunkenness is attributed a loss of 15 per cent. on the labour of 90,000 natives whose pay and food are equivalent to £40 per head, a loss therefore of £550,000 a year. [Footnote 16: _Le Siècle_, April 5th, 1900.] 2.--_The Dynamite Monopoly._ Two despatches, one from Mr. Chamberlain, dated January 13th, 1899, and the other from the Transvaal Government, dated March 9th, 1899, indicate how Mr. Krüger always meant to interpret Article XIV. of the Convention of 1884: On October 13th, 1893, the Transvaal Government granted a monopoly of the dynamite trade to Mr. L.G. Vorstman for a period of 15 years. The price of No. 1 dynamite was fixed at £4 15s. per case, of which 5s. was to be paid to the Government. The Transvaal Government maintains that this monopoly does not violate the freedom of labour, as it was established in the interest of the State, not in that of the concessionaires, and that the manufacture of dynamite is forbidden to the Boers as much as it is to foreigners. Mr. Chamberlain in his despatch denies that the dynamite monopoly has been established in the interest of the State; and points out that even according to General Joubert, Vice-President of the Republic, this is really not a State monopoly but the monopoly of one, Lippert, because it is he who has derived the greatest profits from it. The monopoly company has always failed to fulfil its engagements; the installation was to be completed in two-and-a-half years: in October, 1896, the company was only able to produce 80,000 cases, the consumption at that time amounting to 200,000. The commission of the Volksraad estimated that between 1897 and 1899 it would be necessary to import 430,000 cases in addition to the quantity produced by the company. It is more to the company's interest to import than to manufacture, since importation affords a profit of £2 per case, and to the State a duty of 5s. Were dynamite imported by the State itself, the latter would realise about £860,000 instead of, as at present, £107,500, making a difference of at least about £752,500. The price at which dynamite is sold is from 40s. to 45s. above its real value, from which excessive charge only certain individuals, living for the greater part in Europe, derive the benefit. This fact is attested, not by the English, but by Mr. Philipp, State Director of the Manufacture of Explosives. The Commission demanded that all dynamite should be manufactured by the State, and imposed a duty of 20s. per case on all imported dynamite. These resolutions were passed by the Volksraad Commission in 1897; the monopoly has continued to exist, and in 1899 it was proposed to prolong it for a period of fifteen years. On May 1st, 1898, it is true, the price was reduced by 10s.; the company giving up 5s., and the State renouncing the whole of the 5s. duty. It had therefore no interest in maintaining the monopoly; 2s. of the net profits were still payable to it, it is true; but there are no public accounts. By way of compensation new taxes were imposed by the Government. Mr. Rouliot, President of the Chamber of Mines, in his speech, January 26th, 1899, put it thus:-- "It is a burden borne by us on another shoulder, not a lightening of the burden." Allowing for the increased consumption of dynamite, it has been estimated that, even with a further reduction of 5s. per case, the annual burden imposed upon the industry by the monopoly would, at the end of the period, amount to from £687,500 to £825,000. The Transvaal Government in its reply of March 9th, 1899, did not dispute these figures, but stated simply that, "the government had the right to judge what was most advantageous to itself." The complaints of the British Government on behalf of the mining industry of the Transvaal, were founded solely upon the statement of the Volksraad Commission itself. This mania of the Government for a monopoly by which the shareholders profit greatly and the State hardly at all, proves that there are other interests at stake than those of the public. At its meeting on February 3rd, 1899, the Witwatersrand Chamber of Mines decided to guarantee a Government loan of £600,000 at 5 per cent., to be applied in buying-out the concessionaires of the dynamite monopoly. 3.--_Railways._ A concession for all the State railways was granted on April 16th, 1884, to a group of Hollander and German capitalists, and confirmed by the Volksraad on August 23rd following. In 1887 the shares, to the number of 2,000, representing a capital of £166,666, were held as follows:-- By Germans 819 shares carrying 30 votes. " Hollanders 581 " " 76 " " The Republic 600 " " 6 " This astonishing division of votes which gave to the Transvaal Government 6 out of 112, although it subscribed one-third of the capital, and assured to the Hollanders twice as many votes as the other holders put together, although they only provided one-third of the capital, was the work of Dr. Leyds. The contract for the construction of the first 70 miles is not less surprising. Messrs. Van Hattum & Co. were to build the line, at a cost mutually to be agreed upon by them and the railway company; and they were to receive as remuneration 11 per cent. upon the amount of the specification. The 11 per cent. was to be proportionately decreased by a sliding scale so arranged that it disappeared by the time Van Hattum & Co. had exceeded the contract price by 100 per cent. Beyond that the company had the right to cancel the contract. From this it follows, that, by deciding to lose the 11 per cent., Messrs. Van Hattum could make a gain of 89 per cent. This they did, and whole sections of earthworks, which should not have cost £8,000 per mile, cost £23,000 instead. A thousand Hollanders were brought out to work on the line; and sent home again at the expense of the Government. In a country which abounded in stone, the Komati Bridge was built of dressed stone imported from Holland, with the cost of a transit of 7,000 miles. 4.--_The Drift Question._ The Cape Colony Free State Railway ends at the Vaal River, 50 miles from Johannesburg. Thence goods are transmitted by the Netherlands Railway at a charge of 8-1/2d. per ton per mile, the rate being 3d. over the rest of the line. In order to escape this rate manufacturers resorted to the use of ox-wagons; Mr. Krüger forbade them the drifts in order to compel the transit of goods by railway. This was another flagrant violation of Article 14 of the Convention of 1884, which called forth the intervention of Mr. Chamberlain. The indignation at the Cape was so great, that Mr. Chamberlain having asked the Cape Government, whether, in the event of war resulting, it would pay half the cost, and undertake the transport of the troops by the railways, the proposal was accepted by an Afrikander minister! Mr. Krüger yielded and re-opened the drifts. 5.--_Methods of Exaction._ A reduction of £100,000 was made on the railway tariffs; but in July, 1897, the duties on corn and food-stuffs were increased by £200,000. At the end of 1898, a certain number of these were lessened, but not that on flour. A comparison of the list of duties between 1897 and the end of 1898 shows that they were increased on twenty-eight products, and decreased on four. Coal travelling a distance of 25-1/2 miles, the charge made by the Netherlands Railway Co. is 4s. 5d., which is 8-1/2d. per ton per mile; while the Free State Railway only charges 5-3/4d. and the Natal line 3d. The Company collects the customs dues for account of the State, as security for the payment of interest on their shares and debentures. Dr. Kuyper is quite willing to admit that the "financial administration leaves something to be desired," but he adds that, "while at the Cape the taxes on produce are at the rate of 15 per cent., in the Transvaal they are only 10 per cent." But it is easy to see how, by means of railway tariffs and various combinations, due to the cunning of Mr. Krüger and his Hollander friends, it has been possible to enhance prices of every description. CHAPTER XII. "CAPITALIST INTRIGUES" AND THE WAR.[17] 1.--_A War of Capitalists._ "It is a war of capitalists against a set of poor Boers who have no sort of interest in the dispute!" Such is the general cry. Let us look at the facts. The other day, anent the attempt upon the Prince of Wales, I referred to the anarchist and socialistic attacks of certain Pro-Boer and Anglophobe journals on capitalists, financiers, and the wealthy "metal-hearted mine-owners," as Dr. Kuyper calls them. I reminded my readers that Professor Bryce himself treats as absurd the tale that the aim of the Jameson Raid, as stated by those papers, was the conquest of the Transvaal for Rhodesia. I shall now show by documentary evidence that the war did not break out through any action on the part of gold-mine proprietors. In the first place, the greater number of these proprietors reside in Europe; and as much in France, Germany and Belgium, as in England. Their representatives in the Transvaal may hold more or less important interests in those mines, but they are imbued with a full sense of their responsibilities. Now, commercial men never seek to bring about a political crisis unnecessarily; they invariably endeavour to avoid one. If they resign themselves to such a course, it is only as a last resource. The truth of these general assertions is verified in the case in point by two documents which have not been fabricated after the events. They are the reports of the Chamber of Mines, published by Mr. Rouliot, in January 1898, and January 1899.[18] [Footnote 17: _Le Siècle_, April 7th, 1900.] [Footnote 18: Published in the _Revue Sud-Africaine_ (Paris).] 2.--_A Local Board._ The report made by Mr. Rouliot to the Chamber of Mines on January 20th, 1898, refers to the burdens imposed upon the gold industry by the faulty administration of the Transvaal. It shows how the Volksraad contemptuously rejected, in 1897, a petition signed by more than ten thousand inhabitants of all nationalities and all professions. It declares that "the Chamber of Mines has no desire to interfere in the conduct of general affairs in the Transvaal"; it recalls the fact that the Commission of Enquiry nominated after the Crisis of 1896, had recommended the constitution of a "Local Board" which President Krüger had contemptuously rejected; and goes on to say:-- "It is nonsense to affirm that the creation of such a Board would have made a government within a government, and would have threatened the independence of the State. At the time that we made the proposal, we sincerely trusted that what had happened might be buried in oblivion and that we might dwell together in amity. We had hoped that the burghers would have recognised that want of experience, and their education would have made them unfitted for dealing with the most difficult problems that could face a young nation, and that they would have seen the necessity of calling men to their aid who could give them the benefit of their experience, and help them to ensure sound conditions for the State and its industrial development. Unfortunately, we have been deceived in our hopes...." That is all; save that Mr. Rouliot alludes cursorily to the fact that the government had endeavoured to found a Chamber of Mines in opposition to the old one, but that an amalgamation had taken place; he, consequently, was speaking in the name of the entire industry. 3.--_A Deliberative Council._ In the course of the year 1898, Mr. Krüger's policy became more and more provocative. The Chamber of Mines confined itself to the request for the appointment of a deliberative council, to be composed of members nominated by the government, the powers of which should be limited to the application of the laws concerning gold-theft, the sale of spirituous liquors, and the "pass-law" concerning native labourers. At a meeting of the Volksraad, June, 1898, the sub-committee appointed to enquire into this modest request, decided to recommend its rejection. Mr. A.D. Wolmarans said that "the council would be the means of placing over the heads of the agents of the State, a commission whose members were not in possession of the franchise; and that the Volksraad would practically be adopting the proposition of home rule, and autonomy, put forward by Mr. Chamberlain in 1896." On September 12th, the question was revived. A member of the Volksraad, named Lombaard, said that: "Johannesburg would never be satisfied until it had a little government of its own"; and that, as for the sale of liquor, as far as he was concerned, he saw no reason why Kaffirs should not drink themselves to death, if such was their taste. The request was rejected by 14 votes to six. Four-and-twenty hours later the government passed a measure for an additional tax upon mining profits; then the Lombaard and Edgar cases occurred. The Chamber of Mines remained calm, notwithstanding. 4.--_Timidity of the Chamber of Mines._ In his report of January 26th, 1899, Mr. Rouliot seems to have but one aim, and that is to dissociate the Chamber of Mines completely from the agitation excited among the English workmen by the murder of their comrade, Edgar, at the hands of policeman Jones. I quote his words:-- "The Chamber of Mines has never taken part in any political agitation, nor has it encouraged or organised demonstrations of a political nature. We take our stand solely upon an economic basis, endeavouring by constitutional means the alleviation of our burdens, and offering our advice upon questions that affect the State, equally with an industry, our thorough knowledge of which is undeniable. We ask neither for concessions, nor for monopoly. All that we ask is fair treatment for our business and our shareholders. I may here express my disappointment at seeing that all our efforts to bring about good feeling and union between ourselves and the executive, meet with nothing but contempt on the part of the latter." He then goes on to allude to Hollander officials; and possibly, to certain members of the diplomatic body:-- "Those act in bad faith who unceasingly encourage the executive of this country in their retrograde policy, and constantly tell them that all they do is well done." He concludes by pointing out the manner in which the Press and political agents of the Government of Pretoria are stirring up ill-feeling against the proprietors and managers of mines. Persons without any defined profession, attracted by the vision of gold, have flocked to Johannesburg; unable to find employment, they have become a discontented proletariat. These are the true adventurers, if the word be taken in its worst sense. Mr. Krüger and his agents choose them as colleagues and pit them against the "wealthy metal-hearted mine owners." This is the policy pursued by Dr. Leyds in Europe, where he has been clever enough to excite alike the capitalist and socialist Press against the hated mine owner. Mr. Rouliot continues, that it is not within the province of the Chamber of Mines to provide work for incompetent workmen. It was, no doubt, from among these men that Mr. Krüger had raised the signatures of the counter-petition which so "emphatically" declared the administration of the South African Republic "to be all that could be desired." 5.--_The Petition and the Despatch of May 10th._ They were _bonâ fide_ workmen who took the initiative in the petition of March 28th, 1899, called forth by the murder of their fellow-workman, Edgar. We see, from Mr. Rouliot's report, that the Chamber of Mines regarding the petition as compromising, disassociated itself from it. Nor was that all. The President of the South African League in the Transvaal, Mr. W. John Wybergh, a consulting engineer by profession, was dismissed by one of the principal companies. These undeniable facts prove that "capitalist intrigues," as Dr. Kuyper calls them, were not the causes of the present war. The British Government could not disregard a petition which 21,684 British subjects addressed to it; even had its responsibility not been pledged by Articles 7 and 14 of the Convention of 1884, relying upon which those British subjects had settled in the Transvaal. Every civilised Government concerns itself with injuries done to its citizens in foreign lands. The petition of March 28th, was acknowledged by Mr. Chamberlain in a despatch to Sir A. Milner of May 10th, 1899, in which he says that "the complaints of the Uitlanders rested on a solid basis." From the moment that the British Government "put its hand to the plough," and that Lord Salisbury declared it would not draw back, the end was easy to foresee. Mr. Krüger had recourse to his habitual expedients. I said at the time what must certainly be the result; and an eminent French statesman may remember a conversation I then had with him, in the course of which he declared that the English would never, never, make up their minds to go to war. That was the dangerous idea then spread throughout European diplomacy, and which must have been transmitted to Krüger by Dr. Leyds, and some of the representatives of European Governments then in Pretoria. Thus Krüger thought he need not trouble. Hence his attitude at Bloemfontein. It was not because England was desirous of war that it broke out, it was because she bore the reputation of being too pacific, and because she had given too many proofs of forbearance to the Boers. CHAPTER XIII. THE FRANCHISE.[19] 1.--_Impossible Comparisons._ Dr. Kuyper favors us with a long dissertation upon the various laws of naturalisation existing throughout the world. But he cannot compare a country such as Belgium with 226 inhabitants per square kilomètre, or as France with 72 per square kilomètre, with a country that has two inhabitants to the square kilomètre. Had he been logical, he would have said that the 9,712,000 square kilomètres of the United States should always have been exclusively peopled by the 600,000 or 700,000 Sioux Iroquois and Apaches who used to dispute them. Dr. Kuyper will reply that they were Redskins and so do not count. Be it so! Though the theory of inferior races has very grave consequences from the standpoint taken up by him. But, to be logical, he ought to regret that the Puritans of Massachusetts opened wide the doors of the frontiers of their young Republic to English, Irish, and German immigrants, and, having given them equal rights with themselves, fused and made them into citizens of the United States. My present object however is not to discuss theories, but to state facts. [Footnote 19: _Le Siècle_, April 9th, 1900.] 2.--_Policy of Reaction._ In the Conference which resulted in the Convention of 1881, Messrs. Krüger and Jorissen stated to the English Commissioners that the Franchise would be extended to whites after one year's residence. (V. chap IV. § 3.) This period had been fixed in 1874. In 1882 it was altered to five years' residence. However, the Boers felt it expedient to offer a satisfaction of some kind, and, in accordance with their usual methods, conceived in 1890 the device of creating a Second Volksraad, deprived of all executive power, to which naturalised aliens were eligible. But more especially, after the deep levels began to be worked in 1892, when vast outlays of capital were required, and a long duration to gold mining undertakings was ensured, the Uitlanders began to feel that they must no longer be regarded as suspicious aliens, liable to be expelled from the country at any moment. In 1892, they accordingly formed an Association, _The National Union_, "for the purpose of obtaining by all Constitutional means, equal rights for all the citizens of the Republic and the redress of grievances." Far from desiring to place the Republic under control of the British Government, they affirmed the maintenance of its Independence. In his manifesto, Mr. Leonard, Chairman of the Union, demands: (1) The establishment of the Republic as a true Republic; (2) A Constitution which should be drawn up by competent men, to be elected by the whole population, and which should be a guarantee against all hasty modifications; (3) An equitable system of franchise, and honest representation; the equality of Dutch and English languages. The Government of Pretoria had done everything that was possible to provoke and justify these demands. In 1894, ignoring the three months' delay between the promulgation and enforcing of a law required by the Constitution, it was enacted that children born in the Transvaal of alien parents should not be recognised as citizens, unless their fathers had taken the oath of allegiance. One Uitlander wrote: "Thirteen years ago I entered my name on the Field Cornet's book, in the belief that I should receive the franchise at expiration of four years. For nine years I have been deprived of my rights; and I may have to wait twenty years in this country without becoming a citizen." The Boer government, instead of becoming more and more liberal in proportion to the wealth and power with which its alien residents have endowed it, has grown more and more reactionary; and this state of reaction has been marked by a series of broken pledges. I now proceed to give an account of the varying phases of the Franchise Question, since the beginning of the Conference at Bloemfontein. 3.--_The Bloemfontein Conference._ The Conference at Bloemfontein opened on the 31st of May and closed on the 5th of June, 1889. Mr. Chamberlain's Despatch, of the 10th of May, to Sir Alfred Milner, suggests that he should adopt "a spirit of conciliation in order to arrive at an acceptable arrangement which might be presented to the Uitlander population, as a reasonable concession to their just demands." The position assumed by the English Government was a very simple one; it had declined to interfere to a large degree, and it desired to interfere still less, in the disputes between the Uitlanders and Boers. It was of opinion that the only way of putting an end to them was the granting of the franchise, so as to enable them to attend to their own interests. The English Government, far from desiring to increase its intervention in the actions of the Transvaal Government, desired to say to the Uitlanders: "You have your electoral rights; make use of them in your own defence." As was easy to foresee, President Krüger, in accordance with his custom began on a number of side issues, instead of going straight to the point, thus employing the method, known to most of us who have had dealings with mistrustful and ignorant peasants. He raised among others the following questions: (1) Swaziland, which he wanted to annex; (2) The mobilisation of the army; (3) The payment of the Jameson Raid indemnity (of which we will speak later); (4) The Uitlanders' petition; (5) The Gold law; (6) The Mining law; (7) The Liquor law; (8) The Tariff law; (9) The Independence of the Republic; (10) The Dynamite Monopoly; (11) Arbitration on all disputed points; (12) British intervention in the internal policy of the South African Republic. And then, added Mr. Krüger ingeniously, when all these matters have been disposed of, we can take up the question of Franchise. At the very first sitting Sir Alfred Milner declined to enter upon those subjects; at the second sitting he proposed the following conditions for the Franchise; (_a_) A five years' residence; (_b_) Declaration of intention to settle in the Transvaal; (_c_) Oath to obey the laws, and to fulfil all the obligations of citizenship, military service included; (_d_) The Franchise to be accorded only to men of good repute, holders of a given amount of property or of a given income; (_e_) a certain number of seats to be reserved in the Volksraad for districts where Uitlanders were in the majority. After keenly contesting these points, Mr. Krüger gave renewed proof of his 'intellectual superiority' by advancing counter proposals bristling with conditions such as sorcerers exact to enable them to accomplish their miracles. As there is always at least one impossible of realisation, the dupe is always in the wrong; in the same manner, it was Krüger's aim to be able to say to the Uitlanders, who did not obtain the Franchise: "It is your own fault. You have not carried out the conditions!" Oh! Mr. Krüger showed again at Bloemfontein how very clever he is, and how worthy of Bismarck's admiration--but, Bismarck only entered upon a policy which he could carry through. According to Krüger's proposal, every new-comer must within a fortnight of arrival have himself inscribed as a candidate for naturalisation and the Franchise; the former would be granted after two years; the latter after five more years; seven years in all. But should the first formality have been neglected within the stated time, the Uitlander was to forfeit for good and all the right of obtaining either the one or the other! The first condition having been fulfilled, the inscribed Uitlander was to prove "his obedience to the laws"; but President Krüger did not signify how he was to give this negative proof. He had, moreover, to prove that he had "committed no act contrary to the Government, or its independence." But to vote against any candidate of Krüger's is, in the Transvaal, an act contrary to the Government. What Uitlander then could ever have obtained his naturalisation? "Two years of continuous registration,"--but are the registers carefully kept in the Transvaal? These formalities accomplished, and naturalisation obtained, there followed five years of registration, and the obligation of permanent residence. A stay at the Cape, a voyage to Europe, would have sufficed to forfeit the whole benefit of the formalities observed, including inscription during the first fourteen days after arrival. Finally, the retrospective clause demonstrates the cunning nature of the methods employed by Mr. Krüger. First it deals with a nine years' residence, _plus_ two years for naturalisation, _plus_ six months' declaration, in all eleven years-and-a-half, at the least. The wording of the clause is as follows:-- "The Residents in the South African Republic before 1890, who shall become naturalised within six months of the promulgation of the proposed law, after giving six months' notice of their intention to apply for naturalisation, shall obtain the full franchise two years after naturalisation, instead of five years. Those who have not been naturalised within six months will have to fulfil the conditions applying to new comers." Look at the trickery of this regulation. A man must apply for his naturalisation six months beforehand, and he is bound to be naturalised within six months of the promulgation of the law. If he does not make his application on the very day of the promulgation, he loses all the advantages of his residence in the Transvaal before 1890, and he must wait another seven years. Note, that on the actual day of promulgation the administration of the Transvaal could never, even in good faith, have dealt with the 20,000 or 30,000 declarations that would have been made; and Mr. Krüger calmly proceeds to adjourn to another seven years the Uitlanders who had already put in nine years of residence, total 16 years. Yes, Mr. Krüger is very clever to have invented such a skilful contrivance; to have had the audacity to propound it; and to hold the opinion of Europe in such contempt that he could think it possible to make the majority of people the dupe of such schemes; and he has succeeded! Sir Alfred Milner replied in the courteous language of diplomacy that after the interchange of these two propositions, Mr. Krüger and himself found themselves on exactly the same ground as before the Conference, and that, therefore, there was no object to be gained by prolonging it. CHAPTER XIV. THE FRANCHISE. AFTER THE CONFERENCE OF BLOEMFONTEIN.[20] 1.--_A Krüger Trick._ The Anglophobe Pro-Boers of course blame Mr. Chamberlain for the rupture of the Bloemfontein Conference, and extol the forbearance of Mr. Krüger, who carried off his proposal to have it passed by the Volksraad, and "his" burghers. They do not reflect, that, had he honestly desired to put the matter on the road to settlement, Mr. Krüger should first have come to an understanding upon it. By passing it through the Volksraad as law, he should have cut the cable, were he in reality, anything but an autocrat, and such ratifications anything but mere formalities. Mr. Krüger had the condescension to say to England, "So you will have none of my proposals which compel those already in the Transvaal to an eleven or twelve years' residence, coupled with impossible formalities, before obtaining the franchise? Very well, I will renew my offer to you in the name of the Volksraad and of "my" burghers, and if you are not satisfied, leave me alone to hoodwink a large proportion of enlightened men on the Continent into believing that I am simply the victim of Mr. Chamberlain's animosity, and England's greed." [Footnote 20: _Le Siècle_, April 10th, 1900.] 2.--_The Bill passed by the Volksraad._ The bill introduced into the Volksraad on July 13th was passed on July 19th, with only the addition of one amendment to Article 4, by which residents in the Transvaal, prior to the promulgation of the law, were entitled to obtain naturalisation after seven, instead of nine years of residence, on condition that they had complied with the requisite formalities, and had submitted to the delays before stated. People admired Mr. Krüger's generosity. Nine or ten years, instead of eleven or twelve, for the Uitlanders already settled in the Transvaal! What sacrifices he was making to ensure peace! What magnanimity towards Uitlanders! The first paragraph of Article 4 runs thus: "Article 4. All persons who shall have settled in the South African Republic prior to the commencement of this Act, and who shall be eligible according to the conditions laid down in Article 1, may obtain letters of naturalisation seven years after arrival in the country." This article, therefore, only accorded naturalisation to former residents; their seven years in the country counted no more than two. Suppose them naturalised; in reality, they are deprived of all nationality. They belong no longer to the land of their birth; if wronged, or maltreated they have no claim upon it for redress. They are not burghers: they have no political rights; they are, in fact, minors who have lost their guardian. This condition was to last for seven years in a country where changes are made by the week. The art of importing confusion into the simplest matters, has been most successfully practised by Mr. Krüger and Dr. Leyds. They have even succeeded in persuading thinking men that the Uitlanders should have accepted with enthusiasm the law of July 19th, and that they should have been deeply grateful to Mr. Krüger who had "reduced from nine to seven years the term first proposed by him at Bloemfontein." 3.--_Pretended Concessions._ The changes referring to the "redistribution" of seats in the Volksraad were numerous. Mr. Krüger posed as making a huge concession to mining districts in raising the number of seats to twelve; but six of these were for the second Volksraad. Now the second Volksraad must always have the same number of members as the First; thus the apparent concession was merely a valueless automatic arrangement, for it is well understood that the second Volksraad is simply a show institution, devised in 1890. The various schemes for redistribution lead one to the conclusion that the number of members in the First Volksraad were to be in inverse ratio to the population. The Uitlander looked with mistrust upon a law voted one day which could be modified the next by a simple resolution of the Volksraad; he considered it an illusion which might vanish at any moment Mr. Krüger and his friends thought proper. 4.--_The Joint Commission._ The British Government might have replied that it did not recognise this law, and have confined itself to the proposals put forward by Sir Alfred Milner at the Bloemfontein Conference. It did not take this attitude which, in France, would have been advised by the most half-hearted of our Nationalists, had the French Government been engaged in similar negotiations. In his despatch of July 27, Mr. Chamberlain appears to think that "the concessions made to the Uitlanders to guarantee them something of the equality promised them in 1881 were made in good faith; but this law of July 19th is full of complicated details; he therefore proposes that it should be examined by a joint commission." In the Colonial Secretary's despatch of August 2nd to Pretoria, he adds: "It is understood that the Commission to examine into the question of the Uitlanders' Electoral rights shall be prepared to discuss every subject that the Government of the South African Republic may desire to bring before it, including arbitration, exclusive always of the intervention of Foreign Powers." 5.--_Bargaining._ The Government of Pretoria had put the law in force without waiting to consider these remarks. On August 15th a despatch of Sir Alfred Milner's makes mention of a proposal of the State Attorney to the British Government to waive their invitation to a joint enquiry, in respect of the concession of a retrospective Franchise of seven years being substituted for mere naturalisation, and of an increase in the number of seats. Such a proposition on the part of the Government of Pretoria shows plainly that it wished to evade enquiry into a law so fettered with formalities that its working was chimerical. And when Sir Alfred Milner referred to his proposal at Bloemfontein, the State Attorney decreased to five years the term of retrospective registration, gave eight seats to the Rand, and two to other mining districts. Upon which Pro-Boers exclaim: The Government of Pretoria has made every possible concession! 6.--_The Conditions, and Withdrawal of Proposals._ They prove by that exclamation that they had not read Sir Alfred Milner's despatches of the 22nd and 23rd of August. The Government of Pretoria made these concessions, indeed but on condition: (1) That the British Government shall withdraw its proposal for a joint Commission to enquire into whether the law was workable; (2) That the British Government shall renounce suzerainty; (3) That arbitration--apart from Foreign Powers, with exception of the Orange Free State--shall be granted immediately upon the Franchise Law being settled. On August 28th Mr. Chamberlain replies. Concerning the suzerainty, he refers to his despatch of July 13th; he consents to discuss the Constitution of a Tribunal of Arbitration from which Foreign Powers, and foreign influence, shall be excluded; he concludes by proposing a fresh Conference. What is the reply of the Boer Government on September 2nd? The withdrawal of its proposals of August 19th and 21st, relative to the five years' Franchise and increase of number of seats in the Volksraad. Thus, at the end of three months' negotiations, no conclusion had been arrived at. It is to this despatch of September 2nd, that Mr. Chamberlain's despatch of September 8th, replies; in that despatch he states, that he is still prepared to accept the proposals of August 19th concerning the Franchise, provided that the enquiry by a Commission, joint or unilateral, prove that the law is workable. The representation of Uitlanders in the Volksraad, is, of course, only possible on condition that they had the right to make use of the English language. On September 23rd, the Transvaal Government replies that the _taal_, a language not spoken by any but Boers, is to remain the only language used in the Volksraad, and in dilatory phraseology paves the way for the ultimatum of October 9th. Here we have a summary of the negotiations relating to the franchise, from the time of the Bloemfontein Conference. 7.--_The Franchise is Self-Government._ Confronted with these facts, the Pro-Boer cries: "Ah, but Mr. Krüger was obliged to protect himself. He could not have his burghers swamped by Uitlanders. He was perfectly right." Good. There is the theory that honest dealing is unnecessary in public negotiations; an apology for that system which is in direct contradiction to the maxim of private law that you cannot give and withhold at one and the same time. "But why should the English insist upon obtaining the franchise for Uitlanders?" In order that there should be no more need for the British Government to concern itself in Transvaal affairs, Sir Alfred Milner was right when he said to the State Attorney (despatch of August 15th): "I am sure that the present proposal is made _bonâ fide_ in order to establish the rights of British subjects once for all; and the Government of the South African Republic need not entertain any fear that we should wish to intervene in its internal affairs in future." On August 28th, Mr. Chamberlain speaks the same language; at the same time justly observing, that only a portion of the Englishmen residing in the Transvaal would seek to become naturalised. In point of fact when in February, 1896, the British Government demanded autonomy for the Rand, and on this proposition being refused, demanded at Bloemfontein the Franchise for Uitlanders, it was neither bent upon a policy of absorption nor of conquest. They desired to place self-government in the hands of the Uitlanders, in order to be able to say to them: "Now manage your own affairs with the Boers, obtain respect for your rights by constitutional measures. We are no further concerned in the matter." It was not the conquest of the Transvaal that was desired by the British Government, it was the establishment of an autonomous Republic. The Uitlanders of British, Australian, German and American extraction, inter-mixing with the Boers, would soon have merged their national characteristics, and have become simply citizens of the South African Republic. The Boers might have constructed a vast, wealthy and powerful State in which for generations to come, they would have held the supremacy. As a conquered people they will be compelled to accept the constitution they might have granted, and granted the more readily as they would have reaped the largest share of the benefits. CHAPTER XV. THE SUZERAINTY OF ENGLAND AND THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC.[21] 1.--_Who raised the Question of Suzerainty?_ Nine persons out of ten, when speaking of the Transvaal question, say: "Why did Chamberlain, at the last moment, raise the question of suzerainty? When everything had been settled, that question ruined all." The more thoughtful men base their opinion on an article in _Le Temps_ of September 15th, in which occurs this hypothetical paragraph:-- "Moreover it is possible, that, in the dim recesses of his brain, the Colonial Minister treasures, as a supreme hope and shadowy idea, the half-formed design of profiting by the discussion he is raising in order to excite fresh disputes, such as the complex question of suzerainty." This insiduous and disloyal conjecture has been reproduced and utilised; the absolutely unfounded insinuation of _Le Temps_, has been turned into an accusation against Mr. Chamberlain. Some people who fancy they can gauge the motives of statesmen better than their neighbours, add: "If he raised the question of suzerainty, it was because he wanted to bring about a war." Facts prove, however, that the suzerainty question was not raised by England, but by the Government at Pretoria. The argument against England's suzerainty over the Transvaal is well known; the preamble to the 1881 Convention, in which the word occurs was not reproduced in the Convention of 1884. But it is also known, that, in the letter to Lord Derby of November 14th, 1883, the delegates from the Pretoria Government demanded restrictions of "the right of suzerainty reserved to Her Majesty by Articles 2 and 18 of the Convention of 1881," and claimed, that "the relation of dependence _publici juris_ in which their country now finds itself placed with regard to the British Crown shall be replaced by that of two contracting parties." In his despatch of November 29th, Lord Derby replied, that their "pretension to enter into treaty as between two contracting powers was neither in form nor substance acceptable by Her Majesty's Government." The Preamble of the Convention of 1884 speaks of the representations of the delegates of the Pretoria Government, "which Her Majesty has been pleased to take into consideration." Not daring to efface with a stroke of his pen the suzerainty question, Dr. Kuyper attempts a metaphorical distinction:-- "The suzerainty question solves itself. Suzerainty may be an "organic or mechanical relation"; if mechanical, it is arranged by contract." When Dr. Kuyper declares England's suzerainty to be of the mechanical order, he admits that the Transvaal did not hold towards England the position of an absolutely independent State. Having been obliged to recognise the right of _veto_, which Article 4 confers upon England regarding the external relations of the Transvaal, he contradicts himself when he invokes the principle of the equality "of States among themselves." Taking refuge in a kind of prescription, he says: "Never, before 1898, had England breathed a word regarding suzerainty throughout all her interminable correspondence." On March 6th, 1897, however, Mr. Chamberlain addressed a despatch to the South African Republic, in which he complains of several failures to observe the Convention of 1884. The following facts are cited by him: (1) Conclusion of a treaty of extradition with Holland, signed at the Hague, November 14th, 1895; of an act with Portugal, signed at Lisbon, November 3rd, 1893; of a convention with Switzerland, signed September 30th, 1896--none of these treaties had been submitted to the English Government, in violation of Article 4 of the Convention of 1884; (2) Laws concerning the emigration of foreigners, the expulsion of foreigners, the Press, all in contravention of Article 14 of the 1884 Convention. Mr. Van Boeschoten, Secretary of State to the Transvaal at that time, proposed arbitration, the arbitrator to be chosen by the President of the Swiss Confederation. Replying on October 16th, 1897, Mr. Chamberlain said that in making this proposal the Pretoria Government "appears to have misunderstood the distinction existing between two independent powers." There we see a distinct assertion of suzerainty, the question which, according to Dr. Kuyper, was first raised in 1898. "By the Pretoria Convention of 1881, Her Majesty, as Sovereign of the Transvaal, granted to the inhabitants of this territory complete self-government subject to the suzerainty of Her Majesty; and according to the London Convention of 1884, Her Majesty, while maintaining the preamble to the preceding instrument declared that certain other Articles would be substituted for Articles contained in the Convention of 1881. The Articles of the Convention of 1881 have been accepted by the Volksraad of the Transvaal State and those of the Convention of 1884 by the Volksraad of the South African Republic. "According to these Conventions Her Majesty's position towards the South African Republic is that of a suzerain, who has granted to the people of this Republic self-government under certain conditions; and it would be incompatible with this situation to submit to arbitration the meaning of the conditions under which she has granted self-government to the Republic." Mr. Chamberlain concluded by saying that he could not admit the intervention of any Foreign power between the English Government and that of the South African Republic, and that, therefore, he could not submit the violations of the Convention of 1884 to the consideration of such a power. On April 11th, 1898, the new State Secretary, Mr. Reitz, returned to the question in a long despatch described by Dr. Kuyper as "crushing" (_foudroyante_), and which proves, at least, that the Suzerainty Question had been raised before 1898, since it endeavours to refute Mr. Chamberlain's despatches of March 6th, and October 16th, 1897. To this Mr. Chamberlain replies, December 15th, 1898:-- "The preamble to the Convention of 1881 remains the basis of the relations between Her Majesty and the inhabitants of the South African Republic. To these inhabitants Her Majesty guarantees internal independence, to Herself she reserves the Suzerainty. The concession of internal independence and the reservation of the Suzerainty have but one common origin--the preamble to the Convention of 1881." Dr. Reitz succeeded Dr. Leyds as Secretary of State, and on May 9th, 1899, replied to the despatch of the preceding December 15th. In forwarding this despatch Sir Alfred Milner observed that it contained a pretension never before put forward by the Government of Pretoria, the following words being used: "the inherent right of a Sovereign International State." Mr. Chamberlain replied, July 13th, 1899, summarising the Conventions of 1852, 1881, and 1884; he recalled Lord Derby's declaration in the House of Lords, March 17th, 1884: "Whatever Suzerainty meant in the Convention of Pretoria, the condition of things which it implies still remains. Though the word is not actually used, we have kept the substance." [Footnote 21: _Le Siècle_, April 11th, 1900.] 2.--_The Suzerainty and the Conference of the Hague._ How was it that the theorists, who take up the utterance of Dr. Reitz, that: "the Transvaal has the inherent rights of a Sovereign International State," did not ask the Queen of the Netherlands that the South African Republic might be represented at the Conference of the Hague? It was a grand opportunity, which they no more dreamt of seizing, than the thought of asking that the Bey of Tunis should take part in it. These documents referred to by us prove that the Suzerainty Question was not raised at the last moment, as the _Temps_ of September 15th, 1899, is affirmed to have stated; that it was not raised only in 1898, as stated by Dr. Kuyper; that at least it was raised on March 6th, 1897; that, since the last mentioned date, it has given rise to an important correspondence; and, finally, that it was the first subject raised by President Krüger at the Bloemfontein Conference. CHAPTER XVI. THE ARBITRATION QUESTION.[22] 1.--_How the Transvaal interprets Arbitration._ According to the idea prevailing throughout Europe, President Krüger had conceded everything from the franchise point of view, when all was ruined by Mr. Chamberlain raising the Suzerainty Question at the last moment. We have seen the value of these two assertions. Then, certain members of the ultra peace party ask hotly: "Why did he not accept arbitration?" The word in itself appears to them to possess some sovereign virtue. Dr. Kuyper seems to me to be suffering from that terrible intellectual malady psittacism when he exclaims:-- "Arbitration is the _mot d'ordre_ of modern civilisation." and he adds:-- "As if arbitration were not the rule between _masters_ and _workmen_." I have often demonstrated the "illusion of such arbitration" (among others see _Le Siècle_, October 6th, 1899), the negative effects produced in France by the law on optional arbitration, and in England by the Conciliation Act of 1896. From an international point of view, the judgment passed by the Arbitration Tribunal in the matter of the Delagoa Bay Railway, after a lapse of ten years, is not one to induce governments to have recourse to it. In the relations between England and the Transvaal, the Arbitration Question is closely connected with the Suzerainty Question. It was raised May 7th, 1897, by the State Secretary, Mr. Van Boeschoten, in reply to the complaints made in Mr. Chamberlain's despatch of March 6th, 1897, relating to the violation of the 1884 Convention. Mr. Van Boeschoten's proposal was that the President of the Swiss Confederation should be asked to appoint an arbitrator. On October 16th, 1897, Mr. Chamberlain replied:-- "The Government of the South African Republic proposes that the contested points of the Convention shall be submitted to arbitration, the arbitrator to be appointed by the President of the Swiss Confederation. In making this proposal the Government appears to have misunderstood the difference existing between the Conventions of 1881 and 1884 and an ordinary treaty between two independent powers." The conventions had been made up; they did not suit the Government of the South African Republic. Could the British Government say: "They do not suit you. Very well, we will ask the head of a foreign State to appoint an arbitrator by whom they will be considered and annulled in the event of his sympathizing with you." In diplomatic terms Mr. Chamberlain explains that the English Government could not carry its condescension so far as to subject to the judgment of a foreigner the result of its policy and the negotiations of its diplomats. On April 16th, 1898, a claim was made by Dr. Leyds for: "A tribunal under international law for the especial purpose of deciding differences of opinion regarding the mode of Government, and the rights and obligations of the South African Republic towards the British Government." Again Mr. Chamberlain replied, on December 15th, 1898, that the English Government could admit of no intervention of a Foreign power between the Pretoria Government and itself. During the afternoon of the second day of the Bloemfontein Conference the arbitration question with regard to Swazieland, was raised by Mr. Krüger. He returned to the subject on the third day, as follows:-- "In the event of Swazieland becoming part of my Republic; an agreement being arrived at with reference to the Jameson Raid indemnity; Her Majesty's Government agreeing to interfere no more with my internal government; and arriving at an acceptable solution of the Franchise Question; the matter of English subjects, who, having no need to become burghers, yet still have reason to complain of illegal actions, might be submitted to arbitration." Sir Alfred Milner replied that: "the English Government could not allow interference between itself and the South African Republic, of a foreign power or influence; that it might, however, be possible to consider some other way of nominating an impartial tribunal, and examining certain questions; but that he himself was not authorised to do so." In conclusion President Krüger said:-- "Give me Swazieland, the indemnity for the Jameson Raid, and arbitration, in exchange for the Franchise, otherwise, I should have nothing. These points would make something worth having." Sir Alfred Milner's reply was that President Krüger had raised the question of arbitration, without mentioning the manner of arbitration; that there were some questions, with regard to which it could not be admitted by the English Government; that there were others on which it might be admitted; that, if proposals were put forward, he would submit them to his Government. Mr. Krüger's closing words were:-- "I have nothing to add, I shall submit the questions concerning the Franchise to the Volksraad as soon as I receive the reply that the English Government accepts my proposal of arbitration." On June 9th, the proposals relating to arbitration were formulated by Mr. Reitz, State Secretary to the Pretoria Government. He began by proving that he could put into people's mouths words which had never been uttered by them. He declared that "at the Bloemfontein Conference the High Commissioner was personally favourable to the settlement by arbitration of all the differences between the two Governments." Sir Alfred Milner had been careful not to go so far as this. After this inaccurate preamble the following proposals were made by Mr. Reitz:-- (1) "In future, all questions arising between the two Governments, and relating to the interpretation of the London Convention to be submitted to a tribunal of arbitration, with the exception of questions of trifling importance." (2) "The tribunal to be composed of two arbitrators appointed respectively by each government, as for instance the Chief Justices of the South African Republic, Cape Colony or Natal. The power to be given to them of choosing as a third arbitrator, someone who should be a subject of neither of the disputing parties; the decision in all cases to rest with the majority." (3) "The instrument of submission to be considered in each case by the two governments, in order that both may have the right of reserving and excluding any points appearing to them too important to be submitted to arbitration." Sir Alfred Milner remarked that this project was "a mere skeleton proposal by which too many things were left undefined." For instance, what did the words "trifling matters" mean? and what was meant by the third article, which gives to both Governments the right of excluding from arbitration points which may appear to them too important to be submitted to it? Finally, the very composition of the tribunal was in contradiction to the reservations made by the English Government. The third arbitrator would be a foreigner, and with this third arbitrator would rest the decision. [Footnote 22: _Le Siècle_, April 26th, 1900.] 2.--_Mr. Chamberlain's Conditions._ In his telegram of July 27th, however, Mr. Chamberlain did not reply by an absolute definite refusal. He rejected the composition of the tribunal; but he acknowledged that: "the interpretation of the convention in detail is not exempt from difficulties, putting aside the question of the interpretation of the preamble of the Convention of 1881, which regulates the articles substituted in the Convention of 1884." And then Mr. Chamberlain invited Sir Alfred Milner to enquire of Mr. Krüger whether he would accept the exclusion of the Foreign element in the settlement of disputes, arising from the interpretation of the Convention of 1884: "As to how far and by what method, questions could be decided by a judicial authority whose independence, impartiality and capacity should be above suspicion." Thus the constitution of a tribunal of arbitration was accepted by Mr. Chamberlain, and in his despatch of August 28th he directed Sir Alfred Milner to arrange a fresh conference with Mr. Krüger. On September 2nd the Pretoria Government asks whether the British Government will receive burghers of the Free State as members of the arbitration tribunal? which are the subjects it will be competent to settle? and which will be reserved? Sir Alfred Milner's views on this subject are stated in a lengthy despatch to the Government, dated September 8th. The points which Sir Alfred Milner considered should be excluded from arbitration as being likely to re-open discussion are the following: (1) The position of the British Indians; (2) the position of other British coloured subjects; (3) the right of all British subjects to be treated as favourably as those of any other country; "a right which has never been formally admitted by the South African Republic." Here the Arbitration Question may be said to have dropped, Sir A. Milner's telegram of September 8th being followed by the ultimatum of October 9th. Hence this question was not a new one at the time of the Bloemfontein Conference. It had been raised by the Government of Pretoria as a means by which its "inherent rights as a Sovereign State" should be acknowledged, a pretension which could not be admitted by the British Government. As we have seen, however, arbitration was not absolutely refused by Mr. Chamberlain; he imposed two conditions; the Conventions of 1881 and 1884 were not to be questioned, foreigners were not to be chosen as arbitrators; the points referred to arbitration should be clearly specified. There is a vast difference between this attitude and the arrogant tone generally ascribed to Mr. Chamberlain. It is always advisable to refer to the documents on a question before discussing it. CHAPTER XVII. THE BOER ULTIMATUM.[23] 1.--_Dr. Kuyper's Logic._ Referring to the Bloemfontein Conference, Dr. Kuyper says: "Mr. Chamberlain opened his criminal negotiations ... Unfortunately for him, his opponent, of whom Bismarck said there was not a statesman in Europe who surpassed him for sagacity and sound judgment, did not fall into the trap. He prolonged the negotiations ... but from the moment he held in his hands undeniable proofs of the manner in which Mr. Chamberlain was luring him on and seeking to gain time, he hurled at him the reproach of "coveting Naboth's vineyard," and sent an ultimatum to London." (p. 502). We are struck in this passage by the admirable logic of Dr. Kuyper. It is Krüger who "prolongs the negotiations," and Chamberlain who "seeks to gain time." To heighten the prestige of Mr. Krüger, Dr. Kuyper invokes the testimony of Bismarck. I certainly think that it was Krüger's ambition to become the Bismarck of South Africa, and President of the "Africa for the Afrikanders, from the Zambesi to Simon's Bay." I come to the final act:-- On September 2nd, the Government of Pretoria withdrew its proposal to reduce the delay in granting the franchise to five years; the British Government not having accepted the conditions imposed: (1) Refusal of all enquiry into the condition of the Franchise Law by a Joint Commission; (2) Abrogation of Suzerainty in conformity with the note of the Government of Pretoria, of April 16th, 1898; (3) Refusal to submit questions under discussion to Arbitration. [Footnote 23: _Le Siècle_, April 13th, 1900.] 2.--_Despatches of the 8th and 22nd September._ Mr. Chamberlain replied in his despatch of September 8th. He was unable to accept the terms of the Note of April 16th, 1898, which he had formally refused. He maintained that the Franchise Law was insufficient to guarantee an immediate and effective representation of the Uitlanders. He demanded that a joint, or unilateral, Commission should be instituted to examine whether the law on the Franchise were not rendered inoperative by the conditions which would make such representations impossible. The acceptance of these propositions by the South African Republic would put an end to the tension existing between the two Governments, and, in all probability, would render ulterior intervention on the part of Her Majesty's Government to ensure redress of the Uitlanders' grievances unnecessary, as they themselves would thenceforth be entitled to bring them directly to the cognizance of the Executive and the Raad. Mr. Chamberlain adds that the British Government is prepared to authorise a fresh Conference between the President of the South African Republic and the High Commissioner in order to settle all details of a Tribunal of Arbitration, and the questions capable of being submitted to it on the basis of the Note of August 30th. This very moderately worded despatch, embodying equally moderate propositions, ended as follows: "Should, however--which Her Majesty's Government earnestly trusts may not be the case--the reply of the South African Government be negative, or dilatory, it reserves to itself the right to consider the situation _de novo_, and to formulate its own propositions for a final settlement." The Government of Pretoria replied on September 16th, by referring to its Note of September 2nd. It devotes an entire paragraph to the statement that the English language will not be admitted in the Volksraad. It refuses to consider at that juncture the appointment of a fresh Conference; it accepts, however, the proposed Joint Commission. Mr. Chamberlain replies in his despatch of September 22nd, in which he clearly states the attitude of the British Government. It has no desire to interfere in any way with the independence of the South African Republic. It has not asserted any other rights of interference in the internal affairs of the South African Republic than those derived from the Conventions, or "which belong to every neighbouring Government for the protection of its subjects and of its adjoining possessions. But, by the action of the Government of the South African Republic, who have in their Note of May 9th, asserted the right of the Republic to be a Sovereign International State, it has been compelled to repudiate any such claim." He repeats that the Franchise would enable the Uitlanders to procure just treatment for themselves, and concludes by saying: "the refusal of the South African Republic to entertain the offer thus made coming, as it does, at the end of nearly four months of negotiations, and of five years of agitation, makes it useless to further pursue a discussion on the lines hitherto followed, and Her Majesty's Government are now compelled to consider the situation afresh and to formulate their own proposals for a final settlement." The Transvaal Government has accused Sir Alfred Milner of not keeping his word. Two despatches, one from Mr. Chamberlain, September 16th, the other from Sir Alfred Milner, September 20th, refute this allegation. 3.--_The Ultimatum._ These two despatches received no reply. On September 28th, the Volksraad of the Orange Free State proclaimed that it would "faithfully and honorably fulfil its obligations towards the South African Republic, in accordance with the alliance between the two States, whatever might be the consequences." Mr. Steyn, the President, gave an account of the negotiations from his point of view. The Cape presented a petition drawn up by fifty-eight members of the Cape Parliament, five of whom were Ministers and had adopted Mr. Steyn's view; on the other side, fifty-three members of both Chambers passed a resolution approving the policy of the British Government. President Steyn complained of troops being sent to Africa. Later events have proved whether these complaints were justifiable. On September 29th, the Netherlands Railway stated that communication with Natal was interrupted. The telegraph wires were cut. On October 2nd, President Krüger, in adjourning the Volksraad _sine die_, stated that "War is inevitable," and on October 9th, the Government of the South African Republic handed an Ultimatum to the British Agent at Pretoria. The Ultimatum demanded Arbitration on all subjects; the withdrawal of British troops; the re-embarkation of British troops landed after June 1st; troops on the high seas not be landed. "The Transvaal Government requires an immediate and affirmative reply on these four points, before five o'clock, p.m. on Wednesday, October 11th, and it is added that should a satisfactory reply not have reached within that period, it will, to its great regret, be compelled to consider the action of Her Majesty's Government as a formal declaration of War." Next day Mr. Chamberlain naturally replied that "henceforth all discussion was impossible." Notification was made on the 11th of October. Englishmen and suspected foreigners were expelled; and President Steyn, with the special Boer skill, in misrepresenting facts, announced that "England had committed itself to an open, and unjustifiable attack upon the independence of the South African Republic." We have seen from which side the attack came. CHAPTER XVIII. DR. KUYPER'S FINAL METAPHOR.[24] 1.--_Where are the Peace Lovers?_ I have finished my criticism of Dr. Kuyper's article. Should he not find it clear, perhaps he will be kind enough to mark the points which he desires to have explained. I will gladly insert his reply, on condition that he allows me to publish it, with his article, in pamphlet form, so that readers may have both sides of the question before them. I do not follow him in detail in his apologetic, religious, metaphysical, and oratorical digressions where common-places stand for facts and arguments. "Has civilisation the right to propagate itself by means of war?" he cries. As far as I am concerned, I think war a very bad vehicle of civilisation, albeit it has often served the purpose; but as long as it remains the last resource of international relations, it is impossible to suppress it. I return the question. "Has an inferior civilisation the right to impose itself upon a superior civilisation, and to propagate itself by means of war?" Pro-Boers delight to exhibit in the shop windows a picture representing three Transvaal soldiers; a youth of sixteen, an old man of sixty-five, and a man in the prime of life. What does it prove? That every Boer is a soldier. They have no other calling; to drive ox-teams; ride; shoot; keep a sharp eye on the Kaffirs in charge of their cattle; use the sjambok freely "in Boer fashion," to make them work; these are their occupations. Their civilisation is one of the most characteristic types of a military civilisation. It is a curious thing, that so many Europeans among the lovers of peace, should actually be the fiercest enemies of England, a country which represents industrial civilisation in so high a degree, that she stands alone, in all Europe, in refusing to adopt compulsory military service. Such lovers of peace range themselves on the side of professional fighters against peaceable citizens. They are for the Boer spoliator against the despoiled Uitlanders. They take their stand against the English who in 1881 and 1884 voluntarily restored autonomy to the Transvaal, and in favor of the Boer, who in the Petition of Rights, 1881, took for programme, as in the pamphlet recently published by Dr. Reitz, "Africa for the Afrikanders from the Zambesi to Simon's Bay." The British Government, far from desiring fresh conquests, is drawn on by its colonists. France colonises by sending an army, to be followed by officials; then the government, the press, and committees of all sorts, beg and pray refractory home lovers to go forth and settle in the conquered territory. Englishmen go out to Australia, Borneo, Johannesburg; and the British Government has to follow them. It is not English trade which follows the flag, it is the flag which follows the trade. The present crisis was not brought about by the zeal of British statesmen, but by their weakness in 1881 and 1884; and by the habit which they have allowed the Government of Pretoria of violating conventions with impunity. To such a degree were these violations carried on with regard to the Uitlanders (chiefly English) who, relying on the guarantee of the Transvaal Government, had settled and invested millions of capital in the country, that, dreading for their lives after the murder of Edgar, they presented the petition of March 28th, 1899, to the British Government. No government in the world, approached in such a manner, could have refused to move; and where European governments have gone wrong is that, instead of supporting the action of Great Britain, they let President Krüger believe that they would intervene against her, to the prejudice even of their own countrymen. It may be mentioned that British Uitlanders only appealed to their own government, after having, conjointly with Uitlanders of other nationalities, addressed various petitions, since 1894, to the Pretoria Government which petitions were received with contempt, President Krüger replying: "Protest! protest as much as you like! I have arms, and you have none!" [Footnote 24: _Le Siècle_, April 14th, 1900.] 2.--_The Moral Worth of the Boers._ Dr. Kuyper affirms that "with regard to moral worth the Boers do not fall short of any European nation." I have not wished to digress from my argument by entering upon known cases of corruption concerning the Volksraad in general, and Mr. Krüger in particular, but we have seen their methods of legislation, of administering justice, and of keeping their pledged word; let that suffice. Dr. Kuyper collects all the calumnies against British soldiers, but he dare not aver that the Boers have not been guilty of the abuse of the white flag, and of the Red Cross. At the beginning of April, Lieutenant Williams, trusting in the good faith of a party of Boers, who hoisted the white flag, was shot dead by them. Dr. Kuyper says "all the despatches have been garbled, defeats turned into victories." It is not of Dr. Leyds he is speaking, but of the English. He declares (February 1st) that "the best English regiments are already disintegrated," that "the immensity of the cost will frighten the English shopkeepers," that "the ministerial majority will likely soon be dissipated." In giving these proofs of perspicacity, Dr. Kuyper charitably adds, concerning England, "her reverses may be her salvation." And in order to ensure her this salvation, he looks forward to "those projected alliances, whose tendency it is unquestionably to draw together against that insular power," of which Dr. Kuyper would fain "be the son, were he not a Dutchman," and yet whose destruction he so ardently desires. This far seeing politician forgets that were his wishes realised, Holland would be the first victim. 3.--_A Lioness out of Place._ Dr. Kuyper delivers a lengthy dissertation upon "the inadequacy of the Christian movement"; and shows himself worthy to be a collaborator of M. Brunetière by excommunicating Schleiermacher, "the typical representative," says the Rev. J.F. Smith, of modern effort to reconcile science, theology and the "world of to-day with Christianity." He inveighs against individualism, Darwinism, and the law of evolution; he speaks of "the broad paths of human sin," and accuses the English clergy of "betraying the God of Justice"; he places before them the God of the Boers, declaring that "an invisible Power protects their commandos." Dr. Kuyper who is much better acquainted with the North Sea herrings than with African lions, concludes his articles with this daring metaphor:-- "So long as the roar of the Transvaal lioness, surrounded by her cubs, shall be heard from the heights of the Drakensberg, so long shall the Boers remain unconquered." Now, the Boers have surmounted the armorial bearings of the South African Republic with an eagle, bird of prey beloved of conquerers. It is true that in the left quarter of their coat of arms is a small lion lying down with bristling mane. It is probably the lady-friend of this ferocious quadruped which Dr. Kuyper has chosen to symbolise the people of the Transvaal. I would merely remark to him that the highest summit of the Drakensberg rises to an elevation of something like 10,000 feet. It is situated away from the frontier of the Transvaal, between Natal, Basutoland, and the Orange Free State. I imagine it is there that Dr. Kuyper's Transvaal lioness is to take her stand, in order to carry out Krüger's programme "Africa for the Afrikanders, from the Zambesi to Simon's Bay." But the poor animal would not be long on that height, before she would die of cold and hunger. This concluding imagery well reflects the spirit of Dr. Kuyper's essay; it demonstrates to perfection the rapacious and megalomaniac ideal of the Boers; and in his grandiloquence the author contrives to express exactly the reverse of what he means. 4.--_Moral Unity by Means of Unity of Method._ Here again Dr. Kuyper puts metaphor in the place of reasoning; a truly Eastern mode of discussion. Ever since I entered upon public life, I have always endeavoured, in the study of social and political phenomena, to eliminate subjective affirmations, the dogmatic and comminatory _a priori_, the antiquated methods which consist of taking words for things, _nomina_ for _numina_, metaphors for realities. Physical and biological science owe to the objective method the progress that, from the times of Bacon and Galileo, has transformed the face of the world; social science must henceforth replace rhetoric, scholasticism and all balderdash of that kind; affirmations, _a priori_, and excommunications, by the rigorous scrutiny of facts: Unity of Method will lead to Moral Unity.[25] [Footnote 25: Yves Guyot. _Les Principes de 1789 et le Socialisme_.] APPENDIX A. I cannot do better than reproduce at the end of this pamphlet the analysis made by me in _Le Siècle_, March 14th, of a remarkable article written by M. Tallichet, Editor of the _Bibliothèque Universelle de Lausanne_. ENGLAND, HOLLAND AND GERMANY.[26] I have good reason for believing that President Krüger was kept by Dr. Leyds under the illusion that he could count on intervention in his favour. However, "Who should intervene?" is the question asked by M. Tallichet in his article, _La Guerre du Transvaal et l'Europe_, published by _La Bibliothèque Universelle de Lausanne_. "President MacKinley, as was asked of him in a petition organised by the Peace League? He has no such intention. Of the European Powers, three only could have tried to do so: Russia, Germany and France. Russia, however, who might have induced France to act with her, will not trouble herself about it. Nicholas II., her sovereign, has but lately taken part at the Hague in a conference promoted by himself for the purpose of considering the means of insuring peace. Having taken the initiative he may be believed to have been actuated by philanthropic motives. But it also happens that peace is, for Russia, of the greatest importance, grown, as she is, out of all proportion, continuing to extend her tentacles wherever there is a chance of seizing something. To this cause of weakness must be added others: the need of money for her gigantic enterprises; the famine, now become endemic, by which her European provinces are ravaged, depopulated and reduced to the greatest misery. She is profiting now by her experiences after the Crimean War. As long as she remains inactive, the influence she exercises on general politics by her mere extent, and the mysterious power which seems to be the corollary of it, far exceeds her actual strength. On her descending into the arena, however, this optical illusion is dissipated, as was apparent in the recent Turkish War; her prestige was lessened. No steps will therefore be taken by her to increase England's difficulties by which she gains much without striking a single blow. "With regard to France, her only interest in the question is her rivalry with England and the possibility, afforded by the latter's difficulties, of re-opening the Egyptian Question. Public opinion was sounded on this subject by a few newspapers, government organs among them, but without obtaining the desired result. Although not daring to counsel a formal alliance with Germany, they would have liked to see her intervene. The present French Government, and especially M. Delcassé may be credited with too much good sense and good feeling to resort to the foolish, pin-pricking policy of M. Hanotaux to which the Fashoda incident is really due. Such blunders are not made a second time." Only Germany remains to be considered. That there have been intimate relations between the Governments at Pretoria and Berlin, is certain. At one time the Emperor's aspiration was to unite his possessions in East Africa to those in the West, and he counted on the Transvaal to assist him. Mr. Stead's opinion on this subject, at the time of the Jameson Raid, has already been quoted by us (_Le Siècle_, December 28th, 1899). But this policy has since been renounced by him; the German Government took fright at the influence exercised by Dr. Leyds on certain of the Berlin newspapers; guns and Mauser rifles have been furnished by Krupp, but that is a private firm; German officers have entered the Boer army, to what extent have they been disavowed? The Emperor William is certainly interested in the Transvaal War. "He gets others to experiment on the value of German armaments, rifles, guns, and all the tactical and strategetical problems incident to the perfection of modern arms, and which have not yet been solved. Experience, that is to say war, is worth everything in such a matter as this, and the Boers with their German officers are literally working for 'the King of Prussia.'" That the Emperor should wish the Boers to succeed is logical enough, and to all Frenchmen capable of thought, to Belgians, Swiss and Dutch too we commend the way in which this desire is proved by M. Tallichet: "Should the Boers be successful, England's power would be lessened. She could no longer maintain the balance of power in Europe, which is a service of inestimable benefit to our continent, especially to the smaller countries, and to none more than to Holland. The conquest of the Netherlands is a great temptation to Germany, who would thereby gain exactly what she wishes: an excellent sea-board; a great number of sailors; colonies, at the very moment when she is aspiring to a first-class fleet. In a recent number of the semi-official _Norddeutsche Zeitung_, an article was published by Dr. Ed. von Hartmann, suggesting that Holland should be persuaded, or if necessary forced by commercial competition to become part of the German Empire, which would thus gain all it could possibly desire. Is it likely that this glorious little country will consent? Its charming young Queen, said to be a great sympathiser with the Boers, will she descend from her present position to take rank with the German Princes under the Emperor whose equal she is to-day? Assuredly not. "But if, on the other hand, England were to be paralysed, no defence of Holland would be possible; France could not undertake it alone, much as it would be to her interest; and what other Powers would be capable of resisting? "Of course, it may be urged, the German Emperor would never do such a thing. Perhaps not, he is not immortal however, and there is no knowing what may be done by his successors. Besides, by his friendship with Abdul-Hamid, he has shown himself capable of sacrificing everything to the greatness of his Empire. It would in all probability be unnecessary to resort to force; there are less brutal ways just as efficacious. In the event of Germany possessing undisputed preponderance, with no counter-weight, she will bring an irresistible pressure to bear upon Holland, as did Russia to poor Finland, and induce her to join the Germanic Confederation. When, therefore, Holland upholds the Transvaal, and seeks to annihilate England, she, like the Boers, though in a different manner, is working for "the King of Prussia"." I earnestly recommend this passage in M. Ed. Tallichet's article to the attention of my fellow-countrymen; the folly which dominates our foreign policy, alarms me as much as that which caused the innocence of Dreyfus to be denied for years, by Ministers, _the état-major_, and many millions of Frenchmen. Justice was sacrificed by them to paltry considerations, and to-day those of us who are infatuated with sympathy for the pillaging policy of the Boers seem to have set up as their ideal the completion of the disaster of 1870! M. Ed. Tallichet's article should be read and carefully considered by all who take an interest in the future of Europe. The question is presented by him fully and clearly; there is no trace of sympathy for or antipathy to Boers or British; the fate of France, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, is equally discussed. Their position is linked with England's power; any injury to her power would weaken any of the smaller countries above-mentioned, and be a source of danger to France. [Footnote 26: _Le Siècle_, March 14th, 1900.] APPENDIX B. DR. KUYPER'S ADMISSION. I. Offer to Dr. Kuyper to reproduce his article.--II. Dilatory reply of Dr. Kuyper.--III. Withdrawal of Dr. Kuyper.--IV. M. Brunetière's refusal.--V. The Queen of Holland and Dr. Kuyper's article. OFFER TO DR. KUYPER. On March 25th I addressed the following registered letter to Dr. Kuyper: _March 25th, 1900._ SIR, I have the honour to send you the numbers of _Le Siècle_ containing a criticism of your article, "La Crise Sud-Africaine," which appeared in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_. In order to present the _pros_ and _cons_ to the reader at one and the same time, I ask you to agree to the following proposition: _I offer to publish in one pamphlet your article and my reply._ I undertake to pay the cost and if there should be any profits to divide them with you. By accepting this proposal you will show that you are as convinced of the solidity of your arguments as I am of the solidity of mine. YVES GUYOT. II. REPLY OF DR. KUYPER. I received the following letter, March 29th: AMSTERDAM, _March 28th, 1900._ TO M. YVES GUYOT. SIR, Only having received one number of your paper (23,381) I do not know whether your criticism is finished. As soon as I have it all before me--with references to the documents cited, if you please, otherwise it is difficult to follow--I will see whether it calls for a detailed reply on my part, in which case I might, according to American precedent, republish my article, inserting, with your permission, your reply. This was done by the New York _Outlook_, when it published in the same number, "the Case of the Boers," and "the Case of the British." At the same time the copyright of my article belongs to the Editor of the _Revue des Deux Mondes_, without whose permission I can do nothing. As I shall be in Paris before long I will ask him for it, should your polemic attack seem to me to require a reply. With regard to your proposal to leave the risks of a fresh publication to you, while sharing the profits, although I appreciate the delicacy of such a suggestion, I could not accept it. KUYPER. The following remarks on his letter were published by me in _Le Siècle_, March 30th. "With regard to the first point, I regret that, at the time of writing, Dr. Kuyper should only have received one number of _Le Siècle_; each of my replies having been sent to him under registered cover on the day of publication. It is unfortunate for me that Dr. Kuyper's Article should have appeared in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_, for that brings me again into contact with M. Brunetière, and it is well-known that M. Brunetière who, last year for fifteen days burdened _Le Siècle_ with his prose, does not wish this discussion to be presented to the reader in its entirety. I am greatly afraid of his desiring the same isolation for Dr. Kuyper's article. "As far as I am concerned, having began my reply to Dr. Kuyper I shall continue it. If it is not M. Brunetière's wish that our articles should be published together he will thereby acknowledge anew the force of my replies. Were they not documented and convincing, he would not fear their proximity." III. ANOTHER LETTER. On April 6th I sent the following letter to Dr. Kuyper (registered). _April 6th, 1900._ SIR, In a few days I shall have finished my replies to your article; they will then be published in pamphlet form. I have the honour to ask you definitely whether you accept my proposal to precede them with your article in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_. YVES GUYOT. In answer to this I received the following letter from Dr. Kuyper written from the Grand Hotel, Paris: GRAND HOTEL, 12, BOULEVARD DES CAPUCINES, _April 12th, 1900._ SIR, My last letter informed you to what extent I could meet your wishes. Now that, without regard to my reply, you simply ask for the authorisation to print my article in a pamphlet which you propose to publish, I can only refer you to the person who has the power to dispose of the copyright. KUYPER. I was under the impression that I had acted in accordance with the reply of Dr. Kuyper, who in his letter, March 28th, wrote: "The copyright of my article belongs to the Editor of the _Revue des Deux Mondes_, without whose permission I can do nothing. As I shall be in Paris before long I will ask him for it should your polemics seem to me to require a reply." But since Mr. Kuyper withdrew from the correspondence I wrote the following letter to Mr. Brunetière, Editor of the _Revue des Deux Mondes_: _April 13th, 1900._ TO THE EDITOR, SIR, In the _Revue des Deux Mondes_, February 1st, an article was published by Dr. Kuyper under the title of "La Crise Sud-Africaine." I have published a criticism upon it in _Le Siècle;_ and in order that both sides of the question may be presented to the reader, I have asked Dr. Kuyper's authorisation to reproduce his article in a pamphlet in which I purpose to collect my own. On March 28th, Dr. Kuyper wrote me: "The copyright of my article belongs to the editor of the _Revue des Deux Mondes_, without whose permission I can do nothing. As I shall be in Paris before long I will ask him for it, should your polemic attack seem to me to require a reply." To-day Dr. Kuyper writes to me from the Grand Hotel, Paris: "I can only refer you to the person who has the power to dispose of the copyright." Since I am asked by Dr. Kuyper to make the request which he had undertaken to make himself, I will do so. I have the honour to ask you for the authorisation to publish Dr. Kuyper's article which appeared in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_ under the title of "La Crise Sud-Africaine," and to inform me of your conditions for the reproduction. YVES GUYOT. IV. M. BRUNETIÈRE'S REFUSAL. The next day I received the following from M. Brunetière: PARIS, _April 14th, 1900._ SIR, You ask me for the authorisation to publish in a pamphlet Dr. Kuyper's article which appeared in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_, under the title of "La Crise Sud-Africaine." I hasten to refuse you the authorisation. I am, Sir, etc., F. BRUNETIÈRE. In this reply I trace M. Brunetière's habitual courtesy. If I do not thank him for his refusal, I yet thank him for the promptness with which it was signified by him. It had been my desire to enable the reading public to judge for themselves the value of the arguments put forward by Dr. Kuyper and myself; but it was evidently M. Brunetière's wish that Dr. Kuyper's article should be known only to the readers of the _Revue des Deux Mondes_, and that they should remain ignorant of my reply. This is in itself a confession; for undoubtedly had Dr. Kuyper been convinced that it was impossible for me to refute his arguments he would have requested M. Brunetière to give me the authorisation to reproduce his article. V. On April 26th a telegram from the Havas Agency announced that the Queen of Holland had received the journalists of Amsterdam, of whom Dr. Kuyper is President. I therefore wrote the following letter to Mr. W.H. de Beaufort, the Dutch Minister for Foreign Affairs: PARIS, _April 27th, 1900._ TO H.E. THE MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. SIR, The Havas Agency, in a telegram, April 26, gives the following information: "Replying to a speech made by Dr. Kuyper, President of the Society of Journalists, the Queen said she had read with interest his article on the South African crisis, published in a Paris review. The Queen expressed the hope that the article would be circulated abroad, adding that she considered it important that it should be widely distributed in America." That the Queen of a constitutional government, such as that of Holland, should have spoken in this way, proves that the Cabinet is of the same mind. I trust, therefore, that I am not too bold in asking your assistance to carry out Her Majesty's intentions. I had asked Dr. Kuyper's authorisation to reproduce his article at the beginning of a pamphlet; he referred me to M. Brunetière, who with the courtesy of which he has given me so many proofs, replied: "I hasten to refuse your request." M. Brunetière's views are evidently opposed to those of the Queen of the Netherlands. It is true that the article would have been followed by my criticism, but if the arguments therein contained are irrefutable, why fear the proximity of my refutation? I beg you, therefore, to be kind enough to ask M. Brunetière to give me permission to second the views of Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands by assisting to circulate Dr. Kuyper's article. YVES GUYOT. I have published my pamphlet while awaiting M. Brunetière's reply to the Dutch Government which can hardly do otherwise than make the request, agreeing, as it does, with the views of Her Majesty. Should M. Brunetière by any chance cease to fear the proximity to Dr. Kuyper's assertions of the facts and documents published by me, I will issue a new Edition. APPENDIX C. THE LAST PRO-BOER MANIFESTATION. Since the foregoing articles were written Dr. Leyds and Mr. Boer have not been idle. M. Pierre Foncin, a General Inspector of the University, has compiled on behalf of a Society called "Le Sou des Boers," a manifesto ending thus: "Well then, since this lust of gold has resulted in war, let the gold of France be poured out in floods, in aid of the innocent victims!" In spite of considerable influence brought to bear upon this member of the University, the Committee, after some weeks' work, only managed to scrape together something like four hundred pounds. Since then, no more has been heard of it, and its place has been taken by "The Committee for the Independence of the Boers," with M. Pauliat, a Nationalist Senator, at its head. Its object was, in the first place, to organise a reception for the Boer delegates on their return from America. It was confidently expected by the promoters of the enterprise that it would afford a good opportunity for a demonstration in opposition to the Government on the fourteenth of July. The delegates were received at the Hôtel-de-Ville by the Nationalist Municipal Council, whose President, M. Grébauval, addressed them in virulent speeches, while the great square in front remained empty. The Irish Banquet which took place this year on the twelfth of July under the Presidency of Mr. Archdeacon, and which had been much talked of in 1899 at the time of the Auteuil manifestation, when President Loubet was hit with a stick by Baron Christiani, passed off amidst complete indifference. No disturbance of any kind occurred on the fourteenth of July. The Congress of the Interparliamentary Union in favour of Peace and Arbitration was to be held on the 31st of July. It was stated that the Boer delegates were going to present a memorial, whilst M. Pauliat intended to raise the Transvaal question. My answer was that I intended to be there too, and considered it of interest to treat that question. Dr. Leyds knew that the majority of the English Members of Parliament who belonged to the Congress had declared themselves against the South African war, and he anticipated that owing to their former declarations they would find it difficult not to side with the pro-Boer sympathisers. It was rather a clever idea. But on the 30th of July there was a meeting of the executive Committee composed of two members of each of the various nationalities, at which the English members declared that, if contrary to its regulations, the Transvaal question was to be discussed they were resolved to withdraw. The Committee decided to admit Mr. Wessels, formerly Speaker of the Orange Free State Parliament, simply as a member of the Congress; to oppose any discussion of the Transvaal question and to rule that the communication made by the Boer delegates was merely to be circulated among the members as individuals. My pamphlet, _La Politique Boer_, and my answer in _Le Siècle_ of the 1st of August, were also distributed. Here are a few extracts: "The manifesto of Messrs. Fisher, Wessels and Wolmarans, delegates for the South African Republics, has been a disappointment to me. I expected that these gentlemen would produce some arguments; they have contented themselves with giving us a summary of Dr. Reitz's pamphlet--"A Century of Wrongs." It ends with the same incitement to annexation, which was already to be found in the cry for help sent on the 17th of February, 1881, by the Transvaal to the Orange Free State--"Africa for the Afrikander, from the Zambesi to Simon's Bay!" The delegates recognise that the time for claiming new territories has passed; they describe themselves as a nation of mild and peace-loving men, the victims of perpetual English persecution. I do not wish to discuss their way of dealing with historical facts, about which they are not so candid as was Mr. Krüger in his 1881 manifesto, because what we are now interested in, is not that which happened in times long ago, but what has happened since the annexation of the Transvaal by England, on the 12th of April, 1877. They do not say a word of the state of anarchy then prevailing in the Transvaal, nor of its military reserves, nor of the threatening attitude of Sekukuni and Cetewayo. Whereas in the manifesto of 1881, with these facts still fresh in the memory of its author, it is said: "At the outset our military operations were not very successful. In the opinion of our opponents we were too weak to resist successfully an attack from the natives," Sir Theophilus Shepstone, unable to restore order, had finally to annex the Transvaal. This he did at the head of twenty-five policemen only. Had the Transvaal been left to itself Sekukuni's and Cetewayo's impis would have overrun the country and turned out the Boers, who, after they had been delivered from their enemies by the English, proclaimed "a war of independence" in December, 1880. The Majuba disaster, 27th of February, 1881, in which the English had 92 killed, 134 wounded, and 59 prisoners, is of course mentioned by the delegates. An English army twelve thousand strong was advancing; but though the Queen's speech referred to the fact of the annexation, Mr. Gladstone, who in his Midlothian campaign, had protested against it, agreed to the 1881 Convention in which the independence of the Transvaal under England's suzerainty was recognised. "The Boer nation," the Boer delegates say in their Memorandum, "could not bring themselves to accept the Convention; from all parts of the country protests arose against the Suzerainty clause." I admit willingly that the Boers did not abide by the Convention. In 1884, speaking in the House of Lords,--Lord Derby said: "The attitude of the Boers might constitute a _casus belli_ but as the Government were not in the mood for war, and the position of the English resident in Pretoria was anomalous," he assented to the Convention of 27th February, 1884, "by which," say the Boer delegates, "the suzerainty over the Transvaal was abolished, and the South African Republic's complete independence acknowledged." This is their contention, now for the facts." I then adverted to the events of which the XVth. and XVIth. chapters of _La Politique Boer_ give a summary. The Jameson raid is, of course, the mainstay of the delegates' argument. After showing what this is really worth, and also discussing the arbitration question, I concluded as follows: "The Memorandum shirks all the questions; documents are not referred to; there is nothing in it but assertions, which are to be accepted without discussion. It ends by mixing up what relates to the organisation and adminstration of the two Republics. But the adminstration of the Orange Free State and the adminstration of the South African Republic were quite different things. By following Krüger's policy Mr. Steyn has been guilty of a crime as well as a great political blunder. Had he remained neutral the English army would have been compelled to establish the basis of its operations much farther North, and would have been deprived of the use of the railway line to Bloemfontein. Moreover, when peace was restored, he would have remained independent. The Memorandum alludes to the prosperity of the Transvaal, but forgets to mention that the only share taken in it by the Boers has been an ever-increasing appropriation of the wealth created by the Uitlanders' industry, capital and labour. "The Memorandum mentions also the laws passed annually, but is careful to omit law No. 1 of 1897, by which Mr. Krüger was empowered to exact from the judges a declaration that decisions of the Volksraad would be enforced by them as legal enactments, whether they were in agreement with the constitutions or not, and to dismiss at a moment's notice any one of them whose response might seem to him unsatisfactory. "We have already spoken of the concluding sentences in the Memorandum. Messrs. A. Fischer, C.H. Wessels, A.D.W. Wolmarans "appeal to the _Conférence de l'Union Interparlementaire_ to take in hand their cause." The Executive Committee has, as has already been said, ruled the question out of order. This decision is not to be regretted considering the tendencies of the delegates' Memorandum; it does not help their cause any more than does Dr. Kuyper's article." M. Pauliat complained bitterly of the decision. A progressive member of the Belgian deputation, Mr. Lorand, tried to revive the question on the 2nd of August by means of the following resolution: "The tenth Conference of the Interparliamentary Union for International Arbitration now meeting in Paris being cognisant of acknowledging the resolutions of the Conference at the Hague, and being desirous to express its gratitude to all who have contributed towards its results; trusts, that in future the Powers will avail themselves of the means put at their disposal for the amicable settlement of international disputes and regret that "they have not done so" in the actual conflict between England and the South African Republics." Upon this, M. Beernaert, with all authority conferred upon him by his position as the delegate of the Belgian Government at the Hague Conference, observed that the Transvaal was not in a position to avail itself of the resolution arrived at by the Conference--because that Conference was no longer in existence, and because the Boers had not been a party to it. On his motion the words "could not do so" were inserted instead of the words "had not done so." Now why were the Boers not represented at the Hague Conference? The Queen of Holland, in whose name the invitations were issued, had undoubtedly been appealed to by them, to admit the Transvaal to the Congress in conformity with Dr. Reitz's contention that "the Transvaal had inherent rights to be an international state,"--but their request had been refused, as would have been a similar demand coming from Finland or the Bey of Tunis. The case was on all fours with that of the Vatican. When the Italian Government declared that they would not sit in the Conference if an invitation were sent to the Holy See, the Vatican was omitted. Such is the simple fact; and it is just this fact which M. Lorand and M. Beernaert brought into relief by the resolution of 2nd August. I am quite sure that that was not their intention; the fact remains, notwithstanding. APPENDIX D. SOUTH AFRICAN CRITICS. The letters written by Messrs. Labouchere, Ellis and Clark, Members of Parliament, found in Pretoria, are not of much importance to my mind. The authors were not branded as traitors by Mr. Chamberlain, he only wanted to place the letters before the public and their electors, who most likely will find these three gentlemen guilty of another offence than that of supporting Mr. Chamberlain's policy with President Krüger while they made him believe that, as they were fighting against that policy in England, there was no necessity for him to heed their advice. Their attitude in Europe was bound to nullify the effect of the warnings they were sending to Africa. It is astounding to see sedate men contradict themselves in that way. I cannot help wondering at Dr. Clark boasting on the 27th of September that owing to his endeavours Mr. Stead's pamphlet was widely circulated, though, according to his words, "Mr. Stead had to the last moment been our enemy." The fact is that Mr. Stead had met Dr. Leyds (he went on meeting him during the war), and had been persuaded to drop Cecil Rhodes and Jameson in spite of his former praise of them. The publicity given to these letters does evidently not give weight to the opinion of the writers or Mr. Stead either; the interest of the Blue Book on "Correspondence relating to the recent Political Situation in South Africa" does not lie that way, but it lies in the opinion and advice of an Afrikander--to be found in Sir H. de Villiers' letters--he being the Speaker of the House in Cape Colony, Chief Justice, and one of the leaders of the Afrikander party. Sir Henry de Villiers has been often taken to task for being a partisan of the Boers, he cannot, therefore, be suspected of biassed ideas in favour of Great Britain. Some extracts of the letters he wrote to President Steyn on the 21st of May to Mr. Fischer and to his brother Mr. Melius de Villiers on the 31st of July, then on the 28th September, twelve days before the ultimatum was sent by Mr. Krüger, show to what extent he appreciated the latter's policy. His opinion carries all the more weight as he was one of the delegates to negotiate the 1881 Convention. On the 21st of May, he says: "I am quite certain that if in 1881 it had been known to my fellow Commissioners that the President would adopt his retrogressive policy, neither President Brand nor I would ever have induced them to consent to sign the Convention. They would have advised the Secretary of State to let matters revert to the condition in which they were before peace was concluded; in other words, to recommence the war." Here are his views on the actual situation: "On my recent visit to Pretoria I did not visit the President as I considered it hopeless to think of making any impression on him, but I saw Reitz, Smuts and Schalk Burger, who, I thought, would be amenable to argument, but I fear that either my advice had no effect on them, or else their opinion had no weight with the President. "I urged upon them to advise the President to open the Volksraad with promises of a liberal franchise and drastic reforms. "It would have been so much better if these had come voluntarily from the Government instead of being gradually forced from them. In the former case they would rally the greater number of the malcontents around them, in the latter case no gratitude will be felt to the Republic for any concessions made by it. Besides, there can be no doubt that as the alien population increases, as it undoubtedly will, their demands will increase with their discontent, and ultimately a great deal more will have to be conceded than will now satisfy them. The franchise proposals made by the President seems to be simply ridiculous. "I have always been a well-wisher to the Republic, and if I had any influence with the President I would advise him no longer to sit on the boiler to prevent it from bursting. Some safety-valves are required for the activities of the new population. In their irritation they abuse the Government, often unjustly, in the press, and send petitions to the Queen, but that was only to be expected. Let the Transvaal Legislature give them a liberal franchise and allow them local self-government for their towns and some portion of the discontent will be allayed." This, I beg to observe, is exactly what I said at the time when people in Europe who called themselves friends of the Boers yet are only Dr. Leyds' friends or rather dupes urged upon Mr. Krüger the expediency of going on with his mistaken and retrograde policy, and continental diplomatists assured him that he might with impunity disregard the claims of the Uitlanders and England's warnings. Those who have never condescended to read the Blue Book or the short chapter in this pamphlet, in which an analysis of this Blue Book is given are never tired of referring to concessions and franchise schemes proffered by Mr. Krüger. What does Sir Henry de Villiers say about it! "The franchise proposal made by the President seems to be simply ridiculous." To Mr. Krüger he sent the English Enactment of 1870 on Naturalisation, and urged him to have it adopted. Is not this an answer to those who contended that England "would not be satisfied with what she offered the Transvaal?" At the same time his lack of confidence in the Volksraad's promises is shown here: "I fear there would always still be a danger of the Volksraad revoking the gift before it has come into operation." His second letter is dated 31st of July, more than six weeks after the Bloemfontein Conference. He writes to Mr. Fischer who acted as go-between the Cape Afrikanders and President Krüger. Mr. Chamberlain had requested that a mixed Commission be appointed to enquire into the merits of the franchise law, passed in accordance with Mr. Krüger's proposals. Here is Sir Henry de Villiers' judgment upon Mr. Krüger's and Mr. Chamberlain's proceedings. "I am convinced Mr. Krüger's friends must now regret they did not recommend to President Krüger three months ago, as I strongly urged, to offer voluntarily a liberal franchise bill with such safeguards as would prevent the old burghers from being swamped. "Mr. Chamberlain's speech was more moderate than I expected it would be, and as he holds out an olive branch in the form of a joint enquiry into the franchise proposals, would it not be well to meet him in this matter? I know that it might be regarded as a _partial_ surrender." The last sentence runs as follows: "I don't think that President Krüger and his friends realise the gravity of the situation. Even now the State Secretary is doing things which would be almost farcical if the times were not so serious." According to Sir Henry telegrams were suppressed by Dr. Reitz on the plea that "the Government should not disseminate lies by its own wires." Mr. de Villiers added: "The Transvaal will soon not have a single friend left among the cultivated classes." Events have proved he had a better opinion of them than they deserved. He goes on with the following: "The time really has come when the friends of the Transvaal must induce President Krüger to become perfectly frank and take the new comers into his confidence." And ends with saying again: "As one who signed the Convention in 1881 I can assure you that my fellow Commissioners would not have signed it if they had not been led to believe that President Krüger's policy towards the Uitlanders would have been very different from what it has been." In a letter written the same day to his brother Melius, one can see in what fool's paradise Dr. Reitz and his colleagues were living: "When I was in the Transvaal three months ago, I found that Reitz and others had the most extraordinary notions of the powers and duties of a Cape Ministry in case of war. They are Ministers of the Crown, and it will be their duty to afford every possible assistance to the British Government. Under normal conditions a responsible Ministry is perfectly independent in matters of internal concern, but in case of war they are bound to place all the resources of the Colony at the disposal of the British Crown; at least, if they did not do so, they would be liable to dismissal." Here is his opinion on the proceedings in the House of Commons: "The debate which took place in the House of Commons since I last wrote to you satisfies me that the British nation is now determined to settle the Transvaal business in a manner satisfactory to themselves. "I accordingly begged of Krüger's friends to put the matter to him in this way: On the one side there is war with England--on the other side there are concessions which will avoid war or occupation of the country. Now decide at once how far you will ultimately go; adopt the English five years' franchise--offer it voluntarily to the Uitlanders--make them your friends, be a far-sighted statesman, and you will have a majority of the Uitlanders with you when they become Burghers. The answer I got was: 'We have done too much already and cannot do more.'" One is aware of the fact that Mr. Krüger contended that the _non_-English Uitlanders would side with him. Sir Henry Villiers writes: "I have never been able to understand why Krüger never attempted to take the Uitlanders into his confidence. He has always kept them at arm's length with the result that he has entirely alienated them. It is said that there are 21,000 Uitlanders in Johannesburg who support him, and yet no meeting has been held at Johannesburg to compare with the meetings held by his opponents. "Why should he not appoint as one of his nominees an Uitlander of position, whose integrity and judgment he has confidence in? If none such exists, it would only be a proof of his want of tact and statesmanship in not rallying such people to his side." Mr. Melius de Villiers who was in Bloemfontein, while paying due attention to his brother's warnings, wanted only to persuade Krüger to yield for the time being. Forwarding his brother's letter he wrote to Mr. Fischer: "Please impress upon Oom Paul what I think is an important fact, namely, that the present Ministry in England will not always last. "By giving way now, we do not do so in perpetuity; but I feel assured a Liberal Ministry will be willing to reconsider the relations of the South African Republic to England, and even to revoke the Convention of London." "Africa for the Afrikander, from the Zambezi to Simon's Bay" remained the motto, only Mr. de Villiers looked to the future for its realization. Yet Mr. Krüger sticks to his policy of deceit taking back what had been already granted. Mr. de Villiers is down upon the summary and arrogant way with which reasonable offers have been rejected, and alluded to the despatch of the 21st of August in which proposals made in the despatch of the 19th are declared to be subordinate to the abandonment of suzeranity rights and acceptance of the principle of arbitration for pending questions. On the 28th of September Mr. de Villiers appeals to Mr. Fischer for the last time:-- "Supposing a war does take place, is there any chance of the Transvaal obtaining better terms when the war is over? The war will not cease until the Transvaal is entirely subjugated. What will the position of the Republics then be? "The very best friends of the Transvaal feel that the Bill providing for the seven years' franchise is not a fair or workable measure. "I am assuming, of course, that the proposals are such as can be accepted without dishonour. "I confess I look with horror on a war to be fought by Afrikanders to bolster up President Krüger's régime. I could understand a war in defence of the South African Republic after it has made reasonable concessions to the demands of the new-comers, and after it has displayed the same desire to secure good government as is seen in the Orange Free State; but of such a desire I have not seen the faintest trace." He alludes again to the doings of Dr. Reitz and Smuts:-- "I have carefully read the latest correspondence, and I am by no means satisfied that the British Resident was guilty of a breach of faith. The utmost I would say is that there was a misunderstanding. The dispatch of the 21st August seems to me to have been wholly unnecessary, unless something happened between the 19th and 21st which led the Transvaal Government to think they had yielded too much. I have heard it said that between those dates a cablegram from Dr. Leyds gave hopes of European intervention...." Does this telegram exist? It is indeed likely. At any rate the responsibility of the war rests upon those who--be they diplomatists or journalists--have deluded Dr. Leyds to that extent. And the blood which is now shed is on the head of those who still try and persuade the Boers that Russia, Germany, or France is going to interfere. In _Le Siècle_ of the 3rd September, extracts from the "Blue Book" have been printed. We also find there letters from the 11th of March, 1898, up to the 8th of May, 1899, written by Mr. J.X. Merriman, the Cape Treasurer during the Schreiner Ministry. As he is one of the leaders of the irreconcilable Afrikander group he cannot be suspected of undue sympathy towards England. In his first letter to Mr. Steyn a year before the Uitlanders had petitioned for a redress, fourteen months before the Bloemfontein Conference, eighteen months before the declaration of war, the following passage is to be found:-- "Yet one cannot conceal the fact that the greatest danger to the future lies in the attitude of President Krüger and his vain hope of building up a State on a foundation of a narrow unenlightened minority, and his obstinate rejection of all prospect of using the materials which lie ready to his hand to establish a true Republic on a broad liberal basis. The report of recent discussions in the Volksraad on his finances and their mismanagement fill one with apprehension. Such a state of affairs cannot last, it must break down from inherent rottenness, and it will be well if the fall does not sweep away the freedom of all of us. "I write in no hostility to the Republics: my own feelings are all in the opposite direction; but the foes of that form of government are too often those of their own household. I am quite sure that you have done what you can in modifying the attitude at Pretoria; but I entreat you, for the welfare of South Africa, to persevere, however unsatisfactory it may be to see your advice flouted and your motives so cruelly misrepresented by a section of colonists. "Humanly speaking, the advice and good will of the Free State is the only thing that stands between the South African Republic and a catastrophe." Alluding to the Kotzé incident, the upshot of which was that Krüger and the Volksraad claimed the right to overrun judicial decisions, he writes: "The radical fault is the utter incapacity of the body that affects to issue its mandates to the Courts. In England it is a Parliament, but then it represents the intelligence of the country, and in Switzerland the same; in the Transvaal it is a narrow oligarchy." In a letter dated 1st January, 1899, President Krüger is depicted as follows: "I had the opportunity the other day of a long talk, or rather several talks, with Lippert about the Transvaal. He takes a very sane view of matters there, and is very hopeless. He represents Krüger--as others describe him--as more dogged and bigoted than ever, and surrounded by a crew of self-seekers who prevent him from seeing straight. He has no one to whom he turns for advice, and he is so inflated as to have the crazy belief that he (Krüger) is born to bring about peace between Germany and France!" Mr. Merriman is confident that the Orange Free State will interfere (Mr. Steyn was alas, so blind as to fall in with Mr. Krüger's temper instead of smoothing it down), and says: "Is there no opportunity of bringing about a _rapprochement_ between us, in which the Free State might play the part of honest broker?" "_Us_" here means Cape Colony and Orange Free State. Having spoken of matters of general interest for South Africa, of uniform custom duties, etc., he ends by saying: "The deplorable confusion and maladministration of his financial arrangements still continue, and are a standing menace to the peace of South Africa. Yet, judging from the utterances of the leading men from the Rand who come down here, a very moderate reform would satisfy all except those who do not want to be satisfied, and, I believe, there is very little sympathy for the mischievous agitation that, rightly or wrongly, is attributed to the designs of Rhodes and Beit." On the 26th of May, 1899, on the eve of the Bloemfontein Conference, he writes to Mr. Fischer, prompter and organiser of the Conference, foreseeing the results of the policy advocated by Dr. Leyds: " ... but there is, of course, an even worse prospect, namely, that misrepresentation may goad Great Britain into a position where, _with the concurrence and invitation of the other powers_, she might feel obliged, even at the risk of enormous military outlay, to cut the Gordian knot. You will probably say, as I certainly say, 'where is the _casus belli_,' and refuse to believe it possible to imagine such a contingency. Unfortunately, you and I, who keep our heads, must not ignore the fact that an immense number of people seem to have lost theirs and are ready, without reflection or examination, to accept the highly-coloured statements of a partisan press." He mentions the maladministration in the Transvaal several months before he had written to Mr. Smuts, asking for detailed account of the money granted by the Boer Government to Johannesburg but without getting an answer. "Of course I know from previous correspondence that you and the President are not disposed to minimize the blots on the administration of the South African Republic, the weak points in the Constitution, and the ignorance and laxity that prevails in financial matters. To do so would be to fatally complicate the situation. "I am sure that you will, and I most strongly urge you to use your utmost influence to bear on President Krüger to concede some colourable measure of reform, not so much in the interests of outsiders as in those of his own State. "Granted that he does nothing. What is the future? His Boers, the backbone of the country, are perishing off the land; hundreds have become impoverished loafers, landless hangers-on of the town population. In his own interests he should recruit his Republic with new blood--and the sands are running out. I say this irrespective of agitation about Uitlanders. The fabric will go to pieces of its own accord unless something is done." Such is the opinion of Mr. Merriman, a friend of the Transvaal, yet every day in Europe one is told that its misfortunes are due to the Uitlanders. Mr. Merriman thought on the contrary that it was necessary to ask them to come forward and help the State out of its ruinous course. "Surely it would be better to come forward now and earn the gratitude of South Africa by a comprehensive and liberal measure than to have the State torn and distracted by constant irritation and bad blood. A moderate franchise reform and municipal privileges would go far to satisfy any reasonable people, while a maintenance of the oath ought to be a sufficient safeguard against the swamping of the old population. "President Krüger should reflect that nine out of ten people that receive the franchise will be supporters of the Republic in which they will have an interest, and that he will, by granting liberal reforms, disarm all opposition provoked. "Try and persuade President Krüger to confer a benefit on the whole of South Africa by granting a broad measure of reform, and you will have done the best day's work any statesman ever did in South Africa." Two months after the declaration of war, while the Boers' military operations were somehow successful he wrote to Mr. Piet de Wet also a member of the Cape Parliament--"it is hopeless...." "If the Republics had not made the fatal mistake of sending the ultimatum when they did, things would have gone differently; but it is of no use going back on what might have been." His letter had no effect upon Mr. de Wet, who now is under trial for high treason along with three other Members of the House. There are other letters, among them one written by Mr. Te Water, who left the Schreiner Ministry. In a speech delivered at Graaff-Reinet some time ago he has declared that the Cape Government ought not to have allowed the railway lines to be used by English troops. Yet in a letter to President Steyn on the 8th of May, 1899, he asked him to put pressure upon "our friends in Pretoria" to adopt conciliatory measures. Alluding to the impending Conference he writes:-- "In your position you as go-between can do endless good towards arriving at an understanding at such Conference. I know well that there is a party who will do everything possible to prevent this." Nevertheless he also is in favour of the policy advocated by Mr. Melius de Villiers:-- "We must now play to win time. Governments are not perpetual. It is honestly now the time to yield a little, however one may later again tighten the rope." This shows how this former Minister at the Cape meant to abide by Conventions. How Mr. Krüger did abide by the Conventions of 1881 and 1884 is a well-known fact. No wonder if England was suspicious of the "ridiculous proposals," to use Mr. de Villiers' phrase, offered by President Krüger. The letters written by Mr. Te Water and Mr. Melius de Villiers show that there was good reason for suspicion. These letters show also what responsibility has been assumed by the members of the Liberal party who sided so eagerly with Mr. Krüger and by those who, like Mr. Stead, backed at first Mr. Rhodes' policy with all their might (so Mr. Clark wrote to General Joubert, Mr. Krüger, and President Steyn) and were blind enough to imagine that their party was strong enough to elbow out the Government and revert to Mr. Gladstone's policy after Majuba. Had they been more far-sighted they would have recognised that the Transvaal had since 1881 condemned itself, and that no Ministry, be it Liberal or Conservative, could follow again in the steps of Mr. Gladstone. * * * * * Since President Krüger has left the Transvaal, and Botha is negotiating for a surrender, the pacification of the Transvaal needs no more war operation, it has become a mere question of police arrangements. Nevertheless Dr. Leyds is still as active as ever. He reminds us of the Spanish Ministers who when they got the news that the Spanish fleet had been annihilated by Dewey, manufactured forthwith a report to the effect that Americans had suffered a defeat at the hands of the Spaniards. _Le Petit Bleu_ does the same. The announcement--English troops retreating--appeared in a marginal note the very day that Lydenburg was taken. On Tuesday, 11th September, _L'Eclair_ made the following announcement: "London, 10th September, Prince Henry sails back to Germany. From well-informed quarters I learn that the main object of the German Emperor's brother's visit was to discuss the ways and means of preserving Transvaal independence." Eight days previous to this Dr. Leyds had tried to make the world believe that he had come to an understanding with the Czar. In both cases the object aimed at was obvious. Yet though the Dreyfus affair has taught me the all-powerful and far-reaching influence of a lie, I confess that Dr. Leyds is a puzzle to me. But his work is at an end now. He may have succeeded cleverly in deceiving Krüger and Steyn what the European Powers really meant to do, or in giving those same Powers garbled accounts of the state of affairs in the Transvaal, and the true bearings of the Bloemfontein negotiation, yet the fact remains that it is mainly through him that the South African Republics have lost their independence. He could not like Mr. Krüger, excuse himself upon being led astray by blind and ignorant patriotism. He knew well enough how far the very help he depicted as forthcoming could be depended upon, he knew that England was bound to win in the long run, but there was only one thing which he cared for; to make people in Europe believe that he had an important part to play in the political arena. The war came as a welcome diversion to an endurable position. And now that his country's interests have been entirely sacrificed to his own, he may look upon his work with satisfaction. APPENDIX E. THE TRANSVAAL AND THE PEACE CONFERENCE HELD IN PARIS FROM SEPTEMBER 30TH TO OCTOBER 5TH, 1900. SITTING OF OCTOBER 1ST. In the English section of the Peace Conference the most prominent members of which were Dr. Clarke, Mr. Moscheles and Mr. Alexander, the following resolutions had been unanimously adopted to be proposed at the Peace Conference: "That according to the report sent by the Berne International Bureau it has come to the knowledge of the International Peace Congress, that: (_a_) "The British Government steadily opposed various attempts made with the object to submit the South African difficulties to arbitration. (_b_) "Arbitration was eagerly accepted by the South African Republics, who had repeatedly asked for it, therefore, the International Peace Congress feels compelled to arrive at the following conclusions: 1st. "Of the two opponents the one who declined arbitration, _i.e._, the British Government is responsible for the war in South Africa. 2nd. "As long as arbitration can possibly be resorted to the appeal to arms is tantamount to being guilty of a crime against civilisation and humanity; therefore, 3rd. "The application of brutal force by Great Britain so as to end their quarrel with the South African Republics deserves an everlasting blame for what must be considered as an outrage against human conscience, and a betrayal of the cause of progress and humanity." Then a lengthy discussion arose, in the course of which M. Yves Guyot quoted facts in contradiction to the assertions which the proposed resolution contained. That resolution was passed in principle by the Congress Commission of Actuality, with the proviso that some words should be left out as being too offensive. For instance the words: _an outrage_ or a _reprehensible attempt_ against the right of nations should be substituted for _a crime_ against civilisation. The former version was adopted and submitted to the Congress by the Commission, whilst soliciting its opinion on the text of the proposition and of its bearings. After the English delegates had exposed their views, M. Yves Guyot rose and said that he considered it his duty, as a member of the Congress Committee of Patronage, not only to find fault with the proposals of the Commission in their details, _but to object also to the spirit as well as to the letter of the resolution_. "Looking at actual facts", said Mr. Yves Guyot, "it was not true that arbitration had been accepted by the Governments of the South African Republics. The acceptance, if any, had been hedged in by all sorts of restrictions, for instance, in making it conditional that England should drop the suzerainty, a condition which Her British Majesty's Government could not accept. True, arbitration was mentioned. But arbitration of what kind? about what? Could England recognise the right which the Boers had given themselves, to violate over and over again the Conventions of 1881 and 1884? "Really it was astounding to see such an amount of sympathy wasted on people who had constantly set at naught Art. 14 of the 1884 Convention with respect to the Uitlanders, who had come and brought them civilisation, energy and wealth. "A retrospect history of the Boers would quickly show that their hatred of the English was in the first place due to the protection which the latter had given to the natives. It is clearly apparent from documents dealing with the Bloemfontein Conference, that when Mr. Krüger brought forward the arbitration question he merely meant to throw dust into the public's eyes. Now he (M. Yves Guyot) considered it to the interest of the Congress to point out that its members, generous-minded as they were, were irresponsible people. What authority did they attribute to resolutions, blame and reproach, addressed to governments who are themselves responsible for the destinies of their countries? "Their resolution might be couched in words as strong as they liked, but what effective sanction could they give it? Was it not to be feared rather that by its very violence their language might fan the flames, or rake the embers of new conflicts instead of making its peaceful influence felt?" M. Guyot's speech was listened to with silent and earnest attention, though now and then objections were heard. Then after Dr. Clark, Mr. Frederic Passy, Mr. Moscheles and Mr. Arnaud had made their observations the final decision was put off till the next day. On the 2nd of October the Russian delegate, Mr. Nevicow, read the text of the resolution as it had been amended by the commission: _Motion of the Commission._ "The Ninth International Peace Congress after hearing the report on the events of the year sent by the Berne Bureau, though without pretending to assume the right to pass judgment on the policy of a friendly nation unless it should be to affirm publicly the everlasting principles of international justice, declares that: 1st. "The responsibility of the war which is now devastating South Africa lies with the Government which refused several times to countenance arbitration, that is with the British Government. 2nd. "The English Government by ignoring the principles of right and justice, which have been the glory of the great British nation, _i.e._, by refusing to arbitrate and indulging in threats which were bound fatally to lead to war, whereas the difficulties might have been solved by judicial means, has committed an outrage against the rights of nations, of such a nature as to check the pacific evolutions of humanity. 3rd. "The Congress equally regrets that, the majority of the Governments represented at the Hague Conference, had not taken any steps to assure the respect of resolutions which were to them an undertaking of honour. 4th. "The Congress considers that it is advisable to appeal to public opinion as regards the Transvaal. 5th. "The Congress expresses its profound sympathy and admiration to the English members of the Congress for the manliness of their declarations, and it hopes that under similar circumstances their example will be followed by other nations." Mr. Jaffe, of London, alluding to public opinion in England, said that arbitration could only be resorted to by sovereign powers, that the Transvaal was not a sovereign power, and also that any judgment arrived at by arbitration on the various points in dispute between England and the Transvaal, would have been difficult to execute. Mr. Jaffe referred to the approval, almost unanimous, with which the war was looked upon in England and her Colonies; it had provoked great enthusiasm, and it would be a mistake to hurt the feelings of a whole nation. The wording of the resolution as proposed by the Commission was adopted by all the members but one. Mr. Lafontaine, Belgium, proposed to add another resolution which ran as follows: "The congress hopes that the crime or to use the corrected phrase, the error of depriving the South African Republics of their existence and independence will not be committed definitely; it makes an earnest appeal to civilised governments to intervene as mediators in favour of the two Republics." After various observations had been made by Mr. Giretti (Italy), Hodgson Pratt, Frederic Passy and Moscheles (the English delegates) the proposition was rejected by 170 votes against 60. LONDON: BOYLE, SON & WATCHURST, PRINTERS, WARWICK SQUARE, E.C. 
14299	----	NATIVE RACES AND THE WAR, BY JOSEPHINE E. BUTLER. LONDON: GAY & BIRD. NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE: MAWSON, SWAN, & MORGAN. 1900. DEDICATED TO MY CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN. I. APOLOGY FOR "YET ANOTHER BOOK" ON THE SOUTH AFRICAN QUESTION. FUTURE PEACE MUST BE BASED ON JUSTICE,--TO COLOURED AS WELL AS WHITE MEN. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LEGALIZED SLAVERY AND THE SUBJECTION OF NATIVES BY INDIVIDUALS. THE TRANSVAAL IN 1877: ITS BANKRUPTCY: ITS ANNEXATION BY GREAT BRITAIN: ITS LIBERATION FROM GREAT BRITAIN IN 1881. CONVENTION OF 1881 SIGNED AT PRETORIA. BRITISH COMMISSIONERS' AUDIENCE WITH 300 NATIVE CHIEFS. SPEECHES AND SORROWFUL PROTESTS OF THE CHIEFS. ROYAL COMMISSION APPOINTED TO TAKE EVIDENCE. EVIDENCE OF NATIVES AND OTHERS CONCERNING SLAVERY IN THE TRANSVAAL. APPEAL OF THE CHRISTIAN KING KHAMA. LETTER OF M'PLAANK, NEPHEW OF CETEWAYO. PREVALENCE OF CONTEMPT FOR THE NATIVE RACES. SYMPATHY OF A NATIVE CHIEF WITH THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. In the midst of the manifold utterances and discussions on the burning question of to-day,--the War in South Africa,--there is one side of the subject which, it seems to me, has not as yet been considered with the seriousness which it deserves,--and that is the question of Slavery, and of the treatment of the native races of South Africa. Though this question has not yet in England or on the Continent been cited as one of the direct causes of the war, I am convinced,--as are many others,--that it lies very near to the heart of the present trouble. The object of this paper is simply to bring witnesses together who will testify to the past and present condition of the native races under British, Dutch, and Transvaal rule. These witnesses shall not be all of one nation; they shall come from different countries, and among them there shall be representatives of the native peoples themselves. I shall add little of my own to the testimony of these witnesses. But I will say, in advance, that what I desire to make plain for some sincere persons who are perplexed, is this,--that where a Government has established by Law the principle of the complete and final abolition of Slavery, and made its practice illegal for all time,--as our British Government has done,--there is hope for the native races;--there is always hope that, by an appeal to the law and to British authority, any and every wrong done to the natives, which approaches to or threatens the reintroduction of slavery, shall be redressed. The Abolition of Slavery, enacted by our Government in 1834, was the proclamation of a great principle, strong and clear, a straight line by which every enactment dealing with the question, and every act of individuals, or groups of individuals, bearing on the liberty of the natives can be measured, and any deviation from that straight line of principle can be exactly estimated and judged. When we speak of injustice done to the natives by the South African Republics, we are apt to be met with the reproach that the English have also been guilty of cruelty to native races. This is unhappily true, and shall not be disguised in the following pages;--but mark this,--that it is true of certain individuals bearing the English name, true of groups of individuals, of certain adventurers and speculators. But this fact does not touch the far more important and enduring fact that _wherever British rule is established, slavery is abolished, and illegal_. This fact is the ground of the hope for the future of the Missionaries of our own country, and of other European countries, as well as of the poor natives themselves, so far as they have come to understand the matter; and in several instances they have shown that they do understand it, and appreciate it keenly. Those English persons, or groups of persons, who have denied to the native labourers their hire (which is the essence of slavery), have acted on their own responsibility, and _illegally_. This should be made to be clearly understood in future conditions of peace, and rendered impossible henceforward. That future peace which we all desire, on the cessation of the present grievous war, must be a peace founded on justice, for there is no other peace worthy of the name; and it must be not only justice as between white men, but as between white men and men of every shade of complexion. A speaker at a public meeting lately expressed a sentiment which is more or less carelessly repeated by many. I quote it, as helping me to define the principle to which I have referred, which marks the difference between an offence or crime committed by an individual _against_ the law, and an offence or crime sanctioned, permitted, or enacted by a State or Government itself, or by public authority in any way. This speaker, after confessing, apparently with reluctance, that "the South African Republic had not been stainless in its relations towards the blacks," added, "but for these deeds--every one of them--we could find a parallel among our own people." I think a careful study of the history of the South African races would convince this speaker that he has exaggerated the case as against "our own people" in the matter of deliberate cruelty and violence towards the natives. However that may be, it does not alter the fact of the wide difference between the evil deeds of men acting on their own responsibility and the evil deeds of Governments, and of Communities in which the Governmental Authorities do not forbid, but sanction, such actions. As an old Abolitionist, who has been engaged for thirty years in a war against slavery in another form, may I be allowed to cite a parallel? That Anti-slavery War was undertaken against a Law introduced into England, which endorsed, permitted, and in fact, legalized, a moral and social slavery already existing--a slavery to the vice of prostitution. The pioneers of the opposition to this law saw the tremendous import, and the necessary consequences of such a law. They had previously laboured to lessen the social evil by moral and spiritual means, but now they turned their whole attention to obtaining the abolition of the disastrous enactment which took that evil under its protection. They felt that the action of Government in passing that law brought the whole nation (which is responsible for its Government) under a sentence of guilt--a sentence of moral death. It lifted off from the shoulders of individuals, in a measure, the moral responsibility which God had laid upon them, and took that responsibility on its own shoulders, as representing the whole nation; it foreshadowed a national blight. My readers know that we destroyed that legislation after a struggle of eighteen years. In the course of that long struggle, we were constantly met by an assertion similar in spirit to that made by the speaker to whom I have referred; and to this day we are met by it in certain European countries. They say to us, "But for every scandal proceeding from this social vice, which you cite as committed under the system of Governmental Regulation and sanction, we can find a parallel in the streets of London, where no Governmental sanction exists." We are constantly taunted with this, and possibly we may have to admit its truth in a measure. But our accusers do not see the immense difference between Governmental and individual responsibility in this vital matter, neither do they see how additionally hard, how hopeless, becomes the position of the slave who, under the Government sanction, has no appeal to the law of the land; an appeal to the Government which is itself an upholder of slavery, is impossible. The speaker above cited concluded by saying: "The best precaution against the abuse of power on the part of whites living amidst a coloured population is to make the punishment of misdeeds come home to the persons who are guilty of those misdeeds; and if he could but get his countrymen to act up to that view he believed we should really have a better prospect for the future of South Africa than we had had in the past." With this sentiment I am entirely in accord. It is our hope that the present national awakening on the whole subject of our position and responsibilities in South Africa will--in case of the re-establishment of peace under the principles of British rule--result in a change in the condition of the native races, both in the Transvaal, and at the hands of our countrymen and others who may be acting in their own interests, or in the interests of Commercial Societies. I do not intend to sketch anything approaching to a history of South African affairs during the last seventy or eighty years; that has been ably done by others, writing from both the British and the Boer side. I shall only attempt to trace the condition of certain native tribes in connection with some of the most salient events in South Africa of the century which is past. In 1877, as my readers know, the Transvaal was annexed by Sir Theophilus Shepstone. There are very various opinions as to the justice of that annexation. I will only here remark that it was at the earnest solicitation of the Transvaal leaders of that date that an interference on the part of the British Commissioner was undertaken. The Republic was in a state of apparently hopeless anarchy, owing to constant conflicts with warlike native tribes around and in the heart of the country. The exchequer was exhausted. By the confession of the President (Burgers) the country was on the verge of bankruptcy.[1] The acceptance of the annexation was not unanimous, but it was accepted formally in a somewhat sullen and desponding spirit, as a means of averting further impending calamity and restoring a measure of order and peace. Whether this justified or not the act of annexation I do not pretend to judge. The results, however, for the Republic were for the time, financial relief and prosperity, and better treatment of the natives. The financial condition of the country, as I have said, at the time of the annexation, was one of utter bankruptcy. "After three years of British rule, however, the total revenue receipts for the first quarter of 1879 and 1880 amounted to £22,773 and £47,982 respectively. That is to say, that, during the last year of British rule, the revenue of the country more than doubled itself, and amounted to about £160,000 a year, taking the quarterly returns at the low average of £40,000."[2] Trade, also, which in April, 1877, was completely paralysed, had increased enormously. In the middle of 1879, the committee of the Transvaal Chamber of Commerce pointed out that the trade of the country had in two years risen to the sum of two millions sterling per annum. They also pointed out that more than half the land-tax was paid by Englishmen and other Europeans. In 1881, the Transvaal (under Mr. Gladstone's administration) was liberated from British control. It was given back to its own leaders, under certain conditions, agreed to and solemnly signed by the President. These are the much-discussed conditions of the Convention of 1881, one of these conditions being that Slavery should be abolished. This condition was indeed, insisted on in every agreement or convention made between the British Government and the Boers; the first being that of 1852, called the Sand River Convention; the second, a convention entered into two years later called the Bloemfontein Convention (which created the Orange Free State); a third agreement as to the cessation of Slavery was entered into at the period of the Annexation, 1877; a fourth was the Convention of 1881; a fifth the Convention of 1884. I do not here speak of the other terms of these Conventions, I only remark that in each a just treatment of the native races was demanded and agreed to. The retrocession of the Transvaal in 1881 has been much lauded as an act of magnanimity and justice. There is no doubt that the motive which prompted it was a noble and generous one; yet neither is there any doubt, that in certain respects, the results of that act were unhappy, and were no doubt unanticipated. It was on the natives, whose interests appeared to have had no place in the generous impulses of Mr. Gladstone, that the action of the British Government fell most heavily, most mournfully. In this matter, it must be confessed that the English Government broke faith with the unhappy natives, to whom it had promised protection, and who so much needed it. In this, as in many other matters, our country, under successive Governments, has greatly erred; at times neglecting responsibilities to her loyal Colonial subjects, and at other times interfering unwisely. In one matter, England has, however, been consistent, namely, in the repeated proclamations that Slavery should never be permitted under her rule and authority. The formal document of agreement between Her Majesty's Government and the Boer leaders, known as the Convention of 1881, was signed by both parties at Pretoria on the afternoon of the 3rd August, in the same room in which, nearly four years before, the Annexation Proclamation was signed by Sir T. Shepstone. This formality was followed by a more unpleasant duty for the Commissioners appointed to settle this business, namely, the necessity of conveying their message to the natives, and informing them that they had been handed back by Great Britain, "poor Canaanites," to the tender mercies of their masters, the "Chosen people," in spite of the despairing appeals which many of them had made to her. Some three hundred of the principal native chiefs were called together in the Square at Pretoria, and there the English Commissioner read to them the proclamation of Queen Victoria. Sir Hercules Robinson, the Chief Commissioner, having "introduced the native chiefs to Messrs. Kruger, Pretorius, and Joubert," having given them good advice as to indulging in manual labour when asked to do so by the Boers, and having reminded them that it would be necessary to retain the law relating to Passes, which is, in the hands of a people like the Boers, almost as unjust a regulation as a dominant race can invent for the oppression of a subject people, concluded by assuring them that their "interests would never be forgotten or neglected by Her Majesty's Government." Having read this document, the Commission hastily withdrew, and after their withdrawal the Chiefs were "allowed" to state their opinions to the Secretary for Native Affairs. In availing themselves of this permission, it is noticeable that no allusion was made by the Chiefs to the advantages they were to reap under the Convention. All their attention was given to the great fact that the country had been ceded to the Boers, and that they were no longer the Queen's subjects. I beg attention to the following appeals from the hearts of these oppressed people. They got very excited, and asked whether it was thought that they had no feelings or hearts, that they were thus treated as a stick or piece of tobacco, which could be passed from hand to hand without question. Umgombarie, a Zoutpansberg Chief, said: "I am Umgombarie. I have fought with the Boers, and have many wounds, and they know that what I say is true. I will never consent to place myself under their rule. I belong to the English Government. I am not a man who eats with both sides of his jaw at once; I only use one side. I am English. I have said." Silamba said: "I belong to the English. I will never return under the Boers. You see me, a man of my rank and position; is it right that such as I should be seized and laid on the ground and flogged, as has been done to me and other Chiefs?" Sinkanhla said: "We hear and yet do not hear, we cannot understand. We are troubling you, Chief, by talking in this way; we hear the Chiefs say that the Queen took the country because the people of the country wished it, and again, that the majority of the owners of the country did not wish her rule, and that therefore the country was given back. We should like to have the man pointed out from among us black people who objects to the rule of the Queen. We are the real owners of the country; we were here when the Boers came, and without asking leave, settled down and treated us in every way badly. The English Government then came and took the country; we have now had four years of rest, and peaceful and just rule. We have been called here to-day, and are told that the country, our country, has been given to the Boers by the Queen. This is a thing which surprises, us. Did the country, then, belong to the Boers? Did it not belong to our fathers and forefathers before us, long before the Boers came here? We have heard that the Boers' country is at the Cape. If the Queen wishes to give them their land, why does she not give them back the Cape?" Umyethile said: "We have no heart for talking. I have returned to the country from Sechelis, where I had to fly from Boer oppression. Our hearts are black and heavy with grief to-day at the news told us. We are in agony; our intestines are twisting and writhing inside of us, just as you see a snake do when it is struck on the head. We do not know what has become of us, but we feel dead. It may be that the Lord may change the nature of the Boers, and that we will not be treated like dogs and beasts of burden as formerly; but we have no hope of such a change, and we leave you with heavy hearts and great apprehension as to the future."[3] In his Report, Mr. Shepstone (Secretary for Native Affairs) says, "One chief, Jan Sibilo, who had been personally threatened with death by the Boers after the English should leave, could not restrain his feelings, but cried like a child." In 1881, the year of the retrocession of the Transvaal, a Royal Commission was appointed from England to enquire into the internal state of affairs in the South African Republic. On the 9th May of that year, an affidavit was sworn to before that Commission by the Rev. John Thorne, of St. John the Evangelist, Lydenburg, Transvaal. He stated: "I was appointed to the charge of a congregation in Potchefstroom when the Republic was under the Presidency of Mr. Pretorius. I noticed one morning, as I walked through the streets, a number of young natives whom I knew to be strangers. I enquired where they came from. I was told that they had just been brought from Zoutpansberg. This was the locality from which slaves were chiefly brought at that time, and were traded for under the name of 'Black Ivory.' One of these slaves belonged to Mr. Munich, the State Attorney." In the fourth paragraph of the same affidavit, Mr. Thorne says that "the Rev. Dr. Nachtigal, of the Berlin Missionary Society, was the interpreter for Shatane's people, in the private office of Mr. Roth, and, at the close of the interview, told me what had occurred. On my expressing surprise, he went on to relate that he had information on native matters which would surprise me more. He then produced the copy of a register, kept in the Landdrost's office, of men, women, and children, to the number of four hundred and eighty (480), who had been disposed of by one Boer to another for a consideration. In one case an ox was given in exchange, in another goats, in a third a blanket, and so forth. Many of these natives he (Mr. Nachtigal) knew personally. The copy was certified as true and correct by an official of the Republic."[4] On the 16th May, 1881, a native, named Frederick Molepo, was examined by the Royal Commission. The following are extracts from his examination:-- "(_Sir Evelyn Wood_.) Are you a Christian?--Yes. "(_Sir H. de Villiers_.) How long were you a slave?--Half-a-year. "How do you know that you were a slave? Might you not have been an apprentice?--No, I was not apprenticed. "How do you know?--They got me from my parents, and ill-treated me. "(_Sir Evelyn Wood_.) How many times did you get the stick?--Every day. "(_Sir H. de Villiers_.) What did the Boers do with you when they caught you?--They sold me. "How much did they sell you for?--One cow and a big pot." On the 28th May, 1881, amongst the other documents-handed in for the consideration of the Royal Commission, is the statement of a Headman, whose name also it was considered advisable to omit in the Blue book, lest the Boers should take vengeance on him. He says, "I say, that if the English Government dies I shall die too; I would rather die than be under the Boer Government. I am the man who helped to make bricks for the church you see now standing in the square here (Pretoria), as a slave without payment. As a representative of my people, I am still obedient to the English Government, and willing to obey all commands from them, even to die for their cause in this country, rather than submit to the Boers. "I was under Shambok, my chief, who fought the Boers-formerly, but he left us, and we were _put up to auction_ and sold among the Boers. I want to state this myself to the Royal Commission. I was bought by Fritz Botha and sold by Frederick Botha, who was then veldt cornet (justice of the peace) of the Boers." Many more of such extracts might be quoted, but it is not my motive to multiply horrors. These are given exactly as they stand in the original, which may all be found in Blue Books-presented to Parliament. It has frequently been denied on behalf of the Transvaal, and is denied at this day, in the face of innumerable witnesses to the contrary, that slavery exists in the Transvaal. Now, this may be considered to be verbally true. Slavery, they say, did not exist; but apprenticeship did, and does exist. It is only another name. It is not denied that some Boers have been kind to their slaves, as humane slave-owners frequently were in the Southern States of America. But kindness, even the most indulgent, to slaves, has never been held by abolitionists to excuse the existence of slavery. Mr. Rider Haggard, who spent a great part of his life in the Transvaal and other parts of South Africa, wrote in 1899: "The assertion that Slavery did not exist in the Transvaal is made to hoodwink the British public. I have known men who have owned slaves, and who have seen whole waggon-loads of Black Ivory, as they were called, sold for about £15 a piece. I have at this moment a tenant, Carolus by name, on some land I own in Natal, now a well-to-do man, who was for twenty years a Boer slave. He told me that during those years he worked from morning till night, and the only reward he received was two calves. He finally escaped to Natal." Going back some years, evidence may be found, equally well attested with that already quoted. On the 22nd August, 1876, Khama, the Christian King of the Bamangwato (Bechuanaland), one of the most worthy Chiefs which any country has had the good fortune to be ruled by, wrote to Sir Henry de Villiers the following message, to be sent to Queen Victoria:--"I write to you, Sir Henry, in order that your Queen may preserve for me my country, it being in her hands. The Boers are coming into it, and I do not like them. Their actions are cruel among us black people. We are like money; they sell us and our children. I ask Her Majesty to pity me, and to hear that which I write quickly. I wish to hear upon what conditions Her Majesty will receive me, and my country and my people, under her protection. I am weary with fighting. I do not like war, and I ask Her Majesty to give me peace. I am very much distressed that my people are being destroyed by war, and I wish them to obtain peace. I ask Her Majesty to defend me, as she defends all her people. There are three things which distress me very much--war, selling people, and drink. All these things I find in the Boers, and it is these things which destroy people, to make an end of them in the country. The custom of the Boers has always been to cause people to be sold, and to-day they are still selling people. Last year I saw them pass with two waggons full of people whom they had bought at the river at Tanane (Lake Ngate).--Khama." The visit of King Khama to England, a few years ago, his interview with the Queen, and his pathetic appeals on behalf of his people against the intrusion of any aggressors (drink being one of them), are fresh in our memory. Coming down to a recent date, I reproduce here a letter from a Zulu Chief, which appeared in the London Press in November, 1899. This letter is written to a gentleman, who accompanied it by the following remarks:--"After I had read this very remarkable letter, I found myself half unconsciously wondering what place in the scheme of South African life will be found for Zulus such as this nephew of the last of the Zulu Kings. One thing I am fully certain of, that there are few natives in the Cape Colony (where they are full-fledged voters) capable of inditing so sensible an epistle. This communication throws a most welcome light upon the attitude of his people with respect to the momentous events that are in progress, and also it reveals to what a high standard of intellectual culture a pure Zulu may attain." "Duff's Road, Durban, November 3rd, 1899. Sir,--I keenly appreciate your generous tribute to the loyalty of the Zulu nation during the fierce crisis of English rule in South Africa. It is the first real test of the loyalty of the Zulus, and as a Zulu who was once a Chief, I rejoice to see that the loyalty and gratitude of my people is appreciated by the white people of Natal. It is, as you say, respected Sir, a tribute, and a magnificent one, to England's just policy to the Zulus. I dare to assert it is even a finer tribute to the natives' appreciation, not only of benefits already conferred, but of the spirit that actuated England in her dealings with him. I may disagree as to the lessons taught by Maxim guns, hollow squares, and the 'thin red line.' I think no one can have read Colonial history, chronicling as it does, the rise again and again of the native against Imperial forces, without feeling that he is influenced far less by England's prowess in war than by her justice in peace. My Zulu fellow-countrymen understand as clearly as anyone the weakness and the strength of the present time. If the Zulu wished to remember Kambula and Ulundi, this would be his supreme opportunity to rise and hurl himself across the Natal frontier. But I, having just returned from my native country, have been able to report to the Government at Pietermaritzburg that there is not the slightest symptom of disloyalty, not the idea of lifting a finger against the white subjects of the great and good Queen. There is among the Chiefs and Indunas of my people an almost universal hope that the Imperial arms will be victorious, and that a Government which, by its inhumanity and relentless injustice, and apparent inability to see that the native has any rights a white man should respect, has forfeited its place among the civilised Governments of the earth, and should therefore be deprived of powers so scandalously abused--formerly by slavery, and in later years by disallowing the native to buy land, and utterly neglecting his intellectual and spiritual needs. There are wrongs to be redressed, and we Zulus believe that England will be more willing to redress them than any other Power. There is still much to be done in the way of educating and civilizing the mass of the Zulu nation. We Chiefs of that nation have observed that wherever England has gone there the Missionary and teacher follow, and that there exists sympathy between the authority of Her Majesty and the forces that labour for civilization and Christianity. We Zulus have not yet forgotten what we owe to the late Bishop Colenso's lifelong advocacy, or to Lady Florence Dixie's kindly interest. These are things that are more than fear of England's might, that keep our people quiet outside and loyal inside. This is not a passive loyalty with us. Speaking for almost all my fellow-countrymen in Zululand, I believe if a great emergency arises in the course of this history-making war, in which England might find it necessary to put their loyalty to the test, they would respond with readiness and enthusiasm equal to that when they fought under King Cetewayo against Lord Chelmsford's army. Again assuring you that the Zulu people are turning deaf ears to Boer promises, as well as threats, I remain, with the most earnest hope for the ultimate triumph of General Buller--who fought my King for half a year. Your humble and most obedient servant, M'PLAANK, Son of Maguendé, brother of Cetewayo." There is unhappily a tendency among persons living for any length of time among heathen people, to think and speak with a certain contempt for those people, at whose moral elevation they may even be sincerely aiming. They see all that is bad in these "inferior races," and little that is good. This was not so in the case of the greatest and most successful Missionaries. They never lost faith in human nature, even at its lowest estate, and hence they were able to raise the standard of the least promising of the outcast races of the world. This faith in the possibility of the elevation of these races has been firmly held, however, by some who know them best, and have lived among them the longest. Mr Rider Haggard writes thus on this subject:--"So far as my own experience of natives has gone, I have found that in all the essential qualities of mind and body they very much resemble white men. Of them might be aptly quoted the speech Shakespeare puts into Shylock's mouth: 'Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?' In the same way, I ask, has a native no feelings or affections? does he not suffer when his parents are shot, or his children stolen, or when he is driven a wanderer from his home? Does he not know fear, feel pain, affection, hate, and gratitude? Most certainly he does; and this being so, I cannot believe that the Almighty, who made both white and black, gave to the one race the right or mission of exterminating or of robbing or maltreating the other, and calling the process the advance of civilization. It seems to me, that on only one condition, if at all, have we the right to take the black men's land; and that is, that we provide them with an equal and a just Government, and allow no maltreatment of them, either as individuals or tribes, but, on the contrary, do our best to elevate them, and wean them from savage customs. Otherwise, the practice is surely undefensible. "I am aware, however, that with the exception of a small class, these are sentiments which are not shared by the great majority of the public, either at home or abroad." A French gentleman, who has been for many years connected with the _Missions Evangéliques_ of France, related recently in my presence some incidents of the early experience of French Missionaries in South Africa. One of these had laboured for years without encouragement. The hearts of the native people around him remained unmoved. One day, however, he spoke among them especially of Calvary, of the sufferings of Christ on the Cross. A Chief who was present left the building in which the teacher was speaking. At the close, this Chief was found sitting on the ground outside, his back to the door, his head bent forward and buried in his arms. He was weeping. When spoken to, he raised his arm with a movement of deprecation, and, in a voice full of pity and indignation, said--"to think that there was no one even to give Him a drink of water!" That poor savage had known what thirst is. This one awakened chord of human sympathy with the human Christ was communicative. Other hearts were touched, and from that time the Missionary began to reap a rich harvest from his labours. In the midst of the elaborate services of our fashionable London churches is there often to be found so genuine a feeling as that which shook the soul of this Chief, and broke down the barrier of coldness and hardness in his fellow-countrymen which had before prevented the acceptance of the message of Salvation and of the practical obligations of Christianity among them? Men who are capable of rising to the knowledge and love of divine truth cannot be supposed to be impervious to the influence of _civilization_ properly understood. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 1: The financial resources of the country at that time amounted to 12s. 6d.] [Footnote 2: Quoted from Parliamentary Blue Book.] [Footnote 3: Report made on the spot by Mr. Shepstone (not Sir Theophilus Shepstone), Secretary for Native Affairs.] [Footnote 4: The name of that official was held back from publication at the time, as if his act were known by the Boers, it was believed it might have cost the man his life.] II. THE CAUSES OF THE WAR DATE FAR BACK. THE FAULTS OF ENGLAND TO BE SOUGHT IN THE PAST. A REVISED VERDICT NEEDED. DOWNING STREET GOVERNMENT AND SUCCESSIVE COLONIAL GOVERNORS. M. MABILLE AND M. DIETERLEN, FRENCH MISSIONARIES. EARLY HISTORY OF CAPE COLONY. ABOLITION OF SLAVERY BY GREAT BRITAIN. COMPENSATION TO SLAVE OWNERS. FIRST TREK OF THE BURGHERS. There is nothing so fallacious or misleading in history as the popular tendency to trace the causes of a great war to one source alone, or to fix upon the most recent events leading up to it, as the principal or even the sole cause of the outbreak of war. The occasion of an event may not be, and often is not, the cause of it. The occasion of this war was not its cause. In the present case it is extraordinary to note how almost the whole of Europe appears to be carried away with the idea that the causes of this terrible South African war are, as it were, only of yesterday's date. The seeds of which we are reaping so woeful a harvest were not sown yesterday, nor a few years ago only. We are reaping a harvest which has been ripening for a century past. At the time of the Indian Mutiny, it was given out and believed by the world in general that the cause of that hideous revolt was a supposed attempt on the part of England to impose upon the native army of India certain rules which, from their point of view, outraged their religion in some of its most sacred aspects; (I refer to the legend of the greased cartridges). After the mutiny was over, Sir Herbert Edwardes, a true Seer, whose insight enabled him to look far below the surface, and to go back many years into the history of our dealings with India in order to take in review all the causes of the rebellion, addressed an exhaustive report to the British Government at home, dealing with those causes which had been accumulating for half-a-century or more. This was a weighty document,--one which it would be worth while to re-peruse at the present day; it had its influence in leading the Home Government to acknowledge some grave errors which had led up to this catastrophe, and to make an honest and persevering attempt to remedy past evils. That this attempt has not been in vain, in spite of all that India has had to suffer, has been acknowledged gratefully by the Native delegates to the great Annual Congress in India of the past year. In the case of the Indian Mutiny, the incident of the supposed insult to their religious feelings was only the match which set light to a train which had been long laid. In the same way the honest historian will find, in the present case, that the events,--the "tragedy of errors," as they have been called,--of recent date, are but the torch that has set fire to a long prepared mass of combustible material which had been gradually accumulating in the course of a century. In order to arrive at a true estimate of the errors and mismanagement which lie at the root of the causes of the present war, it is necessary to look back. Those errors and wrongs must be patiently searched out and studied, without partisanship, with an open mind and serious purpose. Many of our busy politicians and others have not the time, some perhaps have not the inclination for any such study. Hence, hasty, shallow, and violent judgments. Never has there occurred in history a great struggle such as the present which has not had a deep moral teaching. England is now suffering for her past errors, extending over many years. The blood of her sons is being poured out like water on the soil of South Africa. Wounded hearts and desolated families at home are counted by tens of thousands. But it needs to be courageously stated by those who have looked a little below the surface that her faults have not been those which are attributed to her by a large proportion of European countries, and by a portion of her own people. These appear to attribute this war to a sudden impulse on her part of Imperial ambition and greed, and to see in the attitude which they attribute to her alone, the provocative element which was chiefly supplied from the other side. There will have to be a Revision of this Verdict, and there will certainly be one; it is on the way, though its approach may be slow. It will be rejected by some to the last. The great error of England appears to have been a strange neglect, from time to time, of the true interests of her South African subjects, English, Dutch, and Natives. There have been in her management of this great Colony alternations of apathy and inaction, with interference which was sometimes unwise and hasty. Some of her acts have been the result of ignorance, indifference, or superciliousness on the part of our rulers. The special difficulties, however, in her position towards that Colony should be taken into account. It has always been a question as to how far interference from Downing Street with the freedom of action of a Self-Governing Colony was wise or practicable. In other instances, the exercise of great freedom of colonial self-government has had happy results, as in Canada and Australia. Far from our South African policy having represented, as is believed by some, the self-assertion of a proud Imperialism, it has been the very opposite. It seems evident that some of the greatest evils in the British government of South Africa have arisen from the frequent changes of Governors and Administrators there, _concurrently with changes in the Government at home_. There have been Governors under whose influence and control all sections of the people, including the natives, have had a measure of peace and good government. Such a Governor was Sir George Grey, of whose far-seeing provisions for the welfare of all classes many effects last to this day. The nature of the work undertaken, and to a great extent done, by Sir George Grey and those of his successors who followed his example, was concisely described by an able local historian in 1877:--"The aim of the Colonial Government since 1855," he said, "has been to establish and maintain peace, to diffuse civilization and Christianity, and to establish society on the basis of individual property and personal industry. The agencies employed are the magistrate, the missionary, the school-master, and the trader." Of the years dating from the commencement of Sir George Grey's administration, it was thus reported:--"During this time peace has been uninterruptedly enjoyed within British frontiers. The natives have been treated in all respects with justice and consideration. Large tracts of the richest land are expressly set apart for them under the name of 'reserves' and 'locations.' The greater part of them live in these locations, under the superintendence of European magistrates or missionaries. As a whole, they are now enjoying far greater comfort and prosperity than they ever did in their normal state of barbaric independence and perpetually recurring tribal wars, before coming into contact with Europeans. The advantages and value of British rule have of late years struck root in the native mind over an immense portion of South Africa. They believe that it is a protection from external encroachment, and that only under the _ægis_ of the Government can they be secure and enjoy peace and prosperity. Influenced by this feeling, several tribes beyond the colonial boundaries are now eager to be brought within the pale of civilized authority, and ere long, it is hoped, Her Majesty's sovereignty will be extended over fresh territories, with the full and free consent of the chiefs and tribes inhabiting them."[5] It maybe of interest to note here that one of these territories was Basutoland, which lies close to the South Eastern border of the Orange Free State. Between the Basutos and the Orange Free State Boers war broke out in 1856, to be followed in 1858 by a temporary and incomplete pacification. The struggle continued, and in 1861, and again in 1865, when war was resumed, and all Basutoland was in danger of being conquered by the Boers, Moshesh, their Chief, appealed to the British Government for protection. It was not till 1868, after a large part of the country had passed into Boer hands, that Sir Philip Wodehouse, Sir George Grey's successor, was allowed to issue a proclamation declaring so much as remained of Basutoland to be British territory. It was Sir George Grey who first saw the importance of endeavouring to bring all portions of South Africa, including the Boer Republics and the Native States, into "federal union with the parent colony" at the Cape. He was commissioned by the British Government to make enquiries with this object (1858.) He had obtained the support of the Orange Free State, whose Volksraad resolved that "a union with the Cape Colony, either on the plan of federation or otherwise, is desirable," and was expecting to win over the Transvaal Boers, when the British Government, alarmed as to the responsibilities it might incur, vetoed the project. (Such sudden alarms, under the influence of party conflicts at home, have not been infrequent.) For seven years, however, this good Governor was permitted to promote a work of pacification and union. I shall refer again later to the misfortunes, even the calamities, which have been the result of our projecting our home system of _Government by Party_ into the distant regions of South Africa. There are long proved advantages in that system of party government as existing for our own country, but it seems to have been at the root of much of the inconsistency and vacillation of our policy in South Africa. As soon as a good Governor (appointed by either political party) has begun to develop his methods, and to lead the Dutch, and English, and Natives alike to begin to believe that there is something homogeneous in the principles of British government, a General Election takes place in England. A new Parliament and a new Government come into power, and, frequently in obedience to some popular representations at home, the actual Colonial Governor is recalled, and another is sent out. Lord Glenelg, for example, had held office as Governor of the Cape Colony for five years,--up to 1846. His policy had been, it is said, conciliatory and wise. But immediately on a change of party in the Government at home, he was recalled, and Sir Harry Smith superseded him, a recklessly aggressive person. It was only by great pains and trouble that the succeeding Governor, Sir George Cathcart, a wiser man, brought about a settlement of the confusion and disputes arising from Sir Harry Smith's aggressive and violent methods. And so it has gone on, through all the years. Allusion having been made above to the assumption of the Protectorate of Basutoland by Great Britain, it will not be without interest to notice here the circumstances and the motives which led to that act. It will be seen that there was no aggressiveness nor desire of conquest in this case; but that the protection asked was but too tardily granted on the pathetic and reiterated prayer of the natives suffering from the aggressions of the Transvaal. The following is from the Biography of Adolphe Mabille, a devoted missionary of the _Société des Missions Evangéliques_ of Paris, who worked with great success in Basutoland. His life is written by Mr. Dieterlen (a name well known and highly esteemed in France), and the book has a preface by the famous missionary, Mr. F. Coillard.[6] "The Boers had long been keeping up an aggressive war against the Basutos (1864 to 1869), so much so that Mr. Mabille's missionary work was for a time almost destroyed. The Boers thought they saw in the missionaries' work the secret of the steady resistance of the Basutos, and of the moral force which prevented them laying down their arms. They exacted that Mr. Mabille should leave the country at once, which theoretically, they said, belonged to them. "This good missionary and his friends were subjected to long trials during this hostility of the Boers. Moshesh, the chief of the Basutos, had for a long time past been asking the Governor of Cape Colony to have him and his people placed under the direction of Great Britain. The reply from the Cape was very long delayed. Moshesh, worn out, was about to capitulate at last to the Boers. Lessuto (the territory of Basutoland) was on the point of being absorbed by the Transvaal. At the last moment, however, and not a day too soon, there came a letter from the Governor of the Cape announcing to Moshesh that Queen Victoria had consented to take the Basutos under her protection. It was the long-expected deliverance,--it was salvation! At this news the missionaries, with Moshesh, burst into tears, and falling on their knees, gave thanks to God for this providential and almost unexpected intervention." The Boers retained a large and fertile tract of Lessuto, but the rest of the country, continues M. Dieterlen, "remained under the Protectorate of a people who, provided peace is maintained, and their commerce is not interfered with, know how to work for the right development of the native people whose lands they annex." Mr. Dieterlen introduces into his narrative the following remarks,--which are interesting as coming, not from an Englishman, but from a Frenchman,--and one who has had close personal experience of the matters of which he speaks:-- "Stayers at home, as we Frenchmen are, forming our opinions from newspapers whose editors know no more than ourselves what goes on in foreign countries, we too willingly see in the British nation an egotistical and rapacious people, thinking of nothing but the extension of their commerce and the prosperity of their industry. We are apt to pretend that their philanthropic enterprises and religious works are a mere hypocrisy. Courage is absolutely needed in order to affirm, at the risk of exciting the indignation of our _soi-disant_ patriots, that although England knows perfectly well how to take care of her commercial interests in her colonies, she knows equally well how to pre-occupy and occupy herself with the moral interests of the people whom she places by agreement or by force under the sceptre of her Queen. Those who have seen and who know, have the duty of saying to those who have not seen, and who cannot, or who do not desire to see, and who do not know, that these two currents flowing from the British nation,--the one commercial and the other philanthropic,--are equally active amongst the uncivilized nations of Africa, and that if one wishes to find colonies in which exist real and complete liberty of conscience, where the education and moralisation of the natives are the object of serious concern, drawing largely upon the budget of the metropolis, it is always and above all in English possessions that you must look for them. "Under the domination of the Boers, Lessuto would have been devoted to destruction, to ignorance, and to semi-slavery. Under the English régime reign security and progress. Lessuto became a territory reserved solely for its native proprietors, the sale of strong liquors was prohibited, and the schools received generous subvention. Catholics, Protestants, Anglicans, French and English Missionaries, could then enjoy the most absolute liberty in order to spread, each one in his own manner, and in the measure in which he possessed it, evangelic truth. "It is for this reason that the French missionaries feared to see the Basutos fall under the Boers' yoke, and that they hailed with joy the intervention of the English Government in their field of work, hoping and expecting for the missionary work the happiest fruits. Their hope has not been deceived by the results." The clash of opposing principles, and even the violence of party feeling continued to send its echoes to the far regions of South Africa, confusing the minds of the various populations there, and preventing any real coherence and continuity in our Government of that great Colony. A good and successful Administrator has sometimes been withdrawn to be superseded by another, equally well-intentioned, perhaps, but whose policy was on wholly different lines, thus undoing the work of his predecessor. This has introduced not only confusion, but sometimes an appearance of real injustice into our management of the colony. In all this chequered history, the interests of the native races have been too often postponed to those of the ruling races. This was certainly the case in connexion with Mr. Gladstone's well-intentioned act in giving back to the Transvaal its independent government. It has been an anxious question for many among us whether this source of vacillation, with its attendant misfortunes, is to continue in the future. * * * * * The early history of the South African Colony has become, by this time, pretty well known by means of the numberless books lately written on the subject. I will only briefly recapitulate here a few of the principal facts, these being, in part, derived from the annals and reports of the Aborigines Protection Society, which may be considered impartial, seeing that that Society has had a keen eye at all times for the faults of British colonists and the British Government, while constrained, as a truthful recorder, to publish the offences of other peoples and Governments. I have also constantly referred to Parliamentary papers, and the words of accredited historians and travellers. The first attempt at a regular settlement by the Dutch at the Cape was made by Jan Van Riebeck, in 1652, for the convenience of the trading vessels of the Netherlands East India Company, passing from Europe to Asia. Almost from the first these colonists were involved in quarrels with the natives, which furnished excuse for appropriating their lands and making slaves of them. The intruders stole the natives' cattle, and the natives' efforts to recover their property were denounced by Van Riebeck as "a matter most displeasing to the Almighty, when committed by such as they." Apologising to his employers in Holland for his show of kindness to one group of natives, Van Riebeck wrote: "This we only did to make them less shy, so as to find hereafter a better opportunity to seize them--1,100 or 1,200 in number, and about 600 cattle, the best in the whole country. We have every day the finest opportunities for effecting this without bloodshed, and could derive good service from the people, _in chains_, in killing seals or in labouring in the silver mines which we trust will be found here." The Netherlands Company frequently deprecated such acts of treachery and cruelty, and counselled moderation. Their protests however were of no avail. The mischief had been done. The unhappy natives, with whom lasting friendship might have been established by fair treatment, had been converted into enemies; and the ruthless punishment inflicted on them for each futile effort to recover some of the property stolen from them, had rendered inevitable the continuance and constant extension of the strife all through the five generations of Dutch rule, and furnished cogent precedent for like action afterwards,[7] After 1652, Colonists of the baser sort kept arriving in cargoes, and gradually the Netherlands Company allowed persons not of their own nation to land and settle under severe fiscal and other restrictions. Among these were a number of French Huguenots, good men, driven from their homes by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1690. Then Flemings, Germans, Poles, and others constantly swelled the ranks. All these Europeans were forced to submit to the arbitrary rules of the Netherlands Company's agents, scarcely at all restrained from Amsterdam. Unofficial residents, known as Burghers, came to be admitted to share in the management of affairs. It was for their benefit chiefly, that as soon as the Hottentots were found to be unworkable as slaves, Negroes from West Africa and Malays from the East Indies began to be imported for the purpose. In 1772, when the settlement was a hundred and twenty years old, and had been in what was considered working order for a century, Cape Town and its suburbs had a population of 1,963 officials and servants of the Company, 4,628 male and 3,750 female colonists, and 8,335 slaves. In these figures no account is taken of the Hottentots and others employed in menial capacities, nor of the black prisoners, among whom, in 1772, a Swedish traveller saw 950 men, women, and children of the Bushman race, who had been captured about a hundred and fifty miles from Cape Town in a war brought about by encroachment on their lands.[8] The Aborigines Protection Society endorses the following statement of Sparrman (visit to the Cape of Good Hope, 1786, Vol. II, p. 165,) who says, "The Slave business, that violent outrage against the natural rights of man, which is always a crime and leads to all manner of wickedness, is exercised by the Colonists with a cruelty that merits the abhorrence of everyone, though I have been told that they pique themselves upon it; and not only is the capture of the Hottentots considered by them merely as a party of pleasure, but in cold blood they destroy the bands which nature has knit between husband and wife, and between parents and their children. Does a Colonist at any time get sight of a Bushman, he takes fire immediately, and spirits up his horse and dogs, in order to hunt him with more ardour and fury than he would a wolf or any other wild beast.". "I am far from accusing all the colonists," he continues, "of these cruelties, which are too frequently committed. While some of them plumed themselves upon them, there were many who, on the contrary, held them in abomination, and feared lest the vengeance of Heaven should, for all their crimes, fall upon their posterity." The inability of the Amsterdam authorities to control the filibustering zeal of the colonists rendered it easy for the people at the Cape to establish among themselves, in 1793, what purported to be an independent Republic. One of their proclamations contained the following resolution, aimed especially at the efforts of the missionaries--most of whom were then Moravians--to save the natives from utter ruin: "We will not permit any Moravians to live here and instruct the Hottentots; for, as there are many Christians who receive no instruction, it is not proper that the Hottentots should be taught; they must remain in the same state as before. Hottentots born on the estate of a farmer must live there, and serve him until they are twenty-five years old, before they receive any wages. All Bushmen or wild Hottentots caught by us must remain slaves for life."[9] I have given these facts of more than a hundred years ago to show for how long a time the traditions of the usefulness and lawfulness of Slavery had been engrained in the minds of the Dutch settlers. We ought not, perhaps, to censure too severely the Boer proclivities in favour of that ancient institution, nor to be surprised if it should be a work of time, accompanied with severe Providential chastisement, to uproot that fixed idea from the minds of the present generation, of Boer descent. The sin of enslaving their fellow-men may perhaps be reckoned, for them, among the "sins of ignorance." Nevertheless, the Recording Angel has not failed through all these generations to mark the woes of the slaves; and the historic vengeance, which sooner or later infallibly follows a century or centuries of the violation of the Divine Law and of human rights, will not be postponed or averted even by a late repentance on the part of the transgressors. It is striking to note how often in history the sore judgment of oppressors has fallen (in this world), not on those who were first in the guilt, but on their successors, just as they were entering on an amended course of "ceasing to do evil and learning to do well." In 1795, Cape Town was formally ceded by the Prince of Orange to Great Britain, as an incident of the great war with France, for which, six million pounds sterling was paid by Great Britain to Holland. British supremacy was formally recognized in this part of South Africa by a Convention signed in 1814, which was confirmed by the Treaty of Paris in 1815. British rule for some thirty years after 1806 was perforce despotic, but for the most part, with some exceptions, it was a benevolent despotism. "They had the difficult task of controlling a straggling white community, at first almost exclusively composed of Boers, who had been too sturdy and stubborn to tolerate any effective interference by the Netherlands Company and other authorities in Holland, and who resented both English domination and the advent of English colonists which more than doubled the white population in less than two decades." "The Governors sent out from Downing Street had tasks imposed upon them which were beyond the powers of even the wisest and worthiest. Most of the English colonists found it easier to fall in with the thoughts and habits of the Boers than to uphold the purer traditions of life and conduct in the mother country, and it is not strange that many of the officials should have been in like case."[10] Great Britain abolished the Slave Trade in 1807, which prevented the further importation of Slaves, and the traffic in them. The great Emancipation Act, by which Great Britain abolished Slavery in all lands over which she had control, was passed in 1834. The great grievance for the Burghers was this abolition of slavery by Great Britain. According to a Parliamentary Return of March, 1838, the slaves of all sorts liberated in Cape Colony numbered 35,750. The British Parliament awarded as compensation to the slave owners throughout the British dominions a sum of £20,000,000, of which, nearly £1,500,000 fell to the share of the Burghers. Concerning this Act of Compensation there have been very divided opinions; there is not a doubt that the British Government intended to deal fairly by the former slave owners, but it is stated that there was great and culpable carelessness on the part of the British agents in distributing this compensation money. It seems that many of the Burghers to whom it was due never obtained it, and these considered themselves aggrieved and defrauded by the British Government. On the other hand, there are persons who have continually disapproved of the principle of compensation for a wrong given up, or the loss of an advantage unrighteously purchased. It is however to be regretted, that an excuse should have been given for the Boers' complaints by irregularities attributed to the British in the partition of the compensation money. It has often been asserted that the first great Dutch emigration from the Cape was instigated simply by love of freedom on their part, and their dislike of British Government. But why did they dislike British Government? There may have been minor reasons, but the one great grievance complained of by themselves, from the first, was the abolition of slavery. They desired to be free to deal with the natives in their own manner. Taking with them their household belongings and as much cattle as they could collect, they went forth in search of homes in which they hoped they would be no longer controlled, and as they thought, sorely wronged by the nation which had invaded their Colony. But they did not all trek; only about half, it was estimated, did so. The rest remained, finding it possible to live and prosper without slavery. They crossed the Orange River, and finally trekked beyond the Vaal. From 1833, Cape Colony, under British rule, began to be endowed with representative institutions. In 1854, the Magna Charta of the Hottentots, as it was called, was created. It was a measure of remarkable liberality. "It conferred on all Hottentots and other free persons of colour lawfully residing in the Colony, the right to become burghers, and to exercise and enjoy all the privileges of burghership. It enabled them to acquire land and other property. It exempted them from any compulsory service to which other subjects of the Crown were not liable, and from 'any hindrance, molestation, fine, imprisonment or other punishment' not awarded to them after trial in due course of law, 'any custom or usage to the contrary in anywise notwithstanding.' Among other provisions it was stipulated that wages should no longer be paid to them in liquor or tobacco, and that, in the event of a servant having reasonable ground of complaint against his master for ill-usage, and not being able to bear the expense of a summons, one should be issued to him free of charge. By this ordinance a stop was put, as far as the law could be enforced, to the bondage, other than admitted and legalized slavery, by which through nearly two centuries the Dutch farmers and others had oppressed the natives whom they had deprived of their lands."[11] The Boers who had trekked resented every attempt at interference with them on the part of the Cape Government with a view to their acceptance of such principles of British Government as are expressed above. Wearied by its hopeless efforts to restore order among the emigrant farmers, the British Government abandoned the task, and contented itself with the arrangement made with Andries Pretorius, in 1852, called the Sand River Convention. This Convention conceded to "the emigrant farmers beyond the Vaal River" "the right to manage their own affairs and to govern themselves, without any interference on the part of Her Majesty the Queen's Government." It was stipulated, however, that "no slavery is or shall be permitted or practised in the country to the north of the Vaal River by the emigrant farmers." This stipulation has been made in every succeeding Convention down to that of 1884. These Conventions have been regularly agreed to and signed by successive Boer Leaders, and have been as regularly and successively violated. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 5: South Africa, Past and Present (1899), by Noble.] [Footnote 6: Adolphe Mabille, Published in Paris, 1898.] [Footnote 7: These and other details which follow are taken from Dutch official papers, giving a succinct account of the treatment of the natives between 1649 and 1809. These papers were translated from the Dutch by Lieut. Moodie (1838). See Moodie's "_Record_."] [Footnote 8: Thunberg. "Travels in Europe, Africa, and Asia, between 1770 and 1779."] [Footnote 9: Sir John Barrow (Travels in South Africa, 1806.) Vol ii. p. 165.] [Footnote 10: Mr. Fox Bourne, Secretary of the Aborigines Protection Society.] [Footnote 11: Parliamentary paper quoted by Mr. Fox Bourne. "Black and White," page 18.] III. DR. LIVINGSTONE'S EXPERIENCES IN THE TRANSVAAL AND IN SURROUNDING NATIVE DISTRICTS. LETTER OF DR. MOFFAT IN 1877. LETTER OF HIS SON, REV. J. MOFFAT, 1899. REPORT OF M. DIETERLEN TO THE COMMITTEE OF THE MISSIONS' EVANGÉLIQUES OF PARIS. The following is an extract from the "Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa," of the venerable pioneer, David Livingstone.[12] "An adverse influence with which the mission had to contend was the vicinity of the Boers of the Cashan Mountains,[13] otherwise named 'Magaliesberg.' These are not to be confounded with the Cape Colonists, who sometimes pass by the name. The word 'Boer,' simply means 'farmer,' and is not synonymous with our word boor. Indeed, to the Boers generally the latter term would be quite inappropriate, for they are a sober, industrious, and most hospitable body of peasantry. Those, however, who have fled from English Law on various pretexts, and have been joined by English deserters, and every other variety of bad character in their distant localities, are unfortunately of a very different stamp. The great objection many of the Boers had, and still have, to English law, is that it makes no distinction between black men and white. They felt aggrieved by their supposed losses in the emancipation of their Hottentot slaves, and determined to erect themselves into a republic, in which they might pursue, without molestation, the 'proper treatment' of the blacks. It is almost needless to add, that the 'proper treatment' has always contained in it the essential element of slavery, namely, compulsory unpaid labour. "One section of this body, under the late Mr. Hendrick Potgeiter, penetrated the interior as far as the Cashan Mountains, whence a Zulu chief, named Mosilikátze, had been expelled by the well known Kaffir Dingaan, and a glad welcome was given these Boers by the Bechuana tribes, who had just escaped the hard sway of that cruel chieftain. They came with the prestige of white men and deliverers; but the Bechuanas soon found, as they expressed it, 'that Mosilikátze was cruel to his enemies, and kind to those he conquered; but that the Boers destroyed their enemies, and made slaves of their friends." The tribes who still retain the semblance of independence are forced to perform all the labour of the fields, such as manuring the land, weeding, reaping, building, making dams and canals, and at the same time to support themselves. I have myself been an eye-witness of Boers coming to a village, and according to their usual custom, demanding twenty or thirty women to weed their gardens, and have seen these women proceed to the scene of unrequited toil, carrying their own food on their heads, their children on their backs, and instruments of labour on their shoulders. Nor have the Boers any wish to conceal the meanness of thus employing unpaid labour; on the contrary, every one of them, from Mr. Potgeiter and Mr. Gert Kruger, the commandants, downwards, lauded his own humanity and justice in making such an equitable regulation. 'We make the people work for us, in consideration of allowing them to live in our country.' "I can appeal to the Commandant Kruger if the foregoing is not a fair and impartial statement of the views of himself and his people. I am sensible of no mental bias towards or against these Boers; and during the several journeys I made to the poor enslaved tribes, I never avoided the whites, but tried to cure and did administer remedies to their sick, without money and without price. It is due to them to state that I was invariably treated with respect; but it is most unfortunate that they should have been left by their own Church for so many years to deteriorate and become as degraded as the blacks, whom the stupid prejudice against colour leads them to detest. "This new species of slavery which they have adopted serves to supply the lack of field labour only. The demand for domestic servants must be met by forays on tribes which have good supplies of cattle. The Portuguese can quote instances in which blacks become so degraded by the love of strong drink as actually to sell themselves; but never in any one case, within the memory of man, has a Bechuana Chief sold any of his people, or a Bechuana man his child. Hence the necessity for a foray to seize children. And those individual Boers who would not engage in it for the sake of slaves, can seldom resist the twofold plea of a well-told story of an intended uprising of the devoted tribe, and the prospect of handsome pay in the division of captured cattle besides. It is difficult for a person in a civilized country to conceive that any body of men possessing the common attributes of humanity, (and these Boers are by no means destitute of the better feelings of our nature,) should with one accord set out, after loading their own wives and children with caresses, and proceed to shoot down in cold blood, men and women of a different colour, it is true, but possessed of domestic feelings and affections equal to their own. I saw and conversed with children in the houses of Boers who had by their own and their master's account been captured, and in several instances I traced the parents of these unfortunates, though the plan approved by the long-headed among the burghers is to take children so young that they soon forget their parents and their native language also. It was long before I could give credit to the tales of bloodshed told by native witnesses, and had I received no other testimony but theirs, I should probably have continued sceptical to this day as to the truth of the accounts; but when I found the Boers themselves, some bewailing and denouncing, others glorying in the bloody scenes in which they had been themselves the actors, I was compelled to admit the validity of the testimony, and try to account for the cruel anomaly. They are all traditionally religious, tracing their descent from some of the best men (Huguenots and Dutch) the world ever saw. Hence they claim to themselves the title of 'Christians,' and all the coloured race are 'black property' or 'creatures.' They being the chosen people of God, the heathen are given to them for an inheritance, and they are the rod of divine vengeance on the heathen, as were the Jews of old. "Living in the midst of a native population much larger than themselves, and at fountains removed many miles from each other, they feel somewhat in the same insecure position as do the Americans in the Southern States. The first question put by them to strangers is respecting peace; and when they receive reports from disaffected or envious natives against any tribe, the case assumes all the appearance and proportions of a regular insurrection. Severe measures then appear to the most mildly disposed among them as imperatively called for, and, however bloody the massacre that follows, no qualms of conscience ensue: it is a dire necessity for the sake of peace. Indeed, the late Mr. Hendrick Potgeiter most devoutly believed himself to be the great peace-maker of the country. "But how is it that the natives, being so vastly superior in numbers to the Boers, do not rise and annihilate them? The people among whom they live are Bechuanas, not Kaffirs, though no one would ever learn that distinction from a Boer; and history does not contain one single instance in which the Bechuanas, even those of them who possess firearms, have attacked either the Boers or the English. If there is such an instance, I am certain it is not generally known, either beyond or in the Cape Colony. They have defended themselves when attacked, as in the case of Sechele, but have never engaged in offensive war with Europeans. We have a very different tale to tell of the Kaffirs, and the difference has always been so evident to these border Boers that, ever since 'those magnificent savages,' (the Kaffirs,) obtained possession of firearms, not one Boer has ever attempted to settle in Kaffirland, or even face them as an enemy in the field. The Boers have generally manifested a marked antipathy to anything but 'long-shot' warfare, and, sidling away in their emigrations towards the more effeminate Bechuanas, they have left their quarrels with the Kaffirs to be settled by the English, and their wars to be paid for by English gold. "The Bechuanas at Kolobeng had the spectacle of various tribes enslaved before their eyes;--the Bakatla, the Batlo'kua, the Bahúkeng, the Bamosétla, and two other tribes of Bechuanas, were all groaning under the oppression of unrequited labour. This would not have been felt as so great an evil, but that the young men of those tribes, anxious to obtain cattle, the only means of rising to respectability and importance among their own people, were in the habit of sallying forth, like our Irish and Highland reapers, to procure work in the Cape Colony. After labouring there three or four years, in building stone dykes and dams for the Dutch farmers, they were well content if at the end of that time they could return with as many cows. On presenting one to the chief, they ranked as respectable men in the tribe ever afterwards. These volunteers were highly esteemed among the Dutch, under the name of Mantátees. They were paid at the rate of one shilling a day, and a large loaf of bread among six of them. Numbers of them, who had formerly seen me about twelve hundred miles inland from the Cape, recognised me with the loud laughter of joy when I was passing them at their work in the Roggefelt and Bokkefelt, within a few days of Cape Town. I conversed with them, and with Elders of the Dutch Church, for whom they were working, and found that the system was thoroughly satisfactory to both parties. I do not believe that there is a Boer, in the Cashan or Magaliesberg country, who would deny that a law was made, in consequence of this labour passing to the Colony, to deprive these labourers of their hardly-earned cattle, for the very urgent reason that, "if they want to work, let them work for us, their masters," though boasting that in their case their work would not be paid. "I can never cease to be most unfeignedly thankful that I was not born in a land of slaves. No one can understand the effect of the unutterable meanness of the slave system on the minds of those who, but for the strange obliquity which prevents them from feeling the degradation of not being gentlemen enough to pay for services rendered, would be equal in virtue to ourselves." After giving his experience of eight years in Sechele's country, in Bechuanaland, Livingstone continues:--"During that time, no winter passed without one or two of the tribes in the east country being plundered of both cattle and children by the Boers. The plan pursued is the following: one or two friendly tribes are forced to accompany a party of mounted Boers. When they reach the tribe to be attacked, the friendly natives are ranged in front, to form, as they say, 'a shield;' the Boers then coolly fire over their heads till the devoted people flee and leave cattle, wives and children to their captors. This was done in nine cases during my residence in the interior, and on no occasion was a drop of Boer's blood shed. News of these deeds spread quickly among the Bechuanas, and letters were repeatedly sent by the Boers to Sechele, ordering him to come and surrender himself as their vassal, and stop English traders from proceeding into the country. But the discovery of lake Ngami, hereafter to be described, made the traders come in five-fold greater numbers, and Sechele replied, 'I was made an independent chief and placed here by God, and not by you. I was never conquered by Mosilikátze, as those tribes whom you rule over; and the English are my friends; I get everything I wish from them; I cannot hinder them from going where they like.' Those who are old enough to remember the threatened invasion of our own island, may understand the effect which the constant danger of a Boer invasion had on the minds of the Bechuanas; but no others can conceive how worrying were the messages and threats from the endless self-constituted authorities of the Magaliesberg Boers, and when to all this harassing annoyance was added the scarcity produced by the drought, we could not wonder at, though we felt sorry for, their indisposition to receive instruction. "I attempted to benefit the native tribes among the Boers of Magaliesberg by placing native teachers at different points. 'You must teach the blacks,' said Mr. Hendrick Potgeiter, the commandant in chief, 'that they are not equal to us.' Other Boers told me 'I might as well teach the baboons on the rocks as the Africans,' but declined the test which I proposed, namely, to examine whether they or my native attendants could read best. Two of their clergymen came to baptize the children of the Boers, so, supposing these good men would assist me in overcoming the repugnance of their flock to the education of the blacks, I called on them, but my visit ended in a _ruse_ practised by the Boerish commandant, whereby I was led, by professions of the greatest friendship, to retire to Kolobeng, while a letter passed me, by another way, to the missionaries in the south, demanding my instant recall for 'lending a cannon to their enemies.'[14] "These notices of the Boers are not intended to produce a sneer at their ignorance, but to excite the compassion of their friends. "They are perpetually talking about their laws; but practically theirs is only the law of the strongest. The Bechuanas could never understand the changes which took place in their commandants. 'Why, one can never know who is the chief among these Boers. Like the Bushmen, they have no king--they must be the Bushmen of the English.' The idea that any tribe of men could be so senseless as not to have an hereditary chief was so absurd to these people, that in order not to appear equally stupid, I was obliged to tell them that we English were so anxious to preserve the royal blood that we had made a young lady our chief. This seemed to them a most convincing proof of our sound sense. We shall see farther on the confidence my account of our Queen inspired. The Boers, encouraged by the accession of Mr. Pretorius, determined at last to put a stop to English traders going past Kolobeng, by dispersing the tribe of Bechuanas, and expelling all the missionaries. Sir George Cathcart proclaimed the independence of the Boers. A treaty was entered into with them; an article for the free passage of Englishmen to the country beyond, and also another, that _no slavery should be allowed in the independent territory_, were duly inserted, as expressive of the views of Her Majesty's Government at home. 'But what about the missionaries?' enquired the Boers. '_You may do as you please with them_,' is said to have been the answer of the Commissioner. This remark, if uttered at all, was probably made in joke: designing men, however, circulated it, and caused the general belief in its accuracy which now prevails all over the country, and doubtless led to the destruction of three mission stations immediately after. The Boers, 400 in number, were sent by the late Mr. Pretorius to attack the Bechuanas in 1852. Boasting that the English had given up all the blacks into their power, and had agreed to aid them in their subjugation by preventing all supplies of ammunition from coming into the Bechuana country, they assaulted the Bechuanas, and, besides killing a considerable number of adults, carried off 200 of our school children into slavery. The natives, under Sechele, defended themselves till the approach of night enabled them to flee to the mountains; and having in that defence killed a number of the enemy, the very first ever slain in this country by Bechuanas, I received the credit of having taught the tribe to kill Boers! My house, which had stood perfectly secure for years under the protection of the natives, was plundered in revenge. English gentlemen, who had come in the footsteps of Mr. Cumming to hunt in the country beyond, and had deposited large quantities of stores in the same keeping, and upwards of eighty head of cattle as relays for the return journeys, were robbed of all; and when they came back to Kolobeng, found the skeletons of the guardians strewed all over the place. The books of a good library--my solace in our solitude--were not taken away, but handfuls of the leaves were torn out and scattered over the place. My stock of medicines was smashed; and all our furniture and clothing carried off and sold at public auction to pay the expenses of the foray. I do not mention these things by way of making a pitiful wail over my losses, in order to excite commiseration; for though I feel sorry for the loss of lexicons, dictionaries, &c., &c., which had been the companions of my boyhood, yet, after all, the plundering only set me entirely free for my expedition to the north, and I have never since had a moment's concern for anything I left behind. The Boers resolved to shut up the interior, and I determined to open the country." * * * * * Mr. A. McArthur, of Holland Park, wrote on March 22nd of this year:-- "When looking over some old letters a few days ago, I found one from the late venerable Dr. Moffat, who was one of the best friends South Africa ever had. It was written in answer to a few lines I wrote him, informing him that the Transvaal had been annexed by the British Government. I enclose a copy of his letter." Dr. Moffat's letter is as follows:--July 27th, 1877. "My dear friend, "I have no words to express the pleasure the late annexation of the Transvaal territory to the Cape Colony has afforded me. It is one of the most important measures our Government could have adopted, as regards the Republic as well as the Aborigines. I have no hesitation in pronouncing the step as being fraught with incalculable benefits to both parties,--i.e., the settlers and the native tribes. A residence of more than half a century beyond the colonial boundary is quite sufficient to authorize one to write with confidence that Lord Carnarvon's measure will be the commencement of an era of blessing to Southern Africa. I was one of a deputation appointed by a committee to wait on Sir George Clarke, at Bloemfontein, to prevent, if possible, his handing over the sovereignty, now the Free State, to the emigrant Boers. Every effort failed to prevent the blunder. Long experience had led many to foresee that such a course would entail on the native tribes conterminous oppression, slavery, _alias_ apprenticeship, etc. Many a tale of woe could be told arising, as they express it, from the English allowing their subjects to spoil and exterminate. Hitherto, the natives have been the sufferers, and might justly lay claim for compensation. With every expression of respect and esteem, I remain, yours very sincerely, Robert Moffat." * * * * * A letter from a Son of Dr. Moffat may have some interest here. It is dated December 20th, 1899. The Rev. John Moffat, son of the famous Dr. Moffat, and himself for a long time resident in South Africa, has sent to a friend in London a letter regarding the relations of the British and Dutch races previous to the war. Mr. Moffat, throughout his varied experiences, has been a special friend to the natives. One of his younger sons, Howard, is with a force of natives 60 miles south west of Khama's town (at the time of writing, December 20th), and Dr. Alford Moffat, another son, was medical officer to 300 Volunteers occupying the Mangwe Pass, to prevent a Boer raid into Rhodesia at that point. He writes:-- "1. _Had Steyn sat still and minded his own business_ no one would have meddled with him. Had Kruger confined himself strictly to self-defence, and _we_ had invaded _him_, we might have had to blame ourselves. "2. To have placed an adequate defensive force on our borders before we were sure that there was going to be war would have been accepted (perhaps justly) by the Boers as a menace. We did not do it, out of respect for their susceptibilities. "3. To most people in South Africa who knew the Boers it was quite plain that Kruger was all along playing what is colloquially known as the game of 'spoof.' He never intended to make the slightest concession. "4. Take them as a whole, the Boers are not pleasant people to live with, especially to those who are within their power, as the natives have found out sufficiently, and as the British have found out ever since Majuba, and the retrocession of the Transvaal. The wrongs of the Uitlanders were only one symptom of a disease which originated at Pretoria in 1881, and was steadily spreading itself all over South Africa. "5. With regard to the equal rights question, it is quite true that all is not as it ought to be in the Cape Colony. But the condition of the native in the Transvaal is 100 years behind that of our natives in the Cape Colony, and you may take it as a broad fact that in proportion as Boer domination prevails the gravitation of the native towards slavery will be accelerated." In conclusion, Mr. Moffat has this to say of the "Boer dream of Afrikander predominance": "We, who have been living out here, have been hearing about this thing for years, but we have tried not to believe it. We felt, many of us, that the struggle had to come, but we held our peace because we did not want to be charged with fomenting race hatred." He refers to Ben Viljoen's manifesto of September 29th, and to President Steyn's manifesto, and State Secretary Reitz's proclamation of October 11th, and says, "When I read these in conjunction with the history of South Africa for the last 18 years, I see that the cause of peace was hopeless in such hands." * * * * * Almost contemporaneously with the expression of opinion of Dr. Moffat (in 1877), the following report was written by M. Dieterlen, to the Committee of the _Missions Evangéliques de Paris_:-- "Lessouto, June 28th, 1876. "Gentlemen, "I must give you details of the journey which I have just made with four native evangelists; for no doubt you will wish to know why a missionary expedition, begun under the happiest auspices, and with the good wishes of so many Christians, has come to grief, on account of the ill-will of certain men, and has been, from a human point of view, a humiliating failure. Having placed myself at the head of the expedition, and being the only white man in the missionary group, I must bear the whole responsibility of our return, and if there is anyone to blame it is I. "From our departure from Leriba, as far as the other side of Pretoria, our voyage was most agreeable. We went on with energy, thinking only of our destination, the Banyaïs country, making plans for our settling amongst those people, and full of happiness at the thought of our new enterprise. An excellent spirit prevailed in our little troop,--serious and gay at the same time; no regrets, no murmurings; with a presentiment, indeed, that the Transvaal Government might make some objection to our advance, but with the certainty that God was with us, and would over-rule all that man might try to do. We crossed the Orange Free State without hindrance, we passed the Vaal, and continued our route towards the capital of the Transvaal; we reached the first village through which we must pass--Heidelberg--and encamped some distance from there. There they told us that the Boers knew that we were about to pass, and if they wished to stop us, it would be there they would do it. Let us take courage, therefore, we said, and be ready for everything. We unharnessed, and walked through the village in full daylight, posting our letters, etc. No one stopped us or spoke to us, and we retired to our encampment, thanking God that He had kept us through this critical moment. Some days later, we approached a charming spot, within three hours of Pretoria, near a clear stream, surrounded with lovely trees and flowers; we took the Communion together, strengthening each other for the future. Monday, at nine o'clock, we reached Pretoria. We were looked at with curiosity; they read our names on the sides of my waggon, they seemed surprised, and held discussions among themselves; the Field Cornet himself saw us pass, they told me sometime later. But we passed through the town without opposition. "We continued our way to the north-east full of thankfulness, saying to each other that after all the Government of the Transvaal was not so ill-disposed towards us. Our oxen continued to walk with sturdy steps; we had not yet lost one, although the cattle plague was prevalent at the time. Wednesday, at four o'clock in the evening, we left the house of an English merchant, with whom we had passed a little time, and who had placed at our disposal everything which we needed. Towards eight o'clock, by a splendid moonlight, I was walking in front of my waggon with Asser (one of the native missionaries), seeking a suitable place where we could pass the night, when two horsemen galloped up, and drawing bridle, brusquely asked for my papers, and seeing that I had not the papers that they desired, ordered us to turn round and go back to Pretoria. One of these men was the Sheriff, who showed me a warrant for my arrest, and putting his hand on my shoulder, declared me to be his prisoner. This, I may say in passing, made little impression on me. We retraced our steps, always believing that when we had paid some duty exacted for our luggage and our goods, we should be allowed to go in peace. Towards midnight they permitted us to unharness near a farm. The next morning these gentlemen searched all through the waggon of the native evangelists, and put any objects which they suspected aside. All this, with my waggon, must be sent back to Pretoria, there to be inspected by anyone who chose. "That same day I arrived in Pretoria in a cart, seated between the Field Cornet and the Sheriff, who were much softened when they saw that I did not reply to them in the tone which they themselves adopted, and that I had not much the look of a smuggler. The Secretary of the Executive Council exacted from me bail to the amount of £300 sterling, for which a German missionary from Berlin, Mr. Grüneberger, had the goodness to be my guarantor. I made a deposition, saying who we were, whence we came, and where we were going, insisting that we had no merchandise in our waggon, only little objects of exchange by which we could procure food in countries where money has no value. We had no intention of establishing ourselves within the limits of the Transvaal; we were going beyond the Limpopo, and consequently were simple travellers, and were not legally required to take any steps in regard to the Government, nor even to ask a passport. All this was written down and addressed to the Executive Committee, who took the matter in hand. "As they, however, accused us of being smugglers, and having somewhere a cannon, they proceeded to the examination of my waggon. They opened everything, ran their hands in everywhere, into biscuit boxes, among clothes, among candles, etc., and found neither cannon nor petroleum. The comedy of the smuggling ended, they took note of the contents of my boxes, and then attacked us from another side. They decided to treat me as a missionary. The Solicitor-General said to me that the Government did not care to have French missionaries going to the other side of the Limpopo. I said, 'these countries do not belong to the Transvaal;' to which they replied, 'Do you know what our intentions are? Have you not heard of the treaties which we have been able to make with the natives and with the Portuguese?' There! that is the reply which they made to me. They took good care not to inscribe it in the document in which they ordered us to leave the Transvaal immediately. These are things which they do not care to write, lest they should awaken the just susceptibilities of other Governments, or arouse the indignation of all true Christians. But there is the secret of the policy of the Transvaal in regard to us missionaries; they feared us, because they know our attachment to the natives, and our devotion to their interests. "They then ordered me to retrace at once my steps, threatening confiscation of our goods and the imprisonment of our persons if we attempted to force a passage through the country. I had to pay £14 sterling for the expenses of this mock trial. They brought the four native Evangelists out of the prison where they had spent two nights and a day in a very unpleasant manner; they gave me leave to take our two waggons out of the square of the Hotel de Ville where they had been put, together with the Transvaal Artillery, some pieces of ordnance, a large Prussian cannon and a French mitrailleuse from Berlin. "We were free, we were again united, but what a sorrowful reunion! We could hardly believe that all was ended, and that we must retrace our steps; so many hopes dissipated in a moment! and the thought of having to turn back after having arrived so near to our destination, was heart breaking. We were all rather sad, asking each other if we were merely the sport of a bad dream or if this was indeed the will of God. T resolved to make one more effort and ask an interview with the President of the Transvaal, Mr. Burgers. It was granted to me. I went therefore to the Cabinet of the President and spoke a long time with the Solicitor-General, protesting energetically against the force they had used against us, and I discussed the matter also with the President himself, but without being able to obtain any reasonable reply to the objections I raised. I saw clearly that I had to do with men determined to have their own way, and putting what they chose to consider the interests of the State above those of all Divine and human laws. "Their Parliament (Raad) was sitting, and I addressed myself to two of its members whom I had seen the day before, and who had seemed annoyed at the conduct of the Government towards us. I besought them for the honour of their country, to bring before their Parliament a question on the subject; but they dared not consent to this, declaring that if the Government were to put the matter before the representatives of the country these latter would decide in our favour, but that they could never take the initiative. "I had now exhausted all the means at my disposal. I did all I could to obtain leave to continue our journey, and only capitulated at the last extremity. I received a written order from the Government telling me to leave the soil of the Republic immediately. "These gentlemen had made me wait a long time, perhaps because they found it more difficult and dangerous to put down on paper orders which it was much easier to give vocally. This note was only a reproduction of the accusations they had made against us from the beginning. They declared to us that we were driven from the country because we had introduced guns, ammunition, and a great quantity of merchandise, and because we had entered the Transvaal without a passport, in spite of the Government itself having recently proclaimed a passport unnecessary for evangelists going through the country. In this document they systematically misrepresented and violated the right which every white man had had until then of travelling without permission. From the beginning to the end of this document it was open to criticism, which the feeblest jurist could have made; but in the Transvaal, as elsewhere, might dominates right, and we have to suffer the consequences of this odious principle. "We sorrowfully retraced the route towards the Vaal; this time no more joyous singing around our fire at night, no more cheerful projects, no more the hope of being the first to announce the glad Evangel among pagan populations. The veldt we traversed seemed to have lost its poetry and to have become desolate. To add to our misfortunes the epidemic seized our oxen. We lost first one and then a second,--altogether eight. Those which were left, tired and lean, dragged slowly and with pain the waggons which before they had drawn along with such vigour. At last we were in sight of Mabolela, and arrived at our destination, sorrowful, yet not unhappy, determined not to be discouraged by this first check. And now we were again at Lessouto, waiting for God to open to us a new door." FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 12: The extract commences at chapter II, page 29.] [Footnote 13: Near Pretoria.] [Footnote 14: Livingstone had given to the Chief, Sechele, a large iron pot for cooking purposes, and the form of it excited the suspicions of the Boers, who reported that it was a cannon. That pot is now in the Museum, at Cape Town.] IV. INTERVIEW WITH DR. JAMES STEWART, MODERATOR (1899) OF THE FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. LETTER OF MR. BELLOWS TO SENATOR HOAR, U.S.A. THE REV. C. PHILLIPS. EXTRACTS FROM THE "CHRISTIAN AGE," AND FROM M. ELISÉE RECLUS, GEOGRAPHER. RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL. MR. GLADSTONE'S ACTION. ITS EFFECT ON THE TRANSVAAL LEADERS, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES FOR THE NATIVE SUBJECTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. The Rev. Dr. James Stewart, of Lovedale Mission Institute, South Africa, who, in May, 1899, was elected Moderator of the General Assembly of the Scotch Free Church, imparted his views with regard to the Transvaal question to a representative of the _New York Tribune_ on the occasion of his visit to Washington in the autumn of 1899, to attend the Pan-Presbyterian Council as a delegate from the Free Church of Scotland. Dr. Stewart's title to speak on matters connected with the Transvaal rests upon thirty years' residence in South Africa. On the morning of his election as Moderator of the General Assembly the _Scotsman_ coupled his name with that of Dr. Livingstone as the men to whom the British Central Africa Protectorate was due. The interview was published in the _Tribune_ of September 24th, 1899. Dr. Stewart said:-- "As to the principle politically in dispute, the British Government asks nothing more than this--That British subjects in the Transvaal shall enjoy--I cannot say the same privileges, but a faint shadow of what every Dutchman, as well as every man, white and black, in the Cape Colony enjoys. Every Dutchman in the Cape Colony is treated exactly as if he were an Englishman; and every subject of Her Majesty the Queen, black and white, is treated in the Transvaal, and has always been, as a man of an alien and subject race. The franchise is only one of many grievances, and it is utterly a mistake to suppose that England is going to war over a question of mere franchise. Let us be just, however. There are in the Cape Colony and out of it loyal Dutchmen, loyal as the day, to the British power, which is the ruling power. They know the freedom they enjoy under it, and the folly and futility of trying to upset it. "No superfluous pity or sympathy need be wasted on President Kruger or the Transvaal Republic. The latter (Republic) is a shadow of a name, and as great a travesty and burlesque on the word as it is possible to conceive. "Paul Kruger is at the present moment the real troubler of South Africa. If the spirit and principles which he himself and his Government represent were to prevail in this struggle, it would arrest the development of the southern half of the continent. It is too late in the day by the world's clock for that type of man or government to continue. "The plain fact is this:--President Kruger does not mean to give, never meant to give, and will not give anything as a concession in the shape of just and necessary rights, except what he is forced to give. He wants also to get rid of the suzerainty. That darkens and poisons his days and disturbs his nights by fearful dreams. There is no excuse for him, and, as I say, there need be no sentiment wasted on the subject. Let President Kruger and his supporters do what is right, and give what is barely and simply and only necessary as well as right, and the whole difficulty will pass into solution, to the relief of all concerned and the preservation of peace in South Africa. If not, the blame must rest with him. "I am sorry I cannot give any information or express any views different from what I have now stated. They are the result of thirty years' residence in Africa. But I would ask your readers to believe that the British Government are rather being forced into war than choosing it of their own accord. I would also ask your readers to believe that Sir Alfred Milner, the present Governor of Cape Colony, though undoubtedly a strong man, is also one of the least aggressive, most cautious, and pacific of men; and that he has the entire confidence of the whole British population of the Cape Colony. I know also that when he began his rule three years ago, he did so with the expectation that by pacific measures the Dutch question was capable of a happier and better solution than that in which the situation finds it to-day. The question and trouble to-day is, briefly, whether the British Government is able to give protection and secure reasonable rights for its subjects abroad." * * * * * The following was addressed by Mr. John Bellows of Gloucester, to Senator Hoar, United States, America, and was published in the _New York Tribune_, Feb. 22nd, 1900. Mr. Bellows, on seeing the publication of his letter, wrote the following postscript, to Senator Hoar:-- "As the foregoing letter was headed by the Editor of the _New York Tribune_, 'A Quaker on the War,' I would say, to prevent misunderstanding, that I speak for myself only, and not for the Society of Friends, although I entirely believe in its teaching, that if we love all men we can under no circumstances go to war. There is, however, a spurious advocacy of peace, which is based, not upon love to men so much as upon enmity to our own Government, and which levels against it untrue charges of having caused the Transvaal War. It was to show the erroneousness of these charges that I wrote this letter." The following is the text of the letter:-- "Dear Friend, I am glad to receive thy letter, as it gives me the opportunity of pointing out a misconception into which thou hast fallen in reference to the Transvaal and its position with respect to the present war. "Thou sayest: 'I am myself a great lover of England; but I do not like to see the two countries joining hands for warlike purposes, and especially to crush out the freedom of small and weak nations.' "To this I willingly assent. I am certain that war is in all circumstances opposed to that sympathy all men owe one to another, and to that Greater Source of love and sympathy in which 'we live and move and have our being.' Where this bond has been broken, we long for its restoration; but it cannot but tend to retard this restoration, to impute to one or other of the parties concerned motives that are entirely foreign to its action. Peace, to be lasting, must stand on a foundation of truth; and there is no truth whatever in the idea that the English Government provoked the present war, or that it intended, at any time during the negotiations that preceded the war, an attack on the independence either of the Transvaal or of the Orange Free State. It is true that President Kruger has for many years carefully propagated the fear of such an attempt among the Dutch in South Africa, as a means of separating Boers and Englishmen into two camps, and as an incentive to their preparing the colossal armament that has now been brought into play, not to keep the English out of the Transvaal, but to realise what is called the Afrikander programme of a Dutch domination over the whole of South Africa. Thus, he a short time ago imported from Europe 149,000 rifles--nearly five times as many as the whole military population of the Transvaal--clearly with a view to arming the Cape Dutch in case of the general rising he hoped for. The Jameson Raid gave him exactly the grievance he wanted--to persuade these Cape Dutch that England sought to crush the Transvaal. "An examination of the 'Blue Book,' which contains the whole of the correspondence immediately preceding the war, will at once show the patient efforts put forth by the London Cabinet to maintain peace. There are no irritating words used, and the last despatch of importance before the outbreak of hostilities, dealing with the insinuations just alluded to, is not only most courteous and conciliatory in tone, but it states that the Queen's Government will give the most solemn guarantees against any attack upon the independence of the Transvaal either by Great Britain or the Colonies, or by any foreign power. I am absolutely certain that no American reading that despatch would say that President Kruger was justified in seizing the Netherlands Railway line within one week after he had received it, and cutting the telegraph wires, to prepare for the invasion of British territory, in which act of violence lay his last and only hope of forcing England to fight; his last and desperate chance of setting up a racial domination instead of the freedom and equality of the two races that prevail in the Cape and Natal, and that did prevail in the Orange Free State. "The cause of the dispute was this: In 1884 a Convention was agreed on between Great Britain and the Transvaal, acknowledging the independence of the Transvaal, subject to three conditions: that the Boers should not make treaties with foreign Powers without the consent of the paramount Power in South Africa, i.e., England; that they should not make slaves of the native tribes; and that they should guarantee equal treatment for all the white inhabitants of the country as respects taxation. As the whole war has risen out of Kruger's persistent refusal to keep his promises, both verbal and in writing, that he would observe this condition, I append the clause giving rise to the contention:-- "Article XIV. (1884 Convention).--'All persons other than natives conforming themselves to the laws of the South African Republic will not be subject in respect to their persons or property or in respect of their commerce and industry to any taxes, whether general or local, other than those which are or may be imposed upon citizens of the said Republic. "The mines brought so large a population to Johannesburg that it at last outnumbered by very far the entire Boer burghers in the State. Kruger, seeing that the inevitable effect of such an increase must be the same amalgamation of the new and old populations which was going on in Natal and Cape Colony, and to a smaller extent in the Orange Free State, unless artificial barriers could be devised to keep the races apart, at once set to to scheme modes of taxation that should evade Article XIV. of the Convention, throwing the entire burden on the Uitlanders, and letting the Boers, who were nearly all farmers, escape scot free. Farmers, for example, use no dynamite, miners do; and President Kruger gave a monopoly of its supply to a German, non-resident in the country, who taxed the miners for this article alone $2,600,000 a year beyond the highest price it could otherwise have been bought for. This was his own act, the Volksraad not being consulted. Besides the high price, the quality of the explosive was bad, often causing accident or death. When it did cause accident or death, the miners were prosecuted by the Government, from whose agent they were compelled to buy it, and fined for having used it! "At the time the Convention was signed, in 1884, the franchise was obtainable after one year's residence. President Kruger determined to serve the Uitlanders, however, as George III.'s Government served the American Colonists, that is, tax them while refusing them representation in the control of the taxes. He went on at one and the same time increasing their burdens monstrously, while he prolonged the period of residence that qualified for a vote from one year to five, and so on, till he made it fourteen years--or fourteen times as long as when the Convention was signed. Nor was this all. He reserved the right personally to veto any Uitlander being placed on the register even after the fourteen years if he thought he was for any reason objectionable. That is, the majority of the taxpayers were disfranchised for ever! These Uitlanders had bought and paid for 60 per cent. of all the property in the Transvaal, and 90 per cent. of the taxes were levied from them; an amount equal to giving every Boer in the country $200 a year of plunder. "Is a country that is so governed justly to be called a 'Republic?' "But even the Boers themselves have been adroitly edged out of power by Paul Kruger. The Grondwet, or Constitution, provided that to prevent abuses in legislation, no new law should be passed until the bill for it had been published three months in advance. To evade this, Kruger passed all kinds of measures as amendments to existing laws; which, as he explained, not being new laws, required no notification! Finally, however, he got the Volksraad to rescind this article of the Grondwet; and now, as for some time past, any law of any sort can be passed by a small clique of Kruger's in secret session of the Raad _without notice of any sort, and without the knowledge or assent of the people_. The Boers have no more voice in such legislation than if they were Chinese. The Transvaal is only a Republic in the same sense that a nutshell is a nut, or a fossil oyster shell is an oyster. "All that the British Government has ever contended for with President Kruger has been the fair and honourable observance of his engagement in respect of equal rights in Article XIV. of the 1884 Convention. This he has persistently and doggedly refused, while he has been using the millions of money he has wrung from the Uitlanders to purchase the material for the war he has been long years preparing on such a colossal scale to drive the English out of those Colonies in which they have given absolute equality to all. It is this very equality which has upset his calculations, by its leaving too few malcontents among the Dutch population to make any general rising of them possible in Natal or the Cape, on which rising Kruger staked his hope of success in the struggle. As for the Transvaal Boers, the only part they have in the war is to fight for their independence, which was never threatened until they invaded British territory, and thus compelled the Queen's Government to defend it. "The only alternative left to England to refuse fighting would have been the ground that all war is wrong; but as neither England nor any other nation has ever taken this Christian ground, there was in reality no alternative. Is it fair to stigmatise England as endeavouring to crush two small and weak nations because they have been so small in wisdom and weak in common sense as to become the tools of the daring and crafty autocrat who has decoyed both friend and foe into this war?--I am, with high esteem, thy friend,--JOHN BELLOWS." It does not come within the scope of this treatise to deal with the case of the Uitlanders, but I have given the foregoing, because it is a clear and concise statement of that case, and because it expresses the strong conviction that I and many others have had from the first, that the worst enemy the Boers have is their own Government. A Government could scarcely be found less amenable to the principles of all just Law, which exists alike for Rulers and ruled. These principles have been violated in the most reckless manner by President Kruger and his immediate supporters. The Boers are suffering now, and paying with their life-blood for the sins of their Government. Pity and sympathy for them, (more especially for those among them who undoubtedly possess higher qualities than mere military prowess and physical courage,) are consistent with the strongest condemnation of the duplicity and lawlessness of their Government. * * * * * The Rev. Charles Phillips, who has been eleven years in South Africa, has given his opinion on the native question. It was part of the Constitution of the Transvaal that no equality in Church or State should be permitted between whites and blacks. In Cape Colony, on the contrary, the Constitution insisted that there should be no difference in consequence of colour. Mr. Phillips enumerates the oppressive conditions under which the natives live in the Transvaal. They may not walk on the sidepaths, or trade even as small hucksters, or hold land. Until two years ago there was no marriage law for the blacks, and that which was then passed was so bad--a £3 fee being demanded for every marriage, with many other difficulties placed in the way of marriage--that the missionaries endeavoured to procure its abolition, and to return to the old state of things. No help is given towards the education of native children, though the natives pay 3 per cent. of the revenue, the Boers paying 7-1/2, and the Uitlanders 89-1/2. The natives have, therefore, actually been helping to educate the Boer children. "In 1896," says Mr. Phillips, "only £650 was granted to the schools of those who paid nine-tenths of the revenue, £63,000 being spent upon the Boer Schools. In other words, the Uitlander child gets 1s. 10d., the Boer child £8 6s. 1d. The Uitlander pays £7 per head for the education of every Boer child, and he has to provide in addition for the education of his own children." * * * * * The following extract is from a more general point of view, but one which it is unphilosophical to overlook. The _Christian Age_ reproduces a communication from an American gentleman residing in the Transvaal to the New York _Independent_. "The Boers," Mr. Dunn says, "are, as a race--with, of course, individual exceptions--an extraordinary instance of an arrested civilisation, the date of stoppage being somewhere about the conclusion of the seventeenth century. But they have not even stood still at that point. They have distinctly and dangerously degenerated even from the general standard of civilisation existing when Jan van Riebeck hoisted the flag of the Dutch East India Company at Cape Point. The great cardinal fact in connection with the Uitlander population is that, owing to their numbers and activity, they have brought in their train an influx of new wealth into the Transvaal of truly colossal dimensions. Thus, to sum up the distinctive and divergent characteristics of the two classes into which the population of the South African Republic is divided--the Boers, or old population, are conservative, ignorant, stagnant, and a minority; the Uitlanders, or new population, are progressive, full of enterprise, energy and work, and constitute a large majority of the total number of inhabitants. "It has so happened, therefore, that the Boers, as the ruling and dominant class, have hopelessly failed to master or comprehend the new conditions with which they have been called upon to deal. They have not, as a body, shown either capacity or desire to treat the new developments with even a remote appreciation of their inherent value and inevitable trend. The Boer has simply set his back against the floodgates, apparently oblivious or indifferent to the fact that the hugely accumulating forces behind must one day burst every barrier he may choose to set up. That is the whole Transvaal situation in a sentence. "It is necessary to point out, further, that this blind and dogged determination on the part of the Boers to 'stop the clock' affects not merely the Transvaal; it is vitally and perniciously affecting the whole of South Africa. But for the obstructiveness and obscurantism of the Transvaal Boers, the rate of progress and development which would characterise the whole South African continent would be unparalleled in the history of any other country. The reactionary policy of the Transvaal is the one spoke in the wheel. It must therefore be removed in the name of humanity and civilisation." * * * * * M. Elisée Reclus, the great Geographer, an able and admittedly impartial Historian, wrote some years ago in his "Africa," Vol. 4, page 215:-- "The patriotic Boers of South Africa still dream of the day when the two Republics of the Orange and the Transvaal, at first connected by a common customs union, will be consolidated in a single 'African Holland,' possibly even in a broader confederacy, comprising all the Afrikanders from the Cape of Good Hope to the Zambesi. The Boer families, grouped in every town throughout South Africa, form, collectively, a single nationality, despite the accident of political frontiers. The question of the future union has already been frequently discussed by the delegates of the two conterminous Republics. But, unless these visions can be realized during the present generation, they are foredoomed to failure. Owing to the unprogressive character of the purely Boer communities and to the rapid expansion of the English-speaking peoples by natural increase, by direct immigration, and by the assimilation of the Boers themselves, the future 'South African Dominion' can, in any case, never be an 'African Holland.' Whenever the present political divisions are merged in one State, that State must sooner or later constitute an 'African England,' whether consolidated under the suzerainty of Great Britain or on the basis of absolute political autonomy. But the internal elements of disorder and danger are too multifarious to allow the European inhabitants of Austral Africa for many generations to dispense with the protection of the English sceptre. "Possessing for two centuries no book except the Bible, the South African Dutch communities are fond of comparing their lot with that of the 'Chosen People.' Going forth, like the Jews, in search of a 'Promised Land,' they never for a moment doubted that the native populations were specially created for their benefit. They looked on them as mere 'Canaanites, Amorites, and Jebusites,' doomed beforehand to slavery or death. "They turned the land into a solitude, breaking all political organization of the natives, destroying all ties of a common national feeling, and tolerating them only in the capacity of 'apprentices,' another name for slaves. "In general, the Boers despise everything that does not contribute directly to the material prosperity of the family group. Despite their numerous treks, they have contributed next to nothing to the scientific exploration of the land. "Of all the white intruders, the Dutch Afrikanders show themselves, as a rule, most hostile to their own kinsmen, the Netherlanders of the mother country. At a distance the two races have a certain fellow-feeling for each other, as fully attested by contemporary literature; but, when brought close together, the memory of their common origin gives place to a strange sentiment of aversion. The Boer is extremely sensitive, hence he is irritated at the civilized Hollanders, who smile at his rude African customs, and who reply, with apparent ostentation, in a pure language to the corrupt jargon spoken by the peasantry on the banks of the Vaal or Limpopo." No impartial student of recent South African History can fail, I think, to see that the results of Mr. Gladstone's policy in the retrocession of the Transvaal have been unhappy, however good the impulse which prompted his action. To his supporters at home, and to many of his admirers throughout Europe, his action stood for pure magnanimity, and seemed a sort of prophetic instalment of the Christian spirit which, they hoped, would pervade international politics in the coming age. To the Transvaal leaders it presented a wholly different aspect. It meant to them weakness, and an acknowledgment of defeat. "Now let us go on," they felt, "and press towards our goal, i.e., the expulsion of the British from South Africa." The attitude and conduct of the Transvaal delegates who came to London in 1883, and of their chiefs and supporters, throws much light on this effect produced by the act of Mr. Gladstone. There can be no doubt that the desire to supplant British by Dutch supremacy has existed for a long time. President Kruger puts back the origin of the opposition of the two races to a very distant date. In 1881, he said, "In the Cession of the Cape of Good Hope by the King of Holland to England lies the root out of which subsequent events and our present struggle have grown." The Dutch believe themselves,--and not without reason,--capable of great things, they were moved by an ambition to seize the power which they believed,--and the retrocession fostered that belief,--was falling from England's feeble and vacillating grasp. "Long before the present trouble" says a Member of the British Parliament well acquainted with South African affairs, "I visited every town in South Africa of any importance, and was brought into close contact with every class of the population; wherever one went, one heard this ambition voiced, either advocated or deprecated, but never denied. It dates back some forty or fifty years."[15] The first reference to it is in a despatch of Governor Sir George Grey, in 1858; and it is to be found more definitely in the speeches of President Burgers in the Transvaal Raad in 1877 before the annexation, and in his _apologia_ published after the annexation. The movement continued under the administration of Sir Bartle Frere, who wrote in a despatch (published in Blue book) in 1879, "The Anti-English opposition are sedulously courting the loyal Dutch party (a great majority of the Cape Dutch) in order to swell the already considerable minority who are disloyal to the English Crown here and in the Transvaal." Mr. Theodore Schreiner, the brother of the Cape Premier, in a letter to the "Cape Times," November, 1899, described a conversation he had some seventeen years ago with Mr. Reitz, then a judge, afterwards President of the Orange Free State, and now State Secretary of the Transvaal, in which Mr. Reitz admitted that it was his object to overthrow the British power and expel the British flag from South Africa. Mr. Schreiner adds; "During the seventeen years that have elapsed I have watched the propaganda for the overthrow of British power in South Africa being ceaselessly spread by every possible means, the press, the pulpit, the platform, the schools, the colleges, the legislature; and it has culminated in the present war, of which Mr. Reitz and his co-workers are the origin and the cause." The Retrocession of the Transvaal (1881) gave a strong impulse to this movement, and encouraged President Kruger in his persistent efforts since that date to foster it. A friend of the late General Joubert,--in a letter which I have read,--wrote of Mr. Kruger as "the man who, for more than twenty years past, has persistently laboured to drive in the wedge between the two races. It has been his deliberate policy throughout." I always wish that I could separate the memory of that truly great man, Mr. Gladstone, from this Act of his Administration. Few people cherish his memory with more affectionate admiration than I do. Independently of his great intellect, his eloquence, and his fidelity in following to its last consequences a conviction which had taken possession of him, I revered him because he seemed like King Saul, to stand a head and shoulders above all his fellows,--not like King Saul in physical, but in moral stature. Pure, honourable and strong in character and principles, a sincere Christian, he attracted and deserved the affection and loyalty of all to whom purity and honour are dear. I may add that I may speak of him, in a measure also as a personal friend of our family. I have memories of delightful intercourse with him at Oxford, when he represented that constituency, and later, in other places and at other times. I recall, however, an occasion in which a chill of astonishment and regret fell upon me and my husband (politically one of his supporters), in hearing a pronouncement from him on a subject, which to us was vital, and had been pressing heavily on our hearts. I allude to a great speech which Mr. Gladstone made in Liverpool during the last period of the Civil War in America, the Abolitionist War. Our friend spoke with his accustomed fiery eloquence wholly in favour of the spirit and aims of the combatants of the Southern States, speaking of their struggle as one on behalf of liberty and independence, and wishing them success. Not one word to indicate that the question which, like burning lava in the heart of a volcano, was causing that terrible upheaval in America, had found any place in that great man's mind, or had even "cast its shadow before" in his thoughts. It appeared as though he had not even taken in the fact of the existence of those four millions of slaves, the uneasy clanking of whose chains had long foreboded the approach of the avenging hand of the Deliverer. This obscured perception of the question was that of a great part, if not of the majority, of the Press of that day, and of most persons of the "privileged" classes; but that _he_, a trusted leader of so many, should be suffering from such an imperfection of mental vision, was to us an astonishment and sorrow. As we left that crowded hall, my companion and I, we looked at each other in silent amazement, and for a long time we found no words. As I look back now, there seems in this incident some explanation of Mr. Gladstone's total oblivion of the interests of our loyal native subjects of the Transvaal at the time when he handed them over to masters whose policy towards them was well known. These poor natives had appealed to the British Government, had trusted it, and were deceived by it. I recollect that Mr. Gladstone himself confessed, with much humility it seemed to us, in a pamphlet written many years after the American War, that it "had been his misfortune" on several occasions "not to have perceived the reality and importance of a question _until it was at the door_." This was very true. His noble enthusiasm for some good and vital cause so engrossed him at times that the humble knocking at the door of some other, perhaps equally vital question, was not heard by him. The knocking necessarily became louder and louder, till at last the door was opened; but then it may have been too late for him to take the part in it which should have been his. FOOTNOTE: [Footnote 15: Speech of Mr. Drage, M.P., at Derby, December, 1899.] V. VISIT OF TRANSVAAL DELEGATES TO ENGLAND. THE LORD MAYOR'S REFUSAL TO RECEIVE THEM AT THE MANSION HOUSE. DR. DALE'S LETTER TO MR. GLADSTONE. MR. MACKENZIE IN ENGLAND. MEETINGS AND RESOLUTIONS ON TRANSVAAL MATTERS. MANIFESTO OF BOER DELEGATES. SPEECHES OF W.E. FORSTER, LORD SHAFTESBURY, SIR FOWELL BUXTON, AND OTHERS. THE LONDON CONVENTION (1884). In 1883, two years after the retrocession of the Transvaal, the Boers, encouraged by the hesitating policy of the British Government, sent a deputation to London of a few of their most astute statesmen, to put fresh claims before Mr. Gladstone, and Lord Derby, then Colonial Minister. They did not ask the repeal of the stipulations of the Convention of 1881--that was hardly necessary, as these stipulations had neither been observed by them nor enforced by our Government, but what they desired and asked was the complete re-establishment of the Republic, freed from any conditions of British Suzerainty. This would have given them a free hand in dealing with the natives, a power which those who knew them best were the least willing to concede. Sir R.N. Fowler was at that time Lord Mayor of London. According to the custom when any distinguished foreigners visit our Capital, of giving them a reception at the Mansion House, these Transvaal delegates were presented for that honour. But the door of the Mansion House was closed to them, and by a Quaker Lord Mayor, renowned for his hospitality! The explanation of this unusual act is given in the biography of Sir R. Fowler, written by J.S. Flynn, (page 260.) The following extract from that biography was sent to the _Friend_, the organ of the Society of Friends, in November, 1899, by Dr. Hodgkin, himself a quaker, whose name is known in the literary world:--"The scene of Sir R. Fowler's travels in 1881 was South Africa, where he went chiefly for the purpose of ascertaining how he could best serve the interests of the native inhabitants. He left no stone unturned in his search for information--visiting Sir Hercules Robinson, the Governor of the Cape, Sir Theophilus Shepstone, Sir Evelyn Wood, Colonel Mitchell, Bishops Colenso and Macrorie, the Zulu King Cetewayo, the principal statesmen, the military, the newspaper editors, the workers at the diamond-fields, and many others. The result of his inquiries was to confirm his belief of the charges which were made against the Transvaal Boers of wronging and oppressing the blacks. "It was the opinion of many philanthropists that the only way to insure good Government in the Transvaal--justice to the natives, the suppression of slavery, the security of neighbouring tribes--was by England's insisting on the Boer's observance of the Treaty which had been made to this effect, and the delimitation of the boundary of their territory in order to prevent aggression. With this object in view meetings were held in the City, petitions presented by Members of Parliament, resolutions moved in the House; and when at last it was discovered that Mr. Gladstone's Government was unwilling to fulfil its pledges in reference to South Africa, and that in consequence the native inhabitants would not receive the support they had been led to expect, considerable indignation was felt amongst the friends of the aborigines. The demand which they made seems to have been moderate. The Transvaal, which before the war, had been reckoned, for its protection, a portion of the British dominions, was now made simply a State under British Suzerainty, with a debt to England of about a quarter of a million (in lieu of the English outlay during the three years of its annexation), and a covenant for the protection of the 800,000 natives in the State, and the Zulu, Bechuana, and Swazi tribes upon its borders. The English sympathisers with these natives simply asked that the covenant should be adhered to. There was little chance of the debt being paid, and that they were willing to forego; but they maintained that honour and humanity demanded that the Boers should not be allowed to treat their agreement with us as so much waste paper. "The Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for the Colonies received the Transvaal delegates graciously, but the doors of the Mansion House were shut against them. Its occupant at that time would neither receive them into his house nor bid them God-speed. He had made a careful study of the South African question, and he felt no doubt that this deputation represented a body of European settlers who were depriving the natives of their land, slaying their men, and enslaving their women and children. He desired to extend the hospitality of the Mansion House to visitors from all countries, and to all creeds and political parties; but the line must be drawn somewhere, and he would draw it at the Boers. The boldness of his action on this occasion startled some even of his friends. He was, of course, attacked by that portion of the press which supported the Government. On the other hand, he had numerous sympathisers. Approving letters and telegrams came from many quarters, one telegram coming from the 'Loyalists of Kimberley' with 'hearty congratulations.' As for his opponents, he was not in the least moved by anything they said. He held it to be impossible for any respectable person who knew the Boers to support them. This was no doubt strong language, but it was not stronger than that of Moffat and Livingstone; not a whit stronger either than that used by W.E. Forster, who had been a member of the Gladstonian Government." Dr. Hodgkin prefaced this extract by the following lines, addressed to the Editor of the _Friend_: "Dear Friend,--In re-perusing a few days ago the life of my late brother-in-law, Sir R.N. Fowler, I came upon the enclosed passage, which I think worthy of our consideration at the present time. Of late years the disputes between our Government and the African Republic have turned so entirely on questions connected with the status of the settlers in and around Johannesburg, that we may easily forget the old subjects of dispute which existed for a generation before it was known that there were any workable goldfields in South Africa, and before the word "Uitlander" had been mentioned amongst us. I must confess that for my part I had forgotten this incident of Sir R.N. Fowler's Mayoralty, and I think it may interest some of your readers to be reminded of it at the present time. I am, thine truly,--THOMAS HODGKIN. Barmoor, Northumberland." * * * * * The late Dr. Dale, of Birmingham, was one of those whose minds were painfully exercised on the matter of the abandonment of the natives of the Transvaal to the Boers. An extract from his life was sent in February this year to the _Spectator_, with the following preface:-- "Sir,--I have been greatly impressed by the justice of much that has been said in the _Spectator_ on the fact that the present war is a retribution for our indifference and apathy in 1881. We failed in our duty then. We have taken it up now, but at what a cost! In reading lately the life of Dr. Dale, of Birmingham, I was struck by his remarks (pp. 438 and 439) on the Convention of Pretoria. These remarks have such a bearing on the present situation that I beg you will allow me to quote them:"-- "In relation to South African affairs he (Dr. Dale) felt silence to be impossible. He had welcomed the policy initiated by the Convention of Pretoria (1881) conceding independence to the Transvaal, but imposing on the Imperial Government responsibility for the protection of native races within and beyond the frontiers. In correspondence with members of the House of Commons and in more than one public utterance, he expressed his satisfaction that the freedom of the Boers did not involve the slavery of the natives. At first the outlook was hopeful, but the Boers soon began to chafe against the restrictions to which they were subjected.... The Rev. John Mackenzie brought a lamentable record of outrage and cruelty.... Dr. Dale particularly urged that the Government should insist on carrying out the 18th article of the Convention of Pretoria. 'The policy of the Government seemed to me both righteous and expedient, singularly courageous and singularly Christian. But that policy included two distinct elements. It restored to the Boers internal independence, it reserved to the British Government powers for the protection of native races on the Transvaal frontier. It is not unreasonable for those who in the face of great obloquy supported the Government in recognising the independence of the Transvaal, to ask that it should also use its treaty powers, and use them effectively for the protection of the natives.' To this statement the _Pall Mall_ (John Morley) replied that the suzerainty over the Transvaal maintained by us was a 'shadowy term,' and that those who demanded that our reserved rights should be enforced were bound to face the question whether they were willing to fight to enforce them. Was Dr. Dale ready to run the risk of a fresh war in South Africa? Dr. Dale replied, should the British Government and British people regard with indifference the outrages of the Boers against tribes that we had undertaken to protect?... 'If the Government of the Republic cannot prevent such crimes as are declared to have been committed in the Bechuana country, and if we are indifferent to them, we shall have the South African tribes in a blaze again before many years are over, and for the safety of our Colonists we shall be compelled to interfere.' In the ensuing Session the Ministerial policy was challenged in both Houses of Parliament, and in the Commons Mr. Forster indicted the Government for its impotence to hold the Transvaal Republic to its engagements. Dr. Dale wrote a long letter to Mr. Gladstone:--'If it had been said that power to protect the natives should be taken but not used, it is at least possible that a section of the party might have declined to approve the Ministerial policy.... The one point to which I venture to direct attention is the contrast, as it appears to me, between the declaration of Ministers in '81, in relation to the native races generally, and the position which has been taken in the present debate.' Mr. Gladstone's reply was courteous, but not reassuring." * * * * * Mr. Mackenzie, British Commissioner for Bechuanaland, came to England in 1882. In the following year the Delegates from the Transvaal came to London, and in 1884 the Convention was signed, which was called the "London Convention." These years included events of great interest. Mr. Mackenzie wrote:--"On my way to England I met a friend who had just landed in South Africa from England. He warned me 'If you say a good word for South Africa, Mr. Mackenzie, you will get yourself insulted. They will not hear a word on its behalf in England; they are so disgusted with the mess that has been made.' 'They had good reason to be disgusted, but I want all the same to tell them a number of things about the true condition of the country.' 'They will not listen,' my friend declared, 'They will only swear at you.' This was not very encouraging, but it was not far from the truth as to the public feeling at that time. Being in the----counties of England I was offered an introduction to the Editor of a well-known newspaper, who was also a pungent writer on social questions under a _nom de plume_ which had got to be so well known as no longer to serve the purpose of the writer's concealment of identity. 'You come from South Africa, do you,' said the great man; 'a place where we have had much trouble, but mean to have no more.' 'Trouble, however,' I answered, 'is inseparable from Empire. Whoever governs South Africa must meet with some trouble and difficulty, although not much when honestly faced.' 'I assure you,' he broke in, 'we are not going to try it again after the one fashion or the other. We are out of it, and we mean to remain so.' 'You astonish me,' I answered; 'what about the Convention recently signed at Pretoria (1881)? What about the speeches still more recently made in this country in support of it?' 'As to the Convention, I know we signed something; people often do when they are getting out of a nasty business. We never meant to keep it, nor shall we.' I believe I whistled a low whistle just to let off the steam, and then replied calmly, 'Will you allow me to say that by your own showing you are a bad lot, a very bad lot, as politicians.' 'That may be, but it does not alter the fact, which is as I state.' 'Well, I am an outsider, but I assure you that the English people, should they ever know the facts, will agree with me in saying that you are a bad lot. Such doctrines in commerce would ruin us in a day. You know that.' 'The people are with us. They are disgusted and heart-sore with the whole business.' 'I grant you that such is their frame of mind, but I think their attitude will be different when they come to consider the facts, and face the responsibilities of our position in South Africa. The only difficulty with me is to communicate the truth to the public mind.' I was much impressed by this interview. Did this influential editor represent a large number of English people? Were they in their own minds out of South Africa, and resolved never to return? ... 'I do not know what you think, Mr. Mackenzie, but we are all saying here that Mr. Gladstone made a great mistake in not recalling Sir Bartle Frere at once. In fact, we are of opinion that Frere should have been tried and hanged.' The speaker was a fine specimen of an Englishman, tall, with a good head, intelligent and able as well as strong in speech. He was a large manufacturer, and a local magnate. His wife was little and gentle, and yet quite fearless of her grim-looking lord. She begged that I would always make a deduction when her husband referred to South Africa. He could never keep his temper on that subject, My host abruptly demanded, 'But don't you think that Frere should have been hanged?' 'My dear, you will frighten Mr. Mackenzie with your vehemence, and you know you do not mean it a bit.' 'Mean it! Isn't it what everybody is saying here? At any rate I have given Mr. Mackenzie a text, and he must now give me his discourse.' I then proceeded to sketch out the work which Sir Bartle Frere had had before him, its fatal element of haste, with its calamitous failures in no way chargeable to him. 'In short, I concluded, but for the grave blunders of others you would have canonized Sir Bartle Frere instead of speaking of him as you do. He is the ablest man you ever sent to South Africa. As to his personal character, I do not know a finer or manlier Christian.' ... 'I am quite bewildered,' said my host, at the end of a long conversation. 'I know more of South Africa than I knew before. But we shall not believe you unless you pitch into someone. You have not done that yet; you have only explained past history, and have had a good word for everybody.' 'Then, Sir,' I quickly answered, 'I pitch into you, and into your Governments, one after another, for not mastering the facts of South African life. Why do you now refuse to protect your own highway into the Interior, and at the same time conserve the work of the missionaries whom you have supported for two generations, and thus put an end to the freebooting of the Boers, and of our own people who joined them? At present there is a disarmed coloured population, disarmed by your own laws on account only of their colour; and there is an armed population, armed under your laws, because they are white; and you decline to interfere in any way for the protection of the former. You will neither protect the natives nor give them fair play and an open field, so that they may protect themselves.' 'Now, my dear,' said the little wife, 'I wonder who deserves to be hanged now? I am sure we are obliged to Mr. Mackenzie for giving us a clear view of things.' 'No, no, you are always too hasty,' said my host, quite gravely. 'The thing gets very serious. Do I rightly understand you, Mr. Mackenzie, that practically we Englishmen arm those freebooters (from the Transvaal,) and practically keep the blacks disarmed, and that when the blacks have called on us for protection and have offered themselves and their country to the Queen we have paid no heed? Is this true?' 'Every word true,' I replied. 'Then may I ask, did you not fight for these people? You had surely got a rifle,' said my host, turning right round on me. 'My dear, you forget Mr. Mackenzie has been a Missionary,' said his wife. 'You yourself, as a Director of the London Missionary Society, would have had him cashiered if he had done anything of the kind.' 'Nonsense, you don't see the thing. I assure you I could not have endured such meanness and injustice. I should have broken such confounded laws. I should have shouldered a rifle, I know,' said the indignant man as he paced his room. 'My dear, you would have got shot, you know,' said his wife. 'Shot! yes, certainty, why not?' said my host; and added gravely, 'A fellow would know _why_ he was shot. Is it true, Mr. Mackenzie, that those blacks were kind to our people who fled to them from the Transvaal, and that they there protected them?' 'Quite true,' I rejoined. 'Then by heaven,' said Mr.----, raising his voice-- 'Let us go to supper,' broke in the gentle wife, 'you are only wearying Mr. Mackenzie by your constant wishes to hang some one.' "I trust my friends will forgive me for recalling this conversation, which vividly pictures the state of people's mind concerning South Africa in 1882. I found that most people were incredulous as to the facts being known at the Colonial Office, and there was a uniform persuasion that Mr. Gladstone was ignorant that such things were going on." I have given these interviews (much abridged) because they illustrate in a rather humourous way a state of mind which unhappily has long existed and exists to some degree to this day in England--an impatience of responsibility for anything concerning interests lying beyond the shores of our own Island, a certain superciliousness, and a habit of expressing and adhering to suddenly formed and violent opinions without sufficient study of the matters in question,--such opinions being often influenced by the bias of party politics. Our countrymen are now waking up to a graver and deeper consideration of the tremendous interests at stake in our Colonies and Dependencies, and to a greater readiness to accept responsibilities which once undertaken it is cowardice to reject or even to complain of. At the request of the London Missionary Society, Mr. Mackenzie drew up an extended account of the Bechuanaland question, which had a wide circulation. He did not enter into party politics, but merely gave evidence as to matters of fact. There was surprise and indignation expressed wherever the matter was carefully studied and understood. Many resolutions were transmitted to the Colonial Secretary from public meetings; one which came from a meeting in the Town Hall of Birmingham was as, follows:-- "This meeting earnestly trusts that the British Government will firmly discharge the responsibilities which they have undertaken in protection of the native races on the Transvaal border." Among the people who took up warmly the cause of the South African natives were Dr. Conder, Mr. Baines, and Mr. Yates of Leeds (who addressed themselves directly to Mr. Gladstone), Dr. Campbell and Dr. Duff of Edinburgh, the Rev. Arnold Thomas and Mr. Chorlton of Bristol, Mr. Howard of Ashton-under-Lyne, Mr. Thomas Rigby of Chester, and others. A Resolution was sent to the Colonial Office by the Secretary of the Congregational Union of England and Wales, which had been passed unanimously at a meeting of that body in Bristol:-- "That the Assembly of the Congregational Union, recognising with devout thankfulness the precious and substantial results of the labours of two generations of Congregational Christian Missionaries in Bechuanaland, learns with grief and alarm that the lawless incursions of certain Boers from the Transvaal threaten the utter ruin of peace, civilization, and Christianity in that land. This Assembly therefore respectfully and most urgently entreats Her Majesty's Government, in accordance with the express provision of the Convention by which Self-Government was granted to the Boers, to take such steps as shall eventually put a stop to a state of things as inconsistent with the pledged word of England as with the progress of the Bechuanaland nations." Signed at Bristol, Oct. 1882. "These," says Mr. Mackenzie, "were not words of war, but of peace; they were not the words of enemies, but of friends of the Transvaal, many of whom had been prominent previously in agitating for the Boers getting back their independence. They felt that this was the just complement of that action; the Boers were to have freedom within the Transvaal, but not licence to turn Bechuanaland (and other neighbouring native states) into a pandemonium." There was a closer contact in Edinburgh with South Africa than elsewhere, owing to the constant presence at that University of a large number of students from South Africa. A public meeting was held in Edinburgh, among the speakers whereat were Bishop Cotterill, who had lived many years in South Africa; Mr. Gifford, who had been a long time in Natal; Professor Calderwood, and Dr. Blaikie, biographer of Dr. Livingstone. The Venerable Mr. Cullen, the first missionary traveller in Bechuanaland, who had often entertained Dr. Moffat and Dr. Livingstone in his house, was present to express his interest in that country. There were the kindest expressions used towards our Dutch fellow-subjects; but grave condemnation was expressed of the Transvaal policy towards the coloured people in making it a fundamental law that they were not to be equal to the whites either in Church or State. A South African Committee was formed in London from which a largely supported address was presented to Mr. Gladstone. The High Commissioner for Bechuanaland gave his impressions at several different times during that and the preceding year on the subject of the constant illegal passing of the Western Boundary line of the Transvaal by the Boers. Readers will remember that the delimitation of the western boundary of the Transvaal was a fixed condition of the Convention of 1881, a Convention which was continually violated by the Boers. No rest was permitted for the poor natives of the different tribes on that side, the Boers' land-hunger continuing to be one of their strongest passions. The High Commissioner wrote, "If Montsioa and Mankoroane were now absorbed, Banokwani, Makobi and Bareki would soon share the same fate. Haseitsiwe and Sechele would come next. So long as there were native cattle to be stolen and native lands to be taken possession of, the absorbing process would be repeated. Tribe after tribe would be pushed back and back upon other tribes or would perish in the process until an uninhabitable desert or the sea were reached as the ultimate boundary of the Transvaal State."[16] The Manifesto presented by the Transvaal delegates to the English people convinced no one, and its tone was calculated rather to beget suspicion. The following is an extract from that document: "The horrible misdeeds committed by Spain in America, by the Dutch in the Indian Archipelago, by England in India, and by the Southern planters in the United States, constitute an humiliating portion of the history of mankind, over which we as Christians may well blush, confessing with a contrite heart our common guiltiness." "The labours of the Anti-slavery and Protection of Aborigines Societies which have been the means of arousing the public conscience to the high importance of this matter cannot be, according to our opinion, sufficiently lauded and encouraged." The manifesto then goes on to meet the charges concerning slavery and ill-treatment of natives brought against the Transvaal by a flat denial. "They may be true," they say, "as to actions done long ago, and they humbly pray to the Lord God to forgive them the sins that may have been committed in hidden corners. Believe us, therefore, Gentlemen, when we say that the opposition to our Government is caused by prejudice, and fed by misunderstanding. If you leave us untrammelled, we hope to God that before a new generation has passed, a considerable portion of our natives in the Transvaal will be converted to Christianity; at least our Government is preparing arrangements for a more thorough Christian mission among them." A public Meeting was held at the Mansion House, called by the Lord Mayor, Sir R. Fowler, at which the Right Hon. W.E. Forster, referring to the Sand River and the other Conventions said: "can anything be more grossly unfair and unjust than on the one hand, to hand over these native people to the Transvaal Government, and on the other hand to do our utmost to prevent them from defending themselves when their rights are attacked? I cannot conceive any provision more contrary to that principle of which we are so proud--British fair play." Speaking of the treatment of the Bechuanaland people by the Boers he said: "The story of these men is a very sad one; I would rather never allude to it again." He then referred to "the settlement of the western boundary of the Transvaal by Governor Keate, and the immediate repudiation of it by the Transvaal Rulers. Then came the Pretoria Convention only two years ago which added a large block of native land to the Transvaal. That was not enough. Freebooters came over, mostly from the Transvaal, and afterwards from other parts of the country. Representations and remonstrances were made to the Transvaal Government. There was a non possumus reply. 'We cannot stop them;' We seem to have good ground for believing that the freebooters were stimulated by the officers of the Transvaal Government. The result was that the native Chiefs of the people lost by far the larger portion of their land. They appealed to our Government, and we did nothing; there came again and again despairing appeals to England, and how were they met? I can only believe it was through ignorance of the question that it was possible to meet them as we did. It was proposed to meet them by a miserable compensation in money or in land, not to the people but to the few Chiefs, who to their credit, as a lesson to us, a great Christian Country said: 'We will not desert our people even if you desert us.' Then there followed utter disorder and disorganisation in Bechuanaland. Then came in the Transvaal Government and virtually said: 'Give us the country and we will maintain order; if owners of the land object we will put them down as rebels; we will take their land as we have taken Mapoch's, and apprentice their children. You have got tired of these quarrels, leave them to us; we will put a stop to them by protecting the robbers who have taken the land.' "That practically is the demand. Are you prepared to grant it? I for my part say, that rather than grant it I would (a voice in the meeting--'fight!') yes, if necessary, fight; but I will do my utmost to persuade my fellow countrymen to make the declaration that, if necessary, force will be used, which, if it was believed in, would make it unnecessary to fight. "The Transvaal Boers know our power, and the Delegates know our power. It is our will that they doubt. If I could not persuade my fellow countrymen that they meant to show that they would never grant such demands as these, I would rather do--what I should otherwise oppose with all my might,--withdraw from South Africa altogether. I am not so proud of our extended Empire as to wish to preserve it at the cost of England refusing to discharge her duties. If we have obligations we must meet them, and if we have duties we must fulfil them; and I have confidence in the English people that first or last they will make our Government fulfil its obligations. But there is much difference between first and last; last is much more difficult than first, and more costly than first. The cost increases with more than geometrical progression. There are people who say, (but the British nation will not say it;) 'leave us alone, let these Colonists and Boers and Natives whom we are tired of, fight it out as best they can; let us declare by our deeds, or rather by our non deeds that we will not keep our promise nor fulfil our duty.' Such a course as that would be as extravagantly costly as it would be shamefully wrong. This _laissez faire_ policy tends to make things go from bad to worse until at last by a great and most costly effort, and perhaps by a really bloody and destructive war, we shall be obliged to do in the end at a greater cost, and in a worse way, that which we could do now. It is not impossible to do it now. A gentleman in the meeting said it was a question of fighting. I do not believe this; but though born a Quaker, I must admit that if there be no other way by which we can protect our allies and prevent the ungrateful desertion of those who helped us in the time of need, than by the exercise of force, I say force must be exercised." Readers will remark how extraordinarily prophetic are these words of Mr. Forster, spoken in 1883. The "venerable and beloved Lord Shaftesbury," as Mr. Mackenzie calls him, spoke as follows:-- "This morning has been put into my hands the reply of the Transvaal delegates to the Aborigines Protection Society. I read it with a certain amount of astonishment and of comfort too,--of astonishment that men should be found possessing such a depth of Christianity, such sentiments of religion, such love for veracity, and such regard for the human race as to put on record and to sign with their own hands such a denial of the atrocities and cruelties which have been recorded against them for so many years. It is most blessed to contemplate the depth of their religious sentiments; they express the love they bear to our Lord and Saviour, and their desire to walk in His steps. All this is very beautiful, and, _if true_, is the greatest comfort ever given us concerning the native races. I will take that document as a promise for the future that they will act upon these principles, that they are Christians, and that they will act on Christian principles, and respect the rights of the natives. That is perhaps the most generous view to take of the matter; but, nevertheless, we shall be inclined to doubt until we _see_ that they have put these principles into practice. "Let me come to the laws of the Transvaal. It is a fundamental law of that State that there can be no equality either in Church or in State between white and coloured men. No native is allowed to hold land in the Transvaal with such a fundamental law. It is nothing more than a necessary transition to the conclusion that the coloured people should be contemned as being of an inferior order, and only fit for slavery. That is a necessary transition, and it is for Englishmen to protest against it, and to say that all men, of whatever creed, or race, or colour, are equal in Church and State, and in the sight of God, and to assert the principle of Civil and Religious Liberty whenever they have the opportunity. I have my fears at times of the consequences of democratic action; but I shall never feel afraid of appealing to the British democracy on a question of Civil and Religious liberty. That strikes a chord that is very deep and dear to every Briton everywhere. They believe,--and their history shows that they act upon the belief,--that the greatest blessing here below that can be given to intellectual and moral beings is the gift of Civil and Religious liberty. Sensible of the responsibility we have assumed, we appeal to the British public, and I have no doubt what the answer will be. It will be that by God's blessing, and so far as in us lies, Civil and Religious liberty _shall_ prevail among all the tribes of South Africa, to the end that they may become civilized nations, vying with us in the exercise of the gifts that God has bestowed upon us." Sir Henry Barkly, who had held the office of Governor of the Cape Colony, and of High Commissioner for a number of years, said:-- "Apart from other considerations, it is essential in the interests of civilization and of commerce that the route to the interior of the Dark Continent should be kept in our hands. It has been through the stations planted by our missionaries all along it, as far as Matabeleland, that the influence of the Gospel has been spread among the natives, and that the way has been made safe and easy for the traveller and the trader. Can we suppose that these stations can be maintained if we suffer the road to fall within the limits of the Transvaal? We need not recall our melancholy experience of the past in this region. I would rather refer to the case of the Paris Evangelical Society, whose missionaries were refused leave only a short time ago to teach or preach to the Basuto-speaking population within the Transvaal territory." The Hon. K. Southey said:-- "I concur entirely with what has been said by the Right Hon. Mr. Forster with regard to slavery. It must be admitted that the institution does not exist in name; but in reality something very closely allied to it exists, for in that country there is no freedom for the coloured races. The road to the interior must be kept open, not only for the purposes of trade, but also as a way by which the Gospel may be carried from here to the vast regions beyond Her Majesty's possessions in that part of the world. If we allow the Transvaal State to annex a territory through which the roads to the interior pass, not only will there be difficulties put in the way of our traders, but the missionary also will find it no easy task to obey the injunction to carry the Gospel into all lands, and to preach it to all peoples." Sir Fowell Buxton presented the following thought, which might with advantage be taken to heart at the present time:-- "We know how in the United States they have lately been celebrating the events that recall the time a century ago of the declaration of their independence. I will ask you to consider what would have been the best advice that we could have given at that time to the Government at Washington? Do we not know that in regard to all that relates to the well-being of the country, to mere matters of wealth and property, the best advice to have given them would have been, to deliver their country at once from all connection with slavery in the days when they formed her constitution." * * * * * Sir William M'Arthur, M.P., said:-- "I have never seen in the Mansion House a larger or more enthusiastic meeting, and I believe that the feeling which animates this meeting is animating the whole country. Any course of action taken by Her Majesty's Ministers towards the Transvaal will be very closely watched. I myself am for peace, but I am also for that which maintains peace, viz., a firm and decided policy." * * * * * The poor Chief, Mankoroane, having heard that the Transvaal Delegates would discuss questions of vital importance to his people, left Bechuanaland and went as far as Cape Town on his way to England to represent his case there. Lord Derby, however, sent him word that he could not be admitted to the Conference in London, where the ownership of his own country was to be discussed. Mankoroane then begged Mr. Mackenzie to be his representative, but was again told that neither personally nor by representative could he be recognised at the Conference in Downing Street, but that any remarks which Mr. Mackenzie might make on his behalf would receive the attention of Government. (Blue Book 3841, 92.) The first and great question which the Transvaal Delegates desired to settle in their own interests was that of the Western boundary line, amended by themselves, which was represented on a map. They were informed that their amended treaty was "neither in form nor in substance such as Her Majesty's Government could adopt," there being "certain Chiefs who had objected, on behalf of their people, to be included in the Transvaal, and there being a strong feeling in London in favour of the independence of these natives, or (if they, the natives, desired it) of their coming under British rule." There was now brought before the delegates a map showing the addition of land which was eventually granted to the Transvaal, but the delegates would not agree to any such arrangement. Her Majesty's Government were giving away to them some 2,600 square miles of native territory, concerning which there was no clear evidence that its owners wished to be joined to the Transvaal. But this was nothing to the Transvaal demand, as shown by a map which they put in, and which included an _additional_ block of 4,000 square miles. Not finding agreement with the Government possible, the delegates then turned from that position, and took up the question of the remission of the debt which the Transvaal owed to England, saying that the wishes of the native chiefs should be consulted first about the boundary line. This was a bold stroke; they were professing to be representing the interests of certain chiefs, which was not the case. Lord Derby telegraphed to the Cape on the 27th of Feb. 1884, the result of the protracted labours of the Conference at Downing Street, mentioning:--"British Protectorate established outside the Transvaal, with Delegates' consent. Debt reduced to quarter of a million."[17] To many persons it seems that the Convention of 1884, rather than the Convention of 1881, was the real blunder. It is remarkable, however, as illustrating the small attention which South African affairs then received, that no party controversy was aroused over this later instrument. Very soon afterwards, however, the question became acute, owing to the action of Mr. Kruger; and then, it must be remembered, that Mr. Gladstone did not hesitate to appeal to the armed strength of the Empire in order to defend British interests and prevent the extension of Boer rule. That there was not war in 1884 was due only to the fact that Mr. Kruger at that time did not choose to fight. The raiders and filibusters were put down before by Sir Charles Warren's force, but Mr. Gladstone had taken every precaution in view of the contingency of a collision. The conditions laid down in the Convention did not satisfy the Delegates, although they formally assented to them. Their disappointment began to be strongly manifested. They had stoutly denied that slavery existed in their country. This denial was challenged by the Secretary of the Aborigines Protection Society, who brought forward some very awkward testimonies and facts of recent date. It was suggested that President Kruger should for ever silence the calumniators by demanding a Commission of enquiry on this subject which would take evidence within and round the Transvaal as they might see fit. The Delegates took good care not to accept this challenge. The firmness of the British Government at that moment was fully justified by the actual facts of the case which came so strikingly before them, and their attitude was supported by public opinion, so far as this public opinion in England then existed. It was the Transvaal deputation itself which had most effectually developed it when they first arrived in London, though it was known they had many friends, and that numbers of the public were generally quite willing to consider their claims.[18] They sat for three months in conference with members of Her Majesty's Government before coming to any decision. That decision was known as the London Convention of 1884. The displeasure of the Boer Delegates matured after their return to the Transvaal, and was expressed in a message sent by the Volksraad to our Government not many months after the signing of the Convention in London. In this document the Boers seem to regard themselves as a victorious people making terms with those they had conquered. It is interesting to note the articles of the Convention to which they particularly object. In the telegram which was sent to "His Excellency, W.E. Gladstone," the Volksraad stated that the London Convention was not acceptable to them. They declared that "modifications were desirable, and that certain articles _must_ be altered." They attached importance to the Native question, declaring that "the Suzerain (Great Britain) has not the right to interfere with their Legislature, and that they cannot agree to article 3, which gives the Suzerain a voice concerning Native affairs, nor to article 13, by virtue of which Natives are to be allowed to acquire land, nor to that part of Article 26, by which it is provided that white men of a foreign race living in the Transvaal shall not be taxed in excess of the taxes imposed on Transvaal citizens." It should be observed here that this reference to unequal and excessive taxation of foreigners in the Transvaal, pointing to a tendency on the part of the Boers to load foreigners with unjust taxation, was made before the development of the goldfields and the great influx of Uitlanders. The Message of the Volksraad was finally summed up in the following words: "we object to the following articles, 15, 16, 26, and 27, because to insist on them is hurtful to our sense of honour." (sic.) Now what are the articles to which the Boer Government here objects, and has continued to object? Article 15 enacts that _no slavery or apprenticeship shall be tolerated_. Article 16 provides for religious toleration (for Natives and all alike.) Article 26 provides for the free movement, trading, and residence of all persons, other than natives, conforming themselves to the laws of the Transvaal. Article 27 gives to all, (Natives included,) the right of free access to the Courts of Justice. Putting the "sense of honour" of the Transvaal Volksraad out of the question, past experience had but too plainly proved that these Articles were by no means superfluous. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 16: "Austral Africa, Ruling it or Losing it," p. 157.] [Footnote 17: When the Transvaal was annexed, in 1877, the public debt of that country amounted to £301,727. "Under British rule this debt was liquidated to the extent of £150,000, but the total was brought up by a Parliamentary grant, a loan from the Standard Bank, and sundries to £390,404, which represented the public debt of the Transvaal on the 31st December, 1880. This was further increased by monies advanced by the Standard Bank and English Exchequer during the war, and till the 8th August, 1881, (during which time the country yielded no revenue,) to £457,393. To this must be added an estimated sum of £200,000 for compensation charges, pension allowances, &c., and a further sum of £383,000, the cost of the successful expedition against Secocoemi, that of the unsuccessful one being left out of account, bringing up the total public debt to over a million, of which about £800,000 was owing to this country. This sum the Commissioners (Sir Evelyn Wood dissenting) reduced by a stroke of the pen to £265,000, thus entirely remitting an approximate sum of £500,000 or £600,000. To the sum of £265,000 still owing must be added say another £150,000 for sums lately advanced to pay the compensation claims, bringing up the actual amount owing to England to about a quarter of a million."--Report of Assistant Secretary to the British Agent for Native Affairs. (Blue Book 3917, 46.)] [Footnote 18: "Austral Africa." Mackenzie.] VI. THE CAREER AND RECALL OF SIR BARTLE FRERE. UNFORTUNATE EFFECT IN SOUTH AFRICA OF PARTY SPIRIT IN POLITICS AT HOME. DEATH OF SIR BARTLE FRERE. THE GREAT PRINCIPLES OF BRITISH GOVERNMENT AND LAW. HOPE FOR SOUTH AFRICA IF THESE ARE MAINTAINED AND OBSERVED. WORDS OF MR. GLADSTONE ON THE COLONIZING SPIRIT OF ENGLISHMEN. The case of Sir Bartle Frere illustrates forcibly the inexpediency of allowing our party differences at home to sow the seeds of discord in a distant Colony, and the apparent injustices to which such action may give rise. While in England Sir Bartle Frere was being censured and vilified, in South Africa an overwhelming majority of the colonists, of whatever race or origin, were declaring, in unmistakable terms, that he had gained their warmest approbation and admiration. Town after town and village after village poured in addresses and resolutions in different forms, agreeing in enthusiastic commendation of him as the one man who had grasped the many threads of the South African tangle, and was handling them so as to promise a solution in accordance with the interests of all the many and various races which inhabited it. "In our opinion," one of these resolutions (from Cradock) says, "his Excellency, Sir Bartle Frere, is one of the best Governors, if not the best Governor, this Colony has ever had, and the disasters which have taken place since he has held office, are not due to any fault of his, but to a shameful mismanagement of public affairs before he came to the Colony, and the state of chaos and utter confusion in which he had the misfortune to find everything on his arrival; and we are therefore of opinion that the thanks of every loyal colonist are due to his Excellency for the herculean efforts he has since made under the most trying circumstances to South Africa...."[19] Another, from Kimberley says:--"It has been a source of much pain to us that your Excellency's policy and proceedings should have been so misunderstood and misrepresented.... The time, we hope, is not far distant when the wisdom of your Excellency's native policy and action will be as fully recognized and appreciated by the whole British nation as it is by the colonists of South Africa."[20] At Pretoria, the capital of the Transvaal, a public meeting was held (April 24th), which resolved that:-- "This meeting reprobates most strongly the action of a certain section of the English and Colonial Press for censuring, without sufficient knowledge of local affairs, the policy and conduct of Sir B. Frere; and it desires not only to express its sympathy with Sir B. Frere and its confidence in his policy, but also to go so far as to congratulate most heartily Her Majesty the Queen, the Home Government, and ourselves, on possessing such a true, considerate, and faithful servant as his Excellency the High Commissioner." A public dinner also was given to Sir B. Frere at Pretoria, at which his health was drunk with the greatest enthusiasm; there was a public holiday, and other rejoicings. Sir Bartle Frere was intending to go to Bloemfontein, in the Orange Free State, to visit President Brand, with whom he was on cordial terms, and with whom he wished to talk over his plans for the Transvaal; but instructions came from Sir Michael Hicks-Beach to proceed to Cape Town. He therefore left Pretoria on May 1st. He was welcomed everywhere with the utmost cordiality and enthusiasm. At Potchefstroom there was a public dinner and a reception. On approaching Bloemhof he was met by a large cavalcade, and escorted into the township, where a triumphal arch had been erected, and an address was presented. "At Kimberley he had been sworn in as Governor of Griqualand West. Fifteen thousand people, it was estimated, turned out to meet and welcome him. From thence to Cape Town his journey was like a triumphal progress, the population at each place he passed through receiving him in flag-decorated streets, with escorts, triumphal arches, illuminations, and addresses. At Worcester, where he reached the railway, there was a banquet, at which Sir Gordon Sprigg was also present. At Paarl, which was the head-quarters of the Dutch Afrikander league, and where some of the most influential Dutch families live, a similar reception was given him. Finally, at Cape Town, where, if anywhere, his policy was likely to find opponents among those who regarded it from a provincial point of view, the inhabitants of all classes and sections and of whatever origin, gave themselves up to according him a reception such as had never been surpassed in Capetown. "In England, complimentary local receptions and addresses to men in high office or of exalted rank do not ordinarily carry much meaning. Party tactics and organization account for a proportion of such manifestations. But the demonstration on this occasion cannot be so explained. There was no party organization to stimulate it. It was too general to confer notoriety on any of its promoters, and Sir B. Frere had not personally the power, even if he had had the will, to return compliments. And what made it the more remarkable was that there was no special victory or success or event of any kind to celebrate."[21] On reaching Cape Town, a telegraphic message was handed to him, preparing him for his recall, by the statement that Sir H. Bulwer was to replace him as High Commissioner of the Transvaal, Natal, and all the adjoining eastern portion of South Africa, and that he was to confine his attention for the present to the Cape Colony. To deprive him of his authority as regarded Natal, Zululand, the Transvaal--the Transvaal, which almost by his single hand and voice he had just saved from civil war--and expressly to direct Colonel Lanyon to cease to correspond with him, was to discredit a public servant before all the world at the crisis of his work. Sir Bartle Frere's great object had been to bring about a Confederation of all the different States and portions of South Africa, an object with which the Home Government was in sympathy. What was wanting to bring about confederation was confidence, founded on the permanent pacification and settlement of Zululand, the Transvaal, the Transkei, Pondoland, Basutoland, West Griqualand, and the border generally. How could there, under these circumstances, be confidence any longer? There was no doubt what he had meant to do. By many a weary journey he had made himself personally known throughout South Africa. His aims and intentions were never concealed, never changed. In confederating under his superintendence all men knew what they were doing. But he was now to be superseded. Was his policy to be changed, and how?[22] It was expected by the political majority in England that as soon as Mr. Gladstone came into power, Sir Bartle Frere, whose policy had been so strongly denounced, would be at once recalled. When the new Parliament met in May, the Government found many of their supporters greatly dissatisfied that this had not been done. Notice of motion was given of an address to the Crown, praying for Sir B. Frere's removal. Certain members of parliament met together several times at the end of May, and a memorial to Mr. Gladstone was drawn up, which was signed by about ninety of them, and sent to him on June 3rd, to the following effect:-- "To the Right Hon. W.E. Gladstone, M.P., First Lord of the Treasury." "We the undersigned, members of the Liberal party, respectfully submit that as there is a strong feeling throughout the country in favour of the recall of Sir Bartle Frere, it would greatly conduce to _the unity of the party and relieve many members from the charge of breaking their pledges to their constituents if_ that step were taken."[23] The first three signatures to this document were those of L.L. Dillwyn, Wilfrid Lawson, and Leonard Courtney. This has been called not unjustly, "a cynically candid document." The "unity of the Party," and "pledges to constituents" are the only considerations alluded to in favour of the recall of a man to whose worth almost the whole of South Africa had witnessed, in spite of divided opinions concerning the Zulu War, for which he was only in a very minor degree responsible. The Memorial to the Government had its effect; the successor of Sir Bartle Frere was to be Sir Hercules Robinson. He was in New Zealand, and could not reach the Cape at once; therefore Sir George Strahan was appointed _ad interim_ governor, Sir Bartle being directed not even to await the arrival of the latter, but to leave by the earliest mail steamer. At the news of his recall there arose for the second time a burst of sympathy from every town, village, and farm throughout the country, in terms of mingled indignation and sorrow.[24] The addresses and resolutions, being spontaneous at each place, varied much, and laid stress on different points, but in all there was a tone of deep regret, of conviction that Sir B. Frere's policy and his actions had been wise, just, and merciful towards all men, and of hope that the British Government and people would in time learn the truth.[25] One from farmers of East London concludes: "May God Almighty bless you and grant you and yours a safe passage to the Mother Country, give you grace before our Sovereign Lady the Queen, and eloquence to vindicate your righteous cause before the British nation."[26] The address of the Natives of Mount Cake is pathetic in its simplicity of language. "Our hearts are very bitter this day. We hear that the Queen calls you to England. We have not heard that you are sick; then why have you to leave us? By you we have now peace. We sleep now without fear. Old men tell us of a good Governor Durban (Sir Benjamin Durban) who had to leave before his good works became law; but red coals were under the ashes which he left. Words of wicked men, when he left, like the wind blew up the fire, and the country was again in war. So also Sir George Grey, a good Governor, good to tie up the hands of bad men, good to plant schools, good to feed the hungry, good to have mercy and feed the heathen when dying from hunger, He also had to leave us. We do not understand this. But your Excellency is not to leave us. Natal has now peace by you; we have peace by you because God and the Queen sent you. Do not leave us. Surely it is not the way of the Queen to leave her children here unprotected until peace is everywhere. We shall ever pray for you as well as for the Queen. These are our words to our good Governor, though he turns his back on us." The Malays and other Orientals, of whom there is a considerable population at Capetown, looked upon Frere, a former Indian Statesman, as their special property. The address from the Mahommedan subjects of the Queen says:-- "We regret that our gracious Queen has seen fit to recall your Excellency. We cannot help thinking it is through a mistake. The white subjects of Her Majesty have had good friends and good rulers in former Governors, but your Excellency has been the friend of white and coloured alike."[27] * * * * * The following letter is from Sir John Akerman, a member of the Legislative Council of Natal:-- "August 9th, 1880. "Having become aware of your recall to England from the office of Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, etc., etc., I cannot allow your departure to take place without conveying to you, which I hereby do, the profound sense I have of the faithful and conscientious manner in which you have endeavoured to fulfil those engagements which, at the solicitation of Great Britain, you entered upon in 1877. The policy was not your own, but was thrust upon you. Having given in London, in 1876, advice to pursue a different course in South Africa from the one then all the fashion and ultimately confided to yourself, it affords me the greatest pleasure to testify to the consistency of the efforts put forth by you to carry out the (then) plan of those who commissioned you, and availed themselves of your acknowledged skill and experience. As a public man of long standing in South Africa, I would likewise add that since the days of Sir G. Grey, no Governor but yourself has grasped the _native question here at all_, and I feel confident that had your full authority been retained, and not harshly wrested from you, even at the eleventh hour initiatory steps of a reformatory nature with respect to the natives would have been taken, which it is the duty of Britain to follow while she holds her sovereignty over these parts." Sir Gordon Sprigg wrote:-- "August 29th, 1880. "I don't feel able yet to give expression to my sentiments of profound regret that Her Majesty's Government have thought it advisable to recall you from the post which you have held with such conspicuous advantage to South Africa. They have driven from South Africa 'the best friend it has ever known.' For myself I may say that in the midst of all the difficulties with which I have been surrounded, I have always been encouraged and strengthened by the cheerful view you have taken of public affairs, and that I have never had half-an-hour's conversation with your Excellency without feeling a better, and, I believe, a wiser man." Madame Koopmans de Wet, a lady of an old family, Dutch of the Dutch, wrote to him, Nov. 16th, 1880:-- "It is with feelings of the deepest sorrow that I take the liberty of addressing these lines to you.... What is to be the end of all this now? for now, particularly, do the Cape people miss _their_ Governor, for now superior qualities in everything are wanted. Dear Sir Bartle, you know the material we have; it is good, but who is to guide? It is plain to every thinking mind that our position is becoming more critical every day.... "But with deep sorrow let me say, England's, or rather Downing Street's treatment, has not tightened the bonds between the mother country and us. You know we have a large circle of acquaintances, and I cannot say how taken aback I sometimes am to hear their words. See, in all former wars there was a moral support in the thought that England, our England, was watching over us. Now there is but one cry, 'We shall have no Imperial help.' Why is this? We have lost confidence in a Government who could play with our welfare; and among the many injuries done us, the greatest was to remove from among us a ruler such as your Excellency was." "As the day drew near, the Cape Town people were perplexed how to express adequately their feelings on the occasion. It was suggested that on the day he was to embark, the whole city should mourn with shops closed, flags half-mast high, and in profound silence. But more cheerful counsels prevailed. "He was to leave by the _Pretoria_ on the afternoon of Sept. 15th. Special trains had brought in contingents from the country. The open space in front of Government House, Plein Street, Church Square, Adderley Street, the Dock Road, the front of the railway station, the wharves, the housetops, and every available place, whence a view of the procession could be procured, was closely packed. The Governor's carriage left Government House at half-past four,--Volunteer Cavalry furnishing the escort, and Volunteer Rifles, Engineers, and Cadets falling in behind,--and amid farewell words and ringing cheers, moved slowly along the streets gay with flags and decorations. At the dock gates the horses were taken out and men drew the carriage to the quay, where the _Pretoria_ lay alongside. Here the General, the Ministers, and other leading people, were assembled; and the 91st Regiment, which had been drawn up, presented arms, the Band played "God save the Queen," and the Volunteer Artillery fired a salute as the Governor for the last time stepped off African soil. "There had been some delay at starting, the tide was ebbing fast, the vessel had been detained to the last safe moment, and she now moved out slowly, and with caution, past a wharf which the Malays, conspicuous in their bright-coloured clothing, had occupied, then, with a flotilla of boats rowing alongside, between a double line of yachts, steam-tugs and boats, dressed out with flags, and dipping their ensigns as she passed, and lastly, under the stern of the _Boadicea_ man-of-war, whose yards were manned, and whose crew cheered. The guns of the castle fired the last salute from the shore, which was answered by the guns of the _Boadicea_; and in the still bright evening the smoke hung for a brief space like a curtain, hiding the shores of the bay from the vessel. A puff of air from the south-east cleared it away, and showed once more in the sunset light the flat mass of Table Mountain, the "Lion's Head" to its right, festooned with flags, the mountain slopes dotted over with groups thickening to a continuous broad black line of people, extending along the water's edge from the central jetty to the breakwater basin. The vessel's speed increased, the light faded, and the night fell on the last, the most glorious, and yet the saddest day of Sir Bartle Frere's forty-five years' service of his Queen and country. "For intensity of feeling and unanimity it would be hard in our time to find a parallel to this demonstration of enthusiasm for a public servant. The Cape Town people are by race and habit the reverse of demonstrative; yet it was noticed that day, as it had been noticed when Frere left Sattara (India) thirty years before, and again when he left Sind twenty-one years before--a sight almost unknown amongst men of English or German race in our day--that _men_ looking on were unable to restrain their tears. At Sattara and in Sind the regret at losing him was softened by the knowledge that his departure was due to a recognition of his merit; that he was being promoted in a service in which his influence might some day extend with heightened power to the country he was leaving. It was far otherwise when he left the Cape. On that occasion the regret of the colonists was mingled with indignation, and embittered with a sense of wrong."[28] The writer just quoted makes the following remarks:-- "No one who has not associated with colonists in their homes can rightly enter into the mixed feelings with which they regard the mother country. As with a son who is gone forth into the world, there is often on one side the conceit of youth and impatience of restraint, shown in uncalled for acts of self-assertion or in dogmatic speech; and on the other side a supercilious want of sympathy with the changed surroundings, the pursuits and the aspirations of the younger generation. It seems as if there were no bond left between the two. But a day of trial comes; parent or offspring is threatened by a stranger; and then it is seen that the old instinct and yearnings are not dead, but only latent. The mother country had hitherto not been forgetful of its natural obligations to its South African offspring." "But those" he goes on to say, "who on that fateful evening watched the hull of the _Pretoria_ slowly dipping below the western horizon felt that if, as seemed only too probable, dismemberment of the British Empire in South Africa were sooner or later to follow, the fault did not lie with the colonists." The mother country had, he asserts, sacrificed the interests of her loyal sons abroad to those which were at that moment pre-occupying her at home, and appearing to her in such dimensions as to blot out the larger view which later events gradually forced upon her vision. The words above quoted are strong, perhaps too strong, but if we are true lovers of our country and race and of our fellow creatures everywhere, we shall not shrink from any such warnings, though their wording may seem exaggerated. For we have a debt to pay back to South Africa; and if we cannot resume our solemn responsibilities towards her and her millions of native peoples, in a chastened, a wiser and a more determined spirit than that which for some time has prevailed, it would be better to relinquish them altogether. But we are beginning to understand the lesson written for our learning in this solemn page of contemporary history which is to-day laid open before our eyes and before those of the whole world. I have recorded some few of the many testimonies in favour of Sir Bartle Frere, because he,--a man beloved and respected by many of us,--was the subject of a hastily formed judgment which continues in a measure even to this day, to obscure the memory of his worth. A friend writes: "his letters are admirable as showing his statesmanlike and humane view of things, and his courage and patience under exasperating conditions. He returned to England under a cloud, and died of a broken heart." Mr. Mackenzie, writing of his own departure from England in 1884 to return to South Africa, says:-- "The farewell which affected me most was that of Sir Bartle Frere, who was then stretched on what turned out to be his death-bed. He was very ill, and not seeing people, but was so gratified that what he had proposed in 1878 as to Bechuanaland should be carried out in 1884, that Lady Frere asked me to call and see him before I sailed. "The countenance of this eminent officer was now thin, his voice was weaker; but light was still in his eye and the mind quite unclouded. 'Here I am, Mackenzie, between living and dying, waiting the will of God.' 'I expressed my hope for his recovery.' 'We won't talk about me. I wanted to see you. I feel I can give you advice, for I am an old servant of the Queen. I have no fear of your success now on the side of Government. Sir Hercules Robinson, having selected you, will uphold you with a full support. The rest will depend on your own character and firmness and tact. I am quite sure you will succeed. Your difficulties will be at the beginning. But you will get them to believe in you--the farmers as well as the natives. They will soon see you are their friend. Now remember this: get good men round you; get, if possible, godly men as your officers. What has been done in India has been accomplished by hard-working, loyal-hearted men, working willingly under chiefs to whom they were attached. Get the right stamp of men round you and the future is yours.' "This was the last kindly action and friendly advice of a distinguished, noble-minded, and self-forgetful Christian man, who had befriended me as an obscure person,--our meeting-ground and common object being the future welfare of all races in South Africa. I went forth to complete my life work: he remained to die." It was a costly sacrifice made on the Altar of Party. My friends have sometimes asked me, what then is the ground of my hope for the future of our country and all over whom our Queen reigns? I reply,--my hope lies in the fact that above all party differences, above all private and political theories, above all the mere outward forms of Government and the titles given to these, there stand, eternally firm and unchangeable, the great principles of our Constitution which are the basis of our Jurisprudence, and of every Law which is inherently just. I use these words deliberately--"eternally firm and unchangeable." A long and deep study of these principles, and some experience of the grief and disaster caused by any grave departure from them, have convinced me that these principles are founded on the highest ethics,--the ethics of Christ. The great Charter of our Liberties was born, as all the most precious things are, through "great tribulation," at a time when our whole nation was groaning under injustice and oppression, and when sorrow had purified the eyes of the noble "Seers" of the time, and their appeal was to the God of Justice Himself, and to no lower tribunal. These Seers were then endowed with the power to bend the will of a stubborn and selfish monarch, and to put on record the stern principles of our "Immortal Charter." I have often longed that every school-boy and girl should be taught and well-grounded in these great principles. It would not be a difficult nor a dry study, for like all great things, these principles are simple, straight, and clear as the day. It is when, we come to intricacies and technicalities of laws, even though based on these great fundamental lines, that the study becomes dry, useful to the professional lawyer, but not to the pupil in school or the public generally. The principles of our Constitution have been many times in the course of our national history disregarded, and sometimes openly violated. But such disregard and such violation have happily not been allowed to be of long duration. Sometimes the respect of these principles has been restored by the efforts of a group of enlightened Statesmen, but more frequently by the awakened "Common Sense"[29] of the people, who have become aware that they, or even some very humble section of them, have been made to suffer by such violation. Again and again the gallant "Ship of our Constitution," carrying the precious cargo of our inalienable rights and liberties, has righted herself in the midst of storms and heavy seas of trouble. Having been called for thirty years of my life to advocate the rights of a portion of our people,--the meanest and most despised of our fellow citizens,--when those rights had been destroyed by an Act of Parliament which was a distinct violation of the Constitution, and having been driven, almost like a ship-wrecked creature to cling, with the helpless crew around me, during those years to this strong rock of principle, and having found it to be political and social salvation in a time of need, I cannot refrain, now in my old age, from embracing every opportunity I may have of warning my fellow countrymen of the danger there is in departing from these principles. My hope for the future of South Africa, granting its continuance as a portion of our Colonial Empire, is in the resurrection of these great principles from this present tribulation, and their recognition by our rulers, politicians, editors, writers, and people at large as the expression of essential Justice and Morality. France possesses, equally with ourselves, a record of these principles in its famous "Declaration of the Rights of Man," born also in a period of great national tribulation. That document is in principle identical with our own great Charter. But France has only possessed it a little more than a century, whereas our own Charter dates back many centuries; hence the character of our people has been in a great measure formed upon its principles, and they have been made sensitive to any grave or continued violation of them. In France, earnest and sometimes almost despairing appeals are now made to these fundamental principles expressed in their own great Charter by a minority of men who continue to see straight and clearly through the clouds of contending factions in the midst of which they live; but for a large portion of the nation they are a dead letter, even if they have ever been intelligently understood. How far has South Africa been governed on these principles? I boldly affirm that on the whole, since the beginning of the last century, it is these principles of British Government and Law, so far as they have been enforced, which have saved that colony from anarchy and confusion, and its native populations from bondage or annihilation. But they have not been sufficiently strongly enforced. They have not been brought to bear upon those Englishmen, traders, speculators, company-makers, and others whose interests may have been in opposition to these principles. A Swiss missionary who has lived a great part of his life in South Africa, writes to me:--"The whole of South Africa is to blame in its treatment of the natives. Take the British merchant, the Boer and Dutch official, the German colonist, the French and Swiss trader,--there is no difference. The general feeling among these is against the coloured race being educated and evangelized.... Only what can and must be said is this, that _the Laws of the English Colonies are just_; those of the Boer States are the negation of every right, civil and religious, which the black man ought to have." I have similar testimonies from missionaries (not Englishmen); but I regret to say that these good men hesitate to have their names published,--not from selfish reasons,--but from love of their missionary work and their native converts, to whom they fear they will never be permitted to return if the ascendancy of the present Transvaal Government should continue, and Mr. Kruger should learn that they have published what they have seen in his country. It is to be hoped that these witnesses will feel impelled before long to speak out. The writer just quoted, says:--"I firmly believe that the native question is at the bottom of all this trouble. The time is coming when, cost what it will, we missionaries must speak out." In connection with this subject, I give here a quotation from the "Daily News," March 21st, 1900. The article was inspired by a thoughtful speech of Sir Edward Grey. The writer asks the reason of the loss of the capacity in our Liberal party to deal with Colonial matters; and replies: "It is to be found, we think, in want of imagination and in want of faith. There are many among us who have failed, from want of imagination, to grasp that we have been living in an age of expansion; or who, recognising the fact, have from want of faith seen in it occasion only for lamentation and woe. Failure in either of these respects is sure to deprive a British party of popular support. For the 'expansion of England' now, as in former times, proceeds from the people themselves, and faith in the mission of England is firmly planted in the popular creed." We recall a noble passage in which Mr. Gladstone stated with great clearness the inevitable tendency of the times in which we live. "There is," he said, "a continual tendency on the part of enterprising people to overstep the limits of the Empire, and not only to carry its trade there, but to form settlements in other countries beyond the sphere of a regularly organized Government, and there to constitute a civil Government of their own. Let the Government adopt, with mathematical rigour if you like, an opposition to annexation, and what does it effect? It does nothing to check that tendency--that perhaps irresistible tendency--of British enterprise to carry your commerce, and to carry the range and area of your settlement beyond the limits of your sovereignty.... There the thing is, and you cannot repress it. Wherever your subjects go, if they are in pursuit of objects not unlawful, you must afford them all the protection which your power enables you to give." "There the thing is." (But many Liberals have lacked the imagination to see it.) And being there, it affords a great opportunity; for "to this great Empire is committed (continued Mr. Gladstone) a trust and a function given from Providence as special and as remarkable as ever was entrusted to any portion of the family of man." But not all Liberals share Mr. Gladstone's faith. They thus cut themselves off from one of the chief tendencies and some of the noblest ideals of the time. Liberalism must broaden its outlook, and seek to promote "the large and efficient development of the British Commonwealth on liberal lines, both within and outside these islands." FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 19: Blue Book, C. p. 28, 2673.] [Footnote 20: Blue Book, C. 2454, p. 57.] [Footnote 21: Life and Correspondence of Sir Bartle Frere, by J. Martineau.] [Footnote 22: Life and Correspondence of Sir Bartle Frere, by J. Martineau.] [Footnote 23: The italics are my own.] [Footnote 24: There are between sixty and seventy resolutions and addresses recorded in the Blue-book, all passed unanimously except in one case, at Stellenbosch where a minority opposed the resolution. The spokesman of the minority, however, based his opposition not on Frere's general policy, still less on his character, but as a protest against an Excise Act, which was one of Mr. Spring's measures.] [Footnote 25: Life and Correspondence of Sir Bartle Frere.] [Footnote 26: Blue Book, C. 2740, p. 46.] [Footnote 27: Blue Book, C. 2740, p. 63.] [Footnote 28: Life and Correspondence of the Right Hon. Sir Bartle Frere, by Martineau.] [Footnote 29: In the sense in which the great Lord Chatham used the words.] VII. TRANSVAAL POLICY SINCE 1884. DELIMITATION OF BOUNDARY AGREED TO AND NOT OBSERVED. THE CHIEF MONTSIOA. HIS COUNTRY PLACED UNDER BRITISH PROTECTION. TRANSVAAL LAW. THE GRONDWET OR CONSTITUTION. THE HIGH COURTS OF JUSTICE SUBSERVIENT TO THE VOLKSRAAD OR PARLIAMENT. ARTICLE 9 OF THE GRONDWET REFERRING TO NATIVES. NATIVE MARRIAGE LAWS. THE PASS SYSTEM. MISPLACED GOVERNMENTAL TITLES,--REPUBLIC, EMPIRE, ETC. The Boer policy towards the natives did not undergo any change for the better from 1881 and onwards. At the time of the rising of the Boers against the British Protectorate, which culminated in the battle of Majuba Hill and the retrocession of the Transvaal, a number of native chiefs in districts outside the Transvaal boundary, sent to the British Commissioner for native affairs to offer their aid to the British Government, and many of them took the "loyals" of the Transvaal under their protection. One of these was Montsioa, a Christian chief of the Barolong tribe. He and other chiefs took charge of Government property and cattle during the disturbances, and one had four or five thousand pounds in gold, the product of a recently collected tax, given him to take care of by the Commissioner of his district, who was afraid that the money would be seized by the Boers. _In, every instance the property entrusted to their charge was returned intact_. The loyalty of all the native chiefs under very trying circumstances, is a remarkable proof of the great affection of the Kaffirs, and more especially those of the Basuto tribes, who love peace better than war, for the Queen's rule. I will cite one other instance among many of the gladness with which different native races placed themselves under the protection of the Queen. In May, 1884, in the discharge of his office as Deputy Commissioner in Bechuanaland, and on behalf of Her Majesty, the Queen, Mr. Mackenzie entered into a treaty with the chief, Montsioa, by which his country (the Barolong's country) was placed under British protection, and also with Moshette, a neighbouring chief, who wrote a letter to Mr. Mackenzie asking to be put under the same protection as the other Barolong.[30] Mr. Mackenzie wrote:[31]--"Whatever may have been the feelings of disapproval of the British Protectorate entertained by the Transvaal people, I was left in no manner of doubt as to the joy and thankfulness with which it was welcomed in the Barolong country itself. "The signing of the treaty in the courtyard of Montsioa, at Mafeking, by the chief and his headmen, was accompanied by every sign of gladness and good feeling. The speech of the venerable chief Montsioa was very cordial, and so cheerful in its tone as to show that he hoped and believed that the country would now get peace. "Using the formula for many years customary in proclamations of marriages in churches in Bechuanaland, Montsioa, amid the smiles of all present, announced an approaching political union, and exclaimed with energy, "Let objectors now speak out or henceforth for ever be silent." There was no objector. "I explained carefully in the language of the people, the nature and object of the Protectorate, and the manner in which it was to be supported. "Montsioa then demanded in loud tones: "Barolong! what is your response to the words that you have heard?" "With one voice there came a great shout from one end of the courtyard to the other, "We all want it." "The chief turned to me and said, "There! you have the answer of the Barolong, we have no uncertain feelings here." As I was unfolding the views of Her Majesty's Government that the Protectorate should be self-supporting, the chief cried out, 'We know all about it, Mackenzie, we consent to pay the tax.' I could only reply to this by saying that that was just what I was coming to; but, inasmuch as they knew all about it, and saw its importance, I need say no more on the subject. "Montsioa, in the first instance, did not like the appearance of Moshette's people in his town. I told him I was glad they had come, and he must reserve his own feelings, and await the results of what was taking place. I was pleased, therefore, when in the public meeting in the courtyard, just before the signing of the treaty, Montsioa turned to the messengers of Moshette and asked them if they saw and heard nicely what was being done with the Barolong country? They replied in the affirmative, and thus, from a native point of view, became assenting parties. In this manner something definite was done towards effacing an ancient feud. The signing of the treaty then took place, the translation of which is given in the Blue Book. "After the treaty had been signed, the old chief requested that prayer might be offered up, which was accordingly done by a native minister. The satisfaction of the great event was further marked by the discharge of a volley from the rifles of a company of young men told off for the purpose; and the old cannon of Montsioa, mounted between the wheels of an ox-waggon, was also brought into requisition to proclaim the general joy and satisfaction. "But alas! such feelings were destined to be of short duration. While we were thus employed at Mafeking, the openly-declared enemies of the Imperial Government, and of peace and order in Bechuanaland, had been at their appropriate work elsewhere within the Protectorate. Before sunset the same evening, I was surprised to hear the Bechuana war cry sounded in Montsioa's Town, and shortly afterwards I saw the old chief approaching my waggon, followed by a large body of men. "'Monare Makence!' (Mr. Mackenzie), 'the cattle have been lifted by the Boers,' was his first announcement. I shall never forget the scene at that moment. The excitement of the men, some of whom were reduced to poverty by what had taken place, and also their curiosity as to what step I should take, were plainly enough revealed on the faces of the crowd who, with their chief, now stood before me. "'Mr. Mackenzie,' said Montsioa, 'you are master now, you must say what is to be done. We shall be obedient to your orders.' 'We have put our names on your paper, but the Boers have our cattle all the same,' said one man. Another shouted out with vehemence, 'please don't tell us to go on respecting the boundary line. Why should we do so when the Boers don't?' 'Who speaks about a boundary line?' said another speaker, probably a heavy loser. 'Is it a thing that a man can eat? Where are our cattle?' "As I have already said, I shall never forget the scene in which these and similar speeches were made at my waggon as the sun went down peacefully--the sun which had witnessed the treaty-signing and the rejoicings at Mafeking. Its departing rays now saw the cattle of the Barolong safe in the Transvaal, and the Barolong owners and Her Majesty's Deputy Commissioner looking at one another, at Mafeking."[32] Mr. Mackenzie then resolved what to do, and announced that he would at once cross the boundary and go himself to the nearest Transvaal town to demand redress. There was a hum of approval, with a sharp enquiry from Montsioa,--did he really mean to go himself? "Having no one to send, I must go myself," Mackenzie replied. The old Chief, in a generous way, half dissuaded him from the attempt. "The Boers cannot be trusted. What shall I say if you do not return?" "All right, Montsioa," replied Mackenzie, "say I went of my own accord. I will leave my wife under your care." "Poor old fellow," writes Mackenzie, "brave-hearted, though 'only a native,' he went away full of heaviness, promising me his cart and harness, and an athletic herd as a driver, to start early next morning." Mr. Mackenzie had little success in this expedition. He was listened to with indifference when he represented to certain Landdrosts and Field Cornets that he had not come to talk politics, but to complain of a theft. Those to whom he spoke looked upon the cattle raid not as robbery, but as "annexation" or "commandeering." A man, listening to the palaver, exclaimed: "Well, anyhow, we shall have cheap beef as long as Montsioa's cattle last." At the hotel of the place Mr. Mackenzie met some Europeans, who were farming or in business in the Transvaal. They said to him: "Mr. Mackenzie, we are sorry to have to say it to you, for we have all known you so long, but, honestly speaking, we hope you won't succeed; the English Government does not deserve to succeed after all that they have made us--loyal colonists--suffer in the Transvaal. For a long time scarcely a day has passed without our being insulted by the more ignorant Boers, till we are almost tired of our lives, and yet we cannot go away, having invested our all in the country." "Many such speeches were made to me," says Mackenzie, "I give only one." I cannot find it in my heart to criticize the character of the Boers at a time when they have held on so bravely in a desperate war, and have suffered so much. There are Boers and Boers,--good and bad among them,--as among all nations. We have heard of kind and generous actions towards the British wounded and prisoners, and we know that there are among them men who, in times of peace, have been good and merciful to their native servants. But it is not magnanimity nor brutality on the part of individuals which are in dispute. Our controversy is concerning the presence or absence of Justice among the Boers, concerning the purity of their Government and the justice of their Laws, or the reverse. I turn to their Laws, and in judging these, it is hardly possible to be too severe. Law is a great teacher, a trainer, to a great extent, of the character of the people. The Boers would have been an exceptional people under the sun had they escaped the deterioration which such Laws and such Government as they have had the misfortune to live under inevitably produce. A pamphlet has lately been published containing a defence of the Boer treatment of Missionaries and Natives, and setting forth the efforts which have been made in recent years to Christianize and civilize the native populations in their midst. This paper is signed by nine clergymen of the Dutch Reformed Church, and includes the name of the Rev. Andrew Murray, a name respected and beloved by many in our own country. It is welcome news that such good work has been undertaken, that the President has himself encouraged it, and that a number of Zulus or Kaffirs have recently been baptized in the Dutch Reformed Church of the Transvaal. But the fact strikes one painfully that in this pleading, (which has a pathetic note in it,) these clergymen appear to have obliterated from their mind and memory the whole past history, of their nation, and to have forgotten that the harvest from seed sown through many generations may spring up and bear its bitter fruit in their own day. They do not seem to have accepted the verdict, or made the confession, "we and our fathers have sinned." They seem rather to argue, "our fathers may have sinned in these respects, but it cannot be laid to our charge that we are continuing in their steps." No late repentance will avail for the salvation of their country unless Justice is now proclaimed and practised;--Justice in Government and in the Laws. Their Grondwet, or Constitution, must be removed out of its place for ever; their unequal laws, and the administrative corruption which unequal laws inevitably foster, must be swept away, and be replaced by a very different Constitution and very different Laws. If this had been done during the two last decades of Transvaal history, while untrammelled (as was desired) by British interference, the sincerity of this recent utterance would have deserved full credit, and would have been recognized as the beginning of a radical reformation. The following is from the last Report of the Aborigines Protection Society (Jan., 1900). Its present secretary leans towards a favourable judgment of the recent improvements in the policy of the Transvaal, and condemns severely every act on the part of the English which does not accord with the principles of our Constitutional Law, and therefore this statement will not be regarded as the statement of a partisan: "It is laid down as a fundamental principle in the Transvaal Grondwet that there is no equality of rights between white men and blacks. In theory, if not in practice, the Boers regard the natives, all of whom they contemptuously call Kaffirs, whatever their tribal differences, pretty much as the ancient Jews regarded the Philistines and others whom they expelled from Palestine, or used as hewers of wood and drawers of water, but with added prejudice due to the difference of colour. So it was in the case of the early Dutch settlers, and so it is to-day, with a few exceptions, due mainly to the influence of the missionaries, whose work among the natives has from the first been objected to and hindered. It is only by social sufferance, and not by law, that the marriage of natives with Christian rites is recognised, and it carries with it none of the conditions as regards inheritance and the like, which are prescribed by the Dutch Roman code in force with white men. As a matter of fact, natives have no legal rights whatever. If they are in the service of humane masters, mindful of their own interests and moral obligations, they may be properly lodged and fed, not overworked, and fairly recompensed; but from the cruelties of a brutal master, perpetrated in cold blood or a drunken fit, the native practically has no redress." The Rev. John H. Bovill, Rector of the Cathedral Church, Lorenço Marquez, and sometime Her Majesty's Acting Consul there, has worked for five years in a district from which numbers of natives were drawn for work in the Transvaal, has visited the Transvaal from time to time, and is well acquainted with Boers of all classes and occupations. He has given us some details of the working out--especially as regards the natives--of the principles of the Grondwet or Constitution of the Transvaal. To us English, the most astonishing feature, to begin with, of this Constitution, is that it places the power of the Judiciary below that of the Raad or Legislative Body. The Judges of the Highest Court of Law are not free to give judgment according to evidence before them and the light given to them. A vote of the Raad, consisting of a mere handful of men in secret sitting, can at any time override and annul a sentence of the High Court. This will perhaps be better understood if we picture to ourselves some great trial before Lord Russell and others of our eminent judges, in which any laws bearing on the case were carefully tested in connection with the principles of our Constitution; that this supreme Court had pronounced its verdict, and that the next day Parliament should discuss, with closed doors, the verdict of the judges, and by a vote or resolution, should declare it unjust and annul it. Let us imagine, to follow the matter a little further on the lines of Transvaal justice, that our Sovereign had power to dismiss at will from office any judge or judges who might have exercised independence of judgment and pronounced a verdict displeasing to Parliament or to herself personally! Such is law and justice in the Transvaal; and that country is called a Republic! "This is Transvaal justice," says M. Naville; "a mockery, an ingenious legalizing of tyranny. There are no laws, there are only the caprices of the Raad. A vote in a secret sitting, that is what binds the Judges, and according to it they will administer justice. The law of to-day will perhaps not be the law to-morrow. The fifteen members of the majority, or rather President Kruger, who influences their votes, may change their opinion from one day to the next--it matters not; their opinion, formulated by a vote, will always be law. Woe to the judge who should dare to mention the Constitution or the Code, for there is one: he would at once be dismissed by the President who appointed him." It was prescribed by the Grondwet that no new law should be passed by Parliament (the Volksraad) unless notice of it had been given three months in advance, and the people had had the opportunity to pronounce upon it. This did not suit the President; accordingly when desirous of legalizing some new project of his own, he adopted the plan of bringing in such project as an addition or amendment to some existing law, giving it out as _no new law_, but only a supplementary clause. Law No. 1 of 1897 was manipulated in this manner. By this law, the Judges of the High Court were formally deprived of the right to test the validity of any law in its relation to the Constitution, and they were also compelled to accept as law, without question or reservation of any kind, any resolution passed at any time and under any circumstances by the Volksraad. This Law No. 1 of 1897 was passed through all its stages in three days, without being subjected in the first instance to the people. But I am especially concerned with what affects the natives. Article 1 of this section says:--A native must not own fixed property. (2) He must not marry by civil or ecclesiastical process. (3) He must not be allowed access to Civil Courts in any action against a white man. Article 9 of the Grondwet is not only adhered to, but is exaggerated in its application as follows:--"The people shall not permit any equality of coloured persons with white inhabitants, neither in the Church, nor in the State." "These principles" says Mr. Bovill, "are so engrained in the mind of an average Boer that we can never expect anything to be done by the Volksraad for the natives in this respect. It appears inconceivable," he continues, "that a Government making any pretence of being a civilized power, at the end of the nineteenth century, should be so completely ignorant of the most elementary principles of good government for such a large number of its subjects." As to the access by the natives to the Courts of Law. "If you ask a native he will tell you that access to the law-courts is much too easy, but they are the Criminal Courts of the Field Cornets and Landdrosts. He suffers so much from these, that he cannot entertain the idea that the Higher Courts are any better than the ordinary Field Cornets' or Landdrosts'. However, there are times when with fear and trepidation he does appeal to a Higher Court. With what result? If the decision is in favour of the native, the burghers are up in arms, crying out against the injustice of a judgment given in favour of a black against a white man; burghers sigh and say that a great disaster is about to befall the State when a native can have judgment against a white man. The inequality of the blacks and superiority of the white (burghers) is largely discussed. Motions are brought forward in the Volksraad to prohibit natives pleading in the Higher Courts. Such is the usual outcry. Summary justice (?) by a Landdrost or Field Cornet is all the Boer would allow a native. No appeal should be permitted, for may it not lead to a quashing of the conviction? The Landdrost is the friend of the Boer, and he can always "square" him in a matter against a native. "It was only to prevent an open breach with England that these appeals to the Higher Courts were permitted in a limited degree."[33] No. 2.--The Native Marriage Laws. "Think," says Mr. Bovill, "what it would mean to our social life in England if we were a conquered nation, and the conquerors should say: 'All your laws and customs are abrogated; your marriage laws are of no consequence to us; you may follow or leave them as you please, but we do not undertake to support them, and you may live like cattle if you wish; we cannot recognise your marriage laws as binding, nor yet will we legalise any form of marriage among you.' Such is in effect, the present position of the natives in the Transvaal. "I occasionally took my holidays in Johannesburg, and assisted the Vicar, during which time I could take charge of Christian native marriages, of which the State took no cognisance. A native may marry, and any time after leave his wife, but the woman would have no legal claim on him. He could marry again as soon as he pleased, and he could not be proceeded against either for support of his first wife or for bigamy. And so he might go on as long as he wished to marry or could get anyone to marry him. The same is applicable to all persons of colour, even if only slightly coloured--half-castes of three or four generations if the colour is at all apparent. All licenses for the marriage of white people must be applied for personally, and signed in the presence of the Landdrost, who is very cautious lest half-castes or persons of colour should get one. Colour is evidently the only test of unfitness to claim recognition of the marriage contract by the Transvaal State. "The injustice of such a law must be apparent; it places a premium on vice.[34] It gives an excuse to any 'person of colour' to commit the most heinous offences against the laws of morality and social order, and protects such a one from the legal consequences which would necessarily follow in any other civilised State." Mr. Bovill has an instructive chapter on the "Compound system," and the condition of native compounds. This is a matter which it is to be hoped will be taken seriously to heart by the Chartered Company, and any other company or group of employers throughout African mining districts." The Compound system of huddling hundreds of natives together in tin shanties is the very opposite to the free life to which they are accustomed. If South African mining is to become a settled industry, we must have the conditions of the labour market settled, and also the conditions of living. We cannot expect natives to give up their free open-air style of living, and their home life. They love their homes, and suffer from homesickness as much as, or probably more than most white people. The reason so many leave their work after six months is that they are constantly longing to see their wives and children. Many times have they said to me, 'It would be all right if only we could have our wives and families with us.'" "The result of this compound life is the worst possible morally.".... "We must treat the native, not as a machine to work when required under any conditions, but as a raw son of nature, very often without any moral force to control him and to raise him much above the lower animal world in his passions, except that which native custom has given him." The writer suggests that "native reserves or locations should be established on the separate mines, or groups of mines, where the natives can have their huts built, and live more or less under the same conditions as they do in their native kraals. If a native found that he could live under similar conditions to those he has been accustomed to, he will soon be anxious to save enough money to bring his wife and children there, and remain in the labour district for a much longer period than at present is the case. "It would be a distinct gain to the mining industry as well as to the native." Mr. Bovill goes into much detail on the subject of the "Pass Laws." I should much desire to reproduce his chapter on that subject, if it were not too long. That system must be wholly abolished, he says: "it is at present worse than any conditions under which slavery exists. It is a criminal-making law. Brand a slave, and you have put him to a certain amount of physical pain for once, but penalties under the Pass Law system mean lashes innumerable at the direction of any Boer Field Cornet or Landdrost. It is a most barbarous system, as brutal as it is criminal-making, alone worthy of a Boer with an exaggerated fear of and cowardly brutality towards a race he has been taught to despise." Treating of the prohibition imposed on the Natives as to the possession in any way or by any means of a piece of land, he writes: "Many natives are now earning and saving large sums of money, year by year, at the various labour centres. They return home with every intention of following a peaceful life; why should they not be encouraged to put their money into land, and follow their 'peaceful pursuits' as well as any Boer farmer? They are capable of doing it. Besides, if they held fixed property in the State, it would be to their advantage to maintain law and order, when they had everything they possessed at stake. With no interest in the land, the tendency must always be to a nomadic life. They are as thoroughly well capable of becoming true, peaceful, and loyal citizens of the State as are any other race of people. Their instincts and training are all towards law and order. Their lives have been disciplined under native rule, and now that the white man is breaking up that rule, what is he going to give as a substitute? Anarchy and lawlessness, or good government which tends to peace and prosperity? "We can only hope for better times, and a more humane Government for the natives, to wipe out the wrong that has been done to both black and white under a bastard civilization which has prevailed in Pretoria for the past fifteen years. The Government which holds down such a large number of its subjects by treating them as cut-throats and outlaws, will one day repent bitterly of its sin of misrule."[35] * * * * * Tyranny has a genius for creeping in everywhere, and under any and every form of government. This is being strikingly illustrated in these days. Under the name of a Republic, the traditions of a Military Oligarchy have grown up, and stealthily prevailed. When a nation has no recorded standard of guiding principles of government, it matters not by what name it may be called--Empire, Republic, Oligarchy, or Democracy--it may fall under the blighting influence of the tyranny of a single individual, or a wealthy clique, or a military despot. Too much weight is given just now to mere names as applied to governments. The acknowledged principles which underlie the outward forms of government alone are vitally important, and by the adherence to or abdication of these principles each nation will be judged. The revered name of _Republic_ is as capable of being dragged in the mire as that of the title of any other form of government. Mere names and words have lately had a strange and even a disastrous power of misleading and deceiving, not persons only, but nations,--even a whole continent of nations. It is needful to beware of being drawn into conclusions leading to action by associations attaching merely to a name, or to some crystallized word which may sometimes cover a principle the opposite of that which it was originally used to express. Such names and words are in some cases being as rapidly changed and remodelled as geographical charts are which represent new and rapidly developing or decaying groups of the human race. Yet names are always to a large part of mankind more significant than facts; and names and appearances in this matter appeal to France and to Switzerland, and in a measure to the American people, in favour of the Boers. Among the concessions made by Lord Derby in the Convention of 1884, none has turned out to be more unfortunate than that of allowing the Transvaal State to resume the title of the "South African Republic." In South Africa it embodied an impossible ideal; to the outside world it conveyed a false impression. The title has been the reason of widespread error with regard to the real nature of the Transvaal Government and of its struggle with this country. If "Republican Independence" had been all that Mr. Kruger was striving for, there would have been no war. He adopted the name, but not the spirit of a Republic. The "Independence" claimed by him, and urged even now by some of his friends in the British Parliament, is shown by the whole past history of the Transvaal to be an independence and a freedom which _involve the enslavement of other men._ A friend writes:--"In order to satisfy my own mind I have been looking in Latin Dictionaries for the correct and original meaning of 'impero,' (I govern,) and 'imperium.' The word 'Empire' has an unpleasant ring from some points of view and to some minds. One thinks of Roman Emperors, Domitian, Nero, Tiberius,--of the word 'imperious,' and of the French 'Empire' under Napoleon I. and Napoleon III. The Latin word means 'the giving of commands.' All depends on whether the commands given are _good_, and the giver of them also good and wise. The Ten Commandments are in one sense 'imperial.' Now, I think the word as used in the phrase _British Empire_ has, in the most modern and best sense, quite a different savour or flavour from that of Napoleon's Empire, or the Turkish or Mahommedan Empires of the past. It has come to mean the 'Dominion of Freedom' or the 'Reign of Liberty,' rather than the giving of despotic or tyrannical or oligarchic commands. In fact, our Imperialism is freedom for all races and peoples who choose to accept it, whilst Boer _Republicanism_ is the exact opposite. How strangely words change their weight and value! "And yet there still remains the sense of 'command' in 'Empire;' and in the past history of our Government of the Cape Colony there has been too little wholesome command and obedience, and too much opportunism, shuffling off of responsibility, with self-sufficient ignorance and doctrinaire foolishness taking the place of knowledge and insight. Want of courage is, I think, in short, at the bottom of the past mismanagement." * * * * * The assertion is repeatedly made that "England coveted the gold of the Transvaal, and hence went to war." It is necessary it seems, again and again, to remind those who speak thus that England was not the invader. Kruger invaded British Territory, being fully prepared for war. England was not in the least prepared for war. This last fact is itself a complete answer to those who pretend that she was the aggressor. In regard to the assertion that "England coveted the gold of the Transvaal," what is here meant by "England?" Ours is a representative Government. Are the entire people, with their representatives in Parliament and the Government included in this assertion, or is it meant that certain individuals, desiring gold, went to the Transvaal in search of it? The expression "England" in this relation, is vague and misleading. The search for gold is not in itself a legal nor a moral offence. But the inordinate desire and pursuit of wealth, becoming the absorbing motive to the exclusion of all nobler aims, is a moral offence and a source of corruption. Wherever gold is to be found, there is a rush from all sides; among some honest explorers with legitimate aims, there are always found, in such a case, a number of unruly spirits, of scheming, dishonest and careless persons, the scum of the earth, cheats and vagabonds. The Outlanders who crowded to the Rand were of different nations, French, Belgians and others, besides the English who were in a large majority. The presence and eager rush of this multitude of gold seekers certainly brought into the country elements which clouded the moral atmosphere, and became the occasion of deeds which so far from being typical of the spirit of "England" and the English people at large, were the very reverse, and have been condemned by public opinion in our country. But, admitting that unworthy motives and corrupting elements were introduced into the Transvaal by the influx of strangers urged there by self-interest, it is strange that any should imagine and assert that the "corrupting influence of gold," or the lust of gold told upon the British alone. The disasters brought upon the Transvaal seem to be largely attributable to the corrupting effect on President Kruger and his allies in the Government, of the sudden acquisition of enormous wealth, through the development, by other hands than his own, of the hidden riches within his country. What are the facts? In 1885 the revenue of the Transvaal State was a little over £177,000. This rose, owing to the Outlanders' labours, and the taxes exacted from them by the Transvaal government to £4,400,000 (in 1899). Thus they have increased in the proportion of 1 to 25. "If the admirers of the Transvaal government, who place no confidence in documents emanating from English sources, will take the trouble to open the _Almanack de Gotha_, they will there find the financial report for 1897. There they will read that of these £4,400,000, salaries and emoluments amount to nearly one-quarter--we will call it £1,000,000,--that is, £40 per head per adult Boer, for it goes without saying that in all this the Outlanders have no share. If we remember that the great majority of the Boers consist of farmers who do not concern themselves at all about the Administration, and who consequently get no slice of the cake, we can judge of the size of the junks which President Kruger and the chiefly foreign oligarchy on which he leans take to themselves. The President has a salary of £7,000--(the President of the Swiss Confederation has £600)--and besides that, what is called "coffee-money." This is his official income, but his personal resources do not end there. The same table of the _Almanack de Gotha_ shows a sum of nearly £660,000 entitled "other expenses." Under this head are included secret funds, which in the budget are stated at a little less than £40,000 (more than even England has), but which always exceed that sum, and in 1896 reached about £200,000. Secret Service Funds!--vile name and viler reality--should be unknown in the affairs of small nations. Is not honesty one of the cardinal virtues which we should expect to find amongst small nations, if nowhere else? What can the chief of a small State of 250,000 inhabitants do with such a large amount of Secret funds? "We can picture to ourselves what the financial administration of the Boers must be in this plethora of money, provided almost entirely by the hated Outlander. An example may be cited. The Raad were discussing the budget of 1898, and one of the members called attention to the fact that for several years past advances to the amount of £2,400,000 had been made to various officials, and were unaccounted for. That is a specimen of what the Boer _régime_ has become in this school of opulence."[36] M. Naville continues:--"We do not consider the Boers, as a people, to be infected by the corruption which rules the administration. The farmers who live far from Pretoria have preserved their patriarchal virtues: they are upright and honest, but at the same time very proud, and impatient of every kind of authority.... They are ignorant, and read no books or papers--only the Old Testament; but Kruger knew he could rouse these people by waving before them the spectre of England, and crying in their ears the word 'Independence.' And this is what disgusts us, that under cover of principles so dear to us all, independence and national honour, these brave men are sent to the battlefield to preserve for a tyrannical and venal oligarchy the right to share amongst themselves, and distribute as they please, the gold which is levied on the work of foreigners." FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 30: Parliamentary Blue Book, 4194, 42.] [Footnote 31: Austral Africa, Chap. 4, pages 235-250.] [Footnote 32: Austral Africa, p. 233 and on.] [Footnote 33: Natives under the Transvaal Flag. Revd. John H. Bovill.] [Footnote 34: It is stated on the authority of _The Sentinel_ (London, June, 1900), that Mr. Kruger was asked some years ago to permit the introduction in the Johannesburg mining district of the State regulation of vice, and that Mr. Kruger stoutly refused to entertain such an idea. Very much to his credit! Yet it seems to me that the refusal to legalize native marriages comes rather near, in immorality of principle and tendency, to the legalizing of promiscuous intercourse.] [Footnote 35: Natives under the Transvaal Flag, by Rev. J. Bovill.] [Footnote 36: La question du Transvaal, by Professor Ed. Naville, of Geneva.] VIII. THE THEOLOGY OF THE BOERS. EXPLOITATION OF NATIVES BY CAPITALISTS. BRITISH COLONIZING.--ITS CAUSES AND NATURE. CHARACTER OF PAUL KRUGER AS A RULER. THE MORAL TEACHINGS OF THE WAR. OUR RESPONSIBILITIES. HASTY JUDGMENTS. DENUNCIATIONS OF ENGLAND BY ENGLISHMEN. THE OPEN BOOK. MY LAST WORD IS FOR THE NATIVE RACES. Even in these enlightened days there seems to be in some minds a strange confusion as to the understanding of the principle of Equality for which we plead, and which is one of the first principles laid down in the Charter of our Liberties. What is meant in that charter is _Equality of all before the Law_; not by any means social equality, which belongs to another region of political ideas altogether. A friend who has lived in South Africa, and who has had natives working for and with him, tells me of this confusion of ideas among some of the more vulgar stamp of white colonists, who, my friend observes, amuse themselves by assuming a familiarity in intercourse with the natives, which works badly. It does not at all increase their respect for the white man, but quite the contrary, while it is as little calculated to produce self-respect in the native. My friend found the natives naturally respectful and courteous, when treated justly and humanely, in fact as a _gentleman_ would treat them. Above all things, they honour a man who is just. They have a keen sense of justice, and a quick perception of the existence of this crowning quality in a man. Livingstone said that he found that they also have a keen eye for a man of pure and moral life. The natives in the Transvaal have never asked for the franchise, or for the smallest voice in the Government. In their hearts they hoped for and desired simple legal justice; they asked for bread, and they received a stone. It does not seem desirable that they should too early become "full fledged voters." Some sort of Education test, some proof of a certain amount of civilization and instruction attained, might be applied with advantage; and to have to wait a little while for that does not seem, from the Englishwoman's point of view at least, a great hardship, when it is remembered how long our agricultural labourers had to wait for that privilege, and that for more than fifty years English women have petitioned for it, and have not yet obtained it, although they are not, I believe, wholly uncivilized or uneducated. The Theology of the Boers has been much commented upon; and it is supposed by some that, as they are said to derive it solely from the Old Testament Scriptures, it follows that the ethical teaching of those Scriptures must be extremely defective. A Swiss Pastor writes to me: "It is time to rescue the Old Testament from the Boer interpretation of it. We have not enough of Old Testament righteousness among us Christians." This is true. Those who have studied those Scriptures intelligently see, through much that appears harsh and strange in the Mosaic prescriptions, a wisdom and tenderness which approaches to the Christian ideal, as well as certain severe rules and restrictions which, when observed and maintained, lifted the moral standard of the Hebrew people far above that of the surrounding nations. When Christ came on earth, He swept away all that which savoured of barbarism, the husk which often however, contained within it a kernel of truth capable of a great development. "Ye have heard it said of old times," He reiterated, "_but I say unto you_"--and then He set forth the higher, the eternally true principles of action. Yet if the Transvaal teachers and their disciples had read impartially (though even exclusively) the Old Testament Scriptures, they could not have failed to see how grossly they were themselves offending against the divine commands in some vital matters. I cite, as an example, the following commands, given by Moses to the people, not once only, but repeatedly. Had these commands been regarded with as keen an appreciation as some others whose teaching seems to have an opposite tendency, it is impossible that the natives should have been treated as they have been by Boer Law, or that Slavery or Serfdom should have existed among them for so many generations. The following are some of the often-repeated commands and warnings: Ex. xii. _v_ 19.--"One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you." Num. ix. _v_ 14.--"If a stranger shall sojourn among you, ... ye shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land." Num. xv. _v_ 15.--"One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you, an ordinance for ever in your generation: as ye are so shall the stranger be before the Lord." Verse 16.--"One law and one manner shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you." Lev. xix. _v_ 33.--"And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him." Verse 34.--"But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt." Verse 35.--"Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in mete-yard, in weight, or in measure." Although the natives of the Transvaal were the original possessors of the country, they have been reckoned by the Boers as strangers and foreigners among them. They have treated them as the ancient Jews treated all Gentiles as for ever excluded from the Commonwealth of Israel,--until in the "fulness of time" they were forced by a great shock and terrible judgments--to acknowledge, with astonishment, that "God had also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life," and that they also had heard the news of the glorious emancipation of all the sons of God throughout the earth. Not only is the non-payment, but even delay in the payment of wages condemned by the Law of Moses. Is it possible that Boer theologians, who quote Scripture with so much readiness, have never read the following? Lev. xix. _v_ 13.--"Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning." Deut. xxiv. _v_ 14.--"Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of the strangers that are in thy land, within thy gates." Verse 15.--"At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the Lord, and it be sin unto thee." Jer. xxii. _v_ 13.--"Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not for his work." Mal. iii. _v_ 5.--"And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against ... those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts." The following is from the New Testament, but it might have come under the notice of Boer theologians and Law makers:-- The epistle of St. James v. _v_ 4.--"Behold the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth; and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth." Verse 3.--"Your gold and your silver is cankered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you." Jer. xxxv. _v_ 17.--"Because ye have not proclaimed Liberty every man to his neighbour, behold I proclaim Liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the Sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine." I am aware that there will be voices raised at once in application to certain English people of the very commands here cited; and justly so, so far as that application is made to individuals or groups of persons who have transgressed not only Biblical Law but the Law of our Land in their dealings with native races; and the warning conveyed to us in such recriminations must not and, I believe, will not be unheeded. The following occurs in a number of the "Ethical World," published early in the present year:--"We know that capitalists, left to themselves, would mercilessly exploit the labour of the coloured man. That is precisely the reason why they should not be left to themselves, but should be under the control of the British Empire. It is a reason why Crown colonies should supersede Chartered Companies; it is a reason for much that is often called 'shallow Imperialism.' If the present war had been staved off, and if, by mere lapse of time and increase of numbers _without British intervention_, the Outlanders had come to be the masters of the South African Republic, they might have established a system of independent government quite as bad as that now in existence, though not hardened against reform by the same archaic traditions." To my mind some of the published utterances of the Originator and members of the "Chartered Company" are not such as to inspire confidence in those who desire to see the essential principles of British Law and Government paramount wherever Great Britain has sway. There is the old contemptuous manner of speaking of the natives; and we have heard an expression of a desire to "eliminate the Imperial Factor." This elimination of the Imperial Factor is precisely that which is the least desired by those who see our Imperialism to mean the continuance of obedience to the just traditions of British Law and Government. The granting of a Charter to a Company lends the authority (or the appearance of it) of the Queen's name to acts of the responsible heads of that company, which may be opposed to the principles of justice established by British Law; and such acts may have disastrous results. It is to be hoped that the present awakening on the subject of past failures of our government to enforce respect for its own principles may be a warning to all concerned against any transgression of those principles. Continental friends with whom I have conversed on the subject of the British Colonies have sometimes appeared to me to leave out of account some considerations special to the subject. They regard British Colonization as having been accomplished by a series of acts of aggression, solely inspired by the love of conquest and desire for increased territory. This is an error. I would ask such friends to take a Map of Europe, or of the World, and steadily to regard it in connection with the following facts. Our people are among the most prolific,--if not the most prolific,--of all the nations. Energy and enterprise are in their nature, together with a certain love of free-breathing, adventure and discovery. Now look at the map, and observe how small is the circumference of the British Isles. "Our Empire has no geographical continuity like the Russian Empire; it is that larger Venice with no narrow streets, but with the sea itself for a high-road. It is bound together by a moral continuity alone." What are our Sons to do? Must our immense population be debarred from passing through these ocean tracts to lands where there are great uninhabited wastes capable of cultivation? What shall we do with our sons and our daughters innumerable, as the ways become overcrowded in the mother land, and energies have not the outlets needful to develop them. Shall we place legal restrictions on marriage, or on the birth of children, or prescribe that no family shall exceed a certain number? You are shocked,--naturally. It follows then that some members of our large British families must cross the seas and seek work and bread elsewhere. The highest and lowest, representing all ranks, engage in this kind of initial colonization. Our present Prime Minister, a "younger son," went out in his youth,--as others of his class have done,--with his pickaxe, to Australia, to rank for a time among "diggers" until called home by the death of the elder son, the heir to the title and estate. This necessity and this taste for wandering and exploring has helped in some degree to form the independence of character of our men, and also to strengthen rather than to weaken the ties of affection and kinship with the Motherland. Many men, "nobly born and gently nurtured," have thus learned self-dependence, to endure hardships, and to share manual labour with the humblest; and such an experience does not work for evil. Then when communities have been formed, some sort of government has been necessitated. An appeal is made to the Mother Country, and her offspring have grown up more or less under her regard and care, until self-government has developed itself. The great blot on this necessary and natural expansion is the record (from time to time) of the displacement of native tribes by force and violence, when their rights seemed to interfere with the interests of the white man. Of such action we have had to repent in the past, and we repent more deeply than ever now when our responsibilities towards natives races have been brought with startling clearness before those among us who have been led to look back and to search deeply into the meanings of the present great "history-making war." The personality of Paul Kruger stands out mournfully at this moment on the page of history. Mr. FitzPatrick wrote of him in 1896, as follows:-- "_L'Etat c'est moi_, is almost as true of the old Dopper President as it was of its originator; for in matters of external policy and in matters which concern the Boer as a party, the President has his way as completely as any anointed autocrat. To anyone who has studied the Boers and their ways and policy ... it must be clear that President Kruger does more than represent the opinion of the people and execute their policy: he moulds them in the form he wills. By the force of his own strong convictions and prejudices, and of his indomitable will, he has made the Boers a people whom he regards as the germ of the Afrikander nation; a people chastened, selected, welded, and strong enough to attract and assimilate all their kindred in South Africa, and thus to realize the dream of a Dutch Republic from the Zambesi to Cape Town. "In the history of South Africa the figure of the grim old President will loom large and striking,--picturesque as the figure of one who, by his character and will, made and held his people; magnificent as one who, in the face of the blackest fortune, never wavered from his aim or faltered in his effort ... and it maybe, pathetic too, as one whose limitations were great, one whose training and associations,--whose very successes had narrowed and embittered and hardened him;--as one who, when the greatness of success was his to take and to hold, turned his back on the supreme opportunity, and used his strength and qualities to fight against the spirit of progress, and all that the enlightenment of the age pronounces to be fitting and necessary to good government and a healthy State. "To an English nobleman, who in the course of an interview remarked, 'my father was a Minister (of the Queen),' the Dutchman answered, 'and my father was a shepherd!' It was not pride rebuking pride; it was the ever present fact which would not have been worth mentioning but for the suggestion of the antithesis. He, too, was a shepherd,--a peasant. It may be that he knew what would be right and good for his people, and it may be not; but it is sure that he realized that to educate would be to emancipate, to broaden their views would be to break down the defences of their prejudices, to let in the new leaven would be to spoil the old bread, to give to all men the rights of men would be to swamp for ever the party which is to him greater than the State. When one thinks of the one century history of that people, much is seen which accounts for their extraordinary love of isolation, and their ingrained and passionate aversion to control; much, too, that draws to them a world of sympathy; and when one realizes the old President hemmed in once more by the hurrying tide of civilization, from which his people have fled for generations--trying to fight both fate and Nature--standing up to stem a tide as resistless as the eternal sea--one realizes the pathos of the picture. But this is as another generation may see it. We are now too close--so close that the meaner details, the blots and flaws, are all most plainly visible, the corruption, the insincerity, the injustice, the barbarity--all the unlovely touches that will bye and bye be forgotten--sponged away by the gentle hand of time, when only the picturesque will remain."[37] And now that his sun is setting in the midst of clouds, and the great ambition of his life lies a ruin before him, and age, disappointment, and sorrow press heavily upon him, reproach and criticism are silenced. Compassion and a solemn awe alone fill our hearts. A late awakening and repentance may not serve to maintain the political life of a party or a nation; but it is never too late for a human soul to receive for itself the light that may have been lacking for right guidance all through the past, and God does not finally withdraw Himself from one who has ever sincerely called upon His name. I beg to be allowed to address a word, in conclusion, more especially to certain of my own countrymen,--among whom I count some of my valued fellow-workers of the past years. These latter have been very patient with me at times when I have ventured a word of warning in connection with the Abolitionist war in which we have together been engaged, and perhaps they will bear with me now; but whether they will do so or not, I must speak that which seems to me the truth, that which is laid on my heart to speak. I refer especially to the temper of mind of those whose present denunciations of our country are apparently not restrained by considerations derived from a deeper and calmer view of the whole situation. When God's Judgments are in the earth, "the people of the world will learn righteousness." Are we learning righteousness? Am I, are you, friends, learning righteousness? I desire, at least, to be among those who may learn something of the mind of God towards His redeemed world, even in the darkest hour. But you will tell me perhaps that there is nothing of the Divine purpose in all this tribulation, that God has allowed evil to have full sway in the world for a time. Others among us, as firmly believe that there is a Divine permission in the natural vengeance which follows transgression, that we are never the sport of a senseless fate, and that God governs as well as reigns. "God's fruit of justice ripens slow; "Men's souls are narrow; let them grow, "My brothers, we must wait." Many among us are learning to see more and more clearly that the present "tribulation" is the climax of a long series,--through almost a century past,--of errors of which till now we had never been fully conscious,--of neglect of duty, of casting off of responsibility, of oblivion of the claims of the millions of native inhabitants of Africa who are God's creatures and the redeemed of Christ as much as we,--of ambitions and aims purely worldly, of a breathless race among nations for present and material gain. There are hasty judges it seems to me who look upon this war as the _Initial Crime_, a sudden and fatal error into which our nation has leapt in a fit of blind passion aroused by some quite recent event, and chiefly chargeable to certain individuals living among us to-day, who represent, in their view, a deplorable deterioration of the whole nation. The evils (which are not chiefly attributable to our nation) which have led up to this war, and made it from the human point of view, inevitable, are all ignored by these judges. Like the servant in one of the Parables of Christ, who said "my Lord delayeth his coming," (God is nowhere among us,) and began to beat and abuse his fellow-servants, they fall to inflicting on their fellow citizens unmeasured blows of the tongue and pen, because of this war. Their hearts are so full of indignation that they cannot see anything higher or deeper than the material strife. They judge the combatants, our poor soldiers, the first victims, with little tenderness or sympathy. When King David was warned by God of approaching chastisement for his sins as a ruler, he pleaded that that chastisement should fall upon himself alone, saying, "these sheep (the people) what have they done?" We may ask the same of the rank and file of our army. What have they done? It was not they who ordained the war, and so far as personal influence may have gone to provoke war, many of those who sit at home at ease are more to blame than the men who believe that they are obeying the call of duty when they offer themselves for perils, for hardships, wounds, sickness, and lingering as well as sudden death. God's thoughts, however, are "not as our thoughts," nor "His ways as our ways." The record I might give of spiritual awakening and extraordinary blessing bestowed by Him at this time in the very heart of this war on these, the "first victims" of it, would be received I fear with complete incredulity by those to whom I now address myself. Be it so. The sources of my information are from "the front," they are many and they are trustworthy. It seems to me that in visiting the sins of the fathers on the children, or of rulers on the people, the Great Father of all, in His infinite love has said to these multitudes: "Your bodies are given to destruction, but I have set wide open for you the door of salvation; you Shall enter into my kingdom through death." And many have so entered.[38] The following is the expression of the thought of many of our humble people at home, who are neither "jingoes" nor yet impatient judges of others. The Journal from which the extract is taken represents not the wealthy nor ambitious part of society, but that of the middle class of people, dependent on their own efforts for their daily bread, among whom we often find much good sense:--"Some persons are humiliated for the sins and mistakes they see in other people. As for themselves, their one thought is 'If my advice had been taken the country would never have been in this pass!' This is the expression of an utterly un-Christian self-conceit. Others, again, take delight in recording the sins of the nation. That our ideals have been dimmed, that a low order of public morality has been openly defended in the highest places, and that the reckoning has come to us we fully believe. Yet it is possible to judge the heart of our people far too harshly. It is a sound heart when all is said and done. We fix our eyes upon the great and wealthy offenders; but it must be remembered that the British people are not wealthy. The number of rich men is small. Most of us, in fact, are very poor. Even those who may be called well off depend on the continuance of health and opportunity for their incomes. The vast majority of those who believe that our cause is righteous are not exultant jingoes, neither are they millionaires. They are care-worn toilers, hard-worked fathers and mothers of children. They have in many cases given sons and brothers and husbands to our ranks; their hearts are aching with passionate sorrow for the dead. Many more are enduring the racking agony of suspense. Multitudes, besides, spend their lives in a hard fight to keep the wolf from the door. Already they are pinched, and they know that in the months ahead their poverty will be deeper. Yet they have no thought of surrender. They do not even complain, but give what they can from their scanty means to succour those who are touched still more nearly. It is quite possible to slander a nation when one simply intends to tell it plain truths. The British nation, we are inclined to believe, is a great deal better and sounder than many of its shrillest censors of the moment. And, for our part, we find among our patient, brave, and silent people great seed-beds of trust and hope."[39] These are noble words, because words of faith--worthy of the Roman, Varro--to whom his fellow-citizens presented a public tribute of gratitude because "he had not despaired of his country in a dark and troubled time." It can hardly be supposed that I underrate the horrors of war. I have imagination enough and sympathy enough to follow almost as if I beheld it with my eyes, the great tragedy which has been unfolded in South Africa. The spirit of Jingoism is an epidemic of which I await the passing away more earnestly than we do that of any other plague. I deprecate, as I have always done, and as strongly as anyone can do, rowdyism in the form of violent opposition to free speech and freedom of meeting. It is as wholly unjustifiable, as it is unwise. Nothing tends more to the elucidation of truth than evidence and freedom of speech from all sides. Good works on many hands are languishing for lack of the funds and zeal needful to carry them on. The Public Press, and especially the Pictorial Press, fosters a morbid sentiment in the public mind by needlessly vivid representations of mere slaughter; to all this may be added (that which some mourn over most of all) the drain upon our pockets,--upon the country's wealth. All these things are a part of the great tribulation which is upon us. They are inevitable ingredients of the chastisement by war. I see frequent allusions to the "deplorable state of the public mind," which is so fixed on this engrossing subject, the war, that its attention cannot be gained for any other. I hear our soldiers called "legalized murderers," and the war spoken of as a "hellish panorama,"[40] which it is a blight even to look upon. But,--I am impelled to say it at the risk of sacrificing the respect of certain friends,--there is to me another view of the matter. It is this. In this present woe, as in all other earthly events, God has something to say to us,--something which we cannot receive if we wilfully turn away the eye from seeing and the ear from hearing. It is as if--in anticipation of the last great Judgment when "the Books shall be opened,"--God, in his severity and yet in mercy (for there is always mercy in the heart of His judgments) had set before us at this day an open book, the pages of which are written in letters of blood, and that He is waiting for us to read. There are some who are reading, though with eyes dimmed with tears and hearts pierced with sorrow--whose attitude is, "Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth." You "deplore the state of the public mind." May not the cloud of celestial witnesses deplore in a measure the state of _your_ mind which leads you to turn your back on the opened book of judgment, and refuse to read it? Does your sense of duty to your country claim from you to send forth such a cry against your fellow-citizens and your nation that you have no ears for the solemn teachings of Providence? Might it not be more heroic in us all to cease to denounce, and to begin to enquire?--with humility and courage to look God in the face, and enquire of Him the inner meanings of His rebukes, to ask Him to "turn back the floods of ungodliness" which have swelled this inundation of woe, rather than to use our poor little besoms in trying to sweep back the Atlantic waves of His judgments. It is good and necessary to protest against War; but at the same time, reason and experience teach that we must, with equal zeal, protest against other great evils, the accumulation of which makes for war and not for peace. War in another sense--moral and spiritual war--must be doubled, trebled, quadrupled, in the future, in order that material war may come to an end. We all wish for peace; every reasonable person desires it, every anxious and bereaved family longs for it, every Christian prays for it. But _what_ Peace? It is the Peace of God which we pray for? the Peace on Earth, which He alone can bring about? His hand alone, which corrects, can also heal. We do not and cannot desire the peace which some of those are calling for who dare not face the open book of present day judgment, or who do not wish to read its lessons! Such a peace would be a mere plastering over of an unhealed wound, which would break out again before many years were over. There seems to me a lack of imagination and of Christian sympathy in the zeal which thrusts denunciatory literature into all hands and houses, as is done just now. It would, I think, check such action and open the eyes of some who adopt it, if they could see the look of pain, the sudden pallor, followed by hours and days of depression of the mourners, widows, bereaved parents, sisters and friends, when called upon to read (their hearts full of the thought of their beloved dead) that those who have fought in the ranks were morally criminal, legalized murderers, "full of hatred," actors in a "hellish panorama." Some of these sufferers may not be much enlightened, but they know what love and sorrow are. Would it not be more tender and tactful, from the Christian point of view, to leave to them their consoling belief that those whom they loved acted from a sense of duty or a sentiment of patriotism; and not, just at a time of heart-rending sorrow, to press upon them the criminality of all and every one concerned in any way with war? I commend this suggestion to those who are not strangers to the value of personal sympathy and gentleness towards those who mourn. No, we are not yet looking upon hell! It may be, it _is_, an earthly purgatory which we are called to look upon; a place and an hour of purging and of purifying, such as we must all, nations and individuals alike, pass through, before we can see the face of God. Mr. Fullerton, speaking in the Melbourne Hall, Leicester, on Jan. 7th of this year, said:--"The Valley of Achor (Trouble), may be a Door of Hope." "You say the Transvaal belongs to the Boers; I say it belongs to God. If it belongs specially to any, it belongs to the Zulus and Kaffirs, on whom, for 100 years, there have been inflicted wrongs worthy of Arab slave dealers. What has the Boer done to lift these people? Nothing. As a Missionary said the other day, 'A nation that lives amongst a lower race of people, and does not try to lift them, inevitably sinks.' The Boers needed to be chastised; only thus could they be kept from sinking; only thus can there be hope for the native races. Who shall chastise them? Another nation, which God wishes also to chastise. Is therefore God for one nation and not for another? May He not be for one, and for the other too? If both pray, must He refuse one? Perhaps God is great enough to answer both, and bringing both through the fire, purge and teach them." It would have been bad for us if we had won an early or an easy victory. We should have been so lifted up with pride as to be an offence to high Heaven. But we have gone and are going through deep waters, and the wounds inflicted on many hearts and many homes are not quickly healed. In this we recognise the hand of God, who is faithful in chastisement as in blessing. Many have, no doubt, read, and I hope some have laid to heart, the words which Lord Rosebery recently addressed to the Press, but which are applicable to us all at this juncture. They are wise and statesmanlike words. Taking them as addressed to the Nation and not to the Press only, they run thus: "At such a juncture we must be sincere, we must divest ourselves of the mere catchwords and impulses of party.... We must be prepared to discard obsolete shibboleths, to search out abuse, to disregard persons, to be instant in pressing for necessary reforms--social, educational, administrative, and if need be, constitutional. "Moreover, with regard to a sane appreciation of the destinies and responsibilities of Empire, we stand at the parting of the ways. Will Britain flinch or falter in her world-wide task? How is she best to pursue it? What new forces and inspiration will it need? What changes does it involve? These are questions which require clear sight, cool courage, and freedom from formula."[41] In the conscientious study which I have endeavoured to make of the history of the past century of British rule in South Africa, nothing has struck me more than the unfortunate effects in that Colony of our varying policy inspired by political party spirit in the Mother Country; and consequently I hail with thankfulness this good counsel to "divest ourselves of mere catchwords and impulses of party, to discard obsolete shibboleths, to free ourselves from formula, and to disregard persons," even if these persons are or have been recognized leaders, and to abide rather by principles. "What new forces and inspiration do we need," Lord Rosebery asks, for the great task our nation has before it? This is a deep and far-reaching question. The answer to it should be sought and earnestly enquired after by every man and woman among us, who is worthy of the name of a true citizen. My last word must be on behalf of the Natives. When, thirty years ago, a few among us were impelled to take up the cause of the victims of the modern white slavery in Europe, we were told that in our pleadings for principles of justice and for personal rights, we ought not to have selected a subject in which are concerned persons who may deserve pity, but who, in fact, are not so important a part of the human family as to merit such active and passionate sympathy as that which moved our group. To this our reply was: "We did not _choose_ this question, we did not ourselves deliberately elect to plead for these persons. The question was _imposed upon us_, and once so imposed, we could not escape from the claims of the oppressed class whose cause we had been called to take up. And generally, (we replied,) the work of human progress has not consisted in protecting and supporting any outward forms of government, or the noble or privileged classes, but in undertaking the defence of the weak, the humble, of beings devoted to degradation and contempt, or brought under any oppression or servitude." It is the same now. My father was one of the energetic promoters of the Abolition of Slavery in the years before 1834, a friend of Clarkson and Wilberforce. The horror of slavery in every form, and under whatever name, which I have probably partly inherited, has been intensified as life went on. It is my deep conviction that Great Britain will in future be judged, condemned or justified, according to her treatment of those innumerable coloured races, heathen or partly Christianized, over whom her rule extends, or who, beyond the sphere of her rule, claim her sympathy and help as a Christian and civilizing power to whom a great trust has been committed. It grieves me to observe that (so far as I am able to judge) our politicians, public men, and editors, (with the exception of the editors of the "religious press,") appear to a great extent unaware of the immense importance of this subject, even for the future peace and stability of our Empire, apart from higher interests. It _will_ be "imposed upon them," I do not doubt, sooner or later, as it has been imposed upon certain missionaries and others who regard the Divine command as practical and sensible men should do: "Go ye and teach _all_ nations." All cannot _go_ to the ends of the earth; but all might cease to hinder by the dead weight of their indifference, and their contempt of all men of colour. Dr. Livingstone rebuked the Boers for contemptuously calling all coloured men Kaffirs, to whatever race they belonged. Englishmen deserve still more such a rebuke for their habit of including all the inhabitants of India, East and West, and of Africa, who have not European complexions, under the contemptuous title of "niggers." Race prejudice is a poison which will have to be cast out if the world is ever to be Christianized, and if Great Britain is to maintain the high and responsible place among the nations which has been given to her. "It maybe that the Kaffir is sometimes cruel," says one who has seen and known him,--"he certainly requires supervision. But he was bred in cruelty and reared in oppression--the child of injustice and hate. As the springbok is to the lion, as the locust is to the hen, so is the Kaffir to the Boer; a subject of plunder and leaven of greed. But the Kaffir is capable of courage and also of the most enduring affection. He has been known to risk his life for the welfare of his master's family. He has worked without hope of reward. He has laboured in the expectation of pain. He has toiled in the snare of the fowler. Yet shy a brickbat at him!--for he is only a Kaffir! "However much the Native may excel in certain qualities of the heart, still, until purged of the poison of racial contempt, that will be the expression of the practical conclusion of the white man regarding him; "Shy a brickbat at him. He is only a nigger." A merely theoretical acknowledgment of the vital nature of this question, of the future of the Native races and of Missionary work will not suffice. The Father of the great human family demands more than this. "Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that ye break every yoke?" (ISAIAH lviii. 6.) I have spoken, in this little book, as an Abolitionist,--being a member of the "International Federation for the Abolition of the State regulation of vice." But I beg my readers to understand that I have here spoken for myself alone, and that my views must not be understood to be shared by members of the Federation to which I refer. My Abolitionist friends on the Continent of Europe, with very few exceptions, hold an opinion absolutely opposed to mine on the general question here treated. It is not far otherwise in England itself, where many of our Abolitionists, including some of my oldest and most valued fellow-workers, stand on a very different ground from mine in this matter. I value friendship, and I love my old friends. But I love truth more. I have very earnestly sought to know the truth in the matter here treated. I have not rejected evidence from any side, having read the most extreme as well as the more moderate writings on different sides, including those which have reached me from Holland, France, Switzerland, Germany, and the Transvaal, as well as those published in England. Having conscientiously arrived at certain conclusions, based on facts, and on life-long convictions in regard to some grave matters of principle, I have thought it worth while to put those conclusions on record. J.E.B. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 37: The Transvaal from Within. FitzPatrick.] [Footnote 38: This may also be true of the Boer combatants sacrificed for the sins of their rulers, but I prefer only to attest that of which I have full proof.] [Footnote 39: "British Weekly."] [Footnote 40: An Expression reported to have been used by Mr. Morley.] [Footnote 41: _Daily News_, June 4th, 1900.] 
23692	----	[Illustration: LIEUTENANTS MELVILL and COGHILL (24th REGIMENT) DYING TO SAVE THE QUEEN'S COLOURS. An Incident at the Battle of Isandlwana. Painting by C. E. Fripp.] SOUTH AFRICA AND THE TRANSVAAL WAR BY LOUIS CRESWICKE AUTHOR OF "ROXANE," ETC. WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS IN SIX VOLUMES VOL. I.--FROM THE FOUNDATION OF CAPE COLONY TO THE BOER ULTIMATUM OF 9TH OCT. 1899 EDINBURGH: T. C. & E. C. JACK 1900 PREFATORY NOTE In writing this volume my aim has been to present an unvarnished tale of the circumstances--extending over nearly half a century--which have brought about the present crisis in South Africa. Consequently, it has been necessary to collate the opinions of the best authorities on the subject. My acknowledgments are due to the distinguished authors herein quoted for much valuable information, throwing light on the complications that have been accumulating so long, and that owe their origin to political blundering and cosmopolitan scheming rather than to the racial antagonism between Briton and Boer. L. C. CONTENTS--VOL. I. PAGE CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE ix INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER I PAGE THE GROWTH OF THE TRANSVAAL 13 THE BOER CHARACTER 15 SOME DOMESTIC TRAITS 18 CHAPTER II PAGE THE ORANGE FREE STATE 24 THE GRONDWET 26 TRANSVAAL DISSENSIONS 29 ZULU DISTURBANCES 30 THE POLITICAL WEB 33 THE WEB THICKENING 36 THE ZULU WAR 38 ISANDLWANA 40 AFFAIRS AT HOME 43 TOWARDS ULUNDI 49 THE VICTORY 57 CHAPTER III PAGE SIR GARNET WOLSELEY AT PRETORIA 62 GLADSTONE OUT OF OFFICE AND IN OFFICE 65 COMMENCEMENT OF REBELLION 69 THE FATE OF CAPTAIN ELLIOT 73 LAING'S NEK 77 INGOGO 84 MAJUBA 86 THE SIEGE OF PRETORIA 95 RETROCESSION 99 THE BETRAYED LOYALISTS 101 CHAPTER IV PAGE THE CONVENTIONS 106 MR. KRUGER 110 GERMANS AND UITLANDERS 114 CHAPTER V PAGE MR. RHODES 118 RHODESIA--UNCIVILISED 120 RHODESIA--CIVILISED 124 GOLD 127 DIAMONDS 131 CHAPTER VI PAGE THE TRANSVAAL OF TO-DAY 136 ACCUMULATED AGGRAVATIONS 138 MONOPOLIES AND ABUSES 143 THE FRANCHISE 146 THE REFORM MOVEMENT 149 THE CRITICAL MOMENT 153 THE RAID 156 AFTER DOORNKOP 172 THE FATE OF THE MISCREANTS 177 THE ULTIMATUM 178 APPENDIX--CONVENTIONS OF 1881 AND 1884 191, 197 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS--Vol. I. 1. _COLOURED PLATES_ PAGE DYING TO SAVE THE QUEEN'S COLOURS. An Incident of the Battle of Isandlwana. By C. E. Fripp _Frontispiece_ COLONEL OF THE 10TH HUSSARS (H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES) 16 2ND DRAGOONS (ROYAL SCOTS GREYS) 32 OFFICER OF THE 16TH LANCERS 64 DRUM-MAJOR AND DRUMMERS, COLDSTREAM GUARDS 80 COLOUR-SERGEANT AND PRIVATE, THE SCOTS GUARDS 104 SERGEANT AND BUGLER, 1ST ARGYLE AND SUTHERLAND HIGHLANDERS 140 COLOUR-SERGEANT AND PRIVATE (IN KHAKI), GLOUCESTER REGIMENT 172 2. _FULL-PAGE PLATES_ PAGE CAPE TOWN, DEVIL'S PEAK, TABLE MOUNTAIN, AND LION'S HEAD, FROM TABLE BAY 10 A KAFFIR KRAAL IN THE TRANSVAAL 20 BLOEMFONTEIN, FROM THE SOUTH 26 THE DEFENCE OF RORKE'S DRIFT. By Alphonse de Neuville 42 THE BATTLE OF ULUNDI: THE FINAL RUSH OF THE ZULUS. By R. Caton Woodville 58 THE ORANGE RIVER AT NORVAL'S PONT 74 THE BATTLE OF MAJUBA HILL. By R. Caton Woodville 90 WHERE COLLEY FELL. Rough Cairn of Stones on Majuba Hill 92 THE MATABELE WAR--DEFENDING A LAAGER. By R. Caton Woodville 118 "TO THE MEMORY OF BRAVE MEN." The Last Stand of Major Wilson on The Shangani River, 1893. By Allan Stewart 124 A MATABELE RAID IN MASHONALAND. By W. Small 128 KIMBERLEY, AS SEEN FROM THE ROCK SHAFT 132 PRETORIA, FROM THE EAST. 138 SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVES--BOUND FOR THE GOLDFIELDS 148 JAMESON'S LAST STAND--THE BATTLE OF DOORNKOP, 2nd January 1896. By R. Caton Woodville 160 JOHANNESBURG, FROM THE NORTH. 166 3. _FULL-PAGE PORTRAITS_ PAGE SIR HENRY BARTLE FRERE, Bart 48 GENERAL SIR EVELYN WOOD, G.C.B., V.C. 96 PAUL KRUGER, PRESIDENT OF THE TRANSVAAL REPUBLIC 112 RIGHT HON. CECIL JOHN RHODES, P.C. 144 DR. LEANDER STARR JAMESON 152 RIGHT HON. JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN, M.P., Secretary for the Colonies 176 SIR ALFRED MILNER, K.C.B., High Commissioner for South Africa 184 VISCOUNT WOLSELEY, Commander-in-chief of the British Army 188 4. _MAPS_ PAGE MAP OF BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA _At Front_ MAP OF THE BOER REPUBLICS " MAP OF ZULULAND AND THE ADJOINING PORTIONS OF NATAL 41 MAP OF COUNTRY ROUND LAING'S NEK AND MAJUBA HILL 81 PLAN OF DISPOSITION OF FORCES ON TOP OF MAJUBA HILL 89 MAP OF MATABELELAND 121 MAP ILLUSTRATING THE JAMESON RAID 163 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE--VOL. I. #1851.#--First Basuto war. #1852.#--Sand River Convention, granting independence to Transvaal Boers. #1853.#--Province of British Kaffraria created. Introduction of representative government in Cape Colony. #1854.#--Convention of Bloemfontein and Treaty of Aliwal, granting independence to Orange Free State. Free State abandoned to Dutch. #1855.#--Establishment of a Constitution for South African Republic; not completed till 1858. #1856.#--Natal created a separate Colony. 2000 German legion and 2000 German labourers arrived. #1858.#--War between Orange Free State and Basutos. #1859.#--First railway constructed. #1865.#--British Kaffraria incorporated with Cape Colony. War between Free State and Basutos. #1867.#--First discovery of diamonds near Orange River. First discovery of gold in Transvaal. #1868.#--Annexation of Basutoland. #1869.#--Discovery of diamonds near Lower Vaal River, where Kimberley now stands. Commercial Treaty concluded between Portuguese Government and the South African Republic, which led to British claims to Delagoa Bay. #1871.#--Annexation of Griqualand West (Diamond Fields). Basutoland added to Cape. #1872.#--Responsible Government granted to Cape Colony. Cetchwayo succeeds his father, Panda, as king in Zululand. #1872-75.#--Delagoa Bay arbitration. #1874.#--Ichaboe and Penguin Islands annexed. #1875.#--Delagoa Bay award. #1875-80.#--Lord Carnarvon's scheme for making the different colonies and states of South Africa into a confederation with common administration and common legislation in national matters. #1876.#--Fingoland, Idutywa Reserve, and No-Man's-Land annexed. Acceptance by Free State of £90,000 for Griqualand West. Khama, Chief of Bamangwato, seeks British protection against Boer aggressions. #1877.#--Annexation of Transvaal by Sir T. Shepstone, after the country had been reduced to a state of anarchy by misgovernment. #1877-78.#--Gaika and Gealika rebellion. #1878.#--Walfish Bay proclaimed a British possession. #1879.#--Zulu war. Transvaal declared a Crown Colony. #1880.#--Basuto war. Sekukuni campaign. Boer protest against British rule at a mass meeting held in December at Paardekraal (now Krugersdorp). They seize Heidelberg. South African Republic established. December 16.--Kruger, Joubert, and Pretorius proclaimed South African Republic by hoisting flag on Dingaan's Day. Kruger made President on December 17. British treacherously surrounded at Bronkhurst Spruit, December 20, when about 250 of 94th Regiment, after losing nearly all their men, surrendered. Colonel Bellairs besieged in Potchefstroom, but Boers retire when shelled. December 29. --Captain Elliot treacherously murdered while fording the Vaal. #1880-81.#--Reinforcements sent out December and January. Griqualand West incorporated with the Cape. #1881.#--Transvaal rebellion. Pretoria Convention, creating "Transvaal State" under British suzerainty. Sir George Colley takes command of our troops, January. His attack on Laing's Nek repulsed with heavy loss. Colonel Deane and Majors Poole and Hingiston killed. #1881.#--Severe engagement near Ingogo River, Feb. 8. British repulsed after 12 hours under fire. Sir E. Wood joined Colley with reinforcements. Orange Free State neutrality declared. Colley and Majuba Hill, Feb. 27; Colley killed with 3 officers and 82 men; 122 men taken prisoners. Sir F. (now Lord) Roberts sent out, Feb. 28. Armistice proposed by Boers, March 5; accepted March 23. Peace proclaimed, March 21. Potchefstroom surrendered with honours of war in ignorance of armistice, April. Commission appointed to carry out Treaty of Peace, April 5. Convention agreed to, ceding all territory to Transvaal, with the Queen as suzerain, and a British resident at Pretoria, Aug. 8. Convention ratified, Oct. 25. Evacuation of Transvaal by British troops began on Nov. 18. #1884.#--London Convention restoring to the Transvaal the title of "South African Republic." Annexation of Damaraland by Germany. Boer Republics of Stellaland and Goshen set up in Bechuanaland. Boers seize and annex Montsioaland; sanctioned by proclamation; withdrawn on remonstrance. Ultimatum by Sir H. Robinson, requiring protection of frontiers. British annexation of Southern, and protectorate of Northern Bechuanaland. Basutoland made independent. Port St. John annexed. British flag hoisted in Lucia Bay, Zululand (ceded to England in 1843, by Panda). #1884-85.#--Sir Charles Warren's expedition. #1885.#--Annexation of Bechuanaland to Cape Colony. #1885.#--British protectorate over Khama's country proclaimed as far as Matabeleland. Discovery of great goldfields in Witwatersrandt, Transvaal. #1886.#--Opening of principal goldfields in Transvaal. British Government put a stop to Boer raids into Zululand, and confined them to a territory of nearly 3000 square miles; to be known as the "New Republic." #1887.#--British annexation of the rest of Zululand. British treaty with Tonga chiefs, in which they undertook not to make treaties with any other power. #1888.#--"New Republic" annexed to South African Republic. Treaty concluded between British and Lo Bengula, the Matabele king, in which he undertook not to cede territory to, or treat with, any foreign power without British consent. #1889.#--Charter granted to British South Africa Company. #1890.#--First Swaziland Convention, giving Boers certain rights to a railway to the coast. British and German "spheres of influence" defined by formal agreement. #1891.#--Southern boundary of Portuguese territory fixed by treaty with Great Britain. #1893.#--Responsible government granted to Natal. Matabele war. #1894.#--Malaboch war. Question of "commandeering" British subjects raised in South African Republic. Second Swaziland Convention, placing Swaziland under Boer control. Annexation of Amatongaland. Annexation of Pondoland. British subjects exempted from military service by Transvaal Government, June 24. Protest by British Government against closing the Vaal Drifts, as contrary to Convention; Nov. 3. Agreed to Nov. 8. #1895.#--Crown Colony of Bechuanaland annexed to Cape Colony. Proclamation of Reform movement by Uitlanders in Johannesburg (National Union), Dec. 26. Jameson Raid--he crossed the frontier with a force from Pitsani Pitlogo, Dec. 29. Sir H. Robinson telegraphed to Jameson to retire, Dec. 30. Mr. Chamberlain and Sir H. Robinson sent order to stop hostilities, Dec. 31. #1896.#--Dr. Jameson's party, outnumbered and without resources, defeated by Boers near Krugersdorp, Jan. 1. Fight at Vlakfontein, and surrender of Jameson, Jan. 2. Johannesburg surrendered unconditionally by advice of British Government, Jan. 2. Dr. Jameson and other prisoners handed over to Sir H. Robinson, Jan. 7. #1897.#--Judicial Crisis in South African Republic. Annexation of Zululand to Natal. #1899.#--Petition of Uitlanders to the Queen, May 24. Conference, at Bloemfontein, between Sir A. Milner and Kruger, May 30. Terminated without result, June 6. British Despatch to Transvaal, setting forth demands for immediate acceptance, Sept. 8. Unsatisfactory reply, Sept. 16. Troops despatched to Natal, Sept. and Oct. Insulting Boer Ultimatum, making war inevitable, Oct. 9. Orange Free State joins with the Transvaal. [Illustration: MAP OF THE BOER REPUBLICS.] [Illustration: GENERAL MAP OF BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA] SOUTH AFRICA AND THE TRANSVAAL WAR INTRODUCTION The Transvaal War--like a gigantic picture--cannot be considered at close quarters. To fully appreciate the situation, and all that it embraces, the critic must stand at a suitable distance. He must gaze not merely with the eye of to-day, or even of the whole nineteenth century, but with his mind educated to the strange conditions of earlier civilisation. For in these conditions will be found the root of the widespread mischief--the answer to many a riddle which superficial observers have been unable to comprehend. The racial hatred between Boer and Briton is not a thing of new growth; it has expanded with the expansion of the Boer settlers themselves. In fact, on the Boer side, it is the only thing independent of British enterprise which has grown and expanded since the Dutch first set foot in the Cape. This took place in 1652. Then, Jan Van Riebeck, of the Dutch East India Company, first established an European settlement, and a few years later the burghers began life as cattle-breeders, agriculturists, and itinerant traders. These original Cape Colonists were descendants of Dutchmen of the lower classes, men of peasant stamp, who were joined in 1689 by a contingent of Huguenot refugees. The Boers, or peasants, of that day were men of fine type, a blend between the gipsy and the evangelist. They were nomadic in their taste, lawless, and impatient of restrictions, bigoted though devout, and inspired in all and through all by an unconquerable love of independence. With manners they had nothing to do, with progress still less. Isolation from the civilised world, and contact with Bushmen, Hottentots, and Kaffirs, kept them from advancing with the times. Their slaves outnumbered themselves, and their treatment of these makes anything but enlivening reading. From all accounts the Boer went about with the Bible in one hand and the _sjambok_ in the other, instructing himself assiduously with the Word, while asserting himself liberally with the deed. Yet he was a first-rate sporting man, a shrewd trafficker, and at times an energetic tiller of the soil. The early settlements were Rondebosch, Stellenbosch, and Drakenstein, in the valley of the Berg River. Here the Dutch community laboured, and smoked, and married, multiplying itself with amazing rapidity, and expanding well beyond the original limits. Dutch domination at the Cape lasted for 143 years after the landing of Van Riebeck, but gradually internal dissensions among the settlers resulted in absolute revolt. Meanwhile the Dutch in Europe had lost their political prestige, and the country was overrun by a Prussian army commissioned to support the House of Orange. In 1793, in a war against allied England and Holland, France gained the day, and a Republic was set up under French protection, thereby rendering Holland and her colonies of necessity antagonistic to Great Britain. After this the fortunes of the Cape were fluctuating. In 1795 Admiral Elphinstone and General Craig brought about the surrender of the colony to Great Britain. Later on it was returned to the Batavian Republic at the Peace of Amiens, only to be afterwards recaptured by Sir David Baird in 1806. Finally, in 1814, our claim to the Cape and other Dutch colonies was recognised on payment of the sum of £6,000,000 sterling. Now for the first time began the real emigration of the British. They settled at Bathurst, near Algoa Bay, but though their numbers gradually swelled, they never equalled the number of the inhabitants of Dutch origin. At this time South Africa was an ideal place for the pioneer. The scenery was magnificent. There were mountain gorges or kloofs, roaring cataracts, vast plains, and verdant tracts of succulent grasses. There was big game enough to delight the heart of a race of Nimrods. Lions, elephants, hippopotami, rhinoceroses, antelopes, and birds of all kinds, offered horns, hides, tusks, and feathers to the adventurous sportsman. All these things the nomadic Boer had hitherto freely enjoyed, plying now his rifle, now his plough, and taking little thought for the morrow or for the moving world outside the narrow circle of his family experiences. With the appearance of British paramountcy at the Cape came a hint of law and order, of progress and its accompaniment--taxation. The bare whisper of discipline of any kind was sufficient to send the truculent Boer trekking away to the far freedom of the veldt. Quantities of them took to their lumbering tented waggons, drawn by long teams of oxen, and put a safe distance between themselves and the new-comers. All they wanted was a free home, conducted in their own gipsy fashion--their kraals by the river, their camp fires, their flocks and herds, and immunity from the vexation of monopolies and taxes. And here at once will be seen how the seeds sprang up of a rooted antagonism between Boer and Briton that nothing can ever remove, and no diplomacy can smooth away. The Boer nature naturally inclines to a sluggish content, while the British one invariably pants for advance. The temperamental tug of war, therefore, has been one that has grown stronger and stronger with the progress of years. The principles of give and take have been tried, but they have failed. Reciprocity is not in the nature of the Boer, and without reciprocity society and States are at a standstill. The Boer is accredited with the primitive virtues, innocence, sturdiness, contentment. If he has these, he has also the defects of his qualities. He is crafty, stubborn, and narrow, and intolerant of everything beyond the limits of his native comprehension. Innovations of any kind are sufficient to fill him with suspicion, and those started by the British in their first efforts at Cape government were as gall and wormwood to his untrammelled taste. These efforts, it must be owned, were not altogether happy. There was first a rearrangement of local governments and of the Law Courts; then, in 1827, followed a decree that English should be the official language. As at that time not more than one colonist in seven was British, the new arrangement was calculated to make confusion worse confounded! The disgust of the Cape Dutch may be imagined! The finishing touch came in 1834. By the abolition of slavery--humane though its object was--the Cape colonists were exceedingly hard hit; and though the owners of slaves were compensated to the tune of a million and a quarter (the slaves were valued at three millions sterling), they continued to maintain a simmering resentment. Added to this came the intervention of the missionaries, who attempted to instil into the Boer mind a sense of the equality, in the sight of Heaven, of the black and the white races. At this time 12,000 Kaffirs had crossed over the border and invaded the settlements, dealing death and destruction wherever they went. They were finally repulsed by the British, and Sir Benjamin D'Urban, the Governor at the Cape, proclaimed the annexation of the country beyond the Keiskamma, on the eastern boundary of the Colony, as far as the Kei. But no sooner had he accomplished this diplomatic move in his wise discretion, than orders came from the British Government to the effect that the land was to be restored to the Kaffirs and the frontier boundary moved back to its original place--Keiskamma. Sir Benjamin D'Urban carried out these orders much to his disgust, for he deemed the annexation of the province to be necessary to the peace of all the surrounding districts. But this was neither the first nor the last occasion in the history of Cape government on which men of practical experience have had to give way before wise heads in Downing Street arm-chairs. This action on the part of the Government was as the last straw to the overladen camel. The patience of the Dutch Boers broke down. The introduction of a foreign and incomprehensible tongue, the abolition of slavery, and finally the restoration to the despised Kaffirs of a conquered province, were indignities past bearing. There was a general exodus. Off to the neighbourhood of the Orange and the Vaal Rivers lumbered the long waggon trains drawn by innumerable oxen, bearing, to pastures new and undefiled by the British, the irate Boers and their household gods. It was a pathetic departure, this voluntary exile into strange and unknown regions. The first pioneers, after a long and wearisome journey to Delagoa Bay, fell sick and retraced their steps to Natal only to die. The next great company started forth in the winter of 1836. Some went to the districts between the Orange and the Vaal Rivers--the district now known as the Orange Free State; others went into the country north of the Vaal River--the district now called the Transvaal; while others again went beyond the mountains to the district now named Natal. Here the Boer hoped to lead a new and a peaceful life, to encamp himself by some river course with his kraal for his sheep and his goats, the wide veldt for his carpet, and the blue dome of heaven or the canvas of his waggon for his untaxed roof. But his hopes were of short duration. The poor trekker--to use the vulgar phrase--had fallen out of the frying-pan into the fire. He had fled from the "British tyrant" only to encounter the Matabele Zulu savage. A terrible feud between the Bantu tribes was then causing much violence and blood-spilling, and the Zulu chief Moselekalse, having driven the Bechuanas beyond the Limpopo, had established the kingdom of the Matabele. With this chief, the Boer Potgieter and a party of burghers, on exploration intent, came suddenly into collision. Some of the Boers fled, the rest were promptly massacred. Those who remained alive made plans for self-defence. They lashed their waggons together to form a laager, and within it placed their women and children in partial safety. They then gave the warriors of Moselekalse a warm reception. The fight was maintained with great energy, the Zulus raining assegais over the waggons, while the Boers returned the compliment with their firearms. For these they had plenty of ammunition, and relays of guns were loaded and handed out gallantly by their women from within the laager. The Boers were victorious. Their aim was true, their pluck enormous, and after a sharp engagement the enemy were forced to retire. The savages were not vanquished, however, till terrible damage had been inflicted on the laager. Not content with the loss of many of their number, their sheep and their cattle, the plucky Boers started forth to punish the Matabele. Though few in number the burghers had the advantage of rifles, and succeeded in triumphing over the enemy and establishing themselves at Winburg, on the Vet River, to west of Harrismith. Later on the Boer farmers prepared to trek into Natal. They had prospected the place and found it entirely suited to their agricultural needs. Water and game were plentiful, and the whole country was fertile as a garden. Here they proposed to settle down. At Port Natal--now known by the name of Durban--was a party of Englishmen with whom the Boer explorers got on friendly terms. Both Englishmen and Boers were aware that the district was under Zulu sway, and it was decided that the chief, Dingaan, should be interviewed as to the approaching settlement of the Boers. The wily Zulu received his late enemies with every show of amity. He offered them refreshments, he made entertainments for their amusement. He finally agreed to cede such territory as was demanded by the Boers, provided they would secure to him certain cattle that had been stolen from him by a chief named Sikonyela. This the Boers agreed to do. They promptly travelled to see Sikonyela, and by threats, persuasions, or other mysterious means, extracted from him his ill-gotten gains. With the restored cattle the whole party of Boers then passed on their way from Drakensberg to Natal, full of the hope of finally making a settlement in a region so well suited to their pastoral instincts. On again visiting the chief Dingaan, they were again received with honour. More festivities were arranged, and the date of the signing of the treaty was fixed for the 4th of February 1838. The day came. The burghers arrived in the customary picturesqueness of woollen shirts, round hats, rough coats, and leathern veldt-broeks. Dingaan, amiable to excess, insisted that they should accompany him to his kraal, and there make a formal leave-taking. They were requested to leave their arms outside as an earnest of good faith, and, with some suspicion, they acceded. Their reception was splendid. Their health was drunk, the calabash passed round, and then--then, at a given signal from the chief, the Zulu hordes rushed in, fully armed and raging. In less time than it takes to describe the deed, the defenceless company of Boer farmers were slaughtered in cold blood--slaughtered before they could lift even a fist in self-defence! This horrible act of treachery served to do away at one fell swoop with the whole Boer party. Their bones, piled in a heap without the kraal, alone remained to tell to their kindred the tale of their undoing. The Zulus then proceeded in their tens of thousands to attack the nearest encampment, and cut down all who came in their way. Men--women--children--they spared none. The tidings being carried to the outer encampments of the Boers, they prepared themselves for the worst. They and their gallant _vrows_, who fought with as cool and obstinate a courage as their husbands, resisted the onslaught staunchly and successfully; but they paid dearly for their boldness. Their cattle were demolished, and their numbers were miserably thinned. Some thought of retiring from Natal; some contemplated revenge. The pathetic state of the Boers attracted the sympathy of the Englishmen then in Natal, and they joined hands. Potgieter and Uys then commanded a force, and marched out on the enemy, but unfortunately fell into an ambush and were slain. Among the dead were the commandant Uys and his son. Then the Englishmen, not to be behindhand in the fray, came to the rescue. Though there were but seventeen of them, they went out accompanied by 1500 Hottentots to meet the enemy. They followed the retreating savages beyond the Tugela, when suddenly they found themselves face to face with a fierce multitude of 70,000 Zulus. A conflict of the most terrible kind ensued: a conflict the more terrible because at the same time so heroic and so hopeless. From this appalling fight only four Englishmen escaped. These had succeeded in cutting their way through the enemy; the rest had been surrounded, and died fighting valiantly, and were almost buried among the dead bodies of their antagonists. But this was not to be the finale of the Boer resistance to the wild Zulu. The above tragic engagement between the Englishmen and Zulus took place in April 1838. By December of the same year they had gathered themselves under the banner of their fine leader Andries Pretorius, a farmer from the district of Graff Reinet, and started forth again to meet the treacherous Dingaan, and pay him the debt they owed him. A word or two of this Pretorius, after whom the now notable town of Pretoria was named. He was a born leader of men: he was a Cromwell in his way. At that date he was forty years of age, in the prime of strength and manhood. He was tall, and vigorous in mind as well as in body, calm and deliberating in counsel, but prompt and fiery in action. His descent is traced from one Johannes Pretorius, son of a clergyman at Goeree in South Holland, one of the very early settlers--a pious and worthy man, whose piety and worth had been inherited by several generations. Like the rest of his countrymen, Pretorius would brook no control. Though he was indubitably brave and immensely capable, he had the conservative instincts of his race. He shrunk from all innovations, he disliked everything connected with civilisation that might in the smallest degree interfere with the personal liberty of the individual. Freedom was as the very breath of his nostrils, and here was the great link between this really exceptional man and the body of his pastoral followers. Pretorius, bent on the punishment of the treachery of Dingaan, set out, as has been said, with his expedition in the winter of 1838. This expedition has been named by the Boers the Win Commando. He had but three small pieces of cannon and a force composed of about four hundred white men and some native auxiliaries, yet the admirable tactics of Pretorius, the stout hearts and fine shooting of his followers, combined to bring about a victory over the Zulus. These were totally routed, and lost one third of their number. The bravery and splendid persistence of the Boers filled all hearts with admiration, particularly when, after several well-directed attacks, they eventually succeeded in utterly breaking the Zulu power. Dingaan was dethroned and driven into exile, and his kraal and property burnt. A Christian burial service was read over the place where lay the bones of the assassinated Retief and his companions. The date, the 16th December 1838, on which the Zulu power met its first check from white men, is one ever remembered in Boer history. It goes by the name of Dingaan's Day, and is annually celebrated with great rejoicings throughout the Transvaal. The Boers had now succeeded in inspiring wholesome awe in the heart of Panda, the new chieftain who occupied the place once held by his brother, the exiled Dingaan. He was not a person of bellicose disposition, and thinking discretion the better part of valour, was ready enough to swear to keep peace with his late enemies. In these circumstances the Boers with prayer and thanksgiving were able to pursue the promptings of their long-checked ambition. Soon several hundreds of waggons drawn by long teams of oxen came lumbering into Natal, for the purpose of establishing there the Republic, which had so often been planned out in imagination and never yet found any but an abortive existence. This ideal State was eventually formed and called the Republic of Natalia, and it enjoyed for several years an independent existence. As Natal became the first cause of armed conflict between the British and the Boers, its then position in regard to the authorities at the Cape may as well be reviewed. Though the new Republic maintained its perfectly independent existence, its inhabitants were still mentioned by the Governor of Cape Colony as British subjects. It must be remembered that prior to the occupation of Natal by the Boers, and the formation of their cherished Republic, the Governor of Cape Colony had issued a proclamation announcing his intention of occupying Natal later on, and stating that the emigrants--who were then making active preparations for the attack of Dingaan--- were British subjects. In Great Britain, however, the authorities had not yet decided to follow the advice so often given by their representatives at the Cape. They were still declaring it inexpedient to extend their territory, and likewise their responsibilities, in South Africa. But the incursion of the Boers in the neighbourhood of Port Natal put a new complexion on affairs. The British Government began to open its eyes to the value of a seaport, with two good harbours on the South African coast, as a colonial possession. It could not fail to recognise also that the members of the new State were already bitter foes to the British and their ways; and that it would be dangerous to allow them to establish themselves as an independent power on the coast, and entirely throw off their duty of allegiance. Accordingly Sir George Napier, the then Governor of the Cape, sent troops to occupy Natal. He remained undecided as to the mode of dealing with the emigrant Boers, however, for, while declaring them British subjects, he yet was not prepared to afford them protection from attacks of the natives. It is scarcely surprising that this half-and-half paternity of the Government failed to satisfy the men whose kith and kin had fallen in their numbers at Weenen and the Hill of Blood, and the consequent disaffection of the Boers grew deeper as signs of British authority increased. But at first, in the rest of their territory outside Natal the Boer Government remained unmolested. Their district was bounded by the sea and the Drakenberg mountains, the Tugela and Umzimubu Rivers, and there for a time things went well. Pretorius was Commandant General in Natal, Potgieter Chief Commandant in the allied Western Districts. The legislative power was in the hands of a Volksraad of twenty-four members, whose ways were more vacillating and erratic than advantageous. "Every man for himself and God for all" seemed to be the convenient motto of this assembly, except perhaps on urgent occasions, when Pretorius and Potgieter were called upon as joint dictators to settle some knotty problem relating to external affairs. At the close of 1840 this Volksraad commenced negotiations with the Cape Government with a view to getting their independence formally recognised. The Governor at the Cape was again in the old quandary. While he personally desired to put an end to troubles from within and without by establishing a strong government over the whole country, he was crippled by the Ministry at home, which was consistent in maintaining its policy of inconsistency, and tried to maintain its hold on the Cape, while steadily refusing to increase Great Britain's responsibility in South Africa. The demands of the Volksraad (presented in January 1841) were scarcely acceptable at headquarters. The nature of them is interesting, and shows the then attitude of people who described themselves as "willing and desirous to enter into a perpetual alliance with the Government of Her Majesty." They bargained that the Republic of Natalia was to be acknowledged as a free and independent State, in close alliance with the British Government. If attacked by sea by any other power, Great Britain might interpose either by negotiation or arms. If Great Britain were at war, however, the Republic was to remain neutral. Wine, strong liquors, and articles "prejudicial to this Republic," were to be taxed more highly than other things, which would be taxed as for a British Colony. British subjects residing in the Republic would have equal protection, and the same taxes as burghers, while in case of war every assistance would be given to a British or Colonial force marching through the territory. The slave trade would not be permitted, and every facility for the propagation of the Gospel among the neighbouring tribes would be afforded. The Republic guaranteed to make no hostile movements against natives in the direction of the Colony without permission of the Governor, unless circumstances of violence, or the inroad of tribes, rendered immediate action obligatory. There were other clauses of less importance which need not be specified. Suffice it to say, that while these terms were being considered, a cattle and slave-stealing Boer raid, headed by Pretorius, took place. The excuse for the proceeding was the lifting of certain of their own cattle, but the action served as an object lesson for those in power at the Cape. The Volksraad was politely informed that the Boers were still British subjects, and a letter from the Home Government to Sir George Napier was received, stating that Her Majesty "could not acknowledge a portion of her own subjects as an independent Republic, but that on their receiving a military force from the Colony, their trade would be placed on the footing of the trade of a British possession." But the Boers flouted authority--they refused to accept the situation. They put forth a proclamation appealing against the oppression of man and to the justice of God, with all the fervour of the Old Testament Christians they were. The arrogance of Pretorius and his crew had now so seriously increased that Sir George Napier, seeing danger ahead, decided to establish a camp near the border of the State, and Durban was occupied. Captain Smith, in command of some three hundred men, made a rapid march across country to Natal, merely to be informed that the Boers had placed themselves under the protection of Holland. It may be noted that when this statement reached the ears of the King of Holland, he emphatically repudiated it. He addressed the British Government, saying "that the disloyal communication of the emigrant farmers had been repelled with indignation, and that the King of Holland had taken every possible step to mark his disapproval of the unjustifiable use made of his name by the individuals referred to." Captain Smith, who fortunately had not been imposed upon by what the Boers considered their neat ruse, made preparations to attack them. But he overestimated his own or underrated his adversary's strength. He fell into ambush and lost heavily. He was then driven to entrench himself in Durban. One of his men managed to escape, however, and by riding to Grahamstown through dangerous country, contrived to convey the intelligence of Captain Smith's misfortune, and to bring reinforcements to his aid. These reinforcements arrived in Durban harbour on the 25th of June 1842. At sight of the British frigate and the goodly display of redcoats, the Boers, who had been besieging Captain Smith for a month with three guns and six hundred men, made good their escape, leaving Pretorius no alternative but to make terms. Thus Natal became a British possession. In 1844 the place was declared to be a dependency of Cape Colony. Many of the emigrants admitted themselves to be British subjects and remained there, but the great majority took to their waggons and lumbered back across the Drakenberg to their old settling-place. There the original Voortrekkers had scattered themselves on both sides of the Vaal River, and helped to found the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. As may be imagined at this juncture, the natural hostility to the British, which has now become part of the Boer character, was growing apace. The voluntary exiles from Natal, on moving to the north of the Orange River, determined to evade the British, and proclaim the whole of that locality an independent Republic. The authorities at the Cape, however, frustrated the new struggle for independence. They laid claim for Great Britain to the whole territory east of E. long. 22° and south of S. lat. 25°, with the exception of the land already owned by Portugal or by friendly native chiefs. [Illustration: CAPE TOWN, DEVIL'S PEAK, TABLE MOUNTAIN, AND LION'S HEAD FROM TABLE BAY. Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen] It may be remembered that one of the causes of the great Trek was the restoration of their province to Kaffirs, thereby according to the blacks an independence that was not enjoyed by the Boers. No astonishment, therefore, will be felt at the exasperation of the Boers when they found that the Cape Government had entered into treaties with the Griquas--treaties which seemed to them to promise more freedom to the savage than was accorded to themselves. Grievances of many kinds--some real and some ridiculous--continued daily to occur. Things serious and things trivial were liable to cause them equal indignation. According to Livingstone, the ignorant followers of Potgieter--who were posted at Magaliesberg, a thousand miles from the Cape--were moved to wrath merely by the arrival of Herschel's great telescope at the Cape Observatory! What right, said they, had the Government to erect that huge instrument at the Cape for the purpose of seeing what they were doing behind the Kashan mountains? But of just grievances they had several, and these Pretorius, as spokesman of his people, wished to lay before the Governor at the Cape. Sir Henry Pottinger, who occupied that post in 1847, unfortunately declined the interview; consequently affairs went from bad to worse. In the end of the year Sir Henry Smith arrived as Governor of the colony, and great things were expected of him. He knew the native races, he knew the Boers, and they both knew him. Pretorius, who was arranging a final emigration from Natal, was summoned to confer with the new Governor. Sir Henry wished to gauge the feelings of the farmers prior to issuing a proclamation (dated February 3, 1848), declaring the Queen's sovereignty over the whole country between the Orange and Vaal Rivers to eastward of the Quathlamba Mountains. According to Pretorius, the conference was an unsatisfactory one. He assured the Governor that his people would never consent to it. Sir Henry Smith nevertheless considered himself justified in taking the step, and the Home Government, whose policy it had been to consolidate the peaceful native States along the border, eventually coincided with his view. No sooner was the proclamation generally known than the horde of Pretorius' followers flew to arms. They swept southward, driving every British official beyond the Orange River. Major Warden, the Resident at Bloemfontein, where a British fort and garrison had been placed some two years before, was forced to capitulate. Sir Harry Smith, on becoming acquainted with the news, at once offered a thousand pounds for the arrest of Pretorius. He also began a march to the front. The Governor thought that he had but to come, see, and conquer; but he was mistaken. He had tough work before him. The Boers, about a thousand strong, had entrenched themselves in a formidable position. They were superior in point of numbers, horses, and guns to Sir Harry's forces; but he pursued his way, nothing daunted. He stormed the position, and, after a hard fight, scattered the enemy. They fled from Boomplaats, where the engagement had taken place, and hastened back across the Vaal to their native haunts. The date of the battle was the 29th of August 1848, and the father of President Kruger is said to have been the first man to fire a shot at the British on that occasion! After this period various dissensions arose in the Boer camp between Pretorius, who styled himself "Chief of the whole united emigrant force," and Potgieter, who looked upon himself somewhat in the light of a rival. While these worthies fell out Sir Harry Smith saw the annexation carried through, and the territory of the modern Free State was united to Cape Colony, under the title of the Orange River Sovereignty. The contumacious Boers took themselves off with their leader across the Vaal, and fresh European settlers came in and established themselves in the fertile plains that were deserted. For some time after this things prospered, and Sir Harry saw before him the prospect of a new self-governing Dutch colony, which would resemble and equal those of Natal and the Cape. But he reckoned without his host, and all that he had taken the trouble to do was ultimately undone. In 1852 the Government at home declared its policy to be the ultimate abandonment of the Orange River Sovereignty. For this pusillanimous policy there were several reasons, the greatest being a fear of a Basuto rising and the trouble it would entail. The British Government therefore decided to maintain its rights over the Transvaal no further, and by the Sand River Convention, signed on the 17th of January 1852, the emigrant farmers beyond the Vaal River were given the right to manage their own affairs, subject only to the condition that they should neither permit nor encourage slavery. About this time commenced the threatened rise of the Basutos in the neighbourhood of the Orange River territory. The Basutos are a branch of the Bechuana race, who had been formed by their chiefs Motlume and Moshesh into a powerful nation, which could hold its own against Boer or Zulu. With this race the Home Government desired to have nothing to do, and the Colonial Office, viewing the political game as not worth the candle, definitely withdrew from the Orange River Sovereignty, leaving the Free State to come into being, and devise its own plans for overawing its enemies on the other side of the border. Accordingly, in 1854, Sir Harry Smith's programme of annexation was entirely wiped out, British sovereignty renounced, and the Orange Free State left to become a Republic and take care of itself! CHAPTER I THE GROWTH OF THE TRANSVAAL Fifty years ago there was no Transvaal. To-day its area is rather larger than Great Britain. It extends over some 75,000,000 acres. Originally, at the time of the great Trek, a small portion of land was seized from natives who fled before the pioneers, and settled in what is now known as Matabeleland. Other Boers soon joined their comrades, and, by applying the steady policy of "grab and hold" (a policy that, unfortunately, has not been imitated by ourselves), they gained strip on strip and acre on acre of land till the Transvaal became the vast province it now is. It expanded first into a portion of Zululand; later on, lapped over into Swaziland. By degrees it encroached on the British boundaries, and most probably would have gone on encroaching had not active steps been taken to save the north from the invaders. The original _Voertrekkers_, or pioneers, came in three detachments. British-born subjects, but discontented with British civilisation, they moved on from Natal, whence they were chased by the Union Jack, and settled themselves first in land captured from King Umziligatze, secondly in Lydenburg and Dekaap, and thirdly in the Zulu country. The history of this Zululand expansion remains to be told. At present it is interesting to follow the geographical growth of the state which has become so troublesome, and whose self-assertion has increased according to its size. Originally each Boer was entitled to a farm with a minimum of 6000 acres of the "Transvaal," and this custom of apportioning 6000-acre farms lasted as long as the Kaffir lands lasted. The Boers, always working on the principle that "God helps those who help themselves," helped themselves freely, sometimes with bloodshed and sometimes without, until they became owners of vast tracts of country, whose boundaries had never been discussed, far less fixed. Land was apparently cheap at that time, for trustworthy authorities declare that it was purchasable at from a farthing to a penny per acre. The area of the Transvaal before the Boers began to migrate there has been eloquently described as the hunter's Arcadia. Mr. Gordon Cumming gives a graphic account of the scene:-- "It was truly a fair and boundless prospect. Beautifully wooded plains and mountains stretched away on every side to an amazing distance, until the vision was lost among the faint blue outlines of the distant mountain ranges. Throughout all this country, and vast tracts beyond, I had the satisfaction to reflect that a never-ending succession of herds of every species of noble game which the hunter need desire pastured there in undisturbed security; and as I gazed I felt that it was all my own, and that I at length possessed the undisputed sway over a forest, in comparison with which the tame and herded narrow bounds of the wealthiest European sportsman sink into utter insignificance." The number of elephants and lesser game bagged by Mr. Gordon Cumming after this touching meditation fully bore out his hopes. But the most interesting account of the Transvaal, before the invasion of white men, is to be found in Captain William Cornwallis Harris's account of his expedition into the interior of South Africa in the years 1836 and 1837. He paints the new country in colours lively and alluring:-- "Instead of the dreary waste over which we had lately passed, we might now imagine ourselves in an extensive park. A lawn, level as a billiard-table, was everywhere spread with a soft carpet of luxuriant green grass, spangled with flowers, and shaded by spreading _mokaalas_--a large species of acacia which forms the favourite food of the giraffe. The gaudy yellow blossoms with which these remarkable trees were covered yielded an aromatic and overpowering perfume--while small troops of striped quaggas, or wild asses, and of brindled gnoos ... enlivened the scene. "I turned off the road," he continues, "in pursuit of a troop of brindled gnoos, and presently came upon another, which was followed by a third still larger--then by a vast herd of zebras, and again by more gnoos, with sassaybys and hartebeests pouring down from every quarter, until the landscape literally presented the appearance of a moving mass of game." Further on he describes the extensive and romantic valley of the Limpopo, "which strongly contrasts with its own solitude, and with the arid lands which must be traversed to arrive within its limits; Dame Nature has doubtless been unusually lavish of her gifts. A bold mountain landscape is chequered by innumerable rivulets abounding in fish, and watering a soil rich in luxurious vegetation. Forests, producing timber of the finest growth, are tenanted by a multitude of birds, which, if not generally musical, are all gorgeously attired; and the meadows throughout are decked with blossoming geraniums, and with an endless profusion of the gayest flowers, fancifully distributed in almost artificial _parterres_. Let the foreground of this picture, which is by no means extravagantly drawn, be filled in by the animal creation roaming in a state of undisturbed freedom, such as I have attempted to describe, and this hunter's paradise will surely not require to be coloured by the feelings of an enthusiastic sportsman to stand out in striking relief from amongst the loveliest spots in the universe." A recent traveller discourses pathetically over the changes that have come over the country, which at that time was described as "the Zoological Gardens turned out to graze." He says the lawyer and financier thrive where in recent years the lion and the leopard fought for food, and townships have sprung up on spots where living Boers have formerly shot big game. As an instance of the truth of this lament, one may make some quotations from Mr. Campbell's valuable article, "The Transvaal, Old and New." He says, "The advent of British folk and British gold and brains led to a change, and land, by reason of British purchases, became more valuable, and beacons and boundaries became necessary." Here we may see the thin end of the wedge. We may picture the first lawyer and the first financier advancing with Arcadia parchment and bank-note in hand. The Boers steadily sold their best and surplus lands, and these the British as steadily bought, till the value rose from their original price of one penny an acre to half-a-crown, and then five shillings. Subsequently, in many cases, as much as ten, and even twenty shillings an acre was offered for ordinary raw arable land. But of that time too much has to be said to be recounted here. THE BOER CHARACTER In discussing the events of the past with a view to obtaining light on the development of the present, it is needful, and indeed just, to inquire into the character of the Boers as a race. It is a complex character, with multitudinous lights and shades, so subtle and yet so marked, that they are difficult to define accurately. It is therefore necessary that the opinions of many writers on the subject of the Boer temperament should be taken--of writers who have made it their business to look upon the subject with the eye of the historian rather than the eye of the advocate, and who may be trusted to have given their verdict without passion or favour. But regarding one fact connected with the case, all writers of practical experience are inclined to agree. They declare that the Boer of the past was a very much finer fellow than the Boer of the present--finer morally and physically; and that in his obstinate determination to resist the march of progress he has allowed himself to suffer deterioration. The reason for this deterioration is not difficult to comprehend. In the first place, as we all know, nothing in creation stands still. We must advance, or we go back. Both in moral and in mental qualities we must maintain our vitality, or practically ossify! The Boer, from having been essentially a sporting man and a free and a robust tiller of the soil, has come under the influence of schemers, who have played upon his natural avarice, and polished his inherent cunning, till these qualities have expanded to the detriment of those earlier qualities for which the Boer of to-day still gets credit, but which are fast dying out of the national character. In one respect there has been little change. In the matter of his native piety he remains as he was. The Boer, if one may use a phrase recently coined by Lord Rosebery, is an "Old Testament Christian." No one can describe his race better than the writer who says of the original settlers in 1652, that "they are a mixture in religion of the old Israelite and the Scotch Covenanter." There is some question about Boer hypocrisy, and Dr. Theal says on the subject, "Where side by side with expressions of gratitude to the Creator are found schemes for robbing and enslaving natives, the genuineness of their religion may be doubted." But it must be remembered that in bygone centuries the world's morality differed much from that of the present day, and therefore the Boer, who has not progressed in proportion to the world at large, can scarcely be judged by the ethics of the world at large. To be just, we must look at him as a being apart, and place him always in the frame of the seventeenth century. Some historians declare that the Boer borrowed from the French refugees much religious sentiment. Other authorities--and these, considering the Boer disinclination to expansion, seem to be right--declare that under the French influence he deteriorated. [Illustration: COLONEL of the 10th HUSSARS. (H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES.) Photo by Gregory & Co., London.] He was by nature bloodthirsty and cruel, but these qualities always found for themselves a comfortable apology in the Old Testament. The Boer prided himself on his likeness to the Israelite of old, and his enemies to the Canaanite, whom it was doing God a service to destroy. He kept all the rites of the Church with rigid punctuality. He partook of the Communion (the Nachtmaal) once every three months, and the whole community gathered together from great distances to share it. The observances were made the occasion for rejoicing and merrymaking, for the holding of fairs, the transfer of cattle, the driving of bargains in hide or ivory, or other goods necessary to traders. He has been described by a friend of his people "as, according to his own lights, a citizen pioneer, a rough, God-fearing, honest, homely, uneducated Philistine." The opinion of his ancient enemy, Cetchwayo, differs, however, from this estimate. Sir Frederick Godson has told us that this potentate informed his brother, who was his captor, that the Boers were "a mean, treacherous people, people who trusted no one, not even each other, and their word was not to be trusted." He had had ample opportunities of forming a judgment by experience. And there are many of us nowadays who are inclined to agree with him. Cetchwayo further asserted that "the British were making the greatest mistake they ever made in befriending them; for if they had not rescued the Boers from him, he would very soon have eaten them all up." As regards the military organisation of the Boers, it may be described as similar to that of the Republic of Greece or that of mediæval England. Every man, from the age of sixteen to sixty, considered himself a soldier. Every man, when the country demanded his services, was ready to get under arms--to protect his hearth and home in the face of a common enemy. The country was divided into districts, and these districts were subdivided into wards. To each of these wards was appointed a field-cornet, who had military duties when a commando was called out. The officer who took the chief command of the field-cornets was styled the commandant. This arrangement first originated in the early days of their emigration to the Cape, when the natives, lawless and inimical, were perpetually bursting out without rhyme or reason. Naturally prompt defence became necessary. To many people the Boer appears to be a "first-class fighting man." Certainly he is determined, obstinate, and, in his peculiar fashion, brave. But there are others who can recall events in the battle with Dingaan, in the tragedy of Majuba Hill, which scarcely add to the honour of the Boer as a soldier. It has been said that the Boer prefers to do his fighting without risking his skin, but this may be somewhat unjust. He is ready enough to risk his skin, but he is equally ready that some one shall pay for the risk, and he makes him pay by fair means if he can--if not, by foul. However, Livingstone knew his man, and thus it was that he wrote of him: "The Boers have generally manifested a marked antipathy to anything but 'long shot' warfare, and sidling away in their emigrations towards the more effeminate Bechuanas, have left their quarrels with the Kaffirs to be settled by the English, and their wars to be paid for by English gold." Obviously their methods of warfare were, to say the least of it, curious. Sometimes they would drive a battalion of friendly natives or slaves in front of them, and shoot down their enemies from behind the shelter of these advanced guards. Occasionally they employed a method similar to that used against the Zulus of Dingaan. According to Livingstone's essay, written in 1853, and not published till after his death, "the Boers approach the Zulus to within 300 or 400 yards, then fire, and retire to a considerable distance and reload their guns. The Zulus pursuing have by this time come sufficiently near to receive another discharge from the Boers, who again retire as before. This process soon tires out the fleetest warriors, and except through an accident, or the stumbling of a horse or its rider's drunkenness, no Boer ever stands a chance of falling into their hands. The Boers report of themselves that they behaved with great bravery on the occasion." In fact they said that they had killed from 3000 to 5000 Zulus, with the loss to themselves of only six men. Mr. Fisher, in his book on "The Transvaal and the Boers," avers that in the subsequent war with the Griquas--who, being the bastard children of the Boers, possess many of their peculiarities--the two opposing parties kept at such ludicrous distances that the springboks quietly grazing on the plains between were frequently shot instead of the combatants. SOME DOMESTIC TRAITS For the domestic character of the Boer we will consult the Scandinavian traveller Sparrmann, who gives us one of the earliest sketches of the Boer "at home." Though the illusion that the industrious and cleanly Hollander was merely transplanted from one soil to another is somewhat dispelled, the picture is generally acknowledged to be a true one. "It is hardly to be conceived," he wrote in 1776, "with what little trouble the Boer gets into order a field of a moderate size ... so that ... he may be almost said to make the cultivation of it, for the bread he stands in need of for himself and his family, a mere matter of amusement.... With pleasure, but without the least trouble to himself, he sees the herds and flocks which constitute his riches daily and considerably increasing. These are driven to pasture and home again by a few Hottentots or slaves, who likewise make the butter; so that it is almost only with the milking that the farmer, together with his wife and children, concern themselves at all. To do this business, however, he has no occasion to rise before seven or eight o'clock in the morning.... That they (the Boers) might not put their arms and bodies out of the easy and commodious posture in which they had laid them on the couch when they were taking their afternoon _siesta_, they have been known to receive travellers lying quite still and motionless, excepting that they have very civilly pointed out the road by moving their foot to the right or left.... Among a set of beings so devoted to their ease, one might naturally expect to meet with a variety of the most commodious easy-chairs and sofas; but the truth is, that they find it much more commodious to avoid the trouble of inventing and making them.... Nor did the inhabitants exhibit much less simplicity and moderation; or, to speak more properly, slovenliness and penury in their dress than in their furniture.... The distance at which they are from the Cape may, indeed, be some excuse for their having no other earthenware or china in their houses but what was cracked or broken; but this, methinks, should not prevent them being in possession of more than one or two old pewter pots, and some few plates of the same metal; so that two people are frequently obliged to eat out of one dish, besides using it for every different article of food that comes upon the table. Each guest must bring his knife with him, and for forks they frequently make use of their fingers. The most wealthy farmer here is considered as being well dressed in a jacket of home-made cloth, or something of the kind made of any other coarse cloth, breeches of undressed leather, woollen stockings, a striped waistcoat, a cotton handkerchief about his neck, a coarse calico shirt, Hottentot field-shoes, or else leathern shoes with brass buckles, and a coarse hat. Indeed, it is not in dress, but in the number and thriving condition of their cattle, and chiefly in the stoutness of their draught oxen, that these peasants vie with each other. It is likewise by activity and manly actions, and by other qualities that render a man fit for the married state, and the rearing of a family, that the youth chiefly obtain the esteem of the fair sex.... A plain close cap and a coarse cotton gown, virtue and good housewifery, are looked upon by the fair sex as sufficient ornaments for their persons; a flirting disposition, coquetry and paint would have very little effect in making conquests of young men brought up in so hardy a manner, and who have had so homely and artless an education as the youth in this place. In short, here, if anywhere in the world, one may lead an innocent, virtuous, and happy life." When viewing this study of rustic indolence, we must remember also the conditions under which it was found. The natural fertility of the country, the demoralising influence of slave-owning, the great heat of the climate, were responsible for the change that so soon came over the primitive Dutch character. Dr. Theal's account of the Boer adds colour to the picture given by the Swede, and shows us that a certain sense of refinement was lurking in the stolid and not too picturesque disposition:-- "The amusements of the people were few.... Those who possessed numerous slaves usually had three or four of them trained to the use of the violin, the blacks being peculiarly gifted with an ear for music, and easily learning to play by sound. They had thus the means at hand of amusing themselves with dancing, and of entertaining visitors with music. The branches of widely extended families were constantly exchanging visits with each other. A farmer would make his waggon ready regularly every year, when half the household or more would leave home, and spend a week or two with each relative, often being absent a couple of months. Birthday anniversaries of aged people were celebrated by the assembling of their descendants, frequently to the number of eighty or a hundred, at the residence of the patriarch, when a feast was prepared for their entertainment. These different reunions were naturally productive of great pleasure, and tended to cement the friendship and love of those who otherwise might seldom see each other. The life led by the people when at home was exceedingly tame. The mistress of the house, who moved about but little, issued orders to slaves or Hottentot females concerning the work of the household. If the weather was chilly or damp, she rested her feet on a little box filled with live coals, while beside her stood a coffee-kettle never empty. The head of the family usually inspected his flocks morning and evening, and passed the remainder of the day, like his helpmate, in the enjoyment of ease. When repose itself became wearisome, he mounted his horse, and, with an attendant to carry his gun, set off in pursuit of some of the wild animals with which the country then abounded. The children had few games, and, though strong and healthy, were far from sprightly." [Illustration: A KAFFIR KRAAL IN THE TRANSVAAL. Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.] A dislike for the English seems to have been felt by the Cape Dutch very early. This dislike later hostilities must have heightened; but as far back as 1816 we learn that even shrewd and sensible farmers were heard to declaim against our methods of scientific agriculture, and resist all efforts at its introduction into their work. One of them, when informed of the saving of time and labour that certain implements would effect, answered with characteristic conservatism. "What," said he, "would you have us do? Our only concern is to fill our bellies, to get good clothes and houses, to say to one slave, 'Do this,' and to another, 'Do that,' and to sit idle ourselves and be waited upon. As to our tillage, or building, or planting, our forefathers did so and so and were satisfied, and why should not we do the same? The English want us to use their ploughs instead of our heavy wooden ones, and recommend other implements of husbandry than those we have been used to; but we like our old things best." This preference for the old instead of the new has been the rock on which friendship between Briton and Boer has split. All ideas of reform have been met with suspicion--a kind of suspicion that, though now confined to the Boers, was very prevalent in Europe a hundred years ago. The present writer in extreme youth met here, in advanced England, a grandam of ninety (the mother of a very distinguished politician), who stated that she could "never make a friend of a man who took a bath." It will be seen by this how prejudice may become a matter of habit all the world over. Mr. Nixon tells a story of an equally conservative Boer. This worthy went to a store at Kimberley with bundles of tobacco for sale. The Boer carefully weighed them out with some scales of his own that were evidently an heirloom. The storekeeper reweighed the bundles, remarking on the antiquity of the scales, and observing that they gave short weight. He suggested the use of the store scales as the standard for computing the price, which was to be fixed at so much a pound. But the Boer would not hear of it. "No," said he, "these were my father's scales, and he was a wise man and was never cheated, and I won't use anybody else's." The storekeeper dryly remarked that he did not desire to press the matter, since he found himself a gainer by £12 in consequence of the Boer's conservative instincts! Many writers urge that the Boer is naturally uncivil, that he lacks the true feeling of hospitality. The original Boer, before he was seized with a hatred for the British, was more justly speaking lacking in civility than what we term uncivil. He knew nothing of the art of being obliging to his fellow-creatures, merely because they were his fellow-creatures. He would entertain a stranger, and ask nothing in return, but he would do so without courtesy, and would put himself out of the way for no one. The traveller might take him or leave him, conform to his hours and habits entirely, and, to use the vulgar phrase, "like them or lump them" as his temperament might decide. "Africanus," who, in his book on "The Transvaal Boers," writes of them with judgment and without prejudice, gives a very true sketch, which exactly describes the strange blend of piety, indolence, ignorance, and ferocity which we are endeavouring to study. He says-- "The Dutch farmer is in some respects very unlike his supposed counterpart in England. His pursuits are pastoral, not agricultural, for in most parts of South Africa the want of irrigation renders the cultivation of cereals impossible. His idea of a 'farm' is a tract of at least 6000 acres, over which his flocks and herds can move from one pasture to another. His labourers are all natives, and though, before the advent of storekeepers, he used often to make his own clothes, boots (veld-schoen), and harness, he looks on actual farm-work as a menial pursuit. He was, and is, wont to pass whole days in the saddle, but, to an English eye, his horses seem unkempt and often ill-used. The magnificent herds of game which wandered over South Africa sixty years ago tempted him to become a keen sportsman, but he has never shown much 'sporting instinct,' and the Boer is responsible for the wanton destruction of the African fauna. The unsophisticated Boer is a curious blend of hospitality and avarice; he would welcome the passing stranger, and entertain him to the best of his ability, but he seized any opportunity of making money, and the discovery that hides and skins were marketable induced him to slaughter antelopes without the slightest forethought. That the Boer is no longer hospitable is very largely due to the way in which his hospitality has been abused by stray pedlars and ne'er-do-wells of various kinds. He still retains a sincere and primitive piety, but his belief that he is a member of the chosen people has sometimes tended to antinomianism rather than to strict morality. His contempt and dislike for the Kaffir has preserved the Dutch stock from taint of black blood, and although there is a large Eur-African population, it has sprung partly from the old days of domestic slavery, partly from the laxity induced by the recent influx of low-class Europeans. The Boer has a strong national feeling, and although not exactly daring as a rule, he is perfectly ready to risk his life in what he believes to be a good cause. He fights better behind cover than in the open, and has a profound contempt for soldiers who expose themselves unnecessarily. At the same time, he is capable at times of embarking on a forlorn hope. As regards his private character, his notions of honesty and of truth are lax. But then, from bitter experience, he assumes that the stranger will try to cheat him, and it is not surprising that he should consider a certain amount of _finesse_ justifiable. He is comparatively free from that drunkenness which is the besetting vice of the low-class Englishman in Africa. "Although he is incredibly ignorant, and very self-satisfied, it is somewhat irritating to notice the way in which the town-bred Englishman is apt to depreciate him. It is not so certain as the latter thinks that an ignorant peasant is necessarily a lower type of man than a 'smart' and vicious shop-boy. "The most unpleasing trait in the Boer character is his callousness, amounting to brutality, in the case of natives and of animals." It must always be remembered that in discussing the early Boer we are discussing the peasant, and that neither his ignorance nor other shortcomings must be viewed in comparison with the failings of persons of a higher social grade. When the Boers left the Cape Colony they had no knowledge of what the word education meant. The state of public education in 1837 was deplorable. There were missionary schools and a few desultory teachers, who had in very few cases the mental or the moral qualities to fit them for the task of instruction. The most they did was to teach the young idea how to read or scribble its name. For this they received trifling fees, but doubtless these fees were no more trifling than the services rendered. Such free schools as existed, and were nominally supported by Government, were so indifferently managed that they were treated with contempt, even by the farmers. So long as they could thumb out their favourite passages of the Psalms, and sign what few documents they required, they were content. Of their ignorance they were even inclined to be proud. Their own notions of geography and history seemed to them infinitely preferable to any that might be offered, and in this state of blissful ignorance they trekked away from Cape Colony to learn no more. When they started forth, some, it is averred, imagined by steadily working north they would reach Jerusalem; others, covered with faith, and armed with gospel and sjambok, sincerely believed that eventually they would reach the Promised Land. CHAPTER II THE ORANGE FREE STATE The young State, almost before it was fledged, found itself engaged in military operations with the Basutos, and an arbitrator nominated by the British Government was appointed. But the good offices of the commissioner were to no purpose; despite the defining of boundaries and the laying down of landmarks, the natives broke out afresh. An engagement followed, and the Basutos were defeated. As a consequence, a large tract of land (the conquered territory) was annexed by the Free State, yet even this was insufficient to quell the fury of the farmer's inveterate foes, and later on they broke out afresh, only to be again overthrown. In the year 1861 they appealed for help to the Governor of the Cape and were declared British subjects. It was then that a definite boundary line between Basutoland and the Orange Free State was laid down. The population of Basutoland is estimated at about 130,000. The people are by nature warlike and energetic. Some authorities declare them to be the most intelligent of the Kaffir tribes. They are a branch of the Bechuana race who were formed by their chiefs, Motlune and Moshesh, and held their country--the Switzerland of South Africa--against both Zulu and Boer. This aggressive and ferocious tribe was devoted to plunder, and remained well-nigh exempt from punishment in consequence of its mountain fastnesses, which were almost impregnable. The Basutos formed a continual menace to the Boers of the Free State until Great Britain assumed their direct control in 1884. It is now governed by a Resident Commissioner under the High Commissioner for South Africa. It is divided into seven districts, and subdivided into wards, presided over by hereditary chiefs allied to the Moshesh family. Laws are made by proclamation of the High Commissioner, and administered by native chiefs. Europeans are not allowed to settle there. But to return to 1854. The relations between the two Boer States soon became strained. Jealousy commenced and continued to simmer. Then the Boers, alarmed lest the Government would again follow them up, and lest their treatment of the natives should be investigated and stopped, began to discourage the presence of visitors across the Vaal. Of course missionaries were the most unwelcome of all. With the terms of the Sand River Convention they had soon become impatient, and to help to an understanding of this impatience some of the Articles of the Convention may be quoted:-- _Article 1._--"The Assistant-Commissioners guarantee in the fullest manner on the part of the British Government to the emigrant farmers beyond the Vaal River the right to manage their own affairs, and to govern themselves according to their own laws, without any interference on the part of the British Government, and that no encroachment shall be made by the said Government on the territory beyond, to the north of the Vaal River; with the further assurance that the warmest wish of the British Government is to promote peace, free trade, and friendly intercourse with the emigrant farmers now inhabiting, or who hereafter may inhabit that country, it being understood that this system of non-interference is binding upon both parties." _Article 2_ arranges, in case of misunderstanding, for a subsequent delimitation of boundaries. _Article 3._--"Her Majesty's Assistant-Commissioners hereby disclaim all alliances whatever, and with whomsoever of the coloured nations, to the north of the Vaal River." _Article 4._--"It is agreed that no slavery is or shall be permitted or practised in the country to the north of the Vaal River by the emigrant farmers." _Article 5_ provides for mutual facilities and liberty to traders and travellers on both sides of the Vaal River. _Article 6_ allows the "emigrant Boers" to obtain ammunition in British colonies and possessions, "it being mutually understood that all trade in ammunition with the native tribes is prohibited both by the British Government and the emigrant farmers on both sides of the Vaal River." _Article 7_ stipulates for the mutual extradition, "as far as possible," of criminals, and mutual access to courts of justice. _Article 8_ validates, for purposes of inheritance in British possessions, certificates of marriage issued by the proper authorities of the emigrant farmers. _Article 9_ allows free movement of all persons, except criminals and absconding debtors, between the British and the Boer territories. As we see, the Convention had declared that slavery would not be practised in the Transvaal, but though the original declaration may have been made in all good faith, the Boer by degrees, and after the lapse of years, found it expedient to acquire native "apprentices," who could not change master nor task without permission. They began to fear that these natives could not be dealt with, as they were in the habit of dealing with them, without fear of comment from such British visitors as came across them; and they therefore attempted to block up the path of travellers, refusing them a passage through the Republic, and in some instances ordering the expulsion of visitors across the Vaal. About this time one of the most gruesome of all the many massacres in which the Boers were concerned took place. One Potgieter (not the Potgieter who was the rival of Pretorius), in charge of a small party of thirty men, women, and children, went forth to barter ivory unlawfully with Makapau, a Kaffir chief. The Kaffirs, owing the Boers a grudge for many a day, pounced on the whole party, leaving not one behind to give an account of the awful tragedy. The chief Potgieter was flayed alive, and his skin made into a kaross or cloak. The Boers were swift to revenge. President Pretorius, with an army of some four hundred, set himself to track down the assassins. The Kaffirs fled at the approach of the enemy, enclosing themselves in a huge cave, where they hoped to escape detection. This cave was blockaded by the Boers. Here the unhappy blacks went through all the horrors of famine and thirst, and when their agony became unbearable, and they sallied forth in desperation in search of water, they were remorselessly shot down one by one. Nine hundred in all were killed outside the cave. Within was more than double that number who had perished in the frightful agonies of starvation. President Kruger himself was a witness of the terrible scene, and took an active share in his countrymen's revenge. And this was not the first nor the last time in which he figured conspicuously in the bloody records of his country's history. It was only on the occasion of the Jameson Raid that Oom Paul awakened to sentimental qualms regarding the spilling of blood. [Illustration: BLOEMFONTEIN FROM THE SOUTH. Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.] THE GRONDWET To thoroughly grasp the methods of the New South African Republic, it may be interesting to study some of "the Articles" of a Grondwet or Constitution, which superseded those originally adopted by the Potchefstroom Raad. The Grondwet was started in 1857, and was framed entirely to suit the then condition of the Boer community. The ordinary idea of a written constitution was at that time unknown, and the meaning of such words as "rigid" or "elastic" was, of course, beyond their comprehension. These only developed a significance when the judicial crisis of 1897 put a fresh face on Republican affairs. _Article 4_ states that "the people desire no extension of territory, except only on principles of justice, whenever the interests of the Republic render it advisable." _Article 6._--"Its territory is open to every stranger who submits himself to the laws of the Republic; all persons who happen to be within the territory of this Republic have equal claim to protection of person and property." _Article 8._--"The people claim as much social freedom as possible (_de meest mogelyke maatschappelyke vryheid_), and expect to attain it by upholding their religion, fulfilling their obligations, submitting to law, order, and justice, and maintaining the same. The people permit the spread of the Gospel among the heathen, subject to prescribed provisions against the practice of fraud and deception." _Article 9._--"The people will not allow of any equality between coloured and white inhabitants, either in Church or in State." _Article 10._--"The people will not brook any dealing in slaves or slavery in this Republic (_will geen slavenhandel, noch slaverny in deze Republick dulden_)." Before passing on to other sections, Article 10 calls for attention. In spite of its terms, the Boers of that period had a practice which might be described as sailing very near the wind. The "apprenticeship" of children taken prisoners in the native wars was uncommonly like slave-owning. They were called "orphans"--sometimes they had been made orphans by the conquerors--and they were then "apprenticed" to the Boer farmers till grown up. Though opinions differ on this point, it has been asserted by those who know that there was a curious system of "transfer" connected with these so-called apprentices, and that even when grown they seldom gained their liberty save by escape. Further articles entrust legislation to a Volksraad chosen by vote of the burghers, providing at the same time that the people shall be allowed three months' grace for intimating to the Raad their views on any prospective law, "those laws, however, which admit of no delay excepted." Others constitute an Executive Council, "which shall also recommend to the Raad all officers for the public service"; others refer to the liberty of the press; restrict membership of the Volksraad to members of the Dutch Reformed Congregations; state that "the people do not desire to allow amongst them any Roman Catholic Churches, nor any other Protestant Churches except those in which such tenets of the Christian belief are taught as are prescribed in the Heidelberg Catechism"; and give the Volksraad the power of making treaties, save in time of war or of imminent danger. The members of the Raad were to be twelve in number at least, and were to be between the ages of thirty and sixty. They must be burghers of the Dutch Reformed Church, residents, and owners of landed property in the Republic; no native nor bastard was to be admitted to the Raad. At the age of twenty-one every burgher, provided he belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church, was entitled to the franchise. The election of the President to a five years' term of office was in the hands of the burghers, and in this office he was to be supported by an Executive Council consisting of the Commandant-General, two burghers qualified to vote, and a Secretary. All the able-bodied men of the Republic, and if necessary natives, were liable to military service. No sooner was the Grondwet arranged than Marthinus Wessels Pretorius, the son of the chief Andries Pretorius,--who died in 1853--was elected President of the South African Republic. The next few years were spent in internal dissension, consequent on the ambition of the President and the jealousy of his political rivals. Finally Lydenburg, which had struggled to proclaim itself an independent Republic, yielded, and affairs relating to the government of the country seemed to be mending. Still there were always Messrs. Kruger and Schoeman, two adventurous politicians, who kept things lively in the councils of the State. On the retirement of Pretorius from the Free State Presidency in 1864, and his re-election to that of the South African Republic, Mr. Kruger was appointed Commandant-General, and for the time being his ambitious longings were appeased. At that period the white population consisted of merely about thirty thousand all told. The native community almost trebled the Dutch. Mr. Bryce, in his "Impressions on South Africa," describes the then state of the affairs of the Republic as anything but satisfactory: "There were hundreds of thousands of natives, a few of whom were living as servants under a system of enforced labour which was sometimes hardly distinguishable from slavery, while the vast majority were ruled by their own chiefs, some as tributaries of the Republic, some practically independent of it. With the latter wars were frequently raging--wars in which shocking cruelties were perpetrated on both sides, the Kaffirs massacring the white families whom they surprised, the Boer commandos taking a savage vengeance upon the tribes when they captured a kraal or mountain stronghold. It was the sight of these wars which drove Dr. Livingstone to begin his famous explorations to the north. The farmers were too few to reduce the natives to submission, though always able to defeat them in the field, and, while they relished an expedition, they had an invincible dislike to any protracted operations which cost money. Taxes they would not pay. They lived in a sort of rude plenty among their sheep and cattle, but they had hardly any coined money, conducting their transactions by barter, and they were too rude to value the benefits which government secures to a civilised people." TRANSVAAL DISSENSIONS Among other things an attempt was made on the part of the Boers to annex the Orange Free State. President Pretorius crossed the Vaal in 1857, at the head of a large commando, with the intention of seizing on the neighbouring territory. He was doomed to disappointment, however, for his intended raid was stopped by the timely resistance of the forewarned President of the Orange Free State. An encounter was happily avoided through the intervention of Mr. Kruger, and finally the two Republics decided to mutually recognise each other's independent States. But the ambitions of Pretorius merely smouldered. He still kept a greedy eye on the Orange Free State, and machinated for the union of the two States into a gigantic whole. He therefore refused the Presidency of the Transvaal for that of the Free State, in the hope of gathering into his own hands the reins of both governments. He was again disappointed, however, and in 1864 he returned and was re-elected President of the Transvaal. The return of Pretorius was the signal for temporary peace. During his second Presidency, however, the little rift within the lute--the rift of insolvency, which eventually wrecked South African independence--began to be observable. Mr. Nixon, who took great pains to acquaint himself with the true state of the country, says "that the intestine disturbances and the incessant Kaffir wars had well-nigh exhausted the finances of the Republic. The exchequer was only tardily replenished under a loose system of taxation. The Boers have never been good taxpayers, and no Government has been able to enforce the proper payment of taxes due to the State. A decade after its establishment the Republic was practically insolvent. Even as early as 1857 the Government was compelled to issue _mandaten_, or bills, wherewith to raise money to buy ammunition, and to pay its servants. In 1866 a regular issue of paper money was sanctioned by the Volksraad. This was followed by further issues, until, in 1867, a Finance Commission found that there were more notes in circulation than had been authorised by the Volksraad. Nevertheless, the financial requirements of the State became so pressing that still more issues had to be made, and in 1870 there were over £73,000 worth of notes in circulation. The notes were declared a legal tender, but the Government were unable to keep up their value by artificial methods. They fell to a low ebb, and passed from hand to hand at a discount of about 75 per cent, from their nominal value." In 1867 occurred two events which served to change the whole political and financial outlook of the Transvaal. Diamonds were discovered in the district of Kimberley. Gold was unearthed in Lydenburg. From that hour a procession of European miners began slowly to march north from the Cape. A highway was opened up between the two promising districts, and diggers of every race, pioneers bent on the propagation of modern ideas, teachers, missionaries, and traders of all kinds, attracted by the promise of wealth, flocked to the scene and settled themselves among the trekkers. ZULU DISTURBANCES After this period, when, as stated before, small but promising quantities of gold had been unearthed, it was no longer possible to prevent parties of miners and speculators from trickling into the Transvaal, to the annoyance of its inhabitants. Outside, too, there were troubles, disputes, and skirmishes with the Zulus, and further north was waged a fierce fight between the Boers and the chief of the Bapedi, one Sekukuni, whose father had signed away his independence to the Boers, and who refused in his turn to abide by the conditions of the compact. In this fight Sekukuni was successful, and the Boers, worsted and discontented, and believing that the Almighty was displeased with them and with their President, Mr. Burgers, retired from the campaign. At the same time, in the south, Cetchwayo was itching to be on the warpath, and the general state of affairs suggested a possible annihilation of the Transvaal by an uncontrollable horde of natives. Things went from bad to worse, and in October 1876 Lord Carnarvon remonstrated with the President of the South African Republic regarding the unprovoked barbarity of the Sekukuni war, which had again been renewed. The reason for the interference of Lord Carnarvon is to be found in the following despatch, forwarded by Sir Henry Barkly, the then Governor of the Cape:-- "As Von Schlickman has since fallen fighting bravely, it is not without reluctance that I join in affixing this dark stain on his memory, but truth compels me to add the following extract from a letter which I have since received from one whose name (which I communicate to your lordship privately) forbids disbelief:-- "'There is no longer the slightest doubt as to the murder of the two women and the child at Steelpoort by the direct order of Schlickman, and in the attack on the kraal near which these women were captured (or some attack about that period) he ordered his men to cut the throats of all the wounded! This is no mere report; it is positively true." And in a subsequent letter the same writer informs me that the statements are based on the evidence, not alone of Kaffirs, but of whites who were present. "'As regards the even more serious accusations brought against Abel Erasmus' (the Kruger's Post field-cornet), 'as specially alluded to in my letter to President Burgers, on the 28th ult.' (viz. of treacherously killing forty or fifty friendly natives, men and women, and carrying off the children), I beg to invite your lordship's attention to an account derived, I am assured, from a respectable Boer who accompanied the expedition, and protested against the slaughter and robbery of friendly Kaffirs, committed by order of the above-named field-cornet. "'Should I not shortly receive such a reply from the President to my letters of last month, as to convince me that his Honour has taken effectual steps to check such outrages and punish the perpetrators, I will enter another protest, if only for form's sake. "'Seeing, however, that Aylward, who is said to boast, whether truly or not, that he took part with his brother Fenians in the murder of the police constable at Manchester, as well as in the attempt to blow up the Clerkenwell prison, had succeeded Schlickman in the command of the Steelpoort Volunteers, I question whether the Government of the South African Republic has the power, even supposing it to have the will, to put a stop to further atrocities on the part of this band of "Filibusters," as they are commonly styled in the newspapers. "'In my opinion it will be requisite to call in the aid of British troops before this can be done, and I am not without hope that one of the results of the mission on which Sir T. Shepstone is about to start, will be a petition from persons of education and property throughout the country for such an intervention on the part of her Majesty's Government as will terminate this wanton and useless bloodshed, and prevent the recurrence of the scenes of injustice, cruelty, and rapine, which abundant evidence is every day forthcoming to prove, have rarely ceased to disgrace the Republics beyond the Vaal ever since they first sprang into existence.'" Von Schlickman was an ex-Russian officer, commanding a force of filibusters which had been engaged by the Transvaal Government, and his men being unpaid, were allowed to reimburse themselves by cattle or land seized from the natives. As a natural consequence, the war assumed a character of unrestrained ferocity. On receiving this information Lord Carnarvon wrote that his Government "could not view passively, and with indifference, the engagement of the Republic in foreign military operations the object or the necessity of which had not been made apparent." The quarrel with the chief had originated, as stated, in a Boer claim to his land, and the Boer President in replying urged the natural right of the Boers to all the land of the Transvaal. The chief magistrate at that time was President Burgers, a man who, if report may be believed, was far superior to those with whom he associated. This man, a Cape Dutchman, and sometime minister of the Reformed Church, had been called to the onerous post of President of the South African Republic in 1872. He was bent on the advancement of his nation, and his intelligence was remarkable. He was a man of sterling character, fanciful, enthusiastic, an idealist even, with a horror of slaveholding, and a hankering for the pure life of the humanist. In a measure he was too much in advance of the people with whom he was connected. To them he was something of a Freethinker, a man too ready to judge for himself while the Gospel was at hand to judge for him. Such liberal views were not in accord with peasant limitations. His desire to raise his country to the level of other nations, to bring commerce and railways within touch of his people, savoured of heresy. The appreciation for civilisation was so strong within him that he is even said to have carried it to extremes, to have favoured the prompt and regular payment of taxes, and to have executed an elaborate design for an international coat-of-arms! Now this reformer, like most reformers, was not appreciated among his own people. He had no police to support him, no means of putting pressure on those who should have served his cause. The Conservative party, with Mr. Kruger at their head, did their best to circumvent every innovation and to save themselves and the country from what they believed to be the dangerous inorthodoxy of their President. Mr. Burgers in his posthumous "Vindication" outlines some strange hints regarding the character of his compatriots, which outlines may now be readily filled in by personal experience. He therein asserts that had he chosen to publish to the world a faithful description of the Transvaal Boers, they would have forfeited the appreciation gained from the Liberal party in Europe. Mr. Burgers' reserve is much to be regretted, as a few sidelights thrown on the Boer character at that period might have helped to educate the Liberal party of whom he spoke, and thereby saved much of the vacillation of policy for which the country now has to suffer. [Illustration: SERGEANT-MAJOR of the 2nd DRAGOONS. (ROYAL SCOTS GREYS.) Photo by Gregory & Co., London.] THE POLITICAL WEB Before going further, we must examine the situation between the Governor of the Cape, the President of the South African Republic, and the Home Government. When we look back at Boer history, we find the details of annexation and restoration repeating themselves with the consistency of the chorus of a nursery rhyme. What the Government of the Cape accomplished the Government at home proceeded promptly to undo, till the problems connected with Boer liberty and British rights became so tangled and so intricate that they could only be solved by the sword. It may be remembered that in 1854 Sir George Grey, the then Governor of the Cape, applied himself to the puzzle. He started with the best hopes. He saw before him a vista of labour, of argument, of contradiction, but the tangles, he believed, could eventually be smoothed out. In the anxiety to avoid trouble and responsibility, and possibly in an amiable desire to conciliate the parties at home, the Imperial Government had conceded territories and alienated subjects without having made an effort to discover the wishes of the people, or to try a free form of government suited to South Africa. He was in favour of a Federal Union wherein the separate Colonies and States, each with its local government and legislature, should be combined under one general representative legislature, led by a responsible Ministry, specially charged with the duty of providing for common defence. This plan of Federal Union seemed to appeal to the Burghers of the Orange Free State, for the Volksraad decided that "a union of alliance with the Cape Colony, either on the plan of federation or otherwise, is desirable." Sir George Grey was not permitted to pursue his policy, for the British Government decided against the resumption of British sovereignty over the Orange Free State. The same forward and backward movement, the same sort of political _chasé et croisé_, was again carried on from 1876 and 1877 to 1881. It was decided that a Federal Union should be created between such African Colonies as were willing to join. To further this scheme Sir Bartle Frere, after a long and arduous career in India, was appointed Governor and High Commissioner by Lord Carnarvon, the then Colonial Secretary. But Sir Bartle was too late. Sir Theophilus Shepstone, who had been sent out to the Transvaal on Special Commission to confer with the President on the question of Confederation, had already annexed the Transvaal. The reasons for the annexation were many and excellent. Firstly, the Transvaal Republic, vulgarly speaking, was out at elbows. It was bankrupt, helpless, languishing. The sorry sum of 12s. 6d. represented the entire wealth of the Treasury. The Zulu chief Cetchwayo was waiting to "eat up" the Boers, and the Boers were unceasing in their efforts to encroach on Zulu territory. But the deplorable state of affairs is better described by quoting Sir T. Shepstone's letter on the subject. "It was patent to every observer," writes Sir T. Shepstone, "that the Government (of the Transvaal) was powerless to control either its white citizens or its native subjects; that it was incapable of enforcing its laws or of collecting its taxes; that the Treasury was empty; that the salaries of officials had been and are months in arrear; that sums payable for the ordinary and necessary expenditure of government cannot be had, and that such services as postal contracts were long and hopelessly overdue; that the white inhabitants had become split into factions; that the large native populations within the boundaries of the State ignore its authority and laws; and that the powerful Zulu king, Cetchwayo, is anxious to seize upon the first opportunity of attacking a country the conduct of whose warriors has convinced him that it can be easily conquered by his clamouring regiments." He again writes: "I think it necessary to explain, more at length than I was able to do in my last despatch, the circumstances which seem to me to forbid all hope that the Transvaal Republic is capable of maintaining the show even of independent existence any longer, which induced me to consider it my duty to assume this position in my communications with the President and Executive Council, and which have convinced me that, if I were to leave the country in its present condition, I should but expose the inhabitants to anarchy among themselves, and to attack from the natives, that would prove not only fatal to the Republic, but in the highest degree dangerous to her Majesty's possessions and subjects in South Africa." The proclamation of the annexation of the Transvaal was issued on the 12th of April 1876, and on the previous day Sir T. Shepstone wrote: "There will be a protest against my act of annexation issued by the Government, but they will at the same time call upon the people to submit quietly, pending the issue. You need not be disquieted by such action, because it is taken merely to save appearances, and the members of the Government from the violence of a faction that seems for years to have held Pretoria in terror when any act of the Government displeased it. You will better understand this when I tell you privately that the President has from the first fully acquiesced in the necessity for the change, and that most of the members of the Government have expressed themselves anxious for it--but none of them have had the courage openly to express their opinions, so I have had to act apparently against them, and this I felt bound to do, knowing the state and danger of the country, and that three-fourths of the people will be thankful for the change when once it is made." As a matter of fact the annexation was received with rejoicing all over the country. "God save the Queen" was sung, and special thanksgiving services were held in many of the churches. The Union Jack was run up, the Republican flag hauled down without a dissentient voice. The arrival of British troops--the first battalion of the 13th Regiment--was hailed with curiosity and pleasure, the Boers with their women and children turning out to meet it and hear the band play. The financial effects of the new departure were magical. Credit and commerce were at once restored. Valueless railway bonds rose to par, and the price of landed property was nearly doubled. On the Queen's birthday, the first after the annexation, the 24th of May 1877, the native chiefs were invited to attend, and the Union Jack was formally hoisted to the strains of the National Anthem. This same flag was within a few years ignobly hauled down during the signing of the Convention at Pretoria, and formally buried by a party of Englishmen and loyal natives. But for the time being all seemed pleased with the new state of affairs. As Mr. Haggard says, it is difficult to reconcile the enthusiasm of a great number of the inhabitants of the Transvaal for English rule and the quiet acquiescence of the remainder at this time, with the decidedly antagonistic attitude subsequently assumed. His description of the situation in "The Last Boer War" seems to be more near the truth than any forthcoming: "The Transvaal, when we annexed it, was in the position of a man with a knife at his throat, who is suddenly rescued by some one stronger than he, on certain conditions which at the time he gladly accepts, but afterwards, when the danger is passed, wishes to repudiate. In the same way the inhabitants of the South African Republic were in the time of need very thankful for our aid, but after a while, when the recollection of their difficulties had grown faint, when their debts had been paid and their enemies had been defeated, they began to think that they would like to get rid of us again, and start fresh on their own account with a clean sheet." In the management of affairs it appears that Mr. Burgers began to set an example of the policy which Mr. Kruger has since followed: the policy of trying to sit on either side of the fence. Mr. Kruger has struggled more and more violently to accomplish this feat as the years advance and he advances in years. He has tried to grab the advantages attendant upon the possession of gold mines and schemed to acquire a great financial status, and yet at the same time to keep up his affectation of piety and to maintain his pristine condition of bucolic irresponsibility. Brought face to face with Sir T. Shepstone's scheme for annexation, Mr. Burger privately encouraged the proposed action of the Government--he and his colleagues even stipulating for pension and office--while publicly he lifted up his protest against the innovation. The Boer, with his usual craft, had decided that the British Government should set him financially on his feet, which feet he meant promptly to use for running away from his responsibilities. Some declare that the policy of Sir T. Shepstone was premature, that he should have waited until the Boer had soaked further in the slough of insolvency into which he was fast sinking. But Sekukuni was threatening, and on the south-eastern frontier Cetchwayo, with a force some thirty thousand strong, was waiting his opportunity. The promise of the future was a general holocaust, in which Boer men, women, and children, farms and flocks would be annihilated. Sir T. Shepstone, had he been other than a Briton, might have stayed his hand and waited till the Boers were effectually swept away, but being a Briton he acted as such, doubtless arguing that, "As we under Heaven are supreme head, So, under him, that great supremacy, Where we do reign, we will alone uphold." THE WEB THICKENING It must be remembered that between the Zulus and the Boers no boundary line had ever been fixed, and that for over a dozen years the Zulu chiefs had repeatedly implored the British Governor in Natal for advice and help in their dealings with these aggressors. It had been part of the Dutch policy--if policy it may be called--to force the Zulu gradually to edge further and further from the rich pasture lands sloping eastward of the Drakensberg Mountains, and spreading to right and left into the north and west of Zululand. Little notice had been taken of their petitions, and the Zulus had determined to take the law into their own hands. Cetchwayo, therefore, when the news of our annexation of the Transvaal reached him, was like a wild beast baulked of its prey. He was anxious for an occasion for his young warriors "to wash their spears" in the gore of his enemies, and was naturally disappointed to find them under the protection of the white man. The Natal Government attempted to soothe him--to promote peace. He remained sullen and simmered. He vented his spleen by putting several young women to death for having refused to marry his soldiers. On being remonstrated with by the Natal Government, he expressed himself with engaging candour. His own words, without comment, describe the character with which we had to deal. "Did I ever tell Mr. Shepstone," his Majesty cried, "that I would not kill? Did Mr. Shepstone tell the white people I made such an arrangement? Because if he did he deceived them. I do kill; but I do not consider that I have done anything yet in the way of killing. Why do the white people start at nothing? I have not yet begun. I have yet to kill. It is the custom of our nation, and I will not depart from it. Why does the Governor of Natal speak to me about my laws? I shall not agree to any laws or rules from Natal, and by so doing throw the large kraal which I govern into the water. My people will not listen unless they are killed, and while wishing to be friends with the English I do not agree to give my people over to be governed by laws sent to me by them. Have I not asked the English to allow me to wash my spears since the death of my father, Upandi, and they have kept playing with me all the time, treating me as a child?" ... A good deal more followed in this strain. Since his accession the gallant Cetchwayo had decided to "wash his spears" in the blood of his neighbours, and whatever the British might have to say in the matter, wash them he would. It was obvious, therefore, that a ruffian of this kind, backed by a bloodthirsty following, was a permanent danger to our Colony of Natal and to its white inhabitants. Something must be done to remove the disquiet caused by the utterances of the savage. Sir Henry Bulwer (the Governor of Natal)--to conciliate the king and to allay his fears lest his territory, like that of the Boers, should be annexed--proposed that a commission should investigate the rival claims of Boers and Zulus on border questions, and settle them by arbitration. But what Sir H. Bulwer proposed Sir Bartle Frere, High Commissioner in South Africa, disapproved. He felt that Cetchwayo and his host would be a standing menace to the borders of Natal. Nevertheless he agreed to a discussion of the vexed boundary question between Boer and Zulu, in which the commissioners declared unanimously against the claims of the former. Certain land only to west of the Blood River, held by the Boers and unchallenged by the Zulus, was confirmed to the Dutch settlers in their occupation of the same. But to this decision Sir Bartle Frere considered it expedient to add some saving clauses. These demanded, first, that Cetchwayo should adhere to the guarantees he had given and not permit indiscriminate shedding of blood; second, that he should institute from his existing military system the form of tribal quotas; third, that he should accept the presence of a British Resident; fourth, that he should protect the missionaries and their converts; and lastly, that he should surrender certain criminals and pay certain fines. His Zulu Majesty was given thirty days to consider the subject. Instead of considering he flouted it. The result was war. THE ZULU WAR According to the opinion of Sir Bartle Frere there was, and for a long time had been, a growing desire on the part of the great chiefs to make this war into a simultaneous rising of Kaffirdom against white civilisation. A spirit of mutiny had been in the air since the terrible events in India in 1857, and there was a general conviction among the native tribes that the authority of Great Britain would eventually be overthrown. Now the most powerful of all the native tribes in South Africa were the Zulus, whose military organisation had long been celebrated, and who had earned a great reputation since the days of Gaika, and more especially in the time that followed when Chaka, who was a born warrior, brought the gigantic army into a state of marvellous efficiency. A few words regarding the career of this great chieftain may be found interesting, for to him is accorded the credit of the indubitably warlike and brave disposition of his countrymen. This man, who has been at times called the Attila and the Napoleon of South Africa, was born in 1783. He became chief officer to Dingiswayo, a man of remarkable ability, who studied European military systems and modelled on their principle a highly efficient army. Chaka, heir to a chieftainship of the Amazulu tribe (the Zulus proper), took the fancy of Dingiswayo, who elevated him first to a post of high command, and eventually to the vacant Zulu chieftainship. On the death in battle of Dingiswayo, Chaka assumed the command of both tribes, to which he gave his name. The already excellent army he proceeded to improve till it became one of the most efficient military organisations ever originated in an uncivilised country. The whole kingdom was ordered on a military footing, and expanded so wondrously that the original two tribes at first commanded by Chaka became an hundred, each tribe having been defeated in warfare and incorporated in the Zulu nationality. His policy, unlike that of Cetchwayo later on, was not to destroy but to subdue, and thus he soon ruled with undisputed sway over a complete empire covering the desolated regions of Natal, Zululand, and the modern Boer States. His methods of military training were entirely Spartan; his discipline was a discipline of iron. Disobedience was met with the penalty of death. To tread out a roaring bush-fire, or capture alive a wild beast, were some of the tasks imposed as daily training for his would-be warriors. An order was an order, and this, however dangerous or seemingly impossible, had to be obeyed by individual or regiment on pain of the most horrible forms of death. It may easily be imagined that this stern regime was calculated to create a military following of the most brave and adventurous order. Naturally enough, all the other Kaffir tribes looked to the Zulus as their leaders and champions in the contest. Captain Hamilton Parr tells a tale of an old Galeka warrior who said to a native magistrate, "Yes, you have beaten us--you have beaten us well; but there," pointing eastward, "there are the Amazulu warriors. Can you beat them? They say not. Go and try. Don't trouble any more about us, but go and beat _them_ and we shall be quiet enough." This anecdote serves to describe the general sentiment of disdain for British authority which Sir Bartle Frere detected almost immediately after his arrival among the natives, and to account in a measure for what has been declared to be his high-handed policy. He was convinced that we could never expect peace among the chiefs until we had satisfied them who was master. A lesson was necessary to show that the British Government could govern and meant to govern, and that lesson he felt must be taught sooner or later. For a long time Cetchwayo had been instigating rebellion and preparing for war. As may be seen from Lord Carnarvon's letter of the 24th of January 1878 to Sir Bartle Frere, the Government was fully conscious of the existing necessity to protect the Transvaal and to maintain British prestige in South Africa. The despatch runs: "It seems certain that the Zulu king has derived from his messengers the unfortunate idea that the Kaffirs are able to cope with the Colony on more than equal terms, and this belief has, as was inevitable, produced a very threatening change in his language and conduct towards the Transvaal Government. It is only too probable that a savage chief such as Cetchwayo, supported by a powerful army already excited by the recent successes of a neighbouring tribe over the late Government of the Transvaal, may now become fired with the idea of victory over her Majesty's forces, and that a deliberate attempt upon her Majesty's territories may ensue. Should this unfortunately happen, you must understand that at whatever sacrifice it is imperatively necessary that her Majesty's forces in Natal and the Transvaal must be reinforced by the immediate despatch of the military and naval contingents now operating in the Cape, or such portion of them as may be required. This is necessary not only for the safety of the Transvaal, for the defence of which her Majesty's Government are immediately concerned, but also in the interest of the Cape, since a defeat of the Zulu king would act more powerfully than any other means in disheartening the native races of South Africa." On this subject Sir H. Bulwer wrote: "There has been for the last eight or nine months a danger of collision with the Zulus at any moment." And in November 1878 he said: "The system of government in the Zulu country is so bad that any improvement seems hopeless. We should, if necessary, be justified in deposing Cetchwayo." Consequently, Sir Bartle Frere was not surprised when all efforts to reduce Cetchwayo to yield to British demand failed. As time went by it became clear that enforcement of these demands must be placed in the hands of Lord Chelmsford and the military authorities, and accordingly, on the 10th of January 1879, the Commander-in-Chief of the forces of South Africa crossed the frontier. As the frontier extended for some two hundred miles, to assume a purely defensive attitude would have been impossible. Our forces so placed would not have been sufficiently strong to resist an attack made at their own time and place by a horde of some ten to twenty thousand Zulus. Lord Chelmsford had no alternative, therefore, but to invade Zululand. ISANDLWANA The force under Lord Chelmsford's command was divided into four columns. These were composed partly of British soldiers, partly of Colonists, and partly of blacks. The first column, under Colonel Pearson, crossed the Lower Tugela; the second, under Lieutenant-Colonel Durnford, R.E., consisting of native troops and Natal Volunteers, was to act in concert with column three; the third, under Colonel Glyn--but directed by the General, who assumed all responsibility--crossed the Buffalo River; and the fourth, under Colonel Evelyn Wood, entered Zululand from near Newcastle on the north-west. The plan was for the four columns to converge upon Ulundi, in the neighbourhood of the king's kraal, where fighting might be expected to begin. [Illustration: MAP OF ZULULAND AND ADJOINING PORTIONS OF NATAL.] The crossing of the Buffalo River was effected without difficulty or resistance, and ten days after the central column formed a camp at the foot of the hill Isandlwana (the Little Hand). On the morning of the 22nd the Commander-in-Chief advanced at daybreak, for the purpose of attacking a kraal some miles distant. The camp at Isandlwana was left in charge of a force of some eight hundred mixed troops--regulars, volunteers, and natives. Strict orders to defend and not to leave the camp were given, but in spite of these orders portions of the force became detached. Suddenly, unobserved by them, there appeared a dense impi of some twenty thousand Zulus. The savage horde rushed shouting upon the small British detachments, rushed with the swiftness of cavalry, attacked them before they could unite, and swooping down with tremendous velocity, seized the camp and separated the British troops from their reserves of ammunition. In face of this warrior multitude our troops were defenceless. A few moments of wild despairing energy, a hand-to-hand struggle for life between the white man and the bloodthirsty savage, groans of wounded and yells of victory, and all was over. Of the six companies of the 24th, consisting of more than half the infantry engaged, but six souls escaped. The rest died where they fell, with no kindly hand to give them succour, no British voice to breathe a burial prayer. But some before they dropped managed to cut their way through the ring of Zulu spears. Two gallant fellows, Lieutenants Melvill and Coghill, almost succeeded in saving the colours of the first battalion of the 24th Regiment. They made a bold rush, but merely reached the Natal bank of the Buffalo to be struck down. The colours, wrapped round Melvill's body, were discovered in the river some days afterwards. The Zulu plan of fighting, in this case so successful, is curious. The formation of their attacks represents the figure of a beast with horns, chest, and loins. While making a feint with one horn, the other, unperceived in long grass or bush, swoops round and closes in on the enemy. The chest then advances to attack. The loins are kept at a distance, and simply join in pursuit. The news of the disaster spread fast. Sir Bartle Frere, on the morning of the 24th, was awakened by the arrival of two almost distraught and wholly unintelligible messengers. Their report, when it could be at last comprehended, seemed too horrible for belief. That they had escaped some terrible ordeal was evident; that they were members of the company of naval volunteers that formed part of the General's army, their uniform proclaimed. But of the General they could say nothing--he might be dead, he might be missing--all they knew was of their own miraculous escape from a scene of slaughter. Colonel Pulleine they declared was dead, but further news had to be awaited with anxious hearts. Meanwhile Lord Chelmsford had heard the horrible news. The camp had been seen in the possession of the Zulus. Worn and weary with heavy marching in a baking sun, he and his troops began to retreat. At nightfall, thoroughly jaded, they returned to a grim scene. All around lay the still silent dead--the corpses of the comrades they had parted with but a few hours before. There, amid the pathetic wreckage, were they forced to lay them down to rest! Fortunately the Zulus, having plundered the camp, had made off, and the British force was able the next day to proceed to the relief of Rorke's Drift. At Rorke's Drift the now world-celebrated defence of Lieutenant Bromhead, of the 24th, and Lieutenant Chard, R.E., took place. These young officers had been left with one hundred and four soldiers to take charge of a small depôt of provisions and an hospital, and to keep open the communication with Natal. Some hours after the disaster of Isandlwana their post was attacked by Dabulamanzi (brother of Cetchwayo) and over three thousand of his finest warriors. The little garrison had made for themselves a laager of sacks of maize and biscuit-boxes, and behind these they defended themselves so stubbornly and so heroically throughout the night of the 23rd, that the Zulu chieftain, discomfited and harassed, eventually retired. For their magnificent pluck the two young officers received the Victoria Cross. Their action had saved Natal from invasion by the enemy. Of the little garrison seventeen fell and ten were wounded. The loss of the Zulus was about three hundred. [Illustration: THE DEFENCE OF RORKE'S DRIFT, 22nd to 23rd JANUARY 1879. Painted by Alphonse de Neuville, Etched by L. Flameng. Reproduced by special arrangement with the Fine Art Society, London.] Colonel Pearson's column, as we said, crossed the Lower Tugela near the sea, with the intention of joining the other columns at Ulundi. On the way thither he was attacked by a Zulu force at Inyesani. This force, though it more than doubled the strength of his own, he drove back with heavy loss, and marched to the Norwegian Mission station, Eshowe. On his arrival there on the 23rd of January, he learnt the awful news of the disaster, and instantly sent his cavalry back to Natal, fortified his station, and waited there the arrival of reinforcements. The third column, commanded by Colonel Evelyn Wood (consisting of 1700 British soldiers, 50 farmers under Commandant Pieter Uys, and some 300 blacks), reached Kambula in safety, and fortified a post there. Colonel Wood harassed the enemy by frequent sallies, however, and on one occasion the attack on the Zlobane Mountain lost about ninety-six of his men. Among these were Colonel Weatherley, his young son, and Commandant Uys. The following day the British laager was attacked by a horde of Zulus, who were routed. In this engagement Colonel Wood, Colonel Buller, and Captain Woodgate especially distinguished themselves. Lord Chelmsford, with a force of soldiers and sailors, marched in April from Natal to the relief of Colonel Pearson at Eshowe. He arrived there in safety, after having encountered and beaten back the Zulus at Ginginlova: yet it was not until the 4th of July that the troops eventually reached Ulundi, where the final battle and victory took place. But of this later. AFFAIRS AT HOME Two days after the arrival of the news of the disaster at Isandlwana, Parliament met. The reverse in Zululand naturally engrossed all thoughts. Questions innumerable were addressed to Government, as to the strength of reinforcements to be sent out--as to the further necessity for war at all--as to the so-called high-handed action of Sir Bartle Frere, and the so-called blunders of Lord Chelmsford. Scapegoats were wanted, and, as a natural consequence, the two most energetic and hard-worked of the Queen's servants were attacked. A political pitched battle was imminent. The Ministers declined to withdraw their confidence from the Lord High Commissioner, though they passed on him censure for his hasty and independent proceedings. That the members of Government had a high appreciation of his great experience, ability, and energy was apparent, for they declared they had "no desire to withdraw in the present crisis of affairs the confidence hitherto reposed in him, the continuance of which was now more than ever needed to conduct our difficulties in South Africa to a successful termination." On the 19th of March 1879 the Secretary of the Colonies wrote to Sir Bartle Frere, to the effect that Ministers were unable to find, on the documents placed before them, "that evidence of urgent necessity for immediate action which alone would justify him in taking, without their full knowledge and sanction, a course almost certain to result in a war." The day for discussion of South African affairs in the Upper House arrived. Lord Lansdowne moved, on the 11th of March, "That this House, while willing to support her Majesty's Government in all necessary measures for defending the possessions of her Majesty in South Africa, regrets that the _ultimatum_, which was calculated to produce immediate war, should have been presented to the Zulu king without authority from the responsible advisers of the Crown, and that an offensive war should have been commenced without imperative and pressing necessity or adequate preparation; and the House regrets that, after the censure passed upon the High Commissioner by her Majesty's Government, in the despatch of March 19, 1879, the conduct of affairs in South Africa should be retained in his hands." A keen debate ensued. The Opposition clamoured for the recall of Sir Bartle Frere, as the example of independent action set by him might be followed by other and more distant representatives of the Crown. The war was ascribed to Lord Carnarvon's impatience for South African confederation and his "incurable greed" for extending the limits of the Colonies, and the annexation of the Transvaal was declared to be a mistake, unless the Government was prepared to send out a large military force to South Africa. The Government combated these arguments. They denied they had censured Sir Bartle Frere, and stated that they had passed no opinion on his policy, but merely asserted as a principle that "Her Majesty's advisers, and they only, must decide the grave issues of peace and war." It was argued that war with Cetchwayo was inevitable sooner or later, and that the Lord High Commissioner had thought it advisable to be prompt in the matter. His conduct, it was true, had not the entire approval of the Ministry, but every one knew it was unwise to change horses in crossing a stream, and his action had not been such as to outweigh the many considerations which required the continuance of his service in South Africa. Lord Beaconsfield, addressing the House, defended Sir Bartle Frere, and expressed opinions on the policy of confederation as opposed to that of annexation, opinions which afford so much instruction in regard to our relations with the Transvaal that they are best repeated in their entirety. "I generally find," he said, "there is one advantage at the end of a debate, besides the relief which is afforded by its termination, and that is that both sides of the House seem pretty well agreed as to the particular point that really is at issue; but the rich humour of the noble duke (Duke of Somerset) has again diverted us from the consideration of the motion really before the House. If the noble duke and his friends were desirous of knowing what was the policy which her Majesty's Government were prepared generally to pursue in South Africa, if they were prepared to challenge the policy of Sir Bartle Frere in all its details, I should have thought they would have produced a very different motion from that which is now lying on your lordships' table; for that is a motion of a most limited character, and, according to the strict rules of parliamentary discussion, precludes you from most of the subjects which have lately been introduced to our consideration, and which principally have emanated from noble lords opposite. We have not been summoned here to-day to consider the policy of the acquisition of the Transvaal. These are subjects on which I am sure the Government would be prepared to address your lordships, if their conduct were clearly and fairly impugned. And with regard to the annexation of the province, which has certainly very much filled the mouths of men of late, I can easily conceive that that would have been a subject for fair discussion in this House, and we should have heard, as we have heard to-night, though in a manner somewhat unexpected, from the nature of the resolution before us, from the noble lord who was recently the Secretary of State for the Colonies, the principal reasons which induced the Government to sanction that policy--a policy which I believe can be defended, but which has not been impugned to-night in any formal manner. "What has been impugned to-night is the conduct of the Government in sanctioning, not the policy of Sir Bartle Frere, but his taking a most important step without consulting them, which on such subjects is the usual practice with all Governments. But the noble lord opposite who introduced the subject does not even impugn the policy of the Lord High Commissioner; and it was left to the noble duke who has just addressed us, and who ought to have brought forward this question if his views are so strongly entertained by him on the matter, not in supporting a resolution such as now lies on your lordships' table, but one which would have involved a discussion of the policy of the Government and that of the high officer who is particularly interested in it. "My noble friend, the noble marquis (Lord Salisbury), who very recently addressed the House, touched the real question which is before us, and it is a very important question, although it is not of the expansive character of the one which would have been justified by the comments of the noble lords opposite. What we have to decide to-night is this--whether her Majesty's Government shall have the power of recommending to the sovereign the employment of a high officer to fulfil duties of the utmost importance, or whether that exercise of the prerogative, on their advice, shall be successfully impugned, and that appointment superseded by noble lords opposite. That course is perfectly constitutional, if they are prepared to take the consequences. But let it be understood what the issue is. It is this--that a censure upon the Government is called for, because they have selected the individual who, on the whole, they think is the best qualified successfully to fulfil the duties of High Commissioner. The noble lords opposite made that proposition, and if they succeed they will succeed in that which has hitherto been considered one of the most difficult tasks of the executive Government; that is to say, they will supersede the individual whom the sovereign, in the exercise of her prerogative, under the advice of her Ministers, has selected for an important post. I cannot agree in the general remark made by the noble duke, that because an individual has committed an error, and even a considerable error, for that reason, without any reference either to his past services or his present qualifications, immediately a change should be recommended, and he should be recalled from the scene of his duties. "I remember myself a case not altogether different from the present one," continued Lord Beaconsfield, alluding to Sir James Hudson, who, when Minister at Turin, had been charged with having expressed himself unguardedly upon the subject of Italian nationality. "It happened some years ago, when I was in the other House. Then a very high official--a diplomatist of great eminence, a member of the Liberal party--had committed what was deemed a great indiscretion by several members of his own party; and the Government were asked in a formal manner, by a Liberal member, whether that distinguished diplomatist had been in consequence recalled. But the person who was then responsible for the conduct of public affairs in that House--the humble individual who is now addressing your lordships, made this answer, with the full concurrence of his colleagues--denied that that distinguished diplomatist was recalled, and said that _great services are not cancelled by one act or one single error however it may be regretted at the moment_. That is what I said then, with regard to Sir James Hudson, and what I say now with regard to Sir Bartle Frere. But I do not wish to rest on that. I confess that, so keen is my sense of responsibility, and that of my colleagues, and I am sure also that of noble lords opposite, that we would not allow our decisions in such matters to be unduly influenced by personal considerations of any kind. What we had to determine is this, Was it wise that such an act on the part of Sir Bartle Frere as, in fact, commencing war without consulting the Government at home, and without their sanction, should be passed unnoticed? Ought it not to be noticed in a manner which should convey to that eminent person a clear conviction of the feelings of her Majesty's Government; and at the same time was it not their duty to consider, were he superseded, whether they could place in his position an individual equally qualified to fulfil the great duties and responsibilities resting on him? That is what we had to consider. We considered it entirely with reference to the public interest, and the public interest alone; and we arrived at the conviction that on the whole the retention of Sir Bartle Frere in that position was our duty, notwithstanding the inconvenient observations and criticisms to which we were, of course, conscious it might subject us. And, that being our conviction, we have acted upon it. It is a very easy thing for a Government to make a scapegoat; but that is conduct which I hope no gentleman on this side, and I believe no gentleman sitting opposite, would easily adopt. If Sir Bartle Frere had been recalled--if he had been recalled in deference to the panic, the thoughtless panic of the hour, in deference to those who have no responsibility in the matter, and who have not weighed well and deeply investigated all the circumstances and all the arguments which can be brought forward, and which must be appealed to to influence our opinions on such questions--no doubt a certain degree of odium might have been diverted from the heads of her Majesty's Ministers, and the world would have been delighted, as it always is, to find a victim. That was not the course which we pursued, and it is one which I trust no British Government ever will pursue. We had but one object in view, and that was to take care that at this most critical period the affairs of her Majesty in South Africa should be directed by one not only qualified to direct them, but who was superior to any other individual whom we could have selected for that purpose. The sole question that we really have to decide to-night is, Was it the duty of her Majesty's Government to recall Sir Bartle Frere in consequence of his having declared war without our consent? We did not think it our duty to take that course, and we do not think it our duty to take that course now. Whether we are right in the determination at which we have arrived is the sole question which the House has to determine upon the motion before it. "The noble duke opposite (the Duke of Somerset) has told us that he should not be contented without being made acquainted with the whole policy which her Majesty's Government are prepared to pursue in South Africa. If the noble duke will introduce that subject we shall be happy to discuss it with him. No one could introduce it in a more interesting, and, indeed, in a more entertaining manner than the noble duke, who possesses that sarcastic faculty that so well qualifies him to express his opinion on such a matter. I think, however, that we ought to have had rather longer notice before we were called upon to discuss so large a theme, which has now been brought suddenly before us. If the noble marquis who introduced this subject had given us notice of a motion of this character, we should not have hesitated for a moment to meet it. I have, however, no desire to avoid discussing the subject of our future policy in South Africa, even on so general a notice as we have in reference to it from the noble duke. Sir Bartle Frere was selected by the noble lord (Lord Carnarvon), who formerly occupied the position of Secretary to the Colonies, chiefly to secure one great end--namely, to carry out that policy of confederation in South Africa which the noble lord had successfully carried out on a previous occasion with regard to the North American Colonies. "If there is any policy which, in my mind, is opposed to the policy of annexation, it is that of confederation. By pursuing the policy of confederation we bind States together, we consolidate their resources, and we enable them to establish a strong frontier; and where we have a strong frontier, that is the best security against annexation. I myself regard a policy of annexation with great distrust. I believe that the reasons of State which induced us to annex the Transvaal were not, on the whole, perfectly sound. But what were the circumstances under which that annexation was effected? The Transvaal was a territory which was no longer defended by its occupiers. The noble lord opposite (Lord Kimberley), who formerly had the Colonies under his management, spoke of the conduct of Sir Theophilus Shepstone as though he had not taken due precautions to effect the annexation of that province, and said that he was not justified in concealing that he had not successfully consummated his object. The noble lord said he had not assembled troops enough in the province to carry out properly the policy of annexation. But Sir Theophilus Shepstone particularly refers to the very fact to show, that so unanimous and so united was the sentiment in the province in favour of annexation, that it was unnecessary to send any large force there to bring it about. _The annexation of that province was a necessity--a geographical necessity._" [Illustration: Sir HENRY BARTLE FRERE, Bart. Photo by Maull & Fox. London.] TOWARDS ULUNDI It may be remembered that Lord Chelmsford's original idea had been for Colonel Pearson's column to march from Eshowe to the chief's kraal at Ulundi. In consequence of the disaster, however, Colonel Pearson decided to remain where he was. He constructed a fort for the protection of the garrison against an army of some 20,000 Zulus lying in wait between Eshowe and Tugela. On the 30th of January all the troops came within this embryo fort, and as tents were forbidden, officers and men had to make the best of what shelter the waggons afforded. The troops spent the time in completing the fort and cutting roads, and early in February excellent defences were completed. Though in hourly expectation of attack they seem to have kept up their spirits, for an officer in Eshowe wrote:-- "The troops inside consisted of three companies of the 99th Regiment, five companies of the second battalion of the 3rd Buffs, one company of Royal Engineers, one company of the Pioneers, the Naval Brigade, a body of Artillery, and nineteen of the Native Contingent, amongst them being several non-commissioned officers, whom we found exceedingly useful, two of them being at once selected as butchers, whilst two were 'promoted' to the rank of 'bakers to the troops.' Others attended to the sanitary arrangements of the garrison, and altogether they were found to be also exceedingly useful. As a portion of the column, the company of Pioneers under the command of Captain Beddoes did a great deal of very important work. This company was composed of ninety-eight natives, one captain, and three lieutenants, and their proceedings in connection with the making of the new road were watched with much interest. They worked with the Naval Brigade, about three companies of soldiers, and several men of the Royal Artillery. This road was found useless, in consequence of the numerous swampy places at the foot of each of the numerous hills which occurred along the route. Very thick bush had to be cut through, and at first but slow progress was made. The road, as is generally known, took a direction towards the Inyezane. Whilst out on one occasion, the road party saw a torpedo explosion which took place about three miles from where the party was working. It had been accidentally fired by Kaffirs, who were unaware of the clangers connected with the implement, and it is believed that several of them were killed. The road was altogether a bad one. The relief column used it on their way up, but only the Pioneers and the mounted men went by that route on the way back. In fact, it would have been useless to have attempted to use it for the passage of waggons. Whenever the road party went out they were fired on by Kaffirs, but of course shots were returned, and many a Zulu warrior was knocked over whilst the work was being proceeded with. Everything in camp was conducted in a most orderly manner. We were roused at half-past five sharp, and at eight o'clock, sharp, lights were out. For one month we existed very comfortably on full rations, but at the end of that time we were put on short rations, made up as follows:--One pound and a quarter of trek-oxen beef, six ounces of meal, one ounce and a quarter of sugar, third of an ounce of coffee, one sixth of an ounce of tea, one ninth of an ounce of pepper, and a quarter of an ounce of salt. "Life of course was very monotonous. The bands of the two regiments played on alternate afternoons, and every morning they were to be heard practising outside the entrenchment. The most pleasant part of the day was just after six o'clock, when we used to be enlivened in the cool of the evening by the fife and drum band playing the 'Retreat.' The water with which we were supplied was indeed excellent, and the bathing places, I need not say, were very extensively patronised. The grazing was not nearly sufficient for the cattle, and from the first they must have suffered very much from want of nourishment. You will have heard of the fate of the eleven hundred head of oxen and the span of donkeys which we sent away from the camp in expectation of their reaching the Lower Tugela. They left us in charge of nineteen Kaffirs, but at the Inyezane they were attacked by a large body of Kaffirs. The natives in charge of the cattle decamped and reached the fort in safety, and the enemy got possession of the whole of the cattle, which they drove off. The donkeys were all killed with the exception of one, and this sagacious animal surprised everybody in camp by returning soon after the Kaffirs had come back." The prices of food at this time were scarcely in keeping with those of the London market. A bottle of pickles fetched 25s., and a ham £7, 10s.! Milk was purchasable for 23s. a tin, and sardines for 12s. As may be imagined, the arrival of Lord Chelmsford at Eshowe was a matter for general thanksgiving. One who was present records in _Blackwood's Magazine_ the joy on the arrival of the first outsiders: "On the afternoon of the 3rd of April, the column detailed on the 31st of March (about 500 whites and 50 blacks, and the mounted infantry, with one gun) left the fort under General Pearson, to meet the relief column.... A solitary horseman was seen towards 5 P.M. galloping up the new road to the fort. He had an officer's coat on, and we could see a sword dangling from his side. Who is he?... He proved to be the correspondent of the _Standard_. 'First in Eshowe,' he said, 'proud to shake hands with an Eshowian.' A second horseman appeared approaching the fort, his horse apparently much blown, Who is he?... The correspondent of the _Argus_ (Cape Town). They had a race who would be first at Eshowe, the _Standard_ winning by five minutes!" Thus ended happily the crushing anxiety under which Colonel Pearson and his party had lived, and the foretaste of the future triumph seemed already to remove the memory of many weeks of bitterness. Serious differences of opinion soon arose between Lord Chelmsford and Sir Henry Bulwer, the Governor of Natal, but on the intricacies of these it is unnecessary to dwell; suffice it to say, that they were in a measure the cause of Sir Garnet Wolseley's arrival on the scene somewhat later, as Sir Garnet united in his own person both supreme civil and supreme military power. A complete account of the movements of the various columns during the dreary months that elapsed before the final victory at Ulundi on the 4th of July cannot be attempted here. The history of skirmishes and raids, of daring sorties, of captures of cattle, and gallantry of troops, of hopes and disappointments, of successes and scares, of hardships and horrors, would fill many pages that must be otherwise occupied. Yet one tragic and memorable event of the war cannot be passed over, for we lost a gallant volunteer whose young life was full of promise and distinction. At the beginning of June the Prince Imperial of France, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, having studied at the Military College at Woolwich, and desiring to see war in all its reality, was attached to the Quartermaster-General's department at General Newdigate's camp. He set out with a reconnoitring party consisting of Lieutenant Carey of the 98th Regiment, six men of Bellington's Horse, and a Kaffir. The place they intended to reach was situated between the camps of Lord Chelmsford and General Wood. Having gained a picturesque spot near a brook which forms a tributary to the Tlyotyozi River, the Prince decided to sketch. He was a clever draughtsman, and had some ability in recognising the capabilities of positions. The party afterwards moved on, examining various empty kraals by the way. At one of these they halted, and the Prince gave orders to "off-saddle" for an hour. The place seemed deserted; there were remains of a recent cooking fire, and a stray dog or two sniffed suspiciously at the strangers. Round this spot near the river tambookie grass about six feet in height formed a screen. The officers made coffee, turned out their horses to graze, and lay for a short rest in the peaceful security of a complete, or seemingly complete, desolation. But unknown to them, fifty Zulus, tiger-like, had crawled from ambush and were preparing to spring. It was from the cover of the river vegetation that they eventually burst forth. A hurried order to remount, and the crash of rifles at a distance of twenty yards followed. The tragic scene is well described by Mr. A. Wilmot in his "History of the Zulu War":-- "At this time the party were standing in a line close to their horses, with their backs to the kraal and their faces turned eastward, the Prince being in front and nearest to the Zulus. Then with a tremendous cry, 'Usutu!' and 'Lo, the English cowards!' the savages rushed on. The horses immediately swerved, and some broke away. An undoubted panic seized the party; every one who could spring on his horse mounted and galloped for his life. There was no thought, no idea of standing fast and resisting this sudden attack. The Prince was unwounded, but unable to mount his charger, which was sixteen hands high and always difficult to mount. On this occasion the horse became so frightened by the firing and sudden stampeding as to rear and prance in such a manner as to make it impossible for the Prince to gain the saddle. Many of the others saw the difficulty, but none waited or tried to give the least assistance. One by one they rushed their horses past, Private le Tocq exclaiming as he went by, lying across his saddle, 'Dépêchez-vous, s'il vous plaît, monsieur!' The Prince, making no reply, strained every nerve, but, alas! in vain, to gain the back of his horse, holding his stirrup-leather with his left hand and the saddle with his right. With the help of the holster he made one desperate effort, but the holster partially gave way, and it must have been then that the horse trod upon him and galloped off, leaving his master prostrate on the ground. The Prince then regained his feet and ran after his friends, who were far in advance. Twelve or thirteen Zulus were at this time only a few feet behind him. The Prince then turned round, and, sword in hand, faced his pursuers. From the first he had never called for help, and now died bravely with his face to the foes, fighting courageously to the last. "It is thought that the Zulus hurled their assegais at him, and that he quickly fell dead, pierced through the eye by a mortal wound." There is a certain sad satisfaction in remembering that this noble youth, the hope of France, the worthy descendant of a great name, should have died as a soldier and without more than a moment's suffering. The rest of the party had galloped off at full speed, thinking each was engaged in the business of getting away. Lieutenant Carey, who has been blamed for not having stood by the Prince in his perilous position, shouted orders and imagined they were followed, and in his hasty retreat had not time to do more than believe the whole party thus surprised were galloping away together. Arguments regarding this deplorable affair have been so many that it is best to quote the evidence taken at the court-martial and the statement of Lieutenant Carey:-- "The Court is of opinion that Lieutenant Carey did not understand the position in which he stood towards the Prince, and, as a consequence, failed to estimate aright the responsibility which fell to his lot. Colonel Harrison states that the senior combatant officer, Lieutenant Carey, D.A.Q.M.G., was, as a matter of course, in charge of the party, whilst, on the other hand, Carey says, when alluding to the escort, 'I did not consider I had any authority over it after the precise and careful instructions of Lord Chelmsford as to the position the Prince held.' As to his being invariably accompanied by an escort in charge of an officer, the Court considers that the possibility of such a difference of opinion should not have existed between two officers of the same department. The Court is of opinion that Carey is much to blame for having proceeded on the duty in question with a portion only of the escort detailed by Colonel Harrison. The Court cannot admit the irresponsibility for this on the part of Carey, inasmuch as he took steps to obtain the escort and failed in so doing. Moreover, the fact that Harrison was present upon the Itelezi range gave him the opportunity of consulting him on the matter, of which he failed to avail himself. The Court, having examined the ground, is of opinion that the selection of the kraal, where a halt was made and the horses off-saddled, surrounded as it was by cover for the enemy, and adjacent to difficult ground, showed a lamentable want of military prudence. The Court deeply regrets that no effort was made after the attack to rally the escort, and to show a front to the enemy, whereby the possibility of aiding those who had failed to make good their retreat might have been ascertained.--Signed by General MARSHALL; Colonel MALTHUS, 94th Regiment; Major LE GRICE, R.A." On this report a court-martial was summoned by Lord Chelmsford for the trial of Lieutenant Carey for having misbehaved before the enemy on the 1st June 1879, when in command of an escort in attendance on the Prince, who was making reconnaissances in Zululand; in having, when the Prince and escort were attacked by the enemy, galloped away, and in not having attempted to rally them or otherwise defend the Prince. The Court, under the presidency of Colonel Glyn, consisted of Colonels Whitehead, Courtney, Harness, Major Bouverie, and Major Anstruther. Judge-Advocate Brander prosecuted, and Captain Crookenden, R.A., was for the defence. When the Court opened the plan of the ground was proved. Corporal Grubb said the Prince gave the order "Off saddle" at the kraal, and "Prepare to mount." The Prince mounted. After the volley he saw Carey putting spurs to his horse, and he did the same. He saw Abel fall, and Rogers trying to get a shot at the Zulus. Le Tocq passed him and said, "Put spurs to your horse, boy; the Prince is down!" He looked round and saw the Prince under his horse. A short time after the Prince's horse came up, and he (Grubb) caught it. No orders were given to rally. Le Tocq was called and said: The Prince told the natives to search the kraals, and finding no one there they off saddled. At the volley he mounted, but, dropping his carbine, stopped to pick it up. In remounting he could not get his leg over the saddle. He passed the Prince, and said in French, "Hasten to mount your horse." The Prince did not answer. He saw the Prince's horse treading on his leg. The Prince was in command of the party. He believed Carey and the Prince would have passed on different sides of a hut in fast flight, and it was possible that Carey might have failed to see that the Prince was in difficulties. It was 250 yards from where he saw the Prince down to the spot where he died. Trooper Cochrane was called and said: The Prince was not in the saddle at the time of mounting. He saw about fifty yards off the Prince running down the donga with fourteen Zulus in close pursuit. Nothing was done to help him. He heard no orders given, and did not tell Carey what he had seen until some time after. He was an old soldier. He did not think any rally could have been made. The Court then adjourned to the next day. On reassembling, the first witness called was Sergeant Willis, who stated that he had seen Trooper Rogers lying on the ground by the side of his horse, close to the kraal, as he left the spot. He thought he saw the Prince wounded at the same time that Trooper Abel threw up his arms. He thought the Prince might have been dragged to the place where he was found after death, and that a rally might have been made twenty yards beyond the donga. Colonel Harrison being called, stated that Carey was senior combatant officer, and must therefore have been in command of the party. Carey volunteered to go on the reconnaissance to verify certain points of his sketch. The Prince was ordered to go to report more fully on the ground. He had given the Prince into Carey's charge. Examined by the Court, Colonel Harrison stated that when the Prince was attached to his department he was not told to treat him as a royal personage in the matter of escort, but as any other officer, taking due precaution against any possible danger. Dr. Scott (the Prince's medical attendant) was then called, and stated that the Prince was killed by eighteen assegai wounds, any five of which would have been fatal. There were no bullet wounds. The Prince died where the body was found. This closed the case for the prosecution. The defence called again Colonel Harrison, who testified to Carey's abilities as a staff officer, and said he had every confidence in him. Colonel Bellairs was also called, and stated that it was in consequence of the occurrence of the 1st June that Carey had been deposed from his staff appointment the day previous to his trial. Lieutenant Carey here submitted that his case had been pre-judged, and that he had been punished before his trial. The following is Lieutenant Carey's statement:-- "On the 31st May I was informed by Colonel Harrison, A.Q.M.G., that the Prince Imperial was to start on the 1st June to ride over the road selected by me for the advance of the column, for the purpose of selecting a camping-ground for the 2nd June. I suggested at once that I should be allowed to go with him, as I knew the road and wanted to go over it again for the purpose of verifying certain points. To this Colonel Harrison consented, reminding me that the Prince was going at his own request to do this work, and that I was not to interfere with him in any way. For our escort, six Europeans of Bettington's Horse and six Basutos were ordered. Bettington's men were paraded at 9 A.M., but owing to some misunderstanding the Basutos did not turn up, and, the Prince being desirous of proceeding at once, we went without them. On arriving at the ridge between Itelezi and Incenci, I suggested waiting for them, but the Prince replied, 'Oh no; we are quite strong enough,' or words to that effect. We proceeded on our reconnaissance from there, halting about half-an-hour on a high hill overlooking the Ityotyozi for the Prince to sketch. From here the country was visible for miles, and no sign of the enemy could be discovered. We then descended into the valley, and, entering a kraal, off saddled, knee-haltering our horses. We had seen the deserted appearance of the country, and, though the kraal was to the right, surrounded by mealies, we thought there was no danger in encamping. If any blame is attributable to any one for this, it is to me, as I agreed with the Prince that we were perfectly safe. I had been over this ground twice before and seen no one, and the brigade-major of the cavalry brigade had ridden over it with only two or three men, and laughed at me for taking so large an escort. We had with us a friendly Zulu, who, in answer to my inquiries, said no Zulus were about. I trusted him, but still kept a sharp look-out, telescope in hand. In about an hour--that is, 3.40 P.M.--the Prince ordered us to saddle up. We went into the mealies to catch our horses, but took at least ten minutes saddling. While doing so, the Zulu guide informed us he had seen a Zulu in the distance, but as he did not appear concerned, I saw no danger. The Prince was saddled up first, and, seeing him ready, I mounted, the men not being quite ready. The Prince then asked if they were all ready; they answered in the affirmative, and he gave the word, 'Prepare to mount.' At this moment I turned round, and saw the Prince with his foot in the stirrup, looking at the men. Presently I heard him say, 'Mount,' and turning to the men saw them vault into their saddles. At this moment my eyes fell on about twenty black faces in the mealies, twenty to thirty yards off, and I saw puffs of smoke and heard a rattling volley, followed by a rush, with shouts of 'Usutu!' There was at once a stampede. Two men rushed past me, and as every one appeared to be mounted, I dug the spurs into my horse, which had already started of his own accord. I felt sure no one was wounded by the volley, as I heard no cry, and I shouted out, 'Keep to the left, and cross the donga, and rally behind it!' At the same time I saw more Zulus in the mealies on our left flank, cutting off our retreat. I crossed the donga behind two or three men, but could only get beyond one man, the others having ridden off. Riding a few hundred yards on to the rise, I stopped and looked round. I could see the Zulus after us, and saw that the men were escaping to the right, and that no one appeared on the other side of the donga. The man beside me then drew my attention to the Prince's horse, which was galloping away on the other side of the donga, saying, 'I fear the Prince is killed, sir!' I immediately said, 'Do you think it is any use going back?' The trooper pointed to the mealies on our left, which appeared full of Kaffirs, and said, 'He is dead long ago, sir; they assegai wounded men at once.' I considered he had fallen near the kraal, as his horse was going from that direction, and it was useless to sacrifice more lives. I had but one man near me, the others being some 200 yards down the valley. I accordingly shouted to them to close to the left, and rode on to gain a drift over the Tombokala River, saying to the man at my side, 'We will keep back towards General Wood's camp, not returning the same way we came, and then come back with some dragoons to get the bodies.' We reached camp about 6.30 P.M. When we were attacked our carbines were unloaded, and, to the best of my belief, no shots were fired. I did not see the Prince after I saw him mounting, but he was mounted on a swift horse, and I thought he was close to me. Besides the Prince, we lost two troopers, as well as the friendly Zulu. Two troopers have been found between the donga and the kraal, covered with assegai wounds. They must have fallen in the retreat and been assegaied at once, as I saw no fighting when I looked round." The court-martial condemned Lieutenant Carey, and he was sent home under arrest. But eventually, owing to the intervention of the bereaved Empress, and many sympathetic friends, the unfortunate officer was released. The news of the calamity was received with profound grief throughout the country. Some mourned the death of a Prince, some sighed over the extinction of Napoleonic hopes, officers regretted the loss of a promising comrade, and mothers spent tears of sympathy for the great lady, Empress and mother, who had thus been bereft of her only child. THE VICTORY To return to the progress of the war. On the 26th of June the long-expected junction of the columns was on the eve of being effected. Cetchwayo was pretending to make overtures for peace, though at the same time his people were endeavouring to enter into alliance with rebellious Boers. He even sent the sword of the Prince Imperial as a peace-offering. On the envelope, however, his amanuensis, one Cornelius Vjin (a Dutchman), pencilled the fact that the king had 20,000 men with him. The reply of Lord Chelmsford was as follows:---- "If the Induna, Mundula, brings with him the 1000 rifles taken at Isandlwana, I will not insist on 1000 men coming in to lay down their arms, if the Zulus are afraid to come. He must bring the two guns and the remainder of the cattle. I will then be willing to negotiate. As he has caused me to advance by the great delay he has made, I must now go to the Umvolosi to enable my men to drink. I will consent, pending negotiations, to halt on the further bank of the river, and will not burn any kraals until the 3rd of July, provided no opposition is made to my advance to the position on the Umvolosi, by which day, the 3rd of July, at noon, the conditions must be complied with. If my force is fired on, I shall consider negotiations are at an end, and to avoid any chance of this, it is best that Mundula come to my camp at daybreak or to-night, and that the Zulus should withdraw from the neighbourhood of the river to Ulundi. I cannot stop the general in command of the coast army until these conditions are complied with." Of course nothing was seen of Mundula, and preparations were made for the reception of the enemy. Newdigate and Wood laagered their waggons and prepared for the arrival of an impi of some 20,000 Zulus advancing from Ulundi. On the following day a large force under Colonel Buller advanced to Nodwengu kraal, and some stragglers were killed. One of these was struck by Lord William Beresford, who, in the sporting manner characteristic of him, cried, "First spear, by Jove!" On the morning of the memorable 4th of July the army, crossing Umvolosi River, marched to a higher plateau--where once the Zulus had vanquished the Boers--there to prepare for battle. The Zulus, some 20,000 strong, after many war dances and cries, were marshalled forth by their king to an open plain between the Nodwengu and Ulundi kraals. Our troops were formed up in a hollow parallelogram, in the centre being the native contingent with ammunition waggons. The four sides of this parallelogram were formed of eight companies of the 13th Regiment, five of the 80th Regiment, the 90th, 58th, and 34th Regiments, together with the 17th Lancers and the mounted irregulars. At the corners and centre artillery was placed. The Zulus advanced steadily, in horn fashion, with their characteristic coolness and courage. The deadly fusillade from our guns had no perceptible effect. On and on they came, surging in a dense brown crescent, till within twenty yards of the British lines, when, with the hail and storm of bullets crashing and blinding them, they hesitated! That moment's hesitation was fatal--their one chance slipped! A few warriors rushed onwards, many wavered, and gradually the powerful horns were broken and disorganised. Then our Lancers with a gallant charge dashed into the fray, plunging into the black swarm that still met fury with fury. Captain Edgell was killed, and many other officers had miraculous escapes. Once the enemy strove to rally, but the effort was hopeless, and the magnificent Zulu warriors were forced at last to turn and flee. Their defeat was signal. Though the enemy numbered 20,000 to 5000 of our troops, the Lancers with the Irregular Horse did splendid work, and ere all was over 1000 Zulus bit the dust. Then came the final march to Ulundi. This place, wholly deserted, was fired, and while the sky glowed with red and gold reflections of the conflagration, the victorious forces, worn out yet triumphant, returned to the laagered camp they had left at daybreak. [Illustration: THE BATTLE OF ULUNDI--FINAL RUSH OF THE ZULUS. THE BRITISH SQUARE IN THE DISTANCE. Drawing by R. Caton Woodville.] The first news of the victory was carried to the Colony by Mr. Archibald Forbes, the war correspondent of the _Daily News_, who was himself wounded in the struggle. Starting instantly after the decisive battle, in fourteen hours he rode a distance of 110 miles to the nearest telegraph station at Landman's Drift, on the Buffalo River. In thus exposing his life in the interests not only of his journal but his country, he for ever associated himself with one of the most interesting and thrilling campaigns of the century. Lord Chelmsford's despatch gives a concise description of the day's work:-- "Cetchwayo, not having complied with my demands by noon yesterday, July 3, and having fired heavily on the troops at the water, I returned the 114 cattle he had sent in and ordered a reconnaissance to be made by the mounted force under Colonel Buller. This was effectually made, and caused the Zulu army to advance and show fight. "This morning a force under my command, consisting of the second division, under Major-General Newdigate, numbering 1870 Europeans, 530 natives, and eight guns, and the flying columns under Brigadier-General Wood, numbering 2192 Europeans, 573 natives, four guns, and two Gatlings, crossed the Umvolosi River at 6.15, and marching in a hollow square, with the ammunition and entrenching tool carts and bearer company in its centre, reached an excellent position between Nodwengu and Ulundi, about half-past 8 A.M. This had been observed by Colonel Buller the day before. "Our fortified camp on the right bank of the Umvolosi River was left with a garrison of about 900 Europeans, 250 natives, and one Gatling gun, under Colonel Bellairs. Soon after half-past seven the Zulu army was seen leaving its bivouacs and advancing on every side." "The engagement was shortly afterwards commenced by the mounted men. By nine o'clock the attack was fully developed. At half-past nine the enemy wavered; the 17th Lancers, followed by the remainder of the mounted men, attacked them, and a general rout ensued. "The prisoners state that Cetchwayo was personally commanding and had made all the arrangements himself, and that he witnessed the fight from Gikarzi kraal, and that twelve regiments took part in it. If so, 20,000 men attacked us. "It is impossible to estimate with any correctness the loss of the enemy, owing to the extent of country over which they attacked and retreated, but it could not have been less, I consider, than 1000 killed. By noon Ulundi was in flames, and during the day all military kraals of the Zulu army and in the valley of the Umvolosi were destroyed. At 2 P.M. the return march to the camp of the column commenced. The behaviour of the troops under my command was extremely satisfactory; their steadiness under a complete belt of fire was remarkable. The dash and enterprise of the mounted branches was all that could be wished, and the fire of the artillery very good. A portion of the Zulu force approached our fortified camp, and at one time threatened to attack it. The native contingent, forming a part of the garrison, were sent out after the action, and assisted in the pursuit. "As I have fully accomplished the object for which I advanced, I consider I shall now be best carrying out Sir Garnet Wolseley's instructions by moving at once to Entonganini, and thence to Kmamagaza. I shall send back a portion of this force with empty waggons for supplies, which are now ready at Fort Marshall." All were rejoiced that Lord Chelmsford should have been able to gain this victory before the arrival on the scene of Sir Garnet Wolseley, and there were many among his friends who regretted when he resigned. The following quotation from the _London Gazette_ explains the most conspicuous of the brave deeds that were done during this campaign, though there were many more which came near to rivalling them, so many, indeed, that it would have been impossible to have given honours to all who deserved them:-- "WAR OFFICE, _June 17_. "The Queen has been graciously pleased to signify her intention to confer the decoration of the Victoria Cross on the undermentioned officers and soldier of her Majesty's army, whose claims have been submitted for her Majesty's approval for their gallant conduct during the recent operations in South Africa, as recorded against their names, viz.:-- "Captain and Brevet-Lieutenant-Colonel Redvers H. Buller, C.B., 60th Rifles, for his gallant conduct at the retreat at Zlobane on the 28th of March 1879, in having assisted, while hotly pursued, by Zulus, in rescuing Captain C. D'Arcy, of the Frontier Light Horse, who was retiring on foot, and carrying him on his horse until he overtook the rear-guard; also for having on the same date and under the same circumstances conveyed Lieutenant C. Everitt of the Frontier Light Horse, whose horse had been killed under him, to a place of safety. Later on Colonel Buller, in the same manner, saved a trooper of the Frontier Light Horse, whose horse was completely exhausted, and who otherwise would have been killed by the Zulus, who were within eighty yards of him. "Major William K. Leet, first battalion 13th Regiment, for his gallant conduct on the 28th of March 1879, in rescuing from the Zulus Lieutenant A. M. Smith of the Frontier Light Horse, during the retreat from Zlobane. Lieutenant Smith while on foot, his horse having been shot, was closely pursued by the Zulus, and would have been killed had not Major Leet taken him upon his horse and rode with him, under the fire of the enemy, to a place of safety. "Surgeon-Major James Henry Reynolds, Army Medical Department, for the conspicuous bravery during the attack at Rorke's Drift on the 22nd and 23rd of January 1879, which he exhibited in his attention to the wounded under fire, and in his voluntarily conveying ammunition from the store to the defenders of the hospital, whereby he exposed himself to a cross fire from the enemy both in going and returning. "Lieutenant Edward S. Browne, first battalion 24th Regiment, for his gallant conduct on the 29th March 1879, when the Mounted Infantry were being driven in by the enemy at Zlobane, in galloping back and twice assisting on his horse, under heavy fire and within a few yards of the enemy, one of the mounted men, who must otherwise have fallen into the enemy's hands. "Private Wassell, 80th Regiment, for his gallant conduct in having, at the imminent risk of his own life, saved that of Private Westwood of the same regiment. On the 22nd of January 1879, when the camp at Isandlwana was taken by the enemy, Private Wassell retreated towards the Buffalo River, in which he saw a comrade struggling and apparently drowning. He rode to the bank, dismounted, leaving his horse on the Zulu side, rescued the man from the stream, and again mounted his horse, dragging Private Westwood across the river, under a heavy shower of bullets." CHAPTER III SIR GARNET WOLSELEY AT PRETORIA Our disaster at Isandlwana caused enormous excitement in Pretoria. Great and unconcealed rejoicing among the Boers took place; work was suspended, all heads were put together to make capital out of Great Britain's misfortunes. Notices were sent out on the 18th of March, summoning the burghers to a mass meeting to be held some thirty miles from the town. These meetings, it must here be noted, were scarcely attended by invitation. A large number of the people appeared on compulsion, brought "to the scratch" by threats. One of the menaces, a favourite one according to Mr. Rider Haggard, was that those who did not attend should be made "biltong" of when the country was given back. Biltong is meat cut into strips and hung in the sun to dry. The result of the notices, backed by threats, was a meeting of some three thousand armed Boers, who evidently meant mischief. The threatening aspect of the Boers caused the corps known as the Pretoria Horse, a corps raised for the purpose of acting as cavalry on the Zulu border, to be retained for service in and around the capital. While matters stood thus, and the general discontent seemed to portend even further hostilities, Sir Bartle Frere went to Pretoria for the purpose of discussing affairs with the Boer leaders. These all clamoured for their independence. They had gone as far as to assert it by stopping posts, carts, and persons, and sending armed patrols about the country. Nothing definite resulted from this attitude, however, for before very long the conclusion--the successful conclusion--of the Zulu war appeared imminent, and those in revolt against British authority saw plainly that there would shortly be troops in plenty at hand to restore law and order. Consequently for the time being they subsided. The loyal inhabitants of the Transvaal entertained Sir Bartle Frere prior to his departure, and at the public dinner given on that occasion at Potchefstrom, he took the opportunity to assure them that the Transvaal would never be given back! It may be interesting to some to know, that at a public meeting on the 24th of April in Pretoria, within a week of the breaking up of the camp which had been threatening its safety, the following resolution was passed:-- "This meeting reprobates most strongly the action of a certain section of the English and Colonial press for censuring, without sufficient knowledge of local affairs, the policy and conduct of Sir Bartle Frere, and it desires not only to express its sympathy with Sir Bartle Frere, and its confidence in his policy, but also to go so far as to congratulate most heartily her Majesty the Queen, the Home Government, and ourselves, on possessing such a true, considerate, and faithful servant as his Excellency the High Commissioner." Having made allusion to Sir Bartle Frere's departure, it may be as well to explain that before the battle of Ulundi it was arranged that Sir Garnet Wolseley should be sent out from home to supersede Lord Chelmsford in the command of the army, Sir H. Bulwer as Governor of Natal, and Sir Bartle Frere as High Commissioner of the Transvaal, Natal, and all the eastern portion of South Africa. Sir Garnet reached Cape Town on the 28th of June, and proceeded without delay to Natal. But, as we know, before he could reach the seat of war the battle of Ulundi was won. The fighting was now at an end; the Zulus expressed themselves beaten, and Cetchwayo, after an exciting chase, which space does not permit us to describe, was taken prisoner on the 28th of August. He was afterwards removed to Cape Town, and rooms were given him in the castle. Hostilities having happily terminated in Zululand, Sir Garnet Wolseley then started for Pretoria. He there finally set up the government of a Crown Colony with a nominative Executive Council and Legislative Assembly. One of his first acts on reaching Pretoria was to issue a notable proclamation. It ran thus:---- "Whereas it appears, that notwithstanding repeated assurances of contrary effect given by her Majesty's representatives in this territory, uncertainty or misapprehension exists among some of her Majesty's subjects as to the intention of her Majesty's Government regarding the maintenance of British rule and sovereignty over the territory of the Transvaal: and whereas it is expedient that all grounds for such uncertainty or misapprehension should be removed once and for all beyond doubt or question: now therefore I do hereby proclaim and make known, in the name and on behalf of her Majesty the Queen, that it is the will and determination of her Majesty's Government that this Transvaal territory shall be, and shall continue to be for ever, an integral portion of her Majesty's dominions in South Africa." On the same subject Sir Bartle Frere, writing to England, said that he was very certain "that to give up the Transvaal is as little to be thought of as surrendering Ireland or India." In his opinion the Boer malcontents were few and inconsequential, most of the leaders and instigators being foreigners, who were personally interested in making themselves prominent, owing to the prevailing notion that the country would be given up. As to the effect of the abandonment of the Transvaal on the prospects of confederation he said: "To every colony concerned such a step would appear as a confession of weakness, of infirmity of purpose, and of disregard for solemn pledges and obligations, which would destroy all respect, all wish to belong to a Government which could so behave." In writing to Sir M. Hicks Beach, in December 1879, Sir Bartle gave his personal impression of the feeling in Pretoria at the time of the annexation:-- "When our power of enforcing the law and upholding the authority of Government were at the lowest, in April last, ... experienced men at Pretoria gave me, through Colonel Lanyon, the following estimate of the strength of parties in the malcontent camp. The educated and intelligent men of influence, who advocated the most extreme measures, or were prepared to acquiesce in them, were reckoned at not more than eight. Three, or perhaps four, were men of property in the Transvaal; the rest foreign adventurers, with no property and little weight beyond that due to their skill as political agitators. Their unflinching and uncompromising followers in the Boer camp were not reckoned at more than eighty. The disaffected waverers who, according to circumstances, would follow the majority either to acts of overt resistance to Government and lawless violence, or to grumble and disperse, 'accepting the inevitable,' were reckoned at about eight hundred at the outside. The rest of the camp, variously estimated as containing from sixteen hundred to four thousand in all, but probably never exceeding two thousand five hundred present at one time, were men brought to the camp by intimidation, compulsion, or curiosity, who would not willingly resist the authority of Government, and would, if assured of protection, prefer to side with it." Viewed in the light of later events, these opinions are extremely interesting and cannot be disregarded. [Illustration: OFFICER of the 16th LANCERS. Photo by Gregory and Co., London.] Before passing on, it is necessary to state that during the period from 1878 to 1879, the native chief Sekukuni--Cetchwayo's dog, as the blacks called him--had become obstreperous. He had been engaged in raids into the Transvaal--raids of the same character as those which, as has been already mentioned, had helped to bring about the collapse of the Republic. Colonel Rowland's expedition, which started in November 1878 for the suppression of this ruffian, was baffled by fever and horse sickness. Colonel Lanyon in the following June returned to the attack, and was on the eve of success, when Sir Garnet Wolseley (who arrived late in that month) sent orders to cease operations. These orders he found, on reaching the Transvaal, to be a mistake. Sekukuni was not a person to be trifled with nor ignored, so the campaign began again in November, with the result that within a period of eight days the chief's stronghold was taken and himself made prisoner. About fifty Europeans and some five hundred Swazi allies were killed or wounded. Here we see, within one year, how much was done for the protection of the Transvaal at the cost of British money and British blood. Looking back, it is easy to perceive that, but for our intervention, the South African Republic would have been slowly but effectually swallowed up. Cetchwayo and Sekukuni between them would have made a meal of the Transvaal. The brilliant and complete success of Sir Garnet Wolseley was highly praised, and the names of Colonel Lanyon, Captain Clark, R.A., and Captain Carrington especially mentioned as deserving a share of the credit for the accurate information they had collected during the previous months. So much having been done for the security of the Boers and for the maintenance of British prestige, it is no marvel that Sir Garnet Wolseley thought himself justified in expressing the trend of British policy in plain terms. At the dinner given at Pretoria on the 17th of December 1879 he took the opportunity of making the British programme well understood. He declared with emphasis that there could be no question of resigning the sovereignty of the country. "There is no Government," he said, "Whig or Tory, Liberal, Conservative, or Radical, who would dare under any circumstances to give back this country. They would not dare, because the English people would not allow them!" At that time it was evident that Sir Garnet had never heard the story of the philanthropic Belarmine, an individual who gave himself to the she-bear to save her and her young ones from starvation. Or, if the tale was known to him, he probably took it for what it was worth, and never foresaw that the British Government would emulate the action of the self-sacrificing lunatic, and spend precious blood for the sole purpose of nourishing and resuscitating the powers of a languishing enemy. MR. GLADSTONE OUT OF OFFICE AND IN OFFICE But British speeches and proclamations had ceased to impress the Boers. They had had too many of them, and they began to think the British Government a somewhat knock-kneed institution whose joints had ceased to hold together. Sir Garnet Wolseley, however, with characteristic energy and determination, dealt with the malcontents one by one, converting them, and causing them to sensibly consider on which side their bread was buttered. Indeed, so diplomatically did he conduct his work, that a sop was given to the aggressive Pretorius, who, instead of being put in prison as he deserved, was offered a seat on the Executive Council, with a salary attached. This he was inclined to jump at, but, at the time, public feeling ran too high to allow of his making a decision. The fact was that the political speeches delivered by Mr. Gladstone in the south of Scotland, during the months of November and December 1879, were putting a new complexion on affairs. They were reprinted all the world over, and they were profusely circulated among the Boers. The Boer leaders and obstructionists at once saw in this British statesman their saviour, and were convinced that, on the return of Mr. Gladstone to power, their independence would be assured. They therefore sent Messrs. Kruger and Joubert as a deputation to the Cape, and these two gentlemen persuaded the Cape Parliament to reject the Confederation Scheme then being proposed by Sir Bartle Frere. Selections from the attacks on the Government, from which the Boers then derived their encouragement and support, are here reprinted in order that the sincerity of Mr. Gladstone's attitude may be examined. Speaking in Edinburgh, he said of the Government:-- "They have annexed in Africa the Transvaal territory, inhabited by a free European, Christian, Republican community, which they have thought proper to bring within the limits of a Monarchy, although out of 8000 persons in that Republic qualified to vote upon the subject, we are told--and I have never seen the statement officially contradicted--that 6500 protested against it. These are the circumstances under which we undertake to transform Republicans into subjects of a Monarchy." Now, Sir T. Shepstone's despatches show that the ground on which the Transvaal was annexed was because the State was drifting into anarchy, was bankrupt, and was about to be destroyed by native tribes. He said "that most thinking men in the country saw no other way out of the difficulty," and Carlyle has taught us what is the proportion between thinking men and the general public. He also said, in the fifteenth paragraph of his despatch to Lord Carnarvon of the 6th of March 1877, that petitions signed by 2500 people, representing every class of the community, out of a total adult male population of 8000, had been presented to the Government of the Republic, setting forth its difficulties and dangers, and praying it "to treat with me for their amelioration or removal." He likewise stated, and with perfect truth, that many more would have signed had it not been for the terrorism that was exercised, and that all the towns and villages in the country desired the change. Mr. Gladstone went on to say:-- "We have made war on the Zulus. We have thereby become responsible for their territory; and not only this, but we are now, as it appears from the latest advices, about to make war upon a chief lying to the northward of the Zulus; and Sir Bartle Frere, who was the great authority for the proceedings of the Government in Afghanistan, has announced in South Africa that it will be necessary for us to extend our dominions until we reach the Portuguese frontier to the north. So much for Africa." At Dalkeith he remarked:-- "If we cast our eyes to South Africa, what do we behold? That a nation whom we term savages have, in defence of their own land, offered their naked bodies to the terribly improved artillery and arms of modern European science, and have been mowed down by hundreds and by thousands, having committed no offence, but having, with rude and ignorant courage, done what were for them, and done faithfully and bravely what were for them the duties of patriotism. You may talk of glory, you may offer rewards,--and you are right to give rewards to the gallantry of your soldiers, who I think are entitled not only to our admiration for courage, but to our compassion for the nature of the duties they have been called to perform--but the grief and pain none the less remain." At Glasgow he continued in the same strain:-- "In Africa you have before you the memory of bloodshed, of military disaster, the record of 10,000 Zulus--such is the computation of Bishop Colenso--slain for no other offence than their attempt to defend against your artillery, with their naked bodies, their hearths and homes, their wives and families. You have the invasion of a free people in the Transvaal, and you have, I fear, in one quarter or another--I will not enter into details, which might be injurious to the public interest--prospects of further disturbance and shedding of blood." These speeches, as may be imagined, did an incalculable amount of mischief. Besides fanning the smouldering sparks of discontent, they served up catchwords wholesale for that section of the British public whose political machinery is largely fed by catchwords. But, as has been decided by axiom, "any stick will serve to beat a dog with," and the Transvaal difficulty was a convenient weapon for the attack on the Government. The real feeling of the Boer community was an outside matter, and, as we shall presently see, had nothing to do with the case, though in March 1880 Mr. Gladstone had the satisfaction of receiving a letter from a committee of Boer malcontents, wherein "he was thanked for the great sympathy shown in their fate." The thanks were a little premature. In April 1880 the elections took place, and Mr. Gladstone came into power with a large majority. Then he was asked the great question: Would he maintain his oft-repeated pledge to retain the Transvaal, or would he continue to take up the tone of his Midlothian denunciations? The riddle was shortly to be solved. In the debate on the Queen's Speech the Prime Minister thus expressed himself: "I do not know whether there is an absolute union of opinion on this side of the House as to the policy in which the assumption of the Transvaal originated. Undoubtedly, as far as I am myself concerned, I did not approve of that assumption. I took no part in questioning it nor in the attempt to condemn it, because, in my opinion, whether the assumption was wise or unwise, it having been done, no good but only mischief was to be done by the intervention of this House. But whatever our original opinions were on that policy--and the opinions of the majority of those who sit on this side of the House were decidedly adverse to it--we had to confront a state of facts; and the main fact which met us was the existence of the large native population in the Transvaal, to whom, by the establishment of the Queen's supremacy, we hold ourselves to have given a pledge. That is the acceptance of facts, and that is the sense in which my right honourable friend, and all those who sit with him, may, if they think fit, say we accept the principles on which the late Government proceeded. It is quite possible to accept the consequences of a policy, and yet to retain the original difference of opinion with regard to the character of that policy as long as it was a matter of discussion." And shortly after he wrote to Messrs. Kruger and Joubert:-- "It is undoubtedly matter for much regret that it should, since the annexation, have appeared that so large a number of the population of Dutch origin in the Transvaal are opposed to the annexation of that territory, but it is impossible to consider that question as if it were presented for the first time. We have to deal with a state of things which has existed for a considerable period, during which obligations have been contracted, especially, though not exclusively, towards the native population, which cannot be set aside. "Looking to all the circumstances, both of the Transvaal and the rest of South Africa, and to the necessity of preventing a renewal of disorders, which might lead to disastrous consequences, not only to the Transvaal, but to the whole of South Africa, our judgment is, that the Queen cannot be advised to relinquish her sovereignty over the Transvaal, but, consistently with the maintenance of that sovereignty, we desire that the white inhabitants of the Transvaal should, without prejudice to the rest of the population, enjoy the fullest liberty to manage their local affairs. We believe that this liberty may be most easily and promptly conceded to the Transvaal as a member of a South African Confederation." THE COMMENCEMENT OF REBELLION When the Liberal Ministry came into power, it will be observed, Mr. Gladstone's attitude changed, and that he was compelled to abandon the sympathetic tone of his Midlothian speeches. How far he really meant to be bound by the promise made that "the Queen cannot be advised to relinquish her sovereignty over the Transvaal" is not known, for later on, in June 1881, in a letter to the Transvaal loyalists, he explains that there was "no mention of the terms or date of this promise. If the reference be to my letter of the 8th of June 1880 to Messrs. Kruger and Joubert, I do not think the language of that letter justifies the description given. Nor am I sure in what manner, or to what degree, the fullest liberty to manage their local affairs, which I then said her Majesty's Government desired to confer on the white population of the Transvaal, differs from the settlement now about being made in its bearing on the interests of those whom your committee represents." This letter was a masterpiece of one whose talent for ambiguity was becoming world famous, and a stone in shape of a loaf was thus hurled at the heads of the expectant loyalists. But to return to the events of 1880. Finding that the Premier was no longer to be the mainstay of their hopes, the Boers began to renew their agitations. These agitations, it will be remembered, during the end of the Zulu war and Sir Garnet Wolseley's arrival in the Transvaal, were merely suppressed, because at that time British ascendency throughout the country seemed to be established. An excellent opportunity for rebellion now suggested itself. The Cape Government was engaged with the Basuto war. Sir Owen Lanyon, who succeeded Sir T. Shepstone in March 1879, had supplied a body of 300 or more volunteers--mostly loyalists--to assist in the military operations, while the only regiment of cavalry had been sent elsewhere by Sir Garnet Wolseley. Big things have often small beginnings, and the Boer rebellion, that has brought so many complications in its train, commenced with a very small incident. A certain Bezeidenhout, having refused to pay his taxes, had, by order, some of his goods seized and put up to auction. This was the signal for the malcontents to attack the auctioneer and rescue the goods. So great became the uproar and confusion, the women aiding and abetting the men in their disobedience of the law, that military assistance was summoned. Major Thornhill, with a few companies of the 21st Regiment, was sent to support the Landrost in arresting the rioters, and special constables were enrolled to assist him in restoring order. But these united exertions were unavailing. All attempts to carry out the arrests were openly set at defiance. This scene occurred on the 11th of November 1880. On the 26th Sir George Colley--who had relieved Sir Garnet Wolseley as Commander-in-Chief--was applied to for more troops. Sir George, who was daily expecting an outbreak of Pondos, and a possible appeal for help from Cape Colony, merely suggested that the "authorities should be assisted by the loyal inhabitants." This, it must be owned, was hard on the royalists, who from that time to this have had to pay dearly for their allegiance to the Crown. A mass meeting was held at Paade kraal, where Krugersdorp now stands, and the rioters unanimously decided to commit their cause to the Almighty, and to live or die in the struggle for independence. Thereupon Messrs. Kruger, Pretorius, and Joubert were elected a triumvirate to conduct the Government, and on the 16th of December 1880 (Dingaan's Day) the Republic was formally proclaimed, and its flag again hoisted. The proclamation, dealing with the events of the preceding years, and offering terms to her Majesty's Government, was forwarded to Sir Owen Lanyon. The Boer leaders therein expressed their willingness to enter into confederation and to guide their native policy by general rules adopted in concurrence "with the Colonies and States of South Africa," and at the same time declared that they had no desire for war or the spilling of blood. "It lies," they said, "in your hands to force us to appeal to arms in self-defence." On the very day of the proclamation, however, blood was shed. Commandant Cronjé, with a party of burghers, marched into Potchefstroom for the purpose of printing the proclamation. They promptly seized the printing-office, and Major Clarke, who thought it advisable to interfere, was refused admittance. Soon after a Boer patrol fired on our mounted infantry, who returned the compliment. That was the signal for the opening of hostilities. On this matter it may be urged that Boer reports differ from ours, but Boer veracity may be defined by the algebraic quantity _x_, and cannot be accepted. Lieutenant-Colonel Winsloe, of the 21st Regiment, who was commanding at a fort outside the village, signalled orders to Major Clarke to begin firing. This officer was fortified in the Landrost's office with a small force of some twenty soldiers and twenty civilians, while the Boers occupied positions in the surrounding houses. The siege lasted two days (during the 17th and the morning of the 18th), and then when one officer (Captain Falls) and five men had been killed and the thatched roof fired, Major Clarke deemed it best to surrender. Colonel Winsloe held the camp throughout the war, surrendering only after an armistice was declared. A still more terrible disaster was in store. Mr Rider Haggard, who is perhaps the best authority on the subject, describes it as a "most cruel and carefully planned massacre." Other writers, however, hold that the outrage could scarcely be called a massacre, since Colonel Anstruther had been fully warned of the risks he ran of Boer treachery and Boer artifice. It appears that Colonel Anstruther had received orders from Sir Owen Lanyon to concentrate his forces in Pretoria. Accordingly, he marched from Lydenburg--situated about 180 miles from Pretoria--with such troops as he had at his disposal. These were two companies of the 94th Regiment. They were accompanied by three women, two children, and a ponderous train of luggage-waggons. Their progress was necessarily slow, but the Colonel, in spite of having been warned of Boer ways and Boer tactics, evinced no anxiety. Indeed, from all accounts it appears that he followed the good old British habit of under-estimating the enemy's physical, while over-estimating his moral, qualities. For this reason he probably disregarded the precautions necessary after the warnings he had received on starting. Be this as it may, on the 20th of December he and his long waggon-train were nearing a point called Bronker's Spruit, about thirty-eight miles from Pretoria, when suddenly there appeared a huge crowd of some five hundred mounted Boers. From this crowd a man was seen approaching with a white flag. The column, about half a mile in length, halted; the band ceased; Colonel Anstruther advanced to the parley. The messenger then handed a letter. It was an intimation of the establishment of the South African Republic, and declared that till Sir Owen Lanyon's reply to the proclamation was received, and they were aware whether war was or was not declared, they could not allow the progress of troops. The Colonel's reply was plain. He was ordered to proceed to Pretoria, and proceed he would. Then, before Colonel Anstruther had rejoined his column, a volley was poured in on them by the farmers, who, emerging from the cover of rocks and trees, had gradually closed round the troops. A vigorous but short resistance followed. The Boers, skilled by long practice in marking their most cherished enemies, picked off the officers one by one. Seven out of nine dropped to their guns, while a perpetual hailstorm of bullets beat over men, women, and waggons. In a few minutes so many were disabled that the Colonel, himself mortally wounded, had to surrender. Out of the party 56 were killed and 101 wounded. One of these was a woman. A great deal was said at the time by British sympathisers of the kindness of the Boers to the prisoners and wounded of their antagonists; but the opinions of Mr. Rider Haggard and Sir Owen Lanyon are worth considering. The former, in writing of this engagement, says that "after the fight Conductor Egerton, with a sergeant, was allowed to walk into Pretoria to obtain medical assistance, the Boers refusing to give him a horse, or even allow him to use his own.... I may mention that a Zulu driver, who was with the rear-guard, and escaped into Natal, stated that the Boers shot all the wounded men who formed that body. His statement was to a certain extent borne out by the evidence of one of the survivors, who stated that all the bodies found in that part of the field, nearly three-quarters of a mile away from the head of the column, had a bullet-hole through the head or breast, in addition to their other wounds." The Administrator of the Transvaal in Council thus comments on the occurrence in an official minute: "The surrounding and gradual hemming in under a flag of truce of a force, and the selection of spots from which to direct their fire, as in the case of the unprovoked attack of the rebels upon Colonel Anstruther's force, is a proceeding of which very few like incidents can be mentioned in the annals of civilised warfare." Sir Owen Lanyon, writing from the scene of action in Pretoria, says--"The Boers were very clever in being kind to our wounded soldiers, for they well knew that such action would obtain sympathy at home. But where it was impossible for their deeds to become known their conduct was far from creditable to them. Poor Clarke and Raaf were kept for two months in a dark room, and were only allowed out twice for exercise. Barlow was robbed of everything, and only left the clothes he stood in. A Hollander, who is secretary to Cronjé at Potchefstrom, is still wearing the rings of poor Captain Falls, who was shot. Englishmen have been murdered, flogged, and robbed of everything. The Boers at Potchefstrom forced the prisoners of war to dig their trenches, and some were shot from the Fort while so employed. Woite and Van der Linden were shot as spies, because they had been in the Boer camp and left it some days before they proclaimed the Republic. Carolus, a Cape boy, was shot by Boer court-martial because he left the Fort when food became scarce. A white man and nine natives were similarly shot without any trial. Explosive bullets were used, notwithstanding that Colonel Winsloe pointed out to the Boer leader in a letter that such was against the rules of war." There is ample evidence that acts of treachery and barbarity similar to and worse than those mentioned by Colonel Lanyon were perpetrated by the insurgents. THE FATE OF CAPTAIN ELLIOT The sole officer who escaped from the massacre at Bronker's Spruit was Captain Elliot, who was subsequently treacherously murdered while crossing the Vaal. The account of this tragedy was given by Major Lambart in a report to Sir George Colley, and should be read by all who wish to get a fair view of the events of that period, particularly by those who insist on our brother-relationship to the Boers:-- "SIR,--I have the honour to report, for the information of his Excellency, that as I was returning from the Orange Free State on December 18 (where I had been on duty buying horses to mount Commandant Ferreira's men for the Basuto war, and also remounts for my troop of Mounted Infantry and the Royal Artillery), when about thirty miles from Pretoria, on the road from Heidelberg, I was suddenly taken prisoner by a party of twenty or thirty Boers, who galloped down on me (all around), and, capturing the horses, was taken back to Heidelberg. After being there some six or eight days, I was joined by Captain and Paymaster Elliot, 94th Regiment (the only officer not wounded in the attack on the detachment of the 94th Regiment), who arrived with some forty prisoners of war of the 94th Regiment. On the following day (the 24th of December) we received a written communication from the Secretary of the Republican Government, to the effect 'that the members of the said Government would call on us at 3.30 that day,' which they did. The purport of their interview being 'That at a meeting of Council they had decided to give us one of two alternatives. (1) To remain prisoners of war during hostilities in the Transvaal. (2) To be released on _parole, d'honneur_, that we would leave the Transvaal at once, cross into the Free State under escort, and not bear arms against the Republican Government during the war.' Time being given us for deliberation, Captain Elliot and myself decided to accept No. 2 alternative, and communicated the same to the Secretary of the South African Republic, who informed us, in the presence of the Commandant-General, P. Joubert, that we could leave next day, taking with us all our private property. The following days being respectively Christmas Day and Sunday, we were informed we could not start till Monday, on which day, having signed our _parole d'honneur_, my horses were harnessed, and we were provided with a duplicate of our parole or free pass, signed by Commandant-General, and escort of two men to show us the road to the nearest drift over the Vaal River, distant twenty-five miles, and by which P. Joubert personally told us both we should cross, as there was a punt there. We started about 1 P.M. from the Boer camp, passing through the town of Heidelberg. After going about six or eight miles I noticed we were not going the right road, and mentioned the fact to the escort, who said it was all right. Having been 'look-out' officer in the Transvaal, I knew the district well. I was certain we were going wrong, but we had to obey orders. At nightfall we found ourselves nowhere near the river drift; and were ordered to outspan for the night, and next morning the escort told us they would look for the drift. In spanning at daybreak we again started, but after driving about for some hours across country, I told the escort we would stop where we were while they went to search for the drift. Shortly after they returned and said they had found it, and we must come, which we did, eventually arriving at the junction of two rivers (Vaal and Klip), where we found the river Vaal impassable, but which they said we must cross. I pointed out that it was impossible to get my carriage or horses over by it, and that it was not the punt the General said we were to cross. The escort replied it was to Pretorius' Punt that the General told them to take us, and we must cross; that we must leave the carriage behind and swim the horses, which we refused to do, as we should then have had no means of getting on. I asked them to show me their written instructions, which they did (written in Dutch), and I pointed out that the name of Pretorius was not in it. I then told them they must either take us back to the Boer camp again or on to the proper drift. We turned back, and after going a few miles the escort disappeared. Not knowing where we were, I proposed to Captain Elliot we should go to the banks of the Vaal and follow the river till we came to the proper punt. After travelling all Monday, Tuesday, and up till Wednesday about 1 P.M., when we found ourselves four hours, or twenty-five miles, from Spencer's Punt, we were suddenly stopped by two armed Boers who handed us an official letter, which was opened and found to be from the Secretary to the Republican Government, stating that the members were surprised that as officers and gentlemen we had broken our _parole d'honneur_ and refused to leave the Transvaal; that if we did not do so immediately by the nearest drift, which the bearers would show us, we must return as prisoners of war; that as through our ignorance of the language of the country there might be some misunderstanding, they were loth to think we had willingly broken our promise. We explained that we should reply to the letter, and request them to take it to their Government, and were prepared to go with them at once. They took us back to a farmhouse, where we were told to wait till they fetched their Commandant, who arrived about 6 P.M., and repeated to us the same that was complained of in our letter of that day. We told him we were ready to explain matters, and requested him to take our answer back to camp. He then ordered us to start at once for the drift. I asked him, as it was then getting dark, if we could start early next morning, but he refused. So we started, he having said we should cross at Spencer's, being closest. As we left the farmhouse, I pointed out to him that we were going in the wrong direction, but he said, 'Never mind, come on across a drift close at hand.' When we got opposite it, he kept straight on; I called to him, and said this was where we were to cross. His reply was, 'Come on.' I then said to Captain Elliot, 'They intend taking us back to Pretorius,' a distance of some forty miles. Suddenly the escort (which had all at once increased from two to eight men, which Captain Elliot pointed out to me, and I replied, 'I suppose they are determined we shall not escape, which they need not be afraid of, as we are too keen to get over the border') wheeled sharp down to the river, stopped, and pointing to the banks, said, 'There is the drift; cross.' Being pitch dark, with vivid lightning, the river roaring past, and as I knew impassable, I asked, 'Had we not better wait till morning, as we do not know the drift?' They replied, 'No; cross at once.' I drove my horses into the river, when they immediately fell; lifted them, and drove on about five or six yards, when we fell into a hole. Got them out with difficulty, and advanced another yard, when we got stuck against a rock. The current was now so strong, and drift deep, my cart was turned over on to its side, and water rushed over the seat. I called out to the Commandant on the bank that we were stuck, and to send assistance, or might we return? to which he replied, 'If you do we will shoot you.' I then tried, but failed to get the horses to move. Turning to Captain Elliot, who was sitting beside me, I said, 'We must swim for it,' and asked could he swim? to which he replied, 'Yes.' I said, 'If you can't, I will stick to you, for I can.' While we were holding this conversation, a volley from the bank, ten or fifteen yards off, was fired into us, the bullets passing through the tent of my cart, one of which must have mortally wounded poor Elliot, who only uttered the single word 'Oh!' and fell headlong into the river from the carriage. I immediately sprang in after him, but was swept down the river under the current some yards. On gaining the surface of the water, I could see nothing of Elliot; I called out his name twice, but received no reply. Immediately another volley was fired at me, making the water hiss around where the bullets struck. I now struck out for the opposite bank, which I reached with difficulty in about ten minutes; but as it was deep, black mud, on landing I stuck fast, but eventually reached the top of the bank, and ran for about two thousand yards under a heavy fire the whole while. The night being pitch dark, but lit up every minute by vivid flashes of lightning, showed the enemy my whereabouts. I found myself now in the Free State, but where I could not tell, but knew my direction was south, while, though it was raining, hailing, and blowing hard, and bitterly cold, an occasional glimpse of the stars showed me I was going right. I walked all that night and next day till one o'clock, when I eventually crawled into a store kept by an Englishman called Mr. Groom, who did all in his power to help me. I had tasted no food since the previous morning at sunrise, and all the Dutch farmers refused me water, so without hat or coat (which I had left on banks of Vaal), and shoes worn through, I arrived exhausted at the above gentleman's place, who kindly drove me to Heilbron, where I took the post-cart to Maritzburg. I fear that Captain Elliot must have been killed instantly, as he never spoke, neither did I see him again. I have to mention that both Captain Elliot and myself, on being told by South African Republican Government that the soldiers who had been taken prisoners were to be released on the same conditions as ourselves, expressed a wish to be allowed to keep charge of them, which was refused, but we were told that waggons, food, and money should be supplied to take them down country. But when they reached Spencer's Punt over the Vaal were turned loose, without any of the above necessaries, to find their way down country. They met an English transport rider named Mr. F. Wheeler, who was going to Pietermaritzburg with his waggon, which had been looted by the Boers, and who kindly gave them transport, provided them with food, and is bringing them to the city, which, as I passed them at the Drakensburg on Tuesday, they should reach on Sunday next--consisting of one sergeant and sixty-one men, all that remain of our Leydenburg detachment and headquarters of the 94th Regiment.--I have the honour to remain, Sir, your obedient servant, "R. H. LAMBART, _Captain Royal Scots Fusiliers_." Major Lambart's report speaks more eloquently than many descriptions as to the character of the "simple-minded Boer." We discovered to our cost during the Indian Mutiny that the "gentle native" was not all our fancy painted him, and it may be as well to realise that our simple-minded and pious brother in the Transvaal is scarcely so righteous as we have been led to suppose. [Illustration: THE ORANGE RIVER AT NORVAL'S PONT. Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.] LAING'S NEK Since we have been tracing the causes of the Boer rebellion, it may be advisable to refer to a letter written on the 28th of December 1880 by Sir Bartle Frere to Mr. F. Greenwood, editor of the _St. James's Gazette_. He therein throws a most important light on the political position. He wrote: "In 1879, when I was among the Boers in the Transvaal, I found that the real wire-pullers of their Committee were foreigners of various nationalities, notably some Hollanders (not Africanders), imbued with German Socialist Republicanism, and an Irishman of the name of Aylward. I was told he was a man of great natural ability, educated as a solicitor, an ex-Fenian pardoned under another name (Murphy, I think), for turning Queen's evidence against others who had murdered the policeman at Manchester. Emigrating to the Diamond Fields, he was tried, convicted, and suffered imprisonment there for homicide. When he came out of prison he betook himself to the Transvaal and had a command of foreign free lances under Mr. Burgers, then President of the Transvaal Republic, in his unsuccessful attempt to take Secocoeni's stronghold. After the annexation of the Transvaal he came to England and published one of the few readable books on the Transvaal, and went out to Natal during the darkest hours of our Zulu troubles, seeking employment; but he was an impossible man, and was urging the Boers to rise at the same time that he was offering his services to me and Lord Chelmsford. Finally he settled at Pietermaritzburg, where he was, when I last heard of him, as editor of the _Witness_, writing anti-English republicanism and sedition with much ability, especially when opposing the Cape Government and its governor, whom he never forgave for warning the Boers against following Fenian advice. When I was in the Transvaal and afterwards I found him always connected with any opposition to the English Government. He knew all the leaders of the simple-minded but very suspicious Boers, and had gained their ear, so that he had no difficulty in persuading them to reject any good advice I offered them--'Wait-a-bit' being always the most acceptable suggestion you can offer to a Boer. "Directly I heard of the attack on our troops in the Transvaal, I felt assured that my old acquaintance was pulling the wires with a view to create a diversion in favour of his old colleagues in Ireland. "The attack took place apparently near the farm of Solomon Prinsloo, one of the most bitter malcontent Boers, who was always a firebrand, and who, when I visited the Boer camp in 1879, was with difficulty held back by Pretorius and Kruger from directing an attack upon us in Pretoria. I very much doubt whether, without some such external instigation, the Boers would have broken out.... "The facts I have mentioned and many more about Aylward are on record in Scotland Yard, and in the Colonial Office, and I am anxious you should know the truth and not attribute too much of the blame in this sad business to the unfortunate, misguided Boers, the victims of his bad advice, still less to any fault of Colonel Lanyon's administration." Sir Bartle was right in his conjecture, for Aylward had joined the insurgents and was one of the acknowledged leaders of Joubert's staff. Major-General Hope Crealock, in a letter to Sir Bartle, wrote (January 7, 1881): "A young Irishman named S----, who knew Aylward in Natal, and who was under my command in the Natal Pioneers, called on me to-night and told me Aylward formerly used to boast of being a Fenian, and vowed he would pay the English Government off for what he had got, by raising the Boers whenever Ireland was rising; and within the last few days has written to him saying he gloried in being one of the instigators of the present Boer revolt, &c., &c. He wrote from Utrecht...." It will be seen from these quotations that our relations with the Transvaal, hostile as they may have been, were scarcely true relations--that the real enmity and rancour, the blood-spilling and wretchedness that commenced at this period, and are at the moment of writing still continuing, were due, firstly, to party spirit in Great Britain, and secondly, to the machinations of adventurers, who, having no status elsewhere, put the ignorance of a race of farmers to their own vile uses. To return to the events of the last chapter. When Sir Owen Lanyon heard of the misfortune that had befallen Colonel Anstruther's troops, he issued a proclamation placing the country under martial law, and Sir George Colley, dreading the results of bad blood raised between Boers and British soldiers by the affair at Bronker's Spruit, caused the following general order to be published:-- "HEADQUARTERS, PIETERMARITZBURG, _December 28th, 1880_. "The Major-General Commanding regrets to inform the troops of his command, that a detachment of 250 men of the 94th Regiment, on its march from Leydenburg to Pretoria, was surprised and overwhelmed by the Boers--120 being killed and wounded, and the rest taken prisoners. The attack seems to have been made while the troops were crossing a spruit, and extended to guard a long convoy. The Major-General trusts to the courage, spirit, and discipline of the troops of his command, to enable him promptly to retrieve this misfortune, and to vindicate the authority of her Majesty and the honour of the British arms. It is scarcely necessary to remind soldiers of the incalculable advantage which discipline, organisation, and trained skill give them over numerous but undisciplined forces. These advantages have been repeatedly proved, and have never failed to command success in the end against greater odds, and greater difficulties, than we are now called on to contend with. To all true soldiers the loss we have suffered will serve as an incentive and stimulus to greater exertions; and the Major-General knows well he can rely on the troops he has to command, to show that endurance and courage which are the proud inheritance of the British army. The stain cast on our arms must be quickly effaced, and rebellion must be put down; but the Major-General trusts that officers and men will not allow the soldierly spirit which prompts to gallant action to degenerate into a feeling of revenge. The task now forced on us by the unprovoked action of the Boers is a painful one under any circumstances, and the General calls on all ranks to assist him in his endeavours to mitigate the suffering it must entail. We must be careful to avoid punishing the innocent for the guilty, and must remember, that though misled and deluded, the Boers are in the main a brave and high-spirited people, and actuated by feelings that are entitled to our respect. In the operations now about to be undertaken, the General confidently trusts that the good behaviour of the men will give him as much cause for pride and satisfaction as their conduct and gallantry before the enemy, and that the result of their efforts will be a speedy and successful termination to the war." The proclamation had a good effect, particularly among the Dutch, who, though loyal to the Crown, were much in sympathy with their kinsmen in the Transvaal. On the 23rd of January 1881, General Colley sent an ultimatum ordering the insurgents to disperse. Of this no notice was taken until General Joubert, from Laing's Nek on January the 29th, sent the following reply:---- "_To_ SIR GEORGE P. COLLEY. "We beg to acknowledge receipt of yours of the 23rd. In reply, we beg to state that, in terms of the letter, we are unable to comply with your request, as long as your Excellency addresses us as insurgents, and insinuates that we, the leaders, are wickedly misleading a lot of ignorant men. It is nearly hopeless for us to attempt to find the proper words for reply; but before the Lord we would not be justified if we did not avail ourselves of this, perhaps the last, opportunity of speaking to you as the representative of her Majesty the Queen and people of England, for whom we feel deep respect. We must emphatically repeat, we are willing to comply with any wishes of the Imperial Government tending to the consolidation and confederation of South Africa; and, in order to make this offer from our side as clear and unequivocal as possible,--although we have explained this point fully in all our documents, and especially in paragraphs 36 to 38 of our first proclamation,--we declare that we would be satisfied with a rescinding of the annexation and restoration of the South African Republic under a protectorate of her Majesty the Queen, so that once a year the British Flag shall be hoisted, all in strict accordance with the above-mentioned clauses of our first proclamation. If your Excellency resolves to reject this, we have only to submit to our fate; but the Lord will provide." Sir George Colley started on the 24th of January from Newcastle for the border. The road from Newcastle to Laing's Nek runs up a precipitous hill for three miles, and thence leads down the steep mountain of Skheyns Hoogte. The movement of the column was slow and laborious, the roads, if roads they could be called, were almost impassable owing to great ruts, mud-holes deep enough to bury a waggon up to the bed-planks, with boulders and other impediments thrown in. Here, as Laing's Nek is so prominent a feature in our history, it may be well to give Mr. Carter's concise description of the geographical nature of the position:-- "Laing's Nek is the lowest point in an unbroken ridge which connects the Majuba Mountain with hills running right up to the banks of the Buffalo River. A slight cutting, not more than four or five feet deep, forms the waggon road over this ridge; from the waggon road on either side the ground runs up somewhat abruptly, and is stony and irregular. How gentle the rise is to the Nek from the level ground in front of it towards Newcastle (and along which the approach is by the main road), may be judged from the fact that a horse can canter easily up the slope, or for the matter of that, over the two miles of ground which lead to the foot of the slope. From the top of the ridge to the level ground at the base is not more than five hundred yards. The chain of hills, in the centre of which is the Nek, is semicircular, the horns of the crescent pointing towards Newcastle, and offering strong positions for any force intent on defending the only practicable approach to the Nek; but to occupy these flank positions a large body of men would be necessary, as the area from point to point is great. On the reverse, or Coldstream side of the Nek, the ground at the foot of the incline is broken and marshy, a regular drain for all the water running from the surrounding hills." [Illustration: DRUM-MAJOR and DRUMMERS, COLDSTREAM GUARDS. Photo by Gregory and Co., London.] To return to the troops. While this column was advancing, the Boers were also advancing in a parallel line to the Nek. The following day, 25th, the British column reached the high ground overlooking the Ingogo River, where they encamped (here the engagement of the 8th of February took place). At dawn on the 26th the column again laboriously mounted the terrible steeps leading to Mount Prospect, and fixed their camp about four miles from the Nek. Owing to the abominable state of the weather the nearing of the Nek was not attempted, and attack was postponed till the following day. The night was passed at Mount Prospect, and a laager made. [Illustration] At six o'clock on the morning of the 28th the advance was sounded, and at 9.55 A.M. the guns began shelling the Nek. The Boers were not yet ready. Some took shelter behind the walls of Laing's Farmhouse, while others kept on the heights above, covered by the ridge from shells. Those in Laing's kraals had a warm time when the Naval Brigade began to play on them with their guns, and they soon evacuated the place. Those on the Nek, after being for twenty minutes under a hot fire, were beginning to think they had had enough of it, when our lines ceased firing, and the mounted squadron advanced to take a hillock--the most advanced spur of the Boer left flank position. The 58th also prepared to charge. The officers commanding the mounted squadron were Major Brownlow and Captain Hornby, while Colonel Deane, Major Essex (an officer with a charmed life, who survived Isandlwana and the engagement at the Ingogo heights), Major Poole, Lieutenant Elwes, and Lieutenant Inman were in front of the 58th. The leading companies of the 58th having got half-way up the rise--a heavy business considering the slipperiness of the slopes--the first troop of the mounted squadron charged the kopje, going to right and left of the lines taken by the 58th. No sooner were they within sight of the Boers than they were greeted by a heavy fire that emptied half their saddles. Still, those who were left mounted, reformed in a pouring shower of bullets, and again charged. But gallantry was of no avail, for there was no reserve to back up the charge of mounted troops. Seventeen men were killed and wounded, and thirty-two horses killed. The repulse of this charge took place just as the 58th gained sight of the foe, who, flushed with triumph, could now turn their attention from the mounted troops to the right flank of the 58th. The men, worn out with their sufficiently arduous task of climbing, crushed together, in consequence of their not having been ordered to deploy before making the ascent, dropped like nine-pins under the heavy fire of the Boers. Before the order to deploy could be carried out, volley after volley was delivered into their ranks, and an enfilading fire was opened by the Boers on their right flank with disastrous results. Meanwhile the Boers were well under cover behind their sheltered trenches, and it was impossible, while the 58th were coming to closer quarters with them, to fire from the plains below without risk to the assailants. As a natural consequence, therefore, the Boers, skilled as they are in marksmanship, were able at their leisure to pick off each man as he approached. Seeing that the Boers were more than a match for him, Colonel Deane resorted to the bayonet. But, just as the order was being obeyed his horse was shot under him. Rising again on the instant, and crying "I am all right," to encourage his men, he rushed on, heading his regiment, and again fell, this time mortally wounded. Major Hingeston, who then took command, fell also, and his gallant brother officers, Major Poole and Lieutenant Dolphin, shared the same fate. They were at that time within some thirty yards of the enemy. So great was our loss that the charge could not be sustained, and many officers, who still persisted in emptying their revolvers on the enemy, were severely wounded. At last there was nothing for it but to fall back. The Boers, intoxicated with victory, now boldly came out from cover, and poured volley after volley on the retiring men. But for the guns at the base of the hill, which were now able to play on the enemy, these must have been entirely swept away. So small was the margin between our men and the victors, that but for the nicety of this artillery practice many of the men of the 58th must have been accidentally killed. During the retreat Lieutenant Baillie, carrying the regimental colours, was mortally wounded. Such magnificent deeds of heroism took place on this occasion that of themselves they would form an inspiriting volume. Lieutenant Hill of the 58th earned the Victoria Cross by his repeated deeds of valour in saving soldiers under heavy fire. The whole force fell back towards the camp, the casualties amongst the 58th being seventy-three killed and one hundred wounded. A flag of truce was sent forward to the enemy, and both parties engaged in the sad work of burying their dead and removing the wounded. Report says that on this occasion Kaffirs or Hottentots were seen to be fighting among the Boer ranks. Very pathetic and very manly was the speech addressed by Sir George Colley to the camp on the evening after the fight:--"Officers, non-commissioned officers, and men,--I have called you together this evening, being desirous of saying a few words to you. I wish every one present to understand that the entire blame of to-day's repulse rests entirely upon me, and not on any of you. I congratulate the 58th Regiment for the brave and noble manner in which they fought to-day. We have lost many gallant men, and amongst them my intimate friend, Colonel Deane. (Emotion.) I might say, however, that notwithstanding the loss of many troops to-day, we have not lost one atom of the prestige of England. It is my duty to congratulate Major Brownlow on the gallant charge he made this day. Owing to the loss we have suffered, I am compelled to await the arrival of reinforcements, but certainly we shall take possession of that hill eventually, and I sincerely hope that all those men who have so nobly done their duty to-day will be with me then. Good-night." Of the mistakes that marked this attack it is unnecessary to write, for they have been freely discussed, and those who were responsible have laid down their lives in payment of whatever errors in judgment they may have committed. INGOGO Life in camp continued as usual until the 7th of February, when an escort proceeding with the post from Newcastle to the General's camp, having encountered the enemy, been fired at, and forced to return, Sir George Colley thought a demonstration in force would be sufficient to deter the Boers from further interference with the line of communication. Consequently the next morning, the 8th of February, he marched with five companies of the second battalion of the 60th Regiment, four guns and thirty-eight men of the Mounted Squadron. The force crossed the river Ingogo, then only knee-deep, and gained a plateau in shape like an inverted L, the base being the side nearest Newcastle. On arrival here an orderly suddenly reported that the enemy, concealed among boulders and large blocks of granite, was waiting in great force. Almost immediately afterwards about a hundred mounted Boers became visible on the right. The order was given to prepare for action, and, just as the guns were on the point of firing, the Boers wheeled round and went off. They galloped away to the bottom of the ravine, followed by a shell which, unfortunately, burst beyond them. The Rifles were also firing, but unsuccessfully, at the retreating riders. Soon it became apparent, however, that the British party was surrounded on all sides by the enemy, who were comfortably screened by the tall tambookie grass and the immense boulders that were to be found in clumps all round the position. Our men were also hiding behind rocks and boulders, and firing whenever a Boer head became visible. Soon after, the engagement opened in earnest. A hot fire was kept up by the 9-pounder in charge of Lieutenant Parsons, R.A., to which the enemy replied, directly the gun was discharged, by a hail of bullets aimed at the gunners while they reloaded. In order to rout the Boers from their cover, an order was given to the mounted men to charge. At that moment the Boers fired a heavy volley, which incapacitated most of the horses and forced Major Brownlow to retire to the plateau. Fortunately only one of the men was wounded. The artillerymen now suffered considerably, having no shelter but the doubtful shelter of their guns, which afforded a convenient mark for the Boers. As soon as the General, who was going from point to point with his usual coolness, saw the state of affairs--ammunition and even gunners having run short--he sent to Mount Prospect camp for reinforcements. Still the fight continued. The Boers now steadily and surely crept to close quarters, while the British columns became momentarily thinner and thinner. Yet every man continued to hold his ground till hopelessly struck down. Hopelessly is a word used advisedly, for many who were struck down rose several times and continued to fire till mortally wounded. Of the splendid gallantry of the force it is impossible to say enough. The fighting continued for six terrible hours through rain that fell literally in torrents, in an arena where wounded and dying lay thick, their despairing cries mingling with the continued growl of thunder interspersed with the roar of artillery. Then a white flag was displayed by the Boers. But, when the Rev. Mr. Ritchie in return displayed the British white flag, he was instantly fired upon. The object of the use of the white flag on the part of the Boers was to enable them to take advantage of the temporary inaction to make rushes to cover nearer to the British lines than that they had previously occupied! The fighting began, and, for the small body of British troops, continued disastrously. At last, when darkness came on, both sides were forced to cease firing. Now and then, only when a flash of lightning lit up the terrible scene, the firing of bullets demonstrated that the Boers were still thoroughly on the alert. The darkness descended, and in the middle of the pouring rain and the murky obscurity the noble British dead were counted. The wounded were also tended as well as it was possible to tend them when water and restoratives were wanting, and the only relieving moisture had to be sucked from the storm-drenched grass. Finally, the General, viewing the deplorable state of the men, decided to withdraw the force from the field. It was plain that any renewal of attack on the morrow by the reinforced Boers could but mean annihilation or surrender. So the remnants of the force started on their return journey. This was now a terrible task, the Ingogo, which had been crossed at knee-depth, had swollen dangerously; the gentle stream had become a torrent. The bed of the river being full of holes, it was in some places some ten to twelve feet deep. Of the perils by field and flood it would be impossible to speak at length. Mr. Carter, who was present at the melancholy fight and a witness of all connected with the reverse, gives in his wonderful narrative of the Boer war an interesting description of the misery of that return march:-- "Knowing that moments were precious in the then state of the river, I went ahead with the advance guard and crossed the stream; it was then nearly up to my armpits, and running very swiftly. By holding my rifle aloft, I managed to keep it dry, but every cartridge in my pockets was under water. Only with the greatest care, and thanks to a knowledge of the whereabouts of the treacherous hole in the drift, did I manage to keep on my legs. On gaining the opposite bank, I scooped up and drained off a helmetful of the precious fluid, and then urging on through the next ford--an insignificant one compared to the first--gained admission at Fermistone's hotel, after being duly cross-questioned through the keyhole of the door. Some hot tea and whisky was recommended by the host, and palatable it was. In a short time the other "Correspondent" arrived, _minus_ his rifle. He had been carried down the stream like a cork, and only saved from drowning by being washed against some reeds at a bend of the river. He decided that he had had enough of the march for that night, and elected to go to bed. Next came in the General, and a gentleman who claimed to be a surgeon (a Transvaal surgeon) escaped from the Boer lines. He had been allowed free access to the camp at Mount Prospect, and had accompanied the Ingogo expedition, but not as a surgeon. From the General I learnt that there had been some men washed down the stream in spite of the precaution adopted of joining hands." The return to camp was still more trying. The roads were slippery as glass, and men and horses, thoroughly worn out, dropped exhausted by the way. But it is needless to dwell on this melancholy event--an event rendered so much more melancholy by regret for sublime effort wasted in the support of a Government that was at that very moment entertaining the proposals for craven surrender. MAJUBA On Sunday, the 27th of February, Sir George Colley made his last move. During the afternoon of the previous day the General, who was a great theorist, had been cogitating some scheme which he only communicated to Colonel Stewart, and to one or two others. No sooner had "lights out" been sounded, than an order was passed round for detachments of the 58th, third battalion of the 60th Rifles, Naval Brigade, and Highlanders, to parade with three days' rations. Then the order came that the force was to form up by the redoubt nearest the main road on their left. At ten a start was made, the General and staff riding in front, with the 58th leading, followed by the 60th, and the Naval Brigade in the rear. The direction taken was straight up the Inguela Mountain. Arrived on a plateau about half-way up, the troops proceeded by a path, narrow almost as a sheep path, which winds across the steepest part of the mountain. Great boulders edged the hillside, and masses of rock hung perpendicularly above the surface of the ground. One false step and the climber would have been hurled down some thirty feet, to be dashed to pieces against the stones, or entangled in the bush. This march was conducted in strict silence, no voice being raised, and indeed not a breath more than was required for climbing expended. Men and officers, all were bent on the one great feat of mounting and gaining the summit. The march continued over loose stones, and boulders and obstacles multifarious--sometimes round wrong tracks, owing to mistakes of the guide, and sometimes over grass and glassy slopes, where a man could make progress merely by means of hands and knees. Thus the force stealthily ascended, creeping up in ones and twos, the General and staff leading the way in ever-increasing darkness and silence. So heavy was the work of ascent that, when at last they reached the top, the troops almost dropped from exhaustion. It was this exhaustion that is said by some to have influenced the General's plans, but others declare that he was not likely so to be influenced. Instead of attempting at once to throw up a rough entrenchment, he refused to permit it, declaring that the men were already over fatigued. A slight entrenchment might have made all the difference in the sad history of Majuba, but the General gave no orders to entrench, and thus the troops were left open to the enemy. At early dawn, on looking towards the Nek, it was obvious that a large Boer force was there congregated, while at the base of the mountain was the right flank of the Dutch camp. Gazing down from the great height which had been so perseveringly gained, all hearts warmed with a glow of triumph and of anticipation. The rocket tubes and Gatlings would soon arrive, and then those below would be awakened to the tune of the guns! From their point of vantage it seemed as though the British had the Boers at their mercy. The hilltop of Majuba was hollowed out basinwise, and there seemed only a necessity to line the rim of it in the event of a rush from the enemy. But the suspicion that the Boers would creep from ridge to ridge, and mount the crest, never dawned on any one. In the dense darkness it was impossible to become acquainted with the nature of all sides of the hill, and the troops imagined them all to be equally impregnable. Mr. Carter, who was there, says that at this time some twenty Highlanders stood on the ridge watching the lights of the enemy, and pointing to the camp below them, and laughingly repeating their challenge, "Come up here, you beggars." They never imagined it would be possible for them indeed to come! He further states his belief that the reason why no entrenchments were attempted was that every staff officer on Majuba felt certain "that the Boers would never face the hill--entrenchments or no entrenchments on the summit--as long as the British soldier was there." For this almost fatuous belief in their own security these gallant soldiers were destined to pay heavily. So soon as daylight served to show our troops standing against the sky-line, the enemy began to advance at the base of the mountain. The first shot on that eventful day was fired at a Boer scout by Lieutenant Lucy of the 58th, but the General, hearing it, sent word to "stop that firing." Silence again reigned. But in the meantime the Boers were crawling cautiously up the hill after leaving their horses safely under cover. About 6 A.M. they opened a steady fire, to which the British troops responded cordially. The Boer bullets, though doubling those of the British, did little damage, as the troops were partially sheltered within the basin of the hilltop. Thus the fight continued till nine, none of the officers at that time even suspecting that the enemy would venture to "rush" their stronghold. No one was wounded, and nothing was to be seen on any side of the hill, as the Boers kept closely under cover. At this juncture many men, worn out and fatigued, laid themselves down to sleep. Suddenly Lieutenant Lucy appeared asking for reinforcements, and saying that the fire was "warming up" in his direction. Some minutes later the General, who was perpetually moving round the line, cool, collected, and calculating as ever, flashed a message to Mount Prospect camp, ordering the 60th Rifles to be sent from Newcastle to his support. Later the General espied two Boers within 600 yards or so of him mounting the ravine, and pointed them out. He had scarcely done this when Commander Romilly fell. This gallant sailor was deservedly popular, and gloom suddenly spread over the hitherto cheerful force. Still, no one dreamed that the Boers would really get to close quarters. The first awakening came when the firing, which had been till then in single shots, poured upwards in volleys. From the sound it was evident that the enemy was much nearer than had been supposed. The Highlanders, who were facing this unexpected fusillade, were soon reinforced by the reserves which had been ordered to their assistance. [Illustration: TOP OF MAJUBA] The 58th, 92nd, and Naval Brigade disappeared over the ridge to meet the enemy, and vigorously returned their fire. For one moment that of the Boers appeared to slacken; then suddenly there came a precipitate retreat of our men, the officers shouting, "Rally on the right! rally on the right!" This order was obeyed, the troops describing a semicircle and coming back to the ridge to a point at left of that from which they had been so suddenly driven. But the momentary retreat had been demoralising. At this standpoint the men had become hopelessly mixed up--sailors, Highlanders, and 58th men all in a wild melee. Over this heterogeneous mass the officers had lost their personal influence. While order was being restored the Boer firing ceased. The pause was just sufficient to allow breathing time, for they almost instantaneously reopened with redoubled vigour. Their shooting was scarcely successful, but a hail of lead from the upturned muzzles of rifles continued to traverse the thirty yards which now separated the foes. The enemy numbered only about 200, but they hoped by rapidity of fire to hold the British in check till their comrades should come to the rescue. Mr. Carter thus graphically describes what was really the last despairing effort of our men:-- "The order was given in our lines, 'Fix bayonets,' and immediately the steel rang from the scabbard of every man, and flashed in the bright sunlight the next second on the muzzle of every rifle. 'That's right!' cheerily called Major Fraser. 'Now, men of the 92nd, don't forget your bayonets!' he added, with marked emphasis on the word bayonets. It was the bayonet or nothing now, and the officer's words sent quite a pleasant thrill through all. Colonel Stewart immediately added, 'And the men of the 58th!' 'And the Naval Brigade!' sang out another officer, Captain MacGregor, I think. 'Show them the cold steel, men! that will check them,' continued Fraser, whilst volley after volley came pouring in, and volley after volley went in the direction of the enemy. But why this delay? The time we were at this point I cannot judge, except by personally recalling incidents in succession. When the bayonets rang into the rifle-sockets simultaneously with the reopening of the Boers' volleys, I felt convinced that in two minutes that murderous fire would be silenced, and our men driving the foe helter-skelter down hill. After the bayonets had been drawn and fixed, and remained fixed, our men still firing for at least four or five minutes, and no order came to 'charge,' I changed my opinion suddenly." Here we may imagine the agony--hope, doubt, suspense--that passed like a lightning flash through the minds of all who were present. The uproar at this time grew appalling. Commands of the officers, the crash of shot, the shrieks of the wounded, all helped to aggravate the din. Boers were fast climbing the mountain sides, and the troops, worn out and almost expended, were beginning to lose the spirit of discipline that hitherto had sustained them. The officers stepped forward boldly, sword in one hand and revolver in the other, but to no purpose. Only an insignificant number of men now responded to the command. [Illustration: THE BATTLE OF MAJUBA HILL. Drawn by R. Caton Woodville, from Notes supplied by Officers present. The officer to the left, with the glass in his hand, is General Colley, who, to facilitate his ascent of the hill, took off his boots, and, during the engagement, wore only socks and slippers. He, with others, is urging the soldiers to maintain their position. The Highlander with the bandage on his face was wounded, but bravely continued to fight. The Highlander on the right, apparently asleep, was shot dead while taking aim. The officer in the immediate foreground towards the right, to whom the doctor is offering a flask, is Major L. C. Singleton, of the 92nd Gordon Highlanders, who died of his wounds. The figure pressing forward on the extreme left of the picture is the Special Correspondent of the _Standard_ newspaper.] Mr. Carter declares that when Lieutenant Hamilton of the 92nd asked Sir George Colley's permission to charge with the bayonet, he replied, "Wait a while." Such humanity was almost inhumanity, for waiting placed at stake many lives that might have been saved. The correspondent says:-- "Evidently Sir George Colley allowed his feelings of humanity to stand in the way of the request of the young officer. We were forty yards at the farthest from the enemy's main attacking party. In traversing these forty yards our men would have been terribly mauled, no doubt, by the first volley, but the ground sloped gently to the edge of the terrace along which the enemy were lying, and the intervening space would be covered in twenty seconds--at all events, so rapidly by the survivors of the first volley, that the Boers, mostly armed with the Westley-Richards cap rifle, would not have had time to reload before our men were on them. I am not sure that the first rush of the infantry would not have demoralised the enemy, and that their volley would have been less destructive than some imagined. If only a score of our men had thrust home, the enemy must have been routed. At a close-quarter conflict, what use would their empty rifles have been against the bayonets of our men, who would have had the additional advantage of the higher ground? If the bayonet charge was impracticable at that moment, then, as an offensive weapon, the bayonet is a useless one, and the sooner it is discarded as unnecessary lumber to a soldier's equipment the better. It was our last chance now, though a desperate one, because these withering volleys were laying our men prostrate; slowly in comparison with the number of shots fired, but surely, despite our shelter. Some out of the hail of bullets found exposed victims. In a few seconds our left flank, now practically undefended, and perfectly open to the Boers scaling the side of the mountain in that direction, would be attacked with the same fury as our front. "Looking to the spot Cameron had indicated as the one where the General stood, I saw his Excellency standing within ten paces directing some men to extend to the right. It was the last time I saw him alive." It is unnecessary to dwell further on the tragic events of that unlucky battle. After midday our troops retreated, and the retreat soon became a rout. At this time Sir George Colley was shot. Dismay seized all hearts, followed by panic. The British soldiers rushed helter-skelter down the precipitous steeps they had so cheerfully climbed the night before, many of them losing their lives in their efforts to escape from the ceaseless fire of the now triumphant enemy. [Illustration: WHERE COLLEY FELL. ROUGH CAIRN OF STONES ON MAJUBA HILL. Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.] Before leaving this sad subject, it may be interesting to note a Boer account of the day's doings which is related by Mr. Rider Haggard in his useful book on "The Last Boer War":-- "A couple of months after the storming of Majuba, I, together with a friend, had a conversation with a Boer, a volunteer from the Free State in the late war, and one of the detachment that stormed Majuba, who gave us a circumstantial account of the attack with the greatest willingness. He said that when it was discovered that the English had possession of the mountain, he thought that the game was up, but after a while bolder counsels prevailed, and volunteers were called for to storm the hill. Only seventy men could be found to perform the duty, of whom he was one. They started up the mountain in fear and trembling, but soon found that every shot passed over their heads, and went on with greater boldness. Only three men, he declared, were hit on the Boer side; one was killed, one was hit in the arm, and he himself was the third, getting his face grazed by a bullet, of which he showed us the scar. He stated that the first to reach the top ridge was a boy of twelve, and that as soon as the troops saw them they fled, when, he said, he paid them out for having nearly killed him, knocking them over one after another 'like bucks' as they ran down the hill, adding that it was 'alter lecker' (very nice)." A complete and reliable narrative of affairs on that fateful day in the ridge below Majuba was given in the _Army and Navy Gazette_. It is here reproduced, as it shows the finale from the point of view of an eye-witness of one of the most lamentable fights known in British history. The correspondent says:-- "As our mysterious march on the night of the 26th February began, two companies of the 60th Rifles, under the command of Captains C. H. Smith and R. Henley, were detached from General Colley's small column, and left on the Imquela Mountain. These companies received _no orders_, beyond that they were to remain there. The rest of the column then marched into the dark night on their unknown mission, our destination being guessed at, but not announced. The road was rough, and at some places little better than a beaten track, and the men found it hard to pick their steps among the loose stones and earth mounds. But all were cheerful and ready for their work. The ridge at the foot of the heights was reached at about midnight, and here the column made a brief halt, to allow of one company of the 92nd (which had lost its touch) coming up. Here one company of the 92nd Highlanders, under Captain P. F. Robertson, was detailed to proceed with Major Fraser, R.E., to a spot about one hundred yards distant, General Colley himself giving the order that they were to remain there, 'to dig as good a trench as time would permit of,' and further to select a good position to afford cover for the horses and ammunition, &c., that were to be left in charge of the detachment. They were also desired to throw out sentries in the direction of the camp, also a patrol of four men, with a non-commissioned officer, to watch the beaten track along which we had just come, and to act as guides for a company of the 60th Rifles expected from camp to reinforce the Highlanders on the ridge. These orders having been given, the column again moved off, leaving the Highlanders to make their arrangements. "The men had a brief rest after their walk, and then, assisted by their officers--Captain P. F. Robertson and Lieutenant G. Staunton--began the work of making their entrenchments. At about 5 A.M. the expected company of the 60th Rifles arrived, under the command of Captain E. Thurlow and Second Lieutenants C. B. Pigott and H. G. L. Howard. Surgeon-Major Cornish also accompanied this detachment, with some mules laden with hospital requirements. Captain Thurlow, who had received _no orders_, and who had brought out his men without either their greatcoats or their rations, joined the Highlanders in their entrenchments. They had to work hard, so as to complete their work rapidly, and consequently the men had little or no rest that night. At about 6 A.M. we were visited by Commissariat-General J. W. Elmes, who was returning to the camp, and promised to send out the 60th their rations. Shortly afterwards a conductor named Field arrived with a led mule, laden with stores, &c., for the staff. He was hurrying on to try and reach the summit of the hill before day. Doubts were expressed as to the advisability of his going on alone; but he had his orders, he said (about the only man who had that day!), and so he went on his way. About an hour afterwards a shot was heard, and we afterwards learnt that the conductor had been wounded, and he and his mule taken prisoners! By this time the day had quite broken, the heavy curtain of the night had rolled away, and disclosed before us the rugged and precipitous ascent to the Majuba Mountain, which stood directly in front of us, about 1400 yards distant. It stood out in bold relief against a blue-grey sky, and on the summit, and against the sky, the figures of men could be distinctly seen passing to and fro. These were only discernible with the aid of field-glasses, and at that time no great certainty was felt as to their being our own men. "Away to the south of us, in the direction of the camp, sloped the Imquela Mountain. The glasses were brought to bear on this spot also, where a man was detected signalling with a flag. The officer commanding our party (Captain Robertson, 92nd) then signalled the question, 'Who are you?' and the answer returned was, 'We are two companies of the 60th Rifles, who have been left here all night.' A second message was then sent, asking what their orders were, and the reply returned was, 'None.' Their position was consequently much the same as ours. All the morning our sentries heard occasional shots, and from time to time were seen small bodies of mounted Boers galloping to and fro near our entrenchments, seemingly to reconnoitre our position. At about eleven o'clock we were joined by a troop of the 15th Hussars, who had just come from the camp, bringing with them the rations for the 60th Rifles. This troop was commanded by Captain G. D. F. Sulivan, and accompanied by Second Lieutenant Pocklington and Lieutenant H. C. Hopkins, 9th Lancers, attached. Captain Sulivan, having received no orders, remained with our party, dismounting his men, and placing them under cover on the slope, just in rear of our entrenchment. For an hour or two afterwards all remained perfectly quiet. The distant figures on the summit of the Majuba Hill could still be seen passing and repassing against the grey sky. We had come to the definite conclusion that they were our own men, entrenching themselves on the top of the mountain. They had gained by strategy a strong position; but could they hold it? Even then the question was mooted. All at once, while we were quietly waiting, a continuous and heavy firing broke out on the mountain. We saw the blue smoke rolling across the still sky; we saw an evident stir and excitement among the party on the hill. What was it? Were they attacked, or attacking? Volley after volley rolled forth; it was a heavy and continuous fire, never ceasing for a moment. All glasses were brought to bear on the mountain, and every eye was strained to catch a sight of what was going on. After a few minutes the figure of a man hurrying down towards us was visible--a wounded man, no doubt--and a mounted Hussar was sent out to bring him in. He proved to be a wounded man of the 58th, and from him we learnt something of the disaster which had befallen our column. The General was dead, lying on his back, with a bullet through his head. Our men were nearly all either wounded or taken prisoners. The hilltop was covered with the bodies of the brave fellows, who had fought to the last. Even while he spoke we could see the desperate retreat had begun, and a few desperate figures were seen struggling down among the stones and boulders. Our men were flying, there was no doubt about that now. In a few minutes the enemy would be upon us, but we were prepared for them. I never saw men steadier or more prepared to fight, although, as I glanced round, I felt how hopeless such a fight would be. My fear, however, did not seem to be participated in by either officers or men, for Captain Robertson (the officer in command) at once began his preparation for a determined resistance. The ammunition boxes were opened, and placed at equal convenient distances all round the entrenchment. Half the entrenchment was manned by the Highlanders, and the other half by Rifles. These preparations were quietly and promptly made. The men were silent, but steady. Looking round, every face was set with a grave determination 'to do,' and there was not a word audible as the orders were spoken and the commands obeyed. The low (and to an experienced eye) fragile turf walls that were to offer shelter seemed but poor defences, now that they were to be tried. They were only about four feet high by two feet thick, with one exit at the rear, and could never have stood before a fire such as was even now pouring down the slope of Majuba. The wounded were now being brought in rapidly by our mounted Hussars, who did their work steadily. Some of the poor fellows were terribly wounded, and though Surgeon-Major Cornish did his best for them unassisted, many had to lie unattended to in their suffering. All brought the same bitter news of defeat and annihilation, not very reassuring to our little force, which was now about to take its part in the day's engagement. As suddenly as it began, the firing as suddenly ceased; and we knew that the dreadful task of clearing the heights was done, and our resistance about to begin. We could see the Boers clustering like a swarm of bees at the edge of our ridge. Every moment we expected a rush and an attack. But they hesitated. They were waiting--waiting for the party of some 600 or 700 mounted Boers, who presently appeared upon our left flank. Our entrenchment was now almost surrounded. The mounted Boers were the first to attack us on our left flank, and their fire was spiritedly replied to by the Rifles. At this moment, and while we were actually engaging our enemy, the order came from the camp desiring Captain Robertson to retreat his force without delay. No such easy matter now, for the order came almost too late; the Boers were within easy range of us, and determined to attack. Nevertheless, in the same orderly and steady manner in which the preparations for defence had been made, the preparations for retreat were begun. Much credit is due to Captains Robertson and Thurlow for the energetic manner in which they helped to load the mules, securing a safe retreat for the ammunition and stores, and then assisting Surgeon-Major Cornish to get off the wounded. All this time we were under fire, and it was while retreating that poor Cornish was killed. When our little entrenchment had been cleared of its stores, the real retreat began, made under a murderous fire, which followed us as we hurried down the steep slope into the ravine below. Captain Sulivan, with his troop of Hussars, was placed on the right flank to try and cover the retreat in that direction. By this time the Boers had partially occupied our entrenchment, having broken down its defences easily enough. And we had scarcely retreated down the steep slope and into the ravine before they occupied the ridge above us in hundreds, sending volley after volley after our retreating men. It was a case now of _sauve qui peut_, and to me the only marvel is how we lost so few under the circumstances. Our casualties were four killed (including Surgeon-Major Cornish), eleven wounded, and twenty-two prisoners. The Highlanders suffered the most. The officers were the last to leave the ridge. I saw Captain Robertson standing on the crest of the slope giving some final directions just a moment before the ridge was entirely covered by the Boers, and his escape consequently was almost a miraculous one. I was in the ravine before I heard our artillery open fire upon the Boers. Second-Lieutenant Staunton, 92nd Highlanders, was taken prisoner. We were never joined by the two companies of the Rifles who were left on the Imquela Mountain the night before, nor did I see them under fire at any part of the day. Thus ended our brief battle, and only those who took part in it can tell the bitterness of having to retreat, utterly routed and defeated as we were." THE SIEGE OF PRETORIA As may be remembered, Sir Owen Lanyon's proclamation announcing martial law was read, and the town handed over to the military government. Colonel Gildea (introduced by Colonel Bellairs) acted as Commandant of the Garrison, Major F. Mesurier, R.E., was in charge of the Infantry Volunteers, and Captain Campbell, 94th Regiment, filled the post of Provost-Marshal. Sympathisers with the Boers were ordered to leave the place on pain of being handed over to the Provost-Marshal to be dealt with by military law. It was decided to evacuate the town, and form two laagers, one at the camp, and one between the Roman Catholic church and the jail. In the camp the women and children were to be placed, while the Infantry Volunteers garrisoned the convent laager. Within the convent, women and children were packed tightly as sardines, while the nuns turned out on errands of mercy. All night and all day, scarcely stopping to eat a mouthful, men worked, sandbagging windows and doors--building barricades and defences of various kinds. Waggons were sent round to gather all families within the shelter of the camp. Rich and poor, good and bad, some 4000 souls, were herded together in tents for their protection. Here they remained for three months, enduring hardships of the most variegated and worrying kind, and loyally waiting for the relieving column that never came. Descriptions of the rations served out to each man daily are not appetising: Bread, 1-1/4 lb., or biscuit, 1 lb.; coffee, 2/3 oz.; sugar, 2-1/2 oz.; meat, 1-1/4 lb.; tea, 1/6 oz.; and salt, 1/2 oz. These were reduced as the siege proceeded. The meat was _trek_ beef, a leathery substitute for steak, and the biscuits were veterans, having "served" in the Zulu and Sekukuni campaigns, and now being nothing better than a swarm of weevils. Life in Pretoria was enlivened by occasional sorties against the Boer laagers, where the enemy was supposed to number some 800 strong. The laagers were distributed at distances of four and eight miles from the town, and were connected by a system of patrolling, which rendered communication from within or without almost impossible. A few messengers (natives) occasionally came into the town, but these were mostly charged with the delivery of delusive messages invented for special purposes by the Boers. There was an ever-present difficulty--that of keeping the natives in check. Many examples of Boer cruelty to these poor blacks are recorded, and they naturally shuddered at the prospect of once more being delivered over to the rule of the sjambok. Mr. H. Shepstone, the Secretary for native affairs, took immense pains to keep things quiet among the various chiefs. He said he had but to lift his little finger, and the Boers would not hold the field for a couple of days. Almost every native he knew would be in arms, and by sheer weight of numbers would overpower the Boers. Several of the chiefs sheltered refugees, and Montsiwe gathered his force in the hope that he would be allowed to come to the relief of Potchefstroom. Government reports regarding the loyalty of the natives were numerous, and the natives' longing to come to the assistance of the British in fighting their ancient oppressors was obvious. The subsequent desertion of these people whom Great Britain had taken under her wing, is one of the most grievous of the many grievous things that accrued from the exercise of British "magnanimity." Sir Morrison Barlow and Sir Evelyn Wood both agreed that the natives were "British to a man!" They were thoroughly sick of Boer cruelty, and the Kaffirs and Basutos had learnt to look to Great Britain for a reign of peace. Rather than again be ruled by the Boer despots, they were ready to spill the last drop of their blood, and only the high principled, almost quixotic action of the British officials prevented the utilisation in extremity of this massive and effective weapon of defence. Besides the garrison in Pretoria there were other forts defended by soldiers and loyalists, forts which were none of them taken by the enemy. These were Potchefstroom, Rustenburg, Sydenburg, Marabastad, and Wakkerstroom. The fort of Potchefstroom was surrendered during the armistice by fraudulent representations on the part of the Boers. The absorbing topic of the time was naturally the future of the Transvaal. Hope warmed all hearts and helped every one to keep up a fictitious air of cheerfulness. All thought that the rebellion would serve to strengthen the British in their determination to establish an effectual Government in the country and promote an enduring peace. The suspicion that the territory would be given back would have come on these hoping, waiting, and longing sufferers like a blast from the pole. Fortunately it was not given to them to foresee the humiliating end of their staunch endurance. Anathemas long and deep were sounded at the mention of Dr. Jorissen, who was looked upon as the fuse which set alight the rebellious temper of the Boers. [Illustration: General Sir EVELYN WOOD, G.C.B., V.C. Photo by Maull & Fox, London.] The enemy, however, never directly attacked the town. They contented themselves with attempting to steal cattle and skirmishing, and generally harassing those within. Such fights as these were mainly due to British initiative, and these were not fraught with success to us. Of this period it is pitiful to write. British valour and endurance were exhibited to the uttermost, and many gallant actions at different sorties might be recorded. So also might be given, did space allow, many instances of Boer cunning and Boer treachery--notably the acts of firing on the flag of truce, and on ambulance waggons. There can be no doubt that the firing on the flag of truce by the Boers was intentional. Their own explanation of the cause of this uncivilised proceeding may be taken for what it is worth. It appears that their troops were divided in opinion--that one party wished to continue fighting while another wished to surrender. Hence the exhibition of double-dealing which had so confounding an effect on their enemies, and so convenient a one for themselves. The Boers on the Majuba Hill fired on a flag of truce, the attack at Bronker's Spruit was made under cover of the white flag, and delay at Ingogo, to cover their movement from shelter, was gained by means of the same vile expedient. When the news of the British reverses at Laing's Nek and Majuba reached Pretoria there was general consternation. But, as yet, none knew of the crushing blow that was still in store. On the 28th, 102 days after the hoisting of the Republican flag at Heidelberg, there came the almost incredible news that a peace had been concluded involving the surrender of the Transvaal to the Boers. At first it seemed impossible that the British Government could have consented to leave its loyal supporters in the terrible position in which they now found themselves. All who had sat patiently through trouble and trial, working with might and main, suffering from endless ills, in peril of their lives, and deprived of property and home, now joined in one heartrending wail of woe and disappointment. The consternation that followed the announcement of the ignoble surrender is thus described by Mr. Nixon, who was an eye-witness and sharer of the general grief and humiliation:-- "The scene which ensued baffles description. The men hoisted the colours half-mast high. The Union Jack was pulled down and dragged through the mud. The distinctive ribbons worn round the hats of the men as badges were pulled off and trampled underfoot. I saw men crying like children with shame and despair. Some went raving up and down that they were Englishmen no longer; others, with flushed and indignant faces, sat contemplating their impending ruin, 'refusing to be comforted.' It was a painful, distressing, and humiliating scene, and such as I hope never to witness again. While I write, the remembrance of it comes vividly before me; and as I recall to mind the weeping men and women, the infuriated volunteers, and the despairing farmers and storekeepers, half crazy with the sense of wounded national honour, and the prospect of loss and ruin before them, my blood boils within me, and I cannot trust myself to commit to paper what I think. The lapse of two years has but deepened the feeling which I then experienced. The subject may perhaps be only unpleasant to people at home, but to me personally, who have seen the ruin and dismay brought upon the too credulous loyalists, the recollections it stirs up are more bitterly mortifying than words can describe." Mr. Rider Haggard, who at this time was at Newcastle, has also recorded his experiences on the unhappy occasion. He says:--"Every hotel and bar was crowded with refugees who were trying to relieve their feelings by cursing the name of Gladstone with a vigour, originality, and earnestness that I have never heard equalled; and declaring in ironical terms how proud they were to be citizens of England--a country that always kept its word. Then they set to work with many demonstrations of contempt to burn the effigy of the right honourable gentleman at the head of her Majesty's Government, an example, by the way, that was followed throughout South Africa." Talking of the loyal inhabitants in the Transvaal on whom the news burst 'like a thunderbolt,' he explains that they did not say much--because there was nothing to be said! They simply packed up their portable goods and chattels, and made haste to leave the country, "which they well knew would henceforth be utterly untenable for Englishmen and English sympathisers." Here was another great trek--a pathetic exodus of British loyalists whom Great Britain had betrayed. Away they went, these poor believing and deceived people, to try and make new homes and new fortunes, for as soon as the Queen's sovereignty was withdrawn houses and land were not worth a song, and their chances of earning a living were now entirely over, on account of their mistaken loyalty. The condition of the town is thus described in a journal of the period:-- "The streets grown over with rank vegetation; the water-furrows unclean and unattended, emitting offensive and unhealthy stenches; the houses showing evident signs of dilapidation and decay; the side paths, in many places, dangerous to pedestrians--in fact, everything the eye can rest upon indicates the downfall which has overtaken this once prosperous city. The visitor can, if he be so minded, betake himself to the outskirts and suburbs, where he will perceive the same sad evidences of neglect, public grounds unattended, roads uncared for, mills and other public works crumbling into ruin. These palpable signs of decay most strongly impress him. A blight seems to have come over this lately fair and prosperous town. Rapidly it is becoming a 'deserted village,' a 'city of the dead.'" RETROCESSION The Government, through the medium of the Queen's Speech, had announced its intention of vindicating her Majesty's authority in the Transvaal. This was in January 1881. About that time President Brand, of the Orange Free State, formed himself into a species of Board of Arbitration between the contending parties--Boers and British. The reason for this intervention was threefold--first, he genuinely desired to avoid further bloodshed; second, he as genuinely hoped, under a mask of neutrality, to advance the Dutch cause throughout South Africa; and third, he amicably wished to put himself in the good graces of the British Government. Prior to General Colley's death Mr. Brand had urged him to allow peace to be made, and to guarantee the Boers not being treated as rebels if they submitted. General Colley was no quibbler with words. He would give no such assurance. He proposed, in a telegram to the Colonial Secretary, to publish an amnesty on entering the Transvaal to all peaceable persons--excepting one or two prominent rebels. On the 8th of February (the day of the battle of the Ingogo), a telegram was received from home, promising a settlement upon the Boers ceasing from armed opposition. This showed that the Government had early begun to put their foot on the first rung of the ladder of disgrace--it can be called by no other term--and that the "climb-down" policy was already coming into practice. An unfortunate game at cross-purposes seems to have been going on, for Mr. Brand was proposing to Lord Kimberley that Sir H. de Villiers--the Chief-Justice of the Cape, should be appointed as Commissioner to go to the Transvaal to arrange matters, while at the same time Sir George Colley was telegraphing a plan to be adopted on entering the Transvaal, a plan which should grant a complete amnesty only to Boers who would sign a declaration of loyalty. Lord Kimberley welcomed the suggestion of Mr. Brand, and agreed, if only the Boers would disperse, to appoint a Commission with power to "develop the permanent friendly scheme"; and "that, if this proposal is accepted, you now are authorised to agree to suspension of hostilities on our part." At the same time the War Office informed General Colley that the Government did not bind his discretion, but was anxious to avoid effusion of blood. Lord Kimberley's telegram was forwarded to Colley and to Joubert. Colley was dumfounded. He telegraphed back: "There can be no hostilities if no resistance is made; but am I to leave Laing's Nek in Natal territory in Boer occupation, and our garrisons isolated and short of provisions--or occupy former and relieve latter?" Lord Kimberley's reply was characteristically ambiguous. The garrisons were to be left free to provision themselves, but Sir George was not to march to the relief of garrisons or occupy Laing's Nek if an arrangement were proceeding. Meanwhile President Brand and Lord Kimberley held an unctuous telegraphic palaver, which may diplomatically be viewed as the beginning of the end. This humiliating end was hastened by the fiasco of Majuba on the 27th of February, though before it came to pass Sir Frederick Roberts was despatched with reinforcements to Natal. Sir Evelyn Wood assumed temporary command of the forces after Colley's death. Colonel Wood was asked by Lord Kimberley to obtain from Kruger a reply to a letter General Colley had forwarded before Majuba, requesting a reply in forty-eight hours. The reply, an ingenuous one, came on the 7th of March. Kruger was glad to hear that her Majesty's Government were inclined to cease hostilities, and suggested a meeting on both sides. On the 12th of March Lord Kimberley telegraphed to Sir Evelyn Wood, saying that if the Boers would desist from armed opposition, a Commission would be appointed to give the Transvaal complete internal self-government under British suzerainty, with a British Resident to look after the natives. The Boers at the same time made a communication. They refused to negotiate on the basis of Lord Kimberley's telegram of the 8th, as it would be tantamount to an admission that they were in the wrong. They would accept nothing short of the restoration of the Republic with a British protectorate. This the Home Government accepted, and thus the "climb down" was complete. On the 23rd of March 1881, Sir Evelyn Wood, under orders from the Ministry, signed a treaty on behalf of the British, while the Boer leaders did the same on behalf of their constituents. By it, the Boers engaged to accept her Majesty as Suzerain "of the Transvaal, with a British Resident in the capital, but to allow the Republic complete self-government, to operate in six months' time. The Suzerain was to have control over the foreign relations of the Transvaal, and a Royal Commission for the protection of the natives and the decision of the boundary of the Republic would be appointed. Persons guilty of acts contrary to laws of civilised warfare were to be punished; and property captured by either party was to be returned." In conclusion, it was arranged that all arms taken by the British Government when they annexed the country were to be handed back. The Commission appointed by her Majesty's Government consisted of Sir Hercules Robinson, who replaced Sir Bartle Frere at the Cape; Sir Henry de Villiers, now Chief-Justice of Cape Colony; and Sir Evelyn Wood; President Brand was present in a neutral capacity. Though nominally under the control of the British Government, its actions were pro-Boer. In justice to Sir Evelyn Wood, it is necessary to state that he did no more than obey orders laid down by his Government. Indeed it is said that when he was required to make the disgraceful peace, he called his officers around him, and asked them to witness that he was merely obeying orders, so that in days to come he might not submit a tarnished name to posterity. Sir Frederick Roberts, on his arrival at Cape Town, was therefore informed that his services were no longer needed. Sir Evelyn Wood retained a force of 12,000 men in Natal, but the Government had decided on peace at any price, and peace was therefore restored. THE BETRAYED LOYALISTS Of the sufferings of the loyalists we must say little. Suffice it to picture the breaking up of homes gathered together with much patience after years of steady labour; the insults daily endured from a people who now held Great Britain in contempt; the disappointment and indignation, the wretchedness and despair caused to all who had faithfully adhered to the Crown. A petition was drafted to the House of Commons, but signatures were comparatively few. Many had no hope of redress from Great Britain, others naturally feared further Boer oppression. Some passages of the petition ran thus:-- "That your petitioners believe that the annexation was acquiesced in by a majority of the inhabitants, and was looked upon as an act calculated to create confidence and credit to the country, a belief which is borne out by the fact that almost all the old officials appointed by the former Government, or elected by the people, remained in office under the new Government; and your petitioners further believe, that if the promises expressed and implied in the annexation proclamation had been carried out fully in the spirit of the proclamation, the whole of the inhabitants would, in time, have become loyal subjects of her Majesty. "That the annexation was followed by an immediate accession of confidence, and it marked the commencement of an era of progress and advancement, which has steadily increased up to the present time, despite the numerous drawbacks and disadvantages to which the country has been subjected, and some of which have been the result of Imperial action. "That, notwithstanding the promises expressed and implied in the annexation proclamation, the country has been governed as a Crown Colony, and no opportunity has been afforded to the inhabitants of controlling the policy which has regulated its administration, and your petitioners are in no way responsible for the late lamentable war, or for the disgraceful peace which has concluded it. * * * * * "That the value of property increased at least threefold during the English occupation, and that the increase progressed in a ratio corresponding with the reliance placed on the promises of English officials. Indeed, some of your petitioners are prepared to state, on oath if required, that they invested money immediately after or in direct consequence of a statement by a Governor of the Transvaal or a Minister of the British Crown. "That the towns are almost exclusively inhabited by loyal subjects, and English farmers and traders are scattered all over the country. * * * * * "That most of the loyal inhabitants intend to realise their property, even at a sacrifice, and to leave the country, but that those who are compelled by force of circumstances to remain in it will be deprived of the protection and security afforded by English rule, and they respectfully submit they have a right to ask that the fullest and most substantial pledges be exacted from the contemplated Boer Government for their safety, and for the exercise of their privileges as British subjects." In reference to the unfortunate natives, and the humiliating peace, Mr. Rider Haggard, who had been Shepstone's private secretary, wrote pathetically to Sir Bartle Frere from Newcastle, Natal:-- "_June 6, 1881._ "I do not believe that more than half of those engaged in the late rebellion were free agents, though, once forced into committing themselves, they fought as hard as the real malcontents.... The natives are the real heirs to the soil, and should surely have some protection and consideration, some voice in the settlement of their fate. They outnumbered the Boers by twenty-five to one, taking their numbers at a million and those of the Boers at forty thousand, a fair estimate, I believe.... As the lash and the bullet have been the lot of the wretched Transvaal Kaffir in the past, so they will be his lot in the future.... After leading those hundreds of thousands of men and women to believe that they were once and for ever the subjects of her Majesty, safe from all violence, cruelty, and oppression, we have handed them over without a word of warning to the tender mercies of one, where natives are concerned, of the cruellest white races in the world. "Then comes the case of the loyal Boers, men who believed us and fought for us, and are now, as a reward for their loyalty, left to the vengeance of their countrymen--a vengeance that will most certainly be wreaked, let the Royal Commission try to temper it as they will. "Lastly, there are the unfortunate English inhabitants, three thousand of whom were gathered during the siege in Pretoria alone, losing their lives in a forsaken cause. I can assure you, sir, that you must see these people to learn how complete is their ruin. They have been pouring through here, many of those who were well-to-do a few months since, hardly knowing how to find food for their families." On this subject Colonel Lanyon, who since the first outbreak had been shut up in Pretoria, also wrote tragically:-- "_March 29, 1881._ "Last night the saddest news I ever received in my life came in the shape of a letter from Wood.... After three Secretaries of State, three High Commissioners, and two Houses of Commons had said that the country should not be given back, it seems a terrible want of good faith to the loyals that this decision should have been arrived at. The scene this morning was a heart-breaking one; the women, who have behaved splendidly all through the siege, were crying and wringing their hands in their great grief; the children were hushed as if in a chamber of death; and the men were completely bowed down in their sorrow. Well they might, for the news brought home ruin to many, and great loss to all. I am ashamed to walk about, for I hear nothing but reproaches and utterances from heretofore loyal men which cut one to the very quick.... How I am to tell the natives I know not, for they have trusted so implicitly to our promises and assurances.... One man who has been most loyal to us (an Englishman) told me to-day, 'Thank God my children are Afrikanders, and need not be ashamed of their country!'" The feelings described by Sir Owen were openly echoed by all sensible men who knew anything of the country: they were certain that it was not within the power of Boer comprehension to understand "magnanimity" in an opponent. To the Boer, as to many an Englishman, this long-sounding word seemed more neatly to be interpreted by the more ugly but concise term "funk." Sir Bartle Frere, writing of Sir George Colley in a letter to a friend, expressed his opinion roundly:-- "_March 31, 1881._ "Let no one ever say that England lost prestige through Sir George Colley. I do not like the word so much as 'character' or 'conduct' which create it. But no country ever lost real prestige through defeat. Nelson, wounded and repulsed at Teneriffe; Grenvil, overpowered and dying on the deck of the _Revenge_, did as much for England's prestige as Marlborough at Blenheim or Wellington at Waterloo. Sir George Colley miscalculated his own and his enemy's strength, but he had nothing to do with disgraceful surrender, and I am sure had rather be where he now rests than sign a disgraceful peace, which is the only thing that can injure England's prestige." Mr. R. W. Murray, of the _Cape Times_, writing to Sir Bartle Frere, thought bitterly indeed. "Ask your English statesmen," he wrote, "if, in the history of the world, there was ever such a cruel desertion of a dependency by the parent State. How can England hope for loyalty from South Africans? The moral of the Gladstone lesson is, that you may be anything in South Africa but loyal Englishmen." These letters, taken haphazard from volumes of correspondence on the melancholy event of the time, serve better than the words of an outsider to show the terrible position in which the "magnanimity" of the British Ministers had placed their countrymen. One more extract and we must pass on. [Illustration: COLOUR-SERGEANT and PRIVATE, THE SCOTS GUARDS. Photo by Gregory & Co. London.] Colonel Lanyon, writing again to Sir Bartle Frere, said:-- "_April 26, 1881._ "The Boers are practically dictators, and have been ruling the country in a manner which is simply humiliating to Englishmen. Active persecution is going on everywhere, and consequently all that can are leaving the country. Thirty families have left Pretoria alone; B---- and M---- have left, having been frequently threatened because of their having been members of the Executive, and those two poor fellows J---- and H---- are completely ostracised for the same reason. They are both ruined men, practically speaking, and all because they trusted to England's assurances and good faith.... "But hard as these cases are, I feel that the natives have had the cruellest measure meted out to them, and they feel it acutely. The most touching and heart-breaking appeals have come from some of the chiefs who live near enough to have heard the news. They ask why they have been thrown over after showing their loyalty by paying their taxes and resisting the demands made upon them by the Boers during hostilities. They point out that we stopped them from helping us, and that, had we not done so, the Boers would have been easily put down. They say that, as we so hindered their action, it is a cruel wrong for us now to hand them back to the care of a race which is more embittered against them than ever, and who have already begun to harass them because of their loyalty. These points are unanswerable, and I do not see how we can reply to them." CHAPTER IV THE CONVENTIONS As may be remembered, Sir Evelyn Wood was ordered to conclude an armistice, whereby the troops that had garrisoned the Transvaal might evacuate it. In the case of Potchefstrom, the execution of this design was treacherously prevented by Commandant Cronjé. This officer, after the armistice had been arranged, withheld the news from the garrison, and prevented supplies from reaching the fort. As a natural consequence, he became a national hero, and led the burghers against Dr. Jameson in 1895 and the forces on the Western frontier in 1899. The armistice was concluded in March 1881, and in August the Convention of Pretoria was signed. Some form of inquiry was held into the conduct of persons who had been guilty of acts contrary to the rules of civilised warfare, but the whole thing proved to be a mere farce; and, as a matter of fact, not one of the perpetrators of murder and other crimes during the course of the war was brought to justice. The Commission insisted on a definite agreement for the purpose of securing British persons from oppressive legislation, but, as we know, Boer promises were as completely pie-crust as Boer contracts were mere waste paper. At the beginning of June Mr. Gladstone wrote a letter in answer to that received from the loyal inhabitants. In this he said:-- "Her Majesty's Government willingly and thankfully acknowledge the loyal co-operation which her Majesty's forces received at Pretoria and elsewhere by the inhabitants, and we sympathise with the privations and sufferings which they endured. I must, however, observe that so great was the preponderance of the Boers who rose in arms against the Queen's authority that the whole country, except the posts occupied by the British troops, fell at once practically into their hands. Again, the memorialists themselves only estimate the proportion of settlers not Transvaal Boers at one-seventh. Nearly, though not quite, the whole of the Boers have appeared to be united in sentiment, and her Majesty's Government could not deem it their duty to set aside the will of so large a majority by the only possible means, namely, the permanent maintenance of a powerful military force in the country. Such a course would have been inconsistent alike with the spirit of the Treaty of 1852, with the grounds on which the annexation was sanctioned, and with the general interests of South Africa, which especially require that harmony should prevail between the white races. "On the other hand, in the settlement which is now in progress, every care will be taken to secure to the settlers, of whatever origin, the full enjoyment of their property, and of all civil rights." The pledges conveyed in the last sentence received such fulfilment as they were to have by the insertion in the Convention of the following clauses:-- "Article XII.--All persons holding property in the said State, on the 8th day of August 1881, will continue to enjoy the rights of property which they have enjoyed since the annexation. No person who has remained loyal to her Majesty during the recent hostilities shall suffer any molestation by reason of his loyalty, or be liable to any criminal prosecution or civil action for any part taken in connection with such hostilities, and all such persons will have full liberty to reside in the country, with enjoyment of all civil rights, and protection for their persons and property. "Article XXVI.--All persons, other than natives, conforming themselves to the laws of the Transvaal State (_a_) will have full liberty, with their families, to enter, travel, or reside in any part of the Transvaal State; (_b_) they will be entitled to hire or possess houses, manufactories, warehouses, shops, and premises; (_c_) they may carry on their commerce either in person or by any agents whom they may think fit to employ; (_d_) they will not be subject, in respect of their persons and property, or in respect of their commerce or industry, to any taxes, whether general or local, other than those which are or may be imposed upon Transvaal citizens." The Convention itself is now well known, but brief allusion to it may not be out of place. The preamble is important, and runs as follows:-- "Her Majesty's Commissioners for the settlement of the Transvaal territory, duly appointed as such by a Commission passed under the Royal Sign Manual and Signet, bearing date the 5th April 1881, do hereby undertake and guarantee, on behalf of her Majesty, that from and after the 8th day of August 1881 complete self-government, subject to the suzerainty of her Majesty, her heirs and successors, will be accorded to the inhabitants of the Transvaal territory, upon the following terms and conditions, and subject to the following reservations and limitations...." The new State was to be styled "The Transvaal State." A British Resident was appointed, and the right to move British troops through the State guaranteed. External relations were to be under British control, and intercourse with foreign Powers to be carried on through her Majesty's diplomatic and consular officers. The independence of Swaziland was guaranteed. Article 4 of the Sand River Convention, forbidding slavery, was re-affirmed in Article 16. Natives were to be allowed to acquire land, and to move about the country "as freely as may be consistent with the requirements of public order." Complete freedom of religion was established. Protection to loyalists was guaranteed by the Triumvirate. The British Resident was given wide authority in native affairs; was, in fact, constituted as an official protector of natives. The boundaries of the State were defined, and it engaged not to transgress them. The government of the country was handed over to the Triumvirate, who engaged to summon a Volksraad as soon as possible. The Volksraad when it assembled, however, was disinclined to ratify the Pretoria Convention. The burghers wanted the Old Republic of the Sand River Convention, and fretted at the idea that they should have agreed to acknowledge British suzerainty. This acknowledgment was made a condition of the grant of autonomy, and the British Resident in Pretoria was to have large powers in the direction of native affairs. The position of the post of British Resident was to be similar to that held by a British Resident in one of the Native States of India. "Africanus," in his useful book on "The Transvaal Boers," thus describes the practical difference between the status of the two officials: "A Resident in an Indian State, though sometimes exposed to the risk of assassination, or of a general mutiny, is known by the inhabitants to have behind him the enormous military force of the Indian Empire, whereas the unhappy Resident at Pretoria was given no means of enforcing any protests which he might be called upon to make. His only course was to report disobedience to the High Commissioner; and if the disobedience was not of such a character as to force the Imperial Government to undertake military measures, it was sure to be overlooked. Thus the Resident, so far from controlling the policy of the Transvaal, was reduced to the position of counsel holding 'a watching brief.'" As will be seen, the interests of the Uitlanders were protected, but no provision was made by the Convention for future immigrants. Mr. Kruger, whose assurances at the time were believed to be sound, had promised to place them on equal footing with the burghers as regards freedom of trade. His words were: "We make no difference as far as burgher rights are concerned. There may, perhaps, be some slight difference in the case of a young person who has come into the country," but the term "young person," it was afterwards explained, had no reference to age, but to time of residence in the country. Mr. Kruger, as leader of the reactionary section of the Boers, finally became the President. The rival of Mr. Kruger was Mr. Joubert, otherwise known as "Slim Piet," on account of his wily ways, and between them from that day up to the present time considerable jealousy existed. They were always of one accord, however, in struggling to slip or squeeze out of any Conventions with the British. The first contravention of treaty engagements was the return of the State to the old title of South African Republic. The Home Government feebly remonstrated--it was too sunk in the slough of "magnanimity" to do more. As a natural result the Boers snapped their fingers at such remonstrances. After taking an inch they helped themselves to an ell! They had engaged to respect boundaries, but soon they began to lap over into Zululand and Bechuanaland. The Boer process of expansion is simple and time-honoured. A case of spirits is exchanged for the right to graze on land belonging to an independent chief. The cattle graze, the master locates himself. If the intrusion is resented, a campaign follows, and the stronger ousts the weaker. Sometimes the Boer lends his services in warfare to a petty chief, and those services are rewarded with a grant of land. When the British annexed the Transvaal and conquered Sekukuni, the other chiefs submitted to the British Government. On the resumption of Boer rule, however, the chiefs were inclined to defy their authority. The territories of the Mapoch, Malaboch, and Mpefu were assigned to the Boers by the Convention of 1881, and consequently quarrels began. In 1883 Mapoch broke out against authority, and there was a campaign to subdue him. Malaboch became obstreperous in 1894, and Mpefu followed his example in 1898. Most of the campaigns arose over the refusal to pay the hut tax. Before the Mapoch campaign in 1883 the Volksraad made a change in the terms of the franchise. It may be remembered that for burgher rights a residence of one year in the country and an oath of allegiance were necessary conditions. It was arranged that in future all candidates for citizenship must have resided and been registered in the Field Cornet's lists for five years, and must pay the sum of £25. About this time Messrs. Kruger, Du Toit, and Smith travelled to England to agitate for a new Convention. The Transvaal Government had "broken the spirit, and even the letter," of the old Convention, and Lord Derby in the House of Lords expressed his opinion that "it would be an easy thing to find a _casus belli_ in what had taken place." In spite of all this, Mr. Gladstone in 1884 obligingly agreed to a new Convention. By examination of its terms, it will be seen how far and how ignobly the Government went on the road to concession. By this Convention the British Resident was replaced by a diplomatic agent; the old title of South African Republic was restored; the Republic was allowed to negotiate on its own account with foreign Powers, limitations on treaty-making alone being imposed. Complete freedom of religion was promised, and the Republic agreed to "do its utmost" to prevent any of its inhabitants from making any encroachments upon lands beyond the boundaries laid down. Article 14 will be seen to be verbally similar to Article 26 of the Pretoria Convention of 1881, only the words _South African Republic_ being substituted for _Transvaal State_. Nothing was said about the preamble to the Pretoria Convention or the question of British "suzerainty." The word was omitted from the new text; but it was supposed to be operative as before. Over this matter there has been so much argument that, unless we can devote a volume to solving the Convention riddle, it is best left alone. We must allow that the ambiguity of an already ambiguous Ministry had here reached its climax! Certain it is that the Transvaal representatives returned to inform the Raad that the suzerainty had been abolished, and that statement they were allowed to maintain without contradiction! As a natural consequence of this indecision and weakness on the part of the then Government, subsequent Governments have been placed in an unenviable quandary. The Boers contend that the omission of the word "suzerainty" in 1884 was intentional, and designed to permit the State to style itself an independent Republic, while all level-headed persons are fully aware that no Republic could have been granted complete independence while under a weight of debt for money and blood spent for years and years to save it from collapse and annihilation. Moreover, the guarantee of independence of the Transvaal was so unmistakably a result of suzerainty that the repetition of the word was unnecessary. MR. KRUGER Of the man who now began to play so prominent a part on the political stage, the world at that time knew but little. Even now opinions regarding him are many and varied, and it may be interesting to read, in close juxtaposition, sketches of his character and ways which have from time to time been drawn by those who have come in contact with him. Perhaps no more impartial sketch can be presented than that of Mr. Distant, a naturalist, who visited the Transvaal about eight years ago. He said:--"President Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger was born on the 10th October 1825, in the district of Colesburg in the Cape Colony, and is without doubt the greatest and most representative man that the Boers have yet produced. Uneducated, or self-educated, he possesses a very large amount of that natural wisdom so often denied to men of great learning and of literary cultivation. With many prejudices, he is fearless, stubborn, and resolute, and he really understands Englishmen little better than they understand him. In his earlier days he has been a somewhat ardent sportsman and a good shot. He has been engaged and honourably mentioned in most of the Kaffir fights of his time.... Socially, he has always lived in a somewhat humble position, and it is to the credit of his nature as a man that he bears not the slightest trace of the _parvenu_. Plain and undistinguished in appearance, he combines the advantages of a prodigious memory with a remarkable aptitude for reading his fellow-man, and this last quality would be more valuable were it not leavened by a weakness in resisting flattery and adulation. He is very pious and self-reliant, which is provocative of bigotry and hot temper; and surrounded and approached on all sides by clever and often unscrupulous financiers and speculators, his scutcheon has worn wonderfully well, and his character and reputation passed through many fiery ordeals. He is also a rough diplomatist of no mean rank." The picture is distinctly interesting, but it does Mr. Kruger an injustice. Mr. Distant says that "he understands Englishmen little better than they understand him." Surely this remark is an insult to Mr. Kruger's great sagacity. He long ago "took the measure" of the Englishman, and he has enjoyed himself immensely in seeing how far it was possible--vulgarly speaking--to "try it on" with the British nation. If Mr. Kruger could be induced to write a book entitled "My Life and Games with the British Government for the last Twenty Years," he might afford our politicians some useful and instructive entertainment. To Mr. Distant's portrait of the President of the South African Republic another and a later one may be appended. It is drawn by the able pen of Mr. Fitzpatrick, the author of "The Transvaal from Within." "In the history of South Africa the figure of the grim old President will loom large and striking--picturesque, as the figure of one who, by his character and will, made and held his people; magnificent, as one who, in the face of the blackest fortune, never wavered from his aim or faltered in his effort; who, with a courage that seemed and still seems fatuous, but which may well be called heroic, stood up against the might of the greatest empire in the world. And, it may be, pathetic too, as one whose limitations were great, one whose training and associations, whose very successes, had narrowed and embittered and hardened him; as one who, when the greatness of success was his to take and hold, turned his back on the supreme opportunity and used his strength and qualities to fight against the spirit of progress and all that the enlightenment of the age pronounces to be fitting and necessary to good government and a healthy State. "To an English nobleman who, in the course of an interview, remarked, 'My father was a Minister of England and twice Viceroy of Ireland,' the old Dutchman answered, 'And my father was a shepherd!' It was not pride rebuking pride; it was the ever-present fact which would not have been worth mentioning but for the suggestion of the antithesis. He, too, was a shepherd, and is--a peasant. It may be that he knows what would be right and good for his people, and it may be not; but it is sure that he realises that to educate would be to emancipate; to broaden their views would be to break down the defences of their prejudices; to let in the new leaven would be to spoil the old bread; to give unto all men the rights of men would be to swamp for ever the party which is to him greater than the State. When one thinks of the one-century history of this people, much is seen that accounts for their extraordinary love of isolation, and their ingrained and passionate aversion to control; much, too, that draws to them a world of sympathy. And when one realises the old Dopper President hemmed in once more by the hurrying tide of civilisation, from which his people have fled for generations--trying to fight both Fate and Nature, standing up to stem a tide as resistless as the eternal sea--one sees the pathos of the picture. But this is as another generation may see it. To-day we are too close, so close that the meaner details, the blots and flaws, are all most plainly visible: the corruption, the insincerity, the injustice, the barbarity--all the unlovely touches that will by-and-by be forgotten, sponged away by the gentle hand of Time, when only the picturesque will remain." [Illustration: PAUL KRUGER, President of the Transvaal Republic. Photo by Elliott & Fry, London.] Mr. Fitzpatrick speaks somewhat more plainly in another place:-- "Outside the Transvaal Mr. Kruger has the reputation of being free from taint of corruption from which so many of his colleagues suffer. Yet within the Republic and among his own people one of the gravest of the charges levelled against him is, that by his example and connivance he has made himself responsible for much of the plundering that goes on. There are numbers of cases in which the President's nearest relations have been proved to be concerned in the most flagrant jobs, only to be screened by his influence; such cases, for instance, as that of the Vaal River Water Supply Concession, in which Mr. Kruger's son-in-law 'hawked' about for the highest bid the vote of the Executive Council on a matter which had not yet come before it, and, moreover, sold and duly delivered the aforesaid vote. There is the famous libel case in which Mr. Eugene Marais, the editor of the Dutch paper _Land en Volk_, successfully sustained his allegation that the President had defrauded the State by charging heavy travelling expenses for a certain trip on which he was actually the guest of the Cape Colonial Government." The light thus thrown on the dealings of Mr. Kruger is not a solitary gleam. It may be remembered that during the period of British rule in the Transvaal he had an appointment under Government. The terms of his letter of dismissal can be found on page 135 of Blue-Book, c. 144, and involving as they do a serious charge of misrepresentation in money matters, are useful when viewed in line with the above quotation. Mrs. Lionel Phillips imagines that every one must by this time have gauged the nature of the President, as she herself has done. She says:-- "Paul Kruger is so well known from the many portraits and caricatures that have appeared in recent years, as well as descriptions of him, that one from me seems superfluous. His clumsy features, and small cunning eyes, set high in his face, with great puffy rings beneath them, his lank straight locks, worn longer than is usual, the fringe of beard framing his face, even his greasy frock-coat and antiquated tall hat have been pourtrayed times without number. He is a man of quite 75 years of age now, and his big massive frame is bent, but in his youth he possessed enormous strength, and many extraordinary feats are told of him. Once seen he is not easily forgotten. He has a certain natural dignity of bearing, and I think his character is clearly to be read in his face--strength of will and cunning, with the dulness of expression one sees in peasants' faces. 'Manners none, and customs beastly,' might have been a life-like description of Kruger. The habit of constantly expectorating, which so many Boers have, he has never lost. He is quite ignorant of conversation in the ordinary acceptation of the word; he is an autocrat in all his ways, and has a habit of almost throwing short, jerky sentences at you generally allegorical in form, or partaking largely of scriptural quotations--or misquotations quite as often. Like most of the Boers, the Bible is his only literature--that book he certainly studies a good deal, and his religion is a very large part of his being, but somehow he misses the true spirit of Christianity, in that he leaves out the rudimentary qualities of charity and truth." GERMANS AND UITLANDERS It appears that a German traveller, Herr Ernest Von Weber, as long ago as 1875, had cast a loving eye on the Transvaal. He wrote:--"What would not such a country, full of such inexhaustible natural treasures, become, if in course of time it was filled with German immigrants? A constant mass of German immigrants would gradually bring about a decided numerical preponderance of Germans over the Dutch population, and of itself would by degrees affect the Germanisation of the country in a peaceful manner. Besides all its own natural and subterraneous treasures, the Transvaal offers to the European power which possesses it an easy access to the immensely rich tracts of country which lie between the Limpopo, the Central African lakes and the Congo (the territory saved for England by Mr. Rhodes and the Chartered Company). It was this free unlimited room for annexation in the North, this open access to the heart of Africa, which principally impressed me with the idea, not more than four years ago, that Germany should try, by the acquisition of Delagoa Bay, and the subsequent continual influx of German immigrants to the Transvaal, to secure the future dominion over this country, and so pave the way for a German African Empire of the future. There is, at the same time, the most assured prospect that the European power, who would bring these territories under its rule, would found one of the largest and most valuable empires of the globe; and it is, therefore, on this account truly to be regretted that Germany should have quietly, and without protest, allowed the annexation of the Transvaal Republic to England, because the splendid country, taken possession of and cultivated by a German race, ought to be entirely won for Germany; and would, moreover, have been easily acquired, and thereby the beginning made and foundation laid of a mighty and ultimately rich Germany in the southern hemisphere. Germany ought at any price to get possession of some points on the East as well as the West Coast of Africa." Part of Mr. Von Weber's ambition was subsequently realised. In 1884 the introduction of Germany upon the political scene was successfully accomplished. The hoisting of the German flag at Angra Peguena was due to the unscrupulous and clever machinations of Prince Bismarck. The new German Colony comprised Damaraland and Great Namaqualand, and between it and the Boer Republic lay the Kalari Desert and Bechuanaland. Now, the Bechuana chiefs were old enemies of the Boers. A good deal of border fighting took place, and at last the Boers established their authority over a district which they christened "The New Republic," and which was annexed to the Transvaal in 1888. They endeavoured to capture in the same way Stellaland and Vryburg, but on this subject the British Government had something to say, and for once they said it definitely. Sir Charles Warren with a military force took these districts under British protection. This expedition was resented by the Cape Dutch and their English friends, Messrs. Spriggs and Upington, who hastened to Bechuanaland to effect a settlement before the arrival of Sir Charles Warren's force. Owing to the firmness and decision of Sir Charles Warren and his supporters, Sir Charles Dilke, Mr. Chamberlain, and Mr. Mackenzie, their anti-Imperialistic efforts fortunately failed! It must be remembered that in Cape Colony the Dutch sympathies had, for the most part, been given to the Boers. Racial ties in Africa are strong, and at the time of the war many people, not thoroughly disloyal, felt that there had been aggression on the freedom of the Republicans, and were inclined to admire the efforts of the Boers to repel that aggression. There were others, too, who believed that, owing to fear of rebellion on the part of the Cape subjects, Great Britain had been forced into chicken-hearted surrender, and this belief naturally encouraged the Cape Dutch to assume that, on emergency, the policy of the Empire might be directed by threats of rebellion. Much of the bad feeling was due merely to political agitation. The association known as the Africander Bond was started as a species of political nursery wherein to expand the ideas of the budding Boer, and "coach" him in his duties as a free-born subject. "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing," as we all are aware, and it seems to have been the object of this organisation to implant just sufficient knowledge in the mind of the ignorant farmer to foster his hostility to Great Britain, without encouraging him to progress sufficiently to gauge the advantages to himself of peace and goodwill with a sovereign power. Before the existence of this organisation he was contented to choose as his Parliamentary representative some sound and respectable citizen, a British subject, or some colonist who, well versed in the British tongue, could understand the laws at first hand. But machinating politicians conceived the notion that the dissatisfied Boer might be made to dance marionette-wise while they pulled the strings, and they promptly went to work to pretend he could think for himself, and proceeded to inflate his mind with so vast an idea of his own political importance that he even began to conjure up dreams of an entirely Dutch South Africa on an Africander basis, with the Vierkleur in place of the Union Jack floating bravely over his head! For his benefit the Cape _patois_ was promoted to the rank of a language. Parliament expressed itself both in English and so-called Dutch, while Blue-Books and official papers were printed in bi-lingual fashion, for the convenience of farmer members, who, for the most part, could neither read, write, nor speak the language of the Netherlands! The battle-cry of the Bond was "Africa for the Africander" and the "Elimination of the Imperial factor." The Colonists naturally grew to imagine that, as Great Britain was powerless to govern, government on their own behalf would be advantageous. In justice it must be said that the Eastern Province and Natal adhered to the Crown, though the Western Province was led by the nose by the Bond. From this time Mr. Hofmeyr--a man of great ability, and generally devoted to the Africander cause--became an important factor in the political caucus. Mr. Rhodes also was conspicuous. At that date he was inclined to lean toward Africander principles, but, like all great men on seeing the error of their judgments, he readjusted his theories--with the results we all know. The expedition of Sir Charles Warren was entirely successful. As has been said, a Protectorate was established over Bechuanaland. The country south of the Moloppo River, whose chief towns are Mafeking and Vryburg, became a Crown Colony. It was afterwards transferred to the Cape. The territories of Khama, Sebele, and Bathoen still form an Imperial Protectorate. When gold was first discovered, the fable of "the dog in the manger" began to be enacted in the Transvaal. The Boers were quite incompetent to start mining operations on their own account, and yet were intolerant of the presence of outsiders who were willing to expend their energies in the business. Gradually, however, they agreed to admit foreigners on terms which on the surface were fairly liberal, and became indirectly almost extortionate. These foreigners--British, Americans, Germans, and Poles--were the antithesis of all that Boer traditions held dear. To begin with, they were progressive; they were also energetic and commercial, and their motto, instead of being "God will provide," was the practical one of "_Carpe diem_." The dawn of the "golden age" has been described, and there is no reason, therefore, to dwell on the attractions which converted the Transvaal, for many, from a fortune-hunter's goal to a permanent home. Unfortunately these Uitlanders were not bound up in Transvaal politics. The ways of the stolid and the ignorant, the narrow and the bigoted, were not their ways; they had no sympathy for "masterly inaction," and this the Boers knew. In 1887, to protect themselves from the outsider, the Republicans arranged that invaders could not be admitted to burgher rights under fifteen years. The Uitlanders agitated for increased privileges, and in 1890 a "Second Raad" was created. For this Chamber it was necessary to take the oath of allegiance, to reside two years in the State before being entitled to vote, and another two before becoming eligible for election. Upon the scene now came Dr. Leyds, a Hollander of certain ability, a cosmopolitan schemer, and as such naturally opposed to the prestige of Great Britain. He had his ideal of a great Africander Confederation! On the other hand, there was Mr. Rhodes, who had also his ideal--that of a Confederated South Africa stretching to the Zambesi. Fortunately, with Mr. Rhodes went the Cape Dutch. And here we may break off to consider the Colossus, as he has been called. His enemies were many. By some it was asserted that Mr. Rhodes was at heart no Imperialist; by others he was declared to be merely an unscrupulous adventurer. But, as the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so must any criticism of this marvellous man be confined to results. CHAPTER V MR. RHODES Of the chief personage in the political and financial history of South Africa it is desirable we should know something definite, though space does not allow of any long appreciation of all he has accomplished for the advancement of the empire. The Right Hon. Cecil John Rhodes was born in 1853. He was the fourth son of the late Rev. Francis W. Rhodes, Rector of Bishop Stortford. In 1871 he went to South Africa, there to join his brother Herbert, who was engaged in cotton-growing in Natal. His constitution was delicate, and it was believed that a journey to the Cape would be beneficial to him. In 1872 he returned in much better health to England, and entered Oriel College, Oxford. While there he contracted a chill, and found himself again under orders to return to South Africa. At that time Herbert Rhodes had forsaken cotton-growing, and had become fascinated by the prospect of wealth offered by the diamond fields in the locality now known as Kimberley. The two youths joined hands, and in 1873 we find the elder brother leaving his claim in charge of the younger, the hard-working, astute, and masterful Cecil, whose name has become almost a household word. The young man, who took his degree at Oxford in the interval of his work, brought to every task he attempted an educated mind and a certain dogged obstinacy, which caused him to surmount all difficulties. He prospered amazingly. But money, instead of numbing his activities, only sharpened them, and he soon began to formulate his ideal--the Utopian dream of an entirely British Africa from the Cape to the Zambesi! [Illustration: THE MATABELE WAR--DEFENDING A LAAGER. Drawing by R. Caton Woodville.] His most conspicuous financial work was the De Beers Company, of which we have treated elsewhere. From one big venture he went to others more gigantic still. The famous Chartered Company and the splendid province of Rhodesia came virtually into existence as the result of his magnificent foresight. In 1881, in Basutoland, Mr. Rhodes, the newly-elected member for Barkly West, had the good fortune to meet General Gordon, who was struck at once by the immense ability of the young man. In character, it seems, they were the extremes that meet! These two men, of equally strong personality, had an antagonism of character which, clashing, gave forth a resonance that was vastly inspiriting. Gordon and Rhodes would take long walks together, and discuss the affairs of nations. The General, who was as dictatorial as his associate, on several occasions severely criticised the opinions of young Rhodes. "You always contradict me," he declared. "I never met such a man for his own opinion. You think your views are always right, and every one else's wrong. You are," he went on to say, "the sort of man who never approves of anything unless you have had the organising of it yourself." It was a new edition of the pot calling the kettle black, and afforded much amusement to onlookers. On another occasion Gordon begged him to remain in Basutoland and work with him, but Rhodes refused. He demonstrated that his work lay in Kimberley, and there he would remain. "There are very few men in the world," argued Gordon, "to whom I would make such an offer. Very few men, I can tell you; but, of course, you _will_ have your own way." Once, when they were together, Gordon related to Rhodes the story of an offer of a room full of gold which had been made to him by the Chinese Government, after the suppression of the Tai-Ping revolt. "What did you do?" asked Rhodes. "Refused it, of course. What would you have done?" said Gordon. "I would have taken it," answered Rhodes, "and as many more roomfuls as they would give me. It is no use for us to have big ideas if we have not got the money to carry them out." When Gordon went to Khartoum he invited Rhodes to accompany him, but Rhodes refused. He accepted the offer made by the same post of the Treasurer-Generalship in the Scanlin Ministry. In 1884 he became Deputy-Commissioner for Bechuanaland, which, as the key to South Africa, he determined to keep under his watchful eye. He was at the same time Treasurer-General of Cape Colony. In 1889 he became Director of the British South Africa Company and Chairman till the fiasco of 1896, at which time he was Premier of Cape Colony. In addition to holding these posts, his activities have been unending. He has been the moving spirit in every enterprise for the expansion and development of South Africa. He has gained the esteem of the loyal Dutch, and has succeeded in making himself feared if not beloved by the disloyal. His great work of attempting to weld together the two races into one united people is for the nonce suspended, but should life be spared him he will doubtless see the realisation of his dream. In addition to his other labours Mr. Rhodes was Commissioner of the Crown Lands in 1890-94, Minister of Native Affairs 1894-95, and served in Matabeleland in 1896. RHODESIA--UNCIVILISED In sketching the history of Rhodesia it is necessary to go at least as far back as our friend Chaka, the great chieftain of the Zulus, whose military prowess has been described. In the days of this warlike personage, Matshobane, who governed the Matabele tribe on the north-west of Zululand, preferred to submit to Chaka rather than to be "eaten up." Matshobane was the grandfather of Lobengula, who is intimately associated with the infant history of this promising country. His son Mosilikatze, however, was not so amenable to Zulu discipline. He broke out, annihilated all men, women, and children who happened to come in his way, and betook himself finally to remote regions where he had no masters save the lions. Later on, in 1837, he conceived the ingenious notion of exterminating all the white men north of the Orange River; but the white men were too much for him, and so he promptly retired to fresh fields and pastures new--in fact, to the country now known as Matabeleland. Its inhabitants were then settled between the Limpopo and the Zambesi. Here he again carried on his fell work of extermination. Of the horrors of his triumphant progress nothing need be said. They are best left to the imagination. It is enough to explain that the tribes of the Makalas, Mashonas, and others that happened to be in the way, were speedily wiped out. The Matabele, reigning in this vast now almost desolate region, soon became the terror of other tribes. The ravagers continued their fiendish operations, and finally set up military kraals and installed their chief in the principal of these at Buluwayo. How long this state of things would have endured it is difficult to say. Fortunately there appeared on the scene a man--The Man--who conceived in his mighty brain a way to clear this Augean stable and transform it into a comparative fairyland. Mr. Cecil Rhodes came--he saw--and he conquered in all senses of the word. He decided that British civilisation must be extended to this "hinter-land"--as the Boers called it--and, being a keen man of the world and no sentimentalist, he argued, moreover, that British civilisation might be made to pay its way! The idea that Mr. Rhodes is "the walking embodiment of an ideal," without personal ambition in his schemes, is as absolutely absurd as are the reverse pictures that have been painted of him. He is no angel and no ogre, Mr. Rhodes is one of Nature's sovereigns, who, conscious of his power and the limitations of human life, uses every minute at his disposal to write his name large in the records of his country. And, since his name is large, he wants as a natural consequence a large and clear area to write it in, and that area he means to have! [Illustration: MATABELELAND.] Now, Mr. Rhodes had decided that the British were the best administrators of South Africa, and that if the British shirked the task it would be undertaken by some other nation. He saw the key to South Africa in his hands--he saw the Boer overspreading his borders, he saw Germans and Portuguese intriguing for footholds--there was but one course open, and he followed it. On the 30th of November 1888, Lobengula, the chief of the Matabele, signed a document giving the British the right to search for and extract minerals in his territory. Upon that the British South Africa Company was started. In 1889 a charter was granted by the Imperial Government. The Company was created with a capital of one million sterling. There were eight directors, three appointed by the Crown, and five elected by the shareholders. Mr. Cecil Rhodes occupied the position of managing director. In a brief space of time the wildernesses and the forests were traversed, roads were made, and a strong protective force installed in the country. Dr. Jameson was appointed administrator at Salisbury. A railroad was planned and forts were built. These were occupied by the Company's police. While the pioneers were at work prospecting for gold, and improving the country in all manner of ways, Lobengula became cantankerous. It must be remembered that he suffered from gout, for which he was treated by Dr. Jameson. Now, Lobengula without gout was sufficiently savage to cause much apprehension; with it, it is impossible to describe the nature of the alarm he must have occasioned. He fell out first with the Mashonas for trivial reasons, and murders were committed. Dr. Jameson then came to the conclusion that, if the place was to be held at all, Lobengula must be crushed. More commotions followed. The Matabeles and Mashona tribes between them contrived to render the country uninhabitable. The peaceable Europeans would stand it no longer. The Matabele war ensued. The High Commissioner gave Dr. Jameson permission to protect the country, and the forces advanced in two columns upon Buluwayo. Major Patrick Forbes acted as commander-in-chief, with Major Alan Wilson as next in command. This column, with guns, baggage, and attendant blacks (who assisted as camp-followers), kept as much as possible to open country to avoid surprise. They marched from the Iron-mine Hill, at the source of the Tokwe River. The second column, commanded by Colonel Goold Adams, was composed in equal numbers of Bechuanaland police and South Africa Company's mounted men. In all they numbered about 450. It was accompanied by some 1500 Bemangwats under their chief. With Major Forbes's column were Dr. Jameson, Sir John Willoughby, and Bishop Knight Bruce. The advance was carefully managed. The column destroyed all military kraals in its line of march, skirmishing at times, but cautiously providing against attacks of the enemy. One of these attacks took place while the force was in laager, on the 25th of October. A Matabele army, 5000 strong, made three savage onslaughts, but were driven back on each occasion with heavy loss. The column still continued to advance, and Lobengula, hearing of its victory and approach, sent forth to meet it a company of pure Zulus, the flower of his army. The Imbezu and Ingubo in front of the Matabele army then approached the laager that was being formed near the source of the Imbembesi River. They advanced with all their accustomed dash, and a warlike intrepidity worthy of Chaka, their renowned ancestor. But they could make no stand against the Maxim and machine guns, and in a few hours all was over. Lobengula's day was practically done! On hearing of the victory he set fire to his kraal himself, and fled towards the Zambesi, leaving his magazine, whenever the flames should reach it, to explode with ferocious uproar. In November 1893 the Chartered Company's force came into possession of the smoking, deserted region. Messengers were sent in search of the chief. Lobengula was courteously advised to surrender. His personal safety was assured to him by Dr. Jameson, but he refused to listen. Efforts were then made to capture him. After a long and fatiguing march, news was brought in that Lobengula's waggons had been seen on the road the day before. Major Wilson, with a well-mounted party, went off to follow the spoor, being advised to return before dark. This he did not do. He remained for the night beyond the Shangani River, and by daylight reached the waggons of the chief. Lobengula's followers immediately attacked the small company of thirty-four Europeans, which was speedily annihilated. Some of these might have escaped, but they preferred, though largely outnumbered, to fight side by side with their comrades till the last! Very little remains to be told. Lobengula endeavoured to arrange terms with the British force, but his messengers and money never reached their destination. Babyane and four other indunas--followed after a few days by others--came to inquire what terms of peace would be granted. They were required to surrender their arms before returning to their kraals, which they did with alacrity. Most of the natives followed their example, being well satisfied with British rule. The death of Lobengula, of fever and gout, in January 1894 put an end to further complications. RHODESIA--CIVILIZED So far we have seen the establishment of the British in a hitherto absolutely savage arena. It may be interesting to hear what travellers have had to say regarding the region that has recently become our own. Its present aspect, and its prospects for the future, are best learnt from authorities who have personally inspected the place. Mr. Charles Boyd discourses thus on the subject:-- "When you have got out of the train before the corrugated iron building which stands on the edge of the illimitable grey, green veldt, to mark where the great station of the future is to arise, there is one feature of Buluwayo which is making ready to seize hold upon you. It is not, perhaps, the most important feature, but it is conspicuous enough to entitle it to a first place in any jotting of local impressions. It is what a logician might call the _differentia_ of Buluwayo. Put it bluntly it comes to this, that you have arrived in a community of gentlemen. A stranger making his way about the brown streets, neat brick and corrugated iron buildings set down on red earth, and divided into alternate avenues and streets--'little New York,' said a policeman complacently--a stranger pauses to ask himself if he dreams, or if the Household Brigade, the Bachelors' Club, and the Foreign Office have depleted themselves of their members, and sent them, disguised in broad-brimmed hats and riding-breeches, to hold the capital of Matabeleland. Young men of the most eligible sort are everywhere. Some of them are manifestly youthful, others are well on in the thirties, there is even a sprinkling of men of years; but the mass of the population presents the same aspect of physical fitness, that indefinable something besides, which is perhaps not to be expressed save under the single head of 'race.'" In fact, our authority asserts that nowhere can be found a healthier, shrewder, or friendlier set of men. He believes in them, and in the discipline that has toughened them to meet the real needs of life, and kept them alive to a sense of their political and social importance. He says-- "Buluwayo now possesses a population of 5000, a mayor and corporation, daily and weekly papers, and several public buildings, including banks, clubs, and an hospital built as a memorial to Major Wilson. "The rapid increase in the value of land at Buluwayo is shown by the fact that whilst in 1894 the average price of a town stand was £103, in 1897 it had advanced to £345. By the opening of the railway, in November 1897, it is placed in direct communication with Cape Town, and a still greater increase in value may be anticipated." [Illustration: "TO THE MEMORY OF BRAVE MEN." THE LAST STAND OF MAJOR WILSON ON THE SHANGANI RIVER, 1893. Painting by Allan Stewart. Reproduced by special arrangement with the Fine Art Society, London.] Things in Rhodesia are as yet expensive, but Mr. Boyd thinks that railroads will have a cheapening influence. He quotes some present prices, which would make the hair of a Londoner stand on end! Imagine the feelings of the comfortable cockney who found himself face to face with a breakfast bill for nine shillings! For this modest sum Mr. Boyd was supplied with tea, ham, eggs, marmalade, and toast, in fact, the little commonplace things that we have come to consider as the natural fixtures of the metropolitan table! Of the library, whose foundation-stone was laid by Sir Alfred Milner, he speaks in highly favourable terms. He says that in laying the foundation-stone no one seemed more keenly impressed than the High Commissioner himself. He prophesied the foundation of a rich university at Buluwayo to replace that other and easy one which a library is avowed to supply. At this some one smiled. But Sir Alfred rebuked him for the frivolity. He had seen enough, Sir Alfred declared, of the temper of this place, to believe a university at Buluwayo to be a consummation neither fanciful nor impossible. In regard to the agrestic qualities of this new district, Mr. H. Marshall Hole has spoken at some length in an article which appeared in an issue of _Colonia_, a magazine published by the Colonial College, Hollesley Bay, Suffolk. He declares that "the great advantage of Rhodesia as an agricultural country is the facility with which irrigation can be carried on; the conformation of the land is undulating, and even the so-called 'flats' are intersected in all directions by valleys, each of which possesses its watercourse, so that by the simple expedient of throwing a dam across these valleys, water may be stored and led on to the adjacent fields as required. The soil is in all parts naturally fertile, but the farmer sometimes has great difficulty in reducing it to a proper state for cultivation, owing to the roots and growth which must be exterminated before the seed is sown. The strongest ploughs and the most careful harrowing are required for this work, otherwise the settler will have to face the annoyance and delay of broken ploughshares, and the disaster of a crop choked by tangle-grass and weeds. The crops to which farmers have hitherto most devoted themselves in Rhodesia are mealies (maize) and forage (oat hay). These find a ready market at all times, as they form the staple food of horses. The next most popular crop is potatoes, which do well, are not liable to disease, and are in so great request that they sometimes fetch 1s. 6d., and seldom fall below 3d. per pound in the market. All kinds of English vegetables prosper with very little trouble, beyond careful watering in dry weather, and weeding during the rains; but, for some unexplained reason, vegetable culture is left almost entirely to the coolies or Indians, who, despite their very primitive methods of irrigation and tillage, make immense profits thereby." Further on he says that farms of about 3000 acres may be bought at from £250 to £2000, according to their situation as regards neighbouring towns, or the extent of cultivation done on them; and while the farmer will not derive much more than a bare subsistence for the first year or two, he may, by combining dairy-farming and timber-cutting with his more extensive operations, make both ends meet at any rate, and enhance the value of his land without being out of pocket. One with a small capital has, of course, a better chance of immediate profit, and such an one would do well to join some established and experienced man in partnership, or as a pupil, in order to learn something of the business before entering it finally. His advice to adventurous youth is, "By all means go, if you can manage to put together enough money to pay your passage and to keep yourself for two or three months after your arrival." Of the towns he speaks appreciatively. "We have buildings of a very substantial type, built for the most part of brick. There are blocks of rooms which form bachelor 'diggings' for single men, and small but comfortable suburban houses for families, while the railways on the east and west afford facilities for the importation of excellent furniture. Eight years ago it was so difficult to obtain furniture that every little packing case was carefully treasured, its nails drawn out and straightened, and its boards converted into tables, stools, and shelves. To-day it is no uncommon thing to find pianos and billiard tables in private houses in Buluwayo, and even in Salisbury, which has not yet been reached by the railway, while the club-houses at both places are models of comfort and luxury." A writer, who signs himself "W. E. L.," in _British Africa_ says of Rhodesia, "That the soil is mostly very fertile; in Matabeleland alone 6000 square miles are suitable for cultivation without any artificial irrigation, or other extensive preliminary work. In 1891, a commission of Cape Colony farmers visited the country, and reported favourably on the land from an agricultural standpoint. Mr. Lionel Decle said, 'I am the first traveller who has crossed Africa from the Cape to Uganda, and I must say the British South Africa Company may certainly boast of possessing the pick of Central Africa on both sides of the Zambesi.' "Teak forests cover 2000 square miles in North-West Matabeleland; and Mashonaland is very well timbered, mostly with trees of the acacia family. "The native crops are rice, tobacco, cotton, and india-rubber. All European vegetables can be grown to perfection, especially cabbages, lettuces, beetroot, turnips, carrots, and onions. There were in 1897 over eighty market gardens in the neighbourhood of Buluwayo, and for the half-year ending September 1897, the value of the produce sold was £9630. "Fruit orchards are being planted, and nearly all fruit appears to flourish, especially grapes, figs, oranges, peaches, almonds, walnuts, lemons, bananas, quinces, apricots, pomegranates, and apples. All kinds of European cereals can be grown, and maize does well. "The average rainfall is 30 to 35 inches, 90 per cent. of which falls during the wet season--November to March. "The temperature rarely touches freezing point, except on the highlands round Salisbury and Fort Charter, and owing to the great elevation (4000 to 5000 feet) of most of the country, rarely exceeds 90° in the shade. In the low-lying Zambesi valley, however, it is very hot from December to March." Of the mineral wealth, it seems as yet dangerous to prognosticate. Prophecies are many, and there is every reason to believe that the mines will be prolific as those of the Transvaal. In regard to this matter, however, time alone can show. GOLD It may be remembered that in and after 1854, the Boers commenced to block up the path of travellers, and in some cases to cause expulsion of visitors across the Vaal. Doubtless this policy of expulsion originated in the nefarious traffic in "apprentices," which they wished to carry on uninterruptedly, but there was also another reason for their precautions. Stray discoveries of gold had been made from time to time, and gold prospectors began to take an uncomfortable interest in the district. Now the Boers had no desire to open up their country to the mining population, or to run any risks which might interfere with their hardly won independence. After the discoveries of the German explorer Manch, however, they were unable entirely to resist invasion. The ears of the public were tickled. The hint of nuggets in the Transvaal naturally drew thither a horde of adventurous Europeans who would not be denied. The first immigrants betook themselves to Barberton, and some three or four years later to the Witwatersrandt. These appear mostly to have been Scotsmen, for President Burgers christened the earliest goldfields Mac Mac, in consequence of the names of the invaders. Miners and speculators of all kinds commenced to pour into those districts, some to make a fortune as quickly as possible, and rush off to spend it elsewhere, others to settle themselves in the country and develop schemes for financial outlay, profitable alike to themselves and to the land of their adoption. Now these permanent visitors were scarcely appreciated by the Boers. They foresaw the alien transformed into the citizen, and objected to him. The power which they had acquired, both by long years of hardship and long hours of scheming, they wished to keep entirely in their own hands. With the arrival of further settlers they feared this independence would be materially weakened. In order that further possible citizens might not be attracted to the Transvaal, the Volksraad passed a law calculated to damp their ardour. This law imposed on all candidates for the franchise a residence of five years, to be accompanied by register on the Field Cornet's books, and a payment of £25 on admission to the rights of citizenship. The first discoverers of the great goldfield are reported to be the Brothers Struben, owing to whose perseverance and patience the Witwatersrandt became the Eldorado of speculators' dreams. In 1886 this locality was declared a public goldfield by formal proclamation, and the South African golden age began. In a little while the regions north of the Limpopo began to be investigated, and each in their turn to yield up their treasures. In 1888 a concession to work mineral upon his territory was obtained from Lobengula, the Matabele king. A year later the British South Africa Company was founded. The Company having obtained its charter, no time was lost. In 1890, we find the now noted pioneer expedition plying its activities in Mashonaland. Mr. Basil Worsfold, in a most instructive article in the _Fortnightly Review_, affords an excellent insight into the energy that characterised the Company's proceedings:--"In the space of three months, a road 400 miles in length was cut through jungle and swamp, and a series of forts was erected and garrisoned by the Company's forces. After the Matabele war, which occupied the closing months of 1893, the prospecting and mining for gold was commenced in Matabele, as well as in Mashonaland, and at the present time Buluwayo, Lobengula's kraal, has become the chief centre of the industry. These operations were checked by the revolt of the Matabele and Mashona in 1896, but since that period gold mining has been steadily progressing. The Buluwayo yield for December 1898 amounted to 6258 oz.: while that of the four last months--September to December--of the same year was 18,084 oz., of the value of about £70,000!" [Illustration: A MATABELE RAID IN MASHONALAND. Drawn by W. Small, from Sketches by A. R. Colquhoun, First Administrator of Mashonaland.] The other fields which yield gold are the Transvaal, Lydenberg, and De Kaap fields, and the Klerksdorp and Potchefstrom fields. The output of these fields continues to grow apace, but how much longer the growth will be maintained is uncertain. The opinion of Mr. Hamilton Smith, who wrote to the _Times_ on the subject in 1895, is worth consideration. He says, "In 1894 the value of the Randt gold bullion was £7,000,000, and this without any increase from the new deep-level mines; these latter will become fairly productive in 1897, so for that year a produce of fully £10,000,000 can be fairly expected. Judging from present appearances, the maximum product of the Randt will be reached about the end of the present century, when it will probably exceed £12,500,000 per annum." It is interesting to find that Mr. Smith's maximum figure was already exceeded in the year 1898, when the total yield of gold was 4,295,602 oz., valued at £15,250,000! The following table, based on Mr. H. Smith's and Dr. Soetbeer's estimates, affords us an opportunity for comparing the South African output with that of other countries, and the world's present supply with that of former years:-- GOLD OUTPUT FOR 1894. | WORLD'S OUTPUT. ------------------------------------------------------------------ | Average annual Value | From value. United States £9,000,000 | 1700 to 1859 £ 2,000,000 Australasia 8,000,000 | 1850 to 1875 25,000,000 South Africa 7,000,000 | 1875 to 1890 20,000,000 Russia (1892) 4,000,000 | 1894 (one year only) 36,000,000 Of the stimulus given to railway construction by the establishment of the gold industry Mr. Worsfold speaks with authority. He says, "To-day, Johannesburg--built on land which in 1886 was part of an absolutely barren waste--is approached by three distinct lines, which connect it directly with the four chief ports of South Africa--Delagoa Bay, Durban, Port Elizabeth, and Cape Town. Of these lines the earliest, which traverses the Free State from end to end, and links the Randt with the Cape Colony, was not opened until July 1892. The Pretoria-Delagoa Bay line was completed in the autumn of 1894; and the extension of the Randt railway to Charlestown, the connecting-point with the Natal line, was not effected until the following year. These, together with some subsidiary lines, represent a total of 1000 miles of railway constructed mainly under the stimulus of the gold industry in the Transvaal. To this total two considerable pieces of railway construction, accomplished in the interest of the gold industry in the Chartered Company's territories, must be added. Of these, the first extended the main trunk line of Africa from Kimberley successively to Vryburg and Mafeking, in 1890 and 1894, and then finally to Buluwayo in 1897, and the second, the Beira line, by securing a rapid passage through the 'fly country,' brought Salisbury into easy communication with the East Coast of Africa at the port so named. Taken together, they measure 930 miles. It should be added also that arrangements are already in progress for the extension of the trunk line from Buluwayo to Tanganyika--a distance of about 750 miles. This will form a new and important link in Mr. Rhodes' great scheme of connecting Cape Town with Cairo." The telegraph advanced more speedily even than railroads, and the population has kept pace with wire and rail. Johannesburg has a population of 120,800 souls, and Buluwayo, a savage desert not long ago, has now an European society of over 5000 persons. It is therefore somewhat questionable if Mr. Froude is justified in his opinion that diamonds and gold are not the stuff of which nations are made. Nations, if they are to expand, must be fed, and while diamond and gold mines give up of their wealth, we are assured of sufficient food to foster expansion. That done, it remains merely with the Government of the flourishing nation to decide whether its work shall be little or large. It is curious to note that in spite of the disturbance in the Transvaal the mines continued to maintain their position, with the result that the gold output from the Randt for July shows a considerable increase upon previous months. According to the official figures received from the Chamber of Mines, the returns were as follows:-- 456,474 ozs. for the Witwatersrandt district 22,019 ozs. for the outside district -------- 478,493 ozs. The production in June 1899 was:-- 445,763 ozs. for the Witwatersrandt district 21,508 ozs. for the outside district -------- In all 467,271 ozs. And in July 1898:-- 359,343 ozs. for the Witwatersrandt district 22,663 ozs. for the outside district -------- In all 382,006 ozs. This table shows that during the twelve months since July 1898 the production of gold on the Randt has increased by 100,000 ozs. a month--equivalent to 1,200,000 ozs. a year. It will be found that, if these returns are compared with the estimates made by competent authorities, the actual output is far in excess of all estimates, following is the gold output table, Transvaal, to July 1899:-- +----------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+----------------+ | MONTH. | 1895. | 1896. | 1897. | 1898. | 1899. | TOTAL TO DATE. | +----------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+----------------+ | | Ozs. | Ozs. | Ozs. | Ozs. | Ozs. | Ozs. | |January | 177,463 | 148,178 | 209,832 | 336,577 | 431,010 | 369,557--1889 | |February | 169,296 | 167,019 | 211,000 | 321,238 | 425,166 | 42,000--'87-8-9| |March | 184,945 | 173,952 | 232,067 | 347,643 | 464,036 | 494,817--1890 | |April | 186,323 | 176,003 | 235,698 | 353,243 | 460,349 | 729,238--1891 | |May | 194,580 | 195,009 | 248,305 | 365,016 | 466,452 | 1,210,867--1892| |June | 200,942 | 193,640 | 251,529 | 365,091 | 467,271 | 1,478,473--1893| |July | 199,453 | 203,874 | 242,479 | 382,006 | 478,493 | 2,024,163--1894| |August | 203,573 | 213,418 | 259,603 | 398,285 | ... | 2,277,640--1895| |September | 194,765 | 202,562 | 262,150 | 408,502 | ... | 2,281,175--1896| |October | 192,652 | 199,890 | 274,175 | 423,217 | ... | 3,034,674--1897| |November | 195,219 | 201,113 | 297,124 | 413,517 | ... | 4,555,009--1898| |December | 178,429 | 206,517 | 310,712 | 440,674 | ... | 3,193,777--1899| +----------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+----------------+ |Total |2,277,640|2,281,175|3,034,674|4,555,009|3,193,777|21,899,562 ozs. | +----------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+----------------+ Government Returns; some additions to be made for Rhodesia. DIAMONDS The discovery of diamonds in South Africa was made by a curious accident. One day a trader travelling along in the neighbourhood north of Cape Colony happened to stop at a farm. While there, he was interested in a small child who was toying with a bright and singularly lustrous pebble. His curiosity was aroused, and he suggested that the thing might be rare enough to be of some value. Thereupon the stone was sent to an expert in Grahamstown, who declared it to be a diamond. The stone weighed twenty-one carats and was valued at £500. From that date search was made in and around the locality, and more diamonds, smaller and of inferior quality, were found. During the years 1867-68 nothing very active was done, though now and again these precious stones were discovered near the Vaal River. In the month of March, 1869, the world was startled and began to open its eyes. The diamond known as "the Star of Africa," weighing some eighty-three carats in its raw state, was obtained from a Hottentot. This individual had been in possession of the valuable property for some time, and had kept it solely on account of its rarity as a charm. The stone was eventually sold for the sum of £11,000. The north bank of the Vaal where the discoveries were made was, at that time, a species of "No-Man's-Land." The southern bank belonged to the Free State, but for the other side there were many claimants, none of whom could prove a title to it. The community of miners which there gathered was consequently lawless and ruffianly, and its mode of government was distinctly primitive. The various claimants, notably the Griqua Captain, Nicholas Waterboer, commenced disputes regarding the valuable portion of the Free State territory, and finally it was decided to submit to British arbitration. President Brand refused the offer, but President M. W. Pretorius of the South African Republic, who had grievances against the Barolong, Batlapin, and Griqua tribes, agreed. A Court was appointed, the Governor of Natal acting as umpire. The interests involved were many, and on the subject of their rights the various claimants seemed somewhat hazy. The Free State was not represented, and the umpire, acting on the evidence of Mr. Arnot (the agent of Nicholas Waterboer) gave judgment against the South African Republic, and allowed the claim of the Griqua Captain, including in the award the tract claimed by him in the Free State. The complicated situation is thus described by Mr. Bryce in his "Impressions of South Africa":-- "As Waterboer had before the award offered his territory to the British Government, the country was forthwith erected into a Crown Colony, under the name of Griqualand West. This was in 1871. The Free State, whose case had not been stated, much less argued, before the umpire, protested, and was after a time able to appeal to a judgment delivered by a British Court, which found that Waterboer had never enjoyed any right to the territory. However, the new Colony had by this time been set up, and the British flag displayed. The British Government, without either admitting or denying the Free State title, declared that a district in which it was difficult to keep order amid a turbulent and shifting population ought to be under the control of a strong power, and offered the Free State a sum of £90,000 in settlement of whatever claim it might possess. The acceptance by the Free State, in 1876, of this sum closed the controversy, though a sense of injustice continued to rankle in the breasts of some of the citizens of the Republic. Amicable relations have subsisted ever since between it and Cape Colony, and the control of the British Government over the Basutos has secured for it peace in the quarter which was formerly most disturbed. "These two cases show how various are the causes, and how mixed the motives, which press a great power forward even against the wishes of its statesmen. The Basutos were declared British subjects, partly out of a sympathetic wish to rescue and protect them, partly because policy required the acquisition of a country naturally strong, and holding an important strategical position. Griqualand West, taken in the belief that Waterboer had a good title to it, was retained after this belief had been dispelled, partly perhaps because a population had crowded into it which consisted mainly of British subjects, and was not easily controllable by a small State, but mainly because Colonial feeling refused to part with a region of such exceptional mineral wealth. And the retention of Griqualand West caused, before long, the acquisition of Bechuanaland, which in its turn naturally led to that northward extension of British influence which has carried the Union Jack to the shores of Lake Tanganyika." [Illustration: KIMBERLEY, AS SEEN FROM THE ROCK SHAFT. Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.] Griqualand West, whose capital is the salubrious Kimberley, was settled in 1833 by the Griquas or Baastards, a tribe of Dutch Hottentot half-breeds. As we have seen, the territory was claimed by the chief, Waterboer, and his claim was allowed by the Governor of Natal. When he subsequently ceded his rights, the province was annexed to Cape Colony, but with independent jurisdiction. In 1881 it became an integral part of Cape Colony. Griqualand East comprises No-Man's-Land, the Gatberg and St. John's River territory, under eight subordinate magistrates. A word, before passing on, of Kimberley. This town, hitherto known as the City of Diamonds, has now the distinction of being the casket where Mr. Rhodes, with the price of £5000 on his head, was incarcerated. Its real birth dates from 1869-70, when all the world rushed out to win fortune from its soil. Happily at that time Mr. Cecil Rhodes happened to be in the neighbourhood. With his usual gift of foresight, he recognised that some process of amalgamating the various conflicting claims and interests, and merging them in one huge whole, would be necessary if the value of diamonds was to be kept up. He invented a scheme, and succeeded--the great corporation, the De Beers Consolidated Mining Company, limited the output of diamonds to an annual amount such as Europe and the United States were able to take at a price high enough to leave an adequate profit. This arrangement has, in a measure, had the effect of depopulating the place. At least it has thinned it of the crowd of adventurers who previously infested the region and struggled to maintain an independent existence there. In the absence of these loafers the town is civilised, and comparatively refined. There are groves of gum-trees to promote shade, and thickets of prickly pear, which have ever a rural, though touch-me-not aspect. The low-storeyed houses, built bungalow-wise, have an air of capaciousness and ease; and further out, in Kenilworth, there are comfortable dwellings, surrounded with trees, and suggestive of a certain suburban picturesqueness. This region owes its cheerful and well-ordered aspect entirely to Mr. Rhodes, who is at the same time the parent and the apostle of all progress in South Africa. The diamonds have their home in beds of clay, which are usually covered with calcareous rock. These beds are the remains of mud pits, due to volcanic action. Mr. Bryce, in his "Impressions of South Africa, says:-- "Some of the mines are worked to the depth of 1200 feet by shafts and subterranean galleries. Some are open, and these, particularly that called the Wesselton Mine, are an interesting sight. This deep hollow, one-third of a mile in circumference and 100 feet deep, enclosed by a strong fence of barbed wire, is filled by a swarm of active Kaffir workmen, cleaving the 'hard blue' with pickaxes, piling it up on barrows, and carrying it off to the wide fields, where it is left exposed to the sun, and, during three months, to the rain. Having been thus subjected to a natural decomposition, it is the more readily brought by the pickaxe into smaller fragments before being sent to the mills, where it is crushed, pulverised, and finally washed to get at the stones. Nowhere in the world does the hidden wealth of the soil and the element of chance in its discovery strike one so forcibly as here, where you are shown a piece of ground a few acres in extent, and are told, 'Out of this pit diamonds of the value of £12,000,000 have been taken.' Twenty-six years ago the ground might have been bought for £50." To encourage honesty in the miner good wages are given, and ten per cent. is allowed to finders of valuable stones who voluntarily deliver these to the overseer. Apropos of this subject, Mr. Bryce relates an amusing tale, which, if not true, is certainly _ben trovato_: "I heard from a missionary an anecdote of a Basuto who, after his return from Kimberley, was describing how, on one occasion, his eye fell on a valuable diamond in the clay he was breaking into fragments. While he was endeavouring to pick it up he perceived the overseer approaching, and, having it by this time in his hand, was for a moment terribly frightened, the punishment for theft being very severe. The overseer, however, passed on. 'And then,' said the Basuto, 'I knew that there was indeed a God, for He had preserved me.'" Before leaving the subject of diamonds, it may be interesting to note the material increase of the products of the mines year by year. The following is a table of statistics of the De Beers Consolidated Mines, Limited, since its formation, 1st April 1888:-- TABLE OF STATISTICS. [Transcriber's Note: In order to fit into the limits required by Project Gutenberg, this table has been split into three parts.] +----------+----------------+---------+---------+-------------+---------------+ | |Year Ending | Number | Number | Number of |Amount Realised| | | |of Loads |of Loads | Carats of | by Sale | | | |of Blue |of Blue | Diamonds | of Diamonds. | | | |Hoisted. | Washed. | Found | | +----------+----------------+---------+---------+-------------+---------------| | {|March 31, 1889, | | | | £ s. d.| | {|prior to | 944,706| 712,263| 914,121 | 901,818 0 5| | {|consolidation | | | | | |De Beers {|March 31, 1890 |2,192,226|1,251,245|1,450,605 |2,330,179 16 3| |and {|March 31, 1891 |1,978,153|2,029,588|2,020,515 |2,974,670 9 0| |Kimberley{|[A]June 30, 1892|3,338,553|3,239,134|3,035,481 |3,931,542 11 1| |Mines {|June 30, 1893 |3,090,183|2,108,626|2,229,805 |3,239,389 8 6| | {|June 30, 1894 |2,999,431|2,577,460|2,308,463-1/2|2,820,172 3 9| | {|June 30, 1895 |2,525,717|2,854,817|2,435,541-1/2|3,105,957 15 8| | {|June 30, 1896 |2,698,109|2,597,026|2,363,437-3/4|3,165,382 1 4| | {|June 30, 1897 |2,515,889|3,011,288|2,769,422-3/4|3,722,099 3 3| | | | | | | | |Premier | | | | | | |Mine |June 30, 1897 | 271,777| ... | ... | ... | | | | | | | | |De Beers | | | | | | |and | | | | | | |Kimberley | | | | | | |Mines |June 30, 1898 |3,332,688|3,259,692|2,603,250 |3,451,214 15 3| | | | | | | | |Premier | | | | | | |Mine |June 30, 1898 |1,146,984| 691,722| 189,356-1/4| 196,659 18 8| +----------+----------------+---------+---------+-------------+---------------+ +----------+----------------+---------+-----------+-----------+----------+ | |Year Ending | Number | Amount | Amount |Cost of | | | |of Carats| Realised | Realised |Production| | | |per Load | per Carat | per Load. |per Load | | | | of Blue.| Sold. | | | +----------+----------------+---------+-----------+-----------+----------+ | {|March 31, 1889, | | | | | | {|prior to | | s. d. | s. d. | s. d. | | {|consolidation | 1.283 | 19 8-3/4 | 25 3-3/4 | 9 10-1/2 | |De Beers {|March 31, 1890 | 1.15 | 32 6-3/4 | 37 2-3/4 | 8 10-1/2 | |and {|March 31, 1891 | .99 | 29 6 | 29 3-3/4 | 8 8 | |Kimberley{|[A]June 30, 1892| .92 | 25 6 | 23 5 | 7 4.3 | |Mines {|June 30, 1893 | 1.05 | 29 0.6 | 30 6 | 6 11.6 | | {|June 30, 1894 | .89 | 24 5.2 | 21 10.6 | 6 6.8 | | {|June 30, 1895 | .85 | 25 6 | 21 8 | 6 10.8 | | {|June 30, 1896 | .91 | 26 9.4 | 24 4.5 | 7 0.1 | | {|June 30, 1897 | .92 | 26 10.6 | 24 8.6 | 7 4.3 | | | | | | | | |Premier | | | | | | |Mine |June 30, 1897 | ... | ... | ... | ... | | | | | | | | |De Beers | | | | | | |and | | | | | | |Kimberley | | | | | | |Mines |June 30, 1898 | .80 | 26 6.2 | 21 2.1 | 6 7.4 | | | | | | | | |Premier | | | | | | |Mine |June 30, 1898 | .27 | 20 9.3 | 5 8.2 | 2 7.1 | +----------+----------------+---------+-----------+-----------+----------+ +----------+----------------+----------+---------------------------------+ | |Year Ending | Number of| | | | | Loads | DIVIDENDS PAID. | | | |of Blue on| | | | | Floors at+------------------+--------------+ | | | Close of | | | | | | Year, | Amount. | Equal to | | | | exclusive| | | | | | of Lumps | | | +----------+----------------+----------+------------------+--------------+ | {|March 31, 1889, | | | | | {|prior to | | £ s. d.| | | {|consolidation | 476,403 | 188,329 10 0| 5 per cent. | |De Beers {|March 31, 1890 |1,576,821 | 789,682 0 0| 20 " | |and {|March 31, 1891 |1,525,386 | 789,791 0 0| 20 " | |Kimberley{|[A]June 30, 1892|1,624,805 | 1,382,134 5 0| 35 " | |Mines {|June 30, 1893 |2,606,362 | 987,238 15 0| 25 " | | {|June 30, 1894 |3,028,333 | 987,238 15 0| 25 " | | {|June 30, 1895 |2,699,233 | 987,238 15 0| 25 " | | {|June 30, 1896 |2,800,316 | 1,579,582 0 0| 40 " | | {|June 30, 1897 |2,304,917 | 1,579,582 0 0| 40 " | | | | | | | |Premier | | | | | |Mine |June 30, 1897 | 271,777 | ... | ... | | | | | | | |De Beers | | | | | |and | | | | | |Kimberley | | | | | |Mines |June 30, 1898 |2,377,913 |} | | | | | |} | | |Premier | | |} 1,579,582 0 0| 40 per cent. | |Mine |June 30, 1898 | 727,039 |} | | +----------+----------------+----------+------------------+--------------+ [A] These figures are for a period of fifteen months. Add 10 per cent. for other products. CHAPTER VI THE TRANSVAAL OF TO-DAY We have dealt with the exodus of the trekkers, and with the land that subsequently became the Transvaal. It behoves us now to discuss the difference between that primitive pastoral region of the early century and the busy country that may, for distinction sake, be styled the Transvaal of to-day. Modern geographers apply the name of the Transvaal to the tract of country between the Limpopo River on the north, and the Vaal River on the south. It is bounded on the east by the Lobombo, and the Drakenberg Mountains, which run parallel to the Natal coast, and on the west by British Bechuanaland. On the east lie Portuguese Territory and British Zululand, on the north Rhodesia, on the west British Bechuanaland, and on the south the Orange Free State and Natal. The important rivers are the Limpopo or Crocodile River, so named in compliment to its reptile inhabitants, and the Vaal, a tributary of the Orange River. This rises among the Drakenberg Mountains, and, curving, flows west as a boundary between the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. The Limpopo rises between Johannesburg and Pretoria, and sprays out north-east, north-west, east, and south-east, reaching the sea in the neighbourhood of Delagoa Bay. After leaving the Transvaal, owing to the presence of a cataract, it is however unsuitable for purposes of navigation. The district of the Transvaal varies in height from 2000 to 8000 feet above the level of the sea. The Hooge Veld, the uplands of the Drakenberg Mountains, rises from 4000 to 8000 feet above the sea, and between them and the outer slopes of the Lobombo range is a vast tract of some 20,000 square miles of arable land, called the Banken Veld. It furnishes a splendid grazing ground, and corn grows in profusion. The Bosch Veld or Bush Country comprises the centre of the country, and runs west into Bechuanaland. This district is largely infested with the tsetse fly, an insect whose sting means death to almost all domestic animals. Besides this, it is the home of malaria and other fevers. The Hooge Veld, which has a drier, colder, and more healthy climate, is largely used for breeding cattle, and as a grazing ground for sheep and oxen. It is here that, in later days, the gold-mining activity proceeds, as almost everywhere there are believed to be rich auriferous deposits. Its mineral deposits have been the attraction of the Transvaal, for the coal-fields invited the attention of some of the first speculators. In fact, the first railway line of the district ran between Johannesburg and a colliery. Besides coal may be found silver, copper, and lead. But the great attraction, GOLD, has for the last ten years lured all the money from the pockets of the enterprising. Other metals, such as cinnabar, iron, and tin are, for the nonce, like Gray's violet, "born to blush unseen," until some ingenious person discovers in them a subtle attraction. To show the financial changes which have come over the country within the last ten years, Mr. Campbell, late Vice-President of the Chamber of Mines, Johannesburg, has written a valuable article. In it he gives us the following agrarian position in the Transvaal of the present by areas and by values:-- AREAS. Per cent. Boers' own land 65 British 35 --- 100 But land is valuable not by area merely, but by intrinsic value, and the Boers have sold much of their best land, and taken British gold for it, and when we come to the figures in the Government Dues Office at Pretoria, we have-- VALUE. Per cent. Boers' 33 British 67 --- 100 The net deductions in the Dues Offices are, that the whole of the farms and private lands in the Transvaal, under the mere Boer occupancy, are valued by the outside world at £933,200, whereas to-day, by the addition of the British buyer and holder, they are now valued by the world at ten millions sterling! In figures given above, all land occupied for mining or town sites is excluded. The current yield of gold is computed at the rate of seventeen and a half millions sterling per annum. This is the vitalising source of African trade and African progress. It pays the interest on nearly all South African Railways, is responsible for a large portion of the costs of Government in the Cape Colony, Orange States, Natal as well as Pretoria. And yet the working bees--the white British community of Johannesburg--who have helped to enrich the hive containing the whole of South African interests, have been neglected, if not betrayed, by the Mother Country. They have been deprived of arms, of liberties,--they have suffered insult and disdain, and Great Britain, until forced to do so, has moved not a finger in their defence. The Transvaal, one of the richest districts of the world, merely wants good and sustained government--a government that will grant to all respectable white men free and equal rights. When this shall come to pass, its splendid resources will be developed. The Indian Ocean trade will be supplied with steam coal. The country will sustain itself, and will also export food stuffs, and trade in iron, hide, wool, tin, and quantities of other things, whose value has hitherto been ignored. All that is needed is a dignified acceptance of British responsibilities. South Africa was bought by the paramount Power nearly an hundred years ago, and has since then been administered--if not entirely wisely and well--at least administered, by that Power. British sweat has rained on the country, British muscle has toiled in the country, British blood has flowed in streams over its face, and British bones are mixed with the shifting grains of its sand. It now remains for British sovereignty to wield its sceptre and make its presence felt. [Illustration: PRETORIA FROM THE EAST. Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.] ACCUMULATED AGGRAVATIONS Since it is impossible to enter into all the intricacies of foreign political relations with the Transvaal, we will return to the Uitlanders. They became more and more unwelcome as their numbers increased. Many Acts were passed, each serving to render more impossible their chances of obtaining the franchise. The fact was that Mr. Kruger, having brought his State to a condition of bankruptcy almost identical with that which existed when Sir T. Shepstone annexed the Transvaal, was struggling to carry on a divided scheme, that of grabbing with both hands from the Uitlander financialists, while endeavouring to maintain with close-fisted obstinacy the exclusiveness, irresponsibility, and bigotry of the primitive trekker. He knew that if he granted full political rights to the outsiders he would no longer be master of his own misguided house. He said as much, and pointed out that were he to do so there would be no alternative but to haul down his flag. This being the case, there was no resource but to transform the so-called free Republic into an absolute oligarchy. Much has been said of the "Russian despot," but this century can present no more complete spectacle of despotism than that of Mr. Kruger. The Emperor of Russia, autocrat as he is, is guided by the traditions of his empire and the machinations of his ministers, but Mr. Kruger has allowed himself to be reasoned with and influenced by none, and his word has been in reality the only form of law or justice on which the Uitlanders have had to rely. Such system of government as there was was corrupt. Smuggling flourished under the very eye of the officials, and the Field Cornets, whose business it was to act as petty justices, collect taxes, and register arrivals of new-comers, kept their books in a manner more in accord with their personal convenience than with accuracy. Hence, when it came to the question of the naturalisation of the Uitlanders, the books which should have recorded their registration were either withheld or missing. Settlers in the Transvaal between the years 1882 and 1890, owing to this irregularity, were debarred from proving their registration as the law required. Speaking of this period, Mr. Fitzpatrick, in "The Transvaal from Within," says:-- "In the country districts justice was not a commodity intended for the Britisher. Many cases of gross abuse, and several of actual murder occurred, and in 1885 the case of Mr. Jas. Donaldson, then residing on a farm in Lydenburg--lately one of the Reform prisoners--was mentioned in the House of Commons, and became the subject of a demand by the Imperial Government for reparation and punishment. He had been ordered by two Boers (one of whom was in the habit of boasting that he had shot an unarmed Englishman in Lydenburg since the war, and would shoot others) to abstain from collecting hut taxes on his own farm; and on refusing had been attacked by them. After beating them off single-handed, he was later on again attacked by his former assailants, reinforced by three others. They bound him with reims (thongs), kicked and beat him with sjamboks (raw-hide whips) and clubs, stoned him, and left him unconscious and so disfigured that he was thought to be dead when found some hours later. On receipt of the Imperial Government's representations, the men were arrested, tried, and fined. The fines were stated to have been remitted at once by Government, but in the civil action which followed Mr. Donaldson received £500 damages. The incident had a distinctly beneficial effect, and nothing more was heard of the maltreatment of defenceless men simply because they were Britishers." Nevertheless the hostility between the two races was growing apace, and every ambition of the Uitlanders was promptly nipped in the bud. Reforms were at first mildly suggested. Bridges and roads were required, also a remission of certain taxes, but suggestions, even agitations, were in vain. In regard to the franchise question--the crying question of the decade--Mr. Kruger turned an ear more and more deaf. There are none so deaf as those whose ears are stopped up with the cotton-wool of their own bigotry. This bigotry it is almost impossible for enlightened persons to understand. As an instance of the almost fanatical ignorance and prejudice with which the Uitlanders had to contend, we may quote the letter of Mr. Kruger when requested to allow his name to be used as a patron of a ball to be given in honour of her Majesty's birthday. He replied:-- "SIR,--In reply to your favour of the 12th inst., requesting me to ask his Honour the State President to consent to his name being used as a patron of a ball to be given at Johannesburg on the 26th inst., I have been instructed to inform you that his Honour considers a ball as Baal's service, for which reason the Lord ordered Moses to kill all offenders; and as it is therefore contrary to his Honour's principles, his Honour cannot consent to the misuse of his name in such connection.--I have, &c., "F. ELOFF, _Private Secretary_." On another occasion, when the question of locust extermination came before the first Raad, the worthies to whom the conduct of the State was confided showed a condition of benighted simplicity that can scarcely be credited. "_July 21._--Mr. Roos said locusts were a plague, as in the days of King Pharaoh, sent by God, and the country would assuredly be loaded with shame and obloquy if it tried to raise its hand against the mighty hand of the Almighty. "Messrs. Declerq and Steenkamp spoke in the same strain, quoting largely from the Scriptures. "The Chairman related a true story of a man whose farm was always spared by the locusts, until one day he caused some to be killed. His farm was then devastated. "Mr. Stoop conjured the members not to constitute themselves terrestrial gods, and oppose the Almighty. "Mr. Lucas Meyer raised a storm by ridiculing the arguments of the former speakers, and comparing the locusts to beasts of prey, which they destroyed. "Mr. Labuschagne was violent. He said the locusts were different from beasts of prey. They were a special plague sent by God for their sinfulness." [Illustration: SERGEANT and BUGLER, 1st ARGYLE AND SUTHERLAND HIGHLANDERS. Photo by Gregory & Co., London.] Their deliberate unenlightenment, had it not been so tragic for those who suffered in consequence of it, must have been almost comical. On one occasion the question of firing at the clouds to bring down rain was discussed, and declared to be impious. "_August 5._--A memorial was read from Krugersdorp, praying that the Raad would pass a law to prohibit the sending up of bombs into the clouds to bring down rain, as it was a defiance of God, and would most likely bring down a visitation from the Almighty. "The Memorial Committee reported that they disapproved of such a thing, but at the same time they did not consider that they could make a law on the subject. "Mr. A. D. Wolmarans said he was astonished at the advice, and he expected better from the Commission. If one of their children fired towards the clouds with a revolver they would thrash him. Why should they permit people to mock at the Almighty in this manner? It was terrible to contemplate. He hoped that the Raad would take steps to prevent such things happening. "The Chairman (who is also a member of the Memorial Commission) said the Commission thought that such things were only done for a wager. "Mr. Erasmus said they were not done for a wager, but in real earnest. People at Johannesburg actually thought that they could bring down the rain from the clouds by firing cannons at them." These quotations are not offered in the spirit of ridicule. The Uitlander question is too serious for joking. They are reproduced to enable those who have no knowledge of the Boer--his petty tyrannies and annoying and irritating habits, and the vexatious regulations from which the Uitlander continually suffered--to form an idea of the terrible mental gulf which existed between oppressor and oppressed. As the constant dropping of water will wear away stone, so the constant fret of Boer treatment wore out the patience of their victims! It soon became very difficult for even sons of Uitlanders born in the country to obtain the franchise. The naturalised subject resigned his own nationality, and acquired the duties of the citizen and the liability to be called on for military service, only to find out that he could not even then enjoy the rights of the citizen. He felt much as the dog in the fable, which let drop his piece of meat for the sake of a reflection in the water. New laws and regulations continually came into force for the ostensible purpose of improving the state of the Uitlander--laws which in reality were created to bamboozle him still further. What chicanery failed to accomplish the remissness of officials successfully brought about, and the discomfort of the foreign inhabitants was complete. Beside domestic there were economic grievances. The position in a nutshell is given by one of the unfortunates:-- "The one thing which we must have--not for its own sake, but for the security it offers for obtaining and retaining other reforms--_is_ the franchise. No promise of reform, no reform itself will be worth an hour's purchase unless we have the status of voters to make our influence felt. But, if you want the chief economic grievances, they are--the Netherland Railway concession, the dynamite monopoly, the liquor traffic, and native labour, which, together, constitute an unwarrantable burden of indirect taxation on the industry of _over two and a half millions sterling annually_. We petitioned until we were jeered at; we agitated until we--well--came here (Pretoria Gaol); and we know that we shall get no remedy until we have the vote to enforce it. We are not a political but a working community, and if we were honestly and capably governed, the majority of us would be content to wait for the franchise for a considerable time yet in recognition of the peculiar circumstances and of the feelings of the older inhabitants." Mrs. Lionel Phillips, as the wife of an Uitlander, has also written her plaint. She says:-- "To show that the grievances of the Uitlanders are indeed real, let me call your attention to a few facts. What would women residing in peaceful England say to the fact that one cannot take a walk out of sight of one's own house in the suburbs of Johannesburg with safety? The Kaffirs, who in other parts of South Africa treat a white woman with almost servile respect, there make it a most unpleasant ordeal to pass them, and in a lonely part absolutely dangerous. "Even little girls of the tenderest age are not safe from these monsters. This is, of course, owing to the utterly inadequate police protection afforded by the Government, the ridiculously lenient sentences passed on horrible crimes, and to the adulterated drink sold by licensed publicans to the Kaffirs on all sides. What would be said if, when insulted by a cab-driver, it was found that the nearest policeman was the owner of the cab in question, and refused to render any assistance or listen to any complaint? "The educational grievance has been so widely circulated that it is needless to mention it now; but what is to be expected of a Government composed of men barely able to write their own names? "Of course I, as a woman, do not wish to enter into the larger questions of franchise, monopolies, taxation, &c., but being myself an Africander, and well able to recognise the many good qualities of the Boers, you will quite understand that I do not take a prejudiced view of the situation, and I am in a position better than that of most people to understand the grave reality of the Uitlanders' grievances." MONOPOLIES AND ABUSES Of the scandals leading out of the Netherlands Railway concession and the dynamite monopoly it is needless to speak. These monopolies were little more than schemes having for object the diversion of money from the pockets of the British into those either of the Boers or their trusty satellites in the Hollander-German clique. As an instance of the _modus operandi_, an article relative to the railway monopoly in the _Johannesburg Mining Journal_ may be quoted: "RAILWAY MONOPOLY "This is another carefully designed burden upon the mines and country. The issued capital and loans of the Netherlands Company now total about £7,000,000, upon which an average interest of about 5-1/3 per cent.--guaranteed by the State--is paid, equal to £370,000 per annum. Naturally the bonds are at a high premium. The company and its liabilities can be taken over by the State at a year's notice, and the necessary funds for this purpose can be raised at three per cent. An offer was recently made to the Government to consolidate this and other liabilities, but the National Bank, which is another concession, has the monopoly of all State loan business, and this circumstance effectually disposed of the proposal. At three per cent. a saving of £160,000 per annum would be made in this monopoly in interest alone. The value represented by the custom dues on the Portuguese border we are not in a position to estimate, but roughly these collections and the fifteen per cent. of the profits paid to the management and shareholders must, with other leakages, represent at least another £100,000 per annum which should be saved the country. As the revenue of the corporation now exceeds £2,000,000 a year, of which only half is expended in working costs, the estimate we have taken does not err upon the side of extravagance. By its neglect of its duties towards the commercial and mining community enormous losses are involved. Thus in the coal traffic the rate, which is now to be somewhat reduced, has been 3d. per ton per mile. According to the returns of the Chamber of Mines, the coal production of the Transvaal for 1895 was 1,045,121 tons. This is carried an average distance of nearly thirty miles, but taking the distance at twenty-four miles the charges are 6s. per ton. At 1-1/2d. per ton per mile--three times as much as the Cape railways charge--a saving upon the coal rates of 3s. per ton would follow, equal to £150,000 per annum. Again, by the 'bagging' system an additional cost of 2s. 3d. per ton is incurred--details of this item have been recently published in this paper--and if this monopoly were run upon ordinary business lines, a further saving of £110,000 would be made by carrying coal in bulk. The interest upon the amount required to construct the necessary sidings for handling the coal, and the tram-lines required to transport it to the mines, would be a mere fraction upon the amount; and as the coal trade in the course of a short time is likely to see a fifty per cent. increase, the estimate may be allowed to stand at this figure without deduction. No data are available to fix the amount of the tax laid upon the people generally by the vexatious delays and losses following upon inefficient railway administration, but the monthly meetings of the local Chamber of Commerce throw some light upon these phases of a monopolistic management. The savings to be made in dealing with the coal traffic must not be taken as exhausting all possible reforms: the particulars given as to this traffic only indicate and suggest the wide area covered by this monopoly, which hitherto has made but halting and feeble efforts to keep pace with the requirements of the public. Dealing as it does with the imports of the whole country, which now amount in value to £10,000,000, the figures we have given must serve merely to illustrate its invertebrate methods of handling traffic, as well as its grasping greed in enforcing the rates fixed by the terms of its concession. Its forty miles of Rand steam tram-line and thirty-five miles of railway from the Vaal River, with some little assistance from the Delagoa line and customs, brought in a revenue of about £1,250,000 in 1895. Now that the Natal line is opened the receipts will probably amount to nearly £3,000,000 per annum, all of which should swell the ordinary revenue of the country instead of remaining in the hands of foreigners as a reservoir of wealth for indigent Hollanders to exploit. The total railway earnings at the Cape and Natal together over all their lines amounted to £3,916,566 in 1895, and the capital expenditure on railways by these colonies amounts to £26,000,000. The greater portion of these receipts come from the Rand trade, which is compelled to pay an additional £2,500,000 carrying charges to the Netherlands Company, which has £7,000,000 of capital. Thus, railway receipts in South Africa amount now to £7,000,000 per annum, of which the Rand contributes at least £5,000,000. "The revenue of the company is now considerably over £3,000,000 per annum. The management claim that their expenses amount to but forty per cent. of revenue, and this is regarded by them as a matter for general congratulation. The Uitlanders contend that the concern is grossly mismanaged, and that the low cost of working is a fiction. It only appears low by contrast with a revenue swollen by preposterously heavy rates and protected by a monopoly. The tariff could be reduced by one-half, that is to say, a remission of taxation to the tune of one and a half million annually could be effected without depriving the company of a legitimate and indeed very handsome profit." [Illustration: Rt. Hon. CECIL JOHN RHODES, P.C. Photo by Elliott & Fry, London.] Perhaps the dynamite monopoly was even more aggravating than the railway one. Mr. Fitzpatrick says it has always been "a very burning question with the Uitlanders. This concession was granted soon after the Barberton Fields were discovered, when the prospects of an industry in the manufacture of explosives were not really very great. The concessionaire himself has admitted that, had he foreseen to what proportions this monopoly would eventually grow, he would not have had the audacity to apply for it. Of course, this is merely a personal question. The fact which concerned the industry was that the right was granted to one man to manufacture explosives, and to sell them at a price nearly 200 per cent. over that at which they could be imported. It was found, upon investigation after some years of agitation, that the factory at which this 'manufacture' took place was in reality merely a depôt in which the already manufactured article was manipulated to a moderate extent, so as to lend colour to the President's statement that a local industry was being fostered. An investigation, held by order of the Volksraad, exposed the imposition. The President himself stated that he found he had been deceived, and that the terms of the concession had been broken, and he urged the Raad to cancel it, which the Raad did. The triumph was considerable for the mining industry, and it was the more appreciated in that it was the solitary success to which the Uitlanders could point in their long series of agitations for reform. But the triumph was not destined to be a lasting one. Within a few months the monopoly was revived in an infinitely more obnoxious form. It was now called a Government monopoly, but 'the agency' was bestowed upon a partner of the gentleman who had formerly owned the concession, the President himself vigorously defending this course, and ignoring his own judgment on the case uttered a few months previously. _Land en Volk_, the Pretoria Dutch newspaper, exposed the whole of this transaction, including the system of bribery by which the concessionaires secured their renewal, and among other things made the charge which it has continued to repeat ever since, that Mr. J. M. A. Wolmarans, member of the Executive, received a commission of one shilling per case on every case sold during the continuance of the agency as a consideration for his support in the Executive Council, and that he continues to enjoy this remuneration, which is estimated now to be not far short of £10,000 a year. Mr. Wolmarans, for reasons of pride or discretion, has declined to take any notice of the charge, although frequently pressed to take action in the matter. It is calculated that the burden imposed upon the Witwatersrandt mines alone amounts to £600,000 per annum, and is, of course, daily increasing." Between the years 1890 and 1895 there were many negotiations over Swaziland. The South African Republic, ever anxious to extend its borders, longed to advance eastward to the sea. Negotiations were started in regard to this arrangement. The Transvaal had recognised the British occupation of Rhodesia, and the British in return agreed to allow the Transvaal to make a railway through Amatongaland to Kosi Bay, and acquire a seaport, if, within three years, it joined the South African Customs Union. But Mr. Kruger, luckily for Imperial interests, would not entertain the idea. He did not want to come into confederation with the Cape. The Orange Free State, however, joined the Cape system, and the South African Customs Union was started. The advantages to the Free State of this arrangement, though unforeseen, were many; the principal being the privilege of importing, unmolested, arms and ammunition over the Cape Government railway lines. Finally, in 1895, the administration of Swaziland was transferred to the South African Republic on certain conditions. It was not to be incorporated with the Republic, European settlers were to have full burgher rights, monopolies were forbidden, English and Dutch languages were to be on an equal footing, and no duties higher than the maximum tariff rates imposed by the South African Republic or by the Customs Union were to be allowed. The territory of Amatongaland was annexed by the British in 1895, and the Transvaal thus lost its one chance of an outlet towards the sea. THE FRANCHISE The much-vexed question of the Franchise continued to rankle in the hearts of the Uitlanders. Its ramifications had grown so complicated that even lawyers in discussing the matter continually found themselves in error. We may therefore be excused from attempting to examine its niceties, or rather its--well--the reverse. In 1893 a petition, signed by upwards of 13,000 aliens in favour of granting the extension of the Franchise, was received by the Raad with derision. In 1895 a monster petition was got up by the National Union, an organisation formed for the purpose of righting the wrongs of the Uitlanders. During the great Franchise debate in August 1895, Mr. R. K. Loveday, one of the Loyalists in the war, in the course of an address dealing with the subject, expressed himself very definitely and concisely, and in a manner which could not be refuted. He said-- "The President uses the argument that they should naturalise, and thus give evidence of their desire to become citizens. I have used the same argument, but what becomes of such arguments when met with the objections that the law requires such persons to undergo a probationary period extending from fourteen to twenty-four years before they are admitted to full rights of citizenship, and even after one has undergone that probationary period he can only be admitted to full rights by the resolution of the First Raad? Law IV. of 1890, being the Act of the two Volksraads, lays down clearly and distinctly that those who have been eligible for ten years for the Second Raad can be admitted to full citizenship. So that, in any case, the naturalised citizen cannot obtain full rights until he reaches the age of forty years, he not being eligible for the Second Raad until he is thirty years. The child born of non-naturalised parents must therefore wait until he is forty years of age, although at the age of sixteen he may be called upon to do military service, and may fall in the defence of the land of his birth. When such arguments are hurled at me by our own flesh and blood--our kinsmen from all parts of South Africa--I must confess I am not surprised that these persons indignantly refuse to accept citizenship upon such unreasonable terms. The element I have just referred to--namely, the Africander element--is very considerable, and numbers thousands, hundreds of whom, at the time this country was struggling for its independence, accorded it moral and financial support, and yet these very persons are subjected to a term of probation extending from fourteen to twenty-four years. It is useless for me to ask you whether such a policy is just and reasonable or Republican, for there can be but one answer, and that is 'No!' Is there one man in this Raad who would accept the Franchise on the same terms? Let me impress upon you the grave nature of this question, and the absolute necessity of going to the burghers without a moment's delay and consulting and advising them. Let us keep nothing from them regarding the true position, and I am sure we shall have their hearty co-operation in any reasonable scheme we may suggest. This is a duty we owe them, for we must not leave them under the impression that the Uitlanders are satisfied to remain aliens, as stated by some of the journals. I move amongst these people, and learn to know their true feelings, and when public journals tell you that these people are satisfied with their lot they tell you that which they know to be false. Such journals are amongst the greatest sources of danger that the country has. We are informed by certain members that a proposition for the extension of the Franchise must come from the burghers, but, according to the Franchise Law, the proposition must come from the Raad, and the public must consent. The member for Rustenberg says that there are 9338 burghers who have declared that they are opposed to the extension of the Franchise. Upon reference to the Report he will find that there are only 1564 opposed to the extension. Members appear afraid to touch upon the real question at issue, but try to discredit the memorials by vague statements that some of the signatures are not genuine, and the former member for Johannesburg, Mr. J. Meyer, seems just as anxious to discredit the people of Johannesburg as formerly he was to defend them." In spite of all that was said and done, however, no progress was made. The debate was closed on the third day, the request of the memorialists was refused, and they were referred for satisfaction to the existing laws. About this time the Transvaal came very near to war with Great Britain. As before stated, Mr. Kruger was much bound up with the affairs of the Netherlands Railway Company and its Hollander-German promoters. He attempted to divert the stream of Johannesburg traffic to Delagoa Bay, for the purpose of keeping profit from the pockets of the British. The freights, however, were evaded by unloading the goods at the frontier, and taking them across the Vaal in waggons. It was easy thus to forward goods--between Johannesburg and Viljoens Drift--direct by the Cape Railway. But Mr. Kruger was not to be defeated. In October 1895, he closed the drifts or fords of the Vaal to all waggon loads of goods from Cape Colony. Unfortunately the President had over-reached himself. The people of Cape Colony and those of the Free State were indignant, and the High Commissioner, Sir Hercules Robinson, and the Cape Premier, Mr. Rhodes, both brought their influence to bear on the President. He was obdurate. Mr. Chamberlain, the new Colonial Secretary, came to the rescue. He put his foot down, and a determined foot it was. He sent an ultimatum to Mr. Kruger announcing that closure of the drifts after the 15th of November would be considered an act of war. The drifts were reopened. But the Netherlands Railway Company still stuck to their tariffs and their aim of depriving the British Colonies of the custom dues and railway rates on the traffic of Johannesburg. Consequently this thorn in the side of the British Colonists was left to fester. [Illustration: SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVES--BOUND FOR THE GOLD-FIELDS. Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.] Day by day the discontent grew, and the cry of "No taxation without representation" became the Uitlanders' motto. They perceived that they were deprived of rights, yet expected to serve as milch cows for the fattening of a State that was arming itself at all points against them, and they came to the conclusion that some strong measures must now be taken for their protection. The Chamber of Mines and the Transvaal National Union had spent some time in advocating purely constitutional methods, the Chamber of Mines exploiting the grievances of the Gold Mining industry, while the National Union struggled for general reforms which should make the conditions of Uitlander life less intolerable than they were. The Reformers, whose chairman was Mr. Charles Leonard, a solicitor of good practice in Johannesburg, were mostly men of the middle and professional classes. The capitalists, being anxious to keep in with the Transvaal Government, were somewhat shy of the National Unionists; while the working men on their side were suspicious of the motives of the Reformers, and were chary of lending themselves to any scheme which might conduce to the profit of the millionaires. The National Union clearly expressed its aims in a manifesto which ended with the exposition of the Charter which its members hoped to obtain. It said: "We want-- 1. The establishment of this Republic as a true Republic. 2. A Grondwet, or Constitution, which shall be framed by competent persons selected by representatives of the whole people, and framed on lines laid down by them. 3. An equitable Franchise Law and fair representation. 4. Equality of the Dutch and English languages. 5. Responsibility to the Legislature of the heads of the great departments. 6. Removal of religious disabilities. 7. Independence of the Courts of Justice with adequate and secured remuneration of the Judges. 8. Liberal and comprehensive Education. 9. Efficient Civil Service, with adequate provision for pay and pension. 10. Free Trade in South African products." The Manifesto wound up with the pertinent question, "How shall we get it?" The "how" was to have been decided at a public meeting fixed for the 27th of December 1895, and subsequently postponed till January 8th, 1896. But what the National Union proposed the Jameson Raid disposed. The meeting was destined never to take place! THE REFORM MOVEMENT Before 1895 the wealthier members of the community refused to entertain the suggestion of coercive measures, but after the Volksraad in session revealed the real policy of the Government, even they began to perceive that revolutionary action might become obligatory. Though the capitalists were advised by those who knew to avoid spending money on hopeless efforts at reform, and to steer clear, if possible, of the political imbroglio, they eventually joined hands with the Reformers. How the egg of the Jameson conspiracy came to be laid no one exactly knew. Certain it was that those who looked for the hatching of a swan, were confronted with a very ugly duckling indeed! Arms and ammunition were purchased, and these, concealed as gold-mining impedimenta, were smuggled into the country. Messrs. Leonard and Phillips, two prominent Reformers, consulted Mr. Rhodes as to future affairs, but Mr. Rhodes was in the awkward position of acting at one and the same time as Managing Director of the Consolidated Gold Fields in the Transvaal, Prime Minister of the Colony, and Managing Director of the Chartered Company, and consequently was a little vague in his propositions. After some conversation, he decided that he would, at his own expense, keep Dr. Jameson and his troops on the frontier "as a moral support." Later on in September Dr. Jameson visited Johannesburg, and made his arrangements in person. It was agreed that he should maintain a force of 1500 mounted men, fully equipped, and that besides, having with him 1500 spare rifles, and some spare ammunition, there should be about 5000 rifles, three Maxims, and 1,000,000 rounds of ammunition smuggled into Johannesburg. The idea was, that the Uitlanders would prepare their revolt, and that should Dr. Jameson's services be needed, Johannesburg, with 9000 armed men and a fair equipment of machine guns and cannon, would be prepared to co-operate: at that time it seemed no difficult matter to seize the fort and magazines at Pretoria for the time being. It was in course of repair, and in charge merely of a hundred men, most of whom could be relied on to be asleep or off duty after nine o'clock at night. The plan of seizing the fort, capturing the ammunition, and clearing it off so as to enforce their views without bloodshed seemed perfectly feasible, and Dr. Jameson readily agreed to lend himself to the scheme for giving such "moral support" as was required by the Uitlander Reformers. Of their part in the affair it is difficult to speak impartially. It appears on the surface that they induced this man, for no personal motive either of financial gain or political power, to lend himself willingly to be the tool of the aggrieved Uitlanders, who, when the time came, were too vacillating between their fear of the Republic and the desire for their own individual good, to support the person whom they had chosen for their champion, and who so disinterestedly was prepared to risk both life and position in their service! It was decided, however, that the Reformers should arrange a revolution, which would have the effect of forcing the hands of the Transvaal Government. The High Commissioner, as they imagined, would come on the scene as a final arbitrator. Dr. Jameson's troops, who had acted so effectively in the Matabele campaign, were to be kept at Pitsani on the Bechuana border, in order if necessary to come at a given signal to the rescue of the Uitlanders. The idea was not without precedent. Sir Henry Loch, two years before, in dread of a Johannesburg rising, had considered the advisability of placing troops on the border. So as to justify his action to the directors of the Chartered Company and the Imperial authorities, the following undated letter was sent to Dr. Jameson, Mafeking:-- "DEAR SIR,--The position of matters in this State has become so critical, that we are assured that at no distant period there will be a conflict between the Government and the Uitlander population. It is scarcely necessary for us to recapitulate what is now matter of history; suffice it to say, that the position of thousands of Englishmen, and others, is rapidly becoming intolerable. Not satisfied with making the Uitlander population pay virtually the whole of the revenue of the country while denying them representation, the policy of the Government has been steadily to encroach upon the liberty of the subject, and to undermine the security for property to such an extent as to cause a very deep-seated sense of discontent and danger. A foreign corporation of Hollanders is to a considerable extent controlling our destinies, and in conjunction with the Boer leaders endeavouring to cast them in a mould which is wholly foreign to the genius of the people. Every public act betrays the most positive hostility, not only to everything English, but to the neighbouring States. "Well, in short, the internal policy of the Government is such as to have roused into antagonism to it not only practically the whole body of Uitlanders, but a large number of the Boers; while its external policy has exasperated the neighbouring States, causing the possibility of great danger to the peace and independence of this Republic. Public feeling is in a condition of smouldering discontent. All the petitions of the people have been refused with a greater or less degree of contempt; and in the debate on the Franchise petition, signed by nearly 40,000 people, one member challenged the Uitlanders to fight for the rights they asked for, and not a single member spoke against him. Not to go into details, we may say that the Government has called into existence all the elements necessary for armed conflict. The one desire of the people here is for fair play, the maintenance of their independence, and the preservation of those public liberties without which life is not worth living. The Government denies these things, and violates the national sense of Englishmen at every turn. "What we have to consider is, what will be the condition of things here in the event of a conflict? Thousands of unarmed men, women, and children of our race will be at the mercy of well-armed Boers, while property of enormous value will be in the greatest peril. We cannot contemplate the future without the gravest apprehensions. All feel that we are justified in taking any steps to prevent the shedding of blood, and to ensure the protection of our rights. "It is under these circumstances that we feel constrained to call upon you to come to our aid should a disturbance arise here. The circumstances are so extreme that we cannot but believe that you and the men under you will not fail to come to the rescue of people who will be so situated. We guarantee any expense that may reasonably be incurred by you in helping us, and ask you to believe that nothing but the sternest necessity has prompted this appeal. "CHARLES LEONARD. LIONEL PHILLIPS. FRANCIS RHODES. JOHN HAYS HAMMOND. GEORGE FARRAR." It was arranged that Dr. Jameson should start from camp on the night of the outbreak at Johannesburg--either on the 28th of December or on the 4th of January--according to notice which would subsequently be given. From this moment, however, doubts began to fill the minds of the Reformers. They were dissatisfied with the quantity of arms they had been able to smuggle into the town; there was a want of cohesion among the different sections, of those interested; they went so far as to disagree as to what flag they were going to revolt under. The Reformers were evidently not all of Dr. Jameson's opinion, that the Union Jack was the one and only flag under which they could hope for justice--they were, as we know, only comrades in suffering but not compatriots, and besides this, many declared that reform and not annexation was what they were anxious to secure. [Illustration: Dr Leander Starr Jameson. Photo by Elliott & Fry, London.] Here we have before us what made the complicated riddle of the Raid. Since it has defied all the Oedipuses of the century, we will not endeavour to unravel it. Did the Reformers set all their grievances aside before the paramount question, "Under which flag, Jameson?" or did they make use of the flag argument to cover a series of vacillations which prevented them from acting up to the rules of the conspiracy they themselves had set on foot? Did Mr. Rhodes engage in the plot for the sake of financial gain? Did he do so out of sympathy for the "cause," or did he attempt a magnificent political _coup_? And lastly--Did that unhappy scapegoat, the gallant Jameson, launch himself on the wild mistaken escapade to rescue his fellow-countrymen from oppression, to serve his private ends financial or political, or from the sheer spirit of adventure which, in some degree, animates every British heart? Who shall say? THE CRITICAL MOMENT It was arranged, as has been mentioned, that the rising at Johannesburg should take place on the night of the 4th of January. The arsenal at Pretoria was to be seized, and Dr. Jameson with his troops was to make his appearance, assist the Reformers in urging their claims, and, if necessary, save the women and children from possible violence. "According to the original plan," says Mrs. Lionel Phillips in her "South African Recollections," "what with the smuggled rifles, those in private hands, the spare weapons to be brought by Jameson's men, and those men (the Reformers) themselves, Johannesburg must have mustered a little army of not less than 5000 men, to say nothing of the guns which might possibly be captured in the arsenal. It was believed that with this force the town could be held against any attack that might be made by the Transvaal forces, and that, upon a failure in the first assault, the Boers would have adopted their well-known tactics of cutting off supplies, with a view to starving the town into submission. To meet this contingency the town was provisioned for two months, and it was supposed that the British Government would never sit still and allow the Uitlanders to be forced into capitulation in the face of the wrongs which they had suffered. In November, when Jameson came to Johannesburg, the supporting force had dwindled to 800. The telegrams apprising the Reformers of his advance spoke of 700, and in reality he started with less than 500 men." But by the time the plot should have neared completion, the conspirators, as has been shown, had ceased to be of one accord on the subject. On Christmas Day Mr. Leonard interviewed Mr. Rhodes in Cape Town, and represented to him the divided state of affairs. Meanwhile the Reformers in Johannesburg desired to make known to Dr. Jameson their change of front, and, to prevent him starting on the expedition, despatched two messengers to Pitsani Camp by different routes. These messages were received on December the 28th, and with them other telegraphic ones from Mr. Leonard and Mr. Rhodes explicitly directing the expedition not to start. The news that Dr. Jameson had started, in spite of these messages, came on the Reformers like a thunderclap. They were not ready--they had not sufficient arms to fight with, and they were not of one mind. The doing had been easy enough, and they had fancied the undoing would be as simple. They had laid their gunpowder train without thinking of the number of firebrands that surrounded it! Amazement gave way to indignation, and the Reformers were not slow to hint that Mr. Rhodes or Dr. Jameson had disregarded the messages in order to further their personal ends. The most charitable decided that the Doctor's starting was due merely to misunderstanding. Many rumours of discontent and disturbance were floating about, and it was believed that some of these might have reached the Doctor's ears and influenced his actions. Anyway the Reformers were at sea. All they could do was to arm as many men as possible with a view to defence--to holding the town against any attack that might be made by the Transvaal forces, and to decide to take no initiative against the Boers. No uneasiness was felt regarding Jameson, for it was believed that he was well supported by not less than 800 men, and that the Boers would stand a poor chance against a body so well equipped and trained as his was supposed to be. The position taken up is explained in a notice of the Reform Committee in the _Johannesburg Star_:--"Notice is hereby given, that this Committee adheres to the National Union Manifesto, and reiterates its desire to maintain the independence of the Republic. The fact that rumours are in course of circulation to the effect that a force has crossed the Bechuanaland border, renders it necessary to take active steps for the defence of Johannesburg and the preservation of order. The Committee earnestly desires that the inhabitants should refrain from taking any action which can be considered as an overt act of hostility against the Government." The High Commissioner and the Premier of Cape Colony were communicated with and informed that Dr. Jameson, having started with an armed force, Johannesburg was in peril which there was no means to avert. The High Commissioner was further invited to come to Johannesburg to effect a settlement and prevent civil war. Arrangements were then made for the arming of some 2000 men. These preparations and others speedily became known to the Government in Pretoria. No steps, it appears, had been taken to preserve secrecy, as the Committee did not hold themselves responsible for Dr. Jameson's action. The result was the publication of the following Proclamation by the President:-- "PROCLAMATION BY HIS HONOUR THE STATE PRESIDENT OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC "Whereas, it has appeared to the Government of the South African Republic that there are rumours in circulation to the effect that earnest endeavours are being made to endanger the public safety of Johannesburg; and whereas the Government is convinced that, in case such rumours may contain any truth, such endeavours can only emanate from a small portion of the inhabitants, and that the greater portion of the Johannesburg inhabitants are peaceful, and are prepared to support the Government in its endeavours to maintain law and order. "Now, know you that I, Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, State President of the South African Republic, with the advice and consent of the Executive Council, according to Article 913 of its minutes, dated the 30th of December 1895, do hereby warn those evil-intentioned persons (as I do hereby urge all such persons to do) to remain within the pale of the law, and all such persons not heeding this warning shall do so on their own responsibility; and I do further make known that life and property shall be protected against which attempts may be made, and that every peaceful inhabitant of Johannesburg, of whatsoever nationality he may be, is called upon to support me herein, and to assist the officials charged therewith; and further be it known, that the Government is still prepared to take into consideration all grievances that may be laid before it in a proper manner, and to submit the same to the people of the land without delay for treatment." The High Commissioner also issued a Proclamation calling on Dr. Jameson to return to British territory at once, and this was forwarded to him at different points in order that there might be no mistake and that the invasion might yet be arrested. Meanwhile Mr. Marais (the editor of the leading Dutch paper) and Mr. Malan (the son-in-law of Joubert) were proceeding with a commando for the purpose of fighting for their Government should Dr. Jameson disobey the Proclamation. They excused themselves under the plea "that if from unreasonable action of Johannesburg, fighting should take place between the Government forces and a revolutionary force from Johannesburg, they were in duty bound to fight, and that among their ranks would be found many who had been active workers in the ranks of the Reformers." It was subsequently decided that a deputation of Reformers should negotiate with the Government for a peaceful settlement on the basis of the Manifesto. Their programme was somewhat broad. They were to approach the Government pacifically and at the same time insist on their rights and the redress of their grievances--"to avow the association of Dr. Jameson's forces so far as it had existed, and to include him in any settlement that might be made." They also, in answer to a telegram from the British Agent, refused to repudiate Dr. Jameson, and said, "in order to avert bloodshed on grounds of Dr. Jameson's action, if Government will allow Dr. Jameson to come in unmolested, the Committee will guarantee with their persons if necessary that he will leave again peacefully with as little delay as possible." Meanwhile the committee remained in the most horrible doubt and suspense. No word came from Jameson. That he had started they knew, and that was the extent of their knowledge. They still trusted that, on ascertaining that there was no necessity for intervention on behalf of the Uitlanders, he and his troops would obey the orders of the High Commissioner, and retire peacefully from the Transvaal. THE RAID From all accounts it appears that Dr. Jameson and his party gathered together at Pitsani early in December. He drilled his troops and general preparations were made, without sufficient secrecy however, for the projected invasion. It was unfortunate for the scheme that these plans were publicly spoken of in society in England at the same time as they were merely being discussed in whispers in Johannesburg! On Sunday the 29th of December 1895, Dr. Jameson read aloud to his troops the letter which has been printed, and which, simultaneously with his departure, was sent by Dr. Rutherfoord Harris to the _Times_, to justify the action which in a few hours would become world famous. This letter the Reformers subsequently declared was treacherously made use of, as they had not had occasion to send the appeal therein mentioned. It is evident that at that time Dr. Jameson believed that his plans were so well arranged that there would be no bloodshed, that, indeed, he would appear in the nick of time to afford the "moral support" he had originally engaged to provide. The troops were to go straight to Johannesburg before the Boers had time to assemble their forces or to take any measures to stop him. The Doctor explained that they were marching to the rescue of the oppressed, and implied that they were going under the auspices of the British flag. On hearing the latter statement a considerable number of the troops refused to take part in the enterprise, and this may account for the fact that while the Reformers believed Dr. Jameson to be supported by some 800 men or more, he was in reality accompanied by only 480. Here, in order to give the crude facts of the Raid as known to the public, we may copy the report of the affair made by Sir John Willoughby to the War Office:-- "SIR JOHN WILLOUGHBY'S REPORT TO THE WAR OFFICE "_Official Report of the Expedition that left the Protectorate at the urgent request of the leading citizens of Johannesburg, with the object of standing by them and maintaining law and order whilst they were demanding justice from the Transvaal authorities. By Sir John C. Willoughby, Bart., Lieutenant-Colonel commanding Dr. Jameson's Forces._ "On Saturday, December 28, 1895, Dr. Jameson received a Reuter's telegram, showing that the situation at Johannesburg had become acute. At the same time reliable information was received that the Boers in the Zeerust and Lichtenburg districts were assembling, and had been summoned to march on Johannesburg. "Preparations were at once made to act on the terms of the letter dated December 20, and already published, and also in accordance with verbal arrangements with the signatories of that letter--viz., that should Dr. Jameson hear that the Boers were collecting, and that the intentions of the Johannesburg people had become generally known, he was at once to come to the aid of the latter with whatever force he had available, and without further reference to them, the object being that such force should reach Johannesburg without any conflict. "At 3 P.M. on Sunday afternoon, December 29, everything was in readiness at Pitsani Camp. The troops were paraded, and Dr. Jameson read the letter of invitation from Johannesburg. "He then explained to the force--(_a_) that no hostilities were intended; (_b_) that we should only fight if forced to do so in self defence; (_c_) that neither the persons nor property of inhabitants of the Transvaal were to be molested; (_d_) that our sole object was to help our fellow-men in their extremity, and to ensure their obtaining attention to their just demands. "Dr. Jameson's speech was received with the greatest enthusiasm by the men, who cheered most heartily. "The above programme was strictly adhered to until the column was fired upon on the night of the 31st. "Many Boers, singly and in small parties, were encountered on the line of march; to one and all of these the pacific nature of the expedition was carefully explained. "The force left Pitsani Camp at 6.30 P.M., December 29, and marched through the night. At 5.15 A.M., on the morning of the 30th, the column reached the village of Malmani (thirty-nine miles distant from Pitsani). Presently, at the same moment, the advanced guard of the Mafeking Column (under Colonel Grey) reached the village, and the junction was effected between the two bodies.... "From Malmani I pushed on as rapidly as possible in order to cross in daylight the very dangerous defile at Lead Mines. This place, distant seventy-one miles from Pitsani, was passed at 5.30 P.M., December 30. "I was subsequently informed that a force of several hundred Boers, sent from Lichtenburg to intercept the force at this point, missed doing so by three hours only. "At our next 'off-saddle' Dr. Jameson received a letter from the Commandant-General of the Transvaal demanding to know the reason of our advance, and ordering us to return immediately. A reply was sent to this, explaining Dr. Jameson's reasons in the same terms as those used to the force at Pitsani. "At Doomport (ninety-one miles from Pitsani), during an 'off-saddle' early on Tuesday morning, December 31, a mounted messenger overtook us, and presented a letter from the High Commissioner, which contained an order to Dr. Jameson and myself to return at once to Mafeking and Pitsani. "A retreat by now was out of the question, and to comply with these instructions an impossibility. In the first place, there was absolutely no food for men or horses along the road which we had recently followed; secondly, three days at least would be necessary for our horses, jaded with forced marching, to return; on the road ahead we were sure of finding, at all events, some food for man and beast. Furthermore, we had by now traversed almost two-thirds of the total distance; a large force of Boers was known to be intercepting our retreat, and we were convinced that any retrograde movement would bring on an attack of Boers from all sides. "It was felt, therefore, that to ensure the safety of our little force, no alternative remained but to push on to Krugersdorp to our friends, who, we were confident, would be awaiting our arrival there. "Apart from the above considerations, even had it been possible to effect a retreat from Doomport, we knew that Johannesburg had risen, and felt that by turning back we should be shamefully deserting those coming to meet us. "Finally, it appeared to us impossible to turn back, in view of the fact that we had been urgently called in to avert a massacre, which we had been assured would be imminent in the event of a crisis such as had now occurred. "Near Boon's store, on the evening of the 31st, an advanced patrol fell in with Lieutenant Eloff, of the Krugersdorp Volunteers. This officer, in charge of a party of fifteen scouts, had come out to gain intelligence of our movements. He was detained whilst our intentions were fully explained to him, and then released at Dr. Jameson's request. "At midnight (New Year's Eve), while the advanced scouts were crossing a rocky, wooded ridge at right angles to and barring the line of advance, they were fired on by a party of forty Boers, who had posted themselves in this position. The scouts, reinforced by the advanced guard, under Inspector Straker, drove off their assailants after a short skirmish, during which one trooper of the M.M.P. was wounded. "At Van Oudtshoorn's, early on the following morning (Jan. 1), Dr. Jameson received a second letter from the High Commissioner, to which he replied in writing. At 9.30 A.M. the march was resumed in the usual day formation. After marching two miles the column got clear of the hills, and emerged into open country. "About this time Inspector Drury, in command of the rear guard, sent word that a force of about one hundred Boers was following him about one mile in rear. I thereupon reinforced the rear guard, hitherto consisting of a troop and one Maxim, by an additional half troop and another Maxim. "About five miles beyond Van Oudtshoorn's store the column was met by two cyclists bearing letters from several leaders of the Johannesburg Reform Committee. These letters expressed the liveliest approval and delight at our speedy approach, and finally contained a renewal of their promise to meet the column with a force at Krugersdorp. The messengers also reported that only 300 armed Boers were in the town. "This news was communicated to the troops, who received it with loud cheers. When about two miles from Hind's store the column was delayed by extensive wire fencing, which ran for one and a half miles on either side of the road, and practically constituted a defile. "While the column was halted and the wire being cut, the country for some distance on both sides was carefully scouted. "By this means it was ascertained that there was a considerable force of Boers (1) on the left front, (2) in the immediate front (retreating hastily on Krugersdorp), (3) a third party on the right flank. "The force which had been following the column from Van Oudtshoorn's continued to hover in the rear. "Lieutenant-Colonel White, in command of the advanced guard, sent back a request for guns to be pushed forward as a precaution in case of an attack from the Boers in front. By the time these guns reached the advanced guard, the Boers were still retreating some two miles off. A few rounds were then fired in their direction. Had Colonel White, in the first instance, opened fire with his Maxims on the Boers, whom he surprised watering their horses close to Hind's store, considerable loss would have been inflicted, but this was not our object, for with the exception of the small skirmish on the previous night, the Boers had not as yet molested the column, whose sole aim was to reach Johannesburg if possible without fighting. "At this hour Hind's store was reached. Here the troops rested for one and a half hours. Unfortunately, hardly any provisions for men and horses were available. An officer's patrol, consisting of Major Villiers (Royal Horse Guards), and Lieutenant Grenfell (1st Life Guards), and six men, moved off for the purpose of reconnoitring the left flank of the Boer position, while Captain Lindsell, with his permanent force of advanced scouts, pushed on as usual to reconnoitre the approach by the main road. At the same time I forwarded a note to the Commandant of the forces in Krugersdorp to the effect that, in the event of my friendly force meeting with opposition on its approach, I should be forced to shell the town, and that therefore I gave him this warning in order that the women and children might be moved out of danger. "To this note, which was despatched by a Boer who had been detained at Van Oudtshoorn, I received no reply. "At Hind's store we were informed that the force in our front had increased during the forenoon to about 800 men, of whom a large number were entrenched on the hillside. "Four miles beyond Hind's store the column following the scouts, which met with no opposition, ascended a steep rise of some 400 feet, and came full in view of the Boer position on the opposite side of a deep valley, traversed by a broad 'sluit' or muddy watercourse. "Standing on the plateau or spur, on which our force was forming up for action, the view to our front was as follows:-- "Passing through our position to the west ran Hind's store--Krugersdorp Road traversing the valley and the Boer position almost at right angles to both lines. [Illustration: JAMESON'S LAST STAND--THE BATTLE OF DOORNKOP, 2nd JANUARY 1896. Painting by R. Caton Woodville. Reproduced by special arrangement with Henry Graves & Co., London.] "Immediately to the north of this road, at the point where it disappeared over the sky-line on the opposite slope, lay the Queen's Battery House and earthworks, completely commanding the valley on all sides, and distant 1900 yards from our standpoint. "Some 1000 yards down the valley to the north stood a farmhouse, surrounded by a dense plantation, which flanked the valley. "Half-way up the opposite slope, and adjacent to the road, stood an iron house which commanded the drift where the road crossed the above-mentioned watercourse. "On the south side of the road, and immediately opposite the last-named house, an extensive rectangular stone wall enclosure with high trees formed an excellent advanced central defensive position. Further up the slope, some 500 yards to the south of this enclosure, stretched a line of rifle-pits, which were again flanked to the south by 'prospecting' trenches. On the sky-line numbers of Boers were apparent to our front and right front. "Before reaching the plateau we had observed small parties of Boers hurrying towards Krugersdorp, and immediately on reaching the high ground the rear-guard was attacked by the Boer force which had followed the column during the whole morning. "I therefore had no further hesitation in opening fire on the Krugersdorp position. "The two 7-pounders and the 12-1/2-pounder opened on the Boer line, making good practice under Captain Kincaid-Smith and Captain Gosling at 1900 yards. "This fire was kept up till 5 P.M. The Boers made practically no reply, but lay quiet in the trenches and battery. "Scouts having reported that most of the trenches were evacuated, the first line, consisting of the advanced guard (a troop of 100 men), under Colonel White, advanced. Two Maxims accompanied this force; a strong troop with a Maxim formed the right and left support on either flank. "Lieutenant-Colonel Grey, with one troop B.B.P. and one Maxim, had been previously detailed to move round and attack the Boers' left. "The remaining two troops, with three Maxims, formed the reserve and rear-guard. "The first line advance continued unopposed to within 200 yards of the watercourse, when it was checked by an exceedingly heavy cross-fire from all points of the defence. "Colonel White then pushed his skirmishers forward into and beyond the watercourse. "The left support, under Inspector Dykes, then advanced to prolong the first line to the left; but, diverging too much to his left, this officer experienced a very hot flanking fire from the farmhouse and plantation, and was driven back with some loss. "Colonel Grey meanwhile had pushed round on the extreme right and come into action. "About this time Major Villiers' patrol returned and reported that the country to our right was open, and that we could easily move round in that direction. "It was now evident that the Boers were in great force, and intended holding their position. "Without the arrival of the Johannesburg force in rear of the Boers--an event which I had been momentarily expecting--I did not feel justified in pushing a general attack, which would have certainly entailed heavy losses on my small force. "I accordingly left Inspector Drury with one troop and one Maxim to keep in check the Boers who were now lining the edge of the plateau to our left, and placed Colonel Grey with two troops B.B.P., one 12-1/2-pounder, and one Maxim, to cover our left flank and continue firing on the battery and trenches south of the road. "I then made a general flank movement to the right with the remaining troops. "Colonel Grey succeeded in shelling the Boers out of their advanced position during the next half-hour, and blew up the Battery House. "Under this cover the column moved off as far as the first houses of the Randfontein group of mines, the Boers making no attempt to intercept the movement. "Night was now fast approaching, and still there were no signs of the promised help from Johannesburg. I determined, therefore, to push on with all speed in the direction of that town, trusting in the darkness to slip through any intervening opposition. "Two guides were obtained, the column followed in the prescribed night order of march, and we started off along a road leading direct to Johannesburg. "At this moment heavy rifle and Maxim fire was suddenly heard from the direction of Krugersdorp, which lay one and a half miles to the left rear. "We at once concluded that this could only be the arrival of the long-awaited reinforcements, for we knew that Johannesburg had Maxims, and that the Staats-Artillerie were not expected to arrive until the following morning. To leave our supposed friends in the lurch was out of the question. I determined at once to move to their support. "Leaving the carts escorted by one troop on the road, I advanced rapidly across the plateau towards Krugersdorp in the direction of the firing, in the formation shown in the accompanying sketch. "After advancing thus for nearly a mile the firing ceased, and we perceived the Boers moving in great force to meet the column. The flankers on the right reported another force threatening that flank. "Fearing that an attempt would be made to cut us off from the ammunition carts, I ordered a retreat on them. "It was now clear that the firing, whatever might have been the cause thereof, was not occasioned by the arrival of any force from Johannesburg. [Illustration: Plan of JAMIESON'S MARCH] "Precious moments had been lost in the attempt to stand by our friends at all costs, under the mistaken supposition that they could not fail to carry out their repeated promises, renewed to us by letter so lately as 11 A.M. this same day. It was now very nearly dark. In the dusk the Boers could be seen closing in on three sides, viz., north, east, and south. The road to Johannesburg appeared completely barred, and the last opportunity of slipping through, which had presented itself an hour ago when the renewed firing was heard, was gone not to return. "Nothing remained but to bivouac in the best position available. "But for the unfortunate circumstance of the firing, which we afterwards heard was due to the exultation of the Boers at the arrival of large reinforcements from Potchefstroom, the column would have been by this time (7 P.M.), at least four or five miles further on the road to Johannesburg, with an excellent chance of reaching that town without further opposition. "I moved the column to the edge of a wide valley to the right of the road, and formed the horses in quarter column under cover of the slope. The carts were formed up in the rear and on both flanks, and five Maxims were placed along the front so as to sweep the plateau. "The other three Maxims and the heavy guns were posted on the rear and flank faces. "The men were then directed to lie down between the guns and on the side; sentries and Cossack posts were posted on each face. "Meantime the Boers had occupied the numerous prospecting trenches and cuttings on the plateau at distances from 400 to 800 yards. "At 9 P.M. a heavy fire was opened on the bivouac, and a storm of bullets swept over and around us, apparently directed from all sides except the south-west. "The troops were protected by their position on the slope below the level of the plateau, so that the total loss from this fire, which lasted about twenty minutes, was very inconsiderable. "The men behaved with admirable coolness, and were as cheery as possible, although very tired and hungry and without water. "We were then left unmolested for two or three hours. "About midnight another shower of bullets was poured into the camp, but the firing was not kept up for long. "Somewhat later a Maxim gun opened on the bivouac, but failed to get our range. "At 3.30 A.M. patrols were pushed out on all sides, while the force as silently and rapidly as possible was got ready to move off. "At 4 A.M. a heavy fire was opened by the Boers on the column, and the patrols driven in from the north and east sides. "Under the direction of Major R. White (assisted by Lieutenant Jesser-Coope) the column was formed under cover of the slope. "Soon after this the patrols which had been sent out to the south returned, and reported that the ground was clear of the Boers in that direction. "The growing light enabled us to ascertain that the Boers in force were occupying pits to our left and lining the railway embankment for a distance of one and a half miles right across the direct road to Johannesburg. "I covered the movements of the main body with the B.B.P. and two Maxims under Colonel Grey along the original left front of the bivouac, and two troops M.M.P., under Major R. White, on the right front. "During all this time the firing was excessively heavy; however, the main body was partially sheltered by the slope. "Colonel White then led the advance for a mile across the vley without casualty, but on reaching the opposite rise near the Oceanic Mine, was subjected to a very heavy long-range fire. Colonel White hereupon very judiciously threw out one troop to the left to cover the further advance of the main body. "This was somewhat delayed, after crossing the rise, by the disappearance of our volunteer guide of the previous night. "Some little time elapsed before another guide could be obtained. "In the meantime Lieutenant-Colonel Grey withdrew his force and the covering Maxims out of action under the protection of the M.M.P. covering troops, and rejoined the main body. "At this juncture Colonel Grey was shot in the foot, but most gallantly insisted on carrying on his duties until the close of the action. "Sub-Inspector Cazalet was also wounded here, but continued in action until he was shot again in the chest at Doornkop. "While crossing the ridge the column was subjected to a very heavy fire, and several men and horses were lost here. "I detailed a rear-guard of one troop and two Maxims, under Major R. White, to cover our rear and left flank, and moved the remainder of the troops in the ordinary day formation as rapidly forward as possible. "In this formation a running rear and flank guard fight was kept up for ten miles. Wherever the features of the ground admitted, a stand was made by various small detachments of the rear and flank guard. In this manner the Boers were successfully kept at a distance of 500 yards, and repulsed in all their efforts to reach the rear and flank of the main body. "In passing through the various mines and the village of Randfontein, we met with hearty expressions of goodwill from the mining population, who professed a desire to help if only they had arms. "Ten miles from the start I received intelligence from Colonel Grey, at the head of the column, that Doornkop, a hill near the Speitfontein Mine, was held by 400 Boers, directly barring our line of advance. "I repaired immediately to the front, Colonel White remaining with the rear-guard. "On arriving at the head of the column, I found the guns shelling a ridge which our guide stated was Doornkop. "The excellent dispositions for the attack made by Colonel Grey were then carried out. "The B.B.P., under Major Coventry, who, I regret to say, was severely wounded and lost several of his men, attacked and cleared the ridge in most gallant style, and pushed on beyond it. "About this time Inspector Barry received the wound which, we have learnt with grief, has subsequently proved fatal. "Chief-Inspector Bodle at the same time, with two troops M.M.P., charged and drove off the field a large force of Boers threatening our left flank. "The guide had informed us that the road to the right of the hill was impassable, and that there was open and easy country to the left. "This information was misleading. I afterwards ascertained that without storming the Boer position there was no road open to Johannesburg, except by a wide detour of many miles to the right. "At this moment Dr. Jameson received a letter from the High Commissioner again ordering us to desist in our advance. Dr. Jameson informed me at the same time of the most disheartening news, viz. that he had received a message stating that Johannesburg would not, or could not, come to our assistance, and that we must fight our way through unaided. "Thinking that the first ridge now in our hands was Doornkop, we again pushed rapidly on, only to find that in rear of the ridge another steep and stony kopje, some 400 feet in height, was held by hundreds of Boers completely covered from our fire. "This kopje effectually flanked the road over which the column must advance at a distance of 400 yards. Scouting showed that there was no way of getting round this hill. "Surrounded on all sides by the Boers, men and horses wearied out, outnumbered by at least six to one, our friends having failed to keep their promises to meet us, and my force reduced numerically by one-fourth, I no longer considered that I was justified in sacrificing any more of the lives of the men under me. "As previously explained, our object in coming had been to render assistance, without bloodshed if possible, to the inhabitants of Johannesburg. This object would in no way be furthered by a hopeless attempt to cut our way through overwhelming numbers, an attempt, moreover, which must without any doubt have entailed heavy and useless slaughter. "With Dr. Jameson's permission, I therefore sent word to the Commandant that we would surrender provided that he would give a guarantee of safe conduct out of the country to every member of the force. "To this Commandant Cronjé replied by a guarantee of the lives of all, provided that we would lay down our arms and pay all expenses. "In spite of this guarantee of the lives of all, Commandant Malan subsequently repudiated the guarantee in so far as to say that he would not answer for the lives of the leaders, but this was not until our arms had been given up and the force at the mercy of the Boers. [Illustration: JOHANNESBURG FROM THE NORTH. Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.] "I attribute our failure to reach Johannesburg in a great measure to loss of time from the following causes:-- "1. The delay occasioned by the demonstration in front of Krugersdorp, which had been assigned as the place of junction with the Johannesburg force. "2. The non-arrival of that force at Krugersdorp, or of the guides to the Krugersdorp-Johannesburg section of the road, as previously promised by Johannesburg. "3. The delay consequent on moving to the firing of the supposed Johannesburg column just before dark on Wednesday evening. "I append (1) a sketch-map of the route from Pitsani to Krugersdorp marked A. This distance (154 miles) was covered in just under seventy hours, the horses having been off-saddled ten times. The 169 miles between Pitsani and Doornkop occupied eighty-six hours, during seventeen of which the men were engaged with the Boers, and were practically without food or water, having had their last meal at 8 A.M. on the morning of the 1st January at Van Oudtshoorn's, seventeen miles from Krugersdorp." (The report concludes with a list of officers engaged in the expedition.) It will be noted that Sir John Willoughby does not attribute his failure to the bungling of his employés that is said to have taken place. The man that was despatched to cut the telegraph wires failed to do so, with the result that the Boers were provided with the news of the invasion eight hours before the Reform leaders were aware of it; while another man, whose business it was to wrench away the rails between Johannesburg and Krugersdorp, and thus interrupt communication from Pretoria, was reposing in a clubhouse hopelessly drunk, while the train he should have intercepted carried ammunition for use against the invaders. In order to present a fair picture of the situation, it must be admitted that many of the statements in this report were emphatically contradicted by the Reformers, notably the opening paragraphs, which scarcely tally with the fact that on the 28th (the day referred to) Dr. Jameson received the letters from the Reformers telling him not to start. The following statement of the four Reform leaders, which was read at their trial, will present the case from their point of view, and those interested may judge for themselves of a question over which many differences of opinion exist:-- "For a number of years endeavours have been made to obtain by constitutional means the redress of the grievances under which the Uitlander population labours. The new-comer asked for no more than is conceded to emigrants by all the other Governments in South Africa, under which every man may, on reasonable conditions, become a citizen of the State; whilst here alone a policy is pursued by which the first settlers retain the exclusive right of government. "Petitions supported by the signatures of some forty thousand men were ignored, and when it was found that we could not get a fair and reasonable hearing, that provisions already deemed obnoxious and unfair were being made more stringent, and that we were being debarred for ever from obtaining the rights which in other countries are freely granted, it was realised that we would never get redress until we should make a demonstration of force to support our claims. "Certain provision was made regarding arms and ammunition, and a letter was written to Dr. Jameson, in which he was asked to come to our aid under certain circumstances. "On December 26 the Uitlanders' Manifesto was published, and it was then our intention to make a final appeal for redress at the public meeting which was to have been held on January 6. In consequence of matters that came to our knowledge, we sent on December 26 Major Heany (by train _via_ Kimberley), and Captain Holden across country, to forbid any movement on Dr. Jameson's part. "On the afternoon of Monday, December 30, we learnt from Government sources that Dr. Jameson had crossed the border. We assumed that he had come in good faith to help us, probably misled by some of the exaggerated rumours which were then in circulation. We were convinced, however, that the Government and the burghers would not in the excitement of the moment believe that we had not invited Dr. Jameson in, and there was no course open to us but to prepare to defend ourselves if we were attacked, and at the same time to spare no effort to effect a peaceful settlement. "It became necessary to form some organisation for the protection of the town and the maintenance of order, since, in the excitement caused by the news of Dr. Jameson's coming, serious disturbances would be likely to occur, and it was evident that the Government organisation could not deal with the people without serious risks of conflict. "The Reform Committee was formed on Monday night, December 30, and it was intended to include such men of influence as cared to associate themselves with the movement. The object with which it was formed is best shown by its first notice, namely:-- "'Notice is hereby given, that this Committee adheres to the National Union Manifesto, and reiterates its desire to maintain the independence of the Republic. The fact that rumours are in course of circulation to the effect that a force has crossed the Bechuanaland border renders it necessary to take active steps for the defence of Johannesburg and preservation of order. The Committee earnestly desire that the inhabitants should refrain from taking any action which can be construed as an overt act of hostility against the Government. By order of the Committee, J. PERCY FITZPATRICK, _Secretary_.' "The evidence taken at the preliminary examination will show that order was maintained by this Committee during a time of intense excitement, and through the action of the Committee no aggressive steps whatever were taken against the Government, but on the contrary, the property of the Government was protected, and its officials were not interfered with. "It is our firm belief that had no such Committee been formed, the intense excitement caused by Dr. Jameson's entry would have brought about utter chaos in Johannesburg. "It has been alleged that we armed natives. This is absolutely untrue, and is disposed of by the fact that during the crisis upwards of 20,000 white men applied to us for arms and were unable to get them. "On Tuesday morning, December 31, we hoisted the flag of the Z. A. R., and every man bound himself to maintain the independence of the Republic. On the same day the Government withdrew its police voluntarily from the town, and we preserved perfect order. "During the evening of that day, Messrs. Marais and Malan presented themselves as delegates from the Executive Council. They came (to use their own words) to 'offer us the olive branch,' and they told us that if we would send a deputation to Pretoria to meet a Commission appointed by the Government, we should probably obtain 'practically all that we asked for in the Manifesto.' "Our deputation met the Government Commission, consisting of Chief-Justice Kotze, Judge Ameshof, and Mr. Kook, member of the Executive. "On our behalf our deputation frankly avowed knowledge of Jameson's presence on the border, and of his intention, by written arrangement with us, to assist us in case of extremity. "With the full knowledge of this arrangement, with the knowledge that we were in arms and agitating for our rights, the Government Commission handed to us a resolution by the Executive Council, of which the following is the purport:-- "'The High Commissioner has offered his services with a view to a peaceful settlement. The Government of the South African Republic has accepted his offer. Pending his arrival, no hostile step will be taken against Johannesburg, provided Johannesburg takes no hostile action against the Government. In terms of a certain proclamation recently issued by the President, the grievances will be earnestly considered.' "We acted in perfect good faith with the Government, believing it to be their desire, as it was ours, to avert bloodshed, and believing it to be their intention to give us the redress which was implied in the 'earnest consideration of grievances.' "There can be no better evidence of our earnest endeavour to repair what we regarded as a mistake on the part of Dr. Jameson than the following offer which our deputation, authorised by resolution of the Committee, laid before the Government Commission:-- "'If the Government will permit Dr. Jameson to come into Johannesburg unmolested the Committee will guarantee, with their persons if necessary, that he will leave again peacefully as soon as possible.' "We faithfully carried out the agreement that we should commit no act of hostility against the Government; we ceased all active operations for the defence of the town against any attack, and we did everything in our power to prevent any collision with the burghers, an attempt in which our efforts were happily successful. "On the telegraphic advice of the result of the interview of the deputation with the Government Commission, we despatched Mr. Lace, a member of our Committee, as an escort to the courier carrying the High Commissioner's despatch to Dr. Jameson, in order to assure ourselves that the despatch would reach its destination. "On the following Saturday, January 4, the High Commissioner arrived at Pretoria. On Monday, the 6th, the following telegram was sent to us:-- _From_ H.M.'S AGENT _to_ REFORM COMMITTEE, Johannesburg. "'PRETORIA, _January 6, 1896_. "'_January 6._--I am directed to inform you that the High Commissioner met the President, the Executive, and the Judges to-day. The President announced the decision of the Government to be that Johannesburg must lay down its arms unconditionally as a (condition) precedent to a discussion and consideration of grievances. The High Commissioner endeavoured to obtain some indication of the steps which would be taken in the event of disarmament, but without success, it being intimated that the Government had nothing more to say on the subject than had already been embodied in the President's proclamation. The High Commissioner inquired whether any decision had been come to as regards the disposal of the prisoners, and received a reply in the negative. The President said that as his burghers, to the number of 8000, had been collected and could not be asked to remain indefinitely, he must request a reply, "Yes" or "No," to this ultimatum within twenty-four hours.' "On the following day, Sir Jacobus de Wet, her Majesty's Agent, met us in committee, and handed to us the following wire from his Excellency the High Commissioner:-- HIGH COMMISSIONER, Pretoria, _to_ Sir J. DE WET, Johannesburg. (Received Johannesburg 7.30 A.M., _Jan. 7, 1896_.) "'Urgent. You should inform the Johannesburg people that I consider, that if they lay down their arms, they will be acting loyally and honourably, and that if they do not comply with my request, they forfeit all claim to sympathy from her Majesty's Government, and from British subjects throughout the world, as the lives of Jameson and prisoners are practically in their hands.' "On this, and the assurance given in the Executive Council resolution, we laid down our arms on January 6th, 7th and 8th; on the 9th we were arrested, and have since been under arrest at Pretoria, a period of three and a half months. "We admit responsibility for the action taken by us. We frankly avowed it at the time of the negotiations with the Government, when we were informed that the services of the High Commissioner had been accepted with a view to a peaceful settlement. "We submit that we kept faith in every detail in the arrangement with the Government; that we did all that was humanly possible to protect both the State and Dr. Jameson from the consequences of his action; that we have committed no breach of the law which was not known to the Government at the time that the earnest consideration of our grievances was promised. "We can only now lay the bare facts before the Court, and submit to the judgment that may be passed upon us. (Signed) LIONEL PHILLIPS. FRANCIS RHODES. GEORGE FARRAR. "PRETORIA, _April 24, 1896_." "I entirely concur with the above statement. (Signed) JOHN HAYS HAMMOND. "PRETORIA, _April 27, 1896_." AFTER DOORNKOP The account given by Sir John Willoughby serves to explain the doings of the Jameson troops. We all know how the raiders were surrounded by the Boers, who had ample time to lay an excellent trap for them, and how, after a plucky charge, they were forced to surrender. Before surrendering, however, Dr. Jameson obtained from Commandant Cronjé, of Potchefstroom notoriety, a guarantee that the lives of the force would be spared. During this exciting period, when the failure of Jameson became known, the consternation that prevailed in Johannesburg was terrible. Panic-stricken women and children fled to the railway stations, and the Cornish miners scrambled with them for places in the departing trains. In the heat of January the poor refugees started off provisionless, leaving all their worldly goods behind them, their one care to be far away from the horrors that might take place in a besieged town. In the train they were packed like herrings in carriages or in cattle trucks, that would barely accommodate them. In addition to these miseries an awful accident took place on the Natal line, when a train loaded with refugees ran off the rails. Thirty-eight women and children were killed. In Johannesburg the Reformers had a harassing time. Their offices were besieged by people clamouring for arms. They had no rest night nor day, and their anxiety for the safety of Jameson and his party was intense. For themselves they were unconcerned, believing that their share in the matter was unknown, and that the Government was without a particle of evidence against them. And here we find that another blunder was made. Major Robert White, one of the raiders, had brought with him a despatch-box containing the key to a cypher, which had been used during the whole of the negotiations, and with it the names of the principal persons engaged in the conspiracy. Of course, this fell into the hands of the enemy, who were not slow to take advantage of their good luck. [Illustration: COLOUR-SERGEANT and PRIVATE (in KHAKI), GLOUCESTER REGIMENT. Photo by Gregory & Co., London.] On the evening of Jameson's surrender (Thursday), Sir Hercules Robinson (Lord Rosmead), left the Cape for the scene of the disturbance. The train he travelled by met with an accident; he was infirm--his nerves were shaken. The President refused to be interviewed on the Sabbath, and the result of his journey was a single meeting with Mr. Kruger, but the British Resident, Sir Jacobus de Wet, and Sir Sidney Shippard, were deputed to address and pacify the perturbed multitude in Johannesburg. The Uitlanders, they promised, should get their just rights--that her Majesty's Government would ensure--but they must first give up their arms: the fate of Jameson depended on it! The Reform leaders at this time knew nothing of the terms of the surrender, and the guarantee given by Commandant Cronjé, or, perhaps, they knew too well what Cronjé's guarantees were likely to be worth; and much against their better judgment, believing that their rights would be secured and the safety of Jameson effected, they eventually consented to disarmament. As we know, the conspirators had been short of arms--they had about 2500 guns in all. When these were given up the Boers were dissatisfied. They had reason to believe that some 20,000 guns were to be supplied as part of the scheme, and suspected that the Reformers were concealing the existence of many weapons. The word of honour of the leaders produced no effect, and energetic search through floors and in the mines was carried on for some months afterwards. Of course, this disarmament immediately threw the Reformers into the clutches of the Pretoria Government. The authorities made haste to issue warrants for the arrest of sixty-four of the most prominent men of the movement; this in spite of the assurance made to the British agent that "not a hair of their heads should be touched"! Mrs. Phillips has reason to speak very bitterly of the mismanagement of the High Commissioner on this occasion. Having done his gruesome work, she says, "he returned to Cape Town, leaving Johannesburg absolutely at the mercy of the Boers. He actually effected the disarmament of this large town without making one single condition for its safety, and from that day the most signal acts of tyranny and injustice were committed over and over again by the Boer Oligarchy, and there was no one to say them nay. This was a critical event for English supremacy in South Africa, this final act of supreme weakness and folly! Many of her most loyal subjects from that moment have wavered on the brink, and some have gone over to the side of the Africander Bond. It is such actions as these which estrange the Colonists, and which give a little reality to the bondsman's dream of a United South Africa under a Republican flag." For the benefit of those who may not be acquainted with the negotiations which brought about this unfortunate disarmament, it may be as well to repeat some of the correspondence that passed between Sir Hercules Robinson and Mr. Chamberlain at this critical period. Sir HERCULES ROBINSON, Pretoria, _to_ Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. (Telegraphic. Received 1.8 A.M., _6th January 1896_.) "5th January, No. 3. Arrived here last night. Position of affairs very critical. On side of Government of South African Republic and of Orange Free State there is a desire to show moderation, but Boers show tendency to get out of hand and to demand execution of Jameson. I am told that Government of South African Republic will demand disarmament of Johannesburg as a condition precedent to negotiations. Their military preparations are now practically complete, and Johannesburg, if besieged, could not hold out, as they are short of water and coal. On side of Johannesburg leaders desire to be moderate, but men make safety of Jameson and concession of items in manifesto issued conditions precedent to disarmament. If these are refused, they assert they will elect their own leaders and fight it out in their own way. As the matter now stands, I see great difficulty in avoiding civil war, but I will do my best, and telegraph result of my official interview to-morrow. It is said that President of South African Republic intends to make some demands with respect to Article No. 4 of the London Convention of 1884." Mr. CHAMBERLAIN _to_ Sir HERCULES ROBINSON. (Telegraphic. _6th January 1896._) "6th January. No. 3. It is reported in the press telegrams the President of the South African Republic on December 30 held out definite hopes that concessions would be proposed in regard to education and the franchise. No overt act of hostility appears to have been committed by the Johannesburg people since the overthrow of Jameson. The statement that arms and ammunition are stored in that town in large quantities may be only one of many boasts without foundation. Under these circumstances, active measures against the town do not seem to be urgently required at the present moment, and I hope no step will be taken by the President of the South African Republic liable to cause more bloodshed and excite civil war in the Republic." These are followed by further correspondence. Sir HERCULES ROBINSON, Pretoria, _to_ Mr. CHAMBERLAIN. (Telegraphic. Received _7th January 1896_.) "6th January. No. 2. Met President South African Republic and Executive Council to-day. Before opening proceedings, I expressed on behalf of her Majesty's Government my sincere regret at the unwarrantable raid made by Jameson; also thanked Government of South African Republic for the moderation shown under trying circumstances. With regard to Johannesburg, President of South African Republic announced decision of Government to be that Johannesburg must lay down its arms unconditionally as a precedent to any discussion and consideration of grievances. I endeavoured to obtain some indication of the steps that would be taken in the event of disarmament, but without success, it being intimated that Government of South African Republic had nothing more to say on this subject than had been already embodied in proclamation of President of South African Republic. I inquired as to whether any decision had been come to as regards disposal of prisoners, and received a reply in the negative. President of South African Republic said that as his burghers, to number of 8000, had been collected and could not be asked to remain indefinitely, he must request a reply, 'Yes' or 'No,' to this ultimatum within twenty-four hours. I have communicated decision of South African Republic to Reform Committee at Johannesburg through British Agent in South African Republic. "The burgher levies are in such an excited state over the invasion of their country, that I believe President of South African Republic could not control them except in the event of unconditional surrender. I have privately recommended them to accept ultimatum. Proclamation of President of South African Republic refers to promise to consider all grievances which are properly submitted, and to lay the same before the Legislature without delay." On January 7, Mr. Chamberlain replied:-- "No. 1. I approve of your advice to Johannesburg. Kruger will be wise not to proceed to extremities at Johannesburg or elsewhere: otherwise the evil animosities already aroused may be dangerously excited." And on the same day Sir Hercules Robinson telegraphed:-- "No. 1. Your telegram of January 6, No. 2. It would be most inexpedient to send troops to Mafeking at this moment, and there is not the slightest necessity for such a step, as there is no danger from Kimberley Volunteer Corps or from Mafeking. I have sent De Wet with ultimatum this morning to Johannesburg, and believe arms will be laid down unconditionally. I understand in such case Jameson and all prisoners will be handed over to me. Prospect now very hopeful if no injudicious steps are taken. Please leave matter in my hands." It is unnecessarily humiliating to dwell further on the astute manner in which Mr. Kruger played with the British Government while he kept Jameson and his party in durance vile, and in the agonies of mental suspense--or to dilate upon the treacherous means he employed to induce the Reformers and the town to lay down their arms. The British Agent distinctly promised that "not one among you shall lose his personal liberty for a single hour," and further declared "that the British Government could not possibly allow such a thing." Yet the British Government calmly looked on while the Reform leaders were arrested and kept in Pretoria Gaol, at the mercy of a fiend in human shape named Du Plessis, whose atrocious conduct and character eventually caused him to be reported to the High Commissioner. As an example of the way prisoners were treated, Mrs. Lionel Phillips may again be quoted:-- "It is well known," she writes, "that one of Jameson's troopers on the way down, falling ill, was taken prisoner by some Boers, and kept at their farmhouse some days. He was tied up, and forced to submit to all sorts of ill-treatment, being given dirty water to drink, for instance, when half-dying of thirst. But his captor's wife had compassion on him, and at the end of several days, to his surprise, he was told that he was to be allowed to go free. The Boers gave him his horse, mounted him, and informed him the one condition they made was that he was to ride away as fast as he could. He naturally obeyed, and as he galloped off had several bullets put into him, poor fellow. That is a very favourite and well-known method of Transvaal Boer assassination. It gives them the pretext that a prisoner had been trying to escape." Mrs. Phillips relates also the horrible experiences of her husband, who was one of the Uitlanders conspicuous in the Reform movement. "Lionel (her husband), George Farrar, Colonel Rhodes, and J. H. Hammond were put into one cell, twelve feet square, without windows, and were locked up there the first three nights for thirteen hours. Then the prison doctor insisted on more space being allotted to them, and the door, which communicated with a courtyard twenty feet square, was left open at night. This was the space in which they were permitted to take exercise. They were not allowed to associate with their fellows at first. In January, in Pretoria, the heat is intense, quite semi-tropical indeed, the temperature varying from 90 to 105 degrees in the shade. As the weather happened to be at its hottest, the sufferings of these men were awful. The cells, hitherto devoted to the use of Kaffirs, swarmed with vermin and smelt horribly; while to increase their miseries, if that were possible, one of their number was suffering from dysentery, and no conveniences of any kind were supplied. With these facts in mind, any attempt to describe what the prisoners underwent would be superfluous. Add to all these hardships their mental sufferings, and then judge of their state." [Illustration: Rt. Hon. JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN, M.P., Secretary for the Colonies. Photo by Russell & Sons, London.] Can anything be more pathetic than the description of the state of these men given by the wife of one of them--men who had been driven to hatred and revolt by an inefficient, exclusive, and unscrupulous Government, which was endeavouring to reduce the subjects of a suzerain power to the level--to the, to them, despicable level--of the Kaffirs? Of the fate of these unhappy sufferers we have yet to speak. THE FATE OF RAIDERS AND REFORMERS Dr. Jameson, as we all know, was sent with his comrades to England to be dealt with by the laws of his country. He and his officers were tried and convicted under the Foreign Enlistment Act. Much sympathy was shown him by the vast British public, and little for the Reformers, who, whatever their part in the affair, had to suffer most. They endured mental torture, and bodily discomfort of all kinds--discomfort so acute that it brought on some active illness, and caused one to commit suicide. A Judge from the Orange Free State--Judge Gregorowski--who took an unctious joy in the proceedings, was imported to try them, and he revived or unearthed an old Roman Dutch law of treason for the purpose of sentencing them to death. This sentence was fortunately not carried out, but it served to keep the Reformers and all connected with them in a state of agonised suspense. Besides these sufferers from the effects of the Raid, there were others. Mr. Rhodes is said to have exclaimed, "I have been the friend of Jameson for twenty years and now he has ruined me!" The statement was somewhat exaggerated, but there is no doubt that Mr. Rhodes, besides having to resign the posts he occupied, lost much of the sympathy of the Cape Dutch. The Uitlanders, also, who had previously enjoyed this sympathy now forfeited it, all the Dutch being inclined to quote the impulsive act of Dr. Jameson as an example of British treachery, and to look upon Mr. Kruger in the light of a hero. Indeed, many of the British, who took merely an outsider's interest in the state of affairs, laboured under the impression that Mr. Kruger was a simple-minded, long-suffering, and magnanimous person. They did not trouble themselves to go deeply into the incessant annoyances and injustices that for many years had harried the lot of the Uitlanders and caused them at last to lose patience and revolt against oppression. Even now there are people who lean to the belief that the coarse nut of Boer character may possess a sound kernel, people who prefer to hug that belief rather than inform themselves by reading what Mr. Rider Haggard, Mr. Fitzpatrick, and other well-informed men have to say on the subject. When all efforts to work upon Mr. Kruger failed, the wives of the unhappy men applied to "Tante Sanne," as the President's wife is called, and begged her intervention. She said, "Yes, I will do all I can for you; I am very sorry for you all, although I know that none of you thought of me that night when we heard Jameson had crossed the border, and we were afraid the President would have to go out and fight, and when they went and caught his white horse that he has not ridden for eight years. But all the same I am sorry for you all." The wives of the Boers are very powerful, and it is possible that Mrs. Kruger may have prevailed in some way over her husband, for at last, after five weary months of imprisonment, after delays, suspenses, and alarms too numerous to be here recounted, the prisoners, on the 11th of June 1896, were released. They were required to pay a fine of £2000, and to sign a pledge not to interfere with politics for three years. It was owing to this pledge that the valuable book, "The Transvaal from Within," which has here been quoted, was not published till affairs therein set forth had come in 1899 to the painful climax of war! Mr. Lionel Phillips, however, was not so wise as Mr. Fitzpatrick. When Sir John Willoughby in 1897 attacked the Reform Leaders of Johannesburg in the _Nineteenth Century_, Mr. Phillips replied to it in the same Review, August 1897, defending himself and his comrades from the charges made. In consequence of this action Mr. Phillips was considered to have broken his pledge and was condemned by the Transvaal Government to banishment. Doubtless it was without much regret that he shook the dust of that ill-conditioned State from off his shoes. THE ULTIMATUM After the turmoil of 1896 affairs declined from bad to worse. The state of tension between the oppressed Uitlanders and the now suspicious Boers became from day to day and year to year more acute, till at last it was almost unbearable. The incompetence of the police showed that robbery, and even murder, might at any moment be perpetrated and go unpunished, and alarm on this score was not allayed by the action of a constable in shooting dead a Uitlander named Edgar for having met his insults with a blow. To thoroughly appreciate the misery and insecurity of the Uitlanders, the atrocity of the Government, and the uncloaked hostility to Great Britain that has existed till now, we may quote a description of the situation given last year by Professor James Liebmann. He wrote:-- "In the Transvaal a state of things reigns supreme which cannot be surpassed by the most corrupt of South American Republics. There the Boer shows his character in its most unpleasant features. Low, sordid, corrupt, his chief magistrate as well as his lowest official readily listens to 'reasons that jingle,' and, like the gentleman in the 'Mikado,' is not averse to 'insults.' He calls his country a republic--it is so in name only. The majority of the population, representing the wealth and intelligence of the country--the Uitlanders--are refused almost every civil right, except the privilege of paying exorbitant taxes to swell an already overgorged treasury. Under this ideal(?) government, which is really a sixteenth-century oligarchy flourishing at the end of the nineteenth, and is, certainly not a land where 'A man may speak the thing he will,' you have a press censorship as tyrannical as in Russia, a State supervision of telegrams, a veto on the right of public meeting, a most unjust education law, and an Executive browbeating the Justiciary; and, in order to accomplish so much, the Transvaal has closed its doors to its kinsmen in Cape Colony--for you must not forget that the oldest Transvaalers, from President Kruger downwards, are ex-Cape Colonists, and quondam British subjects--and imported a bureaucracy of Hollanders to plait a whip wherewith to castigate her children. "On the Rand, at present, the Uitlanders are voiceless, voteless, and leaderless, whilst, on the other hand, large quantities of arms have been introduced into the country, and the burghers, every one of them, trained in the use of these weapons. Fortifications have been raised at Johannesburg and Pretoria, to cowe those who are putting money into the State's purse, and for this purpose the President has acquired the services of German military officers who will find congenial employment in thus dragooning defenceless citizens. "This is the state of affairs in the South African so-called Republic in this year of grace (1898), which, according to the Convention, granted equal rights to Briton and to Boer." This being no exaggerated picture of the situation, it is small wonder that at last the Uitlanders determined to bear the burden no longer, but set their grievances before the Queen. Early in the new year the following petition was forwarded to her Majesty:-- "_Humble Petition of British Subjects resident on the Witwatersrandt Gold Fields to her Britannic Majesty Queen Victoria._ "1. Your loyal subjects on these fields are by law denied the free right of possessing such arms as may be necessary to protect their lives and property, and such obstacles are placed in their way as to render the obtaining of the necessary official permit almost impossible. Consequently the Uitlander population of this State is to all intents and purposes an unarmed community. "2. On the other hand, the whole of the burgher section of the community, irrespective of age, are permitted to possess and carry arms without let or hindrance, and are, in fact, on application, supplied with them by the Government free of charge. "3. The police force of this State is exclusively recruited from the burgher element, many of the police being youths fresh from rural districts, without experience or tact, and in many instances without general education or a knowledge of the English language; therefore, as a whole, entirely out of sympathy with the British section of the community, which forms the majority of the population. "4. The foot police of Johannesburg, in whose appointment and control we have no voice, is not a military force; yet its members not only carry batons, but are also armed with six-chambered military revolvers, invariably carried loaded. "5. Under these circumstances, given an unarmed community policed by a body of inexperienced rustics carrying weapons of precision and utterly out of sympathy with the community they are supposed to protect, it is not surprising that the power placed in the hands of this police force should be constantly abused. "6. For years past your subjects have in consequence had constantly to complain of innumerable acts of petty tyranny at the hands of the police. "7. During the last few months, however, this antagonistic attitude of the police has assumed a much more serious and aggressive aspect. Without warrant they have invaded private houses and taken the occupants into custody on frivolous and unfounded charges never proceeded with; violently arrested British subjects in the streets on unintelligible charges: and generally display towards your Majesty's subjects a temper which undoubtedly tends to endanger the peace of the community. In adopting this demeanour the police are supported, with but a few honourable exceptions, by the higher officials, as instanced by the continual persecution in the Courts of many of your Majesty's coloured subjects at the very time when negotiations are proceeding between your Majesty's Representative and the Transvaal Government with regard to their status. This feeling is also strongly evidenced in the particular case which we now bring to your Majesty's notice. "8. The lamentable tragedy which has been the immediate cause of this our humble Petition cannot, therefore, be regarded as incidental, but symptomatic. "9. This case is that of the shooting of Tom Jackson Edgar, a British subject, by Police-Constable Barend Stephanus Jones, a member of the Johannesburg Constabulary. "10. From the accompanying affidavits, already published and sworn by eye-witnesses of the tragedy, it would appear that the deceased, while in the occupation of his own house, was shot dead by Police-Constable Barend Stephanus Jones as the latter was in the act of unlawfully breaking into the house of deceased without a warrant. "11. Police-Constable Barend Stephanus Jones, though in the first instance placed in custody on a charge of murder, was almost immediately afterwards let out on bail by the Public Prosecutor, who, without waiting for any Magisterial inquiry, reduced the charge, on his own initiative, to that of culpable homicide. "12. The bail on which the prisoner was released was the same in amount--namely, £200--as that required a few days previously from an Uitlander charged with a common assault on a Member of the Government Secret Service, and the penalty for which was a fine of £20. "13. The widow and orphan of the late Tom Jackson Edgar have been left absolutely destitute through the death of their natural protector. "14. To sum up: We humbly represent to your Majesty that we, your loyal subjects resident here, are entirely defenceless since--(1) The police are appointed by the Government, not by the Municipality; (2) We have no voice in the Government of the country; (3) There is no longer an independent Judiciary to which we can appeal; (4) There is, therefore, no power within this State to which we can appeal with the least hope of success; and as we are not allowed to arm and protect ourselves, our last resource is to fall back on our status as British subjects. "We therefore humbly pray: That your Majesty will instruct your Representative to take such steps as will ensure (_a_) a full and impartial trial, on a proper indictment, of prisoner Police-Constable Barend Stephanus Jones, and adequate punishment for his offence, if found guilty; (_b_) proper provision by the Transvaal Government for the needs of the widow and orphan of the deceased Tom Jackson Edgar, killed by their agent; (_c_) the extension of your Majesty's protection to the lives, liberty, and property of your loyal subjects resident here, and such other steps as may be necessary to terminate the existing intolerable state of affairs. "And your petitioners will ever pray, &c." Of course, this move enraged the authorities of the Transvaal, who tried to prove the existence of a plot against the Republic, and even to represent that British military officers were implicated in it. But Sir Alfred Milner exposed the little machinations of the "secret service" people, so that their duplicit efforts were not crowned with the hoped-for success. Mr. Steyn then succeeded Mr. Reitz as President of the Orange Free State, and his appearance on the political scene was the signal for an offensive and defensive alliance between the two Republics. Following the example set by President Brand, Mr. Steyn--in the character of umpire or peacemaker--assisted to promote a meeting at Bloemfontein between Sir Alfred Milner and President Kruger. The Uitlander Council drew up the following declaration:-- "The proposals submitted at the Bloemfontein Conference by his Excellency the High Commissioner were briefly: "1. That the Uitlanders possessing a certain property or wages qualification, on proving that they had resided five years in the country and on taking an oath of allegiance, be given full burgher rights. "2. That there should be such a distribution of seats as would give to the new-comers a substantial representation in the First Volksraad, but not such as would enable them to swamp the old burghers. "All must admit that this scheme is most conservative, because-- "(_a_). It does not restore to the Uitlanders all the rights of which they have been unjustly deprived since the retrocession. "(_b_). Nearly the whole revenue of the country is derived from the taxation of the Uitlanders. "(_c_). The Uitlanders form at least two-thirds of the total white population. (This was practically admitted by President Kruger at the Conference.) "(_d_). In most new countries one or two years' residence ensures full voting power. There is no reason why there should be more stringent conditions in operation in this State than in Natal or Cape Colony, or than those which existed until quite recently in the Orange Free State, and which were only changed from one to three years on account of the unhealthy political conditions in the South African Republic. "Notwithstanding, however, the conservative character of the scheme, the Uitlander Council consider that the proposals of his Excellency the High Commissioner are calculated in no small degree to bring about a practical and permanent settlement. But in the opinion of the Uitlander Council, it is essential at the outset to fix definitely the conditions under which: "1. All duly qualified persons can get the franchise without any unnecessary expense, trouble, or delay, and without being subjected to any kind of intimidation. "2. Those who have got the franchise shall be able to use it effectively. "3. Redistribution of seats shall take place periodically by automatic arrangement, and representation shall bear some definite relation to the number of electors. "Having regard to the recent history of the Government of this country, and the facility with which even fundamental laws are and may be changed, the Uitlander Council are convinced that no settlement will be of any value unless its permanency is guaranteed by an understanding between the Imperial Government and the Government of the South African Republic. "Further, knowing by past experience that every effort will be made by means of the existing Government machinery to obstruct and pervert even the smallest measure of reform, and bearing in mind the immense discretionary power accorded by the laws to all Government officials, the Uitlander Council are strongly of opinion that the understanding between the two Governments should provide for such immediate changes in the present laws of the country as would make it possible to carry out Sir A. Milner's scheme, not only in the letter, but also in the spirit. "The outcome of the understanding between the two Governments should be the inclusion among the permanent and fundamental laws of the South African Republic of a Reform Act embracing, in addition to the clauses providing for naturalisation and redistribution on the lines already indicated, the following among other provisions: "1. No burgher or alien shall be granted privileges or immunities which on the same terms shall not be granted to all burghers. "2. No person shall, on account of creed or religious belief, be under any disability whatever. "3. The majority of the inhabitants being English-speaking, English shall be recognised equally with Dutch as an official language of the State. "4. The independence of the High Court shall be established and duly safeguarded. "5. Legislation by simple resolution (_besluit_) of the Volksraad shall be abolished. "6. The free right of public meeting and of forming electoral committees shall be recognised and established. "7. The freedom of speech and of the press shall be assured. "8. All persons shall be secured in their houses, persons, papers, and effects against violation or illegal seizure. "9. The existence of forts and the adoption of other measures intended for the intimidation of the white inhabitants of the country, being a menace to the exercise of the undoubted rights of a free people, shall be declared unconstitutional. "10. Existing monopolies shall be cancelled or expropriated on equitable conditions. "11. Raad members must be fully enfranchised burghers and over twenty-one years of age. Any candidate for the Presidency must be a fully enfranchised burgher over thirty years of age, and have been resident in the country for ten years. "12. All elections shall be by ballot and shall be adequately safeguarded by stringent provisions against bribery and intimidation. "13. All towns with a population of 1000 persons and upwards shall have the right to manage their own local affairs under a general Municipal Act. The registration of voters and the conduct of all elections shall be regulated by local bodies. "14. A full and comprehensive system of State Education shall be established under the control of Local Boards. "15. The Civil Service shall be completely reorganised, and all corrupt officials shall be dismissed from office, and be ineligible for office in the future. "16. Payments from the public Treasury shall only be made in accordance with the Budget proposals approved by the Raad, with full and open publication of the accounts periodically. "17. No person shall become a burgher, and no fresh constituency shall be created except in accordance with the lines herein laid down, and officials shall have no discretionary power in this or any other matter affecting the civil rights of the inhabitants of the country." The Conference was a complete failure. Mr. Kruger obstinately refused to make the proposed concessions, and Sir Alfred Milner would be contented with nothing less. [Illustration: Sir ALFRED MILNER, K.C.B., High Commissioner for South Africa. Photo by Elliott & Fry, London.] The President afterwards agreed to grant a "seven years' Franchise" on terms that were scarcely practicable, while the Secretary of State for the Colonies held out for the five years' Franchise at first demanded. The bargaining was pursued for some weeks with considerable animation, and in the end Mr. Kruger offered to allow the five years' franchise on what he knew to be the impossible condition, that the question of suzerainty should be entirely dropped. The mobilisation of the burghers, which had been secretly on foot for some time, was forthwith carried on apace, and later--much too tardily--British patience gave way, and troops were despatched to South Africa. Then followed, on the 9th of October, an insulting ultimatum from President Kruger, demanding the immediate withdrawal of British troops from the Transvaal border, and an assurance that no more should be landed. In default of this assurance, he declared that at 5 P.M. on the 11th of October a state of war would exist. To such an ultimatum only one answer was possible. British troops at once started for the Cape. Naturally the whole of Great Britain was in a state of turmoil, and the vast multitude of people--"the men in the street," so to say--were inclined to express surprise that the question of two years' difference in the terms of obtaining the franchise should have been made into a _casus belli_. To all thinking men it was patent, however, that the quibble about the franchise was merely a Boer _ruse_ to obtain time for the carrying out of a long-concerted scheme for the elimination of the British from the Cape to the Zambezi. These were aware that the military methods of the Transvaal were under process of reorganisation, and indeed had been readjusted gradually ever since 1896, and that the simple methods of 1881 had been superseded by newer and more modern principles of warfare. It was known that great additions had been made to the warlike resources of the Republic, and that the President of the Free State was, if anything, more bitter than Mr. Kruger in his hatred of Great Britain and all things British, and that the two Republics would make common cause with each other against a mutual enemy. It was also known that foreign experts were imported, and foreign stocks of war material--material of the newest and most expensive kind--were prepared in anticipation of war, and that even such a thing as tactical instruction--a thing hitherto ignored among the Transvaalers--had been acquired from accomplished German sources, and all this for one sole purpose--war with Great Britain. In order that there may be no doubt that the Boers were completely prepared and determined to fight long before the insolent Ultimatum was published, it is desirable to read a letter which appeared in the _Times_ of the 14th of October 1899. This epistle, which was appropriately headed "Boer Ignorance," emanated from a Dutch writer, whose address was in a well-known part of Cape Colony. It runs:-- "SIR,--In your paper you have often commented on what you are pleased to call the ignorance of my countrymen, the Boers. We are not so ignorant as the British statesmen and newspaper writers, nor are we such fools as you British are. We know our policy, and we do not change it. We have no opposition party to fear nor to truckle to. Your boasted Conservative majority has been the obedient tool of the Radical minority, and the Radical minority has been the blind tool of our far-seeing and intelligent President. We have desired delay, and we have had it, and we are now practically masters of Africa from the Zambezi to the Cape. All the Afrikanders in Cape Colony have been working for years for this end, for they and we know the facts. "1. The actual value of gold in the Transvaal is at least 200,000 millions of pounds, and this fact is as well known to the Emperors of Germany and Russia as it is to us. You estimate the value of gold at only 700 millions of pounds, or at least that is what you pretend to estimate it at. But Germany, Russia, and France do not desire you to get possession of this vast mass of gold, and so, after encouraging you to believe that they will not interfere in South Africa, they will certainly do so, and very easily find a _casus belli_, and they will assist us, directly and indirectly, to drive you out of Africa. "2. We know that you dare not take any precautions in advance to prevent the onslaught of the Great Powers, as the Opposition, the great peace party, will raise the question of expense, and this will win over your lazy, dirty, drunken working classes, who will never again permit themselves to be taxed to support your Empire, or even to preserve your existence as a nation. "3. We know from all the military authorities of the European and American continents that you exist as an independent Power merely on sufferance, and that at any moment the great Emperor William can arrange with France or Russia to wipe you off the face of the earth. They can at any time starve you into surrender. You must yield in all things to the United States also, or your supply of corn will be so reduced by the Americans that your working classes would be compelled to pay high prices for their food, and rather than do that they would have civil war, and invite any foreign Power to assist them by invasion, for there is no patriotism in the working classes of England, Wales, or Ireland. "4. We know that your country has been more prosperous than any other country during the last fifty years (you have had no civil war like the Americans and French to tone up your nerves and strengthen your manliness), and consequently your able-bodied men will not enlist in your so-called voluntary army. Therefore you have to hire the dregs of your population to do your fighting, and they are deficient in physique, in moral and mental ability, and in all the qualities that make good fighting men. "5. Your military officers we know to be merely pedantic scholars or frivolous society men, without any capacity for practical warfare with white men. The Afridis were more than a match for you, and your victory over the Soudanese was achieved because those poor people had not a rifle amongst them. "6. We know that your men, being the dregs of your people, are naturally feeble, and that they are also saturated with the most horrible sexual diseases, as all your Government returns plainly show, and that they cannot endure the hardships of war. "7. We know that the entire British race is rapidly decaying, your birth-rate is rapidly falling, your children are born weak, diseased, and deformed, and that the major part of your population consists of females, cripples, epileptics, consumptives, cancerous people, invalids, and lunatics of all kinds whom you carefully nourish and preserve. "8. We know that nine-tenths of your statesmen and higher officials, military and naval, are suffering from kidney diseases, which weaken their courage and will-power, and make them shirk all responsibility as far as possible. "9. We know that your Navy is big, but we know that it is not powerful, and that it is honeycombed with disloyalty--as witness the theft of the signal-books, the assaults on officers, the desertions, and the wilful injury of the boilers and machinery, which all the vigilance of the officers is powerless to prevent. "10. We know that the Conservative Government is a mere sham, and that it largely reduced the strength of the British artillery in 1888-89. And we know that it does not dare now to call out the Militia for training, nor to mobilise the Fleet, nor to give sufficient grants to the Line and Volunteers for ammunition to enable them to become good marksmen and efficient soldiers. We know that British soldiers and sailors are immensely inferior as marksmen, not only to Germans, French, and Americans, but also to Japanese, Afridis, Chilians, Peruvians, Belgians, and Russians. "11. We know that no British Government dares to propose any form of compulsory military or naval training, for the British people would rather be invaded, conquered, and governed by Germans, Russians, or Frenchmen, than be compelled to serve their own Government. "12. We Boers know that we will not be governed by a set of British curs, but that we will drive you out of Africa altogether, and the other manly nations which have compulsory military service--the armed manhood of Europe--will very quickly divide all your other possessions between them. "Talk no more of the ignorance of the Boers or Cape Dutch; a few days more will prove your ignorance of the British position, and in a short space of time you and your Queen will be imploring the good offices of the great German Emperor to deliver you from your disasters, for your humiliations are not yet complete. "For thirty years the Cape Dutch have been waiting their chance, and now their day has come; they will throw off their mask and your yoke at the same instant, and 300,000 Dutch heroes will trample you underfoot. "We can afford to tell you the truth now, and in this letter you have got it.--Yours, &c., P. S. "_October 12._" This letter, though false in many particulars, certainly pointed out some "home truths," which it was desirable for the British public to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest. It also served to cast aside the thin veil which had covered our political relations with President Kruger and his party, and to show the firm foundations on which the hatred of the Boer for the Briton had been built for years. The question of the franchise was a bagatelle: a soap-bubble would have been pretext enough for war when the right hour and moment arrived. As allowed by this candid writer, whose valuable avowals cannot afford to be ignored, for many years treachery and disloyalty had existed, and the Boers had only bided their time. They "desired delay, and had it," playing their cards so skilfully as to deceive even the British Government, and imply to them and the world that the franchise question and the discontent of the Uitlanders was the main cause of the disagreement. Before passing on to the terrible drama that, owing to the defiance of Mr. Kruger, was afterwards enacted, we must assure ourselves that the sad climax was bound to have come sooner or later. If the future of South Africa is to be saved, the prestige of Great Britain must be maintained; her citizens must be protected, and the betrayals of Downing Street of 1881 and 1896 must be atoned for. Though darkness reigns at the time of writing, the future of the Transvaal is a bright one. Reactionaries of the Hofmeyer and Kruger stamp will pass away, and we may look to the twentieth century for a happy settlement of the terrible difficulties which stare us in the face. But the settlement can never be effected by the policy of compromise. It can never be lasting while Conventions are allowed to become the pawns of parties; it can never be noble nor dignified until the petty ambitions of political strife are subdued and the grand whole, Great Britain--not the infinitesimal island, but the immense and populous Empire--is ordered and laboured for with the courage and strength that comes of undoubted unanimity! It remains, therefore, with each individual man and woman among us so to work that the grand result is not unnecessarily delayed. [Illustration: VISCOUNT WOLSELEY, Commander-in-Chief of the British Army. Photo by London Stereoscopic Co.] APPENDIX CONVENTION OF 1881 CONVENTION FOR THE SETTLEMENT OF THE TRANSVAAL TERRITORY PREAMBLE. Her Majesty's Commissioners for the Settlement of the Transvaal territory, duly appointed as such by a Commission passed under the Royal Sign Manual and Signet, bearing date the 5th of April 1881, do hereby undertake and guarantee on behalf of her Majesty, that, from and after the 8th day of August 1881, complete self-government, subject to the suzerainty of her Majesty, her heirs and successors, will be accorded to the inhabitants of the Transvaal territory, upon the following terms and conditions, and subject to the following reservations and limitations:-- ARTICLE 1. The said territory, to be herein-after called the Transvaal State, will embrace the land lying between the following boundaries, to wit: [Here follow three pages in print defining boundaries]. ARTICLE 2. Her Majesty reserves to herself, her heirs and successors, (_a_) the right from time to time to appoint a British Resident in and for the said State, with such duties and functions as are herein-after defined; (_b_) the right to move troops through the said State in time of war, or in case of the apprehension of immediate war between the Suzerain Power and any Foreign State or Native tribe in South Africa; and (_c_) the control of the external relations of the said State, including the conclusion of treaties and the conduct of diplomatic intercourse with Foreign Powers, such intercourse to be carried on through her Majesty's diplomatic and consular officers abroad. ARTICLE 3. Until altered by the Volksraad, or other competent authority, all laws, whether passed before or after the annexation of the Transvaal territory to her Majesty's dominions, shall, except in so far as they are inconsistent with or repugnant to the provisions of this Convention, be and remain in force in the said State in so far as they shall be applicable thereto, provided that no future enactment especially affecting the interests of natives shall have any force or effect in the said State, without the consent of her Majesty, her heirs and successors, first had and obtained and signified to the Government of the said State through the British Resident, provided further that in no case will the repeal or amendment of any laws enacted since the annexation have a retrospective effect, so as to invalidate any acts done or liabilities incurred by virtue of such laws. ARTICLE 4. On the 8th of August 1881, the Government of the said State, together with all rights and obligations thereto appertaining, and all State property taken over at the time of annexation, save and except munitions of war, will be handed over to Messrs. Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, Martinus Wessel Pretorius, and Petrus Jacobus Joubert, or the survivor or survivors of them, who will forthwith cause a Volksraad to be elected and convened, and the Volksraad, thus elected and convened, will decide as to the further administration of the Government of the said State. ARTICLE 5. All sentences passed upon persons who may be convicted of offences contrary to the rules of civilised warfare committed during the recent hostilities will be duly carried out, and no alteration or mitigation of such sentences will be made or allowed by the Government of the Transvaal State without her Majesty's consent conveyed through the British Resident. In case there shall be any prisoners in any of the gaols of the Transvaal State whose respective sentences of imprisonment have been remitted in part by her Majesty's Administrator or other officer administering the Government, such remission will be recognised and acted upon by the future Government of the said State. ARTICLE 6. Her Majesty's Government will make due compensation for all losses or damage sustained by reason of such acts as are in the 8th Article herein-after specified, which may have been committed by her Majesty's forces during the recent hostilities, except for such losses or damage as may already have been compensated for, and the Government of the Transvaal State will make due compensation for all losses or damage sustained by reason of such acts as are in the 8th Article herein-after specified which may have been committed by the people who were in arms against her Majesty during the recent hostilities, except for such losses or damages as may already have been compensated for. ARTICLE 7. The decision of all claims for compensation, as in the last preceding Article mentioned, will be referred to a Sub-Committee, consisting of the Honourable George Hudson, the Honourable Jacobus Petrus de Wet, and the Honourable John Gilbert Kotze. In case one or more of such Sub-Commissioners shall be unable or unwilling to act the remaining Sub-Commissioner or Sub-Commissioners will, after consultation with the Government of the Transvaal State, submit for the approval of her Majesty's High Commissioners the names of one or more persons to be appointed by them to fill the place or places thus vacated. The decision of the said Sub-Commissioners, or of a majority of them, will be final. The said Sub-Commissioners will enter upon and perform their duties with all convenient speed. They will, before taking evidence or ordering evidence to be taken in respect of any claim, decide whether such claim can be entertained at all under the rules laid down in the next succeeding Article. In regard to claims which can be so entertained, the Sub-Commissioners will, in the first instance, afford every facility for an amicable arrangement as to the amount payable in respect of any claim, and only in cases in which there is no reasonable ground for believing that an immediate amicable arrangement can be arrived at will they take evidence or order evidence to be taken. For the purpose of taking evidence and reporting thereon, the Sub-Commissioners may appoint Deputies, who will, without delay, submit records of the evidence and their reports to the Sub-Commissioners. The Sub-Commissioners will arrange their sittings and the sittings of their Deputies in such a manner as to afford the earliest convenience to the parties concerned and their witnesses. In no case will costs be allowed to either side, other than the actual and reasonable expenses of witnesses whose evidence is certified by the Sub-Commissioners to have been necessary. Interest will not run on the amount of any claim, except as is herein-after provided for. The said Sub-Commissioners will forthwith, after deciding upon any claim, announce their decision to the Government against which the award is made and to the claimant. The amount of remuneration payable to the Sub-Commissioners and their Deputies will be determined by the High Commissioners. After all the claims have been decided upon, the British Government and the Government of the Transvaal State will pay proportionate shares of the said remuneration and of the expenses of the Sub-Commissioners and their Deputies, according to the amount awarded against them respectively. ARTICLE 8. For the purpose of distinguishing claims to be accepted from those to be rejected, the Sub-Commissioners will be guided by the following rules, viz.: Compensation will be allowed for losses or damage sustained by reason of the following acts committed during the recent hostilities, viz., (_a_) commandeering, seizure, confiscation, or destruction of property, or damage done to property; (_b_) violence done or threats used by persons in arms. In regard to acts under (_a_), compensation will be allowed for direct losses only. In regard to acts falling under (_b_), compensation will be allowed for actual losses of property, or actual injury to the same proved to have been caused by its enforced abandonment. No claims for indirect losses, except such as are in this Article specially provided for, will be entertained. No claims which have been handed in to the Secretary of the Royal Commission after the 1st day of July 1881 will be entertained, unless the Sub-Commissioners shall be satisfied that the delay was reasonable. When claims for loss of property are considered, the Sub-Commissioners will require distinct proof of the existence of the property, and that it neither has reverted nor will revert to the claimant. ARTICLE 9. The Government of the Transvaal State will pay and satisfy the amount of every claim awarded against it within one month after the Sub-Commissioners shall have notified their decision to the said Government, and in default of such payment the said Government will pay interest at the rate of six per cent. per annum from the date of such default; but her Majesty's Government may at any time before such payment pay the amount, with interest, if any, to the claimant in satisfaction of his claim, and may add the sum thus paid to any debt which may be due by the Transvaal State to her Majesty's Government, as herein-after provided for. ARTICLE 10. The Transvaal State will be liable for the balance of the debts for which the South African Republic was liable at the date of annexation, to wit, the sum of £48,000 in respect of the Cape Commercial Bank Loan, and £85,667 in respect to the Railway Loan, together with the amount due on 8th August 1881 on account of the Orphan Chamber Debt, which now stands at £22,200, which debts will be a first charge upon the revenues of the State. The Transvaal State will, moreover, be liable for the lawful expenditure lawfully incurred for the necessary expenses of the Province since the annexation, to wit, the sum of £265,000, which debt, together with such debts as may be incurred by virtue of the 9th Article, will be second charge upon the revenues of the State. ARTICLE 11. The debts due as aforesaid by the Transvaal State to her Majesty's Government will bear interest at the rate of three and a half per cent., and any portion of such debt as may remain unpaid at the expiration of twelve months from the 8th August 1881 shall be repayable by a payment for interest and sinking fund of six pounds and ninepence per cent. per annum, which will extinguish the debt in twenty-five years. The said payment of six pounds and ninepence per £100 shall be payable half yearly in British currency on the 8th February and 8th August in each year. Provided always that the Transvaal State shall pay in reduction of the said debt the sum of £100,000 within twelve months of the 8th August 1881, and shall be at liberty at the close of any half year to pay off the whole or any portion of the outstanding debt. ARTICLE 12. All persons holding property in the said State on the 8th day of August 1881 will continue after the said date to enjoy the rights of property which they have enjoyed since the annexation. No person who has remained loyal to her Majesty during the recent hostilities shall suffer any molestation by reason of his loyalty, or be liable to any criminal prosecution or civil action for any part taken in connection with such hostilities, and all such persons will have full liberty to reside in the country, with enjoyment of all civil rights, and protection for their persons and property. ARTICLE 13. Natives will be allowed to acquire land, but the grant or transfer of such land will, in every case, be made to and registered in the name of the Native Location Commission, herein-after mentioned, in trust for such natives. ARTICLE 14. Natives will be allowed to move as freely within the country as may be consistent with the requirements of public order, and to leave it for the purpose of seeking employment elsewhere or for other lawful purposes, subject always to the pass laws of the said State, as amended by the Legislature of the Province, or as may hereafter be enacted under the provisions of the 3rd Article of this Convention. ARTICLE 15. There will continue to be complete freedom of religion and protection from molestation for all denominations, provided the same be not inconsistent with morality and good order, and no disability shall attach to any person in regard to rights of property by reason of the religious opinions which he holds. ARTICLE 16. The provisions of the 4th Article of the Sand River Convention are hereby re-affirmed, and no slavery or apprenticeship partaking of slavery will be tolerated by the Government of the said State. ARTICLE 17. The British Resident will receive from the Government of the Transvaal State such assistance and support as can by law be given to him for the due discharge of his functions, he will also receive every assistance for the proper care and preservation of the graves of such of her Majesty's forces as have died in the Transvaal, and if need be for the expropriation of land for the purpose. ARTICLE 18. The following will be the duties and functions of the British Resident:--Sub-section 1. He will perform duties and functions analogous to those discharged by a Chargé d'Affaires and Consul-General. Sub-section 2. In regard to natives within the Transvaal State he will (_a_) report to the High Commissioner, as representative of the Suzerain, as to the working and observance of the provisions of this Convention; (_b_) report to the Transvaal authorities any cases of ill-treatment of natives or attempts to incite natives to rebellion that may come to his knowledge; (_c_) use his influence with the natives in favour of law and order; and (_d_) generally perform such other duties as are by this Convention entrusted to him, and take such steps for the protection of the person and property of natives as are consistent with the laws of the land. Sub-section 3. In regard to natives not residing in the Transvaal (_a_) he will report to the High Commissioner and the Transvaal Government any encroachments reported to him as having been made by Transvaal residents upon the land of such natives, and in case of disagreement between the Transvaal Government and the British Resident as to whether an encroachment has been made, the decision of the Suzerain will be final; (_b_) the British Resident will be the medium of communication with native chiefs outside the Transvaal, and subject to the approval of the High Commissioner, as representing the Suzerain, he will control the conclusion of treaties with them; and (_c_) he will arbitrate upon every dispute between Transvaal residents and natives outside the Transvaal (as to acts committed beyond the boundaries of the Transvaal) which may be referred to him by the parties interested. Sub-section 4. In regard to communications with foreign powers, the Transvaal Government will correspond with her Majesty's Government through the British Resident and the High Commissioner. ARTICLE 19. The Government of the Transvaal State will strictly adhere to the boundaries defined in the 1st Article of this Convention, and will do its utmost to prevent any of its inhabitants from making any encroachment upon lands beyond the said State. The Royal Commission will forthwith appoint a person who will beacon off the boundary line between Ramatlabama and the point where such line first touches Griqualand West boundary, midway between the Vaal and Hart Rivers; the person so appointed will be instructed to make an arrangement between the owners of the farms Grootfontein and Valleifontein on the one hand, and the Barolong authorities on the other, by which a fair share of the water supply of the said farms shall be allowed to flow undisturbed to the said Barolongs. ARTICLE 20. All grants or titles issued at any time by the Transvaal Government in respect of land outside the boundary of Transvaal State, as defined, Article 1, shall be considered invalid and of no effect, except in so far as any such grant or title relates to land that falls within the boundary of the Transvaal State, and all persons holding any such grant so considered invalid and of no effect will receive from the Government of the Transvaal State such compensation either in land or in money as the Volksraad shall determine. In all cases in which any native chiefs or other authorities outside the said boundaries have received any adequate consideration from the Government of the former South African Republic for land excluded from the Transvaal by the 1st Article of this Convention, or where permanent improvements have been made on the land, the British Resident will, subject to the approval of the High Commissioner, use his influence to recover from the native authorities fair compensation for the loss of the land thus excluded, and of the permanent improvement thereon. ARTICLE 21. Forthwith, after the taking effect of this Convention, a Native Location Commission will be constituted, consisting of the President, or in his absence the Vice-President of the State, or some one deputed by him, the Resident, or some one deputed by him, and a third person to be agreed upon by the President or the Vice-President, as the case may be, and the Resident, and such Commission will be a standing body for the performance of the duties herein-after mentioned. ARTICLE 22. The Native Location Commission will reserve to the native tribes of the State such locations as they may be fairly and equitably entitled to, due regard being had to the actual occupation of such tribes. The Native Location Commission will clearly define the boundaries of such locations, and for that purpose will, in every instance, first of all ascertain the wishes of the parties interested in such land. In case land already granted in individual titles shall be required for the purpose of any location, the owners will receive such compensation either in other land or in money as the Volksraad shall determine. After the boundaries of any location have been fixed, no fresh grant of land within such location will be made, nor will the boundaries be altered without the consent of the Location Commission. No fresh grants of land will be made in the districts of Waterbergh, Zoutspansberg, and Lydenburg until the locations in the said districts respectively shall have been defined by the said Commission. ARTICLE 23. If not released before the taking effect of this Convention, Sikukuni, and those of his followers who have been imprisoned with him, will be forthwith released, and the boundaries of his location will be defined by the Native Location Commission in the manner indicated in the last preceding Article. ARTICLE 24. The independence of the Swazies within the boundary line of Swaziland, as indicated in the 1st Article of this Convention, will be fully recognised. ARTICLE 25. No other or higher duties will be imposed on the importation into the Transvaal State of any article the produce or manufacture of the dominions and possessions of her Majesty, from whatever place arriving, than are or may be payable on the like article the produce or manufacture of any other country, nor will any prohibition be maintained or imposed on the importation of any article the produce or manufacture of the dominions and possessions of her Majesty, which shall not equally extend to the importation of the like articles being the produce or manufacture of any other country. ARTICLE 26. All persons other than natives conforming themselves to the laws of the Transvaal State (_a_) will have full liberty with their families to enter, travel, or reside in any part of the Transvaal State; (_b_) they will be entitled to hire or possess houses, manufactures, warehouses, shops, and premises; (_c_) they may carry on their commerce either in person or by any agents whom they may think fit to employ; (_d_) they will not be subject in respect of their persons or property, or in respect of their commerce or industry, to any taxes, whether general or local, other than those which are or may be imposed upon Transvaal citizens. ARTICLE 27. All inhabitants of the Transvaal shall have free access to the Courts of Justice for the protection and defence of their rights. ARTICLE 28. All persons other than natives who established their domicile in the Transvaal between the 12th day of April 1877 and the date when this Convention comes into effect, and who shall within twelve months after such last-mentioned date have their names registered by the British Resident, shall be exempt from all compulsory military service whatever. The Resident shall notify such registration to the Government of the Transvaal State. ARTICLE 29. Provision shall hereafter be made by a separate instrument for the mutual extradition of criminals, and also for the surrender of deserters from her Majesty's forces. ARTICLE 30. All debts contracted since the annexation will be payable in the same currency in which they may have been contracted; all uncancelled postage and other revenue stamps issued by the Government since the annexation will remain valid, and will be accepted at their present value by the future Government of the State; all licences duly issued since the annexation will remain in force during the period for which they may have been issued. ARTICLE 31. No grants of land which may have been made, and no transfer of mortgage which may have been passed since the annexation, will be invalidated by reason merely of their having been made or passed since that date. All transfers to the British Secretary for Native Affairs in trust for natives will remain in force, the Native Location Commission taking the place of such Secretary for Native Affairs. ARTICLE 32. This Convention will be ratified by a newly-elected Volksraad within the period of three months after its execution, and in default of such ratification this Convention shall be null and void. ARTICLE 33. Forthwith, after the ratification of this Convention, as in the last preceding Article mentioned, all British troops in Transvaal territory will leave the same, and the mutual delivery of munitions of war will be carried out. Articles end. Here will follow signatures of Royal Commissioners, then the following to precede signatures of triumvirate. We, the undersigned, Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, Martinus Wessel Pretorius, and Petrus Jacobus Joubert, as representatives of the Transvaal Burghers, do hereby agree to all the above conditions, reservations, and limitations under which self-government has been restored to the inhabitants of the Transvaal territory, subject to the suzerainty of her Majesty, her heirs and successors, and we agree to accept the Government of the said territory, with all rights and obligations thereto appertaining on the 8th day of August; and we promise and undertake that this Convention shall be ratified by a newly-elected Volksraad of the Transvaal State within three months from this date. CONVENTION OF 1884 A CONVENTION BETWEEN HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND AND THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC. Whereas, the Government of the Transvaal State, through its Delegates, consisting of Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, President of the said State, Stephanus Jacobus Du Toit, Superintendent of Education, and Nicholas Jacobus Smit, a member of the Volksraad, have represented that the Convention signed at Pretoria on the 3rd day of August 1881, and ratified by the Volksraad of the said State on the 25th October 1881, contains certain provisions which are inconvenient, and imposes burdens and obligations from which the said State is desirous to be relieved, and that the south-western boundaries fixed by the said Convention should be amended, with a view to promote the peace and good order of the said State, and of the countries adjacent thereto; and whereas her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, has been pleased to take the said representations into consideration: Now, therefore, her Majesty has been pleased to direct, and it is hereby declared, that the following articles of a new Convention, signed on behalf of her Majesty by her Majesty's High Commissioner in South Africa, the Right Honourable Sir Hercules George Robert Robinson, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, Governor of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, and on behalf of the Transvaal State (which shall herein-after be called the South African Republic) by the above-named Delegates, Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, Stephanus Jacobus Du Toit, and Nicholas Jacobus Smit, shall, when ratified by the Volksraad of the South African Republic, be substituted for the articles embodied in the Convention of 3rd August 1881; which latter, pending such ratification, shall continue in full force and effect. ARTICLES. ARTICLE 1. The Territory of the South African Republic will embrace the land lying between the following boundaries, to wit: (Here follows a long description of boundaries). ARTICLE 2. The Government of the South African Republic will strictly adhere to the boundaries defined in the 1st Article of this Convention, and will do its utmost to prevent any of its inhabitants from making any encroachments upon lands beyond the said boundaries. The Government of the South African Republic will appoint Commissioners upon the eastern and western borders whose duty it will be strictly to guard against irregularities and all trespassing over the boundaries. Her Majesty's Government will, if necessary, appoint Commissioners in the native territories outside the eastern and western borders of the South African Republic to maintain order and prevent encroachments. Her Majesty's Government and the Government of the South African Republic will each appoint a person to proceed together to beacon off the amended south-west boundary as described in Article 1 of this Convention; and the President of the Orange Free State shall be requested to appoint a referee to whom the said persons shall refer any questions on which they may disagree respecting the interpretation of the said Article, and the decision of such referee thereon shall be final. The arrangement already made, under the terms of Article 19 of the Convention of Pretoria of the 3rd August 1881, between the owners of the farms Grootfontein and Valleifontein on the one hand, and the Barolong authorities on the other, by which a fair share of the water supply of the said farms shall be allowed to flow undisturbed to the said Barolongs, shall continue in force. ARTICLE 3. If a British officer is appointed to reside at Pretoria or elsewhere within the South African Republic to discharge functions analogous to those of a Consular officer he will receive the protection and assistance of the Republic. ARTICLE 4. The South African Republic will conclude no treaty or engagement with any State or nation other than the Orange Free State, nor with any native tribe to the eastward or westward of the Republic, until the same has been approved by her Majesty the Queen. Such approval shall be considered to have been granted if her Majesty's Government shall not, within six months after receiving a copy of such treaty (which shall be delivered to them immediately upon its completion), have notified that the conclusion of such treaty is in conflict with the interests of Great Britain or of any of her Majesty's possessions in South Africa. ARTICLE 5. The South African Republic will be liable for any balance which may still remain due of the debts for which it was liable at the date of Annexation, to wit, the Cape Commercial Bank Loan, the Railway Loan, and the Orphan Chamber Debt, which debts will be a first charge upon the revenues of the Republic. The South African Republic will moreover be liable to her Majesty's Government for £250,000, which will be a second charge upon the revenues of the Republic. ARTICLE 6. The debt due as aforesaid by the South African Republic to her Majesty's Government will bear interest at the rate of three and a half per cent. from the date of the ratification of this Convention, and shall be repayable by a payment for interest and Sinking Fund of six pounds and ninepence per £100 per annum, which will extinguish the debt in twenty-five years. The said payment or six pounds and ninepence per £100 shall be payable half-yearly, in British currency, at the close of each half year from the date of such ratification: Provided always that the South African Republic shall be at liberty at the close of any half year to pay off the whole or any portion of the outstanding debt. Interest at the rate of three and a half per cent. on the debt as standing under the Convention of Pretoria shall as heretofore be paid to the date of the ratification of this Convention. ARTICLE 7. All persons who held property in the Transvaal on the 8th day of August 1881, and still hold the same, will continue to enjoy the rights of property which they have enjoyed since the 12th April 1877. No person who has remained loyal to her Majesty during the late hostilities shall suffer any molestation by reason of his loyalty; or be liable to any criminal prosecution or civil action for any part taken in connection with such hostilities; and all such persons will have full liberty to reside in the country, with enjoyment of all civil rights, and protection for their persons and property. ARTICLE 8. The South African Republic renews the declaration made in the Sand River Convention, and in the Convention of Pretoria, that no slavery or apprenticeship partaking of slavery will be tolerated by the Government of the said Republic. ARTICLE 9. There will continue to be complete freedom of religion and protection from molestation for all denominations, provided the same be not inconsistent with morality and good order; and no disability shall attach to any person in regard to rights of property by reason of the religious opinions which he holds. ARTICLE 10. The British officer appointed to reside in the South African Republic will receive every assistance from the Government of the said Republic in making due provision for the proper care and preservation of the graves of such of her Majesty's forces as have died in the Transvaal; and if need be, for the appropriation of land for the purpose. ARTICLE 11. All grants or titles issued at any time by the Transvaal Government in respect of land outside the boundary of the South African Republic, as defined in Article 1, shall be considered invalid and of no effect, except in so far as any such grant or title relates to land that falls within the boundary of the South African Republic; and all persons holding any such grant so considered invalid and of no effect will receive from the Government of the South African Republic such compensation, either in land or in money, as the Volksraad shall determine. In all cases in which any Native Chiefs or other authorities outside the said boundaries have received any adequate consideration from the Government of the South African Republic for land excluded from the Transvaal by the 1st Article of this Convention, or where permanent improvements have been made on the land, the High Commissioner will recover from the native authorities fair compensation for the loss of the land thus excluded, or of the permanent improvements thereon. ARTICLE 12. The independence of the Swazis, within the boundary line of Swaziland, as indicated in the 1st Article of this Convention, will be fully recognised. ARTICLE 13. Except in pursuance of any treaty or engagement made as provided in Article 4 of this Convention, no other or higher duties shall be imposed on the importation into the South African Republic of any article coming from any part of her Majesty's dominions than are or may be imposed on the like article coming from any other place or country; nor will any prohibition be maintained or imposed on the importation into the South African Republic of any article coming from any part of her Majesty's dominions which shall not equally extend to the like article coming from any other place or country. And in like manner the same treatment shall be given to any article coming to Great Britain from the South African Republic as to the like article coming from any other place or country. These provisions do not preclude the consideration of special arrangements as to import duties and commercial relations between the South African Republic and any of her Majesty's colonies or possessions. ARTICLE 14. All persons, other than natives, conforming themselves to the laws of the South African Republic (_a_) will have full liberty, with their families, to enter, travel, or reside in any part of the South African Republic; (_b_) they will be entitled to hire or possess houses, manufactories, warehouses, shops, and premises; (_c_) they may carry on their commerce either in person or by any agents whom they may think fit to employ; (_d_) they will not be subject, in respect of their persons or property, or in respect of their commerce or industry, to any taxes, whether general or local, other than those which are or may be imposed upon citizens of the said Republic. ARTICLE 15. All persons, other than natives, who established their domicile in the Transvaal between the 12th day of April 1877 and the 8th of August 1881, and who within twelve months after such last-mentioned date have had their names registered by the British Resident, shall be exempt from all compulsory military service whatever. ARTICLE 16. Provision shall hereafter be made by a separate instrument for the mutual extradition of criminals, and also for the surrender of deserters from her Majesty's forces. ARTICLE 17. All debts contracted between the 12th April 1887 and the 8th August 1881 will be payable in the same currency in which they may have been contracted. ARTICLE 18. No grants of land which may have been made, and no transfers or mortgages which may have been passed between the 12th April 1877 and the 8th August 1881, will be invalidated by reason merely of their having been made or passed between such dates. All transfers to the British Secretary for Native Affairs in trust for natives will remain in force, an officer of the South African Republic taking the place of such Secretary for Native Affairs. ARTICLE 19. The Government of the South African Republic will engage faithfully to fulfil the assurances given, in accordance with the laws of the South African Republic, to the natives at the Pretoria Pitso by the Royal Commission in the presence of the Triumvirate and with their entire assent, (1) as to the freedom of the natives to buy or otherwise acquire land under certain conditions, (2) as to the appointment of a commission to mark out native locations, (3) as to the access of the natives to the courts of law, and (4) as to their being allowed to move freely within the country, or to leave it for any legal purpose, under a pass system. ARTICLE 20. This Convention will be ratified by a Volksraad of the South African Republic within the period of six months after its execution, and in default of such ratification this Convention shall be null and void. Signed in duplicate in London this 27th day of February 1884. (Signed) HERCULES ROBINSON. " S. J. P. KRUGER. " S. J. DU TOIT. " M. J. SMIT. END OF VOLUME I. Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & Co. Edinburgh & London TRANSCRIBERS' NOTES: General : Both Potchefstrom and Potchefstroom have been used several times. Spellings have been preserved as written. Page viii: Drummer replaced with drummers to agree with caption of illustration. : Removal of additional closing parenthesis after Gloucester Regiment Page x : Hyphen removed from gold-fields (2 occurrences) to ensure consistency with other uses Page 15 : Spelling of attemped revised to attempted Page 43 : Added closing parenthesis after ...blacks Page 57 : As written. Vjin should probably read Vijn Page 68 : Comma after pledge replaced with full stop (period) Page 75 : Hyphen removed from farm-house to ensure consistency with other uses Page 76 : Closing quote added after fusiliers. Page 78 : Hyphen added to bloodspilling to ensure consistency with other use Page 84 : Spelling of tambookee standardised to tambookie Page 108 : Hyphen added to reaffirmed to ensure consistency with other use Page 113 : Spelling of pourtrayed and dulness left as taken from original quotation. Page 139 : As written. Reims should probably read riems Page 179 : Spelling of cowe left as taken from original quotation. 
14426	----	LONDON TO LADYSMITH VIA PRETORIA BY WINSTON SPENCER CHURCHILL AUTHOR OF 'THE STORY OF THE MALAKAND FIELD FORCE, 1897', 'THE RIVER WAR: AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE RECONQUEST OF THE SOUDAN', 'SAVROLA: A ROMANCE' LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON NEW YORK AND BOMBAY 1900 DEDICATION THIS COLLECTION OF LETTERS IS INSCRIBED TO THE STAFF OF THE NATAL GOVERNMENT RAILWAY WHOSE CAREFUL AND COURAGEOUS DISCHARGE OF THEIR EVERY-DAY DUTIES AMID THE PERILS OF WAR HAS MADE THEM HONOURABLY CONSPICUOUS EVEN AMONG THEIR FELLOW COLONISTS INTRODUCTORY NOTE This small book is mainly a personal record of my adventures and impressions during the first five months of the African War. It may also be found to give a tolerably coherent account of the operations conducted by Sir Redvers Buller for the Relief of Ladysmith. The correspondence of which it is mainly composed appeared in the columns of the _Morning Post_ newspaper, and I propose, if I am not interrupted by the accidents of war, to continue the series of letters. The stir and tumult of a camp do not favour calm or sustained thought, and whatever is written herein must be regarded simply as the immediate effect produced by men powerfully moved, and scenes swiftly changing upon what I hope is a truth-seeking mind. The fact that a man's life depends upon my discretion compels me to omit an essential part of the story of my escape from the Boers; but if the book and its author survive the war, and when the British flag is firmly planted at Bloemfontein and Pretoria, I shall hasten to fill the gap in the narrative. WINSTON S. CHURCHILL. _March 10, 1900_. CONTENTS I. STEAMING SOUTH R.M.S. 'Dunottar Castle,' October 26 and October 29, 1899 II. THE STATE OF THE GAME Capetown; November 1, 1899 III. ALONG THE SOUTHERN FRONTIER East London: November 5, 1899 IV. IN NATAL Estcourt: November 6, 1899 V. A CRUISE IN THE ARMOURED TRAIN Estcourt: November 9, 1899 VI. DISTANT GUNS Estcourt: November 10, 1899 VII. THE FATE OF THE ARMOURED TRAIN Pretoria: November 20, 1899 VIII. PRISONERS OF WAR Pretoria: November 24, 1899 IX. THROUGH THE DUTCH CAMPS Pretoria: November 30, 1899 X. IN AFRIKANDER BONDS Pretoria: December 3, 1899 XI. I ESCAPE FROM THE BOERS Lourenço Marques: December 22, 1899 XII. BACK TO THE BRITISH LINES Frere: December 24, 1899 XIII. CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR Frere: January 4, 1900 XIV. A MILITARY DEMONSTRATION AND SOME GOOD NEWS Chieveley: January 8, 1900 XV. THE DASH FOR POTGIETER'S FERRY Spearman's Hill: January 13, 1900 XVI. TRICHARDT'S DRIFT AND THE AFFAIR OF ACTON HOMES Venter's Spruit: January 22, 1900 XVII. THE BATTLE OF SPION KOP Venter's Spruit: January 25, 1900 XVIII. THROUGH THE FIVE DAYS' ACTION Venter's Spruit: January 25, 1900 XIX. A FRESH-EFFORT AND AN ARMY CHAPLAIN Spearman's Hill: February 4, 1900 XX. THE COMBAT OF VAAL KRANTZ General Buller's Headquarters: February 9, 1900 XXI. HUSSAR HILL General Buller's Headquarters: February 15, 1900 XXII. THE ENGAGEMENT OF MONTE CRISTO Cingolo Neck: February 19, 1900 XXIII. THE PASSAGE OF THE TUGELA Hospital-ship 'Maine': March 4, 1900 XXIV. THE BATTLE OF PIETERS: THE THIRD DAY Hospital-ship 'Maine': March 5, 1900 XXV. UPON MAJUBA DAY Commandant's Office, Durban: March 6, 1900 XXVI. THE RELIEF OF LADYSMITH Commandant's Office, Durban: March 9, 1900 XXVII. AFTER THE SIEGE Durban: March 10, 1900 CHAPTER I STEAMING SOUTH R.M.S. 'Dunottar Castle,' at sea: October 26, 1899. The last cry of 'Any more for the shore?' had sounded, the last good-bye had been said, the latest pressman or photographer had scrambled ashore, and all Southampton was cheering wildly along a mile of pier and promontory when at 6 P.M., on October 14, the Royal Mail steamer 'Dunottar Castle' left her moorings and sailed with Sir Redvers Buller for the Cape. For a space the decks remained crowded with the passengers who, while the sound of many voices echoed in their ears, looked back towards the shores swiftly fading in the distance and the twilight, and wondered whether, and if so when, they would come safe home again; then everyone hurried to his cabin, arranged his luggage, and resigned himself to the voyage. What an odious affair is a modern sea journey! In ancient times there were greater discomforts and perils; but they were recognised. A man took ship prepared for the worst. Nowadays he expects the best as a matter of course, and is, therefore, disappointed. Besides, how slowly we travel! In the sixteenth century nobody minded taking five months to get anywhere. But a fortnight is a large slice out of the nineteenth century; and the child of civilisation, long petted by Science, impatiently complains to his indulgent guardian of all delay in travel, and petulantly calls on her to complete her task and finally eliminate the factor of distance from human calculations. A fortnight is a long time in modern life. It is also a long time in modern war--especially at the beginning. To be without news for a fortnight at any time is annoying. To be without news for a fortnight now is a torture. And this voyage lasts more than a fortnight! At the very outset of our enterprise we are compelled to practise Mr. Morley's policy of patience. We left London amid rumours of all kinds. The Metropolis was shrouded in a fog of credulous uncertainty, broken only by the sinister gleam of the placarded lie or the croak of the newsman. Terrible disasters had occurred and had been contradicted; great battles were raging--unconfirmed; and beneath all this froth the tide of war was really flowing, and no man could shut his eyes to grave possibilities. Then the ship sailed, and all was silence--a heaving silence. But Madeira was scarcely four days' journey. There we should find the answers to many questions. At Madeira, however, we learned nothing, but nothing, though satisfactory, is very hard to understand. Why did they declare war if they had nothing up their sleeves? Why are they wasting time now? Such were the questions. Then we sailed again, and again silence shut down, this time, however, on a more even keel. Speculation arises out of ignorance. Many and various are the predictions as to what will be the state of the game when we shall have come to anchor in Table Bay. Forecasts range from the capture of Pretoria by Sir George White and the confinement of President Kruger in the deepest level beneath the Johannesburg Exchange, on the one hand, to the surrender of Cape Town to the Boers, the proclamation of Mr. Schreiner as King of South Africa, and a fall of two points in Rand Mines on the other. Between these wild extremes all shades of opinion are represented. Only one possibility is unanimously excluded--an inconclusive peace. There are on board officers who travelled this road eighteen years ago with Lord Roberts, and reached Cape Town only to return by the next boat. But no one anticipates such a result this time. Monotony is the characteristic of a modern voyage, and who shall describe it? The lover of realism might suggest that writing the same paragraph over and over again would enable the reader to experience its weariness, if he were truly desirous of so doing. But I hesitate to take such a course, and trust that some of these lines even once repeated may convey some inkling of the dulness of the days. Monotony of view--for we live at the centre of a complete circle of sea and sky; monotony of food--for all things taste the same on board ship; monotony of existence--for each day is but a barren repetition of the last; all fall to the lot of the passenger on great waters. It were malevolent to try to bring the realisation home to others. Yet all earthly evils have their compensations, and even monotony is not without its secret joy. For a time we drop out of the larger world, with its interests and its obligations, and become the independent citizens of a tiny State:--a Utopian State where few toil and none go hungry--bounded on all sides by the sea and vassal only to the winds and waves. Here during a period which is too long while it lasts, too short when it is over, we may placidly reflect on the busy world that lies behind and the tumult that is before us. The journalists read books about South Africa; the politician--were the affair still in the domain of words--might examine the justice of the quarrel. The Headquarter Staff pore over maps or calculate the sizes of camps and entrenchments; and in the meantime the great ship lurches steadily forward on her course, carrying to the south at seventeen miles an hour schemes and intentions of war. But let me record the incidents rather than their absence. One day the first shoal of flying fish is seen--a flight of glittering birds that, flushed by the sudden approach of the vessel, skim away over the waters and turn in the cover of a white-topped wave. On another we crossed the Equator. Neptune and his consort boarded us near the forecastle and paraded round the ship in state. Never have I seen such a draggle-tailed divinity. An important feature in the ritual which he prescribes is the shaving and ducking of all who have not passed the line before. But our attitude was strictly Erastian, and the demigod retired discomfited to the second class, where from the sounds which arose he seemed to find more punctilious votaries. On the 23rd we sighted a sail--or rather the smoke of another steamer. As the comparatively speedy 'Dunottar Castle' overtook the stranger everybody's interest was aroused. Under the scrutiny of many brand-new telescopes and field glasses--for all want to see as much of a war as possible--she developed into the 'Nineveh,' hired transport carrying the Australian Lancers to the Cape. Signals were exchanged. The vessels drew together, and after an hour's steaming we passed her almost within speaking distance. The General went up to the bridge. The Lancers crowded the bulwarks and rigging of the 'Nineveh' and one of them waggled a flag violently. An officer on our ship replied with a pocket-handkerchief. The Australians asked questions: 'Is Sir Redvers Buller on board?' The answer 'Yes' was signalled back, and immediately the Lancers gave three tremendous cheers, waving their broad-brimmed hats and gesticulating with energy while the steam siren emitted a frantic whoop of salutation. Then the speed of the larger vessel told, and we drew ahead of the transport until her continued cheers died away. She signalled again: 'What won the Cesarewitch?' But the distance was now too great for us to learn whether the answer gave satisfaction or not. We have a party of cinematographers on board, and when they found that we were going to speak the 'Nineveh' they bustled about preparing their apparatus. But the cumbrous appliances took too long to set up, and, to the bitter disappointment of the artists, the chance of making a moving picture was lost for ever; and indeed it was a great pity, because the long green transport, pitching in the sea, now burying her bows in foam, now showing the red paint of her bottom, her decks crowded with the active brown figures of the soldiers, her halyards bright with signal flags, was a scene well worth recording even if it had not been the greeting given in mid-ocean to the commander of the army by the warlike contingent which the need or convenience of the Empire had drawn from the Antipodes. South of the line the weather cools rapidly, and various theories are advanced to explain the swift change. According to some, it is due to the masses of ice at the Antarctic Pole; others contend that it is because we are further from the land. But whatever the cause may be, the fall in temperature produces a rise in spirits, and under greyer skies everyone develops activity. The consequence of this is the organisation of athletic sports. A committee is appointed. Sir Redvers Buller becomes President. A two days' meeting is arranged, and on successive afternoons the more energetic passengers race violently to and fro on the decks, belabour each other with bolsters, or tumble into unforeseen troughs of water to their huge contentment and the diversion of the rest. Occasionally there are light gusts of controversy. It is Sunday. The parson proposes to read the service. The captain objects. He insists on the maintenance of naval supremacy. On board ship, 'or at any rate on board this ship,' no one but the captain reads the service. The minister, a worthy Irishman, abandons the dispute--not without regret. 'Any other clergyman of the Church of England,' he observes with warmth, 'would have told the captain to go to Hell.' Then there is to be a fancy dress ball. Opinions are divided. On the one part it is urged that fancy dress balls are healthy and amusing. On the other, that they are exceedingly tiresome. The discussion is prolonged. In the end the objectors are overruled--still objecting. Such are the politics of the State. Inoculation against enteric fever proceeds daily. The doctors lecture in the saloon. One injection of serum protects; a second secures the subject against attacks. Wonderful statistics are quoted in support of the experiment. Nearly everyone is convinced. The operations take place forthwith, and the next day sees haggard forms crawling about the deck in extreme discomfort and high fever. The day after, however, all have recovered and rise gloriously immune. Others, like myself, remembering that we still stand only on the threshold of pathology, remain unconvinced, resolved to trust to 'health and the laws of health.' But if they will, invent a system of inoculation against bullet wounds I will hasten to submit myself. Yesterday we passed a homeward-bound liner, who made great efforts to signal to us, but as she was a Union boat the captain refused to go near enough to read the flags, and we still remain ignorant of the state of the war. If the great lines of steamships to the Cape were to compete against each other, as do those of the Atlantic, by increasing their speeds, by lowering their rates, by improving the food and accommodation, no one would complain, but it is difficult to see how the public can be the gainers by the silly antagonism I have described. However, the end is drawing very near, and since we have had a safe and prosperous journey criticism may well waive the opportunity. Yet there are few among the travellers who will not experience a keen feeling of relief in exchanging the pettiness, the monotony, and the isolation of the voyage for the activity of great enterprise and the interest of real affairs: a relief which may, perhaps, be shared by the reader of these letters. Yet if he has found the account of a dull voyage dull, he should not complain; for is not that successful realism? October 29. News at last! This morning we sighted a sail--a large homeward-bound steamer, spreading her canvas to catch the trades, and with who should say what tidings on board. We crowded the decks, and from every point of view telescopes, field glasses, and cameras were directed towards the stranger. She passed us at scarcely two hundred yards, and as she did so her crew and company, giving three hearty cheers, displayed a long black board, on which was written in white paint: 'Boers defeated; three battles; Penn Symons killed.' There was a little gasp of excitement. Everyone stepped back from the bulwarks. Those who had not seen ran eagerly up to ask what had happened. A dozen groups were formed, a hum of conversation arose, and meanwhile the vessels separated--for the pace of each was swift--and in a few moments the homeward bound lay far in our wake. What does it mean--this scrap of intelligence which tells so much and leaves so much untold? To-morrow night we shall know all. This at least is certain: there has been fierce fighting in Natal, and, under Heaven, we have held our own: perhaps more. 'Boers defeated.' Let us thank God for that. The brave garrisons have repelled the invaders. The luck has turned at last. The crisis is over, and the army now on the seas may move with measured strides to effect a final settlement that is both wise and just. In that short message eighteen years of heartburnings are healed. The abandoned colonist, the shamed soldier, the 'cowardly Englishman,' the white flag, the 'How about Majuba?'--all gone for ever. At last--'the Boers defeated.' Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! So Sir Penn Symons is killed! Well, no one would have laid down his life more gladly in such a cause. Twenty years ago the merest chance saved him from the massacre at Isandhlwana, and Death promoted him in an afternoon from subaltern to senior captain. Thenceforward his rise was rapid. He commanded the First Division of the Tirah Expeditionary Force among the mountains with prudent skill. His brigades had no misfortunes: his rearguards came safely into camp. In the spring of 1898, when the army lay around Fort Jumrood, looking forward to a fresh campaign, I used often to meet him. Everyone talked of Symons, of his energy, of his jokes, of his enthusiasm. It was Symons who had built a racecourse on the stony plain; who had organised the Jumrood Spring Meeting; who won the principal event himself, to the delight of the private soldiers, with whom he was intensely popular; who, moreover, was to be first and foremost if the war with the tribes broke out again; and who was entrusted with much of the negotiations with their _jirgas_. Dinner with Symons in the mud tower of Jumrood Fort was an experience. The memory of many tales of sport and war remains. At the end the General would drink the old Peninsular toasts: 'Our Men,' 'Our Women,' 'Our Religion,' 'Our Swords,' 'Ourselves,' 'Sweethearts and Wives,' and 'Absent Friends'--one for every night in the week. The night when I dined the toast was 'Our Men.' May the State in her necessities find others like him! CHAPTER II THE STATE OF THE GAME Cape Town: November 1, 1899. The long-drawn voyage came to an end at last. On the afternoon of October 30 we sighted land, and looking westward I perceived what looked like a dark wave of water breaking the smooth rim of the horizon. A short time developed the wave into the rocks and slopes of Robben Island--a barren spot inhabited by lepers, poisonous serpents, and dogs undergoing quarantine. Then with the darkness we entered Table Bay, and, steaming slowly, reached the anchorage at ten o'clock. Another hour of waiting followed until the tugboat obeyed the signal; but at last she ran alongside, and there stepped on board a Man Who Knew. Others with despatches pushed roughly through the crowd of soldiers, officers, passengers, and war correspondents to the General's cabin. We caught the Man Who Knew, however, and, setting him half way up the ladder to the hurricane deck, required him forthwith to tell us of the war. Doubtless you have been well informed of all, or at any rate of much, that has passed. The man told his story quickly, with an odd quiver of excitement in his voice, and the audience--perhaps we were 300--listened breathless. Then for the first time we heard of Elandslaagte, of Glencoe, of Rietfontein, a tale of stubborn, well-fought fights with honour for both sides, triumph for neither. 'Tell us about the losses--who are killed and wounded?' we asked this wonderful man. I think he was a passage agent or something like that. So he told us--and among the group of officers gathered above him on the hurricane deck I saw now one, now another, turn away, and hurry out of the throng. A gentleman I had met on the voyage--Captain Weldonasked questions. 'Do you know any names of killed in the Leicesters?' The man reflected. He could not be sure: he thought there was an officer named Weldon killed--oh, yes! he remembered there were two Weldons--one killed, one wounded, but he did not know which was in the Leicesters. 'Tell us about Mafeking,' said someone else. Then we heard about Mafeking--the armoured trains, the bombardment, the sorties, the dynamite wagons--all, in fact, that is yet known of what may become an historic defence. 'And how many Boers are killed?' cried a private soldier from the back. The man hesitated, but the desire to please was strong within him. 'More than two thousand,' he said, and a fierce shout of joy answered him. The crowd of brown uniforms under the electric clusters broke up into loud-voiced groups; some hastened to search for newspapers, some to repeat what they had heard to others; only a few leaned against the bulwarks and looked long and silently towards the land, where the lights of Cape Town, its streets, its quays, and its houses gleamed from the night like diamonds on black velvet. It is along casualty list of officers--of the best officers in the world. The brave and accomplished General of Glencoe; Colonel Chisholme, who brought the 9th Lancers out of action in Afghanistan; Sherston, who managed the Indian Polo Association; Haldane, Sir William Lockhart's brilliant aide-de-camp; Barnes, adjutant of the 4th Hussars, who played back of our team and went with me to Cuba; Brooke, who had tempted fortune more often than anyone else in the last four years--Chitral, Matabeleland, Samana, Tira, Atbara, and Omdurman--and fifty others who are only names to me, but are dear and precious to many, all lying under the stony soil or filling the hospitals at Pietermaritzburg and Durban. Two thousand Boers killed! I wish I could believe there were. Next morning Sir Redvers Buller landed in state. Sir F. Forestier-Walker and his staff came to meet him. The ship was decked out in bunting from end to end. A guard of honour of the Duke of Edinburgh's Volunteers lined the quay; a mounted escort attended the carriage; an enormous crowd gathered outside the docks. At nine o'clock precisely the General stepped on to the gangway. The crew and stokers of the 'Dunottar Castle' gave three hearty cheers; the cinematograph buzzed loudly; forty cameras clicked; the guard presented arms, and the harbour batteries thundered the salute. Then the carriage drove briskly off into the town through streets bright with waving flags and black with cheering people. So Sir Redvers Buller came back again to South Africa, the land where his first military reputation was made, where he won his Victoria Cross, the land which--let us pray--he will leave having successfully discharged the heavy task confided to him by the Imperial Government. Now, what is the situation which confronts the General and the army? I will adventure an explanation, though the picture of war moves very swiftly. In their dealing with the military republics which had become so formidable a power throughout the Cape, the Ministers who were responsible for the security of our South African possessions were compelled to reckon with two volumes of public opinion--British and colonial. The colonial opinion was at its best (from our point of view) about three months ago. But the British opinion was still unformed. The delays and diplomatic disputes which have gradually roused the nation to a sense of its responsibilities and perils, and which were absolutely necessary if we were to embark on the struggle united, have had an opposite effect out here. The attempts to satisfy the conscientious public by giving the republics every possible opportunity to accept our terms and the delays in the despatch of troops which were an expensive tribute to the argument 'Do not seek peace with a sword,' have been misinterpreted in South Africa. The situation in the Cape Colony has become much graver. We have always been told of the wonderful loyalty of the Dutch. It is possible that had war broken out three months ago that loyalty would have been demonstrated for all time. War after three months of hesitation--for such it was considered--has proved too severe a test, and it is no exaggeration to say that a considerable part of the Colony trembles on the verge of rebellion. On such a state of public opinion the effect of any important military reverse would be lamentable. Nor is the military position such as to exclude anxiety. The swift flame of war ran in a few days around the whole circle of the republican frontiers. Far away to the north there was a skirmish at Tuli. On the west Khama's territories are threatened with invasion. Mafeking is surrounded, isolated, and manfully defending itself against continual attack. Vryburg has been treacherously surrendered by its rebel inhabitants to the enemy. Kimberley offers a serene front to a hesitating attack, and even retaliates with armoured trains and other enterprises. The southern frontier is armed, and menaced, and the expectation of collision is strong. But it is on the eastern side that the Boers have concentrated their greatest energies. They have gone Nap on Natal. The configuration of the country favours an invader. The reader has scarcely to look at the map, with which he is already familiar, to realise how strategically powerful the Boer position was and is. The long tongue of plain running up into the mountains could be entered from both sides. The communications of the advanced garrisons would be assailed: their retreat imperilled. The Boers seemed bound to clear northern Natal of the troops. If, on the other hand, they were, or should now be, suddenly driven back on their own country, they have only to retire up the tongue of plain, with their exposed front narrowing every mile between the mountains, and await their pursuers on the almost inexpugnable position of Laing's Nek. Appreciating all this, their leaders have wisely resolved to put forth their main strength against the force in Natal, and by crushing it to rouse their sympathisers within the Cape Colony. Should they succeed either on this front or on any other to a serious extent, though the disaffection would not take a very violent form, for all the bravoes have already joined the enemy, the general insecurity would demand the employment of an army corps in addition to that already on the seas. A democratic Government cannot go to war unless the country is behind it, and until it has general support must not place itself in a position whence, without fighting, there is no retreat. The difficulty of rallying public opinion in the face of the efforts of Mr. Morley, Mr. Courtney, Sir William Harcourt, and others have caused a most dangerous delay in the despatch of reinforcements. War has been aggravated by the Peace Party; and thus these humanitarian gentlemen are personally--for they occupy no official position--responsible for the great loss of life. They will find their several consolations: Mr. Morley will rejoice that he has faithfully pursued Mr. Gladstone's policy in South Africa; Mr. Courtney that he has been consistent at all costs; Sir William Harcourt that he has hampered the Government. But for those who lose their sons and brothers in a quarrel thus unnecessarily extended, there will only remain vain regrets, and to the eyewitness only a bitter anger. For the last three months the Imperial Government has been in the unpleasant position of watching its adversaries grow continually stronger without being able to make adequate counter-preparations. But when once this initial disability has been stated, it must also be admitted that the course of the military operations has been--apart from their success or failure--very lucky. The Boers had the advantage of drawing first blood, and the destruction of the armoured train near Mafeking was magnified by them, as by the sensational Press in Great Britain, into a serious disaster. A very bad effect was produced in the undecided districts--it is perhaps wiser not to specify them at this moment. But a few days later another armoured train ran out from Kimberley, and its Maxim guns killed five Boers without any loss to the troops. The magnifying process was also applied to this incident with equal though opposite results. Then came the news of the battle of Glencoe. The first accounts, which were very properly controlled--for we are at war with the pen as well as the sword--told only of the bravery of the troops, of the storming of the Boer position, and of the capture of prisoners. That the troops had suffered the heavier loss, that the Boers had retired to further positions in rear of the first, drawing their artillery with them, and that General Yule had retreated by forced marches to Ladysmith after the victory--for tactical victory it undoubtedly was--leaked into Cape Colony very gradually; nor was it until a week later that it was known that the wounded had been left behind, and that the camp with all stores and baggage, except ammunition, had fallen into the enemy's hands. Before that happened the news of Elandslaagte had arrived, and this brilliant action, which reflects no less credit on Generals French and Hamilton who fought it than on Sir George White who ordered it, dazzled all eyes, so that the sequel to Glencoe was unnoticed, or at any rate produced little effect on public opinion. The Natal Field Force is now concentrated at Ladysmith, and confronts in daily opposition the bulk of the Boer Army. Though the numbers of the enemy are superior and their courage claims the respect of their professional antagonists, it is difficult to believe that any serious reverse can take place in that quarter, and meanwhile many thousand soldiers are on the seas. But the fact is now abundantly plain to those who are acquainted with the local conditions and with the Boer character, that a fierce, certainly bloody, possibly prolonged struggle lies before the army of South Africa. The telegrams, however, which we receive from Great Britain of the national feeling, of the bye-election, of Lord Rosebery's speech, are full of encouragement and confidence. 'At last,' says the British colonist, as he shoulders his rifle and marches out to fight, no less bravely than any soldier (witness the casualty lists), for the ties which bind South Africa to the Empire--'at last they have made up their minds at home.' CHAPTER III ALONG THE SOUTHERN FRONTIER East London: November 5, 1899. We have left Headquarters busy with matters that as yet concern no one but themselves in the Mount Nelson Hotel at Cape Town--a most excellent and well-appointed establishment, which may be thoroughly appreciated after a sea voyage, and which, since many of the leading Uitlanders have taken up their abode there during the war, is nicknamed 'The Helot's Rest.' Last night I started by rail for East London, whence a small ship carries the weekly English mail to Natal, and so by this circuitous route I hope to reach Ladysmith on Sunday morning. We have thus gained three days on our friends who proceed by the 'Dunottar Castle,' and who were mightily concerned when they heard--too late to follow--of our intentions. But though it is true in this case that the longest way round is the shortest way, there were possibilities of our journey being interrupted, because the line from De Aar Junction to Naauwpoort runs parallel to the southern frontier of the Free State, and though hostile enterprises have not yet been attempted against this section of the railways they must always be expected. Railway travelling in South Africa is more expensive but just as comfortable as in India. Lying-down accommodation is provided for all, and meals can be obtained at convenient stopping places. The train, which is built on the corridor system, runs smoothly over the rails--so smoothly, indeed, that I found no difficulty in writing. The sun is warm, and the air keen and delicious. But the scenery would depress the most buoyant spirits. We climbed up the mountains during the night, and with the daylight the train was in the middle of the Great Karroo. Wherefore was this miserable land of stone and scrub created? Huge mounds of crumbling rock, fashioned by the rains into the most curious and unexpected shapes, rise from the gloomy desert of the plain. Yet, though the Karroo looks a hopeless wilderness, flocks of sheep at distant intervals--one sheep requires six hundred acres of this scrappy pasture for nourishment--manage to subsist; and in consequence, now and again the traveller sees some far-off farm. We look about eagerly for signs of war. Little is as yet to be seen, and the Karroo remains unsympathetic. But all along the southern frontier of the Free State the expectation of early collision grows. The first sign after leaving Cape Town is the Proclamation against treason published by Sir Alfred Milner. The notice-boards of the railway stations are freely placarded with the full text in English and Dutch, beginning with 'Whereas a state of war exists between the Government of her Majesty and the Governments of the South African Republic and of the Orange Free State ...' continuing to enjoin good and loyal behaviour on all, detailing the pains and penalties for disobedience, and ending with 'God save the Queen.' Both races have recorded their opinions on their respective versions: the British by underlining the penalties, the Dutch by crossing out the first word of 'God Save the Queen.' It is signed 'A. Milner,' and below, in bitter irony, 'W.P. Schreiner.' Beyond Matjesfontein every bridge, and even every culvert, is watched by a Kaffir with a flag, so that the train runs no risk of coming on unexpected demolitions. On the road to De Aar we passed the second half of the Brigade Division of Artillery, which sailed so long ago from the Mersey in the notorious transports 'Zibengla' and 'Zayathla.' The gunners were hurrying to the front in three long trains, each taking half a battery complete with guns, horses, and men. All were light-hearted and confident, as soldiers going off to the wars always are, and in this case their, satisfaction at being on land after five weeks of uncomfortable voyage in antiquated ships was easily to be understood. But this is no time for reproaches. At Beaufort West grave news awaited the mail, and we learned of the capitulation of twelve hundred soldiers near Ladysmith. It is generally believed that this will precipitate a rising of the Dutch throughout this part of the colony and an invasion by the commandos now gathered along the Orange River. The Dutch farmers talk loudly and confidently of 'our victories,' meaning those of the Boers, and the racial feeling runs high. But the British colonists have an implicit faith--marvellous when the past is remembered--in the resolve of the Imperial Government and of the nation never to abandon them again. At De Aar the stage of our journey which may be said to have been uncertain began. Armoured trains patrol the line; small parties of armed police guard the bridges; infantry and artillery detachments occupy the towns. De Aar, Colesberg, and Stormberg are garrisoned as strongly as the present limited means allow, and all the forces, regulars and volunteers alike, are full of enthusiasm. But, on the other hand, the reports of Boer movements seem to indicate that a hostile advance is imminent. The Colesberg bridge across the Orange River has been seized by the enemy, the line between Bethulie and Colesberg has just been cut, and each train from De Aar to Stormberg is expected to be the last to pass unassailed. We, however, slept peacefully through the night, and, passing Colesberg safely, arrived at Stormberg, beyond which all is again secure. Stormberg Junction stands at the southern end of a wide expanse of rolling grass country, and though the numerous rocky hills, or kopjes as they are called, which rise inconveniently on all sides, make its defence by a small force difficult, a large force occupying an extended position would be secure. Here we found the confirmation of many rumours. The news of a Boer advance on Burghersdorp, twenty-five miles away, is, it seems, well founded, and when our train arrived the evacuation of Stormberg by its garrison, of a half-battalion of the Berkshire Regiment, 350 men of the Naval Brigade, a company of mounted infantry, and a few guns, was busily proceeding. The sailors were already in their train, and only prevented from starting by the want of an engine. The infantry and artillery were to start in a few hours. It is rather an unsatisfactory business, though the arrival of more powerful forces will soon restore the situation. Stormberg is itself an important railway junction. For more than a week the troops have been working night and day to put it in a state of defence. Little redoubts have been built on the kopjes, entrenchments have been dug, and the few houses near the station are already strongly fortified. I was shown one of these by the young officer in charge. The approaches were, cleared of everything except wire fences and entanglements; the massive walls were loopholed, the windows barricaded with sandbags, and the rooms inside broken one into the other for convenience in moving about. Its garrison of twenty-five men and its youthful commander surveyed the work with pride. They had laid in stores of all kinds for ten days, and none doubted that Fort Chabrol, as they called it, would stand a gallant siege. Then suddenly had come the message to evacuate and retreat. So it was with the others. The train with the naval detachment and its guns steamed off, and we gave it a feeble cheer. Another train awaited the Berkshires. The mounted infantry were already on the march. 'Mayn't we even blow up this lot?' said a soldier, pointing to the house he had helped to fortify. But there was no such order, only this one which seemed to pervade the air: 'The enemy are coming. Retreat--retreat--retreat!' The stationmaster--one of the best types of Englishmen to be found on a long journey--was calm and cheerful. 'No more traffic north of this,' he said. 'Yours was the last train through from De Aar. I shall send away all my men by the special to-night. And that's the end as far as Stormberg goes.' 'And you?' 'Oh, I shall stay. I have lived here for twelve years, and am well known. Perhaps I may be able to protect the company's property.' While we waited the armoured train returned from patrolling--an engine between two carriages cloaked from end to end with thick plates and slabs of blue-grey iron. It had seen nothing of the advancing Boers, but, like us and like the troops, it had to retire southwards. There were fifty Uitlanders from Johannesburg on the platform. They had been employed entrenching; now they were bundled back again towards East London. So we left Stormberg in much anger and some humiliation, and jolted away towards the open sea, where British supremacy is not yet contested by the Boer. At Molteno we picked up a hundred volunteers--fine-looking fellows all eager to encounter the enemy, but much surprised at the turn events had taken. They, too, were ordered to fall back. The Boers were advancing, and to despondent minds even the rattle of the train seemed to urge 'Retreat, retreat, retreat.' I do not desire to invest this wise and prudent though discouraging move with more than its proper importance. Anything is better than to leave small garrisons to be overwhelmed. Until the Army Corps comes, the situation will continue to be unsatisfactory, and the ground to be recovered afterwards will increase in extent. But with the arrival of powerful and well-equipped forces the tide of war will surely turn. CHAPTER IV IN NATAL Estcourt: November 6, 1899. The reader may remember that we started post haste from Cape Town, and, having the good fortune to pass along the southern frontier from De Aar to Stormberg by the last train before the interruption of traffic, had every hope of reaching Ladysmith while its investment was incomplete. I had looked forward to writing an account of our voyage from East London to Durban while on board the vessel; but the weather was so tempestuous, and the little steamer of scarcely 100 tons burthen so buffeted by the waves, that I lay prostrate in all the anguish of sea-sickness, and had no thought for anything else. Moreover, we were delayed some twenty hours by contrary winds; nor was it until we had passed St. John's that the gale, as if repenting, veered suddenly to the south-west and added as much to our speed as it had formerly delayed us. With the change of the wind the violence of the waves to some degree abated, and, though unable to then record them on paper, I had an opportunity of gaining some impressions of the general aspect of the coasts of Pondoland and Natal. These beautiful countries stretch down to the ocean in smooth slopes of the richest verdure, broken only at intervals by lofty bluffs crowned with forests. The many rivulets to which the pasture owes its life and the land its richness glide to the shore through deep-set creeks and chines, or plunge over the cliffs in cascades which the strong winds scatter into clouds of spray. These are regions of possibility, and as we drove along before our now friendly wind I could not but speculate on the future. Here are wide tracts of fertile soil watered by abundant rains. The temperate sun warms the life within the soil. The cooling breeze refreshes the inhabitant. The delicious climate stimulates the vigour of the European. The highway of the sea awaits the produce of his labour. All Nature smiles, and here at last is a land where white men may rule and prosper. As yet only the indolent Kaffir enjoys its bounty, and, according to the antiquated philosophy of Liberalism, it is to such that it should for ever belong. But while Englishmen choke and fester in crowded cities, while thousands of babies are born every month who are never to have a fair chance in life, there will be those who will dream another dream of a brave system of State-aided--almost State-compelled--emigration, a scheme of old age pensions that shall anticipate old age, and by preventing paupers terminate itself; a system that shall remove the excess of the old land to provide the deficiency of the new, and shall offer even to the most unfortunate citizen of the Empire fresh air and open opportunity. And as I pondered on all these things, the face of the country seemed changed. Thriving ports and townships rose up along the shore, and, upon the hillsides, inland towers, spires, and tall chimneys attested the wealth and industry of men. Here in front of us was New Brighton; the long shelving ledge of rock was a seawall already made, rows of stately buildings covered the grassy slopes; the shipping of many nations lay in the roadstead; above the whole scene waved The Flag, and in the foreground on the sandy beach the great-grandchildren of the crossing-sweeper and the sandwich-man sported by the waves that beat by the Southern Pole, or sang aloud for joy in the beauty of their home and the pride of their race. And then with a lurch--for the motion was still considerable--I came back from the land of dreams to reality and the hideous fact that Natal is invaded and assailed by the Boer. The little steamer reached Durban safely at midnight on November 4, and we passed an impatient six hours in a sleeping town waiting for daylight and news. Both came in their turn. The sun rose, and we learned that Ladysmith was cut off. Still, 'As far as you can as quickly as you can' must be the motto of the war correspondent, and seven o'clock found us speeding inland in the extra coach of a special train carrying the mails. The hours I passed in Durban were not without occupation. The hospital ship 'Sumatra' lay close to our moorings, and as soon as it was light I visited her to look for friends, and found, alas! several in a sorry plight. All seemed to be as well as the tenderest care and the most lavish expenditure of money could make them. All told much the same tale--the pluck and spirit of the troops, the stubborn unpretentious valour of the Boer, the searching musketry. Everyone predicted a prolonged struggle. 'All these colonials tell you,' said an officer severely wounded at Elandslaagte, 'that the Boers only want one good thrashing to satisfy them. Don't you believe it. They mean going through with this to the end. What about our Government?' And the answer that all were united at home, and that Boer constancy would be met with equal perseverance and greater resources, lighted the pain-drawn features with a hopeful smile. 'Well, I never felt quite safe with those politicians. I can't get about for two months' (he was shot through the thigh), 'but I hope to be in at the death. It's our blood against theirs.' Pietermaritzburg is sixty miles from Durban, but as the railway zigzags up and down hill and contorts itself into curves that would horrify the domestic engineer, the journey occupies four hours. The town looks more like Ootacamund than any place I have seen. To those who do not know the delightful hill station of Southern India let me explain that Pietermaritzburg stands in a basin of smooth rolling downs, broken frequently by forests of fir and blue gum trees. It is a sleepy, dead-alive place. Even the fact that Colonel Knowle, the military engineer, was busily putting it into a state of defence, digging up its hills, piercing its walls, and encircling it with wire obstructions did not break its apathy. The 'Times of Natal' struggled to rouse excitement, and placarded its office with the latest telegrams from the front, some of which had reached Pietermaritzburg _via_ London. But the composure of the civil population is a useful factor in war, and I wish it were within the power of my poor pen to bring home to the people of England how excellently the colonists of Natal have deserved of the State. There are several points to be remembered in this connection. First, the colonists have had many dealings with the Boers. They knew their strength, they feared their animosity. But they have never for one moment lost sight of their obligations as a British colony. Their loyalty has been splendid. From the very beginning they warned the Imperial Government that their territories would be invaded. Throughout the course of the long negotiations they knew that if war should come, on them would fall the first fury of the storm. Nevertheless, they courageously supported and acclaimed the action of the Ministry. Now at last there is war. It means a good deal to all of us, but more than to any it comes home to the Natalian. He is invaded; his cattle have been seized by the Boer; his towns are shelled or captured; the most powerful force on which he relies for protection is isolated in Ladysmith; his capital is being loopholed and entrenched; Newcastle has been abandoned, Colenso has fallen, Estcourt is threatened; the possibility that the whole province will be overrun stares him in the face. From the beginning he asked for protection. From the beginning he was promised complete protection; but scarcely a word of complaint is heard. The townsfolk are calm and orderly, the Press dignified and sober. The men capable of bearing arms have responded nobly. Boys of sixteen march with men of fifty to war--to no light easy war. All the volunteers are in the field bearing their full share of the fighting like men. Nor are the Outlanders backward in their own quarrel. The Imperial Light Infantry is eagerly filled. The Imperial Light Horse can find no more vacancies, not even for those who will serve without pay. I talked with a wounded Gordon Highlander--one of those who dashed across the famous causeway of Dargai and breasted the still more glorious slope of Elandslaagte. 'We had the Imperial Horse with us,' he said. 'They're the best I've ever seen.' The casualty lists tell the same tale. To storm the hill the regiment dismounted less than two hundred men. They reached the top unchecked, their Colonel, their Adjutant, Lieutenant Barnes, seven other officers, and upwards of sixty men killed or wounded--nearly 30 per cent. Many of this corps came from Johannesburg. After this who will dare call Outlanders cowards? Not that it will ever matter again. Viewed in quieter days, the patient, trustful attitude of this colony of Natal will impress the historian. The devotion of its people to their Sovereign and to their motherland should endear them to all good Englishmen, and win them general respect and sympathy; and full indemnity to all individual colonists who have suffered loss must stand as an Imperial debt of honour. CHAPTER V A CRUISE IN THE ARMOURED TRAIN Estcourt: November 9, 1899. How many more letters shall I write you from an unsatisfactory address? Sir George White's Headquarters are scarcely forty miles away, but between them and Estcourt stretches the hostile army. Whether it may be possible or wise to try to pass the lines of investment is a question which I cannot yet decide; and meanwhile I wait here at the nearest post collecting such information as dribbles through native channels, and hoping that early events may clear the road. To wait is often weary work--but even at this exciting time I come to a standstill at length with a distinct feeling of relief. The last month has been passed in continual travel. The fading, confused faces at Waterloo as the train swept along the platform; the cheering crowds at Southampton; the rolling decks of the 'Dunottar Castle;' the suspense, the excitement of first news; a brief day's scurry at Cape Town; the journey to East London by the last train to pass along the frontier; the tumultuous voyage in the 'Umzimvubu' amid so great a gale that but for the Royal Mail the skipper would have put back to port; on without a check to Pietermaritzburg, and thence, since the need seemed urgent and the traffic slow, by special train here--all moving, restless pictures--and here at last--a pause. Let us review the situation. On Wednesday last, on November 1, the Boer lines of investment drew round Ladysmith. On Thursday the last train passed down the railway under the fire of artillery. That night the line was cut about four miles north of Colenso. Telegraphic communication also ceased. On Friday Colenso was itself attacked. A heavy gun came into action from the hills which dominate the town, and the slender garrison of infantry volunteers and naval brigade evacuated in a hurry, and, covered to some extent by the armoured train, fell back on Estcourt. Estcourt is a South African town--that is to say, it is a collection of about three hundred detached stone or corrugated iron houses, nearly all one-storied, arranged along two broad streets--for space is plentiful--or straggling away towards the country. The little place lies in a cup of the hills, which rise in green undulations on all sides. For this reason it will be a very difficult place to defend if the invaders should come upon it. It is, besides, of mean and insignificant aspect; but, like all these towns in Natal, it is the centre of a large agricultural district, at once the market and the storehouse of dozens of prosperous farms scattered about the country, and consequently it possesses more importance than the passing stranger would imagine. Indeed, it was a surprise to find on entering the shops how great a variety and quantity of goods these unpretentious shanties contained. Estcourt now calls itself 'The Front.' There is another front forty miles away, but that is ringed about by the enemy, and since we live in expectation of attack, with no one but the Boers beyond the outpost line, Estcourt considers that its claim is just, Colonel Wolfe Murray, the officer who commands the lines of communication of the Natal Field Force, hastened up as soon as the news of the attack on Colenso was received to make preparation to check the enemy's advance. The force at his disposal is not, however, large--two British battalions--the Dublin Fusiliers, who fought at Glencoe, and were hurried out of Ladysmith to strengthen the communications when it became evident that a blockade impended, and the Border Regiment from Malta, a squadron of the Imperial Light Horse, 300 Natal volunteers with 25 cyclists, and a volunteer battery of nine-pounder guns--perhaps 2,000 men in all. With so few it would be quite impossible to hold the long line of hills necessary for the protection of the town, but a position has been selected and fortified, where the troops can maintain themselves--at any rate for several days. But the confidence of the military authorities in the strength of Estcourt may be gauged by the frantic efforts they are making to strengthen Pietermaritzburg, seventy-six miles, and even Durban, one hundred and thirty miles further back, by earthworks and naval guns. 'The Boers invade Natal!' exclaims Mr. Labouchere in the number of 'Truth' current out here. 'As likely that the Chinese army should invade London.' But he is not the only false prophet. It seems, however, certain that a considerable force will be moved here soon to restore the situation and to relieve Ladysmith. Meanwhile we wait, not without anxiety or impatience. The Imperial Horse, a few mounted infantry, the volunteer cyclists, and the armoured train, patrol daily towards Colenso and the north, always expecting to see the approaching Boer commandos. Yesterday I travelled with the armoured train. This armoured train is a very puny specimen, having neither gun nor Maxims, with no roof to its trucks and no shutters to its loopholes, and being in every way inferior to the powerful machines I saw working along the southern frontier. Nevertheless it is a useful means of reconnaissance, nor is a journey in it devoid of interest. An armoured train! The very name sounds strange; a locomotive disguised as a knight-errant; the agent of civilisation in the habiliments of chivalry. Mr. Morley attired as Sir Lancelot would seem scarcely more incongruous. The possibilities of attack added to the keenness of the experience. We started at one o'clock. A company of the Dublin Fusiliers formed the garrison. Half were in the car in front of the engine, half in that behind. Three empty trucks, with a platelaying gang and spare rails to mend the line, followed. The country between Estcourt and Colenso is open, undulating, and grassy. The stations, which occur every four or five miles, are hamlets consisting of half a dozen corrugated iron houses, and perhaps a score of blue gum trees. These little specks of habitation are almost the only marked feature of the landscape, which on all sides spreads in pleasant but monotonous slopes of green. The train maintained a good speed; and, though it stopped repeatedly to question Kaffirs or country folk, and to communicate with the cyclists and other patrols who were scouring the country on the flanks, reached Chieveley, five miles from Colenso, by about three o'clock; and from here the Ladysmith balloon, a brown speck floating above and beyond the distant hills, was plainly visible. Beyond Chieveley it was necessary to observe more caution. The speed was reduced--the engine walked warily. The railway officials scanned the track, and often before a culvert or bridge was traversed we disembarked and examined it from the ground. At other times long halts were made while the officers swept the horizon and the distant hills with field glasses and telescopes. But the country was clear and the line undamaged, and we continued our slow advance. Presently Colenso came into view--a hundred tin-pot houses under the high hills to the northward. We inspected it deliberately. On a mound beyond the village rose the outline of the sandbag fort constructed by the Naval Brigade. The flagstaff, without the flag, still stood up boldly. But, so far as we could tell, the whole place was deserted. There followed a discussion. Perhaps the Boers were lying in wait for the armoured train; perhaps they had trained a gun on some telegraph post, and would fire the moment the engine passed it; or perhaps, again, they were even now breaking the line behind us. Some Kaffirs approached respectfully, saluting. A Natal Volunteer--one of the cyclists--came forward to interrogate. He was an intelligent little man, with a Martini-Metford rifle, a large pair of field glasses, a dainty pair of grey skin cycling shoes, and a slouch hat. He questioned the natives, and reported their answers. The Kaffirs said that the Dutchmen were assuredly in the neighbourhood. They had been seen only that morning. 'How many?' The reply was vague--twelve, or seventeen, or one thousand; also they had a gun--or five guns--mounted in the old fort, or on the platform of the station, or on the hill behind the town. At daylight they had shelled Colenso. 'But why,' we asked, 'should they shell Colenso?' Evidently to make sure of the range of some telegraph post. 'It only takes one shell to do the trick with the engine,' said the captain who commanded. 'Got to hit us first, though,' he added. 'Well, let's get a little bit nearer.' The electric bell rang three times, and we crept forward--halted--looked around, forward again--halt again--another look round; and so, yard by yard, we approached Colenso. Half a mile away we stopped finally. The officer, taking a sergeant with him, went on towards the village on foot. I followed. We soon reached the trenches that had been made by the British troops before they evacuated the place. 'Awful rot giving this place up,' said the officer. 'These lines took us a week to dig.' From here Colenso lay exposed about two hundred yards away--a silent, desolate village. The streets were littered with the belongings of the inhabitants. Two or three houses had been burned. A dead horse lay in the road, his four legs sticking stiffly up in the air, his belly swollen. The whole place had evidently been ransacked and plundered by the Boers and the Kaffirs. A few natives loitered near the far end of the street, and one, alarmed at the aspect of the train, waved a white rag on a stick steadily to and fro. But no Dutchmen were to be seen. We made our way back to the railway line and struck it at the spot where it was cut. Two lengths of rails had been lifted up, and, with the sleepers attached to them, flung over the embankment. The broken telegraph wires trailed untidily on the ground. Several of the posts were twisted. But the bridge across the Tugela was uninjured, and the damage to the lines was such as could be easily repaired. The Boers realise the advantage of the railway. At this moment, with their trains all labelled 'To Durban,' they are drawing supplies along it from Pretoria to within six miles of Ladysmith. They had resolved to use it in their further advance, and their confidence in the ultimate issue is shown by the care with which they avoid seriously damaging the permanent way. We had learned all that there was to learn--where the line was broken, that the village was deserted, that the bridge was safe, and we made haste to rejoin the train. Then the engine was reversed, and we withdrew out of range of the hills beyond Colenso at full speed--and some said that the Boers did not fire because they hoped to draw us nearer, and others that there were no Boers within ten miles. On the way back I talked with the volunteer. He was friendly and communicative. 'Durban Light Infantry,' he said; 'that's my corps. I'm a builder myself by trade--nine men under me. But I had to send them all away when I was called out. I don't know how I'm going on when I get back after it's over. Oh, I'm glad to come. I wish I was in Ladysmith. You see these Dutchmen have come quite far enough into our country. The Imperial Government promised us protection. You've seen what protection Colenso got; Dundee and Newcastle, just the same; I don't doubt they've tried their best, and I don't blame them; but we want help here badly. I don't hold with a man crying out for help unless he makes a start himself, so I came out. I'm a cyclist. I've got eight medals at home for cycling.' 'How will you like a new one--with the Queen's head on it?' His eye brightened. 'Ah,' he said, 'I should treasure that more than all the other eight--even more than the twenty-mile championship one.' So we rattled back to Estcourt through the twilight; and the long car, crowded with brown-clad soldiers who sprawled smoking on the floor or lounged against the sides, the rows of loopholes along the iron walls, the black smoke of the engine bulging overhead, the sense of headlong motion, and the atmosphere of war made the volunteer seem perhaps more than he was; and I thought him a true and valiant man, who had come forward in time of trouble quietly and soberly to bear his part in warfare, and who was ready, if necessary, to surrender his humble life in honourably sustaining the quarrel of the State. Nor do I care to correct the impression now. CHAPTER VI DISTANT GUNS Estcourt: November 10, 1899. When I awoke yesterday morning there was a strange tremor in the air. A gang of platelayers and navvies were making a new siding by the station, and sounds of hammering also came from the engine shed. But this tremor made itself felt above these and all the other noises of a waking camp, a silent thudding, a vibration which scarcely seemed to constitute what is called sound, yet which left an intense impression on the ear. I went outside the tent to listen. Morning had just broken, and the air was still and clear. What little wind there was came from the northwards, from the direction of Ladysmith, and I knew that it carried to Estcourt the sound of distant cannon. When once the sounds had been localised it was possible to examine them more carefully. There were two kinds of reports: one almost a boom, the explosion evidently of some very heavy piece of ordnance; the other only a penetrating whisper, that of ordinary field guns. A heavy cannonade was proceeding. The smaller pieces fired at brief intervals, sometimes three or four shots followed in quick succession. Every few minutes the heavier gun or guns intervened. What was happening? We could only try to guess, nor do we yet know whether our guesses were right. It seems to me, however, that Sir George White must have made an attack at dawn on some persecuting Boer battery, and so brought on a general action. Later in the day we rode out to find some nearer listening point. The whole force was making a reconnaissance towards Colenso, partly for reasons of security, partly to exercise the horses and men. Galloping over the beautiful grassy hills to the north of the town, I soon reached a spot whence the column could be seen. First of all came a cyclist--a Natal volunteer pedalling leisurely along with his rifle slung across his back--then two more, then about twenty. Next, after an interval of a quarter of a mile, rode the cavalry--the squadron of the Imperial Light Horse, sixty Natal Carabineers, a company of mounted infantry, and about forty of the Natal mounted police. That is the total cavalry force in Natal, all the rest is bottled up in Ladysmith, and scarcely three hundred horsemen are available for the defence of the colony against a hostile army entirely composed of mounted men. Small were their numbers, but the quality was good. The Imperial Light Horse have shown their courage, and have only to display their discipline to equal advantage to be considered first-class soldiers. The Natal Carabineers are excellent volunteer cavalry: the police an alert and reliable troop. After the horse the foot: the Dublin Fusiliers wound up the hill like a long brown snake. This is a fine regiment, which distinguished itself at Glencoe, and have since impressed all who have been brought in contact with it. The cheery faces of the Irishmen wore a proud and confident expression. They had seen war. The other battalion--the Border Regiment--had yet their spurs to win. The volunteer battery was sandwiched between the two British battalions, and the rear of the column was brought up by the Durban volunteers. The force, when it had thus passed in review, looked painfully small, and this impression was aggravated by the knowledge of all that depended on it. A high, flat-topped hill to the north-west promised a wide field of vision and a nearer listening point for the Ladysmith cannonade, which still throbbed and thudded dully. With my two companions I rode towards it, and after an hour's climb reached the summit. The land lay spread before us like a map. Estcourt, indeed, was hidden by its engulfing hills, but Colenso was plainly visible, and the tin roofs of the houses showed in squares and oblongs of pale blue against the brown background of the mountain. Far away to the east the dark serrated range of the Drakensberg rose in a mighty wall. But it was not on these features that we turned our glasses. To the right of Colenso the hills were lower and more broken, and the country behind, though misty and indistinct, was exposed to view. First there was a region of low rocky hills rising in strange confusion and falling away on the further side to a hollow. Above this extensive depression clouds of smoke from grass and other fires hung and drifted, like steam over a cauldron. At the bottom--invisible in spite of our great elevation--stood the town and camp of Ladysmith. Westward rose the long, black, hog-backed outline of Bulwana Hill, and while we watched intently the ghost of a flash stabbed its side and a white patch sprang into existence, spread thinner, and vanished away. 'Long Tom' was at his business. The owner of the nearest farm joined us while we were thus engaged--a tall, red-bearded man of grave and intelligent mien. 'They've had heavy fighting this morning,' he said. 'Not since Monday week' (the Black Monday of the war) 'has there been such firing. But they are nearly finished now for the day.' Absorbed by the distant drama, all the more thrilling since its meaning was doubtful and mysterious, we had shown ourselves against the sky-line, and our conversation was now suddenly interrupted. Over the crest of the hill to the rear, two horsemen trotted swiftly into view. A hundred yards away to the left three or four more were dismounting among the rocks. Three other figures appeared on the other side. We were surrounded--but by the Natal Carabineers. 'Got you, I think,' said the sergeant, who now arrived. 'Will you kindly tell us all about who you are?' We introduced ourselves as President Kruger and General Joubert, and presented the farmer as Mr. Schreiner, who had come to a secret conference, and having produced our passes, satisfied the patrol that we were not eligible for capture. The sergeant looked disappointed. 'It took us half an hour to stalk you, but if you had only been Dutchmen we'd have had you fixed up properly.' Indeed, the whole manoeuvre had been neatly and cleverly executed, and showed the smartness and efficiency of these irregular forces in all matters of scouting and reconnaissance. The patrol was then appeased by being photographed 'for the London papers,' and we hastened to accept the farmer's invitation to lunch. 'Only plain fare,' said he, 'but perhaps you are used to roughing it.' The farm stood in a sheltered angle of the hill at no great distance from its summit. It was a good-sized house, with stone walls and a corrugated iron roof. A few sheds and outhouses surrounded it, four or five blue gums afforded a little shade from the sun and a little relief to the grassy smoothness of the landscape. Two women met us at the door, one the wife, the other, I think, the sister of our host. Neither was young, but their smiling faces showed the invigorating effects of this delicious air. 'These are anxious times,' said the older; 'we hear the cannonading every morning at breakfast. What will come of it all?' Over a most excellent luncheon we discussed many things with these kind people, and spoke of how the nation was this time resolved to make an end of the long quarrel with the Boers, so that there should be no more uncertainty and alarm among loyal subjects of the Queen. 'We have always known,' said the farmer, 'that it must end in war, and I cannot say I am sorry it has come at last. But it falls heavily on us. I am the only man for twenty miles who has not left his farm. Of course we are defenceless here. Any day the Dutchmen may come. They wouldn't kill us, but they would burn or plunder everything, and it's all I've got in the world. Fifteen years have I worked at this place, and I said to myself we may as well stay and face it out, whatever happens.' Indeed, it was an anxious time for such a man. He had bought the ground, built the house, reclaimed waste tracts, enriched the land with corn and cattle, sunk all his capital in the enterprise, and backed it with the best energies of his life. Now everything might be wrecked in an hour by a wandering Boer patrol. And this was happening to a loyal and law-abiding British subject more than a hundred miles within the frontiers of her Majesty's dominions! Now I felt the bitter need for soldiers--thousands of soldiers--so that such a man as this might be assured. With what pride and joy could one have said: 'Work on, the fruits of your industry are safe. Under the strong arm of the Imperial Government your home shall be secure, and if perchance you suffer in the disputes of the Empire the public wealth shall restore your private losses.' But when I recalled the scanty force which alone kept the field, and stood between the enemy and the rest of Natal, I knew the first would be an empty boast, and, remembering what had happened on other occasions, I thought the second might prove a barren promise. We started on our long ride home, for the afternoon was wearing away and picket lines are dangerous at dusk. The military situation is without doubt at this moment most grave and critical. We have been at war three weeks. The army that was to have defended Natal, and was indeed expected to repulse the invaders with terrible loss, is blockaded and bombarded in its fortified camp. At nearly every point along the circle of the frontiers the Boers have advanced and the British retreated. Wherever we have stood we have been surrounded. The losses in the fighting have not been unequal--nor, considering the numbers engaged and the weapons employed, have they been very severe. But the Boers hold more than 1,200 unwounded British prisoners, a number that bears a disgraceful proportion to the casualty lists, and a very unsatisfactory relation to the number of Dutchmen that we have taken. All this is mainly the result of being unready. That we are unready is largely due to those in England who have endeavoured by every means in their power to hamper and obstruct the Government, who have scoffed at the possibility of the Boers becoming the aggressors, and who have represented every precaution for the defence of the colonies as a deliberate provocation to the Transvaal State. It is also due to an extraordinary under-estimation of the strength of the Boers. These military republics have been for ten years cherishing vast ambitions, and for five years, enriched by the gold mines, they have been arming and preparing for the struggle. They have neglected nothing, and it is a very remarkable fact that these ignorant peasant communities have had the wisdom and the enterprise to possess themselves of good advisers, and to utilise the best expert opinion in all matters of armament and war. Their artillery is inferior in numbers, but in nothing else, to ours. Yesterday I visited Colenso in the armoured train. In one of the deserted British-built redoubts I found two boxes of shrapnel shells and charges. The Boers had not troubled to touch them. Their guns were of a later pattern, and fired powder and shell made up together like a great rifle cartridge. The combination, made for the first time in the history of war, of heavy artillery and swarms of mounted infantry is formidable and effective. The enduring courage and confident spirit of the enemy must also excite surprise. In short, we have grossly underrated their fighting powers. Most people in England--I, among them--thought that the Boer ultimatum was an act of despair, that the Dutch would make one fight for their honour, and, once defeated, would accept the inevitable. All I have heard and whatever I have seen out here contradict these false ideas. Anger, hatred, and the consciousness of military power impelled, the Boers to war. They would rather have fought at their own time--a year or two later--when their preparations were still further advanced, and when the British were, perhaps, involved in other quarters. But, after all, the moment was ripe. Nearly everything was ready, and the whole people sprang to arms with alacrity, firmly believing that they would drive the British into the sea. To that opinion they still adhere. I do not myself share it; but it cannot be denied that it seems less absurd to-day than it did before a shot had been fired. To return to Estcourt. Here we are passing through a most dangerous period. The garrison is utterly insufficient to resist the Boers; the position wholly indefensible. Indeed, we exist here on sufferance. If the enemy attack, the troops must fall back on Pietermaritzburg, if for no other reason because they are the only force available for the defence of the strong lines now being formed around the chief town. There are so few cavalry outside Ladysmith that the Boers could raid in all directions. All this will have been changed long before this letter reaches you, or I should not send it, but as I write the situation is saved only by what seems to me the over-confidence of the enemy. They are concentrating all their efforts on Ladysmith, and evidently hope to compel its surrender. It may, however, be said with absolute certainty that the place can hold out for a month at the least. How, then, could the Boers obtain the necessary time to reduce it? The reinforcements are on the seas. The railway works regularly with the coast. Even now sidings are being constructed and troop trains prepared. It is with all this that they should interfere, and they are perfectly competent to do so. They could compel us to retreat on Pietermaritzburg, they could tear up the railway, they could blow up the bridges; and by all these means they could delay the arrival of a relieving army, and so have a longer time to worry Ladysmith, and a better chance of making it a second Saratoga. Since Saturday last that has been our fear. Nearly a week has passed and nothing has happened. The chance of the Boers is fleeting; the transports approach the land; scarcely forty-eight hours remain. Yet, as I write, they have done nothing. Why? To some extent I think they have been influenced by the fear of the Tugela River rising behind their raiding parties, and cutting their line of retreat; to some extent by the serene and confident way in which General Wolfe Murray, placed in a most trying position, has handled his force and maintained by frequent reconnaissance and a determined attitude the appearance of actual strength; but when all has been said on these grounds, the fact will remain that the enemy have not destroyed the railway because they do not fear the reinforcements that are coming, because they do not believe that many will come, and because they are sure that, however many may come, they will defeat them. To this end they preserve the line, and watch the bridges as carefully as we do. It is by the railway that they are to be supplied in their march through Natal to the sea. After what they have accomplished it would be foolish to laugh at any of their ambitions, however wicked and extravagant these may be; but it appears to most military critics at this moment that they have committed a serious strategic error, and have thrown away the chance they had almost won. How much that error will cost them will depend on the operations of the relieving force, which I shall hope to chronicle as fully as possible in future letters. CHAPTER VII THE FATE OF THE ARMOURED TRAIN Pretoria: November 20, 1899. Now I perceive that I was foolish to choose in advance a definite title for these letters and to think that it could continue to be appropriate for any length of time. In the strong stream of war the swimmer is swirled helplessly about hither and thither by the waves, and he can by no means tell where he will come to land, or, indeed, that he may not be overwhelmed in the flood. A week ago I described to you a reconnoitring expedition in the Estcourt armoured train, and I pointed out the many defects in the construction and the great dangers in the employment of that forlorn military machine. So patent were these to all who concerned themselves in the matter that the train was nicknamed in the camp 'Wilson's death trap.' On Tuesday, the 14th, the mounted infantry patrols reported that the Boers in small parties were approaching Estcourt from the directions of Weenen and Colenso, and Colonel Long made a reconnaissance in force to ascertain what strength lay behind the advanced scouts. The reconnaissance, which was marked only by an exchange of shots between the patrols, revealed little, but it was generally believed that a considerable portion of the army investing Ladysmith was moving, or was about to move, southwards to attack Estcourt, and endeavour to strike Pietermaritzburg. The movement that we had awaited for ten days impended. Accordingly certain military preparations, which I need not now specify, were made to guard against all contingencies, and at daylight on Wednesday morning another spray of patrols was flung out towards the north and north-west, and the Estcourt armoured train was ordered to reconnoitre towards Chieveley. The train was composed as follows: an ordinary truck, in which was a 7-pounder muzzle-loading gun, served by four sailors from the 'Tartar;' an armoured car fitted with loopholes and held by three sections of a company of the Dublin Fusiliers; the engine and tender, two more armoured cars containing the fourth section of the Fusilier company, one company of the Durban Light Infantry (volunteers), and a small civilian breakdown gang; lastly, another ordinary truck with the tools and materials for repairing the road; in all five wagons, the locomotive, one small gun, and 120 men. Captain Haldane, D.S.O., whom I had formerly known on Sir William Lockhart's staff in the Tirah Expedition, and who was lately recovered from his wound at Elandslaagte, commanded. We started at half-past five and, observing all the usual precautions, reached Frere Station in about an hour. Here a small patrol of the Natal police reported that there were no enemy within the next few miles, and that all seemed quiet in the neighbourhood. It was the silence before the storm. Captain Haldane decided to push on cautiously as far as Chieveley, near which place an extensive view of the country could be obtained. Not a sign of the Boers could be seen. The rolling grassy country looked as peaceful and deserted as on former occasions, and we little thought that behind the green undulations scarcely three miles away the leading commandos of a powerful force were riding swiftly forward on their invading path. All was clear as far as Chieveley, but as the train reached the station I saw about a hundred Boer horsemen cantering southwards about a mile from the railway. Beyond Chieveley a long hill was lined with a row of black spots, showing that our further advance would be disputed. The telegraphist who accompanied the train wired back to Estcourt reporting our safe arrival, and that parties of Boers were to be seen at no great distance, and Colonel Long replied by ordering the train to return to Frere and remain there in observation during the day, watching its safe retreat at nightfall. We proceeded to obey, and were about a mile and three-quarters from Frere when on rounding a corner we saw that a hill which commanded the line at a distance of 600 yards was occupied by the enemy. So after all there would be a fight, for we could not pass this point without coming under fire. The four sailors loaded their gun--an antiquated toy--the soldiers charged their magazines, and the train, which was now in the reverse of the order in which it had started moved, slowly towards the hill. The moment approached: but no one was much concerned, for the cars were proof against rifle fire, and this ridge could at the worst be occupied only by some daring patrol of perhaps a score of men. 'Besides,' we said to ourselves, 'they little think we have a gun on board. That will be a nice surprise.' The Boers held their fire until the train reached that part of the track nearest to their position. Standing on a box in the rear armoured truck I had an excellent view-through my glasses. The long brown rattling serpent with the rifles bristling from its spotted sides crawled closer to the rocky hillock on which the scattered black figures of the enemy showed clearly. Suddenly three wheeled things appeared on the crest, and within a second a bright flash of light--like a heliograph, but much yellower--opened and shut ten or twelve times. Then two much larger flashes; no smoke nor yet any sound, and a bustle and stir among the little figures. So much for the hill. Immediately over the rear truck of the train a huge white ball of smoke sprang into being and tore out into a cone like a comet. Then came, the explosions of the near guns and the nearer shell. The iron sides of the truck tanged with a patter of bullets. There was a crash from the front of the train and half a dozen sharp reports. The Boers had opened fire on us at 600 yards with two large field guns, a Maxim firing small shells in a stream, and from riflemen lying on the ridge. I got down from my box into the cover of the armoured sides of the car without forming any clear thought. Equally involuntarily, it seems that the driver put on full steam, as the enemy had intended. The train leapt forward, ran the gauntlet of the guns, which now filled the air with explosions, swung round the curve of the hill, ran down a steep gradient, and dashed into a huge stone which awaited it on the line at a convenient spot. To those who were in the rear truck there was only a tremendous shock, a tremendous crash, and a sudden full stop. What happened to the trucks in front of the engine is more interesting. The first, which contained the materials and tools of the breakdown gang and the guard who was watching the line, was flung into the air and fell bottom upwards on the embankment. (I do not know what befell the guard, but it seems probable that he was killed.) The next, an armoured car crowded with the Durban Light Infantry, was carried on twenty yards and thrown over on its side, scattering its occupants in a shower on the ground. The third wedged itself across the track, half on and half off the rails. The rest of the train kept to the metals. We were not long left in the comparative peace and safety of a railway accident. The Boer guns, swiftly changing their position, re-opened from a distance of 1,300 yards before anyone had got out of the stage of exclamations. The tapping rifle fire spread along the hillside, until it encircled the wreckage on three sides, and a third field gun came into action from some high ground on the opposite side of the line. To all of this our own poor little gun endeavoured to reply, and the sailors, though exposed in an open truck, succeeded in letting off three rounds before the barrel was struck by a shell, and the trunnions, being smashed, fell altogether out of the carriage. The armoured truck gave some protection from the bullets, but since any direct shell must pierce it like paper and kill everyone, it seemed almost safer outside, and, wishing to see the extent and nature of the damage, I clambered over the iron shield, and, dropping to the ground, ran along the line to the front of the train. As I passed the engine another shrapnel shell burst immediately, as it seemed, overhead, hurling its contents with a rasping rush through the air. The driver at once sprang out of the cab and ran to the shelter of the overturned trucks. His face was cut open by a splinter, and he complained in bitter futile indignation. He was a civilian. What did they think he was paid for? To be killed by bombshells? Not he. He would not stay another minute. It looked as if his excitement and misery--he was dazed by the blow on his head--would prevent him from working the engine further, and as only he understood the machinery all chances of escape seemed to be cut off. Yet when I told this man that if he continued to stay at his post he would be mentioned for distinguished gallantry in action, he pulled himself together, wiped the blood off his face, climbed back into the cab of his engine, and thereafter during the one-sided combat did his duty bravely and faithfully--so strong is the desire for honour and repute in the human breast. I reached the overturned portion of the train uninjured. The volunteers who, though severely shaken, were mostly unhurt, were lying down under such cover as the damaged cars and the gutters of the railway line afforded. It was a very grievous sight to see these citizen soldiers, most of whom were the fathers of families, in such a perilous position. They bore themselves well, though greatly troubled, and their major, whose name I have not learned, directed their fire on the enemy; but since these, lying behind the crests of the surrounding hills, were almost invisible I did not expect that it would be very effective. Having seen this much, I ran along the train to the rear armoured truck and told Captain Haldane that in my opinion the line might be cleared. We then agreed that he with musketry should keep the enemy's artillery from destroying us, and that I should try to throw the wreckage off the line, so that the engine and the two cars which still remained on the rails might escape. I am convinced that this arrangement gave us the best possible chance of safety, though at the time it was made the position appeared quite hopeless. Accordingly Haldane and his Fusiliers began to fire through their loopholes at the Boer artillery, and, as the enemy afterwards admitted, actually disturbed their aim considerably. During the time that these men were firing from the truck four shells passed through the armour, but luckily not one exploded until it had passed out on the further side. Many shells also struck and burst on the outside of their shields, and these knocked all the soldiers on their backs with the concussion. Nevertheless a well-directed fire was maintained without cessation. The task of clearing the line would not, perhaps, in ordinary circumstances have been a very difficult one. But the breakdown gang and their tools were scattered to the winds, and several had fled along the track or across the fields. Moreover, the enemy's artillery fire was pitiless, continuous, and distracting. The affair had, however, to be carried through. The first thing to be done was to detach the truck half off the rails from the one completely so. To do this the engine had to be moved to slacken the strain on the twisted couplings. When these had been released, the next step was to drag the partly derailed truck backwards along the line until it was clear of the other wreckage, and then to throw it bodily off the rails. This may seem very simple, but the dead weight of the iron truck half on the sleepers was enormous, and the engine wheels skidded vainly several times before any hauling power was obtained. At last the truck was drawn sufficiently far back, and I called for volunteers to overturn it from the side while the engine pushed it from the end. It was very evident that these men would be exposed to considerable danger. Twenty were called for, and there was an immediate response. But only nine, including the major of volunteers and four or five of the Dublin Fusiliers, actually stepped out into the open. The attempt was nevertheless successful. The truck heeled further over under their pushing, and, the engine giving a shove at the right moment, it fell off the line and the track was clear. Safety and success appeared in sight together, but disappointment overtook them. The engine was about six inches wider than the tender, and the corner of its footplate would not pass the corner of the newly overturned truck. It did not seem safe to push very hard, lest the engine should itself be derailed. So time after time the engine moved back a yard or two and shoved forward at the obstruction, and each time moved it a little. But soon it was evident that complications had set in. The newly derailed truck became jammed with that originally off the line, and the more the engine pushed the greater became the block. Volunteers were again called on to assist, but though seven men, two of whom, I think, were wounded, did their best, the attempt was a failure. Perseverance, however, is a virtue. If the trucks only jammed the tighter for the forward pushing they might be loosened by pulling backwards. Now, however, a new difficulty arose. The coupling chains of the engine would not reach by five or six inches those of the overturned truck. Search was made for a spare link. By a solitary gleam of good luck one was found. The engine hauled at the wreckage, and before the chains parted pulled it about a yard backwards. Now, certainly, the line was clear at last. But again the corner of the footplate jammed with the corner of the truck, and again we came to a jarring halt. I have had, in the last four years, the advantage, if it be an advantage, of many strange and varied experiences, from which the student of realities might draw profit and instruction. But nothing was so thrilling as this: to wait and struggle among these clanging, rending iron boxes, with the repeated explosions of the shells and the artillery, the noise of the projectiles striking the cars, the hiss as they passed in the air, the grunting and puffing of the engine--poor, tortured thing, hammered by at least a dozen shells, any one of which, by penetrating the boiler, might have made an end of all--the expectation of destruction as a matter of course, the realization of powerlessness, and the alternations of hope and despair--all this for seventy minutes by the clock with only four inches of twisted iron work to make the difference between danger, captivity, and shame on the one hand--safety, freedom, and triumph on the other. Nothing remained but to continue pounding at the obstructing corner in the hopes that the iron work would gradually be twisted and torn, and thus give free passage. As we pounded so did the enemy. I adjured the driver to be patient and to push gently, for it did not seem right to imperil the slender chance of escape by running the risk of throwing the engine off the line. But after a dozen pushes had been given with apparently little result a shell struck the front of the engine, setting fire to the woodwork, and he thereupon turned on more steam, and with considerable momentum we struck the obstacle once more. There was a grinding crash; the engine staggered, checked, shore forward again, until with a clanging, tearing sound it broke past the point of interception, and nothing but the smooth line lay between us and home. Brilliant success now seemed won, for I thought that the rear and gun trucks were following the locomotive, and that all might squeeze into them, and so make an honourable escape. But the longed-for cup was dashed aside. Looking backward, I saw that the couplings had parted or had been severed by a shell, and that the trucks still lay on the wrong side of the obstruction, separated by it from the engine. No one dared to risk imprisoning the engine again by making it go back for the trucks, so an attempt was made to drag the trucks up to the engine. Owing chiefly to the fire of the enemy this failed completely, and Captain Haldane determined to be content with saving the locomotive. He accordingly permitted the driver to retire along the line slowly, so that the infantry might get as much shelter from the ironwork of the engine as possible, and the further idea was to get into some houses near the station, about 800 yards away, and there hold out while the engine went for assistance. As many wounded as possible were piled on to the engine, standing in the cab, lying on the tender, or clinging to the cowcatcher. And all this time the shells fell into the wet earth throwing up white clouds, burst with terrifying detonations overhead, or actually struck the engine and the iron wreckage. Besides the three field-guns, which proved to be 15-pounders, the shell-firing Maxim continued its work, and its little shells, discharged with an ugly thud, thud, thud, exploded with startling bangs on all sides. One I remember struck the footplate of the engine scarcely a yard from my face, lit up into a bright yellow flash, and left me wondering why I was still alive. Another hit the coals in the tender, hurling a black shower into the air. A third--this also I saw--struck the arm of a private in the Dublin Fusiliers. The whole arm was smashed to a horrid pulp--bones, muscle, blood, and uniform all mixed together. At the bottom hung the hand, unhurt, but swelled instantly to three times its ordinary size. The engine was soon crowded and began to steam homewards--a mournful, sorely battered locomotive--with the woodwork of the firebox in flames and the water spouting from its pierced tanks. The infantrymen straggled along beside it at the double. Seeing the engine escaping the Boers increased their fire, and the troops, hitherto somewhat protected by the iron trucks, began to suffer. The major of volunteers fell, shot through the thigh. Here and there men dropped on the ground, several screamed--this is very rare in war--and cried for help. About a quarter of the force was very soon killed or wounded. The shells which pursued the retreating soldiers scattered them all along the track. Order and control vanished. The engine, increasing its pace, drew out from the thin crowd of fugitives and was soon in safety. The infantry continued to run down the line in the direction of the houses, and, in spite of their disorder, I honestly consider that they were capable of making a further resistance when some shelter should be reached. But at this moment one of those miserable incidents--much too frequent in this war--occurred. A private soldier who was wounded, in direct disobedience of the positive orders that no surrender was to be made, took it on himself to wave a pocket-handkerchief. The Boers immediately ceased firing, and with equal daring and humanity a dozen horsemen galloped from the hills into the scattered fugitives, scarcely any of whom had seen the white flag, and several of whom were still firing, and called loudly on them to surrender. Most of the soldiers, uncertain what to do, then halted, gave up their arms, and became prisoners of war. Those further away from the horsemen continued to run and were shot or hunted down in twos and threes, and some made good their escape. For my part I found myself on the engine when the obstruction was at last passed and remained there jammed in the cab next to the man with the shattered arm. In this way I travelled some 500 yards, and passed through the fugitives, noticing particularly a young officer, Lieutenant Frankland, who with a happy, confident smile on his face was endeavouring to rally his men. When I approached the houses where we had resolved to make a stand, I jumped on to the line, in order to collect the men as they arrived, and hence the address from which this letter is written, for scarcely had the locomotive left me than I found myself alone in a shallow cutting and none of our soldiers, who had all surrendered on the way, to be seen. Then suddenly there appeared on the line at the end of the cutting two men not in uniform. 'Platelayers,' I said to myself, and then, with a surge of realisation, 'Boers.' My mind retains a momentary impression of these tall figures, full of animated movement, clad in dark flapping clothes, with slouch, storm-driven hats poising on their rifles hardly a hundred yards away. I turned and ran between the rails of the track, and the only thought I achieved was this, 'Boer marksmanship.' Two bullets passed, both within a foot, one on either side. I flung myself against the banks of the cutting. But they gave no cover. Another glance at the figures; one was now kneeling to aim. Again I darted forward. Movement seemed the only chance. Again two soft kisses sucked in the air, but nothing struck me. This could not endure. I must get out of the cutting--that damnable corridor. I scrambled up the bank. The earth sprang up beside me, and something touched my hand, but outside the cutting was a tiny depression. I crouched in this, struggling to get my wind. On the other side of the railway a horseman galloped up, shouting to me and waving his hand. He was scarcely forty yards off. With a rifle I could have killed him easily. I knew nothing of white flags, and the bullets had made me savage. I reached down for my Mauser pistol. 'This one at least,' I said, and indeed it was a certainty; but alas! I had left the weapon in the cab of the engine in order to be free to work at the wreckage. What then? There was a wire fence between me and the horseman. Should I continue to fly? The idea of another shot at such a short range decided me. Death stood before me, grim sullen Death without his light-hearted companion, Chance. So I held up my hand, and like Mr. Jorrocks's foxes, cried 'Capivy.' Then I was herded with the other prisoners in a miserable group, and about the same time I noticed that my hand was bleeding, and it began to pour with rain. Two days before I had written to an officer in high command at home, whose friendship I have the honour to enjoy: 'There has been a great deal too much surrendering in this war, and I hope people who do so will not be encouraged.' Fate had intervened, yet though her tone was full of irony she seemed to say, as I think Ruskin once said, 'It matters very little whether your judgments of people are true or untrue, and very much whether they are kind or unkind,' and repeating that I will make an end. CHAPTER VIII PRISONERS OF WAR Pretoria: November 24, 1899. The position of a prisoner of war is painful and humiliating. A man tries his best to kill another, and finding that he cannot succeed asks his enemy for mercy. The laws of war demand that this should be accorded, but it is impossible not to feel a sense of humbling obligation to the captor from whose hand we take our lives. All military pride, all independence of spirit must be put aside. These may be carried to the grave, but not into captivity. We must prepare ourselves to submit, to obey, to endure. Certain things--sufficient food and water and protection during good behaviour--the victor must supply or be a savage, but beyond these all else is favour. Favours must be accepted from those with whom we have a long and bitter quarrel, from those who feel fiercely that we seek to do them cruel injustice. The dog who has been whipped must be thankful for the bone that is flung to him. When the prisoners captured after the destruction of the armoured train had been disarmed and collected in a group we found that there were fifty-six unwounded or slightly wounded men, besides the more serious cases lying on the scene of the fight. The Boers crowded round, looking curiously at their prize, and we ate a little chocolate that by good fortune--for we had had no breakfast--was in our pockets, and sat down on the muddy ground to think. The rain streamed down from a dark leaden sky, and the coats of the horses steamed in the damp. 'Voorwärts,' said a voice, and, forming in a miserable procession, two wretched officers, a bare-headed, tattered Correspondent, four sailors with straw hats and 'H.M.S. Tartar' in gold letters on the ribbons--ill-timed jauntiness--some fifty soldiers and volunteers, and two or three railwaymen, we started, surrounded by the active Boer horsemen. Yet, as we climbed the low hills that surrounded the place of combat I looked back and saw the engine steaming swiftly away beyond Frere Station. Something at least was saved from the ruin; information would be carried to the troops at Estcourt, a good many of the troops and some of the wounded would escape, the locomotive was itself of value, and perhaps in saving all these things some little honour had been saved as well. 'You need not walk fast,' said a Boer in excellent English; 'take your time.' Then another, seeing me hatless in the downpour, threw me a soldier's cap--one of the Irish Fusilier caps, taken, probably, near Ladysmith. So they were not cruel men, these enemy. That was a great surprise to me, for I had read much of the literature of this land of lies, and fully expected every hardship and indignity. At length we reached the guns which had played on us for so many minutes--two strangely long barrels sitting very low on carriages of four wheels, like a break in which horses are exercised. They looked offensively modern, and I wondered why our Army had not got field artillery with fixed ammunition and 8,000 yards range. Some officers and men of the Staats Artillerie, dressed in a drab uniform with blue facings, approached us. The commander, Adjutant Roos--as he introduced himself--made a polite salute. He regretted the unfortunate circumstances of our meeting; he complimented the officers on their defence--of course, it was hopeless from the first; he trusted his fire had not annoyed us; we should, he thought, understand the necessity for them to continue; above all he wanted to know how the engine had been able to get away, and how the line could have been cleared of wreckage under his guns. In fact, he behaved as a good professional soldier should, and his manner impressed me. We waited here near the guns for half an hour, and meanwhile the Boers searched amid the wreckage for dead and wounded. A few of the wounded were brought to where we were, and laid on the ground, but most of them were placed in the shelter of one of the overturned trucks. As I write I do not know with any certainty what the total losses were, but the Boers say that they buried five dead, sent ten seriously wounded into Ladysmith, and kept three severely wounded in their field ambulances. Besides this, we are told that sixteen severely wounded escaped on the engine, and we have with the prisoners seven men, including myself, slightly wounded by splinters or injured in the derailment. If this be approximately correct, it seems that the casualties in the hour and a half of fighting were between thirty-five and forty: not many, perhaps, considering the fire, but out of 120 enough at least. After a while we were ordered to march on, and looking over the crest of the hill a strange and impressive sight met the eye. Only about 300 men had attacked the train, and I had thought that this was the enterprise of a separate detachment, but as the view extended I saw that this was only a small part of a large, powerful force marching south, under the personal direction of General Joubert, to attack Estcourt. Behind every hill, thinly veiled by the driving rain, masses of mounted men, arranged in an orderly disorder, were halted, and from the rear long columns of horsemen rode steadily forward. Certainly I did not see less than 3,000, and I did not see nearly all. Evidently an important operation was in progress, and a collision either at Estcourt or Mooi River impended. This was the long expected advance: worse late than never. Our captors conducted us to a rough tent which had been set up in a hollow in one of the hills, and which we concluded was General Joubert's headquarters. Here we were formed in a line, and soon surrounded by a bearded crowd of Boers cloaked in mackintosh. I explained that I was a Special Correspondent, and asked to see General Joubert. But in the throng it was impossible to tell who were the superiors. My credentials were taken from me by a man who said he was a Field Cornet, and who promised that they should be laid before the General forthwith. Meanwhile we waited in the rain, and the Boers questioned us. My certificate as a correspondent bore a name better known than liked in the Transvaal. Moreover, some of the private soldiers had been talking. 'You are the son of Lord Randolph Churchill?' said a Scottish Boer, abruptly. I did not deny the fact. Immediately there was much talking, and all crowded round me, looking and pointing, while I heard my name repeated on every side. 'I am a newspaper correspondent,' I said, 'and you ought not to hold me prisoner.' The Scottish Boer laughed. 'Oh,' he said, 'we do not catch lords' sons every day.' Whereat they all chuckled, and began to explain that I should be allowed to play football at Pretoria. All this time I was expecting to be brought before General Joubert, from whom I had some hopes I should obtain assurances that my character as a press correspondent would be respected. But suddenly a mounted man rode up and ordered the prisoners to march away towards Colenso. The escort, twenty horsemen, closed round us. I addressed their leader, and demanded either that I should be taken before the General, or that my credentials should be given back. But the so-called Field Cornet was not to be seen. The only response was, 'Voorwärts,' and as it seemed useless, undignified, and even dangerous to discuss the matter further with these people, I turned and marched off with the rest. We tramped for six hours across sloppy fields and along tracks deep and slippery with mud, while the rain fell in a steady downpour and soaked everyone to the skin. The Boer escort told us several times not to hurry and to go our own pace, and once they allowed us to halt for a few moments. But we had had neither food nor water, and it was with a feeling of utter weariness that I saw the tin roofs of Colenso rise in the distance. We were put into a corrugated iron shed near the station, the floors of which were four inches deep with torn railway forms and account books. Here we flung ourselves down exhausted, and what with the shame, the disappointment, the excitement of the morning, the misery of the present, and physical weakness, it seemed that love of life was gone, and I thought almost with envy of a soldier I had seen during the fight lying quite still on the embankment, secure in the calm philosophy of death from 'the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.' After the Boers had lit two fires they opened one of the doors of the shed and told us we might come forth and dry ourselves. A newly slaughtered ox lay on the ground, and strips of his flesh were given to us. These we toasted on sticks over the fire and ate greedily, though since the animal had been alive five minutes before one felt a kind of cannibal. Other Boers not of our escort who were occupying Colenso came to look at us. With two of these who were brothers, English by race, Afrikanders by birth, Boers by choice, I had some conversation. The war, they said, was going well. Of course, it was a great matter to face the power and might of the British Empire, still they were resolved. They would drive the English out of South Africa for ever, or else fight to the last man. I said: 'You attempt the impossible. Pretoria will be taken by the middle of March. What hope have you of withstanding a hundred thousand soldiers?' 'If I thought,' said the younger of the two brothers vehemently, 'that the Dutchmen would give in because Pretoria was taken, I would smash my rifle on those metals this very moment. We will fight for ever.' I could only reply: 'Wait and see how you feel when the tide is running the other way. It does not seem so easy to die when death is near.' The man said, 'I will wait.' Then we made friends. I told him that I hoped he would come safely through the war, and live to see a happier and a nobler South Africa under the flag which had been good enough for his forefathers; and he took off his blanket--which he was wearing with a hole in the middle like a cloak--and gave it to me to sleep in. So we parted, and presently, as night fell, the Field Cornet who had us in charge bade us carry a little forage into the shed to sleep on, and then locked us up in the dark, soldiers, sailors, officers, and Correspondent--a broken-spirited jumble. I could not sleep. Vexation of spirit, a cold night, and wet clothes withheld sweet oblivion. The rights and wrongs of the quarrel, the fortunes and chances of the war, forced themselves on the mind. What men they were, these Boers! I thought of them as I had seen them in the morning riding forward through the rain--thousands of independent riflemen, thinking for themselves, possessed of beautiful weapons, led with skill, living as they rode without commissariat or transport or ammunition column, moving like the wind, and supported by iron constitutions and a stern, hard Old Testament God who should surely smite the Amalekites hip and thigh. And then, above the rain storm that beat loudly on the corrugated iron, I heard the sound of a chaunt. The Boers were singing their evening psalm, and the menacing notes--more full of indignant war than love and mercy--struck a chill into my heart, so that I thought after all that the war was unjust, that the Boers were better men than we, that Heaven was against us, that Ladysmith, Mafeking, and Kimberley would fall, that the Estcourt garrison would perish, that foreign Powers would intervene, that we should lose South Africa, and that would be the beginning of the end. So for the time I despaired of the Empire, nor was it till the morning sun--all the brighter after the rain storms, all the warmer after the chills--struck in through the windows that things reassumed their true colours and proportions. CHAPTER IX THROUGH THE DUTCH CAMPS Pretoria: November 30, 1899. The bitter wind of disappointment pierces even the cloak of sleep. Moreover, the night was cold and the wet clothes chilled and stiffened my limbs, provoking restless and satisfactory dreams. I was breakfasting with President Kruger and General Joubert. 'Have some jam,' said the President. 'Thanks,' I replied, 'I would rather have marmalade.' But there was none. Their evident embarrassment communicated itself to me. 'Never mind,' I said, 'I'd just as soon have jam.' But the President was deeply moved. 'No, no,' he cried; 'we are not barbarians. Whatever you are entitled to you shall have, if I have to send to Johannesburg for it.' So he got up to ring the bell, and with the clang I woke. The first light of dawn was just peering in through the skylight of the corrugated iron shed. The soldiers lay in a brown litter about the floor, several snoring horribly. The meaning of it came home with a slap. Imprisoned; not able to come and go at will; about to be dragged off and put in some secluded place while others fought the great quarrel to the end; out of it all--like a pawn taken early in the game and flung aside into the box. I groaned with vexation, and, sitting up, aroused Frankland, who shared my blanket. Then the Boers unlocked the doors and ordered us to get ready to march at once. The forage which we had spread on the floor rustled, and the first idea of escape crossed my mind. Why not lie buried underneath this litter until prisoners and escort had marched away together? Would they count? Would they notice? I did not think so. They would reason--we know they all went in; it is certain none could have escaped during the night: therefore all must be here this morning. Suppose they missed me? 'Where is the "reporter," with whom we talked last evening?' Haldane would reply that he must have slipped out of the door before it was shut. They might scour the country; but would they search the shed? It seemed most unlikely. The scheme pleased my fancy exceedingly, and I was just resolving to conceal myself, when one of the guards entered and ordered everyone to file out forthwith. We chewed a little more of the ox, slain and toasted the night before, and drank some rainwater from a large puddle, and, after this frugal breakfast, intimated that we were ready. Then we set out--a sorry gang of dirty, tramping prisoners, but yesterday the soldiers of the Queen; while the fierce old farmers cantered their ponies about the veldt or closed around the column, looking at us from time to time with irritating disdain and still more irritating pity. We marched across the waggon bridge of the Tugela, and following the road, soon entered the hills. Among these we journeyed for several hours, wading across the gullies which the heavy rains had turned into considerable streams and persecuted by the slanting rays of the sun. Here and there parties of Boers met us, and much handshaking and patting on the back ensued between the newcomers and our escort. Once we halted at a little field hospital--a dozen tents and waggons with enormous red-cross flags, tucked away in a deep hollow. We passed through Pieters without a check at the same toilsome plod and on to Nelthorpe. Here we began to approach the Dutch lines of investment round Ladysmith, and the advance of half an hour brought us to a very strong picket, where we were ordered to halt and rest. Nearly two hundred Boers swarmed round in a circle and began at once--for they are all keen politicians and as curious as children--to ask questions of every sort. What did we think of South Africa? Would we like to go in an armoured train again? How long would the English go on fighting? When would the war end? and the reply, 'When you are beaten,' was received with shouts of laughter. 'Oh no, old chappie, you can never beat us. Look at Mafeking. We have taken Mafeking. You will find Baden Powell waiting for you at Pretoria. Kimberley, too, will fall this week. Rhodes is trying to escape in a balloon, disguised as a woman--a fine woman.' Great merriment at this. 'What about Ladysmith?' 'Ten days. Ten days more and then we shall have some whisky.' Listen. There was the boom of a heavy gun, and, turning, I saw the white cloud of smoke hanging on the crest of Bulwana. 'That goes on always,' said the Boer. 'Can any soldiers bear that long? Oh, you will find all the English army at Pretoria. Indeed, if it were not for the sea-sickness we would take England. Besides, do you think the European Powers will allow you to bully us?' I said, 'Why bully if you are so strong?' 'Well, why should you come and invade our country?' 'Your country? I thought this was Natal.' 'So it is: but Natal is ours. You stole it from us. Now we take it back again. That's all.' A hum of approval ran round the grinning circle. An old Boer came up. He did not understand what induced the soldiers to go in the armoured train. Frankland replied, 'Ordered to. Don't you have to obey your orders?' The old man shook his head in bewilderment, then he observed, 'I fight to kill: I do not fight to be killed. If the Field Cornet was to order me to go in an armoured train, I would say to him, "Field Cornet, go to hell."' 'Ah, you are not soldiers.' 'But we catch soldiers and kill soldiers and make soldiers run away.' There was a general chorus of 'Yaw, yaw, yaw,' and grunts of amusement. 'You English,' said a well-dressed man, 'die for your country: we Afrikanders live for ours.' I said, 'Surely you don't think you will win this war?' 'Oh, yes; we will win all right this time, just the same as before.' 'But it is not the same as before. Gladstone is dead, they are determined at home. If necessary they will send three hundred thousand men and spend a hundred millions.' 'We are not afraid; no matter how many thousand penny soldiers you send,' and an English Boer added, 'Let 'em all come.' But there was one discordant note in the full chorus of confidence. It recurred again and again. 'Where is Buller?' 'When is Buller coming?' These merry fellows were not without their doubts. 'He will come when the army is ready.' 'But we have beaten the army.' 'No, the war has not begun yet.' 'It's all over for you, old chappie, anyway.' It was a fair hit. I joined the general laughter, and, reviewing the incident by the light of subsequent events, feel I had some right to. Very soon after this we were ordered to march again, and we began to move to the eastward in the direction of the Bulwana Hill, descending as we did so into the valley of the Klip River. The report of the intermittent guns engaged in the bombardment of Ladysmith seemed very loud and near, and the sound of the British artillery making occasional reply could be plainly distinguished. After we had crossed the railway line beyond Nelthorpe I caught sight of another evidence of the proximity of friends. High above the hills, to the left of the path, hung a speck of gold-beater's skin. It was the Ladysmith balloon. There, scarcely two miles away, were safety and honour. The soldiers noticed the balloon too. 'Those are our blokes,' they said. 'We ain't all finished yet,' and so they comforted themselves, and a young sergeant advanced a theory that the garrison would send out cavalry to rescue us. We kept our eyes on the balloon till it was hidden by the hills, and I thought of all that lay at the bottom of its rope. Beleaguered Ladysmith, with its shells, its flies, its fever, and its filth seemed a glorious paradise to me. We forded the Klip River breast high, and, still surrounded by our escort, trudged on towards the laagers behind Bulwana. But it was just three o'clock, after about ten hours' marching, that we reached the camp where we were to remain for the night. Having had no food--except the toasted ox, a disgusting form of nourishment--and being besides unused to walking far, I was so utterly worn out on arrival that at first I cared for nothing but to lie down under the shade of a bush. But after the Field-Cornet had given us some tea and bully beef, and courteously bidden us to share the shelter of his tent, I felt equal to further argument. The Boers were delighted and crowded into the small tent. 'Will you tell us why there is this war?' I said that it was because they wanted to beat us out of South Africa and we did not like the idea. 'Oh no, that is not the reason.' Now that the war had begun they would drive the British into the sea; but if we had been content with what we had they would not have interfered with us--except to get a port and have their full independence recognised. 'I will tell you what is the real cause of this war. It's all those damned capitalists. They want to steal our country, and they have bought Chamberlain, and now these three, Rhodes, Beit, and Chamberlain, think they will have the Rand to divide between them afterwards.' 'Don't you know that the gold mines are the property of the shareholders, many of whom are foreigners--Frenchman and Germans and others? After the war, whatever government rules, they will still belong to these people.' 'What are we fighting for then?' 'Because you hate us bitterly, and have armed yourselves in order to attack us, and we naturally chose to fight when we are not occupied elsewhere. "Agree with thine adversary whiles thou art in the way with him.'" 'Don't you think it wicked to try to steal our country?' 'We only want to protect ourselves and our own interests. We didn't want your country.' 'No, but the damned capitalists do.' 'If you had tried to keep on friendly terms with us there would have been no war. But you want to drive us out of South Africa. Think of a great Afrikander Republic--all South Africa speaking Dutch--a United States under your President and your Flag, sovereign and international.' Their eyes glittered. 'That's what we want,' said one. 'Yaw, yaw,' said the others, 'and that's what we're going to have.' 'Well, that's the reason of the war.' 'No, no. You know it's those damned capitalists and Jews who have caused the war.' And the argument recommenced its orbit. So the afternoon wore away. As the evening fell the Commandant required us to withdraw to some tents which had been pitched at the corner of the laager. A special tent was provided for the officers, and now, for the first time, they found themselves separated from their men. I had a moment in which to decide whether I would rank as officer or private, and chose the former, a choice I was soon to regret. Gradually it became night. The scene as the daylight faded was striking and the circumstances were impressive. The dark shadow of Bulwana mountain flung back over the Dutch camp, and the rugged, rock-strewn hills rose about it on all sides. The great waggons were arranged to enclose a square, in the midst of which stood clusters of variously shaped tents and lines of munching oxen. Within the laager and around it little fires began to glow, and by their light the figures of the Boers could be seen busy cooking and eating their suppers, or smoking in moody, muttering groups. All was framed by the triangular doorway of the tent, in which two ragged, bearded men sat nursing their rifles and gazing at their captives in silence. Nor was it till my companions prepared to sleep that the stolid guards summoned the energy and wit to ask, in struggling English (for these were real veldt Boers), the inevitable question, 'And after all, what are we fighting for? Why is there this war?' But I was tired of arguing, so I said, 'It is the will of God,' and turned to rest with a more confident feeling than the night before, for I felt that these men were wearying of the struggle. To rest but not to sleep, for the knowledge that the British lines at Ladysmith lay only five miles away filled my brain with hopes and plans of escape. I had heard it said that all Dutchmen slept between 12 and 2 o'clock, and I waited, trusting that our sentries would observe the national custom. But I soon saw that I should have been better situated with the soldiers. We three officers were twenty yards from the laager, and around our little tent, as I learned by peering through a rent in the canvas, no less than four men were posted. At intervals they were visited or relieved, at times they chatted together; but never for a minute was their vigilance relaxed, and the continual clicking of the Mauser breech bolts, as they played with their rifles, unpleasantly proclaimed their attention. The moon was full and bright, and it was obvious that no possible chance of success awaited an attempt. With the soldiers the circumstances were more favourable. Their tent stood against the angle of the laager, and although the sentries watched the front and sides it seemed to me that a man might crawl through the back, and by walking boldly across the laager itself pass safely out into the night. It was certainly a road none would expect a fugitive to take; but whatever its chances it was closed to me, for the guard was changed at midnight and a new sentry stationed between our tent and those near the laager. I examined him through the torn tent. He was quite a child--a boy of about fourteen--and needless to say appreciated the importance of his duties. He played this terrible game of soldiers with all his heart and soul; so at last I abandoned the idea of flight and fell asleep. In the morning, before the sun was up, the Commandant Davel came to rouse us. The prisoners were to march at once to Elandslaagte Station. 'How far?' we asked, anxiously, for all were very footsore. 'Only a very little way--five hours' slow walking.' We stood up--for we had slept in our clothes and cared nothing for washing--and said that we were ready. The Commandant then departed, to return in a few minutes bringing some tea and bully beef, which he presented to us with an apology for the plainness of the fare. He asked an English-speaking Boer to explain that they had nothing better themselves. After we had eaten and were about to set forth, Dayel said, through his interpreter, that he would like to know from us that we were satisfied with the treatment we met with at his laager. We gladly gave him the assurance, and with much respect bade good-bye to this dignified and honourable enemy. Then we were marched away over the hills towards the north, skirting the picket line round Ladysmith to the left. Every half-mile or so the road led through or by some Boer laager, and the occupants--for it was a quiet day in the batteries--turned out in hundreds to look at us. I do not know how many men I saw, but certainly during this one march not less than 5,000. Of this great number two only offered insults to the gang of prisoners. One was a dirty, mean-looking little Hollander. He said, 'Well, Tommy, you've got your franchise, anyhow.' The other was an Irishman. He addressed himself to Frankland, whose badges proclaimed his regiment. What he said when disentangled from obscenity amounted to this: 'I am glad to see you Dublin fellows in trouble.' The Boers silenced him at once and we passed on. But that was all the taunting we received during the whole journey from Frere Station to Pretoria, and when one remembers that the Burghers are only common men with hardly any real discipline, the fact seems very remarkable. But little and petty as it was it galled horribly. The soldiers felt the sting and scowled back; the officers looked straight before them. Yet it was a valuable lesson. Only a few days before I had read in the newspapers of how the Kaffirs had jeered at the Boer prisoners when they were marched into Pietermaritzburg, saying, 'Where are your passes?' It had seemed a very harmless joke then, but now I understood how a prisoner feels these things. It was about eleven o'clock when we reached Elandslaagte Station. A train awaited the prisoners. There were six or seven closed vans for the men and a first-class carriage for the officers. Into a compartment of this we were speedily bundled. Two Boers with rifles sat themselves between us, and the doors were locked. I was desperately hungry, and asked for both food and water. 'Plenty is coming,' they said, so we waited patiently, and sure enough, in a few minutes a railway official came along the platform, opened the door, and thrust before us in generous profusion two tins of preserved mutton, two tins of preserved fish, four or five loaves, half a dozen pots of jam, and a large can of tea. As far as I could see the soldiers fared no worse. The reader will believe that we did not stand on ceremony, but fell to at once and made the first satisfying meal for three days. While we ate a great crowd of Boers gathered around the train and peered curiously in at the windows. One of them was a doctor, who, noticing that my hand was bound up, inquired whether I were wounded. The cut caused by the splinter of bullet was insignificant, but since it was ragged and had received no attention for two days it had begun to fester. I therefore showed him my hand, and he immediately bustled off to get bandages and hot water and what not, with which, amid the approving grins of the rough fellows who thronged the platform, he soon bound me up very correctly. The train whereby we were to travel was required for other business besides; and I noticed about a hundred Boers embarking with their horses in a dozen large cattle trucks behind the engine. At or about noon we steamed off, moving slowly along the line, and Captain Haldane pointed out to me the ridge of Elandslaagte, and gave me some further account of that successful action and of the great skill with which Hamilton had directed the infantry attack. The two Boers who were guarding us listened with great interest, but the single observation they made was that we had only to fight Germans and Hollanders at Elandslaagte. 'If these had been veldt Boers in front of you----' My companion replied that even then the Gordon Highlanders might have made some progress. Whereat both Boers laughed softly and shook their heads with the air of a wiseacre, saying, 'You will know better when you're as old as me,' a remark I constantly endure from very worthy people. Two stations beyond Elandslaagte the Boer commando, or portion of commando, left the train, and the care and thought that had been lavished on the military arrangements were very evident. All the stations on the line were fitted with special platforms three or four hundred yards long, consisting of earth embankments revetted with wood towards the line and sloping to the ground on the other side. The horsemen were thereby enabled to ride their horses out of the trucks, and in a few minutes all were cantering away across the plain. One of the Boer guards noticed the attention I paid to these arrangements. 'It is in case we have to go back quickly to the Biggarsberg or Laing's Nek,' he explained. As we travelled on I gradually fell into conversation with this man. His name, he told me, was Spaarwater, which he pronounced _Spare-_water. He was a farmer from the Ermolo district. In times of peace he paid little or no taxes. For the last four years he had escaped altogether. The Field Cornet, he remarked, was a friend of his. But for such advantages he lay under the obligation to serve without pay in war-time, providing horse, forage, and provisions. He was a polite, meek-mannered little man, very anxious in all the discussion to say nothing that could hurt the feelings of his prisoners, and I took a great liking to him. He had fought at Dundee. 'That,' he said, 'was a terrible battle. Your artillery? _Bang! bang! bang_! came the shells all round us. And the bullets! _Whew_, don't tell me the soldiers can't shoot. They shoot jolly well, old chappie. I, too, can shoot. I can hit a bottle six times out of seven at a hundred yards, but when there is a battle then I do not shoot so well.' The other man, who understood a little English, grinned at this, and muttered something in Dutch. 'What does he say?' I inquired. 'He says "He too,"' replied Spaarwater. 'Besides, we cannot see your soldiers. At Dundee I was looking down the hill and saw nothing except rows of black boots marching and the black belts of one of the regiments.' 'But,' I said, 'you managed to hit some of them after all.' He smiled, 'Ah, yes, we are lucky, and God is on our side. Why, after Dundee, when we were retiring, we had to cross a great open plain, never even an ant-hill, and you had put twelve great cannons--I counted them--and Maxims as well, to shoot us as we went; but not one fired a shot. Was it not God's hand that stopped them? After that we knew.' I said: 'Of course the guns did not fire, because you had raised the white flag.' 'Yes,' he answered, 'to ask for armistice, but not to give in. We are not going to give in yet. Besides, we have heard that your Lancers speared our wounded at Elandslaagte.' We were getting on dangerous ground. He hastened to turn the subject. 'It's all those lying newspapers that spread these reports on both sides, just like the capitalists made the war by lying.' A little further on the ticket collector came to join in the conversation. He was a Hollander, and very eloquent. 'Why should you English take this country away from us?' he asked, and the silent Boer chimed in broken English. 'Are not our farms our own? Why must we fight for them?' I endeavoured to explain the ground of our quarrel. 'After all British government is not a tyranny.' 'It's no good for a working-man,' said the ticket collector; 'look at Kimberley. Kimberley was a good place to live in before the capitalists collared it. Look at it now. Look at me. What are my wages?' I forget what he said they were, but they were extraordinary wages for a ticket collector. 'Do you suppose I should get such wages under the English Government?' I said 'No.' 'There you are,' he said. 'No English Government for me,' and added inconsequently, 'We fight for our freedom.' Now I thought I had an argument that would tell. I turned th the farmer, who had been listening approvingly: 'Those are very good wages.' 'Ah, yes.' 'Where does the money come from?' 'Oh, from the taxes ... and from the railroad.' 'Well, now, you send a good deal of your produce by rail, I suppose?' 'Ya' (an occasional lapse into Dutch). 'Don't you find the rates very high?' 'Ya, ya,' said both the Boers together; 'very high.' 'That is because he' (pointing to the ticket collector) 'is getting such good wages. You are paying them.' At this they both laughed heartily, and Spaarwater said that that was quite true, and that the rates were too high. 'Under the English Government,' I said, 'he will not get such high wages; you will not have to pay such high rates.' They received the conclusion in silence. Then Spaarwater said, 'Yes, but we shall have to pay a tribute to your Queen.' 'Does Cape Colony?' I asked. 'Well, what about that ironclad?' 'A present, a free-will offering because they are contented--as you will be some day--under our flag.' 'No, no, old chappie, we don't want your flag; we want to be left alone. We are free, you are not free.' 'How do you mean "not free"?' 'Well, is it right that a dirty Kaffir should walk on the pavement--without a pass too? That's what they do in your British Colonies. Brother! Equal! Ugh! Free! Not a bit. We know how to treat Kaffirs.' Probing at random I had touched a very sensitive nerve. We had got down from underneath the political and reached the social. What is the true and original root of Dutch aversion to British rule? It is not Slagters Nek, nor Broomplatz, nor Majuba, nor the Jameson Raid. Those incidents only fostered its growth. It is the abiding fear and hatred of the movement that seeks to place the native on a level with the white man. British government is associated in the Boer farmer's mind with violent social revolution. Black is to be proclaimed the same as white. The servant is to be raised against the master; the Kaffir is to be declared the brother of the European, to be constituted his legal equal, to be armed with political rights. The dominant race is to be deprived of their superiority; nor is a tigress robbed of her cubs more furious than is the Boer at this prospect. I mused on the tangled skein of politics and party principles. This Boer farmer was a very typical character, and represented to my mind all that was best and noblest in the African Dutch character. Supposing he had been conducting Mr. Morley to Pretoria, not as a prisoner of war, but as an honoured guest, instead of me, what would their conversation have been? How excellently they would have agreed on the general question of the war! I could imagine the farmer purring with delight as his distinguished charge dilated in polished sentences upon liberty and the rights of nationalities. Both would together have bewailed the horrors of war and the crime of aggression; both would have condemned the tendencies of modern Imperialism and Capitalism; both would have been in complete accord whenever the names of Rhodes, Chamberlain, or Milner were mentioned. And the spectacle of this citizen soldier, called reluctant, yet not unwilling, from the quiet life of his farm to fight bravely in defence of the soil on which he lived, which his fathers had won by all manner of suffering and peril, and to preserve the independence which was his pride and joy, against great enemies of regulars--surely that would have drawn the most earnest sympathy of the eminent idealist. And then suddenly a change, a jarring note in the duet of agreement. '_We_ know how to treat Kaffirs in _this_ country. Fancy letting the black filth walk on the pavement!' And after that no more agreement: but argument growing keener and keener; gulf widening every moment. 'Educate a Kaffir! Ah, that's you English all over. No, no, old chappie. We educate 'em with a stick. Treat 'em with humanity and consideration--I like that. They were put here by the God Almighty to work for us. We'll stand no damned nonsense from them. We'll keep them in their proper places. What do you think? Insist on their proper treatment will you? Ah, that's what we're going to see about now. We'll settle whether you English are to interfere with us before this war is over.' The afternoon dragged away before the train passed near Dundee. Lieutenant Frankland had helped to storm Talana Hill, and was much excited to see the field of battle again under these new circumstances. 'It would all have been different if Symons had lived. We should never have let them escape from under our guns. That commando would have been smashed up altogether.' 'But what about the other commando that came up the next day?' 'Oh, the General would have managed them all right. He'd have, soon found some way of turning them out.' Nor do I doubt he would, if the fearless confidence with which he inspired his troops could have protected his life. But the bullet is brutally indiscriminating, and before it the brain of a hero or the quarters of a horse stand exactly the same chance to the vertical square inch. After Talana Hill was lost to view we began to search for Majuba, and saw it just as night closed in--a great dark mountain with memories as sad and gloomy as its appearance. The Boer guards pointed out to us where they had mounted their big cannons to defend Laing's Nek, and remarked that the pass was now impregnable. I could not resist saying, 'This is not the only road into the Transvaal.' 'Ah, but you English always come where we want you to come.' We now approached the frontier. I had indulged in hopes of leaving the train while in the Volksrust Tunnel by climbing out of the window. The possibility had, however, presented itself to Spaarwater, for he shut both windows, and just before we reached the entrance opened the breech of his Mauser to show me that it was fully loaded. So prudence again imposed patience. It was quite dark when the train reached Volksrust, and we knew ourselves actually in the enemy's country. The platform was densely crowded with armed Boers. It appeared that two new commandos had been called out, and were waiting for trains to take them to the front. Moreover, a strong raiding party had just come back from British Swaziland. The windows were soon blocked with the bearded faces of men who gazed stolidly and commented freely to each other on our appearance. It was like being a wild beast in a cage. After some time a young woman pushed her way to the window and had a prolonged stare, at the end of which she observed in a loud voice (I must record it)--'Why, they're not so bad looking after all.' At this there was general laughter, and Spaarwater, who was much concerned, said that they meant no harm, and that if we were annoyed he would have everyone cleared away. But I said: 'Certainly not; let them feast their eyes.' So they did, for forty minutes by the clock. Their faces were plain and rough, but not unkindly. The little narrow-set pig-eyes were the most displeasing feature. For the rest they looked what they were, honest ignorant peasants with wits sharpened by military training and the conditions of a new country. Presently I noticed at the window furthest from the platform one of quite a different type. A handsome boyish face without beard or moustache, and a very amiable expression. We looked at each other. There was no one else at that side of the carriage. 'Will you have some cigarettes?' he said, holding me out a packet. I took one, and we began to talk. 'Is there going to be much more war?' he inquired anxiously. 'Yes, very much more; we have scarcely begun,' He looked quite miserable. I said, 'You have not been at the front yet?' 'No, I am only just commandeered.' 'How old are you?' 'Sixteen.' 'That's very young to go and fight.' He shook his head sadly. 'What's your name?' 'Cameron.' 'That's not a Dutch name?' 'No, I'm not a Dutchman. My father came from Scotland.' 'Then why do you go and fight against the British?' 'How can I help it? I live here. You must go when you're commandeered. They wouldn't let me off. Mother tried her best. But it's "come out and fight or leave the country" here, and we've got nothing but the farm.' 'The Government would have paid you compensation afterwards.' 'Ah! that's what they told father last time. He was loyal, and helped to defend the Pretoria laager. He lost everything, and he had to begin all over again.' 'So now you fight against your country?' 'I can't help it,' he repeated sullenly, 'you must go when you're commandeered.' And then he climbed down off the footboard, and I did not see him again--one piteous item of Gladstone's legacy--the ruined and abandoned loyalist in the second generation. Before the train left Volksrust we changed our guards. The honest burghers who had captured us had to return to the front, and we were to be handed over to the police. The leader of the escort--a dear old gentleman--I am ignorant of his official rank--approached and explained through Spaarwater that it was he who had placed the stone and so caused our misfortunes. He said he hoped we bore no malice. We replied by no means, and that we would do the same for him with pleasure any day. Frankland asked him what rewards he would get for such distinguished service. In truth he might easily have been shot, had we turned the corner a minute earlier. The subaltern apparently contemplated some Republican V.C. or D.S.O. But the farmer was much puzzled by his question. After some explaining we learnt that he had been given fourteen days' furlough to go home to his farm and see his wife. His evident joy and delight were touching. I said 'Surely this is a very critical time to leave the front. You may miss an important battle.' 'Yes,' he replied simply, 'I hope so.' Then we said 'good-bye,' and I gave him, and also Spaarwater, a little slip of paper setting forth that they had shown kindness and courtesy to British prisoners of war, and personally requesting anyone into whose hands the papers might come to treat them well, should they themselves be taken by the Imperial forces. We were then handed to a rather dilapidated policeman of a gendarme type, who spat copiously on the floor of the carriage and informed us that we should be shot if we attempted to escape. Having no desire to speak to this fellow, we let down the sleeping shelves of the compartment and, as the train steamed out of Volksrust, turned to sleep. CHAPTER X IN AFRIKANDER BONDS Pretoria: December 3rd, 1899. It was, as nearly as I can remember, midday when the train-load of prisoners reached Pretoria. We pulled up in a sort of siding with an earth platform on the right side which opened into the streets of the town. The day was fine, and the sun shone brightly. There was a considerable crowd of people to receive us; ugly women with bright parasols, loafers and ragamuffins, fat burghers too heavy to ride at the front, and a long line of untidy, white-helmeted policemen--'zarps' as they were called--who looked like broken-down constabulary. Someone opened--unlocked, that is, the point--the door of the railway carriage and told us to come out; and out we came--a very ragged and tattered group of officers--and waited under the sun blaze and the gloating of many eyes. About a dozen cameras were clicking busily, establishing an imperishable record of our shame. Then they loosed the men and bade them form in rank. The soldiers came out of the dark vans, in which they had been confined, with some eagerness, and began at once to chirp and joke, which seemed to me most ill-timed good humour. We waited altogether for about twenty minutes. Now for the first time since my capture I hated the enemy. The simple, valiant burghers at the front, fighting bravely as they had been told 'for their farms,' claimed respect, if not sympathy. But here in Pretoria all was petty and contemptible. Slimy, sleek officials of all nationalities--the red-faced, snub-nosed Hollander, the oily Portuguese half-caste--thrust or wormed their way through the crowd to look. I seemed to smell corruption in the air. Here were the creatures who had fattened on the spoils. There in the field were the heroes who won them. Tammany Hall was defended by the Ironsides. From these reflections I was recalled by a hand on my shoulder. A lanky, unshaven police sergeant grasped my arm. 'You are not an officer,' he said; 'you go this way with the common soldiers,' and he led me across the open space to where the men were formed in a column of fours. The crowd grinned: the cameras clicked again. I fell in with the soldiers and seized the opportunity to tell them not to laugh or smile, but to appear serious men who cared for the cause they fought for; and when I saw how readily they took the hint, and what influence I possessed with them, it seemed to me that perhaps with two thousand prisoners something some day might be done. But presently a superior official--superior in rank alone, for in other respects he looked a miserable creature--came up and led me back to the officers. At last, when the crowd had thoroughly satisfied their patriotic curiosity, we were marched off; the soldiers to the enclosed camp on the racecourse, the officers to the States Model Schools prison. The distance was short, so far as we were concerned, and surrounded by an escort of three armed policemen to each officer, we swiftly traversed two sandy avenues with detached houses on either hand, and reached our destination. We turned a corner; on the other side of the road stood a long, low, red brick building with a slated verandah and a row of iron railings before it. The verandah was crowded with bearded men in _khaki_ uniforms or brown suits of flannel--smoking, reading, or talking. They looked up as we arrived. The iron gate was opened, and passing in we joined sixty British officers 'held by the enemy;' and the iron gate was then shut again. 'Hullo! How are you? Where did they catch you? What's the latest news of Buller's advance? Are we going to be exchanged?' and a dozen other questions were asked. It was the sort of reception accorded to a new boy at a private school, or, as it seemed to me, to a new arrival in hell. But after we had satisfied our friends in as much as we could, suggestions of baths, clothes, and luncheon were made which were very welcome. So we settled down to what promised to be a long and weary waiting. The States Model Schools is a one-storied building of considerable size and solid structure, which occupies a corner formed by two roads through Pretoria. It consists of twelve large class-rooms, seven or eight of which were used by the British officers as dormitories and one as a dining-room; a large lecture-hall, which served as an improvised fives-court; and a well-fitted gymnasium. It stood in a quadrangular playground about one hundred and twenty yards square, in which were a dozen tents for the police guards, a cookhouse, two tents for the soldier servants, and a newly set-up bath-shed. I do not know how the arrival of other prisoners may have modified these arrangements, but at the time of my coming into the prison, there was room enough for everyone. The Transvaal Government provided a daily ration of bully beef and groceries, and the prisoners were allowed to purchase from the local storekeeper, a Mr. Boshof, practically everything they cared to order, except alcoholic liquors. During the first week of my detention we requested that this last prohibition might be withdrawn, and after profound reflection and much doubtings, the President consented to countenance the buying of bottled beer. Until this concession was obtained our liquid refreshment would have satisfied the most immoderate advocate of temperance, and the only relief was found when the Secretary of State for War, a kind-hearted Portuguese, would smuggle in a bottle of whiskey hidden in his tail-coat pocket or amid a basket of fruit. A very energetic and clever young officer of the Dublin Fusiliers, Lieutenant Grimshaw, undertook the task of managing the mess, and when he was assisted by another subaltern--Lieutenant Southey, of the Royal Irish Fusiliers--this became an exceedingly well-conducted concern. In spite of the high prices prevailing in Pretoria--prices which were certainly not lowered for our benefit--the somewhat meagre rations which the Government allowed were supplemented, until we lived, for three shillings a day, quite as well as any regiment on service. On arrival, every officer was given a new suit of clothes, bedding, towels, and toilet necessaries, and the indispensable Mr, Boshof was prepared to add to this wardrobe whatever might be required on payment either in money or by a cheque on Messrs. Cox & Co., whose accommodating fame had spread even to this distant hostile town. I took an early opportunity to buy a suit of tweeds of a dark neutral colour, and as unlike the suits of clothes issued by the Government as possible. I would also have purchased a hat, but another officer told me that he had asked for one and had been refused. After all, what use could I find for a hat, when there were plenty of helmets to spare if I wanted to Walk in the courtyard? And yet my taste ran towards a slouch hat. The case of the soldiers was less comfortable than ours. Their rations were very scanty: only one pound of bully beef once a week and two pounds of bread; the rest was made up with mealies, potatoes, and such-like--and not very much of them. Moreover, since they had no money of their own, and since prisoners of war received no pay, they were unable to buy even so much as a pound of tobacco. In consequence they complained a good deal, and were, I think, sufficiently discontented to require nothing but leading to make them rise against their guards. The custody and regulating of the officers were entrusted to a board of management, four of whose members visited us frequently and listened to any complaints or requests. M. de Souza, the Secretary of War, was perhaps the most friendly and obliging of these, and I think we owed most of the indulgences to his representations. He was a far-seeing little man who had travelled to Europe, and had a very clear conception of the relative strengths of Britain and the Transvaal. He enjoyed a lucrative and influential position under the Government, and was therefore devoted to its interests, but he was nevertheless suspected by the Inner Ring of Hollanders and the Relations of the President of having some sympathy for the British. He had therefore to be very careful. Commandant Opperman, who was directly responsible for our safe custody, was in times of peace a Landrost or Justice. He was too fat to go and fight, but he was an honest and patriotic Boer, who would have gladly taken an active part in the war. He firmly believed that the Republics would win, and when, as sometimes happened, bad news reached Pretoria, Opperman looked a picture of misery, and would come to us and speak of his resolve to shoot his wife and children and perish in the defence of the capital. Dr. Gunning was an amiable little Hollander, fat, rubicund, and well educated. He was a keen politician, and much attached to the Boer Government, which paid him an excellent salary for looking after the State Museum. He had a wonderful collection of postage stamps, and was also engaged in forming a Zoological Garden. This last ambition had just before the war led him into most serious trouble, for he was unable to resist the lion which Mr. Rhodes had offered him. He confided to me that the President had spoken 'most harshly' to him in consequence, and had peremptorily ordered the immediate return of the beast under threats of instant dismissal. Gunning said that he could not have borne such treatment, but that after all a man must live. My private impression is that he will acquiesce in any political settlement which leaves him to enlarge his museum undisturbed. But whether the Transvaal will be able to indulge in such luxuries, after blowing up many of other people's railway bridges, is a question which I cannot answer. The fourth member of the Board, Mr. Malan, was a foul and objectionable brute. His personal courage was better suited to insulting the prisoners in Pretoria than to fighting the enemy at the front. He was closely related to the President, but not even this advantage could altogether protect him from taunts of cowardice, which were made even in the Executive Council, and somehow filtered down to us. On one occasion he favoured me with some of his impertinence; but I reminded him that in war either side may win, and asked whether he was wise to place himself in a separate category as regards behaviour to the prisoners. 'Because,' quoth I, 'it might be so convenient to the British Government to be able to make one or two examples.' He was a great gross man, and his colour came and went on a large over-fed face; so that his uneasiness was obvious. He never came near me again, but some days later the news of a Boer success arrived, and on the strength of this he came to the prison and abused a subaltern in the Dublin Fusiliers, telling him that he was no gentleman, and other things which it is not right to say to a prisoner. The subaltern happens to be exceedingly handy with his fists, so that after the war is over Mr. Malan is going to get his head punched quite independently of the general settlement. Although, as I have frequently stated, there were no legitimate grounds of complaint against the treatment of British regular officers while prisoners of war, the days I passed at Pretoria were the most monotonous and among the most miserable of my life. Early in the sultry mornings, for the heat at this season of the year was great, the soldier servants--prisoners like ourselves--would bring us a cup of coffee, and sitting up in bed we began to smoke the cigarettes and cigars of another idle, aimless day. Breakfast was at nine: a nasty uncomfortable meal. The room was stuffy, and there are more enlivening spectacles than seventy British officers caught by Dutch farmers and penned together in confinement. Then came the long morning, to be killed somehow by reading, chess, or cards--and perpetual cigarettes. Luncheon at one: the same as breakfast, only more so; and then a longer afternoon to follow a long morning. Often some of the officers used to play rounders in the small yard which we had for exercise. But the rest walked moodily up and down, or lounged over the railings and returned the stares of the occasional passers-by. Later would come the 'Volksstem'--permitted by special indulgence--with its budget of lies. Sometimes we get a little fillip of excitement. One evening, as I was leaning over the railings, more than forty yards from the nearest sentry, a short man with a red moustache walked quickly down the street, followed by two colley dogs. As he passed, but without altering his pace in the slightest, or even looking towards me, he said quite distinctly 'Methuen beat the Boers to hell at Belmont.' That night the air seemed cooler and the courtyard larger. Already we imagined the Republics collapsing and the bayonets of the Queen's Guards in the streets of Pretoria. Next day I talked to the War Secretary. I had made a large map upon the wall and followed the course of the war as far as possible by making squares of red and green paper to represent the various columns. I said: 'What about Methuen? He has beaten you at Belmont. Now he should be across the Modder. In a few days he will relieve Kimberley.' De Souza shrugged his shoulders. 'Who can tell?' he replied; 'but,' he put his finger on the map, 'there stands old Piet Cronje in a position called Scholz Nek, and we don't think Methuen will ever get past him.' The event justified his words, and the battle which we call Magersfontein (and ought to call 'Maasfontayne') the Boers call Scholz Nek. Long, dull, and profitless were the days. I could not write, for the ink seemed to dry upon the pen. I could not read with any perseverance, and during the whole month I was locked up, I only completed Carlyle's 'History of Frederick the Great' and Mill's 'Essay on Liberty,' neither of which satisfied my peevish expectations. When at last the sun sank behind the fort upon the hill and twilight marked the end of another wretched day, I used to walk up and down the courtyard looking reflectively at the dirty, unkempt 'zarps' who stood on guard, racking my brains to find some way, by force or fraud, by steel or gold, of regaining my freedom. Little did these Transvaal Policemen think, as they leaned on their rifles, smoking and watching the 'tame officers,' of the dark schemes of which they were the object, or of the peril in which they would stand but for the difficulties that lay _beyond_ the wall. For we would have made short work of them and their weapons any misty night could we but have seen our way clear after that. As the darkness thickened, the electric lamps were switched on and the whole courtyard turned blue-white with black velvet shadows. Then the bell clanged, and we crowded again into the stifling dining hall for the last tasteless meal of the barren day. The same miserable stories were told again and again--Colonel Moller's surrender after Talana Hill, and the white flag at Nicholson's Nek--until I knew how the others came to Pretoria as well as I knew my own story. 'We never realised what had happened until we were actually prisoners,' said the officers of the Dublin Fusiliers Mounted Infantry, who had been captured with Colonel Moller on October 20. 'The "cease fire" sounded: no one knew what had happened. Then we were ordered to form up at the farmhouse, and there we found Boers, who told us to lay down our arms: we were delivered into their hands and never even allowed to have a gallop for freedom. But wait for the Court of Inquiry.' I used always to sit next to Colonel Carleton at dinner, and from him and from the others learned the story of Nicholson's Nek, which it is not necessary to repeat here, but which filled me with sympathy for the gallant commander and soldiers who were betrayed by the act of an irresponsible subordinate. The officers of the Irish Fusiliers told me of the amazement with which they had seen the white flag flying. 'We had still some ammunition,' they said; 'it is true the position was indefensible--but we only wanted to fight it out.' 'My company was scarcely engaged,' said one poor captain, with tears of vexation in his eyes at the memory; and the Gloucesters told the same tale. 'We saw the hateful thing flying. The firing stopped. No one knew by whose orders the flag had been hoisted. While we doubted the Boers were all among us disarming the men.' I will write no more upon these painful subjects except to say this, that the hoisting of a white flag in token of surrender is an act which can be justified only by clear proof that there was no prospect of gaining the slightest military advantage by going on fighting; and that the raising of a white flag in any case by an unauthorised person--i.e. not the officer in chief command--in such a manner as to compromise the resistance of a force, deserves sentence of death, though in view of the high standard of discipline and honour prevailing in her Majesty's army, it might not be necessary to carry the sentence into effect. I earnestly trust that in justice to gallant officers and soldiers, who have languished these weary months in Pretoria, there will be a strict inquiry into the circumstances under which they became prisoners of war. I have no doubt we shall be told that it is a foolish thing to wash dirty linen in public; but much better wash it in public than wear it foul. One day shortly after I had arrived I had an interesting visit, for de Souza, wishing to have an argument brought Mr. Grobelaar to see me. This gentleman was the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and had just returned from Mafeking, whither he had been conducting a 6-inch gun. He was a very well-educated person, and so far as I could tell, honest and capable besides. With him came Reuter's Agent, Mr. Mackay, and the odious Malan. I received them sitting on my bed in the dormitory, and when they had lighted cigars, of which I always kept a stock, we had a regular _durbar_. I began: 'Well, Mr. Grobelaar, you see how your Government treats representatives of the Press.' _Grobelaar_. 'I hope you have nothing to complain of _Self_. 'Look at the sentries with loaded rifles on every side. I might be a wild beast instead of a special correspondent.' _Grobelaar_. 'Ah, but putting aside the sentries with loaded rifles, you do not, I trust, Mr. Churchill, make any complaint.' _Self_. 'My chief objection to this place is that I am in it.' _Grobelaar_. 'That of course is your misfortune, and Mr. Chamberlain's fault. _Self_. 'Not at all. We are a peace-loving people, but we had no choice but to fight or be--what was it your burghers told me in the camps?--"driven into the sea." The responsibility of the war is upon you and your President.' _Grobelaar_. 'Don't you believe that. We did not want to fight. We only wanted to be left alone.' _Self_. 'You never wanted war?' _de Souza_. 'Ah, my God, no! Do you think we would fight Great Britain for amusement?' _Self_. 'Then why did you make every preparation--turn the Republics into armed camps--prepare deep-laid plans for the invasion of our Colonies?' _Grobelaar_. 'Why, what could we do after the Jameson Raid? We had to be ready to protect ourselves.' _Self_. 'Surely less extensive armaments would have been sufficient to guard against another similar inroad.' _Grobelaar_. 'But we knew your Government was behind the Raiders. Jameson was in front, but Rhodes and your Colonial Office were at his elbow.' _Self_. 'As a matter of fact no two people were more disconcerted by the Raid than Chamberlain and Rhodes. Besides, the British Government disavowed the Raiders' action and punished the Raiders, who, I am quite prepared to admit, got no more than they deserved.' _de Souza_. 'I don't complain about the British Government's action at the time of the Raid. Chamberlain behaved very honourably then. But it was afterwards, when Rhodes was not punished, that we knew it was all a farce, and that the British Government was bent on our destruction. When the burghers knew that Rhodes was not punished they lost all trust in England.' _Malan_. 'Ya, ya. That Rhodes, he is the ... at the bottom of it all. You wait and see what we will do to Rhodes when we take Kimberley.' _Self_. 'Then you maintain, de Souza, that the distrust caused in this country by the fact that Rhodes was not punished--though how you can punish a man who breaks no law I cannot tell--was the sole cause of your Government making these gigantic military preparations, because it is certain that these preparations were the actual cause of war.' _Grobelaar_. 'Why should they be a cause of war? We would never have attacked you.' _Self_. 'But at this moment you are invading Cape Colony and Natal, while no British soldier has set foot on Republican soil. Moreover, it was you who declared war upon us.' _Grobelaar_. 'Naturally we were not such fools as to wait till your army was here. As soon as you began to send your army, we were bound to declare war. If you had sent it earlier we should have fought earlier. Really, Mr. Churchill, you must see that is only common sense.' _Self_. 'I am not criticising your policy or tactics. You hated us bitterly--I dare say you had cause to. You made tremendous preparations--I don't say you were wrong--but look at it from our point of view. We saw a declared enemy armed and arming. Against us, and against us alone, could his preparations be directed. It was time we took some precautions: indeed, we were already too late. Surely what has happened at the front proves that we had no designs against you. You were ready. We were unready. It is the wolf and lamb if you like; but the wolf was asleep and never before was a lamb with such teeth and claws.' _Grobelaar_. 'Do you really mean to say that we forced this war on you, that you did not want to fight us?' _Self_. 'The country did not wish for war with the Boers. Personally, I have always done so. I saw that you had six rifles to every burgher in the Republic. I knew what that meant. It meant that you were going to raise a great Afrikander revolt against us. One does not set extra places at table unless one expects company to dinner. On the other hand, we have affairs all over the world, and at any moment may become embroiled with a European power. At this time things are very quiet. The board is clear in other directions. We can give you our undivided attention. Armed and ambitious as you were, the war had to come sooner or later. I have always said "sooner." Therefore, I rejoiced when you sent your ultimatum and roused the whole nation.' _Malan_. 'You don't rejoice quite so much now.' _Self_. 'My opinion is unaltered, except that the necessity for settling the matter has become more apparent. As for the result, that, as I think Mr. Grobelaar knows, is only a question of time and money expressed in terms of blood and tears.' _Grobelaar_. 'No: our opinion is quite unchanged. We prepared for the war. We have always thought we could beat you. We do not doubt our calculations now. We have done better even than we expected. The President is extremely pleased.' _Self_. 'There is no good arguing on that point. We shall have to fight it out. But if you had tried to keep on friendly terms with us, the war would not have come for a long time; and the delay was all on your side.' _Grobelaar_. 'We have tried till we are sick of it. This Government was badgered out of its life with Chamberlain's despatches--such despatches. And then look how we have been lied about in your papers, and called barbarians and savages.' _Self_. 'I think you have certainly been abused unjustly. Indeed, when I was taken prisoner the other day, I thought it quite possible I should be put to death, although I was a correspondent' (great laughter, 'Fancy that!' etc.). 'At the best I expected to be held in prison as a kind of hostage. See how I have been mistaken.' I pointed at the sentry who stood in the doorway, for even members of the Government could not visit us alone. Grobelaar flushed. 'Oh, well, we will hope that the captivity will not impair your spirits. Besides, it will not last long. The President expects peace before the New Year.' 'I shall hope to be free by then.' And with this the interview came to an end, and my visitors withdrew. The actual conversation had lasted more than an hour, but the dialogue above is not an inaccurate summary. About ten days after my arrival at Pretoria I received a visit from the American Consul, Mr. Macrum. It seems that some uncertainty prevailed at home as to whether I was alive, wounded or unwounded, and in what light I was regarded by the Transvaal authorities. Mr. Bourke Cockran, an American Senator who had long been a friend of mine, telegraphed from New York to the United States representative in Pretoria, hoping by this neutral channel to learn how the case stood. I had not, however, talked with Mr. Macrum for very long before I realised that neither I nor any other British prisoner was likely to be the better for any efforts which he might make on our behalf. His sympathies were plainly so much with the Transvaal Government that he even found it difficult to discharge his diplomatic duties. However, he so far sank his political opinions as to telegraph to Mr. Bourke Cockran, and the anxiety which my relations were suffering on my account was thereby terminated. I had one other visitor in these dull days, whom I should like to notice. During the afternoon which I spent among the Boers in their camp behind Bulwana Hill I had exchanged a few words with an Englishman whose name is of no consequence, but who was the gunner entrusted with the aiming of the big 6-inch gun. He was a light-hearted jocular fellow outwardly, but I was not long in discovering that his anxieties among the Boers were grave and numerous. He had been drawn into the war, so far as I could make out, more by the desire of sticking to his own friends and neighbours than even of preserving his property. But besides this local spirit, which counterbalanced the racial and patriotic feelings, there was a very strong desire to be upon the winning side, and I think that he regarded the Boers with an aversion which increased in proportion as their successes fell short of their early anticipations. One afternoon he called at the States Model Schools prison and, being duly authorised to visit the prisoners, asked to see me. In the presence of Dr. Gunning, I had an interesting interview. At first our conversation was confined to generalities, but gradually, as the other officers in the room, with ready tact, drew the little Hollander Professor into an argument, my renegade and I were able to exchange confidences. I was of course above all things anxious to get true news from the outer world, and whenever Dr. Gunning's attention was distracted by his discussion with the officers, I managed to get a little. 'Well, you know,' said the gunner, 'you English don't play fair at Ladysmith at all. We have allowed you to have a camp at Intombi Spruit for your wounded, and yet we see red cross flags flying in the town, and we have heard that in the Church there is a magazine of ammunition protected by the red cross flag. Major Erasmus, he says to me "John, you smash up that building," and so when I go back I am going to fire into the church.' Gunning broke out into panegyrics on the virtues of the Afrikanders: my companion dropped his voice. 'The Boers have had a terrible beating at Belmont; the Free Staters have lost more than 200 killed; much discouraged; if your people keep on like this the Free State will break up.' He raised his voice, 'Ladysmith hold out a month? Not possible; we shall give it a fortnight's more bombardment, and then you will just see how the burghers will scramble into their trenches. Plenty of whisky then, ha, ha, ha!' Then lower, 'I wish to God I could get away from this, but I don't know what to do; they are always suspecting me and watching me, and I have to keep on pretending I want them to win. This is a terrible position for a man to be in: curse the filthy Dutchmen!' I said, 'Will Methuen get to Kimberley?' 'I don't know, but he gave them hell at Belmont and at Graspan, and they say they are fighting again to-day at Modder River. Major Erasmus is very down-hearted about it. But the ordinary burghers hear nothing but lies; all lies, I tell you. _(Crescendo)_ Look at the lies that have been told about us! Barbarians! savages! every name your papers have called us, but you know better than that now; you know how well we have treated you since you have been a prisoner; and look at the way your people have treated our prisoners--put them on board ship to make them sea-sick! Don't you call that cruel?' Here Gunning broke in that it was time for visitors to leave the prison. And so my strange guest, a feather blown along by the wind, without character or stability, a renegade, a traitor to his blood and birthplace, a time-server, had to hurry away. I took his measure; nor did his protestations of alarm excite my sympathy, and yet somehow I did not feel unkindly towards him; a weak man is a pitiful object in times of trouble. Some of our countrymen who were living in the Transvaal and the Orange Free State at the outbreak of the war have been placed in such difficult positions and torn by so many conflicting emotions that they must be judged very tolerantly. How few men are strong enough to stand against the prevailing currents of opinion! Nor, after the desertion of the British residents in the Transvaal in 1881, have we the right to judge their successors harshly if they have failed us, for it was Great and Mighty Britain who was the renegade and traitor then. No sooner had I reached Pretoria than I demanded my release from the Government, on the grounds that I was a Press correspondent and a non-combatant. So many people have found it difficult to reconcile this position with the accounts which have been published of what transpired during the defence of the armoured train, that I am compelled to explain. Besides the soldiers of the Dublin Fusiliers and Durban Light Infantry who had been captured, there were also eight or ten civilians, including a fireman, a telegraphist, and several men of the breakdown gang. Now it seems to me that according to international practice and the customs of war, the Transvaal Government were perfectly justified in regarding all persons connected with a military train as actual combatants; indeed, the fact that they were not soldiers was, if anything, an aggravation of their case. But the Boers were at that time overstocked with prisoners whom they had to feed and guard, and they therefore announced that the civilians would be released as soon as their identity was established, and only the military retained as prisoners. In my case, however, an exception was to be made, and General Joubert, who had read the gushing accounts of my conduct which appeared in the Natal newspapers, directed that since I had taken part in the fighting I was to be treated as a combatant officer. Now, as it happened, I had confined myself strictly to the business of clearing the line, which was entrusted to me, and although I do not pretend that I considered the matter in its legal aspect at the time, the fact remains that I did not give a shot, nor was I armed when captured. I therefore claimed to be included in the same category as the civilian railway officials and men of the breakdown gang, whose declared duty it was to clear the line, pointing out that though my action might differ in degree from theirs, it was of precisely the same character, and that if they were regarded as non-combatants I had a right to be considered a non-combatant too. To this effect I wrote two letters, one to the Secretary of War and one to General Joubert; but, needless to say, I did not indulge in much hope of the result, for I was firmly convinced that the Boer authorities regarded me as a kind of hostage, who would make a pleasing addition to the collection of prisoners they were forming against a change of fortune. I therefore continued to search for a path of escape; and indeed it was just as well that I did so, for I never received any answer to either of my applications while I was a prisoner, although I have since heard that one arrived by a curious coincidence the very day _after_ I had departed. While I was looking about for means, and awaiting an opportunity to break out of the Model Schools, I made every preparation to make a graceful exit when the moment should arrive. I gave full instructions to my friends as to what was to be done with my clothes and the effects I had accumulated during my stay; I paid my account to date with the excellent Boshof; cashed a cheque on him for 20_l_.; changed some of the notes I had always concealed on my person since my capture into gold; and lastly, that there might be no unnecessary unpleasantness, I wrote the following letter to the Secretary of State: States Model Schools Prison: December 10, 1899. Sir,--I have the honour to inform you that as I do not consider that your Government have any right to detain me as a military prisoner, I have decided to escape from your custody. I have every confidence in the arrangements I have made with my friends outside, and I do not therefore expect to have another opportunity of seeing you. I therefore take this occasion to observe that I consider your treatment of prisoners is correct and humane, and that I see no grounds for complaint. When I return to the British lines I will make a public statement to this effect. I have also to thank you personally for your civility to me, and to express the hope that we may meet again at Pretoria before very long, and under different circumstances. Regretting that I am unable to bid you a more ceremonious or a personal farewell, I have the honour, to be, Sir, Your most obedient servant, WINSTON CHURCHILL. To Mr. de Souza, Secretary of War, South African Republic. I arranged that this letter, which I took great pleasure in writing, should be left on my bed, and discovered so soon as my flight was known. It only remained now to find a hat. Luckily for me Mr. Adrian Hofmeyr, a Dutch clergyman and pastor of Zeerust, had ventured before the war to express opinions contrary to those which the Boers thought befitting for a Dutchman to hold. They had therefore seized him on the outbreak of hostilities, and after much ill-treatment and many indignities on the Western border, brought him to the States Schools. He knew most of the officials, and could, I think, easily have obtained his liberty had he pretended to be in sympathy with the Republics. He was, however, a true man, and after the clergyman of the Church of England, who was rather a poor creature, omitted to read the prayer for the Queen one Sunday, it was to Hofmeyr's evening services alone that most of the officers would go. I borrowed his hat. CHAPTER XI I ESCAPE FROM THE BOERS Lourenço Marques: December 22, 1899, How unhappy is that poor man who loses his liberty! What can the wide world give him in exchange? No degree of material comfort, no consciousness of correct behaviour, can balance the hateful degradation of imprisonment. Before I had been an hour in captivity, as the previous pages evidence, I resolved to escape. Many plans suggested themselves, were examined, and rejected. For a month I thought of nothing else. But the peril and difficulty restrained action. I think that it was the report of the British defeat at Stormberg that clinched the matter. All the news we heard in Pretoria was derived from Boer sources, and was hideously exaggerated and distorted. Every day we read in the 'Volksstem'--probably the most astounding tissue of lies ever presented to the public under the name of a newspaper--of Boer victories and of the huge slaughters and shameful flights of the British. However much one might doubt and discount these tales, they made a deep impression. A month's feeding on such literary garbage weakens the constitution of the mind. We wretched prisoners lost heart. Perhaps Great Britain would not persevere; perhaps Foreign Powers would intervene; perhaps there would be another disgraceful, cowardly peace. At the best the war and our confinement would be prolonged for many months. I do not pretend that impatience at being locked up was not the foundation of my determination; but I should never have screwed up my courage to make the attempt without the earnest desire to do something, however small, to help the British cause. Of course, I am a man of peace. I did not then contemplate becoming an officer of Irregular Horse. But swords are not the only weapons in the world. Something may be done with a pen. So I determined to take all hazards; and, indeed, the affair was one of very great danger and difficulty. The States Model Schools stand in the midst of a quadrangle, and are surrounded on two sides by an iron grille and on two by a corrugated iron fence about 10 ft. high. These boundaries offered little obstacle to anyone who possessed the activity of youth, but the fact that they were guarded on the inside by sentries, fifty yards apart, armed with rifle and revolver, made them a well-nigh insuperable barrier. No walls are so hard to pierce as living walls. I thought of the penetrating power of gold, and the sentries were sounded. They were incorruptible. I seek not to deprive them of the credit, but the truth is that the bribery market in the Transvaal has been spoiled by the millionaires. I could not afford with my slender resources to insult them heavily enough. So nothing remained but to break out in spite of them. With another officer who may for the present--since he is still a prisoner--remain nameless, I formed a scheme. [Illustration: Plan of States Model Schools] After anxious reflection and continual watching, it was discovered that when the sentries near the offices walked about on their beats they were at certain moments unable to see the top of a few yards of the wall. The electric lights in the middle of the quadrangle brilliantly lighted the whole place but cut off the sentries beyond them from looking at the eastern wall, for from behind the lights all seemed darkness by contrast. The first thing was therefore to pass the two sentries near the offices. It was necessary to hit off the exact moment when both their backs should be turned together. After the wall was scaled we should be in the garden of the villa next door. There our plan came to an end. Everything after this was vague and uncertain. How to get out of the garden, how to pass unnoticed through the streets, how to evade the patrols that surrounded the town, and above all how to cover the two hundred and eighty miles to the Portuguese frontiers, were questions which would arise at a later stage. All attempts to communicate with friends outside had failed. We cherished the hope that with chocolate, a little Kaffir knowledge, and a great deal of luck, we might march the distance in a fortnight, buying mealies at the native kraals and lying hidden by day. But it did not look a very promising prospect. We determined to try on the night of the 11th of December, making up our minds quite suddenly in the morning, for these things are best done on the spur of the moment. I passed the afternoon in positive terror. Nothing, since my schooldays, has ever disturbed me so much as this. There is something appalling in the idea of stealing secretly off in the night like a guilty thief. The fear of detection has a pang of its own. Besides, we knew quite well that on occasion, even on excuse, the sentries would fire. Fifteen yards is a short range. And beyond the immediate danger lay a prospect of severe hardship and suffering, only faint hopes of success, and the probability at the best of five months in Pretoria Gaol. The afternoon dragged tediously away. I tried to read Mr. Lecky's 'History of England,' but for the first time in my life that wise writer wearied me. I played chess and was hopelessly beaten. At last it grew dark. At seven o'clock the bell for dinner rang and the officers trooped off. Now was the time. But the sentries gave us no chance. They did not walk about. One of them stood exactly opposite the only practicable part of the wall. We waited for two hours, but the attempt was plainly impossible, and so with a most unsatisfactory feeling of relief to bed. Tuesday, the 12th! Another day of fear, but fear crystallising more and more into desperation. Anything was better than further suspense. Night came again. Again the dinner bell sounded. Choosing my opportunity I strolled across the quadrangle and secreted myself in one of the offices. Through a chink I watched the sentries. For half an hour they remained stolid and obstructive. Then all of a sudden one turned and walked up to his comrade and they began to talk. Their backs were turned. Now or never. I darted out of my hiding place and ran to the wall, seized the top with my hands and drew myself up. Twice I let myself down again in sickly hesitation, and then with a third resolve scrambled up. The top was flat. Lying on it I had one parting glimpse of the sentries, still talking, still with their backs turned; but, I repeat, fifteen yards away. Then I lowered myself silently down into the adjoining garden and crouched among the shrubs. I was free. The first step had been taken, and it was irrevocable. It now remained to await the arrival of my comrade. The bushes of the garden gave a good deal of cover, and in the moonlight their shadows lay black on the ground. Twenty yards away was the house, and I had not been five minutes in hiding before I perceived that it was full of people; the windows revealed brightly lighted rooms, and within I could see figures moving about. This was a fresh complication. We had always thought the house unoccupied. Presently--how long afterwards I do not know, for the ordinary measures of time, hours, minutes, and seconds are quite meaningless on such occasions--a man came out of the door and walked across the garden in my direction. Scarcely ten yards away he stopped and stood still, looking steadily towards me. I cannot describe the surge of panic which nearly overwhelmed me. I must be discovered. I dared not stir an inch. My heart beat so violently that I felt sick. But amid a tumult of emotion, reason, seated firmly on her throne, whispered, 'Trust to the dark background.' I remained absolutely motionless. For a long time the man and I remained opposite each other, and every instant I expected him to spring forward. A vague idea crossed my mind that I might silence him. 'Hush, I am a detective. We expect that an officer will break out here to-night. I am waiting to catch him.' Reason--scornful this time--replied: 'Surely a Transvaal detective would speak Dutch. Trust to the shadow.' So I trusted, and after a spell another man came out of the house, lighted a cigar, and both he and the other walked off together. No sooner had they turned than a cat pursued by a dog rushed into the bushes and collided with me. The startled animal uttered a 'miaul' of alarm and darted back again, making a horrible rustling. Both men stopped at once. But it was only the cat, as they doubtless observed, and they passed out of the garden gate into the town. I looked at my watch. An hour had passed since I climbed the wall. Where was my comrade? Suddenly I heard a voice from within the quadrangle say, quite loud, 'All up.' I crawled back to the wall. Two officers were walking up and down the other side jabbering Latin words, laughing and talking all manner of nonsense--amid which I caught my name. I risked a cough. One of the officers immediately began to chatter alone. The other said slowly and clearly, '... cannot get out. The sentry suspects. It's all up. Can you get back again?' But now all my fears fell from me at once. To go back was impossible. I could not hope to climb the wall unnoticed. Fate pointed onwards. Besides, I said to myself, 'Of course, I shall be recaptured, but I will at least have a run for my money.' I said to the officers, 'I shall go on alone.' Now I was in the right mood for these undertakings--that is to say that, thinking failure almost certain, no odds against success affected me. All risks were less than the certainty. A glance at the plan (p. 182) will show that the rate which led into the road was only a few yards from another sentry. I said to myself, 'Toujours de l'audace:' put my hat on my head, strode into the middle of the garden, walked past the windows of the house without any attempt at concealment, and so went through the gate and turned to the left. I passed the sentry at less than five yards. Most of them knew me by sight. Whether he looked at me or not I do not know, for I never turned my head. But after walking a hundred yards and hearing no challenge, I knew that the second obstacle had been surmounted. I was at large in Pretoria. I walked on leisurely through the night humming a tune and choosing the middle of the road. The streets were full of Burghers, but they paid no attention to me. Gradually I reached the suburbs, and on a little bridge I sat down to reflect and consider. I was in the heart of the enemy's country. I knew no one to whom I could apply for succour. Nearly three hundred miles stretched between me and Delagoa Bay. My escape must be known at dawn. Pursuit would be immediate. Yet all exits were barred. The town was picketed, the country was patrolled, the trains were searched, the line was guarded. I had 75_l_. in my pocket and four slabs of chocolate, but the compass and the map which might have guided me, the opium tablets and meat lozenges which should have sustained me, were in my friend's pockets in the States Model Schools. Worst of all, I could not speak a word of Dutch or Kaffir, and how was I to get food or direction? But when hope had departed, fear had gone as well. I formed a plan. I would find the Delagoa Bay Railway. Without map or compass I must follow that in spite of the pickets. I looked at the stars. Orion shone brightly. Scarcely a year ago he had guided me when lost in the desert to the banks of the Nile. He had given me water. Now he should lead to freedom. I could not endure the want of either. After walking south for half a mile, I struck the railroad. Was it the line to Delagoa Bay or the Pietersburg branch? If it were the former it should run east. But so far as I could see this line ran northwards. Still, it might be only winding its way out among the hills. I resolved to follow it. The night was delicious. A cool breeze fanned my face and a wild feeling of exhilaration took hold of me. At any rate, I was free, if only for an hour. That was something. The fascination of the adventure grew. Unless the stars in their courses fought for me I could not escape. Where, then, was the need of caution? I marched briskly along the line. Here and there the lights of a picket fire gleamed. Every bridge had its watchers. But I passed them all, making very short detours at the dangerous places, and really taking scarcely any precautions. Perhaps that was the reason I succeeded. As I walked I extended my plan. I could not march three hundred miles to the frontier. I would board a train in motion and hide under the seats, on the roof, on the couplings--anywhere. What train should I take? The first, of course. After walking for two hours I perceived the signal lights of a station. I left the line, and, circling round it, hid in the ditch by the track about 200 yards beyond it. I argued that the train would stop at the station and that it would not have got up too much speed by the time it reached me. An hour passed. I began to grow impatient. Suddenly I heard the whistle and the approaching rattle. Then the great yellow head lights of the engine flashed into view. The train waited five minutes at the station and started again with much noise and steaming. I crouched by the track. I rehearsed the act in my mind. I must wait until the engine had passed, otherwise I should be seen. Then I must make a dash for the carriages. The train started slowly, but gathered speed sooner than I had expected. The flaring lights drew swiftly near. The rattle grew into a roar. The dark mass hung for a second above me. The engine-driver silhouetted against his furnace glow, the black profile of the engine, the clouds of steam rushed past. Then I hurled myself on the trucks, clutched at something, missed, clutched again, missed again, grasped some sort of hand-hold, was swung off my feet--my toes bumping on the line, and with a struggle seated myself on the couplings of the fifth truck from the front of the train. It was a goods train, and the trucks were full of sacks, soft sacks covered with coal dust. I crawled on top and burrowed in among them. In five minutes I was completely buried. The sacks were warm and comfortable. Perhaps the engine-driver had seen me rush up to the train and would give the alarm at the next station: on the other hand, perhaps not. Where was the train going to? Where would it be unloaded? Would it be searched? Was it on the Delagoa Bay line? What should I do in the morning? Ah, never mind that. Sufficient for the day was the luck thereof. Fresh plans for fresh contingencies. I resolved to sleep, nor can I imagine a more pleasing lullaby than the clatter of the train that carries you at twenty miles an hour away from the enemy's capital. How long I slept I do not know, but I woke up suddenly with all feelings of exhilaration gone, and only the consciousness of oppressive difficulties heavy on me. I must leave the train before daybreak, so that I could drink at a pool and find some hiding-place while it was still dark. Another night I would board another train. I crawled from my cosy hiding-place among the sacks and sat again on the couplings. The train was running at a fair speed, but I felt it was time to leave it. I took hold of the iron handle at the back of the truck, pulled strongly with my left hand, and sprang. My feet struck the ground in two gigantic strides, and the next instant I was sprawling in the ditch, considerably shaken but unhurt. The train, my faithful ally of the night, hurried on its journey. It was still dark. I was in the middle of a wide valley, surrounded by low hills, and carpeted with high grass drenched in dew. I searched for water in the nearest gully, and soon found a clear pool. I was very thirsty, but long after I had quenched my thirst I continued to drink, that I might have sufficient for the whole day. Presently the dawn began to break, and the sky to the east grew yellow and red, slashed across with heavy black clouds. I saw with relief that the railway ran steadily towards the sunrise. I had taken the right line, after all. Having drunk my fill, I set out for the hills, among which I hoped to find some hiding-place, and as it became broad daylight I entered a small grove of trees which grew on the side of a deep ravine. Here I resolved to wait till dusk. I had one consolation: no one in the world knew where I was--I did not know myself. It was now four o'clock. Fourteen hours lay between me and the night. My impatience to proceed, while I was still strong, doubled their length. At first it was terribly cold, but by degrees the sun gained power, and by ten o'clock the heat was oppressive. My sole companion was a gigantic vulture, who manifested an extravagant interest in my condition, and made hideous and ominous gurglings from time to time. From my lofty position I commanded a view of the whole valley. A little tin-roofed town lay three miles to the westward. Scattered farmsteads, each with a clump of trees, relieved the monotony of the undulating ground. At the foot of the hill stood a Kaffir kraal, and the figures of its inhabitants dotted the patches of cultivation or surrounded the droves of goats and cows which fed on the pasture. The railway ran through the middle of the valley, and I could watch the passage of the various trains. I counted four passing each way, and from this I drew the conclusion that the same number would run by night. I marked a steep gradient up which they climbed very slowly, and determined at nightfall to make another attempt to board one of these. During the day I ate one slab of chocolate, which, with the heat, produced a violent thirst. The pool was hardly half a mile away, but I dared not leave the shelter of the little wood, for I could see the figures of white men riding or walking occasionally across the valley, and once a Boer came and fired two shots at birds close to my hiding-place. But no one discovered me. The elation and the excitement of the previous night had burnt away, and a chilling reaction followed. I was very hungry, for I had had no dinner before starting, and chocolate, though it sustains, does not satisfy. I had scarcely slept, but yet my heart beat so fiercely and I was so nervous and perplexed about the future that I could not rest. I thought of all the chances that lay against me; I dreaded and detested more than words can express the prospect of being caught and dragged back to Pretoria. I do not mean that I would rather have died than have been retaken, but I have often feared death for much less. I found no comfort in any of the philosophical ideas which some men parade in their hours of ease and strength and safety. They seemed only fair-weather friends. I realised with awful force that no exercise of my own feeble wit and strength could save me from my enemies, and that without the assistance of that High Power which interferes in the eternal sequence of causes and effects more often than we are always prone to admit, I could never succeed. I prayed long and earnestly for help and guidance. My prayer, as it seems to me, was swiftly and wonderfully answered, I cannot now relate the strange circumstances which followed, and which changed my nearly hopeless position into one of superior advantage. But after the war is over I shall hope to lengthen this account, and so remarkable will the addition be that I cannot believe the reader will complain. The long day reached its close at last. The western clouds flushed into fire; the shadows of the hills stretched out across the valley. A ponderous Boer waggon, with its long team, crawled slowly along the track towards the town. The Kaffirs collected their herds and drew around their kraal. The daylight died, and soon it was quite dark. Then, and not till then, I set forth, I hurried to the railway line, pausing on my way to drink at a stream of sweet, cold water. I waited for some time at the top of the steep gradient in the hope of catching a train. But none came, and I gradually guessed, and I have since found that I guessed right, that the train I had already travelled in was the only one that ran at night. At last I resolved to walk on, and make, at any rate, twenty miles of my journey. I walked for about six hours. How far I travelled I do not know, but I do not think that it was very many miles in the direct line. Every bridge was guarded by armed men; every few miles were gangers' huts; at intervals there were stations with villages clustering round them. All the veldt was bathed in the bright rays of the full moon, and to avoid these dangerous places I had to make wide circuits and often to creep along the ground. Leaving the railroad I fell into bogs and swamps, and brushed through high grass dripping with dew, so that I was drenched to the waist. I had been able to take little exercise during my month's imprisonment, and I was soon tired out with walking, as well as from want of food and sleep. I felt very miserable when I looked around and saw here and there the lights of houses, and thought of the warmth and comfort within them, but knew that they only meant danger to me. After six or seven hours of walking I thought it unwise to go further lest I should exhaust myself, so I lay down in a ditch to sleep. I was nearly at the end of my tether. Nevertheless, by the will of God, I was enabled to sustain myself during the next few days, obtaining food at great risk here and there, resting in concealment by day and walking only at night. On the fifth day I was beyond Middelburg, so far as I could tell, for I dared not inquire nor as yet approach the stations near enough to read the names. In a secure hiding-place I waited for a suitable train, knowing that there is a through service between Middelburg and Lourenço Marques. Meanwhile there had been excitement in the States Model Schools, temporarily converted into a military prison. Early on Wednesday morning--barely twelve hours after I had escaped--my absence was discovered--I think by Dr. Gunning. The alarm was given. Telegrams with my description at great length were despatched along all the railways. Three thousand photographs were printed. A warrant was issued for my immediate arrest. Every train was strictly searched. Everyone was on the watch. The worthy Boshof, who knew my face well, was hurried off to Komati Poort to examine all and sundry people "with red hair" travelling towards the frontier. The newspapers made so much of the affair that my humble fortunes and my whereabouts were discussed in long columns of print, and even in the crash of the war I became to the Boers a topic all to myself. The rumours in part amused me. It was certain, said the "Standard and Diggers' News," that I had escaped disguised as a woman. The next day I was reported captured at Komati Poort dressed as a Transvaal policeman. There was great delight at this, which was only changed to doubt when other telegrams said that I had been arrested at Brugsbank, at Middelburg, and at Bronkerspruit. But the captives proved to be harmless people after all. Finally it was agreed that I had never left Pretoria. I had--it appeared--changed clothes with a waiter, and was now in hiding at the house of some British sympathiser in the capital. On the strength of this all the houses of suspected persons were searched from top to bottom, and these unfortunate people were, I fear, put to a great deal of inconvenience. A special commission was also appointed to investigate 'stringently' (a most hateful adjective in such a connection) the causes 'which had rendered it possible for the War Correspondent of the "Morning Post" to escape.' The 'Volksstem' noticed as a significant fact that I had recently become a subscriber to the State Library, and had selected Mill's essay 'On Liberty.' It apparently desired to gravely deprecate prisoners having access to such inflammatory literature. The idea will, perhaps, amuse those who have read the work in question. I find it very difficult in the face of the extraordinary efforts which were made to recapture me, to believe that the Transvaal Government seriously contemplated my release _before_ they knew I had escaped them. Yet a telegram was swiftly despatched from Pretoria to all the newspapers, setting forth the terms of a most admirable letter, in which General Joubert explained the grounds which prompted him generously to restore my liberty. I am inclined to think that the Boers hate being beaten even in the smallest things, and always fight on the win, tie, or wrangle principle; but in my case I rejoice I am not beholden to them, and have not thus been disqualified from fighting. All these things may provoke a smile of indifference, perhaps even of triumph, after the danger is past; but during the days when I was lying up in holes and corners, waiting for a good chance to board a train, the causes that had led to them preyed more than I knew on my nerves. To be an outcast, to be hunted, to lie under a warrant for arrest, to fear every man, to have imprisonment--not necessarily military confinement either--hanging overhead, to fly the light, to doubt the shadows--all these things ate into my soul and have left an impression that will not perhaps be easily effaced. On the sixth day the chance I had patiently waited for came. I found a convenient train duly labelled to Lourenço Marques standing in a siding. I withdrew to a suitable spot for boarding it--for I dared not make the attempt in the station--and, filling a bottle with water to drink on the way, I prepared for the last stage of my journey. The truck in which I ensconced myself was laden with great sacks of some soft merchandise, and I found among them holes and crevices by means of which I managed to work my way to the inmost recess. The hard floor was littered with gritty coal dust, and made a most uncomfortable bed. The heat was almost stifling. I was resolved, however, that nothing should lure or compel me from my hiding-place until I reached Portuguese territory. I expected the journey to take thirty-six hours; it dragged out into two and a half days. I hardly dared sleep for fear of snoring. I dreaded lest the trucks should be searched at Komati Poort, and my anxiety as the train approached this neighbourhood was very great. To prolong it we were shunted on to a siding for eighteen hours either at Komati Poort or the station beyond it. Once indeed they began to search my truck, and I heard the tarpaulin rustle as they pulled at it, but luckily they did not search deep enough, so that, providentially protected, I reached Delagoa Bay at last, and crawled forth from my place of refuge and of punishment, weary, dirty, hungry, but free once more. Thereafter everything smiled. I found my way to the British Consul, Mr. Ross, who at first mistook me for a fireman off one of the ships in the harbour, but soon welcomed me with enthusiasm. I bought clothes, I washed, I sat down to dinner with a real tablecloth and real glasses; and fortune, determined not to overlook the smallest detail, had arranged that the steamer 'Induna' should leave that very night for Durban. As soon as the news of my arrival spread about the town, I received many offers of assistance from the English residents, and lest any of the Boer agents with whom Lourenço Marques is infested should attempt to recapture me in neutral territory, nearly a dozen gentlemen escorted me to the steamer armed with revolvers. It is from the cabin of this little vessel, as she coasts along the sandy shores of Africa, that I write the concluding lines of this letter, and the reader who may persevere through this hurried account will perhaps understand why I write them with a feeling of triumph, and better than triumph, a feeling of pure joy. CHAPTER XII BACK TO THE BRITISH LINES Frere: December 24, 1899. The voyage of the "Induna" from Delagoa Bay to Durban was speedy and prosperous, and on the afternoon of the 23rd we approached our port, and saw the bold headland that shields it rising above the horizon to the southward. An hour's steaming brought us to the roads. More than twenty great transports and supply vessels lay at anchor, while three others, crowded from end to end with soldiery, circled impatiently as they waited for pilots to take them into the harbour. Our small vessel was not long in reaching the jetty, and I perceived that a very considerable crowd had gathered to receive us. But it was not until I stepped on shore that I realised that I was myself the object of this honourable welcome. I will not chronicle the details of what followed. It is sufficient to say that many hundreds of the people of Durban took occasion to express their joy at my tiny pinch of triumph over the Boers, and that their enthusiasm was another sincere demonstration of their devotion to the Imperial cause, and their resolve to carry the war to an indisputable conclusion. After an hour of turmoil, which I frankly admit I enjoyed extremely, I escaped to the train, and the journey to Pietermaritzburg passed very quickly in the absorbing occupation of devouring a month's newpapers and clearing my palate from the evil taste of the exaggerations of Pretoria by a liberal antidote of our own versions. I rested a day at Government House, and enjoyed long conversations with Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson--the Governor under whose wise administration Natal has become the most patriotic province of the Empire. Moreover, I was fortunate in meeting Colonel Hime, the Prime Minister of the Colony, a tall, grey, keen-eyed man, who talked only of the importance of fighting this quarrel out to the end, and of the obstinate determination of the people he represented to stand by the Queen's Government through all the changing moods of fortune. I received then and have since been receiving a great number of telegrams and messages from all kinds of people and from all countries of the earth. One gentleman invited me to shoot with him in Central Asia. Another favoured me with a poem which he had written in my honour, and desired me to have it set to music and published. A third--an American--wanted me to plan a raid into Transvaal territory along the Delagoa Bay line to arm the prisoners and seize the President. Five Liberal Electors of the borough of Oldham wrote to say that they would give me their votes on a future occasion 'irrespective of politics.' Young ladies sent me woollen comforters. Old ladies forwarded their photographs; and hundreds of people wrote kind letters, many of which in the stir of events I have not yet been able to answer. [Illustration: Map of THE THEATRE OF THE OPERATIONS IN NATAL] The correspondence varied vastly in tone as well as in character, and I cannot help quoting a couple of telegrams as specimens. The first was from a worthy gentleman who, besides being a substantial farmer, is also a member of the Natal Parliament. He wrote: 'My heartiest congratulations on your wonderful and glorious deeds, which will send such a thrill of pride and enthusiasm through Great Britain and the United States of America, that the Anglo-Saxon race will be irresistible.' The intention of the other, although his message was shorter, was equally plain. '_London, December 30th_.--Best friends here hope you won't go making further ass of yourself.--M'NEILL.' This shows, I think, how widely human judgment may differ even in regard to ascertained facts. I found time to visit the hospitals--long barracks which before the war were full of healthy men, and are now crammed with sick and wounded. Everything seemed beautifully arranged, and what money could buy and care provide was at the service of those who had sustained hurt in the public contention. But for all that I left with a feeling of relief. Grim sights and grimmer suggestions were at every corner. Beneath a verandah a dozen wounded officers, profusely swathed in bandages, clustered in a silent brooding group. Nurses waited quietly by shut doors that none might disturb more serious cases. Doctors hurried with solemn faces from one building to another. Here and there men pushed stretchers on rubber-tyred wheels about the paths, stretchers on which motionless forms lay shrouded in blankets. One, concerning whom I asked, had just had part of his skull trepanned: another had suffered amputation. And all this pruning and patching up of broken men to win them a few more years of crippled life caught one's throat like the penetrating smell of the iodoform. Nor was I sorry to hasten away by the night mail northwards to the camps. It was still dark as we passed Estcourt, but morning had broken when the train reached Frere, and I got out and walked along the line inquiring for my tent, and found it pitched by the side of the very same cutting down which I had fled for my life from the Boer marksmen, and only fifty yards from the spot on which I had surrendered myself prisoner. So after much trouble and adventure I came safely home again to the wars. Six weeks had passed since the armoured train had been destroyed. Many changes had taken place. The hills which I had last seen black with the figures of the Boer riflemen were crowned with British pickets. The valley in which we had lain exposed to their artillery fire was crowded with the white tents of a numerous army. In the hollows and on the middle slopes canvas villages gleamed like patches of snowdrops. The iron bridge across the Blue Krantz River lay in a tangle of crimson-painted wreckage across the bottom of the ravine, and the railway ran over an unpretentious but substantial wooden structure. All along the line near the station fresh sidings had been built, and many trains concerned in the business of supply occupied them. When I had last looked on the landscape it meant fierce and overpowering danger, with the enemy on all sides. Now I was in the midst of a friendly host. But though much was altered some things remained the same. The Boers still held Colenso. Their forces still occupied the free soil of Natal. It was true that thousands of troops had arrived to make all efforts to change the situation. It was true that the British Army had even advanced ten miles. But Ladysmith was still locked in the strong grip of the invader, and as I listened I heard the distant booming of the same bombardment which I had heard two months before, and which all the time I was wandering had been remorselessly maintained and patiently borne. Looking backward over the events of the last two months, it is impossible not to admire the Boer strategy. From the beginning they have aimed at two main objects: to exclude the war from their own territories, and to confine it to rocky and broken regions suited to their tactics. Up to the present time they have been entirely successful. Though the line of advance northwards through the Free State lay through flat open country, and they could spare few men to guard it, no British force has assailed this weak point. The 'farmers' have selected their own ground and compelled the generals to fight them on it. No part of the earth's surface is better adapted to Boer tactics than Northern Natal, yet observe how we have been gradually but steadily drawn into it, until the mountains have swallowed up the greater part of the whole Army Corps. By degrees we have learned the power of our adversary. Before the war began men said: 'Let them come into Natal and attack us if they dare. They would go back quicker than they would come.' So the Boers came and fierce fighting took place, but it was the British who retired. Then it was said: 'Never mind. The forces were not concentrated. Now that all the Natal Field Force is massed at Ladysmith, there will be no mistake.' But still, in spite of Elandslaagte, concerning which the President remarked: 'The foolhardy shall be punished,' the Dutch advance continued. The concentrated Ladysmith force, twenty squadrons, six batteries, and eleven battalions, sallied out to meet them. The Staff said: 'By to-morrow night there will not be a Boer within twenty miles of Ladysmith.' But by the evening of October 30 the whole of Sir George White's command had been flung back into the town with three hundred men killed and wounded, and nearly a thousand prisoners. Then every one said: 'But now we have touched bottom. The Ladysmith position is the _ne plus ultra_. So far they have gone; but no further!' Then it appeared that the Boers were reaching out round the flanks. What was their design? To blockade Ladysmith? Ridiculous and impossible! However, send a battalion to Colenso to keep the communications open, and make assurance doubly sure. So the Dublin Fusiliers were railed southwards, and entrenched themselves at Colenso. Two days later the Boers cut the railway south of Ladysmith at Pieters, shelled the small garrison out of Colenso, shut and locked the gate on the Ladysmith force, and established themselves in the almost impregnable positions north of the Tugela. Still there was no realisation of the meaning of the investment. It would last a week, they said, and all the clever correspondents laughed at the veteran Bennet Burleigh for his hurry to get south before the door was shut. Only a week of isolation! Two months have passed. But all the time we have said: 'Never mind; wait till our army comes. We will soon put a stop to the siege--for it soon became more than a blockade--of Ladysmith.' Then the army began to come. Its commander, knowing the disadvantageous nature of the country, would have preferred to strike northwards through the Free State and relieve Ladysmith at Bloemfontein. But the pressure from home was strong. First two brigades, then four, the artillery of two divisions, and a large mounted force were diverted from the Cape Colony and drawn into Natal. Finally, Sir Redvers Buller had to follow the bulk of his army. Then the action of Colenso was fought, and in that unsatisfactory engagement the British leaders learned that the blockade of Ladysmith was no unstable curtain that could be brushed aside, but a solid wall. Another division is hurried to the mountains, battery follows battery, until at the present moment the South Natal Field Force numbers two cavalry and six infantry brigades, and nearly sixty guns. It is with this force that we hope to break through the lines of Boers who surround Ladysmith. The army is numerous, powerful, and high-spirited. But the task before it is one which no man can regard without serious misgivings. Whoever selected Ladysmith as a military centre must sleep uneasily at nights. I remember hearing the question of a possible war with the Boers discussed by several officers of high rank. The general impression was that Ladysmith was a tremendous strategic position, which dominated the lines of approach both into the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, whereas of course it does nothing of the sort. The fact that it stands at the junction of the railways may have encouraged the belief, but both lines of advance are barred by a broken and tangled country abounding in positions of extraordinary strength. Tactically Ladysmith may be strongly defensible, politically it has become invested with much importance, but for strategic purposes it is absolutely worthless. It is worse. It is a regular trap. The town and cantonment stand in a huge circle of hills which enclasp it on all sides like the arms of a giant, and though so great is the circle that only guns of the heavier class can reach the town from the heights, once an enemy has established himself on these heights it is beyond the power of the garrison to dislodge him, or perhaps even to break out. Not only do the surrounding hills keep the garrison in, but they also form a formidable barrier to the advance of a relieving force. Thus it is that the ten thousand troops in Ladysmith are at this moment actually an encumbrance. To extricate them--I write advisedly, to endeavour to extricate them--brigades and divisions must be diverted from all the other easy lines of advance, and Sir Redvers Buller, who had always deprecated any attempt to hold Natal north of the Tugela, is compelled to attack the enemy on their own terms and their own ground. What are those terms? The northern side of the Tugela River at nearly every point commands the southern bank. Ranges of high hills strewn with boulders and dotted with trees rise abruptly from the water, forming a mighty rampart for the enemy. Before this the river, a broad torrent with few and narrow fords and often precipitous banks, flows rapidly--a great moat. And before the river again, on our side stretches a smooth, undulating, grassy country--a regular glacis. To defend the rampart and sweep the glacis are gathered, according to my information derived in Pretoria, twelve thousand, according to the Intelligence Branch fifteen thousand, of the best riflemen in the world armed with beautiful magazine rifles, supplied with an inexhaustible store of ammunition, and supported by fifteen or twenty excellent quick-firing guns, all artfully entrenched and concealed. The drifts of the river across which our columns must force their way are all surrounded with trenches and rifle pits, from which a converging fire may be directed, and the actual bottom of the river is doubtless obstructed by entanglements of barbed wire and other devices. But when all these difficulties have been overcome the task is by no means finished. Nearly twenty miles of broken country, ridge rising beyond ridge, kopje above kopje, all probably already prepared for defence, intervene between the relieving army and the besieged garrison. Such is the situation, and so serious are the dangers and difficulties that I have heard it said in the camp that on strict military grounds Ladysmith should be left to its fate; that a division should remain to hold this fine open country south of the Tugela and protect Natal; and that the rest should be hurried off to the true line of advance into the Free State from the south. Though I recognise all this, and do not deny its force, I rejoice that what is perhaps a strategically unwise decision has been taken. It is not possible to abandon a brave garrison without striking a blow to rescue them. The attempt will cost several thousand lives; and may even fail; but it must be made on the grounds of honour, if not on those of policy. We are going to try almost immediately, for there is no time to be lost. 'The sands,' to quote Mr. Chamberlain on another subject, 'are running down in the glass.' Ladysmith has stood two months' siege and bombardment. Food and ammunition stores are dwindling. Disease is daily increasing. The strain on the garrison has been, in spite of their pluck and stamina, a severe one. How long can they hold out? It is difficult to say precisely, because after the ordinary rations are exhausted determined men will eat horses and rats and beetles, and such like odds and ends, and so continue the defence. But another month must be the limit of their endurance, and then if no help comes Sir George White will have to fire off all his ammunition, blow up his heavy guns, burn waggons and equipment, and sally out with his whole force in a fierce endeavour to escape southwards. Perhaps half the garrison might succeed in reaching our lines, but the rest, less the killed and wounded, would be sent to occupy the new camp at Waterfall, which has been already laid out--such is the intelligent anticipation of the enemy--for their accommodation. So we are going to try to force the Tugela within the week, and I dare say my next letter will give you some account of our fortunes. Meanwhile all is very quiet in the camps. From Chieveley, where there are two brigades of infantry, a thousand horse of sorts, including the 13th Hussars, and a dozen naval guns, it is quite possible to see the Boer positions, and the outposts live within range of each other's rifles. Yesterday I rode out to watch the evening bombardment which we make on their entrenchments with the naval 4.7-inch guns. From the low hill on which the battery is established the whole scene is laid bare. The Boer lines run in a great crescent along the hills. Tier above tier of trenches have been scored along their sides, and the brown streaks run across the grass of the open country south of the river. After tea in the captain's cabin--I should say tent--Commander Limpus of the 'Terrible' kindly invited me to look through the telescope and mark the fall of the shots. The glass was one of great power, and I could plainly see the figures of the Boers walking about in twos and threes, sitting on the embankments, or shovelling away to heighten them. We selected one particular group near a kraal, the range of which had been carefully noted, and the great guns were slowly brought to bear on the unsuspecting target. I looked through the spy-hole at the tiny picture--three dirty beehives for the kraal, a long breastwork of newly thrown up earth, six or seven miniature men gathered into a little bunch, two others skylarking on the grass behind the trench, apparently engaged in a boxing match. Then I turned to the guns. A naval officer craned along the seventeen-feet barrel, peering through the telescopic sights. Another was pencilling some calculations as to wind and light and other intricate details. The crew, attentive, stood around. At last all was done. I looked back to the enemy. The group was still intact. The boxers were still playing--one had pushed the other down. A solitary horseman had also come into the picture and was riding slowly across. The desire of murder rose in my heart. Now for a bag! Bang! I jumped at least a foot, disarranging the telescope, but there was plenty of time to reset it while the shell was hissing and roaring its way through nearly five miles of air. I found the kraal again and the group still there, but all motionless and alert, like startled rabbits. Then they began to bob into the earth, one after the other. Suddenly, in the middle of the kraal, there appeared a huge flash, a billowy ball of smoke, and clouds of dust. Bang! I jumped again; the second gun had fired. But before this shell could reach the trenches a dozen little figures scampered away, scattering in all directions. Evidently the first had not been without effect. Yet when I turned the glass to another part of the defences the Boers were working away stolidly, and only those near the explosion showed any signs of disturbance. The bombardment continued for half an hour, the shells being flung sometimes into the trenches, sometimes among the houses of Colenso, and always directed with marvellous accuracy. At last the guns were covered up again in their tarpaulins, the crowd of military spectators broke up and dispersed amid the tents, and soon it became night. CHAPTER XIII CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR Frere: January 4, 1900. December 25.--Christmas Day! 'Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth, peace and goodwill towards men.' So no great shells were fired into the Boer entrenchments at dawn, and the hostile camps remained tranquil throughout the day. Even the pickets forbore to snipe each other, and both armies attended divine service in the morning and implored Heaven's blessing on their righteous causes. In the afternoon the British held athletic sports, an impromptu military tournament, and a gymkhana, all of which caused much merriment and diversion, and the Boers profited by the cessation of the shell fire to shovel away at their trenches. In the evening there were Christmas dinners in our camp--roast beef, plum pudding, a quart of beer for everyone, and various smoking concerts afterwards. I cannot describe the enemy's festivities. But since that peaceful day we have had desultory picket firing, and the great guns in the naval battery have spoken whenever an opportunity presented itself. The opposing outpost lines are drawn so far apart that with the best intentions they can scarcely harm each other. But the long range of the smallbore rifles encourages fancy shooting, so that there is often a brisk fusillade and no one any the worse. On our side we have only had one infantry soldier wounded. We do not know what the fortunes of the Boers may have been, but it is probable that they lose a few men every day from the bombardment, and certain that on Monday last there were three burghers killed and several wounded and one horse. It happened in this wise: beyond the strong Infantry pickets which remain in position always, there is a more or less extended line of cavalry outposts, which are sprinkled all along the kopjes to the east and west of the camp, and are sometimes nearly three miles from it. On the Monday in question--New Year's Day to wit--200 Boers set forth and attacked our picket on the extreme right. The picket, which was composed of the South African Light Horse, fell back with discretion, and the Boers following without their usual caution did not observe that eight troopers had been dropped behind among the rocks and ledges of a donga; so that when twelve of them attempted to make their way up this natural zigzag approach in order to fire upon the retiring picket they were themselves received at 400 yards by a well-directed sputter of musketry, and were glad to make off with five riderless horses, two men upon one horse, and leaving three lying quite still on the ground. Thereafter the picket continued to retreat unmolested. Indeed, the New Year opened well, and many little things seem to favour the hope that it is the turning point of the war. Besides our tiny skirmish on the right, Captain Gough, of the 16th Lancers, on the left, made his way along a convenient depression, almost to the river bank, and discovered Boers having tea in their camp at scarcely 1,800 yards. Forthwith he opened fire, causing great commotion; hurried upsetting of the tea, scrambling into tents for rifle, 'confounded impudence of these cursed rooineks! Come quickly Hans, Pieter, O'Brien, and John Smith, and let us mend their manners. What do they mean by harassing us?' And in a very few minutes there was a wrathful rattle of firing all along the trenches on the hillside, which spread far away to the right and left as other Boers heard it. What the deuce is this? Another attack! Till at last the Maxim shell gun caught the infection, and began pom, pom, pom! pom, pom, pom! and so on at intervals. Evidently much angry passion was aroused in the Boer camp, and all because Captain Gough had been trying his luck at long range volleys. The situation might have become serious; the event was, however, fortunate. No smoke betrayed the position of the scouting party; no bullets found them. A heavy shower of metal sang and whistled at random in the air. The donga afforded an excellent line of retreat, and when the adventurous patrol had retired safely into the camp they were amused to hear the Boers still busy with the supposed chastisement of their audacious assailants. But these are small incidents which, though they break the monotony of the camp, do not alter nor, each by itself, greatly accelerate the course of the war. Good news came in on New Year's Day from other quarters. Near Belmont the Canadians and Queenslanders fell on a raiding or reckless commando, took them on at their own game, hunted them and shot them among the rocks until the white flag was upon the right side for once and hoisted in honest surrender. Forty prisoners and twenty dead and wounded; excellent news to all of us; but causing amazing joy in Natal, where every colonist goes into an ecstacy over every crumb of British success. Moreover, we have good news from East London. General Gatacre is stolidly and patiently repairing the opening misfortune of his campaign: has learned by experience much of the new conditions of the war. Strange that the Boers did not advance after their victory; stranger still that they retired from Dordrecht. Never mind whether their stillness be due to national cautiousness or good defensive arrangements. Since they don't want Dordrecht, let us go there; and there we go accordingly. Out of this there arises on New Year's Day a successful skirmish, in the account of which the name of De Montmorency is mentioned. In Egypt the name was associated with madcap courage. Here they talk of prudent skill. The double reputation should be valuable. And, perhaps, the best news of all comes from Arundel, near Colesberg, where Generals French and Brabazon with the cavalry column--for it is nearly all mounted--are gradually sidling and coaxing the Boers back out of the Colony. They are a powerful combination: French's distinguished military talents, and Brabazon's long and deep experience of war. So, with this column there are no frontal attacks--perhaps they are luckier than we in respect of ground--no glorious victories (which the enemy call victories, too); very few people hurt and a steady advance, as we hear on the first day of the year, right up to Colesberg. Perhaps the tide of war has really begun to turn. Perhaps 1900 is to mark the beginning of a century of good luck and good sense in British policy in Africa. When I was a prisoner at Pretoria the Boers showed me a large green pamphlet Mr. Reitz had written. It was intended to be an account of the Dutch grounds of quarrel with the English, and was called 'A Century of Wrong.' Much was distortion and exaggeration, but a considerable part dealt with acknowledged facts. Wrong in plenty there has been on both sides, but latterly more on theirs than on ours; and the result is war--bitter, bloody war tearing the land in twain; dividing brother from brother, friend from friend, and opening a terrible chasm between the two white races who must live side by side as long as South Africa stands above the ocean, and by whose friendly co-operation alone it can enjoy the fullest measure of prosperity. 'A century of wrong!' British ignorance of South Africa, Boer ignorance of civilisation, British intolerance, Boer brutality, British interference, Boer independence, clash, clash, clash, all along the line! and then fanatical, truth-scorning missionaries, experimental philanthropists, high-handed jingo administrators, colonial ministers who disliked all colonies on the glorious principles of theoretic liberalism, bad generals thinking of their own reputations, not of their country's success, and a series of miserable events recalled sufficiently well by their names--Slagter's Nek, Kimberley, Moshesh, Majuba, Jameson, all these arousing first resentment, then loathing, then contempt, and, finally, a Great Desire, crystallising into a Great Conspiracy for a United Dutch South Africa, free from the flag that has elsewhere been regarded as the flag of freedom. And so inevitably to war--war with peculiar sadness and horror, in which the line of cleavage springs between all sorts of well-meaning people that used to know one another in friendship; but war which, whatever its fortunes, certainly sweeps the past into obscurity. We have done with 'a century of wrong.' God send us now 'a century of right.' CHAPTER XIV A MILITARY DEMONSTRATION AND SOME GOOD NEWS Chieveley: January 8, 1900. BOOM. Thud, thud. Boom. Boom. Thud--thud thud--thud thud thud thud--boom. A long succession of queer moaning vibrations broke the stillness of the sleeping camp. I became suddenly awake. It was two o'clock on the morning of January 6. The full significance of the sounds came with consciousness. We had all heard them before--heavy cannonading at Ladysmith. They were at it again. How much longer would the heroic garrison be persecuted? I turned to rest once more. But the distant guns forbade sleep. The reports grew momentarily more frequent, until at last they merged into one general roar. This was new. Never before had we heard such bombarding. Louder and louder swelled the cannonade, and presently the deep note of the heavy artillery could scarcely be distinguished above the incessant discharges of field pieces. So I lay and listened. What was happening eighteen miles away over the hills? Another bayonet attack by the garrison? Or perhaps a general sortie: or perhaps, but this seemed scarcely conceivable, the Boers had hardened their hearts and were delivering the long expected, long threatened assault. An officer came to my tent with the daylight. Something big happening at Ladysmith--hell of a cannonade--never heard anything like it--worse than Colenso--what do you think of it? But I was without opinion; nor did I find anyone anxious to pronounce. Meanwhile the firing was maintained, and we breakfasted to its accompaniment. Until half-past ten there was not the slightest diminution or intermission. As the day advanced, however, it gradually died away, showing either that the fight was over, or, as it afterwards turned out, that it had passed into the hands of riflemen. We all spent an anxious morning speculating on the reason and result of the engagement. About noon there arrived an unofficial message by heliograph, which the young officer at the signal station confided to his friends. It was brief. 'General attack all sides by Boers--everywhere repulsed--but fight still going on.' At one o'clock, just as were sitting down to luncheon, came an orderly at full gallop with the order for the whole force in Chieveley to turn out at once. Whereat the camp, till then dormant under the midday sun, sprang to life like a disturbed ant-hill. Some said we were about to make a regular attack on Colenso, while many of the covering army of Boers were busy at Ladysmith. Others suggested a night assault--with the bayonet. The idea was very pleasant to the hearts of the infantry. But I soon learned that no serious operation was in contemplation, and that the force was merely to make a demonstration before Colenso with the object of bringing some of the Boers back from Ladysmith, and of so relieving the pressure on Sir George White. The demonstration was, however, a very imposing affair. First of all the mounted forces threw out a long fringe of patrols all along the front. Behind this the squadrons made a line of black bars. The mounted infantry, Bethune's Horse, and the Natal Carabineers formed the left: the South African Light Horse the centre, and the 13th Hussars and Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry twisted back to watch the right. Behind this curtain marched the infantry, Hildyard's brigade on the right, Barton's on the left, line after line of brown men ten yards apart, two hundred yards between the lines, spreading in this open formation over a wide expanse of country, and looking a mighty swarm. Behind these again dark blocks of artillery and waggons moved slowly forward. Behind, and above all, the naval battery began to throw its shells into the village. The cavalry soon cleared the front, the squadrons wheeled about, the patrols retreated. The South African Light Horse, with whom I now have the honour to serve, were stationed in rear of Gun Hill, a rocky eminence so called because a heavy battery was placed there in the last engagement. From this feature an excellent view of the operation was afforded, and thence we watched the whole development. Sir Francis Clery, General Hildyard, and their respective Staffs had also taken their position on Gun Hill, so that its crest was thickly crowded with figures peering exhaustively through field glasses and telescopes. The infantry, who were now moving steadily forward, were literally sprinkled all over the country. In the text-books compiled from the results of past experience the military student reads that armies divide to march and concentrate to fight. 'Nous avons changé tout cela.' Here we concentrate to march and disperse to fight. I asked General Hildyard what formation his brigade was in. He replied, 'Formation for taking advantage of ant-heaps.' This is a valuable addition to the infantry drill. Meanwhile the demonstration was in progress, and not without effect. Only the well-informed realised that it was a demonstration, and the privates, as they walked phlegmatically on, did not know that they were not about to be plunged into another deluge of fire. 'You watch it, Bill,' I heard one man remark, 'we'll have that ---- laughing hyena' (the Vickers-Maxim gun) 'let off at us in a minute.' The Boers, too, seemed to be deceived, or, at any rate, doubtful, for we could see them in twos and threes, and presently in fives and sixes, galloping into their trenches, which were evidently deep enough to shelter horse and man. It was most probable that larger bodies had already begun their countermarch from Ladysmith. We were not wasting our time or our trouble. The infantry halted about three thousand yards from the enemy's position, and the artillery, which numbered fourteen guns, trotted forward and came into action. All these movements, which had been very deliberately made, had taken a long time, and it was now nearly five o'clock. Dark thunder-clouds and a drizzle of rain descended on the silent Boer position, and the range of hills along which it stretched lay in deep shadow as if under the frown of Heaven. Our batteries also were ranged in this gloomy zone, but with the reserves and on the hill whence we were watching there was bright sunlight. The bombardment and the storm broke over the Boer entrenchments simultaneously. A swift succession of fierce red flashes stabbed out from the patches of gunners, teams, and waggons, and with yellow gleams soft white balls of smoke appeared among the houses of Colenso and above the belts of scrub which extend on either side. The noise of explosions of gun and projectile came back to us on the hill in regular order, and above them rang the startling discharges of the 4.7-inch naval guns, whose shells in bursting raised huge brown dust clouds from houses, trench, or hillside. At the same time the thunder began to rumble, and vivid streaks of blue light scarred the sombre hills. We watched the impressive spectacle in safety and the sunlight. Besides creating a diversion in favour of Ladysmith the object of our demonstration was to make the enemy reveal his position and especially the positions of his guns. In this latter respect, however, we were defeated. Though they must have suffered some loss and more annoyance from the bombardment, and though much of the infantry was well within the range of their guns, the Boers declined to be drawn, and during two hours' shelling they did not condescend to give a single shot in reply. It needs a patient man to beat a Dutchman at waiting. So about seven o'clock we gave up trying. It had been intended to leave the troops on the enemy's front until night and withdraw them after dark, the idea being to make him anxious lest a night attack should be designed. But as some of the battalions had turned out without having their dinners, Sir Francis Clery decided not to keep them under arms longer, and the whole force withdrew gracefully and solemnly to camp. Here we found news from Ladysmith. 'Enemy everywhere repulsed for the present.' For the present! Hold on only a little longer, gallant garrison, and if it be in the power of 25,000 British soldiers to help you, your troubles and privations shall soon be ended--and what a dinner we will have together then! That night we tried to congratulate or encourage Ladysmith, and the searchlight perseveringly flashed the Morse code on the clouds. But before it had been working half an hour the Boer searchlight saw it and hurried to interfere, flickering, blinking, and crossing to try to confuse the dots and dashes, and appeared to us who watched this curious aerial battle--Briton and Boer fighting each other in the sky with vibrations of ether--to confuse them very effectually. Next morning, however, the sun came out for uncertain periods, and Ladysmith was able to tell her own story briefly and jerkily, but still a very satisfactory account. At two o'clock, according to Sir George White, the Boers in great numbers, evidently reinforced from Colenso, surprised the pickets and began a general attack on the outpost line round the town, particularly directing their efforts on Cæsar's Camp and Waggon Hill. The fighting became very close, and the enemy, who had after all hardened their hearts, pushed the attack with extraordinary daring and vigour. Some of the trenches on Waggon Hill were actually taken three times by the assailants. But every time General Hamilton--the skilful Hamilton as he has been called--flung them out again by counterattacks. At one place, indeed, they succeeded in holding on all day, nor was it until the dusk of the evening, when the rain and thunderstorm which we saw hanging over Colenso broke on Ladysmith, that Colonel Park led forth the Devon Regiment--who, having had half their officers killed or wounded by a shell some days before, were probably spiteful--and drove the Dutchmen helter skelter at the point of the bayonet. So that by night the Boers were repulsed at every point, with necessarily great slaughter, greater at any rate than on our side. Their first experience of assaulting! Encore! Battles now-a-days are fought mainly with firearms, but no troops, however brave, however well directed, can enjoy the full advantage of their successes if they exclude the possibilities of cold steel and are not prepared to maintain what they have won, if necessary with their fists. The moral strength of an army which welcomes the closest personal encounter must exceed that of an army which depends for its victories only on being able to kill its foes at a distance. The bayonet is the most powerful weapon we possess out here. Firearms kill many of the enemy, but it is the white weapon that makes them run away. Rifles can inflict the loss, but victory depends, for us at least, on the bayonets. Of the losses we as yet know nothing, except that Lord Ava is seriously wounded, a sad item for which the only consolation is that the Empire is worth the blood of its noblest citizens. But for the general result we rejoice. Ladysmith, too, is proud and happy. Only ten thousand of us, and look what we do! A little reproachfully, perhaps; for it is dull work fighting week after week without alcohol or green vegetables. Well, it looks as if their trials were very nearly over. Sir Charles Warren's Division marches to Frere to-day. All the hospitals have been cleared ready for those who may need them. If all's well we shall have removed the grounds of reproach by this day week. The long interval between the acts has come to an end. The warning bell has rung. Take your seats, ladies and gentlemen. The curtain is about to rise. 'High time, too,' say the impatient audience, and with this I must agree; for, looking from my tent as I write, I can see the smoke-puff bulging on Bulwana Hill as 'Long Tom' toils through his seventy-second day of bombardment, and the white wisp seems to beckon the relieving army onward. CHAPTER XV THE DASH FOR POTGIETER'S FERRY Spearman's Hill: January 13, 1900. Secrets usually leak out in a camp, no matter how many people are employed to keep them. For two days before January 10 rumours of an impending move circulated freely. There are, moreover, certain signs by which anyone who is acquainted with the under machinery of an army can tell when operations are imminent. On the 6th we heard that orders had been given to clear the Pietermaritzburg hospitals of all patients, evidently because new inmates were expected. On the 7th it was reported that the hospitals were all clear. On the 8th an ambulance train emptied the field hospitals at Frere, and that same evening there arrived seven hundred civilian stretcher-bearers--brave men who had volunteered to carry wounded under fire, and whom the army somewhat ungratefully nicknames the 'Body-snatchers.' Nor were these grim preparations the only indications of approaching activity. The commissariat told tales of accumulations of supplies--twenty-one days' packed in waggons--of the collection of transport oxen and other details, meaningless by themselves, but full of significance when viewed side by side with other circumstances. Accordingly I was scarcely surprised when, chancing to ride from Chieveley to Frere on the afternoon of the 10th, I discovered the whole of Sir Charles Warren's division added to the already extensive camp. This was the first move of the complicated operations by which Sir Redvers Buller designed to seize the passage of the Tugela at Potgieter's Ferry: Warren (seven battalions, comprising Coke's and Woodgate's Brigades and five batteries) from Estcourt to Frere. When I got back to Chieveley all was bustle in the camp. Orders to march at dawn had arrived. At last the long pause was finished; waiting was over; action had begun. So far as Chieveley was concerned, the following was the programme: Barton's Brigade to entrench itself strongly and to remain before Colenso, covering the head of the line of communications, and demonstrating against the position; Hildyard's Brigade to move westward at daylight on the 11th to Pretorius's Farm; cavalry, guns, and baggage (miles of it) to take a more circuitous route to the same place. Thither also Hart was to move from Frere, joining Hildyard and forming Clery's division. Warren was to rest until the next day. The force for the relief of Ladysmith, exclusive of Barton's Brigade and communication troops, was organised as follows: _Commander-in-Chief_: SIR REDVERS BULLER CLERY'S DIVISION Warren's Division consisting of consisting of Hildyard's Brigade, Lyttelton's Brigade, Hart's Brigade, Woodgate's Brigade, 1 squad. 13th Hussars, 1 squad. 15th Hussars, 3 batteries, 3 batteries, R.E. R.E. CORPS TROOPS Coke's Brigade (3 battalions), 1 field battery R.A., 1 howitzer battery R.A., 2 4.7-inch naval guns and Naval Brigade, 8 long-range naval 12-pounder guns, 1 squadron 13th Hussars, R.E., &c. CAVALRY (DUNDONALD) 1st Royal Dragoons. 14th Hussars. 4 squadrons South African Light Horse. 1 squadron Imperial Light Horse. Bethune's Mounted Infantry. Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry. 1 squadron Natal Carabineers. 1 squadron Natal Police. 1 company K.R.R. Mounted Infantry. 6 machine guns. Or, to sum the whole up briefly, 19,000 infantry, 3,000 cavalry, and 60 guns. All were busy with their various tasks--Barton's Brigade entrenching, making redoubts and shelter pits, or block-houses of railway iron; the other brigades packing up ready for the march as night closed in. In the morning we started. The cavalry were responsible for the safety of the baggage convoy, and with Colonel Byng, who commanded the column, I waited and watched the almost interminable procession defile. Ox waggons piled high with all kinds of packages, and drawn sometimes by ten or twelve pairs of oxen, mule waggons, Scotch carts, ambulance waggons, with huge Red Cross flags, ammunition carts, artillery, slaughter cattle, and, last of all, the naval battery, with its two enormous 4.7-inch pieces, dragged by long strings of animals, and guarded by straw-hatted khaki-clad bluejackets, passed in imposing array, with here and there a troop of cavalry to protect them or to prevent straggling. And here let me make an unpleasant digression. The vast amount of baggage this army takes with it on the march hampers its movements and utterly precludes all possibility of surprising the enemy. I have never before seen even officers accommodated with tents on service, though both the Indian frontier and the Soudan lie under a hotter sun than South Africa. But here to day, within striking distance of a mobile enemy whom we wish to circumvent, every private soldier has canvas shelter, and the other arrangements are on an equally elaborate scale. The consequence is that roads are crowded, drifts are blocked, marching troops are delayed, and all rapidity of movement is out of the question. Meanwhile, the enemy completes the fortification of his positions, and the cost of capturing them rises. It is a poor economy to let a soldier live well for three days at the price of killing him on the fourth.[1] We marched off with the rearguard at last, and the column twisted away among the hills towards the west. After marching about three miles we reached the point where the track from Frere joined the track from Chieveley, and here two streams of waggons flowed into one another like the confluence of rivers. Shortly after this all the mounted forces with the baggage were directed to concentrate at the head of the column, and, leaving the tardy waggons to toil along at their own pace, we trotted swiftly forward. Pretorius's Farm was reached at noon--a tin-roofed house, a few sheds, a dozen trees, and an artificial pond filled to the brim by the recent rains. Here drawn up in the spacious plain were the Royal Dragoons--distinguished from the Colonial Corps by the bristle of lances bare of pennons above their ranks and by their great horses--one squadron of the already famous Imperial Light Horse, and Bethune's Mounted Infantry. The Dragoons remained at the farm, which was that night to be the camping place of Clery's division. But all the rest of the mounted forces, about a thousand men, and a battery of artillery were hurried forward to seize the bridge across the Little Tugela at Springfield. So on we ride, 'trot and walk,' lightly and easily over the good turf, and winding in scattered practical formations among the beautiful verdant hills of Natal. Presently we topped a ridge and entered a very extensive basin of country--a huge circular valley of green grass with sloping hills apparently on all sides and towards the west, bluffs, rising range above range, to the bright purple wall of the Drakensberg. Other valleys opened out from this, some half veiled in thin mist, others into which the sun was shining, filled with a curious blue light, so that one seemed to be looking down into depths of clear water, and everyone rejoiced in the splendours of the delightful landscape. But now we approached Springfield, and perhaps at Springfield we should find the enemy. Surely if they did not oppose the passage they would blow up the bridge. Tiny patrols--beetles on a green baize carpet--scoured the plain, and before we reached the crease--scarcely perceptible at a mile's distance, in which the Little Tugela flows--word was brought that no Dutchmen were anywhere to be seen. Captain Gough, it appeared, with one man had ridden over the bridge in safety; more than that, had actually explored three miles on the further side: did not believe there was a Boer this side of the Tugela: would like to push on to Potgieter's and make certain: 'Perhaps we can seize Potgieter's to-night. They don't like having a flooded river behind them.' So we come safely to Springfield--three houses, a long wooden bridge 'erected by public subscription, at a cost of 4,300_l_.'--half a dozen farms with their tin roofs and tree clumps seen in the neighbourhood--and no Boers. Orders were to seize the bridge: seized accordingly; and after all had crossed and watered in the Little Tugela--swollen by the rains to quite a considerable Tugela, eighty yards wide--we looked about for something else to do. Meanwhile more patrols came in; all told the same tale: no Boers anywhere. Well, then, let us push on. Why not seize the heights above Potgieter's? If held, they would cost a thousand men to storm; now, perhaps, they might be had for nothing. Again, why not? Orders said, 'Go to Springfield;' nothing about Potgieter's at all. Never mind--if cavalry had never done more than obey their orders how different English history would have been! Captain Birdwood, 11th Bengal Lancers, glorious regiment of the Indian frontier, now on Lord Dundonald's staff, was for pushing on. All and sundry were eager to get on. 'Have a dash for it.' It is very easy to see what to do in the field of war until you put on the thick blue goggles of responsibility. Dundonald reflected, reflected again, and finally resolved. _Vorwärts!_ So on we went accordingly. Three hundred men and two guns were left to hold the Springfield bridge, seven hundred men and four guns hurried on through the afternoon to Potgieter's Ferry, or, more properly speaking, the heights commanding it, and reached them safely at six o'clock, finding a strong position strengthened by loopholed stone walls, unguarded and unoccupied. The whole force climbed to the top of the hills, and with great labour succeeded in dragging the guns with them before night. Then we sent back to announce what we had done and to ask for reinforcements. The necessity for reinforcements seemed very real to me, for I have a wholesome respect for Boer military enterprise; and after the security of a great camp the dangers of our lonely unsupported perch on the hills came home with extra force. 'No Boers this side of the Tugela.' How did we know? We had not seen any, but the deep valleys along the river might easily conceal two thousand horsemen. I said to myself, the Boer has always a reason for everything he does. He left the Springfield bridge standing. It would have cost him nothing to blow it up. Why, then, had he neglected this obvious precaution? Again, the position we had seized had actually been fortified by the enemy. Why, then, had they abandoned it to a parcel of horsemen without a shot fired? I could quite understand that the flooded Tugela was not a satisfactory feature to fight in front of, but it seemed certain that they had some devilry prepared for us somewhere. The uninjured bridge appeared to me a trap: the unguarded position a bait. Suppose they were, we should be attacked at daylight. Nothing more than a soldier should always expect; but what of the position? The line we had to hold to cover the approaches to our hill-top was far greater than seven hundred men could occupy. Had we been only cavalry and mounted men we could have fallen back after the position became untenable, but we were encumbered with four field-guns--a source of anxiety, not of strength. So I began to long for infantry. Two thousand good infantry would make everything absolutely secure. And ten miles away were infantry by thousands, all delighted to march every mile nearer the front. We passed a wet and watchful night without food or sleep, and were glad to find the break of day unbroken by the musketry of a heavy attack. From our lofty position on the heights the whole country beyond the Tugela was spread like a map. I sat on a great rock which overhung the valley, and searched the landscape inch by inch with field glasses. After an hour's study my feeling of insecurity departed. I learned the answer to the questions which had perplexed the mind. Before us lay the 'devilry' the Boers had prepared, and it was no longer difficult to understand why the Springfield bridge had been spared and the heights abandoned.[2] The ground fell almost sheer six hundred feet to the flat bottom of the valley. Beneath, the Tugela curled along like a brown and very sinuous serpent. Never have I seen such violent twists and bends in a river. At times the waters seemed to loop back on themselves. One great loop bent towards us, and at the arch of this the little ferry of Potgieter's floated, moored to ropes which looked through the field glasses like a spider's web. The ford, approached by roads cut down through the steep bank, was beside it, but closed for the time being by the flood. The loop of river enclosed a great tongue of land which jutted from the hills on the enemy's side almost to our feet. A thousand yards from the tip of this tongue rose a line of low kopjes crowned with reddish stones. The whole tongue was virtually ours. Our guns on the heights or on the bank could sweep it from flank to flank, enfilade and cross fire. Therefore the passage of the river was assured. We had obtained what amounted to a practical bridgehead, and could cross whenever we thought fit. But the explanation of many things lay beyond. At the base of the tongue, where it sprang from the Boer side of the valley, the ground rose in a series of gentle grassy slopes to a long horseshoe of hills, and along this, both flanks resting securely on unfordable reaches of the river, out of range from our heights of any but the heaviest guns, approachable by a smooth grass glacis, which was exposed to two or three tiers of cross-fire and converging fire, ran the enemy's position. Please look at the sketch on p. 261, which shows nothing but what it is meant to. [Illustration: Plan of Potgieter's Ferry.] It will be seen that there is no difficulty in shelling the Boers out of the little kopjes, of fortifying them, and of passing the army on to the tip of the tongue; but to get off the tongue on to the smooth plateau that runs to Ladysmith it was necessary to force the tremendous Boer position enclosing the tongue. In technical language the possession of the heights virtually gave us a bridgehead on the Tugela, but the debouches from that bridgehead were barred by an exterior line of hills fortified and occupied by the enemy. What will Sir Redvers Buller do? In a few hours we shall know. To cross and deliver a frontal attack will cost at least three thousand men. Is a flank attack possible? Can the position be turned? Fords few and far between, steep banks, mighty positions on the further banks: such are some of the difficulties. But everyone has confidence in the general. An officer who had been serving on the Kimberley side came here. 'I don't understand,' he said, 'how it is you are all so cheerful here after Colenso. You should hear the troops at Modeler River.' But it is a poor army that cannot take a repulse and come up smiling, and when the private soldiers put their faith in any man they are very constant. Besides, Buller's personality impresses everyone with the idea of some great reserve of force. Certainly he has something up his sleeve. The move to Potgieter's has been talked of for a month and executed with the greatest ostentation and deliberation. Surely something lies behind it all. So at least we all believe, and in the meanwhile trust wholeheartedly. But some part of the army will certainly cross at Potgieter's; and as I looked down on the smooth smiling landscape it seemed very strange to think that in a few days it would blaze into a veritable hell. Yet the dark lines of shelter trenches, the redoubts crowning the hills, the bristle of tiny black figures busily entrenching against the sky line, hundreds of horses grazing in the plain, all promised a fierce and stubborn defence. I turned about. The country to the southward was also visible. What looked to the naked eye like an endless thin rope lay streaked across the spacious veldt, and when I looked through the glass I saw that it was ten or twelve miles of marching men and baggage. The armies were approaching. The collision impended. Nothing happened during the day except the capture of the ferry, which daring enterprise was carried out by volunteers from the South African Light Horse. Six swimmers, protected by a covering party of twenty men, swam the flooded Tugela and began to haul the punt back, whereat the Boers concealed in the kopjes opened a brisk fire at long range on the naked figures, but did not hit anyone nor prevent them all from bringing the punt safely to our side: a dashing exploit, of which their regiment--the 'Cockyolibirds,' as the army, with its customary irreverence, calls us on account of the cock's feather cockades we wear in our hats (miserable jealousy!)--are immensely proud. The falling of the Tugela increased the danger of our position, and I was delighted when I woke up the next morning, the second of our adventurous occupation, to find Colonel Sandbach, to whom I had confided my doubts, outside my tent, saying 'I suppose you'll be happy now. Two battalions have arrived.' And, sure enough, when I looked southwards, I saw a steady rivulet of infantry trickling through the gorge, and forming a comfortable brown inundation in the hollow where our camp lay. A few minutes later Sir Redvers Buller and his staff rode up to see things for themselves, and then we knew that all was well. The General made his way to the great stone we call the observatory, and lying down on his back peered through a telescope in silence for the best part of an hour. Then he went off to breakfast with the Cavalry Brigade staff. A few officers remained behind to take a still more exhaustive view. 'There'll be some wigs on that green before long.' 'What a wonderful sight it will be from here!' 'What a place to see a battle from!' Two artillerymen were loitering near. Said one: 'We ought to have the Queen up here, in her little donkey carriage.' 'Ah, we'd do it all right then,' replied his comrade. But when I looked at the peaceful plain and reflected on the storm and tumult presently to burst upon it, I could not help being glad that no gentle eye would view that bloody panorama. FOOTNOTES: [1] This complaint was not in one respect justified by what followed, for after we left Spearman's we only saw our tents for a day or two, and at rare intervals, until Ladysmith was relieved. [2] _Vide_ map, opposite p. 366, which will be found to illustrate the subsequent letters. CHAPTER XVI TRICHARDT'S DRIFT AND THE AFFAIR OF ACTON HOMES Venter's Spruit: January 22, 1900. On Thursday, January 11, Sir Redvers Buller began his operations for forcing the Tugela and relieving Ladysmith. Barton's Brigade entrenched itself at Chieveley, guarding the line of railway communication. Hildyard's Brigade marched westward six miles to Pretorius's Farm, where they were joined by the cavalry, the naval guns, three batteries Field Artillery, and Hart's Brigade from Frere. The infantry and two batteries remained and encamped, making Clery's division, while the mounted forces under Dundonald moved forward to take the bridge across the Little Tugela at Springfield, and, finding this unoccupied, pushed on and seized the heights overlooking Potgieter's Drift on the Tugela, On the 12th Warren's division, comprising the brigades of Lyttelton and Woodgate, with three batteries, marched to Springfield, where they camped. On the 13th the mounted troops, holding the heights above Potgieter's Drift, were strengthened by the arrival of two battalions of Lyttelton's Brigade from Springfield. Sir Redvers Buller established his headquarters in this camp. On the 14th the rest of the brigade followed, and the same day the corps troops, consisting of Coke's Brigade, one howitzer, and one field battery, reached Springfield. On the 15th Coke moved to the position before Potgieter's, and the naval guns were established on the heights commanding the ford. All this while the Boers contented themselves with fortifying their horseshoe position which enclosed the debouches from Potgieter's Drift, and only picket firing disturbed the general peace. Such was the situation when I wrote my last letter. It was soon to develop, though in a most leisurely and deliberate manner. The mounted forces, which had arrived at Spearman's Hill, as the position before Potgieter's was called, on the 11th, passed nearly a week of expectation. Daily we watched the enemy fortifying his position, and observed the long lines of trenches which grew and spread along the face of the opposite hills. Daily we made reconnoitring expeditions both east and west along the Tugela, expeditions always attended with incident, sometimes with adventure. One day Colonel Byng crawled with two squadrons to the summit of a high hill which overlooked the road from Colenso to Potgieter's, and a long and patient vigil was rewarded by the arrival of five Boer ox waggons toiling sluggishly along with supplies, on which we directed a rapid and effective fire till they found some refuge in a cutting. Another day we strengthened ourselves with two guns, and, marching nearly to the junction of the Tugelas, gave the Boers camped there an honest hour's shelling, and extricated a patrol of Bethune's Mounted Infantry from a rather disagreeable position, so that they were able to bring off a wounded trooper. Nightly the cavalry camp went to sleep in the belief that a general attack would open on the enemy's position at dawn. Day after day the expected did not happen. Buller had other resources than to butt his head against the tremendous entrenchments which were springing up before him. Everyone discussed every conceivable alternative, and in the meanwhile it was always 'battle to-morrow,' but never 'battle to-day.' And so it has continued until this moment, and the great event--the main trial of strength--still impends. But though there has been but little powder burned the situation has materially altered, and its alteration has been entirely to our advantage. We have crossed the Tugela. The river which for two months has barred the advance of the relieving army lies behind us now. The enemy entrenched and entrenching in a strong position still confronts us, but the British forces are across the Tugela, and have deployed on the northern bank. With hardly any loss Sir Redvers Buller has gained a splendid advantage. The old inequality of ground has been swept away, and the strongest army yet moved under one hand in South Africa stands face to face with the Boers on the ordinary terms of attack and defence. Let me describe the steps by which this result has been obtained. On the afternoon of the 16th, as we were sitting down to luncheon, we noticed a change in the appearance of the infantry camps on the reverse slopes of Spearman's Hill. There was a busy bustling of men; the tents began to look baggy, then they all subsided together; the white disappeared, and the camping grounds became simply brown patches of moving soldiery. Lyttelton's Brigade had received orders to march at once. Whither? It was another hour before this part of the secret transpired. They were to cross the river and seize the near kopjes beyond Potgieter's Drift. Orders for cavalry and guns to move arrived in quick succession; the entire cavalry force, excepting only Bethune's Mounted Infantry, to march at 5.30 P.M., with five days' rations, 150 rounds per man, and what they stood up in--tents blankets, waterproof sheets, picketing gear, all to be left behind. Our camp was to remain standing. The infantry had struck theirs. I puzzled over this for some time, in fact until an officer pointed out that our camp was in full view of the Boer outposts on Spion Kop, while the infantry camps were hidden by a turn of the hill. Evidently a complex and deeply laid scheme was in progress. In the interval, while the South African Light Horse were preparing for the march, I rode up to Gun Hill to watch the operation of seizing the near kopjes, which stood on the tongue of land across the river, and as nearly as possible in the centre of the horseshoe position of the enemy. The sailors were hauling their two great guns to the crest of the hill ready to come into action to support the infantry attack. Far below, the four battalions crept through the scrub at the foot of the hills towards the ferry. As they arrived at the edge of the open ground the long winding columns dissolved into sprays of skirmishers, line behind line of tiny dashes, visible only as shadows on the smooth face of the veldt, strange formations, the result of bitter practical experience. Presently the first line--a very thin line--men twenty paces apart--reached the ferry punt and the approaches to the Waggon Drift, and scrambled down to the brim of the river. A single man began to wade and swim across, carrying a line. Two or three others followed. Then a long chain of men, with arms locked--a sort of human caterpillar--entered the water, struggled slowly across, and formed up under the shelter of the further bank. All the time the Boers, manning their trenches and guns, remained silent. The infantry of the two leading battalions were thus filtering uneventfully across when the time for the cavalry column to start arrived. There was a subdued flutter of excitement as we paraded, for though both our destination and object were unknown, it was clearly understood that the hour of action had arrived. Everything was moving. A long cloud of dust rose up in the direction of Springfield. A column of infantry--Coke's Brigade--curled out of its camp near Spearman's Hill, and wound down towards the ferry at Potgieter's. Eight curiously proportioned guns (naval 12-pounders), with tiny wheels and thin elongated barrels, were passed in a string, each tied to the tail of a waggon drawn by twenty oxen. The howitzer battery hurried to follow; its short and squat pieces, suggesting a row of venomous toads, made a striking contrast. As the darkness fell the cavalry column started. On all sides men were marching through the night: much important business was toward, which the reader may easily understand by studying the map, but cannot without such attention. Having placed his army within striking distance of the various passages across the Tugela, Sir Redvers Buller's next object was to cross and debouch. To this end his plan appears to have been--for information is scarcely yet properly codified--something as follows: Lyttelton's Brigade, the corps troops forming Coke's Brigade, the ten naval guns, the battery of howitzers, one field battery, and Bethune's Mounted Infantry to demonstrate in front of the Potgieter position, keeping the Boers holding the horseshoe in expectation of a frontal attack, and masking their main position; Sir Charles Warren to march by night from Springfield with the brigades of Hart, Woodgate, and Hildyard, the Royal Dragoons, six batteries of artillery, and the pontoon train to a point about five miles west of Spearman's Hill, and opposite Trichardt's Drift on the Tugela. Here he was to meet the mounted forces from Spearman's Hill, and with these troops he was next day, the 17th, to throw bridges, force the passage of the river, and operate at leisure and discretion against the right flank of the enemy's horseshoe before Potgieter's, resting on Spion Kop, a commanding mountain, ultimately joining hands with the frontal force from Spearman's Hill at a point on the Acton Homes-Ladysmith road. To sum up briefly, seven battalions, twenty-two guns, and three hundred horse under Lyttelton to mask the Potgieter position; twelve battalions, thirty-six guns, and sixteen hundred horse to cross five miles to the westward, and make a turning movement against the enemy's right. The Boer covering army was to be swept back on Ladysmith by a powerful left arm, the pivoting shoulder of which was at Potgieter's, the elbow at Trichardt's Drift, and the enveloping hand--the cavalry under Lord Dundonald--stretching out towards Acton Homes. So much for the plan; now for its execution or modifications. One main feature has characterised the whole undertaking--its amazing deliberation. There was to be absolutely no hurry of any kind whatever. Let the enemy entrench and fortify. If necessary, we were prepared to sap up to his positions. Let him discover where the attack impended. Even then all his resistance should be overborne. And it seems now that this same deliberation which was so punctiliously observed, when speed appeared an essential to success, baffled the enemy almost as much as it mystified the troops. However, the event is not yet decided. After about two, hours' easy marching the cavalry reached the point of rendezvous among the hills opposite Trichardt's Drift, and here we halted and awaited developments in the blackness. An hour passed. Then there arrived Sir Charles Warren and staff. 'Move the cavalry out of the way--fifteen thousand men marching along this road to-night.' So we moved accordingly and waited again. Presently the army began to come. I remember that it poured with rain, and there was very little to look at in the gloom, but, nevertheless, it was not possible to stand unmoved and watch the ceaseless living stream--miles of stern-looking men marching in fours so quickly that they often had to run to keep up, of artillery, ammunition columns, supply columns, baggage, slaughter cattle, thirty great pontoons, white-hooded, red-crossed ambulance waggons, all the accessories of an army hurrying forward under the cover of night--and before them a guiding star, the red gleam of war. We all made quite sure that the bridges would be built during the night, so that with the dawn the infantry could begin to cross and make an immediate onfall. But when morning broke the whole force was revealed spread about the hills overlooking the drift and no sound of artillery proclaimed the beginning of an action. Of course, since a lightning blow had been expected, we all wondered what was the cause of the delay. Some said folly, others incapacity, others even actual laziness. But so far as the operations have proceeded I am not inclined to think that we have lost anything by not hurrying on this occasion. As I write all is going well, and it would have been a terrible demand to make of infantry that they should attack, after a long night march, such a position as lay and still lies in part before us. In fact it was utterly impossible to do anything worth doing that day beyond the transportation; so that, though the Boers were preparing redoubts and entrenchments with frantic energy, we might just as well take our time. At about eight o'clock a patrol of the Imperial Light Horse, under Captain Bridges, having ascertained that only a few Dutch scouts were moving within range on the further bank, the passage of the river began. Two battalions of Hildyard's Brigade, the West Yorkshires and the Devons, moved towards the drift in the usual open formation, occupied the houses, and began to entrench themselves in the fields. Six batteries came into action from the wooded heights commanding the passage. The pontoons advanced. Two were launched, and in them the West Yorkshire Regiment began to cross, accumulating gradually in the shelter of the further bank. Then the sappers began to build the bridges. Half a dozen Boers fired a few shots at long range, and one unfortunate soldier in the Devons was killed. The batteries opened on the farms, woods, and kopjes beyond the river, shelling them assiduously, though there was not an enemy to be seen, and searching out the ground with great thoroughness. I watched this proceeding of making 'sicker' from the heights. The drift was approached from the ground where we had bivouacked by a long, steep, descending valley. At nine o'clock the whole of Hart's Brigade poured down this great gutter and extended near the water. The bridge was growing fast--span after span of pontoons sprang out at the ends as it lay along the bank. Very soon it would be long enough to tow into position across the flood. Moreover, the infantry of the West Yorks and Devons had mostly been ferried across, and were already occupying the lately well-shelled farms and woods. At eleven o'clock the bridge was finished, the transported infantry were spreading up the hills, and Woodgate's Brigade moved forward down the valley. It soon became time for the cavalry to cross, but they were not accommodated, as were the infantry, with a convenient bridge, About a quarter of a mile down stream from Trichardt's Drift there is a deep and rather dangerous ford, called the Waggon Drift. Across this at noon the mounted men began to make their way, and what with the uneven bottom and the strong current there were a good many duckings. The Royal Dragoons mounted on their great horses, indeed, passed without much difficulty, but the ponies of the Light Horse and Mounted Infantry were often swept off their feet, and the ridiculous spectacle of officers and men floundering in the torrent or rising indignantly from the shallows provided a large crowd of spectators--who had crossed by the bridge--with a comedy. Tragedy was not, however, altogether excluded, for a trooper of the 13th Hussars was drowned, and Captain Tremayne, of the same regiment, who made a gallant attempt to rescue him, was taken from the water insensible. During the afternoon the busy Engineers built a second bridge across the river, and by this and the first the artillery, the ammunition columns, and the rest of the mass of wheeled transport defiled. All that day and through the night this monotonous business of passing the waggons across continued. The cavalry had bivouacked--all tents and even waterproofs were now left behind--within the infantry picket lines, and we awoke at the break of day expecting to hear the boom of the first gun. 'Quite right to wait until there was a whole day to make the attack in. Suppose that was the reason we did not hurry yesterday.' But no guns fired near Trichardt's Drift, and only the frontal force at Potgieter's began its usual bombardment. Sir Charles Warren, moreover, said that his artillery had not finished crossing--one battery still to cross--and that there was no hurry. Deliberation was the order of the day. So again everyone was puzzled, and not a few were critical, for in modern times everyone thinks, and even a native camp follower has his views on tactics and strategy. A very complete consolation awaited the cavalry. All that Warren did with his infantry on this day, the 18th, was to creep cautiously forward about two miles towards the Boer position, which with its left resting on Spion Kop stretched along the edge and crest of a lofty plateau, from which long gently sloping spurs and _arêtes_ ran down to the river. For us, however, there was more diverting employment. 'The mounted brigade will guard the left flank of the infantry.' Such was the order; and is not offence the surest defence? Accordingly all the irregular cavalry moved in a considerable column westward across the front of the Boer position, endeavouring to find where its flank rested, and prying with inquisitive patrols at every object of interest. The order of march was as follows: First, the composite regiment (one squadron of Imperial Light Horse, the 60th Rifles, Mounted Infantry, and one squadron of Natal Carabineers), 350 of the very best; next, four squadrons of the South African Light Horse, good shooting high-class colonial Volunteers with officers of experience; then Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry. 'Lived in Natal all our lives! Know every inch of it, sir!' And behind these alert mounted riflemen moved the ponderous and terrible regulars, 13th Hussars and Royals, with the dreaded _arme blanche_, 'Wait till we get among them.' Altogether a formidable brigade. There were many halts, and no one hurried, so that at two o'clock the whole cavalry formed a line of observation along the lower kopjes by the river about five miles long. The composite regiment was not, however, to be seen. Major Graham, who commanded it, had been observed trotting swiftly off to the westward. Two hundred Boers had also been reported moving in that direction. Presently came the sound of distant musketry--not so very distant either. Everyone pricked up his ears. Two miles away to the left was a green hill broken by rocky kopjes. Looking through my glasses I could see ten or twelve riderless horses grazing. A mile further on a group of Boers sheltering behind a kopje from the continual fire was visible. Suddenly one galloped away madly, and even at the distance it was possible to see the cloud of dust from pursuing bullets. A straggling column of Boers was trekking away across the plain back to their main position. Then came reports and rumours. 'Ambuscaded the Dutchmen--shot 'em to bits--some of them cut off--come and bag the lot.' Behind the rumours Barnes, adjutant of the Imperial Light Horse, joyful, with a breathless horse; he explained how they had seen two hundred Boers moving towards distant hills, to make sure of their line of retreat by the Acton Homes road into the Free State; galloped to cut them off; reached the hills first, with just five minutes to spare; dismounted, commanding the road, and waited. The Boers admitted afterwards that they thought that the squadrons visible on the other hills two miles back were the head of our column, and they also blamed their scouts, particularly one, an Austrian. 'It all comes of trusting these cursed foreigners! If we had only had a _veldt_ Boer out we should never have been caught.' Caught, however, they undoubtedly were. The Carabineers and the Imperial Light Horse held their fire until the scouts walked into their midst, and then let drive at the main body, 300 yards range, mounted men, smooth open grass plain. There was a sudden furious, snapping fusillade The Boer column stopped paralysed; then they broke and rushed for cover. The greater number galloped fast from the field; some remained on the ground dead or wounded. Others took refuge among the rocks of the kopjes and apparently proposed to hold out until dark, and hence the arrival of Lieutenant Barnes demanding reinforcements, 60th Rifles, Mounted Infantry, and anything else, so as to attack these fellows in flank and 'bag the lot.' Meanwhile Lord Dundonald had arrived on our hill. 'Certainly, every man we can spare.' Off gallops the Mounted Infantry and one squadron of the South African Light Horse, and later on some of Thorneycroft's, and later still the Brigadier himself. I arrived in time to see the end. The Boers--how many we could not tell--were tenaciously holding the black rocks of a kopje and were quite invisible. The British riflemen curved round them in a half-moon, firing continually at the rocks. The squadron of South African Light Horse had worked almost behind the enemy, and every Dutchman who dared make a dash for liberty ran a terrible gauntlet. Still the surrender did not come. The white flag flickered for a moment above the rocks, but neither side stopped firing. Evidently a difference of opinion among the enemy. What do we care for that? Night is coming on. Let us rush them with the bayonet and settle the matter. This from the Rifles--nobody else had bayonets. So a section pushes forward against the rocks, crawling along the ground. Anxious to see the surrender, I followed on my pony, but on the instant there broke out a savage fire from the kopje, and with difficulty I found shelter in a donga. Here were two of the Natal Carabineers--one a bearded man of the well-to-do farmer class, the other a young fair-haired gentleman--both privates, both as cool as ice. 'Vewy astonishing outburst of fire,' said the younger man in a delicate voice. 'I would recommend your remaining here with your horse for the present.' Accordingly we lay still on the grass slope and awaited developments. The young gentleman put his helmet over the crest on the end of his rifle, and was much diverted to hear the bullets whistle round it. At intervals he substituted his head for the helmet and reported the state of the game. 'Bai Jove, the Rifles are in a hot place.' I peered cautiously. A hundred yards away the Mounted Infantry section were extended. The dust spurts rose around the men, who remained pinned to the earth, scarcely able to raise their heads to fire. Whatever passed over them came whizzing in our direction. The Natal Volunteer, however, was too much interested in the proceedings to forego his view. 'Deah, deah, they've fixed bayonets! Why, they're coming back. They've had someone hurt.' I looked again for a moment. The line of riflemen was certainly retiring, wriggling backwards slowly on their bellies. Two brown forms lay still and hunched in the abandoned position. Then suddenly the retiring Riflemen sprang up and ran for shelter in our donga. One lad jumped right in among us laughing and panting, and the whole party turned at once and lined the bank. First-class infantry can afford to retire at the double, sure that they will stop at a word. 'We got to within fifty yards of the Dutchmen,' they said; 'but it was too hot to go further. They've shot two fellows through the head.' Eventually we all retired to the main position on the ridge above us. Lord Dundonald and his staff had just arrived. 'There! there's the white flag again. Shoot the devils!' cried a soldier, and the musketry crashed out fiercely. 'What's to be done, sir?' said the Captain, turning to the Brigadier; 'the white flag has been up off and on for the last half-hour, but they don't stop firing, and they've just killed two of my men.' 'Give them one more chance.' 'Cease fire--cease fire there, will you?' for the men were very angry, and so at last the musketry died away, and there was silence. Then from among the rocks three dark figures stood up holding up their hands, and at this tangible evidence of surrender we got on our horses and galloped towards them waving pocket handkerchiefs and signalling flags to show them that their surrender was accepted. Altogether there were twenty-four prisoners--all Boers of the most formidable type--a splendid haul, and I thought with delight of my poor friends the prisoners at Pretoria. This might redeem a few. Then we searched the ground, finding ten dead or dying and twenty loose horses, ten dead and eight badly wounded men. The soldiers crowded round these last, covering them up with blankets or mackintoshes, propping their heads with saddles for pillows, and giving them water and biscuits from their bottles and haversacks. Anger had turned to pity in an instant. The desire to kill was gone. The desire to comfort replaced it. A little alert officer--Hubert Gough, now a captain, soon to command a regiment--came up to me. Two minutes before his eyes were bright and joyous with the excitement of the man hunt. He had galloped a mile--mostly under fire--to bring the reinforcements to surround the Boers. 'Bag the lot, you know.' Now he was very sad. 'There's a poor boy dying up there--only a boy, and so cold--who's got a blanket?' So the soldiers succoured the Boer wounded, and we told the prisoners that they would be shown courtesy and kindness worthy of brave men and a famous quarrel. The Boer dead were collected and a flag of truce was sent to the enemy's lines to invite a burying and identification party at dawn. I have often seen dead men, killed in war--thousands at Omdurman--scores elsewhere, black and white, but the Boer dead aroused the most painful emotions. Here by the rock under which he had fought lay the Field Cornet of Heilbronn, Mr. de Mentz--a grey-haired man of over sixty years, with firm aquiline features and a short beard. The stony face was grimly calm, but it bore the stamp of unalterable resolve; the look of a man who had thought it all out, and was quite certain that his cause was just, and such as a sober citizen might give his life for. Nor was I surprised when the Boer prisoners told me that Mentz had refused all suggestions of surrender, and that when his left leg was smashed by a bullet he had continued to load and fire until he bled to death; and they found him, pale and bloodless, holding his wife's letter in his hand. Beside him was a boy of about seventeen shot through the heart. Further on lay our own two poor riflemen with their heads smashed like eggshells; and I suppose they had mothers or wives far away at the end of the deep-sea cables. Ah, horrible war, amazing medley of the glorious and the squalid, the pitiful and the sublime, if modern men of light and leading saw your face closer, simple folk would see it hardly ever. It could not be denied that the cavalry had scored a brilliant success. We had captured twenty-four, killed ten, and wounded eight--total, forty-two. Moreover, we had seen the retreating Boers dragging and supporting their injured friends from the field, and might fairly claim fifteen knocked out of time, besides those in our hands, total fifty-seven; a fine bag, for which we had had to pay scarcely anything. Two soldiers of the Mounted Infantry killed; one trooper of the Imperial Light Horse slightly, and one officer, Captain Shore--the twenty-third officer of this regiment hit during the last three months--severely wounded. CHAPTER XVII THE BATTLE OF SPION KOP Venter's Spruit: January 25, 1900. It is the remarkable characteristic of strong races, as of honourable men, to keep their tempers in the face of disappointment, and never to lose a just sense of proportion; and it is, moreover, the duty of every citizen in times of trouble to do or say or even to think nothing that can weaken or discourage the energies of the State. Sir Redvers Buller's army has met with another serious check in the attempt to relieve Ladysmith. We have approached, tested, and assailed the Boer positions beyond the Tugela, fighting more or less continuously for five days, and the result is that we find they cannot be pierced from the direction of Trichardt's Drift any more than at Colenso. With the loss of more than two thousand men out of a small army, we find it necessary to recross the, river and seek for some other line of attack; and meanwhile the long and brave resistance of Ladysmith must be drawing to a close. Indeed, it is the opinion of many good judges that further efforts to relieve the town will only be attended with further loss. As to this I do not pronounce, but I am certain of one thing--that further efforts must be made, without regard to the loss of life which will attend them. I have seen and heard a good deal of what has passed here. I have often been blamed for the freedom with which I have written of other operations and criticised their commanders. I respectfully submit that I am as venomous an amateur strategist as exists at this time. It is very easy--and much more easy than profitable--when freed from all responsibility to make daring suggestions and express decided opinions. I assert that I would not hesitate to criticise mercilessly if I was not myself sobered by the full appreciation of the extraordinary difficulties which the relief of Ladysmith presents; and if there be anyone who has any confidence in my desire to write the truth I appeal to him to be patient and calm, to recognise that perhaps the task before Sir Redvers Buller and his subordinates is an actual impossibility, that if these generals are not capable men--among the best that our times produce--it is difficult to know where and how others may be obtained, and finally to brutally face the fact that Sir George White and his heroic garrison may be forced to become the prisoners of the Boers, remembering always that nothing that happens, either victory or defeat, in northern Natal can affect the ultimate result of the war. In a word, let no one despair of the Empire because a few thousand soldiers are killed, wounded, or captured Now for the story as plainly and briefly as possible. When Buller had arrived at Potgieter's he found himself confronted by a horseshoe position of great strength, enclosing and closing the debouches from the ford where he had secured a practical bridgehead. He therefore masked Potgieter's with seven battalions and twenty-four guns, and sent Warren with twelve battalions and thirty-six guns to turn the right, which rested on the lofty hill--almost mountain--of Spion Kop. The Boers, to meet this turning movement, extended their line westwards along the heights of the Tugela valley almost as far as Acton Homes. Their whole position was, therefore, shaped like a note of interrogation laid on its side, --/\, the curve in front of General Lyttelton, the straight line before Sir Charles Warren. At the angle formed by the junction of the curve and the line stands Spion Kop--'look-out hill.' The curved position in front of General Lyttelton has been already described in a previous letter. The straight position in front of Sir Charles Warren ran in two lines along the edge and crest of a plateau which rises steeply two miles from the river, but is approachable by numerous long _arêtes_ and dongas. These letters have completed the chronicle down to the evening of the 18th, when the successful cavalry action was fought on the extreme left. I do not know why nothing was done on the 19th, but it does not appear that anything was lost by the delay. The enemy's entrenchments were already complete, and neither his numbers nor the strength of his positions could increase. On the 20th Warren, having crept up the _arêtes_ and dongas, began his attack. The brigades of Generals Woodgate and Hart pushed forward on the right, and the Lancashire and Irish regiments, fighting with the usual gallantry of her Majesty's troops, succeeded, in spite of a heavy fire of rifles and artillery, in effecting lodgments at various points along the edge of the plateau, capturing some portions of the enemy's first line of entrenchments. On the extreme left the cavalry under Lord Dundonald demonstrated effectively, and the South African Light Horse under Colonel Byng actually took and held without artillery support of any kind a high hill, called henceforward 'Bastion Hill,' between the Dutch right and centre. Major Childe, the officer whose squadron performed this daring exploit, was killed on the summit by the shell fire to which the successful assailants were subjected by the Boers. In the evening infantry reinforcements of Hildyard's Brigade arrived, and at dawn the cavalry handed over the hill to their charge. The losses during the day did not exceed three hundred and fifty officers and men wounded--with fortunately, a small proportion of killed--and fell mainly on the Lancashire Fusiliers, the Dublin Fusiliers (always in the front), and the Royal Lancaster Regiment. They were not disproportioned to the apparent advantage gained. On the 21st the action was renewed. Hart's and Woodgate's brigades on the right made good and extended their lodgments, capturing all the Boer trenches of their first defensive line along the edge of the plateau. To the east of 'Bastion Hill' there runs a deep _re-entrant_, which appeared to open a cleft between the right and centre of the Boer position. The tendency of General Hildyard's action, with five battalions and two batteries, on the British left this day was to drive a wedge of infantry into this cleft and so split the Boer position in two. But as the action developed, the great strength of the second line of defence gradually revealed itself. It ran along the crest of the plateau, which rises about a thousand yards from the edge in a series of beautiful smooth grassy slopes of concave surface, forming veritable glacis for the musketry of the defence to sweep; and it consisted of a line of low rock and earth redoubts and shelter trenches, apparently provided with overhead cover, and cleverly arranged to command all approaches with fire--often with cross-fire, sometimes with converging fire. Throughout the 21st, as during the 20th, the British artillery, consisting of six field batteries and four howitzers, the latter apparently of tremendous power, bombarded the whole Boer position ceaselessly, firing on each occasion nearly three thousand shells. They claim to have inflicted considerable loss on the enemy, and must have inflicted some, but failed utterly and painfully to silence the musketry, to clear the trenches, or reach and overpower the Dutch artillery, which did not number more than seven or eight guns and two Maxim shell-guns, but which were better served and manoeuvred and of superior quality. The losses in the action of the 20th were about one hundred and thirty officers and men killed and wounded, but this must be regarded as severe in the face of the fact that no serious collision or even contact took place. During the 22nd and 23rd the troops held the positions they had won, and the infantry were subjected to a harassing shell fire from the Boer guns, which, playing from either flank, searched the _re-entrants_ in which the battalions sheltered, and which, though they did not cause a greater loss than forty men on the 22nd and twenty-five on the 23rd, nevertheless made their position extremely uncomfortable. It was quite evident that the troops could not be fairly required to endure this bombardment, against which there was no protection, indefinitely. Nor was any good object, but rather the contrary, to be gained by waiting. Three alternatives presented themselves to the council of war held on the 22nd. First, to attack the second Boer position frontally along the crest by moonlight. This would involve a great slaughter and a terrible risk. Secondly, to withdraw again, beyond the Tugela, and look elsewhere for a passage: a moral defeat and a further delay in the relief of Ladysmith; and thirdly, to attack by night the mountain of Spion Kop, and thence to enfilade and command the Boer entrenchments. Sir Redvers Buller, who has always disdained effect, was for the second course--unpalatable as it must have been to a fearless man; miserable as it is to call off infantry after they have made sacrifices and won positions, and to call them off a second time. The discussion was an informal one, and no votes were taken, but the General yielded to the advice of his subordinate, rightly, I hold, because now at least we know the strength of the enemy's position, whereas before we only dreaded it; and knowledge is a better reason for action than apprehension. It was therefore decided to attack Spion Kop by night, rush the Boer trenches with the bayonet, entrench as far as possible before dawn, hold on during the day, drag guns up at night, and thus dominate the Boer lines. There is, of course, no possible doubt that Spion Kop is the key of the whole position, and the reader has only to think of the horizontal note of interrogation, and remember that the mountain at the angle divides, commands, and enfilades the enemy's lines, to appreciate this fact. The questions to be proved were whether the troops could hold out during the day, and whether the place could be converted into a fort proof against shell fire and armed with guns during the following night. Fate has now decided both. General Woodgate was entrusted with the command, and Colonel Thorneycroft with much of the arrangement and direction of the night attack. It does not seem that anything but good resulted from this too soon broken co-operation. Thorneycroft declined to attack on the night of the 22nd because the ground had not been reconnoitered, and he wanted to be sure of his way. The infantry therefore had another day's shelling on the 23rd. Good reconnaissances were, however, made, Lyttelton was strengthened by two Fusilier battalions from Chieveley, Warren was reinforced by Talbot Coke's Brigade and the Imperial Light Infantry, and at one o'clock on the morning of January 24 General Woodgate started from his camp with the Lancashire Fusiliers, the Royal Lancaster Regiment, two companies of the South Lancashires, and Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry. Guided by Colonel Thorneycroft the force made its way successfully up the southern spur of the mountain, over most difficult and dangerous ground, and surprised the Boers guarding the entrenchments on the summit. At three o'clock those listening in the plain heard the sudden outburst of musketry, followed by the loud cheers of the troops, and knew that the position had been carried. Ten soldiers were killed and wounded in the firing. Six Boers perished by the bayonet. The force then proceeded to fortify itself, but the surface of the hill was extremely unsuited to defence. The rocks which covered the summit made digging an impossibility, and were themselves mostly too large to be built into sangars. Such cover, however, as had been made by the Boers was utilised and improved. Morning broke, and with it the attack. The enemy, realising the vital importance of the position, concentrated every man and gun at his disposal for its recapture. A fierce and furious shell fire was opened forthwith on the summit, causing immediate and continual loss. General Woodgate was wounded, and the command devolved on a regimental officer, who, at half-past six, applied for reinforcements in a letter which scarcely displayed that composure and determination necessary in such a bloody debate. Sir Redvers Buller then took the extreme step of appointing Major Thorneycroft--already only a local lieutenant-colonel--local Brigadier-General commanding on the summit of Spion Kop. The Imperial Light Infantry, the Middlesex Regiment, and a little later the Somersets, from General Talbot Coke's Brigade, were ordered to reinforce the defence, but General Coke was directed to remain below the summit of the hill, so that the fight might still be conducted by the best fighting man. The Boers followed, and accompanied their shells by a vigorous rifle attack on the hill, and about half-past eight the position became most critical. The troops were driven almost entirely off the main plateau and the Boers succeeded in reoccupying some of their trenches. A frightful disaster was narrowly averted. About twenty men in one of the captured trenches abandoned their resistance, threw up their hands, and called out that they would surrender. Colonel Thorneycroft, whose great stature made him everywhere conspicuous, and who was from dawn till dusk in the first firing line, rushed to the spot. The Boers advancing to take the prisoners--as at Nicholson's Nek--were scarcely thirty yards away. Thorneycroft shouted to the Boer leader: 'You may go to hell. I command on this hill and allow no surrender. Go on with your firing.' Which latter they did with terrible effect, killing many. The survivors, with the rest of the firing line, fled two hundred yards, were rallied by their indomitable commander, and, being reinforced by two brave companies of the Middlesex Regiment, charged back, recovering all lost ground, and the position was maintained until nightfall. No words in these days of extravagant expression can do justice to the glorious endurance which the English regiments--for they were all English--displayed throughout the long dragging hours of hell fire. Between three and four o'clock the shells were falling on the hill from both sides, as I counted, at the rate of seven a minute, and the strange discharges of the Maxim shell guns--the 'pom-poms' as these terrible engines are called for want of a correct name--lacerated the hillsides with dotted chains of smoke and dust. A thick and continual stream of wounded flowed rearwards. A village of ambulance waggons grew up at the foot of the mountain. The dead and injured, smashed and broken by the shells, littered the summit till it was a bloody, reeking shambles. Thirst tormented the soldiers, for though water was at hand the fight was too close and furious to give even a moment's breathing space. But nothing could weaken the stubborn vigour of the defence. The Dorset Regiment--the last of Talbot Coke's Brigade--was ordered to support the struggling troops. The gallant Lyttelton of his own accord sent the Scottish Rifles and the 3rd King's Royal Rifles from Potgieter's to aid them. But though their splendid attack did not help the main action; though the British artillery, unable to find or reach the enemy's guns, could only tear up the ground in impotent fury; though the shell fire and rifle fire never ceased for an instant--the magnificent infantry maintained the defence, and night closed in with the British still in possession of the hill. I find it convenient, and perhaps the reader will allow me, to break into a more personal account of what followed. It drove us all mad to watch idly in camp the horrible shelling that was directed on the captured position, and at about four o'clock I rode with Captain R. Brooke, 7th Hussars, to Spion Kop, to find out what the true situation was. We passed through the ambulance village, and leaving our horses climbed up the spur. Streams of wounded met us and obstructed the path. Men were staggering along alone, or supported by comrades, or crawling on hands and knees, or carried on stretchers. Corpses lay here and there. Many of the wounds were of a horrible nature. The splinters and fragments of the shell had torn and mutilated in the most ghastly manner. I passed about two hundred while I was climbing up. There was, moreover, a small but steady leakage of unwounded men of all corps. Some of these cursed and swore. Others were utterly exhausted and fell on the hillside in stupor. Others again seemed drunk, though they had had no liquor. Scores were sleeping heavily. Fighting was still proceeding, and stray bullets struck all over the ground, while the Maxim shell guns scourged the flanks of the hill and the sheltering infantry at regular intervals of a minute. The 3rd King's Royal Rifles were out of reach. The Dorset Regiment was the only battalion not thrown into the fight, and intact as an effective unit. I had seen some service and Captain Brooke has been through more fighting than any other officer of late years. We were so profoundly impressed by the spectacle and situation that we resolved to go and tell Sir Charles Warren what we had seen. The fight had been so close that no proper reports had been sent to the General, so he listened with great patience and attention. One thing was quite clear--unless good and efficient cover could be made during the night, and unless guns could be dragged to the summit of the hill to match the Boer artillery, the infantry could not, perhaps would not, endure another day. The human machine will not stand certain strains for long. The questions were, could guns be brought up the hill; and, if so, could the troops maintain themselves? The artillery officers had examined the track. They said 'No,' and that even if they could reach the top of the hill they would only be shot out of action. Two long-range naval 12-pounders, much heavier than the field-guns, had arrived. The naval lieutenant in charge said he could go anywhere, or would have a try any way. He was quite sure that if he could get on the top of the hill he would knock out the Boer guns or be knocked out by them, and that was what he wanted to find out. I do not believe that the attempt would have succeeded, or that the guns could have been in position by daylight, but the contrast in spirit was very refreshing. Another informal council of war was called. Sir Charles Warren wanted to know Colonel Thorneycroft's views. I was sent to obtain them. The darkness was intense. The track stony and uneven. It was hopelessly congested with ambulances, stragglers, and wounded men. I soon had to leave my horse, and then toiled upwards, finding everywhere streams of men winding about the almost precipitous sides of the mountain, and an intermittent crackle of musketry at the top. Only one solid battalion remained--the Dorsets. All the others were intermingled. Officers had collected little parties, companies and half-companies; here and there larger bodies had formed, but there was no possibility, in the darkness, of gripping anybody or anything. Yet it must not be imagined that the infantry were demoralised. Stragglers and weaklings there were in plenty. But the mass of the soldiers were determined men. One man I found dragging down a box of ammunition quite by himself. 'To do something,' he said. A sergeant with twenty men formed up was inquiring what troops were to hold the position. Regimental officers everywhere cool and cheery, each with a little group of men around him, all full of fight and energy. But the darkness and the broken ground paralysed everyone. I found Colonel Thorneycroft at the top of the mountain. Everyone seemed to know, even in the confusion, where he was. He was sitting on the ground surrounded by the remnants of the regiment he had raised, who had fought for him like lions and followed him like dogs. I explained the situation as I had been told and as I thought. Naval guns were prepared to try, sappers and working parties were already on the road with thousands of sandbags. What did he think? But the decision had already been taken. He had never received any messages from the General, had not had time to write any. Messages had been sent him, he had wanted to send others himself. The fight had been too hot, too close, too interlaced for him to attend to anything, but to support this company, clear those rocks, or line that trench. So, having heard nothing and expecting no guns, he had decided to retire. As he put it tersely: 'Better six good battalions safely down the hill than a mop up in the morning.' Then we came home, drawing down our rearguard after us very slowly and carefully, and as the ground grew more level the regiments began to form again into their old solid blocks. Such was the fifth of the series of actions called the Battle of Spion Kop. It is an event which the British people may regard with feelings of equal pride and sadness. It redounds to the honour of the soldiers, though not greatly to that of the generals. But when all that will be written about this has been written, and all the bitter words have been said by the people who never do anything themselves, the wise and just citizen will remember that these same generals are, after all, brave, capable, noble English gentlemen, trying their best to carry through a task which may prove to be impossible, and is certainly the hardest ever set to men. The Lancashire Fusiliers, the Imperial Light Infantry--whose baptism of fire it was--Thorneycroft's, and the Middlesex Regiment sustained the greater part of the losses. We will have another try, and, if it pleases God, do better next time. CHAPTER XVIII THROUGH THE FIVE DAYS' ACTION Venter's Spruit: January 25, 1900. The importance of giving a general and comprehensive account of the late actions around and on Spion Kop prevented me from describing its scenes and incidents. Events, like gentlemen at a levee, in these exciting days tread so closely on each other's heels that many pass unnoticed, and most can only claim the scantiest attention. But I will pick from the hurrying procession a few--distinguished for no other reason than that they have caught my eye--and from their quality the reader may judge of the rest. The morning of the 20th discovered the cavalry still encamped behind the hills near the Acton Homes road, on which they had surprised the Boers two days before. The loud and repeated discharge of the artillery advised us that the long-expected general action had begun. What part were the cavalry to play? No orders had been sent to Lord Dundonald except that he was to cover the left flank of the infantry. But the cavalry commander, no less than his brigade, proposed to interpret these instructions freely. Accordingly, at about half-past nine, the South African Light Horse, two squadrons of the 13th Hussars, and a battery of four machine guns moved forward towards the line of heights along the edge and crest of which ran the Boer position with the intention of demonstrating against them, and the daring idea--somewhere in the background--of attacking and seizing one prominent feature which jutted out into the plain, and which, from its boldness and shape, we had christened 'Bastion Hill.' The composite regiment, who watched the extreme left, were directed to support us if all was clear in their front at one o'clock, and Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry, who kept touch between the main cavalry force and the infantry left flank, had similar orders to co-operate. At ten o'clock Lord Dundonald ordered the South African Light Horse to advance against Bastion Hill. If the resistance was severe they were not to press the attack, but to content themselves with a musketry demonstration. If, however, they found it convenient to get on they were to do so as far as they liked. Colonel Byng thereon sent two squadrons under Major Childe to advance, dismounted frontally on the hill, and proposed to cover their movements by the fire of the other two squadrons, who were to gallop to the shelter of a wood and creep thence up the various dongas to within effective range. Major Childe accepted his orders with alacrity, and started forth on what seemed, as I watched from a grassy ridge, a most desperate enterprise. The dark brown mass of Bastion Hill appeared to dominate the plain. On its crest the figures of the Boers could be seen frequently moving about. Other spurs to either flanks looked as if they afforded facilities for cross fire. And to capture this formidable position we could dismount only about a hundred and fifty men; and had, moreover, no artillery support of any kind. Yet as one examined the hill it became evident that its strength was apparent rather than real. Its slopes were so steep that they presented no good field of fire. Its crest was a convex curve, over and down which the defenders must advance before they could command the approaches, and when so advanced they would be exposed without shelter of any kind to the fire of the covering troops. The salient was so prominent and jutted out so far from the general line of hills, and was besides shaped so like a blunted redan, that its front face was secure from flanking fire. In fact there was plenty of dead ground in its approaches, and, moreover, dongas--which are the same as nullahs in India or gullies in Australia--ran agreeably to our wishes towards the hill in all directions. When first we had seen the hill three days before we had selected it as a weak point in the Dutch line. It afterwards proved that the Boers had no illusions as to its strength and had made their arrangements accordingly. So soon as the dismounted squadrons had begun their advance, Colonel Byng led the two who were to cover it forward. The wood we were to reach and find shelter in was about a thousand yards distant, and had been reported unoccupied by the Boers, who indeed confined themselves strictly to the hills after their rough handling on the 18th by the cavalry. We moved off at a walk, spreading into a wide open order, as wise colonial cavalry always do. And it was fortunate that our formation was a dispersed one, for no sooner had we moved into the open ground than there was the flash of a gun faraway among the hills to the westward. I had had some experience of artillery fire in the armoured train episode, but there the guns were firing at such close quarters that the report of the discharge and the explosion of the shell were almost simultaneous. Nor had I ever heard the menacing hissing roar which heralds the approach of a long-range projectile. It came swiftly, passed overhead with a sound like the rending of thin sheets of iron, and burst with a rather dull explosion in the ground a hundred yards behind the squadrons, throwing up smoke and clods of earth. We broke into a gallop, and moved in curving course towards the wood. I suppose we were a target a hundred yards broad by a hundred and fifty deep. The range was not less than seven thousand yards, and we were at the gallop. Think of this, Inspector-General of Artillery: the Boer gunners fired ten or eleven shells, every one of which fell among or within a hundred yards of our ranks. Between us and the wood ran a deep donga with a river only fordable in places flowing through it. Some confusion occurred in crossing this, but at last the whole regiment was across, and found shelter from the terrible gun--perhaps there were two--on the further bank. Thanks to our dispersed formation only two horses had been killed, and it was possible to admire without having to deplore the skill of the artillerists who could make such beautiful practice at such a range. Colonel Byng thought it advisable to leave the horses in the cover of the protecting river bank, and we therefore pushed on, dismounted, and, straggling through the high maize crop without presenting any target to the guns, reached the wood safely. Through this we hurried as far as its further edge. Here the riflemen on the hill opened with long-range fire. It was only a hundred yards into the donga, and the troopers immediately began running across in twos and threes. In the irregular corps all appearances are sacrificed to the main object of getting where you want to without being hurt. No one was hurt. Colonel Byng made his way along the donga to within about twelve or fourteen hundred yards, and from excellent cover opened fire on the Boers holding the summit of the hill. A long musketry duel ensued without any loss to our side, and with probably no more to the enemy. The colonial troopers, as wary as the Dutch, showed very little to shoot at, so that, though there were plenty of bullets, there was no bloodshed. Regular infantry would probably have lost thirty or forty men. I went back for machine guns, and about half an hour later they were brought into action at the edge of the wood. Boers on the sky-line at two thousand yards--tat-tat-tat-tat-tat half a dozen times repeated; Boers galloping to cover; one--yes, by Jupiter!--one on his back on the grass; after that no more targets to shoot at; continuous searching of the sky-line, however, on the chance of killing someone, and, in any case, to support the frontal attack. We had altogether three guns--the 13th Hussars' Maxim under Lieutenant Clutterbuck, detached from the 4th Hussars; one of Lord Dundonald's battery of Colts under Mr. Hill, who is a member of Parliament, and guides the majestic course of Empire besides managing machine guns; and our own Maxim, all under Major Villiers. These three machines set up a most exhilarating splutter, flaring and crackling all along the edge of the wood, and even attracted the attention of the Boers. All of a sudden there was a furious rush and roar overhead; two or three little cassarina trees and a shower of branches fell to the ground. What on earth could this be? The main action was crashing away on the right. Evidently a shell had passed a few feet over our heads, but was it from our guns shelling the hills in front, or from the enemy? In another minute the question was answered by another shell. It was our old friend the gun to the westward, who, irritated by the noisy Maxims, had resolved to put his foot down. Whizz! Bang! came a third shot, exploding among the branches just behind the Colt gun, to the great delight of Mr. Hill, who secured a large fragment which I have advised him to lay on the table in the smoking-room of the House for the gratification, instruction, and diversion of other honourable members. The next shell smashed through the roof of a farmhouse which stood at the corner of the wood, and near which two troops of the 13th Hussars, who were escorting the Maxims and watching the flanks, had left their led horses. The next, in quick succession, fell right among them, killing one, but luckily, very luckily, failed to burst. The officer then decided to move the horses to a safer place. The two troops mounted and galloped off. They were a tiny target, only a moving speck across the plain. But the Boer gunners threw a shell within a yard of the first troop leader. All this at seven thousand yards! English artillery experts, please note and if possible copy. While these things were passing the advancing squadrons had begun to climb the hill, and found to their astonishment that they were scarcely fired at. It was of great importance, however, that the Boers should be cleared from the summit by the Maxim fire, and lest this should be diverted on our own men by mistake I left the wood for the purpose of signalling back how far the advance had proceeded and up to what point the guns could safely fire. The ground was broken; the distance considerable. Before I reached the hill the situation had changed. The enemy's artillery had persuaded the Maxims that they would do better to be quiet--at any rate until they could see something to shoot at. Major Childe had reached the top of the hill, one man of his squadron, ten minutes in front of anyone else, waving his hat on his rifle at the summit to the admiration of thousands of the infantry, all of whom saw this act of conspicuous recklessness and rejoiced. Lord Dundonald had galloped up to support the attack with Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry and the rest of the 13th Hussars. We, the South African Light Horse, had taken Bastion Hill. To advance further forward, however, proved quite impossible. The Boers had withdrawn to a second position a thousand yards in rear of the top of the hill. From this they directed a most accurate and damnable fire on all who showed themselves on the plateau. Beneath the crest one sat in safety and listened to the swish of bullets passing overhead. Above, the men were content to lie quite still underneath the rocks and wait for darkness. I had a message for Major Childe and found him sitting on this dangerous ground, partly sheltered by a large rock--a serene old gentleman, exhausted with his climb, justly proud of its brilliant success. I found no reason to remain very long on the plateau, and had just returned to the Brigadier when the Boer guns began to shell the tip of the hill. The first two or three projectiles skimmed over the surface, and roared harmlessly away. But the Boers were not long in striking their mark. Two percussion shells burst on the exposed side of the hill, and then a well-exploded shrapnel searched its summit, searched and found what it sought. Major Childe was instantly killed by a fragment that entered his brain, and half a dozen troopers were more or less seriously wounded. After that, as if satisfied, the enemy's gun turned its attention elsewhere. I think this death of Major Childe was a very sad event even among the inevitable incidents of war. He had served many-years ago in the Blues, and since then a connection with the Turf had made him not unknown and well liked in sporting circles. Old and grey as he was, the call to arms had drawn him from home, and wife, and comfort, as it is drawing many of all ages and fortunes now. And so he was killed in his first fight against the Boers after he had performed an exploit--his first and last in war--which would most certainly have brought him honourable distinction. He had a queer presentiment of impending fate, for he had spoken a good deal to us of the chances of death, and had even selected his own epitaph, so that on the little wooden cross which stands at the foot of Bastion Hill--the hill he himself took and held--there is written: 'Is it well with the child? It is well!' The coign of vantage which I found on the side of the hill was not only to a great extent sheltered from the bullets, but afforded an extensive view of the general action, and for the rest of the day I remained with Lord Dundonald watching its development. But a modern action is very disappointing as a spectacle. There is no smoke except that of the bursting shells. The combatants are scattered, spread over a great expanse of ground, concealed wherever possible, clad in neutral tint. All the pomp and magnificence of Omdurman, the solid lines of infantry, the mighty Dervish array, bright with flashing spears and waving flags, were excluded. Rows of tiny dots hurried forward a few yards and vanished into the brown of the earth. Bunches and clusters of brown things huddled among the rocks or in sheltered spots. The six batteries of artillery unlimbered, and the horses, hidden in some safe place, were scarcely visible. Once I saw in miniature through glasses a great wave of infantry surge forward along a spur and disappear beyond a crest line. The patter of the Mauser rifles swelled into a continuous rumbling like a train of waggons passing over a pontoon bridge, and presently the wave recoiled; the minute figures that composed it squeezed themselves into cover among some rocks, a great many groups of men began carrying away black objects. A trickle of independent dots dispersed itself. Then we groaned. There had been a check. The distant drama continued. The huddling figures began to move again--lithe, active forms moved about rearranging things--officers, we knew, even at the distance. Then the whole wave started again full of impetus--started--went forward, and never came back. And at this we were all delighted, and praised the valour of our unequalled infantry, and wished we were near enough to give them a cheer. So we watched until nightfall, when some companies of the Queen's, from General Hildyard's Brigade, arrived, and took over the charge of our hill from us, and we descended to get our horses, and perhaps some food, finding, by good luck, all we wanted, and lay down on the ground to sleep, quite contented with ourselves and the general progress of the army. The action of the 21st had begun before I awoke, and a brisk fusillade was going on all along the line. This day the right attack stood still, or nearly so, and the activity was confined to the left, where General Hildyard, with five battalions and two batteries, skilfully felt and tested the enemy's positions and found them most unpleasantly strong. The main difficulty was that our guns could not come into action to smash the enemy in his trenches without coming under his rifle fire, because the edge of the plateau was only a thousand yards from the second and main Boer position, and unless the guns were on the edge of the plateau they could see very little and do less. The cavalry guarded the left flank passively, and I remember no particular incident except that our own artillery flung the fragments of two premature shells among us and wounded a soldier in the Devonshire Regiment. The following fact, however, is instructive. Captain Stewart's squadron of the South African Light Horse dismounted, held an advanced kopje all day long under a heavy fire, and never lost a man. Two hundred yards further back was another kopje held by two companies of regular infantry under equal fire. The infantry had more than twenty men hit. On the 22nd the action languished and the generals consulted. The infantry had made themselves masters of all the edge of the plateau, and the regiments clustered in the steep re-entrants like flies on the side of a wall. The Boers endeavoured to reach them with shells, and a desultory musketry duel also proceeded. During the afternoon I went with Captain Brooke to visit some of the battalions of General Hart's Brigade and see what sort of punishment they were receiving. As we rode up the watercourse which marks the bottom of the valley a shrapnel shell cleared the western crest line and exploded among one of the battalions. At first it seemed to have done no harm, but as we climbed higher and nearer we met a stretcher carried by six soldiers. On it lay a body with a handkerchief thrown across the face. The soldiers bearing the stretcher were all covered with blood. We proceeded and soon reached the battalions. A company of the Dublin Fusiliers were among those captured in the armoured train, and I have the pleasure of knowing most of the officers of this regiment. So we visited them first--a dozen gentlemen--begrimed, unwashed, unshaven, sitting on the hillside behind a two-foot wall of rough stones and near a wooden box, which they called the 'Officers' Mess.' They were in capital spirits in spite of every abominable circumstance. 'What did you lose in the action?' 'Oh, about fifty. Poor Hensley was killed, you know; that was the worst of it.' Captain Hensley was one of the smallest and bravest men in the Army, and the Dublin Fusiliers, who should be good judges, regarded him as their very best officer for all military affairs, whether attack, retreat, or reconnaissance. Each had lost a friend, but collectively as a regiment they had lost a powerful weapon. 'Very few of us left now,' said the colonel, surveying his regiment with pride. 'How many?' 'About four hundred and fifty.' 'Out of a thousand?' 'Well, out of about nine hundred.' This war has fallen heavily on some regiments. Scarcely any has suffered more severely, none has won greater distinction, than the Dublin Fusiliers--everywhere at the front--Dundee, Lombard's Kop, Colenso, Chieveley, Colenso again, and even here at Spion Kop. Half the regiment, more than half the officers killed or wounded or prisoners. But the survivors were as cheery as ever. 'Do these shells catch anyone?' 'Only two or three an hour. They don't come always: every half-hour we get half a dozen. That last one killed an officer in the next regiment. Rather bad luck, picking an officer out of all these men--only one killed to-day so far, a dozen wounded.' I inquired how much more time remained before the next consignment of shells was due. They said about ten minutes. I thought that would just suit me, and bade them good morning, for I have a horror of being killed when not on duty; but Captain Brooke was anxious to climb to the top and examine the Boer position, and since we had come so far it was perhaps worth while going on. So we did, and with great punctuality the shells arrived. We were talking to the officers of another regiment when they began. Two came in quick succession over the eastern wall of the valley and then one over the western. All three burst--two on impact, one in the air. A fourth ripped along a stone shelter behind which skirmishers were firing. A fifth missed the valley altogether and screeched away into the plain clear of the hills. The officers and men were quite callous. They scarcely troubled to look up. The soldiers went on smoking or playing cards or sleeping as if nothing had happened. Personally I felt no inclination to any of these pursuits, and I thought to sit and wait indefinitely, for the caprice of one of these shrieking iron devils would be most trying to anyone. But apparently you can get accustomed to anything. The regiment where the officer had been killed a few minutes before was less cheerful and callous. The little group of officers crouching in the scanty shelter had seen one of their number plucked out of their midst and slain--uselessly as it seemed. They advised us to take cover, which we would gladly have done had there been any worth speaking of; for at this moment the Boers discharged their Vickers-Maxim gun--the 'pom-pom'--and I have never heard such an extraordinary noise. Seven or eight bangs, a rattle, an amazing cluttering and whistling overhead, then the explosions of the little shells, which scarred the opposite hillside in a long row of puffs of brown dust and blue-white smoke, suggesting a lash from a knotted scourge. 'Look out!' we were told, 'they always follow that with a shell.' And so they did, but it passed overhead without harming anyone. Again the Vickers-Maxim flung its covey of projectiles. Again we crouched for the following shell; but this time it did not come--immediately. I had seen quite enough, however, so we bade our friends good luck--never good-bye on active service--and hurried, slowly, on account of appearances, from this unhealthy valley. As we reached our horses I saw another shell burst among the infantry. After that there was another interval. Further on we met a group of soldiers returning to their regiment One lad of about nineteen was munching a biscuit. His right trouser leg was soaked with blood, I asked whether he was wounded. 'No, sir; it's only blood from an officer's head,' he answered, and went on--eating his biscuit. Such were the fortunes for four days of the two brigades forming Warren's left attack. I have already written a general account of the final action of Spion Kop on January 24, and have little to add. As soon as the news spread through the camps that the British troops were occupying the top of the mountain I hurried to Gun Hill, where the batteries were arrayed, and watched the fight from a flank. The spectacle was inconsiderable but significant. It was like a shadow peep-show. Along the mighty profile of the hill a fringe of little black crotchets advanced. Then there were brown and red smudges of dust from shells striking the ground and white puffs from shrapnel bursting in the air--variations from the black and white. Presently a stretcher borne by five tiny figures jerks slowly forward, silhouetted on the sky-line; more shells; back goes the stretcher laden, a thicker horizontal line than before. Then--a rush of crotchets rearwards--one leading two mules, mules terrified, jibbing, hanging back--all in silhouette one moment, the next all smudged with dust cloud; God help the driver; shadows clear again; driver still dragging mules--no, only one mule now; other figures still running rearwards. Suddenly reinforcements arrive, hundreds of them; the whole sky-line bristles with crotchets moving swiftly along it, bending forward almost double, as if driving through a hailstorm. Thank heaven for that--only just in time too--and then more smudges on the shadow screen. Sir Charles Warren was standing near me with his staff. One of his officers came up and told me that they had been disturbed at breakfast by a Boer shell, which had crashed through their waggon, killing a servant and a horse. Presently the General himself saw me. I inquired about the situation, and learned for the first time of General Woodgate's wound--death it was then reported--and that Thorneycroft had been appointed brigadier-general. 'We have put what we think is the best fighting man in command regardless of seniority. We shall support him as he may request. We can do no more.' I will only relate one other incident--a miserable one. The day before the attack on Spion Kop I had chanced to ride across the pontoon bridge. I heard my name called, and saw the cheery face of a boy I had known at Harrow--a smart, clean-looking young gentleman--quite the rough material for Irregular Horse. He had just arrived and pushed his way to the front; hoped, so he said, 'to get a job.' This morning they told me that an unauthorised Press correspondent had been found among the killed on the summit. At least they thought at first it was a Press correspondent, for no one seemed to know him. A man had been found leaning forward on his rifle, dead. A broken pair of field glasses, shattered by the same shell that had killed their owner, bore the name 'M'Corquodale.' The name and the face flew together in my mind. It was the last joined subaltern of Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry--joined in the evening shot at dawn. Poor gallant young Englishman! he had soon 'got his job.' The great sacrifice had been required of the Queen's latest recruit. CHAPTER XIX A FRESH EFFORT AND AN ARMY CHAPLAIN Spearman's Hill: February 4, 1900 The first gleams of daylight crept underneath the waggon, and the sleepers, closely packed for shelter from the rain showers, awoke. Those who live under the conditions of a civilised city, who lie abed till nine and ten of the clock in artificially darkened rooms, gain luxury at the expense of joy. But the soldier, who fares simply, sleeps soundly, and rises with the morning star, wakes in an elation of body and spirit without an effort and with scarcely a yawn. There is no more delicious moment in the day than this, when we light the fire and, while the kettle boils, watch the dark shadows of the hills take form, perspective, and finally colour, knowing that there is another whole day begun, bright with chance and interest, and free from all cares. All cares--for who can be worried about the little matters of humdrum life when he may be dead before the night? Such a one was with us yesterday--see, there is a spare mug for coffee in the mess--but now gone for ever. And so it may be with us to-morrow. What does it matter that this or that is misunderstood or perverted; that So-and-so is envious and spiteful; that heavy difficulties obstruct the larger schemes of life, clogging nimble aspiration with the mud of matters of fact? Here life itself, life at its best and healthiest, awaits the caprice of the bullet. Let us see the development of the day. All else may stand over, perhaps for ever. Existence is never so sweet as when it is at hazard. The bright butterfly flutters in the sunshine, the expression of the philosophy of Omar Khayyám, without the potations. But we awoke on the morning of the 25th in most gloomy spirits. I had seen the evacuation of Spion Kop during the night, and I did not doubt that it would be followed by the abandonment of all efforts to turn the Boer left from the passages of the Tugela at and near Trichardt's Drift. Nor were these forebodings wrong. Before the sun was fairly risen orders arrived, 'All baggage to move east of Venter's Spruit immediately. Troops to be ready to turn out at thirty minutes' notice.' General retreat, that was their meaning. Buller was withdrawing his train as a preliminary to disengaging, if he could, the fighting brigades, and retiring across the river. Buller! So it was no longer Warren! The Commander-in-Chief had arrived, in the hour of misfortune, to take all responsibility for what had befallen the army, to extricate it, if possible, from its position of peril, to encourage the soldiers, now a second time defeated without being beaten, to bear the disappointment. Everyone knows how all this, that looked so difficult, was successfully accomplished. The army was irritated by the feeling that it had made sacrifices for nothing. It was puzzled and disappointed by failure which it did not admit nor understand. The enemy were flushed with success. The opposing lines in many places were scarcely a thousand yards apart. As the infantry retired the enemy would have commanding ground from which to assail them at every point. Behind flowed the Tugela, a deep, rapid, only occasionally fordable river, eighty-five yards broad, with precipitous banks. We all prepared ourselves for a bloody and even disastrous rearguard action. But now, I repeat, when things had come to this pass, Buller took personal command. He arrived on the field calm, cheerful, inscrutable as ever, rode hither and thither with a weary staff and a huge notebook, gripped the whole business in his strong hands, and so shook it into shape that we crossed the river in safety, comfort, and good order, with most remarkable mechanical precision, and without the loss of a single man or a pound of stores. The fighting troops stood fast for two days, while the train of waggons streamed back over the bridges and parked in huge black squares on the southern bank. Then, on the night of the 26th, the retreat began. It was pitch dark, and a driving rain veiled all lights. The ground was broken. The enemy near. It is scarcely possible to imagine a more difficult operation. But it was performed with amazing ease. Buller himself--not Buller by proxy or Buller at the end of a heliograph--Buller himself managed it. He was the man who gave orders, the man whom the soldiers looked to. He had already transported his train. At dusk he passed the Royals over the ford. By ten o'clock all his cavalry and guns were across the pontoon bridges. At ten he began disengaging his infantry, and by daylight the army stood in order on the southern bank. While the sappers began to take the pontoon bridges to pieces the Boers, who must have been astonished by the unusual rapidity of the movement, fired their first shell at the crossing. We were over the river none too soon. A successful retreat is a poor thing for a relieving army to boast of when their gallant friends are hard pressed and worn out. But this withdrawal showed that this force possesses both a leader and machinery of organisation, and it is this, and this alone, that has preserved our confidence. We believe that Buller gauged the capacity of one subordinate at Colenso, of another at Spion Kop, and that now he will do things himself, as he was meant to do. I know not why he has waited so long. Probably some pedantic principle of military etiquette: 'Commander-in-Chief should occupy a central position; turning movements should be directed by subordinates.' But the army believes that this is all over now, and that for the future Buller will trust no one but himself in great matters; and it is because they believe this that the soldiers are looking forward with confidence and eagerness to the third and last attempt--for the sands at Ladysmith have run down very low--to shatter the Boer lines. We have waited a week in the camp behind Spearman's Hill. The General has addressed the troops himself. He has promised that we shall be in Ladysmith soon. To replace the sixteen hundred killed and wounded in the late actions, drafts of twenty-four hundred men have arrived. A mountain battery, A Battery R.H.A., and two great fortress guns have strengthened the artillery. Two squadrons of the 14th Hussars have been added to the cavalry, so that we are actually to-day numerically stronger by more than a thousand men than when we fought at Spion Kop, while the Boers are at least five hundred weaker--attrition _versus_ recuperation. Everyone has been well fed, reinforced and inspirited, and all are prepared for a supreme effort, in which we shall either reach Ladysmith or be flung back truly beaten with a loss of six or seven thousand men. I will not try to foreshadow the line of attack, though certain movements appear to indicate where it will be directed. But it is generally believed that we fight to-morrow at dawn, and as I write this letter seventy guns are drawing up in line on the hills to open the preparatory bombardment. It is a solemn Sunday, and the camp, with its white tents looking snug and peaceful in the sunlight, holds its breath that the beating of its heart may not be heard. On such a day as this the services of religion would appeal with passionate force to thousands. I attended a church parade this morning. What a chance this was for a man of great soul who feared God! On every side were drawn up deep masses of soldiery, rank behind rank--perhaps, in all, five thousand. In the hollow square stood the General, the man on whom everything depended. All around were men who within the week had been face to face with Death, and were going to face him again in a few hours. Life seemed very precarious, in spite of the sunlit landscape. What was it all for? What was the good of human effort? How should it befall a man who died in a quarrel he did not understand? All the anxious questionings of weak spirits. It was one of those occasions when a fine preacher might have given comfort and strength where both were sorely needed, and have printed on many minds a permanent impression. The bridegroom Opportunity had come. But the Church had her lamp untrimmed. A chaplain with a raucous voice discoursed on the details of 'The siege and surrender of Jericho.' The soldiers froze into apathy, and after a while the formal perfunctory service reached its welcome conclusion. As I marched home an officer said to me: 'Why is it, when the Church spends so much on missionary work among heathens, she does not take the trouble to send good men to preach in time of war? The medical profession is represented by some of its greatest exponents. Why are men's wounded souls left to the care of a village practitioner?' Nor could I answer; but I remembered the venerable figure and noble character of Father Brindle in the River War, and wondered whether Rome was again seizing the opportunity which Canterbury disdained--the opportunity of telling the glad tidings to soldiers about to die. CHAPTER XX THE COMBAT OF VAAL KRANTZ General Buller's Headquarters: February 9, 1900. During the ten days that passed peacefully after the British retreat from the positions beyond Trichardt's Drift, Sir Redvers Buller's force was strengthened by the arrival of a battery of Horse Artillery, two powerful siege guns, two squadrons of the 14th Hussars, and drafts for the Infantry battalions, amounting to 2,400 men. Thus not only was the loss of 1,600 men in the five days' fighting round Spion Kop made good, but the army was actually a thousand stronger than before its repulse. Good and plentiful rations of meat and vegetables were given to the troops, and their spirits were restored by the General's public declaration that he had discovered the key to the enemy's position, and the promise that within a week from the beginning of the impending operation Ladysmith should be relieved. The account of the straits to which the gallant garrison was now reduced by famine, disease, and war increased the earnest desire of officers and men to engage the enemy and, even at the greatest price, to break his lines. In spite of the various inexplicable features which the actions of Colenso and Spion Kop presented, the confidence of the army in Sir Redvers Buller was still firm, and the knowledge that he himself would personally direct the operations, instead of leaving their conduct to a divisional commander, gave general satisfaction and relief. On the afternoon of February 4 the superior officers were made acquainted with the outlines of the plan of action to be followed. The reader will, perhaps, remember the description in a former letter of the Boer position before Potgieter's and Trichardt's Drift as a horizontal note of interrogation, of which Spion Kop formed the centre angle--/\. The fighting of the previous week had been directed towards the straight line, and on the angle. The new operation was aimed at the curve. The general scheme was to seize the hills which formed the left of the enemy's position and roll him up from left to right. It was known that the Boers were massed mainly in their central camp behind Spion Kop, and that, as no demonstration was intended against the position in front of Trichardt's Drift, their whole force would be occupying the curve and guarding its right flank. The details of the plan were well conceived. The battle would begin by a demonstration against the Brakfontein position, which the Boers had fortified by four tiers of trenches, with bombproof casemates, barbed wire entanglements, and a line of redoubts, so that it was obviously too strong to be carried frontally. This demonstration would be made by Wynne's Brigade (formerly Woodgate's), supported by six batteries of Artillery, the Howitzer Battery, and the two 4.7-inch naval guns. These troops crossed the river by the pontoon bridge at Potgieter's on the 3rd and 4th, relieving Lyttelton's Brigade which had been in occupation of the advanced position on the low kopjes. A new pontoon bridge was thrown at the angle of the river a mile below Potgieter's, the purpose of which seemed to be to enable the frontal attack to be fully supported. While the Artillery preparation of the advance against Brakfontein and Wynne's advance were going on, Clery's Division (consisting of Hart's Brigade and Hildyard's) and Lyttelton's Brigade were to mass near the new pontoon bridge (No. 2), as if about to support the frontal movement. When the bombardment had been in progress for two hours these three brigades were to move, not towards the Brakfontein position, but eastwards to Munger's Drift, throw a pontoon bridge covered first by one battery of Field Artillery withdrawn from the demonstration, secondly by the fire of guns which had been dragged to the summit of Swartkop, and which formed a powerful battery of fourteen pieces, viz., six 12-pounder long range naval guns, two 15-pounder guns of the 64th Field Battery, six 9-pounder mountain guns, and lastly by the two 50-pounder siege guns. As soon as the bridge was complete Lyttelton's Brigade would cross, and, ignoring the fire from the Boer left, extended along the Doornkloof heights, attack the Vaal Krantz ridge, which formed the left of the horseshoe curve around the debouches of Potgieter's. This attack was to be covered on its right by the guns already specified on Swartkop and the 64th Field Battery, and prepared by the six artillery batteries employed in the demonstration, which were to withdraw one by one at intervals of ten minutes, cross No. 2 pontoon bridge, and take up new positions opposite to the Vaal Krantz ridge. If and when Vaal Krantz was captured all six batteries were to move across No. 3 bridge and take up positions on the hill, whence they could prepare and support the further advance of Clery's Division, which, having crossed, was to move past Vaal Krantz, pivot to the left on it, and attack the Brakfontein position from its left flank. The 1st Cavalry Brigade under Burn-Murdoch (Royals, 13th and 14th Hussars, and A Battery R.H.A.) would also cross and run the gauntlet of Doornkloof and break out on to the plateau beyond Clery's Division. The 2nd Cavalry Brigade (South African Light Horse, Composite Regiment, Thorneycroft's, and Bethune's Mounted Infantry, and the Colt Battery) were to guard the right and rear of the attacking troops from any attack coming from Doornkloof. Wynne was to co-operate as opportunity offered. Talbot Coke was to remain in reserve. Such was the plan, and it seemed to all who heard it good and clear. It gave scope to the whole force, and seemed to offer all the conditions for a decisive trial of strength between the two armies. On Sunday afternoon the Infantry Brigades began to move to their respective positions, and at daylight on the 5th the Cavalry Division broke its camp behind spearman's. At nine minutes past seven he bombardment of the Brakfontein position began, and by half-past seven all the Artillery except the Swartkop guns were firing in a leisurely fashion at the Boer redoubts and entrenchments. At the same time Wynne's Brigade moved forward in dispersed formation towards the enemy, and the Cavalry began to defile across the front and to mass near the three Infantry Brigades collected near No. 2 pontoon bridge. For some time the Boers made no reply, but at about ten o'clock their Vickers-Maxim opened on the batteries firing from the Potgieter's plain, and the fire gradually increased as other guns, some of great range, joined in, until the Artillery was sharply engaged in an unsatisfactory duel--fifty guns exposed in the open against six or seven guns concealed and impossible to find. The Boer shells struck all along the advanced batteries, bursting between the guns, throwing up huge fountains of dust and smoke, and covering the gunners at times completely from view. Shrapnel shells were also flung from both flanks and ripped the dusty plain with their scattering bullets. But the Artillery stood to their work like men, and though they apparently produced no impression on the Boer guns, did not suffer as severely as might have been expected, losing no more than fifteen officers and men altogether. At intervals of ten minutes the batteries withdrew in beautiful order and ceremony and defiled across the second pontoon bridge. Meanwhile Wynne's Brigade had advanced to within twelve hundred yards of the Brakfontein position and retired, drawing the enemy's heavy fire; the three brigades under Clery had moved to the right near Munger's Drift; the Cavalry were massed in the hollows at the foot of Swartkop; and the Engineers had constructed the third pontoon bridge, performing their business with excellent method and despatch under a sharp fire from Boer skirmishers and a Maxim. The six batteries and the howitzers now took up positions opposite Vaal Krantz, and seventy guns began to shell this ridge in regular preparation and to reply to three Boer guns which had now opened from Doornkloof and our extreme right. A loud and crashing cannonade developed. At midday the Durham Light Infantry of Lyttelton's Brigade crossed the third pontoon bridge and advanced briskly along the opposite bank on the Vaal Krantz ridge. They were supported by the 3rd King's Royal Rifles, and behind these the other two battalions of the Brigade strengthened the attack. The troops moved across the open in fine style, paying no attention to the enemy's guns on Doornkloof, which burst their shrapnel at seven thousand yards (shrapnel at seven thousand yards!) with remarkable accuracy. In an hour the leading companies had reached the foot of the ridge, and the active riflemen could be seen clambering swiftly up. As the advance continued one of the Boer Vickers-Maxim guns which was posted in rear of Vaal Krantz found it wise to retire and galloped off unscathed through a tremendous fire from our artillery: a most wonderful escape. The Durham Light Infantry carried the hill at the point of the bayonet, losing seven officers and sixty or seventy men, and capturing five Boer prisoners, besides ten horses and some wounded, Most of the enemy, however, had retired before the attack, unable to endure the appalling concentration of artillery which had prepared it. Among those who remained to fight to the last were five or six armed Kaffirs, one of whom shot an officer of the Durhams. To these no quarter was given. Their employment by the Dutch in this war shows that while they furiously complain of Khama's defence of his territory against their raiding parties on the ground that white men must be killed by white men, they have themselves no such scruples. There is no possible doubt about the facts set forth above, and the incident should be carefully noted by the public. By nightfall the whole of General Lyttelton's Brigade had occupied Vaal Krantz, and were entrenching themselves. The losses in the day's fighting were not severe, and though no detailed statement has yet been compiled, I do not think they exceeded one hundred and fifty. Part of Sir Redvers Buller's plan had been successfully executed. The fact that the action had not been opened until 7 A.M. and had been conducted in a most leisurely manner left the programme only half completed. It remained to pass Clery's Division across the third bridge, to plant the batteries in their new position on Vaal Krantz, to set free the 1st Cavalry Brigade in the plain beyond, and to begin the main attack on Brakfontein. It remained and it still remains. During the night of the 5th Lyttelton's Brigade made shelters and traverses of stones, and secured the possession of the hill; but it was now reported that field guns could not occupy the ridge because, first, it was too steep and rocky--though this condition does not apparently prevent the Boers dragging their heaviest guns to the tops of the highest hills--and, secondly, because the enemy's long-range rifle fire was too heavy. The hill, therefore, which had been successfully captured, proved of no value whatever. Beyond it was a second position which was of great strength, and which if it was ever to be taken must be taken by the Infantry without Artillery support. This was considered impossible or at any rate too costly and too dangerous to attempt. During the next day the Boers continued to bombard the captured ridge, and also maintained a harassing long-range musketry fire. A great gun firing a hundred-pound 6-in. shell came into action from the top of Doornkloof, throwing its huge projectiles on Vaal Krantz and about the bivouacs generally; one of them exploded within a few yards of Sir Redvers Buller. Two Vickers-Maxims from either side of the Boer position fired at brief intervals, and other guns burst shrapnel effectively from very long range on the solitary brigade which held Vaal Krantz. To this bombardment the Field Artillery and the naval guns--seventy-two pieces in all, both big and little--made a noisy but futile response. The infantry of Lyttelton's Brigade, however, endured patiently throughout the day, in spite of the galling cross-fire and severe losses. At about four in the afternoon the Boers made a sudden attack on the hill, creeping to within short range, and then opened a quick fire. The Vickers-Maxim guns supported this vigorously. The pickets at the western end of the hill were driven back with loss, and for a few minutes it appeared that the hill would be retaken. But General Lyttelton ordered half a battalion of the Durham Light Infantry, supported by the King's Royal Rifles, to clear the hill, and these fine troops, led by Colonel Fitzgerald, rose up from their shelters and, giving three rousing cheers--the thin, distant sound of which came back to the anxious, watching army--swept the Boers back at the point of the bayonet. Colonel Fitzgerald was, however, severely wounded. While these things were passing a new pontoon bridge was being constructed at a bend of the Tugela immediately under the Vaal Krantz ridge, and by five o'clock this was finished. Nothing else was done during the day, but at nightfall Lyttelton's Brigade was relieved by Hildyard's, which marched across the new pontoon (No. 4) under a desultory shell fire from an extreme range. Lyttelton's Brigade returned under cover of darkness to a bivouac underneath the Zwartkop guns. Their losses in the two days' operations had been 225 officers and men. General Hildyard, with whom was Prince Christian Victor, spent the night in improving the defences of the hill and in building new traverses and head cover. At midnight the Boers made a fresh effort to regain the position, and the sudden roar of musketry awakened the sleeping army. The attack, however, was easily repulsed. At daybreak the shelling began again, only now the Boers had brought up several new guns, and the bombardment was much heavier. Owing, however, to the excellent cover which had been arranged the casualties during the day did not exceed forty. The Cavalry and Transport, who were sheltering in the hollows underneath Zwartkop, were also shelled, and it was thought desirable to move them back to a safer position. In the evening Sir Redvers Buller, who throughout these two days had been sitting under a tree in a somewhat exposed position, and who had bivouacked with the troops, consulted with his generals. Many plans were suggested, but there was a general consensus of opinion that it was impossible to advance further along this line. At eleven at night Hildyard's Brigade was withdrawn from Vaal Krantz, evacuating the position in good order, and carrying with them their wounded, whom till dark it had been impossible to collect. Orders were issued for the general retirement of the army to Springfield and Spearman's, and by ten o'clock on the 8th this operation was in full progress. With feelings of bitter disappointment at not having been permitted to fight the matter out, the Infantry, only two brigades of which had been sharply engaged, marched by various routes to their former camping grounds, and only their perfect discipline enabled them to control their grief and anger. The Cavalry and Artillery followed in due course, and thus the fourth attempt to relieve Ladysmith, which had been begun with such hopes and enthusiasm, fizzled out into failure. It must not, however, be imagined that the enemy conducted his defence without proportionate loss. What I have written is a plain record of facts, and I am so deeply conscious of their significance that I shall attempt some explanation. The Boer covering army numbers at least 12,000 men, with perhaps a dozen excellent guns. They hold along the line of the Tugela what is practically a continuous position of vast strength. Their superior mobility, and the fact that they occupy the chord, while we must move along the arc of the circle, enables them to forefront us with nearly their whole force wherever an attack is aimed, however it may be disguised. Therefore there is no way of avoiding a direct assault. Now, according to Continental experience the attacking force should outnumber the defence by three to one. Therefore Sir Redvers Buller should have 36,000 men. Instead of this he has only 22,000. Moreover, behind the first row of positions, which practically runs along the edge of an unbroken line of steep flat-topped hills, there is a second row standing back from the edge at no great distance. Any attack on this second row the Artillery cannot support, because from the plain below they are too far off to find the Boer guns, and from the edge they are too close to the enemy's riflemen. The ground is too broken, in the opinion of many generals, for night operations. Therefore the attacking Infantry of insufficient strength must face unaided the fire of cool, entrenched riflemen, armed with magazine weapons and using smokeless powder. Nevertheless, so excellent is the quality of the Infantry that if the whole force were launched in attack it is not impossible that they would carry everything before them. But after this first victory it will be necessary to push on and attack the Boers investing Ladysmith. The line of communications must be kept open behind the relieving army or it will be itself in the most terrible danger. Already the Boers' position beyond Potgieter's laps around us on three sides. What if we should break through, only to have the door shut behind us? At least two brigades would have to be left to hold the line of communications. The rest, weakened by several fierce and bloody engagements, would not be strong enough to effect the relief. The idea of setting all on the turn of the battle is very grateful and pleasant to the mind of the army, which only asks for a decisive trial of strength, but Sir Redvers Buller has to remember that his army, besides being the Ladysmith Relief Column, is also the only force which can be spared to protect South Natal. Is he, therefore, justified in running the greatest risks? On the other hand, how can we let Ladysmith and all its gallant defenders fall into the hands of the enemy? It is agonising to contemplate such a conclusion to all the efforts and sacrifices that have been made. I believe and trust we shall try again. As long as there is fighting one does not reflect on this horrible situation. I have tried to explain some of the difficulties which confront the General. I am not now concerned with the attempts that have been made to overcome them. A great deal is incomprehensible, but it may be safely said that if Sir Redvers Buller cannot relieve Ladysmith with his present force we do not know of any other officer in the British Service who would be likely to succeed. CHAPTER XXI HUSSAR HILL [Illustration: Map of the Operations of the Natal Field Army from January 11 to February 9.] General Buller's Headquarters: February 15, 1900. When Sir Redvers Buller broke off the combat of Vaal Krantz, and for the third time ordered his unbeaten troops to retreat, it was clearly understood that another attempt to penetrate the Boer lines was to be made without delay. The army has moved from Spearman's and Springfield to Chieveley, General Lyttelton, who had succeeded Sir Francis Clery, in command of the 2nd Division and 4th Brigade, marching via Pretorius's Farm on the 9th and 10th, Sir Charles Warren covering the withdrawal of the supplies and transport and following on the 10th and 11th. The regular Cavalry Brigade, under Burn-Murdoch, was left with two battalions to hold the bridge at Springfield, beyond which place the Boers, who had crossed the Tugela in some strength at Potgieter's, were reported to be showing considerable activity. The left flank of the marching Infantry columns was covered by Dundonald's Brigade of Light Horse, and the operations were performed without interruption from the enemy. On the 12th orders were issued to reconnoitre Hussar Hill, a grassy and wooded eminence four miles to the east of Chieveley, and the direction of the next attack was revealed. The reader of the accounts of this war is probably familiar with the Colenso position and understands its great strength. The proper left of this position rests on the rocky, scrub-covered hill of Hlangwani, which rises on the British side of the Tugela. If this hill can be captured and artillery placed on it, and if it can be secured from cross fire, then all the trenches of Fort Wylie and along the river bank will be completely enfiladed, and the Colenso position will become untenable, so that Hlangwani is the key of the Colenso position. In order, however, to guard this key carefully the Boers have extended their left--as at Trichardt's Drift they extended their right--until it occupies a very lofty range of mountains four or five miles to the east of Hlangwani, and along all this front works have been constructed on a judicious system of defence. The long delays have given ample time to the enemy to complete his fortifications, and the trenches here are more like forts than field works, being provided with overhead cover against shells and carefully made loopholes. In front of them stretches a bare slope, on either side rise formidable hills from which long-range guns can make a continual cross-fire. Behind this position, again, are others of great strength. But there are also encouraging considerations. We are to make--at least in spite of disappointments we hope and believe we are to make--a supreme effort to relieve Ladysmith. At the same time we are the army for the defence of South Natal. If we had put the matter to the test at Potgieter's and failed, our line of communications might have been cut behind us, and the whole army, weakened by the inevitable heavy losses of attacking these great positions, might have been captured or dispersed. Here we have the railway behind us. We are not as we were at Potgieter's 'formed to a flank.' We derive an accession of strength from the fact that the troops holding Railhead are now available for the general action. Besides these inducements this road is the shortest way. Buller, therefore, has elected to lose his men and risk defeat--without which risk no victory can be won---on this line. Whether he will succeed or not were foolish to prophesy, but it is the common belief that this line offers as good a chance as any other and that at last the army will be given a fair run, and permitted to begin a general engagement and fight it out to the end. If Buller goes in and wins he will have accomplished a wonderful feat of arms, and will gain the lasting honour and gratitude of his country. If he is beaten he will deserve the respect and sympathy of all true soldiers as a man who has tried to the best of his ability to perform a task for which his resources were inadequate. I hasten to return to the chronicle. Hussar Hill--so-called because a small post of the 13th Hussars was surprised on it six weeks ago and lost two men killed--is the high ground opposite Hlangwani and the mountainous ridges called Monte Cristo and Cingolo, on which the Artillery must be posted to prepare the attack. Hence the reconnaissance of the 12th. At eight o'clock--we never get up early in this war--Lord Dundonald started from the cavalry camp near Stuart's Farm with the South African Light Horse, the Composite Regiment, Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry, the Colt Battery, one battalion of Infantry, the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, and a battery of Field Artillery. The Irregular Horse were familiar with the ground, and we soon occupied Hussar Hill, driving back a small Boer patrol which was watching it, and wounding two of the enemy. A strong picket line was thrown out all round the captured ground and a dropping musketry fire began at long range with the Boers, who lay hidden in the surrounding dongas. At noon Sir Redvers Buller arrived, and made a prolonged reconnaissance of the ground with his telescope. At one o'clock we were ordered to withdraw, and the difficult task of extricating the advanced pickets from close contact with the enemy was performed under a sharp fire, fortunately without the loss of a man. After you leave Hussar Hill on the way back to Chieveley camp it is necessary to cross a wide dip of ground. We had withdrawn several miles in careful rearguard fashion, the guns and the battalion had gone back, and the last two squadrons were walking across this dip towards the ridge on the homeward side. Perhaps we had not curled in our tail quite quick enough, or perhaps the enemy has grown more enterprising of late, in any case just as we were reaching the ridge a single shot was fired from Hussar Hill, and then without more ado a loud crackle of musketry burst forth. The distance was nearly two thousand yards, but the squadrons in close formation were a good target. Everybody walked for about twenty yards, and then without the necessity of an order broke into a brisk canter, opening the ranks to a dispersed formation at the same time. It was very dry weather, and the bullets striking between the horsemen raised large spurts of dust, so that it seemed that many men must surely be hit. Moreover, the fire had swelled to a menacing roar. I chanced to be riding with Colonel Byng in rear, and looking round saw that we had good luck. For though bullets fell among the troopers quite thickly enough, the ground two hundred yards further back was all alive with jumping dust. The Boers were shooting short. We reached the ridge and cover in a minute, and it was very pretty to see these irregular soldiers stop their horses and dismount with their carbines at once without any hesitation. Along the ridge Captain Hill's Colt Battery was drawn up in line, and as soon as the front was clear the four little pink guns began spluttering furiously. The whole of the South African Light Horse dismounted and, lining the ridge, opened fire with their rifles. Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry came into line on our left flank, and brought two tripod Maxims into action with them. Lord Dundonald sent back word to the battery to halt and fire over our heads, and Major Gough's Regiment and the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, who had almost reached cover, turned round of their own accord and hurried eagerly in the direction of the firing, which had become very loud on both sides. There now ensued a strange little skirmish, which would have been a bloody rifle duel but for the great distance which separated the combatants and for the cleverness with which friends and foes concealed and sheltered themselves. Not less than four hundred men on either side were firing as fast as modern rifles will allow. Between us stretched the smooth green dip of ground. Beyond there rose the sharper outlines of Hussar Hill, two or three sheds, and a few trees. That was where the Boers were. But they were quite invisible to the naked eye, and no smoke betrayed their positions. With a telescope they could be seen--a long row of heads above the grass. We were equally hidden. Still their bullets--a proportion of their bullets--found us, and I earnestly trust that some of ours found them. Indeed there was a very hot fire, in spite of the range. Yet no one was hit. Ah, yes, there was one, a tall trooper turned sharply on his side, and two of his comrades carried him quickly back behind a little house, shot through the thigh. A little further along the firing line another was being helped to the rear. The Colt Battery drew the cream of the fire, and Mr. Garrett, one of the experts sent out by the firm, was shot through the ankle, but he continued to work his gun. Captain Hill walked up and down his battery exposing himself with great delight, and showing that he was a very worthy representative of an Irish constituency. I happened to pass along the line on some duty or other when I noticed my younger brother, whose keen desire to take some part in the public quarrel had led me, in spite of misgivings, to procure him a lieutenancy, lying on the ground, with his troop. As I approached I saw him start in the quick, peculiar manner of a stricken man. I asked him at once whether he was hurt, and he said something--he thought it must be a bullet--had hit him on the gaiter and numbed his leg. He was quite sure it had not gone in, but when we had carried him away we found--as I expected--that he was shot through the leg. The wound was not serious, but the doctors declared he would be a month in hospital. It was his baptism of fire, and I have since wondered at the strange caprice which strikes down one man in his first skirmish and protects another time after time. But I suppose all pitchers will get broken in the end. Outwardly I sympathised with my brother in his misfortune, which he mourned bitterly, since it prevented him taking part in the impending battle, but secretly I confess myself well content that this young gentleman should be honourably out of harm's way for a month. It was neither our business nor our pleasure to remain and continue this long-range duel with the Boers. Our work for the day was over, and all were anxious to get home to luncheon. Accordingly, as soon as the battery had come into action to cover our withdrawal we commenced withdrawing squadron by squadron and finally broke off the engagement, for the Boers were not inclined to follow further. At about three o'clock our loss in this interesting affair was one officer, Lieutenant John Churchill, and seven men of the South African Light Horse wounded and a few horses. Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry also had two casualties, and there were two more in the Colt detachments. The Boers were throughout invisible, but two days later when the ground was revisited we found one dead burgher--so that at any rate they lost more heavily than we. The Colt guns worked very well, and the effect of the fire of a whole battery of these weapons was a marked diminution in the enemy's musketry. They were mounted on the light carriages patented by Lord Dundonald, and the advantage of these in enabling the guns to be run back by hand, so as to avoid exposing the horses, was very obvious. I shall leave the great operation which, as I write, has already begun, to another letter, but since gaiety has its value in these troublous times let the reader pay attention to the story of General Hart and the third-class shot. Major-General Hart, who commands the Irish Brigade, is a man of intrepid personal courage--indeed, to his complete contempt for danger the heavy losses among his battalions, and particularly in the Dublin Fusiliers, must be to some extent attributed. After Colenso there were bitter things said on this account. But the reckless courage of the General was so remarkable in subsequent actions that, being brave men themselves, they forgave him everything for the sake of his daring. During the first day at Spion Kop General Hart discovered a soldier sitting safely behind a rock and a long way behind the firing line. 'Good afternoon, my man,' he said in his most nervous, apologetic voice; 'what are you doing here?' 'Sir,' replied the soldier, 'an officer told me to stop here, sir.' 'Oh! Why?' 'I'm a third-class shot, sir.' 'Dear me,' said the General after some reflection, 'that's an awful pity, because you see you'll have to get quite close to the Boers to do any good. Come along with me and I'll find you a nice place,' and a mournful procession trailed off towards the most advanced skirmishers.[3] FOOTNOTES: [3] The map at the end of Chapter XXV. illustrates this and succeeding chapters. CHAPTER XXII THE ENGAGEMENT OF MONTE CRISTO Cingolo Neck: February 19, 1900. Not since I wrote the tale of my escape from Pretoria have I taken up my pen with such feelings of satisfaction and contentment as I do to-night. The period of doubt and hesitation is over. We have grasped the nettle firmly, and as shrewdly as firmly, and have taken no hurt. It remains only to pluck it. For heaven's sake no over-confidence or premature elation; but there is really good hope that Sir Redvers Buller has solved the Riddle of the Tugela--at last. At last! I expect there will be some who will inquire--'Why not "at first"?' All I can answer is this: There is certainly no more capable soldier of high rank in all the army in Natal than Sir Redvers Buller. For three months he has been trying his best to pierce the Boer lines and the barrier of mountain and river which separates Ladysmith from food and friends; trying with an army--magnificent in everything but numbers, and not inconsiderable even in that respect--trying at a heavy price of blood in Africa, of anxiety at home. Now, for the first time, it seems that he may succeed. Knowing the General and the difficulties, I am inclined to ask, not whether he might have succeeded sooner, but rather whether anyone else would have succeeded at all. But to the chronicle! Anyone who stands on Gun Hill near Chieveley can see the whole of the Boer position about Colenso sweeping before him in a wide curve. The mountain wall looks perfectly unbroken. The river lies everywhere buried in its gorge, and is quite invisible. To the observer there is only a smooth green bay of land sloping gently downward, and embraced by the rocky, scrub-covered hills. Along this crescent of high ground runs--or rather, by God's grace, ran the Boer line, strong in its natural features, and entrenched from end to end. When the map is consulted, however, it is seen that the Tugela does not flow uniformly along the foot of the hills as might be expected, but that after passing Colenso village, which is about the centre of the position, it plunges into the mountainous country, and bends sharply northward; so that, though the left of the Boer line might appear as strong as the right, there was this difference, that the Boer right had the river on its front, the Boer left had it in its rear. The attack of the 15th of December had been directed against the Boer right, because after reconnaissance Sir Redvers Buller deemed that, in spite of the river advantage, the right was actually the weaker of the two flanks. The attack of the 15th was repulsed with heavy loss. It might, therefore, seem that little promise of success attended an attack on the Boer left. The situation, however, was entirely altered by the great reinforcements in heavy artillery which had reached the army, and a position which formerly appeared unassailable now looked less formidable. Let us now consider the Boer left by itself. It ran in a chain of sangars, trenches, and rifle pits, from Colenso village, through the scrub by the river, over the rugged hill of Hlangwani, along a smooth grass ridge we called 'The Green Hill,' and was extended to guard against a turning movement on to the lofty wooded ridges of Monte Cristo and Cingolo and the neck joining these two features. Sir Redvers Buller's determination was to turn this widely extended position on its extreme left, and to endeavour to crumple it from left to right. As it were, a gigantic right arm was to reach out to the eastward, its shoulder at Gun Hill, its elbow on Hussar Hill, its hand on Cingolo, its fingers, the Irregular Cavalry Brigade, actually behind Cingolo. On February 12th a reconnaissance in force of Hussar Hill was made by Lord Dundonald. On the 14th the army moved east from Chieveley to occupy this ground. General Hart with one brigade held Gun Hill and Railhead. The First Cavalry Brigade watched the left flank at Springfield, but with these exceptions the whole force marched for Hussar Hill. The Irregular Cavalry covered the front, and the South African Light Horse, thrown out far in advance, secured the position by half-past eight, just in time to forestall a force of Boers which had been despatched, so soon as the general movement of the British was evident, to resist the capture of the hill. A short sharp skirmish followed, in which we lost a few horses and men, and claim to have killed six Boers, and which was terminated after half an hour by the arrival of the leading Infantry battalion--the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. During the day the occupation was completed, and the brigades of Generals Wynne, Coke, and Barton, then joining Warren's Division with the Artillery, entrenched themselves strongly and bivouacked on the hill. Meanwhile Lyttelton's Division marched from its camp in the Blue Krantz Valley, east of Chieveley, along the valley to a position short of the eastern spurs of Hussar Hill. These spurs are more thickly wooded and broken than the rest of the hill, and about four o'clock in the afternoon some hundred Boers established themselves among the rocks and opened a sharp fire. They were, however, expelled from their position by the Artillery and by the fire of the advanced battalions of Lyttelton's Division operating from the Blue Krantz Valley. During the 15th and 16th a desultory artillery duel proceeded on both sides with slight loss to us. The water question presented some difficulty, as the Blue Krantz River was several miles from Hussar Hill and the hill itself was waterless. A system of iron tanks mounted on ox waggons was arranged, and a sufficient though small supply maintained. The heavy artillery was also brought into action and strongly entrenched. The formidable nature of the enemy's position and the evident care with which he had fortified it may well have added to the delay by giving cause for the gravest reflection. On the afternoon of the 16th Sir Redvers Buller resolved to plunge, and orders were issued for a general advance at dawn. Colonel Sandbach, under whose supervision the Intelligence Department has attained a new and a refreshing standard of efficiency, made comprehensive and, as was afterwards proved, accurate reports of the enemy's strength and spirit, and strongly recommended the attack on the left flank. Two hours before dawn the army was on the move. Hart's Brigade, the 6-inch and other great guns at Chieveley, guarded Railhead. Hlangwani Hill, and the long line of entrenchments rimming the Green Hill, were masked and fronted by the display of the field and siege batteries, whose strength in guns was as follows: Guns Four 5-inch siege guns.......................... 4 Six naval twelve-pounder long-range guns........ 6 Two 4.7-inch naval guns......................... 2 One battery howitzers........................... 6 One battery corps artillery (R.F.A.)............ 6 Two brigade divisions R.F.A ....................36 One mountain battery............................ 6 -- 66 and which were also able to prepare and support the attack on Cingolo Neck and Monte Cristo Ridge. Cingolo Ridge itself, however, was almost beyond their reach. Lyttelton's Division with Wynne's Fusilier Brigade was to stretch out to the eastward and, by a wide turning movement pivoting on the guns and Barton's Brigade, attack the Cingolo Ridge. Dundonald's Cavalry Brigade was to make a far wider detour and climb up the end of the ridge, thus making absolutely certain of finding the enemy's left flank at last. By daybreak all were moving, and as the Irregular Cavalry forded the Blue Krantz stream on their enveloping march we heard the boom of the first gun. The usual leisurely bombardment had begun, and I counted only thirty shells in the first ten minutes, which was not very hard work for the gunners considering that nearly seventy guns were in action. But the Artillery never hurry themselves, and indeed I do not remember to have heard in this war a really good cannonade, such as we had at Omdurman, except for a few minutes at Vaal Krantz. The Cavalry Brigade marched ten miles eastward through most broken and difficult country, all rock, high grass, and dense thickets, which made it imperative to move in single file, and the sound of the general action grew fainter and fainter. Gradually, however, we began to turn again towards it. The slope of the ground rose against us. The scrub became more dense. To ride further was impossible. We dismounted and led our horses, who scrambled and blundered painfully among the trees and boulders. So scattered was our formation that I did not care to imagine what would have happened had the enemy put in an appearance. But our safety lay in these same natural difficulties. The Boers doubtless reflected, 'No one will ever try to go through such ground as that'--besides which war cannot be made without running risks. The soldier must chance his life. The general must not be afraid to brave disaster. But how tolerant the arm-chair critics should be of men who try daring _coups_ and fail! You must put your head into the lion's mouth if the performance is to be a success. And then I remembered the attacks on the brave and capable General Gatacre after Stormberg, and wondered what would be said of us if we were caught 'dismounted and scattered in a wood.' At length we reached the foot of the hill and halted to reconnoitre the slopes as far as was possible. After half an hour, since nothing could be seen, the advance was resumed up the side of a precipice and through a jungle so thick that we had to cut our road. It was eleven o'clock before we reached the summit of the ridge and emerged on to a more or less open plateau, diversified with patches of wood and heaps of great boulders. Two squadrons had re-formed on the top and had deployed to cover the others. The troopers of the remaining seven squadrons were working their way up about four to the minute. It would take at least two hours before the command was complete: and meanwhile! Suddenly there was a rifle shot. Then another, then a regular splutter of musketry. Bullets began to whizz overhead. The Boers had discovered us. Now came the crisis. There might be a hundred Boers on the hill, in which case all was well. On the other hand there might be a thousand, in which case----! and retreat down the precipice was, of course, quite out of the question. Luckily there were only about a hundred, and after a skirmish, in which one of the Natal Carabineers was unhappily killed, they fell back and we completed our deployment on the top of the hill. The squadron of Imperial Light Horse and the Natal Carabineers now advanced slowly along the ridge, clearing it of the enemy, slaying and retrieving one field cornet and two burghers, and capturing ten horses. Half-way along the Queen's, the right battalion of Hildyard's attack, which, having made a smaller detour, had now rushed the top, came into line and supported the dismounted men. The rest of the Cavalry descended into the plain on the other side of the ridge, outflanking and even threatening the retreat of its defenders, so that in the end the Boers, who were very weak in numbers, were hunted off the ridge altogether, and Cingolo was ours. Cingolo and Monte Cristo are joined together by a neck of ground from which both heights rise steeply. On either side of Monte Cristo and Cingolo long spurs run at right angles to the main hill. By the operations of the 17th the Boer line had been twisted off Cingolo, and turned back along the subsidiary spurs of Monte Cristo, and the British forces had placed themselves diagonally across the left of the Boer position thus: [Illustration: Plan of position at Monte Cristo.] The advantages of this situation were to be enjoyed on the morrow. Finding our further advance barred by the turned-back position the enemy had adopted, and which we could only attack frontally, the Cavalry threw out a line of outposts which were soon engaged in a long-range rifle duel, and prepared to bivouac for the night. Cingolo Ridge was meanwhile strongly occupied by the Infantry, whose line ran from its highest peak slantwise across the valley of the Gomba Stream to Hussar Hill, where it found its pivot in Barton's Brigade and the Artillery. The Boers, who were much disconcerted by the change in the situation, showed themselves ostentatiously on the turned-back ridge of their position as if to make themselves appear in great strength, and derisively hoisted white flags on their guns. The Colonial and American troopers (for in the South African Light Horse we have a great many Americans, and one even who served under Sheridan) made some exceedingly good practice at the extreme ranges. So the afternoon passed, and the night came in comparative quiet. At dawn the artillery began on both sides, and we were ourselves awakened by Creusot shells bursting in our bivouac. The enemy's fire was chiefly directed on the company of the Queen's which was holding the top of Cingolo, and only the good cover which the great rocks afforded prevented serious losses. As it was several men were injured. But we knew that we held the best cards; and so did the Boers. At eight o'clock Hildyard's Brigade advanced against the peak of the Monte Cristo ridge which lay beyond the neck. The West Yorks led, the Queen's and East Surrey supported. The musketry swelled into a constant crackle like the noise of a good fire roaring up the chimney, but, in spite of more than a hundred casualties, the advance never checked for an instant, and by half-past ten o'clock the bayonets of the attacking infantry began to glitter among the trees of the summit. The Boers, who were lining a hastily-dug trench half way along the ridge, threatened in front with an overwhelming force and assailed in flank by the long-range fire of the Cavalry, began to fall back. By eleven o'clock the fight on the part of the enemy resolved itself into a rearguard action. Under the pressure of the advancing and enveloping army this degenerated very rapidly. When the Dutchman makes up his mind to go he throws all dignity to the winds, and I have never seen an enemy leave the field in such a hurry as did these valiant Boers who found their flank turned, and remembered for the first time that there was a deep river behind them. Shortly after twelve o'clock the summit of the ridge of Monte Cristo was in our hands. The spurs which started at right angles from it were, of course, now enfiladed and commanded. The Boers evacuated both in great haste. The eastern spur was what I have called the 'turned-back' position. The Cavalry under Dundonald. galloped forward and seized it as soon as the enemy were seen in motion, and from this advantageous standpoint we fired heavily into their line of retreat. They scarcely waited to fire back, and we had only two men and a few horses wounded. The spur on the Colenso or western side was none other than the Green Hill itself, and judging rightly that its frowning entrenchments were now empty of defenders Sir Redvers Buller ordered a general advance frontally against it. Two miles of trenches were taken with scarcely any loss. The enemy fled in disorder across the river. A few prisoners, some wounded, several cartloads of ammunition and stores, five camps with all kinds of Boer material, and last of all, and compared to which all else was insignificant, the dominating Monte Cristo ridge stretching northward to within an easy spring of Bulwana Hill, were the prize of victory. The soldiers, delighted at the change of fortune, slept in the Boer tents--or would have done had these not been disgustingly foul and stinking. From the captured ridge we could look right down into Ladysmith, and at the first opportunity I climbed up to see it for myself. Only eight miles away stood the poor little persecuted town, with whose fate there is wrapt up the honour of the Empire, and for whose sake so many hundred good soldiers have given life or limb--a twenty-acre patch of tin houses and blue gum trees, but famous to the uttermost ends of the earth. The victory of Monte Cristo has revolutionised the situation in Natal. It has laid open a practicable road to Ladysmith. Great difficulties and heavy opposition have yet to be encountered and overcome, but the word 'impossible' must no longer be--should, perhaps, never have been used. The success was won at the cost of less than two hundred men killed and wounded, and surely no army more than the Army of Natal deserves a cheaply bought triumph. CHAPTER XXIII THE PASSAGE OF THE TUGELA Hospital Ship 'Maine': March 4, 1900. Since I finished my last letter, on February the 21st, I have found no time to sit down to write until now, because we have passed through a period of ceaseless struggle and emotion, and I have been seeing so many things that I could not pause to record anything. It has been as if a painter prepared himself to paint some portrait, but was so fascinated by the beauty of his model that he could not turn his eyes from her face to the canvas; only that the spectacles which have held me have not always been beautiful. Now the great event is over, the long and bloody conflict around Ladysmith has been gloriously decided, and I take a few days' leisure on the good ship _Maine_, where everyone is busy getting well, to think about it all and set down some things on paper. First and foremost there was the Monte Cristo ridge, that we had captured on the 18th, which gave us the Green Hill, Hlangwani Hill, and, when we chose to take it, the whole of the Hlangwani plateau. The Monte Cristo ridge is the centrepiece to the whole of this battle. As soon as we had won it I telegraphed to the _Morning Post_ that now at last success was a distinct possibility. With this important feature in our possession it was certain that we held the key to Ladysmith, and though we might fumble a little with the lock, sooner or later, barring the accidents of war, we should open the door. As Monte Cristo had given Sir Redvers Buller Hlangwani, so Hlangwani rendered the whole of the western section (the eastern section was already in our hands) of the Colenso position untenable by the enemy, and they, finding themselves commanded and enfiladed, forthwith evacuated it. On the 19th General Buller made good his position on Green Hill, occupied Hlangwani with Barton's Brigade, built or improved his roads and communications from Hussar Hill across the Gomba Valley, and brought up his heavy guns. The Boers, who were mostly on the other side of the river, resisted stubbornly with artillery, with their Vickers-Maxim guns and the fire of skirmishers, so that we suffered some slight loss, but could not be said to have wasted the day. On the 20th the south side of the Tugela was entirely cleared of the enemy, who retired across the bridge they had built, and, moreover, a heavy battery was established on the spurs of Hlangwani to drive them out of Colenso. In the afternoon Hart's Brigade advanced from Chieveley, and his leading-battalion, under Major Stuart-Wortley, occupied Colenso village without any resistance. The question now arose--Where should the river be crossed? Sir Redvers Buller possessed the whole of the Hlangwani plateau, which, as the reader may perceive by looking at the map opposite p. 448, fills up the re-entrant angle made opposite Pieters by the Tugela after it leaves Colenso. From this Hlangwani plateau he could either cross the river where it ran north and south or where it ran east and west. Sir Redvers Buller determined to cross the former reach beyond Colenso village. To do this he had to let go his hold on the Monte Cristo ridge and resign all the advantages which its possession had given him, and had besides to descend into the low ground, where his army must be cramped between the high hills on its left and the river on its right. There was, of course, something to be said for the other plan, which was advocated strongly by Sir Charles Warren. The crossing, it was urged, was absolutely safe, being commanded on all sides by our guns, and the enemy could make no opposition except with artillery. Moreover, the army would get on its line of railway and could 'advance along the railroad.' This last was a purely imaginary advantage, to be sure, because the railway had no rolling-stock, and was disconnected from the rest of the line by the destruction of the Tugela bridge. But what weighed with the Commander-in-Chief much more than the representations of his lieutenant was the accumulating evidence that the enemy were in full retreat. The Intelligence reports all pointed to this situation. Boers had ridden off in all directions. Waggons were seen trekking along every road to the north and west. The camps between us and Ladysmith began to break up. Everyone said, 'This is the result of Lord Roberts's advance: the Boers find themselves now too weak to hold us off. They have raised the siege.' But this conclusion proved false in the sense that it was premature. Undoubtedly the Boers had been reduced in strength by about 5,000 men, who had been sent into the Free State for its defence. Until the Monte Cristo ridge was lost to them they deemed themselves quite strong enough to maintain the siege. When, however, this position was captured, the situation was revolutionised. They saw that we had found their flank, and thoroughly appreciated the significance and value of the long high wedge of ground, which cut right across the left of their positions, and seemed to stretch away almost to Bulwana Mountain. They knew perfectly well that if we advanced by our right along the line of this ridge, which they called 'the Bush Kop,' supporting ourselves by it as a man might rest his hand on a balustrade, we could turn their Pieters position just as we had already turned their entrenchments at Colenso. Therein lay the true reason of their retirement, and in attributing it either to Lord Roberts's operations or to the beating we had given them on the 18th we made a mistake, which was not repaired until much blood had been shed. I draw a rough diagram to assist the reader who will take the trouble to study the map. It is only drawn from memory, and its object is to show how completely the Monte Cristo ridge turned both the line of entrenchments through Colenso and that before Pieters. But no diagrams, however exaggerated, would convince so well as would the actual ground. [Illustration: Plan of the Colenso Position.] In the belief, however, that the enemy were in retreat the General resolved to cross the river at A by a pontoon bridge and follow the railway line. On the 21st, therefore, he moved his army westward across the Hlangwani plateau, threw his bridge, and during the afternoon passed his two leading infantry brigades over it. As soon as the Boers perceived that he had chosen this line of advance their hopes revived. 'Oh,' we may imagine them saying, 'if you propose to go that way, things are not so bad after all.' So they returned to the number of about nine thousand burghers, and manned the trenches of the Pieters position, with the result that Wynne's Lancashire Brigade, which was the first to cross, soon found itself engaged in a sharp action among the low-kopjes, and suffered a hundred and fifty casualties, including its General, before dark. Musketry fire was continuous throughout the night. The 1st Cavalry Brigade had been brought in from Springfield on the 20th, and on the morning of the 22nd both the Regular and Irregular Cavalry were to have crossed the river. We accordingly marched from our camp at the neck between Cingolo and Monte Cristo and met the 1st Cavalry Brigade, which had come from Chievejey, at the pontoon bridge. A brisk action was crackling away beyond the river, and it looked as if the ground scarcely admitted of our intervention. Indeed, we had hardly arrived when a Staff Officer came up, and brought us orders to camp near Hlangwani Hill, as we should not cross that day. Presently I talked to the Staff Officer, who chanced to be a friend of mine, and chanced, besides, to be a man with a capacity for sustained thought, an eye for country, and some imagination. He said: 'I don't like the situation; there are more of them than we expected. We have come down off our high ground. We have taken all the big guns off the big hills. We are getting ourselves cramped up among these kopjes in the valley of the Tugela. It will be like being in the Coliseum and shot at by every row of seats.' Sir Redvers Buller, however, still believing he had only a rearguard in front of him, was determined to persevere. It is, perhaps, his strongest characteristic obstinately to pursue his plan in spite of all advice, in spite, too, of his horror of bloodshed, until himself convinced that it is impracticable. The moment he is satisfied that this is the case no considerations of sentiment or effect prevent him from coming back and starting afresh. No modern General ever cared less for what the world might say. However unpalatable and humiliating a retreat might be, he would make one so soon as he was persuaded that adverse chances lay before him. 'To get there in the end,' was his guiding principle. Nor would the General consent to imperil the ultimate success by asking his soldiers to make a supreme effort to redress a false tactical move. It was a principle which led us to much blood and bitter disappointment, but in the end to victory. Not yet convinced, General Buller, pressing forward, moved the whole of his infantry, with the exception of Barton's Brigade, and nearly all the artillery, heavy and field, across the river, and in the afternoon sent two battalions from Norcott's Brigade and the Lancashire Brigade--to the vacant command of which Colonel Kitchener had been appointed--forward against the low kopjes. By nightfall a good deal of this low, rolling ground was in our possession, though at some cost in men and officers. At dusk the Boers made a fierce and furious counter-attack. I was watching the operations from Hlangwani Hill through a powerful telescope. As the light died my companions climbed down the rocks to the Cavalry camp and left me alone staring at the bright flashes of the guns which stabbed the obscurity on all sides. Suddenly, above the booming of the cannon, there arose the harsh rattling roar of a tremendous fusillade. Without a single intermission this continued for several hours. The Howitzer Battery, in spite of the darkness, evidently considered the situation demanded its efforts, and fired salvoes of lyddite shells, which, bursting in the direction of the Boer positions, lit up the whole scene with flaring explosions. I went anxiously to bed that night, wondering what was passing beyond the river, and the last thing I can remember was the musketry drumming away with unabated vigour. There was still a steady splutter at dawn on the 23rd, and before the light was full grown the guns joined in the din. We eagerly sought for news of what had passed. Apparently the result was not unfavourable to the army. 'Push for Ladysmith to-day, horse, foot, and artillery' was the order, 'Both cavalry brigades to cross the river at once.' Details were scarce and doubtful. Indeed, I cannot yet give any accurate description of the fighting on the night of the 22nd, for it was of a confused and desperate nature, and many men must tell their tale before any general account can be written. What happened, briefly described, was that the Boers attacked heavily at nightfall with rifle fire all along the line, and, in their eagerness to dislodge the troops, came to close quarters on several occasions at various points. At least two bayonet charges are recorded. Sixteen men of Stuart Wortley's Composite Battalion of Reservists of the Rifle Brigade and King's Royal Rifles showed blood on their bayonets in the morning. About three hundred officers and men were killed or wounded. The Boers also suffered heavily, leaving dead on the ground, among others a grandson of President Kruger. Prisoners were made and lost, taken and rescued by both sides; but the daylight showed that victory rested with the British, for the infantry were revealed still tenaciously holding all their positions. At eight o'clock the cavalry crossed the river under shell fire directed on the bridge, and were massed at Fort Wylie, near Colenso. I rode along the railway line to watch the action from one of the low kopjes. A capricious shell fire annoyed the whole army as it sheltered behind the rocky hills, and an unceasing stream of stretchers from the front bore true witness to the serious nature of the conflict, for this was the third and bloodiest day of the seven days' fighting called the battle of Pieters. I found Sir Redvers Buller and his Staff in a somewhat exposed position, whence an excellent view could be obtained. The General displayed his customary composure, asked me how my brother's wound was getting on, and told me that he had just ordered Hart's Brigade, supported by two battalions from Lyttelton's Division, to assault the hill marked '3' on my diagram, and hereinafter called Inniskilling Hill. 'I have told Hart to follow the railway. I think he can get round to their left flank under cover of the river bank,' he said, 'but we must be prepared for a counter-attack on our left as soon as they see what I'm up to;' and he then made certain dispositions of his cavalry, which brought the South African Light Horse close up to the wooded kopje on which we stood. I must now describe the main Pieters position, one hill of which was about to be attacked. It ran, as the diagram shows, from the high and, so far as we were concerned, inaccessible hills on the west to the angle of the river, and then along the three hills marked 3, 2, and 1. I use this inverted sequence of numbers because we were now attacking them in the wrong order. Sir Redvers Buller's plan was as follows: On the 22nd he had taken the low kopjes, and his powerful artillery gave him complete command of the river gorge. Behind the kopjes, which acted as a kind of shield, and along the river gorge he proposed to advance his infantry until the angle of the river was passed and there was room to stretch out his, till then, cramped right arm and reach round the enemy's left on Inniskilling Hill, and so crumple it. This perilous and difficult task was entrusted to the Irish Brigade, which comprised the Dublin Fusiliers, the Inniskilling Fusiliers, the Connaught Rangers, and the Imperial Light Infantry, who had temporarily replaced the Border Regiment--in all about three thousand men, supported by two thousand more. Their commander, General Hart, was one of the bravest officers in the army, and it was generally felt that such a leader and such troops could carry the business through if success lay within the scope of human efforts. The account of the ensuing operation is so tragic and full of mournful interest that I must leave it to another letter. CHAPTER XXIV THE BATTLE OF PIETERS: THE THIRD DAY Hospital ship 'Maine': March 5, 1900. At half-past twelve on the 23rd General Hart ordered his brigade to advance. The battalions, which were sheltering among stone walls and other hastily constructed cover on the reverse slope of the kopje immediately in front of that on which we stood, rose up one by one and formed in rank. They then moved off in single file along the railroad, the Inniskilling Fusiliers leading, the Connaught Rangers, Dublin Fusiliers, and the Imperial Light Infantry following in succession. At the same time the Durham Light Infantry and the 2nd Rifle Brigade began to march to take the place of the assaulting brigade on the advanced kopje. Wishing to have a nearer view of the attack, I descended the wooded hill, cantered along the railway--down which the procession of laden stretchers, now hardly interrupted for three days, was still moving--and, dismounting, climbed the rocky sides of the advanced kopje. On the top, in a little half-circle of stones, I found General Lyttelton, who received me kindly, and together we watched the development of the operation. Nearly a mile of the railway line was visible, and along it the stream of Infantry flowed steadily. The telescope showed the soldiers walking quite slowly, with their rifles at the slope. Thus far, at least, they were not under fire. The low kopjes which were held by the other brigades shielded the movement. A mile away the river and railway turned sharply to the right; the river plunged into a steep gorge, and the railway was lost in a cutting. There was certainly plenty of cover; but just before the cutting was reached the iron bridge across the Onderbrook Spruit had to be crossed, and this was evidently commanded by the enemy's riflemen. Beyond the railway and the moving trickle of men the brown dark face of Inniskilling Hill, crowned with sangars and entrenchments, rose up gloomy and, as yet, silent. The patter of musketry along the left of the army, which reached back from the advanced kopjes to Colenso village, the boom of the heavy guns across the river, and the ceaseless thudding of the Field Artillery making a leisurely preparation, were an almost unnoticed accompaniment to the scene. Before us the Infantry were moving steadily nearer to the hill and the open ground by the railway bridge, and we listened amid the comparatively peaceful din for the impending fire storm. The head of the column reached the exposed ground, and the soldiers began to walk across it. Then at once above the average fusillade and cannonade rose the extraordinary rattling roll of Mauser musketry in great volume. If the reader wishes to know exactly what this is like he must drum the fingers of both his hands on a wooden table, one after the other as quickly and as hard as he can. I turned my telescope on the Dutch defences. They were no longer deserted. All along the rim of the trenches, clear cut and jet black, against the sky stood a crowded line of slouch-hatted men, visible as far as their shoulders, and wielding what looked like thin sticks. Far below by the red ironwork of the railway bridge--2,000 yards, at least, from the trenches--the surface of the ground was blurred and dusty. Across the bridge the Infantry were still moving, but no longer slowly--they were running for their lives. Man after man emerged from the sheltered railroad, which ran like a covered way across the enemy's front, into the open and the driving hail of bullets, ran the gauntlet and dropped down the embankment on the further side of the bridge into safety again. The range was great, but a good many soldiers were hit and lay scattered about the ironwork of the bridge. 'Pom-pom-pom,' 'pom-pom-pom,' and so on, twenty times went the Boer automatic gun, and the flights of little shells spotted the bridge with puffs of white smoke. But the advancing Infantry never hesitated for a moment, and continued to scamper across the dangerous ground, paying their toll accordingly. More than sixty men were shot in this short space. Yet this was not the attack. This was only the preliminary movement across the enemy's front. The enemy's shells, which occasionally burst on the advanced kopje, and a whistle of stray bullets from the left, advised us to change our position, and we moved a little further down the slope towards the river. Here the bridge was no longer visible. I looked towards the hill-top, whence the roar of musketry was ceaselessly proceeding. The Artillery had seen the slouch hats, too, and forgetting their usual apathy in the joy of a live target, concentrated a most hellish and terrible fire on the trenches. Meanwhile the afternoon had been passing. The Infantry had filed steadily across the front, and the two leading battalions had already accumulated on the eastern spurs of Inniskilling Hill. At four o'clock General Hart ordered the attack, and the troops forthwith began to climb the slopes. The broken ground delayed their progress, and it was nearly sunset by the time they had reached the furthest position which could be gained under cover. The Boer entrenchments were about four hundred yards away. The _arête_ by which the Inniskillings had advanced was bare, and swept by a dreadful frontal fire from the works on the summit and a still more terrible flanking fire from the other hills. It was so narrow that, though only four companies were arranged in the firing line, there was scarcely room for two to deploy. There was not, however, the slightest hesitation, and as we watched with straining eyes we could see the leading companies rise up together and run swiftly forward on the enemy's works with inspiring dash and enthusiasm. But if the attack was superb, the defence was magnificent; nor could the devoted heroism of the Irish soldiers surpass the stout endurance of the Dutch. The Artillery redoubled their efforts. The whole summit of the hill was alive with shell. Shrapnel flashed into being above the crests, and the ground sprang up into dust whipped by the showers of bullets and splinters. Again and again whole sections of the entrenchments vanished in an awful uprush of black earth and smoke, smothering the fierce blaze of the lyddite shells from the howitzers and heavy artillery. The cannonade grew to tremendous thundering hum. Not less than sixty guns were firing continuously on the Boer trenches. But the musketry was never subdued for an instant. Amid the smoke and the dust the slouch hats could still be seen. The Dutch, firm and undaunted, stood to their parapets and plied their rifles with deadly effect. The terrible power of the Mauser rifle was displayed. As the charging companies met the storm of bullets they were swept away. Officers and men fell by scores on the narrow ridge. Though assailed in front and flank by the hideous whispering Death, the survivors hurried obstinately onward, until their own artillery were forced to cease firing, and it seemed that, in spite of bullets, flesh and blood would prevail. But at the last supreme moment the weakness of the attack was shown. The Inniskillings had almost reached their goal. They were too few to effect their purpose; and when the Boers saw that the attack had withered they shot all the straighter, and several of the boldest leapt out from their trenches and, running forward to meet the soldiers, discharged their magazines at the closest range. It was a frantic scene of blood and fury. Thus confronted, the Irish perished rather than retire. A few men indeed ran back down the slope to the nearest cover, and there savagely turned to bay, but the greater part of the front line was shot down. Other companies, some from the Connaught Rangers, some headed by the brave Colonel Sitwell, from the Dublin Fusiliers, advanced to renew--it was already too late to support--the attack, and as the light faded another fierce and bloody assault was delivered and was repulsed. Yet the Irish soldiers would not leave the hill, and, persuaded at length that they could not advance further, they lay down on the ground they had won, and began to build walls and shelters, from behind which they opened a revengeful fire on the exulting Boers. In the two attacks both colonels, three majors, twenty officers, and six hundred men had fallen out of an engaged force of scarcely one thousand two hundred. Then darkness pulled down the curtain, and the tragedy came to an end for the day. All through the night of the 23rd a heavy rifle fire was maintained by both sides. Stray bullets whistled about the bivouacs, and the South African Light Horse, who had selected a most sheltered spot to sleep in, had a trooper hit. There were a certain number of casualties along the whole front. As soon as it was daylight I rode out with Captain Brooke to learn what had happened in the night. We knew that the hill had not been carried before dusk, but hoped, since the combatants were so close together, that in the darkness the bayonet would have settled the matter. We had just reached the hollow behind the advanced kopje from which I had watched the attack on the previous evening, when suddenly a shrapnel shell burst in the air above our heads with a sharp, startling bang. The hollow and slope of the hill were crowded with Infantry battalions lying down in quarter column. The bullets and splinters of the shell smote the ground on all sides. We were both mounted and in the centre of the cone of dispersion. I was immediately conscious that nothing had happened to me, though the dust around my horse was flicked up, and I concluded that everyone had enjoyed equally good fortune. Indeed, I turned to Brooke, and was about to elaborate my theory that shrapnel is comparatively harmless, when I saw some stir and turmoil and no less than eight men were picked up killed or wounded by this explosion. I have only once before seen in war such a successful shell, and on that occasion I was studying the effect from the other side. My respect for modern artillery was mightily increased by this example of its power. Two more shells followed in quick succession. The first struck down four men, and broke in two the leg of an Infantry officer's charger, so that the poor beast galloped about in a circle, preventing his rider from dismounting for some time; the second shore along the Howitzer Battery, killing one soldier and wounding an officer, five soldiers, and three horses. All this occurred in a space of about two minutes, and the three shells between them accounted for nineteen men and four horses. Then the gun, which was firing 'on spec,' and could not see the effect of its fire, turned its attention elsewhere; but the thought forced itself on me, 'Fancy if there had been a battery.' The crowded Infantry waiting in support would certainly have been driven out of the re-entrant with frightful slaughter. Yet in a European war there would have been not one, but three or four batteries. I do not see how troops can be handled in masses under such conditions, even when in support and on reverse slopes. Future warfare must depend on the individual. We climbed on to the top of the kopje, which was sprinkled with staff officers and others--all much interested in the exhibition of shell fire, which they discussed as a purely scientific question. Inniskilling Hill was still crowned with the enemy, though they no longer showed above their trenches. Its slopes were scored with numerous brown lines, the stone walls built by the attacking brigade during the night, and behind these the telescope showed the Infantry clustering thickly. The Boers on their part had made some new trenches in advance of those on the crest of the hill, so that the opposing firing lines were scarcely three hundred yards apart, which meant that everyone in them must lie still or run grave risks. Thus they remained all day, firing at each other continually, while on the bare ground between them the dead and wounded lay thickly scattered, the dead mixed with the living, the wounded untended, without dressings, food, or water, and harassed by the fire from both sides and from our artillery. It was a very painful thing to watch these poor fellows moving about feebly and trying to wriggle themselves into some position of safety, and it reminded me of the wounded Dervishes after Omdurman--only these were our own countrymen. It seems that a misunderstanding, of the rights and wrongs of which the reader shall be himself a judge, arose with the enemy. When day broke, the Boers, who were much nearer to the wounded than were our troops, came out of their trenches with a Red Cross flag, and the firing thereupon ceased locally. Our people ought then to have been ready to come forward with another Red Cross flag, and an informal truce might easily have been arranged for an hour or two. Unfortunately, however, there was some delay on our part. The Boers therefore picked up their own wounded, of whom there were a few, gave some of our men a little water, and took away their rifles. All this was quite correct; but the Boers then proceeded to strip and despoil the dead and wounded, taking off their boots and turning out their pockets, and this so infuriated the watching soldiers behind the wall that they forthwith fired on the Boers, Red Cross flag notwithstanding. This, of course, was the signal for fighting to recommence fiercely, and during the day neither side would hear of parley. The Boers behaved cruelly in various instances, and several wounded men who tried to crawl away were deliberately destroyed by being shot at close quarters with many bullets. During the 24th there was heavy firing on both sides, but no movement of infantry on either. The army suffered some loss from the Boer artillery, particularly the automatic guns, which were well served, and which enfiladed many of our positions on the slopes of the low kopjes. In this way Colonel Thorold, of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, and other officers, met their deaths. The casualties were principally in Hildyard's English and Kitchener's Lancashire Brigades. Hart's six battalions found good cover in the gorge of the Tugela. Sir Redvers Buller now saw that his plan of filing his army round the angle of the river and across the enemy's front would, in any case, be very costly, and was perhaps impossible. He, therefore, determined to get back to the Hlangwani plateau, and try the extreme left of the enemy's position. He had the strategic advantage of being on interior lines, and was consequently able to move his troops with great ease from one flank to the other. His new plan was to pass the brigades of his left and centre across the pontoon bridge from the left to the right, so that Hart, who was formerly the extreme right, would now become almost the extreme left, and, having thus extended his right arm, to cross the river where it flowed east and west, and make a still wider swoop on the enemy's flank. The first thing to do was to move the heavy guns, and this, with certain redistributions of the cavalry, occupied the whole day. A long-range four-gun naval battery was established on the western slopes of the Monte Cristo ridge. Another similar battery was placed on the spurs of Hlangwani. The 4.7-inch naval guns and the 5 in. fortress battery were brought into line in the centre of the Hlangwani plateau. All this was good. The big guns were getting back on to the big hills. The firing, which continued all day, swelled into a roar towards night as the Boers made vigorous attempts to drive Hart's Brigade from its lodgments. They were, however, foiled in their endeavour to squeeze in between the troops and the river. The battalions, who were attacked frontally, lay down with fixed bayonets and prayed that the Boers might be encouraged by their silence to make an assault. The latter, however, were fully aware of the eagerness of the soldiers for personal collision, and kept their distance. The firing on both sides was unaimed, and very little harm was done. No one, however, had much sleep. The condition of the wounded, still lying sore and thirsty on the bare hillside, was now so shocking that Sir Redvers Buller was forced, much against his inclination, at dawn on the 25th, to send in a flag of truce to the Boer commander and ask for an armistice. This the Boers formally refused, but agreed that if we would not fire on their positions during the day they would not prevent our bearer companies from removing the wounded and burying the dead. The arrangement worked well; the enemy were polite to our medical officers, and by noon all the wounded had been brought down and the dead buried. The neglect and exposure for forty-eight hours had much aggravated the case of the former, and the bodies of the dead, swollen, blackened, and torn by the terrible wounds of the expansive bullets, now so generally used by the enemy, were ugly things to see. The fact that no regular armistice was agreed on was an advantage, as we were not thereby debarred from making military movements. The Boers improved their entrenchments, and Sir Redvers Buller employed the day in withdrawing his train across the river. This movement, seeming to foreshadow another retreat, sorely disquieted the troops, who were only reassured by the promise of a general onslaught from the other flank at no distant time. The strange quiet of this Sunday, the first day since the 14th of the month unbroken by musketry and cannonade, was terminated at nine o'clock at night. The Boers had seen the waggons passing back over the bridge, and were anxious to find out whether or not the infantry were following, and if the low kopjes were evacuated. They therefore opened a tremendous magazine fire at long range on the brigades holding the line from Colenso village to the angle of the river. The fusillade was returned, and for ten minutes the musketry was louder than at any other time in this campaign. Very few casualties occurred, however, and after a while the Boers, having learned that the positions were still occupied, ceased firing, and the British soon imitated them, so that, except for the ceaseless 'sniping,' silence was restored. At dawn on the 26th the artillery re-opened on both sides, and during the day a constant bombardment was maintained, in which we, having more guns, fired the greater number of shells, and the Dutch, having larger targets, hit a greater number of men. The losses were not, however, severe, except in view of the fact that they had to be endured by the infantry idly and passively. Considerable movements of troops were made. Colenso and the kopjes about Fort Wylie were converted into a bridgehead, garrisoned by Talbot Coke's Brigade. A new line of communications was opened around the foot of Hlangwani. A pontoon bridge (B) was arranged ready to be thrown below the falls of the river, not far from the still intact Boer bridge. Hildyard's English Brigade stood fast on the advanced low kopjes forming the extreme left of the line. Hart's command held its position about the slopes of Inniskilling Hill and in the gorge of the river. Barton's Fusilier Brigade, Kitchener's Lancashire Brigade, and the two remaining battalions of Norcott's (formerly Lyttelton's) Brigade crossed the old bridge to the Hlangwani plateau. All was now ready for the final attack on the left of the Pieters position, and in spite of the high quality of the Infantry it was generally recognised throughout the army that the fate of Ladysmith must depend on the success of the next day's operations. The spirit of the army was still undaunted, but they had suffered much from losses, exposure, and disappointment. Since January 11, a period of more than six weeks, the troops had been continuously fighting and bivouacking. The peaceful intervals of a few days had merely been in order to replenish stores and ammunition. During this time the only reinforcements to reach the army had been a few drafts, a cavalry regiment, a horse battery, and some heavy guns. Exclusive of the 1,100 casualties suffered at Colenso in December, the force, rarely more than 20,000 men, had had over 3,500 killed and wounded, had never had a single gleam of success, and had hardly seen the enemy who hit them so hard. Colenso, Spion Kop, Vaal Krantz, and the third day at Pieters were not inspiring memories, and though everyone was cheered by the good news of the entanglement of Cronje's army on the western side, yet it was felt that the attempt to be made on the morrow would be the last effort the Natal Field Army would be asked or allowed to make. And oppressed by these reflections we went anxiously to rest on the eve of Majuba Day. CHAPTER XXV UPON MAJUBA DAY Commandant's Office. Durban: March 6, 1900. Day broke behind a cloudy sky, and the bang of an early gun reminded us that a great business was on hand. The bivouac of the Irregular Cavalry, which, since they had recrossed the river, had been set at the neck between Monte Cristo and Cingolo, was soon astir. We arose--all had slept in their boots and had no need to dress--drank some coffee and rejoiced that the day promised to be cool. It would help the infantry, and on the infantry all depended. At half-past six Dundonald's Brigade marched towards the northern end of the Hlangwani plateau, where we were to take up positions on the spurs of Monte Cristo and along the bluffs of the south bank of the Tugela, from which we might assist the infantry attack, and particularly the attack of Barton's Brigade, by long-range rifle fire, and by our Colt battery and Maxim guns. While we marched the artillery fire grew more rapid, as battery after battery joined in the bombardment; and when we reached the high wooded ridge which we were ordered to line, I could see our shells bursting merrily in the enemy's trenches. The position which had been assigned to the South African Light Horse afforded a close yet extensive view of the whole scene. Deep in its gorge below our feet flowed the Tugela, with the new pontoon bridge visible to the left, just below a fine waterfall. Behind us, on a rounded spur of Monte Cristo, one of the long-range batteries was firing away busily. Before us, across the river, there rose from the water's edge first a yellow strip of sandy foreshore, then steep, scrub-covered banks, and then smooth, brown slopes, terminating in the three hills which were to be successively assaulted, and which were surmounted by the dark lines of the Boer forts and trenches. It was like a stage scene viewed from the dress circle. Moreover, we were very comfortable. There were large convenient rocks to sit behind in case of bullets, or to rest a telescope on, and the small trees which sparsely covered the ridge gave a partial shade from the sun. Opposite our front a considerable valley, thickly wooded, ran back from the river, and it was our easy and pleasant task to 'fan' this, as an American officer would say, by scattering a ceaseless shower of rifle and machine-gun bullets throughout its length. Under these satisfactory circumstances I watched the battle. It developed very slowly, and with the deliberation which characterises all our manoeuvres. The guns gradually worked themselves into a state of excitement, and what with our musketry, supplemented by that of the Border Regiment and the Composite Battalion, whose duties were the same as ours, and the machine-guns puffing like steam engines, we soon had a capital loud noise, which I think is a most invigorating element in an attack. Besides this, the enemy's sharpshooters were curiously subdued. They found an unexpected amount of random bullets flying about, and, as they confessed afterwards, it puzzled and disturbed them. The spectacle of two thousand men firing for half a day at nothing may provoke the comment 'shocking waste of ammunition.' Very likely there was waste. But all war is waste, and cartridges are the cheapest item in the bill. At any rate, we made it too hot for the 'snipers' to show their heads, which was certainly worth fifty men to the assaulting brigades. This method of preparing an attack by a great volume of unaimed--not undirected--rifle fire is worthy of the closest attention. I have only once before noticed its employment, and that was when Sir Bindon Blood attacked and took the Tanga Pass. Then, as now, it was most effective. While we were thus occupied the Infantry of Barton's Brigade were marching across the pontoon bridge, turning to their right and filing along the sandy foreshore. The plan of attack to which Sir Redvers Buller had finally committed himself was as follows: Hildyard's Brigade to hold its position on the low kopjes; Barton's Brigade to cross the new pontoon bridge opposite to the left of the enemy's position, and assault the hill marked '3' on my diagram, and hereinafter called Barton's Hill. Next Kitchener's Brigade was to cross, covered by Barton's fire, to assault the centre hill marked '2,' and called Railway Hill. Lastly, Norcott's two untouched battalions were to join the rest of their brigade, and, supported by General Hart's Brigade, to attack Inniskilling Hill. In brief, we were to stretch out our right arm, reach round the enemy's flank, and pivoting on Hildyard's Brigade crumple him from (his) left to right. It was the same plan as before, only that we now had our right hand on the Monte Cristo ridge, from which commanding position our long-range guns could enfilade and even take in reverse some of the enemy's trenches. The leading brigade was across the river by nine o'clock, and by ten had reached its position ready for attacking at the foot of Barton's Hill. The advance began forthwith and the figures of the Infantry could be seen swarming up the steep slopes of the river gorge. The Boers did very little to stop the attack. They knew their weakness. One side of Barton's Hill was swept and commanded by the guns on Monte Cristo. The other side, at the back of which was the donga we were 'fanning,' was raked by the heavy artillery on the Hlangwani spur and by the field batteries arranged along the south side of the river. Observe the influence of the Monte Cristo ridge! It made Barton's Hill untenable by the Boers; and Barton's Hill prepared the way for an attack on Railway Hill, and Railway Hill--but I must not anticipate. Indeed, next to Monte Cristo, Barton's Hill was the key of the Boer position, and so unfortunate was the enemy's situation that he could not hold this all-important feature once he had lost the Monte Cristo ridge. What was tactically possible and safe--for the Boer is a cautious warrior--was done. Knowing that his left would be turned he extended a sort of false left in the air beyond the end of the Monte Cristo ridge, and here he brought a gun into action, which worried us among other people but did not, of course, prevent any military movement. By noon the whole of Barton's Hill was in the possession of his brigade, without, as it seemed to us, any serious opposition. The artillery then turned its attention to the other objectives of the attack. The Boer detached left was, however, of considerable strength, and as soon as Barton had occupied this hill (which proved, moreover, far more extensive than had been expected), he was heavily attacked by rifle fire from its under features and from a network of dongas to the eastward, and as the Artillery were busy preparing the attack on Railway Hill, the brigade, particularly the Scots and Irish Fusiliers, soon became severely engaged and suffered grievous loss. The fact that Barton's Hill was in our possession made the Boers on Railway and Inniskilling Hills very insecure. A powerful Infantry force was holding the left of their position, and though it was itself being actively attacked on the eastern face, it could spare at least a battalion to assail their flank and threaten their rear. Covered by this flanking fire, by the long-range musketry, and by a tremendous bombardment, in which every gun, from the lumbering 5 in. siege guns to the little 9-pounder mountain battery, joined, the main attack was now launched. It proceeded simultaneously against Railway Hill, Inniskilling Hill, and the neck between them, but as the general line was placed obliquely across the Boer front, the attack fell first on Railway Hill and the neck. The right battalions drew up in many long lines on the sides of the river gorge. Then men began gradually to work their way upwards, until all the dead patches of ground and every scrap of cover sheltered a fierce little group. Behind the railway embankment, among the rocks, in the scrub, in a cutting, near a ruined house, clusters of men eagerly awaited the decisive moment: and all this time more than seventy guns concentrated their fire on the entrenchments, scattering the stones and earth high in the air. Then, suddenly, shortly after four o'clock, all further attempts at advancing under cover were abandoned, and the Lancashire Brigade marched proudly into the open ground and on the enemy's works. The Mauser musketry burst forth at once, and the bullets, humming through the assaulting waves of infantry, reached us on our hillside and wounded a trooper in spite of the distance. But, bullets or no bullets, we could not take our eyes off the scene. The Lancashire Brigade advanced on a wide front. Norcott's Riflemen were already prolonging their line to the right. The Boer fire was dispersed along the whole front of attack, instead of converging on one narrow column. The assault was going to succeed. We stood up on our rocks. Bayonets began to glitter on the distant slope. The moving lines increased their pace. The heads of the Boers bobbing up and down in their trenches grew fewer and fewer. They knew the tide was running too strongly. Death and flight were thinning their ranks. Then the sky-line of Railway Hill bristled with men, who dropped on their knees forthwith and fired in particular haste at something that was running away down the other side. There was the sound of cheering. Railway Hill was ours. I looked to the left. The neck between the hills was lined with trenches. The South Lancashire Regiment had halted, pinned to the ground by the Boer fire. Were they going to lose the day for us when it was already won? The question was soon answered. In an instant there appeared on the left of the Boer trench a dozen--only a dozen--violent forms rushing forward. A small party had worked their way to the flank, and were at close quarters with cold steel. And then--by contrast to their former courage--the valiant burghers fled in all directions, and others held out their rifles and bandoliers and begged for mercy, which was sometimes generously given, so that by the time the whole attack had charged forward into the trenches there was a nice string of thirty-two prisoners winding down the hill: at which token of certain victory we shouted loudly. Inniskilling Hill alone remained, and that was almost in our hands. Its slopes were on three sides alive with the active figures of the Light Brigade, and the bayonets sparkled. The hill ran into a peak. Many of the trenches were already deserted, but the stone breastwork at the summit still contained defenders. There, painted against the evening sky, were the slouch hats and moving rifles. Shell after shell exploded among them: overhead, in their faces, in the trench itself, behind them, before them, around them. Sometimes five and six shells were bursting on the very apex at the same instant. Showers of rock and splinters fell on all sides. Yet they held their ground and stayed in greater peril than was ever mortal man before. But the infantry were drawing very near. At last the Dutchmen fled. One, a huge fellow in a brown jersey, tarried to spring on the parapet and empty his magazine once more into the approaching ranks, and while he did so a 50 lb. lyddite shell burst, as it seemed, in the midst of him, and the last defender of Inniskilling Hill vanished. Then the artillery put up their sights and began to throw their shells over the crest of hill and ridge, so that they might overtake fugitives. The valleys behind fumed and stewed. Wreaths of dust and smoke curled upward. The infantry crowned the trenches all along the line, some firing their rifles at the flying enemy, others beckoning to nearer folk to surrender, and they all cheered in the triumph of successful attack till the glorious sound came down to us who watched, so that the whole army took up the shout, and all men knew that the battle of Pieters was won. Forthwith came orders for the cavalry to cross the river, and we mounted in high expectation, knowing that behind the captured hill lay an open plain stretching almost to the foot of Bulwana. We galloped swiftly down to the pontoon bridge, and were about to pass over it, when the General-in-Chief met us. He had ridden to the other bank to see for himself and us. The Boer artillery were firing heavily to cover the retreat of their riflemen. He would not allow us to go across that night lest we should lose heavily in horses. So the brigade returned disappointed to its former position, watered horses, and selected a bivouac. I was sent to warn the Naval Battery that a heavy counter-stroke would probably be made on the right of Barton's Brigade during the night, and, climbing the spur of Monte Cristo, on which the guns were placed, had a commanding view of the field. In the gathering darkness the Boer artillery, invisible all day, was betrayed by its flashes. Two 'pom-poms' flickered away steadily from the direction of Doorn Kloof, making a regular succession of small bright flame points. Two more guns were firing from the hills to our left. Another was in action far away on our right. There may have been more, but even so it was not much artillery to oppose our eleven batteries. But it is almost an open question whether it is better to have many guns to shoot at very little, or few guns to shoot at a great deal; hundreds of shells tearing up the ground or a dozen plunging into masses of men. Personally, I am convinced that future warfare will be to the few, by which I mean that to escape annihilation soldiers will have to fight in widely dispersed formations, when they will have to think for themselves, and when each must be to a great extent his own general; and with regard to artillery, it appears that the advantages of defensive action, range, concealment, and individual initiative may easily counterbalance numbers and discipline. The night fell upon these reflections, and I hastened to rejoin the cavalry. On the way I passed through Sir Charles Warren's camp, and there found a gang of prisoners--forty-eight of them--all in a row almost the same number that the Boers had taken in the armoured train. Looking at these very ordinary people, who grinned and chattered without dignity, and who might, from their appearance, have been a knot of loafers round a public-house, it was difficult to understand what qualities made them such a terrible foe. 'Only forty-eight, sir,' said a private soldier, who was guarding them, 'and there wouldn't have been so many as that if the orfcers hadn't stopped us from giving them the bayonet. I never saw such cowards in my life; shoot at you till you come up to them, and then beg for mercy. I'd teach 'em.' With which remark he turned to the prisoners, who had just been issued rations of beef and biscuit, but who were also very thirsty, and began giving them water to drink from his own canteen, and so left me wondering at the opposite and contradictory sides of human nature as shown by Briton as well as Boer. We got neither food nor blankets that night, and slept in our waterproofs on the ground; but we had at last that which was better than feast or couch, for which we had hungered and longed through many weary weeks, which had been thrice forbidden us, and which was all the more splendid since it had been so long delayed--Victory. [Illustration: Map of the Operations of the Natal Field Army February 14th to 28th.] CHAPTER XXVI THE RELIEF OF LADYSMITH Commandant's Office, Durban: March 9, 1900. The successful action of the 27th had given Sir Redvers Buller possession of the whole of the left and centre of the Pieters position, and in consequence of these large sections of their entrenchments having fallen into British hands, the Boers evacuated the remainder and retreated westward on to the high hills and northward towards Bulwana Mountain. About ninety prisoners were captured in the assault, and more than a hundred bodies were counted in the trenches. After making allowances for the fact that these men were for the most part killed by shell fire, and that therefore the proportion of killed to wounded would necessarily be higher than if the loss were caused by bullets, it seems probable that no less than three hundred wounded were removed. Forty were collected by British ambulance parties. Of the Boers who were killed in the retreat no accurate estimate can be formed, but the dongas and kopjes beyond the position were strewn with occasional corpses. Undoubtedly the enemy was hard hit in personnel, and the fact that we had taken two miles of entrenchments as well as considerable stores of ammunition proved that a very definite and substantial success had been won. But we were not prepared for the complete results that followed the operations of the 27th. Neither the General nor his army expected to enter Ladysmith without another action. Before us a smooth plain, apparently unobstructed, ran to the foot of Bulwana, but from this forbidding eminence a line of ridges and kopjes was drawn to the high hills of Doorn Kloof, and seemed to interpose another serious barrier. It was true that this last position was within range, or almost within range, of Sir George White's guns, so that its defenders might be caught between two fires, but we knew, and thought the Boers knew, that the Ladysmith garrison was too feeble from want of food and other privations to count for very much. So Sir Redvers Buller, facing the least satisfactory assumption, determined to rest his army on the 28th, and attack Bulwana Hill on March 1. He accordingly sent a message by heliograph into Ladysmith to say that he had beaten the enemy thoroughly, and was sending on his cavalry to reconnoitre. Ladysmith had informed herself, however, of the state of the game. Captain Tilney, from his balloon, observed all that passed in the enemy's lines on the morning of the 28th. At first, when he heard no artillery fire, he was depressed, and feared lest the relieving army had retreated again. Then, as it became day, he was sure that this was not so, for the infantry in crowds were occupying the Boer position, and the mounted patrols pricked forward into the plain. Presently he saw the Boers rounding up their cattle and driving them off to the north. Next they caught and began to saddle their horses. The great white tilted waggons of the various laagers filed along the road around the eastern end of Bulwana. Lastly, up went a pair of shears over 'Long Tom,' and at this he descended to the earth with the good news that the enemy were off at last. The garrison, however, had been mocked by false hopes before, and all steeled themselves to wait 'at least another ten days.' Meanwhile, since there was no fire from the enemy's side, our cavalry and artillery were rapidly and safely crossing the river. There was a considerable block at the bridge when the South African Light Horse arrived, and we had full leisure to examine the traffic. Guns, men, horses, and mules were hurrying across to the northern bank, and an opposing stream of wounded flowed steadily back to the south. I watched these with interest. First came a young officer riding a pony and smoking a cigarette, but very pale and with his left arm covered with bloody bandages. Brooke greeted him and asked, 'Bone ?' 'Yes,' replied the subaltern laconically, 'shoulder smashed up.' We expressed our sympathy. 'Oh, that's all right; good show, wasn't it? The men are awfully pleased;' and he rode slowly on up the hill--the type of an unyielding race--and stoical besides; for wounds, especially shattered bones, grow painful after twelve or fourteen hours. A string of wounded passed by on stretchers, some lying quite still, others sitting up and looking about them; one, also an officer, a dark, black-moustached captain, whose eyes were covered with a bandage, kept his bearers busy with continual impatient questions. 'Yes, but what I want to know is this, did they get into them with the bayonet?' The volunteer stretcher-bearers could make no satisfactory reply, but said, 'Yes, they give 'em 'ell, sir.' 'Where, on the left of Railway Hill?' 'Oh, everywhere, sir.' The group passed by, and the last thing I heard was, 'How much of the artillery has crossed? Are they sending the cavalry over? What the ...' Presently came stretchers with wounded Boers. Most of these poor creatures were fearfully shattered. One tall man with a great fierce beard and fine features had a fragment of rock or iron driven through his liver. He was, moreover, stained bright yellow with lyddite, but did not seem in much pain, for he looked very calm and stolid. The less seriously injured among the soldiers hobbled back alone or assisted by their comrades. I asked a smart-looking sergeant of the Dublin Fusiliers, who was limping along with a broken foot, whether the regiment had been again heavily engaged. Of course they had. 'Sure, we're always in the thick of it, sorr. Mr. ---- was hit; no, not badly; only his wrist, but there's not many of the officers left; only two now who were at Talana.' At last the time came for the cavalry to cross the bridge, and as we filed on to the floating roadway we were amused to see a large fingerpost at the entrance, on which the engineers had neatly painted, 'To Ladysmith.' The brigade passed over the neck between Railway and Inniskilling Hills, and we massed in a suitable place on the descending slopes beyond. We looked at the country before us, and saw that it was good. Here at last was ground cavalry could work on at some speed. Ladysmith was still hidden by the remaining ridges, but we thought that somehow, and with a little luck, we might have a look at it before night. Under Bulwana the waggons of the Boers and several hundred horsemen could be seen hurrying away. It was clearly our business to try to intercept them unless they had made good covering dispositions. Patrols were sent out in all directions, and a squadron of Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry proceeded to Pieters Station, where a complete train of about twenty trucks had been abandoned by the enemy. While this reconnaissance was going on I climbed up Inniskilling Hill to examine the trenches. It was occupied by the East Surrey Regiment, and the soldiers were very eager to do the honours. They had several things to show: 'Come along here, sir; there's a bloke here without a head; took clean off, sir;' and were mightily disappointed that I would not let them remove the blanket which covered the grisly shape. The trench was cut deep in the ground, and, unlike our trenches, there was scarcely any parapet. A few great stones had been laid in front, but evidently the Boer believed in getting well into the ground. The bottom was knee deep in cartridge cases, and every few yards there was an enormous heap of Mauser ammunition, thousands of rounds, all fastened neatly, five at a time, in clips. A large proportion were covered with bright green slime, which the soldiers declared was poison, but which on analysis may prove to be wax, used to preserve the bullet. The Boers, however, were not so guiltless of other charges. A field officer of the East Surreys, recognising me, came up and showed me an expansive bullet of a particularly cruel pattern. The tip had been cut off, exposing the soft core, and four slits were scored down the side. Whole boxes of this ammunition had been found. An officer who had been making calculations told me that the proportion of illegal bullets was nearly one in five. I should not myself have thought it was so large, but certainly the improper bullets were very numerous. I have a specimen of this particular kind by me as I write, and I am informed by people who shoot big game that it is the most severe bullet of its kind yet invented. Five other sorts have been collected by the medical officers, who have also tried to classify the wounds they respectively produce. I cannot be accused of having written unfairly about the enemy; indeed, I have only cared to write what I thought was the truth about everybody. I have tried to do justice to the patriotic virtues of the Boers, and it is now necessary to observe that the character of these people reveals, in stress, a dark and spiteful underside. A man--I use the word in its fullest sense--does not wish to lacerate his foe, however earnestly he may desire his life. The popping of musketry made me hasten to rejoin my regiment. The squadron of mounted infantry had reached Pieters Railway Station, only to be heavily fired on from a low hill to the westward; and they now came scampering back with half a dozen riderless horses. Happily, the riders mostly arrived on foot after a few minutes. But it was evidently necessary to push forward very carefully. Indeed, it is hard to imagine how pursuits will occur in future war. A hundred bold men with magazine rifles on a ridge can delay a whole army. The cavalry must reconnoitre and retire. Infantry and guns must push forward. Meanwhile the beaten troops are moving steadily to safety. In a little while--to revert to the narrative--the horse artillery battery came up, and the offending hill was conscientiously shelled for an hour. Then the patrols crept forward again, but progress was necessarily slow. We were still six miles from Ladysmith at three o'clock. At this hour the Boer ambulances had been invited to come for such of their wounded as could be moved, for since the enemy returned our wounded from Spion Kop we have followed the practice of sending back theirs on all occasions should they prefer it. Anxious to find out the impression produced on the Boers by the late actions, I hastened to meet the ambulances, which, preceded by three horsemen carrying a large white flag, were now coming from the direction of Bulwana. They were stopped at our cavalry picket line, and a report of their arrival was sent back to the nearest brigadier. Their leader was a fine old fellow of the genuine veldt Boer type. He spoke English fluently, and we were soon in conversation. Cronje's surrender had been officially announced to us on the previous day, and I inquired whether he had heard of it. He replied that he knew Cronje was in difficulties, but understood he had managed to escape with his army. As for the surrender, it might be true or it might be false. 'We are told so many lies that we believe nothing.' But his next remark showed that he realised that the tide had begun to turn. 'I don't know what we poor Afrikanders have done that England won't let us be a nation.' I would have replied that I remembered having heard something about 'driving the English into the sea,' but I have been over this ground before in every sense, and knew the futility of any discussion. Indeed, when the debate is being conducted with shells, bullets, and bayonets, words are feeble weapons. So I said with an irony which was quite lost on him, 'It must be all those damned capitalists,' and this, of course, won his complete agreement, so that he confided that losing the position we had taken on the 27th was 'a sore and bitter blow.' It happened that two squadrons of the 13th Hussars had ridden forward beyond us towards Bulwana, and at this moment the Boer artillery began to shell them rather heavily. We watched the proceedings for a few minutes, and the Boer was much astonished to see soldiers riding leisurely forward in regular though open order without paying the slightest attention to the shrapnel. Then several more squadrons were ordered to support the reconnaissance. A great company of horsemen jingled past the halted ambulances and cantered off in the direction of the firing. My companion regarded these steadfastly, then he said: 'Why do they all look so pleased?' 'Because they think they are going to fight; but they will not be allowed to. It is only desired to draw your fire and reconnoitre.' The whole plain was now occupied by cavalry, both brigades being on the move. 'Little did we think a week ago,' said the Boer, 'that we should see such a sight as this, here in this plain.' 'Didn't you think we should get through?' 'No, we didn't believe it possible.' 'And you find the soldiers brave?' 'They do not care for life.' 'And Ladysmith?' 'Ah,' his eye brightened, 'there's pluck, if you like. Wonderful!' Then we agreed that it was a sad and terrible war, and whoever won we would make the gold mines pay, so that 'the damned capitalists' should not think they had scored, and thus we parted. I afterwards learned that the Boer ambulances removed twenty-seven of their wounded. The condition of the others was too serious to allow of their being moved, and in spite of every attention they all died while in our hands. When I rejoined the South African Light Horse the Irregular Brigade had begun to advance again. Major Gough's Composite Regiment had scouted the distant ridge and found it unoccupied. Now Dundonald moved his whole command thither, and with his staff climbed to the top. But to our disappointment Ladysmith was not to be seen. Two or three other ridges hung like curtains before us. The afternoon had passed, and it was already after six o'clock. The Boer artillery was still firing, and it seemed rash to attempt to reconnoitre further when the ground was broken and the light fading. The order was given to retire and the movement had actually begun when a messenger came back from Gough with the news that the last ridge between us and the town was unoccupied by the enemy, that he could see Ladysmith, and that there was, for the moment, a clear run in. Dundonald immediately determined to go on himself into the town with the two squadrons who were scouting in front, and to send the rest of the brigade back to camp. He invited me to accompany him, and without delay we started at a gallop. Never shall I forget that ride. The evening was deliciously cool. My horse was strong and fresh, for I had changed him at midday. The ground was rough with many stones, but we cared little for that. Beyond the next ridge, or the rise beyond that, or around the corner of the hill, was Ladysmith--the goal of all our hopes and ambitions during weeks of almost ceaseless fighting. Ladysmith--the centre of the world's attention, the scene of famous deeds, the cause of mighty efforts--Ladysmith was within our reach at last. We were going to be inside the town within an hour. The excitement of the moment was increased by the exhilaration of the gallop. Onward wildly, recklessly, up and down hill, over the boulders, through the scrub, Hubert Gough with his two squadrons, Mackenzie's Natal Carabineers and the Imperial Light Horse, were clear of the ridges already. We turned the shoulder of a hill, and there before us lay the tin houses and dark trees we had come so far to see and save. The British guns on Cæsar's Camp were firing steadily in spite of the twilight. What was happening? Never mind, we were nearly through the dangerous ground. Now we were all on the flat. Brigadier, staff, and troops let their horses go. We raced through the thorn bushes by Intombi Spruit. Suddenly there was a challenge. 'Halt, who goes there?' 'The Ladysmith Relief Column,' and thereat from out of trenches and rifle pits artfully concealed in the scrub a score of tattered men came running, cheering feebly, and some were crying. In the half light they looked ghastly pale and thin. A poor, white-faced officer waved his helmet to and fro, and laughed foolishly, and the tall, strong colonial horsemen, standing up in their stirrups, raised a loud resounding cheer, for then we knew we had reached the Ladysmith picket line. Presently we arranged ourselves in military order, Natal Carabineers and Imperial Light Horse riding two and two abreast so that there might be no question about precedence, and with Gough, the youngest regimental commander in the army, and one of the best, at the head of the column, we forded the Klip River and rode into the town. That night I dined with Sir George White, who had held the town for four months against all comers, and was placed next to Hamilton, who won the fight at Elandslaagte and beat the Boers off Waggon Hill, and next but one to Hunter, whom everyone said was the finest man in the vorld. Never before had I sat in such brave company nor stood so close to a great event. As the war drives slowly to its close more substantial triumphs, larger battles, wherein the enemy suffers heavier loss, the capture of towns, and the surrender of armies may mark its progress. But whatever victories the future may have in store, the defence and relief of Ladysmith, because they afford, perhaps, the most remarkable examples of national tenacity and perseverance which our later history contains, will not be soon forgotten by the British people, whether at home or in the Colonies. CHAPTER XXVII AFTER THE SIEGE Durban: March 10, 1900. Since the road by which Dundonald's squadrons had entered the town was never again closed by the enemy, the siege of Ladysmith may be said to have ended on the last day of February. During the night the heavy guns fired at intervals, using up the carefully husbanded ammunition in order to prevent the Boers from removing their artillery. On March 1 the garrison reverted to a full half-ration of biscuits and horseflesh, and an attempt was made to harass the Boers, who were in full retreat towards the Biggarsberg. Sir George White had made careful inquiries among the regiments for men who would undertake to walk five miles and fight at the end of the march. But so reduced were the soldiers through want of food that, though many volunteered, only two thousand men were considered fit out of the whole garrison. These were, however, formed into a column, under Colonel Knox, consisting of two batteries of artillery, two squadrons of the 19th Hussars and 5th Lancers, 'all that was left of them,' with horses, and detachments, each about two hundred and fifty strong, from the Manchester, Liverpool, and Devon Regiments, the 60th Rifles, and the Gordon Highlanders, and this force moved out of Ladysmith at dawn on the 1st to attack the Boers on Pepworth's Hill, in the hope of interfering with their entrainment at Modderspruit Station. The Dutch, however, had left a rear guard sufficient to hold in check so small a force, and it was 2 o'clock before Pepworth's Hill was occupied. The batteries then shelled Modderspruit Station, and very nearly caught three crowded trains, which just managed to steam out of range in time. The whole force of men and horses was by this time quite exhausted. The men could scarcely carry their rifles. In the squadron of 19th Hussars nine horses out of sixty fell down and died, and Colonel Knox therefore ordered the withdrawal into the town. Only about a dozen men were killed or wounded in this affair, but the fact that the garrison was capable of making any offensive movement after their privations is a manifest proof of their soldierly spirit and excellent discipline. On the same morning Sir Redvers Buller advanced on Bulwana Hill. Down from the commanding positions which they had won by their courage and endurance marched the incomparable infantry, and by 2 o'clock the plain of Pieters was thickly occupied by successive lines of men in extended order, with long columns of guns and transport trailing behind them. Shortly before noon it was ascertained that Bulwana Hill was abandoned by the enemy, and the army was thereon ordered to camp in the plain, no further fighting being necessary. The failure to pursue the retreating Boers when two fine cavalry brigades were standing idle and eager must be noticed. It is probable that the Boer rearguard would have been sufficiently strong to require both infantry and guns to drive it back. It is certain that sharp fighting must have attended the effort. Nevertheless the opinion generally expressed was that it should have been made. My personal impression is that Sir Redvers Buller was deeply moved by the heavy losses the troops had suffered, and was reluctant to demand further sacrifices from them at this time. Indeed, the price of victory had been a high one. In the fortnight's fighting, from February 14 to February 28, two generals, six colonels commanding regiments, a hundred and five other officers, and one thousand five hundred and eleven soldiers had been killed or wounded out of an engaged force of about eighteen thousand men; a proportion of slightly under 10 per cent. In the whole series of operations for the relief of Ladysmith the losses amounted to three hundred officers and more than five thousand men, out of a total engaged force of about twenty-three thousand, a proportion of rather more than 20 per cent. Nor had this loss been inflicted in a single day's victorious battle, but was spread over twenty-five days of general action in a period of ten weeks; and until the last week no decided success had cheered the troops. The stress of the campaign, moreover, had fallen with peculiar force on certain regiments: the Lancashire Fusiliers sustained losses of over 35 per cent., the Inniskillings of 40 per cent., and the Dublin Fusiliers of over 60 per cent. It was very remarkable that the fighting efficiency of these regiments was in no way impaired by such serious reductions. The casualties among the officers maintained their usual glorious disproportion, six or seven regiments in the army having less than eight officers left alive and unwounded. Among the cavalry the heaviest losses occurred in Dundonald's Brigade, the South African Light Horse, Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry, and the squadron of Imperial Light Horse, each losing a little less than a quarter of their strength. The ceaseless marching and fighting had worn out the clothes and boots of the army, and a certain number of the guns of the field artillery were unserviceable through constant firing. The troops, besides clothes, needed fresh meat, an exclusive diet of tinned food being unwholesome if unduly prolonged. Sir Redvers Buller's estimate that a week's rest was needed does not seem excessive by the light of such facts, but still one more effort might have saved much trouble later on. On March 3 the relieving army made its triumphal entry into Ladysmith, and passing through the town camped on the plain beyond. The scene was solemn and stirring, and only the most phlegmatic were able to conceal their emotions. The streets were lined with the brave defenders, looking very smart and clean in their best clothes, but pale, thin, and wasp-waisted--their belts several holes tighter than was satisfactory. Before the little Town Hall, the tower of which, sorely battered, yet unyielding, seemed to symbolise the spirit of the garrison, Sir George White and his staff sat on their skeleton horses. Opposite to them were drawn up the pipers of the Gordon Highlanders. The townsfolk, hollow-eyed but jubilant, crowded the pavement and the windows of the houses. Everyone who could find a flag had hung it out, but we needed no bright colours to raise our spirits. At eleven o'clock precisely the relieving army began to march into the town. First of all rode Sir Redvers Buller with his headquarters staff and an escort of the Royal Dragoons. The infantry and artillery followed by brigades, but in front of all, as a special recognition of their devoted valour, marched the Dublin Fusiliers, few, but proud. Many of the soldiers, remembering their emerald island, had fastened sprigs of green to their helmets, and all marched with a swing that was wonderful to watch. Their Colonel and their four officers looked as happy as kings are thought to be. As the regiments passed Sir George White, the men recognised their former general, and, disdaining the rules of the service, waved their helmets and rifles, and cheered him with intense enthusiasm. Some even broke from the ranks. Seeing this the Gordon Highlanders began to cheer the Dublins, and after that the noise of cheering was continual, every regiment as it passed giving and receiving fresh ovations. All through the morning and on into the afternoon the long stream of men and guns flowed through the streets of Ladysmith, and all marvelled to see what manner of men these were--dirty, war-worn, travel-stained, tanned, their uniforms in tatters, their boots falling to pieces, their helmets dinted and broken, but nevertheless magnificent soldiers, striding along, deep-chested and broad-shouldered, with the light of triumph in their eyes and the blood of fighting ancestors in their veins. It was a procession of lions. And presently, when the two battalions of Devons met--both full of honours--and old friends breaking from the ranks gripped each other's hands and shouted, everyone was carried away, and I waved my feathered hat, and cheered and cheered until I could cheer no longer for joy that I had lived to see the day. At length all was over. The last dust-brown battalion had passed away and the roadway was again clear. Yet the ceremony was incomplete. Before the staff could ride away the Mayor of Ladysmith advanced and requested Sir George White to receive an address which the townspeople had prepared and were anxious to present to him. The General dismounted from his horse, and standing on the steps of the Town Hall, in the midst of the inhabitants whom he had ruled so rigorously during the hard months of the siege, listened while their Town Clerk read their earnest grateful thanks to him for saving their town from the hands of the enemy. The General replied briefly, complimented them on their behaviour during the siege, thanked them for the way in which they had borne their many hardships and submitted to the severe restrictions which the circumstances of war had brought on them, and rejoiced with them that they had been enabled by their devotion and by the bravery of the soldiers to keep the Queen's flag flying over Ladysmith. And then everybody cheered everybody else, and so, very tired and very happy, we all went home to our belated luncheons. Walking through the streets it was difficult to see many signs of the bombardment. The tower of the Town Hall was smashed and chipped, several houses showed large holes in their walls, and heaps of broken brickwork lay here and there. But on the whole the impression produced was one of surprise that the Boers had done so little damage with the sixteen thousand shells they had fired during the siege. On entering the houses, however, the effect was more apparent. In one the floor was ripped up, in another the daylight gleamed through the corrugated iron roof, and in some houses the inner walls had been completely destroyed, and only heaps of rubbish lay on the floor. The fortifications which the troops had built, though of a very strong and effective character, were neither imposing nor conspicuous; indeed, being composed of heaps of stone they were visible only as dark lines on the rugged kopjes, and if the fame of the town were to depend on relics of the war it would not long survive the siege. But memories dwell among the tin houses and on the stony hills that will keep the name of Ladysmith fresh and full of meaning in the hearts of our countrymen. Every trench, every mound has its own tale to tell, some of them sad, but not one shameful. Here and there, scattered through the scrub by the river or on the hills of red stones almost red hot in the sun blaze, rise the wooden crosses which mark the graves of British soldiers. Near the iron bridge a considerable granite pyramid records the spot where Dick Cunyngham, colonel of the Gordons--what prouder office could a man hold?--fell mortally wounded on the 6th of January. Another monument is being built on Waggon Hill to commemorate the brave men of the Imperial Light Horse who lost their lives but saved the day. The place is also marked where the noble Ava fell. But there was one who found, to use his own words, 'a strange sideway out of Ladysmith,' whose memory many English-speaking people will preserve. I do not write of Steevens as a journalist, nor as the master of a popular and pleasing style, but as a man. I knew him, though I had met him rarely. A dinner up the Nile, a chance meeting at an Indian junction, five days on a Mediterranean steamer, two in a Continental express, and a long Sunday at his house near Merton--it was a scanty acquaintance, but sufficient to be quite certain that in all the varied circumstances and conditions to which men are subjected Steevens rang true. Modest yet proud, wise as well as witty, cynical but above all things sincere, he combined the characters of a charming companion and a good comrade. His conversation and his private letters sparkled like his books and articles. Original expressions, just similitudes, striking phrases, quaint or droll ideas welled in his mind without the slightest effort. He was always at his best. I have never met a man who talked so well, so easily. His wit was the genuine article--absolutely natural and spontaneous. I once heard him describe an incident in the Nile campaign, and the description amused me so much that I was impatient to hear it again, and when a suitable occasion offered I asked him to tell his tale to the others. But he told it quite differently, and left me wondering which version was the better. He could not repeat himself if he tried, whereas most of the renowned talkers I have met will go over the old impression with the certainty of a phonograph. But enough of his words. He was not a soldier, but he walked into the Atbara zareba with the leading company of the Seaforth Highlanders. He wrote a vivid account of the attack, but there was nothing in it about himself. When the investment of Ladysmith shut the door on soldiers, townspeople, and War Correspondents alike, Steevens set to work to do his share of keeping up the good spirits of the garrison and of relieving the monotony of the long days. Through the first three months of the siege no local event was awaited with more interest than the publication of a 'Ladysmith Lyre,' and the weary defenders had many a good laugh at its witticisms. Sun, stink, and sickness harassed the beleaguered. The bombardment was perpetual, the relief always delayed; hope again and again deferred. But nothing daunted Steevens, depressed his courage, or curbed his wit. What such a man is worth in gloomy days those may appreciate who have seen the effect of public misfortunes on a modern community. At last he was himself stricken down by enteric fever. When it seemed that the worst was over there came a fatal relapse, and the brightest Intellect yet sacrificed by this war perished; nor among all the stubborn garrison of Ladysmith was there a stouter heart or a more enduring spirit. Dismal scenes were to be found at the hospital camp by Intombi Spruit. Here, in a town of white tents, under the shadow of Bulwana, were collected upwards of two thousand sick and wounded--a fifth of the entire garrison. They were spared the shells, but exposed to all the privations of the siege. Officers and men, doctors and patients, presented alike a most melancholy and even ghastly appearance. Men had been wounded, had been cured of their wounds, and had died simply because there was no nourishing food to restore their strength. Others had become convalescent from fever, but had succumbed from depression and lack of medical comforts. Hundreds required milk and brandy, but there was only water to give them. The weak died: at one time the death rate averaged fifteen a day. Nearly a tenth of the whole garrison died of disease. A forest of crosses, marking the graves of six hundred men, sprang up behind the camp. It was a painful thing to watch the hungry patients, so haggard and worn that their friends could scarcely recognise them; and after a visit to Intombi I sat and gloated for an hour at the long train of waggons filled with all kinds of necessary comforts which crawled along the roads, and the relief of Ladysmith seemed more than ever worth the heavy price we had paid. On the evening after Buller's victorious army had entered the town I went to see Sir George White, and was so fortunate as to find him alone and disengaged. The General received me in a room the windows of which gave a wide view of the defences. Bulwana, Caesar's Camp, Waggon Hill lay before us, and beneath--for the house stood on high ground--spread the blue roofs of Ladysmith. From the conversation that followed, and from my own knowledge of events, I shall endeavour to explain so far as is at present possible the course of the campaign in Natal; and I will ask the reader to observe that only the remarks actually quoted should be attributed to the various officers. Sir George White told me how he had reached Natal less than a week before the declaration of war. He found certain arrangements in progress to meet a swiftly approaching emergency, and he had to choose between upsetting all these plans and entirely reconstructing the scheme of defence, or of accepting what was already done as the groundwork of his operations. Sir Penn Symons, who had been commanding in the Colony, and who was presumably best qualified to form an opinion on the military necessities, extravagantly underrated the Boer fighting power. Some of his calculations of the force necessary to hold various places seem incredible in the light of recent events. But everyone was wrong about the Boers, and the more they knew the worse they erred. Symons laughed at the Boer military strength, and laboured to impress his opinions on Sir George White, who having Hamilton's South African experience to fall back on, however, took a much more serious view of the situation, and was particularly disturbed at the advanced position of the troops at Dundee. He wanted to withdraw them. Symons urged the opposite considerations vehemently. He was a man of great personal force, and his manner carried people with him. 'Besides,' said the General, with a kindling eye and extraordinary emphasis, 'he was a good, brave fighting man, and you know how much that is worth in war.' In spite of Symons's confidence and enthusiasm White hated to leave troops at Dundee, and Sir Archibald Hunter, his chief of staff, agreed with him. But not to occupy a place is one thing: to abandon it after it has been occupied another. They decided to ask Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson what consequences would in his opinion follow a withdrawal. They visited him at ten o'clock at night, and put the question straightly. Thus appealed to, the Governor declared that in that event 'loyalists' would be disgusted and discouraged; the results as regards the Dutch would be grave, many, if not most, would very likely rise, believing us to be afraid ... and the effect on the natives, of whom there are some 750,000 in Natal and Zululand, might be disastrous.' On hearing this opinion expressed by a man of the Governor's ability and local knowledge, Sir Archibald Hunter said that it was a question 'of balancing drawbacks,' and advised that the troops be retained at Glencoe. So the matter was clinched, 'and,' said Sir George, 'when I made up my mind to let Symons stay I shared and shared alike with him in the matter of troops, giving him three batteries, a regiment, and an infantry brigade, and keeping the same myself.' For his share in this discussion the Governor was at one time subjected to a considerable volume of abuse in the public Press, it being charged against him that he had 'interfered' with the military arrangements. Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson, with whom I have had many pleasant talks, makes this invariable reply: 'I never said a word to Sir George White until I was asked. When my opinion was called for I gave it according to the best of my judgment.' In the actual event Dundee had to be abandoned, nor was this a deliberate evacuation arising out of any regular military policy, but a swift retreat without stores or wounded, compelled by the force of the enemy. It is, therefore, worth while considering how far the Governor's judgment had been vindicated by events. Undoubtedly loyalists throughout the Colony were disgusted, and that they were not discouraged was mainly due to the fact that with the Anglo-Saxon peoples anger at the injury usually overcomes dismay. The effect on the Dutch was grave, but was considerably modified by the electrical influence of the victory of Elandslaagte, and the spectacle of Boer prisoners marching southward. The whole of the Klip River country, however, rose, and many prominent Natal Dutch farmers joined the enemy. The loyalty of the natives alone exceeded the Governor's anticipations, and their belief in the British power and preference for British rule was found to stand more knocking about than those best able to judge expected. We have reaped a rich reward in this dark season for having consistently pursued a kindly and humane policy towards the Bantu races; and the Boers have paid a heavy penalty for their cruelty and harshness. On the subject of holding Ladysmith Sir George White was quite clear. 'I never wanted to abandon Ladysmith; I considered it a place of primary importance to hold. It was on Ladysmith that both Republics concentrated their first efforts. Here, where the railways join, the armies of the Free State and the Transvaal were to unite, and the capture of the town was to seal their union.' It is now certain that Ladysmith was an essential to the carefully thought out Boer plan of campaign. To make quite sure of victory they directed twenty-five thousand of their best men on it under the Commandant-General himself. Flushed with the spirit of invasion, they scarcely reckoned on a fortnight's resistance; nor in their wildest nightmares did they conceive a four months' siege terminating in the furious inroad of a relieving army. Exasperated at unexpected opposition--for they underrated us even more than we underrated them--they sacrificed around Ladysmith their chances of taking Pietermaritzburg and raiding all Natal; and it is moreover incontestable that in their resolve to take the town, on which they had set their hearts, they were provoked into close fighting with Sir Redvers Buller's army, and even to make an actual assault on the defences of Ladysmith, and so suffered far heavier losses than could otherwise have been inflicted on so elusive an enemy in such broken country. 'Besides,' said the General, 'I had no choice in the matter. I did not want to leave Ladysmith, but even if I had wanted, it would have been impossible.' He then explained how not only the moral value, the political significance of Ladysmith, and the great magazines accumulated there rendered it desirable to hold the town, but that the shortness of time, the necessity of evacuating the civil population, and of helping in the Dundee garrison, made its retention actually obligatory. Passing to the actual siege of the town, Sir George White said that he had decided to make an active defence in order to keep the enemy's attention fixed on his force, and so prevent them from invading South Natal before the reinforcements could arrive. With that object he had fought the action of October 30, which had turned out so disastrously. After that he fell back on his entrenchments, and the blockade began. 'The experience we had gained of the long-range guns possessed by the enemy,' said Sir George, 'made it necessary for me to occupy a very large area of ground, and I had to extend my lines accordingly. My lines are now nearly fourteen miles in circumference. If I had taken up a smaller position we should have been pounded to death.' He said that the fact that they had plenty of room alone enabled them to live, for the shell fire was thus spread over a large area, and, as it were, diluted. Besides this the cattle were enabled to find grazing, but these extended lines were also a source of weakness. At one time on several sections of the defences the garrison could only provide two hundred men to the mile. 'That is scarcely the prescribed proportion. I would like to have occupied Bulwana, in which case we should have been quite comfortable, but I did not dare extend my lines any further. It was better to endure the bombardment than to run the risk of being stormed. Because my lines were so extended I was compelled to keep all the cavalry in Ladysmith.' Until they began to eat instead of feed the horses this powerful mounted force, upwards of three thousand strong, had been his mobile, almost his only reserve. Used in conjunction with an elaborate system of telephones the cavalry from their central position could powerfully reinforce any threatened section. The value of this was proved on January 6. The General thought that the fierce assault delivered by the enemy on that day vindicated his policy in not occupying Bulwana and in keeping his cavalry within the town, on both of which points he had been much criticised. He spoke with some bitterness of the attacks which had been made on him in the newspapers. He had always begged that the relieving operations should not be compromised by any hurry on his account, and he said, with earnestness, 'It is not fair to charge me with all the loss of life they have involved.' He concluded by saying, deliberately: 'I regret Nicholson's Nek; perhaps I was rash then, but it was my only chance of striking a heavy blow. I regret nothing else. It may be that I am an obstinate man to say so, but if I had the last five months to live over again I would not--with that exception---do otherwise than I have done.' And then I came away and thought of the cheers of the relieving troops. Never before had I heard soldiers cheer like that. There was not much doubt about the verdict of the army on Sir George White's conduct of the defence, and it is one which the nation may gracefully accept. But I am anxious also to discuss the Ladysmith episode from Sir Redvers Buller's point of view. This officer reached Cape Town on the very day that White was driven back on Ladysmith. His army, which would not arrive for several weeks, was calculated to be strong enough to overcome the utmost resistance the Boer Republics could offer. To what extent he was responsible for the estimates of the number of troops necessary is not known. It is certain, however, that everyone--Ministers, generals, colonists, and intelligence officers--concurred in making a most remarkable miscalculation. It reminds me of Jules Verne's story of the men who planned to shift the axis of the earth by the discharge of a great cannon. Everything was arranged. The calculations were exact to the most minute fraction. The world stood aghast at the impending explosion. But the men of science, whose figures were otherwise so accurate, had left out a nought, and their whole plan came to nothing. So it was with the British. Their original design of a containing division in Natal, and an invading army of three divisions in the Free State, would have been excellent if only they had written army corps instead of division. Buller found himself confronted with an alarming and critical situation in Natal. Practically the whole force which had been deemed sufficient to protect the Colony was locked up in Ladysmith, and only a few line of communication troops stood between the enemy and the capital or even the seaport. Plainly, therefore, strong reinforcements--at least a division--must be hurried to Natal without an hour's unnecessary delay. When these troops were subtracted from the forces in the Cape Colony all prospect of pursuing the original plan of invading the Free State was destroyed. It was evident that the war would assume dimensions which no one had ever contemplated. The first thing to be done therefore was to grapple with the immediate emergencies, and await the arrival of the necessary troops to carry on the war on an altogether larger scale. Natal was the most acute situation. But there were others scarcely less serious and critical. The Cape Colony was quivering with rebellion. The Republican forces were everywhere advancing. Kimberley and Mafeking were isolated. A small British garrison held a dangerous position at Orange River bridge. Nearly all the other bridges had been seized or destroyed by rebels or invaders. From every quarter came clamourings for troops. Soldiers were wanted with vital need at Stormberg, at Rosmead Junction, at Colesberg, at De Aar, but most of all they were wanted in Natal--Natal, which had been promised protection 'with the whole force of the Empire,' and which was already half overrun and the rest almost defenceless. So the army corps, which was to have marched irresistibly to Bloemfontein and Pretoria, had to be hurled into the country--each unit as it arrived--wherever the need was greatest where all were great. Sir Redvers Buller, thus assailed by the unforeseen and pressed on every side, had to make up his mind quickly. He looked to Natal. It was there that the fiercest fighting was in progress and that the strength and vigour of the enemy was apparently most formidable. He had always regarded the line of the Tugela as the only defensive line which British forces would be strong enough to hold, and had recorded his opinion against placing any troops north of that river. In spite of this warning Ladysmith had been made a great military depot, and had consequently come to be considered a place of primary importance. It was again a question of balancing drawbacks. Buller therefore telegraphed to White asking him whether he could entrench and maintain himself pending the arrival of reinforcements. White replied that he was prepared to make a prolonged defence of Ladysmith. To this proposal the General-in-chief assented, observing only 'but the line of the Tugela is very tempting.' General Buller's plan now seems to have been briefly as follows: First, to establish a _modus vivendi_ in the Cape Colony, with sufficient troops to stand strictly on the defensive; secondly, to send a strong force to Natal, and either restore the situation there, or, failing that, extricate Sir George White so that his troops would be again available for the defence of the Southern portion of the Colony; thirdly, with what was left of the army corps--no longer strong enough to invade the Free State--to relieve Kimberley; fourthly, after settling Natal to return with such troops as could be spared and form with reinforcements from home a fresh army to carry out the original scheme of invading the Free State. The defect in this plan was that there were not enough troops to carry it out. As we had underestimated the offensive vigour which the enemy was able to develop before the army could reach South Africa, so now we altogether miscalculated his extraordinary strength on the defensive. But it is impossible to see what else could have been done, and at any rate no one appreciated the magnitude of the difficulties more correctly than Sir Redvers Buller. He knew Northern Natal and understood the advantages that the Boers enjoyed among its mountains and kopjes. On one occasion he even went so far as to describe the operation he had proposed as a 'forlorn hope,' so dark and gloomy was the situation in South Africa during the first fortnight in November. It was stated that the General was ordered by the War Office to go to Natal, and went there against his own will and judgment. This, however, was not true; and when I asked him he replied: 'It was the most difficult business of all. I knew what it meant, and that it was doubtful whether we should get through to Ladysmith. I had not the nerve to order a subordinate to do it. I was the big man. I had to go myself.' What followed, with the exception of the battle of Colenso, our first experience of the Boer behind entrenchments, has been to some extent described in these letters. Viewed in the light of after knowledge it does not appear that the holding of Ladysmith was an unfortunate act. The flower of the Boer army was occupied and exhausted in futile efforts to take the town and stave off the relieving forces. Four precious months were wasted by the enemy in a vain enterprise. Fierce and bloody fighting raged for several weeks with heavy loss to both sides, but without shame to either. In the end the British were completely victorious. Not only did their garrison endure famine, disease, and bombardment with constancy and composure and repel all assaults, but the soldiers of the relief column sustained undismayed repeated disappointments and reverses, and finally triumphed because through thick and thin they were loyal to their commander and more stubborn even than the stubborn Dutch. In spite of, perhaps because of, some mistakes and many misfortunes the defence and relief of Ladysmith will not make a bad page in British history. Indeed it seems to me very likely that in future times our countrymen will think that we were most fortunate to find after a prolonged peace leaders of quality and courage, who were moreover honourable gentlemen, to carry our military affairs through all kinds of difficulties to a prosperous issue; and whatever may be said of the generals it is certain that all will praise the enduring courage of the regimental officer and the private soldier. 
32934	----	The Young Colonists A Story of the Zulu and Boer Wars By G.A. Henty Illustrations by Simon H. Vedder Published by Blackie and Son Ltd, 50 Old Bailey, London EC. The Young Colonists, by G.A. Henty. ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ THE YOUNG COLONISTS, BY G.A. HENTY. PREFACE. As a rule the minor wars in which this country has been from time to time engaged, have been remarkable both for the admirable way in which they were conducted and for the success that attended them. The two campaigns in South Africa, however, that followed each other with but a brief interval, were notable exceptions. In the Zulu War the blunder, made by the General in command, of dividing his army and marching away with the greater portion without troubling himself to keep up communication with the force left behind, brought about a serious disaster at Isandula. In the Boer War we also suffered two defeats,-- one at Laing's Neck, the other at Majuba Hill,--and when at last a British force was assembled capable of retrieving these misfortunes, the English government decided not to fight, but to leave the Boers in possession of the Transvaal. This unfortunate surrender has, assuredly, brought about the troubled state of things now existing in South Africa. After having written upwards of fifty records of almost unbroken success to the British arms in almost all parts of the world, I have found it painful to describe these two campaigns in which we suffered defeat. I trust, however, that this story will prove of great interest to the reader because of the characteristic English pluck and daring of its hero. G.A. Henty. CHAPTER ONE. A SNOW-DRIFT. The country round Castleton, in Derbyshire, is greatly admired by summer tourists, for it lies in the wildest part of that county; but in winter the wind whistles sharply over the bleak hills--where there are no trees to break its violence,--the sheep huddle under the shelter of the roughly-built stone walls, and even lovers of the picturesque would at that season prefer a more level and wooded country. The farm of Mr Humphreys was situated about a mile from Castleton. It consisted of 100 acres or so of good land in the bottom, and of five or six times as much upland grazing on the hills. Mr Humphreys owned as well as farmed his land, and so might have claimed, had he chosen, the title of gentleman-farmer; but he himself would have scoffed at such an idea. He was a hard-working, practical farmer, about over his ground from morning to night, save when the hounds met within easy distance in winter; then he would mount "Robin," who served alike as hunter, or hack, or to drive in the neat dog-cart to Buxton market; and, although there were many handsomer horses in the field, Mr Humphreys was seldom far off when the fox was killed. His family consisted of his wife and two sons, the eldest, Richard, was about fourteen years old. His brother, John, was three years younger. Both went to school at Castleton. The younger boy was fond of his books; he had always been weak and delicate, and, being unable to spend his time in active exercise out of doors, he was generally to be found reading by the fire in winter, or lying on the ground in summer under a tree in the orchard, with his chin on his hand, and the book before him. Richard had no literary taste; he managed to scrape through his work and keep a moderate place in his class, somewhere about half-way down; but he threw his whole heart into outdoor exercise, and was one of the best bats in the school, although there were many there older by years. He knew every foot of the hills, could tell every bird by its note, and knew all about their nests and eggs. Except in school, or perhaps during the long winter evenings, it was rare indeed to find Dick with a book in his hand. "You will never set the Thames on fire, Dick," his father would say to him. "I shall never want to, father," he would reply. "I do not see that learning will ever be much good to me." "That is a foolish idea, Dick. A great deal of the learning that boys get at school is of no actual value in pounds, shillings, and pence. It is not the fact of knowing Latin, and Greek, and mathematics which benefits a man; but it is the learning of them. It is the discipline to the mind, which is of benefit. The mind is like the body. There is no use in cricket, or in boating, or in hunting, but these things strengthen the body and make it active and healthy, and able to do better everything which it undertakes, and it is exactly the same thing with the mind; besides, the days are coming when farmers must farm their land with science and intelligence, or they will be left behind in the race. We are being rivalled by the farmers of America. Not only do we have to pay rent, but by the tithes and rates and taxes they put upon us government makes the English farmer pay a heavy tax upon every bushel of corn he produces, while they allow the American corn to come into the market tax-free. This may be all right, but it does not appear fair to me. However, there it is, and we have got to meet it, and if we are to keep our heads above water, it can only be by farming up to the very best lights of the day." "Well, father," Dick said, "then it seems to me that when we grow up, John and I must farm together. He shall be the scientific partner; I will do the work." "That is all right enough, Dick, but you must have some science too, else you and he will never get on. You would want to go on in the old-fashioned groove, and would call his ideas newfangled. No, I intend you, when you get old enough, to go to Cirencester College, where you will learn the theory and science of farming thoroughly. You will get the practical part at home. As to John, he is a child yet, and, I trust, will grow up strong and active; but if his tastes remain as they now are, I do not think it likely he will take to farming, and we must find some other career for him." One afternoon in the beginning of December two of Dick's school-fellows said to him-- "We are going over the hills to our uncle's farm, Dick. Will you go with us?" When there was nothing better to do, Dick was always ready for a walk, and he at once agreed to accompany the Jacksons. The elder boy was about his own age, the younger two years his junior. The Jacksons called for him directly he had finished his dinner, and they started away together for a farm which was about four miles distant. They struck right across the hills, as it would have been two miles longer by the nearest road. "I should not be surprised," Dick said, "if it were to snow to-night; it is bitterly cold, and the clouds look very heavy." "I hope it won't snow until we get back," James, the younger of the brothers, remarked. "I don't know," Dick answered, looking at the clouds. "I should not be surprised if it began at any moment." The wind was blowing strongly. The hills were high and steep, and, although the boys made their best speed, it was considerably over an hour before they reached the farm. They had started at two, and it was now a quarter past three. Mr Jackson was out. The boys delivered the message with which they had been charged to their aunt. "Now," she said, "I will cut you each a hunch of cake, and when you have eaten that and had a glass of fresh milk you had best start at once. It is bitterly cold, and we are going to have snow: The sooner you are home, the better." The boys now ate their cake. Mrs Jackson came to the door with them. Then she said, as the first flake of snow fell-- "I am not sure, boys, that you had not better stay here all night." The boys laughed. "Why, what would they say at home? They would just be in a way about us." "Well, at any rate, you had better go by the road." "Oh, that is two miles farther at least. We should not get home until long after dark. We shan't be an hour by the hills. We know every foot of the way." "Well, good-bye, then. Make as much haste as you can." For half a mile their way led along the road, then they scrambled over a wall and began to ascend the barren hill-side. The snow was falling fast now. Thicker and thicker it came down, and when, hot and panting, they reached the top of the hill, the wind blew the flakes so fiercely into their faces that they were half-blinded, and were obliged to turn their backs to the gale while they got breath. For half an hour they struggled on. They could scarcely see ten paces before them through the driving snow, and in every sheltered spot white patches rapidly began to form. "How different things look in a snow-storm!" Dick said, as they stopped for breath and shelter under the lee of a wall. "I don't know, Tom, but I am not quite sure that we are going straight; I do not know what wall this is." "No more do I," Tom Jackson replied. "I felt quite sure that we were going right at first, but somehow I don't think so now." "I wish the snow would stop for a minute," Dick said, "just to let us have a look round. If I could see a hundred yards I am sure I should know where we are. What is the matter with you, James; what are you blubbering about?" "My feet are so cold; they hurt dreadfully." "Oh, never mind," Dick said. "Come, boys, push along, and we shall soon be home." Again they started with heads bent to face the storm. "It is getting dark awfully fast," Tom Jackson said. "It is, and no mistake. Come, let us have a trot. Come on, young one." But, although Dick spoke hopefully, he was not as confident as he appeared. He was sure now that they had lost the way. They might not, he hoped, be far off the track; but he knew that they were not following the precise line by which they came. It was now nearly dark. The snow was falling thicker than ever, and the ground, except upon the uplands exposed to the full force of the wind, was covered with a white mantle. On arriving at the bottom of a steep hill, they stopped again. "Do you know where we are, Tom?" "Not in the least," Tom answered. "This ought to be the last valley," Dick said, "and after one more climb we ought to go straight down into Castleton. Don't you remember in that valley there were a lot of sheep in a fold, with a wall round it? If we can find that, we shall know that we are right. It is near the bottom, so we shall not miss it. Which way shall we turn, left or right?" "Let us try the left first," Tom said. They walked for half a mile, gradually ascending. "It is not this way," Tom said at last. "We are getting to the head of the valley. What are you doing, James?" as the young boy, who had been sobbing for some time, threw himself on the snow. "I cannot go any farther," he murmured. "I am so cold, and so tired, and so sleepy." "Oh, nonsense!" Dick said. "Here, take hold of his arm, Tom, and lift him up; give him a good shake; he must go on; he would die if he stopped here." The two lads raised the younger boy, and half-supporting half-dragging him turned and retraced their footsteps. It was pitch dark now, and they could not see a yard before them. For some time they continued their way. "There is no shepherd's hut. Certainly, this is not the valley. What on earth are we to do?" "I don't know," Tom said, beginning to cry. "Shut up, Tom Jackson. What are you thinking about? This is no time for howling like a baby; you have got to think of what is best to do. It is no use climbing the next hill, for we might be going away from home, instead of getting nearer. Besides, we should have to haul Jimmy up, for he can scarcely stand now; and, although it is bitterly cold here, it would be worse on the top of the hill. No, we have got to step here all night, that is clear." "We shall be dead before morning!" Tom roared. "I will hit you in the eye, Tom Jackson, if you don't shut up; you are as bad as a girl; I am ashamed of you. Now, what we have got to do, is to find some sort of shelter, either a wall or bush, and we must keep on until we come to something. Keep awake, Jimmy; we shan't have much farther to go, and then you can lie down quietly." They went on for a bit. "It is no use," Dick said. "They don't put walls across bottoms; more likely to find one either to the right or left. Now, Tom, you stop here for a minute or two, and I will look about; you keep shouting every minute, so that I can find my way back to you." Turning off, he began to ascend the next hill, and in two or three minutes shouted the glad news to Tom that he had found the wall; then he returned. Jimmy, cheered at the prospect of lying down, made an effort, and they soon reached the wall. Like most of the walls in Derbyshire, it was formed of flat stones laid without mortar, some four feet high. "Now, Tom, set to work; get some stones off the wall on both sides, and build up two other walls against this; three feet wide inside will do, and just long enough to lie in. Here, Jimmy, you help; it will keep you awake, and, you see, the higher we make the walls the snugger it will be; we will have quite a nice house." The boys all set to work, and in half an hour three walls were built. At the point where the two side walls touched the other, they were three feet high, and sloped down to two at the lower end. "Now, Jimmy, you chuck the snow out. Tom and I will go, one each way, along the wall; likely enough we may come upon some bushes--they often grow in shelter of the walls: if we can find a few sticks we will cover the house over. Lots of these stones are a couple of feet long, and we will manage a sort of roof. The snow will soon cover it, and we shall be as warm as possible." A quarter of an hour later the two boys returned; both had been successful and brought a bundle of sticks; these were laid across the top, interspersed with smaller twigs, the ends being kept down with stones to prevent their being blown away. The last were placed in position after the boys had crept inside. They did not attempt to roof it with stones, for the supply of sticks and brushwood was large enough to catch the snow-flakes as they fell, and these would soon form a covering, while it would have been difficult to balance the stones. Jimmy was by this time in a state almost of lethargy; but the others were fairly warm from their exertions. They now lay down close beside the younger boy, one on each side. At first they felt the cold extremely. "Let us keep awake as long as we can," Dick said. "I don't feel inclined to sleep at all," Tom answered; "my hands and feet feel frozen, but I am warm enough everywhere else, and the ground is precious hard and bumpy." "I am only afraid about Jimmy," Dick said; "he is sound asleep, and he was so awfully cold; lie as close as you can to him, Tom, and put your arm over him and keep your legs huddled up against his." "It feels warmer than it did," he went on, after a pause of half an hour; "don't you think so, Tom?" "A lot warmer," Tom said. "I expect the snow has made a good thick roof." "Yes, and the wind does not blow through the stones as it did. I expect the snow is drifting up all round; it was getting very deep against the wall when we got in, and if it goes on all night, Tom, I should not wonder if we are covered deep before morning. The wind always sweeps it off the hills, and makes deep drifts in the bottoms." "What shall we do, then?" "I don't know," Dick answered; "but there will be plenty of time to think of that in the morning. I think Jimmy is all right, Tom; I have just put my hand inside his waistcoat and he feels quite warm now. Say your prayers, and then let us try to get off to sleep." This they were not very long in doing, for the air in the little hut was soon heated by the action of their bodies. Outside the storm was still raging, and the wind, laden with swirling snow from the uplands, was piling it high in the valleys. Already the hut was covered and the wall behind it. All night and all next day the snow continued to fall; the next day, and the next, it kept on. Old folks down in Castleton said they never remembered such a storm. It lay three feet deep in the fields, and there was no saying how deep the drifts might be in the hollows. For the first two days the wind had tried its best to keep the hills clear, but it had tired of the work, and for the last two had ceased to blow, and the great feathered flakes formed steadily and silently. Tom was the first to wake. "Holloa!" he exclaimed, "where are we? Oh! I remember. Dick, are you awake?" "Yes, I am awake now," Dick said. "What is it? It is not morning yet. I seem to have been asleep a long time, and don't my bones just ache? Jimmy, old boy, are you all right?" "Yes," Jimmy grunted. "It is quite warm," Dick said. "It feels very close, and how still it is! The wind has quite gone down. Do you know, Tom, I think it must be morning. There seems a faint sort of light. I can see the stones in the wall behind you." "So it must," Tom assented. "Oh! how stifling it is!" and he raised himself into a sitting position. "I am afraid we are buried deep in the snow-drift. Put your hand up, Tom; don't you feel some of these sticks are bent in the middle?" "Ever so much; there must be a great weight on them. What are we to do, Dick; shall we try and dig a way out?" "That will be no good," Dick answered; "not if it is deep; and if it has been snowing all night, there is no saying how deep it may be this morning down in this bottom. This drift-snow is like dust. I remember last winter that Bill Jones and Harry Austin and I tried to make a tunnel in a deep drift, but the snow fell in as fast as we scraped it away. It was just like dry sand." "We are all right for warmth," Tom said; "but it feels quite stifling." "Yes, we must try and get some air," Dick said. "The roof-sticks are close together down at our feet. There were three or four left over when we had finished, so we can take them away without weakening the roof. We might shove one of them up through the snow." The sticks were removed carefully, but a quantity of fine snow fell in on their feet. One was then shoved up through the top, but the only effect, when it was removed, was that it was followed by some snow powdering down on their faces. "Let us tie four of them together," Dick said. "I have plenty of string in my pocket." This was done, fresh sticks being tied to the bottom as the first were shoved up through the snow. "Now, Tom, help me to work it about a bit, so as to press the snow all round, and make a sort of tube." For some time a shower of little particles fell as they worked, but gradually these ceased. Then the stick was cautiously lowered, being untied joint by joint, and looking up the boys gave a shout of pleasure. At the top of the hole, which was some six inches wide at the bottom, was a tiny patch of light. "We have only just reached the top," Dick said; "the snow must be near fifteen feet deep." Small though the aperture was, it effected a sensible relief. The feeling of oppression ceased; half an hour later the hole was closed up, and they knew that the snow was still falling. Another length of stick was added, and the daylight again appeared. The boys slept a good deal; they had no sensation of cold whatever, the heat of their bodies keeping the air at a comfortable temperature. They did not feel so hungry as they expected, but they were very thirsty. "I shall eat some snow," Tom said. "I have heard that that makes you more thirsty," Dick remarked; "hold some in your hands till it melts, and then sip the water." Four days passed; then they found that the snow no longer continued to cover up the hole, and knew that the snow-storm had ceased. The number of sticks required to reach the top was six, and as each of these was about four feet long they knew that, making allowance for the joints, the snow was over twenty feet deep. Very often the boys talked of home, and wondered what their friends were doing. The first night, when they did not return, it would be hoped that they had stayed at the farm; but somebody would be sure to go over in the morning to see, and when the news arrived that they were missing, there would be a general turn out to find them. "They must have given up all hope by this time," Dick said, on the fifth morning, "and must be pretty sure that we are buried in the drift somewhere; but, as all the bottoms will be like this, they will have given up all hopes of finding our bodies till the thaw comes." "That may be weeks," Tom said; "we might as well have died at once." "We can live a long time here," Dick replied confidently. "I remember reading once of a woman who had been buried in the snow being got out alive a tremendous time afterwards. I think it was five weeks, but it might have been more. Hurrah! I have got an idea, Tom." "What is that?" Tom asked. "Look here; we will tie three more sticks--" "We can't spare any more sticks," Tom said; "the snow is up to our knees already." "Ah! but thin sticks will do for this," Dick said; "we can get some thin sticks out here. We will tie them over the others, and on the top of all we will fasten my red pocket-handkerchief, like a flag; if any one comes down into this bottom they are sure to see it." CHAPTER TWO. THE RED FLAG. Dick's plan was soon carried into effect, and the little red flag flew as an appeal for help ten feet above the snow in the lonely valley. Down in Castleton events had turned out just as the boys had anticipated. The night of the snow-storm there was no sleep for their parents, and at daybreak, next morning, Mr Humphreys and Mr Jackson set out on foot through the storm for the distant farm. They kept to the road, but it took them four hours to reach the farm, for the drifts were many feet deep in the hollows, and they had the greatest difficulty in making their way through. When, upon their arrival, they found the boys had left before the gale began, their consternation and grief were extreme, and they started at once on their return to Castleton. Search-parties were immediately organised, and these, in spite of the fury of the storm, searched the hills in all directions. After the first day, when it was found that they were not at any of the shepherds' huts scattered among the hills, all hopes of finding them alive ceased. So hopeless was it considered, that few parties went out on the three following days; but on the fifth, when the snow-storm ceased and the sun shone out, numbers of men again tramped the hills in the vague hope of finding some sign of the missing boys; they returned disheartened. The snow was two feet deep everywhere, twenty in many of the hollows. The next day but few went out, for the general feeling was, that the bodies could not be discovered until the thaw came, and at present it was freezing sharply. Among those who still kept up the search were several of the boys' school-fellows. They had not been permitted to join while the snow-storm continued, and were therefore fresh at the work. A party of four kept together, struggling through the deep snow-drifts, climbing up the hills, and enjoying the fun, in spite of the saddening nature of their errand. On arriving at the brow of a deep valley five miles from home, they agreed that they would go no farther, as it was not likely that the missing boys could have wandered so far from their track. That they had in fact done so was due to a sudden change in the direction of the wind; it had been driving in their faces when they started, and with bent down heads they had struggled against it, unconscious that it was sharply changing its direction. "Just let us have a look down into the bottom," one of the boys said; "there may be a shepherd's hut here." Nothing, however, was seen, save a smooth, white surface of snow. "What is that?" one exclaimed suddenly. "Look, there is a little red flag flying down there--come along." The boys rushed down the hill at full speed. "Don't all go near the flag," one said; "you may be treading on their bodies." They arrived within ten yards of the flag, in which they soon recognised a red pocket-handkerchief. They were silent now, awestruck at the thought that their companions were lying dead beneath. "Perhaps it is not theirs," the eldest of the party said presently. "Anyhow I had better take it off and carry it home." Treading cautiously and with a white face, for he feared to feel beneath his feet one of the bodies of his friends, he stepped, knee-deep in the snow-drift, to the flag. He took the little stick in his hand to pluck it up; he raised it a foot, and then gave a cry of astonishment and started back. "What is the matter?" the others asked. "It was pulled down again," he said in awestruck tones. "I will swear it was pulled down again." "Oh, nonsense!" one of the others said; "you are dreaming." "I am not," the first replied positively; "it was regularly jerked in my hand." "Can they be alive down there?" one suggested. "Alive! How can they be alive after five days, twenty feet deep in the snow? Look at the flag!" There was no mistake this time; the flag was raised and lowered five or six times. The boys took to their heels and ran and gathered in a cluster fifty yards away on the hill-side. "What can it be?" they asked, looking in each others' pale faces. The behaviour of the flag seemed to them something supernatural. "We had better go back and tell them at home," one of them said. "We can't do that; no one would believe us. Look here, you fellows," and he glanced round at the bright sky, "this is nonsense; the flag could not wave of itself; there must be somebody alive below; perhaps there is a shepherd's hut quite covered with the drift, and they have pushed the flag up through the chimney." The supposition seemed a reasonable one, and a little ashamed of their panic the group returned towards the flag. The eldest boy again approached it. "Go carefully, Tomkins, or you may fall right down a chimney." The flag was still continuing its up and down movement; the boy approached and lay down on the snow close to it; then he took hold of the stick; he felt a pull, but held fast; then he put his mouth close to the hole, two or three inches in diameter, through which it passed. "Halloa!" he shouted; "is any one below?" A cry of "Yes, yes," came back in reply. "The two Jacksons and Humphreys." "Hurrah!" he shouted at the top of his voice, and his companions, although they had not heard the answer, joined in the cheer. "Are you all right?" he shouted down again. "Yes, but please get help and dig us out." "All right; I will run all the way back; they will have men here in no time; good-bye; keep up your spirits." "They are all there below!" he shouted to his friends. "Come on, you fellows, there is not a moment to lose." Wild with excitement the boys made their way home; they rushed down the hill-sides, scrambled through the drifts in the bottoms, in which they sometimes disappeared altogether, and had to haul each other out, struggled up the hills, and, panting and breathless, rushed in a body into Mr Humphreys' farmhouse, that standing nearest to them, on their way to Castleton. "We have found them; we have found them," they panted out. "They are all alive." Mrs Humphreys had risen from her seat in a chair by the fire as the boys entered, and uttering a faint cry fell back insensible. At this moment the farmer, who had but five minutes before returned, having been out since daybreak on the hills, hurried into the room; he was taking off his heavy boots when he heard the rush of feet into the house. "We have found them, sir; they are all alive!" "Thank God! thank God!" the farmer exclaimed reverently, and then seeing his wife insensible hurried towards her, uttering a shout for the servants. Two women ran in. "Look to your mistress," he said; "she has fainted; the good news has been too much for her--the boys are found alive." With mingled exclamations of gladness and dismay the servants raised their mistress. "Now, boys, where are they?" Mr Humphreys asked. The lads gave a rapid narrative of what had happened. "Under the snow all this time!" the farmer exclaimed; "they must be, as you say, in a hut. Now, will one of you stay and show me the way back, and the others go on to Mr Jackson's and other places, and bring a strong party of men with shovels on after us?" The lad who had spoken with the prisoners remained to act as guide, the others hurried off. "Come with me, my boy, into the larder. There, help yourself; you must be hungry and tired, and you have got to do it over again." Mr Humphreys then ran into the yard, and bade the four labourers provide themselves with shovels and prepare to accompany him at once. He then went back into the parlour. His wife was just opening her eyes; for a time she looked confused and bewildered, then suddenly she sat up and gazed beseechingly at her husband--memory had come back to her. "Yes, wife, thanks be to God, it is true--the boys are alive; I am just going with these men to dig them out. They are snowed up in a hut. Now, Jane, get a large basket, and put in it lots of bread, and bacon-- the men who are working will want something; fill the largest stone jar with beer; put in a bottle of brandy and a bottle of milk, and set to and get some soup ready; bring three small mattresses downstairs and a lot of blankets." Five minutes later the search-party started, Mr Humphreys and the guide leading the way; the men followed, one carrying five shovels; another, the basket and jar; the other two, three hurdles on which were placed the mattresses and blankets. It was no easy matter so laden making their way over the hills and through the deep drifts. Mr Humphreys took his share of the labour; but it was two hours from the time when they started before they arrived at the spot where the flag was waving, and the night was already closing in. Mr Humphreys hurried forward to the flag; he knelt down beside it. "Are you still alive, Dick?--it is I, your father!" "Yes, father, we are all alive, and we shall be all right now you have come. Don't get too near the stick; we are afraid of the hole closing up, and smothering us." "Which side is the door," Mr Humphreys asked, "so that we can dig that way?" "There is no door, father; but you had better dig from below, because of the wall." "There must be a door," Mr Humphreys said to himself, as he rejoined the men. "There can't be a hut without a door; Dick must be a little lightheaded, and no wonder. Now, lads, let us set to work from below." The five men were soon at work, throwing aside the snow. In a short time the other parties arrived. Mr Humphreys had brought with him a stock of candles. These were lit and stuck in the snow, where, as there was no wind, they burnt steadily, affording sufficient light for the search. The work was all the more difficult from the lightness of the snow, as the sides fell in like sand as they worked upon it, and they were obliged to make a very broad cutting. At last there was a cheer, as they struck the ground. "Now, working up hill we must be at the hut in a few feet." Twenty willing hands laboured away incessantly, but to their surprise no hut was met with; they worked and worked, throwing the snow behind them, until Mr Jackson struck his shovel upon something hard. "Here is a wall or something," he said. Another minute uncovered a low wall of two feet in height, and directly afterwards a leg was popped up through the snow. A loud cheer broke from the men. But again the snow-drift fell in from the sides, and it was another quarter of an hour before the lads were lifted from the narrow shelter where they had for five days lain. The Jacksons were too weak to stand, but Dick was just able to keep on his feet. A cup of milk mixed with some brandy was given to each. Then Dick in a few words told the story, and the surprise of all, as they examined the little hut and heard the details of the almost miraculous preservation of the boys, was almost unbounded. They were now wrapped in blankets and laid on mattresses placed on the hurdles; the contents of the baskets--for others besides Mr Humphreys had brought a stock of provisions, not knowing how long the search-party might be engaged--were distributed among the workers, and then four men lifted each hurdle and the party started for home, a messenger having been sent back at full speed directly the boys were got out, to bear the glad news to Castleton. It was just midnight when the main body returned. A second cup of brandy and milk had done much to revive the two elder boys, and Dick had been able to eat a piece of bread. James, however, had fallen asleep directly he was wrapped in the blankets, and did not awake until he was set down at his father's door. At both houses doctors were in waiting for their arrival. Dick was at once pronounced to be none the worse for his adventure, except that his feet were frost-bitten from long contact with the snow; indeed had it not been from this cause he could, on the following day, have been up and about. As it was, in a fortnight, he was perfectly himself again. Tom Jackson was confined to the house for many weeks; he lost several of his toes, but eventually became strong and hearty again. James, however, never recovered--the shock to his system had been too great; he lingered on for some months, and then sank quietly and painlessly. The events of the snow-storm left a far deeper trace upon Mrs Humphreys than upon her son. The terrible anxiety of those five days had told greatly upon her, and after they were over she seemed to lose strength rapidly. She had never been very strong, and a hacking cough now constantly shook her. The doctor who attended her looked serious, and one day said to Mr Humphreys-- "I don't like the state of your wife; she has always been weak in her lungs, and I fear that the anxiety she went through has somehow accentuated her former tendency to consumption. The air of this place-- you see she was born in the south--is too keen for her. If I were you I would take her up to London and consult some first-rate man in lung diseases, and get his opinion." The next day Mr Humphreys started for London. The celebrated physician examined his wife, and afterwards took him aside. "I cannot conceal from you," he said, "that your wife's lungs are very seriously affected, although consumption has not yet thoroughly set in. If she remains in this country she may not live many months; your only hope is to take her abroad--could you do that?" "Yes, sir," Mr Humphreys said. "I can take her anywhere. Where would you advise?" "She would benefit from a residence either in Egypt or Madeira," the doctor said; "but for a permanency I should say the Cape. I have known many complete cures made there. You tell me that you are engaged in agricultural pursuits; if it is possible for you to settle there, I can give you every hope of saving her life, as the disease is not yet developed. If you go, don't stay in the lowlands, but get up into the high plateaus, either behind the Cape itself, or behind Natal. The climate there is delicious, and land cheap." Mr Humphreys thanked him and left, returning the next day to Castleton. The astonishment of the boys, and indeed of Mrs Humphreys, was unbounded, when the farmer announced in the evening at supper that he intended to sell his land and emigrate at once to the Cape. The boys were full of excitement at the new and strange idea, and asked numerous questions, none of which the farmer could answer; but he brought out a pile of books, which he had purchased in town, concerning the colonies and their resources, and for once Dick's aversion to books vanished, and he was soon as much absorbed as his brother in the perusal of the accounts of the new land to which they were to go. On the following Saturday, to the surprise of all Castleton, an advertisement appeared in the Derbyshire paper announcing the sale by auction at an early date of Mr Humphreys' farm. Dick and John were quite heroes among their companions, who looked with envy at boys who were going to live in a land where lions and elephants and all sorts of wild beasts abounded, to say nothing of warlike natives. "There always seem to be Kaffir wars going on," one boy said, "out at the Cape; you will have all sorts of excitement, Dick." "I don't think that sort of excitement will be nice," Dick replied; "it must be horribly anxious work to think every time you go out to work that the place may be attacked and every one killed before you get back. But that is all nonsense, you know; I have been reading about some of the Kaffir wars; they are in the bush-country, down by the sea. We are going up on to the high lands at the back of Natal. Father says very likely we may buy a farm in the Transvaal, but mother does not seem to like the accounts of the Dutchmen or Boers, as they are called, who live there, and says she would rather have English neighbours; so I expect if we can get a farm somewhere in the Natal colony, we shall do so." "You seem to know all about the place," the boy said, surprised. "Well, we have had seven or eight books to read about it, and I seem now to know more about South Africa than about any other country in the world. There are the diamond-fields, too, out there, and I hope, before I settle down regularly to a farm, that father will let me go for a few months and try my luck there. Would it not just be jolly to find a diamond as big as a pigeon's egg and worth about twenty thousand pounds?" "And do they do that?" the boy asked. "Well, they don't often find them as big as that; still, one might be the lucky one." The news that Mr Humphreys and his family were about to sell off and emigrate naturally caused a great deal of talk in and around Castleton, and put the idea into the minds of many who had never before seriously thought of it. If Mr Humphreys, who had one of the best farms in the neighbourhood, thought that it would pay him to sell his land and go out, it would surely be a good thing for others to do the same. He was considered to be a good farmer and a long-headed man; one who would not take such a step without carefully looking into the matter--for Mr Humphreys, in order to avoid questioning and the constant inquiries about his wife's health, which would be made, did he announce that he was leaving for that reason, did not think it necessary to inform people that it was in the hopes of staving off the danger which threatened her that he was making a move. A great many of the neighbouring labourers would gladly have gone with him; but he found by his reading that Kaffir labour was to be obtained out there very cheaply. He determined, however, to take with him two of his own hands; the one a strong active young fellow named Bill Harrison, the other a middle-aged man named Johnson, who had been with him from a boy. He was a married man with two girls, aged fifteen and sixteen, the eldest of whom was already employed by Mrs Humphreys in the house. Johnson's wife was a superior woman of her class, and Mr Humphreys thought that it would be pleasant for his wife, having a woman at hand, whom she could speak to. The girls were to act as servants--indeed Mr Humphreys thought it probable that the whole party would live under one roof. Among those whom Mr Humphreys' decision to emigrate had much moved was Mr Jackson. He was not in so good a position, as he did not farm his own land; but he had sufficient capital to start him well in the colony, where a farm can be bought outright at a few shillings an acre. He talked the matter over with his friend on several occasions, and at last said-- "Well, I think I have pretty well made up my mind; the doctor is telling me that my poor little chap is not likely to live long; his mother is wrapped up in him, and will never like the place again;--so I think on all grounds a change will be good. I can't come out with you, because I have got a lease of the farm; but I fancy that it is worth more than it was when I took it, and if I can get a good tenant to take it off my hands I don't suppose the landlord will make any objections. I shall look about at once, and, when my poor little chap is gone, I shan't be long before I come after you. You will let me know how you find the place, and whether these book-accounts are true?--I have heard that many of these chaps who write books are awful liars. I should like to get a farm as near you as may be." It was early in the spring when Mr Humphreys and his party embarked at Plymouth in the _Dunster Castle_. The farm had sold well, and Mr Humphreys possessed a capital of several thousand pounds--a sum which would make him a rich man in the colony. None of the party had ever seen the sea before, and the delight of the two boys and the wonderment of the labourers at all they saw was very great. Mr Humphreys had taken first-class passages for himself and family, while the others of course were steerage passengers. CHAPTER THREE. THE FARM. The voyage to the Cape passed without any incident whatever. The weather was fine the whole distance. Without even a single storm to break the monotony they touched at Capetown and Port Elizabeth, and at last arrived at Durban. The journey had not been too long for the boys; everything was so perfectly new to them that they were never tired of watching the sea and looking for porpoises and the shoals of fish, over which hovered thousands of birds. Once or twice they saw a whale spout, while flying-fish were matters of hourly occurrence. They had prodigious appetites, and greatly enjoyed the food, which was altogether different to that to which they had been accustomed. They had stopped at Madeira and St Vincent, where great stocks of delicious fruit had been taken on board. Altogether they were quite sorry when they arrived at the end of the voyage. The landing was effected in large boats, as the _Dunster Castle_ drew too much water to cross the bar at the mouth of the harbour. They stopped only one day at Durban, where Mr Humphreys hired a waggon to take the party to Pieter-Maritzburg, the capital. He was not encumbered with baggage, as he had decided to buy everything he wanted in the colony. "You may pay dearer," he said, "no doubt; but then you get just what you want. If I were to take out implements, they might not be suited to the requirements of the country. As for clothes, they would of course be pretty much the same everywhere; still, it is better to take out only a year's requirements and to buy as we want, instead of lumbering over the country with a quantity of heavy baggage." The party were greatly amused at their first experience of a Cape waggon; it was of very large size, massively built, and covered with a great tilt; and it was drawn by sixteen oxen, spanned two by two. This was an altogether unnecessary number for the weight which had to be carried, but the waggon had come down loaded from the interior, and Mr Humphreys therefore paid no more than he would have done for a waggon with a small number of oxen. They took two days to accomplish the journey, the women sleeping at night in the waggon, and Mr Humphreys and his sons in blankets on the ground. The driver, who was an Englishman, had been many years in the colony, and from him, upon the road, Mr Humphreys gained much valuable information about the country. The driver was assisted by two Kaffirs, one of whom walked ahead of the leading cattle, the other alongside, shouting and prodding them. The boys were astonished at the power and accuracy with which the driver whirled his whip; this had a short handle and a lash of twenty yards long, and with it he was able to hit any animal of the team with absolute certainty, and indeed to make the thong alight on any part of their bodies at which he aimed. On their arrival at Pieter-Maritzburg Mr Humphreys hired a house, and here he placed his party while he set to work to make inquiries after a suitable location. He soon heard of several places which seemed suitable, and having bought a horse started for Newcastle, a small town situated close to the frontier-line between the Transvaal and Natal. He was away for three weeks, and on his return informed his wife that he had purchased a farm of 2000 acres, with a substantial farmhouse, at a distance of ten miles from Newcastle, for the sum of 1500 pounds. The farmhouse was already roughly furnished, but Mr Humphreys purchased a number of other articles, which would make it comfortable and home-like. He laid in a great stock of groceries, and then hiring a waggon, similar to that in which they had before travelled, started with his party for the farm, having also hired four Kaffirs to assist there. Travelling by easy stages, it took them twelve days to get to Newcastle. The country was undulating and the road rose steadily the whole distance. Near Pieter-Maritzburg the population was comparatively thick. The fields were well cultivated and the vegetation thick and luxuriant, but as they ascended the character of the country changed. Vast stretches of rolling grass everywhere met the eye. This was now beautifully green, for it was winter. In the summer and autumn the grass becomes dry and burnt up; fire is then applied to it, and the whole country assumes a black mantle. But the first shower of rain brings up the young grass and in a very short time the country is covered with fresh verdure. Mr Humphreys told his wife that, before fixing on the farm, he had ridden into the Transvaal, and found that land could be purchased there even more cheaply than in Natal; but that he had much conversation with English settlers on the frontier, and these had for the most part strongly advised him to settle inside the Natal frontier. "It may be that all will be right," one had told him, "but the Boers have not yet recovered from their scare from Secoceni." "Who is Secoceni, father?" Dick asked. "The books we have say nothing about him." "No," Mr Humphreys said; "they were all published a few years since, and none of them treat much of the affairs of the Transvaal, which, as an independent state, had comparatively little interest to English settlers. There are in the Transvaal, which is of immense extent, a very large number of natives, enormously outnumbering the Boers. In the southern districts, where the Boers are strongest, they cruelly ill-treat the natives, making slaves of them, and thinking no more of shooting one of them down than they would of shooting a dog. In the outlying provinces they live almost on sufferance of the natives, and, were these to unite their forces and rise, they could annihilate the Dutch. Secoceni is a powerful chief, who lives with his tribe in a natural stronghold; he has always held himself as independent of the Dutch. As his men used to make raids upon the Boers' cattle, the latter attacked him, and in alliance with Swazis, another powerful tribe, endeavoured to carry his fortress; they were, however, badly beaten; it being only by the gallantry of their native allies that the Boer contingent was saved from destruction. Secoceni then took the offensive. A perfect panic seized the Boers; they refused to obey the orders of their government, and to turn out to resist the invaders. The treasury was empty, for their government had never been enabled to persuade them to pay taxes. They applied for aid to Natal, but finally their plight was so bad that they were glad to accept the offer which Mr Shepstone made them, of annexation to England, by which they secured our protection and were safe from annihilation. Secoceni was not the only enemy who threatened them. They had a still more formidable foe in the Zulus on the eastern frontier. These are a very warlike people, and it was known that their king meditated the conquest of the Transvaal. But, glad enough as the Boers were at the moment to accept the protection of England, now that the danger is over a great many of them would like to kick down the bridge which has helped them over the stream. They make no secret of their dislike to Englishmen, and although they are glad enough to sell their land at prices immensely in advance of the former value, for indeed land was previously almost unsaleable in the Transvaal, they are on bad terms with them. One of my informants describes them as a sullen, sulky people, and predicts that sooner or later we shall have trouble with them; so I thought it better altogether to pay a little higher for my land, and to be within the boundaries of this colony." On arriving at the farm Mrs Humphreys was glad to find that the house, though rough, was substantial. It was built of stone. The walls were of great thickness, as the stones were laid without mortar, with which, however, it was faced inside and out. One large room occupied the greater portion of the ground floor; beside this was a small sitting-room. Upstairs were four bedrooms. For the time the small room downstairs was turned into a bedroom, which Mr and Mrs Humphreys occupied. The four bedrooms upstairs just held the rest of the party. The out-houses consisted only of a large barn and a rough stable. Mr Humphreys at once rode over to Newcastle, and obtained the services of a mason and six Kaffirs, and proceeded to add a wing to the farmhouse. This was for the use of Johnson and his wife, and Harrison. The whole party were, however, to take their meals together in the great kitchen. A hut was also built for the Kaffirs, and another large stable was erected. A few days after his arrival Mr Humphreys went across the border into the Transvaal, taking Harrison and two of the Kaffirs with him, and returned a fortnight later with a herd of 400 cattle, which he had purchased. He also bought three yoke of oxen, broken to the plough. Hitherto the farm had been purely a pastoral one, but Mr Humphreys at once began to break up some land for wheat and Indian corn. The Kaffirs were set to work to fence and dig up a plot round the house for vegetables, and to dig holes near it, over a space of some acres, for the reception of 3000 young fruit-trees--apples, pears, peaches, and plums,--which he had bought at Pieter-Maritzburg, and which were to come up in two months' time. He also bought six riding-horses. In a few weeks the farm assumed quite a different appearance. A gang of Kaffirs, ten strong, had been hired to hurry on the work of preparing the orchard and erecting a fence round it. Wood was, Mr Humphreys found, extremely scarce and dear, the country being absolutely bare of trees, and wood for fuel was only obtained in kloofs or deep hollows, and had to be fetched long distances. "I suppose," Mrs Humphreys said to her husband one evening, "you mean to make cattle-raising your principal point?" "No," he said; "every one raises cattle, and the Dutch can do it cheaper than we can; they have immense tracts of land, and their Kaffir labour costs them next to nothing. I do not say that we could not live and to a certain extent thrive on cattle, but I think that there is something much better to be done. Wood is an awful price here, and all that is used has to be brought up from the coast. I think therefore of planting trees. The climate is magnificent, and their growth will be rapid. They will of course require fencing to keep out the cattle, but I shall do that, as I am doing the orchard, with wire fencing and light iron-uprights. Labour is plentiful, and there are large nurseries near Pieter-Maritzburg, where I can procure any number of young trees; so I mean to plant 200 acres a year--in ten years the whole farm will be planted, and the loppings for poles and firewood will in a very short time after planting begin to pay well. In fifteen years the first 200 acres will be fit to fell, and the property will be worth a very large sum of money. Of course we can sell out before that if we like. But at the present price of wood up here, or even should it fall to a quarter of its present price, the value of the 2000 acres of wood will in twenty years be extremely large." The boys were delighted with their new life. Mr Humphreys had, before leaving England, bought for Dick a Winchester repeating-rifle. These arms are very light, and Dick was able to carry his without difficulty; and very shortly after their arrival his father had a mark erected at a distance from the house, at which he could practise with safety. Game was abundant all over the country. Herds of deer and antelope of various kinds often swept past in sight of the farmhouse, and winged game also abounded. Mr Humphreys had at home been considered a first-rate shot at partridges, and had for four or five years belonged to the Castleton volunteers, and had carried off many prizes for rifle-shooting. He was now able, by going out for a few hours once or twice a week, to keep the larder well supplied, and the little flock of fifty sheep, which he had bought for home-consumption, was but seldom drawn upon. The Kaffirs were fed upon mealies, as they call Indian corn, of which Mr Humphreys had no difficulty in purchasing sufficient for his wants from the neighbouring farmers. His next neighbours were two brothers, Scotchmen, named Fraser, who lived at a distance of four miles. They rode over the day after the travellers' arrival, and offered their services in any way. Mr Humphreys, however, was well supplied with stores of all kinds, and his two white labourers, being both handy men, were able to do all that was required about the house. The Frasers proved pleasant neighbours, and often rode over and spent Sunday with the Humphreys, and the boys sometimes went over and spent the day with them. A Kaffir lad, son of one of the men engaged upon the farm, was hired by Mr Humphreys as a special attendant for Dick. On these vast undulating plains, where there are no trees to serve as a landmark, it is exceedingly difficult for a stranger to find his way. Dick was told by his father that, whether riding or walking, he was always to take the Kaffir boy with him; and except when he was indulging in a gallop the lad was easily able to keep up with him. He had been born a hunter, and soon taught Dick how to stalk the timid deer, and, as the lad improved in his shooting, he was ere long enabled to keep the larder supplied--a duty which Mr Humphreys gladly handed over to him, as every minute of his own time was occupied by his work on the farm. Of an evening after supper, which was partaken of at the conclusion of work, the men retired to their own wing and Mrs Humphreys and the two girls sat down to their sewing by the fire; for upon the uplands the evenings are quite cold enough to find a fire a comfort in winter. Then the boys would take out their lesson-books and work steadily for three hours. Under the changed conditions of their life, Mr Humphreys felt that Dick might, if he chose, well discontinue his study of the classics, and his work therefore consisted in the reading of history, travels, and books of scientific knowledge. "Next to being a learned man," his father said to him, "the best and most useful thing is to be a thoroughly well-informed man on all general subjects." John, however, continued his studies as before; his life of outdoor exercise strengthened and improved him, and he no longer wished to be always sitting with a book in his hand--still, he had a natural love of study, which his father encouraged, deeming it possible that as he grew up he might be unwilling to embrace the life of a colonist, in which case he determined to send him home to finish his education in England, and afterwards to start him in any profession he might select. Finding that the cost of carriage up the country was very high, and as he would yearly require many waggon-loads of young trees and fencing Mr Humphreys determined to do his own teaming; he therefore bought two of the large country-waggons and set a Kaffir to work to break in some young steers to the yoke. Six months after their arrival in the colony they had for the first time visitors to stay at the farm--Mr Jackson, his wife, his son Tom, and two daughters coming out to settle near them. This was a great delight to the boys, and fortunately Mr Jackson was able to buy a farm of 500 acres adjoining that of his friend; the house, however, was but a cabin, and while a fresh one was being erected the family remained guests of the Humphreys. Mr Jackson had, at his friend's advice, brought with him from England a labourer with his wife and family, who at once took up their residence in the hut on the farm. To Dick the coming of the Jacksons was a source of special pleasure. Tom was just his own age, and the two boys had become inseparable friends at home after their adventure in the snow, upon which occasion Tom, as he freely owned, had owed his life to Dick's energy and promptness of suggestion. Dick was fond of his brother, but three years make a great difference at this period of life, and, as their tastes were wholly dissimilar, John had never been a companion for him. Since their arrival in South Africa they had got on very well together; still, they had not the same ideas or subjects of thought, and it was an immense delight to Dick to have his old friend and companion with him. It must not be supposed that Dick's time was occupied solely in amusement; from early morning until dinner-time he worked steadily. Sometimes he assisted to erect the hurdles and strain the wires of the fencing; at others he aided in the planting of the fruit-trees; then he would be with the Kaffirs who were breaking in the oxen for the waggons. At all times he took off his coat and worked with the rest, for, as his father said-- "If a farmer is to be able properly to look after men at work, he must be able to do the work himself." While Dick was at work with the men, John, who was too young to be of any use, remained indoors at his books, and, although of an afternoon he would stroll out, he seldom went far from the house. The other boys generally went for long rides when work was done. One day they sighted a herd of steinbock. Leaving their horses with the Kaffir lad in a hollow, they crept round so as to get the deer between them and the wind, and managed to reach unobserved a brow within a hundred yards of the herd. Dick had by this time become a good shot, and the buck at which he aimed fell dead in its tracks. Tom was not much of a shot, but he had fired into the thick of the deer and gave a shout of delight at seeing one of them fall. The rest of the herd dashed off at full speed. Tom ran, shouting, forward, but to his mortification the stag that he had hit rose again to its feet and went off at a trot in the direction taken by the others; a minute later the Kaffir boy was seen running towards them at his full speed, leading the horses. The two boys on his arrival leapt into their saddles and started in pursuit of the wounded stag, which was still in sight, thinking at first they could easily ride it down. But the animal seemed rather to gain than to lose strength, and, although they had considerably lessened the start he had obtained of them, he still kept steadily on. Active and wiry as their horses were, they could not overtake it, and the boys had at last the mortification of seeing that the stag was now gaining upon them, and they presently drew rein, and their panting horses came to a standstill. "What a horrid sell!" Tom Jackson exclaimed angrily. "I can't understand his going like that after I fairly brought him down." "I expect," Dick said, "that your bullet can only have grazed his skull; it stunned him for the moment, but after he had once come to himself he went on as briskly as usual. If he had been hard hit we should certainly have ridden him down." "Well, I suppose," Tom said more good-humouredly, "there is nothing for it but to ride back." "But which is our road?" Dick said in some dismay. "I am sure I have no idea, and now that the sun is gone in there is nothing to steer by." While they had been riding, the day had changed; the sky, which had for weeks been bright and fine, was now overcast with heavy clouds. "We are in for a storm, I think," Dick went on, "and it is coming on fast. I have not an idea which way to go, and I think our best plan will be to halt. Joel will track us, and the farther we go the longer he will be in overtaking us. There is the first drop! The best thing to do, Tom, will be to take off our saddles and tether our horses, and then to wait. This storm is a nuisance; in the first place we shall be drenched, in the second it will wash out our tracks, and the darkness will come so quickly that I am afraid Joel will not be able to trace us. You see we do not know whether we have been riding straight or not; the stag may have been running in a circle for anything we know, and as we have been riding for something like two hours, we may be within five miles of home or we may be five and twenty." Scarcely had the boys got the saddles off and tethered their horses when the rain came down in a sheet, accompanied by the most tremendous thunder and the most vivid lightning Tom had ever seen. "This is awful, Dick," he said. "Yes," Dick agreed; "thunderstorms here are frightful. Houses are often struck; but, lying down here in the open, there is not much fear." For hours the storm continued unabated; the rain came down in a perfect deluge. The boys had put their saddles together and had covered these with the horse-cloths so as to form a sort of tent, but they were nevertheless soaked to the skin, and, to add to their discomfiture, the horses had been so frightened by the blinding glare of the lightning that they tugged at the ropes until, as the wet penetrated the ground, the pegs became loosened, and they scoured away into the darkness. After continuing for five hours the rain suddenly ceased. "What are we to do in the morning, Dick?" "If it is fine it will be easy enough; we shall put our saddles on our heads and walk eastward. I have got a little pocket-compass which father gave me in case I should at any time get lost, so we shall have no difficulty in keeping our way, and sooner or later we must strike the road running north to Newcastle." They did not, however, wait till morning; so wet and chilled were they, that they agreed they would rather walk than lie still. Accordingly they put the saddles on their heads as soon as the rain ceased and the stars shone out, struck a light and looked at their compass, fixed on a star to steer by, and then set out on their journey. Fortunately, after two hours' walking, they struck the road at a point some ten miles from the farm, and were home soon after daybreak, just as their fathers were about to set out with a body of Kaffirs in search of them. Joel had returned late at night, having turned his face homeward when it became too dark to follow the track; the horses had both come in during the night. CHAPTER FOUR. THE OUTBREAK OF WAR. As soon as the Jacksons' house was finished, they went into residence there; but two or three times a week Dick and Tom managed to meet, one or other being sure to find some excuse for riding over. The Humphreys had arrived in Natal at the end of April, 1877, and by November in the following year their farm presented a very different appearance to that which it had worn on their arrival--sixteen months of energetic labour, carried on by a considerable number of hands, will effect wonders. Possessing ample capital Mr Humphreys was able to keep a strong gang of Kaffirs at work, and for some time had thirty men upon the farm. Thus the house which, when he took it, stood solitary and lone in a bare plain, was now surrounded by 200 acres of young trees. Of these, twenty acres were fruit-trees; the remainder, trees grown for their wood. These were planted thickly, as they would every year be thinned out, and the young poles would fetch a good sum for fencing. Although they had only been planted a few months, they were already green and bright; they were protected from the cattle by a wire fence encircling the whole. The cattle had thriven and were doing well, and a large field of Indian corn had been harvested for the use of the Kaffirs. The cattle had nearly doubled in numbers, as Mr Humphreys did not care about selling at present. The expenses of living were slight. Meat, fowls, and eggs were raised upon the farm, and the guns of Mr Humphreys and Dick provided them with a plentiful supply of game. Four milch cows were kept in a paddock near the house, and supplied it with milk, butter, and cheese. Groceries and flour had alone to be purchased, and, as Mr Humphreys said, he did not care if he did not sell a head of cattle for the next ten years; but he would be obliged to do so before long, as the farm would carry but a small number more than he already possessed, and its available extent for that purpose would diminish every year, as the planting went on. Mr Humphreys was fortunate in having a small stream run through his farm. He erected a dam across a hollow, so that in winter a pond of two or three acres in extent, and fifteen or sixteen feet deep, was formed, affording an ample supply for the summer; this was of great utility to him, as he was thereby enabled to continue his planting operations, filling up each hole with water when the trees were put in, and then, as this subsided, filling in the earth; by this means the young trees got a good start, and seldom required watering afterwards. He had a large water-cart built for him; this was drawn by four oxen, and brought the water to the point where the Kaffirs were engaged in planting. Steers sufficient for two waggons had been broken in, and when these were not employed in bringing up young trees and fencing from Newcastle they worked upon the road between Newcastle and Pieter-Maritzburg, there being a great demand for conveyance, as numbers of traders were going up into the Transvaal and opening stores there. Mr Jackson had also two waggons engaged in the same work. When trees and goods were wanted for the farm, Dick went down with the waggons to see that these were properly loaded, and that the young trees, which were often in leaf, were taken out every night and set with the roots in water until the morning. One evening, early in October, Mr Jackson rode over with Tom. "I have heard," the former said to Mr Humphreys, "that the government have determined on moving the troops down to the Zulu frontier; the attitude of Cetewayo is very threatening." "He is a troublesome neighbour," Mr Humphreys said. "They say that he has 30,000 fighting-men, and in that case he ought to be able to overrun both Natal and the Transvaal, for there is no doubt that Zulus fight with great bravery. As for the Dutch, I really can't blame the Zulus. The Boers are always encroaching on their territory, and any remonstrance is answered by a rifle-shot. Had it not been for our annexation of the Transvaal, Cetewayo would have overrun it and exterminated the Dutch before now. We have a strong force in the colony just at present, and I think Sir Bartle Frere means to bring matters to a crisis. The existence of such an army of warlike savages on the frontier is a standing threat to the very existence of the colony, and the constitution of the army renders it almost a necessity that it should fight. All the men are soldiers, and as none are allowed to marry until the regiment to which they belong has distinguished itself in battle they are naturally always burning for war. The Pieter-Maritzburg paper says that it understands that Sir Bartle Frere is about to send in an ultimatum, demanding--in addition to various small matters, such as the punishing of raiders across the frontier--the entire abandonment of the present system of the Zulu army, and cessation of the bloody massacres which constantly take place in that country. If a man offends the king, not only is he put to death, but the whole of the people of his village are often massacred. Altogether an abominable state of things prevails; there seems to be but one opinion throughout the colony, that it is absolutely necessary for our safety that the Zulu organisation shall be broken up." "I see," Mr Jackson said, "that there is an advertisement in the papers for waggons for the transport of stores, and the price offered is excellent. A large number are required; I was thinking of sending down my two teams--what do you think?" "I have been turning it over in my mind," Mr Humphreys replied, "and I am inclined also to offer my waggons. The rate of pay is, as you say, high, and they certainly will have a difficulty in obtaining the number they require. I shall not have need for mine for home purposes for a considerable time now. The hot weather will soon be setting in, and planting is over for the season. I shall of course go on digging holes for my next batch, but I shall not want them up until after the end of the hot season. So I think, as I can spare them, I shall hire them to government. I think we ought all to do what we can to aid it at present, for every one agrees as to the necessity of the steps it is now taking." "And do you think that there will be any fighting, father?" Dick asked eagerly. "That no one can say, my boy. The Zulus are a proud as well as a brave people, and believe that they are invincible. I hardly think that they will consent to break up their army and abandon their customs at our dictation; I should not be surprised if it comes to fighting." "Oh, father, if you hire the waggons to government, may I go with them? I can see that the Kaffirs look after the oxen, you know, and that everything goes straight. I have picked up a little Kaffir from Joel, and can manage to make them understand." "Well, Dick," Mr Humphreys said, after a little thought, "I don't know that I have any objection to it; it will be a change for you, and of course there will be no chance of the waggons being near if any fighting goes on. What do you think, Jackson? I suppose your boy will want to go if mine does?" "Well, I don't mind," Mr Jackson answered. "I suppose it will not be for long, for the boy is useful on the farm now. However, as you say, it will be a change, and boys like a little excitement. Well, I suppose I must say yes; they are fifteen now, and old enough to keep out of mischief." The boys were delighted at the prospect of the expedition, and at once went out to talk matters over together. They cordially agreed in the hope that the Zulus would fight, and promised themselves that if possible they would see something of it. Their fathers would, they thought, allow them to take their horses, and it would be easy, if the waggons were left behind, to ride forward with the troops, and see what went on. Two days later the four teams started together for Pieter-Maritzburg. Contrary to their expectations the boys were not allowed to take their horses. "No, no, Dick," Mr Humphreys had said, when his son asked him, "no horses, if you please; I know what you will be up to. Galloping about to see what is going on, and getting into all sorts of mischief and scrapes. No, if you go, you go with the waggons, to see that everything goes straight, to translate orders to the Kaffirs, and to learn something of waggon-driving across a rough country. For between this place and Pieter-Maritzburg it is such a fair road that you really learn nothing in that way; once get into a cross country, and you will see how they get waggons down steep kloofs, across streams, and over rough places. No, you and Tom will stick to the waggons. I have been fixing a number of rings to-day underneath one of them, and your mother and the women have been at work, making a sort of curtain to hook on all round; so at night you will have a comfortable place to sleep in, for the waggons will likely enough be so filled with cases and stores that there will be no sleeping in them. You can take the double-barrel as well as your Winchester, as of an evening you may be able to get a shot sometimes at game, which will vary your rations a bit. You must take with you a stock of tinned meats from Pieter-Maritzburg, for I do not suppose they will issue regular rations to you. So long as you are this side of the Tugela, you will be able to buy food; but if the troops cross into Zululand, you may have to depend on what you carry." Tom with his two waggons arrived at daybreak, and the four teams set off together, Mrs Humphreys--who had now completely lost her cough and was quite strong and well--laying many injunctions upon Dick against exposing himself to any danger, and Dick promising to be as careful as possible. Upon their arrival at Pieter-Maritzburg the boys went at once to the government transport-yard, and on stating their errand were shown into the office of the officer in charge. "We have brought down four teams of sixteen oxen each," Dick said, "from near Newcastle, to be hired to the government." "That is right, my lads," the officer said, "we have room for plenty more. This is the form of contract. You engage to serve the government by the month; you bear any damages which may take place from wear and tear of the roads, breakdowns, and the other ordinary accidents of travel; the government engages to make good any loss or damage which may occur from the action of the enemy. This is not," he said, smiling, "likely to take place, but still those are the terms. Have you any authority from your fathers, to whom, I suppose, the teams belong, to sign the contracts for them?" "Yes, sir," Dick said. "Here is a paper from my father, and one from Tom Jackson's father, saying that they agree to be bound by the terms of the contract, and that they authorise us to sign in their names. We are going with the waggons, sir, to look after the Kaffirs." "Well," the officer said, "you can do as you like about that; but if you speak Kaffir it will be useful--only, mind, you will have to provision yourselves. From the day the teams are taken up, rations of mealies will be served to the Kaffirs at the various halting-places, but there is no provision for rations of white men. The cattle, too, will be fed, but you will have to see to yourselves." "Yes, sir; we expected to do so." "Well, you had better fetch the teams up to the yard. I must inspect and pass them before they are taken up. Bring them round at once; then they will be loaded to-night, and start at daybreak to-morrow." The teams were brought round to the yard, and immediately passed by the officer, who indeed remarked upon the excellence of the animals. The Kaffirs were directed to outspan or unyoke the oxen, for whom rations of hay and grain were at once issued. The boys returned to the town and made their purchases, which were carried down by two Kaffirs and stored in the waggons, which were already in process of being loaded--two with boxes of ammunition, the others with miscellaneous stores for the troops. They slept at an hotel, and next morning at daybreak presented themselves at the yard. The Kaffirs were already harnessing up the oxen, and in a quarter of an hour the four waggons, with sixteen others, started for the Tugela. It was now the middle of December. Early in the month commissioners had been sent to Cetewayo with the terms decided upon by Sir Bartle Frere. The first clauses of the document contained the settlement of the disputed frontier, and fines were fixed to be paid by the chiefs whose men had committed forays across the borders; it then went on to demand that the whole of Cetewayo's army should at once be disbanded; freedom of marriage was to be allowed, when the parties thereto were of age; justice was to be impartially administered; missionaries to be allowed to reside in the Zulu country; British residents to be appointed; all disputes between Zulus and Europeans to be referred to the king and resident; and no expulsion from Zulu territory was to be carried into effect without the distinct approval of the resident. It was intimated to the king that unless these terms were accepted by the 11th of January the army would at once invade the country. Few men expected that the Zulu king would tamely submit to conditions which would deprive him of all the military power in which he delighted, and would reduce him to a state of something like dependency upon the British. During the month of December General Thesiger, who commanded the British forces in South Africa, made every effort to prepare for hostilities. The regiments which were at the Cape were brought round by sea; a brigade of seamen and marines was landed from the ships of war; several corps of irregular horse were raised among the colonists; and regiments of natives were enrolled. Before the date by which the king was to send in his answer the troops were assembled along the frontier in the following disposition:-- Number 1 Column. (_Headquarters, Thring's Post, Lower Tugela_.) Commandant.--Colonel C.K. Pearson, the Buffs. Naval Brigade.--170 bluejackets and marines of H.M.S. _Active_ (with one Gatling and two 7-pounder guns), under Captain Campbell, R.N. Royal Artillery.--Two 7-pounder guns and rocket-battery, under Lieutenant W.N. Lloyd, R.A. Infantry.--2nd battalion, 3rd Buffs, under Lieutenant-Colonel H. Parnell. Mounted Infantry.--100 men under Captain Barrow, 19th Hussars. Volunteers.--Durban Rifles, Natal Hussars, Stanger Rifles, Victoria Rifles, Alexandra Rifles. Average, forty men per corps--all mounted. Native Contingent.--1000 men under Major Graves, the Buffs. Number Two Column. (_Headquarters, Helpmakaar, near Rorke's Drift.) _Commandant.--Colonel Glyn, 1st battalion, 24th Regiment. Royal Artillery.--N. battery, 5th brigade, Royal Artillery (with 7-pounder guns), under Major A. Harness, R.A. Infantry.--Seven companies 1st battalion, 24th Regiment, and 2nd battalion, 24th Regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Degacher. Natal Mounted Police.--Commanded by Major Dartnell. Volunteers.--Natal Carabineers, Buffalo Border Guard, Newcastle Mounted Rifles--all mounted; average, forty men. Native Contingent--1000 men, under Commandant Lonsdale, late 74th Highlanders. Number 3 Column. (_Headquarters, Utrecht.) _Commandant.--Colonel Evelyn Wood, V.C. C.B., 40th Regiment. Royal Artillery.--11th battery, 7th brigade, R.A. (with four 7-pounder guns), under Major E. Tremlett, R.A. Infantry.--1st battalion 13th Regiment, and 90th Regiment. Mounted Infantry.--100 men, under Major J.C. Russell, 12th Lancers. Frontier Light Horse.--200 strong, under Major Redvers Buller, C.B., 60th Rifles. Volunteers.--The Kaffrarian Vanguard, Commandant Schermbrucker, 100 strong. Native Contingent.--The Swazis, our native allies, some 5000 strong. In the first fortnight of their engagement the waggons travelled backward and forward between Pieter-Maritzburg and Grey Town, which for the time formed the base for the column of Colonel Glyn. The distance of the town from the capital was forty-five miles, and as the waggons travelled at the rate of fifteen miles a day, they were twelve days in accomplishing two double journeys. When they were loaded up the third time, they received orders to go straight through to the headquarters of the column at Helpmakaar. The boys were pleased at the change, for the road as far as Grey Town was a good one. They reached Grey Town for the third time on the 2nd of January. Here they found the place in a state of great excitement, a mounted messenger having arrived that morning with the news that Cetewayo had refused all demands and that large bodies of the Zulus were marching towards the frontier to oppose the various columns collecting there. On arriving at the government-yard the lads received orders at once to unload the waggons and to take on the stores of the 2nd battalion of the 24th, which was to march from Grey Town the next morning. The start was delayed until the afternoon, as sufficient waggons had not arrived to take on their baggage. The road was rough, and it was late in the afternoon before they arrived at the Mooin River. The weather had set in wet, the river was in flood, and the oxen had immense difficulty in getting the waggons across. Two teams had to be attached to each waggon, and even then it was as much as they could do to get across, for the water was so high that it nearly took them off their feet. The troops were taken over in punts, and, after crossing, a halt was made for the night. After seeing the cattle outspanned and attended to, the boys wandered away among the troops, as they were to start at daybreak, and it was long past dark before all were over. The tents were not pitched, and the troops bivouacked in the open. Brushwood was collected from the rough ground around, and blazing fires were soon burning merrily. It was all new and very amusing to the boys. The troops were in high spirits at the prospect of an early brush with the enemy, and songs were sung around the fires until the bugle rang out the order, "Lights out," when the men wrapped themselves in their blankets and lay down, and the boys retired to their snug shelter under the waggons, where their Kaffirs had as usual laid piles of brushwood to serve as their beds. The next morning they were off early, and reached the Tugela after five hours' march. This river does not here form the frontier between Zululand and Natal, this being marked by the Buffalo--a much larger and more important stream--from the point where this falls into the Tugela, some fifteen miles below the spot where they crossed the latter river, which here runs towards the southwest. Two more days' marching took the column to Helpmakaar. The weather was wet and misty, and the troops now marched in close order, with flankers thrown out, for the road ran parallel with the Buffalo, about five miles distant, and it was thought possible that the Zulus might cross the river and commence hostilities. A cordon of sentinels had, however, been placed all along the river from Rorke's Drift down to the point of junction of the Buffalo and Tugela; below the stream was so wide that there was no fear of the Zulus effecting a crossing. Most of the troops which had been stationed at Helpmakaar had already marched up to Rorke's Drift, and after staying two days at Helpmakaar the 2nd battalion of the 24th marched to that place, where the 1st battalion of the same regiment were already encamped. Two days later the remainder of the force destined to act under Colonel Glyn had assembled at Rorke's Drift--the term "drift" meaning a ford across a river. This column was the strongest of those which had been formed for the simultaneous invasion of Zululand, and General Thesiger was himself upon the spot to accompany it. Many of the waggons which had brought up stores were sent back to Grey Town for further supplies; but those of the boys, being laden with the spare ammunition and baggage of a portion of the 24th, were to accompany the column in its advance. The last two days of the term granted to Cetewayo to accede to our terms were full of excitement; it had been reported, indeed, that the king was determined upon resistance, but it was thought probable that he might yield at the last moment, and the road leading down to the drift on the other side of the river was anxiously watched. As the hours went on and no messenger was seen approaching, the spirits of the troops rose, for there is nothing that soldiers hate so much as, after enduring the fatigues preparatory to the opening of a campaign, the long marches, the wet nights, and other privations and hardships, for the enemy to yield without a blow. Men who had been in the campaigns of Abyssinia and Ashanti told their comrades how on both occasions the same uncertainty had prevailed as to the intentions of the enemy up to the last moment; and the fact that in both campaigns the enemy had at the last moment resolved to fight, was hailed as a sort of presage that a similar determination would be arrived at by the Zulu king. To the boys these days passed very pleasantly; they had nothing to do but to wander about the camp and watch the proceedings. There was a parade of the two native regiments before the general, who was much pleased with their appearance, and who exhorted them on no account to kill women, children, or prisoners. Among these native regiments were curiously many Zulus; for great numbers of this people had at various times been obliged to take refuge in Natal, to avoid the destruction threatened them by their despotic king, and these were now eager to fight against their late monarch. Some of the bodies of volunteer horse were very smart and soldier-like in their appearance. They were for the most part composed of young farmers, and Dick and Tom bitterly regretted that they had not been a few years older, in which case, instead of looking after a lot of bulls, as Dick contemptuously said, they might have been riding in the ranks of the volunteers. By the regulars the two days were spent in cleaning their arms and accoutrements, whose burnish and cleanliness had suffered much in the long wet march, and from the bivouacs on the damp ground. After marching from Grey Town with the 24th the boys had been placed regularly on the roll of the army, as conductors, and, although they drew no pay, had now the advantage of receiving rations as white men. They had upon the line of march frequently chatted with the young officers of the regiment, who, finding that they were the sons of well-to-do farmers and were cheery, high-spirited lads, took to them very much, and invited them of an evening to join them round the camp-fire. The last day came, and still no messenger arrived from Cetewayo, and in the evening orders were issued that the column should at daybreak pass the drift and advance into the enemy's country. The troops laid down that night in high spirits, little dreaming of the disaster which was to befall them in the campaign which they thought of so lightly. CHAPTER FIVE. ISANDULA. At two o'clock on the morning of the 11th of January the bugle sounded the reveille and the troops prepared to cross the Buffalo. Tents were struck, baggage piled on the waggons, and the regiments stood to arms at half-past four. The native contingent crossed first. The cavalry brigade under Lieutenant-Colonel Russell placed their ammunition on a pontoon and rode over. The river was in some places up to the necks of the infantry, and even the cavalry were nearly swept away. The first and second battalions of the 24th crossed on the pontoons. The third regiment of the native contingent threw out skirmishers, but could find no trace of the enemy. A heavy storm had come on at daybreak, but this left off at nine o'clock. Lieutenant-Colonel Buller, commanding the Frontier Light Horse, now rode in from the camp of Colonel Wood's force, which had crossed the Blood River and had encamped in Zululand at a spot about thirty-two miles distant. Lord Chelmsford rode over there with an escort of the Natal Mounted Police and the Natal Carabineers, who on their return captured three hundred head of cattle, several horses, and a number of sheep and goats. During the day the waggons, oxen, and ambulances were brought across the river on the platoon. Early next morning the 1st battalion of the 1st Native Regiment, four companies of the 1st battalion of the 24th, and 300 of the irregular horse started on a reconnaissance towards the kraal of Sirayo, the chief whose sons had been the greatest offenders in the raids into Natal. The cavalry were thrown out in skirmishing order, and after marching nine miles they descended into the slope of the valley in which Sirayo's kraals were situated. The enemy were heard singing their war-songs in one of the ravines, and the 3rd Native Regiment advanced against them with the 24th in reserve. The Zulus opened fire as they approached, and so heavy was this that many of our natives turned and ran; they were rallied, however, and with a rush carried the caves in which the Zulus were lurking. In the meantime the 24th's men had moved round to the head of the ravine, and cut off the enemy's retreat. There was a skirmish between the cavalry and some mounted Zulus, and six of these, including a son of Sirayo, were killed. Thirty horses and 400 head of cattle were captured. The next day was spent in cleaning up arms and accoutrements, after the heavy rain which had fallen the preceding week, and several days were spent in making the roads passable for the waggons. On the 20th the force moved forward, leaving one company of the 2nd battalion of the 24th, under Lieutenant Bromhead, with some engineers and a few natives to guard the ford and look after the platoons, and garrison the store and hospital. The column camped at Isandula, or, as it is more properly called, Isandwhlana, ten miles distant from Rorke's Drift. A portion of the road was extremely rough, and the waggons had the greatest difficulty in making their way forward. The spot selected for a camping-ground was a wide flat valley, with hills on the left and undulating ground on the right; almost in the centre rose an isolated hill, perpendicular on three sides, and very steep and difficult on the fourth. The camp was pitched in front of this hill, looking down the valley, with a mile of open country between it and the hills on the left. The camp was formed in the following order: on the left were the two battalions of the 3rd Native Regiment; the Royal Artillery were in the centre; next to these was the 2nd battalion of the 24th. The line was then taken up by the cavalry, with the 1st battalion of the 24th on the right of the whole. The waggons were all placed between the camp and the hill at the back. By a strange and criminal neglect no attempt was made to intrench this position, although it was known that the column might at any moment be attacked by the Zulus. It was determined that the greater part of the force should advance the next morning towards a stronghold, ten miles distant from the camp, straight down the valley. News had come that a large number of Zulus were at this spot, and it was supposed that these would fight. The column consisted of eight companies of each of the battalions of the 3rd Native Regiment, with the greater part of the cavalry. The force started early and marched for three hours down the valley. Here they came on much cultivated ground, but the kraals had been deserted by the enemy. At four o'clock, as the cavalry were skirmishing at a distance on both flanks, they came upon a body of Zulus about 2000 strong. The horse fell back upon the infantry, but, as it was now late, Major Dartnell decided to encamp for the night, and to attack in the morning. A messenger was despatched into camp with a report of the day's proceedings, and some provisions and blankets were sent out, with news that the general would join the troops with reinforcements in the morning. At daybreak he left the camp at Isandula with seven companies of the 2nd battalion of the 24th, and orders were sent to Colonel Durnford, at Rorke's Drift, to bring up 200 mounted men and his rocket-battery, which had reached that spot. The Zulus were seen in all directions, and a good deal of skirmishing took place. By a gross neglect, equal to that which was manifested in the omission to fortify the camp, no steps whatever were taken to keep up communication between the column, which now consisted of the greater part of the troops, and those who remained at the camp at Isandula. No signallers were placed on the hills, no mounted videttes were posted, and the column marched on, absorbed in its own skirmishes with the enemy, as if the general in command had forgotten the very existence of the force at Isandula. Even in the middle of the day, when the firing of cannon told that the camp was attacked, no steps were taken to ascertain whether reinforcements were needed there, and it was not until hours after all was over that a party was despatched to ascertain what had taken place at the camp. Upon the day on which the two native regiments advanced, the two boys felt the time hang heavy on their hands; they would have liked to take their guns and go out to shoot some game for their dinners, but all shooting had been strictly forbidden, as the sound of a gun might cause a false alarm. After hanging about the camp for an hour or two, Dick proposed that they should climb the hill which rose so steeply behind them. "If the columns have any fighting," he said, "we should be sure to see it from the top." Borrowing a telescope from one of the officers of the volunteer cavalry, they skirted round to the back of the hill, and there began their climb. It was very steep, but after some hard work they reached the summit, and then crossed to the front and sat down in a comfortable niche in the rock, whence they could command a view far down the valley. They could see the two battalions of infantry marching steadily along, and the cavalry moving among the hills and undulations on both flanks. They had taken some biscuits and a bottle of beer up with them, and spent the whole day on the look-out. The view which they gained was a very extensive one, as the hill was far higher than those on either side, and in many places they could see small bodies of the enemy moving about. At sunset they descended. "I vote we go up again," Tom said the next morning. "The general has gone forward with most of the white troops, and there is sure to be fighting to-day. We shall have nothing to do, and may as well go up there as anywhere else." After the general's departure there remained in camp five companies of the 1st battalion of the 24th, and one of the 2nd battalion, two field-pieces with their artillery men, and some mounted men. Just as the boys were starting at eight in the morning, there was a report in the camp that the Zulus were gathering in force to the north of the camp. This quickened the boys' movements and half an hour later they gained the top of the hill, and from their old position looked down upon the camp lying many hundred feet below them. There was considerable bustle going on, and the Kaffir drivers were hastily collecting the cattle which were grazing round, and were driving them into camp. "There is going to be a fight!" Dick exclaimed, as they gained their look-out; "there are crowds of Zulus out there on the plains." Could the boys have looked over the hills a mile away to their right, they would have seen that the number of Zulus down in the valley in front was but a small proportion of those gathering for the attack; for 15,000 men had moved up during the night, and were lying quietly behind those hills, 3000 or 4000 more were taking the road to Rorke's Drift, to cut off any who might escape from the camp, while as many more were showing down the valley. Altogether some 24,000 of the enemy had gathered round the little body in the camp. To the boys, however, only the party down the valley was visible. At eleven o'clock Colonel Durnford came into camp with his 350 mounted men from Rorke's Drift, and advanced with them to meet the enemy threatening the left flank, while two companies of the 1st battalion of the 24th moved out to attack their right. The Zulus, now reinforced from behind the hills, moved forward steadily, and Colonel Durnford with his cavalry could do little to arrest them. For an hour the infantry stood their ground, and the two field-pieces swept lines through the thick ranks of the enemy. The Zulus advanced in the form of a great crescent. "Things look very bad, Dick," Tom said; "what do you think we had better do?" "I think we had better stay where we are, Tom, and wait and see what occurs; we have a splendid view of the fight, and if our fellows meet them we shall see it all; but if--oh, look there, Tom!" Over the hills on the left thousands of Zulus were seen pouring down. "This is terrible, Tom. Look here, I will crawl along over the crest, so as not to be seen, and look behind to see if it is clear there. If it is, I vote we make a bolt. It is of no use our thinking of going down for a couple of horses; the Zulus will be in the camp long before we could get there." Five minutes later he again joined his friend. "They are coming up behind too, Tom. They have really surrounded us. Look, they are close to the camp!" It was a scene of frightful confusion. Nothing could be seen of the companies of the 24th, which had gone out to meet the Zulus. The great wave of the advancing army had swept over them. Below, the panic was complete and terrible, and soldiers, native drivers, and camp-followers were running wildly in all directions. One party of the 24th's men, about sixty strong, had gathered together and stood like a little island. The incessant fire of their rifles covered them with white smoke, while a dense mass of Zulus pressed upon them. Many of the soldiers were flying for their lives; others again, when they found that their retreat was cut off, had gathered in groups and were fighting desperately to the last. Here and there mounted men strove to cut their way through the Zulus, while numbers of fugitives could be seen making for the river, hotly pursued by crowds of the enemy, who speared them as they ran. "It is frightful, frightful, Tom! I cannot bear to look at it." For a few minutes the fight continued. The crack of the rifles was heard less frequently now. The exulting yell of the Zulus rose louder and louder. On the right Colonel Durnford with his cavalry essayed to make one last stand to check the pursuit of the Zulus and give time for the fugitives to escape; but it was in vain, showers of assegais fell among them, and the Zulu crowd surged round. For a time the boys thought all were lost, but a few horsemen cut their way through the crowd and rode for the river. The artillery had long before ceased to fire, and the gunners lay speared by the cannons. The first shot had been fired at half-past eleven, by one o'clock all was over. The last white man had fallen, and the Zulus swarmed like a vast body of ants over the camp in search of plunder. Horror-stricken and sick, the boys shrank back against the rock behind them, and for some time sobbed bitterly over the dreadful massacre which had taken place before their eyes. But after a time they began to talk more quietly. "Will they come up here, do you think, Dick?" "No, I don't think so," Dick replied. "They could hardly have seen us come up here, even if they had been on the look-out on the hills, and as they reached the back of the mountain before the camp was taken, they will know that nobody could have come up afterwards. Lie back here; we cannot possibly be seen from below. They will be too much taken up with plundering the camp to think of searching this hill. What on earth is the general doing?--I can see his troops right away on the plain. Surely he must have heard the guns? Our only hope now is that when he hears it he will march straight back; but, even if he does, I fear that the Zulus will be too strong for him. The whole force which he has with him is no stronger than that which has been crushed here, and I don't expect the native regiments can make much stand if attacked by such a tremendously strong force." So long as the daylight lasted, the boys, peering occasionally over, could see the Zulus at the work of plundering. All the sacks and barrels were taken from the waggons and cut or broken open, each man taking as much as he could carry of the tea, sugar, flour, and other necessaries; many of the yoke-oxen were assegaied at once, and cut up and eaten, the rest being driven off towards the north by a party of warriors. At nightfall the tents were set on fire; they soon burnt out, and the boys could no longer see what was taking place. Rising from the shelter, they walked back to the other side of the crest. "I can hear firing now," Dick said; "it seems to me that it is back at Rorke's Drift." They were soon sure that they were not mistaken; as it grew darker a flittering light was seen in that direction, and a continued fire of distant musketry was heard. Later on there was a broad glare in the sky. "I fear it is all over there too," Dick said, "and that the place has been burnt." Still, however, the firing continued, as heavy as ever, and long on into the night the lads sat listening to it. At last they fell asleep, and when they awoke the sun was already high. Thus they missed their chance of escape. At nine o'clock in the evening Lord Chelmsford's force, hearing at last what had happened, marched back into the camp, and before day had fairly broken continued their way down to Rorke's Drift. The defenders here, a little garrison, under Lieutenant Bromhead of the 24th, and Chard of the Royal Artillery, had made an heroic defence against some 4000 of the enemy. With mealy bags and boxes they built up a breastwork, and this they held all night, in spite of the desperate efforts of the Zulus to capture it. The hospital, which stood at one end of the intrenchment, was carried and burnt by the Zulus, but the little garrison held out till morning in an inner intrenchment round the store-house. Here was seen what could be done in the way of defence by the aid of hastily-thrown-up intrenchments; and had breastworks been erected at Isandula, as they ought to have been the instant the troops arrived there, and still more so when the major portion of the column marched away, the force there, small as it was, would doubtless have made a successful resistance. Even had the step been taken, when the Zulus were first seen approaching, of forming a laager--that is, of drawing up the waggons in the form of a hollow square--at the foot of the steep mountain, the disaster might have been averted. It may be said that the massacre of Isandula was due entirely to the over-confidence and carelessness of the officers in command of the column. The boys on waking crawled back cautiously to a spot where they could obtain a view over the valley, and, to their surprise, the force which, on the afternoon before, they had seen out there had entirely disappeared. Many bodies of Zulus were seen moving about, but there was no trace of the white troops. They made their way to the back of the hill, and then, to their horror, saw the column moving away from them, and already half-way on its road to Rorke's Drift. Their first impulse was to get up and start off in a run in pursuit of it, but this feeling lasted but a moment, for between the hill and the column many scattered parties of Zulus were to be seen. The boys looked blankly at each other. It was but too clear that they were cut off and alone in the enemy's country. "Whatever shall we do, Dick?" "I have not the least idea, Tom. At any rate there is nothing to be done at present. We should be assegaied in a moment if we were to go down; let's go back to our old look-out." After much talk they agreed that it would be hopeless to attempt to make south and cross the Buffalo, as many of the fugitives had done. There were sure to be strong bodies of Zulus along the river, and even if they passed these without detection they would be unable to cross the river, as they would find no ford, and neither of them was able to swim. There were great numbers of Zulus in the camp below, and these seemed to be pursuing the work of plundering more minutely than they had done on the previous day. The stores scattered recklessly about were collected, placed in empty barrels, and loaded up on the waggons. Presently a number of cattle were brought down; these were harnessed to the waggons and driven off, and by nightfall nothing save scattered remnants marked the place where the British camp had stood. But from their post the boys could see that the ground far and near was dotted with corpses, black and white. After nightfall the boys descended to the camp, and having marked the exact spot where the waggons had stood were able to collect a number of pieces of the broken biscuit scattered about; they were fortunate enough to light upon a water-bottle still full, and with these treasures they returned to the post on the mountain. They had agreed to wait there for three or four days, in fact as long as they could hold out, and then quietly to walk into one of the native kraals. If caught in the act of flight they were certain of being killed, but they hoped that when the Zulus' blood had cooled down after the conflict their lives might possibly be spared. This plan was carried out; for four days they remained on the hill of Isandula, and then descending late one evening to the plain walked for ten or twelve miles north, and waiting until daybreak showed them a large native kraal at no great distance, they made for it, and sat quietly down at the door of the principal hut. Presently a girl issued from a neighbouring hut, and, upon seeing them, gave a scream and ran back again. The cry brought others to the doors of the huts. When the boys were seen, a perfect hubbub of tongues broke forth, and many of the men, running out with their spears, advanced towards the lads. They sat perfectly quiet, and held up their hands to show that they were unarmed. The Zulus hesitated. Dick went through the motion of eating and drinking, and in his best Kaffir begged for a glass of water. The Zulus, seeing that the boys were alone, approached them, and began to ask them questions, and were evidently much surprised at hearing that they had escaped from the massacre of the British. From the door of the hut in which they were sitting a chief, evidently of high rank, for the others greeted him respectfully, now came out. After the cause of the tumult was explained to the chief, he ordered the boys to be bound. This was done and they were put into an empty hut while their fate was decided upon; after much deliberation it was agreed by the Zulus that, as they were but boys and had come into the camp unarmed and of their own accord, their lives should for the present be spared. It happened that in the village were a party of men who belonged to the tribe of Umbelleni, whose territory lay to the north-west, and these volunteered to take the prisoners to their chief, who was one of the strongest opponents of the English. His country, indeed, lay just within the Zulu frontier, and, having been engaged in constant skirmishes and broils with the Dutch settlers, he was even more disappointed than the other chiefs at the taking over of the Transvaal by England, just at the time when the Zulus were meditating its conquest. The road from Itelezi, the village at which the boys had given themselves up, to Umbelleni's country ran along between the Blood River and the lofty hill-country; and, although they were ignorant of the fact, Colonel Wood's force was at that moment lying on this line. They were therefore taken up over a mountain-country, crossing Mount Ingwe, to the Zlobani Mountain, a stronghold ten miles south of Umbelleni's chief kraal, and where at present he was residing. After three days' journey the lads, exhausted and footsore, ascended to the plateau of the Zlobani Mountains. Upon their way they passed through many villages, and at each place it needed the efforts of their guards to prevent their being seriously maltreated, if not killed. The Zulus, although victorious at Isandula, had suffered terribly, it being estimated that nearly 3000 had fallen in the attack. Thus there was not a village but had lost some of its members, for, although the Zulu regiments have local denominations and regular military kraals, each regiment consists of men drawn from the population at large. Every four or five years all the lads who have passed the age of eighteen since the formation of the last corps, are called out and formed into a regiment, or are embodied with some regiment whose numbers have fallen in strength. Thus a regiment may consist of men differing considerably from each other in point of age, the great distinction being that some corps consist entirely of married men, while others are all unmarried. A regiment remains unmarried until the king formally gives the permission to take wives, and the corps to whom the boon has been granted are distinguished from the others by their hair being arranged in a thick ring round the head. So great is the enmity between these married regiments and their less fortunate comrades that they are never encamped in each other's view, as fighting in that case would inevitably take place. Thus it happened that, although some of the corps had suffered far more than others, the loss was spread over the whole of Zululand. CHAPTER SIX. ZLOBANI. While disaster had fallen upon the centre column, the division under Colonel Evelyn Wood had been showing what could be done when care and prudence took the place of a happy-go-lucky recklessness. It had advanced from Utrecht on the 7th of January, and had moved up to the frontier at Sandspruit. At two in the afternoon of the 10th it moved forward, halted at six, and again advanced by the light of the moon at half-past one in the morning; a mounted advance-guard was thrown out, flanking patrols were organised, and the troops moved in the greatest silence. The next day Colonel Buller, with his irregular horse, went out, and after a skirmish with the Zulus brought in a thousand cattle, and Captain Barton, with a party scouting in another direction, captured 550. On the following morning a reconnaissance in force was made, and a good deal of skirmishing took place; but, as Colonel Wood never allowed his men to follow the Zulus into rough ground, the latter were unable to effect anything against the column. This division advanced forward but slowly, as it was intended that they should keep within reach of the leisurely-moving central column. After several slight skirmishes the news reached them on the 24th of the disaster of Isandula, and with it Colonel Wood received orders to fall back; and on the 26th he encamped at Kambula. Raids were made in all directions with great success; the great military kraal of Manyamyoba was captured and destroyed by Colonel Buller and his cavalry. As Colonel Wood's was now the most advanced column, Colonel Rowlands, with a wing of the 80th and a couple of guns and 200 Swazis, together with Raaff's Horse and Wetherby's Borderers, were sent as a reinforcement to him. The Zulus were not idle, and Umbelleni and Manyamyoba made several successful raids across the border and destroyed the kraals of natives friendly to the English. These two chiefs were not regular Zulu chieftains; both were adventurers who had gathered under them numbers of broken men, and had for years carried on raids on their own account from their mountain-stronghold, in much the same way that the Scotch borderers of olden times harassed the country on the English side of the frontier. Oham, the king's brother, with his own following, came into Colonel Wood's camp, and gave himself up, saying that he was altogether opposed to the war. The boys on their arrival at Zlobani were brought before Umbelleni. That chief briefly gave orders that they should be killed; but two or three of his headmen represented to him that they might be of use; they would be able to carry a message to the British camp, should he desire at any time to send one; by their appearance and dress, they could tell him the nature of any troops they might intend to attack, and could read and explain any letters which might be captured on messengers; finally, they might be an acceptable present to send to Cetewayo, who might not be pleased if he heard that prisoners had been killed in cold blood. Umbelleni assented to the reasoning, and ordered the boys to be taken to a hut. The Zulu dwellings resemble in form great bee-hives. They are circular and dome-roofed; the entrance is but three feet high, and people can only enter by crawling. A woman was ordered to cook for them. No guard was placed over them, and they were permitted to wander about freely, as escape from such a position was considered impossible. Six weeks passed slowly, and on the 11th of March a messenger arrived, and there was a sudden stir in the camp. In a few minutes the fighting-men assembled. The boys were ordered to take their place in the column, and at a swift march, with which they had the greatest difficulty in keeping up, the column moved away. "Where are they taking us now, I wonder?" Tom said. "I suppose they are going to attack some English party on the march; our men are hardly likely, I should think, again to be caught napping, as they were at Isandula." Crossing two rivers, the Bevana and Pongola, they at night halted in another mountain-kraal of Umbelleni, about three miles from the Intombe River. On the bank of the river could be seen twenty waggons. These waggons had come down from Derby, on their way to Luneberg, a town situated four miles from the Intombe. Major Tucker, who commanded there, sent Captain Moriarty with a company of the 80th, seventy strong, down to the river to protect the waggons whilst crossing, and that officer had orders to neglect no precaution, and above all to keep an incessant and vigilant look-out. The river was in flood, and no crossing could be effected, and for four days the waggons remained on the northern bank. Captain Moriarty placed the waggons in laager on the bank, and took post there with forty of his men, leaving Lieutenant Harwood with thirty-four on the south bank with directions to cover the sides of the laager with a flanking fire, should it be attacked. The position of the waggons was a dangerous one, as the ground rose immediately behind them, and was covered with bush. In the middle of the night of the 11th Umbelleni's men arose, and, accompanied by the boys, started from the kraal, and Dick and Tom were filled with forebodings of what was about to happen. Dick had already gathered from the natives that the guard of the waggons was an extremely small one, and, as the body moving to attack them were between 4000 and 5000 strong, the chance of a successful resistance appeared small. When within a short distance of the waggons two of the Zulus motioned to the boys to stop. In ten minutes they heard a sentry challenge; his shout was answered by a loud yell, and the Zulus poured down to the attack. Unfortunately Captain Moriarty had not taken sufficient precaution against surprise, and before the men were fairly under arms the Zulus were upon them. The force on the other side of the river were now on the alert, and their rifle-fire opened before that of the defenders of the waggons. For a moment or two there was a sharp rattling fire from the waggons; then there were shouts and screams, the firing ceased, and the boys knew that the laager had been captured. Many of the soldiers indeed were assegaied before they could leave their tents, most were slaughtered at once, but a few managed to swim across the river. The Zulus swarmed after them. Lieutenant Harwood jumped upon his horse and rode off to Luneberg to fetch assistance. The little detachment was broken by the rush of the Zulus, but a serjeant and eight men fell back into a deserted kraal, and succeeded in repelling the attacks of the enemy. Lieutenant Harwood was afterwards tried by court-martial for his conduct; he was acquitted, but the general in command refused to confirm the verdict, and the commander-in-chief at home approved of the view he took of the matter, and issued a general order to the effect that "An officer, being the only one present with a party of soldiers actually engaged with the enemy, is not under any pretext whatever justified in deserting them, and thus by so doing abandoning them to their fate." Apprehensive of the arrival of reinforcements from Luneberg, Umbelleni did not continue his attack upon the little party in the kraal, but, after hastily plundering the waggons, retreated with his force, and the next day returned to Zlobani. A few days passed and the boys learnt that two regiments from Ulundi were expected shortly to reinforce Umbelleni's men. The chief himself, with the majority of his followers, was now at his kraal, four miles distant, but the boys remained in the village on the Zlobani plateau. Several times they saw parties of British horse riding over the plains and from a distance reconnoitring the position, and they wondered whether there could be any intention on the part of Colonel Wood to attack it. There was on the plateau a large number of cattle, part the property of Umbelleni's men, but the great majority spoil taken in raids. It seemed to the boys that an attack could scarcely be successful. The sides of the mountains were extremely precipitous, covered with bush, and contained large numbers of caves. There was but one path up which mounted men could ride; this was about hallway along the west side, the hill being a much greater length from north to south than from east to west. Up the southern extremity of the plateau was a path by which footmen could descend to the plain, but it was exceedingly steep and altogether impracticable for cavalry; a handful of men should have been able to hold the position against an army. Colonel Wood having heard of the large quantity of cattle concealed on the Zlobani Mountain had determined to attack it, and at three o'clock in the morning of the 27th of March a cavalry party started. It consisted of 150 mounted infantry; the Frontier Light Horse, 125; Raaff's Troop, 50; Piet-Uys' Boer Contingent, 50; Wetherby's Horse, 80; Schermbrucker's Horse, 40;--a total of 495 men. They were commanded by Colonel Russell, and Colonel Wood was himself to join them in the evening. The party was a picked one, all being well mounted and good rifle-shots. The track led across a rough sandy country with deep nullahs, and thickly covered with trees and bush. At five o'clock they halted for half an hour, and then again advanced. After five miles' travelling across a very rough country they came out into a large cultivated flat, which terminated in a long, dark, winding gorge, black with bush and skirted by precipices of sandstone and granite. They turned into this and followed a rivulet until they came to the end of the gorge, where they discovered a steep path which seemed cut out of the solid rock, and was only wide enough for one horseman to pass. After three quarters of an hour's climbing they gained the summit. The country was wild in the extreme. The plateau upon which they found themselves extended for seven or eight miles. Huge masses of scrub and boulders, peaks, terraces, and ledges of rock appeared everywhere, while caves and immense fissures formed retreats for the cattle. It was now late in the afternoon, and the force bivouacked for the night, having brought with them three days' provisions. At seven in the evening Colonel Wood joined them with his staff, eight mounted men of the 50th regiment and six natives under Untongo, a son of Pongo, a friendly chief. Untongo had by some means obtained information that seven strong regiments had marched from Ulundi seven days before, and was most anxious that the column should return to Kambula. Colonel Wood, however, could not carry out this advice, for Colonels Buller and Wetherby and Piet-Uys, with their commands, who were in front, had moved forward a long distance, and a retreat now would leave them to be surrounded and cut off. The troops lay down and slept, and at half-past three o'clock again prepared to advance. Distant shots were heard, showing that Colonel Buller was attacked, and just as the party was setting off, Colonel Wetherby with his troopers rode in, having in the night got separated from Buller's men in the wild and broken country. As the troops advanced they came here and there across the bodies of Zulus, showing that Buller had had to fight his way. Captain Ronald Campbell ascended a rock and scanned the country with his glass. Far away, almost in the centre of the gigantic and apparently inaccessible cliff of Zlobani, the remains of Buller's column could be seen slowly advancing, driving some dark masses of cattle and Zulus before them. Colonel Wetherby obtained permission to lead his men on at once to Buller's assistance, while Colonel Wood followed with the remainder of the force. Wetherby moved by a terribly difficult path to the right, while Wood kept to what seemed the main track. About half a mile further the latter came on a party of 200 Zulus, armed with rifles; these crossed in front of him, taking an occasional shot at the leading files of the party, who on account of the difficulties of the road were compelled to dismount and lead their horses. Their object was evidently to cut off Wetherby's troop from the main column. Lieutenant Lysons, leaving the column, reconnoitred the ground, and found that Wetherby's party was already divided from them by a deep and impassable ravine, at the bottom of which was the pathway by which Buller had made his way to the summit of the cliff. A strong party of Zulus were seen faraway in front, working as if to cut off Buller's horse. It was clear that there was nothing to do but to press forward in hopes that the line taken by Wetherby and that which the main column was following would come together. At this moment a heavy fire was opened by a party of the enemy from a narrow ledge of rock a hundred yards above them. Untongo and two of his men guided a party of eight marksmen to a still higher point, and their fire speedily drove off the Zulus. Half an hour's march brought Wood upon Wetherby's track, and high above them to the right the rear of Buller's column could be seen. No more unsuitable ground for the operation of mounted men could be found; perpendicular rocks rose in all directions, while steep precipices fell away at their feet. Killed and wounded horses were seen at every turn of the road, showing how stoutly the enemy had held their ground, and how difficult an operation Buller had performed. Sending fifty men to work upon the right flank and endeavour to take the Zulus in the rear, Colonel Wood kept his men for a few moments under cover of a friendly ledge of rocks, to take breath and look to their rifles, girths, and ammunition, and then pressed rapidly forward and joined the Border Horse. The scene was now most exciting. The firing was almost continuous, and the yells of the savages rose from every rock and bush, mingled with the loud cheers of Buller's men far up in front, as they saw the column approaching to their aid. The ground was now more level and practicable for riding, and Colonel Wood mounted his horse and, accompanied by his own little escort of a dozen men and the Border Horse under Colonel Wetherby himself, with his gallant boy, aged fifteen, who was fighting by his side, galloped forward for the front, leaving Colonel Russell in command of the column. When within a hundred paces of the summit of the cliff a rain of fire opened upon their front and flank from a mass of Zulus firing from caves, crevices, and behind enormous boulders. From one cave to the right front an excessively heavy fire was kept up, and Colonel Wetherby dashed at this with his men just as Colonel Wood's horse staggered from a deep assegai wound in the chest. At the same moment a native from behind a boulder fired at that officer at ten paces' distance; the bullet missed him and Lieutenant Lloyd rode at the man, but fell, shot through the head. Colonel Wood and Captain Ronald Campbell rode forward to cover his body. Two more Zulus fired at the same instant and the colonel's horse fell dead. Colonel Wetherby's men were hotly engaged at close quarters with the Zulus, and were unable to join the colonel. Captain Campbell, Lieutenant Lysons, and the eight 90th men of the escort rushed at the opening. Captain Campbell fell, shot through the head, but the rest dashed forward. There was a movement in the cave and a sudden shout in English of "Come on!" and as the little band dashed in and fell upon the Zulus they saw, to their astonishment, two English boys, armed with assegais, attacking these in the rear. In another minute the Zulus were all cut down, and the party returned to Colonel Wood. On the previous afternoon Zulu scouts had arrived at Zlobani with the news that an English column was on its way towards it. Messengers were despatched to Umbelleni's kraal, and at night his force there came to the assistance of those at Zlobani. Early in the morning the boys proceeded with a number of Zulus to the edge of the plateau, and were placed with eight of their guards in a cave. From its mouth they watched anxiously the events of the day. Colonel Buller's party had struck upon the right road, and after hard fighting gained the summit of the cliff. Here a great quantity of cattle were collected, and these were sent off in charge of a body of friendly natives, which accompanied the force. This column in the advance had not passed near the cave in which the boys were placed. Their hearts beat high as they saw Colonel Wood's column suddenly turn off from the line which Buller had followed, and make straight for it. Their excitement grew higher and higher as the conflict increased in vigour. Soon the Zulus in the cave were at work. When Captain Campbell charged forward with his handful of men, Dick and Tom exchanged a glance. They stood quiet until it was evident that the English attack would be pushed home; then, as the men of the 90th, led by Lysons, dashed at the entrance of the cavern, the boys seized two assegais and each pinned one of the crouching Zulus to the ground. Before the others could turn round upon them Lysons and his men were among them. The fire of Buller's men from above drove the Zulus from their hiding-places. But Colonel Wood, finding it impossible to make his way up at this point, moved round at the foot of the rocks, to try and find the point at which Buller had ascended the cliff. Before doing so, however, the bodies of Captain Campbell and Lieutenant Lloyd were carried down the hill, and buried in a hastily-made grave. As, carrying their wounded men, the little party made their way to the foot of the cliff, Untongo, who had been reconnoitring the rocks on both sides, ran down to him and began to talk rapidly, pointing over towards the plain. Colonel Wood did not understand Kaffir, but Dick, who was standing by, said-- "He says, sir, that there is a great Zulu army marching below." Colonel Wood mounted a fresh horse, and making his way with great difficulty across some broken ground reached a point where he could see the plain. There, in five continuous columns, the Zulu army from Ulundi, 20,000 strong, was sweeping along at its usual rapid pace. It was evident at once that only by a speedy retreat could any of the force hope to escape. Colonel Wood despatched a message at once to Colonel Russell, who had with his force by this time commenced the ascent at the extreme westerly point, to retrace his steps instantly, and to cover as far as possible the retreat of the native allies with the cattle. Colonel Buller above had also seen the coming danger. So far he had accomplished his work admirably. The Zulu position had been triumphantly stormed, and a large number of cattle taken and driven off. Had Colonel Wood's force and Wetherby's troop arrived on the scene of action immediately after Buller had ascended to the plateau, the retreat could have been made in time, and the expedition would have been successful at all points. The unfortunate incident of their losing the track, the delay caused thereby, and their inability to rejoin him had given time for the Ulundi army to come up. Colonel Buller found that it was impossible now to descend to the plain by the path by which he had ascended. Not only would he have to fight his way back through the whole force of Umbelleni, but his retreat by that route would be cut off by the Ulundi men. Consequently, pursued by a great body of exulting Zulus, he made his way along the plateau to the steep path at its extremity. The scene here was terrible. The Zulus blocked the way in front and lined both sides. Buller himself, with Piet-Uys, defended the rear, assisting the wounded, and often charging desperately into the ranks of the Zulus pressing upon him. The path was slippery with blood and strewn with dead. As the last of his troop made their way down it, Piet-Uys, a most gallant Dutchman, fell dead across the body of his horse, with six Zulus, whom he had shot with his revolver, around him. Wetherby's troop was surrounded, and forty-five out of his eighty men killed. The colonel himself and his boy both fell, the latter refusing to leave his father, although the latter urged him to gallop off and join the column, which appeared to be making its way through the Zulus. Colonel Russell's command got through without so much opposition; but Buller's horse, Piet-Uys' troop, and Wetherby's command suffered terribly. Fortunately the Ulundi army did not follow the retreat; first, because the tremendous three days' march which they had made had in a great measure exhausted the men, who had started in such haste that they had brought no provisions with them, and secondly, on account of the steady attitude and resolute bearing of Russell's command. Buller's force reached Kambula camp at half-past seven at night. It had set in stormy, and torrents of rain were falling. Although he had been in the saddle for forty-eight hours, Colonel Buller, on hearing that a small party of the survivors had taken refuge in hiding ten miles away, collected a party of volunteers, and, taking led horses, set out to rescue them. This was effected; the fugitives were found to be seven in number, and returned with their rescuers safely to camp. The boys had both escaped, two of Wetherby's men, who accompanied Colonel Wood, taking them on their saddles behind them. The total loss was ten officers and seventy-eight men. For the night the boys were handed over to the charge of one of the officers of the staff, but in the morning Colonel Wood sent for them, and they then told him the story of their adventures since the battle of Isandula, with which he was greatly interested. He said that he would at once have sent them to Utrecht, but that the camp would probably be attacked during the day. The troops had been on the alert all night, expecting an attack. Before daylight Captain Raaff was sent out with twenty-five men to reconnoitre, and returned with one of Oham's natives. This man had joined the Zulu army as it advanced, and was, fortunately for himself, not recognised by them as being one of Oham's people. In the night he had slipped away. He reported the Zulus 20,000 strong, a great portion of them being armed with rifles. Fortunately little preparation was necessary at Kambula. Nothing had been left to chance here, and there was therefore no fear of a repetition of the Isandula disaster. Each corps, each subdivision, each section, and each man had his place allotted to him, and had been told to be in that place at the sound of the bugle. The little fort was in a strong position, laid out upon an elevated narrow reach of table-land. A precipice, inaccessible to a white man, guarded the right flank; on the left a succession of steep terraces had been utilised and carefully intrenched, each successive line commanding that below it. At one end there was a narrow slip of land swept by two 7-pounders. Immediately in the rear, upon an eminence 120 feet higher than the fort, was a small work, armed with two guns. The camp consisted of an outer defence of 100 waggons, and an inner one of fifty--the whole protected by earthworks and ditches. CHAPTER SEVEN. KAMBULA. Immediately Oham's Zulu had made his report, the bugle sounded, and the garrison quietly and quickly took up the places assigned to them. Messengers went out to order a fatigue-party, which had gone out wood-cutting, to return at once. These men reported that they had seen the Zulus scouting, about five miles to the west. The tents were struck, the men lined the shelter-trenches, and ammunition was served out by fatigue-parties told off for this duty. The white conductors and commissariat men, most of whom were old settlers and good shots, were told off to the different faces of the laager. A small party were provided with stretchers, in order to carry the wounded to the hospital in the centre. Dick and Tom, having no duty and being without arms, thought that they might as well make themselves useful at this work, and therefore, taking a stretcher, they proceeded to one of the outer shelter-trenches. It was nearly eleven o'clock when the Zulus were seen approaching, and halted just out of musket-range. Here apparently a council of war was held, and it was more than an hour before any forward movement was made. Then a body of them, about 7000 strong, ran at a tremendous pace along a ledge situated at the edge of the cultivated land. The troops were ordered not to fire, as it was thought better to wait until the Zulus came on in earnest. At half-past one a cloud of skirmishers advanced from the Zulu army, and fed by supports began to scale the north front of the English position. Here, behind the outermost line of intrenchments, some of Buller and Russell's dismounted men, and a portion of the band of the gallant Piet-Uys were stationed, and these opened fire upon the Zulus. Scarcely one of them but was a dead-shot, and no sooner did a head or a shield appear above rock or boulder or tuft of grass than the deadly rifle rang out, and in most cases there was an enemy the less to encounter. The Boers particularly distinguished themselves at this work. Most of these men are certain shots, being trained from childhood in the use of their large single-barrelled guns, carrying an enormous bullet, and suited for the destruction of big game. Animated by a hatred of the Zulus, and a longing for vengeance for the death of their late leader, the Boers picked off their foes with unerring aim. The enemy's skirmishers now retired, and a more solid line took their place, supported by a dense column in its rear. The cavalry remounted and fell slowly back, and Major Russell, with twenty of his men, made a brilliant charge on a party of Zulus who were running to take possession of a sheltering ledge of rocks, and, after cutting down a great many, retreated without the loss of a man. Buller and Russell now retired slowly within the laager, their retreat being covered by Colonel Gilbert and four companies of the 13th, who were posted at this face of the works. One company of the 13th, under Captain Cox, held the cattle-laager, which was situated outside the line, and so were able to take the enemy in flank, as they attacked the main work. This little garrison and Colonel Gilbert's men poured a tremendous fire upon the Zulus, who still, however, pushed forward. Major Hackett was now ordered to take a couple of companies of the 90th, and to advance up the slope, round the rear of the cattle-laager. Taking post here, they opened a deliberate and deadly fire upon the enemy, and then advancing drove back the Zulus with great loss. The Zulu general, however, led a party of his best marksmen round to his right, and opened a heavy fire upon the 90th, as they fell back upon their intrenchments. Lieutenant Bright fell mortally wounded, and in running forward to pick him up Major Hackett was struck by a ball sideways, which passed through both eyes and destroyed his sight for ever. Meanwhile, from the works on the heights, Captain Nicholson was doing great execution with his two 7-pounders. The Zulu main body had now come within range, and grape and canister were poured into their heavy masses. As Nicholson was standing on the parapet, field-glass in hand, directing the pointing of two guns, a bullet struck him on the temple and he fell dead. He was seen from the laager to fall, and Major Vaughan was sent to take his place. Major Tremlett, R.A., now took the four guns, hitherto held in reserve, to a small piece of rising ground outside the laager, and opened fire upon the masses of the enemy with immense execution. From time to time Buller and Russell, as they saw openings for a charge, swept down and drove the enemy's skirmishers back on to their main body; the Zulus, altogether unaccustomed to cavalry, always falling back precipitately at these assaults. At three o'clock a hot cross-fire was opened upon a company commanded by Captain Woodgate, which was stationed half-way between the laager and the upper fort, keeping open a communication between them, the enemy's fire from a height commanding this line being particularly galling. Two of Tremlett's guns were brought to bear on the point, and the enemy's fire speedily slackened. For another hour and a half the troops continued to be hotly engaged, for the enemy, when driven back from one flank, swept round in most perfect order and attacked another. At half-past four the Zulus, concentrating again, attacked the northern side, and made some desperate rushes up to the muzzles of the English rifles, and the fighting for a time was almost hand to hand. The boys had worked round with their stretchers, wherever the fire was hardest, and had carried many wounded men into hospital. They were at the north face when the Zulus swarmed up towards it, and Woodgate's men fell back into the shelter of the laager. As they came in, a young lieutenant, who was commanding the rear, fell, apparently dead. Being in the rear of the company his fall was unnoticed by the men. Dick, who was peering over the intrenchment, saw him fall, and saw too that he moved slightly. "Quick, Tom!" he exclaimed; and, carrying the stretcher, the boys scrambled over the breastwork and ran towards the officer. He had fallen some twenty yards outside, and the Zulus, rushing on, were but eighty yards away. On reaching the side of the young officer, the boys laid their stretcher on the ground, rolled him upon it, and, lifting it, turned towards the camp. A ringing cheer from the men had greeted this action, mingled with shouts of "Run! run!" for by this time the Zulus were but twenty yards behind. A stream of fire broke out from the top of the breastworks; an assegai whizzed over Dick's shoulder, and another grazed Tom's arm, but they hurried on until they reached the ditch, and then threw themselves and their burden down. There for five or six minutes they lay, while the fight raged above them. Then the British cheer rose, and the boys knew that the Zulus had fallen back. A minute later a dozen men leapt from the intrenchment into the ditch outside, and lifted the wounded lieutenant over it into the arms of those behind. "Bravo! boys, bravo!" a hundred voices shouted, as the boys scrambled back into the works, while the men crowded round to pat them on the shoulder and shake their hands. It was evident now that the Zulu fire was slackening, and three companies of the 13th went out, and, taking posts by the edge of the slope of the cattle-laager, opened fire upon them, as they retired. Every gun was brought to bear upon them, and as, disheartened and beaten, they fell back, Buller and Russell, with every mounted man in camp, sallied out and fell upon them, and, burning with the desire to wipe out their misfortune of the preceding day, chased them for seven miles, like a flock of sheep, cutting down immense numbers. It was ascertained afterwards from prisoners that the Zulu force which attacked was composed of 25,000 men. It was commanded by Tyangwaiyo, with Umbelleni as his second. Many of the leading chiefs of Zululand and 3000 of the king's bravest and best troops fell in the attack on Kambula, and this battle was by far the hottest and best-contested which took place during the war. Upon our side two officers and twenty-one men were killed. The difference between the result of the action at Kambula and that at Isandula was due entirely to the fact that in one case every precaution was taken, every means of defence utilised; while in the other no more attention was paid to any of these points than if the troops had been encamped at Aldershot. Upon the day following the battle Colonel Wood set his men to work to erect further defences at the points which the recent action had shown to be weak, and never ceased work until the place had been made almost impregnable against an assault of savages, however brave. The messenger who carried to Natal the news of the victory of Kambula also took letters from the boys to their parents, acquainting them of their safety; and with the first convoy of wounded on the following day the boys started for home, Colonel Wood having given to each a flattering testimonial as to their gallant conduct in the action, and having presented them with two horses belonging to men of Buller's corps who had fallen in the action, ordering that the horses should be entered as bought for the Queen's service, and the value paid to the relatives of their late owners. Three days' march took the convoy to Utrecht, and the next morning the boys rode home, the distance from there to Newcastle being about forty miles. They were received as if they had risen from the dead, for their letters had not arrived before them, and their parents had of course assumed that they had been killed at Isandula. Both the mothers were in mourning, and their joy at the restoration of their sons was unbounded. Mrs Jackson fainted from surprise and delight, as Tom rode up; but Dick, remembering the effect which the news of his being alive in the snow had produced upon his mother, was careful to save her the shock. Accordingly, instead of riding direct to the house, he made a devour and rode across the farm until he met Bill Harrison. The man was delighted at the sight of his young master, and could hardly believe his eyes, as he saw him riding towards him. After the first warm greeting was over, Dick learned that his mother had been seriously ill, and was now recovering, and that his father had been much shaken. Dick told Harrison to go to the house, and, under the excuse of some question about his work, to call Mr Humphreys out, and to tell him of his return, leaving it to him to break the news to his wife. This Mr Humphreys, after recovering from his own emotion at the joyful intelligence, did so gradually and quietly, that the tale produced no injurious effect upon the mother. He began by saying that he had heard that a rumour was afloat that some of those that were supposed to have been killed at Isandula had been kept captives by the Zulus. Mrs Humphreys for a time doubted the news, but, upon her husband's assurance that the intelligence was well founded, a faint feeling of hope began to spring up; then gradually, step by step, he told her that it was reported that these captives consisted chiefly of non-combatants, men who had taken refuge among the rocks and bushes when the fight was seen to be going against the troops. This still further raised Mrs Humphreys' hopes; for, from the presence of mind and shrewdness which Dick had shown on the occasion of the snow-storm, it seemed probable that he would be quick to avail himself of any chance of escape there might be. Then Mr Humphreys said that the report affirmed that among the prisoners were two or three quite young lads, and so step by step he went on, until the delighted mother learned that her son was already upon the farm, and was only waiting until he knew she would be strong enough to see him. Mr Humphreys now went to the door and gave a loud shout, and Dick, who had been waiting the signal agreed on at a short distance from the house, ran up and was soon in his parents' arms. A minute or two later his younger brother ran in, having just heard the news from Harrison, and it was indeed a happy party which that night assembled in the sitting-room of the farmhouse, and listened to Dick's account of the adventures he had gone through. Not a little proud were the father and mother, as they read Colonel Wood's testimony to the gallant conduct of their son. The next day Mr and Mrs Jackson drove over with Tom, and the warmest congratulations were exchanged. "Have you been paid for the waggons, father?" Dick asked. "Yes, my boy, for there was a notice that the owners of all waggons and teams destroyed at Isandula would be paid at once. As there was a record kept of the ownership of those which accompanied the column, there was of course no difficulty in proving the loss, and both Mr Jackson and myself received orders on the public treasury for their value last week. You see more transports were required, and there was such a panic after Isandula, that if government had not promptly paid for their losses there, they would have got no more waggons from farmers for their work. We have already four more building for us at Newcastle." "I suppose there was a great fright in the colony after the defeat?" "Terrible!" Mr Humphreys answered. "Everyone imagined that the Zulus would at once cross the frontier, and carry fire and sword throughout the colony. The rest of the 4th Regiment instantly went forward to Colonel Glyn's column, and this restored it to something like its strength before the fight. The rivers were high, which may have accounted partly for the Zulus not taking the offensive. Probably too the great loss which they themselves must have suffered had some effect; while they might not have liked to have advanced in force across the frontier, being, as they were, threatened on the one side by the column of Colonel Wood at Kambula, and on the other by that of Colonel Pearson at Ekowe." "I have not heard about that column, father. What are they doing?" "I will tell you about it this evening, Dick, as it is rather a long story." After the Jacksons had driven off in the evening, Dick again asked his father about the doings of Colonel Pearson's column. "Well, my boy, they have neither suffered a great defeat, like that under Lord Chelmsford, nor obtained a decisive victory, like the column of Colonel Wood; they have beaten the enemy in a fight, and are at present besieged in a place called Ekowe, or, as it is sometimes spelt, Etckowi. The column consisted of eight companies of the 3rd Buffs under Colonel Parnell; six companies of the 99th, under Colonel Welman; one company of Royal Engineers and two 7-pounder guns; they had, besides a naval brigade consisting of 270 bluejackets and marines of her Majesty's ships _Active_ and _Tenedos_, with three gatling-guns, 200 mounted infantry; 200 colonial mounted riflemen also formed part of the column, with about 2000 men of the native contingent. They had great difficulty in crossing the Tugela, which was nearly 400 yards wide. But, thanks to the exertions of the sailors, a flying bridge was constructed--that is, a boat with ropes attached to both shores, so that it can be pulled backwards and forwards, or, as is sometimes done, taken backwards and forwards by the force of the stream itself. "It was the 13th before the crossing was effected. The enemy were in considerable force near the river. A small earthwork, called Fort Tenedos, was thrown up on the Zulu bank of the river. On the 18th the leading division started on its march into the enemy's country, followed the next day by the second division, a small detachment being left to garrison the fort. Every precaution was taken in the advance, and the cavalry scouted the country in front of the column. At the end of the first day's march the Inyoni, a small stream ten miles north of the Tugela, was reached. "The second day they encamped on the Umsindusi. The third day's march brought the column to the Amatikulu; beyond this the country became covered with bush, and great care was then taken, as it was known that a large force was marching from Ulundi to oppose their farther advance. Early on the morning of the 22nd, the day which proved so fatal to Colonel Glyn's column, the first division had just crossed the Inyezane River and was halted for breakfast, when they were attacked by a large force of the enemy, who, having chosen this position, were lying in wait for them. The ground chosen for the halt was not a favourable one, as it was surrounded by bush. But as no other place could be found by Major Barrow, who commanded the horse, near water, the halt had been made here. Scarcely had they begun their preparations for breakfast, when Captain Hart, who was out scouting in front with the advance company of the native contingent, discovered the enemy advancing rapidly over the ridge in his front and attempting to gain the bush on both flanks of the halting-place. The Zulus at once opened a heavy fire upon the native contingent, and of these one officer and four non-commissioned officers and three men fell almost immediately. "The native contingent was called in, and the naval brigade and two guns, under Lieutenant Lloyd, and two companies of the Buffs were ordered to take up a position upon a knoll close to the road, on which they were halted. The sailors at once opened fire on the enemy with two 7-pounders and two 24-pounder rocket-tubes, while the Buffs poured a heavy fire with their rifles upon them. The waggons were still coming up, and these were parked as they reached the ground; and two companies of the Buffs, who were guarding them on the march, being now free to act, were ordered to move out in skirmishing order, and draw the enemy out of the bush, when, as they retired, they were exposed to the fire from the knoll. "The engineers and mounted troops moved forward, with the infantry skirmishers, supported by a half-company of the Buffs and a half-company of the 99th. The enemy tried to outflank their left, and Captain Campbell with a portion of the naval brigade and some of the native contingent went out and drove them from a kraal of which they had taken possession. A still farther advance was now made, and the Zulus took to flight, leaving 300 dead upon the ground. The attacking party were 5000 strong, and against these some 500 or 600 of our troops were engaged. We had only eight Europeans killed and four natives, and about twenty wounded. The next day Colonel Pearson reached Ekowe. The position was a strong one, as the place stood upon rising ground; it had been a missionary station, and there was a church which could at the worst be converted into a citadel. "Colonel Pearson at once set to work to fortify the position. The same evening the news arrived of the disaster at Isandula. After a consultation with his officers Colonel Pearson decided to hold the spot at which he now was, convinced that, without further supplies of reinforcements, he could hold the place for two months. In order to economise food, the mounted men and most of the natives were sent back, and there remained 1200 British troops. "Colonel Pearson at once commenced his preparations for a siege. Three moderate-sized brick erections were turned into store-houses, and the church into a hospital, the tower making a capital look-out; from this a splendid view was obtained, the hill by the Tugela being clearly visible. The men set to work to fortify the place. The intrenchments were of a six-sided form, about sixty yards across, with a ditch outside them eighteen feet deep and twelve feet wide. Assegais were planted in the bottom. Added to the south side was a kraal for cattle and horses, also defended by a small wall. Outside the fort were entanglements of rows of felled trees and bushes. The supply of water was obtained from a good well, outside the walls, but covered by the fire of the fort. The guns were placed in position, and the garrison was ready for any attack that might be made upon them. All these details we learned in the early days of the siege by occasional messengers, who managed to find their way through, but these had been few and far between; of twelve messengers sent out the first week of February, only one got through. The garrison had made several sorties, and had destroyed Dabulamanzi's kraal. They also went out and cut off a large convoy of cattle on its way to Ulundi." "But how have they found out what is being done at Ekowe, if the first week only one messenger got through out of twelve?" Dick said. "By a very ingenious plan, Dick. For three weeks we knew nothing of what was going on, and then it struck an engineer that communication might be established by flashing signals." "What are flashing signals, father?" "Well, my boy, as a general rule they are made by showing a light either for a long or short period. Thus, one long and one short might be A; one short and one long, B; two short and one long, C; and so on all through the Alphabet. The distance was so great that ordinary lights would not have answered, but it struck one of the engineers that with a looking-glass the sunlight might be reflected. You know at what a distance the sun's reflection on a window can be made out. Well, it was tried in vain for a whole week by Lieutenant Haynes, of the Royal Engineers, but at the end of that time he was delighted at seeing answering flashes from the hill on which Ekowe stands. Since that time news has been regularly received every day by this means of what is passing in the fort. "In the meantime preparations were being made for the relief of the garrison. The news of the defeat at Isandula was sent home by a swift ship, by which the particulars were telegraphed from Saint Vincent. The people at home did not lose an hour. The _Shah_, which was on her way home, heard the news at Saint Helena, and Captain Bradshaw, who commanded her, at once, on his own responsibility, turned his ship's head south, and steered for Durban, bringing with him the garrison of the island. Some draughts from the 4th, 88th, and 99th Regiments were brought down from the Cape; the _Boadicea_ also arrived, and every man who could be spared from her and the _Shah_ was landed and sent up to the Tugela. "In the second week in March the 57th and 91st Regiments arrived from England. One hundred and sixty men were brought over from the garrison of Mauritius, and a few days later the 3rd battalion of the 60th Regiment also arrived. These assembled on the Tugela on the 27th, and that day set out. The vanguard was composed of the seamen and marines of the _Shah_ and _Tenedos_--640 men and two gatlings, the 91st regiment of 900 men, 400 men of the 99th, 180 men of the 3rd Buffs, 150 mounted infantry, 200 of the mounted native contingent, and 1600 men of the native infantry contingent. The second division consisted of 200 men of the _Boadicea_ with gatlings, the 37th Regiment, and the 3rd battalion of the 60th, 900 men, and two troops of mounted natives. That is all I can tell you, my boy. The news only arrived here yesterday that they had started. In the course of three or four more days I hope that we shall hear that they have given the Zulus a thorough licking. It is a strong force, and as there are about 3300 white troops among them, and there is no fear of their being taken by surprise this time, we need not have any anxiety about the result. I understand that, in accordance with the advice which Colonel Pearson has flashed from Ekowe, they are not going to follow the road he took, but to keep along on the lower ground near the sea." "And do you think, father, that they will push on for Ulundi when they have rescued the garrison of Ekowe?" "No, Dick; I think they are quite strong enough to do so, but as there are at least half a dozen more regiments on their way out from England, including some regiments of cavalry, it will be more prudent to stop until our whole fighting force is here, when we ought to be enabled to make short work of them, and to do the work completely and effectually. And now, Dick, I am thoroughly sleepy--the sooner we are in bed the better." CHAPTER EIGHT. THE SECOND ADVANCE. It was some days before the news reached Newcastle of the complete success of the relieving column. On their first day's march no difficulty was met with. The road was a good one, and the Zulus did not show in any force. The column halted for the night near the junction of the Inyoni and Amatikulu rivers. The waggons were placed in laager and a ditch and parapet formed round the camp. The ground was open and the waggons were able to travel six abreast. Numerous Zulu kraals were passed; but these were found deserted. On the afternoon of the 1st they encamped at Ginghilovo. From this point Ekowe was visible; signals were exchanged with the besieged, and Colonel Pearson warned Lord Chelmsford that the Zulus were moving forward to attack him. The night passed quietly, but the greatest vigilance was maintained. At daybreak dense masses of Zulus were seen in the distance, and at six o'clock they approached the camp. They came on in their usual order, with a massive centre and advanced horns on either flank. The British were kept lying down behind the shallow trenches they had thrown up. The Zulus advanced in splendid order with a sort of dancing step. Their white and coloured shields, their crests of leopard skins and feathers, and the long ox-tails dangling from their necks gave them a wild and strange appearance. Every ten or fifteen yards the first line would halt, a shot would be fired, then a loud yell burst forth, and they again advanced with a humming sound, in time to which their dancing movement was kept up. The 60th, who lay opposite to the point against which they advanced, withheld their fire until the first line of skirmishers came to within 300 yards. Then a deadly sheet of flame flashed along the ridge of the shelter-trench, and a number of the Zulu warriors fell. The main body now rushed forward, and although a tremendous fusilade was kept up on them, the Zulu advance pressed on, ever fed by those in the rear, which deployed in excellent order as they reinforced the first line. For twenty minutes the fire of the 60th never ceased. Again and again the Zulus pressed forward, but their leading ranks were swept away by the storm of bullets. At half-past six the Zulu masses, without the smallest confusion, faced to their right, ran round in columns, and fell upon the face of the laager held by the 57th and 91st. Here they were as hotly received as they had been by the 60th. Notwithstanding the deadly fire, the Zulus pressed forward with noble courage. They had ceased to shout now, and seemed only anxious to reach the square. Four times they rushed forward; each time they fell back with terrible loss. The fire of the soldiers was assisted by that of the native contingent, who, posted in the waggons behind, added their fire to that of the 91st and 57th. The last attack was led by Dabulamanzi in person, and arrived within five yards of the muzzles of the men's rifles; indeed one or two of the chiefs actually seized the hot barrels with one hand, while they stabbed at the men with their shortened assegais. This was their final repulse, and they now began to fall back. The moment that they did so, the cavalry dashed out in pursuit, and chased them far across the plain. The gatlings and 9-pounders added in no slight degree to the effect of the rifles. The entire English loss was but two officers and four privates killed, and three officers and thirty-four privates wounded; while the Zulu loss exceeded 1000. The force under Dabulamanzi was about 11,000, and a similar force was close at hand, but fortunately had not joined that of Dabulamanzi before he attacked the British. On the following day the 57th, 60th, and 91st, together with the mounted men and several of the mounted brigade, taking with them three days' provisions, marched for Ekowe. Major Barrow scouted the ground, and reported that everywhere assegais, shields, feathers, ear and head ornaments, skins, furs, blankets, and ever; guns were lying about in confusion, evidently cast away in their headlong flight by the Zulus, but that none of these had been seen. The column, however, advanced with every precaution, as it was possible that Dabulamanzi might procure reinforcements. No enemy, however, was met with, and the column continued its march until they were met by Colonel Pearson with 500 men, coming out to lend a hand to them in case they should be attacked. The united column then marched into Ekowe. The health of the garrison had suffered much from exposure to the sun and rain, and from the want of vegetables and useful medicine. Beef they had plenty of, as it was considered advisable to kill and consume the waggon-oxen rather than see them die from want of forage. The great event of the siege had been the discovery of certain strange flashes of light on the white walls of the church-tower; these, after puzzling many of the officers and soldiers, were at length brought under the notice of an officer of the naval brigade, who had been trained in the use of the heliograph, and he was able at once to explain the mystery. They were three days before they could contrive an apparatus, which could be worked, to reply. Fortunately an old mirror was found, and communication was opened. The effect of their renewed intercourse with the outer world, and of learning the preparations which were being made for their relief, acted more beneficially on the health of the imprisoned garrison than all the tonics the hospital could afford. Nevertheless between the commencement of the siege and the arrival of the relief thirty deaths had occurred. To the great regret of the garrison they found that it had been determined by the general to abandon the fort which they had held so long, as the whole force was required in Natal for operations in the veld in conjunction with the reinforcements on their way out. Before leaving, however, it was determined to strike another blow at Dabulamanzi, whose private residence had escaped at the time that his kraal was burnt. A small party of about 200 men therefore went out and fired the place without resistance. Ekowe was evacuated, and, having left a garrison at Ginghilovo, Lord Chelmsford retired with his force across the Tugela. Every day for the next fortnight news reached Newcastle of the arrival of one or more transports with reinforcements, and in a month from the date of the arrival of the first from England, seventeen transports came in, bringing more than 9000 soldiers and 2000 horses. The force consisted of two regiments of cavalry, 1250 sabres, two batteries of artillery with 540 men, 190 men of the Royal Engineers, six regiments of infantry, 5320 bayonets, draughts of the regiments already in the colony and Army Service Corps' men, 1200. Most of the regiments brought their equipments complete and ready for the field--tents, waterproof-sheets, cooking utensils, and camp stores. The Army Service Corps brought with them 100 light but strongly-built waggons. Among the arrivals was the Prince Imperial of France, who had come out as a volunteer. To convey the baggage and stores of so numerous a force an immense number of waggons was required, and a very urgent appeal was made to the loyalty of the colonists to furnish transport for the troops engaged in fighting their battles. In answer to this appeal Mr Humphreys and Mr Jackson decided to send down the new waggons which had just been finished. Immediately they heard of the decision, Dick and Tom begged for permission again to accompany the waggons. Their mothers at first refused even to listen to the request, but their fathers, talking the matter over between them, agreed that harm was not likely this time to come of it. The force was so overwhelmingly strong that there was not the slightest prospect of a repetition of the disaster of Isandula. At that time several hundred English soldiers had been surprised and crushed by some 20,000 of the enemy, but in future every precaution would be taken, and the British force would be ten times as strong as that which fought at Isandula. The colonists thought that it would be really an advantage to the boys to take part in the expedition; it was quite possible that if they remained in the colony they might have occasion to take part in wars with one or other of the native tribes, and the experience that they would gain in the campaign would in that case assuredly be useful to them. Having thus decided, Mr Humphreys and his friend succeeded in obtaining their wives' consent to the boys accompanying the waggons, and in high glee they started for Durban on the 20th of April. The campaign was arranged on a new plan. The numerous columns in which the strength of the force had been frittered away were abolished, and the following was adopted as the designation of the forces in the field, under the lieutenant-general commanding, viz.:--1st Division South African Field-forces, Major-General Crealock, C.B., commanding, consisting of all troops on the left bank of the Lower Tugela; 2nd Division South African Field-forces, Major-General Newdigate commanding, consisting of all troops in the Utrecht district other than those attached to the Flying Column under Brigadier-General Wood, V.C., C.B., which was designated as "Brigadier-General Wood's Flying Column." Major-General Marshall assumed command of the cavalry brigade, and Major-General the Hon. H.H. Clifford, C.B., V.C., took up the command of the base of operations and superintendence of the lines of communication. The forces were divided as follows:-- First Division (General Crealock's), Lower Tugela Command. Naval Brigade... 800 M. Battery, 6th Brigade, Royal Artillery... 90 Detachment, 11-7th Royal Artillery... 25 2-3rd Regiment... 836 57th Regiment... 830 3-60th Regiment... 880 88th Regiment... 640 91st Regiment... 850 99th... 870 Mounted Infantry, 2nd Squadron... 70 Army Service Corps... 50 Army Hospital Corps... 20 Royal Engineers... 150 8-7th Royal Artillery... 80 0-6th Regiment... 50 Lonsdale's Horse... 84 Cooke's Horse... 78 Colonial Volunteers... 105 Native Contingent:-- Foot... 2556 Mounted... 151 Total strength, effective and non-effective... 9215 Second Division (General Newdigate's.) 1st Dragoon Guards attached to 2nd Division... 650 17th Lancers attached to 2nd Division... 626 N-5th Royal Artillery... 76 N-6th Royal Artillery... 80 10-7th Royal Artillery... 70 10-6th Royal Artillery... 30 Royal Engineers... 60 2-4th Regiment... 790 Detachment, 1-13th Regiment... 63 2-21st (two companies at Maritzburg)... 820 1-24th Regiment... 530 2-24th Regiment... 586 58th (one company at Durban)... 906 80th (several companies in the Transvaal)... 300 94th (one company at Grey Town)... 870 Army Service Corps... 60 Army Hospital Corps... 30 Grey Town District Colonial Volunteers... 139 Natal Mounted Police... 75 Natal Carabineers... 27 Newcastle Mounted Rifles... 18 Buffalo Mounted Guard... 20 Native Contingent:-- Europeans... 41 Natives (foot)... 3128 Natives (mounted)... 243 Total strength, effective and non-effective... 10,238 General Wood's Flying Column. 11-7th Royal Artillery... 87 Royal Engineers... 13 1-13th Regiment... 721 90th Regiment... 823 1st Squadron, Mounted Infantry... 103 Army Service Corps... 9 Army Hospital Corps... 13 Frontier Light Horse... 173 Baker's Horse... 179 Transvaal Rangers... 141 1st Battalion, Wood's Irregulars:-- Europeans... 14 Natives... 377 2nd Battalion, Wood's Irregulars:-- Europeans... 5 Natives... 355 Natal Native Horse:-- Europeans... 4 Natives... 75 Total strength, effective and non-effective... 3092 Grand Total. 1st Division... 9215 2nd Regiment... 10,238 General Wood's Flying Column. 3092 Total, effective and non-effective: namely, Europeans, 15,660, and natives, 6885... 22,545 Out of this grand total there were about 400 sick and non-effective with the 1st Division, 300 with the 2nd Division, and 600 (including some of Wood's Irregulars, absent and not accounted for since the 28th of March) with Wood's Flying Column. So that altogether, deducting, say, 1500, Lord Chelmsford had at his disposal, from the middle of April, a total of 21,000 troops, of which over 15,000 were European. Colonels Pearson and Wood were made Brigadier-Generals, and the former was to command Number 1 Brigade, 1st Division, and Colonel Pemberton, 3-60th, the other. They both, however, had to give up their commands through sickness, and Colonels Rowland, V.C., C.B., and Clark, 57th Regiment, succeeded them. Major-General Clifford, V.C., C.B., had the following staff for the management of the base of the operations and the maintenance of the lines of communication between Zululand and Natal:-- Lieutenant Westmacott, 77th Foot, aide-de-camp; Major W.J. Butler, C.B., assistant-adjutant and quartermaster-general, stationed at Durban; and Captain W.R. Fox, Royal Artillery, deputy assistant-adjutant and quartermaster-general. On the arrival of the boys with the waggons at Pieter-Maritzburg, they reported themselves at the headquarters of the transport corps, and were told that they were not to go down to Durban, but were to load up at once and accompany the Dragoon Guards, who were to march the next morning for the front. This time the lads were mounted, as their fathers thought that they would gain more benefit from their experience if they were able to move about instead of being confined to the sides of their waggons, and it was a satisfaction to their mothers that, in case of any untoward event again happening, they would be in a better position for making their escape. General Newdigate's columns were encamped at Landmann's Drift; the cavalry, under General Marshall, was also there. The march was altogether without incident. Some days passed quietly, when a small party of horse made an expedition to Isandula; they reported that nearly a hundred waggons were still standing upon the field of battle. On the 17th of May, three days later, the rumour ran through the camp that the cavalry were to start on the 19th, to bury the dead and bring away the waggons. The Army Service Corps and waggons were to accompany the party, which was to consist of the Dragoon Guards and Lancers, with a party of native mounted scouts. In the afternoon of the 18th the two boys went to Colonel Marshall's tent; they waited patiently until he came out, accompanied by two or three other officers. "We have come to ask, sir, if you will allow us to go with your column. We are in charge of waggons here, but they are not going. We were at the battle, and saw the whole thing, and were taken prisoners afterwards and carried to Umbelleni's kraal, where we were liberated when Colonel Wood's cavalry attacked the Zlobani hill. We are well mounted, sir, and are good shots; so, if you will let us go, we could keep with the scouts and not be in your way." "How did you see the fight?" General Marshall asked. "We had gone up to the top of the hill, sir, before it began, and fortunately the natives did not notice us." "Oh, yes, you can go," the general said. "Probably you can give us a better account of the action than any one else, as others who escaped were occupied by their own business, and could not mark the general progress of the battle. So you were taken prisoners! Well, I am going out now, but if you will call in this evening at about half-past eight, I shall be glad to have a talk with you." In the evening the boys called upon the general, one of the most popular and dashing officers in the service. Three or four of his staff were there, and all listened with great interest to the boys' account of their adventures. "You seem to have plenty of pluck and coolness, youngsters," the general said, when they had finished. "In future you need not trouble to ask for permission to accompany me whenever the cavalry go out, providing we have natives mounted with us; you must go as recruits, and can either keep with them or ride with my orderlies." Much pleased with the permission given, the lads returned to the waggons, and the next morning they started on their way. The column bivouacked that night at Dill's Town, and reached Rorke's Drift between three and four o'clock in the morning, and were there joined by the Natal Carabineers and Colonel Harness, R.A., with guns. At daybreak on the 20th the reconnoitring force crossed the river. No signs of the enemy were seen until they neared Isandula; then signal-fires blazed up on the hills to the right, and spread quickly from hill to hill far into the interior. Pushing steadily on, the plain of Isandula was reached by ten o'clock. The whole scene of the conflict was overgrown with long grass, thickly intermixed with growing crops of oats and Indian corn. Lying thickly here, and scattered over a wide area, lay the corpses of the soldiers. The site of the camp itself was marked by the remains of the tents, intermingled with a mass of broken trunks, boxes, meat-tins, papers, books, and letters in wild disorder. The sole visible objects, however, rising above the grass, were the waggons, all more or less broken up. The scouts were placed in all directions to give warning of the approach of any enemies. The Army Service Corps set to work to harness the seventy pairs of led horses they had brought with them to the best of the waggons, and the troops wandered over the scene of the engagement, and searched for and buried all the bodies they found, with the exception of those of the 24th Regiment, as these, Colonel Glyn had asked, should be left to be buried by their comrades. The bodies of the officers of Colonel Durnford's corps were all found together, showing that when all hope of escape was gone they had formed in a group and defended themselves to the last. The men of the Royal Artillery buried all the bodies of their slain comrades who could be found, but the shortness of the time and the extent of the ground over which the fight had extended rendered anything like a thorough search impossible. The object of the expedition was not to fight, and as at any moment the Zulus might appear in force upon the field, a start was made as soon as the waggons were ready. Forty of the best waggons were brought out, with some water-carts, a gun-limber and a rocket-battery cart. Twenty waggons in a disabled condition were left behind. Some seventy waggons were missing, these having been carried off by the Zulus, filled either with stores or with their own wounded. Having accomplished this work the cavalry rejoined headquarters at Landmann's Drift. On the 27th of May the column advanced, Newdigate's division leading the way. By two o'clock in the afternoon the men had crossed the Buffalo and marched to Kopje-allein through a bare and treeless country. One of the most popular figures in the camp was the Prince Imperial of France, who, having received a military education at Woolwich, and being anxious to see service, had applied for and obtained leave to accompany the expedition. The young prince had been extremely popular at Woolwich, and was indeed an immense favourite with all who knew him--high-spirited and full of life, and yet singularly gentle and courteous in manner. He was by nature adapted to win the hearts of all who came in contact with him. His abilities too were of the very highest order, as was proved by the fact that, although suffering under the disadvantage of being a foreigner, he yet came out so high in the final examination at Woolwich as to be entitled to a commission in the Royal Engineers. When it is considered how keen is the competition to enter Woolwich, and that all the students there, having won their places by competitive examinations, may be said to be considerably above the average of ability, it will be seen that, for one who had previously gone through an entirely different course of education, and had now to study in a language that was not his own, to take rank among the foremost of these was a proof both of exceptional ability and industry. A splendid career was open for the young prince, for there is little doubt that, had he lived, he would sooner or later have mounted the throne of his father, and there are few pages of history more sad than those which relate to his death in a paltry skirmish in a corner of Africa. To Englishmen the page is all the more sad, inasmuch as, had the men accompanying him acted with the coolness and calmness generally shown by Englishmen in a moment of danger, instead of being carried away by a cowardly panic, the Prince Imperial might yet be alive. At Kopje-allein Newdigate's column was joined by that of General Wood. Three days were spent in carefully exploring the country, and on the 1st of June the division, as nearly as possible 20,000 strong, with a baggage-train of 400 native waggons, moved forward and encamped near the Itelezi River. The flying column of General Wood went on one march ahead, and the country was carefully scouted by Buller's horse for twenty miles round, and no Zulus were found. CHAPTER NINE. ULUNDI. On Sunday, the 1st of June, General Wood with a small escort was out reconnoitring in advance of his column, which was about five miles in front of the force of General Newdigate. The morning was clear and fresh, the ridges of the hills on either side were dotted with Buller's horsemen. They crossed the river by a ford, and having ridden about another mile forward they observed some of the vedettes on the high ground signalling that horsemen were approaching. Riding on to see who they could be, they were joined by Colonel Buller and a dozen of his men, and together they rode forward to meet the five men who were seen approaching. In a few seconds Lieutenant Carey and four troopers of Bettington's Horse rode up, and when they had told their story English soldiers had the shame and humiliation of knowing that an English officer and four English troopers had escaped unwounded from a Zulu ambush, in which they had left a gallant young prince, the guest of England and the hope of France, to be barbarously slain. Early in the morning the prince had learnt that a patrol was to be sent out in advance of the column, and had applied for and obtained permission to accompany it. Colonel Harrison, acting as quartermaster-general, granted the permission, and had an interview with the prince. Six men of Bettington's Horse and the same number of Shepstone's Basutos were to form the party; but unfortunately the Basutos did not come up at the appointed time, and the patrol consisted therefore only of the prince, Lieutenant Carey, the six men of Bettington's Horse, and one Zulu. Considering the importance of the safety of the prince, a grave responsibility attaches to the staff-officer who allowed him to go with so small a party. After an hour's ride they reached the crest of a hill and dismounted to fix the position of some distant points by the compass. Here Colonel Harrison overtook them, and remarked that the whole of the escort was not with them, and that they had better wait for the Basutos to come up. The prince said-- "Oh, we are quite strong enough--besides, we have all our friends around us, and with my glass I can see General Marshall's cavalry coming up." Unfortunately Colonel Harrison did not insist that the party should wait until the Basutos arrived, and they proceeded another seven miles, and then halted in an isolated kraal in a valley. A worse spot could not have been selected for a halt, as it was surrounded by long grass, six or seven feet high; here the saddles were taken off the horses, and coffee was prepared. Without any search being made they sat down to make coffee, although it was clear, from the burnt embers, bones, and other _debris_, that the place had been but recently occupied. The Zulu was the first to see the enemy in the long grass, and the horses were at once saddled. The escort stood ready by them, and just as the prince gave the word, "Prepare to mount," the Zulus' war-cry burst out, and some guns were fired from the grass. The horses started at the outburst, and some broke away. Never were a body of troops in an enemy's country so unprepared for the attack. Not a carbine was loaded! not a sentry placed! Each of the troopers, including the officer, was seized with a wild panic, and thought only of flight,--one indeed had fallen at the first shot. The prince's horse was ill-tempered and badly broken, and, frightened by the firing and yells, he was so restive that the prince was unable to mount. Had one of those men stood for an instant at his head the prince might have gained his saddle, but all had galloped away, leaving him alone. Running by his horse, he in vain endeavoured to mount; he had not had time to tighten the girth, the saddle slipped round, and the horse galloped away. Unfortunately the prince's revolvers were in the holsters, so he was unarmed, save with his sword, and with this he stood bravely at bay, and died nobly facing his foes, who pierced him with assegais at a distance. According to Zulu accounts afterwards obtained, there were but five or six men engaged in the attack, and had the Englishmen accompanying the prince, nay even had one of them, possessed but the smallest amount of presence of mind and courage, the Prince Imperial might have been saved. There is no blacker page in the annals of English military history. The feeling of indignation, shame, and regret in the English camp, when this shameful episode was known, was indescribable. Of all the party the friendly Zulu was the only one who came out with honour; he had gone towards the river to fetch water when he discovered the enemy, and might have instantly taken flight. He returned, however, and gave warning that the Zulus were lurking round. Even then it does not appear that he attempted to fly, but fought the foe until overcome by numbers. His body was afterwards discovered not far from that of the prince, riddled with wounds, together with a number of his own assegais broken, but stained with the blood of his assailants. The next morning the cavalry rode out to find and bring in the prince's body. When it was discovered, it was tenderly brought into camp. It was afterwards taken over to England, and laid by the remains of his father at Chislehurst. A court-martial was held on Lieutenant Carey. The sentence was kept secret, but it was generally understood that he was dismissed from the service with ignominy. He was sent home under arrest, but on his arrival there the proceedings of the court-martial were declared null and void on account of some technical irregularity, and he was ordered to resume his duties. It was reported that this extraordinary leniency was shown by the special desire of the Empress, who made a personal request to the Queen that nothing should be done in the matter. Early in June some messengers arrived in Lord Chelmsford's camp from Cetewayo. Lord Chelmsford told them that before any negotiations could be entered into, the whole of the spoil taken at Isandula, especially the two captured 7-pounder guns, must be restored. Considerable delays now took place, and for three weeks a force of Englishmen sufficient to march through and through Zululand in every direction was kept doing nothing at a distance of three days' march from the enemy's capital. So extraordinary and unaccountable was the delay that the English government appointed Sir Garnet Wolseley to go out to supersede Lord Chelmsford. Upon the receipt of this news preparations for an advance were at last made. On the 21st General Newdigate's column reached the right bank of the Umlatoosi. General Crealock, who commanded the division which was operating by the sea, also moved forward about this time, but met with such difficulties, owing to the sickness which attacked his transport-train, that he was unable to co-operate with the first division, although his force did service by occupying a large number of the enemy, who would otherwise have been free to act against the main column. Between the 24th and 26th General Newdigate's and Wood's columns advanced but six miles. But Buller with his horse scouted ahead, and cut up a number of Zulus who were engaged in burning the grass, to hinder the advance of the horses and cattle. On the 26th Colonel Drury-Lowe, with the light cavalry, 450 of Buller's men and two guns, went out and attacked and burnt five large military kraals. On the 27th the column advanced five miles towards Ulundi, leaving their tents behind them, and taking only 200 ammunition-waggons and ten days' rations; 500 infantry were left to guard the stores. On the afternoon of that day some messengers came in from Cetewayo, bringing 150 of the cattle captured at Isandula, together with a pair of elephant's tusks, and a letter written in English by a trader captured at Isandula. The letter said that the king could not comply with all Lord Chelmsford's commands, as the arms taken from us at Isandula were not brought to him, and that it was beyond his power as a king to order or compel any of his regiments to lay down their arms. He said the cannons should be sent in, and on the receipt of the cattle and these weapons the English must retire from Zululand. The trader had written in a corner of the letter, in pencil, a few words of warning, and an intimation that Cetewayo had with him at Ulundi a picked force of 20,000 men. Lord Chelmsford refused to receive the tusks, and told the messengers to inform Cetewayo, that before he should think of retiring, all the conditions must be complied with, and the Zulu regiments lay down their arms. Late in the evening several large bodies of the enemy, amounting to some thousands, were noticed moving from the direction of Ulundi, passing by their left flank. The next morning General Wood moved forward as far as the left bank of the White Umvolosi, and Newdigate's column followed in the afternoon. Wood's division bivouacked on the farther side of the river, Newdigate's halted on the right. The most vigilant watch was kept, with pickets in every direction, and patrols of cavalry beyond these. At daybreak on the 27th the main body crossed the river, and joined Wood on the left bank. They were now but fifteen miles from Ulundi, and the king's five kraals were visible to the naked eye. Three days were given to Cetewayo to comply with the conditions, but the original terms were altered so far, that Lord Chelmsford consented to receive 1000 captured rifles instead of insisting upon the regiments laying down their arms. While waiting, the army remained on the Umvolosi, having retired to the right side, pending the decision of peace or war. During these three days the Zulus had made many hostile demonstrations against us. On the first and second they kept up a scattered fire at distant ranges at our men, and on the third, growing bolder, pushed their skirmishers down to the rocks on the opposite side of the river, and fired upon the men, as they were watering their horses in the stream. One horse was killed and several men wounded. Buller therefore asked and obtained permission to make a raid on the other side. A couple of guns were brought into requisition to defend his crossing, and two or three rounds of shrapnel sent a crowd of Zulus, who had approached the opposite heights, straggling in all directions. Buller's horse, the mounted infantry, and Baker's horse dashed over the river at once. At full speed they raced across the country; Baker's men, guided by their leader, inclined to the left front, by Buller's orders, to carry and hold a hillock which commanded the ford. Colonel Raaff, with a portion of Buller's horse, was halted near the kraal of Unodwingo to act as a reserve, and Buller, with 100 of his best mounted men, pushed on with the intention of exploring the ground as far as possible towards Ulundi. He knew that the bulk of the king's army was away upon Lord Chelmsford's right flank, and thought therefore that he might push on to Ulundi without opposition. The country consisted of a plain, across which ran some stony undulations, and at one point were two hollows, united at a right angle. The Zulu general disposed his men in shelter, and as Buller with his little band of horsemen rode up they rose and poured a very heavy fire into the ranks of the horsemen. Sudden and unexpected as was this attack, Buller's men were too well used to native fighting to evince the slightest confusion. In the most perfect order they began to fall back in alternate ranks, keeping up a steady fire upon the enemy, who were eagerly advancing. Raaff and his men rode up to the assistance of the hotly-pressed party, and Baker's horse, upon their hillock, opened a steady fire upon the Zulus. Gradually and steadily the cavalry fell back towards the river, the two guns on the opposite bank aiding them by their fire of grape and shrapnel upon the Zulus, who pressed forward with extreme bravery. Many gallant deeds were done. Lord William Beresford, who had accompanied the party as a volunteer, distinguished himself by his bravery and coolness. Seeing upon the ground a dismounted and wounded trooper, surrounded by a dozen Zulus, he wheeled his horse and dashed down among them, knocking over three with the rush of his horse, and cutting down two with right and left strokes of his sabre; in another moment he had the wounded man on his horse behind him, and carried him off in safety. Commander D'Arcy, also seeing a wounded man on the ground, tried to carry him off, but his horse, being restive, reared and fell back upon him, so that the unfortunate trooper was overtaken and assegaied; while D'Arcy, who was severely bruised by falling on his revolver, was able to get back safely, but was unable to take part in the next day's fight. A little before daybreak Wood with his flying column crossed the river, followed by the main army. The whole of the baggage was left in charge of the 24th, and nothing was taken, save the ammunition and water-carts, each man carrying four days' supply of biscuits and preserved meat in his haversack. The crossing of the river was made without any opposition, but the movements of the troops were watched by a party of Zulus from a hillock on the left. As soon as favourable ground had been reached, Wood was signalled to halt and wait for the main body, and when the junction was effected the order was given to form a large hollow square. Inside this square were two companies of engineers, together with the ammunition-carts, water-carts, and ambulance waggons, carts with intrenching tools, stretchers and bearers, together with two gatling-guns in a reserve. The front face of the square was formed by the 80th Regiment, with two gatling-guns in their centre and two 7-pounders on their right. The right face of the square was formed of seven companies of the 13th Regiment. Next to these came two 7-pounder and one 9-pounder guns; four companies of the 58th completed the line on this side. The rear face was composed of two companies of the 21st, and three companies of the 94th, with a 9-pounder gun. On the left or west flank were three companies of the 94th, two 7-pounder guns, eight companies of the 90th, and two 9-pounders. Buller's cavalry were away, scouring the country on the flanks. Colonel Drury-Lowe, with two squadrons of the 17th Lancers and Captain Shepstone's Basutos, formed the rearguard. The square moved forward for a few miles, when they began to near the smaller kraals. Towards the left front the Zulu columns could now be seen across the plain, with the sun glancing down upon their long lines of white shields. Upon reaching the first kraal the square was halted while it was fired. The next kraal was a very large one, called Unodwingo. This was also fired; but, as it was found that the smoke drifted across the plain so as to act as a screen to the Zulus, Lord Chelmsford ordered its extinction. Strong columns of the enemy could now be seen moving out in good order from Ulundi, and the square halted on some slightly-rising ground. The Zulus soon opened a dropping fire on the right front, and from a strong force operating on some broken ground near Unodwingo on the left. By nine o'clock the Zulu attack was fairly developed. Buller's men then made a strong demonstration on the left, driving the Zulus from the hollow where they were sheltered back to the Unodwingo kraal. This movement was well supported by Shepstone and the Basutos. The Zulus now brought up a strong reinforcement from the right, so as to assist those engaged with the cavalry. Buller's men fought in the Dutch fashion, in two ranks; the first mounted and ready to dash in a moment upon any weak point in the enemy's line, the second on foot, using their saddles as a rest for their rifles. As soon as the front rank became too hardly pressed, they cantered to the rear and dismounted and opened fire, while the second rank mounted in readiness to charge. Gradually Buller and Shepstone fell back, the Zulu column pressing upon them until well within reach of the gatlings and Martinis. The cavalry then took refuge in the square, and over the ridges of the front and left the Zulu column with loud shouts swept down upon the square. The British infantry now opened fire. Gatlings and rifles poured in their deadly hail of fire, while the guns swept the Zulu ranks with shrapnel and grape. Terrible as the fire was, the Zulus pressed bravely forward, filling up the gaps made in their ranks, their wild war-cry rising even above the roll of the rifle-fire. The fiercest attack came from the Unodwingo kraal. Forming under cover of the kraal, a large body, led by a chief on a white horse, and formed in a hollow square, dashed at the right rear angle of the British formation. Tremendous as the fire was, they pressed forward until it seemed as if they would come to close quarters with the column; but, brave as the Zulus were, it was impossible to withstand the fire which the 21st, 94th, 58th, and Royal Engineers poured into them. The square was broken up, and after a moment's pause the Zulus turned and sought shelter from the leaden hail. While the fight was raging here, another Zulu column had attacked the front; but here the assault was speedily repulsed, the cool and steady fire of the 80th having so deadly an effect that the Zulus never attempted to make a rush upon them. It was now a quarter to ten--but a quarter of an hour from the firing of the first shot, but the combat was virtually at an end. The Zulus, astounded at the storm of fire by which they had been received, were everywhere wavering; Lord Chelmsford gave the order, and the two squadrons of lancers burst from the square, greeted with a loud cheer from the infantry, and with their pennons fluttering in the breeze, and their long lances in rest they dashed upon the flying Zulus, and drove them headlong into a little ravine. But flanking this, and hidden by the long grass, half a Zulu regiment had been posted to cover the retreat, and as the squadrons of lancers came on a volley was poured in, which emptied several saddles and killed Lieutenant Wyatt-Edgell, who was leading his men. In another moment the line of lancers dashed down upon the Zulu ranks, and before the level line of lances the enemy went down like grass. Shattered and broken in an instant, the Zulus fought in stubborn knots, stabbing at the horses, throwing themselves on the men, and trying to dismount them. In a _melee_ like this the lance was useless, and the troopers drew their swords and fought hand to hand with the foe; and now a troop of the King's Dragoon Guards and Buller's horse took up the charge, and the flying Zulus were cut down in scores before they could gain the crest of the hill. The Zulus here fought with far less determination than they had exhibited at Kambula. There for four hours they had striven in vain to carry General Wood's strongly-intrenched position; here they made one great effort, and then all was over. Their force was estimated at 23,000, and of these they lost only about 1500, of whom at least one-third were killed in the retreat. The battle over, the remaining kraals were burnt. Most unfortunately, the day after the battle of Ulundi, the news of the arrival of Sir Garnet Wolseley reached the front, and the movements of the army were paralysed by the change of command. Instead therefore of a vigorous pursuit of the enemy, nothing was done, and the army halted until the new commander-in-chief should arrange his plans of action. Lord Chelmsford at once resigned command of his column, and left for England. The two boys had been present at the battle of Ulundi. They had, during the weary weeks which preceded the advance, made the acquaintance of most of the officers of the cavalry, and Colonel Lowe had repeated the permission given them by General Marshall. They had therefore, when on the morning of the fight the column marched out, attached themselves to Shepstone's mounted Basutos, and had fought in the ranks of that corps during the cavalry action which preceded the attack on the square. After the action was over, great quantities of cattle and corn fell into the hands of the troops, and so large a transport-train was no longer necessary. Orders were therefore issued that a certain number of the waggons could take their discharge from the service, and the lads at once applied to be placed on the list of those whose services could be dispensed with. Two days later they started for the rear with a convoy of sick and wounded, and in due time, without further adventure, arrived home, to the great delight of their parents. The victory of Ulundi virtually put an end to the war; a great portion of the troops were sent home; the Zulu chiefs came in and surrendered with their followers, almost to a man. Cetewayo succeeded in concealing himself for some time, but after a long chase he was captured by Major Marter and Lord Gifford, and was sent a prisoner to the Cape. CHAPTER TEN. A TRADING EXPEDITION. After dividing Zululand into districts and appointing a chief to rule over each, General Wolseley marched his force against Secoceni, the chief whose hostile attitude had caused the Boers to accept the protectorate of England. This chief had maintained his defiant attitude, and, relying upon the strength of his hill-stronghold, had kept up an irregular war upon them, aided by the Swazis who came down from the north to assist him. Sir Garnet Wolseley attacked Secoceni's mountain. His men fought bravely, but were altogether unable to resist the attack of the English. The place was carried, his warriors killed or dispersed, and his power altogether broken. As the lads were not present at this affair--being well contented to stay for a while and assist their fathers in the farm--it is not necessary to enter into further details of it. A few months later three teams of waggons drove up to the farm. It was late in the evening, and their owner, who had met Mr Humphreys several times at Newcastle, knocked at the door. "I have made a long march," he said, "to-day, and the oxen are knocked up; so if you will take me in, I will halt here for the night instead of going on. The roads have proved heavier than I had expected, and I have done a very long day's journey." Mr Humphreys at once invited the speaker to enter. Mr Harvey was a trader, one of those who are in the habit of taking long expeditions far into the interior, with his waggons laden with cotton, beads, tower-muskets, powder, lead, and toys prized by the natives, returning laden with ivory, ostrich feathers, and skins. He was now about to start upon such a journey, having stocked his waggons at Durban. After supper was over, the trader told many stories of his adventures among the natives, and the profits which were gained by such journeys. "Generally," he said, "I go with six waggons, but I was very unlucky last time; the tze-tze-fly attacked my animals, most of which died, and the natives took advantage of my position to make an attack upon me. I beat them off, but was finally obliged to pack all my most valuable goods in one waggon, to make my way back with it, and abandon everything else to the natives. Now, Humphreys, why don't you join me? You have got a waggon, and you can buy stores at Newcastle, not of course as cheap as at the seaside, but still cheap enough to leave a large marginal profit on the trip." "I cannot leave the farm," Mr Humphreys said. "Nor can his wife spare him, Mr Harvey," Mrs Humphreys put in. "Well, why don't you send your son, here, with the waggon?" Mr Harvey asked. "The man who generally travels with me as partner broke his leg the other day, down at Durban, and I should be very glad of one or two white companions. Two or three white men together can do anything with the natives, but if there is only one, and he happens to knock up, it goes very hard with him." "Well, I don't know," Mr Humphreys said, as Dick looked eagerly towards him; "it is a sort of thing that wants thinking over." "Oh! father," Dick exclaimed excitedly, "it would be a glorious trip, especially if Tom Jackson would go too. I heard Mr Jackson only yesterday say that his draught-oxen are eating their heads off, and that he must put them on the road to do some freighting. You see, if Mr Jackson did not care about going in for the trading himself--and I know, from what he said the other day, that his money is all employed on the farm--you might hire his waggon for the trip. In fact that and your own--" "That sounds easy and satisfactory enough, Dick," Mr Humphreys said, laughing; "but one does not jump into these things in a moment. There, you go off to bed, and I will talk the matter further over with Mr Harvey." Dick went to bed in high glee. When his father once said that he would talk a thing over, Dick felt that the chances were very strong that he would give in to his wishes. Mr Humphreys was less influenced by the idea of making a good trading speculation than by the consideration that a journey of this kind would not only give great pleasure to his son, but would be of real benefit to him. It was Mr Humphreys' opinion that it is good for a lad to be placed in positions where he learns self-reliance, readiness, and promptness of action. For himself his farm-work occupied all his thoughts, and he needed no distraction; but for a lad change is necessary. Had Dick had--as would have been the case at home--a number of school-fellows and companions of the same age, he would have joined in their games and amusements, and no other change would have been necessary, or indeed desirable; but in the farm in Natal it was altogether different. The work of looking after a number of Kaffirs planting and watering trees was monotonous, and unbroken, as it generally was, by the sight of a strange face from the beginning to the end of the week, it was likely to become irksome to a boy. Occasionally indeed Dick and Tom Jackson would meet and go out on a shooting expedition together; but Tom could seldom be spared, as his father, being shorter-handed than Mr Humphreys, found him of considerable use. Soon after daylight Dick was aroused by his father. "Jump up at once, Dick; I want you to ride over with a letter to Mr Jackson. We have pretty well settled that you shall go with Mr Harvey, and I am writing to make an offer to Mr Jackson for the use of his waggon for six months." Dick gave a shout of delight, and in a very short time had dressed himself, and, having saddled his horse, was dashing at full speed across the veldt. Early as the hour was when he arrived, Mr Jackson was already out in his fields. Dick soon found him, and handed him the letter, and while he was reading it explained in low, excited words to Tom the mission on which he had come. "Well, I don't know," Mr Jackson said, when he had finished the letter; "your father makes me a very liberal offer, Dick, for my waggon and team for six months, on the condition that I allow Tom to accompany them, and he points out that in his opinion a journey of this kind will be likely to develop the boy's character and teach him many things that may some day be of use to him. It comes upon me suddenly, and it seems he wants the waggon and team to be at Newcastle this evening, ready for a start in the morning. He himself is going to ride over there to purchase goods to freight it directly he receives my reply. I must go in and consult with mother before I come to any decided conclusion." So saying he strode off towards the house. Dick, leading his pony, walked after, by the side of Tom, to whom he explained all he knew of the character of the proposed journey. "Mr Harvey says, Tom, that of course he goes to trade, but that at the same time he does a lot of shooting, both for the sake of the skins and for the meat for the men. He says that he often meets with lions, hippopotami, and sometimes elephants--sometimes they meet with hostile natives." Altogether the expedition promised an immense variety of adventure. The boys remained chatting outside the house until Mr Jackson came to the door and called them in. "So you are not contented to stop at home, Dick," Mrs Jackson said, "and you want to take Tom rambling away with you again? Of course I cannot say no, when my husband is inclined to let him go, but I shall be terribly anxious until he is back again." "I won't let him get into any scrapes, Mrs Jackson," Dick said confidently. "I have no faith whatever," Mrs Jackson said, smiling, "in your keeping him out of scrapes, but I do think it possible that you may get him out of them after he is once in them. Do be careful, my boys, for the sakes of your fathers and mothers! I know Mr Harvey has been making these journeys for a good many years and has always got back safely, and I have great faith in his experience and knowledge,--but there, Dick, I must not keep you. Here is my husband with an answer to your father's letter, and as you will have lots to do, and your father will be waiting for this letter before he starts for Newcastle, you had better ride off at once. Good-bye, my boy, for I shan't see you again before you start. I trust that you will come back safe and well." Two minutes later Dick was again galloping across the country, arriving home in time for breakfast. Mrs Humphreys was in better spirits than Dick had feared he should find her; but her health had improved immensely since her arrival in the colony, and she was more active and energetic than Dick ever remembered her to have been. She was able therefore to take a far more cheerful view of the proposed expedition than she could have done the year before, and her husband had had comparatively little difficulty in obtaining her consent to Dick's accompanying Mr Harvey. "Your father thinks that it will be for your good, my boy," she said, "and I have no doubt that you will enjoy yourself greatly,--but be sure to be careful, and don't let your high spirits get you into scrapes;-- remember how valuable your life is to us!" "While you are away, Dick," his father said, "you will remember that you are absolutely under Mr Harvey's orders. As the head of the expedition he stands in the position of the master, and he must receive ready and explicit obedience from all. He is not a man unnecessarily to curb or check you, and you may be sure that he will not restrain you unless for the good of the expedition. You must beware how far you stray from the caravan; the country you are going to is very different from this. Here, go where you will, you are sure in a short time to come upon some farmhouse, where you may get directions as to your way. There, once lost, it is upon yourself alone you must depend to recover the track. The beasts of prey are formidable opponents, and a lion or an elephant wounded, but not killed, could rend you into pieces in a moment; therefore you must be prudent as well as brave, obedient as well as enterprising. You have already shown that you have plenty of presence of mind, as well as of courage, and in nine cases out of ten the former quality is even the more necessary in a country such as that you are now going to. Courage will not avail you when a wounded leopard is charging down upon you, and your rifle is already discharged, but presence of mind may point out some means of escape from the danger. And now, if you have finished breakfast, you had better ride over with me to Newcastle--I have a very large number of goods to buy. Mr Harvey, who went on the first thing, will meet me there and show me the kind of goods most likely to take with the natives; it will be well that you should not only know the price of each article, but that you should see everything packed, so as to know the contents of each bale by its shape and markings--a matter which may save you much trouble when you begin to trade." The shopping did not take up so long a time as Mr Humphreys had anticipated; the large storekeepers all kept precisely the kind of goods required, as they were in the habit of selling to the Boers for barter with the natives. In the afternoon the waggon was sent away, and an hour before daybreak next morning Dick, having bade farewell to his mother, started with Mr Humphreys. Tom and Mr Jackson arrived there a few minutes later, and the work of loading the waggons at once commenced, and was concluded by nine o'clock; then they joined the waggons of Mr Harvey, which were already waiting outside the town. Their fathers rode with them to the ford across the river, and then after a hearty farewell returned to their farms, while the caravan of five waggons crossed into the Transvaal. Each waggon was drawn by sixteen oxen, with a native driver and leader to each. There were three Swazis who had accompanied Mr Harvey on previous expeditions, all good hunters and men who could be relied upon in every emergency. The eldest of these natives was a very tall and muscular man, of some five and forty years of age; the left side of his face, his shoulder, and side were deeply seamed with scars, the relics of a fight with a wounded lioness. He had a very long and difficult name, which had been Anglicised and shortened by Mr Harvey into "Jack." The second of the trio was a man so short as to be almost deformed, a very unusual circumstance among the natives. His head was set low between his shoulders, and his long sinewy arms reached almost to his ankles. Mr Harvey told the lads he was immensely strong, and the expression of his face was quick and intelligent. He was about twenty-four years of age; he had been found by Mr Harvey's father, who had also been a trader, deserted and apparently dying, a baby of only a few months old. Among savage people infants who are in any way deformed are generally deserted and left to perish, and this was the fate evidently intended for the child when the mother became convinced he would not grow up tall and straight, like other men. Mr Harvey had picked it up, fed and cared for it, and it grew up full of a passionate attachment for him, following him everywhere, and ready at any moment to give his life for him. He was called Tony, and spoke English as fluently as the native language. The third of the hunters was a tall, slight figure, a man of about five and thirty, with muscles like whipcord, who could, if it were needed, go for 100 miles without a halt, and tire out the swiftest horse. In addition to these were ten natives, who assisted with the cattle, pitched the tent, cooked and skinned the game, and did other odd jobs. The road was fairly good, and two days after leaving Newcastle they arrived at Standerton, a rising place, inhabited principally by English traders and shopkeepers. Here three roads branched: the one led to Utrecht on the east; another to Pretoria, the capital, to the north-west; while the third, a track much less used than the others, led due north. This was the one followed by the caravan. As they proceeded, the Dutch farmhouses became more sparsely sprinkled over the country, and several large native kraals were passed. Over the wide plains large herds of deer roamed almost, unmolested, and the lads had no difficulty in keeping the caravan well supplied with provisions. One or two of the Kaffirs generally accompanied them, to carry in the game; but Mr Harvey and the three hunters, accustomed to more exciting sport, kept along with the caravan, the former well content that the lads should amuse themselves with furnishing food for the party. At Newcastle Mr Humphreys had purchased a couple of small pocket-compasses, one for each of the boys, and the possession of these gave them great confidence, as, with their guidance, they were always enabled to strike the trail of the caravan. The road had now altogether ceased, and they were travelling across a bare, undulating country, dotted occasionally by herds and flocks of Dutch settlers, and by the herds of wandering deer, but unbroken by a tree of any size, and for the most part covered with tall grass. The deer met with were for the most part antelopes of one or other of three kinds, all of which abound on the higher plains. These are known as the "wilde-beest," the "bless-buck," and the "spring-buck." The venison which these creatures afforded was occasionally varied by the flesh of the "stump-pig," which abounded in considerable numbers, and, as they ran at a great speed, afforded the boys many a good chase. Generally the caravan halted for the night--while they were still in a country occupied here and there by Boers--near one of the farmhouses. It was not that these habitations added to the pleasure of the halting-place, for the Boers were generally gruff and surly, and their dogs annoyed them by their constant barking and growling, but for the most part it was only at these farmhouses that water could be obtained. A small sum was generally charged by the Boers for the privilege of watering the oxen of each waggon. It would seem a churlish action to charge for water, but this fluid is very scarce upon the veldt. There are long periods of drought, of which, in a dry season, thousands of cattle perish; it is therefore only natural that each farmer should hoard his supply jealously, for he cannot tell how great his own need of it may shortly be. The water is for the most part stored in artificial ponds, made by damming up hollows through which the water runs in the wet season. Sometimes, as the caravan made its slow way along, a young Boer would dash up upon his horse, and, reining in, ask a few questions as to their route, and then ride off again. Already the boys had admired the figures and riding of the Boers whom they had seen in action in Zululand, but they were much more struck by their appearance as they saw them now. There are no finer men in the world than the young Boers of the Transvaal; in after-life they often become heavy, but as young men their figures are perfect. Very tall and powerfully built, they sit their horses as if man and animal were one, and are such splendid marksmen that, while riding at full speed, they can, with almost absolute certainty, bring down an antelope at a distance of 150 yards. But the abodes of the Boers, and their manner of living, impressed the boys far less favourably. However extensive the possessions and numerous the herds of a Boer, he lives in the same primitive style as his poorest neighbour. The houses seldom contain more than two, or at most three, rooms. The dress of the farmer, wife, and family is no better than that of labourers; whole families sleep in one room; books are almost unknown in their houses, and they are ignorant and prejudiced to an extreme degree. Upon his horse and his gun the Boer will spend money freely, but for all other purposes he is thrifty and close-fisted in the extreme. Water is regarded as useful for drinking purposes, but its utility for matters of personal cleanliness is generally altogether ignored. Almost all sleep in their clothes, and a shake and a stretch suffice for the morning toilet. The power of a Boer over his sons and daughters is most unlimited, and he is the hardest and cruellest of masters to the unfortunate natives whom he keeps in slavery under the title of indentured apprentices, and whose lives he regards as of no more importance than those of his sheep, and as of infinitely less consequence than those of his horses or even of his dogs. To the unhappy natives the taking over of the Transvaal by England had been a blessing of the highest kind. For the first time the shooting of them in cold blood had come to be considered a crime, and ordinances had been issued against slavery, which, although generally evaded by the Boers, still promised a happy state of things in the future. At the native kraals the travellers were always welcomed when it was known that they were English. The natives looked to Queen Victoria as a sort of guardian angel, and not a thought entered their heads that they would ere long be cruelly and basely abandoned to the mercies of the Dutch by the government of England. Slowly and without incident the caravan made its way north, and at last encamped upon the banks of the great river Limpopo, the northern boundary of the Transvaal. This river was too wide and deep to be forded, but at the spot where they had struck it, there was a large native kraal. Here Mr Harvey, who had many times before followed the same route to this spot, was warmly welcomed, and preparations were made for effecting a crossing. The oxen were first taken across; these were steered by ropes attached to their horns and fastened to a canoe, which paddled ahead of them. The beasts were delighted to enter the water after their long dusty journey, and most of them, after reaching the opposite bank, lay down for a long time in the shallow water at the edge. Most of the stores were carried across in canoes. Inflated skins were then fastened to the waggons, and these also were towed across the stream by canoes. The passage had commenced at early morning, and by nightfall the whole of the caravan and its contents were safely across the stream. "We are now," Mr Harvey said, "in the Matabele country; the natives are for the most part friendly, as they know the advantage they derive from the coming of English traders, but there are portions of the tribe altogether hostile to us, and the greatest caution and care have to be exercised in passing through some portions of the country. To the east lies a land said to be very rich in gold, and there can be little doubt that it is so, for we frequently find natives who have traded with that country in possession of gold-dust, but they allow no white men to pass their frontier on any pretext whatever. They have become aware in some way how great is the value of gold in the eyes of Europeans, and fear that if the wealth of the country in that metal were but known a vast emigration of Europeans would take place, which would assuredly sooner or later end in the driving out or extirpation of the present inhabitants of the land." The news which they had learned at the village where they had crossed, of the state of affairs among the tribes of the north, was not encouraging. The natives said that there had been much fighting. Not only had eruptions taken place with tribes still further north, but the Matabele had also been quarrelling among themselves. "This is bad news indeed," Mr Harvey said; "these tribal wars make journeying very difficult; for, although none of the tribes may be hostile to Europeans at ordinary times, they view them with distrust when coming from a tribe with whom they are at war. In peace-time, too, when each section of the tribe is under some sort of control by the head chief, each will hesitate to rob or attack an European caravan, because the whole would consider themselves aggrieved and injured by such a proceeding. In war-time, on the other hand, each thinks, `If we do not rob this rich caravan some one else is sure to do so; we may as well have the plunder as another.' War is injurious to us in other ways; instead of the tribes spending their time in hunting, they remain at home to guard their villages and women, and we shall find but little ivory and few ostrich feathers gathered to trade for our goods. I had not intended to have encumbered myself with a larger following, but I think, after what I have heard, it will be wise to strengthen our party before going further. I will therefore hire twenty men from the village here to accompany us; they will be useful in hunting, and will cost but little; their wages are nominal, and we shall have no difficulty in providing them with food with our rifles. In one respect they are more useful than men hired from time to time from among the people farther north for the purpose of driving game, for, as you see, many of them carry guns, while beyond the river they are armed only with bows and arrows." "I am surprised to see so many guns." Dick said; "where could these people have got the money to buy them?" "It is the result of a very bad system," Mr Harvey replied. "The Cape authorities, in spite of all the representations which have been made to them, of the extreme danger of allowing the natives to possess firearms, allow their importation and sale to them, simply on account of the revenue which they derive from it, as a duty of a pound is charged on each gun imported into the colony. From all parts of South Africa the natives, Pondos, Basutos, Zulus, and other Kaffirs, go to the diamond-fields and work there for months; when their earnings suffice to enable them to buy a gun, a stock of ammunition, and a blanket, they return to their homes. All these fellows you see carrying guns have served their six or eight months in the diamond-mines; a dozen of them would be a strong reinforcement to our fighting power, in case of an attack." There was no difficulty in engaging the required number of men. Each was to be paid on the conclusion of the journey with a certain quantity of powder and lead, a few yards of cotton, some beads and other cheap trinkets, and was to be fed on the journey. Thus reinforced the Caravan proceeded on its way. CHAPTER ELEVEN. A TROOP OF LIONS. The country across which the waggons now made their way differed somewhat from that over which they had previously passed; it was not so undulating, and the herbage was shorter and more scanty; the soil was for the most part sandy; trees were much more abundant, and sometimes there were thick growths of jungle. Even before leaving the Transvaal they had at night often heard the roar of lions, but these had not approached the camp. "We must look out for lions to-night," Mr Harvey said, when the caravan encamped near a large pool which in the wet season formed part of a river, and was now for the most part dry. "We must laager our waggons, and get as many cattle inside as we can, and must keep the rest close together, with fires in readiness to light in case of an attack." "But surely the lions would never venture to attack so large a party?" Dick said in surprise. "They will indeed," Mr Harvey answered. "These brutes often hunt together, as many as twenty or thirty; they are nothing like such powerful beasts as the North African lions, but they are formidable enough, and the less we see of them the better. But there are numerous prints on the sand near the water, and probably large numbers of them are in the habit of coming to this pool to drink. I expect therefore that we shall have a stirring night." As soon as the oxen were unyoked, they were driven a short distance out to pasture. Five or six of the natives looked after them, while the remainder set to work to gather sticks and dried wood for the fires. "I think," Tom said, "that I will go and have a bathe in the pool." "You will do no such thing," Mr Harvey remarked; "the chances are that there are half a dozen alligators in that pool--it is just the sort of place in which they lurk, for they find no difficulty in occasionally taking a deer or a wild hog, as he comes down to quench his thirst. There! don't you see something projecting above the water on the other side of the pool?" "I see a bit of rough wood, that looks as if it were the top of a log underneath the water." "Well, just watch it," Mr Harvey said, as he took aim with his rifle. He fired; the water instantly heaved and whirled at the spot the boy was watching; the supposed log rose higher out of the water, and then plunged down again; five or six feet of a long tail lashed the water and then disappeared, but the eddies on the surface showed that there was a violent agitation going on underneath it. "What do you think of your log now?" Mr Harvey asked, smiling. "Why, it was an alligator," Tom said. "Who would have thought it?--it looked just like a bit of an old tree." "What you saw," Mr Harvey said, "was a portion of the head; the alligator often lies with just his eyes and nostrils out of water." "Did you kill it, sir, do you think?" Dick asked. "Oh! no," Mr Harvey replied; "the ball would glance off his head, as it would from the side of an ironclad ship. It woke him up, and flustrated him a bit; but he is none the worse for it. So you see, Tom, that pool is hardly fit to bathe in." "No, indeed, sir," Tom answered, turning a little pale at the thought of the danger which he had proposed to incur. "I would rather fight half a dozen lions than get into the water with those brutes." "I don't know about half a dozen lions," Mr Harvey said; "although certainly one lion is an easier foe to tackle than an alligator. But one can never be too careful about bathing in this country. In the smallest pools, only a few yards long and a few feet wide, an alligator may be lurking, especially if the weather is dry and the pools far apart. Even when only drawing water at such places it is well to be careful, and it is always the best plan to poke the bottom for a short distance round with a pole before dipping in a bucket. Remember, if you should ever happen to be seized by one of these animals, there is but one chance, and that is to turn at once and stick your thumbs into his eyes. It requires nerve when a brute has got you by the leg, but it is your only chance, and the natives, when seized by alligators, often escape by blinding their foes. The pain and sudden loss of sight always induces them to loose their hold." "I hope I shall never have to try," Tom said, shivering. "It is safer not, certainly," Mr Harvey agreed; "but there, I see dinner is ready, and Jumbo has got a bucket of water, so you can douse your heads and wash your hands without fear of alligators." At nightfall the cattle were all driven in. The horses and a few of the most valuable oxen were placed in the laager formed by the waggons; the rest were fastened outside to them, side by side, by their horns; at each corner the natives had piled up a great heap of firewood. An hour after sunset the roar of a lion was heard out on the plain; it was answered simultaneously in six or eight directions, and the stamping of the oxen announced that the animals were conscious of danger. "There are a troop of them about," Mr Harvey said, "just as I feared. Put a little more wood on the fires, boys; it is as well to keep them burning briskly, but it will probably be some hours before they work themselves up to make an attack upon us." As the time went on, the roaring became louder and more continuous. "There must be a score of them at least," Mr Harvey said; "they are ranging round and round the camp; they don't like the look of the fires." By ten o'clock the roaring had approached so closely that Mr Harvey thought that it was time to prepare for the defence; he took post at one side of the square, and placed the boys and Jumbo at the other three; Tony and the other hunter were to keep outside the cattle, and walk round and round. The armed natives were scattered round the square. The drivers and cattle-men were to move about among the animals, and do their best to pacify them, for already a perfect panic had seized upon the draught-cattle, and with starting eyes and coats ruffled by fear they were tugging and straining at their ropes. "Quiet, you silly beasts," Dick said, leaning out of the waggon in which he had taken his place; "you are safer where you are than you would be anywhere else. If you got away and bolted out into the plain, as you want to do, you would be pulled down and killed in no time." The fires were now blazing brightly, throwing a wide circle of light round the camp and making visible every object within fifty yards. It had been arranged that so long as the lions kept at a distance and only approached singly the defenders of the various faces of the square should retain their positions; but that, should a formidable attack be made upon any one side, the white men with two of the natives with them should hasten to the point attacked. Several times, as Dick stood in the waggon, rifle in hand, straining his eyes at the darkness, he fancied he saw indistinct shadowy forms moving at the edge of the circle of light. Two or three times he raised his rifle to take aim, but the objects were so indistinct that he doubted whether his fancy had not deceived him. Presently the crack of Mr Harvey's rifle was heard, followed by a roar of a sharper and more angry nature than those which had preceded it. As if a signal had been given, three or four creatures came with great bounds out of the darkness towards the side where Dick was posted. Taking a steady aim, he fired. Tony, who was outside with the cattle on that side of the square, did the same. The other natives had been ordered to retain their fire until the lions were close enough to ensure each shot telling. The lion at which Dick had aimed paused for a moment with a terrific roar, and then bounded forward again. When he came within twenty yards of the oxen, the four natives posted by Dick's side fired. The lion for a moment fell; then, gathering itself together, it sprang on to the back of a bullock, just in front of where Dick was standing. The lad had a second rifle in readiness, and leaning forward he placed the muzzle within two yards of the lion's head and fired. The animal rolled off the back of the bullock, who, with the one standing next to him, at once began to kick at it endeavouring to get their heads round to gore it with their horns. The lion, however, lay unmoved; Dick's last shot had been fatal. The other lions on this side had bounded back into the darkness. From the other sides of the square the sound of firing proclaimed that similar attacks had been made; but, as there was no summons for aid, Dick supposed that the attacks were isolated ones, and so, after recharging his rifles, he remained quietly at his post. For some hours the attack was not renewed, though the continuous roaring showed that the lions were still close at hand. Mr Harvey went round and advised the boys to lie down at their posts and get a little sleep, as the natives would keep watch. "I don't think we have done with them yet," he said; "we have killed three, but I think, by the roaring, the number has considerably increased within the last hour. It is probable that an attack will be made an hour or so before daybreak, and I expect it will be in earnest next time." Dick accordingly lay down to sleep, but he was too excited to close his eyes. After a long time it seemed to him that the roaring was dying away, and a drowsiness was stealing over him, when suddenly Mr Harvey's rifle was heard, and he shouted,-- "To this side--quick! they are upon us." Dick, Tom, and Jumbo, with the six natives, leapt from the waggons, and, running across the little enclosure, scrambled up into those on the other side. There was a momentary silence here, the whole of the defendants having discharged their pieces, and a number of lions bounding across the open were already close to the cattle. The new-comers at once opened fire. Two or three of the lions sprang among the cattle; but the rest, intimidated by the noise and flash of the guns, and by the yelling and shouting of the natives, turned and made off again. Those among the cattle were soon disposed of, but not before they had killed three of the draught-oxen and seriously torn two others. The roaring continued until daybreak, gradually, however, growing fainter and more distant, and it was evident that the attack had ceased. "Are their skins worth anything?" Dick asked. "Yes, they are worth a few dollars apiece, except in the case of old lions, who are apt to become mangy, and these are not worth skinning. We have killed eight of them, but their skins will not be worth anything like so much as the cattle they have killed; however, it is well that it is no worse. An attack by these troops of lions is no joke; they are by far the most formidable animals of South Africa I don't say that an attack by a herd of wild elephants would not be more serious, but I never heard of such a thing taking place. They are timid creatures, and easily scared, and except in the case of wounded animals or of solitary bulls they can scarcely be considered as dangerous." When day broke, the natives set to work to skin the lions, with the exception of one whose skin was valueless. As soon as the operation was completed, the skins were packed in the waggons, the oxen were inspanned, and the caravan proceeded on its way, all being glad to leave so dangerous a locality. The next evening they encamped upon a river, and the night passed without interruption. The following morning, just as they were about to start, Tony, who with the other hunters had gone out at daybreak, returned with the news that he had found the spoor of elephants, and that he believed a herd had passed along only a few hours before. Mr Harvey at once decided to halt where he was for another day. The oxen were again unyoked, and six of the armed natives having been left to guard the camp, under the direction of Jumbo, the whole of the rest, with the white men, set off in pursuit of the elephants. The spoor was quite distinct, and even had this failed, there would have been no difficulty in following the track, for there were scattered here and there trees, and the elephants in passing had broken off many boughs, which, stripped of their leaves, lay upon the ground they had traversed. Tony and the other hunter, whose name was Blacking, a sobriquet gained from the extreme swarthiness of his skin, scouted ahead, and presently held up their hands to those following them to advance quietly. The trees were very thick here, and Mr Harvey and the boys dismounted and led their horses to the spot where the hunters had halted. They were standing at the edge of a large circular clearing, three quarters of a mile in diameter; it had probably at one time been the site of a native village, for there were signs of cultivation, and a number of scattered heads of maize rose here and there, the descendants of a bygone mealy plantation. Feeding upon these were a herd of some twenty elephants; of these the greater portion were females or young ones, but there were three fine males--one, a beast of unusual size. "That is the master of the herd," Mr Harvey said, "a savage-looking old customer; he has a splendid pair of tusks, although the tip of one," he added, gazing at the elephant through his field-glass, "is broken off. I think that for the present we will leave him alone, and direct our attention to the other two males. I will take Tom and Jumbo with me; you, Dick, shall have Tony and Blacking. Three of the natives shall go with each party, but you must not rely upon them much; and, remember, the one fatal spot is the forehead. Fasten your horses up here, and leave two of the natives in charge. Let the other six go round to the opposite side of the clearing and advance slowly from that direction, showing themselves occasionally, so as to draw the attention of the herd towards them. The elephants will probably move leisurely in this direction. Take your station behind trees, moving your position carefully as they approach, so as to place yourselves as near as possible in the line of the elephant you have fixed on. We will take up our station a hundred yards to the right of where we are standing; do you go as far to the left. The natives will take the horses into a thicket some distance in the rear. Whichever of the two young male elephants comes nearest to you is your mark, ours is the other. If they keep near each other, we shall probably meet again here." The two parties moved off to the places assigned to them, and the natives whose duty it was to drive the elephants started to their positions. Keeping some little distance back among the trees, so that they could observe the movements of the elephants, while themselves unseen, Dick and his party moved to the spot indicated, and then sat down. For three quarters of an hour the elephants continued to feed upon the heads of maize; then the big male suddenly wheeled round, extended his great ears, lifted his trunk, and trumpeted. At this signal the others all gathered together, and stood gazing in the direction from which danger threatened. Again the old bull gave an angry scream. The others moved slowly away from the danger, but he advanced in the direction in which he had seen the natives. "Very bad elephant that," Tony whispered to Dick; "he give heaps of trouble; you see him charge." A minute or two later the elephant, catching sight of his enemies, quickened his pace, and with his little tail switching angrily, uplifted trunk, and widespread ears, he charged down upon them at a pace of which Dick had not supposed so cumbersome a beast would be capable. In a moment the distant natives were seen to rise from the grass and to run at full speed back towards the wood. The elephant pursued them until he reached the trees; here he halted, and gazed for some time into the wood. Then seeing no signs of the natives--for these knew better than to provoke so vicious a beast by firing at him--he trumpeted defiantly, and slowly retraced his steps towards the rest of the herd. These, led by the two males, were already approaching the trees behind which Dick and his party were lying concealed. Before they had arrived there Mr Harvey and his party came up. Dick and Tom were both carrying heavy smooth-bore guns, similar to those used by the Boers. These their fathers had purchased at Newcastle on the day of their start; they were old weapons, but very strong and serviceable; they carried a heavy charge of powder and a large ball, of a mixture of lead and tin, specially made for elephant-shooting. "Dick fire first," Blacking whispered in his ear; "if he not kill him, then the rest of us fire." Dick was lying down behind the trunk of a tree, his rifle steadied against it; when the elephant was within a distance of twenty yards he fired, taking steady aim at the vital point. The recoil of the piece was tremendous, and the roar of its report almost stunned him; he gave, however, a shout of delight, for the elephant stood for half a minute swaying from side to side, and then fell heavily upon the ground. Mr Harvey had given Tom the first shot at the other elephant; but, just at the moment when the lad was about to fire, the elephant gave a sudden start at the report of Dick's rifle, and Tom's shot struck it at the side of the head and glancing off passed through its ear. Throwing up its trunk, the elephant instantly charged. Mr Harvey fired, but the uplifted trunk prevented his getting an accurate aim at the vital spot. The bullet passed through the trunk, and then glanced off the forehead. The elephant swerved and showed its side, at which a general volley was fired by all the guns still loaded. The great beast stood still for an instant, stumbled forward a few strides, and then its legs seemed to bend beneath it, and it sank down quietly to the ground. Just at this moment, as the affrighted cows were turning to fly across the plain, there was a thundering rush, and the great elephant charged through them, and passing between the dead males dashed into the wood. Its rush was so sudden and headlong that it carried the elephant past the men standing behind the trees; but it speedily checked itself, and turning round made a rush upon them. There was an instant stampede. Most of the natives at once threw away their guns; some climbed hastily up into the trees against which they were standing; others took to the bushes. The elephant charged in after these, but seeing no signs of them he speedily came out again and looked round for a fresh foe. His eye fell upon Dick, who had just recharged his rifle. "Run, Dick! run!" shouted Mr Harvey. But Dick saw that the elephant was upon him, while the tree near which he was standing was too thick to climb. The elephant was holding his head so high that Dick could not aim at the spot on the forehead, but, waiting until the animal was within ten yards of him, he fired into its open mouth, and then leapt behind the tree. With a scream of pain the elephant rushed on, but being unable to check himself he came full butt with tremendous force against the tree, which quivered under the blow, and Dick, thinking that it was going to fall upon him, sprang back a pace. Three or four more shots were fired before the elephant could turn, and then wheeling round it charged upon its new assailants. Tom was one of those nearest to him; the boy had just discharged his rifle and advanced a few feet from the tree behind which he had been standing. Before he could regain it he felt something pass round him, there was a tremendous squeeze, which stopped his breath and seemed to press his life out of him, then he felt himself flying high into the air, and became insensible. Apparently satisfied with what he had done, the elephant continued his rapid pace into the open again, and followed the retreating herd across the plain. Dick had given a cry of horror, as he saw the elephant seize his friend, and his heart seemed to stand still when he saw him whirled high in the air. Tom fell into a thick and bushy tree, and there, breaking through the light foliage at the top, remained suspended in the upper boughs. In an instant Jumbo climbed the tree, and making his way to the lad lifted him from the fork in which he was wedged, placed him on his shoulder as easily as if he had been a child, and descending the tree laid him on the ground by the side of Mr Harvey. The latter at once knelt beside him. "Thank God, he is breathing!" he exclaimed at once. "Lift his head, Dick; open his shirt, Blacking; and give me some water out of your gourd. I trust he is only stunned; that brute was in such a hurry that he had not time to squeeze him fairly, and the tree has broken his fall. If he had come down to the ground from that height, it must have killed him." He sprinkled some water upon the lad's face and chest, and to his and Dick's delight Tom presently opened his eyes. He looked round in a surprised and half-stupid way, and then made an effort to rise, but a cry broke from him as he did so. "Lie still, Tom," Mr Harvey said; "you are hurt, but, I hope, not severely. Cut his shirt off, Dick; I expect some of his ribs are broken." Upon Mr Harvey carefully feeling Tom's ribs, he found, as he had expected, that five of them were broken--three on one side and two on the other. "Some of your ribs are damaged, Tom," he said cheerfully; "but that is of no great consequence; they all seem pretty fairly in their places. Now I will bandage you tightly, so as to keep them there, and then we will carry you back to the waggons and nurse you until they grow together again; young bones soon heal, and in a week or ten days you will, I hope, be able to travel again; you had a close shave of it. I never met a more savage beast than that bull-elephant in all my experience." CHAPTER TWELVE. AN ATTACK BY ELEPHANTS. A litter was speedily constructed from some boughs of trees, and Tom being placed in it was at once carried back to the camp, escorted by his friend. The hunters remained behind to cut out the tusks of the two elephants that had fallen. A portion of the trunks and feet, which are considered the most delicate portions of the elephant, was laid aside for the use of the white men, and a large quantity of meat was brought back to camp for the natives. The sound of firing had brought up some people from a small village two or three miles away, and these to their immense joy were allowed to carry off enough meat to enable them to feast to the utmost extent of their ability for a week to come. Mr Harvey had in the course of his wanderings frequently had occasion to dress wounds and bandage broken bones; he was therefore able to apply the necessary bandages to Tom, and the lad was soon lying in comparative ease on a bed formed of rags. Generally the boys slept in hammocks, but Mr Harvey insisted that Tom must lie perfectly straight on his back until the bones had begun to set again. "We made a sad mess with that old bull to-day, Dick," he said. "It is humiliating to think that he should have charged us all, injured Tom, and got away almost unscathed." "You see, sir," Dick said, "he attacked us unexpectedly; our guns were all discharged, and he came on with such a rush that there was no getting a steady shot at him. The whole affair lasted little more than a minute, I should say." "I shall go out to-morrow morning," Mr Harvey said, "and take up the track again, and see if I cannot get even with the beast. There is time enough to-day, for it is still early, but the herd will be so restless and suspicious that there will be no getting near them, and I should not care to face that old bull unless I had a fair chance of killing him at the first shot. He has a magnificent pair of tusks, and ivory sells so high that they would be worth a good deal of trouble and some risk to get." "Shall I go with you, sir?" "No, Dick, I would rather you did not. The business will be more dangerous than usual, and I should not like the responsibility of having you with me. Tom had as narrow a shave yesterday as ever I saw, and I certainly do not want two of you on my hands." Dick was not sorry at Mr Harvey's decision, for after the charge of the bull-elephant he felt just at present he should not care about encountering another. The next morning Mr Harvey, accompanied by the three native hunters and the greater portion of the others, started in pursuit of the elephants. Dick, after sitting for some time with Tom, took his gun and wandered round near the camp, shooting birds. As the sun got high, and the heat became fiercer and fiercer, he returned to camp, and had just taken off his coat and sat down by the side of Tom when he heard shouts of terror outside the tent. Running out to see what was the matter, he saw the natives in a state of wild terror. They pointed across the plain, and Dick, to his astonishment and alarm, saw a great elephant approaching at a rapid trot, with his trunk in the air and his ears extended to the fullest. He recognised at once the bull which had charged them on the previous day. The natives were now flying in all directions. Dick shouted to them to stand and get their muskets, but his words were unheeded; he ran to the tent, seized the long-bore gun which he had carried the day before and also that of Tom, and charged them both hastily, but coolly. "What on earth is it all about?" Tom asked. "It is the elephant again, Tom; lie quiet, whatever you do; you cannot run away, so lie just as you are." Then with a gun in each hand Dick ran out of the tent again. The elephant was now but a hundred yards away. Dick climbed into a waggon standing in the line on which he was coming, knelt down in the bottom and rested the muzzle on the side, standing up and waving his arm before he did so, so as to attract the attention of the elephant. The great beast saw him, and trumpeting loudly came straight down at him; Dick knelt, as steady as a rock, with the sight of the gun upon the elephant's forehead. When he was within twenty yards Dick drew the trigger, and, without waiting to see the result, snatched up and levelled the second gun. The elephant had staggered as he was hit, and then, as with a great effort, he pulled himself together and again moved forward, but with a stumbling and hesitating step; taking steady aim again, Dick fired when the elephant's trunk was within a yard of the muzzle of his gun, and then springing to his feet, leapt on the opposite side of the waggon and took to his heels. After running a few steps, he glanced back over his shoulder, and then ceased running; the elephant was no longer in sight above the waggon, but had fallen an inert mass by its side. "All right, Tom!" Dick shouted loudly; "I have done for him." Before going to look at the fallen elephant Dick went to the spot where stood the piled muskets of the natives who had fled; dropping a ramrod into them, he found that two were loaded, and taking these in his hands he advanced towards the elephant. The precaution was needless; the great beast lay dead; the two heavy balls had struck within an inch or two of each other, and penetrated the brain. The first would have been fatal, and the elephant was about to fall when Dick had fired the second time. Gradually the drivers and other natives returned to camp with shouts of triumph. These, however, Dick speedily silenced by a volley of abuse for their cowardice in running away and leaving Tom to his fate. A few minutes later Mr Harvey galloped in at full speed, closely followed by the swift footed Blacking. "Thank God, you are safe, my boys," Mr Harvey said, as he leapt from his horse. "I have had a terrible fright. We followed the spoor to the point where they had passed the night; here the trackers were much puzzled by the fact that the great elephant, whose tracks were easily distinguished from the others, seemed to have passed the night in rushing furiously about. Numbers of young trees had been torn up by the roots, and great branches twisted off the larger trees. They concluded that he must have received some wound which had maddened him with pain. We took up the track where the herd had moved on, but soon found that he had separated himself from it, and had gone off at full speed by himself. We set off in pursuit, observing a good deal of caution, for if he had turned, as was likely enough, and had come upon us while in such a frantic state, we should have had to bolt for our lives. I was thinking only of this when I saw the hunters talking together and gesticulating. I soon found out what was the matter. They told me that if the elephant kept on in the line he was taking, it would assuredly bring him in sight of the camp, if not straight upon it. As I had no doubt that he would in that case attack it, I put spurs to my horse at once, and dashed on at full speed in hopes of overtaking the elephant, and turning it, before it came within sight of the camp. I became more and more anxious as I neared the camp and found the elephant was still before me; then I heard two shots close together, and I could hear no others, and you may guess how relieved I was when I caught sight of the camp, and saw the natives gathered round something which was, I had no doubt, the elephant. I had feared that I should see the whole place in confusion, the waggons upset, and above all the tent levelled. Thank God, my dear boy, you are all safe! Now tell me all about it." Dick related the circumstances, and Mr Harvey praised him highly for the promptness, coolness, and courage with which he had acted. Then he roundly abused the natives in their own language for their cowardly conduct. "Are you not ashamed of yourselves?" he asked; "what do you carry your arms for, if you are afraid to use them? Here are sixteen men, all with muskets, who run away in a panic, and leave one white lad to defend his wounded friend alone." The reproaches of Mr Harvey were mild by the side of the abuse which the three hunters--for by this time Tony and Jumbo had reached the camp--lavished upon their compatriots. "What are you good for?" they asked scornfully; "you are fit only to be slaves to the Dutch; the master had better hire women to march with him; he ought to take your arms away, and to set you to spin." Crestfallen as the natives were at their own cowardice, they were roused by the abuse of the hunters, and a furious quarrel would have ensued, had not Mr Harvey interposed his authority and smoothed matters down, admitting that the attack of the enraged elephant was really terrifying, and telling the natives that now they saw how well the white men could fight, they would no doubt be ready to stand by them next time. The hunters now proceeded to cut out the tusks of the elephant. When they did so the cause of the animal's singular behaviour became manifest; a ball had struck him just at the root of the tusk, and had buried itself in one of the nerves there, no doubt causing excruciating pain. The tusks were grand ones, Mr Harvey saying that he had seldom seen a finer pair. The news of the slaughter of three elephants drew together a considerable number of natives, who were delighted to receive permission to carry off as much meat as they chose. When the greater portion of the flesh of the old bull had been removed, ten oxen were harnessed to the remains of the carcass, and it was dragged to a distance from camp, as Mr Harvey was desirous of remaining where he was for some days longer on Tom's account, and the effluvia from the carcass would in a very short time have rendered the camp uninhabitable had it remained in the vicinity. In a week Tom was convalescent; he was still, however, very stiff and sore. A hammock was therefore slung under the tilt of one of the waggons, the sides were drawn up to allow of a free passage of air, and the caravan then went forward on its journey. For the next fortnight nothing of importance happened; sometimes the journeys were short, sometimes extremely long, being regulated entirely by the occurrence of water. At many of the halting-places a good deal of trade was done, as the news of the coming of the caravan spread far ahead of it, and the natives for a considerable distance on each side of the line of route came down to trade with it. They brought with them skins of beasts and birds, small packets of gold-dust, ostrich feathers, and occasionally ivory. Mr Harvey was well content with his success so far. For some time past, owing to the disturbed state of the country and the demand for waggons occasioned by the war, the number of traders who had made their way north had been very small, and the natives consequently were eager to buy cotton and cloth, and to get rid of the articles which they had been accumulating for the purpose of barter with the whites. Never before, Mr Harvey said, had he done so good a trade in so short a time. At the end of the fortnight after starting Tom was again able to take his seat in the saddle and ride quietly along by the side of the caravan, Mr Harvey warning him on no account to go above a walking pace at present, as a jerk or a jar might break the newly-knit bones, and undo all the work that had been effected. In the meantime Dick, accompanied by one or other of the hunters, always rode out from the line of march, and had no difficulty in providing an ample supply of game. He was careful, however, not to shoot more than was required, for both he and Mr Harvey viewed with abhorrence the taking of life unnecessarily, merely for the purpose of sport. He was able, nevertheless, to kill a great many deer without feeling that their flesh was wasted; for not only were the number of mouths in the caravan large, and their powers of eating wonderful, but the natives who came in to trade were always glad to eat up any surplus that remained--and indeed Mr Harvey found the liberal distribution of meat opened their hearts and much facilitated trade. Two or three days after they had left the scene of the elephant-hunt some objects were seen far out on the plain, which the hunters at once pronounced to be ostriches. Dick would have started in pursuit, but Mr Harvey checked him. "They can run," he said, "faster than a horse can gallop. They can indeed be ridden down, as they almost always run in a great circle, and the pursuit can be taken up with fresh horses, but this is a long business. We will send the hunters out first, to get on the other side of them, and when they are posted we will ride out. Going quite slowly the attention of the birds will be directed to us; this will give the hunters an opportunity of creeping up on the other side and shooting or lassoing them. If I am not mistaken they have a good many young ones with them--this is about the time of year when this is usually the case. If we could catch a dozen of them, they would be prizes, for they fetch a good sum down in the colony, where ostrich-farming is carried on on a large scale. They are very easily tamed, and would soon keep with the caravan and give no trouble." After remaining quiet for some little time, to give the hunters time to make a wide circuit, Mr Harvey and Dick rode quietly forward towards the birds, who stood on a slight swell of ground at a distance of about half a mile, evidently watching the caravan with great interest. By Mr Harvey's instructions Dick unrolled the blanket which he always carried on his saddle, and taking an end in each hand held it out at arm's length on a level with the top of his head. Mr Harvey doing the same. "They are silly birds," Mr Harvey said, "and their attention is easily caught by anything they don't understand. Like all other wild creatures they are afraid of man; but by holding the blankets out like sails they do not see our outline, and cannot make out what the strange creatures advancing towards them can be." At a foot-pace they advanced towards the ostriches; these made no signs of retreat until the horsemen approached to within about seventy yards. Then from the brow behind the birds the three hunters suddenly rose up, and whirling the balls of their lassoes round their heads launched them among the ostriches. Three birds fell with the cords twisted round their legs, and two more were shot as the startled flock dashed off at full speed across the plain. Mr Harvey and Dick dropped their blankets, and started at full gallop. "Bring down an old bird if you can, Dick, and then let the rest go, and give your attention to cutting off the young ones." Dick fired at one of the old birds, but missed; Mr Harvey brought one to the ground. The young ostriches, which were but a few weeks old, soon began to tail off in the race, and after ten minutes' riding Mr Harvey and Dick had the satisfaction of getting ahead of them and turning them. A little more driving brought the frightened creatures to a standstill, and most of them dropped in a squatting position to the ground, huddled together like frightened chickens. They were sixteen in number, but one which had fallen and broken its leg was at once shot. The legs of the young ostrich are extremely brittle, and one of the troubles of the farmers who rear them is that they so frequently break their bones and have to be killed. Blacking was sent off at his best speed to overtake the caravan and bring back a dozen men with him. The ostriches which had been lassoed had been at once killed by the hunters, and the feathers of the five killed by them and of that shot by Mr Harvey were pulled out. Three out of the six were in splendid plumage. "How much are each of those feathers worth?" Dick asked. "Those fine white ones will fetch from 1 pound to 1 pound 5 shillings apiece out here--some as high as 30 shillings. A perfect ostrich feather, fit for a court-plume, will sell in England for 3 pounds to 5 pounds. The small, dark-coloured feathers are worth from sixpence to one shilling apiece." The young birds, after their wings had been tied to their sides, were lifted and carried away, Dick being unable to help laughing at their long legs sticking out in front of the bearers, and at their long necks and beaks, with which from time to time they inflicted sharp pecks on the men who were carrying them. When the caravan was overtaken, the birds were placed in a waggon, and in the evening were liberated inside the laager formed by the waggons. Some grain was thrown to them, and they soon began to pick this up. After this their expression was rather one of curiosity than fear, and they exhibited no alarm whatever when Dick, scattering some more corn, came in and moved quietly among them. For the first few days they were carried in a waggon, but at the end of that time they were completely domesticated. After the camp was formed they walked about, like barn-door fowls, picking up any scraps of food that were thrown to them, and indeed getting so bold as sometimes to attempt to snatch it from the men's hands. When on the march, they stalked gravely along by the side of the waggons. "What is the value of an ostrich?" Dick asked Mr Harvey one day. "An ostrich of about three or four months old," Mr Harvey replied, "is worth from 30 pounds to 50 pounds. A full-grown cock and two hens, the stock with which most small settlers begin ostrich-farming, are worth from 200 pounds to pounds. Each hen will lay about fifty eggs in a year, so that if only half are reared and sold at the rate of 20 pounds apiece, which is a low price, at three weeks old, there is a good profit upon them. The young birds increase in value at the rate of about 3 pounds per month. The feathers are generally sold by weight; fine plumes go from seventy to ninety to the pound, and fetch from 40 to 50 pounds. The feathers of the wild birds are worth a third more than those of the tame ones, as they are stronger. The quantity of feathers sold is astonishing. One firm in Port Elizabeth often buys 10,000 pounds' weight of ostrich feathers per week. Of course these are not all first-class plumes, and the prices range down as low as 3 pounds, or 50 shillings for the poorest kind." "Where do they get water out here in the desert?" "They have no difficulty here," Mr Harvey replied, "for an ostrich thinks nothing of going twenty or thirty miles; but they require to drink very seldom." "How many feathers can be plucked from each bird a year?" "About three quarters of a pound of first-class feathers, besides the inferior sorts. There are now such quantities of ostriches in the colony, that the price of feathers has gone down materially, and is now not so high as the figures I have given you. The highest class feathers, however, still maintain their price, and are likely to do so, for the demand for feathers in Europe increases at as rapid a rate as does the production." "I suppose they could not be kept in England?" Dick asked; "for there must be a splendid profit on such farming." "No," Mr Harvey replied; "they want above all things a dry climate. Warmth is of course important, but even this is less essential than dryness. They may be reared in England under artificial conditions, but they would never grow up strong and healthy in this way, and would no doubt be liable to disease--besides, as even in their native country you see that the feathers deteriorate in strength and diminish in value in domesticated birds, there would probably be so great a falling off in the yield and value of feathers in birds kept under artificial conditions in England that the speculation would not be likely to pay." "Do the hens sit on their eggs, as ordinary hens?" "Just the same," Mr Harvey answered, "and very funny they look with their long legs sticking out. Not only does the hen sit, but the cock takes his turn at keeping the eggs warm when the mother goes out to feed." "I shall ask father," Dick said, "when we get back, to arrange to take these fifteen ostriches as part of his share of the venture; it would be great fun to see them stalking about." "Ah! we have not got them home yet," Mr Harvey replied, smiling; "we must not be too sanguine. We have certainly begun capitally, but there is no saying what adventures are before us yet. We have been particularly fortunate in seeing nothing of the tzetze fly. As you know, we have made several considerable detours to avoid tracts of country where they are known to prevail, still, occasionally they are met with in unexpected places, and I have seldom made a trip without losing some of my horses and cattle from them." "How is it that a fly can kill a horse? They are not larger than our blue-bottles at home, for I saw one in a naturalist's window in Pieter-Maritzburg." "It is a mystery, Dick, which has not yet been solved; there are flies in other parts of the world, whose bite is sufficiently poisonous to raise bumps underneath the skins of animals, but nothing approaching the tzetze in virulence. It certainly appears unaccountable that the venom of so small a creature should be able to kill a great animal like a horse or an ox." "Is it found only in the south of Africa?" "No, Dick, it extends more or less over the whole of the plateau-lands of Africa, and is almost as great a scourge in the highlands of Egypt as it is here." "I wonder," Dick said thoughtfully, "why the tzetze was created; most insects are useful as scavengers, or to furnish food for birds, but I cannot see the use of a fly which is so terribly destructive as this." "I can't tell you, my boy," Mr Harvey said. "That everything, even the tzetze has a good purpose, you may be sure, even though it is hidden from us. Possibly, for example, it may be discovered some day that the tzetze is an invaluable medicine for some disease to which man is subject, just as blistering powder is obtained from the crest-body of the cantharides beetle. However, we must be content to take it on trust. We must leave our descendants something to discover, you know, Dick; for if we go on inventing and discovering as we are doing, it is clear that they must look out for fresh channels for research." CHAPTER THIRTEEN. A BRUSH WITH THE NATIVES. One day Jumbo touched Dick's arm, as he was riding along with the caravan, and, pointing to a clump of trees at some little distance, said,-- "Giraffe." Dick reined in his horse, and gazed at the trees. "I don't see it," he said. "They are very difficult to see," Mr Harvey remarked; "they have a knack somehow of standing so as to look like a part of the tree. I don't see him myself, but if Jumbo says he is there, you may be sure he is." "Is the skin valuable?" Dick asked. "No, Dick, it would not be worth cumbering ourselves with. Nor is the flesh very good to eat--I do not say it cannot be eaten, but we have plenty of venison. I never like shooting a giraffe when I can help it. Clumsy and awkward as they are, they have wonderfully soft and expressive eyes, and I do not know anything more piteous than the look of a dying giraffe; however, if you ride up to the trees and set them scampering, you will get a good laugh, for their run is as awkward and clumsy as that of any living creature." Dick accordingly started at a gallop towards the trees; it was not until he was close to them that he saw three giraffes, two old ones and a young one. They started off, as he approached, at a pace which seemed to Dick to be slow, as well as extraordinarily clumsy. The two old ones kept themselves between their offspring and the pursuer, as if to shield it from a shot. Dick, however, had no idea of firing; he only wished to gallop up close, so as to get a nearer view of these singular beasts, but to his astonishment he found that, although his horse was going at its best speed, the apparently slow-moving giraffes were steadily gaining upon him. He could hardly at first believe his eyes. But he was gradually tailed off, and at last, reining in his horse, he sat in the saddle and enjoyed a good laugh at the strange trio in front of him, with their long, straggling legs and necks. When he rejoined the caravan Mr Harvey, who had watched the pursuit, asked him laughingly if he managed to catch the giraffe. "I might as soon have tried to catch an express train; they went right away from me,--and Tommy can gallop too; but he hadn't a chance with them, although he did his best." "They do move along at a tremendous pace in their clumsy fashion. They take such immense strides with those odd long legs of theirs, that one has no idea of their speed until one chases them. I never knew a new hand who tried it, but he was sure to come back with a crestfallen face." Three weeks after leaving what they called the elephant-camp the caravan halted for two days. They had now arrived at the spot where their troubles with the natives might be expected to begin; they were at the border of the Matabele country, and here Mr Harvey intended to turn west, and after keeping along for some time to bend to the south and re-enter the colony north of Kimberley, and to journey down to Port Elizabeth, which is the principal mart for goods from the interior. Between the Matabele and the tribes on their border hostilities had for some time prevailed, and while they halted Mr Harvey sent forward Blacking with a few presents to the chief of the next tribe, saying that he was coming through his country to trade, and asking for a promise that he should not be interfered with in his passage. At the end of the second day the messenger returned. "The chief says come; he says he has been a long time without trade. But before he answered he talked with his chiefs, and I don't know whether he means honestly. The tribe has a bad name; they are thieves and robbers." "Well, we will go on," Mr Harvey said, "nevertheless; we have got the chief's word, and he will not after that venture to attack us openly, for if he did he knows very well that no more traders would visit his country. His people may make attacks upon us, but we are strong enough to hold our own. We muster about thirty guns, and in our laager would be able to beat off his whole tribe, did they attack us; we will, however, while travelling through his country, be more careful than hitherto. The waggons shall, when it is possible, travel two abreast, so that the line will not be so long to guard, and you must not wander away to shoot. Fortunately we have a store of dried meat, which will last us for some time." On the following morning the caravans set out, and after travelling twelve miles halted on the bank of a stream. Soon after they had formed their camp five or six natives came in; they brought a few bunches of ostrich plumes and some otter skins; these they bartered for cotton, and having concluded their bargains wandered about in the camp, as was the custom of the natives, peeping into the waggons, examining the bullocks, and looking at all the arrangements with childish curiosity. "I expect these fellows have come as spies rather than traders," Mr Harvey said to the lads. "As a general thing the natives come in with their wives and children; but, you see, these are all men. I observed too that they have particularly examined the pile of muskets, as if reckoning up our means of defence. In future, instead of merely a couple of men to look after the cattle and keep off any marauders, I will put six every night on guard; they shall be relieved twice during the night, and one of the hunters shall be in charge of each watch,--if there are signs of trouble, we will ourselves take it by turns." Two or three times that night the sentries perceived moving objects near the camp, and challenged; in each case the objects at once disappeared; whether they were hyenas or crawling men could not be discerned. At the halt next day a much larger number of natives came in, and a satisfactory amount of trade was done. Their demeanour, however, was insolent and overbearing, and some of them went away with their goods, declining to accept the exchange offered. After they had left the camp several small articles were missed. The next day they passed across a plain abounding in game, and Mr Harvey said that the boys and the three hunters might go out and kill some fresh meat; but he warned Dick and Tom not to allow their ardour in the chase to carry them away from the hunters, but to keep as much as possible together. When they had killed as many animals as could be carried on their horses and the hunters' shoulders, they were to return at once. It was the first time that Tom had been out hunting since his accident; his bones had all set well, and beyond a little stiffness and occasional pain he was quite himself again. "I am glad to be riding out again with you, Dick," he said; "it has been awfully slow work jogging along by the side of the caravan." In addition to the three hunters they took as usual a native with them, to hold the horses should it be necessary to dismount and stalk the game, instead of chasing it and shooting it from the saddles, an exercise in which by this time the boys were efficient. They found more difficulty in getting up to the game than they had expected, and the hunters said confidently that the animals must have been chased or disturbed within a few hours. They had accordingly to go four or five miles across the plain before they could get a shot; but at last they saw a herd feeding in a valley. After the experience they had had that morning of the futility of attempting to get near the deer on horseback, they determined that the hunters should make a circuit, and come down upon the herd from different points. Tom and Dick were to stay on the brow where they were then standing, keeping well back, so as to be out of sight from the valley, until they heard the report of the first gun, when they were to mount and endeavour to cut off and head the deer back upon the others. The hunters then started--Jumbo and Blacking going to the right, Tony and the other to the left. After an hour's walking they reached their places at points about equidistant from each other, forming with Tom and Dick a complete circle round the deer. They were enabled to keep each other in sight, although hidden from the herd in the hollow. When each had gained his station they lay down and began to crawl towards the deer, and until they were within 150 yards of the herd the latter continued grazing quietly. Then an old buck gave a short, sharp cry, and struck the ground violently with his hoofs; the others all ceased feeding, and gazed with startled eyes to windward, and were about to dash off in a body when the four men fired almost simultaneously, and as many stags fell. The rest darted off at full speed in the direction in which Tom and Dick were posted, that being the only side open to them. An instant later Tom and Dick appeared on horseback on the brow, and dashed down towards the herd; these, alarmed at the appearance of a fresh enemy, broke into two bodies, scattering right and left, giving both lads an opportunity for a good shot. Both succeeded in bringing down their mark. They then dismounted, and giving their horses to the native joined the hunters. They had bagged six deer, and the hunters at once proceeded to disembowel them; one was to be slung behind each of the saddles, and the others would be carried by the hunters and native. While they were so engaged they were startled by a shout, and saw the native running down towards them, leading the horses and gesticulating wildly. "We are attacked," Blacking said, and almost at the same moment three or four arrows fell among them. They had collected the dead deer at one spot, and were standing in a group; looking round they saw a large number of natives crowning the low hills all round them, and saw that while they had been stalking the deer they themselves had been stalked by the natives. Without a moment's hesitation the hunters disposed the bodies of the deer in a circle; seizing the two horses they threw them beside the deer, fastening their limbs with the lassoes which they carried, so that they could not move; then the six men threw themselves down in the circle. All this had been done in a couple of minutes. The arrows were falling fast among them, but none had been hit, and as soon as the preparations were complete they opened a steady fire at the enemy. With the exception of the man who had come out with the horses all were good shots, and their steady fire at once checked the advance of the natives, whose triumphant yelling ceased, as man after man went down, and they speedily followed the example of their opponents, and, throwing themselves down on the grass, kept up a fire with their arrows in a circle of seventy or eighty yards round the hunters. Gradually, however, their fire ceased, for to use their bows they were obliged to show their heads above the grass, and whenever one did so the sharp crack of a rifle was heard; and so often did the bullets fly true to their aim that the natives soon grew chary of exposing themselves. "What will they do now?" Dick asked, as the firing ceased. "They are cowards," Jumbo said contemptuously. "If they had been Zulus, or Swazis, or Matabele, they would have rushed in upon us, and finished it at once." "Well, I am very glad they are not," Dick said; "but what is to be done?" "They will wait for night," Tony answered; "then, when we cannot see them, they will creep up close and charge." "In that case," Dick said, "the best thing will be for us to keep in a body, and fight our way through them, and make for the camp." Jumbo shook his head. "They quiet now because they think they got us safe; if we try to get away, they rush down upon us; we shoot many, but we all get killed." "Then," Dick said, "the best thing will be for me to jump on my horse and ride straight through them; if I get off alive, I will make for the caravan and bring back Mr Harvey and the rest to your assistance." "No good," Blacking said; "your horse would be stuck full of arrows before you get away; he drop dead; they kill you. I go." "But it would be just as dangerous for you as for me, Blacking." "No," the hunter said; "directly you stand up to get on horse they see you and get ready to shoot; the horse fall dead before he reach them. I will crawl through the grass; they will not see me till I get to them-- perhaps I get through without them seeing at all; if not, I jump up sudden and run; they all surprised, no shoot straight; once through line they never catch me." Jumbo and Tony assented with a grunt, and Dick, seeing that no better plan could be suggested, offered no opposition to the young hunter undertaking the task. Leaving his gun and ammunition behind him, the black at once without a word crawled out between the carcases of the deer, making his way, like a snake, perfectly flat on his stomach, and soon it was only by a very slight movement of the grass, which was nearly two feet high, that Dick could follow his progress. But he could not do this for long, an arrow whizzing close to his head warned him that he was exposing himself, and he lay down behind his stag and listened with intense eagerness for the outcry which would arise when Blacking was discovered. It seemed a long time, so slow and cautious was the black's advance. At last there was a sudden yell, and the little party, sure that the attention of their assailants would for the moment be diverted, raised their heads from the shelter and looked out. They saw Blacking bounding at full speed up the slope; a score of natives had sprung to their feet, and were discharging their arrows in the direction of the fugitive, who zigzagged, as he ran with rapid bounds, to unsteady and divert their aim. One arrow struck him in the side; they saw him break off the feather-head, pull it through the wound, and throw it away without a moment's pause in his flight. "Is it a serious wound?" Tom asked eagerly. Jumbo shook his head. "Not kill him," he said; "too near skin." By this time Blacking's pursuers had thrown their bows across their shoulders, and grasping their assegais had started in pursuit. "They no catch him," Tony said confidently; "Blacking clever man; he not run too fast; let them keep close behind him; they think they catch him, and keep on running all the way to camp. People here watch, not tink to attack us; then they wait again for the oders to come back; half of dem gone, a good many killed, they not like to attack us now." "What do you say, Tony?--shall we get up and follow in a body slowly?" "That would be good plan," Tony said, "if sure no more black men come; but if others come and join dem, dey attack us out on plain, we got no stags to lie behind. Dey fight hard 'caus they know that Blacking have got away, and that help come; make bad affair of it; better stop here." Presently two or three of the natives were seen coming back over the brow, having given up the pursuit. Dick's rifle was a good one, and the brow was not more than 400 yards away; he took a steady aim and fired, and one of the natives fell. A yell of astonishment broke from the others, and they threw themselves instantly on the grass. This, however, although long enough to shelter them in the bottom, was shorter and scantier on the slope. The inclined position too enabled Dick to see them, and he again fired. He could not see where the ball struck, but it must have been close to the two natives, for these leapt to their feet and bounded back again over the brow. "That was a capital shot of yours, Dick," Tom said. "I will try next time. Our rifles will carry easily enough as far as that, although the hunters' won't. If we can but prevent any of these fellows who have gone after Blacking from coming down and rejoining those round us, we are safe enough, for if they did not dare to make a rush when there were about sixty of them they will not try now when there are not half that number." An hour later a party of some ten or twelve natives appeared again on the brow. Dick and Tom at once fired. One of them fell, and the rest again retired behind the brow, shouting something to those below, which Tony at once translated that Blacking had got away. The news, added to the effect of the fall of their comrades on the height, dispirited the natives below, and one or two were to be seen stealing up the slopes. Dick and Tom were on the alert, and one of the natives fell with a broken leg; this completed the uneasiness of the party below. Creeping away from the deadly rifles to the foot of the slopes, they suddenly rose and bounded up it. A general volley was fired by the beleaguered party, and two more natives fell; the rest dashed up the slope, two of them on the way lifting and carrying off their wounded comrades. "We all right now," Jumbo said; "dey no attack us here any more; like enough dey wait and lie in ambush in grass, in case we move away; but we not do that; we sit here quietly till the caravan arrive." "Do you think Mr Harvey will bring the whole caravan?" "Sure to do dat," Jumbo said. "He no able to leave party to protect the waggons and to send party here to us; he bring the caravan all along together. If he attacked, he make laager; but me no tink dey attack. The people ready to cut off little party; den the chief say he not responsible, but if his people attack the caravan dat different thing." The hours passed slowly; the heat in the bottom, as the sun, almost overhead, poured its rays down into it, was very great. As the hours passed on the heat became less oppressive, but it was with intense pleasure that the boys saw Mr Harvey suddenly appear on the brow, and checking his horse gaze into the valley. They leapt to their feet and gave a shout, which was answered by Mr Harvey. "Are they round you still?" he shouted. "No; they have all gone," Dick replied; and Mr Harvey at once rode down. By the time he reached them the hunters had freed the legs of the horses, and these struggled to their feet. "You have given me a nice fright," Mr Harvey said, as he rode up. "We have had a pretty good fright ourselves," Dick replied. "If it had not been for Blacking pluckily getting through them to take you the news, I don't think we should have seen daylight. Is he much hurt, sir?" "He has got a nasty wound," Mr Harvey replied. "An arrow has gone between his ribs. He fell down from loss of blood when he reached us, and had we gone much farther he would have been overtaken. They were close upon his heels when he got in. Fortunately I halted the caravan soon after you started; when I saw the herds making way I thought it better to wait till you rejoined us. It was well I did so; we noticed him a couple of miles away, and when we saw he was pursued I went out with six men and met him half a mile from the caravan. He had just strength left to tell us what had happened. Then we went back to the caravan, and moved out towards you. We were obliged to come slowly, for there are a good many natives out on the plains, and twice they looked so threatening that I had to laager and treat them to a few distant shots. They evidently did not like the range of my rifle, and so I have come on without any serious fighting. I have been in a great fright about you; but Blacking, when he recovered from his faint, told me that he thought you were safe for a while, as nearly half the party which had been attacking you had followed him, and that you had already killed so many that he thought they would not venture to attack before nightfall. Now, you had better come up to the waggons at once; you can tell me all about it afterwards." The deer which had formed such useful shelter were now lifted, and in a quarter of an hour the party reached the waggons without molestation. A vigilant watch was kept all night, but no alarm was given. In the morning Mr Harvey rode down with the lads and the hunters into the valley. Except that here and there were deep blood-stains, no signs of the conflict remained, the natives having carried off their dead in the course of the night. The hunters, after examining the ground, declared that fifteen of the enemy had fallen, including those shot on the slopes. The journey was now resumed. At the next halt the natives came in to trade as usual, and when questioned professed entire ignorance of the attack on the hunters. Three days later, without further adventure, they arrived at the kraal of the principal chief. It was a large village, and a great number of cattle were grazing in the neighbourhood. The natives had a sullen appearance, but exhibited no active hostility. Mr Harvey formed his waggons in a laager a few hundred yards outside the village, and then, accompanied by the boys, proceeded to the chief's abode. They were at once conducted to his presence. He was seated in a hut of bee-hive form, rather larger than those which surrounded it. When the white men crawled in through the door, which like all in native structures was not more than three feet high, they were at first unable to see, so dark was the interior. The chief uttered the usual words of welcome. "I have a complaint to make, chief," Mr Harvey said, "against some of your people. They attacked my two friends and some of my followers when out hunting. Fortunately they were repulsed, with the loss of some fifteen of their number, but that does not make the attack upon them any the less inexcusable." "That is bad," the chief said; "how does my friend, the white trader, know that they were my men?" "They were inside your territory anyhow," Mr Harvey said. "It was upon the third day after I had left the Matabele." "It must have been a party of Matabele," the chief said; "they often come into my territory to steal cattle; they are bad men--my people are very good." "I can't prove that they were your people," Mr Harvey said, "whatever I may think; but I warn you, chief, that if there is any repetition of the attack while we are in your country you will have no more traders here. Those who attacked us have learned that we can defend ourselves, and that they are more likely to get death than plunder out of the attempt." CHAPTER FOURTEEN. TRAPPED IN A DEFILE. "What do you think of affairs?" Dick asked Mr Harvey, as, on leaving the chief's hut, they walked back to their waggons. "For the moment I think we are perfectly safe; the chief would not venture to attack us while we are in his village. In the first place it would put a stop to all trade, and in the second, far as we are from the frontier, he would not feel safe were a massacre to take place in his village. He knows well enough that were a dozen white men to come out to avenge such a deed, with a few waggon-loads of goods to offer to his neighbours as pay for their assistance, he and his tribe would be exterminated. When we are once on our way again we must beware. The feeling among the tribe at the loss they have sustained must be very bitter, although they may repress all outward exhibition of it to us, and if they attack us just as we are on the line between their land and their neighbour's they can deny all knowledge of it. However, they shall not catch us asleep." "I see the men have put the waggons in laager," Tom said. "Yes, I told them to do so," Mr Harvey answered; "it is the custom always with traders travelling north of the Limpopo, and therefore will not be taken as a sign of suspicion of their good faith. A fair index to us of their disposition will be the amount of trade. If they bring their goods freely, we may assume that there is no fixed intention of attacking us; for if they are determined to seize our goods, those who have articles to trade would not care to part with them, when they would hope to obtain a share of our goods for nothing." The next morning Mr Harvey spread out a few of his goods, but hardly any of the natives came forward with articles for barter. In the afternoon Mr Harvey went across to the chief. "How is it," he asked, "that your people do not bring in their goods for sale? Among the tribes through which I have passed I have done much trade; they see that I give good bargains--your people bring nothing. If they do not wish to trade with the white men, let them say so, and I will tell my brethren that it is of no use to bring their waggons so far." "My people are very poor," the chief said; "they have been at war with their neighbours, and have had no time to hunt the ostrich or to get skins." "They cannot have been fighting all the time," Mr Harvey rejoined; "they must have taken furs and skins--it is clear that they do not wish to trade. Tomorrow morning I will go on my way; there are many other tribes who will be glad at the coming of the white trader." After Mr Harvey's return to the waggons, it was evident that orders had been issued that some trade should be done, for several parcels of inferior kinds of ostrich feathers and skins were brought in. As it was clear, however, that no genuine trade was to be done, at daybreak the oxen were inspanned, and the caravan continued its journey. For the next two days the track lay across an open country, and no signs of molestation were met with. "We are now coming," Mr Harvey said, "to the very worst part of our journey. The hills we have seen in front of us for the last two days have to be crossed. To-morrow we ascend the lower slopes, which are tolerably easy; but the next day we have to pass through a very wild gorge. The road, which is the bed of a stream, mounts rapidly; but the ravine is nearly ten miles in length. Once at its head we are near the highest point of the shoulder over which we have to cross, and the descent on the other side is comparatively easy. If I could avoid this spot, I would do so; but I know of no other road by which waggons could cross the range for a very long distance either way; this is the one always used by traders. In the wet season it is altogether impassable, for in some places the ravine narrows to fifteen yards, with perpendicular cliffs on either side, and at these points the river, when in flood, rushes down twenty or thirty feet deep. Even putting aside the danger of attack in going through it, I would gladly avoid it if I could, for the weather is breaking; we have already had some showers, and may get heavy thunderstorms and a tremendous downfall of rain any day." The next day the journey was an arduous one; the ground was rough and broken, and the valley up which the road lay was frequently thickly strewn with boulders, which showed the force with which the water in flood-time rushed down over what was now its empty bed. After a long day's work the caravan halted for the night at the spot where the valley narrowed to the ravine. "It has been a pretty hard day's work to-day!" Tom said. "It is nothing to to-morrow's, as you will see," Mr Harvey replied. "Traders consider this defile to be the very hardest passage anywhere in South Africa, and there are plenty of other bad bits too. In many cases you will see we shall have to unload the waggons, and it will be all that a double team can do to pull them up empty. Sometimes of course the defile is easier than at others; it depends much upon the action of the last floods. In some years rocks and boulders have been jammed so thickly in the narrow parts that the defile has been absolutely impassable; the following year, perhaps, the obstruction has been swept away, or to a certain extent levelled by the spaces between the rocks being filled up with small stones and sand. How it is this season, I do not know; up to the time we left I had heard of no trader having passed along this way. I have spoken of it as a day's journey, but it is only under the most favourable circumstances that it has ever been accomplished in that time, and sometimes traders have been three or four days in getting through." Directly the caravan halted Blacking and Jumbo started to examine the defile; it was already growing dusk, and they were only able to get two miles up before it was so dark that they could make their way no further. They returned, saying that the first portion of the defile, which was usually one of the most difficult, was in a bad condition; that many enormous boulders were lying in the bottom; but that it appeared to be practicable, although in some places the waggons would have to be unloaded. At daybreak the oxen were inspanned, and in a quarter of an hour the leading waggon approached the entrance of the gorge; it seemed cut through a perpendicular cliff, 200 feet high, the gorge through which the river issued appearing a mere narrow crack rent by some convulsion of nature. "It would be a fearful place to be attacked in," Dick said, "and a few men with rocks up above could destroy us." "Yes," Mr Harvey said; "but you see up there?" Dick looked up, and on one side of the passage saw some tiny figures. "The three hunters and ten of our men with muskets are up there; they started three hours ago, as they would have to go, Jumbo said, five miles along the face of the cliff before they reached a point where they could make an ascent so as to gain the edge of the ravine. They will keep along parallel with us, and their fire would clear both sides; it is not usual to take any precaution of this sort, but after our attack of the other day, and the attitude of the chief and his people, we cannot be too cautious. After passing through the first three miles of the defile, the ravine widens into a valley a hundred yards wide; here they will come down and join us. There are two other ravines, similar to the first, to be passed through, but the country there is so wild and broken that it would be impossible for them to keep along on the heights, and I doubt whether even the natives could find a point from which to attack us." They had now fairly entered the ravine. For thirty or forty feet up the walls were smooth and polished by the action of the winter torrents; above, jagged rocks overhung the path, and at some points the cliffs nearly met overhead. Although it was now almost broad daylight, in the depths of this ravine the light was dim and obscure. The boys at first were awestruck at the scene, but their attention was soon called to the difficulties of the pass. The bed of the stream was covered with rocks of all sizes; sometimes great boulders, as big as a good-sized cottage, almost entirely blocked the way, and would have done so altogether had not the small boulders round them formed slopes on either side. The depths of the ravine echoed and re-echoed, with a noise like thunder, the shout of the driver and the crack of the whip, as the oxen struggled on. The waggons bumped and lurched along over the stones; the natives and whites all worked their hardest, clearing away the blocks as far as possible from the track required for the waggons. Armed with long wooden levers four or six together prized away the heavy boulders, or, when these were too massive to be moved by their strength, and when no other path could be chosen, piled a number of smaller blocks, so as to make a sort of ascent up which the wheels could travel. The waggons moved but one at a time, the united efforts of the whole party being required to enable them to get along. When the leading waggon had moved forward a hundred yards, the next in succession would be brought up, and so on until the six waggons were again in line; then all hands would set to work ahead, and prepare the path for another hundred yards. In two places, however, no efforts sufficed to clear the way; the blocks rose in such jagged masses that it was absolutely impossible for the oxen to pull across them,--indeed it was with the greatest difficulty that when unyoked they were one by one got over; then tackles were fastened from the top of the rock to the waggons below--ropes and blocks being generally carried by travellers for such emergencies,--the oxen fastened to the ends of the ropes, and with the purchase so obtained the waggons were dragged bodily one by one over the obstacles. It was not until late in the afternoon that the party passed safely through the defile and reached the valley beyond, men and animals worn out by the exertions they had undergone. The day had not passed without excitement, for when they were engaged at the most difficult point of the journey the crack of rifles was heard far overhead, and for half an hour a steady fire was kept up there. Those below were of course wholly ignorant of what was passing there, and for some time they suffered considerable anxiety; for if their guard above had been overpowered they must have been destroyed by rocks cast down by their foes. At the end of half an hour the firing ceased; but it was not until they camped for the night in the valley beyond the gorge that they learned from the hunters, who joined them there, what had happened. There were, Jumbo explained, three or four hundred natives, but fortunately these approached from the opposite side of the gorge; consequently the little party of defenders was in no danger of attack. The enemy had been disconcerted when they first opened fire, but had then pressed forward to get to the edge of the ravine. The superior weapons of the defenders had, however, checked them, and finding that there was no possibility of coming to close quarters with the little band, they had, after losing several of their number, abandoned the attempt and fallen back. Soon after nightfall they were startled by a heavy crashing sound, and great rocks came bounding down the sides of the valley. The cattle and waggons were at once moved to the centre of the watercourse, and here they were safe, for the bottom of the valley was so thickly strewn with great boulders that, tremendous as was the force with which the rocks loosened far above came bounding down, these were either arrested or shivered into fragments by the obstacles before they reached the centre of the valley. No reply to this bombardment of the position was attempted. The enemy were invisible, and there was no clue to their position far up on the hill-side. So long as the rolling down of the rocks was continued, it was certain that no attack at close quarters was intended; consequently, after posting four sentries to arouse them in case of need, the rest of the party, picking out the softest pieces of ground they could find between the stones, lay down to rest. Before doing so, however, Mr Harvey had a consultation with the hunters. They said that the next narrow ravine was broken by several lateral defiles of similar character, which came down into it, and that it would therefore be quite impossible to keep along the top; whether there were any points at which the enemy could take post and assail them from above, they knew not. There was, then, nothing to do but to push steadily on, and early next morning they resumed their way. On the preceding day a slight shower of rain had fallen, but this had been insufficient to increase notably the waters of the streamlet which trickled down among the rocks, for the most part hidden from view. The hunters were of opinion that heavier storms were at hand, and Mr Harvey agreed with them in the belief. "We are in a very nasty position, boys," he said, "and I wish now that I had turned south, and made my way down to the Limpopo again, and kept along its banks until past this mountain-range; it would have meant a loss of two months' time, and the country which we shall reach when we get through this defile is a very good one for trade. Still, I am sorry now that I did not adopt that plan; for, what with the natives and the torrent, our position is an extremely serious one; however, there is nothing for it but to push on now. We have passed one out of the three gorges, and even if the other two are in as bad a condition as the one we came up yesterday, two more days' labour will see us through it." As the caravan moved along the valley the yells of the natives, high up on the slopes, rose loud and menacing. They must have been disgusted at seeing that the labour upon which they had been engaged the whole night, of loosening and setting in motion the rocks, had been entirely thrown away, for they could see that the waggons and teams were wholly uninjured. As the caravan reached the point where the valley narrowed again, a mile above the halting-place, they began to descend the slopes, as if they meditated an attack, and the rifles of the whites and the three hunters opened fire upon them and checked those on the bare sides of the hill. Many, however, went farther down, and descending into the valley crept up under the shelter of the stones and boulders, and as soon as they came within range opened fire with their bows and arrows. By this time, however, the waggons were entering the ravine which, although at its entrance less abrupt and perpendicular than that below, soon assumed a precisely similar character. Once well within its shelter Mr Harvey posted Dick with the three hunters and four of the other natives to defend the rear. This was a matter of little difficulty. Two or three hundred yards up the ravine a barrier, similar to those met with on the previous day, was encountered, and the waggons had to be dragged up by ropes, an operation which took upwards of three hours. While the passage was being effected, Dick with his party had remained near the mouth of the ravine, and had been busy with the enemy who pressed them; but after the last waggon had safely crossed the barrier they took their station at this point, which they could have held against any number of enemies. The caravan proceeded on its way, men and animals labouring to the utmost; when, at a point where the sides of rock seemed nearly to close above them, a narrow line of sky only being visible, a great rock came crushing and leaping down, bounding from side to side with a tremendous uproar, and bringing down with it a shower of smaller rocks, which it had dislodged in its course. The bottom of the ravine was here about twelve yards wide, and happened to be unusually level. The great rock, which must have weighed half a ton, fell on one side of the leading waggon and burst into fragments which flew in all directions. Fortunately no one was hurt, but a scream of dismay broke from the natives. "Steady!" Mr Harvey shouted; "push on ahead; but each man keep to his work--the first who attempts to run and desert the waggons I will shoot through the head." "Tom, go on a hundred yards in front, and keep that distance ahead of the leading waggon. Shoot down at once any one who attempts to pass you." Rock followed rock in quick succession; there was, however, fortunately a bulge in the cliff on the righthand side, projecting some twenty feet out, and as the blocks struck this they were hurled off to the left side of the path. Seeing this Mr Harvey kept the waggons close along on the right, and although several of the oxen and three or four of the men were struck by detached fragments from above, or by splinters from the stones as they fell, none were seriously injured. Long after the caravan had passed the point the rocks continued to thunder down, showing Mr Harvey that those above were unable to see to the bottom of the gorge, but that they were discharging their missiles at random. A short distance farther a cross ravine, a mere cleft in the rock, some five feet wide at the bottom, was passed, and Mr Harvey congratulated himself at the certainty that this would bar the progress of their foes above, and prevent the attack being renewed from any point farther on. At this point so formidable an obstacle was met with in a massive rock, some thirty feet high, jammed in the narrowest part of the ravine, that the waggons had to be emptied and hauled by ropes up the almost perpendicular rock, the oxen being taken through a passage, which with immense labour the men managed to clear of stones, under one of the angles of the rock. It was not until after dark that they reached the spot where the ravine again widened out into a valley, having spent sixteen hours in accomplishing a distance of only three miles. However, all congratulated themselves that two-thirds of their labour was over, and that but one more defile had to be surmounted. The rear-guard remained encamped at the opening of the defile, but the night passed without interruption, the natives being doubtless disheartened by the failure to destroy the caravan by rocks from above. "Do you think there is any chance of their attacking us to-night, down the slopes, as they did this morning?" Tom asked Mr Harvey. "None whatever," the latter replied, "as you will see in the morning. This valley does not resemble the last; the rocks rise almost perpendicularly on both sides, and it would not be possible for them to make their way down, even if they wanted to do so." With the first dawn of light the oxen were inspanned. Just as they were starting, one of the natives of Dick's party came up to Mr Harvey, and reported that the natives in large numbers were showing in the ravine, and the sharp crack of the rifles, which almost at the same moment broke out, confirmed his statement. "The defile must be held," Mr Harvey said, "until we are well in the next pass. When the last waggon has entered I will send back word, and they must then follow us and hold the entrance. Tom, you had better take four more of the armed natives to strengthen the rear-guard. Tell Dick to come on and join me. You had your fair share of labour yesterday, and your hands are cut about so, by lifting and heaving rocks, that you would be able to do little to-day. It is rather a good sign that the natives are pressing forward in such force on our rear, as it shows that they have no great faith in any attempt they may make to-day to repeat their rock-throwing experiment of yesterday." As before two natives were sent on ahead to examine the defile, and Mr Harvey moved on with the caravan until he reached the upper edge of the valley, which was scarcely half a mile long. Just as he did so the natives came hurriedly down the defile; they reported that a short distance up they had met with another obstacle, to the full as difficult as that which they had got the waggons over on the preceding day, and that, as they turned an angle in the defile, and came in sight of it, they were saluted by a shower of arrows, and saw a crowd of natives on the top of the barrier. They had thrown themselves down behind the boulders, and had obtained a good view of the natives and the obstacle. It was some forty feet farther up, and was formed by three or four great boulders jambed in together. On the other side small boulders and stones seemed to have been piled up by the torrent to the level of the rocks; but on the lower side it was almost perpendicular, and they questioned if a man could climb it,--certainly there was no passage for oxen. CHAPTER FIFTEEN. A MOUNTAIN-TORRENT. The news brought by the scouts was very serious. The continued fire in the rear showed that the enemy were making a serious attack in that quarter. But Mr Harvey feared that his fighting force there must be weakened greatly, to enable him to attack so formidable a position as that which the enemy occupied in front. Before arriving at any decision as to his best course, he halted the caravan, and went forward himself, with the two natives, to inspect the position which they had discovered. When he reached the turn in the defile he crawled forward among the boulders until he reached a spot where he could obtain a clear view of the barrier; it was to the full as formidable as it had been described by the scouts. It would have needed an active man to scale the rocks without any opposition from above, while on the top a dense body of natives were clustered, numbering at least fifty, and probably a considerable portion of their force was concealed from view. Mr Harvey sent back one of the natives to tell Dick to come on and join him; after which he was to go back and bid Jumbo come up, as Mr Harvey had great confidence in the hunter's shrewdness. Dick presently arrived, and was much impressed with the formidable nature of the obstacle. "We might creep forward," he said, "among the stones and soon drive those fellows off the edge, but they would only lie down behind, and could easily destroy us, as we climbed one by one to the top. Each one, as he got up, would be riddled with assegais. What are you thinking of doing, sir?" "I don't know what is best, Dick. I quite agree with you, it is a tremendous position to storm, but on the other hand it would be almost as bad to retreat." Ten minutes later Jumbo arrived at a run; without a word he threw himself down by the side of Mr Harvey, and for two or three minutes gazed silently at the obstacle ahead; then, to Mr Harvey's surprise, he turned over on to his back, and lay there with his eyes open. "What on earth are you doing, Jumbo?" "Look there, sir," the native said, pointing to a glistening spot, the size of a crown-piece, on his stomach. "Well, what of that?" Mr Harvey said; "that's a drop of rain--there's another fallen on my hat. What do you think of that place ahead?" "Me no think nothing about him, sir; that place, sir, no consequence one way or the other. You hear him, sir?" As he spoke a louder crash of thunder burst overhead. Mr Harvey looked up now. That portion of the sky which could be seen was inky black. Great drops of rain were falling with a pattering sound on the rock. "Storm come, sir; very bad storm. I see him coming, and say to Massa Tom, `Two or tree hour fight over; now you see someting like a mountain-storm. In tree hours water come down twenty feet deep.'" "You are right, Jumbo. It is lucky the storm has begun so early; if we had got far into the defile we should have been caught. Now, all we have got to do is to wait. Go back, Dick, and send up every man with fire-arms; we must at once engage those fellows in front and occupy their attention. If they once perceive their danger they will make a desperate rush down here, and it will go hard with us then. When you have sent the fighting-men up, see that the teamsters move all the waggons to the highest piece of ground you can find in the valley. Let them arrange the waggons there as closely as they will pack, and keep the animals well round them. A flood will destroy our enemy, but I am not sure that it may not destroy us too. Now hurry away, and tell the fighting-men to run up as quick as they can. When you have seen everything in readiness, join Tom, and warn him to be ready to fall back to the waggons as soon as the flood comes." Dick ran down the ravine. It was not until he issued from it that he was aware how tremendously the rain was pouring down. In the defile he had been conscious only of a slight mist, with an occasional drop of heavy rain, for very few of the rain-drops which entered the gap far above descended to the bottom, almost all striking against the sides. In the comparatively open valley, however, the rain was coming down in a perfect cataract. Dick at once sent all the fighting-men to the front, and three minutes later the report of musketry told that they were engaged with the enemy. Dick now set to work with ten of the natives to select the spot on which to place the waggons. The bottom of the valley was very flat, and the sand between the boulders showed that when the water was high the whole was covered. He, however, found a spot on the left-hand side, about midway between the two defiles, which was some feet higher than the rest. The hill-side behind at this point rose somewhat less abruptly than elsewhere, and it was probable that the rise in the bottom was formed by a slip which had taken place at some past period. Here the waggons were arranged side by side in two rows, the wheels of the three inner waggons close against the slope above them. The cattle were gathered closely round. Dick then joined Tom, whom he found in high spirits, the hunters having already told him that the flood would very soon come to their relief. The party was hotly engaged. About thirty or forty yards intervened between them and their enemy, who, crouching behind rocks, were shooting their arrows high into the air, so that they came down almost perpendicularly upon the defenders. One of these had been killed and three severely wounded by the missiles; while they themselves could only get an occasional shot at a limb exposed beyond the shelter of the boulders. Not having received orders to stay by Tom, Dick retraced his steps up the valley to the party above. From the cliffs at the side of the valley waterfalls were leaping down, and a stream of water was already beginning to flow down its centre. The bed of the defile was perfectly dry, the stones being scarcely wetted by the fine mist from above. Dick found Mr Harvey and the natives engaged in keeping up a hot fire at the top of the obstacle, lying at a distance of forty or fifty yards from it among the rocks. One or two dead natives were stretched on the top of the rock; the rest were not to be seen, but the arrows whistled fast over his head, showing that they were lying down just behind it. "The rain is tremendous outside," Dick said, as he joined Mr Harvey. "You can have no idea what it is here. The water is pouring so fast into the valley that a stream is forming there already, and will soon be running two or three feet deep down the lower pass. I wonder it has not begun to make its way down from above." "It has begun, Dick; look at those little threads of water between the stones. When it comes, it will come with a rush; that is always the way with these gorges. Jumbo is listening; it will come with a roar like thunder. He has just told me I had better send most of the men back at once, keeping only four or five to continue firing to the last moment. You see the enemy, who are there on a sort of platform, will not notice the water that is making its way down. See how fast it rises; it is ankle-deep already--and, I tell you, we shall have to run when the time comes." All the natives, with the exception of Jumbo and two other men, were sent back. "I don't see anything to fire at," Dick said. "No," Mr Harvey agreed; "it is a pure waste of ammunition, except that it occupies their attention. They can hardly be conscious yet how tremendously it is raining. If they were they would not remain where they are, but would make a rush upon us, however great the risk." "Listen!" Jumbo exclaimed suddenly. They listened and were conscious of a dull, heavy, roaring sound. Jumbo leapt to his feet. "Come!" he said; "run for your lives." They started up and took to their heels. A terrible yell was heard behind them, and, glancing over his shoulder, as he turned the corner, Dick saw the natives climbing down from their defence, and even leaping from the top in their terror. Fast as Dick was running, the roar behind rose louder and louder. "Quick, Dick," Mr Harvey shouted, "or you will be too late." Dick hurried to the utmost, but the stream was already rising rapidly, and was running knee-deep between the stones. Stumbling and slipping, and cutting himself against the rocks, Dick struggled on. The mighty roar was now close behind him, and seemed to him like that of a heavy train at full speed. He reached the mouth of the ravine; the water was already up to his waist. Mr Harvey and Jumbo dashed in, seized him by the arms, and dragged him out. "Run!" they said. They were not fifty yards from the mouth, when Dick, looking round, saw a mighty wall of water, fifteen feet high, leap from it, pouring as from huge sluice-gates into the valley. He did not stop running until he joined the rest gathered by the waggons. Tom and his party were already there, for the rising water had soon warned their assailants of the danger, and the fire had suddenly ceased. Already the greater part of the valley was covered with water, down the centre of which a foaming torrent was flowing. Here and there could be seen numerous dark objects, which, he knew, were the bodies of the Indians who had defended the upper defile, caught before they could reach its mouth by the wall of water from above. They had instantly been dashed lifeless against the rocks and boulders, and not one could be seen to make towards the comparatively still waters on either side of the centre stream. Driven back again by the narrow entrance to the lower defile the water in the valley rose rapidly, as with an ever-increasing violence it poured in from above. There it was rushing out in a solid, dark-brown cataract, which Dick judged to be fully forty feet in height. In a quarter of an hour from its first outburst the water had already reached the feet of those standing upon the little knoll of ground in the valley. The oxen lowing and stamping with terror pressed more and more closely together. The young ostriches were placed in one of the waggons, for although their height would have left their heads well above water, they would probably have succumbed to the effects of a prolonged submersion of their bodies. "If it goes on like this for another quarter of an hour," Mr Harvey said, "the oxen will be washed away, if not the waggons. Thank God, I think we can all manage to climb up the slope. Jumbo, tell the men each to load themselves with five or six days' provisions. Let half a dozen take boxes of ammunition, and as many bales of the best cloth. Let the rest take as many bundles of the best ostrich feathers as they can carry. Let them lay them all on the slope, twenty or thirty yards up, wherever they can find place for them, and then come down again, and make as many trips with the best goods as they can." All hands worked hard; inch by inch the water rose; Mr Harvey, assisted by the boys and teamsters, fastened ropes together, and with these surrounded the closely-packed throng of cattle. The water was now more than waist-deep, and was still rising; soon the cattle on the outside were lifted off their feet. There was no current here, and they floated with their heads on the backs of those in front of them; higher and higher the water rose, till the whole of the cattle were afloat. At first a few struggled, but soon they subsided into quiet, and the whole mass floated together, with only their heads above water. On every available ledge on the hillside were placed bundles and bales of all kinds, and here the whites and natives stood, watching the progress of the flood. The thunder-shower had ceased soon after the water first burst through the gorge, but Mr Harvey knew that some hours must elapse before the flood would begin to abate. "I don't see why the water should not run off as fast as it comes in," Dick said. "It all depends, Dick, upon the question whether in the lower defile there is any place narrower than the mouth, through which the water is rushing from above. According to appearances this is so; for, could the water escape faster than it comes in, the lake here would cease to rise. I think now the water has reached a level, where the outflow nearly equals the inflow. I have been watching the wheels of the waggons, and for the last ten minutes I do not think it has risen above an inch or two." "I will get down and watch," Dick said, and he scrambled down to the water's edge. Two minutes later he shouted up,-- "It has not risen at all since I came here!" The teamsters had taken their station on the outside waggons, and continued to talk and shout to the oxen, exhorting these to be patient and quiet, as if the animals were capable of understanding every word they said. For three hours there was no change in the situation. Then all thought that there was a slight decrease in the height of the torrent of water pouring from the defile, and half an hour later a slight but distinct subsidence in the level of the water could be perceived. In another hour it had fallen a foot, and after that the fall was rapid and steady. The deep roar caused by the rushing torrent and the rumbling of the huge boulders and rocks swept along in the narrow defile, gradually subsided, and soon the bullocks were again standing on their feet. The natives set to work to wash away the thick sediment which the flood had left on the floor of the waggons, and before nightfall the goods were all repacked. But few signs of the recent flood now remained in the valley. A stream still rushed through the centre. Trunks and branches of trees lay here and there, as the water had left them, and the bodies of some twenty or thirty natives were lying amongst the rocks. In some places shallow pools remained; in others were sheets of glistening mud. "We shall have no more trouble with the natives," Mr Harvey said; "the fighting-men of that tribe must have been nearly annihilated." "Do you think that those below were caught, as well as those above?" "Certainly," Mr Harvey answered; "the water went down with the speed of a race-horse; they had only a few minutes' start, and would have been overtaken before they could have even gained the lower bed of the gorge. We can journey on peacefully now. We have been fortunate indeed; we have only lost one man, and the three who were hit with stones are all likely to do well. We have not lost a single bullock, nor a bale of goods." "We shall have hard work to get the waggons up that place where the natives made the stand tomorrow." "It is quite likely," Mr Harvey said, "that the obstacle there no longer exists. A flood like that of to-day would carry away anything. Look at those great blocks, some of which must weigh more than a hundred tons. Likely enough some of them have formed part of that great pile. I have already sent Tony and Blacking up the defile to see how the flood has left it, and in an hour they will be back to report." The hunters on returning brought the good news that the great block had been removed, and so far as they had explored no other of any importance had been found. They said indeed that the defile was now more open than either of the two gorges they had already passed through. This was very satisfactory, for all had had enough of lifting and heaving rocks. Their hands were all cut and wounded, and every limb ached with the strains which they had undergone. The next morning at daybreak the caravan started. The hunters' report of the state of the roads was fairly borne out, and although some difficulties were met with it was unnecessary to unyoke the oxen, although of course many boulders had to be cleared away to allow them to pass. On emerging at the upper end of the defile they found they were in a valley which opened out to a great width, and rose in gradual slopes at its head to the crest of the hills. As the only egress at the lower end was by the defile, it was clear that the whole rainfall must make its way by this exit, which fully accounted for the tremendous torrent they had witnessed. Two days' travelling brought them to the foot of the slopes on the other side of the range of hills, and they were soon engaged in carrying on a considerable trade with the natives there. For another three months they travelled slowly through the country, by the end of which time they had disposed of all their goods, and the waggons were filled to the tilts with skins and bales of ostrich feathers. They now turned their faces to the south. After journeying for a fortnight they perceived one day, far across the country, the white tilts of another caravan. The three whites at once started at full gallop, eager to hear news of what had taken place in the colony during their absence. As they neared the caravan two white men rode out to meet them; both were known to Mr Harvey, and hearty greetings were exchanged. The new-comers were halting for the day, and Mr Harvey and the boys were soon seated in tents, with three bottles of beer in front of them, a luxury which they heartily enjoyed, having been many months without tasting it. "And now what is the news in the colony?" Mr Harvey asked, after having replied to their questions as to the state of trade, and the route which they had followed, as the new-comers would of course take another line, so as not to pass over the same ground. "Things don't look well," they answered; "the Boers are growing so insolent that there is no getting on with them. Several English have been shot down in various places, without the smallest cause. They openly declare their intention of recovering their independence. The English stores are for the most part tabooed, and things altogether look very threatening. There is a mere handful of British troops in the Transvaal, and only a regiment or so in Natal. Those wretched duffers at home hurried every soldier out of the country the instant the fighting was over, and if the Boers really mean business we shall have no end of trouble. You see, we have crushed their two enemies, the Zulus and Secoceni, and now that we have done the work for them they want to get rid of us." "I thought we should have trouble with them," Mr Harvey said; "they are an obstinate, pig-headed race; they never would pay taxes to their own government; they would not even turn out and fight when Secoceni threatened to overrun the country; and now, as likely as not, they will fight desperately for the independence they were glad enough to relinquish in the hour of danger. What you tell me is a nuisance. I had originally intended to go down through Kimberley to Port Elizabeth; but I changed my mind and decided to go back again through the Transvaal, and I have come so far to the east that I do not like to change my plans again. However, I don't suppose we shall be interfered with. They can't very well quarrel with us, if we won't quarrel with them." "Perhaps not," the trader said; "but I tell you I have found it precious difficult to keep my temper several times. The insolence and swagger of those fellows is amazing." The two caravans halted near each other for the day, and a pleasant evening was spent. The next morning each resumed its way. No further adventure was met with until the Limpopo was reached; this was crossed on rafts. The natives who had accompanied them were now paid off, receiving a handsome present each, in addition to the sum agreed upon, and the caravan proceeded on its way. At the first Dutch village at which they arrived, a week after leaving the Limpopo, they had evidence of a change of demeanour in the Boers. As they passed through the streets a group of five or six men were standing at the door of a store; one of them in a loud and insolent voice made a remark to the others, that before long they would not have any of these English dogs going through their country--a remark which was received with boisterous approval by the others. Mr Harvey's face flushed, and he was on the point of reining in his horse, and riding up to chastise the insolent Boer, but the thought of the distance of country yet before him checked him. It was clearly the intention of the man to force a quarrel, and in this the English were sure to get the disadvantage finally. He therefore rode quietly on with the insolent laughter of the Dutchmen ringing in his ears. The lads were equally indignant, and it was only the example of Mr Harvey which had restrained them. "Things have come to a pretty pass," Mr Harvey said, as he dismounted, "that Englishmen should be openly insulted in this way. However, I suppose it will not do to resent it, for these scoundrels would clearly be only too glad of an excuse to shoot us down; but if this sort of thing is going on at every village we pass through, we shall have hard work in keeping our tempers until we are fairly out of the Transvaal. I pity our countrymen who have bought land or setup stores in this country. I was never fond of the Boers, though I am willing to allow that they are a splendid set of men, and that they are magnificent riders and good shots. I question if we shall ever retain them against their will. Of course if we had a government which worked with energy and decision it would be a different matter altogether. There are a considerable number of English and Scotch settlers already here, and the natives would rise against the Dutch to a man if called upon to do so; and if a couple of dozen of their ringleaders were promptly seized and shot, there would be an end to the whole matter. But I know what it will be: the natives will not be encouraged or even allowed to rise, our soldiers, who can hardly hit a haystack at a hundred yards, will be shot down at a distance by the Boers, and, likely enough, we shall meet with a serious disaster, and then the English government will get frightened and make any terms these fellows demand." CHAPTER SIXTEEN. A FIGHT WITH THE BOERS. For some time they continued their journey, meeting everywhere with the grossest incivility on the part of the Boers; in many places they were refused water at the farms, and warned at once off the land, and Mr Harvey had the greatest difficulty in keeping his own temper and restraining the boys from resenting the language of the Boers. One day, as they were riding along, two Boers on horseback halted on an eminence near the road and addressed taunting remarks to them; they made no answer, but continued their way. They had not gone a hundred yards when one of the Boers deliberately took aim and fired at them; the ball passed between Dick and Mr Harvey and struck one of the natives walking just in front of them, killing him upon the spot. This was too much. Mr Harvey and the lads wheeled their horses, unslung their rifles, and fired at the Boers, who were galloping away. One of them at once dropped from his saddle, shot through the head; the other reeled, but, retaining his seat, galloped off at full speed. "This is a bad business, boys," Mr Harvey said; "we could not help it, but it will bring trouble upon us. Now let us branch off from the road we are following, and make for Leydenberg; we are within three days' march of that place. There is an English garrison there, and justice will be done. If we push on straight for Standerton, we shall be overtaken and probably killed before we get there." The bullocks' heads were turned towards the southeast, and at the best pace the teams were driven across the country. Several large native kraals were passed in the course of the day, and after a march of nearly double the ordinary length the caravan halted for the night on the banks of a stream. A sharp watch was kept all night, but nothing particular happened. Just as they were about to inspan the oxen in the morning some fifteen or twenty men were seen approaching at a gallop. The oxen were at once driven again to the laager, and every man seized his arms. The Dutchmen halted at a distance of a hundred yards, and then three of them rode up to the caravan. "What do you want?" Mr Harvey said, advancing on foot in front of the waggons, while the lads and the three hunters stood, rifles in hand, behind them. "We summon you to surrender," the Boers said; "you have murdered Mr Van Burer and wounded Mr Schlessihoff." "We have done nothing of the sort," Mr Harvey answered. "We were going quietly along the road when those men insulted us; we passed on without answering. After we had gone a hundred yards they fired at us, narrowly missed me, and killed one of my men. We fired back, and with the result you have named. We are quite ready to answer for our conduct, and when we get to Leydenberg we shall at once deliver ourselves up to the magistrate, and report what has occurred, and you can then bring any charge you want to make against us." "You will never get to Leydenberg," the Boers said scoffingly; "we are your magistrates and judges; _we_ want no English law here. Once for all, will you surrender?" "We certainly will not," Mr Harvey replied, "and if you molest us it will be at your peril." Without another word the Boers turned their horses' heads and rode back to their comrades; upon their joining them the whole rode some little distance to the rear, and then divided, half turning to the left, the other to the right. "What on earth are they going to do?" Dick asked in surprise. "They are going to surround us," Mr Harvey said; "they will dismount and leave their horses in shelter. Now, lads, out with all the bales of skins and pile them up under the waggons." All hands set to work, and soon under each waggon a thick breastwork of bales was erected, reaching nearly up to the floor, leaving only enough space to see out of and fire; the three whites and the hunters took station, one under each waggon, the teamsters and other natives being distributed round the square. Quickly as they had laboured, the preparations were not complete, when from a brow, at the distance of about a hundred yards from the laager, a shot was fired, the bullet burying itself with a thud in one of the bales of skins; almost instantly from every point in a circle round other shots were fired, and the splintering of wood and the dull sounds, as the shots struck the barricade, told how accurate was their aim. Mr Harvey's orders had been, "Don't throw away a shot. When you see the flash of a rifle, aim steadily at that point; the next time a head is lifted to take aim, hit it." The natives were ordered on no account to fire, unless the Boers attempted to close, but to lie quietly under shelter of the defences. In consequence of these orders not a shot replied to the first volley of the Boers; but when the second round commenced, puffs of smoke darted from beneath the waggons. Dick and Tom knew that their shots had been successful, for the heads at which they had aimed lay clearly in view, and no discharge came from the rifles pointed towards them. The other shots must have passed near their marks, and after this first exhibition of the shooting powers of the defenders, the Boers became much more careful, firing only at intervals, and shifting their ground each time, before they raised their heads to take aim. So the whole day passed, a dropping fire being kept up on both sides. The defenders were convinced by the end of the day that seven or eight of the Boers had fallen, but their places had been more than filled by new-comers who had been seen galloping across the plain towards the scene of conflict. On the side of the defenders no casualties had occurred. Towards evening the fire died away, and Tom and Dick joined Mr Harvey. "What will they do next?" "I don't know, Dick; the Boers are by no means fond of exposing themselves to danger, as has been proved over and over again in their fights with natives. They must have suffered already a great deal more than they bargained for, and are no doubt heartily sick of the job. They may try a rush at night, though I question whether they will do so. I rather imagine that their tactics will be to besiege us until we are driven to make a move, and then to attack us by the way. Fortunately the stream is close at hand, and we can get water for our cattle. Still, there must be an end of it at some time or other." Blacking now crept under the waggon. "Massa, what you say?--me think the best plan will be for me to crawl out and run to chief Mangrope; his place twenty miles away; he always hate the Dutch, and refuse to pay tribute; several times they have sent parties against him, but he always beat them off. Blacking tell him that de Boers attack English, and that if he come down and help drive them off you give him one team of fine oxen,--he come." "I think your plan is a very good one, Blacking; but do you think that you can get through?" "Get through those stupid Boers? Easily," Blacking said contemptuously. "Very well, Blacking; then, as soon as it is dark, you had better start." Blacking nodded and withdrew, and an hour afterwards stole out from the camp. As soon as night fell the Boers opened fire again, this time aiming entirely at the end of the waggons nearest the water, evidently with the intention of rendering it difficult to procure water from the stream. Mr Harvey and his companions answered by firing at the flashes. As they hoped that rescue would arrive ere long, Mr Harvey did not permit any one to go outside shelter to fetch water, as the animals had been watered in the morning the first thing, and could, if necessary, hold out until the following night. Just as daylight was breaking a tremendous yell was heard, followed by a hasty discharge of muskets; then there was the sound of horses' hoofs galloping at full speed, and then, headed by Blacking, two to three hundred natives came up to the camp. The chief himself was among them. Mr Harvey had on several occasions traded with him, and now thanked him warmly for the welcome aid he had brought him. The Boers were already far away, each man having run to his horse and galloped off, panic-stricken at the sudden attack. The oxen were at once inspanned, two being taken from each team and presented to the chief, together with a large bale of cotton in return for his assistance. The caravan then started, and after a march of sixteen hours arrived at Leydenberg. "It is an awful nuisance," Dick said to Tom on the march, "our being obliged to come round here. If everything had gone straight, I calculated that we might be at home by Christmas-eve. Now, goodness only knows when we shall arrive; for, as likely as not, we may be kept here for days over this row with the Boers." The moment they arrived at Leydenberg Mr Harvey, accompanied by the two lads and the three native hunters, went to the house of the magistrate. That gentleman had just finished his dinner; but on being told that his visitors' business was urgent he asked them to be shown in. The hunters remained outside, and the lads followed Mr Harvey into the house. "I have come to make a complaint against some Boers," the trader said. "Then I can tell you beforehand," the magistrate put in, "that your mission is a vain one. Outside this town I have not at present the slightest authority. Complaints reach me on all sides of outrages perpetrated by the Boers upon English settlers and traders. Strong armed parties are moving about the country; and although I will of course hear anything that you have got to say, with a view of obtaining redress when things settle down again, I cannot hold out any hope of being able to take action at present." "I have scarcely come to you, sir, with the idea of obtaining redress, but rather of stating my case, in case the Boers should bring a complaint against me." The trader then proceeded to relate the circumstances which had occurred: the wanton attack upon them in the first place, the murder of one of their servants, the killing of one and the wounding of the other of the aggressors, the subsequent attack upon their camp, and their relief by Mangrope. "I think you have got remarkably well out of the affair, and although the attack of the Boers has cost you the life of one of your followers and twelve oxen, as you have killed eight or ten of them you have made matters more than even, and have, moreover, given them a lesson which may be useful. I will take down your depositions, as it is as well that your friends here, and the hunters you speak of, should testify to it. It is hardly likely that I shall hear any more of the matter; the Boers were clearly in the wrong, and in any case they would not be likely at the present moment, when the country is in a state very closely approaching insurrection, to seek redress in an English court. Fortunately 250 men of the 94th Regiment leave here to-morrow morning, on the way to Pretoria. Their road will, for some distance, be the same as yours; their colonel is at the present moment in the next room with several of his officers, and I will request permission for your waggons to follow his baggage-train. Thus you can keep with him until the road separates, by which time you will be well out of the district of the Boers who attacked you. You will, I suppose, go through Utrecht and keep the eastern road, as that will be shorter than going round by Standerton and Newcastle. If you will wait here for a few minutes, I will speak to the colonel." In a short time the magistrate returned, saying that Mr Harvey's six waggons might join the baggage-train of the 94th on the following morning. At eight o'clock the 94th marched from Leydenberg, and Mr Harvey's waggons fell in the rear of the column. As they had a considerable amount of baggage and stores, the column would not proceed at a faster rate than the ordinary pace of the bullock-train. When the column was once on the march, the colonel rode down the line and entered into conversation with Mr Harvey and the lads, who were riding with him, and after having heard the narrative of the fight with the Boers, he said to the lads, "You have had a baptism of fire early." Mr Harvey smiled. "They have had some very much more serious fighting in the country north of the Limpopo; besides, they were both present at Isandula, Kambula, and Ulundi." "Indeed!" the colonel said; "then they have seen fighting. Perhaps you will ride on with me to the head of the column again; we have a long day's march before us, and if your young friends will give us some of their experiences it will while away the time." The four cantered together to the head of the column, where the doctor and one or two other officers were riding. After a word or two of introduction the colonel asked the lads to tell them how they came to be at Isandula, and how they escaped to tell the tale. "You had better tell it, Dick," Tom said; "you are a better hand at talking than I." Dick accordingly proceeded to relate their adventures during the Zulu war, and the story excited great interest among the officers. When the column halted for the day, the colonel invited Mr Harvey and the lads to dine at the mess, and would not listen to any excuse on the ground that their clothes were better suited for travelling among the native tribes than for dining at a regimental mess. The dinner was a very pleasant one, and after the cloth had been removed and cigars were lit, Mr Harvey, at the colonel's request, related their adventures north of the Limpopo. "Your life is indeed an adventurous one," he said, when the trader had finished. "It needs endurance, pluck, coolness, and a steady finger on the trigger. You may truly be said, indeed, to carry your lives in your hands." "Our present journey has been an exceptionally adventurous one," Mr Harvey said, "and you must not suppose that we are often in the habit of fighting our way. I have indeed on several occasions been in very perilous positions, and some other evening, before we separate, I shall be glad, if it will interest you, to relate one or two of them." "By the way," the colonel said, when they took their leave, "remember, the word for the night is, `Newcastle.' You will probably be challenged several times by sentries before you get to your waggons, for, although there is no absolute insurrection at present, there is no saying when the Boers may break out. They will hardly think of attacking a body of troops marching peaceably along; still, it is as well to neglect no precautions. If you are challenged, `Who comes there?' you will reply, `Friends.' The sentry will then say, `Advance and give the word.' You walk forward and say, `Newcastle,' and you will pass all right." The march was continued for four days. At the end of this time they arrived at the spot where the direct road for Pieter-Maritzburg through Utrecht left that which they were following. "Look here, lads," Mr Harvey said; "this road will take you considerably out of your way. If you like you can follow the column for another couple of days. You will then cross the south road, and can there leave them and gallop on by yourselves to Standerton in one day, and home the next. That will take you back by the 23rd; whereas, if you go on with me, you will not be back by New Year's Day. We are getting now to a part of the colony where the English element is pretty strong, and the Boers are not likely to be troublesome; so I shall have no difficulty in passing down with the waggons. You can tell your fathers that we have had a most satisfactory trip, and I expect when I have sold our goods at Durban they will have good reason to be content." The lads gladly accepted the offer; they were longing to be at home again, and especially wished to be back by Christmas. The colonel on hearing of the arrangement heartily invited the lads to mess with the regiment for the time that they continued with them, and offered to have a spare tent pitched for their accommodation. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. A TERRIBLE JOURNEY. That evening Mr Harvey and the lads were again invited to dine at mess, and after dinner the colonel asked Mr Harvey if he would be good enough to tell them some of his adventures in the interior. "I have had so many," the trader said, "that I hardly know which would be most interesting. I have been many times attacked by the natives, but I do not know that any of these affairs were so interesting as the fight we had in the defile the other day. Some of the worst adventures which we have to go through are those occasioned by want of water. I have had several of these, but the worst was one which befell me on one of my earliest trips up the country. On this occasion I did not as usual accompany my father, but went with a trader named Macgregor, a Scotchman, as my father was ill at the time. He considered me too young to go by myself, and when he proposed to Macgregor that I should join him with the usual number of waggons he sent up, Macgregor objected, saying,--I have no doubt with justice,--that the double amount of goods would be more than could be disposed of. He added, however, that he should be glad if I would accompany him with a couple of waggons. It was; as it turned out, a very good thing for my father that his venture was such a small one. Macgregor was a keen trader; he understood the native character well, and was generally very successful in his ventures. His failing was that he was an obstinate, pig-headed man, very positive in his own opinions, and distrusting all advice given him. "Our trip had been a successful one. We penetrated very far in the interior, and disposed of all our goods. When we had done so, we started to strike down to Kimberley across a little-known and very sandy district. The natives among whom we were, endeavoured to dissuade Macgregor from making the attempt, saying that the season was a very dry one, that many of the pools were empty, and that there would be the greatest difficulty in obtaining water. Macgregor disregarded the advice. By taking the direct route south he would save some hundreds of miles. He said that other caravans had at different times taken this route in safety, and at the same time of the year. He insisted that the season had not been a particularly dry one, and that he was not going to be frightened by old women's tales. The natives were always croaking about something, but he did not mean to lose a month of his time for nothing. "Accordingly we started. The really bad part of our journey was about 150 miles across a sandy country, with low scrub. The bullocks, when driven to it, would eat the leaves of this scrub, so that we did not anticipate any difficulty in the way of forage. In the wet season many streams run across the country and find their way into the Limpopo. In summer they dry up, and water is only obtained in pools along their courses. There were twelve waggons in the caravan--ten belonging to Macgregor, and my two. I had with me a servant, a native, who had been for years in the employment of my father, a very faithful and trustworthy fellow. "At the end of the first day's march of fifteen miles we found water at the spot to which our native guide led us. The second day the pool was found to be dry. We got there early, having started before daybreak, for the heat was tremendous. On finding the pool empty I rode ten miles down the course of the stream, and Macgregor as far up it, but found no water, and on getting back to the camp the oxen were inspanned, and we made another march; here we found water, and halted next day. "So we went on, until we were half-way across the desert. Several of the marches had been double ones, the track was heavy from the deep sand, some of the oxen had died, and all were much reduced in strength. Although Macgregor was not a man to allow that he had been wrong, I saw that he was anxious, and before advancing he sent on a horseman and the native guide two days' journey to see how the water held out. On their return they reported that twenty miles in front there was a pool of good water, and that thirty miles farther there was a small supply, which was, however, rapidly drying up. Macgregor determined to push on. The first day's march was got through, although five or six more oxen dropped by the way. The second was a terrible march; I have never known a hotter day in South Africa, and one felt blinded and crushed by the heat. The weakened teams could scarcely draw the waggons along, and by nightfall but half the journey had been performed. The oxen were turned loose and allowed for an hour or two to crop the bush; then they were inspanned again. All night long we continued our march; when, just at sunrise, we got to the place where water had been found, the pool was empty--the two days' sun since the horseman had been there had completely dried it up. We set to work to dig a hole; but the sand was shallow, the rock lying but a foot or two below, and we only got a few buckets of water, but just enough to give a swallow to each of the oxen and horses. Again we searched far up and down the course of the stream, but without success; we dug innumerable holes in its bed, but without finding water. "We were still fifty miles from safety; but in that fifty miles the natives said that they did not think a drop of water would be found, as this was notoriously the driest point on the route. Half the oxen had now died, and Macgregor determined to leave all but two of the waggons behind, to harness teams of the strongest of those remaining, and to drive the rest alongside. We halted till night to allow the animals to feed, and then started. We got on fairly enough until daybreak, then the sun rose, and poured down upon us. It was a terrible day. No one spoke, and the creaking of the wheels of the waggons was the only sound to be heard. Every mile we went the numbers lessened, as the bullocks lay down to die by the way. My tongue seemed to cleave to the roof of my mouth, and the sun to scorch up my brain. I hardly took notice of what was going on around me, but let the reins hang loose on my horse's neck. Several times he stumbled, and at last fell heavily. I picked myself up from the sands, and saw that he was dying. The waggons had come to a standstill now, and I had, I saw, for the last quarter of a mile gone on alone. I looked at my watch; it was four o'clock, and I turned and walked slowly back to the waggons. The drivers had unroped the oxen, but most of them lay where they had halted, incapable of rising to their feet; others had tottered to the shade cast by the waggons, and had thrown themselves down there. The drivers were lying among them. As I came up Macgregor staggered towards me; he was chewing a handful of leaves. `I have been wrong, Harvey,' he said, in a hoarse voice, `and it has cost us all our lives. Say you forgive me, my boy.' `I forgive you heartily,' I said; `you thought it was for the best.' I don't remember much more. I lay down and wondered vaguely what had become of my man, whom I had not seen since we started on the previous evening. "The next thing I remember was that it was night. I got up on my feet and staggered to a bullock that I heard faintly groaning; I cut a vein in his neck and sucked the blood, and then started to walk; fortunately, as it turned out, I had not gone a hundred yards when a dizziness came over me, and I fell again to the ground. I must have lain there for some hours; when I became conscious, water was being poured between my lips. I soon recovered sufficiently to sit up, and found that it was my faithful man. When the caravan started from the last halting-place, he had seen that it was impossible for it to reach its journey's end, and although, like the rest, he was exhausted and worn out, he had started at full speed alone, and by morning reached water, having travelled fifty miles in the night. It was midday before he succeeded in finding a native kraal; then by promise of a large reward he induced forty men, each laden with a heavy skin of water, to start with him, and at three in the morning reached the camp; fortunately he stumbled across me just before he got there. "The assistance arrived in time. Two of the drivers were found to be dead, but Macgregor and the other hands, sixteen in number, were all brought round. The supply carried by the natives was sufficient to give an ample drink to the eighteen oxen which were still alive. A feed of maize was then given to each, but as they were too weak to drag even one of the waggons they were driven on ahead, and most of them got over the twenty-five miles which still separated them from water. We halted there a week, to allow the animals to recover; then, carrying skins of water for their supply on the way, they went back and brought in the two waggons, one at a time. With these I came down to the colony. Macgregor remained behind, and directly the rain set in went up with native cattle and brought down the other waggons, all the valuable contents of which, however, had in the intervening time been carried off by natives. It was a near squeak, wasn't it? Macgregor was never the same man again, and shortly after his return to Natal he sold off his waggons and went back to Scotland. Being young and strong I soon recovered from my privation." "Lions are very abundant in some parts of the interior, are they not, Mr Harvey?" one of the officers asked, after they had thanked the trader for his story. "Extraordinarily so," Mr Harvey replied; "in fact it has long been a puzzle among us how such vast quantities could find food--in no other country in the world could they do so; but here the abundance of deer is so great that the lions are able to kill vast numbers, without making any great impression upon them." "But I should not have thought," an officer said, "that a lion could run down a deer!" "He cannot," Mr Harvey said, "except for short distances. The South African lion is a lighter and more active beast than the northern lion, and can for the first hundred yards run with prodigious swiftness, taking long bounds like a cat. Stealing through the long grass, and keeping to leeward of the herd, he will crawl up to within a short distance unperceived, and then with half a dozen tremendous bounds he is among them before they have fairly time to get up their full speed. They hunt too in regular packs; twenty or thirty of them will surround a herd, and, gradually lessening their circle, close upon their affrighted prey, who stand paralysed with fear until the lions are fairly among them. "I was once surrounded by them, and had a very narrow escape of my life. I had left my waggons at a large native village, and had ridden-- accompanied only by my native servant--some fifty miles across the country to another tribe, to see whether they had lately been visited by any traders, and whether they had goods to dispose of. I reached the kraal in the morning, and the palaver with the chief as usual wasted the best part of the day; it was nearly dark when I started, but I was accustomed to ride by the light of the stars, and had no fear of missing my way. I had been only two hours on the road, when the sky became overcast, and half an hour later a tremendous storm burst. Having now no index for directing my way I found that it was useless to proceed; the plain was open, but I knew that a goodsized river ran a short distance to the north, so I turned my horse's head in that direction, knowing that on a river-bank I was likely to meet with trees. Several times I missed my way in the driving rain, for the wind shifted frequently, and that was of course the only guide I had. "At last, to my great satisfaction, I struck upon the river and kept along its bank until I came to a large clump of trees; here we unsaddled our horses, picked out a comparatively dry spot under a big tree, which stood just at the edge of the river, wrapped ourselves in our rugs, and prepared to pass the night as comfortably as we could. The river was high, and my only fear was that it might overflow its banks and set us afloat before morning. However, we had not been there long before the rain ceased, the sky cleared, and the stars came out again; but as the horses had done a long day's work on the previous day, I determined to remain where I was until morning. Having been in the saddle all the previous night, I slept heavily. The wind was still blowing strongly, and I suppose that the noise in the trees, and the lapping of the water by the bank close by, prevented my hearing the stamping of the horses, which, under ordinary circumstances, would certainly have warned me of the approaching danger. Suddenly I awoke with a terrific uproar. I sprang to my feet, but was instantly knocked down, and a beast, I knew to be a lion, seized me by the left shoulder. My revolver was, as always, in my belt; I drew it out, and fired into the brute's eye; his jaw relaxed, and I knew the shot was fatal. A terrible din was going on all round; there was light enough for me to see that both the horses had been pulled to the ground; two lions were rending the body of my servant, and others were approaching with loud roars. I sprang to my feet and climbed up into the tree, just as two more lions arrived upon the spot. My servant had not uttered a cry, and was, I have no doubt, struck dead at once. The horses ceased to struggle by the time I gained my tree. At least twenty lions gathered round, and growled and quarrelled over the carcases of the horses. When they had finished these, they walked round and round the tree, roaring horridly; some of them reared themselves against the trunk, as if they would try to climb it, but the lion is not a tree-climber, and I had not much fear that they would make the attempt. I hoped that in the morning they would move off; but they had clearly no intention of doing so, for, as it became daylight, they retired a short distance and then either lay down or sat upon their haunches in a semicircle fifty yards distant, watching me. "So the whole day passed; I had only the four shots left in my revolver, for my spare ammunition was in the holster of my saddle, and even had I had a dozen revolvers I could have done nothing against them. At night they again came up to the tree, and in hopes of frightening them off I descended to the lower branches, and fired my remaining shots at brutes rearing up against it. As I aimed in each case at the eye, and the muzzle of my pistol was within four feet of their heads, the shots were fatal; but the only result was that the lions withdrew for a short distance, and renewed their guard round the tree. "You will wonder perhaps why all this time I did not take to the water; but lions, although, like all the cat tribe, disliking water, will cross rivers by swimming, and they seemed so pertinacious that I feared they might follow me. Towards morning, however, I determined on risking it, and creeping out to the end of a branch which overhung the river I dropped in. The stream was running strong, and I kept under water, swimming down with it as hard as I possibly could. When I came up I glanced back at the tree I had quitted. The lions were gathered on the bank, roaring loudly and lashing their tails with every sign of excitement, looking at the water where they had seen me disappear. I have not the least doubt but that they would have jumped in after me, had I not dived. I took this in at a glance, and then went under again, and so continued diving until I was sure that I was beyond the sight of the lions; then I made for the bank as quickly as possible. The river swarmed with crocodiles, and had it not been for the muddiness of the water I should probably have been snapped up within a minute or two of entering it. "It was with a feeling of deep thankfulness that I crawled out and lay down on a clump of reeds half a mile beyond the spot where the lions were looking for me. When the sun got high I felt sure that they would have dispersed as usual, and returned to their shelter for the day, and I therefore started on foot, and reached my camp late at night. "The next day we got in motion, and when, three days later, we arrived at the kraal from which we had started, I rode over to the tree and recovered my revolver and saddles. Not even a bone remained of the carcases of the horses, or of my native attendant." "That was a very nasty adventure," the colonel said. "Is it a common thing, caravans being attacked by lions?" "A very common thing," the trader replied; "indeed in certain parts of the country such attacks are constantly made, and the persistency with which the lions, in spite of the severe lessons they have received of the deadly effect of fire-arms, yet continue to attack caravans is a proof that they must often be greatly oppressed by hunger." "Which do they seem to prefer," one of the officers asked, "human beings or cattle?" "They kill fifty oxen to one human being; but this probably arises from the fact that in the lion-country the drivers always sleep round large fires in the centre of the cattle. I think that by preference the lions attack the horses, because these are more defenceless; the cattle sometimes make a good fight. I have seen them when loose forming a circle with their heads outside, showing such a formidable line of horns that the lions have not ventured to attack them. Once or twice I have seen single oxen when attacked by solitary lions, come out victors in the assault. As the lion walked round and round, the bullock continued to face him, and I have then often seen them receive the spring upon their horns, and hurl the lion wounded and half-stunned yards away. Once I saw both die together--the bullock with one of his horns driven into the lion's chest, while the latter fixed his teeth in the bullock's neck, and tore away with his claws at its side, until both fell dead together." "It must be a grand country for sport," one of the officers said. "It is that!" the trader replied. "I wonder sometimes that gentlemen in England, who spend great sums every year in deer-forests and grouse-moors, do not more often come out for a few months' shooting here. The voyage is a pleasant one, and although the journey up country to the interior of course takes some time, the trip would be a novel one, and every comfort could be carried in the waggons; while the sport, when the right country was reached, would be more abundant and varied than in any other part of the world. Lions may be met, deer of numerous kinds, giraffes, hippopotami, crocodiles, and many other animals, not to mention an occasional gallop after ostriches. The expenses, moreover, would not be greater than the rental and keep of a deer-forest." "Yes, I am surprised myself that more sportsmen do not come out here. In odd times, too, they could get good fishing." "Excellent," the trader replied; "some of the rivers literally swarm with fish." "When I get back to England," the colonel said, "I must advise some of my friends to try it. As you say, there are scores of men who spend their thousands a year on deer-forests, grouse-shooting, and horseracing, and it would be a new sensation for them to come out for a few months' shooting in the interior of Africa. I must not tell them too much of the close shaves that you and your friends have had. A spice of danger adds to the enjoyment, but the adventures that you have gone through go somewhat beyond the point." CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. THE BOER INSURRECTION. The next morning the lads bade farewell to Mr Harvey and the three hunters, and then rode on with the regiment. The day passed as quietly as the preceding ones had done. On the 20th the column was marching along a road commanded on both sides by rising ground. The troops as usual were marching at ease; one company was ahead of the line of waggons, two companies marched in straggling order by the side of the long teams, and the fourth company formed the rearguard. Suddenly, without the slightest warning, a flash of fire burst from the edge of the rise at either side. Numbers of the men fell, and a scene of the wildest confusion ensued. Some of the young soldiers ran for shelter underneath the waggons; others hastily loaded and fired in the direction of their unseen foes. The colonel and officers strove to steady the men, and to lead them up the slope to attack the Boers; but so deadly was the fire of the latter, and the men fell in such numbers, that the colonel soon saw that resistance was hopeless. Many of the officers were killed or wounded by the first fire, and in five minutes after the first shot was fired 120 men were killed or wounded; and as the rest could not be got together to charge up the slope under the deadly fire of the Boers, the colonel, who was himself wounded, surrendered with the survivors to the Boers. Two or three mounted officers only succeeded in getting through. When the fire opened, Dick and Tom at once threw themselves off their horses, and, unslinging their rifles, opened fire. When they saw the bewilderment and confusion, and how fast the men were dropping under the fire of the Boers, Dick said to his friend,-- "It is all up, Tom; it is simply a massacre. We will wait for a minute or two, and then mount and make a dash for it." Their horses were both lying down beside them, for the lads had taught them to do this at the word of command, as it enabled them often, when out hunting, to conceal themselves in a slight depression from the sight of an approaching herd of deer. Thus they, as well as their masters, remained untouched by the storm of bullets. The Boers almost concealed from view, steadily picked off the men. "It is of no use, Tom; let us mount and make a bolt for it. They must surrender in a few minutes, or not a man will be left alive." They gave the word to their horses, and these leaped to their feet, and, as was their habit in the chase, dashed off at full speed the instant their masters were in the saddle. Bending low on the necks of their horses, the lads rode at the top of their speed. Several bullets came very close to them, but keeping closely side by side, to lessen the mark they presented to the enemy, they dashed on untouched. Looking round, when they had proceeded some little distance, they saw that four Boers had mounted and were in hot pursuit. Their horses were good ones, in capital condition, and had done easy work for the last few days. The Boers also were well mounted, and for three or four miles the chase continued, the Dutch from time to time firing; but the lads were a good four hundred yards ahead, a distance beyond that at which the Boers are accustomed to shoot, or which their guns will carry with any accuracy. "We must stop this," Dick said, as they breasted an ascent. "If they should happen to hit one of our horses, it would be all up with us. Dismount, Tom, as soon as you are over the rise." As soon as they were out of sight of their pursuers, they reined up their horses and dismounted. They again made the animals lie down, and, throwing themselves behind them, rested their rifles upon them. The Boers, they had noticed, were not all together--two of them being about fifty yards ahead of the others. At full speed the leading pursuers dashed for the rise; as they came fairly in view, they were but fifty yards distant. The lads and their horses were almost hidden in the long grass, and the Boers did not for a moment notice them. When they did, they instantly reined in their horses, but it was too late. The lads had their rifles fixed upon them, the two shots rang out together, both the Boers fell lifeless from the saddle, and the Dutch horses dashed back along the track by which they had come. The lads instantly reloaded; but they waited in vain for the coming of the other pursuers; these on seeing the horses galloping towards them after the shots had been fired had at once turned and rode off. After waiting for a little time to be sure that they were not going to be attacked, the friends mounted and rode on. They did not retrace their steps to see what had become of the other pursuers, as it was possible that these had imitated their own tactics, and were lying down by their horses, waiting to get a shot at them, should they ride back. They now continued their journey at an easy canter, and late in the evening entered the little town of Standerton. Standerton presented a scene of unusual excitement; teams of waggons filled its streets, armed men moved about and talked excitedly, numbers of cattle and horses under the charge of Kaffirs occupied every spare place near the town--it was an exodus. The loyal Boers, who were at that time in an absolute majority throughout the colony, were many of them moving across the frontier, to escape the conflict which they saw approaching. The more enlightened among these people had been fully conscious of the short-comings of their own government, prior to the annexation to England. Short as had been the period that had elapsed since that event, the benefits which had accrued to the country had been immense. The value of land had risen fourfold; English traders had opened establishments in every village, and the Dutch obtained far higher prices than before for their produce, with a corresponding reduction in that of the articles which they had to purchase. Peaceable men were no longer harassed by being summoned to take part in commandos or levies for expeditions against the natives. The feeling of insecurity from the threatening attitude of the Zulus and other warlike neighbours was at an end, as was the danger of a general rising among the natives in the colony, who outnumbered the Boers by ten to one. Thus the wiser heads among the Boers bitterly regretted the movement which had commenced for the renewed independence of the country. They did not believe that it would be successful, because they could not suppose that England, having, by the repeated assertions of its representatives that the annexation was final and absolute, induced thousands of Englishmen to purchase land, erect trading establishments, and embark their capital in the country, could ever desert and ruin them. They foresaw, moreover, that even should the rebellion be successful it would throw the country back a century, the rising trade would be nipped in the bud, the English colonists would leave the country, the price of land would again fall to a nominal sum, the old difficulties of raising taxes to carry on the government would recur, and restless spirits would again be carrying out lawless raids upon the natives, and involving them in difficulties and dangers. Farther north the loyal portion of the Dutch remained quiet during the trouble; but around Standerton, Utrecht, and other places near the frontier large numbers of them crossed into Natal, with their wives and families, their cattle and horses, and there remained until the end of the war. The English settlers, almost to a man, abandoned their farms, and either retired into Natal or assembled in the towns and formed themselves with the traders there into corps for their defence. The manner in which throughout the war these little bodies uniformly succeeded in repulsing every attempt of the Boers to capture the towns showed how easily the latter could have been defeated, had the British government acted with energy when a sufficient force had been collected on the frontier, instead of losing heart and surrendering at discretion. It is not too much to say that, had the British government stood altogether aloof, the colony of Natal, with the English settlers and loyal Boers, could single-handed have put down the insurrection in the Transvaal. The news which the lads brought to Standerton of the unprovoked attack upon, and massacre of, the 94th caused a wild feeling of excitement. A crowd rapidly gathered round the lads, and so great was the anxiety to hear what had taken place that Dick was obliged to mount on a waggon, and to relate the whole circumstances to the crowd. Englishmen living at home in the happy conviction that their own is the greatest of nations can form little idea of the feelings of men in a colony like the Cape, where our rule is but half-consolidated, and where a Dutch population, equal in numbers, are sullenly hostile, or openly insolent. The love of the old flag and the pride of nationality are there very different feelings from the dull and languid sentiment at home; and the news of this bloody massacre, at a time when hostilities had not commenced on either side, and when no overt act of rebellion had taken place, caused every eye to flash, and the blood to run hotly in men's veins. Those who had hitherto counselled that the English settlers should remain neutral in the contest were now as eager as the rest in their demands that the place should be defended. There was but one company of British troops in the town; but within an hour of the story of the massacre being known 150 men had put down their names to form a corps; officers were chosen, and these at once waited upon the captain in command of the troops, and placed themselves under his orders. The next morning scores of men set to work throwing up a breastwork round the place, cutting holes in the walls and houses for musketry, and preparing to defend the little town to the last against any attack of the Boers. The moment that he had heard from the lads of the disaster to the 94th, the officer in command despatched a horseman to carry the news at full speed to Sir G. Pomeroy Colley, who was advancing towards Newcastle with the troops from Natal. The same night a messenger rode in, saying that the Boers had raised their flag at Pretoria, had killed several English there, and were preparing to attack the little British force encamped at a small distance from the town; that at Potchefstroom they had also attacked the troops; and that the insurrection was general. The next morning the lads mounted and proceeded on their way, and reached home late that evening, to the immense delight of their parents. The news of the rising created a fever of excitement throughout Natal. H.M.S. _Boadicea_ landed a rocket-battery and a naval brigade, who at once marched up towards the front; and Sir G.P. Colley, who commanded the forces, hurried every available man towards Newcastle, as the Boers were advancing in force towards the frontier, and were preparing to invade Natal. Every day brought fresh news from the Transvaal. The little towns where the British were centred, isolated and alone as they were in the midst of a hostile country, in every case prepared to defend themselves to the last; and at Potchefstroom, Wackerstroom, Standerton, Leydenberg, and other places the Boers, attempting to carry the towns were vigorously repulsed. The news that a large force of Boers was marching against Newcastle caused great excitement in that portion of Natal; here large numbers of Dutch were settled, and the colonists were consequently divided into hostile camps. Large numbers of British colonists sent in their names as ready to serve against the Boers; but the English military authorities unfortunately declined to avail themselves of their services, on the ground that they did not wish to involve the colonists in a struggle which was purely an imperial one. For, were they to do so, the Dutch throughout the colony and in the Orange Free State might also join in the struggle, and the whole of South Africa be involved in a civil war. There was much in this view of the case; but had a strong corps of colonists been attached to the force of General Colley, it is pretty certain that it would have escaped the disaster which subsequently befell it; for, being for the most part excellent shots and accustomed to the chase, they would have met the Boers with their own tactics, and thus, as the English settlers in the garrisons in the Transvaal showed themselves far better fighters than their Dutch antagonists, so Natal, where large numbers of young colonists had served against the Zulus, Secoceni, Moirosi, and in other native troubles, could, if permitted, have furnished a contingent which would have entirely altered the complexion of the struggle. Upon the very day after the return of their sons, Mr Humphreys and his friend Jackson, furious at the two attacks which had been made by the Boers upon the parties accompanied by their sons, rode into Newcastle and inscribed their names in the list of those willing to serve against the enemy. They also offered their waggons and cattle to the authorities, to facilitate the advance of the British troops. This offer was at once accepted, and it was arranged that on the 26th the carts still on the farm should go down to Pieter-Maritzburg, and Mr Humphreys wrote a letter to Mr Harvey, telling him that he was, upon his arrival, after clearing the waggons of the goods that he had brought down from the interior, to place them at once at the disposal of the authorities for the transport of military stores to Newcastle. Bill Harrison was to go down with the carts, and to be in charge of them and the waggons on their upward march. Christmas was held with great festivity, to celebrate the return of the lads. Mr and Mrs Jackson and Tom, and four or five young settlers in neighbouring farms were invited by Mr Humphreys to spend the day with him. At his request they came early, and after the service of the church had been read by him the day was spent in festivity. The young men rode races on their horses, shot at marks for prizes of useful articles, presented by Mr Humphreys, and at five o'clock sat down to a Christmas dinner. The holly, the mistletoe, and above all the roaring fire were absent, but the great kitchen was decked with boughs. The roast beef, plum-pudding, and mince-pies were equal to the best at home, and no pains were spared to recall home customs on the occasion. At one o'clock there had been an equally good dinner given to the labourers and their families belonging to the farms of Mr Humphreys and his guests, and in the evening all assembled in the great kitchen, and to the tunes of a violin, played by one of the young colonists, a merry dance was kept up for some hours. The next morning Harrison started with the remaining waggon and several carts for Pieter-Maritzburg, and the lads were supposed to resume regular work on the farms. CHAPTER NINETEEN. THE GARRISONS IN THE TRANSVAAL. The excitement of the time was, however, too great to permit the lads to settle down quietly, and every day they rode over to Newcastle to gather the latest news. The towns which held out in the Transvaal were Pretoria, Potchefstroom, Standerton, Wackerstroom, Leydenberg, Rustenberg, and Marabastadt. At Pretoria, the capital, Mr Edgerton and Sergeant Bradley of the 94th Regiment, who escaped from the massacre, brought in the news, and on the following day the authorities proclaimed martial law. Colonel Bellairs, C.B., was commandant, and the military authorities at once decided that the town must be abandoned, as, with its gardens and scattered houses, the extent was too large to be defended. A military camp was therefore formed outside the town, and to this the whole of the loyal inhabitants moved out. The civilians consisted of 975 men, 676 women, 718 children, 1331 servants and natives,--total 3700. In addition to these were the British troops. All horses were at once taken for the volunteers, among whom most of the white residents were numbered. The effective fighting force was about 1000--made up of four companies of the 2nd battalion, 21st Fusiliers; three companies of the 94th; 140 mounted volunteers, known as the Pretoria Horse; 100 mounted volunteers, known as Norris's Horse, and the Pretoria Rifles, an infantry volunteer corps, 500 strong. For the reception of the women and children intrenchments were thrown up, connecting the jail and loretto convent, and the defence of this point was intrusted to six companies of the Pretoria Rifles, under Major Le Mesurier. The camp was distant about a third of a mile from the jail and convent, and the approaches were commanded by three little forts erected on eminences around. Several skirmishes took place in the last fortnight in December, but the first sharp engagement occurred on the 6th of January. Colonel Gildea took out a force of twenty officers, 450 men, a gun, and fifteen waggons to bring in some forage and attack a Boer position at Pienness River, about twelve miles off. Norris's Horse scouted in front, and the Pretoria Pioneers were detached to cut off the retreat of the Boers. The Boers were easily turned out of their position. Their defence was feeble; but several English were killed, owing to the Boers treacherously hoisting a flag of truce, upon which the English skirmishers, who were creeping forward, stood up, thinking that the Boers surrendered; they then fired, and several of our men were killed or wounded. The Boers being largely reinforced came forward to the attack, but were smartly repulsed. Our loss was four men killed and one officer (Captain Sampson); fourteen men were wounded. On the 15th another force started to attack a Boer laager, but found the enemy in such strength that they retired without serious fighting. On the 12th of February an ineffective attempt was made to take the Red Horse Kraal, seven miles from Pretoria, on the road towards Rustenberg. The force consisted of twenty-two officers and 533 men. The carabineers under Captain Sanctuary advanced and attacked a large stone building, 1000 yards from the kraal. They were received by a very heavy fire from the Boers, who advanced in such strength that Colonel Gildea thought it prudent to fall back. This movement, covered by the horse, was effected, the infantry taking no part in the fight. Captain Sanctuary and eight men were killed; Colonel Gildea and eight others severely wounded. No further sortie was made during the continuance of the war, but the Boers did not venture to attack the British position. The town of Potchefstroom stood in the district most thickly inhabited by the Boers. On the 14th of December, when it was reported that a large number of Boers were approaching, Colonel Winsloe, who commanded, sent Captain Falls with twenty men of the 21st Fusiliers, twenty-six men of a corps commanded by Commandant Raaff, and sixteen civilian volunteers to hold the court-house. The jail was garrisoned by twenty fusiliers, and the fort and earthwork, of some thirty yards square, situated about 1000 yards from the court-house, was held by 140 men of the fusiliers and a detachment of artillerymen, with two 9-pounders, under Major Thornhill. The three posts were provisioned as well as circumstances permitted. On the 15th 500 mounted Boers entered the town. On the 16th fighting began in earnest, and the firing was hot on both sides. A very heavy fire was kept up on the prison and court-house. Half an hour after it commenced Captain Falls was killed. For the next sixty hours the firing continued, night and day, and one of the little garrison was killed and nine wounded. During the night the Boers broke into a stable close to the court-house, and from a distance of eight yards a heavy fire was kept up. During this time Colonel Winsloe in the fort had given what aid he could to the garrison of the courthouse by shelling the building from which the Dutch were firing upon it. On the evening of the 17th he signalled to the garrison to retire on the fort; but, being completely surrounded, they were unable to do this. On the morning of the 18th the Boers attempted to set fire to the thatch roof of the court-house; and as nothing in that case could have saved the garrison, Major Clarke and Commandant Raaff agreed to surrender on the terms that the lives of all those in the court-house should be spared. This was agreed to; but two loyal Boers, who had been captured at an outpost, were tried, condemned to death, and shot. On the 21st of December the garrison of the prison, falling short of provisions, evacuated it, and succeeded in gaining the fort without loss. The Boers occupied the post, but were driven out by the shell-fire from the fort. Mr Nelson, the magistrate, was taken prisoner in the town by the Boers, and kept in close confinement. Three of his sons got into the fort, and took part in its defence. Two of them, on a dark night, on the 19th of February, got through the Boer lines, and carried despatches from Colonel Winsloe to Newcastle, arriving there on the 5th of March, after many perils, not the least of which was swimming the Vaal River when in full flood. In the meantime the attack on the fort itself had been uninterrupted. The very first evening the watercourse from which the supply of water to the camp was taken was cut. A well had already been commenced and sunk to a depth of twenty feet, but no water had been obtained. Fortunately the water-barrels had been filled an hour or two before the supply was cut, but these only contained two quarts of water per man. The weather was terribly hot, and the work of the men in the intrenchments was very severe. On the night of the 17th Lieutenant Lindsell, with some of the drivers of the Royal Artillery, acting as cavalry, and a company of the 21st, went out to fill the water-casks from a stream half a mile away from the camp, and fortunately succeeded in doing so, the Boers not being on the look-out in that direction. This gave a further supply of two quarts per man. The work of sinking the well had been continued without intermission, and a depth of thirty-six feet had been attained, but still no water was met with. A reward of 5 pounds was offered to the first party who struck water, and the soldiers off duty commenced digging in several places. At last, to the intense relief of the garrison, a party of Royal Artillery men found water at a depth of nine feet. The well soon filled, and yielded plenty of water during the remainder of the siege. A desultory fire was kept up until the 1st of January, when, the Boers being strongly reinforced, 2000 men surrounded the fort at a distance of 500 yards, and opened a heavy fire upon it. They did not, however, venture to attack the little garrison. On the 5th they occupied the cemetery, 300 yards from the fort, but Lieutenant Lindsell with a party of volunteers went out by moonlight and drove them out. The Boers then commenced making trenches, gradually approaching the fort; but on the 22nd Lieutenant Dalrymple Hay went out, carried the position from which the Boers had been most troublesome, and captured four prisoners, some guns, ammunition, and trenching-tools. From that time, although the Boers continued to throw up trenches, they contented themselves with a desultory fire. The siege continued for three months and five days; at the end of that time the whole of the provisions were exhausted. Fever, dysentery, and scurvy had broken out, and many of the garrison had died. Out of 213 men eighty-three had been killed, wounded, or taken prisoners. In fact an armistice between the armies had at that time been proclaimed, but Cronje, the Boer who commanded the attack, treacherously concealed the fact from the garrison. When only three days' quarter-rations remained the garrison surrendered the fort, on the condition that they should be allowed to march down to Natal. Messengers had reached Cronje nine days before with news of the armistice, but although he was aware of this he continued the siege to the end, the firing during the last week being heavier than at any time during the siege,--on two days alone 150 round shot fell on the fort. The Boers were afterwards obliged to allow that the surrender of the fort had been obtained by treachery, and to agree to the garrison being reinstated. Standerton is the first town of any size on the main road from Natal to Pretoria, and is situated on the north bank of the Vaal River. On the outbreak of hostilities two companies of the 94th and one of the 88th marched from Wackerstroom to this town, and Major Montague of the 94th Regiment arrived from Natal to take the command. The total strength of the garrison consisted of about 350 soldiers and seventy civilians. The Landdrost, J.C. Krogh, remained loyal and assisted in the defence, three forts were erected on eminences round the town, two outworks and many breastworks and rifle-pits were dug, houses interfering with the line of fire were pulled down, and other buildings in suitable positions were barricaded and loop-holed. The centre point of defence was a building known as Fort Alice, 800 yards from the town, and a military camp was formed on a height one mile and a quarter from this point. Preparations were made to blow up some of the buildings, should the Boers carry the town, mines being dug and laid to the fort. A good store of provisions was collected. On the 29th a scout on a hill signalled a large number of Boers were approaching Erasmus Farm, three miles distant from Standerton. Captain Cassell, with sixteen mounted volunteers, went out to reconnoitre. Two or three scouts were thrown out, and these arrived within 600 yards of the farm; suddenly a number of Boers made their appearance, and Mr G.B. Hall, one of the mounted volunteers, gallantly tried to cross their line to warn his comrades of the coming danger. Galloping in front of the Boers, his horse was shot under him; taking shelter behind it, he opened fire on the enemy, and so attracted the attention of his party. One man could not long resist 300, and Hall was soon killed. The alarm, however, had been given in time, and the mounted men fell back on the camp, exchanging shots with the enemy. The Boers now took up a position 600 yards from the camp, and kept up a heavy fire. Skirmishes occurred daily, and the enemy harassing the garrison from a height called Standerton Kop, Major Montague caused a dummy-gun, mounted on two waggon-wheels, to be placed in the intrenchments; the sight of this frightened the Boers off Standerton Kop. On the 7th of January a Swazi, named Infofa, who had greatly distinguished himself by his bravery in the Secoceni War, but was now undergoing a term of penal servitude for culpable homicide, performed an act of singular bravery. The Boers had during the night erected a small earthwork on the outside of the Vaal River; 400 yards nearer the town stood a house, and fearing that this might be occupied by the Putch, it was determined to destroy it. Infofa with a party of Kaffirs volunteered for the duty; he crossed the river with his party, and the Kaffirs began to pull down the house. Infofa, however, took his gun, and marched boldly away to the Boer earthwork, 400 yards distant, to the astonishment of the lookers-on. It happened that at the moment no Boers were present in the works, and the man reached it without a shot being fired at him; inside he found some tools, and with these he deliberately set to work and levelled the breastwork; this accomplished, he returned to the party. Until the end of the war the Boers were unable to make any impression upon Standerton, and whenever they approached too closely the garrison sallied out and drove them off. At Leydenberg fifty men of the 94th, under Lieutenant Long, had been left, when the four companies under Colonel Anstruther had marched away. The people of the town, when the news of the rising arrived, offered to defend themselves with the troops against attacks; but Lieutenant Long declined to accept the offer. There were in the town 220 women and children, and only thirty-four white men who could be relied on; there were no defences and no water-supply, and as Lieutenant Long knew that three or four months must elapse before a relieving force could arrive, he decided that it would only cost the townspeople their lives and property were they to attempt to defend the place. He therefore advised them to remain neutral, while he with his fifty soldiers defended the fort. This they did, and the commandant of the Boer force, Piet Steyn, caused their property to be respected when he entered the town with his troops. For three months Lieutenant Long defended the fort gallantly against all attacks. At one time the enemy set fire to the thatch roof of one of the buildings, but the soldiers succeeded in extinguishing it, although the Boers kept up a heavy fire; during the night the defenders stripped off the roofs of the remaining thatch buildings, and so prevented a renewal of this form of attack. The Boers cut off the water-supply, but the garrison sunk wells, and succeeded in reaching water in time. The casualties among the fifty men during the siege were three killed and nineteen wounded. At the end of the war a general order was published, conferring the highest praise upon Lieutenant Long and his little garrison, for the bravery and endurance which they had shown in maintaining for three months a close siege, and this without any hope of relief or succour. At the conclusion of the war Lieutenant Long was so disgusted at the humiliating terms of the treaty, and the surrender to the Boers, that he resigned his commission in the army. Marabadstadt, though called a village, consists of only seven or eight houses. Sixty men of the 94th, under Captain Brook, formed the garrison which was stationed there to keep order after the Secoceni War, as no less than 500,000 natives inhabit the surrounding district. Fortunately the races were being held at the time when the news of the massacre of the 94th arrived, and the English inhabitants of the neighbourhood, who were present, at once responded to the call of Captain Brook to aid in the defence, and thirty white men and fifty half-castes enrolled themselves as volunteers. The Boers attacked in considerable force, having with them two cannons; but the fort held out until the end of the war, the garrison making many sorties when the Boers brought up their guns too close. At Rustenberg and Wackerstroom a successful defence was also maintained throughout the war by the British and loyalists; but no incidents of importance marked the siege of those places. CHAPTER TWENTY. LAING'S NECK. On the 24th of January General Colley's little column, consisting of the 58th, a battalion of the 60th, a small naval brigade, 170 mounted infantry, and six guns, moved out from Newcastle; they took with them an amount of baggage-train altogether out of proportion to their force, as in addition to their own baggage and ammunition they were taking up a considerable amount of the latter for the use of the troops besieged in the various towns in the Transvaal. Mr Humphreys and Jackson rode over to Newcastle to see them start, and the lads sat chatting to them on their horses, as the column filed by. "I don't like the look of things, father," Dick said, "and if you had seen the way the Boers polished off the 94th, I am sure you wouldn't like it either. If we are attacked by them, the troops would, for the most part, be wanted to guard this huge baggage-train, and I am sure, from what I have seen of the Boers, the only way to thrash them is to attack them quickly and suddenly. If you let them attack you, you are done for. Their shooting is ten times as good as that of the troops; they are accustomed, both in hunting and in their native wars, to depend each man on himself, and they would hang round a column like this, pick the men off at long distances, and fall upon them in hollows and bushes; while, whenever our fellows tried to take the offensive, they would mount their horses and ride away, only to return and renew the attack as soon as the troops fell back to the waggons. Besides, with such a train of waggons we can only crawl along, and the Boers will have time to fortify every position. I wonder, at any rate, that General Colley does not push forward in light marching-order and drive the Boers at once out of Natal, and cross the river into the Transvaal; then he would have a flat, open country before him, and could bring the waggons up afterwards." "What you say seems right enough, Dick," his father answered; "but General Colley has the reputation of being an excellent officer." "I have no doubt that he is an excellent officer, father; but he has had no experience whatever in the Boers' style of fighting; he knows that they have often been defeated by natives, and I fancy he does not value them highly enough. They cannot stand a quick, sudden attack, and that's how the natives sometimes defeat them, but at their own game of shooting from behind rocks I believe that they are more than a match for regular troops. However, we shall see. As I am not going as a combatant I shall be able to look on quietly, and fortunately the Boers are not like Zulus, and there is no fear of non-combatants and prisoners being massacred. If there were, I tell you fairly, father, that I would cry off, and let the waggons go without me, for I do believe that things will not turn out well." "Well, I hope you are wrong, Dick. But you have seen so much fighting in this country, during the last two years, that your opinion is certainly worth something. However, there is one satisfaction, there are a number of troops now landing at Durban and on the march up; so that if this little force does get a check, it will soon be retrieved. Now, good-bye, lad; mind, if there is an attack on the waggons, take as little part in it as you can, and stick to the position of non-combatants. If they would have had us as volunteers, we would have done our best; but as they have declined to accept the offer of the colonists, let them fight it out their own way. If they get beaten and the Boers swarm into Natal, as in that case they certainly will do, the colonists will take the matter in hand by themselves, and if we don't send the Dutchmen packing back faster than they come, I am a Dutchman myself." Had Sir George Colley pushed on rapidly with his column, he would have passed all the points at which the Boers could have taken up strong defensive positions, before they could gather in force to oppose him, as he had the choice of three or four different lines of advance, and until the one by which he would travel was known, the Boer army was forced to remain inactive, awaiting his disposition. As soon, however, as he had left Newcastle, and it was known by them that he had started along the line of road to the west of Newcastle, they moved their whole force to oppose him, and took post on a position known as Laing's Neck, at a spot where the road had to cross over a steep and difficult ridge. Here they set to work to throw up intrenchments, and the leisurely, and indeed dilatory, advance of the British gave them ample time for this. Although the distance from Newcastle to Laing's Neck was but twenty-five miles, and the column, unimpeded by baggage, could by a forced march have seized the position on the very day of their leaving Newcastle, and long before the Boers could have moved their army to reinforce the little body who occupied the position as corps of observation, no less than six days elapsed before Sir George Colley's force arrived before Laing's Neck. This time was spent in frequent halts, in improving the roads, bridging the streams, and other similar operations, all useful enough in their way, but fatal to the success of a flying column, whose object was to strike a sudden blow at the enemy, and to secure the road and passes as far as the frontier, in order to facilitate the march of the main column of invasion, which was on its way up from the coast. Dick and Tom chafed under the long delays, and twice rode home and spent a day with their parents. At last, however, the column was in front of the enemy's position. The Boers, who were some 3000 strong, held a strong position on the line of the crest of the ridge, with breastworks thrown up in front. The total force of Sir George Colley consisted of but 870 infantry, together with the mounted men and guns; and to attack such a position, with a chance of success, every man should have been sent against the intrenchments. General Colley, however, seems at the last moment to have been alarmed for the safety of his baggage, which was menaced by parties of Boers on his left flank. He therefore prepared to attack with only five companies of the 58th--that is, but little more than 250 men, keeping the whole of the rest of the infantry in reserve, but ordering the mounted infantry to assist in the attack--a service which, upon such ground, they were altogether unfitted to perform. The result of such an arrangement as this was inevitable. Tom and Dick could scarcely believe their eyes when they saw this handful of men advancing up the steep hill, at whose summit was a force more than ten times as numerous, and composed of some of the finest marksmen in the world. The six English guns opened fire to cover the advance, and the 58th went gallantly up the hill As soon as they approached the crest, a tremendous fire of musketry was opened upon them by the Boers lying behind the intrenchments. The men were literally swept away by the fire. Gallantly led by their officers, they pressed forward until within a few yards of the breastworks; then the Boers leapt to their feet, sprang over the works and fell upon them. Colonel Deane, Major Poole, Lieutenant Elwes, and Lieutenant Bailey were killed, and no less than 180 of the little force were killed, wounded, or taken prisoners. Few even of the survivors would have escaped, had not the mounted infantry, who had ascended the spur at a point farther to the right, made a gallant charge along the crest of the hill and checked the pursuit. The main body of the British advanced a short distance to make a demonstration, and prevent the Boers from following up their success. The whole column then fell back four miles, to the ground which they had occupied the night before. The gallantry displayed by the 58th and mounted infantry was the sole redeeming feature in the discreditable affair of Laing's Neck, where defeat had been rendered almost certain by the previous hesitation and delays, and was ensured by the folly of sending a mere handful of men to attack such a position. As the British fell back, the Boers advanced, and at nightfall placed themselves on the road between the camp and Newcastle, entirely cutting the force off from its base, and threatening both them and the town of Newcastle. Several days passed, the attitude of the Boers became more and more threatening, and General Colley determined at all hazards to open the way back to Newcastle. On the morning of the 8th of February he moved out with five companies of the 60th rifles, two field and two mountain-guns, and a detachment of mounted infantry; Dick and Tom obtained leave to ride back with the mounted detachment. At a commanding post near the River Ingogo Sir George Colley left two mountain-guns and a company of rifles as a garrison, and moved forward with the rest of the column. The River Ingogo runs at the bottom of a deep ravine. Crossing this the English force mounted to the top of the opposite crest, but they had gone but a short distance farther when they were attacked on all sides by the Boers. The troops were ordered at once to take shelter among the boulders and bushes, while the two guns from the top of the eminence opened fire with shell upon the enemy. Dick and Tom sought shelter with the rest, making their horses lie down beside them, and were soon as hotly engaged as the Rifles around them in answering the heavy fire of the Boers. The fight began at twelve o'clock, and raged without intermission for six hours; sometimes the Boers attacked on one side of the position, sometimes upon another. The ground was broken and thickly strewn with boulders and bushes, and favoured by these the Boers crept up sometimes close to the position held by the English. So accurate was their shooting that none of the defenders could show his head above shelter for a moment, and it was as much as they could do to prevent the enemy from carrying the position at a rush. The 60th fought with the greatest coolness and steadiness, and, numerous as were the enemy, they could not muster up courage for the rush which would have assuredly overwhelmed the little party that they were attacking. The two English guns could render but small service, the men being shot down as fast as they stood up to load, and every officer, driver, gunner, and horse was killed or wounded within half an hour after the action commenced. So incessant indeed was the rain of balls that the guns after the action were spotted with bullet-marks so thickly that it would have been difficult to place the tip of the finger upon a place unstruck by a ball. When darkness put a stop to the fight 160 men--more than two-thirds of the force--were killed or wounded. Among the former were Captain MacGregor of the staff, Captain Green of the Royal Artillery, and Lieutenants Green and O'Connell of the 60th; while Lieutenants Pixney, Parsons, Twistlewaite and Haworth, all of the 60th, were wounded. Had the Boers taken advantage of the cover of darkness to steal forward, they must have annihilated the little force; but they believed that they had them in their power, for the rain had fallen heavily, the Ingogo had risen, and was, they thought, unfordable. General Colley ascertained, however, that it was stilt possible to cross, and with the greatest silence the survivors moved off from their position, the storm helping to conceal the movement from the Boers. Very quietly they moved down to the stream, and with the greatest difficulty succeeded in crossing; then picking up on their way the company and guns which had been left on the eminence beyond, the column reached camp in safety. In the meantime reinforcements had been pushing forward from the sea as fast as possible, and on the 17th the column under Sir Evelyn Wood arrived at Newcastle, to the great joy of its inhabitants. For days an attack by the Boers had been expected, intrenchments had been thrown up round the great convoy which had been collected to advance with the force, and all the inhabitants who could bear arms, and many settlers from the surrounding country, had come in to aid in the defence, should the Boers attack it. The arrival of the relieving column ensured the safety of the town, and the Boers between Newcastle and General Coney's little camp at once fell back to their old position on Laing's Neck, leaving the road open. General Colley and his staff rode in from Prospect Hill, the name of the camp, and had a consultation with General Wood. The 92nd Regiment marched out and reinforced General Colley's column. The Boers' position at Laing's Neck was commanded by a lofty and rugged mountain, called Majuba Hill, on its right, and the occupation of this hill by the British would render the position untenable. It would have been an admirable military movement to seize this hill when the whole force was collected at the camp in readiness to advance, as, with their flank turned and a force advancing for a direct attack, the Boers must at once have retreated, but General Colley most unfortunately desired to retrieve the two defeats he had suffered, by compelling the Boers to fall back, before the arrival on the scene of Sir Evelyn Wood with the main body. He believed, no doubt, and with reason, that Majuba Hill once captured would be impregnable against any attack which might be made against it. Accordingly, on the night of the 26th, with twenty officers and 627 men drawn from the 58th, 60th, 92nd, and naval brigade, he started from the camp with the intention of seizing the hill. The night was a dark one, and the march across the unknown country difficult in the extreme. The intervening ground was cut up by steep valleys and rapid ascents, and for hours the troops struggled up and down these places, many of which would have been difficult to climb by daylight. At last, after immense labour, the force reached the foot of Majuba Hill, having taken six hours in accomplishing a distance which, as the crow flies, is little more than four miles. At a commanding point near the foot of the hill 200 men were left, to keep open the communication; the main body kept on until they reached the summit, just before daylight, the Boers being entirely in ignorance of the movement which had taken place. The position was of immense natural strength, as it was only at a few points that an ascent could be made. On the summit was a plateau, so that all the troops not actually engaged in repelling assaults could lie down perfectly secure from the fire from below. At sunrise the Boers could be seen moving about in their lines. An hour later a party of mounted vedettes were seen trotting out towards the hill, which during the day they used as a post of observation; as they approached the outlying pickets fired upon them. As the sound of the guns was heard by the Boers below, a scene of the greatest confusion and excitement was observed from the height to prevail. Swarms of men were seen rushing hither and thither; some to their arms, some to their horses, others to their waggons, to which the oxen were at once harnessed, ready for a retreat in case of necessity. Then a great portion of the Boers moved forward towards the hill, with the evident intention of attacking it. At seven o'clock the enemy opened fire, and the bullets whistled up thickly round the edge of the plateau. The main body of the troops remained in the centre of the plateau, out of fire, small bodies being posted near the edge to answer the fire of the Boers and prevent their approaching the accessible points. For five hours the musketry duel continued. So far its effect had been trifling, a few men only being wounded. The position appeared perfectly safe. The Boers were indeed between the garrison of the hill and the camp, but the former had three days' provisions with them, and could therefore hold out until Sir Evelyn Wood arrived with the main body for a direct attack upon the Boers' position. Between twelve and one o'clock the Boers' fire slackened, and the besieged force thought that their assailants were drawing off; this, however, was not the case. Under cover of the shrubs and rocks the Boers were creeping quietly up, and at one o'clock a terrific fire suddenly broke out, and the enemy in great numbers rushed up the short intervening distance between themselves and the scanty line of defenders on the edge of the plateau; these, seized by panic, at once fled, and the exulting Boers poured up on to the plateau and opened a destructive fire upon the troops. The scene which ensued was one of the most discreditable in the annals of the British army. Although armed with breech-loaders, and fully as numerous as the assailants who had gained the crest of the hill, the resistance offered was feeble in the extreme; had the troops charged the Boers, the advantages of discipline and of their vastly superior weapons would have been irresistible, and they could have cleared the plateau as speedily as it had been occupied. The great majority, however, were seized with a wild panic, and, in spite of the efforts of the officers, thought of nothing but seeking safety in flight. A few stood and fired, but how few these were can be judged from the fact that only one Boer was killed, one severely wounded, and four slightly so; while half the British force were killed, wounded, or taken prisoners, the remainder managing to escape down the sides of the hill, and to join the force left at its foot, or to hide in the bushes until night. Among the killed were General Colley, Captain the Hon. C. Maude, Surgeon-Major H. Cornish, Surgeon A. Landon, and Lieutenant Trower of the naval brigade; eight officers were killed, and seven taken prisoners; eighty-six men were killed, 125 wounded, fifty-one taken prisoners, and two missing. The fight, such as it was, lasted five minutes. The force which had been left at the bottom of the hill, under Captain Robertson, was also attacked; but, being admirably led by that officer, fought its way back to the camp with but small loss, the guns there assisting to cover its retreat. The boys had not accompanied the expedition, and from the camp had watched the line of smoke round the hill, and had joined in the laughter of the officers at the idea of the Boers attacking so tremendously strong a position. Intense was the astonishment in camp when a wreath of smoke suddenly rose from the summit, and when this cleared away, and all was quiet, and it became evident that the Boers had carried the position, it was difficult to say whether the feeling of dismay or humiliation most prevailed. With the defeat of Majuba Hill the war in the Transvaal virtually terminated. When the news reached England, the government declared that the honour of the British flag should be vindicated, and great numbers of troops were sent out to Natal; these marched up the country, and were in readiness to assault the Boers' position, when the English government suddenly gave way, and granted to the Boers all that they demanded, the sole provision insisted upon being a purely nominal sovereignty on the part of the queen, and an equally nominal protection for the natives--a clause in the treaty which, from that time to this, no attempt whatever has been made to enforce. Not only were the natives practically abandoned to the mercy of the Boers, to be shot down or enslaved at their will, as in former times, but the English settlers, who had for months made such a noble defence in every town in the Transvaal, were abandoned, and the greater portion of them, ruined and plundered, have long since left the country where, relying upon the empty promises and vain guarantee of England, they had embarked their fortunes. A more disgraceful and humiliating chapter in English history than the war in the Transvaal, and the treaty which concluded it, is not to be found. After the battle of Majuba Hill Dick and Tom returned to their farms, resolved to have nothing farther to do with the business; there they have remained steadily since that time. Mr Humphreys' plantation of trees now covers a great extent of ground, and promises fully to answer his expectations of eventual profit. Those first-planted are attaining large size, and the thinning brings in a considerable annual income. His waggons are fully employed in taking down fruit to Pieter-Maritzburg. In another ten years Mr Humphreys expects that he will be a very wealthy man; he is thinking next year of paying a visit, with his wife and two sons, to England, where John will be left to finish his education and pass through college, with a view of eventually entering the Church. Dick is quite contented with his life; he has taken no farther part in trading expeditions into the interior, although the profit realised in the venture under Mr Harvey was considerable, but there is plenty of work on the farm to occupy his time. A large number of natives are employed in planting operations, and since the first year Mr Humphreys has raised all his own trees from seeds. The breeding of cattle and horses has been abandoned, only a small herd and a flock of sheep being kept for home requirements, as it is found that the ever-increasing plantation and the great orchards of fruit-trees are quite sufficient to occupy their attention. Mr Jackson too is prospering greatly; influenced by the example of his neighbour, he too has gone in for planting, although on a much smaller scale than Mr Humphreys, his means being insufficient to carry out such extensive operations. Tom and Dick are as great friends as ever, and, when they can be spared, often go out together on a deer-hunting expedition. Tom is engaged to the daughter of a trader in Newcastle; Dick, laughing, says that he shall look out for a wife when he gets to England. The prospects would be altogether bright for the emigrants from Derbyshire, were it not for the trouble which the weakness of the British government, in sending back Cetewayo to Zululand, brought about, and from the increasingly bad feeling growing up between the Boers and the natives, owing to the constant aggressions of the latter, and their ill-treatment of the natives, in defiance of the agreements in the treaty with the British government. If the day should come when the natives at last rise and avenge upon the Boers the accumulated injuries of many years, neither Dick Humphreys nor Tom Jackson will be inclined to lift a hand to save the Boers from their well-merited fate. The example of the successful resistance offered by the Basutos to the whole power of the Cape government has had an immense effect among the native tribes of South Africa, and sooner or later the colonists there will have a very serious crisis to pass through. Dick hopes that this crisis will not occur in his time, for Mr Humphreys intends in another fifteen years, if he live so long, when his first-planted trees will have gained maturity, to divide his great forest into lots, to sell off, and to return to his native land. Dick quite agrees in the plan, and hopes some day to be settled with an abundant competency in Old England. The End. 
22323	----	IMPRESSIONS OF SOUTH AFRICA BY JAMES BRYCE AUTHOR OF "THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE," "TRANSCAUCASIA AND ARARAT," "THE AMERICAN COMMONWEALTH," ETC. _With Three Maps._ THIRD EDITION, REVISED THROUGHOUT WITH A NEW PREFATORY CHAPTER, AND WITH THE TRANSVAAL CONVENTIONS OF 1881 AND 1884 London MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited 1899 _All rights reserved_ RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BUNGAY. _First Edition, 8vo. November 1897_ _Reprinted, November 1897_ _Second Edition, January 1898_ _Third Edition, Crown 8vo. November 1899_ _Reprinted, December 1899_ TO THE COMPANION OF MY JOURNEY PREFATORY CHAPTER This new edition has been carefully revised throughout, and, as far as possible, brought up to date by noting, in their proper places, the chief events of importance that have occurred since the book first appeared. In the historical chapters, however, and in those which deal with recent politics, no changes have been made save such as were needed for the correction of one or two slight errors of fact, and for the mention of new facts, later in date than the first edition. I have left the statements of my own views exactly as they were first written, even where I thought that the form of a statement might be verbally improved, not only because I still adhere to those views, but also because I desire it to be clearly understood that they were formed and expressed before the events of the last few months, and without any reference to the controversies of the moment. When the first edition of the book was published (at the end of 1897) there was strong reason to believe as well as to hope that a race conflict in South Africa would be avoided, and that the political problems it presents, acute as they had become early in 1896, would be solved in a peaceable way. To this belief and hope I gave expression in the concluding chapter of the book, indicating "tact, coolness and patience, above all, patience," as the qualities needed to attain that result which all friends of the country must unite in desiring. Now, however, (October 1899), Britain and her South African Colonies and territories find themselves at war with the South African Republic and the Orange Free State. A new chapter is opened in the history of the country which completely alters the situation, and must necessarily leave things very different from what it found them. Readers of this new edition may reasonably expect to find in it some account of the events which have within the last two years led up to this catastrophe, or at any rate some estimate of that conduct of affairs by the three governments concerned which has brought about a result all three ought to have sought to avert. There are, however, conclusive reasons against attempting to continue down to the outbreak of the war (October 11th) the historical sketch given in Chapters II to XII. The materials for the historian are still scanty and imperfect, leaving him with data scarcely sufficient for judging the intention and motives with which some things were done. Round the acts and words of the representatives of the three governments concerned, there rages such a storm of controversy, that whoever places a particular construction upon those acts and words must need support his construction by citations from documents and arguments based on those citations. To do this would need a space much larger than I can command. The most serious difficulty, however, is that when events are close to us and excite strong feelings, men distrust the impartiality of a historian even when he does his best to be impartial. I shall not, therefore, attempt to write a history of the last two fateful years, but content myself first, with calling the reader's attention to a few salient facts that have occurred since 1896, and to some aspects of the case which have been little considered in England; and secondly, with describing as clearly and estimating as cautiously as I can, the forces that have worked during those years with such swift and deadly effect. Some of these facts may be dismissed with a word or two, because they lie outside the present crisis. One is the entrance of the Colony of Natal into the South African Customs Union, an event which created one uniform tariff system for the whole of British and Dutch South Africa except the Transvaal. Another is the extension of the two great lines of railway from the coast into the interior. This extension has given Bulawayo and Matabililand a swift and easy communication with Cape Town, thereby strengthening immensely the hold of Britain upon the interior, and lessening any risk that might be feared of future native risings. It has also opened up a new and quick route from the coast of the Indian Ocean at Beira into the heart of Mashonaland, and brought the construction of a railway from Mashonaland across the Zambesi to Lake Tanganyika within the horizon of practicable enterprises. A scheme of government has been settled for the territories of the British South Africa Company south of the Zambesi (Southern Rhodesia), which is now at work. The prospects of gold mining in that region are believed to have improved, and the increase of gold production in the mines of the Witwatersrand has proved even more rapid than was expected in 1896. An agreement has been concluded between Britain and the German Empire relating to their interests on the coast of the Indian Ocean, which, though its terms have not been disclosed, is generally understood to have removed an obstacle which might have been feared to the acquisition by Britain of such rights at Delagoa Bay as she may be able to obtain from Portugal, and to have withdrawn from the South African Republic any hope that State might have cherished of support from Germany in the event of a breach with Britain. These events, however, great as is their bearing on the future, are of less present moment than those which have sprung from Dr. Jameson's expedition into the Transvaal in December, 1895, and the internal troubles in that State which caused and accompanied his enterprise. It rekindled race feeling all over South Africa, and has had the most disastrous effects upon every part of the country. To understand these effects it is necessary to understand the state of opinion in the British Colonies and in the two Republics before it took place. Let us examine these communities separately. In Cape Colony and Natal there was before December, 1895, no hostility at all between the British and the Dutch elements. Political parties in Cape Colony were, in a broad sense, British and Dutch, but the distinction was really based not so much on racial differences as on economic interests. The rural element which desired a protective tariff and laws regulating native labour, was mainly Dutch, the commercial element almost wholly British. Mr. Rhodes, the embodiment of British Imperialism, was Prime Minister through the support of the Dutch element and the Africander Bond. Englishmen and Dutchmen were everywhere in the best social relations. The old blood sympathy of the Dutch element for the Transvaal Boers which had been so strongly manifested in 1881, when the latter were struggling for their independence, had been superseded, or at least thrown into the background, by displeasure at the unneighbourly policy of the Transvaal Government in refusing public employment to Cape Dutchmen as well as to Englishmen, and in throwing obstacles in the way of trade in agricultural products. This displeasure culminated when the Transvaal Government, in the summer of 1895, closed the Drifts (fords) on the Vaal River, to the detriment of imports from the Colony and the Orange Free State. In the Orange Free State there was, as has been pointed out in Chapter XIX., perfect good feeling and cordial co-operation in all public matters between the Dutch and the English elements. There was also perfect friendliness to Britain, the old grievances of the Diamond Fields dispute (see page 144) and of the arrest of the Free State conquest of Basutoland having been virtually forgotten. Towards the Transvaal there was a political sympathy based partly on kinship, partly on a similarity of republican institutions. But there was also some annoyance at the policy which the Transvaal Government, and especially its Hollander advisers, were pursuing; coupled with a desire to see reforms effected in the Transvaal, and the franchise granted to immigrants on more liberal terms. Of the Transvaal itself I need say the less, because its condition is fully described in Chapter XXV. There was of course much irritation among the Uitlanders of English and Colonial stock, with an arrogant refusal on the part of the ruling section and the more extreme old-fashioned Boers to admit the claims of these new-comers. But there was also a party among the burghers, important more by the character and ability of its members than by its numbers, yet growing in influence, which desired reform, perceived that the existing state of things could not continue, and was ready to join the Uitlanders in agitating for sweeping changes in the Constitution and in administration. The events of December, 1895, changed the face of things swiftly and decisively in all these communities. In Cape Colony Dutch feeling, which as a political force was almost expiring, revived at once. The unexpected attack on the Transvaal evolved an outburst of sympathy for it, in which the faults of its government were forgotten. Mr. Rhodes retired from office. The reconstructed Ministry which succeeded fell in 1898, and a new Ministry supported by the Africander Bond came into power after a general election. Its majority was narrow, and was accused of not fairly representing the country, owing to the nature of the electoral areas. A Redistribution Bill was passed by a species of compromise, and in the elections to the new constituencies which followed the Dutch party slightly increased its majority, and kept its Cabinet (in which, however, men of Dutch blood are a minority) in power. Party feeling, both inside and outside the legislature, became, and has remained, extremely strong on both sides. The English generally have rallied to and acclaim Mr. Rhodes, whose connection with Dr. Jameson's expedition has made him the special object of Dutch hostility. There is, according to the reports which reach England, no longer any moderating third party: all are violent partisans. Nevertheless--and this is a remarkable and most encouraging fact--this violence did not diminish the warmth with which the whole Assembly testified its loyalty and affection towards the Queen on the occasion of the completion of the sixtieth year of her reign in 1897. And the Bond Ministry of Mr. Schreiner proposed and carried by a unanimous vote a grant of £30,000 per annum as a contribution by the Colony to the naval defence of the Empire, leaving the application of this sum to the unfettered discretion of the British Admiralty. In the Orange Free State the explosion of Dutch sentiment was still stronger. Its first result was seen in the election of a President. In November, 1895, two candidates for the vacant office had come forward, and their chances were deemed to be nearly equal. When the news of the Jameson expedition was received, the chance of the candidate of British stock vanished. Since then, though there was not (so far as I gather) down till the last few weeks any indication of hostility to Britain, much less any social friction within the State, a disposition to draw closer to the threatened sister Republic showed itself at once. This led to the conclusion of a defensive alliance between the Free State and the Transvaal, whereby either bound itself to defend the other, if unjustly attacked. (The Transvaal is believed to have suggested, and the Free State to have refused, a still closer union.) As the Orange Free State had no reason to fear an attack, just or unjust, from any quarter, this was a voluntary undertaking on its part, with no corresponding advantage, of what might prove a dangerous liability, and it furnishes a signal proof of the love of independence which animates this little community. We come now to the Transvaal itself. In that State the burgher party of constitutional reform was at once silenced, and its prospect of usefulness blighted. So, too, the Uitlander agitation was extinguished. The Reform leaders were in prison or in exile. The passionate anti-English feeling, and the dogged refusal to consider reforms, which had characterized the extreme party among the Boers, were intensified. The influence of President Kruger, more than once threatened in the years immediately preceding, was immensely strengthened. The President and his advisers had a golden opportunity before them of using the credit and power which the failure of the Rising and the Expedition of 1895 had given them. They ought to have seen that magnanimity would also be wisdom. They ought to have set about a reform of the administration and to have proposed a moderate enlargement of the franchise such as would have admitted enough of the new settlers to give them a voice, yet not enough to involve any sudden transfer of legislative or executive power. Whether the sentiment of the Boers generally would have enabled the President to extend the franchise may be doubtful; but he could at any rate have tried to deal with the more flagrant abuses of administration. However, he attempted neither. The abuses remained, and though a Commission reported on some of them, and suggested important reforms, no action was taken. The weak point of the Constitution (as to which see p. 152) was the power which the legislature apparently possessed of interfering with vested rights, and even with pending suits, by a resolution having the force of law. This was a defect due, not to any desire to do wrong, but to the inexperience of those who had originally framed the Constitution, and to the want of legal knowledge and skill among those who had worked it, and was aggravated by the fact that the legislature consisted of one Chamber only, which was naturally led to legislate by way of resolution (besluit) because the process of passing laws in the stricter sense of the term involved a tedious and cumbrous process of bringing them to the knowledge of the people throughout the country. Upon this point there arose a dispute with the Chief Justice which led to the dismissal of that official and one of his colleagues, a dispute which could not be explained here without entering upon technical details. There is no reason to think that the President's action was prompted by any wish to give the legislature the means of wronging individuals, nor has evidence been produced to show that its powers have been in fact (at least to any material extent) so used. The matter cannot be fairly judged without considering the peculiar character of the Transvaal Constitution, for which the President is nowise to blame, and the statements often made in this country that the subjection of the judiciary to the legislature destroys the security of property are much exaggerated, for property has been, in fact, secure. It was, nevertheless, an error not to try to retain a man so much respected as the Chief Justice, and not to fulfil the promise given to Sir Henry de Villiers (who had been invoked as mediator) that the judiciary should be placed in a more assured position. The idea which seems to have filled the President's mind was that force was the only remedy. The Republic was, he thought, sure to be again attacked from within or from without; and the essential thing was to strengthen its military resources for defence, while retaining political power in the hands of the burghers. Accordingly, the fortifications already begun at Pretoria were pushed on, a strong fort was erected to command Johannesburg, and munitions of war were imported in very large quantities, while the Uitlanders were debarred from possessing arms. Such precautions were natural. Any government which had been nearly overthrown, and expected another attack, would have done the like. But these measures of course incensed the Uitlanders, who saw that another insurrection would have less chance of success than the last, and resented the inferiority implied in disarmament, as Israel resented the similar policy pursued by the Philistine princes. The capitalists also, an important factor by their wealth and by their power of influencing opinion in Europe, were angry and restless, because the prospect of securing reforms which would reduce the cost of working the gold reefs became more remote. This was the condition of things in the two Republics and the British Colonies when the diplomatic controversy between the Imperial Government and the South African Republic, which had been going on ever since 1895, passed in the early summer of 1899 into a more acute phase. The beginning of that phase coincided, as it so happened, with the expiry of the period during which the leaders of the Johannesburg rising of 1895 had promised to abstain from interference in politics, and the incident out of which it grew was the presentation to the Queen (in March 1899), through the High Commissioner, of a petition from a large number of British residents on the Witwatersrand complaining of the position in which they found themselves. The situation soon became one of great tension, owing to the growing passion of the English in South Africa and the growing suspicion on the part of the Transvaal Boers. But before we speak of the negotiations, let us consider for a moment what was the position of the two parties to the controversy. The position of the Transvaal Government, although (as will presently appear) it had some measure of legal strength, was, if regarded from the point of view of actual facts, logically indefensible and materially dangerous. It was not, indeed, the fault of that Government that the richest goldfield in the world had been discovered in its territory, nor would it have been possible for the Boers, whatever they might have wished, to prevent the mines from being worked and the miners from streaming in. But the course they took was condemned from the first to failure. They desired to have the benefit of the gold-mines while yet retaining their old ways of life, not seeing that the two things were incompatible. Moreover, they--or rather the President and his advisers--committed the fatal mistake of trying to maintain a government which was at the same time undemocratic and incompetent. If it had been representative of the whole mass of the inhabitants it might have ventured, like the governments of some great American cities, to disregard both purity and efficiency. If, on the other hand, it had been a vigorous and skilful government, giving to the inhabitants the comforts and conveniences of municipal and industrial life at a reasonable charge, the narrow electoral basis on which it rested would have remained little more than a theoretic grievance, and the bulk of the people would have cared nothing for political rights. An exclusive government may be pardoned if it is efficient, an inefficient government if it rests upon the people. But a government which is both inefficient and exclusive incurs a weight of odium under which it must ultimately sink; and this was the kind of government which the Transvaal attempted to maintain. They ought, therefore, to have either extended their franchise or reformed their administration. They would not do the former, lest the new burghers should swamp the old ones, and take the control out of Boer hands. They were unfit to do the latter, because they had neither knowledge nor skill, so that even had private interests not stood in the way, they would have failed to create a proper administration. It was the ignorance, as well as the exclusive spirit of the Transvaal authorities, which made them unwilling to yield any more than they might be forced to yield to the demand for reform. The position in which Britain stood needs to be examined from two sides, its legal right of interference, and the practical considerations which justified interference in this particular case. Her legal right rested on three grounds. The first was the Convention of 1884 (printed in the Appendix to this volume), which entitled her to complain of any infraction of the privileges thereby guaranteed to her subjects. The second was the ordinary right, which every State possesses, to complain, and (if necessary) intervene when its subjects are wronged, and especially when they suffer any disabilities not imposed upon the subjects of other States. The third right was more difficult to formulate. It rested on the fact that as Britain was the greatest power in South Africa, owning the whole country south of the Zambesi except the two Dutch Republics (for the deserts of German Damaraland and the Portuguese East-coast territories may be practically left out of account), she was interested in preventing any causes of disturbance within the Transvaal which might spread beyond its borders, and become sources of trouble either among natives or among white men. This right was of a vague and indeterminate nature, and could be legitimately used only when it was plain that the sources of trouble did really exist and were becoming dangerous. Was there not also, it may be asked, the suzerainty of Britain, and if so, did it not justify intervention? I will not discuss the question, much debated by English lawyers, whether the suzerainty over the "Transvaal State," mentioned in the preamble to the Convention of 1881, was preserved over the "South African Republic" by the Convention of 1884, not because I have been unable to reach a conclusion on the subject, but because the point seems to be one of no practical importance. Assuming, for the sake of argument, that there is a suzerainty, it is perfectly clear from an examination of the Conventions and of the negotiations of 1884 that this suzerainty relates solely to foreign relations, and has nothing whatever to do with the internal constitution or government of the Transvaal. The significance of the term--if it be carried over and read into the Convention of 1884--is exhausted by the provision in Article IV of that instrument for the submission of treaties to the British Government. No argument, accordingly, for any right of interference as regards either the political arrangements of the Transvaal or the treatment of foreigners within its borders, can be founded on this real or supposed suzerainty. This view had been too frequently and too clearly expressed by the British Government before 1896, to make it possible for any British official to attempt to put any such construction upon the term; and the matter might therefore have been suffered to drop, since the right to veto treaties was explicit, and did not need to be supported by an appeal to the preamble of 1881. The term, however, though useless to Britain, was galling to the Transvaal, which suspected that it would be made a pretext for infringements upon their independence in internal affairs; and these suspicions were confirmed by the talk of the Uitlander spokesmen in Johannesburg, who were in the habit of appealing to Britain as the Suzerain Power. It has played a most unfortunate part in the whole controversy. Suzerainty, which is a purely legal, though somewhat vague, conception, has in many minds become confused with the practical supremacy, or rather predominance, of Britain in South Africa, which is a totally different matter. That predominance rests on the fact that Britain commands the resources of a great empire, while the Dutch republics are petty communities of ranchmen. But it does not carry any legal rights of interference, any more than a preponderance of force gives Germany rights against Holland. As I have referred to the Convention of 1884, it may be well to observe that while continuing to believe that, on a review of the facts as they then stood, the British Government were justified in restoring self-government to the Transvaal in 1881, they seem to me to have erred in conceding the Convention of 1884. Though the Rand goldfields had not then been discovered, Lord Derby ought to have seen that the relations of the Transvaal to the adjoining British territories would be so close that a certain measure of British control over its internal administration might come to be needful. This control, which was indeed but slight, he surrendered in 1884. But the improvidence of the act does not in the least diminish the duty of the country which made the Convention to abide by its terms, or relieve it from the obligation of making out for any subsequent interference a basis of law and fact which the opinion of the world might accept as sufficient. It has not been sufficiently realised in England that although the Transvaal may properly, in respect of British control over its foreign relations, be described as a semi-dependent State, Britain was under the same obligation to treat it with a strict regard to the recognised principles of international law as if it had been a great power. She had made treaties with it, and those treaties it was her duty to observe. Apart from all moral or sentimental considerations, apart from the fact that Britain had at the Hague Conference been the warm and effective advocate of peaceful methods of settling disputes between nations, it is her truest interest to set an example of fairness, legality and sincerity. No country, not even the greatest, can afford to neglect that reasonable and enlightened opinion of thoughtful men in other countries--not to be confounded with the invective and misrepresentation employed by the press of each nation against the others--which determines the ultimate judgment of the world, and passes into the verdict of history. Did then the grievances of which the British residents in the Transvaal complained furnish such a basis? These grievances are well known, and will be found mentioned in chapter XXV. They were real and vexatious. It is true that some of them affected not so much British residents as the European shareholders in the great mining companies; true also that the mining industry (as will be seen from the figures on p. 301) was expanding and prospering in spite of them. Furthermore, they were grievances under which, it might be argued, the immigrants had placed themselves by coming with notice of their existence, and from which they might escape by taking a train into the Free State or Natal. And they were grievances which, however annoying, did not render either life or property unsafe,[1] and did not prevent the Johannesburgers from enjoying life and acquiring wealth. Nevertheless, they were such as the British Government was entitled to endeavour to have redressed. Nor could it be denied that the state of irritation and unrest which prevailed on the Witwatersrand, the probability that another rising would take place whenever a chance of success offered, furnished to Britain, interested as she was in the general peace of the country, a ground for firm remonstrance and for urging the removal of all legitimate sources of disaffection, especially as these re-acted on the whole of South Africa. The British authorities at the Cape seem indeed to have thought that the unyielding attitude of the Transvaal Government worked much mischief in the Colony, being taken by the English there as a defiance to the power and influence of Britain, and so embittering their minds. Among the grievances most in men's mouths was the exclusion of the new-comers from the electoral franchise. It must be clearly distinguished from the other grievances. It was a purely internal affair, in which Britain had no right to intermeddle, either under the Convention of 1884 or under the general right of a state to protect its subjects. Nothing is clearer than that every state may extend or limit the suffrage as it pleases. If a British self-governing colony were to restrict the suffrage to those who had lived fourteen years in the colony, or a state of the American Union were to do the like, neither the Home Government in the one case, nor the Federal Government in the other would have any right to interfere. All therefore that Britain could do was to call the attention of the South African Republic in a friendly way to the harm which the restriction of the franchise was causing, and point out that to enlarge it might remove the risk of a collision over other matters which did fall within the scope of British intervention. We are therefore, on a review of the whole position, led to conclude that Britain was justified in requiring the Transvaal Government to redress the grievances (other than the limited suffrage) which were complained of. Whether she would be justified in proceeding to enforce by arms compliance with her demand, would of course depend upon several things, upon the extent to which the existence of the grievances could be disproved, upon the spirit in which the Transvaal met the demand, upon the amount of concessions offered or amendment promised. But before the British Government entered on a course which might end in war, if the Transvaal should prove intractable, there were some considerations which it was bound seriously to weigh. One of these was the time for entering on a controversy. The Jameson invasion was only three years old; and the passions it evoked had not subsided. In it British officers, and troops flying the British flag, if not Britain herself, had been wrongdoers. Suspicions of British good faith were known to pervade the Boer mind, and would give an ominous colour to every demand coming from Britain. The lapse of time might diminish these suspicions, and give to negotiations a better prospect of success. Time, moreover, was likely to work against the existing system of the Transvaal. Bad governments carry the seeds of their own dissolution. The reforming party among the Transvaal burghers would gain strength, and try to throw off the existing _régime_. The President was an old man, whose retirement from power could not be long delayed; and no successor would be able to hold together as he had done the party of resistance to reform. In the strife of factions that would follow his retirement reform was certain to have a far better chance than it could have had since 1895. In fact, to put it shortly, all the natural forces were working for the Uitlanders, and would either open the way for their admission to a share in power, or else make the task of Britain easier by giving her less united and therefore less formidable antagonists. These considerations counselled a postponement of the attempt to bring matters to a crisis. In the second place the British Government had to remember the importance of carrying the opinion of the Dutch in Cape Colony, and, as far as possible, even of the Orange Free State, with them in any action they might take. It has been pointed out how before December, 1895, that opinion blamed the Transvaal Government for its unfriendly treatment of the immigrants. The Dutch of both communities had nothing to gain and something to lose by the maladministration of the Transvaal, so that they were nowise disposed to support it in refusing reforms. The only thing that would make them rally to it would be a menace to its independence, regarding which they, and especially the Free State people, were extremely sensitive. Plainly, therefore, unless the colonial Dutch were to be incensed and the Free State men turned to enemies, such a menace was to be avoided. Finally, the British authorities were bound to make sure, not only that they had an adequate _casus belli_ which they could present to their own people and to the world, but also that the gain to be expected from immediately redressing the grievances of the Uitlander outweighed the permanent evils war would entail. Even where, according to the usage of nations, a just cause for war exists, even where victory in the war may be reckoned on, the harm to be expected may be greater than the fruits of victory. Here the harm was evident. The cost of equipping a large force and transporting it across many thousand miles of sea was the smallest part of the harm. The alienation of more than half the population of Cape Colony, the destruction of a peaceful and prosperous Republic with which Britain had no quarrel, the responsibility for governing the Transvaal when conquered, with its old inhabitants bitterly hostile, these were evils so grave, that the benefits to be secured to the Uitlanders might well seem small in comparison. A nation is, no doubt, bound to protect its subjects. But it could hardly be said that the hardships of this group of subjects, which did not prevent others from flocking into the country, and which were no worse than they had been for some time previously, were such as to forbid the exercise of a little more patience. It was said by the war party among the English in South Africa that patience was being mistaken for weakness, and that the credit of Britain was being lowered all over the world, and even among the peoples of India, by her forbearance towards the Transvaal. Absurd as this notion may appear, it was believed by heated partizans on the spot. But outside Africa, and especially in Europe, the forbearance of one of the four greatest Powers in the world towards a community of seventy thousand people was in no danger of being misunderstood. Whether the force of these considerations, obvious to every unbiased mind which had some knowledge of South Africa, was fully realized by those who directed British policy, or whether, having realized their force, they nevertheless judged war the better alternative, is a question on which we are still in the dark. It is possible--and some of the language used by the British authorities may appear to suggest this explanation--that they entered on the negotiations which ended in war in the belief that an attitude of menace would suffice to extort submission, and being unable to recede from that attitude, found themselves drawn on to a result which they had neither desired nor contemplated. Be this as it may, the considerations above stated prescribed the use of prudent and (as far as possible) conciliatory methods in their diplomacy, as well as care in selecting a position which would supply a legal justification for war, should war be found the only issue. This was the more necessary because the Boers were known to be intensely suspicious. Every weak power trying to resist a stronger one must needs take refuge in evasive and dilatory tactics. Such had been, such were sure to be, the tactics of the Boers. But the Boers were also very distrustful of the English Government, believing it to aim at nothing less than the annexation of their country. It may seem strange to Englishmen that the purity of their motives and the disinterestedness of their efforts to spread good government and raise others to their own level should be doubted. But the fact is--and this goes to the root of the matter--that the Boers have regarded the policy of Britain towards them as a policy of violence and duplicity. They recall how Natal was conquered from them in 1842, after they had conquered it from the Zulus; how their country was annexed in 1877, how the promises made at the time of that annexation were broken. They were not appeased by the retrocession of 1881, which they ascribed solely to British fear of a civil war in South Africa. It should moreover be remembered,--and this is a point which few people in England do remember--that they hold the annexation to have been an act of high-handed lawlessness done in time of peace, and have deemed themselves entitled to be replaced in the position their republic held before 1877, under the Sand River Convention of 1852. Since the invasion of December 1895, they have been more suspicious than ever, for they believe the British Government to have had a hand in that attempt, and they think that influential capitalists have been sedulously scheming against them. Their passion for independence is something which we in modern Europe find it hard to realise. It recalls the long struggle of the Swiss for freedom in the fourteenth century, or the fierce tenacity which the Scotch showed in the same age in their resistance to the claim of England to be their "Suzerain Power." This passion was backed by two other sentiments, an exaggerated estimate of their own strength and a reliance on the protecting hand of Providence, fitter for the days of the Maccabees or of Cromwell than for our own time, but which will appear less strange if the perils through which their nation had passed be remembered. These were the rocks among which the bark of British diplomacy had to be steered. They were, however, rocks above water, so it might be hoped that war could be avoided and some valuable concession secured. To be landed in war would obviously be as great a failure as to secure no concession. Instead of demanding the removal of the specific grievances whereof the Uitlanders complained, the British Government resolved to endeavour to obtain for them an easier acquisition of the electoral franchise and an ampler representation in the legislature. There was much to be said for this course. It would avoid the tedious and vexatious controversies that must have arisen over the details of the grievances. It would (in the long run) secure reform in the best way, viz., by the action of public spirit and enlightenment within the legislature. It would furnish a basis for union between the immigrants and the friends of good government among the burghers themselves, and so conduce to the future peace of the community. There was, however, one material condition, a condition which might prove to be an objection, affecting the resort to it. Since the electoral franchise was a matter entirely within the competence of the South African Republic, Britain must, if she desired to abide by the principles of international law, confine herself to recommendation and advice. She had no right to demand, no right to insist that her advice should be followed. She could not compel compliance by force, nor even by the threat of using force. In other words, a refusal to enlarge the franchise would not furnish any _casus belli_. This course having been adopted, the negotiations entered on a new phase with the Conference at Bloemfontein, where President Kruger met the British High Commissioner. Such a direct interchange of views between the leading representatives of two Powers may often be expedient, because it helps the parties to get sooner to close quarters with the substantial points of difference, and so facilitates a compromise. But its utility depends on two conditions. Either the basis of discussion should be arranged beforehand, leaving only minor matters to be adjusted, or else the proceedings should be informal and private. At Bloemfontein neither condition existed. No basis had been previously arranged. The Conference was formal and (although the press were not admitted) virtually public, each party speaking before the world, each watched and acclaimed by its supporters over the country. The eyes of South Africa were fixed on Bloemfontein, so that when the Conference came to its unfruitful end, the two parties were practically further off than before, and their failure to agree accentuated the bitterness both of the Transvaal Boers and of the English party in the Colonies. To the more extreme men among the latter this result was welcome. There was already a war party in the Colony, and voices clamorous for war were heard in the English press. Both then and afterwards every check to the negotiations evoked a burst of joy from organs of opinion at home and in the Cape, whose articles were unfortunately telegraphed to Pretoria. Worse still, the cry of "Avenge Majuba" was frequently heard in the Colonies, and sometimes even in England. The story of the negotiations which followed during the months of July, August and September, cannot be told fully here, because it is long and intricate, nor summarized, because the fairness of any summary not supported by citations would be disputed. There are, however, some phenomena in the process of drifting towards war which may be concisely noticed. One of these is that the contending parties were at one moment all but agreed. The Transvaal Government offered to give the suffrage after five years residence (which was what had been asked by the High Commissioner at Bloemfontein) coupled with certain conditions, which had little importance, and were afterwards so explained as to have even less. This was, from their point of view, a great concession, one to which they expected opposition from the more conservative section of their own burghers. The British negotiators, though they have since stated that they meant substantially to accept this proposal, sent a reply whose treatment of the conditions was understood as a refusal, and which appeared to raise further questions; and when the Transvaal went back to a previous offer, which had previously been held to furnish a basis for agreement, the British Government declined to recur to that basis, as being no longer tenable after the later offer. The Boers, who had expected (from informal communications) that the five years offer would be readily accepted, seem to have thought that there was no longer any chance of a settlement, because fresh demands would follow each concession. They ought, however, to have persevered with their five years offer, which they could the more easily have done because they had tacitly dropped the unsustainable claim to be a "sovereign and independent state," and expressed themselves ready to abide by the Convention of 1884. The British Government, on its part, would seem to have thought, when the five years offer was withdrawn because the conditions attached to it were not accepted, that the Boers had been trifling with them, and resolved to exact all they demanded, even though less than all would have represented a diplomatic victory. Thus a conflict was precipitated which a more cautious and tactful policy might have avoided. The controversy continued through three months to turn on the question of the franchise, nor were any demands for the redress of Uitlander grievances ever formulated and addressed to the Transvaal either under the Convention of 1884 or in respect of the general rights at international law which Britain possessed. When the franchise negotiations came to an _impasse_, the British Government announced (September 22nd) that their demands and scheme for a "final settlement of the issues created by the policy of the Republic"--a phrase which pointed to something more than the redress of grievances--would be presented to the Republic. These demands, however, never were presented at all. After an interval of seventeen days from the announcement just mentioned, the Transvaal declared war (October 9th and 11th). The terms of their ultimatum were offensive and peremptory, such as no Government could have been expected to listen to. Apart, however, from the language of the ultimatum, a declaration of war must have been looked for. From the middle of July the British Government had been strengthening its garrison in South Africa, and the despatch of one body of troops after another had been proclaimed with much emphasis in the English newspapers. Early in October it was announced that the Reserves would be called out and a powerful force despatched. The Transvaal had meantime been also preparing for war, so that the sending of British troops might well, after the beginning of September, be justified as a necessary precaution, since the forces then in South Africa were inferior in numbers to those the Boers could muster. But when the latter knew that an overwhelming force would soon confront them, and draw round them a net of steel, whence they could not escape, they resolved to seize the only advantage they possessed, the advantage of time, and to smite before their enemy was ready. It was therefore, only in a technical or formal sense that they can be said to have begun the war; for a weak State, which sees its enemy approach with a power that will soon be irresistible, has only two alternatives, to submit or to attack at once. In such a quarrel the responsibility does not necessarily rest with those who strike first. It rests with those whose action has made bloodshed inevitable. A singular result of the course things took was that war broke out before any legitimate _casus belli_ had arisen. Some one has observed that whereas many wars have been waged to gain subjects, none was ever waged before to get rid of subjects by making it easier for them to pass under another allegiance. The franchise, however, did not constitute a legitimate cause of war, for the British Government always admitted they had no right to demand it. The real cause of war was the menacing language of Britain, coupled with her preparations for war. These led the Boers also to arm, and, as happened with the arming and counter-arming of Prussia and Austria in 1866, when each expected an attack from the other, war inevitably followed. To brandish the sword before a cause for war has been shown not only impairs the prospect of a peaceful settlement, but may give the world ground for believing that war is intended. By making the concession of the franchise the aim of their efforts, and supporting it by demonstrations which drove their antagonist to arms, the British Government placed themselves before the world in the position of having caused a war without ever formulating a _casus belli_, and thereby exposed their country to unfavourable comment from other nations. The British negotiators were, it may be said, placed in a dilemma by the distance which separated their army from South Africa, and which obliged them to move troops earlier than they need otherwise have done, even at the risk (which, however, they do not seem to have fully grasped) of precipitating war. But this difficulty might have been avoided in one of two ways. They might have pressed their suggestion for an extension of the franchise in an amicable way, without threats and without moving troops, and have thereby kept matters from coming to a crisis. Or, on the other hand, if they thought that the doggedness of the Transvaal would yield to nothing but threats, they might have formulated demands, not for the franchise, but for the redress of grievances, demands the refusal or evasion of which would constitute a proper cause of war, and have, simultaneously with the presentation of those demands, sent to South Africa a force sufficient at least for the defence of their own territory. The course actually taken missed the advantages of either of these courses. It brought on war before the Colonies were in a due state of defence, and it failed to justify war by showing any cause for it such as the usage of civilized States recognizes. As Cavour said that any one can govern with a state of siege, so strong Powers dealing with weak ones are prone to think that any kind of diplomacy will do. The British Government, confident in its strength, seems to have overlooked not only the need for taking up a sound legal position, but the importance of retaining the good will of the Colonial Dutch, and of preventing the Orange Free State from taking sides with the Transvaal. This was sure to happen if Britain was, or seemed to be, the aggressor. Now the British Government by the attitude of menace it adopted while discussing the franchise question, which furnished no cause for war, by the importance it seemed to attach to the utterances of the body calling itself the Uitlander Council in Johannesburg (a body which was in the strongest opposition to the Transvaal authorities), as well as by other methods scarcely consistent with diplomatic usage, led both the Transvaal and the Free State to believe that they meant to press matters to extremities, and that much more than the franchise or the removal of certain grievances was involved; in fact, that the independence of the Republic itself was at stake.[2] They cannot have intended this, and indeed they expressly disclaimed designs on the independence of the Transvaal. Nevertheless the Free State, when it saw negotiations stopped after September 22nd, and an overwhelming British force ordered to South Africa while the proposals foreshadowed in the despatch of September 22nd remained undisclosed, became convinced that Britain meant to crush the Transvaal. Being bound by treaty to support the Transvaal if the latter was unjustly attacked, and holding the conduct of Britain in refusing arbitration and resorting to force without a _casus belli_ to constitute an unjust attack, the Free State Volksraad and burghers, who had done their utmost to avert war, unhesitatingly threw in their lot with the sister Republic. The act was desperate, but it was chivalric. The Free State, hitherto happy, prosperous and peaceful, had nothing to gain and everything to lose. Few of her statesmen can have doubted that Britain must prevail and that their Republic would share the ruin which awaited the Transvaal Dutch. Nevertheless honour and the sense of kinship prevailed. It is to be hoped that the excited language in which the passionate feelings of the Free State have found expression will not prevent Englishmen from recognizing in the conduct of this little community a heroic quality which they would admire if they met it in the annals of ancient Greece. It has been suggested that the question of responsibility for the war is really a trivial one, because the negotiations were all along, on one side or on both, unreal and delusive, masking the conviction of both parties that they must come to blows at last. It is said that a conflict for supremacy between the English and Dutch races in South Africa was inevitable, and it is even alleged that there was a long-standing conspiracy among the Dutch, as well in the Colonies as in the Republics, to overmaster the British element and oust Britain from the country. On this hypothesis several observations may be made. One is that it seems to be an afterthought, intended to excuse the failure of diplomacy to untie the knot. No one who studies the despatches can think that either the Transvaal Government or the British Government regarded war as inevitable when the one made, and the other sent a reply intended to accept, the proposals of August 19th. Nothing is easier than to bring charges of bad faith, but he who peruses these despatches with an impartial mind will find little or nothing to justify any such imputation on either party. Another is, that the allegation that a calamity was inevitable is one so easy to make and so hard to refute that it is constantly employed to close an embarrassing discussion. You cannot argue with a fatalist, any more than with a prophet. Nations whose conscience is clear, statesmen who have foresight and insight, do not throw the blame for their failures upon Destiny. The chieftain in Homer, whose folly has brought disaster, says, "It is not I who am the cause of this: it is Zeus, and Fate, and the Fury that walketh in darkness." "It could not have been helped anyhow," "It was bound to come"--phrases such as these are the last refuge of despairing incompetence. The hypothesis that the Dutch all over South Africa were leagued for the overthrow of British power is so startling that it needs to be supported by wide and weighty evidence. Is such evidence forthcoming? It has not been produced. One who has not been in South Africa since 1895 dare not rely on his own observation to deny the allegation. But neither can Englishmen at home accept the assertions of partisans in South Africa, the extravagance of whose language shows that they have been carried away by party passion. The probabilities of the case are altogether against the hypothesis, and support the view of a temperate writer in the _Edinburgh Review_ for October, who describes it as "a nightmare." What are these probabilities? The Dutch in the Cape had been loyal till December 1895, and had indeed been growing more and more loyal during the last fifteen years. The Africander Bond had shaken itself free from the suspicions once entertained of its designs. Its leader, Mr. Hofmeyr, was conspicuously attached to the Imperial connection, and was, indeed, the author of a well-known scheme for an Imperial Customs Union. Even after December, 1895, its indignation at the attack on the Transvaal had not affected the veneration of the Dutch party for the British Crown, so warmly expressed in 1897. In 1898 the Cape Assembly, in which there was a Dutch majority led by a Ministry supported by the Bond, voted unanimously a large annual contribution to Imperial naval defence. Every effort was made by Mr. Hofmeyr and by the Prime Minister of the Cape to induce the Transvaal to make concessions which might avert war. As regards the Free State, its Dutch burghers had been for many years on the best terms with their English fellow-burghers and with the British Government. They had nothing to gain by a racial conflict, and their President, who is understood to have suggested the Bloemfontein Conference, as well as Mr. Fischer, one of their leading statesmen, strove hard to secure peace till immediately before war broke out. There was, moreover, no prospect of success for an effort to overthrow the power of Britain. The Dutch in the Colony were not fighting men like their Transvaal brethren, and were, except for voting purposes, quite unorganized. Those of the Free State were a mere militia, with no experience of war, and had possessed, at least down to 1895, when I remember to have seen their tiny arsenal, very little in the way of war munitions. The Transvaal Boers were no doubt well armed and good fighters, but there were after all only some twenty or twenty-five thousand of them, a handful to contend against the British Empire. The Transvaal Government was, moreover, from its structure and the capacity of the men who composed it, if not indisposed to indulge in day-dreams, at any rate unfit to prosecute so vast an enterprise. There seems therefore to be no foundation in any facts which have so far been made public for the belief in this "conspiracy of the Dutch race," or for the inevitableness of the imagined conflict. The truth would appear to be that the Transvaal people did at one time cherish the hope of extending their Republic over the wide interior. They were stopped on the west in 1884. They were stopped on the north in 1890. They were stopped in their effort to reach the sea in 1894. After that year British territory surrounded them on all sides except where they bordered the Portuguese on the north-east. Many of them, including the President, doubtless cherished the hope of some time regaining a complete independence such as that of the Free State. Some ardent spirits dreamt of a Dutch South African Republic with Pretoria for its future capital; and there were probably a few men of the same visionary type in the Colony and the Free State who talked in the same wild way, especially after the Jameson invasion had stirred Dutch feeling to its depths. But from such dreams and such talk it is a long step to a "conspiracy of the Dutch over all South Africa." The possibility that the Dutch element would some day or other prevail, a possibility to which the slowness of British immigration and the natural growth of the Dutch population gave a certain substance in it down to 1885, was in that year destroyed by the discovery of gold in the Witwatersrand, which brought a new host of English-speaking settlers into South Africa, and assured the numerical and economic preponderance of the English in the progressive and expanding regions of the country. It is also true that the Transvaal Government made military preparations and imported arms on a large scale. They expected a rising even before 1895; and after 1895 they also expected a fresh invasion. But there is not, so far as the public know, any shred of evidence that they contemplated an attack upon Britain. The needs of defence, a defence in which they doubtless counted on the aid of the Free State and of a section of their own Uitlanders, sufficiently explain the accumulation of warlike munitions on which so much stress has been laid. The conclusion to which an examination of the matter leads is that no evidence whatever has been produced either that there was any such conspiracy as alleged, or that a conflict between Dutch and English was inevitable. Such a conflict might, no doubt, have possibly some day arisen. But it is at least equally probable that it might have been avoided. The Transvaal people were not likely to provoke it, and every year made it less likely that they could do so with any chance of success. The British element was increasing, not only around their State, but within it. The prospect of support from a great European Power had vanished. When their aged President retired from the scene, their old dissensions, held in check only by the fear of Britain, would have reappeared, and their vicious system of government would have fallen to pieces. So far as Britain was concerned, the way to avert a conflict was to have patience. Haste had been her bane in South Africa. It was haste which annexed the Transvaal in 1877, when a few months' delay might have given her the country. It was haste which in 1880 wrecked the plan of South African Confederation. It was haste which brought about that main source of recent troubles, the invasion by the South Africa Company's police in 1895. In these reflections upon recent events nothing has been said, because nothing could now be profitably said, upon two aspects of the matter--the character and conduct of the persons chiefly concerned, and the subterranean forces which are supposed to have been at work on both sides. These must be left to some future historian, and they will form an interesting chapter in his book. He will have proof positive of many things which can now only be conjectured, and of some things which, though they may be known to a few, ought not to be stated until proof of them can be produced. It is right, however, even while war is raging, to consider the circumstances that have led to war, so far as these can be discussed from the information which we all possess, because a fair consideration of those circumstances ought to influence the view which Englishmen take of their antagonists, and ought to affect their judgment of the measures proper to be taken when war comes to its end, and arrangements have to be made for the resettlement of the country. Those who have read the historical chapters of this book, and have reflected on the history of other British colonies, and particularly of Canada, will have drawn the moral, which I have sought to enforce in the concluding chapter, that what South Africa most needs is the reconcilement and ultimate fusion of the two white races. Reconcilement and fusion have now, to all appearances, been thrown back into a dim and distant future. That man must be sanguine indeed who expects, as some persons say they do expect, to see the relations of the two races placed on a better footing by a bitter war between them, a war which has many of the incidents of a civil war, and is waged on one side by citizen soldiers. To most observers it seems more likely to sow a crop of dragon's teeth which will produce a harvest, if not of armed men, yet of permanent hatred and disaffection. Nevertheless, even at the darkest moment, men must work with hope for the future, and strive to apply the principles of policy which experience has approved. The first principle which governs the relation of Britain to her self-governing colonies is that she must do all she can to keep them contented and loyal. She cannot hope permanently to retain any which have become disloyal, and the defection of one may be the signal for the loosening of the tie which binds the others. The gift of self-government practically makes the maintenance of the Imperial connection dependent on the will of the colony; and where self-government exists, voting is more powerful than arms. The Transvaal Republic has been often troublesome, but an unfriendly neighbour is less dangerous than a disaffected colony. A wise policy will therefore use with moderation the opportunities which the conclusion of the present war will afford for resettling the political arrangements of the country, remembering that the Dutch and British races have got to live together, looking forward to a time, probably less than a century distant, when the exhaustion of mineral wealth will have made South Africa again a pastoral and agricultural country, and thereby increased the importance, relatively to the town-dwelling English, of that Dutch element which is so deeply rooted in the soil. To reconcile the races by employing all the natural and human forces which make for peace and render the prosperity of each the prosperity of both, and so to pave the way for the ultimate fusion of Dutchman and Englishman in a common Imperial as well as a common Africander patriotism--this should be the aim of every government that seeks to base the world-wide greatness of Britain on the deepest and surest foundations. _October 23rd, 1899._ [Footnote 1: Whatever may be thought as to the much controverted Edgar case, the fact that such special stress has been laid on it, and that few, if any, other cases have been instanced in which crimes against Uitlanders went unpunished, goes to show that life was exposed only to those dangers which threaten it in all new mining communities.] [Footnote 2: The language of the English newspapers in Cape Colony, and of some in London, did as much to strengthen this belief as the language of the Transvaal papers did to inflame minds there. Seldom has the press done more to destroy the prospects of peace.] NOTE I have to thank Sir Donald Currie and Messrs. A.S. and G.G. Brown for the permission kindly given me to use the maps in the excellent "Guide to South Africa" (published by the Castle Mail Packets Company) in the preparation of the three maps contained in this volume; and I trust that these maps will prove helpful to the reader, for a comprehension of the physical geography of the country is essential to a comprehension of its history. The friends in South Africa to whom I am indebted for many of the facts I have stated and views I have expressed are too numerous to mention: but I cannot deny myself the pleasure of returning thanks for the genial hospitality and unfailing kindness which I received in every part of the country. _September 13th, 1897._ MAPS AT END OF VOLUME POLITICAL MAP OF SOUTH AFRICA. OROGRAPHICAL MAP OF SOUTH AFRICA. RAINFALL MAP OF SOUTH AFRICA. CONTENTS Page PREFATORY CHAPTER vii NOTE (1897) xlv AREA AND POPULATION OF THE SEVERAL COLONIES, REPUBLICS AND TERRITORIES IN SOUTH AFRICA lv DATES OF SOME IMPORTANT EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA lvii INTRODUCTION lix PART I _NATURE_ CHAPTER I PHYSICAL FEATURES THE COAST STRIP AND THE GREAT PLATEAU 4 MOUNTAIN-RANGES 6 CLIMATE 8 THE ABSENCE OF RIVERS 9 CHAPTER II HEALTH TEMPERATURE 12 DRYNESS OF THE AIR 13 MALARIAL FEVERS 13 CHAPTER III WILD ANIMALS AND THEIR FATE ORIGINAL ABUNDANCE OF WILD CREATURES 17 THEIR EXTINCTION: THE LION, ELEPHANT, AND RHINOCEROS 18 RECENT ATTEMPTS AT PROTECTION 22 CHAPTER IV VEGETATION CHARACTER OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN FLORA 24 NATIVE AND IMPORTED TREES 26 CHANGES MADE BY MAN IN THE LANDSCAPE 32 CHAPTER V PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF THE VARIOUS POLITICAL DIVISIONS OF THE COUNTRY CAPE COLONY 33 NATAL 35 GERMAN AND PORTUGUESE AFRICA 36 THE ORANGE FREE STATE AND THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC 38 BECHUANALAND AND THE TERRITORIES OF THE BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA COMPANY 40 CHAPTER VI NATURE AND HISTORY INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL CONDITIONS ON THE SAVAGE RACES 44 SLOW PROGRESS OF EARLY EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT 45 LATER EXPLORATIONS ALONG THE INTERIOR PLATEAU 47 CHAPTER VII ASPECTS OF SCENERY DRYNESS AND MONOTONY OF SOUTH AFRICAN LANDSCAPE 50 STRIKING PIECES OF SCENERY: BASUTOLAND, MANICALAND 51 PECULIAR CHARM OF SOUTH AFRICA: COLOUR AND SOLITUDE 53 INFLUENCE OF SCENERY ON CHARACTER 57 PART II _HISTORY_ CHAPTER VIII THE NATIVES: HOTTENTOTS, BUSHMEN, AND KAFIRS THE ABORIGINES: BUSHMEN AND HOTTENTOTS 63 THE BANTU OR KAFIR TRIBES 67 CHAPTER IX OUT OF THE DARKNESS--ZIMBABWYE ANCIENT WALLS IN MATABILILAND AND MASHONALAND 70 DHLODHLO: CHIPADZI'S GRAVE 71 THE GREAT ZIMBABWYE 75 THEORIES AS TO THE BUILDERS OF THE ANCIENT WALLS 78 CHAPTER X THE KAFIRS: HISTORY AND INSTITUTIONS THE KAFIRS BEFORE THEIR STRUGGLES WITH THE EUROPEANS 83 CAREERS OF DINGISWAYO AND TSHAKA 84 RESULTS OF THE ZULU CONQUESTS 85 KAFIR INSTITUTIONS 87 WAR, RELIGION, SORCERY 89 STAGNATION AND CRUELTY OF PRIMITIVE KAFIR LIFE 93 CHAPTER XI THE EUROPEANS IN SOUTH AFRICA TILL 1854 THE PORTUGUESE AT SOFALA 99 THE DUTCH AT THE CAPE: THE FRENCH HUGUENOTS 102 THE AFRICANDER TYPE OF LIFE AND CHARACTER 104 DISAFFECTION OF THE DUTCH SETTLERS 108 BRITISH OCCUPATION OF THE CAPE 109 FEATURES OF BRITISH ADMINISTRATION 110 BOER DISCONTENT AND ITS CAUSES 112 THE GREAT TREK OF 1836 115 ADVENTURES OF THE EMIGRANT BOERS 117 THE BOERS AND THE BRITISH IN NATAL 119 THE BOERS IN THE INTERIOR: BEGINNINGS OF THE TWO DUTCH REPUBLICS 122 BRITISH ADVANCE: THE ORANGE RIVER SOVEREIGNTY 129 THE SAND RIVER CONVENTION OF 1852: INDEPENDENCE OF THE TRANSVAAL BOERS 130 THE BLOEMFONTEIN CONVENTION OF 1854: INDEPENDENCE OF THE ORANGE FREE STATE 132 CHAPTER XII THE EUROPEANS IN SOUTH AFRICA, 1854-95 PROGRESS OF CAPE COLONY: MATERIAL AND POLITICAL 134 GRANT OF RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT IN 1872 139 KAFIR WARS: CAUSES OF THEIR FREQUENT RECURRENCE 139 RENEWED BRITISH ADVANCE: BASUTOLAND 140 THE DELAGOA BAY ARBITRATION 146 FIRST SCHEME OF SOUTH AFRICAN CONFEDERATION 148 THE ZULU WAR OF 1879 149 FORMATION OF THE TRANSVAAL REPUBLIC 151 ANNEXATION OF THE TRANSVAAL 154 REVOLT OF THE TRANSVAAL: ITS INDEPENDENCE RESTORED 160 BOERS AND BRITISH IN BECHUANALAND 165 THE CONVENTIONS OF 1884 AND 1894: SWAZILAND 168 GERMAN OCCUPATION OF DAMARALAND 169 THE BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA COMPANY; ACQUISITION OF MASHONALAND AND MATABILILAND 170 RECENT HISTORY OF THE TRANSVAAL: THE RISING OF 1895 174 PART III _A JOURNEY THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA_ CHAPTER XIII TRAVELLING AND COMMUNICATIONS COMMUNICATIONS ALONG THE COAST 179 LINES OF RAILROAD 180 TRAVELLING BY OX-WAGGON 182 CHAPTER XIV FROM CAPE TOWN TO BULAWAYO THE VOYAGE TO THE CAPE 188 CAPE TOWN AND ITS ENVIRONS 190 THE JOURNEY INLAND: SCENERY OF THE KARROO 193 KIMBERLEY AND ITS DIAMOND-FIELDS 196 NORTHWARD THROUGH BECHUANALAND 201 KHAMA: HIS TOWN AND HIS PEOPLE 207 MANGWE AND THE MATOPPO HILLS 212 CHAPTER XV MATABILILAND AND MASHONALAND BULAWAYO AND LO BENGULA 216 THE NATIVES: CAUSES OF THE RISING OF 1896 223 THE NATIVE LABOUR QUESTION 224 DHLODHLO: SCENERY OF THE HILL-COUNTRY 227 GWELO AND THE TRACK TO FORT VICTORIA 232 RUINS OF GREAT ZIMBABWYE 234 FORT SALISBURY 240 CHAPTER XVI FROM FORT SALISBURY TO THE SEA--MANICALAND AND THE PORTUGUESE TERRITORIES SCENERY OF EASTERN MASHONALAND 242 ANTIQUITIES AT THE LEZAPI RIVER 245 AMONG THE MOUNTAINS: FALLS OF THE OUDZI RIVER 250 MTALI AND THE PORTUGUESE BORDER 251 CHIMOYO AND THE EASTERN SLOPE 257 DESCENT OF THE PUNGWE RIVER TO BEIRA 261 CHAPTER XVII RESOURCES AND FUTURE OF MATABILILAND AND MASHONALAND GENERAL FEATURES OF THE BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA COMPANY'S TERRITORIES 268 HEALTH, WEALTH, AND PEACE 269 FORM OF GOVERNMENT RECENTLY ESTABLISHED 277 RESULTS OF BRITISH EXTENSION IN THE NORTH 279 CHAPTER XVIII THROUGH NATAL TO THE TRANSVAAL DELAGOA BAY 281 DURBAN AND PIETERMARITZBURG 283 THE GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS OF NATAL 284 LAING'S NEK AND MAJUBA HILL 291 THE WITWATERSRAND AND ITS GOLD-FIELDS 296 JOHANNESBURG AND PRETORIA 304 CHAPTER XIX THE ORANGE FREE STATE BLOEMFONTEIN 313 CONSTITUTION AND POLITICS OF THE FREE STATE 315 CHAPTER XX BASUTOLAND: THE SWITZERLAND OF SOUTH AFRICA ACROSS THE FREE STATE TO THE CALEDON RIVER 319 THE MISSIONARIES AND THE CHIEFS: LEROTHODI 322 THE ASCENT OF MOUNT MACHACHA 325 THABA BOSIYO AND ITS HISTORY 330 CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF THE BASUTO NATION 336 PART IV _SOME SOUTH AFRICAN QUESTIONS_ CHAPTER XXI BLACKS AND WHITES RELATIVE NUMBERS AND INFLUENCE OF EACH 345 SOCIAL CONDITION AND HABITS OF THE BLACKS 350 AVERSION OF THE WHITES FOR THE BLACKS 353 CIVIL AND LEGAL RIGHTS OF THE BLACKS 355 WHAT THE FUTURE OF THE BLACKS IS LIKELY TO BE 365 CHAPTER XXII MISSIONS INFLUENCE OF RELIGIOUS IDEAS ON VARIOUS RACES 370 HOW THE NATIVES RECEIVE THE MISSIONARIES 371 SLOW PROGRESS OF MISSION WORK 373 WHAT MAY BE HOPED FOR 377 CHAPTER XXIII SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BRITISH COLONIES THE DUTCH AND THE ENGLISH: THE DUTCH LANGUAGE 379 PLACIDITY OF SOUTH AFRICAN LIFE 383 LITERATURE, JOURNALISM, EDUCATION 386 THE CHURCHES 389 CHAPTER XXIV POLITICS IN THE BRITISH COLONIES THE FRAME OF COLONIAL GOVERNMENT 392 ABSENCE OF SOME FAMILIAR POLITICAL ISSUES 396 REAL ISSUES: RACE AND COLOUR QUESTIONS 399 GENERAL CHARACTER OF CAPE POLITICS 400 CHAPTER XXV THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN THE TRANSVAAL IN 1895 THE OLD BOERS AND THE NEW IMMIGRANTS 405 CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC 409 UITLANDER DISCONTENT: THE NATIONAL REFORM UNION 413 THE CAPITALISTS: PREPARATIONS FOR A REVOLUTION 416 PRESIDENT KRUGER AND HIS POLICY 420 THE CHANCES FOR THE MOVEMENT: CAUSES OF ITS FAILURE 424 CHAPTER XXVI ECONOMIC PROSPECTS MATERIAL RESOURCES: TILLAGE AND PASTURE 433 MINERALS: THE GOLD-FIELDS AND THEIR DURATION 437 WILL MANUFACTURES BE DEVELOPED? 442 SOUTH AFRICA AS A MARKET FOR GOODS 446 FUTURE POPULATION: ITS INCREASE AND CHARACTER 447 CHAPTER XXVII REFLECTIONS AND FORECASTS SOURCES OF THE TROUBLES OF SOUTH AFRICA 453 THE FRICTION OF DUTCH AND ENGLISH: AND ITS CAUSES 454 BRITISH POLICY IN ITS EARLIER AND LATER PHASES 458 FUTURE RELATIONS OF THE EUROPEAN AND NATIVE RACES 463 INTERNATIONAL POSITION OF SOUTH AFRICA 467 THE FUTURE RELATIONS OF BOERS AND ENGLISHMEN 469 PROSPECTS OF SOUTH AFRICAN CONFEDERATION 472 SOUTH AFRICA AND BRITAIN 474 APPENDIX THE TRANSVAAL CONVENTION OF 1881 479 THE TRANSVAAL CONVENTION OF 1884 488 INDEX 495 AREA AND POPULATION OF THE SEVERAL COLONIES, REPUBLICS AND TERRITORIES IN SOUTH AFRICA _________________________________________________________________________ | | | | | POPULATION IN 1891. | | AREA IN SQUARE MILES. |_____________________________________| | | | | | | | European. | Coloured. | Total. | |___________________________________|___________|_____________|___________| | | | | | | | _British_-- | | | | | |Cape Colony (including | | | | | | Walfish Bay) | 277,000 | 382,198 | 1,383,762 | 1,765,960 | | | | | | | |Basutoland | 10,293 | 578 | 218,624 | 219,202 | | | | | | | |Bechuanaland | | | | | | (Protectorate) | 200,000(?)| 800(?)| 200,000(?)| --- | | | | | | | |Natal | 20,461 | 46,788 | 497,125 | 543,913 | | | | | | | |Zululand | 12,500(?)| 1,100 | 179,270(?)| 180,370 | | | | | | | |Tongaland (British) | 2,000(?)| none | 20,000(?)| --- | | | | | | | |Territories of British | | | | | | South Africa Company,| | | | | | south of the | | | | | | Zabesi (Matabililand | | | | | | and Mashonaland) | 142,000 | 7,000(?)| unknown | --- | | | | (1899) | | | |_______________________|___________|___________|_____________|___________| | | | | | | | _Independent_-- | | | | | |South African Republic | | | | | | (Transvaal) | 119,139 | 245,397(?)| 622,500(?)| 867,897 | | | | | | | |Swaziland (dependent | | | | | | on South African | | | | | | Republic) | 8,500 | 900(?)| 55,000(?)| --- | | | | | | | |Orange Free State | 48,326 | 77,716 | 129,787 | 207,503 | |___________________________________|___________|_____________|___________| | | | | | | |Portuguese East Africa | 300,000(?)| 10,000(?)| 3,100,000(?)| --- | | | | | | | |German South West | | 2,025 | | | | Africa | 320,000(?)| (1896) | 200,000(?)| --- | |___________________________________|___________|_____________|___________| DATES OF SOME IMPORTANT EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA A.D. Bartholomew Diaz discovers the Cape of Good Hope 1486 Vasco da Gama explores the East Coast of Africa 1497-8 The Dutch appear in the South African Seas 1595 First Dutch settlement in Table Bay 1652 Arrival of French Huguenot settlers 1689 Beginning of the Exploration of the Interior 1700 First Kafir War 1779 First British occupation of the Cape 1795-1803 Second British occupation of the Cape 1806 Cession of Cape Colony to Britain 1814 Conquests of Tshaka, the Zulu King 1812-1828 Arrival of a body of British settlers 1820 First British settlement in Natal 1824 English made the official language in Cape Colony 1825-1828 Equal Rights ordinance in favour of the Natives 1828 Emancipation of the Slaves 1834 Sixth Kafir War 1834 Emigration of the discontented Boers (the Great Trek) 1836-7 Conquest of Matabililand by Mosilikatze 1837 The emigrant Boers occupy Natal 1838 British occupation and annexation of Natal 1843 Two native "buffer States" created in the interior 1843 Seventh Kafir War; province of British Kaffraria created 1847 Orange River Sovereignty created 1848 Recognition of the Independence of the Transvaal Boers (Sand River Convention) 1852 Recognition of the Independence of the Orange River Boers (Bloemfontein Convention) 1854 Representative Government established in Cape Colony 1854 Establishment of a Constitution for the South African Republic 1855-1858 Proclamation of a Protectorate over Basutoland 1868 Discovery of diamonds on the Lower Vaal River 1869 British occupation and annexation of Griqualand West 1871 Responsible Government granted to Cape Colony 1872 Delagoa Bay arbitration 1872-1875 British annexation of the Transvaal 1877 War with Cetewayo and conquest of Zululand 1879 Retrocession of the Transvaal 1881 Annexation of Southern and Protectorate over Northern Bechuanaland 1884-1885 German occupation of Damaraland 1884 Convention of London with the Transvaal Republic 1884 Discovery of the Witwatersrand gold field 1885 Foundation of the British South Africa Company 1889 Conquest of Matabililand by the Company 1893 Responsible Government granted to Natal 1893 Protectorate declared over the Tonga Chiefs 1894 Rising at Johannesburg and expedition of Dr. Jameson from Pitsani 1895 Outbreak of war between Britain and the two Dutch Republics Oct. 1899 INTRODUCTION In the latter part of the year 1895 I travelled across South Africa from Cape Town to Fort Salisbury in Mashonaland, passing through Bechuanaland and Matibililand. From Fort Salisbury, which is only two hundred miles from the Zambesi, I returned through Manicaland and the Portuguese territories to Beira on the Indian Ocean, sailed thence to Delagoa Bay and Durban, traversed Natal, and visited the Transvaal, the Orange Free State, Basutoland, and the eastern province Cape Colony. The country had long possessed a great interest for me, and that interest was increased by studying on the spot its physical character as well as the peculiar economic and industrial conditions which have made it unlike the other newly settled countries of the world. Seeing these things and talking with the leading men in every part of the country, I began to comprehend many things that had previously been obscure to me, and saw how the political troubles of the land were connected with the life which nature imposed on the people. Immediately after my return to Europe, fresh political troubles broke out, and events occurred in the Transvaal which fixed the eyes of the whole world upon South Africa. I had not travelled with the view of writing a book; but the interest which the events just mentioned have aroused, and which is likely to be sustained for a good while to come, leads me to believe that the impressions of a traveller who has visited other new countries may be useful to those who desire to know what South Africa is really like, and why it makes a noise and stir in the world disproportionate to its small population. I have called the book "Impressions" lest it should be supposed that I have attempted to present a complete and minute account of the country. For this a long residence and a large volume would be required. It is the salient features that I wish to describe. These, after all, are what most readers desire to know: these are what the traveller of a few weeks or months can give, and can give all the better because the details have not become so familiar to him as to obscure the broad outlines. Instead of narrating my journey, and weaving into the narrative observations on the country and people, I have tried to arrange the materials collected in a way better fitted to present to the reader in their natural connection the facts he will desire to have. Those facts would seem to be the following: (1) the physical character of the country, and the aspects of its scenery; (2) the characteristics of the native races that inhabit it; (3) the history of the natives and of the European settlers, that is to say the chief events which have made the people what they now are; (4) the present condition of the several divisions of the country, and the aspects of life in it; (5) the economic resources of the country, and the characteristic features of its society and its politics. These I have tried to set forth in the order above indicated. The first seven chapters contain a very brief account of the physical structure and climate, since these are the conditions which have chiefly determined the economic progress of the country and the lines of European migration, together with remarks on the wild animals, the vegetation, and the scenery. Next follows a sketch of the three aboriginal races, and an outline of the history of the whites since their first arrival, four centuries ago. The earlier events are lightly touched on, while those which have brought about the present political situation are more fully related. In the third part of the book, asking the reader to accompany me on the long journey from Cape Town to the Zambesi Valley and back again, I have given in four chapters a description of the far interior as one sees it passing from barbarism to civilization--its scenery, the prospects of its material development, the life which its new settlers lead. These regions, being the part of the country most lately brought under European administration, seem to deserve a fuller treatment than the older and better-known regions. Three other chapters give a more summary account of Natal, of the Transvaal gold-fields, of that model republic the Orange Free State, and of Basutoland, a native state under British protection which possesses many features of peculiar interest. In the fourth and last division of the book several questions of a more general character are dealt with which could not conveniently be brought into either the historical or the descriptive parts. I have selected for discussion those topics which are of most permanent importance and as to which the reader is most likely to be curious. Among them are the condition of the natives, and their relations to the white people; the aspects of social and political life; the situation of affairs in the Transvaal in 1895, and the causes which brought about the Reform rising and the expedition of Dr. Jameson; and finally, the economic prospects of the country, and the political future of its colonies and republics. In these concluding chapters, as well as in the historical sketch, my aim has been to set forth and explain facts rather than to pass judgments upon the character and conduct of individuals. Whoever desires to help others to a fair view of current events must try not only to be impartial, but also to avoid expressing opinions when the grounds for those opinions cannot be fully stated; and where controversy is raging round the events to be described, no judgment passed on individual actors could fail to be deemed partial by one set of partizans or by the other. Feeling sure that the present problems will take some time to solve, I have sought to write what those who desire to understand the country may find useful even after the next few years have passed. And, so far from wishing to champion any view or to throw any fresh logs on the fire of controversy that has been blazing for the last few years, I am convinced that the thing now most needed in the interests of South Africa is to let controversies die out, to endeavour to forget the causes of irritation, and to look at the actual facts of the case in a purely practical spirit. Altogether apart from its recent troubles, South Africa is an interesting, and indeed fascinating subject of study. There are, of course, some things which one cannot expect to find in it. There has not yet been time to evolve institutions either novel or specially instructive, nor to produce new types of character (save that of the Transvaal Boer) or new forms of social life. There are no ancient buildings, except a few prehistoric ruins; nor have any schools of architecture or painting or literature been as yet developed. But besides the aspects of nature, often weird and sometimes beautiful, there are the savage races, whose usages and superstitions open a wide field for research, and the phenomena of whose contact with the whites raise some grave and gloomy problems. There are the relations of the two European races--races which ought long ago to have been happily blended into one, but which have been kept apart by a train of untoward events and administrative errors. Few of the newer countries have had a more peculiar or more chequered history; and this history needs to be studied with a constant regard to the physical conditions that have moulded it. Coming down to our own time, nowhere are the struggles of the past seen to be more closely intertwined with the troubles of the present; nor does even Irish history furnish a better illustration of the effect of sentiment upon practical politics. Few events of recent times have presented more dramatic situations, and raised more curious and intricate issues of political and international morality, than those which have lately been set before us by the discovery of the Transvaal gold-fields and the rush of nineteenth-century miners and speculators into a pastoral population which retains the ideas and habits of the seventeenth-century. Still more fascinating are the problems of the future. One can as yet do little more than guess at them; but the world now moves so fast, and has grown so small, and sees nearly every part of itself so closely bound by ties of commerce or politics to every other part, that it is impossible to meditate on any great and new country without seeking to interpret its tendencies by the experience of other countries, and to conjecture the rôle it will be called on to play in the world-drama of the centuries to come. I have sought, therefore, not only to make South Africa real to those who do not know it, and to give them the materials for understanding what passes there and following its fortunes with intelligence, but also to convey an impression of the kind of interest it awakens. It is still new: and one sees still in a fluid state the substance that will soon crystallize into new forms. One speculates on the result which these mingled forces, these ethnic habits and historical traditions, and economic conditions, will work out. And reflecting on all these things, one feels sure that a country with so commanding a position, and which has compressed so much history into the last eighty years of its life, will hold a conspicuous place in that southern hemisphere which has in our own times entered into the political and industrial life of the civilized world. PART I _NATURE_ CHAPTER I PHYSICAL FEATURES To understand the material resources and economic conditions of South Africa, and, indeed, to understand the history of the country and the political problems which it now presents, one must first know something of its physical structure. The subject may seem dry, and those readers who do not care for it may skip this chapter. But it need not be uninteresting, and it is certainly not uninstructive. For myself, I can say that not only South African history, but also the prospects of South African industry and trade, were dark matters to me till I had got, by travelling through the country, an idea of those natural features of the southern part of the continent which have so largely governed the course of events and have stamped themselves so deeply upon the habits of the people. Some notion of these features I must now try to convey. Fortunately, they are simple, for nature has worked in Africa, as in America, upon larger and broader lines than she has done in Europe. The reader will do well to keep a map beside him, and refer[3] constantly to it, for descriptions without a map avail little. Africa south of the Zambesi River consists, speaking broadly, of three regions. There is a strip of lowland lying along the coast of the Indian Ocean, all the way round from Cape Town, past Durban and Delagoa Bay and Beira, till you reach the mouth of the Zambesi. On the south, between Cape Town and Durban, this strip is often very narrow, for in many places the hills come, as they do at Cape Town, right down to the sea. But beyond Durban, as one follows the coast along to the north-east, the level strip widens. At Delagoa Bay it is some fifteen or twenty miles wide; at Beira it is sixty or eighty miles wide, so that the hills behind cannot be seen from the coast; and farther north it is still wider. This low strip is in many places wet and swampy, and, being swampy, is from Durban northward malarious and unhealthful in the highest degree. Its unhealthfulness is a factor of prime importance in what may be called the general scheme of the country, and has had, as we shall presently see, the most important historical consequences. Behind the low coast strip rise the hills whose slopes constitute the second region. They rise in most places rather gradually, and they seldom (except in Manicaland, to be hereafter described) present striking forms. The neighbourhood of Cape Town is almost the only place where high mountains come close to the shore--the only place, therefore, except the harbour of St. John's far to the east, where there is anything that can be called grand coast scenery. As one travels inland the hills become constantly higher, till at a distance of thirty or forty miles from the sea they have reached an average height of from 3000 to 4000 feet, and sixty miles from 5000 to 6000 feet. These hills, intersected by valleys which grow narrower and have steeper sides the farther inland one goes, are the spurs or outer declivity of a long range of mountains which runs all the way from Cape Town to the Zambesi Valley, a distance of sixteen hundred miles, and is now usually called by geographers (for it has really no general name) the Drakensberg or Quathlamba Range. Their height varies from 3000 to 7000 feet, some of the highest lying not far to the north-east of Cape Town. In one region, however, several summits reach to 11,000 feet. This is Basutoland, the country that lies at the corner where Cape Colony, Natal, and the Orange Free State meet. It is a region remarkable in several respects, for its scenery as well as for its history, and for the condition of the native race that inhabits it, and I shall have to give some account of it in a later chapter. These mountains of Basutoland are the loftiest in Africa south of Kilimandjaro, and keep snow on their summits for several months in the year. Behind the Quathlamba Range the country spreads out to the north and west in a vast tableland, sometimes flat, sometimes undulating, sometimes intersected by ridges of rocky hills. This is the third region. Its average height above the sea varies from 3000 to 5000 feet, and the hills reach in places nearly 6000. Thus the Quathlamba Range may be regarded as being really the edge of the tableland, and when in travelling up from the coast one reaches the water-shed, or "divide" (an American term which South Africans have adopted), one finds that on the farther or northerly side there is very little descent. The peaks which when seen from the slopes towards the coast looked high and steep are on this inner side insignificant, because they rise so little above the general level of the plateau. This plateau runs away inland to the west and north-west, and occupies seven-eighths of the surface of South Africa. It dips gently on the north to the valley of the Zambesi; but on the west spreads out over the Kalahari Desert and the scarcely less arid wastes of Damaraland, maintaining (except along the lower course of the Orange River) an altitude of from 3000 to 4000 feet above the sea, until within a comparatively short distance of the Atlantic Ocean. The physical structure of the country is thus extremely simple. There is only one considerable mountain-chain, with a vast table-land filling the interior behind it, and a rough, hilly country lying between the mountains and the low belt which borders on the Indian Ocean. Let the reader suppose himself to be a traveller wishing to cross the continent from east to west. Starting from a port, say Delagoa Bay or Beira, on the Portuguese coast, the traveller will in a few hours, by either of the railways which run westward from those ports, traverse the low strip which divides them from the hill-country. To ascend the valleys and cross the water-shed of the great Quathlamba Range on to the plateau takes a little longer, yet no great time. Then, once upon the plateau, the traveller may proceed steadily to the west for more than a thousand miles over an enormous stretch of high but nearly level land, meeting no considerable eminence and crossing no perceptible water-shed till he comes within sight of the waves of the Atlantic. Or if he turns to the north-west he will pass over an undulating country, diversified only by low hills, till he dips slowly into the flat and swampy ground which surrounds Lake Ngami, itself rather a huge swamp than a lake, and descends very gradually from that level to the banks of the Zambesi, in the neighbourhood of the great Victoria Falls. In fact, this great plateau is South Africa, and all the rest of the country along the sea-margin a mere appendage to it. But so large a part of the plateau is, as we shall see presently, condemned by its dryness to remain sterile and very thinly peopled, that the interior has not that preponderating importance which its immense area might seem to give it. It is not worth while to describe the minor ridges,--though some of them, especially in Cape Colony, are abrupt and high enough to be called Mountains,--for none has any great importance as affecting either material or historical conditions. The longest are those which run parallel to the dreary and almost uninhabited west coast, and form the terraces by which the great plateau sinks down to the margin of the Atlantic. Neither can I touch on the geology, except to observe that a great part of the plateau, especially in the northern part and towards the north-east end of the Quathlamba Range, consists of granite or gneiss, and is believed to be of very great antiquity, _i.e._, to have stood, as it now stands, high above the level of the sea from a very remote period of the earth's history. The rocks of the Karroo region are more recent. Nowhere in South Africa has any area of modern volcanic action, much less any active volcano, been discovered. More ancient eruptive rocks, such as greenstones and porphyries, are of frequent occurrence, and are often spread out in level sheets above the sedimentary beds of the Karroo and of the Basutoland and Free State ranges. Finally, it must be noted that the coast has extremely few harbours. From Cape Town eastward and north-eastward there is no sheltered deep-water haven till one reaches that of Durban, itself troubled by a bar, and from Durban to the Zambesi no good ports save Delagoa Bay and Beira. On the other side of the continent, Saldanha Bay, twenty miles north of Cape Town, is an excellent harbour. After that the Atlantic coast shows none for a thousand miles. So much for the surface and configuration of the country. Now let us come to the climate, which is a not less important element in making South Africa what it is. The heat is, of course, great, though less great than a traveller from North Africa or India expects to find in such a latitude. Owing to the vast mass of water in the southern hemisphere, that hemisphere is cooler in the same latitude than is the northern. Cape Town, in latitude 34° S., has a colder winter and not so hot a summer as Gibraltar and Aleppo, in latitude 36° N. Still the summer temperature is high even at Durban, in latitude 30° S., while the northern part of the Transvaal Republic, and all the territories of the British South Africa Company, including Matabililand and Mashonaland, lie within the tropic of Capricorn, that is to say, correspond in latitude to Nubia and the central provinces of India between Bombay and Calcutta. The climate is also, over most of the country, extremely dry. Except in a small district round Cape Town, at the southern extremity of the continent, there is no proper summer and winter, but only a dry season, the seven or eight months when the weather is colder, and a wet season, the four or five months when the sun is highest. Nor are the rains that fall in the wet season so copious and continuous as they are in some other hot countries; in many parts of India, for instance, or in the West Indies and Brazil. Thus even in the regions where the rainfall is heaviest, reaching thirty inches or more in the year, the land soon dries up and remains parched till the next wet season comes. The air is therefore extremely dry, and, being dry, it is clear and stimulating in a high degree. Now let us note the influence upon the climate of that physical structure we have just been considering. The prevailing wind, and the wind that brings most of the rain in the wet season, is the east or south-east. It gives a fair supply of moisture to the low coast strip which has been referred to above. Passing farther inland, it impinges upon the hills which run down from the Quathlamba Range, waters them, and sometimes falls in snow on the loftiest peaks. A certain part of the rain-bearing clouds passes still farther inland, and scatters showers over the eastern part of the tableland, that is to say, over the Transvaal, the Orange Free State, eastern Bechuanaland, and the territories still farther north, toward the Zambesi. Very little humidity, however, reaches the tracts farther to the west. The northern part of Cape Colony as far as the Orange River, the western part of Bechuanaland, and the wide expanse of Damaraland have a quite trifling rainfall, ranging from four or five to ten inches in the whole year. Under the intense heat of the sun this moisture soon vanishes, the surface bakes hard, and the vegetation withers. All this region is therefore parched and arid, much of it, in fact, a desert, and likely always to remain so. These great and dominant physical facts--a low coast belt, a high interior plateau, a lofty, rugged mountain-range running nearly parallel to, and not very far from, the shore of the ocean, whence the rainclouds come, a strong sun, a dry climate--have determined the character of South Africa in many ways. They explain the very remarkable fact that South Africa has, broadly speaking, no rivers. Rivers are, indeed, marked on the map--rivers of great length and with many tributaries; but when in travelling during the dry season you come to them you find either a waterless bed or a mere line of green and perhaps unsavoury pools. The streams that run south and east from the mountains to the coast are short and rapid torrents after a storm, but at other times dwindle to feeble trickles of mud. In the interior there are, to be sure, rivers which, like the Orange River or the Limpopo, have courses hundreds of miles in length. But they contain so little water during three-fourths of the year as to be unserviceable for navigation, while most of their tributaries shrink in the dry season to a chain of pools, scarcely supplying drink to the cattle on their banks. This is one of the reasons why the country remained so long unexplored. People could not penetrate it by following waterways, as happened both in North and in South America; they were obliged to travel by ox-waggon, making only some twelve or sixteen miles a day, and finding themselves obliged to halt, when a good bit of grass was reached, to rest and restore the strength of their cattle. For the same reason the country is now forced to depend entirely upon railways for internal communication. There is not a stream (except tidal streams) fit to float anything drawing three feet of water. It is a curious experience to travel for hundreds of miles, as one may do in the dry season in the north-eastern part of Cape Colony and in Bechuanaland, through a country which is inhabited, and covered in some places with wood, in others with grass or shrublets fit for cattle, and see not a drop of running water, and hardly even a stagnant pond. It is scarcely less strange that such rivers as there are should be useless for navigation. But the cause is to be found in the two facts already stated. In those parts where rain falls it comes at one season, within three or four months. Moreover, it comes then in such heavy storms that for some hours, or even days, the streams are so swollen as to be not only impassable by waggons, but also unnavigable, because, although there is plenty of water, the current is too violent. Then when the floods have ceased the streams fall so fast, and the channel becomes so shallow, that hardly even a canoe will float. The other fact arises from the proximity to the east coast of the great Quathlamba chain of mountains. The rivers that flow from it have mostly short courses, while the few that come down from behind and break through it, as does the Limpopo, are interrupted at the place where they break through by rapids which no boat can ascend. [Footnote 3: In particular I will ask the reader to refer to the two maps showing the physical features of the country which have been inserted in this volume.] CHAPTER II HEALTH The physical conditions just described determine the healthfulness of the country, and this is a matter of so much moment, especially to those who think of settling in South Africa, that I take the earliest opportunity of referring to it. The sun-heat would make the climate very trying to Europeans, and of course more trying the farther north toward the Equator they live, were it not for the two redeeming points I have dwelt on--the elevation and the dryness of the interior. To be 3000, 4000, or 5000 feet above the sea is for most purposes the same thing as being in a more temperate latitude, and more than five-sixths in area of the districts which are now inhabited by Europeans have an elevation of fully 3000 feet. Not merely the tablelands of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal, but also by far the larger part of Cape Colony and nearly the whole of Natal (excluding a small strip along the coast), attain this elevation. Thus even in summer, when the heat is great during the day, the coolness of the night refreshes the system. The practical test of night temperature is whether one wishes for a blanket to sleep under. In Madras and Bombay all the year round, in New York through several months of summer, in Paris or sometimes even in London for a few days in July or August, a light blanket is oppressive, and the continuance of the high day temperature through the hours of darkness exhausts and enfeebles all but vigorous constitutions. But in South Africa it is only along the coast, in places like Durban, Delagoa Bay, or Beira, that one feels inclined to dispense with a woollen covering at night, while in Johannesburg or Bloemfontein a good thick blanket is none too much even in November, before the cooling rains begin, or in December, when the days are longest. In fact, the fall of temperature at sunset is often a source of risk to those who, coming straight from Europe, have not yet learned to guard against sudden changes, for it causes chills which, if they find a weak organ to pounce upon, may produce serious illness. These rapid variations of temperature are not confined to the passage from day to night. Sometimes in the midst of a run of the usual warm, brilliant weather of the dry season there will come a cold, bitter south east wind, covering the sky with gray clouds and driving the traveller to put on every wrap he possesses. I remember, toward the end of October, such a sudden "cold snap" in Matabililand, only twenty degrees from the equator. One shivered all day long under a thick greatcoat, and the natives lit fires in front of their huts and huddled round them for warmth. Chills dangerous to delicate people are apt to be produced by these changes, and they often turn into feverish attacks, not malarial, though liable to be confounded with malarial fevers. This risk of encountering cold weather is a concomitant of that power of the south-east wind to keep down the great heats, which, on the whole, makes greatly for the salubrity of the country; so the gain exceeds the loss. But new comers have to be on their guard, and travellers will do well, even between the tropic and the equator, to provide themselves with warm clothing. Strong as the sun is, its direct rays seem to be much less dangerous than in India or the eastern United States. Sunstroke is unusual, and one sees few people wearing, even in the tropical north, those hats of thick double felt or those sun-helmets which are deemed indispensable in India. In fact, Europeans go about with the same head-gear which they use in an English summer. But the relation of sun-stroke to climate is obscure. Why should it be extremely rare in California, when it is very common in New York in the same latitude? Why should it be almost unknown in the Hawaiian Islands, within seventeen degrees of the equator? Its rarity in South Africa is a great point in favour of the healthfulness of the country, and also of the ease and pleasantness of life. In India one has to be always mounting guard against the sun. He is a formidable and ever-present enemy, and he is the more dangerous the longer you live in the country. In South Africa it is only because he dries up the soil so terribly that the traveller wishes to have less of him. The born Africander seems to love him. The dryness of the climate makes very strongly for its salubrity. It is the absence of moisture no less than the elevation above sea-level that gives to the air its fresh, keen, bracing quality, the quality which enables one to support the sun-heat, which keeps the physical frame in vigour, which helps children to grow up active and healthy, which confines to comparatively few districts that deadliest foe of Europeans, swamp-fever. Malarial fever in one of its many forms, some of them intermittent, others remittent, is the scourge of the east coast as well as of the west coast. To find some means of avoiding it would be to double the value of Africa to the European powers which have been establishing themselves on the coasts. No one who lives within thirty miles of the sea nearly all the way south from Cape Guardafui to Zululand can hope to escape it. It is frequent all round the great Nyanza lakes, and particularly severe in the valley of the Nile from the lakes downward to Khartoum. It prevails through the comparatively low country which lies along the Congo and the chief tributaries of that great stream. It hangs like a death-cloud over the valley of the Zambesi, and is found up to a height of 3000 or 4000 feet, sometimes even higher, in Nyassaland and the lower parts of the British territories that stretch to Lake Tanganyika. The Administrator of German East Africa has lately declared that there is not a square mile of that vast region that can be deemed free from it. Even along the generally arid shores of Damaraland there are spots where it is to be feared. But Cape Colony and Natal and the Orange Free State are almost exempt from it. So, too, are all the higher parts of the Transvaal, of Bechuanaland, of Matabililand, and of Mashonaland. Roughly speaking, one may say that the upper boundary line of malarial fevers in these countries is about 4500 feet above the sea, and where fevers occur at a height above 3000 feet they are seldom of a virulent type. Thus, while the lower parts of the Transvaal between the Quathlamba Mountains and the sea are terribly unhealthy, while the Portuguese country behind Delagoa Bay and Beira as far as the foot of the hills is equally dangerous,--Beira itself has the benefit of a strong sea-breeze,--by far the larger part of the recently occupied British territories north and west of the Transvaal is practically safe. It is, of course, proper to take certain precautions, to avoid chills and the copious use of alcohol and it is specially important to observe such precautions during and immediately after the wet season, when the sun is raising vapours from the moist soil, when new vegetation has sprung up, and when the long grass which has grown during the first rains is rotting under the later rains. Places which are quite healthful in the dry weather, such as Gaberones and the rest of the upper valley of the rivers Notwani and Limpopo in eastern Bechuanaland, then become dangerous, because they lie on the banks of streams which inundate the lower grounds. Much depends on the local circumstances of each spot. To illustrate the differences between one place and another, I may take the case of the three chief posts in the territories of the British South Africa Company. Buluwayo, nearly 4000 feet above the sea, is always practically free from malaria, for it stands in a dry, breezy upland with few trees and short grass. Fort Victoria, 3670 feet above the sea, is salubrious enough during the dry season, but often feverish after the rains, because there is some wet ground near it. Fort Salisbury, 4900 feet above the sea, is now healthful at all times, but parts of it used to be feverish at the end of the rainy season, until they were drained in the beginning of 1895. So Pretoria, the capital of the Transvaal Republic, is apt to be malarious during the months of rain, because (although 4470 feet above the sea) it lies in a well-watered hollow; while at Johannesburg, thirty miles off, on the top of a high, bare, stony ridge, one has no occasion to fear fever, though the want of water and proper drainage, as well as the quantity of fine dust from the highly comminuted ore and "tailings" with which the air is filled, had until 1896 given rise to other maladies, and especially to septic pneumonia. These will diminish with a better municipal administration, and similarly malaria will doubtless vanish from the many spots where it is now rife when the swampy grounds have been drained and the long grass eaten down by larger herds of cattle. It is apparently the dryness and the purity of the air which have given South Africa its comparative immunity from most forms of chest disease. Many sufferers from consumption, for whom a speedy death, if they remained in Europe, had been predicted, recover health, and retain it till old age. The spots chiefly recommended are on the high grounds of the interior plateau, where the atmosphere is least humid. Ceres, ninety-four miles by rail from Cape Town, and Beaufort West, in the Karroo, have been resorted to as sanatoria; and Kimberley, the city of diamonds, has an equally high reputation for the quality of its air. However, some of the coast districts are scarcely less eligible, though Cape Town has too many rapid changes of weather, and Durban too sultry a summer, to make either of them a desirable place of residence for invalids. Apart from all questions of specific complaints, there can be no doubt as to the general effect of the climate upon health. The aspect of the people soon convinces a visitor that, in spite of its heat, the country is well fitted to maintain in vigour a race drawn from the cooler parts of Europe. Comparatively few adult Englishmen sprung from fathers themselves born in Africa are as yet to be found. But the descendants of the Dutch and Huguenot settlers are Africanders up to the sixth or seventh generation, and the stock shows no sign of losing either its stature or its physical strength. Athletic sports are pursued as eagerly as in England. CHAPTER III WILD ANIMALS AND THEIR FATE When first explored, South Africa was unusually rich in the kinds both of plants and of animals which it contained; and until forty or fifty years ago the number, size, and beauty of its wild creatures were the things by which it was chiefly known to Europeans, who had little suspicion of its mineral wealth, and little foreboding of the trouble that wealth would cause. Why it was so rich in species is a question on which geology will one day be able to throw light, for much may depend on the relations of land and sea in earlier epochs of the earth's history. Probably the great diversities of elevation and of climate which exist in the southern part of the continent have contributed to this profuse variety; and the fact that the country was occupied only by savages, who did little or nothing to extinguish any species nature had planted, may have caused many weak species to survive when equally weak ones were perishing in Asia and Europe at the hands of more advanced races of mankind. The country was therefore the paradise of hunters. Besides the lion and the leopard, there were many other great cats, some of remarkable beauty. Besides the elephant, which was in some districts very abundant, there existed two kinds of rhinoceros, as well as the hippopotamus and the giraffe. There was a wonderful profusion of antelopes,--thirty-one species have been enumerated,--including such noble animals as the eland and koodoo, such beautiful ones as the springbok and klipspringer, such fierce ones as the blue wildebeest or gnu. There were two kinds of zebra, a quagga, and a buffalo, both huge and dangerous. Probably nowhere in the world could so great a variety of beautiful animals be seen or a larger variety of formidable ones be pursued. All this has changed, and changed of late years with fatal speed, under the increasing range and accuracy of firearms, the increasing accessibility of the country to the European sportsman, and the increasing number of natives who possess guns. The Dutch Boer of eighty years ago was a good marksman and loved the chase, but he did not shoot for fame and in order to write about his exploits, while the professional hunter who shot to sell ivory or rare specimens had hardly begun to exist. The work of destruction has latterly gone on so fast that the effect of stating what is still left can hardly be to tempt others to join in that work, but may help to show how urgent is the duty of arresting the process of extermination. When the first Dutchmen settled at the Cape the lion was so common as to be one of the every-day perils of life. Tradition points out a spot in the pleasure-ground attached to the Houses of Parliament at Cape Town where a lion was found prowling in what was then the commandant's garden. In 1653 it was feared that lions would storm the fort to get at the sheep within it, and so late as 1694 they killed nine cows within sight of the present castle. To-day, however, if the lion is to be found at all within the limits of Cape Colony, it is only in the wilderness along the banks of the Orange River. He was abundant in the Orange Free State when it became independent in 1854, but has been long extinct there. He survives in a few spots in the north of the Transvaal and in the wilder parts of Zululand and Bechuanaland, and is not unfrequent in Matabililand and Mashonaland. One may, however, pass through those countries, as I did in October, 1895, without having a chance of seeing the beast or even hearing its nocturnal voice, and those who go hunting this grandest of all quarries are often disappointed. In the strip of flat land between the mountains and the Indian Ocean behind Sofala and Beira, and in the Zambesi valley, there remain lions enough; but the number diminishes so fast that even in that malarious and thinly peopled land none may be left thirty years hence. The leopard is still to be found all over the country, except where the population is thickest; and as the leopard haunts rocky places, it is, though much hunted for the sake of its beautiful skin, less likely to be exterminated. Some of the smaller carnivora, especially the pretty lynxes, have now become very rare. There is a good supply of hyenas, but they are ugly. Elephants used to roam in great herds over all the more woody districts, but have now been quite driven out of Cape Colony, Natal, and the two Dutch republics, save that in a narrow strip of forest country near the south coast, between Mossel Bay and Algoa Bay, some herds are preserved by the Cape government. So, too, in the north of the Transvaal there are still a few left, also specially preserved. It is only on the east coast south of the Zambesi, and here and there along that river, that the wild elephant can now be found. From these regions it will soon vanish, and unless something is done to stop the hunting of elephants the total extinction of the animal in Africa may be expected within another half-century; for the foolish passion for slaughter which sends so-called sportsmen on his track, and the high price of ivory, are lessening its numbers day by day. A similar fate awaits the rhinoceros, once common even near the Cape, where he overturned one day the coach of a Dutch governor. The white kind, which is the larger, is now all but extinct, while the black rhinoceros has become scarce even in the northern regions between the Limpopo and the Zambesi. The hippopotamus, protected by his aquatic habits, has fared better, and may still be seen plunging and splashing in the waters of the Pungwe, the Limpopo, and other rivers in Portuguese East Africa. But Natal will soon know this great amphibian no more; and within Cape Colony, where the creature was once abundant even in the swamps that bordered Table Bay, he is now to be found only in the pools along the lower course of the Orange River. The crocodile holds his ground better, and is still a serious danger to oxen who go down to drink at the streams. In Zululand and all along the east coast, as well as in the streams of Mashonaland and Matabililand, there is hardly a pool which does not contain some of these formidable saurians. Even when the water shrinks in the dry season till little but mud seems to be left, the crocodile, getting deep into the mud, maintains a torpid life till the rains bring him back into activity. Lo Bengula sometimes cast those who had displeased him, bound hand and foot, into a river to be devoured by these monsters, which he did not permit to be destroyed, probably because they were sacred to some tribes. The giraffe has become very scarce, though a herd or two are left in the south of Matabililand, and a larger number in the Kalahari Desert. So, also, the zebra and many of the species of antelopes, especially the larger kinds, like the eland and the sable, are disappearing, while the buffalo is now only to be seen (except in a part of the Colony where a herd is preserved) in the Portuguese territories along the Zambesi and the east coast. The recent cattle-plague has fallen heavily upon him. So the ostrich would probably now remain only in the wilds of the Kalahari had not large farms been created in Cape Colony, where young broods are reared for the sake of the feathers. On these farms, especially near Graham's Town and in the Oudtshorn district, one may see great numbers; nor is there a prettier sight than that of two parent birds running along, with a numerous progeny of little ones around them. Though in a sense domesticated, they are often dangerous, for they kick forward and claw downward with great violence, and the person whom they knock down and begin to trample on has little chance of escape with his life. Fortunately, it is easy to drive them off with a stick or even an umbrella; and we were warned not to cross an ostrich-farm without some such defence. Snakes, though there are many venomous species, seem to be less feared than in India or the wilder parts of Australia. The python grows to twenty feet or more, but is, of course, not poisonous, and never assails man unless first molested. The black _momba_, which is nearly as large as a rattlesnake, is, however, a dangerous creature, being ready to attack man without provocation, and the bite may prove fatal in less than an hour. One sees many skins of this snake in the tropical parts of South Africa, and hears many thrilling tales of combats with them. They are no longer common in the more settled and temperate regions. Although even in Cape Colony and the Dutch republics there is still more four-footed game to be had than anywhere in Europe, there remain only two regions where large animals can be killed in any considerable numbers. One of these is the Portuguese territory between Delagoa Bay and the Zambesi, together with the adjoining parts of the Transvaal, where the lower spurs of the Quathlamba Range descend to the plain. This district is very malarious during and after the rains, and most of it unhealthy at all seasons. The other region is the Kalahari Desert and the country north of it between Lake Ngami and the Upper Zambesi. The Kalahari is so waterless as to offer considerable difficulties to European hunters, and the country round Lake Ngami is swampy and feverish. So far the wild creatures have nature in their favour; yet the passion for killing is in many persons so strong that neither thirst nor fever deters them, and if the large game are to be saved, it will clearly be necessary to place them under legal protection. This has been attempted so far as regards the elephant, rhinoceros, giraffe, and eland. In German East Africa Dr. von Wissmann, the Administrator of that territory, has recently (1896) gone further, and ordained restrictions on the slaughter of all the larger animals, except predatory ones. The governments of the two British colonies and the two Boer republics, which have already done well in trying to preserve some of the rarest and finest beasts, ought to go thoroughly into the question and enact a complete protective code. Still more necessary is it that a similar course should be taken by the British South Africa Company and by the Imperial Government, in whose territories there still survive more of the great beasts. It is to be hoped that even the lion and some of the rare lynxes will ultimately receive consideration. Noxious as they are, it would be a pity to see them wholly exterminated. When I was in India, in the year 1888, I was told that there were only seven lions then left in that vast area, all of them well cared for. The work of slaughter ought to be checked in South Africa before the number gets quite so low as this, and though there may be difficulties in restraining the natives from killing the big game, it must be remembered that as regards many animals it is the European rather than the native, who is the chief agent of destruction. The predatory creatures which are now most harmful to the farmer are the baboons, which infest rocky districts and kill the lambs in such great numbers that the Cape government offers bounties for their slaughter. But no large animal does mischief for a moment comparable to that of the two insect plagues which vex the eastern half of the country, the white ants and the locusts. Of these I shall have something to say later. CHAPTER IV VEGETATION The flora of South Africa is extremely rich, showing a number of genera, and of species which, in proportion to its area, exceeds the number found in most other parts of the world. But whether this wealth is due to the diversity of physical conditions which the country presents, or rather to geological causes, that is, to the fact that there may at some remote period have been land connections with other regions which have facilitated the immigration of plants from various sides, is a matter on which science cannot yet pronounce, for both the geology and the flora of the whole African continent have been very imperfectly examined. It is, however, worth remarking that there are marked affinities between the general character of the flora of the south-western corner of South Africa and that of the flora of south-western Australia, and similar affinities between the flora of south-eastern and tropical Africa and the flora of India, while the relations to South America are fewer and much less marked. This fact would seem to point to the great antiquity of the South Atlantic Ocean. To give in such a book as this even the scantiest account of the plants of South Africa would obviously be impossible. All I propose is to convey some slight impression of the part which its vegetation, and particularly its trees, play in the landscape and in the economic conditions of the country. Even this I can do but imperfectly, because, like most travellers, I passed through large districts in the dry season, when three-fourths of the herbaceous plants are out of flower. No part of the country is richer in beautiful flowers than the immediate neighbourhood of Cape Town. This extreme south-western corner of Africa has a climate of the south temperate zone; that is to say, it has a real summer and a real winter, and gets most of its rain in winter, whereas the rest of South Africa has only a wet season and a dry season, the latter coming in winter. So, too, this corner round Cape Town has a vegetation characteristically its own, and differing markedly from that of the arid Karroo regions to the north, and that of the warm subtropical regions in the east of the Colony and in Natal. It is here that the plants flourish which Europeans and Americans first came to know and which are still to them the most familiar examples of the South African flora. Heaths, for instance, of which there are said to be no less than three hundred and fifty species in this small district, some of extraordinary beauty and brilliance, are scarcely found outside of it. I saw two or three species on the high peaks of Basutoland, and believe some occur as far north as the tropic on the tops of the Quathlamba Range; but in the lower grounds, and even on the plateau of the Karroo they are absent. The general aspect of the vegetation on the Karroo, and eastward over the plateau into Bechuanaland and the Transvaal, is to the traveller's eye monotonous--a fact due to the general uniformity of the geological formations and the general dryness of the surface. In Natal and in Mashonaland types different from those of either the Cape or the Karroo appear, and I have never seen a more beautiful and varied alpine flora than on a lofty summit of Basutoland which I ascended in early summer. But even in Mashonaland, and in Matabililand still more, the herbaceous plants make, at least in the dry season, comparatively little show. I found the number of conspicuous species less than I had expected, and the diversity of types from the types that prevail in the southern part of the plateau (in Bechuanaland and the Orange Free State) less marked. This is doubtless due to the general similarity of the conditions that prevail over the plateau. Everywhere the same hot days and cold nights, everywhere the same dryness. However, I must avoid details, especially details which would be interesting only to a botanist, and be content with a few words on those more conspicuous features of the vegetation which the traveller notes, and which go to make up his general impression of the country. Speaking broadly, South Africa is a bare country, and this is the more remarkable because it is a new country, where man has not had time to work much destruction. There are ancient forests along the south coast of Cape Colony and Natal, the best of which are (in the former colony) now carefully preserved and administered by a Forest Department of Government. Such is the great Knysna forest, where elephants still roam wild. But even in these forests few trees exceed fifty or sixty feet in height, the tallest being the so-called yellow-wood, and the most useful the sneeze-wood. On the slopes of the hills above Graham's Town and King William's Town one finds (besides real forests here and there) immense masses of dense scrub, or "bush," usually from four to eight feet in height, sometimes with patches of the prickly-pear, an invader from America, and a formidable one; for its spines hurt the cattle and make passage by men a troublesome business. It was this dense, low scrub which constituted the great difficulty of British troops in the fierce and protracted Kafir wars of fifty years ago; for the ground which the scrub covers was impassable except by narrow and tortuous paths known only to the natives, and it afforded them admirable places for ambush and for retreat. Nowadays a large part of the bush-covered land is used for ostrich-farms, and it is, indeed, fit for little else. The scrub is mostly dry, while the larger forests are comparatively damp, and often beautiful with flowering trees, small tree-ferns, and flexile climbers. But the trees are not lofty enough to give any of that dignity which a European forest, say in England or Germany or Norway, often possesses, and as the native kinds are mostly evergreens, their leaves have comparatively little variety of tint. One of the most graceful is the curious silver-tree, so called from the whitish sheen of one side of its leaves, which grows abundantly on the slopes of Table Mountain, but is found hardly anywhere else in the Colony. If this is the character of the woods within reach of the coast rains, much more conspicuous is the want of trees and the poorness of those scattered here and there on the great interior plateau. In the desert region, that is to say, the Karroo, the northern part of Cape Colony to the Orange River, western Bechuanaland, and the German territories of Namaqualand and Damaraland, there are hardly any trees, except small, thorny mimosas (they are really acacias, the commonest being _Acacia horrida_), whose scanty, light-green foliage casts little shade. On the higher mountains, where there is a little more moisture, a few other shrubs or small trees may be found, and sometimes beside a watercourse, where a stream runs during the rains, the eye is refreshed by a few slender willows; but speaking generally, this huge desert, one-third of South Africa, contains nothing but low bushes, few of which are fit even for fuel. Farther east, where the rainfall is heavier, the trees, though still small, are more frequent and less thorny. Parts of the great plain round Kimberley were tolerably well wooded thirty years ago, but the trees have all been cut down to make mine props or for fire-wood. North of Mafeking the rolling flats and low hills of Bechuanaland are pretty fairly wooded, and so to a less degree are the adjoining parts of the Transvaal and Matabililand. The road going north from Mafeking passes through some three hundred miles of such woodlands, but a less beautiful or interesting woodland I have never seen. The trees are mostly the thorny mimosas I have mentioned. None exceed thirty, few reach twenty-five, feet. Though they grow loosely scattered, the space between them is either bare or occupied by low and very prickly bushes. The ground is parched, and one can get no shade, except by standing close under a trunk somewhat thicker than its neighbours. Still farther north the timber is hardly larger, though the general aspect of the woods is improved by the more frequent occurrence of flowering trees, some sweet-scented, with glossy leaves and small white flowers, some with gorgeous clusters of blossoms. Three are particularly handsome. One, usually called the Kafir-boom, has large flowers of a brilliant crimson. Another (_Lonchocarpus speciosus_[4]), for which no English name seems to exist, shows lovely pendulous flowers of a bluish lilac, resembling in colour those of the _wistaria_. The third is an arboraceous St. John's wort (_Hypericum Schimperi_[4]), which I found growing in a valley of Manicaland, at a height of nearly 4000 feet above the sea. All three would be great ornaments to a south European shrubbery could they be induced to bear the climate, which, in the case of the two latter (for I hardly think the Kafir-boom would suit a colder air), seems not impossible. In Manicaland, among the mountains which form the eastern edge of the plateau, the trees are taller, handsomer, and more tropical in their character, and palms, though of no great height, are sometimes seen. But not even in the most humid of the valleys and on the lower spurs of the range, where it sinks into the coast plain, nor along the swampy banks of the Pungwe River, did I see any tree more than sixty feet high, and few more than thirty. Neither was there any of that luxuriant undergrowth which makes some tropical forests, like those at the foot of the Nilghiri Hills in India or in some of the isles of the Pacific, so impressive as evidences of the power and ceaseless activity of nature. The poverty of the woods in Bechuanaland and Matabililand seems to be due not merely to the dryness of the soil and to the thin and sandy character which so often marks it, but also to the constant grass-fires. The grass is generally short, so that these fires do not kill the trees; nor does one hear of such great forest conflagrations as are frequent and ruinous in Western America and by no means unknown in the south of Cape Colony. But these fires doubtless injure the younger trees sufficiently to stunt their growth, and this mischief is, of course, all the greater when an exceptionally dry year occurs. In such years the grass-fires, then most frequent, may destroy the promise of the wood over a vast area. The want of forests in South Africa is one of the greatest misfortunes of the country, for it makes timber costly; it helps to reduce the rainfall, and it aggravates the tendency of the rain, when it comes, to run off rapidly in a sudden freshet. Forests have a powerful influence upon climate in holding moisture,[5] and not only moisture, but soil also. In South Africa the violent rain-storms sweep away the surface of the ground, and prevent the deposition of vegetable mould. Nothing retains that mould or the soil formed by decomposed rock as well as a covering of wood and the herbage which the neighbourhood of comparatively moist woodlands helps to support. It is much to be desired that in all parts of the country where trees will grow trees should be planted, and that those which remain should be protected. Unfortunately, most of the South African trees grow slowly, so where planting has been attempted it is chiefly foreign sorts that are tried. Among these the first place belongs to the Australian gums, because they shoot up faster than any others. One finds them now everywhere, mostly in rows or groups round a house or a hamlet, but sometimes also in regular plantations. They have become a conspicuous feature in the landscape of the veldt plateau, especially in those places where there was no wood, or the little that existed has been destroyed. Kimberley, for instance, and Pretoria are beginning to be embowered in groves of eucalyptus; Buluwayo is following suit; and all over Matabililand and Mashonaland one discovers in the distance the site of a farm-steading or a store by the waving tops of the gum-trees. If this goes on these Australian immigrants will sensibly affect the aspect of the country, just as already they have affected that of the Riviera in south-eastern France, of the Campagna of Rome, of the rolling tops of the Nilghiri Hills in Southern India, from which, unhappily, the far more beautiful ancient groves ("sholas") have now almost disappeared. Besides those gums, another Australasian tree, the thin-foliaged and unlovely, but quick-growing "beefwood," has been largely planted at Kimberley and some other places. The stone-pine of Southern Europe, the cluster-pine (_Pinus Pinaster_), and the Aleppo or Jerusalem pine (_Pinus Halepensis_), have all been introduced and seem to do well. The Australian wattles have been found very useful in helping to fix the soil on sandy flats, such as those near Cape Town, and the bark of one species is an important article of commerce in Natal, where (near Maritzburg, for instance) it grows profusely. But of all the immigrant trees none is so beautiful as the oak. The Dutch began to plant it round Cape Town early in the eighteenth century, and it is now one of the elements which most contribute to the charm of the scenery in this eminently picturesque south-west corner of the country. Nothing can be more charming than the long oak avenues which line the streets of Stellenbosch, for instance; and they help, with the old-fashioned Dutch houses of that quaint little town, to give a sort of Hobbema flavour to the foregrounds. The changes which man has produced in the aspect of countries, by the trees he plants and the crops he sows, are a curious subject for inquiry to the geographer and the historian. These changes sometimes take place very rapidly. In the Hawaiian Islands, for instance, discovered by Captain Cook little more than a century ago, many of the shrubs which most abound and give its tone to the landscape have come (and that mostly not by planting, but spontaneously) from the shores of Asia and America within the last eighty years. In Egypt most of the trees which fill the eye in the drive from Cairo to the pyramids were introduced by Mehemet Ali, so that the banks of the Nile, as we see them, are different not only from those which Herodotus saw, but even from those which Napoleon saw. In North Africa the Central American prickly-pear and the Australian gum make the landscape quite different from that of Carthaginian or even of Roman times. So South Africa is changing--changing all the more because many of the immigrant trees thrive better than the indigenous ones, and are fit for spots where the latter make but little progress; and in another century the country may wear an aspect quite unlike that which it now presents. [Footnote 4: I owe these names to the kindness of the authorities at the Royal Gardens at Kew, who have been good enough to look through fifty-four dried specimens which I collected and preserved as well as I could while travelling through Mashonaland and Basutoland. Eleven of these fifty-four were pronounced to be species new to science, a fact which shows how much remains to be done in the way of botanical exploration.] [Footnote 5: It has been plausibly suggested that one reason why many English rivers which were navigable in the tenth century (because we know that the Northmen traversed them in vessels which had crossed the German Ocean) but are now too shallow to let a row-boat pass, is to be found in the destruction of the forests and the draining of the marshes which the forests sheltered.] CHAPTER V PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF THE VARIOUS POLITICAL DIVISIONS Hitherto I have spoken of South Africa as a natural whole, ignoring its artificial division into Colonies and States. It may be well to complete the account of the physical characteristics of the country by giving the reader some notion of the aspects of each of the political divisions, and thereby a notion also of their relative importance and resources as wealth-producing regions. CAPE COLONY Cape Colony is a huge territory more than twice as large as the United Kingdom. But very little of it is available for tillage, and much of it is too arid even for stock-keeping. The population, including natives, is only seven to the square mile. Nearly the whole of it is high country. All along its westerly coast and its southerly coast there is a strip of low ground bordering the ocean, which in some places is but a mile or two wide, and in others, where a broad valley opens spreads backward, giving thirty or forty square miles of tolerably level or undulating ground. The rich wine and corn district round Stellenbosch and Paarl and northward towards Malmesbury is such a tract. Behind this low strip the country rises, sometimes in steep acclivities, up which a road or railway has to be carried in curves and zigzags, sometimes in successive terraces, the steps, so to speak, by which the lofty interior breaks down towards the sea. Behind these terraces and slopes lies the great tableland described in a preceding chapter. Though I call it a tableland, it is by no means flat, for several long, though not lofty, ranges of hills, mostly running east and west, intersect it. Some tracts are only 2000 feet, others as much as 5000 feet, above the sea, while the highest hilltops approach 8000 feet. The part of this high country which lies between longitude 20° and 25° E., with the Nieuweld and Sneeuwberg mountains to the north of it, and the Zwarte Berg to the south, is called the Great Karroo. (The word is Hottentot, and means a dry or bare place.) It is tolerably level, excessively dry, with no such thing as a running stream over its huge expanse of three hundred miles long and half as much wide, nor, indeed, any moisture, save in a few places shallow pools which almost disappear in the dry season. The rainfall ranges from five to fifteen inches in the year. It is therefore virtually a desert, bearing no herbage (except for a week or two after a rainstorm), and no trees, though there are plenty of prickly shrubs and small bushes, some of these succulent enough, when they sprout after the few showers that fall in the summer, to give good browsing to sheep and goats. The brilliancy of the air, the warmth of the days, and the coldness of the nights remind one who traverses the Karroo of the deserts of Western America between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, though the soil is much less alkaline, and the so-called "sage-brush" plants characteristic of an alkaline district are mostly absent. To the north of the Karroo and of the mountains which bound it, a similar district, equally arid, dreary, and barren, stretches away to the banks of the Orange River, which here in its lower course has less water than in its upper course, because, like the Nile, it receives no affluents and is wasted by the terrible sun. In fact, one may say that from the mountains dividing the southern part of the Karroo from the coast lands all the way north to the Orange River, a distance of nearly four hundred miles, nature has made the country a desert of clay and stone (seldom of sand), though man has here and there tried to redeem it for habitation. The north-eastern part of the interior of Cape Colony is more generally elevated than the south-western. From Graaf-Reinet northward to Kimberley and Mafeking, and north-eastward to the borders of Basutoland, the country is 4000 feet or more above sea-level; much of it is nearly level, and almost all of it bare of wood. It is better watered than the western districts, enjoying a rainfall of from ten to twenty-five inches in the year, and is therefore mostly covered with grass after the rains, and not merely with dry thorny bushes. Nevertheless, its general aspect in the dry season is so parched and bare that the stranger is surprised to be told that it supports great quantities of cattle, sheep, and goats. The south-eastern part, including the Quathlamba Range, and the hilly country descending from that range to the sea, has a still heavier rainfall and is in some places covered with forest. Here the grass is richer, and in the valleys there is plenty of land fit for tillage without irrigation. THE COLONY OF NATAL Much smaller, but more favoured by nature, is the British colony of Natal, which adjoins the easternmost part of Cape Colony, and now includes the territories of Zululand and Tonga land. Natal proper and Zululand resemble in their physical conditions the south-eastern corner of Cape Colony. Both lie entirely on the sea slope of the Quathlamba Range, and are covered by mountains and hills descending from that range. Both are hilly or undulating, with a charming variety of surface; and they are also comparatively well watered, with a perennial stream in every valley. Hence there is plenty of grass, and towards the coast plenty of wood also, while the loftier interior is bare. The climate is much warmer than that of Cape Colony, and in the narrow strip which borders the sea becomes almost tropical. Nor is this heat attributable entirely to the latitude. It is largely due to the great Mozambique current, which brings down from the tropical parts of the Indian Ocean a vast body of warm water which heats the adjoining coast just as the Gulf Stream heats the shores of Georgia and the Carolinas; and the effect of this mass of hot water upon the air over it would doubtless be felt much more in Natal were it not for the rapid rise of the ground from the sea in that colony. Pietermaritzburg, the capital, is only some fifty miles from the coast as the crow flies. But though it lies in a valley, it is 2225 feet above sea-level, and from it the country steadily rises inland, till at Laing's Nek (the watershed between the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic), the height of 5300 feet is reached, and the winter cold is severe. Nearly the whole of Natal and four-fifths of Zululand may thus be deemed a temperate country, where Europeans can thrive and multiply. So far as soil goes it is one of the richest as well as one of the fairest parts of South Africa. Tongaland, a smaller district, lies lower and is less healthy. GERMAN SOUTH-WEST AFRICA Very different is the vast German territory (322,000 square miles) which stretches northward from Cape Colony, bounded on the south by the Orange River, on the north by the West African territories of Portugal, on the east by Bechuanaland. Great Namaqualand and Damaraland constitute an enormous wilderness, very thinly peopled, because the means of life are very scanty. This wilderness is, except the narrow and sandy coast strip, a high country (3000 to 4500 feet above sea-level) and a dry country, drier even than the Karroo, and far too dry for any kind of cultivation. Some parts, especially those in the south-west, are hopelessly parched and barren; others have small bushes or grass; while on the higher grounds and generally in the far northern parts, where the Ovampo tribe dwell, grass is abundant, and as cattle can thrive there is also population. Copper has been discovered in considerable quantities, and other minerals (including coal) are believed to exist. But the country, taken all in all, and excepting the little explored districts of the north-east, toward the Upper Zambesi,--districts whose resources are still very imperfectly known,--is a dreary and desolate region, which seems likely to prove of little value. Germany now owns the whole of it, save the port of Walfish Bay, which has been retained for and is administered by Cape Colony. PORTUGUESE SOUTH-EAST AFRICA On the opposite side of the continent Portugal holds the country which lies along the Indian Ocean from British Tongaland northward to the Zambesi. Close to the sea it is level, rising gently westward in hills, and in some places extending to the crest of the Quathlamba Mountains. Thus it has considerable variety of aspect and climate, and as the rain falls chiefly on the slopes of the mountains, the interior is generally better watered than the flat seaboard, which is often sandy and worthless. Much of this region is of great fertility, capable of producing all the fruits of the tropics. But much of it, including some of the most fertile parts, is also very malarious, while the heat is far too great for European labour. When plantations are established throughout it, as they have been in a few--but only a few--spots by the Portuguese, it will be by natives that they will be cultivated. The Kafir population is now comparatively small, but this may be due rather to the desolating native wars than to the conditions of the soil. So much for the four maritime countries. There remain the two Dutch republics and the British territories which have not yet been formed into colonies. THE ORANGE FREE STATE The Orange Free State (48,000 square miles) lies entirely on the great plateau, between 4000 and 5000 feet above sea-level. It is in the main a level country, though hills are scattered over it, sometimes reaching a height of nearly 6000 feet. A remarkable feature of most of these hills, as of many all over the plateau, is that they are flat-topped, and have often steep, even craggy escarpments. This seems due to the fact that the strata (chiefly sandstone) are horizontal; and very often a bed of hard igneous rock, some, kind of trap or greenstone, or porphyry, protects the summit of the hill from the disintegrating influences of the weather. It is a bare land, with very little wood, and that small and scrubby, but is well covered with herbage, affording excellent pasture during two-thirds of the year. After the first rains, when these wide stretches of gently undulating land are dressed in their new vesture of brilliant green, nothing can be imagined more exhilarating than a ride across the wide expanse; for the air is pure, keen, and bracing, much like that of the high prairies of Colorado or Wyoming. There are fortunately no blizzards, but violent thunderstorms are not uncommon, and the hailstones--I have seen them as big as bantams' eggs--which fall during such storms sometimes kill the smaller animals, and even men. Dry as the land appears to the eye during the winter, the larger streams do not wholly fail, and water can generally be got. The south-eastern part of the Free State, especially along the Caledon River, is extremely fertile, one of the best corn-growing parts of Africa. The rest is fitter for pasture than for tillage, except, of course, on the alluvial banks of the rivers, and nearly the whole region is in fact occupied by huge grazing farms. As such a farm needs and supports only a few men, the population grows but slowly. The Free State is nearly as big as England and just as big as the State of New York; but it has only 77,000 white inhabitants and about 130,000 natives. THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC Somewhat larger,--about as large as Great Britain and nearly two-thirds the size of France--is the South African Republic, which we commonly talk of as the Transvaal. Of its white population, which numbers some 170,000, two-thirds are in the small mining district of the Witwatersrand. All the Transvaal, except a strip on the eastern and another strip on the northern border along the river Limpopo, also belongs to the great plateau and exhibits the characteristic features of the plateau. The hills are, however, higher than in the Free State, and along the east, where the Quathlamba Range forms the outer edge of the plateau, they deserve to be called mountains, for some of them reach 7000 feet. These high regions are healthy, for the summer heats are tempered by easterly breezes and copious summer rains. The lower parts lying toward the Indian Ocean and the Limpopo River are feverish, though drainage and cultivation may be expected to reduce the malaria and improve the conditions of health. Like the Free State, the Transvaal is primarily a pasture land, but in many parts the herbage is less juicy and wholesome than in the smaller republic, and belongs to what the Dutch Boers call "sour veldt." There are trees in the more sheltered parts, but except in the lower valleys, they are small, and of no economic value. The winter cold is severe, and the fierce sun dries up the soil, and makes the grass sear and brown for the greater part of the year. Strong winds sweep over the vast stretches of open upland, checked by no belts of forest. It is a country whose aspect has little to attract the settler. No one would think it worth fighting for so far as the surface goes; and until sixteen years ago nobody knew that there was enormous wealth lying below the surface. BRITISH TERRITORIES--BECHUANALAND Of one British territory outside the two colonies, viz., Basutoland, I shall have to speak fully hereafter. A second, Bechuanaland, including the Kalahari Desert, is of vast extent, but slender value. It is a level land lying entirely on the plateau between 3,000 and 4000 feet above the sea, and while some of its streamlets drain into the Limpopo, and so to the Indian Ocean, others flow westward and northward into marshes and shallow lakes, in which they disappear. One or two, however, succeed, in wet seasons, in getting as far as the Orange River, and find through it an outlet to the sea. It is only in the wet season that the streamlets flow, for Bechuanaland is intensely dry. I travelled four hundred miles through it without once crossing running water, though here and there in traversing the dry bed of a brook one was told that there was water underneath, deep in the sand. Notwithstanding this superficial aridity, eastern Bechuanaland is deemed one of the best ranching tracts in South Africa, for the grass is sweet, and the water can usually be obtained by digging, though it is often brackish. There is also plenty of wood--thin and thorny, but sufficiently abundant to diversify the aspect of what would otherwise be a most dreary and monotonous region. THE TERRITORIES OF THE BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA COMPANY North of Bechuanaland and the Transvaal, and stretching all the way to the Zambesi, are those immense territories which have been assigned to the British South Africa Company as the sphere of its operations, and to which the name of Rhodesia has been given. Matabililand and Mashonaland, the only parts that have been at all settled, are higher, more undulating, and altogether more attractive than Bechuanaland, with great swelling downs somewhat resembling the Steppes of Southern Russia or the prairies of Kansas. Except in the east and south-east, the land is undulating rather than hilly, but in the south-west, towards the Upper Limpopo, there lies a high region, full of small rocky heights often clothed with thick bush--a country difficult to traverse, as has been found during the recent native outbreak; for it was there that most of the Kafirs took shelter and were found difficult to dislodge. Towards the south-east, along the middle course of the Limpopo, the country is lower and less healthy. On the northern side of the central highlands, the ground sinks towards the Zambesi, and the soil, which among the hills is thin or sandy, becomes deeper. In that part and along the river banks there are great possibilities of agricultural development, while the uplands, where the subjacent rock is granite or gneiss, with occasional beds of slate or schist, are generally barer and more dry, fit rather for pasture than for tillage. More rain falls than in Bechuanaland, so it is only at the end of the dry season, in October, that the grass begins to fail on the pastures. The climate, though very warm,--for here we are well within the tropics,--is pleasant and invigorating, for nowhere do brighter and fresher breezes blow, and the heat of the afternoons is forgotten in the cool evenings. It is healthy, too, except along the swampy river banks and where one descends to the levels of the Zambesi, or into the Limpopo Valley. The reader will have gathered from this general sketch that there are no natural boundaries severing from one another the various political divisions of South Africa. The north-eastern part of Cape Colony is substantially the same kind of country as the Orange Free State and Eastern Bechuanaland; the Transvaal, or at least three-fourths of its area, is physically similar to the Free State; the boundary between Cape Colony and Natal is an artificial one; while Matabililand and Mashonaland present features resembling those of the Northern Transvaal, differing only in being rather hotter and rather better watered. So far as nature is concerned, the conditions she prescribes for the life of man, the resources she opens to his energies, are very similar over these wide areas, save, of course, that some parts are much richer than others in mineral deposits. It is only along the frontier line which divides Natal and the Portuguese dominions from the Transvaal and the territories of the British South Africa Company that a political coincides with a physical line of demarcation. Even German South-west Africa differs scarcely at all from the Kalahari Desert, which adjoins it and which forms the western part of Bechuanaland, and differs little also from the north-western regions of Cape Colony. If the reader will compare the two physical maps contained in this volume with the map which shows the political divisions of the country he will notice that these political divisions do not correspond with the areas where more or less rain falls, or where the ground is more or less raised above the sea or traversed by mountain chains. The only exception is to be found in the fact that the boundary of Natal towards Basutoland and the Orange Free State has been drawn along the watershed between the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic, and that the boundary line between the Portuguese territories and those of the Transvaal Republic and of the British South Africa Company, is in many places the line of division between the mountains and the low country. The Orange River and the Limpopo have, in parts of their courses, been taken as convenient political frontiers. But rivers, though convenient for this purpose to the statesman and the geographer, are not natural boundaries in the true sense of the term. And thus we may say that the causes which have cut up South Africa into its present Colonies and States have been (except as aforesaid) historical causes, rather than differences due to the hand of nature. CHAPTER VI NATURE AND HISTORY Now that some general idea of how nature has shaped and moulded South Africa has been conveyed to the reader, a few pages may be devoted to considering what influence on the fortunes of the country and its inhabitants has been exerted by its physical character. The history of every country may be regarded as the joint result of three factors--the natural conditions of the country itself, the qualities of the races that have occupied it, and the circumstances under which their occupation took place. And among savage or barbarous people natural conditions have an even greater importance than they have in more advanced periods of civilisation, because they are more powerful as against man. Man in his savage state is not yet able to resist such conditions or to turn them to serve his purposes, but is condemned to submit to the kind of life which they prescribe. This was the case with the first inhabitants of South Africa. They seem to have entered it as savages, and savages they remained. Nature was strong and stern; she spread before them no such rich alluvial plains as tempted cultivation in the valleys of the Nile and the Euphrates. Intellectually feeble, and without the patience or the foresight to attempt to till the soil in a land where droughts are frequent and disastrous, the Bushmen were content with killing game, and the Hottentots with living on the milk of their cattle. Such a life, which was one of uncertainty and often of hardship, permitted no accumulation of wealth, gave no leisure, suggested no higher want than that of food, and was in all respects unfavourable to material progress. Even the Bantu people, who probably came later and were certainly more advanced, for they carried on some little cultivation of the soil, remained at a low level. Nature gave them, except in dry years, as much corn as they needed in return for very little labour. Clothing they did not need, and their isolation from the rest of the world left them ignorant of luxuries. When the European voyagers found them at the end of the fifteenth century, they were making little or no advance in the arts of life. Upon the growth of European settlements the influence of the physical structure of the country has been very marked. When the Portuguese had followed the long line of coast from the mouth of the Orange River to that of the Zambesi, and from the mouth of the Zambesi northward to Zanzibar, they settled only where they heard that gold and ivory could be obtained. Their forts and trading stations, the first of which dates from 1505, were therefore planted on the coast northward from the Limpopo River. Sofala, a little south of the modern port of Beira, was the principal one. Here they traded, and twice or thrice they made, always in search of the gold-producing regions, expeditions inland. These expeditions, however, had to traverse the flat and malarious strip of ground which lies along the Indian Ocean. A large part of the white troops died, and the rest arrived at the higher ground so much weakened that they could achieve no permanent conquests, for they were opposed by warlike tribes. In the course of years a small population speaking Portuguese, though mixed with native blood, grew up along the coast. The climate, however, destroyed what vigour the whites had brought from Europe, and by degrees they ceased to even attempt to conquer or occupy the interior. The heat and the rains, together with fever, the offspring of heat and rains, checked further progress. Three centuries passed, during which the knowledge of south-eastern Africa which the civilised world had obtained within the twenty years that followed the voyages of Vasco da Gama, was scarcely increased. During those three centuries, America, which had not been discovered till six years after Bartholomew Diaz passed the Cape of Good Hope, had been, all except a part of the north-west, pretty thoroughly explored and partitioned out among five European powers. Large and prosperous colonies had sprung up and before the end of the eighteenth century one great independent state had established itself. The discovery of Australia and New Zealand came much later than that of America; but within one century from the first European settlement in Australia (A.D. 1787) the whole continent, though its interior is uninviting, had been traversed along many lines, and five prosperous European colonies had grown to importance. The slow progress of exploration and settlement in South Africa during so long a period is therefore a noteworthy phenomenon which deserves a few observations. As regards the Portuguese part of the East African coast, the explanation just given is sufficient. As regards that part of the West coast which lies south of the Portuguese colony of Angola, the natural features of the country make no explanation needed. No more arid or barren coast is to be found anywhere, and in its whole long stretch there is but one tolerable port, that of Walfish Bay. The inland region is scarcely better. Much of it is waterless and without herbage. No gold nor ivory nor other article of value was obtainable. Accordingly, nobody cared to settle or explore, and the land would probably be still lying unclaimed had not the settlement of Herr Lüderitz and a vague desire for territorial expansion prompted Germany to occupy it in 1884. The south coast, from the Cape to the Tugela River, was much more attractive. Here the climate was salubrious, the land in many places fertile, and everywhere fit for sheep or cattle. Here, accordingly, a small European community, first founded in 1652, grew up and spread slowly eastward and northward along the shore during the century and a half from its first establishment. The Dutch settlers did not care to penetrate the interior, because the interior seemed to offer little to a farmer. Behind the well-watered coast belt lay successive lines of steep mountains, and behind those mountains the desert waste of the Karroo, where it takes six acres to keep a sheep. Accordingly, it was only a few bold hunters, a few farmers on the outskirts of the little maritime colony, and a few missionaries, who cared to enter this wide wilderness. When exploration began, it began from this south-west corner of Africa. It began late. In 1806, when the British took the Cape from the Dutch, few indeed were the white men who had penetrated more than one hundred miles from the coast, and the farther interior was known only by report. For thirty years more progress was slow; and it is within our own time that nearly all the exploration, and the settlement which has followed quickly on the heels of exploration, has taken place. Just sixty years ago the Dutch Boers passed in their heavy waggons from Cape Colony to the spots where Bloemfontein and Pretoria now stand. In 1854-56 David Livingstone made his way through Bechuanaland to the falls of the Zambesi and the west coast at St. Paul de Loanda. In 1889 the vast territories between the Transvaal Republic and the Zambesi began to be occupied by the Mashonaland pioneers. All these explorers, all the farmers, missionaries, hunters, and mining prospectors, came up into South Central Africa from the south-west extremity of the continent over the great plateau. They moved north-eastward, because there was more rain, and therefore more grass and game in that direction than toward the north. They were checked from time to time by the warlike native tribes; but they were drawn on by finding everywhere a country in which Europeans could live and thrive. It was the existence of this high and cool plateau that permitted their discoveries and encouraged their settlement. And thus the rich interior has come to belong, not to the Portuguese, who first laid hold of South Africa, but to the races who first entered the plateau at the point where it is nearest the sea, the Dutch and the English. Coming a thousand miles by land, they have seized and colonised the country that lies within sixty or eighty miles of the ocean behind the Portuguese settlements, because they had good healthy air to breathe during all those thousand miles of journey; while the Portuguese, sunk among tropical swamps, were doing no more than maintain their hold upon the coast, and were allowing even the few forts they had established along the lower course of the Zambesi to crumble away. The same natural conditions, however, which have made the plateau healthy, have kept it sparsely peopled. Much of this high interior, whose settlement has occupied the last sixty years, is a desert unfit, and likely to be always unfit, for human habitation. Even in those parts which are comparatively well watered, the grazing for sheep and cattle is so scanty during some months of the year that farms are large, houses are scattered far from one another, and the population remains extremely thin. The Wilderness of the Karroo cuts off Cape Town and its comparatively populous neighbourhood from the inhabited, though thinly inhabited, pastoral districts of the Orange Free State. Between these two settled districts there are only a few villages, scattered at intervals of many miles along a line of railway four hundred miles in length. In the Free State and the Transvaal the white population is extremely sparse, save in the mining region of the Witwatersrand, because ranching requires few hands, and only a few hundred square miles out of many thousands have been brought under cultivation. Thus, while the coolness of the climate has permitted Europeans to thrive in these comparatively low latitudes, its dryness has kept down their numbers and has retarded not only their political development, but their progress in all those arts and pursuits which imply a tolerably large and varied society. The note of South African life, the thing that strikes the traveller with increasing force as he visits one part of the country after another, is the paucity of inhabitants, and the isolated life which these inhabitants, except in six or seven towns, are forced to lead. This is the doing of nature. She has not severed the country into distinct social or political communities by any lines of physical demarcation, but she has provided such scanty means of sustenance for human life and so few openings for human industry unaided by capital, that the settlers (save where capital has come to their aid) remain few indeed, and one may call the interior of South Africa a vast solitude, with a few oases of population dotted here and there over it. CHAPTER VII ASPECTS OF SCENERY The sketch I have given of the physical character of South Africa will doubtless have conveyed to the reader that the country offers comparatively little to attract the lover of natural scenery. This impression is true if the sort of landscape we have learned to enjoy in Europe and in the eastern part of the United States be taken as the type of scenery which gives most pleasure. Variety of form, boldness of outline, the presence of water in lakes and running streams, and, above all, foliage and verdure, are the main elements of beauty in those landscapes; while if any one desires something of more imposing grandeur, he finds it in snow-capped mountains like the Alps or the Cascade Range, or in majestic crags such as those which tower over the fiords of Norway. But the scenery of South Africa is wholly unlike that of Europe or of most parts of America. It is, above all things, a dry land, a parched and thirsty land, where no clear brooks murmur through the meadow, no cascade sparkles from the cliff, where mountain and plain alike are brown and dusty except during the short season of the rains. And being a dry land, it is also a bare land. Few are the favoured spots in which a veritable forest can be seen; for though many tracts are wooded, the trees are almost always thin and stunted. In Matabililand, for instance, though a great part of the surface is covered with wood, you see no trees forty feet high, and few reaching thirty; while in the wilderness of the Kalahari Desert and Damaraland nothing larger than a bush is visible, except the scraggy and thorny mimosa. These features of South Africa--the want of water and the want of greenness--are those to which a native of Western Europe finds it hardest to accustom himself, however thoroughly he may enjoy the brilliant sun and the keen dry air which go along with them. And it must also be admitted that over very large areas the aspects of nature are so uniform as to become monotonous. One may travel eight hundred miles and see less variety in the landscape than one would find in one-fourth of the same distance anywhere in Western Europe or in America east of the Alleghany Mountains. The same geological formations prevail over wide areas, and give the same profile to the hilltop, the same undulations to the plain; while in travelling northward toward the Equator the flora seems to change far less between 34° and 18° south latitude than it changes in the journey from Barcelona to Havre, through only half as many degrees of latitude. There are, nevertheless, several interesting bits of scenery in South Africa, which, if they do not of themselves repay the traveller for so long a journey, add sensibly to his enjoyment. The situation of Cape Town, with a magnificent range of precipices rising behind it, a noble bay in front, and environs full of beautiful avenues and pleasure-grounds, while bold mountain-peaks close the more distant landscape, is equalled by that of few other cities in the world. Constantinople and Naples, Bombay and San Francisco, cannot boast of more perfect or more varied prospects. There are some fine pieces of wood and water scenery along the south coast of Cape Colony, and one of singular charm in the adjoining colony of Natal, where the suburbs of Durban, the principal port, though they lack the grandeur which its craggy heights give to the neighbourhood of Cape Town have, with a warmer climate, a richer and more tropically luxuriant vegetation. In the great range of mountains which runs some seventeen hundred miles from Cape Town almost to the banks of the Zambesi, the scenery becomes striking in three districts only. One of these is Basutoland, a little native territory which lies just where Cape Colony, the Orange Free State, and Natal meet. Its peaks are the highest in Africa south of Mount Kilimanjaro, for several of them reach 11,000 feet. On the south-east this mountain-land, the Switzerland of South Africa, faces Natal and East Griqualand with a long range of formidable precipices, impassable for many miles. The interior contains valleys and glens of singular beauty, some wild and rugged, some clothed with rich pasture. The voice of brooks, a sound rare in Africa, rises from the hidden depths of the gorges, and here and there torrents plunging over the edge of a basaltic cliff into an abyss below make waterfalls which are at all seasons beautiful, and when swollen by the rains of January majestic. Except wood, of which there is unhappily nothing more than a little scrubby bush in the sheltered hollows, nearly all the elements of beauty are present; and the contrast between the craggy summits and the soft rich pasture and cornlands which lie along their northern base, gives rise to many admirable landscapes. Two hundred miles north-north-east of Basutoland the great Quathlamba Range rises in very bold slopes from the coast levels behind Delagoa Bay, and the scenery of the valleys and passes is said to be extremely grand. Knowing it, however, only by report, I will not venture to describe it. Nearly five hundred miles still farther to the north, in the district called Manicaland, already referred to, is a third mountain region, less lofty than Basutoland, but deriving a singular charm from the dignity and variety of its mountain forms. The whole country is so elevated that summits of 7000 or even 8000 feet do not produce any greater effect upon the eye than does Ben Lomond as seen from Loch Lomond, or Mount Washington from the Glen House. But there is a boldness of line about these granite peaks comparable to those of the west coast of Norway or of the finest parts of the Swiss Alps. Some of them rise in smooth shafts of apparently inaccessible rock; others form long ridges of pinnacles of every kind of shape, specially striking when they stand out against the brilliantly clear morning or evening sky. The valleys are well wooded, the lower slopes covered with herbage, so the effect of these wild peaks is heightened by the softness of the surroundings which they dominate, while at the same time the whole landscape becomes more complex and more noble by the mingling of such diverse elements. No scenery better deserves the name of romantic. And even in the tamer parts, where instead of mountains there are only low hills, or "kopjes" (as they are called in South Africa), the slightly more friable rock found in these hills decomposes under the influence of the weather into curiously picturesque and fantastic forms, with crags riven to their base, and detached pillars supporting loose blocks and tabular masses, among or upon which the timid Mashonas have built their huts in the hope of escaping the raids of their warlike enemies, the Matabili. Though I must admit that South Africa, taken as a whole, offers far less to attract the lover of natural beauty than does Southern or Western Europe or the Pacific States of North America, there are two kinds of charm which it possesses in a high degree. One is that of colour. Monotonous as the landscapes often are, there is a warmth and richness of tone about them which fills and delights the eye. One sees comparatively little of that whitish-blue limestone which so often gives a hard and chilling aspect to the scenery of the lower ridges of the Alps and of large parts of the coasts of the Mediterranean. In Africa even the grey granite or gneiss has a deeper tone than these limestones, and it is frequently covered by red and yellow lichens of wonderful beauty. The dark basalts and porphyries which occur in many places, the rich red tint which the surface of the sandstone rocks often takes under the scorching sun, give depth of tone to the landscape; and though the flood of midday sunshine is almost overpowering, the lights of morning and evening, touching the mountains with every shade of rose and crimson and violet, are indescribably beautiful. It is in these morning and evening hours that the charm of the pure dry air is specially felt. Mountains fifty or sixty miles away stand out clearly enough to enable all the wealth of their colour and all the delicacy of their outlines to be perceived; and the eye realises, by the exquisitely fine change of tint between the nearer and the more distant ranges, the immensity and the harmony of the landscape. Europeans may think that the continuous profusion of sunlight during most of the year may become wearisome. I was not long enough in the country to find it so, and I observed that those who have lived for a few years in South Africa declare they prefer that continuous profusion to the murky skies of Britain or Holland or North Germany. But even if the fine weather which prevails for eight months in the year be monotonous, there is compensation in the extraordinary brilliancy of the atmospheric effects throughout the rainy season, and especially in its first weeks. During nine days which I spent in the Transvaal at that season, when several thunderstorms occurred almost every day, the combinations of sunshine, lightning, and cloud, and the symphonies--if the expression may be permitted--of light and shade and colour which their changeful play produced in the sky and on the earth, were more various and more wonderful than a whole year would furnish forth for enjoyment in Europe. The other peculiar charm which South African scenery possesses is that of primeval solitude and silence. It is a charm which is differently felt by different minds. There are many who find the presence of what Homer calls "the rich works of men" essential to the perfection of a landscape. Cultivated fields, gardens, and orchards, farmhouses dotted here and there, indications in one form or another of human life and labour, do not merely give a greater variety to every prospect, but also impart an element which evokes the sense of sympathy with our fellow-beings, and excites a whole group of emotions which the contemplation of nature, taken by itself, does not arouse. No one is insensible to these things and some find little delight in any scene from which they are absent. Yet there are other minds to which there is something specially solemn and impressive in the untouched and primitive simplicity of a country which stands now just as it came from the hands of the Creator. The self-sufficingness of nature, the insignificance of man, the mystery of a universe which does not exist, as our ancestors fondly thought, for the sake of man, but for other purposes hidden from us and for ever undiscoverable--these things are more fully realised and more deeply felt when one traverses a boundless wilderness which seems to have known no change since the remote ages when hill and plain and valley were moulded into the forms we see to-day. Feelings of this kind powerfully affect the mind of the traveller in South Africa. They affect him in the Karroo, where the slender line of rails, along which his train creeps all day and all night across wide stretches of brown desert and under the crests of stern dark hills, seems to heighten by contrast the sense of solitude--a vast and barren solitude interposed between the busy haunts of men which he has left behind on the shores of the ocean and those still busier haunts whither he is bent, where the pick and hammer sound upon the Witwatersrand, and the palpitating engine drags masses of ore from the depths of the crowded mine. They affect him still more in the breezy highlands of Matabililand, where the eye ranges over an apparently endless succession of undulations clothed with tall grass or waving wood, till they sink in the blue distance toward the plain through which the great Zambesi takes its seaward course. The wilderness is indeed not wholly unpeopled. Over the wide surface of Matabililand and Mashonaland--an area of some two hundred thousand square miles--there are scattered natives of various tribes, whose numbers have been roughly estimated at from 250,000 to 400,000 persons. But one rarely sees a native except along a few well-beaten tracks, and still more rarely comes upon a cluster of huts in the woods along the streamlets or half hidden among the fissured rocks of a granite kopje. The chief traces of man's presence in the landscape are the narrow and winding footpaths which run hither and thither through the country, and bewilder the traveller who, having strayed from his waggon, vainly hopes by following them to find his way back to the main track, or the wreaths of blue smoke which indicate the spot where a Kafir has set the grass on fire to startle and kill the tiny creatures that dwell in it. Nothing is at first more surprising to one who crosses a country inhabited by savages than the few marks of their presence which strike the eye, or at least an unpractised eye. The little plot of ground the Kafirs have cultivated is in a few years scarcely distinguishable from the untouched surface of the surrounding land, while the mud-built hut quickly disappears under the summer rains and the scarcely less destructive efforts of the white ants. Here in South Africa the native races seem to have made no progress for centuries, if, indeed, they have not actually gone backward; and the feebleness of savage man intensifies one's sense of the overmastering strength of nature. The elephant and the buffalo are as much the masters of the soil as is the Kafir, and man has no more right to claim that the land was made for him than have the wild beasts of the forest who roar after their prey and seek their meat from God. These features of South African nature, its silence, its loneliness, its drear solemnity, have not been without their influence upon the mind and temper of the European settler. The most peculiar and characteristic type that the country has produced is the Boer of the eastern plateau, the offspring of those Dutch Africanders who some sixty years ago wandered away from British rule into the wilderness. These men had, and their sons and grandsons have retained, a passion for solitude that even to-day makes them desire to live many miles from any neighbour, a sturdy self-reliance, a grim courage in the face of danger, a sternness from which the native races have often had to suffer. The majesty of nature has not stimulated in them any poetical faculty. But her austerity, joined to the experiences of their race, has contributed to make them grave and serious, closely bound to their ancient forms of piety, and prone to deem themselves the special objects of divine protection. PART II _A SKETCH OF SOUTH AFRICAN HISTORY_ CHAPTER VIII THE NATIVES: HOTTENTOTS, BUSHMEN, AND KAFIRS By far the most interesting features in the history of South Africa have been the relations to one another of the various races that inhabit it. There are seven of these races, three native and four European. The European races, two of them, especially the Dutch and the English, are, of course, far stronger, and far more important as political factors, than are the natives. Nevertheless, the natives have an importance too, and one so great that their position deserves to be fully set forth and carefully weighed. For, though they are inferior in every point but one, they are in that point strong. They are prolific. They already greatly outnumber the whites, and they increase faster. The cases of conflict or contact between civilized European man and savage or semi-civilized aboriginal peoples, which have been very numerous since the tide of discovery began to rise in the end of the fifteenth century, may be reduced to three classes. The first of these classes includes the cases where the native race, though perhaps numerous, is comparatively weak, and unable to assimilate European civilization, or to thrive under European rule (a rule which has often been harsh), or even to survive in the presence of a European population occupying its country. To this class belong such cases as the extinction of the natives of the Antilles by the Spaniards, the disappearance of the natives of Southern Australia and Tasmania before British settlement, the dying out, or retirement to a few reserved tracts, of the aborigines who once occupied all North America east of the Rocky Mountains. The Russian advance in Siberia, the advance of Spanish and Italian and German colonists in the territories of La Plata in South America, may be added to this class, for though the phenomena are rather those of absorption than of extinction, the result is practically the same. The country becomes European and the native races vanish. An opposite class of cases arises where Europeans have conquered a country already filled by a more or less civilized population, which is so numerous and so prolific as to maintain itself with ease in their presence. Such a case is the British conquest of India. The Europeans in India are, and must remain, a mere handful among the many millions of industrious natives, who already constitute, in many districts, a population almost too numerous for the resources of the country to support. Moreover, the climate is one in which a pure European race speedily dwindles away. The position of the Dutch in Java, and of the French in Indo-China, is similar; and the French in Madagascar will doubtless present another instance. Between these two extremes lies a third group of cases--those in which the native race is, on the one hand, numerous and strong enough to maintain itself in the face of Europeans, while, on the other hand, there is plenty of room left for a considerable European population to press in, climatic conditions not forbidding it to spread and multiply. To this group belong such colonizations as those of the Spaniards in Mexico and Peru, of the Russians in parts of Central Asia, of the French in Algeria and Tunis, of the Spaniards in the Canary Isles, and of the English and Americans in Hawaii. In all these countries the new race and the old race can both live and thrive, neither of them killing off or crowding out the other, though in some, as in Hawaii, the natives tend to disappear, while in others, as in Algeria, the immigrants do not much increase. Sometimes, as in the Canary Isles and Mexico, the two elements blend, the native element being usually more numerous, though less advanced; and a mixed race is formed by intermarriage. Sometimes they remain, and seem likely to remain, as distinct as oil is from water. South Africa belongs to this third class of cases. The Dutch and the English find the country a good one and become fond of it. There is plenty of land for them. They enjoy the climate. They thrive and multiply. But they do not oust the natives, except sometimes from the best lands, and the contact does not reduce the number of the latter. The native--that is to say, the native of the Kafir race--not merely holds his ground, but increases far more rapidly than he did before Europeans came, because the Europeans have checked intertribal wars and the slaughter of the tribesmen by the chiefs and their wizards, and also because the Europeans have opened up new kinds of employment. As, therefore, the native will certainly remain, and will, indeed, probably continue to be in a vast majority, it is vital to a comprehension of South African problems to know what he has been and may be expected to become. The native races are three, and the differences between them are marked, being differences not only of physical appearance and of language, but also of character, habits, and grade of civilization. These three are the Bushmen, the Hottentots, and those Bantu tribes whom we call Kafirs. The Bushmen were, to all appearance, the first on the ground, the real aborigines of South Africa. They are one of the lowest races to be found anywhere, as low as the Fuegians or the "black fellows" of Australia, though perhaps not quite so low as the Veddahs of Ceylon or the now extinct natives of Tasmania. They seem to have been originally scattered over all South Africa, from the Zambesi to the Cape, and so late as eighty years ago were almost the only inhabitants of Basutoland, where now none of them are left. They were nomads of the most primitive type, neither tilling the soil nor owning cattle, but living on such wild creatures as they could catch or smite with their poisoned arrows, and, when these failed, upon wild fruits and the roots of plants. For the tracking and trapping of game they had a marvellous faculty, such as neither the other races nor any European could equal. But they had no organization, not even a tribal one, for they wandered about in small groups; and no religion beyond some vague notion of ghosts, and of spirits inhabiting or connected with natural objects; while their language was a succession of clicks interrupted by grunts. Very low in stature, and possibly cognate to the pygmies whom Mr. H.M. Stanley found in Central Africa, they were capable of enduring great fatigue and of travelling very swiftly. Untamably fierce unless caught in childhood, and incapable of accustoming themselves to civilized life, driven out of some districts by the European settlers, who were often forced to shoot them down in self-defence, and in other regions no longer able to find support owing to the disappearance of the game, they are now almost extinct, though a few remain in the Kalahari Desert and the adjoining parts of northern Bechuanaland and western Matabililand, toward Lake Ngami. I saw at the Kimberley mines two or three dwarf natives who were said to have Bushmen blood in them, but it is no longer easy to find in the Colony a pure specimen. Before many years the only trace of their existence will be in the remarkable drawings of wild animals with which they delighted to cover the smooth surfaces of sheltered rocks. These drawings, which are found all the way from the Zambesi to the Cape, and from Manicaland westward, are executed in red, yellow, and black pigments, and are often full of spirit. Rude, of course, they are, but they often convey the aspect, and especially the characteristic attitude, of the animal with great fidelity. The second native race was that which the Dutch called Hottentot, and whom the Portuguese explorers found occupying the maritime region in the south-west corner of the continent, to the east and to the north of the Cape of Good Hope. They are supposed to have come from the north and dispossessed the Bushmen of the grassy coast lands, driving them into the more arid interior. But of this there is no evidence; and some have even fancied that the Hottentot race itself may have been a mixed one, produced by intermarriage between Bushmen and Kafirs. Be this as it may, the Hottentots were superior to the Bushmen both physically and intellectually. They were small men, but not pygmies, of a reddish or yellowish black hue, with no great muscular power in their slender frames. Their hair, very short and woolly, grew, like that of the Bushmen, in small balls or tufts over the skull, just as grass tufts grow separate from one another in the drier parts of the veldt. They possessed sheep and also cattle, lean beasts with huge horns; and they roved hither and thither over the country as they could find pasture for their animals, doing a little hunting, but not attempting to till the soil, and unacquainted with the metals. Living in tribes under their chiefs, they fought a little with one another, and a great deal with the Bushmen, who tried to prey upon their cattle. They were a thoughtless, cheerful, good-natured, merry sort of people, whom it was not difficult to domesticate as servants, and their relations with the Dutch settlers, in spite of two wars, were, on the whole, friendly. Within a century after the foundation of Cape Colony, their numbers, never large, had vastly diminished, partly from the occupation by the colonists of their best grazing-grounds, but still more from the ravages of small-pox and other epidemics, which ships touching on their way from the East Indies brought into the country. In A.D. 1713 whole tribes perished in this way. I speak of the Hottentots in the past tense, for they are now, as a distinct race, almost extinct in the Colony, although a good deal of their blood has passed into the mixed coloured population of Cape Town and its neighbourhood--a population the other elements of which are Malays from the Dutch East Indies, and the descendants of slaves brought from the West Coast of Africa in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. From unions between Hottentot women and the Dutch sprang the mixed race whom the Dutch call Bastards and the English Griquas, and who, though now dying out, like the French and Indian half-breeds of Western Canada, played at one time a considerable part in colonial politics. Along the south bank of the Orange River and to the north of it, in Great Namaqualand, small tribes, substantially identical with the Hottentots, still wander over the arid wilderness. But in the settled parts of the Colony the Hottentot, of whom we used to hear so much, and whom the Portuguese remembering the death of the viceroy D'Almeida (who was killed in a skirmish in A.D. 1510), at one time feared so much, has vanished more completely than has the Red Indian from the Atlantic States of North America. And the extinction or absorption of the few remaining nomads will probably follow at no distant date. Very different have been the fortunes, very different are the prospects, of the third and far more numerous South African race, those whom we call Kafirs, and who call themselves Abantu or Bantu ("the people"). The word "Kafir" is Arabic. It has nothing to do with Mount Kaf (the Caucasus), but means an infidel (literally, "one who denies"), and is applied by Mussulmans not merely to these people, but to other heathen also, as, for instance, to the idolaters of Kafiristan, in the Hindu-Kush Mountains. The Portuguese doubtless took the name from the Arabs, whom they found established at several points on the East African coast northward from Sofala, and the Dutch took it from the Portuguese, together with such words as "kraal" (corral), and "assagai." The Bantu tribes, if one may include under that name all the blacks who speak languages of the same general type, occupy the whole of East Africa southward from the Upper Nile, where that river issues from the great Nyanza lakes, together with the Congo basin and most of South-west Africa. They include various groups, such as the Ama-Kosa tribes (to which belong the Tembus and Pondos), who dwell on the coast of Cape Colony eastward from the Great Fish River; the Ama-Zulu group, consisting of the Zulus proper (in Natal and Zululand), the Swazis, the Matabili, farther to the north, and the Angoni, in Nyassaland, beyond the Zambesi River; the Amatonga group, between Zululand and Delagoa Bay; the Bechuana group, including the Bamangwato, the Basuto and the Barolongs, as well as the Barotse, far off on the middle course of the Zambesi; the Makalaka or Maholi, and cognate tribes, inhabiting Mashonaland and Manicaland. The linguistic and ethnical affinities of these groups and tribes are still very imperfectly known, but their speech and their habits are sufficiently similar to enable us to refer them to one type, just as we do the Finnic or the Slavonic peoples in Europe. And they are even more markedly unlike the Hottentots or the Bushmen than the Slavs are to the Finns, or both of these to those interesting aborigines of northern Europe, the Lapps. The Bantu or Kafirs--I use the term as synonymous--who dwell south of the Zambesi are usually strong and well-made men, not below the average height of a European. In colour they vary a good deal; some are as black as the Gulf of Guinea negro, some rather brown than black. All have the thick lips, the woolly hair, and the scanty beard of the negro, and nearly all the broad, low nose; yet in some the nose is fairly high, and the cast of features suggests an admixture of Semitic blood--an admixture which could be easily explained by the presence, from a pretty remote time, of Arab settlers, as well as traders, along the coast of the Indian Ocean. As the Bantu vary in aspect, so do they also in intelligence. No tribe is in this respect conspicuously superior to any other, though the Zulus show more courage in fight than most of the others, the Fingos more aptitude for trade, the Basutos more disposition to steady industry. But, while the general level of intellect is below that of the Red Indians or the Maoris or the Hawaiians (if rather above that of the Guinea negroes), individuals are now and then found of considerable talents and great force of character. Three such men as the Zulu Tshka, the Basuto Moshesh, and the Bechuana Khama, not to speak of those who, like the eloquent missionary Tiyo Soga, have received a regular European education, are sufficient to show the capacity of the race for occasionally reaching a standard which white men must respect. And in one regard the Bantu race shows a kind of strength which the Red Indians and Polynesians lack. They are a very prolific people, and under the conditions of peace which European rule secures they multiply with a rapidity which some deem alarming. How long the various Bantu tribes have been in South Africa is a question on which no light has yet been thrown, or can, indeed, be expected. Some of them have a vague tradition that they came from the north; but the recollections of savages seldom go back more than five or six generations, and retain little except the exploits or the genealogy of some conspicuous chief. When the Portuguese arrived in the end of the fifteenth century, they found Kafirs already inhabiting the country from Natal northward. But apparently they did not then extend as far to the west of Natal as they do now; and there is no reason to think that considerable parts of the interior, such as the region which is now the Orange Free State and Basutoland, were not yet occupied, but left to the wandering Bushmen. The Kafirs were then, and continued down to our own time, in a state of incessant tribal warfare; and from time to time one martial tribe, under a forceful chief, would exterminate or chase away some weaker clan and reduce wide areas to a wilderness. Of any large conquests, or of any steady progress in the arts either of war or of peace, there is no record, and indeed, in the general darkness, no trace. The history of the native races, so far as ascertainable, begins with the advent of the whites, and even after their advent remains extremely shadowy until, early in this century, the onward march of settlement gave the Dutch and English settlers the means of becoming better acquainted with their black neighbours. Across this darkness there strikes one ray of light. It is a very faint ray, but in the absence of all other light it is precious. It is that which is supplied by the prehistoric ruins and the abandoned gold-workings of Mashonaland. CHAPTER IX OUT OF THE DARKNESS--ZIMBABWYE The ruined buildings of Mashonaland and Matabililand have excited in recent years an amount of interest and curiosity which is disproportionate to their number, size, and beauty, but by no means disproportionate to their value as being the only record, scant as it is, we possess of what has been deemed an early South African civilization. I will describe in the fewest words such of these buildings as I saw, leaving the reader of archæological tastes to find fuller details in the well-known book of that enterprising explorer, the late Mr. Theodore Bent. Some short account of them seems all the more needed, because the first descriptions published gave the impression that they were far more considerable than they really are. Scattered over the plateau of southern Mashonaland and Matabililand, from its mountainous edge on the east to the neighbourhood of Tati on the west, there are to be found fragments of walls built of small blocks of granite resembling paving stones (usually about a foot long by six inches high), but often larger, not cut smooth, but chipped or trimmed to a fairly uniform size. These walls are without mortar or other cementing material, but the stones are so neatly set together, and the wall usually so thick, that the structure is compact and cohesive. The walls are mostly thinner at the top than at the base. The only ornamentation consists in placing some of the layers at an acute angle to the other layers above and below, so as to produce what is called the herring-bone pattern. Occasionally a different pattern is obtained by leaving spaces at intervals between the horizontal stones of certain layers, making a kind of diaper. In some cases this ornamentation, always very simple, occurs only on one part of the wall, and it has been said that it occurs usually if not invariably on the part which faces the east. I heard of ten or twelve such pieces of wall in different parts of the plateau, and saw photographs of most of these. Probably others exist, for many districts, especially in the hills, have been imperfectly explored, and trees easily conceal these low erections. One was described to me, where the walls are the facings of seven terraces, rising one above another to a sort of platform on the top. This I have not seen; but it is probably similar to one which I did see and examine at a place called Dhlodhlo, about fifty miles south-east of Bulawayo. This group of ruins, one of the most interesting in the country, stands high among rocky hills, from which a superb view is gained over the wide stretches of rolling table-land to the north and north-west, a charming situation which might have attracted the old builders did they possess any sense of beauty. On a low eminence there has been erected such a wall of such hewn, or rather trimmed, stones as I have just described. It is now about twenty feet in height, and may have originally been higher. On the eastern side this wall consists of three parts, each about six feet high, with two narrow terraces, each from five to six feet wide, between them, the second wall rising from the first terrace, and the third or highest wall from the second terrace. On this side some of the stone courses have the simple forms of ornamental pattern already mentioned. On the opposite, or western and north-western, side only one terrace and a low, unornamented wall of trimmed stones are now discernible. To the north, still within what seems to have been the main inclosing wall, are small inclosures built of trimmed stone, which may have been chambers originally roofed with wood or bushes. At the top of the highest wall there is at the north-north-west end a small level platform of earth or rubble, which seems to have been filled in behind the terraced walls. This platform is approached by a narrow passage between walls of trimmed stone, at one point in which there appears to have been a sort of narrow gateway barely wide enough for two persons to pass. There is no trace of any stone building on the top of the platform, and the remains of clay huts which one finds there may well be quite modern. To the south of this principal structure there is a second small hill or boss of granite, protected on three sides by steep sheets of granite rock. Its top is inclosed by a low wall of trimmed stones, now in places quite broken away, with no trace of any stone building within. All round on the lower ground are large inclosures rudely built of rough stones, and probably intended for cattle-kraals. They may be quite modern, and they throw no light on the purpose of the ancient buildings. Nor is much light to be obtained from the objects which have been found in the ruins. When I was there they were being searched by the Mashonaland Ancient Ruins Exploration Company, a company authorized by the British South Africa Company to dig and scrape in the ancient buildings of the country for gold or whatever else of value may be there discoverable, an enterprise which, though it may accelerate the progress of archæological inquiry, obviously requires to be conducted with great care and by competent persons. So far as I could observe, all due care was being used by the gentleman in charge of the work at Dhlodhlo; but considering how easy it is to obliterate the distinctive features of a ruin and leave it in a condition unfavourable to future examination, it seems desirable that the company should, as a rule, await the arrival of trained archæologists rather than hurry on explorations by amateurs, however zealous and well intentioned. Of the objects found, which were courteously shown to me, some are modern, such as the bits of pottery, apparently Indian or Chinese, the bits of glass, the bullets and fragments of flint-lock muskets, a small cannon, and an iron hammer. These are doubtless of Portuguese origin, though it does not follow that any Portuguese expedition ever penetrated so far inland, for they may have been gifts or purchases from the Portuguese established on the coast four or five hundred miles away. So, too, the silver and copper ornaments found, and some of the gold ones (occasionally alloyed with copper), which show patterns apparently Portuguese, may be recent. There are also, however, some gold ornaments, such as beads, bangles (a skeleton was found with bangles on the legs and a bead necklace), and pieces of twisted gold wire, which may be far more ancient, and indeed as old as the structure itself. A small crucible with nuggets and small bits of gold goes to indicate that smelting was carried on, though the nearest ancient gold-workings are six miles distant. Probably here, as at Hissarlik and at Carthage, there exist remains from a long succession of centuries, the spot having been occupied from remote antiquity.[6] At present it is not only uninhabited, but regarded by the natives with fear. They believe it to be haunted by the ghosts of the departed, and are unwilling, except in the daytime and for wages paid by the Exploration Company, to touch or even to enter the ruins. They can hardly be persuaded even to relate such traditions as exist regarding the place. All that has been gathered is that it was the dwelling of a line of _mambos_, or chiefs, the last of whom was burned here by Mosilikatze, the Matabili king, when he conquered the country sixty years ago. (The place does show marks of fire.) But the buildings were here long before the mambos reigned, and who built them, or why, no one knows. The natives come sometimes to make offerings to ancestral ghosts, especially when they ask for success in hunting; and if the hunt be successful, strips of meat are cut off and placed in cleft sticks for the benefit of the ghosts. Three hypotheses have been advanced regarding the Dhlodhlo building. One regards them as a fortress. The objection to this is that the terraced and ornamented wall is so far from contributing to defence that it actually facilitates attack; for, by the help of the terraces and of the interstices among the stones which the ornamental pattern supplies, an active man could easily scale it in front. Moreover, there is hard by, to the north, a higher and more abrupt hill which would have offered a far better site for a fort. The second view is that Dhlodhlo was a mining station, where slaves were kept at work; but if so, why was it not placed near the old gold-workings instead of some miles off, and of what use were the terraced walls? The inquirer is therefore led to the third view--that the building was in some way connected with religious worship, and that the ornament which is seen along the eastern wall was placed there with some religious motive. There is, however, nothing whatever to indicate the nature of that worship, nor the race that practised it, for no objects of a possibly religious character (such as those I shall presently mention at Zimbabwye) have been found here. I visited a second ruin among the mountains of Mashonaland, near the Lezapi River, at a place called Chipadzi's grave, a mile from the kraal of a chief named Chipunza. Here a rocky granite kopje, almost inaccessible on two sides, is protected on one of the other sides by a neatly built wall of well-trimmed stones, similar to that of Dhlodhlo, but without ornament. The piece that remains is some fifty yards long, five feet thick at the base, and eleven feet high at its highest point. It is obviously a wall of defence, for the only erections within are low, rough inclosures of loose stones, and three clay huts, one of which covers the grave of Chipadzi, a chief who died some twenty years ago, and who was doubtless interred here because the place was secluded and already in a fashion consecrated by the presence of the ancient wall. That the wall is ancient hardly admits of doubt, for it is quite unlike any of the walls--there are not many in the country--which the Kafirs now build, these being always of stones entirely untrimmed and very loosely fitted together, though sometimes plastered with mud to make them hold.[7] There is nothing to see beyond the wall itself, and the only interest of the place is in its showing that the race who built Dhlodhlo and other similar walls in Matibililand were probably here also. Much larger and more remakable is the group of ruins (situated seventeen miles from Fort Victoria, in southern Mashonaland) which goes by the name of the Great Zimbabwye. This Bantu word is said to denote a stone building, but has often been used to describe the residence of a great chief, whatever the materials of which it is constructed. It is a common noun, and not the name of one particular place. Europeans, however, confine it to this one ruin, or rather to two ruined buildings near each other. One of these is on the top of a rocky and in parts precipitous hill, the other in a valley half a mile from the foot of the hill. The first, which we may call the Fort, consists of a line of wall, in parts double, defending the more accessible parts of the eastern and south-eastern end of the hill or kopje, which is about 500 feet high, and breaks down on its southern side in a nearly vertical sheet of granite. The walls, which in some places are thirty feet high, are all built of small trimmed blocks of granite such as I have already described, without mortar, but neatly fitted together. They are in excellent preservation, and are skilfully constructed in a sort of labyrinth, so as to cover all the places where an enemy might approach. From the openings in the wall, where doors were probably placed, passages are carried inward, very narrow and winding, so that only one person at a time can pass, and completely commanded by the high wall on either side. Everything speaks of defence, and everything is very well adapted, considering the rudeness of the materials, for efficient defence. There is no sort of ornament in the walls, except that here and there at the entrances some stones are laid transversely to the others, and that certain long, thin pieces of a slaty stone, rounded so that one might call them stone poles--they are about five to seven feet long--project from the top of the wall. Neither is there any trace of an arch or vaulted roof. None of what look like chambers has a roof. They were doubtless covered with the branches of trees. Very few objects have been found throwing any light on the object of the building or its builders, and these have been now removed, except some small pieces of sandstone, a rock not found in the neighbourhood, which (it has been conjectured) may have been brought for the purposes of mining. The other building is much more remarkable. It stands on a slight eminence in the level ground between the hill on which the Fort stands and another somewhat lower granite hill, and is about a third of a mile from the Fort. It consists of a wall, rather elliptical than circular in form, from thirty to forty feet high, fourteen feet thick near the ground, and from six to nine thick at the top, where one can walk along a considerable part with little difficulty. This wall is built of the same small, well-trimmed blocks of granite, nicely fitted together, and for more than half the circumference is in excellent preservation, although shrubs and climbing vines have here and there rooted themselves in it. The rest of it is more or less broken, and in one place quite overthrown. There are two gates, at the west and the north. The wall is quite plain, except for about one-third (or perhaps a little less) of the outer face, where there is such an ornament as I have already described, of two courses of stones set slantingly at an acute angle to the ordinary flat courses above and below. These two courses are the fifth and seventh from the top. In the space surrounded by the wall, which is about three-quarters of an acre, are some small inclosures of trimmed stone, apparently chambers. There is also a singular wall running parallel to the inner face of the great inclosing wall for some twenty yards, leaving between it and that inner face a very narrow passage, which at one point must have been closed by a door (probably of stone), for at that point steps lead up on either side, and hollow spaces fit for receiving a door remain. At one end this passage opens into a small open space, where the most curious of all the erections are to be found, namely, two solid towers of trimmed stones. One of these is quite low, rising only some five feet from the ground. The other is more than forty feet high, overtopping the great inclosing wall (from which it is eight feet distant) by about five feet, and has a bluntly conical top. It reminds one a little of an Irish round tower, though not so high, save that the Irish towers are hollow and this solid, or of a Buddhist tope, save that the topes which are solid, are very much thicker. There is nothing whatever to indicate the purpose of this tower, but the fact that the space in which it and the smaller tower stand is cut off from the rest of the enclosed area by a pretty high wall seems to show that it was meant to be specially protected or was deemed to be specially sacred. Outside the main inclosing wall are several small inclosures of irregular shape, surrounded by similar walls of trimmed stones, but all low and broken and with nothing inside. One of these joins on to the main wall of the great inclosure. This is all that there is to see at Zimbabwye. What I have described seems little, and that little is simple, even rude. The interest lies in guessing what the walls were built for, and by whom. Comparatively little has been discovered by digging. No inscriptions whatever have been found. Some figures of birds rudely carved in a sort of soapstone were fixed along the top of the walls of the Fort, and have been removed to the Cape Town museum. It is thought that they represent vultures, and the vulture was a bird of religious significance among some of the Semitic nations. Fragments of soapstone bowls were discovered, some with figures of animals carved on them, some with geometrical patterns, while on one were marks which might possibly belong to some primitive alphabet. There were also whorls somewhat resembling those which occur so profusely in the ruins of Troy, and stone objects which may be phalli, though some at least of them are deemed by the authorities of the British Museum (to whom I have shown them) to be probably pieces used for playing a game like that of fox-and-geese. The iron and bronze weapons which were found may have been comparatively modern, but the small crucibles for smelting gold, with tools and a curious ingot-mould (said to resemble ancient moulds used at tin workings) were apparently ancient. What purpose were these buildings meant to serve? That on the hill was evidently a stronghold, and a stronghold of a somewhat elaborate kind, erected against an enemy deemed formidable. The large building below can hardly have been a place of defence, because it stands on level ground with a high, rocky hill just above it, which would have afforded a much stronger situation. Neither was it a mining station, for the nearest place where any trace of gold has been found is seven miles away, and in a mining station, even if meant to hold slave workers, there would have been no use for a wall so lofty as this. Two hypotheses remain: that this was the residence of a chief, or that it was erected for the purposes of religious worship. It may have been both--a palace, so to speak, with a temple attached. The presence of the inner inclosure, guarded by its separate wall, and with its curious tower, is most plausibly explained by supposing a religious purpose; for as religion is the strangest of all human things, and that in which men most vary, so it is naturally called in to explain what is otherwise inexplicable. What, then, was the religion of those who built this shrine, if shrine it was? The ornamentation of that part of the outer wall which faces the rising sun suggests sun-worship. The phalli (if they are phalli) point to one of the Oriental forms of the worship of the forces of nature. The birds' heads may have a religious significance, and possibly the significance which it is said that vultures had in the Syrian nature-worship. These data give some slight presumptions, yet the field for conjecture remains a very wide one, and there is nothing in the buildings to indicate the particular race who erected the Fort and the Temple (if it was a temple). However, the tower bears some resemblance to a tower which appears within a town wall on an ancient coin of the Phoenician city of Byblus; and this coincidence, slight enough, has, in the dearth of other light, been used to support the view that the builders belonged to some Semitic race. Had we nothing but the ruined walls of Zimbabwye, Dhlodhlo, and the other spots where similar ruins have been observed, the problem would be insoluble. We could only say that the existing native races had at some apparently distant time been more civilized than they are now and capable of building walls they do not now build, or else we should suppose that some now extinct race had built these. But there are other facts known to us which suggest, though they do not establish, an hypothesis regarding the early history of the country. In very remote times there existed, as is known from the Egyptian monuments, a trade from South-east Africa into the Red Sea. The remarkable sculptures at Deir el Bahari, near Luxor, dating from the time of Queen Hatasu, sister of the great conqueror Thothmes III. (B.C. 1600?), represent the return of an expedition from a country called Punt, which would appear, from the objects brought back, to have been somewhere on the East African coast.[8] Much later the Book of Kings (1 Kings ix. 26-28; x. 11, 15, 22) tells us that Solomon and Hiram of Tyre entered into a sort of joint adventure trade from the Red Sea port of Ezion-geber to a country named Ophir, which produced gold. There are other indications that gold used to come from East Africa, but so far as we know it has never been obtained in quantity from any part of the coast between Mozambique and Cape Guardafui. Thus there are grounds for believing that a traffic between the Red Sea and the coast south of the Zambesi may have existed from very remote times. Of its later existence there is of course no doubt. We know from Arabian sources that in the eighth century an Arab tribe defeated in war established itself on the African coast south of Cape Guardafui, and that from the ninth century onward there was a considerable trade between South-east Africa and the Red Sea ports--a trade which may well have existed long before. And when the Portuguese began to explore the coast in 1496 they found Arab chieftains established at various points along it as far south as Sofala, and found them getting gold from the interior. Three things, therefore, are certain--a trade between South-east Africa and the Red Sea, a certain number of Arabs settled along the edge of the ocean, and an export of gold. Now all over Mashonaland and Matabililand ancient gold-workings have been observed. Some are quite modern,--one can see the wooden supports and the iron tools not yet destroyed by rust,--and it would seem from the accounts of the natives that the mining went on to some small extent down to sixty years ago, when the Matabili conquered the country. Others, however, are, from the appearance of the ground, obviously much more ancient. I have seen some that must have been centuries old, and have been told of others apparently far older, possibly as old as the buildings at Zimbabwye. I was, moreover, informed by Mr. Cecil Rhodes (who is keenly interested in African archæology) that he had seen on the high plateau of Inyanga, in eastern Mashonaland, some remarkable circular pits lined with stone, and approached in each case by a narrow subterranean passage, which can best be explained by supposing them to have been receptacles for the confinement of slaves occupied in tilling the soil, as the surrounding country bears mark, in the remains of ancient irrigation channels, of an extensive system of tillage where none now exists. The way in which the stones are laid in these pit-walls is quite unlike any modern Kafir work, and points to the presence of a more advanced race. Putting all these facts together, it has been plausibly argued that at some very distant period men more civilized than the Kafirs came in search of gold into Mashonaland, opened these mines, and obtained from them the gold which found its way to the Red Sea ports, and that the buildings whose ruins we see were their work. How long ago this happened we cannot tell, but if the strangers came from Arabia they must have done so earlier than the time of Mohammed, for there is nothing of an Islamic character about the ruins or the remains found, and it is just as easy to suppose that they came in the days of Solomon, fifteen centuries before Mohammed. Nor can we guess how they disappeared: whether they were overpowered and exterminated by the Kafirs, or whether, as Mr. Selous conjectures, they were gradually absorbed by the latter, their civilization and religion perishing, although the practice of mining for gold remained. The occasional occurrence among the Kafirs of faces with a cast of features approaching the Semitic has been thought to confirm this notion, though nobody has as yet suggested that we are to look here for the lost Ten Tribes. Whoever these people were, they have long since vanished. The natives seem to have no traditions about the builders of Zimbabwye and the other ancient walls, though they regard the ruins with a certain awe, and fear to approach them at twilight. It is this mystery which makes these buildings, the solitary archæological curiosities of South Africa, so impressive. The ruins are not grand, nor are they beautiful; they are simple even to rudeness. It is the loneliness of the landscape in which they stand, and still more the complete darkness which surrounds their origin, their object, and their history, that gives to them their unique interest. Whence came the builders? What tongue did they speak? What religion did they practise? Did they vanish imperceptibly away, or did they fly to the coast, or were they massacred in a rising of their slaves? We do not know; probably we shall never know. We can only say, in the words of the Eastern poet: "They came like water, and like wind they went." [Footnote 6: Mr. Neal, managing director of the Company, has been good enough to inform me that since my visit he satisfied himself that there had been occupations by different races and probably at widely distant dates. Many skeletons have been found, with a good deal of gold jewelry, and some bronze implements.] [Footnote 7: This place is described by Mr. Selous in his interesting book, _A Hunter's Wanderings in Africa_, pp. 339-341. He thinks the wall as well built as those at the Great Zimbabwye. To me it seemed not so good, and a little rougher even than the work at Dhlodhlo. Hard by is a modern Kafir fort, Chitikete, with a plastered and loop-holed rough stone wall, quite unlike this wall at Chipadzi's grave. This place is further described in Chapter XVI.] [Footnote 8: Maspero (_Histoire ancienne des Peuples d'Orient_, p. 169) conjectures Somaliland] CHAPTER X THE KAFIRS: THEIR HISTORY AND INSTITUTIONS The curtain rises upon the Kafir peoples when the Portuguese landed on the east coast of Africa in the beginning of the sixteenth century. Arab sheiks then held a few of the coast villages, ruling over a mixed race, nominally Mohammedan, and trading with the Bantu tribes of the interior. The vessels of these Arabs crossed the Indian Ocean with the monsoon to Calicut and the Malabar coast, and the Indian goods they carried back were exchanged for the gold and ivory which the natives brought down. The principal race that held the country between the Limpopo and the Zambesi was that which the Portuguese called Makalanga or Makaranga, and which we call Makalaka. They are the progenitors of the tribes who, now greatly reduced in numbers and divided into small villages and clans, occupy Mashonaland. Their head chief was called the Monomotapa, a name interpreted to mean "Lord of the Mountain" or "Lord of the Mines." This personage was turned by Portuguese grandiloquence into an emperor, and by some European geographers into the name of an empire; so Monomotapa came to figure on old maps as the designation of a vast territory. When, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Dutch at the Cape began to learn something of the Kafirs who dwelt to the eastward, they found that there was no large dominion, but a great number of petty tribes, mostly engaged in war with one another. Some were half nomad, none was firmly rooted in the soil; and the fact that tribes who spoke similar dialects were often far away from one another, with a tribe of a different dialect living between, indicated that there had been many displacements of population of which no historical record existed. Early in the present century events occurred which showed how such displacements might have been brought about. In the last years of the eighteenth century Dingiswayo, the exiled son of the chief of the Abatetwa tribe, which lived in what is now Zululand, found his way to the Cape, and learned to admire the military organization of the British troops who were then holding the Colony. Returning home and regaining his throne, he began to organise and drill his warriors, who before that time had fought without order or discipline, like other savages. His favourite officer was Tshaka, a young chief, also exiled, who belonged to the then small tribe of Zulus. On the death of Dingiswayo, Tshaka was chosen its chief by the army, and the tribes that had obeyed Dingiswayo were thenceforward known under the name of Zulus. Tshaka, who united to his intellectual gifts a boundless ambition and a ruthless will, further improved the military system of his master, and armed his soldiers with a new weapon, a short, broad-bladed spear, fit for stabbing at close quarters, instead of the old light javelin which had been theretofore used. He formed them into regiments, and drilled them to such a perfection of courage that no enemy could withstand their rush, and the defeated force, except such as could escape by fleetness of foot, was slaughtered on the spot. Quarter had never been given in native wars, but the trained valour of the Zulus, and their habit of immediately engaging the enemy hand to hand, not only gave them an advantage like that which suddenly made the Spartan infantry superior to all their neighbours, but rendered their victories far more sanguinary than native battles had previously been Tshaka rapidly subjected or blotted out the clans that lived near, except the Swazis, a kindred tribe whose difficult country gave them some protection. He devastated all the region round that of his own subjects, while the flight before his warriors of the weaker tribes, each of which fell upon its neighbours with the assagai, caused widespread slaughter and ruin all over South-east Africa. Natal became almost a desert, and of the survivors who escaped into the mountains, many took to human flesh for want of other food. To the north of the Vaal River a section of the Zulu army, which had revolted under its general, Mosilikatze, carried slaughter and destruction through the surrounding country for hundreds of miles, till it was itself chased away beyond the Limpopo by the emigrant Boers, as will be related in the following chapter. To trace the history of these various native wars would occupy far more space than I can spare. I will sum up their general results. A new and powerful kingdom, far stronger than any other native monarchy we know to have existed before or since, was formed by the Zulus. It remained powerful under Dingaan (who murdered his half brother Tshaka in 1828), Panda (brother of Tshaka and Dingaan), and Cetewayo (son of Panda), till 1879, when it was overthrown by the British. Various offshoots from the Zulu nation were scattered out in different directions. The Matabili occupied Matabililand in 1838. The Angoni had before that year crossed the Zambesi and settled in Nyassaland, where they are still formidable to their native neighbours and troublesome to the whites. Kafir tribes from the north-east were chased southward into the mountain country now called Basutoland, most of which had been previously inhabited only by Bushmen, and here the Basuto kingdom was built up out of fugitive clans, by the famous chief Moshesh, between 1820 and 1840. Some of the Bechuana tribes were driven from the east into their present seats in Bechuanaland, some few far north-west to the banks of the Zambesi, where Livingstone found them. Not only what is now Natal, but most of what is now the Orange Free State, with a part of the Transvaal, was almost denuded of inhabitants. This had the important consequence of inducing the emigrants from Cape Colony, whose fortunes I shall trace in the following chapter, to move toward these regions and establish themselves there. The Gaza tribe, of Zulu race, but revolters from Tshaka, broke away from that tyrant, and carried fire and sword among the Tongas and other tribes living to the west and north-west of Delagoa Bay. In 1833 they destroyed the Portuguese garrison there. In 1862 a chief called Mzila became their king, and established his dominion over all the tribes that dwell on the eastern slope of the Quathlamba Mountains, between the Limpopo and the Zambesi. He and his son Gungunhana, who in 1896 was seized and carried off by the Portuguese, were for a time at the head of the third great native power in South Africa, the other two being that of Cetewayo, which perished in 1879, and that of Lo Bengula, overthrown in 1893. All three chiefs were Zulus in blood. Originally small in number, this race has played by far the greatest part in the annals of the native peoples. The career of Tshaka has deserved some description, because it changed the face of South Africa in a somewhat similar way, allowing for the difference of scale, to that in which the career of Tshaka's contemporary, Napoleon Bonaparte, changed the face of Europe. But in 1836, eight years after Tshaka's death, the white man, who had hitherto come in contact with the Kafirs only on the Zambesi and at a few points on the south-eastern and southern coast, began that march into the interior which has now brought him to the shores of Lake Tanganyika. Thenceforward the wars of the natives among themselves cease to be important. It is their strife with the European conqueror that is of consequence, and the narrative of that strife belongs to the history of the European colonies and republics, which will be given in the two succeeding chapters. This, however, seems the right place for some remarks on the government and customs of the Kafir tribes, intended to explain the conditions under which these tribes have met and attempted to resist the white strangers who have now become their rulers. The Kafirs were savages, yet not of a low type, for they tilled the soil, could work in metals, spoke a highly developed language, and had a sort of customary law. The south-east coast tribes, Zulus, Pondos, Tembus, Kosas, inhabiting a fairly well-watered and fertile country, were, as a rule, the strongest men and the fiercest fighters; but the tribes of the interior were not inferior in intellect, and sometimes superior in the arts. Lower in every respect were the west-coast tribes. They dwelt in a poor and almost waterless land, and their blood was mixed with that of Hottentots and Bushmen. In every race the organization was by families, clans, and tribes, the tribe consisting of a number of clans or smaller groups, having at its head one supreme chief, belonging to a family whose lineage was respected. The power of the chief was, however, not everywhere the same. Among the Zulus, whose organization was entirely military, he was a despot whose word was law. Among the Bechuana tribes, and their kinsfolk the Basutos, he was obliged to defer to the sentiment of the people, which (in some tribes) found expression in a public meeting where every freeman had a right to speak and might differ from the chief.[9] Even such able men as the Basuto Moshesh and the Bechuana Khama had often to bend to the wish of their subjects, and a further check existed in the tendency to move away from a harsh and unpopular chief and place one's self under the protection of some more tactful ruler. Everywhere, of course, the old customs had great power, and the influence of the old men who were most conversant with them was considerable. The chief of the whole tribe did not interfere much with affairs outside his own particular clan, and was a more important figure in war-time than during peace. Aided by a council of his leading men, each chief administered justice and settled disputes; and it was his function to allot land to those who asked for a field to till, the land itself belonging to the tribe as a whole. The chiefs act gave a title to the piece allotted so long as it was cultivated, for public opinion resented any arbitrary eviction; but pasture-land was open to all the cattle of the clansmen. It was in cattle that the wealth of a chief or a rich man lay, and cattle, being the common measure of value, served as currency, as they serve still among the more remote tribes which have not learned to use British coin. Polygamy was practised by all who could afford it, the wife being purchased from her father with cattle, more or fewer according to her rank. This practice, called _lobola_, still prevails universally, and has caused much perplexity to the missionaries. Its evil effects are obvious, but it is closely intertwined with the whole system of native society. A chief had usually a head wife, belonging to some important house, and her sons were preferred in succession to those of the inferior wives. In some tribes the chief, like a Turkish sultan, had no regular wife, but only concubines. Among the coast tribes no one, except a chief, was suffered to marry any one of kin to him. There was great pride of birth among the head chiefs, and their genealogies have in not a few cases been carefully kept for seven or eight generations. Slavery existed among some of the tribes of the interior, and the ordinary wife was everywhere little better than a slave, being required to do nearly all the tillage and most of the other work, except that about the cattle, which, being more honourable, was performed by men. The male Kafir is a lazy fellow who likes talking and sleeping better than continuous physical exertion, and the difficulty of inducing him to work is the chief difficulty which European mine-owners in South Africa complain of. Like most men in his state of civilization, he is fond of hunting, even in its lowest forms, and of fighting. Both of these pleasures are being withdrawn from him, the former by the extinction of the game, the latter by the British Government; but it will be long before he acquires the habits of steady and patient industry which have become part of the character of the inhabitants of India. War was the natural state of the tribes toward one another, just as it was among the Red Indians and the primitive Celts, and indeed generally everywhere in the early days of Europe. Their weapons were the spear or assagai, and a sort of wooden club, occasionally a crescent-shaped battle-axe, and still less frequently the bow. Horses were unknown, for the ox, sheep, goat and dog were over all South Africa the only domesticated quadrupeds. One tribe, however, the Basutos, now breeds horses extensively, and has turned them to account in fighting. The rapid movement of their mounted warriors was one of the chief difficulties the colonial forces had to deal with in the last Basuto war. The courage in war which distinguished the tribes of Zulu and Kosa race was all the more creditable because it had not, like that of the Mohammedan dervishes of the Sudan, or of Mohammedans anywhere engaged in a _jehad_, a religious motive and the promise of future bliss behind it. The British army has encountered no more daring or formidable enemies. Nine wars were needed to subjugate the Kafirs of the southern coast, although till recently they had few firearms. But the natives had no idea of the tactics needed in facing a civilized foe. As in their battles with the Boers they were destroyed by the fire of horsemen riding up, delivering a volley, and riding off before an assagai could reach them, so in the great war with Cetewayo in 1879 they fought in the open and were mowed down by British volleys; and in 1893 the Matabili perished in the same way under the fire of riflemen and Maxim guns sheltered behind a laager of wagons. Religion was a powerful factor in Kafir life; but religion did not mean the worship of any deity, for there was no deity. Still less had it any moral significance. To the Kafirs, as to most savage races, the world was full of spirits--spirits of the rivers, the mountains, and the woods. Most important were the ghosts of the dead, who had power to injure or to help the living, and who were therefore propitiated by offerings at stated periods, as well as on occasions when their aid was specially desired. This kind of worship, the worship once most generally diffused throughout the world, and which held its ground among the Greeks and Italians in the most flourishing period of ancient civilization, as it does in China and Japan to-day, was and is virtually the religion of the Kafirs. It was chiefly rendered to the ghosts of the chiefs, who retained in the spirit world the exceptional importance they had held among the living; and it had much weight in maintaining loyalty to a chief, because revolt against him was an insult to a powerful set of ghosts. The ghost dwelt at the spot where the body was buried, and it was therefore at the grave that the offerings, mostly of cakes and Kafir beer, were made. Occasionally animals were killed, not so much by way of sacrifice as for the sake of providing the ghost with a specially precious kind of food, though the two ideas run close together in most primitive worships.[10] Among the Matabili, for instance, there was once a year a great feast in honour of the king's ancestors, who were supposed to come and join in the mirth. It was also to the grave that those who wished to call up the ghost by spells went to effect their nefarious purpose, and the real place of interment of a great chief was for this reason sometimes concealed, I found at Thaba Bosiyo, the famous stronghold of the Basuto chief Moshesh, that his body had been secretly removed from the place where he was buried to baffle the wizards, who might try to use his ghost against the living. The ghost is, of course, apt to be spiteful, that of an uncle (I was told) particularly so; and if he is neglected he is extremely likely to bring some evil on the family or tribe. Sometimes the spirit of an ancestor passes into an animal, and by preference into that of a snake, not that it lives in the snake, but that it assumes this form when it wishes to visit men. A particular kind of green snake is revered by the Matabili for this reason. And most, if not all, tribes had an animal which they deemed to be of kin to them, and which they called their "_siboko_," a term apparently corresponding to the totem of the North American Indians. Creatures of this species they never killed, and some tribes took their name from it. Thus the Ba-Taung are the people of the lion; the Ba-Mangwato have the duyker antelope for their totem; and in the Basuto _pitso_ (public meeting) an orator will begin by addressing his audience as "sons of the crocodile." Of human sacrifices there seems to be no trace. Men were killed for all possible reasons, but never as offerings. And, indeed, to have so killed them would have been to treat the ghosts as cannibals, a view foreign to native habits, for though human flesh has been resorted to in times of severe famine, it has never been regularly eaten, and the use of it excites disgust. Whether the Kafirs had any idea of a supreme being is a question which has been much discussed. In several tribes the word, differently spelled "Umlimo" or "Mlimo" or "Molimo" (said to mean "hidden" or "unseen"), is used to denote either a power apparently different from that of the nature sprites or ghosts of the dead, or else the prophet or soothsayer who delivers messages or oracles supposed to emanate from this power. The missionaries have in their native versions of the Bible used the term to translate the word "God." Sometimes, among the Tongas at least, the word _tilo_ (sky) is used to describe a mysterious force; as, for instance, when a man dies without any apparent malady, he is said to be killed by the _tilo_.[11] On the whole, after many inquiries from missionaries and others who know the natives well, I was led to the conclusion that the Kafirs have a vague notion of some power transcending that of common ghosts, and able to affect the operations of nature (as, for instance, to send rain), but far too dimly conceived to be properly describable as a divine being.[12] Or to put the thing in other words, the ordinary and familiar nature-sprites and ghosts of the departed do not exhaust the possibilities of super-human agency; for there remains, as among the Athenians whose altar St. Paul found (Acts xvii. 23), an "Unknown God," or rather unknown power, probably associated with the heavens above, whose interference may produce results not attainable through inferior spiritual agencies. One of the difficulties in reaching any knowledge of the real belief of the people is that they are usually examined by leading questions, and are apt to reply affirmatively to whatever the querist puts to them. Their thoughts on these dark subjects are either extremely vague and misty or extremely material; the world of abstract thought, in which European minds have learned to move with an ease and confidence produced by the possession of a whole arsenal of theological and metaphysical phrases, being to them an undiscovered country. Since there were no deities and no idols, there were no priests; but the want of a priesthood was fully compensated by the presence of wizards; for among the Kafirs, as among other primitive peoples, there was and is an absolute belief in the power of spells, and of sorcery generally. These wizards, like the medicine men among the Red Indians, were an important class, second only to the chiefs. They were not a caste, though very often the son of a wizard would be brought up to the profession. The practitioners were on the lookout for promising boys, and would take and train one to witchcraft, imparting their secrets, which included a remarkable knowledge of the properties of various plants available for poison or healing. Sometimes the wizard acted as a physician; sometimes he would attempt to make rain; sometimes he would profess to deliver messages from the unseen world, and in these cases he might become a terrible power for mischief. Such a revelation made to the Kosa clans on the south coast in 1856-57, directing them to kill their cattle and destroy their grain, because the ghosts of their ancestors were coming to drive out the whites, led to the death by famine of more than 30,000 people. Such a revelation proceeding from a soothsayer, occasionally called the Mlimo, who dwelt in a cavern among granite rocks in the Matoppo Hills at a place called Matojeni, south-east of Bulawayo[13] (oracles have always tended to come from caves), had much to do with the rising of the Matabili in 1896. But the most frequent and most formidable work done by the wizard was that of "smelling out" persons who were bewitching others so as to cause sickness or misfortune. In this branch of his profession the wizard often became the engine of the jealousy or rapacity of the chief, who would secretly prompt him to denounce a prominent or a wealthy man. Suspicion being once roused, the victim had little chance: he was despatched, and his property seized by the chief. Witchcraft, and the murders it gave rise to, have been the darkest side of native life. The sorcerer has usually been the enemy of the missionary, who threatens his gains; but his power is now generally declining, and the British Government forbids the practice of smelling out witches, as well as many other shocking and disgusting rites which used to accompany the admission of boys and girls to the status of adults, or were practised at sundry festivals. Of the faith in minor and harmless spells one finds instances everywhere. In Matabililand, for instance, a boy was pointed out to me who had just been occupied in putting a charm into the footprint of a lion, in order to prevent the unwelcome visitor from returning; and nearly every native wears some kind of amulet.[14] These beliefs will take a long time to die, but the missionaries have now usually the good sense to see that they do little harm. As their religious customs were rather less sanguinary than those of the Guinea Coast negroes, so the Kafirs themselves were, when the whites first saw them, somewhat more advanced in civilization. Compared with the Red Indians of America, they stood at a point lower than that of the Iroquois or Cherokees, but superior to the Utes or to the Diggers of the Pacific coast. They could work in iron and copper, and had some notions of ornament. Their music is rude, but not wholly devoid of melody, and they use instruments of stone, wood, and iron, by striking which a kind of tune can be played. Some tribes, such as the Tongas, have good voices, and a marked taste for music. They have some simple games, and a folk-lore which consists chiefly in animal tales, resembling those collected by Mr. Harris in his _Uncle Remus_, save that the hare plays among the Bantu peoples the part of Br'er Rabbit.[15] To poetry, even in its most rudimentary forms, they do not seem to have attained. Yet they are by no means wanting in intelligence, and have, with less gaiety, more sense of dignity and more persistence in their purposes than the Guinea negro. When the Portuguese and Dutch first knew the Kafirs, they did not appear to be making any progress toward a higher culture. Human life was held very cheap; women were in a degraded state, and sexual morality at a low ebb. Courage, loyalty to chief and tribe, and hospitality were the three prominent virtues. War was the only pursuit in which chieftains sought distinction, and war was mere slaughter and devastation, unaccompanied by any views of policy or plans of administration. The people were--and indeed still are--passionately attached to their old customs, which even a king rarely ventured to disturb (though Tshaka is said to have abolished among his subjects the rite of circumcision, which is generally practised by the Kafirs); and it was probably as much the unwillingness to have their customs disturbed as the apprehension for their land that made many of the tribes oppose to the advance of the Europeans so obstinate a resistance. Though they feared the firearms of the whites, whom they called wizards, it was a long time before they realized their hopeless inferiority, and the impossibility of prevailing in war. Their minds were mostly too childish to recollect and draw the necessary inferences from previous defeats, and they never realized that the whites possessed beyond the sea an inexhaustible reservoir of men and weapons. Even the visit of Lo Bengula's envoys to England in 1891, when they were shown all the wonders of London, in order that through them the Matabili nation might be deterred from an attack on the whites, failed to produce any effect upon the minds of the young warriors, who were fully persuaded that they could destroy the few strangers in their country as easily as they had overthrown the Mashonas. The only chiefs who seem to have fully grasped the relative strength of the Europeans, and thus to have formed schemes of policy suitable to their inferior position, were Moshesh, who profited by the advice of the French missionaries, and Khama, who was himself a Christian and the pupil of missionaries. Nor did any chief ever rise to the conception of forming a league of blacks against whites. The natives, as we shall see, have had harsh treatment from the Europeans. Many unjust things, many cruel things, many things which would excite horror if practised in European warfare, have been done against them. But whoever tries to strike the balance of good and evil due to the coming of the whites must remember what the condition of the country was before the whites came. As between the different tribes there was neither justice nor pity, but simply the rule of the strongest, unmitigated by any feeling of religion or morality. In war non-combatants as well as combatants were ruthlessly slaughtered, or reserved only for slavery; and war was the normal state of things. Within each tribe a measure of peace and order was maintained. But the weak had a hard time, and those who were rich, or had roused the enmity of some powerful man, were at any moment liable to perish on the charge of witchcraft. In some tribes, such as the Matabili, incessant slaughter went on by the orders of the king. Nothing less than the prolific quality of the race could have kept South Africa well peopled in the teeth of such a waste of life as war and murder caused. Of the character of the individual native as it affects his present relations with the whites and the probable future of the race, I shall have to speak in a later chapter (Chapter XXI), as also of the condition and prospects of the Christian missions which exist among them, and which form the main civilizing influence now at work. [Footnote 9: See further as to this primary assembly the remarks on the Basuto _Pitso_ in Chapter XX.] [Footnote 10: Those who are curious on this subject may consult Mr. Frazer's _Golden Bough_, and the late Mr. Robertson Smith's _Religion of the Semites_, where many interesting and profoundly suggestive facts regarding it are collected.] [Footnote 11: As in Homer's day sudden deaths were attributed to the arrows of Apollo or Artemis.] [Footnote 12: M. Junod, a Swiss missionary at Delagoa Bay, who made a careful study of the Tonga tribes, told me that they sometimes use the word _shikimbo_, which properly denotes the ghost of an ancestor, to denote a higher unseen power. And I was informed that the Basutos will pray to the "lesser Molimos," the ghost of their ancestors, to ask the great Molimo to send rain.] [Footnote 13: This Mlimo--whether the name is properly applicable to the divinity, whatever it was, or to the prophet, seems doubtful--belonged to the Makalakas, but was revered by the Matabili, who conquered them.] [Footnote 14: It need hardly be said that they have a full belief in the power of certain men to assume the forms of beasts. I was told that a leading British official was held to be in the habit, when travelling in the veldt, of changing himself, after his morning tub, into a rat, and creeping into his waggon, whence he presently re-emerged in human shape.] [Footnote 15: Several collections have been made of these tales. The first is that of Bishop Callaway, the latest that of my friend Mr. Jacottet, a Swiss missionary in Basutoland, who has published a number of Basuto stories in his _Contes Populaires des Bassoutos_, and of Barotse stories in another book.] CHAPTER XI THE EUROPEANS IN SOUTH AFRICA TILL 1854 It is no less true of South Africa than it is of the old countries of Europe that to understand the temper of the people, the working of their government, the nature of the political problems which they have to solve, one must know something of their history. South Africa has had a great deal of history, especially in the present century, and there are few places in which recollections of the past are more powerful factors in the troubles of the present. In the short sketch I propose to give I shall advert only to the chief events, and particularly to those whose importance is still felt and which have done most to determine the relations of the European races to one another. The constitutional and parliamentary history of the two British colonies and the two Boer republics has been short and not specially interesting. The military history has been on a small scale. The economic and industrial history has been simple and remarkable only so far as the mines are concerned. But the history of the dealings of the white races with one another and with the blacks is both peculiar and instructive, and well deserves a fuller narrative and more elaborate treatment than I have space to give. Four European races have occupied the country. Of those, however, who came with Vasco da Gama from Lisbon in 1497 we shall have little to say, and of the handful who followed Herr Lüderitz from Bremen in 1883 still less. The interest of the tale lies in the struggles of two branches of the same Low-German stock, the Dutch and the English. The first to appear on the scene were the men of Portugal, then in the fresh springtime of its power and with what seemed a splendid career of discovery and conquest opening before it.[16] Bartholomew Diaz, whose renown has been unjustly obscured by that of Vasco da Gama, discovered the Cape of Storms, as he called it,--the name of Good Hope was given by King John II.,--in 1486, and explored the coast as far as the mouth of the Great Fish River. In 1497-98 Da Gama, on his famous voyage to India, followed the southern and eastern coast to Melinda; and in 1502, on his second voyage, after touching at Delagoa Bay, he visited Sofala, which was then the port to which most of the gold and ivory came from the interior. Here he found Arabs established in the town, as they were in other maritime trading places all the way north to Mombasa. At what date they first settled there is unknown; probably they had traded along the coast from times long before Mohammed. They were superior to the native blacks, though mixed in blood, but of course far inferior to the Portuguese, who overthrew their power. In 1505 the Portuguese built a fort at Sofala, and from there and several other points along the coast prosecuted their trade with the inland regions, using the conquered Arabs as their agents. For a century they remained the sole masters not only of the South-east African seaboard, but of the Indian Ocean, no vessel of any other European country appearing to dispute their pre-eminence. They might, had they cared, have occupied and appropriated the whole southern half of the continent; but in the sixteenth century it was not of colonization, nor even so much of conquest, that monarchs, governors, and navigators thought, but of gold. Portugal had no surplus population to spare for settling her new territories, and--not to speak of Brazil--she had a far richer trade to develop in western India than anything which Africa could offer. It may now excite surprise that she should have taken no step to claim the long stretch of country whose shores her sailors had explored, from the mouth of the Orange River on the west to that of the Limpopo on the east. But there was no gold to be had there, and a chance skirmish with the Hottentots in Table Bay, in which the viceroy D'Almeida, returning from India, was killed in 1510, gave them a false notion of the danger to be feared from that people, who were in reality one of the weakest and least formidable among African races. Accordingly, the Portuguese, who might have possessed themselves of the temperate and healthy regions which we now call Cape Colony and Natal, confined their settlements to the malarious country north of the tropic of Capricorn. Here they made two or three attempts, chiefly by moving up the valley of the Zambesi, to conquer the native tribes, or to support against his neighbours some chieftain who was to become their vassal. Their numbers were, however, too small, and they were too feebly supported from home, to enable them to secure success. When they desisted from these attempts, their missionaries, chiefly Dominican friars, though some Jesuits were also engaged in the work, maintained an active propaganda among the tribes, and at one time counted their converts by thousands. Not only missionaries, but small trading parties, penetrated the mysterious interior; and one or two light cannons, as well as articles which must have come to Africa from India, such as fragments of Indian and Chinese pottery, have been found many hundred miles from the sea.[17] But on the whole the Portuguese exerted very little permanent influence on the country and its inhabitants. The missions died out, most of the forts crumbled away or were abandoned, and all idea of further conquest had been dropped before the end of last century. There were, indeed, two fatal obstacles to conquering or civilising work. One was the extreme unhealthiness both of the flat country which lies between the sea and the edge of the great interior plateau, and of the whole Zambesi Valley, up which most of the attempts at an advance had been made. Fever not only decimated the expeditions and the garrisons of the forts, but enervated the main body of settlers who remained on the coast, soon reducing whatever enterprise or vigour they had brought from Europe. The other was the tendency of the Portuguese to mingle their blood with that of the natives. Very few women were brought out from home, so that a mixed race soon sprang up, calling themselves Portuguese, but much inferior to the natives of Portugal. The Portuguese, even more than the Spaniards, have shown both in Brazil and in Africa comparatively little of that racial contempt for the blacks, and that aversion to intimate social relations with them, which have been so characteristic of the Dutch and the English. There have, of course, been a good many mulattos born of Dutch fathers in Africa, as of Anglo-American fathers in the West Indies and in the former slave States of North America. But the Dutch or English mulatto was almost always treated as belonging to the black race, and entirely below the level of the meanest white, whereas among the Portuguese a strong infusion of black blood did not necessarily carry with it social disparity.[18] In the beginning of the seventeenth century the Dutch, prosecuting their war against the Spanish monarchy, which had acquired the crown of Portugal in 1581 and held it till 1640, attacked the Portuguese forts on the East African coast, but after a few years abandoned an enterprise in which there was little to gain, and devoted their efforts to the more profitable field of the East Indies. With this exception, no European power troubled the Portuguese in Africa. They had, however, frequent conflicts with the natives, and in 1834 were driven from their fort at Inhambane, between Sofala and Delagoa Bay, and in 1836 from Sofala itself, which, however, they subsequently recovered. It was not till the progress of inland discovery, and especially the establishment of a Boer republic in the Transvaal had made the coast seem valuable, that two new and formidable rivals appeared on the scene. Under the combined operation of these causes such power as Portugal possessed on this coast declined during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Except on the deadly banks of the Zambesi, she never had a permanent settlement more than fifty miles from the sea, and very few so far inland. The population that spoke Portuguese and professed Christianity did not exceed a few thousands, and of these the large majority were at least half Kafir in blood. It became plain that such life and force as the nation once possessed had, at any rate in Africa, died out, and that if ever the continent was to be developed it would not be by the race that had first explored it. Here, therefore, we may leave the eastern coast and the feeble settlers who shivered with ague in its swamps, and turn our eyes to the far south, where a new and more vigorous race began, a century and a half after the time of Vasco da Gama, to lay the foundations of a new dominion. The first Teutonic people that entered the African continent were the Vandals in the fifth century. They came across the Straits of Gibraltar as conquerors, but they soon established a powerful fleet and acquired a maritime empire in the western Mediterranean. The second band of Teutons to enter were the Dutch. They were already a sea power active in the far East, whither they had been led by their war with Spain. But it was not as conquerors that they came, nor even as settlers intending to build up a colonial community. They came to establish a place of call for their vessels trading to India, where fresh water and vegetables might be obtained for their crews, who suffered terribly from scurvy on the voyage of six months or more from the Netherlands to the ports of Farther India. From the early years of the seventeenth century both Dutch and English vessels had been in the habit of putting in to Table Bay to refit and get fresh water. Indeed, in 1620 two English commanders had landed there and proclaimed the sovereignty of King James I, though their action was not ratified either by the king or by the English East India Company. In 1648 a shipwrecked Dutch crew spent six months in Table Valley, behind the spot where Cape Town now stands, and having some seeds with them, planted vegetables and got a good crop. They represented on their return to Holland the advantages of the spot, and in 1652 three vessels despatched by the Dutch East India Company disembarked a body of settlers, under the command of Jan van Riebeek, who were directed to build a fort and hospital, and, above all, to raise vegetables and obtain from the Hottentots supplies of fresh meat for passing ships. It is from these small beginnings of a kitchen-garden that Dutch and British dominion in South Africa has grown up. The history of this Dutch settlement presents a singular contrast to that of the Portuguese. During the first quarter of a century the few settlers kept themselves within the narrow limits of the Cape peninsula. In 1680 an outlying agricultural community was planted at Stellenbosch, twenty-five miles from Cape Town, but not till the end of the century was the first range of mountains crossed. Meantime the population began to grow. In 1658 the first slaves were introduced,--West African negroes,--a deplorable step, which has had the result of making the South African whites averse to open-air manual work and of practically condemning South Africa to be a country of black labour. Shortly afterwards the Company began to bring in Asiatic convicts, mostly Mohammedan Malays, from its territories in the East Indian Archipelago. These men intermarried with the female slaves, and to a less extent with Hottentot women, and from them a mixed coloured race has sprung up, which forms a large part of the population of Cape Town and the neighbouring districts. The influx of these inferior elements was balanced by the arrival in 1689 of about three hundred French Huguenots, a part of those who had taken refuge in Holland after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV. They were persons of a high stamp, more intelligent and educated than most of the previous settlers had been, and they brought with them a strong attachment to their Protestant faith and a love of liberty. From them many of the best colonial families are sprung. At first they clung to their language, and sought to form a distinct religious community; but they were ultimately compelled to join the Dutch Reformed Church, and the use of French was forbidden in official documents or religious services. Before the middle of the eighteenth century that language had disappeared, and the newcomers had practically amalgamated with their Dutch neighbours. The Company's government was impartially intolerant, and did not until 1780 permit the establishment of a Lutheran church, although many German Lutherans had settled in the country. From the time when the settlers began to spread out from the coast into the dry lands of the interior a great change came upon them, and what we now call the distinctive South African type of character and habits began to appear. The first immigrants were not, like some of the English settlers in Virginia, men of good social position in their own country, attached to it by many ties, nor, like the English settlers in the New England colonies, men of good education and serious temper, seeking the freedom to worship God in their own way. They came from the humbler classes, and partly because they had few home ties, partly because the voyage to Holland was so long that communication with it was difficult, they maintained little connection with the mother country and soon lost their feeling for it. The Huguenot immigrants were more cultivated, and socially superior to the rude adventurers who had formed the bulk of the Dutch settlers, but they had of course no home country to look to. France had cast them out; Holland was alien in blood and speech. So it befell that of all the colonists that Europe had sent forth since the voyage of Columbus, the South African whites were those who soonest lost their bond with Europe, and were the first set of emigrants to feel themselves a new people, whose true home lay in the new land they had adopted. Thus early in South African annals were the foundations laid of what we now call the Africander sentiment--a sentiment which has become one of the main factors in the history of the country. Nor was this all. When the comparatively small area of fertile land which could be cultivated without irrigation had been taken up, the keeping of cattle suggested itself as an easy means of livelihood. The pasture, however, was so thin that it was necessary to graze the cattle over wide stretches of ground, and the farther they went into the interior the scantier was the pasture and the larger therefore did the area of land become over which a farmer let his oxen or sheep run. This process of extending cattle-farms--if farms they can be called--over the interior was materially accelerated through the destruction of the nearer Hottentot tribes by the frightful outbreak of smallpox which begun in A.D. 1713, followed by another not less virulent in 1755. The Europeans suffered severely from it, the negroes, slave and free, still more, but the Hottentots most of all. In fact, it cleared them away from all the southern and western parts of the Colony and left these regions open to Europeans. Only the Bushmen remained, whose more solitary life gave them comparative immunity from contagion. Thus from the beginning of the eighteenth century, and during the whole of it, there was a constant dispersion of settlers from the old nucleus into the circumjacent wilderness. They were required to pay a sum amounting to five pounds a year for the use of three thousand _morgen_ (a little more than six thousand acres) of grazing ground, and were accustomed at certain seasons to drive their herds up into the deserts of the Karroo for a change of feed, just after the time when the summer rains stimulate the scrubby vegetation of that desert region. These settlers led a lonely and almost nomadic life. Much of their time was passed in their tent-waggons, in which, with their wives and children, they followed the cattle from spot to spot where the pasture was best. They became excellent marksmen and expert in the pursuit of wild beasts. Some made a living by elephant-hunting in the wilderness, and those who tended cattle learned to face the lion. They were much molested by the Bushmen, whose stealthy attacks and poisoned arrows made them dangerous enemies, and they carried on with the latter a constant war, in which no quarter was given. Thus there developed among them that courage, self-reliance, and passion for independence which are characteristic of the frontiersman everywhere, coupled with a love of solitude and isolation which the conditions of western America did not produce. For in western America the numbers and ferocity of the Red Indians, and those resources of the land which encouraged the formation of agricultural and timber-producing communities, made villages follow the march of discovery and conquest, while in pastoral Africa villages were few and extremely small. Isolation and the wild life these ranchmen led soon told upon their habits. The children grew up ignorant; the women, as was natural where slaves were employed, lost the neat and cleanly ways of their Dutch ancestors; the men were rude, bigoted, indifferent to the comforts and graces of life. But they retained their religious earnestness, carrying their Bibles and the practice of daily family worship with them in their wanderings; and they retained also a passion for freedom which the government vainly endeavoured to restrain. Though magistrates, called _landdrosts_, were placed in a few of the outlying stations, with assessors taken from the people, called _heemraden_, to assist them in administering justice, it was found impossible to maintain control over the wandering cattle-men, who from their habit of "trekking" from place to place were called Trek Boers.[19] The only organization that brought them together was that which their ceaseless strife with the Bushmen enjoined. Being all accustomed to the use of arms, they formed war-parties, which from time to time attacked and rooted out the Bushmen from a disturbed area; and the government recognized these military needs and methods by appointing field-commandants to each district, and subordinate officers, called field-cornets, to each sub-district. These functionaries have become the basis of the system of local government among the South African Dutch, and the war-bands, called commandos, have played a great part in the subsequent military history of the country. The eastward progress of expansion presently brought the settlers into contact with more formidable foes in the Bantu tribes, who dwelt beyond the Great Fish River. In 1779 some Kafir clans of the Kosa race crossed that river and drove off the cattle off the farmers to the west of it, and a war, the first of many fiercely fought Kafir wars, followed, which ended in the victory of the colonists. All this while the Colony had been ruled by the Dutch East India Company through a governor and council, appointed by the directors in Holland, and responsible to them only--a system roughly similar to that which the English established in India during the eighteenth century. The administration was better or worse according to the character and capacity of the governor for the time being, but it was on the whole unpopular with the colonists, not merely because they were excluded from all share in it (except to some small extent in the courts of justice), but also because the Company kept in its own hands a monopoly of the trade, and managed trade with a view to its own commercial interests rather than to those of the community. Thus discontent grew, and this discontent was one of the causes which led to the dispersion of the people into the wilderness, whose remoteness secured to them a practical freedom. In 1779 disaffection had been so much stimulated by the maladministration of a weak governor, and by the news of the revolt of the American colonies against Great Britain, that delegates were sent to Holland to demand redress for their commercial and other grievances, as well as a share in the government of the Colony. The Company was by this time in financial straits, and less powerful with the States-general of the Netherlands than it had formerly been. Long negotiations followed, reforms were promised, and at last, in 1792, two commissioners were sent out to investigate and frame measures of reform. The measures they promulgated were, however, deemed inadequate by the more ardent spirits, and by those especially who dwelt in the outlying districts, where the government had exerted, and could exert, little control. In 1795, first at Graaf-Reinet and then at Swellendam, the people rose in revolt, not, as they stated, against the mother country, but against the Company. They turned out the landdrosts, and set up miniature republics, each with a representative assembly. It would not have been difficult for the government to have reduced these risings by cutting off supplies of food. But now South Africa was suddenly swept into the great whirlpool of European politics, and events were at hand which made these petty local movements insignificant, save in so far as they were evidences of the independent spirit of the people. From 1757, when the battle of Plassey was fought, the English power in India had been rapidly growing, and the Cape, which they had not cared to acquire in 1620, had now become in their eyes a station of capital importance. When war broke out between Britain and Holland in 1781, the English had attempted to seize the Colony, but retired when they found a strong French force prepared to aid the Dutch in its defence. Now they were again at war with Holland, which, over-run by the armies of revolutionary France, had become the Batavian Republic. In 1795 an English expedition, bearing orders from the Stadholder of the Netherlands, then a refugee in England, requiring the Company's officers to admit them, landed at Simon's Bay, and after some slight resistance obliged Cape Town and its castle to capitulate. Within a few months the insurgents at Swellendam and Graaf-Reinet submitted, and British troops held the Colony till 1802, when it was restored to the Batavian Republic on the conclusion of the peace of Amiens. Next year, however, war broke out afresh; and the English government, feeling the extreme importance, in the great struggle which they were waging with Napoleon, of possessing a naval stronghold as a half-way house to India, resolved again to occupy the Cape. In 1806 a strong force was landed in Table Bay, and after one engagement the Dutch capitulated. In 1814 the English occupation was turned into permanent sovereignty by a formal cession of the Colony on the part of the then restored Stadholder, who received for it and certain Dutch possessions in South America the sum of £6,000,000. The European population of the Colony, which was thus finally transferred to the rule of a foreign though a cognate nation, consisted in 1806 of about 27,000 persons, mostly of Dutch, with a smaller number of German or French descent. They had some 30,000 black slaves, and of the aboriginal Hottentots about 17,000 remained. Nearly all spoke Dutch, or rather the rude local dialect into which the Dutch of the original settlers (said to have been largely Frieslanders), had degenerated. The descendants of the Huguenots had long since lost their French. No people find it agreeable to be handed over to the government of a different race, and the British administration in the Colony in those days was, though restrained by the general principles of English law, necessarily autocratic, because representative institutions had never existed at the Cape. Still things promised well for the peace and ultimate fusion of the Dutch and English races. They were branches of the same Low-German stock, separated by fourteen hundred years of separate history, but similar in the fundamental bases of their respective characters. Both were attached to liberty, and the British had indeed enjoyed at home a much fuller measure of it than had the Dutch in the settled parts of the Colony. Both professed the Protestant religion, and the Dutch were less tolerant toward Roman Catholics than the English. The two languages retained so much resemblance that it was easy for an Englishman to learn Dutch and for a Dutchman to learn English. An observer might have predicted that the two peoples would soon, by intercourse and by intermarriage, melt into one, as Dutch and English had done in New York. For a time it seemed as if this would certainly come to pass. The first two British governors were men of high character, whose administration gave little ground for complaint to the old inhabitants. The Company's restrictions on trade had been abolished, and many reforms were introduced by the new rulers. Schools were founded, the administration of justice was reorganised under new courts, the breed of cattle and horses was improved, the slave-trade was forbidden, and missions to the natives were largely developed. Meanwhile local institutions were scarcely altered, and the official use of the Dutch language was maintained. The Roman-Dutch law, which had been in force under the Company's rule, was permitted to remain, and it is to-day the common law of all the British colonies and territories, as well as of the Boer Republics, in South Africa. Intermarriage began, and the social relations of the few English who had come in after 1806, with the many Dutch were friendly. In 1820 the British government sent out about five thousand emigrants from England and Scotland, who settled in the thinly occupied country round Algoa Bay on the eastern border of the Colony; and from that time on there was a steady, though never copious, influx of British settlers, through whose presence the use of the English language increased, together with a smaller influx of Germans, who soon lost their national individuality and came to speak either English or the local Dutch. Before long, however, this fair promise of peace and union was overclouded, and the causes which checked the fusion of the races in the Colony, and created two Dutch Republics beyond its limits, have had such momentous results that they need to be clearly stated. The first was to be found in the character of the Dutch population. They were farmers, a few dwelling in villages and cultivating the soil, but the majority stock-farmers, living scattered over a wide expanse of country, for the thinness of the pasture had made and kept the stock-farms very large. They saw little of one another, and nothing of those who dwelt in the few towns which the Colony possessed. They were ignorant, prejudiced, strongly attached to their old habits, impatient of any control. The opportunities for intercourse between them and the British were thus so few that the two races acquired very little knowledge of one another, and the process of social fusion, though easy at Capetown and wherever else the population was tolerably dense, was extremely slow over the country at large. A deplorable incident which befell on the eastern border in 1815 did much to create bad blood. A slight rising, due to the attempted arrest of a farmer on a charge of maltreating his native servant, broke out there. It was soon suppressed, but of the prisoners taken six were condemned to death and five were hanged. This harsh act, which was at the time justified as a piece of "necessary firmness," produced wide-spread and bitter resentment, and the mention of Slagter's Nek continued for many years to awaken an outburst of anti-British feeling among the Boers. A second cause was the unwisdom of the British authorities in altering (between 1825 and 1828) the old system of local government (with the effect of reducing the share in it which the citizens had enjoyed), and in substituting English for Dutch as the language to be used in official documents and legal proceedings. This was a serious hardship, for probably not more than one-sixth of the people understood English. A third source of trouble arose out of the wars with the Kafirs on the eastern border. Since the first hostilities of 1779 there had been four serious struggles with the tribes who lived beyond the Fish River, and in 1834 a host of savages suddenly burst into the Colony, sweeping off the cattle and killing the farmers. After some hard fighting the Kafirs were reduced to sue for peace, and compelled by the governor to withdraw beyond the Keiskama River. But the British government at home, considering that the natives had been ill-treated by the colonists, and in fact provoked to war, overruled the governor, and allowed them to return to their old seats, where they were, no doubt, a source of danger to the border farmers. Thinking the home authorities either weak or perverse, the farmers bitterly resented this action, and began to look on the British Colonial Office as their enemy. But the main grievance arose out of those native and colour questions which have ever since continued to trouble South Africa. Slavery had existed in the Colony since 1658, and had produced its usual consequences, the degradation of labour, and the notion that the black man has no rights against the white. In 1737 the first Moravian mission to the Hottentots was frowned upon, and a pastor who had baptized natives found himself obliged to return to Europe. The current of feeling in Europe, and especially in England, which condemned the "domestic institution" and sought to vindicate the human rights of the negro, had not been felt in this remote corner of the world, and from about 1810 onward the English missionaries gave intense offence to the colonists by espousing the cause of the natives and the slaves, and reporting every case of cruel or harsh treatment which came to their knowledge. It is said that they often exaggerated, or made charges on insufficient evidence, and this is likely enough. But it must also be remembered that they were the only protectors the blacks had; and where slavery exists, and a weak race is dominated by a strong one, there are sure to be many abuses of power. When, in 1828, Hottentots and other free coloured people were placed by governmental ordinance on an equal footing with whites as regards private civil rights, the colonists were profoundly disgusted, and their exasperation was increased by the enactment of laws restraining their authority over their slaves, as well as by the charges of ill-treating the natives which continued to be brought against them by the missionaries. Finally, in 1834, the British Parliament passed a statute emancipating the slaves throughout all the British colonies, and awarding a sum of twenty million pounds sterling as compensation to the slave-owners. The part of this sum allotted to Cape Colony (a little more than three millions sterling) was considerably below the value of the slaves (about 39,000) held there, and as the compensation was made payable in London, most slave owners sold their claims at inadequate prices. Many farmers lost the bulk of their property, and labour became in many districts so scarce that agriculture could hardly be carried on. The irritation produced by the loss thus suffered, intensifying the already existing discontent, set up a ferment among the Dutch farmers. Their spirit had always been independent, and the circumstances of their isolated life had enabled them to indulge it. Even under the government of their Dutch kinsfolk they had been restless, and now they received, as they thought, one injustice after another at the hands of alien rulers. To be watched and denounced by the missionaries, to have black people put on a level with them, to lose the fruits of their victory over the Kafirs--all these things had been bad enough. Now, however, when their property itself was taken away and slavery abolished on grounds they could neither understand nor approve, they determined to endure no longer, and sought for some means of deliverance. Rebellion against so strong a power as that of Britain was evidently foredoomed to failure. But to the north and east a great wild country lay open before them, where they could lead that solitary and half-nomadic life which they loved, preserve their old customs, and deal with the natives as they pleased, unvexed by the meddlesome English. Accordingly, many resolved to quit the Colony altogether and go out into the wilderness. They were the more disposed to this course, because they knew that the wars and conquests of Tshaka, the ferocious Zulu king, had exterminated the Kafir population through parts of the interior, which therefore stood open to European settlement. Thus it was that the Great Trek, as the Dutch call it,--the great emigration, or secession, as we should say,--of the Dutch Boers began in 1836, twenty-five years before another question of colour and slavery brought about a still greater secession on the other side of the Atlantic. If the reader will here refer to the map, and measure from Cape Town a distance of about four hundred and fifty miles to the east (to the mouth of the Great Fish River), and about the same distance to the north-north-east (to where the towns of Middelburg and Colesberg now stand), he will obtain a pretty fair idea of the limits of European settlement in 1836. The outer parts of this area toward the north and east were very thinly peopled, and beyond them there was a vast wilderness, into which only a few hunters had penetrated, though some farmers had, during the last decade or two, been accustomed to drive their flocks and herds into the fringe of it after the rains, in search of fresh pastures. The regions still farther to the north and east were almost entirely unexplored. They were full of wild beasts, and occupied here and there by native tribes, some, like the various branches of the Zulu race, eminently fierce and warlike. Large tracts, however, were believed to be empty and desolate, owing to the devastations wrought during his twenty years of reign by Tshaka, who had been murdered eight years before. Of the existence of mineral wealth no one dreamed. But it was believed that there was good grazing land to be found on the upland that lay north of the great Quathlamba Range (where now the map shows the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic). More to the south lay the territory we now call Natal. It was described by those very few persons who had explored it as fertile and well-watered, a country fit both for tillage and for pasture; but wide plains and high mountains had to be crossed to reach it by land from the north-west, and close to it on the north-east was the main body of the Zulu nation, under King Dingaan, the brother and sucessor of Tshaka. Into this wilderness did the farmers set forth, and though some less laudable motives may have been mingled with the love of independence and the resentment at injustice which mainly prompted their emigration, it is impossible not to admire their strenuous and valiant spirit. They were a religious people, knowing no book but the Bible, and they deemed themselves, like many another religious people at a like crisis of their fortunes, to be under the special protection of Heaven, as was Israel when it went out of Egypt into a wilderness not so vast nor so full of perils as was that which the Boers were entering. Escaping from a sway which they compared to that of the Egyptian king, they probably expected to be stopped or turned back. But Pharaoh, though he had turned a deaf ear to their complaints, was imbued with the British spirit of legality. He consulted his attorney-general, and did not pursue them. The colonial government saw with concern the departure of so many useful subjects. But it was advised that it had no legal right to stop them, so it stood by silently while party after party of emigrants--each householder with his wife and his little ones, his flocks and his herds and all his goods--took its slow way from the eastern or northern parts of the Colony, up the slopes of the coast range, and across the passes that lead into the high plateau behind. Within two years from 6,000 to 10,000 persons set forth. They travelled in large covered wagons drawn by ten or twelve yoke of oxen, and they were obliged to travel in parties of no great size, lest their cattle should exhaust the pasture along the track they followed. There was, however a general concert of plan among them, and most of the smaller groups united at spots previously fixed upon for a rendezvous. All the men were armed, for the needs of defence against the Bushmen, and the passion for killing game, had made the farmers expert in the use of the rifle. As marksmen they were unusually steady and skilful, and in the struggles that followed nothing but their marksmanship saved them. Few to-day survive of those who took part in this Great Trek, but among those few is Paul Kruger, now President of the South African Republic, who followed his father's cattle as they were driven forward across the prairie, being then a boy of ten. I have not space to tell, save in the briefest outline, the striking and romantic story of the wanderings of the emigrant Boers and their conflicts with the native tribes. The first party, like the first host of Crusaders that started for the East in the end of the eleventh century, perished miserably. It consisted of ninety-eight persons travelling with thirty wagons. They penetrated far to the north-east, into what is now the territory of the Transvaal Republic. Some were cut off by the natives; some, reduced to a mere handful by fever and by the loss of their cattle,--for they had ventured into the unhealthy lower country to the south-east of the mountains, where the tsetse-fly abounds,--made their way to the coast at Delagoa Bay. Another party, formed by the union of a number of smaller bodies at Thaba 'Ntshu, a rocky peak in the Orange Free State, visible on the eastern horizon from the present town of Bloemfontein, advanced thence to the north, and presently came in contact with a redoubtable branch of the Zulu race, famous in later history under the name of Matabili. This tribe was then ruled by the chief Umzilikazi, or Mosilikatze, a warrior of great energy and talent. He had been one of Tshaka's favourite generals, but, having incurred that king's displeasure, had fled, about A.D. 1817, with his regiment to the north-west, and established his headquarters near a place called Mosega (between Pretoria and Mafeking), in what is now the Transvaal Republic. Thence he raided and massacred the Bechuanas and other tribes of this region, though himself unable to withstand the main Zulu nation, which, under Dingaan, was living farther to the south. The Matabili provoked war by falling upon and destroying a detachment of the emigrants. Intruders the latter doubtless were, but, as the Matabili themselves had slaughtered without mercy the weaker Kafir tribes, the Boers might think they need not feel any compunction in dealing out the like measure to their antagonists. And, in point of fact, the emigrants seem all through to have treated the natives much as Israel treated the natives of Canaan, and to have conceived themselves to have Old Testament authority for occupying the territories of the heathen, and reducing them by the sternest methods to serfdom or submission. Here they had an unprovoked massacre to avenge, and they showed equal promptitude and courage. Pouncing upon Mosilikatze, they defeated his vastly superior force with so great a slaughter that he fled north-westward far away beyond the Limpopo River, and fell like a thunderbolt upon the tribes who dwelt between that stream and the Zambesi, killing many and making slaves of the rest. Here, with the king's kraal of Buluwayo for its capital, was established the kingdom of the Matabili, which remained as a terror to its neighbours till, in its turn, destroyed by Dr. Jameson and the British South Africa Company in 1893. It was a curious chain of events that brought fire and slaughter so suddenly, in 1837, upon the peoples of the Zambesi Valley. As the conflicts of nomad warriors along the great wall of China in the fourth century of our era set a-going a movement which, propagated from tribe to tribe, ended by precipitating the Goths upon the Mediterranean countries, and brought Alaric to the Salarian Gate of Rome, so the collapse of the French monarchy, inducing the Revolution and the consequent war with England, carried the English to the Cape, brought the Boers into collision with the Matabili, and at last hurled the savage host of Mosilikatze on the helpless Makalakas. The defeat and expulsion of the Matabili left the vast territories between the Orange River and the Limpopo in the hands of the Boer immigrants. Within these territories, after much moving hither and thither, those small and rude communities began to grow up which have ripened, as we shall presently see, into the two Dutch republics of our own time. But, meanwhile, a larger and better organized body of Boers, led by a capable and much-respected man named Pieter Retief, marched first eastward and then southward across the Quathlamba watershed, and descended from the plateau into the richer and warmer country between those mountains and the Indian Ocean. This region had been in 1820 almost depopulated by the invasions of Tshaka, and now contained scarce any native inhabitants. A few Englishmen had since 1824 been settled on the inlet then called Port Natal, where now the prosperous town of Durban lies beneath the villas and orchards of Berea, and (having obtained a cession of the maritime slip from King Tshaka) were maintaining there a sort of provisional republic. In 1835 they had asked to be recognised as a colony under the name of Victoria, in honour of the young princess who two years afterwards mounted the throne, and to have a legislature granted them. The British government, however, was still hesitating whether it should occupy the port, so the emigrants did not trouble themselves about its rights or wishes. Thinking it well to propitiate the Zulu king, Dingaan, whose power over-shadowed the country, the Boer leaders proceeded to his kraal to obtain from him a formal grant of land. The grant was made, but next day the treacherous tyrant, offering them some native beer as a sort of stirrup-cup before their departure, suddenly bade his men fall upon and "kill the wizards." The excellent Retief perished with his whole party, and a body of emigrants not far distant was similarly surprised and massacred by a Zulu army of overwhelming strength. These cruelties roused the rest of the emigrants to reprisals, and in a fierce battle, fought on December 16, 1838, the anniversary of which is still celebrated by the people of the Transvaal, a handful of Boers overthrew Dingaan's host. Like the soldiers of Cortes in Mexico, they owed this, as other victories, not merely to their steady valour, but to their horses. Riding up to the line of savage warriors, they delivered a volley, and rode back before an assagai could reach them, repeating this manoeuvre over and over again till the hostile ranks broke and fled. Ultimately their forces, united with those of a brother of Dingaan, who had rebelled against him and had detached a large part of the Zulu warriors, drove Dingaan out of Zululand in 1840. Panda, the rebel brother, was installed king in his stead, as a sort of vassal to the Boer government, which was now entitled the republic of Natalia, and the Boers founded a city, Pietermaritzburg, and began to portion out the land. They deemed the British authorities to have abandoned any claim to the country by the withdrawal of a detachment of troops which had been landed at Port Natal in 1838. But their action, and in particular their ejection from the country of a mass of Kafirs whom they proposed to place in a district already occupied by another tribe, had meanwhile excited the displeasure of the government of Cape Colony. That government, though it had not followed them into the deserts of the interior, had never renounced, and indeed had now and then reasserted its right to consider them British subjects. They, however, repudiated all idea of subjection, holding British sovereignty to be purely territorial, so that when they had passed out of the region which the British crown claimed they had become a free and independent people, standing alone in the world. Their attempt to establish a new white state on the coast was a matter of serious concern, because it might affect trade with the interior, and plant in a region which Britain deemed her own the germ of what might become a new maritime power. And as the colonial government considered itself the general protector of the natives, and interested in maintaining the Kafirs between the Boer state and Cape Colony, the attacks of the Boers on the Kafirs who lived to the west of them toward the Colony, could not be permitted to pass unchecked. The British government, though still unwilling to assume fresh responsibilities, for in those days it was generally believed that the colonial possessions of Britain were already too extensive, nevertheless ultimately concluded, for the reasons given above, to assert its authority over Port Natal and the country behind as far as the crest of the mountains. A small force was accordingly sent to Port Natal in 1842. It was there besieged by the Boer levies, and would have been forced to surrender but for the daring ten days' ride through the whole breadth of Kaffraria of a young Englishman, Richard King, who brought the news to Graham's Town, six hundred miles distant. A force sent by sea relieved the starving garrison after a siege of twenty-six days. The Boer forces dispersed, but it was not till a year later that the territory of Natal was formally declared a British colony. Lord Stanley, then colonial secretary, was reluctant to take over the responsibilities of a new dominion with a disaffected white population and a mass of savage inhabitants, and only yielded to the urgent arguments of Sir George Napier, then governor of the Cape. In 1843, after long and angry debates (sometimes interrupted by the women, who passionately denounced the British government), the Volksraad, or popular assembly of the tiny republic, submitted to the British crown, having delivered a warm but ineffectual protest against the principle of equal civil rights for whites and blacks laid down by the British government. The colony of Natal was then constituted, first (1845) as a dependency of Cape Colony, afterward (1856) as a separate colony. A part of the Boers, estimated at five hundred families, remained in it; but the majority, including all the fiercer spirits, recrossed the mountains (some forthwith, some five years later), with their cattle, and joined the mass of their fellow-emigrants who had remained on the plateaus of the interior. Meanwhile an immense influx of Kafirs, mostly from Zululand, although many belonged to other tribes whom the Zulus had conquered, repopulated the country, and in it the blacks have since been about ten times as numerous as the whites. Thus ended the Dutch republic of Natalia, after six years of troubled life. While it was fighting with the Zulus on the east, and other Kafirs on the west, it was torn by incessant intestine quarrels, and unable either to levy taxes, or to compel for any other purpose the obedience of its own citizens. But its victories over Dingaan's armies were feats of arms as remarkable as any South Africa has seen. The English are not generally slow to recognize the fine qualities of their adversaries, but they have done less than justice to the resolution and the daring which the Boers displayed in these early campaigns against the natives.[20] With the British annexation of Natal ended the first of the attempts which the emigrant Boers have made to obtain access to the sea. It was a turning-point in the history of South Africa, for it secured to Great Britain that command of the coast which has ever since been seen to be more and more vital to her predominance, and it established a new centre of English settlement in a region till then neglected, from whence large territories, including Zululand and, recently, Southern Tongaland, have been acquired. Although Britain purported to act, and, indeed, in a certain sense did act, in self-defence, one cannot repress a feeling that the Boer settlers, who had occupied a territory they found vacant and had broken the power of the savage Zulu king, were hardly used. They ought, at any rate, to have had earlier notice of British intentions. But against this may be set the fact that the internal dissensions which rent the infant republic would have sooner or later brought it to the ground, compelling British intervention, and that the native races have fared better under British control than they seemed likely to do under that of the Boers, whose behaviour towards them, though little more harsh than that of the English colonists, has been much less considerate than that of the Imperial Government. Hardly less troubled was the lot of the emigrants who had scattered themselves over the wide uplands that lie between the Orange River and the Limpopo. They, too, were engaged in incessant wars with the native tribes, who were, however, less formidable than the Zulus, and much cattle lifting went on upon both sides. Only one native tribe and one native chief stand out from the confused tangle of petty raids and forays which makes up (after the expulsion of the Matabili) the earlier annals of the Boer communities. This chief was the famous Moshesh, to speak of whose career I may digress for a moment from the thread of this narrative. The Kafir races have produced within this century three really remarkable men--men who, like Toussaint l'Ouverture in Hayti, and Kamehameha I. in Hawaii, will go down in history as instances of the gifts that sometimes show themselves even among the most backward races. Tshaka, the Zulu, was a warrior of extraordinary energy and ambition, whose power of organization enabled him to raise the Zulu army within a few years to a perfection of drill and discipline and a swiftness of movement which made them irresistible, except by Europeans. Khama, the chief who still reigns among the Bechuanas, has been a social reformer and administrator of judgment, tact, and firmness, who has kept his people in domestic peace and protected them from the dangerous influences which white civilization brings with it, while at the same time helping them onward toward such improvements as their character admits. Moshesh, chief of the Basutos, was born in the end of the eighteenth century. He belonged to a small clan which had suffered severely in the wars caused by the conquest of Tshaka, whose attacks upon the tribes nearest him had driven them upon other tribes, and brought slaughter and confusion upon the whole of South-eastern Africa. Though only a younger son, his enterprise and courage soon made him a leader. The progress of his power was aided by the skill he showed in selecting for his residence and stronghold a flat topped hill called Thaba Bosiyo, fenced round by cliffs, with pasture for his cattle, and several springs of water. In this impregnable stronghold, from which he drew his title of "chief of the mountain," he resisted repeated sieges by his native enemies and by the emigrant Boers. The exploits of Moshesh against his native foes soon brought adherents round him, and he became the head of that powerful tribe, largely formed out of the fragments of other tribes scattered and shattered by war, which is now called the Basuto. Unlike most Kafir warriors, he was singularly free from cruelty, and ruled his own people with a mildness which made him liked as well as respected. In 1832 he had the foresight to invite missionaries to come and settle among his people, and the following year saw the establishment of the mission of the Evangelical Society of Paris, whose members, some of them French, some Swiss, a few Scotch, have been the most potent factors in the subsequent history of the Basuto nation. When the inevitable collision between the Basutos and the white men arrived, Moshesh, partly through counsels of the missionaries, partly from his own prudence, did his best to avoid any fatal breach with the British Government. Nevertheless, he was several times engaged in war with the Orange River Boers, and once had to withstand the attack of a strong British force led by the governor of Cape Colony. But his tactful diplomacy made him a match for any European opponent, and carried him through every political danger. Moshesh died, full of years and honour, about twenty-eight years ago, having built up, out of the dispersed remnants of broken tribes, a nation which has now, under the guiding hand of the missionaries, and latterly of the British Government also, made greater progress in civilization and Christianity than any other Kafir race. Of its present condition I shall speak in a later chapter. We may now turn back to pursue the story of the fortunes of the emigrant Boers who had remained on the landward or northerly side of the Quathlamba Range, or had returned thither from Natal. In 1843 they numbered not more than 15,000 persons all told, possibly less; for, though after 1838 fresh emigrants from the Colony had joined them, many had perished in the native wars. Subsequently, down to the end of 1847, these numbers were increased by others, who returned from Natal, displeased at the land settlement made there; and while these Natalians settled, some to the south-west, round Winburg, others farther north, in the region between Pretoria and the Vaal River, the earlier Boer occupants of the latter region moved off still farther north, some to Lydenburg, some to the Zoutpansberg and the country sloping to the Limpopo River. Thus the emigrant Dutch were now scattered over an area seven hundred miles long and three hundred miles wide, an area bounded on the south-east by the Quathlamba mountain-chain, but on the north and west divided by no natural limit from the great plain which stretches west to the Atlantic and north to the Zambesi. They were practically independent, for the colonial government did not attempt to interfere with their internal affairs. But Britain still claimed that they were, in strict intendment of law, British subjects,[21] and she gave no recognition to the governments they set up. To have established any kind of administration over so wide a territory would have been in any case difficult for so small a body of people, probably about four thousand adult males; but the characteristics which had enabled them to carry out their exodus from Cape Colony and their campaigns of conquest against the natives with so much success made the task of organization still more difficult. They had in an eminent degree "the defects of their qualities." They were self-reliant and individualistic to excess; they loved not only independence, but isolation; they were resolved to make their government absolutely popular, and little disposed to brook the control even of the authorities they had themselves created. They had, in fact, a genius for disobedience; their ideal, if one can attribute any ideals to them, was that of Israel in the days when every man did that which was right in his own eyes. It was only for warlike expeditions, which they had come to enjoy not only for the sake of the excitement, but also because they were able to enrich themselves by the capture of cattle, that they could be brought together, and only to their leaders in war that they would yield obedience. Very few had taken to agriculture, for which, indeed, the dry soil was seldom fitted, and the half-nomadic life of stock-farmers, each pasturing his cattle over great tracts of country, confirmed their dissociative instincts. However, the necessities of defence against the natives, and a common spirit of hostility to the claims of sovereignty which the British government had never renounced, kept them loosely together. Thus several small republican communities grew up. Each would have preferred to manage its affairs by a general meeting of the citizens, and sometimes tried to do so. But as the citizens dispersed themselves over the country, this became impossible, so authority, such slight authority as they could be induced to grant, was in each vested in a small elective assembly called the Volksraad or Council of the People. These tiny republics were held together by a sort of faintly federative tie, which rested rather in a common understanding than upon any legal instrument, and whose observance was always subject to the passion of the moment. The communities which dwelt to the north-east, beyond the Vaal River, while distracted by internal feuds chiefly arising from personal or family enmities, were left undisturbed by the colonial government. They lived hundreds of miles from the nearest British outpost, and their wars with the Kafirs scarcely affected those tribes with whom the British authorities came in contact. Those authorities, as I have already observed, were in those days, under orders received from home, anxious rather to contract than to extend the sphere of imperial influence, and cared little for what happened far out in the wilderness, except whenever the action of the Boers induced troubles among the natives. It was otherwise with the emigrants who lived to the south-west, between the Vaal River and the frontier of Cape Colony, which was then at the village of Colesberg, between what is now De Aar Junction and the upper course of the Orange River. Here there were endless bickerings between the Boers, the rapidly growing native tribe of the Basutos, and the half-breeds called Griquas, hunting clans sprung from Dutch fathers and Hottentot women, who, intermixed with white people, and to some extent civilized by the missionaries, were scattered over the country from where the town of Kimberley now stands southward to the junction of the Orange and Caledon rivers. These quarrels, with the perpetual risk of a serious native war arising from them, distressed a succession of governors at Cape Town and a succession of colonial secretaries in Downing Street. Britain did not wish (if I may use a commercial term not unsuited to her state of mind) "to increase her holding" in South Africa. She regarded the Cape as the least prosperous and promising of her colonies, with an arid soil, a population largely alien, and an apparently endless series of costly Kafir wars. She desired to avoid all further annexations of territory, because each annexation brought fresh responsibilities, and fresh responsibilities involved increased expenditure. At last a plan was proposed by Dr. Philip, a prominent missionary who had acquired influence with the government. The missionaries were the only responsible persons who knew much about the wild interior, and they were often called on to discharge functions similar to those which the bishops performed for the barbarian kings in western Europe in the fifth and sixth centuries of our era. The societies which they represented commanded some influence in Parliament; and this fact also disposed the Colonial Office to consult them. Dr. Philip suggested the creation along the north-eastern border of a line of native states which should sever the Colony from the unsettled districts, and should isolate the more turbulent emigrant Boers from those who had remained quietly in the Colony. This plan was adopted. Treaties were made in 1843 with Moshesh, the Basuto chief, and with Adam Kok, a Griqua captain living on the Orange River, as a treaty had been made nine years before with another Griqua leader named Waterboer, who lived farther north (near the present site of Kimberley); and these three states, all recognized by Britain, were intended to cover the Colony on the side where troubles were most feared. But the arrangement soon broke down, for the whites would not recognize a Griqua captain, while the whole troubles between them and the natives continued. Accordingly, a forward step was taken in 1846 by placing a few British troops under a military resident at Bloemfontein, half-way between the Orange and Vaal rivers, to keep order there. And in 1848 the whole region from the Orange to the Vaal was formally annexed under the name of the Orange River Sovereignty. The country had been without any government, for the emigrants who dwelt in it had no organization of their own, and did not recognize the republics beyond the Vaal. This formal assertion of British authority provoked an outbreak among those of the emigrants, all, or nearly all, of Boer stock, who clung to their independence. Roused and reinforced by their Boer brethren from beyond the Vaal, who were commanded by Andries Pretorius, the most energetic and capable of the emigrant leaders, and the same who had besieged the British troops at Port Natal, they attacked Bloemfontein, obliged the Resident's small force to capitulate, and advanced south to the Orange River. Sir Harry Smith, then Governor of the Cape, promptly moved forward a small force, defeated the Boers in a sharp skirmish at Boomplats (August 29, 1848), and re-established British authority over the Sovereignty, which was not, however, incorporated with Cape Colony. The Boers beyond the Vaal were left to themselves. Peace, however, was not yet assured. Fresh quarrels broke out among the native tribes, ending in a war between the Basutos and the British Resident. Unsupported by a large section of the local farmers, who remained disaffected to the government, and preferred to make their own terms with the Basutos, and having only a trifling armed force at his command, the Resident fared ill; and his position became worse when Pretorius, still powerful beyond the Vaal, threatened to move in and side with the Basutos. Cape Colony was at that moment involved in a serious war with the Kafirs of the south coast, and could spare no troops for these northern troubles. So when Pretorius intimated that he and the northern Boers wished to make some permanent and pacific arrangement with Britain, which, though it did not claim their territory, still claimed their allegiance, commissioners were sent to negotiate with him and those of the northern or Transvaal group of emigrants who recognized his leadership, for there were other factions who stood apart by themselves. Thus in 1852 a convention was concluded at Sand River with "the commandant and delegates of the Boers living beyond the Vaal," by which the British government "guaranteed to the emigrant farmers beyond the Vaal River the right to manage their own affairs, and to govern themselves according to their own laws without any interference on the part of the British government," with provisions "disclaiming all alliances with any of the coloured nations north of the Vaal River," permitting the emigrants to purchase ammunition in the British colonies, and declaring that "no slavery is or shall be permitted or practised by the farmers in the country north of the Vaal River." From this Sand River convention the South African Republic, afterward slowly formed out of the small communities which then divided the country, dates its independence; and by the same instrument it practically severed itself from the Boer emigrants who were left in the Orange River Sovereignty south of the Vaal, conduct which the republican party among these emigrants deemed a betrayal. That Sovereignty remained British, and probably would have so continued but for an unexpected incident. It was still vexed by the war with the Basutos, and when General Cathcart, who had now come out as Governor of the Cape, attacked Moshesh with a considerable force of British regulars, he was drawn into a sort of ambush in their difficult country, suffered a serious reverse, and would have been compelled to invade Basutoland afresh with a larger army had not Moshesh prudently asked for peace. Peace was concluded. But the British government was weary of these petty and apparently unending native wars, and soon after the news of the battle with Moshesh reached London, the Duke of Newcastle, and Lord Aberdeen's government, in which he was colonial secretary, resolved to abandon the Sovereignty altogether. To those who look back on 1853 with the eyes of 1899 this seems a strange determination, for the British crown had ruled the country for eight years and recently given it a regular new constitution. Moreover, whereas the farmers beyond the Vaal were nearly all of pure Boer stock, those in the Orange River Sovereignty were mixed with English settlers, and from their proximity to the Colony were much less averse to the British connection. In fact, a large part of them--though it is not now easy to discover the exact proportion--warmly resisted the proposal of the British government to retire, and independence had to be forced on them against their will. In Cape Colony, too, and among the missionaries, there was a strong repugnance to the policy of withdrawal. The authorities of the Colony and the Colonial Office at home were, however, inexorable. They saw no use in keeping territories which were costly because they had to be defended against native raids, and from which little benefit was then expected. Hardly any notice had been taken in Britain of the Sand River convention, which the Conservative ministry of that day had approved, and when, at the instance of delegates sent home by those who, in the Orange River territory, desired to remain subject to the British crown, a motion was made in the House of Commons asking the Queen to reconsider the renunciation of her sovereignty over that territory, the motion found no support and had to be withdrawn. Parliament, indeed, went so far as to vote forty-eight thousand pounds by way of compensation, in order to get rid of this large territory and a great number of attached subjects. So little did Englishmen then care for that South African dominion which they have subsequently become so eager to develop and extend. By the convention signed at Bloemfontein on February 23, 1854, the British government "guaranteed the future independence of the country and its government," and its inhabitants were "declared, to all intents and purposes, a free and independent people." No slavery or trade in slaves was to be permitted north of the Orange River. The Orange River government was to be free to purchase ammunition in the British colonies, and liberal privileges in connection with import duties were to be granted to it. These two conventions of 1852 and 1854 are epochs of supreme importance in South African history, for they mark the first establishment of non-British independent states, whose relations with the British colonies were thereafter to constitute the central thread in the annals of the country. As that of 1852 recognised the Transvaal State, so from that of 1854, which is a more explicit and complete declaration of independence than had been accorded to the Transvaal people two years before, dates the beginning of the second Boer republic, the Orange Free State, which, subsequently increased by the conquest from the Basutos of a strip of fertile territory in the south, has ever since remained perfectly independent and at peace with the British colonies. Its only serious troubles have arisen from native wars, and these have long ago come to an end. In 1854 an assembly of delegates enacted for it the republican constitution under which it has ever since been quietly and peaceably governed. It had the good fortune to elect, as its president, in 1865, a lawyer from Cape Colony, of Dutch extraction, Mr. (afterwards Sir) John Brand, who guided its course with great tact and wisdom for twenty-four years, and whose favourite expression, "All shall come right," now inscribed on his tombstone at Bloemfontein, has become throughout South Africa a proverbial phrase of encouragement in moments of difficulty.[22] Beyond the Vaal river things have gone very differently. The farmers of that region were more scattered, more rude and uneducated, and more prone to factious dissensions than those of the Free State proved to be after 1854; and while the latter were compressed within definite boundaries on three sides, the Transvaal Boers were scattered over a practically limitless area. During the next twenty-five years the Transvaal people had very little to do with the British government. But they were distracted by internal feuds, and involved in almost incessant strife with the natives. These two sources of trouble brought their government, in 1877, to a condition of virtual collapse. But that collapse and the annexation which followed it belong to a later phase of South African history, and we must now turn from them to trace the progress of events in other parts of the country between 1852 and 1877. [Footnote 16: The best recent account of the doings of the Portuguese is to be found in Dr. Theal's book, _The Portuguese in South Africa_, published in 1896.] [Footnote 17: I have heard from Lord Wolseley that in his expedition against Sikukuni, a Kafir chief in the north-east of the Transvaal, he was told by a German trader who acted as guide that the natives had shown to him (the trader) fragments of ancient European armour which were preserved in a cave among the mountains. The natives said that this armour had been worn by white men who had come up from the sea many, many years ago, and whom their own ancestors had killed.] [Footnote 18: Maceo, the well-known leader of the Cuban insurgents who was killed in 1896, was a half-breed, in whose band there were plenty of pure whites. In no Southern State of North America would white men have followed a mulatto.] [Footnote 19: The word Boer means farmer or peasant (German _Bauer_).] [Footnote 20: A clear and spirited account of these events may be found in Mr. R. Russell's book, _Natal, the Land and its Story_, published in 1894.] [Footnote 21: Sir P. Maitland's proclamation of August 21, 1845, expressly reserved the rights of the crown to consider those who had gone beyond Natal as being still its subjects, notwithstanding the establishment of a settled government in that Colony. (See Bird's _Annals of Natal_, vol. ii., p. 468.)] [Footnote 22: Some further account of the Orange Free State will be found in Chapter XIX.] CHAPTER XII THE EUROPEANS IN SOUTH AFRICA, 1854-95 Between the years 1852 and 1856 the history of Anglo-Dutch South Africa breaks up into four distinct streams. The Transvaal and South African Republic pursues its own course from 1852 onward, the Orange Free State from 1854, and Natal from 1856, in which year that district was separated from the Cape and constituted as a distinct colony. Between 1876 and 1880 the South African Republic and Natal are again brought into close relations with the march of events in Cape Colony. But before we trace the three last mentioned streams in their several courses it is well to return to the Cape, by far the largest and most populous of the four communities, and sketch in outline the chief events that mark the development of that Colony down to the memorable epoch of 1877-81. These events group themselves into three divisions--the material progress of Cape Colony, the changes in the form of its government, and those wars with the Kafir tribes which, while they retarded its growth in population, steadily increased its area. The departure of some eight or ten thousand Boers, the most discontented part of the population, in the years following 1835, not only removed an element which, excellent in other respects, was politically at once unrestful and old-fashioned, but left plenty of vacant space to be occupied by new immigrants from Europe. New immigrants, however, came slowly, because at that time the tide of British emigration was setting mainly to America, while German emigration had hardly begun. The Kafir wars had, moreover, given South Africa a bad name, and the settlers of 1820 (see above, p. 111) had suffered several years of hardship before prosperity came to them. However, between 1845 and 1850 four or five thousand British immigrants were brought in, with the aid of the government, and a little later a number of Germans who had served England in the German Legion during the Crimean War. Again, in 1858, more than two thousand German peasants were settled on the south coast in lands which had been previously held by Kafirs. These people made good colonists, and have now become merged in the British population, which began to predominate in the eastern province as the Dutch still does in the western. As the country filled there was a steady, though slow, progress in farming and in export trade. The merino sheep had been introduced in 1812 and 1820, and its wool had now become a source of wealth; so, too, had ostrich farming, which began about 1865 and developed rapidly after the introduction of artificial incubation in 1869. The finances, which had been in disorder, were set right, roads began to be made, churches and schools were established, and though the Kafir raids caused much loss of life and of cattle on the eastern border, the cost of these native wars, being chiefly borne by the home government, did not burden the colonial revenue. In 1859 the first railway was constructed, and by 1883 more than one thousand miles of railway were open for traffic. There were, however, no industries except stock-keeping and tillage until 1869-70, when the discovery of diamonds (of which more anon) brought a sudden rush of immigrants from Europe, stimulated trade so powerfully that the revenue of the Colony doubled within five years, and began that surprising development of mineral resources which has been the most striking feature of recent years. With the growth of population, which had risen under British rule from about 26,000 Europeans in 1805 to 182,000 in 1865 and 237,000 in 1875, there came also changes in the form of government. At first the Governor was an autocrat, except so far as he was controlled by the fear that the colonists might appeal to the Colonial Office in London against him: and the administration was therefore wise or foolish, liberal or severe, according to the qualities of the individual Governor. Some serious mistakes were committed, and one Governor, Lord Charles Somerset, has left the reputation of arbitrary rule; but the officials sent out seem, on the whole, to have pursued a more judicious policy and shown more respect to local opinion than the representatives of the Dutch East India Company had (with one or two brilliant exceptions) done in the previous century. The blunders which preceded the Great Trek of 1836 were attributable rather to the home government than to its agents on the spot, and in the years that followed colonial feeling complained more often of Downing-street than it did of Government House at Cape Town. The irritation which from time to time broke out sprang chiefly from questions connected with the natives. Like all Europeans dwelling among inferior races, the mass of the colonists, English as well as Dutch, looked upon the native population as existing for their benefit, and resented the efforts which the home government made to secure for the blacks equal civil rights and adequate protection. Their wrath was specially kindled by the vehemence with which a few among the missionaries denounced any wrongs deemed to have been suffered by the natives within the Colony, and argued the case of the Kafir tribes who were from time to time in revolt. I do not attempt to apportion the blame in these disputes; but any one who has watched the relations of superior and inferior races in America or India or the Pacific islands will think it probable that many harsh and unjust things were done by the colonists, as every one who knows how zeal tends to mislead the judgment of well-intentioned men will think it no less probable that there was some exaggeration on the part of the philanthropic friends of the blacks, and that some groundless charges were brought against the colonists. The missionaries, especially those of the London Society, had a certain influence with the Colonial Office, and were supposed to have much more than they had. Thus from 1820 to about 1860 there was a perpetual struggle between the colonists and the missionaries, in which struggle the Governor tended to side with the colonists, whose public opinion he felt round him, while the Colonial Office leaned to the philanthropists, who could bring political pressure to bear through the House of Commons. Unfortunate as these bickerings were, they had at least the result of tending to unite the Dutch and English elements in the population, for on native questions there was little difference of attitude between those elements. In 1834 a Legislative Council was created, consisting, however, of officials and of members nominated by the Governor, and not, as the colonists had petitioned, chosen by election. Twenty years later, when the population had greatly increased and the demand for representative institutions could no longer be resisted, a regular two-chambered legislature was set up, consisting of a Legislative Council and a House of Assembly, both elected on a wide franchise, with no distinction of race or colour, though of course the coloured voters were comparatively few, because the tribal Kafirs living under their chiefs were excluded, while of other blacks there was only a small proportion who held property even to the limited extent required for the suffrage. This legislature met for the first time in 1854. Four years previously an event had occurred which showed how desirable it was that constitutional means should be provided for the expression of the people's wishes. The home government had sent out a vessel carrying a number of convicts to be landed and kept in the Colony, where no convicts had been seen since the days of the Dutch Company. A strong and unanimous feeling arose at once against this scheme, which was regarded as likely to prove even more harmful in South Africa than it had proved in Australia, because there was at the Cape a large native population, among whom the escaped or released convict, possessing the knowledge and capacity of a white man, but unrestrained by any responsibility or sense of a character to lose, would be able to work untold mischief. The inhabitants of Cape Town and its neighbourhood held meetings of protest, sent remonstrances to England, and mutually pledged themselves to supply no food to the convict ship. This pledge they carried out, and during the five months that the convict ship lay in Simon's Bay, it was from the naval squadron there that she had to receive provisions. The Colonial Office at last yielded; and the people, while rejoiced at the success they had achieved, and at the heartiness with which Dutch and English had co-operated for a common object, were more than ever disposed to desire some control over their own affairs. Although after 1854 the sole power of legislation was vested in the colonial Parliament, subject to the right of the British crown to disallow an act,--a right which is of course very rarely used,--the executive power still remained with the Governor and his council, who were appointed by the home government, and not responsible to the Cape legislature. It has, however, become a settled principle of British colonial policy to grant to each and every colony not only legislative power, but responsible executive government so soon as the white population of the Colony has become relatively large enough and settled enough to enable that kind of constitution to be properly worked. In 1872 the whites of Cape Colony had come to exceed 200,000, and the need for a change had been emphasized shortly before by a conflict of opinion between the Governor and the legislature as to the best means of setting right the finances of the Colony. Parliament having been dissolved, the new houses declared for responsible government, and the home government wisely assented to their wish. Accordingly, the "cabinet system" of Britain was established, the Governor's executive council being turned into a ministry responsible to the legislature, and the Governor himself becoming a sort of local constitutional sovereign on the model of the British crown, that is to say a sovereign who reigns but does not govern, the executive acts done in his name being done by the advice and on the responsibility of the ministry, who hold office at the pleasure of the legislature. Thus from 1872 onward the Colony has enjoyed complete self-government, and has prospered under it despite the antagonism which has frequently shown itself between the eastern and western provinces, an antagonism due partly to economic causes, partly to the predominance of the English element in the former and of the Dutch in the latter region. The working of the cabinet system has been even smoother than in most of the other British colonies; but while setting this to the credit of the good sense and moderation of the people, it must also be noted that the most exciting crises which have arisen in South Africa have lain outside the scope of the colonial ministry and legislature, being matters which have touched the two Dutch republics or the relations of British territories to foreign Powers. These matters, being international, belong to the British crown, and to its local representative, the Governor, in his capacity of High Commissioner for South Africa; and in that capacity he is not required to consult the Cape ministry and legislature, but acts under the directions of the Colonial Office in London. The grant of cabinet government tended to stimulate political life among the Dutch farmers, hitherto the more backward part of the population, and in 1882 their wishes secured a reversal of the ordinance made sixty years before for the exclusive use of English in official documents and legal proceedings. Dutch was now placed on a level with English as an official language in Parliament and the law courts. But this assertion of Dutch sentiment was due to causes which will be better understood when we come to the events of 1880 and 1881. Most of the peaceful growth which has been described would have been more rapid but for the frequent vexation of native wars. Twice under the rule of the Dutch Company and seven times under the British crown have there been sanguinary conflicts with the fierce Kafir tribes of the Kosa group, who dwell in the east of the Colony. On the north there had been only Hottentots, a weak nomad race, who soon vanished under the attacks of smallpox and the pressure of the whites. On the north-east the deserts of the Karroo lay between the colonists and the Kafirs who inhabited the plains of the Upper Orange and Vaal rivers. But on the east the country was comparatively well watered, and supported a large Kafir population full of courage and fighting spirit. Collisions between them and the whites were inevitable. The country they occupied was mostly rugged, and covered with a dense low wood, or rather scrub, traversed by narrow and winding tracks, which were of course familiar to them, and difficult for white troops. They had always the advantage in point of numbers, and though they were usually beaten and compelled to sue for peace, the obvious anxiety of the colonial government to conclude a peace emboldened them to fresh outbreaks. To civilized men, who know the enormous superiority of discipline and of firearms, it seems strange that these natives, who in the earlier wars had no firearms, should have so often renewed what we can see was a hopeless struggle. But it must be remembered that the natives, who saw only small white forces brought against them, and knew that the whole number of whites in the Colony was small, have never realized, and do not realize even to-day, the enormous reserve of the white population in Europe. Their minds cannot take in large numbers, cannot look far forward, cannot grasp large issues, and are swayed by sudden gusts of feeling which overcome all calculation of results. Accordingly, the Kafirs returned over and over again to the contest, while the colonial government, not wishing to extend its frontiers, and hating the expense of this unprofitable strife, never grappled with the problem in a large way, but tried on each occasion to do just enough to restore order for the time being. It would probably have been better to have spent once for all a large sum in a thorough conquest of the Kosas, planting strong forts here and there through their country, and organizing a regular gendarmerie. But until the annexation of Natal in 1843 placed British power on the other side of these turbulent tribes, the process of conquest might well seem interminable, for it was plain that as soon as one clan had been brought to submission troubles would break out with the next that lay beyond it, and fresh wars have to be undertaken to reduce each of these in its turn. Some allowance must therefore be made for the tendency of the government to take short views and do no more than was needed for the moment, especially as nearly every new war brought upon the Governor for the time being the displeasure of the Colonial Office, and brought upon the Colonial Office the censure of economists and philanthropists at home. The theatre of these wars was the country along the south coast between Algoa Bay and the Kei River, and an important step forward was made when, after the wars of 1846-47 and 1851-53, the province of British Kaffraria, extending to the Kei River, was created, placed under imperial officials, and garrisoned by British regiments. Four years afterwards, in 1857, the Kafirs of this province, at the bidding of their chiefs, prompted by a wizard who professed to have received messages from the world of spirits, destroyed their cattle and their stores of grain, in the belief that the dead ancestors of the tribe would reappear and join them in driving out the white men, while herds of cattle would issue from the ground and crops would suddenly spring up and cover the soil. Many of the clans were already on the verge of famine when the promised day arrived, and when it had passed starvation began, and within a few months, despite the efforts of the colonial authorities to supply food, some 30,000 Kafirs perished of hunger or disease. This frightful catastrophe, which carried many thousands westward into Cape Colony in search of work, and left large tracts vacant, led to the establishment in those tracts of white settlers, and ultimately, in 1865, to the union of British Kaffraria with the Colony. It also so much weakened the Kosas that for the unprecedentedly long period of twenty years there was no Kafir war. In 1877 and 1880 some risings occurred which were suppressed with no great difficulty; and in 1894 the boundaries of the Colony, which had been advancing by a series of small annexations, were finally rounded off on the eastern side by the addition of the territory of the Pondos, which made it conterminous in that direction with the Colony of Natal. To complete the chronicle of native wars, we ought now to turn to Natal, on whose borders there arose, in 1879, a conflict with the greatest native power--that of the Zulus--which the British had yet encountered. Before that year, however, a momentous change in British colonial policy had occurred, and I must go a little way back to describe the events which gave rise to it. The reader will recollect that in 1852 and 1854 Britain had abjured all purpose of extending the boundaries of her dominion towards the interior by recognizing the independence of the two Dutch republics, which date their legal rise from the two conventions concluded in those years. She had done so quite honestly, desiring to avoid the expense and responsibility which further advances must entail, and with the wish of leaving the two new republics to work out their own salvation in their own way. For some years nothing occurred to create fresh difficulties. But in 1858 a war broke out between the Orange Free State and the Basuto chief Moshesh, who claimed land which the Free State farmers had occupied. The Free State commandos attacked him, and had penetrated Basutoland as far as the stronghold of Thaba Bosiyo, when they were obliged to return to protect their own farms from the roving bands of horsemen which Moshesh had skilfully detached to operate in their rear. Being hard pressed they appealed to the Governor of Cape Colony to mediate between them and Moshesh. Moshesh agreed, and a new frontier was settled by the Governor. However, in 1865 fresh troubles broke out, and there was again war between Moshesh and the Free State. The Governor of Cape Colony was again invoked, but his decision was not respected by the Basutos, whom Moshesh could not always control,--for they are much less submissive to their chiefs than are the Zulus,--and hostilities having recommenced after a brief interval of peace, the Free State made a supreme effort, and in 1868 was on the point of destroying the Basuto power, though it had never been able to capture Thaba Bosiyo, when Moshesh appealed to the High Commissioner to extend British protection to his people. Unwilling to see Basutoland annexed by the Free State, and fearing injury to the Colony from the dispersion of Basuto fugitives through it, the High Commissioner consented, and declared the Basutos British subjects. The Free State was suffered to retain a large tract of fertile land along the north bank of the Caledon River, which it had conquered; but it was mortified by seeing British authority established to the south of it, all the way from Natal to the borders of Cape Colony, and by the final extinction of the hopes which it had cherished of extending its territories to the sea and acquiring a harbour at the mouth of the St. John's River. These events, which befell in 1869, mark the recommencement of British advance toward the interior. Still more momentous was another occurrence which belongs to the same year. In 1869 and 1870 a sudden rush began from all parts of South Africa to a small district between the Modder and the Vaal rivers (where the town of Kimberley now stands), in which diamonds had been discovered. Within a few months thousands of diggers from Europe and America, as well as from the surrounding countries, were at work here, and the region, hitherto neglected, became a prize of inestimable value. A question at once arose as to its ownership. The Orange Free State claimed it, but it was also claimed by a Griqua (half-breed) captain, named Nicholas Waterboer, son of old Andries Waterboer, and by a native Batlapin chief, while parts were claimed by the Transvaal Republic. The claims of the last-named state were disposed of by the decision of the Governor of Natal, who had been recognized as arbitrator by the Griquas, the Batlapin, and the President of the Republic. He awarded the tract in dispute to Waterboer, including in his award the part claimed by the Free State, which had refused arbitration so far as regarded the district lying south of the Vaal, holding that district to have been indubitably part of the old Orange River sovereignty, which was in 1854 turned into the Orange Free State. As Waterboer had before the award offered his territory to the British government, the country was forthwith erected into a Crown Colony under the name of Griqualand West. This was in 1871. The Free State, whose case had not been stated, much less argued, before the umpire, protested, and was after a time able to appeal to a judgment delivered by a British court, which found that Waterboer had never enjoyed any right to the territory. However, the new Colony had by this time been set up and the British flag displayed. The British government, without either admitting or denying the Free State title, declared that a district in which it was difficult to keep order amid a turbulent and shifting population ought to be under the control of a strong power, and offered the Free State a sum of ninety thousand pounds in settlement of whatever claim it might possess. The acceptance by the Free State in 1876 of this sum closed the controversy, though a sense of injustice continued to rankle in the breasts of some of the citizens of the Republic. Amicable relations have subsisted ever since between it and Cape Colony, and the control of the British government over the Basutos has secured for it peace in the quarter which was formerly most disturbed. These two cases show how various are the causes and how mixed the motives which press a great power forward even against the wishes of its statesmen. The Basutos were declared British subjects partly out of a sympathetic wish to rescue and protect them, partly because policy required the acquisition of a country naturally strong and holding an important strategical position. Griqualand West, taken in the belief that Waterboer had a good title to it, was retained after this belief had been dispelled, partly perhaps because a population had crowded into it which consisted mainly of British subjects, and was not easily controllable by a small state, but mainly because colonial feeling refused to part with a region of such exceptional mineral wealth. And the retention of Griqualand West caused, before long, the acquisition of Bechuanaland, which in its turn naturally led to that northward extension of British influence which has carried the Union Jack to the shores of Lake Tanganyika. The wish to restrict responsibility, which had been so strong twenty years before, had now died out of the British public at home, and had grown feebler even in the minds of the statesmen whose business it was to find the money needed for these increasing charges on the imperial treasury; while the philanthropic interest in the native races, stimulated by the discoveries of Livingstone, now took the form not of proposing to leave them to themselves, but of desiring to protect them against the adventurers, whether of Boer or of English blood, whom it was found impossible to prevent from pressing forward into the wilderness. It is remarkable that the change, as yet only an incipient change, in the public opinion of the English people, who now began to feel the desire not merely to retain but to expand their colonial dominion, should have become apparent just at the time when there occurred that discovery of diamonds which showed that this hitherto least progressive of the larger Colonies possessed unsuspected stores of wealth. The discovery brought a new stream of enterprising and ambitious men into the country, and fixed the attention of the world upon it. It was a turning point in South African history. That change in the views of the British Government on which I have been commenting found at this moment a fresh expression in another quarter. In 1869 the Portuguese Government concluded a commercial treaty with the South African Republic, under which it seemed probable that a considerable trade might spring up between the Portuguese coast of the Indian Ocean and the interior. This called attention to the port of Lourenço Marques, on the shore of Delagoa Bay, the best haven upon that coast. Great Britain claimed it under a cession which had been obtained from a native chief of the country by a British naval exploring expedition in 1822. Portugal, however, resisted the claim. In 1872 it was referred to the arbitration of Marshal MacMahon, then President of the French Republic, and in 1875 he awarded the territory in dispute to Portugal. Both cases were weak, and it is not easy to say which was the weaker, for, although the Portuguese had undoubtedly been first on the ground, their occupation, often disturbed by the native tribes, had been extremely precarious. The decision was a serious blow to British hopes, and has become increasingly serious with the further development of the country. Yet it was mitigated by a provision contained in the agreement for arbitration that the Power against whom the decision might go should have thereafter from the successful Power a right of preëmption as against any other state desiring to purchase the territory.[23] This provision is momentous as giving Britain the right to prevent not only the South African Republic, but any European power, from acquiring a point of the utmost importance both commercial and strategical. Rumours have often been circulated that Britain would gladly acquire by purchase the harbour of Delagoa Bay, but the sensitive patriotism of the Portuguese people is at present so strongly opposed to any sale of territory that no Portuguese ministry is likely to propose it.[24] At the very time when the attempt to acquire Delagoa Bay revealed the new purposes which had begun to animate Great Britain, another scheme was suggested to the Colonial Office by the success which had lately attended its efforts in Canada. In 1867 the passing of the British North America Act drew the theretofore isolated provinces of the Dominion into a confederation, relieving the home government of some grave responsibilities, and giving to the whole country the advantages of common administration and legislation in matters of common concern. Lord Carnarvon, then colonial secretary, threw himself into the idea of similarly uniting the different Colonies and States of South Africa. It had been advocated by Sir George Grey, when Governor in 1858, and had even received the support of the Orange Free State, whose Volksraad passed a resolution favouring it in that year. Many considerations of practical convenience suggested this scheme, chief among them the desirability of having both a uniform policy in native affairs (the absence of which had recently caused trouble) and a common commercial policy and tariff system. Accordingly, in 1875 Lord Carnarvon addressed a despatch to the Governor of Cape Colony, recommending such a scheme as fit to be adopted by that Colony, which three years before had received responsible government, and Mr. J.A. Froude was sent out to press it upon the people. The choice did not prove a fortunate one, but even a more skilful emissary would probably have failed, for the moment was inopportune. The Cape people were not ready for so large and far-reaching a proposal. The Orange Free State was exasperated at the loss of Griqualand West. The Transvaal people, though, as we shall see presently, their republic was in sore straits, were averse to anything that could affect their independence. However, Sir Bartle Frere, the next Governor of the Cape, who went out in 1877, entered heartily into Lord Carnarvon's plan, which continued to be pressed till 1880, when it was rejected by the Cape Parliament, largely at the instance of envoys from the Transvaal Boers, who urged the Cape Dutch not to accept it until the Transvaal (which, as shall be presently set forth, had been annexed in 1877) should have regained its independence. This failure of the proposals of the home government seriously damaged the prospects of future federation schemes, and is only one of several instances in South African history that show how much harm impatience may do, even when the object is itself laudable. The next step in the forward march of British rule took place far to the south-west, on the borders of Natal. That territory had, in 1856, become a separate Colony, distinct from the Cape, and with a legislative council three-fourths of whose members were elective. It had still a relatively small white population, for many of the Boer immigrants had quitted it between 1843 and 1848, and though a body of English settlers arrived soon after the latter year, there were in 1878 only some 25,000 white residents, while the natives numbered fully 300,000. The Zulu kingdom, which adjoined it on the east, had passed (in 1872) from the sluggish Panda to his more energetic son Cetewayo (pronounced "Ketshwayo"), whose ambitious spirit had revived the military organization and traditions of his uncle Tshaka. Cetewayo had been installed as king by a British official, and had lived ever since at peace with the Colony; but the powerful army which he possessed roused disquiet among the Natalians, and alarmed the then Governor of the Cape and High Commissioner for South Africa, Sir Bartle Frere. Differences had arisen between him and Cetewayo, and when the latter refused to submit to the demands which the High Commissioner addressed to him, including a requirement that he should disband his regiments and receive a British resident, war was declared against him. This act was justified at the time on the ground that the Zulu military power constituted a standing menace to Natal and to South Africa in general, and that the vast majority of the natives living in Natal itself might join the Zulu king were he to invade the colony. Whether this risk was sufficiently imminent to warrant such a step was then, and has been since, warmly debated in England. Most of those who have given impartial study to the subject, and have studied also the character and earlier career of the High Commissioner, are disposed to think that war might have been and ought to have been avoided, and that Sir Bartle Frere, in declaring it, committed a grave error; but it is right to add that there are persons in South Africa who still defend his action. The invasion of Zululand which followed began with a disaster--the surprise at Isandhlwana (January, 1879) of a British force, which was almost annihilated by a vastly superior native army. Ultimately, however, Cetewayo was defeated and made prisoner. Zululand was divided among thirteen petty chiefs under a British resident, and subsequently, in 1887, annexed to the British crown as a dependency, to be administered by the Governor of Natal. Except for some disturbances in 1888, its people have since remained peaceful, prosperous, and to all appearance contented. It has now (1897) been decided to annex Zululand to Natal. We may now return to follow the fortunes of the emigrant Boers of the far north-eastern interior whose republic, recognized by the Imperial Government in 1852, was at length, after twenty-five years, to be brought into a closer connection than ever with the British Colonies by events which are still fresh in men's memories, and which are exerting a potent influence on the politics of our own time. The scale of these events was small, but the circumstances are full of instruction, and many years may yet elapse before their consequences have been fully worked out. The Dutch farmers who had settled beyond the Vaal River were more rude and uneducated than those of the Free State, had no admixture of English blood, and remained unaffected by intercourse with the more civilized people of Cape Colony. Their love of independence was accompanied by a tendency to discord. Their warlike spirit had produced a readiness to take up arms on slight occasions, and had degenerated into a fondness for predatory expeditions. They were, moreover, always desirous of enlarging the area of their stock farms by the annexation of fresh territory to the north and west, and thus were constantly brought into collision with the native occupants of the country. Scattered thinly over a wide area of pasture land, they were practically exempt from the control of law courts or magistrates, while at the same time the smallness of their numbers, and the family ties which linked them into jealous and mutually distrustful groups, gave rise to personal rivalries among the leaders and bitter feuds among the adherents of each faction, resembling those which used to distract a city republic in ancient Greece or medieval Italy. The absence of any effective government had attracted many adventurers from various parts of South Africa, who wandered as traders or hunters through the wilder parts of the country and along its borders, men often violent and reckless, who ill-treated the natives, and constituted not only a public scandal, but, by the provocations which they gave to the Kafir chiefs, a danger to the peace of the adjoining British territories, as well as to that of the Transvaal itself. From their first settlement beyond the Vaal in the years immediately following the Great Trek of 1836, the farmers, though considering themselves to form one people, had been grouped in several small communities. In 1852 there were four such, those of Potchefstroom, Utrecht, Lydenburg, and Zoutpansberg, each having its Volksraad (people's council) and president or executive head, while a sort of loosely federative tie linked them together for the purposes, not of internal administration, but of defence against common foes. In 1857 the Potchefstroom people tried to conquer the Orange Free State, then in the third year of its life, but desisted on finding that the infant Republic was prepared to defend itself. A single Volksraad for all the communities beyond the Vaal had been chosen as far back as 1849; but respect for authority grew very slowly, and for a time it could not be said to represent more than a party. In 1852, however, it ratified the Sand River Convention, and in 1855 it appointed a commission to draft a complete body of law. Finally, in 1858, an instrument called the "Grondwet," or Fundamental Law, was drawn up by a body of delegates named (by a "Krygsraad," or War Council) for that purpose. This instrument was revised and adopted by the Volksraad, and presently received the adhesion of two of the semi-independent communities, those of Potchestroom and Zoutpansberg, and in 1860 also of those at Lydenburg and Utrecht, which had by that time united. It has been since several times modified, and the question whether it is to be deemed a truly rigid constitution, like that of the United States or that of the Swiss Confederation, has given rise to much controversy.[25] A civil war broke out in 1862, and the country can hardly be said to have reached one united government till 1864, when the then president, Mr. M. W. Pretorius (son of the old antagonist of the English), was recognized by all the communities and factions as their executive head. Even in 1864 the white population of the South African Republic was very small, probably not more than 30,000 all told, giving an average of less than one person to three square miles. There were, however, hundreds of thousands of natives, a few of whom were living as servants, under a system of enforced labour which was sometimes hardly distinguishable from slavery, while the vast majority were ruled by their own chiefs, some as tributaries of the Republic, some practically independent of it. With the latter wars were frequently raging--wars in which shocking cruelties were perpetrated on both sides, the Kafirs massacring the white families whom they surprised, the Boer commandos taking a savage vengeance upon the tribes when they captured a kraal or mountain stronghold. It was the sight of these wars which drove Dr. Livingstone to begin his famous explorations to the north. The farmers were too few to reduce the natives to submission, though always able to defeat them in the field, and while they relished an expedition, they had an invincible dislike to any protracted operations which cost money. Taxes they would not pay. They lived in a sort of rude plenty among their sheep and cattle, but they had hardly any coined money, conducting their transactions by barter, and they were too rude to value the benefits which government secures to a civilized people. Accordingly the treasury remained almost empty, the paper money which was issued fell till in 1870 it was worth only one-fourth of its face value, no public improvements were made, no proper administration existed, and every man did what was right in his own eyes. In 1872 Mr. M. W. Pretorius was obliged to resign the presidency, owing to the unpopularity he had incurred by accepting the arbitration mentioned above (p. 144), which declared the piece of territory where diamonds had been found not to belong to the Republic, and which the Volksraad thereupon repudiated. His successor was Mr. Burgers, a Cape Dutchman who had formerly been a clergyman of the Dutch Reformed Church and afterwards an advocate at the Cape, a man of energy, integrity, and eloquence, but deficient in practical judgment, and who soon became distrusted on account of his theological opinions. It used to be jestingly said that the Boers disliked him because he denied that the devil possessed that tail which is shown in the pictures that adorn the old Dutch Bibles; but his deviations from orthodoxy went much further than this, and were deemed by the people to be the cause of the misfortunes they experienced under his guidance. He formed large plans for the development of the country and the extension of Boer power over South Africa, plans which his citizens were unable to appreciate and the resources at his disposal were quite unfit to accomplish. Disorganization, aggravated by intestine faction, grew worse and worse. The State was practically bankrupt; trade had ceased, money could not be raised. In 1876, in a war which had broken out with Sikukuni, a Kafir chief who lived in the mountains of the north-east, the Boers were repulsed, and ultimately returned in confusion to their homes. On the south, Cetewayo, then in the zenith of his power, was unfriendly, and seemed likely to pour in his Zulu hordes. The weakness and disorders of the Republic had become a danger not only to the British subjects who had begun to settle in it, especially at the Lydenburg gold mines, but also to the neighbouring British territories, and especially to Natal; so a British commissioner was sent to examine into the condition of the country, with secret instructions empowering him to proclaim, if he should deem it necessary, and if he was satisfied that the majority of the inhabitants would approve, its annexation to the British crown. After three months' inquiry the commissioner, Sir Theophilus Shepstone, exercised this power upon April 12, 1877, and his act was approved by the High Commissioner at the Cape and by the Colonial Secretary in England. President Burgers had endeavoured to rouse his people by pointing out that only through reforms could they preserve their independence. They agreed to the reforms, but would not help him to carry them out, and obstinately refused to pay taxes. He was helpless, for while the more rigidly Calvinistic section of the population supported Paul Kruger, his opponent in the approaching presidential election, others (especially the English who had settled in the spots where a little gold had been found) favoured annexation to Great Britain, and most of the Boers had been repelled by his unorthodox opinions. Accordingly, after entering a protest against the annexation, he returned to Cape Colony, and received a pension, his private means having been entirely spent in the service of his country.[26] The Vice-President (Mr. Kruger) and the executive council of the Republic also protested, and sent delegates to London to remonstrate. By the mass of the Boer people--for the few English, of course, approved--little displeasure was shown and no resistance made. Had a popular vote been taken it would doubtless have been adverse to annexation, for a memorial circulated shortly afterwards, praying for a reversal of Sir T. Shepstone's act, received the signatures of a large majority of the Boer citizens.[27] But while they regretted their independence, they had been so much depressed by their disasters, and were so much relieved to know that the strong arm of Britain would now repel any Kafir invasion, as to take the change more quietly than any one who remembered their earlier history would have expected. On the English public, which knew little and cared less about South African affairs, the news that their empire had been extended by a territory nearly as large as the United Kingdom, though it came as a complete surprise, produced little impression. They were then excited over the outbreak of the war between Russia and the Turks, and absorbed in the keen party struggles which Lord Beaconsfield's apparent desire to help the Turks had caused in England, so that scant attention was given to a distant colonial question. A motion condemning the annexation which was brought forward in the House of Commons received no support. Nearly all of those few persons who cared about South Africa had been alienated from the Boers by their treatment of the natives. Scarcely any one foresaw the long series of troubles, not yet ended, to which the annexation was destined to give rise. Neither did it arouse any serious opposition in Cape Colony, though the Dutch element there regarded with misgivings the withdrawal of independence from their emigrant kinsfolk. To those who now look back at the act, in the light of the events which followed, it seems a high-handed proceeding to extinguish a Republic which had been formally recognized twenty-five years before, and to do this without giving the people an opportunity of declaring their wishes. Yet the act was not done in a spirit of rapacity. Neither the British government nor the British people had the least idea of the wealth that lay hidden beneath the barren and desolate ridges of the Witwatersrand. No one in England talked (though the notion had crossed a few ambitious minds) of pushing British dominion up to the Zambesi. The Transvaal Republic was bankrupt and helpless, distracted by internal quarrels, unable to collect any taxes, apparently unable to defend itself against its Kafir enemies, and likely to be the cause of native troubles which might probably spread till they affected all Europeans in South Africa. There was some reason to believe that the citizens, though they had not been consulted, would soon acquiesce in the change, especially when they found, as they soon did find, that the value of property rose with the prospect of security and of the carrying out of internal improvements by a strong and wealthy power. Such was certainly the belief of Sir T. Shepstone and of Lord Carnarvon, and it seemed to be confirmed by the apparent tranquillity which the Boers exhibited. So, indeed, they might have acquiesced notwithstanding their strenuous love of independence, had they been wisely dealt with. But the British government proceeded forthwith to commit three capital blunders. The first of these, and the least excusable, was the failure to grant that local autonomy which Sir T. Shepstone had announced when he proclaimed annexation. The Volksraad which the people were promised was never convoked; the constitution under which they were to enjoy self-government was never promulgated. There was no intention to break these promises, but merely a delay, culpable, indeed, but due to ignorance of the popular Boer sentiment, and to the desire of the Colonial Office to carry out its pet scheme of South African confederation before conceding to the Transvaal such a representative assembly as would have had the power to reject, on behalf of the people, the scheme when tendered to them. Nor were matters mended when at last a legislature was granted, to consist of some officials, and of six members nominated by the Governor, for this made the people fear that a genuine freely elected Volksraad would never be conceded at all. The second blunder was the selection of the person who was to administer the country. Sir T. Shepstone, who knew it well and was liked by the Boers, was replaced by a military officer who had shown vigour in dealing with local disturbances in Griqualand West, but was totally unfit for delicate political work. As representative government had not yet been introduced, his administration was necessarily autocratic in form, and became autocratic in spirit also. He was described to me by some who knew him as stiff in mind and arrogant in temper, incapable of making allowances for the homely manners of the Boers and of adapting himself to the social equality which prevailed among them. A trifling cause aggravated their dislike. His complexion was swarthy, and they suspected that this might be due to some tinge of negro blood. He refused to listen to their complaints, levied taxes strictly, causing even the beloved ox-waggon to be seized when money was not forthcoming, and soon turned their smouldering discontent into active disaffection. Finally, the British government removed the two native dangers which the Boers had feared. In 1879 Sir Bartle Frere's war with Cetewayo destroyed the Zulu power, the dread of which might have induced the Boers to resign themselves to British supremacy, and an expedition under Sir Garnet Wolseley reduced Sikukuni's strongholds and established peace in the north-east. It was probably necessary to deal with Sikukuni, though the British government seems to have forgotten its former doubts as to the right of the Boers to the territory of that chief; but in extinguishing the Zulu kingdom the High Commissioner overlooked the fact that he was also extinguishing the strongest motive which the republicans had for remaining British subjects. The British government were doubly unfortunate. It was the annexation of the Transvaal in 1877 that had alarmed Cetewayo and helped to precipitate the war of 1879. It was now the overthrow of Cetewayo, their formidable enemy, that helped to precipitate a revolt of the Boers. At this time, however, everybody in British South Africa, and nearly everybody in England, supposed the annexation to be irrevocable. Leading members of the parliamentary Opposition had condemned it. But when that Opposition, victorious in the general election of 1880, took office in April of that year, the officials in South Africa, whose guidance they sought, made light of Boer discontent, and declared that it would be impossible now to undo what had been done in 1877. Thus misled, the new Cabinet refused to reverse the annexation, saying by the mouth of the Under Secretary for the Colonies, "_Fieri non debuit, factum valet_." This decision of the British government, which came as a surprise upon the recalcitrant republicans in the Transvaal, precipitated an outbreak. In December, 1880, a mass-meeting of the Boers was held at a place called Paardekraal (now Krugersdorp). It was resolved to rise in arms; and a triumvirate was elected, consisting of Messrs. M.W. Pretorius, Kruger and Joubert, which proclaimed the re-establishment of the South African Republic, and hoisted the national flag on Dingaan's day, December 16.[28] The Boers, nearly every man of whom was accustomed to fighting, now rose _en masse_ and attacked the small detachments of British troops scattered through the country, some of which were cut off, while the rest were obliged to retire to posts which they fortified. The Governor of Natal, General Sir George Colley, raised what troops he could in that Colony, and marched northward; but before he could reach the Transvaal border a strong force of Boers, commanded by Commandant-General Joubert, crossed it and took up a position at Laing's Nek, a steep ridge close to the watershed between the upper waters of the Klip River, a tributary of the Vaal, and those of the Buffalo River, which joins the Tugela and flows into the Indian Ocean. Here the British general, on January 28, 1881, attacked the Boers, but was repulsed with heavy loss, for the ridge behind which they were posted protected them from his artillery, while their accurate rifle fire cut down his column as it mounted the slope. A second engagement, eleven days later, on the Ingogo heights, caused severe loss to the British troops. Finally, on the night of February 26, General Colley, with a small detachment, seized by night Majuba Hill, a mountain which rises about 1500 feet above Laing's Nek, and completely commands that pass.[29] Unfortunately he omitted to direct the main force, which he had left behind at his camp, four miles south of the Nek, to advance against the Boers and occupy their attention; so the latter, finding no movement made against them in front, and receiving no artillery fire from Majuba Hill above them, checked the first impulse to retire, which the sight of British troops on the hilltop had produced, and sent out a volunteer party to scale the hill. Protected by the steep declivities from the fire of the soldiers above them, they made their way up, shooting down those whom they saw against the sky-line, and finally routed the British force, killing General Colley, with ninety-one others, and taking fifty-nine prisoners. By this time fresh troops were beginning to arrive in Natal, and before long the British general who had succeeded to the command had at his disposal a force which the Boers could not possibly have resisted. The home government, however, had ordered an armistice to be concluded (March 5), and on March 23 terms were agreed to by which the "Transvaal State" (as it was called) was again recognized as a quasi-independent political community, to enjoy complete self-government under the suzerainty of the British crown. These terms were developed in a more formal convention, signed at Pretoria in August, 1881, which recognized the Transvaal as autonomous, subject, however, to the suzerainty of the Queen, to British control in matters of foreign policy, to the obligation to allow British troops to pass through the Republic in time of war, and to guarantees for the protection of the natives.[30] The position in which the Transvaal thus found itself placed was a peculiar one, and something between that of a self-governing Colony and an absolutely independent State. The nearest legal parallel is to be found in the position of some of the great feudatories of the British crown in India, but the actual circumstances were of course too unlike those of India to make the parallel instructive. Few public acts of our time have been the subjects of more prolonged and acrimonious controversy than this reversal in 1881 of the annexation of 1877. The British government were at the time accused, both by the English element in the South African Colonies, and by their political opponents at home, of an ignominious surrender. They had, so it was urged, given way to rebellion. They had allowed three defeats to remain unavenged. They had weakly yielded to force what they had repeatedly and solemnly refused to peaceful petitions. They had disregarded the pledges given both to Englishmen and to natives in the Transvaal. They had done all this for a race of men who had been uniformly harsh and unjust to the Kafirs, who had brought their own Republic to bankruptcy and chaos by misgovernment, who were and would remain foes of the British empire, who were incapable of appreciating magnanimity, and would construe forbearance as cowardice. They had destroyed the prestige of British power in Africa among whites and blacks, and thereby sowed for themselves and their successors a crop of future difficulties. To these arguments it was replied that the annexation had been made, and the earlier refusals to reverse it pronounced, under a complete misapprehension as to the facts. The representatives of the Colonial Office in South Africa had reported, partly through insufficient knowledge, partly because their views were influenced by their feelings, that there was no such passion for independence among the Boers as events had shown to exist.[31] Once the true facts were known, did it not become not merely unjust to deprive the Transvaal people of the freedom they prized so highly, but also impolitic to retain by force those who would have been disaffected and troublesome subjects? A free nation which professes to be everywhere the friend of freedom is bound--so it was argued--to recognize the principles it maintains even when they work against itself; and if these considerations went to show that the retrocession of the Transvaal was a proper course, was it either wise or humane to prolong the war and crush the Boer resistance at the cost of much slaughter, merely in order to avenge defeats and vindicate a military superiority which the immensely greater forces of Britain made self-evident? A great country is strong enough to be magnanimous, and shows her greatness better by justice and lenity than by a sanguinary revenge. These moral arguments, which affect different minds differently, were reinforced by a strong ground of policy. The Boers of the Orange Free State had sympathised warmly with their kinsfolk in the Transvaal, and were with difficulty kept from crossing the border to join them. The President of the Free State, a sagacious man, anxious to secure peace, had made himself prominent as a mediator, but it was not certain that his citizens might not, even against his advice, join in the fighting. Among the Africander Dutch of Cape Colony and Natal the feeling for the Transvaal Boers was hardly less strong, and the accentuation of Dutch sentiment, caused by the events of 1880 and 1881, has ever since been a main factor in the politics of Cape Colony. The British government were advised from the Cape that the invasion of the Transvaal might probably light up a civil war through the two Colonies. The power of Great Britain would of course have prevailed, even against the whole Dutch-speaking population of South Africa; but it would have prevailed only after much bloodshed, and at the cost of an intense embitterment of feeling, which would have destroyed the prospects of the peace and welfare of the two Colonies for many years to come. The loss of the Transvaal seemed a slight evil in comparison. Whether such a race conflict would in fact have broken out all over South Africa is a question on which opinion is still divided, and about which men may dispute for ever. The British government, however, deemed the risk of it a real one, and by that view their action was mainly governed. After careful inquiries from those best qualified to judge, I am inclined to think that they were right. It must, however, be admitted that the event belied some of their hopes. They had expected that the Transvaal people would appreciate the generosity of the retrocession, as well as the humanity which was willing to forgo vengeance for the tarnished lustre of British arms. The Boers, however, saw neither generosity nor humanity in their conduct, but only fear. Jubilant over their victories, and (like the Kafirs in the South Coast wars) not realizing the overwhelming force which could have been brought against them, they fancied themselves entitled to add some measure of contempt to the dislike they already cherished to the English, and they have ever since shown themselves unpleasant neighbours. The English in South Africa, on their part, have continued to resent the concession of independence to the Transvaal, and especially the method in which it was conceded. Those who had recently settled in the Republic, relying on the declarations repeatedly made that it would for ever remain British, complained that no proper compensation was made to them, and that they had much to suffer from the Boers. Those who live in the two Colonies hold that the disgrace (as they term it) of Majuba Hill ought to have been wiped out by a march to Pretoria, and that the Boers should have been made to recognize that Britain is, and will remain, the paramount power in fact as well as in name. They feel aggrieved to this day that the terms of peace were settled at Laing's Nek, within the territory of Natal, while it was still held by the Boers. Even in Cape Colony, where the feeling is perhaps less strong than it is in Natal, the average Englishman has neither forgotten nor forgiven the events of 1881. I have dwelt fully upon these events because they are, next to the Great Trek of 1836, the most important in the internal history of South Africa, and those which have most materially affected the present political situation. The few years that followed may be more briefly dismissed. The Transvaal State emerged from its war of independence penniless and unorganized, but with a redoubled sense of Divine favour and a reinvigorated consciousness of national life. The old constitution was set to work; the Volksraad again met; Mr. Stephen John Paul Kruger, who had been the leading figure in the triumvirate, was chosen by the people to be President, and has subsequently been thrice re-elected to that office. Undismayed by the scantiness of his State resources, he formed bold and far-reaching plans of advance on the three sides which lay open to him. To the north a trek was projected, and some years later was nearly carried out, for the occupation of Mashonaland. To the south bands of Boer adventurers entered Zululand, the first of them as trekkers, the rest as auxiliaries to one of the native chiefs, who were at war with one another. These adventurers established a sort of republic in the northern districts, and would probably have seized the whole had not the British government at last interfered and confined them to a territory of nearly three thousand square miles, which was recognized in 1886 under the name of the New Republic, and which in 1888 merged itself in the Transvaal. To the west, other bands of Boer raiders entered Bechuanaland, seized land or obtained grants of land by the usual devices, required the chiefs to acknowledge their supremacy, and proceeded to establish two petty republics, one called Stellaland, round the village of Vryburg, north of Kimberley, and the other, farther north, called Goshen. These violent proceedings, which were not only injurious to the natives, but were obviously part of a plan to add Bechuanaland to the Transvaal territories, and close against the English the path to those northern regions in which Britain was already interested, roused the British Government. In the end of 1884 an expedition led by Sir Charles Warren entered Bechuanaland. The freebooters of the two Republics retired before it, and the districts they had occupied were erected into a Crown Colony under the name of British Bechuanaland. In 1895 this territory was annexed to Cape Colony. In order to prevent the Boers from playing the same game in the country still farther north, where their aggressions had so far back as 1876 led Khama, chief of the Bamangwato, to ask for British protection, a British protectorate was proclaimed (March, 1885) over the whole country as far as the borders of Matabililand; and a few years later, in 1888, a treaty was concluded with Lo Bengula, the Matabili king, whereby he undertook not to cede territory to, or make a treaty with, any foreign power without the consent of the British High Commissioner. The west was thus secured against the further advance of the Boers, while on the eastern shore the hoisting of the British flag at St. Lucia Bay in 1884 (a spot already ceded by Panda in 1843), followed by the conclusion (in 1887) of a treaty with the Tonga chiefs, by which they undertook not to make any treaty with any other power, announced the resolution of the British crown to hold the coast line up to the Portuguese territories. This policy of preventing the extension of Boer dominion over the natives was, however, accompanied by a willingness to oblige the Transvaal people in other ways. Though they had not observed the conditions of the Convention of 1881, the Boers had continued to importune the British government for an ampler measure of independence. In 1884 they succeeded in inducing Lord Derby, then Colonial Secretary, to agree to a new Convention, which thereafter defined the relations between the British crown and the South African Republic, a title now at last formally conceded. By this instrument (called the Convention of London),[32] whose articles were substituted for the articles of the Convention of 1881, the control of foreign policy stipulated for in the Pretoria Convention of 1881 was cut down to a provision that the Republic should "conclude no treaty with any State or nation other than the Orange Free State, nor with any native tribe to the eastward or westward of the Republic," without the approval of the Queen. The declarations of the two previous Conventions (of 1852 and 1881) against slavery were renewed, and there was a "most favoured nation" clause with provisions for the good treatment of strangers entering the Republic. Nothing was said as to the "suzerainty of her Majesty" mentioned in the Convention of 1881. The Boers have contended that this omission is equivalent to a renunciation, but to this it has been (among other things) replied that as that suzerainty was recognized not in the "articles" of the instrument of 1881, but in its introductory paragraph, it has not been renounced, and still subsists.[33] A few years later, the amity which this Convention was meant to secure was endangered by the plan formed by a body of Boer farmers and adventurers to carry out an idea previously formed by Mr. Kruger, and trek northward into the country beyond the Limpopo River, a country where the natives were feeble and disunited, raided on one side by the Matabili and on the other by Gungunhana. This trek would have brought the emigrants into collision with the English settlers who had shortly before entered Mashonaland. President Kruger, however, being pressed by the imperial government, undertook to check the movement, and so far succeeded that the waggons which crossed the Limpopo were but few and were easily turned back. Prevented from expanding to the north, the Boers were all the more eager to acquire Swaziland, a small but rich territory which lies to the east of their Republic, and is inhabited by a warlike Kafir race, numbering about 70,000, near of kin to the Zulus, but for many years hostile to them. Both the Boers and Cetewayo had formerly claimed supremacy over this region. The British government had never admitted the Boer claim, but when the head chief of the Swazis had, by a series of improvident concessions, granted away to adventurers, most of them Boers, nearly all the best land and minerals the country contained, it was found extremely difficult to continue the system of joint administration by the High Commissioner and the Transvaal government which had been provisionally established, and all the more difficult because by the concession to the New Republic (which had by this time become incorporated with the Transvaal) of the part of Zululand which adjoined Swaziland, direct communication between Natal and Swaziland had become difficult, especially in the malarious season. Accordingly, after long negotiations, an arrangement was concluded, in 1894, which placed the Swazi nation and territory under the control of the South African Republic, subject to full guarantees for the protection of the natives. A previous Convention (of 1890) had given the South African Republic certain rights of making a railway to the coast at Kosi Bay through the low and malarious region which lies between Swaziland and the sea, and the earlier negotiations had proceeded on the assumption that these rights were to be adjusted and renewed in the same instrument which was destined to settle the Swaziland question. The Boer government, however, ultimately declined to include such an adjustment in the new Convention, and as this new Convention superseded and extinguished the former one of 1890, those provisions for access to the sea necessarily lapsed. The British government promptly availed itself of the freedom its rivals had thus tendered to it, and with the consent of the three chiefs (of Tonga race) who rule in the region referred to, proclaimed a protectorate over the strip of land which lies between Swaziland and the sea, as far north as the frontiers of Portuguese territory. Thus the door has been finally closed on the schemes which the Boers have so often sought to carry out for the acquisition of a railway communication with the coast entirely under their own control. It was an object unfavourable to the interests of the paramount power, for it would not only have disturbed the commercial relations of the interior with the British coast ports, but would also have favoured the wish of the Boer government to establish political ties with other European powers. The accomplishment of that design was no doubt subjected by the London Convention of 1884 to the veto of Britain. But in diplomacy facts as well as treaties have their force, and a Power which has a seaport, and can fly a flag on the ocean, is in a very different position from one cut off by intervening territories from those whose support it is supposed to seek. Thus the establishment of the protectorate over these petty Tonga chiefs may be justly deemed one of the most important events in recent South African history. Down to 1884 Great Britain and Portugal had been the only European powers established in South Africa. For some time before that year there had been German mission stations in parts of the region which lies between the Orange River and the West African possessions of Portugal, and in 1883 a Bremen merchant named Lüderitz established a trading factory at the bay of Angra Pequeña, which lies on the Atlantic coast about one hundred and fifty miles north of the mouth of that river, and obtained from a neighbouring chief a cession of a piece of territory there, which the German government a few months later recognized as a German Colony. Five years earlier, in 1878, Walfish Bay, which lies farther north, and is the best haven (or rather roadstead) on the coast, had been annexed to Cape Colony; but though it was generally understood both in the Colony and in England, that the whole of the west coast up to the Portuguese boundary was in some vague way subject to British influence, nothing had been done to claim any distinct right, much less to perfect that right by occupation. The Colony had always declined or omitted to vote money for the purpose, and the home government had not cared to spend any. When the colonists knew that Germany was really establishing herself as their neighbour on the north, they were much annoyed; but it was now too late to resist, and in 1884, after a long correspondence, not creditable to the foresight or promptitude of the late Lord Derby, who was then Colonial Secretary, the protectorate of Germany was formally recognized, while in 1890 the boundaries of the German and British "spheres of influence" farther north were defined by a formal agreement--the same agreement which settled the respective "spheres of influence" of the two powers in Eastern Africa, between the Zambesi and the upper Nile. Although the people of Cape Colony continue to express their regret at having a great European power conterminous with them on the north, there has been really little or no practical contact between the Germans and the colonists, for while the northern part of the Colony, lying along the lower course of the Orange River, is so arid as to be very thinly peopled, the southern part of the German territory, called Great Namaqualand, is a wilderness inhabited only by wandering Hottentots (though parts of it are good pasture land), while, to the east, Namaqualand is separated from the habitable parts of British Bechuanaland by the great Kalahari Desert. The new impulse for colonial expansion which had prompted the Germans to occupy Damaraland and the Cameroons on the western, and the Zanzibar coasts on the eastern, side of Africa was now telling on other European powers, and made them all join in the scramble for Africa, a continent which a few years before had been deemed worthless. Italy and France entered the field in the north-east, France in the north-west; and Britain, which had in earlier days moved with such slow and wavering steps in the far south, was roused by the competition to a swifter advance. Within nine years from the assumption of the protectorate over British Bechuanaland, which the action of the Boers had brought about in 1885, the whole unappropriated country up to the Zambesi came under British control. In 1888 a treaty made with Lo Bengula extended the range of British influence and claim not only over Matabililand proper, but over Mashonaland and an undefined territory to the eastward, whereof Lo Bengula claimed to be suzerain. Next came, in 1889, the grant of a royal charter to a company, known as the British South Africa Company, which had been formed to develop this eastern side of Lo Bengula's dominion, and to work the gold mines believed to exist there, an undertaking chiefly due to the bold and forceful spirit of Mr. Cecil Rhodes, who perceived that if Britain did not speedily establish some right to the country, the Transvaal Boers would trek in and acquire it. In 1890 the pioneer British settlers moved up through Bechuanaland into Mashonaland, and the Company, which, like the East India Company of the eighteenth century, was to be a ruling and administering power as well as a trading association, established itself along the eastern part of the great plateau and began to build forts. Here it came into collision with the Portuguese, who, stimulated by the activity of other nations, had been re-asserting their dormant claims to the interior and sending up expeditions to occupy the country. A skirmish which occurred near Massikessi, in Manicaland, ended in the repulse of the Portuguese, and the capture of their commanders, who were, however, soon after released by Dr. Jameson, the newly appointed administrator of the Company; and another conflict in May, 1891, in which the Portuguese again suffered severely, hastened the conclusion of a treaty (June, 1891) between Great Britain and Portugal, by which the boundary between the Portuguese territories and those included in the British "sphere of influence" was fixed. By this treaty a vast region in the interior which lies along the Upper Zambesi west of Portuguese territory and south of the Congo Free State was recognized by Portugal as within the British sphere. An agreement of the preceding year between Germany and Great Britain (July 1, 1890) had defined the limits of German and British influence on the east side of the continent; and as Germany, Portugal, and the Congo State were the only civilized powers conterminous with Great Britain in this part of the world, these treaties, together with the instrument--to which Great Britain had been a party--that determined the limits of the Congo State, settled finally all these questions of the interior, and gave to Great Britain a legal title to her share of it. That title, however, like the other titles by which the European powers held their new African possessions, was a paper title, and valid only as against other neighbouring European powers. It had nothing whatever to do with the Kafir tribes who dwelt in the country. What are called the rights of a civilized Power as against the natives rests in some cases upon treaties made with the chiefs, treaties of whose effect the chiefs are often ignorant, and in others on the mere will of the European power which proclaims to the world that it claims the country; and it is held that the Power which makes the claim must, at least in the latter class of cases, perfect its claim by actual occupation. In the case of these new British territories treaties were made with a certain number of chiefs. One already existed with Lo Bengula, king of the Matabili; but it merely bound him not to league himself with any other power, and did not make him a British vassal. It was clear, however, that with so restless and warlike a race as the Matabili this state of things could not last long. Lo Bengula had been annoyed at the march of the pioneers into Mashonaland, and tried to stop them, but was foiled by the swiftness of their movements. Once they were established there he seems to have desired to keep the peace; but his young warriors would not suffer him to do so. They had been accustomed to go raiding among the feeble and disunited Mashonas, whom they slaughtered and plundered to their hearts' content. When they found that the Company resented these attacks, collisions occurred, and the reluctance to fight which Lo Bengula probably felt counted for little. What he could do he did: he protected with scrupulous care not only the missionaries, but other Europeans at his kraal, and, after the war had broken out, he sent envoys to treat, two of whom, by a deplorable error, were killed by the advancing column of Bechuanaland imperial police, for as the Company's officers were not at the moment prepared, either in money or in men, for a conflict, the imperial government sent a force northward from Bechuanaland to co-operate with that which the Company had in Mashonaland. A raid by Matabili warriors on the Mashonas living near Fort Victoria, whom they called their slaves, precipitated hostilities (July to October, 1893). The Matabili, whose vain confidence in their own prowess led them to attack in the open when they ought to have resorted to bush fighting, were defeated in two battles by the Company's men. Lo Bengula fled towards the Zambesi and died there (January, 1894) of fever and despair, as Shere Ali Khan had died when chased out of Kabul by the British in 1878; while his indunas and the bulk of the Matabili people submitted with little further resistance. Matabililand was now occupied by the Company, which shortly afterwards took possession of the northern part of its sphere of operations by running a telegraph wire across the Zambesi and by placing officers on the shore of Lake Tanganyika. In March, 1896, the Matabili and some of the Mashona chiefs revolted, but after five months' fighting, in which many lives were lost, peace was restored, and the subsequent construction of two railways into the heart of the country of these tribes has given a great, if not complete, security against a renewal of like troubles.[34] By the establishment of the British South Africa Company to the north of the Transvaal that State had now become inclosed in British territory on every side except the east; nor could it advance to Delagoa Bay, because Portugal was bound by the Arbitration Treaty of 1872 to allow Great Britain a right of pre-emption over her territory there. Meantime new forces had begun to work within the Republic. Between 1867 and 1872 gold had been found in several places on the eastern side of the country, but in quantities so small that no one attached much importance to the discovery. After 1882, however, it began to be pretty largely worked. In 1885 the conglomerate or _banket_ beds of the Witwatersrand were discovered,[35] and the influx of strangers, which had been considerable from 1882 onward, increased immensely, till in 1895 the number of recent immigrants, most of whom were adult males, had risen to a number (roughly estimated at 100,000) largely exceeding that of the whole Boer population. Although the first result of the working of the gold mines and the growth of the towns had been to swell the revenues of the previously impecunious Republic, President Kruger and the Boers generally were alarmed at seeing a tide of aliens from the British colonies and Europe and the United States, most of them British subjects, and nearly all speaking English, rise up around and threaten to submerge them. They proceeded to defend themselves by restricting the electoral franchise, which had theretofore been easily acquirable by immigrants. Laws were passed which, by excluding the newcomers, kept the native Boer element in a safe majority; and even when in 1890 a concession was made by the creation of a second Legislative Chamber, based on a more extended franchise, its powers were carefully restricted, and the election not only of the First Raad (the principal Chamber), but also of the President and Executive Council, remained confined to those who had full citizenship under the previous statutes. Discontent spread among the new-comers, who complained both of their exclusion from political rights and of various grievances which they and the mining industry suffered at the hands of the government. A reform association was formed in 1892. In 1894 the visit of the British High Commissioner, who had come from the Cape to negotiate with the President on Swaziland and other pending questions, led to a vehement pro-British and anti-Boer demonstration at Pretoria, and thenceforward feeling ran high at Johannesburg, the new centre of the Rand mining district and of the immigrant population. Finally, in December, 1895, a rising took place at Johannesburg, the circumstances attending which must be set forth in the briefest way, for the uncontroverted facts are fresh in every one's recollection, while an attempt to discuss the controverted ones would lead me from the field of history into that of contemporary politics.[36] It is enough to say while a large section of the Uitlanders (as the new alien immigrants are called) in Johannesburg were preparing to press their claims for reforms upon the government, and to provide themselves with arms for that purpose, an outbreak was precipitated by the entry into Transvaal territory from Pitsani in Bechuanaland of a force of about five hundred men, mostly in the service of the British South Africa Company as police, and led by the Company's Administrator, with whom (and with Mr. Rhodes, the managing director of the Company) a prior arrangement had been made by the reform leaders, that in case of trouble at Johannesburg he should, if summoned, come to the aid of the Uitlander movement. A question as to the flag under which the movement was to be made caused a postponement of the day previously fixed for making it. The leaders of the force at Pitsani, however, became impatient, thinking that the Boer government was beginning to suspect their intentions; and thus, though requested to remain quiet, the force started on the evening of December 29. Had they been able, as they expected, to get through without fighting, they might probably have reached Johannesburg in three or four days' march, for the distance is only 170 miles. But while the High Commissioner issued a proclamation disavowing their action and ordering them to retire, they found themselves opposed by the now rapidly gathering Boer levies, were repulsed at Krugersdorp, and ultimately forced to surrender on the forenoon of January 1, 1896, at a place called Doornkop. The Johannesburg Uitlanders, who, though unprepared for any such sudden movement, had risen in sympathy at the news of the inroad, laid down their arms a few days later.[37] I have given the bare outline of these latest events in South African history for the sake of bringing the narrative down to the date when I began to write. But as I was at Pretoria and Johannesburg immediately before the rising of December 1895 took place, and had good opportunities of seeing what forces were at work, and in what direction the currents of opinion were setting, I propose to give in a subsequent chapter (Chapter XXV) a somewhat fuller description of the state of things in the Transvaal at the end of 1895, and to reserve for a still later chapter some general reflections on the course of South African history. [Footnote 23: It has been stated (see Mr. Molteno's _Federal South Africa_, p. 87) that Portugal was then prepared to sell her rights for a small sum--according to report, for £12,000.] [Footnote 24: In 1891 the southern boundary of Portuguese territory was fixed by a treaty with Great Britain at a point on the coast named Kosi Bay, about seventy miles south of Lourenço Marques.] [Footnote 25: See especially the case of Brown _vs._ Leyds, decided in January, 1897 by the High Court of the South African Republic. An English translation of the Grondwet has been published by Mr. W. A. Macfadyen of Pretoria, in a little volume entitled _The Political Laws of the South African Republic_.] [Footnote 26: Some extracts from the narrative, vindicating his conduct, which he had prepared and which was published after his death (in 1882), may be found in Mr. John Nixon's _Complete Story of the Transvaal_, an interesting book, though written in a spirit far from judicial.] [Footnote 27: Although there is some reason to think that if Sir T. Shepstone had waited a few weeks or months, the Boers would have been driven by their difficulties to ask to be annexed.] [Footnote 28: See above, p. 120.] [Footnote 29: A description of Majuba Hill will be found in Chapter XVIII.] [Footnote 30: The Convention of 1881 will be found in the Appendix to this volume.] [Footnote 31: Sir B. Frere reported after meeting the leaders of the discontented Boers in April, 1879, that the agitation, though more serious than he supposed, was largely "sentimental," and that the quieter people were being coerced by the more violent into opposition.] [Footnote 32: This Convention will be found in the Appendix to this volume.] [Footnote 33: Arguments on this question may be found in a Parliamentary paper.] [Footnote 34: See further as to this rising some remarks in Chapter XV.] [Footnote 35: See Chapter XVIII. for an account of these beds.] [Footnote 36: The salient facts may be found in the evidence taken by the committee of inquiry appointed by the Cape Assembly in 1896. The much more copious evidence taken by a Select Committee of the British House of Commons in 1897 adds comparatively little of importance to what the Cape Committee had ascertained.] [Footnote 37: Of the many accounts of the incidents that led to this rising which have appeared, the clearest I have met with is contained in the book of M. Mermeix, _La Revolution de Johannesburg_. A simple and graphic sketch has been given by an American lady (Mrs. J. H. Hammond), in her little book entitled _A Woman's Part in a Revolution_.] PART III _A JOURNEY THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA_ CHAPTER XIII TRAVELLING AND COMMUNICATIONS There is nothing one more desires to know about a country, and especially a new country, than how one can travel through it. There was nothing about which, when contemplating a journey to South Africa, I found it more difficult to get proper information in England; so I hope that a few facts and hints will be useful to those who mean to make the tour, while to others they may serve to give a notion of the conditions which help or obstruct internal communication. First, as to coast travel. There is no line of railway running along the coast, partly because the towns are small, as well as few and far between, partly because the physical difficulties of constructing a railway across the ridges which run down to the sea are considerable, but chiefly, no doubt, because the coasting steamers are able to do what is needed. The large vessels of the Castle Line and the Union Line run once a week between Cape Town and Durban (the port of Natal), calling at Port Elizabeth and East London, sometimes also at Mossel Bay. Thus one can find two opportunities every week of getting east or west in powerful ocean steamers, besides such chances as smaller vessels, designed for freight rather than for passengers, supply. From Durban there is one weekly boat as far as Delagoa Bay, a voyage of about twenty-four hours. From Delagoa Bay northward to Beira and Mozambique the traveller must rely either on the steamers of the German East Africa Line, which run from Hamburg through the Red Sea all the way to Durban making the entire voyage in about seven weeks, or on Messrs. Rennie's line, which ply from Durban to Delagoa Bay, Beira and Chinde. The drawback to these coast voyages is that the sea is apt to be rough between Cape Town and Durban, less frequently so between Durban and Beira, and that there is no sheltered Port between Cape Town and Delagoa Bay. At Port Elizabeth and at East London the large steamers lie out in the ocean, and passengers reach the land by a small tender, into which they are let down in a sort of basket, if there is a sea running, and are occasionally, if the sea be very high, obliged to wait for a day or more until the tender can take them off. Similar conditions have prevailed at Durban, where a bar has hitherto prevented the big liners, except under very favourable conditions of tide and weather, from entering the otherwise excellent port. Much, however, has recently been done to remove the Durban bar, and it is expected that the largest steamers will soon be able to cross it at high tide. At Delagoa Bay the harbour is spacious and sheltered, though the approach requires care and is not well buoyed and lighted. At Beira the haven is still better, and can be entered at all states of the tide. There is now a brisk goods trade, both along the coast between the ports I have mentioned, and from Europe to each of them. Secondly, as to the railways. The railway system is a simple one. A great trunk-line runs north-eastward from Cape Town to a place called De Aar Junction, in the eastern part of the Colony. Here it bifurcates. One branch runs first east and then north-north-east through the Orange Free State and the Transvaal to Pretoria; the other runs north by east to Kimberley and Mafeking, and thence through Bechuanaland to Bulawayo.[38] The distance from Cape Town to Pretoria is ten hundred and forty miles, and the journey takes (by the fastest train) fifty-two hours. From Cape Town to Mafeking it is eight hundred and seventy-five miles, the journey taking about fifty hours; and from Mafeking to Bulawayo it is a little over five hundred more. From this trunk-line two important branches run southward to the coast, one to Port Elizabeth, the other to East London; and by these branches the goods landed at those ports, and destined for Kimberley or Johannesburg, are sent up. The passenger traffic on the branches is small, as people who want to go from the Eastern towns to Cape Town usually take the less fatiguing as well as cheaper sea voyage. Three other lines of railway remain. One, opened in the end of 1895, connects Durban with Pretoria and Johannesburg; another, opened in 1894, runs from Delagoa Bay to Pretoria; a third, opened part of it in 1894 and the last part in 1899, connects Beira with Fort Salisbury, in the territory of the British South Africa Company.[39] Of these railways the trunk-line with its branches was constructed by and is (except the parts which traverse the Orange Free State and the Transvaal) owned by the government of Cape Colony. It has latterly paid very well. The line from Durban to the Transvaal border at Charlestown belongs to the Natal government, and is also a considerable source of revenue. The rest of this line, from Charlestown northward through the Transvaal, is the property of a Dutch company, which also owns the line from Delagoa Bay to Pretoria and from Pretoria to the frontier of the Free State. The Beira railway belongs to a company controlled by the British South Africa Company, and is virtually a part of that great undertaking. All these railways, except the Beira line, have the same gauge, one of three feet six inches. The Beira line has a two-foot gauge, but is now (1899) being enlarged to the standard gauge. Throughout South Africa the lines of railway are laid on steeper gradients than is usual in Europe: one in forty is not uncommon, and on the Natal line it is sometimes one in thirty, though this is being gradually reduced. Although the accommodation at the minor stations is extremely simple, and sometimes even primitive, the railways are well managed, and the cars are arranged with a view to sleep on the night journeys; so that one can manage even the long transit from Cape Town to Pretoria with no great fatigue. Considering how very thinly peopled the country is, so that there is practically no local passenger and very little local goods traffic, the railway service is much better than could have been expected, and does great credit to the enterprise of the people. Railways have made an enormous difference, not to travel only, but to trade and to politics; for before the construction of the great trunk-line (which was not opened to Pretoria till 1892) the only means of conveyance was the ox-waggon. The ox-waggon needs a few words of description, for it is the most characteristic feature of South African travel. It is a long low structure, drawn by seven, eight, nine, or even ten yoke of oxen, and is surmounted (when intended to carry travellers) by a convex wooden frame and canvas roof. The animals are harnessed by a strong and heavy chain attached to the yoke which holds each pair together. The oxen usually accomplish about twelve miles a day, but can be made to do sixteen, or with pressure a little more. They walk very slowly, and they are allowed to rest and feed more hours than those during which they travel. The rest-time is usually the forenoon and till about four P.M. with another rest for part of the night. It was in these waggons that the Boers carried with them their wives and children and household goods in the great exodus of 1836. It was in such waggons that nearly all the explorations of South Africa have been made, such as those by the missionaries, and particularly by Robert Moffat and by Livingstone (in his earlier journeys), and such as those of the hunting pioneers, men like Anderson, Gordon-Cumming, and Selous. And to this day it is on the waggon that whoever traverses any unfrequented region must rely. Horses, and even mules, soon break down; and as the traveller must carry his food and other necessaries of camp life with him, he always needs the waggon as a basis of operations, even if he has a seasoned horse which he can use for two or three days when speed is required. Waggons have, moreover, another value for a large party; they can be readily formed into a laager, or camp, by being drawn into a circle, with the oxen placed inside and so kept safe from the attacks of wild beasts. And where there are hostile Kafirs to be feared, such a laager is an efficient fortress, from within which a few determined marksmen have often successfully resisted the onslaught of hordes of natives. An immense trade has been carried on by means of ox-waggons between the points where the railways end and the new settlements in Matabililand and Mashonaland. When I passed from Mafeking to Bulawayo in October, 1895, thousands of oxen were drawing hundreds of waggons along the track between those towns. When, a month later, I travelled from Fort Salisbury to Chimoyo, then the terminus of the Beira line, I passed countless waggons standing idle along the track, because owing to the locusts and the drought which had destroyed most of the grass, the oxen had either died or grown too lean and feeble to be able to drag the loads. Hence the cattle-plague which in 1896 carried off the larger part of the transport-oxen was a terrible misfortune, not only to the natives who owned these animals, but also to the whole northern region, which largely depends upon cattle transport for its food, its comforts, its building materials, and its mine machinery. It is the character of the country that has permitted the waggon to become so important a factor in South African exploration, politics, and commerce. The interior, though high, is not generally rugged. Much of it--indeed, all the eastern and northern parts--is a vast rolling plain, across which wheeled vehicles can pass with no greater difficulty than the beds of the streams, sometimes deeply cut through soft ground, present. The ranges of hills which occur here and there are generally traversed by passes, which, though stony, are not steep enough to be impracticable. Over most of the southern half of the plateau there is no wood, and where forests occur the trees seldom grow thick together, and the brushwood is so dry and small that it can soon be cut away to make a passage. Had South Africa been thickly wooded, like the eastern parts of North America or some parts of Australia, waggon-travelling would have been difficult or impossible; but most of it is, like the country between the Missouri River and the Great Salt Lake, a dry open country, where the waggon can be made a true ship of the desert. This explains the fact, so surprising to most European readers of African travel and adventure, that wherever man can walk or ride he can take his moving home with him. For rapid transit, however, the traveller who has passed beyond the railway is now not wholly dependent on the ox. Coaches, drawn sometimes by mules, sometimes by horses, run from some points on the railways to outlying settlements; they are, however, always uncomfortable and not always safe. They travel night and day, usually accomplishing from six to eight miles an hour on good ground, but much less where the surface is sandy or rugged. In the north and north-east of Cape Colony and in the Transvaal, as well as in Matabililand, horses are very little used either for riding or for driving, owing to the prevalence of a disease called horse-sickness, which attacks nearly every animal, and from which only about a quarter recover. This is one reason why so little exploration has been done on horseback; and it is a point to be noted by those who desire to travel in the country, and who naturally think of the mode by which people used to make journeys in Europe, and by which they make journeys still in large parts of South and of North America, as well as in Western Asia. I have spoken of the "tracks" used by waggons and coaches; the reader must not suppose that these tracks are roads. There are few made roads in South Africa, except in the neighbourhood of Cape Town, Durban, Maritzburg, Graham's Town, and one or two other towns. Those in Natal are among the best. Neither are there (except as aforesaid) any bridges, save here and there rude ones of logs thrown across a stream bed. Elsewhere the track is merely a line across the veldt (prairie), marked and sometimes cut deep by the wheels of many waggons, where all that man has done has been to remove the trees or bushes. Here and there the edges of the steep stream banks have been cut down so as to allow a vehicle to descend more easily to the bottom, where during the rains the stream flows, and where during the rest of the year the ground is sandy or muddy. After heavy rain a stream is sometimes impassable for days together, and the waggons have to wait on the bank till the torrent subsides. At all times these water channels are troublesome, for the oxen or mules are apt to jib or get out of hand in descending the steep slope, and it is no easy matter to get them urged up the steep slope on the other side. Accidents often occur, and altogether it may be said that the _dongas_--this is the name given to these hollow stream channels--form the most exciting feature of South African travel (in places where wild beasts and natives are no longer dangerous) and afford the greatest scope for the skill of the South African driver. Skilful he must be, for he never drives less than six span of oxen, and seldom less than three pairs of horses or mules (the Bulawayo coach had, in 1895, five pairs). It takes two men to drive. One wields an immensely long whip, while the other holds the reins. Both incessantly apostrophise the animals. It is chiefly with the whip that the team is driven; but if the team is one of mules, one of the two drivers is for a large part of the time on his feet, running alongside the beasts, beating them with a short whip and shouting to them by their names, with such adjectives, expletives, and other objurgations as he can command. Many Dutchmen do drive wonderfully well. I have said nothing of internal water travel by river or lake, because none exists. There are no lakes, and there is not a river with water enough to float the smallest steamboat, except some reaches of the Limpopo River in the wet season. The only steamer that plies anywhere on a river is that which ascends the Pungwe River from Beira to Fontesvilla; it goes only as far as the tide goes, and on most of its trips spends fully half its time sticking on the sand-banks with which the Pungwe abounds. So far as I know, no one has ever proposed to make a canal in any part of the country. From what has been said it will be gathered that there is no country where railways are and will be more needed than South Africa. They are the chief need of the newly settled districts, and the best means, next to a wise and conciliatory administration, of preventing fresh native outbreaks. Unfortunately, they will for a great while have no local traffic, because most of the country they pass through has not one white inhabitant to the square mile. Their function is to connect the coast with the distant mining centres, in which population has begun to grow. To lay them is, however, comparatively cheap work. Except in the immediate neighbourhood of a town, nothing has to be paid for the land. The gradients all through the interior plateau are comparatively easy, and the engineers have in Africa cared less for making their ascents gentle than we do in older countries. Even in the hilly parts of the Transvaal and Matabililand the ranges are not high or steep, and one can turn a kopje instead of cutting or tunnelling through it. Few bridges are needed, because there are few rivers. A word as to another point on which any one planning a tour to South Africa may be curious--the accommodation obtainable. Most travellers have given the inns a bad name. My own experience is scanty, for we were so often the recipient of private hospitality as to have occasion to sleep in an inn (apart from the "stores" of Bechuanaland and Mashonaland, of which more hereafter) in four places only, Mafeking, Ladybrand, Durban, and Bloemfontein. But it seemed to us that, considering the newness of the country and the difficulty in many places of furnishing a house well and of securing provisions, the entertainment was quite tolerable, sometimes much better than one had expected. In the two Colonies, and the chief places of the two Republics, clean beds and enough to eat can always be had; in the largest places there is nothing to complain of, though the prices are sometimes high. Luxuries are unprocurable, but no sensible man will go to a new country expecting luxuries. [Footnote 38: At the time of my visit it went no further than Mafeking.] [Footnote 39: There is also a line of railway from Port Elizabeth to Graaf-Reinet, some short branch lines near Cape Town, and a small line from Graham's Town to the coast at Port Alfred.] CHAPTER XIV FROM CAPE TOWN TO BULAWAYO In this and the four following chapters I propose to give some account of the country through which the traveller passes on his way from the coast to the points which are the natural goals of a South African journey, Kimberley and Johannesburg, Bulawayo and Fort Salisbury, hoping thereby to convey a more lively impression of the aspects of the land and its inhabitants than general descriptions can give, and incidentally to find opportunities for touching upon some of the questions on which the future of the country will turn. First, a few words about the voyage. You can go to South Africa either by one of the great British lines across the Atlantic to the ports of Cape Colony and Natal, or by the German line through the Red Sea and along the East African coast to Beira or Delagoa Bay. The steamers of the German line take thirty days from Port Said to Beira, and two days more to Delagoa Bay. They are good boats, though much smaller than those of the two chief English lines to the Cape (the Castle and the Union), and the voyage from Port Said has the advantage of being, at most times of the year, a smooth one pretty nearly the whole way. They touch at Aden, Zanzibar, Dar-es-Salaam, and Quilimane, and give an opportunity of seeing those places. But all along the East African coast the heat is excessive--a damp, depressing heat. And the whole time required to reach Beira from England, even if one travels by rail from Calais to Marseilles, Brindisi, or Naples, and takes a British steamer thence to Port Said, joining the German boat at the latter port, is more than five weeks. Nearly everybody, therefore, chooses the Atlantic route from Southampton or London to the Cape. The Atlantic voyage, which lasts from sixteen to twenty days, is, on the whole, a pleasant and healthful one. The steamers, both those of the Castle Line and those of the Union Line--and the same may be said for the New Zealand Line and the Aberdeen Line which plies to Australia, both of these touching at the Cape--are comfortable and well appointed, and I cannot imagine any navigation more scrupulously careful than that which I saw on board the _Hawarden Castle_, by which I went out and returned. During the winter and spring months there is often pretty rough weather from England as far as Madeira. But from that island onward, or at any rate from the Canaries onward, one has usually a fairly smooth sea with moderate breezes till within two or three days of Cape Town, when head winds are frequently encountered. Nor is the heat excessive. Except during the two days between Cape Verde and the equator, it is never more than what one can enjoy during the day and tolerate during the night. One sees land only at Madeira, where the steamer coals for a few hours; at the picturesque Canary Islands, between which she passes, gaining, if the weather be clear, a superb view of the magnificent Peak of Teneriffe; and at Cape Verde, where she runs (in the daytime) within a few miles of the African coast. Those who enjoy the colours of the sea and of the sea skies, and to whom the absence of letters, telegrams, and newspapers is welcome, will find few more agreeable ways of passing a fortnight. After Cape Finisterre very few vessels are seen. After Madeira every night reveals new stars rising from the ocean as our own begin to vanish. Tutte le stolle già dell' altro polo Vedea la notte, e il nostro tanto basso Che non sorgeva fuor del marin suolo,[40] as Ulysses says, in Dante's poem, of his voyage to the southern hemisphere. The pleasure of watching unfamiliar constellations rise from the east and sweep across the sky, is a keen one, which often kept us late from sleep. For a few hours only before reaching Cape Town does one discern on the eastern horizon the stern grey mountains that rise along the barren coast. A nobler site for a city and a naval stronghold than that of the capital of South Africa can hardly be imagined. It rivals Gibraltar and Constantinople, Bombay and San Francisco. Immediately behind the town, which lies along the sea, the majestic mass of Table Mountain rises to a height of 3600 feet, a steep and partly wooded slope capped by a long line of sheer sandstone precipices more than 1000 feet high, and flanked to right and left by bold, isolated peaks. The beautiful sweep of the bay in front, the towering crags behind, and the romantic pinnacles which rise on either side, make a landscape that no one who has seen it can forget. The town itself is disappointing. It has preserved very little of its old Dutch character. The miniature canals which once traversed it are gone. The streets, except two, are rather narrow, and bordered by low houses; nor is there much to admire in the buildings, except the handsome Parliament House, the new post office, and the offices of the Standard Bank. The immediate suburbs, inhabited chiefly by Malays and other coloured people, are mean. But the neighbourhood is extremely attractive. To the north-west Table Mountain and its spurs descend steeply to the sea, and the road which runs along the beach past the village of Sea Point offers a long series of striking views of shore and crag. It is on the east, however, that the most beautiful spots lie. Five miles from Cape Town and connected with it by railway, the village of Rondebosch nestles under the angle of Table Mountain, and a mile farther along the line is the little town of Wynberg. Round these places, or between them and Cape Town, nearly all the richer, and a great many even of the poorer, white people of Cape Town live. The roads are bordered by pretty villas, whose grounds, concealed by no walls, are filled with magnolias and other flowering trees and shrubs. Avenues of tall pines or of superb oaks, planted by the Dutch in the last century, run here and there along the by-roads. Immediately above, the grey precipices of Table Mountain tower into the air, while in the opposite direction a break in the woods shows in the far distance the sharp summits, snow-tipped during the winter months, of the lofty range of the Hottentots Holland Mountains. It would be hard to find anywhere, even in Italy or the Pyrenees, more exquisite combinations of soft and cultivated landscape with grand mountain forms than this part of the Cape peninsula presents. Perhaps the most charming nook of all is where the quaint old Dutch farmhouse of Groot Constantia[41] stands among its vineyards, about ten miles from Cape Town. Behind it is the range which connects the hills of Simon's Bay with Table Mountain; its declivities are at this point covered with the graceful silver-tree, whose glistening foliage shines brighter than that of the European olive. Beneath the farmhouse are the vineyards which produce the famous sweet wine that bears the name of Constantia, sloping gently towards the waters of False Bay, whose farther side is guarded by a wall of frowning peaks, while the deep blue misty ocean opens in the distance. It is a landscape unlike anything one can see in Europe, and though the light in sea and sky is brilliant, the brilliance is on this coast soft and mellow, unlike the clear sharp radiance of the arid interior. No one who cares for natural scenery quits Cape Town without ascending Table Mountain, whose summit affords not only a very beautiful and extensive prospect over the surrounding country, but a striking ocean view. Looking down the narrow gullies that descend from the top, one sees the intensely blue sea closing them below, framed between their jutting crags, while on the other side the busy streets and wharves of Cape Town lie directly under the eye, and one can discover the vehicles in the streets and the trees in the Governor's garden. The heaths and other flowers and shrubs that grow profusely over the wide top, which is not flat, as he who looks at it from the sea fancies, but cut up by glens, with here and there lake reservoirs in the hollows, are very lovely, and give a novel and peculiar charm to this ascent.[42] Nor is the excursion to Cape Point, the real Cape of Storms of Bartholomew Diaz, and the Cape of Good Hope of Vasco da Gama, less beautiful. An hour in the railway brings one to Simon's Bay, the station of the British naval squadron, a small but fairly well sheltered inlet under high hills. From this one drives for four hours over a very rough track through a lonely and silent country, sometimes sandy, sometimes thick with brushwood, but everywhere decked with brilliant flowers, to the Cape, a magnificent headland rising almost vertically from the ocean to a height of 800 feet. Long, heavy surges are always foaming on the rocks below and nowhere, even on this troubled coast, where the hot Mozambique current meets a stream of cold Antarctic water, do gales more often howl and shriek than round these rocky pinnacles. One can well understand the terror with which the Portuguese sailors five centuries ago used to see the grim headland loom up through the clouds driven by the strong south-easters, that kept them struggling for days or weeks to round the cape that marked their way to India. But Sir Francis Drake, who passed it coming home westward from his ever-famous voyage round the world, had a more auspicious experience: "We ran hard aboard the Cape, finding the report of the Portuguese to be most false, who affirm that it is the most dangerous cape of the world, never without intolerable storms and present danger to travellers who come near the same. This cape is a most stately thing, and the finest cape we saw in the whole circumference of the earth." A third excursion, which well repays the traveller, is to the quaint little town of Stellenbosch, founded by Adrian van der Stel (Governor of the Colony) in 1680, and called after himself and his wife, whose name was Bosch. It is built in genuine Dutch style, with straight streets of two-storied white houses, the windows nearly flush with the walls as in Holland, the wood-work and the green shutters those of Holland, and long lines of dark-green oaks shading the foot-walks on each side the street. Soft, rich pastures all round--for there is plenty of water brought down from the hills--complete the resemblance to a Hobbema landscape; and it is only when one looks up and sees rocky mountains soaring behind into the sky that the illusion is broken. It is here, and in the town of Swellendam, farther east, and in some of the villages that lie northward of Stellenbosch in the western province, that the Dutch element has remained strongest and has best retained its ancient ways and customs. We have, however, delayed long enough round the capital, and it is time to plunge into the interior by the railway. Sixty miles to the north of Cape Town, the trunk-line, which has threaded its way through the valleys of an outlying range of mountains, reaches the foot of the great inner table-land at a place called Hex River, and in an hour climbs by zigzags up an incline which is in some places as steep as one in thirty-five, mounting 1600 feet into a desert land. Rugged brown mountains, sometimes craggy, sometimes covered with masses of loose stone, rise above the lower ground, now a valley, now an open plain, through which the railway takes its eastward way. The bushes, which had been tall and covered with blossoms on the ascent, are now stunted, bearing small and usually withered flowers. Hardly an herb, and not a blade of grass, is to be seen on the ground, which is sometimes of clay, baked hard by the sun, sometimes of sand, without a drop of water anywhere. Yet water flows when, now and then in the summer, a storm breaks, or a few showers come; and then nature revives, and for a week or two flowers spring from the soil and a fresher green comes upon the bushes. In a landscape so arid one hears with surprise that the land is worth ten shillings an acre for one or two of the smallest shrubs give feed for sheep, and there are wells scattered about sufficient for the flocks. The farms are large, usually of at least six thousand acres, so one seldom sees a farmhouse. The farmers are all of Boer stock. They lead a lonely life in a silent and melancholy nature, but their habitual gravity has not made them unsocial, for they are fond of riding or driving in their waggons to visit one another on all occasions of festivity or mourning. Every ten or fifteen miles there is a station, and here the British element in the population appears, chiefly occupied in store-keeping. At Matjesfontein one finds an hotel and a number of small villas built to serve as a health resort. Wells surrounded by Australian gums planted for shade, make a little oasis in the desert. Farther east the village of Beaufort West, the only place along the line that aspires to be called a town, boasts a church with a spire, and has one or two streets, though most of its houses are stuck down irregularly over a surface covered with broken bottles and empty sardine and preserved meat tins. Here, too, there is a large, shallow pond of water, and here people with weak lungs come to breathe the keen, dry, invigorating air. Of its efficacy there is no doubt, but one would think that the want of society and of variety would be almost as depressing as the air is stimulating. The prospects have a certain beauty, for beyond the wide, bare, greyish-brown plain to the south sharp mountains stand up, which take at sunrise and sunset delightful tints of blue and purple, and the sense of a vast expanse on earth beneath and in heaven above has something strange and solemn. But the monotony of perpetual sunlight upon a landscape which has no foregrounds and never changes, save in colour, must be trying to those who have no occupation except that of getting well. This Karroo scenery continues, with little variation, for hundreds of miles. To the north of the railway, which runs mostly from west to east, the aspect of the country is much the same, dry, stony, and forbidding, for full three hundred miles to the Orange River, and beyond that into Namaqualand. Except for the few houses at some of the stations, it seems a wilderness; yet here and there stand tiny villages, connected by lines of coach with the railway, whither the neighbouring farmers come to supply their household needs. But as the train moves farther and farther eastward the features of nature grow less austere. The mountains by degrees recede or sink; the country becomes more of an open plain, though with isolated hills visible here and there over its expanse. It is also slightly greener, and after the rains some little grass springs up, besides the low, succulent shrub which the sheep eat. At De Aar Junction, five hundred miles from Cape Town, the line to Bloemfontein and the Transvaal branches off to the right. We follow the western branch over a vast slightly undulating plain to the Orange River, here a perennial stream, and at six hundred and forty-six miles from Cape Town find ourselves once more in the haunts of men at Kimberley. Kimberley, the city of diamonds, has had a curious history. In 1869-70 the precious crystals, first found in 1867 near the Orange River, were discovered here in considerable quantity. A sudden rush of adventurers from all parts of South Africa, as well as from Europe, gave it in three or four years a population of many thousands. The mining claims were then and for some years afterwards in the hands of a large number of persons and companies who had opened them or purchased them. The competition of these independent miner-workers was bringing down the price of the stones, and the waste or leakage arising from the theft of stones by the native work-people, who sold them to European I.D.B. (illicit diamond-buyers), seriously reduced the profits of mining. It was soon seen that the consolidation of the various concerns would effect enormous savings and form the only means of keeping up the price of diamonds. The process of amalgamating the claims and interests and merging them in one huge corporation was completed in 1885, chiefly by the skill and boldness of Mr. Cecil J. Rhodes, who had gone to Natal for his health shortly before 1870, and came up to Kimberley in the first months of the rush. Since the amalgamation, the great corporation called the De Beers Consolidated Mining Company (which now owns nearly all the mines), has reduced the output of diamonds to just such an annual amount as experience has proved that Europe and America--the United States is the chief market--are able to take at a price high enough to leave a large profit. By this means the price has been well maintained. This policy, however, has incidentally reduced the population of Kimberley. One powerful corporation, with its comparatively small staff of employees, has taken the place of the crowd of independent adventurers of the old days, and some of the mines have been closed because the rest are sufficient to produce as many diamonds as it is deemed prudent to put upon the market. Thus there are now only about 10,000 people in the town, and some of the poorer quarters are almost deserted, the stores and taverns, as well as the shanty dwellings, empty and falling to pieces. In the better quarters, however, the old roughness has been replaced by order and comfort. Many of the best villas are embowered in groves of tall Australian gum-trees, while the streets and roads are bordered either by gum-trees or by hedges of prickly-pear or agave. The streets are wide, and most of the houses are detached and of one story, built like Indian bungalows; so the town covers an area quite disproportionate to its population, and gives the impression of an extensive city. For the residence of the Europeans employed in the two great mines which the Company works, a suburb called Kenilworth has been built by Mr. Rhodes, where neat houses of four, five, or six rooms each stand in handsome avenues planted with Australian trees, the so-called "beefwood" and the red gum. They are not beautiful trees, but they have the merit of growing very fast, and any shade is welcome. The diamonds are found in beds of clay, of which there are two: a yellow and softish clay, lying on or near the surface, and a hard blue clay, lying deeper. These clays, which are usually covered by a thin layer of calcareous rock, are supposed to be the remains of mud-pits due to volcanic action, such as the so-called mud-volcanoes of Iceland, near Námaskard, on the banks of Lake Myvatn, or such as the similar boiling mud-pits of the Yellowstone Park country, called from their brilliant colours the "Paint-pots." It is, at any rate, from circular clay basins, inclosed within a harder rock (basalt, black shale, and quartzite) that the stones are obtained. Some of the mines are worked even to a depth of 1200 feet by shafts and subterranean galleries. Some are open, and these, particularly that called the Wesselton Mine, are an interesting sight. This deep hollow, one-third of a mile in circumference and 100 feet deep, inclosed by a strong fence of barbed wire, is filled by a swarm of active Kafir workmen, cleaving the "hard blue" with pickaxes, piling it up on barrows, and carrying it off to the wide fields; where it is left exposed to the sun, and, during three months, to the rain. Having been thus subjected to a natural decomposition, it is the more readily brought by the pickaxe into smaller fragments before being sent to the mills, where it is crushed, pulverized, and finally washed to get at the stones. Nowhere in the world does the hidden wealth of the soil and the element of chance in its discovery strike one so forcibly as here, where you are shown a piece of ground a few acres in extent, and are told, "Out of this pit diamonds of the value of £12,000,000 have been taken." Twenty-six years ago the ground might have been bought for £50. The most striking sight at Kimberley, and one unique in the world, is furnished by the two so-called "compounds" in which the natives who work in the mines are housed and confined. They are huge inclosures, unroofed, but covered with a wire netting to prevent anything from being thrown out of them over the walls, and with a subterranean entrance to the adjoining mine. The mine is worked on the system of three eight-hour shifts, so that the workman is never more than eight hours together underground. Round the interior of the wall there are built sheds or huts, in which the natives live and sleep when not working. A hospital is also provided within the inclosure, as well as a school where the work-people can spend their leisure in learning to read and write. No spirits are sold--an example of removing temptation from the native which it is to be wished that the legislature of Cape Colony would follow. Every entrance is strictly guarded, and no visitors, white or native, are permitted, all supplies being obtained from the store within, kept by the Company. The De Beers mine compound contained at the time of my visit 2600 natives, belonging to a great variety of tribes, so that here one could see specimens of the different native types, from Natal and Pondoland on the south, to the shores of Lake Tanganyika in the far north. They come from every quarter, attracted by the high wages, usually eighteen to thirty shillings a week, and remain for three months or more and occasionally even for long periods, knowing, of course, that they have to submit to the precautions which are absolutely needed to prevent them from appropriating the diamonds they may happen to find in the course of their work. To encourage honesty, ten per cent, of the value of any stone which a workman may find is given to him if he brings it himself to the overseer, and the value of the stones on which this ten per cent, is paid is estimated at £400,000 in each year. Nevertheless, a certain number of thefts occur. I heard from a missionary an anecdote of a Basuto who, after his return from Kimberley, was describing how, on one occasion, his eye fell on a valuable diamond in the clay he was breaking into fragments. While he was endeavouring to pick it up he perceived the overseer approaching, and, having it by this time in his hand, was for a moment terribly frightened, the punishment for theft being very severe. The overseer, however, passed on. "And then," said the Basuto, "I knew that there was indeed a God, for He had preserved me." When the native has earned the sum he wants--and his earnings accumulate quickly, since he can live upon very little--he takes his wages in English sovereigns, a coin now current through all Africa as far as Tanganyika, goes home to his own tribe, perhaps a month's or six weeks' journey distant, buys two oxen, buys with them a wife, and lives happily, or at least lazily, ever after. Here in the vast oblong compound one sees Zulus from Natal, Fingos, Pondos, Tembus, Basutos, Bechuanas, Gungunhana's subjects from the Portuguese territories, some few Matabili and Makalaka, and plenty of Zambesi boys from the tribes on both sides of that great river--a living ethnological collection such as can be examined nowhere else in South Africa. Even Bushmen, or at least natives with some Bushman blood in them, are not wanting. They live peaceably together, and amuse themselves in their several ways during their leisure hours. Besides games of chance we saw a game resembling "fox and geese," played with pebbles on a board; and music was being discoursed on two rude native instruments, the so-called "Kafir piano," made of pieces of iron of unequal length fastened side by side in a frame, and a still ruder contrivance of hard bits of wood, also of unequal size, which when struck by a stick emit different notes, the first beginnings of a tune. A very few were reading or writing letters, the rest busy with their cooking or talking to one another. Some tribes are incessant talkers, and in this strange mixing-pot of black men one may hear a dozen languages spoken as one passes from group to group. The climate of Kimberley is healthy, and even bracing, though not pleasant when a north-west wind from the Kalahari Desert fills the air with sand and dust. Its dryness recommends it as a resort for consumptive patients, while the existence of a cultivated, though small, society, makes it a less doleful place of residence than are the sanatoria of the Karroo. The country round is, however, far from attractive. Save on the east, where there rises a line of hills just high enough to catch the lovely lights of evening and give colour and variety to the landscape, the prospect is monotonous in every direction. Like the ocean, this vast plain is so flat that you cannot see how vast it is. Except in the environs of the town, it is unbroken by tree or house, and in a part of those environs the masses of bluish-grey mine refuse that strew the ground give a dismal and even squalid air to the foreground of the view. One is reminded of the deserted coal-pits that surround Wigan, or the burnt-out and waste parts of the Black Country in South Staffordshire, though at Kimberley there is, happily, no coal-smoke or sulphurous fumes in the air, no cinder on the surface, no coal-dust to thicken the mud and blacken the roads. Some squalor one must have with that disturbance of nature which mining involves, but here the enlightened activity of the Company and the settlers has done its best to mitigate these evils by the planting of trees and orchards, by the taste which many of the private houses show, and by the provision here and there of open spaces for games. From Kimberley the newly-opened railway runs one hundred and fifty miles farther north to Vryburg, till lately the capital of the Crown Colony of British Bechuanaland, annexed in 1895 to Cape Colony, and thence to Mafeking. After a few miles the line crosses the Vaal River, here a respectable stream for South Africa, since it has, even in the dry season, more water than the Cam at Cambridge, or the Cherwell at Oxford--perhaps as much as the Arno at Florence. It flows in a wide, rocky bed, about thirty feet below the level of the adjoining country. The country becomes more undulating as the line approaches the frontiers, first of the Orange Free State, and then of the Transvaal Republic, which bounds that State on the north. Bushes are seen, and presently trees, nearly all prickly mimosas, small and unattractive, but a pleasant relief from the bare flats of Kimberley, whence all the wood that formerly grew there has been taken for mine props and for fuel. There is more grass, too, and presently patches of cultivated land appear, where Kafirs grow maize, called in South Africa "mealies." Near the village of Taungs[43] a large native reservation is passed, where part of the Batlapin tribe is settled, and here a good deal of ground is tilled, though in September, when no crop is visible, one scarcely notices the fields, since they are entirely unenclosed, mere strips on the veldt, a little browner than the rest, and with fewer shrublets on them. But the landscape remains equally featureless and monotonous, redeemed only, as evening falls, by the tints of purple and violet which glow upon the low ridges or swells of ground that rise in the distance. Vryburg is a cheerful little place of brick walls and corrugated-iron roofs; Mafeking another such, still smaller and, being newer, with a still larger proportion of shanties to houses. At Mafeking the railway ended in 1895. It has since been opened all the way to Bulawayo. Here ends also the territory of Cape Colony, the rest of Bechuanaland to the north and west forming the so-called Bechuanaland Protectorate, which in October, 1895, was handed over by the Colonial Office, subject to certain restrictions and provisions for the benefit of the natives, to the British South Africa Company, within the sphere of whose operations it had, by the charter of 1890, been included. After the invasion of the Transvaal Republic by the expedition led by Dr. Jameson, which started from Pitsani, a few miles north of Mafeking, in December, 1895, this transfer was recalled, and Bechuanaland is now again under the direct control of the High Commissioner for South Africa as representing the British Crown. It is administered by magistrates, who have a force of police at their command, and by native chiefs, the most powerful and famous of whom is Khama. Close to Mafeking itself there was living a chieftain whose long career is interwoven with many of the wars and raids that went on between the Boers and the natives from 1840 to 1885--Montsioa (pronounced "Montsiwa"), the head of a tribe of Barolongs. We were taken to see him, and found him sitting on a low chair under a tree in the midst of his huge native village, dressed in a red flannel shirt, a pair of corduroy trousers, and a broad grey felt hat with a jackal's tail stuck in it for ornament. His short woolly hair was white, and his chocolate-coloured skin, hard and tough like that of a rhinoceros, was covered with a fretwork of tiny wrinkles, such as one seldom sees on a European face. He was proud of his great age (eighty-five), and recalled the names of several British governors and generals during the last seventy years. But his chief interest was in inquiries (through his interpreter) regarding the Queen and events in England, and he amused his visitors by the diplomatic shrewdness with which, on being told that there had been a change of government in England, and a majority in favour of the new government, he observed "They have made a mistake; they could not have had a better government than the old one." He was a wealthy man, owning an immense number of the oxen which then carried on (for the cattle plague soon after destroyed most of them) the transport service between Mafeking and Bulawayo; and, from all I could learn, he ruled his people well, following the counsels of the British government, which in 1885 delivered him out of the hands of the Boers. He died in the middle of 1896. At Mafeking we bade farewell to the railway, and prepared to plunge into the wilderness. We travelled in a light American waggon, having a Cape Dutchman as driver and a coloured "Cape boy" to help him, but no other attendants. The waggon had a small iron tank, which we filled with water that had been boiled to kill noxious germs, and with this we made our soup and tea. For provisions we carried biscuits, a little tinned soup and meat, and a few bottles of soda-water. These last proved to be the most useful part of our stores, for we found the stream-or well-water along the route undrinkable, and our mouths were often so parched that it was only by the help of sips of soda-water that we could manage to swallow the dry food. At the European stores which occur along the road, usually at intervals of thirty or forty miles, though sometimes there is none for sixty miles or more, we could often procure eggs and sometimes a lean chicken; so there was enough to support life, though seldom did we get what is called in America "a square meal." Northward from Mafeking the country grows pretty. At first there are trees scattered picturesquely over the undulating pastures and sometimes forming woods--dry and open woods, yet welcome after the bareness which one has left behind. Here we passed the tiny group of houses called Pitsani, little dreaming that three months later it would become famous as the place where the Matabililand police were marshalled, and from which they started on their ill-starred march into the Transvaal, whose bare and forbidding hills we saw a few miles away to the east. Presently the ground becomes rougher, and the track winds among and under a succession of abrupt kopjes (pronounced "koppies"), mostly of granitic or gneissose rock. One is surprised that a heavy coach, and still heavier waggons, can so easily traverse such a country, for the road is only a track, for which art has done nothing save in cutting a way through the trees. It is one of the curious features of South Africa that the rocky hills have an unusual faculty for standing detached enough from one another to allow wheeled vehicles to pass between them, and the country is so dry that morasses, the obstacle which a driver chiefly fears in most countries, are here, for three-fourths of the year, not feared at all. This region of bold, craggy hills, sparsely wooded, usually rising only some few hundred feet out of the plateau itself, which is about 4000 feet above the sea, continues for about thirty miles. To it there succeeds a long stretch of flat land along the banks of the sluggish Notwani, the only perennial river of these parts; for the stream which on the map bears the name of Molopo, and runs away west into the desert to lose nearly all of its water in the sands, is in September dry, and one crosses its channel without noticing it. This Notwani, whose course is marked by a line of trees taller and greener than the rest, is at this season no better than a feeble brook, flowing slowly, with more mud than water. But it contains not only good-sized fish, the catching of which is the chief holiday diversion of these parts, but also crocodiles, which, generally dormant during the season of low water, are apt to obtrude themselves when they are least expected, and would make bathing dangerous, were there any temptation to bathe in such a thick green fluid. That men as well as cattle should drink it seems surprising, yet they do,--Europeans as well as natives,--and apparently with no bad effects. Below Palla, one hundred and ninety-five miles north of Mafeking, the Notwani joins the Limpopo, or Crocodile River, a much larger stream, which has come down from the Transvaal hills, and winds for nearly a thousand miles to the north and east before it falls into the Indian Ocean. It is here nearly as wide as the Thames at Henley, fordable in some places, and flowing very gently. The country all along this part of the road is perfectly flat, and just after the wet season very feverish, but it may be traversed with impunity from the end of May till December. It is a dull region--everywhere the same thin wood, through which one can see for about a quarter of a mile in every direction, consisting of two or three kinds of mimosa, all thorny, and all so spare and starved in their leafage that one gets little shade beneath them when at the midday halt shelter has to be sought from the formidable sun. On the parched ground there is an undergrowth of prickly shrubs, among which it is necessary to move with as much care as is needed in climbing a barbed-wire fence. When at night, camping out on the veldt, one gathers brushwood to light the cooking-fire, both the clothes and the hands of the novice come badly off. Huge ant-hills begin to appear, sometimes fifteen to twenty feet high and as many yards in circumference; but these large ones are all dead and may be of considerable age. In some places they are so high and steep, and stand so close together, that by joining them with an earthen rampart a strong fort might be made. When people begin to till the ground more largely than the natives now do, the soil heaped up in these great mounds will be found most serviceable. It consists of good mould, very friable, and when spread out over the service ought to prove fertile. In pulverizing the soil, the ants render here much the same kind of service which the earthworms do in Europe. There are no flowers at this season (end of September), and very little grass; yet men say that there is no better ranching country in all South Africa, and the oxen which one meets all the way, feeding round the spots where the transport-waggons have halted, evidently manage to pick up enough herbage to support them. The number of ox-waggons is surprising in so lonely a country, till one remembers that most of the food and drink, as well as of the furniture, agricultural and mining tools, and wood for building,--indeed, most of the necessaries and all the luxuries of life needed in Matabililand,--have to be sent up along this road, which is more used than the alternative route through the Transvaal from Pretoria _via_ Pietersburg. No wonder all sorts of articles are costly in Bulawayo, when it has taken eight or ten weeks to bring them from the nearest railway terminus. The waggons do most of their journeying by night, allowing the oxen to rest during the heat of the day. One of the minor troubles of travel is the delay which ensues when one's vehicle meets a string of waggons, sometimes nearly a quarter of a mile long, for each has eight, nine, or even ten, span of oxen. They move very slowly, and at night, when the track happens to be a narrow one among trees, it is not easy to get past. Except for these waggons the road is lonely. One sees few natives, though the narrow footpaths crossing the wheel-track show that the country is inhabited. Here and there one passes a large native village, such as Ramoutsie and Machudi, but small hamlets are rare, and solitary huts still rarer. The country is of course very thinly peopled in proportion to its resources, for, what with the good pasture nearly everywhere and the fertile land in many places, it could support eight or ten times the number of Barolongs, Bamangwato, and other Bechuanas who now live scattered over its vast area. It is not the beasts of prey that are to blame for this, for, with the disappearance of game, lions have become extremely scarce, and leopards and lynxes are no longer common. Few quadrupeds are seen, and not many kinds of birds. Vultures, hawks, and a species something like a magpie, with four pretty white patches upon the wings and a long tail, are the commonest, together with bluish-grey guinea-fowl, pigeons and sometimes a small partridge. In some parts there are plenty of bustards, prized as dainties, but we saw very few. Away from the track some buck of the commoner kinds may still be found, and farther to the west there is still plenty of big game in the Kalahari Desert. But the region which we traversed is almost as unattractive to the sportsman as it is to the lover of beauty. It is, indeed, one of the dullest parts of South Africa. The next stage in the journey is marked by Palapshwye, Khama's capital. This is the largest native town south of the Zambesi, for it has a population estimated at over 20,000. It came into being only a few years ago, when Khama, having returned from the exile to which his father had consigned him on account of his steadfast adherence to Christianity, and having succeeded to the chieftainship of the Bamangwato, moved the tribe from its previous dwelling-place at Shoshong, some seventy miles to the south-west, and fixed it here. Such migrations and foundations of new towns are not uncommon in South Africa, as they were not uncommon in India in the days of the Pathan and Mogul sovereigns, when each new occupant of the throne generally chose a new residence to fortify or adorn. Why this particular site was chosen I do not know. It stands high, and is free from malaria, and there are springs of water in the craggy hill behind; but the country all round is poor, rocky in some places, sandy in others, and less attractive than some other parts of Bechuanaland. We entered the town late at night, delayed by the deep sand on the track, and wandered about in the dark for a long while before, after knocking at one hut after another, we could persuade any native to come out and show us the way to the little cluster of European dwellings. The Kafirs are terribly afraid of the night, and fear the ghosts, which are to them the powers of darkness, more than they care for offers of money. Khama was absent in England, pressing upon the Colonial Office his objections to the demand made by the British South Africa Company that his kingdom should be brought within the scope of their administration and a railway constructed through it from Mafeking to Bulawayo. Besides the natural wish of a monarch to retain his authority undiminished, he was moved by the desire to keep his subjects from the use of intoxicating spirits, a practice which the establishment of white men among them would make it difficult, if not impossible, to prevent. The main object of Khama's life and rule has been to keep his people from intoxicants. His feelings were expressed in a letter to a British Commissioner, in which he said: "I fear Lo Bengula less than I fear brandy. I fought against Lo Bengula and drove him back. He never gives me a sleepless night. But to fight against drink is to fight against demons and not men. I fear the white man's drink more than the assagais of the Matabili, which kill men's bodies. Drink puts devils into men and destroys their souls and bodies." Though a Christian himself, and giving the missionaries in his dominions every facility for their work, he has never attempted to make converts by force. A prohibition of the use of alcohol, however, has seemed to him to lie "within the sphere of governmental action," and he has, indeed, imperilled his throne by efforts to prevent the Bamangwato from making and drinking the stronger kind of Kafir beer, to which, like all natives, they were much addicted.[44] This beer is made from the so-called "Kafir-corn" (a grain resembling millet, commonly cultivated by the natives), and, though less strong than European-made spirits, is more intoxicating than German or even English ale. Khama's prohibition of it had, shortly before my visit, led to a revolt and threatened secession of a part of the tribe under his younger brother, Radiclani, and the royal reformer, (himself a strict total abstainer), had been compelled to give way, lamenting, in a pathetic speech, that his subjects would not suffer him to do what was best for them. Just about the same time, in England, the proposal of a measure to check the use of intoxicating liquors led to the overthrow of a great party and clouded the prospects of any temperance legislation. Alike in Britain and in Bechuanaland it is no light matter to interfere with a people's favourite indulgences. European spirits are, however, so much more deleterious than Kafir beer that Khama still fought hard against their introduction. The British South Africa Company forbids the sale of intoxicants to natives in its territory, but Khama naturally felt that when at railway stations and stores spirits were being freely consumed by whites, the difficulty of keeping them from natives would be largely increased. The Colonial Office gave leave for the construction of the railway, and brought Khama into closer relations with the Company, while securing to him a large reserve and establishing certain provisions for his benefit and that of his people. However, a few months later (in the beginning of 1896) the extension of the Company's powers as to Bechuanaland was recalled, and Khama is now under the direct protection of the Imperial Government. His kingdom covers on the map a vast but ill-defined area, stretching on the west into the Kalahari Desert, and on the north-west into the thinly peopled country round Lake Ngami, where various small tribes live in practical independence. Sovereignty among African natives is tribal rather than territorial. Khama is the chief of the Bamangwato, rather than ruler of a country, and where the Bamangwato dwell there Khama reigns. A large proportion of them dwell in or near Palapshwye. Born about 1830, he is by far the most remarkable Kafir now living in South Africa, for he has shown a tact, prudence, and tenacity of purpose which would have done credit to a European statesman. He was converted to Christianity while still a boy, and had much persecution to endure at the hands of his heathen father, who at last banished him for refusing to take a second wife. What is not less remarkable, he has carried his Christianity into practice, evincing both a sense of honour as well as a humanity which has made him the special protector of the old and the weak, and even of the Bushmen who serve the Bamangwato. Regarded as fighters, his people are far inferior to the Matabili, and he was often in danger of being overpowered by the fierce and rapacious Lo Bengula. As early as 1862 he crossed assagais with and defeated a Matabili _impi_ (war-band), earning the praise of the grim Mosilikatze, who said, "Khama is a man. There is no other man among the Bamangwato." Though frequently thereafter threatened and sometimes attacked, he succeeded, by his skilful policy, in avoiding any serious war until the fall of Lo Bengula in 1893. Seeing the tide of white conquest rising all round him, he has had a difficult problem to face, and it is not surprising that he has been less eager to welcome the Company and its railway than those who considered him the white man's friend had expected. The coming of the whites means not only the coming of liquor, but the gradual occupation of the large open tracts where the natives have hunted and pastured their cattle, with a consequent change in their mode of life, which, inevitable as it may be, a patriotic chief must naturally wish to delay. Palapshwye, the largest native town south of the Zambesi, is an immense mass of huts, planted without the smallest attempt at order over the sandy hill slope, some two square miles in extent. The huts are small, with low walls of clay and roofs of grass, so that from a distance the place looks like a wilderness of beehives. Each of the chief men has his own hut and those of his wives inclosed in a rough fence of thorns, or perhaps of prickly-pear, and between the groups of huts lie open spaces of sand or dusty tracks. In the middle of the town close to the huts of Khama himself, who, however, being a Christian, has but one wife, stands the great kraal or _kothla_. It is an inclosure some three hundred yards in circumference, surrounded by a stockade ten feet high, made of dry trunks and boughs of trees stuck in the ground so close together that one could not even shoot a gun, or hurl an assagai through them. The stockade might resist the first attack of native enemies if the rest of the town had been captured, but it would soon yield to fire. In the middle of it stands the now dry trunk of an old tree, spared when the other trees were cut down to make the kraal, because it was supposed to have magical powers, and heal those who touched it. A heap of giraffe skins lay piled against it, but its healing capacity now finds less credit, at least among those who wish to stand well with the chief. Within this inclosure Khama holds his general assemblies when he has some address to deliver to the people or some ordinance to proclaim. He administers criminal justice among his subjects, and decides their civil disputes, usually with the aid of one or two elderly counsellors. He has tried to improve their agricultural methods, and being fond of horses has formed a good stud. Unhappily, in 1896, the great murrain descended upon the Bamangwato, and Khama and his tribe lost nearly all the cattle (said to have numbered eight hundred thousand) in which their wealth consisted. The British magistrate--there are about seventy Europeans living in the town--described these Bechuanas as a quiet folk, not hard to manage. They have less force of character and much less taste for fighting than Zulus or Matabili. The main impression which they leave on a stranger is that of laziness. Of the many whom we saw hanging about in the sun, hardly one seemed to be doing any kind of work. Nor do they. They grow a few mealies (maize), but it is chiefly the women who hoe and plant the ground. They know how to handle wire and twist it round the handles of the _sjamboks_ (whips of hippopotamus hide). But having few wants and no ambition, they have practically no industries, and spend their lives in sleeping, loafing, and talking. When one watches such a race, it seems all the more strange that a man of such remarkable force of character as Khama should suddenly appear among them.[45] For about sixty miles north-eastward from Palapshwye the country continues dull, dry, and mostly level. After that rocky hills appear, and in the beds of the larger streams a little water is seen. At Tati, ninety miles from Palapshwye (nearly four hundred from Mafeking), gold reefs have been worked at intervals for five and twenty years, under a concession originally granted (1869), by Lo Bengula, and a little European settlement has grown up. Here one passes from Bechuanaland into the territories which belonged to the Matabili, and now to the British South Africa Company. The country rises and grows more picturesque. The grass is greener on the pastures. New trees appear, some of them bearing beautiful flowers, and the air is full of tales of lions. For, in Africa, where there is more grass there is more game, and where there is more game there are more beasts of prey. Lions, we were told, had last week dragged a Kafir from beneath a waggon where he was sleeping. Lions had been seen yester eve trotting before the coach. Lions would probably be seen again to-morrow. But to us the beast was always a lion of yesterday or a lion of to-morrow, never a lion of to-day. The most direct evidence we had of his presence was when, some days later, we were shown a horse on which that morning a lion had sprung, inflicting terrible wounds. The rider was not touched, and galloped the poor animal back to camp. At Mangwe, a pretty little station with exceptionally bad sleeping quarters, the romantic part of the country may be said to begin. All round there are rocky kopjes, and the track which leads northward follows a line of hollows between them, called the Mangwe Pass, a point which was of much strategical importance in the Matabili war of 1893, and became again of so much importance in the recent native rising (1896) that one of the first acts of the British authorities was to construct a rough fort in it and place a garrison there. Oddly enough, the insurgents did not try to occupy it, and thereby cut off the English in Matabililand from their railway base at Mafeking, the reason being, as I was informed, that the _Molimo_, or prophet, whose incitements contributed to the insurrection, had told them that it was by the road through this pass that the white strangers would quit the country for ever. A more peaceful spot could not be imagined than the pass was when we passed through it at 5 A.M., "under the opening eyelids of the dawn." Smooth green lawns, each surrounded by a fringe of wood, and filled with the songs of awakening birds, lay beneath the beetling crags of granite,--granite whose natural grey was hidden by brilliant red and yellow lichens,--and here and there a clear streamlet trickled across the path. Climbing to the top of one of these rocky masses, I enjoyed a superb view to north, west, and east, over a wilderness of rugged hills, with huge masses of grey rock rising out of a feathery forest, while to the north the undulating line, faintly blue in the far distance, marked the point where the plateau of central Matabililand begins to decline toward the valley of the Zambesi. It was a beautiful prospect both in the wild variety of the foreground and in the delicate hues of ridge after ridge melting away towards the horizon, and it was all waste and silent, as it has been since the world began. The track winds through the hills for some six or eight miles before it emerges on the more open country. These kopjes, which form a sort of range running east-south-east and west-north-west, are the Matoppo Hills, in which the main body of the Matabili and other insurgent natives held their ground during the months of April, May and June, 1896. Although the wood is not dense, by no means so hard to penetrate as the bush or low scrub which baffled the British troops in the early Kafir wars, waged on the eastern border of Cape Colony, still the ground is so very rough, and the tumbled masses of rock which lie round the foot of the granite kopjes afford so many spots for hiding, that the agile native, who knows the ground, had a far better chance against the firearms of the white men than he could have had in the open country where the battles of 1893 took place. Seeing such a country one can well understand that it was quite as much by famine as by fighting that the rising of 1896 was brought to an end. From the northern end of the Mangwe Pass it is over forty miles to Bulawayo, the goal of our journey, and the starting-point for our return journey to the coast of the Indian Ocean. But Bulawayo is too important a place to be dealt with at the end of a chapter already sufficiently long. [Footnote 40: "Already night saw all the stars of the other pole, and ours brought so low that it rose not from the surface of the sea."] [Footnote 41: Called after Constance, wife of Governor Adrian van der Stel.] [Footnote 42: Nimble climbers will do well to descend from the top down a grand cleft in the rocks, very narrow and extremely steep, which is called the Great Kloof. At its bottom, just behind Cape Town, one sees in a stream-bed the granite rock on which the horizontal strata of sandstone that form Table Mountain rest.] [Footnote 43: Here, in December, 1896, the natives rose in revolt, exasperated by the slaughter of their cattle, though that slaughter was the only method of checking the progress of the cattle plague.] [Footnote 44: There is also a weaker kind made, intoxicating only if consumed in very large quantity.] [Footnote 45: For most of what is here stated regarding Khama I am indebted to an interesting little book by the late Bishop Knight-Bruce, entitled _Khama, an African Chief_.] CHAPTER XV FROM BULAWAYO TO FORT SALISBURY--MATABILILAND AND MASHONALAND Bulawayo means, in the Zulu tongue, the place of slaughter, and under the sway of Lo Bengula it deserved its name. Just sixty years ago Mosilikatze, chief of the Matabili, driven out of what is now the Transvaal Republic by the Dutch Boers who had emigrated from Cape Colony, fled four hundred miles to the north-west and fell like a sudden tempest upon the Makalakas and other feeble tribes who pastured their cattle in this remote region. His tribe was not large, but every man was a tried warrior. The Makalakas were slaughtered or chased away or reduced to slavery, and when Mosilikatze died in 1870, his son Lo Bengula succeeded to the most powerful kingdom in South Africa after that of Cetewayo, chief of the Zulus. Of the native town which grew up round the king's kraal there is now not a trace--all was destroyed in 1893. The kraal itself, which Lo Bengula fired when he fled away, has gone, and only one old tree marks the spot where the king used to sit administering justice to his subjects. A large part of this justice consisted in decreeing death to those among his _indunas_ or other prominent men who had excited his suspicions or whose cattle he desired to appropriate. Sometimes he had them denounced--"smelt out," they called it--by the witch-doctors as guilty of practising magic against him. Sometimes he dispensed with a pretext, and sent a messenger to the hut of the doomed man to tell him the king wanted him. The victim, often ignorant of his fate, walked in front, while the executioner, following close behind, suddenly dealt him with the _knob-kerry_, or heavy-ended stick, one tremendous blow, which crushed his skull and left him dead upon the ground. Women, on the other hand, were strangled.[46] No one disputed the despot's will, for the Matabili, like other Zulus, show to their king the absolute submission of soldiers to their general, while the less martial tribes, such as the Bechuanas and Basutos, obey the chief only when he has the sentiment of the tribe behind him. One thing, however, the king could not do. He owned a large part of all the cattle of the tribe, and he assumed the power to grant concessions to dig for minerals. But the land belonged to the whole tribe by right of conquest, and he had no power to alienate it. Moved by the associations of the ancient capital, Mr. Rhodes directed the residence of the Administrator, Government House, as it is called, to be built on the site of Lo Bengula's kraal. But the spot was not a convenient one for the creation of a European town, for it was a good way from any stream, and there was believed to be a valuable gold-reef immediately under it. Accordingly, a new site was chosen, on somewhat lower ground, about two miles to the south-west. Here new Bulawayo stands, having risen with a rapidity rivalling that of a mining-camp in Western America. The site has no natural beauty, for the landscape is dull, with nothing to relieve its monotonous lines except the hill of Tsaba Induna, about fifteen miles distant to the east. The ground on which the town stands, sloping gently to the south, is bare, dusty, and wind-swept, like the country all round. However, the gum-trees, planted in the beginning of 1894, when the streets were laid out, had already shot up to twelve or fifteen feet in height and began to give some little shade. Brick houses were rising here and there among the wooden shanties and the sheds of corrugated iron. An opera house was talked of, and already the cricket-ground and racecourse, without which Englishmen cannot be happy, had been laid out. Town lots, or "stands," as they are called in South Africa, had gone up to prices which nothing but a career of swift and brilliant prosperity could justify. However, that prosperity seemed to the inhabitants of Bulawayo to be assured. Settlers kept flocking in. Storekeepers and hotel-keepers were doing a roaring trade. Samples of ore were every day being brought in from newly explored gold-reefs, and all men's talk was of pennyweights, or even ounces, to the ton. Everybody was cheerful, because everybody was hopeful. It was not surprising. There is something intoxicating in the atmosphere of a perfectly new country, with its undeveloped and undefined possibilities: and the easy acquisition of this spacious and healthful land, the sudden rise of this English town, where two years before there had been nothing but the huts of squalid savages, had filled every one with a delightful sense of the power of civilized man to subjugate the earth and draw from it boundless wealth. Perhaps something may also be set down to the climate. Bulawayo is not beautiful. Far more attractive sites might have been found among the hills to the south. But it has a deliciously fresh, keen brilliant air, with a strong breeze tempering the sun-heat, and no risk of fever. Indeed, nearly all this side of Matabililand is healthful, partly because it has been more thickly peopled of late years than the eastern side of the country, which was largely depopulated by the Matabili raids. Next to the prospects of the gold-reefs (a topic to which I shall presently return), the question in which a visitor in 1895 felt most interest was the condition of the natives. It seemed too much to expect that a proud and warlike race of savages should suddenly, within less than two years from the overthrow of their king, have abandoned all notion of resistance to the whites and settled down as peaceable subjects. The whites were a mere handful scattered over an immense area of country, and the white police force did not exceed four or five hundred men. Nevertheless, the authorities of the British South Africa Company were of opinion that peace had been finally secured, and that no danger remained from the natives. They observed that, while the true Matabili who remained in the country--for some had fled down to or across the Zambesi after the defeats of 1893--were comparatively few in number, the other natives, mostly Makalakas,[47] were timid and unwarlike. They held that when a native tribe has been once completely overcome in fight, it accepts the inevitable with submission. And they dwelt on the fact that Lo Bengula's tyranny had been a constant source of terror to his own subjects. After his flight some of his leading indunas came to Dr. Jameson and said, "Now we can sleep." This confidence was shared by all the Europeans in the country. English settlers dwelt alone without a shade of apprehension in farms, six, eight, or ten miles from another European. In the journey I am describing from Mafeking to Fort Salisbury, over eight hundred miles of lonely country, my wife and I were accompanied only by my driver, a worthy Cape Dutchman named Renske, and by a native "Cape boy." None of us was armed, and no one of the friends we consulted as to our trip even suggested that I should carry so much as a revolver, or that the slightest risk was involved in taking a lady through the country. How absolutely secure the Administrator at Bulawayo felt was shown by his sending the Matabililand mounted police (those who afterwards marched into the Transvaal) to Pitsani, in southern Bechuanaland, in November, leaving the country denuded of any force to keep order. It is easy to be wise after the event. The confidence of the Europeans in the submissiveness of the natives is now seen to have been ill founded. Causes of discontent were rife among them, which, at first obscure, became subsequently clear. Two of these causes were already known at the time of my visit, though their seriousness was under-estimated. In Mashonaland the natives disliked the tax of ten shillings for each hut, which there, as in the Transvaal Republic,[48] they have been required to pay; and they complained that it was apt to fall heavily on the industrious Kafir, because the idle one escaped, having nothing that could be taken in payment of it. This tax was sometimes levied in kind, sometimes in labour, but by preference in money when the hut-owner had any money, for the Company desired to induce the natives to earn wages. If he had not, an ox was usually taken in pledge. In Matabililand many natives, I was told, felt aggrieved that the Company had claimed the ownership of and the right to take to itself all the cattle, as having been (in the Company's view) the property of Lo Bengula, although many of these had, in fact, been left in the hands of the indunas, and a large part were, in December, 1895, distributed among the natives as their own property. Subsequent inquiries have shown that this grievance was deeply and widely felt. As regards the land, there was evidently the material out of which a grievance might grow, but the grievance did not seem to have yet actually arisen. The land was being sold off in farms, and natives squatting on a piece of land so sold might be required by the purchaser to clear out. However, pains were taken, I was told, to avoid including native villages in any farm sold. Often it would not be for the purchaser's interest to eject the natives, because he might get labourers among them, and labour is what is most wanted. Two native reservations had been laid out, but the policy of the Company was to keep the natives scattered about among the whites rather than mass them in the reservations. Under Lo Bengula there had been no such thing as private ownership of land. The land was "nationalized," and no individual Kafir was deemed to have any permanent and exclusive right even to the piece of it which he might be at the time cultivating. While he actually did cultivate he was not disturbed, for the simple reason that there was far more land than the people could or would cultivate. The natives, although they till the soil, are still half-nomads. They often shift their villages, and even when the village remains they seldom cultivate the same patch for long together. Though Europeans had been freely buying the land, they bought largely to hold for a rise and sell again, and comparatively few of the farms bought had been actually stocked with cattle, while, of course, the parts under tillage were a mere trifle. Hence there did not seem to have been as yet any pressure upon the natives, who, though they vastly outnumber the Europeans, are very few in proportion to the size of the country. I doubt if in the whole territory of the Company south of the Zambesi River there are 1,000,000. To these possible sources of trouble there was added one now perceived to have been still graver. Native labour was needed not only for public works, but by private persons for mining operations. As the number of Kafirs who came willingly was insufficient, the indunas were required to furnish stout young men to work; and according to Mr. Selous,[49] who was then living in the country, force was often used to bring them in. Good wages were given; but the regulations were irksome, and the native police, who were often employed to bring in the labourers, seem to have abused their powers. To the genuine Matabili, who lived only for war and plunder, and had been accustomed to despise the other tribes, work, and especially mine work, was not only distasteful, but degrading. They had never been really subdued. In 1893 they hid away most of the firearms they possessed, hoping to use them again. Now, when their discontent had increased, two events hastened an outbreak. One was the removal of the white police to Pitsani. Only forty-four were left in Matabililand to keep order. The other was the appearance of a frightful murrain among the cattle, which made it necessary for the Company to order the slaughter even of healthy animals in order to stop the progress of the contagion. The plague had come slowly down through German and Portuguese East Africa, propagated, it is said, by the wild animals, especially buffaloes. Some kinds of wild game are as liable to it as domesticated oxen are, and on the Upper Zambesi in September, 1896, so large a part of the game had died that the lions, mad with hunger, were prowling round the native kraals and making it dangerous to pass from village to village. This new and unlooked for calamity created a ferment in the minds of the natives. The slaughter of their cattle seemed to them an act of injustice. Just when they were terrified at this calamity (which, it was reported, had been sent up among them by Lo Bengula, or his ghost, from the banks of the Zambesi) and incensed at this apparent injustice, coming on the top of their previous visitation, the news of the defeat and surrender of the Company's police force in the Transvaal spread among them. They saw the white government defenceless, and its head, Dr. Jameson, whose kindliness had impressed those who knew him personally, no longer among them. Then, under the incitements of a prophet, came the revolt. This, however, is a digression. In October, 1895, we travelled, unarmed and unconcerned, by night as well as by day, through villages where five months later the Kafirs rose and murdered every European within reach. So entirely unsuspected was the already simmering disaffection. The native question which occupied Bulawayo in September, 1895, was that native-labour question which, in one form or another, is always present to South African minds. All hard labour, all rough and unskilled labour, is, and, owing to the heat of the climate as well as the scarcity of white men, must be, done by blacks; and in a new country like Matabililand the blacks, though they can sometimes be induced to till the land, are most averse to working under ground. They are only beginning to use money, and they do not want the things which money buys. The wants of a native living with his tribe and cultivating mealies or Kafir corn are confined to a kaross (skin cloak) or some pieces of cotton cloth. The prospect of leaving his tribe to go and work in a mine, in order that he may earn wages wherewith he can buy things he has no use for, does not at once appeal to him. The white men, anxious to get to work on the gold-reefs, are annoyed at what they call the stupidity and laziness of the native, and usually clamour for legislation to compel the natives to come and work, adding, of course, that regular labour would be the best thing in the world for the natives. Some go so far as to wish to compel them to work at a fixed rate of wages, sufficient to leave a good profit for the employer. Others go even further, and as experience has shown that the native does not fear imprisonment as a penalty for leaving his work, desire the infliction of another punishment which he does fear--that is, the lash. Such monstrous demands seem fitter for the mouths of Spaniards in the sixteenth century than for Englishmen in the nineteenth. The difficulty of getting labour is incident to a new country, and must be borne with. In German East Africa it has been so much felt that the Administrator of that region has proposed to import Indian labour, as the sugar-planters of Natal, and as those of Trinidad and Demerara in the West Indies, have already done. But it is to some extent a transitory difficulty. The mines at Kimberley succeed in drawing plenty of native labour; so do the mines on the Witwatersrand; so in time the mine-owners in Matabililand may hope to do also. They must, however, be prepared, until a regular afflux of labourers has been set up, to offer, as the Kimberley people do, wages far in excess of anything the Kafirs could possibly gain among their own people, in order to overcome the distaste of the native--a very natural distaste, due to centuries of indolence in a hot climate--to any hard and continuous toil. This is no great compensation to make to those whose land they have taken and whose primitive way of life they have broken up and for ever destroyed. But once the habit of coming to work for wages has been established in these northern regions,--and it need not take many years to establish it,--the mining companies will have no great difficulty in getting as much labour as they want, and will not be obliged, as they now are, to try to arrange with a chief for the despatch of some of his "boys." Bulawayo is the point from which one starts to visit the Victoria Falls on the Zambesi, the only very grand natural object which South Africa has to show. The expedition, however, is a much longer one than a glance at the map would suggest. Owing to the prevalence of the tsetse-fly in the valley of the great river, one cannot take oxen without the prospect of losing them, and must therefore travel on foot or with donkeys. The want of a waggon makes camping out much more troublesome and involves a large force of native porters. Thus elaborate preparations are needed, and though the distance, as the crow flies, from Bulawayo to the Falls is only some two hundred miles, at least six weeks are needed for the trip, a space of time we could not spare. I have described in the last chapter the route from Cape Town to the capital of Matabililand which persons coming from England would naturally take. It is not, however, by any means the shortest route to the sea, and is therefore not the route along which the bulk of the European trade is likely in future to pass. From Cape Town to Bulawayo it is fourteen hundred miles; but from Bulawayo to the port of Beira, on the Indian Ocean, it is only six hundred and fifty miles _via_ Fort Salisbury and Mtali, and will be only about five hundred if a more direct railway line should ever be laid out. I propose to take the reader back to the sea at Beira by this Fort Salisbury and Mtali route, and in following it he will learn something about Mashonaland and the mountains which divide British from Portuguese territory. Bulawayo is distant from Fort Salisbury two hundred and eighty miles. The journey takes by coach four days and four nights, travelling night and day, with only short halts for meals. An ox-waggon accomplishes it in about three weeks. The track runs nearly all the way along high ground, open, breezy, and healthful, because dry, but seldom picturesque. It is a land of rolling downs, the tops of which are covered with thin grass, while better pastures, and sometimes woods also, are found in the valleys of the streams and on the lower slopes of the hills. The first part of the way, from Bulawayo to the little town of Gwelo, is rather dull. One crosses the Bimbezi River, where the Matabili were finally overthrown in the war of 1893, and the Shangani[50] River, where they suffered their first defeat. The Company's force was advancing along the high open ground to attack Bulawayo, and the native army met them on the road. Both battlefields are bare and open, and one wonders at the folly of the natives who advanced over such ground, exposed to the rifle-fire and the still more deadly Maxim guns of the invaders. Armed in large part only with assagais, they were mown down before they could even reach the front of the British line, and their splendid courage made their destruction all the more complete. Had they stuck to the rocky and woody regions they might have made the war a far longer and more troublesome business than it proved to be. No stone marks either battle-field. From a spot between the two rivers we turned off to the south to visit the prehistoric remains at Dhlodhlo. It was an extremely lonely track, on which we did not meet a human being for some thirty miles. No house, not even a Kafir hut, was to be found, so we bivouacked in the veldt, to the lee of a clump of thorn-bushes. The earlier part of the nights is delightful at this season (October), but it is apt to get cold between 2 and 4 A.M., and as there is usually a south-east wind blowing, the shelter of a bush or a tall ant-hill is not unwelcome. Whoever enjoys travelling at all cannot but enjoy such a night alone under the stars. One gathers sticks to make the fire, and gets to know which wood burns best. One considers how the scanty supply of water which the waggon carries may be most thriftily used for making the soup, boiling the eggs and brewing the tea. One listens (we listened in vain) for the roar of a distant lion or the still less melodious voice of the hyena. The brilliance of the stars is such that only the fatigue of the long day--for one must always start by or before sunrise to spare the animals during the sultry noon--and the difficulty of sitting down in a great, bare, flat land, where there is not a large stone and seldom even a tree, can drive one into the vehicle to sleep. The meals, consisting of tinned meat and biscuits, with eggs and sometimes a small, lean, and desiccated chicken, are very scanty and very monotonous, but the air is so dry and fresh and bracing that one seems to find meat and drink in it. Next day we came, at the foot of the Matoppo Hills, to a solitary farm, where we found a bright young Englishman, who, with only one white companion, had established himself in this wilderness and was raising good crops on fields to which he brought water from a neighbouring streamlet. Even the devastation wrought by a flight of locusts had not dispirited him nor diminished his faith in the country. It is not the least of the pleasures of such a journey that one finds so many cheery, hearty, sanguine young fellows scattered about this country, some of them keeping or helping to keep stores, some of them, like our friend here, showing what the soil may be made to do with skill and perseverance, and how homes may be reared upon it. One is always hospitably received; one often finds in the hard-working pioneer or the youth behind the store counter a cultivated and thoughtful mind; one has, perhaps, a glimpse of an attractive personality developing itself under simple yet severe conditions, fitted to bring out the real force of a man. After half an hour's talk you part as if you were parting with an old friend, yet knowing that the same roof is not likely ever to cover both of you again. There are, of course, rough and ill-omened explorers and settlers in South Africa, as in other new countries: but having wandered a good deal, in different countries, on the outer edge of civilization, I was struck by the large proportion of well-mannered and well-educated men whom one came across in this tropical wilderness. From the young Englishman's farm we turned in among the hills, following the course of the brook, and gently rising till we reached a height from which a superb view to the north unrolled itself. The country was charming, quite unlike the dull brown downs of yesterday. On each side were steep hills, sometimes rocky, sometimes covered thick with wood; between them in the valley a succession of smooth, grassy glades, each circled round by trees. It was rural scenery--scenery in which one could wish to build a cottage and dwell therein, or in which a pastoral drama might be laid. There was nothing to suggest Europe, for the rocks and, still more, the trees were thoroughly African in character, and the air even drier and keener than that of Sicily. But the landscape was one which any lover of Theocritus might have come to love; and some day, when there are large towns in Matabililand, and plenty of Englishmen living in them, the charm of these hills will be appreciated. The valley rises at last to a grassy table-land, where, on a boss of granite rock, stand the ancient walls of Dhlodhlo, which we had come to see. I have already described the ruins (see Chapter IX), which are scanty enough, and interesting, not from any beauty they possess, but because we have so few data for guessing at their purpose or the race that built them. The country is now very solitary, and the natives fear to approach the ruins, especially at night, believing them to be haunted. Having spent some hours in examining them, we were just starting when a swarm of locusts passed, the first we had seen. It is a strange sight, beautiful if you can forget the destruction it brings with it. The whole air, to twelve or even eighteen feet above the ground, is filled with the insects, reddish brown in body, with bright gauzy wings. When the sun's rays catch them it is like the sea sparkling with light. When you see them against a cloud they are like the dense flakes of a driving snow-storm. You feel as if you had never before realized immensity in number. Vast crowds of men gathered at a festival, countless tree-tops rising along the slope of a forest ridge, the chimneys of London houses from the top of St. Paul's,--all are as nothing to the myriads of insects that blot out the sun above and cover the ground beneath and fill the air whichever way one looks. The breeze carries them swiftly past, but they come on in fresh clouds, a host of which there is no end, each of them a harmless creature which you can catch and crush in your hand, but appalling in their power of collective devastation. Yet here in southern Matabililand there had been only a few swarms. We were to see later on, in the eastern mountain region, far more terrible evidences of their presence. From Dhlodhlo we drove to the store on the Shangani River, a distance of twenty miles or more, right across the open veldt, finding our way, with the aid of a native boy, over stony hills and thick shrubs, and even here and there across marshy stream beds, in a way which astonishes the European accustomed to think that roads, or at least beaten tracks, are essential to four-wheeled vehicles. I have driven in an open cart across the central watershed of the Rocky Mountains; but the country there, rough as it is, is like a paved road compared with some parts of the veldt over which the South African guides his team. Once or twice we missed the way in the deepening twilight, and began to prepare ourselves for another night under the stars, with a nearly exhausted food-supply. But at last, just as darkness fell, we reached a native village, and obtained (with difficulty) a native guide for the last few miles of the drive. These miles were lighted by a succession of grass-fires. Such fires are much commoner here than in the prairies of Western America, and, happily, much less dangerous, for the grass is usually short and the fire moves slowly. They are sometimes accidental, but more frequently lighted by the natives for the sake of getting a fresh growth of young grass on the part burned and thereby attracting the game. Sometimes the cause is even slighter. The Kafirs are fond of eating the mice and other small inhabitants of the veldt, and they fire the grass to frighten these little creatures, and catch them before they can reach their holes, with the further convenience of having them ready roasted. Thus at this season nearly half the land on these downs is charred, and every night one sees the glow of a fire somewhere in the distance. The practice strikes a stranger as a wasteful one, exhausting to the soil, and calculated to stunt the trees, because, though the grass is too short to make the fire strong enough to kill a well-grown tree, it is quite able to injure the younger ones and prevent them from ever reaching their due proportions. The term "store," which I have just used, requires some explanation. There are, of course, no inns in the country, except in the three or four tiny towns. Outside these, sleeping quarters are to be had only in small native huts, built round a sort of primitive "general shop" which some trader has established to supply the wants of those who live within fifty miles or who pass along the road. The hut is of clay, with a roof of thatch, which makes it cooler than the store with its roof of galvanised iron. White ants are usually at work upon the clay walls, sending down little showers of dust upon the sleeper. Each hut contains two rough wooden frames, across which there is stretched, to make a bed, a piece of coarse linen or ticking. Very prudent people turn back the dirty rug or bit of old blanket which covers the bed, and cast a glance upon the clay floor, to see that no black _momba_ or other venomous snake is already in possession. Such night quarters may seem unattractive, but we had many a good night's rest in them. When they are unattainable one camps out. From the Shangani River to Gwelo the track leads again over a succession of huge, swelling ridges, separated from one another by the valleys of _spruits_, or streams, now nearly dry, but in the wet season running full and strong. The descent to the spruit, which is often a short, steep pitch and is then called a donga, needs careful driving, and the ascent up the opposite bank is for a heavy waggon a matter of great difficulty. We passed waggons hardly advancing a step, though eight or nine span of oxen were tugging at them, and sometimes saw two three span detached from another team and attached to the one which had failed, unaided, to mount the slope. No wonder that, when the difficulty of bringing up machinery is so great, impatient mine-owners long for the railway. The first sign that we were close upon Gwelo came from the sight of a number of white men in shirt-sleeves running across a meadow--an unusual sight in South Africa, which presently explained itself as the English inhabitants engaged in a cricket match. Nearly the whole town was either playing or looking on. It was a hot afternoon, but our energetic countrymen were not to be scared by the sun from the pursuit of the national game. They are as much Englishmen in Africa as in England, and, happily for them and for their country, there is no part of the national character that is more useful when transplanted than the fondness for active exercise. Gwelo, a cheerful little place, though it stands in a rather bleak country, with a wooded ridge a little way off to the south, interested me as a specimen of the newest kind of settlement. It is not in strictness a mining camp, for there are no reefs in the immediate neighbourhood, but a mining centre, which proposes to live as the local metropolis of a gold-bearing district, a place of supply and seat of local administration. In October, 1895, it had about fifteen houses inhabited by Europeans and perhaps thirty houses altogether; but the materials for building other houses were already on the ground, and the usual symptoms of a "boom" were discernible. Comparing it with the many similar "new cities" I had seen in Western America, I was much struck with the absence of the most conspicuous features of those cities--the "saloons" and "bars." In California or Montana these establishments, in which the twin deities of gambling and drinking are worshipped with equal devotion, form half the houses of a recent settlement in a mining region. In South Africa, except at and near Johannesburg, one scarcely sees them. Drinking rarely obtrudes itself. What gambling there may be I know not, but at any rate there are no gambling-saloons. Nothing can be more decorous than the aspect of these new African towns, and the conduct of the inhabitants seldom belies the aspect. There is, of course, a free use of alcohol. But there is no shooting, such as goes on in American mining towns: crimes of violence of any kind are extremely rare; and the tracks are safe. No one dreams of taking the precautions against "road-agents" (_i.e._ highwaymen) which are still far from superfluous in the Western States and were far from superfluous in Australia. Trains are not stopped and robbed; coaches are not "held up." Nothing surprised me more, next to the apparent submissiveness of the native Kafirs, than the order which appeared to prevail among the whites. A little reflection shows that in this northerly part of the country, where travelling is either very slow or very costly and difficult, malefactors would have few chances of escape. But I do not think this is the chief cause of the orderly and law-abiding habits of the people. There have never been any traditions of violence, still less of crime, in South Africa, except as against the natives. The Dutch Boers were steady, solid people, little given to thieving or to killing one another. The English have carried with them their respect for law and authority. In some respects their ethical standard is not that of the mother country. But towards one another and towards those set in authority over them, their attitude is generally correct. The night we spent at Gwelo gave a curious instance of the variability of this climate. The evening had been warm, but about midnight the S.E. wind rose, bringing a thin drizzle of rain, and next morning the cold was that of Boston or Edinburgh in a bitter north-easter. Having fortunately brought warm cloaks and overcoats, we put on all we had and fastened the canvas curtains round the vehicle. Nevertheless, we shivered all day long, the low thick clouds raining at intervals, and the malign blast chilling one's bones. Gwelo, of course, declared that such weather was quite exceptional; but those can have travelled little indeed who have not remarked how often they encounter "exceptional weather," and Gwelo, having existed for eighteen months only, had at best a small experience to fall back upon. The moral for travellers is: "Do not forget to take your furs and your ulsters to tropical South Africa." Some forty miles beyond Gwelo there is a mountain called Iron Mine Hill, where the Mashonas have for generations been wont to find and work iron. All or nearly all the Kafir tribes do this, but the Mashonas are more skilful at it than were their conquerors the Matabili. Here a track turns off to the south-east to Fort Victoria, the first military post established by the Company in its territories, and for a time the most important. It has fallen into the background lately, partly because the gold-reefs have not realized the hopes once formed of them, partly because it suffers from fever after the rains. I went to it because from it one visits the famous ruins at Zimbabwye, the most curious relic of prehistoric antiquity yet discovered in tropical Africa. The journey, one hundred miles from Iron Mine Hill to Victoria, is not an easy one, for there are no stores on the way where either provisions or night-quarters can be had, and the track is a bad one, being very little used. The country is well wooded and often pretty, with fantastic, rocky hills rising here and there, but presenting few striking features. Two views, however, dwell in my recollection as characteristic of South Africa. We had slept in a rude hut on the banks of the Shashi River, immediately beneath a rocky kopje, and rose next morning before dawn to continue the journey. Huge rocks piled wildly upon one another towered above the little meadow--rocks covered with lichens of brilliant hues, red, green, and yellow, and glowing under the rays of the level sun. Glossy-leaved bushes nestled in the crevices and covered the mouths of the dens to which the leopards had retired from their nocturnal prowls. One tree stood out against the clear blue on the top of the highest rock. Cliff-swallows darted and twittered about the hollows, while high overhead, in the still morning air, two pairs of large hawks sailed in wide circles round and round the summit of the hill. A few miles farther the track crossed a height from which one could gaze for thirty miles in every direction over a gently rolling country covered with wood, but with broad stretches of pasture interposed, whose grass, bleached to a light yellow, made one think it a mass of cornfields whitening to harvest. Out of these woods and fields rose at intervals what seemed the towers and spires of cities set upon hills. We could have fancied ourselves in central Italy, surveying from some eminence like Monte Amiata the ancient towns of Tuscany and Umbria rising on their rocky heights out of chestnut woods and fields of ripening corn. But the city towers were only piles of grey rock, and over the wide horizon there was not a sign of human life--only the silence and loneliness of an untouched wilderness. From Fort Victoria, where the war of 1893 began by a raid of the young Matabili warriors upon the Mashona tribes, who were living under the protection of the Company, it is seventeen miles to Zimbabwye. The track leads through a pretty country, with alternate stretches of wood and grass, bold hills on either side, and blue peaked mountains in the distance. Crossing a low, bare ridge of granite, one sees nearly a mile away, among thick trees, a piece of grey wall, and when one comes nearer, what seems the top of a tower just peeping over the edge of the wall. It is Zimbabwye--a wall of loose but well trimmed and neatly fitted pieces of granite surrounding an elliptical inclosure; within this inclosure other half-ruined walls over-grown by shrubs and trees, and a strange solid tower or pillar thirty feet high, built, without mortar, of similar pieces of trimmed granite.[51] This is all that there is to see. One paces to and fro within the inclosure and measures the width and length of the passages between the walls. One climbs the great inclosing wall at a point where part of it has been broken down, and walks along the broad top, picking one's way over the stems of climbing shrubs, which thrust themselves across the wall from beneath or grow rooted in its crevices. One looks and looks again, and wonders. But there is nothing to show whether this grey wall is three centuries or thirty centuries old. There is no architectural style, no decoration even, except a rudely simple pattern on the outside of the wall which faces the east; so there is nothing by which one can connect this temple, if it is a temple, with the buildings of any known race or country. In this mystery lies the charm of the spot--in this and in the remoteness and silence of a country which seems to have been always as it is to-day. One mark of modern man, and one only, is to be seen. In the middle of the valley, some three hundred yards from the great building, Mr. Cecil Rhodes has erected a monument to Major Wilson and the thirty-seven troopers who fell with him on the Lower Shangani River in December, 1893, fighting gallantly to the last against an overwhelming force of Matabili. The monument stands on an eminence surrounded by the broken wall of some ancient stronghold. It has been wisely placed far enough from the great ruin not to form an incongruous element in the view of the latter, and it was an imaginative thought to commemorate, at a spot in this new land which bears witness to a race of prehistoric conquerors, the most striking incident in the history of the latest conquest. We climbed the rocky height, where the skilfully constructed walls of the ancient fort show that those who built Zimbabwye lived in fear of enemies. We sat beside the spring, a clear though not copious spring, which rises a little to the south of the great building from a fissure in the rock. Fountains so clear are rare in this country, and the existence of this one probably determined the site of the great building itself. It flows into a small pool, and is then lost, being too small to form a rivulet. No trace of man's hand is seen round it or on the margin of the pool, but those who worshipped in the temple of Zimbabwye doubtless worshipped this fountain also, for that is one of the oldest and most widely diffused forms of worship in the world. Restless nature will some day overthrow the walls of the temple, which she is piercing with the roots of shrubs and entwining with the shoots of climbing wild vines, and then only the fountain will be left. From Fort Victoria to Fort Salisbury it is nearly two hundred miles, the country generally level, though studded, like parts of southern India, with isolated rocky hills, whose crags of granite or gneiss break under the sun and rain into strange and fantastic shapes. A people sufficiently advanced to erect fortifications might have made for themselves impregnable strongholds out of the tops of these kopjes. The timid Makalakas have in many places planted their huts in the midst of the huge detached masses into which the kopjes are cleft; but they have not known how to make their villages defensible, and have been content with piling up a few loose stones to close some narrow passage between the rocks, or surrounding their huts with a rough fence of thorn-bushes. We found one deserted village where upon each loose block there had been placed a rude erection of clay, covered at the top, and apparently intended for the storing of grain. Thus raised from the ground it was safer from wild beasts and from rain. All the dwelling huts but two had been burned. We entered these, and found the walls covered with the rudest possible representations of men and animals, drawn with charcoal, more coarsely than an average child of ten would draw, and far inferior in spirit to the figures which the Lapps of Norway will draw on a reindeer horn spoon, or the Red Indians of Dakota upon a calico cloak. Whether the village had perished by an accidental fire, or whether its inhabitants, relieved from that terror of the Matabili which drove them to hide amongst the rocks, had abandoned it for some spot in the plain below, there was no one to tell us. One curious trace of insecurity remained in a dry and light tree-trunk, which had been left standing against the side of a flat-topped rock some thirty feet high, with the lowest dozen feet too steep to be climbed. It had evidently served as a sort of ladder. By it the upper part of the rock might be gained, and when it had been pulled up, approach was cut off and the fugitives on the flat top might be safe, while the Matabili were plundering their stores of grain and killing their friends beneath. All this eastern side of the country was frequently raided by the Matabili, whose home lay farther west towards Bulawayo. The Makalakas could offer no resistance, not only because they were poor fighters, but also because they were without cohesion. The clans were small and obeyed no common overlord. Most of the villages lived quite unconnected with one another, yielding obedience, often a doubtful obedience, to their own chief, but caring nothing for any other village. Among savages the ascendency of a comparatively numerous tribe which is drilled to fight, and which renders implicit obedience to its chief, is swift and complete. The Matabili when they entered this country had probably only ten or twelve thousand fighting men; but they conquered it without the slightest difficulty, for the inhabitants, though far more numerous, were divided into small communities, and did not attempt to offer any collective resistance. Then for more than half a century slaughter and pillage reigned over a tract of some ninety thousand square miles. Much of this tract, especially the eastern part, which we call Mashonaland, was well peopled by tribes who lived quietly, had plenty of cattle, tilled the soil, and continued to dig a little gold, as their forefathers had done for centuries. They were now mercilessly raided by the Matabili all the way from Lake Ngami on the west to the edge of the great plateau on the east, till large districts were depopulated and left desolate, the grown men having been all killed or chased away, the children either killed, or made slaves of, or taken as recruits into the Matabili army. Constant war and the sanguinary government of Lo Bengula reduced the number of the true Matabili, so that such recruiting became a necessity. Their successes filled the Matabili with an overweening confidence in their power. Through all South Africa they despised every native tribe, except that martial one which was ruled by Gungunhana on the eastern frontier of Mashonaland, and despised even the white men, thinking them but a handful. The indunas, who had visited London in 1891, endeavoured to warn them of the resources of the whites, and Lo Bengula himself was opposed to war. But the young braves, who, like Cetewayo's Zulus, desired to "wash their spears," overbore the reluctance of the monarch, only to perish in the war of 1893. Towards Fort Salisbury the country rises and grows prettier as it shows signs of a more copious rainfall. New flowers appear, and the grass is greener. About twelve miles before the town is reached one crosses a considerable stream with a long, deep, clear pool among rocks, and is told of the misadventure of an English doctor who, after a hasty plunge into the pool, was drying himself on a flat stone just above the water when a crocodile suddenly raised its hideous snout, seized his leg in its jaws, and dragged him down. Fortunately his companions were close at hand and succeeded after a struggle in forcing the beast to drop its prey. The town itself is built at the foot of a low, wooded hill, on the top of which stood the original fort, hastily constructed of loose stones in 1890, and occupied in serious earnest for defence during the Matabili war. It spreads over a wide space of ground, with houses scattered here and there, and has become, since the draining of the marshy land on the banks of a streamlet which runs through it, free from malaria and quite healthy. Though the sun heat was great in the end of October (for one is only eighteen degrees from the equator), the air was so fresh and dry that I could walk for miles in the full blaze of noon, and the nights were too cool to sit out on the _stoep_ (the wooden verandah which one finds at the front of every South African house) without an overcoat. Just round the town the country is open and grassy, but the horizon in every direction is closed by woods. The views are far prettier than those from Bulawayo, and the position of the town makes it a better centre for the administration as well as the commerce of the Company's territories. It is only two hundred and twenty miles from the Zambesi at Tete, and only three hundred and seventy from the port of Beira. The Company did well to encourage the growth of Bulawayo immediately after the conquest of 1893, because it was necessary to explore and to establish order in the newest parts of its territory. But in the long run, and especially when the regions north of the Zambesi begin to be practically occupied, Bulawayo, standing in a corner of the country, will have to yield to the more imperial site of Fort Salisbury. The district which lies round the latter town is better watered than western Matabililand, and the soil richer both for pasture and for tillage. The rainfall for the year ending April, 1890, reached fifty-three inches, and the average is about forty. Fort Salisbury is three years older than Bulawayo, and therefore much more advanced. It has even several churches. There is a colony of East Indians, who grow vegetables and get very high prices for them; and a considerable trade is done in supplying the needs of the mining districts to the north and west. Many gold-reefs lie out in those directions, and great hopes are entertained of their future, though at the time of my visit people were much busier in floating new companies to develop the mines than in taking steps for their actual development. Some very pretty country residences, in the style of Indian bungalows, have been built on the skirts of the wood a mile or two from the town; and street-lamps now light people to their homes along paths where four years ago lions were still encountered. The last lion recoiling in dismay from the first street lamp would be a good subject for a picture to illustrate the progress of Mashonaland. [Footnote 46: A singular story was told me regarding the death of Lo Bengula's sister. She had enjoyed great influence with him, but when he took to wife the two daughters of Gungunhana, the great chief (of Zulu stock) who lived to the eastward beyond the Sabi River, she resented so bitterly the precedence accorded to them as to give the king constant annoyance. At last, after several warnings, he told her that if she persisted in making herself disagreeable he would have her put to death. Having consulted the prophet of the Matoppo Hills, who told her she would be killed, she cheerfully accepted this way out of the difficulty, and was accordingly sent away and strangled.] [Footnote 47: The original inhabitants of the country, belonging to the tribes which we, following the Portuguese, call Makalanga or Makalaka, are called by the Matabili (themselves Zulus) Masweni. The name Maholi, often also applied to them, is said to mean "outsiders," _i.e._, non-Zulus. Though many had been drafted as boys into the Matabili regiments, and others were used as slaves, many more dwelt in the country west and north-west of Bulawayo. Mashonaland, to the east, is peopled by cognate tribes.] [Footnote 48: A hut is usually allotted to each wife, and thus this impost falls heavily on the polygamist chief, being, in fact, a tax upon luxuries. I was told that in the Transvaal some of the richer natives were trying to escape it by putting two wives in the same hut.] [Footnote 49: See his book, published in the end of 1896, entitled _Sunshine and Storm in Rhodesia_. I do not gather from it how far, in his opinion, what went on was known to the higher officials. In a Report presented to Parliament in 1897, Sir Richard Martin states that although there was no regulation allowing forced labour, force was, in fact, used to bring the natives from their kraals to work, and that the irritation thus caused did much to provoke the outbreak. The Company in a reply which they have published do not admit this. I have no data, other than the Report, for pronouncing an opinion on the responsibility of the officials; but there seems to be no doubt that, both in this and in other respects, many of the native police behaved badly, and that the experiment of employing them, which seemed to have much to recommend it, did in fact fail.] [Footnote 50: The Shangani is here a very small stream. It was far away to the north, on the lower course of the same stream, that Major Wilson and his party perished later in the war.] [Footnote 51: These ruins have been described in Chapter IX.] CHAPTER XVI FROM FORT SALISBURY TO THE SEA--MANICALAND AND THE PORTUGUESE TERRITORIES. In Africa, moisture is everything. It makes the difference between fertility and barrenness; it makes the difference between a cheerful and a melancholy landscape. As one travels north-eastward from Palapshwye to Bulawayo, and from Bulawayo to Fort Salisbury, one passes by degrees from an arid and almost rainless land to a land of showers and flowing waters. In Bechuanaland there are, except for three months in the year, no streams at all. In Matabililand one begins to find perennial brooks. In Mashonaland there are at last rivers, sometimes with rocky banks and clear deep pools, which (like that just mentioned) tempt one to bathe and risk the terrible snap of a crocodile's jaws. Thus eastern Mashonaland is far more attractive than the countries which I have described in the last two chapters. It has beautiful and even striking scenery. The soil, where the granitic rocks do not come too near the surface, is usually fertile, and cultivation is easier than in the regions to the south-west, because the rains are more copious. There are many places round Fort Salisbury and on the way thence to Mtali and Massikessi where a man might willingly settle down to spend his days, so genial and so full of beauty is the nature around him. And as the land is high, it is also healthy. Except in a few of the valley bottoms, fever need not be feared, even after the rains. From Fort Salisbury to the Indian Ocean at Beira it is a journey of three hundred and seventy miles, of which the first one hundred and fifty-five are in British, the rest in Portuguese, territory. Before the railway, which now (1899) runs all the way, had been completed, this distance required eight to ten days' travel. It may now be despatched in a day and a half. But those who hurry through this picturesque region behind the locomotive lose much of the charm which the journey, by far the most attractive part of a South African tour, formerly had for the lover of nature. For the first forty miles south-eastward from Fort Salisbury the track runs through a wooded country, diversified by broad stretches of pasture. Here and there we found a European farm, marked in the distance by the waving tops of the gum-trees, with the low wooden house festooned by the brilliant mauve blossoms of the climbing bougainvillea, and the garden enclosed by hedges of grenadilla, whose fruit is much eaten in South Africa. Vegetables raised on these farms fetch enormous prices in the town, so that a man who understands the business may count on making more by this than he will do by "prospecting" for gold mines, or even by floating companies. We found the grass generally fresh and green, for some showers had fallen, and the trees, though still small, were in new leaf with exquisite tints of red. Now and then, through gaps between the nearer hills, there are glimpses of dim blue mountains. As one gets farther to the south-east the hills are higher, and on either side there rise fantastic kopjes of granite. Their tops are cleft and riven by deep fissures, and huge detached blocks are strewn about at their base, or perched like gigantic tables upon the tops of pillars of rock, poised so finely that one fancies a blast of wind might overthrow them. These "perched blocks," however, have not, like the _blocs perchés_ of Western Europe, been left by ancient glaciers or icebergs, for it seems still doubtful whether there has been a glacial period in South Africa, and neither here nor in the mountains of Basutoland could I discover traces of ancient moraines. They are due to the natural decomposition of the rock on the spot. The alternate heat of the day and cold of the night--a cold which is often great, owing to the radiation into a cloudless sky--split the masses by alternate expansion and contraction, make great flakes peel off them like the coats of an onion, and give them these singularly picturesque shapes. All this part of the country is as eminently fit for a landscape painter as Bechuanaland and the more level parts of Matabililand are unfit, seeing that here, one has foregrounds as well as backgrounds, and the colours are as rich as the forms are varied. For I must add that in this region, instead of the monotonous thorny acacias of the western regions, there is much variety in the trees; no tropical luxuriance,--the air is still too dry for that,--but many graceful outlines and a great diversity of foliage. Besides, the wood has a way of disposing itself with wonderful grace. There is none of the monotony either of pine forests, like those of Northern and Eastern Europe, or of such forests of deciduous trees as one sees in Michigan and the Alleghanies, but rather what in England we call "park-like scenery," though why nature should be supposed to do best when she imitates art, I will not attempt to inquire. There are belts of wood inclosing secluded lawns, and groups of trees dotted over a stretch of rolling meadow, pretty little bits of detail which enhance the charm of the ample sweeps of view that rise and roll to the far-off blue horizon. Beyond Marandella's--the word sounds Italian, but is really the Anglicized form of the name of a native chief--the country becomes still more open, and solitary peaks of gneiss begin to stand up, their sides of bare, smooth, grey rock sometimes too steep to be climbed. Below and between them are broad stretches of pasture, with here and there, on the banks of the streams, pieces of land which seem eminently fit for tillage. On one such piece--it is called Lawrencedale--we found that two young Englishmen had brought some forty acres into cultivation, and admired the crops of vegetables they were raising partly by irrigation, partly in reliance on the rains. Almost anything will grow, but garden stuff pays best, because there is in and round Fort Salisbury a market clamorous for it. The great risk is that of a descent of locusts, for these pests may in a few hours strip the ground clean of all that covers it. However, our young farmers had good hopes of scaring off the swarms, and if they could do so their profits would be large and certain. A few hours more through driving showers, which made the weird landscape of scattered peaks even more solemn, brought us to the halting place on Lezapi River, a pretty spot high above the stream, where the store which supplies the neighbourhood with the necessaries of life has blossomed into a sort of hotel, with a good many sleeping huts round it. One finds these stores at intervals of about twenty or thirty miles; and they, with an occasional farm like that of Lawrencedale, represent the extremely small European population, which averages less than one to a dozen square miles, even reckoning in the missionaries that are scattered here and there. From Lezapi I made an excursion to a curious native building lying some six miles to the east, which Mr. Selous had advised me to see. The heat of the weather made it necessary to start very early, so I was awakened while it was still dark. But when I stood ready to be off just before sunrise, the Kafir boy, a servant of the store, who was to have guided me, was not to be found. No search could discover him. He had apparently disliked the errand, perhaps had some superstitious fear of the spot he was to lead me to, and had vanished, quite unmoved by the prospect of his employer's displeasure and of the sum he was to receive. The incident was characteristic of these natives. They are curiously wayward. They are influenced by motives they cannot be induced to disclose, and the motives which most affect a European sometimes fail altogether to tell upon them. With great difficulty I succeeded in finding another native boy who promised to show me the way, and followed him off through the wood and over the pastures, unable to speak a word to him, and of course, understanding not a word of the voluble bursts of talk with which he every now and then favoured me. It was a lovely morning, the sky of a soft and creamy blue, dewdrops sparkling on the tall stalks of grass, the rays of the low sun striking between the tree-tops in the thick wood that clothed the opposite hill, while here and there faint blue smoke-wreaths rose from some Kafir hut hidden among the brushwood. We passed a large village, and just beyond it overtook three Kafirs all talking briskly, as is their wont, one of them carrying a gun and apparently going after game. A good many natives have firearms, but acts of violence seem to be extremely rare. Then passing under some rocky heights we saw, after an hour and a half's fast walking, the group of huts where the Company's native Commissioner, whom I was going to find, had fixed his station. Some Kafirs were at work on their mealie-plots, and one of them, dropping his mattock, rushed across and insisted on shaking hands with me, saying "Moragos," which is said to be a mixture of Dutch and Kafir, meaning "Good-morning, sir." The Commissioner was living alone among the natives, and declared himself quite at ease as to their behaviour. One chief dwelling near had been restive, but submitted when he was treated with firmness; and the natives generally--so he told me--seem rather to welcome the intervention of a white man to compose their disputes. They are, he added, prone to break their promises, except in one case. If an object, even of small value, has been delivered to them as a token of the engagement made, they feel bound by the engagement so long as they keep this object, and when it is formally demanded back they will restore it unharmed. The fact is curious, and throws light on some of the features of primitive legal custom in Europe. The Commissioner took me to the two pieces of old building--one can hardly call them ruins--which I had come to see. One (called Chipadzi's) has been already mentioned (see p. 75, _ante_). It is a bit of ancient wall of blocks of trimmed granite, neatly set without mortar, and evidently meant to defend the most accessible side of a rocky kopje, which in some distant age had been a stronghold. It has all the appearance of having been constructed by the same race that built the walls of Dhlodhlo (see p. 71) and Zimbabwye (see p. 75) (though the work is not so neat), and is called by the natives a Zimbabwye. Behind it, in the centre of the kopje, is a rude low wall of rough stones enclosing three huts, only one of which remains roofed. Under this one is the grave of a famous chief called Makoni,--the name is rather an official than a personal one, and his personal name was Chipadzi,--the uncle of the present Makoni, who is the leading chief of this district.[52] On the grave there stands a large earthenware pot, which used to be regularly filled with native beer when, once a year, about the anniversary of this old Makoni's death, his sons and other descendants came to venerate and propitiate his ghost. Some years ago, when the white men came into the country, the ceremony was disused, and the poor ghost is now left without honour and nutriment. The pot is broken, and another pot, which stood in an adjoining hut and was used by the worshippers, has disappeared. The place, however, retains its awesome character, and a native boy who was with us would not enter it. The sight brought vividly to my mind the similar spirit-worship which went on among the Romans and which goes on to-day in China; but I could not ascertain for how many generations back an ancestral ghost receives these attentions--a point which has remained obscure in the case of Roman ghosts also. The other curiosity is much more modern. It is a deserted native village called Tchitiketi ("the walled town"), which has been rudely fortified with three concentric lines of defence, in a way not common among the Kafirs. The huts which have now totally disappeared, stood on one side of a rocky eminence, and were surrounded by a sort of ditch ten feet deep, within which was a row of trees planted closely together, with the intervals probably originally filled by a stockade. Some of these trees do not grow wild in this part of the country, and have apparently been planted from shoots brought from the Portuguese territories. Within this outmost line there was a second row of trees and a rough stone wall, forming an inner defence. Still farther in one finds a kind of citadel, formed partly by the rocks of the kopje, partly by a wall of rough stones, ten feet high and seven to eight feet thick, plastered with mud, which holds the stones together like mortar. This wall is pierced by small apertures, which apparently served as loopholes for arrows, and there is a sort of narrow gate through it, only four and a half feet high, covered by a slab of stone. Within the citadel, several chiefs are buried in crevices of the rock, which have been walled up, and there are still visible the remains of the huts wherein, upon a wicker stand, were placed the pots that held the beer provided for their ghosts. Having ceased to be a royal residence or a fortress, the spot remains, like the Escurial, a place of royal sepulture. The natives remember the names of the dead chiefs, but little else, and cannot tell one when the fortress was built nor why it was forsaken. Everything is so rude that one must suppose the use of loopholes to have been learned from the Portuguese, who apparently came from time to time into these regions; and the rudeness confirms the theory that the buildings at the Great Zimbabwye were not the work of any of the present Bantu tribes, but of some less barbarous race. It is not easy to find one's way alone over the country in these parts, where no Kafir speaks English or even Dutch, and where the network of native foot-paths crossing one another soon confuses recollection. However, having a distant mountain-peak to steer my course by, I succeeded in making my way back alone, and was pleased to find that, though the sun was now high in heaven and I had neither a sun-helmet nor a white umbrella, its rays did me no harm. A stranger, however, can take liberties with the sun which residents hold it safer not to take. Europeans in these countries walk as little as they can, especially in the heat of the day. They would ride, were horses attainable, but the horse-sickness makes it extremely difficult to find or to retain a good animal. All travelling for any distance is of course done in a waggon or (where one can be had) in a Cape cart. From the Lezapi River onward the scenery grows more striking as one passes immediately beneath some of the tall towers of rock which we had previously admired from a distance. They remind one, in their generally grey hue and the extreme boldness of their lines, of some of the gneissose pinnacles of Norway, such as those above Naerodal, on the Sogne Fiord. One of them, to which the English have given the name of the Sugar Loaf, soars in a face of smooth sheer rock nearly 1000 feet above the track, the lichens that cover it showing a wealth of rich colours, greens and yellows, varied here and there by long streaks of black raindrip. Behind this summit to the north-east, eight to twelve miles away, rose a long range of sharp, jagged peaks, perfectly bare, and showing by their fine-cut lines the hardness of their rock. They were not lofty, at most 2000 feet above the level of the plateau, which is here from 4000 to 5000 feet above sea-level. But the nobility of their forms, and their clear parched sternness as they stood in the intense sunshine, made them fill and satisfy the eye beyond what one would have expected from their height. That severe and even forbidding quality which is perceptible in the aspect of the South African mountains, as it is in those of some other hot countries, seems to be due to the sense of their aridity and bareness. One feels no longing to climb them, as one would long to climb a picturesque mountain in Europe, because one knows that upon their scorching sides there is no verdure and no fountain breaks from beneath their crags. Beautiful as they are, they are repellent; they invite no familiarity; they speak of the hardness, the grimness, the silent aloofness of nature. It is only when they form the distant background of a view, and especially when the waning light of evening clothes their stern forms with tender hues, that they become elements of pure delight in the landscape. Some fifteen miles east of this range we came upon a natural object we had given up hoping to see in South Africa, a country where the element necessary to it is so markedly deficient. This was the waterfall on the Oudzi River, one of the tributaries of the great Sabi River, which falls into the Indian Ocean. The Oudzi is not very large in the dry season, nor so full as the Garry at Killiecrankie or the stream which flows through the Yosemite Valley. But even this represents a considerable volume of water for tropical East Africa; and the rapid--it is really rather a rapid than a cascade--must be a grand sight after heavy rain, as it is a picturesque sight even in October. The stream rushes over a ridge of very hard granite rock, intersected by veins of finer-grained granite and of greenstone. It has cut for itself several deep channels in the rock, and has scooped out many hollows, not, as usually, circular, but elliptical in their shape, polished smooth, like the little pockets or basins which loose stones polish smooth as they are driven round and round by the current in the rocky bed of a Scotch torrent. The brightness of the clear green water and the softness of the surrounding woods, clothing each side of the long valley down which the eye pursues the stream till the vista is closed by distant mountains, make these falls one of the most novel and charming bits of scenery even in this romantic land. Another pleasant surprise was in store for us before we reached Mtali. We had descried from some way off a mass of brilliant crimson on a steep hillside. Coming close under, we saw it to be a wood whose trees were covered with fresh leaves. The locusts had eaten off all the first leaves three weeks before, and this was the second crop. Such a wealth of intense yet delicate reds of all hues, pink, crimson, and scarlet, sometimes passing into a flushed green, sometimes into an umber brown, I have never seen, not even in the autumn woods of North America, where, as on the mountain that overhangs Montreal, the forest is aflame with the glow of the maples. The spring, if one may give that name to the season of the first summer rains, is for South Africa the time of colours, as is the autumn in our temperate climes. Mtali--it is often written "Umtali" to express that vague half-vowel which comes at the beginning of so many words in the Bantu languages--is a pretty little settlement in a valley whose sheltered position would make it oppressive but for the strong easterly breeze which blows nearly every day during the hot weather. There is plenty of good water in the hills all round, and the higher slopes are green with fresh grass. The town, like other towns in these regions, is constructed of corrugated iron,--for wood is scarce and dear,--with a few brick-walled houses and a fringe of native huts, while the outskirts are deformed by a thick deposit of empty tins of preserved meat and petroleum. All the roofs are of iron, and a prudent builder puts iron also into the foundation of the walls beneath the brick, in order to circumvent the white ants. These insects are one of the four plagues of South Central Africa. (The other three are locusts, horse-sickness, and fever; some add a fifth--the speculators in mining shares.) They destroy every scrap of organic matter they can reach, and will even eat their way through brick to reach wood or any other vegetable matter. Nothing but metal stops them. They work in the dark, constructing a kind of tunnel or gallery if they have to pass along an open space, as, for instance, to reach books upon a shelf. (I was taken to see the public library at Mtali, and found they had destroyed nearly half of it.) They are less than half an inch long, of a dull greyish white, the queen, or female, about three times as large as the others. Her quarters are in a sort of nest deep in the ground, and if this nest can be found and destroyed, the plague will be stayed, for a time at least. There are several other kinds of ants. The small red ant gets among one's provisions and devours the cold chicken. We spent weary hours in trying to get them out of our food-boxes, being unable to fall in with the local view that they ought to be eaten with the meat they swarm over, as a sort of relish to it. There is also the large reddish-black ant, which bites fiercely, but is regarded with favour because it kills the white ants when it can get at them. But the white ant is by far the most pernicious kind, and a real curse to the country. At the end of 1896, when the construction of the Beira railway from Chimoyo to Fort Salisbury began to be energetically prosecuted, it was found that to take the line past Mtali would involve a detour of some miles and a heavy gradient in crossing a ridge at the Christmas Pass. Mr. Rhodes promptly determined, instead of bringing the railway to the town, to bring the town to the railway. Liberal compensation was accordingly paid to all those who had built houses at old Mtali, and new Mtali was in 1897 founded on a carefully selected site seven miles away. In 1895 there were about one hundred Europeans in the town of Mtali, all, except the Company's officials and the storekeepers, engaged in prospecting for or beginning to work gold-mines; for this is the centre of one of the first-explored gold districts, and sanguine hopes have been entertained of its reefs. We drove out to see some of the most promising in the Penha Longa Valley, six miles to the eastward. Here three sets of galleries have been cut, and the extraction of the metal was said to be ready to begin if the machinery could be brought up from the coast. As to the value and prospects of the reefs, over which I was most courteously shown by the gentlemen directing the operations, I could of course form no opinion. They are quartz-reefs, occurring in talcose and chloritic schistose rocks, and some of them maintain their direction for many miles. There is no better place than this valley[53] for examining the ancient gold-workings, for here they are of great size. Huge masses of alluvial soil in the bottom of the valley had evidently been turned over, and indeed a few labourers were still at work upon these. But there had also been extensive open cuttings all along the principal reefs, the traces of which are visible in the deep trenches following the line of the reefs up and down the slopes of the hills, and in the masses of rubbish thrown out beside them. Some of these cuttings are evidently recent, for the sides are in places steep and even abrupt, which they would not be if during many years the rains had been washing the earth down into the trenches. Moreover, iron implements have been found at the bottom, of modern shapes and very little oxidized. Probably, therefore, while some of these workings may be of great antiquity, others are quite recent--perhaps less than a century old. Such workings occur in many places over Mashonaland and Matabililand. They are always open; that is to say, the reef was worked down from the surface, not along a tunnel--a fact which has made people think that they were carried on by natives only; and they almost always stop when water is reached, as though the miners had known nothing of pumps. Tradition has nothing to say as to the workings; but we know that during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries a good deal of gold was brought down to the Portuguese coast stations; and when the Mashonaland pioneers came in 1890, there were a few Portuguese trying to get the metal out of the alluvial deposits along the stream banks. The reefs, which are now being followed by level shafts or galleries driven into the sides of the hills, are (in most cases at least) the same as those which the old miners attacked from above. North of Penha Longa lies an attractive bit of country, near a place called Inyanga, which, unfortunately, we had not time to visit. It is a sort of tableland about thirty miles long by fifteen wide, from 6000 to 7000 feet above sea-level, with the highest summits reaching 8000 feet; and in respect of its height enjoys not only a keen and bracing air, but a copious rainfall, which makes it a specially good grazing country. It will probably one day become not only the choicest ranching-ground of East Central Africa, but also a health resort from the surrounding regions. At present it is quite empty, the land having been, as I was told, bought up by several syndicates, who are holding it in hope of a rise in prices. Here are the remarkable stone-cased pits, referred to in Chapter IX.; and here there are also numerous ancient artificial watercourses for irrigating the soil, which were constructed by some race of immigrants accustomed to artificial irrigation in their own country, for it would hardly have occurred to natives to construct such works here, where the rainfall is sufficient for the needs of tillage. Still farther to the north is a less elevated region, remarkable for the traces it bears of having been at one time densely populated. Tillage was so extensive that the very hillsides were built up into terraces to be planted with crops. To-day there are hardly any inhabitants, for a good many years ago Mzila, the father of Gungunhana, chief of a fierce and powerful tribe which lives on the lower course of the Sabi River, raided all this country, and in successive invasions killed off or chased away the whole population. Such wholesale slaughter and devastation is no uncommon thing in the annals of South Africa. Tshaka, the uncle of Cetewayo, annihilated the inhabitants over immense tracts round Zululand. And in comparison with such bloodthirsty methods the Assyrian plan of deporting conquered populations from their homes to some distant land may have seemed, and indeed may have been, a substantial step in human progress. However, just when Tshaka was massacring his Kafir neighbours, the Turks were massacring the Christians of Chios, and at the time of our visit, in October, 1895, Abdul-Hamid II. was beginning his massacres in Asia Minor; so perhaps the less said about progress the better. The track from Mtali to the sea crosses a high ridge at a point called the Christmas Pass, and descends into Portuguese territory through some very noble and varied mountain scenery.[54] It reminded us sometimes of the Italian slopes of the Eastern Alps, sometimes of the best parts of the Perthshire Highlands, though of course it was rather in the forms of hill and valley than in the trees that clothed their slopes that this resemblance lay. The first Portuguese settlement is at a place called Macequece, or Massikessi, where the pioneers of the British South Africa Company conducted in 1891 a little war on their own account with the Portuguese, whose superior forces they routed. The Portuguese claimed all this inland region on the Hinterland principle, in respect of their ownership of the coast, while the British pioneers relied on the fact that their adversaries had never established a really effective occupation. The dispute was carried by the Portuguese Mozambique Company into the English courts of law,[55] and was ultimately adjusted diplomatically by an agreement between the British and Portuguese governments, signed June 11, 1891. The delimitation of the frontiers was not fully completed in this region till 1896, but Massikessi was by the treaty of 1891 left to Portugal. After Massikessi the mountains recede, and wide plains begin to open to the east and south. As the country sinks, the temperature rises and the air grows heavier and less keen. The ground is covered with wood, and in the woods along the streams a few palms and bamboos and other tropical forms of vegetation begin to appear.[56] But we found the woods in many places stripped bare. Terrible swarms of locusts had passed, leaving a track of dismal bareness. It had been a dry year, too, and even what grass the locusts had spared was thin and withered. Thus for want of food the cattle had perished. All along the road from Mtali we saw oxen lying dead, often by some pool in a brook, to which they had staggered to drink, and where they lay down to die. We encountered few waggons, and those few were almost all standing with the team unyoked, some of their beasts dead or sickly, some, too weak to draw the load farther, obliged to stand idly where they had halted till the animals should regain strength, or fresh oxen be procured. This is what a visitation of locusts means, and this is how the progress of a country is retarded by the stoppage of the only means of transport. We reached the terminus of the railway at Chimoyo after two days' long and fatiguing travel from Mtali, including an upset of our vehicle in descending a steep donga to the bed of a streamlet--an upset which might easily have proved serious, but gave us nothing worse than a few bruises. The custom being to start a train in the afternoon and run it through the night,--all trains were then special,--we had plenty of time to look round the place, and fortunately found a comfortable store and a most genial Scottish landlord from Banffshire. There was, however, nothing to see, not even Portuguese local colour; for though Chimoyo is well within the Portuguese frontier, the village is purely English, and was living by the transport service which then made the end of the railway its starting-point for the territories of the Company. Now that it has become merely a station, the railway being now (1899) open all the way to Fort Salisbury, it may have dwindled away. Having nothing else to do, I climbed through the sultry noon to the top of the nearest kopje, a steep granite hill which, as I was afterwards told, is a favourite "house of call" for lions. No forest monarch, however, presented himself to welcome me, and I was left to enjoy the view alone. It was striking. Guarding the western horizon rose the long chain of mountains from which we had emerged stretching in a huge arc from south-east to north, with some bold outlying peaks flung forward from the main mass, all by their sharp, stern outlines, in which similar forms were constantly repeated, showing that they were built of the same hard crystalline rocks. Beneath, the country spread out in a vast, wooded plain, green or brown, according as the wood was denser in one part and sparser in another. It was still low wood, with no sense of tropical luxuriance about it, and the ground still dry, with not a glimpse of water anywhere. Here and there out of this sea of forest rose isolated heights whose abrupt craggy tops glistened in the sunlight. To the east the plain fell slowly away to an immensely distant horizon, where lay the deadly flats that border the Indian Ocean. Except where the iron roofs of the huts at Chimoyo shone, there was not a sign of human dwelling or human labour through this great wild country, lying still and monotonous under a cloudless sky. It has been a wilderness from the beginning of the world until now, traversed, no doubt, many centuries ago by the gold-seekers whose favourite track went up from the coast past Great Zimbabwye into what is now Matabililand, traversed again occasionally in later times by Portuguese traders, but in no wise altered during these thousands of years from its original aspect. Now at last its turn has come. A new race of gold-seekers have built a railway, and along the railway, wherever there are not swamps to breed fever, the land will be taken for farms, and the woods will be cut down, and the wild beasts will slink away, and trading-posts will grow into villages, and the journey from Beira to Bulawayo will become as easy and familiar as is to-day the journey from Chicago to San Francisco, through a country which a century ago was as little known as this African wilderness. The railway from Chimoyo to the sea had in 1895 one of the narrowest gauges in the world (two feet), and its tiny locomotives and cars wore almost a toy air. It has since been widened to the three feet six gauge of the other South African lines. The construction was difficult, for the swampy lands along the coast are largely under water during the rains, but the gain to the country has been enormous. Not only has the railway abridged the toilsome and costly ox transport of goods from Beira to the edge of the high country--a transport whose difficulty lay not merely in the badness of the track through ground almost impassable during and after the rains, but also in the prevalence of the tsetse-fly, whose bite is fatal to cattle. It has enabled travellers to cross in a few hours one of the most unhealthy regions in the world, most of which is infested by fevers in and after the wet season, and the lower parts of which are so malarious that few who spend three nights in them, even in the dry season, escape an attack. The banks of the rivers and other damper spots will continue to breed this curse of maritime Africa, although things will doubtless improve when the country grows more settled, and the marshes have been drained, and the long grass has been eaten down by cattle; for when the tsetse-fly has ceased to be dangerous cattle may come in. It appears that the fly kills cattle not by anything poisonous in its bite, but because it communicates to them a minute parasite which lives in the blood of some kinds of game, and which is more pernicious to cattle than it is to the game. Accordingly, when the game vanishes, the fly either vanishes also or becomes comparatively harmless. Already places once infested by it have by the disappearance of the game become available for ranching. Recent researches seem to have shown that malarial fevers in man are also due to an animal parasite: and this discovery is thought to damp the hope, which I remember to have heard Mr. Darwin express, that the fever-stricken regions of the tropics might become safe by ascertaining what the fever microbe is and securing men against it by inoculation. Those, however, who hold that this parasite is carried into the blood of man by a mosquito seem to entertain some hope that drainage may in some places almost expunge the mosquito. The railway was made entirely by native labour gathered from the surrounding regions, and the contractors told me they had less difficulty with the Kafirs than they expected. It paid, however, a heavy toll in European life. Not one of the engineers and foremen escaped fever, and many died. The risk for those employed on the line is of course now much slighter, because the worst spots are known and there are now houses to sleep in. Shortly after leaving Chimoyo the train ran through a swarm of locusts miles long. It was a beautiful sight. The creatures flash like red snowflakes in the sun; the air glitters with their gauzy wings. But it is also terrible. An earthquake or a volcanic eruption is hardly more destructive and hardly more irresistible. The swarms may be combated when the insect walks along the ground, for then trenches may be dug into which the advancing host falls. But when it flies nothing can stop it. It is noteworthy that for eighteen years prior to the arrival of the British pioneers in 1890 there had been no great swarms. Since that year there have been several; so the Kafir thinks that it is the white man's coming that has provoked the powers of evil to send this plague as well as the murrain. We ran down the one hundred and eighteen miles from Chimoyo to Fontesvilla during the afternoon and night, halting for three or four hours for dinner at a clearing where an inn and store have been built. The pace was from ten to fifteen miles an hour. After the first twenty miles, during which one still has glimpses of the strange isolated peaks that spring up here and there from the plain, the scenery becomes rather monotonous, for the line runs most of the way through thick forest, the trees higher than those of the interior, yet not of any remarkable beauty. For the last twenty-five miles the railway traverses a dead and dreary flat. The gentle rise of the ground to the west conceals even the outlying spurs of the great range behind, and to the north and south there is an unbroken level. The soil is said to be generally poor, a very thin layer of vegetable mould lying over sand, and the trees are few and seldom tall. It is a country full of all sorts of game, from buffaloes, elands, and koodoos downward to the small antelopes; and as game abounds, so also do lions abound. The early morning is the time when most of these creatures go out to feed, and we strained our eyes as soon as there was light enough to make them out from the car windows. But beyond some wild pig and hartebeest, and a few of the smaller antelopes, nothing could be discerned upon the pastures or among the tree clumps. Perhaps the creatures have begun to learn that the railroad brings their enemies, and keep far away from it. A year after our visit the murrain, to which I have already referred, appeared in this region, and wrought fearful devastation among the wild animals, especially the buffaloes. The railway now runs all the way to the port of Beira, but in October, 1895, came to an end at a place called Fontesvilla, on the Pungwe River, near the highest point to which the tide rises. We had therefore to take to the water in order to reach Beira, where a German steamer was timed to call two days later; and our friends in Mashonaland had prepared us to expect some disagreeable experiences on the river, warning us not to assume that twelve or fourteen hours would be enough, even in a steamer, to accomplish the fifty miles of navigation that lie between Fontesvilla and the sea. They had been specially insistent that we should remain in Fontesvilla itself no longer than was absolutely necessary; for Fontesvilla has the reputation of being the most unhealthy spot in all this unhealthy country. We were told that the preceding year had been a salubrious one, for only forty-two per cent. of the European residents had died. There may have been in these figures, when closely scrutinized, some element of exaggeration, but the truth they were intended to convey is beyond dispute; and the bright young assistant superintendent of the railroad was mentioned, with evident wonder, as the only person who had been more than three months in the place without a bad attack of fever. Fontesvilla has not the externals of a charnel-house. It consists of seven or eight scattered frame houses, with roofs of corrugated iron, set in a dull, featureless flat on the banks of a muddy river. The air is sultry and depressing, but has not that foul swamp smell with which Poti, on the Black Sea, reeks, the most malarious spot I had ever before visited. Nor was there much stagnant water visible; indeed, the ground seemed dry, though there are marshes hidden among the woods on the other side of the river. As neither of the steamers that ply on the Pungwe could come up at neap tides, and with the stream low,--for the rains had not yet set in,--the young superintendent (to whose friendly help we were much beholden) had bespoken a rowboat to come up for us from the lower part of the river. After waiting from eight till half-past ten o'clock for this boat, we began to fear it had failed us, and, hastily engaging a small two-oared one that lay by the bank, set off in it down the stream. Fortunately after two and a half miles the other boat, a heavy old tub, was seen slowly making her way upward, having on board the captain of the little steam-launch, the launch herself being obliged to remain much lower down the river. We transferred ourselves and our effects to this boat, and floated gaily down, thinking our troubles over. The Pungwe is here about one hundred yards wide, but very shallow, and with its water so turbid that we could not see the bottom where the depth exceeded two feet. It was noon; the breeze had dropped, and the sun was so strong that we gladly took refuge in the little cabin or rather covered box--a sort of hen coop--at the stern. The stream and the tide were with us, and we had four native rowers, but our craft was so heavy that we accomplished less than two miles an hour. As the channel grew wider and the current spread itself hither and thither over sand banks, the bed became more shallow, and from time to time we grounded. When this happened, the native rowers jumped into the water and pushed or pulled the boat along. The farther down we went, and the more the river widened, so much the more often did we take the bottom, and the harder did we find it to get afloat again. Twelve miles below Fontesvilla, a river called the Bigimiti comes in on the right, and at its mouth we took on board a bold young English sportsman with the skin of a huge lion. Below the confluence, where a maze of sand banks encumbers the channel, we encountered a strong easterly breeze. The big clumsy boat made scarcely any way against it, and stuck upon the sand so often that the Kafirs, who certainly worked with a will, were more than half the time in the water up to their knees, tugging and shoving to get her off. Meanwhile the tide, what there was of it, was ebbing fast, and the captain admitted that if we did not get across these shoals within half an hour we should certainly lie fast upon them till next morning at least, and how much longer no one could tell. It was not a pleasant prospect, for we had no food except some biscuits and a tin of cocoa, and a night on the Pungwe, with pestiferous swamps all round, meant almost certainly an attack of fever. Nothing, however, could be done beyond what the captain and the Kafirs were doing, so that suspense was weighted by no sense of personal responsibility. We moved alternately from stern to bow, and back from bow to stern, to lighten the boat at one end or the other, and looked to windward to see from the sharp curl of the waves whether the gusts which stopped our progress were freshening further. Fortunately they abated. Just as the captain seemed to be giving up hope--the only fault we had with him was that his face revealed too plainly his anxieties--we felt ourselves glide off into a deeper channel; the Kafirs jumped in and smote the dark-brown current with their oars, and the prospect of a restful night at Beira rose once more before us. But our difficulties were not quite over, for we grounded several times afterwards, and progress was so slow that it seemed very doubtful whether we should find and reach before dark the little steam-launch that had come up to meet us. Ever since my childish imagination had been captivated by the picture of Africa's sunny fountains rolling down their golden sand, the idea of traversing a tropical forest on the bosom of a great African river had retained its fascination. Here at last was the reality, and what a dreary reality! The shallow, muddy stream, broken into many channels, which inclosed low, sandy islets, had spread to a width of two miles. The alluvial banks, rising twenty feet in alternate layers of sand and clay, cut off any view of the country behind. All that could be seen was a fringe of thick, low trees, the edge of the forest that ran back from the river. Conspicuous among them was the ill-omened "fever tree," with its gaunt, bare, ungainly arms and yellow bark--the tree whose presence indicates a pestilential air. Here was no luxuriant variety of form, no wealth of colour, no festooned creepers nor brilliant flowers, but a dull and sad monotony, as we doubled point after point and saw reach after reach of the featureless stream spread out before us. Among the trees not a bird was to be seen or heard; few even fluttered on the bosom of the river. We watched for crocodiles sunning themselves on the sandspits, and once or twice thought we saw them some two hundred yards away, but they had always disappeared as we drew nearer. The beast is quick to take alarm at the slightest noise, and not only the paddles of a steamer, but even the plash of oars, will drive him into the water. For his coyness we were partly consoled by the gambols of the river-horses. All round the boat these creatures were popping up their huge snouts and shoulders, splashing about, and then plunging again into the swirling water. Fortunately none rose quite close to us, for the hippopotamus, even if he means no mischief, may easily upset a boat when he comes up under it, or may be induced by curiosity to submerge it with one bite of his strong jaws, in which case the passengers are likely to have fuller opportunities than they desire of becoming acquainted with the crocodiles. Among such sights the sultry afternoon wore itself slowly into night, and just as dark fell--it falls like a stage curtain in these latitudes--we joyfully descried the steam-launch waiting for us behind a sandy point. Once embarked upon her, we made better speed through the night. It was cloudy, with a struggling moon, which just showed us a labyrinth of flat, densely wooded isles, their margins fringed with mangrove trees. Exhausted by a journey of more than thirty hours without sleep, we were now so drowsy as to be in constant danger of falling off the tiny launch, which had neither seats nor bulwarks, and even the captain's strong tea failed to rouse us. Everything seemed like a dream--this lonely African river, with the faint moonlight glimmering here and there upon its dark bosom, while the tree tops upon untrodden islets flitted past in a slow, funereal procession, befitting a land of silence and death. At last, when it was now well past midnight, a few lights were seen in the distance, and presently we were at Beira. As we touched the shore we were told that the German steamer had already arrived, two days before her time, and was to start in the morning at ten o'clock. So we made straight for her, and next day at noon sailed for Delagoa Bay. Beira stands on a sand-spit between the ocean and the estuary of the Pungwe River. Though the swamps come close up to it, the town itself is tolerably healthy at all seasons, because the strong easterly breeze blows from the sea three days out of four. Before 1890 there was hardly even a house, and its quick growth is entirely due to its having been discovered to possess the best harbour on the coast, and to be therefore the fittest point of departure from the sea for the territories of the British South African Company. In old days the chief Portuguese settlement on this part of the coast was at Sofala, a few miles farther to the south, which had been visited by Vasco da Gama in A.D. 1502, and where the Portuguese built a fort in 1505. It was then an Arab town, and famous as the place whence most of the gold brought down from the interior was exported. Now it has shrunk to insignificance, and Beira will probably become the most important haven on the coast between Delagoa Bay, to the south, and Dar-es-Salaam, the head-quarters of German administration, to the north. It may, however, be rivalled by Pemba Bay north of the Zambesi, from which it is proposed to run a railway to the south end of Lake Nyassa. The anchorage in the estuary behind the sand-spit is spacious and sheltered, and the outrush of the tide from the large estuary keeps down, by its constant scour, accumulations of sand upon the bar. The rise of tide at this part of the coast, from which Madagascar is only four hundred miles distant, is twenty-two feet, and the channel of approach, though narrow and winding (for the coast is shallow and there are shoals for six or eight miles out), is tolerably well buoyed and not really difficult. The railway terminus is placed at a point within the harbour where the sand-spit joins the mainland. The journey which I have described, with all its difficulties, first on the river between Beira and Fontesvilla, and then again on the track between Chimoyo and Mtali, has since my visit become a thing of the past. Early in 1896 the railway was opened from Fontesvilla to Beira, so that the tedious and vexatiously uncertain voyage up or down the Pungwe River is now superseded by a more swift if less exciting form of travel. And the permanent way was rapidly laid from Chimoyo northward, so that trains were running all the way from the sea to Fort Salisbury by the middle of 1899. Should the resources of Mashonaland turn out within the next few years to be what its more sanguine inhabitants assert, its progress will be enormously accelerated by this line, which will give a far shorter access to South Central Africa than can be had by the rival lines that start from Cape Town, from Durban, and from Delagoa Bay. [Footnote 52: This chief was the restive chief mentioned on the last preceding page. He joined in the rising of 1896, and was, I believe, taken prisoner and shot.] [Footnote 53: It was here only, on the banks of a stream, that I observed the extremely handsome arboraceous St.-John's-wort (_Hypericum Schimperi_), mentioned in Chapter IV.] [Footnote 54: It is in the midst of this scenery that new Mtali has been built.] [Footnote 55: _Law Reports_ for 1893, A. C., p. 602.] [Footnote 56: It is in these woods that the honey bird is found, whereof the tale is told that it hunts about for the nests of wild bees in the hollows of trees, and when it has found one, flies close to a man so as to attract his notice, then flutters in front of him to the nest, and waits for him to take the honey out of the hollow (which it cannot itself reach), expecting and receiving a share of the spoil.] CHAPTER XVII OBSERVATIONS ON THE RESOURCES AND FUTURE OF MATABILILAND AND MASHONALAND In the last chapter I have brought the reader back to the sea from the inland country we have spent three chapters in traversing. Now, while the German steamer is threading her way to the open ocean through the shoals that surround the entrance to the harbour of Beira, the traveller as he gazes on the receding shore tries to sum up his impressions regarding the economic prospects as well of Mashonaland as of the other territories of the British South Africa Company. I will shortly state these impressions. The regions over which the British flag flies between the Transvaal Republic to the south and the territories of Germany and of the Congo State to the north, fall into three parts. The first is the country north of the Zambesi. The easternmost section of this northerly region is Nyassaland, of which I need say nothing, because it has been admirably described by the distinguished officer (Sir H. H. Johnston) who administered it for some years. The central and western sections, which are under the control of the Company, are still too little known for an estimate of their value to be formed. Though some parts are more than 4000 feet above sea-level, most of the country lies below that line, which is, roughly speaking, the line at which malarial fevers cease to be formidable. Most of it, therefore, is not likely to be fit for European colonization, and the heat is of course such as to put European labour out of the question. Considerable tracts are, however, believed to be fertile, and other tracts good for pasture, while there is some evidence of the existence of gold and other minerals. The least valuable region is believed to be that north of the Middle Zambesi, where there are some dry and almost barren districts. Taking it all in all, it is a country well worth having; but its resources will have to be turned to account entirely through black labour; and as it is not likely to attract any Europeans, except gold-prospectors, until the unoccupied lands south of the Zambesi have been fully taken up, its development belongs to a comparatively distant future. The second region--that which lies south of the Upper Zambesi, north-west of Matabililand--is equally little known, and, so far as known, is not attractive. Most of it is comparatively low; much of it is arid; some parts, especially those round Lake Ngami, are marshy and therefore malarious. It is thinly peopled, has not been ascertained to possess any mineral wealth, and lies far from any possible market. Parts of it may turn out to afford good pasture, but for the present little is said or thought about it, and no efforts have been made to develop it. The third region comprises Matabililand and Mashonaland, that is, the country between the Transvaal Republic and the valley of the Middle Zambesi, all of which is now administered by the Company. What there is to say about its prospects may be summed up under three heads--health, wealth, and peace. It is on these three things that its future welfare depends. _Health._--A large part of the country, estimated at nearly 100,000 square miles, belongs to the Upper South African plateau, and has an elevation of at least 3000 feet above the sea; and of this area about 26,000 square miles have an elevation of 4000 feet or upward. This height, coupled with fresh easterly breezes and dry weather during eight months in the year, gives the country a salubrious and even bracing climate. The sun's heat is tempered, even in summer, by cool nights, and in winter by cold winds, so that European constitutions do not, as in India, become enervated and European muscles flaccid. It is not necessary to send children home to England when they reach five or six years of age; for they grow up as healthy as they would at home. Englishmen might, in many districts, work with their hands in the open air, were they so disposed; it is pride and custom, rather than the climate, that forbid them to do so. So far, therefore, the country, is one in which an indigenous white population might renew itself from generation to generation. _Wealth._--It was the hope of finding gold that drew the first British pioneers to these regions; it is that hope which keeps settlers there, and has induced the ruling Company to spend very large sums in constructing railways, as well as in surveying, policing, and otherwise providing for the administration of the country. The great question, therefore, is, How will the gold-reefs turn out? There had been formed before the end of 1895 more than two hundred Development Companies, most of them gold-mining undertakings, and others were being started up till the eve of the native outbreak in March, 1896. Very many reefs had been prospected and an immense number of claims registered. The places in which actual work had been done in the way of sinking shafts and opening adits were, of course, much fewer, yet pretty numerous. Most of these were in Manicaland, near Mtali, or to the north and west of Fort Salisbury, or to the south-east of Gwelo, in the Selukwe district. No one of these workings was on a large scale, and at two or three only had stamping machinery been set up, owing, so I was told, to the practically prohibitive cost of transport from the sea. Accordingly, there were very few, if any, workings where enough ore had been extracted and treated to warrant any confident predictions as to the productivity of the claim. Numerous as the claims are, the value of all, or nearly all, remained uncertain. It must be remembered that in these mining districts the gold occurs in quartz-reefs. Comparatively little is found in alluvial deposits, which in California and Australia and the Ural mountains have often been more important than the quartz-reefs. None at all is found diffused equally through a stratum of rock, as in the Transvaal. Now, quartz-reef mining is proverbially uncertain. The reefs vary not only in thickness, but also in depth, and it is not yet certain that any go very far beneath the surface. So, too, even when the reef itself is persistent in width and in depth, its auriferous quality varies greatly. What is called the "shoot" of gold may be rich for some yards, and then become faint or wholly disappear, perhaps to reappear some yards farther. Thus there must be a good deal of quartz crushed at different points before it can be determined what number of pennyweights or ounces to the ton a given reef, or a given part of a reef, is likely to yield. In this uncertainty and deficiency of practical tests, people have fallen back upon the ancient workings as evidence of the abundance of the precious metal. I have already mentioned how numerous these workings are over the country, and how fully they appear to confirm the stories as to the gold which was brought down in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to Sofala and the other Portuguese ports. It is argued that if gold was so extensively worked in time past by rude races possessing only primitive methods and few tools, the reefs must have been rich, and that it is extremely improbable that all, or nearly all, the gold should have been already extracted. The old workings were open, excavated down from the surface, and they usually stopped when water was reached. Is there not every reason to think that in many places the reefs go deeper, and that our improved scientific appliances will enable us to extract far more of the metal than the old miners could get by their simple breaking and washing of the quartz? No doubt the old workings were carried on by labour incomparably cheaper than could now be obtained; but against this may be set the greater efficiency of the machinery which will be at the disposal of the miner when transportation facilities have been provided. Arguments of this kind are resorted to only because the data which experiment has hitherto supplied are insufficient. I found much difference of opinion in the country itself regarding the value of the reefs. Some mining engineers took a less sanguine view of the reefs they had examined than did the general public in Fort Salisbury or Bulawayo, and (it need hardly be said) a much less sanguine view than the prospectuses of the companies conveyed to investors at home. On the other hand, results had been actually obtained in some other places which promised extremely well if the rest of the reef proved equal to the portion sampled. Men of what is called in America "a conservative temper" seemed to think that there is "payable gold," probably plenty of gold, in the country, and that out of the many companies formed to work the claims a fair, but by no means a large, proportion will turn out sound undertakings. I doubt if it will be possible to say anything more positive until stamping batteries have been erected and a considerable quantity of quartz has been treated. This process can hardly begin till the railways to Bulawayo and Mtali have been opened, and those interested may therefore have to wait till 1899 or 1900 before they can feel sure as to the value of their properties.[57] Other minerals besides gold have been found. There is iron in many places, copper in others. Coal has been proved to exist, of good if not first-rate quality, on the edge of the Zambesi Valley south of the Victoria Falls, and further east, to the north of Gwelo, and if the gold-reefs turn out well it will certainly be worked. Indeed, railways have now (1899) been decided on to connect Bulawayo and Gwelo with these coal basins. It may be added that a railway is now being constructed from Bulawayo to Gwelo and Fort Salisbury, and that there is a prospect of another being pushed on to the Zambesi and the boundary of northern Rhodesia at the south end of Lake Tanganyika. A line is also to be made from Bulawayo south-east into the Gwanda mining district for a distance of 110 miles. Regarding the pastoral and agricultural capabilities of the country there need be little doubt. All of it, except those lower grounds to the north and south-east which are infested by the tsetse-fly, is fit for cattle; some parts, such as the Matoppo Hills in Matabililand and still more the Inyanga plateau in Mashonaland (mentioned in the last preceding chapter), offer excellent pasture. The "high veldt" of central Matabililand is no less available for sheep. Most of the cattle that were on the land have perished in the recent murrain. But this plague will pass by and may not return for many years, perhaps for centuries, and the animals that will be brought in to restock the country will probably be of better breeds. The quality of the soil for the purposes of tillage has been tested by Europeans in a few places only. Much of it is dry; much of it, especially where the subjacent rock is granitic, is thin or sandy. Still, after allowing for these poorer tracts, there remains an immense area of land which is fit to raise cereals and some subtropical crops such as cotton. The immediate question is not, therefore, as to the productive capacities of the country, but as to the existence of a market for the products themselves. Nearly all staple food-stuffs have of late years become so cheap in the markets of Europe and North America, owing to the bringing under cultivation of so much new land and the marvellous reduction in the cost of ocean carriage, that in most of such articles Mashonaland, even with a railway to the sea, could not at present compete successfully in those markets with India and South America and the western United States. It is therefore to consumers nearer at hand that the country must look. If gold-mining prospers, population will rapidly increase, and a market will be created at the agriculturists' own door. If, on the other hand, the reefs disappoint the hopes formed of them, and the influx of settlers is too small to create any large demand, tillage will spread but little, and the country will be left to be slowly occupied by ranchmen. Thus the growth of population and the prosperity of every industry will depend upon the extent to which gold-mining can be profitably developed. Of course I speak only of the near future. However rich some of the reefs may turn out, they will be exhausted within a few decades, and the country will have to depend on its other resources. However unremunerative the reefs may prove, these other resources will in the long run assure to it a settled white population and a reasonable measure of prosperity. But these are days in which we all have learned to take short views of life for nations and countries as well as for our individual selves, and unquestionably the more or less of gold in its quartz will for this country make all the difference between its speedy and its slow development. _Peace._--Thirdly, there remains the question whether the natives can be kept quiet. The first occupation of Mashonaland was so tranquil, the first conquest of the Matabili so swift and easy, that everybody perceives that some further trouble ought to have been expected before British control could be deemed secure. Now there has been a second struggle and a pacification if not a victory. Has the suppression of the revolt given permanent security? Are the natives at last aware that the superiority of intelligence and organization on the part of the whites more than counterbalances their own immense preponderance in numbers, a preponderance of fully one hundred to one? No one will speak confidently on this point who remembers how implicit and how vain was the confidence felt in 1895 that the natives were contented and submissive. There was some little risk of trouble in the spring of 1899 among the Matabili, but the unrest became known in time, and is believed to have subsided. On the whole, there is reason to think that if the natives are ruled in a prudent and friendly spirit, making due allowance for their often unreasonable alarms and suspicions, no fresh rising need be feared. The chief aim of the ruling officials should be to draw and not to drive them to labour, and to keep in check those white adventurers who hang about the frontiers of civilization and sometimes ill-use or defraud the Kafir in a way which makes him hostile to the next whites, however well intentioned, who come into his neighbourhood. It may be some years yet before the natives will seek work at the mines to the extent desired, for they dislike underground labour. They were reported in 1899 to be still deaf to the mine-owners' blandishments, although the average wage is £2 a month; and the want of labour is assigned as a cause why many mines said to be promising have made little progress. But policy, as well as humanity and justice, forbids any resort to compulsion. Though it is quite true that the native hates to see the white men come in, disturb his old way of life, and take the best land, still I doubt if anything less than some positive grievance, such as forced labour or the taking of cattle, will be likely to rouse him to another attack on the strangers. Should such an attack occur, it would be less formidable than that of 1896. The tribal system, already weakened, tends among the Matabili to dissolve still further, as was seen by the absence of notable leaders and the general want of plan and co-operation in the late conflict. Among the Mashonas each village is independent, so that a combined effort is still less to be feared.[58] Moreover the completion of the two railways to Bulawayo on the western and Fort Salisbury on the eastern side of the country now enables reinforcements to be rapidly sent up from the coast, and has removed the only danger that really threatened the whites in 1896--their isolation from help and from supplies of ammunition and of food. What, then, are the general conclusions to which this rapid survey leads? I will summarise them. 1. Though parts of the country will remain malarious, great areas will be sufficiently healthy to enable a large white population to grow up and maintain itself on the soil in vigour of mind and body. In this sense it will be a "white man's country." 2. The black population is, however, likely to remain by far the more numerous element, partly because it is better fitted for the malarious and the hottest regions, and partly because here, as elsewhere in South Africa, it is by the blacks that nearly all manual labour will continue to be done. In this sense, that of numerical preponderance, the country, and of course especially the parts of it which lie near to and north of the Zambesi, will be a "black man's country." 3. The material progress of the country, and the more or less rapid increase of its white population, will depend, in the first instance, on the greater or less success with which gold-mining is prosecuted. If the reefs turn out well, growth will be rapid; if not, it will be slow. But in the long run the soil and the climate will be the main factors in material and social prosperity. These give abundant grounds for hope. The rainfall is larger than in the interior of Cape Colony, and much of the soil will therefore be more productive. Therewith other industries will spring up; and some of them will remain even when mining has declined. 4. The political future will depend upon the growth of population, as that depends upon the development of material resources. Should there be a large and steady influx of white settlers, there must before long come a demand for self-governing institutions. To concede these institutions will be in the well-established line of British Colonial policy, and the question will then arise whether the country, or the more settled parts of it, should form a separate Colony or be incorporated with Cape Colony (as British Bechuanaland recently was). That one found in 1895 very little disposition among the white settlers to grumble at the administration seemed chiefly due to the great personal popularity of the genial Administrator, Dr. L. S. Jameson. 5. In 1898 the government and administration of the region south of the Zambesi, _i.e._, Matabililand and Mashonaland, theretofore in the hands of the British South Africa Company, were re-settled by an Order in Council (Southern Rhodesia Order in Council, October 20th, 1898). It vests authority in an Administrator appointed by the Company (with the approval of the Secretary of State for the Colonies), a Resident Commissioner, appointed by the Secretary of State and reporting directly to him, an Executive Council of four persons appointed by the Company, together with the senior and any other Administrators and the Resident Commissioner, and a Legislative Council consisting, besides the Commissioner and Administrators, of nine members, five appointed by the Company, and four elected by the registered voters in electoral districts. The Resident Commissioner, though entitled to be present and speak at meetings, has no vote. Legislative Ordinances may be vetoed by the High Commissioner for South Africa or by the Secretary of State. The police (a force of 1,200 is now maintained) are under the orders of the High Commissioner. There are various provisions for the protection of the natives, and the recognition of native law; and it is provided (§ 47) that any "customs duties to be levied are not to exceed the duties levied at the commencement of the Order by the South African Customs Union Tariff, or by the Customs Union Convention of May, 1898, whichever are higher." This form of government is evidently provisional, and questions must arise in the future, regarding the political constitution to be given to this region and the relations of the Company to it, which will present much difficulty. The country lying north of the Zambesi has been divided into two districts, North East Rhodesia and North West Rhodesia, each of which is placed under an Administrator appointed by the Company, the extreme North Western strip, towards the Portuguese territory, remaining meantime under the more direct authority of the High Commissioner. It is understood that these areas also are to be regulated by Orders in Council. 6. Leaving out of sight the still unsettled problem of the mineral wealth of these territories, they are in other respects one of the most promising parts of South Africa. I have remarked that as regards pasture and agriculture they are superior to the inland parts of Cape Colony. They are in these points also superior to the Transvaal, and still more plainly superior to the neighbouring possessions of Germany and Portugal. Portuguese East Africa is fever-stricken. German East Africa is in many places barren and almost everywhere malarious. German South-west Africa is largely desert, much of it an arid and irreclaimable desert. To the English race in South Africa the acquisition of these regions, or at least of the parts south of the Zambesi, has been an immense political and economic advantage. It has established their predominance and provided a security against any serious attempt to dislodge them. A philosophic observer without predilections for any one state or people would, it is conceived, hold that the English race is more likely to serve what are termed the interests of civilization in this part of Africa than is any other race. The Portuguese have neither energy nor capital. The Germans, with energy and with capital, have not the requisite practice in independent colonization, nor perhaps the taste for it. The South African Dutch Boers, who have within the last seventeen years been more than once on the point of occupying the country, are, with all their good qualities, a backward people, who, had they prevailed, would have done little more than squat here and there over the country with their cattle, and carry on an incessant desultory war with the natives. Whether it is really desirable that the waste lands of the world should be quickly brought under settled order and have their resources developed with all possible speed, is a question on which much might be said. But assuming, as most men, perhaps too hastily, do assume, that this sudden development is desirable, the English are the people most likely to carry it out effectively, and the strong and strenuous man who, with little encouragement from the government of his country, founded the British South Africa Company and acquired these territories for his countrymen, took one of the most fateful steps that statesman or conqueror has ever taken in the African continent. [Footnote 57: The above was written in 1897. The subsequent extension of the railway from Mafeking to Bulawayo stimulated production, and in July, 1899, there were 115 stamps at work on the gold reefs, and the total value of the gold produced in Matabililand and Mashonaland (including the Tati concessions) was given by the Bulawayo Chamber of Mines as £192,679 for the preceding ten months. The average wages paid to natives were £2 a month. Some reefs are stated to have been worked to a depth of 500 feet.] [Footnote 58: This very isolation and independence of the small native communities in Mashonaland retarded the pacification of the country during 1896-97. There were hardly any influential chiefs with whom to treat. But since 1897 it has been perfectly quiet.] CHAPTER XVIII THROUGH NATAL TO THE TRANSVAAL There are two ways of reaching the Witwatersrand goldfields, now the central point of attraction in South Africa, from the south-east coast. One route starts from Delagoa Bay, a place of so much importance as to deserve a short description. It is a piece of water protected from the ocean by Inyack Island, and stretching some twenty miles or more north and south. At the north end, where two rivers discharge their waters into it, is an almost landlocked inlet, on the east side of which stands the town of Lourenço Marques, so called from the Portuguese captain who first explored it in 1544, though it had been visited in 1502 by Vasco da Gama. The approach to this harbour is long and circuitous, for a vessel has to wind hither and thither to avoid shoals; and as the channel is ill-buoyed, careful captains sometimes wait for the tide to be at least half full before they cross the shallowest part, where there may be only twenty feet of water at low tide. Within the harbour there is plenty of good deep anchorage opposite the town, and a still more sheltered spot is found a little farther up the inlet in a sort of lagoon. The town, which is growing fast, but still in a rough and unsightly condition, runs for half a mile along the bay front, while behind a suburb is built up the slope of a hill facing to the west. The site looks healthy enough, though it would have been better to plant the houses nearer to the high point which shields the anchorage. But behind the town to the east and north there are large swamps, reeking with malaria; and the residents have, therefore, though of course much less in the dry season, to be on their guard against fever, which, indeed, few who remain for a twelvemonth escape. The Portuguese Government is unfortunately hard pressed for money and has not been able to complete the projected quays, nor even to provide a custom-house and warehouses fit to receive and store the goods intended for the Transvaal, which are now discharged here in large quantities. In November, 1895, everything was in confusion, and the merchants loud in their complaints. Business is mostly in English and German, scarcely at all in Portuguese, hands. With better management and the expenditure of a little money, both the approach to the harbour and the town itself might be immensely improved; and although the country round is not attractive, being mostly either sandy or marshy, the trade with the Transvaal goldfields seems so certain to develop and maintain itself that expenditure would be well bestowed. It has often been suggested that Great Britain should buy or lease the place (over which she has a right of pre-emption), but the sensitive pride of Portugal might refuse any offer. Nevertheless, it needs no great boldness to foretel that some day it will come into British hands. The other port which now competes for the Transvaal trade with Delagoa Bay is Durban, the largest town in the British Colony of Natal. It stands on a sandy flat from which a spit of land runs out into the sea between the open ocean and the harbour. The harbour is commodious, but the bar on the channel connecting it with the ocean formerly made it unavailable except for vessels of light draft. Although much had been done by the Colony to deepen the channel, the largest steamers were (in 1895) still forced to lie out in the ocean a mile or two away, and as there is usually a swell, in which the little steam-tenders pitch about pretty freely, the process of disembarkation is trying to many passengers. There is, however, good reason to hope that the bar difficulties may ultimately be overcome, as they have already been greatly reduced: and the harbour, once you are within it, is perfectly sheltered. Durban is a neat and, in some parts, even handsome town, incomparably superior to Lourenço Marques, with wide and well-kept streets, to which the use of slender jinrickshas (drawn by active Zulus or Indians) instead of cabs, as well as the number of white-clad coolies in the streets, gives a curious Eastern touch, in keeping with the semi-tropical vegetation. The climate is sultry during three months, but very agreeable for the rest of the year. Many of the whites, however,--there are 14,000 of them, and about the same number of Kafirs and immigrants from India, live on the hill of Berea to the north of the town, where the sea breeze gives relief even in the hottest weather. This suburb of Berea is one of the prettiest spots in South Africa. The name, of which the origin seems to have been forgotten by the citizens of to-day, comes from a missionary settlement planted here in very early days, and called after the Berea mentioned in Acts xvii. 10, 11. It has been skilfully laid out in winding roads, bordered by tasteful villas which are surrounded by a wealth of trees and flowering shrubs, and command admirable views of the harbour, of the bold bluff which rises west of the harbour, and of the ocean. The municipality bought the land, and by selling or leasing it in lots at increased prices has secured a revenue which keeps local taxation at a very low figure, and has enabled many town improvements to be made and many enterprises to be worked for the benefit of the citizens. Durban has been a pioneer of what is called, in its extremer forms, municipal socialism; and enjoys the reputation of being the best managed and most progressive town in all South Africa. It possesses among other things a fine town-hall with a lofty tower, built by the exertions of the present mayor, a deservedly respected Scotch merchant. East of Durban a low and fertile strip of country stretches along the coast, most of which is occupied by sugar plantations, tilled by coolies brought from India, because the native Kafir does not take kindly to steady labour. North of the town the country rises, and here the patient industry of other Indians has formed a great mass of gardens, where sub-tropical and even some tropical fruits are grown in great quantities, and have now begun to be exported to Europe. Across this high ground, and through and over the still higher hills which rise farther inland, the railway takes its course, often in steep inclines, to the town of Pietermaritzburg, eighty miles distant, where the Governor dwells, and a small British garrison is placed. Durban was from the first an English town, and the white people who inhabit it are practically all English. Maritzburg was founded by the emigrant Boers who left Cape Colony in the Great Trek of 1836, and descended hither across the Quathlamba Mountains in 1838. Its population is, however, nowadays much more British than Boer, but the streets retain an old-fashioned half-Dutch air; and the handsome Parliament House and Government Offices look somewhat strange in a quiet and straggling country town. Its height above the sea (2500 feet) and its dry climate make it healthy, though, as it lies in a hollow among high hills, it is rather hotter in summer than suits English tastes. The surrounding country is pretty, albeit rather bare; nor is the Australian wattle, of which there are now large plantations in the neighbourhood, a very attractive tree. This seems the fittest place for a few words on the public life of Natal, the British Colony which has been the latest to receive responsible self-government. This gift was bestowed upon it in 1893, not without some previous hesitation, for the whole white population was then about 46,000, and the adult males were little over 15,000. However, the system then established seems to be working smoothly. There is a cabinet of five ministers, with two Houses of Legislature, an Assembly of thirty-seven, and a Council of eleven members, the former elected for four years at most (subject to the chance of a dissolution), the latter appointed by the Governor for ten years. No regular parties have so far been formed, nor can it yet be foreseen on what lines they will form themselves, for the questions that have chiefly occupied the legislature are questions on which few differences of principle have as yet emerged. All the whites are agreed in desiring to exclude Kafirs and newcomers from India from the electoral franchise. All seemed in 1895 to be agreed in approving the tariff, which was for revenue only; and Natal had then one of the lowest among the tariffs in force in British Colonies. (The ordinary _ad valorem_ rate was five per cent.) In 1898, however, Natal entered the South African Customs Union previously consisting of Cape Colony, the Orange Free State, Basutoland, and Bechuanaland, and the tariff of that Union, as fixed in 1898, was higher and to some extent protective. Even between the citizens of English and those of Dutch origin, the latter less than one-fourth of the whole, and living chiefly in the country, there has been but little antagonism, for the Dutch, being less numerous than in Cape Colony, are much less organized. Among the English, British sentiment is strong, for the war of 1881 with the Transvaal people not merely re-awakened the memories of the Boer siege of Durban in 1842, but provoked an anti-Boer feeling, which was kept in check only by the necessity of conciliating the Transvaal government in order to secure as large as possible a share of the import trade into that country. As the Natal line of railway is a competitor for this trade with the Cape lines, as well as with the line from Delagoa Bay, there is a keen feeling of rivalry toward Cape Colony, which is thought to have been unfriendly in annexing the native territories of Griqualand East and Pondoland, which lie to the west of Natal, and which the latter Colony had hoped some day or other to absorb. When her hopes of territorial extension were closed on that side, Natal began to cast longing eyes on Zululand, a hilly region of rich pastures which is at present directly administered by the Imperial Government, and which contains not only some gold-reefs of still unascertained value, but also good beds of coal. Ultimately in 1897, the home government consented to allow Natal to absorb both Zululand and the Tonga country all the way north to the Portuguese frontier. The political life of Natal flows in a tranquil current, because the population is not merely small, but also scattered over a relatively wide area, with only two centres of population that rise above the rank of villages. The people, moreover, lead an easy and quiet life. They are fairly well off, occupying large cattle-farms, and with no great inducement to bring a great deal of land under tillage, because the demand for agricultural produce is still comparatively small. Not much over one-fortieth part of the surface is cultivated, of which about two hundred thousand acres are cultivated by Europeans, of course by the hands of coloured labourers. Sugar is raised along the coast, and tea has lately begun to be grown. The Natalians have, perhaps, become the less energetic in developing the natural resources of their country because thrice in their recent history the equable course of development has been disturbed. In 1870 many of the most active spirits were drawn away to the newly-discovered diamond-fields of Kimberley. In 1879 the presence of the large British force collected for the great Zulu war created a sudden demand for all sorts of food-stuffs and forage, which disappeared when the troops were removed; and since 1886 the rapid growth of the Witwatersrand gold-fields, besides carrying off the more adventurous spirits, has set so many people speculating in the shares of mining companies that steady industry has seemed a slow and tame affair. At present not many immigrants come to Natal to settle down as farmers; and the Colony grows but slowly in wealth and population. Nevertheless, its prosperity in the long run seems assured. It is more favoured by soil and by sky than most parts of Cape Colony. It has an immense resource in its extensive coal-fields. Its ocean trade and railway traffic are increasing. In proximity to these coal-fields it has deposits of iron which will one day support large industrial communities. And its inhabitants are of good, solid stuff, both English, Dutch, and German, for there are many German immigrants. No British Colony can show a population of better quality, and few perhaps one equally good. Besides the railway question, which is bound up with the problem of the port of Durban and its bar, the question which has most interest for the people of Natal is that of the coloured population, Kafir and Indian. The Kafirs, mostly of Zulu race, number 460,000, about ten times the whites, who are estimated at 50,000. Nearly all live under tribal law in their own communities, owning some cattle, and tilling patches of land which amount in all to about 320,000 acres. The law of the Colony wisely debars them from the use of European spirits. A few of the children are taught in mission schools,--the only educational machinery provided for them,--and a very few have been converted to Christianity, but the vast majority are little influenced by the whites in any way. They are generally peaceable, and perpetrate few crimes of violence upon whites; but however peaceable they may have shown themselves, their numerical preponderance is disquieting. A Kafir may, by the Governor's gift, obtain the electoral suffrage when he has lived under European law for at least seven years; but it has been bestowed on extremely few, so that in fact the native does not come into politics at all. The Indian immigrants, now reckoned at 50,000, are of two classes. Some are coolies, who have been imported from India under indentures binding them to work for a term of years, chiefly on the sugar plantations of the coast. Many of these return at the expiration of the term, but more have remained, and have become artisans in the towns or cultivators of garden patches. The other class, less numerous, but better educated and more intelligent, consists (besides some free immigrants of the humbler class) of so-called "Arabs"--Mahommedans, chiefly from Bombay and the ports near it, or from Zanzibar--who conduct retail trade, especially with the natives, and sometimes become rich. Clever dealers, and willing to sell for small profits, they have practically cut out the European from business with the native, and thereby incurred his dislike. The number of the Indians who, under the previous franchise law, were acquiring electoral rights had latterly grown so fast that, partly owing to the dislike I have just mentioned, partly to an honest apprehension that the Indian element, as a whole, might become unduly powerful in the electorate, an Act was in 1894 passed by the colonial legislature to exclude them from the suffrage. The home government was not quite satisfied with the terms in which this Act was originally framed, but in 1897 approved an amended Act which provides that no persons shall be hereafter admitted to be electors "who (not being of European origin) are natives or descendants in the male line of natives of countries which have not hitherto possessed elective representative institutions founded on the parliamentary franchise, unless they first obtain from the Governor in Council an order exempting them from the provisions of this Act." Under this statute the right of suffrage will be withheld from natives of India and other non-European countries, such as China, which have no representative government, though power is reserved for the government to admit specially favoured persons. In 1897 another Act was passed (and approved by the home government) which permits the colonial executive to exclude all immigrants who cannot write in European characters a letter applying to be exempted from the provisions of the law. It is intended by this measure to stop the entry of unindentured Indian immigrants of the humbler class. I have referred particularly to this matter because it illustrates one of the difficulties which arise wherever a higher and a lower, or a stronger and a weaker, race live together under a democratic government. To make race or colour or religion a ground of political disability runs counter to what used to be deemed a fundamental principle of democracy, and to what has been made (by recent amendments) a doctrine of the American Constitution. To admit to full political rights, in deference to abstract theory, persons who, whether from deficient education or want of experience as citizens of a free country, are obviously unfit to exercise political power is, or may be, dangerous to any commonwealth. Some way out of the contradiction has to be found, and the democratic Southern States of the North American Union and the oligarchical Republic of Hawaii (now (1899) annexed to the United States), as well as the South African Colonies, have all been trying to find such a way. The problem has in 1899 presented itself in an acute form to the United States, who having taken hold of the Philippine Isles, perceive the objections to allowing the provisions of their Federal Constitution to have effect there, but have not yet decided how to avoid that result. Natal, where the whites are in a small minority, now refuses the suffrage to both Indians and Kafirs; while Cape Colony, with a much larger proportion of whites excludes the bulk of her coloured people by the judicious application of an educational and property qualification. The two Boer Republics deny the supposed democratic principle, and are therefore consistent in denying all political rights to people of colour. The Australian Colonies have taken an even more drastic method. Most of them forbid the Chinese to enter the country, and admit the dark-skinned Polynesian only as a coolie labourer, to be sent back when his term is complete. France, however, is more indulgent, and in some of her tropical Colonies extends the right of voting, both for local assemblies and for members of the National Assembly in France, to all citizens, without distinction of race or colour. Maritzburg is a cheerful little place, with an agreeable society, centred in Government House, and composed of diverse elements, for the ministers of state and other officials, the clergy, the judges, and the officers of the garrison, furnish a number, considerable for so small a town, of capable and cultivated men. There are plenty of excursions, the best of which is to the beautiful falls of the Umgeni at Howick, where a stream, large after the rains, leaps over a sheet of basalt into a noble _cirque_ surrounded by precipices. Passing not far from these falls, the railway takes its course northward to the Transvaal border. The line climbs higher and higher, and the country, as one recedes from the sea, grows always drier and more bare. The larger streams flow in channels cut so deep that their water is seldom available for irrigation; but where a rivulet has been led out over level or gently sloping ground, the abundance of the crop bears witness to the richness of the soil and the power of the sun. The country is everywhere hilly, and the scenery, which is sometimes striking, especially along the banks of the Tugela and the Buffalo rivers, would be always picturesque were it not for the bareness of the foregrounds, which seldom present anything except scattered patches of thorny wood to vary the severity of the landscape. Toward the base of the great Quathlamba or Drakensberg Range, far to the west of the main line of railway, there is some very grand scenery, for the mountains which on the edge of Basutoland rise to a height of 10,000 feet break down toward Natal in tremendous precipices. At the little town of Ladysmith a railway diverges to the Orange Free State, whose frontier here coincides with a high watershed, crossed by only a few passes. A considerable coal-field lies near the village appropriately named Newcastle, and there are valuable deposits near the village of Dundee also, whither a branch line which serves the collieries turns off to the east at a spot called Glencoe, south of Newcastle. Travelling steadily to the north, the country seems more and more a wilderness, in which the tiny hamlets come at longer and longer intervals. The ranching-farms are very large,--usually six thousand acres,--so there are few settlers; and the Kafirs are also few, for this high region is cold in winter, and the dry soil does not favour cultivation. At last, as one rounds a corner after a steep ascent, a bold mountain comes into sight, and to the east of it, connecting it with a lower hill, a ridge or neck, pierced by a tunnel. The ridge is Laing's Nek, and the mountain is Majuba Hill, spots famous in South African history as the scenes of the battles of 1881 in the Transvaal War of Independence. Few conflicts in which so small a number of combatants were engaged have so much affected the course of history as these battles; and the interest they still excite justifies a short description of the place. Laing's Nek, a ridge 5500 feet above the sea and rising rather steeply about 300 feet above its southern base, is close to the Quathlamba watershed, which separates the streams that run south into the Indian Ocean from those which the Vaal on the north carries into the Orange River and so to the Atlantic. It is in fact on the south-eastern edge of that great interior table-land of which I have so often spoken. Across it there ran in 1881, and still runs, the principal road from Natal into the Transvaal Republic,--there was no railway here in 1881,--and by it therefore the British forces that were proceeding from Natal to reconquer the Transvaal after the outbreak of December, 1880, had to advance to relieve the garrisons beleaguered in the latter country. Accordingly, the Boer levies, numbering about a thousand men, resolved to occupy it, and on January 27 they encamped with their waggons just behind the top of the ridge. The frontier lies five miles farther to the north, at the village of Charleston, so that at the Nek itself they were in the territory of Natal. The British force of about one thousand men, with a few guns, arrived the same day at a point four miles to the south, and pitched their tents on a hillside still called Prospect Camp, under the command of General Sir George Colley, a brave officer, well versed in the history and theory of war, but with little experience of operations in the field. Undervaluing the rude militia opposed to him, he next day attacked their position on the Nek in front; but the British troops, exposed, as they climbed the slope, to a well-directed fire from the Boers, who were in perfect shelter along the top of the ridge, suffered so severely that they had to halt and retire before they could reach the top or even see their antagonists. A monument to Colonel Deane, who led his column up the slope and fell there pierced by a bullet, marks the spot. Three weeks later (after an unfortunate skirmish on the 8th), judging the Nek to be impregnable in front, for his force was small, but noting that it was commanded by the heights of Majuba Hill, which rise 1500 feet above it on the west, the British general determined to seize that point. Majuba is composed of alternate strata of sandstone and shale lying nearly horizontal and capped--as is often the case in these mountains--by a bed of hard igneous rock (a porphyritic greenstone). The top is less than a mile in circumference, depressed some sixty or seventy feet in the centre, so as to form a sort of saucer-like basin. Here has been built a tiny cemetery, in which some of the British soldiers who were killed lie buried, and hard by on the spot where he fell, is a stone in memory of General Colley. The hill proper is nearly nine hundred feet above its base, and the base about six hundred feet above Laing's Nek, with which it is connected by a gently sloping ridge less than a mile long. It takes an hour's steady walking to reach the summit from the Nek; the latter part of the ascent being steep, with an angle of from twenty to thirty degrees, and here and there escarped into low faces of cliff in which the harder sandstone strata are exposed. The British general started on the night of Saturday, February 26, from Prospect Camp, left two detachments on the way, and reached the top of the hill, after some hard climbing up the steep west side, at 3 A.M., with something over four hundred men. When day broke, at 5 A.M., the Boers below on the Nek were astonished to see British redcoats on the sky-line of the hill high above them, and at first, thinking their position turned, began to inspan their oxen and prepare for a retreat. Presently, when no artillery played upon them from the hill, and no sign of a hostile movement came from Prospect Camp in front of them to the south, they took heart, and a small party started out, moved along the ridge toward Majuba Hill, and at last, finding themselves still unopposed, began to mount the hill itself. A second party supported this forlorn hope, and kept up a fire upon the hill while the first party climbed the steepest parts. Each set of skirmishers, as they came within range, opened fire at the British above them, who, exposed on the upper slope and along the edge of the top, offered an easy mark, while the Boers, moving along far below, and in places sheltered by the precipitous bits of the slope, where the hard beds of sandstone run in miniature cliffs along the hillside, did not suffer in the least from the irregular shooting which a few of the British tried to direct on them. Thus steadily advancing, and firing as they advanced, the Boers reached at last the edge of the hilltop, where the British had neglected to erect any proper breastworks or shelter, and began to pour in their bullets with still more deadly effect upon the hesitating and already demoralized troops in the saucer-like hollow beneath them. A charge with the bayonet might even then have saved the day. But though the order was given to fix bayonets, the order to charge did not follow. General Colley fell shot through the head, while his forces broke and fled down the steep declivities to the south and west, where many were killed by the Boer fire. The British loss was ninety-two killed, one hundred and thirty-four wounded, and fifty-nine taken prisoners; while the Boers, who have given their number at four hundred and fifty, lost only one man killed and five wounded. No wonder they ascribed their victory to a direct interposition of Providence on their behalf. The British visitor, to whom this explanation does not commend itself, is stupefied when he sees the spot and hears the tale. Military authorities, however, declare that it is an error to suppose that the occupants of a height have, under circumstances like those of this fight, the advantage which a height naturally seems to give them. It is, they say, much easier for skirmishers to shoot from below at enemies above, than for those above to pick off skirmishers below; and this fact of course makes still more difference when the attacking force are accustomed to hill-shooting, and the defenders above are not. But allowing for both these causes, the attack could not have succeeded had Laing's Nek been assailed from the front by the forces at Prospect Camp, and probably would never have been made had the British on the hill taken the offensive early in the day. We reached the top of the mountain in a dense cloud, which presently broke in a furious thunderstorm, the flash and the crash coming together at the same moment, while the rain quickly turned the bottom of the saucer-like hollow almost into a lake. When the storm cleared away, what a melancholy sight was this little grassy basin strewn with loose stones, and bearing in its midst the graves of the British dead enclosed within a low wall! A remote and silent place, raised high in air above the vast, bare, brown country which stretched away east, south, and west without a trace of human habitation. A spot less likely to have become the scene of human passion, terror and despair can hardly be imagined. Yet it has taken its place among the most remarkable battlefields in recent history, and its name has lived, and lives to-day, in men's minds as a force of lamentable potency. Crossing Laing's Nek,--the top of which few future travellers will tread, because the railway passes in a tunnel beneath it,--one comes out on the north upon the great rolling plateau which stretches to the Zambesi in one direction and to the Atlantic in another. Four or five miles further, a little beyond the village of Charleston, one leaves Natal and enters the South African Republic; and here is the actual watershed which divides the upper tributaries of the Orange River from the streams which flow to the Indian Ocean. The railway had just been completed at the time of our visit, and though it was not opened for traffic till some weeks later, we were allowed to run over it to the point where it joins the great line from Cape Town to Pretoria. The journey was attended with some risk, for in several places the permanent way had sunk, and in others it had been so insecurely laid that our locomotive and car had to pass very slowly and cautiously. The country is so sparsely peopled that if one did not know it was all taken up in large grazing-farms, one might suppose it still a wilderness. Here and there a few houses are seen, and one place, Heidelberg, rises to the dignity of a small town, being built at the extreme south-eastern end of the great Witwatersrand gold-basin, where a piece of good reef is worked, and a mining population has begun to gather. The country is all high, averaging 5000 feet above sea level, and is traversed by ridges which rise some 500 to 1000 feet more. It is also perfectly bare, except for thorny mimosas scattered here and there, with willows fringing the banks of the few streams. Great is the contrast when, on reaching Elandsfontein, on the main line of railway, one finds one's self suddenly in the midst of the stir and bustle of industrial life. Here are the tall chimneys of engine-houses; here huge heaps of refuse at the shafts of the mines mark the direction across the country of the great gold-reef. Here, for the first time since he quitted the suburbs of Cape Town, the traveller finds himself again surrounded by a dense population, filled with the eagerness, and feeling the strain and stress, of an industrial life like that of the manufacturing communities of Europe or of North America. Fifteen years ago there was hardly a sign of human occupation. The Boer ranchman sent out his native boys to follow the cattle as they wandered hither and thither, seeking scanty pasturage among the stones, and would have been glad to sell for a hundred pounds the land on which Johannesburg now stands, and beneath which some of the richest mines are worked. The Witwatersrand (Whitewatersridge) is a rocky ridge rising from one to two or three hundred feet above the level of the adjoining country and running nearly east and west about thirty miles. Along its southern slope the richest reefs or beds containing gold (except that near the village of Heidelberg) have been found; but the whole gold-basin, in various parts of which payable reefs have been proved to exist and are being worked, is nearly one hundred and thirty miles long by thirty miles wide. It is called a basin because the various out-cropping reefs represent approximately the rim of a basin, and dip to a common centre. But there are many "faults" which have so changed the positions of the reefs in different places as largely to obliterate the resemblance indicated by the term. It would be impossible to give either a geological account of the district or a practical description of the methods of working without maps and plans and a number of details unsuitable to this book; so I will mention merely a few salient facts, referring the curious reader to the elaborate treatise of Messrs. Hatch and Chalmers published in 1895. The Rand gold-mining district at present consists of a line of mines both east and west of Johannesburg, along the outcrop of the principal reefs. It is about forty-six miles long, but "gold does not occur continuously in payable quantities over that extent, the 'pay-ore' being found in irregular patches, and (less frequently) in well-defined 'pay-shoots' similar to those which characterize quartz-veins."[59] There are also a few scattered mines in other parts of the basin. On this line there are two principal reefs--the Main Reef, with its so-called "leader," a thin bed just outside, and parallel to it, and the South Reef, with several others which are at present of much less importance. The term "reef" means a bed or stratum of rock, and these Rand reefs are beds of a sort of conglomerate, consisting of sandy and clayey matter containing quartz pebbles. The pebbles are mostly small, from the size of a thrush's egg up to that of a goose's egg, and contain no gold. The arenaceous or argillaceous stuff in which they lie embedded is extremely hard, and strongly impregnated with iron, usually in the form of iron pyrites, which binds it together. It is in this stuff, or sandy and ferreous cement, that the gold occurs. The Boers call the conglomerate "_banket_" (accented on the last syllable), which is their name for a kind of sweetmeat, because the pebbles lying in the cement are like almonds in the sugary substance of the sweetmeat. The gold is pretty equably diffused in the form of crystals or (less often) of flakes--crystals of such extremely small size as to be very rarely visible to the naked eye. Here and there, however, the banket is traversed by thin veins of quartz rock, and nuggets, mostly quite small, are occasionally found in this quartz. The "Main Reef series" consists of several parallel beds of varying size and thickness, which have not been correlated throughout their entire length; at some points two may be workable; at others three. The Main Reef bed varies from one to twenty feet in thickness; its "leader," which is richer in gold, from three inches to three feet; and the South Reef, also generally rich, from three inches to six feet. The Main Reef proper, however, is of too low an ore grade to be profitably worked under present economic conditions, though at two or three mines a percentage of it is milled in conjunction with the richer ore from the other beds. Where these beds come to the surface, they are inclined, or "dip," as geologists say, at an angle of from 60° to 30°, and the shafts are now usually sunk to follow the line of dip. But as they are followed down into the earth, the angle diminishes to 30° or 25°, and it appears certain that at a still greater depth they will be found to lie nearly horizontal. This fact is extremely important, because it promises to make a much larger part of the beds available than would be the case if they continued to plunge downward at a high angle, since in that case they would soon attain a depth at which mining would be impossible, because the heat would be too great, and probably unprofitable also, because the cost of raising the ore would be extremely heavy. The greatest depth to which workings have been carried is about 2400 feet, but skilled engineers think it possible to work as deep as 5000 feet, though labour becomes more difficult above the temperature of 100° Fahrenheit, which is reached at 3000 feet beneath the surface. No difficulty from temperature has been felt at 2,400 feet, and the water is found to give little trouble; indeed a very experienced engineer (to whose courtesy I am indebted for these facts) tells me that he thinks most of the water comes from the surface, and can be taken up in the upper levels of the mine which is being worked at the depth mentioned. I have given these details in order to show how enormous a mass of ore remains to be extracted when the deep workings, which are still in their infancy, have been fairly entered upon. But a still more remarkable fact is that the auriferous banket beds appear, so far as they have been followed by deep borings, to retain, as they descend into the earth, not only their average thickness, but also their average mineral quality. Here is the striking feature of the Rand gold-beds, which makes them, so far as we know, unique in the world. Everywhere else gold-mining is a comparatively hazardous and uncertain enterprise. Where the metal is found in alluvial deposits, the deposits usually vary much in the percentage of gold to the ton of soil which they yield, and they are usually exhausted in a few years. Where it occurs in veins of quartz-rock (the usual matrix), these veins are generally irregular in their thickness, often coming abruptly to an end as one follows them downward, and still more irregular and uncertain in the percentage of gold to rock. For a few yards your quartz-reef may be extremely rich, and thereafter the so-called "shoot" may stop, and the vein contain so little gold as not to pay the cost of working. But in the Witwatersrand basin the precious metal is so uniformly and equally distributed through the auriferous beds that when you have found a payable bed you may calculate with more confidence than you can anywhere else that the high proportion of gold to rock will be maintained throughout the bed, not only in its lateral extension, which can be easily verified, but also as it dips downwards into the bowels of the earth. It is, therefore, not so much the richness of this gold-field--for the percentage of metal to rock is seldom very high, and the cost of working the hard rock and disengaging the metal from the minerals with which it is associated are heavy items--as the comparative certainty of return, and the vast quantity of ore from which that return may be expected, that have made the Rand famous, have drawn to it a great mass of European capital and a large population, and have made the district the object of political desires, ambition, and contests which transcend South Africa and have threatened to become a part of the game which the great powers of Europe are playing on the chessboard of the world. It is believed that the banket or conglomerate beds are of marine origin, but it does not follow that the gold was deposited _pari passu_ with the deposition of the beds, for it may have been--and skilled opinion inclines to this view--carried into the conglomerate seams subsequently to their deposit. In this respect they resemble auriferous veins of quartz, though in these banket reefs the gold-bearing solutions would seem to have come up through the interstitial spaces of the conglomerate instead of in the more or less open fissures of the gold-bearing quartz-veins. The chemical conditions under which gold is thus deposited are still conjectural. Gold has long been known to exist in sea-water, in the form of an iodide or a chloride; and one skilful metallurgist at Johannesburg told me that he believed there was as much gold in a cubic mile of sea-water as the whole then annual output of the Rand, that is to say, nearly £8,000,000. Had these deposits been discovered a century ago, few, if any of them, would have been worth working, because miners did not then possess the necessary means for extracting the gold from its intractable matrix. It is the progress of chemical science which, by inventing new processes, such as the roasting with chlorine, the treatment in vats with cyanide, and the application of electrical currents, has made the working profitable. The expenses of working out the gold per ton of ore sank from £1 15_s._ 5_d._ per ton in 1892 to £1 8_s._ 1_d._ in 1898, while the dividends rose from 8_s._ per ton to 13_s._ 2_d._; and the proportion of gold won which was paid in dividends rose from 19 to 32 per cent. Further improvements in the processes of reduction will doubtless increase the mining area, by making it worth while to develop mines where the percentage of metal to rock is now too small to yield a dividend. Improvements, moreover, tend to accelerate the rate of production, and thereby to shorten the life of the mines; for the more profitable working becomes, the greater is the temptation to work as fast as possible and get out the maximum of ore. The number of stamps at work in milling the ore rose from 3740 in 1896 to 5970 in August, 1899. The total sum annually paid in dividends, which had in 1892 been £794,464, had in 1898 risen to £4,847,505. The duration of the mines, as a whole, is therefore a difficult problem, for it involves the question whether many pieces of reef, which are now little worked or not worked at all, will in future be found worth working, owing to cheapened appliances and to a larger yield of gold per ton of rock, in which case the number of mines may be largely increased, and reefs now neglected be opened up when the present ones have been exhausted. The view of the most competent specialists seems to be that, though many of what are now the best properties will probably be worked out in twenty or thirty years, the district, as a whole, may not be exhausted for at least fifty, and possibly even for seventy or eighty, years to come. And the value of the gold to be extracted within those fifty years has been roughly estimated at about £700,000,000, of which at least £200,000,000 will be clear profit, the balance going to pay the cost of extraction. In 1896 the value of the Witwatersrand gold output was £7,864,341.[60] In 1898 it was £15,141,376; and in the first eight months of 1899 £12,485,032. Assuming a production of £15,000,000 a year, this would exhaust the field in about forty-six years; but it is, of course, quite impossible to predict what the future rate of production will be, for that must depend not only on the progress of mechanical and chemical science, but (as we shall presently see) to some extent also upon administrative and even political conditions. In the five years preceding 1896 the production had increased so fast (at the rate of about a million sterling per annum) that, even under the conditions which existed in 1895, every one expected a further increase, and (as already noted), the product of 1898 exceeded £15,000,000. With more favourable economic and administrative conditions it will doubtless for a time go still higher. The South African Republic now stands first among the gold-producing countries, having passed the United States, which stands a little behind her, Australasia being a good third, and the Russian Empire a bad fourth. The total annual output of gold for the whole world was in 1898 about £59,617,955. Among the economic conditions I have referred to, none is more important than the supply and the wages of labour. On the Rand, as in all South African mines of every kind, unskilled manual labour is performed by Kafirs, whites--together with a few half-breeds and Indian coolies--being employed for all operations, whether within the mine or above the ground, which require intelligence and special knowledge. The number of natives regularly employed was in 1896 47,000, the total employed altogether during the year 70,000. In 1898 these numbers had risen to 67,000 and 88,000 respectively. The average monthly wage of a native was in 1896 £3 0_s._ 10_d._ and in 1898 £2 9_s._ 9_d._ The number of whites employed was in 1896 7,430 (average monthly wage £24), in 1898 9,476 (average monthly wage £26). Whites would be still more largely employed if they would work harder, but they disdain the more severe kinds of labour, thinking those fit only for Kafirs. The native workmen are of various tribes, Basutos, Zulus, Shanganis, and Zambesi boys being reckoned the best. Most of them come from a distance, some from great distances, and return home when they have saved the sum they need to establish themselves in life. The dream of the mine manager is to cut down the cost of native labour by getting a larger and more regular supply, as well as by obtaining cheaper maize to feed the workmen, for at present, owing to the customs duties on food-stuffs, the cost of maize--nearly all of which is imported--is much higher than it need be. So white labour might be much cheapened, while still remaining far better paid than in Europe, by a reduction of the customs tariff, which now makes living inordinately dear. Heavy duties are levied on machinery and chemicals; and dynamite is costly, the manufacture of it having been constituted a monopoly granted to a single person. Of all these things, loud complaints are heard, but perhaps the loudest are directed against the rates of freight levied by the railways, and especially by the Netherlands Company, which owns the lines inside the Transvaal State itself. Even apart from the question of railway freights, Johannesburg believed in 1895 that better legislation and administration might reduce the cost of production by twenty or thirty per cent., a difference which would of course be rapidly felt in the dividends of the mines that now pay, and which would enable many now unprofitable mines to yield a dividend and many mines to be worked which are now not worth working.[61] However this may be, an examination of the figures I have given will show how great has been the development of the industry during the last eight years, how largely the dividends have grown and how much the cost of production has been reduced. Thus in spite of the difficulties mentioned, the profits made have greatly increased, and the shareholder has fared well. There is nothing in the natural aspect of the mining belt to distinguish it from the rest of the Transvaal plateau. It is a high, dry, bare, scorched, and windy country, and Johannesburg, its centre, stands in one of the highest, driest, and windiest spots, on the south slope of the Witwatersrand ridge, whose top rises some 150 feet above the business quarters. Founded in 1886, the town has now a population exceeding 100,000, more than half of them whites. In 1896 the census (probably very imperfect) showed within a radius of three miles 50,000 whites, 42,000 Kafirs, and 6000 Asiatics. Though it is rapidly passing from the stage of shanties and corrugated iron into that of handsome streets lined with tall brick houses, it is still rough and irregular, ill paved, ill lighted, with unbuilt spaces scattered about and good houses set down among hovels. Another element of unloveliness is supplied by the mines themselves, for the chief reefs run quite close to the southern part of the town, and the huge heaps of "waste rock" or refuse and so-called "tailings", the machinery which raises, crushes, and treats the ore, and the tall chimneys of the engine houses, are prominent objects in the suburbs. There is not much smoke; but to set against this there is a vast deal of dust, plenty from the streets, and still more from the tailings and other heaps of highly comminuted ore-refuse. The streets and roads alternate between mud for the two wet months, and dust in the rest of the year; and in the dry months not only the streets, but the air is full of dust, for there is usually a wind blowing. But for this dust, and for the want of proper drainage and a proper water-supply, the place would be healthy, for the air is dry and bracing. But there had been up to the end of 1895 a good deal of typhoid fever and a great deal of pneumonia, often rapidly fatal. In the latter part of 1896 the mortality was as high as 58 per thousand.[62] It is a striking contrast to pass from the business part of the town to the pretty suburb which lies to the north-east under the steep ridge of the Witwatersrand, where the wealthier residents have erected charming villas and surrounded them with groves and gardens. Less pretty, but far more striking, is the situation of a few of the outlying country houses which have been built to the north, on the rocky top or along the northern slope of the same ridge. These have a noble prospect over thirty or forty miles of rolling country to the distant Magaliesberg. East and west the horizon is closed by long ranges of blue hills, while beneath, some large plantations of trees, and fields cultivated by irrigation, give to the landscape a greenness rare in this arid land. Standing on this lonely height and looking far away towards the Limpopo and Bechuanaland, it is hard to believe that such a centre of restless and strenuous life as Johannesburg is so near at hand. The prospect is one of the finest in this part of Africa; and it is to be hoped that a tract on these breezy heights will, before building has spread further, be acquired by the town as a public park. Though in its general aspect Johannesburg comes nearer to one of the new mining cities of Western America than to any place in Europe, yet in many points it is more English than American, as it is far more English than Dutch. Indeed, there is nothing to remind the traveller that he is in a Dutch country except the Dutch names of the streets on some of the street corners. The population--very mixed, for there are Germans, Italians, and French, as well as some natives of India--is practically English-speaking, for next in number to the colonial English and the recent immigrants from Great Britain come the Australians and Americans, who are for all social purposes practically English. It is a busy, eager, restless, pleasure-loving town, making money fast and spending it lavishly, filled from end to end with the fever of mining speculation. This pursuit concentrates itself in one spot where two of the principal streets meet, and where a part of one of them is inclosed within low chains, so as to make a sort of inclosure, in which those who traffic in gold shares meet to buy and sell. "Between the chains" is the local expression for the mining exchange, or share market, and a sensitive and unstable market it is. It had been "booming" for most of the year, and many stocks stood far too high. But while we were there what is called a "slump" occurred, and it was pretty to study the phenomenon on the countenances between the chains. The passion of the people for sport, and especially for racing, is characteristically English. The gambling-saloon is less conspicuous than in Transatlantic mining-camps, and there are fewer breaches of public order. Decorum is not always maintained. When I was there, a bout of fisticuffs occurred between the ex-head of the town police and his recently appointed successor, and the prowess of the former delighted a large ring of English spectators who gathered round the combatants. But one hears of no shootings at-sight or lynchings; and considering the great number of bad characters who congregate at places of this kind, it was surprising that the excess of crime over other South African towns (in which there is very little crime among the whites) should not have been larger. Partly, perhaps, because the country is far from Europe, the element of mere roughs and rowdies, of scalawags, hoodlums, and larrikins, is smaller than in the mining districts of the Western United States, and the proportion of educated men unusually large. The best society of the place--of course not very numerous--is cultivated and agreeable. It consists of men of English or Anglo-Jewish race--including Cape Colonists and Americans, with a few Germans, mostly of Jewish origin. I should conjecture the English and colonial element to compose seven-tenths of the white population, the American and German about one-tenth each, while Frenchmen and other European nations make up the residue. There are hardly any Boers or Hollanders, except Government officials; and one feels one's self all the time in an English, that is to say, an Anglo-Semitic town. Though there are some 50,000 Kafirs, not many are to be seen about the streets. The Boer farmers of the neighbourhood drive their waggons in every morning, laden with vegetables. But there are so few of the native citizens of the South African Republic resident in this its largest town that the traveller cannot help fancying himself in the Colony; and it was only natural that the English-speaking people, although newcomers, should feel the place to be virtually their own. Great is the change when one passes from the busy Johannesburg to the sleepy Pretoria, the political capital of the country, laid out forty-three years ago, and made the seat of government in 1863. The little town--it has about 12,000 inhabitants, two-thirds of whom are whites--lies in a warm and well watered valley--about thirty miles N.N.E. of Johannesburg. The gum-trees and willows that have grown up swiftly in the gardens and along the avenues embower it; and the views over the valley from the low hills--most of them now (since the middle of 1896) crowned by batteries of cannon--that rise above the suburbs are pleasing. But it has neither the superb panoramic prospect nor the sense of abounding wealth and strenuous life that make Johannesburg striking. The streets are wide, and after rain so muddy as to be almost impassable; the houses irregular, yet seldom picturesque. Nothing could be less beautiful than the big Dutch church, which occupies the best situation, in the middle of the market square. There is, however, one stately and even sumptuous building, that which contains the Government Offices and chambers of the legislature. It is said to have cost £200,000. The room in which the Volksraad (_i.e._, the First or chief Volksraad) meets is spacious and handsome. It interests the visitor to note that on the right hand of the chair of the presiding officer there is another chair, on the same level, for the President of the Republic, while to the right there are seats for the five members of the Executive Council, and to the left five others for the heads of the administrative departments, though none of these eleven is a member of the Raad. We had expected to find Pretoria as Dutch as Johannesburg is English. But although there is a considerable Boer and Hollander population, and one hears Dutch largely spoken, the general aspect of the town is British colonial; and the British-colonial element is conspicuous and influential. Having little trade and no industry, Pretoria exists chiefly as the seat of the administration and of the courts of law. Now the majority of the bar are British-colonials from Cape Colony or England. The large interests involved in the goldfields, and the questions that arise between the companies formed to work them, give abundant scope for litigation, and one whole street, commonly known as the Aasvogelsnest (Vulture's Nest), is filled with their offices. They and the judges, the most distinguished of whom are also either colonial Dutchmen or of British origin, are the most cultivated and (except as regards political power) the leading section of society. It is a real pleasure to the European traveller to meet so many able and well-read men as the bench and bar of Pretoria contain; and he finds it odd that many of them should be excluded from the franchise and most of them regarded with suspicion by the ruling powers. Johannesburg (with its mining environs) has nearly all the industry and wealth, and half the whole white population of the Transvaal--a country, be it remembered, as large as Great Britain. Pretoria and the lonely country to the north, east, and west[63] have the rest of the population and all the power. It is true that Pretoria has also a good deal of the intelligence. But this intelligence is frequently dissociated from political rights. President Kruger lives in a house which the Republic has presented to him, five minutes' walk from the public offices. It is a long, low cottage, like an Indian bungalow, with nothing to distinguish it from other dwellings. The President has, however, a salary of £7,000 a year, besides an allowance, commonly called "coffee money," to enable him to defray the expenses of hospitality. Just opposite stands the little chapel of the so-called Dopper sect in which he occasionally preaches. Like the Scotch of former days, the Boers have generally taken more interest in ecclesiastical than in secular politics. A sharp contest has raged among them between the party which desires to be in full communion with the Dutch Reformed Church of Cape Colony and the party which prefers isolation, distrusting (it would seem unjustly) the strict orthodoxy of that church. The Doppers (dippers, _i.e._ Baptists) are still more stringent in their adherence to ancient ways. When I asked for an account of their tenets, I was told that they wore long waistcoats and refused to sing hymns. They are, in fact, old-fashioned Puritans in dogmatic beliefs and social usages, and, as in the case of the more extreme Puritans of the seventeenth century, this theological stringency is accompanied by a firmness of character which has given them a power disproportionate to their numbers. Quiet as Pretoria is, the echoes of the noisy Rand are heard in it, and the Rand questions occupy men's minds. But outside Pretoria the country is lonely and silent, like all other parts of the Transvaal, except the mining districts. Here and there, at long, intervals, you come upon a cluster of houses--one can hardly call them villages. If it were not for the mines, there would not be one white man to a square mile over the whole Republic. [Footnote 59: Mr. J. Hays Hammond, the eminent mining engineer, in _North American Review_ for February, 1897.] [Footnote 60: The total output of the Californian gold deposits up to the end of 1896 was £256,000,000. The total gold output of the Transvaal was in 1898 $78,070,761 (about £16,000,000), that of the United States $65,082,430. I take these and the other recent figures from a report by Mr. Hammond to the Consolidated Gold Fields of South Africa Company.] [Footnote 61: A little French book (_L'Industrie Minière au Transvaal_, published in 1897), which presents a careful examination of these questions, calculated at about thirty per cent. of the expenditure the savings in production which better legislation and administration might render possible.] [Footnote 62: There are towns in England where the rate is only 13 per thousand.] [Footnote 63: There are some mines of gold and coal in other parts, mostly on the east side of the country, with a small industrial population consisting chiefly of recent immigrants.] CHAPTER XIX THE ORANGE FREE STATE In the last preceding chapter I have carried the reader into the Transvaal through Natal, because this is the most interesting route. But most travellers in fact enter _via_ Cape Colony and the Orange Free State, that State lying between the north-eastern frontier of the Colony and the south-eastern frontier of the Transvaal. Of the Free State there is not much to say; but that little needs to be said, because this Republic is a very important factor in South African politics, and before coming to its politics the reader ought to know something of its population. I have already (Chapter V) summarized its physical features and have referred (Chapter XI) to the main incidents in its history. Physically, there is little to distinguish it from the regions that bound it to the east, north, and west. Like them, it is level or undulating, dry, and bare--in the main a land of pasture. One considerable diamond mine is worked in the west, (at Jagersfontein) and along the banks of the Caledon River there lies one rich agricultural district. But the land under cultivation is less than one per cent, of the whole area. There are no manufactures, and of course very little trade; so the scanty population increases slowly. It is a country of great grassy plains, brilliantly green and fresh after rain has fallen, parched and dusty at other times, but able to support great numbers of cattle and sheep. Rare farmhouses and still rarer villages are scattered over this wide expanse, which, in the north-east, toward Natal, rises into a mountainous region. The natives (most of them of Bechuana stock) are nearly twice as numerous as the whites. Some live on a large Barolong reservation, where they till the soil and keep their cattle in their own way. The rest are scattered over the country, mostly employed as herdsmen to the farmers. Save on the reservation, they cannot own land or travel without a pass, and of course they are not admitted to the electoral franchise. They seem, however, to be fairly well treated, and are perfectly submissive. Their wages average thirty shillings a month. Native labour has become so scarce that no farmer is now permitted to employ more than twenty-five. Of the whites, fully two-thirds are of Dutch origin, and Dutch is pretty generally spoken. English, however, is understood by most people, and is the language most commonly used in the larger villages. The two races have lived of late years in perfect harmony, for there has never been any war between the Free State and Great Britain. As the tendency of the English citizens to look to Cape Colony has been checked by the sentiment of independence which soon grew up in this little Republic, and by their attachment to its institutions, so the knowledge of the Dutch citizens that the English element entertains this sentiment and attachment has prevented the growth of suspicion among the Dutch, and has knitted the two races into a unity which is generally cordial.[64] Nevertheless, so much Dutch feeling remained slumbering, that when it had been reawakened by Dr. Jameson's expedition into the Transvaal in December, 1895, the scale was decisively turned in favour of one out of the two candidates at the election of a President which followed shortly thereafter, by the fact that the one belonged to a Dutch, the other to a Scottish family. Both were able and experienced men, the former (Mr. Steyn) a judge, the latter (Mr. Fraser) Speaker of the Volksraad. It may be added that the proximity of the Colony, and the presence of the large English element, have told favourably upon the Dutch population in the way of stimulating their intelligence and modifying their conservatism, while not injuring those solid qualities which make them excellent citizens. The desire for instruction is far stronger among them than it is in the Transvaal. Indeed, there is no part of South Africa where education is more valued and more widely diffused. The only place that can be called a town is Bloemfontein, the seat of government, which stands on the great trunk-line of railway from Cape Town to Pretoria, seven hundred and fifty miles from the former and two hundred and ninety from the latter town. It is what the Germans call a "freundliches Städtchen," a bright and cheerful little place with 3,300 white and 2,500 black inhabitants, nestling under a rocky kopje, and looking out over illimitable plains to the east and south. The air is dry and bracing, and said to be especially beneficial to persons threatened with pulmonary disease. As it is one of the smallest, so it is one of the neatest and, in a modest way, best appointed capitals in the world. It has a little fort, originally built by the British government, with two Maxim guns in the Arsenal, a Protestant Episcopal and a Roman Catholic cathedral as well as Dutch Reformed churches, all kinds of public institutions, a spacious market square, with a good club and an excellent hotel, wide and well-kept streets, gardens planted with trees that are now so tall as to make the whole place seem to swim in green, a national museum, and a very handsome building for the legislature, whose principal apartment is as tasteful, well-lighted, and well-arranged as any I have seen in any British Colony or American State. The place is extremely quiet, and people live very simply, though not cheaply, for prices are high, and domestic service so dear and scarce as to be almost unprocurable. Every one is above poverty, but still further removed from wealth. It looks, and one is told that it is, the most idyllic community in Africa, worthy to be the capital of this contented and happy State. No great industries have come into the Free State to raise economic strife. No capitalists tempt the virtue of legislators, or are forced to buy off the attacks of blackmailers. No religious animosities divide Christians, for there is perfect religious freedom. No difficulties as to British suzerainty exist, for the Republic is absolutely independent. No native troubles have arisen. No prize is offered to ambition. No political parties have sprung up. Taxation is low, and there is no public debt. The arms of the State are a lion and a lamb standing on opposite sides of an orange-tree, with the motto, "Freedom, Immigration, Patience, Courage", and though the lion has, since 1871, ceased to range over the plains, his pacific attitude beside the lamb on this device happily typifies the harmony which has existed between the British and Dutch elements, and the spirit of concord which the late President Brand so well infused into the public life of his Republic. In the Orange Free State I discovered, in 1895, the kind of commonwealth which the fond fancy of the philosophers of last century painted. It is an ideal commonwealth, not in respect of any special excellence in its institutions, but because the economic and social conditions which have made democracy so far from an unmixed success in the American States and in the larger Colonies of Britain, not to speak of the peoples of Europe, whether ancient or modern, have not come into existence here, while the external dangers which for a time threatened the State have, years ago, vanished away like clouds into the blue.[65] Although, however, the political constitution of the Free State is not the chief cause of the peace and order which the State enjoys, it may claim to be well suited to the community which lives happily under it. It is a simple constitution, and embodied in a very short, terse, and straightforward instrument of sixty-two articles, most of them only a few lines in length. The governing authorities are the President, the Executive Council, and the Volksraad or elective popular assembly. Citizenship belongs to all white persons born in the State, or who have resided in it for three years and have made a written promise of allegiance, or have resided one year and possess real property of the value of one hundred and fifty pounds sterling, a liberality which is in marked contrast to the restrictions imposed upon new comers by the laws of the Transvaal. Thus, practically, all the male white inhabitants are citizens, with full rights of suffrage--subject to some small property qualifications for new comers which it is hardly worth while to enumerate. The President is elected by the citizens for five years and is re-eligible. He can sit and speak but cannot vote in the Volksraad, is responsible to it and has the general control of the administration. The Executive Council consists of five members--besides the President--viz., the State Secretary and the Magistrate of Bloemfontein, both of whom are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Volksraad, and three other members chosen by the Volksraad. It is associated with the President for divers purposes, but has not proved to be an important or influential body. The Volksraad is elected by all the citizens for four years, half of the members retiring every two years. It has only one chamber, in which there sit at present fifty-eight members. It is the supreme legislative authority, meeting annually, and in extra sessions when summoned, and its consent is required to the making of treaties and to a declaration of war. The President has no veto on its acts, and the heads of the executive departments do not sit in it. The obligation of military service is universal on all citizens between the ages of sixteen and sixty. The constitution can be altered by the Volksraad, but only by a three-fourths majority in two consecutive annual sessions. It is therefore a Rigid constitution, like that of the United States and that of Switzerland. This simple scheme of government seems calculated to throw nearly all the power in the hands of the legislature, leaving the President comparatively weak. Nevertheless, in point of fact the Presidents have been very important figures, partly because there have been no parties in the legislature, and therefore no party leaders. From 1863 till his death in 1888, the whole policy of the State was guided by President Brand, a lawyer from the Cape, whom the people elected for five successive terms. His power of sitting in and addressing the Volksraad proved to be of the utmost value, for his judgment and patriotism inspired perfect confidence. His successor, Mr. F. W. Reitz, who at the time of my visit (November, 1895) had just been obliged by ill-health to retire from office, enjoyed equal respect, and when he chose to exert it, almost equal influence with the legislature, and things went smoothly under him. I gathered that Judge Steyn, who was elected President early in 1896, was similarly respected for his character and abilities, and was likely to enjoy similar weight. So the Speaker of the legislature has been an influential person, because his office devolves upon him functions which the absence of a Cabinet makes important. The fact is that in every government, give it what form you please, call it by what name you will, individual men are the chief factors, and if the course of things is such that the legislature does not become divided into parties and is not called on to produce conspicuous leaders, general leadership will fall to the executive head if he is fit to assume it, and legislative leadership to the chairman of the assembly. Were questions to arise splitting up the people and the legislature into factions, the situation would change at once. Oratorical gifts and legislative strategy would become valuable, and the President or the Speaker of the assembly might be obscured by the chiefs of the parties. The people of the Free State were well satisfied with their constitution, and showed little disposition to alter it. Some of the wisest heads, however, told me that they thought two improvements were needed: a provision that amendments to the constitution, after having passed the Volksraad, should be voted on by the people (as in the Swiss Referendum), and a provision securing to the judges their salaries, and their independence of the Volksraad. It is interesting to notice that both here and in the Transvaal the gravest constitutional questions that have arisen turn on the relations between the legislative and the judicial departments. Some years ago the Free State Volksraad claimed the right to commit a person to prison for contempt, and to direct the State attorney to prosecute him. The Chief Justice, a distinguished lawyer, and his colleagues felt bound to resist what they thought an unconstitutional stretch of power by the Raad. At first they seemed likely to be defeated, but by using their opportunities of charging juries to insist on their views they brought public opinion round to their side, and the Raad ultimately retired from the position it had taken up, leaving the question of right undetermined. It has never been definitely settled whether the courts of law are in the Free State (as in the United States), the authorized interpreters of the constitution, though upon principle it would seem that they are. These South African Constitutions were drafted by simple men in an untechnical way, so that many legal points obvious to the minds of English or American lawyers were left untouched, and have now to be settled either on principle or according to the will of what may happen to be the predominant power for the time being. It is, perhaps, better that they should remain in abeyance until public opinion has grown more instructed and has had fuller opportunities of considering them. Small as is the white population of the Orange Free State, its geographical position and the high average quality of its citizens secure for it a position of great significance in South African politics; and the attitude it might take would be an important factor in any dispute between the British Government and the Transvaal Republic. The troubles of December, 1895, drew it nearer to the Transvaal, for the Free State Boers have strong political sympathy with their northern kinsfolk. They were, at the time of my visit, far from approving the policy of mere resistance to reform which President Kruger has taken up; and seemed quite indisposed to support the Transvaal if it should take any course at variance with its treaty engagements.[66] To this topic I may have occasion presently to return. Meanwhile I pass on to describe the native State which lies nearest to the Free State, which has been most closely connected with its fortunes, and which in one respect furnishes a parallel to it, having been of late years the most quiet and contented among native communities. [Footnote 64: Mr. Brand was chosen President when practising law in Cape Colony; and afterwards accepted, with the full assent of his citizens, a British order of knighthood.] [Footnote 65: Revising this book in October, 1899, I leave the above passage as it was written in 1897, grieving to think that it describes what has now become a past, and that the future is likely to have far other things in store.] [Footnote 66: I leave this as written in 1897. The invasion of the Transvaal in December, 1895, led to the conclusion of an alliance between the Free State and that Republic, whereby each bound itself to defend the other if attacked. The Free State has accordingly now (October, 1899), when hostilities have broken out between Britain and the Transvaal, thrown in its lot with its sister Republic. This is what every one who knew its history and the character of its people must have expected.] CHAPTER XX BASUTOLAND Basutoland is a comparatively small territory (10,300 square miles) somewhat larger than Wales or Massachusetts. It is nearly all mountainous, and contains the highest summits in South Africa, some of them reaching 11,000 feet. Few European travellers visit it, for it lies quite away from the main routes; it has no commercial importance, and its white population is extremely small, the land being reserved for the natives alone. We were attracted to it by what we had heard of the scenery; but found when we came to traverse it, that the social conditions were no less interesting than the landscapes. The easiest approach is from Bloemfontein. Starting from that pleasant little town one bright November morning on the top of the Ladybrand coach, we drove over wide and nearly level stretches of pasture-land, which now, after the first rains, were vividly green, and beginning to be dotted with flowers. The road was only a track, rough and full of ruts, and the coach, drawn by eight horses, was an old one, whose springs had lost whatever elasticity they might once have possessed, so that it was only by holding tight on to the little rail at the back of the seat that we could keep our places. The incessant pitching and jolting would have been intolerable on an ordinary drive; but here the beauty of the vast landscape, the keen freshness of the air, and the brilliance of the light made one forget every physical discomfort. About noon, after crossing the muddy flood of the Modder River, whose channel, almost dry a month before, had now been filled by the rains, we entered a more hilly region, and came soon after noon to the village of Thaba 'Ntshu, called from the bold rocky peak of that name, which is a landmark for all the country round, and is famous in history as the rallying-point of the various parties of emigrant Boers who quitted Cape Colony in the Great Trek of 1836-37. Near it is a large native reservation, where thousands of Barolong Kafirs live, tilling the better bits of soil and grazing their cattle all over the rolling pastures. Some ten or fifteen miles farther the track reaches the top of a long ascent, and a magnificent prospect is revealed to the south-east of the noble range of the Maluti Mountains, standing out in the dazzling clearness of this dry African air, yet mellowed by distance to tints of delicate beauty. We were reminded of the view of the Pyrenees from Pau, where, however, the mountains are both nearer and higher than here, and of the view of the Rocky Mountains from Calgary, on the Canadian Pacific Railway. From this point onward the road mounts successive ridges, between which lie rich hollows of agricultural land, and from the tops of which nearer and nearer views of the Maluti range are gained. There was hardly a tree visible, save those which Europeans have planted round the farmhouses that one finds every seven or eight miles; and I dare say the country would be dreary in the dry season or in dull grey weather. But as we saw it, the wealth of sunlight, the blue of the sky above, the boundless stretches of verdure beneath, made the drive a dream of delight. When the sun sank the constellations came out in this pure, dry African air with a brilliance unknown to Europe; and we tired our eyes in gazing on the Centaur and the Argo and those two Magellanic clouds by which one finds the position of the southern pole. Soon after dark we came to the top of the last high hill, and saw what seemed an abyss opening beneath. The descent was steep, but a beaten track led down it, reputed the most dangerous piece of road in the Free State; and the driver regaled us with narratives of the accidents that had taken place on the frequent occasions when the coach had been upset, adding, however, that nobody ever had been or would be killed while he held the reins. He proved as good as his word, and brought us safely to Ladybrand at 9 P.M., after more than twelve hours of a drive so fatiguing that only the marvellously bracing air enabled us to feel none the worse for it. Ladybrand is a pretty little hamlet lying at the foot of the great flat-topped hill, called the Plaat Berg, which the perilous road crosses, and looking out from groves of Australian gum-trees, across fertile corn-fields and meadows, to the Caledon River and the ranges of Basutoland. A ride of eight miles brings one to the ferry (which in the dry season becomes a shallow ford) across this stream, and on the farther shore one is again under the British flag at Maseru, the residence of the Imperial Commissioner who supervises the administration of the country, under the direction of the High Commissioner for South Africa. Here are some sixty Europeans--officials, police, and store-keepers--and more than two thousand natives. Neither here nor anywhere else in Basutoland is there an inn; those few persons who visit the country find quarters in the stores which several whites have been permitted to establish, unless they have, as we had, the good fortune to be the guests of the Commissioner. Basutoland is the Switzerland of South Africa and, very appropriately, is the part of South Africa where the old inhabitants, defended by their hills, have retained the largest measure of freedom. Although most of it is covered with lofty mountains, it has, like Switzerland, one comparatively level and fertile tract--that which lies along the left bank of the Caledon River. Morija, the oldest French mission station, lies in a pretty hollow between five and six thousand feet above the sea,--nearly all Basutoland is above 5000 feet,--some sixteen miles south-east from Maseru. Groves of trees and luxuriant gardens give softness and verdure to the landscape, and among them the mission houses and schools, and printing-house whence Basuto books are issued, lie scattered about, up and down the slopes of the hill. Though there are plenty of streams in Basutoland, there is hardly any swampy ground, and consequently little or no fever, so the missionaries invalided from the Zambesi frequently come here to recruit. The station of Morija has been for many years past directed by French-Swiss pastors, but the schools have been under the charge of Scottish Presbyterian clergymen, of course in the service of the Paris Society, and they gave us a hearty welcome. They have large and flourishing schools, from which a considerable number of young Kafirs go out every year among their countrymen and become an effective civilizing influence. There is among the Bantu tribes so little religion, in the European sense of the word, that the natives seem never to have felt the impulse to persecute, and hardly ever to obstruct the preaching of Christianity. When opposition comes, it comes from the witch-doctor or medicine-man, who feels his craft in danger, seldom from the chief. Here most of the leading men have been and still are on good terms with the missionaries. The Paramount Chief of the whole country lives three miles from Morija, at Matsieng, where he has established, as the wont of the Kafirs is, a new kraal on the top of a breezy hill, forsaking the residence of his father in the valley beneath. Here we visited him. Lerothodi, the Paramount Chief, is the son of Letsie and grandson of Moshesh, and now ranks with Khama as the most important native potentate south of the Zambesi. He is a strong, thickset man, who looks about fifty years of age, and is not wanting either in intelligence or in firmness. He was dressed in a grey shooting-coat and trousers of grey cloth, with a neat new black, low-crowned hat, and received the Deputy Acting Commissioner and ourselves in a stone house which he has recently built as a sort of council-chamber and reception-room for white visitors. Hard by, another house, also of stone, was being erected to lodge such visitors, and over its doorway a native sculptor had carved the figure of a crocodile, the totem of the Basutos. When a chief sits to administer justice among the tribesmen, as he does on most mornings, he always sits in the open air, a little way from his sleeping-huts. We found a crowd of natives gathered at the levee, whom Lerothodi quitted to lead us into the reception-room. He was accompanied by six or seven magnates and counsellors,--one of the most trusted counsellors (a Christian) was not a person of rank, but owed his influence to his character and talents,--and among these one spoke English and interpreted to us the compliments which Lerothodi delivered, together with his assurances of friendship and respect for the Protecting Power, while we responded with phrases of similar friendliness. The counsellors, listening with profound and impressive gravity, echoed the sentences of the chief with a chorus of "ehs," a sound which it is hard to reproduce by letters, for it is a long, slow, deep expiration of the breath in a sort of singing tune. The Kafirs constantly use it to express assent and appreciation, and manage to throw a great deal of apparent feeling into it. Presently some of them spoke, one in pretty good English, dilating on the wish of the Basuto[67] tribe to be guided in the path of prosperity by the British Government. Then Lerothodi led us out and showed us, with some pride, the new guest-house he was building, and the huts inhabited by his wives, all scrupulously neat. Each hut stands in an enclosure surrounded by a tall fence of reeds, and the floors of red clay were perfectly hard, smooth, and spotlessly clean. The news of the reception accorded shortly before (in London) to Khama had kindled in him a desire to visit England, but his hints thrown out to that effect were met by the Commissioner's remark that Khama's total abstinence and general hostility to the use of intoxicants had been a main cause for the welcome given him, and that if other chiefs desired like treatment in England they had better emulate Khama. This shot went home. From the chief's kraal we had a delightful ride of some twenty miles to a spot near the foot of the high mountains, where we camped for the night. The track leads along the base of the Maluti range, sometimes over a rolling table-land, sometimes over hills and down through valleys, all either cultivated or covered with fresh close grass. The Malutis consist of beds of sandstone and shale, overlaid by an outflow of igneous rock from two to five thousand feet thick. They rise very steeply, sometimes breaking into long lines of dark brown precipice, and the crest seldom sinks lower than 7000 feet. Behind them to the south-east are the waterfalls, one of which, 630 feet high, is described as the grandest cascade in Africa south of the Zambesi. It was only two days' journey away, but unfortunately we had not time to visit it. The country we were traversing beneath the mountains was full of beauty, so graceful were the slopes and rolls of the hills, so bright the green of the pastures; while the sky, this being the rainy season, had a soft tone like that of England, and was flecked with white clouds sailing across the blue. It was also a prosperous-looking country, for the rich soil supported many villages, and many natives, men as well as women, were to be seen at work in the fields as we rode by. Except where streams have cut deeply into the soft earth, one gets about easily on horseback, for there are no woods save a little scrub clinging to the sides of the steeper glens. We were told that the goats eat off the young trees, and that the natives have used the older ones for fuel. In the afternoon we passed St. Michael's, the seat of a flourishing Roman Catholic mission, and took our way up the steep and stony track of a kloof (ravine) which led to a plateau some 6000 feet or more above sea-level. The soil of this plateau is a deep red loam, formed by the decomposition of the trap rock, and is of exceptional fertility, like the decomposed traps of Oregon and the Deccan. Here we pitched our tent, and found our liberal supply of blankets none too liberal, for the air was keen, and the difference between day and night temperature is great in these latitudes. Next morning, starting soon after dawn, we rode across the deep-cut beds of streams and over breezy pastures for some six or seven miles, to the base of the main Maluti range, and after a second breakfast prepared for the ascent of the great summit, which we had been admiring for two days as it towered over the long line of peaks or peered alone from the mists which often enveloped the rest of the range. It is called Machacha, and is a conspicuous object from Ladybrand and the Free State uplands nearly as far as Thaba 'Ntshu. Our route lay up a grassy hollow so steep that we had thought our friend, the Commissioner, must be jesting when he pointed up it and told us that was the way we had to ride. For a pedestrian it was a piece of hand and foot climbing, and seemed quite impracticable for horses. But up the horses went. They are a wonderful breed, these little Basuto nags. This region is the part of South Africa where the horse seems most thoroughly at home and happy, and is almost the only part where the natives breed and ride him. Sixty years ago there was not a horse in the country--the animal, it need hardly be said, is not a native of South Africa. But in 1852, the Basutos had plenty of ponies, and used them in the short campaign of that year with extraordinary effect. They are small, seldom exceeding twelve hands in height, a little larger than the ponies of Iceland, very hardy, and wonderfully clever on hills, able not only to mount a slope whose angle is 30° to 35°, but to keep their footing when ridden horizontally along it. A rider new to the country finds it hard not to slip off over the tail when the animal is ascending, or over the head when he is descending. The hollow brought us to a col fully 7500 feet above the sea, from which we descended some way into a valley behind, and then rode for three or four miles along the steep sides, gradually mounting, and having below us on the right a deep glen, covered everywhere with rich grass, and from the depths of which the murmur of a rushing stream, a sound rare in South Africa, rose up softly through the still, clear air. At length we reached the mountain crest, followed it for a space, and then, to avoid the crags along the crest, guided our horses across the extremely steep declivities by which it sinks to the east, till we came to a pass between precipices, with a sharp rock towering up in the middle of the pass and a glen falling abruptly to the west. Beyond this point--8500 feet or so above sea-level--the slopes were too steep even for the Basuto horses, and we therefore left them in charge of one of our Kafir attendants. A more rich and varied alpine flora than that which clothed the pastures all round I have seldom seen. The flowers had those brilliant hues that belong to the plants of our high European mountains, and they grew in marvellous profusion. They were mostly of the same genera as one finds in the Alps or the Pyrenees, but all or nearly all of different species; and among those I found several, particularly two beautiful _Gerania_, which the authorities at Kew have since told me are new to science. It was interesting to come here upon two kinds of heath--the first we had seen since quitting the Cape peninsula, for, rich as that peninsula is in heaths, there are very few to be found in other parts of South Africa, and those only, I think, upon high mountains. After a short rest we started for the final climb, first up a steep acclivity, covered with low shrubs and stones, and then across a wide hollow, where several springs of deliciously cold water break out. Less than an hour's easy work brought us to the highest point of a ridge which fell northward in a precipice, and our Kafirs declared that this was the summit of Machacha. But right in front of us, not half a mile away, on the other side of a deep semi-circular gulf,--what is called in Scotland a _corrie_,--a huge black cliff reared its head 400 feet above us, and above everything else in sight. This was evidently the true top and must be ascended. The Kafirs, perhaps thinking they had done enough for one day, protested that it was inaccessible. "Nonsense," we answered; "that is where we are going;" and when we started off at full speed they followed. Keeping along the crest for about half a mile to the eastward--it is an arëte which breaks down to the corrie in tremendous precipices, but slopes more gently to the south--we came to the base of the black cliff, and presently discovered a way by which, climbing hither and thither through the crags, we reached the summit, and saw an immense landscape unroll itself before us. It was one of those views which have the charm, so often absent from mountain panoramas, of combining a wide stretch of plain in one direction with a tossing sea of mountain-peaks in another. To the north-east and east and south-east, one saw nothing but mountains, some of them, especially in the far north-east, toward Natal, apparently as lofty as that on which we stood, and many of them built on bold and noble lines. To the south-east, where are the great waterfalls which are one of the glories of Basutoland, the general height was less, but a few peaks seemed to reach 10,000 feet. At our feet, to the west and south-west, lay the smiling corn-fields and pastures we had traversed the day before, and beyond them the rich and populous valley of the Caledon River, and beyond it, again, the rolling uplands of the Orange Free State, with the peak of Thaba 'Ntshu just visible, and still farther a blue ridge, faint in the extreme distance, that seemed to lie on the other side of Bloemfontein, nearly one hundred miles away. The sky was bright above us, but thunderstorms hung over the plains of the Free State behind Ladybrand, and now and then one caught a forked tongue of light flashing from among them. It was a magnificent landscape, whose bareness--for there is scarcely a tree upon these slopes--was more than compensated by the brilliance of the light and the clearness of the air, which made the contrast between the sunlit valley of the Caledon and the solemn shadows under the thunder-clouds more striking, and the tone of the distant ranges more deep and rich in colour, than in any similar prospect one could recall from the mountain watch-towers of Europe. Nor was the element of historical interest wanting. Fifteen miles away, but seeming to lie almost at our feet, was the flat-topped hill of Thaba Bosiyo, the oft-besieged stronghold of Moshesh, and beyond it the broad table-land of Berea, where the Basutos fought, and almost overcame, the forces of Sir George Cathcart in that war of 1852 which was so fateful both to Basutoland and to the Free State. Less than a mile from the peak on which we sat, we could descry, in the precipice which surrounds the great corrie, the black mouth of a cave. It was the den of the cannibal chief Machacha, whose name has clung to the mountain, and who established himself there seventy years ago, when the ravages of Tshaka, the Zulu king, had driven the Kafir tribes of Natal to seek safety in flight, and reduced some among them, for want of other food, to take to human flesh. Before that time this mountain-land had been inhabited only by wandering Bushmen, who have left marks of their presence in pictures on the rocks. Here and there among the crags jabbering baboons darted about, and great hawks sailed in circles above us. Otherwise we had seen no living wild creature since we left the pastures of the valley. The summit of Machacha is composed of a dark igneous rock, apparently a sort of amygdaloidal trap, with white and greenish calcareous crystals scattered through it. The height is given on the maps as 11,000 feet; but so far as one could judge by frequent observations from below and by calculations made during the ascent, I should think it not more than 10,500. It seems to be the culminating point of the Maluti range, but may be exceeded in height by Mont aux Sources, eighty miles off to the north-east, where Basutoland touches Natal on the one side and the Free State on the other. Descending by a somewhat more direct route, which we struck out for ourselves, we rejoined our horses at the pass where we had left them three hours before, and from there plunged down the kloof, or ravine, between the precipices which led to the foot of the mountain. It was here too steep to ride; indeed, it was about as steep a slope as one can descend on foot with comfort, the angle being in some places fully 40° A grand piece of scenery, for the dark rock walls rose menacing on either hand; and also a beautiful one, for the flowers, especially two brilliant shrubby geraniums, were profuse and gorgeous in hue. At the bottom, after a very rough scramble, we mounted our horses, and hastened along to escape the thunderstorm which was now nearly upon us, and which presently drove us for shelter into a native hut, where a Basuto woman, with her infant hanging in a cloth on her back, was grinding corn between two stones. She went on with her work, and presently addressed my wife, asking (as was explained to us) for a piece of soap wherewith to smear her face, presumably as a more fragrant substitute for the clay or ochre with which the Basuto ladies cover their bodies. The hut was clean and sweet, and, indeed, all through Basutoland we were struck by the neat finish of the dwellings and of the reed fences which inclosed them. When the storm had passed away over the mountains, "growling and muttering into other lands," and the vast horizon was again flooded with evening sunshine, we rode swiftly away, first over the rolling plateau we had traversed in the forenoon, then turning to the north along the top of the sandstone cliffs that inclose the valley of the Kaloe River, where Bushman pictures adorn the caves. At last as night fell, we dropped into the valley of the Kaloe itself, and so slowly through the darkness, for the horses were tired, and the track (which crosses the river four times) was rough and stony, came at last to the mission station of Thaba Bosiyo. Here we were welcomed by the Swiss pastor in charge of the mission, Mr. E. Jacottet, whose collection of Basuto and Barotse popular tales have made him well known to the students of folk-lore. No man knows the Basutos better than he and his colleague, Mr. Dyke of Morija; and what they told us was of the highest interest. Next day was Sunday, and gave us the opportunity of seeing a large congregation of Basuto converts and of hearing their singing, the excellence of which reminded us of the singing of negro congregations in the Southern States of America. We had also two interesting visits. One was from an elderly Basuto magnate of the neighbourhood, who was extremely anxious to know if Queen Victoria really existed, or was a mere figment of the British Government. He had met many white men, he told us, but none of them had ever set eyes on the Queen, and he could not imagine how it was possible that a great chieftainess should not be seen by her people. We satisfied his curiosity by giving full details of the times, places, and manner in which the British sovereign receives her subjects, and he went away, declaring himself convinced and more loyal than ever. The second visitor was a lady who had come to attend church. She is the senior wife of a chief named Thekho, a son of Moshesh. She impressed us as a person of great force of character and great conversational gifts, was dressed in a fashionable hat and an enormous black velvet mantle, and plied us with numerous questions regarding the Queen, her family, and her government. She lives on the hill among her dependents, exerts great influence, and has done good service in resisting the reactionary tendencies of her brother-in-law Masupha, a dogged and turbulent old pagan. The mission station lies at the foot of the hill of Thaba Bosiyo, in a singular region where crags of white or grey sandstone, detached from the main mass of the tabular hills, stand up in solitary shafts and pinnacles, and give a weird, uncanny look to the landscape. The soil is fertile and well cultivated, but being alluvial, it is intersected in all directions by the channels of streams, which have dug so deep into it that much good land is every year lost by the mischief the streams work when in flood. The sides of these channels are usually vertical, and often eight, ten, or even twelve feet high, so that they offer a serious obstacle to travellers either by waggon or on horseback. The hill itself is so peculiar in structure, and has played such a part in history, as to deserve some words of description. It is nearly two miles long and less than a mile across, elliptical in form, rising about five hundred feet above its base, and breaking down on every side in a line of cliffs, which, on the north-west and north side (toward the mission station), are from twenty to forty feet high. On the other side, which I could not so carefully examine, they are apparently higher. These cliffs are so continuous all round as to leave--so one is told--only three spots in the circumference where they can be climbed; and although I noticed one or two other places where a nimble cragsman might make his way up, it is at those three points only that an attack by a number of men could possibly be made. The easiest point is where a dyke of igneous rock, thirty feet wide, strikes up the face of the hill from the north-north-west, cutting through the sandstone precipice. The decomposition of this dyke has opened a practicable path, from fifteen to twenty-five feet in width, to the top. The top is a large grassy flat, with springs of water and plenty of good pasture. It was this natural fortress that the Basuto chief Mosheshwe, or, as he is usually called, Moshesh, chose for his dwelling and the stronghold of his tribe, in A.D. 1824. The conquests of the ferocious Tshaka had driven thousands of Kafirs from their homes in Natal and on both sides of the Vaal River. Clans had been scattered, and the old dynasties rooted out or bereft of their influence and power. In the midst of this confusion, a young man, the younger son of a chief of no high lineage, and belonging to a small tribe, gathered around him a number of minor clans and fugitives from various quarters, and by his policy--astute, firm and tenacious--built them up into what soon became a powerful nation. Moving hither and hither along the foot of the great Maluti range, his skilful eye fixed on Thaba Bosiyo as a place fit to be the headquarters of the nation. There was good land all round, the approaches could be easily watched, and the hill itself, made almost impregnable by nature, supplied pasture for the cattle as well as perennial water. By tactfully conciliating the formidable tribes and boldly raiding the weaker ones, Moshesh rapidly acquired wealth (that is to say, cattle), strength and reputation, so that in 1836, when the emigrant Boers moved up into what is now the Free State, he was already the second power north of the mountains, inferior only to the terrible Mosilikatze. The latter on one occasion (in 1831) had sent a strong force of Matabili against him. Moshesh retired into his hill, which he defended by rolling down stones on the assailants; and when the invaders were presently obliged to retreat for want of food, he sent supplies to them on their way back, declaring his desire to be at peace with all men. The Matabili never attacked him again. In 1833 he intimated to the missionaries of the Paris Evangelical Society his willingness to receive them, planted them at Morija, and gave them afterwards their present station at the foot of Thaba Bosiyo, his own village being, of course, on the top. Their counsels were of infinite value to him in the troublous times that followed, and he repaid them by constant protection and encouragement. But though he listened, like so many Kafir chiefs, to sermons, enjoyed the society of his French friends, and was himself fond of quoting Scripture, he never became a Christian and was even thought to have, like Solomon, fallen in his old age somewhat more under heathen influences. Many were the wars he had to sustain with the native tribes who lived round him, as well as with the white settlers in the Orange River territory to the north, and many the escapes from danger which his crafty and versatile policy secured. Two of these wars deserve special mention, for both are connected with the place I am describing. In December, 1852, Sir George Cathcart, then Governor of Cape Colony, crossed the Caledon River a little above Maseru and led a force of two thousand British infantry and five hundred cavalry, besides artillery, against the Basutos. One of the three divisions in which the army moved was led into an ambush, severely handled by the nimble Basuto horsemen, and obliged to retreat. The division which Sir George himself led found itself confronted, when it reached the foot of Thaba Bosiyo, by a body of Basutos so numerous and active that it had great difficulty in holding its ground, and might have been destroyed but for the timely arrival of the third division just before sunset. The British general intrenched himself for the night in a strong position; and next morning, realizing at length the difficulties of his enterprise, set out to retire to the Caledon River. Before he reached it, however, a message from Moshesh overtook him. That wary chief, who knew the real strength of the British better than did his people, had been driven into the war by their over-confidence and their reluctance to pay the cattle fine which the Governor had demanded. Now that there was a chance of getting out of it he resolved to seize that chance, and after a consultation with one of the French missionaries, begged Sir George Cathcart for peace, acknowledging himself to be the weaker party, and declaring that he would do his best to keep his tribesmen in order. The Governor, glad to be thus relieved of what might have proved a long and troublesome war, accepted these overtures. The British army was marched back to Cape Colony, and Moshesh thereafter enjoyed the fame of being the only native potentate who had come out of a struggle with Great Britain virtually if not formally the victor. But a still severer ordeal was in store for the virgin fortress and its lord. After much indecisive strife, the whites and the Basutos were, in 1865, again engaged in a serious war. The people of what had then become (see Chapter XI) the Orange Free State had found the Basutos troublesome neighbours, and a dispute had arisen regarding the frontier line. The Free State militia, well practised in native warfare, invaded Basutoland, reduced many of the native strongholds and besieged Thaba Bosiyo. A storming party advanced to carry the hill by assault, mounting the steep open acclivity to the passage which is opened (as already mentioned) by the greenstone dyke as it cuts its way through the line of sandstone cliff. They had driven the Basutos before them, and had reached a point where the path leads up a narrow cleft formed by the decomposition of the dyke, between walls of rock some twenty feet high. Thirty yards more would have brought them to the open top of the hill, and Moshesh would have been at their mercy. But at this moment a bullet from one of the few muskets which the defenders possessed, fired by a good marksman from the rock above the cleft, pierced Wepener, the leader of the assailants. The storming party halted, hesitated, fell back to the bottom of the hill, and the place was once more saved. Not long after, Moshesh, finding himself likely to be overmastered, besought the Imperial Government, which had always regarded him with favour since the conclusion of Sir George Cathcart's war, to receive him and his people "and let them live under the large folds of the flag of England." The High Commissioner intervened, declaring the Basutos to be thenceforward British subjects, and in 1869 a peace was concluded with the Free State, by which the latter obtained a fertile strip of territory along the north-west branch of the Caledon which had previously been held by Moshesh, while the Basutos came (in 1871) under the administrative control of Cape Colony. Moshesh died soon afterwards, full of years and honour, and leaving a name which has become famous in South Africa. He was one of the remarkable instances, like Toussaint l'Ouverture and the Hawaiian king Kamehameha the First, of a man, sprung from a savage race, who effected great things by a display of wholly exceptional gifts. His sayings have become proverbs in native mouths. One of them is worth noting, as a piece of grim humour, a quality rare among the Kafirs. Some of his chief men had been urging him, after he had become powerful, to take vengeance upon certain cannibals who were believed to have killed and eaten his grandparents. Moshesh replied: "I must consider well before I disturb the sepulchres of my ancestors." Basutoland remained quiet till 1879, when the Cape Government, urged, it would appear, by the restless spirit of Sir Bartle Frere (then Governor), conceived the unhappy project of disarming the Basutos. It was no doubt a pity that so many of them possessed firearms; but it would have been better to let them keep their weapons than to provoke a war; and the Cape Prime Minister, who met the nation in its great popular assembly, the Pitso, had ample notice through the speeches delivered there by important chiefs of the resistance with which any attempt to enforce disarmament would be met. However, rash counsels prevailed. The attempt was made in 1880; war followed, and the Basutos gave the colonial troops so much trouble that in 1883 the Colony proposed to abandon the territory altogether. Ultimately, in 1884, the Imperial Government took it over, and has ever since administered it by a Resident Commissioner. The Basuto nation, which had been brought very low at the time when Moshesh threw himself upon the British Government for protection, has latterly grown rapidly, and now numbers over 220,000 souls. This increase is partly due to an influx of Kafirs from other tribes, each chief encouraging the influx, since the new retainers, who surround him, increase his importance. But it has now reached a point when it ought to be stopped, because all the agricultural land is taken up for tillage, and the pastures begin scarcely to suffice for the cattle. The area is 10,263 square miles, about two-thirds that of Switzerland, but by far the larger part of it is wild mountain. No Europeans are allowed to hold land, and a licence is needed even for the keeping of a store. Neither are any mines worked. European prospectors are not permitted to come in and search for minerals, for the policy of the authorities has been to keep the country for the natives; and nothing alarms the chiefs so much as the occasional appearance of these speculative gentry, who, if allowed a foothold, would soon dispossess them. Thus it remains doubtful whether either gold or silver or diamonds exist in "payable quantities." The natives, however, go in large numbers--in 1895-6 as many as 28,000 went out--to work in the mines at Kimberley and on the Witwatersrand, and they bring back savings, which have done much to increase the prosperity of the tribe. At present they seem fairly contented and peaceable. The land belongs to the nation, and all may freely turn their cattle on the untilled parts. Fields, however, are allotted to each householder by the chief, to be tilled, and the tenant, protected by public opinion, retains them so long as he tills them. He cannot sell them, but they will pass to his children. Ordinary administration, which consists mainly in the allotment and management of land, is left to the chief; as also ordinary jurisdiction, both civil and criminal. The present tendency is for the disposing power of the chief over the land to increase; and it is possible that British law may ultimately turn him, as it turned the head of an Irish sept, into an owner. The chief holds his court at his kraal, in the open air, settles disputes and awards punishments. There are several British magistrates to deal with grave offences, and a force of 220 native police, under British officers. Lerothodi, as the successor of Moshesh, is Paramount Chief of the nation; and all the greater chieftainships under him are held by his uncles and cousins,--sons and grandsons of the founder of the dynasty,--while there are also a few chiefs of the second rank belonging to other families. Some of the uncles, especially Masupha, who lives at the foot of Thaba Bosiyo, and is an obstinately conservative heathen, give trouble both to Lerothodi and to the British Commissioner, their quarrels turning mainly on questions of land and frontier. But on the whole, things go on as well as can be expected in such a world as the present: disturbances tend to diminish; and the horses or cattle that are occasionally stolen from the Free State farmers are always recovered for their owners, unless they have been got away out of Basutoland into the colonial territories to the south and west. As far back as 1855, Moshesh forbade the "smelling out" of witches, and now the British authorities have suppressed the more noxious or offensive kinds of ceremonies practised by the Kafirs. Otherwise they interfere as little as may be with native ways, trusting to time, peace, and the missionaries to secure the gradual civilization of the people. Once a year the Commissioner meets the whole people, in their national assembly called the Pitso,--the name is derived from their verb "to call" (cf. [Greek: ekklêsia])--which in several points recalls the _agora_, or assembly of freemen described in the Homeric poems. The Paramount Chief presides, and debate is mainly conducted by the chiefs; but all freemen, gentle and simple, have a right to speak in it. There is no voting, only a declaration, by shouts, of the general feeling. Though the head of the nation has been usually the person who convokes it, a magnate lower in rank might always, like Achilles in the Iliad, have it summoned when a fitting occasion arose. And it was generally preceded by a consultation among the leading men, though I could not discover that there was any regular council of chiefs.[68] In all these points the resemblance to the primary assemblies of the early peoples of Europe is close enough to add another to the arguments, already strong, which discredit the theory that there is any such thing as an "Aryan type" of institutions, and which suggest the view that in studying the polities of primitive nations we must not take affinities of language as the basis of a classification. To-day the Pitso has lost much of its old importance, and tends to become a formal meeting, in which the British Commissioner causes new regulations to be read aloud, inviting discussion on points which any one present may desire to raise, and addresses the people, awarding praise or blame, and adding such exhortations as he thinks seasonable. The missionaries (like the Bishops in a Witenagemot) and the chief British officials are usually present. In perusing the shorthand report of the great Pitso held in 1879, at which the question of disarmament was brought forward by the Cape Prime Minister, I was struck by the freedom and intelligence with which the speakers delivered their views. One observed: "This is our parliament, though it is a very disorderly parliament, because we are all mixed up, young and old; and we cannot accept any measure without discussion." Another commented severely upon an unhappy phrase that had been used at Cape Town by a member of the Cape Government: "Mr. U. said the Basutos were the natural enemies of the white man, because we were black. Is that language which should be used by a high officer of the Government? Let sentiments like these pass away--we are being educated to believe that all people are equal, and feel that sentiments like these are utterly wrong." A third claimed that the people must keep their guns, because "at our circumcision we were given a shield and an assagai, and told never to part with them; and that if ever we came back from an expedition and our shield and assagai were not found before our house, we should die the death." And a fourth, wishing to excuse any vehement expression he might use, observed: "We have a proverb which says that a man who makes a mistake in a public assembly cannot be killed." In this proverb there is the germ of the English "privilege of Parliament." It is easy to gather from the whole proceedings of these Pitsos how much more popular government has been among the Basutos than it was among the Zulus or Matabili. Tshaka or Lo Bengula would in a moment have had the neck twisted of any one who ventured to differ publicly from his opinion. In this respect the Basutos resemble their kinsfolk the Bamangwato, among whom Khama rules as a chief amenable to public opinion, which, in that instance, is unfortunately far behind the enlightened purposes of the sovereign. Nowhere has the gospel made such progress among the Kafirs as in Basutoland. The missionaries,--French, Protestant, Roman Catholic, and English Episcopalian,--working not only independently but on very different lines, have brought nearly fifty thousand natives under Christian influences, as members or adherents. Not all of these are baptised converts--the Franco-Swiss missionaries, by whom far the largest part of the work has been done, tell me that baptisms do not increase fast; and they are wise in not measuring the worth of their work by the number of baptisms. Education is spreading. At the last public examinations at the Cape, the French Protestant missionaries sent up twenty Basuto boys, of whom ten passed in honours, and ten in high classes, the standard being the same for whites and blacks. There are now one hundred and fifty schools in the country, all but two of which are conducted by the missionaries. Strange waves of sentiment pass over the people, at one time carrying them back to paganism, at another inclining them to Christianity--the first sign of the latter tendency being discernible in an increase of attendance at the mission schools. The women are more backward than the men, because they have been kept in subjection, and their intelligence has remained only half developed. But their condition is improving; men now work with them in the fields, and they demand clothes instead of so much oil, wherewith to smear their bodies. As education becomes more diffused, old heathen customs lose their hold, and will probably in thirty years have disappeared. The belief in ghosts and magic is, of course, still strong. On the top of Thaba Bosiyo we were shown the graves of Moshesh and several of his brothers and sons, marked by rude stones, with the name of each chief on his stone. But we were told that in reality the bodies of Moshesh and of several of the others are not here at all, having been dug up and reinterred more than a mile away near the foot of the hill. Were the body under the stone, the ghost, which usually dwells near the body, would be liable to be called up by necromancers, and might be compelled to work mischief to the tribe--mischief which would be serious in proportion to the power the spirit possessed during life. Considering, however, that nearly all the ancient world held similar beliefs, and that a large part of the modern world, even in Europe, still clings to them, the persistence of these interesting superstitions need excite no surprise, nor are they productive of much practical ill, now that the witch-doctor is no longer permitted to denounce men to death. The material progress of the people has been aided by the enactment of stringent laws against the sale of white men's intoxicating liquors, though some of the chiefs show but a poor example of obedience to these laws, the enforcement of which is rendered difficult by the illicit sale which goes on along the frontiers where Basutoland touches the Free State and the eastern part of Cape Colony. The old native arts and industries decline as European goods become cheaper, and industrial training has now become one of the needs of the people. It is an encouraging sign that, under the auspices of Lerothodi, a sum of £3,184 sterling was collected from the tribe in 1895-6, for the foundation of an institution to give such training. The receipts from import duties have so much increased that the contribution of £18,000 paid by Cape Colony is now annually reduced by nearly £12,000, and the hut tax, of ten shillings per hut, now easily and promptly collected, amounts to £23,000 a year, leaving a surplus, out of which £1,300 is paid to the Cape. Basutoland is within the South African Customs Union. These facts are encouraging. They show that, so far, the experiment of leaving a native race to advance in their own way, under their own chiefs, but carefully supervised by imperial officers, has proved successful. A warlike, unstable, and turbulent, although intelligent people, while increasing fast in wealth and material comfort, has also become more peaceful and orderly, and by the abandonment of its more repulsive customs is passing from savagery to a state of semi-civilization. Still the situation has its anxieties. The very prosperity of the country has drawn into it a larger population than the arable and pastoral land may prove able to support. The Free State people are not friendly to it, and many politicians in Cape Colony would like to recover it for the Colony, while many white adventurers would like to prospect for mines, or to oust the natives from the best lands. The natives themselves are armed, and being liable, like all natives, to sudden fits of unreason, may conceivably be led into disorders which would involve a war and the regular conquest of the country. The firmness as well as the conciliatory tactfulness which the first Commissioner, Sir Marshal Clarke, and his successor, the present Acting Commissioner, have shown, has hitherto averted these dangers, and has inspired the people with a belief in the good will of the British Government. If the progress of recent years can be maintained for thirty years more, the risk of trouble will have almost disappeared, for by that time a new generation, unused to war, will have grown up. Whoever feels for the native and cares for his future must wish a fair chance for the experiment that is now being tried in Basutoland, of letting him develop in his own way, shielded from the rude pressure of the whites. [Footnote 67: The word "Ba Sot'ho" is in strictness used for the people, "Se Sot'ho" for the language, "Le Sot'ho" for the country: but in English it is more convenient to apply "Basuto" to all three.] [Footnote 68: Gungunhana however had a sort of council of chiefs and confidential advisers which he called together at intervals, and which bore some resemblance to the Homeric Boule and to the earliest form of our own Curia Regis.] PART IV _SOME SOUTH AFRICAN QUESTIONS_ CHAPTER XXI BLACKS AND WHITES Everywhere in South Africa, except in the Witwatersrand and Cape Town, the black people greatly outnumber the whites. In the Orange Free State they are nearly twice as numerous, in Cape Colony and the Transvaal more than thrice as numerous, in Natal ten times as numerous, while in the other territories, British, German, and Portuguese, the disproportion is very much greater, possibly some four or five millions of natives against nine or ten thousand Europeans. The total number of whites south of the Zambesi hardly reaches 750,000, while that of the blacks is roughly computed at from six to eight millions. At present, therefore, so far as numbers go, the country is a black man's country. It may be thought that this preponderance of the natives is only natural in a region by far the larger part of which has been very recently occupied by Europeans, and that in time immigration and the natural growth of the white element will reduce the disproportion. This explanation, however, does not meet the facts. The black race is at present increasing at least as rapidly as the white. Unlike those true aborigines of the country, the Hottentots and Bushmen, who withered up and vanished away before the whites, the Kafirs, themselves apparently intruders from the North, have held their ground, not only in the wilder country where they have been unaffected by the European, but in the regions where he has conquered and ruled over them. They are more prolific than the whites, and their increase is not restrained by those prudential checks which tell upon civilised man, because, wants being few, subsistence in a warm climate with abundance of land is easy. Formerly two powerful forces kept down population:--war, in which no quarter was given and all the property of the vanquished was captured or destroyed, and the murders that went on at the pleasure of the chief, and usually through the agency of the witch-doctor. Now both these forces have been removed by the action of European government, which has stopped war and restrains the caprice of the chiefs. Relieved from these checks, the Kafirs of the south coast and of Basutoland, the regions in which observation has been easiest, are multiplying faster than the whites, and there is no reason why the same thing should not happen in other parts of the country. The number of the Fingoes, for instance (though they are no doubt an exceptionally thrifty and thriving tribe), is to-day ten times as great as it was fifty or sixty years ago. Here is a fact of serious import for the future. Two races, far removed from one another in civilization and mental condition, dwell side by side. Neither race is likely to extrude or absorb the other. What then will be their relations, and how will the difficulties be met to which their juxtaposition must give rise? The Colonies of Britain over the world fall into two groups: those which have received the gift of self-government, and those which are governed from home through executive officials placed over each of them. Those of the latter class, called Crown Colonies, are all (with the insignificant exceptions of the Falkland Islands and Malta) within the tropics, and are all peopled chiefly by coloured races,--negroes, Indians, Malays, Polynesians, or Chinese,--with a small minority of whites. The self-governing Colonies, on the other hand, are all situated in the temperate zone, and are all, with one exception, peopled chiefly by Europeans. It is because they have a European population that they have been deemed fit to govern themselves, just as it is because the tropical Colonies have a predominantly coloured population that the supremacy of the Colonial Office and its local representatives is acquiesced in as fit and proper. Every one perceives that representative assemblies based on a democratic franchise, which are capable of governing Canada or Australia, would not succeed in the West Indies or Ceylon or Fiji. The one exception to this broad division, the one case of self-governing communities in which the majority of the inhabitants are not of European stock, is to be found in South Africa. The general difficulty of adjusting the relations of a higher and a lower race, serious under every kind of government, here presents itself in the special form of the construction of a political system which, while democratic as regards one of the races, cannot safely be made democratic as regards the other. This difficulty, though new in the British empire, is not new in the Southern States of America, which have been struggling with it for years; and it is instructive to compare the experience of South Africa with that through which the Southern States have passed since the War of Secession. Throughout South Africa--and for this purpose no distinction need be drawn between the two British Colonies and the two Boer Republics--the people of colour may be divided into two classes: the wild or tribal natives, who are, of course, by far the more numerous, and the tame or domesticated natives, among whom one may include, though they are not aborigines, but recent incomers, the East Indians of Natal and the Transvaal, as well as the comparatively few Malays of the Cape. It will be convenient to deal with the two classes separately, and to begin with the semi-civilized or non-tribal natives, who have been for the longest period under white influences, and whose present relations with the whites indicate what the relations of the races are likely to be, for some time to come, in all parts of the country. The non-tribal people of colour live in the Cape Colony, except the south-eastern parts (called Pondoland and Tembuland), in Natal, in the Orange Free State, and in the southern parts of the Transvaal. They consist of three stocks: (1) the so-called Cape boys, a mixed race formed by the intermarriage of Hottentots and Malays with the negro slaves brought in early days from the west coast, plus some small infusion of Dutch blood; (2) the Kafirs no longer living in native communities under their chiefs; and (3) the Indian immigrants who (together with a few Chinese) have recently come into Natal and the Transvaal, and number about 60,000, not counting in the indentured coolies who are to be sent back to India. There are no data for conjecturing the number of Cape boys and domesticated Kafirs, but it can hardly exceed 400,000. These coloured people form the substratum of society in all the four States above mentioned. Some till the land for themselves, while others act as herdsmen or labourers for white farmers, or work at trades for white employers. They do the harder and rougher kinds of labour, especially of outdoor labour. Let me remind the reader of what has been incidentally observed before, and must now be insisted on as being the capital feature of South African life--the fact that all unskilled work is done by black people. In many parts of the country the climate is not too hot for men belonging to the north European races to work in the fields, for the sun's rays are generally tempered by a breeze, the nights are cool, and the dry air is invigorating. Had South Africa, like California or New South Wales, been colonized solely by white men, it would probably, like those countries, have to-day a white labouring population. But, unluckily, South Africa was colonized in the seventeenth century, when the importation of negro slaves was deemed the easiest means of securing cheap and abundant labour. From 1658 onward till, in 1834, slavery was abolished by the British Parliament, it was to slaves that the hardest and humblest kinds of work were allotted. The white people lost the habit of performing manual toil, and acquired the habit of despising it. No one would do for himself what he could get a black man to do for him. New settlers from Europe fell into the ways of the country, which suited their disinclination for physical exertion under a sun hotter than their own. Thus, when at last slavery was abolished, the custom of leaving menial or toilsome work to people of colour continued as strong as ever. It is as strong as ever to-day. The only considerable exception, that which was furnished by the German colonists who were planted in the eastern province after the Crimean War of 1854, has ceased to be an exception; for the children of those colonists have now, for the most part, sold or leased their allotments to Kafirs, who till the soil less efficiently than the sturdy old Germans did. The artisans who to-day come from Europe adopt the habits of the country in a few weeks or months. The English carpenter hires a native "boy" to carry his bag of tools for him; the English bricklayer has a native hodman to hand the bricks to him, which he proceeds to set; the Cornish or Australian miner directs the excavation of the seam and fixes the fuse which explodes the dynamite, but the work with the pickaxe is done by the Kafir. The herdsmen who drive the cattle or tend the sheep are Kafirs, acting under the orders of a white. Thus the coloured man is indispensable to the white man, and is brought into constant relations with him. He is deemed a necessary part of the economic machinery of the country, whether for mining or for manufacture, for tillage or for ranching. But though the black people form the lowest stratum of society, they are not all in a position of personal dependence. A good many Kafirs, especially in the eastern province, own the small farms which they till, and many others are tenants, rendering to their landlord, like the métayers of France, a half of the produce by way of rent. Some few natives, especially near Cape Town, are even rich, and among the Indians of Natal a good many have thriven as shopkeepers. There is no reason to think that their present exclusion from trades requiring skill will continue. In 1894 there were Kafirs earning from five shillings to seven shillings and sixpence a day as riveters on an iron bridge then in course of construction. I was informed by a high railway official that many of them were quite fit to be drivers or stokers of locomotives, though white sentiment (which tolerates them as navvies or platelayers) made it inexpedient to place them in such positions. Many work as servants in stores, and are little more prone to petty thefts than are Europeans. They have dropped their old usages and adopted European habits, have substituted European clothes for the _kaross_ of the wild or "red" Kafir, have lost their tribal attachments, usually speak Dutch, or even perhaps English, and to a considerable extent, especially in the western province and in the towns, have become Christians. The Indians are, of course, Mohammedans or heathens, the Malays (of whom there are only about 13,000), Mohammedans. The coloured people travel a good deal by rail, and are, especially the Kafirs, eager for instruction, which is provided for them only in the mission schools. Some will come from great distances to get taught, and those who can write are very fond of corresponding with one another. Taken as a whole, they are a quiet and orderly people, not given to crimes of violence, and less given (so far as I could gather) to pilfering than are the negroes of the Southern States of America. The stealing of stock from farms has greatly diminished. Assaults upon women, such as are frequent in those States, and have recently caused a hideous epidemic of lynching, are extremely rare; indeed, I heard of none, save one or two in Natal, where the natives are comparatively wild and the whites scattered thinly among them. So few Kafirs have yet received a good education, or tried to enter occupations requiring superior intelligence, that it is hardly possible to speak confidently of their capacity for the professions or the higher kinds of commerce; but judicious observers think they will in time show capacity, and tell you that their inferiority to white men lies less in mere intellectual ability than in power of will and steadiness of purpose. They are unstable, improvident, easily discouraged, easily led astray. When the morality of their old life, in which they were ruled by the will of their chief, the opinion of their fellows, and the traditional customs of the tribe, has been withdrawn from them, it may be long before any new set of principles can gain a like hold upon them. That there should be little community of ideas, and by consequence little sympathy, between such a race and the whites is no more than any one would expect who elsewhere in the world has studied the phenomena which mark the contact of dissimilar peoples. But the traveller in South Africa is astonished at the strong feeling of dislike and contempt--one might almost say of hostility--which the bulk of the whites show to their black neighbours. He asks what can be the cause of it. It is not due, as in the Southern States of America, to political resentment, for there has been no sudden gift to former slaves of power over former masters. Neither is it sufficiently explained by the long conflicts with the south-coast Kafirs; for the respect felt for their bravery has tended to efface the recollection of their cruelties. Neither is it caused (except as respects the petty Indian traders) by the dislike of the poorer whites to the competition with them in industry of a class living in a much ruder way and willing to accept much lower wages. It seems to spring partly from the old feeling of contempt for the slaves, a feeling which has descended to a generation that has never seen slavery as an actual system; partly from physical aversion; partly from an incompatibility of character and temper, which makes the faults of the coloured man more offensive to the white than the (perhaps morally as grave) faults of members of his own white stock. Even between civilized peoples, such as Germans and Russians, or Spaniards and Frenchmen, there is a disposition to be unduly annoyed by traits and habits which are not so much culpable in themselves as distasteful to men constructed on different lines. This sense of annoyance is naturally more intense toward a race so widely removed from the modern European as the Kafirs are. Whoever has travelled among people of a race greatly weaker than his own must have sometimes been conscious of an impatience or irritation which arises when the native either fails to understand or neglects to obey the command given. The sense of his superior intelligence and energy of will produces in the European a sort of tyrannous spirit, which will not condescend to argue with the native, but overbears him by sheer force, and is prone to resort to physical coercion. Even just men, who have the deepest theoretical respect for human rights, are apt to be carried away by the consciousness of superior strength, and to become despotic, if not harsh. To escape this fault, a man must be either a saint or a sluggard. And the tendency to race enmity lies very deep in human nature. Perhaps it is a survival from the times when each race could maintain itself only by slaughtering its rivals. The attitude of contempt I have mentioned may be noted in all classes, though it is strongest in those rough and thoughtless whites who plume themselves all the more upon their colour because they have little else to plume themselves upon, while among the more refined it is restrained by self-respect and by the sense that allowances must be made for a backward race. It is stronger among the Dutch than among the English, partly, perhaps, because the English wish to be unlike the Dutch in this as in many other respects. Yet one often hears that the Dutch get on better with their black servants than the English do, because they understand native character better, and are more familiar in their manners, the Englishman retaining his national stiffness. The laws of the Boer Republics are far more harsh than those of the English Colonies, and the Transvaal Boers have been always severe and cruel in their dealings with the natives. But the English also have done so many things to be deplored that it does not lie with them to cast stones at the Boers, and the mildness of colonial law is largely due to the influence of the home government, and to that recognition of the equal civil rights of all subjects which has long pervaded the common law of England. Only two sets of Europeans are free from reproach: the imperial officials, who have almost always sought to protect the natives, and the clergy, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, who have been the truest and most constant friends of the Hottentot and the Kafir, sometimes even carrying their zeal beyond what discretion could approve. Deep and wide-spread as is the sentiment of aversion to the coloured people which I am describing, it must not be supposed that the latter are generally ill-treated. There is indeed a complete social separation. Intermarriage, though permitted by law in the British Colonies, is extremely rare, and illicit unions are uncommon. Sometimes the usual relations of employer and employed are reversed, and a white man enters the service of a prosperous Kafir. This makes no difference as respects their social intercourse, and I remember to have heard of a case in which the white workman stipulated that his employer should address him as "boss." Black children are very seldom admitted to schools used by white children; indeed, I doubt if the two colours are ever to be seen on the same benches, except at Lovedale and in one or two of the mission schools in Cape Town, to which, as charging very low fees, some of the poorest whites send their children. I heard of a wealthy coloured man at the Paarl, a Dutch town north of Cape Town, who complained that, though he paid a considerable sum in taxes, he was not permitted to send his daughter to any of the schools in the place. In the Protestant Episcopal, Presbyterian, Congregationalist, and Methodist Churches, and of course among the Roman Catholics, blacks are admitted along with whites to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper; but this (so I was told) is not the case in the Dutch Reformed Church. An eminent and thoughtful ecclesiastic in Natal deplored to me the complete want of sympathy on the part of the white congregations with the black ones worshipping near them. It rarely, if ever, happens that a native, whatever his standing among his own people,--for to the white there is practically no difference between one black and another,--is received within a white man's house on any social occasion; indeed, he would seldom be permitted, save as a servant, to enter a private house, but would be received on the _stoep_ (veranda). When Khama, the most important chief now left south of the Zambesi, a Christian and a man of high personal character, was in England in 1895, and was entertained at lunch by the Duke of Westminster and other persons of social eminence, the news of the reception given him excited annoyance and disgust among the whites in South Africa. I was told that at a garden-party given a few years ago by the wife of a white bishop, the appearance of a native clergyman caused many of the white guests to withdraw in dudgeon. Once when myself a guest at a mission station in Basutoland I was asked by my host whether I had any objection to his inviting to the family meal a native pastor who had been preaching to the native congregation. When I expressed surprise at the question, my host explained that race feeling was so strong among the colonists that it would be deemed improper, and indeed insulting, to make a black man sit down at the same table with a white guest, unless the express permission of the latter had been first obtained. But apart from this social disparagement, the native does not suffer much actual wrong. Now and then, on a remote farm, the employer will chastise his servant with a harshness he would not venture to apply to a white boy. A shocking case of the kind occurred a few years ago in the eastern province. A white farmer--an Englishman, not a Boer--flogged his Kafir servant so severely that the latter died; and when the culprit was put on his trial, and acquitted by a white jury, his white neighbours escorted him home with a band of music. More frequently, unscrupulous employers, especially on the frontiers of civilization, will try to defraud their native workmen, or will provoke them by ill-usage to run away before the day of payment arrives. But there are no lynchings, as in America, and the white judges and magistrates, if not always the juries, administer the law with impartiality. As regards the provisions of the law, one must distinguish between the British Colonies and the Dutch Republics. In the former the ordinary civil rights of whites and blacks are precisely the same, though there exist certain police provisions which are applicable only to the latter. Cape Colony has a so-called "curfew law," requiring natives who are out of doors after dark to be provided with a pass--a law which is found oppressive by the best class of natives, educated and respectable men, though defended as necessary for public order, having regard to the large black population of the lower class, and their propensity to drink and petty offences. There are also certain "labour laws," applying to natives only, and particularly to those on agricultural locations, which are intended to check the disposition of Kafirs living on native reserves to become idle or to take to vagrancy. Doubtless there is a risk that people who have never acquired habits of steady industry--for the tribal Kafir leaves to his wives the cultivation of his plot of maize or sorghum--may relapse into a laziness hurtful to their own progress, seeing that a few weeks' labour is sufficient to provide all the food needed for a whole year. In the transition from one state of society to another exceptional legislation is needed, and a _prima facie_ case for the so-called "Glen Grey Act" and similar laws may, therefore, be made out. The friends of the natives whom I consulted on the subject, and one or two of the most educated and representative Kafirs themselves, did not seem to object to this Act in principle, though they criticized its methods and many of its details. But as all such laws are prompted not only by regard for the welfare of the Kafir, but also by the desire of the white colonist to get plenty of labour and to get it cheap, they are obviously open to abuse and require great care in their administration. The whole subject of native labour and native land tenure is an intricate and difficult one, which I have not space to discuss here, though I obtained a good deal of information regarding it. It is also an urgent one, for the population which occupies the native reserves is in some districts growing so fast that the agricultural land will soon cease to feed them, while the pasture is suffering from being overstocked. Most of my informants agreed in thinking that the control of the British magistrate over the management of lands in reservations was better than that of the native headman, and ought to be extended, and that the tenure of farms by individual natives outside the reservations ought to be actively encouraged. They deemed this a step forward in civilization; and they also held that it is necessary to prevent native allotments, even when held by individuals, from being sold to white men, conceiving that without such a prohibition the whites will in course of time oust the natives from the ownership of all the best land. One law specially applicable to natives has been found most valuable in Natal, as well as in the territories of the Chartered Company, and ought to be enacted in Cape Colony also, viz., an absolute prohibition of the sale to them of intoxicating spirits. The spirits made for their consumption are rough and fiery, much more deleterious than European whisky or brandy or hollands. Unfortunately, the interests of the winegrowers and distillers in the Colony have hitherto proved strong enough to defeat the bills introduced for this purpose by the friends of the natives. Though some people maintain that the Dutch and anti-native party resist this much-needed measure because they desire through strong drink to weaken and keep down the natives, I do not believe in the existence of any such diabolical motive. Commercial self-interest, or rather a foolish and short-sighted view of self-interest,--for in the long run the welfare of the natives is also the welfare of the whites,--sufficiently accounts for their conduct; but it is a slur on the generally judicious policy of the Colonial Legislature. In the two Dutch Republics the English principle of equal civil rights for white and black finds no place. One of the motives which induced the Boers of 1836 to trek out of the Colony was their disgust at the establishment of such equality by the British Government. The Grondwet (fundamental law) of the Transvaal Republic declared, in 1858, and declares to-day, that "the people will suffer no equality of whites and blacks, either in state or in church."[69] Democratic Republics are not necessarily respectful of what used to be called human rights, and neither the "principles of 1789" nor those of the American Declaration of Independence find recognition among the Boers. Both in the Transvaal and in the Orange Free State a native is forbidden to hold land, and is not permitted to travel anywhere without a pass, in default of which he may be detained. (In the Free State, however, the sale of intoxicants to him is forbidden, and a somewhat similar law, long demanded by the mine-owners, has very recently been enacted in the Transvaal.) Nor can a native serve on a jury, whereas in Cape Colony he is legally qualified, and sometimes is empanelled. The whites may object to his presence, but a large-minded and strong-minded judge can manage to overcome their reluctance. For a good while after they settled in the Transvaal the Boers had a system of apprenticing Kafir children which was with difficulty distinguishable from predial serfdom: and though they have constantly denied that they sanctioned either the kidnapping of children or the treatment of the apprentices as slaves, there is reason to think that in some parts of the country these abuses did for a time exist. It seems clear, however, that no such practices are now legal. Political rights have, of course, never been held by persons of colour in either of the Dutch Republics, nor has it ever been proposed to grant them. Boer public opinion would scout such an idea, for it reproaches the people of Cape Colony now with being "governed by black men," because the electoral franchise is there enjoyed by a few persons of colour. In the two Colonies the history of the matter is as follows. When representative government was established, and the electoral franchise conferred upon the colonists in 1853, no colour-line was drawn; and from that time onward black people have voted, though of course not very many were qualified under the law to vote. Some years ago, however, the whites, and the Dutch party in particular, became uneasy at the strength of the coloured element, though it did not vote solid, had no coloured leaders, and was important only in a very few constituencies. Accordingly, an Act was passed in 1892, establishing a combined educational and property qualification--that is to say, the ownership of a house or other building of the value of £75 or upwards, or the being in receipt of a salary of £50 per annum, with the ability to sign one's name and write one's address and occupation This Act, which did not apply to those already registered in any particular district and claiming to be re-registered therein, is expected to keep down the number of coloured voters; and as it applies to whites also there is no inequality of treatment. Tribal Kafirs have, of course, never had the franchise at all. Neither the natives--the most substantial and best educated among whom possess the qualifications required--nor their friends complain of this law, which may be defended on the ground that, while admitting those people of colour whose intelligence fits them for the exercise of political power, it excludes a large mass whose ignorance and indifference to public questions would make them the victims of rich and unscrupulous candidates. It is, perhaps, less open to objection than some of the attempts recently made in the Southern States of America to evade the provisions of the amendments to the Federal Constitution under which negroes obtained the suffrage. In Natal nearly all the Kafirs live under native law, and have thus been outside the representative system; but the Governor has power to admit a Kafir to the suffrage, and this has been done in a few instances. As stated in Chapter XVIII, the rapid increase of Indian immigrants in that Colony alarmed the whites, and led to the passing, in 1896, of an Act which will practically debar these immigrants from political rights, as coming from a country in which no representative institutions exist. Thus Natal also has managed to exclude coloured people without making colour the nominal ground of disability. I need hardly say that whoever has the suffrage is also eligible for election to the Legislature. No person of colour is now, however, a member of either chamber in either Colony. It is easy for people in Europe, who have had no experience of the presence among them of a semi-civilized race, destitute of the ideas and habits which lie at the basis of free government, to condemn the action of these Colonies in seeking to preserve a decisive electoral majority for the whites. But any one who has studied the question on the spot, and especially any one who has seen the evils which in America have followed the grant of the suffrage to persons unfit for it, will form a more charitable judgment. It is indeed impolitic to exclude people merely on the score of their race. There are among the educated Kafirs and Indians persons quite as capable as the average man of European stock, and it is wholesome that the white, too apt to despise his coloured neighbour, should be made to feel this, and that the educated coloured man should have some weight in the community as an elector, and should be entitled to call on his representative to listen to and express the demands he may make on behalf of his own race. As the number of educated and property-holding natives increases, they will naturally come to form a larger element in the electorate, and will be a useful one. But to toss the gift of political power into the lap of a multitude of persons who are not only ignorant, but in mind children rather than men, is not to confer a boon, but to inflict an injury. So far as I could judge, this is the view of the most sensible natives in Cape Colony itself, and of the missionaries also, who have been the steadiest friends of their race. What is especially desirable is to safeguard the private rights of the native, and to secure for him his due share of the land, by retaining which he will retain a measure of independence. The less he is thrown into the whirlpool of party politics the better. Let me again repeat that there is at present no serious friction between the black and the white people in South Africa. Though the attitude of most of the whites--there are, of course, many exceptions--is contemptuous, unfriendly, and even suspicious, the black man accepts the superiority of the white as part of the order of nature. He is too low down, too completely severed from the white, to feel indignant. Even the few educated natives are too well aware of the gulf that divides their own people from the European to resent, except in specially aggravated cases, the attitude of the latter. Each race goes its own way and lives its own life. The condition of the wild or tribal Kafirs can be much more shortly described, for they have as yet entered into few relations with the whites. They are in many different grades of civilisation, from the Basutos, an industrious and settled population, among whom Christianity has made great progress, to the fierce Matabili of the north, and the Tongas of the east coast, who remain complete savages. There are probably six millions of Kafirs living under their chiefs south of the Zambesi, many of them entirely unaffected by Europeans, with not even a white magistrate or a native commissioner to collect hut-tax; and besides these there are the Korannas (akin to the Bushmen) and Namaquas (akin to the Hottentots) of the desert country between Bechuanaland and the Atlantic. In many of the districts where a regular British or Boer Government has been established, the tribal natives are now settled in regular locations, where the land is reserved from the intrusion of Europeans. Here they live under their chiefs in the old way (see Chapter X), and in the remoter districts continue to practise their old ceremonies. In Cape Colony and Natal, however, in both of which Colonies there are hundreds of thousands of tribal Kafirs, the more offensive of these ceremonies are now forbidden by the Government. Nowhere is anything done for their education, except by the missionaries, who, however, receive some little assistance from the two Colonial Governments. The ancient rites and beliefs gradually decay wherever the whites come, and, except beyond the Zambesi, intertribal wars and raids have now practically ceased. Yet the tribal hatreds survive. Not long ago the Zulus and the Kosa Kafirs employed as platelayers on the Cape Government Railway fought fiercely with each other. One powerful influence is telling upon them, even where they live uncontrolled by any white government. The diamond-mines at Kimberley, the gold-mines in the Witwatersrand and in various parts of Mashonaland and Matabililand, offer large wages for native labour, and cannot (except at Kimberley) obtain as much native labour as they need. Accordingly a steady though still insufficient stream of Kafirs sets towards these mining centres, not only from Basutoland, Natal, and Bechuanaland, but also from the Portuguese territories, where the Shangans live, and from the banks of the Zambesi. Most of the workmen remain for a few weeks or months only, and return home when they have earned as much money as will purchase two oxen, heretofore the usual price of a wife. They are paid in English coin, and thus the English twenty-shilling gold piece has become known, and to-day passes current in villages where no white man has yet been seen, even beyond the Zambesi, on the shores of Lake Bangweolo. With the use of coin there will come in time a desire for European goods, which, in its turn, will draw more labour toward the mines, and perhaps at last create even among the home-keeping Kafirs a disposition to till the land or raise cattle for sale. The destruction of cattle by the murrain which has been raging over the country may accelerate this change. Already wandering traders and gold-prospectors traverse regions beyond the border of civilization; and to keep these people, who are often reckless and lawless, from injuring the natives and provoking them to take vengeance on the next white man who comes their way, is one of the greatest difficulties of the British Government, a difficulty aggravated by the absence in nearly all cases of sufficient legal evidence--for all over South Africa native evidence is seldom received against a white man. The regions in which white influence is now most active, and which will most quickly become assimilated to the two British Colonies, are those through which railways have been or are now being constructed--Bechuanaland, Matabililand, and Mashonaland. Should the mines in these countries turn out well, and means be found for replacing by new stock the cattle that have perished, these regions may in fifteen or twenty years possess a considerable population of non-tribal and semi-civilised natives. Within the next half-century it is probable that, at least in the British territories as far as the Zambesi, as well as in the Transvaal and Swaziland, the power of the chiefs will have practically vanished and the natives be in a position similar to that which they now hold in Natal and the greater part of Cape Colony; that is to say, they will either dwell among the whites under the ordinary law, or will be occupying reservations under the control of a European magistrate, their old land customs having been mostly superseded and their heathen rites forbidden or disused. The position which the whites and the blacks hold toward one another in South Africa is sufficiently similar to that of the two races in the Southern States of America to make a short comparison between the two cases instructive. There are no doubt many differences. In the United States the Southern negroes are strangers and therefore isolated, with no such reserve of black people behind them as the Kafirs have in the rest of the African continent. In South Africa it is the whites who are new-comers and isolated, and they are numerically inferior to the blacks, not, as in America, in a few particular areas (the three States of South Carolina, Mississippi, and Louisiana), but all over the country. In the whole United States the whites are to the blacks as ten to one; in Africa south of the Zambesi it is the blacks who are ten to one to the whites. Or if we compare the four South African Colonies and Republics with the fifteen old slave States, the blacks are in the former nearly four times as numerous as the whites, and the whites in the latter twice as numerous as the blacks. In point of natural capacity and force of character the Bantu races are at least equal, probably superior, to the negroes brought from Africa to North America, most of whom seem to have come from the Guinea coasts. But in point of education and in habits of industry the American negroes are far ahead of the South African; for the latter have not been subjected to the industrial training of nearly two centuries of plantation life or domestic service, while comparatively few have had any industrial contact with white workmen, or any stimulation like that which the grant of the suffrage after the War of Secession has exercised upon a large section of the American negroes, even in places where they have not been permitted to turn their legal rights to practical account. The American negroes are, moreover, all nominally Christians; the South African Kafirs nearly all heathens. Yet, after allowing for these and other minor points of contrast, the broad fact remains that in both countries we see two races in very different stages of civilisation dwelling side by side, yet not mingling nor likely to mingle. In both countries one race rules over the other. The stronger despises and dislikes the weaker; the weaker submits patiently to the stronger. But the weaker makes in education and in property a progress which will some day bring it much nearer to the stronger than it is now. The social and political troubles which the juxtaposition of the two races has caused in North America, and which have induced many Americans to wish that it were possible to transport the whole seven millions of Southern negroes back to the Niger or the Congo, have as yet scarcely shown themselves in South Africa. Neither in the British Colonies nor in the Boer Republics is there any cause for present apprehension. The coloured people are submissive and not resentful. They have, moreover, a certain number of friends and advocates in the legislatures of the Colonies, and a certain amount of public opinion, the opinion of the best part of the community, disposed to protect them. Nevertheless, no traveller can study the colour problem in South Africa without anxiety--anxiety, not for the present, but for the future, a future in which the seeds that are now being sown will have sprung up and grown to maturity. What is the future of the Kafirs likely to be? Though a writer may prophesy with an easy mind when he knows that the truth or error of the prophecy will not be tested till long after he has himself quitted the world, still it is right to make the usual apologies for venturing to prophesy at all. These apologies being taken as made, let us consider what is likely to come to pass in South Africa. The Kafirs will stay where they are and form the bulk of the population all over South Africa. Some sanguine men think they will move off to the hotter north, as in America the centre of negro population has shifted southward toward the Gulf of Mexico. This is improbable, because the South African white seems resolved to rely upon natives for all the harder and rougher kinds of labour, not to add that, although the European can thrive and work, the Kafir is more truly the child of the soil and of the climate. And not only will he stay, but, to all appearances, he will increase faster than does the white man. The Kafirs, now divided into many tribes and speaking many languages and dialects, will lose their present tribal organization, their languages, their distinctive habits. Whether some sort of native _lingua Franca_ will spring up, or whether they will all come to speak English, is doubtful; but probably in the long run English will prevail and become the common speech of the southern half of the continent. They will also lose their heathenism (though many superstitions will survive), and will become, in name at least, Christians. Thus they will form to a far greater extent than now a homogeneous mass pervaded by the same ideas and customs. While thus constituting one vast black community, they will probably remain as sharply marked off from the whites as they are to-day. That there will be no intermarriage may safely be assumed from the fact that mixture of blood has greatly diminished since the days of slavery, just as it has diminished in the Southern States of America. White opinion universally condemns it, and rightly, for as things are now the white race would lose more by the admixture than the coloured race would gain. The Kafirs will be far more generally educated than they are now, and will have developed a much higher intelligence. That they will remain inferior to the whites in all intellectual pursuits and in most handicrafts may be concluded from American experience; but they will doubtless be able to compete with white men in many trades, will to some extent enter the professions, will acquire property, and (assuming the law to remain as at present) will form a much larger part, though probably for a very long time a minority, of the electorate. From among them there will doubtless arise men fit to lead them for social and political purposes. A talent for public speaking is already remarked as one of their gifts. Thus the day will arrive when South Africa will see itself filled by a large coloured population, tolerably homogeneous, using the same language, having forgotten its ancient tribal feuds, and not, like the people of India, divided by caste or by the mutual hatred of Hindus and Mussulmans. Most of this population will be poor, and it may, unless successive Colonies are led off to the more thinly peopled parts of Africa, tread hard upon the means of subsistence which the land offers; I say the land, for the mines--or at least the gold-mines--will have been exhausted long before the day we are contemplating arrives. When will that day arrive? Probably not for at least a century, possibly not for two centuries. Fast as the world moves in our time, it must take several generations to develop a race so backward as the Kafirs. Many political changes may occur before then; but political changes are not likely to make much difference to a process like this, which goes on under natural laws--laws that will continue to work, whatever may happen to the Boers, and whatever may be the future relations of the Colonies to the mother country. It is only some great change in human thought and feeling, or some undreamt-of discovery in the physical world, that can be imagined as likely to affect the progress of the natives and the attitude of the whites toward them. When, perhaps in the twenty-first century, the native population has reached the point of progress we have been imagining, the position may be for both races a grave or even a perilous one, if the feeling and behaviour of the whites continue to be what they are now. The present contented acquiescence of the coloured people in the dominance of the whites, and the absence of resentment at the contempt displayed toward them, cannot be expected from a people whose inferiority, though still real, will be much less palpable. And if trouble comes, the preponderance of numbers on the black side may make it more serious than it could be in the United States, where the Southern whites are the outmost fringe of an enormous white nation. These anxieties are little felt, these problems are little canvassed, in South Africa, for things which will not happen in our time or in the time of our children are for most of us as though they would never happen; and we have become so accustomed to see the unexpected come to pass as to forget that where undoubted natural causes are at work--causes whose working history has examined and verified--a result may be practically certain, uncertain as may be the time when and the precise form in which it will arrive. There are, however, some thoughtful men in the Colonies who see the magnitude of the issues involved in this native problem. They hold, so far as I could gather their views, that the three chief things to be done now are to save the natives from intoxicating liquor, which injures them even more than it does the whites, to enact good land laws, which shall keep them from flocking as a loafing proletariate into the towns, as well as just labour laws, and to give them much better opportunities than they now have of industrial education. Manual training and the habit of steady industry are quite as much needed as book education, a conclusion at which the friends of the American negro have also arrived. Beyond this the main thing to be done seems to be to soften the feelings of the average white and to mend his manners. At present he considers the native to exist solely for his own benefit. He is harsh or gentle according to his own temper; but whether harsh or gentle, he is apt to think of the black man much as he thinks of an ox, and to ignore a native's rights when they are inconvenient to himself. Could he be got to feel more kindly toward the native, and to treat him, if not as an equal, which he is not, yet as a child, the social aspect of the problem--and it is the not least serious aspect--would be completely altered. [Footnote 69: The Boers are a genuinely religious people, but they have forgotten 1 Cor. xii. 13, Gal. iii. 28, and Col. iii. 11. Many nations have been inspired by the Old Testament, but few indeed are the instances in which any has paid regard to the New.] CHAPTER XXII MISSIONS The strength and vitality of a race, and its power of holding its own in the world, depend less on the quickness of its intelligence than on the solidity of its character. Its character depends upon the moral ideas which govern its life, and on the habits in which those ideas take shape; and these, in their turn, depend very largely upon the conceptions which the race has formed of religion, and on the influence that religion has over it. This is especially true of peoples in the earlier stages of civilization. Their social virtues, the beliefs and principles which hold them together and influence their conduct, rest upon and are shaped by their beliefs regarding the invisible world and its forces. Races in which religious ideas are vague and feeble seldom attain to a vigorous national life, because they want one of the most effective bonds of cohesion and some of the strongest motives that rule conduct. It may doubtless be said that the religion of a people is as much an effect as a cause, or, in other words, that the finer or poorer quality of a race is seen in the sort of religion it makes for itself, the higher races producing nobler religious ideas and more impressive mythologies, just as they produce richer and more expressive languages. Nevertheless, it remains true that a religion, once formed, becomes a potent factor in the future strength and progress of a people. Now the religious ideas of the Bantu races, as of other negroes, have been scanty, poor, and unfruitful. And accordingly, one cannot meditate upon their condition and endeavour to forecast their progress without giving some thought to the influence which better ideas, and especially those embodied in Christianity, may have upon them. Neither the Kafirs nor the Hottentots have had a religion in our sense of the word. They had no deities, no priesthood, no regular forms of worship. They were, when Europeans discovered them, still in the stage in which most, if not all, primitive races would seem to have once been--that of fearing and seeking to propitiate nature spirits and the ghosts of the dead, a form of superstition in which there was scarcely a trace of morality. Hence the first task of the missionaries who came among them was to create a religious sense, to give them the conception of an omnipotent spiritual power outside natural objects and above man, and to make them regard this power as the source of moral ideas and the author of moral commands. To do this has been a difficult task. Besides this constructive work, which was less needed in some other more advanced heathen races, the missionaries had also a destructive work to do. Though the Kafirs had no religion, they had a multitude of superstitious rites and usages closely intertwined with the whole of their life and with what one may call their political system. These usages were so repugnant to Christian morality, and often to common decency, that it became necessary to attack them and to require the convert to renounce them altogether. Renunciation, however, meant a severance from the life of the tribe, contempt and displeasure from the tribesmen, and possibly the loss of tribal rights. These were evils which it required courage and conviction to face, nor had the missionary any temporal benefits to offer by way of compensation. There was, however, very little direct persecution, because there were no gods who would be incensed, and the witch-doctors were less formidable opponents than a regular priesthood would have been. The chiefs were often friendly, for they recognized the value of missionary knowledge and counsel. Even the ferocious Mosilikatze showed kindness to Robert Moffat, and Livingstone complained far more of the Boers than he ever did of Kafir enemies. Lo Bengula protected the missionaries: Gungunhana listened, and made his chiefs listen, to their discourses, though his nearest approach to conversion was his expression of detestation for Judas Iscariot. But it rarely befell that a chief himself accepted Christianity, which would have meant, among other things, the departure of all his wives but one, and possibly the loss of his hold upon his tribe. All these things being considered, it need excite no surprise that the Gospel should have made comparatively little progress among the wild or tribal Kafirs. It has been preached to them for nearly a century, by German (chiefly, I think, Moravian) and French, as well as by English, Scottish, and American missionaries. At present there are not a few British societies and denominations in the field. The French Protestants have done some excellent work, especially in Basutoland, and have also stations near the east coast and on the Upper Zambesi. There are also French Roman Catholic missions, mostly in the hands of Jesuit fathers, many of whom are men of learning and ability. Between the Roman Catholics, the Protestant Episcopalians (Church of England), and the missionaries of the English Nonconformists and Scottish or French Presbyterians there is little intercourse and no co-operation. Here, as in other mission fields, this absence of intercourse and sympathy puzzles the native. I was told of an English (Protestant Episcopal) clergyman who made it one of his prime objects to warn the Kafirs against attending the services of the French Protestant missionaries, whom he apparently regarded as outside the pale of the true Church. In the Boer Republics there are fewer missions in proportion to the number of natives than in British territories; but no district, except the deserts of the west, seems to be wholly unprovided for, and in some cases stations have been pushed far beyond the limits of European administration, as, for instance, among the Barotse, who dwell north of the Upper Zambesi. The native congregations are usually small, and the careers of the converts not always satisfactory. This is so natural that it is odd to find Europeans, and most conspicuously those whose own life is not a model of Christian morality, continually growling and sneering at the missionaries because their converts do not all turn out saints. The savage is unstable in character, and baptism does not necessarily extinguish either his old habits or the hold which native superstitions have upon him. It is in this instability of his will, and his proneness to yield to drink or some other temptation, rather than in his intellect, that the weakness of the savage lies. And a man with hundreds of generations of savagery behind him is still, and must be, in many respects a savage, even though he reads and writes, and wears European clothes, and possibly even a white necktie. The Kafirs are not such bad Christians as the Frankish warriors were for two or three generations after the conversion of Clovis. We must wait for several generations before we can judge fairly of the influence of his new religion upon the mind of a Kafir whose ancestors had no religion at all, and were ruled by the lowest forms of superstition. These facts are better recognized by the missionaries to-day than they were sixty years ago, and they have in consequence made some changes in their methods. They are no longer so anxious to baptize, or so apt to reckon success by the number of their converts. They are more cautious in ordaining native pastors. The aid of such pastors is indispensable, but the importance of the example which the native preacher or teacher sets makes it necessary to be careful in selection. The dogma of the equality of the black man and the white, which was warmly insisted on in the old days, and often roused the wrath of the Boers, has now been silently dropped. It was a dogma wholesome to inculcate so far as equality of protection was concerned, but its wider application led the early philanthropists of South Africa, as it led their excellent contemporaries, the Abolitionists of America, to some strange conclusions. Perceiving that other influences ought to go hand in hand with religion in helping the natives forward, the missionaries now devote themselves more than formerly to secular instruction, and endeavour to train the people to habits of industry. The work of education is indeed entirely in their hands. Special mention is due to one admirable institution, that which was founded by the Free Church of Scotland at Lovedale, in the Eastern Province, not far from King William's Town, nearly fifty years ago. Conducted on wholly non-sectarian lines, it receives coloured people, together with some whites, not only from the Colony, but from all parts of Africa--there are even Galla boys from the borders of Abyssinia in it--and gives an excellent education, fitting young men and women not only for the native ministry, but for the professions: and it is admitted even by those who are least friendly to missionary work to have rendered immense services to the natives. I visited it, and was greatly struck by the tone and spirit which seemed to pervade it, a spirit whose results are seen in the character and careers of many among its graduates. A race in the present condition of the Kafirs needs nothing more than the creation of a body of intelligent and educated persons of its own blood, who are able to enter into the difficulties of their humbler kinsfolk and guide them wisely. Dr. Stewart, who has directed the institution for many years, possesses that best kind of missionary temperament, in which a hopeful spirit and an inexhaustible sympathy are balanced by Scottish shrewdness and a cool judgment. One of the greatest among the difficulties which confront the missionaries is to know how to deal with polygamy, a practice deeply rooted in Kafir life. A visitor from Europe is at first surprised to find how seriously they regard it, and asks whether the example of the worthies of the Old Testament does not make it hard for them to refuse baptism to the native who seeks it, though he has more than one wife. The clergy of the Church of England, however, and those of the French Protestant Church--and I think other missionaries also--are unanimous in holding that, although they may properly admit a polygamist as a catechumen, they should not baptize such a one; and they say that the native pastors hold this view even more strongly than they do themselves. Polygamy is so bound up with heathen customs, and exerts, in their view, so entirely baneful an influence upon native society, that it must be at all hazards resisted and condemned.[70] One is reminded of the Neoplatonic philosophers, the last professors of the Platonic academy at Athens, who in the sixth century of our era sought an asylum from Christian persecution at the court of Chosroes Anurshirwan, in Persia. They forced themselves to tolerate the other usages of the people among whom they came, but polygamy was too much for them, and rather than dwell among those who practised it, they returned to the unfriendly soil of the Roman Empire. The missionaries, and especially those of the London Missionary Society, played at one time a much more prominent part in politics than they now sustain. Within and on the borders of Cape Colony they were, for the first sixty years of the present century, the leading champions of the natives, and as they enjoyed the support of an active body of opinion in England and Scotland, they had much influence in Parliament and with the Colonial Office. Outside the Colony they were often the principal advisers of the native chiefs (as their brethren were at the same time in the islands of the Pacific), and held a place not unlike that of the bishops in Gaul in the fifth century of our era. Since, in advocating the cause of the natives, they had often to complain of the behaviour of the whites, and since, whenever a chief came into collision with the emigrant Boers or with colonial frontiersmen, they became the channel by which the chief stated his case to the British Government, they incurred the bitter hostility of the emigrant Boers and some dislike even in the Colony. To this old cause much of the unpopularity that still attaches to them seems due. Unpopular they certainly are. They are reproached with the paucity of their converts, and that by white men whose own treatment of the Kafirs might well make the white man's religion odious to a native. They are also accused of abusing their position to enrich themselves by trade with the Kafirs. This abuse has sometimes occurred, and clearly ought to be checked by the home societies. But probably it does not disgust the wandering white trader any more than the fact that the missionary often warns the native against the exorbitant prices which the trader demands for his goods. They are blamed for making the converted Kafir uppish, and telling him that he is as good as a white man, an offence which has no doubt been often committed. A graver allegation, to which Mr. Theal has given some countenance in his historical writings, is that they used to bring groundless or exaggerated charges against the Boer farmers, and always sided with the natives, whatever the merits of the case. I do not venture to pronounce on the truth of this allegation, which it would take much time and labour to sift. As there have been some few missionaries whose demeanour was not creditable to their profession, so there have doubtless been instances in which partisan ardour betrayed them into exaggerations. But whosoever remembers that but for the missionaries the natives would have lacked all local protection, and that it was only through the missionaries that news of injustice or cruelty practised on a native could reach the ears of the British Government, will look leniently on the errors of honest zeal, and will rejoice that ministers of religion were found to champion the cause of the weaker race and keep the home Government alive to a sense of one of its first duties. Notwithstanding the slowness of the progress hitherto made, the extinction of heathenism in South Africa may be deemed certain, and certain at no distant date. There is here no ancient and highly organized system of beliefs and doctrines, such as Hinduism and Islam are in India, to resist the solvent power which European civilisation exerts. In forty years there will probably be no more pagan rites practised in Cape Colony. In eighty years there will be none in Matabililand, or perhaps even sooner, if the gold-reefs turn out well; for though a mining-camp is not a school of Christianity, it is a destroyer of paganism. Already I found, in traversing Mashonaland, that the poor ghosts were ceasing to receive their wonted offerings of native beer. What will happen when heathenism and the tribal system have vanished away? Such morality, such principles of manly conduct as the natives now have, are bound up with their ghost-worship and still more with their tribal system, which prescribes loyalty to the chief, courage in war, devotion to the interests of the tribe or clan. When these principles have disappeared along with the tribal organization, some other principles, some other standard of duty and precepts of conduct, ought to be at hand to replace them. Where are such precepts to be found, and whence are the motives and emotions to be drawn which will give the new precepts a power to command the will? Although the Kafirs have shown rather less aptitude for assimilating Christian teaching than some other savage races have done, there is nothing in the experience of the missions to discourage the hope that such teaching may come to prevail among them, and that through it each generation may show a slight moral advance upon that which has gone before. As the profession of Christianity will create a certain link between the Kafirs and their rulers which may soften the asperity which the relations of the two races now wear, so its doctrines will in time give them a standard of conduct similar to that accepted among the whites, and an ideal which will influence the superior minds among them. So much may certainly be said: that the Gospel and the mission schools are at present the most truly civilizing influences which work upon the natives, and that upon these influences, more than on any other agency, does the progress of the coloured race depend. [Footnote 70: After listening to their arguments, I did not venture to doubt that they were right.] CHAPTER XXIII SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TWO BRITISH COLONIES The two South African Colonies have not yet had time to develop new and distinctive types of life and character. Though Cape Colony is nearly as old as Massachusetts or Virginia, it has been less than a century under British rule, and the two diverse elements in its population have not yet become blent into any one type that can be said to belong to the people as a whole. One must therefore describe these elements separately. The Dutch are almost all country folk, and the country folk are (in Cape Colony) mostly Dutch. Some, especially near Cape Town, are agriculturists, but many more are ranchmen or sheep-masters. They are a slow, quiet, well-meaning hospitable people, extremely conservative in their opinions as well as their habits, very sparing, because they have little ready money, very suspicious, because afraid of being out-witted by the English traders, and many of them so old-fashioned in their theory of the universe as to object to legislation against sheep scab, because they regard it as a visitation of Providence, to be combated only by repentance and not by ordinary human means. The women are usually ill-educated and often unattractive; but they have strong characters. Nothing was more remarkable in the wars of the emigrant Boers against the Kafirs than the courage and devotion which the women displayed. That love of cleanliness for which their kinsfolk in Holland are famous has vanished under the conditions of a settler's life and the practice of using negro servants, and they are now apt to be slatternly. These country folk live in a simple, old-fashioned way, loving solitude and isolation, yet very hospitable, and enjoying the rare occasions on which they meet for festivities at one another's farmhouses. Such meetings are almost their only recreations, for hunting is less attainable now that the larger game has disappeared, and they care nothing for the intellectual pleasures of reading or art or music. Education is beginning to spread among them, but it has not yet done much to quicken their minds or give them new interests. The population is so extremely thin, the towns so few and so small, that it is not surprising that a people who came out from the least educated strata of society in Holland should, under the difficult conditions of a settler's life, have remained at a low level of mental culture. They would probably have been still more backward, and have produced fewer men of ability, but for the infusion of French Huguenot blood, which still proclaims itself in the names of some of the leading families. Compared to the Dutch, the English are recent immigrants. They have all arrived within the present century, and few of them can point to grandfathers born in South Africa. Partly for this reason, partly from their desire to be unlike the Dutch, they have remained markedly English, both in their speech, in their ideas, and, so far as the differences of climate permit, in their way of life. Nevertheless, they have been affected by the Dutch. They have taken from the latter the aversion to field labour, the contempt for the blacks, the tendency to prefer large pastoral farms to agriculture, and, in some districts, a rather sleepy and easy-going temperament. Even in Mashonaland I was told that the English ranchmen were apt to fall into the habits of their Boer neighbours. They form the large majority of the town population, for not only the seaports, but also such inland places as Graham's Town, King William's Town, and Kimberley are quite English, and nearly all the commerce and finance of the country are in their hands. They have more enterprise than the Dutch, and are much less antiquated in their ideas, so it is to them that the profits of the new mining ventures have chiefly fallen, so far as these have not been appropriated by keener and more ingenious adventurers from Europe, mostly of Semitic stock. There has been hardly any Irish immigration; and though one meets many Scotchmen among the bankers and merchants, the Scottish element seems smaller than in Ontario or most of the Australasian Colonies. Many settlers have come from Germany, but these have now become blended with the English. There are no better colonists than the Germans; and indeed the Europeans whom the last ninety years have brought have been mostly of excellent stocks, superior to the mid-European races that have lately inundated the United States. Though the English and the Dutch form distinct social elements which are not yet fused, and though these elements are now politically opposed, there is no social antagonism between the races. The Englishman will deride the slowness of the Dutchman, the Dutchman may distrust the adroitness or fear the activity of the Englishman, but neither dislikes nor avoids the other. Neither enjoys, or even pretends to, any social superiority, and hence neither objects to marry his son or his daughter to a member of the other race. Both are, as a rule, in fairly easy circumstances; that is to say, nearly everybody has enough, and till lately hardly anybody had more than enough. Within the last few years, however, two changes have come. The diamond mines and the gold-mines have given vast riches to a small number of persons, some half-dozen or less of whom continue to live in the Colony, while the others have returned to Europe. These great fortunes are a disturbing element, giving an undue influence to their possessors, and exciting the envy or emulation of the multitude. The other change is the growth of a class of people resembling the "mean whites" of the Southern States of America, loafers and other lazy or shiftless fellows who hang about and will not take to any regular work. I heard them described and deplored as a new phenomenon, but gather that they are not yet numerous. Their appearance, it is to be feared, is the natural result of that contempt for hard unskilled labour which the existence of slavery inspired in the whites; and they may hereafter constitute, as they now do in the Southern States of America, the section of the population specially hostile to the negro, and therefore dangerous to the whole community. To an Englishman or American who knows how rapidly his language has become the language of commerce over the world; how it has almost extinguished the ancient Celtic tongues in Scotland and Ireland; how quickly in the United States it has driven Spanish out of the South West, and has come to be spoken by the German, Scandinavian, and Slavonic immigrants whom that country receives, it is surprising to find that Dutch holds its ground stubbornly in South Africa. It is still the ordinary language of probably one-half of the people of Cape Colony (although most of these can speak some English) and of three-fourths of those in the Orange Free State, though of a minority in Natal. Englishmen settling in the interior usually learn it for the sake of talking to their Dutch neighbours, who are slow to learn English; and English children learn it from the coloured people, for the coloured people talk it far more generally than they do English; in fact, when a native (except in one of the coast towns) speaks a European tongue, that tongue is sure to be Dutch. Good observers told me that although an increasing number of the Africanders (_i.e._, colonists born in Africa) of Dutch origin now understand English, the hold of Dutch is so strong that it will probably continue to be spoken in the Colony for two generations at least. Though one must call it Dutch, it differs widely from the cultivated Dutch of Holland, having not only preserved some features of that language as spoken two centuries ago, but having adopted many Kafir or Hottentot words, and having become vulgarized into a dialect called the Taal, which is almost incapable of expressing abstract thought or being a vehicle for any ideas beyond those of daily life. In fact, many of the Boers, especially in the Transvaal, cannot understand a modern Dutch book, hardly even an Amsterdam newspaper. This defect might give English a great advantage if the Boers wished to express abstract ideas. But they have not this wish, for they have no abstract ideas to express. They are a people who live in the concrete. The rise of great fortunes, which I have noted, has been too recent and too exceptional a phenomenon to have affected the generally tranquil and even tenor of South African social life. Among both Dutch and English months and years flow smoothly on. Few new immigrants enter the rural districts or the smaller towns; few new enterprises are started; few ambitions or excitements stir the minds of the people. The Witwatersrand gold-field is, of course, a startling exception, but it is an exception which tends to perpetuate the rule, for, by drawing off the more eager and restless spirits, it has left the older parts of both the Colonies more placid than ever. The general equality of conditions has produced a freedom from assumption on the one hand, and from servility on the other, and, indeed, a general absence of snobbishness, which is quite refreshing to the European visitor. Manners are simple, and being simple, they are good. If there is less polish than in some countries, there is an unaffected heartiness and kindliness. The Dutch have a sense of personal dignity which respects the dignity of their fellows, and which expresses itself in direct and natural forms of address. An experienced observer dilated to me on the high level of decorum maintained in the Cape Parliament, where scenes of disorder are, I believe, unknown, and violent language is rare. One expects to find in all Colonies a sense of equality and an element of _sans gêne_ in social intercourse. But one usually finds also more roughness and more of an off-hand, impatient way of treating strangers than is visible in South Africa. This may be partly due to the fact that people are not in such a hurry as they are in most new countries. They have plenty of time for everything. The climate disinclines them to active exertion. There is little immigration. Trade, except in the four seaports,[71] is not brisk, and even there it is not brisk in the American sense of the word. The slackness of the black population, which has to be employed for the harder kinds of work, reacts upon the white employer. I have visited no new English-speaking country where one so little felt the strain and stress of modern life. This feature of South African society, though it implies a slow material development, is very agreeable to the visitor, and I doubt if it be really an injury to the ultimate progress of the country. In most parts of North America, possibly in Australia also, industrial development has been too rapid, and has induced a nervous excitability and eager restlessness of temper from which South Africa is free. Of course, in saying this, I except always the mining districts, and especially the Witwatersrand, which is to the full as restless and as active as San Francisco or Melbourne. The comparative ease of life disposes the English part of the population to athletic sports, which are pursued with almost as much avidity as in Australia. Even one who thinks that in England the passion for them has gone beyond all reasonable limits, and has become a serious injury to education and to the taste for intellectual pleasures, may find in the character of the climate a justification for the devotion to cricket, in particular, which strikes him in South Africa. Now that the wild animals have become scarce, hunting cannot be pursued as it once was, and young people would have little incitement to physical exertion in the open air did not the English love of cricket flourish in the schools and colleges. Long may it flourish! The social conditions I have been describing are evidently unfavourable to the development of literature or science or art. Art has scarcely begun to exist. Science is represented only by a few naturalists in Government employment, and by some intelligent amateur observers. Researches in electricity or chemistry or biology require nowadays a somewhat elaborate apparatus, with which few private persons could provide themselves, and which are here possessed only by one or two public institutions. English and American writers have hitherto supplied the intellectual needs of the people, and the established reputation of writers in those countries makes competition difficult to a new colonial author. The towns are too small, and their inhabitants too much occupied in commerce to create groups of highly educated people, capable of polishing, whetting, and stimulating one another's intellects. There are few large libraries, and no fully equipped university to train young men in history or philosophy or economics or theology. Accordingly, few books are composed or published, and, so far as I know, only three South African writers have caught the ear of the European public. One of these was Robert Pringle, a Scotchman, whose poems, written sixty or seventy years ago, possess considerable merit, and one of which, beginning with the line, Afar in the desert I love to ride, remains the most striking picture of South African nature in those early days when the wilderness was still filled with wild creatures. Another, Miss Olive Schreiner (now Mrs. Cronwright-Schreiner), has attained deserved fame. A third, Mr. Scully, is less known in England, but his little volume of _Kafir Tales_ is marked by much graphic power and shows insight into native character. These three writers, and indeed all the writers of merit, belong to the English or Anglified section of the population. The Dutch section is practically disqualified by its language (which, be it remembered, is not the language of Holland, but a debased dialect) from literary composition, even were it otherwise disposed to authorship. Literature will always, I think, remain English in character, bearing few or no traces of the Dutch element in the people. But otherwise things are likely to change in a few years. The conditions which have been described as unfavourable to intellectual production are not necessarily permanent, and the time will probably come when the Europeans of South Africa will emulate their kinsfolk at home or in North America in literary and artistic fertility. The materials for imaginative work, whether in poetry or in prose, lie ready to their hand. The scenery deserves some great native landscape-painter, and such a genius will, no doubt, one day arise. Journalism has now everywhere become, in point of quantity, the most important part of literature. The South African newspapers impress a visitor favourably. Several of them are written with great ability, and they were in 1895 comparatively free from that violence of invective, that tawdriness of rhetoric, and that proneness to fill their columns with criminal intelligence which are apt to be charged against the press in some other new countries. No journal seems to exert so great a political power as is wielded by several of the Australian dailies. As might be expected, the Press is chiefly English, that language having sixty-one papers, against seventeen printed in Dutch and twenty-three in both languages. Although the dispersion of the small European population over an exceedingly wide area makes it difficult to provide elementary schools everywhere,[72] education is, among the whites, well cared for, and in some regions, such as the Orange Free State, the Boer element is just as eager for it as is the English. Neither are efficient secondary schools wanting. That which is wanting, that which is urgently needed to crown the educational edifice, is a properly equipped teaching university. There are several colleges which provide lectures,[73] and the Cape University holds examinations and confers degrees; but to erect over these colleges a true university with an adequate teaching staff seems to be as difficult an enterprise at the Cape as it has proved to be in London, where thirteen years had to be spent in efforts, not successful till 1898, to establish a teaching university. It is strange to find that in a new country, where the different religious bodies live on good terms with one another, one of the chief obstacles in the way is the reluctance of two of the existing colleges, which have a denominational character, to have an institution superior to them set up by the State. The other obstacles are the rivalry of the eastern province with the western, in which, at Cape Town, the natural seat of a university would be found, and the apathy or aversion of the Dutch section of the people. Some of them do not care to spend public money for a purpose whose value they cannot be made to understand. Others, knowing that a university would necessarily be mainly in English hands and give instruction of an English type, fear to establish what would become another Anglifying influence. Thus several small colleges go on, each with inadequate resources, and the Cape youth who desires to obtain a first-rate education is obliged to go to Europe for it. He cannot even get a full course of legal instruction, for there is no complete law school. It is no doubt well that a certain number of young men should go to Europe and there acquire a first-hand knowledge of the ideas and habits of the Old World; but many who cannot afford the luxury of a European journey and residence remain without the kind of instruction to which their natural gifts entitle them, and the intellectual progress of the country suffers. Were Cape Colony somewhere in the United States, a millionaire would forthwith step in, build a new university, and endow it with a few millions of dollars. But South Africa is only just beginning to produce great fortunes; so the best hope is that some enlightened and tactful statesman may, by disarming the suspicions and allaying the jealousies I have described, succeed in uniting the existing colleges, and add to their scanty revenues an adequate Government grant. This may possibly be effected. But the jealousies and ambitions which those who control an institution feel for it are often quite as tenacious as is the selfishness of men where their own pockets are concerned; and since these jealousies disguise themselves under a cloak of disinterestedness, it is all the more hard to overcome them by the pressure of public opinion. One other intellectual force remains to be mentioned--that of the churches. In the two British Colonies no religious body receives special State recognition or any grants from the State.[74] All are on an equal footing, just as in Australia and in North America. In the two Boer Republics the Dutch Reformed Church is in a certain sense the State church. In the Transvaal it is recognized as such by the Grondwet ("Fundamental Law"), and receives a Government subvention. In that Republic members of other churches were at one time excluded from the suffrage and from all public offices, and even now Roman Catholics are under some disability. In the Orange Free State the Dutch Reformed Church receives public aid, but I think this is given, to a smaller extent, to some other denominations also, and no legal inequalities based on religion exist. In these two Republics nearly the whole of the Boer population, and in the Free State a part even of the English population, belong to the Dutch Reformed communion, which is Presbyterian in government and Calvinistic in theology. In the British Colonies the Protestant Episcopal Church (Church of England) comes next after the Dutch Reformed, which is much the strongest denomination; but the Wesleyans are also an important body; and there are, of course, also Congregational and Baptist churches. The Presbyterians seem to be less numerous (in proportion to the population) than in Canada or Australia, not merely because the Scottish element is less numerous, but also because many of the Scottish settlers joined the Dutch Reformed Church as being akin to their own in polity and doctrine. The comparative paucity of Roman Catholics is due to the paucity of Irish immigrants.[75] These bodies live in perfect harmony and good feeling one with another, all frankly accepting the principle of equality, none claiming any social pre-eminence, and none, so far as I could learn, attempting to interfere in politics. Both the bishops and the clergy of the Church of England (among whom there are many gifted men) are, with few exceptions, of marked High-church proclivities, which, however, do not appear to prevail equally among the laity. The Dutch Reformed Church has been troubled by doubts as to the orthodoxy of many of its younger pastors who have been educated at Leyden or Utrecht, and for a time it preferred to send candidates for the ministry to be trained at Edinburgh, whose theological schools inspired less distrust. It is itself in its turn distrusted, apparently without reason, by the still more rigid Calvinists of the Transvaal. One curious feature of South African society remains to be mentioned, which impressed me the more the longer I remained in the country. The upper stratum of that society, consisting of the well-to-do and best educated people, is naturally small, because the whole white population of the towns is small, there being only four towns that have more than ten thousand white residents. But this little society is virtually one society, though dispersed in spots hundreds of miles from one another. Natal stands rather apart, and has very little to do either socially or in the way of business with Cape Colony, and not a great deal even with the Transvaal. So too the four or five towns of the eastern province of Cape Colony form a group somewhat detached, and though the "best people" in each of them know all about the "best people" in Cape Town, they are not in close touch with the latter. But Cape Town, Kimberley, Bloemfontein, Johannesburg, and Pretoria, the five most important places (excluding the Natal towns), are for social purposes almost one city, though it is six hundred and fifty miles from Cape Town to Kimberley, and one thousand miles from Cape Town to Johannesburg. All the persons of consequence in these places know one another and follow one another's doings. All mix frequently, because the Cape Town people are apt to be called by business to the inland cities, and the residents of the inland cities come to Cape Town for sea air in the summer, or to embark thence for Europe. Where distances are great, men think little of long journeys, and the fact that Cape Town is practically the one port of entrance and departure for the interior, so far as passengers are concerned, keeps it in constant relations with the leading men of the interior, and gives a sort of unity to the upper society of the whole country, which finds few parallels in any other part of the world. Johannesburg and Cape Town in particular are, for social purposes, in closer touch with each other than Liverpool is with Manchester or New York with Philadelphia. When one turns to the map it looks a long way from the Cape to the Witwatersrand; but between these places most of the country is a desert, and there is only one spot, Bloemfontein, that deserves to be called a town. So I will once more beg the reader to remember that though South Africa is more than half as large as Europe, it is, measured by population, a very small country. [Footnote 71: Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, East London and Durban.] [Footnote 72: In Cape Colony 28.82 of the male and 28.02 of the female population could not (census of 1891) read or write.] [Footnote 73: Five colleges receive Government grants.] [Footnote 74: The small grant for religious purposes made in Cape Colony was in 1895 being reduced, and was to expire shortly.] [Footnote 75: The census of 1891 gives the numbers as follows: Dutch Reformed Church, 306,000; Church of England, 139,000; Wesleyans, 106,000; Congregationalists, 69,000; Presbyterians, 37,000; Roman Catholics, 17,000; Mohammedans, 15,000.] CHAPTER XXIV POLITICS IN THE TWO BRITISH COLONIES The circumstances of the two South African Colonies are so dissimilar from those of the British Colonies in North America and in Australasia as to have impressed upon their politics a very different character. I do not propose to describe the present political situation, for it may change at any moment. It is only of the permanent causes which give their colour to the questions and the movements of the country that I shall speak, and that concisely. The frame of government is, in Cape Colony as well as in Natal, essentially the same as in the other self-governing British Colonies. There is a Governor, appointed by the home Government, and responsible to it only, who plays the part which belongs to the Crown in Great Britain. He is the nominal head of the executive, summoning and proroguing the Legislature, appointing and dismissing ministers, and exercising, upon the advice of his ministers, the prerogative of pardon. There is a cabinet of five persons, including the heads of the chief administrative departments, who are the practical executive of the Colony, and are responsible to the Legislature, in which they sit, and at whose pleasure they hold their offices. There is a Legislature consisting of two houses--an Assembly, whose membership was raised in December, 1898, from seventy-nine to ninety-five, and a Legislative Council, with twenty-three members, besides the Chief Justice, who is _ex officio_ President. In Cape Colony (for of the arrangements in Natal I have spoken in a previous chapter) both houses are elected on the same franchise--a low one; but the districts for the election of members of the Council are much larger, and therefore fewer, than the Assembly districts, so the former body is a small and the latter a comparatively numerous one.[76] The rights and powers of both houses are theoretically the same, save that money bills originate in the Assembly; but the Assembly is far more powerful, for the ministry holds office only so long as it has the support of a majority in that body, whereas it need not regard a hostile vote in the Council. Either the English or the Dutch language may be used in debate. Ministers have the right of speaking in both houses, but can, of course, vote only in the one of which they are members by popular election. If it happens that there is no minister who has a seat in the Council (as was the case in 1896), it is usual for the cabinet to allot one to be present in and look after that chamber for the day. This cabinet system, as it is called, works pretty smoothly, on lines similar to that English original whence it is copied. The most interesting peculiarity is the Cape method of forming the smaller House. In England the Upper House is composed of hereditary members; in the Canadian confederation, of members nominated for life--both of them methods which are quite indefensible in theory. Here, however, we find the same plan as that which prevails in the States of the North American Union, all of which have senates elected on the same franchise, and for the same term, as the larger house, but in more extensive districts, so as to make the number of members of the senate or second chamber smaller. Regarding the merits of the Cape scheme, I heard different views expressed. Nobody seemed opposed in principle to the division of the Legislature into two houses, but many condemned the existing Council as being usually composed of second-rate men, and apt to be obstructive in its tendencies. Some thought the Council was a useful part of the scheme of government, because it interposed delay in legislation and gave time for reflection and further debate. One point came out pretty clearly. No difficulty is deemed to arise from the fact that there exist two popularly elected houses equally entitled to control the administration,[77] for custom has settled that the Assembly or larger house is that whose vote determines the life of a ministry. But it follows from this circumstance that the most able and ambitious men desire a seat in the more powerful chamber, leaving the smaller house to those of less mark. This is the exact reverse of what has happened in the United States; where a seat in the Senate is more desired than one in the House; but it is a natural result of the diverse arrangements of the two countries, for in the Federal Government the Senate has some powers which the House of Representatives does not enjoy, while in each of the several States of the Union, although the powers of the two houses are almost the same, the smaller number of each Senate secures for a senator somewhat greater importance than a member of the larger body enjoys. The Cape Colony plan of letting a minister speak in both houses works very well, and may deserve to be imitated in England, where the fact that the head of a department can explain his policy only to his own House has sometimes caused inconvenience. So much for the machinery. Now let us note the chief points in which the circumstances of Cape Colony and of Natal (for in these respects both Colonies are alike) differ from those of the other self-governing Colonies of Britain. The population is not homogeneous as regards race, but consists of two stocks, English and Dutch. These stocks are not, as in Canada, locally separate, but dwell intermixed, though the Dutch element predominates in the western province and in the interior generally, the English in the eastern province and at the Kimberley diamond-fields. The population is homogeneous as regards religion, for nearly all are Protestants, and Protestants of much the same type. Race difference has fortunately not been complicated, as in Canada, by ecclesiastical antagonisms. The population is homogeneous as respects material interests, for it is wholly agricultural and pastoral, except a few merchants and artisans in the seaports, and a few miners at Kimberley and in Namaqualand. Four-fifths of it are practically rural, for the interests of the small towns are identical with those of the surrounding country. The population is not only rural, but scattered more thinly over a vast area than in any other British Colony, except north-western Canada, and parts of Australasia. In Natal there are only two white men to the square mile, and in Cape Colony less than two. Nor is this sparseness incidental, as in North America, to the early days of settlement. It is due to a physical condition--the condition of the soil--which is likely to continue. Below the white citizens, who are the ruling race, there lies a thick stratum of coloured population numerically larger, and likely to remain so, because it performs all the unskilled labour of the country. Here is a condition which, though present in some of the Southern States of America, is fortunately absent from all the self-governing Colonies of Britain, and indeed caused Jamaica to be, some time ago, withdrawn from that category. The conjunction of these circumstances marks off South Africa as a very peculiar country, where we may expect to find a correspondingly peculiar political situation. Comparing it to other Colonies, we may say that the Cape and Natal resemble Canada in the fact that there are two European races present, and resemble the Southern States of America in having a large mass of coloured people beneath the whites. But South Africa is in other respects unlike both; and although situated in the southern hemisphere, it bears little resemblance to Australia. Now let us see how the circumstances above described have determined the political issues that have arisen in Cape Colony. Certain issues are absent which exist, not only in Europe and the United States, but also in Australia and in Canada. There is no antagonism of rich and poor, because there are very few poor and still fewer rich. There is no working-man's or labour party, because so few white men are employed in handicrafts. There is no Socialist movement, nor is any likely soon to arise, because the mass of workers, to whom elsewhere Socialism addresses itself, is mainly composed of black people, and no white would dream of collectivism for the benefit of blacks. Thus the whole group of labour questions, which bulks so largely in modern industrial States, is practically absent, and replaced by a different set of class questions, to be presently mentioned. There is no regularly organized Protectionist party, nor is the protection of native industry a "live issue" of the first magnitude. The farmers and ranchmen of Cape Colony no doubt desire to have custom duties on food-stuffs that will help them to keep up prices, and they have got such duties. But the scale is not very high, and as direct taxation is difficult to raise in a new country with a scattered population, the existing tariff, which averages twelve and a half per cent, _ad valorem_ (but is further raised by special rates on certain articles), may be defended as needed, at least to a large extent, for the purposes of revenue. Natal had a lower tariff, and has been more favourable in principle to free trade doctrine, but she has very recently (1898) entered the S. African Customs Union, therewith adopting a higher tariff. Manufactures have been so sparingly developed in both Colonies that neither employers nor workmen have begun to call for high duties against foreign goods. Here, therefore, is another field of policy, important in North America and Australia, which has given rise to comparatively little controversy in South Africa. As there is no established church, and nearly all the people are Protestants, there are no ecclesiastical questions, nor is the progress of education let and hindered by the claims of sects to have their respective creeds taught at the expense of the State. Neither are there any land questions, such as those which have arisen in Australia, for there has been land enough for those who want to have it, while few agricultural immigrants arrive to increase the demand. Moreover, though the landed estates are large, their owners are not rich, and excite no envy by their possession of a profitable monopoly. If any controversy regarding natural resources arises, it will probably turn on the taxation of minerals. Some have suggested that the State should appropriate to itself a substantial share of the profits made out of the diamond and other mines, and the fact that most of those profits are sent home to shareholders in Europe might be expected to make the suggestion popular. Nevertheless, the idea has not, so far, "caught on," to use a familiar expression, partly, perhaps, because Cape Colony, drawing sufficent income from its tariff and its railways, has not found it necessary to hunt for other sources of revenue. Lastly, there are no constitutional questions. The suffrage is so wide as to admit nearly all the whites, and there is, of course, no desire to go lower and admit more blacks. The machinery of government is deemed satisfactory; at any rate, one hears of no proposals to change it, and, as will be seen presently, there is not in either Colony a wish to alter the relations now subsisting between it and the mother country. The reader may suppose that if all these grounds of controversy, familiar to Europe, and some of them now unhappily familiar to the new democracies also, are absent, South Africa enjoys the political tranquillity of a country where there are no factions, and the only question is how to find the men best able to promote that economic development which all unite in desiring. This is by no means the case. In South Africa the part filled elsewhere by constitutional questions, and industrial questions and ecclesiastical questions, and currency questions, is filled by race questions and colour questions. Colour questions have been discussed in a previous chapter. They turn not, as in the Southern States of America, upon the political rights of the black man (for on this subject the ruling whites are in both Colonies unanimous), but upon land rights and the regulation of native labour. They are not at this moment actual and pungent issues, but they are in the background of every one's mind, and the attitude of each man to them goes far to determine his political sympathies. One cannot say that there exist pro-native or anti-native parties, but the Dutch are by tradition more disposed than the English to treat the native severely, and, as they express it, keep him in his place. Many Englishmen share the Dutch feeling, yet it is always by Englishmen that the advocacy of the native case is undertaken. In Natal both races are equally anti-Indian. The race question among the whites, that is to say the rivalry of Dutch and English, would raise no practical issue were Cape Colony an island in the ocean, for there is complete political and social equality between the two stocks, and the material interests of the Dutch farmer are the same as those of his English neighbour. It is the existence of a contiguous foreign State, the South African Republic, that sharpens Dutch feeling. The Boers who remained in Cape Colony and in Natal have always retained their sentiment of kinship with those who went out in the Great Trek of 1836, or who moved northward from Natal into the Transvaal after the annexation of Natal in 1842. Many of them are connected by family ties with the inhabitants of the two Republics, and are proud of the achievements of their kinsfolk against Dingaan and Mosilikatze, and of the courage displayed at Laing's Nek and Majuba Hill against the British. They resent keenly any attempt to trench upon the independence of the Transvaal, while most of the English do not conceal their wish to bring that State into a South African Confederation, if possible under the British flag. The ministries and legislatures of the two British Colonies, it need hardly be said, have no official relations with the two Dutch Republics, because, according to the constitution of the British empire, such relations, like all other foreign relations, belong to the Crown, and the Crown is advised by the British Cabinet at home. In South Africa the Crown is represented for the purpose of these relations by the High Commissioner, who is not responsible in any way to the colonial legislatures, and is not even bound to consult the colonial cabinet, for his functions as High Commissioner for South Africa are deemed to be distinct from those which he has as Governor of Cape Colony. Matters relating to the two Republics and their relation to the Colonies are, accordingly, outside the sphere of action of the colonial legislatures, which have, in strict theory, no right to pass resolutions regarding them. In point of fact, however, the Cape Assembly frequently does debate, and pass resolutions on, these matters; nor is this practice disapproved, for, as the sentiments of the Colony are, or ought to be, an important factor in determining the action of the home Government, it is well that the British Cabinet and the High Commissioner should possess such a means of gauging those sentiments. The same thing happens with regard to any other question between Britain and a foreign Power which may affect the two Colonies. Questions with Germany or Portugal, questions as to the acquisition of territory in South Central Africa, would also be discussed in the colonial Legislatures, just as those of Australia some years ago complained warmly of the action of France in the New Hebrides. And thus it comes to pass that though the Governments and Legislatures of the Colonies have in strictness nothing to do with foreign policy, foreign policy has had much to do with the formation of parties at the Cape. Now as to the parties themselves. Hitherto I have spoken of Natal and the Cape together, because their conditions are generally similar, though the Dutch element is far stronger in the latter than in the former. In what follows I speak of the Cape only, for political parties have not had time to grow up in Natal, where responsible government dates from 1893. In the earlier days of the Cape Legislature parties were not strongly marked, though they tended to coincide with the race distinction between Dutch and English, because the western province was chiefly Dutch, and the eastern chiefly English, and there was a certain rivalry or antagonism between these two main divisions of the country. The Dutch element was, moreover, wholly agricultural and pastoral, the English party mercantile; so when an issue arose between these two interests, it generally corresponded with the division of races. Political organization was chiefly in English hands, because the colonial Dutch had not possessed representative government, whereas the English brought their home habits with them. However, down till 1880 parties remained in an amorphous or fluid condition, being largely affected by the influence of individual leaders; and the Dutch section of the electorate was hardly conscious of its strength. In the end of that year, the rising in the Transvaal, and the War of Independence which followed, powerfully stimulated Dutch feeling, and led to the formation of the Africander Bond, a league or association appealing nominally to African, but practically to African-Dutch patriotism. It was not anti-English in the sense of hostility to the British connection, any more than was the French party in Lower Canada at the same time, but it was based not only on the solidarity of the Dutch race over all South Africa, but also on the doctrine that Africanders must think of Africa first, and see that the country was governed in accordance with local sentiment, rather than on British lines or with a view to British interests. Being Dutch, the Bond became naturally the rural or agricultural and pastoral party, and therewith inclined to a protective tariff and to stringent legislation in native matters. Such anti-English tint as this association originally wore tended to fade when the Transvaal troubles receded into the distance, and when it was perceived that the British Government became more and more disposed to leave the Colony to manage its own affairs. And this was still more the case after the rise to power of Mr. Cecil Rhodes, who, while receiving the support of the Bond and the Dutch party generally, was known to be also a strong Imperialist, eager to extend the range of British power over the continent. At the same time, the attachment of the colonial Dutch to the Transvaal cooled down under the unfriendly policy of that Republic, whose government imposed heavy import duties on their food-stuffs, and denied to their youth the opportunities of obtaining posts in the public service of the Republic, preferring to fetch Dutch-speaking men from Holland, when it could have had plenty of capable people from the Cape who spoke the tongue and knew the ways of the country. Thus the embers of Dutch and English antagonism seemed to be growing cold when they were suddenly fanned again into a flame by the fresh Transvaal troubles of December, 1895, which caused the resignation of Mr. Rhodes, and the severance from him of his Dutch supporters. Too little time has elapsed since those events to make it possible to predict how parties may reshape themselves, nor is it any part of my plan to deal with current politics. In 1897 feeling still ran high, but it had not destroyed the previously friendly social relations of the races, and there was then reason to hope that within a few months or years mutual confidence would be restored. So far as I could ascertain, both local government and central government are in the two Colonies, as well as in the Orange Free State, pure and honest. The judiciary is above all suspicion, and includes several distinguished men. The civil service is managed on English principles, there being no elective offices; and nothing resembling what is called the "caucus system" seems to have grown up. There are in the Cape Legislature some few members supposed to be "low-toned" and open to influence by the prospect of material gain, but, though I heard of occasional jobbing, I heard of little or nothing amounting to corruption. Elections were said to be free from bribery, but as they had seldom excited keen interest, this point of superiority to most countries need not be ascribed to moral causes. Reviewing the course of Cape politics during the thirty years of responsible government, that course appears smooth when compared with the parallel current of events in the Australian Colonies. There have been few constitutional crises, and no exciting struggles over purely domestic issues. This is due not merely to the absence of certain causes of strife, but also to the temper of the people, and their thin dispersion over a vast territory. In large town populations excitement grows by the sympathy of numbers, but South Africa has only five or six towns in which a public meeting of even three hundred citizens could be gathered. The Dutch are tardy, cautious and reserved. The doggedness of their ancestors who resisted Philip II. of Spain lives in them still. They have a slow tenacious intensity, like that of a forest fire, which smoulders long among the prostrate trunks before it bursts into flame. But they are, except when deeply stirred, conservative and slow to move. They dislike change so much as to be unwilling to change their representatives or their ministers. A Cape statesman told me that the Dutch members of the Assembly would often say to him: "We think you wrong in this instance, and we are going to vote against you, but we don't want to turn you out; stay on in office as before." So President Kruger observed to me, in commenting on the frequent changes of government in England: "When we have found an ox who makes a good leader of the team, we keep him there, instead of shifting the cattle about in the hope of finding a better one;" and in saying this he expressed the feelings and habits of his race. To an Englishman the Dutch seem to want that interest in politics for the sake of politics which marks not only the English (and still more the Irish) at home but also the English stock in North America and Australia. But this very fact makes them all the more fierce and stubborn when some issue arises which stirs their inmost mind, and it is a fact to be remembered by those who have to govern them. The things they care most about are their religion, their race ascendency over the blacks, and their Dutch-African nationality as represented by their kinsfolk in the two Republics. The first of these has never been tampered with; the two latter have been at the bottom of all the serious difficulties that have arisen between them and the English. That which was in 1897 exciting them and forming the crucial issue in Cape politics was the strained condition of things which existed in the Transvaal. I propose in the following chapter to explain how that condition came about, and to sketch its salient features. [Footnote 76: There are for the Council seven electoral provinces, each of which returns three members to the Council, besides one for Griqualand West and one for British Bechuanaland. A Redistribution Act of 1898 altered the areas of some of the electoral divisions, and the number of members returned by some, so as to adjust representation more accurately to population.] [Footnote 77: Some friction has, however, arisen from the right claimed by the Council of amending money bills, especially for the purpose (one is told) of securing grants to the electoral provinces they represent.] CHAPTER XXV THE SITUATION IN THE TRANSVAAL BEFORE THE RISING OF 1895 The agitation at Johannesburg, which Dr. Jameson's expedition turned into a rising, took place in December, 1895. I spent some time in Pretoria and Johannesburg in the preceding month, and had good opportunities of observing the symptoms of political excitement and gauging the tendencies at work which were so soon to break out and fix the eyes of the world upon the Witwatersrand. The situation was a singular one, without parallel in history; and though I did not know that the catastrophe was so near at hand, it was easy to see that a conflict must come and would prove momentous to South Africa. Of this situation as it presented itself to a spectator who had no personal interest involved, and had the advantage of hearing both sides, I propose to speak in the present chapter. To comprehend the position of the Transvaal Boers one must know something of their history. From the brief sketch of it given in earlier chapters (Chapters XI and XII) the reader will have gathered how unlike they are to any European people or to the people of the United States. Severed from Europe and its influences two hundred years ago, they have, in some of the elements of modern civilisation, gone back rather than forward. They were in 1885, when the Rand goldfields were discovered, and many of them are to-day, a half-nomad race, pasturing their flocks and herds over the vast spaces of what is still a wilderness, and migrating in their waggons from the higher to the lower pastures according to the season of the year-- --Omnia secum Armentarius Afer agit, tectumque laremque Armaque, Amyclæumque canem, Cressamque pharetram. Living in the open air, and mostly in the saddle, they are strangely ignorant and old fashioned in all their ideas. They have no literature and very few newspapers. Their religion is the Dutch and Huguenot Calvinism of the seventeenth century, rigid and stern, hostile to all new light, imbued with the spirit of the Old Testament rather than of the New. They dislike and despise the Kafirs, whom they have regarded as Israel may have regarded Amalek, and whom they have treated with equal severity. They hate the English also,[78] who are to them the hereditary enemies that conquered them at the Cape; that drove them out into the wilderness in 1836; that annexed their Republic in 1877, and thereafter broke the promises of self-government made at the time of the annexation; that stopped their expansion on the west by occupying Bechuanaland, and on the north by occupying Matabililand and Mashonaland; and that were still, as they believed, plotting to find some pretext for overthrowing their independence.[79] This hatred is mingled with a contempt for those whom they defeated at Laing's Nek and Majuba Hill, and with a fear born of the sense that the English are their superiors in knowledge, in activity, and in statecraft. It is always hard for a nation to see the good qualities of its rivals and the strong points of its opponents' case; but with the Boers the difficulty is all the greater because they know little or nothing of the modern world and of international politics. Two centuries of solitary pastoral life have not only given them an aversion for commerce, for industrial pursuits, and for finance, but an absolute incapacity for such occupations, so that when gold was discovered in their country, they did not even attempt to work it,[80] but were content to sell, usually for a price far below its value, the land where the gold-reefs lay, and move off with the proceeds to resume elsewhere their pastoral life. They have the virtues appropriate to a simple society. They are brave, good-natured, hospitable, faithful to one another, generally pure in their domestic life, seldom touched by avarice or ambition. But the corruption of their Legislature shows that it is rather to the absence of temptation than to any superior strength of moral principle that these merits have been due. For politics they have little taste or gift. Politics can flourish only where people are massed together, and the Boer is a solitary being who meets his fellows solely for the purposes of religion or some festive gathering. Yet ignorant and slow-witted as they are, inborn ability and resolution are not wanting. They have indeed a double measure of wariness and wiliness in their intercourse with strangers, because their habitual suspicion makes them seek in craft the defence for their ignorance of affairs; while their native doggedness is confirmed by their belief in the continued guidance and protection of that Providence whose hand led them through the wilderness and gave them the victory over all their enemies. This was the people into whose territory there came, after 1884, a sudden swarm of gold-seekers. The Uitlanders, as these strangers are called (the word is not really Dutch, one is told, but an adaptation from the German), who by 1890 had come to equal and soon thereafter exceeded the whole number of the Boers, belonged to many stocks. The natives of England, the Cape, and Natal were the most numerous, but there were also many English-speaking men from other regions, including Australians and Americans, as well as a smaller number of Germans and Scandinavians, some Russians (mostly Jews) and a few Italians and Frenchmen. Unlike as these newcomers were to one another, they were all still more unlike the rude hunting and pastoral people among whom they came. They were miners, traders, financiers, engineers, keen, nimble-minded men, all more or less skilled in their respective crafts, all bent on gain, and most of them with that sense of irresponsibility and fondness for temporary pleasure which a chanceful and uncertain life, far from home, and relieved from the fear of public opinion, tends to produce. Except some of the men from the two Colonies, they could not speak the Boer _Taal_, and had no means of communication, any more than they had social or moral affinities, with the folk of the land. There were therefore no beginnings of any assimilation between them and the latter. They did not affect the Boers, except with a sense of repulsion, and still less did the Boers affect them. Moreover, there were few occasions for social intercourse. The Uitlanders settled only along the Witwatersrand, and were aggregated chiefly in Johannesburg. The Boers who had lived on the Rand, except a few who came daily into the towns with their waggons to sell milk and vegetables, retired from it. It was only in Pretoria and in a few of the villages that there was any direct social contact between the two elements. Although less than half of the immigrants came from England, probably five-sixths spoke English and felt themselves drawn together not only by language, but by community of ideas and habits. The Australians, the Americans, and the men from Cape Colony and Natal considered themselves for all practical--I do not say for all political--purposes to be English, and English became the general spoken tongue not only of Johannesburg, but of the mining districts generally. Hearing nothing but English spoken, seeing nothing all round them that was not far more English than Dutch, though English with a half-colonial, half-American tinge, it was natural that the bulk of the Uitlanders should deem themselves to be in a country which had become virtually English, and should see something unreasonable or even grotesque in the control of a small body of persons whom they deemed in every way their inferiors. However, before I describe their sentiments and their schemes, some account must be given of the government under which they lived. As was explained in a previous chapter (Chapter XII) the South African Republic was formed by the union, between 1858 and 1862, of several small and theretofore practically independent republican communities. Its constitution was set forth in a document called the Grondwet,[81] or "Fundamental Law," enacted in 1858 and partly based on a prior draft of 1855. It is a very crude, and indeed rude, instrument, occasionally obscure, and containing much matter not fit for a constitution. It breathes, however, a thoroughly free spirit, save as regards Kafirs and Roman Catholics, recognizing the people as a source of power, laying down the old distinction between the three departments of government,--legislative, executive, and judicial,--and guaranteeing some of the primordial rights of the citizen. By it the government was vested in a President, head of the executive, and elected for five years, an Executive Council of five members (three elected and two _ex officio_), and a Legislature called the Volksraad, elected by the citizens on a very extended suffrage, and declared to be the supreme power in the State. The Volksraad consists of one chamber, in which there are at present twenty-four members. The President has the right of speaking, though not of voting, in it, but has no veto on its action. Though there are few constitutions anywhere which give such unlimited power to the Legislature, the course of events--oft-recurring troubles of all sorts, native wars, internal dissensions, financial pressure, questions with the British Government--have made the President practically more important than the Legislature, and, in fact, the main force in the Republic. The Executive Council has exerted little power and commanded little deference, while the Volksraad has usually been guided by the President and has never taken the direction of affairs out of his hands. Both legislation and administration have been carried on in a rough-and-ready fashion, sometimes in violation of the strict letter of the law. In particular the provision of the Grondwet, that no statute should be enacted without being submitted for a period of three months to the people, has been practically ignored by the enactment as laws of a large number of resolutions on matters not really urgent, although the Grondwet permits this to be done only in cases which do not admit of delay. This has, however, been rectified by a law passed subsequently to 1895, altering the provision of the Grondwet. In 1881, when the Republic recovered its independence, there were neither roads, railways, nor telegraphs in the country. Its towns were rough hamlets planted round a little church. Its people had only the bare necessaries of life. The taxes produced scarcely any revenue. The treasury was empty, and the Government continued to be hard-pressed for money and unable to construct public works or otherwise improve the country till 1885, when the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand began to turn a stream of gold into its coffers. Riches brought new difficulties and new temptations. Immigrants rushed in,--capitalists, miners, and traders. As the produce of the gold-field increased, it became plain that they would come in ever increasing numbers. The old Boers took alarm. The rush could hardly have been stopped, and to stop it would have involved a check in the expansion of the revenue. It was accordingly determined to maintain the political _status quo_ by excluding these newcomers from political rights. The Grondwet declares (Article VI.) that "the territory is open for every foreigner who obeys the laws of the Republic," and as late as 1881 an immigrant could acquire the electoral franchise after a residence of two years. In 1882, however, this period was raised to five years, and in 1887 to fifteen. In 1890, by which time the unenfranchised strangers had begun to agitate for the right to be represented, a nominal concession was made by the creation of a new chamber, called the Second Volksraad, for membership in which a newcomer might be eligible after taking an oath of allegiance followed by four years' residence, the right to vote at elections to this chamber being attainable after the oath and two years' residence. This Second Raad, however, is limited to the consideration of certain specified subjects, not including taxation, and its acts can be overruled by the First Volksraad, while its assent is not required to the acts of that body. It has therefore turned out little better than a sham, having, in fact, been created only as a tub to throw to the Uitlander whale. The effect of the legislation of 1890 and subsequent years down to 1894 (legislation too intricate and confused to be set forth in detail here) has been to debar any immigrant from acquiring the right to vote for the First Volksraad until he has passed the age of forty and resided for at least twelve years in the country after taking the oath and being placed on the local government lists, lists on which the local authorities are said to be nowise careful to place him. Nor does birth in the Republic confer citizenship, unless the father has taken the oath of allegiance. President Kruger, who has held office since 1881, was chiefly instrumental in passing these laws, for his force of character, long experience of affairs, and services in the crisis of 1877-81 gave him immense power over the Raad, in which he constantly spoke, threatening the members with the loss of national independence unless they took steps to stem the rising tide of foreign influence. As a patriot, he feared the English; as a Boer Puritan of the old stubborn stock, he hated all foreigners and foreign ways, seeing in them the ruin of the ancient customs of his people. He carried this antagonism so far that, being unable to find among his citizens men sufficiently educated to deal with the growing mass of administrative work which the increase of wealth, industry, and commerce brought, he refused to appoint Dutch-speaking men from the Cape or Natal, because they were natives of British Colonies, and recruited his civil service from Holland. The Hollanders he imported were far more strange to the country than Cape Dutchmen would have been, and the Boers did not, and do not now, take kindly to them. But they were, by the necessity of their position, anti-English, and that was enough. Meanwhile the old Boer virtues were giving way under new temptations. The Volksraad (as is believed all over South Africa) became corrupt, though of course there have always been pure and upright men among its members. The civil service was not above suspicion. Rich men and powerful corporations surrounded those who had concessions to give or the means of influencing legislation, whether directly or indirectly. The very inexperience of the Boer ranchman who came up as a member of the Volksraad made him an easy prey. All sorts of abuses sprang up, while the primary duties of a government were very imperfectly performed. Hardly any administration was needed while the Transvaal had a population of wandering stock-farmers. But when one hundred thousand white immigrants were congregated along the Witwatersrand, and were employing some fifty thousand native workpeople, an efficient police, an abundant water-supply, good sanitary regulations, and laws to keep liquor from the natives became urgently needed; and none of these things was provided, although taxation continued to rise and the treasury was overflowing. Accordingly, the discontent of the Uitlanders increased. It was no longer a mere question of obtaining political rights for their own sake, it was also a question of winning political power in order to reform the administration, and so secure those practical benefits which the President and the Volksraad and the Hollander officials were either unable or unwilling to give. In 1892 an association, called the National Union, was formed by a number of Uitlanders, "to obtain, by all constitutional means, equal rights for all citizens of the Republic, and the redress of all grievances." Although nearly all those who formed it were natives either of England or of the British Colonies, it did not seek to bring the country under British control, but included among its aims "the maintenance of the independence of the Republic." Nevertheless, it incurred the hostility of the President and his friends, and its petitions were unceremoniously repulsed. This tended to accentuate the anti-Boer feeling of the Uitlanders, so that when Sir H. Loch, the High Commissioner, came up from the Cape in 1894 to negotiate regarding Swaziland and other pending questions, he was made the object of a vehement demonstration at Pretoria. The English took the horses out of his carriage and drew it through the streets, waving the British flag even over the head of President Kruger himself, and shouting "Reform! reform!" This incident redoubled Mr. Kruger's apprehensions, but did not shake his purpose. It suggested new plans to the Uitlanders, who had (shortly before) been further incensed by the demand of the Government that they should, although debarred from the suffrage, serve in a military commando sent against the Kafir chief Malaboch. Despairing of constitutional agitation, they began to provide themselves with arms and to talk of a general rising. Another cause, which I have not yet mentioned, had recently sharpened their eagerness for reforms. About 1892 the theory was propounded that the gold-bearing reefs might be worked not only near the surface, but also at much greater depths, and that, owing to the diminution of the angle of the dip as the beds descend into the earth, a much greater mass of gold-bearing rock might be reached than had been formerly deemed possible. This view, soon confirmed by experimental borings, promised a far longer life to the mines than had been previously expected. Those who had come to the Rand thinking they might probably leave it after a few years now conceived the idea of permanent residence, while the directors of the great mining companies, perceiving how much their industry might be developed, smarted more than ever under the maladministration and exactions from which the industry suffered. These were the events and these the causes that had brought about the state of things which a visitor saw at Pretoria and Johannesburg in November, 1895. Revolution was already in the air, but few could guess what form it would take. The situation was a complicated one, because each of the two main sections of the population, Boers and Uitlanders, was itself subdivided into minor groups. The Uitlanders were of many nationalities; but those who spoke English were so much the most numerous that I shall speak of them only, dismissing the remainder with the remark that while many of them sympathized with the Reform movement, few of them gave it active support, while most of the Germans, moved by anti-British feeling, favoured President Kruger's Government. The English section, including Cape and Natal men, Australians and Americans, consisted of three sets of persons: the middle classes, the capitalist mine-owners, and the working men. The middle class people, traders, professional men, engineers, and the like, either belonged to or were in sympathy with the National Union. It was they who had formed it. They had recently presented to the Volksraad a petition, signed by thirty-eight thousand non-enfranchised residents, asking for reforms, and this petition had been scornfully rejected, one member saying, with no disapproval from his colleagues, that if the strangers wanted to get what they called their rights they would have to fight for them. Their agitation had been conducted publicly and on constitutional lines, without threats of force. It was becoming plain, however, in 1895, that some at least of the leaders were now prepared to use force and would take arms whenever a prospect of success appeared. But under what flag would they fight? Would they adhere to their original idea, and maintain an independent South African Republic when they had ejected the dominant oligarchy and secured political power for all residents? Or would they hoist the Union Jack and carry the country back under the British Crown? No one could speak positively, but most thought that the former course would be taken. The Americans would be for it. Most of the Cape people who came of Dutch stock would be for it. Even among the pure English, some talked bitterly of Majuba Hill, and declared they would not fight to give the country back to Britain which had abandoned it in 1881. The motives of these Reformers were simple and patent. Those of them who had been born and lived long in Africa thought it an intolerable wrong that, whereas everywhere else in South Africa they could acquire the suffrage and the means of influencing the government after two or three years' residence, they were in the Transvaal condemned to a long disability, and denied all voice in applying the taxes which they paid. Thinking of South Africa as practically one country, they complained that here, and here only, were they treated as aliens and inferiors. Both they and all the other Uitlanders had substantial grievances to redress. Food was inordinately dear, because a high tariff had been imposed on imports. Water-supply, police, sanitation, were all neglected. Not only was Dutch the official language, but in the public schools Dutch was then the only medium of instruction; and English children were compelled to learn arithmetic, geography, and history out of Dutch text-books. It was these abuses, rather than any wish to bring the Transvaal under the British flag, or even to establish a South African Confederation, that disposed them to revolt against a Government which they despised. The mine-owning capitalists were a very small class, but powerful by their wealth, their intelligence, and their influence over those whom they employed. They had held aloof from the agitation which began in 1892, because they did not themselves care for the franchise, not meaning to spend their lives in the Transvaal, and because they knew that political disturbances would interfere with the mining industry. The leading man, and certainly one of the ablest men among them,[82] foresaw trouble as far back as June, 1894, when he wrote that the unrest of the country came "from the open hostility of the Government to the Uitlanders, and its hostility to all principles of sound Government; the end will be revolution;" and a few weeks later wrote again: "The mining companies ought to have arms. The courage of the Boers is exaggerated. If they knew there were in Johannesburg three thousand well-armed men, they would not talk so loud of destroying the town." Nevertheless, these capitalists, like capitalists all over the world, disliked force, and long refused to throw themselves into the movement. They raised a fund for the purpose of trying "to get a better Volksraad"--whether by influencing members or by supplying funds for election expenses has never been made clear. However, these efforts failed, and they became at last convinced that the loss of their industry from misgovernment was, and would continue, greater than any loss which temporary disturbances might involve. The vista of deep-level mining, which had now opened itself before them, made their grievances seem heavier. Before they entered on a new series of enterprises, which would at first be costly, they wished to relieve mining from the intolerable burdens of a dynamite monopoly, foolishly or corruptly granted to a firm which charged an extortionate price for this necessity; of a high tariff both on food-stuffs, involving large expenses in feeding the workpeople, and on mine machinery; of extravagantly heavy railway rates for coal; and of a system which, by making it easy for the Kafir workers to get drunk, reduced the available amount of native labour by one-third, and increased the number of accidents in the mines. These burdens made the difference of one or two or three per cent, on the dividend in the best mines, threatened the prospect of any dividend on the second best, and made it useless to persevere with the working of a third class, where the ore was of a still lower grade. Such were the considerations which at last determined several of the leading mine-owners to throw in their lot with the Reform party; and the fusion of the two streams gave a new force to the movement. This fusion took place in the middle of 1895, and had become known to many, though not to all, of the Johannesburgers in November of that year. It inspired them with fresh hopes, and made them think that the day of action was near. The object of these capitalists was to obtain better government, not the extinction of the Republic, or its addition to the territories of Britain. This, however, was not the main object of Mr. Rhodes (then prime minister of Cape Colony and managing director of the British South Africa Company), with whom they were (though the fact was known only to a very few of the leaders) by this time in communication. Although he was largely interested in some of the mines, his aim was, as even his opponents have now admitted, not a pecuniary one. It was (as is generally believed) to prevent the Transvaal from passing under anti-British influences, and to secure that it should ultimately become incorporated in a confederation of the several States and Colonies of South Africa under the British Crown. There were probably others among the leaders who shared this purpose; but some did not, and here was a question which would seem to have divided the chiefs as it divided the rank and file. A rising there was to be. But under what flag? This vital point was left unsettled, and at the last moment it caused a fatal delay. The third class of Uitlanders consisted of the white workmen. It was the most numerous class, and its action would evidently be decisive. When the visitor who heard the situation discussed--for there was no secrecy observed--asked about the attitude of the working men, he received no very definite answer. The general belief was that they would respond to a call to arms; some from patriotism, because most of them were Englishmen and Australians; some because they meant to make the Transvaal their home, and had an interest in good government; some from sympathy with their employers; some from the love of a fight, because they were men of mettle. One or two of the Reform leaders were able speakers, and meant to rouse them by eloquence when the proper moment arrived. The result showed that a majority--that is, of the English-speaking workmen--were willing to fight. But when the day of battle seemed to be at hand, many, including most of the Cornish miners, proved to be indifferent, and departed by train amid the jeers of their comrades. These three sections of Uitlanders constituted a numerical majority not merely of the dwellers on the Rand, but of the whole white population of the country.[83] There are about 65,000 Boers, all told, and about 24,000 male citizens over the age of sixteen. The English-speaking Uitlanders numbered nearly 100,000, of whom fully one-half were adult males. Seven-eighths of these were gathered on the Rand. Had they been armed and drilled and unanimous, they would have been irresistible. But they were not unanimous, and were, moreover, not only unarmed but also unorganized, being a crowd of persons suddenly gathered from the four winds of heaven. Over against the Uitlanders stood the native Boer population, among whom we must distinguish two classes. The majority, consisting of the old "true blues," who hated the British Government and clung to their national ways, supported the Boer Government in its stubborn refusal to grant reforms. The President in particular had repeatedly declared himself against any concession, insisting that no concessions would satisfy the disaffected. He looked upon the whole movement as a scheme to destroy the independence of the country and hand it over to England. Exercising by his constant harangues in the Volksraad, what has been called a "dictatorship of persuasion", he warned the people that their customs, their freedom, their religion, were at stake, and could be saved only by keeping the newcomers out of power. He was confirmed in this policy of resistance by the advice of his Hollander officials, and especially of the State Secretary, an able and resolute man. But the President, though powerful, was not omnipotent. There existed a considerable party opposed to him, which had nearly overthrown him at the last preceding presidential election. There was in the Volksraad a liberal minority, which advocated reforms. There were among the country Boers a number of moderate men who disliked the Hollander influence and the maladministration of the Government, and one was told (though with what truth I could not ascertain) that the trekking which went on out of the Transvaal into Mashonaland and to the far north-west was partly due to this discontent. There was also much opposition among the legal profession, Dutch as well as English, for attacks had been made upon the independence of the judiciary, and the reckless conduct of legislation gave displeasure. So far back as 1894 the Chief Justice, a man greatly respected for his abilities and his services to the State, had delivered a public address warning the people against the dangers which threatened them from neglect of the provisions of the constitution. Whether this party of opposition among the enfranchised citizens would have aided the Reform movement was doubtful. They would certainly not have done so had the British flag been raised. But if the movement had sought only the destruction of Hollander influence and the redress of grievances, they would at any rate have refused to join in resisting it. "Why," it may be asked--"why, under these circumstances, with so many open enemies, and so many wavering supporters, did not President Kruger bow to the storm and avert revolt by reasonable concessions?" He had not a friend in the world except Germany, which had gone out of her way to offer him sympathy. But Germany was distant, and he had no seaport. The people of the Orange Free State had been ready to help the Transvaal in 1881, and from among the Boers of Cape Colony there might in the crisis of that year have come substantial succour. But both the Free State and the Cape Boers had been alienated by the unfriendly attitude of the President in commercial matters and by his refusal to employ Cape Dutchmen in the Transvaal service. The annoyance of these kindred communities had been very recently accentuated by a dispute about the drifts (_i.e._, fords where waggons cross) on the Orange River. It was therefore improbable that any help could be obtained from outside against a purely internal movement, which aimed solely at reform, and did not threaten the life of the Republic. The answer to the question just put is to be found not so much in the material interests as in the sentiments of the old Boer party. They extended their hatred of the English, or rather perhaps of the British Government, to the English-speaking Uitlanders generally, and saw in the whole movement nothing but an English plot. If the President had cared to distinguish, he might have perceived that the capitalists cared, not for the franchise, but for the success of their mines; and he might, by abolishing the wasteful concessions,--which did not even enrich the State, but only the objects of its ill-directed bounty,--by reducing the tariff, and by keeping drink from the blacks, have disarmed the hostility of the mine owners, and have had only the National Union to deal with. Even the National Union would have lost most of its support if he had reformed the administration and allowed English to be used in the schools. He might have taken a hint from the Romans, who, when they admitted a large body of new citizens, managed to restrict their voting power, and might, in granting the suffrage to those who had resided for a certain period on the Rand, have kept the representation of the Rand district so small that it could not turn the balance against the old Boer party in the Volksraad. Had he gone further, and extended the franchise to all immigrants after, say, five years' residence, he might not only have disarmed opposition, but have made the South African Republic a powerful State, no considerable section of whose inhabitants would thereafter have thought of putting themselves under the British Crown. To have gone this length would no doubt have been to take the risk that a Republic of Boers might become before long a Republic of Englishmen, with an English President; and from this he naturally recoiled, not merely out of personal ambition, but out of honest national feeling. But short of this, he might, by dividing his enemies, have averted a grave peril, from which he was in the end delivered, not by his own strength, but by the mistakes of his antagonists. However, he kept the ship steadily on her course. He had grown accustomed to the complaints of the agitators, and thought they would not go beyond agitation. When pressed to take some repressive measure, he answered that you must wait for the tortoise to put its head out before you hit it, and he appeared to think it would keep its head in. He is one of the most interesting figures of our time; this old President, shrewd, cool, dogged, wary, courageous; typifying the qualities of his people, and strong because he is in sympathy with them; adding to his trust in Providence no small measure of worldly craft; uneducated, but able to foil the statesmen of Europe at their own weapons, and perhaps all the more capable because his training has been wholly that of an eventful life and not of books. This was how things stood in the Transvaal in November, 1895. People have talked of a conspiracy, but never before was there, except on the stage,[84] so open a conspiracy. Two-thirds of the action--there was another third, which has only subsequently become known--went on before the public. The visitor had hardly installed himself in an hotel at Pretoria before people began to tell him that an insurrection was imminent, that arms were being imported, that Maxim guns were hidden, and would be shown to him if he cared to see them, an invitation which he did not feel called on to accept. In Johannesburg little else was talked of, not in dark corners, but at the club where everybody lunches, and between the acts at the play. There was something humorous in hearing the English who dominate in so many other places, talking of themselves as a downtrodden nationality, and the Boers as their oppressors, declaring that misgovernment could not be endured for ever, and that those who would be free themselves must strike the blow. The effect was increased by the delightful unconsciousness of the English that similar language is used in Ireland to denounce Saxon tyranny. The knowledge that an insurrection was impending was not confined to the Transvaal. All over South Africa one heard the same story; all over South Africa men waited for news from Johannesburg, though few expected the explosion to come so soon. One thing alone was not even guessed at. In November it did not seem to have crossed any one's mind that the British South Africa Company would have any hand in the matter. Had it been supposed that it was concerned, much of the sympathy which the movement received would have vanished. As I am not writing a history of the revolution, but merely describing the Johannesburg aspects of its initial stage, I need not attempt the task--for which, indeed, no sufficient materials have as yet been given to the world--of explaining by what steps and on what terms the Company's managing director and its administrator and its police came into the plan. But it seems probable that the Johannesburg leaders did not begin to count upon help from the Company's force before the middle of 1895 at earliest, and that they did not regard that force as anything more than an ultimate resource in case of extreme need. Knowing that the great body of the Uitlanders, on whose support they counted, would be unorganised and leaderless, they desired, as the moment for action approached, to have a military nucleus round which their raw levies might gather, in case the Boers seemed likely to press them hard. But this was an afterthought. When the movement began it was a purely Johannesburg movement, and it was intended to bear that character to the end, and to avoid all appearance of being an English irruption.[85] To the visitor who saw and heard what I have been describing--and no Englishman could pass through without seeing and hearing it--two questions naturally presented themselves. One related to the merits of the case. This was a question which only a visitor considered, for the inhabitants were drawn by race or interest to one side or the other. It raised a point often debated by moralists: What are the circumstances which justify insurrection? Some cases are too clear for argument. Obviously any subject of a bloodthirsty tyrant ruling without or against law is justified in taking up arms. No one doubts that the Christian subjects of the Sultan ought to rebel if they had a prospect of success; and those who try to make them rebel are blamed only because the prospect of success is wanting. On the other hand, it is clear that subjects of a constitutional Government, conducted in accordance with law, do wrong and must be punished, if they take arms, even when they have grievances to redress. Here, however, was a case which seemed to lie between the extreme instances. The Uitlanders, it need hardly be said, did not concern themselves with nice distinctions. In the interior of South Africa Governments and Constitutions were still in a rudimentary stage; nor had the habit of obeying them been fully formed. So many non-legal things had been done in a high-handed way, and so many raids into native territories had been made by the Boers themselves, that the sort of respect for legality which Europeans feel was still imperfectly developed in all sections of the population. Those of the Reformers, however, who sought to justify their plans, argued that the Boer Government was an oligarchy which overtaxed its subjects, and yet refused them those benefits which a civilised Government is bound to give. It was the Government of a small and ignorant minority, and, since they believed it to be corrupt as well as incompetent, it inspired no respect. Peaceful agitation had proved useless. Did not the sacred principle of no taxation without representation, which had been held to justify the American Revolution, justify those who had been patient so long in trying to remove their grievances by force, of course with as little effusion of blood as possible? On the other hand, there was much to be said for the Boers, not only from the legal, but from the sentimental, side of the case. They had fled out of Cape Colony sixty years before, had suffered many perils and triumphed over many foes, had recovered their independence by their own courage when Britain had deprived them of it, had founded a commonwealth upon their own lines and could now keep it as their own only by the exclusion of those aliens in blood, speech and manners who had recently come among them. They had not desired these strangers, nor had the strangers come for anything but gold. True, they had opened the land to them, they had permitted them to buy the gold-reefs, they had filled their coffers with the taxes which the miners paid. But the strangers came with notice that it was a Boer State they were entering, and most of them had come, not to stay, and to identify themselves with the old citizens, but to depart after amassing gain. Were these immigrants of yesterday to be suffered to overturn the old Boer State, and build up on its ruins a new one under which the Boer would soon find his cherished customs gone and himself in turn a stranger? Had not the English many other lands to rule, without appropriating this one also? Put the grievances of which the Uitlanders complained at their highest, and they did not amount to wrongs such as had in other countries furnished the usual pretext for insurrection. Life, religion, property, personal freedom, were not at stake. The worst any one suffered was to be overtaxed and to want some of those advantages which the old citizens had never possessed and did not care to have. These were hardships, but were they hardships such as could justify a recourse to arms? The other question which an observer asked himself was whether an insurrection would succeed. Taking a cooler view of the position than it was easy for a resident to take, he felt some doubt on this point, and it occurred to him to wonder whether, if the Government was really so corrupt as the Uitlanders described it, the latter might not attain their object more cheaply, as well as peaceably, by using those arguments which were said to prevail with many members of the Volksraad. Supposing this to be impossible,--and it may well have been found impossible, for men not scrupulous in lesser matters may yet refuse to tamper with what they hold vital,--were the forces at the disposal of the Reform leaders sufficient to overthrow the Government? It had only two or three hundred regular troops, artillerymen stationed at Pretoria, and said to be not very efficient. But the militia included all Boers over sixteen; and the Boer, though not disciplined in the European way, was accustomed to shoot, inured to hardships by his rough life, ready to fight to the death for his independence. This militia, consisting of eighteen thousand men or more, would have been, when all collected, more than a match in the field for any force the Uitlanders were prepared to arm. And in point of fact, when the rising took place, the latter had only some three thousand rifles ready, while few of their supporters knew anything of fighting. As the Reform leaders were aware that they would be out-matched if the Government had time to gather its troops, it has been subsequently hinted that they meant to carry Pretoria by a _coup de main_, capturing the President, and forthwith, before the Boer militia could assemble, to issue a call for a general popular vote or plebiscite of all the inhabitants, Boers and Uitlanders, which should determine the future form of government. Others have thought that the Reformers would not have taken the offensive, but have entrenched themselves in Johannesburg, and have held out there, appealing meanwhile to the High Commissioner, as representative of the Paramount Power, to come up, interpose his mediation, and arrange for the peaceable taking of such a general popular vote as I have mentioned. To do this it might not have been necessary to defend the town for more than a week or ten days, before which time the general sympathy which they expected from the rest of South Africa would have made itself felt. Besides, there were in the background (though this was of course unknown to the visitor and to all but a few among the leaders) the British South Africa Company's police force by this time beginning to gather at Pitsani, who were pledged to come if summoned, and whose presence would have enabled them to resist a Boer assault on the town. As everybody knows, the question of strength was never tested. The rising was to have been ushered in by a public meeting at the end of December. This meeting was postponed till the 6th of January; but the Company's police force, instead of waiting to be summoned, started for Johannesburg at the time originally fixed. Their sudden entrance, taking the Reform leaders by surprise and finding them unprepared, forced the movement to go off at half-cock, and gave to it an aspect quite different from that which it had hitherto borne. That which had been a local agitation now appeared in the light of an English invasion, roused all the Boers, of whatever party, to defend their country, and drew from the High Commissioner an emphatic disclaimer and condemnation of the expedition, which the home Government repeated. The rising at Johannesburg, which the entrance of the police had precipitated, ended more quickly than it had begun, as soon as the surrender of the Company's forces had become known, for the representatives of the High Commissioner besought the Uitlanders to lay down their arms and save the lives of the leaders of that force.[86] This they did, and, after what had happened, there was really nothing else to be done. The most obvious moral of the failure is the old one, that revolutions are not so easy to carry out as they look when one plans them beforehand. Of all the insurrections and conspiracies recorded in history, probably not five per cent. have succeeded. The reason is that when a number of private persons not accustomed to joint action have to act secretly together, unable to communicate freely with one another, and still less able to appeal beforehand to those on whose eventual support they rely, the chances of disagreement, of misunderstanding, of failure to take some vital step at exactly the right moment, are innumerable; while the Government in power has the advantage of united counsels, and can issue orders to officers who are habituated to prompt obedience.[87] In this instance, the plan was being conducted by three groups of persons in three places distant from one another,--Johannesburg, Pitsani, and Cape Town,--so that the chances of miscarriage were immensely increased. Had there been one directing mind and will planted at Johannesburg, the proper centre for direction, the movement might have proved successful. Another reflection will have occurred to the reader, as it occurred to the visitor who saw the storm brewing in November, 1895: Why could not the Reformers have waited a little longer? Time was on their side. The Uitlanders were rapidly growing by the constant stream of immigrants. In a few years more they would have so enormously outnumbered the native Boers that not only would their material strength have been formidable, but their claim to the franchise would have become practically irresistible. Moreover, President Kruger was an old man, no longer in strong health. When age and infirmity compelled his retirement, neither of the persons deemed most likely to succeed would have thrown obstacles in the way of reform, nor would any successor have been able to oppose a resistance as strong as Mr. Kruger's had proved. These considerations were so obvious that one asks why, with the game in their hands at the end of a few years, the various groups concerned did not wait quietly till the ripe fruit fell into their mouths. Different causes have been assigned for their action. It is said that they believed that the Transvaal Government was on the eve of entering into secret relations, in violation of the Convention of 1884, with a European Power, and that this determined them to strike before any such new complication arose. Others hint that some of those concerned believed that a revolution must in any case soon break out in the Transvaal, that a revolution would turn the country into an independent English Republic, that such a republic would spread Republican feelings among the British Colonies, and lead before long to their separation from the mother country. To prevent this, they were resolved to take control of the movement and steer it away from those rocks. Without denying that these or other still more conjectural motives which one hears assigned may have influenced some of the more long-sighted leaders,--and the Transvaal, with its vast wealth and growing population, was no doubt becoming the centre of gravity in South African politics,--I conceive that a more obvious cause of haste may be found in the impatience of those Uitlander residents who were daily vexed by grievances for which they could get no redress, and in the annoyance of the capitalists, who saw their mining interests languishing and the work of development retarded. When people have long talked over their wrongs and long planned schemes for throwing off a detested yoke, they yield at last to their own impatience, feeling half ashamed that so much talk should not have been followed by action. Whatever were the motives at work, whatever the ultimate aims of the leaders, few things could have been more deplorable than what in fact occurred. Since the annexation of the Transvaal in 1877 nothing has done so much to rekindle racial hostility in South Africa; nothing has so much retarded and still impedes the settlement of questions which were already sufficiently difficult. I have described in this chapter only such part of the circumstances which led up to the rising as I actually saw, and have, for reasons already stated, confined myself to a narrative of the main facts, and a statement of the theories put forward, abstaining from comments on the conduct of individuals. The expedition of the British South Africa Company's police took place after I left the country. Of it and of what led to it oral accounts have been given by some of the principal actors, as well as by many independent pens, while the visible phenomena of the Johannesburg movement have been less described and are certainly less understood. I have dwelt on them the more fully not only because they are a curious episode in history which will not soon lose its interest, but also because the political and industrial situation on the Witwatersrand remained in 1897 substantially what it was in November 1895. Some few reforms have been given, some others promised. But the mine owners did not cease to complain, and the Uitlanders were excluded from the suffrage as rigorously as ever. The Transvaal difficulty remained, and still disturbed the tranquillity of South Africa. The problem is not a simple one, and little or no progress had been made towards its solution. [Footnote 78: Since the first edition of this book appeared, Mr. Selous has told me--and no one's authority is higher, for he has lived much amongst them--that this statement is exaggerated, and that, great as has been and is the dislike of the Boers to the British Government, the average Boer is friendly to the individual Englishman.] [Footnote 79: I was told that their frequent term (when they talk among themselves) for an Englishman is "rotten egg," but some persons who had opportunities of knowing have informed me, since this book was first published, that this is not so. Another common Boer name for an Englishman is "red-neck," drawn from the fact that the back of an Englishman's neck is often burnt red by the sun. This does not happen to the Boer, who always wears a broad-brimmed hat.] [Footnote 80: Their laws at one time forbade the working of gold mines altogether, for they held with the Roman poet (_aurum inrepertum et sic melius situm_) that it does least harm when undiscovered.] [Footnote 81: I have elsewhere analysed (in the _Forum_ for April, 1896) this constitution, and discussed the question whether it is to be regarded as a true Rigid constitution, like that of the United States, of the Swiss Confederation, and of the Orange Free State, or as a Flexible constitution, alterable by the ordinary legislative machinery. Further examination of the matter has confirmed me in the view there suggested, that the constitution belongs to the latter category.] [Footnote 82: Copies of the letters written by Mr. Lionel Phillips were seized after the rising and published by the Boer Government.] [Footnote 83: There were some 700,000 Kafirs in the Transvaal, but no one reckoned them as possible factors in a contest, any more than sheep or oxen.] [Footnote 84: This operatic element appeared in the rising itself, when a fire-escape, skilfully disguised to resemble a Maxim gun, was moved backward and forward across the stage at Johannesburg for the purpose of frightening the Boers at a distance.] [Footnote 85: It is hardly necessary to point out the absurdity of the suggestion that the Company intended to seize the Transvaal for itself. The Company could no more have taken the Transvaal than it could have taken Natal. It was for self-government that the insurgent-Uitlanders were to rise, and they would have objected to be governed by the Company at least as much as they objected to be governed by the Boers. Such individual members of the Company as held Rand mining shares would have profited by the better administration of the country under a reformed Government, but they would have profited in exactly the same way as shareholders in Paris or Amsterdam. This point, obvious enough to any one who knows South Africa, is clearly put by M. Mermeix, in his interesting little book, _La Révolution de Johannesburg_. Other fanciful hypotheses have been put forward, which it seems needless to notice.] [Footnote 86: Much controversy has arisen as to the promise which the Boer commandant made, when the police force surrendered, that the lives of its leaders should be spared. Whatever might have happened immediately after the surrender, they would in any case not have been put to death in cold blood at Pretoria, for that would have been a blunder, which a man so astute and so far from cruel as the President would not have committed.] [Footnote 87: When a conspiracy succeeds, the chief conspirator is usually some one already wielding some civil or military power, as Louis Napoleon did when he overcame the French Assembly in 1851.] CHAPTER XXVI THE ECONOMIC FUTURE OF SOUTH AFRICA Though I do not attempt to present in this book an account of the agricultural and mineral resources of South Africa, some words must be said regarding its economic prospects--that is to say, regarding the natural sources of wealth which it possesses, their probable development, and the extent to which that development will increase the still scanty population. The political and social future of the country must so largely depend on its economic future that any one who desires to comprehend those political problems to the solution of which the people are moving, must first consider what sort of a people, and how large a people, the material conditions which nature furnishes are likely to produce. The chief charm of travel through a new country is the curiosity which the thought of its future inspires. In South Africa, a land singularly unlike any part of Europe or of North America, this curiosity is keenly felt by the visitor. When he begins to speculate on the future, his first question is, Will these wildernesses ever become peopled, as most of North America and a large part of Australia have now been peopled, and if so, what will be the character of the population? Will South Africa become one of the great producing or manufacturing countries of the world? Will it furnish a great market for European goods? Will it be populous enough and rich enough to grow into one of the Powers of the southern hemisphere? Let us begin by recalling the physical features of the country. Most of it is high and dry; all of it is hot. The parts which are high and dry are also healthy, and fit for the races of Europe to dwell in. But are they equally fit to support a dense population? South Africa has three great natural sources of wealth: agricultural land, pasture-land, and minerals. The forests are too scanty to be worth regarding: they are not, and probably never will be, sufficient to supply its own needs. Fisheries also are insignificant, and not likely ever to constitute an industry, so we may confine ourselves to the three first named. Of these three agriculture is now, and has hitherto been, by far the least important. Out of an area of two hundred and twenty-one thousand square miles in Cape Colony alone, probably not more than one one-thousandth part is now under any kind of cultivation, whether by natives or by whites; and in the whole country, even if we exclude the German and Portuguese territories, the proportion must be even smaller. There are no figures available, so one can make only the roughest possible conjecture. As regards more than half of the country, this fact is explained by the dryness of the climate. Not only the Karroo region in the interior of Cape Colony, but also the vast region stretching north from the Karroo nearly as far as the west-coast territories of Portugal, is too arid for tillage. So are large parts of the Free State, of the Transvaal, and of Matabililand. Where there is a sufficient rainfall, as in many districts along the south and south-east coasts, much of the country is too hilly and rough for cultivation; so that it would be well within the mark to say that of the whole area mentioned above far less than one-tenth is suitable for raising any kind of crop without artificial aid. Much, no doubt, remains which might be tilled, and is not tilled, especially in the country between the south-eastern edge of the great plateau and the sea; and that this land lies untouched is due partly to the presence of the Kafir tribes, who occupy more land than they cultivate, partly to the want or the dearness of labour, partly to the tendency, confirmed by long habit, of the whites to prefer stock-farming to tillage. The chief agricultural products are at present cereals, _i.e._, wheat, oats, maize, and Kafir corn (a kind of millet), fruit and sugar. The wheat and maize raised are not sufficient for the consumption of the inhabitants, so that these articles are largely imported, in spite of the duties levied on them. There is a considerable and an increasing export of fruit, which goes to Europe,--chiefly to the English market--in January, February, and March, the midsummer and autumn of the southern hemisphere. Sugar is grown on the hot lands of Natal lying along the sea, and might, no doubt, be grown all the way north along the sea from there to the Zambesi. Rice would do well on the wet coast lands, but is scarcely at all raised. Tea has lately been planted on the hills in Natal, and would probably thrive also on the high lands of Mashonaland. There is plenty of land fit for cotton. The tobacco of the Transvaal is so pleasant for smoking in a pipe that one cannot but expect it to be in time much more largely and carefully grown than it is now. Those who have grown accustomed to it prefer it to any other. With the exception of the olive, which apparently does not succeed, and of the vine, which succeeds only in the small district round Cape Town that enjoys a true summer and winter, nearly all the staples of the warmer parts of the temperate zone and of subtropical regions can be grown in some district or other of the country. The introduction of irrigation would enormously enlarge the area of tillage, for some of the regions now hopelessly arid, such as the Karroo, have a soil of surprising fertility, which produces luxuriant crops when water is led on to it. Millions of acres might be made to wave with corn were great tanks, like those of India, constructed to hold the rains of the wet season, for it is not so much the inadequacy of the rainfall as the fact that it is confined to three or four months, that makes the country arid. Something might also be hoped from the digging of artesian wells dug like those which have lately been successfully bored in Algeria, and have proved so infinitely valuable to parts of Australia. Already about three hundred thousand acres are cultivated with the aid of irrigation in Cape Colony. At present, however, it has been deemed hardly worth while to execute large irrigation works or to bore wells.[88] The price of cereals has sunk so low over all the world that South Africans find it cheaper to import them than to spend capital on breaking up waste lands; and there is plenty of land already which might be cultivated without irrigation if there were settlers coming to cultivate it, or if Kafir labour was sufficiently effective to make it worth the while of enterprising men to undertake farming on a large scale. The same remarks apply generally to the other kinds of produce I have mentioned. As population grows, and the local demand for food increases, more land will be brought under the plough or the hoe. Some day, perhaps, when the great corn-exporting countries of to-day--North America, La Plata, central India, southern Russia--have become so populous as to have much less of their grain crops to spare for other countries, it will become profitable to irrigate the Karroo, on which the Kafir of the future will probably prove a more efficient labourer than he is now. But that day is distant, and until it arrives, agriculture will continue to play a very subordinate part in South African industry, and will employ a comparatively small white population. Ever since the last years of the seventeenth century, when the settlers were beginning to spread out from the Cape Peninsula towards the then still unknown interior, the main occupation of the colonists, first of the Dutch and afterwards of both Dutch and English, has been the keeping of cattle and sheep. So it remains to-day. Nearly all the land that is not rough mountain or waterless desert, and much that to the inexperienced eye seems a waterless desert, is in the hands of stock-farmers, whose ranges are often of enormous size, from six thousand acres upward. In 1893 there were in Cape Colony about 2,000,000 cattle, in Natal 725,000, in the Orange Free State 900,000, and in Bechuanaland the Bamangwato (Khama's tribe) alone had 800,000. Of these last only some 5,000 are said to have survived the murrain, which worked havoc in the other three first-mentioned territories also. In 1896 there were in Cape Colony alone 14,400,000 sheep and 5,000,000 Angora and other goats. The number of sheep might be largely increased were more effective measures against the diseases that affect them carried out. All the country, even the Kalahari desert, which used to be thought hopelessly sterile, is now deemed fit to put some sort of live stock upon, though, of course, the more arid the soil, the greater the area required to feed one sheep. To the traveller who crosses its weary stretches in the train, the Karroo seems a barren waste; but it produces small succulent shrubs much relished by sheep, and every here and there a well or a stagnant pool may be found which supplies water enough to keep the creatures alive. Here six acres is the average allowed for one sheep. Tracts of rough ground, covered with patches of thick scrubby bushes, are turned to account as ostrich farms, whence large quantities of feathers are exported to Europe and America. In 1896 the number of ostriches in Cape Colony was returned as 225,000. The merino sheep, introduced about seventy years ago, thrives in Cape Colony, and its wool has become one of the most valuable products of the country. In the Free State both it and the Angora goat do well, and the pasture lands of that territory support also great numbers of cattle and some horses. The Free State and Bechuanaland are deemed to be among the very best ranching grounds in all South Africa. Although, as I have said, nearly all the country is more or less fit for live stock, it must be remembered that this does not imply either great pecuniary returns or a large population. In most districts a comparatively wide area of ground is required to feed what would be deemed in western America a moderate herd or flock, because the pasture is thin, droughts are frequent, and locusts sometimes destroy a large part of the herbage. Thus the number of persons for whom the care of cattle or sheep in any given area provides occupation is a mere trifle compared to the number which would be needed to till the same area. Artesian wells might, no doubt, make certain regions better for pastoral purposes; but here, as in the case of agriculture, we find little prospect of any dense population, and, indeed, a probability that the white people will continue to be few relatively to the area of the country. On a large grazing farm the proportion of white men to black servants is usually about three to twenty-five; and though the proportion of whites is, of course, much larger in the small towns which supply the wants of the surrounding country, still any one can see with how few whites a ranching country may get along. The third source of wealth lies in the minerals. It was the latest source to become known--indeed, till thirty-two years ago, nobody suspected it. Iron had been found in some places, copper in others; but neither had been largely worked, and the belief in the existence of the precious metals rested on nothing more than a Portuguese tradition. In 1867 the first diamond was picked up by a hunter out of a heap of shining pebbles near the banks of the Orange River, above its confluence with the Vaal. In 1869-70 the stones began to be largely found near where the town of Kimberley now stands. This point has been henceforth the centre of the industry, though there are a few other mines elsewhere of smaller productive power. The value of the present annual output exceeds £4,000,000, but it is not likely to increase, being, in fact, now kept down in order not to depress the market by over-supply. Altogether more than £100,000,000 worth of diamonds have been exported. The discovery of diamonds, as was observed in an earlier chapter, opened a new period in South African history, drawing crowds of immigrants, developing trade through the seaports as well as industry at the mining centres, and producing a group of enterprising men who, when the various diamond-mining companies had been amalgamated, sought and found new ways of employing their capital. Fifteen years after the great diamond finds came the still greater gold finds at the Witwatersrand. The working of these mines has now become the greatest industry in the country, and Johannesburg is the centre toward which the import trade converges. I need not repeat the description given in a previous chapter (Chapter XVIII) of the Rand mining district. The reader will remember that it differs from all the other gold-fields of South Africa in one essential feature--that of the comparative certainty of its yield. Accordingly, in considering the future of South African gold, I will speak first of those other gold-fields and then separately of the Rand district. Gold has been found in many places south of the Zambesi. It occurs here and there in small quantities in Cape Colony, in somewhat larger quantities in Natal, Zululand, and Swaziland, in the eastern and north-eastern districts of the Transvaal, at Tati in northern Bechuanaland, and in many spots through Matabililand and Mashonaland. In all (or nearly all) these places it occurs in quartz reefs resembling those of North America and Australia. Some reefs, especially those of the northern region between the Limpopo and Zambesi, are promising, and great quantities of gold have in times long past been taken out of this region. As already explained (Chapter XVII), it seems probable, though not certain, that in many districts a mining industry will be developed which will give employment to thousands, perhaps many thousands, of natives, and to hundreds, perhaps many hundreds, of white engineers and foremen. Should this happen, markets will be created in these districts, land will be cultivated, railways will be made, and the local trades which a thriving population requires will spring up. But the life of these gold reefs will not be a long one. As the gold is found in quartz rock, and only to a small extent in gravel or other alluvial deposits, the mining requires capital, and will be carried on by companies. It will be carried on quickly, and so quickly with the aid of the enormously improved scientific appliances we now possess, as to exhaust at no distant period the mineral which the rocks contain. I saw in Transylvania in 1866 a gold mine which was worked in the days of the Romans, and was being worked still. But mining now is as different from the mining of the ancients or of the middle ages as a locomotive engine is from an ox-waggon, such are the resources which chemical and mechanical science place at our disposal. Accordingly, the payable parts of the quartz reefs will have been drained of their gold in a few years, or, at any rate, in a few decades, just as many of the silver lodes of Nevada have already been worked out and abandoned. There will then be no further cause for the existence of the mine-workers at those points, and the population will decline just as that of Nevada has declined. These South African districts will, however, be in one point far better off than Nevada: they possess land fit everywhere for ranching, and in many places for tillage also. Ranching will, therefore, support a certain, though not large, permanent population; while tillage, though the profitable market close by will have been largely reduced by the departure of the miners, will probably continue, because the land will have been furnished with farmhouses and fences, perhaps in places with irrigation works, and because the railways that will have been constructed will enable agricultural products to reach more distant markets, which by that time may possibly be less glutted with the cereals of North and South America. Accordingly, assuming that a fair proportion of the quartz reef gold-fields turn out well, it may be predicted that population will increase in and round them during the next ten years, and that for some twenty years more this population will maintain itself, though of course not necessarily in the same spots, because, as the reefs first developed become exhausted, the miners will shift to new places. After these thirty or possibly forty years, that is to say, before the middle of next century, the country, having parted with whatever gold it contains, will have to fall back on its pasture and its arable land; but having become settled and developed, it may count on retaining a reasonable measure of prosperity. This forecast may seem to be of a highly conjectural nature. Conjectural it must be, if only for this reason: that the value of most of the quartz reefs referred to is still quite uncertain. But one cannot visit a new country without attempting to make a forecast of some kind; and the experience of other countries goes to show that, while deposits of the precious metals are, under our present conditions, no more an abiding source of wealth than is a guano island, they may immensely accelerate the development of a country, giving it a start in the world, and providing it with advantages, such as railway communication, which could not otherwise be looked for. This they are now doing for Matabililand and Mashonaland, countries in which it would not at present be worth while to construct railroads but for the hopes attaching to the mines. This they may do for Zululand and Swaziland also, should the reefs in those districts prove profitable. So much for the quartz reefs. As has been observed, the gold mines of the Witwatersrand differ in the much greater certainty of their yield and in the much greater quantity of auriferous rock which they have been ascertained to contain. It is probable that gold of the value of £700,000,000 remains to be extracted from them. Already a population of at least 150,000 white men has collected in what was in 1885 a barren wilderness; already about £15,000,000 of gold per annum is being extracted. It is practically certain that this production and population will go on increasing during the next few years, and that the mines will not be worked out before the middle of next century at earliest. For the next fifty years, therefore, the Rand district will be the economic and industrial centre of South Africa and the seat of the largest European community. What will it be after those fifty or perhaps sixty years, when the _banket_ beds have been drained of their gold to a depth of 5,000 feet, the greatest at which mining seems to be practicable? It is possible that the other industries which are rising as ancillary to mining may for a while and to a reduced extent hold their ground. Probably, however, they will wither up and vanish. The land will remain, but the land of this highest part of the Transvaal, though fit for pasture, does not lend itself to tillage. The probabilities, therefore, are that the fate of Nevada will in time descend upon the Witwatersrand--that the houses that are now springing up will be suffered to fall to ruin, that the mouths of the shafts will in time be covered by thorny shrublets, and that soon after A.D. 2000 has been reached this busy hive of industry and noisy market-place of speculation will have again become the stony solitude which it was in 1880. For all practical purposes, however, an event a hundred years away is too distant to be worth regarding. The world will in A.D. 2000 be so different from what it is now that the exhaustion of the Rand gold-field may have a different bearing from any which we can now foresee. Johannesburgers themselves are not disquieted by thoughts of a future that is even half a century distant. The older sort will not live to see it, and the younger sort expect to have made their fortunes long before it arrives. Still it must be remembered that, so far as minerals go, South Africa is now living, not on her income, but on her capital, and that in twenty-five years half or more of the capital may be gone. There are other metals in the country besides the precious ones. The presence of extensive coal-beds in the Transvaal and Natal has been a circumstance of the first importance for the profitable working of the Rand gold-beds, and may encourage the growth of some kinds of manufacture.[89] Iron is abundant both in the Transvaal and in Mashonaland, and has been found in many other districts, often in the neighbourhood of coal. It is not worked now, because all iron goods can be obtained more cheaply from Europe; but it may one day grow into an industry, as copper-mining already has in Little Namaqualand on the west coast. The mention of coal and iron brings us to another branch of the subject--the possibility of establishing manufactures which may become a source of wealth and the support of an industrial population. At present the manufactures are insignificant. All the textile goods, for instance, nearly all the metal goods, and by far the larger part even of the beer and spirits (intended for the whites) and mineral waters consumed in the country come from Europe. The Boers in the two Republics and the Boer element at the Cape have neither taste nor talent for this kind of industry, and such capital as exists is naturally attracted to mining enterprises. Nevertheless, it may be thought that as capital accumulates things will change, and that the English part of the population in the two British Colonies will take to manufactures, as it has done in Australia. Let us see whether this is probable. To enable South African manufacturers to compete on a large scale with the established manufacturing countries, such as those in north-western Europe or north-eastern America, three things are needed--a large market, cheap sources of mechanical power, cheap and efficient labour. Of these the first is at present wanting, and even should the growth of the Rand mining district raise the white population of the two Colonies and two Republics from something over 700,000 to 1,200,000, that number of consumers will still be too small to encourage the expenditure of any large capital in endeavouring to produce articles which the immense manufacturing establishments of Europe, working for populous markets, can turn out more cheaply. As to mechanical forces, there are no rivers to give water-power; and though Natal, Zululand, and the Transvaal provide coal, the quality of the mineral is inferior to that obtainable in South Wales or Belgium or Pennsylvania. But the most important conditions for success are those connected with labour. In South Africa skilled labour is dear because scarce, and unskilled labour is dear because bad. As was explained in a preceding chapter, all rough, hard work is done by natives; not that white men could not, in the more temperate regions, perfectly well do it, but because white men think it beneath them and only fit for blacks. Now black labour is seldom effective labour. The mixed race called "Cape boys" are good drivers, and quite fit for many kinds of railway work. They are employed in the building trades and in sawmills, and to some extent in such trades as bootmaking. The Kafirs of the eastern province and of Natal are more raw than the "Cape boys." They make good platelayers on railways, and having plenty of physical strength, will do any sort of rough work they are set to. But they have no aptitude for trades requiring skill, and it will take a generation or two to fit them for the finer kinds of carpentry or metal-work, or for the handling of delicate machinery. Besides, they are often changeable and unstable, apt to forsake their employment for some trifling cause. Their wages are certainly not high, ranging from ten to twenty shillings a month, besides food, for any kind of rough outdoor work. Miners are paid higher, and a Malay mason will get from thirty to forty shillings a week; but a white labourer at twice the price would, for most kinds of work, be cheaper. Nor is it easy to get the amount of native labour that may be needed, for the Kafir prefers to till his own patch of ground or turn out his cattle on the veldt. The scale for white workmen is, of course, far higher, ranging from £2 10_s._ to £8 a week, according to the nature of the work and the competence of the artisan. Such wages are nearly double those paid in England, treble those paid in some manufacturing districts of Germany or Belgium, higher even than those paid in the United States. It is therefore evident that, what with the badness of the cheaper labour and the dearness of the better, a manufacturer would, in South Africa, be severely handicapped in competing with either Europe or the United States. Protectionists may think that a high tariff on foreign manufactured goods would foster industrial undertakings in these Colonies. Such a tariff would, however, need to be fixed very high to give the local factory a chance--so high, indeed, that it would excite serious opposition from the consumer. And, in point of fact, there has been hitherto no cry for a tariff to protect home manufactures, because so few people are at present interested in having it. Such protection as exists is directed to food-stuffs, in order to please the agricultural classes, and induce a wider cultivation of the soil; and the tariff on other goods is almost solely for revenue. The conditions I have described may, and probably will, change as the industrial training of the natives improves and their aversion to labour declines under the pressure of increasing numbers and a reduction of the quantity of land available for them. But a review of the present state of things points to the conclusion that no great development of manufactures, and of a white population occupied in manufactures, is to be expected, at least for some time to come. Three other observations must at this stage be made. Till very recently, South Africans had what the Psalmist desired--neither poverty nor riches. There were hardly any white paupers, because the substratum of population was black; and as few black paupers, because a Kafir needs nothing but food. On the other hand, there were no rich whites. The farmers, both agriculturists and ranchmen, lived in a sort of rude plenty, with no luxuries and very little money. Everybody was tolerably well off, nobody was wealthy. There were large stock-farms, as in Australia, but the owners of these farms did not make the immense gains which many Australian squatters and some American cattle-men have made. Accordingly, when capital was needed for the development of the mines it was obtained from home. A few successful residents did, no doubt, make out of the diamond fields large sums, which they presently applied to the development of the gold-fields. But by far the greater part of the money spent in opening up mines, both on the Witwatersrand and elsewhere, has come from Europe, chiefly from England, but to a considerable extent also from France, Germany and Holland. Accordingly nineteen twentieths at least of the profits made by the miners are paid to shareholders in those countries, and not expended in South Africa. Even among those who have made fortunes out of diamonds or gold by their personal enterprise on the spot, the majority return to Europe and spend their incomes there. The country, therefore, does not get the full benefit, in the way either of payments for labour (except, of course, labour at the mines) or of increased consumption of articles, out of its mineral products, but is rather in the position of Mexico or Peru in the seventeenth century, when the bulk of the precious metals won from the mines went to Spain as a sort of tribute. There are at this moment probably not more than a dozen rich men, as Europe counts riches, resident in the country, and all of these are to be found either at Johannesburg or at Cape Town. Most of them will after a time betake themselves to Europe. Nor is there any sign that the number of local fortunes will increase; for the motives which draw men away from Johannesburg to Europe are likely to continue as strong in the future as they are at present. Secondly, as the whites are not--except at Johannesburg, where the lavishness of a mining population is conspicuous--large consumers of luxuries, so the blacks are poor consumers of all save the barest necessaries of life. It is not merely that they have no money. It is that they have no wants, save of food and of a few common articles of clothing. The taste for the articles which civilized man requires is growing, as the traders in Bechuanaland have already begun to find, but it grows slowly, and is still in a rudimentary stage. The demand which South Africa is likely to offer either for home-made or for imported products must, therefore, be measured, not by the gross population, but by the white population, and, indeed, by the town-dwelling whites; for the Dutch farmer or ranchman, whether in the British Colonies or in the Dutch Republics, has very little cash in his pocket, and lives in a primitive way. It is only the development of the mines that makes South Africa a growing market for European goods. Thirdly, there is not much European immigration, except of artizans; and these go chiefly to the gold mines of the Rand. Few agriculturists come out, because farms have seldom been offered by any of the Governments on the same easy terms as those which prevail in Canada or New Zealand, and because the climate and the existence of a black population deter the agricultural classes of northern Europe. Although the Government of Cape Colony has little or no land obviously fit for tillage to dispose of, because all the untilled area not absolutely barren has been appropriated for stock-farms, still there are districts on the south coasts of Cape Colony, as well as in Natal and in the healthy uplands of Mashonaland, which Englishmen or Germans might cultivate with the assistance (in the hotter parts) of a little native labour, and which Italians or Portuguese might cultivate by their own labour, without native help. The Germans who were brought out in 1856 throve in body and estate on the farms which they tilled with their own hands near Grahamstown. Nevertheless, few agricultural immigrants enter, partly, no doubt, because so much of the land is held by a comparatively small number of persons, and reserved by them (as just observed) for pastoral purposes only. Neither do men go from Europe to start ranching, for the pastoral lands are taken up, except in those wilder regions where no one could thrive without some previous experience of the country. The settling of the newer parts of the country, such as those between the Zambesi and the tropic of Capricorn, is chiefly carried on by the Boers of the Transvaal, and, to a less extent, of the British Colonies; for the Boers retain their passion for trekking out into the wilderness, while the English, with few exceptions, like to keep within reach of one another and of civilisation. Accordingly, the country receives comparatively few recruits from rural Europe, and its agricultural population grows only by natural increase. There are probably more natives of India to-day tilling the soil in Natal alone than the whole number of agriculturists who have come from Europe in the last thirty years. Legislation which should attract such agriculturists by the offer of tillage farms of moderate size would be a great benefit to the Colonies. We may now endeavour to sum up the facts of the case, and state the conclusions to which they point. South Africa is already, and will be to an increasing extent, a country of great mineral wealth. It is only in the diamond-fields, especially those of Kimberley, and in the gold-fields of the Witwatersrand, that this wealth has yet been proved to exist, so far as regards precious stones and precious metals, but it may exist also in many other districts. It is not confined to precious stones and metals, and when these have been exhausted, copper, iron, and coal may continue to furnish good returns to mine-owners and plenty of employment to work-people. The duration of the gold-fields generally is uncertain, but those of the Witwatersrand will last for at least half a century, and will maintain for all that period an industrial population and a market for commodities which, though small when measured by the standard of the northern hemisphere, will be quite unique in Africa south of the equator. South Africa is, and will continue to be, a great grazing country; for nearly all of its vast area is fit for live stock, though in large regions the proportion of stock to the acre must remain small, owing to the scarcity of feed. It will therefore continue to export wool, goats' hair, and hides in large quantities, and may also export meat, and possibly dairy products. South Africa has been, is, and will probably continue to be for a good while to come, a country in which only a very small part of the land is tilled, and from which little agricultural produce, except fruit, sugar, and perhaps tobacco, will be exported. Only two things seem likely to increase its agricultural productiveness. One of these is the discovery of some preservative against malarial fever which might enable the lowlands of the east coast, from Durban northward, to be cultivated much more largely than they are now. The other is the introduction of irrigation on a large scale, an undertaking which at present would be profitable in a few places only. Whether in future it will be worth while to irrigate largely, and whether, if this be done, it will be done by companies buying and working large farms or by companies distributing water to small farmers, as the Government distributes water in Egypt and some parts of India, are questions which may turn out to have an important bearing on the development of the country, but which need not be discussed now. South Africa has not been, and shows no sign of becoming, a manufacturing country. Water power is absent. Coal is not of the best quality. Labour is neither cheap nor good. Even the imposition of a pretty high protective tariff would not be likely to stimulate the establishment of iron-works or foundries on a large scale, nor of factories of textile goods, for the local market is too small to make competition with Europe a profitable enterprise. In these respects, as in many others, the conditions, physical and economic, differ so much from those of the British North American or Australian Colonies that the course of industrial development is likely to be quite different from what it has been there. From these conclusions another of great importance follows. The white population will remain scanty in proportion to the area of the country. At present, it is, in the two British Colonies and the two Dutch Republics, only about one and a half persons to the square mile, while over the other territories it is incomparably smaller. The country will probably remain, so long as present agricultural conditions continue, a wilderness, with a few oases of population scattered at long distances from one another. The white inhabitants will, moreover, continue to be very unequally distributed. At present, of a total population in the last-mentioned four States of about 730,000, more than one-fourth lives in the mining district of the Rand; one-sixth is found in the five principal seaports on the southern and south-eastern coast; the remaining seven-twelfths are thinly dispersed over the rest of the country in solitary farms or villages, or in a very few small towns, the largest of which, Kimberley, has only 10,000 inhabitants. The only towns that are growing are those five seaports, and Johannesburg with its tributary mining villages. Assuming the present growth of the Rand to continue, it may have in ten years about 500,000 whites, which will be not much less than a half of the then white population of the whole country. Stimulated by the trade which the Rand will supply, the five seaports will probably also grow; while elsewhere population may remain almost stationary. Unless the gold reefs of the country beyond the Limpopo turn out well and create in that region miniature copies of the Rand district, there seems no reason to expect the total number of whites to reach 1,200,000 in less than twenty years. After that time growth will depend upon the future of agriculture, and the future of agriculture depends on so many causes independent of South Africa that it would be unsafe to make any predictions regarding it. I know some South Africans, able men, who think that the day will come when the blacks will begin to retire northward, and a large white population will till their own farms by their own labour, with the aid of irrigation. Of the advent of such a day there are no present signs, yet stranger changes have happened in our time than this change would be. Other South Africans believe that minerals not less valuable than those which the last twenty years have revealed are likely to be discovered in other places. This also may happen,--South Africa, it has been said, is a land of surprises,--and if it does happen there may be another inrush like that which has filled the Rand. All that one can venture to do now is to point out the probable result of the conditions which exist at this moment; and these, though they point to a continued increase of mineral production, do not point to any large or rapid increase of white inhabitants. Twenty years hence the white population is likely to be composed in about equal proportions of urban and rural elements. The urban element will be mainly mining, gathered at one great centre on the Witwatersrand, and possibly at some smaller centres in other districts. The rural element, consisting of people who live in villages or solitary farmhouses, will remain comparatively backward, because little affected by the social forces which work swiftly and potently upon close-packed industrial communities, and it may find itself very different in tone, temper, and tendencies from its urban fellow-citizens. The contrast now so marked between the shopkeeper of Cape Town and the miner of Johannesburg on the one hand, and the farmer of the Karroo or the Northern Transvaal on the other, may be then hardly less marked between the two sections of the white population. But these sections will have one thing in common. Both will belong to an upper stratum of society; both will have beneath them a mass of labouring blacks, and they will therefore form an industrial aristocracy resting on Kafir labour. [Footnote 88: It is still doubtful whether very large areas can be irrigated by means of artesian wells.] [Footnote 89: The Transvaal coal-fields are said to extend over 56,000 square miles; there is also a coal-field in the eastern part of Cape Colony, near the borders of the Orange Free State.] CHAPTER XXVII REFLECTIONS AND FORECASTS In preceding chapters I have endeavoured to present a picture of South Africa as it stands to-day, and to sketch the leading events that have made its political conditions what they are. Now, in bringing the book to a close, I desire to add a few reflections on the forces which have been at work, and to attempt the more hazardous task of conjecturing how those forces are likely to operate in the future. The progress of the country, and the peculiar form which its problems have taken, are the resultant of three causes. One of these is the character which nature has impressed upon it. Of this I have already spoken (Chapter VI), pointing out how the high interior plateau, with its dry and healthy climate, determined the main line of European advance and secured the predominance, not of the race which first discovered the country, but of the race which approached it, far later in time, from its best side. It is also in this physical character that one must seek the explanation of the remarkably slow progress of the country in wealth and population. South Africa began to be occupied by white men earlier than any part of the American continent. The first Dutch settlement was but little posterior to those English settlements in North America which have grown into a nation of seventy-seven millions of people, and nearly a century and a half prior to the first English settlements in Australia. It is the unhealthiness of the east coast and the dryness of the rest of the country that are mainly accountable for this tardy growth--a growth which might have been still more tardy but for the political causes that drove the Boers into the far interior. And again, it is the physical configuration of the country that has made it, and is likely to keep it, one country. This is a point of cardinal importance. Though divided into two British Colonies, with several other pieces of British territory, and two Boer Republics, the habitable parts of South Africa form one community, all the parts of which must stand or fall together. The great plateau is crossed by no lines of physical demarcation all the way from the Zambesi to the Hex River (some fifty miles north-east of Cape Town), and the coast regions are closely bound by economic ties to the plateau, which through them touches the outer world. Popular speech which talks of South Africa as one whole is scientifically right. The two other causes that have ruled the fortunes and guided the development of the country have been the qualities and relations of the races that inhabit it, and the character of the Government which has sought from afar to control the relations of those races. These deserve to be more fully considered. English statesmen have for more than fifty years been accustomed to say that of all the Colonies of Great Britain none has given to the mother country so much disquiet and anxiety as South Africa has done. This is another way of expressing the fact which strikes the traveller--that no other British Colony has compressed so much exciting history into the last sixty or seventy years. The reason is undoubtedly to be found in the circumstance that South Africa has had two sets of race questions to deal with: questions between the whites and the aborigines, questions between the Dutch and the English. It is this latter set of questions that have been the main thread of South African annals. Why have they proved so troublesome? Why are they so troublesome to-day, when we ought to be able to look at them with a vision enlarged and a temper mellowed by wide experience? Partly from an element inherent in all race questions. They are not questions that can be settled on pure business lines, by an adjustment of the material interests of the parties concerned. They involve sentiment, and thus, like questions of religion, touch the deeper springs of emotion. And they spring from, or are involved with, incompatibilities of character which prevent the men of either stock from fully understanding, and therefore fully trusting, the men of the other. Suspicion, if not positive aversion, makes it difficult for two races to work together, even where the political arrangements that govern their relations are just and reasonable. But something may also be ascribed to certain malign accidents which blasted the prospect, once fair, of a friendly fusion between the Dutch and the English peoples that seemed eminently fit to be fused. The British annexation of Cape Colony occurred at an unfortunate time. Had it happened thirty years earlier no difficulties would have arisen over the natives and slavery, because at that time the new philanthropy had not begun to influence English opinion or the British Government. Had it happened in later days, when steam had given quicker and more frequent ocean communication, Britain and the Colony would each have better known what the other thought and wished, and the errors that alienated the Boers might never have been committed. The period which followed the annexation was precisely the period in which the differences between English feeling and colonial feeling were most marked and most likely to lead to misunderstanding and conflict. For there has been in the antagonism of the Boers and the English far more than the jealousy of two races. There has been a collision of two types of civilisation, one belonging to the nineteenth century, the other to the seventeenth. His isolation, not only in a distant corner of the southern hemisphere, but in the great, wide, bare veldt over which his flocks and herds roam, has kept the Boer fast bound in the ideas and habits of a past age, and he shrinks from the contact of the keen restless modern man, with new arts of gain and new forms of pleasure, just as a Puritan farmer of Cromwell's day might shrink were he brought to life and forced to plunge into the current of modern London. Had the Boers been of English stock, but subjected to the same conditions as those which kept the seventeenth century alive in the country behind the Cape, they too would have resisted the new ways of the new rulers; but their identity of race and speech with those rulers would have abridged the struggle. It is the fact that the old Cape settlers had a language of their own, and a sense of blood-kinship to hold them together that has enabled the Dutch element to remain cohesive, and given them an Afrikander patriotism of their own--a patriotism which is not Dutch, for they care nothing for the traditions of Holland, but purely Africander. Their local position as half-nomadic inhabitants of a wide interior gave a peculiar character to that struggle between the mother country and her colonists which has arisen more than once in British history. They were so few and so poor, as compared with the people of the thirteen Colonies of the North American coast in 1776, that it was useless for them to rebel and fight for independence, as those Colonies had done. On the other hand, they were not, like the French of lower Canada, rooted in the soil as agriculturists. Hence a middle course between rebellion and submission offered itself. That course was secession. They renounced not only their political allegiance, but even the very lands where they dwelt, seeking the protection of the desert as other emigrants before them had sought that of the ocean. Thus again, and more completely, isolated since 1836, the emigrant Boers, and especially those of the Transvaal, have been able to retain their old ways for sixty years longer, and have grown more anti-English than ever. On the other hand, the English of the Colony, whose English sentiment was quickened by these events, have remained more thoroughly English than those of most British Colonies, and have never conceived the idea of severing their own connection with the mother country. That the emigrant Boers became republicans was due rather to circumstance than to conscious purpose. A monarch they could not have, because there was no one designated for the place, as well as because they had the instinct of general disobedience. But for a long time they tried to rub along with no more government or leadership than the needs of war required. Seldom has any people been so little influenced by abstract political ideas, yet seldom has a people enjoyed so perfect an opportunity of trying political experiments and testing the theories of political philosophers. But the Boers were, and are still, a strictly practical people. Their houses give them cover from sun and rain, but nothing more; there is little comfort and no elegance. So their institutions were the fewest and simplest under which men have ever governed themselves. It is therefore no theoretical attachment to democracy that has helped the Boers to resist the English; it is merely the wish to be left alone, and a stubbornness of will that made independence seem more desirable the more it was threatened. Even this admirable stubbornness would hardly have carried them through but for the dispersion over vast spaces. That dispersion, while it retarded their political growth and social progress, made them hard to reach or to conquer. The British Government despaired of over-taking and surrounding them, for they were scattered like antelopes over the lonely veldt, and there was a still vaster and equally lonely veldt behind them into which they could retire. To pursue them seemed a wild-goose chase, and a costly one, in which there was much to spend and little to gain. Thus their weakness has proved their strength, and the more settled they become in the future, the less can they hope to escape the influences they have so long resisted. But for the maintenance of the sentiment of Boer nationality by the two Boer Republics, the antagonism of Dutch and English in Cape Colony would have ere now died out, for there has been little or nothing in colonial politics to sustain it. The interests of the farmers of both stocks are identical, their rights are in all respects the same, and the British Government has been perfectly impartial. The Boers in the Colony are good citizens and loyal subjects. It is only the character of the country and the conditions of their pastoral life that have retarded their social fusion with the English, as it is only the passions aroused by the strife of Boers and Englishmen in the Transvaal that evoked in 1881, and again evoked in 1896, a political opposition between the races. Fortunately, the sentiments of the Dutch have possessed a safe outlet in the colonial Parliament. The wisdom of the policy which gave responsible government has been signally vindicated; for, as constitutional means have existed for influencing the British Government, feelings which might otherwise have found vent in a revolt or a second secession have been diverted into a safe channel. The other set of race troubles, those between white settlers and the aborigines of the land have been graver in South Africa than any which European governments have had to face in any other new country. The Red Men of North America, splendidly as they fought, never seriously checked the advance of the whites. The revolts of the aborigines in Peru and Central America were easily suppressed. The once warlike Maoris of New Zealand have, under the better methods of the last twenty-five years, become quiet and tolerably contented. Even the French in Algeria had not so long a strife to maintain with the Moorish and Kabyle tribes as the Dutch and English had with the natives at the Cape. The south-coast Kafirs far outnumbered the whites, were full of courage, had a rough and thickly wooded country to defend, and were so ignorant as never to know when they were beaten. A more intelligent race might have sooner abandoned the contest. The melancholy chapter of native wars seems to be now all but closed, except perhaps in the far north. These wars, however, did much to retard the progress of South Africa and to give it a bad name. They deterred many an English farmer from emigrating thither in the years between 1810 and 1870. They annoyed and puzzled the home government, and made it think the Colony a worthless possession, whence little profit or credit was to be drawn in return for the unending military expenditure. And they gave the colonists ground for complaints, sometimes just, sometimes unjust, against the home government, which was constantly accused of parsimony, of shortsightedness, of vacillation, of sentimental weakness, in sending out too few troops, in refusing to annex fresh territory, in patching up a hollow peace, in granting too easy terms to the natives. Whoever reviews the whole South African policy of the British Government during the ninety-three years that have elapsed since 1806 cannot but admit that many errors were committed. Many precious opportunities for establishing British authority on a secure basis were lost. Many things were done imperfectly, and therefore had to be done over and over again, which it would have been cheaper as well as wiser to have finished off at once. Many steps, prudent in themselves, and dictated by excellent motives, were taken at a moment and in a way which made them misunderstood and resisted. Reflecting on these mistakes, one sometimes wonders that the country was not lost altogether to Britain, and thinks of the saying of the old Swiss statesman: _Hominum negligentia, Dei providentia, regitur Helvetia_. It may nevertheless be truly said for the British Government that it almost always sought to act justly, and that such advances as it made were not dictated by an aggressive spirit, but (with few exceptions) compelled by the necessities of the case. And it must not be forgotten that, as all home governments err in their control of Colonies--Spain, Portugal, and France have certainly erred in their day far more fatally than England--so many of the errors which now most startle us in the annals of South Africa were all but inevitable, because the wisest man could not have foreseen the course which things have in fact taken. Who ever tries to look at the events of sixty, thirty, or even twenty years ago with the eyes of those times, and remembers that Colonial ministers in England had to consider not only what they thought best, but what they could get the uninstructed public opinion of their own country to accept, will be more indulgent than the colonists are in their judgment of past mistakes. For instance, it is apt to be forgotten that the Cape was not occupied with a view to the establishment of a European Colony, in our present sense of the word. The Dutch took it that they might plant a cabbage-garden; the English took it that they might have a naval station and half-way house to India. Not till our own time did people begin to think of it as capable of supporting a great civilised community and furnishing a new market for British goods; not till 1869 was it known as a region whence great wealth might be drawn. Hence Britain, which during the first half of this century was busy in conquering India, in colonising Australasia, and in setting things to rights in Canada, never cared to bend her energies to the development of South Africa, then a less promising field for those energies, spent no more money on it than she could help, and sought to avoid the acquisition of new territory, because that meant new troubles and new outlays. The views of colonial policy which prevailed in England down till about 1870 were very different from those which most of us now hold. The statesmen of the last generation accepted that _consilium coercendi intra terminos imperii_ which, according to Tacitus, Augustus held sound for an empire less scattered than is that of Britain; they thought that Britain had already more territory than she could hope to develop and (in the long run) to govern; and they therefore sought to limit rather than increase her responsibilities. And they believed, reasoning somewhat too hastily from the revolt of the North American Colonies, that as soon as the new English communities to which self-government had been or was in due course to be granted, reached a certain level of wealth and population they would demand and receive their independence. That the fruit would fall off the old tree as soon as it was ripe was the favourite metaphor employed to convey what nearly all publicists took to be an obvious truth. No one stated it so trenchantly as Disraeli when he wrote: "These wretched Colonies will all be independent too in a few years, and are a millstone round our necks;" but the dogma was generally accepted by politicians belonging to both the great parties in the state. Those, moreover, were days in which economy and retrenchment were popular cries in England, and when it was deemed the duty of a statesman to reduce as far as possible the burdens of the people. Expenditure on colonial wars and on the administration of half-settled districts was odious to the prudent and thrifty contemporaries or disciples of Sir Robert Peel and Richard Cobden. Accordingly, the chief aim of British statesmen from 1830 till 1870 was to arrest the tide of British advance, to acquire as little territory as possible, to leave restless natives and emigrant Boers entirely to themselves. Desperate efforts were made to stop the Kafir wars. We can now see that the tendency--one may almost call it a law of nature--which everywhere over the world has tempted or forced a strong civilised power to go on conquering the savage or half-civilised peoples on its borders, the process that has carried the English all over India and brought the Russians from the Volga to the Pamirs in one direction and to the mouth of the Amur in another, was certain to compel the British Government to subdue and annex one Kafir tribe after another until either a desert or the territory of some other civilised State was reached. But fifty years ago this was not clearly perceived; so the process, which might have inflicted less suffering if it had been steadily and swiftly carried through, went on slowly and to the constant annoyance of statesmen at home. It was the same as regards the great plateau and the Boer emigrants who dwelt there. Not from any sympathy with their love of independence, but because she did not want the trouble of pursuing and governing them and the wide lands they were spread over, England resolved to abandon the interior to them. In 1852 and 1854 she made a supreme effort to check her own onward career, first by recognizing the independence of the Transvaal emigrants whose allegiance she had theretofore claimed, then by actually renouncing her rights to the Orange River Sovereignty, and to those within it who desired to continue her subjects. What more could a thrifty and cautious and conscientious country do? Nevertheless, these good resolutions had to be reconsidered, these self-denying principles foregone. Circumstances were too strong for the Colonial Office. In 1869 it accepted the protectorate of Basutoland. In 1871 it yielded to the temptation of the diamond-fields, and took Griqualand West. Soon after it made a treaty with Khama, which gave the British a foothold in Bechuanaland. In 1877 it annexed the Transvaal. By that time the old ideas were beginning to pass away, and to be replaced by new views of the mission and destiny of Britain. The wish of the British Government to stand still had been combated all along by powerful inducements to move on. The colonists always pressed for an advance of the frontier. The Governor usually pressed for it. The home government was itself haunted by a fear that if it abandoned positions of vantage its successors might afterwards have reason to rue the abandonment. These were the considerations that drove British statesmen to the most momentous forward steps that were taken. Two things, and two only, were really vital to British interests--the control of the coasts, and the control of an open road to the north. Accordingly, the two decisive steps were the occupation of Natal in 1842-3, which shut off the Boers from the sea, and the taking of Griqualand West in 1871 (followed by the taking of southern Bechuanaland in 1884), which secured between the Transvaal on the one side and the Kalahari Desert on the other a free access to the great northern plateau. The tide of English opinion began to turn about 1870, and since then it has run with increasing force in the direction of what is called imperialism, and has indeed in some cases brought about annexations that are likely to prove unprofitable, because the territory acquired is too hot and unhealthy to be fit for British settlement. The strides of advance made in 1884-5 and 1890 have been as bold and large as those of earlier days were timid and halting; and the last expiring struggles of the old policy were seen in 1884, when Lord Derby, who belonged to the departing school, yielded a new convention to the importunity of the Transvaal Boers and allowed Germany to establish herself in Damaraland. But it is due to Britain, which has been accused, and so far as regards South Africa unjustly accused (down to 1896), of aggressive aims, to recall the fact that she strove for many years to restrict her dominion, and did not cease from her efforts until long experience had shown that it was hard to maintain the old policy, and until the advent on the scene of other European powers, whom it was thought prudent to keep at a distance from her own settled territories, impelled her to join in that general scramble for Africa which has been so strange a feature of the last two decades. There have been moments, even since the occupation of two points so important as Basutoland (in 1869) and Griqualand West (in 1871) when it has seemed possible that South Africa might become Dutch rather than English, such is the tenacity of that race, and so deep are the roots which its language has struck. With the discovery of the Witwatersrand gold-fields, drawing a new body of English immigrants into the country, that possibility seems to have passed away. The process of territorial distribution is in South Africa now complete. Every Colony and State has become limited by boundaries defined in treaties. Every native tribe has now some legal white superior, and no native tribe remains any longer formidable. The old race questions have passed, or are passing, into new phases. But they will be at least as difficult in their new forms as in their old ones. I will devote the few remaining pages of this book to a short consideration of them and of the other problems affecting the future of South Africa with which they are involved. Reasons have been given in a preceding chapter for the conclusion that both the white and the black races are likely to hold their ground over all the country, and that the black race will continue to be the more numerous. Assuming the conditions of agriculture to remain what they are at present, and assuming that the causes which now discourage the establishment of large manufacturing industries do not pass away, there will probably be for the next seventy years a large white population on the gold-field and at the chief seaports, and only a small white population over the rest of the country. Even should irrigation be largely introduced, it would be carried on chiefly by black labourers. Even should low wages or the discovery of larger and better deposits of iron and coal stimulate the development of great manufacturing industries, still it is a black rather than a white population that would be therewith increased. Various causes may be imagined which would raise or reduce the birth-rate and the infant death-rate among the natives, so that one cannot feel sure that the existing proportion between them and the whites will be maintained. But if we regard the question from the point of view of labour, and take the natives to represent that part of the community which in Europe does the harder and less skilled kinds of work, both in country and in town, it may be concluded that they will continue to form the majority even where they live among the white people, without taking account of those areas where they, and they alone, are settled on the land. It is, however, impossible to conjecture how large the majority will be. The Kafirs, as has been already suggested, will gradually lose their tribal organisation and come to live like Europeans, under European law. They will become more generally educated, and will learn skilled handicrafts; many--perhaps, in the long run, all--will speak English. They will eventually cease to be heathens, even if they do not all become Christians. This process of Europeanisation will spread from south to north, and may probably not be complete in the north--at any rate, in the German and Portuguese parts of the north--till the end of the next century. But long before that time the natives will in many places have begun to compete (as indeed a few already do) with the whites in some kinds of well-paid labour. They will also, being better educated and better paid, have become less submissive than they are now, and a larger number of them will enjoy the suffrage. What will be the relations of the two races when these things have come about, say within two or three generations? Consider what the position will then be. Two races will be living on the same ground, in close and constant economic relations, both those of employment and those of competition, speaking the same language and obeying the same laws, differing, no doubt, in strength of intelligence and will, yet with many members of the weaker race superior as individual men to many members of the stronger. And these two races, separated by the repulsion of physical differences, will have no social intercourse, no mixture of blood, but will each form a nation by itself for all purposes save those of industry and perhaps of politics. There will, no doubt, be the nexus of industrial interest, for the white employer will need the labour of the blacks. But even in countries where no race differences intervene, the industrial nexus does not prevent bitter class hatreds and labour wars. That such a state of things will arrive is rendered probable not only by the phenomena to be observed to-day in South Africa, but by the experience of the Southern States of the American Union, where almost exactly what I have described has come to pass, with the addition that the inferior race has in theory the same political rights as the superior. How will the relations of two races so living together be adjusted? The experience of the Southern States is too short to throw much light on this problem. It is, however, a painful experience in many respects, and it causes the gravest anxieties for the future. Similar anxieties must press upon the mind of any one who in South Africa looks sixty or eighty years forward; and they are not diminished by the fact that in South Africa the inferior race is far more numerous than the superior. But although the position I have outlined seems destined to arrive, it is still so distant that we can no more predict the particular form its difficulties will take than the mariner can describe the rocks and trees upon an island whose blue mountains he begins to descry on the dim horizon. Whatever those difficulties may be, they will be less formidable if the whites realize, before the coloured people have begun to feel a sense of wrong, that their own future is bound up with that of the natives, and that the true interests of both races are in the long run the same. Although the facts we have been considering suggest the view that the white population of South Africa will be very small when compared with that of the North American or Australasian Colonies, they also suggest that the whites will in South Africa hold the position of an aristocracy, and may draw from that position some of the advantages which belong to those who are occupied only on the higher kinds of work, and have fuller opportunities for intellectual cultivation than the mass of manual labourers enjoy. A large part of the whites will lead a country life, directing the field work or the ranching of their servants. Those who dwell in the towns will be merchants or employers of labour or highly skilled artisans, corresponding generally to the upper and middle strata of society in North America or Australia, but probably with a smaller percentage of exceptionally wealthy men. There is, of course, the danger that a class may spring up composed of men unfit for the higher kinds of work, and yet too lazy or too proud to work with their hands; and some observers already discover signs of the appearance of such a class. If its growth can be averted the conditions for the progress and happiness of the white race in South Africa seem favourable; and we are approaching an age of the world when the quality of a population will be more important than its quantity. In this forecast I have said nothing of the gold mines, because they will not be a permanent factor. The present gold fever is a fleeting episode in South African history. Gold has, no doubt, played a great part in that history. It was the hope of getting gold that made the Portuguese fix their first post at Sofala in 1505, and that carried the English pioneers to Mashonaland in 1890. It was the discovery of the _banket_ gold beds on the Witwatersrand in 1885 that finally settled the question whether South Africa was to be an English or a Dutch country. Yet gold mining will pass away in a few decades, for the methods which the engineer now commands will enable him within that time to extract from the rocks all the wealth now stored up in them. A day will come when nothing will be left to tell the traveller of the industry which drew hundreds of thousands of men to a barren ridge, except the heaps of refuse whose ugliness few shrubs will, in that dry land, spring up to cover. But South Africa will still be a pastoral and agricultural country, and none the less happy because the gold is gone. Neither have I said anything as to the influence of any foreign power or people upon the South Africans, because they will to all appearance remain affected in the way of literature and commerce, as well as of politics, by Britain only. There is at present no land trade from British or Boer States with the territories of Germany and the Congo State which lie to the north; and spaces so vast, inhabited only by a few natives, lie between that no such trade seems likely to arise for many years to come. Continental Europe exerts little influence on South African ideas or habits; for the Boers, from causes already explained, have no intellectual affinity with modern Holland, and the Germans who have settled in British territories have become quickly Anglified. Commerce is almost exclusively with English ports. Some little traffic between Germany and Delagoa Bay has lately sprung up, aided by the establishment of a German line of steamers to that harbour. Vessels come with emigrants from India to Natal, though the Government of that Colony is now endeavouring to check the arrival of any but indentured coolies; and there are signs that an important direct trade with the United States, especially in cereals and agricultural machinery, may hereafter be developed. In none of these cases, however, does it seem probable that commercial intercourse will have any considerable influence outside the sphere of commerce. With Australia it is different. Having ceased, since the opening of the Suez Canal, to be the halfway house to India, the Cape has become one of the halfway houses from Britain to Australasia. The outgoing New Zealand steamers, as well as the steamers of the Aberdeen Australian line, touch there; grain is imported, although the high tariff restricts this trade, and many Australian miners traverse Cape Colony on their way to the Witwatersrand. A feeling of intercolonial amity is beginning to grow up, to which a happy expression was given by the Cape Government when they offered financial assistance to the Australian Colonies during the recent commercial crisis. With the other great country of the Southern hemisphere there seems to be extremely little intercourse. Britain did not use, when she might have legitimately used, the opportunity that was offered her early in this century of conferring upon the temperate regions of South America the benefits of ordered freedom and a progressive population. Had the territories of the Argentine Republic (which now include Patagonia), territories then almost vacant, been purchased from Spain and peopled from England, a second Australia might have arisen in the West, and there would now be a promise not only of commerce, but ultimately of a league based upon community of race, language, and institutions between three great English-speaking States in the south temperate zone. That opportunity has, however, passed away; and southern South America, having now been settled by Spaniards and Italians, with a smaller number of Germans, seems destined to such fortunes as the Hispano-American race can win for her. But it may well be hoped that as trade increases between South Africa and Australia, there may come with more frequent intercourse a deepening sense of kinship and a fuller sympathy, inspiring to both communities, and helpful to any efforts that may hereafter be made to knit more closely together the English-speaking peoples all over the world. Although the relations of the white race to the black constitute the gravest of the difficulties which confront South Africa, this difficulty is not the nearest one. More urgent, if less serious, is the other race problem--that of adjusting the rights and claims of the Dutch and the English. It has already been explained that, so far as Cape Colony and Natal are concerned, there is really no question pending between the two races, and nothing to prevent them from working in perfect harmony and concord. Neither does the Orange Free State provide any fuel for strife, since there both Boers and English live in peace and are equally attached to the institutions of their Republic. It is in the Transvaal that the centre of disturbance lies; it is thence that the surrounding earth has so often been shaken and the peace of all South Africa threatened. I have already described the circumstances which brought about the recent troubles in that State. To comment upon what has happened since the rising, to criticize either the attitude of the President or the various essays in diplomacy of the British Government, would be to enter that field of current politics which I have resolved to avoid. What may fitly be done here is to state the uncontroverted and dominant facts of the situation as it stands in the autumn of 1897.[90] What are these facts? The Boer population of the Transvaal is roughly estimated at 65,000, of whom about 24,000 are voting citizens. The Uitlanders, or alien population, five-sixths of whom speak English, are estimated at 180,000, of whom nearly one-half are adult males. These Uitlanders hold sixty-three per cent. of the landed and ninety per cent. of the personal property in the country. In December, 1895, their number was increasing at the rate of one thousand per week through arrivals from Cape Town alone; and though this influx fell off for a time, while political troubles were checking the development of the mines, it rose again with the renewal of that development. Should the Deep Level mines go on prospering as is expected, the rate of immigration will be sustained, and within ten years there will probably be at least 500,000 Uitlanders in the Republic, that is to say, nearly eight times the number of the Boers. The numerical disproportion between these excluded persons--a very large part of whom will have taken root in the country--and the old citizens will then have become overwhelming, and the claim of the former to enjoy some share in the government will be practically irresistible. The concession of this share may come before 1907--I incline to think it will--or it may come somewhat later. The precise date is a small matter, and depends upon personal causes. But that the English-speaking element will, if the mining industry continues to thrive, become politically as well as economically supreme, seems inevitable. No political agitation or demonstrations in the Transvaal, much less any intervention from outside, need come into the matter. It is only of the natural causes already at work that I speak, and these natural causes are sufficient to bring about the result. A country must, after all, take its character from the large majority of its inhabitants, especially when those who form that large majority are the wealthiest, most educated, and most enterprising part of the population. Whether this inevitable admission of the new-comers to citizenship will happen suddenly or gradually, in quiet or in storm, no one can venture to predict. There are things which we can perceive to be destined to occur, though the time and the manner may be doubtful. But as it will be dictated by the patent necessities of the case, one may well hope that it will come about in a peaceable way and leave behind no sense of irritation in either race. Boers and Englishmen cannot in the Transvaal so easily blend and learn to work together as they have done in the Orange Free State, because they were in the latter State far less socially dissimilar. But the extension of the suffrage, while it will be followed by legislation beneficial to the mining industry, need not involve legislation harmful to the material interests of the Boer element. On the contrary, the Boers themselves will ultimately profit by any increase in the prosperity of the country. An improved administration will give a more assured status to the judiciary, as well as a better set of laws and better internal communications, advantages which will be helpful to the whole Republic. That the change should come about peaceably is much to be desired in the interest not only of the Transvaal itself, but of all South Africa. The irritation of the Dutch element in Cape Colony, both in 1881 and again in 1896, was due to an impression that their Transvaal kinsfolk were being unfairly dealt with. Should that impression recur, its influence both on the Dutch of Cape Colony, and on the people of the Free State, whose geographical position makes their attitude specially important, would be unfortunate. The history of South Africa, like that of other countries nearer home, warns us how dangerous a factor sentiment, and especially the sense of resentment at injustice, may become in politics, and how it may continue to work mischief even when the injustice has been repented of. It is, therefore, not only considerations of magnanimity and equity, but also considerations of policy, that recommend to the English in South Africa and to the British Government an attitude of patience, prudence, and strict adherence to legal rights. They are entitled to require the same adherence from the Transvaal Government, but it is equally their interest not to depart from it themselves, and to avoid even the least appearance of aggression. The mistakes of the past are not irremediable. Tact, coolness, and patience--above all, patience--must gradually bring about that reconcilement and fusion of the two races to which, it can scarcely be doubted, South Africa will at last attain. When, by the enfranchisement of the Uitlanders, the Transvaal has ceased to be a purely Boer State, questions will arise as to its relations with the other States of South Africa. Cape Colony and the Orange Free State, as well as Basutoland and the Bechuanaland Protectorate, already form a Customs Union, and they have long sought to induce the Transvaal and Natal to enter into it and thereby establish internal free trade throughout the country. Natal at last consented (in 1898); but the Transvaal people steadily refused, desiring to stand as much aloof as possible from Cape Colony, as well as to raise for themselves a revenue on imports larger than that which they would receive as partners in the Customs Union. A reformed Transvaal Government would probably enter the Customs Union; and this would usher in the further question of a confederation of all the States and Colonies of South Africa. That project was mooted by Sir George Grey (when Governor) more than thirty years ago, and was actively pressed by Lord Carnarvon (when Colonial Secretary) and Sir Bartle Frere between 1875 and 1880. It failed at that time, partly owing to the annoyance of the Orange Free State at the loss of the diamond-fields in 1871, partly to the reluctance of the Dutch party at the Cape, who were roused against the proposal by their Transvaal kinsfolk. The desire for it is believed to have moved some of those who joined in the Transvaal Uitlander movement of 1895-96, and no one can discuss the future of the country without adverting to it. The advantages it offers are obvious. A confederation would render in Africa services similar to those which the federal system has rendered in the United States and Canada, and which are expected by the colonial statesmen who have laboured to establish such a system in Australia. I heard not only railways and finance (including tariff and currency), but also commercial law and native questions, suggested as matters fit to be intrusted to a federal authority; while it seemed to be thought that the scope of such an authority should, on the whole, be narrower than it is under the Canadian Constitution, or under that of the United States. The love of local independence is strong in South Africa, but might be deferred to and appeased, as is being done in Australia, by appropriate constitutional provisions. So far, no fatal obstacle stands in the way; but a difficulty has been thought to arise from the fact that whereas Cape Colony, Natal, and the other British territories are part of the dominions of the British Crown, the Orange Free State is an independent Republic, and the Transvaal may be so when federation becomes a practical issue. "Can a federal tie," it is asked, "bind into one body communities some of which are Republics, while others, though practically self-governing, are legally parts of a monarchy?" To this it may be answered that there have been instances of such confederations. In the Germanic Confederation, which lasted from 1815 till 1866, there were four free Republics, as well as many monarchies, some large, some small. The Swiss Confederation (as established after the Napoleonic wars) used to contain, in the canton of Neuchatel, a member whose sovereign was the King of Prussia. And as it is not historically essential to the conception of a federal State that all its constituent communities should have the same form of internal government, so practically it would be possible, even if not very easy, to devise a scheme which should recognize the freedom of each member to give itself the kind of constitution it desired. Such an executive head as either the President of the United States or the Governor-General of Canada is not essential to a federal system. The name "confederation" is a wide name, and the things essential to it may be secured in a great variety of ways. The foreign policy of a South African Confederation is perhaps the only point which might raise considerations affecting the international status of the members of the Confederation; and as to this, it must be remembered that neither the Orange Free State nor the Transvaal can come into direct contact with any foreign power except Portugal, because neither has any access to the sea, or touches (save on the eastern border of the Transvaal) any non-British territory. Another remark occurs in this connection. The sentiment of national independence which the people of the Free State cherish, and which may probably survive in the Transvaal even when that State has passed from a Boer into an Anglo-Dutch Republic, is capable of being greatly modified by a better comprehension of the ample freedom which the self-governing Colonies of Britain enjoy. The non-British world is under some misconception in this matter, and does not understand that these Colonies are practically democratic Republics, though under the protection and dignified by the traditions of an ancient and famous monarchy. Nor has it been fully realized that the Colonies derive even greater substantial advantages from the connection than does the mother country. The mother country profits perhaps to some extent--though this is doubtful--in respect of trade, but chiefly in the sentiment of pride and the consciousness of a great mission in the world which the possession of these vast territories, scattered over the oceans, naturally and properly inspires. The Colonies, on the other hand, have not only some economic advantages in the better financial credit they enjoy, but have the benefit of the British diplomatic and consular service all over the world and of the status of British citizens in every foreign country. It is also a political convenience to them to be relieved by the presence of the Governor whom the mother country sends out as an executive figure-head of their Cabinet system, from the necessity of electing an executive chief, a convenience which those who know the trouble occasioned by Presidential elections in the United States can best appreciate. And, above all, the British Colonies have the navy of Britain to defend them against molestation by any foreign power. It may be said that they have also the risk of being involved in any war into which Britain may enter. This risk has, however, never become a reality; for during the last eighty years no Colony has ever been even threatened with attack by a foreign State, while during all that time the Colonies have been relieved from the cost and trouble of maintaining the naval and military armaments which are needed to ensure their safety. Thus, even leaving sentiment aside, the balance of material advantage to the Colonies is great and real; while their self-government is complete, for the mother country never interferes with any matters of colonial concern, unless in the rare cases where a matter primarily local may affect the general relations and interests of the whole empire. When these facts have been fully realized in the Free State and the Transvaal, it may well be that those States will be ready to enter a confederation of which the British monarchy would be, as in Canada and (probably before long) in Australia, the protecting suzerain, for there would be in that suzerainty no real infringement of the independence which the Free State has so happily enjoyed. It is premature to speculate now on the best form which a scheme for South African Confederation may take. All that need here be pointed out is that the obstacles now perceived are not insurmountable obstacles, but such as may be overcome by a close study of the conditions of the problem, and by reasonable concessions on the part of South African statesmen in the different States concerned. These observations are made on the assumption that the South African Colonies will desire to maintain their political connection with the mother country. It is an assumption which may safely be made, for nowhere in the British empire is the attachment to Britain more sincere. Strong as this feeling is in Canada and in Australasia, it is assuredly no less strong in South Africa. The English there are perhaps even more English than are the people of those other Colonies. Those of Dutch origin, warm as is their Africander patriotism, have never been hostile to the British Crown. And both English and Dutch feel how essential to them, placed as they are, is the protection of a great naval power. They have as near neighbours in the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans two great European powers bent on colonial expansion, and to either of whom, even apart from colonial expansion, such a position as Simon's Bay or Table Bay offers would be invaluable. Both the mother country, therefore, whose naval and commercial interests require her to retain the Cape peninsula, and her South African children, have every motive for cleaving to one another, and, so far as our eyes can pierce the mists of the future, no reason can be discerned why they should not continue so to cleave. The peoples of both countries are altogether friendly to one another. But much will depend on the knowledge, the prudence, the patience, the quiet and unobtrusive tact, of the home government. While Britain continues to be a great naval power, the maintenance of her connection with South Africa will ensure the external peace of that country, which, fortunately for herself, lies far away in the southern seas, with no land frontiers which she is called on to defend. She may not grow to be herself as populous and powerful a State as will be the Canadian or the Australian Confederations of the future, for her climatic conditions do not promise so large an increase of the white race; but her people may, if she can deal wisely with the problems which the existence of the coloured population raises, become a happy and prosperous nation. They are exempt from some of the dangers which threaten the industrial communities of Europe and North America. The land they dwell in is favoured by nature, and inspires a deep love in its children. The stock they spring from is strong and sound; and they have carried with them to their new home the best traditions of Teutonic freedom and self-government. [Footnote 90: I leave the pages that follow as they were written in 1897 (reserving for another place a reference to events which have happened since), because I desire that the views therein expressed, which I hold quite as strongly now as in 1889, should be known to have been formed and stated before the deplorable events of the last few months (Oct. 1899).] APPENDIX CONVENTION OF 1881 CONVENTION FOR THE SETTLEMENT OF THE TRANSVAAL TERRITORY. Preamble. Her Majesty's Commissioners for the Settlement of the Transvaal territory, duly appointed as such by a Commission passed under the Royal Sign Manual and Signet, bearing date the 5th of April 1881, do hereby undertake and guarantee on behalf of Her Majesty, that, from and after the 8th day of August 1881, complete self-government, subject to the suzerainty of Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, will be accorded to the inhabitants of the Transvaal territory, upon the following terms and conditions, and subject to the following reservations and limitations:-- Article 1. The said territory, to be herein-after called the Transvaal State, will embrace the land lying between the following boundaries, to wit: [Here follow three pages in print defining boundaries]. Article 2. Her Majesty reserves to herself, her heirs and successors, (_a_) the right from time to time to appoint a British Resident in and for the said State, with such duties and functions as are herein-after defined; (_b_) the right to move troops through the said State in time of war, or in case of the apprehension of immediate war between the Suzerain Power and any Foreign State or Native tribe in South Africa; and (_c_) the control of the external relations of the said State, including the conclusion of treaties and the conduct of diplomatic intercourse with Foreign Powers, such intercourse to be carried on through Her Majesty's diplomatic and consular officers abroad. Article 3. Until altered by the Volksraad, or other competent authority, all laws, whether passed before or after the annexation of the Transvaal territory to Her Majesty's dominions, shall, except in so far as they are inconsistent with or repugnant to the provisions of this Convention, be and remain in force in the said State in so far as they shall be applicable thereto, provided that no future enactment especially affecting the interests of natives shall have any force or effect in the said State, without the consent of Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, first had and obtained and signified to the Government of the said State through the British Resident, provided further that in no case will the repeal or amendment of any laws enacted since the annexation have a retrospective effect, so as to invalidate any acts done or liabilities incurred by virtue of such laws. Article 4. On the 8th day of August 1881, the Government of the said State, together with all rights and obligations thereto appertaining, and all State property taken over at the time of annexation, save and except munitions of war, will be handed over to Messrs. Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, Martinus Wessel Pretorius, and Petrus Jocobus Joubert, or the survivor or survivors of them, who will forthwith cause a Volksraad to be elected and convened, and the Volksraad, thus elected and convened, will decide as to the further administration of the Government of the said State. Article 5. All sentences passed upon persons who may be convicted of offences contrary to the rules of civilized warfare committed during the recent hostilities will be duly carried out, and no alteration or mitigation of such sentences will be made or allowed by the Government of the Transvaal State without Her Majesty's consent conveyed through the British Resident. In case there shall be any prisoners in any of the gaols of the Transvaal State whose respective sentences of imprisonment have been remitted in part by Her Majesty's Administrator or other officer administering the Government, such remission will be recognized and acted upon by the future Government of the said State. Article 6. Her Majesty's Government will make due compensation for all losses or damage sustained by reason of such acts as are in the 8th Article herein-after specified, which may have been committed by Her Majesty's forces during the recent hostilities, except for such losses or damage as may already have been compensated for, and the Government of the Transvaal State will make due compensation for all losses or damage sustained by reason of such acts as are in the 8th Article herein-after specified which may have been committed by the people who were in arms against Her Majesty during the recent hostilities, except for such losses or damages as may already have been compensated for. Article 7. The decision of all claims for compensation, as in the last preceding Article mentioned, will be referred to a Sub-Committee, consisting of the Honourable George Hudson, the Honourable Jacobus Petrus de Wet, and the Honourable John Gilbert Kotze. In case one or more of such Sub-Commissioners shall be unable or unwilling to act the remaining Sub-Commissioner or Sub-Commissioners will, after consultation with the Government of the Transvaal State, submit for the approval of Her Majesty's High Commissioners the names of one or more persons to be appointed by them to fill the place or places thus vacated. The decision of the said Sub-Commissioners, or of a majority of them, will be final. The said Sub-Commissioners will enter upon and perform their duties with all convenient speed. They will, before taking evidence or ordering evidence to be taken in respect of any claim, decide whether such claim can be entertained at all under the rules laid down in the next succeeding Article. In regard to claims which can be so entertained, the Sub-Commissioners will, in the first instance, afford every facility for an amicable arrangement as to the amount payable in respect of any claim, and only in cases in which there is no reasonable ground for believing that an immediate amicable arrangement can be arrived at will they take evidence or order evidence to be taken. For the purpose of taking evidence and reporting thereon, the Sub-Commissioners may appoint Deputies, who will, without delay, submit records of the evidence and their reports to the Sub-Commissioners. The Sub-Commissioners will arrange their sittings and the sittings of their Deputies in such a manner as to afford the earliest convenience to the parties concerned and their witnesses. In no case will costs be allowed to either side, other than the actual and reasonable expenses of witnesses whose evidence is certified by the Sub-Commissioners to have been necessary. Interest will not run on the amount of any claim, except as is herein-after provided for. The said Sub-Commissioners will forthwith, after deciding upon any claim, announce their decision to the Government against which the award is made and to the claimant. The amount of remuneration payable to the Sub-Commissioners and their Deputies will be determined by the High Commissioners. After all the claims have been decided upon, the British Government and the Government of the Transvaal State will pay proportionate shares of the said remuneration and of the expenses of the Sub-Commissioners and their Deputies, according to the amount awarded against them respectively. Article 8. For the purpose of distinguishing claims to be accepted from those to be rejected, the Sub-Commissioners will be guided by the following rules, viz: Compensation will be allowed for losses or damage sustained by reason of the following acts committed during the recent hostilities, viz., (_a_) commandeering, seizure, confiscation, or destruction of property, or damage done to property; (_b_) violence done or threats used by persons in arms. In regard to acts under (_a_), compensation will be allowed for direct losses only. In regard to acts falling under (_b_) compensation will be allowed for actual losses of property, or actual injury to the same proved to have been caused by its enforced abandonment. No claims for indirect losses, except such as are in this Article specially provided for, will be entertained. No claims which have been handed in to the Secretary of the Royal Commission after the 1st day of July 1881 will be entertained, unless the Sub-Commissioners shall be satisfied that the delay was reasonable. When claims for loss of property are considered, the Sub-Commissioners will require distinct proof of the existence of the property, and that it neither has reverted nor will revert to the claimant. Article 9. The Government of the Transvaal State will pay and satisfy the amount of every claim awarded against it within one month after the Sub-Commissioners shall have notified their decision to the said Government, and in default of such payment the said Government will pay interest at the rate of six per cent. per annum from the date of such default; but Her Majesty's Government may at any time before such payment pay the amount, with interest, if any, to the claimant in satisfaction of his claim, and may add the sum thus paid to any debt which may be due by the Transvaal State to Her Majesty's Government, as herein-after provided for. Article 10. The Transvaal State will be liable for the balance of the debts for which the South African Republic was liable at the date of annexation, to wit, the sum of 48,000_l._ in respect of the Cape Commercial Bank Loan, and 85,667_l._ in respect to the Railway Loan, together with the amount due on 8th August 1881 on account of the Orphan Chamber Debt, which now stands at 22,200_l._, which debts will be a first charge upon the revenues of the State. The Transvaal State will, moreover, be liable for the lawful expenditure lawfully incurred for the necessary expenses of the Province since the annexation, to wit, the sum of 265,000_l._, which debt, together with such debts as may be incurred by virtue of the 9th Article, will be second charge upon the revenues of the State. Article 11. The debts due as aforesaid by the Transvaal State to Her Majesty's Government will bear interest at the rate of three and a half per cent., and any portion of such debt as may remain unpaid at the expiration of twelve months from the 8th August 1881 shall be repayable by a payment for interest and sinking fund of six pounds and ninepence per cent. per annum, which will extinguish the debt in twenty-five years. The said payment of six pounds and ninepence per 100_l._ shall be payable half yearly in British currency on the 8th February and 8th August in each year. Provided always that the Transvaal State shall pay in reduction of the said debt the sum of 100,000_l._ within twelve months of the 8th August 1881, and shall be at liberty at the close of any half year to pay off the whole or any portion of the outstanding debt. Article 12. All persons holding property in the said State on the 8th day of August 1881 will continue after the said date to enjoy the rights of property which they have enjoyed since the annexation. No person who has remained loyal to Her Majesty during the recent hostilities shall suffer any molestation by reason of his loyalty, or be liable to any criminal prosecution or civil action for any part taken in connexion with such hostilities, and all such persons will have full liberty to reside in the country, with enjoyment of all civil rights, and protection for their persons and property. Article 13. Natives will be allowed to acquire land, but the grant or transfer of such land will, in every case, be made to and registered in the name of the Native Location Commission, herein-after mentioned, in trust for such natives. Article 14. Natives will be allowed to move as freely within the country as may be consistent with the requirements of public order, and to leave it for the purpose of seeking employment elsewhere or for other lawful purposes, subject always to the pass laws of the said State, as amended by the Legislature of the Province, or as may hereafter be enacted under the provisions of the Third Article of this Convention. Article 15. There will continue to be complete freedom of religion and protection from molestation for all denominations, provided the same be not inconsistent with morality and good order, and no disability shall attach to any person in regard to rights of property by reason of the religious opinions which he holds. Article 16. The provisions of the Fourth Article of the Sand River Convention are hereby re-affirmed, and no slavery or apprenticeship partaking of slavery will be tolerated by the Government of the said State. Article 17. The British Resident will receive from the Government of the Transvaal State such assistance and support as can by law be given to him for the due discharge of his functions, he will also receive every assistance for the proper care and preservation of the graves of such of Her Majesty's forces as have died in the Transvaal, and if need be for the expropriation of land for the purpose. Article 18. The following will be the duties and functions of the British Resident:--Sub-section 1, he will perform duties and functions analogous to those discharged by a Chargé d'Affaires and Consul-General. Sub-section 2. In regard to natives within the Transvaal State he will (_a_) report to the High Commissioner, as representative of the Suzerain, as to the working and observance of the provisions of this Convention; (_b_) report to the Transvaal authorities any cases of ill-treatment of natives or attempts to incite natives to rebellion that may come to his knowledge; (_c_) use his influence with the natives in favour of law and order; and (_d_) generally perform such other duties as are by this Convention entrusted to him, and take such steps for the protection of the person and property of natives as are consistent with the laws of the land. Sub-section 3. In regard to natives not residing in the Transvaal (_a_) he will report to the High Commissioner and the Transvaal Government any encroachments reported to him as having been made by Transvaal residents upon the land of such natives, and in case of disagreement between the Transvaal Government and the British Resident as to whether an encroachment has been made, the decision of the Suzerain will be final; (_b_) the British Resident will be the medium of communication with native chiefs outside the Transvaal, and subject to the approval of the High Commissioner, as representing the Suzerain, he will control the conclusion of treaties with them; and (_c_) he will arbitrate upon every dispute between Transvaal residents and natives outside the Transvaal (as to acts committed beyond the boundaries of the Transvaal) which may be referred to him by the parties interested. Sub-section 4. In regard to communications with foreign powers, the Transvaal Government will correspond with Her Majesty's Government through the British Resident and the High Commissioner. Article 19. The Government of the Transvaal State will strictly adhere to the boundaries defined in the First Article of this Convention, and will do its utmost to prevent any of its inhabitants from making any encroachment upon lands beyond the said State. The Royal Commission will forthwith appoint a person who will beacon off the boundary line between Ramatlabama and the point where such line first touches Griqualand West boundary, midway between the Vaal and Hart rivers; the person so appointed will be instructed to make an arrangement between the owners of the farms Grootfontein and Valleifontein on the one hand, and the Barolong authorities on the other, by which a fair share of the water supply of the said farms shall be allowed to flow undisturbed to the said Barolongs. Article 20. All grants or titles issued at any time by the Transvaal Government in respect of land outside the boundary of Transvaal State, as defined, Article 1, shall be considered invalid and of no effect, except in so far as any such grant or title relates to land that falls within the boundary of the Transvaal State, and all persons holding any such grant so considered invalid and of no effect will receive from the Government of the Transvaal State such compensation either in land or in money as the Volksraad shall determine. In all cases in which any native chiefs or other authorities outside the said boundaries have received any adequate consideration from the Government of the former South African Republic for land excluded from the Transvaal by the First Article of this Convention, or where permanent improvements have been made on the land the British Resident will, subject to the approval of the High Commissioner, use his influence to recover from the native authorities fair compensation for the loss of the land thus excluded, and of the permanent improvement thereon. Article 21. Forthwith, after the taking effect of this Convention, a Native Location Commission will be constituted, consisting of the President, or in his absence the Vice-President of the State, or some one deputed by him, the Resident, or some one deputed by him, and a third person to be agreed upon by the President or the Vice-President, as the case may be, and the Resident, and such Commission will be a standing body for the performance of the duties herein-after mentioned. Article 22. The Native Location Commission will reserve to the native tribes of the State such locations as they may be fairly and equitably entitled to, due regard being had to the actual occupation of such tribes. The Native Location Commission will clearly define the boundaries of such locations, and for that purpose will, in every instance, first of all ascertain the wishes of the parties interested in such land. In case land already granted in individual titles shall be required for the purpose of any location, the owners will receive such compensation either in other land or in money as the Volksraad shall determine. After the boundaries of any location have been fixed, no fresh grant of land within such location will be made, nor will the boundaries be altered without the consent of the Location Commission. No fresh grants of land will be made in the districts of Waterbergh, Zoutspansberg, and Lydenburg until the locations in the said districts respectively shall have been defined by the said Commission. Article 23. If not released before the taking effect of this Convention, Sikukuni, and those of his followers who have been imprisoned with him, will be forthwith released, and the boundaries of his location will be defined by the Native Location Commission in the manner indicated in the last preceding Article. Article 24. The independence of the Swazies within the boundary line of Swaziland, as indicated in the First Article of this Convention, will be fully recognised. Article 25. No other or higher duties will be imposed on the importation into the Transvaal State of any article the produce or manufacture of the dominions and possessions of Her Majesty, from whatever place arriving, than are or may be payable on the like article the produce or manufacture of any other country, nor will any prohibition be maintained or imposed on the importation of any article the produce or manufacture of the dominions and possessions of Her Majesty, which shall not equally extend to the importation of the like articles being the produce or manufacture of any other country. Article 26. All persons other than natives conforming themselves to the laws of the Transvaal State (_a_) will have full liberty with their families to enter, travel, or reside in any part of the Transvaal State; (_b_) they will be entitled to hire or possess houses, manufactures, warehouses, shops, and premises; (_c_) they may carry on their commerce either in person or by any agents whom they may think fit to employ; (_d_) they will not be subject in respect of their persons or property, or in respect of their commerce or industry, to any taxes, whether general or local, other than those which are or may be imposed upon Transvaal citizens. Article 27. All inhabitants of the Transvaal shall have free access to the Courts of Justice for the protection and defence of their rights. Article 28. All persons other than natives who established their domicile in the Transvaal between the 12th day of April 1877 and the date when this Convention comes into effect, and who shall within twelve months after such last-mentioned date have their names registered by the British Resident, shall be exempt from all compulsory military service whatever. The Resident shall notify such registration to the Government of the Transvaal State. Article 29. Provision shall hereafter be made by a separate instrument for the mutual extradition of criminals, and also for the surrender of deserters from Her Majesty's forces. Article 30. All debts contracted since the annexation will be payable in the same currency in which they may have been contracted; all uncancelled postage and other revenue stamps issued by the Government since the annexation will remain valid, and will be accepted at their present value by the future Government of the State; all licenses duly issued since the annexation will remain in force during the period for which they may have been issued. Article 31. No grants of land which may have been made, and no transfer of mortgage which may have been passed since the annexation, will be invalidated by reason merely of their having been made or passed since that date. All transfers to the British Secretary for Native Affairs in trust for natives will remain in force, the Native Location Commission taking the place of such Secretary for Native Affairs. Article 32. This Convention will be ratified by a newly-elected Volksraad within the period of three months after its execution, and in default of such ratification this Convention shall be null and void. Article 33. Forthwith, after the ratification of this Convention, as in the last preceding Article mentioned all British troops in Transvaal territory will leave the same, and the mutual delivery of munitions of war will be carried out. Articles end. Here will follow signatures of Royal Commissioners, then the following to precede signatures of triumvirate. We, the undersigned, Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, Martinus Wessel Pretorius, and Petrus Jacobus Joubert, as representatives of the Transvaal Burghers, do hereby agree to all the above conditions, reservations, and limitations under which self-government has been restored to the inhabitants of the Transvaal territory, subject to the suzerainty of Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, and we agree to accept the Government of the said territory, with all rights and obligations thereto appertaining on the 8th day of August; and we promise and undertake that this Convention shall be ratified by a newly-elected Volksraad of the Transvaal State within three months from this date. CONVENTION OF 1884 A CONVENTION BETWEEN HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND AND THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC. Whereas the Government of the Transvaal State, through its Delegates, consisting of Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, President of the said State, Stephanus Jacobus Du Toit, Superintendent of Education, and Nicholas Jacobus Smit, a member of the Volksraad, have represented that the Convention signed at Pretoria on the 3rd day of August 1881, and ratified by the Volksraad of the said State on the 25th October 1881, contains certain provisions which are inconvenient, and imposes burdens and obligations from which the said State is desirous to be relieved, and that the south-western boundaries fixed by the said Convention should be amended, with a view to promote the peace and good order of the said State, and of the countries adjacent thereto; and whereas Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, has been pleased to take the said representations into consideration: Now, therefore, Her Majesty has been pleased to direct, and it is hereby declared, that the following articles of a new Convention, signed on behalf of Her Majesty by Her Majesty's High Commissioner in South Africa, the Right Honourable Sir Hercules George Robert Robinson, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, Governor of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, and on behalf of the Transvaal State (which shall hereinafter be called the South African Republic) by the above-named Delegates, Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, Stephanus Jacobus Du Toit, and Nicholas Jacobus Smit, shall, when ratified by the Volksraad of the South African Republic, be substituted for the articles embodied in the Convention of 3rd August 1881; which latter, pending such ratification, shall continue in full force and effect. ARTICLES. Article 1. The Territory of the South African Republic will embrace the land lying between the following boundaries, to wit: (Here follows a long description of boundaries). Article 2. The Government of the South African Republic will strictly adhere to the boundaries defined in the first Article of this Convention, and will do its utmost to prevent any of its inhabitants from making any encroachments upon lands beyond the said boundaries. The Government of the South African Republic will appoint Commissioners upon the eastern and western borders whose duty it will be strictly to guard against irregularities and all trespassing over the boundaries. Her Majesty's Government will, if necessary, appoint Commissioners in the native territories outside the eastern and western borders of the South African Republic to maintain order and prevent encroachments. Her Majesty's Government and the Government of the South African Republic will each appoint a person to proceed together to beacon off the amended south-west boundary as described in Article 1 of this Convention; and the President of the Orange Free State shall be requested to appoint a referee to whom the said persons shall refer any questions on which they may disagree respecting the interpretation of the said Article, and the decision of such referee thereon shall be final. The arrangement already made, under the terms of Article 19 of the Convention of Pretoria of the 3rd August 1881, between the owners of the farms Grootfontein and Valleifontein on the one hand, and the Barolong authorities on the other, by which a fair share of the water supply of the said farms shall be allowed to flow undisturbed to the said Barolongs, shall continue in force. Article 3. If a British officer is appointed to reside at Pretoria or elsewhere within the South African Republic to discharge functions analogous to those of a Consular officer he will receive the protection and assistance of the Republic. Article 4. The South African Republic will conclude no treaty or engagement with any State or nation other than the Orange Free State, nor with any native tribe to the eastward or westward of the Republic, until the same has been approved by Her Majesty the Queen. Such approval shall be considered to have been granted if Her Majesty's Government shall not, within six months after receiving a copy of such treaty (which shall be delivered to them immediately upon its completion), have notified that the conclusion of such treaty is in conflict with the interests of Great Britain or of any of Her Majesty's possessions in South Africa. Article 5. The South African Republic will be liable for any balance which may still remain due of the debts for which it was liable at the date of Annexation, to wit, the Cape Commercial Bank Loan, the Railway Loan, and the Orphan Chamber Debt, which debts will be a first charge upon the revenues of the Republic. The South African Republic will moreover be liable to Her Majesty's Government for 250,000_l._, which will be a second charge upon the revenues of the Republic. Article 6. The debt due as aforesaid by the South African Republic to Her Majesty's Government will bear interest at the rate of three and a half per cent. from the date of the ratification of this Convention, and shall be repayable by a payment for interest and Sinking Fund of six pounds and ninepence per 100_l._ per annum, which will extinguish the debt in twenty-five years. The said payment of six pounds and ninepence per 100_l._ shall be payable half-yearly, in British currency, at the close of each half year from the date of such ratification: Provided always that the South African Republic shall be at liberty at the close of any half year to pay off the whole or any portion of the outstanding debt. Interest at the rate of three and a half per cent. on the debt as standing under the Convention of Pretoria shall as heretofore be paid to the date of the ratification of this Convention. Article 7. All persons who held property in the Transvaal on the 8th day of August 1881, and still hold the same, will continue to enjoy the rights of property which they have enjoyed since the 12th April 1877. No person who has remained loyal to Her Majesty during the late hostilities shall suffer any molestation by reason of his loyalty; or be liable to any criminal prosecution or civil action for any part taken in connexion with such hostilities; and all such persons will have full liberty to reside in the country, with enjoyment of all civil rights, and protection for their persons and property. Article 8. The South African Republic renews the declaration made in the Sand River Convention, and in the Convention of Pretoria, that no slavery or apprenticeship partaking of slavery will be tolerated by the Government of the said Republic. Article 9. There will continue to be complete freedom of religion and protection from molestation for all denominations, provided the same be not inconsistent with morality and good order; and no disability shall attach to any person in regard to rights of property by reason of the religious opinions which he holds. Article 10. The British Officer appointed to reside in the South African Republic will receive every assistance from the Government of the said Republic in making due provision for the proper care and preservation of the graves of such of Her Majesty's Forces as have died in the Transvaal; and if need be, for the appropriation of land for the purpose. Article 11. All grants or titles issued at any time by the Transvaal Government in respect of land outside the boundary of the South African Republic, as defined in Article 1, shall be considered invalid and of no effect, except in so far as any such grant or title relates to land that falls within the boundary of the South African Republic; and all persons holding any such grant so considered invalid and of no effect will receive from the Government of the South African Republic such compensation, either in land or in money, as the Volksraad shall determine. In all cases in which any Native Chiefs or other authorities outside the said boundaries have received any adequate consideration from the Government of the South African Republic for land excluded from the Transvaal by the first Article of this Convention, or where permanent improvements have been made on the land, the High Commissioner will recover from the native authorities fair compensation for the loss of the land thus excluded, or of the permanent improvements thereon. Article 12. The independence of the Swazis, within the boundary line of Swaziland, as indicated in the first Article of this Convention, will be fully recognised. Article 13. Except in pursuance of any treaty or engagement made as provided in Article 4 of this Convention, no other or higher duties shall be imposed on the importation into the South African Republic of any article coming from any part of Her Majesty's dominions than are or may be imposed on the like article coming from any other place or country; nor will any prohibition be maintained or imposed on the importation into the South African Republic of any article coming from any part of Her Majesty's dominions which shall not equally extend to the like article coming from any other place or country. And in like manner the same treatment shall be given to any article coming to Great Britain from the South African Republic as to the like article coming from any other place or country. These provisions do not preclude the consideration of special arrangements as to import duties and commercial relations between the South African Republic and any of Her Majesty's colonies or possessions. Article 14. All persons, other than natives, conforming themselves to the laws of the South African Republic (_a_) will have full liberty, with their families, to enter, travel, or reside in any part of the South African Republic; (_b_) they will be entitled to hire or possess houses, manufactories, warehouses, shops, and premises; (_c_) they may carry on their commerce either in person or by any agents whom they may think fit to employ; (_d_) they will not be subject, in respect of their persons or property, or in respect of their commerce or industry, to any taxes, whether general or local, other than those which are or may be imposed upon citizens of the said Republic. Article 15. All persons, other than natives, who established their domicile in the Transvaal between the 12th day of April 1877, and the 8th of August 1881, and who within twelve months after such last-mentioned date have had their names registered by the British Resident, shall be exempt from all compulsory military service whatever. Article 16. Provision shall hereafter be made by a separate instrument for the mutual extradition of criminals, and also for the surrender of deserters from Her Majesty's Forces. Article 17. All debts contracted between the 12th April 1887 and the 8th August 1881 will be payable in the same currency in which they may have been contracted. Article 18. No grants of land which may have been made, and no transfers or mortgages which may have been passed between the 12th April 1877 and the 8th August 1881, will be invalidated by reason merely of their having been made or passed between such dates. All transfers to the British Secretary for Native Affairs in trust for natives will remain in force, an officer of the South African Republic taking the place of such Secretary for Native Affairs. Article 19. The Government of the South African Republic will engage faithfully to fulfil the assurances given, in accordance with the laws of the South African Republic, to the natives at the Pretoria Pitso by the Royal Commission in the presence of the Triumvirate and with their entire assent, (1) as to the freedom of the natives to buy or otherwise acquire land under certain conditions, (2) as to the appointment of a commission to mark out native locations, (3) as to the access of the natives to the courts of law, and (4) as to their being allowed to move freely within the country, or to leave it for any legal purpose, under a pass system. Article 20. This Convention will be ratified by a Volksraad of the South African Republic within the period of six months after its execution, and in default of such ratification this Convention shall be null and void. Signed in duplicate in London this 27th day of February 1884. (Signed) HERCULES ROBINSON. (Signed) S. J. P. KRUGER. (Signed) S. J. DU TOIT. (Signed) M. J. SMIT. [Illustration: POLITICAL MAP OF SOUTH AFRICA] [Illustration: OROGRAPHICAL MAP OF SOUTH AFRICA] [Illustration: RAINFALL MAP OF SOUTH AFRICA] INDEX A Aberdeen, Lord, 131 Africander, 162 Africander Bond, the, 401 Agriculture, 433-435 Animals, Wild, and their fate, 17-23 Arabs, 99, 288 Antelopes, 18 Antiquities, 71, 74-82, 101 _n_, 229, 234-237, 247 B Baboons, 23 Bantu Tribes, 45, 66-68 Basutoland, 7, 25, 52, 319-342 Basutos, 128, 130, 143, 319-342 Beaconsfield, Lord, 156 Beaufort West, 16, 195 Bechuanaland, 14, 25, 29, 36, 40-42, 145, 165, 242 Beira, 45, 182, 266 Berea, 283 Blacks and Whites, 345-369 Bloemfontein, 47, 129, 132 Boers, 18, 39, 47, 57, 107 and _n_, 115 _et seq._, 134 _et seq._, 155, 159, 453-457, 461-463, 469-474 Brand (President) Sir John, 133 British Government, 131, 132, 136 _et seq._ British South Africa Company, 15, 22, 41, 170, 173, 219, 280, 422-431 British South Africa Company's territories, 15, 41, 268-380 Buffalo River, 159 Bulawayo, 15, 118, 181, 216-219 Burgers (President), 153, 154 Bushmen, 44, 61, 63-65, 107 C Caledon River, 144 Cape Colony, 36, 51, 52, 110, 138, 139 _et seq._, 468 _et seq._ physical changes in, and material progress of, 134-142 wild beasts in, 18, 21 Cape of Good Hope, 46, 99 Cape Town, 51, 112, 138, 179 _et seq._ appearance from the sea, 190-192 Carnarvon, Lord, 148, 157 Cathcart, Sir George, 333-335 Cattle murrain, 142, 223, 273 Cattle, sheep and goats, 436 Cetewayo, 149, 158 Chimoyo, 257-260 Chipadzi, 247 Churches, 388 Climate, 7-9, 11-16, 45, 200, 233 Coaches, 184 Coal, 273 Coalfields in Natal, 287, 442 Colley, General Sir George, 159, 160, 292-294 Colonial policy of England, 458 _et seq._ Colour question, the, 287 _et seq._, 348 _et seq._ Commerce, 467 Confederation of South Africa, 473 Constitution of Cape Colony, 135 _et seq._, 392-394 Natal, 285, 392 Orange Free State, 315-318 the Transvaal, 358-360, 409 _et seq._ Conventions-- Sand River, 1852, 130 Bloemfontein, 1854, 132 London, 1881, 160, 166, 479 London, 1884, 166, 488 Cricket, popularity of at the Cape, 384 Crown Colonies, 379-391 Customs Union, 285, 472 D Damaraland, 5, 36, 52, 170 Delagoa Bay, 21, 86, 99, 117, 141, 146, 147, 173, 179 _et seq._, 281, 282, 467 Dhlodhlo, 71, 74-82, 101 _n_, 229 Diamond mines, 135, 144, 196-200, 438 Diaz, Bartholomew, 46, 99 Dingaan, 118 _et seq._, 159 "Divide," or watershed, 5 Durban, 16, 54, 119, 282-284 Dutch, 38, 101 _et seq._, 114, 135 _et seq._, 150, 379 _et seq._ Dutch language, 382-384 Dutch Reformed Church, 388 E Economic future of the country, 432-451 Education, 387 Elandsfontein, 296 Elephants, 17 _et seq._ Europeans in South Africa till 1854, 95, 98-133, 134-176 F Fever, 13-15, 279 Flora of South Africa, 24 _et seq._ Fontesvilla, 260, 261 Forests, 26, 29 Fort Victoria, 15, 235-237 Salisbury, 15, 183, 239-243, 245 Frere, Sir Bartle, 148-150, 158, 161 _n_ Froude, Mr. T. A., 148 G Gama, Vasco da, 46, 96 German East Africa, 22, 224 German South-West Africa, 27, 36, 43 _et seq._ Giraffes, 20 Gold Mines, 173, 213, 253, 254, 270-273 and _n_, 296-304, 438-442, 466 Graham's Town, 21, 26 Grass-fires, 230 Grey, Sir George, 148 Griqualand, East, 52 Griqualand, West, 144, 145 Griquas, 66, 144 Grondwet, the, or "Fundamental Law" of the Transvaal, 357, 409 Gwelo, 232-234 H Harbours, Saldanha Bay, 7 Health, 11-16, 33-43, 269 Heat, 7-10 Hippopotamuses, 20 Honey Bird, 256 _n_ Horse-sickness, 249-252 Hottentots, 45, 61 _et seq._, 110, 113, 140 Huguenot, Immigrants, 104, 105 I Immigration, 135, 287 Indians, 284, 288, 350 Ingogo, 159 Inyanga, 254, 273 Iron, 442 Irrigation, 434, 435 Isandhlwana, 150 J Jameson, Dr., 202, 220, 223 Johannesburg, 15, 174-176, 298-308, 405-431 Journalism, 386 Joubert, General, 159 K Kafirs, 38, 56, 66-69, 83-97, 108, 113, 120-122, 135, 137, 151, 155, 209-212, 221-225, 230, 246, 287, 303, 348 _et seq._, 361 _et seq._, 444-458, 464 Kafir Wars, 26, 140 _et seq._ Kalahari Desert, 20 _et seq._, 42, 51. Karroo, the Great, 7, 16, 25, 34 _et seq._, 48, 55, 106, 195, 433-436 Khama, 68, 124, 165, 207-212 Kruger (President), S. J. P., 117, 155, 164, 166, 167, 309, 420 _et seq._ Kei River, 141 Klip River, 159 Kimberley, 16, 129, 144, 181, 196-201 King William's Town, 26 Krugersdorp, 159 L Labour, 443 _et seq._ Laing's Nek, 159, 160, 291 Lake Ngami, 6 Leopards, 17 _et seq._ Lerothodi, 322 _et seq._ Limpopo River, 9, 14, 20, 39 Limpopo Valley, 42 Lions, 18 _et seq._, 213 Literature, 385, 386 Livingstone, David, 47, 146, 153 Lo Bengula, 20, 165, 170, 172, 173, 209, 216 Lo Bengula's sister, 217 _n_ Loch, Sir H., 414 Locusts, 23, 229, 245, 252, 260 Lourenço Marques, 146, 147 _n_, 281 Lüderitz, Herr, 99, 168 Lynxes, 22 M Maceo, the Cuban leader, 102 _n_ Machacha, 325, 327, 329 Mafeking, 28, 202, 203 Majuba Hill, 159 and _n_, 160, 161-164, 292-294 effects of the victory on public opinion at home and abroad, 161-164 Makalanga, or Makalaka, 83, 216, 219 and _n_, 237, 238 Malarial fever, 13 precautions against, 14 Mangwe Pass, 213-215 Manicaland, 28 _et seq._, 52 Maritzburg, 284, 290 Mashonaland, 25, 42, 52, 70, 170, 220, 242 resources and future of, 268-280 Mashonas, 53, 172, 173 Matabili, 53, 91, 94, 96, 118, 119, 172, 173, 216, 217, 222, 226, 235 _et seq._ Matabililand, 12, 15, 28, 53, 56, 220, 222-224, 242 resources and future of, 268-280 Matoppo Hills, 214, 227 Minerals, 437 _et seq._ Missionaries, 113, 128, 129, 131, 136, 137, 340 Missions, 370-378 Modder River, 144 Molteno, Mr., 147 _n_ Mombasa, 99 Montsioa, 203 Moshesh, 68, 123-125, 129, 143 Mossel Bay, 179 Mosilikatze, 118 Mtali, 226, 251-254 Mulattoes, 101 Mzila, 255 N Namaqualand, 27, 36, 169 Natal, 14, 25, 35 _et seq._, 52, 119-123, 134 _et seq._, 144, 149, 179, 286, 287, 467, 469 National Union formed by the Uitlanders, 413 Nature, influence of, on South African history, 44 _et seq._ Newcastle, Duke of, 131 Nixon, Mr. John, 155 _n_ Nyassaland, 268 O Orange Free State, 26, 38, 52, 133, 134 _et seq._, 143, 144, 145, 148, 162, 311-318, 469, 471, 472 Orange River Sovereignty, 129, 131, 132, 144 Orange River, 9, 34 _et seq._, 119, 123, 140, 145 Ostriches, 21, 27, 135, 436 Oudzi River and Waterfall, 250, 251 Ox-Waggon, 182-186, 203-208, 226, 231 P Palapshwye, 207, 210, 211 Panda, 149, 165 Philip, Dr., 128, 129 Phillips, Lionel, 417 _n_ Physical features, 2-10, 33-35, 433 Pietermaritzburg, 36, 284, 290 Pitsani, 204, 220, 223 Pitso, Basuto National Assembly, 88 and _n_, 338 Plateau, great interior, 5-7, 15, 27, 48, 101 Politics, Natal, 286, 287 Politics in the two British Colonies, 392-404 Population, mixed state of the, 395 Portuguese, 20, 36, 99 _et seq._, 171, 256-258 Portuguese Territory, 20, 37 _et seq._, 171, 243, 255-258 Pretoria, 47, 160, 398-340 Pretorius, Andries, 129, 130 Pretorius, M. W., 152, 158 Pungwe river, 261-266 Q Quagga, 18 Quathlamba Mountain Range, 5, 10, 15, 25, 35, 37, 39, 52, 116 R Race Problem, the, 345-369, 453 _et seq._, 469-473 Race question, the, 345-369, 399 Railways, 180 _et seq._, 258-262 Ranching, 440 Religious bodies, 354, 372-375, 388 census of, 389 Riebeck, Jan van, 103 Rising (Raid) at Johannesburg, 174-176 Rhinoceros, 20 _et seq._ Rivers-- Orange, 9, 34 _et seq._, 45, 123, 140 Limpopo, 9, 14, 20, 39, 100, 118, 119, 123, 209 Notwani, 14, 209 Congo, 14 Zambesi, 19, 37, 41, 52, 102, 156 Tugela, 47, 159 Great Fish, 99, 108, 113 Keiskama, 113 Kei, 141 Klip, 159 Pungwe, 261-266 Rhodes, Cecil, 170, 175-196, 197, 236, 418 Rhodesia, 278 Government and administration of settled by Order in Council, 278 S St. John's River, 144 St. Lucia Bay, 165 St. Paul de Loanda, 47 Sand River Convention, 130, 131, 152 Sanatoria, Ceres, 15 Beaufort West, 16 Kimberley, 16, 129, 144, 196-201 Scenery, aspects of, 50-57 Schools, 387, 466 _n_ Selous, Mr. F. C., 222 and _n_ Shangani River, 226 Sikukuni, 154 Simon's Bay, 192 Slavery, 113, 130 Smith, Sir Harry, 129 Snakes, 21 Society, upper, curious condition of, 390 Sofala, 45, 99, 102 South African Republic. See Transvaal Spring-bok, 18 Steamer communication, 179, 180 Stellenbosch, 31, 33, 193 Stores, 245 Sun-stroke, relation to climate, 13 Swazis, 167 T Temperature, variations of, 12 Thaba Bosiyo, 328 _et seq._ Tonga-land, 35, 37, 168 Transvaal, 14, 28, 39, 49, 132, 133, 134 _et seq._, 159, 173 _et seq._, 405 _et seq._ Transvaal Boers, their history and characteristics, 405-431 Travelling and communications, 179-187 Treeless South Africa, 26, 27 Trees-- Australian, 30 Oak, 31 Planting, 30-32 Trek, the great, 115 _et seq._, 151 Tsetse-fly, 225, 259, 273 Tshka, 68, 84, 118 _et seq._, 149, 255, 332 U Uitlanders, their grievances, 175, 408-431 National Union formed by, 413, 422, 469-472 V Vaal River, 140, 144, 151, 201 Vandals, 108 Vegetation, 24-32 Victoria Falls, 6 Voyage out, 188-190 W Wages, 444 Walfish Bay, 37, 169 Warren, Sir Charles, 165 Waterboer, Andries and Nicholas, 144, 145 White ants, 23, 206, 231, 252 White population, 449, 450 Wissmann, Dr. von, 22 Witwatersrand, 39, 49, 156, 296-305, 441 Z Zambesi, 19, 37, 41, 52, 268-270, 273 Zambesi Valley, 101 Zebra, 18 Zimbabwye, 75 _et seq._, 234-237 Zoutpansberg, 151, 152 Zululand, 13, 35, 36, 150 Zulus, 84-89, 115, 118, 120, 142, 149, 154 RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BUNGAY 
44649	----	Transcriber's Note: Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed. Words printed in italics are noted with underscores: _italics_. The cover of this ebook was created by the transcriber and is hereby placed in the public domain. THE LAST BOER WAR "I am told that these men (the Boers) are told to keep on agitating in this way, for a change of Government in England may give them again the old order of things. Nothing can show greater ignorance of English politics than such an idea. I tell you there is no Government--Whig or Tory, Liberal, Conservative, or Radical--who would dare, under any circumstances, to give back this country (the Transvaal). They would not dare, because the English people would not allow them."--(_Extract from Speech of Sir Garnet Wolseley, delivered at a Public Banquet in Pretoria, on the 17th December 1879._) "There was a still stronger reason than that for not receding (from the Transvaal); it was impossible to say what calamities such a step as receding might not cause.... For such a risk he could not make himself responsible.... Difficulties with the Zulu and the frontier tribes would again arise, and looking as they must to South Africa as a whole, the Government, after a careful consideration of the question, came to the conclusion that we could not relinquish the Transvaal."--(_Extract from Speech of Lord Kimberley in the House of Lords, 24th May 1880. H.P.D., vol. cclii., p. 208._) "Our judgment is that the Queen cannot be advised to relinquish the Transvaal."--(_Extract from Reply of Mr. Gladstone to Boer Memorial, 8th June 1880._) THE LAST BOER WAR BY H. RIDER HAGGARD _THIRTY-FIFTH THOUSAND_ LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER & CO. LTD. PATERNOSTER HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD 1900 WORKS BY H. RIDER HAGGARD. CETYWAYO AND HIS WHITE NEIGHBOURS. DAWN. KING SOLOMON'S MINES. THE WITCH'S HEAD. SHE. ALLAN QUATERMAIN. JESS. COLONEL QUARITCH, V.C. MAIWA'S REVENGE. MR. MEESON'S WILL. ALLAN'S WIFE. CLEOPATRA. BEATRICE. ERIC BRIGHTEYES. NADA THE LILY. MONTEZUMA'S DAUGHTER. THE PEOPLE OF THE MIST. JOAN HASTE. HEART OF THE WORLD. DOCTOR THERNE. SWALLOW. A FARMER'S YEAR. _IN COLLABORATION WITH ANDREW LANG._ THE WORLD'S DESIRE. _The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved._ AUTHOR'S NOTE. It has been suggested that at this juncture some students of South African history might be glad to read an account of the Boer Rebellion of 1881, its causes and results. Accordingly, in the following pages are reprinted portions of a book which I wrote so long ago as 1882. It may be objected that such matter must be stale, but I venture to urge, on the contrary, that to this very fact it owes whatever value it may possess. This history was written at the time by one who took an active part in the sad and stirring events which it records, immediately after the issue of those events had driven him home to England. Of the original handful of individuals who were concerned in the annexation of the Transvaal by Sir Theophilus Shepstone in 1877, of whom I was one, not many now survive. When they have gone, any further accurate report made from an intimate personal knowledge of the incidents attendant on that act will be an impossibility; indeed it is already impossible, since after the lapse of twenty years men can scarcely trust to their memories for the details of intricate political occurrences, even should they be prompted to attempt their record. It is for this reason, when the melancholy results which its pages foretell have overtaken us, that I venture to lay them again before the public, so that any who are interested in the matter may read and find in the tale of 1881 the true causes of the war of 1899. I have written "which its pages foretell." Here are one or two passages taken from them almost at hazard that may be thought to justify the words: "It seems to me, however, to be a question worthy of the consideration of those who at present direct the destinies of the Empire, whether it would not be wise, as they have gone so far, to go a little farther, and favour a scheme for the total abandonment of South Africa, retaining only Table Bay. If they do not, it is now quite within the bounds of possibility that they may one day have _to face a fresh Transvaal rebellion, only on a ten times larger scale_, and might find it difficult to retain even Table Bay." And again: "The curtain, so far as this country is concerned, is down for the moment on the South African stage; when it rises again, there is but too much reason to fear that it will reveal a state of confusion which, unless it is more wisely and consistently dealt with in the future than it has been in the past, may develop into chaos." One more quotation. In speaking of the various problems of South Africa, I find that I said that "unless they are treated with more honest intelligence, and on a more settled plan than it has hitherto been thought necessary to apply to them, the British taxpayer will find that he has by no means heard the last of that country and its wars." Perhaps in a year from the present date the British taxpayer will be in a position to admit the value of this prophecy. Nearly two decades have gone by since these words were written. Put very briefly, what has happened in that time? In 1884, at the request of the Transvaal Government, the Ministry, of which the late Lord Derby was a member, consented to modify the Convention of 1881, and to substitute in its place what is known as the London Convention. This new agreement amended the terms of the former document in certain particulars. Notably all mention of the suzerainty of the Queen was omitted, from which circumstance the Boers and their impassioned advocates have argued that it was abrogated. There is nothing to show that this contention is correct. Mere silence does not destroy so important a stipulation, and it appears to be doubtful whether even a Lord Derby would have been prepared to nullify the imperial rights of his sovereign and his country in this negative and novel fashion. It is more probable to suppose that had such action been decided on, effect would have been given to it in direct and unmistakable language. But even if it could be proved that this view of the case is wrong, the general issue would scarcely be affected. That issue, as I understand it, is as follows: The Convention of 1881 guaranteed to all inhabitants of the Transvaal equal rights--"Complete self-government subject to the suzerainty of her Majesty, her heirs and successors, will be accorded to the _inhabitants of the Transvaal territory_"--Mr. Kruger explaining verbally at a meeting of the conference, that the only difference would be that in the case of young persons who became resident in the Transvaal, there might be some slight delay in granting full burgher privileges, limited, it would appear, to one year's residence.[1] After that time, then, according to the terms of this solemn agreement, which in these particulars were not modified or even touched, by the supplementary and amending paper of 1884, any one who wished to claim the advantages of Transvaal citizenship might do so. [1] In 1881, when the Convention was being discussed, President Kruger was asked by our representative what treatment would be given to British subjects in the Transvaal. He said, "All strangers have now, and will always have, equal rights and privileges to the Burghers of the Transvaal."--_Quotation from Speech of_ MR. J. CHAMBERLAIN, _June 26, 1899_. Some years later an event occurred fated profoundly to influence the destinies of South Africa, namely, the discovery of the Witwatersrand gold deposits, perhaps the richest and the most permanent in the whole world. Instantly adventurers, most of them of Anglo-Saxon origin, flocked in thousands to the place where countless wealth lay buried in the earth, and on the plains over which I have seen the wild game wandering, sprang up the city of Johannesburg with its motley and cosmopolitan population, its speculators, company promoters, traders, miners, and labouring men. To the Transvaal, at any rate in the beginning, the arrival of these wealth-engendering hordes was what the fall of copious rain is to the sun-parched veld. By this time the country was once more almost bankrupt, but now, as though by the waving of a magician's wand, money began to flow into its coffers. One of the characteristics of the Boer is his hatred of taxation; one of his notions of terrestrial bliss is to live in a land where the necessary expenses of administration are paid by somebody else, an advantage, I understand, that among all the civilised nations of the earth is enjoyed alone by the inhabitants of the Principality of Monaco. It is not usual, either in the instance of communities or individuals, that such ideals should be absolutely attained. Yet to the fortunate possessors of the South African Republic this happened. For quite a long period they lived at ease in their dorps and on their farms, while the dwellers at Johannesburg, delving like gnomes in the reefs of the Rand, provided them with magnificent and never-failing supplies of cash. Then questions began to arise, as they will do in this imperfect sphere. The Uitlanders, as the strangers were called, remembering the terms of the Conventions, drawn under a very different condition of affairs but still binding, hinted at a wish for burgher rights. The Boers, who if they liked their money objected to the money-makers, instantly took alarm. If the vote were given to the Uitlanders it was obvious that very soon they would outnumber the original electors. Then in a natural, but to them terrifying, sequence would come a redistribution of the burdens of taxation, the abolition of monopolies, the punishment of corruption, the just treatment of the native races, the absolute purity of the courts, and all the other things and institutions, in their eyes abominable, which mark the advent of Anglo-Saxon rule. Behind these also loomed another danger, that of the ultimate reappearance of the English flag. So legislation was resorted to, and bit by bit the Uitlanders were stripped of the rights inherent to their position as "inhabitants of the Transvaal territory," till at last none were left to them at all. Indeed Press laws were passed and other enactments controlling the privilege of free speech and public meetings. Of course had the British Government put down its foot firmly and at once at the first symptom of a desire on the part of the Boers to whittle away such advantages as the Conventions secured to our fellow-subjects, the present sad situation need never have arisen. But British Governments are seldom fond of doing things at the right time, more especially if the issue is not sufficiently distinct to be appreciated by the masses of the electorate. Therefore matters were allowed to drift, and they drifted into that outrageous fiasco, the Jameson Raid of 1895. Into the history of that event I do not propose to enter; it is sufficiently well known. Suffice it to say in this brief summary, that it was the result of a compact under which Dr. Jameson was to come to Johannesburg with a large armed force of Rhodesian police, with the view of assisting the Uitlanders to obtain by arms what was denied to their petitions. The agreement is undoubted and admitted, but all the rest is chaos. Failure in a hundred shapes dogged the steps of these ineffective conspirators. Dr. Jameson, with 500 men instead of 1200, took the bit between his teeth and started at the wrong time. The Uitlanders did not sally forth to meet him, the wires were not cut, the railway line was not destroyed, the Boers were warned, and assembled in great numbers. Dr. Jameson, who apparently lost his way on the veld, was entrapped into a bad position, where, after a space of somewhat feeble combat, he and his whole force surrendered, their lives being guaranteed to them. The despatch-box of the raiders, with the ciphers and sundry incriminating documents, was allowed to fall into the hands of the enemy, and, on their own ammunition-waggons, the personnel of the Raid performed the journey to that city of Pretoria, which when reinforced by the Uitlanders they were to have entered in triumph. Thence they were in due course despatched to London for trial. The members of the Reform Committee were also seized and tried at Pretoria, several of them being condemned to death, a sentence which was not executed; the whole story, coming to its end to an accompaniment of the clash not of swords, but of gold; the fines inflicted upon the conspirators by the Transvaal Government amounting to a total of many tens of thousands of pounds. Such, except for mutual recriminations which still continue, was the end of Johannesburg's armed attempt to throw off the yoke of the Boer, and of the efforts of the ruling powers of Rhodesia to assist them in the task. Of course the upshot was that the poor Uitlanders fell into a still deeper pit of oppression and despair. Lord Rosmead, then Sir Hercules Robinson, never a proconsul remarkable for an iron will, it is true visited the Transvaal in a great flurry, and assured, or caused Sir Sidney Shippard and the British agent, a gentleman of the somewhat alien-sounding name of Sir Jacobus de Wet, in substance to assure the Uitlanders that if only they would disarm probably their wrongs must shortly be righted by a beneficent Boer president, assisted to the task by a Raad full of forgiveness and charity. Moreover, Sir Jacobus de Wet told them explicitly that the lives of Jameson and his men depended upon their laying down such weapons as they possessed, although of course those lives were already guaranteed by the terms of the surrender. But this raid had wider issues of an imperial nature. Thus it provoked the famous telegram from the Emperor William II., which at one time threatened to bring about a war between Great Britain and Germany. Also, so far as these South African troubles were concerned, it put our country hopelessly in the wrong in the eyes of the civilised world, whom it proved difficult to persuade, although in fact this was the case, that such strange and tortuous developments of political and martial activity were purely local in their origin. Again it armed the Boer with a sword of wondrous power. If Providence had sent all the German legions to his aid it could scarcely have served him better. Now indeed he was able to point to his land violated by the foot of the invader, and to talk of raids as though such a wicked word had never defiled the innocence of his ears; as though in truth he had never heard of the plains of Stellaland, and of a certain expedition sent by the British Government under the command of Sir Charles Warren to preserve those territories to the peaceful enjoyment of their owners; nor of that stretch of country which once belonged to the Zulus, but is now called the New Republic; nor of the trek into Rhodesia that was "damped"; nor of the extension of authority over Swaziland in defiance of the provisions of the Convention, and of other kindred matters. Also it enabled him to claim "moral and intellectual damages" to a considerable amount, although, so far as the public is aware, these have never been satisfied, and indeed caused Pharaoh to harden his heart, and while demanding from the new Israelites of Johannesburg an even heavier tale of bricks in the shape of direct and indirect taxation, to deprive them one by one of their last straws of freedom. Thus things fell back into their former courses, the old abuses flourished like bay trees, the lucky holders of dynamite and other monopolies grew fabulously rich, and--so powerful is the love of gold--_auri sacra fames_--so much more do men value it than freedom and pure government--the population of Johannesburg still increased. More than two years have gone by since Sir Alfred Milner was sent as High Commissioner to South Africa, during all which time, backed by her Majesty's present Government, he has been doing his best to secure redress for the Uitlanders, and to arrange various differences that have arisen between the Empire and the Transvaal Republic. At length these efforts resulted in the meeting between himself and President Kruger, known as the Bloemfontein Conference, which took place about four months ago. At that Conference Sir Alfred Milner advanced the request, modest enough seeing that they are entitled to nothing less than equal rights with the other "inhabitants of the Transvaal," that those Uitlanders who wished to adopt the country as their home should be entitled to the franchise after five years' residence. This was refused by President Kruger as endangering the independence of the State, and the Conference broke up. It was from this time forward that war came to be looked upon as probable. In reply to various despatches and representations of the Imperial Government, the President and Volksraad made certain offers of a franchise which, if they were ever seriously meant, were hampered with provisos, such as rendered them impossible for this country to accept. Thus the five years' offer of August 19 was coupled with the conditions that in the future there should be no interference in the internal affairs of the Republic, that her Majesty's Government would not further insist on the assertion of the suzerainty, and that the principle of arbitration in the event of future differences arising should be admitted. Had the Government agreed to these terms it would have meant, of course, that the last shadow of the Queen's authority would have vanished from the Transvaal, and as they had bound themselves not to interfere in future, that they might be forced to look on while the franchise which was granted one year was repealed or rendered nugatory the next. Also, it must be remembered that this question of the franchise does not cover all the grounds of difference between the two parties; indeed, it seems that a great deal too much importance has been given to the matter. Even if a certain number of Uitlanders elected to become citizens of a Boer state, it is difficult to see, however advantageous that circumstance might prove to themselves, in what way it would directly assist the Imperial power on such a question, let us say, as the treatment of our Indian subjects settled in the Transvaal. To begin with, the new-born burghers might be indifferent to the needs and wishes of the country they had renounced. They might even consider that their oath of allegiance bound them to oppose those wishes. At the least, even if they had the power to help us, which could not be the case for many years, surely it would be neither wise nor dignified for the power to which they once belonged to trust solely to their good offices. In the newspapers and elsewhere Johannesburg and its Uitlanders are spoken of continually as though they made up the sum of the situation. It is the common cry of Liberal Forwards and of those gentlemen who might perhaps be called Radical Backwards, that this war is to be waged for the Uitlander and the millionaire. Of course this is not in the least true. The Uitlander, with his woes, is only the blister that has brought the sore of Transvaal misrule and Dutch ambitions in South Africa to so proud a head, that at last the South African Republic has come to describe itself as "a Sovereign independent State." That he and his "Magnates," as Rand millionaires are called, will profit enormously from a successful war waged by the Imperial Power is admitted; but because the effect of such a struggle will be ultimately to put a number of annual millions into certain pockets, it does not follow that the war is fought for that purpose. Indeed the veriest "jingo" could scarcely show himself self-sacrificing and altruistic. This is no local but an Imperial question to be decided in the interests of the Empire. To return to the course of the negotiations. Offers, withdrawals, stipulations, palliative clauses, proposals for further conferences followed each other in bewildering variety, till at length, worn out, Mr. Chamberlain, on September 22, intimated to the Government of the South African Republic, through Sir Alfred Milner, that it was "useless to further pursue a discussion on the lines hitherto followed, and her Majesty's Government are now compelled to consider the situation afresh, and to formulate their own proposals for a final settlement of the issues which have been created in South Africa by the policy constantly followed for many years by the Government of the South African Republic. They will communicate to you the result of their deliberations in a later despatch." It is rumoured that this later despatch has been delivered at Pretoria, but has as yet received no reply. Three days later, however, namely, on September 25, that industrious body, the Liberal Forwards, was honoured with a telegram from the State Secretary of the Transvaal, which runs as follows:-- "Liberal Forwards, London. Many thanks for your telegram. We stick to the Convention, and rely upon England doing the same, as Convention does not allow interference in internal affairs." When, however, it is remembered that the Convention did allow equal rights to all the "inhabitants of the Transvaal," it will be admitted that this cable is about the strangest of the remarkable series of State documents which of late have emanated from Pretoria. Very aptly it crystallises the spirit of Boer diplomacy--a bold disregard of inconvenient facts. Meanwhile in South Africa various events of importance have happened. The Orange Free State has openly thrown in its lot with the Transvaal. The Uitlanders have fled by thousands from Johannesburg. The Boers have massed their commandos at various points on the Natal and other British borders, presumably for offensive purposes, since at present they can expect no invasion of their territory. The first of these occurrences reveals the hidden purpose of the Dutch party in South Africa, as at night a sudden flash of lightning reveals the face of the veld. We have never threatened the Orange Free State; it has no grievance, no cause of quarrel, yet suddenly it appears in arms against us. Why? Because its citizens believe that the time has come to translate into action the old dream of the Boers, which so long as five-and-twenty years ago was familiar to the late President Burgers when he spoke of the coming Dutch Republic, with its eight millions of inhabitants ruling supreme in the vast territories between the Zambezi and the Cape. Now the great conspiracy that it has proved so hard to persuade the British public, or a blind section of it, to credit stands unveiled, and it has for object nothing less than the expulsion of the English power from Southern Africa--a vain thing fondly imagined, but still a thing with which we must reckon, and it is to be feared by the last stern expedient of arms, since here soft words and diplomacy are of no avail. Difficult as it is to make the fact understood among a proportion of the home electorate and publicists, it cannot be stated too often or too clearly that this war, which is to come, is a war that was forced upon us by the Boers in their blind ignorance and conceit. The mass of them believe, because they defeated our troops in various small affairs in 1881, that they are a match for the British Empire. Their leaders are better instructed. They trust not so much, perhaps, to the rifles of their compatriots as to the prowess of certain party captains in England, and to the enthusiasm of their advocates among the English Press and public. They remember that the activity of these forces eighteen years ago was followed by a miserable surrender on the part of the English Government, and not understanding how greatly opinion has changed in this country, they hope that history may repeat itself, and that England, wearying of an unpopular struggle, will soon cede to them all they ask. They are mistaken, but such is their faith. They hope also, perchance with better reason, that other complications may force us to stay our hand. If no more telegrams can be extracted from the German Emperor, still there is a German regiment fighting on their side who will take with them the sympathies of the Fatherland, and they know that the hearts of the great Powers of Europe will go out towards any people who try to strike a blow at the root of the ever-growing tree of the might of the British Empire. Buoyed up by bubbles such as these they have determined to tempt the stern arbitrament of battle.[2] [2] See the very remarkable letter of the Boer "P.S." to the _Times_ of October 14th, printed as Appendix III. to this book, p. 241. Can it still be avoided? It would seem that except by our surrender, which is out of the question, for that means the loss not only of South Africa, but of our prestige throughout the world, this is not in any way possible. Already acts of war have taken place, such as the seizure of the gold from the mines, and the commandeering of goods belonging to British subjects, and perhaps days before these lines can appear in print the guns will have begun their reasoning.[3] [3] Since the above was written, in the swift march of events, the Transvaal has despatched its "ultimatum," perhaps the most egregious document ever addressed to a great Power by a petty State. In effect it is a declaration of war, and hostilities have now commenced with the destruction by the Boers of an armoured train at Kraaipan, and the capture or slaying of its escort. H. R. H. _9th October _ 1899. After the rebellion of 1881 a Boer jury, to whom the case was committed by the tender mercies of Mr. Gladstone's Government, with the murdered man's bullet-riddled skull lying before them upon the table of the Court, acquitted the brutal slaughterers of Captain Elliot, not because they had not done the deed with every circumstance of horrible treachery and premeditation, but because to find them guilty was against their brethren's wish. In much the same way, with all the facts staring them in the face, there are men in England, some of them of high position and character, who urge the righteousness of the Boer cause, and with tongue and pen paint our national iniquity in hues black as ink and red as blood. They write of the "Objects of the War," which they do not hesitate to describe as self-seeking and infamous, so far of course as the English people are concerned, for according to the same authorities, the Boer objects are uniformly pure and noble. Would it not be better if they looked back a little and tried to discover the causes of the war? I think that if they could have witnessed a certain scene upon the market-square at Newcastle, at which it was my misfortune to be present, on that night of the year 1881 when the news of the base betrayal of the loyalists by England became known, they would win a better understanding of the question. In the spectacle of that maddened crowd of three or four thousand ruined and deserted men, English, Boer, and Kaffir, raving, weeping, and blaspheming in the despair of their shame and bitterness, they might have found enlightenment. Even now a study of the following forgotten letter written by Mr. White, the chairman of the Committee of Loyal Inhabitants, to Mr. Gladstone, might give to some a food for thought:-- "If, sir, you had seen, as I have seen, promising young citizens of Pretoria dying of wounds received for their country, and if you had had the painful duty, as I have had, of bringing to their friends at home the last mementoes of the departed; if you had seen the privations and discomforts which delicate women and children bore without murmuring for upwards of three months; if you had seen strong men crying like children at the cruel and undeserved desertion of England; if you had seen the long strings of half-desperate loyalists, shaking the dust off their feet as they left the country, as I saw on my way to Newcastle; and if you yourself had invested your all on the strength of the word of England, and now saw yourself in a fair way of being beggared by the acts of the country in whom you trusted, you would, sir, I think, be 'pronounced,' and England would ring with eloquent entreaties and threats which would compel a hearing.... We claim, sir, at least as much justice as the Boers. We are faithful subjects of England, and have suffered and are suffering for our fidelity. Surely we, the friends of our country, who stood by her in the time of trial, have as much right to consideration as rebels who fought against her. We rely on her word. We rely on the frequently repeated pledges and promises of her ministers in which we have trusted. We rely on her sense of moral right not to do us the grievous wrong which this miserable peace contemplates. We rely on her fidelity to obligations, and on her ancient reputation for honour and honesty. We rely on the material consequences which will follow on a breach of faith to us. England cannot afford to desert us after having solemnly pledged herself to us." "England cannot afford to desert us!" but England, or her rulers, could and did afford itself this luxury. In vain did such men as the late Lord Beaconsfield, the late Lord Cairns, and Lord Salisbury protest and point out dangers. In vain did agonised loyalists flourish their own words and promises in the face of her Majesty's Government; the spirit of party, or the promptings of a newly acquired conscience proved too strong. Her Majesty's loyal subjects were sneered at, insulted, and abandoned, and the Boer, who had butchered them, was bid to go on and prosper. Now, nearly twenty years afterwards, England is called upon to pay the bill of what is in effect, whatever may have been its motives, one of the most infamous acts that stains the pages of her history. From the moment that the Convention of 1881 was signed it became as certain as anything human can be, that one of two things would happen--either that the Imperial Power must in practice be driven out of South Africa, or that a time would come when it must be forced to assert its dominion even at the price of war. Now that miserable hour is with us, and we are called upon to suppress by arms a small, but sullen and obstinate people, whom we have taught to believe themselves our equals, if not our superiors. Unless they will yield at the last moment, which seems impossible seeing that the war is of their own choosing, the new settlement of South Africa must be celebrated by a mighty sacrifice of their blood and our blood. Not to dwell upon other griefs and dangers, when, I ask, will the smoke and the smell of it depart from the eyes and nostrils of the dwellers in that unhappy land? As they troop back merrily to their mines and workshops the money-spinners of Johannesburg may forget a past of which, in many instances at least, their chief impression will be that it was unpleasant and unprofitable. But after the Rand is worked out, when the stamps cease to fall heavily by day and night, when the great heaps of tailings no longer increase from month to month, when the broker's voice is quiet in the Exchange, and the promoter inhabits some new city, still the Boer women in the farmhouses will tell their children how the "damned English soldiers" shot their grandfathers and took the land. In South Africa new Irelands will arise, and from the dragon's teeth that we are forced to sow the harvest of hate will spring, and spring again. Thus must we eat of the bitter bread which we have baked, and thus the ill fowl that we reared have come home to roost, bringing their broods with them. Again and again we have blundered in our treatment of the Dutch. For instance, with kinder and fairer management they would never have trekked from the Cape sixty years ago. Also, had the promises which were made to them at the annexation in 1877 been kept, and had not Sir Theophilus Shepstone, who grew up amongst them and to whom they were attached, been removed in favour of a military martinet, there would have been no rebellion, let the Cape wire-pullers working under a cloak of loyalty to the Crown strive as they might. But the rebellion came and the defeats, and after these that surrender whereof this country is called upon to pluck the fruit to-day, which, by the Boers, is attributed to those defeats with the fear of their prowess and to nothing else. And now, in due season, the war comes; an inevitable war which cannot be escaped, and must be fought out to the end. There is only room for one paramount power in Southern Africa! How all these things happened is told briefly, but I trust clearly, in the following pages. My excuse for reprinting them must be the desire which, it is said, exists among some readers to become better acquainted with the facts that engendered the present fateful crisis. H. RIDER HAGGARD. _9th October _1899. CONTENTS. PAGES AUTHOR'S NOTE v CHAPTER I. ITS INHABITANTS, LAWS, AND CUSTOMS. Invasion by Mosilikatze--Arrival of the emigrant Boers--Establishment of the South African Republic--The Sand River Convention--Growth of the territory of the republic--The native tribes surrounding it-- Capabilities of the country--Its climate--Its inhabitants--The Boers --Their peculiarities and mode of life--Their abhorrence of settled government and payment of taxes--The Dutch patriotic party--Form of government previous to the annexation--Courts of law--The commando system--Revenue arrangements--Native races in the Transvaal 1-22 CHAPTER II. EVENTS PRECEDING THE ANNEXATION. Mr. Burgers elected president--His character and aspirations--His pension from the English Government--His visit to England--The railway loan--Relations of the republic with native tribes--The pass laws--Its quarrel with Cetywayo--Confiscation of native territory in the Keate Award--Treaty with the Swazi king--The Secocoeni war--Capture of Johannes' stronghold by the Swazi allies--Attack on Secocoeni's mountain--Defeat and dispersion of the Boers--Elation of the natives--Von Schlickmann's volunteers-- Cruelties perpetrated--Abel Erasmus--Treatment of natives by Boers --Public meeting at Potchefstroom in 1868--The slavery question-- Some evidence on the subject--Pecuniary position of the Transvaal prior to the annexation--Internal troubles--Divisions amongst the Boers--Hopeless condition of the country 23-49 CHAPTER III. THE ANNEXATION. Anxiety of Lord Carnarvon--Despatch of Sir T. Shepstone as Special Commissioner to the Transvaal--Sir T. Shepstone, his great experience and ability--His progress to Pretoria, and reception there--Feelings excited by the arrival of the mission--The annexation _not_ a foregone conclusion--Charge brought against Sir T. Shepstone of having called up the Zulu army to sweep the Transvaal--Its complete falsehood--Cetywayo's message to Sir T. Shepstone--Evidence on the matter summed up--General desire of the natives for English rule--Habitual disregard of their interests--Assembly of the Volksraad--Rejection of Lord Carnarvon's Confederation Bill and of President Burgers' new constitution--President Burgers' speeches to the Raad--His posthumous statement--Communication to the Raad of Sir T. Shepstone's intention to annex the country--Despatch of Commission to inquire into the alleged peace with Secocoeni--Its fraudulent character discovered--Progress of affairs in the Transvaal--Paul Kruger and his party--Restlessness of natives--Arrangements for the annexation--The annexation proclamation 50-86 CHAPTER IV. THE TRANSVAAL UNDER BRITISH RULE. Reception of the annexation--Major Clarke and the Volunteers--Effect of the annexation on credit and commerce--Hoisting of the Union Jack--Ratification of the annexation by Parliament--Messrs. Kruger and Jorissen's mission to England--Agitation against the annexation in the Cape Colony--Sir T. Shepstone's tour--Causes of the growth of discontent among the Boers--Return of Messrs. Jorissen and Kruger --The Government dispenses with their services--Despatch of a second deputation to England--Outbreak of war with Secocoeni--Major Clarke, R.A.--The Gunn of Gunn plot--Mission of Captain Paterson and Mr. Sergeaunt to Matabeleland--Its melancholy termination--The Isandhlwana disaster--Departure of Sir T. Shepstone for England--Another Boer meeting--The Pretoria Horse--Advance of the Boers on Pretoria-- Arrival of Sir B. Frere at Pretoria and dispersion of the Boers-- Arrival of Sir Garnet Wolseley--His proclamation--The Secocoeni expedition--Proceedings of the Boers--Mr. Pretorius--Mr. Gladstone's Mid-Lothian speeches, their effect--Sir G. Wolseley's speech at Pretoria, its good results--Influx of Englishmen and cessation of agitation--Financial position of the country after three years of British rule--Letter of the Boer leaders to Mr. Courtney 87-119 CHAPTER V. THE BOER REBELLION. Accession of Mr. Gladstone to power--His letters to the Boer leader and the loyals--His refusal to rescind the annexation--The Boers encouraged by prominent members of the Radical party--The Bezeidenhout incident--Despatch of troops to Potchefstroom--Mass meeting of the 8th December 1880--Appointment of the Triumvirate and declaration of the republic--Despatch of Boer proclamation to Sir O. Lanyon--His reply--Outbreak of hostilities at Potchefstroom --Defence of the court-house by Major Clarke--The massacre of the detachment of the 94th under Colonel Anstruther--Dr. Ward--The Boer rejoicings--The Transvaal placed under martial law--Abandonment of their homes by the people of Pretoria--Sir Owen Lanyon's admirable defence organisation--Second proclamation issued by the Boers--Its complete falsehood--Life at Pretoria during the siege--Murders of natives by the Boers--Loyal conduct of the native chiefs--Difficulty of preventing them from attacking the Boers--Occupation of Lang's Nek by the Boers--Sir George Colley's departure to Newcastle--The condition of that town--The attack on Lang's Nek--Its desperate nature--Effect of victory on the Boers--The battle at the Ingogo-- Our defeat--Sufferings of the wounded--Major Essex--Advance of the Boers into Natal--Constant alarms--Expected attack on Newcastle-- Its unorganised and indefensible condition--Arrival of the reinforcements and retreat of the Boers to the Nek--Despatch of General Wood to bring up more reinforcements--Majuba Hill--Our disaster, and death of Sir George Colley--Cause of our defeat--A Boer version of the disaster--Sir George Colley's tactics 120-155 CHAPTER VI. THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL. The Queen's Speech--President Brand and Lord Kimberley--Sir Henry de Villiers--Sir George Colley's plan--Paul Kruger's offer--Sir George Colley's remonstrance--Complimentary telegrams--Effect of Majuba on the Boers and English Government--Collapse of the Government--Reasons of the surrender--Professional sentimentalists --The Transvaal Independence Committee--Conclusion of the armistice --The preliminary peace--Reception of the news in Natal--Newcastle after the declaration of peace--Exodus of the loyal inhabitants of the Transvaal--The value of property in Pretoria--The Transvaal officials dismissed--The Royal Commission--Mode of trial of persons accused of atrocities--Decision of the Commission and its results --The severance of territory question--Arguments _pro_ and _con_-- Opinion of Sir E. Wood--Humility of the Commissioners and its cause --Their decision on the Keate Award question--The Montsioa difficulty --The compensation and financial clauses of the report of the Commission--The duties of the British Resident--Sir E. Wood's dissent from the report of the Commission--Signing of the Convention--Burial of the Union Jack--The native side of the question--Interview between the Commissioners and the native chiefs--Their opinion of the surrender--Objections of the Boer Volksraad to the Convention--Mr. Gladstone temporises--The ratification--Its insolent tone--Mr. Hudson, the British Resident --The Boer festival--The results of the Convention--The larger issue of the matter--Its effect on the Transvaal--Its moral aspects--Its effect on the native mind 156-202 CHAPTER VII. Extract from Introduction to new edition of 1888 203 APPENDIX. I. The Potchefstroom Atrocities, &c. 231 II. Pledges given by Mr. Gladstone's Government as to the Retention of the Transvaal 239 III. A Boer on Boer Designs 241 _THE TRANSVAAL._ CHAPTER I. ITS INHABITANTS, LAWS, AND CUSTOMS. The Transvaal is a country without a history. Its very existence was hardly known of until about fifty years ago. Of its past we know nothing. The generations who peopled its great plains have passed utterly out of the memory and even the tradition of man, leaving no monument to mark that they have existed, not even a tomb. During the reign of Chaka, 1813-1828, whose history has been sketched in a previous chapter, one of his most famous generals, Mosilikatze, surnamed the Lion, seceded from him with a large number of his soldiers, and striking up in a north-westerly direction, settled in or about what is now the Morico district of the Transvaal. The country through which Mosilikatze passed was at that time thickly populated with natives of the Basuto or Macatee race, whom the Zulus look upon with great contempt. Mosilikatze expressed the feelings of his tribe in a practical manner, by massacring every living soul of them that came within his reach. That the numbers slaughtered were very great, the numerous ruins of Basuto kraals all over the country testify. It was Chaka's intention to follow up Mosilikatze and destroy him, but he was himself assassinated before he could do so. Dingaan, his successor, however, carried out his brother's design, and despatched a large force to punish him. This army, after marching over 300 miles, burst upon Mosilikatze, drove him back with slaughter, and returned home triumphant. The invasion is important, because the Zulus claim the greater part of the Transvaal territory by virtue of it. About the time that Mosilikatze was conquered, 1835-1840, the discontented Boers were leaving the Cape Colony exasperated at the emancipation of the slaves by the Imperial authorities. First they made their way to Natal, but being followed thither by the English flag they travelled further inland over the Vaal River and founded the town of Mooi River Dorp or Potchefstroom. Here they were joined by other malcontents from the Orange Sovereignty, which, though afterwards abandoned, was at that time a British possession. Acting upon "The good old rule, the simple plan, Of let him take who has the power, And let him keep who can," the Boers now proceeded to possess themselves of as much territory as they wanted. Nor was this a difficult task. The country was, as I have said, peopled by Macatees, who are a poor-spirited race as compared to the Zulus, and had had what little courage they possessed crushed out of them by the rough handling they had received at the hands of Mosilikatze and Dingaan. The Boers, they argued, could not treat them worse than the Zulus had done. Occasionally a chief, bolder than the rest, would hold out, and then such an example was made of him and his people that few cared to follow in his footsteps. As soon as the Boers were fairly settled in their new home, they began to think about setting up a Government. First they tried a system of Commandants, with a Commandant-general, but this does not seem to have answered. Next, those of their number who lived in Lydenburg district (where the gold-fields now are) set up a Republic, with a President and Volksraad, or popular assembly. This example was followed by the other white inhabitants of the country, who formed another Republic and elected another President, with Pretoria for their capital. The two republics were subsequently incorporated. In 1852 the Imperial authorities, having regard to the expense of maintaining an effective government over an unwilling people in an undeveloped and half-conquered country, concluded a convention with the emigrant Boers "beyond the Vaal River." The following were the principal stipulations of this convention, drawn up between Major Hogg and Mr. Owen, Her Majesty's Assistant-Commissioners for the settling and adjusting of the affairs of the eastern and north-eastern boundaries of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope on the one part, and a deputation representative of the emigrant farmers north of the Vaal River on the other. It was guaranteed "in the fullest manner on the part of the British Government to the emigrant farmers beyond the Vaal River the right to manage their own affairs, and to govern themselves according to their own laws, without any interference on the part of the British Government, and that no encroachment shall be made by the said Government on the territory beyond to the north of the Vaal River, with the further assurance that the warmest wish of the British Government is to promote peace, free trade, and friendly intercourse with the emigrant farmers now inhabiting, or who hereafter may inhabit that country, it being understood that this system of non-interference is binding on both parties." Next were disclaimed, on behalf of the British Government, "all alliances whatever and with whomsoever of the coloured nations to the north of the Vaal River." It was also agreed "that no slavery is or shall be permitted or practised in the country to the north of the Vaal River by the emigrant farmers." It was further agreed "that no objection shall be made by any British authority against the emigrant Boers purchasing their supplies of ammunition in any of the British colonies and possessions of South Africa; it being mutually understood that all trade in ammunition with the native tribes is prohibited both by the British Government and the emigrant farmers on both sides of the Vaal River." These were the terms of this famous convention, which is as slipshod in its diction as it is vague in its meaning. What, for instance, is meant by the territory to the north of the Vaal River? According to the letter of the agreement, Messrs. Hogg and Owen ceded all the territory between the Vaal and Egypt. This historical document was the Charta of the new-born South African Republic. Under its provisions, the Boers, now safe from interference on the part of the British, established their own Government and promulgated their "Grond Wet," or Constitution. The history of the Republic between 1852 and 1876 is not very interesting, and is besides too wearisome to enter into here. It consists of an oft-told tale of civil broils, attacks on native tribes, and encroachment on native territories. Until shortly before the Annexation, every burgher was, on coming of age, entitled to receive from the Government 6000 acres of land. As these rights were in the early days of the Republic frequently sold to speculators for such trifles as a bottle of brandy or half a dozen of beer, and as the seller still required his 6000 acres: for a Boer considers it beneath his dignity to settle on less, it is obvious that it required a very large country to satisfy all demands. To meet these demands, the territories of the Republic had to be stretched like an elastic band, and they were stretched accordingly,--at the expense of the natives. The stretching process was an ingenious one, and is very well described in a minute written by Mr. Osborn, the late magistrate at Newcastle, dated 22d September 1876, in these words:-- "The Boers, as they have done in other cases and are still doing, encroached by degrees on native territory, commencing by obtaining permission to graze stock upon portions of it at certain seasons of the year, followed by individual graziers obtaining from native headmen a sort of right or license to squat upon certain defined portions, ostensibly in order to keep other Boer squatters away from the same land. These licenses, temporarily intended as friendly or neighbourly acts by unauthorised headmen, after a few seasons of occupation by the Boer, are construed by him as title, and his permanent occupation ensues. Damage for trespass is levied by him from the very man from whom he obtained the right to squat, to which the natives submit out of fear of the matter reaching the ears of the paramount chief, who would in all probability severely punish them for opening the door to encroachment by the Boer. After a while, however, the matter comes to a crisis in consequence of the incessant disputes between the Boers and the natives; one or other of the disputants lays the case before the paramount chief, who, when hearing both parties, is literally frightened with violence and threats by the Boer into granting him the land. Upon this the usual plan followed by the Boer is at once to collect a few neighbouring Boers, including a field cornet, or even an acting provisional field cornet, appointed by the field cornet or provisional cornet, the latter to represent the Government, although without instructions authorising him to act in the matter. A few cattle are collected among themselves, which the party takes to the chief, and his signature is obtained to a written document alienating to the Republican Boers a large slice of all his territory. The contents of this document are, as far as I can make out, never clearly or intelligibly explained to the chief, who signs and accepts of the cattle under the impression that it is all in settlement of hire for the grazing licenses granted by his headmen. This, I have no hesitation in saying, is the usual method by which the Boers obtain what they call cessions to them of territories by native chiefs. In Secocoeni's case they allege that his father Sequati cedes to them the whole of his territory (hundreds of square miles) for a hundred head of cattle." So rapidly did this process go on that the little Republic to the "North of the Vaal River" had at the time of the Annexation grown into a country of the size of France. Its boundaries had only been clearly defined where they abutted on neighbouring White Communities, or on the territories of great native powers, on which the Government had not dared to infringe to any marked degree, such as those of Lo Bengula's people in the north. But wheresoever on the State's borders there had been no white Power to limit its advances, or where the native tribes had found themselves too isolated or too weak to resist aggressions, there the Republic had by degrees encroached, and extended the shadow, if not the substance, of its authority. The Transvaal has a boundary line of over 1600 miles in circumference, and of this a large portion is disputed by different native tribes. Speaking generally, the territory lies between the 22° and 28° of South Latitude and the 25° and 32° of East Longitude, or between the Orange Free State, Natal and Griqualand West on the south, and the Limpopo River on the north; and between the Lebombo mountains on the east, and the Kalihari desert on the west. On the north of its territory live three great tribes--the Makalaka, the Matabele, (descendants of the Zulus who deserted Chaka under Mosilikatze), and the Matyana. These tribes are all warlike. On the west, following the line down to the Diamond Field territory, are the Sicheli, the Bangoaketsi, the Baralong, and the Koranna tribes. Passing round by Griqualand West, the Free State, and Natal, we reach Zululand on the south-east corner; then come the Lebombo mountains on the east, separating the Transvaal from Amatonga land, and from the so-called Portuguese possessions, which are entirely in the hands of native tribes, most of them subject to the great Zulu chief, Umzeila, who has his stronghold in the north-east. It will be observed that the country is almost surrounded by native tribes. Besides these there are about one million native inhabitants living within its borders. In one district alone, Zoutpansberg, it is computed that there are 364,250 natives, as compared to about 750 whites. If a beautiful and fertile country were alone necessary to make a state and its inhabitants happy and prosperous, happiness and prosperity would rain upon the Transvaal and the Dutch Boers. The capabilities of this favoured land are vast and various. Within its borders are to be found highlands and lowlands, vast stretches of rolling veldt like gigantic sheep downs, hundreds of miles of swelling bushland, huge tracts of mountainous country, and even little glades spotted with timber that remind one of an English park. There is every possible variety of soil and scenery. Some districts will grow all tropical produce, whilst others are well suited for breeding sheep, cattle, and horses. Most of the districts will produce wheat and all other cereals in greater perfection and abundance than any of the other South African colonies. Two crops of cereals may be obtained from the soil every year, and both the vine and tobacco are cultivated with great success. Coffee, sugar-cane, and cotton have been grown with profit in the northern parts of the State. Also the undeveloped mineral wealth of the country is very great. Its known minerals are gold, copper, lead, cobalt, iron, coal, tin, and plumbago: copper and iron having long been worked by the natives. Altogether there is little doubt that the Transvaal is the richest of all the South African states, and had it remained under English rule it would, with the aid of English enterprise and capital, have become a very wealthy and prosperous country. However there is little chance of that now. Perhaps the greatest charm of the Transvaal lies in its climate, which is among the best in the world, and in all the southern districts very healthy. During the winter months--that is, from April to October--little or no rain falls, and the climate is cold and bracing. In summer it is rather warm, but not overpoweringly hot, the thermometer at Pretoria averaging from 65° to 73° and in the winter from 59° to 65°. The population of the Transvaal is estimated at about 40,000 whites, mostly of Dutch origin, consisting of about thirty vast families; and one million natives. There are several towns, the largest of which are Pretoria and Potchefstroom. Such is the country that we annexed in 1877, and were drummed out of in 1881. Now let us turn to its inhabitants. It has been the fashion to talk of the Transvaal as though nobody but Boers lived in it. In reality the inhabitants were divided into three classes: 1. Natives; 2. Boers; 3. English. I say were divided, because the English class can now hardly be said to exist, the country having been made too hot to hold it since the war. The natives stand in the proportion of nearly twenty to one to the whites. The Boers were in their turn much more numerous than the English, but the latter owned nearly all the trading establishments in the country, and also a very large amount of property. The Transvaal Boers have been very much praised up by members of the Government in England, and others who are anxious to advance their interests, as against English interests. Mr. Gladstone, indeed, can hardly find words strong enough to express his admiration of their leaders, those "able men," since they inflicted a national humiliation on us; and doubtless they are a people with many good points. That they are not devoid of sagacity can be seen by the way they have dealt with the English Government. The Boers are certainly a peculiar people, though they can hardly be said to be "zealous of good works." They are very religious, but their religion takes its colour from the darkest portions of the Old Testament; lessons of mercy and gentleness are not at all to their liking, and they seldom care to read the Gospels. What they delight in are the stories of wholesale butchery by the Israelites of old; and in their own position they find a reproduction of that of the first settlers in the Holy Land. Like them they think they are entrusted by the Almighty with the task of exterminating the heathen native tribes around them, and are always ready with a scriptural precedent for slaughter and robbery. The name of the Divinity is continually on their lips, sometimes in connection with very doubtful statements. They are divided into three sects, none of which care much for the other two. These are the Doppers, who number about half the population, the Orthodox Reform, and the Liberal Reform, which is the least numerous. Of these three sects the Doppers are by far the most uncompromising and difficult to deal with. They much resemble the Puritans of Charles the First's time, of the extreme Hew-Agag-in-pieces stamp. It is difficult to agree with those who call the Boers cowards, an accusation which the whole of their history belies. A Boer does not like fighting if he can avoid it, because he sets a high value on his own life; but if he is cornered, he will fight as well as anybody else. The Boers fought well enough in the late war, though that, it is true, is no great criterion of courage, since they were throughout flushed with victory, and, owing to the poor shooting of the British troops, in but little personal danger. One very unpleasant characteristic they have, and that is an absence of regard for the truth, especially where land is concerned. Indeed the national characteristic is crystallised into a proverb, "I am no slave to my word." It has several times happened to me to see one set of highly respectable witnesses in a land case go into the box and swear distinctly that they saw a beacon placed on a certain spot, whilst an equal number on the other side will swear that they saw it placed a mile away. Filled as they are with a land hunger, to which that of the Irish peasant is a weak and colourless sentiment, there is little that they will not do to gratify their taste. It is the subject of constant litigation amongst them, and it is by no means uncommon for a Boer to spend several thousand pounds in lawsuits over a piece of land not worth as many hundreds. Personally Boers are fine men, but as a rule ugly. Their women-folk are good-looking in early life, but get very stout as they grow older. They, in common with most of their sex, understand how to use their tongues; indeed, it is said that it was the women who caused the rising against the English Government. None of the refinements of civilisation enter into the life of an ordinary Transvaal Boer. He lives in a way that would shock an English labourer at twenty-five shillings the week, although he is very probably worth fifteen or twenty thousand pounds. His home is but too frequently squalid and filthy to an extraordinary degree. He himself has no education, and does not care that his children should receive any. He lives by himself in the middle of a great plot of land, his nearest neighbour being perhaps ten or twelve miles away, caring but little for the news of the outside world and nothing for its opinions, doing very little work, but growing daily richer through the increase of his flocks and herds. His expenses are almost nothing, and as he gets older wealth increases upon him. The events in his life consist of an occasional trip on "commando" against some native tribe, attending a few political meetings, and the journeys he makes with his family to the nearest town, some four times a year, in order to be present at "Nachtmaal" or communion. Foreigners, especially Englishmen, he detests, but he is kindly and hospitable to his own people. Living isolated as he does, the lord of a little kingdom, he naturally comes to have a great idea of himself, and a corresponding contempt for all the rest of mankind. Laws and taxes are things distasteful to him, and he looks upon it as an impertinence that any court should venture to call him to account for his doings. He is rich and prosperous, and the cares of poverty, and all the other troubles that fall to the lot of civilised men, do not affect him. He has no romance in him, nor any of the higher feelings and aspirations that are found in almost every other race; in short, unlike the Zulu he despises, there is little of the gentleman in his composition, though he is at times capable of acts of kindness and even generosity. His happiness is to live alone in the great wilderness, with his children, his men-servants, and his maid-servants, his flocks and his herds, the monarch of all he surveys. If civilisation presses him too closely, his remedy is a simple one. He sells his farm, packs up his goods and cash in his waggon, and starts for regions more congenially wild. Such are some of the leading characteristics of that remarkable product of South Africa, the Transvaal Boer, who resembles no other white man in the world. Perhaps, however, the most striking of all his oddities is his abhorrence of all government, more especially if that government be carried out according to English principles. The Boers have always been more or less in rebellion; they rebelled against the rule of the Company when the Cape belonged to Holland, they rebelled against the English Government in the Cape, they were always in a state of semi-rebellion against their own Government in the Transvaal, and now they have for the second time, with the most complete success, rebelled against the English Government. The fact of the matter is that the bulk of their number hate all Governments, because Governments enforce law and order, and they hate the English Government worst of all because it enforces law and order most of all. It is not liberty they long for, but license. The "sturdy independence" of the Boer resolves itself into a determination not to have his affairs interfered with by any superior power whatsoever, and not to pay taxes if he can possibly avoid it. But he has also a specific cause of complaint against the English Government, which would alone cause him to do his utmost to get rid of it, and that is its mode of dealing with natives, which is radically opposite to his own. This is the secret of Boer patriotism. To understand it, it must be remembered that the Englishman and the Boer look at natives from a very different point of view. The Englishman, though he may not be very fond of him, at any rate regards the Kafir as a fellow human being with feelings like his own. The average Boer does not. He looks upon the "black creature" as having been delivered into his hand by the "Lord" for his own purposes, that is, to shoot and enslave. He must not be blamed too harshly for this, for, besides being naturally of a somewhat hard disposition, hatred of the native is hereditary, and is partly induced by the history of many a bloody struggle. Also the native hates the Boer fully as much as the Boer hates the native, though with better reason. Now native labour is a necessity to the Boer, because he will not as a rule do hard manual labour himself, and there must be some one to plant and garner the crops and herd the cattle. On the other hand, the natives are not anxious to serve the Boers, which means little or no pay and plenty of thick stick, and sometimes worse. The result of this state of affairs is that the Boer often has to rely on forced labour to a very great extent. But this is a thing that an English Government will not tolerate, and the consequence is that under its rule he cannot get the labour that is necessary to him. Then there is the tax question. If he lives under the English flag the money has to be paid regularly, but under his own Government he pays or not as he likes. It was this habit of his of refusing payment of taxes that brought the Republic into difficulties in 1877, and that will ere long bring it into trouble again. He cannot understand that cash is necessary to carry on a Government, and looks upon a tax as though it were so much money stolen from him. These things are the real springs of the "sturdy independence" and the patriotism of the ordinary Transvaal farmer. Doubtless there are some who are really patriotic; for instance, one of their leaders, Paul Kruger. But with the majority, patriotism is only another word for unbounded license and forced labour. These remarks must not be taken to apply to the Cape Boers, who are a superior class of men, since they, living under a settled and civilised Government, have been steadily improving, whilst their cousins, living every man for his own hand, have been deteriorating. The old Voortrekkers, the fathers and grandfathers of the Transvaal Boer of to-day, were, without doubt, a very fine set of men, and occasionally you may in the Transvaal meet individuals of the same stamp whom it is a pleasure to know. But these are generally men of a certain age, with some experience of the world; the younger men are very objectionable in their manners. The real Dutch Patriotic party is not to be found in the Transvaal, but in the Cape Colony. Their object, which, as affairs now are, is well within the bounds of possibility, is by fair means or foul to swamp the English element in South Africa, and to establish a great Dutch Republic. It was this party, which consists of clever and well educated men, who raised the outcry against the Transvaal Annexation, because it meant an enormous extension of English influence, and who had the wit, by means of their emissaries and newspapers, to work upon the feeling of the ignorant Transvaal farmers until they persuaded them to rebel; and finally, to avail themselves of the yearnings of English radicalism for the disruption of the Empire and the minimisation of British authority, to get the Annexation cancelled. All through this business the Boers have more or less danced in obedience to strings pulled at Cape Town, and it is now said that one of the chief wire-pullers, Mr. Hofmeyer, is to be asked to become President of the Republic. These men are the real patriots of South Africa, and very clever ones too--not the Transvaal Boers, who vapour about their blood and their country and the accursed Englishman to order, and are in reality influenced by very small motives, such as the desire to avoid payment of taxes, or to hunt away a neighbouring Englishman, whose civilisation and refinement are as offensive as his farm is desirable. Such are the Dutch inhabitants of the Transvaal. I will now give a short sketch of their institutions as they were before the Annexation, and to which the community has reverted since its recision, with, I believe, but few alterations. The form of government is republican, and to all intents and purposes manhood suffrage prevails, supreme power resting in the people. The executive power of the State centres in a President elected by the people to hold office for a term of five years, every voter having a voice in his election. He is assisted in the execution of his duties by an Executive Council, consisting of the State Secretary and such other three members as are selected for that purpose by the legislative body, the Volksraad. The State Secretary holds office for four years, and is elected by the Volksraad. The members of the Executive have all seats in the Volksraad, but have no votes. The Volksraad is the legislative body of the State, and consists of forty-two members. The country is divided into twelve electoral districts, each of which has the right to return three members; the Gold Fields have also the right of electing two members, and the four principal towns one member each. There is no power in the State competent to either prorogue or dissolve the Volksraad except that body itself, so that an appeal to the country on a given subject or policy is impossible without its concurrence. Members are elected for four years, but half retire by rotation every two years, the vacancies being filled by re-elections. Members must have been voters for three years, and be not less than thirty years of age, must belong to a Protestant Church, be resident in the country, and owners of immovable property therein. A father and son cannot sit in the same Raad, neither can seats be occupied by coloured persons, bastards, or officials. For each electoral district there is a magistrate or Landdrost, whose duties are similar to those of a Civil Commissioner. These districts are again subdivided into wards presided over by field cornets, who exercise judicial powers in minor matters, and in times of war have considerable authority. The Roman Dutch law is the common law of the country, as it is of the colonies of the Cape of Good Hope and Natal, and of the Orange Free State. Prior to the Annexation justice was administered in a very primitive fashion. First, there was the Landdrosts' Court, from which an appeal lay to a court consisting of the Landdrost and six councillors elected by the public. This was a court of first instance as well as a court of appeal. Then there was a Supreme Court, consisting of three Landdrosts from three different districts, and a jury of twelve selected from the burghers of the State. There was no appeal from this court, but cases have sometimes been brought under the consideration of the Volksraad as the supreme power. It is easy to imagine what the administration of justice was like when the presidents of all the law courts in the country were elected by the mob, not on account of their knowledge of the law, but because they were popular. Suitors before the old Transvaal courts found the law surprisingly uncertain. A High Court of Justice was, however, established after the Annexation, and has been continued by the Volksraad, but an agitation is being got up against it, and it will possibly be abolished in favour of the old system. In such a community as that of the Transvaal Boers the question of public defence was evidently of the first importance. This is provided for under what is known as the Commando system. The President, with the concurrence of the Executive Council, has the right of declaring war, and of calling up a commando, in which the burghers are placed under the field cornets and commandants. These last are chosen by the field cornets for each district, and a Commandant-general is chosen by the whole laager or force, but the President is the Commander-in-Chief of the army. All the inhabitants of the State between sixteen and sixty, with a few exceptions, are liable for service. Young men under eighteen, and men over fifty, are only called out under circumstances of emergency. Members of the Volksraad, officials, clergymen, and school-teachers are exempt from personal service, unless martial law is proclaimed, but must contribute an amount not exceeding £15 towards the expense of the war. All legal proceedings in civil cases are suspended against persons on commando, no summonses can be made out, and as soon as martial law is proclaimed no legal execution can be prosecuted, the pounds are closed, and transfer dues payments are suspended until after thirty days from the recall of the proclamation of martial law. Owners of land residing beyond the borders of the Republic are also liable, in addition to the ordinary war tax, to place a fit and proper substitute at the disposal of the Government, or otherwise to pay a fine of £15. The first levy of the burghers is, of men from eighteen to thirty-four years of age; the second, thirty-four to fifty; and the third, from sixteen to eighteen, and from fifty to sixty years. Every man is bound to provide himself with clothing, a gun, and ammunition, and there must be enough waggons and oxen found between them to suffice for their joint use. Of the booty taken, one quarter goes to Government, and the rest to the burghers. The most disagreeable part of the commandeering system is, however, yet to come; personal service is not all that the resident in the Transvaal Republic has to endure. The right is vested in field cornets to commandeer articles as well as individuals, and to call upon inhabitants to furnish requisites for the commando. As may be imagined, it goes very hard on these occasions with the property of any individual whom the field cornet may not happen to like. Each ward is expected to turn out its contingent ready and equipped for war, and this can only be done by seizing goods right and left. One unfortunate will have to find a waggon, another to deliver over his favourite span of trek oxen, another his riding-horse or some slaughter cattle, and so on. Even when the officer making the levy is desirous of doing his duty as fairly as he can, it is obvious that very great hardships must be inflicted under such a system. Requisitions are made more with regard to what is wanted than with a view to an equitable distribution of demands; and like the Jews in the time of the Crusades, he who has got most must pay most, or take the consequences, which may be unpleasant. Articles which are not perishable, such as waggons, are supposed to be returned, but if they come back at all they are generally worthless. In case of war, the native tribes living within the borders of the State are also expected to furnish contingents, and it is on them that most of the hard work of the campaign generally falls. They are put in the front of the battle, and have to do the hand-to-hand fighting, which, however, if of the Zulu race, they do not object to. The revenue of the State is so arranged that the burden of it should fall as much as possible on the trading community, and as little as possible on the farmer. It is chiefly derived from licenses on trades, professions, and callings, 30s. per annum quit-rent on farms, transfer dues and stamps, auction dues, court fees, and contributions from such native tribes as can be made to pay them. Since we have given up the country, the Volksraad has put a very heavy tax on all imported goods, hoping thereby to beguile the Boers into paying taxes without knowing it, and at the same time strike a blow at the trading community, which is English in its proclivities. The result has been to paralyse what little trade there was left in the country, and to cause great dissatisfaction amongst the farmers, who cannot understand why, now that the English are gone, they should have to pay twice as much for their sugar and coffee as they have been accustomed to do. I will conclude this chapter with a few words about the natives who swarm in and around the Transvaal. They can be roughly divided into two great races, the Amazulu and their offshoots, and the Macatee or Basuto tribes. All those of Zulu blood, including the Swazis, Mapock's Kafirs, the Matabele, the Knob-noses, and others are very warlike in disposition, and men of fine physique. The Basutos (who must not be confounded with the Cape Basutos), however, differ from these tribes in every respect, including their language, which is called Sisutu, the only mutual feeling between the two races being their common detestation of the Boers. They do not love war; in fact, they are timid and cowardly by nature, and only fight when they are obliged to. Unlike the Zulus, they are much addicted to the arts of peace, show considerable capacities for civilisation, and are even willing to become Christians. There would have been a far better field for the Missionary in the Transvaal than in Zululand and Natal. Indeed, the most successful mission station I have seen in Africa is near Middleburg, under the control of Mr. Merensky. In person the Basutos are thin and weakly when compared to the stalwart Zulu, and it is their consciousness of inferiority both to the white men and their black brethren that, together with their natural timidity, makes them submit as easily as they do to the yoke of the Boer. CHAPTER II. EVENTS PRECEDING THE ANNEXATION. In or about the year 1872, the burghers of the Republic elected Mr. Burgers their President. This remarkable man was a native of the Cape Colony, and passed the first sixteen or seventeen years of his life, he once informed me, on a farm herding sheep. He afterwards became a clergyman noted for the eloquence of his preaching, but his ideas proving too broad for his congregation, he resigned his cure, and in an evil moment for himself took to politics. President Burgers was a man of striking presence and striking talents, especially as regards his oratory, which was really of a very high class, and would have commanded attention in our own House of Commons. He possessed, however, a mind of that peculiarly volatile order that is sometimes met with in conjunction with great talents, and which seems to be entirely without ballast. His intellect was of a balloon-like nature, and as incapable of being steered. He was always soaring in the clouds, and, as is natural to one in that elevated position, taking a very different and more sanguine view of affairs to that which men of a more lowly, and perhaps a more practical, turn of mind would do. But notwithstanding his fly-away ideas, President Burgers was undoubtedly a true patriot, labouring night and day for the welfare of the State of which he had undertaken the guidance; but his patriotism was too exalted for his surroundings. He wished to elevate to the rank of a nation a people who had not got the desire to be elevated; with this view he contracted railway loans, made wars, minted gold, &c., and then suddenly discovered that the country refused to support him. In short, he was made of very different clay to that of the people he had to do with. He dreamt of a great Dutch Republic "with eight millions of inhabitants," doing a vast trade with the interior through the Delagoa Bay Railway. They, on the other hand, cared nothing about republics or railways, but fixed their affections on forced labour and getting rid of the necessity of paying taxes--and so between them the Republic came to grief. But it must be borne in mind that President Burgers was throughout actuated by good motives; he did his best by a stubborn and a stiff-necked people; and if he failed, as fail he did, it was more their fault than his. As regards the pension he received from the English Government, which has so often been brought up against him, it was after all no more than his due after five years of arduous work. If the Republic had continued to exist, it is to be presumed that they would have made some provision for their old President, more especially as he seems to have exhausted his private means in paying the debts of the country. Whatever may be said of some of the other officials of the Republic, its President was, I believe, an honest man. In 1875, Mr. Burgers proceeded to Europe, having, he says in a posthumous document recently published been empowered by the Volksraad "to carry out my plans for the development of the country, by opening up a direct communication for it, free from the trammels of British ports and influence." According to this document, during his absence two powerful parties, viz., "the faction of unprincipled fortune-hunters, rascals, and runaways on the one hand, and the faction of the extreme orthodox party in a certain branch of the Dutch Reform Church on the other, began to co-operate against the Government of the Republic and me personally.... Ill as I was, and contrary to the advice of my medical men, I proceeded to Europe, in the beginning of 1875, to carry out my project, and no sooner was my back turned on the Transvaal than the conspiring elements began to act. The new coat of arms and flag adopted in the Raad by an almost unanimous vote were abolished; the laws for a free and secular education were tampered with; and my resistance to a reckless inspection and disposal of Government lands, still occupied by natives, was openly defied. The Raad, filled up to a large extent with men of ill repute, who, under the cloak of progress and favour to the Government view, obtained their seats, was too weak to cope with the skill of the conspirators, and granted leave to the acting President to carry out measures diametrically opposed to my policy. _Native lands_ were inspected and given out to a few speculators, who held large numbers of claims to lands which were destined for citizens, and so a war was prepared for me, on my return from Europe, which I could not avert." This extract is interesting, as showing the state of feeling existing between the President and his officers previous to the outbreak of the Secocoeni war. It also shows how entirely he was out of sympathy with the citizens, seeing that, as soon as his back was turned, they, with Mr. Joubert and Paul Kruger at their head, at once undid all the little good he had done. When Mr. Burgers got to England, he found that city capitalists would have nothing whatever to say to his railway scheme. In Holland, however, he succeeded in getting £90,000 of the £300,000 he wished to borrow at a high rate of interest, and by passing a bond on five hundred Government farms. This money was immediately invested in railway plant, which, when it arrived at Delagoa Bay, had to be mortgaged to pay the freight on it, and that was the end of the Delagoa Bay railway scheme, except that the £90,000 is, I believe, still owing to the confiding shareholders in Holland. On his return to the Transvaal the President was well received, and for a month or so all went smoothly. But the relations of the Republic with the surrounding native tribes had by this time become so bad that an explosion was imminent somewhere. In the year 1874 the Volksraad raised the price of passes under the iniquitous pass law, by which every native travelling through the territory was made to pay from £1 to £5. In case of non-payment the native was made subject to a fine of from £1 to £10, and to a beating of from "ten to twenty-five lashes." He was also to go into service for three months, and have a certificate thereof, for which he must pay five shillings; the avowed object of the law being to obtain a supply of Kafir labour. This was done in spite of the earnest protest of the President, who gave the Raad distinctly to understand that by accepting this law they would, in point of fact, annul treaties concluded with the chiefs on the south-western borders. It is not clear, however, if this amended pass law ever came into force. It is to be hoped it did not, for even under the old law natives were shamefully treated by Boers, who would pretend that they were authorised by Government to collect the tax; the result being that the unfortunate Kafir was frequently obliged to pay twice over. Natives had such a horror of the pass laws of the country, that when travelling to the Diamond Fields to work they would frequently go round some hundreds of miles rather than pass through the Transvaal. That the Volksraad should have thought it necessary to enact such a law in order that the farmers should obtain a supply of Kafir labour in a territory that had nearly a million of native inhabitants, who, unlike the Zulus, are willing to work if only they meet with decent treatment, is in itself an instructive commentary on the feelings existing between Boer master and Kafir servant. But besides the general quarrel with the Kafir race in its entirety, which the Boers always have on hand, they had just then several individual differences, in each of which there lurked the possibilities of disturbance. To begin with, their relations with Cetywayo were by no means amicable. During Mr. Burgers' absence the Boer Government, then under the leadership of P. J. Joubert, sent Cetywayo a very stern message--a message that gives the reader the idea that Mr. Joubert was ready to enforce it with ten thousand men. After making various statements and demands with reference to the Amaswazi tribe, the disputed boundary line, &c. it ends thus:-- "Although the Government of the South African Republic has never wished, and does not now desire, that serious disaffection and animosities should exist between you and them, yet it is not the less of the greatest consequence and importance for you earnestly to weigh these matters and risks, and to satisfy them; the more so, if you on your side also wish that peace and friendship shall be maintained between you and us." The Secretary for Native Affairs for Natal comments on this message in these words: "The tone of this message to Cetywayo is not very friendly, it has the look of an ultimatum, and if the Government of the Transvaal were in circumstances different to what it is, the message would suggest an intention to coerce if the demands it conveys are not at once complied with; but I am inclined to the opinion that no such intention exists, and that the transmission of a copy of the message to the Natal Government is intended as a notification that the Transvaal Government has proclaimed the territory hitherto in dispute between it and the Zulus to be Republican territory, and that the Republic intends to occupy it." In the territories marked out by a decision known as the Keate Award, in which Lieutenant-Governor Keate of Natal, at the request of both parties, laid down the boundary line between the Boers and certain native tribes, the Boer Government carried it with a yet higher hand, insomuch as the natives of those districts, being comparatively unwarlike, were less likely to resist. On the 18th August 1875, Acting President Joubert issued a proclamation by which a line was laid down far to the southward of that marked out by Mr. Keate, and consequently included more territory within the elastic boundaries of the Republic. A Government notice of the same date invites all claiming lands now declared to belong to the Republic to send in their claims to be settled by a land commission. On the 6th March 1876, another chief in the same neighbourhood (Montsoia) writes to the Lieutenant-Governor of Griqualand West in these terms:-- "MY FRIEND,--I wish to acquaint you with the doings of some people connected with the Boers. A man-servant of mine has been severely injured in the head by one of the Boers' servants, which has proved fatal. Another of my people has been cruelly treated by a Boer tying a rein about his neck, and then mounting his horse and dragging him about the place. My brother Molema, who is the bearer of this, will give you full particulars." Molema explains the assaults thus: "The assaulted man is not dead; his skull was fractured. The assault was committed by a Boer named Wessels Badenhorst, who shamefully ill-treated the man, beat him till he fainted, and, on his revival, fastened a rim round his neck, and made him run to the homestead by the side of his (Badenhorst's) horse cantering. At the homestead he tied him to the waggon-wheel, and flogged him again till Mrs. Badenhorst stopped her husband." Though it will be seen that the Boers were on good terms neither with the Zulus nor the Keate Award natives, they still had one Kafir ally, namely, Umbandeni, the Amaswazi king. This alliance was concluded under circumstances so peculiar that they are worthy of a brief recapitulation. It appears that in the winter of the year 1875, Mr. Rudolph, the Landdrost of Utrecht, went to Swaziland, and, imitating the example of the Natal Government with Cetywayo, crowned Umbandeni king, on behalf of the Boer Government. He further made a treaty of alliance with him, and promised him a commando to help him in case of his being attacked by the Zulus. Now comes the curious part of the story. On the 18th May 1876, a message came from this same Umbandeni to Sir H. Bulwer, of which the following is an extract:--"We are sent by our king to thank the Government of Natal for the information sent to him last winter by that Government, and conveyed by Mr. Rudolph, of the intended attack on his people by the Zulus. We are further instructed by the king to thank the Natal Government for the influence it used to stop the intended raid, and for instructing a Boer commando to go to his country to render him assistance in case of need; and further for appointing Mr. Rudolph at the head of the commando to place him (Umbandeni) as king over the Amaswazi, and to make a treaty with him and his people on behalf of the Natal Government.... The Transvaal Government has asked Umbandeni to acknowledge himself a subject of the Republic, but he has distinctly refused to do so." In a minute written on this subject, the Secretary for Native Affairs for Natal says, "No explanation or assurance from me was sufficient to convince them (Umbandeni's messengers) that they had on that occasion made themselves subjects of the South African Republic; they declared it was not their wish or intention to do so, and that they would refuse to acknowledge a position into which they had been unwittingly betrayed." I must conclude this episode by quoting the last paragraph of Sir H. Bulwer's covering despatch, because it concerns larger issues than the supposed treaty: "It will not be necessary that I should at present add any remarks to those contained in the minute of the Secretary for Native Affairs, but I would observe that the situation arising out of the relations of the Government of the South African Republic with the neighbouring native States is so complicated, and presents so many elements of confusion and of danger to the peace of this portion of South Africa, that I trust some way may be found to an early settlement of questions that ought not, in my opinion, to be left alone, as so many have been left, to take the chance of the future." And now I come to the last and most imminent native difficulty that at the time faced the Republic. On the borders of Lydenburg district there lived a powerful chief named Secocoeni. Between this chief and the Transvaal Government difficulties arose in the beginning of 1876 on the usual subject--land. The Boers declared that they had bought the land from the Swazis, who had conquered portions of the country, and that the Swazis offered to make it "clean from brambles," _i.e._, kill everybody living on it; but that they (the Boers) said that they were to let them be, that they might be their servants. The Basutos, on the other hand, said that no such sale ever took place, and, even if it did take place, it was invalid, because the Swazis were not in occupation of the land, and therefore could not sell it. It was a Christian Kafir called Johannes, a brother of Secocoeni, who was the immediate cause of the war. This Johannes used to live at a place called Botsobelo, the mission-station of Mr. Merensky, but moved to a stronghold on the Spekboom river, in the disputed territory. The Boers sent to him to come back, but he refused, and warned the Boers off his land. Secocoeni was then appealed to, but declared that the land belonged to his tribe, and would be occupied by Johannes. He also told the Boers "that he did not wish to fight, but that he was quite ready to do so if they preferred it." Thereupon the Transvaal Government declared war, although it does not appear that the natives committed any outrage or acts of hostility before the declaration. As regards the Boers' right to Secocoeni's country, Sir H. Barkly sums up the question thus, in a despatch addressed to President Burgers, dated 28th Nov. 1876:--"On the whole, it seems perfectly clear, and I feel bound to repeat it, that Sikukuni was neither _de jure_ or _de facto_ a subject of the Republic when your Honour declared war against him in June last." As soon as war had been declared, the clumsy commando system was set working, and about 2500 white men collected; the Swazis also were applied to to send a contingent, which they did, being only too glad of the opportunity of slaughter. At first all went well, and the President, who accompanied the commando in person, succeeded in reducing a mountain stronghold, which, in his high-flown way, he called a "glorious victory" over a "Kafir Gibraltar." On the 14th July another engagement took place, when the Boers and Swazis attacked Johannes' stronghold. The place was taken with circumstances of great barbarity by the Swazis, for when the signal was given to advance the Boers did not move. Nearly all the women were killed, and the brains of the children were dashed out against the stones; in one instance, before the captive mother's face. Johannes was badly wounded, and died two days afterwards. When he was dying, he said to his brother, "I am going to die. I am thankful I do not die by the hands of these cowardly Boers, but by the hand of a black and courageous nation like myself...." He then took leave of his people, told his brother to read the Bible, and expired. The Swazis were so infuriated at the cowardice displayed by the Boers on this occasion that they returned home in great dudgeon. On the 2d of August Secocoeni's mountain, which is a very strong fortification, was attacked in two columns, or rather an attempt was made to attack it, for when it came to the pinch only about forty men, mostly English and Germans, would advance. Thereupon the whole commando retreated with great haste, the greater part of it going straight home. In vain the President entreated them to shoot him rather than desert him; they had had enough of Secocoeni and his stronghold, and home they went. The President then retreated with what few men he had left to Steelport, where he built a fort, and from thence returned to Pretoria. The news of the collapse of the commando was received throughout the Transvaal, and indeed the whole of South Africa, with the greatest dismay. For the first time in the history of that country the white man had been completely worsted by a native tribe, and that tribe wretched Basutos, people whom the Zulus call their "dogs." It was glad tidings to every native from the Zambesi to the Cape, who learnt thereby that the white man was not so invincible as he used to be. Meanwhile the inhabitants of Lydenburg were filled with alarm, and again and again petitioned the Governors of the Cape and Natal for assistance. Their fears were, however, to a great extent groundless, for, with the exception of occasional cattle-lifting, Secocoeni did not follow up his victory. On the 4th September the President opened the special sitting of the Volksraad, and presented to that body a scheme for the establishment of a border force to take the place of the commando system, announcing that he had appointed a certain Captain Von Schlickmann to command it. He also requested the Raad to make some provision for the expenses of the expedition, which they had omitted to do in their former sitting. Captain Von Schlickmann determined to carry on the war upon a different system. He got together a band of very rough characters on the Diamond Fields, and occupied the fort built by the President, from whence he would sally out from time to time and destroy kraals. He seems, if we may believe the reports in the blue-books and the stories of eye-witnesses, to have carried on his proceedings in a somewhat savage way. The following is an extract from a private letter written by one of his volunteers:-- "About daylight we came across four Kafirs. Saw them first, and charged in front of them to cut off their retreat. Saw they were women, and called out not to fire. In spite of that, one of the poor things got her head blown off (a d----d shame).... Afterwards two women and a baby were brought to the camp prisoners. The same night they were taken out by our Kafirs and murdered in cool blood by order of ----. Mr. ---- and myself strongly protested against it, but without avail. I never heard such a cowardly piece of business in my life. No good will come of it, you may depend.... ---- says he would cut all the women and children's throats he catches. Told him distinctly he was a d----d coward." Schlickmann was, however, a mild-mannered man when compared to a certain Abel Erasmus, afterwards denounced at a public dinner by Sir Garnet Wolseley as a fiend "in human form." This gentleman, in the month of October, attacked a friendly kraal of Kafirs. The incident is described thus in a correspondent's letter:-- "The people of the kraals, taken quite by surprise, fled when they saw their foes, and most of them took shelter in the neighbouring bush. Two or three men were distinctly seen in their flight from the kraal, and one of them is known to have been wounded. According to my informant the remainder were women and children, who were pursued into the bush, and there, all shivering and shrieking, were put to death by the Boers' Kafirs, some being shot, but the majority stabbed with assegais. After the massacre he counted thirteen women and three children, but he says he did not see the body of a single man. Another Kafir said, pointing to a place in the road where the stones were thickly strewn, 'the bodies of the women and children lay like these stones.' The Boer before mentioned, who has been stationed outside, has told one of his own friends, whom he thought would not mention it, that the shrieks were fearful to hear." Several accounts of, or allusion to, this atrocity can be found in the blue-books, and I may add that it, in common with others of the same stamp, was the talk of the country at the time. I do not relate these horrors out of any wish to rake up old stories to the prejudice of the Boers, but because I am describing the state of the country before the Annexation, in which they form an interesting and important item. Also, it is as well that people in England should know into what hands they have delivered over the native tribes who trusted in their protection. What happened in 1876 is probably happening again now, and will certainly happen again and again. The character of the Transvaal Boer and his sentiments towards the native races have not modified during the last five years, but, on the contrary, a large amount of energy, which has been accumulating during the period of British protection, will now be expended on their devoted heads. As regards the truth of these atrocities, the majority of them are beyond the possibility of doubt; indeed, to the best of my knowledge, no serious attempt has ever been made to refute such of them as have come into public notice, except in a general way, for party purposes. As, however, they may be doubted, I will quote the following extract from a despatch written by Sir H. Barkly to Lord Carnarvon, dated 18th December 1876:-- "As Von Schlickmann has since fallen fighting bravely, it is not without reluctance that I join in affixing this dark stain on his memory, but truth compels me to add the following extract from a letter which I have since received from one whose name (which I communicate to your Lordship privately) forbids disbelief: 'There is no longer the _slightest doubt_ as to the murder of the two women and the child at Steelport by the direct order of Schlickmann, and in the attack on the kraal near which these women were captured (or some attack about that period) he ordered his men to cut the throats of all the wounded! This is no mere report; it is positively true.'" He concludes by expressing a hope that the course of events will enable Her Majesty's Government to take such steps "as will terminate this wanton and useless bloodshed, and prevent the recurrence of the _scenes of injustice, cruelty, and rapine which abundant evidence is every day forthcoming to prove have rarely ceased to disgrace the Republics beyond the Vaal ever since they first sprang into existence_."[4] [4] The italics are my own.--AUTHOR. These are strong words, but none too strong for the facts of the case. Injustice, cruelty, and rapine have always been the watchwords of the Transvaal Boers. The stories of wholesale slaughter in the earlier days of the Republic are very numerous. One of the best known of those shocking occurrences took place in the Zoutpansberg war in 1865. On this occasion a large number of Kafirs took refuge in caves, where the Boers smoked them to death. Some years afterwards Dr. Wangeman, whose account is, I believe, thoroughly reliable, describes the scene of their operations in these words:-- "The roof of the first cave was black with smoke; the remains of the logs which were burnt lay at the entrance. The floor was strewn with hundreds of skulls and skeletons. In confused heaps lay karosses, kerries, assegais, pots, spoons, snuff-boxes, and the bones of men, giving one the impression that this was the grave of a whole people. Some estimate the number of those who perished here from twenty to thirty thousand. This is, I believe, too high. In the one chamber there were from two hundred to three hundred skeletons; the other chambers I did not visit." In 1868 a public meeting was held at Potchefstroom to consider the war then going on with the Zoutpansberg natives. According to the report of the proceedings, the Rev. Mr. Ludorf said that "on a particular occasion a number of native children, who were too young to be removed, had been collected in a heap, covered with long grass, and burned alive. Other atrocities had also been committed, but these were too horrible to relate." When called upon to produce his authority for this statement, Mr. Ludorf named his authority "in a solemn declaration to the State Attorney." At this same meeting Mr. J. G. Steyn, who had been Landdrost of Potchefstroom, said, "there now was innocent blood on our hands which had not yet been avenged, and the curse of God rested on the land in consequence." Mr. Rosalt remarked that "it was a singular circumstance that in the different colonial Kafir wars, as also in the Basuto wars, one did not hear of destitute children being found by the commandoes, and asked how it was that every petty commando that took the field in this Republic invariably found numbers of destitute children. He gave it as his opinion that the present system of apprenticeship was an essential cause of our frequent hostilities with the natives." Mr. Jan Talyard said, "Children were forcibly taken from their parents, and were then called destitute and apprenticed." Mr. Daniel Van Nooren was heard to say, "If they had to clear the country, and could not have the children they found, he would shoot them." Mr. Field-Cornet Furstenburg stated "that when he was at Zoutpansberg with his burghers, the chief Katse-Kats was told to come down from the mountains; that he sent one of his subordinates as a proof of amity; that whilst a delay of five days was guaranteed by Commandant Paul Kruger, who was then in command, orders were given at the same time to attack the natives at break of day, which was accordingly done, but which resulted in total failure." Truly, this must have been an interesting meeting. Before leaving these unsavoury subjects, I must touch on the question of slavery. It has been again and again denied, on behalf of the Transvaal Boers, that slavery existed in the Republic. Now, this is, strictly speaking, true; slavery did not exist, but apprenticeship did--the rose was called by another name, that is all. The poor destitute children who were picked up by kind-hearted Boers, after the extermination of their parents, were apprenticed to farmers till they came of age. It is a remarkable fact that these children never attained their majority. You might meet oldish men in the Transvaal who were not, according to their masters' reckoning, twenty-one years of age. The assertion that slavery did not exist in the Transvaal is only made to hoodwink the English public. I have known men who have owned slaves, and who have seen whole waggon-loads of "black ivory," as they were called, sold for about £15 a-piece. I have at this moment a tenant, Carolus by name, on some land I own in Natal, now a well-to-do man, who was for many years--about twenty, if I remember right--a Boer slave. During those years, he told me, he worked from morning till night, and the only reward he received was two calves. He finally escaped into Natal. If other evidence is needed it is not difficult to find, so I will quote a little. On the 22d August 1876 we find Khama, king of the Bamangwato, one of the most worthy chiefs in South Africa, sending a message to "Victoria, the great Queen of the English people," in these words:-- "I write to you, Sir Henry, in order that your Queen may preserve for me my country, it being in her hands. The Boers are coming into it, and I do not like them. Their actions are cruel among us black people. We are like money, they sell us and our children. I ask Her Majesty to pity me, and to hear that which I write quickly. I wish to hear upon what conditions Her Majesty will receive me, and my country and my people, under her protection. I am weary with fighting. I do not like war, and I ask Her Majesty to give me peace. I am very much distressed that my people are being destroyed by war, and I wish them to obtain peace. I ask Her Majesty to defend me, as she defends all her people. There are three things which distress me very much--war, selling people, and drink. All these things I shall find in the Boers, and it is these things which destroy people to make an end of them in the country. _The custom of the Boers has always been to cause people to be sold, and to-day they are still selling people._ Last year I saw them pass with two waggons full of people whom they had bought at the river at Tanane" (Lake Ngate). The Special Correspondent of the _Cape Argus_, a highly respectable journal, writes thus on the 28th November 1876:--"The Boer from whom this information was gleaned has furnished besides some facts which may not be uninteresting, as a commentary on the repeated denials by Mr. Burgers of the existence of slavery. During the last week slaves have been offered for sale on his farm. The captives have been taken from Secocoeni's country by Mapoch's people, and are being exchanged at the rate of a child for a heifer. He also assures us that the whole of the High-veld is being replenished with Kafir children, whom the Boers have been lately purchasing from the Swazis at the rate of a horse for a child. I should like to see this man and his father as witnesses before an Imperial Commission. He let fall one or two incidents of the past which were brought to mind by the occurrences of the present. In 1864, he says, 'The Swazis accompanied the Boers against Males. The Boers did nothing but stand by and witness the fearful massacre. The men and women were also murdered. One poor woman sat clutching her baby of eight days old. The Swazis stabbed her through the body, and when she found that she could not live, she wrung the baby's neck with her own hands to save it from future misery. On the return of that commando the children who became too weary to continue the journey were killed on the road. The survivors were sold as slaves to the farmers.'" The same gentleman writes in the issue of the 12th December as follows:--"The whole world may know it, for it is true, and investigation will only bring out the horrible details, that through the whole course of this Republic's existence it has acted in contravention of the Sand River Treaty; and slavery has occurred not only here and there in isolated cases, but as an unbroken practice, and has been one of the peculiar institutions of the country, mixed up with all its social and political life. It has been at the root of most of its wars. It has been carried on regularly even in times of peace. It has been characterised by all those circumstances which have so often roused the British nation to an indignant protest, and to repeated efforts to banish the slave trade from the world. The Boers have not only fallen on unsuspecting kraals simply for the purpose of obtaining the women and children and cattle, but they have carried on a traffic through natives who have kidnapped the children of their weaker neighbours, and sold them to the white man. Again, the Boers have sold and exchanged their victims among themselves. Waggon-loads of slaves have been conveyed from one end of the country to the other for sale, and that with the cognisance of, and for the direct advantage of, the highest officials of the land. The writer has himself seen in a town, situated in the south of the Republic, the children who had been brought down from a remote northern district. One fine morning, in walking through the streets, he was struck with the number of little black strangers standing about certain houses, and wondered where they could have come from. He learnt a few hours later that they were part of loads which were disposed of on the outskirts of the town the day before. The circumstances connected with some of these kidnapping excursions are appalling, and the barbarities practised by cruel masters upon some of these defenceless creatures during the course of their servitude are scarcely less horrible than those reported from Turkey. It is no disgrace in this country for an official to ride a fine horse which was got for two Kafir children, to procure whom the father and mother were shot. No reproach is inherited by the mistress who, day after day, tied up her female servant in an agonising posture, and had her beaten until there was no sound part in her body, securing her in the stocks during the intervals of torture. That man did not lose caste who tied up another woman and had her thrashed until she brought forth at the whipping-post. These are merely examples of thousands of cases which could be proved were an Imperial Commission to sit, and could the wretched victims of a prolonged oppression recover sufficiently from the dread of their old tyrants to give a truthful report." To come to some evidence more recently adduced. On the 9th May 1881, an affidavit was sworn to by the Rev. John Thorne, curate of St. John the Evangelist, Lydenburg, Transvaal, and presented to the Royal Commission appointed to settle Transvaal affairs, in which he states:--"That I was appointed to the charge of a congregation in Potchefstroom, about thirteen years ago, when the Republic was under the presidency of Mr. Pretorius.[5] I remember noticing one morning as I walked through the streets, a number of young natives, whom I knew to be strangers. I inquired where they came from. I was told that they had just been brought from Zoutpansberg. This was the locality from which slaves were chiefly brought at that time, and were traded for under the name of 'Black Ivory.' One of these natives belonged to Mr. Munich, the State Attorney. It was a matter of common remark at that time that the President of the Republic was himself one of the greatest dealers in slaves." In the fourth paragraph of the same affidavit Mr. Thorne says, "That the Rev. Doctor Nachtigal, of the Berlin Missionary Society, was the interpreter for Shatane's people in the private office of Mr. Roth, and, at the close of the interview, told me what had occurred. On my expressing surprise, he went on to relate that he had information on native matters which would surprise me more. He then produced the copy of a register, kept in the Landdrost's office, of men, women, and children, to the number of four hundred and eighty (480), who had been disposed of by one Boer to another for a consideration. In one case an ox was given in exchange, in another goats, in a third a blanket, and so forth. Many of these natives he (Mr. Nachtigal) knew personally. The copy was certified as true and correct by an official of the Republic, and I would mention his name now, only that I am persuaded that it would cost the man his life if his act became known to the Boers." [5] One of the famous Triumvirate. On the 16th May 1881, a native, named Frederick Molepo, was examined by the Royal Commission. The following are extracts from his examination:-- "(_Sir E. Wood._) Are you a Christian?--Yes. "(_Sir H. de Villiers._) How long were you a slave?--Half a year. "How do you know that you were a slave? Might you not have been an apprentice?--No, I was not apprenticed. "How do you know?--They got me from my parents, and ill-treated me. "(_Sir E. Wood._) How many times did you get the stick?--Every day. "(_Sir H. de Villiers._) What did the Boers do with you when they caught you?--They sold me. "How much did they sell you for?--One cow and a big pot." On the 28th May 1881, amongst the other documents handed in for the consideration of the Royal Commission, is the statement of a headman, whose name it has been considered advisable to omit in the blue-book for fear the Boers should take vengeance on him. He says, "I say, that if the English government dies I shall die too; I would rather die than be under the Boer Government. I am the man who helped to make bricks for the church you see now standing in the square here (Pretoria), as a slave without payment. As a representative of my people I am still obedient to the English Government, and willing to obey all commands from them, even to die for their cause in this country, rather than submit to the Boers. "I was under Shambok, my chief, who fought the Boers formerly, but he left us, and we were _put up to auction_ and sold among the Boers. I want to state this myself to the Royal Commission in Newcastle. I was bought by Fritz Botha and sold by Frederick Botha, who was then veld cornet (justice of the peace) of the Boers."[6] [6] I have taken the liberty to quote all these extracts exactly as they stand in the original, instead of weaving their substance into my narrative, in order that I may not be accused, as so often happens to authors who write upon this subject, of having presented a garbled version of the truth. The original of every extract is to be found in blue-books presented to Parliament. I have thought it best to confine myself to these, and avoid repeating stories of cruelties and slavery, however well authenticated, that have come to my knowledge privately such stories being always more or less open to suspicion. It would be easy to find more reports of the slave-trading practices of the Boers, but as the above are fair samples it will not be necessary to do so. My readers will be able from them to form some opinion as to whether or not slavery or apprenticeship existed in the Transvaal. If they come to the conclusion that it did, it must be borne in mind that what existed in the past will certainly exist again in the future. Natives are not now any fonder of working for Boers than they were a few years back, and Boers must get labour somehow. If, on the other hand, it did not exist, then the Boers are a grossly slandered people, and all writers on the subject, from Livingstone down, have combined to take away their character. Leaving native questions for the present, we must now return to the general affairs of the country. When President Burgers opened the special sitting of the Volksraad, on the 4th September, he appealed, it will be remembered, to that body for pecuniary aid to liquidate the expenses of the war. This appeal was responded to by the passing of a war tax, under which every owner of a farm was to pay £10, the owner of half a farm £5, and so on. The tax was not a very just one, since it fell with equal weight on the rich man who held twenty farms and the poor man who held but one. Its justice or injustice was, however, to a great extent immaterial, since the free and independent burghers, including some of the members of the Volksraad who had imposed it, promptly refused to pay it, or indeed, whilst they were about it, any other tax. As the Treasury was already empty, and creditors were pressing, this refusal was most ill-timed, and things began to look very black indeed. Meanwhile, in addition to the ordinary expenditure, and the interest payable on debts, money had to be found to pay Von Schlickmann's volunteers. As there was no cash in the country, this was done by issuing Government promissory notes, known as "goodfors," or vulgarly as "good for nothings," and by promising them all booty, and to each man a farm of two thousand acres, lying east and north-east of the Loolu mountains--in other words, in Secocoeni's territory, which did not belong to the Government to give away. The officials were the next to suffer, and for six months before the Annexation these unfortunate individuals lived as best they could, for they certainly got no salary, except in the case of a postmaster, who was told to help himself to his pay in stamps. The Government issued large numbers of bills, but the banks refused to discount them, and in some cases the neighbouring colonies had to advance money to the Transvaal post-cart contractors who were carrying the mails, as a matter of charity. The Government even mortgaged the great salt-pan near Pretoria for the paltry sum of £400, whilst the leading officials of the Government were driven to pledging their own private credit in order to obtain the smallest article necessary to its continuance. In fact, to such a pass did things come that when the country was annexed a single threepenny bit (which had doubtless been overlooked) was found in the Treasury chest, together with acknowledgments of debts to the extent of nearly £300,000. Nor was the refusal to pay taxes, which they were powerless to enforce, the only difficulty with which the Government had to contend. Want of money is as bad and painful a thing to a State as to an individual, but there are perhaps worse things than want of money, one of which is to be deserted by your own friends and household. This was the position of the Government of the Republic; no sooner was it involved in overwhelming difficulties than its own subjects commenced to bait it, more especially the English portion of its subjects. They complained to the English authorities about the commandeering of members of their family or goods; they petitioned the British Government to interfere, and generally made themselves as unpleasant as possible to the local authorities. Such a course of action was perhaps natural, but it can hardly be said to be either quite logical or just. The Transvaal Government had never asked them to come and live in the country, and if they did so, it was presumably at their own risk. On the other hand, it must be remembered that many of the agitators had accumulated property, to leave which would mean ruin; and they saw that, unless something was done, its value would be destroyed. Under the pressure of all these troubles the Boers themselves split up into factions, as they are always ready to do. The Dopper party declared that they had had enough progress, and proposed the extremely conservative Paul Kruger as President, Burgers' time having nearly expired. Paul Kruger accepted the candidature, although he had previously promised his support to Burgers, and distrust of each other was added to the other difficulties of the Executive, the Transvaal becoming a house very much divided against itself. Natives, Doppers, Progressionists, Officials, English, were all pulling different ways, and each striving for his own advantage. Anything more hopeless than the position of the country on the 1st January 1877 it is impossible to conceive. Enemies surrounded it; on every border there was the prospect of a serious war. In the exchequer there was nothing but piles of overdue bills. The President was helpless, and mistrustful of his officers, and the officers were caballing against the President. All the ordinary functions of Government had ceased, and trade was paralysed. Now and then wild proposals were made to relieve the State of its burdens, some of which partook of the nature of repudiation, but these were the exception; the majority of the inhabitants, who would neither fight nor pay taxes, sat still and awaited the catastrophe, utterly careless of all consequences. CHAPTER III. THE ANNEXATION. The state of affairs described in the previous chapter was one that filled the Secretary of State for the Colonies with alarm. During his tenure of office Lord Carnarvon evidently had the permanent welfare of South Africa much at heart, and he saw with apprehension that the troubles that were brewing in the Transvaal were of a nature likely to involve the Cape and Natal in a native war. Though there is a broad line of demarcation between Dutch and English, it is not so broad but that a victorious nation like the Zulus might cross it, and beginning by fighting the Boer, might end by fighting the white man irrespective of race. When the reader reflects how terrible would be the consequences of a combination of native tribes against the Whites, and how easily such a combination might at that time have been brought about in the first flush of native successes, he will understand the anxiety with which all thinking men watched the course of events in the Transvaal in 1876. At last they took such a serious turn that the Home Government saw that some action must be taken if the catastrophe was to be averted, and determined to despatch Sir Theophilus Shepstone as Special Commissioner to the Transvaal, with powers, should it be necessary, to annex the country to Her Majesty's dominions, "in order to secure the peace and safety of Our said colonies and of Our subjects elsewhere." The terms of his Commission were unusually large, leaving a great deal to his discretionary power. In choosing that officer for the execution of a most difficult and delicate mission, the Government, doubtless, made a very wise selection. Sir Theophilus Shepstone is a man of remarkable tact and ability, combined with great openness and simplicity of mind, and one whose name will always have a leading place in South African history. During a long official lifetime he has had to do with most of the native races in South Africa, and certainly knows them and their ways better than any living man; whilst he is by them all regarded with a peculiar and affectionate reverence. He is _par excellence_ their great white chief and "father," and a word from him, even now that he has retired from active life, still carries more weight than the formal remonstrances of any governor in South Africa. With the Boers he is almost equally well acquainted, having known many of them personally for years. He possesses, moreover, the rare power of winning the regard and affection, as well as the respect, of those about him in such a marked degree that those who have served him once would go far to serve him again. Sir T. Shepstone, however, has enemies like other people, and is commonly reported among them to be a disciple of Machiavelli, and to have his mind steeped in all the darker wiles of Kafir policy. The Annexation of the Transvaal is by them attributed to a successful and vigorous use of those arts that distinguished the diplomacy of two centuries ago. Falsehood and bribery are supposed to have been the great levers used to effect the change, together with threats of extinction at the hands of a savage and unfriendly nation. That the Annexation was a triumph of mind over matter is quite true, but whether or no that triumph was unworthily obtained, I will leave those who read this short chronicle of the events connected with it to judge. I saw it somewhat darkly remarked in a newspaper the other day that the history of the Annexation had evidently yet to be written; and I fear that the remark represents the feeling of most people about that event, implying as it did that it was carried out by means certainly mysteriously and presumably doubtful. I am afraid that those who think thus will be disappointed in what I have to say about the matter, since I know that the means employed to bring the Boers-- "Fracti bello, fatisque repulsi"-- under Her Majesty's authority were throughout as fair and honest as the Annexation itself was, in my opinion, right and necessary. To return to Sir T. Shepstone. He undoubtedly had faults as a ruler, one of the most prominent of which was that his natural mildness of character would never allow him to act with severity even when severity was necessary. The very criminals condemned to death ran a good chance of reprieve when he had to sign their death-warrants. He has also that worst of faults (so-called), in one fitted by nature to become great--want of ambition, a failing that in such a man marks him the possessor of an even and a philosophic mind. It was no seeking of his own that raised him out of obscurity, and when his work was done to comparative obscurity he elected to return, though whether a man of his ability and experience in South African affairs should, at the present crisis, be allowed to remain there, is another question. On the 20th December 1876, Sir T. Shepstone wrote to President Burgers, informing him of his approaching visit to the Transvaal, to secure, if possible, the adjustment of existing troubles, and the adoption of such measures as might be best calculated to prevent their recurrence in the future. On his road to Pretoria, Sir Theophilus received a hearty welcome from the Boer as well as the English inhabitants of the country. One of these addresses to him says: "Be assured, high honourable Sir, that we burghers, now assembled together, entertain the most friendly feeling towards your Government, and that we shall agree with anything you may do in conjunction with our Government for the progress of our State, the strengthening against our native enemies, and for the general welfare of all the inhabitants of the whole of South Africa. Welcome in Heidelberg, and welcome in the Transvaal." At Pretoria the reception of the Special Commissioner was positively enthusiastic; the whole town came out to meet him, and the horses having been taken out of the carriage, he was dragged in triumph through the streets. In his reply to the address presented to him, Sir Theophilus shadowed forth the objects of his mission in these words: "Recent events in this country have shown to all thinking men the absolute necessity for closer union and more oneness of purpose among the Christian Governments of the southern portion of this continent: the best interests of the native races, no less than the peace and prosperity of the white, imperatively demand it, and I rely upon you and upon your Government to co-operate with me in endeavouring to achieve the great and glorious end of inscribing on a general South African banner the appropriate motto--"Eendragt maakt magt" (Unity makes strength)." A few days after his arrival a commission was appointed, consisting of Messrs. Henderson and Osborn, on behalf of the Special Commissioner, and Messrs. Kruger and Jorissen, on behalf of the Transvaal Government, to discuss the state of the country. This commission came to nothing, and was on both sides nothing more than a bit of by-play. The arrival of the mission was necessarily regarded with mixed feelings by the inhabitants of the Transvaal. By one party it was eagerly greeted, viz., the English section of the population, who devoutly hoped that it had come to annex the country. With the exception of the Hollander element, the officials also were glad of its arrival, and secretly hoped that the country would be taken over, when there would be more chance of their getting their arrear pay. The better educated Boers also were for the most part satisfied that there was no hope for the country unless England helped it in some way, though they did not like having to accept the help. But the more bigoted and narrow-minded among them were undoubtedly opposed to English interference, and under their leader, Paul Kruger, who was at the time running for the President's chair, did their best to be rid of it. They found ready allies in the Hollander clientelle, with which Mr. Burgers had surrounded himself, headed by the famous Dr. Jorissen, who was, like most of the rulers of this singular State, an ex-clergyman, but now an Attorney-general, not learned in the law. These men were for the most part entirely unfit for the positions they held, and feared that in the event of the country changing hands they might be ejected from them; and also, they did all Englishmen the favour to regard them with that peculiarly virulent and general hatred which is a part of the secret creed of many foreigners, more especially of such as are under our protection. As may easily be imagined, what between all these different parties and the presence of the Special Commissioner, there were certainly plenty of intrigues going on in Pretoria during the first few months of 1877, and the political excitement was very great. Nobody knew how far Sir T. Shepstone was prepared to go, and everybody was afraid of putting out his hand further than he could pull it back, and trying to make himself comfortable on two stools at once. Members of the Volksraad and other prominent individuals in the country who had during the day been denouncing the Commissioner in no measured terms, and even proposing that he and his staff should be shot as a warning to the English Government, might be seen arriving at his house under cover of the shades of evening, to have a little talk with him, and express the earnest hope that it was his intention to annex the country as soon as possible. It is necessary to assist at a peaceable annexation to learn the depth of meanness human nature is capable of. In Pretoria, at any rate, the ladies were of great service to the cause of the mission, since they were nearly all in favour of a change of government, and, that being the case, they naturally soon brought their husbands, brothers, and lovers to look at things from the same point of view. It was a wise man who said that in any matter where it is necessary to obtain the goodwill of a population you should win over the women; that done, you need not trouble yourself about the men. Though the country was thus overflowing with political intrigues, nothing of the kind went on in the Commissioner's camp. It was not he who made the plots to catch the Transvaalers; on the contrary, they made the plots to catch him. For several months all that he did was to sit still and let the rival passions work their way, fighting what the Zulus afterwards called the "fight of sit down." When anybody came to see him he was very glad to meet them, pointed out the desperate condition of the country, and asked them if they could suggest a remedy. And that was about all he did do, beyond informing himself very carefully as to all that was going on in the country, and the movements of the natives within and outside its borders. There was no money spent in bribery, as has been stated, though it is impossible to imagine a state of affairs in which it would have been more easy to bribe, or in which it could have been done with greater effect; unless indeed the promise that some pension should be paid to President Burgers can be called a bribe, which it was certainly never intended to be, but simply a guarantee that after having spent all his private means on behalf of the State he should not be left destitute. The statement that the Annexation was effected under a threat that if the Government did not give its consent Sir T. Shepstone would let loose the Zulus on the country is also a wicked and malicious invention, but with this I shall deal more at length further on. It must not, however, be understood that the Annexation was a foregone conclusion, or that Sir T. Shepstone came up to the Transvaal with the fixed intention of annexing the country without reference to its position, merely with a view of extending British influence, or, as has been absurdly stated, in order to benefit Natal. He had no fixed purpose, whether it were necessary or no, of exercising the full powers given to him by his commission; on the contrary, he was all along most anxious to find some internal resources within the State by means of which Annexation could be averted, and of this fact his various letters and despatches give full proof. Thus, in his letter to President Burgers, of the 9th April 1877, in which he announces his intention of annexing the country, he says: "I have more than once assured your Honour that if I could think of any plan by which the independence of the State could be maintained by its own internal resources I would most certainly not conceal that plan from you." It is also incidentally remarkably confirmed by a passage in Mr. Burgers' posthumous defence, in which he says: "Hence I met Shepstone alone in my house, and opened up the subject of his mission. With a candour that astonished me, he avowed that his purpose was to annex the country, as he had sufficient grounds for it, unless I could so alter as to satisfy his Government. My plan of a new constitution, modelled after that of America, of a standing police force of two hundred mounted men, was then proposed. He promised to give me time to call the Volksraad together, and to _abandon his design_ if the Volksraad would adopt these measures, and the country be willing to submit to them, and to carry them out." Further on he says: "In justice to Shepstone I must say that I would not consider an officer of my Government to have acted faithfully if he had not done what Shepstone did." It has also been frequently alleged in England, and always seems to be taken as the groundwork of argument in the matter of the Annexation, that the Special Commissioner represented that the majority of the inhabitants wished for the Annexation, and that it was sanctioned on that ground. This statement shows the great ignorance that exists in this country of South African affairs, an ignorance which in this case has been carefully fostered by Mr. Gladstone's Government for party purposes, they having found it necessary to assume, in order to make their position in the matter tenable, that Sir T. Shepstone and other officers had been guilty of misrepresentation. Unfortunately, the Government and its supporters have been more intent upon making out their case than upon ascertaining the truth of their statements. If they had taken the trouble to refer to Sir T. Shepstone's despatches, they would have found that the ground on which the Transvaal was annexed was, not because the majority of the inhabitants wished for it but because the State was drifting into anarchy, was bankrupt, and was about to be destroyed by native tribes. They would further have found that Sir T. Shepstone never represented that the majority of the Boers were in favour of Annexation. What he did say was that most thinking men in the country saw no other way out of the difficulty; but what proportion of the Boers can be called "thinking men?" He also said, in the fifteenth paragraph of his despatch to Lord Carnarvon of 6th March 1877, that petitions signed by 2500 people, representing every class of the community, out of a total adult male population of 8000, had been presented to the Government of the Republic, setting forth its difficulties and dangers, and praying it "to treat with me for their amelioration or removal." He also stated, and with perfect truth, that many more would have signed had it not been for the terrorism that was exercised, and that all the towns and villages in the country desired the change, which was a patent fact. This is the foundation on which the charge of misrepresentation is built--a charge which has been manipulated so skilfully, and with such a charming disregard for the truth, that the British public has been duped into believing it. When it is examined into, it vanishes into thin air. But a darker charge has been brought against the Special Commissioner--a charge affecting his honour as a gentleman and his character as a Christian; and, strange to say, has gained a considerable credence, especially amongst a certain party in England. I allude to the statement that he called up the Zulu army with the intention of sweeping the Transvaal if the Annexation was objected to. I may state, from my own personal knowledge, that the report is a complete falsehood, and that no such threat was ever made, either by Sir T. Shepstone or by anybody connected with him, and I will briefly prove what I say. When the mission first arrived at Pretoria, a message came from Cetywayo to the effect that he had heard that the Boers had fired at "Sompseu" (Sir T. Shepstone), and announcing his intention of attacking the Transvaal if "his father" was touched. About the middle of March alarming rumours began to spread as to the intended action of Cetywayo with reference to the Transvaal; but as Sir T. Shepstone did not think that the king would be likely to make any hostile movement whilst he was in the country, he took no steps in the matter. Neither did the Transvaal Government ask his advice and assistance. Indeed, a remarkable trait in the Boers is their supreme self-conceit, which makes them believe that they are capable of subduing all the natives in Africa, and of thrashing the whole British army if necessary. Unfortunately, the recent course of events has tended to confirm them in their opinion as regards their white enemies. To return: towards the second week in April, or the week before the proclamation of Annexation was issued, things began to look very serious; indeed, rumours that could hardly be discredited reached the Special Commissioner that the whole Zulu army was collected in a chain of Impis or battalions, with the intention of bursting into the Transvaal and sweeping the country. Knowing how terrible would be the catastrophe if this were to happen, Sir T. Shepstone was much alarmed about the matter, and at a meeting with the Executive Council of the Transvaal Government he pointed out to them the great danger in which the country was placed. This was done in the presence of several officers of his staff, and it was on this friendly exposition of the state of affairs that the charge that he had threatened the country with invasion by the Zulus was based. On the 11th April, or the day before the Annexation, a message was despatched to Cetywayo, telling him of the reports that had reached Pretoria, and stating that if they were true he must forthwith give up all such intentions, as the Transvaal would at once be placed under the sovereignty of Her Majesty, and that if he had assembled any armies for purposes of aggression they must be disbanded at once. Sir T. Shepstone's message reached Zululand not a day too soon. Had the Annexation of the Transvaal been delayed by a few weeks even--and this is a point which I earnestly beg Englishmen to remember in connection with that act--Cetywayo's armies would have entered the Transvaal, carrying death before them, and leaving a wilderness behind them. Cetywayo's answer to the Special Commissioner's message will sufficiently show, to use Sir Theophilus' own words in his despatch on the subject, "the pinnacle of peril which the Republic and South Africa generally had reached at the moment when the Annexation took place." He says, "I thank my Father Sompseu (Sir T. Shepstone) for his message. I am glad that he has sent it, because the Dutch have tired me out, and I intended to fight them once and once only, and to drive them over the Vaal. Kabana (name of messenger), you see my Impis (armies) are gathered. It was to fight the Dutch I called them together; now I will send them back to their homes. Is it well that two men ('amadoda-amabili') should be made 'iziula' (fools)? In the reign of my father Umpanda the Boers were constantly moving their boundary further into my country. Since his death the same thing has been done. I had therefore determined to end it once for all!" The message then goes on to other matters, and ends with a request to be allowed to fight the Amaswazi, because "they fight together and kill one another. This," says Cetywayo naively, "is wrong, and I want to chastise them for it." This quotation will suffice to convince all reasonable men, putting aside all other matters, from what imminent danger the Transvaal was delivered by the much-abused Annexation. Some months after that event, however, it occurred to the ingenious mind of some malicious individual in Natal that, properly used, much political capital might be made out of this Zulu incident, and the story that Cetywayo's army had been called up by Sir Theophilus himself to overawe, and, if necessary, subdue the Transvaal, was accordingly invented and industriously circulated. Although Sir T. Shepstone at once caused it to be authoritatively contradicted, such an astonishing slander naturally took firm root, and on the 12th April 1879 we have Mr. M. W. Pretorius, one of the Boer leaders, publicly stating at a meeting of the farmers that "previous to the Annexation Sir T. Shepstone had threatened the Transvaal with an attack from the Zulus as an argument for advancing the Annexation." Under such an imputation the Government could no longer keep silence, and accordingly Sir Owen Lanyon, who was then Administrator of the Transvaal, caused the matter to be officially investigated, with these results, which are summed up by him in a letter to Mr. Pretorius, dated 1st May 1879:-- 1. The records of the Republican Executive Council contained no allusion to any such statement. 2. Two members of that Council filed statements in which they unreservedly denied that Sir T. Shepstone used the words or threats imputed to him. 3. Two officers of Sir T. Shepstone's staff, who were always present with him at interviews with the Executive Council, filed statements to the same effect. "I have no doubt," adds Sir Owen Lanyon, "that the report has been originated and circulated by some evil-disposed person." In addition to this evidence we have a letter written to the Colonial Office by Sir T. Shepstone, dated London, August 12, 1879, in which he points out that Mr. Pretorius was not even present at any of the interviews with the Executive Council on which occasion he accuses him of having made use of the threats. He further shows that the use of such a threat on his part would have, been the depth of folly, and "knowingly to court the instant and ignominious failure of my mission," because the Boers were so persuaded of their own prowess that they could not be convinced that they stood in any danger from native sources, and also because "such play with such keen-edged tools as the excited passions of savages are, and especially such savages as I knew the Zulus to be, is not what an experience of forty-two years in managing them inclined me to." And yet, in the face of all this accumulated evidence, this report continues to be believed, that is, by those who wished to believe it. Such are the accusations that have been brought against the manner of the Annexation and the officer who carried it out, and never were accusations more groundless. Indeed, both for party purposes, and from personal animus, every means, fair or foul, has been used to discredit it and all connected with it. To take a single instance, one author (Miss Colenso, p. 134, "History of the Zulu War") actually goes the length of putting a portion of a speech made by President Burgers into the mouth of Sir T. Shepstone, and then abusing him for his incredible profanity. Surely this exceeds the limits of fair criticism. Before I go on to the actual history of the Annexation there is one point I wish to submit to my reader. In England the change of Government has always been talked of as though it only affected the forty thousand white inhabitants of the country, whilst everybody seems to forget that this same land had about a million human beings living on it, its original owners, and only, unfortunately for themselves, possessing a black skin, and therefore entitled to little consideration,--even at the hands of the most philanthropic Government in the world. It never seems to have occurred to those who have raised so much outcry on behalf of the forty thousand Boers, to inquire what was thought of the matter by the million natives. If they were to be allowed a voice in their own disposal, the country was certainly annexed by the wish of a very large majority of the inhabitants. It is true that Secocoeni, instigated thereto by the Boers, afterwards continued the war against us, but, with the exception of this one chief, the advent of our rule was hailed with joy by every native in the Transvaal, and even he was glad of it at the time. During our period of rule in the Transvaal the natives have had, as they foresaw, more peace than at any time since the white man set foot in the land. They have paid their taxes gladly, and there has been no fighting among themselves; but since we have given up the country we hear a very different tale. It is this million of men, women, and children who, notwithstanding their black skins, live and feel, and have intelligence as much as ourselves, who are the principal, because the most numerous sufferers from Mr. Gladstone's conjuring tricks, that can turn a Sovereign into a Suzerain as airily as the professor of magic brings a litter of guinea-pigs out of a top hat. It is our falsehood and treachery to them whom we took over "for ever," as we told them, and whom we have now handed back to their natural enemies to be paid off for their loyalty to the Englishman, that is the blackest stain in all this black business, and that has destroyed our prestige, and caused us to be looked on amongst them, for they do not hide their opinion, as "cowards and liars." But very little attention, however, seems to have been paid to native views or claims at any time in the Transvaal; indeed they have all along been treated as serfs of the soil, to be sold with it, if necessary, to a new master. It is true that the Government, acting under pressure from the Aborigines Protection Society, made, on the occasion of the Surrender, a feeble effort to secure the independence of some of the native tribes; but when the Boer leaders told them shortly that they would have nothing of the sort, and that, if they were not careful, they would reoccupy Laing's Nek, the proposal was at once dropped, with many assurances that no offence was intended. The worst of the matter is that this treatment of our native subjects and allies will assuredly recoil on the heads of future innocent Governments. Shortly after the appointment of the Joint-Commission alluded to at the beginning of this chapter, President Burgers, who was now in possession of the Special Commissioner's intentions, should he be unable to carry out reforms sufficiently drastic to satisfy the English Government, thought it best to call together the Volksraad. In the meantime, it had been announced that the "rebel" Secocoeni had sued for peace and signed a treaty declaring himself a subject of the Republic. I shall have to enter into the question of this treaty a little further on, so I will at present only say that it was the first business laid before the Raad, and, after some discussion, ratified. Next in order to the Secocoeni peace came the question of Confederation, as laid down in Lord Carnarvon's Permissive Bill. This proposal was laid before them in an earnest and eloquent speech by their President, who entreated them to consider the dangerous position of the Republic, and to face their difficulties like men. The question was referred to a committee, and an adverse report being brought up, was rejected without further consideration. It is just possible that intimidation had something to do with the summary treatment of so important a matter, seeing that whilst it was being argued a large mob of Boers, looking very formidable with their sea-cow hide whips, watched every move of their representatives through the windows of the Volksraad Hall. It was Mr. Chamberlain's caucus system in practical and visible operation. A few days after the rejection of the Confederation Bill, President Burgers, who had frequently alluded to the desperate condition of the Republic, and stated that either some radical reform must be effected or the country must come under the British flag, laid before the Raad a brand new constitution of a very remarkable nature, asserting that they must either accept it or lose their independence. The first part of this strange document dealt with the people and their rights, which remained much as they were before, with the exception that the secrecy of all letters entrusted to the post was to be inviolable. The recognition of this right is an amusing incident in the history of a free Republic. Under following articles the Volksraad was entrusted with the charge of the native inhabitants of the State, the provision for the administration of justice, the conduct of education, the regulation of money-bills, &c. It is in the fourth chapter, however, that we come to the real gist of the Bill, which was the endowment of the State President with the authority of a dictator. Mr. Burgers thought to save the State by making himself an absolute monarch. He was to be elected for a period of seven instead of five years, and to be eligible for re-election. In him was vested the power of making all appointments without reference to the Legislature. All laws were to be drawn up by him, and he was to have the right of veto on Volksraad resolutions, which body he could summon and dissolve at will. Finally, his Executive Council was to consist of heads of departments appointed by himself, and of one member of the Volksraad. The Volksraad treated this Bill in much the same way as they had dealt with the Permissive Confederation Bill, gave it a casual consideration, and threw it out. The President, meanwhile, was doing his best to convince the Raad of the danger of the country; that the treasury was empty, whilst duns were pressing, that enemies were threatening on every side, and, finally, that Her Majesty's Special Commissioner was encamped within a thousand yards of them, watching their deliberations with some interest. He showed them that it was impossible at once to scorn reform and reject friendly offers, that it was doubtful if anything could save them, but that if they took no steps they were certainly lost as a nation. The "Fathers of the land," however, declined to dance to the President's piping. Then he took a bolder line. He told them that a guilty nation never can evade the judgment that follows its steps. He asked them "conscientiously to advise the people not obstinately to refuse a union with a powerful Government. He could not advise them to refuse such a union.... He did not believe that a new constitution would save them; for as little as the old constitution had brought them to ruin, so little would a new constitution bring salvation.... If the citizens of England had behaved towards the Crown as the burghers of this State had behaved to their Government, England would never have stood so long as she had." He pointed out to them their hopeless financial position. "To-day," he said, "a bill for £1100 was laid before me for signature; but I would sooner have cut off my right hand than sign that paper--(cheers)--for I have not the slightest ground to expect that, when that bill becomes due, there will be a penny to pay it with." And finally, he exhorted them thus: "Let them make the best of the situation, and get the best terms they possibly could; let them agree to join their hands to those of their brethren in the south, and then from the Cape to the Zambesi there would be one great people. Yes, there was something grand in that, grander even than their idea of a Republic, something which ministered to their national feeling--(cheers)--and would this be so miserable? Yes, this would be miserable for those who would not be under the law, for the rebel and the revolutionist, but welfare and prosperity for the men of law and order." These powerful words form a strong indictment against the Republic, and from them there can be little doubt that President Burgers was thoroughly convinced of the necessity and wisdom of the Annexation. It is interesting to compare them, and many other utterances of his made at this period, with the opinions he expresses in the posthumous document recently published, in which he speaks somewhat jubilantly of the lessons taught us on Laing's Nek and Majuba by such "an inherently weak people as the Boers," and points to them as striking instances of retribution. In this document he attributes the Annexation to the desire to advance English supremacy in South Africa, and to lay hold of the way to Central South Africa. It is, however, noticeable that he does not in any way indicate how it could have been averted, and the State continue to exist; and he seems all along to feel that his case is a weak one, for in explaining, or attempting to explain, why he had never defended himself from the charges brought against him in connection with the Annexation, he says: "Had I not endured in silence, had I not borne patiently all the accusations, but out of selfishness or fear told the plain truth of the case, the Transvaal would never have had the consideration it has now received from Great Britain. However unjust the Annexation was, my self-justification would have _exposed the Boers to such an extent_, and the state of the country in such a way, that it would have deprived them both of the sympathy of the world and the consideration of the English politicians." In other words, "If I had told the truth about things as I should have been obliged to do to justify myself, there would have been no more outcry about the Annexation, because the whole world, even the English Radicals, would have recognised how necessary it was, and what a fearful state the country was in." But to let that pass, it is evident that President Burgers did not take the same view of the Annexation in 1877 as he did in 1881, and indeed his speeches to the Volksraad would read rather oddly printed in parallel columns with his posthumous statement. The reader would be forced to one of two conclusions, either on one of the two occasions he is saying what he does not mean, or he must have changed his mind. As I believe him to have been an honest man, I incline to the latter supposition; nor do I consider it so very hard to account for, taking into consideration his natural Dutch proclivities. In 1877 Burgers is the despairing head of a State driving rapidly to ruin, if not to actual extinction, when the strong hand of the English Government is held out to him. What wonder that he accepts it gladly on behalf of his country, which is by its help brought into a state of greater prosperity than it has ever before known? In 1881 the wheel has gone round, and great events have come about whilst he lies dying. The enemies of the Boers have been destroyed, the powers of the Zulus and Secocoeni are no more; the country has prospered under a healthy rule, and its finances have been restored. More,--glad tidings have come from Mid-Lothian to the "rebel and the revolutionist," whose hopes were flagging, and eloquent words have been spoken by the new English Dictator that have aroused a great rebellion. And, to crown all, English troops have suffered one massacre and three defeats, and England sues for peace from the South African peasant, heedless of honour or her broken word, so that the prayer be granted. With such events before him, that dying man may well have found cause to change his opinion. Doubtless the Annexation was wrong, since England disowns her acts; and may not that dream about the great South African Republic come true after all? Has not the pre-eminence of the Englishman received a blow from which it can never recover, and is not his control over Boers and natives irredeemably weakened? And must he,--Burgers,--go down to posterity as a Dutchman who tried to forward the interests of the English party? No, doubtless the Annexation was wrong; but it has done good, for it has brought about the downfall of the English: and we will end the argument in the very words of his last public utterance, with which he ends his statement: "South Africa gained more from this, and has made a larger step forward in the march of freedom, than most people can conceive." Who shall say that he is wrong? the words of dying men are sometimes prophetic! South Africa has made a great advance towards the "freedom" of a Dutch Republic. This has been a digression, but I hope not an uninteresting one. To return--on the 1st March, Sir T. Shepstone met the Executive Council, and told them that in his opinion there was now but one remedy to be adopted, and that was that the Transvaal should be united with the English colonies of South Africa under one head, namely the Queen, saying at the same time that the only thing now left to the Republic was to make the best arrangements it could for the future benefit of its inhabitants, and to submit to that which he saw to be, and every thinking man saw to be, inevitable. So soon as this information was officially communicated to the Raad, for a good proportion of its members were already acquainted with it unofficially, it flew from a state of listless indifference into vigorous and hasty action. The President was censured, and a committee was appointed to consider and report upon the situation, which reported in favour of the adoption of Burgers' new constitution. Accordingly, the greatest part of this measure, which had been contemptuously rejected a few days before, was adopted almost without question, and Mr. Paul Kruger was appointed Vice-President. On the following day, a very drastic treason law was passed, borrowed from the statute-book of the Orange Free State, which made all public expression of opinion, if adverse to the Government, or in any way supporting the Annexation party, high treason. This done, the Assembly prorogued itself until--October 1881. During and after the sitting of the Raad, rumours arose that the chief Secocoeni's signature to the treaty of peace, ratified by that body, had been obtained by misrepresentation. As ratified, this treaty consisted of three articles, according to which Secocoeni consented, first, to become a subject of the Republic, and obey the laws of the country; secondly, to agree to a certain restricted boundary line; and, thirdly, to pay 2000 head of cattle; which, considering he had captured quite 5000 head, was not exorbitant. Towards the end of February a written message was received from Secocoeni by Sir T. Shepstone, dated after the signing of the supposed treaty. The original, which was written in Sisutu, was a great curiosity. The following is a correct translation:-- "_February 16, 1877._ "FOR MYN HEER SHEPSTONE,--I beg you, Chief, come help me, the Boers are killing me, and I don't know the reasons why they should be angry with me; Chief, I beg you come with Myn Heer Merensky.--I am SIKUKUNI." This message was accompanied by a letter from Mr. Merensky, a well-known and successful missionary, who had been for many years resident in Secocoeni's country, in which he stated that he heard on very good authority that Secocoeni had distinctly refused to agree to that article of the treaty by which he became a subject of the State. He adds that he cannot remain "silent while such tricks are played." Upon this information, Sir T. Shepstone wrote to President Burgers, stating that "if the officer in whom you have placed confidence has withheld any portion of the truth from you, especially so serious a portion of it, he is guilty of a wrong towards you personally, as well as towards the Government, because he has caused you to assume an untenable position," and suggesting that a joint-commission should be despatched to Secocoeni, to thoroughly sift the question in the interest of all concerned. This suggestion was after some delay agreed to, and a commission was appointed, consisting of Mr. Van Gorkom, a Hollander, and Mr. Holtshausen, a member of the Executive Council, on behalf of the Transvaal Government, and Mr. Osborn, R.M., and Captain Clarke, R.A.,[7] on behalf of the Commissioner, whom I accompanied as Secretary. [7] Now Sir Marshall Clarke, Special Commissioner for Basutoland. At Middleburg the native Gideon who acted as interpreter between Commandant Ferreira, C.M.G. (the officer who negotiated the treaty on behalf of the Boer Government), and Secocoeni was examined, and also two natives, Petros and Jeremiah, who were with him, but did not actually interpret. All these men persisted that Secocoeni had positively refused to become a subject of the Republic, and only consented to sign the treaty on the representations of Commandant Ferreira that it would only be binding as regards to the two articles about the cattle and the boundary line. The Commission then proceeded to Secocoeni's town, accompanied by a fresh set of interpreters, and had a long interview with Secocoeni. The chiefs Prime Minister or "mouth," Makurupiji, speaking in his presence and on his behalf, and making use of the pronoun "I" before all the assembled headmen of the tribe, gave an account of the interview between Commandant Ferreira in the presence of that gentleman, who accompanied the Commission, and Secocoeni, in almost the same words as had been used by the interpreters at Middleburg. He distinctly denied having consented to become a subject of the Republic or to stand under the law, and added that he feared he "had touched the feather to" (signed) things that he did not know of in the treaty. Commandant Ferreira then put some questions, but entirely failed to shake the evidence; on the contrary, he admitted by his questions that Secocoeni had not consented to become a subject of the Republic. Secocoeni had evidently signed the piece of paper under the impression that he was acknowledging his liability to pay 2000 head of cattle, and fixing a certain portion of his boundary line, and on the distinct understanding that he was not to become a subject of the State. Now it was the Secocoeni war that had brought the English Mission into the country, and if it could be shown that the Secocoeni war had come to a successful termination, it would go far towards helping the Mission out again. To this end, it was necessary that the chief should declare himself a subject of the State, and thereby, by implication, acknowledge himself to have been a rebel, and admit his defeat. All that was required was a signature, and that once obtained the treaty was published and submitted to the Raad for confirmation, without a whisper being heard of the conditions under which this ignorant Basuto was induced to sign. Had no Commission visited Secocoeni, this treaty would afterwards have been produced against him in its entirety. Altogether, the history of the Secocoeni Peace Treaty does not reassure one as to the genuineness of the treaties which the Boers are continually producing, purporting to have been signed by native chiefs, and, as a general rule, presenting the State with great tracts of country in exchange for a horse or a few oxen. However fond the natives may be of their Boer neighbours, such liberality can scarcely be genuine. On the other hand, it is so easy to induce a savage to sign a paper, or even, if he is reticent, to make a cross for him, and once made, as we all know, _litera scripta manet_, and becomes title to the lands. During the Secocoeni investigation, affairs in the Transvaal were steadily drifting towards anarchy. The air was filled with rumours; now it was reported that an outbreak was imminent amongst the English population at the Gold Fields, who had never forgotten Von Schlickmann's kind suggestion that they should be "subdued;" now it was said that Cetywayo had crossed the border, and might shortly be expected at Pretoria; now that a large body of Boers were on their road to shoot the Special Commissioner, his twenty-five policemen, and Englishmen generally, and so on. Meanwhile, Paul Kruger and his party were not letting the grass grow under their feet, but worked public feeling with great vigour, with the double object of getting Paul made President and ridding themselves of the English. Articles in his support were printed in the well-known Dutch paper _Die Patriot_, published in the Cape Colony, which are so typical of the Boers and of the only literature that has the slightest influence over them, that I will quote a few extracts from one of them. After drawing a very vivid picture of the wretched condition of the country as compared to what it was when the Kafirs had "a proper respect" for the Boers, before Burgers came into power, the article proceeds to give the cause of this state of affairs. "God's word," it says, "gives us the solution. Look at Israel, while the people have a godly king, everything is prosperous, but under a godless prince the land retrogrades, and the whole of the people must suffer. Read Leviticus, chapter xxvi., with attention, &c. In the day of the Voortrekkers (pioneers), a handful of men chased a thousand Kafirs and made them run; so also in the Free State war (Deut. xxxii. 30; Jos. xxiii. 10; Lev. xxvi. 8). But mark, now, when Burgers became President, he knows no Sabbath, he rides through the land in and out of town on Sunday, he knows not the church and God's service (Lev. xxvi. 2, 3), to the scandal of pious people. And he formerly was a priest too. And what is the consequence? No harvest (Lev. xxvi. 16), an army of 6000 men runs because one man falls (Lev. xxvi 17, &c.). What is now the remedy?" The remedy proves to be Paul Kruger, "because there is no other candidate. Because our Lord clearly points him out to be the man, for why is there no other candidate? Who arranged it this way?" Then follows a rather odd argument in favour of Paul's election. "Because he himself (Paul Kruger) acknowledges in his own reply that he is _incompetent_, but that all his ability is from our Lord. Because he is a warrior. Because he is a Boer." Then Paul Kruger, the warrior and the Boer, is compared to Joan of Arc, "a simple Boer girl who came from behind the sheep." The burghers of the Transvaal are exhorted to acknowledge the hand of the Lord, and elect Paul Kruger, or to look for still heavier punishment. (Lev. xxvi. 18 _et seq._) Next the _Patriot_ proceeds to give a bit of advice to "our candidate, Paul Kruger." He is to deliver the land from the Kafirs. "The Lord has given you the heart of a warrior, arise and drive them," a bit of advice quite suited to his well-known character. But this chosen vessel was not to get all the loaves and fishes; on the contrary, as soon as he had fulfilled his mission of "driving" the Kafirs, he was to hand over his office to a "good" President. The article ends thus: "If the Lord wills to use you now to deliver this land from its enemies, and a day of peace and prosperity arises again, and you see that you are not exactly the statesman to further govern the Republic, then it will be your greatest honour to say, 'Citizens, I have delivered you from the enemy, I am no statesman, but now you have peace and time to choose and elect a _good_ President.'" An article such as the above, is instructive reading, as showing the low calibre of the minds that are influenced by it. Yet such writings and sermons have more power among the Boers than any other arguments, appealing as they do to the fanaticism and vanity of their nature, which causes them to believe that the Divinity is continually interfering on their behalf at the cost of other people. It will be noticed that the references given are all to the Old Testament, and nearly all refer to acts of blood. These doctrines were not, however, at all acceptable to Burgers' party, or the more enlightened members of the community, and so bitter did the struggle of rival opinions become that there is very little doubt that had the country not been annexed, civil war would have been added to its other calamities. Meanwhile the natives were from day to day becoming more restless, and messengers were constantly arriving at the Special Commissioner's camp, begging that their tribe might be put under the Queen, and stating that they would fight rather than submit any longer to the Boers. At length on the 9th April, Sir T. Shepstone informed the Government of the Republic that he was about to declare the Transvaal British territory. He told them that he had considered and reconsidered his determination, but that he could see no possible means within the State by which it could free itself from the burdens that were sinking it to destruction, adding that if he could have found such means he would certainly not have hidden them from the Government. This intimation was received in silence, though all the later proceedings with reference to the Annexation were in reality carried out in concert with the authorities of the Republic. Thus on the 13th March the Government submitted a paper of ten questions to Sir T. Shepstone as regards the future condition of the Transvaal under English rule, whether the debts of the State would be guaranteed, &c. To these questions replies were given which were on the whole satisfactory to the Government. As these replies formed the basis of the proclamation guarantees, it is not necessary to enter into them. It was further arranged by the Republican Government that a formal protest should be entered against the Annexation, which was accordingly prepared and privately shown to the Special Commissioner. The Annexation proclamation was also shown to President Burgers, and a paragraph eliminated at his suggestion. In fact, the Special Commissioner and the President, together with most of his Executive, were quite at one as regards the necessity of the proclamation being issued, their joint endeavours being directed to the prevention of any disturbance, and to secure a good reception for the change. At length, after three months of inquiry and negotiation, the proclamation of annexation was on the 12th of April 1877 read by Mr. Osborn, accompanied by some other gentlemen of Sir T. Shepstone's staff. It was an anxious moment for all concerned. To use the words of the Special Commissioner in his despatch home on the subject, "Every effort had been made during the previous fortnight by, it is said, educated Hollanders, and who had but lately arrived in the country, to rouse the fanaticism of the Boers, and to induce them to offer 'bloody' resistance to what it was known I intended to do. The Boers were appealed to in the most inflammatory language by printed manifestoes and memorials; ... it was urged that I had but a small escort, which could easily be overpowered." In a country so full of desperadoes and fanatical haters of anything English, it was more than possible that, though such an act would have been condemned by the general sense of the country, a number of men could easily be found who would think they were doing a righteous act in greeting the "annexationists" with an ovation of bullets. I do not mean that the anxiety was personal, because I do not think the members of that small party set any higher value on their lives than other people, but it was absolutely necessary for the success of the act itself, and for the safety of the country, that not a single shot should be fired. Had that happened it is probable that the whole country would have been involved in confusion and bloodshed, the Zulus would have broken in, and the Kafirs would have risen; in fact, to use Cetywayo's words, "the land would have burned with fire." It will therefore be easily understood what an anxious hour that was both for the Special Commissioner sitting up at Government House, and for his staff down on the Market Square, and how thankful they were when the proclamation was received with hearty cheers by the crowd. Mr. Burgers' protest, which was read immediately afterwards, was received in respectful silence. And thus the Transvaal Territory passed for a while into the great family of the English Colonies. I believe that the greatest political opponent of the act will bear tribute to the very remarkable ability with which it was carried out. When the variety and number of the various interests that had to be conciliated, the obstinate nature of the individuals who had to be convinced, as well as the innate hatred of the English name and ways which had to be overcome to carry out this act successfully, are taken into consideration, together with a thousand other matters, the neglect of any one of which would have sufficed to make failure certain, it will be seen what tact and skill and knowledge of human nature was required to execute so difficult a task. It must be remembered that no force was used, and that there never was any threat of force. The few troops that were to enter the Transvaal were four weeks' march from Pretoria at the time. There was nothing whatsoever to prevent the Boers putting a summary stop to the proceedings of the Commissioner if they had thought fit. That Sir Theophilus played a bold and hazardous game nobody will deny, but, like most players who combine boldness with coolness of head and justice of cause, he won; and, without shedding a single drop of blood, or even confiscating an acre of land, and at no cost, annexed a great country, and averted a very serious war. That same country four years later cost us a million of money, the loss of nearly a thousand men killed and wounded, and the ruin of many more confiding thousands, to surrender. It is true, however, that nobody can accuse the retrocession of having been conducted with judgment or ability--very much the contrary. There can be no more ample justification of the issue of the Annexation proclamation than the proclamation itself. First, it touches on the Sand River Convention of 1852, by which independence was granted to the State, and shows that the "evident objects and inciting motives" in granting such guarantee were to promote peace, free-trade, and friendly intercourse, in the hope and belief that the Republic "would become a flourishing and self-sustaining State, a source of strength and security to neighbouring European communities, and a point from which Christianity and civilisation might rapidly spread toward Central Africa." It goes on to show how these hopes have been disappointed, and how that increasing weakness in the State itself on the one side, and more than corresponding growth of real strength and confidence among the native tribes on the other, have produced their natural and inevitable consequence ... that after more or less of irritating conflict with aboriginal tribes to the north, there commenced about the year 1867 gradual abandonment to the natives in that direction of territory settled by burghers of the Transvaal "in well-built towns and villages and on granted farms." It goes on to show that "this decay of power and ebb of authority in the north is being followed by similar processes in the south under yet more dangerous circumstances. People of this State residing in that direction have been compelled within the last three months, at the bidding of native chiefs, and at a moment's notice, to leave their farms and homes, their standing crops ... all to be taken possession of by natives, but that the Government is more powerless than ever to vindicate its assumed rights or to resist the declension that is threatening its existence." It then recites how all the other colonies and communities of South Africa have lost confidence in the State, how it is in a condition of hopeless bankruptcy, and its commerce annihilated, whilst the inhabitants are divided into factions, and the Government has fallen into "helpless paralysis." How also the prospect of the election of a new President, instead of being looked forward to with hope, would in the opinion of all parties be the signal for civil war, anarchy, and bloodshed. How that this state of things affords the very strongest temptation to the great neighbouring native powers to attack the country, a temptation that they were only too ready and anxious to yield to, and that the State was in far too feeble a condition to repel such attacks, from which it had hitherto only been saved by the repeated representations of the Government of Natal. The next paragraphs I will quote as they stand, for they sum up the reasons for the Annexation. "That the Secocoeni war, which would have produced but little effect on a healthy constitution, has not only proved suddenly fatal to the resources and reputation of the Republic, but has shown itself to be a culminating point in the history of South Africa, in that a Makatee or Basuto tribe, unwarlike and of no account in Zulu estimation, successfully withstood the strength of the State, and disclosed for the first time to the native powers outside the Republic, from the Zambesi to the Cape, the great change that had taken place in the relative strength of the white and black races, that this disclosure at once shook the prestige of the white man in South Africa, and placed every European community in peril, that this common danger has caused universal anxiety, has given to all concerned the right to investigate its cause, and to protect themselves from its consequences, and has imposed the duty upon those who have the power to shield enfeebled civilisation from the encroachments of barbarism and inhumanity." It proceeds to point out that the Transvaal will be the first to suffer from the results of its own policy, and that it is for every reason perfectly impossible for Her Majesty's Government to stand by and see a friendly white State ravaged, knowing that its own possessions will be the next to suffer. That Her Majesty's Government, being persuaded that the only means to prevent such a catastrophe would be by the annexation of the country, and, knowing that this was the wish of a large proportion of the inhabitants of the Transvaal, the step must be taken. Next follows the formal annexation. Together with the proclamation, an address was issued by Sir T. Shepstone to the burghers of the State, laying the facts before them in a friendly manner, more suited to their mode of thought than it was possible to do in a formal proclamation. This document, the issue of which was one of those touches that insured the success of the Annexation, was a powerful summing up in colloquial language of the arguments used in the proclamation, strengthened by quotations from the speeches of the President. It ends with these words: "It remains only for me to beg of you to consider and weigh what I have said calmly and without undue prejudice. Let not mere feeling or sentiment prevail over your judgment. Accept what Her Majesty's Government intends shall be, and what you will soon find from experience, is a blessing not only to you and your children, but to the whole of South Africa through you, and believe that I speak these words to you as a friend from my heart." Two other proclamations were also issued, one notifying the assumption of the office of Administrator of the Government by Sir T. Shepstone, and the other repealing the war-tax, which was doubtless an unequal and oppressive impost. I have in the preceding pages stated all the principal grounds of the Annexation and briefly sketched the history of that event. In the next chapter I propose to follow the fortunes of the Transvaal, under British Rule. CHAPTER IV. THE TRANSVAAL UNDER BRITISH RULE. The news of the Annexation was received all over the country with a sigh of relief, and in many parts of it with great rejoicings. At the Gold Fields, for instance, special thanksgiving services were held, and "God save the Queen" was sung in church. Nowhere was there the slightest disturbance, but, on the contrary, addresses of congratulation and thanks literally poured in by every mail, many of them signed by Boers who have since been conspicuous for their bitter opposition to English rule. At first, there was some doubt as to what would be the course taken under the circumstances by the volunteers enlisted by the late Republic. Major Clarke, R.A., was sent to convey the news, and to take command of them, unaccompanied save by his Kafir servant. On arrival at the principal fort, he at once ordered the Republican flag to be hauled down and the Union Jack run up, and his orders were promptly obeyed. A few days afterwards some members of the force thought better of it, and having made up their minds to kill him, came to the tent where he was sitting to carry out their purpose. On learning their kind intentions, Major Clarke fixed his eye-glass in his eye, and after steadily glaring at them through it for some time, said, "You are all drunk, go back to your tents." The volunteers, quite overcome by his coolness and the fixity of his gaze, at once slipped off, and there was no further trouble. About three weeks after the Annexation, the I-13th Regiment arrived at Pretoria, having been very well received all along the road by the Boers, who came from miles round to hear the band play. Its entry into Pretoria was quite a sight; the whole population turned out to meet it; indeed the feeling of rejoicing and relief was so profound that when the band began to play "God save the Queen" some of the women burst into tears. Meanwhile the effect of the Annexation on the country was perfectly magical. Credit and commerce were at once restored; the railway bonds that were down to nothing in Holland rose with one bound to par, and the value of landed property nearly doubled. Indeed it would have been possible for any one, knowing what was going to happen, to have realised large sums of money by buying land in the beginning of 1877, and selling it shortly after the Annexation. On the 24th May, being Her Majesty's birthday, all the native chiefs who were anywhere within reach were summoned to attend the first formal hoisting of the English flag. The day was a general festival, and the ceremony was attended by a large number of Boers and natives in addition to all the English. At mid-day, amidst the cheers of the crowd, the salute of artillery, and the strains of "God save the Queen," the Union Jack was run up a lofty flagstaff, and the Transvaal was formally announced to be British soil. The flag was hoisted by Colonel Brooke, R.E., and the present writer. Speaking for myself, I may say that it was one of the proudest moments of my life. Could I have foreseen that I should live to see that same flag, then hoisted with so much joyous ceremony, within a few years shamefully and dishonourably hauled down and buried,[8] I think it would have been the most miserable. [8] The English flag was during the signing of the Convention at Pretoria formally buried by a large crowd of Englishmen and loyal natives. The Annexation was as well received in England as it was in the Transvaal. Lord Carnarvon wrote to Sir T. Shepstone to convey "the Queen's entire approval of your conduct since you received Her Majesty's commission, with a renewal of my own thanks on behalf of the Government for the admirable prudence and discretion with which you have discharged a great and unwonted responsibility." It was also accepted by Parliament with very few dissentient voices, since it was not till afterwards, when the subject became useful as an electioneering howl, that the Liberal party, headed by our "powerful popular minister," discovered the deep iniquity that had been perpetrated in South Africa. So satisfied were the Transvaal Boers with the change that Messrs. Kruger, Jorissen, and Bok, who formed the deputation to proceed to England and present President Burgers' formal protest against the Annexation, found great difficulty in raising one-half of the necessary expenses--something under one thousand pounds--towards the cost of the undertaking. The thirst for independence cannot have been very great when all the wealthy burghers in the Transvaal put together would not subscribe a thousand pounds towards retaining it. Indeed, at this time the members of the deputation themselves seem to have looked upon their undertaking as being both doubtful and undesirable, since they informed Sir T. Shepstone that they were going to Europe to discharge an obligation which had been imposed upon them, and if the mission failed, they would have done their duty. Mr. Kruger said that if they did fail, he would be found to be as faithful a subject under the new form of government as he had been under the old; and Dr. Jorissen admitted with equal frankness that "the change was inevitable, and expressed his belief that the cancellation of it would be calamitous." Whilst the Annexation was thus well received in the country immediately interested, a lively agitation was commenced in the Western Province of the Cape Colony, a thousand miles away, with a view of inducing the Home Government to repudiate Sir T. Shepstone's act. The reason of this movement was that the Cape Dutch party, caring little or nothing for the real interests of the Transvaal, did care a great deal about their scheme to turn all the white communities of South Africa into a great Dutch Republic, to which they thought the Annexation would be a deathblow. As I have said elsewhere, it must be borne in mind that the strings of the anti-annexation agitation have all along been pulled in the Western Province, whilst the Transvaal Boers have played the parts of puppets. The instruments used by the leaders of the movement in the Cape were, for the most part, the discontented and unprincipled Hollander element, a newspaper of an extremely abusive nature called the _Volkstem_, and another in Natal known as the _Natal Witness_, lately edited by the notorious Aylward, which has an almost equally unenviable reputation. On the arrival of Messrs. Jorissen and Kruger in England, they were received with great civility by Lord Carnarvon, who was, however, careful to explain to them that the Annexation was irrevocable. In this decision they cheerfully acquiesced, assuring his lordship of their determination to do all they could to induce the Boers to accept the new state of things, and expressing their desire to be allowed to serve under the new Government. Whilst these gentlemen were thus satisfactorily arranging matters with Lord Carnarvon, Sir. T. Shepstone was making a tour round the country which resembled a triumphal progress more than anything else. He was everywhere greeted with enthusiasm by all classes of the community, Boers, English, and natives, and numerous addresses were presented to him couched in the warmest language, not only by Englishmen, but also by Boers. It is very difficult to reconcile the enthusiasm of a great number of the inhabitants of the Transvaal for English rule, and the quiet acquiescence of the remainder, at this time, with the decidedly antagonistic attitude assumed later on. It appears to me, however, that there are several reasons that go far towards accounting for it. The Transvaal, when we annexed it, was in the position of a man with a knife at his throat, who is suddenly rescued by some one stronger than he, on certain conditions which at the time he gladly accepts, but afterwards, when the danger is passed, wishes to repudiate. In the same way the inhabitants of the South African Republic were in the time of need very thankful for our aid, but after a while, when the recollection of their difficulties had grown faint, when their debts had been paid and their enemies defeated, they began to think that they would like to get rid of us again, and start fresh on their own account with a clean sheet. What fostered agitation more than anything else, however, was the perfect impunity with which it was allowed to be carried on. Had only a little firmness and decision been shown in the first instance there would have been no further trouble. We might have been obliged to confiscate half-a-dozen farms, and perhaps imprison as many free burghers for a few months, and there it would have ended. Neither Boers or natives understand our namby-pamby way of playing at government; they put it down to fear. What they want, and what they expect, is to be governed with a just but a firm hand. Thus when the Boers found that they could agitate with impunity, they naturally enough continued to agitate. Anybody who knows them will understand that it was very pleasant to them to find themselves in possession of that delightful thing, a grievance, and, instead of stopping quietly at home on their farms, to feel obliged to proceed, full of importance and long words, to a distant meeting, there to spout and listen to the spouting of others. It is so much easier to talk politics than to sow mealies. Some attribute the discontent among the Boers to the postponement of the carrying out of the Annexation proclamation promises with reference to the free institutions to be granted to the country, but in my opinion it had little or nothing to do with it. The Boers never understood the question of responsible government, and never wanted that institution; what they did want was to be free of all English control, and this they said twenty times in the most outspoken language. I think there is little doubt the causes I have indicated are the real sources of the agitation, though there must be added to them their detestation of our mode of dealing with natives, and of being forced to pay taxes regularly, and also the ceaseless agitation of the Cape wire-pullers, through their agents the Hollanders, and their organs in the press. On the return of Messrs. Kruger and Jorissen to the Transvaal, the latter gentleman resumed his duties as Attorney-General, on which occasion, if I remember aright, I myself had the honour of administering to him the oath of allegiance to Her Majesty, that he afterwards kept so well. The former reported the proceedings of the deputation to a Boer meeting, when he took a very different tone to that in which he addressed Lord Carnarvon, announcing that if there existed a majority of the people in favour of independence, he still was Vice-President of the country. Both these gentlemen remained for some time in the pay of the British Government, Mr. Jorissen as Attorney-General, and Mr. Kruger as member of the Executive Council. The Government, however, at length found it desirable to dispense with their services, though on different grounds. Mr. Jorissen had, like several other members of the Republican Government, been a clergyman, and was quite unfit to hold the post of Attorney-General in an important colony like the Transvaal, where legal questions were constantly arising requiring all the attention of a trained mind; and after he had on several occasions been publicly admonished from the bench, the Government retired him on liberal terms. Needless to say, his opposition to English rule then became very bitter. Mr. Kruger's appointment expired by law in November 1877, and the Government did not think it advisable to re-employ him. The terms of his letter of dismissal can be found on page 135 of Blue-book (c. 144), and involving as they do a serious charge of misrepresentation in money matters, are not very creditable to him. After this event he also pursued the cause of independence with increased vigour. During the last months of 1877 and the first part of 1878 agitation against British rule went on unchecked, and at last grew to alarming proportions, so much so that Sir T. Shepstone, on his return from the Zulu border in March 1878, where he had been for some months discussing the vexed and dangerous question of the boundary line with the Zulus, found it necessary to issue a stringent proclamation warning the agitators that their proceedings and meetings were illegal, and would be punished according to law. This document, which was at the time vulgarly known as the "Hold-your-jaw" proclamation, not being followed by action, produced but little effect. On the 4th April 1878 another Boer meeting was convened, at which it was decided to send a second deputation to England, to consist this time of Messrs. Kruger and Joubert, with Mr. Bok as secretary. This deputation proved as abortive as the first, Sir. M. Hicks Beach assuring it, in a letter dated 6th August 1878, that it is "impossible, for many reasons, ... that the Queen's sovereignty should now be withdrawn." Whilst the Government was thus hampered by internal disaffection, it had also many other difficulties on its hands. First, there was the Zulu boundary question, which was constantly developing new dangers to the country. Indeed, it was impossible to say what might happen in that direction from one week to another. Nor were its relations with Secocoeni satisfactory. It will be remembered that just before the Annexation this chief had expressed his earnest wish to become a British subject, and even paid over part of the fine demanded from him by the Boer Government to the Civil Commissioner, Major Clarke. In March 1878, however, his conduct towards the Government underwent a sudden change, and he practically declared war. It afterwards appeared, from Secocoeni's own statement, that he was instigated to this step by a Boer, Abel Erasmus by name--the same man who was concerned in the atrocities in the first Secocoeni war--who constantly encouraged him to continue the struggle. I do not propose to minutely follow the course of this long war, which, commencing in the beginning of 1878, did not come to an end till after the Zulu war: when Sir Garnet Wolseley attacked Secocoeni's stronghold with a large force of troops, volunteers, and Swazi allies, and took it with great slaughter. The losses on our side were not very heavy, so far as white men were concerned, but the Swazis are reported to have lost 400 killed and 500 wounded. The struggle was, during the long period preceding the final attack, carried on with great courage and ability by Major Clarke, R.A., C.M.G., whose force, at the best of times, only consisted of 200 volunteers and 100 Zulus. With this small body of men he contrived, however, to keep Secocoeni in check, and to take some important strongholds. It was marked also by some striking acts of individual bravery, of which one, performed by Major Clarke himself, whose reputation for cool courage and presence of mind in danger is unsurpassed in South Africa, is worthy of notice; and which, had public attention been more concentrated on the Secocoeni war, would doubtless have won him the Victoria Cross. On one occasion, on visiting one of the outlying forts, he found that a party of hostile natives, who were coming down to the fort on the previous day with a flag of truce, had been accidentally fired on, and had at once retreated. As his system in native warfare was always to try and inspire his enemy with perfect faith in the honour of Englishmen, and their contempt of all tricks and treachery even towards a foe, he was very angry at this occurrence, and at once, unarmed and unattended save by his native servant, rode up into the mountains to the kraal from which the white flag party had come on the previous day, and apologised to the chief for what had happened. When I consider how very anxious Secocoeni's natives were to kill or capture Clarke, whom they held in great dread, and how terrible the end of so great a captain would in all probability have been had he been taken alive by these masters of refined torture, I confess that I think this act of gentlemanly courage is one of the most astonishing things I ever heard of. When he rode up those hills he must have known that he was probably going to meet his death at the hands of justly incensed savages. When Secocoeni heard of what Major Clarke had done he was so pleased that he shortly afterwards released a volunteer whom he had taken prisoner, and who would otherwise, in all probability, have been tortured to death. I must add that Major Clarke himself never reported or alluded to this incident, but an account of it can be found in a despatch written by Sir O. Lanyon to the Secretary of State, dated 2d February 1880. Concurrently with, though entirely distinct from, the political agitation that was being carried on among the Boers having for object the restoration of independence, a private agitation was set on foot by a few disaffected persons against Sir T. Shepstone, with the view of obtaining his removal from office in favour of a certain Colonel Weatherley. The details of this impudent plot are so interesting, and the plot itself so typical of the state of affairs with which Sir T. Shepstone had to deal, that I will give a short account of it. After the Annexation had taken place, there were naturally enough a good many individuals who found themselves disappointed in the results so far as they personally were concerned; I mean that they did not get so much out of it as they expected. Among these was a gentleman called Colonel Weatherley, who had come to the Transvaal as manager of a gold-mining company, but getting tired of that had taken a prominent part in the Annexation, and who, being subsequently disappointed about an appointment, became a bitter enemy of the Administrator. I may say at once that Colonel Weatherley seems to me to have been throughout the dupe of the other conspirators. The next personage was a good-looking desperado, who called himself Captain Gunn of Gunn, and who was locally somewhat irreverently known as the very Gunn of very Gunn. This gentleman, whose former career had been of a most remarkable order, was, on the annexation of the country, found in the public prison charged with having committed various offences, but on Colonel Weatherley's interesting himself strongly on his behalf, he was eventually released without trial. On his release, he requested the Administrator to publish a Government notice declaring him innocent of the charges brought against him. This Sir T. Shepstone declined to do, and so, to use his own words, in a despatch to the High Commissioner on the subject, Captain Gunn of Gunn at once became "what in this country is called a patriot." The third person concerned was a lawyer, who had got into trouble on the Diamond Fields, and who felt himself injured because the rules of the High Court did not allow him to practise as an advocate. The quartette was made up by Mr. Celliers, the editor of the patriotic organ, the _Volkstem_, who, since he had lost the Government printing contract, found that no language could be too strong to apply to the _personnel_ of the Government, more especially its head. Of course, there was a lady in it; what plot would be complete without? She was Mrs. Weatherley, now, I believe, Mrs. Gunn of Gunn. These gentlemen began operations by drawing up a long petition to Sir Bartle Frere as High Commissioner, setting forth a string of supposed grievances, and winding up with a request that the Administrator might be "promoted to some other sphere of political usefulness." This memorial was forwarded by the "committee," as they called themselves, to various parts of the country for signature, but without the slightest success, the fact of the matter being that it was not the Annexor but the Annexation that the Boers objected to. At this stage in the proceedings Colonel Weatherley went to try and forward the good cause with Sir Bartle Frere at the Cape. His letters to Mrs. Weatherley from thence, afterwards put into Court in the celebrated divorce case, contained many interesting accounts of his attempts in that direction. I do not think, however, that he was cognisant of what was being concocted by his allies in Pretoria, but being a very vain, weak man, was easily deceived by them. With all his faults he was a gentleman. As soon as he was gone a second petition was drawn up by the "committee," showing "the advisability of immediately suspending our present Administrator, and temporarily appointing and recommending for Her Majesty's royal and favourable consideration an English gentleman of high integrity and honour, in whom the country at large has respect and confidence." The English gentleman of high integrity and honour of course proves to be Colonel Weatherley, whose appointment is, further on, "respectfully but earnestly requested," since he had "thoroughly gained the affections, confidence, and respect of Boers, English, and other Europeans in this country." But whilst it is comparatively easy to write petitions, there is sometimes a difficulty in getting people to sign them, as proved to be the case with reference to the documents under consideration. When the "committee" and the employés in the office of the _Volkstem_ had affixed their valuable signatures it was found to be impossible to induce anybody else to follow their example. Now, a petition with some half dozen signatures attached would not, it was obvious, carry much weight with the Imperial Government, and no more could be obtained. But really great minds rise superior to such difficulties, and so did the "committee," or some of them, or one of them. If they could not get genuine signatures to their petitions, they could at any rate manufacture them. This great idea once hit out, so vigorously was it prosecuted that they, or some of them, or one of them, produced in a very little while no less than 3883 signatures, of which sixteen were proved to be genuine, five were doubtful, and all the rest fictitious. But the gentleman, whoever he was, who was the working partner in the scheme--and I may state, by way of parenthesis, that when Gunn of Gunn was subsequently arrested, petitions in process of signature were found under the mattress of his bed--calculated without his host. He either did not know, or had forgotten, that on receipt of such documents by a superior officer, they are at once sent to the officer accused to report upon. This course was followed in the present case, and the petitions were discovered to be gross impostures. The ingenuity exercised by their author or authors was really very remarkable, for it must be remembered that not one of the signatures was forged; they were all invented, and had, of course, to be written in a great variety of hands. The plan generally pursued was to put down the names of people living in the country, with slight variations. Thus "De _V_illiers" became "De _W_illiers," and "Van Z_y_l" "Van Z_u_l." I remember that my own name appeared on one of the petitions with some slight alteration. Some of the names were evidently meant to be facetious. Thus there was a "Jan Verneuker," which means "John the Cheat." Of the persons directly or indirectly concerned in this rascally plot, the unfortunate Colonel Weatherley subsequently apologised to Sir T. Shepstone for his share in the agitation, and shortly afterwards died fighting bravely on Kambula. Captain Gunn of Gunn and Mrs. Weatherley, after having given rise to the most remarkable divorce case I ever heard--it took fourteen days to try--were, on the death of Colonel Weatherley, united in the bonds of holy matrimony, and are, I believe, still in Pretoria. The lawyer vanished I know not where, whilst Mr. Celliers still continues to edit that admirably conducted journal the _Volkstem_; nor, if I may judge from the report of a speech made by him recently at a Boer festival, which, by the way, was graced by the presence of our representative, Mr. Hudson, the British Resident, has his right hand forgotten its cunning, or rather his tongue lost the use of those peculiar and _recherché_ epithets that used to adorn the columns of the _Volkstem_. I see that he, on this occasion, denounced the English element as being "poisonous and dangerous" to a State, and stated, amidst loud cheers, that "he despised" it. Mr. Cellier's lines have fallen in pleasant places; in any other country he would long ago have fallen a victim to the stern laws of libel. I recommend him to the notice of enterprising Irish newspapers. Such is the freshness and vigour of his style that I am confident he would make the fortune of any Hibernian journal. Some little time after the Gunn of Gunn frauds a very sad incident happened in connection with the government of the Transvaal. Shortly after the Annexation, the Home Government sent out Mr. Sergeaunt, C.M.G., one of the Crown Agents for the Colonies, to report on the financial Condition of the country. He was accompanied, in an unofficial capacity, amongst other gentlemen, by Captain Patterson and his son, Mr. J. Sergeaunt; and when he returned to England, these two gentlemen remained behind to go on a shooting expedition. About this time Sir Bartle Frere was anxious to send a friendly mission to Lo Bengula, king of the Matabele, a branch of the Zulu tribe, living up towards the Zambesi. This chief had been making himself unpleasant by causing traders to be robbed, and it was thought desirable to establish friendly relations with him, so it was suggested to Captain Patterson and Mr. Sergeaunt that they should combine business with pleasure, and go on a mission to Lo Bengula, an offer which they accepted, and shortly afterwards started for Matabeleland with an interpreter and a few servants. They reached their destination in safety; and having concluded their business with the king, started on a visit to the Zambesi Falls on foot, leaving the interpreter with the waggon. The falls were about twelve days' walk from the king's kraal, and they were accompanied thither by young Mr. Thomas, the son of the local missionary, two Kafir servants, and twenty native bearers supplied by Lo Bengula. The next thing that was heard of them was that they had all died through drinking poisoned water, full details of the manner of their deaths being sent down by Lo Bengula. In the first shock and confusion of such news it was not very closely examined, at any rate by the friends of the dead men, but, on reflection, there were several things about it that appeared strange. For instance, it was well known that Captain Patterson had a habit, for which, indeed, we had often laughed at him, of, however thirsty he might be, always having his water boiled when he was travelling, in order to destroy impurities, and it seemed odd that he should on this one occasion have neglected the precaution. Also, it was curious that the majority of Lo Bengula's bearers appeared to have escaped, whereas all the others were, without exception, killed; nor even in that district is it usual to find water so bad that it will kill with the rapidity it had been supposed to do in this case, unless indeed it had been designedly poisoned. These doubts of the poisoning-by-bad-water-story resolved themselves into certainty when the waggon returned in charge of the interpreter, when, by putting two and two together, we were able to piece out the real history of the diabolical murder of our poor friends with considerable accuracy, a story which shows what blood-thirsty wickedness a savage is capable of when he fancies his interests are threatened. It appeared that, when Captain Patterson first interviewed Lo Bengula, he was not at all well received by him. I must, by way of explanation, state that there exists a pretender to his throne, Kruman by name, who, as far as I can make out, is the real heir to the kingdom. This man had, for some cause or other, fled the country, and for a time acted as gardener to Sir T. Shepstone in Natal. At the date of Messrs. Patterson and Sergeaunt's mission to Matabeleland he was living, I believe, in the Transvaal. Captain Patterson, on finding himself so ill received by the king, and not being sufficiently acquainted with the character of savage chiefs, most unfortunately, either by accident or design, dropped some hint in the course of conversation about this Kruman. From that moment Lo Bengula's conduct towards the mission entirely changed, and, dropping his former tone, he became profusely civil; and from that moment, too, he doubtless determined to kill them, probably fearing that they might forward some scheme to oust him and place Kruman, on whose claim a large portion of his people looked favourably, on the throne. When their business was done, and Captain Patterson told the king that they were anxious, before returning, to visit the Zambesi Falls, he readily fell in with their wish, but, in the first instance, refused permission to young Thomas, the son of the missionary, to accompany them, only allowing him to do so on the urgent representations of Captain Patterson. The reason of this was, no doubt, that he had kindly feelings towards the lad, and did not wish to include him in the slaughter. Captain Patterson was a man of extremely methodical habits, and, amongst other things, was in the habit of making notes of all that he did. His note-book had been taken off his body, and sent down to Pretoria with the other things. In it we found entries of his preparations for the trip, including the number and names of the bearers provided by Lo Bengula. We also found the chronicle of the first three days' journey, and that of the morning of the fourth day, but there the record stopped. The last entry was probably made a few minutes before he was killed; and it is to be observed that there was no entry of the party having been for several days without water, as stated by the messengers, and then finding the poisoned water. This evidence by itself would not have amounted to much, but now comes the curious part of the story, showing the truth of the old adage, "Murder will out." It appears that when the waggon was coming down to Pretoria in charge of the interpreter, it was outspanned one day outside the borders of Lo Bengula's country, when some Kafirs--Bechuanas, I think--came up, asked for some tobacco, and fell into conversation with the driver, remarking that he had come up with a full waggon, and now he went down with an empty one. The driver replied by lamenting the death by poisoned water of his masters, whereupon one of the Kafirs told him the following story:--He said that a brother of his was out hunting, a little while back, in the desert for ostriches, with a party of other Kafirs, when hearing shots fired some way off, they made for the spot, thinking that white men were out shooting, and that they would be able to beg meat. On reaching the spot, which was by a pool of water, they saw the bodies of three white men lying on the ground, and also those of a Hottentot and a Kafir, surrounded by an armed party of Kafirs. They at once asked the Kafirs what they had been doing killing the white men, and were told to be still, for it was by "order of the king." They then learned the whole story. It appeared that the white men had made a mid-day halt by the water, when one of the bearers, who had gone to the edge of the pool, suddenly shouted to them to come and look at a great snake in the water. Captain Patterson ran up, and, as he leaned over the edge, was instantly killed by a blow with an axe; the others were then shot and assegaied. The Kafir further described the clothes that his brother had seen on the bodies, and also some articles that had been given to his party by the murderers, that left little doubt as to the veracity of his story. And so ended the mission to Matabeleland. No public notice was taken of the matter, for the obvious reason that it was impossible to get at Lo Bengula to punish him; nor would it have been easy to come by legal evidence to disprove the ingenious story of the poisoned water, since anybody trying to reach the spot of the massacre would probably fall a victim to some similar accident before he got back again. It is devoutly to be hoped that the punishment he deserves will sooner or later overtake the author of this devilish and wholesale murder. The beginning of 1879 was signalised by the commencement of operations in Zululand and by the news of the terrible disaster at Isandhlwana, which fell on Pretoria like a thunderclap. It was not, however, any surprise to those who were acquainted with Zulu tactics and with the plan of attack adopted by the English commanders. In fact, I know that one solemn warning of what would certainly happen to him if he persisted in his plan of advance was addressed to Lord Chelmsford, through the officer in command at Pretoria, by a gentleman whose position and long experience of the Zulus and their mode of attack should have carried some weight. If it ever reached him, he took, to the best of my recollection, no notice of it whatever. But though some such disaster was daily expected by a few, the majority both of soldiers and civilians never dreamed of anything of the sort, the general idea being that the conquest of Cetywayo was a very easy undertaking; and the shock produced by the news of Isandhlwana was proportionately great, especially as it reached Pretoria in a much exaggerated form. I shall never forget the appearance of the town that morning; business was entirely suspended, and the streets were filled with knots of men talking, with scared faces, as well they might: for there was scarcely anybody but had lost a friend, and many thought that their sons or brothers were among the dead on that bloody field. Among others, Sir T. Shepstone lost one son, and thought for some time that he had lost three. Shortly after this event Sir Theophilus went to England to confer with the Secretary of State on various matters connected with the Transvaal, carrying with him the affection and respect of all who knew him, not excepting the majority of the malcontent Boers. He was succeeded by Colonel, now Sir Owen Lanyon, who was appointed to administer the Government during the absence of Sir T. Shepstone. By the Boers, however, the news of our disaster was received with great and unconcealed rejoicing, or at least by the irreconcilable portion of that people. England's necessity was their opportunity, and one of which they certainly meant to avail themselves. Accordingly, notices were sent out summoning the burghers of the Transvaal to attend a mass meeting on the 18th March, at a place about thirty miles from Pretoria. Emissaries were also sent to native chiefs, to excite them to follow Cetywayo's example, and massacre all the English within reach, of whom a man called Solomon Prinsloo was one of the most active The natives, however, notwithstanding the threats used towards them, one and all declined the invitation. It must not be supposed that all the Boers who attended these meetings did so of their own free will; on the contrary, a very large number came under compulsion, since they found that the English authorities were powerless to give them protection. The recalcitrants were threatened with all sorts of pains and penalties if they did not attend, a favourite menace being that they should be made "biltong" of when the country was given back (_i.e._, be cut into strips and hung in the sun to dry). Few, luckily for themselves, were brave enough to tempt fortune by refusing to come, but those who did have had to leave the country since the war. Whatever were the means employed, the result was an armed meeting of about 3000 Boers, who evidently meant mischief. Just about this time a corps had been raised in Pretoria, composed, for the most part, of gentlemen, and known as the Pretoria Horse, for the purpose of proceeding to the Zulu border, where cavalry, especially cavalry acquainted with the country, was earnestly needed. In the emergency of the times officials were allowed to join this corps, a permission of which I availed myself, and was elected one of the lieutenants.[9] The corps was not, after all, allowed to go to Zululand on account of the threatening aspect adopted by the Boers, against whom it was retained for service. In my capacity as an officer of the corps I was sent out with a small body of picked men, all good riders and light weights, to keep up a constant communication between the Boer camp and the Administrator, and found the work both interesting and exciting. My headquarters were at an inn about twenty-five miles from Pretoria, to which our agents in the meeting used to come every evening and report how matters were proceeding, whereupon, if the road was clear, I despatched a letter to headquarters; or, if I feared that the messengers would be caught _en route_ by Boer patrols and searched, I substituted different coloured ribbons according to what I wished to convey. There was a relief hidden in the trees or rocks every six miles, all day and most of the night, whose business it was to take the despatch or ribbon and gallop on with it to the next station, in which way we used to get the despatches into town in about an hour and a quarter. [9] It is customary in South African volunteer forces to allow the members to elect their own officers, provided the men elected are such as the Government approves. This is done, so that the corps may not afterwards be able to declare that they have no confidence in their officers in action, or to grumble at their treatment by them. On one or two occasions the Boers came to the inn and threatened to shoot us, but as our orders were to do nothing unless our lives were actually in danger, we took no notice. The officer who came out to relieve me had not, however, been there more than a day or two before he and all his troopers were hunted back into Pretoria by a large mob of armed Boers whom they only escaped by very hard riding. Meanwhile the Boers were by degrees drawing nearer and nearer to the town, till at last they pitched their laagers within six miles, and practically besieged it. All business was stopped, the houses were loopholed and fortified, and advantageous positions were occupied by the military and the various volunteer corps. The building, normally in the occupation of the Government mules, fell to the lot of the Pretoria Horse, and, though it was undoubtedly a post of honour, I honestly declare that I have no wish to sleep for another month in a mule stable that has not been cleaned out for several years. However, by sinking a well, and erecting bastions and a staging for sharpshooters, we converted it into an excellent fortress, though it would not have been of much use against artillery. Our patrols used to be out all night, since we chiefly feared a night attack, and generally every preparation was made to resist the onset that was hourly expected, and I believe that it was that state of preparedness that alone prevented it. Whilst this meeting was going on, and when matters had come to a point that seemed to render war inevitable, Sir Bartle Frere arrived at Pretoria and had several interviews with the Boer leaders, at which they persisted in demanding their independence, and nothing short of it. After a great deal of talk the meeting finally broke up without any actual appeal to arms, though it had, during its continuance, assumed many of the rights of government, such as stopping post-carts and individuals, and sending armed patrols about the country. The principal reason of its break-up was that the Zulu war was now drawing to a close, and the leaders saw that there would soon be plenty of troops available to suppress any attempt at revolt, but they also saw to what lengths they could go with impunity. They had for a period of nearly two months been allowed to throw the whole country into confusion, to openly violate the laws, and to intimidate and threaten Her Majesty's loyal subjects with war and death. The lesson was not lost on them; but they postponed action till a more favourable opportunity offered. Sir Bartle Frere before his departure took an opportunity at a public dinner given him at Potchefstroom of assuring the loyal inhabitants of the country that the Transvaal would never be given back. Meanwhile a new Pharaoh had arisen in Egypt, in the shape of Sir Garnet Wolseley, and on the 29th June 1879 we find him communicating the fact to Sir 0. Lanyon in very plain language, telling him that he disapproved of his course of action with regard to Secocoeni, and that "in future you will please take orders only from me." As soon as Sir Garnet had completed his arrangements for the pacification of Zululand, he proceeded to Pretoria, and having caused himself to be sworn in as Governor, set vigorously to work. I must say that in his dealings with the Transvaal he showed great judgment and a keen appreciation of what the country needed, namely, strong government; the fact of the matter being, I suppose, that being very popular with the Home authorities he felt that he could more or less command their support in what he did, a satisfaction not given to most governors, who never know but that they may be thrown overboard in emergency to lighten the ship. One of his first acts was to issue a proclamation, stating that, "Whereas it appears that, notwithstanding repeated assurances of contrary effect given by Her Majesty's representatives in this territory, uncertainty or misapprehension exists amongst some of Her Majesty's subjects as to the intention of Her Majesty's Government regarding the maintenance of British rule and sovereignty over the territory of the Transvaal: and whereas it is expedient that all grounds for such uncertainty or misapprehension should be removed once and for all beyond doubt or question: now therefore I do hereby proclaim and make known, in the name and on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen, that it is the will and determination of Her Majesty's Government that this Transvaal territory shall be, _and shall continue to be for ever_, an integral portion of Her Majesty's dominions in South Africa." Alas! Sir G. Wolseley's estimate of the value of a solemn pledge thus made in the name of Her Majesty, whose word has hitherto been held to be sacred, differed greatly to that of Mr. Gladstone and his Government. Sir Garnet Wolseley's operations against Secocoeni proved eminently successful, and were the best arranged bit of native warfare that I have yet heard of in South Africa. One blow was struck, and only one, but that was crushing. Of course the secret of his success lay in the fact that he had an abundance of force; but it was not ensured by that alone, good management being very requisite in an affair of the sort, especially where native allies have to be dealt with. The cost of the expedition, not counting other Secocoeni war expenditure, amounted to over £300,000, all of which is now lost to this country. Another step in the right direction undertaken by Sir Garnet was the establishment of an Executive Council and also of a Legislative Council, for the establishment of which Letters Patent were sent from Downing Street in November 1880. Meanwhile the Boers, paying no attention to the latter proclamation, for they guessed that it, like other proclamations in the Transvaal, would be a mere _brutum fulmen_, had assembled for another mass meeting, at which they went forward a step, and declared a Government which was to treat with the English authorities. They had now learnt that they could do what they liked with perfect impunity, provided they did not take the extreme course of massacring the English. They had yet to learn that they might even do that. At the termination of this meeting, a vote of thanks was passed to "Mr. Leonard Courtney of London, and other members of the British Parliament." It was wise of the Boer leaders to cultivate Mr. Courtney of London. As a result of this meeting, Pretorius, one of the principal leaders, and Bok, the secretary, were arrested on a charge of treason, and underwent a preliminary examination; but as the Secretary of State, Sir M. Hicks Beach, looked rather timidly on the proceeding, and the local authorities were doubtful of securing a verdict, the prosecution was abandoned, and necessarily did more harm than good, being looked upon as another proof of the impotence of the Government. Shortly afterwards, Sir G. Wolseley changed his tactics, and, instead of attempting to imprison Pretorius, offered him a seat on the Executive Council, with a salary attached. This was a much more sensible way of dealing with him, and he at once rose to the bait, stating his willingness to join the Government after a while, but that he could not publicly do so at the moment lest he should lose his influence with those who were to be brought round through him. It does not, however, appear that Mr. Pretorius ever did actually join the Executive, probably because he found public opinion too strong to allow him to do so. In December 1879 a new light broke upon the Boers, for in the previous month Mr. Gladstone had been delivering his noted attack on the policy of the Conservative Government. Those Mid-Lothian speeches did harm, it is said, in many parts of the world; but I venture to think that they have proved more mischievous in South Africa than anywhere else; at any rate, they have borne fruit sooner. It is not to be supposed that Mr. Gladstone really cared anything about the Transvaal or its independence when he was denouncing the hideous outrage that had been perpetrated by the Conservative Government in annexing it. On the contrary, as he acquiesced in the Annexation at the time (when Lord Kimberley stated that it was evidently unavoidable), and declined to rescind it when he came into power, it is to be supposed that he really approved of it, or at the least looked on it as a necessary evil. However this may be, any stick will do to beat a dog with, and the Transvaal was a convenient point on which to attack the Government. He probably neither knew nor cared what effect his reckless words might have on ignorant Boers thousands of miles away; and yet, humanly speaking, many a man would have been alive and strong to-day whose bones now whiten the African Veldt had those words never been spoken. Then, for the first time, the Boers learnt that, if they played their cards properly and put on sufficient pressure, they would, in the event of the Liberal party coming to office, have little difficulty in coercing it as they wished. There was a fair chance at the time of the utterance of the Mid-Lothian speeches that the agitation would, by degrees, die away; Sir G. Wolseley had succeeded in winning over Pretorius, and the Boers in general were sick of mass meetings. Indeed, a memorial was addressed to Sir. G. Wolseley by a number of Boers in the Potchefstroom district, protesting against the maintenance of the movement against Her Majesty's rule, which, considering the great amount of intimidation exercised by the malcontents, may be looked upon as a favourable sign. But when it slowly came to be understood among the Boers that a great English Minister had openly espoused their cause, and that he would perhaps soon be all-powerful, the moral gain to them was incalculable. They could now go to the doubting ones and say,--we must be right about the matter, because, putting our own feelings out of the question, the great Gladstone says we are. We find the committee of the Boer malcontents, at their meeting in March 1880, reading a letter to Mr. Gladstone, "in which he was thanked for the great sympathy shown in their fate," and a hope expressed that, if he succeeded in getting power, he would not forget them. In fact, a charming unanimity prevailed between our great Minister and the Boer rebels, for their interests were the same, the overthrow of the Conservative Government. If, however, every leader of the Opposition were to intrigue or countenance intrigues with those who are seeking to undermine the authority of Her Majesty, whether they be Boers or Irishmen, in order to help himself to power, the country might suffer in the long run. But whatever feelings may have prompted Her Majesty's Opposition, the Home Government, and their agent, Sir Garnet Wolseley, blew no uncertain blast, if we may judge from their words and actions. Thus we find Sir Garnet speaking as follows at a banquet given in his honour at Pretoria:-- "I am told that these men (the Boers) are told to keep on agitating in this way, for a change of Government in England may give them again the old order of things. Nothing can show greater ignorance of English politics than such an idea; I tell you that there is no Government, Whig or Tory, Liberal, Conservative, or Radical, _who would dare under any circumstances to give back this country_. They would not dare, because the English people would not allow them. To give back the country, what would it mean? To give it back to external danger, to the danger of attack by hostile tribes on its frontier, and who, if the English Government were removed for one day, would make themselves felt the next. Not an official of Government paid for months; it would mean national bankruptcy. No taxes being paid, the same thing recurring again which had existed before would mean danger without, anarchy and civil war within, every possible misery; the strangulation of trade, and the destruction of property." It is very amusing to read this passage by the light of after events. On other occasions Sir Garnet Wolseley will probably not be quite so confident as to the future when it is to be controlled by a Radical Government. This explicit and straightforward statement of Sir Garnet's produced a great effect on the loyal inhabitants of the Transvaal, which was heightened by the publication of the following telegram from the Secretary of State:--"You may fully confirm explicit statements made from time to time as to inability of Her Majesty's Government to entertain _any proposal_ for withdrawal of the Queen's sovereignty." On the faith of these declarations many Englishmen migrated to the Transvaal and settled there, whilst those who were in the country now invested all their means, being confident that they would not lose their property through its being returned to the Boers. The excitement produced by Mr. Gladstone's speeches began to quiet down and be forgotten for the time, arrear taxes were paid up by the malcontents, and generally the aspect of affairs was such, in Sir Garnet Wolseley's opinion, as justified him in writing, in April 1880, to the Secretary of State expressing his belief that the agitation was dying out.[10] Indeed, so sanguine was he on that point that he is reported to have advised the withdrawal of the cavalry regiment stationed in the territory, a piece of economy that was one of the immediate causes of the revolt. [10] In Blue-Book No. (C. 2866) of September 1881, which is descriptive of various events connected with the Boer rising, is published, as an appendix, a despatch from Sir Garnet Wolseley, dated October 1879. This despatch declares the writer's opinion that the Boer discontent a on the increase. Its publication thus--_apropos des bottes_--nearly two years after it was written, is rather an amusing incident. It certainly gives one the idea that Sir Garnet Wolseley, fearing that his reputation for infallibility might be attacked by scoffers for not having foreseen the Boer rebellion, and perhaps uneasily conscious of other despatches very different in tenor and subsequent in date: and, mindful of the withdrawal of the cavalry regiment by his advice, had caused it to be tacked on to the Blue-Book as a documentary "I told you so," and a proof that, whoever else was blinded, he foresaw. It contains, however, the following remarkably true passage:--"Even were it not impossible, for many other reasons, to contemplate a withdrawal of our authority from the Transvaal, the position of insecurity in which we should leave this loyal and important section of the community (the English inhabitants), by exposing them to the certain retaliation of the Boers, would constitute, in my opinion, an insuperable obstacle to retrocession. Subjected to the same danger, moreover, would be those of the Boers, whose superior intelligence and courageous character has rendered them loyal to our Government" As the Government took the trouble to republish the despatch, it is a pity that they did not think fit to pay more attention to its contents. The reader will remember the financial condition of the country at the time of the Annexation, which was one of utter bankruptcy. After three years of British rule, however, we find, notwithstanding the constant agitation that had been kept up, that the total revenue receipts for the first quarter of 1879 and 1880 amounted to £22,773 and £47,982 respectively. That is to say, that, during the last year of British rule, the revenue of the country more than doubled itself, and amounted to about £160,000 a year, taking the quarterly returns at the low average of £40,000. It must, however, be remembered that this sum would have been very largely increased in subsequent years, most probably doubled. At any rate the revenue would have been amply sufficient to make the province one of the most prosperous in South Africa, and to have enabled it to shortly repay all debts due to the British Government, and further to provide for its own defence. Trade also, which, in April 1877, was completely paralysed, had increased enormously. So early as the middle of 1879, the Committee of the Transvaal Chamber of Commerce pointed out, in a resolution adopted by them, that the trade of the country had in two years risen from almost nothing to the considerable sum of two millions sterling per annum, and that it was entirely in the hands of those favourable to British rule. They also pointed out that more than half the land-tax was paid by Englishmen, or other Europeans adverse to Boer Government. Land, too, had risen greatly in value, of which I can give the following instance. About a year after the Annexation I, together with a friend, bought a little property on the outskirts of Pretoria, which, with a cottage we put up on it, cost some £300. Just before the rebellion we fortunately determined to sell it, and had no difficulty in getting £650 for it. I do not believe that it would now fetch a fifty-pound note. I cannot conclude this chapter better than by drawing attention to a charming specimen of the correspondence between the Boer leaders and their friend Mr. Courtney. The letter in question, which is dated 26th June, purports to be written by Messrs. Kruger and Joubert, but it is obvious that it owes its origin to some member or members of the Dutch party at the Cape, from whence, indeed, it is written. This is rendered evident both by its general style, and also by the use of such terms as "Satrap," and by references to Napoleon III. and Cayenne, about whom Messrs. Kruger and Joubert know no more than they do of Peru and the Incas. After alluding to former letters, the writers blow a blast of triumph over the downfall of the Conservative Government, and then make a savage attack on the reputation of Sir Bartle Frere. The "stubborn Satrap" is throughout described as a liar, and every bad motive imputed to him. Really, the fact that Mr. Courtney should encourage such epistles as this is enough to give colour to the boast made by some of the leading Boers, after the war, that they had been encouraged to rebel by a member of the British Government. At the end of this letter, and on the same page of the Blue-Book, is printed the telegram recalling Sir Bartle Frere, dated 1st August 1880. It really reads as though the second document was consequent on the first. One thing is very clear, the feelings of Her Majesty's new Government towards Sir Bartle Frere differed only in the method of their expression from those set forth by the Boer leaders in their letter to Mr. Courtney, whilst their object, namely, to be rid of him, was undoubtedly identical with that of the Dutch party in South Africa. CHAPTER V. THE BOER REBELLION. When the Liberal ministry became an accomplished fact instead of a happy possibility, Mr. Gladstone did not find it convenient to adopt the line of policy with reference to the Transvaal that might have been expected from his utterances whilst leader of the Opposition. On the contrary, he declared in Parliament that the Annexation could not be cancelled, and on the 8th June 1880 we find him, in answer to a Boer petition, written with the object of inducing him to act up to the spirit of his words and rescind the Annexation, writing thus:--"Looking to all the circumstances, both of the Transvaal and the rest of South Africa, and to the necessity of preventing a renewal of disorders which might lead to disastrous consequences, not only to the Transvaal, but to the whole of South Africa, our judgment is, that the _Queen cannot be advised to relinquish her sovereignty over the Transvaal_; but, consistently with the maintenance of that sovereignty, we desire that the white inhabitants of the Transvaal should, without prejudice to the rest of the population, enjoy the fullest liberty to manage their local affairs. We believe that this liberty may be most easily and promptly conceded to the Transvaal as a member of a South African confederation." Unless words have lost their signification, this passage certainly means that the Transvaal must remain a British colony, but that England will be prepared to grant it responsible government, more especially if it will consent to a confederation scheme. Mr. Gladstone, however, in a communication dated 1st June 1881, and addressed to the unfortunate Transvaal loyals, for whom he expresses "respect and sympathy," interprets his meaning thus: "It is stated, as I observe, that a promise was given by me that the Transvaal never should be given back. There is no mention of the terms or date of this promise. If the reference be to my letter, of 8th June 1880, to Messrs. Kruger and Joubert, I do not think the language of that letter justifies the description given. Nor am I sure in what manner or to what degree the fullest liberty to manage their local affairs, which I then said Her Majesty's Government desired to confer on the white population of the Transvaal, differs from the settlement now about being made in its bearing on the interests of those whom your Committee represents." Such twisting of the meaning of words would, in a private person, be called dishonest. It will also occur to most people that Mr. Gladstone might have spared the deeply wronged and loyal subjects of Her Majesty whom he was addressing the taunt he levels at them in the second paragraph I have quoted. If asked, he would no doubt say that he had not the slightest intention of laughing at them; but when he deliberately tells them that it makes no difference to their interests whether they remain Her Majesty's subjects under a responsible Government, or become the servants of men who were but lately in arms against them and Her Majesty's authority, he is either mocking them, or offering an insult to their understandings. By way of comment on his remarks, I may add that he had, in a letter replying to a petition from these same loyal inhabitants, addressed to him in May 1880, informed them that he had already told the Boer representatives that the Annexation could not be rescinded. Although Mr. Gladstone is undoubtedly the greatest living master of the art of getting two distinct and opposite sets of meanings out of one set of words, it would try even his ingenuity to make out, to the satisfaction of an impartial mind, that he never gave any pledge about the retention of the Transvaal. Indeed, it is from other considerations clear that he had no intention of giving up the country to the Boers, whose cause he appears to have taken up solely for electioneering purposes. Had he meant to do so, he would have carried out his intention on succeeding to office, and, indeed, as things have turned out, it is deeply to be regretted that he did not; for, bad as such a step would have been, it would at any rate have had a better appearance than our ultimate surrender after three defeats. It would also have then been possible to secure the repayment of some of the money owing to this country, and to provide for the proper treatment of the natives, and the compensation of the loyal inhabitants who could no longer live there: since it must naturally have been easier to make terms with the Boers before they had defeated our troops. On the other hand, we should have missed the grandest and most soul-stirring display of radical theories, practically applied, that has as yet lightened the darkness of this country. But although Mr. Gladstone gave his official decision against returning the country, there seems to be little doubt that communications on the subject were kept up with the Boer leaders through some prominent members of the Radical party, who, it was said, went so far as to urge the Boers to take up arms against us. When Mr. White came to this country on behalf of the loyalists, after the surrender, he stated that this was so at a public meeting, and said further that he had in his possession proofs of his statements. He even went so far as to name the gentleman he accused, and to challenge him to deny it I have not been able to gather that Mr. White's statements were contradicted. However this may be, after a pause, agitation in the Transvaal suddenly recommenced with redoubled vigour. It began through a man named Bezeidenhout, who refused to pay his taxes. Thereupon a waggon was seized in execution under the authority of the court and put up to auction, but its sale was prevented by a crowd of rebel Boers, who kicked the auctioneer off the waggon and dragged the vehicle away. This was on the 11th November 1880. When this intelligence reached Pretoria, Sir Owen Lanyon sent down a few companies of the 21st Regiment, under the command of Major Thornhill, to support the Landdrost in arresting the rioters, and appointed Captain Raaf, C.M.G., to act as special messenger to the Landdrost's Court at Potchefstroom, with authority to enrol special constables to assist him to carry out the arrests. On arrival at Potchefstroom Captain Raaf found that, without an armed force, it was quite impossible to effect any arrest. On the 26th November Sir Owen Lanyon, realising the gravity of the situation, telegraphed to Sir George Colley, asking that the 58th Regiment should be sent back to the Transvaal. Sir George replied that he could ill spare it on account of "daily expected outbreak of Pondos and possible appeal for help from Cape Colony," and that the Government must be supported by the loyal inhabitants. It will be seen that the Boers had, with some astuteness, chosen a very favourable time to commence operations. The hands of the Cape Government were full with the Basuto war, so no help could be expected from it; Sir G. Wolseley had sent away the only cavalry regiment that remained in the country, and lastly, Sir Owen Lanyon had quite recently allowed a body of 300 trained volunteers, mostly, if not altogether, drawn from among the loyalists, to be raised for service in the Basuto war, a serious drain upon the resources of a country so sparsely populated as the Transvaal. Meanwhile a mass meeting had been convened by the Boers for the 8th January to consider Mr. Gladstone's letter, but the Bezeidenhout incident had the effect of putting forward the date of assembly by a month, and it was announced that it would be held on the 8th December. Subsequently the date was shifted to the 15th, and then back again to the 8th. Every effort was made, by threats of future vengeance, to secure the presence of as many burghers as possible; attempts were also made to persuade the native chiefs to send representatives, and to promise to join in an attack on the English. These entirely failed. The meeting was held at a place called Paarde Kraal, and resulted in the sudden declaration of the Republic and the appointment of the famous triumvirate Kruger, Joubert, and Pretorius. It then moved into Heidelberg, a little town about sixty miles from Pretoria, and on the 16th December the Republic was formally proclaimed in a long proclamation, containing a summary of the events of the few preceding years, and declaring the arrangements the malcontents were willing to make with the English authorities. The terms offered in this document are almost identical with those finally accepted by Her Majesty's Government, with the exception that in the proclamation of the 16th December the Boer leaders declare their willingness to enter into confederation, and to guide their native policy by general rules adopted in concurrence "with the Colonies and States of South Africa." This was a more liberal offer than that which we ultimately agreed to, but then the circumstances had changed. This proclamation was forwarded to Sir Owen Lanyon with a covering letter, in which the following words occur:--"We declare in the most solemn manner that we have no desire to spill blood, and that from our side we do not wish war. It lies in your hands to force us to appeal to arms in self-defence.... We expect your answer within twice twenty-four hours." I beg to direct particular attention to these paragraphs, as they have a considerable interest in view of what followed. The letter and proclamation reached Government House, Pretoria, at 10.30 on the evening of Friday the 17th December. Sir Owen Lanyon's proclamation, written in reply, was handed to the messenger at noon on Sunday, 19th December, or within about thirty-six hours of his arrival, and could hardly have reached the rebel camp, sixty miles off, before dawn the next day, the 20th December, on which day, at about one o'clock, a detachment of the 94th was ambushed and destroyed on the road between Middleburg and Pretoria, about eighty miles off, by a force despatched from Heidelberg for that purpose some days before. On the 16th December, or the _same day_ on which the Triumvirate had despatched the proclamation to Pretoria containing their terms, and expressing in the most solemn manner that they had no desire to shed blood, a large Boer force was attacking Potchefstroom. So much then for the sincerity of the professions of their desire to avoid bloodshed. The proclamation sent by Sir O. Lanyon in reply recited in its preamble the various acts of which the rebels had been guilty, including that of having "wickedly sought to incite the said loyal native inhabitants throughout the province to take up arms against Her Majesty's Government," announced that matters had now been put into the hands of the officer commanding Her Majesty's troops, and promised pardon to all who would disperse to their homes. It was at Potchefstroom, which town had all along been the nursery of the rebellion, that actual hostilities first broke out. Potchefstroom as a town is much more Boer in its sympathies than Pretoria, which is, or rather was, almost purely English. Sir Owen Lanyon had, as stated before, sent a small body of soldiers thither to support the civil authorities, and had also appointed Major Clarke, C.M.G., an officer of noted coolness and ability, to act as Special Commissioner for the district. Major Clarke's first step was to try, in conjunction with Captain Raaf, to raise a corps of volunteers, in which he totally failed. Those of the townsfolk who were not Boers at heart had too many business relations with the surrounding farmers, and perhaps too little faith in the stability of English rule after Mr. Gladstone's utterances, to allow them to indulge in patriotism. At the time of the outbreak, between seventy and eighty thousand sterling was owing to firms in Potchefstroom by neighbouring Boers, a sum amply sufficient to account for their lukewarmness in the English cause. Subsequent events have shown that the Potchefstroom shopkeepers were wise in their generation. On the 15th December a large number of Boers came into the town and took possession of the printing-office in order to print the proclamation already alluded to. Major Clarke made two attempts to enter the office and see the leaders, but without success. On the 16th a Boer patrol fired on some of the mounted infantry, and the fire was returned. These were the first shots fired during the war, and they were fired by Boers. Orders were thereupon signalled to Clarke by Lieutenant-Colonel Winsloe, 21st Regiment, now commanding at the fort which he afterwards defended so gallantly, that he was to commence firing. Clarke was in the Landdrost's office on the Market Square with a force of about twenty soldiers under Captain Falls and twenty civilians under Captain Raaf, C.M.G., a position but ill-suited for defensive purposes, from whence fire was accordingly opened, the Boers taking up positions in the surrounding houses commanding the office. Shortly after the commencement of the fighting, Captain Falls was shot dead whilst talking to Major Clarke, the latter having a narrow escape, a bullet grazing his head just above the ear. The fighting continued during the 17th and till the morning of the 18th, when the Boers succeeded in firing the roof, which was of thatch, by throwing fire-balls on to it. Major Clarke then addressed the men, telling them that, though personally he did not care about his own life, he did not see that they could serve any useful purpose by being burned alive, so he should surrender, which he did, with a loss of about six killed and wounded. The camp meanwhile had repulsed with loss the attack made on it, and was never again directly attacked. Whilst these events were in progress at Potchefstroom, a much more awful tragedy was in preparation on the road between Middleburg and Pretoria. On the 23d November, Colonel Bellairs, at the request of Sir Owen Lanyon, directed a concentration on Pretoria of most of the few soldiers that there were in the territory, in view of the disturbed condition of the country. In accordance with these orders, Colonel Anstruther marched from Lydenburg, a town about 180 miles from Pretoria, on the 5th December, with the headquarters and two companies of the 94th Regiment, being a total of 264 men, three women, and two children, and the disproportionately large train of thirty-four ox-waggons, or an ox-waggon capable of carrying five thousand pounds' weight to every eight persons. And here I may remark that it is this enormous amount of baggage, without which it appears to be impossible to move the smallest body of men, that renders infantry regiments almost useless for service in South Africa except for garrisoning purposes. Both Zulus and Boers can get over the ground at thrice the pace possible to the unfortunate soldier, and both races despise them accordingly. The Zulus call our infantry "pack oxen." In this particular instance, Colonel Anstruther's defeat, or rather, annihilation, is to a very great extent referable to his enormous baggage train; since, in the first place, had he not lost valuable days in collecting more waggons, he would have been safe in Pretoria before danger arose. It must also be acknowledged that his arrangements on the line of march were somewhat reckless, though it can hardly be said that he was ignorant of his danger. Thus we find that Colonel Bellairs wrote to Colonel Anstruther, warning him of the probability of an attack, and impressing on him the necessity of keeping a good look-out, the letter being received and acknowledged by the latter on the 17th December. To this warning was added a still more impressive one that came to my knowledge privately. A gentleman well known to me received, on the morning after the troops had passed through the town of Middleburg on their way to Pretoria, a visit from an old Boer with whom he was on friendly terms, who had purposely come to tell him that a large patrol was out to ambush the troops on the Pretoria road. My informant having convinced himself of the truth of the statement, at once rode after the soldiers, and catching them up some distance from Middleburg, told Colonel Anstruther what he had heard, imploring him, he said, with all the energy he could command, to take better precautions against surprise. The Colonel, however, laughed at his fears, and told him that if the Boers came "he would frighten them away with the big drum." At one o'clock on Sunday, the 20th December, the column was marching along about a mile and a half from a place known as Bronker's Splint, and thirty-eight miles from Pretoria, when suddenly a large number of mounted Boers were seen in loose formation on the left side of the road. The band was playing at the time, and the column was extended over more than half a mile, the rearguard being about a hundred yards behind the last waggon. The band stopped playing on seeing the Boers, and the troops halted, when a man was seen advancing with a white flag, whom Colonel Anstruther went out to meet, accompanied by Conductor Egerton, a civilian. They met about one hundred and fifty yards from the column, and the man gave Colonel Anstruther a letter, which announced the establishment of the South African Republic, stated that until they heard Lanyon's reply to their proclamation they did not know if they were at war or not; that, consequently, they could not allow any movements of troops, which would be taken as a declaration of war. This letter was signed by Joubert, one of the Triumvirate. Colonel Anstruther replied that he was ordered to Pretoria, and to Pretoria he must go. Whilst this conference was going on, the Boers, of whom there were quite five hundred, had gradually closed round the column, and took up positions behind rocks and trees which afforded them excellent cover, whilst the troops were on a bare plain, and before Colonel Anstruther reached his men a murderous fire was poured in upon them from all sides. The fire was hotly returned by the soldiers. Most of the officers were struck down by the first volley, having, no doubt, been picked out by the marksmen. The firing lasted about fifteen minutes, and at the end of that time seven out of the nine officers were down killed and wounded; an eighth (Captain Elliot), one of the two who escaped, untouched, being reserved for an even more awful fate. The majority of the men were also down, and had the hail of lead continued much longer it is clear that nobody would have been left. Colonel Anstruther, who was lying badly wounded in five places, seeing what a hopeless state affairs were in, ordered the bugler to sound the cease firing, and surrendered. One of the three officers who were not much hurt was, most providentially, Dr. Ward, who had but a slight wound in the thigh; all the others, except Captain Elliot and one lieutenant, were either killed or died from the effects of their wounds. There were altogether 56 killed and 101 wounded, including a woman, Mrs. Fox. Twenty more afterwards died of their wounds. The Boer loss appears to have been very small. After the fight Conductor Egerton, with a sergeant, was allowed to walk into Pretoria to obtain medical assistance, the Boers refusing to give him a horse, or even to allow him to use his own. The Boer leader also left Dr. Ward eighteen men and a few stores for the wounded, with which he made shift as best he could. Nobody can read this gentleman's report without being much impressed with the way in which, though wounded himself, he got through his terrible task of, without assistance, attending to the wants of 101 sufferers. Beginning the task at 2 P.M., it took him till six the next morning before he had seen the last man. It is to be hoped that his services have met with some recognition. Dr. Ward remained near the scene of the massacre with his wounded men till the declaration of peace, when he brought them down to Maritzburg, having experienced great difficulty in obtaining food for them during so many weeks. This is a short account of what I must, with reluctance, call a most cruel and carefully planned massacre. I may mention that a Zulu driver, who was with the rearguard, and escaped into Natal, stated that the Boers shot all the wounded men who formed that body. His statement was to a certain extent borne out by the evidence of one of the survivors, who stated that all the bodies found in that part of the field (nearly three-quarters of a mile away from the head of the column), had a bullet hole through the head or breast in addition to their other wounds. The Administrator of the Transvaal in council thus comments on the occurrence in an official minute:--"The surrounding and gradual hemming in under a flag of truce of a force, and the selection of spots from which to direct their fire, as in the case of the unprovoked attack by the rebels upon Colonel Anstruther's force, is a proceeding of which very few like incidents can be mentioned in the annals of civilised warfare." The Boer leaders, however, were highly elated at their success, and celebrated it in a proclamation of which the following is an extract:--"Inexpressible is the gratitude of the burghers for this blessing conferred on them. Thankful to the brave General F. Joubert and his men who have upheld the honour of the Republic on the battlefield. Bowed down in the dust before Almighty God, who had thus stood by them, and, with a loss of over a hundred of the enemy, only allowed two of ours to be killed." In view of the circumstances of the treacherous hemming in and destruction of this small body of unprepared men, most people would think this language rather high-flown, not to say blasphemous. On the news of this disaster reaching Pretoria, Sir Owen Lanyon issued a proclamation placing the country under martial law. As the town was large, straggling, and incapable of defence, all the inhabitants, amounting to over four thousand souls, were ordered up to camp, where the best arrangements possible were made for their convenience. In these quarters they remained for three months, driven from their comfortable homes, and cheerfully enduring all the hardships, want, and discomforts consequent on their position, whilst they waited in patience for the appearance of that relieving column that never came. People in England hardly understand what these men and women went through because they chose to remain loyal. Let them suppose that all the inhabitants of an ordinary English town, with the exception of the class known as poor people, which can hardly be said to exist in a colony, were at an hour's notice ordered--all, the aged and the sick, delicate women, and tiny children--to leave their homes to the mercy of the enemy, and crowd up in a little space under shelter of a fort, with nothing but canvas tents or sheds to cover them from the fierce summer suns and rains, and the coarsest rations to feed them; whilst the husbands and brothers were daily engaged with a cunning and dangerous enemy, and sometimes brought home wounded or dead. They will then have some idea of what was gone through by the loyal people of Pretoria, in their weak confidence in the good faith of the English Government. The arrangements made for the defence of the town were so ably and energetically carried out by Sir Owen Lanyon, assisted by the military officers, that no attack upon it was ever attempted. It seems to me that the organisation that could provide for the penning up of four thousand people for months, and carry it out without the occurrence of a single unpleasantness or expression of discontent, must have had something remarkable about it. Of course, it would have been impossible without the most loyal co-operation on the part of those concerned. Indeed everybody in the town lent a helping hand; judges served out rations, members of the Executive inspected nuisances, and so forth. There was only one instance of "striking;" and then, of all people in the world, it was the five civil doctors who, thinking it a favourable opportunity to fleece the Government, combined to demand five guineas a-day each for their services. I am glad to say that they did not succeed in their attempt at extortion. On the 23d December, the Boer leaders issued a second proclamation in reply to that of Sir O. Lanyon of the 18th, which is characterised by an utter absence of regard for the truth, being, in fact, nothing but a tissue of impudent falsehoods. It accuses Sir O. Lanyon of having bombarded women and children, of arming natives against the Boers, and of firing on the Boers without declaring war. Not one of these accusations has any foundation in fact, as the Boers well knew; but they also knew that Sir Owen, being shut up in Pretoria, was not in a position to rebut their charges, which they hoped might, to some extent, be believed, and create sympathy for them in other parts of the world. This was the reason of the issue of the proclamation, which well portrays the character of its framers. Life at Pretoria was varied by occasional sorties against the Boer laagers, situated at different points in the neighbourhood, generally about six or eight miles from the town. These expeditions were carried out with considerable success, though with some loss, the heaviest incurred being when the Boers, having treacherously hoisted the white flag, opened a heavy fire on the Pretoria forces, as soon as they, beguiled into confidence, emerged from their cover. In the course of the war, one in every four of the Pretoria mounted volunteers was killed or wounded. But perhaps the most serious of all the difficulties the Government had to meet was that of keeping the natives in check. As has before been stated, they were devotedly attached to our rule, and, during the three years of its continuance, had undergone what was to them a strange experience, they had neither been murdered, beaten, or enslaved. Naturally they were in no hurry to return to the old order of things, in which murder, flogging, and slavery were events of everyday occurrence. Nor did the behaviour of the Boers on the outbreak of the war tend to reconcile them to any such idea. Thus we find that the farmers had pressed a number of natives from Waterberg into one of their laagers (Zwart Koppies); two of them tried to run away, a Boer saw them and shot them both. Again, on the 7th January, a native reported to the authorities at Pretoria that he and some others were returning from the Diamond Fields driving some sheep. A Boer came and asked them to sell the sheep. They refused, whereupon he went away, but returning with some other Dutchmen fired on the Kafirs, killing one. On the 2d January information reached Pretoria that on the 26th December some Boers fired on some natives who were resting outside Potchefstroom and killed three; the rest fled, whereupon the Boers took the cattle they had with them. On the 11th January some men, who had been sent from Pretoria with despatches for Standerton, were taken prisoners. Whilst prisoners they saw ten men returning from the Fields stopped by the Boers and ordered to come to the laager. They refused and ran away, were fired on, five being killed and one getting his arm broken. These are a few instances of the treatment meted out to the unfortunate natives, taken at haphazard from the official reports. There are plenty more of the same nature if anybody cares to read them. As soon as the news of the rising reached them, every chief of any importance sent in to offer aid to Government, and many of them, especially Montsioa, our old ally in the Keate Award district, took the loyals of the neighbourhood under their protection. Several took charge of Government property and cattle during the disturbances, and one had four or five thousand pounds in gold, the product of a recently collected tax, given him to take care of by the Commissioner of his district, who was afraid that the money would be seized by the Boers. In every instance the property entrusted to their charge was returned intact. The loyalty of all the native chiefs under very trying circumstances (for the Boers were constantly attempting to cajole or frighten them into joining them) is a remarkable proof of the great affection of the Kafirs, more especially those of the Basuto tribes, who love peace better than war, for the Queen's rule. The Government of Pretoria need only have spoken one word to set an enormous number of armed men in motion against the Boers, with the most serious results to the latter. Any other Government in the world would, in its extremity, have spoken that word, but, fortunately for the Boers, it is against English principles to set black against white under any circumstances. Besides the main garrison at Pretoria there were forts defended by soldiery and loyals at the following places:--Potchefstroom, Rustenburg, Lydenburg, Marabastad, and Wakkerstroom, none of which were taken by the Boers.[11] [11] Colonel Winsloe, however, being short of provisions, was beguiled by the fraudulent representations and acts of the Boer commander into surrendering the fort at Potchefstroom daring the armistice. One of the first acts of the Triumvirate was to despatch a large force from Heidelberg with orders to advance into Natal Territory, and seize the pass over the Drakensberg known as Lang's Nek, so as to dispute the advance of any relieving column. This movement was promptly executed, and strong Boer troops patrolled Natal country almost up to Newcastle. The news of the outbreak, followed as it was by that of the Bronker's Spruit massacre, and Captain Elliot's murder, created a great excitement in Natal. All available soldiers were at once despatched up country, together with a naval brigade, who, on arrival at Newcastle, brought up the strength of the Imperial troops of all arms to about a thousand men. On the 10th January Sir George Colley left Maritzburg to join the force at Newcastle, but at this time nobody dreamt that he meant to attack the Nek with such an insignificant column. It was known that the loyals and troops who were shut up in the various towns in the Transvaal had sufficient provisions to last for some months, and that there was therefore nothing to necessitate a forlorn hope. Indeed the possibility of Sir George Colley attempting to enter the Transvaal was not even speculated upon until just before his advance, it being generally considered as out of the question. The best illustration I can give of the feeling that existed about the matter is to quote my own case. I had been so unfortunate as to land in Natal with my wife and servants just as the Transvaal troubles began, my intention being to proceed to a place I had near Newcastle. For some weeks I remained in Maritzburg, but finding that the troops were to concentrate on Newcastle, and being besides heartily wearied of the great expense and discomfort of hotel life in that town, I determined to go on up country, looking on it as being as safe as any place in the colony. Of course the possibility of Sir George attacking the Nek before the arrival of the reinforcements did not enter into my calculations, as I thought it a venture that no sensible man would undertake. On the day of my start, however, there was a rumour about the town that the General was going to attack the Boer position. Though I did not believe it, I thought it as well to go and ask the Colonial Secretary, Colonel Mitchell, privately, if there was any truth in it, adding that if there was, as I had a pretty intimate knowledge of the Boers and their shooting powers, and what the inevitable result of such a move would be, I should certainly prefer, as I had ladies with me, to remain where I was. Colonel Mitchell told me frankly that he knew no more about Sir George's plans than I did; but he added I might be sure that so able and prudent a soldier would not do anything rash. His remark concurred with my own opinion; so I started, and on arrival at Newcastle a week later was met by the intelligence that Sir George had advanced that morning to attack the Nek. To return was almost impossible, since both horses and travellers were pretty nearly knocked up. Also, anybody who has travelled with his family in summer-time over the awful track of alternate slough and boulders between Maritzburg and Newcastle, known in the colony as a road, will understand that at the time the adventurous voyagers would far rather risk being shot than face a return journey. The only thing to do under the circumstances was to await the course of events, which were now about to develop themselves with startling rapidity. The little town of Newcastle was at this time an odd sight, and remained so all through the war. The hotels were crowded to overflowing with refugees, and on every spare patch of land were erected tents, mud huts, canvas houses, and every kind of covering that could be utilised under the pressure of necessity, to house the many homeless families who had succeeded in effecting their escape from the Transvaal, many of whom were reduced to great straits. On the morning of the 28th January, anybody listening attentively in the neighbourhood of Newcastle could hear the distant boom of heavy guns. We were not kept long in suspense, for in the afternoon news arrived that Sir George had attacked the Nek, and failed with heavy loss. The excitement in the town was intense, for, in addition to other considerations, the 58th Regiment, which had suffered most, had been quartered there for some time, and both the officers and men were personally known to the inhabitants. The story of the fight is well known, and needs little repetition, and a very sad story it is. The Boers, who at that time were some 2000 strong, were posted and entrenched on steep hills, against which Sir George Colley hurled a few hundred soldiers. It was a forlorn hope, but so gallant was the charge, especially that of the mounted squadron led by Major Bronlow, that at one time it nearly succeeded. But nothing could stand under the withering fire from the Boer schanses, and as regards the foot soldiers, they never had a chance. Colonel Deane tried to take them up the hill with a rush, with the result that by the time they reached the top, some of the men were actually sick from exhaustion, and none could hold a rifle steady. There on the bare hill-top they crouched and lay, whilst the pitiless fire from redoubt and rock lashed them like hail, till at last human nature could bear it no longer, and what was left of them retired slowly down the slope. But for many that gallant charge was their last earthly action. As they charged they fell, and where they fell they were afterwards buried. The casualties, killed and wounded, amounted to 195, which, considering the small number of troops engaged in the actual attack, is enormously heavy, and shows more plainly than words can tell the desperate nature of the undertaking. Amongst the killed were Colonel Deane, Major Poole, Major Hingeston, and Lieutenant Elwes. Major Essex was the only staff officer engaged who escaped, the same officer who was one of the fortunate four who lived through Isandhlwana. On this occasion his usual good fortune attended him, for though his horse was killed and his helmet knocked off, he was not touched. The Boer loss was very trivial. Sir George Colley, in his admirably lucid despatch about this occurrence addressed to the Secretary of State for War, does not enter much into the question as to the motives that prompted him to attack, simply stating that his object was to relieve the besieged towns. He does not appear to have taken into consideration, what was obvious to anybody who knew the country and the Boers, that even if he had succeeded in forcing the Nek, in itself almost an impossibility, he could never have operated with any success in the Transvaal with so small a column, without cavalry, and with an enormous train of waggons. He would have been harassed day and night by the Boer skirmishers, his supplies cut off, and his advance made practically impossible. Also the Nek would have been re-occupied behind him, since he could not have detached sufficient men to hold it, and in all probability Newcastle, his base of supplies, would have fallen into the hands of the enemy. The moral effect of our defeat on the Boers was very great. Up to this time there had been many secret doubts amongst a large section of them as to what the upshot of an encounter with the troops might be; and with this party, in the same way that defeat, or even the anxiety of waiting to be attacked, would have turned the scale one way, victory turned it the other. It gave them unbounded confidence in their own superiority, and infused a spirit of cohesion and mutual reliance into their ranks which had before been wanting. Waverers wavered no longer, but gave a loyal adherence to the good cause, and, what was still more acceptable, large numbers of volunteers,--whatever President Brand may say to the contrary,--poured in from the Orange Free State. What Sir George Colley's motive was in making so rash a move is, of course, quite inexplicable to the outside observer. It was said at the time in Natal that he was a man with a theory: namely, that small bodies of men properly handled were as useful and as likely to obtain the object in view as a large force. Whether or no this was so, I am not prepared to say; but it is undoubtedly the case that very clever men have sometimes very odd theories, and it may be that he was a striking instance in point. For some days after the battle at Lang's Nek affairs were quiet, and it was hoped that they would remain so till the arrival of the reinforcements, which were on their way out. The hope proved a vain one On the 7th February it was reported that the escort proceeding from Newcastle to the General's camp with the post, a distance of about eighteen miles, had been fired on and forced to return. On the 8th, about mid-day, we were all startled by the sound of fighting, proceeding apparently from a hill known as Scheins Hoogte, about ten miles from Newcastle. It was not known that the General contemplated any move, and everybody was entirely at a loss to know what was going on, the general idea being, however, that the camp near Lang's Nek had been abandoned, and that Sir George was retiring on Newcastle. The firing grew hotter and hotter, till at last it was perfectly continuous, the cannon evidently being discharged as quickly as they could be loaded, whilst their dull booming was accompanied by the unceasing crash and roll of the musketry. Towards three o'clock the firing slackened, and we thought it was all over, one way or the other, but about five o'clock it broke out again with increased vigour. At dusk it finally ceased. About this time some Kafirs came to my house and told us that an English force was hemmed in on a hill this side of the Ingogo River, that they were fighting bravely, but that "their arms were tired," adding that they thought they would be all killed at night. Needless to say we spent that night with heavy hearts, expecting every minute to hear the firing begin again, and ignorant of what fate had befallen our poor soldiers on the hill. Morning put an end to our suspense, and we then learnt that we had suffered what, under the circumstances, amounted to a crushing defeat It appears that Sir George had moved out with a force of five companies of the 60th Regiment, two guns, and a few mounted men, to, in his own words, "patrol the road, and meet and escort some waggons expected from Newcastle." As soon as he passed the Ingogo he was surrounded by a body of Boers sent after him from Lang's Nek, on a small triangular plateau, and sharply assailed on all sides. With a break of about two hours, from three to five, the assault was kept up till nightfall, with very bad results so far as we were concerned, seeing that out of a body of about 500 men, over 150 were killed and wounded. The reinforcements sent for from the camp apparently did not come into action. For some unexplained reason the Boers did not follow up their attack that night, perhaps because they did not think it possible that our troops could effect their escape back to the camp, and considered that the next morning would be soon enough to return and finish the business. The General, however, determined to get back, and scratch teams of such mules, riding-horses, and oxen as had lived through the day being harnessed to the guns, the dispirited and exhausted survivors of the force managed to ford the Ingogo, now swollen by rain which had fallen in the afternoon, poor Lieutenant Wilkinson, the adjutant of the 60th, losing his life in the operation, and to struggle through the dense darkness back to camp. On the hill-top they had lately held the dead lay thick. There, too, exposed to the driving rain and bitter wind, lay the wounded, many of whom would be dead before the rising of the morrow's sun. It must indeed have been a sight never to be forgotten by those who saw it. The night--I remember well--was cold and rainy, the great expanses of hill and plain being sometimes lit by the broken gleams of an uncertain moon, and sometimes plunged into intensest darkness by the passing of a heavy cloud. Now and again flashes of lightning threw every crag and outline into vivid relief, and the deep muttering of distant thunder made the wild gloom more solemn. Then a gust of icy wind would come tearing down the valleys to be followed by a pelting thunder shower--and thus the night wore away. When one reflects what discomfort, and even danger, an ordinary healthy person would suffer if left after a hard day's work to lie all night in the rain and wind on the top of a stony mountain, without food, or even water to assuage his thirst, it becomes to some degree possible to realise what the sufferings of our wounded after the battle of Ingogo must have been. Those who survived were next day taken to the hospital at Newcastle. What Sir George Colley's real object was in exposing himself to the attack has never transpired. It can hardly have been to clear the road, as he says in his despatch, because the road was not held by the enemy, but only visited occasionally by their patrols. The result of the battle was to make the Boers, whose losses were trifling, more confident than ever, and to greatly depress our soldiers. Sir George had now lost between three and four hundred men out of his column of little over a thousand, which was thereby entirely crippled. Of his staff officers Major Essex now alone survived, his usual good fortune having carried him safe through the battle of Ingogo. What makes his repeated escapes the more remarkable is that he was generally to be found in the heaviest firing. A man so fortunate as Major Essex ought to be rewarded for his good fortune if for no other reason, though, if reports are true, there would be no need to fall back on that to find grounds on which to advance a soldier who has always borne himself so well. Another result of the Ingogo battle was that the Boers, knowing that we had no force to cut them off, and always secure of a retreat into the Free State, passed round Newcastle in Free State Territory, and descended from fifteen hundred to two thousand strong into Natal for the purpose of destroying the reinforcements which were now on their way up under General Wood. This was on the 11th of February, and from that date till the 18th the upper districts of Natal were in the hands of the enemy, who cut the telegraph wires, looted waggons, stole herds of cattle and horses, and otherwise amused themselves at the expense of Her Majesty's subjects in Natal. It was a very anxious time for those who knew what Boers are capable of, and had women and children to protect, and who were never sure if their houses would be left standing over their heads from one day to another. Every night we were obliged to place out Kafirs as scouts to give us timely warning of the approach of marauding parties, and to sleep with loaded rifles close to our hands, and sometimes, when things looked very black, in our clothes, with horses ready saddled in the stable. Nor were our fears groundless, for one day a patrol of some five hundred Boers encamped on the next place, which by the way belonged to a Dutchman, and stole all the stock on it, the property of an Englishman. They also intercepted a train of waggons, destroyed the contents, and burnt them. Numerous were the false alarms it was our evil fortune to experience. For instance, one night I was sitting in the drawing-room reading, about eleven o'clock, with a door leading on to the verandah slightly ajar, for the night was warm, when suddenly I heard myself called by name in a muffled voice, and asked if the place was in the possession of the Boers. Looking towards the door I saw a full-cocked revolver coming round the corner, and on opening it in some alarm, I could indistinctly discern a line of armed figures in a crouching attitude stretching along the verandah into the garden beyond. It turned out to be a patrol of the mounted police, who had received information that a large number of Boers had seized the place and had come to ascertain the truth of the report. As we gathered from them that the Boers were certainly near, we did not pass a very comfortable night. Meanwhile we were daily expecting to hear that the troops had been attacked along the line of march, and knowing the nature of the country and the many opportunities it affords for ambuscading and destroying one of our straggling columns encumbered with innumerable waggons, we had the worst fears for the result. At length a report reached us to the effect that the reinforcements were expected on the morrow, and that they were not going to cross the Ingagaan at the ordinary drift, which was much commanded by hills, but at a lower drift on our own place, about three miles from Newcastle, which is only slightly commanded. We also heard that it was the intention of the Boers to attack them at this point and to fall back on my house and the hills behind. Accordingly, we thought it about time to retreat, and securing a few valuables, such as plate, we made our way into the town, leaving the house and its contents to take their chance. At Newcastle an attack was daily expected, if for no other reason, to obtain possession of the stores collected there. The defences of the place were, however, in a wretched condition, no proper outlook was kept, and there was an utter want of effective organisation. The military element at the camp had enough to do to look after itself, and did not concern itself with the safety of the town; and the mounted police--a colonial force paid by the colony--had been withdrawn from the little forts round Newcastle, as the General wanted them for other purposes, and a message sent that the town must defend its own forts. There were, it is true, a large number of able-bodied men in the place who were willing to fight, but they had no organisation. The very laager was not finished until the danger was past. Then there was a large party who were for surrendering the town to the Boers, because if they fought it might afterwards injure their trade. With this section of the population the feeling of patriotism was strong, no doubt, but that of pocket was stronger. I am convinced that the Boers would have found the capture of Newcastle an easy task, and I confess that what I then saw did not inspire me with great hopes of the safety of the colony when it gets responsible government, and has to depend for protection on burgher forces. Colonial volunteer forces are, I think, as good troops as any in the world; but an unorganised colonial mob, pulled this way and that by different sentiments and interests, is as useless as any other mob, with the difference that it is more impatient of control. For some unknown reason the Boer leaders providentially changed their minds about attacking the reinforcements, and their men were withdrawn to the Nek as swiftly and silently as they had been advanced, and on the 17th February the reinforcements marched into Newcastle, to the very great relief of the inhabitants, who had been equally anxious for their own safety and that of the troops. Personally, I was never in my life more pleased to see Her Majesty's uniform; and we were equally rejoiced on returning home to find that nothing had been injured. After this we had quiet for a while. On the 21st February, we heard that two fresh regiments had been sent up to the camp at Lang's Nek, and that General Wood had been ordered down country by Sir George Colley to bring up more reinforcements. This item of news caused much surprise, as nobody could understand why, now that the road was clear, and that there was little chance of its being again blocked, a General should be sent down to do work which could, to all appearance, have been equally well done by the officers in command of the reinforcing regiments, with the assistance of their transport riders. It was, however, understood that an agreement had been entered into between the two Generals that no offensive operations should be undertaken till Wood returned. With the exception of occasional scares, there was no further excitement till Sunday the 27th February, when, whilst sitting on the verandah after lunch, I thought I heard the sound of distant artillery. Others present differed with me, thinking the sound was caused by thunder, but as I adhered to my opinion, we determined to ride into town and see. On arrival there we found the place full of rumours, from which we gathered that some fresh disaster had occurred; and that messages were pouring down the wires from Mount Prospect camp. We then went on to camp, thinking that we should learn more there, but they knew nothing about it, several officers asking us what new "shave" we had got hold of. A considerable number of troops had been marched from Newcastle that morning to go to Mount Prospect, but when it was realised that something had occurred, they were stopped, and marched back again. Bit by bit we managed to gather the truth. At first we heard that our men had made a most gallant resistance on the hill, mowing down the advancing enemy by hundreds, till at last, their ammunition failing, they fought with their bayonets, using stones and meat tins as missiles. I wish that our subsequent information had been to the same effect. It appears that on the evening of the 26th, Sir George Colley, after mess, suddenly gave orders for a force of a little over six hundred men, consisting of detachments from no less than three different regiments, the 58th, 60th, 92d, and the Naval Brigade, to be got ready for an expedition, without revealing his plans to anybody until late in the afternoon; and then without more ado, marched them up to the top of Majuba--a great square-topped mountain to the right of, and commanding the Boer position at Lang's Nek. The troops reached the top about three in the morning, after a somewhat exhausting climb, and were stationed at different points of the plateau in a scientific way. Whilst the darkness lasted, they could, by the glittering of the watch-fires, trace from this point of vantage the position of the Boer laagers that lay 2000 yards beneath them, whilst the dawn of day revealed every detail of the defensive works, and showed the country lying at their feet like a map. On arrival at the top, it was represented to the General that a rough entrenchment should be thrown up, but he would not allow it to be done on account of the men being wearied with their marching up. This was a fatal mistake. Behind an entrenchment, however slight, one would think that 600 English soldiers might have defied the whole Boer army, and much more the 200 or 300 men by whom they were hunted down at Majuba. It appears that about 10.15 A.M., Colonel Stewart and Major Fraser again went to General Colley "to arrange to start the sailors on an entrenchment." ... "Finding the ground so exposed, the General did not give orders to entrench." As soon as the Boers found out that the hill was in the occupation of the English, their first idea was to leave the Nek, and they began to inspan with that object, but discovering that there were no guns commanding them, they changed their mind, and set to work to storm the hill instead. As far as I have been able to gather, the number of Boers who took the mountain was about 300, or possibly 400; I do not think there were more than that. The Boers themselves declare solemnly that they were only 100 strong, but this I do not believe. They slowly advanced up the hill till about 11.30, when the real attack began, the Dutchmen coming on more rapidly and confidently, and shooting with ever-increasing accuracy, as they found our fire quite ineffective. About a quarter to one, our men retreated to the last ridge, and General Colley was shot through the head. After this, the retreat became a rout, and the soldiers rushed pell-mell down the precipitous sides of the hill, the Boers knocking them over by the score as they went, till they were out of range. A few were also, I heard, killed by the shells from the guns that were advanced from the camp to cover the retreat, but as this does not appear in the reports, perhaps it is not true. Our loss was about 200 killed and wounded, including Sir George Colley, Drs. Landon and Cornish, and Commander Romilly, who was shot with an explosive bullet, and died after some days' suffering. When the wounded Commander was being carried to a more sheltered spot, it was with great difficulty that the Boers were prevented from massacring him as he lay, they being under the impression that he was Sir Garnet Wolseley. As was the case at Ingogo, the wounded were left on the battlefield all night in very inclement weather, to which some of them succumbed. It is worthy of note that after the fight was over they were treated with considerable kindness by the Boers. Not being a soldier, of course, I cannot venture to give any military reasons as to how it was that what was after all a considerable force was so easily driven from a position of great natural strength; but I think I may, without presumption, state my opinion as to the real cause, which was the villainous shooting of the British soldier. Though the troops did not, as was said at the time, run short of ammunition, it is clear that they fired away a great many rounds at men who, in storming the hill, must necessarily have exposed themselves more or less, of whom they managed to hit--certainly not more than six or seven--which was the outside of the Boer casualties. From this it is clear that they can neither judge distance nor hit a moving object, nor did they probably know that when shooting down hill it is necessary to aim low. Such shooting as the English soldier is capable of may be very well when he has an army to aim at, but it is useless in guerilla warfare against a foe skilled in the use of the rifle and the art of taking shelter. A couple of months after the storming of Majuba, I, together with a friend, had a conversation with a Boer, a volunteer from the Free State in the late war, and one of the detachment that stormed Majuba, who gave us a circumstantial account of the attack with the greatest willingness. He said that when it was discovered that the English had possession of the mountain, they thought that the game was up, but after a while bolder counsels prevailed, and volunteers were called for to storm the hill. Only seventy men could be found to perform the duty, of whom he was one. They started up the mountain in fear and trembling, but soon found that every shot passed over their heads, and went on with greater boldness. Only three men, he declared, were hit on the Boer side; one was killed, one was hit in the arm, and he himself was the third, getting his face grazed by a bullet, of which he showed us the scar. He stated that the first to reach the top ridge was a boy of twelve, and that as soon as the troops saw them they fled, when, he said, he paid them out for having nearly killed him, knocking them over one after another "like bucks" as they ran down the hill, adding that it was "alter lecker" (very nice). He asked us how many men we had lost during the war, and when we told him about seven hundred killed and wounded, laughed in our faces, saying he knew that our dead amounted to several thousands. On our assuring him that this was not the case, he replied, "Well, don't let's talk of it any more, because we are good friends now, and if we go on you will lie, and I shall lie, and then we shall get angry. The war is over now, and I don't want to quarrel with the English; if one of them takes off his hat to me I always acknowledge it." He did not mean any harm in talking thus; it is what Englishmen have to put up with now in South Africa; the Boers have beaten us, and act accordingly. This man also told us that the majority of the rifles they picked up were sighted for 400 yards, whereas the latter part of the fighting had been carried on within 200. Sir George Colley's death was much lamented in the colony, where he was deservedly popular; indeed, anybody who had the honour of knowing that kind-hearted English gentleman, could not do otherwise than deeply regret his untimely end. What his motive was in occupying Majuba in the way he did has never, so far as I am aware, transpired. The move, in itself, would have been an excellent one, had it been made in force, or accompanied by a direct attack on the Nek, but, as undertaken, seems to have been objectless. There were, of course, many rumours as to the motives that prompted his action, of which the most probable seems to be that, being aware of what the Home Government intended to do with reference to the Transvaal, he determined to strike a blow to try and establish British supremacy first, knowing how mischievous any apparent surrender would be. Whatever his faults may have been as a General, he was a brave man, and had the honour of his country much at heart. It was also said by soldiers who saw him the night the troops marched up Majuba, that the General was "not himself," and it was hinted that continual anxiety and the chagrin of failure had told upon his mind. As against this, however, must be set the fact that his telegrams to the Secretary of State for War, the last of which he must have despatched only about half an hour before he was shot, are cool and collected, and written in the same unconcerned tone--as though he were a critical spectator of an interesting scene--that characterises all his communications, more especially his despatches. They at any rate give no evidence of shaken nerve or unduly excited brain, nor can I see that any action of his with reference to the occupation of Majuba is out of keeping with the details of his generalship upon other occasions. He was always confident to rashness, and possessed by the idea that every man in the ranks was full of as high a spirit, and as brave as he was himself. Indeed, most people will think, that so far from its being a rasher action, the occupation of Majuba, bad generalship as it seems, was a wiser move than either the attack on the Nek or the Ingogo fiasco. But at the best, all his movements are difficult to be understood by a civilian, though they may, for ought we know, have been part of an elaborate plan, perfected in accordance with the rules of military science, of which, it is said, he was a great student. CHAPTER VI. THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL. When Parliament met in January 1881, the Government announced, through the mediumship of the Queen's Speech, that it was their intention to vindicate Her Majesty's authority in the Transvaal. I have already briefly described the somewhat unfortunate attempts to gain this end by force of arms; and I now propose to follow the course of the diplomatic negotiations entered into by the ministry with the same object. As soon as the hostilities in the Transvaal took a positive form, causing great dismay among the Home authorities, whose paths, as we all know, are the paths of peace--at any price; and whilst, in the first confusion of calamity, they knew not where to turn, President Brand stepped upon the scene in the character of "Our Mutual Friend," and, by the Government at any rate, was rapturously welcomed. This gentleman has for many years been at the head of the Government of the Orange Free State, whose fortunes he had directed with considerable ability. He is a man of natural talent and kind-hearted disposition, and has the advancement of the Boer cause in South Africa much at heart. The rising in the Transvaal was an event that gave him a great and threefold opportunity: first, of interfering with the genuinely benevolent object of checking bloodshed; secondly, of advancing the Dutch cause throughout South Africa under the cloak of amiable neutrality, and striking a dangerous blow at British supremacy over the Dutch and British prestige with the natives; and, thirdly, of putting the English Government under a lasting obligation to him. Of this opportunity he has availed himself to the utmost in each particular. So soon as things began to look serious, Mr. Brand put himself into active telegraphic communication with the various British authorities with the view of preventing bloodshed by inducing the English Government to accede to the Boer demands. He was also earnest in his declarations that the Free State was not supporting the Transvaal; which, considering that it was practically the insurgent base of supplies, where they had retired their women, children, and cattle, and that it furnished them with a large number of volunteers, was perhaps straining the truth. About this time also we find Lord Kimberley telegraphing to Mr. Brand that "if _only_ the Transvaal Boers will desist from armed opposition to the Queen's authority," he thinks some arrangement might be made. This is the first indication made public of what was passing in the minds of Her Majesty's Government, on whom its Radical supporters were now beginning to put the screw, to induce or threaten them into submitting to the Boer demands. Again, on the 11th January, the President telegraphed to Lord Kimberley through the Orange Free State Consul in London, suggesting that Sir H. de Villiers, the Chief Justice at the Cape, should be appointed a Commissioner to go to the Transvaal to settle matters. Oddly enough, about the same time the same proposition emanated from the Dutch party in the Cape Colony, headed by Mr. Hofmeyer, a coincidence that inclines one to the opinion that these friends of the Boers had some further reason for thus urging Sir Henry de Villiers' appointment as Commissioner beyond his apparent fitness for the post, of which his high reputation as a lawyer and in his private capacity was a sufficient guarantee. The explanation is not hard to find, the fact being that, rightly or wrongly, Sir Henry de Villiers, who is himself of Dutch descent, is noted throughout South Africa for his sympathies with the Boer cause, and both President Brand and the Dutch party in the Cape shrewdly suspected that, if the settling of differences were left to his discretion, the Boers and their interests would receive very gentle handling. The course of action adopted by him, when he became a member of the Royal Commission, went far to support this view, for it will be noticed in the Report of the Commissioners that in every single point he appears to have taken the Boer side of the contention. Indeed so blind was he to their faults, that he would not even admit that the horrible Potchefstroom murders and atrocities, which are condemned both by Sir H. Robinson and Sir Evelyn Wood in language as strong as the formal terms of a report will allow, were acts contrary to the rules of civilised warfare. If those acts had been perpetrated by Englishmen on Boers, or even on natives, I venture to think Sir Henry de Villiers would have looked at them in a very different light. In the same telegram in which President Brand recommends the appointment of Sir Henry de Villiers, he states that the allegations made by the Triumvirate in the proclamation in which they accused Sir Owen Lanyon of committing various atrocities, deserve to be investigated, as they maintain that the collision was commenced by the authorities. Nobody knew better than Mr. Brand that any English official would be quite incapable of the conduct ascribed to Sir Owen Lanyon, whilst, even if the collision had been commenced by the authorities, which as it happened it was not, they would under the circumstances have been amply justified in so commencing it. This remark by President Brand in his telegram was merely an attempt to throw an air of probability over a series of slanderous falsehoods. Messages of this nature continued to pour along the wires from day to day, but the tone of those from the Colonial Office grew gradually humbler. Thus we find Lord Kimberley telegraphing on the 8th February, that if the Boers would desist from armed opposition all reasonable guarantees would be given as to their treatment after submission, and that a scheme would be framed for the "permanent friendly settlement of difficulties." It will be seen that the Government had already begun to water the meaning of their declaration that they would vindicate Her Majesty's authority. No doubt Mr. Chamberlain, Mr. Courtney, and their followers had given another turn to the Radical screw. It is, however, clear that at this time no idea of the real aims of the Government had entered into the mind of Sir George Colley, since on the 7th February he telegraphed home a plan which he proposed to adopt on entering the Transvaal, which included a suggestion that he should grant a complete amnesty only to those Boers who would sign a declaration of loyalty. In answer to this he was ordered to do nothing of the sort, but to promise protection to everybody and refer everything home. Then came the battle of Ingogo, which checked for the time the flow of telegrams, or rather varied their nature, for those despatched during the next few days deal with the question of reinforcements. On the 13th February, however, negotiations were reopened by Paul Kruger, one of the Triumvirate, who offered, if all the troops were ordered to withdraw from the Transvaal, to give them a free passage through the Nek, to disperse the Boers, and to consent to the appointment of a Commission. The offer was jumped at by Lord Kimberley, who, without making reference to the question of withdrawing the soldiers, offered, if only the Boers would disperse, to appoint a Commission with extensive powers to develop the "permanent friendly settlement" scheme. The telegram ends thus: "Add, that if this proposal is accepted, you now are authorised to agree to suspension of hostilities on our part." This message was sent to General Wood, because the Boers had stopped the communications with Colley. On the 19th, Sir George Colley replies in these words, which show his astonishment at the policy adopted by the Home Government, and which, in the opinion of most people, redound to his credit-- "Latter part of your telegram to Wood not understood. There can be no hostilities if no resistance is made, but am I to leave Lang's Nek in Natal territory in Boer occupation, and our garrisons isolated and short of provisions, or occupy former and relieve latter?" Lord Kimberley hastens to reply that the garrisons must be left free to provision themselves, "but we do not mean that you should march to the relief of garrisons or occupy Lang's Nek if an arrangement proceeds." It will be seen that the definition of what vindication of Her Majesty's authority consisted grew broader and broader; it now included the right of the Boers to continue to occupy their positions in the colony of Natal. Meanwhile the daily fire of complimentary messages was being kept up between President Brand and Lord Kimberley, who alternately gave "sincere thanks to Lord Kimberley" and "fully appreciated the friendly spirit" of President Brand, till on the 21st February the latter telegraphs through Colley: "Hope of amicable settlement by negotiation, but this will be greatly facilitated if somebody on spot and friendly disposed to both could by personal communication with both endeavour to smooth difficulties. Offers his services to Her Majesty's Government, and Kruger and Pretorius and Joubert are willing." Needless to say his services were accepted. Presently, however, on 27th February, Sir George Colley made his last move, and took possession of Majuba. His defeat and death had the effect of causing another temporary check in the peace negotiations, whilst Sir Frederick Roberts with ample reinforcements was despatched to Natal. It had the further effect of increasing the haughtiness of the Boer leaders, and infusing a corresponding spirit of pliability or generosity into the negotiations of Her Majesty's Government. Thus on 2d March, the Boers, through President Brand and Sir Evelyn Wood, inform the Secretary of State for the Colonies that they are willing to negotiate, but decline to submit on cease opposition. Sir Evelyn Wood, who evidently did not at all like the line of policy adopted by the Government, telegraphed that he thought the best thing to do would be for him to engage the Boers, and disperse them _vi et armis_, without any guarantees, "considering the disasters we have sustained," and that he should, "if absolutely necessary," be empowered to promise life and property to the leaders, but that they should be banished from the country. In answer to this telegram, Lord Kimberley informs him that Her Majesty's Government will amnesty _everybody_ except those who have committed acts contrary to the rules of civilised warfare, and that they will agree to anything, and appoint a Commission to carry out the details, and "be ready for friendly communications with _any persons_ appointed by the Boers." Thus was Her Majesty's authority finally re-established in the Transvaal. It was not a very grand climax, nor the kind of arrangement to which Englishmen are accustomed, but perhaps, considering the circumstances, and the well-known predilections of those who made the settlement, it was as much as could be expected. The action of the Government must not be considered as though they were unfettered in their judgment; it can never be supposed that they acted as they did because they thought such action right or even wise, for that would be to set them down as men of a very low order of intelligence, which they certainly are not. It is clear that no set of sensible men, who had after much consideration given their decision that under all the circumstances the Transvaal must remain British territory, and who, on a revolt subsequently breaking out in that territory, had declared that Her Majesty's rule must be upheld, would have, putting aside all other circumstances, deliberately stultified themselves by almost unconditionally, and of their own free will, abandoning the country, and all Her Majesty's subjects living in it. That would be to pay a poor tribute to their understanding, since it is clear that if reasons existed for retaining the Transvaal before the war, as they were satisfied there did, those reasons would exist with still greater force after a war had been undertaken and three crushing defeats sustained, which if left unavenged must, as they knew, have a most disastrous effect on our prestige throughout the South African continent. I prefer to believe that the Government was coerced into acting as it did by Radical pressure, both from outside and from its immediate supporters in the House, and that it had to choose between making an unconditional surrender in the Transvaal and losing the support of a very powerful party. Under these circumstances it, being Liberal in politics, naturally followed its instincts, and chose surrender. If such a policy was bad in itself, and necessarily mischievous in its consequences, so much the worse for those who suffered by it; it was clear that the Government could not be expected to lose votes in order to forward the true interests of countries so far off as the South African Colonies, which had had the misfortune to be made a party question of, and must take the consequences. There is no doubt that the interest brought to bear on the Government was very considerable, for not only had they to deal with their own supporters, and with the shadowy caucus that was ready to let the lash of its displeasure descend even on the august person of Mr. Gladstone, should he show signs of letting slip so rich an opportunity for the vindication of the holiest principles of advanced Radicalism, but also with the hydra-headed crowd of visionaries and professional sentimentalists who swarm in this country, and who are always ready to take up any cause, from that of Jumbo or of a murderer to that of oppressed peoples, such as the Bulgarians or the Transvaal Boers. These gentlemen, burning with zeal, and filled with that confidence which proverbially results from the hasty assimilation of imperfect and erroneous information, found in the Transvaal question a great opportunity of making a noise; and--as in a disturbed farmyard the bray of the domestic donkey, ringing loud and clear among the utterances of more intelligent animals, overwhelms and extinguishes them--so, and with like effect, amongst the confused sound of various English opinions about the Boer rising, rose the trumpet-note of the Transvaal Independence Committee and its supporters. As we have seen, they did not sound in vain. On the 6th of March an armistice with the Boers had been entered into by Sir Evelyn Wood, which was several times prolonged up to the 21st March, when Sir Evelyn Wood concluded a preliminary peace with the Boer leaders, which, under certain conditions, guaranteed the restoration of the country within six months, and left all other points to be decided by a Royal Commission. The news of this peace was at first received in the colony in the silence of astonishment. Personally, I remember, I would not believe that it was true. It seemed to us, who had been witnesses of what had passed, and knew what it all meant, something so utterly incredible that we thought there must be a mistake. If there had been any one redeeming circumstance about it, if the English arms had gained a single decisive victory, it might have been so, but it was hard for Englishmen, just at first, to understand that not only had the Transvaal been to all appearance wrested from them by force of arms, but that they were henceforth to be subject, as they well knew would be the case, to the coarse insults of victorious Boers, and the sarcasms of keener-witted Kafirs. People in England seem to fancy that when men go to the colonies they lose all sense of pride in their country, and think of nothing but their own advantage. I do not think that this is the case, indeed, I believe that, individual for individual, there exists a greater sense of loyalty, and a deeper pride in their nationality, and in the proud name of England, among colonists, than among Englishmen proper. Certainly the humiliation of the Transvaal surrender was more keenly felt in South Africa than it was at home; but, perhaps, the impossibility of imposing upon people in that country with the farrago of nonsense about blood-guiltiness and national morality, which was made such adroit use of at home, may have made the difference. I know that personally I would not have believed it possible that I could feel any public event so keenly as I did this; indeed, I quickly made up my mind that if the peace was confirmed, the neighbourhood of the Transvaal would be no fit or comfortable residence for an Englishman, and that I would, at any cost, leave the country,--which I accordingly did. Newcastle was a curious sight the night after the peace was declared. Every hotel and bar was crowded with refugees, who were trying to relieve their feelings by cursing the name of Gladstone with a vigour, originality, and earnestness that I have never heard equalled; and declaring in ironical terms how proud they were to be citizens of England--a country that always kept its word. Then they set to work with many demonstrations of contempt to burn the effigy of the Bight Honourable Gentleman at the head of Her Majesty's Government, an example, by the way, that was followed throughout South Africa. Even Sir Evelyn Wood, who is very popular in the colony, was hissed as he walked through the town, and great surprise was expressed that a soldier who came out expressly to fight the Boers should consent to become the medium of communication in such a dirty business. And, indeed, there was some excuse for all this bitterness, for the news meant ruin to very many. But if people in Natal and at the Cape received the news with astonishment, how shall I describe its effect upon the unfortunate loyal inhabitants in the Transvaal, on whom it burst like a thunderbolt? They did not say much, however, and indeed there was nothing to be said. They simply began to pack up such things as they could carry with them, and to leave the country, which they well knew would henceforth be utterly untenable for Englishmen or English sympathisers. In a few weeks they come pouring down through Newcastle by hundreds; it was the most melancholy exodus that can be imagined. There were people of all classes, officials, gentlefolk, work-people, and loyal Boers, but they had a connecting link; they had all been loyal, and they were all ruined. Most of these people had gone to the Transvaal since it became a British colony, and invested all they had in it, and now their capital was lost and their labour rendered abortive; indeed, many of them whom one had known as well to do in the Transvaal, came down to Natal hardly knowing how they would feed their families next week. It must be understood that so soon as the Queen's sovereignty was withdrawn the value of landed and house property in the Transvaal went down to nothing, and has remained there ever since. Thus a fair-sized house in Pretoria brought in a rental varying from ten to twenty pounds a month during British occupation, but after the declaration of peace, owners of houses were glad to get people to live in them to keep them from falling into ruin. Those who owned land or had invested money in businesses suffered in the same way; their property remains neither profitable or saleable, and they themselves are precluded by their nationality from living on it, the art of "Boycotting" not being peculiar to Ireland. Nor were they the only sufferers. The officials, many of whom had taken to the Government service as a permanent profession, in which they expected to pass their lives, were suddenly dismissed, mostly with a small gratuity, which would about suffice to pay their debts, and told to find their living as best they could. It was indeed a case of _vae victis_,--woe to the conquered loyalists.[12] [12] The following extract is clipped from a recent issue of the _Transvaal Advertiser_. It describes the present condition of Pretoria:-- "The streets grown over with rank vegetation; the water-furrows uncleaned and unattended, emitting offensive and unhealthy stenches; the houses showing evident signs of dilapidation and decay; the side paths, in many places, dangerous to pedestrians--in fact, everything the eye can rest upon indicates the downfall which has overtaken this once prosperous city. The visitor can, if he be so minded, betake himself to the outskirts and suburbs, where he will perceive the same sad evidences of neglect, public grounds unattended, roads uncared for, mills and other public works crumbling into ruin. These palpable signs of decay most strongly impress him. A blight seems to have come over this lately fair and prosperous town. Rapidly it is becoming a 'deserted village,' a 'city of the dead.'" The Commission appointed by Her Majesty's Government consisted of Sir Hercules Robinson, Sir Henry de Villiers, and Sir Evelyn Wood, President Brand being also present in his capacity of friend of both parties, and to their discretion were left the settlement of all outstanding questions. Amongst these, were the mode of trial of those persons who had been guilty of acts contrary to the rules of civilised warfare, the question of severance of territory from the Transvaal on the eastern boundary, the settlement of the boundary in the Keate-Award districts, the compensation for losses sustained during the war, the functions of the British Resident, and other matters. Their place of meeting was at Newcastle in Natal, and from thence they proceeded to Pretoria. The first question of importance that came before the Commission was the mode of trial to be adopted in the cases of those persons accused of acts contrary to the usages of civilised warfare, such as murder. The Attorney-General for the Transvaal strongly advised that a special tribunal should be constituted to try these cases, principally because "after a civil war in which all the inhabitants of a country, with very few exceptions, have taken part, a jury of fair and impartial men, truly unbiassed, will be very difficult to get together." It is satisfactory to know that the Commissioners gave this somewhat obvious fact "their grave consideration," which, according to their Report, resulted in their determining to let the cases go before the ordinary court, and be tried by a jury, because in referring them to a specially constituted court which would have done equal justice without fear or favour, "the British Government would have made for itself, among the Dutch population of South Africa, a name for vindictive oppression, which no generosity in other affairs could efface." There is more in this determination of the Commissioners, or rather of the majority of them--for Sir E. Wood, to his credit be it said, refused to agree in their decision--than meets the eye, the fact of the matter being that it was privately well known to them, that though the Boer leaders might be willing to allow a few of the murderers to undergo the form of a trial, neither they nor the Boers themselves meant to permit the farce to go any further. Had the men been tried by a special tribunal they would in all probability have been condemned to death, and then would have come the awkward question of carrying out the sentence on individuals whose deeds were looked on, if not with general approval, at any rate without aversion by the great mass of their countrymen. In short, it would probably have become necessary either to reprieve them or to fight the Boers again, since it was very certain that they would not have allowed them to be hung. Therefore the majority of the Commissioners, finding themselves face to face with a dead wall, determined to slip round it instead of boldly climbing it, by referring the cases to the Transvaal High Court, cheerfully confident of what the result must be. After all, the matter was, much cry about little wool, for of all the crimes committed by the Boers--a list of some of which will be found in the Appendix to this book--in only three cases were a proportion of the perpetrators produced and put through the form of trial. Those three were--the dastardly murder of Captain Elliot, who was shot by his Boer escort whilst crossing the Vaal river on parole; the murder of a man named Malcolm, who was kicked to death in his own house by Boers, who afterwards put a bullet through his head to make the job "look better;" and the murder of a doctor named Barber, who was shot by his escort on the border of the Free State. A few of the men concerned in the first two of these crimes were tried in Pretoria; and it was currently reported at that time, that in order to make their acquittal certain our Attorney-General received instructions not to exercise his right of challenging jurors on behalf of the Crown. Whether or not this is true I am not prepared to say, but I believe it is a fact that he did not exercise that right, though the counsel for the prisoners availed themselves of it freely, with the result that in Elliot's case, the jury was composed of eight Boers and one German, nine being the full South African jury. The necessary result followed; in both cases the prisoners were acquitted in the teeth of the evidence. Barber's murderers were tried in the Free State, and were, as might be expected, acquitted. Thus it will be seen that of all the perpetrators of murder and other crimes during the course of the war not one was brought to justice. The offence for which their victims died was, in nearly every case, that they had served, were serving, or were loyal to Her Majesty the Queen. In no single case has England exacted retribution for the murder of her servants and citizens; but nobody can read through the long list of these dastardly slaughters without feeling that they will not go unavenged. The innocent blood that has been shed on behalf of this country, and the tears of children and widows, now appeal to a higher tribunal than that of Mr. Gladstone's Government, and assuredly they will not appeal in vain. The next point of importance dealt with by the Commission was the question whether or no any territory should be severed from the Transvaal, and kept under English rule for the benefit of the native inhabitants. Lord Kimberley, acting under pressure put upon him by members of the Aborigines Protection Society, instructed the Commission to consider the advisability of severing the districts of Lydenburg and Zoutpansberg, and also a strip of territory bordering on Zululand and Swaziland, from the Transvaal, so as to place the inhabitants of the first two districts out of danger of maltreatment by the Boers, and to interpose a buffer between Zulus, and Swazis, and Boer aggression, and _vice versâ_. The Boer leaders had, it must be remembered, acquiesced in the principle of such a separation in the preliminary peace signed by Sir Evelyn Wood and themselves. The majority of the Commission, however (Sir Evelyn Wood dissenting), finally decided against the retention of either of these districts, a decision which, I think, was a wise one, though I arrive at that conclusion on very different grounds to those adopted by the majority of the Commission. Personally, I cannot see that it is the duty of England to play policeman to the whole world. To have retained these native districts would have been to make ourselves responsible for their good government, and to have guaranteed them against Boer encroachment, which I do not think that we were called upon to do. It is surely not incumbent upon us, having given up the Transvaal to the Boers, to undertake the management of the most troublesome part of it, the Zulu border. Besides, bad as the abandonment of the Transvaal is, I think that if it was to be done at all, it was best to do it thoroughly, since to have kept some natives under our protection, and to have handed over the rest to the tender mercies of the Boers, would only be to render our injustice more obvious, whilst weakening the power of the natives themselves to combine in self-defence, since those under our protection would naturally have little sympathy with their more unfortunate brethren--their interests and circumstances being different. The Commission do not seem to have considered the question from these points of view; but putting them on one side, there are many other considerations connected with it which are ably summed up in their Report. Amongst these is the danger of disturbances commenced between Zulus or Swazis and Boers spreading into Natal, and the probability of the fomenting of disturbances amongst the Zulus by Boers. The great argument for the retention of some territory, if only as a symbol that the English had not been driven out of the country, is, however, set forth in the forty-sixth paragraph of the Report, which runs as follows:--"The moral considerations that determine the actions of civilised governments are not easily understood by barbarians, in whose eyes successful force is alone the sign of superiority, and it appeared possible that the surrender by the British Crown of one of its possessions to those who had been in arms against it, might be looked upon by the natives in no other way than as a token of the defeat and decay of the British power, and that thus a serious shock might be given to British authority in South Africa, and the capacity of Great Britain to govern and direct the vast native population within and without her South African dominions--a capacity resting largely on the renown of her name--might be dangerously impaired." These words, coming from so unexpected a source, do not, though couched in such mild language, hide the startling importance of the question discussed. On the contrary, they accurately and with double weight convey the sense and gist of the most damning argument against the policy of the retrocession of the Transvaal in its entirety; and proceeding from their own carefully chosen Commissioners, can hardly have been pleasant reading to Lord Kimberley and his colleagues. The majority of the Commission then proceeds to set forth the arguments advanced by the Boers against the retention of any territory, which appear to have been chiefly of a sentimental character, since we are informed that "the people, it seemed certain, would not have valued the restoration of a mutilated country. Sentiment in a great measure had led them to insurrection, and the force of such it was impossible to disregard." Sir Evelyn Wood, in his dissent, states that he cannot even agree with the premises of his colleagues' argument, since he is convinced that it was not sentiment that had led to the outbreak, but a "general and rooted aversion to taxation." If he had added, and a hatred not only of English rule, but of all rule, he would have stated the complete cause of the Transvaal rebellion. In the next paragraph of the Report, however, we find the real cause of the pliability of the Commission in the matter, which is the same that influenced them in their decision about the mode of trial of the murderers and other questions--they feared that the people would appeal to arms if they decided against their wishes. Discreditable and disgraceful as it may seem, nobody can read this Report without plainly seeing that the Commissioners were, in treating with the Boers on these points, in the position of ambassadors from a beaten people getting the best terms they could. Of course, they well knew that this was not the case but whatever the Boer leaders may have said, the Boers themselves did not know this, or even pretend to look at the matter in any other light. When we asked for the country back, said they, we did not get it; after we had three times defeated the English we did get it; the logical conclusion from the facts being that we got it because we defeated the English. This was their tone, and it is not therefore surprising that whenever the Commission threatened to decide anything against them, they, with a smile, let it know that if it did, they would be under the painful necessity of re-occupying Lang's Nek. It was never necessary to repeat the threat, since the majority of the Commission would thereupon speedily find a way to meet the views of the Boer representatives. Sir Evelyn Wood, in his dissent, thus correctly sums up the matter:--"To contend that the Royal Commission ought not to decide contrary to the wishes of the Boers, because such decision might not be accepted, is to deny to the Commission the very power of decision that it was agreed should be left in its hands." Exactly so. But it is evident that the Commission knew its place, and so far from attempting to exercise any "power of decision," it was quite content with such concessions as it could obtain by means of bargaining. Thus, as an additional reason against the retention of any territory, it is urged that if this territory was retained "the majority of your Commissioners ... would have found themselves in no favourable position for obtaining the concurrence of the Boer leaders as to other matters." In fact, Her Majesty's Commission, appointed, or supposed to be appointed, to do Her Majesty's will and pleasure, shook in its shoes before men who had lately been rebels in arms against her authority, and humbly submitted itself to their dicta. The majority of the Commission went on to express their opinion, that by giving way about the retention of territory they would be able to obtain better terms for the natives generally, and larger powers for the British Resident. But, as Sir Evelyn Wood points out in his Report, they did nothing of the sort, the terms of the agreement about the Resident and other native matters being all consequent on and included in the first agreement of peace. Besides, they seem to have overlooked the fact that such concessions as they did obtain are only on paper, and practically worthless, whilst all _bonâ fide_ advantages remained with the Boers. The decision of the Commissioners in the question of the Keate Award, which next came under their consideration, appears to have been a judicious one, being founded on the very careful Report of Colonel Moysey, R.E., who had been for many months collecting information on the spot. The Keate Award Territory is a region lying to the south-west of the Transvaal, and was, like many other districts in that country, originally in the possession of natives of the Baralong and Batlapin tribes. Individual Boers having, however, _more suo_ taken possession of tracts of land in the district, difficulties speedily arose between their Government and the native chiefs, and in 1871 Mr. Keate, Lieutenant-Governor of Natal, was by mutual consent called in to arbitrate on the matter. His decision was entirely in favour of the natives, and was accordingly promptly and characteristically repudiated by the Boer Volksraad. From that time till the rebellion the question remained unsettled, and was indeed a very thorny one to deal with. The Commission, acting on the principle _in medio tutissimus ibis_, drew a line through the midst of the disputed territory, or, in other words, set aside Mr. Keate's award, and interpreted the dispute in favour of the Boers. This decision was accepted by all parties at the time, but it has not resulted in the maintenance of peace. The principal chief, Montsioa, is an old ally and staunch friend of the English, a fact which the Boers are not able to forget or forgive, and they appear to have stirred up rival chiefs to attack him, and to have allowed volunteers from the Transvaal to assist them. Montsioa has also enlisted some white volunteers, and several fights have taken place, in which the loss of life has been considerable. Whether or no the Transvaal Government is directly concerned it is impossible to say, but from the fact that cannon are said to have been used against Montsioa it would appear that it is, since private individuals do not, as a rule, own Armstrong guns.[13] [13] I beg to refer any reader interested in this matter to the letter of "Transvaal" to the _Standard_, which I have republished in the Appendix to this book. Amongst the questions remaining for the consideration of the Commissioners was that of what compensation should be given for losses during the war. Of course, the great bulk of the losses sustained were of an indirect nature, resulting from the necessary and enormous depreciation in the value of land and other property, consequent on the retrocession. Into this matter the Home Government declined to enter, thereby saving its pocket at the price of its honour, since it was upon English guarantees that the country would remain a British possession that the majority of the unfortunate loyals invested their money in it. It was, however, agreed by the Commission (Sir H. de Villiers dissenting) that the Boers should be liable for compensation in cases where loss had been sustained through commandeering seizure, confiscation, destruction, or damage of property. The sums awarded under these heads have already amounted to about £110,000, which sum has been defrayed by the Imperial Government, the Boer authorities stating that they were not in a position to pay it. In connection with this matter I will pass to the financial clauses of the Report. When the country was annexed, the public debt amounted to £301,727. Under British rule this debt was liquidated to the extent of £150,000, but the total was brought up by a Parliamentary grant, a loan from the Standard Bank, and sundries to £390,404, which represented the public debt of the Transvaal on the 31st December 1880. This was further increased by moneys advanced by the Standard Bank and English Exchequer during the war, and till the 8th August 1881, during which time the country yielded no revenue, to £457,393. To this must be added an estimated sum of £200,000 for compensation charges, pension allowances, &c., and a further sum of £383,000, the cost of the successful expedition against Secocoeni, that of the unsuccessful one being left out of account, bringing up the total public debt to over a million, of which about £800,000 is owing to this country. This sum, with the characteristic liberality that distinguished them in their dealings with the Boers, but which was not so marked where loyals were concerned, the Commissioners (Sir Evelyn Wood dissenting) reduced by a stroke of the pen to £265,000, thus entirely remitting an approximate sum of £500,000, or £600,000. To the sum of £265,000 still owing must be added say another £150,000 for sums lately advanced to pay the compensation claims, bringing up the actual amount now owing to England to something under half a million, of which I say with confidence she will never see a single £10,000. As this contingency was not contemplated, or if contemplated, not alluded to by the Royal Commission, provision was made for a Sinking Fund, by means of which the debt, which is a second charge on the revenues of the States, is to be extinguished in twenty-five years. It is a strange instance of the proverbial irony of fate, that whilst the representatives of the Imperial Government were thus showering gifts of hundreds of thousands of pounds upon men who had spurned the benefits of Her Majesty's rule, made war upon her forces, and murdered her subjects, no such consideration was extended to those who had remained loyal to her throne. Their claims for compensation were passed by unheeded; and looking from the windows of the room in which they sat in Newcastle, the members of the Commission might have seen them flocking down from a country that could no longer be their home; those that were rich among them made poor, and those that were poor reduced to destitution. The only other point which it will be necessary for me to touch on in connection with this Report is the duties of the British Resident and his relations to the natives. He was to be invested as representative of the Suzerain with functions for securing the execution of the terms of peace as regards--(1) the control of the foreign relations of the State; (2) the control of the frontier affairs of the State; and (3) the protection of the interests of the natives in the State. As regards the first of these points, it was arranged that the interests of subjects of the Transvaal should be left in the hands of Her Majesty's representatives abroad. Since Boers are, of all people in the world, the most stay-at-home, our ambassadors and consuls are not likely to be troubled much on their account. With reference to the second point, the Commission made stipulations that would be admirable if there were any probability of their being acted up to. The Resident is to report any encroachment on native territory by Boers to the High Commissioner, and when the Resident and the Boer Government differ, the decision of the Suzerain is to be final. This is a charming way of settling difficulties, but the Commission forgets to specify how the Suzerain's decision is to be enforced. After what has happened, it can hardly have relied on awe of the name of England to bring about the desired obedience! But besides thus using his beneficent authority to prevent subjects of the Transvaal from trespassing on their neighbour's land, the Resident is to exercise a general supervision over the interests of all the natives in the country. Considering that they number about a million, and are scattered over a territory larger than France, one would think that this duty alone would have taken up the time of any ordinary man; and, indeed, Sir Evelyn Wood was in favour of the appointment of sub-residents to assist him. The majority of the Commission refused, however, to listen to any such suggestion--believing, they said, "that the least possible interference with the independent Government of the State would be the wisest." Quite so, but I suppose it never occurred to them to ask the natives what their views of the matter were! The Resident was also to be a member of a Native Location Commission, which was at some future time to provide land for the natives to live on. In perusing this Report it is easy to follow with more or less accuracy the individual bent of its framers. Sir Hercules Robinson figures throughout as a man who has got a disagreeable business to carry out, in obedience to instructions that admit of no trifling with, and who has set himself to do the best he can for his country, and those who suffer through his country's policy, whilst obeying those instructions. He has evidently choked down his feelings and opinions as an individual, and turned himself into an official machine, merely registering in detail the will of Lord Kimberley. With Sir Henry de Villiers the case is very different. One feels throughout that the task is to him a congenial one, and that the Boer cause has in him an excellent friend. Indeed, had he been an advocate of their cause instead of a member of the Commission, he could not have espoused their side on every occasion with greater zeal. According to him they were always in the right, and in them he could find no guile. Mr. Hofmeyer and President Brand exercised a wise discretion from their own point of view when they urged his appointment as Special Commissioner. I now come to Sir Evelyn Wood, who was in the position of an independent Englishman, neither prejudiced in favour of the Boers, or the reverse, and on whom, as a military man, Lord Kimberley would find it difficult to put the official screw. The results of his happy position are obvious in the paper attached to the end of the Report, and signed by him, in which he totally and entirely differs from the majority of the Commission on every point of any importance. Most people will think that this very outspoken and forcible dissent deducts somewhat from the value of the Report, and throws a shadow of doubt on the wisdom of its provisions. The formal document of agreement between Her Majesty's Government and the Boer leaders, commonly known as the Convention, was signed by both parties at Pretoria on the afternoon of the 3d August 1881, in the same room in which, nearly four years before, the Annexation Proclamation was signed by Sir T. Shepstone. Whilst this business was being transacted in Government House, a curious ceremony was going on just outside, and within sight of the windows. This was the ceremonious burial of the Union Jack, which was followed to the grave by a crowd of about 2000 loyalists and native chiefs. On the outside of the coffin was written the word "Resurgam," and an eloquent oration was delivered over the grave. Such demonstrations are, no doubt, foolish enough, but they are not entirely without political significance. But a more unpleasant duty awaited the Commissioners than that of attaching their signatures to a document,--consisting of the necessity of conveying Her Majesty's decision as to the retrocession to about a hundred native chiefs, until now Her Majesty's subjects, who had been gathered together to hear it. It must be borne in mind that the natives had not been consulted as to the disposal of the country, although they outnumber the white people in the proportion of twenty to one, and that, beyond some worthless paper stipulations, nothing had been done for their interests. Personally, I must plead guilty to what I know is by many, especially by those who are attached to the Boer cause, considered as folly, if not worse, namely, a sufficient interest in the natives, and sympathy with their sufferings, to bring me to the conclusion that in acting thus we have inflicted a cruel injustice upon them. It seems to me, that as they were the original owners of the soil, they were entitled to some consideration in the question of its disposal, and consequently and incidentally, of their own. I am aware that it is generally considered that the white man has a right to the black man's possessions and land, and that it is his high and holy mission to exterminate the wretched native and take his place. But with this conclusion I venture to differ. So far as my own experience of natives has gone, I have found that in all the essential qualities of mind and body they very much resemble white men, with the exception that they are, as a race, quicker-witted, more honest, and braver than the ordinary run of white men. Of them might be aptly quoted the speech Shakespeare puts into Shylock's mouth: "Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?" In the same way I ask, Has a native no feelings or affections? does he not suffer when his parents are shot, or his children stolen, or when he is driven a wanderer from his home? Does he not know fear, feel pain, affection, hate, and gratitude? Most certainly he does; and this being so, I cannot believe that the Almighty, who made both white and black, gave to the one race the right or mission of exterminating or even of robbing or maltreating the other, and calling the process the advance of civilisation. It seems to me, that on only one condition, if at all, have we the right to take the black men's land; and that is, that we provide them with an equal and a just Government, and allow no maltreatment of them, either as individuals or tribes, but, on the contrary, do our best to elevate them, and wean them from savage customs. Otherwise, the practice is surely undefensible. I am aware, however, that with the exception of a small class, these are sentiments which are not shared by the great majority of the public, either at home or abroad. Indeed, it can be plainly seen how little sympathy they command, from the fact that but scanty remonstrance was raised at the treatment meted out to our native subjects in the Transvaal, when they were, to the number of nearly a million, handed over from the peace, justice, and security that on the whole characterise our rule, to a state of things and possibilities of wrong and suffering which I will not try to describe. To the chiefs thus assembled Sir Hercules Robinson, as President of the Royal Commission, read a statement, and then retired, refusing to allow them to speak in answer. The statement informed the natives that "Her Majesty's Government, with that sense of justice which befits a great and powerful nation," had returned the country to the Boers, "whose representatives, Messrs. Kruger, Pretorius, and Joubert, I now," said Sir Hercules, "have much pleasure in introducing to you." If reports are true, the native chiefs had, many of them personally, and all of them by reputation, already the advantage of a very intimate acquaintance with all three of these gentlemen, so that an introduction was somewhat superfluous. Sir Hercules then went on to explain to them that locations would be allotted to them at some future time; that a British Resident would be appointed, whose especial charge they would be, but that they must bear in mind that he was not ruler of the country, but the Government, "subject to Her Majesty's suzerain rights." Natives were, no doubt, expected to know by intuition what suzerain rights are. The statement then goes on to give them good advice as to the advantages of indulging in manual labour when asked to do so by the Boers, and generally to show them how bright and happy is the future that lies before them. Lest they should be too elated by such good tidings, they are, however, reminded that it will be necessary to retain the law relating to passes, which is, in the hands of a people like the Boers, about as unjust a regulation as a dominant race can invent for the oppression of a subject people, and had, in the old days of the Republic, been productive of much hardship. The statement winds up by assuring them that their "interests will never be forgotten or neglected by Her Majesty's Government." Having read the document the Commission hastily withdrew, and after their withdrawal the chiefs were "allowed" to state their opinions to the Secretary for Native Affairs. In availing themselves of this permission, it is noticeable that no allusion was made to all the advantages they were to reap under the Convention, nor did they seem to attach much importance to the appointment of the British Resident. On the contrary, all their attention was given to the great fact that the country had been ceded to the Boers, and that they were no longer the Queen's subjects. We are told, in Mr. Shepstone's Report, that they "got very excited," and "asked whether it was thought that they had no feelings or hearts, that they were thus treated as a stick or piece of tobacco, which could be passed from hand to hand without question." Umgombarie, a Zoutpansberg chief, said: "I am Umgombarie. I have fought with the Boers, and have many wounds, and they know that what I say is true.... I will never consent to place myself under their rule. I belong to the English Government. I am not a man who eats with both sides of his jaw at once; I only use one side. I am English, I have said." Silamba said: "I belong to the English. I will never return under the Boers. You see me, a man of my rank and position; is it right that such as I should be seized and laid on the ground and flogged, as has been done to me and other chiefs?" Sinkanhla said: "We hear and yet do not hear, we cannot understand. We are troubling you, Chief, by talking in this way; we hear the chiefs say that the Queen took the country because the people of the country wished it, and again that the majority of the owners of the country did not wish their rule, and that therefore the country was given back. We should like to have the man pointed out from among us black people who objects to the rule of the Queen. We are the real owners of the country; we were here when the Boers came, and without asking leave, settled down and treated us in every way badly. The English Government then came and took the country; we have now had four years of rest and peaceful and just rule. We have been called here to-day, and are told that the country, our country, has been given to the Boers by the Queen. This is a thing which surprises us. Did the country, then, belong to the Boers? Did it not belong to our fathers and forefathers before us, long before the Boers came here? We have heard that the Boers' country is at the Cape. If the Queen wishes to give them their land, why does she not give them back the Cape?" I have quoted this speech at length, because, although made by a despised native, it sets forth their case more powerfully and in happier language than I can do. Umyethile said: "We have no heart for talking. I have returned to the country from Sechelis, where I had to fly from Boer oppression. Our hearts are black and heavy with grief to-day at the news told us, we are in agony, our intestines are twisting and writhing inside of us, just as you see a snake do when it is struck on the head.... We do not know what has become of us, but we feel dead; it may be that the Lord may change the nature of the Boers, and that we will not be treated like dogs and beasts of burden as formerly, but we have no hope of such a change, and we leave you with heavy hearts and great apprehension as to the future." In his Report, Mr. Shepstone (the Secretary for Native Affairs) says: "One chief, Jan Sibilo, who has been, he informed me, personally threatened with death by the Boers after the English leave, could not restrain his feelings, but cried like a child." I have nothing to add to these extracts, which are taken from many such statements. They are the very words of the persons most concerned, and will speak for themselves. The Convention was signed on the 3d August 1881, and was to be formally ratified by a Volksraad or Parliament of the Burghers within three months of that date, in default of which it was to fall to the ground and become null and void. Anybody who has followed the course of affairs with reference to the retrocession of the Transvaal, or who has even taken the trouble to read through this brief history, will probably come to the conclusion that, under all the circumstances, the Boers had got more than they could reasonably expect. Not so, however, the Boers themselves. On the 28th September the newly-elected Volksraad referred the Convention to a General Committee to report on, and on the 30th September the Report was presented. On the 3d October a telegram was despatched through the British Resident to "His Excellency W. E. Gladstone," in which the Volksraad states that the Convention is not acceptable-- (1.) Because it is in conflict with the Sand River Treaty of 1852. (2.) Because it violates the peace agreement entered into with Sir Evelyn Wood, in confidence of which the Boers laid down their arms. The Volksraad consequently declared that modifications were desirable, and that certain articles _must_ be altered. To begin with, they declare that the "conduct of foreign relations does not appertain to the Suzerain, only supervision," and that the articles bearing on these points must consequently be modified. They next attack the native question, stating that "the Suzerain has not the right to interfere with our Legislature," and state that they cannot agree to Article 3, which gives the Suzerain a right of veto on Legislation connected with the natives; to Article 13, by virtue of which natives are to be allowed to acquire land; and to the last part of Article 26, by which it is provided that whites of alien race living in the Transvaal shall not be taxed in excess of the taxes imposed on Transvaal citizens. They further declare that it is _infra dignitatem_ for the President of the Transvaal to be a member of a Commission. This refers to the Native Location Commission, on which he is, in the terms of the Convention, to sit, together with the British Resident, and a third person jointly appointed. They next declare that the amount of the debt for which the Commission has made them liable should be modified. Considering that England had already made them a present of from £600,000 to £800,000, this is a most barefaced demand. Finally, they state that "Articles 15, 16, 26, and 27 are superfluous, and only calculated to wound our sense of honour" (_sic_). Article 15 enacts that no slavery or apprenticeship shall be tolerated. Article 16 provides for religious toleration. Article 26 provides for the free movement, trading, and residence of all persons, other than natives, conforming themselves to the laws of the Transvaal. Article 27 gives to all the right of free access to the Courts of Justice. Putting the "sense of honour" of the Transvaal Volksraad out of the question, past experience has but too plainly proved that these Articles are by no means superfluous. In reply to this message, Sir Hercules Robinson telegraphs to the British Resident on the 21st October in the following words:-- "Having forwarded Volksraad Resolution of 15th to Earl of Kimberley, I am desired to instruct you in reply to repeat to the Triumvirate that Her Majesty's Government cannot entertain any proposals for a modification of the Convention _until after it has been ratified_, and the necessity for further concession proved by experience." I wish to draw particular attention to the last part of this message, which is extremely typical of the line of policy adopted throughout in the Transvaal business. The English Government dared not make any further concession to the Boers, because they felt that they had already strained the temper of the country almost to breaking in the matter. On the other hand, they were afraid that if they did not do something, the Boers would tear up the Convention, and they would find themselves face to face with the old difficulty. Under these circumstances, they have fallen back upon their temporising and un-English policy, which leaves them a back-door to escape through, whatever turn things take. Should the Boers now suddenly turn round and declare, which is extremely probable, that they repudiate their debt to us, or that they are sick of the presence of a British Resident, the Government will be able to announce that "the necessity for further concession" has now been "proved by experience," and thus escape the difficulty. In short, this telegram has deprived the Convention of whatever finality it may have possessed, and made it, as a document, as worthless as it is as a practical settlement. That this is the view taken of it by the Boers themselves, is proved by the text of the Ratification which followed on the receipt of this telegram. The tone of this document throughout is, in my opinion, considering from whom it came, and against whom it is directed, very insolent. And it amply confirms what I have previously said, that the Boers looked upon themselves as a victorious people making terms with those they have conquered. The Ratification leads off thus: "The Volksraad is not satisfied with this Convention, and considers that the members of the Triumvirate performed a fervent act of love for the Fatherland when they upon their own responsibility signed such an unsatisfactory state document." This is damning with faint praise indeed. It then goes on to recite the various points of objection, stating that the answers from the English Government proved that they were well founded. "The English Government," it says, "acknowledges indirectly by this answer (the telegram of 21st October, quoted above) that the difficulties raised by the Volksraad are neither fictitious nor unfounded, inasmuch _as it desires from us the concession_ that we, the Volksraad, shall submit it to a practical test." It will be observed that England is here represented as begging the favour of a trial of her conditions from the Volksraad of the Transvaal Boers. The Ratification is in these words: "Therefore is it that the Raad here unanimously resolves not to go into further discussion of the Convention, _and maintaining all objections to the Convention_ as made before the Royal Commission or stated in the Raad, and for the purpose of showing to everybody that the love of peace and unity inspires it, _for the time and provisionally_ submitting the articles of the Convention to a practical test, _hereby complying with the request of the English Government_ contained in the telegram of the 13th October 1881, proceeds to ratify the Convention." It would have been interesting to have seen how such a Ratification as this, which is no Ratification but an insult, would have been accepted by Lord Beaconsfield. I think that within twenty-four hours of its arrival in Downing Street, the Boer Volksraad would have received a startling answer. But Lord Beaconsfield is dead, and by his successor it was received with all due thankfulness and humility. His words, however, on this subject still remain to us, and even his great rival might have done well to listen to them. It was in the course of what was, I believe, the last speech he made in the House of Lords, that speaking about the Transvaal rising, he warned the Government that it was a very dangerous thing to make peace with rebellious subjects in arms against the authority of the Queen. The warning passed unheeded, and the peace was made in the way I have described. As regards the Convention itself, it will be obvious to the reader that the Boers have not any intention of acting up to its provisions, mild as they are, if they can possibly avoid them, whilst, on the other hand, there is no force at hand to punish their disregard or breach. It is all very well to create a Resident with extensive powers; but how is he to enforce his decisions? What is he to do if his awards are laughed at and made a mockery of, as they are and will be? The position of Mr. Hudson at Pretoria is even worse than that of Mr. Osborn in Zululand. For instance, the Convention specifies in the first article that the Transvaal is to be known as the Transvaal State. The Boer Government have, however, thought fit to adopt the name of "South African Republic" in all public documents. Mr. Hudson was accordingly directed to remonstrate, which he did in a feeble way; his remonstrance was politely acknowledged, but the country is still officially called the South African Republic, the Convention and Mr. Hudson's remonstrance notwithstanding. Mr. Hudson, however, appears to be better suited to the position than would have been the case had an Englishman, pure and simple, been appointed, since it is evident that things that would have struck the latter as insults to the Queen he represented, and his country generally, are not so understood by him. In fact, he admirably represents his official superiors in his capacity of swallowing rebuffs, and when smitten on one cheek delightedly offering the other. Thus we find him attending a Boer meeting of thanksgiving for the success that had waited on their arms and the recognition of their independence, where most people will consider he was out of place. To this meeting, thus graced by his presence, an address was presented by a branch of the Africander Bond, a powerful institution, having for its object the total uprootal of English rule and English customs in South Africa, to which he must have listened with pleasure. In it he, in common with other members of the meeting, is informed that "you took up the sword and struck the Briton with such force" that "the Britons through fear revived that sense of justice to which they could not be brought by petitions," and that the "day will soon come that we shall enter with you on one arena for the entire independence of South Africa," _i.e._, independence from English rule. On the following day the Government gave a dinner, to which all those who had done good service during the late hostilities were invited, the British Resident being apparently the only Englishman asked. Amongst the other celebrities present I notice the name of Buskes. This man, who is an educated Hollander, was the moving spirit of the Potchefstroom atrocities; indeed, so dark is his reputation that the Royal Commission refused to transact business with him, or to admit him to their presence. Mr. Hudson was not so particular. And now comes the most extraordinary part of the episode. At the dinner it was necessary that the health of Her Majesty as Suzerain should be proposed, and with studied insolence this was done last of all the leading political toasts, and immediately after that of the Triumvirate. Notwithstanding this fact, and that the toast was couched by Mr. Joubert, who stated that "he would not attempt to explain what a Suzerain was," in what appear to be semi-ironical terms, we find that Mr. Hudson "begged to tender his thanks to the Honourable Mr. Joubert for the kind way in which he proposed the toast." It may please Mr. Hudson to see the name of the Queen thus metaphorically dragged in triumph at the chariot wheels of the Triumvirate, but it is satisfactory to know that the spectacle is not appreciated in England: since, on a question in the House of Lords, by the Earl of Carnarvon, who characterised it as a deliberate insult, Lord Kimberley replied that the British Resident had been instructed that in future he was not to attend public demonstrations unless he had previously informed himself that the name of Her Majesty would be treated with proper respect. Let us hope that this official reprimand will have its effect, and that Mr. Hudson will learn therefrom that there is such a thing as _trop de zéle_--even in a good cause. The Convention is now a thing of the past, the appropriate rewards have been lavishly distributed to its framers, and President Brand has at last prevailed upon the Volksraad of the Orange Free State to allow him to become a Knight Grand Cross of Saint Michael and Saint George,--the same prize looked forward to by our most distinguished public servants at the close of the devotion of their life to the service of their country. But its results are yet to come--though it would be difficult to forecast the details of their development. One thing, however, is clear: the signing of that document signalised an entirely new departure in South African affairs, and brought us within a measurable distance of the abandonment, for the present at any rate, of the supremacy of English rule in South Africa. This is the larger issue of the matter, and it is already bearing fruit. Emboldened by their success in the Transvaal, the Dutch party at the Cape are demanding, and the demand is to be granted, that the Dutch tongue be admitted _pari passu_ with English, as the official language in the Law Courts and the House of Assembly. When a country thus consents to use a foreign tongue equally with its own, it is a sure sign that those who speak it are rising to power. But "the Party" looks higher than this, and openly aims at throwing off English rule altogether, and declaring South Africa a great Dutch republic. The course of events is favourable to their aspiration. Responsible Government is to be granted to Natal, which country, not being strong enough to stand alone in the face of the many dangers that surround her, will be driven into the arms of the Dutch party to save herself from destruction. It will be useless for her to look for help from England, and any feelings of repugnance she may feel to Boer rule will soon be choked by necessity, and a mutual interest. It is, however, possible that some unforeseen event, such as the advent to power of a strong Conservative Ministry, may check the tide that now sets so strongly in favour of Dutch supremacy. It seems to me, however, to be a question worthy of the consideration of those who at present direct the destinies of the Empire, whether it would not be wise, as they have gone so far, to go a little further and favour a scheme for the total abandonment of South Africa, retaining only Table Bay. If they do not, it is now quite within the bounds of sober possibility that they may one day have to face a fresh Transvaal rebellion, only on a ten times larger scale, and might find it difficult to retain even Table Bay. If, on the other hand, they do, I believe that all the White States in South Africa would confederate of their own free-will, under the pressure of the necessity for common action, and the Dutch element being preponderant, at once set to work to exterminate the natives on general principles, in much the same way, and from much the same motives that a cook exterminates black beetles, because she thinks them ugly, and to clear the kitchen. I need hardly say that such a policy is not one that commands my sympathy, but Her Majesty's Government having put their hand to the plough, it is worth their while to consider it. It would at any rate be in perfect accordance with their declared sentiments, and command an enthusiastic support from their followers. As regards the smaller and more immediate issue of the retrocession, namely, its effect on the Transvaal itself, it cannot be other than evil. The act is, I believe, quite without precedent in our history, and it is difficult to see, looking at it from those high grounds of national morality assumed by the Government, what greater arguments can be advanced in its favour, than could be found to support the abandonment of,--let us say,--Ireland. Indeed a certain parallel undoubtedly exists between the circumstances of the two countries. Ireland was, like the Transvaal, annexed, though a long time ago, and has continually agitated for its freedom. The Irish hate us, so did the Boers. In Ireland, Englishmen are being shot, and England is running the awful risk of blood-guiltiness, as it did in the Transvaal. In Ireland, smouldering revolution is being fanned into flame by Mr. Gladstone's speeches and acts, as it was in the Transvaal. In Ireland, as in the Transvaal, there exists a strong loyal class that receives insults instead of support from the Government, and whose property, as was the case there, is taken from them without compensation, to be flung as a sop to stop the mouths of the Queen's enemies. And so I might go on, finding many such similarities of circumstances, but my parallel, like most parallels, must break down at last Thus--it mattered little to England whether or no she let the Transvaal go, but to let Ireland go would be more than even Mr. Gladstone dare attempt. Somehow, if you follow these things far enough, you always come to vulgar first principles. The difference between the case of the Transvaal and that of Ireland is a difference not of justice of cause, for both causes are equally unjust or just according as they are viewed, but of mere common expediency. Judging from the elevated standpoint of the national morality theory, however, which, as we know, soars above such truisms as the foolish statement that force is a remedy, or that if you wish to retain your prestige you must not allow defeats to pass unavenged, I cannot see why, if it was righteous to abandon the Transvaal, it would not be equally righteous to abandon Ireland! As for the Transvaal, that country is not to be congratulated on its success, for it has destroyed all its hopes of permanent peace, has ruined its trade and credit, and has driven away the most useful and productive class in the community. The Boers, elated by their success in arms, will be little likely to settle down to peaceable occupations, and still less likely to pay their taxes, which, indeed, I hear they are already refusing to do. They have learnt how easily even a powerful Government can be upset, and the lesson is not likely to be forgotten, for want of repetition to their own weak one. Already the Transvaal Government hardly knows which way to turn for funds, and as, perhaps fortunately for itself, quite unable to borrow, through want of credit. As regards the native question, I agree with Mr. H. Shepstone, who, in his Report on this subject, says that he does not believe that the natives will inaugurate any action against the Boers, so long as the latter do not try to collect taxes, or otherwise interfere with them. But if the Boer Government is to continue to exist, it will be bound to raise taxes from the natives, since it cannot collect much from its white subjects. The first general attempt of the sort will be the signal for active resistance on the part of the natives, whom, if they act without concert, the Boers will be able to crush in detail, though with considerable loss. If, on the other hand, they should have happened, during the last few years, to have learnt the advantages of combination, as is quite possible, perhaps they will crash the Boers. The only thing that is at present certain about the matter is that there will be bloodshed, and that before long. For instance, the Montsioa difficulty in the Keate Award has in it the possibilities of a serious war, and there are plenty such difficulties ready to spring into life within and without the Transvaal. In all human probability it will take but a small lapse of time for the Transvaal to find itself in the identical position from which we relieved it by the Annexation. What course events will then take it is impossible to say. It may be found desirable to re-annex the country, though, in my opinion, that would be, after all that has passed, an unfortunate step; its inhabitants may be cut up piecemeal by a combined movement of native tribes, as they would have been, had they not been rescued by the English Government in 1877, or it is possible that the Orange Free State may consent to take the Transvaal under its wing: who can say? There is only one thing that our recently abandoned possession can count on for certain, and that is trouble, both from its white subjects, and the natives, who hate the Boers with a bitter and a well-earned hatred. The whole question can, so far as its moral aspect is concerned, be summed up in a few words. Whether or no the Annexation was a necessity at the moment of its execution--which I certainly maintain it was--it received the unreserved sanction of the Home authorities, and the relations of Sovereign and subject, with all the many and mutual obligations involved in that connection, were established between the Queen of England and every individual of the motley population of the Transvaal. Nor was this change an empty form, for, to the largest proportion of that population, this transfer of allegiance brought with it a priceless and a vital boon. To them it meant freedom and justice--for where, on any portion of this globe over which the British ensign floats, does the law even wink at cruelty or wrong? A few years passed away, and a small number of the Queen's subjects in the Transvaal rose in rebellion against her authority, and inflicted some reverses on her arms. Thereupon, in spite of the reiterated pledges given to the contrary--partly under stress of defeat, and partly in obedience to the pressure of "advanced views"--the country was abandoned, and the vast majority who had remained faithful to the Crown, was handed to the cruel despotism of the minority who had rebelled against it. Such an act of treachery to those to whom we were bound with double chains--by the strong ties of a common citizenship, and by those claims to England's protection from violence and wrong which have hitherto been wont to command it, even where there was no duty to fulfil, and no authority to vindicate--stands, I believe, without parallel on our records, and marks a new departure in our history. I cannot end these pages without expressing my admiration of the extremely able way in which the Boers managed their revolt, when once they felt that, having undertaken the thing, it was a question of life and death with them. It shows that they have good stuff in them somewhere, which, under the firm but just rule of Her Majesty, might have been much developed, and it makes it the more sad that they should have been led to throw off that rule, and have been allowed to do so by an English Government. In conclusion, there is one point that I must touch on, and that is the effect of the retrocession on the native mind, which I can only describe as most disastrous. The danger alluded to in the Report of the Royal Commission has been most amply realised, and the prevailing belief in the steadfastness of our policy, and the inviolability of our plighted word, which has hitherto been the great secret of our hold on the Kafirs, has been rudely shaken. The motives that influenced, or are said to have influenced, the Government in their act, are naturally quite unintelligible to savages, however clever, who do believe that force is a remedy, and who have seen the inhabitants of a country ruled by England defeat English soldiers and take possession of it, whilst those who remained loyal to England were driven out of it. It will not be wonderful if some of them, say the natives of Natal, deduce therefrom conclusions unfavourable to loyalty, and evince a desire to try the same experiment. It is, however, unprofitable to speculate on the future, which must be left to unfold itself. The curtain is, so far as this country is concerned, down for the moment on the South African stage; when it rises again, there is but too much reason to fear that it will reveal a state of confusion, which, unless it is more wisely and consistently dealt with in the future than it has been in the past, may develop into chaos. CHAPTER VII. The following pages, extracted from an introduction to a new edition to "Cetywayo and His White Neighbours," written in 1888, are reprinted here, because they contain matter of interest concerning the more recent history of the Transvaal Boers. _Extract from Introduction to New Edition of 1888._ The recent history of the Transvaal, now once more a republic, will fortunately admit of brief treatment. It is, so far as England is concerned, very much a history of concession. For an account of the first Convention I must refer my readers to the remarks which I have made in the chapter of this book headed "The Retrocession of the Transvaal." It will there be seen that the Transvaal Volksraad only ratified the first convention, which was wrung from us (Sir Evelyn Wood, to his honour be it said, dissenting) after our defeats at Lang's Nek, Ingogo, and Majuba, as a favour to the British Government, which in its turn virtually promised to reconsider the convention, if only the Volksraad would be so good as to ratify it. This convention was ratified in October 1881. In June 1883 the Transvaal Government[14] telegraphs briefly to Lord Derby through the High Commissioner that the Volksraad has "resolved that time has come to reconsider convention." Lord Derby quickly telegraphs back that "Her Majesty's Government consent to inquire into the working of convention." Human nature is frail, and it is impossible to help wishing that Lord Palmerston or Disraeli had been appointed by the Fates to answer that telegram. But we have fallen upon different days, and new men have arisen who appear to be suited to them; and so the convention was reconsidered, and on the 27th of February 1884 a new one was signed, which is known as the convention of London. It begins by defining boundaries to which the "Government of the South African Republic will strictly adhere, ... and will do its utmost to prevent any of its inhabitants from making any encroachments upon the said boundaries." The existence of the New Republic in Zululand is a striking and practical comment on this article. Article ii. also provides for the security of the amended southwest boundary. The proclamation of 16th September 1884 (afterwards disallowed by the English Government), by which the South African Republic practically annexed the territories of Montsioa and Moshette, already for the most part in the possession of its freebooters, very clearly illustrates its anxiety to be bound by this provision. Art xii. provides for the independence of the Swazis; and by way of illustrating the fidelity with which it has been observed, we shall presently have occasion to remark upon the determined attempts that have continually been made by Boer freebooters to obtain possession of Swaziland--and so on. [14] [C. 3659], 1883. In order to make these severe restrictions palatable to the burghers of a free and haughty Republic, Lord Derby recommends Her Majesty's Government to remit a trifling sum of £127,000 of their debt due to the Imperial Treasury, which was accordingly done. On the whole, the Transvaal had no reason to be dissatisfied with this new treaty, though really the whole affair is scarcely worth discussing. Convention No. 2 is almost as much a farce and a dead letter as was Convention No. 1. It is, however, impossible to avoid being impressed with the really remarkable tone, not merely of equality, but of superiority, adopted by the South African Republic and its officials towards this country. To take an instance. The Republic had found it convenient to wage a war of extermination upon some Kafir chiefs. Two of these, Mampoer and Njabel, fell into its hands. Her Majesty's Government was, rightly or wrongly, so impressed with the injustice of the sentence of death passed upon these unfortunates, that, acting through Mr. Hudson, the British Resident at Pretoria, it strained every nerve to save them. This was the upshot of it. In a tone of studied sarcasm, His Honour the State President "observes with great satisfaction the great interest in these cases which has been manifested by your Honour and Her Majesty's Government." He then goes on to say that, notwithstanding this interest, Mampoer will be duly and effectually hung, giving the exact time and place of the event, and Njabel imprisoned for life, with hard labour. Finally, he once more conveys "the hearty thanks of the Government and the members of the Executive Council for the interest manifested in these cases,"[15] and remains, &c. [15] [C. 3841], 1884, p 148. The independence of Swaziland was guaranteed by the convention of 1884. Yet the Blue-books are full of accounts of various attempts made by Boers to obtain a footing in Swaziland. Thus in November 1885 Umbandine, the king of Swaziland, sends messengers to the Governor of Natal through Sir T. Shepstone, in which he states that in the winter Piet Joubert, accompanied by two other Boers and an interpreter, came to his kraal and asked him to sign a paper "to say that he and all the Swazis agreed to go over and recognise the authority of the Boer Government, and have nothing more to do with the English."[16] Umbandine refused, saying that he looked to and recognised the English Government. Thereon the Boers, growing angry, answered, "Those fathers of yours, the English, act very slowly; and if you look to them for help, and refuse to sign this paper, we shall have scattered you and your people, and taken possession of the land before they arrive. Why do you refuse to sign the paper? You know we defeated the English at Majuba." Umbandine's message then goes on to say that he recognises the English Government only, and does not wish to have dealings with the Boers. Also, in the following month, we find him making a direct application to the Colonial Office through Mr. David Forbes,[17] praying that his country may be taken under the protection of Her Majesty's Government. [16] [C. 4645], 1886, p. 64. [17] Ibid. p. 70. More than one such attempt to secure informal rights of occupation in Swaziland appears to have been made by the Transvaal Boers. Mr. T. Shepstone, C.M.G., is at present acting as Resident to Umbandine, though he has not, it would seem, any regular commission from the Home Government authorising him to do so, probably because it does not consider that its rights in Swaziland are such as to justify such an assumption of formal authority over the Swazis. However this may be, Umbandine could not have found a better man to protect his interests. Of course, when acts like that of Piet Joubert are reported to the Government of the South African Republic and made the subject of a remonstrance by this country, all knowledge of them is repudiated, as it was repudiated in the case of the invasion of Zululand. It is part of the policy of the Transvaal only to become an accessory after the fact. Its subjects go forth and stir up trouble among the natives, and then probably the Boer Government intervenes "in the interests of humanity," and takes, or tries to take, the country. This process is always going on, and, unless the British Government puts a stop to it, always will go on. We shall probably soon hear that it is developing itself in the direction of Matabeleland. A country the size of France, which could without difficulty accommodate a population of from eight to ten millions of industrious folk, is not large enough for the wants of a Boer people, numbering something under fifty thousand souls. Every young Boer must have his six or more thousand acres of land on which to lord it. It is his birthright, and if it is not forthcoming he goes and takes it by force from the nearest native tribe. Hence these continual complaints. Of course, there are two ways of looking at the matter. There is a party that does not hesitate to say that the true policy of this country is to let the Boers work their will upon the natives, and then, as they in turn fly from civilisation towards the far interior, to follow on their path and occupy the lands that they have swept. This plan is supported by arguments about the superiority of the white races and their obvious destiny of rule. It is, I confess, one that I look upon as little short of wicked. I could never discern a superiority so great in ourselves as to authorise us, by right divine as it were, to destroy the coloured man and take his lands. It is difficult to see why a Zulu, for instance, has not as much right to live in his own way as a Boer or an Englishman. Of course, there is another extreme. Nothing is more ridiculous than the length to which the black brother theory is sometimes driven by enthusiasts. A savage is one thing, and a civilised man is another; and though civilised men may and do become savages, I personally doubt if the converse is even possible. But whether the civilised man, with his gin, his greed, and his dynamite, is really so very superior to the savage is another question, and one which would bear argument, although this is not the place to argue it. My point is, that his superiority is not at any rate so absolutely overwhelming as to justify him in the wholesale destruction of the savage and the occupation of his lands, or even in allowing others to do the work for him if he can prevent it. The principle might conceivably be pushed to inconvenient and indecent lengths. Savagery is only a question of degree. When all true savages have been wiped out, the most civilised and self-righteous among the nations may begin to give the term to those whom they consider to be on a lower scale than themselves, and apply the argument also. Thus there are "cultured" people in another land who do not hesitate to say that the humble writers of these islands are rank and rude barbarians not to be endured. Supposing that, being the stronger, they also _applied the argument_, it would be inconvenient for some of us, and perhaps the world would not gain so very much after all. But this is a digression, only excusable, if excusable at all, in one who has endured a three weeks' course of unmitigated Blue-book. To return. The process of absorption attempted in Swaziland, and brought to a successful issue in Zululand, also went forward merrily in Bechuanaland, till recently, under the rule of Mankorane, chief of the Batlapins, and Montsioa, chief of the Baralongs. These two chiefs have always been devoted friends and adherents of the English Government, and consequently are not regarded with favour by the Boers. Shortly after the retrocession of the Transvaal, a rival to Mankorane rose up in the person of a certain Massou, and a rival to Montsioa named Moshette. Both Massou and Moshette were supported by Boer fillibusters, and what happened to Usibepu in Zululand happened to these unfortunate chiefs in Bechuanaland. They were defeated after a gallant struggle, and two Republics called Stellaland and Goschen were carved out of their territories and occupied by the fillibusters. Fortunately for them, however, they had a friend in the person of the Rev. John Mackenzie, to whose valuable work, "Austral Africa," I beg to refer the reader for a fuller account of these events. Mr. Mackenzie, who had for many years lived as a missionary among the Bechuanas, had also mastered the fact that it is very difficult to do anything for South Africa in this country unless you can make it a question of votes, or, in other words, unless you can bring pressure to bear upon the Government. Accordingly he commenced an agitation on behalf of Mankorane and Montsioa, in which he was supported by various religious bodies, and also by the late Mr. Forster and the Aborigines Protection Society. As a result of this agitation he was appointed Deputy to the High Commissioner for Bechuanaland, whither he proceeded early in 1884 to establish a British protectorate. He was gladly welcomed by the unfortunate chiefs, who were now almost at their last gasp, and who both of them ceded their rights of government to the Queen. Hostilities did not, however, cease, for on the 31st July 1884 the fillibusters again attacked Montsioa, routed him, and cruelly murdered Mr. Bethell, his English adviser. Meanwhile Mr. Mackenzie's success was viewed with very mixed feelings at the Cape. To the English party it was most acceptable, but the Dutch,[18] and more numerous party, looked on it with alarm and disgust. They did not at all wish to see the Imperial power established in Bechuanaland; so pressure was put upon Sir Hercules Robinson, and through him on Mr. Mackenzie, to such an extent indeed as to necessitate the resignation of the latter. Thereon the High Commissioner despatched a Cape politician, Mr. Cecil Rhodes, and his own private secretary, Captain Bower, R.N., to Bechuanaland. These gentlemen at once set to work to undo most of what Mr. Mackenzie had done, and, generally speaking, did not advance either British or native interests in Bechuanaland. At this point, taking advantage of the general confusion, the Government of the South African Republic issued a proclamation placing both Montsioa and Moshette under its protection, as usual "in the interests of humanity." [18] By the Dutch party I mean the anti-Imperial and retrogressive party. It must be remembered that many of the now educated and progressive Boers do not belong to this. But the agitation in England had, fortunately for what remained of the Bechuana people, not been allowed to drop. Her Majesty's Government disallowed the Boer proclamation, under Article iv. of the convention of London, and despatched an armed force to Bechuanaland, commanded by Sir Charles Warren. This good act, I believe I am right in saying, we owe entirely to the firmness of Sir Charles Dilke and Mr. Chamberlain, who insisted upon its being done. Meanwhile Messrs. Upington and Sprigg, members of the Cape Government, hastened to Bechuanaland to effect a settlement before the arrival of Sir Charles Warren's force. This settlement, though it might have been agreeable to the fillibusters and the anti-Imperialists generally, was disallowed by Her Majesty's Government as unsatisfactory, and Sir Charles Warren was ordered to occupy Bechuanaland. This he accordingly did, taking Mr. Mackenzie with him, very much against the will of the anti-English party, and, be it added, of Sir Hercules Robinson. Indeed, if we may accept Mr. Mackenzie's version of these occurrences, which seems to be a fair one, and adequately supported by documentary evidence, the conduct of Sir Hercules Robinson towards Mr. Mackenzie would really admit of explanation. As soon as the freebooters saw that the Imperial Government was really in earnest, of course there was no more trouble. They went away, and Sir Charles Warren took possession of Bechuanaland without striking a single blow. He remained in the country for nearly a year arranging for its permanent pacification and government, and as a result of his occupation, on the 30th September 1885, all the territory south of the Molopo River was declared to be British territory, and made into a quasi crown colony, the entire extent of land, including the districts ruled over by Khama, Sechele, and Gasitsive, being about 160,000 square miles in area. I believe that the new colony of British Bechuanaland is proving a very considerable success. Every provision has been made for native wants, and its settlement goes on apace. There is no reason why, with its remarkable natural advantages, it should not one day become a great country, with a prosperous white, and a loyal and contented native population. When this comes about it is to be hoped that it will remember that it owes its existence to the energy and firmness of Mr. Mackenzie, Sir Charles Dilke, Mr. Chamberlain, and Sir Charles Warren. It is probably by now dawning upon the mind of the British public that when we gave up the Transvaal we not only did a cowardly thing and sowed a plentiful crop of future troubles, we also abandoned one of the richest, if not the richest, country in the world. The great gold-fields which exist all over the surface of the land are being opened up and pouring out their treasures so fast that it is said that the Transvaal Government, hitherto remarkable for its impecuniosity, does not know what to do with its superfluous cash. To what extent this will continue it is impossible to say, but I for one shall not be surprised if the output should prove to be absolutely unprecedented. And with gold in vast quantities, with iron in mountains, and coal-beds to be measured by the scores of square miles, with lead and copper and cobalt, a fertile soil, water, and one of the most lovely climates in the world, what more is required to make a country rich and great? Only one thing, an Anglo-Saxon Government, and that we have taken away from the Transvaal. Whether the English flag has vanished for ever from its borders is, however, still an open question. The discovery of gold in such quantities is destined to exercise a very remarkable influence upon the future of the Transvaal. Where gold is to be found, there the hardy, enterprising, English-speaking diggers flock together, and before them and their energy the Boer retreats, as the native retreats and vanishes before the rifle of the Boer. Already there are many thousands of diggers in the Transvaal; if the discoveries of gold go on and prove as remunerative as they promise to be, in a few more years their number will be vastly increased. Supposing that another five years sees sixty or seventy thousand English diggers at work in the Transvaal, is it to be believed that these men will in that event allow themselves to be ruled by eight or nine thousand hostile-hearted Boers? Is it to be believed, too, that the Boers will stop to try and rule them? From such knowledge as I have of their character I should say certainly not. They will _trek_, anywhere out of the way of the Englishman and his English ways, and those who do not _trek_ will be absorbed.[19] Should this happen, it is, of course, possible, and even probable, that for some time the diggers, fearing the vacillations of Imperial policy, would prefer to remain independent with a Republican form of Government. But the Englishman is a law-abiding and patriotic creature, and as society settled itself in the new community, it would almost certainly desire to be united to the Empire and acknowledge the sovereignty of the Queen. So far as a judgment can be formed, if only the gold holds out the Transvaal will as certainly fall into the lap of the Empire as a green apple will one day drop from the tree--that is, if it is not gathered. [19] The occupation of Rhodesia has now made it impossible for the Boers to trek out of reach of the English and their flag.--H. R. H. Now it is quite possible that the Germans, or some other power, may try to gather the Transvaal apple. The Boers are not blind to the march of events, and they dislike us and our rule. Perhaps they might think it worth their while to seek German protection, and unless we are prepared to say "no" very firmly indeed--and who knows, in the present condition of Home politics, what we are prepared to do from one day to another?--Germany would in such a case almost certainly think it worth her while to give it. Very likely the protection, when granted, would in some ways resemble that which the Boer himself, his breast aglow with love of peace and the "interests of humanity," is so anxious to extend to the misguided native possessor of desirable and well-watered lands. Very likely, in the end, the Boer would be sorry that he did not accept the ills he knew of. But that is neither here nor there. So far as we are concerned, the mischief would be done. In short, should the position arise, everything will depend upon our capacity of saying "no," and the tone in which we say it. It will not do to rely upon our London convention, by which the Transvaal is forbidden to conclude treaties with outside powers without the consent of this Government. The convention has been broken before now, and will be broken again, if the Boers find it convenient to break it, and know that they can do so with impunity. Meanwhile we must rest on our oars and watch events. One thing, however, might and should be done. Some person having weight and real authority--if he were quite new to South Africa so much the better--should be appointed as our Consul to watch over the welfare of Englishmen and our Imperial interests at Pretoria, and properly paid for doing so. It is difficult to find a suitable man unless he is adequately salaried and supported. But quite recently this country has awakened to the knowledge that Delagoa Bay is important to its South African interests, though how important it perhaps does not altogether realise. For years and years the colony of Natal has been employed in the intermittent construction of a railway with a very narrow gauge, which is now open as far as Ladysmith, or to within a hundred miles of the Transvaal border. Natal is very poor, and in common with the rest of South Africa, and indeed of the world, has lately been passing through a period of great commercial depression. The Home Government has refused to help it to construct its railways (if it had done so, how many hundreds of thousand pounds would have been saved to the British taxpayer during the Zulu and Boer wars!), and has equally refused to allow it to borrow sufficient money to get them constructed, with the result that a large amount of the interior trade has already been deflected into other channels. And now a fresh and very real danger, not only to Natal, but to all Imperial interests in South Africa, has sprung into sudden prominence, that is, in this country, for in Africa it has been foreseen for many years. Above Zululand is situated Amatongaland, which reaches to the southern shore of one of the finest harbours in the world, Delagoa Bay. This great bight, in which half a dozen navies could ride at anchor, the only really good haven on the coasts of South Africa, is fifty-five miles in width and twenty in depth, that is, from east to west It is separated from the Transvaal, of which it is the natural port, by about ninety miles of wild and sparsely inhabited country. The ownership of this splendid port was for many years in dispute between this country and the Portuguese, with whose dominions of Mozambique it is connected by a strip of coast, and who have a small fort upon it. This dispute was finally referred by Lord Granville in 1872 to the decision of Marshal MacMahon, and on this occasion, as on every other in which this country has been weak enough to go to arbitration, that decision was given against us. Into the merits of the case it is not necessary to enter, further than to say, as has already been recently pointed out by a very able and well-informed correspondent of the _Morning Post_, that it is by no means clear by what right the matter was referred to arbitration at all. The Amatongas are in possession of the southern shore of the bay, including, I believe, the Inyack Peninsula and Inyack Island, and they are an independent people. The Swazis also abut on it, and they are independent. What warrant had we to refer their rights to the arbitration of Marshal MacMahon? The evidence of the exercise of any Portuguese sovereignty over these countries is so shadowy that it may be said never to have existed; certainly it does not exist now. This is a point, but it is nothing more. We must take things as we find them, and we find that the Portuguese have been formally declared and admitted by us to be the owners of Delagoa Bay. Now, so long as we held the Transvaal it did not so much matter who had the sovereignty of the Bay, since a railway constructed from there could only run to British territory. But we gave up the Transvaal, which is now virtually a hostile state, and the contingency which has been so long foreseen in South Africa, and so blindly overlooked at home, has come to pass--the railway is in course of rapid completion. What does this mean to us? At the best, it means that we lose the greater part of the trade of South-eastern Africa; at the worst, that we lose it all. In other words, it means, putting aside the question of our Imperial needs and status in Africa, a great many millions a year in hard cash out of the national pocket. Let us suppose that the worst happens, and that the Germans get a footing either in the Transvaal or Delagoa Bay. Obviously they will stop our trade in favour of their own. Or let us suppose that the Transvaal takes advantage of one of our spasms of Imperial paralysis, such as afflicted us during the _régime_ of Lord Derby, and defies the provision in the convention which forbids them to put a heavier tax upon our goods than upon those of any other nation. In either event our case would be a bad one, for our road from the eastern coast to the vast interior is blocked. But it is of little use crying over spilt milk, or anticipating evils which it is our duty to try to avert, and which in all probability still could be averted by a sound and consistent policy. To begin with, both Swaziland and Amatongaland can be annexed to the Empire. It is true that the independence of the first of these countries is guaranteed by Article xii. of the convention of London of 1884. Here is the exact wording:--"The independence of the Swazis within the boundary-line of Swaziland, as indicated in the first article of this convention, will be fully recognised." But England has for years exercised a kind of protective right over Swaziland--a right, as I have already shown, fully acknowledged and frequently appealed to by the Swazis themselves. And for the rest, what is the obvious meaning of this provision? It means that the independence of Swaziland is guaranteed against Boer encroachments; its object was to protect the Swazis from extermination at the hands of the Boers. Further, the Boers have again and again broken this article of the convention in their repeated attempts to get a foothold in Swaziland. It has now become necessary to our interests that the Swazis should come under our rule, as indeed they are most anxious to do, and a way should be found by which this end can be accomplished. Then as to Amatongaland, or Maputaland, as it is sometimes called, only a month or two ago an embassy from the Queen of that country waited on the Colonial Office, praying for British protection. It is not known what answer they received; let us trust that it was a favourable one.[20] The protection that should be accorded to the Amatongas, both in their interests and our own, is annexation to the British Empire upon such terms as might be satisfactory to them. The management of their country might be left to them, subject to the advice of a Resident, and the enforcement of the ordinary laws respecting life and property common to civilised states. Drink and white men might be strictly excluded from it, unless the Amatongas should wish to welcome the latter. But the country, with its valuable but undefined rights over Delagoa Bay, should belong to England, for whoever owns Swaziland and Amatongaland will in course of time be almost certain to own the Bay also. It must further be remembered that circumstances have already given us certain rights over the Amatongas. They regarded Cetywayo as their suzerain, and it was, I believe, at his instance that Zambila was appointed regent during the minority of her son. As we have annexed what remains of Zululand, Cetywayo's suzerainty has consequently passed to us. [20] I understand that the treaty which we have concluded with Amatongaland (where, by the way, it is said a new harbour has been discovered) binds the authorities of that country not to cede territory to any other Power. But there is nothing in such a treaty to prevent, say Portugal or the Boers, from taking possession of the land by force of arms. Were the country annexed to the Crown, or a British Protectorate established, they would not dare to do this. _Note._--This has since been done.--H. R. H. Meanwhile, can nothing be done by direct treaty with the Portuguese? A little while ago the Bay could no doubt have been acquired for a very moderate consideration, but those golden opportunities have been allowed to slip from hands busy weaving the web of party politics. Now it is a different affair. Delagoa Bay is of no direct value to Portugal except for the honour and glory of the thing. Portugal has never done anything with it, any more than she has with her other African possessions, and never will do anything with it. But it has become very valuable, indeed, so far as its South African interests are concerned, almost vital, to this country, and of that fact Portugal is perfectly well aware. Consequently, if we want the Bay we must pay for it, if not in cash, at the offer of which the Portuguese national pride might be revolted, then in some other equivalent. Surely a power like England could find a way of obliging one like Portugal in return for this small concession. Or an exchange of territory might be effected. Perhaps Portugal might be inclined to accept of some of our possessions on the West Coast or an island or two in the West Indies. It is hard to suppose that there is no way out of the trouble; but if indeed there is none, why, then, one must be found, or we must be content to lose a great part of our African trade. The reader who has followed me through this brief and imperfect summary of recent events in South Africa will see how varied are its interests, how enormous its areas, and how vast its wealth. In that great country England is still the paramount power. Her prestige has, indeed, been greatly shaken, and she is sadly fallen from her estate of eight or nine years gone. But she is still paramount; and if she has to face the animosity of a section of the Boers, she can, notwithstanding her many crimes against them, set against it the love and respect of every native in the land, with the exception, perhaps, of a few self-seekers and intriguers. The history of the next twenty years, and perhaps of the next ten, will decide whether this country is to remain paramount or whether South Africa is to become a great Dutch, English-hating Republic. There are some who call themselves Englishmen, and who possessed by that strange itch which prompts them to desire any evil that can humble their country in the face of her enemies, or can bring about the advantage of the rebel to the injury of the loyal subject, to whom this last event would be most welcome, and who have not hesitated to say that it would be welcome. To such there is nothing to be said. Let them follow their false lights and earn the wonder of true-hearted men and the maledictions of posterity. But, addressing those of other and older doctrines, I would ask what such an event would mean? It would mean nothing less than a great national calamity; it would mean the utter ruin of the native tribes; and, to come to a reason which has a wider popularity, for as I think Mr. S. Little says in his work on South Africa, "the argument to the pocket is the best argument to the man," it would mean the loss of a vast trade, which, if properly protected, will be growing while we are sleeping. And this calamity can yet be averted; the mistakes and cowardice of the past can still be remedied, at any rate to a great extent; the door is yet open. We have many difficulties to face, among the chief of which are the Transvaal, the question of Delagoa Bay, and last, but not least, the question of the Dutch party at the Cape, which may be numerically the strongest party. When, in our mania for representative institutions, we thrust responsible government upon the Cape, we placed ourselves practically at the mercy of any chance anti-English majority. It is possible that in the future we may find some such majority urging upon an English Ministry the desirability of the separation of the Cape Colony from the Empire, and may find also that the prayer meets with favourable attention from those to whom there is but one thing sacred, the rights of a majority, and especially of an agitating majority. But let not the country be deceived by any such representations. The natives too have a right to a voice in the disposal of their fortunes and their lands. They are the majority in the proportion of three to one, and let any doubter go and ask of them, anywhere from the Zambesi to Cape Agulhas, whether they would rather be ruled by the Queen or by a Boer Republic, and hear the answer. When it was a question of surrendering the Transvaal we heard a great deal of the rights of some thirty thousand Boers, and very little, or rather nothing, of the rights of the million natives who lived in the country with them, and to whom that country originally belonged. And yet, if the reader will turn to that part of this book which deals with the question, he will find that they had an opinion, and a strong one. No settlement of South African questions that does not receive adequate consideration from a native point of view can be a just settlement, or one which the Home Government should sanction. Moreover, the Cape is not by any means entirely anti-English at heart, as was shown clearly enough by the number and enthusiasm of the loyalist meetings when its Ministry was attempting to undo Mr. Mackenzie's work in Bechuanaland in the interests of the Patriot-party. Still, it is possible that movements may arise under the fostering care of the Africander Bond and its sympathisers, having for object the separation of the colony from the Empire, or other ends fatal to Imperial interests; and in this case the Home Government should be prepared to disallow and put a final stop to them. We cannot afford to lose our alternative route to India and to throw these great territories into the hands of enemies, from which they would very probably pass into those of commercial rivals. In such an event all that would be required is a show of firmness. If once it was known that an English Ministry really meant what it said, and that its promises made in the Queen's name were not liable to be given the lie by a succeeding set of politicians elected on another platform, there would be an end to disloyalty and agitation in South Africa. As it is, loyalists, remembering the experiences of the last few years, are faint-hearted, never knowing if they will meet with support at home, while agitators and enemies wax exceeding bold. Our system of party government, whatever may be its merits, if any, as applied to Home politics, is a great enemy to the welfare and progress of our Colonies, the affairs of which are, especially of late years, frequently used as stalking-horses to cover an attack upon the other side. Could not the two great parties agree to rule Colonial affairs, and especially South African affairs, out of the party game? Could not the policy of the Colonial Office be guided by a Commission composed of members of different political opinions, and responsible not to party, but to Parliament and the country, instead of by a succession of Ministers as variable and as transitory as shadows? Lord Rosebery and Mr. Chamberlain, for instance, are Radicals; but, putting aside party tactics and exigencies, are their views upon Colonial matters so widely different from those of, let us say, Sir Michael Hicks Beach and Lord Carnarvon that it would be impossible for these four gentlemen to act together on such a Commission? Surely they are not; and perhaps a day may come when the common-sense of the country will lead it to adopt some such system which would give to the Colonies a fixed and intelligent control aiming at the furtherance of the joint interests of the Empire and its dependencies. If it ever does, that day will be a happy one for all concerned. Meanwhile, there is, so far as South Africa is concerned, a step that might be taken to the great benefit of that country, and also of our Imperial aims, and that is the appointment of a High Commissioner who would have charge of all Imperial as distinguished from the various Colonial interests. This appointment has already been advocated with ability by Mr. Mackenzie in the last chapter of his book, "Austral Africa," and it is undoubtedly one that should receive the consideration of the Government. Such an officer would not supersede the Governors of the various colonies or the administrators of the native territories, although, so far as Imperial interests were concerned, they would be primarily responsible to him. At present there is no central authority except the Colonial Office, and Downing Street is a long way off and somewhat overworked. Each Governor must necessarily look at South African affairs from his own standpoint and through local glasses. What is wanted is a man of the first ability, whose name would command respect abroad and support at home; and several such men could be found, who would study South African politics as a whole as an engineer studies a map, and who would set himself to conciliate and reconcile all interests for the common welfare and the welfare of the mother-country. Such a man, or rather a succession of such men, might, if properly supported, succeed in bringing about a very different state of affairs from that which has been briefly reviewed and considered in these pages. They might, little by little, build up a South African Confederation, strong in itself and loyal to England, that shall in time become a great empire. For my part, notwithstanding the difficulties and dangers which we have brought upon ourselves, and upon the various South African territories and their inhabitants, I believe that such an empire is destined to arise, and that it will not take the form of a Dutch Republic. APPENDIX. I. THE POTCHEFSTROOM ATROCITIES, &c. There were more murders and acts of cruelty committed during the war at Potchefstroom, where the behaviour of the Boers was throughout both deceitful and savage, than at any other place. When the fighting commenced a number of ladies and children, the wives and children of English residents, took refuge in the fort. Shortly after it had been invested they applied to be allowed to return to their homes in the town till the war was over. The request was refused by the Boer commander, who said that as they had gone there, they might stop and "perish" there. One poor lady, the wife of a gentleman well known in the Transvaal, was badly wounded by having the point of a stake, which had been cut in two by a bullet, driven into her side. She was at the time in a state of pregnancy, and died some days afterwards in great agony. Her little sister was shot through the throat, and several other women and children suffered from bullet wounds, and fever arising from their being obliged to live for months exposed to rain and heat, with insufficient food. The moving spirit of all the Potchefstroom atrocities was a cruel wretch of the name of Buskes, a well-educated man, who, as an advocate of the High Court, had taken the oath of allegiance to the Queen. One deponent swears that he saw this Buskes wearing Captain Fall's diamond ring, which he had taken from Sergeant Ritchie, to whom it was handed to be sent to England, and also that he had possessed himself of the carriages and other goods belonging to prisoners taken by the Boers.[21] Another deponent (whose name is omitted in the Blue Book for precautionary reasons) swears, "That on the next night the patrol again came to my house accompanied by one Buskes, who was secretary of the Boer Committee, and again asked where my wife and daughter were. I replied, in bed; and Buskes then said, 'I must see for myself.' I refused to allow him, and he forced me, with a loaded gun held to my breast, to open the curtains of the bed, when he pulled the bedclothes half off my wife, and altogether off my daughter. I then told him if I had a gun I would shoot him. He placed a loaded gun at my breast, when my wife sprang out of bed and got between us." [21] Buskes was afterwards forced to deliver up the ring. I remember hearing at the time that this Buskes (who is a good musician) took one of his victims, who was on the way to execution, into the chapel and played the "Dead March in Saul," or some such piece, over him on the organ. After the capture of the Court House a good many Englishmen fell into the hands of the Boers. Most of these were sentenced to hard labour and deprivation of "civil rights." The sentence was enforced by making them work in the trenches under a heavy fire from the fort. One poor fellow, F. W. Finlay by name, got his head blown off by a shell from his own friends in the fort, and several loyal Kafirs suffered the same fate. After these events the remaining prisoners refused to return to the trenches till they had been "tamed" by being thrashed with the butt end of guns, and by threats of receiving twenty-five lashes each. But their fate, bad as it was, was not so awful as that suffered by Dr. Woite and J. Van der Linden. Dr. Woite had attended the Boer meeting which was held before the outbreak, and written a letter from thence to Major Clarke, in which he had described the talk of the Boers as silly bluster. He was not a paid spy. This letter was, unfortunately for him, found in Major Clarke's pocket-book, and because of it he was put through a form of trial, taken out and shot dead, all on the same day. He left a wife and large family, who afterwards found their way to Natal in a destitute condition. The case of Van der Linden is somewhat similar. He was one of Raaf's Volunteers, and as such had taken the oath of allegiance to the Queen. In the execution of his duty he made a report to his commanding officer about the Boer meeting, and which afterwards fell into the hands of the Boers. On this he was put through the form of trial, and, though in the service of the Queen, was found guilty of treason and condemned to death. One of his judges, a little less stony-hearted than the rest, pointed out that "when the prisoner committed the crime martial law had not yet been proclaimed, nor the State," but it availed him nothing. He was taken out and shot. A Kafir named Carolus was also put through the form of trial and shot, for no crime at all that I can discover. Ten unarmed Kafir drivers, who had been sent away from the fort, were shot down in cold blood by a party of Boers. Several witnesses depose to having seen their remains lying together close by Potchefstroom. Various other Kafirs were shot. None of the perpetrators of these crimes were brought to justice. The Royal Commission comments on these acts as follows:-- "In regard to the deaths of Woite, Van der Linden, and Carolus, the Boer leaders do not deny the fact that those men had been executed, but sought to justify it. The majority of your Commissioners felt bound to record their opinion that the taking of the lives of these men was an act contrary to the rules of civilised warfare. Sir H. de Villiers was of opinion that the executions in these cases, having been ordered by properly constituted court martial of the Boers' forces after due trial, did not fall under the cognisance of your Commissioners. "Upon the case of William Finlay the majority of your Commissioners felt bound to record the opinion that the sacrifice of Finlay's life, through forced labour under fire in the trenches, was an act contrary to the rules of civilised warfare. _Sir H. de Villiers did not feel justified by the facts of the case in joining in this expression of opinion_ (sic). As to the case of the Kafir Andries, your Commissioners decided that, although the shooting of this man appeared to them, from the information laid before them, to be not in accordance with the rules of civilised warfare, under all the circumstances of the case, it was not desirable to insist upon a prosecution." "The majority of your Commissioners, although feeling it a duty to record emphatically their disapproval of the acts that resulted in the deaths of Woite, Van der Linden, Finlay, and Carolus, yet found it impossible to bring to justice the persons guilty of these acts." It will be observed that Sir H. de Villiers does not express any disapproval, emphatic or otherwise, of these wicked murders. But Potchefstroom did not enjoy a monopoly of murder. In December 1880, Captain Elliot, who was a survivor from the Bronker Spruit massacre, and Captain Lambart, who had been taken prisoner by the Boers whilst bringing remounts from the Free State, were released from Heidelberg on parole on condition that they left the country. An escort of two men brought them to a drift of the Vaal river, where they refused to cross, because they could not get their cart through, the river being in flood. The escort then returned to Heidelberg and reported that the officers would not cross. A civil note was then sent back to Captain Elliot and Lambart, signed by P. J. Joubert, telling them "to pass the Vaal river immediately by the road that will be shown to you." What secret orders, if any, were sent with this letter has never transpired; but I decline to believe that, either in this or in Barber's case, the Boer escort took upon themselves the responsibility of murdering their prisoners, without authority of some kind for the deed. The men despatched from Heidelberg with the letter found Lambart and Elliot wandering about and trying to find the way to Standerton, They presented the letter, and took them towards a drift in the Vaal. Shortly before they got there the prisoners noticed that their escort had been reinforced. It would be interesting to know, if these extra men were not sent to assist in the murder, how and why they turned up as they did and joined themselves to the escort. The prisoners were taken to an old and disused drift of the Vaal river and told to cross. It was now dark, and the river was much swollen with rain; in fact, impassable for the cart and horses. Captains Elliot and Lambart begged to be allowed to outspan till the next morning, but were told that they must cross, which they accordingly attempted to do. A few yards from the bank the cart stuck on a rock, and whilst in this position the Boer escort poured a volley into it. Poor Elliot was instantly killed, one bullet fracturing his skull, another passing through the back, a third shattering the right thigh, and a fourth breaking the left wrist. The cart was also riddled, but strange to say, Captain Lambart was untouched, and succeeded in swimming to the further bank, the Boers firing at him whenever the flashes of lightning revealed his whereabouts. After sticking some time in the mud of the bank he managed to effect his escape, and next day reached the house of an Englishman called Groom, living in the Free State, and from thence made his way to Natal. Two of the murderers were put through a form of trial, after the conclusion of peace, and acquitted. The case of the murder of Dr. Barber is of a somewhat similar character to that of Elliot, except that there is in this case a curious piece of indirect evidence that seems to connect the murder directly with Piet Joubert, one of the Triumvirate. In the month of February 1881, two Englishmen came to the Boer laager at Lang's Nek to offer their services as doctors. Their names were Dr. Barber, who was well known to the Boers, and his assistant, Mr. Walter Dyas, and they came, not from Natal, but the Orange Free State. On arrival at the Boer camp they were at first well received, but after a little while seized, searched, and tied up all night to a disselboom (pole of a waggon). Next morning they were told to mount their horses, and started from the camp escorted by two men who were to take them over the Free State line. When they reached the Free State line the Boers told them to get off their horses, which they were ordered to bring back to the camp. They did so, bade good-day to their escort, and started to walk on towards their destination. When they had gone about forty yards Dyas heard the report of a rifle, and Barber called out, "My God, I am shot!" and fell dead. Dyas went down on his hands and knees and saw one of the escort deliberately aim at him. He then jumped up, and ran dodging from right to left, trying to avoid the bullet. Presently the man fired, and he felt himself struck through the thigh. He fell with his face to the men, and saw his would-be assassin put a fresh cartridge into his rifle and aim at him. Turning his face to the ground he awaited his death, but the bullet whizzed past his head. He then saw the men take the horses and go away, thinking they had finished him. After waiting a while he managed to get up and struggled to a house not far off; where he was kindly treated and remained till he recovered. Some time after this occurrence a Hottentot, named Allan Smith, made a statement at Newcastle, from, which it appears that he had been taken prisoner by the Boers and made to work for them. One night he saw Barber and Dyas tied to the disselboom, and overheard the following, which I will give in his own words:-- "I went to a fire where some Boers were sitting; among them was a low-sized man, moderately stout, with a dark brown full beard, apparently about thirty-five years of age I do not know his name. _He was telling his comrades that he had brought an order from Piet Joubert_ to Viljoen, to take the two prisoners to the Free State line _and shoot them there_. He said, in the course of conversation, 'Piet Joubert het gevraacht waarom was de mensche neet dood geschiet toen hulle bijde eerste laager gekom het' ('Piet Joubert asked why were the men not shot when they came to the first laager.') They then saw me at the fire, and one of them said, 'You must not talk before that fellow; he understands what you say, and will tell everybody. "Next morning Viljoen told me to go away, and gave me a pass into the Free State. He said (in Dutch), 'You must not drive for any Englishman again. If we catch you doing so we will shoot you, and if you do not go away quick, and we catch you hanging about when we bring the two men to the line, we will shoot you too.'" Dyas, who escaped, made an affidavit with reference to this statement in which he says, "I have read the foregoing affidavit of Allan Smith, and I say that the person described in the third paragraph thereof as bringing orders from Piet Joubert to Viljoen, corresponds with one of the Boers who took Dr. Barber and myself to the Free State, and to the best of my belief he is the man who shot Dr. Barber." The actual murderers were put on their trial in the Free State, and, of course, acquitted. In his examination at the trial, Allan Smith says, "It was a young man who said that Joubert had given orders that Barber had to be shot.... It was not at night, but in the morning early, when the young man spoke about Piet Joubert's order." Most people will gather, from what I have quoted, that there exists a certain connection between the dastardly murder of Dr. Barber (and the attempted murder of Mr. Dyas) and Piet Joubert, one of that "able" Triumvirate of which Mr. Gladstone speaks so highly. I shall only allude to one more murder, though more are reported to have occurred, amongst them that of Mr. Malcolm, who was kicked to death by Boers,--and that is Mr. Green's. Mr. Green was an English gold-digger, and was travelling along the main road to his home at Spitzcop. The road passed close by the military camp at Lydenburg, into which he was called. On coming out he went to a Boer patrol with a flag of truce, and whilst talking to them was shot dead. The Rev. J. Thorne, the English clergyman at Lydenburg, describes this murder in an affidavit in the following words:-- "That I was the clergyman who got together a party of Englishmen and brought down the body of Mr. Green who was murdered by the Boers and buried it. I have ascertained the circumstances of the murder, which were as follows:--Mr. Green was on his way to the gold-fields. As he was passing the fort, he was called in by the officers, and sent out again with a message to the Boer commandant. Immediately on leaving the camp, he went to the Boer guard opposite with a flag of truce in his hand; while parleying with the Boers, who proposed to make a prisoner of him, he was shot through the head." No prosecution was instituted in this case. Mr. Green left a wife and children in a destitute condition. II. PLEDGES GIVEN BY MR GLADSTONE'S GOVERNMENT AS TO THE RETENTION OF THE TRANSVAAL AS A BRITISH COLONY. The following extracts from the speeches, despatches, and telegrams of members of the present Government, with reference to the proposed retrocession of the Transvaal, are not without interest:-- During the month of May 1880, Lord Kimberley despatched a telegram to Sir Bartle Frere, in which the following words occur: "_Under no circumstances can the Queen's authority in the Transvaal be relinquished._" In a despatch dated 20th May, and addressed to Sir Bartle Frere, Lord Kimberley says, "That the sovereignty of the Queen in the Transvaal could not be relinquished." In a speech in the House of Lords on the 24th May 1880, Lord Kimberley said:-- "There was a still stronger reason than that for not receding; it was impossible to say what calamities such a step as receding might not cause. We had, at the cost of much blood and treasure, restored peace, and the effect of our now reversing our policy would be to leave the province in a state of anarchy, and possibly to cause an internecine war. For such a risk, he could not make himself responsible. The number of the natives in the Transvaal was estimated at about 800,000, and that of the whites less than 50,000. Difficulties with the Zulus and frontier tribes would again arise, and, looking as they must to South Africa as a whole, the Government, after a careful consideration of the question, came to the conclusion _that we could not relinquish the Transvaal_. Nothing could be more unfortunate than uncertainty in respect to such a matter." On the 8th June 1880, Mr. Gladstone, in reply to a Boer memorial, wrote as follows:-- "It is undoubtedly a matter for much regret that it should, since the Annexation, have appeared that so large a number of the population of Dutch origin in the Transvaal are opposed to the annexation of that territory, but it is impossible now, to consider that question as if it were presented for the first time. We have to do with a state of things which has existed for a considerable period, during which _obligations have been contracted, especially, though not exclusively, towards the native population, which cannot be set aside_. Looking to all the circumstances, both of the Transvaal and the rest of South Africa, and to the necessity of preventing a renewal of disorders, which might lead to disastrous consequences, not only to the Transvaal but to the whole of South Africa, _our judgment it that the Queen cannot be advised to relinquish the Transvaal_." Her Majesty's Speech, delivered in Parliament on the 6th January 1881, contains the following words: "A rising in the Transvaal has recently imposed upon me the duty of _vindicating my authority_." These extracts are rather curious reading in face of the policy adopted by the Government, after our troops had been defeated. III. A BOER ON BOER DESIGNS. I reprint here a letter published in _The Times_ of 14th October 1899, together with a prefatory note added by the editor of that journal. This epistle seems to me worthy of the study of thinking men. Much of it, most of it indeed, is mere brutal vapouring, false in its facts, false in its deductions; remarkable only for the livid hues of hate with which it is coloured. Yet in this vile concoction, the work evidently of a half-educated member of the Cape Dutch party, or perhaps of an Afrikander Irishman of the stamp of the late notorious Fenian Aylward, appear statements built upon a basis of truth which we should do well to lay to heart. I allude principally to the question of our food supply and to the possible behaviour of the electorate in the event of a great war under pressure of want and high prices. (See paragraph 3 of the letter of "P. S.") In a very different work, "A Farmer's Year," pages 179 and 380, I have attempted to treat of this great matter which elsewhere has been dealt with also by others more able and perhaps better qualified. Until it is reasonably certain that under any circumstances which we can conceive the price of food stuffs will not be raised to a prohibitive point, it can never be said that the future of Great Britain is assured beyond all probable doubt. When will this problem receive the attention it deserves at the hands of our Governments and of those over whom they rule? We have received the following letter, appropriately headed "Boer Ignorance." The writer bears a well-known Dutch name, and gives as his late address the name of a well-known town in a Dutch district of Cape Colony:-- _To the Editor of the "Times."_ SIR,--In your paper you have often commented on what you are pleased to call the ignorance of my countrymen, the Boers. We are not so ignorant as the British statesmen and newspaper writers, nor are we such fools as you British are. We know our policy, and we do not change it. We have no opposition party to fear nor to truckle to. Your boasted Conservative majority has been the obedient tool of the Radical minority, and the Radical minority has been the blind tool of our farseeing and intelligent, President. We have desired delay, and we have had it, and we are now practically masters of Africa from the Zambezi to the Cape. All the Afrikanders in Cape Colony have been working for years for this end, for they and we know the facts. 1. The actual value of gold in the Transvaal is at least 200,000 millions of pounds, and this fact is as well known to the Emperors of Germany and Russia as it is to us. You estimate the value of the gold at only 700 millions of pounds, or, at least, that is what you pretend to estimate it at. But Germany, Russia, and France do not desire you to get possession of this vast mass of gold, and so, after encouraging you to believe that they will not interfere in South Africa they will certainly do so, and very easily find a _casus belli_, and they will assist us directly and indirectly to drive you out of Africa. 2. We know that you dare not take any precautions in advance to prevent the onslaught of the Great Powers, as the Opposition, the great peace party, will raise the question of expense, and this will win over your lazy, dirty, drunken working classes, who will never again permit themselves to be taxed to support your Empire, or even to preserve your existence as a nation. 3. We know from all the military authorities of the European and American continents that you exist as an independent Power merely on sufferance, and that at any moment the great Emperor William can arrange with France or Russia to wipe you off the face of the earth. They can at any time starve you into surrender. You must yield in all things to the United States also, or your supply of corn will be so reduced by the Americans that your working classes would be compelled to pay high prices for their food, and rather than do that they would have civil war, and invite any foreign Power to assist them by invasion, for there is no patriotism in the working classes of England, Wales, or Ireland. 4. We know that your country has been more prosperous than any other country during the last fifty years (you have had no civil war like the Americans and French to tone up your nerves and strengthen your manliness), and consequently your able-bodied men will not enlist in your so-called voluntary army. Therefore you have to hire the dregs of your population to do your fighting, and they are deficient in physique, in moral and mental ability, and in all the qualities that make good fighting men. 5. Your military officers we know to be merely pedantic scholars or frivolous society men, without any capacity for practical warfare with white men. The Afridis were more than a match for you, and your victory over the Sudanese was achieved because those poor people had not a rifle amongst them. 6. We know that your men, being the dregs of your people, are naturally feeble, and that they are also saturated with the most horrible sexual diseases, as all your Government returns plainly show, and that they cannot endure the hardships of war. 7. We know that the entire British race is rapidly decaying, your birth-rate is rapidly falling, your children are born weak, diseased, and deformed, and that the major part of your population consists of females, cripples, epileptics, consumptives, cancerous people, invalids, and lunatics of all kinds whom you carefully nourish and preserve. 8. We know that nine-tenths of your statesmen and higher officials, military and naval, are suffering from kidney diseases, which weaken their courage and will-power and makes them shirk all responsibility as far as possible. 9. We know that your Navy is big, but we know that it is not powerful, and that it is honeycombed with disloyalty--as witness the theft of the signal-books, the assaults on officers, the desertions, and the wilful injury of the boilers and machinery, which all the vigilance of the officers is powerless to prevent. 10. We know that the Conservative Government is a mere sham, and that it largely reduced the strength of the British artillery in 1888-89. And we know that it does nor dare now to call out the Militia for training, nor to mobilise the Fleet, nor to give sufficient grants to the Line and Volunteers for ammunition to enable them to become good marksmen and efficient soldiers. We know that British soldiers and sailors are immensely inferior as marksmen, not only to Germans, French, and Americans, but also to Japanese, Afridis, Chilians, Peruvians, Belgians, and Russians. 11. We know that no British Government dares to propose any form of compulsory military or naval training, for the British people would rather be invaded, conquered, and governed by Germans, Russians, or Frenchmen than be compelled to serve their own Government. 12. We Boers know that we will not be governed by a set of British curs, but that we will drive you out of Africa altogether, and the other manly nations which have compulsory military service--the armed manhood of Europe--will very quickly divide all your other possessions between them. Talk no more of the ignorance of the Boers or Cape Dutch; a few days more will prove your ignorance of the British position, and in a short space of time you and your Queen will be imploring the good offices of the great German Emperor to deliver you from your disasters, for your humiliations are not yet complete. For thirty years the Cape Dutch have been waiting their chance, and now their day has come; they will throw off their mask and your yoke at the same instant, and 300,000 Dutch heroes will trample you under foot. We can afford to tell you the truth now, and in this letter you have got it.--Yours, &c., P. S. _October 12._ Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. Edinburgh & London 
41017	----	SOUTH AFRICA AND THE TRANSVAAL WAR [Illustration: Maj. F. S. Maude Maj. Hon. A. H. Hamilton Lord Methuen Col. Mackinnon, C.I.V. Capt. C. F. Vandeleur GENERAL AND STAFF Photo by Gregory & Co., London] SOUTH AFRICA AND THE TRANSVAAL WAR BY LOUIS CRESWICKE AUTHOR OF "ROXANE," ETC. WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS IN SIX VOLUMES VOL. V.--FROM THE DISASTER AT KOORN SPRUIT TO LORD ROBERTS'S ENTRY INTO PRETORIA EDINBURGH: T. C. & E. C. JACK MANCHESTER: KENNETH MACLENNAN, 75 PICCADILLY Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. At the Ballantyne Press CONTENTS--VOL. V. PAGE CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE vii CHAPTER I THE DISASTER AT KOORN SPRUIT 1 THE REDDERSBURG MISHAP 16 ESCAPE OF PRISONERS FROM PRETORIA 21 PREPARATIONS FOR ACTION 32 THE BATTLE OF BOSHOP, APRIL 5 38 CHAPTER II MAFEKING, APRIL 46 AFFAIRS IN RHODESIA 53 CHAPTER III THE SIEGE OF WEPENER 54 OPERATIONS FOR RELIEF 68 THE TENTACLES AT WORK 82 CHAPTER IV THE GREAT ADVANCE-- FROM BLOEMFONTEIN, BRANDFORT, AND THE VET TO WELGELEGEN, MAY 9 87 FROM THABANCHU TO WINBURG AND WELGELEGEN (GENERAL IAN HAMILTON), MAY 9 95 TOWARDS THE ZAND RIVER TO KROONSTAD, MAY 12 101 CHAPTER V MAFEKING, MAY 108 WITH COLONEL MAHON'S FORCE 117 ON THE WESTERN FRONTIER 132 THE RELIEF 134 HOW THE NEWS WAS RECEIVED BY THE BRITISH EMPIRE 140 CHAPTER VI FROM KROONSTAD TO JOHANNESBURG 144 CHAPTER VII GENERAL RUNDLE'S MARCH TO SENEKAL 154 THE HIGHLAND BRIGADE 156 LORD METHUEN'S MARCH FROM BOSHOP TO KROONSTAD, MAY 29 159 THE BATTLE OF BIDDULPH'S BERG, MAY 28, 29 161 FIGHTING ON THE WESTERN BORDER, MAY 30 169 CHAPTER VIII GENERAL BULLER'S ADVANCE TO NEWCASTLE 171 CHAPTER IX THE INTERREGNUM AT PRETORIA 179 FROM JOHANNESBURG TO PRETORIA 184 APPENDIX REARRANGEMENT OF STAFF 193 DEATHS IN ACTION AND FROM DISEASE 195 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS--VOL. V. MAP SHOWING THE LINES OF ADVANCE FROM BLOEMFONTEIN TO PRETORIA _At Front_ 1. _COLOURED PLATES_ PAGE GENERAL AND STAFF _Frontispiece_ SERGEANT--18TH HUSSARS 48 MOUNTED INFANTRY 56 SCOUT--6TH DRAGOON GUARDS 68 THE ROYAL MARINES 76 NORTHUMBERLAND FUSILIERS AND DURHAM LIGHT INFANTRY 80 WEST SURREY AND EAST SURREY 96 OFFICERS OF THE SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS 160 2. _FULL-PAGE PLATES_ THE DISASTER AT KOORNSPRUIT 8 THE REDDERSBURG MISHAP 16 BRITISH PRISONERS ON THEIR WAY TO PRETORIA 24 LORD ROBERTS'S COLUMN CROSSING THE SAND RIVER DRIFT 100 THE SURRENDER OF KROONSTADT 104 MAFEKING: "THE WOLF THAT NEVER SLEEPS" 108 THE LAST ATTACK ON MAFEKING 136 LORD ROBERTS AND HIS ARMY CROSSING THE VAAL RIVER 140 ROYAL HORSE ARTILLERY CROSSING THE VAAL 144 GENERAL IAN HAMILTON THANKING THE GORDONS FOR THEIR ATTACK AT THE BATTLE OF DOORNKOP 148 THE CITY OF LONDON IMPERIAL VOLUNTEERS SUPPORTING GENERAL HAMILTON'S LEFT FLANK IN THE ACTION AT DOORNKOP 152 HAULING DOWN THE TRANSVAAL FLAG AT JOHANNESBURG 156 THE GRENADIER GUARDS AT THE BATTLE OF BIDDULPH'S BERG 168 PURSUING THE BOERS AFTER THE FIGHT ON HELPMAKAAR HEIGHTS 176 SCENE IN PRETORIA SQUARE, JUNE 5 184 THE ENTRY OF LORD ROBERTS AND STAFF INTO PRETORIA 192 3. _FULL-PAGE PORTRAITS_ LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR ARCHIBALD HUNTER, K.C.B. 32 COLONEL LORD CHESHAM 40 LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR H. M. LESLIE-RUNDLE, K.C.B. 64 MAJOR-GENERAL POLE-CAREW 72 MAJOR-GENERAL IAN HAMILTON 88 LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR FREDERICK CARRINGTON, K.C.M.G. 112 LIEUT.-COLONEL BRYAN T. MAHON, D.S.O. 120 LIEUT.-COLONEL PLUMER 128 4. _MAPS AND ENGRAVINGS IN THE TEXT_ PLAN--KOORN SPRUIT DISASTER 5 MAP--DISTRICT S. AND E. OF BLOEMFONTEIN 15 THE MODEL SCHOOL, PRETORIA 22 NEW CAMP FOR BRITISH PRISONERS AT PRETORIA 29 FIELD GUN--ELSWICK BATTERY 39 THE NATIVE VILLAGE OF MAFEKING 47 MAFEKING POSTAGE STAMPS 52 THE DEFENCE OF WEPENER 58 WEPENER 66 OPERATIONS AT DEWETSDORP 76 MAP OF MOVEMENTS S. AND E. OF BLOEMFONTEIN 82 KENT COTTAGE, ST. HELENA 86 LORD ROBERTS AND STAFF WATCHING THE BOERS' RETREAT FROM ZAND RIVER 103 KROONSTADT 107 GENERAL BADEN-POWELL AND OFFICERS AT MAFEKING 114 MAP AND ITINERARY, COLONEL MAHON'S MARCH 118 MAP OF ROUTE FROM N. FOR RELIEF OF MAFEKING 127 MAFEKING RAILWAY STATION 139 DEVIATION BRIDGE AT VEREENIGING 153 HIGHLANDERS AT THE END OF A FORCED MARCH 160 MAP OF PORTION OF NATAL 175 MAP--JOHANNESBURG TO PRETORIA, &C. 186 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE--Vol. V. MARCH 1900. =31.=--Loss of British convoy and seven guns at Koorn Spruit. APRIL 1900. =4.=--Capture of British troops by the Boers near Reddersburg. =5.=--General Villebois killed near Boshop, and party of Boer mercenaries captured by Lord Methuen. General Clements received the submission of 4000 rebels. British occupation of Reddersburg. =7.=--Skirmish near Warrenton. =9.=--Colonial Division attacked at Wepener. =11.=--General Chermside promoted to command Third Division, vice General Gatacre, ordered home. =20.=--Boer positions attacked at Dewetsdorp. =23.=--General Carrington arrived at Beira. =25.=--Wepener siege raised. General Chermside occupied Dewetsdorp. Bloemfontein Waterworks recaptured. =26.=--Sir C. Warren appointed Governor of Griqualand West. =27.=--Thabanchu occupied. =28.=--Fighting near Thabanchu Mountain. MAY 1900. =1.=--General Hamilton captured Houtnek. =5.=--British occupation of Brandfort. Lord Roberts's further advance to the Vet River. =6.=--The Vet River passed and Smaldeel occupied. =7.=--General Hunter occupied Fourteen Streams. =8.=--Ladybrand deserted by the Boers. =9.=--Capture of Welgelegen. Mafeking Relief Force reached Vryburg. =10.=--Battle of Zand River. Occupation of Ventersburg. =12.=--Lord Roberts occupied Kroonstad without resistance. Commandant Eloff attacked Mafeking, and was captured by Col. Baden-Powell. =13.=--General Buller advanced towards the Biggarsberg. =14.=--Occupation of Dundee. =15.=--Occupation of Glencoe. Mafeking Relief Force defeated the Boers at Kraaipan. =16.=--Christiana occupied. =17.=--General Ian Hamilton occupied Lindley. Colonel Mahon, at the head of the relief force, entered Mafeking. Lord Methuen entered Hoopstad. =18.=--Occupation of Newcastle. =20.=--Colonel Bethune's Mounted Infantry ambushed near Vryheid. =22.=--General Ian Hamilton occupied Heilbron after a series of engagements. The main army, under Lord Roberts, pitched its tents at Honing Spruit, and General French crossed the Rhenoster to the north-west of the latter place. =23.=--Rhenoster position turned. =24.=--British Army entered the Transvaal, crossing the Vaal near Parys, unopposed. =27.=--The passage of the Vaal was completed by the British Army. =28.=--Orange Free State formally annexed under the title of Orange River Colony. The Battle of Biddulph's Berg. =29.=--Battle of Doornkop: Boers defeated. Lord Roberts arrived at Germiston. Kruger fled his capital at midnight amid the lamentations of the populace. =30.=--Occupation of Utrecht by General Hildyard. Sir Charles Warren defeated the enemy near Douglas. =31.=--Battalion of Irish Yeomanry captured at Lindley. The British flag hoisted at Johannesburg. JUNE 1900. =5.=--The British flag hoisted in Pretoria. [Illustration: MAP SHOWING THE LINES OF ADVANCE FROM BLOEMFONTEIN TO PRETORIA. (_The Rand District and the Movements around Pretoria are shown on Map at p. 186._)] EDINBURGH AND LONDON: T. C. AND E. C. JACK. SOUTH AFRICA AND THE TRANSVAAL WAR CHAPTER I THE IMMORTAL HANDFUL[1] MAFEKING, 18TH MAY 1900 Shout for the desperate host, Handful of Britain's race, Holding the lonely post Under God's grace; Guarding our England's fame Over the open grave, Shielding the Flag from shame-- Shout for the brave! Ringed by a ruthless foe Dared they the night attack, Answered him blow for blow, Hurling him back; Cheering, the charge was pressed, More than they held they hold, Won bayonet at the breast-- Shout for the bold! Long, long the days and nights; Bitter the tales that came, What of the distant fights? Rumours of shame? Scorning the doubts that swell, Nursing the hope anew, They did their duty well-- Shout for the true! Shout for the glory won, Empire of East and West! Shout for each valiant son Nursed at thy breast! Fear could not find them out, Death stalked there iron-shod, Help found them Victors--shout Praises to God! --HAROLD BEGBIE. DISASTER AT KOORN SPRUIT The last volume closed with an account of Colonel Plumer's desperate effort to relieve Mafeking on the 31st of March. On that unlucky day events of a tragic, if heroical, nature were taking place elsewhere. These have now to be chronicled. On the 18th of March a force was moved out under the command of Colonel Broadwood to the east of Bloemfontein. The troops were sent to garrison Thabanchu, to issue proclamations, and to contribute to the pacification of the outlying districts. They were also to secure a valuable consignment of flour from the Leeuw Mills. The enemy was prowling about, and two commandos hovered north of the small detached post at the mills. Reinforcements were prayed for, and a strong patrol was sent off for the protection of the post, or to cover its withdrawal in the event of attack. Meanwhile the enemy was "lying low," as the phrase is. Whereupon Colonel Pilcher pushed on to Ladybrand, made a prisoner of the Landdrost, but, hearing of the advance of an overwhelming number of the foe, retired with all promptness to Thabanchu. The Boers, with the mobility characteristic of them, were gathering together their numbers, determining if possible to prevent any onward move of the forces, and bent at all costs on securing for their own comfort and convenience the southern corner of the Free State, whence the provender and forage of the future might be expected to come. Without this portion of the grain country to fall back on, they knew their activities would be crippled indeed. In consequence, therefore, of the close proximity of these Federal hordes, Colonel Broadwood made an application to head-quarters for reinforcements, and decided to remove from Thabanchu. On Friday the 30th he marched to Bloemfontein Waterworks, south of the Modder. His force consisted of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade (10th Hussars and the composite regiment of Household Cavalry), "Q," "T," and "U" Batteries R.H.A. (formed into two six-gun batteries, "Q" and "U"), Rimington's Scouts, Roberts's Horse, Queensland and Burma Mounted Infantry. The baggage crossed the river, and outspanned the same evening. On the following morning at 2 A.M. the force, having fought a rearguard action throughout the night, arrived in safety at Sanna's Post. Here for a short time they bivouacked, and here for a moment let us leave them. At this time a mounted infantry patrol was scouring the country. They were seen by some Boers who were scuttling across country from the Ladybrand region, and these promptly hid in a convenient spruit, whence, in the time that remained to them, they planned the ambush that was so disastrous to our forces and so exhilarating to themselves. There are differences of opinion regarding this story. Some believe that the ambush was planned earlier by a skilful arrangement in concert with the Boer hordes--the hornets of Ladybrand, whose nest had been disturbed by the invasion of Colonel Pilcher--who owed Colonel Broadwood a debt. They declare that the hiding-place was carefully sought out, so that those sheltered therein should, on a given signal from De Wet, act in accord with others of their tribe, and blockade the passage of the British, who were known--everything was known--to be returning to Bloemfontein. According to Boer reports, the plans for the cutting off and surrounding of Colonel Broadwood were carefully made out, but only at the last moment, and if, for once, Boer reports can be believed, the successful scheme may be looked upon as one of the finest pieces of strategy with which De Wet may be accredited. The Boer tale runs thus: The Dutchman on the 28th, with a commando of 1400 and four guns and a Maxim-Nordenfeldt, was moving towards Thabanchu for the purpose of attacking Sanna's Post, where he believed a force of 200 of the British to be. He did all his travelling by night, and found himself on the evening of the 30th at Jan Staal's farm, on the Modder River, to the north of Sanna's Post. Then, in the very nick of time, he was informed by a Boer runner that Colonel Broadwood's convoy was moving from Thabanchu. Quickly a council of war was gathered together. It was a matter of life or death. De Wet, with Piet de Wet, Piet Cronje, Wessel, Nell, and Fourie, put their heads together and schemed. They were doubtless assisted by the foreign attachés who were present. The result of the hurried meeting was the division of the Boer force into three commandos. The General himself, with 400 men, decided to strain every nerve to reach Koorn Spruit and ensconce himself before the arrival of the convoy. Being well acquainted with the topography of the country, the race was possible--400 picked horsemen against slow-moving, drowsy cattle! The thing was inviting. Success rides but on the wings of opportunity, and De Wet saw the opportunity and grabbed it! The rest of the Boers were to dispose themselves in two batches--500 of them, with the artillery, to plant themselves N.N.E. of Sanna's Post, while the remainder took up a position on the left of their comrades, and extended in the direction of the Thabanchu road. It was wisely argued that Broadwood's transport must cross Koorn Spruit, and that if the Boers were posted so as to shell the British camp at daybreak, the convoy would be hurried on, while the bulk of the force remained to guard the rear. Accordingly, the conspirators, with amazing promptitude, got under way, the four guns with the commando being double-horsed and despatched to the point arranged on the N.N.E. of Sanna's Post, while the other galloped as designed. Fortune favoured them, for they reached their destinations undiscovered; and the scheme, admirable in conception, was executed with signal success. Day had scarcely dawned before the Boers near the region of the waterworks apprised the convoy of their existence. The British kettles were boiling, preparations for breakfast were briskly going forward, when, plump!--a shell dropped in their midst. Consternation prevailed. Something must be done. The artillery? No; the British guns were useless at so long a range. As well have directed a penny squirt at a garden hose! All that was to be thought of was removal--and that with all possible despatch. Scurry and turmoil followed. Mules fought and squealed and kicked, horses careered and plunged, but at last the convoy and two horse batteries were got under way, while the mounted infantry sprayed out to screen the retreat. All this time shells continued to burst and bang with alarming persistency. They came from across the river, and consequently it was imagined that every mile gained brought the convoy nearer to Bloemfontein and farther from the enemy. They had some twenty miles to go. Still, the officers who had charge of the party believed the coast to be clear. After moving on about a mile they approached a deep spruit--a branch of the Modder, more morass than stream. It was there that De Wet and his smart 400 had artfully concealed themselves. The spruit offered every facility for the formation of an ingenious trap. The ground rose on one side toward a grassy knoll, on the slopes of which was a stony cave from which a hidden foe could command the drifts. So admirably concealed was this enclosure and all that it enclosed, that the leading scouts passed over the drift without suspecting the presence of the enemy. These latter, true to their talent of slimness, made no sign till waggons and guns had safely entered the drift, and were, so to speak, inextricably in their clutches. Their manoeuvre was entirely successful. Some one said the waggons were driven into the drift exactly as partridges are driven to the gun. Another gave a version of very much the same kind. He said, "It was just like walking into a cloak-room--the Boers politely took your rifle and asked you kindly to step on one side, and there was nothing else you could do!" The nicety of the situation from the Boer point of view was described by a correspondent of _The Times_:-- "The camp was about three miles from the drift, which lay in the point of a rough angle made by an embankment under construction and the bush-grown sluit which converged towards it. Thus when the Boers were in position, lining the sluit and the embankment, the position became like the base of a horse's foot. The Boers were the metal shoe, our own troops the frog. At the point where the drift cuts the sluit the nullah is broad and extensive. The Boers stationed at this spot realised that the baggage was moving without an advanced guard. They were equal to the situation. As each waggon dropped below the sky-line into the drift the teamsters were directed to take their teams to right or left as the case might be, and the guards were disarmed under threat of violence. No shot was fired. Each waggon in turn was captured and placed along the sluit, so that those in rear had no knowledge of what was taking place to their front until it became their turn to surrender. To all intents and purposes the convoy was proceeding forward. The scrub and high ground beyond the drift was sufficient to mask the clever contrivance of the enemy. Thus all the waggons except nine passed into the hands of the enemy." The waggons, numbering some hundred, had no sooner descended to the spruit and got bogged there than, from all sides sprung up as from the earth, Boers with rifles at the present, shouting--"Hands up. Give up your bandoliers." A scene of appalling confusion followed. Some cocked their revolvers. Others were weaponless. So unsuspecting of danger had they been that their rifles, for comfort's sake, had been stowed on the waggons, the better to allow of freedom to assist in other operations of transport. Some men of the baggage guard shouldered their rifles; others, from under the medley of waggons, still strove ineffectually to show fight. The Boers were unavoidably in the ascendant. The hour and the opportunity were theirs. [Illustration: PLAN--DISASTER AT KOORN SPRUIT.] At this time up came U Battery, with Roberts's Horse on their left. The battery was surrounded, armed Boers roared--"You must surrender!" and then, sharp and clear, the first shot rang through the air. This was said to have been fired by Sergeant Green, Army Service Corps, who, refusing to surrender, had shot his antagonist, and had instantly fallen victim to his grand temerity. The drivers of the batteries were ordered to dismount, but as gunners don't dismount graciously to order of the foe, the tragedy pursued its course. Major Taylor, commanding the battery, however, succeeded in galloping off to warn the officer commanding Q Battery of the catastrophe. Meanwhile, in that serene and pastoral spruit reigned fire and fury and the clash of frenzied men. Down went a horse--another, another. Then man after man--groaning and reeling in their agony. Many in the spruit lay dead. At this time the troop of Roberts's Horse had appeared on the scene, and were called on to surrender. Realising the disaster, they wheeled about, and galloped to report and bring assistance. This was the signal for more volleys from the enemy in the spruit, and the horsemen thus sped between two fires--that of the Mausers below them and of the shells which had continued to harry the troops. Nevertheless the gallant fellows rode furiously for dear life on their journey. Men dropped from their saddles like ripe fruit from a shaken tree. Still they sped on. They must bring help at any price. Meanwhile the scene in the spruit was one of horror, for the Boers were sweeping every nook and corner with their Mausers. Cascades of fire played on the unfortunate mass therein entangled, on waggons overturned and squealing mules, on guns and horses hopelessly heaped together, on men and oxen sweating and plunging in death-agony. The heaving, struggling, horrific picture was too grievous for description. Only a part of their terrible experience was known by even the actors themselves. Luckily, a merciful Providence allows each human intelligence to gauge only a certain amount of the awful in tragic experience. There are some who told of wounded men lying blood-bathed and helpless beneath baggage that weighed like the stone of Sisyphus; of horses that uttered weird screams of agonised despair, which petrified the veins of hearers and sent the current of blood to their hearts; of oxen and mules that stamped and kicked, dealing ugly wounds, so that those who might have crawled out from under them could crawl no more. Some guns were overturned--a hopeless bulk of iron, that resisted all efforts at removal; others, bereft of their drivers, were dragged wildly into space by maddened teams, whose happy instinct had caused them to stampede. Seeing the disaster, they had pulled out to left and struggled to get back to camp, yet even as they struggled they were disabled and thus left at the mercy of the foe. Major Burnham, the famous scout, who having been taken a prisoner earlier and at this juncture remained powerless in the hands of the Boers, thus described the terrible sight which he was forced to witness:-- "One of the batteries (Q), which was upon the outside of the three-banked rows of waggons, halted at the spruit, dashed off, following Roberts's Horse to the rear and south. Yet most of them got clear, although horses and men fell at every step, and the guns were being dragged off with only part of their teams, animals falling wounded by the way. Then I saw the battery, when but 1200 yards from the spruit, wheel round into firing position, unlimber, and go into action at that range, so as to save comrades and waggons from capture. Who gave the order for that deed of self-sacrifice I don't know. It may have been a sergeant or lieutenant, for their commanding officer had been left behind at the time. One of the guns upset in wheeling, caused by the downfall of wounded horses. There it lay afterwards, whilst three steeds for a long time fought madly to free themselves from the traces and the presence of their dead stable companions." Those of the unfortunate men who were uninjured struggled grandly to save the guns, to drag them free from the scene of destruction, but several of the guns whose teams were shot fell into the hands of the enemy. Some gallant fellows of Rimington's Scouts made a superb effort to rush through the fire of the Federals and save them, but five guns only were rescued. These were all guns of Q Battery, which, when the first alarm was given, were within 300 yards of the spruit. When the officer who commanded the battery strove to wheel about, though the Boers took up a second position and poured a heavy fire on the galloping teams, a wheel horse was shot, over went a gun, more beasts dropped, a waggon was rendered useless, but still the teams that remained were galloped through the confusion to the shelter of some tin buildings, part of an unfinished railway station, some 1150 yards from the disastrous scene. Here a new era began. Much to the amazement of the Boers, the guns came into action, and continued, in the face of horrible carnage, to make heroic efforts at retaliation, the officers themselves assisting in serving the guns till ordered to retire. At this time Q Battery was assailed by a terrific cross fire, and gradually the numbers of the gunners and horses became thinned, till the ground, covered with riderless steeds and dismounted and disabled men, presented a picture of writhing agony and stern heroism that has seldom been equalled. But the splendid effort had grand results. No sooner were the British guns in action than the whole force rallied: the situation was saved. The Household Cavalry and the 10th Hussars were off in one direction, Rimington's Scouts and the mounted infantry in another, making for some rising ground on the left where their position would be defensible and a line of retreat found. Meanwhile Q Battery from six till noon pounded away at the Dutchmen, while Lieutenant Chester-Master, K.R.R., found a passage farther down the spruit unoccupied by the enemy, by which it was possible to effect a crossing. Major Burnham's account of the artillery duelling at this time is inspiriting:-- "As soon as the gunners manning the five guns opened with shrapnel, the Boers hiding in Koorn Spruit slackened their fire, preferring to keep under cover as much as possible. In that way many others escaped. The mounted infantry deployed and engaged the Boer gunners and skirmishers to the east, and the cavalry with Roberts's Horse dismounted and rallied to cover the guns from the fire. A small body was also despatched to strike south and fight north. My captors directed their attention to Q Battery. They got the range, 1700 yards, by one of the Boers firing at contiguous bare ground, until he saw by the dust puffs he had got the distance, whereupon he gave the others the exact range, which they at once adopted. The gunners gave us nearly forty-eight shrapnel, for they were firing very rapidly, but although they had the range of our kraal, they only managed to kill one horse. I noticed that the Boers, though they dodged and took every advantage of cover, fired most carefully, and yet rapidly. It was the same with those in the spruit as inside the kraal where I sat. That day the Boers said to me they had but three men killed in the spruit, and only a half-dozen or so wounded. Those artillerymen, how I admired and felt proud of them! and the Boers, too, were astonished at their courage and endurance. Fired at from three sides, they never betrayed the least alarm or haste, but coolly laid their guns and went through their drill as if it had been a sham-fight, and men and horses were not dropping on all sides. There was a little bit of cover a hundred yards or so behind the battery, around the siding and station buildings of the projected railway and embankment. Thither the living horses from the limbers and guns were taken, and the wounded were conveyed. When, three hours later, their ammunition for the 12-pounders was scarce, and the Boer rifle fire from the gulch, the waggons, and ridge opened heavy and deadly, the gunners would crawl back and forward for powder and shell. Had it not been for those terrible cannon, the Boers told me that they would have charged, closing in on all sides upon Broadwood's men." [Illustration: THE DISASTER AT KOORNSPRUIT: DRIVERLESS TEAMS STAMPEDING Drawing by John Charlton] When the order to retire was received, Major Phipps Hornby ordered the guns and their limbers to be run back by hand to where the teams of uninjured horses stood behind the station buildings. Then such gunners as remained, assisted by the officers and men of the Burma Mounted Infantry, and directed by Major Phipps Hornby and Captain Humphreys (the sole remaining officers of the battery), succeeded in running back four of the guns under shelter. It is said the guns would never have been saved but for the gallant action of the officers and men of the Burma Mounted Infantry, who, when nearly every gunner was killed, volunteered, and succeeded, under the heaviest fire, in dragging the guns back by hand to a place of safety. It was while doing this that Lieutenant P. C. Grover, of the Burma Mounted Infantry, was killed. Though one or two of the limbers were thus valiantly withdrawn under a perfect cyclone of shot and shell, the exhausted men found it impossible to drag in the remaining limbers or the fifth gun. Human beings failing, the horses had also to be risked, and presently several gallant drivers volunteered to plunge straight into the hellish vortex. They got to work grandly, though horses dropped in death agony and man after man, hero after hero, was picked off by the unerring and copious fire of the Dutchmen. It is difficult to get the names of all the glorious fellows who carried their lives in their hands on that great but dreadful day, but Gunner Lodge and Driver Glasock were chosen as the representatives of those who immortalised themselves and earned the Victoria Cross. Of Bombardier Gudgeon's magnificent energy enough cannot be said. One after another teams were shot, but he persisted in his work of getting fresh teams. Three times he strove to roll a gun to a place of safety, and on the third occasion was wounded. The splendid discipline of the gunners was extolled by every eye-witness, and the way the noble fellows, surrounded with Boer sharpshooters, stood to the guns was so marvellous, so inspiriting, that even the men who were covering the retirement, at risk of their lives were impelled to rise and cheer the splendid action of the glorious remnant. The correspondent of _The Times_ declared that "When the order came for the guns to retire, ten men and one officer alone remained upon their feet, and they were not all unwounded. The teams were as shattered as the gun groups. Solitary drivers brought up teams of four--in one case a solitary pair of wheelers was all that could be found to take a piece away. The last gun was dragged away by hand until a team could be patched up from the horses that remained. As the mutilated remnant of two batteries of Horse Artillery tottered through the line of prone mounted infantry covering its withdrawal, the men could not restrain their admiration. Though it was to court death to show a hand, men leaped to their feet and cheered the gunners as they passed. Seven guns and a baggage train were lost, but the prestige and honour of the country were saved. Five guns had been extricated. The mounted infantry had found a line of retreat, and total disaster was avoided. But the fighting was not over. The extrication of a rearguard in the front of a victorious and exultant enemy has been a difficult and a delicate task in the history of all war. In the face of modern weapons it is fraught with increased difficulties. For two hours Rimington's Scouts, the New Zealand Mounted Infantry, Roberts's Horse, and the 3rd Regiment of Mounted Infantry covered each other in retreat, while the enemy galloped forward and, dismounting, engaged them, often at ranges up to 300 yards." The force was surrounded by the enemy on all sides, and there was no resource but to fight through--the cavalry and mounted infantry taking a line towards a drift on the south. Roberts's Horse made a gallant and desperate effort to outflank the Dutchmen, and lost heavily; and Aldersen's Brigade, with magnificent dash and considerable skill, succeeded in holding back the hostile horde. This retirement was no easy matter, for the position taken up by the Federals was exceptionally favourable to them. To the north the spruit twisted in a convenient hoop, which sheltered them; to the south was the embankment of the railway in course of construction; from these points and from front and rear the enemy was able, in comparative security, to batter and harass the discomfited troops. Fortunately, in the end, Colvile's Division, which had been making its way from Bloemfontein, arrived in time to check the Boers in their jubilant advance, though some hours too late to prevent the enemy from capturing and removing the waggons and guns. While the retreat was being effected more valorous work was going on elsewhere. The members of the Army Medical Corps, with the coolness peculiar to them, were exposing themselves and rushing to the assistance of the wounded, many being stricken down in the midst of their splendid labours. Roberts's Horse made themselves worthy of the noble soldier who godfathered them, and one--a trooper of the name of Tod--a prodigy of valour, rode deliberately into the _mêlée_ in search of the wounded, and returned with the dead weight of a helpless man in his arms, under the fierce fire of the foe. If disaster does nothing more, it breeds heroes. The melancholy affair of Koorn Spruit brought to light the superb qualities that lie dormant in many who live their lives in the matter of fact way and give no sign. Splendid actions followed one another with amazing persistence, man after man and officer after officer attempting deeds of daring, each of which in themselves would form the foundation of an heroic tale. Lieutenant Maxwell of Roberts's Horse, from the very teeth of the enemy dragged off a wounded man--a lad who, by the time he was rescued, had fainted. But the young subaltern promptly got him in the saddle, and the pair sped forth from the fiery zone alive. The Duke of Teck also rushed to the succour of Lieutenant Meade, who was wounded (a bullet cutting off his finger and piercing his thigh), gave up to him his horse and removed him from the scene of danger. At the same time Colonel Pilcher was gallantly rescuing Corporal Packer of the 1st Life Guards. Major Booth (Northumberland Fusiliers) lost his life through doggedly holding a position with four others, in order to cover the retreat. When the Queenslanders arrived they too showed the stuff they were made of, the best British thews combined with the doughtiest British hearts. They plunged into action--so dashingly indeed that the Boers very nearly mopped them up. But Colonel Henry was equal even to the skittish foe, and contrived to entertain the Dutchmen by leading them so active a dance that eventually the Colonials were able to fight out their own salvation. At last the guns got away and followed the line of retreat taken by the cavalry. The troops then conducted their retirement by alternate companies, each company taking up its duties without fluster, and covering the other company's retirement with great steadiness until they reached Bushman's Kop. The marvellous coolness of the force was particularly amazing, as every man, with the Boers still at his heels, believed himself to be cut off, yet in spite of this belief showed no signs of concern. In one regiment, consisting of 11 officers and 200 men, two officers were killed, four wounded, and sixty-six men killed and wounded. Strange scenes took place during those awful hours in the donga, and wonderful escapes were made. One trooper was seized on by a Boer. "Surrender," cried the Dutchman, but before another word could be uttered, the trooper's sabre whistled from its sheath and the Boer was dead. Another who was wounded got off, as he said, "by the skin of his teeth." He had become jammed under a waggon in company with a Boer--who had crept there for cover--and the hindquarters of a dying mule. Over the cart poured a rattling rain of bullets, to which he longed to respond. The Boer, believing the wounded man to be his prisoner, made himself known. "Hot work this," he said. The next instant the Boer was caught by the throat and knocked insensible, while the Briton promptly extricated himself and vanished from the seething, fighting mass. Another of the Household Cavalry, when summoned to surrender his rifle, threw it with such force at the head of his would-be captor that he was able to make good his escape. The following interesting account was given from the point of view of an officer of the Life Guards who was present:-- "We heard firing at 6.30, and while we were saddling bang came two shells a little short, followed by three others. The firing went on for half-an-hour incessantly. The convoys got under way very quickly, followed by Mounted Infantry and Life Guards. Luckily only two shells burst, and only one mule was killed. We moved on to the spruit and were shot at by Mausers from our right flank. The convoys were on the brink of the drift. Some of the waggons were actually crossing, and our artillery close on to them, when a terrific fire came from the spruit. The U Battery was captured--the men and officers being killed, wounded, or prisoners. We went about and retired in good order in a hail of shot, being within 120 yards of the enemy. It is wonderful how we escaped. Two of our men were shot--one in the thigh and the other in the shoulder--and we had altogether 32 missing. Our leading horses and baggage were within nine feet of the fire; yet many of them got off, including my servant and horse. I lost, however, my saddlebags, with change of clothes, trousers, shoes, iron kettle, and letters which I grudge the Boers reading. We got out of fire and lined the river banks, firing shots at the Boers, who were, however, too distant. We were well hid in a position like what the Boers had held themselves, and we hoped to enfilade them, but the river twisted too much, and it is impossible to locate fire with smokeless powder. We then followed the 10th Hussars for four miles towards Bushman's Kopje. The Ninth Division Infantry, under Colvile, came over the ridge with eighteen guns, and we heard a lot of heavy firing." He went on to say: "Why we are alive I can't say. Many of the bullets were explosive, as I heard them burst when they hit the ground. The shelling was most trying, as we had to stand quite still for twenty minutes a living target." A laughing philosopher, a Democritus of the nineteenth century, gave to the world, _viâ_ the _Pall Mall Gazette_, his curious experiences. Among other things he said:-- "Roberts's Horse was ordered to trot off to the right of the convoy. 'Oh! those are our men, you fool,' said everybody. Two men came up to the Colonel. 'We've got you surrounded, you'd better surrender,' say they; and heads popped up in the grass forty yards from us. Boers appeared all along the ridge a hundred yards ahead. 'Files about, gallop!' yells the adjutant. (They dropped him immediately.) "I was carrying a fence-post to cook the breakfast of my section (of four men). I turned my horse; there came a crackling in the air, on the ground, everywhere; the whole world was crackling, a noise as of thorns crackling or the cracks of a heavy whip. My gee-gee (usually slow) went well, stimulated by the horses round it, and actually took a water-jump; I had to hold my helmet on with my right hand, which still held the fence-post, and I thought my knuckles would surely get grazed by a bullet. They were pouring in a cross-fire now as well, and once or twice I heard the _s-s-s-s-s_ of the Mauser bullet (the crackle is explosives, you know). It was very exhilarating; the gallop and the fire made me shout and sing and whistle. I jumped a dead man, and almost immediately caught up B., who is one of my section. "The fire was slackening, and we were half a mile away by then, and we looked round to see whether anybody was forming up. The plain was dotted with men and many riderless horses. Everybody was yelling, 'When do we form up?' You feel rather foolish when running away. At about one mile we formed up again. From the rear, and from the place we had come from, and from the river bed, there came a noise as of thousands of shipwrights hammering. Nine (?) of our guns were captured; the remaining three fired at intervals. My squadron was sent into a depression on the left of the New Zealanders. Here we dismounted (No. 3 of each section holding the horses), and went up as a firing line, range 1200, 1400, and 1600 yards. The General passed. 'Ever been in such a warm corner?' says he to the bugler. 'Oh yes,' says the little chap, quite cheerfully and untruthfully. The General remarked, laughing, that _he_ hadn't. I felt sorry for him, and heard the newsboys shouting, 'Another British disaster!' and the Continental papers, 'Nouvelle défaite des Anglais! Yah!' It was the greatest fun out, barring the loss of the guns and men. For we were not losing a situation of strategic importance or anything of that kind. The Boers had collared our blankets and things, but we chuckled at the thought of what they would suffer if they ever slept in 'em." Sergeant-Major Martin, who, with Major Taylor (commanding U Battery), was incidental in warning Colonel Rochfort and Major Phipps Hornby of their danger, and thus assisting to save Q Battery, described his experiences:-- "A Boer commander stepped out and confronted the Major with fixed bayonet; all his (the Boer's) men stood up in the spruit ready to shoot us down if we had attempted to fight, ordered the Major to surrender, and also the battery. The battery had no chance whatever to do anything. As the trap was laid, so we fell into it. Now, as the Major was talking to the Boer commander, I turned my horse round (I was then three yards from him) and walked quietly to the rear of our battery. When I got there, putting spurs to my horse, I galloped for all I was worth to tell the Colonel to stop the other battery, as U Battery were all prisoners. I then looked towards the battery; the Boers were busy disarming them. I went a little distance in that direction to have a last look. By this time the Household Cavalry had come up, and the 14th Hussars; they halted, soon found out what had happened, and turned round to retire. As they did so the Boers opened fire on us. The bullets came like hailstones. It was a terrible sight. One gun and its team of horses galloped away; by some means or other it was pulled up. I took possession of it, still under this heavy fire, and, finding one of our drivers, I put him in the wheel, and drove the leaders myself. We had between us 14 horses. I drove in the lead for about six miles, following the cavalry, who had gone on to see if we could get through. Eventually, after several hours, I got into safe quarters." The list of loss was terrible:-- Brevet-Major A. W. C. Booth, Northumberland Fusiliers; Lieutenant P. Crowle, Roberts's Horse; Lieutenant Irvine, Army Medical Service (attached to Royal Horse Artillery), were killed. Among the wounded were: Brevet-Colonel A. N. Rochfort, Royal Horse Artillery, Staff. Q Battery Royal Horse Artillery.--Captain G. Humphreys, Lieutenant E. B. Ashmore, Lieutenant H. R. Peck, Lieutenant D. J. Murch, Lieutenant J. K. Walch, Tasmanian Artillery (attached). Royal Horse Guards.--Lieutenant the Hon. A. V. Meade. Roberts's Horse.--Major A. W. Pack Beresford, Captain Carrington Smith, Lieutenant H. A. A. Darley, Lieutenant W. H. M. Kirkwood. Mounted Infantry.--Major D. T. Cruickshank, 2nd Essex Regiment; Lieutenant F. Russell-Brown, Royal Munster Fusiliers; Lieutenant P. C. Grover, Shropshire Light Infantry (since dead); Lieutenant H. C. Hall, Northumberland Fusiliers. _Wounded and Missing._--Captain P. D. Dray, Lieutenant and Quartermaster Hawkins. _Missing._--Lieutenant H. R. Horne. Royal Horse Artillery.--Captain H. Rouse, Lieutenant G. H. A. White, Lieutenant F. H. G. Stanton, Lieutenant F. L. C. Livingstone-Learmonth. 1st Northumberland Fusiliers.--Lieutenant H. S. Toppin. 2nd Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry.--Lieutenant H. T. Cantan. 1st Yorkshire Light Infantry.--Captain G. G. Ottley. Royal West Kent Regiment.--Lieutenant R. J. T. Hildyard. Captain Wray, Royal Horse Artillery, Staff; Captain Dray, Roberts's Horse; Lieutenant the Hon. D. R. H. Anderson-Pelham, 10th Hussars; Lieutenant C. W. H. Crichton, 10th Hussars. The casualties all told numbered some 350, including 200 missing. Reports differ regarding the strength of the enemy. Lord Roberts estimated it at 8000 to 10,000, while De Wet declared he had only about 1400 men. All that remained of U Battery was one gun, Major Taylor, a sergeant-major, a shoeing-smith, and a driver! In Q Battery, Captain Humphreys, Lieutenants Peck, Ashmore, Murch were wounded, and the latter two reported missing. The whole of the grievous Saturday afternoon was spent by the gallant doctors in tending the ninety or more of our brave wounded who lay helpless in the spruit. They were carried to the shelter of the tin houses, and the work of bandaging and extracting bullets was pursued without a moment's relaxation. The removal of the sufferers from the neighbourhood of the spruit on the day following was a sorry task, and the sight that presented itself to the ambulance party was one which was too shocking to be ever forgotten. In the spruit itself the wreckage of waggons which had been looted by the Boers covered most of the scene, and, interspersed with them were horses and cattle, maimed, mutilated, and dead. With these, in ghastly companionship, were the bodies of slain soldiers and black waggon-drivers. The living wounded were conveyed from the disastrous vicinity in ambulances and waggons brought for them under the covering fire of the guns, which swept the length of the river and deterred the enemy from attempting to block the passage of the melancholy party. The Republicans, however, fired viciously from adjacent kopjes, but without disturbing the progress of the operations. At noon General French's cavalry, with Wavell's Brigade, had left Bloemfontein to occupy a position on the Modder between Glen and Sanna's Post, and keep an eye on further encroachments of the Boers. The enemy, on the fatal Saturday night, had destroyed the waterworks, thus forcing the inhabitants of Bloemfontein to fall back on some insanitary wells, as a substitute for which the waterworks had been erected. Here, on their departure for Ladybrand, they left 12 officers and 70 men, who had been wounded in the fray, and whom they doubtless considered might be an encumbrance to their future movements. These were conveyed by ambulance to Bloemfontein. [Illustration: MAP ILLUSTRATING THE MILITARY OPERATIONS TO THE S. AND E. OF BLOEMFONTEIN.] As an instance of Boer treachery, it was stated that the Free State commandant Pretorius, whose farm overlooked the spruit wherein the ambuscade was arranged, had given up arms and taken the oath to retire to his farm. Yet on the day of the disaster he led the Boers to the attack, while the members of his family were prominent among the looters of the wrecked waggons. Other tales of cruelty and ill-treatment and treachery on the part of the Boers were well authenticated. It is useless to repeat them, but the circumstances are merely noted to give an explanation for a change of policy which was necessitated by the actions of the enemy--a change which was, unfortunately, adopted only when many martyrs had been made in the cause of forbearance. THE REDDERSBURG MISHAP The Boers, triumphant with their success at Koorn Spruit, scurried to Dewetsdorp, drove out the British detachment which had been posted there by General Gatacre, and on the 4th of April came in for another piece of luck, for which we had to pay by the loss of three companies of Royal Irish Rifles and two companies of the Northumberland Fusiliers. The unfortunate occurrence took place near Reddersburg, somewhat to the east of Bethanie Railway Station. A party of infantry, consisting of three companies of Royal Irish Rifles and two companies of the Northumberland Fusiliers, who had been in occupation of Dewetsdorp, and engaged on a pacification mission on the east of the Free State, were ordered on the 3rd to retire to Reddersburg, a place situated some thirty-seven miles from Bloemfontein and fifty miles from Springfontein, where General Gatacre had taken up his head-quarters. In their retirement the troops, it is said, took a somewhat unusual detour, and thus, if they did not court, ran risk of disaster. Anyway, they had travelled about four miles to the east of their destination when, at Mosterts Hok, they were surprised to discover a strong force of some 2500 Boers. They were still more surprised to find that, while they themselves were unaccompanied by artillery, and were possessed of little reserve ammunition, the Dutchmen were provided with three or four formidable guns. Thus, the situation from the first was alarming. Our men, comparatively defenceless, saw themselves hedged in by an overmastering horde. They quickly occupied a position on a peaked hill rising in the centre of ground sliced and seamed with dry nullahs. These popular havens of refuge were at once seized by the Boers and deftly made use of. The Dutchmen, under cover of the dongas, crept cautiously up on all sides of the kopje, surrounding it and pouring cascades of rifle-fire on the small exposed force. In no time the chance of retreat was barred on all sides, and there was no resource but to fight through. But unfortunately, as British ammunition was limited and the Boers warily kept well out of range, all that could be done was to prolong hostilities in the hope that delay would enable reinforcements from Bethanie to come to the rescue. But these did not arrive. The Boers, grasping the situation, gathered courage and approached nearer and nearer. With the dusk coming on and some 2500 of the foe enfilading them from three sides, the British position, as may be imagined, was not a hopeful one. Nevertheless, the Royal Irish Rifles displayed the national spirit of dare-devilry--"fought like bricks," some one said--never losing heart under the persistent attacks of shot and shell that continued till nightfall. [Illustration: THE REDDERSBURG MISHAP: MEN OF THE IRISH RIFLES AND MOUNTED INFANTRY DELIVERING UP THEIR ARMS Facsimile of a Sketch by Melton Prior, War Artist] Hoping and waiting and fighting; so passed the dreadful hours of dark. Then, with the dawn, the enemy, flushed with triumph, commenced to pound their prey with redoubled vigour, while our parched and almost ammunitionless troops, in a ghastly quandary, alternately fought and prayed for relief! Meanwhile the news of the affair having reached Lord Roberts, General Gatacre, on the afternoon of the 3rd, was ordered to proceed from Springfontein to the spot, while the Cameron Highlanders were despatched from Bloemfontein to Bethanie. General Gatacre, with his main body and an advance guard of mounted infantry under Colonel Sitwell, then marched _viâ_ Edenburg to the succour of the detachment. On the morning of the 4th, Colonel Sitwell having arrived at Bethanie, some fifteen miles from Mosterts Hok, heard sounds of artillery in the distance, and believing that the engagement was going on, prepared to rush to the rescue. But with the small force at his disposal, he deemed it impossible to try a frontal attack, and decided to make an attempt to get round the enemy's right flank. The manoeuvre was unsuccessful, for a party of hidden Boers, from a kopje north-west of Reddersburg, assailed him and forced him to retire and wait till the main column should come to his assistance. But by the time General Gatacre had reached the scene (10.30 A.M. on the 4th) the drama had been enacted, the curtain had descended on the tragedy. The small and valorous party on Mosterts Hok, which for thirty hours had been fighting and were at last sans water, sans ammunition, sans everything in fact, had been forced to surrender. No sign of them was to be seen. The unfortunate band--many of them the survivors of the fatal exploit at Stormberg--were now on their way to that aristocratical prison-house--the Model School at Pretoria. General Gatacre, finding further effort useless, then occupied the town of Reddersburg. There, the Boers had hoisted the Free State flag, and were making themselves generally objectionable. Quickly the Boer banner was torn down and the Union Jack run up, though during the operations the General narrowly escaped assassination. He was fired at from a house, but fortunately escaped with only a scratch on the shoulder. By evening, acting on instructions from Bloemfontein, and owing to the fact that the enemy was massed in all directions and surrounding the town, the force and its prisoners returned to Bethanie, and there encamped to mount guard over the rail. Details regarding the movements of the troops on this grievous day were given by a correspondent, in the _Daily Telegraph_, whose version throws a somewhat depressing light on the sufficiently depressing affair. The writer declared that:-- "A large British force, with a brigade division of artillery (eighteen guns), on the march to Bloemfontein, was at Bethanie, about eleven miles from Reddersburg, on the night of April 3, and got the news of the above-mentioned infantry being surrounded about 11 P.M. The men immediately saddled up, got under arms, and remained all night ready to move off in relief, but did not receive orders to do so until 8 A.M. on April 4, and then were only permitted to proceed at a walk, constantly halting to water the horses. The result of the delay was that the column arrived just too late, and was then not even allowed to pursue the enemy and release the prisoners, who were dead beat and could not possibly have been hurried along. The relief column was manoeuvred outside the town of Reddersburg during most of the day, and then was ordered to return to Bethanie, but, when within a few miles of camp, with the horses and men tired out, a complete change of instructions were issued, and the column was wheeled about and told to march back and take the town of Reddersburg. The Cameron Highlanders, who had just come off a troopship from Egypt, and were, consequently, quite unfit, could hardly move, but all had to turn, for no apparent reason, and march to the ground they had left. The mounted infantry and artillery trotted back and occupied Reddersburg about dusk, with only one casualty, viz. an officer of mounted infantry, and the force bivouacked, with very little food, just outside the town. "About midnight, the order was given to return to Bethanie again, and the men, who could hardly crawl, were awakened, the march resumed, and Bethanie was reached about 7 A.M. on April 5, after great and unnecessary distress both to men and animals, while no object was gained, the whole expedition being a miserable fiasco, disheartening and humiliating to every one present. "To whom blame is attributable it is difficult to say, as the officer in command seemed not to have a free hand, but to be directed by wires received at intervals, which must have taken five or six hours to reach him. Either the relief ought never to have been attempted, or it ought to have been carried out expeditiously and with determination." Mr. Purves, who, as a lance-corporal with one of the Ambulance Corps, was in the thick of the fray, gave a graphic description of the unhappy affair:-- "Reaching Dewetsdorp on the morning of Sunday, April 1st, we first became aware that our progress was being watched by the Boers. Just as we were about to camp outside the dorp, our scouts exchanged a few shots with those of the enemy. Beyond a temporary disarrangement of our plans, nothing happened, as the main body of the enemy did not show at all, and things quieted down till nightfall, when another alarm was caused by the arrival of the Mounted Infantry (Royal Irish Rifles and Northumberland Fusiliers), who were mistaken by our people for Boers, as their arrival was unexpected, and our presence in the position occupied by us was a surprise to them. The Mounted Infantry actually dismounted to prepare for business, when fortunately a mutual recognition took place, and a hearty greeting to the brave fellows who were to bear the brunt of the coming action was extended by our force. Captain Casson (one of the first to fall at Mosterts Hock) commanded the new-comers. After a night's rest, we started again on the march, which continued without event till Tuesday, 3rd, when our scouts at 11.30 came back with the news that the enemy were upon us, making for two kopjes in front of us. Both of these were immediately crowned by our little force of 440--the above-mentioned Mounted Infantry, with some of the Royal Irish Rifles taking the northern kopje, and the remainder of the Royal Irish Rifles that to the south. Rifle firing opened at once, and gradually grew hotter till about 2 P.M., when the Boers opened with artillery, four guns being brought into play in positions that enabled them to sweep our two lines. Fortunately, the firing was most erratic, and little or no damage was done by the shells. Volley fire from the Royal Irish Rifles soon put one of the guns out of action. We had no artillery, and the wonder is that we held the position, extended as it was far beyond what seemed tenable to so small a force, for the long time we did. The bearers of C Company, Cape Medical Staff Corps, had a particularly warm time of it. Sent as they were at the commencement of the action right on to the fighting line, they stuck to their posts till the very last without any cover, and only retired with the last line of straggling defenders, who worked their way back through a deadly hail of bullets, explosive and otherwise, to their own camp, after the Boers had won the day. The first day's fight lasted till darkness, when we tried to snatch some rest--a luxury that came to few. Next morning at 5.30 found us sniping at one another prior to the forenoon fire that soon kept every one busy at all points. At 8 the artillery commenced firing, and the fight became fiercer till about 9, when our men on the north kopje, unable to contend against the fearful odds, hoisted the white flag, and the Boers on that side rushed the position, and were thus able to pour a murderous fire into the unfortunate Royal Irish Rifles on the southern height, who, while their attention was riveted on the enemy on their front, were in ignorance of what was going on in their rear for a while. When they turned to reply to the rear attack, their position was taken, and the poor fellows, accompanied by nine of the stretcher-bearers, had to run for the hospital, distant 600 yards, under a fearful cross-fire. Several of the Rifles were killed, but the bearers escaped marvellously. The hospital, which was pitched between the two kopjes, suffered from the shelling, and was in itself dangerous; while, to add to the risk, a trench thrown up to protect the sick was mistaken by the Boers for a rifle-trench, and became a mark for their special attention. One shell burst near the operating-tent while the surgeons were at work on a wounded man, and riddled the tent, fortunately hitting no one. Another banged into a buck waggon. A third cut a mule in halves. A slight bruise on the knee was the only hurt suffered by any of the Hospital Corps. Our dead numbered ten, whom we buried on the battle-field, placing over the grave a neatly dressed and lettered stone, executed by Private Buckland, C Medical Staff Corps. Two of the wounded died afterwards in the temporary hospital at Reddersburg, and are buried in the cemetery there. The wounded, thirty-two in number, were sent down from Bethanie to one of the base hospitals, for treatment in the convalescent stage. Enough praise cannot be given to the warm-hearted people of the Dutch village of Reddersburg. It mattered not that we were British. Their all was placed at our disposal, and to their generosity much of our success with the wounded is to be attributed." The casualties were as follows:-- _Killed_--Captain F. G. Casson, Northumberland Fusiliers; 2nd Lieut. C. R. Barclay, Northumberland Fusiliers. _Dangerously Wounded_--Captain W. P. Dimsdale, Royal Irish Rifles. _Slightly Wounded_--Lieut. E. C. Bradford, Royal Irish Rifles. _Captured_--Captain Tennant, Royal Artillery; 2nd Lieut. Butler, Durham Light Infantry, attached to Northumberland Fusiliers; Captain W. J. McWhinnie, Royal Irish Rifles; Captain A. C. D. Spencer, Royal Irish Rifles; Captain Kelly, Royal Irish Rifles; 2nd Lieut. E. H. Saunders, Royal Irish Rifles; 2nd Lieut. Bowen-Colthurst, Royal Irish Rifles; 2nd Lieut. Soutry, Royal Irish Rifles, and all remaining rank and file. Lieut. Stacpole (Northumberland Fusiliers) was also wounded on the 4th. He was riding for reinforcements, and as he approached Reddersburg, unknowing the place was in the hands of the Boers, he was greeted with shots which killed his horse, wounded him, and placed him at the mercy of the enemy, by whom he was captured. The Boers in their retreat, however, left their prisoners behind. The total of killed and wounded numbered between 50 and 150. The strength of the British was 167 mounted infantry, 424 infantry. The enemy were said to be 3200 strong. The unlucky termination of the affair completed the eastern flanking movement of the Boers, who were now trickling over the country from Sanna's Post on the south to a point east of Jagersfontein road. They soon held the Free State east of the railway beyond Bethulie, and considerable numbers went south towards Smithfield and Rouxville, their determination, after their recent successes, being to harass the British force as much as possible. It was now becoming evident that all the present trouble was due to over-leniency, and it began to be urged that some measures must be adopted which would ensure for the conquerors of the enemy's country the respect that was due to them. The humanitarian attitude of Lord Roberts had produced an unlooked-for result. The Commander-in-Chief had attempted to administer justice for a seventeenth-century people on the ethics of those of the nineteenth, and the experiment had proved disastrous. The enemy, far from being impressed by the show of magnanimity, was laughing in his sleeve at his immunity from pains and penalties. Our troops were forced now to move in a country where nearly every man was a foe or a spy, and one who, moreover, thought meanly of us for the concessions which had been made. As an instance of contrast between our own and the Dutchman's mode of dealing with those considered as rebels, an instructive story was told. A Free State burgher at the outset of hostilities entered the Imperial service as a conductor of transport. It was a non-combatant's occupation, and one for which he was fitted, owing to his knowledge of the Kaffir and Dutch languages. This man was captured by the Boers, who, declaring him to be a rebel, instantly shot him dead. We, on the other hand, accepted an obsolete rifle, a flint-lock elephant gun belonging to the days of the Great Trek perhaps, as a peace-offering and then told the rebel to go away and turn over a new leaf. His new leaf resolved itself into unearthing Mausers and Martinis, and popping at us from the first convenient kopje--if not from the windows of his farm! To this cause may be attributed the sudden return of so-called ill-luck, which seemed epidemic. April had brought with it an alarming list of losses at Sanna's Post, which was followed by a grievous total of killed, wounded, and missing--five companies lost to us--at Reddersburg. We had, moreover, disquieting days around Thabanchu, Ladybrand, and Rouxville, and were being forced gradually, and not always gracefully, to retreat. For instance, in the retirement from Rouxville, four companies of the Royal Irish, some Queenstown and Kaffrarian Rifles, had merely escaped by what in vulgar phrase we term "the skin of their teeth." It was merely owing to the smartness of General Brabant, who sent two squadrons of Border Horse from Aliwal North to the rescue, that the small force escaped being cut off. This officer's little band garrisoning Wepener was meanwhile beginning to test the Boer force in earnest. THE ESCAPE OF PRISONERS FROM PRETORIA At this time great excitement prevailed owing to the escape from Pretoria of Captain Haldane, D.S.O. (Gordon Highlanders), who was captured after the disaster to the armoured train at Chieveley; of Lieutenant Le Mesurier (Dublin Fusiliers), who was taken prisoner with Colonel Moeller's force after the battle of Glencoe; and of Sergeant Brockie, a Colonial volunteer. These officers had a more adventurous task than even that of Mr. Churchill, for since the war correspondent's escape the Boers had naturally taken additional precautions, and had mounted extra guard over their prisoners. The officers most ingeniously contrived to dig a trench underneath the floor of the prison, and here they hid themselves. For eighteen long days they remained cramped in this small underground hole, in the daily expectation that the other officers and their guards were about to be transferred to new quarters, when a chance of escape would be offered. Captain Haldane gave exciting details of his adventures in _Blackwood's Magazine_; but, before dealing with them, it is interesting to consider the position of the vast congregation of British officers that had gradually been collected within the confines of the Model School. Curiously enough, after all the fighting, the sum total of prisoners of war on both sides was now nearly equal. By the 23rd of March the Boer prisoners in our hands were 5000, while the British prisoners in Pretoria numbered some 3466. Since that date, through various unlucky accidents, the Boers had captured some 1000 more of our troops, and thus early in April the enemy almost equalled us in the matter of capture! [Illustration: THE MODEL SCHOOL, PRETORIA.] The Model School stands in the centre of the town. It is commodious, though devoid of privacy (on the principle of a boys' dormitory) well ventilated, lighted with electricity, and roofed with corrugated iron. At the time of the escape there was a gymnasium, and also a scaling-ladder against the wall, which suggested infinite possibilities to such men as Captain Haldane, who had all the exciting histories of "Latude," "Jack Sheppard," and "Monte Christo" at his fingers' ends. There were rough screens to enclose some of the cubicles, and the walls in some cases were decorated with cuttings from the illustrated papers, or with humorous sketches made by talented amateurs. Two of these were especially admired, a chase after President Steyn personally conducted by Lord Roberts, and a caricature of President Kruger, which latter was highly appreciated even by the Boers when it came under their notice. The special nook of the Rev. Adrian Hofmeyer, who had made himself into a general favourite, and was laconically declared to be a "regular brick," was the most decorative of all, being made gay with various scraps of colour and design to cheer the weary eye. By this time the reverend gentleman, having had a more trying experience of incarceration than most, had got to look upon the Model School in the light of residential chambers, and consoled others with the account of his own experiences. His story was not an enlivening one:-- "I was lodged in the common jail, Cronje's law adviser having informed him it would not be legal to shoot me. Cronje consequently thought the best thing to do would be another illegality, namely, imprison a non-combatant and correspondent. Mr. Cronje has ample time to-day in St. Helena to meditate upon this and other illegal acts of his. I was locked up in a cell eighteen feet by nine feet, and for the first few days was allowed to have my meals at the hotel. Soon, however, this liberty was taken away, for it proved too much for the Christian charity of the Zeerust burghers to see a despised prisoner of war marched up and down from the hotel to the jail under police escort. Other restrictions were soon imposed also, and after a little while I was locked up day and night, the door of the unventilated cell being open only three times a day for fifteen minutes at a time. No books nor papers were allowed me, no visitors, and the few loyal friends who tried to supply me with luxuries were cruelly forbidden to do so by the authorities. I cannot help thinking to-day of the strange irony of fate. The commanders who practised this cruelty upon me were Cronje and Snyman. The one is to-day a prisoner of war, and can, perhaps, put himself in my place. He is an old personal acquaintance, too." The worthy padre was afterwards removed, and gave a further description of his experiences. "After eight weeks of such life I was taken to Pretoria, and there quartered in the Staats Model School with the British officers. Here everything was better, and I quickly recovered my health and strength. The building was a magnificent one, and the surroundings very pleasant, but our jailer, a Landdrost, and our guards, the Zarps, never forgot to remind us of the fact that we were prisoners. The food we got from Government sufficed for one meal; the rest we had to buy, being charged most exorbitant prices. When I left, the officers' mess amounted to £1600 per month for 144 officers. On my arrival, I was asked by the officers to conduct service for them every Sunday, in addition to that held by an Anglican clergyman. For two Sundays, therefore, we had two services a day, and then Winston Churchill escaped, and the following extraordinary letter was sent the officers by the Anglican clergyman:-- "'GENTLEMEN,--By the kind courtesy of the Government, I have been permitted to hold services for you in connection with the Church of England, which services I have felt it a privilege on my part to conduct. After what has recently occurred--viz. the escape of Mr. Churchill from confinement--I exceedingly regret that, in consideration of my duty to the Government, I must discontinue such regular ministrations, as I desire to maintain the honour due to my position. Of course I shall always be glad to minister to you in any emergency, with the special permission of the authorities, who will, with their usual kindness, duly inform me.--With my best wishes, I am, gentlemen, yours sincerely, ----.' "Out of charity, I do not publish the reverend gentleman's name,[2] but I can add that 'the emergency' referred to never presented itself. Since that time, I had the pleasure and honour of conducting the services every Sunday, and they were the pleasantest hours I spent in prison. Our singing was so hearty and good, that many of the townsfolk strolled up of a Sunday morning to hear us." [Illustration: BRITISH PRISONERS ON THEIR WAY TO PRETORIA: THE FIRST HALT Drawing by S. Begg] As may be imagined, all manner of devices were invented for the purpose of securing news, the only intelligence of outside events coming to the unhappy prisoners through the _Standard and Diggers' News_, which journal, of course, dwelt gloatingly on British disasters. But the authorities were suspicious. One day a harmonium was removed, owing to the treasonable practice of performing "God save the Queen"; on another, a cherished terrier was banished, as he was declared to be a smuggler, and charged with the crime of carrying notes in his tail! But at last, an ingenious ruse was successfully perpetrated. A man, accompanied by a dog, came to the railings and there engaged in a private dialogue, which savoured of the maniacal, till the eagerly listening officers discovered that there might be method in the strange man's madness. A sample of the scene was given by the correspondent of the _Standard_:-- "'Would you like a swim?' asked the master, and the dog, with a wag of his tail, answered 'Yes.' 'Ladysmith is all right,' continued the man, and the tail wagged assent. 'We will come again,' said the master, and the dog agreed. For a time the prisoners thought him mad, this man with the dog who talked in his beard, and mixed his dog talk with such names as 'Ladysmith,' 'Mafeking,' 'Cronje,' 'Roberts.' Then the truth dawned on them, and the 'Dog Man' became a hero, whose coming was watched with longing, and whose mutterings in his beard were 'as cool waters to the thirsty soul,' or as 'good news from a far country.' One day the 'Dog Man' was missing, and there was lamentation, until, looking towards the house opposite, the prisoners saw him standing well back in the passage, at the entrance to which two girls kept watch. The 'Dog Man' was waving his hat in eccentric fashion, and the waving was found to be legible to those who understand signalling. Next morning a tiny flag was substituted for the hat, and communication between the officers and the Director of Telegraphs was established by flag signal." The prisoners endeavoured to keep up an air of jocosity, though, as one confessed, their tempers were "very short and inclined to be captious." Naturally their occupations were limited, and it was not unusual to see gallant commanders engaged in darning their socks, or washing their clothes under the pump. Their attire, too, was not of the choicest, some of them having been accommodated when sick with suits technically known as "slops," purchased for a low price in Johannesburg. Hence one officer disported himself in choice pea-green, while another figured in rich yellow. These prison suits were scarcely becoming, particularly as many of the smartest of the smart were growing beards, or, if not beards, the ungainly chin tuft or "Charley," which destroyed their martial aspect. Sometimes they engaged in games, bumble puppy and the like, and occasionally expanded to other sports. A letter from a sprightly member of the band to the _Eton College Chronicle_ described the humorous side of their daily life:-- "MODEL SCHOOL, PRETORIA. "DEAR MR. EDITOR,--Whilst following the fortunes of old Etonians in South Africa, perhaps it may have escaped your notice that a small and unhappy band has already reached Pretoria. Mr. Rawlins's House is represented by Captain Ricardo (Royal Horse Guards), and H. A. Chandos-Pole-Gell (Coldstream Guards); Mr. Carter's by Major Foster (Royal Artillery); the late Mr. Dalton's, Mr. Ainger's, and Mr. Luxmore's respectively by M. Tristram (12th Lancers), G. Smyth-Osbourne (Devonshire Regiment), and G. L. Butler (Royal Artillery); and Mr. Cornish's by G. R. Wake (Northumberland Fusiliers). The histories of their separate captures would take up too much of your valuable space. Some have been here but a short time, some many weeks; and during their captivity their thoughts turned to old Eton days, and the game of fives recommended itself to them as a means of passing some of the many weary hours. There was no "pepper-box," or "dead man's hole"; but a room, two of whose walls mainly consisted of windows, with the aid of three cupboards and a piece of chalk, was quickly converted into a fives court. Entries for a Public Schools' tournament were numerous, Eton sending three pairs. Tristram and Gell unanimously elected themselves to represent Eton's first pair, closely followed by Eton II., Ricardo and Osbourne, Eton III. being Wake and Butler. The facts that Tristram had recently been perforated with Mauser bullets, and Gell had spent Christmas and the three preceding weeks in the various jails between Modder River and Bloemfontein, were no doubt responsible for their not carrying off the coveted trophy. Alas! they were badly beaten in the first round by Marlborough. Not so Eton II. and III., who carried the Light Blue successfully into the second round, both having drawn byes. This good fortune could not last, and they fell heavily at the second venture, being beaten by Wellington and Rugby respectively. The ultimate winners proved to be Wellington, after a desperate encounter with Charterhouse. "So much for our pleasures; our troubles are legion, but we will not burden you with them. We daily expect to hear of the E.C.R.V. sharing the hardships of the campaign, and covering themselves with glory to the tune of "FLOREAT ETONA. "_P.S._--We all hope to be at Eton on the 4th of June. "_Feb. 14, 1900._" (Curiously enough, the 4th of June brought to a close the deadly period of durance vile. On that date the gallant crew spent their last night as prisoners!) To return to Captain Haldane and his partners in adventure. Ever since Mr. Churchill's escape he had racked his brains to discover a means of escape, and had made multifarious plans, many of which were rejected as absolutely hopeless, while many others failed after efforts which testified to the perseverance and ingenuity of their inventors. It was no easy matter after Mr. Churchill's exploit to hit on a means of evading the wily and now alert Boer. The guard were armed with rifles, revolvers, and whistles, and as these consisted of some thirty men, who furnished nine sentries in reliefs of four hours, there was little hope of escaping their vigilance. Fortunately the prisoners, such as had plain clothes in their possession, were permitted to wear them, otherwise the dream of freedom could scarcely have been indulged in. Bribery was not to be thought of, and a repetition of Mr. Churchill's desperate dash for freedom was impossible. It remained, therefore, for Captain Haldane and his colleagues to invent a new and ingenious method of bursting their bonds. An effort to cut the electric wires to throw the place in darkness while they scaled the walls, proved a sorry failure, and at last, having tried the roof and other points of egress and found them wanting, the companions hit on the happy idea of burrowing a subterranean place of concealment. Here they thought to scrape on and on till they bored a tunnel into the open! The discovery of a trap-door in the planks under one of the beds lent impetus to their designs, and they arranged to excavate a route diagonally under the street, and so pass into the gardens of the neighbouring houses. Marvellous was the patience and perseverance with which they, almost toolless--with only scraps of biscuit tins and screwdrivers--toiled daily in the accomplishment of their plan, and pathetic their dismay when their tunnel finished up by landing them in several feet of water with a promise of more to come. But they were indefatigable. Captain Haldane, like the great Napoleon, argued that the word impossible was only to be found in the dictionary of fools. Rumours that the prisoners were to be removed to a new building in two or three days only contrived to render the conspirators more desperate in their craving to be at large, and again the trap-door system was discussed. The young men determined on revised operations, and hit on the plan of living underground in the cave they should dig, thus disappearing from Boer ken and conveying the idea that they had already bolted, leaving as evidence of flight their three empty beds! Here they proposed to wait till, the hue-and-cry after them having ceased, and the prison doors having been opened for the removal of the other officers, they could slink forth at their leisure. But the change of prison did not come to pass as soon as expected. The empty beds told their tale; the place was searched, the crouching creatures in their burrow heard the tramp of armed men above them, voices in close conference, and afterwards the departing footsteps of the discomfited Boer detectives. It was decided that the prisoners were gone, and further report, amplified by Kaffir imagination, declared that they were already on their way to Mafeking! Still, though safe from discovery, the plotters were far from comfortable. Food in very meagre quantities was smuggled through the trap-door, till at last, famine being the mother of resource, by a process of what they called "signalgrams," their wants and intentions were conveyed to those above. Then when the appointed raps gave notice of the opening of the mysterious portal, potted meats and other luxuries were liberally passed down. And here, in this ventilationless, miry hole, in darkness and dank-smelling atmosphere, they groped a weary existence, daring neither to cough, nor sneeze, nor whisper, lest discovery should rob them of success. They were unwashed--so grimy as to be unrecognisable even to themselves--they were cramped and covered with bruises, brought about by bumping their heads against the dome of their low dwelling; they were often hungry and sleepless, but they were buoyed up with a vast amount of hope and pluck. Day after day sped on with unvarying monotony, and gradually hope began to exude at the pores. Six days passed, and they thought patience had come to the end of her tether. They longed to hold themselves upright, to see daylight, to eat their quantum of food, and, above all, to hear the sound of their own voices. But still they held on--longer, longer. Every day they knew made their chance of escape more secure, for the authorities in Pretoria, assured of their departure, had now ceased even from the habitual nine days of wonderment regarding their fate. Then they began to dig and burrow still further, this time with the assistance of a bayonet and a skewer, and for days and days pursued their silent, secret work, in hope to dig a channel some thirty feet long to reach the hospital yard beyond the Model School. Meanwhile they stored food in preparation for the great journey, and listened acutely for news of the proposed transfer of the prisoners to other quarters. At last they had their reward. A note was passed down to say that the officers were to be removed on the morrow. Then all was excitement. The curtain was drawing up on the play of which the prologue had promised so much. The trap-door was carefully fastened down, false screws being put into the screwholes so as to render the hiding-place as inconspicuous as possible. At last came the looked-for hour. Sounds of packing-up and the shuffling passage of footsteps betokened activities. The commandant went his rounds, and then a cheery voice was heard to say, "All's well. Good-bye." They knew that was a signal--_the end had come_! So in time the whole party of prisoners disappeared, and with them their custodians! The coast was clear. Peeping forth from their ventilator the joyous hidden trio could view the street, the moving of baggage, and all the bustling preparations for a general exodus. Their rapture knew no bounds. But escape was even then deferred. Sightseers and police tramped through the vacated rooms all day, moving perilously near the trap-door, and laughing and jesting, unsuspicious of the precious haul that might have been theirs. It was late in the afternoon before the last visitors departed. Then, after collecting maps of their proposed route, taking a final meal, packing their meat lozenges, chocolate, &c., and money, they dressed and waited anxiously for the kindly cloak of night.... Meanwhile the other prisoners were removed to a camp from which escape was almost impossible. The place was enclosed with barbed wire fencing standing as high as a man. It measured about one hundred and fifty yards in length, and in width at the ends might have measured fifty yards. From this pen it was possible to gaze out over the hills to see life with the eye of Tantalus, so near and yet so far--men and women passing, trees and houses and cattle, all giving pictures of the free life without, that it was impossible for them to share. No efforts now to evade the guard could be made, for the enclosure was dotted thickly with electric lights, and was so thoroughly illuminated in every corner that there was no spot where a man could not have read. The dwelling-house was walled, and roofed with zinc, bare within and comfortless, and in the dormitory one hundred and forty cots were ranged side by side. A few screens, as in the Model School, were arranged at some of the bedheads, but of privacy there was none. The exchange was a sorry one, and Captain Haldane and his companions, Mr. Le Mesurier and Mr. Brockie, were wise in making a vigorous bid to get clear of the fate that overtook their comrades. * * * * * Already a whiff of coming liberty seemed to reward these conspirators for their dark days of anticipation. Their meal and their preparations completed, they reconnoitred and discovered that all was clear. Then, joyously, the intending fugitives emerged from their terrible lair. With some difficulty they stood upright, their limbs refused their office, they felt old, rheumatic stricken, incapable of movement. But at last, boots in hand, creeping, as the French say, on _pattes de velours_, they dragged themselves to a broken window, and, passing through the gap made by the shattered pane, gained the yard. Climbing over the railings--luckily unnoticed in spite of the brilliant rays of the full moon--they made for the nearest road leading to the Delagoa Bay Railway. Fortunately for them young Brockie, who was a Colonial and up to the "tricks of the trade," donned the Transvaal colours round his hat. Added to this he wore his arm in a sling, to give the impression that he was a wounded Boer. Thus they got through the somewhat deserted street to the outskirts of the town unchallenged. Once a policeman almost spoke to them, his suspicion was on the eve of being aroused, but the solitary myrmidon of the law, inquisitive yet discreet, found himself face to face with three desperate men whose expression was not reassuring! He wisely slunk off. Towards the railway line they now went, experiencing a series of hairbreadth 'scapes, for there were orders to shoot any one seen wandering on the railway track. But they dodged in holes and round corners, in rank grass and in ditches and dongas, traversing river and spruit, and plodding along the highway, now losing their bearings, now retracing their steps, ever striving to reach Elands River station, twenty miles east of Pretoria. [Illustration: NEW CAMP FOR BRITISH PRISONERS AT PRETORIA. (Drawing by J. Schönberg.)] On the left of the railway line ran the river, and as they toiled on--the silver of the stream and the glint of the railway lines shimmering in the ray of the moon--they descried tents, heard voices, and, worse still, a dog's bark, inquisitive, suspicious. Quickly to earth they went, hiding and dodging in the long grass between river and line. This, the critical moment of their journey, forms one of the most exciting phases of Captain Haldane's altogether interesting narrative. "After lying in the grass about twenty minutes, for we did not care to move so long as the dogs remained on the alert, we heard voices coming in our direction, and the barking of the dogs became more distinct. A whispered conference was held, and then we dragged ourselves like snakes diagonally back towards the river. Reaching a ditch, Le Mesurier, who was following me, came alongside and asked me if I had seen Brockie, who had been following him. I had not, so we waited a few moments; but seeing nothing of him, and the enemy drawing near, we crossed the obstacle, and found ourselves at the edge of the stream. Again we paused, this time for several minutes, and the searchers came in view, following our track. "The crisis had come: to stay where we were meant probably recapture. I whispered to Le Mesurier to follow me quietly, and not to splash. The next minute I was in the river, which was out of my depth, and Le Mesurier dropped in beside me. Holding on to the roots of the reeds which lined the bank, we carefully pulled ourselves some distance down-stream, and then paused. The searchers and their dogs were evidently now at fault, and showed no signs of coming our way, so we continued our downward course, and ultimately swam across and into a ditch on the other side. "We had been a good half-hour in the stream, which seemed to us intensely cold, and our teeth were chattering so that we could scarcely speak. My wrist-watch had stopped; but Le Mesurier's, a Waterbury, was still going, for it had been provided by his care with a waterproof case. We now crept along the ditch up-stream again, and then turned off towards the hillside, which was dotted with large boulders. Coming round the corner of one of these, we found a tent in front of us, and not caring to pass it, we tried to climb up the steep face of the hill. Failing at one point, we found a kind of "chimney," up which we climbed, pulling and pushing each other till the top was gained. A few minutes' rest was necessary, for our clothes were heavy with water and the climb had made us breathless. Le Mesurier had done wonders with his ankle--the cold water had been most efficacious. Next we walked along the rocky face of the hill, parallel to the direction we had followed below, and gradually descended to the level and struck a path. Brockie was irretrievably lost, and it was useless to attempt to find him. He had with him a water-bottle and sufficient food, and knew both the Dutch and the Kaffir languages. Following the path, we passed several clumps of bracken, one of which we selected as a suitable hiding-place. To have walked farther in our wet and clinging garments might have been wiser, but we decided that we had had sufficient excitement for one night without trying to add to it." So there they remained--wet, frigid, excited, aching--all through the long sleepless hours, with nothing to vary the monotony save the nip of the musquitoes. When morning came, their jaded limbs, like the joints of wooden dolls, almost threatened to creak; and only with the warmth of sunrise did they regain some of their pristine elasticity. For food they now became anxious; their supplies were waterlogged, their chocolate was a thirst-creating mash, and their precious whisky bottle in the course of recent adventures had lost cork and contents. A miserable day passed hiding in a swamp, and crouching out of the light of day till again at night, and in a thunder-storm, they thought it advisable to resume their journey. Then, by the mercy of Providence, footsore, throatsore, heartsore, and hungry they came on a field of water melons. Though ravenously they took their fill, their joy was not of long duration. The inevitable bark of the Boer dog warned them to be off. After this they again lost their bearings, making needless detours, and only reaching Elands River station--worn, weary, and down-hearted--before daybreak. Then making their way to some gum trees that offered welcome shelter, they again sought to sleep, but it was not to be. Imagination had made molehills into mountains and footsteps into cracks of doom. A Dutch youth passed by, his dog growled and sniffed; discovery seemed imminent, but the hand of fate intervened, they remained safe. Two nights, three nights were passed on the veldt in anticipation of a train that might be on its way to Balmoral. Their sufferings, their anxieties, and risks make many a tale with a tale. Hiding continued during the day, now in an antbear hole, now among grasses sodden with dew, the fugitives, from caution, fatigue, and other causes, covering to that time only thirty-six miles in four days. Finally, to make a long story short, the unhappy wayfarers, their spirits and constitutions at the lowest ebb, were led by the kindness of a Kaffir into the safe keeping of a British subject, the manager of the Douglas Colliery Store, who then nourished them and helped them to repair the terrible havoc wrought by the past days of anxiety and starvation, and assisted them to make plans for getting over the border. Here, newly arrayed in decent clothing, washed and trimmed--for they had originally presented the effect of veritable scarecrows--they began to regain energy and hope. They were then initiated in the first moves of a scheme to carry them to safety. With the assistance of Dr. Gillespie, the doctor of the miners--a "rare guid" fellow from all accounts--they got, on the 24th of March, to the Transvaal Delagoa Bay Colliery; and here for some days following a conspiracy was set on foot to buy some bales of wool, sufficient to make a truck load, and forward the bales, plus the escaped prisoners, to a firm at Lorenço Marques. The scheme succeeded, though only after some smart and sympathetic manoeuvring on the part of the newly found British friends, and many hours of terrible risk and suspense. Finally, to the intense joy of the two adventurous ones, they found themselves on Portuguese territory. On Sunday the 1st of April they were free men! From that time their ways were fairly smooth. They were the heroes of the hour, for every one had heard of their story and was expecting them, Sergeant Brockie having preceded them after some equally exciting experiences. On the 6th of April the gallant pair left Lorenço Marques for Durban, Captain Aylmer Haldane hastening to rejoin his regiment, the 2nd Battalion Gordon Highlanders, at Ladysmith, and Mr. Le Mesurier (Dublin Fusiliers) going round to join General Hunter's Division in the Free State. Thus the two enterprising officers, after enduring almost unequalled tortures of body and mind, found themselves free to return to duty and fight again for the honour and glory of the Empire. PREPARATIONS FOR ACTION Bloemfontein meanwhile was a strange mixture of pastoral simplicity and martial magnificence, and curious, almost wonderful, was the view from a distance of the landscape in the vicinity. The whole earth, as though blossoming, seemed to have thrown up mushrooms far and wide--mushrooms grey, and white, and green. Dotted among them were strange forms, like the shapes of antediluvian reptiles--grasshoppers, locusts of mammoth size. Coming nearer the town it was possible to recognise both mushrooms and reptiles for what they really were, namely, the tents and the guns of the largest army that England has put into one camp since the Crimea! In and out and round about wandered horses and mules innumerable, so numberless, indeed, that the casual onlooker wondered at the outcry for equine reinforcements. Yet these were urgently needed, and none but those "in the know" could comprehend how much the strategical problem relied for solution on their arrival, and how paralysed were the movements of the generals for want of them. Some people opined that the Commander-in-chief would start off for Pretoria at express speed, others hinted that his plan of campaign would be altered to meet the complications that had arisen owing to the renewed activity of the Boers in the south-eastern corner of the Free State. But Lord Roberts was unmoved by either impatience or disaster. He evidently determined to fritter his resources on no operations that could not be concerted and rapidly effective. [Illustration: LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR ARCHIBALD HUNTER, K.C.B. Photo by Bassano, London] Meanwhile stores, ammunition, warm clothing (for the wintry weather was setting in), and boots were being brought in enormous quantities from the Cape. The wardrobes of the hard-fighting multitude were in sad need of repair, and some wag declared that certain tatterdemalions could only venture abroad after dark, for fear of shocking the Mother Grundys of Bloemfontein. Horses, too, were being gradually collected, for it was felt that until there was a sufficiency of remounts, General French's dashing evolutions would be too costly to be appreciable. The great gallop to Kimberley had cost an immense amount in horse-flesh--about 1500 out of 5000, some said--and, in consequence, the splendid cavalry was again reduced to impotence, just when the Boers, though demoralised by the surrender of Cronje, might have been pursued and punished as they deserved. According to later computation, it was decided that the army must wear out at the rate of 5000 horses a month, and therefore no move could be set on foot till the incoming supply was organised to meet the demand. But for the state of horses and men the Field-Marshal could have stuck to his well-known principle, one acquired from the great Napoleon himself, namely, that a commander-in-chief should never give rest either to the victor or to the vanquished. As it was, he was stuck fast, and the Boers were not slow to take advantage of the opportunity thus given them to recuperate. Up to the time of the Koorn Spruit and Reddersburg disasters things seemed to be ranging themselves satisfactorily, but little by little the authorities began to discover that the entire attitude of the apparently pacified burghers was decidedly false. By degrees they learnt that, instead of disturbing a hornet's nest and clearing it, they had, as it were, got into the midst of it themselves. It became evident that within the town there existed a conspiracy for the purpose not only of supplying the enemy with information, but keeping him ready equipped for hostility. Under the mask of neutrality, certain Germans and others incited the burghers who had laid down their arms to take them up again. This, in the true sense of the word, for it was found that upwards of some 3000 weapons had been buried for use in emergency. But once General Pretyman obtained a true grasp of the situation, and could prove the duplicit nature of the persons with whom he had to deal, the work of weeding and deportation of the obnoxious element of Bloemfontein society was taken in hand. Early in the month a prominent figure was removed from the fighting scene. The death was announced of Colonel the Hon. G. H. Gough[3] at Norval's Pont. This distinguished officer till the time of his death had been acting as Assistant Adjutant-General to General French's Cavalry Division. His services had been many and brilliant, and his loss was deeply deplored. The occupation of pacifying the disturbed western districts continued. General Settle and his forces had been operating between De Aar, Prieska, Kenhardt, and Upington, and General Parsons had occupied Kenhardt, and in a few days all traces of rebellion in the district between Van Wyks Vlei and Kenhardt had disappeared. As a matter of fact, it was discovered that many of the rebels were ignorant of why they were fighting at all. Some one addressed them and said, "What are you fighting for?" and they answered, "Equal rights for all white men in South Africa." "Then," said the speaker, "go and fight Paul Kruger. He alone refuses white men equal rights!" Still more ignorant were many of the subsidised sympathisers, while other foreigners who were forced to fight were evidently apathetic regarding the issue of the struggle. The following story was told of a Pole, who was not sorry when taken prisoner. When asked why he fought, he said, "Vat could I do? Dey give me musket and bandolier, and say, 'You must fight.' The captain say to me, 'You take that mountain,' and I ask, 'Vare shall I take it?'" If the tale was not absolutely accurate, it was still typical of the nonchalance of many who were engaged in the Transvaal cause. Of changes there were many. On the 10th, it was announced in general orders that Major-General Sir H. Chermside had been appointed to the command of the Third Division _vice_ Lieutenant-General Sir W. F. Gatacre "ordered to England." There was a good deal of sympathy expressed by all who knew the difficulties with which General Gatacre had had to contend. But, as an old campaigner remarked, luck counts for as much as merit in actual warfare. "Give me a man who is lucky, and I ask nothing more." Luck was at the bottom of it all, and luck is all-important where multitudes of men have to follow, heart in hand, blindly rushing to glory in the footsteps of faith. General Gatacre's name now spelt disaster, and as men had to be marched to ticklish work that wanted nerve and confidence of the best, a luckier commander was chosen. Accordingly, a much-tried officer--a soldier to the marrow--was sacrificed on the altar of necessity. An Infantry Division from the Natal side was formed under the command of Sir Archibald Hunter, and called the Tenth Division, while the Eleventh Division was commanded by General Pole-Carew. General Ian Hamilton commanded a division of mounted infantry, ten thousand strong, formed of South African and other mounted Colonial contingents, and divided into two brigades under Generals Hutton and Ridley. As this division came in for a considerable amount of exercise in course of Lord Roberts's great advance, it is particularly interesting to examine and remember its component parts. General Hutton's brigade comprised the Canadians, the New Zealanders, and all the Australians except the cavalry. The staff was as follows:-- Colonel Martyr, Chief Staff Officer; Lord Rosmead, Aide-de-Camp; Colonel Hoad (Victoria), Assistant Adjutant-General; Major Bridges (New South Wales), Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General; Major Cartwright (Canada), Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General; Colonel Gordon (Adelaide), officer on the line of communication; Major Rankin (Queensland), Staff Officer; Major Vandeleur (Scots Guards), advanced base transport officer; Captain Lex, Army Service Corps, supply officer. The brigade consisted of four corps of mounted infantry, under Colonels Alderson, De Lisle, Pilcher, and Henry. The first corps consisted of a 1st Battalion of Canadians, under Colonel Lessard; a 2nd Battalion, under Colonel Herchmer; and Strathcona's Horse, under Colonel Steel. The second corps consisted of the New South Wales Mounted Infantry, under Colonel Knight, and the West Australians, under Captain Moor. The third corps was formed of the Queenslanders, under Colonel Ricardo, and the New Zealanders, under Major Robin. The fourth corps consisted of the Victorians, under Colonel Price; the South Australians, under Captain Reade; and the Tasmanians, under Captain Cameron. Each corps had a battalion of Imperial Mounted Infantry attached to it, except the New South Wales Corps. A battery joined the division, as well as the Canadian Battery and a number of Vickers-Maxims. The New South Wales Army Medical Corps, under Colonel Williams, were the medical troops of the division. General Ridley's brigade consisted entirely of South African troops. Lord Roberts, always appreciative of the Colonials, ordered the body of Colonel Umphelby of the Victorian Contingent, who was killed at Driefontein, to be removed to Bloemfontein, there to be buried with honours appropriate to the distinction of that gallant officer's services. Rearrangements of all kinds were taking place, the better to meet the peculiarities of the situation. Sir Redvers Buller was asked to co-operate by forcing Van Reenen's Pass, and threatening the enemy's line of retreat; but the task was one bristling with difficulties, as until Northern Natal should be cleared of the enemy he considered it unsafe to move westward. Accordingly, to meet the necessity for strong action in the east of the Free State, it was decided the Natal Field Army should continue its work in its own ground, minus the Tenth Division (Hunter's), which should be moved by sea to East London, one brigade (Barton's) to replace the Eighth Division (Rundle's), diverted from Kimberley to Springfontein, and one brigade (Hart's) to operate in the neighbourhood of Bethulie. It must here be noted that the country south of a line drawn from Kimberley to Bloemfontein seemed to be almost under control, but the pacification of the angle south-east of Bloemfontein had, as yet, to be accomplished. Meanwhile, President Kruger made a tour of the positions of his army, in order to stimulate the Free Staters to further efforts; but very many of these began to show symptoms of unbelief, and refused any longer to swallow the assertions that Russia had taken London and that America was coming to the aid of the Boers, which the President and other kinsmen of Ananias in the Transvaal took the trouble to repeat. Daily, various Free Staters surrendered--some of them genuinely, while others merely gave up an old rifle for convenience' sake, burying some four others for use in emergency--took to their farms, and there developed from fine fighting-men into mean and despicable spies. With these slippery fish it was difficult to cope, and the problem of how to manage them took some little time to solve. Still, the task of remodelling and improving the army continued, all working to bring the long halt to a conclusion as speedily as possible. Efforts wonderful and successful were made to increase the mobility, particularly of the mounted portions of the troops. One section of the Vickers-Maxim guns (1-inch guns) was attached to each cavalry brigade, and two sections to each brigade of mounted infantry. To add to the mobility of the horse artillery the waggons of each battery were reduced to three, spare teams being allowed for each gun. The Eighth Division (Rundle) which, as we know, had been diverted from Kimberley to Springfontein, and the Third Division (Gatacre's, now Chermside's) which was concentrated at Bethanie, were fulfilling a part of Lord Roberts's scheme for sweeping the right-hand bottom corner of the Free State clear of the enemy. Assisting them was General Hart, with a brigade of Hunter's Division, and engaged also in the operation were the mounted infantry, under General Brabazon, and part of the Colonial Brigade under General Brabant. Another part of this Brigade, which had moved towards Wepener at the beginning of the month, had there been blockaded by the enemy, and though their position was not regarded as serious, Lord Roberts was forming plans for a general converging movement which would have the effect of routing the Boers from the end of the Free State altogether. Energetic measures of every kind were adopted for the control of the Free State. General Pretyman, who had been appointed Military Governor of Bloemfontein, developed a scheme for the protection of those who had taken the oaths of submission, and who were hourly in dread of the reprisals of the Boers. Though some of the Free Staters for long had been entirely sick of the war, and were only forced into fighting in fear of ill-treatment by the Boers, others, as we are aware, had merely hidden their arms in the determination to take up fighting whenever a good chance offered. In order to secure the interests of the pacific, and keep an eye on the treacherous, General Pretyman began to organise a corps of Mounted Police for service in the Free State, at the same time dividing the conquered radius into sections. Each section was to be administered by a Commissioner chosen for his experience in Colonial matters. Colonel Girouard, R.E., also formed a railway corps, employing some ten volunteers from each regiment to help in the enormous operations now being set on foot. A change was also made in the postage stamp of the country. The existing issues of stamps of President Steyn's Republic were marked V.R.I. in black ink, and also with figures denoting their value as recognised by the Imperial Government. The threepenny stamps were marked with the nominal value of 2½d., to agree with the twenty-five centimes of the Postal Union. Naturally the philatelists were all on the alert, and stamps as well as trophies were fetching absurd prices in the town. Of recreation there was also a little. On the 18th of April a somewhat original concert was organised by the war correspondents, on behalf of the Widows' and Orphans' Funds of London and Bloemfontein. The originality of the scheme and the interest thereof lay in the fact that conquerors and conquered met together on the common ground of charity, and mutually contributed to make the undertaking a success. £300 were realised. Mr. Rudyard Kipling put forth his quota. He did honour to the Colonials in verse, and this ditty, to the tune of "Auld Lang Syne," was sung by Miss Fraser, the daughter of Mr. Steyn's former opponent for the Presidency. Among the marketables were portraits of Lord Roberts and Mr. Kruger. These were the work of some of the artist journalists. "Bobs" was "knocked down" for a big figure, and became the property of Lord Stanley, a valuable trophy that may well become an historical heirloom. This concert was only one of the many efforts at harmony made by Lord Roberts, who, as diplomatist and statesman as much as soldier and conqueror, foresaw a future wherein the people of the Free State, originally actuated by no animosity towards the British, would become reconciled to the beneficent rule of the British Empire, as contrasting with the despotic rule of the Boer Republics, and live side by side with us in the true spirit of liberty, fraternity, and equality enjoyed by British subjects. WITH LORD METHUEN--THE BATTLE OF BOSHOF Against the misfortunes of Koorn Spruit and Reddersburg we would place one brilliant victory--a victory gained by Lord Methuen at Boshof, mainly through the smartness, bravery, and unspeakable steadiness of the Imperial Yeomanry, who were under fire for the first time, and the splendid dash of the Kimberley Corps, whose experiences during the siege had lifted them almost to the rank of veterans. It may be remembered that Lord Methuen at the end of February took up the post of Administrator of the Kimberley district, which extends as far south as the Orange River, subsequently leaving Colonel Kekewich in command of the local forces. The General commenced active operations on the western frontier, for the purpose of clearing the country of rebellious obstructions, and protecting the lines of communication with the north. At Boshof there was concentrated a comparatively large army, composed of two batteries of artillery, about 6000 infantry, and 1000 mounted infantry, which were massing together to march to Kroonstadt, where they expected eventually to take their place as the left wing of the main army. The town itself presented a desolate aspect, all the Dutchmen being absent on commando under Commandant Duplessis, and being in force on the Vaal River, some miles distant. Lord Methuen hearing that a detachment of the enemy was moving along the Jacobsdal road, and threatening his communications, ordered Colonel Peakman to effect its capture. As a result of this order a most successful fight took place, some five miles east of Boshof, on the 5th of April. Taking part in the action were two companies of the Bucks Yeomanry, one of the Berks Yeomanry, one of the Oxford Yeomanry, one company of the Sherwood Rangers, one of the Yorkshire Yeomanry, and also the Kimberley Mounted Volunteers. With these was the Fourth Battery R.F.A. [Illustration: TYPES OF ARMS.--12-lb. Field Gun of the Elswick (Northumberland Service) Battery. By permission of Messrs. Armstrong, Whitworth & Co., the makers.] The Imperial Yeomanry under Lord Chesham on this occasion had their first chance of distinguishing themselves and seized it, behaving, as some one who looked on said, "like veteran troops." The affair began in haste. A Yeomanry patrol suddenly discovered the enemy and announced his near approach. There was a rush. "To horse! to horse!" sang out the troopers keen for action. Their steeds were grazing, but in less than thirty minutes every man was careering off to duty. The Boers, some sixty-eight in number, were tenanting a kopje, and round their lair the troops disposed themselves, Lord Scarborough's Squadron of Yeomanry to left, and the Kimberley Mounted Corps to right. The rest of the Yeomanry attacked from the front, occupying two small kopjes some fourteen hundred yards distant from the enemy. These promptly greeted them with a persistent fusillade. Then the right flank slowly began to creep up, taking advantage of cover as nature had provided, while the front marched across the open. This advance of the troops was masterly, though no cover was available till the base of the kopje occupied by the enemy was reached. Method and coolness were displayed to a great extent, and to these qualities was due the day's success. For three and a half hours the operations lasted, the men closing gradually in, and finally surrounding the kopje and storming it. The surrounding process, both by the Yeomanry and the Kimberley force, was carried on with amazing skill and coolness till the moment came for which all were panting. The Yeomanry then fixed bayonets and charged. A rush, a flash of steel, and then--surrender. The Boers hoisted a white flag! but even as they did so their comrades poured deadly bullets on our advancing men. Captain Williams of the "Imperials," who was gallantly in advance of his comrades, dropped, shot dead in the very hour of victory. There was small consolation in the fact that the murderer was instantly slain by an avenging hand. At this time the men had gained the hill and were within seventy yards of the Boer trenches. But the Boers, notwithstanding their display of the white flag, continued to blaze with their rifles till a Yeomanry officer shouted that he would continue to fire unless the enemy threw down their rifles and put up their hands. This threat brought the cowards to their senses. They obeyed, and the position was gained with a rousing, ringing cheer. Then came the sad part of triumph, the collection of the gallant dead and the succour of the wounded. Among the first were three, Captains Williams and Boyle, and Sergeant Patrick Campbell. The enemy's dead and wounded numbered fourteen, while our wounded numbered seven. Captain Cecil Boyle was shot through the temple within eighty yards of the Boer position while gallantly leading his men. He was a soldier to the core, one who, merely from a sense of patriotic responsibility, was among the first to leap to his country's call, and who threw into his work so much energy, zeal, and grave purpose that the atmosphere of the camp made him feel at the end of a week as if, to use his own words, "I had done nothing but soldiering all my life." He, at the invitation of his old chum, Colonel Douglas Haig, began work at Colesberg "to watch the cavalry operations." There he had what he thought the supreme good luck to be appointed galloper to General French. After the relief of Kimberley and the capture of Cronje he went to the Cape to meet the Oxfordshire Yeomanry, and with them gallantly advanced to meet his fate--the first Yeomanry officer in this history of ours to fall in action. [Illustration: COLONEL LORD CHESHAM, Imperial Yeomanry Photo by Russell & Sons, London] At the close of the fight the clouds which had been lowering over the position like a pall of purple suddenly burst. Torrents descended, saturating the heated troops and sopping the ground whereon lay the maimed and slain. With thunder bellowing and lightning splitting the skies, with an accompaniment of deluge and darkness, the troops and their prisoners found their way to camp. Under cover of the obscurity some of the latter made a wild endeavour to escape, but the Yeomanry were too proud of their "bag" to allow a single one to get free, and finally had the satisfaction of seeing their bedraggled prize lodged in jail. Lord Methuen commanded, and expressed himself much gratified with the success of the operations, with the courage and coolness and method with which all his orders were carried out. Colonel Peakman, of Kimberley fame, who had already accomplished a quite unusual record of fighting, displayed an immense amount of talent in the field, and his corps, in every way worthy of him, cut off the enemy's retreat with remarkable skill. So much indeed, that the Boers complained of the slimness of the troops who, by apparently retiring hurriedly, drew them within range of the British volleys! Our troops were pitting themselves now against no unruly or uninitiated barbarians, for the hostile force was under the command of the notable Frenchman, Colonel de Villebois-Mareuil. This gallant officer was killed by shrapnel from the 4th Field Battery Royal Field Artillery before the display of the white flag by the Boers. He was accompanied by many of his compatriots, who were taken prisoners. The force indeed was mainly cosmopolitan, it being composed of Hollanders, Frenchmen, Germans, and Russians, three Boers only belonging to the commando. Not a man of the enemy escaped. Eight were killed, six wounded, and fifty-four polyglot prisoners, with sixty horses and their baggage, were brought into camp. Two guns were also captured. The courage and dash of the Imperial Yeomanry was eulogised on all sides, even by the Colonials, who hitherto had been somewhat disposed to look down on their brother Volunteers from civilised and inexperienced England. The magnificent spirit which inspired one and all, the grit displayed by the wounded, and their self-abnegation were the subject of much comment. A Colonial trooper, writing home his applause, said: "Where all behaved so well it is almost invidious to mention any one in particular, but as an instance of the fine spirit which animated them, I would mention two whose names I have ascertained, Sergeant-Major Coles, of the Bucks Yeomanry, and Throgmorton, a trooper in the Oxfords. These two continued in action after being wounded, the former with a bullet through the shoulder, and the latter with a gunshot wound in the head, and sooner than crowd the ambulance they rode in afterwards, twelve miles in the darkness, through one of the worst thunder-storms it has been my lot to witness. What they must have suffered in the state they were in they alone know." From all accounts the French colonel who fell was entirely confident of success. Before the engagements he sent an invitation to his compatriots to join his force. He thought he had discovered the flaws in the Boer armour, and was bent on giving the Federals an object lesson in how to defeat and scatter the British. He also issued a manifesto addressed to the French legions, the translation of which ran thus:-- "To the Legionaries, who have known me as their comrade.--Officers, Non-commissioned Officers, and Men,--I know that you have not forgotten me, and we understand each other, and therefore I appeal to you. There is here in front of the Vaal a people whom it is desired to rob of its rights, its properties, and its liberty in order to satisfy some capitalists by its downfall. The blood that runs in the veins of this people is in part French blood. France, therefore, owes to it some striking manifestation of help. Ah, well! You are the men whom a soldier's temperament, apart from all the great obligations of nationality, has gathered under this people's flag, and may that flag bring with it the best of fortune! To me you are the finished type of a troop that attacks and knows not retreat." He also wrote to the Parisians:-- "The Dutch are splendid at defence, but they cannot follow up a defeat and crush the enemy, which the French legionaries would be able to do.... Come and I will receive you here; and I promise you that very few days shall elapse before we will show the world the mettle of which the French legionaries are made." The display to unprejudiced onlookers was distinctly poor, however, and the example of strategy set by the gallant Gaul scarcely served to demonstrate astounding military genius. The Colonel's plan of campaign was nevertheless most carefully made out, as a document which subsequently fell into Lord Methuen's hands served to show. Very dramatic sounds the orders for the movements on April 4, as translated by the correspondent of the _Daily Telegraph_:-- "To-night the detachment of the raid will attack Boshof and follow its route, under the favour of a surprise and the prevailing darkness. For this purpose, the following dispositions will be observed: The column will set off at four o'clock in the afternoon, with the detachment of Boers under Field-Cornet Daniell, in such a manner as just to reach Boshof by night. At a certain point the detachment will divide, and will reach their respective places of assembly to the east and west of the town. Boshof is situated in a plain, and is flanked by certain kopjes, of which the importance and distance from the town are reported as follows: to the north, two naked kopjes, weakly guarded, and a good distance from the town. Between them passes the Hoopstadt-Boshof road. To the east, on the road to Kimberley, which it commands, one kopje, which is not guarded by the enemy. Upon this the Boers will take up their position. Finally, to the south-east of the town, and exactly opposite to it, there is a kopje, where the English have an outpost of fifty men. On the summit of this is formed a small parapet of stones, about half the height of a man. This will form part of the attack reserved for the detachment of the raid. "The Hoopstadt and Kimberley roads cross in the interior of the town. "The plan of attack will be carried out under the following conditions: At eleven o'clock in the evening, the Boers under Field-Cornet Daniell will be in position on the Kopje C, and the telegraph wire on the Kimberley road will be cut by them. At the same time, the raiding party will assemble behind the Kopje E, situated two kilometres from the town. The horses and the Scotch cart will there await the final operations, as well as the native servants, if there are any. One man will be left behind with each team of six horses. Commandant Saeremburg and Lieutenant de Breda will, before the departure, choose these men, the importance of whose mission will be readily understood, since upon their vigilance will depend the safety of the expedition in the event of retreat. The group left behind will be under the orders of Nicollet. The men will remain standing at the head of the horses, which will be saddled and bridled, the cart boys at the head of the mules, all ready harnessed. "At half-past eleven, the attacking party will march in three échelons, twenty mètres apart, the centre in the van. The centre échelon, under the special direction of the General, will be formed by the French platoon. The centre échelon, commanded by Commandant Saeremburg, will consist of one-half of the Dutch, and the left, under Lieutenant Bock, of the other half. Furthermore, the men who have been in the habit of messing together in groups will appoint a leader, from whom they will on no account separate nor get out of touch. When these groups do not exist, or exceed ten in number, the leaders of the party will break them up and form parties of six or eight, and appoint a head of the group. The General will see these heads of groups at three o'clock in his camp, to give them instructions further than can be detailed here. "In the approaching march the commandants will give their orders in a low voice, and the men will be ranged in line, so that they can see the heads of groups and lie down instantly. It is of importance, also, to watch the investigations of the search-light, if the English have one at Boshof, which has not yet been ascertained. The moment the ray is turned towards the échelon, the leader will make his group lie down, and the march will not be resumed until the light is turned away. At the rise of Kopje D, a halt will be made behind the cemetery, and the Saeremburg échelon will carry the kopje by assault and will occupy it. From there it will hold ... the two kraals Z Z, where the English encamped in the market-place in Boshof itself could make the first attempt at resistance. In no case, for an easily understood reason, will it fire upon the town. Firing, moreover, can only be carried out by volleys discharged by word of command given by the head of each group. "Continuing their march, the two other échelons will pass a well behind the kraals, and will attack the English camp outside the town. In this effect, the French échelon, after firing two volleys, will advance at the charge, with the cry, 'Transvaal and Free State!' and will thus complete the panic. As there are no bayonets, the rifles will be kept loaded and carried under the arms at the position of the charge. After having crossed the camp from the east to the south, the rout will be accomplished by firing. Lieutenant Bock's échelon will remain under the orders of the General, as a reserve, should the Boers placed on the Kimberley road on the Kopje C have to deal with the fugitives. He could also render assistance, if the enemy issuing from Boshof should endeavour to turn the attack. He would then be informed of this eventuality by Field-Cornet Coleman, who will cover the left of the attack in such a manner as to observe all that may be menaced. For this purpose, the Afrikanders will conform to the general movement of the march of approach, and retire as soon as the attack begins on the west of the English camp to a distance suitable for observation. "To facilitate recognition the brim of the hats will be covered with a white handkerchief. "The meagreness of our information does not permit of even an approximate estimate of the English force. The forces in Boshof seem, however, to be between 300 and 400 men. Whatever happens, the assailants should remember that their moral superiority is overwhelming, and even in the event of retreat, they can easily, covered by the darkness, regain their horses and retire from Boshof without risk." In view of these magnificent preliminaries, one may look without vanity at the celerity and completeness of the British operations which were rewarded with victory. The Frenchman's _programme_ makes a quaint contrast to the terse description of a quartermaster-sergeant of the Imperial Yeomanry, who thus sketched the events of the 5th of April:-- "We received orders to turn out as soon as possible; we were soon all bustle, caught and saddled our horses, and off we went post-haste. One of our patrols had been shot in the night by a foraging party of Boers. We trotted off for about two hours, and then caught them out-spanned at the bottom of a kopje. We dismounted and got on some more kopjes close by and began exchanging shots. Then we mounted again, and half of us went round to their right and half to the left to cut off their retreat; and our artillery, of which three guns had followed us, began to shell them in front. When we had got well round them we dismounted again and advanced to the attack, taking cover. Then, after a few volleys, ran up about twenty yards; then a few more volleys, and up again until we were within about a hundred and fifty yards, when we made a rush for it with fixed bayonets. About seventy yards from the top there was a large wire fence. We had to clamber through, and then, when we were about fifty yards away, they came out and surrendered. There were thirteen of them killed, and we had fifty-four prisoners, amongst them General de Villebois-Mareuil and four or five more Frenchmen. They had a cart with them full of ammunition and dynamite, so they were evidently on some foray to blow some bridge or other up. They were stationed on two kopjes. The one our own lot went against was on the right. Most of their bullets fell short whilst we were advancing, and when we made our final rush they went over us. About twenty of them escaped before we reached them. It was about five o'clock when the fight was over, and we commenced a twelve-mile march to camp about 5.45. After going about two miles it came on dark, and we had a very heavy thunder-storm all the way to camp, which we reached about ten o'clock last night, wet to the skin." The blow so deftly and quickly struck at the marauding parties of the Boers was valuable from many points of view. It served to restore confidence in Lord Methuen's leadership--confidence which had been considerably shattered by the disaster of Majersfontein--and it helped to suppress a tendency to raiding in the west of Cape Colony. So complete a success could not but have a sobering effect on the rebels, and give them pause in their mad career of hostility. On the 7th of April, at dawn, Lord Methuen marched ten miles on the Hoopstadt Road to Zwartkopjesfontein Farm without opposition. On the 8th he proceeded further, but finally, by Lord Roberts's orders, retraced his steps to Zwartkopjes. On the 10th, at daybreak, two flying columns started forth--General Douglas to south-east and east of the camp, Colonel Mahon (commanding Kimberley Mounted Corps) from Boshof towards Kimberley. Colonel Mahon's movements, on which the relief of Mafeking was depending, must be taken in detail later on. Lord Methuen operated in this district till the 17th of May, when he moved to Hoopstadt and brought his force within the zone of the main operations. On the 21st he proceeded to Kroonstadt. In the Kimberley district the First Division had been rearranged as follows:-- Lieutenant-General Lord Methuen. 9th Brigade (Major-General C. W. H. Douglas).--1st Northumberland Fusiliers, 1st Loyal North Lancashire, 2nd Northamptonshire, 2nd Yorkshire Light Infantry. 20th Brigade (Major-General A. H. Paget).--Composed of Militia Battalions, 4th, 20th, and 44th Field Batteries; 37th Howitzer Battery. Brigade Imperial Yeomanry (Colonel Lord Chesham).--1st Battalion, 3rd Battalion, 5th Battalion, 10th Battalion. Cape Police, Diamond Fields Horse, Part Kimberley Light Horse, Diamond Fields Artillery. FOOTNOTES: [1] From "The Handy Man, and other Verses" (Grant Richards). [2] The Rev. J. Godfrey. [3] Colonel the Hon. George Hugh Gough commenced his military career in 1871, when he took a commission as cornet in the 14th Hussars, of which he held the adjutancy for nearly four years until 1879, when he was promoted captain. In 1882 he obtained the brevet rank of major, and in 1885 he was promoted major and brevet lieutenant-colonel, and four years later he obtained his colonelcy. Colonel Gough passed through the Staff College in 1883, after serving as A.D.C. to the Lieutenant-General commanding the expeditionary force in Egypt in 1882. Among his staff appointments was that of private secretary to the Commander-in-chief (Lord Wolseley), which he attained in 1897, and again in 1898, after holding the post of assistant military secretary at the head-quarters of the army. Colonel Gough's war services included the Boer War of 1881, when he was aide-de-camp to the officer commanding the base and the lines of communication; the Egyptian campaign of 1882; and the Soudan Expedition of 1884-85. In the former his horse was killed under him at Tel-el-Kebir, and he was mentioned in despatches. He received the order of the Mejidieh (4th class), the bronze star, and the medal with clasp. In the Soudan Expedition, where he was in command of the Mounted Infantry, Colonel Gough was again mentioned in despatches, greatly distinguishing himself at the battle of Abu Klea, where he was wounded. CHAPTER II MAFEKING, APRIL On the first Sunday in April Lieutenant Hanbury Tracy, with two waggons, was sent to bring in the dead, after the unsuccessful but gallant effort made by Colonel Plumer to enter the town on the 31st of March. As has been said, Commandant Snyman's report of the number of slain was greatly exaggerated, and the wounded he would not give up. Captain Crewe, who had died of his injuries, was buried in the melancholy little cemetery at Mafeking, already a sad memorial of deeds of daring. Of Lieutenant Milligan nothing definite was known, and it was believed that he was among those who had been buried by the Boers. Captain Maclaren (13th Hussars) was still in the hands of the enemy--a prisoner, and seriously, if not mortally, wounded. The total casualties on Colonel Plumer's side were said to be seventy-eight. Two officers and six men were killed, three officers and thirty-six men were wounded, and one officer and eleven men were taken prisoners. On the 4th of April there was intense joy over the arrival of Lieutenant Smitheman, who appeared at Mafeking carrying a despatch for Colonel Baden-Powell from Colonel Plumer. His appearance was naturally a signal for surprise and excitement, as every crumb of news from the outside world was precious as pearls. Previous to this visit only one white man--Reuter's cyclist--had succeeded in getting through the Boer lines. Mr. Smitheman was well acquainted with the country, and had distinguished himself as a scout in the Matabele campaign. His latest exploit was full of moment, and there was no doubt that in thus establishing a link with the garrison his visit would be fraught with important results when the opportunity to attempt the relief of the garrison should present itself. This smart officer had made his way into the beleagured town piloted by a native diviner--a personage who claimed by means of a rod to ascertain the whereabouts of Boers, as other diviners have decided the presence of water. Whether Lieutenant Smitheman owed his safe conduct to the acumen of the native or to the dexterity of his own actions was much disputed, but the result was eminently satisfactory. Commandant Snyman having been absent for a day or two, the community enjoyed temporary peace, but on the 6th the tyrant was back again, and by way of good-morrow his gun "Creaky" blew up the office of Major Goold Adams. On the 7th, Mr. Smitheman returned to Colonel Plumer, bearing upon him much serviceable information. A party of native women endeavoured to escape to Kanya, but were intercepted by the enemy--stripped, sjamboked, and forced to return. There was also a smart fight between the Boers and some Fingoes, who had gone on a cattle-raiding expedition. These defended themselves valiantly for twenty-five hours, but only one man was left to tell the tale. This man succeeded in crawling to the shelter of some reeds, and thus escaped unobserved. [Illustration: THE NATIVE VILLAGE OF MAFEKING.] The following correspondence now passed between Commandant Snyman and Colonel Baden-Powell in reference to the former's alleged employment of "barbarians" by the British in cattle-raiding expeditions:-- "MARICO LAAGER, MOLOPO, _April 7_. "_To his Honour_ Colonel BADEN-POWELL, Mafeking. "Enclosed I beg to send to you a copy of a pass signed 'A. T. Mackenzie, Black Watch,' and dated April 4, which is a clear proof that Kaffirs are sent out, with your Honour's knowledge, naturally, as head officer, to plunder, rob, and murder. I am very sorry to see that tyranny carries away the good nature of so polite a nation as the English. They know that the barbarians have nothing else in view. Twenty Kaffirs were sent last week in a northerly direction by an English officer, according to the statement of a wounded native who was taught a lesson by one of my burghers. Thirty-two were sent on the 4th, according to a pass found in the pockets of one of the killed. They were all shot yesterday. I request you to be kind enough to fetch the bodies. Please send an ambulance under a Red Cross flag in the direction of Canton Kopje, and notify me immediately the waggons have left. I will send some of my burghers to point out the battle-field.--Your Honour's obedient servant, "J. P. SNYMAN." "MAFEKING, _April 7_. "_To his Honour_ General SNYMAN. "Sir,--I have the honour to acknowledge your letter of to-day. In regard to the pass signed 'Mackenzie,' this man had no authority to issue a pass of any kind, much less for the purpose stated. I am obliged to you for bringing the case to my notice. As regards your Honour's statement that your burghers killed thirty-two natives, I beg to inform you that I know nothing whatever about these men. They were certainly not acting under orders received from myself, nor, so far as I am aware, from any of my officers. I would point out that there are a number of natives about the country in a destitute condition owing to their homes having been burnt and their cattle stolen by your burghers, and it is only too probable that they have taken the law into their own hands to endeavour to obtain food. Of this I have warned your honour before. For their acts I must decline to be held in any way responsible.--I have the honour to be your obedient servant, R. S. S. BADEN-POWELL, Colonel commanding H.M. troops in Mafeking." On the 10th of April, in the dead of night, the enemy's field-guns were moved to positions completely surrounding the town, and shells were poured in with unparalleled persistency. Thirty dropped into the women's laager--four into the hospital. Under cover of the bombardment the Boers, who had been reinforced by a German corps, made an attack on Fort Abrams, which they imagined had been disabled by their shell-fire. They were somewhat amazed to find that the garrison of the fort was not only alive, but kicking. The corporal in charge, who had calmly waited till his assailants had got within range, suddenly poured a fierce volley on the approaching numbers. Result: five of the enemy were left on the field, to be recovered later under a Red Cross flag. The effects of bombardment were many and various. At one time the Dutch Church was struck, at another some shells bounded on the roadway, flew through the air straight across the town, landing with awful detonations a mile on the other side. Some failed to burst, and then the duty of extracting the charge was a ticklish one. One man in so doing was blown to ribbons, pieces of him being cast to the winds and picked up quite a hundred yards from the scene of the disaster. Another man was so forcibly struck that a portion of leg and boot were forced through the iron-roofed verandah some seventy yards off! Every house was pocked with its melancholy tale. There were holes you could jump through in the ceiling of some of the rooms, while others were shattered past recognition. Dixon's Hotel had its end smashed, and the market-place bore signs of merciless battering. [Illustration: SERGEANT--18th HUSSARS Photo by Gregory & Co., London] On the 12th a welcome guest came in the form of a pigeon, bearing a message from Colonel Plumer. No small creature of the winged tribe had ever before conveyed so much satisfaction, save perhaps the first prominent performer in the days of the ark. News also arrived by runner, of Mr. Smitheman's safe arrival, and a message from her Majesty was delivered to Colonel Baden-Powell. This kindly expression of the Sovereign's sympathy was highly appreciated, and served to inspirit the whole community. Later, a splendid effort was made by Colonel Plumer's force to run a herd of cattle into the town. A party of Baralongs, under a native captain, got to within seven miles of the town when they were attacked on both flanks by the enemy. They nevertheless pursued their way, screening themselves as far as possible behind the bodies of the cattle, which were driven in front of them. But the Boer fire was unerring, and soon only fifteen of the poor beasts remained. These, at last, had to be abandoned, for owing to the lack of ammunition the cattle-runners were forced to make themselves scarce. Such as were wounded were left behind, and were murdered by the Boers. Several native women who, from fear of starvation, attempted to pierce the Boer lines, were also put to death. This behaviour much incensed the British, for the Baralongs had from the first earned the esteem of the community by their unswerving loyalty. Major Baillie, writing home, eulogised their conduct, and expressed a hope that their devotion would be recognised at the end of the war. He said:-- "After the first day's shelling the mouthpiece of the Baralong tribe, Silas Molemo, came up to Mr. Bell, the resident magistrate, and said to him, 'Never mind this; we will stick to you and see it through,' which they certainly have done. They are not a tribe who would make a dashing attack, or, to use the expression, 'be bossed up' to do things which they don't particularly want to; but, given a defensive position, they will hang on to it for all they are worth, as they have proved many times during the war in the defence of their stadt. They have had their cattle raided, their outlying homesteads destroyed, their crops for this year are nil, and all through a time when the outlook to a native mind must have seemed most black they have unswervingly and uncomplainingly stuck to us, and never hesitated to do anything they were called on to do." (It is pleasant to note that after the relief the Baralongs received formal recognition of their splendid loyalty.) "The better the day, the better the deed," was evidently the motto of the Boers, for on Good Friday they applied their energies to the construction of new trenches and fortifications about fifteen hundred yards beyond their former position. In order not to be behind the times, the bread ration of the day was marked with a cross, to do duty as a "hot cross bun." On the following day misfortune hung over the place, for two troopers, Molloy and Hassell, belonging to the Fort Ayr garrison, were caught by a shell and mortally wounded. On Easter Day there were sports to revive the spirits of the garrison. On the 19th of April the Creusot gun was withdrawn, and the inhabitants took heart. To vary their menu they now engaged in a locust haul, the result of which was to supply a third variant to the bill of fare. Lady Sarah Wilson, telegraphing to her friends, described her diet of horse sausages, minced mule, and curried locusts! The latter insects were reported to be tender as chicken and as tasty as prawn "almondised." The natives had a good meal, and visibly grew fat. On the following day a telegram was received from Lord Roberts requesting the garrison to hold out till the 18th of May. It was disappointing, none could deny, but they consoled themselves that a message showing they were marked down in the programme of "coming events" was better than nothing at all. Fortunately the food still held out. Water--pure water--was rare as Edelweiss, and liquor of other kind was unobtainable. Only money was what our friends on the Stock Exchange call "tight." The bank was closed to the general public, and her Majesty's presentment upon a coin was a prize to be cherished and clung to till--well, till the crack of doom should make the ever-promised and never-realised relief unnecessary. But the great food problem well-nigh exhausted all the energies of those concerned with it. Captain Ryan, D.A.A.G., sat daily in the interior of his bomb-proof office receiving a procession of persons who filed in to make their impossible demands, and deliberating on the curious fact that the stomach rules the world. The honour of the British Empire at that moment hung by a mere thread--it was a question of how slender a thread of nourishment could keep body and soul tacked together to represent the figure of an Englishman! Nevertheless Mafeking, like Kimberley, was bound to have its marriage bells. A Dutch bride, ignorant of English, was led to the altar by a private of the Bechuanaland Rifles, ignorant of Dutch. Philosophers predicted considerable felicity, as between them the couple had sufficient language for love-making and scarce sufficient for controversy. At this time Captain Ryan made a statement regarding the supplies of the town, which serves to show the pitch to which caution was carried:-- "The total number of white men is approximately 1150, of white women 400, and of white children 300. The coloured population consists of some 2000 men, 2000 women, and 3000 children. "Both the white and coloured men originally received eight ounces of bread. The allowance has now been reduced to six, but a quart of soup is given to make up the deficiency. Half a gallon of sowan porridge a day will sustain life. The recipients are of three classes; those who receive it in lieu of two ounces of bread; those who wish to purchase food over and above the quantity to which they are entitled; those who are absolutely destitute, both black and white, and who receive the porridge free. It has been suggested that the natives should not be charged for sowan porridge, but it is thought unwise to pauperise either blacks or whites. If any profit has been made from the sale by the end of the siege it will be employed in buying grain for the many native women and children in Mafeking who have been involved in a quarrel which is not theirs. "The horse soup is made from the carcasses of animals which had ceased to be serviceable and those killed by the enemy's fire, as well as horses and donkeys purchased from individuals who can no longer afford to keep them. This soup is unpopular among the natives, but this is due rather to prejudice than to its quality. "The distribution of supplies is entirely under Imperial control. The Army Service Corps possesses a slaughter-house, a bakery, and a grocery, at which the authorities receive and distribute all vegetables, and it receives and distributes milk to the hospital, to women and children, and to men who have been medically certified to need it. "At present the hospital is supplied with white bread, and it is hoped that the supply will be continued. Hospital comforts are issued to such as are in need of them, both in and out patients, on receipt of an order from a medical officer. For the nurses and doctors, who work day and night, the authorities endeavoured to provide slightly better rations than those available for the general community. Our sources of supply have been chiefly through Mr. Weil, who had a large stock on hand for the provisioning of the garrison, until the contract terminated at the beginning of February. Since then supplies have been collected from various merchants, storekeepers, and private persons and stored in the Army Service Corps depôt, and from the original Army Service Corps stocks, of which forage and oats formed a great proportion. Fresh beef is obtained by purchase from a private individual named White, and in a lesser degree from the natives. "Breadstuffs are obtained, like groceries, by commandeering the stocks of various merchants and private persons." Lord Roberts now commuted the sentence of the court-martial which tried Lieutenant Murchison for the murder of Mr. Parslow to one of penal servitude for life. Many of those who had been associated with this officer did not consider him responsible for his actions, and were relieved at the lightening of the punishment of a comrade-in-arms. On the 27th Colonel Baden-Powell sent the following message to Lord Roberts:-- "After two hundred days' siege I desire to bring to your lordship's notice the exceptionally good spirit of loyalty that pervades all classes of this garrison. The patience of everybody in Mafeking in making the best of things under the long strain of anxiety, hardship, and privation is beyond all praise, and is a revelation to me. The men, half of whom are unaccustomed to the use of arms, have adapted themselves to their duties with the greatest zeal, readiness, and pluck, and the devotion of the women is remarkable. With such a spirit our organisation runs like clockwork, and I have every hope it will pull us successfully through." [Illustration: POSTAGE STAMPS ISSUED AT MAFEKING DURING THE SIEGE.] At this time, the Boers being more peaceful, the citizens prepared to celebrate the two hundredth day of the siege by horse dinners. Various other mysterious meats, whose origin none dared investigate, appeared on the bill of fare. One lady developed a genius for treating the meat rations, and went so far as to give a dinner-party. Her process was elaborate. The meat ration was cut up and the objectionable pieces removed. It was then soaked in salt and water for three hours, and made into soup thickened with starch. The next course was the beef out of the soup, served with potato tops, which were found most delectable. Then came a sowans pudding. Sowans proved a failure when served as porridge or curry, but when the preparation was mixed with starch, bicarbonate of soda, and baking powder, people were swift to partake. In addition to the usual delicacies, minced mule and the aforesaid sowan porridge, invented by an ingenious Scottish crofter of the name of Sims, there was now manufactured a curious brawn of horsehide, which was generally sneered at but devoured with alacrity. Curio hunters longed to preserve a slab of it for presentation to the British Museum, but the feat of self-abnegation was too hard to be endured. Besides, as some philosopher said while putting it into a place of safety, it would be the highest horse that was ever exhibited by the time it got there, and the building wouldn't hold it. The community was almost entirely a teetotal one. "Wee drappies" grew so wee as to be almost invisible, and when a case of whisky was raffled for it fetched £107, 10s.! On the 29th a military tournament was held, whereat a great display of cheerfulness was affected, to cover the fact that fever, malarial and typhoid, was gaining ground in the hospitals. AFFAIRS IN RHODESIA The Rhodesian troops were now at Moshwana, British Bechuanaland, in camp some thirty miles from Mafeking. The small force with a single serviceable gun could really accomplish little, and it was marvellous, considering its extreme weakness, how it managed to maintain the aggressive at all. Early in April Colonel Plumer started a pigeon post, and the first pigeon despatched arrived at Mafeking within four hours. The second was not so fortunate, but later on the successful bird was sent off again, on an educational trip, with younger birds in its wake. On the 22nd Trooper Brindal of the Rhodesian Regiment died of the wounds sustained in the action on the 31st of March. Archdeacon Upcher and Father Hartman returned from the sad mission of discovering and burying the remains of Lieutenant Milligan, who fell at Ramathlabama. The enemy now were being reinforced from time to time by parties from east and south, and as far as could be ascertained by Colonel Plumer, who sent out native runners to apprise him of the doings of the southern relief column, the Boers around Mafeking numbered about 3000. On the 24th General Carrington's force, consisting of 1100 men, with mounts and transports, arrived at Beira, and proceeded from thence to Marandellas, twenty-five miles from Salisbury, the capital of Rhodesia. The route, the first 200 miles of which is through Portuguese territory, is covered by railway. The distance from Beira to Salisbury is some 375 miles. The Beira railway was carried in 1898 as far as New Umtali, where it was connected with the system of the Mashonaland Railway Company. At Salisbury the railway ceases, and between this point and Bulawayo, the terminus of the Cape Railway, a space of 280 miles needed to be covered by an extension. From Bulawayo all promised to be plain sailing, as, owing to the untiring energies of Colonel Plumer and his small force--whose valuable services have never been sufficiently esteemed--the road and rail to Mafeking had been protected and preserved. On the 28th, Lieutenant Moorson left Mafeking and reached Colonel Plumer's camp at noon of the 29th, conveying to him the latest intelligence, and helping him to formulate plans for the big project of relief which will be described anon. CHAPTER III THE SIEGE OF WEPENER Early in April a portion of the Colonial Division, composed of Cape Mounted Rifles, the Royal Scots Mounted Infantry, Driscoll's Scouts, Kaffrarian Mounted Rifles under Captain Price, Brabant's Horse, two 15-pounders, two naval 12-pounders, two 7-pounders, one Hotchkiss, and three Maxims, the whole force under Colonel Dalgety, crossed the Caledon Bridge at Jammersberg Drift, took possession of it as the most important strategetical point, and occupied the town of Wepener without opposition. The Colonel had no sooner done so than he was surrounded by Dutchmen, and made aware that he must prepare to stand a siege. A party of Boers accompanying a German officer, who were blindfolded before being brought in, now entered Wepener bearing a message from the commandant. He very kindly demanded the instant surrender of the British to save further bloodshed. The messengers retired without taking with them a reply to the considerate request, but asking whether some mistake had not been made, and inviting their surrender instead. As the Boers were now threatening an attack on the force, Sir G. Lagden demanded a demonstration by the Basutos on the Basuto border. This was readily responded to, for the nation naturally resented any invasion of their territory by their hereditary foes; and, moreover, the chiefs had been vastly impressed by the "big heart" of the Englishmen with whom they had come in contact, and their stubborn resistance of the Boer attacks. Wepener itself was evacuated, but a camp at Jammersberg, three miles off, was formed, entrenchments made, and defences ingeniously constructed. The position, somewhat resembling Ladysmith, was situated in the saucer-shaped hollow of many hills. It was practically isolated, but the lines were strong, and meat was plentiful. Colonel Dalgety, who commanded the gallant little force, is an old officer of the Cape Mounted Rifles, and has as a record of services the Gaika and Galeka expeditions, and the operations in Basutoland in 1880-81. He had no doubt in his ability to hold out against the besiegers, although the force was only 1700 to 1800 strong, and the position was really too extensive. To protect it properly required about 4000 men. The Cape Mounted Rifles, with a company of Royal Scots, were ordered to hold the left of the position, the weakest point; 1st Brabants and some Kaffrarian Rifles the front; 2nd Brabants the right; and Kaffrarian Rifles the rear. A stirring day's work was recorded on the 8th by an officer, whose experiences were published in the _Globe_:-- "_April 8_, 7 A.M.--As I write, with my back against the trench, we have reached the fifth day of the noisy concert without any appreciable result, except that we have expended most of our ammunition. Not a gun has been dismounted, not an inch of our long line of defence (ten miles, about) been yielded to the enemy; but about 150 gallant fellows, mostly gentlemen by birth, of the Colonial Division, are _hors de combat_, and we are still looking and longing to see the relief columns of Kitchener or Gatacre appear on the horizon.... While sitting chatting with Captain Cholmondley, I saw across the ravine my own squadron, 'M,' descending rapidly into the valley to reoccupy the rifle-pits which Ruttledge had vacated at daylight, and exposed to a heavy shrapnel fire. I scrambled down the ridge and joined them at the pits, but had scarcely got my men posted, when Cookson was seen coming towards us at a mad gallop. My orders were to leave one troop (Ruttledge's) in the rifle-pits, and take the other three to support Colonel Dalgety, who was hard pressed on our left rear. I should have to cross a plain swept by the Boer fire. "When I had climbed up the steep ravine on the top of the main ridge we found all our horses hidden away in a fold of the ground. To mount was the work of a minute, and then we were launched on our mad gallop across a plain swept by Boer Maxim and rifle fire. I led, and the men followed most gallantly into the 'jaws of death.' Nothing but annihilation seemed to await us; but on we swept over that mile and a half like wild men, an excited American, constantly by my side and sometimes ahead of me, shouting, 'In the joy of battle.' It was, I think, the most exciting quarter of an hour I have spent in my adventurous life. My horse was going at racing pace, when suddenly I came upon a kranze, down which I leaped in fox-hunting style. I thought this would finish all my bad riders; but although they tailed off somewhat into a longer line than the open order I had ordered, they were still in the ruck, and we all came together somewhat too closely at a wire fence, which brought us to a standstill. Having negotiated this, we came upon another similar one, which we all got through somehow. All this time the little columns of dust were rising all round and constantly under my horse's belly. Again we were brought up by a deep donga, along which we had to turn to our right and skirt it till it was negotiable, where the banks had been cut down on each side for the horses of the C.M.R. to cross. I made then for a group of dismounted horses held in shelter behind a strong causeway. Here was Dalgety, to whom I reported myself. In a few minutes the Boers brought another gun into position, which sent a shell into us, killing four gun mules linked together in their harness, six troop horses, one of mine, and one nigger, who was holding the mules. They fell in a heap, and presented a most gruesome appearance. One or two men were also wounded by the same shell, which was the signal for a skurry for shelter behind huge boulders. The horses were sent down to the donga before mentioned, where, though sheltered from shot and shell, they spent four miserable days, until at last a heavy rain filled the donga, and some of the horses were swimming. All had had their saddles on from the first day. Some of these had been torn off by the horses' frantic efforts to get out, and were lost in the mud. Finally they all got out, and covered the plains under the Boer fire. Many of them were shot. "After the deadly shell I began to count up my men and find out how many were missing after the charge across the plain, and the last dose of shrapnel. To my surprise, they all answered to their names excepting two. Macarthy had been struck full in the forehead by a Mauser bullet, and fell from his horse as one dead. He is now recovering. Reid, an American, was shot through the side and arm, and is also recovering. Turner, my senior lieutenant, had been struck in the hip with a bit of segment shell, but stuck most pluckily to his post." The officer went on to narrate an episode which deserves to be remembered among the deeds of heroism which distinguished this notable period: "Coming across from the C.M.R. lines towards the Kaffrarian lines was a stretcher carried by four men with a wounded man on it. As soon as it came from under the shelter of the kopje on which we and the C.M.R. live, about 1200 yards from the ridge held by the enemy, opposite the open end of the horse-shoe, it was received by a hail of bullets. On went the gallant bearers for about a hundred yards, when they came to a sudden stand, put the stretcher on the ground, and seemed to consult. First one ran about twenty yards, to fall, apparently shot dead; then another did the same, and the third; and the three corpses were lying on the ground. The fourth man fell on his knees between the stretcher and the enemy. The Boers, then satisfied that they had disposed of this lot, ceased firing at them for the space of some minutes, when suddenly the four dead men came to life, rushed to the stretcher, and went on with it at the double, though little columns of dust rose thicker than ever round the devoted bearers. When they had crossed the fire zone and came under the shelter of a small kopje, something very like a cheer rose from the three hundred spectators of this exciting scene. Putting the breach of the Geneva Convention out of the question, there could not be a better exemplification of the savagery of the Boers. Even a savage foe would have respected such courage as these men showed in their efforts to save their wounded comrade. The wounded man turned out to be Captain Goldsworthy of the C.M.R., wounded in two places, whom I afterwards saw in hospital here, and the one who shielded him with his own body was a young trumpeter in the C.M.R., who, I believe, will get the V.C." [Illustration: (Corporal) (Sergeant) MOUNTED INFANTRY Photo by Gregory & Co., London] On the 8th a commando some 2000 strong, with four guns, laagered five miles out in the direction of Dewetsdorp, and on the 9th the town of Wepener was occupied by the Boers, who, in number from 5000 to 6000, spread themselves crescentwise around the British position. Not long were they inactive. Their guns began to open on the camp, and received a prompt answer from the 15-pounders. A vigorous artillery duel, involving great loss to the besieged, was then kept up throughout the day. A member of the stalwart band gave his impressions of the first days of the fighting: "The brave lot of fellows of the C.M.R. were stormed at until we almost gave up hope that any human being could stand against it; but very fortunately for us they did so, and although the Boers came almost behind them and enfiladed their trenches, killing and wounding between sixty and seventy of the regiment. Goodness knows how many of the Boers were killed. Their losses must have been great, no matter what they may say afterwards. Towards daylight the enemy retired to their former position, and at daybreak the fight went merrily on its way, but, luckily, shifted from the poor played-out C.M.R. for a few hours. Major Sprenger, poor fellow, was simply riddled with bullets. Captain Goldsworthy and Major Waring, together with several other officers, were wounded, and now the C.M.R. are commanded by only a few officers, including their most gallant Colonel Dalgety. Captain Cookson, another of their officers, is an especial favourite with our men, as he looks after them as well as his own men in action. He fears no dangers, and so instils confidence into others. "All went well with us until the good-night shell, which bursts over our camp about six o'clock each night, arrived. Cookson and I were superintending the sending of the food to the trenches, where our brave men were so bravely holding their own, when I heard the whistle of the shell and heard it burst, and simultaneously was knocked down by a shrapnel bullet, which, fortunately for yours truly, did not penetrate far into my thigh. As no bones were broken, I hope--in fact, I am sure--I shall be able to walk in a day or two from now. Lieutenant Duncan, also wounded in the leg, and myself were placed in a small schanze, erected for the purpose, but as there was no roof to it, and the rain poured for hours during the night, we were soaked to the bone. It could not be helped, there being no other place in which to put us; so we did not complain. It was just as well we did not go to the hospital, which is already overcrowded--no fewer than 110 wounded men there--as I learn that one of our wounded men was yesterday killed in it with a Boer bullet; in fact, the Boers several times fired at it. We now have a waggon sail over our schanze, and feel nice and comfortable. We expect to be able to move about by Easter Sunday. Captain Hamilton has been very kind; comes to visit us two or three times a day, and runs a strong chance of being shot, as the snipers shoot at every one who shows himself. He is only one of the lot; they are all the same." [Illustration: THE DEFENCE OF WEPENER. (From a Sketch by Major A. Festing.)] On Tuesday, the 10th, came more duelling. In the morning with artillery, in the afternoon with rifles. The Cape Mounted Rifles did good execution, for the Boers who had approached to 250 yards of their position were forced to remove. An officer of Brabant's Horse spoke most enthusiastically of the C.M.R. He said:-- "We fought all day and all night. The big gun and rifle fire were almost deafening, and as we are entirely surrounded, it was pouring in on all sides, a continuous hail of shot and shell. Towards afternoon they directed all their gun fire to one spot, and blew to bits the schanzes of the C.M.R., thus leaving them almost unprotected, and in the night they attempted to take the position by assault. Although the C.M.R. were very considerably outnumbered, the Boers were unable to attain their object. They had not reckoned on the opposition of, undoubtedly, one of the finest regiments in the whole world, as the C.M.R. are. We (1st Brabants) were unable to send reinforcements to the gallant fellows, as we expected an attack ourselves at any moment, and our position is such an extended one, that it required every man to hold it. If only we had a few hundreds more to hold the trenches with us, and an ample supply of ammunition, we would be quite happy." The scarcity of ammunition began to cause anxiety, and also the condition of the atmosphere. The air was almost unbreathable. Fumes from dead horses, cows, pigs, which were strewed on the surrounding plains, rose in sunshine or rain as from a caldron of pestilence. There was no avoiding them, and death by worse than shot and shell--by slow ravaging malaria, or greedy epidemic--seemed to be traced by the finger of expectation across the foul atmosphere. No longer was there pleasure in gazing out at the beautiful green hills, that but a little while ago had been speckled with white tents and draped with the ethereal gossamer of blue smoke from the fitful flame of the camp fires. War had sounded its most discordant note--hard--emphatic. The tents were all struck. On the ground they lay prone, battered by the pouring rain. Camp fires were now few and far between, and the only smoke to be seen came from the snorting nozzles of implements of death. The rattle of musketry made the melody of day and night. The men, huddled up in their trenches, rained on by heaven-sent storm, rained on by hell-sent shrapnel, unable to raise a head lest the movement would be their last, still remained glorious fellows, cheery, jocose, hailing the humours of their tragic position with shouts of laughter, and skipping, with true heroism, the ghastly and the terrible that thrust itself between them and their courage. One of their number described the trenches as "simply ordinary trenches dug in the ground, with the earth and stones thrown out on the front side, strengthened by sand-bags. During the first day's fighting they were not very good, and the heavy losses sustained were attributable to that fact. The men improved them during the night, however, and they grew and grew until they were really like rabbits burrowing into the ground. During the shelling men would sit or lie down under the bank, and it was wonderful how the trenches protected them. Some of the trenches had hundreds of shells fired into them during the day, and as long as the men kept well down, they got off comparatively lightly. It was a fearful strain, however, as you might be crouching behind a traverse of sand-bags, when thump would come a shell and knock the sand-bags all over the place, upon which you would have to skip into the traverse and expose yourself while doing so to a hail of bullets from the Boer snipers. As the Boers were all round us, they brought guns to bear from different points, so as to enfilade the trenches, so we had to build transverse walls, sand-bags, or traverses to protect ourselves. The front Cape Mounted Rifles' trenches were fearfully battered during the day, and the tired men had to patch them up as best they could during the night. During the day we could not show our heads over the parapets, as there would immediately come a volley from the Boer riflemen." All the troops had unceasing work, but most of the casualties fell to the share of those in the southern position--the Cape Mounted Rifles, Captain Garner's Squadron of Brabant's Horse, Captain Seel's Company of Royal Scots Mounted Infantry, and Driscoll's energetic scouts. The Kaffrarians, commanded by Captain Price elsewhere in four different positions to east and west--took their share of the defence, while on the heights north-east and north-west, the 1st and 2nd Regiments of Brabant's Horse, under Major Henderson and Colonel Grenfell respectively, also worked incessantly to protect the garrison. The object of the concentration of the Boers around this region was supposed to be connected with offering opposition to General Brabant's advance, but the Dutchmen in their policy were somewhat uneasy, owing to their close proximity to the Basuto border. Their alarm was not without reason, for if there was a force eager to attack them it was the Basutos, and these were only held back from rushing into the fray by the personal influence of Sir Godfrey Lagden and his British colleagues, who can never sufficiently be applauded for the skill and diplomacy with which they managed to keep, by invisible moral coercion, a fiery horde from rushing over the borders and possibly massacring such Free Staters as came in their way. The Boers, however, were not conscious of this coercion, and consequently their action around Wepener was somewhat cramped, and thus it was that the little community managed to defy them. Meanwhile discomforts were many, and the clouds often emptied themselves like a vast shower-bath involving doused trenches, drenched clothing, and the suspension of operations. On the 11th a cheery message was received from Lord Kitchener, who paid a visit to Aliwal North, and from thence sent word that he hoped "for an early change" in the circumstances of the besieged. Spirits rose. What Kitchener, the adamantine, said was sure to be done. On Thursday, 12th, the fourth day of fierce fighting, the Boers continued their aggression all day. During the contest an entertaining interlude in the drama of warfare took place. The enemy was busy shelling one of the garrison's 15-pounders, when a shot knocked off the left sight of Captain Lukin's gun. The Captain, generous in his admiration, jumped on top of the gun and made a complimentary salaam to the Boer gunner. Later on, by using the reserve sight on the right side, he himself planked a shell right into the adversary's gunpit, whereupon the officer in charge, imitating Captain Lukin's example, promptly leapt up and bowed his congratulations! During the night of the 12th the Dutchmen attempted another attack, but volley after volley was poured into them with such animation that by 4 A.M. they were glad enough to retire. Fortunately not a man was killed or wounded, and those who had so well defended themselves felt a somewhat natural satisfaction in seeing the Boer ambulances at work the next morning. Soon it was rumoured that the Boers were bringing up another gun, and the garrison, who were beginning to get tired of being peppered at by guns big and small, began to long for the arrival of reinforcements. Friday the 13th, the following Saturday and Sunday, were used by the Boers for their Easter devotions--not that they were too devout to enjoy a little sniping in the intervals. Nasal hymns took the place of the snorts of Long Tom, but after the reiterations of the Vickers Maxim the Federals resumed their bombardment with renewed zest, and Oom Sam, the British howitzer, took up the tune. Unfortunately, the Dutchmen resorted to expansive bullets. One of the commandants tried to assert that these were captured from the British, but truth not being the Boer forte, no effort was made to refute the vile impeachment. The garrison next made a dashing sortie and captured a Boer gun. Aggressive action was necessary. Reinforcements were daily reaching the besiegers, and hostile gangs were collecting in the vicinity of Dewetsdorp. These soon gathered round the plucky British force, which, to protect itself, launched out with such vigour that the Boers, especially the Zastrom Commando, who had assaulted to a jubilate, retreated to a dirge. The women wept, and the men themselves grew anxious, for the Basutos, warlike and excited, were massing on the border, and a sword of Damocles, in the form of an exasperated legion of natives, threatened to drop on the Dutchmen's heads. They were getting into difficulties on all sides. One of Olivier's guns was smashed, and another had been captured in the sortie by the Cape Mounted Rifles. But the energies of this sprightly corps had also cost them dear. During the four days' fighting, from the 9th to the 13th, eighteen were slain and 132 wounded! The men on the south-western fringe fared worse even than the others. They feared to cook in their trenches lest they should attract the Boer fire, and meals brought from adjacent shelters were cold before they could reach them. Such reviving and inspiriting refreshment as hot tea or coffee was almost unknown, and as a natural consequence, particularly in such damp weather, warmth external and internal was most craved for and very generally missed. Washing was a luxury not to be thought of, indeed, a rain bath in a trench had to serve all purposes. The strain of such conditions on the men was most trying, and the account given by one of the officers was far from exaggerated. "They had to go into their trenches on the night of the 8th, and from then till the 25th they had to stay in them, crouching in them all day while being heavily shelled and 'sniped' at by the enemy's riflemen. During the night a couple of men from each trench would be sent to the place near the centre of the position where the food was prepared and take it up to their comrades. Cooking could only be done at night in dongas, and behind cover, such as walls, &c., and by the time the food got to the men it was ice cold, so the poor fellows, or the majority, in the forward trenches did not get anything hot in the shape of food or drink for eighteen days. Night was a blessed relief, as they could get out of the trenches and stretch themselves, but to cap our misery we had several days' heavy rain, and the trenches got full of water. The fellows had to bale it out with buckets, patrol tins, and even hats, I believe. Those rainy nights were awful, and the men were getting quite 'jumpy.' I really thought some of them would lose their reason, and was quite prepared to find some dead from exposure in the morning. However, the rain stopped in time, otherwise we would have been in great danger as the men could not have stood it. There is a limit to human endurance." The investment had no showy nor picturesque characteristics: it was just a case of stern resistance, of obdurate endurance, that was infinitely more exigent in its demands on the human character than the brilliant soul-stirring deeds of open battle. Fortunately the Boers were getting correspondingly uncomfortable. They had surrounded Wepener, it is true, but, with a native guard of some 3000 strong assembled to prevent any encroachments on the Basutoland border, they remained where they were at their peril, and every hour brought with it the chance of being hemmed in on all sides. Yet they stuck on, inspired with the belief that by some, for them, lucky chance Colonel Dalgety might drop into their hands. Meanwhile the natives were assisting the besieged to the best of their power, and the resident Commissioner at Mafeteng was exerting himself to provide ambulances and medical stores, in hope of being able to forward them should opportunity offer. The charitable arrangement was much appreciated, for the state of affairs was far from salubrious. Apart from sick and wounded, many of the Boers, after the night attack of the 12th, had left their comrades unburied, and the bodies were still lying in the mill furrow, to the distress of those shut up within the narrow confines of the camp. The Caledon River now rose and added to the alarm of the Federals, who were aware that if it should become in flood they would undoubtedly be cut off. At the same time those within the besieged area were also beginning to get additionally concerned. Ammunition for the howitzer was running low, and the rifle ammunition promised to hold out but for a very limited period. Messages were continually being received from Lord Roberts, who heliographed _via_ Mafeteng congratulating the troops on their brave defence, and assuring them that he was keeping a watchful eye on them. This should have been consoling, but every hour, every instant, was now of importance. Still there was no lack of pluck. These men who had beaten the Boers three times were confident that they would make a good fight of it to the last. "We'll not surrender till half of us are killed," they said, and the gallant fellows, in their trenches, under a storm of shot and shell, pursued their games of cards as though they meant to "sit tight till Doomsday." Of them an officer writing at this time said: "The defence, so far, has been heroic. In the Crimea twenty-four hours on and twenty-four hours off was considered hard work. My men have been ten days in their trenches without leaving them, wet to the skin oftener than not, and day and night exposed to shrapnel, not able to raise their hand above without getting a bullet through them, and yet not a grumble is heard. As I sit scrawling this in pencil, with my back against the damp earth, the jest goes round, and peals of laughter follow the sallies of your light-hearted countrymen from the Emerald Isle. I positively love these men, and shall never forget, in spite of the ague attacks and the racked head, the enjoyment of these hours spent packed, all arms and legs, in the mass of humanity which fills these trenches--the work of our own hands." They had tasted neither bread nor biscuits for a week. Fortunately they had meat in plenty, and occasionally certain meal-cakes which, though filling, brought about a sensation graphically described as "hippopotamus on the chest." Some one declared they were quite as hard and nearly as damaging as Boer bullets! In spite, however, of their assumed jocosity they could not but be cognisant of the fact that, what with damp and dysentery, irregular meals, tainted water, poor medical appliances, and indifferent stores, the future was threatening. Questions as to the coming of the promised relief began to be anxiously bandied about, and now and again a terrible doubt crept in that it might never come at all. Easter Monday they thought of as Bank Holiday in England. They pictured the gay Cockney multitude scampering free in parks and sunshine while they, huddled together in a deluge of perpetual rain, were wondering if life in trenches was worth living. Then some one, a philosopher, declared you couldn't get a daily rain-water bath at home for love or money, and they laughingly made the best of it. They wallowed in damp and mud, and counted on their fingers that there had been eight days of hard fighting, and wondered how many more they were good for. Books were scarce and conversation monotonous. "Any signs of Brabant or Gatacre?" some one would question. "None. I guess they've got lost somewhere." "Any chance of the rain stopping?" "None. We shall have deluges to-morrow." So passed the time between Job and his comforters. Fighting proceeded wearily, spasmodically. The Boers too were damp, in spirit and in body, and the carols of Long Tom lost some of their demoniac mirth. Now and then the besiegers would smarten themselves up with a volley, occasionally they would snipe intermittently--a little venomous spitting at the obdurate, sturdy, magnificent fellows they had learned as much to respect as to detest. Still no relief column. Hoping, the men in their trenches puzzled and offered solutions for themselves. "Perhaps the relievers had fallen into a trap," said a pessimist. "Oh no; the rain must have delayed them," said some one more cheery. "Perhaps the drifts are unpassable," volunteered a third. "I wonder if any of us will be left to receive them?" questioned the pessimist. "Poof! only ten per cent. of us are disabled as yet!" chaffed the optimist lightly. Though they did not know it, General Chermside, with the Third Division, had now marched about eight miles east of Reddersburg, and encamped in the locality where the Royal Irish Rifles surrendered. On the 19th a large body of the enemy was moving on with the apparent object of encountering General Brabant near Rouxville, and later on from the distance the muffled roar of musketry gave promise of the relieving action. Naturally, the spirits of the garrison began to rise, but their joy was short lived, for soon the Boers appeared on the west, and there brought five guns to bear on the British force. All day the round lips of the new visitors opened and hooted and spat! The Kaffrarian Rifles were treated to no less than 130 shrapnel shells. Brabant's regiment and the Maxim kept up an active fire on the Boer gunners; but the guns were so cautiously protected that their efforts were crowned with small success. Even the redoubtable Captain Lukin failed to make his usual impression, for this officer had now decided that economy--economy of ammunition--must make the better part of Wepener valour. Major Maxwell, at dusk, with his cheery sappers, set to work to remedy the ravages of the day, but the prospect of affairs was not rendered more heartening by information which came in to the effect that Olivier, De Wet, Froneman, and others were closing in with their commandoes and mercenaries, numbering some 8000, from Rouxville, Smithfield, Ficksburg, and even from Ladybrand. This discovery caused no little anxiety. All were aware that Lord Roberts could and would come to their relief; but, nevertheless, it was impossible to ignore the fact that provisions began to dwindle and the poor trek oxen began to go, and no signs of a relieving column were evident. The officers and men were now on duty all night in the trenches--melancholy work, for deluges of rain made them sopping, and served to damp even the bellicose ardour of the most valorous. [Illustration: LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR H. M. LESLIE-RUNDLE, K.C.B. Photo by Russell & Sons, London] Their position by day, too, was pathetic in the extreme. It was impossible even for the most rollicking and dauntless to look unmoved to right or to left of him. Perhaps on one side he would be bounded by a "pal" doubled up and sweating with the agony of his wounds, while on the other would lie, clay-cold and immobile--with that unmistakable stiffness that they had learnt to know too well--a form that some moments before had been vibrant with humanity. In this _entourage_ it was necessary throughout the long hours to keep up persistent fire at the enemy, and dodge and manoeuvre so that the fate that loomed large and unforgetable on either hand might be kept at bay! Few indeed were in possession of a whole skin in these times--they fought, got wounded, went into hospital, came out partially healed and fought again, only to go back with fresh holes for repair. Sometimes they were carried to the churchyard by comrades of their corps--gaunt, weary, aching, grimy fellows with large hearts, who grimly professed to envy those--many there were by now--who had "every night in bed!" On the evening of the 23rd there was some jubilation in Jammersberg camp. General Brabant heliographed from a place some fourteen miles distant, reporting an engagement with the enemy, and that they were retiring, though there was a strong force on his left flank. Heavy firing continued to be heard all day, most probably from the artillery of Generals Rundle and Chermside, who, at this time, were approaching Dewetsdorp from the south, or of Generals French and Pole-Carew, who were nearing that destination from the north. The plot was thickening. The sun was shining, the guns were going, and there was a chance the Boers might yet be hoist with their own petard, and in expectation thereof a veritable thrill passed through the camp. Then the Boer fire began to slacken perceptibly, the barking of big guns mysteriously subsided. What was happening? Anxiety and suspense made the young faces--faces that had been young at the commencement of the war--still more drawn and haggard; it was felt that should the Boers capture the position they would give little quarter to the Colonial Division, and these had determined never to hoist the white flag. The fact was, the Boers were silently preparing to sneak away. They had heard of the converging of the British armies, they were in receipt of information regarding a grand scheme for mopping them up, and after taking a last sullen, despairing lunge they took themselves off. On the morning of the 25th a serpentine _cortège_ of waggons and carts and riders was seen winding its way in the direction of Ladybrand. Colonel Dalgety half suspected that Brabant's force would presently appear and chase this retreating company, and got himself and some 300 of his men in readiness to assist in harassing those who so recently had harassed him. But Brabant's force was apparently worn out, and was about some fourteen miles off when the retirement commenced, and though to his splendid exertions the retreat was due, it was evident that the enemy would manage to slide off without chastisement. [Illustration: WEPENER.] Thus ended the story of a grand achievement, an almost unique example in the way of defence of fortified positions, 1700 men having for seventeen days and nights in the trenches defended seven miles of entrenchment without giving up a single position! By the end there had been about 200 casualties, and only 1500 men were left to defend the tremendous length of entrenchments. One of the valiant defenders gave a graphic summary of the continuous fighting:-- "We lost between twenty and thirty killed and wounded the first day--not very many, considering what we had against us. At night the big guns ceased fire, and there was only a shot now and again during the night. On Tuesday morning at breakfast time the big guns started again; but there were only five guns that day, and we found out after the fight that we had knocked out three of the Boer guns on the previous day. The firing on the Tuesday was not so brisk, but at 8 P.M. the Boers attacked in force at the C.M.R. trenches, but our men were ready for them, and played one of the Boers' own games with them. They saw them coming, and the Royal Scots lined up on one side and the C.M.R. on the other side of the spruit. Our men allowed them to get right in and then opened fire at fifty yards. Every man had his bayonet fixed and ready, and at the word they went for them. In less than an hour it was all over, and the Boers were beaten back, leaving 300 dead. It was pitiful to hear them crying. They have not the heart of a school-girl, and they cannot stand a beating. After the Tuesday night the enemy kept very quiet for a few days, only independent firing going on both with rifles and big guns. This went on for several days, at times a little brisk, and then the Boers seemed to get tired and tried to rush us again with 2000 men. This was on the fifteenth day at ten in the morning. By twelve o'clock we had them beaten, and the next day they left us and we came on up here." A great deal of the success of the resistance was due to the ingenuity of the entrenchments. The work had been carried out under the direction of Colonel Maxwell, R.E., and the splendid stand made by the besieged was made possible almost entirely by his genius. Captain Lukin was also a tower of strength, and but for his services with the guns the garrison would have suffered much more than it did. Captain Grant, C.M.R., too, was invaluable, working late and early, and carrying out with immense zeal the plans of the chief, while Colonel Grenfell was an untiring right-hand man to Colonel Dalgety. Another of the heroes of the siege was Major Sprenger, of the C.M.R., who fell in his country's service almost at the beginning of the siege. He was a born soldier, and a distinguished member of a distinguished corps. He won his commission by his smartness and soldierly qualities, having risen to the rank of sub-inspector in the old F.A.M.P. On the merging of that corps into the C.M.R., he continued as lieutenant, and was awarded the next step for gallantry in the field, he being the first to mount the scaling ladders in the storming of Moirosi's Mountain. General Brabant afterwards described the Cape Mounted Rifles as being the very finest corps in her Majesty's service, and recommended them to the notice of Lord Roberts. As for the artillery under Captain Lukin, the General said he did not think there was a battery in her Majesty's service that could excel it. The casualties at Wepener from April 9th to 18th were:-- _Killed_:--Cape Mounted Rifles--Major Sprenger, Lieutenant E. A. Taplin. Brabant's Horse--Lieutenant Tharston. _Severely wounded_:--Cape Mounted Rifles--Major J. C. Warring, Lieutenant J. Heilford, Lieutenant L. Martin, Lieutenant R. Ayre, Lieutenant W. H. Nixon, Lieutenant H. G. F. Campbell. Brabant's Horse--Lieutenant W. J. Holford. Driscoll's Scouts--Lieutenant W. Weiner. Kaffrarian Rifles--Lieutenant C. Lister. _Slightly wounded_:--Cape Mounted Rifles--Captain C. L. M. Goldsworthy. Brabant's Horse--Surgeon-Captain L. C. Perkins (returned to duty), Lieutenant Turner Duncan, Lieutenant and Quartermaster P. Williams. 1st Royal Scots Mounted Infantry--Lieutenant C. G. Hill (1st Berks Regiment, attached). The total losses were 33 killed and 132 wounded--a somewhat heavy bill for so small a force, when it is remembered that many of the wounded did not report their injuries but remained on duty during the siege. In his diary the officer before quoted wrote: "We were relieved to-day at last, and march to-morrow. We have gone through an awful time, and some of the men look quite ghastly. They dragged their wasted forms from the trenches to-day at a crawl to the camp, which had been repitched. I had to give up the night before last, and after visiting my sentries, got back into the trenches in agony. At midnight I reached the hospital, where they injected morphine, and, after twenty-four hours lying on a stretcher, I am on my legs again.... Seventeen days and nights under fire, and the disgusting part of the whole is that it has been in vain. The Boers have slipped through our fingers after all." The relief of Wepener may be said to have taken place on the 25th. To discover how this was automatically accomplished, it is necessary to follow Lord Roberts's strategic plan, and to return to the events of the 22nd of April. [Illustration: SCOUT--6th DRAGOON GUARDS (Carabineers) Photo by Gregory & Co., London] OPERATIONS FOR RELIEF As a continual reorganisation of the forces was taking place, it will assist us, before going further, to examine a rough table of the date, as compiled from various authorities by the _Morning Post_:-- DISTRIBUTION OF FORCES _Commanding-in-chief_--FIELD-MARSHAL LORD ROBERTS. THIRD DIVISION. Lieutenant-General Sir H. G. CHERMSIDE. 22nd Brigade (Major-General R. E. Allen). 2nd Royal Irish Rifles. 2nd Northumberland Fusiliers. 1st Royal Scots. 1st Derbyshire. 23rd Brigade (Major-General W. G. Knox). (Composition not known.) 74th, 77th, and 79th Field Batteries. SIXTH DIVISION. Lieutenant-General T. KELLY-KENNY. 12th Brigade (Major-General Clements). 2nd Worcestershire. 2nd Bedfordshire. 2nd Wiltshire. 1st Royal Irish Regiment. 13th Brigade (Major-General A. G. Wavell). 2nd East Kent. 1st Oxfordshire Light Infantry. 1st West Riding. 2nd Gloucester. 76th, 81st, and 82nd Field Batteries. 38th Company Royal Engineers. SEVENTH DIVISION. Lieutenant-General G. TUCKER. 14th Brigade (Major-General J. G. Maxwell). 2nd Norfolk. 2nd Lincoln. 1st King's Own Scottish Borderers. 2nd Hants. 15th Brigade (Major-General C. E. Knox). 2nd Cheshire. 1st East Lancashire. 2nd South Wales Borderers. 2nd North Stafford. 83rd, 84th, and 85th Field Batteries. 9th Company Royal Engineers. EIGHTH DIVISION. Lieutenant-General Sir H. M. L. RUNDLE. 16th Brigade (Major-General B. B. D. Campbell). 2nd Grenadier Guards. 2nd Scots Guards. 2nd East Yorks. 17th Brigade (Major-General J. E. Boyes). 1st Worcester. 2nd Royal West Kent. 1st South Stafford. 2nd Manchester. Brigade Division Royal Field Artillery. 5th Company Royal Engineers. NINTH DIVISION. Lieutenant-General Sir H. E. COLVILE. 3rd Brigade (Major-General H. A. MacDonald). 1st Argyll and Sutherland. 1st Gordon Highlanders. 2nd Seaforth Highlanders. 2nd Royal Highlanders (Black Watch). 19th Brigade (Major-General H. L. Smith-Dorrien). (Composition not certainly known.) Highland Light Infantry. 2nd Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. 2nd Shropshire Light Infantry. Canadian Regiment. Brigade Division Royal Field Artillery. TENTH DIVISION. Lieutenant-General Sir H. HUNTER. 5th Brigade (Major-General A. Fitzroy Hart). 2nd Somerset Light Infantry. 1st Connaught Rangers. 1st Royal Dublin Fusiliers. 1st Border. 6th Brigade (Major-General G. Barton). 2nd Royal Fusiliers. 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers. 1st Royal Welsh Fusiliers. 2nd Royal Irish Fusiliers. 63rd, 64th, and 73rd Field Batteries. ELEVENTH DIVISION. Lieutenant-General R. POLE-CAREW. 18th Brigade (Major-General T. E. Stephenson). (Composition not certainly known.) 1st Essex. 1st Yorkshire. 1st Welsh. 2nd Royal Warwickshire. 1st Brigade (Major-General Inigo R. Jones). 3rd Grenadier Guards. 1st Coldstream Guards. 2nd Coldstream Guards. 1st Scots Guards. 18th, 62nd, 75th Field Batteries. CAVALRY DIVISION. Lieutenant-General J. D. P. FRENCH. 1st Brigade (Brigadier-General T. C. Porter). 6th Dragoon Guards. 6th Dragoons. 2nd Dragoons. 2nd Brigade (Brigadier-General R. G. Broadwood). 10th Hussars. 12th Hussars. Household Cavalry. 3rd Brigade (Brigadier-General J. R. P. Gordon). 9th Lancers. 16th Lancers. 17th Lancers. 4th Brigade (Major-General J. B. B. Dickson). 7th Dragoon Guards. 8th Hussars. 14th Hussars. G, J, M, O, P, Q, R, T, U Batteries Horse Artillery. MOUNTED INFANTRY DIVISION. Major-General IAN HAMILTON. 1st Brigade (Major-General E. T. H. Hutton). 1st Corps (Colonel E. A. H. Alderson). 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles. 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles. Lord Strathcona's Corps. One Battalion Imperial Mounted Infantry. 2nd Corps (Colonel de Lisle). New South Wales Mounted Infantry. West Australian Mounted Infantry. 3rd Corps (Colonel T. D. Pilcher). Queensland Mounted Infantry. New Zealand Mounted Infantry. One Battalion Imperial Mounted Infantry. 4th Corps (Colonel Henry). Victorian Mounted Infantry. South Australian Mounted Infantry. Tasmanian Mounted Infantry. One Battalion Imperial Mounted Infantry. 2nd Brigade (Major-General Ridley). South African Irregulars Mounted Infantry. Several Batteries Artillery. COLONIAL DIVISION. Major-General BRABANT. Cape Mounted Rifles. Kaffrarian Mounted Rifles. Montmorency's Scouts (200). Brabant's Horse (1200). Border Horse. Frontier Mounted Rifles. Queenstown Volunteers. Cape Garrison Artillery. Two Naval 12-pounders. OTHER TROOPS WITH LORD ROBERTS. 21st Brigade. Battalions not known. (Brigades not known.) 2nd Berkshire. 1st Royal Sussex. 1st Suffolk. 1st Cameron Highlanders. C.I.V. Infantry. Roberts's Horse. Kitchener's Horse. Two Squadrons Imperial Light Horse. 7th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry. C.I.V. Mounted Infantry. Ceylon Mounted Infantry. Lumsden's Horse. Lord Loch's Horse. 43rd, 65th, 86th, and 87th Howitzer Batteries. 2nd, 5th, 8th, 9th, 17th, 38th, 39th, 68th, and 88th Field Batteries. (Parts of 8th, 9th, and 11th Divisions.) Four naval 4.7-in. guns. Part of Siege Train. Towards the end of April the authorities found that the situation was growing in interest as in difficulty. In the south-east of the Free State Colonel Dalgety and his small but truculent band had become the pivot round which British and Free Staters were manoeuvring, and the red drama of war on the north and west of Wepener was becoming tragic as that of the region around Mafeking. Developments on a large and complicated scale were taking place, developments not as might be imagined in the direction of Pretoria, but for the purpose of catching the enemy in the northern and eastern portion of the Free State, and dealing with as much of him as possible before proceeding to larger things. There were now several separate columns on the march, each and all so arranged that, at a given moment and at a given place within a very short time they could concentrate for purposes of battle when battle should be imminent, and with a view to mopping up such Boer commandos as might chance to step in between the fangs of the British lion. (We are already aware that the Boer commandos in this region were far too knowing, and the anxious fangs eventually snapped on nothing at all! Still a vast mass of the foe was held in the south-east of the Free State while plans for the great advance northwards were being elaborated.) Lord Roberts began the second act of his campaign by deploying the army from Karee Siding as far as Wepener, a distance of some seventy miles. Indeed, on Sunday the 22nd of April, we find that one portion of the army was at Bushman's Kop, south of Wepener, another was near Dewetsdorp, half-way between the latter place and Bloemfontein, another was moving to Tweede Geluk, some twenty miles from Bloemfontein and twenty-two from Dewetsdorp, and already in communication with General Rundle, who was making for Dewetsdorp, while troops were also at or near Sanna's Post and fifteen miles west--at Kranz Kraal, a valuable passage of the Modder between Sanna's Post and the railways which for some weeks had been much used by the Boers. All these troops were sprayed out at distances varying from twenty to thirty miles from each other, and were capable of getting into heliographic communication. As this somewhat complicated machinery requires to be examined and not dismissed with a word, it is better, if possible, to follow the commanding officers as they each moved on his special duty. Generals Rundle and Chermside had concentrated their divisions at Reddersburg with a view to assisting in what was called "the big partridge drive." The force of the united commanders moving from Reddersburg towards Dewetsdorp was now about 15,000 strong. It was composed of the 4th and 7th Imperial Yeomanry, the Mounted Infantry companies of the 1st Berkshire and 2nd Northumberland Fusiliers, sixty of Montmorency's Scouts (Captain McNeil), General Campbell's Brigade, General Boyes's Brigade, and General Allen's Brigade. The united artillery was commanded by Colonel Jeffreys, R.A. It comprised the 38th, 69th, 74th, 77th, and 79th Field Batteries. The Boers, disposed by De Wet, occupied a position astride the country from Leeuw Kop to Wepener, those in the former place covering those in the latter, and _vice versâ_. About the 20th the troops, under Sir Leslie Rundle, were approaching Dewetsdorp, keeping the Boers in a perpetual state of anxiety and disturbance by worrying tactics which the Dutchmen were at a loss to understand. "The idea is to keep 'em on the dance where they are," said a Tommy who affected an interest in strategy, "keep 'em lively, so that when they want to run they've no legs to do it with." At the same time the Boers took their share in contributing to the life of the proceedings, and were also the means of bringing to light more deeds of British heroism. Early in the morning of the 20th a strong force of Yeomanry, with Mounted Infantry and two guns, had started out over the green pastures of the Free State to reconnoitre the enemy's left and discover his strength. (The left was the most vulnerable point of the foe, as, that turned, he would be cut off from Wepener and forced north into the arms of the advancing troops.) They soon came upon the main Boer position, and were assailed with a sharp fire from the Dutchmen. A smart encounter, or rather a series of encounters took place, during which the Yeomanry displayed remarkable steadiness under fire, and executed their share of the movements with the promptness and dexterity of seasoned--Mr. Kipling calls it "salted"--troops. McNeil's Scouts (late poor De Montmorency's), always the first to be "in it," observed a party of Boers racing for a desirable kopje, and obtained permission to try and cut them off. With the party was Mr. Winston Churchill, who, thinking that fun was in the air, put spurs to his horse and was off with the intrepid band of scouts. For some time there was an animated race, the Boers being nearer to the strong eminence than the British, though less well mounted. When it came to climbing, it seemed as though they might get the worst of it. Rush--rush--rush went the fifty scouts; scamper--scamper--scamper went the foe. It was almost a neck-and-neck affair, when suddenly there came wire, and before this could be cut there were Boers in possession of the great kopje, Boers blazing downwards as fast as muskets would allow. Thereupon Captain McNeil shouted his orders: "Too late! back to the other kopje. Gallop!" and all obeying, the good steeds were off as hard as legs could carry them. And now happened the episode which singles out the reconnaissance from numerous military undertakings of the same kind, for it brought into notice another of the heroes of the war, whose courageous act will not easily be forgotten. As before said, Mr. Winston Churchill, the correspondent of the _Morning Post_, who, it may be remembered, escaped from the Pretoria prison, was accompanying McNeil's Scouts in their exciting expedition. No sooner was the order given to "gallop," than Mr. Churchill made a bound for his saddle. It twisted, the horse, alarmed by the fire, bolted, and the young man found himself on foot and alone, with the Boers a second time within an ace of him. A horrible vision, grown lifelike in a moment, as the vision of his past before a drowning man, now flashed before him; the walls of the dreaded Model School seemed to close in--nearer--nearer. But the Boers, he decided, should not get him again without a struggle. This time he had his pistol, he could not again be hunted down unarmed in the open. He shouted--a despairing roar--to the scouts, who were fleeing all unconscious of the accident that had befallen him. Then one, turning aside, heard, stopped in his rush for life, wheeled about, grasped the dismounted man, and an instant later, with Churchill at the back of his saddle, was off again. Then the rifles above, at a range of only forty yards, rippled out a deadly tune, as the flying hoofs of the horse, wounded, and leaving behind him a track of blood, flung up the turf and sod. Yet, from the showers of lead and dust they came out alive, and Mr. Churchill lived to tell the tale of his miraculous rescue. Curiously enough, the gallant scout whose action saved the journalist's life, owned the talismanic name which moved the army as the magnet moves a needle. Trooper Roberts was recommended to the notice of Lord Roberts by General Rundle, for, as Mr. Churchill said, all the officers were agreed that the man who pulled up in such a situation to help another, was worthy of some honourable distinction. [Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL POLE-CAREW Photo by Gregory & Co., London] The fighting elsewhere continued with considerable heat, and the long day was vibrant with the brawl of big guns and the cacophonous whirr of shells. Without artillery to help in pounding the enemy, General Brabazon decided it was useless to continue the reconnaissance; he therefore withdrew with what some one described as "an instructive little rear-guard action." He had done an immense amount of work, reconnoitred, located laagers, forced the enemy to move his guns, and generally discomfited him at the cost of less than a score of men. Now he rested on his oars, for instructions from head-quarters arrived advising General Rundle to wait till reinforcements should arrive before further pressing his attack. Accordingly, on Sunday the 22nd of April, General French was despatched from Bloemfontein to assist. The force consisted of the 3rd and 4th Cavalry Brigades, the Eleventh Division (General Pole-Carew's), and some naval guns. The plan was to move to Dewetsdorp, and _en route_ to turn out the enemy from his position at Leeuw Kop. General Dickson, with the 4th Brigade of Cavalry and a battery of Horse Artillery, was to move towards the south-east from Springfield, so as to head off the enemy in the event of his retreating to the east. General Stephenson, with the 18th Brigade, 83rd, 84th, and 85th Batteries, R.F.A., and two 4.7 naval guns, was to march south and effect a junction with General Pole-Carew and the Guards' Brigade, and Colonel Alderson's Mounted Infantry Brigade. At Leeuw Kop, the Guards were to get round the enemy's left flank, while a central attack was to be delivered by the 18th Brigade under General Stephenson. The Guards (who had hitherto been protecting the line), were met some five miles out, they having marched from Ferriera Siding. They proceeded to the position mentioned, some fifteen miles south-east of Bloemfontein, where the Boers were encountered. They were found to be ensconced in the high eminence of Leeuw Kop itself, and other kopjes thickly covered with bush in the north. Thereupon operations began, the artillery opening the programme some five miles off, followed by an attack late in the day on the part of the 18th Brigade and the Guards, to front and left of the enemy's position. On the north side of the position was a picturesque farm, towards which the 18th Brigade advanced. Five scouts were allowed to approach within a hundred yards before the enemy fired. Then our guns (84th Battery Field Artillery) having discovered the position, began to play upon it--hidden though it was by high trees and shrubberies--with such accuracy and vigour that the enemy retreated to some distant kopjes, whence they plied their Vickers-Maxims and Mausers with a will. Shells buzzed and bounded among them, but our men never flinched. They pursued their way more and more to the left, in order to surround the offending kopjes. The Warwicks in the centre, the Essex on the right, the Welsh on the left, moving in echelon, advanced. By-and-by General Dickson's cavalry, from its distant position, attempted to engage in the flanking movement, and to surround the hills if possible with mounted men during the development of the infantry attack. The operations were suddenly overtaken by an appalling darkness, which turned out to be a flight of locusts that came and went, leaving the land more bare than it was before. The infantry now were pouring volleys on the kopje, whence they were again attacked with such warmth that they had to "lie low." Their position at this time was an unenviable one, it being too exposed for advance, and too advanced for retirement. At last the Essex made a glorious dash on the western slopes, while the Warwick and Welsh regiments, wildly cheering, clambered ahead of them on the northern heights. The Boers fired half-heartedly for a time, but were subsequently seen careering down the eastern slopes, their sole care being to save themselves. Unfortunately in this gallant assault, Captain Prothero, Welsh Regiment, was mortally wounded. The Guards, meanwhile, had extended on the right, while the Mounted Infantry, consisting of one battalion Imperial Mounted Infantry, 1st and 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles, and Strathcona's Horse (on their right) came in for so devastating a welcome from the Creusot gun which the enemy had posted on a neighbouring hill, that they were forced to retire. But the artillery came to the rescue, and the Boers removed their gun. The Dutchmen now found their numbers too meagre to hold their line of defence, which covered a semicircular chain of kopjes on the east, and in the morning of the 23rd all the enemy who held Leeuw Kop were discovered to have trekked eastward. The position was ours. Quantities of ammunition and rifles were seized, and General French had commenced an animated chase to the south, though his cavalry were unable to find the Boers in any strong position in the vicinity. A noticeable feature of the day's experiences was the exhibition of the white flag on the farmhouse, whence the Boers fired on the Canadians. These gallant fellows came safely out of the treacherous downpour, but lost two horses. On the same day (the 22nd), while the other tentacles of the great octopus, the British army, were twisting as shown, General Ian Hamilton with his Mounted Infantry Division was moving on towards Sanna's Post to take possession of the waterworks there. As the enemy in some strength was holding the neighbouring hills, it was found necessary to despatch the Ninth Division, consisting of Smith-Dorien's and MacDonald's Brigades, to the support of General Ian Hamilton. With these movements we must deal anon. As Sanna's Post is situated some twenty miles from Tweede Geluk (where the Eleventh Division was operating), and twenty-five from the road to Dewetsdorp, near where we have left General Rundle, the nicety of the disposition of the troops in their relation to each other may be appreciated. Moving almost at the same time, was Maxwell's (late Chermside's) Brigade (Seventh Division), which marched eastward and seized the hills covering the waggon-bridge over the Modder River at Kranz Kraal--the bridge whose utility to the Boers has been described. Meanwhile General Brabant with his Mounted Division and General Hart's Brigade from Rouxville, had reached the vicinity of Bushman's Kop, some fourteen miles from Wepener. The bulk of the Boer force had opposed themselves to this advance, and during this time the strain on Colonel Dalgety at Wepener had naturally been relaxed. By Monday, the 23rd, the Colonial Division, supported by Hart's Brigade, had turned the Boer position, after having kept up a running fight all day. The casualties of the fight were twenty-five wounded. Some of these were removed to Basutoland, under arrangement with the resident Commissioner at Mafeteng. General Brabant was moving in a north-easterly direction, keeping Basutoland on his right flank, his operations being watched with amazing interest by the natives in this region. He was now some eight miles from Wepener and sixty from Bloemfontein, and in heliographic communication with Dalgety, a circumstance which caused the Boers round Wepener to grow uneasy as to their positions. To return to General Pole-Carew. On the morning of Monday, the 23rd, the Boers, as we know, were found to have evacuated their main position at Leeuw Kop, and the Mounted Infantry took possession of the hill from which the enemy had been routed by the infantry. General French by then had moved on independently of his transport. Boers were known to be in the southern fringes of the Leeuw Kop position, but, without engaging them, General French pushed on, posting the 16th Lancers to keep an eye on his flank, till they should be relieved by the mounted troops which were following. Meanwhile, slowly in the rear, screened by the 4th Mounted Infantry, General Pole-Carew advanced his division and baggage train, and sent Roberts's Horse to relieve the 16th Lancers on the hill they were holding. The relievers came in for nasty attentions from a Maxim, but in spite of this they behaved with great gallantry, made for the kopje on which the Boers were ensconced, and finally cleared the summit. But this was not accomplished without lamentable loss. Major Brazier Creagh, 9th Bengal Lancers, who but recently had succeeded to the command of the regiment, was mortally wounded. Presently, to the assistance of Roberts's Horse came the 14th Hussars, squadrons of which regiment distributed themselves in hope of cutting off the enemy in retreat, but the Dutchmen, with all smartness, plied their guns till it was deemed best to retire, leaving the 2nd Coldstreams in the original position gained. [Illustration: THE OPERATIONS AT DEWETSDORP. (A Sketch from the Right of the Boer Position, by Major A. Festing.)] The cavalry soon became engaged. The Boers were espied in a long, low kopje to the east and west of the Dewetsdorp Road, the wide, flat ridge of which General French meant to seize. The 9th Lancers advanced to secure it, but the Boers instantly raced for the most advantageous position, with the result that while the troopers planted themselves on one edge of the plateau the Boers did likewise on the other. An animated combat ensued, the Lancers fighting most pluckily. The Boers offered determined resistance, whereon a "pom-pom" was ordered to the rescue of the Lancers, who were losing heavily. This weapon disturbed the efforts of the Dutchmen to sweep onwards, and soon they were put to flight, the "pom-poms" of the British harrying them in their retreat. The cavalry engagement was a pretty affair but costly, the dashing Lancers, enfiladed with a cruel fire, losing one officer, Captain Denny, K.D.G.'s, three wounded, and thirty-two men killed and wounded. The wounded officers were Captain H. F. W. Stanley, 9th Lancers, Lieutenant V. R. Brooke, 9th Lancers, and Lieutenant the Hon. A. W. J. C. Skeffington, 17th Lancers. [Illustration: (Corporal) (Officer) THE ROYAL MARINES Photo by Gregory & Co., London] General Pole-Carew, whose object was to establish communications with General Rundle, and for that purpose was advancing his division, with baggage train, as quickly as possible, now appeared in the direction of the main kopje, where the Boers for some days had been hiding. Here Roberts's Horse came into action; they located the position, which was shelled with great vigour, while at the base was a containing line of the Warwickshire Regiment, which enabled the General to pass with division and baggage, almost under the nose of the enemy, in perfect safety. The Boers made a struggle to arrest the passage of the column, but it was a feeble one. They opened fire from the ridge where they had first ensconced themselves, and past which General Pole-Carew had to march, but the guns of the 85th Battery made their acquaintance with such scant ceremony and so much warmth that there was a stampede. After a few shots had burst into some groups of Boers they all speedily got out of range, taking with them their baggage and guns. General Rundle, who as we know was waiting to march on Dewetsdorp, now communicated by heliograph that there were some 7000 of the enemy in his vicinity, and also that the country in front was crowded with low hills in which they might be hidden; but General Pole-Carew proceeded boldly to advance, and in his advance made some very necessary reprisals on such farmers, who, preferring covert-guile to open war, had been found aiding the enemy after receiving lenient treatment at our hands. He had previously set fire to a farmhouse whence, with a white flag flying over it, the Boers on Sunday had fired on our men. The farmers were told they could no longer play their double games, acting as they did at one moment the slim warrior, and the next the pastoral innocent. Meanwhile General Rundle with some 2500 Boers in front of him was waiting till he should get into touch with General Pole-Carew. He was warned by heliograph of the approach of the 4th Cavalry Brigade and of General French, and throughout the 23rd there was little done save running the gantlet of shells which the Boers persistently fired but without doing serious damage. The Yeomanry, who already had shown remarkable "grit," received considerable attention from the "Creusots" of the enemy, who were apparently holding on to all their eastern positions regardless of the fact that the gigantic prongs of the steel trap which was being prepared for them were shortly about to close. All the forces were now gradually getting in touch with each other, and the Dutchmen's days were numbered. So it was thought on the night of the 23rd. The 24th broke quietly. No shot was fired. Rundle's force swung to the left, pivoted on Chermside, who remained in defence of the position, while the mounted brigade protected the outer flank. In this General French, now arrived from the north, also assisted, and proceeded to turn the enemy's left. The British movements were conducted with due silence and secrecy, they being determined to produce a surprise for the Boers. The surprise "came off," as the saying is, but it was on the wrong side. When the men creeping up the stony kopje came to peer for the enemy in the trenches they found--merely trenches. "Not a bloomin' Boer anywhere," cried a disgusted Tommy, kicking the quiet boulders with a dilapidated boot! The Dutchmen were galloping to Ladybrand. The magnificent web that had been prepared for them was empty. An officer in the Royal Scots gave some interesting details regarding the part taken by the Third Division in this somewhat complex movement:-- "At this time we heard rumours that one of our mounted companies, the one commanded by Captain Molyneux-Seel, was, together with the Colonial Division, besieged at Wepener. This proved to be correct. At 1.30 A.M. on 12th April we got orders to march at 9 A.M., under General Chermside, who had taken over the command of the Third Division from General Gatacre, towards Dewetsdorp and Wepener, to the relief of the column at Wepener. We reached Reddersburg that afternoon. The rain came on late that evening, and literally flooded us out. Every officer and man was up from midnight, running about trying to keep warm. We had been without tents since 31st March, and are still without them (17th May). On 14th April we moved forward again and reached Rosendal, the scene of the recent disaster to the three companies of the Royal Irish Rifles and Mounted Company of the Northumberland Fusiliers. Graves, shells, cartridges, &c., here showed the tough work they had had. We remained at Rosendal waiting for the Eighth Division to come up until 19th, and had a very wet time of it. We marched again on 19th towards Dewetsdorp, about ten miles, when we went into bivouac. On 20th we moved off at 6 A.M., and after marching some six or seven miles we found the enemy in a position of very great strength covering Dewetsdorp. Our mounted infantry and artillery drove in the advanced posts, and we established ourselves on the Wakkerstroom Hills, in front of the enemy's position. It was then quite dark. We cooked our dinners as best we could, and lay down and slept the sleep of the just. I forgot to say that we found it very difficult to put out our outpost pickets in the dark, and one unfortunate party, belonging to the Worcestershire Regiment, actually walked into the enemy's lines and were captured." The circumstances of the capture were these. A party of some twenty-five cooks and mates were carrying food to their comrades on the top of a hill. In climbing, dinner in hand, they sought an easy place of ascent, and while doing so, moved too far and found themselves practically in the Boers' arms. Another portion of this unlucky regiment, a few days later, was drawn up for "foot and arms" inspection, and while thus exposed made a target for the enemy, who promptly seized the opportunity and killed two and wounded four of the men. Continuing his story, the officer before quoted said:-- "At 6.15 A.M. on the 21st we were standing under arms, with extra ammunition issued, awaiting orders, when, "boom," the first gun had been fired, and the shell burst some 300 yards to our left. To cut a long story short, the battalion remained in reserve that day with the rest of the brigade, and also the next day, but early on the 23rd we were moved up to the first line. The battalion was on the right of a battery of artillery, behind the crest of the hill on a gentle slope. Except for the men in the trenches our position was unknown to the enemy, but the mere fact of manning the trenches was sufficient to draw fire, and in less than half-an-hour we had four of the men who were with the main body of the battalion behind the brow hit. The bullets flew all round us, and went "phut, phut" into the ground at our feet, and it is strange that more did not find resting-places in our bodies. In half-an-hour we had thrown up parapets in front of each company, behind which the men were safe, and we suffered no more casualties. All that day and the next we remained in this position. It was most interesting watching the shells as they burst amongst our trenches, around the gunners, and over ourselves. The Boers had nine guns, and, I believe, 5000 men. Amongst the guns was a quick-firer, a 9-pounder Krupp gun, a high-velocity gun, and two pom-poms. The last-named are unpleasant to the senses, but do little harm. The noise of the discharge resembles in the distance the knocking at a door, and the men constantly replied, 'Come in,' cheery and fearless fellows that they are! On the early morning of the 25th (?) we missed our usual awakener of guns and pom-poms, and eventually we found the Boers had evacuated their positions, and, alas! had escaped us and Generals French and Hart. We at once pushed forward on to Dewetsdorp." After all the marching and turning and fighting and manoeuvring the knowing hordes had been able to steal off from every part of their horse-shoe position round Wepener entirely without chastisement! Here were five infantry and three cavalry brigades with more than seventy guns engaged in surrounding them, and yet they had succeeded in slipping through our fingers! Quite quietly, on the night of the 22nd, they had sent off their waggons; on the 23rd they had taken a parting kick at Wepener; and on the 24th they had retreated--"silently stolen away" to Ladybrand--while part of their force before Dewetsdorp, acting as a covering party, had retired on Thabanchu. That we were foiled and fooled may in a measure have been due to some tactical bungling, but certain it was that the Boers had superior advantages, for they were moving in a country entirely friendly to them, were well informed of all our intentions and movements, and were assisted in all their schemes by so-called farmers who, subtle and shifty, had comfortably surrendered the better to engage in covert operations which, while replenishing their pockets, did not imperil their skins! Moreover they escaped scot free, because Lord Roberts was not inclined to fritter more of his troops on side issues while the great object of the campaign, the seizure of Pretoria and the crippling of the Boers for prolonged military operations, was occupying his entire attention. The capture of De Wet's forces, or a part of them, was of secondary importance in comparison to the protection of railway communication with the sea base, and De Wet's minor successes, even when the disasters of Koorn Spruit and Reddersburg were counted among them, were not sufficient to frighten the Chief into a change of his larger strategical design. Pursuit being useless, General French sent General Brabazon to the relief of Wepener (which was already free), and he himself occupied Dewetsdorp. On the 25th, however, he received orders from Bloemfontein to chase the Boers to Thabanchu, which, at dawn, he proceeded to do, followed later by General Rundle and the Eighth Division. Meanwhile part of the Third Division under Chermside kept the Union Jack floating in Dewetsdorp and watched over the outlying districts. General Pole-Carew, his work in the south done, started for Bloemfontein to prepare for the main advance. * * * * * Then followed a glorious march into Wepener. Generals Hart and Brabant riding to Jammersberg Drift were cheered with enthusiasm, and the former General congratulated the defenders on their dogged pluck, and declared that the credit of the relief was due to General Brabant, "with whom it was an honour to serve." General Brabant, on his side, was loud in praise of the gallant Colonials, and of the assistance given him by the Cape Field Artillery, declaring that the very first time they came into action they saved him at a critical moment. His story merits repetition. He was advancing to the relief of Wepener, and had to take Bester's Kop, a very difficult position indeed, and he had to turn the position and leave his infantry supports a long way behind him and make a wide sweep round. In doing so his force came suddenly upon a body of the enemy within 190 yards of them. For a few minutes the enemy made it very warm. The General called up two guns under Lieutenant Janisch. He knew, he said, that Lieutenant Janisch's gunners had never been in action before, and in the circumstances he was a little doubtful as to how they would behave. But what did Lieutenant Janisch do? He at once set to work, and under a terrible fire, with shrapnel at 650 yards, and any man who knew what that meant, or who had seen it done as he had, would say that it was marvellously well done, with perfect coolness--with the coolness of veterans. In ten minutes Lieutenant Janisch had cleared the hillside. That, said the General, was a grand thing for men to do, men who, many of them, had never seen a shot fired in anger, and he had drawn the attention of the Commander-in-chief to the fact. There were no braver men in the service than the Royal Artillery, but the R.A. could not possibly have behaved better than the Cape Field Artillery did, and his only regret was that he could not get the other guns under Major Inglesby. [Illustration: NORTHUMBERLAND FUSILIERS (Corporal) DURHAM LIGHT INFANTRY (Lance-Corporal) Photo by Gregory & Co., London] * * * * * The Colonials afterwards proceeded to join General Rundle's force, as the enemy, to avoid being caught, was now "on the run." Flying north-eastward along the Ladybrand Road some three or four thousand of them went as fast as legs, equine and human, would carry them. They evacuated the kopjes near the waterworks, they bolted from the neighbourhood of Dewetsdorp, they rushed from Jammersberg Drift--in fact, as the jovial Colonials said, "the enemy conjugated the verb to skedaddle" from all positions in a masterly manner. They were getting good practice, but they began to fear that there were others who might learn to cut across country besides themselves. On the 28th General Brabazon, having completed his work at Wepener, moved _via_ Dewetsdorp on the way towards Thabanchu. As he was nearing this place he suddenly became aware that a British convoy had been caught in between the hills and was being briskly shelled by the Boers. Promptly he bribed a Kaffir to worm through the Boer lines and convey to the sturdy Yeomanry who were defending the convoy, the advice to hold on till he should advance to their aid. The message was delivered, and the Yeomanry stuck out manfully until, at dawn, the General and his Yeomanry came upon the scene. Thereupon the Boers, with their usual astuteness, made off, while rescuers and rescued alike pursued their way in triumph to Thabanchu. Soon Wepener was deserted. The British in that locality took refuge in Mafeteng, while the troops which had evacuated the place were sweeping up the Free State after the Federals. These "slimly" enough were getting away with herds, and stores, and guns without being caught in any very huge numbers. A large party of Free Staters had taken up a truculent position to the north of Thabanchu Mountain, for the purpose of protecting their fellows and covering the withdrawal of their waggon convoys from the south, and they succeeded in taking with them the twenty-five prisoners of the Worcesters, who had unwarily dropped into their clutches at Dewetsdorp. The Transvaalers, on the other hand, at the instance of President Kruger, were trekking towards the north in order to save their energies for coming operations across the Vaal, but they took good care before leaving to make themselves as obnoxious as possible to such farmers as had surrendered to the British Government. [Illustration] THE TENTACLES AT WORK We left General Ian Hamilton on April 22nd, starting from Bloemfontein to take possession of the waterworks at Sanna's Post. His force was composed of about 2000 Light Horse, Australians and Mounted Infantry, and one battery of Horse Artillery; but following him closely, as has been said, came the Ninth Division, consisting of Smith-Dorrien's and MacDonald's Brigades. On reaching the waterworks the General decided, after reconnoitring, that they were but weakly held, and proceeded to attack the enemy, drive him into the distant hills, and recapture the waterworks and the drift over the river. The enemy had removed the eccentrics from the waterworks, thinking to paralyse British operations for a month or two, but it soon became evident that the mechanists in Bloemfontein were prepared to manufacture new ones at short notice. The drift was occupied on the 24th, and the enemy, for reasons above mentioned, made his way to a formidable position behind Thabanchu, whither it was decided he must be chased, and speedily. On the same day 800 Boers were found at Israel's Poort, some seven miles from Thabanchu. Their demeanour was aggressive. They were posted on a semicircle of small kopjes, carefully entrenched and protected by two guns and barbed-wire entanglements. General Ian Hamilton decided that the Dutchmen must be removed, and removed they were, mainly by the gallantry of the Canadians and the Shropshires, supported by the Grahamstown Horse. With remarkable celerity the hills were cleared and the Boers driven off. The Canadians, commanded by Colonel Otter, approached by clever successive rushes to the foot of the kopjes before the Boers opened fire. Then, in the midst of a sharp volley from the enemy they came on the barbed-wire entanglements, but, undaunted, cut or cleared them, and with a gallant rush ascended the hill. With great ingenuity they took whatever cover they could, while from above, the storm from the hostile Mausers--which during the engagement had doubled in number--grew hotter and hotter. Colonel Otter was struck in the neck, but pursued his way, cheering on his gallant men. Presently another bullet found him out; tore from his shoulder its badge, but did no further damage. Still up they all went, with a glorious, an inspiriting yell, which apparently sent the Federals scudding into space. The crest of the hill was now the property of the Canadians and the Grahamstown Volunteers, who unfortunately lost a valuable officer--Captain Gethin. The Canadian losses were not so heavy as might have been expected, owing to the skill with which their advance was arranged and carried out; but the splendid turning movement was not without cost to others. During the fight Major Marshall (Grahamstown Mounted Rifles) was severely wounded, and also Lieutenants Murray, Winnery, Barry, Hill, and Rawal. Colonel Otter (Canadian Regiment), as has been said, was only slightly injured. The same night General Hamilton occupied Thabanchu. On the 25th General French, as we know, had received orders from head-quarters to pursue the enemy in his retreat northwards to Thabanchu. Here the cavalry, covering Rundle's advance, arrived at midday on Friday the 27th to find General Ian Hamilton engaged with a horde of Boers temporarily routed, but holding a threatening position to the east of the place. An effort was made to dislodge the Dutchmen entirely. Cavalry and Mounted Infantry were sent to either flank, while the infantry advanced in front. But the mounted force was small, and moreover dreadfully fatigued (they having endured considerable hardships--half-rations among them--in the hurried march to Thabanchu), while the Boer position, as usual, was extensive, and therefore the cavalry was recalled. The Boers followed up the retirement with great skill, pressing so closely on the troops as to cause considerable anxiety, particularly for the safety of Kitchener's Horse, which did not get clear away till midnight. It was evident that the foe was bent on making valiant and despairing efforts to arrest the progress of the troops towards the east. From this part of the Orange Free State, in the neighbourhood of Ladybrand and Ficksburg, they drew their corn and other supplies, and these they were determined not to relinquish without a struggle. During the day's engagement Lieutenant Geary, Hampshire Regiment, was killed, and Captain Warren, of Kitchener's Horse, was severely wounded. Meanwhile General Rundle with the Eighth Division had arrived from Dewetsdorp. The advance of Generals Rundle and Chermside towards the north had had the effect of a vast sweeping machine. The country south and east had gradually been scoured of the enemy, with the result that he was gathered--and very cleverly gathered!--in a heap in the hills around Thabanchu. Some of the Transvaalers, however, were returning to their farms, while others were scuttling across country, retiring "the better to jump," as the French would say. General Pole-Carew's march and prompt measures were also producing excellent effects, and helping to correct the misunderstandings created in the ignorant mind by British leniency. Till now the Boers had not been taught that there was necessity for honour even among foes, but now the General took drastic measures to show burghers on whose farms he found rifles that British "magnanimity" was not without its limits. Wherever these turncoats were found their horses and cattle were captured, their meal and provisions destroyed or carried off. In this way the delinquents were punished, and the Federal Army was crippled in the matter of supplies. Generals Pole-Carew and Stephenson, in conjunction with General Rundle's advance, and acting on information from the Intelligence Department, had made a round of certain farms in the district of Leeuw Kop, and everywhere propagated their wholesome lesson. The women and children, however, were treated with great consideration. There were, of course, tragic moments with these weaklings, whose notions of morality in the art of war were nil. All that interested them was to preserve their homesteads, and sell at as profitable rates as possible their goods to the first British buyer who had money in his pocket. They saw no sin in declaring they had no concealed ammunition when the place was stocked with it, or in handing out a few disabled rifles and burying the better ones for use "on a rainy day." Only when General Pole-Carew insisted that the Boers should give up with their Mausers a reasonable amount of ammunition, on pain of being seized as prisoners of war, were Mausers and ammunition in plenty forthcoming. There was now no doubt that these prompt measures helped to clear the military situation with astonishing rapidity. A typical conversation which conveyed a world of instruction took place during one of General Pole-Carew's invasions. A young Transvaal prisoner, who was standing among the confiscated goods from many farms, was questioned how long he thought the war would last. He cast a rueful glance at the commandeered effects, and said, "Not long, if this continues!" General Pole-Carew could have had no greater compliment to his acumen in dealing with what for more than a month past had been a perplexing problem! So far, things were progressing favourably. At Bloemfontein there had been some fear of a water famine, but the recent rains had beneficently filled the dams, and good drinking-water was obtained by boring. The repairs of the damage done by the Boers to the waterworks went on apace, and at the same time arrangements for the general advance northwards were approaching completion. It was decided that the task of continuing the sweeping operations in the south-eastern corner of the Free State should be assigned to General Sir Leslie Rundle, and to this end he was to be left at Thabanchu in command of the Eighth Division, plus some 800 Imperial Yeomanry under General Brabazon, while Generals French and Hamilton proceeded north. Thabanchu, on account of its strategical importance, both in view of its proximity to Bloemfontein and of checking further raids, the British determined to hold, and hold firmly, for the future. Accordingly at dawn on the 28th General French directed a great movement for the purpose of entirely routing the Boers from its neighbourhood. This was easier in conception than accomplishment. General Gordon's Cavalry Brigade moved round the left, the Mounted Infantry with General Smith-Dorrien's Infantry Brigade assailed the right, while General Rundle's somewhat worn-out division held the front of the enemy's position. The Boer left was so strong that General Gordon had to content himself with merely hammering at it, but the Boer right crumbled away before General Hamilton's advance, and opened a road for General Dickson's Cavalry Brigade, which, once having dashed through, sent the Boers scampering like goats from ridge to ridge. In a few moments it seemed that, with the British in the rear of their hill, the Dutchmen would be enclosed. Quickly came General Hamilton with such troops as he could muster to effect this desired consummation; but more quickly still, and with surprising regularity and precision, the Boer hordes, moving with such discipline as to be mistaken for a British mounted brigade, marched off to the north-east, while others of their huge numbers returned in force, harassed General Dickson's left and rear, and forced him in his turn quickly to retire. Thus ended a laudable effort. [Illustration: KENT COTTAGE, CRONJE'S QUARTERS IN ST. HELENA.] The operations around Thabanchu and Ladybrand had therefore to be briskly continued, for at this time General Rundle stood in hourly danger of being invested, and General French with his flying warriors in a region of hill and dale was somewhat handicapped in his ability to help him. Still he kept a magnetic eye on the enemy which served to hold him, while General Ian Hamilton, moving on the left, prepared if possible to proceed forwards and join the main advance. CHAPTER IV THE GREAT ADVANCE[4] The evil effects of British leniency became still more evident. A hostile society had been organised in Bloemfontein for the purpose of communicating with the enemy and arming surreptitiously at the neighbouring farms. Spies carried news of the British movements, and messengers came in and out under pretext of bringing their goods to market. In short, it was discovered that the outlying farmers were developing into secret-service agents, and were, moreover, lending themselves to the atrocious practice of flying white flags for the purpose of firing at short ranges at unwary patrols. It was found necessary to meet such duplicity with stern reprisals, and following the example set by Moltke in '71, when it was incumbent on him to protect his communications from _franc-tireurs_, it was decided that strongest measures must be resorted to to prevent abuse of confidence in the future. Lord Roberts had tried magnanimity and it had failed. He now determined that a severe course must be adopted by which offenders in future might be made to suffer for acts of duplicity in property and in person. Accordingly, no one was permitted to pass in and out of Bloemfontein, the enemy was deprived of their horses in order that their activity in despatch riding might be limited, and the discovery of hidden cartridges or suspicious documents were in future to be looked upon as sufficient to convict. Various residents in the town were tried on charges of concealing arms and ammunition, and sentenced to a year's imprisonment respectively, while their property was confiscated. These examples were productive of almost instantaneous good result, for unprecedented supplies were pouring into Bloemfontein. General Pole-Carew, who returned to the capital on the 29th of April, had done wonderful work in correcting the abuses that early leniency had brought about. Wherever farmers who had made their submission were discovered to be again fighting, their property had been confiscated. Forage had been taken and receipts given as a rule, thus preventing the surrounding farms from becoming depôts for the enemy. Such precautions adopted earlier would have averted many bloody tussles and much inconvenience and loss of time, for _sans_ forage the raiding capabilities of the various commandos would have been sorely handicapped. However, even chieftains may live and learn, and Lord Roberts applied himself quickly to the lesson that was forced on him by the ingratitude of the conquered. At the same time the last strokes were being put to the preparations for the great onward march. The regiments were exchanging their tattered and battered cotton khaki for woollen suits, wherewith to meet the change of season, and their soleless boots were being replaced by new ones. All this transmogrification was not to be accomplished in haste, for the same reason that made it impossible to bring up necessaries for the hospital. The line of rail was groaning with the enormous bulk of provisions needful to sustain the bare life of the force, and consequently such matters as raiment and equipment had to take a secondary place among the urgent needs of the moment. General Pole-Carew's Division, after a hard bout of fighting, no sooner returned than it made ready to engage in the pending operations. The day being Sunday (the 29th), the Field-Marshal, accompanied by Lady Roberts and their daughter, attended divine service at the Cathedral, a last family reunion previous to setting off on the unknown--the great march to Pretoria. At that time none could guess what form of resistance the burghers of Johannesburg and Pretoria might take it into their heads to offer, and fearful threats to stagger humanity by blowing up the mines and committing various other acts of barbarism were bruited abroad. Fever still raged in the town, and as many as 3000 patients were said to be in hospital. The outburst of sickness, due in the first instance to the polluted conditions surrounding Cronje's camp at Paardeberg, was accelerated by the lack of water after the affair at Koorn Spruit, when the triumphant Boers captured and disabled the waterworks and deprived the town of pure water, leaving the population dependent for drinking-water on wells which, in many cases, were merely sinks of abomination. Nevertheless, the red business of war had to be pursued at all costs, and May Day was kept in martial manner. With dawn came the music of bands innumerable and inspiriting, and the mighty clangour of armed men, of clamping steeds, of rolling waggons. Pole-Carew and his division were starting for Karee Siding, _en route_ for the great, it was hoped, the final move! In the market-square, to watch the march past of the brigade of goodly Guardsman, of stalwart Welsh, Warwick, Essex, and York regiments, stood Lord Roberts, Lady Roberts, and their daughter. It was a grand though workmanly spectacle, the bearded veterans in their woollen khaki being laden with blankets, macintoshes, haversacks, and in some cases, countrymen's bandanna bundles stocked with good things. Though this may be looked on as the beginning of the general exodus, the Chief himself did not move till later. [Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL IAN HAMILTON Photo by Johnston & Hoffmann, Simla] Before starting off Lord Roberts made elaborate arrangements for simultaneous movement in other parts of the theatre of war. Wepener relieved, Hart's Brigade was sent to join Barton's at Kimberley. At that place there was therefore the complete Tenth Division under General Hunter, and Lord Methuen's redistributed division comprising the brigades under Generals Douglas and Paget. Elsewhere, wheel was arranged to move within wheel. Lord Roberts's programme seemed simple enough--on paper. He, with a portion of his army, the Seventh and Eleventh Divisions, intended to advance with speed and on the broadest front possible, hugging the railway line (astride which the Boer positions were sure to be found), till he should have reached the capital of the Transvaal and struck a blow which should destroy the arrogant hopes of President Kruger and demonstrate to the Boers the futility of further resistance. At the same time, on the east of the line, a strong detachment was to keep an eye on the hovering hordes of Dutchmen which still lingered there, while further still, Sir Redvers Buller was to advance along the railway from Ladysmith, and if possible to join hands with the main army later on during the operations. Simultaneously, on the west, the relief of Mafeking was to be attempted by a flying column, while both Hunter's and Methuen's divisions in support acted in concert, and further held themselves in readiness to advance and join in the general operations should occasion demand. The main army, consisting of the Seventh and Eleventh Divisions, was to march, as said, on the broadest possible front; the left wing--the cavalry under General French--to proceed in advance over the open country; while the right wing, also in advance, commanded by General Ian Hamilton, was to perform a sweeping movement throughout the Boer-haunted regions along the Winburg, Ventersburg, and Kroonstadt roads, and threaten in turn the defensive positions of the foe, forcing them everywhere to choose between investment or retreat. The troops acting in concert with Lord Roberts in his second great advance were distributed as follows:-- _Commanding-in-chief_--FIELD-MARSHAL LORD ROBERTS. SEVENTH DIVISION. Lieutenant-General G. TUCKER. 14th Brigade (Major-General J. G. Maxwell). 2nd Norfolk. 2nd Lincoln. 1st King's Own Scottish Borderers. 2nd Hants. 15th Brigade (Major-General A. G. Wavell). 2nd Cheshire. 1st East Lancashire. 2nd South Wales Borderers. 2nd North Stafford. 18th, 62nd, 75th Field Batteries. 9th Company Royal Engineers. NINTH DIVISION. Lieutenant-General Sir H. E. COLVILLE. (Temporarily broken up.) 3rd Brigade (Major-General H. A. MacDonald). 1st Argyll and Sutherland. 2nd Seaforth Highlanders. 2nd Royal Highlanders (Black Watch). ELEVENTH DIVISION. Lieutenant-General R. POLE-CAREW. 1st Brigade (Major-General Inigo R. Jones). 3rd Grenadier Guards. 1st Coldstream Guards. 2nd Coldstream Guards. 1st Scots Guards. 18th Brigade (Major-General T. E. Stephenson). 1st Essex. 1st Yorkshire. 1st Welsh. 2nd Royal Warwickshire. 83rd, 84th, and 85th Field Batteries. CAVALRY DIVISION. Lieutenant-General J. D. P. FRENCH. 1st Brigade (Brigadier-General T. C. Porter). 6th Dragoon Guards. 6th Dragoons. 2nd Dragoons. 2nd Brigade (Brigadier-General R. G. Broadwood). 10th Hussars. 12th Lancers. Household Cavalry. 3rd Brigade (Brigadier-General J. R. P. Gordon). 9th Lancers. 16th Lancers. 17th Lancers. 4th Brigade (Major-General J. B. B. Dickson). 7th Dragoon Guards. 8th Hussars. 14th Hussars. G, J, O, P, Q, R, T, U Batteries Horse Artillery. MOUNTED INFANTRY DIVISION. Lieutenant-General IAN HAMILTON. 1st Brigade (Major-General E. T. H. Hutton). 1st Corps (Colonel E. A. H. Alderson). 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles. 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles. Lord Strathcona's Corps. One Battalion Imperial Mounted Infantry. 2nd Corps (Colonel de Lisle). New South Wales Mounted Infantry. West Australian Mounted Infantry. 3rd Corps (Colonel T. D. Pilcher). Queensland Mounted Infantry. New Zealand Mounted Infantry. One Battalion Imperial Mounted Infantry. 4th Corps (Colonel Henry). Victorian Mounted Infantry. South Australian Mounted Infantry. Tasmanian Mounted Infantry. One Battalion Imperial Mounted Infantry. 2nd Brigade (Major-General Ridley). South African Irregulars Mounted Infantry. Several Batteries Artillery. INFANTRY DIVISION. (Temporarily attached to Mounted Infantry Division.) Major-General H. L. Smith-Dorrien. 19th Brigade (Colonel J. Spens). 2nd Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. 2nd Shropshire Light Infantry. 1st Gordon Highlanders. Canadian Regiment. 21st Brigade (Major-General Bruce Hamilton). 1st Derbyshire. 1st Royal Sussex. 1st Cameron Highlanders. City Imperial Volunteers. EIGHTH DIVISION. Lieutenant-General Sir H. M. L. RUNDLE. 16th Brigade (Major-General B. B. D. Campbell). 2nd Grenadier Guards. 2nd Scots Guards. 2nd East Yorks. 1st Leinster. 17th Brigade (Major-General J. E. Boyes). 1st Worcester. 2nd Royal West Kent. 1st South Stafford. 2nd Manchester. Brigade Division Royal Field Artillery. 5th Company Royal Engineers. THIRD DIVISION. Lieutenant-General Sir H. G. CHERMSIDE. 22nd Brigade (Major-General R. E. Allen). 2nd Royal Irish Rifles. 2nd Northumberland Fusiliers. 1st Royal Scots. 2nd Berkshire. 23rd Brigade (Major-General W. G. Knox). (Composition not known.) 74th, 77th, and 79th Field Batteries. COLONIAL DIVISION. Major-General BRABANT. Cape Mounted Rifles. Kaffrarian Mounted Rifles. Montmorency's Scouts (200). Brabant's Horse (1200). Border Horse. Frontier Mounted Rifles. Queenstown Volunteers. Cape Garrison Artillery. Two naval 12-pounders. SIXTH DIVISION. Lieutenant-General T. KELLY-KENNY. 12th Brigade (Major-General Clements). 2nd Worcestershire. 2nd Bedfordshire. 2nd Wiltshire. 1st Royal Irish Regiment. 13th Brigade (Major-General C. E. Knox). 2nd East Kent. 1st Oxfordshire Light Infantry. 1st West Riding. 2nd Gloucester. 76th, 81st, and 82nd Field Batteries. 38th Company Royal Engineers. OTHER TROOPS WITH LORD ROBERTS. (Brigades not known.) Highland Light Infantry. 1st Suffolk. Roberts's Horse. Kitchener's Horse. Marshall's Horse (Grahamstown Volunteers). 1st Battalion Imperial Yeomanry. 4th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry. 7th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry. 8th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry. 11th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry. C.I.V. Mounted Infantry. Ceylon Mounted Infantry. Lumsden's Horse. Lord Loch's Horse. 43rd, 65th, 86th, and 87th Howitzer Batteries. 2nd, 5th, 8th, 9th, 17th, 38th, 39th, 68th, and 88th Field Batteries. Eight naval 4.7-in. guns. Part of Siege Train. The advance may be said really to have commenced on the 30th of April, with the departure on the one hand of General Ian Hamilton from Thabanchu, followed rapidly on the other by General French. The Field-Marshal, as stated, did not move for a day or two later. When he did so, events succeeded each other with the precision of clockwork. The hundred and twenty miles from Bloemfontein to Kroonstadt was accomplished in a fortnight, and may be described as an almost bloodless progress. Many glorious deeds were done, and some lives were lost; but this march must be looked on as a whole, and not viewed in detail. There were at least no decisive battles. Every step, marvellously organised and magnificently carried out, became a development of the pushing-on system by a species of skilfully devised military pressure from all parts. The enemy was driven from point to point, now fighting, now retreating, destroying water-tanks and pumping adjuncts, blowing up bridges and twisting rails, as a natural consequence of his spite; while the British, sprayed out over the country, made an almost triumphal progress, routing the enemy from every stronghold, and capturing waggons and prisoners by the way. Brandfort, whither the Boers had departed after the battle of Karree, was occupied by Lord Roberts on the 3rd of May, the Boers, under General Delarey, vacating their strongholds south of the town and retreating towards the north-east. Brandfort is merely a village situated some thirty-six miles north of Bloemfontein, and owes its importance to the fact that it is situated on the direct road to Kroonstadt. A reconnaissance was made there some four days previous to the advance, when a grievous though heroical incident took place, which cannot be overlooked, as it serves to show the stuff of which the men of Lumsden's Horse were made. Some twenty-five of the Behar Section, who were holding a detached kopje during the reconnaissance, were surrounded and fired on in their isolated position by some 200 Boers. The officer commanding (Lieutenant Crane) was almost instantly wounded, so also was Sergeant-Major Marsham. Two gallant troopers, Case and Firth, though well aware that they were outnumbered and that surrender in the circumstances would be justifiable, refused to desert their officer, though ordered by him to do so, and continued valiantly to fire till they themselves dropped dead, a sacrifice to their own gallantry. Nor were the rest of the band less remarkable for "grit," for out of the small number holding the kopje nine were wounded and five killed! It was hoped on the arrival of the army at Brandfort that the wounded prisoners might be recovered, but it was afterwards found that the Boers had removed them. To return to the main advance. The town was occupied without serious opposition, as the Dutch hosts, some 4000 of them, who had declared their intention of fighting to the bitter end, simply melted away under pressure of the cleverly combined movement. The force had been preceded overnight by two battalions of Guards, who were deputed to hold a menacing kopje, which mounted guard over a spruit, known to be a favourable harbourage for the enemy. As a natural consequence of this skilful preparation, the Boers were forced to resign their comfortable hiding-place, and the army was enabled to advance in safety. The 1st Brigade of Mounted Infantry (Hutton) covered the left flank, and 14th Brigade of the Seventh Division (Maxwell) supported by the 15th Brigade (Wavell) covered the right flank. General Pole-Carew's Division marched in the centre, General Inigo Jones on the right, and General Stephenson on the left. General Maxwell encountered the enemy, who, posted in a good position, attacked him with two guns, which eventually were silenced by the British artillery. He then succeeded in sending the whole of the eastern force scudding towards the north, while General Hutton on his side, making an unusual detour, and assisted by No. 9 Field Battery and Colonel Alderson with his smart Colonials, prepared a little surprise, and contrived so to pound and harass the enemy on the hill commanding the town, that their valour, chastened by discretion and shrapnel, subsided, and they scurried away across the plains, thus leaving the coast clear. Several prisoners were captured, among them the commandant of the town, who had returned there for the purpose of destroying the instruments at the telegraph office. Among the defending force was the Irish-American Contingent, a riotous crew, who, according to the townsfolk, must have been to the Boers more bother than they were worth. During the engagement Captain Williams (2nd Hampshire Regiment) was wounded. On the 4th, the Mounted Infantry, under General Hutton, covering a front of ten miles, proceeded on their way, reconnoitred up to the Vet River, and meanwhile cleared the rail of such Boer stragglers as happened to be hanging about, as far as Eensgevonden, where they bivouacked. They were followed the next day by the rest of the force, all branches of which had been in communication by heliograph. At dawn on the 5th, the river was found by the West Australians to be held by the enemy. The guns advanced, and a fierce artillery duel followed, in which the 84th and 85th Batteries had some exciting experiences, and escaped as by a miracle without injury. Later on, two naval 12-pounders assisted them, and there was warm work till sunset, the Boers on the opposite bank fighting with rare obstinacy, and only desisting occasionally the better to leap to the attack. Meanwhile on the left, the sound of General Hutton's further operations could be heard. Having endeavoured to find a drift to the west, this officer encountered the enemy in possession, and was greeted by a duet from a hostile Maxim and a pom-pom. This presently developed into a quartet, the British galloping Maxim and a pom-pom taking so prominent a part that presently the Boers, concealed in the bed of the river, began to feel uncomfortable. News had come in to the Chief at mid-day that the enemy meant to hold the Vet River, and was there located with the necessary equipment of field-guns and Mausers, and that he was already in touch with Hutton's Brigade on the left. The army, taking advantage of such daylight as remained, moved on, and presently, across the river, and on the distant hills, blue-grey smoke in panting puffs bespoke the activities of the Colonials. To their assistance went naval guns, great and small, carrying messages of fuming green horror to the other side of the water. While this was taking place the Canadians and Tasmanians were grandly fighting their way across the river, and the gallant New Zealanders, taking their share, plunged into the midst of the Boers and scattered them from a kopje they were holding, themselves paying dearly the penalty of triumph. They were afterwards supported by two companies of the Guards. The Dutchmen eventually were routed from their positions south of the river, and General Hutton succeeded in turning the enemy's right, and establishing himself the next day on the north bank. The only officer wounded in General Pole-Carew's Division was Lieutenant the Hon. M. Parker, Grenadier Guards. General Hutton's operations had been entirely successful, some forty Boers had been put out of action, twelve prisoners and a Maxim were captured with comparatively small loss to the entire force. The Boer horde, which had left its position by the river, now congregated some ten miles off, with a view to the protection of the main body of the foe, who were falling back on Kroonstadt. The turning movement was declared to be an admirable feat, executed admirably by the Canadians, New South Wales, New Zealand Rifles, and the Queensland Mounted Infantry, whose dash and daring were much eulogised. The first phase of the general advance was promising well. Lord Roberts, according to his plan, had cleared and engaged the south-eastern districts with such celerity that the enemy had not been given breathing time to concentrate in front of the advancing force. On the 6th the British Army crossed the Vet River and encamped at Smaldeel Junction, where many of the Dutchmen, confessing themselves sick of the war, surrendered. The rest of the enemy was in swift retreat in the direction of Zand River and Kroonstadt, where it was thought they would make a final stand. They took care, however, to damage the rail. Rackarock, placed at intervals on the line, was discovered by a Westralian Mounted Infantryman. The force captured a Maxim gun and twenty-five prisoners. Meanwhile, General Ian Hamilton had occupied Winburg. But of his march anon. The following days, the 7th and 8th, there was a halt for two days. The object of the halt was to enable the cavalry to return from Bloemfontein, and take its place in the original combined scheme of operations as described, and also to allow of the completion of certain necessary work on the railway. On the 8th, General French with his cavalry, forming the left wing of the advancing army, reached Smaldeel. It was doubtful whether the Federals intended to dispute the passage of the Zand River, but Hutton to right and Broadwood to left reconnoitred, and it was found that both Delarey and Botha, with some sixteen guns between them, were posted on the north bank in the direct line of the main advance, and therefore the British troops might prepare for stiff work. Reports now came in that the enemy was hurrying back from the Zand to the Vaal though some of the burghers, the Free State ones, remained and delivered up rifles and horses to the British authorities. They had decided to break with the Transvaalers on the border of their territory. While the halt was taking place, there was activity elsewhere. A strong force from Chermside's Division, on the 3rd, had garrisoned Wepener under Lord Castletown, who was appointed Commissioner for the Wepener district, and General Brabant's Colonial Division had moved to Thabanchu, where it arrived on the 7th. On the 9th, Lord Roberts drew in his right column, and concentrated his whole force in the neighbourhood of Welgelegen, some seven miles south of the Zand River. The march of General Ian Hamilton to this point now claims attention. FROM THABANCHU TO WINBURG AND WELGELEGEN (GENERAL IAN HAMILTON) On the 30th of April General Ian Hamilton was marching north with a view to making his way to Winburg _via_ the Jacobsrust Road. His force consisted of cavalry, including Broadwood's mounted infantry, Smith-Dorrien's, Bruce Hamilton's, and Ridley's commands. His progress was blocked by Botha, who, having been driven northward from Thabanchu, now turned at bay and planted himself firmly on Thaba Mountain, and across the road towards Houtnek. The centre and left of his position seemed almost impregnable, therefore the right, as the weakest point, was chosen for attack. The mounted infantry made for the stronghold, and Smith-Dorrien, with part of his brigade, followed in support--all the troops pushing their way towards the objective under the ferocious fire of the foe. The Boers, seeing the designs of the British, made valiant efforts to retain the hill, and continual reinforcements came to their aid, rendering the task of our advancing troops more and more dangerous. At this time, the fight growing momentarily warmer, and the struggle for possession of the vantage point more and more intense, Captain Towse (Gordon Highlanders) with twelve of his men and a few of Kitchener's Horse managed to gain the top, but in so doing suddenly found himself and his diminutive band removed from support. At this critical juncture a party of some 150 Boers approached, intending also to seize the plateau occupied by the small band of Scotsmen, and came within 100 yards of the Highlanders without either observing them or being observed by them. But, no sooner were the Dutchmen aware of the existence of the British, and of their small number and their apparent helplessness, than they promptly called on them to surrender. "Surrender?" cried Captain Towse in a voice of thunder, and instantly ordered his men to open fire! The blood of Scotland was up. The command was quickly obeyed, and the lion-hearted little band not only fired, but led by their splendid officer charged fiercely with the bayonet straight into the thick mass of Dutchmen. A moment of uproar, of amazement, and then--flying heels. The valorous Highlanders had succeeded, despite their inferior numbers, in driving off the hostile horde and taking possession of the plateau! But, unfortunately, the magnificent daring of the commanding officer had cost him almost more than life. A shot across the eyes shattered them, blinding him, and thus depriving her Majesty's Service of one of its noblest ornaments. But the great work was accomplished--and the summit of the hill was gained and kept. The Dutchmen elsewhere, in vast masses, were fighting hard with guns and pom-poms, and at close of day had assumed so threatening an attitude that General French was telegraphed for, and the troops were ordered to sleep on the ground they had gained, and prepare to renew the attack at dawn. General French arrived from Thabanchu the same night, and next morning (the 1st of May) hostilities were resumed. Again the enemy, led by Botha, fought doggedly, even brilliantly, but the troops, after some warm fighting, succeeded in routing him and forcing a passage to the north. In the operations General Hamilton was assisted by Broadwood's brigade of cavalry and the 8th Hussars under Colonel Clowes, whose gallantry helped to harass the enemy's rear and forced them eventually to evacuate their position. Bruce Hamilton's brigade of infantry also did excellent work. The final stroke to the enemy's rout was effected by the Gordons and Canadians, and two companies of the Shropshire Light Infantry. These came within 200 yards of the foe, and with a ringing cheer launched themselves boldly at the Dutchmen's front--so boldly, so dashingly indeed, that at the sheer hint of the coming collision the Boers had scampered. Promptly the 8th Hussars charged into the flying fugitives, and forty prisoners were "bagged." Guns were then galloped on the evacuated position and shells were sent after the dispersing hordes. The enemy lost twelve killed and forty wounded. Among the former was a German officer and two Frenchmen, and among the latter a Russian who commanded the Foreign Legion. The British wounded were Captain Lord Kensington, Household Cavalry; Major H. Alexander, 10th Hussars; Captain A. Hart, 1st East Surrey Regiment; Captain Buckle, 2nd Royal West Kent. Captain Cheyne, Kitchener's Horse, was missing. [Illustration: WEST SURREY (Adjutant) EAST SURREY (Sergeant-Major) Photo by Gregory & Co., London] On the 2nd, after the dashing assault of the Thaba plateau and defeat of the Boers, a day's halt was ordered at Jacobsrust, as General Hamilton's force had been incessantly fighting for over ten days. Lord Roberts's plan in the Free State was now nearly complete. His proposition was to hold with an adequate force the whole of the front from left to right--from Karee Siding, Krantz Kraal, Springfield, the Waterworks, Thabanchu, Leeuw River Mills, and Ladybrand--thus pressing the Boers steadily up and up, till resistance should be pushed to the narrowest limits. Fighting here and there continued, but the sweeping process preparatory to the great forward move was being very thoroughly accomplished. Reinforcements now arrived, and General Hamilton's force, which in reference to Lord Roberts's advance took its place as the army of the right flank, was composed as follows:-- Infantry {19th Brigade } Smith-Dorrien. {21st Brigade } Bruce Hamilton. Cavalry 2nd Cavalry Brigade Broadwood. { 3 Batteries F.A. } Artillery { 2 Batteries H.A. } Waldron. { 2 5-in. Guns } On the 4th the enemy, ubiquitous, were found again in great numbers at Roelofsfontein. They formed a barrier to the onward passage of the troops, and approaching them with a view to strengthening that barrier came more Boers fleeing from Brandfort. There was no time to be lost, so, with prodigious haste General Broadwood with two squadrons of Guards Cavalry and two of the 10th Hussars galloped to the scene, and threw a formidable wedge between the allies. Thereupon such Boers as were hastening to fill the gap came into collision with the cavalry. These, supported by Kitchener's Horse, who had dashed nimbly into the fray, succeeded in defeating the Dutchmen and forcing them back discomfited. Their neatly arranged plan of campaign had failed, and realising the impossibility of joining forces, the Boers set spurs to their horses and made for the drift, speeded in their mad career by shells from the batteries of the Horse Artillery. But the brilliant cavalry feat was costly. Lord Airlie, whose dash and daring had continually almost approached recklessness, was injured, so also was Lieutenant the Hon. C. H. Wyndham, while Lieutenant Rose (Royal Horse Guards), the gallant A.D.C. to the late General Symons, was mortally wounded. The unfortunate officer was felled with many bullets from some sharpshooters who were marking the crest of the ridge held by the British. Most of the losses were sustained by the cavalry, whose splendid action saved much time and possibly many fierce engagements on the line of march. A Scots colonist who owned an estate near Winburg, which had the misfortune to be situated in the very midst of the belligerents, gave an interesting account of the days directly preceding the occupation of Winburg, when a series of conflicts had been taking place along the road from Thabanchu. From the 2nd of May and onwards small parties of fleeing Boers and German free-lances had been seen escaping from the British and seeking cover in the kopjes near Welkom:-- "The Boers, nearly 4000 strong, with thirteen guns, occupied the hills round Welkom; the British, under Generals Ian Hamilton and Broadwood, at Verkeerdi Vlei, two hours distant, also General Colvile with the Ninth Division, and General Hector MacDonald with the Highland Brigade, at Os Spruit, two and a half hours farther east on the Brandfort side. Cannon firing started at 7 A.M., and continued for two or three hours, Naval guns, Armstrongs, Howitzers, Maxim-Nordenfeldts, &c. &c., all booming together. We heard the rifle-firing quite distinctly. About ten o'clock the Boers began to give way, and arrived here, about 1000 of them, with six cannon. We supplied them with water and milk, &c., and thanked God to hear them say they did not intend making a stand. Across the river they moved through the drift very swiftly--guns, waggons, transport, men, horses--all in fairly good order. Just as they got through, the Boers up on the Brandfort direction began to give way, and shells from the British cannon burst repeatedly among them. This went on for about one hour, when a grand stampede set in, and the flight and confusion and bursting shells was a sight never to be forgotten. In the flight the drift got jammed up. One cannon upset in the drift and blocked the traffic. Then they tore up here past the house, and got through at the top drift. How they all got through is still a mystery to me. Suddenly a shell from the large naval gun burst down at the mill. It made a terrific explosion, and shook both house and store. The British had meantime worked round, and got some cannon up to my camp (the Kaffirs' huts), and began shelling the flying Boers, as my camp commands the road for miles. The cannon-firing was simply awful, and nearly deafened the lot of us; even things inside the house shook." By-and-by when the fire slackened, to the delight of the British party, some 500 of the 17th Lancers were seen approaching, their scouts in advance. Quickly they were assured that they were riding into the arms of friends. The Scotsman mounted to the roof of his house, and there, with the white pinafore of one of his bairns in hand, he waved a frantic welcome. The signal was returned, and joy and relief almost overcame him. Then followed some pleasant experiences, for the Colonist played the host to a distinguished multitude. He said:-- "On the arrival of the Lancers we supplied them with water and tea, but they pushed on, and the officer in charge asked me to go with him to General Broadwood. This I did, and after satisfying him as to the roads, &c., he thanked me and asked me for the use of the house for General Hamilton and staff, which I said I would give. As I returned to the house on foot a wounded officer rode up to me. This was Colonel the Earl of Airlie, in command of the 17th (12th?) Lancers, wounded in elbow. He stayed with us until next day, and a finer and more homely man I have never met. Notwithstanding his wound, he insisted on helping to put Tommy to bed, and, although the house was soon full of lords, generals, &c., and the staffs of two divisions, he helped Florrie (the host's wife) in every way he could. Lady Airlie is in Bloemfontein, and he returned thither. He gave us his Kirriemuir Castle address, and insists on us coming to see him. About sundown the General and staff arrived, among them Major Count Gleichen, Smith-Dorrien, Duke of Marlborough, and a lot of others. Winston Churchill also was with them. The scene that night at Welkom will never be forgotten by us. Fourteen thousand men bivouacked on the farm, camp fires for miles around. About seven o'clock the Highland Brigade arrived in the distance, pipes playing. It is quite dark here at 6 P.M., so you can picture to yourself the scene. With the arrival of MacDonald's Highlanders the total army on Welkom was between 19,000 and 20,000 men. The house here was in great brilliancy. The Union Jack was planted in front, and officers were arriving every few minutes with despatches. A telegraph line is laid by the troops as they move on, so we had a direct wire from the house here to Bloemfontein." Delightful was it to the Scotsman to find himself specially introduced to General Hector MacDonald, and see the braw company of Highlanders march past his house. But their appearance was far from spruce, indeed the whole army was begrimed with dust and wear and tear, honourable filth on their bronzed and sweating faces, for which a Walt Whitman--had such been there--would have felt impelled to hug them. The sad part was the death of Captain Ernest Rose (Royal Horse Guards) who had been wounded in the previous fighting. The Colonist, writing of the affair narrated: "When the news was brought to the General and staff at nine o'clock at night that Rose had died of his wounds they were all fearfully cut up. He was buried at midnight, just at the back of the house here on the other side of road, about 100 yards from where I now sit. The General asked me to promise him to have the grave built in and to look after it, as it would be a fearful blow to the officer's father, Lord Rose. He had only two sons, and the other one died of fever last month in Bloemfontein." He went on to say: "The great bulk of the troops had gone forward, only MacDonald and the Highland Brigade remained behind, and they were encamped over at the station, so there are still about 5000 men in town. I found Major Count Gleichen, who had stayed the night at Welkom, was provost marshal, and Lieutenant Rymand, intelligence officer." At dawn on the 6th the march to Winburg was continued, and the troops prepared themselves again to meet with stout resistance from the hordes which had been pressed across the drift. But when the main army neared the outskirts of the place they were nowhere to be seen. The fact was that the 7th Mounted Infantry and the Hampshires had done a smart piece of work, "off their own bat" as it were, and forced the congregating Federals to think better of any plan of resistance to the entry into Winburg which they had made. The little affair was concisely described by an officer who took part in it:-- "The officer commanding the Mounted Infantry Corps ordered the 7th Battalion Mounted Infantry (which was leading the advance on the right) to race with the enemy for the occupation of the big hill, about 3000 feet high, overlooking Winburg, which lies between the approaches to the town from the south and from the east, both of which it entirely commands. The Boers were approaching this hill from the north and the east, and had they succeeded in occupying it, we should have had great difficulty in driving them off it and capturing Winburg. But the Mounted Infantry got there before them. As soon as they received the order to try and occupy it, the 7th Battalion Mounted Infantry (having extricated themselves from the deep ravines near the river) raced for the hill, the Hampshire squadron making for the point overlooking Winburg, the Borderers and Lincolns supporting them on the right. When half-way up the hill they jumped off their horses and scrambled to the top, and, meeting with no opposition, made their way across the open summit to the rocky edge overlooking Winburg. There a wonderful sight met their view. The whole Boer force, about 5000 or 6000 strong, and several miles in length, was seen trekking slowly past Winburg in a northerly direction. The road they were moving by passed within about 2000 yards of this point of the hill, so the Hampshires (who were at first only twelve strong, the remainder having been delayed crossing the ravines) opened fire for all they were worth to make the enemy think that the hill was strongly occupied. This considerably hastened the enemy's movements, and the rear-guard commandos which had yet to pass near the hill thought better of it, and went round another way behind some high hills out of shot." At noon a staff officer under a flag of truce summoned the Mayor of the town to surrender, promising to protect private property and pay for such foodstuffs as might be required. Thereupon was enacted a curious drama. While the magnates were putting their heads together and discussing the position, Botha and some five hundred of his mercenaries came on the scene. The commandant bounced that he would not surrender without fighting, and accused Captain Balfour (who had offered to let such Free Staters as should surrender their arms return to their farms) of attempting to suborn his burghers. Botha frantically insisted on the arrest of the staff officer, the staff officer as furiously flourished his flag of truce. The Boers pointed their rifles, the women screamed, the townsfolk gabbled, and general turmoil prevailed. In the end the citizens whose property, so to speak, lay in the palm of the British hand, preferred the Mayor's discretion to Botha's valour, and that warrior, swelling with indignation, and followed by his equally bombastic "braves," shook the dust of the town off their shoes and galloped to the north. At night General Hamilton reached the town, where he was joined by General Colville's Division, which was marching from Waterval towards Heilbron, and was thereupon directed to follow the leading column at a distance of ten miles. [Illustration: THE GREAT ADVANCE: LORD ROBERTS'S COLUMN CROSSING THE SAND RIVER DRIFT Facsimile of a Sketch by Melton Prior, War Artist] The advance of the army is arranged, as some one described, not as a continuous movement but as a caterpillar-like form of progress, the first part of the move being a species of advance, the second a drawing up of the tail end of the creature. Thus the vast machine is carried from point to point, the halting-places being usually at positions of strategic consequence. The Boers had run away from their first positions at Brandfort and on the Vet; the second ones on the Zand, the Valsch, and the Rhenoster were now to be purged of the Republicans. It was necessary before going forward to make a three days' halt, during which the tail end of the monster--the railway--was put in working order, and supplies collected and brought up. The enemy's position on the Zand was reconnoitred, and on the 9th the advance was resumed, General Ian Hamilton hurrying to assist in the operations at the Zand River, the Highland Brigade being left in possession of Winburg. TOWARDS THE ZAND RIVER TO KROONSTADT By the 9th of May, as we know, General Pole-Carew's and General Tucker's Divisions and General Ian Hamilton's Column (moving from Winburg), with Naval and Royal Garrison Artillery guns, and four brigades of cavalry, had concentrated at Welgelegen. The enemy, pushed back on all sides, now held the opposite bank of the Zand River in force; but nevertheless it was decided that the army would cross, and cross it did. The crossing was accomplished on the 10th, the enemy being routed from all his strong positions. According to the correspondent of the _Times_, the scheme for the general advance had been planned as follows: "A concentration of the line of advance was to take place at Kroonstadt. General Ian Hamilton, after leaving a brigade at Winburg, was to advance on the right flank with his Mounted Infantry, Broadwood's Cavalry Brigade, and the 19th Brigade, _via_ Ventersburg. The main advance with Lord Roberts was to be made by the Eleventh Division, supported by Gordon's Cavalry Brigade, the connection between the railway and right flank being kept by General Tucker's Division. The left was entrusted to General French with the 1st and 4th Cavalry Brigades and General Hutton's Brigade of Mounted Infantry. As the left in all probability would find it necessary to act independently, the Mounted Infantry belonging to General Tucker became attached to the main column for screening purposes." The enemy, some 6000 strong with 15 guns, was found to be posted on a series of hills running diagonally against the east side of the Zand, but after some vigorous shelling by General Tucker they evacuated their main position by the river, blew up various culverts that lay in front of the British force, and prepared to make a vigorous stand against the Mounted Infantry advancing in the centre. These, having debouched on the plain on the north of the river were promptly assailed by guns from the hills to the right, but they still pushed on towards the west of the railway, while a battery of Horse Artillery tackled the region whence came the hostile shells. The scene of the fight was dotted with farmhouses and native kraals, and here numerous parties of skirmishers were knowingly concealed. The 8th Mounted Infantry Corps, dismounting, advanced in extended order across the nullah-riven plain under a heavy shell fire, while the British guns barked merrily and wrought devastation among the Boer guns, which were hastily scurried away, pursued now by the 4th Mounted Infantry, who, full of excitement, galloped off to capture the retiring treasures, and in so doing ran almost into the arms of some 500 Boers. These, rushing from ambush, forced them back on their supports. But the fire from a well-directed Maxim, and from Lumsden's Horse, who had captured a hill and stuck to it amid a hurricane of Boer missiles, served to rout the Dutchmen and send them after their guns and convoy, which unfortunately, by this time, had been got safely away. Of General Ian Hamilton's part in the proceedings on the right an eye-witness contributed to the _Morning Post_ an interesting account:-- "At daybreak on May 9 Ian Hamilton's column left their bivouac at Klipfontein and marched north to Boemplatz Farm without resistance. About mid-day the Mounted Infantry, who were a mile or two ahead of the column, on topping the ridges overlooking Zand River, came under fire of the enemy concealed in the dongas near the river, and on the hills beyond, and in the kopjes on our right. They remained there all the afternoon, peppering and being peppered in return. The veldt here was alive with buck and hartebeest, and they were so tame that herds of them grazed between the Mounted Infantry screen and the main body. This was too much for some officers of the C.I.V., and they left their bivouac near the main body, about a mile in the rear, and let drive at the buck. "Meanwhile the Hampshire Squadron of Mounted Infantry, which were playing hide and seek with their brother Boers, began to wonder how it was that bullets were coming from their rear as well as from their front. When they discovered that these bullets from the rear were intended for buck, they sent down a message, the language of which was hardly parliamentary, to the would-be buck slayers, and threatened to send a volley at the buck themselves. More Boer commandos were seen to be arriving from the east towards dusk, so there seemed to be every prospect of a warm time the next day, especially on the right flank. Up till now Ian Hamilton's column had been working quite independently, and had marched north from Thabanchu as a flying column, but this afternoon we were acquainted with the presence of another force on our left by seeing Lord Roberts's balloon in the air about eight miles away. That Lord Roberts met with but slight resistance may be accounted for by the fact that Ian Hamilton's column away on his right was always a few miles ahead of him, and threatened the enemy's flank. Lord Roberts's force had been marching north along the line of railway, and now the two columns were converging with a view to reaching Kroonstadt together. "Those on outpost duty that night heard the rumbling of waggons for many hours in the vicinity of the enemy. Evidently their transport was being moved out of harm's way. The night was bitterly cold, and many of those on outpost duty had nothing but greatcoats to keep them warm, some of the waggons not having yet arrived. At daybreak our 'Long Toms' made excellent practice at what looked like a Boer laager on the slope of the hill across the river to the north. At about 7 P.M. the battle commenced in earnest, and the crack of our rifles, the double crack of the enemy's, the barking of Maxims, the 'pom-pom' of the Vickers-Maxims, and the boom of the 'Long Toms' were heard all along the line. Our front must have been ten or fifteen miles along the Zand River, because Roberts's column was now a few miles to our left, and French's Cavalry Division was on Roberts's left; but for reasons mentioned above the Boers showed a bold front to Ian Hamilton's column only. The enemy kept up a steady fire from the positions they had occupied during the night, some Boers in the dongas having advanced to within a short distance of our firing line. "As the day wore on, reinforcements appeared to arrive for the enemy, and they made a determined effort to turn our right. Here they were opposed by Kitchener's Horse, who were hard pressed, and had to be hurriedly reinforced by the New Zealanders. On the extreme right the enemy now became very bold, and report says that the sergeant-major of Kitchener's Horse made a bull's-eye on a Boer's head at only fifteen yards' distance. All this time we had kept the enemy at bay without the aid of a single gun, though they had been firing at us with common shell and shrapnel, but to our great joy in the afternoon four field-guns came to our assistance, and proceeded to deluge the kopjes and dongas with shrapnel. Brother Boer now finding matters getting rather unpleasant slunk out of the dongas and off the kopjes in groups of ten and twenty in an easterly direction, and now the enemy having been pressed back all along the line, the 7th Mounted Infantry, Kitchener's Horse, and the New Zealanders were left as a rear-guard, and the main body moved on five or six miles. At dark we followed them, and crossed the Zand River unmolested, and bivouacked on the other side of the drift on the position which had been all day occupied by the Boers. It was reported that the following day the bodies of fifty or sixty of the enemy were found in the Zand River dongas, and many more on the kopjes on the right, so the losses were not all on our side." The following casualties occurred in General Ian Hamilton's column during the day's fight: Second Lieutenant R. E. Paget, 1st Royal Sussex Regiment, wounded; Captain Leonard Head, East Lancashire Regiment, dangerously wounded (since dead). [Illustration: Towards the Zand River French's Cavalry on horizon. Boers Blowing up Railway Bridge. Boers Retreating with Convoy and Guns. Lord Kitchener. Lord Roberts. Shelling the Boers' Rear-guard. LORD ROBERTS AND HIS STAFF WATCHING THE BOERS' RETREAT FROM ZAND RIVER; GENERAL FRENCH IN PURSUIT ON THE EXTREME LEFT. (Facsimile of a Sketch by Melton Prior, War Artist.)] Meanwhile General French, whose object was to turn the enemy's right flank and capture Ventersburg station by nightfall, had also a brisk encounter with the Boers, which involved some loss of life, particularly among the Inniskillings. The 1st Brigade, under General Porter, advanced towards a kopje, which was captured by the Inniskillings. Here they were confronted by an advancing khaki-clad regiment, said to be the newly raised Afrikander Horse, which was mistaken for British troops. Before they could be recognised they had opened fire on the hills, and so violently assailed those holding it, that the Dragoons were forced to make for their horses, leaving behind them fourteen slain and many wounded. Guns and the dashing Canadians were sent in support of General Porter, while General French continued to develop his flanking movement. The 4th Brigade (8th Hussars and 7th Dragoons) were deployed on the right of the enemy, and grandly charged a body some 300 strong. They, however, suffered considerably in consequence, for while rallying, the squadrons were fiercely fired on by such of the Dutchmen who had succeeded in bolting to cover, dismounting and firing, before the assailants could get out of range. The object of the charge was nevertheless effected, and by nightfall, by a series of tactical evolutions--a species of military impromptu resulting from the exigencies of the situation--the enemy's flank had been turned, and the Cavalry Division was safely disposed at Graspan. Unfortunately, the casualties during this movement were heavy, some 200 slain, wounded, and missing. [Illustration: THE SURRENDER OF KROONSTADT: TROOPS MARCHING PAST LORD ROBERTS AND STAFF Drawing by S. Begg, from a Sketch by Melton Prior, War Artist] It was reported that a party of the British, going up to a kraal on which a white flag was hoisted, were suddenly attacked by a large number of the enemy. Two officers, Captain Haig, of the 6th Dragoons, and Lieutenant Wilkinson, 1st Australian Horse, were taken prisoners, and several men were unaccounted for. During the day's fight, Captain C. K. Elworthy, 6th Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers) was killed. Among the wounded were: 6th Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers)--Lieutenant R. H. Collis; Lieutenant M. M. Moncrieff. Tasmanian Mounted Infantry--Major C. Cameron. On the evening of the 10th, the British Army, converging in the direction of Kroonstadt, occupied a front of some twenty miles, of which the left centre (Pole-Carew's Division) was at Ventersburg Road. Ventersburg Siding had been demolished by the departing Boers, or rather by their mercenaries, the Irish-Americans, but the Boers here made no show of opposition. They were very near at hand, however, for report said the valorous Steyn had but a few hours previously been wasting tears and threats on recalcitrant burghers in the district, burghers who, now refusing to fight any more, hung about for the purpose of laying down their arms. On the 11th, the army moved on some twelve miles to Geneva Siding. In front, the left wing (French's Cavalry) flew ever well ahead, while the right centre (Tucker's Division) marched slightly in the rear, and the right wing (Hamilton's Column) worked its way onwards in the direction of Lindley. By dusk, General French had seized a drift over the Valshe River, below Kroonstadt, just in time to prevent the passage being opposed by the enemy. The manoeuvre was cleverly managed, and in most inconvenient circumstances, for the transport having gone back to the Zand River, men and horses had been already a day without food. But rapidity was the word, and the deed kept pace with it. Both brigades were advanced as swiftly as possible, and divided each towards a convenient drift, scurrying to get there before the enemy could be informed of the direction taken. The result was, that when the foe, strong in men and guns, debouched from the scrub-country in the region of Kroonstadt, they were saluted with heartiness by the 4th Brigade, who had taken possession of the coveted vantage ground. The Boers retreated, and gathered themselves together to guard the road to the town; but General French made a rapid detour, which they saw might outflank them, whereupon they discreetly withdrew. At night a gallant effort was made by that indefatigable officer, Major Hunter Weston, R.E., to cut the railway communications in rear of the enemy. Escorted by a squadron of cavalry, and accompanied by Burnham the American scout and eight smart sappers, he proceeded as usual, under cover of darkness, towards the line. Here, however, he came in touch with the Boers, and his troopers charged the Dutch patrol and captured them. Then leaving his escort, he, the scout and sappers, after much hiding in the moonlight and groping in nullahs, reached the line through the enemy's convoy and launched the explosive into the midst of the Dutchmen, causing considerable panic among them. He, however, was defeated in his main object, though the hairbreadth escapes and deeds of cool-headed pluck accomplished during the small hours of the night make a long tale, both exciting and soul-stirring. On Saturday the advance was resumed. The town of Boschrand, some eight miles below Kroonstadt, was found deserted, the Boers before the ubiquitous French having sped as an arrow from the bow. The Dutchmen had taken care to put a good deal of country between them and the British, for, after reconnaissance towards Kroonstadt had been made, it was found that though they had been seen the night before encamped from Kroonstadt to Honing Spruit they had melted away, and had evidently decided that they would make no further stand till the British arrived within the confines of the Transvaal. President Steyn had already taken himself off to Lindley, and Commandant Botha had departed with his Transvaal burghers to prepare for a big fight on the Vaal. The entry of Lord Roberts into Kroonstadt was a fine spectacle, all the men, despite their hard, 128-mile march being in splendid condition, and wearing on their faces the air of honest satisfaction at work accomplished--pride in themselves and in their admired Chief. The procession was headed by Lord Roberts's bodyguards, who were all of them Colonials. Following them came the staff and foreign attachés, then trooped in the North Somerset Company of the Imperial Yeomanry, a stalwart and bronzed host; after which marched General Pole-Carew's Division, consisting of the Guards, the 18th Brigade, the Naval Brigade, the 83rd, 84th, and 85th Batteries, two 5-inch guns manned by Royal Artillerymen, and the 12th Company of Royal Engineers. The sight was a most imposing one, and the vision of troops apparently innumerable streaming through the streets highly impressed the Boers, who many of them had entered on the war with the highest confidence in their military prowess and the inferiority of the British as a fighting race. [Illustration: KROONSTADT ON THE VALSCH RIVER.] Mr. Steyn, it was said, before his departure the previous night had used in vain, persuasions, threats, and even violence to the burghers in the effort to rally them. An enterprising photographer went so far as to take a portrait of the late President in act of kicking and cuffing his followers--"to put valour into them," so it was explained. They, however, turned their backs on the smiter, and many of them surrendered to Lord Roberts. Mr. Steyn had announced that in future Lindley, situated between Kroonstadt and Bethlehem, would become the seat of the Free State Government, and thither fled, knowing in his heart that the days of the Free State were numbered. The Transvaalers, disgusted with the "Orange" men, had refused any longer to fight in the Free State, and took themselves off to the Vaal River; while, on the other hand, the Free Staters, furious with the Transvaalers, charged them with having made them into a "cat's-paw" and then left them in the lurch. The valiant Federals were, in fact, at loggerheads, and many surrendered, being only too thankful to part company with their quondam allies. The troops halted at Kroonstadt for ten days to recuperate, and while they enjoyed their well-earned rest, stirring events took place elsewhere. FOOTNOTES: [4] See map at front. CHAPTER V MAFEKING There was an immense amount of undiscovered genius in Mafeking till Colonel Baden-Powell brought it to the front. The art of making ball-cartridges out of blank, and the manufacture of gunpowder, cannon, shells, fuses, postage stamps, bank notes, and a strategetic railway, served to occupy and amuse those whose days were an unending round of monotony. The Colonel's vigilance, that in other times had earned for him the Matabele title of "'Mpeesi, the wolf that never sleeps," communicated itself to all, and it was to this general spirit of alertness that the success of the garrison's sturdy defence was due. But on their hearts despond was setting its seal; young faces were becoming lined with anxiety, and even those whose dramatic powers enabled them to feign merriment were conscious that the effort was becoming even more pathetic than resignation to their fate. [Illustration: MAFEKING: "THE WOLF THAT NEVER SLEEPS" Drawing by W. Hatherell, R.I., from materials supplied by Major F. D. Baillie, Correspondent of the _Morning Post_] Young Eloff, who had gallantly volunteered to subdue Mafeking or die in the attempt, beguiled the interval in preparing for his feat of chivalry by indulging in a mild form of jocosity. He informed Colonel Baden-Powell that he had heard of his Sabbath concerts, tournaments, and cricket matches, and would be glad, as it was dull outside, to come in and participate in them. The Colonel replied in the same vein--begged to postpone a return match till the present one was finished, and suggested as they were now 200 not out, and Snyman and Cronje had been unsuccessful, a further change of bowling might be advantageous! In reality the young Boer was racking his brains with plans for the future, getting information regarding the forts and defences, and deciding when the time came for assault to do the thing with a flash and a flourish! And his ambition was not entirely groundless, for things were coming to a sorry pass, and the tension grew daily more severe. It was necessary to be eternally pushing out trenches and capturing forts in order to secure grazing and breathing space, but this action had the result of so extending the lines, that the problem of how to protect ten miles of perimeter against some 2000 Boers, with only 700 men, became harder than ever to grapple with. Fortunately there was still an inner line, but even this was difficult to guard, now that the gallant seven hundred were reduced in stamina by long privation and immediate famine. A great deal of irritation was caused by pilfering and house-breaking that went on. As the men were in the trenches and the women in the women's laagers, all the ill-conditioned vagabonds, the human sauria that had trailed from the Rand and Bulawayo, at the hint of loot "made hay" while there was no police at liberty to cope with them. Every hand in Mafeking had been required, and the police had been forced to become soldiers, defenders of the state and not of private property. And well they had done their work! For over six months some 2000 to 3000 Boers had found fodder here for their eight guns, including a 9-pounder. They had been kept stationary, and thus prevented from combining with the Tuli column, or invading Rhodesia, or joining forces with any of the aggressive commandos in the south. And this wonderful arrest had been accomplished by men who at the beginning of hostilities were practically unarmed and unfortified. It was no marvel, therefore, that President Kruger and his advisers, who had started their fell work with such confidence, now began to wag their heads in acridity and dismay. The overweening bumptiousness of the several commandants who, full of buoyant and bellicose aspirations, had attempted the subjugation of Mafeking, had been their undoing. These had become the laughing-stock even of their own people. Commandant Cronje early in the war had been so convinced of his ability to capture Mafeking that he had caused a proclamation to be printed annexing the district to the South African Republic. But he had found it a disastrous place, and had left it with some loss of prestige, as had many others who had attempted "to do the trick" and failed. Until this date the Boers had expended considerably over 100 tons of ammunition, lost over 1000 men killed and wounded, and had four guns disabled, yet nothing was accomplished. Commandant Eloff was then specially deputed by Kruger to pulverise "B.P.", and came to his work in high spirits accompanied by a man--a deserter--who, having served as a trooper in the Protectorate Regiment, was well acquainted with the plans of the fortifications and the military customs of the place. Of course, it was the object of the youthful commandant to make an attack as speedily as possible, for rumours of approaching relief threatened to put an end to his machinations and spoil his ambitious scheme. He knew that a relief column had reached and was advancing from Setlagoli, and that what had to be done must be done now or never. Still he had a notion that after passing Kraaipan any journey for troops would be arid, waterless, and discomforting, and believed that the column might be cut off before it could offer serious opposition to his plans. Commandant Snyman, on his side, was as depressed as his colleague was jaunty. He was scarcely flattered to find a youngster determining to solve a problem which for a considerable time had defeated him, and therefore at the onset, in regard to the momentous plans for attack, the two commandants were scarcely at one. The rift widened as affairs developed. Indeed, in letters which subsequently passed between the pair, it was discovered that Eloff, to use his own words, "had been preparing to trip him up for years." This Snyman must evidently have known, and determined to show--as he did when the opportunity offered--that "two could play at that game." At this time, however, though the trail of the green and yellow monster might have been seen winding about the Boer laagers, there was no suspicion that when combined action against the common enemy--the British--would be needed the older commandant would fail the younger one. Curiously enough, though at the instance of the Boers the Sunday truce had been agreed upon, they were the first to break through the compact. On the 6th of May, while the usual auction sales were taking place, and the ladies were cautiously doing their weekly shopping, an affair of some moment since prices ruled high, the rattle of musketry betrayed that something was wrong. It was then discovered that the Boers had fired on the horse guard, killing Trooper Franch, and wounding three horses, and causing a stampede of the herd towards their own lines. Fortunately the ever-wary B. P. kept a machine gun in the valley, and a sharp engagement took place, but nevertheless the Boers succeeded in capturing some of the all too precious cattle. The affair was soon over and the terrified ladies continued their shopping, but the incident was sufficient to demonstrate that soon, if the Boers should fail to succeed by fair means, they would have recourse to foul. At last, on the 12th of May, came the great, the long-looked-for assault. It was not yet dawn, the stars were still blinking pallidly, when an ominous crackling awoke the town. It came from the east, where rosy tints of the sunrise were beginning to show themselves. At once every one was astir. The alarm bugle blared out, bells sounded, forms all sketchily attired, some still in pyjamas, rushed to their posts. Though the bullets came from the east, whizzing and phutting into the market-square, Colonel Baden-Powell, with his natural astuteness, declared that the real attack would come not from there but from the west, the corner where stood the stadt of the Baralongs. All got their horses ready, armed themselves with whatever came to hand, and fled precipitately out into the nipping air of the morning. For an hour this brisk fusillade continued, then at about 5.30 there was a lull. The sun now was slowly beginning to rise, reddening the east with vivid blushes. But the colonel's eyes were fixed on the west, and there sure enough was what at first seemed a reflection of the sunrise--a tremendous flaming mirage surmounted by dense volumes of smoke, and accompanied by a weird stentorian crackling commingled with yells discordant, and despairing lamentations from the direction of the native village. There was no doubt about it, the stadt was ablaze! whether by accident or design none at that moment could decide. Away went the guns, after them the Bechuanaland Rifles, rushing to the fray; and then on the morning breeze came a strange sound--cheers--but not British cheers--cheers that sent a thrill of horror through all who anxiously awaited the upshot of the encounter. It was scarcely to be credited, but it was the truth! The enemy had arrived! They were already in the fort that was held by Colonel Hore and his staff! They were not 500 yards off! At this time, though the bullets from the east fell less thickly, those from the west began to pour in, and through this cross fire the besieged rushed to their several destinations. Women, distracted, fled hither and thither; men shot and shouted and gave orders. Columns of smoke and cascades of sparks told the tale of conflagration, and natives scared, babbling, panic-stricken, tore through the streets. There was just cause for alarm. The evil hour had come. The Boers had reached the orderly-room which stood outside the Kaffirs' stadt. The clerk, finding himself surrounded, hurriedly telephoned to the Colonel, "The Boers are all in among us." Such news it was almost impossible to credit, and the Colonel put his ear to the telephone. Then the sound of Dutch voices convinced him of the horrible truth. The next thing was a message saying that the Boers had taken Colonel Hore and his force prisoners, and that the British were powerless to help them. Telephonic communication was immediately destroyed with wire-pliers, but a state of consternation prevailed. It was perfectly true that Colonel Hore was powerless, as with his small force of twenty-three all told it was impossible to guard the many outbuildings that surrounded him against such overwhelming numbers, particularly as at first in the dusk it had been impossible to distinguish whether the advancing men were foes or friends. All--young and old, men and even women--were madly rushing to the front, all eager to check the Boers in their wild rush forward. The prisoners in the jail were let loose and armed to join in the common duty, small boys seized weapons, shovels or pokers for want of anything better, and invited themselves to help to turn the invaders out. A singular cheeriness prevailed; the sniff of battle exhilarated, intoxicated them; they swore to protect Mafeking or die in the attempt! Meanwhile the dashing Eloff, who so long had boasted that he would bring Mafeking to her knees, had at last achieved something of a success. The fort was seized. He and his band of 700 men had advanced up the Molopo, burnt the stadt as a signal to his allies, and thus made an entry. The storming party was composed mostly of foreigners, and numbered some 300 all told. Many of them were Frenchmen, who, when they emerged from Hidden Hollow and rushed on Colonel Hore's fort, were heard to be shouting "Fashoda! Fashoda!" while such Boers as could speak English were sent in front to roar "Hip, hip, hurrah! Relieved at last!" so as to deceive the besieged with the idea that the relief column was arriving. Behind were 500 burghers, with Snyman, in support; but when they heard the firing they discreetly waited to see the result, and through their discretion Eloff eventually lost what he had gained. The Baralongs, whose stadt was burning, and who themselves were burning for revenge, had permitted some 300 of the party to seize the outlying forts, and then, with an astuteness peculiar to them, decided they would get between the Dutchmen and their supports, and "kraal them up like cattle." But this was not done in a moment. To return. When the storming party had reached the fort, they broke up into three. One hundred and fifty of them attacked the fort and seized it, together with the Colonel and twenty-three men of the Protectorate Regiment, who, mistaking them in the dusk of the early dawn for friends, had not fired. When they found out their mistake, it was too late. Regarding Colonel Hore's lamentable position and his surrender, the correspondent of the _Times_, who had the ill luck as a man and the good luck as a journalist to get taken prisoner, said: "Commandant Eloff demanded the unconditional surrender of the twenty-three men who were established at the fort, an order which, had Colonel Hore refused, implied that every man with him would be shot. The exigencies of the situation had thus suddenly thrown upon the shoulders of this very gallant officer an almost overwhelming responsibility. It was impossible to withdraw to the town. Such a movement would have meant retirement over 700 yards of open, level ground without a particle of cover, and with a force of 300 of the enemy immediately in the rear. For a moment Colonel Hore had considered, but realising that escape was impossible, that indeed the Boers were all round him, he ordered the surrender, accepting the responsibility of such an act in the hope of saving the lives of the men who were with him. But the situation imperatively demanded this action in consequence of events over which he had no control. It was, perhaps, a moment as pathetic and great as any in his career, which, honourable and distinguished as it has been, has brought to him some six medals. The surrender was effected at 5.25 A.M., and the news of such a catastrophe did not tend to relieve the gravity of the situation. With the Boers in the fort and in occupation of the stadt, it was necessary so to arrange our operations that any junction between the stadt and the fort would be impossible. At the same time we were compelled to prevent those Boers who were in the stadt from cutting their way through to the main body of the enemy. The situation was indeed complex, and throughout the remainder of the day the skirmishing in the stadt and the repulse of the feints of the enemy's main body, delivered in different directions against the outposts, were altogether apart from the siege which we were conducting within our own investment. From the town very heavy rifle fire was directed upon the fort, which the Boers in that quarter returned with spirit and determination. But the position in the stadt had become acute, since behind our outposts and our inner chain of forts, which are situated upon its exterior border, were a rollicking, roving band of 400 Boers, who for the time being were indulging in pillage and destruction wherever it was possible." [Illustration: LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR FREDERICK CARRINGTON, K.C.M.G. Photo by Elliot & Fry, London] For those inside the fort the tension was extreme. Colonel Hore, with Captain Singleton, Veterinary Lieutenant Dunlop Smith, fifteen non-commissioned officers and men of the Protectorate Regiment, Captain Williams and three men of the South Africa Police, and some native servants, were packed in by a crowd of the enemy, while a babel of tongues--German, French, Italian, Dutch--made a clamour that obfuscated the senses. Many of the Boers were busy looting, breaking open anything that came to hand in the officers' quarters, notwithstanding the remonstrances of their allies, the foreigners. Trooper Hayes, a deserter from the Protectorate Regiment, who was well acquainted with the fortifications, and had led Eloff into the town, swaggered about in the presence of the prisoners adorned with Colonel Hore's sword, and his watch and chain. His desire to get rid of as many of the British as possible was shown by his suggestion that they should stand on the verandah as a mark for their own men. Through the long hours the prisoners were cabined and confined in a very limited space, listening to the progress of the battle which still raged outside, and hearing the hail of bullets, hostile and friendly, that spluttered and splintered around the fort. It was a dreadful day of suspense and agony. Food was handed in, but water, owing to the tanks having been perforated by bullets, was scarce, and the sufferings of the wounded, both Britons and Boers, were horrible. Bravely Mr. Dunlop Smith and his assistants responded to the call of Eloff to assist the wounded Boers, and nobly they risked their lives over and over again, running the gantlet of the British fire in the service of their fellow-creatures. Meanwhile Baden-Powell's braves had surrounded the fort, and managed to make a vigorous stand against further encroachment of the enemy, while skirmishing of a more or less desperate kind was taking place in the direction of the stadt, round the kraal, and a kopje in its vicinity. [Illustration: GENERAL BADEN-POWELL, LORD EDWARD CECIL, AND OTHER OFFICERS, AT THE ENTRANCE TO THEIR "DUG-OUT." (Photo by D. Taylor, Mafeking.)] The capture of the kraal and surroundings by Major Godley, Captain Marsh, and Captain Fitzclarence was ingeniously accomplished. They had not taken lessons in Boer warfare for six months for nothing, consequently, instead of making themselves targets for the foe, they crept towards the walls, bored loopholes with their bayonets, and poured their fire on the invaders. These fought pluckily, but presently came the artillery, and directly the order was given to commence fire the enemy thought it high time to surrender. Then came the question of the fort, where Colonel Hore was still the prisoner of Eloff. Brisk and accurate firing took place, and so hot was the attack that many of the British were wounded by their own people. The victorious Eloff and his party, cut off from his supports and devoid of the assistance reckoned on from Snyman, now found his position as conqueror highly unenviable. Night was coming on, and many of his party struggled to slink out and desert him, but he fired on them and left their dead bodies to add to the confusion. Finally, as there was no help from without, Eloff--surrounded by Colonel Baden-Powell's troops--did the only thing that could be done in the circumstances--he surrendered to his own prisoner, Colonel Hore. Thereupon, he, and others of his gang, numbering 110, including Baron de Bremont, Captain von Weissmann, and several field-cornets, were deprived of their arms and marched into the town, to be accommodated in the Masonic Hall and in the jail. Their appearance was greeted with courteous silence and a certain admiration for the daring of the attack, but the exuberance of the Kaffirs was uncheckable, and they hooted lustily. They had suffered much at the hands of their tormentors, and in this, their hour of triumph, they would not be denied. Of the Boers, 110 were prisoners, 10 were killed, and 19 wounded. It was supposed that other corpses may have been dragged away and disposed of by the natives, who thus got possession of rifles, which weapons had been refused them by the British. The British casualties were:-- _Killed._--Lieutenant Phillips, Trooper Maltuschek, Trooper Duberley. _Wounded._--Captain Singleton, Lieutenant G. Bridges, Sergeant Hoskings, Regimental Sergeant-Major S. Malley--all of the Protectorate Regiment; Hazelrigg, Cape Police; Smidt, Town Guard. Sergeant-Major Heale, in charge of the Dutch prisoners, an esteemed member of the garrison, was killed by a shell. Of Trooper Maltuschek, a few words written by Major Baillie deserve to be quoted, as showing the manner of man and Briton he was. It appears that the gallant fellow absolutely declined to surrender, and fought till he was killed. "It wasn't a case of dashing in and dashing out and having your fun and a fight; it was a case of resolution to die sooner than throw down your arms; the wisdom may be questionable, the heroism undoubted. He wasn't taking any surrender. As far as I am concerned, I have seen the British assert their superiority over foreigners before now, but this man, in my opinion, though I did not see him die, was the bravest man who fought on either side that day. It is a good thing to be an Englishman. These foreigners start too quick and finish quicker. They are good men, but we are better, and have proved so for several hundred years. I had always wanted to see the Englishman fight in a tight hole, and I know what he is worth now. He can outstay the other chap." In these last words is the whole summing up of the story of battle. In Mafeking, particularly on this terrific day, the British men--and women--had "outstayed the other chap." The reason that the loss after so many hours' fighting was comparatively insignificant, was owing to the fact that the garrison was so splendidly handled, and that every soul, ladies included, took a plucky share in the work. Lady Sarah Wilson, Mrs. Buchan, Miss Crawford, and Miss Hill, the matron of the hospital, all distinguished themselves by their plucky actions; and Mrs. Winter and Mrs. Bradley were indefatigable in ministering to the wants of the men. Even the most peaceful beings became bellicose in the common cause, and Reuter's correspondent gave an amusing account of how Mr. Whales, the editor of the _Mafeking Mail_, who was exceedingly plucky but quite unacquainted with military matters, comported himself in the dire emergency. When the railway workshops were manned Mr. Whales got a gun to help; but every time he discharged it, it hit him on the nose, with the result that when all was over, he returned to the bosom of his family covered with his own blood! Of course this was merely a passing jocosity, for the same chronicler declared that "the most interesting phase of the fight was the manner in which every one in the town showed himself ready to take his share in its defence. The seven months' siege had left very few cowards. All sorts of men who have staff billets and do not generally man the forts seized rifles and hurried to the railway line, the jail, and the workshops, resolved to die in the last ditch, which was the railway line, within three hundred yards of the market-square, the enemy being only five hundred yards below the line." He further said, "It is customary in London rather to look down on town guards, Volunteers, and citizen soldiers, but it was by these that the town was held and Commandant Eloff was beaten." Strange tales were told in that eventful day of the kind treatment meted out to the Boers. They were given clean towels and soap (the latter was at first mistaken for an eatable), and tended like brothers, while all the past aggravations endured at their hands were forgotten or at least ignored. The prisoners, wounded or sound, were greeted almost affectionately by the town. Such drink as there was was shared, and for the time being, amid the general jubilation, at the close of the melodramatic episodes of the day it was difficult to decide which were the happier, friend or foe. Thus generously wrote Mr. Angus Hamilton of the enemy: "We who had been prisoners and were now free rejoiced in the liberty which was restored to us, yet it was difficult to restrain oneself from feeling compassionately upon the great misfortunes which had attended the extraordinary dash and gallantry of the men who were now our prisoners. They had done their best. They had proved to us that they were indeed capable, and that we should have kept a sharper look-out, while it was indeed deplorable to think that it was the treachery of their own general in abandoning them to their fate, that had been mainly instrumental in procuring them their present predicament." Sergeant Stuart's account of his experiences was curious. On the morning that Eloff entered, he heard shooting at the east end of the town, and sprang out of bed, "shoved" on a coat, and seized his rifle. When he got out he saw flames at the west end, and ran across the open towards the fort. When he came nearer he saw 400 Boers looking over a wall. They cried out, 'Up hands! surrender.' He was within forty yards, so he turned and bolted. They fired but did not touch him, and he reached the fort. He surrendered soon after, with Colonel Hore and twenty-four others. They were put into a little hut, and kept there all day, firing going on all round. At 6 P.M. Eloff came into the room--about six feet square--and leant against the door, and said, 'Where is Colonel Hore?' 'There he is.' 'I surrender,' said Eloff, 'if you will spare our lives and stop the firing.' The prisoners then sprang up and took their rifles from them, making them their prisoners. Another authority declared that when Eloff was taken before Colonel Baden-Powell, that officer with his customary ease received him affably, and merely said, "Come and have dinner; I am just about to have mine!" Certain it is that Commandant Eloff, Captain von Weissmann, and Captain Bremont were entertained at headquarters. WITH COLONEL MAHON'S FORCE There were whispers in Bloemfontein, there were whispers in Kimberley, there were whispers in Natal. Secretly a scheme, originated by Sir Archibald Hunter (commanding Tenth Division), for the relief of Mafeking was being organised, and the action was to be started so that the movements of the flying column formed for the purpose should synchronise with Lord Roberts's great advance on Pretoria. The Imperial Light Horse (Colonel Edwards) whose laurels had grown green in the harsh nursery of Ladysmith, were brought over from Natal; the Diamond Fields Horse, and the Kimberley Light Horse (Colonel King), who had developed into veterans to the tune of the Kamferdam big gun, were marked down for the dashing enterprise. Some picked men--twenty-five from each of the four battalions of Barton's Fusilier Brigade, under Captain Carr (7th Royals)--were also included among the "braves" who were to form part of Mahon's flying column, and M Battery R.H.A., under Major Jackson. The object of the flying column was to fly, but at the same time it behoved the expedition to be discreet in its rush, for any advance that could not provide convoy, stores, and medical comfort for the relief would have ended in a showy demonstration which would have been more embarrassing to the besieged than satisfactory. It was necessary to go well laden, and thus keep together the body and soul of Mafeking, and the party of rescuers were immovable till General Hunter, slower and surer in his progress, should have advanced along the railway and repaired the line. It was also imperative to avoid, if possible, any collision with the enemy till Mafeking should be neared, and there was a chance of co-operation by Colonel Plumer's and Colonel Baden-Powell's men. [Illustration: MAP AND ITINERARY OF COLONEL MAHON'S DASH TO MAFEKING.] The organisation of the transport was therefore a very serious undertaking, one which engaged all the attention of Major Money, R.A., for over a week, and which involved indescribable labour. Major Money's qualifications as an organiser have been described as second only to those of Colonel Ward, the "Universal Provider" of Ladysmith. Assisting also was Captain Cobbe (Bengal Lancers), who had been laboriously engaged in transport work both in Naauwpoort and Kimberley. Efforts to maintain secrecy regarding the movement of the force were many, and all connected with the programme were vowed to silence regarding the objective of the march; yet, for all that, the Boers knew when it had started, indeed they declared that a week before the event, the Mafeking besiegers had heard of the project, and were firmly convinced of their ability to cut off the party at Roodoo's Rand, or failing that, to smash it up at a point nearer its destination. The Imperial Horse quietly encamped at Dronfield in order to excite as little suspicion as possible, then followed M Battery R.H.A., under Major Jackson, and two "pom-poms" under Captain Robinson. Meanwhile some of the Imperial Yeomanry and Kimberley Volunteers sprayed out over the region of Barkly West and Spitzkop, in order to clear the way for the advancing column. At Dronfield also the transport work was carried on, fifty-five waggons being loaded by Major Weil and Sir John Willoughby, both zealous officers, who were full of keenness in the undertaking; while the De Beers community, whose ardour in Imperial matters was proved, continued to throw themselves heart and soul into the great scheme. Twenty waggons contained stores; five, medical comforts; and the rest were loaded with the wherewithal to feed 1100 men and 1200 horses. At Barkley West was Colonel Mahon, with Colonel Rhodes as intelligence officer. Major Baden-Powell, Scots Guards, the brother of the hero of Mafeking; Captain Bell-Smythe, the brigade major; Prince Alexander of Teck, Sir John Willoughby, Major Maurice Gifford--the one-armed soldier of Matabele fame--were also among the select number, whose good fortune it was to engage in the exciting enterprise. The column slowly moved out on a nine miles' march to Greefputs, which was, so to speak, the official starting-point--a grand force composed of some of the smartest men of the colony and in the pink of condition! From the latter place to Spitzkop, a distance of nineteen miles, the column moved on the morning of the 5th of May. About mid-day the troops had intended to advance, but a rumour of Boers in the distance arrested their progress. On the east, ten miles off, could be heard the knocking of General Hunter's guns and some Boerish retorts, and somewhere, in kopjes in the vicinity, were rebels or Dutchmen--at least so it was said, but after a brisk search the road was reported clear, and the march proceeded, through the blistering sunshine, over the scorching western plains to a place called Warwick's Store, and from thence, after a halt for refreshment, on to Gunning Store, a total distance of thirty-five miles. As may be imagined the cool of the moon-blue night was refreshing to the toasted wanderers, and still more refreshing was the capture of two waggon-loads of rebels and their Mausers. Time was not wasted for much slumber or much breakfasting, and by 6 A.M. on the 6th the column was proceeding on its way towards Espach Drift on the left bank of the Harts River. The nine miles' journey was accomplished by 9.30, where the column outspanned till 2.30. At that hour they started to complete their twenty miles in the sunshine, which landed them at Banks Drift--a deep drift where watering the horses was no easy matter. In this locality, called Greefdale Store, wood was scarce, but still the troops were within stone's throw of food, and were able to supplement the scanty rations which had been cut down to the smallest possible figure. The daily allowance was not sumptuous. A great deal of valour and cheeriness had to be sustained on ½ lb. of meat, ¾ lb. of biscuit, 2 oz. of sugar, 1/3 oz. of coffee, and 1/6 oz. of tea. When fresh meat could be captured a change of diet was seized as a relief, and loot from rebels helped to fill the growing vacuum. In certain localities fowls and bread were purchasable. In others beer made a welcome variety to the daily quantum of grog--a tot of rum or lime juice--but really substantial meals were few and far between. An unfortunate occurrence blighted the day's proceedings. Major Baden-Powell, who, full of rejoicing, was going to the rescue of his brother, met with a nasty accident. His horse in crossing the deep sand of the veldt bungled, and the Major sustained injuries which made him unconscious for some hours. Happily he recovered with the elasticity of his race, and there was no fear that Colonel Baden-Powell's hope, expressed in December,[5] would fail to be gratified. From Greefdale, on the 7th, the column marched to Muchadin, moving on the right bank of Harts River. Nothing eventful occurred, and the rest of the twenty miles was traversed by 5 P.M. They were now some miles to west of Taungs. This region was found to be evacuated by the Dutchmen, though remains of their recent occupation were evident. The railway station was taken possession of by Major Mullins and a squadron of the Imperial Light Horse. Telegrams were found giving valuable insight into the Dutch moves, and showing that the Boers were lying in wait near Pudimoe, the place--encrusted with menacing rows of kopjes--that the column was about to approach on the morrow. Next day the column was on the move earlier than usual. Before dawn all were astir, and the distance from Taungs to Pudimoe, twelve miles, was covered by 8.30 A.M. The Boers were invisible. They were ensconced somewhere, with intent to pounce, it was certain, but Colonel Mahon determined, if possible, to avoid imbroglio till the finish. At 10 the troops were moving on to a place called Dry Harts Siding, which was reached at noon. But there was little rest, for on this day twenty-eight miles were covered, ten miles being marched in the cool of the evening. At 9 P.M. under the blinking stars, they outspanned at a place called Brussels Farm, where food--hot food, ardently desired and eagerly stowed away--was plentiful. [Illustration: LIEUT.-COLONEL BRYAN T. MAHON, D.S.O. Commander of the Mafeking Relief Force] The next morning the force was on its way to Vryburg, doing eight miles before 9 A.M. They took up the thread of their travels at noon, marched another thirteen miles, and found themselves by tea-time at the desired and welcome haven of rest. The stores were at once invaded, and creature comforts were purchased at heavy rates. The British were received with some show of enthusiasm. In the little white town margined with aromatic, emerald-leafed pepper trees banners waved and Union Jacks fluttered, and passers-by came in for a handshake with men of their own kind, who invited them to "pot-luck." Some of a commando that had been lurking in the vicinity of Pudimoe now trickled in and surrendered; other members of the Dutch conspiracy turned informer, while the loyal British subjects, who had declined to rebel to order of the Boers, poured out their experiences. One of them declared that during the Boer reign in the town British ladies who had remained there were not permitted to walk on the causeway, a regulation that in the Transvaal had previously been confined to Kaffirs! In other respects, beyond despoiling the police camp and the former Bechuanaland Residency, the Boers had done little harm. A leaf from the diary of a member of the Scots Fusiliers describes this halt in a town which was somewhat Janus-faced in its loyalty:-- "_9th May._--I awoke much refreshed by my good night's rest. 5.30 A.M.--On the march. The ground being densely shrubby, many halts have to be made to allow the scouts to reconnoitre the front. 10 A.M.--Roodepoort. We are now nine miles from Vryburg. Water and rations are, as usual, scarce. 11 A.M.--'Halloa! what the deuce is this?' A gaily decorated carriage with three pretty maidens! 'Well, I never! what can they want!' Oh, thank you, as they gracefully throw us some loaves of lovely white bread, and with the most charming of smiles welcome us to Vryburg. 'Bravo,' my bonny lassies! had it not been for my uncouth apparel and bristly whiskers, 'a kiss,' I should have vaunted you. 12 noon.--So the Boers have fled from Vryburg! What an infernal pack of cowards, and no mistake! All the better for us; the less opposition the sooner at our journey's end. 2 P.M.--We continue the march. 5 P.M.--Vryburg. An enthusiastic crowd of supposed loyalists greet our arrival with cheers. Somehow their welcome is not at all appreciated. Most of them are Dutch, and, considering the Boers have been amongst them until two days ago, we fail to see what loyalty they could have established for us in so short a time. 7 P.M.--On outpost; an exceedingly cold night." But whatever the sentiments of the people, there was decent food and a brief chance of comfortably partaking of it, and there was a sigh when the enjoyable time came to an end, and Vryburg, with its apology for civilisation, its costly meals and inferior cigars, so highly appreciated in those days of sparse comfort, had to be left behind. Farewell drinks--beer, gin and lime-juice, green chartreuse, tea--were disposed of, and then from five till midnight the steady march onwards was pursued. The conditions of the march, if nothing worse, were uncomfortable. No man dared betray his presence with the whiff of a cigar; and after the sun-scorchings of the baking African day, the searching, chill air of the moonlit veldt nipped the bones and filled the frame with aguish apprehensions. So cold were the nights that some declared they had to sleep walking up and down to save themselves from being frozen. Still, through it all, every member of the gallant band remembered the glorious object of his mission, and, when inclined to growl, packed away personal irritations and meditated on the number of hours which would elapse before London would be ringing with the news of the great relief. Every soul of this goodly company was swelling with pride and satisfaction at having the good luck to be among those chosen for the spirited exploit, and it was this pride, this almost heroic afflatus, which served to cast into insignificance the thousand and one inconveniences, trying to constitution and to temper, which were involved in this momentous if fatiguing march. It is true, bullet and shell were as yet only in the near future, but the aggravations of these, as all men agreed, were not to be compared with the sustained fret of marching under unrelenting sunshine, sleeping in violent chills, eating irresponsive biscuit, tackling "bully" without the assistance of a hatchet as a mincer; and enduring through all a parching thirst, a perpetual craving for water, which, when found, bred a loathly suspicion of the imps of enteric and dysentery that might lurk therein. As Mr. Stuart of the _Morning Post_ declared: "To go through ten or a dozen of our days uncomplainingly was a higher test of manhood than to fight, howsoever gallantly. To stand to arms an hour before sunrise, possibly to march for hours without a cup of coffee in the empty stomach, possibly to do patrol or picket as soon as the outspan place was selected, to return barely in time for a wad of stringy beef and some chunks of biscuit, to march again across the sand or over lumpy grass, so tired that at every halt they lay at their horses' feet dozing till the unwelcome 'Stand to your horses' was called, to go to bed without fire, without the last sleepy pipe: that was often what Mahon's men called a day." It is well to emphasise what may be called the greys and drabs and neutral tints that go to the making up of a complete picture of heroism; it is imperative to appreciate the superb nuances which in their very retirement and unostentatious inconspicuousness made the background to now immemorial scenes in our nation's history. There are so many who have contributed their tiny inch of fine neutral tint, their little all of patience and self-abnegation to make up this background--infinitesimal atoms in the great machinery, whose names and histories are enveloped in the vast dust bosom of the veldt, yet who, unknown and unsung, have contributed the "mickle" which has made the "muckle" belonging to the Empire. The ruminations of a soldier, who, rolled up in his overcoat, was struggling to sleep, shows the pathetic side of the brilliant undertaking: "Horses and mules are dropping down from sheer exhaustion, unfit for further service. They are left on the veldt a prey to the hungry vultures.... I shudder as I inwardly apply the case to myself, how perhaps in years to come, when of no more use to my country, I am left, like those poor creatures, to the mercy of an ungrateful world, or, worse still, thrown as a pauper into some home of destitution." On the 11th they were early astir in the dewy air of the morning, moving across open country to Majana Mabili, which was reached at 7.30 A.M., and on from this place after tea, on and on for eleven miles, till the stars began to shimmer, and moon to light the open veldt. The night was spent at a spot known as the "Hill without Water," a name sufficiently inhospitable and repellent. Nearly the whole of the 12th was spent in marching, with short periods for rest, from Jacobspan to Setlagoli, the latter part of the way over infamous roads, drifts, and stretches of sand, ledged with limestone and other impediments disastrous to cattle and to the tempers of their owners. However, the reception in Setlagoli compensated for many discomforts, for at the hotel, the proprietor of which was a Scotsman, there was fat fare and "a true Scots welcome," which in other words means that the company regaled themselves at the expense of mine host, who refused to accept any equivalent for his hospitality! During the day some sad scenes had occurred, scenes so pathetic that they touched the hearts of the rank and file in the pursuance of their duty. One of them said, "Some Dutch farmers who had been brought in by our scouts as suspects, were followed by their wives and children. Undoubtedly the poor women thought that after examination by the chief officer they would be allowed to return with them. As it was, however, we had some very clever detectives with us, who unfortunately caused them to be handed over to the guard as prisoners. The women in their extreme anguish at seeing their husbands about to be separated from them, rushed in amongst us, flung their arms around their necks, and refused to leave them. The scene that followed was a pitiful one, and not until the convoy had gone some distance on its way did their heart-rending cries cease to be heard." On Sunday the 13th of May the plot began to thicken. Colonel Mahon, as we are aware, had been reserving himself, knowing that the nearer he came to his destination, the more certain was he of repeated tussles with the enemy. Native scouts now informed him the Dutchmen were assembling at Maribogo, hanging round Kraaipan Siding, and lurking in their hundreds in the frowning kopjes that fringed the nek near Koodoo's Rand. Precautions were taken, and all remembered the Mafeking besiegers had bragged of their intention to cut off the party at Koodoo's Rand. The Light Horse, in very extended columns of squadrons, provided the advance and the scouts, and the transport moved in five parallel columns. Nothing as yet was seen of the Boers, and the troops reached a point nine miles off, called Brodie's Farm, in safety. Here they watered their horses, and rested till the early afternoon. Here they were joined by an officer who had ridden from Colonel Plumer's force, which, acting on information received, had by then reached Canea. Three questions were forwarded from Colonel Plumer. First, he wished to know the number of Colonel Mahon's men; second, his guns; third, the amount of his supplies. It became necessary to concoct a reply which should defeat the curiosity of the Boers, and to that end Colonel Mahon and Colonel Rhodes put their astute heads together, with the result that for the number of men they answered, _The Naval and Military Club multiplied by ten_ (94 Piccadilly). The number of guns was described as _The number of brothers in the Ward family_ (six); and the amount of supplies was represented by _The C.O., 9th Lancers_ (Small, Little). It was now decided that both Colonels--the relieving officers--should join hands at Jan Massibi's, Colonel Mahon's plan being to make a detour to the north-west of his route and thus surprise the enemy, who imagined he would come straight by way of Wright's Farm. Now came a critical moment. The column moved out from Brodie's Farm in the afternoon, and had scarcely started before they became aware that Boers were slinking everywhere, behind trees, in the scrub, in the dried grass of the veldt. They had been so admirably concealed that the Imperial Light Horse scouts had ridden beyond them. Now, however, when they began to blaze away with rifles from the scrub, the scouts turned upon them, caught them in the rear, while in front they were greeted with such warm volleys that they made for their horses, which had been deftly hidden in the bush. Others of their number strove to get a chance of enfilading the convoy, which was promptly diverted from its course to the left, while the guns galloped to the rescue, and took up a position that commanded the open ground to the right, and here blazed away, pouring cascades of shrapnel whenever the smoke from the Dutchmen's Mausers gave them a clue to the whereabouts of the hostile weapons, and a chance to put in some execution. Meanwhile, the Boers were firing fast and furious at the gunners, and awaiting reinforcements which were spurring across the far distance. The Imperial Light Horse, dashing as ever, were pouring volleys into the enemy, and sweeping them towards the British 12-pounders, and there was a good half-hour's brisk interchange of aggressions, much of the fighting being done on foot and at fairly close quarters. The pom-poms also rapped out a warning tune, and the smart Light Horse, now riding, now dismounted, hunted the foe across the ochreous grass of the veldt, keeping him perpetually on the run, or "winging" him so that he could run no more. Meanwhile Colonel King, on the right rear with his Kimberley men, assisted in the fight, and finally after much volleying and sniping the Dutchmen took themselves off. But the brilliant skirmish was not without its penalties, for twenty-one men were wounded, while six--including a native driver who had been knocked from his waggon in the course of the fray--were killed. Major Mullins of the Light Horse was seriously injured in the spine, an unlucky incident, following, as it did, on the loss to the gallant regiment of Major Wools Sampson and Major Doveton. Corporal Davis of A Squadron was hit, but managed even afterwards to do considerable damage among the Boers. Mr. Hands, the correspondent of the _Daily Mail_, sustained a compound fracture of the thigh, and Major Baden-Powell narrowly escaped, so narrowly, indeed, that his watch was stopped and a whistle twisted in his pocket by the force of the bullet. Captain Mullins, Kimberley Mounted Corps, was also injured. After their exhilarating and successful conflict it was decided that the force should bivouac where they were, the country to the north having been scouted and reported free of the enemy. It was said also to be devoid of water. No water could be found, and food was scanty, but the troops after their satisfactory rout of the Boers went to sleep in the moonlight full, if of nothing else, of contentment! With the passage of every hour precautions became more necessary, for the Boers might now be expected to crop up from any quarter. At 6 A.M. the troops started, the men riding six yards apart from each other, for Buck Reef Farm, a distance of five miles. A drift had to be negotiated, and water from the bed of the River Maretsani was dug up, and, richly yellow though it was, enjoyed. It was necessary to make the most of this refreshing if suspicious draught, for now the march onwards promised to be almost entirely waterless, with the enemy possibly mounting guard over any pools which might present themselves. Through the long dull afternoon they trailed upwards over a hill for eight long miles, and then on, for another eight, ploughing the sand and wearily craving for water. Man and beast were united in the common want, the absorbing yearning. Day passed into twilight and dusk broke into moonbeams; then, jaded and travel-sore, they outspanned for a brief rest. At 1 A.M. on the 15th they were again on the move, and by 3 A.M. were making their way over the plains of sand and tussocky grass towards the one haven of their desire, Jan Massibi's--every nerve and muscle strained to meet Colonel Plumer and his small force to time, to get to the trysting-place with celerity and secrecy which should outwit the Boers, and prevent them driving a wedge between the two relief columns that had endured so much to arrive at a now almost achieved end! So, on and on, half asleep, half awake, famished, dry, aching, dull but not desponding, they went, halting often, napping sometimes, mounting again and pursuing their way towards that ever-to-be-desired point in the west where Plumer was thought to be. And sure enough there they found him! The day dawned, the morning brightened, and in the distance, light--a glow of fires--was seen. Between the relievers and the glare was a native stadt, and nearer still a river. Here the scouts in advance came on other scouts, eyed them suspiciously, eagerly, delightedly. They were Plumer's scouts, and the joy of the encounter amply compensated for the pains of all who had covered during the past two days twenty-eight miserable miles in miserable condition. All the weariness of the night was forgotten, all the discomforts set aside. The horses galloped to the Molopo brink like wild creatures, drinking furiously; and the men, too, milder in their transport, greeted the streak of glittering stream with unfeigned rejoicing. It must here be noted that while the column was moving from Buck Reef Farm to Jan Massibi's, Colonel Plumer's force was approaching the same point from the north, and beautifully, like the grooves of a Chinese puzzle, the two relief parties met together about 5 A.M. Colonel Plumer was accompanied by his regiment of Rhodesians, some 350 of them, who for five months, under exceptional difficulties of climate and conditions, had been untiring in their efforts to hold back the enemy in their attempt to invade Rhodesia _via_ Tuli, and in their determination to retain the Bulawayo Railway for over 200 miles south of the Rhodesian border in British hands. This diminutive force, though it had achieved so much, had been powerless for want of guns to achieve still more. Colonel Plumer, in addition to Colonel Spreckley and others who had been fighting with him, was accompanied now, by a battery of Canadian Artillery, under Major Hudon (an officer whose delicate French accent gave a refining touch to the British tongue), and some 200 Queenslanders. How Colonel Plumer came into possession of the valuable addition to his troops must be described. It may be remembered that a force called the Rhodesian Field Force, numbering some 5000 men and 7000 horses, under the command of Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Carrington, was originated to provide against the contingency of an attack on Rhodesia from the south, and to avert any plan on the part of the Boers to migrate or escape to the north. It was composed mainly of Colonial troops, and placed in charge of a general whose unequalled experience of the country through which he was travelling and fighting made him unusually valuable. Besides Colonials were some 1100 Yeomanry, a company of the Lancashire, Belfast and Dublin's, and Lord Dunraven's Sharpshooters. [Illustration: MAP SHOWING THE ROUTE FOR THE RELIEF OF MAFEKING FROM THE NORTH.] While Sir Frederick Carrington was at Capetown he, knowing that Colonel Plumer's force was weak in artillery, devised a scheme for helping him. He made an arrangement with Mr. Zeederberg--the well-known Rhodesian coach-owner and a first-rate type of the Colonial Dutchman--by which the guns before named and escort were to be conveyed by mail coaches to the Rhodesian column. Mr. Zeederberg accompanied the General to Beira, and there telegraphed to Rhodesia suspending the ordinary mail service (conveying passengers and mails from Salisbury and Bulawayo), and diverting the mules to the Marandellas-Bulawayo Road. That done, no sooner had the troops steamed from Beira to Marandellas than the men were transferred to the stage-coaches and the mules were hitched to the guns, and thus the force was got to Bulawayo twenty days earlier than they would have done if moved in the ordinary manner. The active way in which the Colonials threw themselves into the movement deserves consideration. On the 13th of April C Battery of the Royal Canadian Artillery, under Major Hudon, were ordered to proceed _via_ the Cape to Beira, there to join General Sir Frederick Carrington's force. They reached their destination on the 22nd, and entrained for Marandellas, where the General had established his base camp. After a long and trying journey in open trucks, scorched by sun, burnt by sparks from the engine, agued by night chills, and jolted on one of what is called the worst railways in the world, they reached their destination on the 26th. Colonel Plumer was known to be helpless without artillery, and therefore no time was to be lost, as every haste was necessary to equip that officer for the approaching operations. Accordingly the "Salisbury to Bulawayo" resources were utilised as has been described, and two guns left Marandellas on the 30th of April, followed on May the 1st and 2nd by others, which were carried a distance of over 300 miles to Bulawayo by the 6th. From Bulawayo they were forwarded to Ootsi, where the rail was found to be destroyed, and consequently the remaining sixty miles to Safeteli were accomplished by a forced march. Colonel Plumer was joined by the Colonials on the 14th, and at once proceeded to meet Colonel Mahon at Jan Massibi's. A more ingenious synchronal achievement can scarcely be imagined. [Illustration: LIEUT.-COLONEL PLUMER Photo by Bassano, London] The meeting of Colonel Mahon and Colonel Plumer was most cordial, and many old chums and acquaintances forgathered and cheerily exchanged reminiscences over their morning coffee. Here, in this remote corner of South Africa, near the brown thatched cottages of Jan Massibi's staadt, was gathered around in the sunlight a stalwart company of picked men whose equal could scarcely be discovered in any part of the world. Men of breeding and distinction; men in the prime of life, brawny and tough and smart; men intellectual, courageous to daredevilry, and withal full of resource. Here, on the Kimberley side, were warriors old and tried--Colonel King, who had been General Hunter's aide-de-camp in Ladysmith; Colonel Peakman, the hero of many Kimberley fights; Major Karri Davies and dashing Colonel Edwards; popular Colonel Rhodes the pioneer; and the ever-jovial Dr. Davies of the Light Horse. There were Prince Alexander of Teck, a youthful veteran by now; Major the Hon. Maurice Gifford, a soldier to the finger-nails; Captain Bell-Smythe, the energetic brigade-major; and many more, all chivalrous and hardy men of mark. On the Rhodesian side were other grand specimens of British manhood. There was first the colonel--bronzed, dark-eyed, meditative--a man who without display had skirmished his way along the border-side from Tuli downwards, keeping the Boers in eternal suspense and so perpetually employed that they were unable to gain breathing time to concentrate their energies on Mafeking. Next came Colonel White, one of the bulwarks of Rhodesia; an adventurous spirit of the first order, an unerring shot, and, like most of his comrades, a chip of the old British block that furnished the material of the Light Brigade. There were Colonel Spreckley, a seasoned and notable fighter, alas! engaging in almost his last exploit, and Colonel Bodle of the British South Africa Police, a tower of strength, with vast experience of the western frontier of the Transvaal, and the necessary "slimness"--cultivated in a practical school--without which the handling of live eels like the Boers was impossible. There were Major Bird, another gallant and indefatigable officer; Lieutenant Harland, bright, blue-eyed, and buoyant, a typical British soldier; and Lieutenant Smitheman, valiant as Mettus Curtius and acute as a weazel--the first officer who had been successful in worming himself into Mafeking and out again! Colonel Mahon's force had been travelling at the rate of twenty-two miles a day over sandy tracks and waterless deserts, and skirmishing by the way. They were, by now, very sun-baked and weary, but jovial beyond measure. In the evening camp-fires were lighted and goodly fare roasted, the flesh of captured oxen coming in handy to appease the appetite of the voracious travellers. It was a grand night of rest and plenty and cheeriness at the thought of work accomplished, and of plans which promised to end in triumph over the enemy. A spirit of _camaraderie_ prevailed. All alike were tingling with the glow of ambition which hatches heroes. It was an unique company--an inter-British-national throng, and vastly interesting in its heterogeneous characteristics. The Bushmen were perhaps the most curious and refreshing type of the Imperial Brotherhood. Every one with an appreciation for the genuine was swift to pronounce them delightful fellows, sound in wind and limb, full of go, spirited and keen for work of any kind that came to hand. In addition to this they were friendly and hospitable, would share their last chunk of "bully" with any one who was suffering from a vacuum, and had the "nous" to forage for themselves and find their way about in the veldt in a manner that excited as much admiration as surprise. They could ride too. They sat a buckjumper as a child sits a swing, and seemed to be horsemasters as it were by instinct. Full to overflowing with loyalty, they talked of home and Queen as though they had been born on the steps of Buckingham Palace. They were democratic withal. Their loyalty was to the superb, the estimable, and the Queen to them was the sample of the ideal womanhood, holding them enslaved by the power that is the firmest of all powers--the hair-line of respect. To return to our "moutons" and to the sheep-pen in the heart of the veldt. At last dawned the memorable 16th--the ever-to-be-remembered morning when Mafeking, like a little white clothes-drying yard, came to be seen in the distance. All along the north bank of the Molopo for nine miles had marched the two columns, Colonel Plumer's Brigade leading, followed by Colonel Edwards and the Second Brigade, till at last, in the far grey plain, the little hamlet that had been the subject of so much persecution and so much British anxiety, came in sight. Then all were prepared for the worst or for the best. They lunched frugally, cooled themselves with draughts from the clear river, and then ... then the enemy made his last, his expiring effort. He began to blaze with his rifles on the extreme left, and continued so to blaze till volley followed volley. Off went the Light Horse buoyant and brisk towards the north, followed by Colonel King and his redoubtable "Kimburlians," who started to frustrate any attempt at a rear attack. But this attempt not being made he joined forces with the Light Horse, with whom were M Battery and the pom-poms. Meanwhile the Boers in front began to ply their guns "for all they were worth," shifting their pieces so as to enfilade the right of the British, thinking on that flank to make a more favourable impression. But on both fronts some Dutchmen were collected, and those on the left were engaged by the Light Horse and a section of M Battery, while on the right Colonel Plumer's Maxim-Nordenfeldt with the Battery of the Canadians did excellent execution. Two squadrons of Rhodesians advanced from the south across the river, to watch Boer reinforcements which hovered in the distance. The Boers now made an effort to attack the convoy, which had been diverted to the left; but here the Dutchmen had the astute Colonel Peakman to deal with. This officer promptly set his guns to work, and pounded them with such precision and warmth that they were glad enough to fall back on their main body. Then the Canadians assailed them, and later Captain Montmorency with his Maxim-Nordenfeldt silenced the big Boer gun. So effective was the action of the artillery that about 3 P.M. the Boers were beginning to show signs of removal. Meanwhile the Light Horse and the Kimberley troops were pushing boldly on, and by four o'clock the besiegers were on the run, their scurrying silhouettes dotting for a moment or two the skyline and then vanishing into space! On the right fighting still lingered on, the enemy trying hard to hold their ground, the Canadians trying equally hard to dislodge them from a position before Mafeking known as the White House. There was some tough work here, and presently M Battery from 3600 yards north of the house came to the assistance of the Canadians. Finally the Fusiliers and the Queenslanders with fixed bayonets, and a rush and roar, assailed the enemy's last position, and the door to Mafeking was opened! Off scrambled the remnant of the Boer hordes, leaving behind them ammunition and many other things grateful to the hearts of the conquerors. For the first time the enemy found themselves outmatched in the way of guns as in the way of wits. Gloating, they had been circling round Mafeking, waiting with confidence for an exhausted force. They found instead a force that had marched warily, and reserved itself, and came with full rush upon them; a force that had been concentrating its energies to give them as much fighting as they cared for. The whole route was now purged of Boers, and when at dusk the column outspanned it was but for a brief hour or two. Without warning, Colonel Mahon inspanned again, determining to take advantage of the moonlight and the clear road; in a very short time he was wending his way towards the great destination. At four o'clock on the morning of the 17th his mission was accomplished! The losses were many, for the fighting, during the short time it lasted, was fierce and sustained; and the Boer force numbered some 2000, while the British columns amounted to about 1500. There were over sixty killed and wounded:-- Lieutenant Edwin Harland, Hampshire Regiment--commanding C Squadron Rhodesian Regiment, was killed. The following were wounded: 2nd Royal West Surrey Regiment--Major W. D. Bird, severe. British South Africa Police--Lieutenant Richard Sherman Godley, slight. Rhodesian Regiment--Lieutenant John Alexander Forbes, slight. Royal Horse Artillery--Lieutenant N. M. Gray, severe. Kimberley Mounted Corps--Captain C. P. Fisher, slight. Imperial Light Horse--Lieutenant Hew Campbell Ross, slight. Gallant young Harland was generally regretted. He had taken the place of Captain Maclaren when that officer was wounded in the attempt to rescue Mafeking on the 31st, and had displayed such first-rate talents, both as soldier and scout, that he had earned for himself the title of "Baden-Powell the Second." The following table describes the forces engaged in the Relief:-- MAFEKING.--Protectorate Regiment (800), Cape Mounted Police, British South Africa Company's Mounted Police, Bechuanaland Rifles--1500 men. COLONEL PLUMER'S FORCE.--Rhodesia Regiment, Southern Rhodesia Volunteers, Bechuanaland Border Police, A Detachment of Canadian Artillery. COLONEL MAHON'S FLYING COLUMN.--100 men from Barton's Frontier Brigade, 200 Queenslanders (Bushmen). KIMBERLEY MOUNTED CORPS.--Diamond Fields Horse, Kimberley Light Horse, Cape Police, Imperial Light Horse, Diamond Fields Artillery, M Battery Royal Horse Artillery--1200 men. ON THE WESTERN FRONTIER--THE INVASION OF THE TRANSVAAL _VIA_ CHRISTIANA. At the same time, on the Western Frontier, affairs were progressing in accord with Lord Roberts's strategical programme. Sir Charles Warren had arrived to take up his new post as military governor of Griqualand West, and General Hunter was engaged in a species of overture to cover the advance of the Flying Column which had started on the 5th. Without opposition he effected the passage of the Vaal River at Windsorton. There was great satisfaction to feel that British shells were at last exploding in Transvaal territory, and that the voice of the new gun, "Bobs," was spreading devastation far and wide. Three Boer laagers were dispersed, and on the 4th of May the new weapon caused considerable commotion within the Republican border. Ambulances were seen performing their melancholy duty for some time after the morning shelling had ceased. On the 5th Barton's Brigade encountered 2000 and more of the enemy some two miles north of Rooidam. The Dutchmen held a hilly and jungly position extending over four miles, but from their beloved kopjes they were routed time after time, and with considerable loss, by the magnificent dash of the troops, who carried one ridge after another with splendid energy and daring. The Yeomanry under Colonel Meyrick especially distinguished themselves, their courage and coolness under fire being remarkable. They not only engaged the enemy at very close quarters, but chased them for miles. General Hunter, having settled the Dutchmen, after a contest of some eight hours' duration, joined hands with the British force under General Paget at Warrenton. Fourteen Streams was now occupied without opposition, the enemy having found the attentions of the artillery in the direction of the left bank of the Vaal far too pressing for his liking. At sight of the approach of the 6th and half the 5th Brigades of infantry the Boers scampered, leaving behind them in the trenches saddles, ammunition, and wardrobes. A British camp was formed at Fourteen Streams--C Company of the Munster Fusiliers, under Lieutenant Caning, having been the first to cross the river during the night. These were followed at dawn by the rest of the troops. The river was low, and the Engineers set to work to construct a pontoon bridge for heavy traffic, and to mend the old railway bridge and make it fit for immediate use. The following casualties took place during the advance: Captain Lovett, 1st Royal Welsh Fusiliers, died from wounds, and Captain MacMahon, 2nd Royal Fusiliers, was wounded. The ten days' march to Vryburg, which was reached on the 24th of May, was comparatively uneventful, but the Yeomanry did excellent work, as the following report of a Glasgow yeoman serves to show:--"We were most of the time on half-rations, and every morning were up before 2 A.M.... The first day we left the camp at Warrenton we crossed the Vaal River, where the railway bridge was blown up. They have now got a temporary one made, which they completed two days after we left.... On the other side we joined the Union Brigade; Colonel Hart (Barton), I think, is commander of it. We had two batteries of artillery with us, and some other brigade joined us next day, and we were supposed to be about 12,000 strong under General Sir A. Hunter. They do not tell you whether you are going to fight or on a day's march, the regulars say; but we all expected one the day after we left, as we were advised to make any personal arrangements we had to make. Next day we moved off about 6.30. Nineteenth and 20th Companies were the scouts, and 17th and 18th the support. It is rather exciting the first day you are out scouting, with ninety cartridges in your bandolier and ten in your magazine, expecting to come in contact with the Boers every minute. Some of their patrols were seen two days before we left. On Wednesday morning we came in sight of Christiana, which we took in great style. We galloped half round it at half a mile distance in extended order, the Major and Captain C---- galloping up to houses, putting the butts of their rifles through the windows, and looking to see if the houses were occupied. There were very few people there; 2000 Boers had left the day before. However, we came across two or three, who were disarmed, and all the arms that were got in the town were broken up. We commandeered a lot of cattle, sheep, and horses, left a company of infantry in charge of the town, left again that night, and did about other six miles' march towards Toungs. We saw about a hundred Boers two days later, but they did not let us get near them. We are the only cavalry attached to the column, so that we have to do all the scouting, front and rear guards. It is quite a sight to see a column on the march. First scouts are out in front advancing in line, about a hundred yards apart, then the supports, next a skirmishing line of infantry, then two or three companies of them. After this long lines of transports, the artillery, droves of cattle and sheep, then more infantry, and behind the rearguard. I have only washed once since I left Warrenton, now twelve days ago, and then I had no soap, and had to dry my face with my handkerchief. We had to leave all our stuff behind us so as to march as light as possible. These last two days we have been getting bread, as they have now got the railway put right up this length. We were only getting two hard biscuits per day, coffee in the morning and tea at night, pretty often without any sugar, and sometimes we couldn't manage to get sticks to make a fire. The beer is 4s. per bottle. The Boers have commandeered everything nearly, and the folks here were glad to see us. The enemy cleared out of here fourteen days ago." * * * * * Space does not admit of a detailed account of this excellent movement, which was originated in support of the Mafeking Relief Column, and had for a double object the protection of Mahon's force and the invasion of the Transvaal from the west. To appreciate the turn of wheel within wheel of Lord Roberts's strategic machinery it is necessary to give a glance at the map of the Transvaal. It will then be seen that synchronously with the occupation of Christiana by General Sir Archibald Hunter on the 16th and the Relief of Mafeking by Colonels Mahon and Plumer, we find Lord Methuen moving towards Hoopstad, Lord Roberts holding Kroonstad, General Ian Hamilton pushing up towards Lindley and Heilbron, and farther east Generals Clery and Dundonald advancing towards Ingogo and Laing's Nek respectively! THE RELIEF. To return to Mafeking. On the day that Colonel Mahon and Colonel Plumer joined hands near Jan Massibi's thatched village, news leaked in that the long-talked-of relief was verily at hand. They had heard this kind of thing before, and their despair lest the Boers should attack the town to obtain the release of Eloff was scarcely allayed. However, on the 16th, dust was espied in the distance, and there was a rush to the roofs of the houses to ascertain whether that dust was hostile or friendly. It was afterwards discovered that it was the sign of the retiring enemy, and eventually towards dusk it was announced that the Relief Column was really in sight. The longing eyes of Mafeking looked out, and for the first time saw their persecutors in full retreat, saw them begin to run, and then, later, scudding for their lives, while their gratified ears, so tuned to the sound of the vicious artillery of the foe, now heard the cheery notes of the Canadian artillery, the pom-poms, and other pieces, clearing the barricades that for so long had shut out the free air of day. In the late afternoon Major Karri Davies, who after the routing of the Federals had never drawn rein till he reached Mafeking, accompanied by some eight of the Imperial Light Horse, the Light Horse that had been first in Ladysmith, marched into the town. Surprise was intense! Then surprise thawed into warmth, and then warmth grew to fever-heat. Rapture eventually reached boiling-point, and the nine men, gaunt, worn, haggard with fatigue, were deafened with cheers, and had not strength enough to do the handshaking. Meanwhile, as we know, Colonel Mahon had outspanned. He did this only to inspan again, and proceed by moonlight to the town. He had followed the rule of South African strategy,--said he was going to do one thing and did the other,--thus outwitting the Boers, who having retired wearily, were gathering themselves up to lunge at him, and intercept his entry so soon as the dawn should break. But by four in the morning of the 17th, while the chill dramatic moonbeams were yet bathing the scene with strange mystery, Colonel Mahon and his merry men--they were merrier than merry at the prospect of their welcome--led by Major Baden-Powell, the brother of the hero of the defence, approached the town. The news of the arrival spread like wildfire. Immediately all was bustle, and bliss, and gratulation. Men, women, and children beamed. Some wept; some danced. The natives indulged in wild sounds, and showed rows of dazzling teeth. Exuberance took amazing forms; stranger wrung the hand of stranger, friends grasped and re-grasped: if they had been foreigners they would have embraced! The large hearts of the heroes within and the large hearts of the heroes from without were throbbing in unison, bursting with satisfaction in the accomplishment of great work in the cause of their country and of their fellow-men. The ragged, battered, grimy, magnificent throng was almost at a loss to express itself. Words lagged, and even those forthcoming were blurred by a foggy haze in the throat, while a strange mistiness crept over eyes that for seven months had been bright with the fire of determination. But withal, there was no emasculating abandonment to rapture of the hour. There was no unbuckling of armour. At nine the serious work of war began again. The united forces went out on a reconnaissance in the direction of MacMullin's farm, where the chief Dutch laager was fixed, and then all the artillery, even to the grandfatherly "Lord Nelson," performed in concert in honour of the great occasion. Cascades of shrapnel and little white balls of smoke danced and played over the laager, and bombs burst with violent detonations, and then, like magic, wreaths of dust began to rise and increase, and cloud the distance. It was the Dutchmen scampering for dear life across the veldt, their waggons and guns--all save one--rumbling into space. This one was abandoned in the hurried flight, the Boers having taken the precaution to destroy the breech, but it was nevertheless captured as a precious souvenir of times more pleasant in reminiscence than in being. The forts were visited in turn, and at Game-Tree--that dreadful thorn in the side of the garrison--the Union Jack went up to a chorus of cheers. Finally, the place was devoured by fire, to the satisfaction of those who had so long regarded it with apprehension and hate. At MacMullin's farm were found the Boer wounded, deserted of their kind, who had scuttled with such alacrity that even their still smoking breakfasts had been foregone. Lieutenant Currie and his smart Cape Boys, and Major Baillie (4th Hussars), came on one or two stragglers in the Boer laager, who wisely surrendered. Snyman's official correspondence was discovered, and from this much valuable information was gleaned. From one bundle of papers the garrison learned the pleasing intelligence that Kroonstadt had fallen; from another, that Kruger was not best pleased with the old Commandant--indeed, the President without palaver had inquired by telegram whether his failure of the previous Saturday had been due to drink! The rescue of Captain Maclaren (13th Hussars) from the clutches of the enemy caused great satisfaction, and he was borne off in triumph to the hospital, where he was comfortably located. He was suffering still from the wounds sustained during the fight on the 31st, one of which had been inflicted after he was helpless by a Dutchman, who deliberately fired on him at a distance of twenty yards, and subsequently robbed him of watch and money! By noon the reconnaissance was at an end,--the place was found to be clear of the horrible girdle that for seven months had encompassed it,--and then the Market Square became a scene of unrestrained enthusiasm. The Town Guard got itself into position ready to do honour to the warriors who had come through fire and blood to release their fellow-countrymen, while every nook and corner of the broken hamlet was filled with excited, cheering folks--folks whose vocal cords seemed scarcely to have suffered from scant fare and unceasing vigils, and who yelled as though by sheer force of lung power they meant to swell their song of jubilation to the four corners of the earth! [Illustration: THE LAST ATTACK ON MAFEKING: B.S.A. POLICE ESCORTING BOER PRISONERS TO THE GAOL Drawing by H. M. Paget, from materials supplied by Major F. D. Baillie, Special Correspondent of the _Morning Post_.] Perhaps the march past of the united relief columns was the most unique and imposing ceremony ever performed within the confines of such a "chicken-run." Here, in this tiny compass, the whole empire veritably met together--South Africans, Australians, Canadians, English, Scots, and Irishmen, Indians, Cape Boys--all following one another, unit after unit, like some quaint scenic procession of the nations. There were the bronzed colonels--Baden-Powell, and Mahon, and Plumer, now household names throughout the world--accompanied by their staffs, the _élite_ of the embattled array. There were the glorious 12-pounders--M Battery of the Royal Horse Artillery, whose every limber looked dear to the eyes that long had been strained in eagerness for their coming--and their guardians, the helmeted band of staunch and sturdy gunners, who carried the voice of Empire far and wide--there were the plumed and mettlesome Colonials, very fighting-cocks at the sniff of war--there was the lion rampant in the form of the Union Brigade (the picked portions of it from the Royal Fusiliers, Royal Scots, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, and Royal Irish Fusiliers), a right regal company, the very sight of which in common times would have caused the heart of Britons to throb, and which now sent the cup of patriotic rapture brimming over. Cheers or tears? Shouts or sobs? It was a "toss"-up which would supersede the other, and amid the stupendous _fracas_ even the dauntless hero of this unparalleled, soul-stirring outburst turned aside that none should view the emotion that threatened to overwhelm him. The painter, when he depicted Agamemnon in the hour of sublime sacrifice, drew a veil over the features of the chief. He judged the supreme moment of human exultation too sanctified for common gaze. Even so must we draw the veil of silence over this supreme moment in the life of the saviour of Mafeking ... the soundless epic is the more sonorous. The parade over, addresses were presented and the usual formalities gone through. The gratitude of the town for the relief--the appreciation of the magnificent work done by Colonel Baden-Powell, and the stupendous energy of the succouring forces, were all dilated on and thanks returned. A hailstorm of cheers then broke out--cheers for Queen and country, for Baden-Powell, Mahon, Plumer, Colonel Rhodes, Major Karri Davies; in fact, every one cheered every one else, for all were too deserving, too heroic, to overlook the deserts and heroism of those who had imperilled their lives over and over again to maintain the prestige of their native land. So passed the day, and at night chums and comrades gathered together and jested and laughed, and told yarns of skirmish and sortie and surprise, till they sank to sleep in their greatcoats and blankets, fairly worn out with their eleven days and nights of boot and saddle. On the 19th, the garrison assembled for a last, a solemn function. A great thanksgiving and memorial service was held at the cemetery, and all bade a last farewell to those who had shared with them the tribulations of the siege without reaping the harvest of honour their hands had sown. At the close of the impressive ceremony three volleys were fired over the noble dead who had given their lives to attain the great end, and then an effort was made to sing the National Anthem, but the notes were quavering with the emotion which these hitherto fearless men now feared might unman them. Finally Colonel Baden-Powell--a little abruptly to cover the touching nature of his farewell--addressed the garrison:-- "We have been a happy family during the siege. The time has now come for breaking up. When we were first invested I said to you, 'Sit tight and shoot straight.' The garrison has sat tight and shot straight, with the present glorious result. Many nice things have been said about me at home, but it is an easy thing to be the figurehead of a ship. The garrison has been the rigging and sails of the good ship Mafeking, and has brought her safely through her stormy cruise." He then thanked the ladies, beginning with the matron of the hospital, whose pluck and devotion could not be sufficiently extolled. Turning to the Protectorate Regiment, he said:-- "To you I need say nothing. Your roll of dead and wounded tells its own tale." Shaking hands with Colonel Hore he thanked him for the assistance he had given him, and to the artillery, under Major Panzera and Lieutenant Daniel, he said:-- "You were armed with obsolete weapons, but you made up for these by your cool shooting and the way you stuck to your guns." The colonel afterwards turned to the British South Africa Police:-- "I need not repeat to you men the story of the little red fort on the hill, which Cronje could not take." And to the Cape Police, under Captain Marsh, he addressed himself as follows:-- "You have not been given an opportunity of doing anything dramatic, but throughout the siege you have held one of the nastiest places in the town, where the enemy were expected at any moment, and where you were always under fire." The colonel next made some graceful remarks to the Town Guard. He compared them to a walnut in a shell; saying that people thought that they had but to break the shell to get at the kernel. But the enemy had learnt better. They had got through the husk and found they could get no hold on the kernel. In conclusion, he announced that any civilians who wished to return to their ordinary occupations immediately might do so. Those who had none to return to, whose billets had been lost or businesses ruined, would be permitted in the meantime to draw trench allowances and to remain on duty in the inner defences. Major Goold Adams was then cordially thanked for all the excellent work he had done as Town Commandant, after which the Railway Division (under Captain Moore) and Lieutenant Layton (who had received a commission for his splendid services) were addressed:-- "I cannot thank you enough for what you have done. You have transformed yourselves from railway-men to soldiers. Your work is not yet done, because it will be your business to reopen communication and get in supplies." [Illustration: MAFEKING RAILWAY STATION--THE FIRST TRAIN ARRIVING FROM THE NORTH AFTER THE RELIEF. (Photo by D. Taylor, Mafeking.)] To the Bechuanaland Rifles Colonel Baden-Powell exclaimed:-- "Men, you have turned out trumps. With volunteers one knows that they have been ably drilled, but there is no telling how they will fight. I have been able to use you exactly as Regular troops, and I have been specially pleased with your straight shooting. The other day, when the enemy occupied the Protectorate Fort, they admitted that they were forced to surrender by your straight shooting, under which they did not dare to show a hand above the parapet." The chief delighted the juvenile Cadet Corps by giving them their meed of praise for their conduct as soldiers, concluding with, "I hope you will continue in the profession, and will do as well in after life." He then turned to the outsiders, the Northern Relief Force under Colonel Plumer, which had borne the brunt of the seven months' fighting, and expressed his regret that they had been too weak to relieve the town "off their own bat." But he eulogised the splendid work done in bad country and climate. The Southern Force under Colonel Mahon were congratulated on having made a march which would live in history. Their chief was complimented on the magnificent body of men he commanded, while the Imperial Light Horse, associated as it was with memories of Ladysmith, Colonel Baden-Powell declared he was especially pleased to see, as these would be able, in consequence of their own experience, to sympathise with the people in Mafeking. So the amazing defence of Mafeking was over! For seven months the gallant little town had withstood every ingenious device of the Boers, and in the end it had come off victorious. The first shot was fired on the 16th of October, and from that day the rumble of bombardment had been the accompaniment of almost every hour between the rising and setting of the sun. And now all was serene and still, and only the battered walls of the once neat little hamlet told the terrible, the glorious tale of British doggedness and British pluck. [Illustration: Lord Roberts Lord Kitchener LORD ROBERTS AND HIS ARMY CROSSING THE VAAL RIVER Drawing by R. M. Paxton, from a Sketch by W. B. Wollen, R.I.] HOW THE NEWS WAS RECEIVED BY THE BRITISH EMPIRE. For some time the ears of London had been pricked up in anxious expectation. Lord Roberts had promised to relieve Mafeking by the 18th of May, and the Field-Marshal was known to be punctuality personified. All the town remained in a state of suppressed excitement, little flags were selling like wildfire, and big flags were being got into readiness for the great, the longed-for word. Early in the morning of the 17th the papers were anxiously perused, and man asked man if any news had leaked out. The 18th arrived. Nothing was known. The War Office maintained its adamantine calm. The day grew middle-aged, almost old--then, as the shutters were about to go up (twenty minutes past nine was the exact hour), one telegram of Reuter's fired the fuse, and London, followed presently by the whole British Empire, was ablaze with excitement. The flame, like most flames, broke out almost unnoticed. Some one on a cycle--some one in a cab, heard the glorious three words, and sped breathless to carry the contagion of his rapture far and wide. Street after street began to smoulder--to glow; and, presto! the town was one vast conflagration! Such a furnace of patriotism had never been seen within the confines of the staid metropolis. By ten o'clock the populace of one consent had run wild into the streets--the houses were too cramped to hold them--they ran wild, roaring and yelling and shouting and singing, passing into the heart of the Capital in dense armies--passing? nay!--for soon none could pass, but had merely to be propelled good-humouredly by the compact mass that surged apparently to no destination whatever. Whence came the clamouring hosts it was impossible to say--they seemed to rise from the earth, so rapidly, so mysteriously, did their numbers increase. Liberty, equality, fraternity, was the motto of this memorable night. All ages, and ranks, and sexes were linked together in the bonds of sympathetic patriotism--countess or coster, duke or drayman, it was all one--an identical beam of triumph imparted a relationship to every British face. Minutes had scarcely grown into hours before the Union Jack fluttered from every window, from every cart and 'bus, from every hand, and the roar of human joy was as the roar of the ocean in a tempest. At the theatres, as at the railway stations, the crowds heard and wondered only for a moment, for the electrical news got into their midst, and they on the instant took up the cry and the cheer, and repeated them with all their might. Indeed, theatrical performances were suspended while the joyous audiences sang and re-sang "Rule, Britannia" and "God Save the Queen," and then, unsatisfied, tore into the open to let off steam as it were, and view a sight which never before has been witnessed, and probably never again will be visible in the precincts of London Town. The Mansion House, where the display of the message had caused a huge concourse to assemble, was next besieged, and the old walls literally shook with the mighty roar of the multitude. The "National Anthem" swelled out thunderously with volume that was almost awe-striking as the combined voice of a Handel Festival, and shouts for the Lord Mayor grew and grew, and became deafening as that honoured citizen and splendid patriot showed himself. He then delivered the following speech: "I wish the music of your cheers could reach Mafeking. For seven long weary months a handful of men has been besieged by a horde. We never doubted what the end would be. British pluck and valour when used in a right cause must triumph. The heart of every one of you vibrates with intense loyalty and enthusiasm, I know, and the conscience of every one of you assures you that we have fought in a righteous and just cause." The crowd, incapable of silence for very long, broke into "Rule, Britannia," and when this outburst of emotion was expended, the Lord Mayor continued: "We have fought for our most glorious traditions of equality and freedom, not for ourselves alone, but for the men of all those nations who have settled in South Africa and who were under the protection of the British flag." Three cheers for Colonel Baden-Powell were then called for, and three for Lord Roberts, and these having been heartily given, he said: "The people of Bloemfontein and Mafeking are now singing 'God Save the Queen'; you can do it for yourselves." This they proceeded to do not once but twenty times through the livelong hours of the night. Meanwhile the following practical telegram was despatched by the Lord Mayor:-- "_To_ BADEN-POWELL, Mafeking, _via_ Cape Town. "Citizens London relieved and rejoiced by good news just received. Your gallant defence will long live in British annals. Cable me what money wanted for needs of garrison and inhabitants after long privations. "ALFRED NEWTON, _Lord Mayor_." At the same time a huge portrait of Colonel Baden-Powell was displayed in front of the Mansion House, and the strains of "God Save the Queen" and "Rule, Britannia" were now intermingled with the lively tune of "For he's a jolly good fellow." These combined choruses were echoed and re-echoed, and carried along like a gigantic stream of sound into the suburbs of London, into sleeping Kensington and remote Clapham, so that men and women turned in their beds--sat up, terrified at first, then realising the situation, gave up thought of rest, and listened with swelling hearts to the triumphant din. And so, on and on--through the night till morning broke! Then, the whole face of London seemed transmogrified. National emblems--red, white, blue, yellow, green, stars and stripes--draping the houses and festooning the roads, gave the town the aspect of one huge bazaar. Balconies were decorated, awnings thrown out, and in some cases, to give a touch of realism, bathing towels[6] were hung from the verandahs. People passing by, and ignorant of the double meaning of the curious drapery, shrugged their shoulders, scoffed--then, awakened by a flash of illumination, looked again and broke into renewed cheers. Before the dwelling of the mother of the defender of Mafeking a vast crowd collected, wielding flags and laurels, and displaying in their midst the bust of the hero with a British lion crouching at his feet. Cheers rent the air, and increased in volume when the proud parent of this splendid Briton appeared on the balcony and acknowledged the demonstration. The glad tumult in front of this point of attraction continued throughout the day, people coming from far and wide here to vent their ecstasy of enthusiasm--some in shouts, many in tears. By nightfall, the whole Empire was pouring forth its excitement in congratulatory telegrams, for, four minutes after the receipt of the intelligence in London the news had passed over the Atlantic cables and was in the New York office of the Associated Press, whence it was forwarded to the farthest limit of the North American Continent. Canada, New South Wales, Sydney, and all the other colonies whose bravest and best had contributed to the great doings in the Transvaal, were now aglow with bunting and illuminations. Church bells pealed, processions passed shouting and rejoicing, ships were dressed from truck to taffrail, and prayers and anthems of praise were got ready to be offered up on the following day at all churches. Thus, for a brief space, was seen a vast concourse of millions of souls of differing opinions, customs, and creeds, diffused even to the remotest corners of the British-speaking world, yet closely united by a bond of fraternal sympathy in consequence of the triumph of British manhood in the most unique ordeal that the loyalty of any nation has been called upon to endure. FOOTNOTES: [5] See Vol. III. p. 39. [6] The hero of Mafeking at Charterhouse was nicknamed "Bathing Towel." CHAPTER VI FROM KROONSTAD TO JOHANNESBURG From the 12th to the 22nd of May was spent by the main army, at Kroonstad, where, owing to sickness and other causes, a halt was obligatory. It was necessary that supplies should be collected, an advanced depôt formed, the railway repaired, and the safety of both flanks secured. Meanwhile, efforts were made to protect the farmers who had surrendered from the revengeful tactics of the Boers. Lord Lovat's gillies arrived at Kroonstad and met with the approval of the Commander-in-Chief. General Hutton, with a force of mounted infantry, had reported an attack on Bothaville and the capture of three commandants and about a score of Zarps, from their hiding-place near Smaldeel. On the 20th, the 1st Cavalry Brigade marched out from their camp near Kroonstad, to open up the country on the left of Lord Roberts's main advance along the western fringe of the railway. They were accompanied by the 4th Cavalry Brigade (7th Dragoon Guards and 8th and 14th Hussars), and supported by General Hutton's Brigade of Mounted Infantry (Canadians, Australians, and New Zealanders). On the 21st, the cavalry seized the drift at the confluence of the Honing Spruit and the Rhenoster; and on the 22nd, Lord Roberts and the main army, leaving only the 1st Suffolks behind, marched from Kroonstad to Honing Spruit, the third station to the north, and some eighteen or twenty miles off. General Ian Hamilton, after a series of engagements with De Wet's hordes, from Lindley, onwards, had secured an advanced position at Heilbron, while the cavalry division had moved up, crossed the Rhenoster River, and threatening the right rear of the enemy had forced the Dutchmen to leave a strongly-entrenched position on the north bank of the river. The presence of French and Hamilton to west and east of them had served to unnerve the hostile hordes, who now had our cavalry within twenty miles of either flank. They spent their bellicose ardour by destroying some miles of railway, the bridge over the Rhenoster, and some culverts, and then flying in hot haste before the vast machinery of the advancing army, to a new point of defence some twenty miles in front, a point which promised shortly to become equally untenable. [Illustration: THE GREAT ADVANCE: ROYAL HORSE ARTILLERY (CAVALRY DIVISION) CROSSING THE VAAL Drawing by R. Caton Woodville] The following casualties took place in the Winburg Column, May 21st:--New South Wales Mounted Infantry--Wounded severely, Lieutenant A. J. M. Onslow, 1st Royal Irish--Lieutenant M. H. E. Welch. On the 23rd, Lord Roberts and his majestical and magnificent apparatus of war, its thousands of gallant souls, its multiplicity of vehicles, its endless supplies and zoological train, encamped on the south bank of the Rhenoster River. The Boers, apparently demoralised in their preparations for resistance, and having had their left flank turned by Hamilton at Heilbron, were now continuously "on the run." Meanwhile burghers hourly came in to surrender arms and ammunition, the last vestige of truculence having evaporated. The Boer Government telegraphed to Lord Roberts offering to exchange an equal number of prisoners on parole, and threatening if the offer should be refused to remove from Pretoria to some other district the 4000 prisoners now confined there. As to the fate of the Johannesburg mines there was considerable uncertainty; reports declared they would be destroyed in the event of entry to the Transvaal by the British, and also that the town itself would be defended, as defence works were being rapidly pushed forward, guns got into position, and trenches and defences constructed. On the other hand it was stated that, on hearing of the threat to destroy the mines and possibly the town, Commandant Louis Botha had hastened to the President, and in a stormy interview had asserted his intention, if such a thing were contemplated, himself to defend Johannesburg from such an act of vandalism. He concluded by denouncing the diabolical intention and saying, "We are not barbarians." Mr. Kruger did not argue the subject--possibly his conscience tweaked him on the subject of barbarity--but gave in. Terrible altercations were daily taking place between the Boers, the Free Staters, and their mercenaries, and the burghers were inclined to throw all the blame of defeat on the Hollanders who had brought about the war and left the Boers to bear the brunt of the loss to life and property that hostilities entailed. These were merely reports, but they served, as the passage to the north proceeded, to show which way the wind blew. On the Queen's birthday the 4th Brigade of cavalry crossed the Vaal near Pary's Drift, and the 1st Brigade at a drift farther east of Pary's, while General Ian Hamilton's column was ordered to move towards Boschbank still higher up. They arrived just in time to save the coal-mines from being destroyed. The operation of crossing the Vaal was one of the most risky that has been undertaken in the campaign, as the road down to the drifts led through about six miles of mountainous country forming a narrow pass, well suited to Boer tactics. Fortunately, although the Boers were seen hovering in the vicinity, the arrival of the cavalry was unexpected, and they made no effective resistance. It will be seen that here the distribution of the advance underwent a change. General French adhered to his original course on the left, but General Hamilton, screened by Gordon's Cavalry, crossed in front of the main army, and concentrated near Vredefort on the west, thus preparing a little surprise for the Boers, who were collected in their thousands opposite Engelbrecht Drift in the expectation that the British General would continue to proceed towards the north. Meanwhile, the cavalry, to a desultory accompaniment of musketry, was engaged in securing the approaches to Lindique Drift, over which the baggage had to pass. On the 26th, Colonel Henry's Mounted Infantry, and the Bedfordshires, crossed at Viljoen's Drift and there encountered an Irish-American rabble in act of injuring the coal-mines and bridge; and the wreckers--an alcoholically-valiant gang of hirelings--speedily made off, leaving behind them three days' supplies, which came in most handy for the benefit of the troops. By this time General Hamilton had reached Boschbank, and Lord Roberts had arrived at Wolve Hoek. The Cavalry Division, finding the force of Mounted Infantry had moved to Vereeniging--and thus opened up communication with Lord Roberts's main advance--flew on. On the evening of the 27th they seized the head of the horse-shoe of hills wherein the Boers in large numbers had ensconced themselves. This dashing exploit was attended with the loss of only one Scots Grey and one Carabineer wounded. The position thus gained overlooked the Boers' main position at Klips Wersberg, defending Johannesburg. While this was going on (on the 27th) Lord Roberts, with the 7th and 11th Divisions, crossed the Vaal facing Vereeniging, and encamped on the north bank, and found vacated several intricately prepared positions whence the Boers had intended to offer opposition. They had abandoned position after position at the approach of one or other of the great feelers of the big British machine that threatened to surround them. The fact was, this enormous army was moving as an avalanche--stupendous and strong--an avalanche that swept all things before it. Horses and men were in splendid fettle, their spirits were rising, their confidence intense, and all endeavoured to emulate the example in activity set them by the Field-Marshal, who, like a young man of thirty, was up before dawn and working hard till sundown. In spite of the cold nights--especially trying after the heat of midday--the Commander-in-Chief looked healthy and well, while his troops, who had marched magnificently in trying circumstances, needed no finer eulogy than to be described as worthy of him. A grand march of twenty miles brought the main army on the 28th, to Klip River, within eighteen miles of Johannesburg--a march so rapid and so well organised that the Boers, who had prepared a delicate salute of five guns with which to welcome the troops, had barely time to hustle their weapons into the train and steam off as some of the West Australian Mounted Infantry dashed into the station! These smart Colonials were very much to the fore all day and showed a vast amount of dash and dexterity. Major Pilkington and a patrol of some thirty of them were moving in advance of the 11th Division in hope to find a suitable drift for the passage of troops and guns across the Klip River. The drift was discovered, but also the Boers--a posse of them hovering among the kopjes that flanked the road. Without ado, the little party prepared themselves for the worst, spreading themselves, rifles in hand, to protect the position they had gained, a position of some importance, since it commanded bridges about a mile and a half to east and west of the road. The party divided into two groups, arranged themselves at each bridge, and endeavoured to make a line--a very thin line--as a uniting link between the groups. It was somewhat like the fable of the frog that tried to blow himself out to the size of a bull--but in this case the minute object's pretence was successful; the thirty isolated men deluded the Boers, and caused them to believe that these sturdy defenders of the drifts were supported by a huge force in reserve. Blazing away with their rifles, the Dutchmen attacked the small party, and an uneven contest commenced and proceeded till dusk. Lieutenant Porter, while directing some operations, was wounded, but fortunately at this juncture there came to his rescue some guardsmen, who were escorting a convoy, and these, owing to the gallant manner in which the drifts had been held, managed in the darkness to get their convoy into safety, and enable the Westralians, whose work was accomplished, to "silently steal away." Meanwhile, during the whole day, some ten miles to the left--on the west of the railway--sounds of animated knocking portended much activity on the part of Generals French and Hamilton in the neighbourhood of Syferfontein and Klip River. General French was engaged in a reconnaissance in force of the enemy's position. After drawing the fire of all the Dutch guns, and consuming a good deal of powder, the casualties on the part of the cavalry were small--about five--mostly Inniskillings. On the 29th of May, part of the Cavalry Division, General Ian Hamilton's Mounted Infantry, the 19th and 21st Brigades, and some Colonials who had moved parallel to the main advance since it left the Vaal, found themselves about twelve miles south of Johannesburg. East of Doornkop some 4000 Boers, with six guns, had taken up a menacing position, strengthened with various natural obstacles, while the ground had been blackened with grass fires to afford an effective background to approaching kharki. The troops, supported by the guns, at once steadily advanced to attack the Boer centre, while Generals French and Hutton operated on the west to turn the right flank of the position. After an hour's smart fighting the infantry were able to push on, Porter's brigade having ridden five miles to the west, and turned the enemy's right, while the infantry, with fixed bayonets, had driven the enemy from every cherished kopje. In the attack, the Gordons in the centre of the right, the City Imperial Volunteers in the centre on the left, advanced gradually on the Boer position. The gallant nature of the advance over the burnt and blackened ground, which made the infantry into targets for the foe, excited the admiration of all. Grandly the Gordons flung themselves upon the enemy, in spite of the Boer guns and "pom-pom," that dealt death and destruction among their numbers. Seventy of the dashing fellows dropped, and the only consolation for so great a loss was, that by nightfall 6000 Dutchmen were scudding away in the darkness, while General Hamilton was bivouacking on the ground seized from them, and Generals French and Hutton, who had turned the right flank of the position, were threatening Krugersdorp. The conduct of the City Imperial Volunteers was magnificent, and to them, as well as to the Gordons, much of the credit of the day's work was due. They behaved as skilled troops, taking cover with great ingenuity, and returning the attacks of the enemy with amazing coolness and precision. Their sustained volleys succeeded in clearing out the Boers immediately in front of Roodepoorte. Commandant Botha--not Louis Botha, but a kinsman--with a hundred foreign and Irish subsidised sympathisers, was captured, and, in addition to these, a Creusot gun and twelve waggons of stores and ammunition were secured. The losses among officers in this engagement were comparatively few. Captain St. J. Meyrick, 1st Gordon Highlanders, was killed. Among the wounded were:-- City Imperial Volunteers--Capt. G. W. Barkley. 1st Gordon Highlanders--Capt. G. E. E. G. Cameron, Lieut.-Col. H. H. Burney, Capt. P. S. Allen, second Lieut. A. Cameron, Surg.-Lieut. A. H. Benson, Dr. R. Hunter. Vol. Co. Gordon Highlanders--Capt. J. B. Buchanan, Lieut. J. Mackinnon, Lieut. H. Forbes. Royal Army Medical Corps--Lieut. A. H. Benson. 2nd Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry--Lieut. H. W. Fife (since dead). 10th Hussars--Lieut. T. Lister. During General French's operations near Klip River, on the 27th, 28th, and 29th, the wounded officers were:-- New Zealand Rifles--Captain Palmer. 7th Dragoon Guards--Major W. J. Mackeson, second Lieut. G. Dunne. Capt. D. L. MacEwen, Cameron Highlanders, attached to Intelligence Department, was taken prisoner. [Illustration: GENERAL IAN HAMILTON THANKING THE GORDONS FOR THEIR ATTACK AT THE BATTLE OF DOORNKOP Drawing by S. Begg] To return to the main advance on this day (29th). While Generals French and Hamilton were engaging Botha and his hordes outside Johannesburg, turning their flank wherever they posted themselves, Lord Roberts decided to pursue boldly the programme of his main advance upon the enemy's East Rand and Pretoria communications, a programme which was as faultlessly and rapidly carried out as it was skilfully conceived. From the neighbourhood of the Klip River the troops pushed on rapidly to Germiston without meeting with serious opposition. So swiftly were the movements executed that the nimble Boers were beaten at their own game, and had to turn tail without removing the whole of the rolling-stock. Thus, the Commander-in-Chief came at once into possession of the Junction connecting Johannesburg with Natal, Pretoria, and Klerksdorp by railway, and through a piece of splendid strategy Boer resistance was paralysed, and the railway system of the State was brought completely under his control. Any concentration of forces in Pretoria or on the fringes was now practically impossible. The history of the hurried capture of this vital strategical position was inspiriting. Colonel Henry, with the 8th Mounted Infantry, started at dawn with orders to seize Elandsfontein at all costs. The 3rd Cavalry Brigade in support made a detour to the east towards Boksburg, in a direct line to Pretoria, followed rapidly along the line by Pole-Carew's and Tucker's Divisions. The object of the somewhat wide easterly move was to outflank the enemy's defensible positions and secure the communications to Pretoria, and thus cut off and isolate the force prepared to check the advance of the British. Just as the advance guard neared the Natal line, a train was seen conveying half of the Heidelberg Commando from Volksrust to the north. It was impossible to arrest it, but after firing on the departing machine, the troops proceeded to demolish the line and secure the Natal communications. The Mounted Infantry which, owing to the uselessness of the Klip River Bridge, were without artillery, were now assailed by a party of Boers with guns, who had ensconced themselves in the ridges which menaced the southern road, but nevertheless they pressed forward bent on obeying orders and gaining Elandsfontein. They pushed ever on and on till the great city, the monstrous hive of gold-getters, the scene of Boer despotism and Uitlander servility, became visible from the rolling hills. Momentarily they expected to hear a roar, to see a flare and an upheaval, and to know the worst had come--the mines had been destroyed! But all was silence. The huge town, surrounded in places by a blanket of smoke, seemed slumbering on the bosom of the undulating downs. In the distance, however, the station showed active. Trains were steaming off to Pretoria. Others with their steam up were preparing to follow. These trains must be arrested, and their freight captured. It was a case, unfortunately, of horse-flesh versus steam. But still it was worth the venture! Off went a section of the Yorkshire Mounted Infantry, galloping like fury to the station, while the main body made for Boksburg; and the Australians, toolless, tore to Knight's Station, and there piling up trollies, boulders--anything, in fact, that came to hand--blocked the line. They were pelted by hidden Boers, but fled carefully to cover after accomplishing their object. Meanwhile, some of the Yorkshire Mounted Infantry had seized the station, and, with it, three locomotives whose steam was up ready for departure. But the enemy were in strength there--they were at least strong in proportion to the twenty dashing Yorkshire men who had plunged into the mêlée, and these gallant fellows found themselves in a critical position, fighting like demons for their hardly-earned prize with desperate men, whose sole source of salvation lay in the locomotives that stolidly panted and wheezed in utter disregard of the fierce fight raging for their possession. Then, with almost theatrical precision, a vast procession was seen to be approaching: a river of kharki flowing down the southern slopes into the Rand. It was the Mounted Infantry from Boksburg and the Infantry Division--the goodly Grenadiers leading--pouring in their numbers to the rescue of the gallant little band! Thus by nightfall one of the most fateful of the operations of the war was concluded, and Johannesburg was virtually seized without the wrecking of a mine and with little loss of life. During the operations Captain MacEwan, Cameron Highlanders, and Lord Cecil Manners (correspondent to the _Morning Post_) were taken prisoners. Lieutenants Pepper, West Australian Mounted Infantry, Beddington, Imperial Yeomanry, and Forrest, 1st Oxford Light Infantry, were wounded. Immense crowds, surprised to find that the struggle was a matter of hours and not of days, watched the fighting from west and east corners of the town, and the shock of the fall of Elandsfontein disorganised their plans and demoralised themselves. While this was going on, the Cavalry Division had advanced through the gold mines, having Johannesburg on their right, and was encamped on the west of the town, keeping a wary eye on the Boers, who were fleeing hot-foot to Pretoria. Within the City of Gold, all was turmoil. On the discovery of the situation there followed a violent up-rising. The Kaffirs, on seeing the Boers repulsed, rushed to the Jews' houses to loot them, and the foreign contingents immediately set out on a species of internal invasion, breaking open shops and stores and houses, and throwing out of doors and windows goods collected for the benefit of needy burgher families. The uproar, however, was speedily suppressed by the firm measures of Dr. Krause. In answer to the flag of truce sent in by the Field-Marshal, this official went out to meet him. There being still many armed burghers in the place, the Transvaal Commandant requested Lord Roberts to postpone his entry for six hours. To avert disturbance this arrangement was agreed to, and Lord Roberts decided to postpone till the 31st his entry into the conquered town. So Johannesburg was ours! The advance, which appeared to be so rapid, straightforward, and simple, owed these qualities to Lord Roberts's splendid, almost prophetic, instinct for gauging the enemy's expectations with a view to disappointing them; to his strategic manipulation of his cavalry and mounted infantry, and to the magnificent marching capability of the infantry. Everywhere, the Boers had fenced themselves across the route, sometimes extending their line of defence for twenty miles or more, and everywhere, in dread of having one flank or the other turned, they had been kept oscillating between stubborn resistance and rapid flight till their nerves had given way, and they had scuttled back and back to their undoing. At the Vet, the Zand, the Valsch, the Rhenoster, and the Klip Rivers, they had cunningly prepared themselves, till, with the infantry menacing them in front and the cavalry and infantry threatening both flanks, they had realised that retreat was inevitable. Their last hope had been set on the city of mines; and now from thence, a routed, raging rabble, they were fleeing in despair. The splendid progress of the infantry was a remarkable achievement, of which enough cannot be said. It was no mere feat of pedestrianism. It was a march in face of an enterprising enemy, and harassed with discomforts sufficiently multifarious to try the endurance of a Socrates. A scorching sun by day and a frigid temperature by night, occasional sand blasts rendering drier than ever parched throats already dry as husk from the tramp through a sand-clogged and almost waterless country, were but items in the programme. If water there chanced to be, it was ochreous and fouled by the passage of many quadrupeds, and such food as there was--bully beef and adamantine biscuit--demanded the jaws and digestion of an alligator. Yet these sturdy fellows plodded along, lumbering through sand drifts and squelching in mire and morass, or laid themselves to rest on the hard or soggy ground with a philosophy so devil-may-care as almost to fringe on the sublime. With unquenchable gaiety, they had accomplished a march of 254 miles (the distance from Bloemfontein to Elandsfontein) in eighteen days, giving as an average fourteen miles a day. (This calculation naturally excludes the ten days' halt at Kroonstad.) From Kroonstad to Elandsfontein, a distance of some 126 miles--covered in seven days (22nd to 29th)--marching had gone forward at the rate of eighteen miles a day. Napoleon's much vaunted march from the Channel to the Rhine in 1805 showed an average of sixteen miles a day, when the distance traversed was 400 miles, and the time taken twenty-five days. But that march, unopposed throughout, was comparatively plain sailing. Quicker forced marches have been known,[7] but in the present case the march was continuous, and may be said to beat all records of rapid marching under equally inconvenient conditions. * * * * * The twenty-four hours were allowed to pass. Then, at the entrance of the town Dr. Krause met the Commander-in-Chief, and rode with him to the government offices, and introduced to him the heads of the various departments, all of whom were requested to continue their respective duties till they should be relieved of them. To those who had never seen Johannesburg the first glimpse was a surprise. Strangely incongruous did it seem to move from the isolation and rugged simplicity of the open veldt to the centre of a large and peculiarly civilised town. The note of modernity was sounded on every side. Buildings more than magnificent greeted the eye accustomed only to homely farms and mushroom staadts. Tramways ribbed the streets, electric lights gleamed a whiter glare than moonbeams, and nineteenth-century luxury, and in some cases refinement, were in evidence at every turn. But the public buildings were closed, and the handsome shops boarded up for precaution's sake, while the streets were thinly populated, owing to the fact that many of the British sympathisers had been expelled, and the Boer community was on commando. [Illustration: THE CITY OF LONDON IMPERIAL VOLUNTEERS SUPPORTING GENERAL HAMILTON'S LEFT FLANK IN THE ACTION AT DOORNKOP ON THE 29TH OF MAY Drawing by C. E. Fripp, R.W.S., War Artist] But though at first the place was deserted, by degrees people began to trickle in, and by the time the square in front of the government buildings was reached there was a goodly throng. The Vierkleur was still flying when Lord Roberts, at the head of General Pole-Carew's division, marched into the town; but presently the keys were formally surrendered, the flag was hauled down, and a small Union Jack, worked by Lady Roberts, was hoisted in its place. At the conclusion of the ceremony the rousing strains of the Guards' band were heard, and the 11th and 7th Divisions marched past, with the Naval Brigade, the heavy artillery, and two Brigade Divisions of Royal Horse Artillery. General Ian Hamilton's column and the Cavalry Division and Mounted Infantry were too far away to take part in the proceedings. [Illustration: VAAL RIVER DEVIATION BRIDGE AT VEREENIGING, NEARLY COMPLETED. (Photo by W. H. Gill, London.)] It was an impressive spectacle; one ever to be remembered. From afternoon till night, troops--great, brawny, bronzed, and workmanlike Britons--came clanking in procession through the town, while from balconies and windows banners and flags were waved, and gay ladies, many of them Englishwomen, wild with excitement and enthusiasm, threw down flowers and sweets and cigarettes to give vent to their unrestrained joy. Far into the evening the stream of kharki continued ceaselessly to flow under the magnesian rays of the electric lights till the infantry had passed to their camp, three miles to the north, and Lord Roberts had settled himself at Orange Grove. FOOTNOTES: [7] See vol. iv. p. 41. CHAPTER VII GENERAL RUNDLE'S MARCH TO SENEKAL While Lord Roberts was moving from Bloemfontein, co-operative action was being taken elsewhere. On the 2nd of May the Boers evacuated Thabanchu and trekked towards the north, and on the following day General French, leaving General Rundle in command, started to join Lord Roberts's main scheme. Soon after General Brabant joined General Rundle's force. On the 4th, General Rundle moved forward from Thabanchu, attacked the enemy, captured their positions, and headed them eastward. There was little hard fighting, the General's movements being mostly carried out with so much celerity, and strategical and tactical skill, that the enemy, seeing British forces apparently in strength everywhere, judged it advisable to move from post to post rather than run the risk of being mopped up. On Friday, the 11th of May, Colonel Grenfell, with the 2nd Battalion of Brabant's Horse, attacked the Boers at Ropin's Kop, but was overpowered by the enemy and forced to retire, with several wounded. On the following day, Saturday, he, however, drove the Boers out of their position, and captured Newberry Mills at Leeuw River, thus depriving the Dutchmen of an immense store of flour and grain which it had been their ambition to seize. This smart piece of work was accomplished almost without casualties. While these operations had been going forward, some 500 of the Yeomanry had occupied the northern slopes of Thaba Patacka, a position whence they hoped to attack the Boers who might be slinking off in the direction of Basutoland. General Boyes, on the west, was equally active, to the dismay of the Boers, who, owing to General Rundle's clever strategy, imagined the British held a front of over twenty miles. On the 13th of May General Rundle advanced to Brand's Drift, twenty miles to the north-east, taking prisoners and accepting the surrender of many Free-staters, who were perished with cold and exposure, and sickened by defeat. Meanwhile, General Brabant, performing like operations, was slowly moving northwards. On the night of the 15th, Ladybrand was occupied by a force of the Glamorganshire Yeomanry, and thus the two Generals maintained possession, by magnificent strategic moves, of the whole southern corner, which is practically the granary of the Free State, gradually scaring away the enemy from the country through which they passed. On the 24th, a simultaneous movement was made, Brabant's Colonials marching to occupy Ficksburg, while General Rundle with General Campbell's Brigade, followed by that of General Boyes, proceeded towards Senekal. During the march an unfortunate incident took place. On reaching Mequaling's Nek, a rumour reached General Rundle that the Boers were in retreat from Senekal, consequently on the next day, the 25th, Major Dalbiac and Major Ashton, R.M.A. (Intelligence Officer to the Division), were ordered to investigate the nature of the water supply, and to find a camping ground in the neighbourhood of the town. Major Dalbiac and a company, mainly composed of Middlesex Yeomanry, accompanied Major Ashton as escort, and the party left at dawn and proceeded to Senekal. Here they encountered apparently peaceful inhabitants, and were entirely ignorant of the fact that the Boers had merely vacated the place for the purpose of hiding themselves in a hilly coign of vantage, which practically commanded the streets of the town. Major Ashton proceeded with the inquiries he was deputed to make, and received from a citizen the keys of the official buildings, which had been left by the Landdrost, who with the postmaster and other responsible persons had decamped. Then came the surrendering of arms, and while this was going on, suddenly, without warning, a heavy fusillade was launched at the Yeomanry who formed a group round Major Ashton. For a moment chaos reigned; then all sprung to action. The Boers, delighted at their surprise, blazed away fast and furious, while the two Majors, gathering together their little band, made hurried arrangements. Major Ashton, with some ten men, enclosed himself and promptly commenced firing on the incoming enemy, while Major Dalbiac with a score of the Yeomanry, dashingly galloped off in hope of taking the enemy in rear. But the Boers were many and the unfortunate Yeomanry quite outnumbered. No sooner had they wheeled round the hill, than rifles poured a withering fire on them. Six horses dropped even as the men dismounted, and the ground, open and quite devoid of cover, was strewn in one moment with the slain and the suffering. Major Dalbiac almost instantaneously dropped dead. He was shot through the neck, and four men shared his fate. Lieutenant Hegan Kennard, wounded in the face, was in a desperate plight, while nearly all who remained were injured. Some half-a-dozen men had been sent back with the horses on the first outbreak of the attack, and these only of the valorous band escaped. Meanwhile news of the ambuscade had been carried to General Rundle, who instantly ordered off the Wilts Yeomanry, 2nd Grenadiers, and 2nd East Yorks, with artillery, to the succour of the unfortunate party. These arrived in time to save Major Ashton. He had fortunately occupied the side of the town towards which the British approached, and the Boers, at the first sound of the guns which had been directed against the kopje where they had ensconced themselves, made off with all possible speed. By the time General Rundle had neared the town, it had resumed its pristine state of innocence, and the inhabitants were preparing effective demonstrations of loyalty. In the evening the remains of the unfortunate dead at the foot of the hill were recovered, and it was found that Major Dalbiac's body had been rifled by his dastardly opponents of every article of value, and even the ribbons of his medals were missing. On the 26th, General Rundle with the 8th Division entered the town and formally took possession of it. The remains of Major Dalbiac and the four men of the Middlesex Yeomanry who were killed in the unfortunate affair were buried with military honours, the General and Staff attending the funeral. A patrol of the Hants Yeomanry, while out scouting, got in touch with the enemy, and escaped by what is called the skin of their teeth. Many had very narrow escapes, and one man was killed. Sergeant-Major Foulkes, whose horse was shot under him, was saved through the gallantry of Private Andrews, who returned and bore off his dismounted comrade, while Captain Seely and others behaved in like manner to ensure the safety of those left without mounts. GENERAL COLVILE AND THE HIGHLAND BRIGADE Of the Highland Brigade since the tragedy of Majersfontein and the smart fight at Koodoesberg little has been said. Their brilliant march and action before Paardeberg, in which General MacDonald was wounded, served to demonstrate the stuff of which they were made and to restore their self-confidence and zest for battle. Lord Roberts's gracious speech, delivered at the camp, recalling his pleasant association with the Brigade in India, where "they had helped to make him," and saying that as he had never campaigned without Highlanders, he "would not like to be without them now," had done much to heal the sore which still rankled in many breasts. [Illustration: HAULING DOWN THE TRANSVAAL FLAG AT JOHANNESBURG Photo by Lionel James] On the 1st of May the 9th Division marched from Waterval, picked up the Seaforths at the waterworks, and also the Highland Light Infantry from Bloemfontein. The Division, of which the Highland Brigade, the Seaforths, Black Watch, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, and Highland Light Infantry formed the infantry battalions, with the 5th Battery Royal Field Artillery, two naval guns (4.7 calibre), and a company of Engineers, was under the command of Major-General Sir H. Colvile. The Highland Brigade was commanded by General MacDonald. The Eastern Province Horse, a smart and sportsmanlike set of mounted men, numbering about a hundred, also accompanied the force, and did valuable service in scouting. Later on the force was joined by Lovat's Scouts, but not till the advance was well under way. On the 4th the Brigade bivouacked at Susanna Fountain after an animated tussle with the enemy, who were finally routed by the gallantry of the Black Watch. The Division reached Winburg, as we know, on the 6th, and remained in possession till the 17th. Then, the Black Watch and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders advanced, leaving behind them the Highland Light Infantry and Seaforths in the town. On the following day the Zand River was crossed. Ventersburg was entered without opposition, the way having been previously swept by Lord Roberts's force which had arrived there on the 10th. Here there was a brief halt--a much needed one--as the troops had marched thirty-four miles in 18½ hours. On the 23rd they proceeded towards Lindley, and were joined _en route_ by the remainder of the divisional and brigade troops. On the 24th the troops reached a point east of Bloemspruit, where they bivouacked, and the next day brought them into the teeth of the enemy, who were hiding in a ridge at Maquanstadt. From this point the Dutchmen were driven by the Seaforths, who from thence proceeded to a peaked kopje which commanded the water supply, a position which was at once vigorously contested by the Boers. After a hard fight, in which one officer and three men were wounded, the Seaforths succeeded in occupying the position. Here they were joined by the Black Watch and the 5th Battery of the Royal Field Artillery, the rest of the troops remaining behind at Hopefield till the 26th. At Bloemberg, a horseshoe-shaped ridge near Koorspruit (an affluent of the Valsche), the Boers were found strongly posted, and no sooner had the Black Watch appeared than they were greeted by a crackling cross-fire that sent them quickly to cover. Here they held the enemy while a wide turning movement was made to the right. The inner side of the horseshoe position was attacked by the Seaforths, while the outer was assailed by the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders under Major Urmston, who deftly approached the stony eminence which concealed some sixty of the enemy, and charged with such force and impetuosity that presently the entire position was vacated, and the whole body of Boers, some 1000 in number, were seen racing over the boulders with more than their usual agility. The Bloemberg Ridge gained, it was promptly occupied by Black Watch and Seaforths. By midday the passage of the hill was accomplished, and by 4 P.M. the troops had reached Lindley. The expedition had cost them two killed and eleven wounded. The Highland Brigade crossed the Valsche River and bivouacked north of the drift on the Heilbron Road. Still more north--about two miles--went two companies of Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders to ensconce themselves on a kopje which commanded the road towards Heilbron. On the afternoon of the 27th the advance was continued. The Highlanders crossed the Rhenoster River at Mildraai, and on the following day, 28th, moved still further forward till stopped by the presence of the enemy, who barred the line of march on the north of Roodeport. The Highland Light Infantry--the advanced guard--were deployed and sent to seize some kraals about 1200 yards from the enemy's position, which sprayed itself over about six miles of country. One company was detached to hold a hill on the right front, supported by the Black Watch, while the Seaforths attempted a turning movement to the left and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders guarded the rear and both rear flanks from a point of vantage on Spitzkop. The artillery blazed copiously for an hour, while the Boers also made animated resistance, but after good sixty minutes of assault the enemy gave way, and the Seaforths succeeded in getting round the right flank, while the Highland Light Infantry and Black Watch gained the centre of the now deserted ridge. But the Boers had only scuttled to other ridges whence they could let loose Pandemonium with increased vigour. Thus the Highlanders came in for murderous attention in front, rear, and flank. Presently to their rescue went the invaluable naval guns, snorting vengeance, and determining to show that, though the Field Artillery became outranged and impotent, there was laudable lyddite to save the situation. On this, and with startling velocity, the Federals removed themselves, and they were stimulated in their departure by long-range volleys from the Highland Light Infantry. While the Dutchmen were speeding into the unknown, the Highlanders triumphant were advancing to a position north of Marksfontein. Having crossed the drift they bivouacked on the other side, while the ox transport moved up to the shelter of their wing. The day's work was not without its pathetic side, for thirty men and three officers were wounded, while two gallant Highlanders were among the slain. The wounded officers were: Seaforth Highlanders--Lieut.-Col. Hughes-Hallet, Lieut. Ratclyffe, and Lieut. Doig. At this time the Duke of Cambridge's Yeomanry were to have met Sir H. Colvile, but owing to their failing by an hour or so to join him on his march up from Lindley they were surrounded, and on the 31st were captured by the enemy. The tale of the disaster is told elsewhere. On the 29th, the Division began to move gradually on in caterpillar fashion, drawing up a back segment to propel the forward one, inch by inch, or mile by mile. Mr. Blundell's description in the _Morning Post_ of the advance shows how risky and ingenuous a proceeding the movements of baggage in face of the enemy may be. "The route lay over a series of ridges and spruits and along a parallel line of hill on which the Boer forces had taken up their position. The baggage, &c., was first concentrated and taken over the spruit, with the Seaforths as right rear flank guard and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders as rear guard. As the baggage and transport advanced the Highland Light Infantry advanced, and the battalions guarding flank and rear retired from their position and followed the baggage across the drift, while small bodies of the enemy hovered round the retiring rear at a respectful distance and unable to do any serious damage." Finally at 7 P.M. on the 29th, exactly to time ordered by the chief, the General and his tired warriors marched into Heilbron, having covered within eight days a distance of 126 miles, fighting "a swarm of hornets" at intervals the whole way, and losing in the advance fifty-four wounded and nine killed--a loss in comparison with the work done by no means heavy. Mr. Blundell's description of the class of work and its reward so happily hits off the nature of the movement, that the temptation to quote him is irresistible. "To appreciate the humours of the military situation in these regions, one would have to turn to the experiences of one's schoolboy days with wasps' nests, when, after the capture of the main position, the survivors take to guerilla warfare in the grass, crawling up your trousers and dropping on your neck from unexpected quarters, and inflicting damage to your temper and prestige out of all proportion to the losses incurred or the advantage gained." FROM BOSHOP TO KROONSTAD Christiana, as we know, was occupied on the 16th of May by one of General Hunter's brigades, while Lord Methuen moved his Division from Boshop to Hoopstad, thus bringing his troops into the zone of the great operations, and pursuing his march eastwards along the south bank of the Vaal. (Hunter's Brigade afterwards removed to cover the repair of the line along the Bechuanaland Railway towards Vryburg, and there for the present we must leave them.) [Illustration: HIGHLAND BRIGADE AT THE END OF A LONG FORCED MARCH. (Photo by a British Officer.)] From Boshop Methuen's force moved on in zigzag fashion, their destination being Kroonstad. From Hoopstad to Bothaville they passed over good roads, through picturesque country, followed for miles by the graceful bends of the Vaal River--a ribbon of silver fringed with willows. The weather was now growing more and more chilly, and after sundown frost began to nip and biting winds to whistle through the bones. Nights were spent in trying to gain warmth, and when dawn came the sun was welcomed with thanksgiving. The infantry in these raw mornings had the advantage of the cavalry, as they could work themselves into a glow, but there were other occasions in which the mounted men had their revenge, and could forge on ahead and secure, before the arrival of the lagging pedestrians, all manner of tempting edibles--chickens, ducks, sucking pigs, and the like, which happened to be at the farms. These luxuries were greedily coveted, for, coming along from Boshop some 220 miles, diet had been limited to biscuits--hard, dry, and irresponsive--and any variety in the monotonous fare was received with unqualified rejoicing. Near Bothaville, as dawn broke, a curious episode took place. In the distance was spied a tent--a species of farmyard in the centre of the open veldt. Chickens and cattle and a trek waggon fringed the strange mushroom-shaped domain. It being necessary to discover the nature of the occupant of this shanty, one of the military party approached and hallooed. No answer. He roared louder. Then from the inner recess of the tent a burly voice bellowed--"You can't commandeer me; I'm an Englishman. The first Dutchman that pokes his head around here will look like a sieve when I've done with him." To this warlike challenge the British soldier meekly replied--described himself and his business--whereupon a change rapid as amusing came over the scene. Out from the tent, "like a cork from a bottle," burst the inmate, glad past speech, excited past effervescence--wife, children, came rushing forth from their hiding-places, rapture writ in smiling letters over every feature. The British were come--at last--at last! The valiant couple were taken in charge, removed to Bothaville and protected, and their long days of loyal suspense and tribulation were at an end. Then on went the goodly multitude, through streets whose houses fluttered with white, taking with them as they went their Boer prisoners, who, sitting in their own carts, alternately shivered and snarled. At Kroonstad--reached on the 27th of May--they pitched their camps, not in the town itself but discreetly removed from the awful reminiscences of dead horse and beast left by Boer and British armies in their last tussle, and here they thought to take a brief rest before marching away from rail and civilisation. But man proposed and the exigencies of the situation disposed, and by the 1st of June we find Lord Methuen's troops hastening off to the assistance of the 13th Battalion of Imperial Yeomanry at Lindley. To understand the urgent necessity for this detour we must return to Senekal. [Illustration: OFFICERS OF THE SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS Photo by Gregory & Co., London] THE BATTLE OF BIDDULPH'S BERG (28TH AND 29TH OF MAY) So soon as General Rundle entered Senekal--on the 26th of May--he proceeded to make inquiries as to the whereabouts of General Colvile, whom he believed to be at Lindley, some forty miles north-east of him. It so happened that General Colvile had just vacated that place and continued his march in the direction of Heilbron. No sooner was his back turned than the Boers pounced on Lindley, and not only pounced, but contrived to make themselves instantly aggressive. As ill luck would have it, the Duke of Cambridge's Yeomanry under Colonel Spragge, who had been sent from Kroonstad to join General Colvile's force, were caught by the enemy a few miles short of their destination. They were in the awkward position of having missed General Colvile and lost a _pied-à-terre_ at Lindley. In this dilemma a message was sent to General Rundle informing him of the desperate quandary. The General, instantly reviewing the critical state of affairs, devised a strategical plan which, he thought, would serve--far off as he was--to extricate the entangled forces who were demanding his assistance. He was aware that a posse of Boers was within some six miles of him, circling around towards Bethlehem in the east, and he conceived the scheme of attacking these with such force and determination as to press them hard and force them in their turn to appeal for help from the hordes that were infesting Lindley to the annoyance and dismay of the not yet united British forces who had prayed his aid. This device was masterly in the extreme, as it, so to speak, forced the masses of the enemy to come south in all haste, and thus saved risks of failure which might have resulted from a long movement of infantry over a distance of about forty miles. So, leaving General Boyes with three battalions in occupation of Senekal, General Rundle, with a force consisting of 2nd Grenadier Guards, 2nd Scots Guards, 2nd East Yorkshire, under General Campbell, the 2nd West Kent Regiment, the 2nd and 79th Batteries Royal Field Artillery, and the 4th and 7th Battalions of Imperial Yeomanry--marched off towards the east over some miles of open country over which the tall grass, bleached now by many days of scorching sun, waved thickly round their knees. In the distance were three ominous hills--such hills as the Dutchmen delight in--fronted by a lower eminence which was occupied by the enemy. These espied the coming of the British, and promptly betook themselves to their main position on two of the hills, Biddulph's Berg and Tafel Berg. From these points of vantage they greeted the Kent and Derbyshire Yeomanry, who had advanced to reconnoitre, with a storm of bullets which at once laid low many a brave fellow. Still the Derbyshire Yeomanry pursued their way, worked round the hill and dismounted and proceeded to seek cover, where they were forced to remain till dark set in, unable to stir lest the volleys of the enemy should find them out. On the western side the Kent Yeomanry were hotly attacked, and many were wounded. Meanwhile, from the foremost hill, whence the Boers had spied out the coming of Rundle's force, the British now in possession, commenced to fire upon the heights of the Biddulph's Berg; the artillery too dropped shells in the direction of the enemy; and the sun went down on the hostile forces, fighting vigorously so long as a ray of daylight served to illumine the deadly operations. Then they bivouacked where they were. At dawn the battle was resumed, and an effort was made to turn the enemy's right flank. The Grenadiers under Colonel Lloyd moved off to the west, supported by the Scots Guards, West Kent, and Imperial Yeomanry, marching over miles of hard dried grass till within range of the Boers' lair. But as usual the foe was invisible. It was imagined that he had vacated the position in the night; but to be on the safe side a cascade of shrapnel was poured over the steeps. Even this brusque process of search was unavailing. Not a sign of life was visible, though wounded Dutchmen must have lain in their hiding-places with stoical calm. And now commenced the dangerous, the awe-striking feature of the day. The grass, dried to chip, suddenly burst into a blaze. The carelessness of some one had set it alight, and presently the gallant Grenadiers found themselves fanned with the heat of an oven and forced to move from their position. They were now ordered to face the Boer hiding-place and attack it, while the 79th Battery behind them prepared again to scour the hill. Then, following their usual tactics, the Boer guns burst forth with loud and startling uproar, surprising the troops, who had almost accepted the idea that the enemy had fled. There was no doubt that he was "all there," with two guns and a "pom-pom," and meant to make himself objectionable. Just as the Boer shell was dispersing the amazed Yeomanry (who but a few moments before had been preparing the pipe of peace in full security of the Dutchmen's supposed evacuation), the grass again broke into flame, growing and leaping by bounds, so that the best efforts to stay its progress were unavailing. Still, the artillery duel, once commenced, continued briskly, briskly as the veldt fire below, that, sweeping round the wounded as they fell, made a new and awful panorama in the sufficiently horrific scene of war. The British gunners worked their hardest to silence the Boer gun, and as they proceeded, the great furnace of roaring, crackling grass gathered and grew, and the volumes of smoke soon rendered the Boer position invisible. During this time not a sound of musketry had been heard, only the Boer gun had given tongue vociferously enough to tax all the energies of the British gunners to silence it. Then came the order for the Grenadiers to advance, and this, in spite of smoke and the violent efforts of the Boer artillery, they did in right soldierly fashion, making for the direction of the offensive weapon with splendid coolness and precision. But no sooner had they neared to within some hundred yards of the piece than they suddenly found themselves pelted at by the hitherto inactive rifles of the foe. Thick and fast buzzed the bullets of the Dutchmen, loud roared the guns as the shells burst and bellowed. One man after another dropped--was killed, maimed, mutilated--and there, invisible, lay as he fell, a prey in his helplessness to the devouring flames that were now leaping and crackling with an almost majestical vehemence, rushing far and wide, like some vast, ravening, raging demon, with a thousand fiery tongues panting forth volumes of blue-white breath over the whole universe. And within this fearful area the perpetual rattle and roll of musketry continued their fell work, while the wounded, red with their gore, and redder with the scorching of the flames, crept, and crawled and reeled to places of safety, or, woeful truth, writhed where they fell, victims to the most horrible torture that fiendish imagination has yet devised. Amid the stentorian rampage none could hear their cries for aid, none could see their struggles for release. Only now and then, when some succeeded in emerging from the fiery chaos, could the appalled few who were beyond the vivid halo of destruction realise the mighty horror that lay on the skirts of Biddulph's Hill. But the battle raged on. The Yeomanry, under Colonel Blair, were off in hot haste to attack and rout some Boers who were endeavouring to make a flank attack, while the artillery, despite the scene of carnage, battered the hills whence the Boers, safely hidden, were pouring a horrible fusillade upon the persevering, dauntless Grenadiers. These remained for hours returning the fire of the enemy, in a position of unparalleled peril, until the order came to retire. This movement was executed with splendid precision, but many were left upon the field, and in the succouring of them deeds of heroism followed each other with such rapidity that several glorious acts passed unwitnessed and unsung. Lieutenant Quilter, with twenty men, volunteered to rescue the helpless, and rushed into the flaming furnace without arms, and under the relentless fire of the enemy. One after another of the wretched sufferers were hauled off to safety by these gallant deliverers, who, in full consciousness of the grim fate that must have been theirs should they themselves have dropped, pursued their work with almost amazing heroism. Colonel Lloyd received many injuries, and was also much scorched, but continued to command his gallant Grenadiers till further wounds made him helpless. He might again have been wounded where he lay, but for the assistance of a young drummer (Harries), into whose hand a bullet passed while he was tending his commanding officer. While the battle was proceeding, General Rundle received a communication from Lord Roberts ordering him to go to the assistance of General Brabant, who also was in difficulties. It became necessary, therefore, to effect the retirement. The manoeuvre had, however, produced the desired effect, for the Boers had been somewhat hard hit, and had given up their aggressive operations, leaving the neighbourhood of Lindley open to our force. On Wednesday the 30th General Rundle was informed that De Villiers, the Boer Commandant, was seriously wounded, and that fifty Dutchmen had been killed, and many injured, whereupon a doctor and champagne were sent to the late enemy; this in spite of the fact that very early in the proceedings of Monday the Boers had commenced the battle with their customary treacherous tricks. From an adjacent homestead they had flown a white flag, taking care that directly the scouts went forward to accept their surrender they should be pelted liberally as a reward for their confidence. As a result, one of the British party was wounded mortally, and another severely. Fortunately, the next day (Tuesday) the ruffians received their deserts, for the farmhouse was liberally pounded by the 2nd Battery of Artillery. Nor was this the sole barbaric act of the day. A West Kent Yeoman, while scouting, had passed a Dutch farmhouse, and was invited in to coffee, being assured by the Dutchwoman, who desired to play the hostess, that no Boers had been near the place for days. Happily the wary yeoman refused, for he had no sooner turned to ride off than he was pelted with bullets from a party of Boers who had immediately rushed from the homestead to fire at him. His marvellous escape was merely due to the nature of the ground round the farm, which afforded him cover. Still General Rundle's sense of humanity overcame the instinct of reprisal; for after the battle he offered shelter to the Boer wounded, even promising to tend them without considering them prisoners of war. In the engagement at Biddulph's Berg thirty of the British were killed and 150 wounded. Among the wounded officers were:--Grenadier Guards--Col. F. Lloyd, D.S.O., Capt. G. L. Bonham, Capt. C. E. Corkran, Lieut. E. Seymour, Lieut. A. Murray. Scots Guards--Major F. W. Romilly D.S.O. Royal Welsh Fusiliers--Captain R. S. Webber, A.D.C. to General Rundle. On Thursday, May 31st, the troops proceeded to Ficksburg to the assistance of General Brabant, who had engaged the enemy near the Basuto Border on the Tuesday, and was still fighting. In spite of General Rundle's desperate fight, the 13th Battalion (Irish) Imperial Yeomanry, on whose account the battle was undertaken, had a most disastrous encounter with an overwhelming number of Boers near Lindley on the 31st of May. This battalion, as we know, was attacked on the way from Kroonstad to Lindley, and temporarily helped by the operations near Senekal. Subsequently the party came upon a superior force of Boers, and was forced to surrender. The _Cape Times_ gave its version of the affair:-- "The story was told by Corporal Marks, who, with Trooper Brian, alone escaped capture. The force in question consisted of about 500 men, under the command of Colonel Spragge, and was comprised of the Duke of Cambridge's Own and the Irish and Belfast Yeomanry. The Duke's were 125 strong. With this force was a convoy of waggons, while the scouts, of whom our informant, Corporal Marks, was in command, numbered five. "The little battalion left Kroonstad on May 25, under hurried orders to reinforce General Colvile at Lindley without delay. On their way they captured and disarmed a troop of sixteen Boers whom they found in possession of a quantity of ammunition. Taking their prisoners with them, they hurried on at full speed, arriving at Lindley on Sunday, May 27, about noon. As they entered the town a number of horsemen were seen galloping out at the other end in the direction of Heilbron. Much to their disappointment our men found that General Colvile had left at daylight that day, after some severe fighting, for Heilbron.... "On Wednesday night, after the gallant little band had been fighting against enormous odds for three days, Colonel Spragge decided to send one scout (C. Smith), in company of a Kaffir guide, in search of General Rundle, who was supposed to be in the neighbourhood of Senekal, with an urgent message for help. Corporal Marks and Trooper Brian were instructed to leave at the same time with a similar message for General Colvile. A close Boer line had been drawn round the position of the devoted garrison, and it was necessary to pierce the cordon to reach Heilbron. The scouts left unarmed, and after a terrible night of it, Marks and Brian got through the enemy's lines. The night was bitterly cold, and the Boers had lighted camp fires, which proved serviceable guides to the two men. They passed so close to the pickets that they could hear them talking and laughing perfectly distinctly. Taking a circuitous route, they kept the Heilbron road some distance on their right, and by rapid marching reached Colvile's camp at seven o'clock on Thursday morning. The message was delivered to the General, whose reply was that he could do nothing. Unhappily, Smith and the Kaffir were captured by Boers, and Smith was shot on the spot. * * * * * "The following is a copy of the despatch given to Corporal Marks for delivery to Colonel Spragge:-- "'Your message received 7 A.M. I am eighteen miles from Lindley and twenty-two from Heilbron, which latter place I hope to reach to-morrow. The enemy are between me and you, and I cannot send back supplies. If you cannot join me by road to Heilbron you must retire on Kroonstad, living on the country, and if necessary, abandoning your waggons.--(Signed) H. E. COLVILE, Lieutenant-General.' "General Colvile appears to have believed that the little force could make a dash for it and cut their way through to Kroonstad. In any case, he did not see his way to go to the help of the men who had been marching to reinforce himself. Knowing that this message could be of no possible service to Colonel Spragge, and realising the urgency of the case, Corporal Marks decided to take the responsibility of not wasting time by returning to deliver this message, and he and Brian made for Kroonstad as hard as their horses would gallop. About eight miles north-east of the town they learned that Lord Methuen was in the neighbourhood, and they reached his camp about half-past four that afternoon (Thursday). Lord Methuen immediately made preparations to relieve the plucky little force in such hard straits at Lindley, and started the same afternoon. He reached Lindley without opposition the same night. But it was too late." Another account said:--"The battalion, consisting of the Duke of Cambridge's Own and three companies of Irish Yeomanry--under 500 in all--reached Kroonstad on Friday morning, May 22, after a long forced march. A few hours after their arrival they received an urgent message from General Colvile requiring them to join him without delay at Lindley, and they started at 8 P.M. that same evening with one day's rations, reaching Lindley, fifty miles distant, on the Sunday morning. When the advanced guard reached the town they found it apparently deserted, the only signs of British occupation being empty beef and biscuit tins; and were informed that General Colvile had left at daybreak. Almost immediately they were fired at from behind walls and houses, and finding the place untenable retreated about a mile outside the town, where Colonel Spragge took up a good position on some kopjes, with a stream of water and good shelter for the horses and waggons. This place they defended, fighting by day and fortifying by night, till Thursday, at 2 P.M., on slender rations, though surrounded by greatly superior numbers. On Thursday morning the Boers were largely reinforced, and also brought up cannon--three Krupps and a 'pom-pom,'--when the shell-fire telling dreadfully at short range, Colonel Spragge felt it would be madness to hold out longer, and surrendered after losing more than seventy-eight in killed and wounded out of his small force--when all was over some of the unwounded were so exhausted that they could hardly march into Lindley, where their gallant enemies as well as the non-combatants gave them the highest credit for the stand they had made in an almost hopeless position. Next day Lord Methuen arrived after a splendid forced march, and the wounded were set free." In regard to the loss of the Duke of Cambridge's Yeomanry, there was a good deal of criticism, and accounts dealing with the _raison d'être_ of the disaster vary. Mr. Winston Churchill, in support of Sir H. Colvile, declared that it was sent out with the absurdly inadequate escort by the fiat of a higher authority, with the full knowledge that Heilbron was surrounded by a force of Boers estimated at from 4000 to 5000 men. It was also despatched without warning, being sent, or at any rate received at Heilbron, so that it was impossible to operate from the latter place to assist its passage, especially as it was actually captured almost immediately after leaving Kroonstad, and fourteen miles from Heilbron. "In the case of the Yeomanry, the message giving notice of the change of place, where it was to join the 9th Division from Ventersburg to Lindley, was by error addressed to the 9th Brigade, and this was not received by Sir H. Colvile till the 21st of June. The first intimation of their position was given by a messenger to General Colvile's camp when twenty miles out of Lindley from the Yeomanry, then five miles on the other side on the Kroonstad road. The messenger asked for reinforcement and supplies, but did not represent the situation as very serious, as, in fact, at that time it was not. But at this juncture General Colvile was surrounded by a large force of Boers on his flank and rear, and short of supplies himself, and on a time march under orders to reach Heilbron on the 29th. He therefore advised Colonel Spragge to retire on the Kroonstad road, and authorised him, if necessary, to abandon his baggage, &c." Lord Methuen, who at the time was on the march to Kroonstad, was ordered off, as we already know, to the rescue. Within half-an-hour he had started, and by 10 A.M. on the 2nd of June he had accomplished forty-four miles in twenty-five hours. But his expedition was of no avail, for Spragge's Irishmen had been taken prisoners. Nevertheless having arrived, Lord Methuen proceeded to attack the Boers with vigour, and after five hours' continuous fighting, put some 3000 of them to flight. The official list of prisoners of war showed 22 officers and 863 non-commissioned officers and men. Among the officers were the following:-- 13th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry--Lieutenant-Colonel Spragge, Lieutenant-Colonel Holland, Captain Robinson, Captain Humby, Lieutenant Mitchell, Lieutenant Stannus, Lieutenant the Earl of Leitrim, Lieutenant Rutledge, Lieutenant Montgomery, Lieutenant Lane, Lieutenant Du Pré, Lieutenant Donnelly, Sergeant Wright, Sergeant Woodhouse. Captain Keith had been killed in the affair of the 29th, when Captain Sir J. Power was dangerously wounded, and Captain the Earl of Longford, Lieutenants Stuart, Robin, and Benson, were wounded together with Lieutenant Bertram of the Eastern Province Horse (since dead). The following officers were also wounded on June 1 and 2:-- 3rd Battalion Imperial Yeomanry--Captain L. R. Rolleston, Captain M. S. Dawsany, Lieutenant L. E. Starkey. Soon after this time the 9th Division was split up, owing to the necessity of detaching small forces. Generals Smith-Dorrien and Bruce-Hamilton joined their forces with that of General Ian Hamilton, while General MacDonald with the Highland Brigade acted as an independent force, and General Sir H. Colvile returned to England.[8] [Illustration: THEIR ORDEAL OF FIRE: THE GRENADIER GUARDS AT THE BATTLE OF BIDDULPH'S BERG Drawing by R. Caton Woodville] FIGHTING ON THE WESTERN BORDER Meanwhile Sir Charles Warren's troops, moving from Faberspruit, some twelve miles from Douglas, had a nasty experience. The force consisted of some four hundred Duke of Edinburgh's Volunteers, one and a half companies of the 8th Regiment of Imperial Yeomanry, some of Paget's Horse, twenty-five of Warren's Scouts, and some guns of the Royal Canadian Artillery. During the night, a particularly dark one, the Boers slunk up in two parties to the gardens of farmhouses near which the yeomanry on the one hand, and Sir C. Warren's and the Duke of Edinburgh Volunteers on the other, were quartered. In the dusk before dawn, these suddenly blazed out on the British, who, like lightning, got under arms. But in the shock and uproar of the first alarm the English horses that had been kraaled burst through the kraal walls and stampeded, thus making the scene of turmoil more intense. With the first streak of daylight the whole British force poured shot and shell into the gardens where the Boers had hidden themselves, and for a good hour the troops were at work driving the invaders from the neighbourhood of the camps. The Boers lost heavily, and a portion of the Yeomanry suffered correspondingly while pressing forward to the support of the pickets. Many of Paget's Horse were wounded, notably Lieutenant Lethbridge, whose injury was dangerous, and of the Duke of Edinburgh Volunteers three were killed and four wounded. Their gallant Colonel--Colonel Spence--was shot dead while in act of giving orders. Major Kelly, A.D.C. to Sir Charles Warren, was wounded; Lieutenant Patton, A.D.C., was shot in the knee, and Lieutenant Huntingdon was slightly injured. Many Boers were wounded and thirteen were killed, but others contrived to gallop off scot free, as owing to the stampeding of the horses it was impossible to follow them up. The total British casualties were eighteen killed and about thirty wounded. The result of the engagement had a decidedly beneficial effect upon the rebels, who were at that time hesitating on which side of the fence to locate themselves. Colonel Adye had also surprised the enemy and gained a victory at Kheis on the 27th--a victory which had the effect of defeating the plans of the rebels who had assembled within some twenty miles of that place in hope to effect a junction with others of their kind. The action was a smart one, and many hundred head of stock and prisoners were captured, but it was also costly, as Major J. A. Orr-Ewing, 5th Co. Imperial Yeomanry, was killed; Captain L. H. Jones, 32 Co. Imperial Yeomanry; Surg.-Capt. Dun, 5th Co.; Lieut. Venables, Nesbitt's Horse, were wounded; and two gallant young officers, Captain Tindall, 1st Welsh Regiment, and Lieutenant Matthews, 2nd Gloucester Regiment, both succumbed to the severe injuries they had received. Sir Charles Warren, after his engagement, marched without opposition from Faberspruit to Campbell, which was reached on the 5th of June. FOOTNOTES: [8] While dealing with the matter it is due to General Colvile to repeat the statement made by himself at the end of the year to a representative of Reuter's Agency:-- "I am accused of being chiefly responsible for the surrender of the Yeomanry at Lindley. In my opinion the primary cause of this surrender was the insufficient information given by the headquarters staff to Colonel Spragge and myself. Had I been informed of Lord Roberts's intentions and of the intended movements of Colonel Spragge, who was in command of the Yeomanry, and had Colonel Spragge been made acquainted with the orders I received from Lord Roberts, this disaster would never have happened. The following details will make it clear that the loss of the Yeomanry was primarily due to bad staff work. On May 20 I received a telegram from the chief of the staff ordering me to concentrate my troops, consisting of the Highland Brigade, the Eastern Province Horse, a field battery, and two naval guns, at Ventersburg on May 23, to leave that town on the 24th and to march to Heilbron, _via_ Lindley, arriving at Lindley on May 26, and at Heilbron on the 29th. I was informed that I should be joined at Ventersburg by the 13th Imperial Yeomanry and Lovat's Scouts. "On arrival at Ventersburg, finding that neither the Yeomanry nor the Scouts were there, I informed the chief of the staff by telegraph, but received no answer from him at the time, though his reply was handed to me more than a month later, among a bundle of undelivered telegrams. This telegram was worded as follows: 'May 24. Yeomanry are so late they cannot catch you at Ventersburg. You must march without them. They will join you later _via_ Kroonstad.' As I did not receive the telegram till the march was over it did not affect my action, but had I received it at the time its wording would have led me to suppose that the Yeomanry would join me at Heilbron, as was actually the case with Lovat's Scouts. At this time Lord Roberts's army was disposed roughly as follows: General Hunter's Division on the Kimberley-Mafeking Railway, Lord Methuen on the Vaal River, headquarters and General Pole-Carew's Division on the Bloemfontein-Johannesburg Railway, General Ian Hamilton's column at Heilbron, and General Rundle and Brabant to the south-east of me. It was, therefore, extended across the Free State, and I assumed that Lord Roberts intended to advance in this formation, sweeping all before him till he got within striking distance of the Vaal, thus forcing the enemy to extend, and that he would then select one point for forcing the passage of the river. I also supposed that Heilbron, which is the head of a short line of railway, would be the supply depot for the columns to the east, as Winburg had been. "My very definite orders, and the fact that I was not to move till the last possible moment, which necessitated my averaging seventeen miles a day, strengthened the assumption that I was taking part in a combined movement, in which great exactitude in conforming to the time table is, of course, of the utmost importance. In a telegram which Lord Roberts had sent to General Hamilton a short time before on a similar occasion he had impressed on him the importance of columns arriving simultaneously. As I had been officially informed that General Hamilton was in occupation of Heilbron, I assumed that my orders to be there on the 29th indicated that that was the day on which he would be required to take part in the general advance, and that any delay on my part would either retard the advance and upset the Commander-in-Chief's calculations, or that by leaving Heilbron unoccupied I should hand over an important supply depot to the enemy. I have thus explained why in no circumstances should I have felt myself justified in disobeying Lord Roberts's orders, which I simply carried out from first to last. I now proceed to recite the circumstances in which I became acquainted with Colonel Spragge's difficulties, and the action I took. "I left Ventersburg on May 24 as ordered, and on the 26th, after a fight outside Lindley, entered it, finding that the place had been vacated by us, a fact of which no notification had been given me, though I had been informed of our occupation of it. Marching at daylight on the following morning we crossed the Rhenoster River just before sunset, having been engaged the greater part of the day, and on the morning of the 28th I received the following message: 'Colonel Spragge to General Colvile. Found no one in Lindley but Boers. Have five hundred men, but only one day's food. Have stopped three miles back on Kroonstad road. I want help to get out without great loss.--B. Spragge, Lieutenant-Colonel, May 27, 1900.' I asked the orderly who Colonel Spragge was, and on hearing from him that he was the officer commanding the Yeomanry I learned for the first time that these troops were following me. The statement, which I have seen several times repeated in the papers, that I had urged the Yeomanry to hurry after me, is absolutely untrue. I have reason to believe that this baseless newspaper report has obtained credence in some high official quarters. I have already expressed my views of the necessity of being at Heilbron at the time ordered, and as it is a recognised rule of war that the lesser must be sacrificed to the greater interest, I should in any circumstances have considered it my duty to push on even had I been sure that such action would have entailed the loss of the Yeomanry. But in this case I had two additional reasons for doing so. First, that, as Colonel Spragge had succeeded in retiring three miles on the Kroonstad road I was convinced that he would have no difficulty in making good his retreat, though possibly with loss, as the colonel himself had said; secondly, that I had then only two days' more food for my force, and had I fought my way back I should not only have reduced the Highland Brigade to the verge of starvation, but should certainly have had insufficient supplies to take me back to Heilbron." CHAPTER VIII GENERAL BULLER'S ADVANCE TO NEWCASTLE The relief of Ladysmith caused the Boers to fall back towards the Drakensberg, and Sir Redvers Buller, whose troops were thoroughly exhausted, encamped his army to north and west of the dilapidated town, and there remained stationary for several weeks. It was necessary that the force should thoroughly recuperate and get into working order in time to co-operate with the great central advance when Lord Roberts should give the word. There was an immense amount to be done. The mounted troops, many of them, needed to be remounted, and winter clothing was required. The reconstruction of the transport also demanded alteration, while it was necessary, in conjunction with Lord Roberts's operations, to keep a wary eye on the Boers and prevent them from crossing into the Free State and swelling the enemy's forces opposing the great advance. As with the departure of Sir Charles Warren to the western frontier, some slight changes had taken place in the Natal Field Force, it becomes necessary to inspect a rough table of the divisions at this time under Sir Redvers Buller:-- NATAL GENERAL SIR REDVERS BULLER. SECOND DIVISION. Lieutenant-General Sir C. F. CLERY. 2nd Brigade (Major-General Hamilton). 2nd East Surrey. 2nd West Yorks. 2nd Devons. 2nd West Surrey. 4th Brigade (Colonel C. D. Cooper). 1st Rifle Brigade. 1st Durham Light Infantry. 3rd King's Royal Rifles. 2nd Scottish Rifles (Cameronians). 7th, 14th, and 66th Field Batteries. FOURTH DIVISION. Lieutenant-General LYTTELTON. 7th Brigade (Brigadier-General F. W. Kitchener). 1st Devon. 1st Gloucester. 1st Manchester. 2nd Gordon Highlanders. 8th Brigade (Major-General F. Howard). 1st Royal Irish Fusiliers. 1st Leicester. 1st King's Royal Rifles. 2nd King's Royal Rifles. Two Brigade Divisions Royal Artillery. 13th, 67th, 69th Field Batteries. 21st, 42nd, 53rd Field Batteries. FIFTH DIVISION. Lieutenant-General H. J. T. HILDYARD. 10th Brigade (Major-General J. T. Coke). 2nd Dorset. 2nd Middlesex. 1st Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. 11th Brigade (Major-General A. S. Wynne). 2nd Royal Lancaster. 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers. 1st South Lancashire. 1st York and Lancaster. 19th, 28th, and 78th Field Batteries. CORPS TROOPS. 2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers. 2nd Rifle Brigade. 1st King's Liverpool. Imperial Light Infantry. 61st Field Battery (Howitzers). Two Nordenfeldts (taken from the Boers). Natal Battery 9-pounders. Fourteen naval 12-pounder quick-firers. 4th Mountain Battery. 10th Mountain Battery, two guns. Four 4.7 naval guns. Naval 6-in. gun. Part of Siege Train. CAVALRY DIVISION. 1st Brigade (Major-General J. F. Burn Murdoch). 2nd Brigade (Major-General J. F. Brocklehurst). 3rd Brigade (Major-General the Earl of Dundonald). 5th Dragoon Guards. 1st Royal Dragoons. 5th Lancers. 13th Hussars. 18th Hussars. 19th Hussars. A Battery Royal Horse Artillery. South African Light Horse. Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry. Bethune's Mounted Infantry. Natal Carabineers. Natal Mounted Rifles. Border Mounted Rifles. Umvoti Mounted Rifles. Natal Police. Colt Battery. ZULULAND. Addison's Colonial Scouts. For some weeks it appeared as though no move were contemplated; but on the 7th of May the machinery began to revolve. General Clery's Division proceeded from Ladysmith to Modder Spruit, while Lord Dundonald and General Dartnell also prepared to move their troops out of camp at Bug's Farm. Lord Roberts at this time had reached a point in the Free State level with Ladysmith, and Sir Redvers Buller thus became included in the scheme of advance, and was able to act in conjunction with him. The Boers, numbering some 7000 or 8000, were swarming on the Biggarsberg range, having prepared entrenchments on all points commanding the road from Ladysmith to the Transvaal and as far as Helpmakaar. They knew well by experience, however, the discomforts attendant on their position, for their only clear way of escape was by Laing's Nek--the passes over the Drakensberg on the west, and Zululand on the east being now closed to them. On the 11th of May activities began. Dundonald's Cavalry Brigade and Clery's Infantry Division were assembled in the neighbourhood of Sunday River Drift south of Elandslaagte. The General's plan was to post his left at Elandslaagte and swing his right flank round by Helpmakaar and crumple the Boers up towards Dundee. On the 12th Sir Redvers Buller, with the right column, moved towards Helpmakaar, following the same route as that taken by General Yule in his famous retreat from Glencoe, while General Hildyard (the central column) made a demonstration by crossing Sunday River, near the railway line, and Lyttelton's Division (the left column) prolonged the line farther west. Meanwhile, the brigades of Clery and Dundonald--over ruts and obstacles, mere apologies for roads--had reached Waschbank, and were facing the frowning heights of the Biggarsberg, which loomed large and ominous and threatening about fifteen miles in the distance. The Biggarsberg region, now so pregnant with historical interest is so called after one of the early pioneers of Durban, an Englishman, named Edward Biggar, who in 1838 fought side by side with the Boers against Dingaan. Of the great range in those days a Natalian writer said: "Besides being the first eastern plateau terrace of the Drakensberg, musically termed 'Quathlamba' by the natives residing in it, it consists of two long lines of elevation, divided by great ravines abounding in romantic cascades, dizzy precipices, and great pointed peaks towering towards the heavens in fantastic forms, veritable mountain forts,-- 'Which like the giants stand To sentinel enchanted land.' Majestic krantzes were round us bristling in great tree ferns, huge aloes, and African Euphoboebia, the latter's bright scarlet blossoms contrasting sharply with the dark green foliage, nursing the base of isolated lofty hills, whose sunless pillars were hidden in earth's depths, unknown to human search." This picturesque range runs across North Natal south-east towards the junction of the Tugela (the "Angry" River of the Kaffirs) and the Mooi River, and some of the peaks tower above the land of Natal 5000 to over 7000 feet; and from these, on a clear day, may be traced the whole crimson history of Buller's relief of Ladysmith. In the present onward march great precautions had to be taken, as this--a comparatively short cut to save a round of some thirty miles--was teeming with the enemy, whose flank on the Biggarsberg it was the chief's design to turn. The march was resumed the whole day under menace of the enemy, who hovered, vulture-like, in the distant heights, and towards afternoon came into the plains, attacking and wounding some of the British patrols. They also succeeded in taking prisoners three of the South African Light Horse, Australians lately joined, who, mistaking the enemy in their kharki disguise for friends, walked unsuspectingly into their arms. By nightfall the troops were encamped at Vermaak's Farm, with the Boers and their guns not very far distant. Sunday's proceedings were opened in the haze of the morning with a shell from the hostile band, and after a time the naval guns woke up, spat forth some four times, and reduced the Dutchmen to silence. The Mounted Brigades, with a battery of Royal Horse Artillery, had moved on beforehand, and by the time the passage at arms between the big guns was in full swing, they and the transport were safely in a place of shelter. The Mounted Infantry and the 2nd Brigade, under General Hamilton, then engaged in the herculean task of getting up the rugged steeps of the Biggarsberg, and there, securing a nek which was the key to the summit, prevented the enemy from attempting to waylay the advancing army. On the ridges taken by General Hamilton were formidable trenches prepared for defence, which could now serve the foe no longer. While this flanking process was taking place, Colonel Bethune, with his composite force of Mounted Infantry, was co-operating in the direction of Helpmakaar, thus threatening the Boers' left flank, and rendering their position at Helpmakaar distinctly uncomfortable. The guns on both sides worked furiously--those of the Boers with poor success; and at dusk, when the troops bivouacked, there was reason to hope that by morning the region of Helpmakaar would be purged of the enemy. And so it proved. With the dawn of day it was discovered that the Dutchmen were in full retreat towards Dundee, pursued by the cavalry. But the enemy were covered in their retreat by some 1500 Boers, whose tactics were excellent. Each section as it fell back set fire to the grass, thus drawing a veil of smoke between them and Dundonald's men, and intercepting the rush of the pursuers, who more than once were almost within a lance-length of them. They succeeded in getting clear away, in spite of the magnificent dash of the pursuit, which covered some forty miles. Then, having secured some kops, they made sufficient stand to check our advance through the rippling sea of flame made by the veldt fires, while their main body vanished, leaving open the road to Dundee. The Boers, finding themselves outflanked, decided to make no stand, either at Dundee or Glencoe, and both these places, of now historical interest, were occupied in the course of the 15th, and the 16th was spent in resting after the fatigues of the preceding days. Dundee was a sad and deserted-looking place. Though the coal-mines were untouched, its houses were denuded of furniture, and bore evidences of Boer occupation and Boer mischief. Wall papers hung in shreds, doors were unhinged and broken, windows were merely gaps, and the word dilapidation was marked everywhere. The inhabitants, such few as remained, gave the troops a cordial welcome. [Illustration: GENERAL BULLER'S ADVANCE TO NEWCASTLE.] On Thursday the 17th the force was again up and doing, the earliest birds being the Mounted Infantry. They journeyed along towards Dannhauser Station, midway between Dundee and Newcastle. On the afternoon of the 18th the troops swarmed into the pleasing green-girt town of Newcastle, after a long and fatiguing march along a fire-blackened plain, devilishly prepared by the departing Boers for the purpose of showing up the advance of the kharki-clad legions. Joy and welcome was writ on every face, and hearty cheers greeted the arrival of the army. Sir Redvers Buller was presented with a banner which had been secretly worked by the ladies of the locality in anticipation of his coming. The town they found had been rechristened Viljoensdorp by the Boers, whose labours there had also been anticipatory. They had destroyed the large water-tanks for supplying the engines at Glencoe, Dannhauser, and Newcastle, but the inconveniences were merely temporary, and repairs were actively set on foot. Report came in that the Dutchmen were full of activity, swarming in the direction of the famous Laing's Nek and Majuba Hill, therefore on the afternoon of Saturday the 19th, Lord Dundonald, with naval guns, went ahead to unearth them. They, however, remained buried wherever they were, and the desperately-fatigued men and horses of the Mounted Brigades returned towards Ingogo Station, while some of the troops encamped on the battlefield. But their fatigues or its grievous memories scarcely damped their spirits, for they were on the confines of the Transvaal, and Pretoria, the land of promise, seemed near at hand. Sir Redvers Buller forthwith issued the following proclamation:-- "The troops of Queen Victoria are now passing through the Transvaal. Her Majesty does not make war on individuals, but is, on the contrary, anxious to spare them, as far as may be possible, the horrors of war. The quarrel England has is with the Government and not with the people of the Transvaal. Provided they remain neutral no attempt will be made to interfere with persons living near the line of march, every possible protection will be given them, and any of their property that it may be necessary to take will be paid for. But, on the other hand, those who are thus allowed to remain near the line of march must respect and maintain their neutrality, and residents of any locality will be held responsible both in persons and property if any damage is done to the railway or telegraph, or if any violence is done to any member of the British forces in the vicinity of their homes." On this, many Natal Dutch gave themselves up and others were captured, but it was again observed that those farmers who tendered their submission tendered with it, not Mausers, but other weapons of more ancient pattern. Affairs at this time were going on most satisfactorily, the troops, after a 120-mile march, accomplished in nine days, including a day's halt and two days' fighting, had almost cleared Natal of the invaders, and were in possession of the country from Van Reenan's Pass to the Buffalo River. A message of congratulation on their efforts was received from the Queen, and the General expressed his satisfaction at the successful work accomplished. One unfortunate affair damped the spirits of the advancing army. [Illustration: GENERAL BULLER'S ADVANCE: PURSUING THE BOERS AFTER THE FIGHT ON HELPMAKAAR HEIGHTS Drawing by J. Nash, R.I., from a Sketch by G. Foucar] On the 17th, Colonel Bethune was detached, with about 500 men, from Dundee. His column consisted of five squadrons of mounted infantry, two Hotchkiss and two Maxim guns. His instructions were to show his force in N'qutu, in the centre of British Zululand (to which a magistrate and civil establishment were about to return), and afterwards to rejoin Sir Redvers Buller at Newcastle. The orders were executed, and Colonel Bethune moved towards Newcastle on the 20th May, _via_ Vryheid, due north of the road which leads to Utrecht. About six miles north-west of Vryheid, the Boers were ambushed in the thick shrub that abounds in the neighbourhood, with the result that E squadron of Mounted Infantry, which had pushed ahead to reach Vryheid before dark set in, suffered severe loss. Few escaped to tell the tale, the outline of which was as follows: The Boers no sooner saw the troopers approaching than they jumped from their hiding-place and surrounded them. Captain Goff (6th Dragoon Guards), who was commanding the squadron, dismounted his men and made a valiant stand, but the Boers poured a volley on them, incapacitating most of the horses and many of the men. The commanding officer was shot dead. Still the party continued to reply to the fire of the enemy till, ammunition running short, they knew resistance would soon be unavailing. Meanwhile, the scene of confusion was horrible. The Boers had set the crisp, dry grass into a blaze, and behind the smoke of it were able to fire with impunity at the helpless British force. The rest of the column had hastened towards the scene of the disaster, but what with the crackling glare of the flamboyant grass, the suffocating clouds of smoke, and the deceptive darkness of the gloaming, Colonel Bethune dared not open fire at close quarters lest he should injure his own already wounded force. Gallantly the men of D squadron dashed into the mêlée, and rescued from thence such troopers as survived. Lieutenant Capell, who gave his horse to an injured trooper, was taken prisoner, and Lord De la Warr, while going to the relief of another, was slightly injured in the leg. He afterwards gave to a correspondent of the _Central News_ an interesting narrative of his experiences on that eventful day. He was acting as aide-de-camp to Colonel Bethune, and was directed to take messages to the captains of E and D squadrons, in the thickest of the fight. His instructions were to order them to retire, but when he came upon the scene he found that E squadron was already practically surrounded. He was able, however, to deliver his order to Captain Ford of D squadron, and then set out to return to Colonel Bethune through a heavy fire. In galloping back he saw Trooper Cooper, of Durban, lying wounded in the grass, which was then blazing. The flames were gradually making their way towards the wounded man, who was unable to move. A horrible death in a few minutes was certain, unless succour could be rendered him. Earl De la Warr instantly dismounted, crept up through the smoke, and was in the act of rescuing the man when he was pounced upon by about twenty Boers, who fired at him at close range. He was wounded, though not severely, and just managed to drag himself away from the burning grass. His horse had bolted, and he was only rescued when he had practically given up all hope. The following casualties among officers occurred: Killed--3rd Dragoon Guards, Captain W. E. D. Goff; Bethune's Mounted Infantry, Lieutenant H. W. Lanham and Lieutenant W. McLachlan. Wounded--Bethune's Mounted Infantry, Captain Earl De la Warr and Lieutenant De Lasalle. Missing--Bethune's Mounted Infantry, Lieutenant A. E. Capell. The whole of the wounded were taken by the enemy, and Colonel Bethune had no resource but to retire on N'qutu. The Boers were falling back from Natal, and the British at this date were in possession of Christiana, Kroonstad, Lindley, and Newcastle. Thus, it will be seen, we were sweeping up, like an incoming tide, from all quarters. Sir Redvers Buller now halted to concentrate his army, collect supplies, and repair the rail, in order that his next move should be both rapid and effective. That being the case, his programme for the celebration of the Queen's Birthday took an unique form. The General decided that the men should spend "a record day" in repairing the rail. This they did with a will, as, indeed, they did all things at the behest of their much-respected chief. Repairs on all sides were prosecuted with ardour, the railway engineering staff working away at bridging operations on the Ingagane River at Waschbank, till, by the 28th, the line was clear to Newcastle. To clear the right flank Generals Hildyard and Lyttelton had been directed to Utrecht and Vryheid respectively, and the month closed with the entry into Utrecht, the first Transvaal town to be taken by the Natal Field Force. In the skirmishing which occurred, Captain St. John and Lieutenant Pearse had their horses shot under them, and Lieutenant Thompson had the misfortune to be wounded and taken prisoner. The town, however, was not really occupied till some weeks later. Their part of the strategical programme accomplished, General Hildyard's Division left for Ingogo, while that of General Lyttelton marched to Coetze's Drift, due east of Ingogo, for the purpose of clearing the country between Vryheid and Wakkerstroom. CHAPTER IX THE INTERREGNUM AT PRETORIA While tremendous excitement was convulsing Johannesburg, Pretoria was simmering. The populace was trekking away towards the Lydenburg Mountains, their ox-carts rumbling incessantly along the streets, while a stream of Dutchmen, motley of habit and of mien, moved out before the rumour of the advancing army. They had decided that, though they might no longer be able to resist, they could still retain the ability to annoy! Mr. Kruger, with his Executive, amid the lamentations of his admirers, also fled. He hurried to the Middleburg Railway, leaving behind him a committee of citizens who were deputed to surrender the town to the British. He fled not empty-handed. In the dead of night gold in bars was piled recklessly into whatever vehicles could be found to hold it, and the spoil was shipped on board the train which bore the President from the scene of his really amazing career. With him went a good many of the British prisoners, though many more stoutly resisted the order for removal and showed fight. Their attitude betokened a general uproar, the story of which may be gleaned from the accounts of various officers who lived through days of tension which, coming atop of a long experience of incarceration, seemed to them like some hideous nightmare of the senses. An officer, who had been captured by the Boers while in the hospital at Dundee after the retreat of General Yule, described the circumstances connected with the threatened commotion:-- "We were all at dinner, when Wood, of Standard Bank, and Hay, the American Consul, came in with two Hollanders. Their object in coming was to get us to send officers to the 5000 odd men out at Waterval, who were threatening to break out. It transpired that Kruger and the Government were 'clearing' (the report said in ambulance carts). The town was in a state of chaos, looting and drinking, and the British were expected next morning. The commandant--a Hollander, and not a bad chap in spite of it--then came in and announced that the British scouts were within six miles of Pretoria, and that he expected them in on the following morning. He appealed to us as soldiers, and asked us not to make it difficult for him to carry out his duty till the end. Well, we were in such good spirits that we gave him three cheers. Then Colonel H---- got up and called for three cheers for Wood and Hay, who have done so much for our men at Waterval. If it had not been for these two, and for subscriptions in the town and from us, the men would have been absolutely neglected. For though the Boer authorities took all the credit for what was done, they did nothing, discouraging all efforts, and treating with suspicion any one who stirred in the matter. At one time the hospital almost broke down for want of funds. Well, we gave them a tremendous ovation, and then sang 'For he's a jolly good fellow' over and over again. Then we struck up 'God save the Queen.' You never heard it sung as it was! It had been forbidden for nearly eight months. For the first Sunday when it was sung they took away the organ, and made themselves objectionable in many small ways. We had only once before sung it--on the Queen's birthday.... "About twenty-five officers went off after dinner to keep the men in order. Waterval is about ten miles from here. If this step had not been taken there is no saying what might have happened. The men had heard the booming of guns all day, in the direction of Johannesburg, and it is not to be wondered at that when the Boers tried to move them they flatly refused to budge. There are Maxims at each corner, and the loss of life would have been very great. But the Boers gave in. What might have happened if the men got loose in the town, after so much privation and such hardships, can be imagined, but the sending of officers should alter all things." Naturally, at this time, the officers, who were prisoners, were bursting with excitement. On the 3rd, guns, about ten or twelve miles to south and south-west, were heard, and on the 4th, early, shells from British guns crashed on the ridge of hills south of the town--the first shots being fired at a redoubt behind the Artillery Barracks in Pretoria. Soon, to their delight, this was cleared of Boers, and subsequently two big forts on either side of the gorge in which is the railway then received attention. Three lyddite shells from the howitzer batteries were placed in the western fort, and a fierce and continuous fire from the 4.7 naval gun was concentrated on the railway station, and though the place remained intact the moral effect of the attack was sufficient to clear the course. Before dusk, more lyddite and shrapnel were concentrated on the huge hill south of Pretoria, and on part of the main ridge which had been shelled all day. The prisoners, acutely listening in their "bird cage," fancied they heard in the distance a British cheer, and confidently went to rest calculating on the morrow's freedom. At 1 A.M., however, they were awakened. The commandant declared that he had received orders from Botha, and they must at once pack and trek outside the town--as the town was to be defended, and was therefore unsafe. Waggons were prepared to receive the kit; and the guard, usually numbering about forty-eight, had been more than doubled; and over one hundred armed Boers and Hollanders were waiting to escort 125 defenceless officers. Colonel Hunt, Royal Artillery, the senior prisoner, was consulted. It was known that once moved, chance of release would be uncertain; and the colonel with his brother officers decided to adopt a policy of passive resistance. They parleyed; they argued the impossibility of removal at so short notice. They demanded what mounts were provided. The commandant declared they must walk. This the officers refused to do. Colonels never walked, they said. Cavalry and field officers must be provided with horses to ride. And again in the matter of food--how about that? Thus arguing, the commandant was detained about an hour and a half; but still he declared he had come to do a duty, and do it he must. The policy of passive resistance having run to its extreme limits, the colonels decided to place the commandant under arrest--to detain him in the building and trust to luck. The assistant-commandant, who arrived to "put in his oar," was promptly "bagged" also. At 2.45 A.M. more wrangling took place. The commandant was reminded that an agreement had been practically entered into with the Transvaal Government that the men at Waterval should be kept quiet on condition that they were not moved, and that the Transvaal Government could not move the prisoners without a breach of faith. The commandant seemed impressed, and offered his word of honour that if released he would telephone to say there could be no removal--and countermand waggons and cancel arrangements. His word of honour was accepted. The commandant retired from the prison, and the officers went to bed fearing the worst. The remainder of the story is soon told. At 9 A.M. the Duke of Marlborough, accompanied by his irrepressible kinsman, Winston Churchill, galloped to the prison and told the prisoners they were free. The prisoners cheered and shouted themselves hoarse. The guard was disarmed without a murmur, and the prisoners' servants placed to do duty in their stead, an arrangement which afforded them much merriment and infinite satisfaction. The whole situation was the result of a most successful piece of bluff, and the officers were not a little gratified with the exercise of diplomacy which had brought about delay at a most critical moment. They had been unable, however, to prevent the departure, on the 4th, of some 1000 prisoners, which removal was a distinct breach of faith, considering the negotiations before alluded to. An officer related his experiences on the momentous 4th and 5th of June:-- "On Monday morning, 9 A.M., guns were heard quite close. We knew the Boers, 15,000 strong, had taken up a position about six miles out, and it was said they had solemnly sworn to die or win. About 10 A.M. we saw a shell burst over the hill to the south close to one of the forts. Then shrapnel after shrapnel was landed just over the fort and all along the crest line, about four miles away from us. Then some larger gun placed a lyddite close to the big fort, sending up an enormous column of red dust and making a huge report. It was a grand sight. It went on all day, and we sat there in deck chairs watching. We could see very few Boers about. About 3 P.M. we saw the balloon, about fifteen miles off, I should think. Later in the afternoon the railway was shelled near the suburbs, and just before dark, away to the west, we saw clouds of dust and what we took to be fleeing commandos. After such a day we all went to bed in excellent spirits. Our long depressing wait was very near its end, and we should now escape the terrible prospect of being moved away to the east. About 1 A.M. we were wakened up by the commandant, who turned on the electric light and walked along the line of beds, saying, 'Pack up, gentlemen, you have got to start at 3 P.M. and march six miles.' 'Why?' 'I don't know why; those are my orders.' 'Which direction?' 'To the railway, to the east.' Well, I knew what that meant at once, for I had expected the move for the last month, and many a very depressed hour had I spent thinking of the possibility of being carted about for six months in the cold--no food--no news--and every chance of being shot down. I lay in bed thinking what I should do--what we ought all to do. Some got up at once and dressed, quite ready to move, saying they were only going to move us out of range of the firing. But Colonel H---- luckily was not of that opinion, and nearly every one felt what it meant. We knew nothing for certain, but we thought our people were only six miles off. Outside the Hollanders' guard had been trebled--about 200--and there were about twenty armed and mounted Boers. It was soon agreed that no one should move unless a rifle was pointed at his head. The Hollanders are only half-hearted, and the Boers don't act without leaders. So the commandant and sub-commandant, who were alone inside, and only armed with revolvers, were made prisoners. They were told we refused to move; that they would have to shoot; and that, if they did shoot, every one of them would be hung by Bobs, who, we knew, was only seven miles off. Well, the commandant was talked round and fairly bluffed. He undertook not to move us, and to become a prisoner of the Boers if they insisted. He went out and had a talk with the Boer commandant; they had words, and the Boers galloped off to the town, calling him a ---- Hollander, and saying they would have to get a Maxim. We had delayed the thing anyway for a time, and the railway might be cut any time by French. It was frightfully cold; I did not turn in again. Many went and hid in the roof, in ditches, and all sorts of places, where they were bound to be found. I got a bread-knife and cut a hole in the rabbit wire, which is only a small part of the obstacle, and asked the Hollander sentry to look the other way if I tried to get out when the commander came. But there were so many of them that one was afraid of the other. He only hesitated, and said he would see. We waited on till daylight and no one came. We looked anxiously at the hills all round in hopes of seeing our troops on the hills, but could see nothing. We waited and watched anxiously, and thought we should have a day of suspense. About 8 A.M. on Tuesday, 5th June, large bodies of men were visible to the west, about seven miles off, but it was impossible to say whether they were our men or Boers. Even if they were our men, it was possible that we should be hustled off under their noses. About 9 A.M. two men in felt hats and kharki and a civilian galloped up. Even till they were 100 feet off I feared they might be Boers. Then they took off their hats and waved them; there was a yell, and we all rushed through the gate. They were Marlborough and Winston Churchill, and we were free!" Some of the late prisoners rushed out of the enclosure down hill into the town, scampering and yelling. It was so good to be free! It was so grand to feel that the scene of their incarceration had already almost become British soil! One climbed up the flagstaff with the Union Jack in his mouth and fastened it at the top (the great emblem, manufactured from a Transvaal flag, had been held in readiness for many months). There, in the town, were British sentries over all the Government buildings, over the house of the President--where Mrs. Kruger still remained--and over all the banks, and in the square. But the smart guardsman of Pall Mall was nowadays strangely transmogrified. Battered and travel-stained in his shabby kharki and worn helmet--the latter perhaps adorned, in lieu of plume, with tooth-brush, spoon, or other useful article--and equipped with loaf or cook-pot, or like practical paraphernalia not laid down in the regulations, he made a quaint, yet inspiriting picture of martial vagabondage. But to the eyes of his long-expecting fellow-countrymen he was none the less refreshing, almost adorable, and in a perfect frenzy of rejoicing the prisoners laughed and threw up their hats and waved their arms like very lunatics freed from strait-waistcoats, or the thrall of the padded room. The chief was not timed to arrive till two, but long before that hour the prisoners of war were drawn up in the square to feast their eyes with a sight for which they had hungered wearily, some of them since the grievous autumn days when they had found themselves in Dundee hospital at the mercy of the Boers. And sure enough the spectacle that then followed was worth waiting a lifetime to see, and one which none who witnessed it will ever forget. To return, however, to Johannesburg, and to those who, during this time of terrific suspense, were marching as fast as legs would carry them to take possession of the Boer capital. FROM JOHANNESBURG TO PRETORIA June had opened more than propitiously. It found Lord Roberts with the British flag hoisted in Johannesburg, and within appreciable distance of seizing the capital, while in the southern portion of the Free State, rebellion was known to be nearing its conclusion. General Brabant--after some exciting experiences at Hammonia, in which Lieutenant Langmore (Border Horse) was severely wounded, and Lieutenants Boyes and Budler were made prisoners--had just joined hands with General Rundle. The former was engaged in watching the passes around the Basuto border, while the latter, with his usual vigilance and animation, mounted guard over the region between Ficksburg and Senekal. Here (at Senekal) General Clements caught up the chain and made his Brigade into a connecting link with the forces of Lord Methuen, which were at Lindley, forty miles to the north, which latter place was within communicable distance of Heilbron, where General Sir H. Colvile with the Highland Brigade kept clear the passage to the north. Thus it will be seen a complete cordon of communications was maintained, which formed a barrier to further inroads by the Free Staters, and forced them little by little to take their choice between surrender or flight. At the same time a change had been wrought in the condition of affairs, and the Orange Free State had been rechristened the Orange River Colony. [Illustration: SCENE IN PRETORIA SQUARE, JUNE 5: WAITING FOR THE ENTRY OF LORD ROBERTS AND HIS ARMY Drawing by A. Pearse, after a Photograph by the Earl of Rosslyn] At noon, on the 28th of May, an interesting ceremony had taken place in the Market Square at Bloemfontein and the Royal Standard had been hoisted. General Pretyman (Military Governor), surrounded with a vast concourse of persons, both British and Dutch, had read in an impressive voice for the benefit of all concerned, Lord Roberts's proclamation annexing the Orange Free State--which had been conquered by Her Majesty's Forces--to the Queen's dominions. He had then declared that henceforth the State would be recognised as the Orange River Colony, after which the troops presented arms and a salute of twenty-one guns was fired by the Naval Brigade and Royal Artillery, followed by lusty cheers for the Queen. At the same time a very different scene had been enacted in Pretoria. By the order of President Kruger, the day had been observed as one of humiliation throughout the country; humiliation and prayer for relief from oppression and preservation of the independence of the country--the country whose independence had been wrecked entirely by the ignorant and careless pilotage of the President himself. In Johannesburg itself quietness soon began to reign, the people coming in resignedly to give up arms. On the whole there seemed to prevail a general sentiment of surprised relief at the peaceful mode of British occupation, and a dawning hope that before long hostilities would come to an end, and life resume its workaday habit. For the first two days of June the chief remained encamped at Orange Grove in order that all the troops, rested from their fatigues, might be gradually moved up so as to surround Pretoria, north, west, and south. But meanwhile the cavalry made a reconnaissance, and in course of the operations Lieutenants Durrand, Sadleir, Jackson, and Pollock, 9th Lancers, were wounded. The latter officer was missing, as was also Lieutenant the Hon. C. M. Evans-Freke, 16th Lancers. [Illustration: MAP SHOWING DISTRICT BETWEEN JOHANNESBURG AND PRETORIA, AND THE POSITION OF THE BRITISH FORCES ROUND THE LATTER.] From Johannesburg to Pretoria the distance is about thirty miles by road. East and west of Johannesburg for some 100 miles runs the Witwatersrand ridge, which commands the town and offers a strong position against any enemy advancing from the south. At Boksburg, on the east, are various natural redoubts of rubbish heaps thrown up from the mines, whose hideous chimneys rise clear against the cloudy atmosphere of the swarming city. Further on comes a species of desert, dotted now and then with a green oasis, and sliced with valleys wrinkled with undulating ridges, and beyond that, Pretoria. The town sits, so to speak, in the lap of hills, each hill crowned with forts, of which the two most formidable faced south, as menace to all invaders. The natural disposition of the surrounding heights makes it possible for a small force to resist a strong one with comparative ease. On the north a girdle of eminences, each a rocky and frowning fortress, renders approach in face of the enemy well-nigh impossible. Beyond Six-Mile Spruit, which lies some twenty-six miles from the Rand, and six from the capital, are three more frowning ridges, natural strongholds. And these it was necessary to assail. Both Schanzkop to west and Klapperkop to east of the line looked gaunt and ominous, the very fire and sword of the cherubim, and the approaches were charred black by intentional veldt fires so as to serve as blackboards to throw up any demonstrations in chalk-grey kharki. It was here, nevertheless, that the chief had decided to make his entry to Pretoria, keeping the direct Johannesburg road, and avoiding if possible the more dangerous of the fortified positions. On the 3rd of June the great march was resumed. The army moved in three columns--the Cavalry Division under General French on the left, General Ian Hamilton's force in the centre, the main column, consisting of Pole-Carew's Division and Maxwell's Brigade of Tucker's Division (General Wavell's Brigade was left to hold Johannesburg), Gordon's Cavalry Brigade (covering the eastern flank) and the corps troops under the chief's direct command bearing towards the line of rail as described. Colonel Henry, with Ross's Mounted Infantry, Compton's Horse, the Sussex Yeomanry, the Victorian Rifles, the Colt Battery, and J Horse Battery, formed the advance guard of the main column, while Colonel de Lisle's 6th Mounted Infantry formed the advance guard of General Ian Hamilton's Division. At dawn, on the 4th of June, Colonel Henry came in touch with the enemy at Six-Mile Spruit. Report had hinted that the Boers could not decide to offer opposition to the entry of the troops, and it was hoped that no serious fighting was intended. But there was tough work to come. The enemy opened fire and forced the troops to take cover for a time; but, afterwards, holding their own, they pushed on in view of Schanzkop and Klapperkop, the forts which yet suggested horrible possibilities. The enemy was also ensconced in sangars on other ridges round about, and assiduously plied their magazines. Then followed an artillery contest between J Battery and the guns of the Dutchmen, while Ross's Mounted Infantry, hastening to the left, secured a position from which another battery was enabled to join in the thunderous chorus. No sooner was it found that Colonel Henry was definitely engaged, than General Ian Hamilton, who was somewhat west of the main army, was ordered to combine and assist the now warming operations--and presently his mounted troops had reinforced the advanced line, while the artillery of the main column came vigorously into play. A big gun from Schantz Fort sounded; a reply from the blue-jackets spat out. Lyddite burst over the feebly demonstrating Boers and damaged them, and showed them, that if they asked for it, there was more to come. At three, fifty guns threatened in concert--an argument that was well-nigh conclusive. Meanwhile up came the infantry, grandly steady in their advance. To right went the Guards' Brigade over the blackboard prepared for them, while Stephenson's Brigade, with Maxwell's Brigade on its left, forged straight ahead. There were kindly boulders which presently covered them, and allowed them to open a warning fire with rifles and Maxims. The Boers by this knew what to expect. They knew that their hours in their commanding kops were numbered; they knew by this time that the bayonet's gleam might follow, and then---- They had little time to consider. General Broadwood's troopers were making for their right flank, debouching in the distant plain on the left, circling them round, menacing their retreat. Up the kopjes swarmed the infantry, away towards the enemy's flank galloped the cavalry--bang and boom and boom roared the heavy artillery, addressing the forts that had seemed to play the cherubim to British advance. These were mute. The projectiles battered them or passed on into the town itself whence rifle fire burst out in fitful cascades, but resistance was no longer in the Dutchmen.... It was now growing dusk. Colonel de Lisle's sprightly Australians, cutting across country, were chasing Boers and guns almost into the town, while the infantry with sunset, were occupying the coveted positions--were handling the key of Pretoria! But the Australians, darkness or no darkness, were on the war-path--nothing could stop them. They captured the flying Maxim of the flying Dutchmen, pursued them till they were within rifle fire of the streets--the streets where scurrying and panic-stricken forms were to be seen like ants disturbed, running hither and thither. Then Colonel de Lisle, equal to the occasion, profited by the general dismay and the demoralisation to send in an officer under a flag of truce to demand the surrender of the town. An account of this momentous episode was given by Lieutenant W. W. Russell Watson, a Sydney officer, who was the most prominent actor in the proceedings:-- "Colonel de Lisle came up, beaming with delight, and said, 'Now, lad, you have done so well, are you fit to take the white flag into the city and demand the surrender of the city in the name of Lord Roberts and the British army?' 'Rather!' said I. So we tied a handkerchief on to a whip, and after saying good-bye to Holmes and the others, I started for the Landdrost of the capital with the white flag in the air alone and unarmed. "I had not gone far when I was stopped by an artilleryman, so requested him to take me into town. He did so; but the Landdrost (chief magistrate), the Burgomaster (mayor), the Commandant-General, were still fighting on the hills about the city, so the Secretary of State was found, and he conducted me to Commandant-General Botha's private residence. He then telephoned to the Secretary for War, and they then despatched messages to their Generals to come at once to a council of war. First, General Botha himself came; then Generals Meyer and Walthusein and the military governors of the city. By this time I had been there two hours, during which time Mrs. Botha kindly gave me coffee and sandwiches, which, as I had not had a square meal for thirty-six hours, were most acceptable. "Now came the discussion of the council. The General asked my mission, and this I told him with as much dignity as I could muster. He looked me up and down, and told me to be seated. They all spoke in Dutch, and some of the Generals were very excited. However, after an hour's chat, they drew up a letter, and Botha informed me that if I would conduct the Governor of the city to Lord Roberts, terms and conditions would be arranged. So they all shook hands with me, and said that I ought to be pleased at meeting their greatest statesmen and Generals. "Off I went with the Governor and General Walthusein to Colonel de Lisle, who was waiting on the outskirts of the city for my return. The Colonel then joined us, and away we went to Lord Roberts, who was six miles off; so we did not arrive until 10.45 P.M. He was in bed, so just sat up and said, 'How do you do? If General Botha wishes to discuss with me the unconditional surrender of the town, I will meet him at Colonel de Lisle's camp at 9 A.M. to-morrow. In the meantime, I will not fire a shot. Good-night!'" So unconditional surrender it was, and that at the cost of little more than seventy killed and wounded. The report of the chief was as follows:-- "Shortly before midnight I was awoke by the officials of the South African Republic, Sandburg, Military Secretary to Commander-General Botha, and a general officer of the Boer army, who brought me a letter from Botha, proposing an armistice for the purpose of settling terms of surrender. "I replied that I would gladly meet the Commander-General the next morning, but that I was not prepared to discuss any terms, as the surrender of the town must be unconditional. "I asked for a reply by daybreak, as I had ordered the troops to march on the town as soon as it was light. "In his reply, Botha told me that he had decided not to defend Pretoria, and that he trusted that the women, children, and property would be protected." The next morning the main army moved on towards the railway station, while General Ian Hamilton's troops wound their way to the west of the town. (General French, it may be noted, had made his way to the north, and had skirmished himself into possession of an enveloping area.) Pretoria was now in sight. But even as the troops neared the railway station, trains--trains bearing away the surrendering Hollanders--were seen to be steaming forth. A chase followed, but barbed wire, gardens, houses, made pursuit impossible, and one train escaped. Others which were still in the station, however, were arrested, but not before a scrimmage of a bellicose kind had taken place between Major Shute, the advance guard, and the would-be fugitives. Then followed the release of the British prisoners and the excited rushing of the emancipated ones through the town. Meanwhile Major Maude and his party moved along amid the expectant populace, placing sentries at important points in the road, to the tune of the roars and cheers from the British prisoners, who--many of them--were almost wild with enthusiasm. After having secured the government buildings, the officers of the Staff attached to the Guards' Brigade paid their respects to Mrs. Kruger, who, attired in black silk and a white cap, received them with her usual Dutch calm, in the cottage where the old statesman was wont to live in almost peasant-like simplicity. Here, not many days ago, the most interesting, if not the most admired, figure of latter-day history had smoked the cavernous pipe which was his invariable companion. Here, not many days ago, sitting in the shady verandah and guarded by two policemen, and the white marble lions given him by Mr. Barnato, he had plotted and schemed behind the impenetrable mask that served him for a face. Now he was gone; and the great marble lions, massive and obdurate as ever, had become as the emblems of British majesty. The commanding officer informed the wife of the late President that the burghers guarding the Presidency would now be replaced by British soldiers, whereupon the Dutch guard placed pistols and ammunition on the pavement by the side of the marble monsters; and their occupation, now and henceforth, was ended! At two o'clock, on the 5th of June, came the grand finale. Lord Roberts, Lord Kitchener, the Staff, and foreign attachés, numbering nearly 300, formed up in the main square in the centre of the magnificent official buildings, and there, once more, was hoisted the British flag amid the cheers--sincere and insincere--of the populace. Then followed the great spectacle--a pageant wherein was asserted the majesty of Great Britain--in the form of an unending host of muscular and disciplined heroes. The roll of drums, the flow of kharki, the clank and clang of armed men, began and continued for hours and hours, while the amazed inhabitants, arrayed in their bucolic best, wide-mouthed, wide-eyed, stood watching the vast procession, the like of which the little town had never before beheld. Particularly remarkable among the vast cortège of seasoned warriors were the patriotic C.I.V.'s, whose soldierly bearing drew forth eulogies from the chief himself. All were agreed that they were the finest body of men that had ever been seen, and every one declared that their actions had been as excellent as their appearance. A not less attractive feature of the great day was the march past of the Naval Brigade, its smart amphibians, its jolly blue-jackets so square and brawny and brave, and its big guns on improved gun-carriages, all of which had done such good work from beginning to end. The roar that greeted them as they swung along the streets of the conquered town was a sound to echo in the memory for many a year to come. * * * * * At such an imposing spectacle in so primitive an arena our enemies--real or subsidised--of course, took the opportunity to scoff. True, the ceremonial was scarcely as impressive as might have been the occupation of some less primitive capital; but its significance was twofold, and had ramifications far beneath the surface. The importance of the event to the British nation, and indeed to the whole European audience of critics, could not be overestimated. For, not a spectacle, but a symbol was intended. Great Britain came, not to conquer new territories, nor to acquire new power. She came to assert herself, and maintain her prestige in the face of the whole world, and meant, by the occupation of Pretoria, to mark the new epoch, drawing a line between the old era of maladministration, chicanery, and despotism, and a fresh one of law and order, and equal rights for white men. The great object of the war, therefore, had been achieved. In October 1899, the Government of the South African Republic had sent an ultimatum to the Government of the British Empire. To this there could be but one answer, and that answer was given. Lord Roberts, in the month of March 1900, seized the capital of the Orange Free State, and in June took possession of the capital of the Transvaal, and from that time the two South African Republics virtually ceased to exist. Within appreciable distance we now saw before us a vast British Empire stretching from the Cape to the Zambesi, and a huge population--a mixed population consisting of a majority of Kaffirs and a minority of Dutch and English-speaking Europeans--cemented together by the most just and fair of all laws--British law. If the principles that guide this law had been followed by the two extinct Republics, which had owed their very existence to British toleration and British magnanimity, they would have continued to live and to prosper, and to develop in harmony with their own interests and those of the Mother Power which, so to speak, had afforded them the protection to promote their own growth. But, having grown, having battened on the advantages of their position in relation to the British, they became inflated with the idea of their own importance, and denied to the English-speaking settlers in the Transvaal that liberality of treatment which was extended to their own countrymen in the British colonies. The arrogance of this denial, and the success in maintaining it for many years, gave birth to more arrogance still. The British at last were not only to be trodden down, but were to be driven into the sea! That Mr. Kruger should have so far lost his sound common sense as to dream of an ascendency of the Dutch in South Africa, was due partly to the misleading representations of needy foreigners and _chevaliers d'industrie_, who endeavoured to convert the President into a figurehead for their own piratical cruiser, and also to the folly of certain self-seeking British politicians, who tried to persuade the shrewd Dutchman into a belief in Boer arms and Boer diplomacy, and actually deceived him with the notion that their sympathetic bleats represented the trumpet voice of the British nation! It became necessary to teach him his mistake, and the lesson was taught. Thus it came to pass that, at the end of a long and really remarkable career, the despot was fleeing as fast as steam would carry him from the scene of his life's labours, while Lord Roberts, crowned with years and honour, reigned in his stead! [Illustration: THE ENTRY OF LORD ROBERTS AND STAFF INTO PRETORIA After a Photograph by the Earl of Rosslyn] APPENDIX REARRANGEMENT OF STAFF The following rearrangement of divisional and brigade commands in South Africa took place during the month of April:-- CAVALRY DIVISION. Lieutenant-General J. D. P. French commanding. 1st Brigade (Cape)--Colonel (Brigadier-General) T. C. Porter, 6th Dragoon Guards. 1st Brigade (Natal)--Lieutenant-Colonel (Brigadier-General) J. F. Burn-Murdoch, 1st Dragoons. 2nd Brigade (Cape)--Colonel (Brigadier-General) R. G. Broadwood, 12th Lancers. 2nd Brigade (Natal)--Colonel (Major-General) J. F. Brocklehurst. 3rd Brigade (Cape)--Colonel (Brigadier-General) J. R. P. Gordon, 17th Lancers. 3rd Brigade (Natal)--Colonel (Major-General) Lord Dundonald. 4th Brigade (Cape)--Colonel (Major-General) J. B. B. Dickson, C.B. MOUNTED INFANTRY. Colonel (Major-General) I. S. M. Hamilton, C.B., commanding. 1st Brigade--Colonel (Major-General) E. T. H. Hutton, C.B. 2nd Brigade--Colonel (Brigadier-General) C. P. Ridley. 1ST INFANTRY DIVISION (CAPE). Lieutenant-General Lord Methuen commanding. 1st Brigade--Colonel (Major-General) C. W. H. Douglas. 20th Brigade--Colonel (Major-General) A. H. Paget, Scots Guards. 2ND DIVISION (NATAL). Lieutenant-General Sir F. Clery commanding. 2nd Brigade--Major-General H. J. T. Hildyard, C.B. 4th Brigade--Colonel (Brigadier-General) C. D. Cooper, Royal Dublin Fusiliers. 3RD DIVISION (CAPE). Major-General Sir Herbert Chermside, commanding. 22nd Brigade--Colonel (Major-General) R. E. Allen. 23rd Brigade--Colonel (Major-General) W. G. Knox, C.B. 4TH DIVISION (NATAL). Lieutenant-General Hon. N. G. Lyttelton, C.B., commanding. 7th Brigade--Colonel (Brigadier-General) W. F. Kitchener, West Yorkshire Regiment. 8th Brigade--Colonel (Major-General) F. Howard, C.B., C.M.G. 5TH DIVISION (NATAL). Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Warren commanding. 10th Brigade--Colonel (Major-General) J. T. Coke. 11th Brigade--Colonel (Major-General) A. S. Wynne, C.B. 6TH DIVISION. Lieutenant-General T. Kelly-Kenny, C.B., commanding. 12th Brigade--Colonel (Major-General) R. A. P. Clements. 13th Brigade--Colonel (Major-General) A. G. Wavell. 7TH DIVISION (CAPE). Lieutenant-General C. Tucker, C.B., commanding. 14th Brigade--Colonel (Major-General) J. G. Maxwell. 15th Brigade--Colonel (Major-General) C. E. Knox. 8TH DIVISION. Lieutenant-General Sir Leslie Rundle commanding. 16th Brigade--Major-General B. B. D. Campbell. 17th Brigade--Major-General J. E. Boyes. 9TH DIVISION (CAPE). Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Colvile commanding. 3rd (Highland) Brigade--Colonel (Major-General) H. A. MacDonald, C.B. 19th Brigade--Colonel (Major-General) H. L. Smith-Dorrien, Sherwood Foresters. 10TH DIVISION (NATAL). Lieutenant-General Sir Archibald Hunter commanding. 5th Brigade--Major-General A. F. Hart, C.B. 6th Brigade--Major-General G. Barton, C.B. 11TH DIVISION (CAPE). Lieutenant-General R. Pole-Carew, C.B., commanding. Guards Brigade--Colonel (Major-General) I. R. Jones, Scots Guards. 18th Brigade--Colonel (Brigadier-General) T. E. Stephenson, Essex Regiment. DEATHS IN ACTION AND FROM DISEASE The following is a list of the officers who died in South Africa between January and June:-- JANUARY 1900 =4.=--In action at Colesberg: Major C. Bateson Harvey, Lieutenant A. V. West. =5.=--Disease: Major C. P. Walker, Lieutenant C. P. Russell, Lieutenant C. S. Platt. =6.=--In action at Rensburg: Lieutenant-Colonel A. J. Watson, Lieutenant F. A. P. Wilkins, Lieutenant S. J. Carey, Lieutenant C. A. White. Action at Ladysmith: Lieutenant-Colonel Dick-Cunyngham, V.C., Major Miller-Wallnutt, Major R. S. Bowen, Major F. Mackworth, Captain W. B. Lafone, Lieutenant C. E. M. Walker, Lieutenant L. D. Hall, Lieutenant R. J. T. Digby-Jones, Lieutenant H. N. Field, Lieutenant W. F. Adams, Lieutenant J. E. Pakeman, Lieutenant Noel M. Tod, Second Lieutenant W. H. T. Hill, Second Lieutenant F. H. Raikes, Second Lieutenant G. B. B. Denniss. Wounds received at Colesberg: Captain A. W. Brown. =11.=--Wounds received at Ladysmith: Captain the Earl of Ava. =13.=--Fever: Lieutenant W. Dixon Smith. =15.=--Fever at Pietermaritzburg: Lieutenant E. Stabb, R.N.R. =16.=--Dysentery at Pietermaritzburg: Major F. F. Crawford. =19.=--Fever at Mooi River: Second Lieutenant D. B. Gore-Booth. =20.=--Wounds received at Venters Spruit: Captain C. A. Hensley. Action at Potgieters: Major C. B. Childe. =21.=--In action at Potgieters: Captain C. Ryall. Wounds: Captain A. D. Raitt. In action: Lieutenant-Colonel Buchanan-Riddell, Capt. F. Murray, Captain C. Walters, Lieutenant R. Grant, Lieutenant J. W. Osborne, Second Lieutenant H. G. French-Brewster. =23.=--In action at Chieveley: Captain H. W. de Rougemont. =24.=--Fever at De Aar: Captain C. G. Mackenzie. In action at Spion Kop: Major H. H. Massy, Major A. J. J. Ross, Captain N. H. Vertue, Captain G. M. Stewart, Captain C. L. Muriel, Captain M. W. Kirk, Captain C. G. F. G. Birch, Captain the Hon. J. H. L. Petre, Captain C. S. Knox-Gore, Captain C. H. Hicks, Lieutenant J. J. R. Mallock, Lieutenant E. Fraser, Lieutenant A. P. C. H. Wade, Lieutenant H. F. Pipe-Wolferstan, Lieutenant F. M. Raphael, Lieutenant H. W. Garvey, Lieutenant C. G. Grenfell, Lieutenant P. F. Newnham, Lieutenant T. F. Flower-Ellis, Lieutenant H. S. M'Corquodale, Lieutenant V. H. A. Awdry, Lieutenant the Hon. N. W. Hill-Trevor, Lieutenant A. Rudall, Lieutenant K. Shand, Lieutenant F. A. Galbraith, Second Lieutenant W. G. H. Lawley, Second Lieutenant H. A. C. Wilson. Wounds received at Spion Kop: Major S. P. Strong. =28.=--Fever at De Aar: Captain W. A. Hebden. =29.=--Wounds received at Ladysmith: Lieutenant W. R. P. Stapleton-Cotton. FEBRUARY 1900 =1.=--Wounds received at Venters Spruit: Captain D. Maclachlan. =2.=--Disease at Ladysmith: Second Lieutenant F. O. Barker. =4.=--Disease at Ladysmith: Captain K. L. Tupman =6.=--In action at Potgieters Drift: Major T. R. Johnson-Smyth, Second Lieutenant C. D. Shafto. =6.=--Sunstroke at Wynberg: Captain E. Dillon. In action at Koodoesberg: Captain H. M. Blair. =8.=--Wounds received at Koodoesberg: Captain C. Eykyn, Lieutenant F. G. Tait. =10.=--In action: Lieutenant Buchanan, Lieutenant Carstens. =11.=--Fever at De Aar: Lieutenant R. W. Bell. In action at Rensburg: Major G. R. Eddy. =12.=--In action at Rensburg: Major A. K. Stubbs, Lieutenant J. Powell. Wounds received at Rensburg: Lieutenant-Colonel C. Cunningham, Lieutenant J. C. Roberts. Wounds received at Dekiels Drift: Captain H. G. Majendie. =13.=--Wounds received at Rensburg: Lieutenant-Colonel H. A. Eager. In action at Gaberones: Captain J. G. French. In action at Waterval Drift: Second Lieutenant H. W. Ritchie. Wounds received at Ladysmith: Major D. E. Doveton. Disease: Captain H. W. Foster. Fever at Pretoria: Lieutenant C. A. P. Tarbutt. =14.=--Wounds received at Mafeking: Captain R. H. Girdwood. =15.=--In action at Waterval: Lieutenant C. P. M. C. Halkett. Wounds received at Rensburg: Major F. R. Macmullen. =16.=--Wounds received at Kimberley: Second Lieutenant Hon. W. M'Clintock-Bunbury. Action at Monte Christo: Captain T. H. Berney. Action at Bird's River: Captain E. C. H. Crallan, Lieutenant Chandler. Action near Kimberley: Lieutenant A. E. Hesketh, Lieutenant E. G. Carbutt, Second Lieutenant P. F. Brassy. =17.=--Fever at Ladysmith: Second Lieutenant W. A. Orlebar. =18.=--Fever at Sterkstroom: Captain T. S. C. W. Broadley. In action at Paardeberg: Lieutenant-Colonel W. Aldworth, Captain E. P. Wardlaw, Captain B. A. Newbury, Captain A. M. A. Lennox, Lieutenant J. C. Angell, Lieutenant G. E. Courtenay, Lieutenant H. G. Selous, Lieutenant F. J. Siordet, Lieutenant A. R. Bright, Colonel O. C. Hannay, Lieutenant E. Perceval, Lieutenant H. M. A. Hankey, Second Lieutenant R. H. M'Clure, Second Lieutenant A. C. Nieve, Second Lieutenant V. A. Ball-Acton. =19.=--Dysentery at Wynberg: Captain R. A. E. Benson. In action at Hlangwane Hill: Captain W. L. Thorburn. =20.=--Wounds received at Paardeberg: Major C. R. Day, Captain E. J. Dewar, Lieutenant J. C. Hylton-Jolliffe, Second Lieutenant D. B. Monypenny, Captain Waldy. Wounds received at Rondebosch: Captain C. H. Thomas. In action at the Tugela River: Captain S. L. V. Crealock, Lieutenant V. F. A. Keith-Falconer, Second Lieutenant J. C. Parr. Fever at Ladysmith: Lieutenant G. W. G. Jones. =21.=--Wounds received near Ladysmith: Captain R. E. Holt. Dysentery at Kimberley: Lieutenant Grant. =22.=--In action at Arundel: Captain A. F. Wallis. In action at Pieters Drift: Lieutenant R. H. C. Coë. In action at Ladysmith: Lieutenant R. W. Pearson, Lieutenant the Hon. R. Cathcart, and Second Lieutenant N. J. Parker. =23.=--Dysentery at Wynberg: Major C. H. Blount. Fever at Ladysmith: Captain G. S. Walker. Wounds: Captain H. M. Arnold. Wounds received at Groblers Kloof: Lieutenant F. C. D. Davidson. In action at Railway Hill: Lieutenant-Colonel C. C. H. Thorold and Lieutenant-Colonel T. M. G. Thackeray. In action at Pieters Hill: Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel C. G. H. Sitwell. In action at Railway Hill: Major F. A. Sanders and Lieutenant W. O. Stuart. In action at Colenso: Captain S. C. Maitland. In action near Ladysmith: Lieutenant B. H. Hastie and Lieutenant C. H. Hinton. =24.=--In action at Stormberg: Lieutenant-Colonel F. H. Hoskier and Captain the Hon. R. H. J. L. de Montmorency. Fever at Sterkstroom: Captain A. T. England. In action near Ladysmith: Lieutenant F. A. Stebbing. =25.=--Fever at Modder River: Midshipman S. Robertson. Wounds received at Spion Kop: Lieutenant H. V. Lockwood. =26.=--Wounds received at Ladysmith: Major E. W. Yeatherd. =27.=--In action at Pieters Hill: Lieutenant-Colonel W. M. O'Leary, Major V. Lewis, Captain H. S. Sykes, Lieutenant H. L. Mourilyan, Lieutenant H. B. Onraët, Second Lieutenant F. J. T. U. Simpson, and Second Lieutenant C. J. Daly. MARCH 1900 =3.=--Blood-poisoning at Modder River: Captain R. Price. =5.=--Fever at Naauwpoort: Lieutenant J. W. C. Walding. =7.=--In action at Poplars Drift: Lieutenant D. J. Keswick. Wounds received near Ladysmith: Lieutenant E. A. P. Vaughan. =8.=--Fever at Ladysmith: Lieutenant R. E. Meyricke. Fever at Modder River: Lieutenant S. D. Barrow. =9.=--Fever at Ladysmith: Captain A. W. Curtis and Lieutenant C. Arkwright. =10.=--In action at Driefontein: Captain A. R. Eustace, Captain D. A. N. Lomax, Lieutenant F. N. Parsons, V.C., and Second Lieutenant A. B. Coddington. Fever at Wynberg: Captain E. E. D. Thornton. =11.=--Wounds: Lieutenant-Colonel C. E. E. Umphelby. =12.=--Fever at Wynberg: Dr. W. C. Grigg. Wounds received at Driefontein: Lieutenant C. F. L. Wimberley. Fever on transport _Sumatra_: Lieutenant T. D. Whittington. =13.=--Drowned at Norvals Pont: Second Lieutenant F. N. Dent. =16.=--Fever at Pietermaritzburg: Major H. E. Buchanan-Riddell. Fever at Naauwpoort: Captain R. W. Salmon. Fever at Ladysmith: Lieutenant R. H. Kinnear. =17.=--Fever at Ladysmith: Major J. Minniece. =19.=--Dysentery at Ladysmith: Captain W. L. P. Gibton. =20.=--Fever at Mooi River: Lieutenant A. W. Hall. =22.=--Fever at Kimberley: Major H. J. Massy. =23.=--Wounds received at Spion Kop: Major-General Sir E. R. P. Woodgate. In action near Bloemfontein: Lieutenant Hon. E. H. Lygon. =26.=--Fever on her Majesty's ship _Powerful_: Fleet-Paymaster W. H. F. Kay. =27.=--Fever at Naauwpoort: Captain F. W. Hopkins. =28.=--In action at Norvals Pont: Colonel the Hon. G. Gough. =29.=--Fever at Bloemfontein: Captain C. M. Kemble. Wounds received at Karee Siding: Lieutenant E. M. Young. =30.=--In action at Brandfort: Captain A. C. Going. Fever at Ladysmith: Lieutenant B. T. Rose. In action at Lobatsi: Captain A. J. Tyler. =31.=--In action near Bloemfontein: Major A. W. C. Booth and Lieutenant P. H. S. Crowle. In action at Sanna's Post: Lieutenant G. H. Irvine. Wounds: Lieutenant P. C. Grover. Wounds received at Ramathlabama: Captain F. Crewe. In action at Ramathlabama: Lieutenant F. Milligan. Meningitis: Lieutenant Whittington. APRIL 1900 =2.=--Wounds at Pietermaritzburg: Lieutenant C. B. du Buisson. =3.=--In action at Reddersburg: Captain F. G. Casson and Second Lieutenant C. R. Barclay. Wounds received at Karee: Captain W. M. Marter. Fever at Ladysmith: Lieutenant G. E. S. Salt. =4.=--Wounds received near Bloemfontein: Lieutenant F. Russell-Brown. Wounds received at Reddersburg: Captain W. P. Dimsdale. =5.=--In action at Rietfontein: Captain C. Boyle and Lieutenant A. C. Williams. =9.=--In action at Wepener: Major C. F. Sprenger. =10.=--Fever at Mooi River: Lieutenant G. H. Morley. In action at Wepener: Lieutenant H. F. B. Taplin and Lieutenant A. H. Thornton. =15.=--Fever at sea on his way home: Lieutenant T. B. Ely. Fever at Ladysmith: Second Lieutenant S. H. Hutton. Fever at Pietermaritzburg: Second Lieutenant E. O. N. O. Leggett. =16.=--Fever at Bloemfontein: Captain R. Peel, Captain B. C. C. S. Meeking, and Lieutenant C. O. Bache. =18.=--Dysentery at Ladysmith: Captain S. Laurence. Disease at Kimberley: Captain E. M. Litkie. =21.=--Dysentery at Pretoria: Assistant-Surgeon Jackson. Fever at Gaberones: Lieutenant Wallis. Fever at Bloemfontein: Lieutenant H. W. Prickard. =23.=--Dysentery at Naauwpoort: Second Lieutenant R. J. Gibson-Craig. =24.=--Wounds at Karreefontein: Captain F. L. Prothero. =25.=--In action at Dewetsdorp: Captain P. R. Denny. In action at Israel's Poort: Captain H. Gethin. Wounds received at Sanna's Post: Lieutenant J. D. Murch. =26.=--Fever at Queenstown: Captain C. Biddulph. Wounds at Eirstelaagte: Captain G. P. Brasier-Creagh. =27.=--Fever at Bloemfontein: Major H. T. Hawley. In action at Thabanchu: Lieutenant F. S. Geary. Peritonitis at Bloemfontein: Captain A. B. Bennett. =28.=--Wounds at Bloemfontein: Captain H. F. W. Stanley. Fever at Kimberley: Midshipman L. G. E. Lloyd. =30.=--In action at Thabanchu: Major E. C. Showers, Lieutenant J. H. Parker, and Lieutenant Munro. MAY 1900 =1.=--Pneumonia on board the _Dilwara_: Lieutenant C. Martin. =2.=--Fever at Aliwal North: Lieutenant J. T. Dennis. Tuberculosis at Port Elizabeth: Lieutenant Holt. =4.=--In action at Welkom: Captain C. E. Rose. =5.=--Fever at Bloemfontein: Captain H. E. Dowse. =6.=--Wounds at Callerberg: Captain Lovett. Wounds at Thabanchu: Captain E. G. Verschoyle. Wounds at Winburg: Lieutenant P. Cameron. =7.=--Fever at Bloemfontein: Captain R. Fawssett and Lieutenant E. H. St. L. Chamier. =8.=--Dysentery at Estcourt: Lieutenant S. Oglesby. Dysentery at Modder Spruit: Captain Warren. =9.=--Wounds received at Warrenton: Major H. S. le M. Guille. Fever at Deelfontein: Lieutenant B. Cumming. =10.=--Dysentery at Bloemfontein: Chaplain the Rev. C. F. O'Reilly. Pneumonia in Bloemfontein: Captain T. W. Milward. Wounds received at Zand River: Captain L. Head and Captain C. K. Elworthy. =11.=--Fever at Naauwpoort: Second Lieutenant A. C. FitzG. Homan. =12.=--Fever at Bloemfontein: Captain H. S. Prickard. =13.=--Fever at Bloemfontein: Lieutenant H. P. Rogers. =14.=--Disease at Capetown: Captain D. G. Seagrim. =16.=--Fever at Naauwpoort: Lieutenant G. B. Guthrie. Disease at Naauwpoort: Lieutenant A. Lascelles. In action near Mafeking: Lieutenant Wilfred. In action at Mafeking: Lieutenant E. Harland. =18.=--Fever at Bloemfontein: Lieutenant G. G. Moir and Midshipman J. Menzies. =20.=--In action near Vryheid: Captain W. E. D. Goff, Lieutenant H. W. Lanham, and Lieutenant W. M'Lachlan. Fever at Bloemfontein: Lieutenant E. W. M. Noel. =21.=--Died at Gaberones: Lieutenant H. Wallis. Fever at Bloemfontein: Captain G. C. Fordyce-Buchan. =22.=--Fever at Deelfontein: Major P. Marsh. Fever at Kroonstad: Lieutenant the Hon. J. D. Hamilton. Fever at Springfontein: Lieutenant F. G. Peel. =23.=--Fever at Bloemfontein: Major H. M. Browne. Fever at Boshof: Lieutenant E. L. Munn. =24.=--Fever at Bloemfontein: Second Lieutenant Fletcher. =25.=--In action at Senekal: Major H. S. Dalbiac. Fever at Wynberg: Captain N. G. H. Turner. Fever at Bloemfontein: Captain L. Livingstone-Learmonth. Fever at Mooi River: Major Cooper. Fever at Boshof: Second Lieutenant W. H. Amedroz. =26.=--Fever at Kroonstad: Major A. S. Ralli and Captain W. H. Trow. Fever at Bloemfontein: Lieutenant R. S. Bree and Lieutenant J. D. Dalrymple-Hay. =27.=--Pneumonia at Wynberg: Captain R. N. Fane. =28.=--Fever at Bloemfontein: Lieutenant P. C. Shaw. Fever at Pietermaritzburg: Lieutenant A. Wylde-Brown. In action at Kheis: Major J. A. Orr-Ewing. In action at Kwisa: Lieutenant C. Slater. =29.=--In action at Fabers Spruit: Colonel W. A. Spence. In action near Kroonstad: Captain C. S. Keith. Wounds received at Kheis: Lieutenant G. H. Matthews and Captain A. H. U. Tindall. Wounds received at Senekal: Second Lieutenant A. H. Murray. =30.=--In action near Johannesburg: Captain St. J. Meyrick and Lieutenant H. W. Fife. Dysentery at Pinetown Bridge: Captain J. W. J. Hardman. =31.=--Wounds received at Elandslaagte: Lieutenant C. G. Danks. JUNE 1900 =1.=--Fever at Kroonstad: Captain S. Robertson. Fever at Florida: Lieutenant G. F. Nethercole. Wounds at Lindley: Lieutenant Sir J. E. C. Power, Bart. Dysentery at Bloemfontein: Second Lieutenant F. S. Firth. =2.=--Fever at Bloemfontein: Lieutenant L. O. F. Mellish and Lieutenant C. H. B. Adams-Wylie. Wounds at Bappisfontein: Lieutenant J. F. Pollock. At sea on board the _Dilwara_: Lieutenant R. J. Jelf. =4.=--Fever at Kroonstad: Lieutenant C. E. Eaton. =5.=--Fever at Kimberley: Captain E. G. Young. In action at Schippens Farm: Lieutenant R. L. C. Hobson. END OF VOLUME V. Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. Edinburgh & London TRANSCRIBERS' NOTES Page v: Re-arrangement standardised to rearrangement Pages vi, 8: Koornspruit all one word in original. Left as is, as the title of a picture Page vi: Blomfontein standardised to Bloemfontein Page 2: Llanddrost corrected to Landdrost Page 4: Variable hyphenation of sky(-)line as in the original Pages 16, 128: Variable hyphenation of dare(-)devilry as in the original Page 19: Variable spelling of Hock (in Mosterts Hock) as in original Page 31: musquitoes as in the original Pages 36, 176: Variable spelling of Van Reenan's Pass/Van Reenen's Pass as in the original Page 44: Variable hyphenation of out-spanned as in the original Page 45: Fusileers standardised to Fusiliers Page 46: beleagured as in the original text Page 54: strategetical as in the original Page 55: skurry as in the original Page 59: caldron as in the original Page 70: Sqadrons corrected to Squadrons Page 74: Variable presence of acute accent on échelon as in the original Page 75: screeened corrected to screened Page 99: ariving corrected to arriving Page 100: franctically corrected to frantically Page 102: 7 P.M. as in the original. Should perhaps be A.M. Page 108: strategetic as in the original Page 109: Buluwayo corrected to Bulawayo Page 119: Barkly as in the original Pages 121, 148, 158: Variable spelling of Roodepoort/Roodepoorte/ Roodeport as in the original Page 133: "and did about other six" as in the original Page 149: Johannesberg corrected to Johannesburg Page 155: Landrost standardised to Landdrost Page 157: Variable spelling of horse(-)shoe as in the original Page 164: fusilade corrected to fusillade Page 169: Variable circumflex accent on depôt as in the original Page 172: Nordenfelts corrected to Nordenfeldts Page 176: Variable hyphenation of battle(-)field as in the original Page 180: duplicate "had" removed from "If this step had had not been taken" Page 191: Zambesi as in the original Page 192: ascendency as in the original text General: Variable spelling of khaki/kharki as in the original text General: Variable spelling of Valshe/Valsch/Valsche as in the original text General: Variable hyphenation of head(-)quarters as in the original text General: Variable hyphenation of mid(-)day as in the original text General: Variable hyphenation of rear(-)guard as in the original text General: Variable circumflex accent on viâ as in the original text 
18794	----	Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 18794-h.htm or 18794-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/8/7/9/18794/18794-h/18794-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/8/7/9/18794/18794-h.zip) THREE YEARS' WAR by CHRISTIAAN RUDOLF DE WET Frontispiece by John S. Sargent, R.A. Four Plans and a Map [Illustration: (signature) C. R. de Wet New York Charles Scribner's Sons 1902 Copyright, 1902, by Charles Scribner's Sons All rights reserved Published, December, 1902 Trow Directory Printing and Bookbinding Company New York TO MY FELLOW SUBJECTS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE Preface By way of introduction to my work I wish, dear reader, to say only this short word: "I am no book-writer."--But I felt that the story of this struggle, in which a small people fought for liberty and right, is rightly said, throughout the civilized world, to be unknown, and that it was my duty to record my personal experiences in this war, for the present and for the future generations, not only for the Afrikander people, but for the whole world. Not only did I consider this my duty, but I was encouraged to write by the urgings of prominent men among my people, of men of various nationalities and even of several British officers. Well, dear reader, I hope that you will not feel disappointed in reading these experiences, as it is not in me, as is perhaps sometimes the case with historical authors, to conjure up thrilling pictures--imaginary things--and put them together merely to make up a book or to make a name for themselves. That be far from me! In publishing my book (although it is written in simple style) _I had one object only_, viz., to give to the world a story which, although it does not contain the whole of the truth, as regards this wondrous war, yet contains nothing but the truth. The original has been written by me in Dutch, and I can therefore not be answerable for its translation into other languages. C. R. DE WET. Contents CHAPTER PAGE I. I GO ON COMMANDO AS A PRIVATE BURGHER 3 II. NICHOLSON'S NEK 13 III. LADYSMITH BESIEGED 19 IV. I AM APPOINTED VECHTGENERAAL 22 V. THE OVERWHELMING FORCES OF LORD ROBERTS 26 VI. PAARDEBERG 39 VII. THE WILD FLIGHT FROM POPLAR GROVE 49 VIII. THE BURGHERS RECEIVE PERMISSION TO RETURN TO THEIR HOMES 56 IX. SANNA'S POST 61 X. FOUR HUNDRED AND SEVENTY ENGLISH TAKEN PRISONER AT REDDERSBURG 71 XI. AN UNSUCCESSFUL SIEGE 77 XII. THE ENGLISH SWARM OVER OUR COUNTRY 82 XIII. OUR POSITION AT THE END OF MAY, 1900 92 XIV. ROODEWAL 96 XV. I MAKE LORD KITCHENER'S ACQUAINTANCE 108 XVI. BETHLEHEM IS CAPTURED BY THE ENGLISH 117 XVII. THE SURRENDER OF PRINSLOO 123 XVIII. I AM DRIVEN INTO THE TRANSVAAL 129 XIX. I RETURN TO THE FREE STATE 144 XX. THE OATH OF NEUTRALITY 156 XXI. FREDERIKSSTAD AND BOTHAVILLE 161 XXII. MY MARCH TO THE SOUTH 172 XXIII. I FAIL TO ENTER CAPE COLONY 180 XXIV. WHEREIN SOMETHING IS FOUND ABOUT WAR AGAINST WOMEN 191 XXV. I AGAIN ATTEMPT TO ENTER CAPE COLONY 197 XXVI. DARKNESS PROVES MY SALVATION 215 XXVII. WAS OURS A GUERILLA WAR? 225 XXVIII. NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE ENEMY 230 XXIX. PRESIDENT STEYN'S NARROW ESCAPE 242 XXX. THE LAST PROCLAMATION 246 XXXI. BLOCKHOUSES AND NIGHT ATTACKS 260 XXXII. MY COMMANDO OF SEVEN HUNDRED MEN 267 XXXIII. A SUCCESS AT TWEEFONTEIN 275 XXXIV. I CUT MY WAY THROUGH SIXTY THOUSAND TROOPS 284 XXXV. I GO TO THE TRANSVAAL WITH PRESIDENT STEYN 298 XXXVI. PEACE NEGOTIATIONS 305 XXXVII. THE END OF THE WAR 319 CORRESPONDENCE 325 APPENDICES A.--REPORT OF THE MEETING OF THE GENERAL REPRESENTATIVES HELD AT VEREENIGING IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC ON THE 15TH OF MAY, 1902, AND THE FOLLOWING DAYS 333 B.--THE CONFERENCE AT PRETORIA BETWEEN THE COMMISSION OF THE NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES AND LORDS KITCHENER AND MILNER (MAY 19TH-MAY 28TH, 1902) 365 C.--MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE SPECIAL NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES AT VEREENIGING, SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC, THURSDAY, THE 29TH OF MAY, 1902, AND THE FOLLOWING DAYS 397 INDEX 429 MAP _At end of volume_ THREE YEARS WAR CHAPTER I I Go on Commando as a Private Burgher In the month of September, 1899, the burghers of the Orange Free State were notified, under the Commando Law, to hold themselves in readiness to go on active service at the shortest possible notice. Before proceeding any further I should like to explain that portion of the Commando Law which dealt with commandeering. It stipulated that every burgher between the ages of sixteen and sixty must be prepared to fight for his country at any moment; and that, if required for active service, he must provide himself with a riding-horse, saddle and bridle, with a rifle and thirty cartridges--or, if he were unable to obtain a rifle, he must bring with him thirty bullets, thirty caps, and half a pound of powder--in addition he must be provisioned for eight days. That there should have been an alternative to the rifle was due to the fact that the law was made at a time when only a few burghers possessed breech-loading rifles--_achterlaaiers_, as we call them. With reference to the provisions the law did not specify their quality or quantity, but there was an unwritten but strictly observed rule amongst the burghers that they should consist of meat cut in strips, salted, peppered, and dried, or else of sausages and "Boer biscuits."[1] With regard to quantity, each burgher had to make his own estimate of the amount he would require for eight days. It was not long after they were notified to hold themselves ready that the burghers were called up for active service. On the 2nd of October, 1899, the order came. On that day the Veldtcornets, or their lieutenants, visited every farm and commandeered the men. Amongst the commandeered was I; and thus, as a private burgher, I entered on the campaign. With me were my three sons--Kootie, Isaac, and Christiaan. The following day the men of the sub-district of Krom Ellenborg, in the district of Heilbron--to which I belonged--mustered at Elandslaagte Farm. The Veldtcornet of this sub-district was Mr. Marthinus Els, and the Commandant of the whole contingent Mr. Lucas Steenekamp. It soon became known that the War Commission had decided that our commando was to proceed as rapidly as possible to the Natal frontier, and that with us were to go the troops from Vrede and Harrismith, as well as some from Bethlehem, Winburg, and Kroonstad. Carrying out these orders, we all arrived at Harrismith six days later. Commando life now began in real earnest. The eight days during which the burghers had to feed themselves were soon over, and now it was the duty of the Government to provide for them. It may be interesting to mention here that the British commissariat differed greatly from ours. Rations were served out daily to their troops. Each soldier received the same quantity and the same quality as his comrade. Our methods were very different, except as regards flour, coffee, sugar, and other articles of that nature. The British soldier, for instance, received his meat ready cooked in the form of bully-beef (_blikkiescost_ we called it), whilst the burgher received his meat raw, and had to cook it as best he could. Before I leave this subject I may be forgiven if I describe the method of distributing meat to the burghers. After it had been cut up, the Vleeschkorporaal[2] handed out the pieces--a sufficiently responsible task, as it proved, for, as the portions differed much in quality, it became of the first importance that the Vleeschkorporaal should be a man whose impartiality was above suspicion. To avoid any temptations to favouritism, this useful personage used to turn his back on the burghers, and as the men came up in turn he would pick up the piece of meat which lay nearest to hand and, without looking round, give it to the man who was waiting behind him to receive it. This arrangement should have been satisfactory to all, but it sometimes happened that some burgher, whom fortune had not favoured, made no effort to conceal his discontent, and thus squabbles frequently occurred. Then the Vleeschkorporaal, fully convinced of his own uprightness, would let his tongue go, and the burgher who had complained was a man to be pitied. But such quarrels only occurred early in the campaign. By the time that the Vleeschkorporaal had been a few weeks at his work he had gained a considerable knowledge of human nature, and the injustice of his fellows no longer troubled him. Accordingly he allowed the complaints of the men to go in at one ear and at once to come out at the other. The burghers, too, soon became convinced of the foolishness of their conduct, and learnt the lesson of content and forbearance. As I have already stated, the burgher had to boil or roast his own meat. The roasting was done on a spit cut in the shape of a fork, the wood being obtained from a branch of the nearest tree. A more ambitious fork was manufactured from fencing wire, and had sometimes even as many as four prongs. A skillful man would so arrange the meat on his spit as to have alternate pieces of fat and of lean, and thus get what we used to call a _bout span_.[3] The burghers utilized the flour supplied to them in making cakes; these they cooked in boiling fat, and called them _stormjagers_[4] or _maagbommen_.[5] Later on, the British, finding that by looting our cattle they could get fresh meat for nothing, were no longer forced to be content with bully-beef. They then, like ourselves, killed oxen and sheep; but, unlike us, were very wasteful with it. Often, in the camping places they had vacated, we found the remains of half-eaten oxen, sheep, pigs, and poultry. But I shall not go further into this matter. I leave it to other pens to describe how the British looted our property, wantonly killed our cattle, and devastated our farms. In the course of this narrative my intention is to mention only those cases which I saw with my own eyes. The reader, perusing them, may well pause in surprise and cry out, "Can such things be possible?" To such a question I have only one answer--"They actually occurred, and so my only course is to record them." But enough of these digressions. Let me return to my proper subject--the story of my own experiences and doings in the great struggle which took place between Boer and Briton. As I have already said, I had been commandeered, and, together with the other burghers of the Heilbron commando, had just reached Harrismith, on the road to the south-eastern frontier. During our stay there the other commandos, in obedience to Commando Law, joined us, and we proceeded to elect a Commander-in-Chief. The Commandants present were Steenekamp, of Heilbron; Anthonie Lombaard, of Vrede; C.J. De Villiers, of Harrismith; Hans Nandé, of Bethlehem; Marthinus Prinsloo, of Winburg; and C. Nel, of Kroonstad. The result of the voting was that Prinsloo was chosen for the supreme command. Then the burghers of Winburg selected Mr. Theunissen as their Commandant. He fulfilled his duties admirably, until he was made a prisoner of war. This happened when he was leading a courageous attack at Paardeberg in order to relieve General Piet Cronje. From Harrismith our commando advanced to within six miles of the Natal-Free State frontier, and camped not far from Bezuidenhoutspas, in the Drakensberg. This imposing range of mountains, which then formed the dividing line between Boer and British territory, slopes down gently into the Free State, but on the Natal side is very steep and precipitous. The day after we had elected our Commander-in-Chief I was sent by Commandant Steenekamp, with a small detachment of burghers, to the Natal frontier. I saw nothing of the English there, for they had abandoned all their positions on the frontier shortly before the beginning of the war. When I returned in the evening I found that the burghers had chosen me, in my absence, as Vice-Commandant[6] under Commandant Steenekamp. It was at five o'clock on the afternoon of that day--the 11th of October, 1899--that the time, which the ultimatum allowed to England, expired. The British had not complied with the terms which the South African Republic demanded--the time for negotiations had passed, and war had actually broken out. On this very day martial law was proclaimed by the Governments of the two Republics, and orders were given to occupy the passes on the Drakensberg. Commander-in-Chief Prinsloo despatched Steenekamp that night to Bezuidenhoutspas. Eastwards from there the following commandos were to hold the passes:--Bothaspas was to be occupied by the commando from Vrede; Van Reenen's Pass by the commandos from Harrismith and Winburg; and Tintwaspas by the commando from Kroonstad. Westwards, the burghers from Bethlehem were to guard Oliviershoekpas. Commandant Steenekamp was very ill that night, and was unable to set out; he accordingly ordered me to take his place and to proceed forward with six hundred burghers. Although I had only to cover six miles, it cost me considerable thought to arrange everything satisfactorily. This was due to the fact that real discipline did not exist among the burghers. As the war proceeded, however, a great improvement manifested itself in this matter, although as long as the struggle lasted our discipline was always far from perfect. I do not intend to imply that the burghers were unwilling or unruly; it was only that they were quite unaccustomed to being under orders. When I look back upon the campaign I realize how gigantic a task I performed in regulating everything in accordance with my wishes. It did not take me long to get everything arranged, and we made an early start. It was impossible to say what might lie before us. In spite of the fact that I had visited the spot the day before, I had not been able to cross the frontier. The English might have been on the precipitous side of the mountains under the ridge without my being any the wiser. Perhaps on our arrival we should find them in possession of the pass, occupying good positions and quite prepared for our coming. Everything went well with us, however, and no untoward incident occurred. When the sun rose the following morning the whole country, as far as the eye could reach, lay before us calm and peaceful. I sent a full report of my doings to Commandant Steenekamp, and that evening he himself, although still far from well, appeared with the remaining part of the commando. He brought the news that war had started in grim earnest. General De la Rey had attacked and captured an armoured train at Kraaipan. Some days after this a war council was held at Van Reenen's Pass under Commander-in-Chief Marthinus Prinsloo. As Commandant Steenekamp, owing to his illness, was unable to be present, I attended the council in his place. It was decided that a force of two thousand burghers, under Commandant C.J. De Villiers, of Harrismith, as Vice-Vechtgeneraal,[7] should go down into Natal, and that the remaining forces should guard the passes on the Drakensberg. Let me say, in parenthesis, that the laws of the Orange Free State make no allusion to the post of Vechtgeneraal. But shortly before the war began the Volksraad had given the President the power to appoint such an officer. At the same session the President was allowed the veto on all laws dealing with war. As Commandant Steenekamp was still prevented by his health from going to the front, I was ordered, as Vice-Commandant of the Heilbron commando, to proceed with five hundred men to Natal. It soon became apparent that we had been sent to Natal with the object of cutting off the English who were stationed at Dundee and Elandslaagte. We were to be aided in our task by the Transvaalers who were coming from Volksrust and by a party of burghers from Vrede, all under the command of General Roch. We did not arrive in time to be successful in this plan. That there had been some bungling was not open to question. Yet I am unable to assert to whom our failure was due--whether to the Commandants of the South African Republic, or to Commander-in-Chief Prinsloo, or to Vechtgeneraal De Villiers. For then I was merely a Vice-Commandant, who had not to _give_ orders, but to obey them. But whoever was to blame, it is certainly true that when, early in the morning of the 23rd of October, I cut the line near Dundee, I discovered that the English had retreated to Ladysmith. It was General Yule who had led them, and he gained great praise in British circles for the exploit. If we had only reached our destination a little sooner we should have cut off their retreating troops and given them a very warm time. But now that they had joined their comrades at Ladysmith, we had to be prepared for an attack from their combined forces, and that before the Transvaalers, who were still at Dundee, could reinforce us. The British did not keep us long in anxiety. At eight o'clock the following morning--the 24th of October--they came out of Ladysmith, and the battle of Modder Spruit[8] began. With the sole exception of the skirmish between the Harrismith burghers and the Carabineers at Bester Station on the 18th of October, when Jonson, a burgher of Harrismith, was killed--the earliest victim in our fight for freedom--this was the first fighting the Free-Staters had seen. We occupied kopjes which formed a large semicircle to the west of the railway between Ladysmith and Dundee. Our only gun was placed on the side of a high kop on our western wing. Our men did not number more than a thousand--the other burghers had remained behind as a rear-guard at Bester Station. With three batteries of guns the English marched to the attack, the troops leading the way, the guns some distance behind. A deafening cannonade was opened on us by the enemy's artillery, at a range of about 4,500 yards. Our gun fired a few shots in return, but was soon silenced, and we had to remove it from its position. Small arms were our only weapons for the remainder of the contest. The English at once began as usual to attack our flanks, but they did not attempt to get round our wings. Their object appeared to be to keep us in small parties, so that we should be unable to concentrate a large force anywhere. Meanwhile the troops which were making the attack pushed on closer and closer to us. The country was of such a nature that they were able to get quite near to us without coming under our fire, for small kloofs[9] and other inequalities of the ground afforded them excellent cover. But when they did show themselves they were met by such a frightful and unceasing fire that they could not approach nearer than two hundred paces from our lines. The brunt of the attack was borne by the burghers from Kroonstad, who, under Commandant Nel, formed our western wing. More to the east, where I myself was, our men had less to endure. But every burgher, wherever he might be, fought with the greatest courage. Although there were some who fell killed or wounded, there was no sign of yielding throughout the whole battle, and every one of our positions we successfully held. Till three o'clock in the afternoon we kept up our rifle fire on the English, and then we ceased, for the enemy, realizing the impossibility of driving us out of our positions, withdrew to Ladysmith. Shortly afterwards we were able to go over the battlefield. There were not many dead or wounded to be seen; but burghers who had been stationed on the high kop previously mentioned had seen the English remove their wounded during the engagement. We ourselves had eleven men killed and twenty-one wounded, of whom two subsequently died. This loss touched us deeply, yet it was encouraging to notice that it had not the effect of disheartening a single officer or burgher. Just as the battle began Mr. A.P. Cronje arrived on the scene. He had been nominated by the President as Vechtgeneraal, and had taken over the command from Vice-General C.J. De Villiers. He was most useful in this engagement. When it was over I agreed with him in thinking that our forces were too weak to pursue the retreating English troops. As soon as I was able to leave my position it gave me great pleasure to shake hands with him, for he was an old friend and fellow-member of the Volksraad. It was pleasant to greet him as Vechtgeneraal--he was the son of a valiant officer who had fought in the Basuto war of 1865 and 1866. He had reached the age of sixty-six years, an age when it is very hard for a man to have to stand the strain which the duties of a Vechtgeneraal necessarily entail. [Footnote 1: Small loaves manufactured of flour, with fermented raisins instead of yeast, and twice baked.] [Footnote 2: Officer in charge of the meat--literally, Flesh-corporal.] [Footnote 3: Literally, a team of oxen which are not all of the same colour.] [Footnote 4: Storm-hunters; so-called from being rapidly cooked.] [Footnote 5: Stomach-bombs--a reflection on their wholesomeness.] [Footnote 6: A Vice-Commandant has no duties to fulfil so long as the Commandant is himself in camp and fit for work.] [Footnote 7: Fighting general.] [Footnote 8: Sometimes referred to as the battle of Rietfontein.] [Footnote 9: Water-courses.] CHAPTER II Nicholson's Nek Until the 29th of October we retained our positions at Rietfontein. On that date General Joubert joined us with a portion of the Transvaal commandos. On his arrival it was settled that the Transvaalers should proceed to the north of Ladysmith and occupy positions on the east of Nicholson's Nek, whilst the Free-Staters were to go to the west and north-west of that town. A party of burghers, under Commandant Nel, of Kroonstad, were ordered to station themselves on a kop with a flat top, called Swartbooiskop,[10] an hour and a half to the south of Nicholson's Nek. After the battle which was fought on the 30th of November this kop was christened by us Little Majuba. Just after sunrise on the 30th of November the roaring of cannon came to our ears. The sound came from the extreme end of our position, where the Transvaalers were stationed. No sooner did we hear it than the order to off-saddle was given. I myself asked Commandant Steenekamp, who had arrived the previous day from Bezuidenhoutspas, to go to General Croup's laager, about two miles distant, and to request him to advance to where the firing was taking place. To this request General Croup acceded, and Commandant Steenekamp went there with three hundred men, of whom I was one. Our way led past the kop to the south of Nicholson's Nek. What a sight met our gaze on our arrival there! The kop was occupied by the English. This must be ascribed to the negligence of Commandant Nel, who had orders to guard the kop. He excused himself by assuring us that he had been under the impression that one of his Veldtcornets and a number of burghers were occupying the hill. What could we do now? Commandant Steenekamp and I decided that we must storm the hill with the three hundred men whom we had at our disposal. And this we did, and were sufficiently fortunate to capture the northern point of the kop. On reaching the summit we discovered that the British troops occupied positions extending from the southern point to the middle of the mountain. The enemy, the moment we appeared on the ridge, opened a heavy rifle fire upon us. We answered with as severe a fusillade as theirs. Whilst we were shooting, twenty of Commandant Nel's men joined us and helped us to hold our ground. When we had been engaged in this way for some time we saw that the only possible course was to fight our way from position to position towards the English lines. I now observed that the mountain top was of an oblong shape, extending from north to south for about a thousand paces. At the northern end, where we were, the surface was smooth, but somewhat further south it became rough and stony, affording very good cover. In our present situation we were thus almost completely exposed to the enemy's fire. The English, on the other hand, had excellent positions. There were a number of ruined Kaffir kraals scattered about from the middle of the mountain to its southern end, and these the enemy had occupied, thus securing a great advantage. Our bullets hailed on the English, and very shortly they retreated to the southernmost point of the mountain. This gave us the chance for which we had been waiting, for now we could take the splendid positions they had left. Whilst this was going on an amusing incident occurred. A Jew came up to a burgher who was lying behind a stone, on a piece of ground where boulders were scarce. "Sell me that stone for half-a-crown," whined the Jew. "Loop!"[11] the Boer cried; "I want it myself." "I will give you fifteen shillings," insisted the Jew. Although the Boer had never before possessed anything that had risen in value with such surprising rapidity, at that moment he was anything but ready to drive a bargain with the Jew, and without any hesitation he positively declined to do business. In the positions from which the English had retired we found several dead and wounded men, and succeeded in capturing some prisoners. The enemy were now very strongly posted at the south end of the mountain, for there were in their neighbourhood many Kaffir kraals and huge boulders to protect them from our marksmen. Their fire on us became still more severe and unceasing, and their bullets whistled and sang above our heads, or flattened themselves against the stones. We gave at least as good as we got, and this was so little to their liking that very soon a few white flags appeared in the kraals on their left wing, and from that quarter the firing stopped suddenly. I immediately gave the order to cease fire and to advance towards the enemy. All at once the English blazed away at us again. On our part, we replied with vigour. But that did not continue long. In a very short time white flags fluttered above every kraal--the victory was ours. I have no wish to say that a misuse of the white flag had taken place. I was told when the battle was over that the firing had continued, because the men on our eastern wing had not observed what their comrades on their left had done. And this explanation I willingly accept. Our force in this engagement consisted only of three hundred men from Heilbron, twenty from Kroonstad, and forty or fifty from the Johannesburg Police, these latter under Captain Van Dam. The Police had arrived on the battlefield during the fighting, and had behaved in a most praiseworthy manner. But I overestimate our numbers, for it was not the _whole_ of the Heilbron contingent that reached the firing line. We had to leave some of them behind with the horses at the foot of the kop, and there were others who remained at the first safe position they reached--a frequent occurrence at that period. I took careful note of our numbers when the battle was over, and I can state with certainty that there were not more than two hundred burghers actually engaged. Our losses amounted to four killed and five wounded. As to the losses of the English, I myself counted two hundred and three dead and wounded, and there may have been many whom I did not see. In regard to our prisoners, as they marched past me four deep I counted eight hundred and seventeen. In addition to the prisoners we also captured two Maxim and two mountain guns. They, however, were out of order, and had not been used by the English. The prisoners told us that parts of their big guns had been lost in the night, owing to a stampede of the mules which carried them, and consequently that the guns were incomplete when they reached the mountain. Shortly afterwards we found the mules with the missing parts of the guns. It was very lucky for us that the English were deprived of the use of their guns, for it placed them on the same footing as ourselves, as it compelled them to rely entirely on their rifles. Still they had the advantage of position, not to mention the fact that they out-numbered us by four to one. The guns did not comprise the whole of our capture: we also seized a thousand Lee-Metford rifles, twenty cases of cartridges, and some baggage mules and horses. The fighting had continued without intermission from nine o'clock in the morning until two in the afternoon. The day was exceedingly hot, and as there was no water to be obtained nearer than a mile from the berg,[12] we suffered greatly from thirst. The condition of the wounded touched my heart deeply. It was pitiable to hear them cry, "Water! water!" I ordered my burghers to carry these unfortunate creatures to some thorn-bushes, which afforded shelter from the scorching rays of the sun, and where their doctors could attend to them. Other burghers I told off to fetch water from our prisoners' canteens, to supply our own wounded. As soon as the wounded were safe under the shelter of the trees I despatched a message to Sir George White asking him to send his ambulance to fetch them, and also to make arrangements for the burial of his dead. For some unexplained reason, the English ambulance did not arrive till the following morning. We stayed on the mountain until sunset, and then went down to the laager. I ordered my brother, Piet de Wet, with fifty men of the Bethlehem commando, to remain behind and guard the kop. We reached camp at eight o'clock, and as the men had been without food during the whole day it can be imagined with what delight each watched his _bout span_ frizzling on the spit. This, with a couple of _stormjagers_ and a tin of coffee, made up the meal, and speedily restored them. They were exempted from sentry duty that night, and greatly enjoyed their well-earned rest. To complete my narrative of the day's work, I have only to add that the Transvaal burghers were engaged at various points some eight miles from Nicholson's Nek, and succeeded in taking four hundred prisoners. We placed our sentries that evening with the greatest care. They were stationed not only at a distance from the camp, as _Brandwachten_,[13] but also close round the laager itself. We were especially careful, as it was rumoured that the English had armed the Zulus of Natal. Had this been true, it would have been necessary to exercise the utmost vigilance to guard against these barbarians. Since the very beginning of our existence as a nation--in 1836--our people had been acquainted with black races, and bitter had been their experience. All that our _voortrekkers_[14] had suffered was indelibly stamped on our memory. We well knew what the Zulus could do under cover of darkness--their sanguinary night attacks were not easily forgotten. Their name of "night-wolves" had been well earned. Also we Free-Staters had endured much from the Basutos, in the wars of 1865 and 1867. History had thus taught us to place _Brandwachten_ round our laagers at night, and to reconnoitre during the hours of darkness as well as in the day-time. Perhaps I shall be able to give later on a fuller account in these pages--or, it may be, in another book--of the way we were accustomed to reconnoitre, and of the reasons why the scouting of the British so frequently ended in disaster. But I cannot resist saying here that the English only learnt the art of scouting during the latter part of the war, when they made use of the Boer deserters--the "Hands-uppers." These deserters were our undoing. I shall have a good deal more to say about them before I finally lay down my pen, and I shall not hesitate to call them by their true name--the name with which they will be for ever branded before all the nations of the world. [Footnote 10: About nine miles: distance reckoned by average pace of ridden horse--six miles an hour.] [Footnote 11: Clear off.] [Footnote 12: Hill.] [Footnote 13: Literally, watch-fire men. They were the furthest outposts, whose duty it was to signal by means of their fires.] [Footnote 14: Pioneers.] CHAPTER III Ladysmith Besieged The Orange Free State and the South African Republic held a joint council of war on the 1st of November, and it was then decided to lay siege to Ladysmith. We also agreed to send out a horse-commando in the direction of Estcourt. This commando, under Vice-General Louis Botha, had several skirmishes with the enemy. On the 15th of November he engaged an armoured train, capturing a hundred of the British troops. This was General Botha's chief exploit, and shortly afterwards he returned to camp. But I must not anticipate. On the night of the council of war, General Piet Cronje was sent to occupy positions to the south and south-west of Ladysmith. He had with him the Heilbron burghers, a part of the commandos from Winburg and Harrismith, and two Krupp guns. On the following day a brush took place with the enemy, who, however, speedily fell back on Ladysmith. On the 3rd, a few of their infantry regiments, with a thousand or fifteen hundred mounted troops, and two batteries of 15 and 12-pound Armstrong guns, marched out of the town in a south-westerly direction. The English brought these two guns into position at such a distance from us that we could not reach them with the Mauser; nor would it have been safe for us to advance upon them, for between them and us lay an open plain, which would have afforded no cover. One of our guns, which was placed exactly in front of the enemy, did indeed begin to fire; but after a shot or two, it received so much attention from the English artillery that we were compelled--just as at Rietfontein--to desist. The British infantry and cavalry did not show any excessive eagerness to tackle us; and we, on our side, were as disinclined to come to close quarters with them. Nevertheless, the enemy's infantry, backed up by the thunder of twelve guns, did make an attempt to reach us; but though they advanced repeatedly, they were for the most part careful to keep out of range of our rifles. When they neglected this precaution, they soon found themselves compelled to retire with loss. Our second gun, which had been placed on a _tafel-kop_[15] to the east of the ground where the engagement was taking place, did excellent work. It effectually baulked the enemy's mounted troops in their repeated efforts to outflank us on that side, and also made it impossible for the English to bring their guns farther east, so as to command the _tafel-kop_. They did, indeed, make an attempt to place some guns between us and Platrand, which lay to the north of our eastern position, but it was unsuccessful, for our Krupp on the _tafel-kop_ brought such a heavy fire to bear on the troops and gunners, that they were forced to retire. We, on our part, as I have already said, found it equally impossible to storm the English positions. To advance would have been to expose ourselves to the fire of their heavy guns, whereas an attack to the south would have involved exposure to a cross-fire from the guns on Platrand. Altogether it was a most unsatisfactory engagement for us both. Nothing decisive was effected; and, as is always the case in such battles, little was done except by the big guns, which kept up a perpetual roar from ten in the morning until five in the afternoon. At that hour the British fell back on Ladysmith. Our loss was one killed and six wounded, among the latter being Veldtcornet Marthinus Els, of Heilbron. It was evident that the English did not escape without loss, but we were unable to ascertain its extent. My own opinion is that they did not lose very heavily. From that day nothing of importance happened until I left Natal; though both the Transvaalers and Free State burghers had a few slight brushes with the enemy. During the night of December the 7th, "Long Tom," the big Transvaal gun, which had been placed on Bulwana Hill, had been so seriously damaged by dynamite, that it had to remain out of action for some time. We all admitted that the English on that occasion acted with great skill and prudence, and that the courage of their leaders deserved every praise. Yet, if we had only been on our guard, we might have beaten off the storming party; but they had caught us unawares. Nevertheless, the mishap taught us a useful lesson: henceforth the Transvaal Commandants were more strict, and their increased severity had an excellent effect both on the burghers and gunners. General Sir Redvers Buller had landed at Cape Town early in November. We were now expecting every day to hear that he had assumed the chief command over the English army encamped between Estcourt and Colenso. The number of troops there was continually increasing owing to the reinforcements which kept pouring in from over the ocean. Great things were expected of Sir Redvers Buller, to whom the Boers, by a play of words, had given a somewhat disrespectful nick-name. He had not been long in Natal before his chance came. I must, however, be silent about his successes and his failures, for, as I left Natal on the 9th of December, I had no personal experience of his methods. But this I will say, that whatever his own people have to say to his discredit, Sir Redvers Buller had to operate against stronger positions than any other English general in South Africa. [Footnote 15: A table-shaped mountain.] CHAPTER IV I am Appointed Vechtgeneraal Up to the 9th of December I had only been a Vice-Commandant, but on the morning of that day I received a telegram from States-President Steyn, asking me to go to the Western frontier as Vechtgeneraal. This came as a great surprise to me, and I telegraphed back to the President asking for time to think the matter over. To tell the truth, I should have much preferred to go through the campaign as a private burgher. Almost immediately after this there came another telegram--this time from Mr. A. Fisscher, a member of the Executive Council, and a man whom I respected greatly on account of his official position. He urged me not to decline the appointment, but to proceed at once to the Western borders. I did not know what to do. However, after deliberating for a short time, and with great difficulty overcoming my disinclination to leave my present associates, I decided to accept the post offered to me. Commandant Steenekamp was kind enough to allow me to take with me fourteen men, with whom I had been on especially friendly terms; and, after a few parting words to the Heilbron burghers, in which I thanked them for all the pleasant times I had passed in their company, I left the laager. It was heart-breaking to tear myself away from my commando: that 9th of December was a day which I shall never forget. The following morning I arrived, with my staff, at Elandslaagte Station, on our way to Bloemfontein. A special train, provided by the Transvaal authorities, at the request of my Government, was waiting for us, and we started without a moment's delay. As we journeyed on, the conductor would sometimes ask me whether I should like to stop at such and such a station, but my answer was always: "No! no! hurry on!" But when we got as far as Viljoen's Drift, there was an end to my "special train!" In spite of the Government's orders that I was to be sent forward without delay, I had to wait six hours, and then be content to travel as an ordinary passenger. At Bloemfontein we found everything ready for us, and at once started on our journey of sixty or seventy miles to Magersfontein, where we arrived on December the 16th. During the time I had spent in travelling, three important engagements had taken place, namely those of Colenso, Magersfontein and Stormberg. At Colenso, the English had suffered heavy losses, and ten guns had fallen into our hands. Magersfontein also had cost them dear, and there General Wauchope had met his fate; while at Stormberg seven hundred of them had been taken prisoners, and three of their big guns had been captured by us. At Magersfontein were six or seven thousand Transvaal burghers under General Piet Cronje, with General De la Rey as second in command. Thus it fell to my lot to take over the command of the Free-Staters. The Commander-in-Chief of these Free State burghers, as well as of those who were camped round Kimberley, was Mr. C.J. Wessels; Mr. E.R. Grobler commanded at Colesberg, and Mr. J.H. Olivier at Stormberg. I spent my first few days at Magersfontein in organizing the Free State burghers. When this task had been accomplished, General De la Rey and I asked General Cronje's permission to take fifteen hundred men, and carry on operations in the direction of Hopetown and De Aar with the intention of breaking Lord Methuen's railway communications. But Cronje would hear nothing of the scheme. Say what we would, there was no moving him. He absolutely refused to allow fifteen hundred of his men to leave their positions at Magersfontein, unless the Government found it impossible to procure that number of burghers from elsewhere. Thus our plan came to nothing. Shortly afterwards De la Rey was sent to the commandos at Colesberg, and I succeeded him in the command of the Transvaalers at Magersfontein. The Government then put General Wessels in sole command at Kimberley, and gave General Cronje the chief command over the Free State burghers at Magersfontein. Thus it was that I, as Vechtgeneraal, had to receive my orders from Cronje. I had the following Commandants under me: Du Preez, of Hoopstad; Grobler, of Fauresmith; D. Lubbe, of Jacobsdal; Piet Fourie, of Bloemfontein; J. Kok and Jordaan, of Winburg; Ignatius Ferreira, of Ladybrand; Paul De Villiers, of Ficksburg; Du Plessis, and, subsequently, Commandant Diederiks, of Boshof. * * * * * The English had entrenched themselves at the Modder River, we at Magersfontein. There was little or nothing for us to do, and yet I never had a more troublesome time in my life. I had all the Transvaalers under my orders, in addition to the burghers of the Free State, and the positions which I had to inspect every day extended over a distance of fifteen miles from end to end. I had to listen to constant complaints; one of the officers would say that he could not hold out against an attack if it were delivered at such and such a point; another, that he had not sufficient troops with him, not to mention other remarks which were nonsensical in the extreme. In the meantime, the enemy was shelling our positions unceasingly. Not a day passed but two of their Lyddite guns dropped shells amongst us. Sometimes not more than four or five reached us in the twenty-four hours; at other times from fifty to two hundred, and once as many as four hundred and thirty-six. In spite of this, we had but few mishaps. Indeed, I can only remember three instances of any one being hurt by the shells. A young burgher, while riding behind a ridge and thus quite hidden from the enemy, was hit by a bomb, and both he and his horse were blown to atoms. This youth was a son of Mr. Gideon van Tonder, a member of the Executive Council. Another Lyddite shell so severely wounded two brothers, named Wolfaard, Potchefstroom burghers, that we almost despaired of their lives. Nevertheless, they recovered. I do not want to imply that the British Artillery were poor shots. Far from it. Their range was very good, and, as they had plenty of practice every day, shot after shot went home. I ascribe our comparative immunity to a Higher Power, which averted misfortune from us. I had not been long at Magersfontein before I became convinced that Lord Methuen was most unlikely to make another attack on our extensive positions. I said nothing of this to any of the burghers, but on more than one occasion, I told General Cronje what I thought about the matter. "The enemy," I repeated to him over and over again, "will not attack us here. He will flank us." But Cronje would not listen to me. The presence of women in our laager was a great hindrance to me in my work. Indeed, I opened a correspondence with the Government on the matter, and begged them to forbid it. But here again my efforts were unavailing. Later on, we shall see in what a predicament the Republican laagers were placed through the toleration of this irregularity. Meanwhile, the inevitable results of Cronje's policy became more and more apparent to me, and before long we had to suffer for his obstinacy in keeping us to our trenches and _schanzes_.[16] [Footnote 16: A shelter-mound of earth and boulders.] CHAPTER V The Overwhelming Forces of Lord Roberts I speedily discovered the object which the English had in view in taking such advanced positions and in bombarding Magersfontein. They wished to give us the impression that they were able to attack us at any moment and so to keep us tied to our positions. In the meantime they were making preparations in another direction, for the movement which was really intended--namely, the advance of Lord Roberts with his overwhelming force. The Commander-in-Chief, Piet de Wet (and before him Commandant H. Schorman), had plenty of work given them by the English. But General De la Rey had been so successful that he had prevented Lord Roberts, notwithstanding the enormous numbers he commanded, from crossing the Orange River at Norvalspont, and had thus forced him to take the Modder River route. Lord Roberts would have found it more convenient to have crossed the Orange River, for the railway runs through Norvalspont. Yet had he attempted it, he would have fared as badly as Sir Redvers Buller did in Natal. Our positions at Colesberg, and to the north of the river, were exceedingly strong. He was wise, therefore, in his decision to march over the unbroken plains. It was now, as I had foreseen, that the English renewed their flanking tactics. On the 11th of February, 1900, a strong contingent of mounted troops, under General French, issued from the camps at Modder River and Koedoesberg. This latter was a kop on the Riet River, about twelve miles to the east of their main camp. At ten o'clock in the morning, General French started. Immediately I received orders from General Cronje to proceed with three hundred and fifty men to check the advancing troops. As I stood on the ridges of Magersfontein, I was able to look down upon the English camps, and I saw that it would be sheer madness to pit three hundred and fifty men against General French's large force. Accordingly I asked that one hundred and fifty more burghers and two guns might be placed at my disposal. This request, however, was refused, and so I had to proceed without them. When we arrived at Koedoesberg that afternoon, we found that the English had already taken possession of the hill. They were stationed at its southern end, and had nearly completed a stone wall across the hill from east to west. Their camp was situated on the Riet River, which flows beside the southern slopes of the _berg_. The enemy also held strong positions on hillocks to the east of the mountain, whilst on the west they occupied a ravine, which descended from the mountain to the river. Commandant Froneman and I determined to storm the _berg_ without a moment's delay. We reached the foot of the mountain in safety, and here we were out of sight of the English. But it was impossible to remain in this situation, and I gave orders that my men should climb the mountain. We succeeded in reaching the summit, but were unable to get within seven hundred paces of the enemy, owing to the severity of their fire from behind the stone wall. And so we remained where we were until it became quite dark, and then very quietly went back to the spot where we had left our horses. As General French was in possession of the river, we had to ride about four miles before we could obtain any water. Early the following morning we again occupied the positions we had held on the previous evening. Although under a severe rifle fire, we then rushed from position to position, and at last were only three hundred paces from the enemy. And now I was forced to rest content with the ground we had gained, for with only three hundred and fifty men I dare not risk a further advance, owing to the strength of the enemy's position. The previous day I had asked General Cronje to send me reinforcements, and I had to delay the advance until their arrival. In a very short time a small party of burghers made their appearance. They had two field-pieces with them, and were under the command of Major Albrecht. We placed the guns in position and trained them on the English. With the second shot we had found our range, while the third found its mark in the wall, so that it was not long before the enemy had to abandon that shelter. To find safe cover they were forced to retreat some hundred paces. But we gained little by this, for the new positions of the English were quite as good as those from which we had driven them, and, moreover, were almost out of range of our guns. And we were unable to bring our field-pieces any nearer because our gunners would have been exposed to the enemy's rifle fire. Our Krupps made good practice on the four English guns which had been stationed on the river bank to the south. Up till now these had kept up a terrific fire on our guns, but we soon drove them across the river, to seek protection behind the mountain. I despatched General Froneman to hold the river bank, and the _sluit_[17] which descended to the river from the north. While carrying out this order he was exposed to a heavy fire from the enemy's western wing, which was located in the above-mentioned ravine, but he succeeded in reaching the river under cover of the guns. Once there, the enemy's artillery made it impossible for him to move. And now a curious incident occurred! A falcon, hovering over the heads of our burghers in the _sluit_, was hit by a bullet from one of the shrapnel shells and fell dead to the ground in the midst of the men. It was already half-past four, and we began to ask ourselves how the affair would end. At this juncture I received a report from a burgher, whom I had placed on the eastern side of the mountain to watch the movements of the English at the Modder River. He told me that a mountain corps, eight hundred to a thousand men strong, was approaching us with two guns, with the intention, as it appeared, of outflanking us. I also learnt that eighty of my men had retreated. I had stationed them that morning on a hillock three miles to the east of the mountain, my object being to prevent General French from surrounding us. It now became necessary to check the advance of this mountain corps. But how? There were only thirty-six men at my disposal. The other burghers were in positions closer to the enemy, and I could not withdraw them without exposing them too seriously to the bullets of the English. There was nothing for it, but that I with my thirty-six burghers should attack the force which threatened us. We rushed down the mountain and jumping on our horses, galloped against the enemy. When we arrived at the precipice which falls sheer from the mountain, the English were already so near that our only course was to charge them. In front of us there was a plain which extended for some twelve hundred paces to the foot of an abrupt rise in the ground. This we fortunately reached before the English, although we were exposed all the way to the fire of their guns. But even when we gained the rise we were little better off, as it was too low to give us cover. The English were scarcely more than four hundred paces from us. They dismounted and opened a heavy fire. For ten or fifteen minutes we successfully kept them back. Then the sun went down! and to my great relief the enemy moved away in the direction of their comrades on the mountain. I ordered all my men from their positions, and withdrew to the spot where we had encamped the previous night. The burghers were exhausted by hunger and thirst, for they had had nothing to eat except the provisions which they had brought in their saddle-bags from the laager. That evening Andreas Cronje--- the General's brother--joined us with two hundred and fifty men and a Maxim-Nordenfeldt. When the sun rose on the following day, the veldt was clear of the enemy. General French had during the night retreated to headquarters. What losses he had suffered I am unable to say; ours amounted to seven wounded and two killed. Our task here was now ended, and so we returned to Magersfontein. The following morning a large force again left the English camp and took the direction of the Koffiefontein diamond mine. General Cronje immediately ordered me to take a force of four hundred and fifty men with a Krupp and a Maxim-Nordenfeldt, and to drive back the enemy. At my request, Commandants Andreas Cronje, Piet Fourie, Scholten and Lubbe joined me, and that evening we camped quite close to the spot where the English force was stationed! Early the next day, before the enemy had made any movement, we started for Blauwbank,[18] and, having arrived there, we took up our positions. Shortly afterwards the fight began; it was confined entirely to the artillery. We soon saw that we should have to deal with the whole of Lord Roberts' force, for there it was, advancing in the direction of Paardenberg's Drift. It was thus clear that Lord Roberts had not sent his troops to Koffiefontein with the intention of proceeding by that route to Bloemfontein, but that his object had been to divide our forces, so as to march via Paardenberg's Drift to the Capital. I accordingly withdrew with three hundred and fifty of the burghers in the direction of Koffiefontein, and then hid my commando as best I could. The remainder of the men--about a hundred in number--I placed under Commandant Lubbe, giving him orders to proceed in a direction parallel to the advance of the English, who now were nearing Paardenberg's Drift, and to keep a keen eye on their movements. It was a large force that Lubbe had to watch. It consisted chiefly of mounted troops; but there were also nine or ten batteries and a convoy of light mule waggons. I thought that as General Cronje was opposing them in front, my duty was to keep myself in hiding and to reconnoitre. I wished to communicate with General Cronje before the English troops came up to him, and with this object I sent out a despatch rider. The man I chose for the mission was Commandant G.J. Scheepers--whose name later in the war was on every man's lips for his exploits in Cape Colony, but who then was only the head of our heliograph corps. I informed General Cronje in my message that the English, who had been stationed at Blauwbank, had made a move in the direction of Paardenberg's Drift; and I advised him to get out of their road as quickly as he could, for they numbered, according to my computation, forty or fifty thousand men. I thought it wise to give Cronje this advice, on account of the women and children in our camps, who might easily prove the cause of disaster. When Scheepers returned he told me what reply General Cronje had made. It is from no lack of respect for the General, whom I hold in the highest honour as a hero incapable of fear, that I set down what he said. It is rather from a wish to give a proof of his undaunted courage that I quote his words. "Are you afraid of things like that?" he asked, when Scheepers had given my message. "Just you go and shoot them down, and catch them when they run." At Paardenberg's Drift there were some Free-Staters' camps that stood apart from the others. In these camps there were a class of burghers who were not much use in actual fighting. These men, called by us "water draggers," correspond to the English "non-combatants." I ordered these burghers to withdraw to a spot two hours' trek from there, where there was more grass. But before all had obeyed this order, a small camp, consisting of twenty or thirty waggons, was surprised and taken. In the meantime, keeping my little commando entirely concealed, I spied out the enemy's movements. On the 16th of February, I thought I saw a chance of dealing an effective blow at Lord Roberts. Some provision waggons, escorted by a large convoy, were passing by, following in the wake of the British troops. I asked myself whether it was possible for me to capture it then and there, and came to the conclusion that it was out of the question. With so many of the enemy's troops in the neighbourhood, the risk would have been too great. I, therefore, still kept in hiding with my three hundred and fifty burghers. I remained where I was throughout the next day; but in the evening I saw the convoy camping near Blauwbank, just to the west of the Riet River. I also observed that the greater part of the troops had gone forward with Lord Roberts. On the 18th I still kept hidden, for the English army had not yet moved out of camp. The troops, as I learnt afterwards, were awaiting the arrival of columns from Belmont Station. On the following day I attacked the convoy on the flank. The three or four hundred troops who were guarding it offered a stout resistance, although they were without any guns. After fighting for two hours the English received a reinforcement of cavalry, with four Armstrong guns, and redoubled their efforts to drive us from the positions we had taken up under cover of the mule waggons. As I knew that it would be a serious blow to Lord Roberts to lose the provisions he was expecting, I was firmly resolved to capture them, unless the force of numbers rendered the task quite impossible. I accordingly resisted the enemy's attack with all the power I could. The battle raged until it became dark; and I think we were justified in being satisfied with what we had achieved. We had captured sixteen hundred oxen and forty prisoners; whilst General Fourie, whom I had ordered to attack the camp on the south, had taken several prisoners and a few water-carts. We remained that night in our positions. The small number of burghers I had at my disposal made it impossible for me to surround the English camp. To our great surprise, the following morning, we saw that the English had gone. About twenty soldiers had, however, remained behind; we found them hidden along the banks of the Riet River at a short distance from the convoy. We also discovered thirty-six Kaffirs on a ridge about three miles away. As to the enemy's camp, it was entirely deserted. Our booty was enormous, and consisted of two hundred heavily-laden waggons, and eleven or twelve water-carts and trollies. On some of the waggons we found klinkers,[19] jam, milk, sardines, salmon, cases of corned beef, and other such provisions in great variety. Other waggons were loaded with rum; and still others contained oats and horse provender pressed into bales. In addition to these stores, we took one field-piece, which the English had left behind. It was, indeed, a gigantic capture; the only question was what to do with it. Our prisoners told us that columns from Belmont might be expected at any moment. Had these arrived we should have been unable to hold out against them. By some means or other it was necessary to get the provisions away, not that we were then in any great need of them ourselves, but because we knew that Lord Roberts would be put in a grave difficulty if he lost all this food. I did not lose a moment's time, but at once ordered the burghers to load up the waggons as speedily as possible, and to inspan. It was necessary to reload the waggons, for the English troops had made use of the contents to build _schanzes_; and excellent ones the provisions had made. The loading of the waggons was simple enough, but when it came to inspanning it was another matter. The Kaffir drivers alone knew where each span had to be placed, and there were only thirty-six Kaffirs left. But here the fact that every Boer is himself a handy conductor and driver of waggons told in our favour. Consequently we did not find it beyond our power to get the waggons on the move. It was, however, very tedious work, for how could any of us be sure that we were not placing the after-oxen in front and the fore-oxen behind? There was nothing left for it but to turn out the best spans of sixteen oxen that we could, and then to arrange them in the way that struck us as being most suitable. It was all done in the most hurried manner, for our one idea was to be off as quickly as possible. Even when we had started our troubles were not at an end. The waggons would have been a hard pull for sixteen oxen properly arranged; so that it is not surprising that our ill-sorted teams found the work almost beyond their strength. Thus it happened that we took a very long time to cover the first few miles, as we had constantly to be stopping to re-arrange the oxen. But under the supervision of Commandant Piet Fourie, whom I appointed Conductor-in-Chief, matters improved from hour to hour. After a short time I issued orders that the convoy should proceed over Koffiefontein to Edenberg. I then divided my burghers into two parties; the first, consisting of two hundred men with the Krupp gun, I ordered to proceed with the convoy; the second, consisting of a hundred and fifty men with the Maxim-Nordenfeldt, I took under my own command, and set out with them in the direction of Paardenberg's Drift. My spies had informed me that there were some fifty or sixty English troops posted about eight miles from the spot where we had captured the convoy. We made our way towards them, and when we were at a distance of about three thousand yards, I sent a little note to their officer, asking him to surrender. It was impossible for his troops to escape, for they found themselves threatened on three sides. The sun had just gone down when my despatch-rider reached the English camp; and the officer in command was not long in sending him his reply, accompanied by an orderly. "Are you General De Wet?" the orderly asked me. "I am," replied I. "My officer in command," he said in a polite but determined voice, "wishes me to tell you that we are a good hundred men strong, that we are well provided with food and ammunition, and that we hold a strong position in some houses and kraals. Every moment we are expecting ten thousand men from Belmont, and we are waiting here with the sole purpose of conducting them to Lord Roberts." I allowed him to speak without interrupting him; but when he had finished, I answered him in quite as determined a voice as he had used to me. "I will give you just enough time to get back and to tell your officer in command that, if he does not surrender at once, I shall shell him and storm his position. He will be allowed exactly ten minutes to make up his mind--then the white flag must appear." "But where is your gun?" the orderly asked. In reply I pointed to the Maxim-Nordenfeldt, which stood a few hundred paces behind us, surrounded by some burghers. "Will you give us your word of honour," he asked me when he caught sight of the gun, "not to stir from your position till we have got ten miles away? That is the only condition on which we will abandon our positions." I again allowed him to finish, although his demand filled me with the utmost astonishment. I asked myself what sort of men this English officer imagined the Boer Generals to be. "I demand unconditional surrender," I then said. "I give you ten minutes from the moment you dismount on arriving at your camp; when those ten minutes have passed I fire." He slung round, and galloped back to his camp, the stones flying from his horse's hoofs. He had hardly dismounted before the white flag appeared. It did not take us long to reach the camp, and there we found fifty-eight mounted men. These prisoners I despatched that evening to join the convoy. I then advanced with my commando another six miles, with the object of watching Lord Roberts' movements, in case he should send a force back to retake the convoy he could so ill spare. But the following day we saw nothing except a single scouting party coming from the direction of Paardenberg's Drift. This proved to consist of the hundred burghers whom I had sent with Commandant Lubbe to General Cronje's assistance. I heard from Lubbe that General French had broken through, and had in all probability relieved Kimberley; and that General Cronje was retreating before Lord Roberts towards Paardeberg. I may say here that I was not at all pleased that Commandant Lubbe should have returned. On account of Lubbe's information, I decided to advance at once in the direction of Paardenberg's Drift, and was on the point of doing so when I received a report from President Steyn. He informed me that I should find at a certain spot that evening, close to Koffiefontein, Mr. Philip Botha[20] with a reinforcement of one hundred and fifty men. This report convinced me that the convoy I had captured would reach Edenberg Station without mishap, and accordingly I went after it to fetch back the gun which would no longer be needed. I found the convoy encamped about six miles from Koffiefontein. Immediately after my arrival, General Jacobs, of Fauresmith, and Commandant Hertzog,[21] of Philippolis, brought the news to me that troops were marching on us from Belmont Station. I told Jacobs and Hertzog to return with their men, two or three hundred in number to meet the approaching English. We were so well supplied with forage that our horses got as much as they could eat. I had, therefore, no hesitation in ordering my men to up-saddle at midnight, and by half-past two we had joined Vice-Vechtgeneraal Philip Botha. I had sent him word to be ready to move, so that we were able to hasten at once to General Cronje's assistance. Our combined force amounted to three hundred men all told. [Footnote 17: A ravine or water-course.] [Footnote 18: In the district of Jacobsdal.] [Footnote 19: Biscuits.] [Footnote 20: Mr. Philip Botha had just been appointed Vice-Vechtgeneraal.] [Footnote 21: Brother to Judge Hertzog.] [Illustration: PAARDEBERG (CRONJE'S). FROM A SKETCH BY THE AUTHOR.] CHAPTER VI Paardeberg An hour after sunrise we off-saddled, and heard, from the direction of Paardeberg, the indescribable thunder of bombardment. That sound gave us all the more reason for haste. We allowed our horses the shortest possible time for rest, partook of the most hurried of breakfasts, and at once were again on the move, with the frightful roar of the guns always in our ears. About half-past four that afternoon, we reached a point some six miles to the east of Paardeberg, and saw, on the right bank of the Modder River, four miles to the north-east of the mountain, General Cronje's laager. It was surrounded completely by the enemy, as a careful inspection through our field-glasses showed. Immediately in front of us were the buildings and kraals of Stinkfontein, and there on the opposite bank of the river stood Paardeberg. To the left and to the right of it were khaki-coloured groups dotted everywhere about--General Cronje was hemmed in on all sides, he and his burghers--a mere handful compared with the encircling multitude. What a spectacle we saw! All round the laager were the guns of the English, belching forth death and destruction, while from within it at every moment, as each successive shell tore up the ground, there rose a cloud--a dark red cloud of dust. It was necessary to act--but how? We decided to make an immediate attack upon the nearest of Lord Roberts' troops, those which were stationed in the vicinity of Stinkfontein, and to seize some ridges which lay about two and a half miles south-east of the laager. Stinkfontein was about a thousand paces to the north of these ridges, and perhaps a few hundred paces farther from where Cronje was stationed. We rode towards the ridges, and when we were from twelve to fourteen hundred paces from Stinkfontein, we saw that the place was occupied by a strong force of British troops. General Botha and I then arranged that he should storm the houses, kraals and garden walls of Stinkfontein, whilst I charged the ridges. And this we did, nothing daunted by the tremendous rifle fire which burst upon us. Cronje's pitiable condition confronted us, and we had but one thought--could we relieve him? We succeeded in driving the English out of Stinkfontein, and took sixty of them prisoners. The enemy's fire played on us unceasingly, and notwithstanding the fact that we occupied good positions, we lost two men, and had several of our horses killed and wounded. We remained there for two and a half days--from the 22nd to the 25th of February--and then were forced to retire. While evacuating our positions, three of my burghers were killed, seven wounded, and fourteen taken prisoner. But the reader will justly demand more details as to the surrender of Cronje, an event which forms one of the most important chapters in the history of the two Republics. I am able to give the following particulars. After we had captured the positions referred to above, I gave orders that the Krupp and the Maxim-Nordenfeldt should be brought up. For with our hurried advance, the oxen attached to the big guns, as well as some of the burghers' horses, had become so fatigued, that the guns and a number of the burghers had been left behind. The ridges were so thickly strewn with boulders, that even on the arrival of the guns, it was impossible to place them in position until we had first cleared a path for them. I made up my mind to turn these boulders to account by using them to build _schanzes_, for I knew that a tremendous bombardment would be opened upon our poor Krupp and Maxim-Nordenfeldt as soon as they made themselves heard. During the night we built these _schanzes_, and before the sun rose the following morning, the guns were placed in position. By daybreak the English had crept up to within a short distance of our lines. It was the Krupp and the Maxim-Nordenfeldt that gave our answer. But we had to be very sparing of our ammunition, for it was almost exhausted, and it would take at least five days to get a fresh supply from Bloemfontein. Our arrival on the previous day had made a way of escape for General Cronje. It is true that he would have been obliged to leave everything behind him, but he and his burghers would have got away in safety. The British had retreated before our advance, thus opening a road between us and the laager. That road was made yet wider by the fire from our guns. But General Cronje would not move. Had he done so, his losses would not have been heavy. His determination to remain in that ill-fated laager cost him dearly. The world will honour that great general and his brave burghers; and if I presume to criticize his conduct on this occasion, it is only because I believe that he ought to have sacrificed his own ideas for the good of the nation, and that he should have not been courageous at the expense of his country's independence, to which he was as fiercely attached as I. Some of the burghers in the laager made their escape, for, on the second day, when our guns had cleared a wide path, Commandants Froneman and Potgieter (of Wolmaranstadt), with twenty men, came galloping out of the laager towards us. Although we were only a few in number, the British had their work cut out to dislodge us. First they tried their favourite strategy of a flanking movement, sending out strong columns of cavalry, with heavy guns to surround us. It was necessary to prevent the fulfilment of this project. I, therefore, removed the Krupp and the Maxim-Nordenfeldt from their positions, and divided our little force into three portions. I ordered the first to remain in their position, the second was to proceed with the Krupp round our left wing, while I despatched the third party to hold back the left wing of the British. I had no wish to share General Cronje's unenviable position. We succeeded in checking the advance of the enemy's wings; and when he saw that we were not to be outflanked he changed his tactics, and while still retaining his wings where they were, in order to keep our men occupied, he delivered at mid-day, on the 20th, an attack on our centre with a strong force of infantry. The result of this was that the British gained one of our positions, that, namely, which was held by Veldtcornet Meyer, an officer under Commandant Spruit. Meyer was entirely unable to beat off the attack, and, at nightfall, was compelled to retire about two or three hundred paces, to a little ridge, which he held effectively. As the English took up the abandoned position, they raised a cheer, and Commandant Spruit, who was ignorant of its meaning, and believed that his men were still in possession, went there alone. "_Hoe gaat het?_"[22] he called out. "Hands up!" was the reply he received. There was nothing left for the Commandant to do but to give himself up. The soldiers led him over a ridge, and struck a light to discover his identity. Finding papers in his pocket which showed that their prisoner was an important personage, they raised cheer upon cheer.[23] I heard them cheering, and thought that the enemy were about to attempt another attack, and so gave orders that whatever happened our positions must be held, for they were the key to General Cronje's escape. However, no attack was delivered. Nobody could have foreseen that two thousand infantry would give up the attack on positions which they had so nearly captured, and we all expected a sanguinary engagement on the following morning. We had made up our minds to stand firm, for we knew that if General Cronje failed to make his way out, it would be a real calamity to our great cause. Fully expecting an attack, we remained all that night at our posts. Not a man of us slept, but just before dawn we heard this order from the English lines: "Fall in." "What can be the meaning of this?" we ask one another. Lying, sitting or standing, each of us is now at his post, and staring out into the darkness, expecting an attack every moment. We hold our breath and listen. Is there no sound of approaching footsteps? And now the light increases. Is it possible? Yes, our eyes do not deceive us. The enemy is gone. Surprise and joy are on every face. One hears on all sides the exclamation, "If only Cronje would make the attempt now." It was the morning of the 25th of February. But the enemy were not to leave us alone for long. By nine o'clock they were advancing upon us again, with both right and left wing reinforced. I had only a few shots left for the Krupp, and thirty for the Maxim-Nordenfeldt, and this last ammunition must now be expended on the wings. One gun I despatched to the right, the other to the left, and the English were checked in their advance. I had ordered the gunners, as soon as they had fired their last round to bring their guns into safe positions in the direction of Petrusberg. Very soon I observed that this order was being executed, and thus learnt that the ammunition had run out. The burghers who, with their rifles, had attempted to hold back the wings, now having no longer any support from the big guns, were unable to stand their ground against the overpowering forces of the enemy, and shortly after the guns were removed, I saw them retreat. What was I to do? I was being bombarded incessantly, and since the morning had been severely harassed by small-arm fire. All this, however, I could have borne, but now the enemy began to surround me. It was a hard thing to be thus forced to abandon the key to General Cronje's escape. In all haste I ordered my men to retire. They had seen throughout that this was unavoidable, and had even said to me: "If we remain here, General, we shall be surrounded with General Cronje." All made good their retreat, with the exception of Veldtcornet Speller, of Wepener, who, to my great regret, was taken prisoner there with fourteen men. That occurred owing to my adjutant forgetting, in the general confusion, to give them my orders to retreat. When Speller found that he, with his fourteen men, was left behind, he defended himself, as I heard later, with great valour, until at last he was captured by overpowering numbers. It cost the English a good many dead and wounded to get him out of his _schanzes_. Although I had foreseen that our escape would be a very difficult and lengthy business, I had not thought that we should have been in such danger of being made prisoners. But the English had very speedily taken up positions to the right and left, with guns and Maxims, and for a good nine miles of our retreat we were under their fire. Notwithstanding the fact that during the whole of this time we were also harassed by small-arm fire, we lost--incredible as it may appear--not more than one killed and one wounded, and a few horses besides. The positions which we had abandoned the British now occupied, hemming in General Cronje so closely that he had not the slightest chance of breaking through their lines. No sooner had we got out of range of the enemy's fire, than the first of the reinforcements, which we had expected from Bloemfontein, arrived, under the command of Vechtgeneraal Andreas Cronje. With him were Commandants Thewnissen, of Winburg, and Vilonel, of Senekal. A council was at once held as to the best method of effecting the release of General Cronje. It was decided to recapture the positions which I had abandoned. But now the situation was so changed that there were _three_ positions which it was necessary for us to take. We agreed that the attack should be made by three separate parties, that General Philip Botha, with Commandant Thewnissen, should retake the positions which we had abandoned at Stinkfontein, General Froneman the position immediately to the north of these, and I, with General Andreas Cronje, others still further north. The attack was made on the following morning. General Botha's attempt failed, chiefly owing to the fact that day dawned before he reached his position; a hot fight ensued, resulting in the capture of Commandant Thewnissen and about one hundred men. As I was so placed as to be unable to see how affairs were developing, it is difficult for me to hazard an opinion as to whether Commandant Thewnissen was lacking in caution, or whether he was insufficiently supported by General Botha. The burghers who were present at the engagement accused General Botha, while he declared that Thewnissen had been imprudent. However that may be, we had failed in our essay. The position had not been taken, and Commandant Thewnissen, with a hundred whom we could ill spare, were in the hands of the enemy, And to make matters still worse, our men were already seized with panic, arising from the now hopeless plight of General Cronje and his large force. I, however, was not prepared to abandon all hope as yet. Danie Theron, that famous captain of despatch-riders, had arrived on the previous day with reinforcements. I asked him if he would take a verbal message to General Cronje--I dare not send a written one, lest it should fall into the hands of the English. Proud and distinct the answer came at once--the only answer which such a hero as Danie Theron could have given: "Yes, General, I will go." The risk which I was asking him to run could not have been surpassed throughout the whole of our sanguinary struggle. I took him aside, and told him that he must go and tell General Cronje that our fate depended upon the escape of himself and of the thousands with him, and that, if he should fall into the enemy's hands, it would be the death-blow to all our hopes. Theron was to urge Cronje to abandon the laager, and everything contained in it, to fight his way out by night, and to meet me at two named places, where I would protect him from the pursuit of the English. Danie Theron undertook to pass the enemy's lines, and to deliver my message. He started on his errand on the night of the 25th of February. The following evening I went to the place of meeting, but to my great disappointment General Cronje did not appear. On the morning of the 27th of February Theron returned. He had performed an exploit unequalled in the war. Both in going and returning he had crawled past the British sentries, tearing his trousers to rags during the process. The blood was running from his knees, where the skin had been scraped off. He told me that he had seen the General, who had said that he did not think that the plan which I had proposed had any good chance of success. At ten o'clock that day, General Cronje surrendered. Bitter was my disappointment. Alas! my last attempt had been all in vain. The stubborn General would not listen to good advice. I must repeat here what I have said before, that as far as my personal knowledge of General Cronje goes, it is evident to me that his obstinacy in maintaining his position must be ascribed to the fact that it was too much to ask him--intrepid hero that he was--to abandon the laager. His view was that he must stand or fall with it, nor did he consider the certain consequences of his capture. He never realized that it would be the cause of the death of many burghers, and of indescribable panic throughout not only all the laagers on the veldt, but even those of Colesberg, Stormberg and Ladysmith. If the famous Cronje were captured, how could any ordinary burgher be expected to continue his resistance? It may be that it was the will of God, who rules the destinies of all nations, to fill thus to the brim the cup which we had to empty, but this consideration does not excuse General Cronje's conduct. Had he but taken my advice, and attempted a night attack, he might have avoided capture altogether. I have heard men say that as the General's horses had all been killed, the attempt which I urged him to make must have failed--that at all events he would have been pursued and overtaken by Lord Roberts' forces. The answer to this is not far to seek. The English at that time did not employ as scouts Kaffirs and Hottentots, who could lead them by night as well as by day. Moreover, with the reinforcements I had received, I had about sixteen hundred men under me, and they would have been very useful in holding back the enemy, until Cronje had made his escape. No words can describe my feelings when I saw that Cronje had surrendered, and noticed the result which this had on the burghers. Depression and discouragement were written on every face. The effects of this blow, it is not too much to say, made themselves apparent to the very end of the war. [Footnote 22: "How is it with you?"] [Footnote 23: Eleven or twelve days after, Commandant Spruit was again with us. When he appeared, he seemed to us like one risen from the dead. We all rejoiced, not only because he was a God-fearing man, but also because he was of a lovable disposition. I heard from his own mouth how he had escaped. He told me that the day after his capture, he was sent, under a strong escort, from Lord Roberts' Headquarters to the railway station at Modder River, and that he started from there, with a guard of six men on his road to Cape Town. During the night as they drew near De Aar, his guards fell asleep, and our brave Commandant prepared to leave the train. He seized a favourable opportunity when the engine was climbing a steep gradient and jumped off. But the pace was fast enough to throw him to the ground, though fortunately he only sustained slight injury. When daylight came he hid himself. Having made out his bearings he began to make his way back on the following night. He passed a house, but dared not seek admission, for he did not know who its occupants might be. As he had no food with him, his sufferings from hunger were great, but still he persevered, concealing himself during the day, and only walking during the hours of darkness. At last he reached the railway line to the north of Colesberg, and from there was carried to Bloemfontein, where he enjoyed a well-earned rest. In the second week of March he returned to his commando, to the great delight of everybody.] CHAPTER VII The Wild Flight from Poplar Grove The surrender of General Cronje only made me all the more determined to continue the struggle, notwithstanding the fact that many of the burghers appeared to have quite lost heart. I had just been appointed Commander-in-Chief, and at once set my hand to the work before me. Let me explain how this came about. As I have already said, General C.J. Wessels had been appointed Commander-in-Chief at Kimberley. In the month of January he was succeeded by Mr. J.S. Ferreira, who at once proceeded to make Kimberley his headquarters. On the relief of that town, one part of the besieging force went to Viertienstroomen, another in the direction of Boshof, while a small party, in which was the Commander-in-Chief himself, set out towards Koedoesrand, above Paardeberg. It was while I was engaged in my efforts to relieve Cronje, that a gun accident occurred in which General Ferreira was fatally wounded. Not only his own family, but the whole nation, lost in him a man whom they can never forget. I received the sad news the day after his death, and, although the place of his burial was not more than two hours' ride from my camp, I was too much occupied with my own affairs to be able to attend his funeral. On the following day I received from President Steyn the appointment of Vice-Commander-in-Chief. I had no thought of declining it, but the work which it would involve seemed likely to prove anything but easy. To have the chief command, and at such a time as this! But I had to make the best of it. I began by concentrating my commandos, to the best of my ability, at Modderrivierpoort (Poplar Grove), ten miles east of the scene of Cronje's surrender. I had plenty of time to effect this, for Lord Roberts remained inactive from the 24th of February to the 7th of March, in order to rest a little after the gigantic task he had performed in capturing Cronje's laager. His thoughts must have been busy during that period with even more serious matters than the care of his weary troops; for, if we had had two hundred killed and wounded, he must have lost as many thousands. Those few days during which our enemy rested were also of advantage to me in enabling me to dispose of the reinforcements, which I was now receiving every day, and from almost every quarter. While I was thus engaged, I heard that General Buller had relieved Ladysmith on the 1st of March, that General Gatacre had taken Stormberg on the 5th, and that General Brabant was driving the Boers before him. These were the first results of General Cronje's surrender. But that fatal surrender was not only the undoing of our burghers; it also reinforced the enemy, and gave him new courage. This was evident from the reply which Lord Salisbury made to the peace proposals made by our two Presidents on March 5th. But more of this anon. Our last day at Poplar Grove was signalized by a visit paid to us by President Kruger, the venerable chief of the South African Republic. He had travelled by rail from Pretoria to Bloemfontein; the remaining ninety-six miles of the journey had been accomplished in a horse-waggon--he, whom we all honoured so greatly, had been ready to undergo even this hardship in order to visit us. The President's arrival was, however, at an unfortunate moment. It was March the 7th, and Lord Roberts was approaching. His force, extending over ten miles of ground, was now preparing to attack my burghers, whom I had posted at various points along some twelve miles of the bank of the Modder River. It did not seem possible for the old President even to outspan, for I had received information that the enemy's right wing was already threatening Petrusburg. But as the waggon had travelled that morning over twelve miles of a heavy rain-soaked road, it was absolutely necessary that the horses should be outspanned for rest. But hardly had the harness been taken off the tired animals when a telegram arrived, saying that Petrusburg was already in the hands of the English. President Kruger was thus compelled to return without a moment's delay. I saw him into his waggon, and then immediately mounted my horse, and rode to the positions where my burghers were stationed. Again I was confronted with the baleful influence of Cronje's surrender. A panic had seized my men. Before the English had even got near enough to shell our positions to any purpose, the wild flight began. Soon every position was evacuated. There was not even an attempt to hold them, though some of them would have been almost impregnable. It was a flight such as I had never seen before, and shall never see again. I did all that I could, but neither I nor my officers were able to prevent the burghers from following whither the waggons and guns had already preceded them. I tried every means. I had two of the best horses that a man could wish to possess, and I rode them till they dropped. All was in vain. It was fortunate for us that the advance of the English was not very rapid. Had it been so, everything must have fallen into their hands. In the evening we came to Abraham's Kraal, a farm belonging to Mr. Charles Ortel, some eighteen miles from Poplar Grove. The enemy were encamped about an hour and a half's ride from us. The next morning the burghers had but one desire, and that was to get away. It was only with the greatest difficulty that I succeeded in persuading them to go into position. I then hastened to Bloemfontein, in order to take counsel with the Government about our affairs generally, and especially to see what would be the most suitable positions to occupy for the defence of the capital. Judge Hertzog and I went out together to inspect the ground; we placed a hundred men in the forts, with Kaffirs to dig trenches and throw up earthworks. I was back at Abraham's Kraal by nine o'clock on the morning of March the 18th. I found that our forces had been placed in position by Generals De la Rey, Andreas Cronje, Philip Botha, Froneman and Piet de Wet, the last-named having arrived with his commandos from Colesberg a few days before the rout at Poplar Grove. We had not long to wait before fighting began, fighting confined for the most part to the artillery. The English shells were at first directed against Abraham's Kraal, which was subjected to a terrific bombardment; later on they turned their guns upon Rietfontein, where the Transvaalers and a part of the Free State commandos, under General De la Rey, were posted. The attack upon these positions was fierce and determined; but De la Rey's burghers, though they lost heavily, repulsed it with splendid courage. I will not say more of this. It is understood that General De la Rey will himself describe what he and his men succeeded in accomplishing on that occasion. From ten in the morning until sunset the fight continued, and still the burghers held their positions. They had offered a magnificent resistance. Their conduct had been beyond all praise, and it was hard to believe that these were the same men who had fled panic-stricken from Poplar Grove. But with the setting of the sun a change came over them. Once more panic seized them; leaving their positions, they retreated in all haste towards Bloemfontein. And now they were only a disorderly crowd of terrified men blindly flying before the enemy. But it was Bloemfontein that lay before them, and the thought that his capital was in peril might well restore courage in the most disheartened of our burghers. I felt that this would be the case, and a picture arose before me of our men holding out, as they had never done before. Before going further I must say a few words about the peace proposals which our Presidents made to the English Government on the 5th of March. They called God to witness that it was for the independence of the two Republics, and for that alone, that they fought, and suggested that negotiations might be opened with the recognition of that independence as their basis. Lord Salisbury replied that the only terms he would accept were unconditional surrender. He asserted, as he did also on many subsequent occasions, that it was our ultimatum that had caused the war. We have always maintained that in making this assertion he misrepresented the facts, to use no stronger term.[24] Naturally our Government would not consent to such terms, and so the war had to proceed. It was decided to send a deputation to Europe. This deputation, consisting of Abraham Fissher,[25] Cornelius H. Wessels,[26] and Daniel Wolmarans,[27] sailed from Delagoa Bay.[28] The reader may ask the object which this deputation had in view. Was it that our Governments relied on foreign intervention? Emphatically, no! They never thought of such a thing. Neither in his harangue to the burghers at Poplar Grove, nor in any of his subsequent speeches, did President Steyn give any hint of such an intention. The deputation was sent in order that the whole world might know the state of affairs in South Africa. It fulfilled its purpose, and was justified by its results. It helped us to win the sympathy of the nations. But I must return to my narrative. A few days before the flight from Poplar Grove, I had appointed Danie Theron captain of a scouting party. I now left him and his corps behind, with instructions to keep me informed of Lord Roberts' movements, and proceeded myself to Bloemfontein. There I disposed the available forces for defence, and kept them occupied in throwing up _schanzes_. These _schanzes_ were erected to the west and south of the town, and at distances of from four to six miles from it. On the evening of the 12th of March, Lord Roberts appeared, and a few skirmishes ensued south of the town, but no engagement of any importance took place. We awaited the morrow with various forebodings. For myself, I believed that that 13th of March should see a fight to the finish, cost what it might! for if Bloemfontein was to be taken, it would only be over our dead bodies. With this before my eyes, I made all necessary arrangements, riding at nightfall from position to position, and speaking both to the officers and to the private burghers. They must play the man, I told them, and save the capital at any cost. An excellent spirit prevailed amongst them; on every face one could read the determination to conquer or to die. But when, about an hour before midnight, I reached the southern positions, I heard a very different story. They told me there that Commandant Weilbach had deserted his post early in the evening. What was I to do? It was impossible to search for him during the night, and I was compelled to take burghers away from other commandos, and to place them in the abandoned positions. On their arrival there, they discovered that no sooner had Weilbach failed us than the enemy had seized his post--the key to Bloemfontein! We did all that we could, but our situation had been rendered hopeless by the action of a Commandant who ought to have been dismissed out of hand for his conduct at Poplar Grove. That night I did not close an eye. * * * * * The morning of the 13th of March dawned. Hardly had the sun risen, when the English in the entrenchments which Commandant Weilbach had deserted, opened a flank fire on our nearest positions. First one position and then another was abandoned by our burghers, who followed one another's example like sheep; few made any attempt to defend their posts, and in spite of my efforts and those of the officers under me, they retreated to the north. Thus, without a single shot being fired, Bloemfontein fell into the hands of the English. [Footnote 24: This correspondence will be found in Chapter XXX.] [Footnote 25: Member of the Free State Volksraad and Executive Council.] [Footnote 26: Member of the Free State Volksraad and Executive Council, and also President of the Volksraad.] [Footnote 27: Member of the first Volksraad of the South African Republic.] [Footnote 28: This harbour, then the only harbour in South Africa open to us, was subsequently forbidden us by the Portuguese Government, whose officials even went so far as to arrest eight hundred of our burghers (who, for want of horses, had taken refuge in Portuguese territory), and to send them to Portugal. The ports of German West Africa cannot be counted among those which were available for us. Not only were they too far from us to be of any service, but also, in order to reach them, it would have been necessary to go through English territory, for they were separated from us by Griqualand West, Bechuanaland, and isolated portions of Cape Colony. We had, therefore, during the latter portion of the war, to depend for supplies upon what little we were able to capture from the enemy.] CHAPTER VIII The Burghers Receive Permission to Return to their Homes Thus Bloemfontein had fallen into the hands of the English; but whatever valuables it contained were spared by the enemy. I did not myself consider the place much superior to any other town, and I would not have thought it a matter of any great importance if it had been destroyed. Still, I felt it to be very regrettable that the town should have been surrendered without a shot. How can I describe my feelings when I saw Bloemfontein in the hands of the English? It was enough to break the heart of the bravest man amongst us. Even worse than the fall of our capital was the fact that, as was only to be expected, the burghers had become entirely disheartened; and it seemed as if they were incapable now of offering any further resistance. The commandos were completely demoralized. Indeed! the burghers from Fauresmith and Jacobsdal had already returned home from Poplar Grove without asking for permission to do so; and now all the others were hurrying back in the greatest disorder to their own districts. I felt sure that Lord Roberts' troops would remain for some time in the capital, in order to obtain the rest they must have sorely needed. And I now asked myself what I could do whilst the English were remaining inactive. For notwithstanding all that had happened, I had not for a single moment the thought of surrender. It seemed to me that my best course was to allow the burghers, who had now been away from their families for six months, an opportunity to take breath![29] After everything had been arranged I went to Brandfort and thence to Kroonstad, at which place I was to meet President Steyn, who had left Bloemfontein the evening before it fell. On my road to Kroonstad I fell in with General P.J. Joubert, who had come to the Free State, hoping to be able to discover some method for checking the advance of Lord Roberts. He was anything but pleased to hear that I had given my men permission to remain at home till the 25th of March. "Do you mean to tell me," he asked, "that you are going to give the English a free hand, whilst your men take their holidays?" "I cannot catch a hare, General, with unwilling dogs," I made reply. But this did not satisfy the old warrior at all. At last I said: "You know the Afrikanders as well as I do, General. It is not our fault that they don't know what discipline means. Whatever I had said or done, the burghers would have gone home; but I'll give you my word that those who come back will fight with renewed courage." I knew very well that there were some who would not return, but I preferred to command ten men who were willing to fight, rather than a hundred who shirked their duties. Meanwhile President Steyn had proclaimed Kroonstad as the seat of the Government, so that in future all matters were to be settled there. On March 20th, 1900, a war council was held, which was attended by from fifty to sixty officers. President Steyn presided; and there sat beside him that simple statesman, grown grey in his country's service--President Kruger. The chief officers at this council were Commandant General Joubert, Generals De la Rey, Philip Botha, Froneman, C.P. Cronje, J.B. Wessels, and myself. A number of the members of both Governments also put in an appearance at this meeting. Do not let it be imagined that the object we had in view was to come to an agreement on any peace proposal made by the English. Nothing could have been further from our minds than this. Lord Salisbury's letter to our two Presidents, demanding unconditional surrender, had rendered any thought of peace impossible. On the contrary, we were concerned to discover the best method of continuing the war. We knew, I need scarcely say, that humanly speaking ultimate victory for us was out of the question--that had been clear from the very beginning. For how could our diminutive army hope to stand against the overwhelming numbers at the enemy's command? Yet we had always felt that no one is worthy of the name of man who is not ready to vindicate the right, be the odds what they may. We knew also, that the Afrikanders, although devoid of all military discipline, had the idea of independence deeply rooted in their hearts, and that they were worthy to exist as a Free Nation under a Republican form of Government. I shall not enter upon all that happened at that meeting. I shall merely note here that besides deciding to continue the war more energetically than ever, we agreed unanimously that the great waggon-camps should be done away with, and that henceforth only horse-commandos should be employed. The sad experience we had gained from six months' warfare, and more especially the great misfortune that had overtaken the big waggon-camp of General Cronje, were our reasons for this new regulation.[30] I left the meeting firmly determined that, come what might, I should never allow another waggon-camp. But, as the reader will see before he has concluded the perusal of these pages, it was not until many months had elapsed that the waggons were finally suppressed. All the mischief that they were destined to bring upon the African Nation was not yet completed. One of the effects of this council was to produce an unusually good spirit among the officers and burghers. There was only one thought in my mind, and only one word on every tongue: "FORWARD!" I proceeded from Kroonstad to the railway bridge at Zand River, and remained there until the 25th of March, when the commandos reassembled. What I had foreseen occurred. The burghers were different men altogether, and returned with renewed courage to the fight. They streamed in such large numbers on this and the following days, that my highest hopes were surpassed. It is true that certain burghers had remained behind. Such was the case with the men from Fauresmith and Jacobsdal, and with a large proportion of the commandos from Philippolis, Smithfield, Wepener, and Bloemfontein. But with these burghers I was unable to deal on account of Lord Roberts' Proclamations, which made it impossible for me to compel the burghers to join the commando; and I decided that I had better wait until I had done some good work with the men I had, before I made any attempt to bring the others back to the commando. On the 25th of March we went to Brandfort. The arrival of the burghers at the village doubled and even trebled its population. I was forced to close the hotels, as I discovered that my men were being supplied with drink. From this I do not wish the reader to infer that the Afrikanders are drunkards, for this is far from being the case. On the contrary, when compared with other nations, they are remarkable for their sobriety, and it is considered by them a disgrace for a man to be drunk. [Footnote 29: The men I still had with me belonged to commandos from Bloemfontein, Ladybrand, Wepener, Ficksburg, Bethlehem and Winburg. They were respectively under Commandants Piet Fourie, Crowther, Fouche, De Villiers, Michal Prinsloo and Vilonel; and these Commandants took orders from Vechtgeneraals J.B. Wessels, A.P. Cronje, C.C. Froneman, W. Kolbe and Philip Botha. The Colesberg and Stormberg commandos had received the order to go northwards in the direction of Thaba'Nchu and Ladybrand. These commandos also had been panic-stricken since General Cronje's surrender. The Kroonstad, Heilbron, Harrismith and Vrede burghers, under Commander-in-Chief Prinsloo, were directed to remain where they were, and guard the Drakensberg. General De la Rey followed my example, and gave his men permission to return home for some time.] [Footnote 30: This council also enacted that officers should be very chary in accepting doctors' certificates. The old law had laid it down that if a burgher produced a medical certificate, declaring him unfit for duty, he should be exempted from service. That there had been a grave abuse of this was the experience of almost every officer. There were several very dubious cases; and it was curious to note how many sudden attacks of heart disease occurred--if one were to credit the medical certificates. I remember myself that on the 7th of March, when the burghers fled from Poplar Grove, I had thrust upon me suddenly eight separate certificates, which had all been issued that morning, each declaring that some burgher or other was suffering from disease of the heart. When the eighth was presented to me, and I found that it also alleged the same complaint, I lost all patience, and let the doctor know that was quite enough for one day. When this question of certificates was discussed at the council, I suggested in joke that no certificate should be accepted unless it was signed by three old women, as a guarantee of good faith. The system had indeed been carried to such lengths, and certificates had been issued right and left in such a lavish manner, that one almost suspected that the English must have had a hand in it!] CHAPTER IX Sanna's Post On the 28th of March a council of war was held. The first business transacted referred to disciplinary matters; the council then proceeded to lay down the conditions under which the commandos were to operate. It was decided that General De la Rey with his Transvaalers should remain at Brandfort with certain Free State commandos under General Philip Botha, and that the remaining troops, under my command, should withdraw in the evening. Great was the curiosity of the officers and burghers concerning our movements, but no man learnt anything from me. I was determined that in future my plans should be kept entirely secret. Experience had taught me that whenever a commanding officer allows his intentions to become public something is sure to go wrong, and I made up my mind to hold the reins of discipline with a firmer hand. It is, of course, true that scarcely anything could be done without the free co-operation of the burghers. They joined the commando when they wished, or, if they preferred it, stayed away. But now I intended that the men who joined the commando should be under a far stricter discipline than formerly, and success rewarded my efforts. We left Brandfort on the same evening. My object was to surprise the little garrison at Sanna's Post, which guarded the Bloemfontein Water Works, and thus to cut off the supply of water from that town. I started in the direction of Winburg, so as to throw every one off the scent. On all sides one heard the question, "Where are we really going? What can we have to do at Winburg?" The following day I concealed my commando, and that evening some spies, on whom I could rely, and who were aware of my secret intentions, brought me all the information I required. At this point I had a great deal of trouble with Commandant Vilonel. It appeared that, notwithstanding the express interdiction of the council of war, there were some thirty waggons, belonging to burghers from Winburg who were under his orders. I reminded him of the decision to which the council had come; but he replied that he did not wish his burghers to have to undergo the hardship of travelling without waggons. We started that evening, and, sure enough, there he was with his lumber following behind us. I gave him notice in writing the next morning that he must send back the waggons that very night when we were on the march. This provoked from him a written request that a war council should be summoned to revise the decision come to at Kroonstad. I answered that I absolutely declined to do any such thing. In the course of that day I received a number of reports. I was informed that General Olivier was driving General Broadwood from Ladybrand towards Thaba'Nchu. A little later I heard from General Froneman and Commandant Fourie how matters stood at Sanna's Post. I had disclosed my plan to them, and sent them out to reconnoitre. There were--so they told me--according to their estimation, about two hundred English troops which were stationed in such and such positions. I at once summoned Generals A.P. Cronje, J.B. Wessels, C.C. Froneman, and Piet de Wet, and took council with them, telling them of my plans and enjoining strict secrecy. I then gave orders that Commandant P. Fourie and C. Nel, with their burghers, three hundred and fifty in number, should proceed under my command to Koorn Spruit, and be there before break of day. [Illustration: SANNA'S POST. FROM A SKETCH BY THE AUTHOR.] We settled that Generals Cronje, Wessels, Froneman, and Piet De Wet should proceed with the remaining burghers, numbering eleven hundred and fifty, to the ridges east of the Modder River, right opposite Sanna's Post. They were to take with them the guns, of which we had four or five, and bombard Sanna's Post as soon as it was light. The English, I expected, would retreat to Bloemfontein, and then from my position in Koorn Spruit I should be able to decimate them as they passed that ravine. I had sent a large number of burghers with the four generals so that our force might be sufficiently strong to turn General Broadwood, in case he should hear that there was fighting at Sanna's Post and come up to reinforce the garrison. Here again I had trouble with Commandant Vilonel. I had little time to argue--the sun was already setting, and we had to be off at once. I had declined to allow a single waggon to go with me, but the Commandant declared that he would not abide by the decision of the council of war. He also refused to allow his burghers to go into positions which he himself had not reconnoitred. He asked that the attack should be postponed until he had examined Sanna's Post through his telescope. My patience was now at an end. I told Commandant Vilonel that he must obey my orders, and that if he did not do so I should dismiss him, unless he himself resigned. He preferred to resign. My secretary procured paper, and the Commandant wrote out his resignation. I at once gave him his dismissal, and felt that a weight had been taken off my shoulders now that I was free from so wrong-headed an officer. There was no time now for the burghers to elect a new Commandant in the usual way. I therefore assembled the Winburg commando, and told them that Vilonel had resigned, that an opportunity of choosing a substitute should be given to them later on, but that in the meanwhile I should appoint Veldtcornet Gert Van der Merve. Nobody had anything to say against "Gerie," who was a courageous and amiable man; and, after he had given orders that the waggons should be sent home, we continued our march. I met some of my spies at a _rendezvous_ which I had given them on the road to the Water Works, and learnt from them that the force under General Broadwood had come that evening from the direction of Ladybrand and now occupied Thaba'Nchu. I had ordered my generals to take up positions opposite Sanna's Post and east of the Modder River. I now left them and rode on to Koorn Spruit, not knowing that General Broadwood had left Thaba'Nchu after nightfall and had proceeded to the Water Works. My advance was made as quietly as possible, and as soon as we reached Koorn Spruit I hid my burghers in the ravine, placing some to the right and some to the left of the drift[31] on the road from Thaba'Nchu and Sanna's Post to Bloemfontein. As soon as it became light enough to see anything we discovered that just above the spruit[32] stood a waggon, with some Kaffirs and a number of sheep and cattle beside it. The Kaffirs told us that the waggon belonged to one of the "hands-uppers" from Thaba'Nchu, and that they had been ordered to get it down to Bloemfontein as quickly as possible and to sell it to the English. The owner of the sheep and of the cattle, they said, was with General Broadwood, whose troops had just arrived at Sanna's Post. The light grew brighter, and there, three thousand paces from us, was Broadwood's huge force. I had only three hundred and fifty men with me; the other generals, to the east of the Modder River, had not more than eleven hundred and fifty between them. The numbers against us were overwhelming, but I resolved to stand my ground; and, fortunately, the positions which I had chosen were much to our advantage--there would be no difficulty in concealing my burghers and their horses. I ordered that every one should still remain hidden, even when our party to the east of the Modder River began to shoot, and that not a round was to be fired until I gave the command. General Broadwood was preparing to strike camp. It was then that I told my men to allow the British troops to get to close quarters and "hands-up" them, without wasting a single bullet. Then our guns began to fire. The result was a scene of confusion. Towards us, over the brow of the hill, came the waggons pell-mell, with a few carts moving rapidly in front. When the first of these reached the spruit its occupants--a man with a woman beside him--became aware that something was wrong. I was standing at the top of the drift with Commandants Fourie and Nel. I immediately ordered two of my adjutants to mount the cart and to sit at the driver's side. The other carts came one after the other into the drift, and I ordered them to follow close behind the first cart, at the same time warning the occupants that if they gave any signal to the enemy, they would be shot. The carts were filled with English from Thaba'Nchu. I was very glad that the women and children should thus reach a place of safety, before the fighting began. So speedily did the carts follow each other that the English had no suspicion of what was occurring, and very shortly the soldiers began to pour into the drift in the greatest disorder. As soon as they reached the stream they were met by the cry of "Hands up!" Directly they heard the words, a forest of hands rose in the air. More troops quickly followed, and we had disarmed two hundred of them before they had time to know what was happening. The discipline among the burghers was fairly satisfactory until the disarming work began. If my men had only been able to think for themselves, they would have thrown the rifles on the bank as they came into their hands, and so would have disarmed far more of the English than they succeeded in doing. But, as it was, the burghers kept on asking: "Where shall I put this rifle, General? What have I to do with this horse?" That the work should be delayed by this sort of thing sorely tried my hasty temper. Very soon the enemy in the rear discovered that there was something wrong in the drift, for one of their officers suddenly gave orders that the troops should fall back. But in the meantime, as I have already stated, we had disarmed two hundred men; while, about a hundred paces from us on the banks of the spruit stood five of their guns, and more than a hundred of their waggons, in one confused mass. A little further off--two or three hundred paces, perhaps--two more of the enemy's guns had halted. The English fell back some thirteen hundred yards, to the station on the Dewetsdorp-Bloemfontein railway. I need scarcely say that we opened a terrific fire on them as they retreated. When they reached the station, however, the buildings there gave them considerable protection. I little knew when I voted in the Volksraad for the construction of this line, that I was voting for the building of a station which our enemies would one day use against us. An attempt was made by the English to save the five guns, but it was far beyond their powers to do so. They did succeed, however, in getting the other two guns away, and in placing them behind the station buildings. From there they severely bombarded us with shrapnel shell. While the English troops were running to find cover in the buildings, they suffered very heavily from our fire, and the ground between the station and the spruit was soon strewn with their dead and wounded, lying in heaps. But having arrived at the railway they rallied, and posting themselves to the right and left of the station, they fired sharply on us. The eleven hundred and fifty burghers who were to the east of the Modder River now hurried up to my assistance. But unfortunately, when they attempted to cross the river, they found that the Water-Works dam had made it too deep to ford. So they proceeded up stream over some very rough ground, being much inconvenienced by the dongas which they had to cross. When they had covered three miles of this they were again stopped, for an impassable donga blocked the way. They had therefore to retrace their steps to the place whence they had started. Ultimately they crossed the river below the dam, in the neighbourhood of the waggon-drift. This delay gave General Broadwood a good three hours in which to tackle us. And had it not been for the excellent positions we had taken on the banks of the spruit, we would have been in a very awkward predicament. But, as it was, only two of my men were hit during the whole of that time. As soon as our reinforcements had crossed the river, General Broadwood was forced to retire; and his troops came hurrying through Koorn Spruit both on the right and on the left of our position. We fired at them as they passed us, and took several more prisoners. Had I but commanded a larger force, I could have captured every man of them. But it was impossible, with my three hundred and fifty men, to surround two thousand. Our men on the Modder River now attacked the enemy with the greatest energy, and succeeded in putting them to flight, thus bringing the battle to an end. The conduct of my burghers had been beyond praise. I had never seen them more intrepid. Calm and determined, they stood their ground, when the enemy streamed down upon them like a mighty river. Calm and determined they awaited their arrival, and disarmed them as they came. It was a fresh proof to me of the courage of the Afrikander, who indeed, in my judgment, is in that quality surpassed by no one. Our loss was three killed and five wounded. Among the latter was Commandant General Van der Merve, who, although very seriously injured, fortunately recovered. I had no time myself to note the enemy's losses, but, from their own report, it amounted to three hundred and fifty dead and wounded. We captured four hundred and eighty prisoners, seven guns, and one hundred and seventeen waggons. Here again I had the greatest trouble in unravelling the medley. Many of the horses, mules and oxen had been killed, whilst some of the waggons were broken. Everything was in a state of indescribable confusion, and at any moment a force might arrive from Bloemfontein. But, fortunately, no reinforcement appeared. Our burghers who had pursued the retreating English, saw, at about twelve o'clock, a body of mounted troops approaching from Bloemfontein. But this force at once came to a halt, remaining at the spot where we had first seen it.[33] When everything was over a party of troops from General Olivier's commando arrived on the scene of the recent operations. They had been following General Broadwood, and on hearing the firing that morning, had hastened in our direction, maintaining on their arrival, that it was quite impossible for them to have come any sooner. [Footnote 31: Ford.] [Footnote 32: Water-course or ravine.] [Footnote 33: I may note here that it seemed very strange to me and to all whose opinion I asked, that Lord Roberts, with his sixty thousand men, sent no reinforcements from Bloemfontein. The battle had taken place not more than seventeen miles from the capital, and it had lasted for four hours; so that there had been ample time to send help. The English cannot urge in excuse that, owing to our having cut the telegraph wire, Lord Roberts could know nothing of General Broadwood's position. The booming of the guns must have been distinctly heard at Bloemfontein, as it was a still morning. In addition to this plain warning, the English had an outpost at Borsmanskop, between Koorn Spruit and Bloemfontein. I do not mention these things with the object of throwing an unfavourable light upon Lord Roberts' conduct, but merely to show that even in the great English Army, incomprehensible irregularities were not unknown, and irregularities of such a character as to quite put in the shade the bungles we were sometimes guilty of. But the Republics, young though they were, never thought of boasting about the order, organization, or discipline of their armies; on the contrary they were perhaps a little inclined to take too lenient a view when irregularities occurred.] CHAPTER X Four Hundred and Seventy English taken Prisoner at Reddersburg In the evening of the day on which the events described in the last chapter occurred, I handed over the command to Generals Piet de Wet and A.P. Cronje, and taking with me three of my staff, rode to Donkerpoort, in the direction of Dewetsdorp, on a reconnoitring expedition. Early the following morning I came to a farm called Sterkfontein, where, at noon, I received the news that a party of English, coming from Smithfield, had occupied Dewetsdorp. It was thirty miles from Sterkfontein to my commando, but, notwithstanding this, I sent an order that 1,500 men, under Generals J.B. Wessels, C.C. Froneman and De Villiers, should come up with all haste and bring three guns with them. During the time that must necessarily elapse before the arrival of this force, I sent men out to visit the farms of those burghers who had gone home after the fall of Bloemfontein, with orders to bring them back to the front. By the evening of the 1st of April I had all the men of the district together; but it was then too late to make a start. At ten o'clock the following morning the English left Dewetsdorp, and marched towards Reddersburg. Directly I received news of this, I sent word to the Generals, that they must hasten to Reddersburg; while I, with the men who had rejoined, made my way to the north, so as to take up a position on the enemy's flank. I had with me one hundred and ten men in all. Many of them were without rifles, having given up their arms at Bloemfontein. Others were provided with serviceable _achterlaaiers_, but had little or no ammunition, because they had already fired off their cartridges in mere wantonness in the belief that they might have to give up their rifles any day. My handful of burghers were thus as good as unarmed. During our march I kept the English continually under surveillance. They were unable to advance very rapidly, as the bulk of their force was made up of infantry. But they were too far ahead for the commandos whom I had sent in pursuit to be able to get at them; and for me, with the handful of almost unarmed burghers which I commanded, to have attempted an attack would have been worse than folly. On the evening of the 2nd of April, the English encamped on the hill to the west of a farm called Oollogspoort; whilst we off-saddled to the north of them, on Mr. Van der Walt's farm. The enemy, however, was not aware of the position of our laager. The following morning, at four o'clock, I sent a third report to the commandos. They had been some way on the road to Dewetsdorp, and thus, far out of the course to Reddersburg, when my second report reached them; and now my despatch rider met only Generals Froneman and De Villiers with seven hundred men and three guns, and was too late to prevent General Wessels from going on to Dewetsdorp. Shortly after sunrise General Froneman received my report. He had been riding all night through without stopping, and many of his horses were already tired out. But as my order was that the Generals were to leave behind those who were unable to proceed, and to hasten on at once without so much as off-saddling, he did not wait to be told twice, but pushing forward with all speed, arrived on the 3rd of April at Schwarskopjes on the Kaffir River. He had left Sanna's Post on the afternoon of the previous day. Those who consider that he was marching with seven hundred men and three Krupp guns, and that his horses were so exhausted that some of them had to be left behind, will agree with me that he did a good day's work in those twenty-four hours. Fortunately for us, it was not at that time the habit of the English to start on their march before the sun had risen. And, by another lucky chance, our opponents were off their guard, and quite unsuspicious of attack, although they must, undoubtedly, have heard something of what had happened at Sanna's Post. General Froneman gave me to understand that it was necessary to off-saddle the horses, and to give them a long rest, as he had been riding without any break since the previous evening. "However necessary it may be," I replied, "it is impossible;" and I pointed out to him that if we were to delay, the English would occupy the ridge between Muishondsfontein and Mostertshoek, and thus obtain the best position. I, therefore, ordered the men to proceed with all speed, and to leave behind those who could not go on. The General did not appear to be "links"[34] at this, but called out with his loud voice, "Come on, burghers!" We were fortunate in being able to keep up with the enemy by riding along a little plain, which was hidden from them by an intervening hill. Our course ran in a direction parallel to their line of march, and at a distance of about six miles from it. But unluckily, the English were the first to reach the ridge. When we appeared at the point where the hill which had concealed us from them came to an end, their vanguard had just passed the eastern end of the ridge at which we were both aiming; and we had still some four or five miles to go before we could reach it. I saw that the enemy was not strong enough to occupy the whole ridge, so I at once gave orders to General De Villiers to advance, and to seize the western end at a point just above the farmstead of Mostertshoek. The enemy, observing this manoeuvre, took up their position on the eastern extremity of the ridge. Whereupon I divided the remaining burghers into small companies, with orders to occupy kopjes from six to seven hundred paces still further to the east; leaving to myself and Commandant Nel the task of seizing a small ridge which lay south-east of the English lines. All these positions would have to be taken under fire, and before making the attempt I sent the following note to the British Commanding Officer:-- "SIR,-- "I am here with five hundred men, and am every moment expecting reinforcements with three Krupps, against which you will not be able to hold out. I therefore advise you, in order to prevent bloodshed, to surrender." I sent this note post haste, and then rested a little while awaiting the return of the despatch rider. And now a shameful incident occurred. The messenger had received the answer to my letter, and had covered about a hundred paces on his way back, when the enemy opened so heavy a fire upon him that it is inexplicable how he managed to come through unscathed. The answer which he brought from the officer was in the following terms:-- "I'm d----d if I surrender!" I at once ordered my men to rush the positions which I had already pointed out to them; and notwithstanding the fierce opposition of the enemy, they succeeded in carrying out my orders. But although we had thus gained very good positions, those which the English held were quite as good, and perhaps even better, except for the fact that they were cut off from the water. However, when they had first become aware of our presence--that is, while they were at Muishondsfontein--they had taken the precaution of filling their water-bottles. Our guns did not arrive until so late in the afternoon that only a few shots could be fired before it became dark. Acting upon my orders, the burghers kept such good watch during the night that escape was impossible for the English. I also sent a strong guard to a point near Reddersburg, for I had heard that a reinforcement of from thirteen hundred to two thousand British troops had come from the direction of Bothathanie railway station, and were now encamped at Reddersburg. I had begun operations with only four hundred men under me, but before the sun rose on the following day my force had been doubled by the addition of those who had been compelled to remain behind and rest their tired horses. On the previous evening it had seemed to me highly improbable that we should be able to storm the ridge in the morning. I had expected that the force at Reddersburg--which lay only about four or five miles from Mostertshoek--would have seen the fight in progress, or heard the cannonading, and would have hastened to the assistance of their comrades.[35] Nevertheless, I had given orders that as soon as it was daylight, every one must do his utmost to force the English to surrender. It was now rapidly growing lighter, and I ordered the gunners to keep up a continuous fire with our three Krupps. This they did from half-past five until eleven o'clock, and then the enemy hoisted the white flag. My men and I galloped towards the English, and our other two parties did the same. But before we reached them, they again began to shoot, killing Veldtcornet Du Plessis, of Kroonstad. This treacherous act enraged our burghers, who at once commenced to fire with deadly effect. Soon the white flag appeared above almost every stone behind which an Englishman lay, but our men did not at once cease firing. Indeed! I had the greatest difficulty in calming them, and in inducing them to stop, for they were, as may well be imagined, furious at the misuse of the white flag. Strewn everywhere about on the ground lay the English killed and wounded. According to the official statement, they had a hundred casualties, the commanding officer himself being amongst the killed. We took four hundred and seventy prisoners of war, all of them belonging to the Royal Irish Rifles and the Mounted Infantry. But I cared nothing to what regiment they belonged or what was the rank of the officer in command. Throughout the whole war I never troubled myself about such matters. Our loss, in addition to Veldtcornet Du Plessis, whose death I have just described, was only six wounded. I had no longer any need to fear a reinforcement from Reddersburg, but nevertheless there was no time to be lost, for I had just heard from a prisoner of war that a telegram had been sent from Dewetsdorp to the garrison at Smithfield, bidding them consult their own safety by withdrawing to Aliwal North. I made up my mind to capture that garrison before it could decamp. I waited until I saw that the English ambulances were busy with their wounded, and then with all speed rode off. As the direct road might prove to be held by Lord Roberts, I caused the prisoners of war to be marched to Winburg viâ Thaba'Nchu. From thence they were to be sent forward by rail to Pretoria. [Footnote 34: Vexed.] [Footnote 35: I have never been able to understand why the great force, stationed at Reddersburg, made no attempt to come to the aid of the unfortunate victims at Mostertshoek. Their conduct seems to me to have been even more blameworthy than the similar negligence which occurred at Sanna's Post. They were not more than five miles off, and could watch the whole engagement--and yet they never stirred a foot to come and help their comrades. And it was fortunate for us that it was so, for we should have stood no chance at all against a large force. To oppose successfully such bodies of men as our burghers had to meet during this war demanded _rapidity of action_ more than anything else. We had to be quick at fighting, quick at reconnoitring, quick (if it became necessary) at flying! This was exactly what I myself aimed at, and had not so many of our burghers proved false to their own colours, England--as the great Bismarck foretold--would have found her grave in South Africa.] CHAPTER XI An Unsuccessful Siege My object now was to reach Smithfield. We set out at once and late in the evening I divided my commandos into two parties. The first, some five hundred men in all, consisted chiefly of Smithfield burghers under Commandant Swanepoel, of Yzervarkfontein, but there were also some Wepener men amongst them. I gave General Froneman the command over this party, and ordered him to proceed without delay and attack the small English garrison at Smithfield. With the second party I rode off to join the burghers who were under General J.B. Wessels. I came up with Wessels' division on the 6th of April at Badenhorst, on the road from Dewetsdorp to Wepener. Badenhorst lies at a distance of some ten miles from a ford on the Caledon River, called Tammersbergsdrift, where Colonel Dalgety, with the highly renowned C.M.R.[36] and Brabant's Horse were at that time stationed. I call them "highly renowned" to be in the fashion, for I must honestly avow that I never could see for what they were renowned. During the fight at Mostertshoek on the previous day I had kept them under observation, with the result that I learnt that they had entrenched themselves strongly, and that they numbered about sixteen hundred men, though this latter fact was a matter of indifference to me. The history of Ladysmith, Mafeking, and Kimberley, however, served me as a warning, and I asked myself whether it would be better to besiege the wolf or to wait and see if he would not come out of his lair. But the wolf, on this occasion, was not to be enticed out on any pretext; and moreover it was probable that Lord Roberts would be able to send a relieving force from Bloemfontein; so I decided to attack at once. First, however, I despatched some of my best scouts in the direction of Bloemfontein and Reddersburg, while I ordered the commandos under Generals Piet de Wet and A.P. Cronje to take up positions to the east and south-east of the capital. Early in the morning of the 7th of April I made an attack on two points: one to the south-west, the other to the south-east of Dalgety's fortifications, opening fire on his troops at distances of from five to fifteen hundred paces. I dare not approach any nearer for lack of suitable cover. The place was so strongly fortified that many valuable lives must have been sacrificed, had I been less cautious than I was. After a few days I received reinforcements, and was thus enabled to surround the English completely. But their various positions were so placed that it was impossible for me to shell any of them from both sides, and thus to compel their occupants to surrender. Day succeeded to day, and still the siege continued. Before long we had captured some eight hundred of the trek-oxen, and many of the horses of the enemy. Things were not going so badly for us after all; and we plucked up our courage, and began to talk of the probability of a speedy surrender on the part of the English. To tell the truth, there was not a man amongst us who would have asked better than to make prisoners of the Cape Mounted Rifles and of Brabant's Horse. They were Afrikanders, and as Afrikanders, although neither Free-Staters nor Transvaalers, they ought, in our opinion, to have been ashamed to fight against us. The English, we admitted, had a perfect right to hire such sweepings, and to use them against us, but we utterly despised them for allowing themselves to be hired. We felt that their motive was not to obtain the franchise of the Uitlanders, but--five shillings a day! And if it should by any chance happen that any one of them should find his grave there--well, the generation to come would not be very proud of that grave. No! it would be regarded with horror as the grave of an Afrikander who had helped to bring his brother Afrikanders to their downfall. Although I never took it amiss if a colonist of Natal or of Cape Colony was unwilling to fight with us against England, yet I admit that it vexed me greatly to think that some of these colonists, for the sake of a paltry five shillings a day, should be ready to shoot down their fellow-countrymen. Such men, alas! there have always been, since, in the first days of the human race, Cain killed his brother Abel. But Cain had not long to wait for his reward! Whilst we were besieging these Afrikanders, news came that large columns from Reddersburg and Bloemfontein were drawing near. So overwhelming were their numbers that the commandos of Generals A.P. Cronje and Piet de Wet were far too weak to hold them in check, and I had to despatch two reinforcing parties, the first under Commandant Fourie, the second under General J.B. Wessels. General Froneman had now returned from Smithfield, whither I had sent him to attack the garrison. He told me that he had been unable to carry out my orders, for, on his arrival at Smithfield, he had discovered that the garrison--which had only consisted of some two or three hundred men--had just departed. He learnt, however, that it was still possible to overtake it before it reached Aliwal North. Unfortunately, he was unable to persuade Commandant Swanepoel, who was in command of the burghers, to pursue the retreating troops. He therefore had to content himself with the fifteen men he had with him. He came in sight of the enemy at Branziektekraal, two hours from Aliwal North; but with the mere handful of men, which was all that he had at his command, an attack upon them was not to be thought of, and he had to turn back. His expedition, however, had not been without good result, for he returned with about five hundred of those burghers who had gone home after our commandos had left Stormberg. We had to thank Lord Roberts for this welcome addition to our forces. The terms of the proclamation in which Lord Roberts had guaranteed the property and personal liberty of the non-combatant burghers had not been abided by. In the neighbourhood of Bloemfontein, Reddersburg, and Dewetsdorp, and at every other place where it was possible, his troops had made prisoners of burghers who had remained quietly on their farms. The same course of action had been pursued by the column which fell into our hands at Mostertshoek--I myself had liberated David Strauss and four other citizens whom I had found there. While peacefully occupied on their farms they had been taken prisoners by the English column, which was then on its way from Dewetsdorp to Reddersburg. This disregard of his proclamations did not increase the respect which the burghers felt for Lord Roberts. They felt that the word of the English was not to be trusted, and, fearing for their own safety, they returned to their commandos. I sent President Steyn a telegram, informing him that our burghers were rejoining, and adding that Lord Roberts was the best recruiting sergeant I had ever had! General Froneman and the men whom he had collected soon found work to do. The enemy was expecting a reinforcement from Aliwal North, and I sent the General, with six hundred troops, to oppose it. He came into touch with it at Boesmanskop, and a slight skirmish took place. In the meanwhile I received a report from General Piet de Wet, who was at Dewetsdorp, notifying me that the English forces outnumbered his own so enormously that he could not withstand their advance. He suggested that I ought at once to relinquish the siege and proceed in the direction of Thaba'Nchu. I also received discouraging news from General Piet Fourie, who had had a short but severe engagement with the troops that were coming from Bloemfontein, and had been compelled to give way before their superior forces. Piet de Wet's advice appealed to me all the more strongly since reinforcements were pouring in upon the enemy from all sides. But I was of opinion that I ought to go with a strong force after the enemy in the direction of Norvalspont, as I was convinced that it was no longer possible to check their advance. But General Piet de Wet differed from me on this point, and held that we ought to keep in front of the English, and I was at last compelled to give in to him. Accordingly I issued orders to General Froneman to desist from any further attack upon the reinforcement with which he had been engaged, and to join me. When he arrived I fell back on Thaba'Nchu. My siege of Colonel Dalgety, with his Brabant's Horse and Cape Mounted Rifles, had lasted for sixteen days. Our total loss was only five killed and thirteen wounded. The English, as I learnt from prisoners, had suffered rather severely. [Footnote 36: Cape Mounted Rifles.] CHAPTER XII The English Swarm over our Country On April 25th we arrived at Alexandrië, six miles from Thaba'Nchu. The latter place was already occupied by English outposts. General Philip Botha now joined me; he had been engaging the enemy in the triangle formed by Brandfort, Bloemfontein and Thaba'Nchu. My commandos numbered some four thousand men, and I decided that it was time to concentrate my forces. Lord Roberts was about to carry out the plans which he had formed at Bloemfontein, namely, to outflank us with large bodies of mounted troops. He attempted to do this to the north-east of Thaba'Nchu, but at first was not successful. On a second attempt, however, he managed, after a fierce fight, to break through our lines. It was during this action that Commandant Lubbe was shot in the leg, and had the misfortune to be taken prisoner. At Frankfort also, Lord Roberts met with success, and General De la Rey was forced to retreat northwards. I was now firmly convinced, although I kept the belief to myself, that the English would march to Kroonstad; and I could see, more clearly than ever, the necessity of operating in their rear. I had suggested to President Steyn when he had visited us at Alexandrië, that I should proceed to Norvalspont, or even into Cape Colony, but he was against any such project. This, however, was not because he disapproved of my suggestion in itself, but because he feared that the Transvaalers might say that the Free-Staters, now that their own country was in the enemy's hands, were going to leave them in the lurch. Yet in spite of his opposition, I had ultimately to carry out my own ideas, for, even if I was misunderstood, I had to act as I thought best. I can only say that each man of us who remained true to our great cause acted up to the best of his convictions. If the results proved disastrous, one had best be silent about them. There is no use crying over spilt milk. We now pushed our commandos forward to Zand River. At Tabaksberg General Philip Botha had a short but severe engagement with Lord Roberts' advanced columns. I was the last of the Generals to leave Thaba'Nchu. I was very anxious to prevent the "granary"[37] of the Orange Free State from falling into the hands of the English; with this object in view, I left behind me at Korannaberg General De Villiers, with Commandants De Villiers, of Ficksburg, Crowther, of Ladybrand, Roux, of Wepener, and Potgieter, of Smithfield, and ordered the General to carry on operations in the south-eastern districts of the Free State. This valiant General did some fine work, and fought splendidly at Gouveneurskop and Wonderkop, inflicting very serious losses upon the English. But nevertheless he had to yield to the superior numbers of the enemy, who ultimately gained possession of the "granary" districts. But he made them pay for it dearly. General De Villiers followed the English to Senekal and Lindley, and at Biddulphsberg, near the first named village, he again engaged them successfully, killing and wounding many of them. But a grave misfortune overtook us here, for the General received a dangerous wound on the head. There was still another most deplorable occurrence. In some way or other the grass caught fire; and as it was very dry, and a high wind was blowing, the flames ran along the ground to where many of the English wounded were lying. There was no time to rescue them; and thus in this terrible manner many a poor fellow lost his life. General De Villiers' wound was so serious, that the only course open was to ask the commanding officer of the Senekal garrison to let him have the benefit of the English doctors' skill. This request was willingly granted, and De Villiers was placed under the care of the English ambulance. Sad to say, he died of his wound. Some time later I was informed that the man who had carried the request into Senekal was ex-Commandant Vilonel, who was then serving as a private burgher. A few days later he surrendered, so that one naturally inferred that he had arranged it all during his visit to Senekal. Shortly after he had given up his arms, he sent a letter to one of the Veldtcornets, asking him to come to such and such a spot on a certain evening, to meet an English officer and himself. The letter never reached the hands of the person to whom Vilonel had addressed it; and instead of the Veldtcornet, it was Captain Pretorius with a few burghers, who went to the appointed place. The night was so dark that it was impossible to recognize anybody. "Where is Veldtcornet--?" asked Mr. Vilonel. "You are my prisoner," was Captain Pretorius' reply, as he took Vilonel's horse by the bridle. "Treason! treason!" cried poor Vilonel. They brought him back to the camp, and sent him thence to Bethlehem. A court-martial[38] was shortly afterwards held at that town, and he was condemned to a long term of imprisonment. In the place of General De Villiers I appointed Deacon Paul Roux as Vechtgeneraal. He was a man in whom I placed absolute confidence. As a minister of religion he had done good service among the commandos, and in the fiercest battles he looked after the wounded with undaunted courage. His advice to the officers on matters of war had also been excellent, so that he was in every way a most admirable man. But his fighting career unfortunately soon came to an end, for he was taken prisoner in a most curious way near Naauwpoort, when Prinsloo surrendered. I must now retrace my steps, and give some account of what I myself had been doing during this time. I proceeded to the west of Doornberg, and only halted when I reached the Zand River. What memories does the name of that river bring back to me! It was on its banks that in 1852 the English Government concluded a Convention with the Transvaal--only to break it when Sir Theophilus Shepstone annexed that country on the 12th of April, 1877. But this Convention was re-established by Gladstone--greatest and noblest of English statesmen--when he acknowledged the independence of the South African Republic. Here on the banks of this river, which was so pregnant with meaning, we should stand, so I thought, and hold the English at bay. But alas! the name with all its memories did not check the enemy's advance. On the 10th of May Lord Roberts attacked us with his united forces; and although his losses were heavy, he succeeded in breaking through our lines near Ventersburg, at two points which were held by General Froneman. And thus the English were free to advance on Kroonstad. I gave orders to my commando to move on to Doornkop, which lies to the east of Kroonstad. I myself, with Commandant Nel and some of his adjutants, followed them when the sun had set. We rode the whole of that night, and reached the township on the following morning. We immediately arranged that the Government should withdraw from Kroonstad, and that very day it was removed to Heilbron. President Steyn, however, did not go to Heilbron, but paid a visit to General Philip Botha, whose commando had held back the English outposts some six miles from Kroonstad. The President, before leaving the town, had stationed police on the banks of the Valsch River with orders to prevent burghers from entering the dorp[39]; he had only just crossed the drift before my arrival. I came upon some burghers who, as they had been ordered, had off-saddled at the south side of the river, and I asked them if they had seen the President. As they were Transvaalers, they answered my question in the negative. "But has nobody on horseback crossed here?" I said. "Oh, yes! the Big Constable[40] crossed," one of them replied. "And he told us not to pass over the drift." "What was he like?" I inquired. "He was a man with a long red beard." I knew now who the "Big Constable" had been; and when I afterwards told the President for whom he had been taken, he was greatly amused. General Philip Botha discussed the state of affairs with me, and we both came to the conclusion that if Lord Roberts attacked us with his united forces, his superior numbers would render it impossible for us to hold our disadvantageous positions round Kroonstad. We had also to take into consideration the fact that my commando could not reach the town before the following day. Whilst we were still talking, news arrived that there was a strong force of cavalry on the banks of the Valsch River, six miles from Kroonstad, and that it was rapidly approaching the town. On hearing this, I hastened back to the south of the township, where a body of Kroonstad burghers had off-saddled, and I ordered them to get into their saddles immediately, and ride with me to meet the enemy. In less time than it takes to describe it, we were off. As we drew near to the English we saw they had taken up a very good position. The sun had already set, and nothing could be done save to exchange a few shots with the enemy. So, after I had ordered my men to post themselves on the enemy's front till the following morning, I rode back to Kroonstad. When I arrived there, I found that the last of the Transvaal commandos had already retreated through the town and made for the north. I at once sent orders to the burghers, whom I had just left, to abandon their positions, and to prepare themselves to depart by train to Rhenosterriviersbrug. At Kroonstad there was not a single burgher left. Only the inhabitants of the township remained, and they were but too ready to "hands-up." One of these, however, was of a different mould. I refer to Veldtcornet Thring, who had arrived with me at Kroonstad that morning, but who had suddenly fallen ill. On the day following he was a prisoner in the hands of the English. Thring was an honourable man in every way. Although an Englishman by birth, he was at heart an Afrikander, for he had accepted the Orange Free State as his second fatherland. Like many another Englishman, he had become a fellow-citizen of ours, and had enjoyed the fat of the land. But now, trusty burgher that he was, he had drawn his sword to defend the burghers' rights. His earliest experiences were with the Kroonstad burghers, who went down into Natal; later on he fought under me at Sanna's Post and Mostertshoek, and took part in the siege of Colonel Dalgety at Jammersbergsdrift. He had stood at my side at Thaba'Nchu and on the banks of the Zand River. I had always found him the most willing and reliable of officers, and he had won the respect and trust of every man who knew him. He was faithful to the end. Although he might well have joined our enemies, he preferred to set the seal of fidelity upon his life by his imprisonment. Long may he live to enjoy the trust of the Afrikander people! I remained late that evening in the town. It was somewhat risky to do so, as the place was full of English inhabitants, and of Afrikanders who did not favour our cause. In fact, I was surrounded by men who would have been only too pleased to do me an injury. I said farewell to Kroonstad at ten o'clock that night, and was carried to Rhenosterriviersbrug, thirty-four miles from Kroonstad, by the last train that left the town. But before I departed, I took care that the bridge over the Valsch River should be destroyed by dynamite. In the meantime, those portions of the Heilbron and Kroonstad commandos which had gone into Natal at the beginning of the war, received orders to leave the Drakensberg. Obeying these orders they joined me, and, with my other troops, had occupied splendid positions on either side of the railway line. Commandant General Louis Botha was also there with his Transvaal burghers, having arrived in the Free State a few days previously. Captain Danie Theron was still with me as my trustworthy scout, and he constantly kept me informed of Lord Roberts' movements. For a few days Lord Roberts remained at Kroonstad, but about the 18th of May he again began to move his enormous forces. He sent out four divisions. The first he despatched from Kroonstad to Heilbron; the second from Lindley to the same destination; the third from Kroonstad to Vredefort and Parijs, and the fourth from Kroonstad along the railway line. The two Governments had agreed that Commandant General Louis Botha should cross the Vaal River, and that we Free-Staters should remain behind in our own country. And this was carried out, with our full approval. The Governments had also decided that even if the English entered the Transvaal, the Free State commandos were not to follow them. I had long ago wished that something of this nature should be arranged, so that we might not only have forces in front of the enemy, but also in their rear. Thus the orders of the Governments exactly coincided with my desires. Lest any one should think that the Transvaalers and the Free-Staters separated here on account of a squabble, or because they found that they could not work harmoniously together, let me state that this decision was arrived at for purely strategic reasons. We had now been reduced to a third of the original number of forty-five thousand burghers with which we had started the campaign. This reduction was due partly to Cronje's surrender, and partly to the fact that many of our men had returned to their farms. How, then, could we think of making a stand, with our tiny forces, against two hundred and forty thousand men, with three or four hundred guns? All we could do was to make the best of every little chance we got of hampering the enemy. If fortune should desert us, it only remained to flee. To flee--what could be more bitter than that? Ah! many a time when I was forced to yield to the enemy, I felt so degraded that I could scarcely look a child in the face! Did I call myself a man? I asked myself, and if so, why did I run away? No one can guess the horror which overcame me when I had to retreat, or to order others to do so--there! I have poured out my whole soul. If I did fly, it was only because one man cannot stand against twelve. After the Transvaalers had crossed the Vaal River, I took twelve hundred men to Heilbron, where there was already a party of my burghers. General Roux with other Free-Staters was stationed east of Senekal, and the remainder of our forces lay near Lindley. But the commandos from Vrede and Harrismith, with part of the Bethlehem commando, still remained as watchers on the Drakensberg. When I arrived at Heilbron, late at night, I received a report that fighting was taking place on the Rhenoster River, between Heilbron and Lindley, and that General J.B. Wessels and Commandant Steenekamp had been driven back. But on the following morning, when the outposts came in, they stated that they had seen nothing of this engagement. I immediately sent out scouts, but hardly had they gone, before one of them came galloping back with the news that the enemy had approached quite close to the town. It was impossible for me to oppose a force of five or six thousand men on the open plain; and I could not move to suitable positions, for that would involve having the women and children behind me when the enemy were bombarding me. I had therefore to be off without a moment's delay. I had not even time to send my wife and my children into a place of safety. Our whole stock of ammunition was on the rail at Wolvehoek. I had given orders to Mr. Sarel Wessels, who had charge of the ammunition, to hold himself in readiness to proceed with it by rail, through the Transvaal, to Greylingstad as soon as he received orders to do so. But now the ammunition could not remain there, as Sir Redvers Buller was gaining ground day by day towards the veldt on the Natal frontier and the ammunition would thus be in danger of being taken. Therefore there was nothing left for me but to get it through by way of Greylingstad Station. It had to be done, and,--I had no carriages by which I could convey it, as I had not sufficient hands to take carriages from the trucks.[41] There was only one way (course) open; the commandos from Smithfield, Wepener and Bethulie still had, contrary to the Kroonstad resolution, carriages with them at Frankfort; I hastened to that village and sent the necessary number of these carriages under a strong escort, to fetch the ammunition from Greylingstad. In order to do this responsible work I required a man whom I could trust. Captain Danie Theron was no longer with me, because he, being a Transvaaler, had gone with General Louis Botha. But there was another: Gideon J. Scheepers.[42] To him I entrusted the task of reconnoitring the British, so that the carriages which were going to fetch the ammunition could do in safety what they were required to do, and I knew that he would do it. [Footnote 37: This "granary" lay in the Ladybrand, Ficksburg and Bethlehem districts, and not only supplied the Free State, but also the greater part of the Transvaal. If the districts of Wepener, Rouxville, Bloemfontein, and Thaba'Nchu be included, this "granary" was the source of a very large yield of corn, and there had been an especially rich harvest that year. As the men were away on commando, the Kaffirs reaped the corn under the supervision of the Boer women; and where Kaffirs were not obtainable the women did the work with their own hands, and were assisted by their little sons and daughters. The women had provided such a large supply, that had not the English burnt the corn by the thousand sacks, the war could have been continued. It was hard indeed for them to watch the soldiers flinging the corn on the ground before their horses' hoofs. Still harder was it to see that which had cost them so much labour thrown into the flames. In spite of the fact that the English, in order to destroy our crops, had let their horses and draught oxen loose upon the land, there was still an abundant harvest--perhaps the best that we had ever seen. And so it happened that whilst the men were at the front, the housewives could feed the horses in the stable. But Lord Roberts, acting on the advice of unfaithful burghers, laid his hand upon the housewives' work, and burnt the grain that they had stored.] [Footnote 38: This Court was not composed of officers, but consisted of three persons, one of whom was a lawyer.] [Footnote 39: Township.] [Footnote 40: Police Agent.] [Footnote 41: Railway trucks.] [Footnote 42: Everyone will know him, this brave man of pure Afrikander blood, subsequently a famous Commander, a martyr. I appointed him Captain of Scouts, and from the moment that he commenced his work I saw that a _man_ had come forward. It was sad to think in what manner such a man was deprived of his life. I shall speak more of him later on, for, as our proverb says, "I had eaten too much salt" to pass over his career unnoticed] CHAPTER XIII Our Position at the End of May, 1900 Once more it became necessary that the seat of Government should be changed, and towards the latter part of May our administrative headquarters were established at a place between Frankfort and Heilbron. The object of our Government in choosing this position was to be able to keep up telegraphic communication with the Transvaal. And their choice was soon to be justified, for after Johannesburg had been taken on May 31st and Pretoria on July 5th, the only telegraphic connexion between the Free State and the South African Republic was viâ Frankfort, Greylingstad and Middlesburg. The terminus, at the Transvaal end, was situated not far from Pretoria. But, for the moment, it looked as if fortune were again going to smile on us, after our long spell of ill luck. On May the 31st Lindley and its garrison of Yeomanry fell into the hands of General Piet de Wet. The Yeomanry lost heavily, and five hundred of them, including, as I was told, several noblemen, were taken prisoner. These were the last prisoners of war that we were able to send into the South African Republic. Soon afterwards, when Pretoria was on the point of falling into the enemy's hands, the prisoners there had to be sent further east, but--owing either to the stupidity of the Transvaal Government, or to the treachery of the guards--a great many of them were left behind for Lord Roberts to release and re-arm against us. Our burghers grumbled much at this, and blamed the negligence of the Transvaalers. Before we had had time to get the captured Yeomanry through into the Transvaal, Sir Redvers Buller had forced his way over the Natal frontier, crossing the Drakensberg between Botha's Pass and Laing's Nek. This event, which happened on June the 17th, caused yet another panic among our commandos. "We are now," they said, "surrounded on all sides. Resistance and escape are equally impossible for us." Never during the whole course of the war were President Steyn and I so full of care and anxiety as at this time. With Buller across our frontier, and the enemy within the walls of Johannesburg and Pretoria, it was as much as we could do to continue the contest at all. However brave and determined many of our burghers and officers might be, and, in fact, were, our numerical weakness was a fact that was not to be got over, and might prove an insuperable obstacle to our success. Moreover, the same thing was now going on in the Transvaal after the capture of Pretoria, as we had witnessed in the Free State after the fall of Bloemfontein--nearly all the burghers were leaving their commandos and going back to their farms. Plenty of officers, but no troops! This was the pass to which we were come. It was only the remembrance of how the tide had turned in the Free State that gave us the strength to hold out any longer. President Steyn and I sent telegram after telegram to the Government and to the chief officers, encouraging them to stand fast. Meanwhile the two Generals, De la Rey and Louis Botha, were giving us all a splendid example of fortitude. Gazing into the future unmoved, and facing it as it were with clenched teeth, they prosecuted the war with invincible determination. * * * * * That the reader may the better appreciate the actual condition of our affairs at this time, I think it well to make a short statement as to the various districts of the Orange Free State, and the number of men in each on whom we could still rely! The burghers of Philippolis and Kaapstad had surrendered _en masse_ to the English. In the first named of these districts, only Gordon Fraser and Norval, in the second only Cornelius du Preez and another, whose name has escaped my memory, remained loyal to our cause. I mention these men here, because their faithfulness redounds to their everlasting honour. In the district of Boshof, we could still reckon on Veldtcornet Badenhorst,[43] and twenty-seven men. Jacobsdal was represented by Commandant Pretorius (who had succeeded Commandant Lubbe, after the latter had been wounded and taken prisoner at Tabaksberg), and forty men. In the district of Fauresmith, Commandant Visser and some seventy men had remained faithful. In Bethulie, Commandant Du Plooij, with nearly a hundred men, were still in arms. Bloemfontein was represented by Commandant Piet Fourie and two hundred burghers. The commandos of Rouxville, Smithfield, Wepener and Ladybrand, fell far short of their full complement of men, as a great number had remained behind at home. Of the burghers from Winburg, Kroonstad and Heilbron, many had already laid down their arms, and the drain upon our troops in these districts was still continuing. None of the burghers belonging to the districts of Ficksburg, Bethlehem,[44] Harrismith and Vrede had yet surrendered--their turn was to come. All told, we were 8,000 burghers. After my men had gone northwards, those burghers of Hoopstad, Jacobsdal, Fauresmith, Philippolis, Bethulie, Smithfield, Rouxville, Wepener, Bloemfontein and the southern part of Ladybrand, who had laid down their arms and remained at home between the beginning of March and the end of May, were left undisturbed by Lord Roberts--so far as their private liberty was concerned. * * * * * I was now camped at Frankfort, waiting for the ammunition, which ought to have already arrived from Greylingstad Station. It was about this time that the Government decided, on the recommendation of some of the officers, that the rank of Vechtgeneraal should be abolished. In consequence of this decision all the officers of that rank resigned. I did not approve of this course of action, and obtained from the Government the rank of Assistant Commander-in-Chief. I was thus able to re-appoint the old Vechtgeneraals, Piet de Wet, C.C. Froneman, Philip Botha and Paul Roux, and I at once proceeded to do so. [Footnote 43: Afterwards Commandant, and, still later, Assistant Commander-in-Chief.] [Footnote 44: At the conclusion of peace it was the Bethlehem commando which had the greatest number of burghers under arms.] CHAPTER XIV Roodewal The ammunition arrived safely, and towards the end of May I made my way to a certain hill, some twelve miles from Heilbron, to which we had given the name of Presidentskopje, and where Commandants Steenekamp and J.H. Olivier were posted. Here I left the greater part of my commandos. But I myself, on the 2nd of June, set out in the direction of Roodewal Station, taking with me six hundred burghers, mounted on the best horses that were to be obtained. I reached the farm of Leeuwfontein the same night, and found it an excellent place in which to hide my men out of sight of the Heilbron garrison. The farm stood about nine miles to the south of that town. The following evening we moved on as far as Smithsdrift, which is a drift on the road from Heilbron to Kroonstad. There again I concealed my men. On the afternoon of the next day, June the 4th, news was brought me that a convoy was on its way to Heilbron from Rhenoster River. This convoy encamped that evening at the distance of a mile from the farm of Zwavelkrans; the spot chosen was about five hundred paces from the Rhenoster River, and quite unprotected. Before sunrise I sent a party of burghers down to the river, some five hundred paces from where the convoy was encamped, and by daybreak we had entirely surrounded the enemy. No sooner had the sun appeared than I despatched a burgher with a white flag to the English officer in command. I ordered my messenger to inform the officer that he was surrounded, that escape was out of the question, and that if he wished to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, his only course was to surrender. [Illustration: ROODEWAL. FROM A SKETCH BY THE AUTHOR.] On hearing this one of their men came to me with the object of demanding certain conditions. It goes without saying that my answer was--"Unconditional surrender!" He asked for time to communicate this to the officer in command. I granted this request, and he returned to the convoy. We were not left in suspense for long. The white flag was hoisted almost immediately, and two hundred _Bergschotten_,[45] with fifty-six heavily laden waggons, fell into our hands. Fortunately, all this occurred out of sight of Roodewal Station and Heilbron, and, as not a single shot had been fired, I had no reason so far to fear that there was any obstacle in the way of my main project--the capture of the valuable booty at Roodewal. I at once returned with my capture to the spot where we had been the previous night. General Philip Botha conducted the prisoners and the booty to the President's camp, returning to our laager on the following morning. On the evening of the 6th of June I started on my road to Roodewal. At Walfontein I divided my troops into three parties. The first party, consisting of three hundred men with one Krupp, I despatched under Commandant Steenekamp to Vredefort Road Station, with orders to attack it the following day at sunrise. General Froneman, with Commandants Nel and Du Plooij, were in command of the second party, which consisted of three hundred burghers, with two Krupps and one quick-firing gun. My orders were that, at daybreak, they were to attack an English camp which was lying a mile to the north of the railway station at Rhenoster River, and close to some brick-coloured ridges. The third party I commanded myself. It consisted of Commandant Fourie and eighty burghers, with one Krupp; and with this force I pushed on to Roodewal Station. At Doorndraai I left behind me a few waggons, with twenty men to guard them. I had previously stationed a hundred burghers there, with the object of keeping in touch with the enemy. The information which Captain Scheepers had gained while scouting was amply sufficient to show me how the land lay. Although I had heard that there were not more than fifty of the enemy at Vredefort Road Station, I had nevertheless sent three hundred burghers there. This was because I was aware that the main English force lay to the north of the station, so that these fifty men might be reinforced at the shortest possible notice. The numbers which General Froneman had to encounter were much greater, and the enemy held safe positions. But as General Froneman was himself able to take quite as good positions, I only gave him the same number of troops as I had assigned to Commandant Steenekamp. I also gave orders that two guns should proceed with him. I was informed that there were only one hundred of the English at Roodewal, but that these hundred were very securely entrenched. My information was, however, at fault, for I discovered later on that there were at least double that number. I arrived at Roodewal very early in the morning of the 7th of June. I brought my men up to within eight hundred paces of the station, and ordered them to unharness the horses which were attached to the Krupp, and to place it in position. But listen! There is the crack of rifles in the distance! That must be the sound of the enemy's fire on General Froneman. Again, and yet again, the sound meets my ears. Then all is quiet once more. It was still two hours before the sun would rise, and I took full advantage of the opportunities which the darkness gave me. I ordered four of my burghers to approach as close to the station as was possible, and to find out everything they could about the enemy's position. Following my directions, they crept with extreme caution towards the English lines, until only a hundred paces separated them from the station. They returned before it was light, and brought back word that unless the enemy had thrown up unusually high _schanzes_, there must be an untold quantity of provisions piled up there. Everything had been very quiet, and they had seen no one stirring. The day now began to dawn, and as soon as it was light I sent a message to the enemy demanding their surrender. The answer came back at once. On the back of my note these words had been written: "We refuse to surrender." I instantly opened a hot fire upon them, bringing the Krupp as well as the Mausers into action. But the reply of the enemy was no less severe. We had no cover. There was only a shallow _pan_[46]--so shallow that it scarcely afforded protection to the horses' hoofs! A thousand paces to the north-west of the railway I had observed a deep _pan_ where the horses would have had better cover, but even there our men would have been just as exposed as they now were. I had decided against taking up my position in this _pan_, because I should have been obliged to cross the line to reach it, and in doing so should have run the risk of being observed by the English. Thus it was that the burghers were compelled to lie flat down in order to afford as little mark as possible to the enemy. But the men who served the Krupp were naturally unable to do this; and, seeing that the gun must be moved, I gave this order: "Inspan the gun, gallop it three thousand paces back; then blaze away again as fiercely as you can!" Under a hail of bullets the horses were attached to the gun. Whilst this was being done, I ordered my men to fire upon the English entrenchments with redoubled energy, and thus, if possible, prevent the enemy from taking careful aim. Incredible though it may appear, Captain Muller got the gun away without a single man or horse being hit. When he had covered three thousand paces, he halted, and turning the Krupp on the enemy, he shelled them with good effect. At about ten o'clock, General Froneman succeeded in forcing the English troops which he had attacked to surrender. I therefore ordered the two Krupps which he had with him to be brought up with the utmost despatch. At half-past seven they arrived, and immediately opened fire on the English. When the enemy had been under the fire of three guns and eighty Mausers for an hour, they thought it best to hoist the white flag. We accordingly ceased firing, and I rode out towards the station. Before I had reached it, I was met by two of the officers. They told me that they were willing to surrender, on condition that they were allowed to retain their private property and the mail bags, for it appeared that there were two English mails under their charge. I replied that so far as their private belongings were concerned, they were welcome to keep them, as I never allowed the personal property of my prisoners to be tampered with in my presence.[47] But I told them that the letters were a different matter, and that I could not allow them to reach their destination--unless they were directed to a bonfire! There was nothing left for the officers to do, except to agree to my terms then and there; for had they hesitated even for a moment, I should certainly have stormed the station. But they wisely surrendered. On our arrival at the station, we were all filled with wonder at the splendid entrenchments the English had constructed from bales of cotton, blankets and post-bags. These entrenchments had been so effectual that the enemy's loss was only twenty-seven killed and wounded--a remarkably small number, when it is remembered that we took two hundred of them prisoners. I had expected that our booty would be large, and my expectations were more than realized. To begin with, there were the bales of clothing that the English had used as entrenchments. Then there were hundreds of cases of necessaries of every description. Of ammunition, also, there was no lack, and amongst it there were projectiles for the Naval guns, with which Lord Roberts had intended to bombard Pretoria. Some of the burghers attempted to lift these gigantic shells, but it took more than one man to move them. I read in the newspapers afterwards that I had inflicted a loss of three quarters of a million sterling on the English Government--let that give the extent of my capture. But at that moment we did not realize how much harm we had done to them. We had little time for anything which did not directly forward our cause. I was, however, very sorry that I could not carry away with me the blankets and boots which we found in large quantities, for they would have been most valuable for winter use. But there was no time for this, as the English held the railway and could at any moment bring up reinforcements from Bloemfontein, from Kroonstad, or from Pretoria. So, as I could not take the booty away with me, I was obliged to consign it to the flames. But before I did this I gave the burghers permission to open the post-bags, and to take what they liked out of them. For in these bags there were useful articles of every description, such as underclothing, stockings, cigars and cigarettes. Very soon every one was busy with the post-bags--as if each burgher had been suddenly transformed into a most zealous postmaster! Whilst my men were thus pleasantly occupied, two prisoners asked me if I would not allow them also to open the post-bags, and to investigate their contents. I told them to take just what they fancied, for everything that was left would be burnt. It was a very amusing sight to see the soldiers thus robbing their own mail! They had such a large choice that they soon became too dainty to consider even a plum-pudding worth looking at! Although I had ordered my men to wreck the bridges both to the north and to the south of us, I still did not feel secure--any delay on our part was fraught with danger, and the sooner we were off the better. But before we could start, I had to find some method of removing the ammunition which I wished to take with me. Since I possessed no waggons available for this purpose, my only course was to order my burghers to carry away the quantity required. But my burghers were busily engaged in looting. Those who have had any experience of our commandos will not need to be told that it was a difficult task to get any men to help me in the work. I did succeed, however, in dragging a few of the burghers away from the post-bags. But the spirit of loot was upon them, and I was almost powerless. Even when I had induced a burgher to work, he was off to the post-bags again the instant my back was turned, and I had to go and hunt him up, or else to find some other man to do the work. Yet, in spite of this, I succeeded in removing the gun and Lee-Metford ammunition. We carried away some six hundred cases of this ammunition,[48] and hid it at a spot about three hundred paces from the station. When the sun set, the burghers were again on the march. But what a curious spectacle they presented! Each man had loaded his horse so heavily with goods that there was no room for himself on the saddle; he had, therefore, to walk, and lead his horse by the bridle. And how could it be otherwise? For the burghers had come from a shop where no money was demanded, and none paid! But the most amusing thing of all was to watch the "Tommies" when I gave them the order to march. The poor Veldtcornet, who was entrusted with the task of conducting them to our camp, had his hands full when he tried to get them away from the booty; and when at last he succeeded, the soldiers carried such enormous loads, that one could almost fancy that every man of them was going to open a store. But they could not carry such burdens for long, and soon they were obliged to diminish their bulk, thus leaving a trail of parcels to mark the road they had taken! And now it was time for the fire to do its work, and I ordered fifteen men to set the great heap of booty alight. The flames burst out everywhere simultaneously--our task was completed. In an instant we had mounted our horses and were off. When we had covered fifteen hundred paces, we heard the explosion of the first shells, and wheeled round to view the conflagration. The night was very dark, and this rendered the sight that met our eyes still more imposing. It was the most beautiful display of fireworks that I have ever seen. One could hear, between the thunder of the big bombs, the dull report of exploding cordite. Meanwhile the dark sky was resplendent with the red glow of the flames. I must now give some description of General Froneman's engagement to the north of Rhenosterriviersbrug.[49] The firing we had heard before sunrise came from the English outposts, as they were retreating to their camp. The burghers and the English had both seized positions on small hills and in abandoned Kaffir kraals.[50] Although the English had very good positions, and out-numbered our men by two to one, they found it impossible to hold out against our fire. They had no guns, whilst we possessed, as the reader knows, two Krupps and a quick-firing gun, which latter had the same effect as a Maxim-Nordenfeldt. Thus the enemy was forced to surrender; and five hundred of them were taken prisoner, among whom were Captain Wyndham Knight and several other officers. Their casualties amounted to the large total of one hundred and seventy killed and wounded, Colonel Douglas being one of the killed. Commandant Steenekamp had also met with success, for he had captured the English camp at Vredefortweg Station, and taken thirty prisoners, without firing a shot. Thus we had made eight hundred of the enemy our prisoners, and destroyed an enormous amount of their ammunition, and this with scarcely any loss on our side. At Roodewal only two of my men had been wounded, whilst General Froneman had lost but one killed--a burgher named Myringen--and two slightly wounded. It had been a wonderful day for us--a day not easily forgotten. We were deeply thankful for our success. Our only regret was that it had been impossible for us to keep more of the clothing and ammunition. But although we had not been able to retain it, neither had the enemy. It was winter, and we had managed to burn their warm clothing. The English would certainly feel the want of it; and some time must elapse before they could receive a fresh supply from Europe. Undoubtedly Lord Roberts would be very angry with me; but I consoled myself with the thought that his anger would soon blow over. I felt sure that after calm consideration he would acknowledge that I had been altogether within my rights, and that he had been rather unwise in heaping together at one place so large a quantity of insufficiently protected stores. He should have kept his supplies at Kroonstad, or, better still, at Bloemfontein, until he had reconstructed all the railway bridges which we had blown up on the line to Pretoria. Lord Roberts had already begun to trust the Free-Staters too much; and he had forgotten that, whatever else we may have been thinking about, never for a single moment had we thought of surrendering our country. I received a report the following day that thirty English troops had been seen eight miles to the west of Roodewal, and moving in the direction of Kroonstad. I despatched General Froneman with thirty of the burghers to fetch them in. The next day, which was the 9th of June, I went with our prisoners to within three miles of the railway, and left them there under Veldtcornet De Vos,[51] ordering him to conduct them the rest of the way. It was now my duty to bring away the ammunition which I had left at Roodewal and to put it into some safe place. With this in view, I sent the Commandants, when night had fallen, to Roodewal, each with two waggons, and ordered them to bring it to my farm at Roodepoort, which was three miles away from the railway bridge over the Rhenoster River. There was a ford near my farm with sandy banks; and I told the Commandants to bury the ammunition in this sand, on the south side of the river, and to obliterate all traces of what they had done by crossing and re-crossing the spot with the waggons. I found out subsequently that the Commandants had left some of the ammunition behind at Roodewal. Before I conclude this chapter I have to record an event which filled me with disgust. Veldtcornet Hans Smith, of Rouxville, contrived to have a conversation with Captain Wyndham Knight, who, as I have already stated, was one of our prisoners. The Veldtcornet obtained from him a "free pass" to Kroonstad through the English lines, and also a written request to the British authorities there to allow him and twenty burghers to proceed without hindrance to Rouxville. Alas! that any Free State officer should be capable of such conduct! Captain Wyndham Knight will be held in high esteem by all who truly serve their country, for he was a man who never deserted the cause of his fatherland, no matter what dangers he encountered. Veldtcornet Hans Smith with his twenty burghers decamped on the night of the 10th of June, but some days had passed before I discovered the mean trick he had played. It was far easier to fight against the great English army than against this treachery among my own people, and an iron will was required to fight against both at once. But, even though one possessed an iron will, such events caused many bitter moments; they were trials which, as an African proverb[52] says, no single man's back was broad enough to carry. [Footnote 45: Highlanders.] [Footnote 46: A pond which only contains water during "the rains."] [Footnote 47: The _Uitschudden_ (stripping) of the enemy had not become necessary at that date. I can say for myself that when, at a later period, it came into practice, I never witnessed it with any satisfaction. Yet what could the burghers do but help themselves to the prisoners' clothing, when England had put a stop to our imports, and cut off all our supplies?] [Footnote 48: At this time the burghers were beginning to use the rifles which they had taken from the enemy.] [Footnote 49: Rhenoster River bridge.] [Footnote 50: These dated back to the time of Moselekatze (Umzilygazi).] [Footnote 51: He was afterwards appointed Commandant.] [Footnote 52: Literally the proverb runs as follows: "There are some trials which will not sit in one man's clothes."] CHAPTER XV I Make Lord Kitchener's Acquaintance On the morning of June the 10th my anticipations were realized by the approach of a large English force from Vredefortweg and Heilbron. Commanded by Lord Kitchener, and numbering, as I estimated, from twelve to fifteen thousand men, this force was intended to drive us from the railway line. I gave orders that the few waggons which we had with us should proceed in the direction of Kroonstad, to the west of the line; once out of sight, they were to turn sharply to the west, and continue in that direction. This manoeuvre, I hoped, would serve to mislead the enemy, who was on the look-out for us. So much for the waggons. For the rest, I felt that it would never do for us to withdraw without having fired a shot, and I therefore got my men into position on some kopjes (where Captain Wyndham Knight had been four days previously, and which lay to the north of Rhenosterriviersbrug) on my farm Roodepoort, and on the Honingkopjes. The English, with their well known predilection for a flank attack on every possible opportunity, halted for an hour, and shelled our positions with Lyddite and other guns. This did _not_ have the desired effect of inspiring terror in the burghers who were under my command at Honingkopjes. Then the enemy began to move. I saw masses of their cavalry making for a piece of rising ground to the north of Roodepoort. As the burghers there were hidden from me, I was unable to observe from where I stood the effect of this flank movement. Knowing that if they were able to give way and to retreat along the river we should have no means of discovering the fact until it was too late and we were surrounded, I came to the conclusion that it was essential for me to go to Roodepoort to assure myself that the cavalry had not yet got round. But it was most important that no suspicion of the danger which threatened us should be aroused in the burghers--anything calculated to weaken their resistance was to be avoided on such an occasion. Accordingly I merely told them that I was going to see how affairs were progressing at Roodepoort, and that in the meantime they must hold their position. I rode off, and discovered that the English were already so close to our troops at Roodepoort that fighting with small arms had begun. I had just reached an eminence between Roodepoort and the Honingkopjes when I saw that the burghers in the position furthest towards the north-west were beginning to flee. This was exactly what I had feared would happen. Immediately afterwards the men in the centre position, and therefore the nearest to me, followed their comrades' example. I watched them loosening their horses, which had been tethered behind a little hill; they were wild to get away from the guns of the English and from the advance of this mighty force. It was impossible for me now to go and tell the burghers on the Honingkopjes that the time had come when they too must retreat. My only course was to order the men near me not to effect their escape along the well protected banks of the river, but to the south, right across the stream, by a route which would be visible to burghers on the Honingkopjes. They obeyed my orders, and rode out under a heavy gun and rifle fire, without, however, losing a single man. The men on the Honingkopjes saw them in flight, and were thus able to leave their position before the enemy had a chance of driving them into the river or of cutting them off from the drift. Unfortunately, seven burghers from Heilbron were at a short distance from the others, having taken up their position in a _kliphok_.[53] Fighting hard as they were, under a deafening gun-fire from the enemy, who had approached to within a few paces of them, they did not observe that their comrades had left their positions. Shortly afterwards, despairing of holding the _kliphok_ any longer, they ran down to the foot of the hill for their horses, and saw that the rest of the burghers were already fleeing some eight or nine hundred paces in front of them, and that their own horses had joined in the flight. There was now only one course open to them--to surrender to the English.[54] I ordered the burghers to retreat in the direction of Kroonstad, for by now they had all fled from Roodepoort and Honingkopjes--a name which, since that day, has never sounded very _sweet_ to me.[55] During the morning I received a report informing me that there were large stores at Kroonstad belonging to the English Commissariat, and that there was only a handful of troops to protect them. I had no thought, however, of attempting to destroy the provisions there, for I felt sure that the British troops, who had but just now put us to flight, would make for Kroonstad. They would know that the stores stood in need of a stronger guard, and moreover they would naturally think that we should be very likely to make an attack at a point where the defence was so weak. Obviously, under these circumstances, it would never do for us to go to Kroonstad. Accordingly, as soon as darkness came on, I turned suddenly to the west, and arrived at Wonderheuve late at night. I found there Veldtcornet De Vos with the prisoners of war. Meanwhile, as I had anticipated, the vast English army marched up along thirty-four miles of railway to Kroonstad. Lord Kitchener, as I heard later on, arrived there shortly after noon on the following day. We left Wonderheuve early in the morning, and advanced along Rietspruit until we reached the farm of Vaalbank, where we remained until the evening of the next day, June the 13th. That night I saw clearly that it was necessary for us to cross the line if we wanted to keep ourselves and our prisoners out of the clutches of Lord Kitchener; he had failed to find us at Kroonstad, and would be certain to look for us in the country to the west of the line. I also felt myself bound to wreck this line, for it was the only railway which Lord Roberts could now utilize for forwarding the enormous quantities of stores which his vast forces required.[56] I resolved therefore to cross it at Leeuwspruit, north of Rhenoster River bridge (which the English had recently repaired), and then, in the morning, to attack the English garrisons which had again occupied Roodewal and Rhenoster River bridge. I had given orders that all the cattle along the railway line should be removed; General Louis Botha had made the same regulation in regard to the country round Pretoria and Johannesburg. If only our orders had been carried out a little more strictly, and if only the most elementary rules of strategy had been observed in our efforts to break the English lines of communication, Lord Roberts and his thousands of troops in Pretoria would have found themselves in the same plight as the Samaritans in Samaria--they would have perished of hunger. It was not their Commander-in-Chief's skill that saved them, not his habit of taking into account all possible eventualities--no, they had to thank the disobedience of our burghers for the fact that they were not all starved to death in Pretoria. I arranged with General Froneman that he should cross the line at the point I had already selected, that is to say, north of Rhenoster River bridge, and that in the morning he should attack, from the eastern side, the English who were posted at Leeuwspruit Bridge. I, in the meanwhile, would make my way with a Krupp to the west side of the line, and having found a place of concealment near Roodepoort, would be ready to fall upon the English as soon as I heard that the other party had opened fire on them from the east. But my plan was to come to nothing. For when, during the night, Froneman reached the line, a skirmish took place then and there with the English outposts at Leeuwspruit railway bridge. At the same time a train arrived from the south, on which the burghers opened such a fierce fire that it was speedily brought to a standstill. General Froneman at once gave orders to storm the train, but his men did not carry out his orders. _Had they done so, Lord Kitchener would have fallen into our hands!_ Nobody knew that he was in the train, and it was only later that we heard how, when the train stopped, he got a horse out of one of the waggons, mounted it, and disappeared into the darkness of the night. Shortly afterwards the train moved on again, and our great opportunity was gone! General Froneman succeeded in overpowering the garrison at the railway bridge, and took fifty-eight prisoners. He then set fire to the bridge, which was a temporary wooden structure, having been built to replace another similar one, which had been blown up with gunpowder. Three hundred Kaffirs were also made prisoners on this occasion. They protested that they had no arms, and had only been employed in work upon the railway line. This absence of rifles was their saving. Possibly they had really been in possession of arms, and had thrown them away under cover of the darkness; but the burghers could not know this, and therefore acted upon the principle that it is better to let ten culprits escape than to condemn an innocent man to death. General Froneman went on towards the east of Doorndraai. He was very well satisfied with his bridge-burning and his capture of prisoners, and in his satisfaction he never gave thought to me. I waited in my hiding-place, expecting that, as we had agreed, the firing would begin from the east, but nothing happened. I did not care to make an attack on my own account from the west, for my positions were not practicable for the purpose, and being short of men, I feared that such an attempt might end in disaster. It was now ten o'clock. A few English scouts appeared on the scene, and four of my men attacked them. One of the enemy was shot, and the rest taken prisoners. And still I did not hear anything from General Froneman. At last I came to the conclusion that he must have misunderstood my instructions. If that were the case, I must do the best I could myself. Accordingly I opened fire on the English with my Krupp. Still no news of General Froneman! Then I ordered my burghers to advance. Our first movement was over the nearest rise to the north-west; we halted for a moment, and then made a dash for Leeuwspruit Bridge--but we found nothing there. Late in the evening I met General Froneman, and heard from him the narrative which I have given above. The following day I sent well on to twelve hundred prisoners of war--including Kaffirs--to the President's camp, which lay east of Heilbron. We then advanced to a point on the Rhenoster River, near Slootkraal, remaining in concealment there until the night of the 16th of June. The following morning we occupied some ridges at Elandslaagte, on the look-out for a large English force which was marching from Vredefortweg to Heilbron. My intention was to give them battle at Elandslaagte, and to hold on to our positions there as long as possible; and then, if we could not beat them off, to retire. If only the burghers had carried out my orders strictly, we should certainly have inflicted heavy losses on the English, even if we had not won a complete victory. The English had not sent out their scouts sufficiently far in advance, and came riding on, suspecting nothing. We occupied positions on the right and left of the road along which they were advancing, and my orders were that the burghers should let the troops get right between our ridges, which were about three hundred paces from each other, and then fire on them from both sides at once. Instead of doing this, however, the burghers began to fire when the English were five hundred paces from them--before, that is to say, they had got anywhere near the door of the trap which I had set for them. The enemy wheeled round, and galloped back for about fifteen hundred paces. They then dismounted, and fired on us. But, having no sort of cover, they were soon compelled to mount their horses again and retire to their guns, which were about three thousand yards from us. These guns now opened a heavy fire upon our ridges; we replied with our three Krupps, with which we made such good practice that we might have been able to hold out there indefinitely, had not a Lyddite and an Armstrong gun happened just then to arrive from Heilbron, which lay about ten miles behind us. Thus attacked both in front and rear, there was nothing to do but retire. Fortunately, we had not lost a single man. First we rode in a southerly direction, but as soon as we got into cover we struck off to the east, setting our faces towards Heilbron. Then, to our immense relief, the sun went down. How often during our long struggle for independence had not the setting of the sun seemed to lift a leaden weight from my shoulders! If, on a few occasions, the approach of night has been to our disadvantage, yet over and over again it has been nothing less than our salvation. We got back safely, under cover of the darkness, to our little camp near Slootkraal, and there remained in hiding until the following day. It was there that Commandant Nel handed in his resignation. In his place the burghers of Kroonstad chose Mr. Frans Van Aard as their Commandant. That night we set out for Paardenkraal, twenty miles to the north-east of Kroonstad, staying there until the evening of the 19th. The time for my attack on the railway line having now come, I divided my men into three parties for that purpose. I sent on Commandant J.H. Olivier, who had joined me at Paardenkraal, to Honingspruit Station, General Froneman to America Siding, while I myself made my way to Serfontein Siding. At daybreak General Froneman wrecked the line near America Siding, and I did the same at other places, also destroying the telegraph poles. Each pole was first shot through with the Mauser, and then pulled until it snapped at the point where the bullet had pierced it. Things did not go so well with Commandant Olivier. He attacked the station, but, unfortunately, not so early as had been arranged. Consequently he was not able to bring his gun into action before the enemy had observed him. When I came up to him there was a strong English reinforcement from Kroonstad close at hand. We had too few men with us to be able to offer resistance, and had to retreat, returning to Paardenkraal at nightfall. [Footnote 53: I.e. the ruins of Kaffir stone huts, built in the time of Moselekatze.] [Footnote 54: Among these seven burghers were Willie Steyn, Attie Van Niekerk, and a certain young Botha. It was Steyn and Botha, with two men of the name of Steytler, and two other Free-Staters whose names I have forgotten, who managed to escape from the ship that lay anchored in the harbour of Ceylon. They swam a distance of several miles to a Russian ship, by which they were carried to one of the Russian ports, where they received every hospitality. I shall always be grateful to the Russians for this. They then travelled through Germany into Holland, being subsequently conveyed in a German ship to German West Africa. Thence they made their way through Boesmansland to Cape Colony, and, after many adventures, joined General Hermanus Maritz's commando. Botha, unfortunately, was killed in a skirmish some time later. What will the world say of these young burghers? Surely, that more valiant and faithful men than they have never lived. I regret that I do not remember the names of all Willie Steyn's comrades. I travelled with him by train from the Free State to Cape Town, where I had to join General Louis Botha and J.H. De la Rey, so as to accompany them to Europe on my nation's behalf. He promised then to give me all the particulars of his escape, but I suppose there has been some obstacle in the way.] [Footnote 55: The word _honing_ means honey.] [Footnote 56: At that time the Natal and Delagoa Bay railways were still in our possession.] CHAPTER XVI Bethlehem is Captured by the English It was at this time that I decided to make my way to Lindley, which had been retaken by the English a few days after General Piet de Wet had captured the Yeomanry in that town. The object of my journey was to discover if it were not possible to again seize the place. On the 21st of June I covered half the distance to Lindley, and the following day I arrived within ten miles of the town. I rode round the town with Piet de Wet the next day, in order to find out our best method of attacking it. Commandant Olivier had been sent by me that morning in the direction of Kroonstad to oppose a strong English column, which I had been informed was approaching. But my plan must have leaked out in some way or other, for the enemy carefully chose so well protected a route that they gave Commandant Olivier no chance of attacking them. Thus the following morning the English arrived safely at Lindley, and now there was no possibility of capturing the town. In the meantime President Steyn's laager had moved from the east of Heilbron and joined us. He himself, with the members of the Government, had gone to Bethlehem. General Marthinus Prinsloo was there too; he had resigned his post of Commander-in-Chief of the commandos which guarded the Drakensberg. Commandant Hattingh of Vrede had been chosen in his place, and he also was at Bethlehem. A difficulty now arose as to Prinsloo's position. The President declared that Prinsloo was nothing more than a private burgher; but Commandant Olivier was not satisfied with this, and asked that there might be an election of a Commander-in-Chief. This request, however, the President refused to grant. I did not wish the office of Commander-in-Chief to devolve upon myself, for I knew that I did not possess the confidence of the officers. And as some eight miles to the east of Lindley there was telegraphic communication with Bethlehem, I was able to hold a conversation with the President over the wires. I accordingly again asked him to permit an election. But it was all in vain; the President declined to allow an election to take place. I now took matters into my own hands. I collected the officers together with the object of holding a secret election. Thus I should discover what their opinion of me might be as chief of the Free State forces. I was firmly resolved that should the majority of the officers be against me, and the President should still refuse his consent to an election, that I would send in my resignation, and no longer continue to hold the post of Commander-in-Chief. Commander-in-Chief Hattingh, Vechtgeneraal Roux, and all the oldest commandants of the Free State, were present at this meeting. The voting was by ballot; and the result was that there were two votes for General Marthinus Prinsloo, one for General Piet de Wet, and twenty-seven for myself. I at once wired to the President, and told him what had occurred. He was ready to abide by the decision, and I was satisfied now that I knew exactly where I stood. Mr. Marthinus Prinsloo was also contented with the turn events had taken. And I must say this of him, that it was not he who had insisted on an election. It soon became apparent that the enemy's object was the capture of Bethlehem. The English forces round Senekal advanced towards Lindley, and having been joined by the troops stationed there, had proceeded in the direction of Bethlehem; consequently a very large British force was marching on that town. We on our part now numbered over five thousand men, for General Roux had joined us with some[57] of his burghers. The English were unopposed until they reached Elandsfontein, but there a battle took place in which big guns played the main rôle, although there was also some heavy fighting with small arms. In this engagement Commandant Michal Prinsloo did a brave deed. I arrived at his position just after the burghers had succeeded in shooting down the men who served three of the enemy's guns. With a hundred men he now stormed the guns, hoping to be able to bring them back with him to our lines. Whilst he charged, I cannonaded the enemy, with a Krupp and fifteen pound Armstrong, to such good effect that they were forced to retreat behind a ridge. In this way Commandant Prinsloo reached the guns safely, but he had no horses with him to drag them back to us. He could do nothing but make the attempt to get them away by the help of his burghers, and this he tried to accomplish under a fierce fire from the English. But he would still have succeeded in the endeavour, had not unfortunately a large force of the enemy appeared on the scene, and attacked him and his hundred burghers. I was unable to keep the English back, for both my guns had been disabled. The nipple of the Armstrong had been blown away, and--for the first time--the lock of the Krupp had become jammed. Had it not been for this mishap, Commandant Prinsloo would certainly have been able to remove the guns to the other side of a ridge, whither teams of our horses were already approaching. But, as it was, he had to hurry away as fast as possible, and leave the guns behind. When the enemy arrived they had outflanked us so far to the north, that we had nothing open to us but again to abandon our positions. We therefore retired to Blauwkop, and on the following day to Bethlehem. In the meantime I had once more become encumbered with a large waggon camp, which proved a source of great danger. During the last few weeks waggons had been accumulating round me without attracting my attention. The reason that the burghers were so anxious to bring their waggons with them, was to be found in the fact that the English, whenever they arrived at one of our farms, always took the waggons and oxen. The Boers felt it very hard to be robbed in this way of their property; and they hoped to be able to save their waggons and carts by taking them to the commando. It was natural for them to wish to save all they could; but I was convinced that the waggons could only be saved at the expense of our great cause. But nobody could see it in that light. And as I could only appeal to the free will of my burghers, I dare not attempt to get rid of the waggons by force. If I had made any such attempt, serious consequences would certainly have followed, even if a revolt had not ensued. The great fault of the burghers was disobedience, and this came especially to the fore when their possessions were in jeopardy. I now made up my mind to defend the town of Bethlehem. The following morning I went with the Generals and Commandants to reconnoitre the country, so that I might be able to point out to each of them the position that I wished him to occupy. Our line of defence began at the south of Wolhuterskop (a kop to the south-west of Bethlehem), and extended from there to the north-west of the town. When I had given my instructions to the officers, they returned to their commandos, which were stationed behind the first ridges to the south of Bethlehem, and brought them to the positions I had assigned to them. So many of the horses were exhausted, that a large number of the burghers had to go on foot. Such of these _Voetgangers_[58] as were not required to attend to the waggons, I placed at Wolhuterskop. When I had done this I gave notice to the inhabitants of Bethlehem, that as the dorp would be defended, I must insist on the women and children leaving it at once. It was not long before a number of women and children, and even a few men, started out on their way to Fouriesburg. The prisoner Vilonel, also, was conducted to this town. At four o'clock that afternoon the advance guards of the enemy approached; and fifteen of their scouts made their appearance on the ridge to the north of the town. The burghers reserved their fire until these men were almost upon them. Then they let their Mausers speak, and in a moment there were nine riderless horses. The other six English made their escape, although they must have had wounds to show for their rashness.[59] Only a few moments had passed before the roar of guns was mingled with the crack of rifles, and the whole air was filled with the thunder of battle. Everywhere the burghers fought with the utmost valour; the _Voetgangers_ on Wolhuterskop were perhaps the bravest of them all. Whenever the enemy approached our positions, they were met by a torrent of bullets. And thus the day came to a close. But the next day a large force of English appeared from the direction of Reitz. This had come from the Transvaal, and, if I remember rightly, was commanded by General Sir Hector Macdonald. He had come up and joined Generals Clements, Hunter, Broadwood and Paget, with the object of once and for all making an end of the Free-Staters. Our positions were now exposed to a most terrific bombardment, but fortunately without any serious consequences. I must describe here the fearful havoc that one lyddite shell wrought. It fell into the position held by Commandant Steenekamp, to the north-west of Bethlehem, and struck a rock behind which twenty-five of our horses were standing. Without a single exception every horse was killed! The attack was pressed with the greatest vigour on the positions held by Commandants Van Aard and Piet Fourie. It became impossible for these officers to maintain their ground; and, at about twelve o'clock, before I was able to send them any reinforcements, they were compelled to give way. Thus retreat became inevitable, and the enemy entered Bethlehem. One of our guns we were unable to remove; but before we withdrew it was thrown down the _krans_[60] of the mountain, and broken to pieces. I knew at the time the number the English had lost, but now it had slipped my memory. I obtained the information from a man named Bland, who acted as our telegraphist. He had tapped the telegraph wire at Zwingkrans, and before General Clements had detected that he was not communicating with Senekal, he had received from that General a full list of the English killed and wounded. We withdrew our commandos in a southerly direction to Retiefsnek, whither President Steyn and the Government had already preceded us. [Footnote 57: He had left the remainder of his burghers at Witnek and at Houtnek, near Ficksburg.] [Footnote 58: Infantry.] [Footnote 59: As I have already stated, I intend to write on another occasion a book dealing with the art of scouting; and the above incident will there form a striking proof of how foolishly the English scouts did their work.] [Footnote 60: Precipice.] CHAPTER XVII The Surrender of Prinsloo The English, now that they had taken Bethlehem, were in need of rest; and this was especially the case with General Macdonald, who had come up by forced marches from the far-off Transvaal. A short breathing space was also a great benefit to us, for we had many preparations to make in view of probable events in the near future. I did not deceive myself as to the meaning of the present situation; now that all of us, except two small parties at Commandonek and Witnek, had retreated behind the lofty Roodebergen, I could see that, in all probability, we must before long be annihilated by the immense forces of the enemy. The Roodebergen, which now separated us from the English, is a vast chain of mountains, extending from the Caledon River on the Basuto frontier to Slabbertsnek, then stretching away to Witzeshoek, where it again touches Basutoland. The passes over this wild mountain range are Commandonek, Witnek, Slabbertsnek, Retiefsnek, Naauwpoort and Witzeshoek. These are almost the only places where the mountains can be crossed by vehicles or horses; and, moreover, there are long stretches where they are impassable even to pedestrians. It is plain enough, therefore, that nothing would have pleased the English more than for us to have remained behind the Roodebergen. If those Free-Staters--they must have been thinking--try to make a stand there, it will be the last stand they will ever make. And the English would have been quite right in their anticipations. To have stayed where we then were would, without doubt, have been the end of us. Therefore, when the proposal was made that we should take positions in the mountains, I opposed it as emphatically as I could, alleging incontrovertible arguments against it. It was then decided that all our forces, with the exception of a small watch, should issue forth from behind the mountains. We also arranged to divide the whole of the commandos[61] we had with us into three parts:-- I was in supreme command of the first division, which was to march under the orders of General Botha. It consisted of burghers from Heilbron, under Commandant Steenekamp, and of Kroonstad men, under Commandant Van Aard. Besides these, there were also five hundred men from Bethlehem, under Commandant Michal Prinsloo; the burghers from Boshof, under Veldtcornet Badenhorst; a small number of Colonials from Griqualand, under Vice-Commandant Van Zyl; and some Potchefstroom burghers, who happened to be with us. Further, I took with me, for scouting purposes, Danie Theron and his corps of eighty men, recruited from almost every nation on the face of the earth; Captain Scheepers and his men also served me in the same capacity. The Government and its officials were placed under my protection; and I was to set out, on July the 15th, in the direction of Kroonstad-Heilbron. The second division was entrusted to Assistant Commander-in-Chief Paul Roux, with P.J. Fourie and C.C. Froneman as Vechtgeneraals. It was composed of burghers from Fauresmith, under Commandant Visser; from Bloemfontein, under Commandant Du Plooij; from Wepener, under Commandant Roux; from Smithfield, under Commandant Potgieter; from Thaba'Nchu, under Commandant J.H. Olivier; from Jacobsdal, under Commandant H. Pretorius; and of the Deetje Bloemfontein commando, under Commandant Kolbe. This force was to wait until the day after my departure, that is, until the 16th, and then proceed in the evening in the direction of Bloemfontein. From the capital it was to go south, and during its advance it was to bring back to the commandos all those burghers in the southern districts who had remained behind. General Crowther was given the command over the third division, which consisted of the burghers from Ficksburg, under Commandant P. De Villiers; from Ladybrand, under Commandant Ferreira; from Winburg, under Commandant Sarel Harebroek; and from Senekal, under Commandant Van der Merve. This division was to start on the 16th, and marching to the north of Bethlehem, was to continue advancing in that direction until it fell in with the commandos from Harrismith and Vrede under Commander-in-Chief Hattingh. It would then operate, under his directions, in the north-eastern districts. The remainder of Commandant Michal Prinsloo's Bethlehem men--that is to say, the burghers of Wittebergen--were to stay behind as a watch, and to take orders from Mr. Marthinus Prinsloo. This watch was divided into three sections: the first to occupy a position at Slabbertsnek, the second at Retiefsnek, and the third at Naauwpoort. They were forbidden to use waggons; thus if the enemy should appear in overwhelming numbers, it would always be possible for them to escape across the mountains. My reason for selecting these men in preference to others, was that they belonged to the district, and thus were well acquainted with every foot of this rough and difficult country. Their duties were simply to protect the large numbers of cattle which we had driven on to the mountains, and I anticipated that there would be no difficulty about this, for now that all our commandos had left those parts, the English would not think it worth while to send a large force against a mere handful of watchers. Thus everything was settled, and on the 15th of July I set out through Slabbertsnek, expecting that the other generals would follow me, conformably to my orders and the known wishes of the Government. But what really happened? Immediately after my departure, some of the officers, displeased that Assistant Commander-in-Chief Roux should have been entrusted with the command, expressed the wish that another meeting should be held and a new Assistant Commander-in-Chief elected. This would have been absolutely illegal, for the Volksraad had decreed that the President should be empowered to alter all the commando-laws. But even then, all would have gone well if Roux had only stood firm. Unfortunately, however, he yielded, and on July the 17th a meeting was called together at which Mr. Marthinus Prinsloo was chosen Assistant Commander-in-Chief. He had a bare majority even at the actual meeting, and several officers, who had been unable to be present, had still to record their votes. Not only, therefore, had Prinsloo been elected irregularly, but his election, such as it was, could only be considered as provisional. Nevertheless, for the moment, power was in his hands. How did he use it? He surrendered unconditionally to the English. On the 17th and 18th of July the enemy had broken through at Slabbertsnek and Retiefsnek, causing the greatest confusion among our forces. Many of the officers and burghers were for an immediate surrender, as appears from the fact that the same assembly which, in defiance of the law, elected Mr. Prinsloo as Commander-in-Chief, also decided, by seventeen votes to thirteen, to give up their forces to the enemy. But this decision was at once rescinded--an act of policy on the part of the officers--and it was agreed to ask for an armistice of six days, to enable them to take counsel with the Government. A more senseless course of action could hardly be imagined. The Boer Army, as anybody could see, was in a very tight place. Did its officers think that the English would be so foolish as to grant an armistice at such a time as this--when all that the burghers wanted was a few days in which to effect their escape? Either the officers were remarkably short-sighted, or ... something worse. It was still possible for the commandos to retire in the direction of Oldenburg or of Witzeshoek. But instead of getting this done with all speed, Mr. Prinsloo began a correspondence with General Hunter about this ridiculous armistice, which the English general of course refused to grant. It was on July the 29th, 1900, that Prinsloo, with all the burghers on the mountains, surrendered unconditionally to the enemy. The circumstances of this surrender were so suspicious, that it is hard to acquit the man who was responsible for it of a definite act of treachery; and the case against him is all the more grave from the fact that Vilonel, who was at that time serving a term of imprisonment for high treason, had a share in the transaction. Prinsloo's surrender included General Crowther, Commandants Paul De Villiers, Ferreira, Joubert, Du Plooij, Potgieter, Crowther, Van der Merve, and Roux; and about three thousand men. The most melancholy circumstance about the whole affair was that, when the surrender was made, some of the burghers had reached the farm of Salamon Raath, and were thus as good as free, and yet had to ride back, and to go with the others to lay down their arms. As to Roux, the deposed Commander-in-Chief, there is a word to be added. I had always heard that he was a very cautious man, and yet on this occasion he acted like a child, going _in person_ to General Hunter's camp to protest against the surrender, on the ground that it was he (Roux), and not Prinsloo, that was Commander-in-Chief. One can hardly believe that he really thought it possible thus to nullify Prinsloo's act. But he certainly behaved as if he did, and his ingenuous conduct must have afforded much amusement to the English general. If any one is in doubt as to what was the result of General Roux's absurd escapade, I have only to say that the English had one prisoner the more! Those who escaped were but few. Of all our large forces, there were only Generals Froneman, Fourie and De Villiers (of Harrismith); Commandants Hasebroek, Olivier, Visser, Kolbe, and a few others; a small number of burghers, and six or seven guns, that did not fall into the hands of the English. What, then, is to be our judgment on this act of Prinsloo and of the other chief officers in command of our forces behind the Roodebergen? That it was nothing short of an act of murder, committed on the Government, the country, and the nation, to surrender three thousand men in such a way. Even the burghers themselves cannot be held to have been altogether without guilt, though they can justly plead that they were only obeying orders. The sequel to Prinsloo's surrender was on a par with it. A large number of burghers from Harrismith and a small part of the Vrede commando, although they had already made good their escape, rode quietly from their farms into Harrismith, and there surrendered to General Sir Hector Macdonald.--One could gnash one's teeth to think that a nation should so readily rush to its own ruin! [Footnote 61: The Harrismith and Vrede commandos had also received orders to join us.] CHAPTER XVIII I am Driven into the Transvaal As I have already stated, I led my commando, on the 15th of July, through Slabbertsnek, out of the mountain district. My force amounted to the total of two thousand six hundred burghers. The Government travelled with us, and also alas! four hundred waggons and carts. Whatever I did, it seemed as if I could not get rid of the waggons! That night we reached a farm six miles to the east of Kaffirs Kop; during our march we passed a column of the enemy that had left Bethlehem in the afternoon. On the following day I came into contact with some English troops, who were marching in the direction of Witnek. They sent out a body of cavalry to ascertain what our plans might be. It was very annoying to me that they should thus discover our whereabouts, because it made it impossible to carry out my intention of attacking one or other of the English forces. However, nothing was done that day, as neither we nor the enemy took up the offensive. In the evening we pushed on to the east of Lindley, and the following day remained at the spot we had reached. The next evening we marched to the farm of Riversdale; and the night of the 18th found us on the farm of Mr. Thomas Naudé, to the north-west of Lindley. We discovered that the English had all left this village and gone to Bethlehem. My scouts reported to me, the following day, that an English force, some four hundred men strong, was approaching Lindley. Need I say that these men had to be captured? With five hundred burghers and two guns I went out to do this. When I was only a short distance from my camp, I received a report that a large force of cavalry, numbering seven or eight thousand men, had arrived on the scene from Bethlehem. This compelled me to abandon the idea of capturing those four hundred men, and, instead, to try to escape in a westerly direction from this large body of mounted troops. That evening we reached the farm of Mr. C. Wessels, at Rivierplaats. The next day we were forced to move on, for the mounted troops were coming nearer to us. They marched, however, somewhat more to the right in the direction of Roodewal; whereas I went towards Honingspruit, and halted for the night at the farm of Paardenkraal. On the following morning, the 20th of July, I let the commando go on, whilst I stayed behind to reconnoitre from a neighbouring kop. The President, and also some members of the Government, remained with me. We had the opportunity of accepting the invitation of Mr. C. Wessels to take breakfast at his house. It was there that General Piet de Wet came to me and asked if I still saw any chance of being able to continue the struggle? The question made me very angry, and I did not try to hide the fact. "Are you mad?"[62] I shouted, and with that I turned on my heel and entered the house, quite unaware that Piet de Wet had that very moment mounted his horse, and ridden away to follow his own course. After breakfast we climbed the kop; and when we had made our observation we followed after the laager. On reaching the commando, I gave orders to outspan at twelve o'clock. While this was being done I heard from my sons that Piet de Wet had told them that we should all be captured that night near the railway line. He had not known that it was my intention to cross the railway that night, but he had guessed as much from the direction I let my commando take. At two o'clock I received a report that two divisions of English troops were drawing near. One division was six miles to the left, and the other eight miles to the right of the road along which we had come. I gave orders immediately that the laager should break up. What an indescribable burden this camp, with four hundred and sixty waggons and carts, was to me! What a demoralizing effect it had upon the burghers! My patience was sorely tried. Not only were we prevented from moving rapidly by these hampering waggons, but also, should we have to fight, a number of the burghers would be required to look after them, and so be unable to fire a shot. We marched to the farm of Mr. Hendrik Serfontein, on Doornspruit, and whilst I was there, waiting for darkness, some burghers, who were not my scouts, brought a report that there were English camps both at Honingspruit and at Kaallaagte. This alarmed the President and the members of the Government, because, should this report prove true, we should be unable to cross the railway line without hard fighting, and besides there would be a considerable risk of being taken prisoner. For myself, I did not pay any attention to these burghers. I relied on my own scouts, and I waited for their reports. I knew that if there had been any truth in what we had been told, that I should have heard the news already from the men whom I had sent out in the morning in that direction. At last some of Captain Scheepers' men appeared--he was scouting in front, and Captain Danie Theron in the rear--and reported that the railway line was clear, with the exception that at Honingspruit there were half a dozen tents, and four in the Kaallaagte[63] to the north of Serfontein, and a few small outposts. This information came as a great relief to the President and the members of the Government. If I was to escape from the large force which was dogging my footsteps, it was now necessary to cross the railway. I had made all preparation for this move. I had left behind me, that afternoon, on the banks of Doornspruit a commando of burghers, with orders to keep the enemy back until we should have crossed the line. And now I only waited until the darkness should come to my assistance. As soon as the night came I ordered the waggons to proceed in four rows, with a force on each side, and with a rearguard and vanguard. Immediately behind the vanguard followed the President and myself. When we were about twenty minutes' march from the railway line I ordered the two wings of my force, which were about three miles apart, to occupy the line to the right and left of Serfontein Siding. Before we had quite reached the railway I ordered the vanguard to remain with the President, whilst I myself, with fifteen men, rode on to cut the telegraph wire. Whilst we were engaged in this task a train approached at full speed from the south. I had no dynamite with me, and I could neither blow it up nor derail it. I could only place stones on the line, but these were swept away by the cowcatcher, and so the train passed in safety. I had forbidden any shooting, for an engagement would have only produced the greatest confusion in my big laager. Just as the last waggon was crossing the line, I received a report that Captain Theron had captured a train to the south of us. Having ordered the waggons to proceed, I rode over to see what had happened. When I arrived at the scene of action I found that the train had come to a standstill owing to the breaking down of the engine, and that on this the English troops had at once opened fire on my men, but that it had not been long before the enemy surrendered. Four of the English, but only one of our burghers, had been wounded. It was very annoying that the laager was so far off, but it was impossible to carry off the valuable ammunition which we found on the train. I gave orders that the four wounded soldiers, who were under the care of the conductor of the train, should be taken from the hut in which I had found them, and placed in a van where they would be safe when I set fire to the train. After the burghers had helped themselves to sugar, coffee, and such things, I burned everything that was left. My ninety-eight prisoners I took with me. We had not gone far when we heard the small arm ammunition explode; but I cannot say that the sound troubled me at all! Thus we crossed the line in safety, and Piet de Wet's prediction did not come true. He knew that we had a large force behind us, and believing that the railway line in front of us would be occupied by troops, he had said: "This evening you will all be captured on the railway line." Yet instead of finding ourselves captured, we had taken ninety-eight prisoners, and destroyed a heavily-laden train! How frequently a Higher Power over-rules the future in a way we least expect! That night we reached the farm of Mahemsspruit. From there we moved on to the Wonderheurel; and on the 22nd of July we arrived at the farm of Vlakkuil. I remained here for a day, for I wished to find out what the English troops (they had remained where we left them by the railway line) were intending to do. Whilst I was waiting I despatched some corn on a few of my waggons to Mr. Mackenzie's mills near Vredefort, giving orders that it should be ground. During the afternoon it was reported to me that a strong column of English were marching from Rhenosterriviersbrug to Vredefort, and that they had camped on the farm Klipstapel, some eight miles from my laager. Shortly after sunrise the following morning a second report was brought to me. It appeared that the enemy had sent out a force to capture our grain waggons, and had nearly overtaken them. In an instant we were in our saddles, but we were too late to save our corn. When the enemy saw us they halted at once; and meanwhile the waggons hurried on, at their utmost speed, to our camp. The English numbered between five and six hundred men, whilst we were only four hundred. But although we were the smaller force, I had no intention of allowing our waggons to be captured without a shot, and I ordered my burghers to charge. It was an open plain; there was no possible cover either for us or for the English. But we could not consider matters of that sort. The burghers charged magnificently, and some even got to within two hundred paces of the enemy. They then dismounted, and, lying flat upon the ground, opened a fierce fire. One of the hottest fights one can imagine followed. Fortunately a few paces behind the burghers there was a hollow, and here the horses were placed. After an hour's fighting, I began to think that any moment the enemy might be put to rout. But then something happened which had happened very often before--a reinforcement appeared. This reinforcement brought two guns with it; thus nothing was left to me but retreat. Our loss was five killed and twelve wounded. What the loss of the English was I do not know, but if the Kaffirs who lived near there are to be trusted, it must have been considerable. In the evening I moved my camp to Rhenosterpoort; whilst the English went back to Klipstapel. And now the English concentrated their forces. Great Army Corps gathered round. From Bethlehem and Kroonstad new columns were constantly arriving, until my force seemed nothing in comparison with them. I was stationed on the farm of Rhenosterpoort, which is situated on the Vaal River, twenty miles from Potchefstroom. At that town there was a strong force of the enemy, on which I had constantly to keep my eye. But, notwithstanding their overpowering numbers, it seemed as if the English had no desire to follow me into the mountains of Rhenosterpoort. They had a different plan. They began to march around me, sending troops from Vredefort over Wonderheurel to Rhenoster River, and placing camps all along the river as far as Baltespoort, and from there again extending their cordon until Scandinavierdrift was reached. We were forced now either to break through this cordon, or to cross the Vaal River into the South African Republic. The Free-Stater preferred to remain in his own country, and he would have been able to do so had we not been hampered by a big "waggon-camp" and a large number of oxen. As these were with us, the Boers found it hard to make up their minds to break through the English lines as a horse-commando, as it necessitated leaving all these waggons and oxen in the hands of the enemy. But there we were between the cordon and the Vaal River. Almost every day we came into contact with the enemy's outposts, and we had an engagement with them near Witkopjes Rheboksfontein. On another occasion we met them on different terms, in Mr. C.J. Bornman's house. Some of his "visitors" were, unfortunately for themselves, found to be English scouts--and became our prisoners. We remained where we were until the 2nd of August. On that day we had to drink a cup of bitterness. It was on the 2nd of August that I received the news that Prinsloo had surrendered near Naauwpoort. A letter arrived from General Broadwood in which he told me that a report from General Marthinus Prinsloo addressed to me had arrived through his lines. The bearer of it was General Prinsloo's secretary, Mr. Kotzé. And now the English General asked me if I would guarantee that the secretary should be allowed to return, after he had given me particulars of the report he had brought. Mr. Prinsloo's secretary must certainly have thought that he was the chosen man to help us poor lost sheep, and to lead us safely into the hands of the English! But I cannot help thinking that he was rather too young for the task. I had a strong suspicion that there must have been some very important screw loose in the forces which we had left stationed behind the Roodebergen, for on the previous day I had received a letter from General Knox, who was at Kroonstad, telling me that General Prinsloo and his commandos had surrendered. In order to gain more information I gave General Broadwood my assurance that I would allow Mr. Prinsloo's secretary to return unhurt. When I had done this the President and some members of the Government rode out with me to meet the bearer of this report. We did not wish to give him any opportunities to spy out our positions. Half way between the English lines and our own we met him. He presented us with this letter:-- HUNTER'S CAMP, _30th July, 1900_. TO THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, C.R. DE WET. SIR,-- I have been obliged, owing to the overwhelming forces of the enemy, to surrender unconditionally with all the Orange Free State laagers here. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your obedient servant, M. PRINSLOO, _Commander-in-Chief_. I sent my reply in an unclosed envelope. It ran as follows:-- IN THE VELDT, _3rd August, 1900_. TO MR. M. PRINSLOO. SIR,-- I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated the 30th of last month. I am surprised to see that you call yourself Commander-in-Chief. By what right do you usurp that title? You have no right to act as Commander-in-Chief. I have the honour to be, C.R. DE WET, _Commander-in-Chief_. Hardly had I written this letter before two men on horseback appeared. They proved to be burghers sent by General Piet Fourie, who was with Prinsloo at the time of his surrender. These burghers brought from Generals Fourie, Froneman, and from Commandant Hasebroek and others, a fuller report of the surrender of Prinsloo. We learnt from the report that not all of the burghers had surrendered, but that, on the contrary, some two thousand had escaped. This news relieved our minds. President Steyn and myself determined to despatch Judge Hertzog to the commandos which had escaped, giving him instructions to bring them back with him if possible. We had been told that these commandos were somewhere on the Wilgerivier, in the district of Harrismith. My position had now become very difficult. It seemed, as far as I could discover, that there were five or six English generals and forty thousand troops, of which the greater part were mounted, all of them trying their best to capture the Government and me. My force numbered two thousand five hundred men. On the afternoon when I received the above-mentioned letter, there was still a way of escape open to me, through Parijs[64] to Potchefstroom. This road crossed the Vaal River at Schoemansdrift, and then followed the course of the stream between Parijs and Vanvurenskloof. It was now, however, somewhat unsafe, for that same afternoon a large force of the enemy was marching along the Vaal River from Vredefort to Parijs. These troops would be able to reach Vanvurenskloof early the following morning; whilst the force at Potchefstroom, which I have already mentioned in this chapter, would also be able to arrive there at the same hour. I led my burghers that evening across the Vaal River to Venterskroon, which lies six miles from Schoemansdrift. The following morning my scouts reported that the English were rapidly approaching from Potchefstroom in two divisions; one was at Zandnek: the other had already reached Roodekraal on its way to Schoemansdrift. One of these divisions, my scouts told me, might be turning aside to Vanvurenskloof. Now the road from Venterskroon passed between two mountain chains to the north of Vanvurenskloof; and I feared that the English would block the way there. I had to avoid this at all costs, but I had hardly a man available for the purpose. The greater part of my burghers were still to the south-east and south-west of the Vaal River. There was nothing left for me to do except to take the burghers who remained with me, and, whilst the laager followed us as quickly as possible, to advance and prevent the enemy from occupying the kloof. This I did, and took a part of my men to Vanvurenskloof, whilst I sent another body of burghers to Zandnek. Everything went smoothly. The enemy did not appear and the laager escaped without let or hindrance--and so we camped at Vanvurenskloof. I must have misled the English, for they certainly would have thought that I would come out by the road near Roodekraal. But I cannot understand why the force in our rear, which had arrived at Parijs the previous evening, remained there overnight, nor why, when they did move on the following morning, they marched to Lindequesdrift, eight miles up the Vaal River, and not, as might well have been expected, to Vanvurenskloof. The burghers whom I sent in the direction of Roodekraal had a fight with the enemy at Tijgerfontein. A heavy bombardment took place; and my men told me afterwards that the baboons, of which there were a large number in these mountains, sprang from cliff to cliff screaming with fright--poor creatures--as the rocks were split on every side by the lyddite shells. The burghers came to close quarters with the enemy, and a fierce engagement with small arms took place. It appeared later that the enemy's casualties amounted to more than a hundred dead and wounded. Our loss was only two men. As I have already stated, we camped at Vanvurenskloof. The next morning, while we were still there, we were surprised by the enemy--an unpleasant thing for men with empty stomachs. I did not receive any report from my scouts[65] until the English were not more than three thousand paces from us, and had already opened fire on the laager, not only with their guns, but also with their rifles. We at once took the best positions we could find; and meanwhile the waggons got away as quickly as possible. They succeeded in getting over the first ridge, and thus gained a certain amount of shelter, whilst we kept the English busy. The enemy approached nearer and nearer to us with overpowering forces. Then they charged, and I saw man after man fall, struck down by our merciless fire. We were quite unable to hold the enemy back, and so we had to leave our positions, having lost one dead and one wounded. That night we marched ten miles to the east of Gatsrand, on the road to Frederiksstad Station, and the following morning we arrived at the foot of the mountain. Here we outspanned for a short time, but we could not wait long, for our pursuers were following us at a great pace. It was not only the force from the other side of Vanvurenskloof with which we had to deal. The united forces of the English had now concentrated from different points with the purpose of working our ruin. The English were exceedingly angry that we had escaped from them on the Vaal River, for they had thought that they had us safely in their hands. That we should have succeeded in eluding them was quite beyond their calculations; and in order to free themselves from any blame in the matter, they reported that we had crossed the river at a place where there was no ford, but this was not true; we had crossed by the waggon and post ford--the well-known Schoemansdrift. But whether the enemy were angry or not, there was no doubt that they were pursuing us in very large numbers, and that we had to escape from them. That evening, the 7th of August, we went to the north of Frederiksstad Station, and blew up a bridge with two spans and wrecked the line with dynamite. The following day we arrived at the Mooi River. This river is never dry winter or summer, but always flows with a stream as clear as crystal. It affords an inexhaustible supply of water to the rich land that lies along its bank. It is a fitting name for it--the name of Mooi.[66] At the other side of this river we found General Liebenberg's commando, which, like ourselves, was in the trap. The General joined us on our march, and the following day we were nine miles from Ventersdorp. Early that morning a report came that the English were approaching and were extended right across the country. "Inspan!" No man uttered a word of complaint; each man did his work so quickly that one could hardly believe that a laager could be put on the move in so short a time. And away the waggons and carts skurried, steering their course to Ventersdorp. It was impossible to think of fighting--the enemy's numbers were far too great. Our only safety lay in flight. We knew very well that an Englishman cannot keep up with a Boer on the march, and that if he tries to do so, he soon finds that his horses and oxen can go no further. Our intention was then to march at the very best pace we could, so that the enemy might be forced to stop from sheer exhaustion. And as the reader will soon see, our plan was successful. Nevertheless we had to do some fighting, to protect our laager from a force of cavalry that was rapidly coming up with us. They wanted to make an end of this small body of Boers, which was always retreating, but yet, now and again, offering some slight resistance--this tiny force that was always teaching them unpleasant lessons; first at Retiefsnek, then to the north of Lindley, then on the railway line, then near Vredefort, then at Rhenosterpoort, and then again at Tijgerfontein. Yes; this sort of thing must come to an end once for all! We attacked the approaching troops, and succeeded in checking their advance. But our resistance could not last long, and soon we had to retreat and leave one of our Krupps behind us. Had I not continued firing with my Krupp until it was impossible to save it, then, in all probability, the laager would have been taken. But with the loss of this Krupp we saved the laager. I withdrew my burghers; I released the prisoners whom I had with me. And now it was my task to make it as difficult as possible for my pursuers. The winter grass on the veldt was dry and very inflammable, and I decided to set fire to it, in order that the English might find it impossible to obtain pasture for their oxen and cattle. I accordingly set it alight, and very soon the country behind was black. We hurried on until we reached Mr. Smit's farm, which is one hour on horseback from the southern slopes of the Witwatersrand--the great dividing chain of mountains that runs in the direction of Marico. Crossing this range, we continued on the march the whole night until, on the morning of the 11th of August, we arrived at the southern side of the Magaliesberg. In the afternoon we went over the saddle of the mountain and across the Krokodil River. My idea was to remain here and give our horses and oxen a rest, for the veldt was in good condition, and we could, if it were necessary, occupy the shoulder of the mountain behind us. General Liebenberg took possession of the position to the west, near Rustenburg; but hardly had he done so, before the English made their appearance, coming over another part of the mountain. He sent me a report to this effect, adding that he was unable to remain where he was stationed. Thus again we had to retreat, and I was unable to give my animals the rest I had intended to give them. We now took the road from Rustenburg to Pretoria, and arrived the following evening close to Commandonek, which we soon found was held by an English force. I left the laager behind and rode on in advance with a horse-commando. When I was a short distance from the enemy, I sent a letter to the officer in command, telling him that, if he did not surrender, I would attack him. I did this in order to discover the strength of the English force, and to find out if it were possible to attack the enemy at once, and forcing our way through the Nek, get to the east of the forces that were pursuing me. My despatch rider succeeded in getting into the English camp before he could be blindfolded. He came back with the customary refusal, and reported that although the enemy's force was not very large, still the positions held were so strong that I could not hope to be able to capture them before the English behind me arrived. I had therefore to give up the thought of breaking through these and flanking the English. Thus, instead of attacking the enemy, we went in the direction of Zoutpan, and arrived a few hours later at the Krokodil River. I had now left the English a considerable distance behind me; and so at last--we were able to give ourselves a little rest. [Footnote 62: I put down here the very words I used, for any other course would not be honest.] [Footnote 63: Kaallaagte--a barren hollow.] [Footnote 64: Parijs is situated on the Vaal River.] [Footnote 65: The reason why Captain Scheepers was so late in sending his report was because he himself was engaging the enemy with six of his men near Zandnek. He had come across a convoy of fourteen waggons and thirty men, and had, after an hour's fight, nearly brought them to the point of surrendering, when reinforcements arrived. He was thus forced to retire, and then discovered that the enemy were approaching our laager; and he had a hair's breadth escape from capture in bringing me the report.] [Footnote 66: "Mooi" means beautiful in the Taal language.] CHAPTER XIX I Return to the Free State Whilst we were encamped on the Krokodil River, President Steyn expressed a wish to pay a visit, with the Members of his Government, to the Government of the South African Republic, which was then at Machadodorp. This was no easy task to accomplish, for one would have to pass through a part of the Transvaal where there was a great scarcity of water--it was little better than a desert--and where in some places the Kaffirs were unfriendly. In other words, one would have to go through the Boschveldt. There would also be some danger from the English, since the President would have to cross the Pietersburg Railway, which was in that direction. However, this plan was approved. I decided not to accompany the President, but to return at once with two hundred riders to the Orange Free State. I intended to make it known on the farms which I passed on the way that I was going back, hoping thus to draw the attention of the English from our laager. I called together the Commandants, and informed them of my intention. They agreed that the course I proposed was the right one. Commandant Steenekamp was then nominated to act as Assistant Commander-in-Chief, with the duty of conducting the laager through the Boschveldt. On August the 14th President Steyn left the laager on his way to Machadodorp; and I myself took my departure three days later. I took with me General Philip Botha and Commandant Prinsloo, and 200 men, and also Captain Scheepers with his corps, which consisted of thirty men. With the addition of my staff we numbered altogether 246 men. Thus our ways parted--the President going to the Government of the South African Republic, the laager to the north, and I back to the Free State. I had now to cross the Magalies Mountains. The nearest two passes were Olifantsnek and Commandonek. But the first named was too much to the west, and the second was probably occupied by the English. I therefore decided to take a footpath that crossed the mountains between the two saddles. I was forced to choose this middle road because I had no means of ascertaining whether Commandonek was, or was not, in the hands of the enemy. On August 18th we arrived at a house where some Germans were living--the parents and sisters of Mr. Penzhorn, Secretary to General Piet Cronje. They were exceedingly friendly to us, and did all in their power to make us comfortable. We did not stay here for long, but were on the march again the same day. Soon after we had mounted our horses we came in sight of a large English camp, which was stationed on the road from Rustenburg to Pretoria, between Commandonek and Krokodil River. This camp lay about six miles to the south-east of the point where we first saw it. Another great camp stood about seven miles to the north-west. The enemy could see us clearly, as it was open veldt, with only a few bushes cropping up here and there. We now rode on in the direction of Wolhuterskop, which is close to the Magalies Mountains. I thought I should thus be able to reach the great road from Rustenburg to Pretoria, which was eight or nine miles from the footpath across the Magaliesberg. When we were about two miles east of Wolhuterskop we suddenly came upon two English scouts. One of them we captured; and he told us that there was a great force of the enemy in front of us and marching in our direction. What could we do now? It was impossible to proceed along the footpath because that road was closed by the enemy. North and west of us there were other bodies of troops, as I have already said; and there, directly in front of us, were the chains of the Magaliesbergen. Thus we found ourselves between four fires. In addition to this, I was much troubled by the thought that our horses were now exhausted by all this endless marching. I knew this was also the case with the English horses, but for all I knew, they might have obtained fresh ones from Pretoria. They could at all events have picked the best horses from each camp, and thus send an overpowering force against me. This was one of those moments when a man has to keep his presence of mind, or else all is lost. Whilst I was still thinking the matter over, troops began to come out of the camps, about two miles to the west of us on the road between Wolhuterskop and Magaliesberg. The scout who had escaped might now be with that force. I had therefore to act at once. I decided on climbing the Magalies Mountains, without a path or road! Near by there was a Kaffir hut, and I rode up to it. When the Kaffir came out to me, I pointed to the Magalies Mountains, and asked:-- "Right before us, can a man cross there?" "No, baas,[67] you cannot!" the Kaffir answered. "Has a man never ridden across here?" "Yes, baas," replied the Kaffir, "long ago." "Do baboons walk across?" "Yes! baboons do, but not a man." "Come on!" I said to my burghers. "This is our only way, and where a baboon can cross, we can cross." With us was one Adriaan Matthijsen, a corporal who came from the district of Bethlehem, and was a sort of jocular character. He looked up at the mountains, 2,000 feet above him, and sighed:-- "O Red Sea!" I replied, "The children of Israel had faith and went through, and all you need is faith. This is not the first Red Sea we have met with and will not be the last!" What Corporal Matthijsen thought I do not know, for he kept silence. But he pulled a long face, as if saying to himself:-- "Neither you, nor anybody else with us, is a Moses!" We climbed up unobserved to a bit of bush which, to continue the metaphor of the Red Sea, was a "Pillar of Cloud" to hide us from the English. We then reached a kloof[68] running in a south-westerly direction, and ascended by it, still out of sight of the English, till we reached a point nearly half-way up the mountain. There we had to leave the kloof, and, turning to the south, continue our ascent in full view of the enemy. It was now so precipitous that there was no possibility of proceeding any further on horseback. The burghers had therefore to lead their horses, and had great difficulty even in keeping their own footing. It frequently happened that a burgher fell and slipped backwards under his horse. The climb became now more and more difficult; and when we had nearly reached the top of the mountain, there was a huge slab of granite as slippery as ice, and here man and horse stumbled still more, and were continually falling. We were, as I have said, in view of the enemy, and although out of reach of the Lee-Metfords, were in range of their big guns! I heard burghers muttering:-- "Suppose the enemy should aim those guns at us--what will become of us then? Nobody can get out of the road here!" I told them that this could only be done if the English had a Howitzer. But I did not add that this was a sort of gun which the columns now pursuing me were likely enough to possess. But nothing happened. The English neither shot at us, nor did they pursue us. Corporal Matthijsen would have said that they were more cautious than Pharaoh. We now reached the top of the mountain--entirely exhausted. I have ascended many a mountain--the rough cliffs of Majuba, the steep sides of Nicholson's Nek--but never before had I been so tired as I was now; yet in the depths of my heart I was satisfied. All our toil was repaid by the glorious panorama that now stretched out before us to the south. We saw the undulating veldt between the Magaliesbergen where we stood, and the Witwatersrand. Through a ravine we had a view extending for many miles, but wherever we cast our eyes there was no sign of anything that resembled the enemy. As it was now too late to off-saddle, we began, after having taken a little rest, to descend the mountain on the other side, my object being to reach a farm where I hoped to get some sheep or oxen for my men, who not only were tired out, but nearly famished. We went down the mountain--well, somewhat quicker than we had climbed it; however, we could not go very fast, as the incline was steep. In an hour and a half we reached a Boer farm. One can imagine how the burghers recovered their spirits as they ate their supper, and what it meant for them to give their tired limbs a rest. The following morning we found good horse-provender, and plenty of it. It was not as yet the habit of the English to burn everything they came across--they had not yet begun to carry out that policy of destruction. I now felt quite easy about the safety of our camp. The attention of the English would be turned in quite another direction. I was quite right in this view of the matter. For I heard a few days later that the enemy had not been able to pursue the laager as their draft-cattle and horses were so completely exhausted, that they had fallen down dead in heaps. I heard also that they had soon been made acquainted with the fact that I was on my way back to the Free State, where I would soon begin again to wreck railway lines and telegraph wires. They had also discovered that President Steyn had left the laager and was on the road to Machadodorp. It was on the 18th of August, 1900, that we were able to eat our crust of bread in safety on the farm just mentioned, and to let our horses have as much food as they wanted. It seemed that for the time being a heavy burden had fallen from our shoulders. That afternoon we crossed the Krokodil River, and stopped at a "winkel"[69] under the Witwatersrand, which had been spared as yet, although it was nearly empty of stores. Fodder, however, was plentiful, and thus, again, we could give our horses a good feed. I now received a report that a strong contingent of the enemy was on the march from Olifantsnek to Krugersdorp, and accordingly we rode off in the night. We found that this force was the very one that had flanked our laager the previous week, when we were passing Ventersdorp. The road which the enemy were taking was the same which Jameson had marched when he made his inroad into the South African Republic. My intention was to cross the enemy's path before daylight the following morning, which I succeeded in doing; and we heard no more of this force. I proceeded now in the direction of Gatsrand. From there I still went on, and crossed the Krugersdorp-Potchefstroom Railway, about eight or ten miles to the north of Bank Station. The line was then not guarded everywhere. There were small garrisons at the stations only, and so one could cross even in the day time. To my vexation, I had not a single cartridge of dynamite, or any implements at hand with which I could wreck the line. It was painful to see the railway line and not be able to do any damage to it! I had made it a rule never to be in the neighbourhood of a railway without interrupting the enemy's means of communication. We arrived now at the farm of Messrs. Wolfaard, who had been captured with General Cronje; and here I met Commandant Danie Theron, with his eighty men. He had come to this place to avoid the troops lying between Mooi River and Ventersdorp. His horses, although still weak, were yet somewhat rested, and I gave him orders to join me in a few days, in order to reinforce me until my commandos should come back. My intention was not to undertake any great operations, for my force was not strong enough for that. I intended my principal occupation to be to interrupt the communications of the enemy by wrecking the line and telegraph. With regard to the main line in the Free State I must remark here that things there were in a different condition from what they were on the Krugersdorp line, which we had crossed. The Free State railway was Lord Roberts' principal line of communication, and he had provided guards for it everywhere. During the night of August 21st, we arrived at Vanvurenskloof. How delightful it was when the sun rose to see once more the well-known mountains to the south of the Vaal River in our own Free State! "There is the Free State," we called out to each other when day broke. Every one was jubilant at seeing again that country which of all the countries on the earth is the best. From here I despatched General Botha with the purpose of collecting the burghers of Vrede and Harrismith who had remained at home, and of bringing them back to join me. We remained only as long as was necessary to rest the horses, and then at once went on. The same evening we arrived at the farm of Rhenosterpoort, where our laager had waited since we had crossed the Vaal River more than a week ago. The proprietor of the farm of Rhenosterpoort was old Mr. Jan Botha. It could not be that he belonged to the family of Paul Botha, of Kroonstad, for Jan Botha and his household (amongst whom was his son Jan, an excellent veldtcornet) were true Afrikanders. And even if he did belong to the family of Paul Botha, then the difference in his feelings and actions from those of other members of his family was no greater than that, alas! which frequently occurred in many families during this war. One member put everything at the disposal of his country, whereas another of the same name did everything possible against his country and his people. But there was no such discord here. The two old brothers of Mr. Botha, Philip and Hekky, were heart and soul with us. Potchefstroom was not at that time in the hands of the English. I rode over to the town, and then it was that the well-known photo was taken of me that has been spread about everywhere, in which I am represented with a Mauser in my hand. I only mention this so as to draw attention to the history of the weapon which I held in my hand. It is as follows:-- When the enemy passed through Potchefstroom on their way to Pretoria, they left a garrison behind them, and many burghers went there to give up their arms, which forthwith were burnt in a heap. When the garrison left the dorp the burghers returned. Amongst them were some who set to work to make butts for the rifles that had been burnt. "This rifle," I was told by the man who showed it to me, "is the two hundredth that has been taken out of the burnt heap and repaired." This made such an impression on me that I took it in my hand, and had my photo taken with it. I am only sorry that I cannot mention the names of the burghers who did that work. Their names are worthy to be enrolled on the annals of our nation. After having provided myself with dynamite, I left Potchefstroom and returned to my commando, then quietly withdrew in the night to Rhenosterkop. From there I sent Veldtcornet Nicolaas Serfontein, of the Bethlehem commando, in the direction of Reitz and Lindley, to bring the Kaffirs there to a sense of their duty, for I had heard that they were behaving very brutally to our women. The remainder of the Bethlehem burghers under Commandant Prinsloo and Veldtcornet Du Preez, remained with me to assist me in getting under my supervision the commandos which had escaped from behind the Roodebergen. These were under the command of General Fourie, and some were in the south of the State. I left Captain Scheepers behind me with orders to wreck the line every night. That evening I went to Mr. Welman's farm, which was to the south-west of Kroonstad. There I received a report that the commandos under General Fourie were in the neighbourhood of Ladybrand. I sent a despatch to him and Judge Hertzog asking them to come and see me, with a view to bringing the burghers under arms again, in the southern and south-western districts of the State. This letter was taken by Commandant Michal Prinsloo and some despatch riders to General Fourie. The night that he crossed the line a train was passing, and he wrecked the railway both in front of it and behind it. The train could thus neither advance nor retreat, and it fell into the hands of Commandant Prinsloo, who, after having taken what he wanted, burnt it. With regard to myself, I remained in the neighbourhood of Commandant Nel's farm. Here I had the most wonderful of all the escapes that God allowed me in the whole course of the war. On the third evening at sunset, a Hottentot came to me. He said that his "baas," whose family lived about twelve miles from the farm of Commandant Nel, had laid down their arms, and that he could not remain in the service of the wife of such a bad "baas." He asked me if he could not become one of my "achterrijders." As he was still speaking to me, Landdrost Bosman from Bothaville, came to pay me a visit. "Good," I said to the Hottentot, "I shall see you about this again." For I wished to cross-question him. I then went into the house with the Landdrost, and spent a good deal of time in writing with him. Late in the evening he went back to Bothaville and I to bed exactly at eleven o'clock. I had scarcely laid down when the Hottentot came back to my thoughts, and I began to grow uneasy. I got up and went to the outhouse where my Kaffir slept. I woke him up and asked him where the Hottentot was. "Oh, he is gone," he replied, "to go and fetch his things to go with the baas." I at once felt that there was something wrong, and went and called my men. I told them to saddle-up, and went off with my staff to the farm of Mr. Schoeman on the Valsch River, to the east of Bothaville. On the following morning before daybreak, a force of two hundred English stormed the farm of Commandant Nel. They had come to take me prisoner. From Schoeman's farm I went to the Rhenoster River and found Captain Scheepers there. He reported that he had wrecked the line for four or five consecutive weeks, as I had told him. I also received there the sad news of the death of the never-to-be-forgotten Danie Theron, in a fight at Gatsrand. A more brave and faithful commander I have never seen. So Danie Theron was no more. His place would not be easily filled. Men as lovable or as valiant there might be, but where should I find a man who combined so many virtues and good qualities in one person? Not only had he the heart of a lion but he also possessed consummate tact and the greatest energy. When he received an order, or if he wished to do anything, then it was bend or break with him. Danie Theron answered the highest demands that could be made on a warrior. One of Commandant Theron's lieutenants, Jan Theron, was appointed in his place. From there I went with Captain Scheepers to the railway line, where I burnt a railway bridge temporarily constructed with sleepers, and wrecked a great part of the rails with dynamite. I then proceeded to various farms in the neighbourhood, and after a few days, with Commandant Michal Prinsloo, who had joined me, I returned to the same part of the railway in order to carry out its destruction on a larger scale. At twenty-five different places a charge of dynamite was placed with one man at the fuse, who had to set light to it as soon as he heard a whistle, that all charges could be ignited at the same time, and every one be out of the way when the pieces of iron were hurled in the air by the explosion. When the signal was heard the lucifers were struck everywhere, and the fuses ignited. The English, keeping watch on some other part of the line not far from us, on seeing the lights fired so fiercely on the burghers that they all took to their horses and galloped off. Only five charges exploded. I waited for a moment, but no sound broke the silence. "Come on!" I said, "we must fire all the charges." On reaching the line we had to search in the darkness for the spots where the dynamite had been placed. And now again the order was given that as soon as the whistle was blown every one had to ignite his fuse. Again there was a blunder! One of the burghers ignited his fuse before the signal had been given, and this caused such a panic that the others ran away. I and a few of my staff lay flat on the ground where we were until this charge had exploded, and then I went to fetch the burghers back. This time everything went off well, and all the charges exploded. The bridge I had destroyed had been rebuilt, and so I was forced to burn it again. When this was done we departed and rode on to Rietspruit, where we up-saddled, and then pushed on to Rhenosterpoort. [Footnote 67: Master.] [Footnote 68: Ravine.] [Footnote 69: General Store.] CHAPTER XX The Oath of Neutrality Arriving at Rhenosterpoort, I found there Commandant F. Van Aard, with his commando. He told me that after I had left the laager, the burghers had not been troubled again by the English. He had gone on to Waterberg, and after having stayed there for a short time, he had returned to the laager. He still had some of his waggons with him, but in many cases the oxen had been so exhausted that the waggons had to be left behind, the burghers returning on horseback, or even on foot. He also told me that Vice-Commander-in-Chief Steenekamp had, just before my arrival, crossed the line in the direction of Heilbron, in which district there were then no English. Generals Fourie and Froneman, with Hertzog, were also at Rhenosterpoort, having left their commandos behind, in the district of Winburg. They had much to tell me which I had heard already, but which I now obtained at first hand. It appeared that the burghers who had been taken prisoner with General Prinsloo had been sent to Ceylon, notwithstanding the promise that had been given them that their property would be safe, and that they would be allowed to return to their farms. It was now that I conceived the great plan of bringing under arms all the burghers who had laid down their weapons, and taken the oath of neutrality, and of sending them to operate in every part of the State. To this end I went with these officers to the other side of the railway line, in order to meet General Philip Botha in the country to the south-east of Heilbron, and also, if possible, General Hattingh, who was in command of the Harrismith and Vrede burghers. We succeeded in crossing the railway between Roodewal and Serfontein siding, but not without fighting. Before we came to the railway line the English opened a cross fire on us from the north-east, from the direction of Roodewal; and almost directly afterwards another party fired on us from the south. We succeeded, however, in getting through with the waggons which Commandant Van Aard had with him, but we lost one man killed, and three wounded. On the following day I gave Commandant Van Aard the order to go to his district (Midden Valsch River) in order to give his burghers an opportunity of getting their clothes washed, and of obtaining fresh horses, if any were to be had. For although the enemy already had begun to burn down our houses, and to carry away our horses, things had not as yet reached such a pitch that the columns spared nothing that came in their way. Commandant Van Aard started off on his errand, but alas! a few days afterwards I heard that he--one of the most popular of all our officers--had been killed in a fight near his own farm between Kroonstad and Lindley. He was buried there, where he had fallen, on his own land. And now began the great work which I had proposed to accomplish. I gave instructions to Vice-Commander-in-Chief Piet Fourie to take under his charge the districts of Bloemfontein, Bethulie, Smithfield, Rouxville, and Wepener, and to permit the burghers there, who had remained behind, to join us again. He was not, however, to compel anybody to do so, because I was of opinion that a coerced burgher would be of no real value to us, and would besides be untrustworthy. The following officers were to serve under Fourie: Andrias, Van Tonder and Kritzinger. The last-named had been appointed in the place of Commandant Olivier, who had been taken prisoner at Winburg.[70] I had appointed Judge Hertzog as a second Vice-Commander-in-Chief, to carry out the same work in the districts of Fauresmith, Philippolis and Jacobsdal. He had under him Commandant Hendrik Pretorius (of Jacobsdal) and Commandant Visser. The latter was the man who, when the burghers from Fauresmith, even before the taking of Bloemfontein, had remained behind, broke through with seventy or eighty troops. He had always behaved faithfully and valiantly until, in an engagement at Jagersfontein, he gave up his life, a sacrifice for the rights of his nation. His name will ever be held in honour by his people. These two Vice-Commanders-in-Chief had no easy task to perform. In fact, as every one will admit, it was a giant's burden that I had laid upon their shoulders. To lighten it a little I made the following arrangement: I sent Captain Pretorius, with a small detachment, in advance of General Fourie, to prepare the road for him, and Captain Scheepers to do the same for Judge Hertzog. The first had to say: "Hold yourselves in readiness! Oom Pieter![71] is coming." The other had to say: "Be prepared! The Rechter[72] is at hand!" All went well. General Fourie set to his task at once and did excellent work. He had not been long in his division before he had collected seven hundred and fifty men, and had had several skirmishes with the enemy. It was on account of his acting so vigorously that the English again put garrisons into some of the south-eastern townships, such as Dewetsdorp, Wepener, and others. With General Hertzog things went even better. He had soon twelve hundred men under arms. General Fourie had not succeeded in getting together an equally large force in his division, because many burghers from these districts had been taken prisoner at the time of the surrender of Prinsloo. General Hertzog also fought more than one battle at Jagersfontein and Fauresmith. I ought to add that after I had crossed the Magaliesberg I had sent Veldtcornet C.C. Badenhorst, with twenty-seven men, on a similar errand to the districts of Boshof and Hoopstad. I promoted him to the rank of commandant, and he soon had a thousand troops under him, so that he was able to engage the enemy on several occasions. He had not been long occupied in this way, before I appointed him Vice-Commander-in-Chief. The reader who has followed me throughout this narrative, may very naturally ask here how it could be justifiable for nearly three thousand burghers thus to take up arms again, and break their oath of neutrality? I will answer this question by another--who first broke the terms of this oath?--the burghers or the English military authorities? The military authorities without any doubt; what other answer can one give? Lord Roberts had issued a proclamation saying that, if the burghers took an oath of neutrality, and remained quietly on their farms, he would give them protection for their persons and property. But what happened? He himself ordered them to report to the British military authorities, should any Boer scout or commandos come to their farms, and threatened them with punishment if they did not do so. Old people also who had never stirred one step from their farms were fined hundreds of pounds when the railway or telegraph lines in their neighbourhood were wrecked. Besides, instead of protection being given to the burghers, their cattle were taken from them by the military, at prices they would never have thought of accepting, and often by force. Yes; and from widows, who had not even sons on commando, everything was taken away. If then the English, on their part, had broken the contract, were not the burghers perfectly justified in considering themselves no longer bound by the conditions which the oath laid on them? And then if one goes further into the matter, and remembers that the English had been employing such people as the National Scouts, and had thus been arming men who had taken the oath of neutrality, how can one think that the Boer was still under the obligation of keeping his oath? There is also the obligation which every one is under to his own Government; for what Government could ever acknowledge an oath which their citizens had no right to take? No! taking everything into consideration, no right-minded burgher could have acted otherwise than to take his weapons up again, not only in order to be faithful to his duty as a citizen, but also in order not to be branded as a coward, as a man who in the future could never again look any one in the face. I arranged various matters at Doornspruit, in the district of Kroonstad, on the 23rd of September, 1900, and then went from there in the direction of Rietfontein, in order to meet the commando which I had ordered to be at Heilbron on the 25th. [Footnote 70: Commandant Van Tender had been made prisoner at the same time, but he eluded the vigilance of his captors, and running for his life under a shower of their bullets, got away in safety.] [Footnote 71: Uncle Peter.] [Footnote 72: Judge.] CHAPTER XXI Frederiksstad and Bothaville When I was on the road to Heilbron, I heard that the commandos under General Hattingh (those, namely, of Harrismith and Vrede) were near the Spitskopje, seven miles to the south-east of Heilbron. I therefore went out of my course and proceeded in the direction of these commandos. They were among those who had stood the crucial test, and had not surrendered with Prinsloo. It was a real pleasure to me to meet the Harrismith burghers, and to talk with them over bygone days. This was our first meeting since December, 1899. The last time we had seen each other was when we were encamped round Ladysmith, where we were, so to speak, neighbours--our positions being contiguous. But what a shock went through my heart when I saw the cumbersome waggon-camps which had come both from Vrede and Harrismith! For I remembered what trouble and anxiety the waggons and carts had already caused me, and how my commandos, in order to save them, had been forced to fly 280 miles--from Slabbertsnek to Waterberg. As Commander-in-Chief, I was now determined to carry out most strictly the Kroonstad regulation and have nothing more to do with the waggons. I did not think that I should have any difficulty in convincing the commanders of Harrismith and Vrede that the best thing would be to do away with these unnecessary impediments, because, shortly before, the English themselves had given me a text to preach from, by taking away a great number of waggons from Commandant Hasebroek at Winburg and at Vet River. Nevertheless, my words fell on unwilling ears. It was not long after I had arrived in the camp when I got the burghers together and spoke to them. After thanking the officers and men for not having surrendered with Prinsloo at Naauwpoort, I congratulated them on their success at Ladybrand, where they had driven the English out of the town and forced them to take refuge in the caverns of Leliehoek. I then went on to tackle the tender subject--as a Boer regards it--of sacrificing the waggons. No! I did not say so much as that--I only insisted on the waggons being sent home. Now this was very much the same as saying: "Give up your waggons and carts to the enemy"--an order which, expressed in that bald manner, would have given offence. However, I was resolved to have my way, and at the end of my speech, I said, "I may not ask you, and I will not ask you what you will do with regard to the waggons. I only tell you that they must disappear." On the following day I called the officers together, and gave them direct orders to that effect. I was very polite, but also very determined that the waggons should be sent off without a moment's delay. I also gave orders that the Harrismith and Kroonstad burghers under General Philip Botha should occupy themselves in cutting the English lines of communication between Kroonstad and Zand River. The Bothaville burghers were to carry out similar operations in their own district. On that same afternoon I rode with my staff to the Heilbron burghers, who now had returned to their farms. (They had had permission to go home after they had got back from Waterberg.) They had assembled in very strong force. The enemy also had arrived in this part of the country, and we were therefore obliged at once to get ourselves ready to fight in case it should be necessary, or to retreat if the enemy should be too strong for us. With the Heilbron, Harrismith and Vrede commandos, I had now a very considerable force at my command. When I met the burghers on the 25th of September I found that I must send a force in the direction of Kroonstad, in order to oppose outposts which the enemy had stationed some six miles from that town. I at once sent orders to General Hattingh that he was to come over to me with his burghers. But what did I hear? The burghers had not been able to make up their minds to part with their waggons; most of the men from Vrede and Harrismith had gone home with these waggons, although there was a Kaffir driver and a leader for almost every one, and although I had given express orders that these Kaffirs were to be the ones to take back the waggons. How angry I was! At such moments as these one would be well nigh driven mad were there not a Higher Power to hold one back. And, to make the situation still more serious, the English now came on from all sides, and I had no troops! The Kroonstad burghers were in their own district. I allowed those from Bethlehem to leave me in order to carry on operations in their part of the country; the same likewise with the Winburgers and the valiant Commandant Hasebroek, while the burghers of Vrede and Harrismith had gone home. I had therefore with me only a small contingent from those districts, in addition to the burghers from Heilbron. The reader will understand that, under these circumstances, the forces which now began to concentrate on us were too great for us to withstand; and that no other course lay open to me than to go through Schoemansdrift; and, in case I should be pursued, to Bothaville, in order to enter the _zandveld_ (desert) through which it would be difficult for the enemy to advance. We continued in the direction of Wolvehoek Station, and on the following night crossed the line between Vredefortweg and Wolvehoek, where I wrecked the railway at various points, and also took prisoner a small force of thirteen who had been lying asleep in their tents. This last incident happened early in the morning of September 30th. We had crossed the line, and were about three miles on the further side of it, when a train came up and bombarded us with an Armstrong and a Maxim-Nordenfeldt, without however doing any damage. Our guns were too far behind the vanguard, and the poor horses too tired to go back for them, or we should have answered their fire. However, we got an opportunity of using our big guns against 200 mounted men, who had pursued us, but who, when they saw we were ready to receive them, turned round and--took the shortest road to safety! That evening we marched to a place a little to the south of Parijs, and the following day to the kopjes west of Vredefort. There we stayed a few days until the enemy again began to concentrate at Heilbron. I then divided my commando into two parts. One part I took with me, while I sent the Harrismith burghers (those at least who had not gone home with the waggons) under General Philip Botha, in the direction of Kroonstad, where he would meet the commando of that district, which had received orders to operate to the west of the railway line. General Philip Botha nominated Veldtcornet P. De Vos as Commandant of the Kroonstad contingent instead of Commandant Frans Van Aard. He made a good choice, for Commandant De Vos was not only a valiant officer, but also a strictly honourable man. For some days the enemy remained encamped on the farm called Klipstapel, which lies to the south-east of Vredefort. Then they attacked us. We held our own for a day and a half, but at last had to retreat to the Vaal River, whither the English, doubtless thinking that we were again going to Waterberg, did not pursue us. This was on the 7th of October, 1900. I now received a report from General Liebenberg that General Barton and his column were in the neighbourhood of Frederiksstad Station. He asked me (as he was too weak to venture anything alone) whether I would join him in an attack upon the English General. I decided to do so, and sent him a confidential letter saying that I would join him in a week's time. In order to mislead the English, I retreated ostentatiously through Schoemansdrift to the farm of Baltespoort, which stands on the banks of the Rhenoster River, fifteen miles from the drift. The following night I returned by the way I had come, and crossed the river a little to the west of Schoemansdrift. When on the following night we were again in the saddle I heard from many a mouth, "Whither now?" Our destination was Frederiksstad Station, where we were to engage General Barton. Previous to an attack, thorough scouting should always take place. Accordingly I sent out my scouts, and discovered that General Liebenberg had entirely cut off the English from their communications, so that, except for heliographic messages, they were entirely out of touch with the rest of their forces. Now I do not know if they had "smelt a rat," but they were certainly well entrenched near the station on ridges to the south-east and to the north. We had therefore to besiege General Barton in his entrenchments. For the first five days we held positions to the east, to the south, and to the north-west. On the fifth day I agreed with General Liebenberg that we should take up a new position on the embankment north-west of the strongest part of the English encampment. This position was to be held by two hundred men, of whom I gave eighty to General Froneman and one hundred and twenty to General Liebenberg. It was a position that we could not leave during the day without great danger, and it needed a large force to hold it, for its garrison had to be strong enough to defend itself if it should be attacked. If only my arrangements had been carried out all would have gone well. But what happened? I thought that two hundred men had gone in accordance with my orders to that position. Instead of this there were only eighty there when, on the following morning, a very strong reinforcement of English, ordered up by General Barton, appeared from the direction of Krugersdorp. I did not hear of this reinforcement till it was so close that there was no chance for me to keep it back. In fact, when I got the report the enemy were already storming the unfortunate handful of burghers and firing fiercely upon them. If these burghers had only had enough ammunition they would have been able to defend themselves, but as they were obliged to keep up a continuous fire on the storming party their cartridges were speedily exhausted. When this happened there was nothing for them to do but to fly. This they did under a fierce fire from three guns, which had been bombarding them continuously since the morning--doing but little damage however, as our burghers were behind the railway embankment. But now they had to fly over open ground, and on foot, as they had gone down without their horses because there was no safe place for the animals. If two hundred burghers--the number I had arranged for--had been in the position, there would have been no chance of the enemy's reinforcement being able to drive them out: and in all probability General Barton would have been obliged to surrender. Instead of this we had a loss of thirty killed and wounded, and about the same number were taken prisoners. Among the dead was the renowned Sarel Cilliers, grandson of the worthy "voortrekker"[73] of the same name. Veldtcornet Jurie Wessels was the most distinguished of the prisoners. It was a miserable affair altogether: General Froneman ought to have called his men back when he saw that General Liebenberg had not sent his contingent. I have heard however that Captain Cilliers refused to leave the position until it became no longer tenable. It was hard indeed for him to lose a battle thus, when it was nearly won, and to be compelled to retreat when victory was all but within his grasp. We retired towards Vanvurenskloof, and on arriving there the following evening heard that a great English force had come from Schoemansdrift and captured Potchefstroom, that another force was at Tijgerfontein, and a third at Schoemansdrift. Early next morning we crossed the Vaal River at Witbanksfontein. There we off-saddled. Now I had sent out scouts--not, however, Commandant Jan Theron's men, but ordinary burghers whom the Commandants had sent out--and just as we had partaken about noon of a late breakfast, these burghers came hurriedly into the camp, shouting: "The enemy is close at hand!" It was not long before every one had up-saddled, and we were off. The English had taken up positions on the kopjes due north of the Vaal River, whilst we had for our defence only kraals and boundary walls. As these offered no shelter for our horses, we were forced to retreat. And a most unpleasant time of it we had until we got out of range of their guns and small arms. During this retreat we lost one of our guns. This happened while I was with the left wing. One of the wheels of the carriage fell off, and the gun had to be left behind. Another incident of our flight was more remarkable. A shell from one of the enemy's guns hit an ox waggon on which there were four cases of dynamite, and everything was blown up. The oxen had just been unyoked and had left the waggon, or else a terrible catastrophe would have occurred. We lost also two burghers, who, thinking that it would be safe to go into a dwelling house, and hide themselves there, gave an opportunity to some English troops who were on the march from Schoemansdrift, to take them prisoner. We retired for some distance in an easterly direction, and when it became dark, swerved suddenly to the west, as if aiming for a point somewhat to the south-west of Bothaville. The following evening we stayed at Bronkhaistfontein, near the Witkopjes. From there we went on next morning to the west of Rheboksfontein, remaining that night at Winkeldrift, on the Rhenoster River. There I received a report that President Steyn with his staff was coming from Machadodorp, where he had met the Transvaal Government. The President requested me to come and see him, and also to meet General De la Rey, who would be there. I told the commandos to go on in the direction of Bothaville and went with my staff to the President. We met on the 31st of October near Ventersdorp. From him I heard that when he came to Machadodorp President Kruger was just ready to sail from Lourenço Marques, in the man-of-war _Gelderland_, which had been specially sent by Queen Wilhelmina to bring him over to the Netherlands. This was shortly before Portugal ceased to be neutral--the old President got away only just in time. General De la Rey had been prevented from coming: and on the 2nd of November I went with the President towards Bothaville. I had received reports from General Fourie, Judge Hertzog, and Captain Scheepers, that the burghers in their districts had rejoined; this made me think that the time had now come to make another dash into Cape Colony. President Steyn had expressed a wish to go with us. We marched on with the intention of crossing the railway line somewhere near Winburg. On the morning of the 5th we arrived at Bothaville, where we found General Froneman, who had been marching with the commandos from Rhenoster River. Little did we know that a terrible misfortune was awaiting us. That very afternoon a strong English force, which indeed had been in pursuit of us all the time, came up, and a skirmish took place, after which the English withdrew out of reach of our guns, while we took up a position under cover of the nearest hill. Without suspecting any harm we went into camp about seven miles from the English, keeping the Valsch River between us and them. I placed an outpost that night close to the river and told them to stay there till the following day. The burghers of this watch returned in the morning and reported that they had seen nothing but wreaths of smoke ascending from the north bank of the river. They believed that these came from the English camp. We were still safe then--so at least we all believed. But the corporal who had brought this report had but just left me, and was scarcely one hundred paces off when I heard the report of rifles. I thought at first that it was only some cattle being shot for food, but all at once there were more shots, and what did we see? The English were within three hundred paces of us, on a little hill near Bothaville, and close to the spot from whence my outpost had just returned. It was early morning. The sun had not risen more than twenty minutes and many of the burghers still lay asleep rolled up in their blankets. The scene which ensued was unlike anything I had ever witnessed before. I heard a good deal about panics--I was now to see one with my own eyes. Whilst I was looking for my horse to get him up-saddled a few of the burghers were making some sort of a stand against the enemy. But all those who had already up-saddled were riding away at break-neck speed. Many even were leaving their saddles behind and galloping off bare-back. As I up-saddled my horse I called out to them:-- "Don't run away! Come back and storm the enemy's position!" But it was no use. A panic had seized them, and the victims of that panic were those brave men who had never thought of flight, but only of resisting the enemy! The only thing I could do was to leap into the saddle and try to persuade the fugitives to return. But I did not succeed, for as I stopped them at one point others galloped past me, and I was thus kept dodging from point to point, until the whole commando was out of range of the firing. The leader of the enemy's storming party was Colonel Le Gallais, without doubt one of the bravest English officers I have ever met. On this occasion he did not encounter much resistance, for only a very few of the burghers attacked him, and that only at one point of his position. Among these burghers were Staats-Procureur Jacob De Villiers, and Veldtcornet Jan Viljoen. As for the rest of our men, it was useless to try to get them to come back to the fight. The gunners however did everything they could to save their guns, but had not enough time to get the oxen inspanned. Our loss was, as far as I could make out, nine killed, between twenty and thirty wounded, and about one hundred prisoners. Among the dead were Veldtcornets Jan Viljoen, of Heilbron, and Van Zijl, of Cape Colony; and among the wounded, Staats-Procureur Jacob De Villiers and Jan Rechter, the latter of whom subsequently died. The wounded who managed to escape included General Froneman, who was slightly wounded in the chest; Mr. Thomas Brain, who had been hit in the thigh; and one of my staff who was severely wounded, his shoulder being pierced by a bullet. According to English reports, Dr. De Landsheer, a Belgian, was killed in this engagement. The English newspapers asserted that the doctor was found dead with a bandolier round his body. I can vouch for the fact that the doctor possessed neither rifle nor bandolier, and I am unable to believe that he armed himself on the battlefield. Six of our Krupp guns were captured in this battle, but as our ammunition for these pieces was nearly exhausted, the loss of them made little difference to us. I feel compelled to add that, if the burghers had stood shoulder to shoulder we should certainly have driven back the enemy, and the mishap would never have occurred. We were eight hundred men strong, and the enemy numbered not more than one thousand to one thousand two hundred. But a surprise attack such as theirs had been usually produces disastrous consequences. [Footnote 73: Pioneer.] CHAPTER XXII My March to the South The horses of the burghers were in a very weak condition; and as the Boer is only half a man without his horse--for he relies on it to get him out of any and every difficulty--I had now to advance, and see if I could not find some means of providing my men with horses and saddles. I went on this errand in the direction of Zandriviersbrug to the farm of Mr. Jacobus Bornman. Here, however, I divided the commandos. General Froneman, with the Vrede and Heilbron burghers, I sent back to cross the railway lines between the Doorn and Zand Rivers, with orders to operate in the northern districts of the State. I took with me Commandant Lategan of Colesberg, with about one hundred and twenty men, and Commandant Jan Theron, with eighty men, and proceeded on the 10th or 11th of November across the railway line between Doorn River and Theronskoppen, with the intention of executing my plan of making an inroad into the Cape Colony. We wrecked the railway line and blew up a few small bridges, and then proceeded in the direction of Doornberg, where I met Commandant Hasebroek and his burghers. I sent orders to General Philip Botha to come with the Harrismith and Kroonstad burghers, which he had with him. They arrived about the 13th of November. We then marched, with about fifteen hundred men, in the direction of Springhaansnek, to the east of Thaba'Nchu. At the northern point of Korannaberg, Commandant Hasebroek remained behind, waiting for some of his men to join him. We took with us one Krupp with sixteen rounds--that was our whole stock of gun ammunition! By the afternoon of the 16th we had advanced as far as Springhaansnek. The English had built a line of forts from Bloemfontein to Thaba'Nchu and Ladybrand. And just at the point where we wanted to pass them, there were two forts, one to the south and the other to the north, about 2,000 paces from each other, on the shoulder of the mountain. My first step was to order the Krupp to fire six shots on one of these forts; and, very much to the credit of my gunners, almost everyone of these shots found its mark. Then I raced through. All went well. The only man hit was Vice-Assistant-Commandant Jan Meijer, of Harrismith, who received a wound in the side. He was shot while sitting in a cart, where he had been placed owing to a wound which he had received a few days before, in the course of a hot engagement, which General Philip Botha had had at Ventersburg Station. We now rode on through Rietpoort towards Dewetsdorp, staying, during the night of the 17th of November, at a place on the Modder River. The following day we only went a short distance, and halted at the farm of Erinspride. On the 19th I made a point of advancing during the _day_, so as to be observed by the garrison at Dewetsdorp. My object was to lead the garrison to think that we did not want to attack them, but wished first to reconnoitre the positions. This would have been quite an unnecessary proceeding, as the town was well known to me, and I had already received information as to where the enemy was posted. The garrison could only conclude that we were again flying, just as we were supposed to have done--by readers of English newspapers--at Springhaansnek. They would be sure to think that after reconnoitring their positions at Dewetsdorp we had gone on to Bloemfontein. Indeed, I heard afterwards that they had sent a patrol, to pursue us to the hills on the farm of Glengarry, and that this patrol had seen us march away in the direction of Bloemfontein. In fact the enemy seemed to have a fixed impression that I was going there. I was told that they had said: "De Wet was either too wise or too frightened to attack Dewetsdorp; and if he did, he would only be running his head against a wall." And again, when they had received the telegram which informed them that I had gone through Springhaansnek, they said: "If De Wet comes here to attack us, it will be the last attack he will ever make." We came to the farm of Roodewal, and remained there, well out of sight, the whole of the 20th of November. Meanwhile our friends (?) at Dewetsdorp were saying: "The Boers are ever so far away." But on the evening of the same day I marched, very quietly, back to Dewetsdorp, and crept up as close as I dared to the positions held by the enemy's garrison. My early days had been spent in the vicinity of this town, which had been named after my father by the Volksraad; and later on I had bought from him the farm[74] where I lived as a boy. By day or by night, I had been accustomed to ride freely in and out of the old town; never before had I been forced to approach it, as I was now, _like a thief_! Was nothing on this earth then solid or lasting? To think that I must not enter Dewetsdorp unless I were prepared to surrender to the English! I was _not_ prepared to surrender to the English. Sooner than do that I would break my way in by force of arms. At dawn, on the 21st of November, we took possession of three positions round the town. General Botha, who had with him Jan and Arnoldus Du Plessis as guides, went from Boesmansbank to a _tafelkop_,[75] to the south-east of the town. On this mountain the English had thrown up splendid _schanzes_, and had also built gun forts there, which would have been very advantageous to us, if we had only had more ammunition. The English had undoubtedly built these forts with the intention of placing guns there, and thus protecting the town on every side should danger threaten. But they did not know how to guard their own forts, for when General Botha arrived there he found only three sentries--and they were fast sleep! Two of them escaped, leaving their clothes behind, but the third was killed. Commandant De Vos and I occupied a position on the ridge which lies to the north of the town; from this point we could shoot into the town at a range of about 1,600 paces. Commandant Lategan was stationed on the hill to the west of the town, close to the farm of Glengarry, whose owner, Mr. B.W. Richter--father of my valiant Adjutants, B.W. and Jan Richter--must have been much surprised that morning when he discovered that something very like an attack was being made on Dewetsdorp. The enemy held strong positions on points of the ridge to the south-east (above the Kaffir location) to the south-west and to the north-west. Their _schanzes_ were built of stones, and provided with trenches. On the top of the _schanzes_ sandbags had been placed, with spaces left between them for the rifles. Of Major Massey, who was in command, and his force, consisting of parts of the Gloucestershire regiment, the Highland Light Infantry, and the Irish Rifles, five hundred all told, I have only to say that both commanding officer and men displayed the greatest valour. Although Commandants Hasebroek and Prinsloo had not arrived, nevertheless I had as many as nine hundred men. But I was obliged to send a strong patrol to Roodekop, eighteen miles from us in the direction of Bloemfontein, in order to receive reports in time, should reinforcements be coming up to the help of the English. I had also to send men to keep watch out towards Thaba'Nchu, Wepener and Reddersburg; nor could I leave the President's little camp (which I had allowed to proceed to the farm called "Prospect") without some protection. Thus it was that of my nine hundred men, only four hundred and fifty were available for the attack. It delighted me to see how courageous our burghers were at Dewetsdorp. As one watched them creeping from _schanze_ to _schanze_, often without any cover whatever, and in danger at every moment of falling under the enemy's fire, one felt that there was still hope. On the first day we advanced until we were close to the _schanzes_ on the south-east and on the north; we remained there during the night in our positions, our food being brought to us. The second day, November 22nd, firing began very early in the morning, and was kept up until the afternoon. Our most advanced burghers, those of Harrismith, had come to within about one hundred paces of the first _schanze_. I saw one of our men creeping on till he was close under the enemy's fort. Directly afterwards I observed that rifles were being handed over the _schanze_ to this man. Later on it appeared that the man who had done this valiant deed was none other than Veldtcornet Wessels, of Harrismith. He was subsequently promoted to the rank of Commandant, to take the place of Commandant Truter; later on again, he became Vice-Commander-in-Chief. Our burghers could now enter this fort without incurring much danger. But they had hardly done so, when the two English guns, which had been placed to the west of the town, opened fire on them. When this happened, I gave orders to my men that a great _schanze_ of the English, about eighty paces from the one which we had just taken, should be stormed. This was successfully carried out by Veldtcornet Wessels, who had with him about twenty-five men. The enemy meanwhile kept up a heavy fire on our storming party, from some _schanzes_ which lay still further away; our men, therefore, had nothing left them but to take these also. Then while our men kept in cover behind the fort which they had just taken, the English left the _schanzes_ upon which the storming party had been firing so fiercely; this, however, Veldtcornet Wessels and his burghers did not know, because, after having rested a little, and desiring to renew the attack, they only saw that everything was quiet there, and that they were now only under the fire of guns from the western forts, which lay right above the town. I also had not observed that the forts had been abandoned. Just as the sun was setting, and when it was too late to do anything, General Philip Botha, with his two sons, Louis and Charlie, rushed up to Veldtcornet Wessels and told him what the real state of affairs was. I now saw columns of black smoke rising from the mill of Mr. Wessels Badenhorst, to the south of the town. Everybody was saying: "The English are burning their commissariat; they are going to surrender!" The English had a strong fort on the north, near the place where Commandant De Vos was stationed. In order to take this _schanze_ one would have been obliged to cross 200 metres of open ground. Moreover, it was so placed that it was the only part of the English possession which De Vos's guns commanded. Accordingly, when the sun had gone down, I sent orders to him that he was to storm this _schanze_ before daybreak on the following morning. My orders were duly carried out. Commandant De Vos crept stealthily up to the fort, and was not observed by the enemy until he was close to them. They then fired fiercely on him, killing two of his burghers, but our men would not be denied; they leapt over the _schanze_ and compelled the enemy to surrender. The English losses on this occasion were six killed, a few wounded, and about thirty taken prisoner. While this was going on, Veldtcornet Wessels, in accordance with orders which I had given him the previous evening, had taken possession of the river bank exactly opposite to the town, which he was now preparing to storm. The English had only a few _schanzes_ to the west of him, and these were not more than two hundred paces off. I had been to the laager at "Prospect" the night before, with the intention of returning so as to be in time for the storming of the town. I had arranged to go there very early in the morning, because my journey could be accomplished with much less risk if carried out in the dark. Unfortunately, however, daylight overtook me when I had got no further than the Kaffir location, and I had to race from there, over country where I had no sort of cover, to the ravine near the town. From this ravine to where Veldtcornet Wessels was waiting for me on the river bank, I rode in comparative safety. The reader can easily imagine how delighted I was to meet again the Dewetsdorp folk, to whom I was so well known. But I could not show myself too much. That would not have been safe. After I had visited three houses--those of the Schoolmaster, Mr. Otto, of Mr. Jacobus Roos, and of old Mr. H. Van der Schijf--and had partaken in each of a cup of coffee, I hurried off to my burghers. The remaining English _schanzes_ had been so well constructed that their occupants could still offer a very stubborn resistance, and they did so. It was not until about three o'clock on the afternoon of the 23rd of November that we saw the white flag go up, and knew that the victory was ours. We took four hundred and eight prisoners, amongst whom were Major Massey and seven other officers. We also took fifty Kaffirs. Two Armstrong guns with more than three hundred rounds of ammunition, some waggons, horses and mules, and a great quantity of Lee-Metford cartridges also fell into our hands. We never knew the exact numbers of the English dead and wounded, but they must have lost something between seventy and one hundred men. Our own loss was heavy. Seven of the burghers were killed and fourteen wounded; most of these, however, slightly. The sun had already set before we had put everything in order, and it was late in the evening when we returned to our laager at "Prospect." There I received a report that a great column was marching from the direction of Reddersburg, in order to relieve Major Massey--but they were too late! Very early the following morning we made preparations to intercept the advance of this column. We took up positions to the west of Dewetsdorp, and the day was spent in exchanging shots with the enemy's guns. During the night we remained in our positions, but when the sun rose I discovered that the column, which was already too strong for us, was expecting a reinforcement, and as no attack was attempted on their side, I decided to leave the position quietly, and to march on. My inroad into Cape Colony must no longer be delayed. Our positions at Dewetsdorp were so situated that I could leave them unnoticed. I thought it well, however, to leave behind a small number of burghers as a decoy, so that the English should not pursue us at once. [Footnote 74: Nieuwjaarsfontein.] [Footnote 75: A table-shaped hill.] CHAPTER XXIII I Fail to Enter Cape Colony The enemy gave us plenty of time in which to effect our escape, and by nightfall we had abandoned our positions at Platkop. Taking with us the prisoners of war (whom I intended to set free on the far side of the Orange River), we marched towards Vaalbank, arriving there on the following morning. That day the English attacked us unawares. While I was at Dewetsdorp, Captain Pretorius had come up to give me a report of his recent doings. I had sent him, two months previously, from the district of Heilbron to Fauresmith and Philippolis, in order to fetch two or three hundred horses from those districts; he had told me that he had brought the horses, and that they were with his 200 men at Droogfontein. It was about eight o'clock in the morning after our night march that our outpost at Vaalbank saw a mounted commando riding from Beijersberg in the direction of Reddersburg. I was at once informed of this, but as I was expecting Pretorius from that direction, I merely said: "It is sure to be Captain Pretorius." "No; this is an _English_ commando." English or Australian--it made very little matter--they were enemies. I had no need to give the order to off-saddle, the burghers did it at once of their own accord. But before we were ready for him, the enemy opened fire on us from the very ridge on which our outpost had been stationed. Off went the burghers, and I made no effort to stop them, for the spot where we were did not command a good view of the surrounding country, and I already had my eye on some ridges, about half an hour's ride away. There we should be able to reconnoitre, especially towards Dewetsdorp, whence I expected the enemy at any moment. During the retreat Veldtcornet de Wet was severely wounded. Moreover, some of our horses had to be left behind, being too exhausted to go any further. We marched on towards Bethulie. When in the neighbourhood of this town, and of the farm of "Klein Bloemfontein," I fell in with General Piet Fourie and Captain Scheepers, and took them with me. While on this farm I set free the Kaffirs whom I had taken prisoner at Dewetsdorp; they pretended they had not been fighting, but were only waggon-drivers. I gave them a pass to go into Basutoland. We then proceeded towards Karmel, and just as we were approaching the farm of "Good Hope," we caught sight of an English column which had come from Bethulie, and was making for Smithfield. I at once opened fire upon them from two sides, but they were in such good positions that we failed that day to drive them out. On the morrow, early in the morning, the fight began afresh. About four o'clock in the afternoon General Charles Knox, with a large reinforcement, arrived from Smithfield, and we had once more to retire. It was here that I sustained a loss upon my staff--my nephew, Johannes Jacobus de Wet. It was sad to think that I should never again see Johannes--so brave and cheerful as he had always been. His death was a great shock to me. Our only other casualties were four burghers wounded, whereas the enemy, unless I am much mistaken, must have lost heavily. Whilst this fight was in progress General Hertzog joined me. We arranged that he should with all speed make an inroad into Cape Colony, between the Norvalspont and Hopetown railway bridges, and that I should do the same between the railway bridges at Bethulie and Aliwal North. He was to operate in the north-western part of the country, I in the eastern and midland parts. That night we continued our march towards Karmel, under a heavy downpour of rain. Next morning it was still raining when we started to continue our march; later on in the day we off-saddled for a short time and then went on again, so as to be able to cross the Caledon River before it became impossible to do so. I can assure you that it rained so hard while we were fording the Caledon, that, as the Boers say, "It was enough to kill the big devils and cut off the legs of the little ones." We then marched on--still through heavy rain. Commandant Truter, who was in command of the rear-guard, had left a Krupp and an ammunition waggon behind. I was not at all pleased about this, but, as we had not a single round of Krupp ammunition left, the gun would only have hampered us. That evening we reached the Orange River, at a point some three miles to the north of Odendaalsstroom, but, alas! what a sight met our eyes! The river was quite impassable owing to the floods, and, in addition, the ford was held by English troops stationed on the south bank. Our position was beginning to be critical, for there was an English garrison at Aliwal North, so that I could not cross the Orange River by the bridge there. It was also highly probable that the Caledon would be in flood, and I knew that General Charles Knox had left a division of his troops at Smithfield--they would be sure to be holding the bridge over the Caledon at Commissiedrift. Moreover, Jammerbergsdrift, near Wepener, was doubtless well guarded, so that there, too, I would have no chance of crossing the river. There was still Basutoland, but we did not wish to cross its borders--we were on good terms with the Basutos and we could not afford to make enemies of them. Surely we had enough enemies already! To make the best of a bad job I sent Commandant Kritzinger[76] and Captain Scheepers, with their three hundred men, to march in the direction of Rouxville with orders that as soon as the Orange River became fordable, they were to cross it into Cape Colony without delay. I entertained no doubt that they would succeed. Everything is as it must be, and unless one is a sluggard--who brings trouble upon himself by doing nothing to avoid it--one has no reason to complain. Such were my thoughts as I contemplated our situation. The Orange River was in flood--the Government and I, therefore, could not possibly remain where we were for long. The English were so fond of us that they would be sure to be paying us a visit! No, to wait there until the river was fordable was not to be thought of. The reader will now perceive how it was that my projected inroad into Cape Colony did not become a fact. My dear old friend, General Charles Knox, was against it, and he had the best of the argument, for the river was unfordable. What then was I to do? Retreat I could not, for the Caledon also was now full. Again, as I have already explained, it would not do for me to take refuge in Basutoland. But even that would be better than to attempt to hold out where I was--in a narrow belt of country between two rivers in flood--against the overpowering force which was at General Knox's disposal, and which in ten or twelve days would increase tenfold, by reinforcements from all parts of the country. I knew that the Orange and the Caledon Rivers sometimes remained unfordable for weeks together. How could I then escape?--Oh, the English had caught me at last! They hemmed me in on every side; I could not get away from them. In fact they had "cornered" me, to use one of their own favourite expressions. That they also thought so appears from what I read afterwards in the _South African News_, where I saw that Lord Kitchener had given orders to General Charles Knox "not to take any prisoners there!" For the truth of this I cannot positively vouch; but it was a very suspicious circumstance that Mr. Cartwright, the editor of the newspaper to which I have referred, was afterwards thrown into prison for having published this very anecdote about Lord Kitchener. Our prospects were then by no means bright; I knew very well that those trusty counsellors of the English--the National Scouts--would have advised their masters to seize the bridges and thus make escape impossible for Steyn and De Wet. Without delay I proceeded to the Commissiedrift bridge over the Caledon. As I feared, it was occupied by the enemy. Entrenchments had been dug, and _schanzes_ thrown up at both ends. Foiled here, I at once sent a man down to the river to see if it was still rising. It might be the case that there had not been so much rain higher up. The man whom I had sent soon returned, reporting that the river was falling, and would be fordable by the evening. This was good news indeed. On the other hand, our horses were exhausted. They had now for three days been obliged to plough their way through the wet, muddy paths. We had no forage to give them, and the grass was so young as yet that it did not seem to strengthen them at all. Nevertheless, we had to be off. And there was but one road open to us--we must somehow get across the Orange River and thus obtain elbow-room. Accordingly we returned to make for Zevenfontein, a ford ten or twelve miles further up the river. If it were not already in the enemy's hands, we would surely be able to get across there. Shortly before sunset, on the 8th of December, we arrived at Zevenfontein. To our immense joy, it was unoccupied and fordable. I at once marched towards Dewetsdorp, intending, if only General Knox and his huge force would give me the chance, to rest my horses, and then make another attempt to enter Cape Colony. But it was not to be. The English were afraid that if President Steyn and I were in Cape Colony their troubles would be doubled. General Knox therefore concentrated all his available forces in order to drive us northwards. It was disappointing, but there was a bright side to it. If the English were pursuing me, they would have to leave Commandant Kritzinger and Captain Scheepers, who would thus be able to cross the Orange River. These two officers, however, were not left entirely in peace. While they rested for a time near Zastron, in order to give their horses a chance of recovering their strength, there came a division of Brabant's Horse to pay them a visit. The result was that about sixty of the visitors were wounded or taken prisoner, while the rest found it as much as they could do to get back to Aliwal North, whence they had started. Commandant Kritzinger and Captain Scheepers had then another opportunity for rest until the day should come when they could make an inroad into Cape Colony according to my instructions. Although, as I have already said, the English were passionately devoted to President Steyn and myself, I was deprived of their endearments for the space of two whole days, during which I was at Wilgeboomspruit. Here I was joined by Commandant Hasebroek with his commando, and all of us--horses as well as men--enjoyed a little rest. But very soon General Knox was again at our heels, and, to escape him, I marched west in the direction of Edenburg, hoping at last to be able to get into Cape Colony. Not only were the forces of General Knox _behind_ us, but, when we arrived at the farm of "Hexrivier," and thus were within two hours' march of Edenburg, I heard from my scouts, whom I had sent on in advance, that there was a great English column in _front_ of us at that town. In the evening, therefore, I turned off towards the east, and marched in the direction of Wepener. The following morning the enemy was again on our track; but, as we had covered twenty miles during the night, we were so far ahead that it was unnecessary for us to move very fast during that and the following day. At mid-day, the 13th of December, we took up excellent positions--placed in a line of about eight miles from end to end--on the farm called "Rietfontein," which is in the district of Wepener, north-east of Daspoort. We were so strongly posted that the enemy had to halt and wait for the arrival of the rearguard. I had calculated on this, and knew that darkness would come to our aid before the English were ready to attack us. But in front of us there was a strong line of forts, extending from Bloemfontein through Thaba'Nchu and Springhaansnek, to Ladybrand. Through this line we should have to fight our way; this would be difficult enough, and it would never do to have General Knox at our heels, to increase the difficulty. Our only plan, then, was to make a long night march, and thus to get well out of the way. Accordingly, I gave orders to the men to hold their positions until dark, and to let the enemy see that they were doing so. I had even had _schanzes_ built, so as to impress them with the idea that I intended to attack them the following day if they advanced towards my positions. And just before the night came on, I ordered the burghers to show themselves from behind all our _schanzes_. Then night fell, and I at once gave orders to march off. The burghers could not understand this, and began to grumble about it--what could their General mean? Why this sudden change in his plans? I said nothing, but thought to myself, "You shall know why to-morrow." We marched directly towards Springhaansnek. It was very slow work, for many of the burghers' horses were so weak that their owners had to go on foot. General Philip Botha and I were with the rearguard, and did not expect to reach the line of forts until ten o'clock on the following morning. We had not advanced very far before we were joined by Commandant Michal Prinsloo, who had with him three hundred of the Bethlehem burghers. He had come down from Springhaansnek, and as his horses were in good condition I ordered him to go in advance of us, to pass through Springhaansnek, and then to occupy positions to the north of the lines of forts and east of Thaba'Nchu. My object in making this arrangement was that when on the following morning we were crossing the mountains, he might be able to hinder the enemy at Thaba'Nchu from either checking our advance, or sending reinforcements to the Springhaansnek forts. And in point of fact, Prinsloo's commando proved to be our salvation; for the English, from their high position at Thaba'Nchu, spied us as soon as day broke, and indeed sent troops to reinforce the point for which we were making. But Prinsloo succeeded in holding them in check, so that when we arrived at Springhaansnek we had to fight against strong positions, but against nothing else--but I must not anticipate. Before it began to be light on the morning of the 14th of December, Commandant Prinsloo passed through the enemy's lines between the forts. The English fired upon him, but he did not turn back. Then a small outpost of the enemy, which lay half-way between the forts, made an attempt to turn the oncoming burghers by shooting at them from the front. The Commandant only gave strict orders that the men must force their way through. The consequence was that two of the enemy, who did not get out of the way in time, were literally ridden over. The burghers thought that these two unfortunate men had been trodden to death by the horses, but it was not likely that any of them would dismount to see if this were actually the case. As I have already said, General Botha and I were in the rearguard. We knew, however, that Vice-Commandant-in-Chief Piet Fourie--a man whom nothing on earth would stop, if he had once made up his mind--was leading the van, and that he was supported by Veldtcornet Johannes Hattingh, who was as resolute and undaunted as his chief. Fourie did not wait for us to catch him up, but at once went down the mountain side. When we saw this, General Botha and I rode with all speed ahead, telling the burghers to come on more gently with their weary horses. I did not fear thus to leave them behind, because I knew that General Knox was still a long way in the rear. Just as General Fourie, leading the first storming-party, had passed between the forts, we came up with him, our burghers still straggling on behind us. As soon as we had crossed over the first piece of rising ground, I halted my men, and ordered them to leave their horses out of sight of the enemy, and to return to the brow of the hill, so as to be able to fire into the forts on the right and left hand, which were from eight hundred to nine hundred paces from us. From this hill we kept up as fierce a fire as we could, and this to a great extent prevented the enemy in those forts from firing on our burghers who were still coming on in a long train. It is necessary, in order that the reader may understand the task which we had set ourselves to accomplish, to say a few words about Springhaansnek. At either side of the way by which we must pass, there were two strong forts, at a distance of from a thousand to twelve hundred paces from each other. In the space between them there was absolutely no cover; and the distance from the point where the burghers were first visible to the men in these forts, to the point where they again disappeared from view, was at least three thousand paces. Over these terrible three thousand paces our burghers raced, while a storm of bullets was poured in upon them from both sides. And of all that force--eight thousand strong--no single man was killed, and only one was wounded! Our marvellous escape can only be described to the providence and irresistible protection of Almighty God, who kept His hand graciously over us. What the enemy's loss was I never heard. In addition to the burghers, a few carts and waggons, as well as one of the two guns which had been taken at Dewetsdorp, got safely through the English lines. The other gun was left behind by the sergeant of the artillery, before he reached the fighting line. He sent the horses of the gun-carriage with the gunners, back to Commandant Hasel, who subsequently followed us to Ijzernek, to the west of Thaba'Nchu. My ambulance with Dr. Fourie and Dr. Poutsma, were stopped by the English. Dr. Fourie had, as was quite proper, remained outside the fighting line, with the intention of coming through afterwards. This he was permitted to do on the following day. He brought me a message from General Knox to the effect that Commandant Hasebroek had lost heavily in an engagement with Colonel White, who had marched out from Thaba'Nchu. But I had already received information that the Commandant had got through the enemy's lines unhurt, and that on the contrary it was he who had killed some of Colonel White's men, while they were attacking him. We decided to retreat still further, in order to reach a place of safety where we might rest our horses, in preparation for that long dash into Cape Colony, which I still intended to carry out on the first opportunity. I felt sure, however, that my commandos would be allowed no rest by the enemy as long as the President and I were with them. Accordingly I planned that as soon as we got to the north of Winburg he and I should absent ourselves from the commandos for some time, while I proceeded to arrange certain matters (to be set down in a later chapter) by which I hoped to effectually "settle"[77] the English. On our arrival at a certain farm to the south of Senekal we discovered that General Knox was once more at our heels. We had several small engagements with him, in one of which a son of Commandant Truter, of Harrismith, was killed. On the afternoon of Christmas Day, 1900, we left the farm, and rode on to the Tafelkop, nine miles to the west of Senekal. [Footnote 76: He was subsequently appointed Vice-Commander-in-Chief in Cape Colony.] [Footnote 77: In the original a Kaffir word is used here. The literal meaning of the phrase is "to throw the knuckle bones"--the Kaffir equivalent for dice.] CHAPTER XXIV Wherein Something is Found About War against Women It was decided here, on the 26th December, to divide the large commando into two. The one part was to be under the command of Assistant-Chief-Commander P.H. Botha, and the other Assistant-Chief-Commander Pete Fourie. I entrusted to President Steyn a bodyguard under Commander Davel, who went with the Government in the direction of Reitz. As regards myself, I went to Assistant-Chief-Commander C.C. Froneman, who was with the Heilbron Commander, L. Steenekamp, in the neighbourhood of Heilbron. It was my intention to take with me from there a strong escort, and to dig up the ammunition at Roodewal taken on the 7th of June, as both our Mauser and our Lee-Metford ammunition were nearly exhausted, although we still had a fairly large supply of Martini-Henry Giddy cartridges. I then started from Tafelkop, on the 27th of December, and arrived two days later at General Froneman's commando, close to Heilbron. I had to wait there till the evening of the 31st December, until the necessary carriages and oxen had been got together for carrying the ammunition with us. Carriages were now no longer to be got easily, because the British had not only taken them away from the farms, but had also burnt many of them. Where formerly in each farm there were at least one carriage and a team of oxen, and in some two, three or even more, there were now frequently not a single one. Even where there were carriages the women had always to keep them in readiness to fly on them before the columns of the enemy, who had now already commenced to carry the women away from their dwellings to the concentration camps within their own lines, in nearly all villages where the English had established strong garrisons. Proclamations had been issued by Lord Roberts, prescribing that any building within ten miles from the railway, where the Boers had blown up or broken up the railway line, should be burnt down. This was also carried out, but not only within the specified radius, but also everywhere throughout the State. Everywhere houses were burnt down or destroyed with dynamite. And, worse still, the furniture itself and the grain were burnt, and the sheep, cattle and horses were carried off. Nor was it long before horses were shot down in heaps, and the sheep killed by thousands by the Kaffirs and the National Scouts, or run through by the troops with their bayonets. The devastation became worse and worse from day to day. And the Boer women--did they lose courage with this before their eyes? By no means, as when the capturing of women, or rather the war against them and against the possessions of the Boer commenced, they took to bitter flight to remain at least out of the hands of the enemy. In order to keep something for themselves and their children, they loaded the carriages with grain and the most indispensable furniture. When then a column approached a farm, even at night, in all sorts of weather, many a young daughter had to take hold of the leading rope of the team of oxen, and the mother the whip, or vice versa. Many a smart, well-bred daughter rode on horseback and urged the cattle on, in order to keep out of the hands of the pursuers as long as at all possible, and not to be carried away to the concentration camps, which the British called Refugee Camps (Camps of Refuge). How incorrect, indeed! Could any one ever have thought before the war that the twentieth century could show such barbarities? No. Any one knows that in war, cruelties more horrible than murder can take place, but that such direct and indirect murder should have been committed against defenceless women and children is a thing which I should have staked my head could never have happened in a war waged by the civilized English nation. And yet it happened. Laagers containing no one but women and children and decrepit old men, were fired upon with cannon and rifles in order to compel them to stop. I could append here hundreds of declarations in proof of what I say. I do not do so, as my object is not to write on this matter. I only touch upon it in passing. There are sufficiently many righteous pens in South Africa and England to pillory these deeds and bring them to the knowledge of the world, to remain on record for the future. For what nation exists, or has existed, which has not a historical record whether to its advantage or to its disadvantage? I cannot do it here as it should be done. And too much cannot be said about this shameful history. I had to unburden my heart. Now let me proceed. On the evening of the 1st of January, 1901, I pushed on towards Roodewal Station, for I had obtained all the waggons I needed for my purpose. Perhaps that night the outposts were asleep; but however that may be, we reached the railway without the enemy being aware of our movements. The hour was growing late, and so we had no choice but to remain where we were, nine miles from the spot at which we aimed. But the following evening we were again on the march, and reached the place where the ammunition had been buried. We found it untouched, and just where we had left it, a few miles from the railway, and quite close to the English camp, at Rhenosterriviersbrug. We were very careful to recover every cartridge, since it was clear that the war must still continue for a long space of time. _We_ could have no thought of giving up the struggle, whilst the pride of England would not allow her to turn back. We loaded our waggons with the ammunition, and I gave to General Froneman the task of conducting it across the railway line. I myself proceeded to the Vredefort commandos, which were stationed some fifteen miles away, for the state of affairs amongst these commandos called for my presence. On the 4th of January, when night had fallen, I crossed the railway near Vredefortweg, unnoticed by the enemy. Two days later I was back again with General Froneman's commando, where I found that the ammunition had arrived in safety. I was informed that General Knox had divided his forces into three parts, one of which had engaged General Fourie and Commandant Prinsloo, near Bethlehem. We had given the enemy a good beating, but had lost two men in the affair. I regret to say that one of them was that clever officer, Vice-Commandant Ignatius du Preeij. He was a man whom every burgher loved, for he was goodness personified. The second of General Knox's division had set out in the direction of Heilbron, whilst the third had pursued General Philip Botha along the Liebenbergsvlei.[78] This division had attempted to mislead General Botha by all sorts of tricks, but on January the 3rd he had put up notices outside different farmhouses, stating that he did not like such familiarity. On one occasion the General, with only fifty burghers, had charged one hundred and fifty of the bodyguard, and had taken one hundred and seventeen prisoners, leaving the whole of the remainder either killed or wounded. A panic now occurred among General Knox's forces. The division that was marching to Heilbron suddenly turned aside towards Kroonstad, only to meet with General Botha, who left them in anything but an undamaged condition. The division which had been despatched to deal with General Fourie and Commandant Prinsloo entered Senekal. When I arrived at General Botha's camp, which was situated six miles to the east of Lindley, I found that General Knox had already taken Kroonstad. After this we allowed ourselves a rest. On the 8th of January I received reports from Commandant Kritzinger and Captain Scheepers dealing with the state of affairs in Cape Colony. They informed me that they had safely crossed the Orange River by a foot-path. There was another footpath, more to the south, which an English outpost of eight men was guarding. These soldiers occupied a house near by, and the first warning they had that we had crossed the river was when the door of their abode opened, and they heard the order to "hands up." Commandant Kritzinger and Captain Scheepers also assured me that the sympathies of the Colonial burghers were strongly with us. Like every other right-minded man, I had expected this to be the case, for "blood is thicker than water."[79] Although the Colonials were well aware what a dangerous course they would be pursuing if they joined us, and how, later, they would be sure to be treated as rebels, they nevertheless threw in their lot with ours. From Judge Hertzog I received a very encouraging report as to the burghers in the north-western parts of Cape Colony. This news decided me on leaving behind, in their own districts, parts of the commandos from all the various divisions, and on taking others to join with me in a second expedition into Cape Colony. The following were the officers I took with me, ordering them to assemble at Doornberg, in the district of Winburg, on the 25th of January, 1901: Generals Piet Fourie, Philip Botha and Froneman; Commandants Prinsloo (Bethlehem), Steyn (Ficksburg), Hasebroek (Winburg), De Vos (Kroonstad), Merve (Parijs), Ross (Frankfort), Wessel Wessels[80] (Harrismith), Kolbe (Bloemfontein), and Jan Theron, with the renowned Theron Scouts. From the 8th to the 25th of January we were in the north-western districts of the Free State. We were waiting for a suitable opportunity to make a dash into Cape Colony. [Footnote 78: _Vlei_--a valley with stagnant water in it.] [Footnote 79: The Boer proverb is:--"Blood creeps where it cannot walk."] [Footnote 80: I had appointed him in place of Commandant Truter, who had resigned.] CHAPTER XXV I Again Attempt to Enter Cape Colony I was now about to make a second attempt to march into Cape Colony. I had great fears that my plans would leak out, since I was obliged to mention them to the commandants. But I was not able to confine all knowledge of my future movements entirely to the commandants. For I had sent many a burgher home to fetch a second horse; and the burghers began to make all sorts of guesses as to why they had to fetch the horses; and one could hear them mutter: "We are going to the Colony." But nevertheless they were all in good spirits, with the exception of some, who had for commander a most contradictory and obstinate officer. By January the 25th nearly the whole of my commandos had assembled; only General Philip Botha, with the burghers from Vrede under Commandant Hermanus Botha, had yet to arrive in order to complete our numbers; and he had been prevented coming. President Steyn and the Government decided to go with me and my two thousand burghers. At Doornberg the council of war was called together by the Government. President Steyn then communicated to the meeting that his term of office would soon expire. He pointed out that the provisions of the law designed to meet this contingency could not be carried out, because a legally constituted Volksraad could not be summoned at the present moment. The council of war decided to propose a candidate to the burghers without any delay, at the same time giving them the option of nominating candidates of their own. Further, it was decided that the candidate who should be elected should be sworn in as Vice-States President, and retain that title until the time arrived when the condition of the country should make it possible to hold an election in conformity with the law. After the voting had taken place, it was found that the former President, Marthinus Theunis Steyn, had been unanimously re-elected. At the burghers' meeting the voting resulted in the same way, except at a meeting at which Mr. Cecil Rhodes was proposed as a candidate. This proposal was not seconded! President Steyn was declared elected. And he was then sworn in. The executive Raad now consisted of the President, as chairman, with T. Brain, Secretary of State, W.J.C. Brebner, Secretary of State, A.P. Cronje, Jan Meijer and myself as members. Mr. Rocco De Villiers was Secretary of the War Council, and Mr. Gordon Fraser, Private Secretary to the States President. No States-Procureur had been appointed since Mr. Jacob De Villiers had been taken prisoner at Bothaville; but the Council appointed Mr. Hendrik Potgieter, Landdrost of Kroonstad, as Public Prosecutor. Various causes had made it impossible for a legally constituted Volksraad to sit. Some members had, as we called it, "hands-upped"; others had thought that they had done quite enough when they had voted for the war. I would be the last to assert that they had done wrong in voting thus. The whole world is convinced that, whatever the Boers might have done, England was determined to colour the map of South Africa red! And England succeeded beyond her expectations! For South Africa was stained with the blood of burghers and defenceless women and children, and with the blood of English soldiers who had died in a quarrel for which they were not responsible, and which could have been avoided! There were other members--and I had no patience with them--who had said: "We will give our last drop of blood for our country," and then had taken good care that no one should have a chance of getting even the first drop! They preferred to remain quietly at home, and wait for the English to come and make them prisoners of war! Only a minority of the members had remained faithful to our cause, and these did not constitute a quorum; and so no sitting could take place. This small party, as far as I can recollect, consisted of the following ten members: C.H. Wessels Bishop, Chairman; Wessel Wessels (Vrede); J.B. Wessels (Winburg); A.P. Cronje (Winburg); Jan Steijl (Bloemfontein); Jan Meijer (Harrismith); J.J. Van Niekerk (Fauresmith); Daniel Steyn (Heilbron); Hendrik Ecksteen (Vrede); and Hendrik Serfontein (Kroonstad). We marched from Doornberg on the 26th of January to Commandant Sarel Hasebroek's farm, which is eight miles to the north of Winburg. There was a strong English force seven or eight miles to the east of Winburg, and another body of the enemy eleven or twelve miles still further to the east. In addition, a column was marching northwards from Ventersburg, west of our position. It was perfectly plain that the enemy were aware of our intentions; but this, as I have already said, could not be helped. Our army was so constituted that no secret could be kept; and I decided for the future to tell no one of any further plans I might form. On the 27th of January I reconnoitred to the east of Winburg, and took care to let myself be seen, for I wished to make it appear that it was my intention to proceed in that direction in the evening. Meanwhile I secretly sent my scouts to the west. That night I marched to the west of Winburg, crossing the branch railway without meeting with any opposition, and arrived on the following morning at the Vet River--to the south of the town. We did not advance very fast,[81] as we expected that we should soon once more have to face the difficulty of marching with exhausted horses. In the afternoon we continued our way till we had passed Tabaksberg. The following morning, January 28th, I received a report that the English were advancing in two divisions. I ordered my burghers to up-saddle and to occupy positions to the east of Takasberg. The enemy's right wing was to the east, and we stationed ourselves on some ridges that lay in front of them, but were unable to deliver an attack. We charged their left wing, however, and captured a Maxim-Nordenfeldt, which was in perfect order, at the cost of one killed and three wounded. Our other losses amounted to a very small number. As to the enemy's losses, they took some of their dead and wounded away, but they left behind them several of their dead at the spot where we had captured the gun. To remain there and continue the fighting the next day could not even be thought of; for if we had waited the English would have had time to bring up reinforcements, and my plan of entering Cape Colony would have been rendered impossible. Our position was difficult enough. The enemy were at our heels, and we had to get away as best we could. In front of us there was the line of fortifications from Bloemfontein to Ladybrand, which had been greatly strengthened since we had forced our way through it at Springhaansnek. It was impossible to get through at Springhaansnek now. I decided to march towards Thaba'Nchu. But in order to deceive the English I sent a strong patrol on the following day in the direction of Springhaansnek, ordering them to make no attempt to conceal their movements. I could advance for eight miles without attracting the enemy's notice; but if I had gone further I should have been seen from the forts. I need scarcely say that it was greatly to my advantage not to give the English a chance of seeing me. And so when we had covered eight miles we off-saddled. If I had allowed the English to discover what I was doing they would have brought up troops from Thaba'Nchu, Sanna's Post and Bloemfontein; and these troops in combination with the force behind me might have put me into a very awkward position. My old friend, General Knox, whose duty it had been to prevent me entering Cape Colony on a previous occasion, was again entrusted with the same task. Any person who has had dealings with this General will acknowledge that he is apt to be rather a troublesome friend; for not only does he understand the art of marching by night, but he is also rather inclined to be overbearing when he measures his strength with that of his opponents. And now, as we were in camp, congratulating ourselves that we were safe for the time being, my scouts reported that this same General Knox was approaching. I at once ordered the burghers to up-saddle, and to inspan the ten waggons we had with us laden with ammunition and flour. I left behind me a portion of my commando under General Fourie, whose duty it was to check General Knox, whilst I myself was going forward to clear a road through the enemy's forts. It was lucky for us that General Knox had been deceived by the strong patrol I had sent in the direction of Springhaansnek, and that he had come to the conclusion that my commando was marching to the same place. He therefore started off in that direction and continued until he discovered his mistake. Then he turned aside and came in contact with General Fourie. Our men held him back for a few hours, and lost two men, very badly wounded in the engagement. Whilst this was occurring I had reached the forts between Thaba'Nchu and Sanna's Post. When I was there a reinforcement of cavalry approached from the direction of Bloemfontein. I immediately opened fire (with a gun and a Maxim-Nordenfeldt at a range of 4,000 paces) on the fort, which obstructed my road. After we had fired a few shots the English abandoned that fort and fled to the nearest fort to the east. Shortly afterwards this fort was also abandoned. The fort to the west was captured by Commandant Steenekamp and the Heilbron burghers. They succeeded in taking a few prisoners; but most of the enemy fled to Sanna's Post. Only one of the Heilbron burghers was wounded--Piet Steenekamp, the son of the Commandant. And now our road was clear; and we passed through! General Fourie joined us two hours after sunset. Then we marched on to Dewetsdorp[82] where we arrived on January 31st. General Knox, I heard, proceeded to Bloemfontein; thence he sent his troops to the railway bridge across the Orange River, near Bethulie. He was now aware that we were determined to enter the Colony at all costs, and so he stationed troops everywhere to turn us back. He placed forces not only at Bethulie railway bridge, but also at Springfontein, and Norvalspont. Thus he could easily prevent us crossing at the fords. I had now to find some trump card which would spoil the game he was playing! I ordered General Froneman to proceed from the source of the Kaffir River in the direction of Jagersfontein Road Station, to the west of Dewetsdorp: General Fourie I despatched in the direction of Odendaalsstroom, on the Orange River, to the farm of Klein Kinderfontein, to the west of Smithfield. I then sent scouts to the neighbourhood of Odendaalsdrift. They told me that there was an English patrol at the drift, and that they had heard that the enemy expected that we should try and cross into Cape Colony at that spot. The following day I ordered a patrol to ride up and down the river; and I caused a report to be spread to the effect that I considered it too dangerous to cross the Orange River below its junction with the Caledon, owing to the river being already very full and quite unfordable if there was any rain at all; and that I had for this reason decided to recall General Froneman, and to take Odendaalsstroom by force, or else to attack the enemy at the Aliwal-north Bridge. I felt quite sure that this rumour would reach General Knox that very day, for he had plenty of friends in the neighbourhood of the Caledon and the Orange River. General Froneman had orders to march in the direction of Zanddrift, which is about half-way between Norvals Pont railway bridge and that of Hopetown. He succeeded in capturing a train close to Jagersfontein Road Station, by the simple device of blowing up the line both in front of it and behind it. In this train the burghers found a great quantity of things they greatly needed. It should not be forgotten that there were scarcely any factories in South Africa, and this was more especially the case in the two Republics. And, as all imports had been stopped for some considerable time, it was natural that any booty which consisted of such things as saddles, blankets and ammunition was very acceptable. When the burghers had helped themselves to what they wanted, the train was burnt. For the space of a day I remained quiet, so that I might be quite sure that the English had received the report I had spread. I soon discovered that my plan had been quite successful. The English marched off in the direction I wished, believing, no doubt, that the rumours they had heard were true; whilst I, on the evening of the 5th of February, 1901, took some of the burghers, with the guns and waggons, to a spot between the stations of Springfontein and Jagersfontein, and the following day remained in hiding. I left General Fourie behind me with a horse-commando, with orders to remain there for two days, and to carry on manoeuvres in the direction of Odendaalsstroom. I crossed the railway line that evening without any mishap to my force, but to my great sorrow the valiant Lieutenant Banie[83] Enslin, one of the best of my scouts, was severely wounded the same night, and fell into the hands of the English. He had ridden in advance with one of Theron's Scouting Corps, with the object of finding a favourable spot where he could lead us across the railway. The night was very dark, and he had lost his way. We crossed, as I have already said, without hindrance; but he and his companions rode into an outpost of the enemy a few miles to the north. The English opened fire on them, with the unhappy result that the estimable Banie was so seriously wounded that he had to be left behind. His comrades joined us the following morning, bringing the sad news with them. We now continued our march at as rapid a pace as was possible; but the road was so soaked by rain that it was difficult for the oxen and the mules to draw the waggons and the guns. On the 8th of February we overtook General Froneman at Lubbesdrift, six miles to the north of Philippolis. We pushed on that evening towards Zanddrift, which we reached on the 10th of February. Then we crossed over into Cape Colony. When we had crossed the river, I received a report from my scouts that there were about twenty of the enemy in a strong _schanze_ on a kopje, which was about half an hour's march further up stream. I gave orders that a veldtcornet and twenty-five men, among whom was one of my staff, Willem Pretorius, should go and capture the _schanze_. The veldtcornet preferred not to approach beyond a certain distance, and consequently Willem Pretorius and four other men were left to do the work. Willem climbed the hill from one side, and the others, dividing into two, climbed it from the other side at two different points. They were met by a severe fire from the fort, but when they got to close quarters up went the white flag, and the English shouted "We surrender!" Thus Willem Pretorius and four burghers captured twenty prisoners and a like number of horses, saddles, bridles, rifles and bandoliers, not to mention some three thousand cartridges. When the veldtcornet at last arrived with his twenty men, he certainly proved himself very useful in carrying away the booty! This veldtcornet was shortly afterwards "Stellenbosched."[84] I then nominated in his place Willem Pretorius[85] as veldtcornet. We left the river that afternoon behind us, and marched south to Mr. Bezuidenhout's farm. The following day we waited there for General Fourie to join us. He arrived the next day--and now we were ready to begin the game once more! Our position was embarrassing, for not only was there a large English force at General Fourie's heels, but also there were two strong columns on the north from Colesberg, which were making for Hamelfontein. And these two columns were some twelve miles from us. I at once set out in the direction of Hamelfontein, and the following day I discovered that the enemy's columns had divided into two parties; one of them had gone in a westerly direction, whilst the other was marching straight towards us. Meanwhile the force which had pursued General Fourie had crossed the river at Zanddrift. My intention had been to divide my force into three divisions directly I arrived in the Colony. But I had been obliged to wait till General Fourie could join me; and when he had come, there was such large numbers of the enemy on every side that they gave me no opportunity of carrying out my original intention. I may mention here that Lieutenant Malan, who became afterwards Commandant, and ultimately Vechtgeneraal, had penetrated into the Colony with fifty or sixty men, and had advanced considerably farther than I had done. That afternoon I ordered the small waggon to proceed to a point between Philipstown and Petrusville. We had several slight skirmishes with the English; and at sunset we nearly fell into their hands, but fortunately we were successful in holding the enemy in check until our small laager had passed. During that night we marched to Hondeblaf River. The following morning we found that there was no grass for the horses, for the locusts had eaten it all. The horses, poor creatures, were very hungry, and also much exhausted by all those forced marches. When we had been at Winburg, the pasture had been very poor although it had rained every day. This, of course, was very good for the veldt; but unfortunately it did not rain grass--the veldt required time to produce it. All this was most unlucky. Already some of my men had to go on foot, and there were no horses to be obtained in that district. The number of my burghers had now been diminished by nearly six hundred men. Commandant Prinsloo had remained behind with three hundred men, Vice-Commandant Van Tonder with one hundred, and lastly, Commandant De Vos at the Orange River with two hundred. There was now only one course open to us--and that was to cross as quickly as possible the railway line near Hopetown, for if an English force was brought down by rail, it would mean our utter destruction. We accordingly moved away at once from Hondeblaf River. The following day the English were again hot on our track. I ordered General Fourie and General Froneman to oppose the enemy, for it was necessary that something should be done to save our rearguard from being cut off. These Generals had several sharp engagements with the English, resulting in the capture of a number of prisoners, and a considerable loss in dead and wounded to the English. After we had been on the march for a short time, a "Broodspioen"[86] came rushing up to me. (Had not my scouts been riding in a different direction they would have given me notice of his proximity.) He told me that he and a friend of his of the same calling had gone to a farm near by to buy bread, but when they had approached the house, a number of English soldiers appeared at the door and called out "hands up!" His friend had been captured, but he having been some fifteen paces from the house, had managed to escape under a hail of bullets. He had had to gallop one thousand paces before he could get out of range behind a ridge that stretched between us and the farm. I ordered the burghers to halt behind the ridge, and sent a small body of men ahead to determine the strength of the enemy. We could now see that the English had hidden their horses behind some fruit-trees. When they caught sight of our men on the top of the ridge, they took up positions behind kraals and a dam-wall not far from the house, knowing well that escape was impossible. I thought it best to send a note to this handful of men, advising them to surrender, for I did not wish that any of my burghers' lives should be sacrificed in an unnecessary attack. Whilst I was writing the letter they punctuated it by an incessant fire, to which the burghers replied by a few shots, although none of the enemy were visible. As soon, however, as my despatch rider appeared with a white flag, their firing ceased. The answer they returned left something to be desired--"We shall not surrender!" I immediately ordered fifty of my men to attack them. Hardly had I given the order, when a number of young burghers sprung on their horses and galloped at break-neck pace towards the kraals. And now there was an end to all boasting, for without firing a single shot the enemy surrendered. We took twenty prisoners there, and an equal number of rifles and bandoliers. The horses we captured--again twenty in number--were in excellent condition, and all up-saddled. We now had made ninety men our prisoners since we crossed the Orange River. The joy of the Broodspioen, who had been for fifty minutes in the hands of the English, was very great; and I believe he never returned again to his very doubtful profession. The following day we came to a farm about six miles to the east of Houtkraal Station, which we christened Moddervlei,[87] on account of the experience we had on the night following our arrival. The great English force was close behind us, and when night fell the enemy were not more than five miles from us. It was at the hour of sunset, shortly before we came to the swamp, which I shall presently describe, that my scouts came across fifteen of the enemy. When the English saw our men they turned round at once. But they did not get away before one was shot from his horse, and another seriously wounded, and several of them taken prisoner. I now sent two patrols to blow up the railway, seven miles at each side of the point where I intended to cross. I had no wish that an armoured train should appear and prevent my crossing. But, before we could reach the railway line a swamp lay in our way. This swamp was about one thousand paces broad, and was covered knee deep with water, and in some places even deeper; for heavy rain had fallen during the afternoon. The water, however, would have been a matter of very little consequence, had it not been that the bottom of the swamp was of such a nature that the horses sank in it up to their knees, and even sometimes up to their girths. But we fourteen hundred riders had to get over it somehow or other! Let the reader try to picture to himself the condition of the swamp when the last burgher had crossed! Many of the men lost their balance as their horses struggled in the mud, and several of the burghers had to dismount and lead their poor tired-out animals. The guns and the waggons caused us a great deal of trouble. We inspanned thirty oxen to each gun; but if it got stuck fast in the mud, fifty oxen were sometimes not sufficient to move it. At last we got the guns through, and succeeded in getting a trolley, and the little waggon which carried my documents and papers, safely to the other side. But the ammunition and flour-waggons were impossible to move when they had once entered the swamp. It was a night which I shall never forget! We had now to determine what we should do with the waggons. The day would soon break and we could only cross the railway line when darkness covered our movements. It would be disastrous to us if, while we were still between the swamp and the railway, troops should be brought up by rail from De Aar and Hopetown. It was perfectly clear that those who had crossed the swamp must go on. And so I advanced, at the same time giving General Fourie orders to remain behind with a hundred of the men whose horses were less exhausted than those of the other burghers, and to try to get the waggons through. In the event of the enemy arriving before his task was completed, I told him to leave the waggons and make his escape to the south. Having given these orders, I proceeded with my commando to the railway line. Only the weakest of the horses were with us, so that many of my burghers had to go on foot. The ninety prisoners we had taken were with me. I could not release them, because I did not want them to tell the enemy how exhausted our horses were. Should the English know this they would know exactly where our weak point lay. I pitied the poor "Tommies," but what else could I do but order them to march with me? I treated them as well as I could, and made no difference between them and the burghers. And after all, many of our own men had to go on foot. Any delay was dangerous, and so we hurried on as fast as possible. When we reached the railway line, day had already begun to break. Fortunately, we met with no opposition; the patrols had followed my orders and broken the line. When the sun rose one could see what a terrible condition the burghers were in. On every man's face utter exhaustion could be read. But how could it have been otherwise? The men had had fighting to do the previous day, and had only once been able to off-saddle, and that not long enough to cook a piece of meat. Rain had also been falling in torrents, and most of the men were wet to the skin, for very few of them had waterproofs. And to make matters still worse, the burghers were covered with the mud from the swamp that still clung to them. Twenty-four hours had passed without the men being able to lie down and rest; and sleep, of course, had been entirely impossible. Three miles beyond the railway line I gave orders to off-saddle, although there was no grass for the horses. Hardly had we dismounted when I was told that we should find grass about one hour's ride further on. And so we mounted again, fatigued though we were, and found pasture at last for the poor animals. I thought it better that the masters should endure more hardships than that the horses should go without grass. We were rewarded for our short ride by the knowledge that our horses had something to eat, and we could sleep in peace without having to think that our animals were starving. But before we could sleep hunger compelled us to kill a sheep which we had bought from a farmer living near. In that part of Cape Colony sheep-farming is almost the only occupation, and so well adapted is this district for rearing sheep that it is quite an exception to see a lean one. It may interest some of my readers to know that the African sheep has a very remarkable peculiarity; it possesses a huge tail, which sometimes weighs as much as ten pounds. We were unable to obtain bread, and our flour had remained behind in the waggons. The sound of an explosion had told us that General Fourie had not been able to save them, and that by now they must have been burnt. I heard later on that General Fourie had been attacked by the English and had not been able to set fire to the waggons himself. But the English, so my scouts informed me, had done the work for him, and so thoroughly that they had also burnt some of their own waggons which had got into the swamp. After we had helped ourselves to a good "African boutspan," and had slept with our saddles as pillows, we were all in good spirits again, although we could not forget our experiences in the swamp. The burghers whom I had with me were of the right stamp, and were prepared to sacrifice everything for the freedom of the people. If any one had asked them whether they were ready to undergo any further hardships, they would have replied that a hundred swamps would not discourage them. They knew that freedom was a pearl of such value that no man since the world began had been able to set a price upon it. When General Fourie had abandoned the waggons, he retreated to the south, crossing the railway at De Aar. He joined me again near Petrusville when I was returning to the Free State. As the English had to march round the swamp, leaving their waggons behind, we were not pressed for time, or obliged to march very far. We took advantage of this respite to give our horses a little rest. I now proceeded to the west of Hopetown, in the direction of Strijdenburg. The following day the English were again on our heels in greater numbers than ever, and advancing more speedily than before. I was obliged to engage their vanguard for nearly the whole of that day. That evening we arrived at a spot about ten or twelve miles to the north-west of Strijdenburg. Here I left Commandant Hasebroek behind with three hundred men, till the following morning, with orders to watch the enemy and hold them back if necessary. This would give my burghers who were on foot, or whose horses were exhausted, a chance of getting away. I might here explain to the uninitiated our methods of checking the advance of the enemy. The burghers who had the best horses would remain behind any rise or kopje they could find in the neighbourhood. When the enemy approached and saw ahead of them two or three hundred burghers they would halt and bring their guns (which were usually placed in the middle of the column) to the front. When they had got the guns in position, they would bombard the ridge behind which the burghers were stationed. But as our men had no wish to remain under fire, they would then quietly withdraw out of sight. But the English would continue bombarding the hill, and would send flanking parties to the right and left. Sometimes it would take the English several hours before they could make sure that there were no Boers behind the rise. It was tactics such as the above that gave my burghers who were handicapped by the condition of their horses, time to retreat. It sometimes happened, in these rearguard actions, when the position was favourable, that the enemy were led into an ambush, and then they were either captured or sent racing back under our fire to bring up their guns and main force. Had we not acted in some such way as this, all my men would have been taken prisoner in this and in many other marches. The large forces which the English on all occasions concentrated round me deprived me of any chance of fighting a great battle; and I could only act in the way I did. If the reader is eager to know how it was that I kept out of the enemy's hands until the end of the war, I can only answer, although I may not be understood, that I ascribed it to nothing else than this:--It was not God's will that I should fall into their hands. Let those who rejoice at my miraculous escapes give all the praise to God. [Footnote 81: Our forethought proved later on to have been of little avail. For notwithstanding the bountiful rains which had fallen at the end of November and the beginning of January in the southern and western parts of the State we found, when we arrived there, that the grass had been entirely destroyed by the locusts. Neither could we obtain any fodder; and so the difficulty of providing for our horses was as great as ever.] [Footnote 82: At this date the English had not re-garrisoned the town.] [Footnote 83: Barend.] [Footnote 84: Stellenbosched: this was the word the English applied to officers, who, on account of inefficiency, or for other reasons, had to be dismissed. Stellenbosch was a place where only very unimportant work was performed.] [Footnote 85: I must give a short account of Willem Pretorius, for he was a dear friend of mine. He had only reached the age of twenty when I made him a Veldtcornet. His courage certainly could not be surpassed, yet he never let it go beyond his reason. About twenty days before the conclusion of Peace, he was killed by a bullet at a range of 1,100 paces. Throughout the whole previous course of the war fortune had favoured him almost miraculously: six horses had been killed and many more wounded under him; yet he had never received more than a scratch. But in the end he, like so many other brave men, was destined to die for the country that he loved so dearly. Poor Willem! You and the other heroes in our struggle will live for ever in our memories.] [Footnote 86: Broodspioen: _literally_ a bread spy. This was the name applied to a burgher, who, with or without an order from his officer, rode in advance of his commando to obtain bread for himself and his comrades. He was frequently a man who placed the interests of his stomach before the safety of his commando.] [Footnote 87: A swamp.] CHAPTER XXVI Darkness Proves my Salvation Commandant Hasebroek held the enemy in check whilst we continued our march to a place called Vrouwpan. On the following day we struck the Brak River at a point ten miles south-east of its confluence with the Orange River, to the east of Prieska. It was not fordable, and we had to off-saddle. There was absolutely no chance of getting across--the best of swimmers would have been helpless in that swollen torrent, which rushed down to the Orange River, its great waves roaring like a tempestuous sea. About two hours before sunset Commandant Hasebroek reported that the English were rapidly approaching. The question was, "Which way shall we go?" It was impossible to escape either to the south of the river or in the direction of the enemy, for the veldt was too flat to afford us any cover. If we were not to be cornered against an impassable torrent, we must make our way down stream to the north-west; and even then we should be in danger of being driven on to the Orange River, which was only ten miles distant. By taking this road the English would not see us, on account of a ridge which lay between us and them. My plan was to get behind this ridge and to march under its shelter until darkness came on; then, proceeding up the Orange River, to attack the enemy in the rear. They were, however, only nine miles from us, and should their advance be rapid, they would reach the friendly ridge before night came on; and the danger would then be that before I had fulfilled my purpose, we should be hemmed in between two swollen rivers with the most fatal consequences. The risk was great, but no other course was open to us. There was no time to seek advice from any one; I had but a moment to spare in which to acquaint President Steyn with my scheme. He said at once: "General, do as you think best." My mind had been already made up; but my respect for the President was so great, and we had always worked in such harmony, that I did not like to do anything without his knowledge; besides which, his advice was often of great value. Joshua of old prayed that the day might be lengthened: but here the case was different; we had reason to be thankful that the day was passed and night had begun to fall before the vanguard of the enemy had reached the ridge, from the summit of which they might have observed us. That night was the darkest I had ever known. And this was in our favour. Very quietly we retreated in a line parallel with the English column until, on the following morning, we were not only out of sight but a good nine or ten miles behind the enemy, who were marching on, fully expecting to corner us between the two rivers. The English army had been enormously reinforced, and it was clear that now more than ever they were putting forth all their powers to silence President Steyn and myself effectually. From their point of view they were right; for had things turned out in such a way that we could have remained in Cape Colony, then I am convinced we should have made matters very awkward for them. But what were we to do now? With so many burghers on foot or provided only with worn-out horses, it was useless to think of circumventing the enemy, and thus getting once more to the south of them; whereas to go up stream along the banks of the Orange River until we could discover a ford, and then to return across it into the Free State, would mean the upsetting of my plan of campaign. I was obliged to make the best of a bad bargain; and I decided to find a way across the Orange River before the enemy had discovered my whereabouts. That day, the 20th of February, we set out along the river, looking for a ford. The river was falling, but as there was no feasible crossing we had no choice but to go on, trusting that we should find one near the confluence of the two rivers. Here again we were disappointed; the punts which should have been there had been destroyed some time before by the English, but we heard of a boat six miles higher up, so on we marched. When found, it was only a small boat, capable of holding, at most, twelve men, but we got to work at once, and by the evening of the 22nd there were two hundred dismounted burghers on the other bank of the river. Some crossed by swimming, in attempting which a man of the name of Van de Nerwe was drowned. A few of those who crossed in the boat succeeded in pulling their horses after them. On the morning of the 23rd I received a report that the English forces were close on our heels. We did not expect them so soon, but they had made a long night's march. Without delay we off-saddled, and proceeded along the river, while the rearguard covered our retreat. The force of the enemy was, however, too great, and the rearguard had, after a short engagement, to give way. Fortunately the veldt was broken, and we could (as we had done a few days previously) march ahead out of sight of the enemy. Towards two o'clock in the afternoon we were obliged to off-saddle, but could only do so for one hour, for the English were upon us again. Our gun and Maxim-Nordenfeldt we had to leave behind for the enemy; the draught cattle had become exhausted, and we had no dynamite with which to blow up the guns. But what did it matter? England had already so many big guns that two more could not make much difference, if added to the four hundred which that country--one of the oldest and strongest of Empires--had brought against a small nation, fighting only to defend its sacred rights. Nevertheless, it cut me to the heart to give up my guns[88] on that day--the 23rd of February--the commemoration day of the independence of the Orange Free State. In happier times we had celebrated this day amongst our friends, to the accompaniment of salvoes of rifles. Now we were obliged to celebrate it by giving up the only two guns with which we could still shoot, and which we were now to see turned upon ourselves. My feelings on that day I can never forget! Those Englishmen who go by the name of "Pro-Boers" are the best fitted to describe the anguish which then overpowered me, for they stood up for justice even against their own people. And this not because they were hostile to their Government, or to the greatness of England's power, but only because they were not without moral sense, because they could not stifle conscience at the expense of justice, nor identify themselves with iniquitous actions. But the day will come--of this I am convinced--when not Pro-Boers only, but all England will acknowledge our rights--the rights which we shall then have earned by our quiet faithfulness and obedience. I cannot believe that any father will look without pity on a child who comes to him as a child should--obedient and submissive. The 23rd of February, 1901, the forty-seventh anniversary of the Orange Free States, had been a disastrous day for us indeed, but it was to end in another miraculous escape, for in the darkness of that evening it again happened that we were delivered from an apparently unavoidable misfortune. As I have said already, the English were firing on my rear-guard; at the same time my scouts came in to tell me that, just in front of us, at a distance of not quite four miles, there was another great army of the enemy. I had intended to march that night to the west of Hopetown. But now if I went in that direction I should only run straight on to this army. If we went to the left we could only advance 2,000 paces before being visible to the English on the kop close to Hopetown, from where they could make known our movements by heliograph. At our front, at our back, on our left, the outlook was hopeless; and to the right lay the cruel river. Stand still we could not--the enemy were upon us--it was impossible that anything could save us--no, not impossible--a rescue was at hand. The sun was just going down, and by the time we could be seen from Hopetown, night would have covered us with its sheltering wings. We should then be able to execute a flank movement, and make a detour round the enemy who were before us. But now I knew that we must be prepared to march nearly the whole night through, in order that we might be able, early on the following morning, to cross the railway lines. If we did not do this, then we should have the enemy close in our rear, and perhaps an armour train threatening us in front. But ... there were the burghers on foot and those who had weak horses; and I had not the heart to make them march on foot for so long a time, yet the thought of allowing such trustworthy patriotic burghers to fall into the hands of the enemy was unbearable. I therefore decided on letting them take a cross road to the north, to the banks of the Orange River about five miles from our position. There, on the banks of the river, were many bushes amongst which they could hide themselves until the enemy had passed by. They could then proceed along the banks of the river and cross it by means of the boat. I cautioned them not to march in one troop, or in one trail, but to spread out, so that the English could not easily follow their tracks. In this the poor burghers succeeded; they already, on that memorable and sad day, had marched eighteen miles; but they had yet to cover another five miles to the river before they could take their night's rest. They accomplished this feat (on the second day) under the valiant and true Commandant Hasebroek, whose horse, although tired, was still able to proceed. As for me, I marched away in the evening, and after we had rested that night for a few hours, we arrived at a place a short distance to the south of Hopetown. About eight o'clock we crossed the line, which was fortunately at that point not as yet guarded by forts, and off-saddled about six miles beyond. We had eaten nothing since the previous day, and it will easily be understood that we were so hungry that we, as the Boer proverb says,--"could have eaten off a nail's head." There we got some sheep, and it was not long before they were killed, broiled, and eaten; what a meal we made! Towards mid-day we headed once more for the Orange River. We thought that by the time we arrived it would be fordable, for we had seen on the previous morning that it was falling rapidly, but what was our disappointment! there must have been rain higher up the stream, as the river had become fuller, and there was still no chance of crossing. The English were approaching. We had, however, to use our field glasses to enable us to see them, as we were fifteen or sixteen miles in front of them. Once more there were burghers whose horses were tired and who had to march on foot. We thought now that there would be a better chance at Limoensdrift; and every one who knew this ford said that it was a shallow one. The following day saw us there, and--the river was quite full! We then tried higher up, still with the same result--every drift was unfordable. At last we reached the Zanddrift, where we had crossed seventeen days before. We knew that this was a shallow drift, and on arriving there I got two young burghers,--of whom the one, David Heenop, was an excellent swimmer,--to make a trial. The water had not appeared to be so deep as we found it to be, when the two burghers plunged into it. They could not remain on their horses' backs, but had to swim alongside of them to the other side of the river. All thought of their return was out of the question; they had risked their lives in crossing, and I gave them orders from my side of the river not to attempt the passage back. But they had not a stitch of clothing on them, for they had stripped themselves before entering the water! In this state, then, they were obliged to mount their horses and proceed, and this under a burning sun, which scorched them with its rays. About three-quarters of an hour's ride from there was a Boer farm; their only course, they thought, was to ask for gowns from the ladies there, in which to dress themselves. When they arrived at a short distance from the house (such was the account they gave on joining me later on) they halted and shouted to the house for clothing. A Boer vrouw[89] named Boshof, sent to each one through her son--not a gown, but a pair of trousers and a shirt of her husband's, which she had been able to hide from the English, who had passed there, and who generally took away, or burnt, all male attire. The enemy had, in the meantime, approached quite close to us, and we were again obliged to look for a drift up stream. We had hopes that if the river did not all of a sudden rise, we should find one. We came so close to the English that we had to open fire on their advance guard before we could proceed. Here General Judge Hartzog met us with his commandos from the south-west of Cape Colony, and with him, General Fourie. That night we marched about fourteen miles. In the night, after crossing the Zeekoe River, we arrived at a Boer farm, to which (we are told) twenty English scouts had paid a visit shortly after sunset, and, having asked for information concerning us, had gone away by the same road we were following. About four or five miles from there we had to cross a ridge. It was dark, and I had forgotten those twenty English. I had sent out no scouts before me, but rode, as was my habit, with my staff, in front of the commandos. As we approached the summit of the mountain I saw a group of horses fastened together, and some men lying in front of them. The horses and men were not twenty paces to the left of the path, among the bushes. I thought at first that they were some of my burghers who had ridden on in advance, and were now lying there asleep; I myself had rested for a while at the foot of the mountains, to give the burghers, who were on foot, a chance of coming up with me. The thought angered me, for it would have been against all orders that any burghers, without special permission, should go in advance. I proceeded to wake them up. "What do you mean by riding ahead like this?" I called out to them. Nearly all with one accord sprang up and asked, "Who are you?" "Hands up!" I called out; as one man their hands went up. They explained that they were seven of the twenty scouts before mentioned,--but here the remainder opened fire upon us from about two hundred paces to the front. I called out to the burghers, "Charge!" The burghers did so, but as they came to the little hill where we had seen the sparks from the guns they found nobody. The English had fled, and, as the moon had just gone down, it was too dark to pursue them. Taking with us the seven prisoners, we continued on our way until the following morning. We allowed them to retain their clothes. It was still before the "uitschuddings"[90] period. The day broke, and after having been turned back on the banks of the Brak River, we marched to the fifteenth ford. "If we could only get across here," we said. We knew that once across we should have a respite from the enemy, and could with thankful hearts take breath even if it were only for three or four days. When we came to the river I at once ordered a few burghers to undress and go in. Alas! when the horses entered the ford, the water came over their backs, and they had almost to swim. "Now they will have to swim!" we cried, but presently we saw that the farther they went the shallower it became, and that they walked where we expected them to swim, until at last the water reached only to the horses' knees. What a scramble there was now among the burghers in order to cross! Soon the river was one mass of men from bank to bank. I can hardly describe the different exclamations of joy, the Psalms and the songs that now rose up from the burghers splashing through the water. "Never will we return," "No more of the Colony for me," "The Free State," "On to the Free State!" "The Free State for ever!" Then again, "Praise the Lord with cheerful song," "Hurrah!" These were among the expressions which met my ears. Although this was only an old waggon-ford, which had not been used for the last few years, my little waggon and a few carts got across. One of the carts was drawn by two small donkeys. Somebody told me that the little donkeys had to swim a short distance where it was deep, and at one time disappeared beneath the water; but that the driver was so full of joy--or of fear--that he went on whipping the water! A fearful experience we had had! We asked each other in wonder, "Is it possible? How could we have endured it?" But as I have only been hinting at things, the reader will perhaps say, "O come! it hasn't been as bad as all that!" Give me leave then, dear reader, to place before you the whole of the circumstances. England's great power pitted against two Republics, which, in comparison with European countries, were nearly uninhabited! This mighty Empire employed against us, besides their own English, Scotch and Irish soldiers, volunteers from the Australian, New Zealand, Canadian and South African Colonies; hired against us both black and white nations, and, what is the worst of all, the national scouts from our own nation sent out against us. Think, further, that all harbours were closed to us, and that there were therefore no imports. Can you not see that the whole course of events was a miracle from beginning to end? A miracle of God in the eyes of every one who looks at it with an unbiassed mind, but even more apparent to those who had personal experience of it. Yet, however that may be, I had to declare again that if there had been no national scouts and no Kaffirs, in all human probability matters would have taken another turn. But as things have turned out, all that can now be said is, that we have done our best, and that to ask any one to do more is unreasonable. May it be the cry of every one, "God willed it so--His name be praised!" [Footnote 88: There were still two Krupps left, but we had no ammunition for them.] [Footnote 89: Farmer's wife.] [Footnote 90: Stripping.] CHAPTER XXVII Was Ours a Guerilla War? Something almost miraculous now happened! Hardly had we been three hours across the river when it became completely unfordable! We knew that we should have now a few days at least in which to rest ourselves, and we marched slowly to the farm of Lubbeshoop. From there I sent General Fourie to operate in the south-eastern districts, where he had been before, and despatched Judge Hertzog to the south-western districts. We were of the opinion that we should be able to do better work if we divided the commandos up into small parties. We could not risk any great battles, and, if we divided our forces, the English would have to divide their forces too. The commandos were now divided as follows: 1. The district of Kroonstad: the men under Commandants Philip De Vos, Jan Cilliers and Maree. Sub-district of Heilbron: the men under Commandants F.E. Mentz, Lucas Steenekamp and J. Van de Merwe. All of these were under Vice-Commander-in-Chief Johannes Hattingh. 2. The district of Vrede: the men under Commandants Ross and Manie Botha. Sub-district of Harrismith: the men under Commandants Jan Meijer, Jan Jacobsz,[91] and (at a later period) Brukes. All of these were under Vice-Commander-in-Chief Wessel Wessels. 3. The district of Winburg: the men under Commandant Hasebroek. The sub-district of Ladybrand: the men under Commandant Koen. The sub-district of Ficksburg: the men under Commandant Steyn.[92] The sub-district of Bethlehem: the men under Commandant Michal Prinsloo. All of these men were under Vice-Commander-in-Chief C.C. Froneman. 4. The district of Boshof: the men under Commandant J.N. Jacobsz, P. Erasmus and H. Theunissen.[93] Sub-district of Hoopstad: the men under Commandants Jacobus Theron (of Winburg) and A.J. Bester (of Brandfort). All of these were under Vice-Commander-in-Chief C.C.J. Badenhorst. 5. The district of Philippolis: the men under Commandants Munnik and Hertzog. Sub-district of Fauresmith: the men under Commandant Charles Nieuwouwdt. Sub-district of Jacobsdal: the men under Commandant Hendrik Pretorius. Sub-district of Petrusburg: the men under Commandant Van du Berg. All of these were under Vice-Commander-in-Chief Judge J.B.M. Hertzog, who also was in command of the western part of Bloemfontein. 6. The district of the southern part of Bloemfontein: the men under Commandants Ackerman and Willem Kolbe. Sub-district of Thaba'Nchu: the men under Commandant J.P. Strijl (a member of the Volksraad). Sub-districts of Bethulie and Smithfield: the men under Commandant Gideon Joubert. Sub-district of Rouxville: the men under Commandant Frederik Rheeders. Sub-district of Wepener: the men under Commandant R. Coetzee. All of these were under Vice-Commander-in-Chief Piet Fourie, and later on under George Brand. Not long after this arrangement had been made the district under General Froneman was divided into two divisions, and Commandant Michal Prinsloo was promoted to be Vice-Commander-in-Chief of Bethlehem and Ficksburg as separate sub-districts. Bethlehem was then given three Commandants, namely, Commandants Olivier, Rautenbach and Bruwer. All this new arrangement of our forces made it impossible for great battles to be fought; it offered us the opportunity of frequently engaging the enemy in skirmishes, and inflicting heavier losses upon them than would otherwise have been the case. For the same reason our losses grew larger from month to month, but they did not increase in the same proportion as those of the enemy. Again, we captured more prisoners than formerly. It is much to be regretted that we were unable to keep them, for had we been in a position to do so, the world would have been astonished at their number. But unfortunately we were now unable to retain any of our prisoners. We had no St. Helena, Ceylon or Bermuda, whither we could send them. Thus, whilst every prisoner which the English captured meant one less man for us, the thousands of prisoners we took from the English were no loss to them at all, for in most cases it was only a few hours before they could fight again. All that was required was that a rifle should be ready in the camp on a prisoner's return, and he was prepared for service once more. The fact that we fought throughout the Free State in small detachments, put the English to some trouble, for they felt themselves obliged to discover a vocabulary of names to apply to us! Thus when Lord Roberts on the 24th of May, 1900, proclaimed the Orange Free State (and afterwards the Transvaal) as annexed by the British Crown, he described those who continued to fight as rebels. Then again we were called "Sniping Bands" and "Brigands." But the list of epithets was not exhausted yet, for it appeared that we were "Guerillas," and our leaders "Guerilla Chiefs!" I was always at a loss to understand by what right the English designated us "Guerillas." They had, however, to withdraw the _soubriquet_ at the Peace Negotiations, when they acknowledged that our leaders formed a legal government. Let me say a few words more about this term "Guerillas." We will suppose that England has captured New York, St. Petersburg, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, or any other capital of a free and independent State, Kingdom or Empire, and that the Government of such State, Kingdom or Empire still continues to defend itself. Would England then be entitled to call their antagonists "Guerillas"? Or, we will suppose that England's capital has been taken by another nation, but the English Government still remains in existence. Could England then be considered to be annexed by the other nation, and could the enemy term the English "Guerillas"? Surely it would be impossible! The only case in which one can use this word, is when one civilized nation has so completely vanquished another, that not only is the capital taken, but also the country from border to border is so completely conquered that any resistance is out of the question. But that nothing like this had happened in South Africa is clear to every one who recalls the names of Lindley,[94] Roodewal, Dewetsdorp, Vlakfontein, Tafelkop[95] and Tweefontein, not to speak of many other glorious battle-fields on which we fought _after_ the so-called annexation. Nor must we forget to mention the defeat that Lord Methuen received at the hands of General De la Rey immediately before the conclusion of peace; a defeat which put the crown on all our victories. But, as I have already said, it very soon appeared that when England stamped us as "Guerillas," they really did not mean to use the word at all. [Footnote 91: Veldtcornet Franz Jacobsz was afterwards appointed in the place of this Commandant, who resigned.] [Footnote 92: When this Commandant resigned, Veldtcornet J.J. Van Niekerk was appointed in his place.] [Footnote 93: When, at a later period, Commandant Theunissen was put in command of the burghers of Fauresmith, Commandant Mijburg was appointed in his place. This latter Commandant was afterwards killed.] [Footnote 94: Where the yeomanry were captured.] [Footnote 95: (District Vrede)--encounter with Brabant's Horse.] CHAPTER XXVIII Negotiations with the Enemy It was the intention of President Steyn to remain for some time in the division of Vice-Commander-in-Chief Judge Hertzog. Meanwhile, I went to the northern commandos, in order to keep in touch with Generals Louis Botha and De la Rey and our Government. When I was about twelve miles to the south of Petrusburg, I received a letter from General Botha, informing me that Lord Kitchener desired to have a conference held, at Middelburg, in the middle of February, as the English Government wanted to make a Peace Proposal. General Botha asked the President and myself to come yet nearer, so that, in case we might be wanted, we should be within reach. I sent on his letter to President Steyn, giving him my opinion of it, and asking if he would come. The President, who was always ready to do anything for his country or people, did not lose one moment, but came at once. Meanwhile, I went on ahead with my staff, taking with me also Captain Louis Wessels, and five of his men. About the 15th of March I crossed the railway line, ten miles to the north of Brandfort, during the night. There we placed some charges of dynamite under the rails, but before we had completed our work, a train came up so quietly that one might call it a "scouting train." It was a dark night, and there was no lantern at the head of the engine, so that we did not see it until it was close upon us. We had, therefore, no chance to ignite the fuse. We retired to a distance of about one hundred paces from the line, when a fierce fire was opened upon us from the train. We replied to this as the train went past, to be succeeded immediately afterwards by a second one. As soon as this also had passed us, we fired the fuses and blew up the railway line at different places close to each other. Immediately after this two trains came up, stopping close to the place where the explosions had occurred, and fired on us for about ten minutes without intermission. We paid them back in their own coin, and then each train went its way, leaving the repairing of the line to the following day. From there we marched on, without accident, except that a German received a slight wound, and one horse was killed. We soon reached Senekal (which had been abandoned by the English), where for the first time I met Dr. Reich and his wife. The doctor received us very heartily; although he did not belong to our Field Ambulance, he did everything that he could for our wounded, as he had done for those of the enemy. From Senekal I went on to pay a visit to the Heilbron commando, after which I proceeded to Vrede, arriving there on the 24th of February. It was at Vrede that I had asked Louis Botha to meet me, if he could manage it, and the day after my arrival this meeting took place. The General told me that the negotiations between him and Lord Kitchener had resulted in nothing. Although this was not very satisfactory, still it was just as well that I should meet the Commandant-General of the Transvaal. We had much to discuss and, after a long talk, we parted with the firm determination that, whatever happened, we would continue the war. On the 27th General Botha returned to the Transvaal, and I to the Heilbron commando. After a few days President Steyn came from the south of the Free State, in order to meet the Transvaal Government at Vrede. After this meeting had taken place he went off to a camp of his own, for it was thought better that he should not remain with the commandos any longer. I gave him fifty burghers, under the command of Commandant Davel, to serve as a bodyguard. I had but just returned from my meeting with General Botha when a serious matter arose at Petrusburg, demanding my immediate presence there. It was three hundred and sixty miles there and back, and the journey promised to be anything but a pleasure trip--far less a safe excursion--for me; but the country's interest requiring it, I started on the 8th of April, although much fatigued by my inroad into Cape Colony. My staff succeeded in capturing an outpost of sixteen men on the railway line near Vredefort, the English losing one killed and two wounded. I visited the commando at Vredefort, arranged everything at Petrusburg, and started on my return journey on the 17th. I crossed the railway line between Smaldeel and Ventersburg Road Station, and after paying Commandant Hasebroek a short visit, I came back to the Heilbron commando. Our tactics of dividing our commandos, and thus keeping the English busy in every part of the Free State, or, where they were too numerous for us, of refusing to allow them to give us battle, so enraged them that they no longer spared the farmhouses in the north and north-western districts. Even in the south and south-west many of the houses were wrecked, but the work of destruction was not carried out with the same completeness as in the afore-mentioned districts. The enemy, moreover, did not spare our cattle, but either drove them off or killed them for food. As for our women-folk--any of them who fell into the hands of the enemy were sent off to the concentration camps. I have no space here, however, to write about the treatment of the women; it is such a serious matter that it would require whole chapters to deal with it adequately. Abler pens than mine will deal with it in full detail. I will only remark here that the Boer women were shamefully treated, and that if England wishes to efface the impression which these cruelties have left upon the hearts of our people, she will have to act as every great conquering race must act, if it is ever to be reconciled with the nations it has vanquished. Our winter season had now begun. We had no provisions except meat, bread and maize. Even these were rather scarce, but we could not yet say that we were altogether destitute. Coffee and sugar--except when we had an opportunity of helping ourselves from the enemy's stores--were unknown to us. With regard to the first-named commodity, however, the reader must know that in the district of Boshof there grows a wild tree, whose roots make an excellent substitute for coffee. Broken up into small pieces and roasted, they supplied us with a delicious beverage. The only pity was that the tree was so scarce that the demand for this concoction very greatly exceeded the supply. We therefore invented another drink--which we also called coffee--and which was composed of corn, barley, maize, dried peaches, sweet potatoes, and miscellaneous ingredients. My own favourite beverage was abundant--especially after heavy rain! The question of clothing was now beginning to be a very serious one. We were reduced to mending our trousers, and even our jackets with leather. For the tanning of this leather the old and feeble were employed, who, as soon as the enemy approached, fled, and as soon as they had passed, returned to their tanning. At a later period the English had a trick of taking the hides out of the tanning tubs and cutting them to pieces, in the hope, I suppose, that we should then be compelled to go barefoot and unclothed. It was to obviate such a catastrophe as this that the custom of _Uitschudden_[96] now came into force. The burghers, although against orders, stripped every prisoner. The English had begun by taking away, or burning, the clothes which the burghers had left in their houses--that was bad enough. But that they should cut up the hides, which they found in the tanning tubs, was still worse; and--the burghers paid them back in the same coin by stripping the troops. Towards the end of May I crossed the railway line to Parijs and Vredefort, intending to go on from there to see General De la Rey, and discuss our affairs with him. I had come to the conclusion that it would be good policy to send small commandos into Cape Colony; for small bodies of men can move rapidly, and are thus able to get out of the way if they are threatened by overpowering numbers. Moreover, such small detachments would compel the English to divide their forces. When I reached Vredefort I received a despatch from President Steyn, summoning me to him. I had thus to abandon my idea of visiting General De la Rey; instead of this, I wrote him a letter requesting him to come to the President. I also sent for Judge Hertzog. De la Rey was the first to arrive, and, without waiting for Judge Hertzog, we at once proceeded to take into consideration the following letter from the Government of the South African Republic. GOVERNMENT OFFICES, IN THE FIELD, District Ermelo, South African Republic, _May 10th, 1901_. TO THE GOVERNMENT SECRETARY, O.F.S. SIR,-- I have the honour to report to you that to-day the following officers met the Government, namely, the Commandant-General, General B. Viljoen, General J.C. Smuts (Staats-Procureur), the last-named representing the western districts. Our situation was seriously discussed, and, among others, the following facts were pointed out:-- 1. That small parties of burghers are still continually laying down their arms, and that the danger arising from this is becoming every day more threatening, namely, that we are exposed to the risk of our campaign ending in disgrace, as the consequence of these surrenders may be that the Government and the officers will be left in the field without any burghers, and that, therefore, heavy responsibility rests upon the Government and War Officers, as they represent the nation and not themselves only. 2. That our ammunition is so exhausted that no battle of any importance can be fought, and that this lack of ammunition will soon bring us to the necessity of flying helplessly before the enemy. And that through this same lack it has become impossible for us to afford adequate protection to our people and their cattle, with the result that the general population is being reduced to poverty and despair, and that even the troops will soon be unable to be supplied with provisions. 3. That through the above-mentioned conditions the authority of the Government is becoming more and more weakened, and that thus the danger arises of the people losing all respect and reverence for lawful authority, and falling into a condition of lawlessness. And that to prolong the war can only lead to hastening the ruin of the people, and making it clear to them that the only authority in the country is that of the enemy. 4. That not only is our nation becoming disorganized in the manner above referred to, but that it will also most certainly happen that the leaders of the nation, whose personal influence has hitherto kept it together, will fall into utter contempt, and lose that influence which is our only hope for reviving the national spirit in the future. 5. That the people are constantly demanding to be told what hope still exists of successfully prosecuting the war, and that they have the right to expect to be informed in an honest and straightforward manner that their cause is hopeless, whenever this has become evident to the Government and the Leaders. Up to the present time the Government and the nation have been expecting that, with the co-operation of their Deputation and by the aid of European complications, there would be some hope for the success of their cause, and the Government feels strongly that before taking any decisive step, an attempt should again be made to arrive with certainty at the results of the Deputation and the political situation in Europe. Having taken all the facts into consideration, the Government, acting in conjunction with the above-mentioned officers, have arrived at the following decision: Firstly, that a request should be addressed this very day to Lord Kitchener, asking that through the intervention of ambassadors sent by us to Europe, the condition of our country may be allowed to be placed before President Kruger, which ambassadors are to return with all possible speed. Secondly, that should this request be refused, or lead to no results, an armistice should be asked for, by which the opportunity should be given us of finally deciding in consultation with your Government, and the people of the two States, what we must do. This second proposal is, however, subject to any solution which your Government, taking into consideration the above-mentioned grievances, may be able to suggest. The Government feels very keenly that it would no longer be right to allow things to go on as they have been going on, and that the time has arrived for taking some definite steps; it will, therefore, be glad to receive an answer from your Government as soon as possible. I have the honour to be, Yours, etc., F.W. REITZ, _Secretary of State._ The answer which the President sent to this letter was formerly in my possession, but has been lost with many of my documents. I am able, however, to give an extract, which I received from the Rev. J.D. Kestell. It was to the following effect:-- The President was much disappointed with the letter of the Transvaal Government; he said that although there had been in the past some surrenders in the Free State, this difficulty had now been overcome. Moreover, although the ammunition had for a long time been scarce, nevertheless, after every fight, there had been enough to begin the next with. To the question, What probability was there of their being able to continue the struggle? he would reply by asking another question--What hope had the two little Republics, at the beginning of the war, of winning the fight against the might of England? If they had trusted in God at the beginning, why did they not continue to trust in Him? He also pointed out that if the Boer cause was really quite hopeless, the Deputation would have been sure to send word to that effect. Further, he assured the Transvaal Government that if an armistice were to be obtained, and if during it the people of the Free State were to be asked for their opinion, the decision of the burghers who were still in the field would be to continue the war. He could not approve of the decision of the Transvaal Government to ask Lord Kitchener to allow ambassadors to be sent to Europe, for, by so doing, the Government would be showing its hand to the enemy; he added that he was very sorry that such a decision had been taken without first consulting the Free State. As to the fear expressed by the Transvaal Government, that the Authorities and the Officers in the field would be left without burghers, the President said, that even if the Government and the Officers of the Free State were to surrender, the nation would not do so. It would be a great misfortune, he added, if the Orange Free State, which had not only lost its property and the lives of many of its burghers but also even its very independence, in the defence of the sister Republic, should now be abandoned by that Republic; that then all confidence in one another and all co-operation between Afrikanders would come to an end for ever: and that, under such circumstances, it would be too much to expect that the African nation should ever be able to rise again. If then the Boers wished to remain a nation, it was absolutely necessary to continue the war. After having quoted various appropriate passages from the newspapers, the President went on as follows:-- "All these considerations combine to make me believe that we should be committing a National murder if we were to give in now. Brethren! Hold out a little longer. Let not our sufferings and our struggles be in vain; let not our faith in the God of our fathers become a byword. Do all that you can to encourage one another." The President concluded this very remarkable and powerful letter with the question:-- "Are we again to leave the Colonial burghers in the lurch? God forbid." We decided to set out for the Transvaal in order to discuss the matter with the Government; and on the evening of the 5th of June we marched four or five miles from Liebenbergsvlei, to a place opposite Verkijkersdorp. We were, all told, between sixty and seventy men, including the staff and part of the bodyguard of President Steyn, the staff of General De la Rey, and eight of my staff officers. The following morning, an hour and a half after sunrise, a burgher came galloping up to tell us that the enemy had just captured a laager of women.[97] It seemed impossible to ride over to the rescue of these women, for our horses had still to make the long journey into the Transvaal. I asked our guest, General De la Rey, what he thought about the matter. He at once replied that we must go and liberate the women. As we were already up-saddled in readiness for our march, I had nothing to do but to give the order to start. The President, with his staff and some of the bodyguard, remained behind; while General De la Rey, Commandant Davel and I, with fifty-five men, hurried off. The retired General, Piet Fourie, was also with us. The enemy had marched with the laager on to a hill near the Kaffir kraal, consisting of four or five huts and a building made of sods. We first caught sight of the English when we were at a distance of four miles from them; they were then busy drawing up the waggons of the women in rows of ten or twelve. The oxen belonging to the first row stood close against the kraal, as we saw later on; those of the second row being behind them, and so on. The women told us afterwards that they had asked to be allowed to retire to a place where they would not run the risk of being shot by us (for the English had taken cover barely one hundred paces behind the waggons and were preparing to fight us from there), but that they were ordered to remain behind the soldiers. They were thus exposed to the danger of being hit by us, if we shot a little too high. It was, they said, the most terrible day they had ever spent. When we came within range of the English, they opened a hot fire upon us. We had to gallop over ground as smooth as a table with no cover until we were close up to them, and protected by a small hill. We left our horses here, and ran as fast as we could up the incline. At the top we were within forty paces of the place where the English were lying in wait for us. As soon as our heads appeared over the brow of the hill they fired on us; but there was only one round fired, for our reply was so sharp and severe that many of them were at once mowed down. The rest jumped up and retreated behind the last row of waggons, several of them, however, being killed during their flight. Our men dashed through between the waggons, but the English were the first to reach the kraal. They had made loopholes in its walls, through which they now fired on us. The only shelter we had was a Kaffir hut, which as is well known, always has a round wall. There was no chance for us to make loopholes--the wall was too solid--so that if a burgher wanted to shoot he had to expose his whole body, while the English lay ready behind their loopholes to fire on us. So it happened that eleven burghers were killed and seven wounded. Among the dead was Captain Thijnsma, and among the wounded, Lieutenant H. Howell. In the meantime we had got the waggons away, except the row which was nearest to the kraal, and which were too close to the enemy for us to be able to approach them safely. No sooner had the English taken refuge in the kraal than the women fled with the waggons; and it is astonishing to relate that only one little boy of thirteen years was killed, and a woman and a girl slightly wounded. One of the burghers whom the English had taken prisoner was also killed. I have no exact figure as to the losses of the English, but judging from the number of dead and wounded lying on the battlefield, I should say that their casualties must have been about eighty. The fight lasted from eleven till three o'clock, and then a reinforcement of cavalry, from eight hundred to one thousand men strong, appeared with some guns. The force with which we had been engaged, numbering about two hundred men, belonged to the column which was now coming up. As we could not drive the English from the kraal before the arrival of the reinforcements, we had to give way. Although I had given orders that all the waggons which had managed to escape should be sent on to Reitz, in the actual event only a few carts went there. The women had left the waggons behind, close to the hill at the foot of the English position, where I could not see them, in order to await the result. They had forgotten what I had told them, namely, that they were to get away as quickly as possible. This order I had given in the expectation that a reinforcement might arrive at any moment. After I had ordered a few men to bring the wounded into a safe place, I retired with the remainder, some forty-five in number. Among these was Veldtcornet Serfontein and his burghers. The English now directed their fire upon the women's laager, to compel it to come to a standstill. Whether any of the women and children were killed or wounded I was unable to ascertain, but it was horrible to see the bombs bursting over their heads. Thus the women again fell into the hands of the enemy. With four of my adjutants and Piet Fourie, I succeeded in driving away quite one thousand five hundred head of cattle. The bombs fell heavily on them also, but I got them safely away. Late that evening we arrived at the spot where we had left President Steyn, only to find that he had gone away. He had been obliged to retreat before the force which the previous evening had been at Duminy Drift, and which had passed near him during the day. The President had accordingly gone some twelve miles in the direction of Lindley. It was one of the coldest nights we had that winter, and our pack-horses which were carrying the blankets were with the President. It was impossible for us to sleep without any covering on such a night as that, and so we were obliged to march on. We had moreover to look for something to eat, for we had had nothing since breakfast. Our horses had never had their saddles off from the time we went out to fight until we arrived about midnight at the President's camp. [Footnote 96: Stripping.] [Footnote 97: The previous evening we had received a report of two English camps on the Wilge River: One at Duminy Drift, the other at Steildrift--under General Elliott. They were led by Piet de Wet and other National Scouts.] CHAPTER XXIX President Steyn's Narrow Escape The following morning we had to continue our journey to the Transvaal. It being necessary to keep out of sight of the enemy, we marched first a short distance to the south, and then went south-east. After a few days we reached Vrede. There Commandant Manie Botha spared us a few burghers who knew this part of the country well to serve as guides across the railway line. We headed to the north of Volksrust, and on the second evening after we had left Vrede, we struck the railway line at a spot which was guarded by an outpost. They opened fire on us at once. General De la Rey and I then came to the decision that after the burghers had exchanged a few shots, we would quietly retreat a short distance, and then, with a sweep, try and cross the line at another spot. This ruse was successful and we crossed unobserved. But the first of our men had hardly got seventy paces from the railway line, when a fearful explosion of dynamite took place, not thirty paces from the spot where we had crossed. Whether this was managed by electricity or whether the hindmost horses had struck on the connecting wire of some trap set by the enemy, I cannot say; at all events, we escaped with only a fright. On the fourth day after this we met the Transvaal Government and held a conference at once, in accordance with the letter mentioned in my last chapter. It grieved us much that things should have taken this turn, for it nearly always happened that somehow matters of this sort came to the ears of the English. But the Transvaal Government had again taken courage, as they had received an answer to the cable which they had sent to the Deputation, which answer instructed them to hold out; and also because two successful battles had taken place shortly before--one fought by General Kemp, and the other by Commandant Muller. We remained there for two days, and after it had been settled by the two Governments that the war should be continued with all our might, and also that days of thanksgiving and humiliation should be appointed, we went away accompanied by the genial and friendly Commandant Alberts, of Standerton, who brought us across the Natal-Transvaal railway. Captain Alberts was renowned as a valiant soldier; we now also found him to be a most sociable man. He beguiled the time with agreeable narratives of events in which he had taken part, and almost before we realized it we had reached the railway line. We crossed in safety and took a hearty farewell of our friendly Commandant and his burghers. On our march to Zilverbank--a farm on the Waterval River--I did not require any guide, for I knew the surroundings, having lived there for two years. After breakfast on the following morning we went on to within four or five miles south of Hexrivier farm, about three miles to the north of the Vaal River. There we off-saddled; and shortly after General De la Rey took leave of us. He wanted to cross the railway at a place between Vereeniging and Meyerton Station. This would lead him by a shorter road to his commandos than if he went through the Free State. Our farewell was affectionate--all the more so because we did not know whether we should see each other again on this earth. Then we continued on our way with light hearts; having been inspirited, not only by the pleasant company of the last few days, but also by the decision taken by the two Governments, that, come what might, our independence should not be sacrificed by us. I crossed the Vaal River at Villiersdorp and remained there that evening and through the following day. Then President Steyn and I parted. He went to Bezuidenhoutsdrift, and I, by way of Frankfort, to the Heilbron commando. I remained at Frankfort for one night, with Commandant Ross and his men, and had a very enjoyable time. With the Heilbron people I stayed a few days only, because I had important work to accomplish in the Winburg district; to this district therefore I went. As the commandos were now so scattered there was enough work for each of us in his own district, and I had much more riding to do than formerly. I found Commandant Hasebroek and his men at Doornberg a few days later. Whilst there I received from President Steyn a report of his narrow escape at Reitz, on the 11th of July, 1901, when he and some of his bodyguard escaped, whilst, unfortunately, Commandant Davel and all the members of the Government, except Mr. W.C.J. Brebner, who was absent, were taken prisoners. From Winburg I paid a visit to Vice-Commandant-in-Chief J. Hattingh, of the Kroonstad commando, and then went to President Steyn. My joy in finding that the President was safe, was only equalled by my grief at the loss of such old friends as General Cronje, Member of the Executive Council; General J.B. Wessels; T. Brain, Secretary to the Government; Commandant Davel; Rocco De Villiers, Secretary to the Executive Council; Gordon Fraser, Private Secretary to the President; MacHardy, Assistant Secretary; Pieter Steyn, brother of the President and Veldtcornet of the staff; and my other friends in the bodyguard. It was sad to think that such men were prisoners, and were lost to us so long as the war continued. We had become rather accustomed to such experiences, but what made this so hard to bear was that treachery had a hand in it--when the English took the Government and President Steyn's bodyguard prisoners, they had had a Free State burgher as their guide. The vacant posts in the Government had now to be filled up, and the President appointed the following persons:--In the place of A.P. Cronje, General C.H. Olivier, as Member of the Executive Council; and in place of Mr. T. Brain, Mr. W.C.J. Brebner, as Government Secretary. Mr. Johannes Theron he appointed Secretary to the Executive Council, instead of Mr. Rocco De Villiers; and Mr. B.J. Du Plessis Private Secretary to himself in place of Mr. Gordon Fraser. The President also decided to have, in future, only thirty burghers as his bodyguard, and appointed Captain Niekerk as their Commandant. CHAPTER XXX The Last Proclamation I now impressed upon my officers as forcibly as I could the importance of intercepting the communications of the enemy by blowing up their trains. A mechanical device had been thought of, by which this could be done. The barrel and lock of a gun, in connexion with a dynamite cartridge, were placed under a sleeper, so that when a passing engine pressed the rail on to this machine, it exploded, and the train was blown up. It was terrible to take human lives in such a manner; still, however fearful, it was not contrary to the rules of civilized warfare, and we were entirely within our rights in obstructing the enemy's lines of communication in this manner. Owing to this, the English were obliged to place many more thousands of soldiers along the railway line, in order to keep the track clear. Even then, the trains, for a considerable time, could not run by night. The English soon discovered how we arranged these explosions, and the guards carefully inspected the lines each day to find out if one of these machines had been placed beneath the rails. We knew that one had been found and removed, whenever we saw a train pass over the spot without being blown up. This, however, only made us more careful. We went to the spot which we had fixed upon for the explosion, hollowed out the gravel, placed the machine under the sleeper, and covered it up again, throwing the gravel that was left to a good distance from the line. After this, the guards could not discover where the machine was placed. They trebled the troops on the line in consequence. The month of July had passed, and we wondered what August held in store for us. The customary fights of the different commandos still went on; here five, here ten, here thirty of the English were killed, wounded or made prisoners. If these numbers had been put down they would have mounted up to a considerable total; but the war was not of such a nature that an office could be opened to record them. Reports of battles were sent to me, and after I had allowed them to accumulate for three or four weeks, they were sent to the different Vice-Commandants-in-Chief for their general information, and then torn up. Many reports and much correspondence concerning the beginning of the war have been preserved. I gave them to a trustworthy friend with instructions to bury them, but do not know where he placed them, as he was taken prisoner later on, and I have never been able to find out where he was sent to. These documents are of great value, and ought to be published. I was on the farm of Blijdschap, between Harrismith and Bethlehem--my English friends, Generals Knox, Elliott and Paget, with their Colonels Rimington, Byng, Baker, etc., etc., will not have forgotten where Blijdschap is--when I received a letter from Lord Kitchener, enclosing his Proclamation of the 7th of August, 1901. This proclamation was as follows: "By his Excellency Baron Kitchener of Khartoum, G.C.B., K.C.M.G., General Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's forces in South Africa; High Commissioner of South Africa, and Administrator of the Transvaal, etc. "Whereas the former Orange Free State and South African Republic are annexed to His Majesty's possessions; "And whereas His Majesty's forces have now been for some considerable time in full possession of the Government seats of both the above-mentioned territories, with all their public offices and means of administration, as well as of the principal towns and the whole railway; "And whereas the great majority of burghers of the two late Republics (which number thirty-five thousand over and above those who have been killed in the war) are now prisoners of war, or have subjected themselves to His Majesty's Government, and are now living in safety, in villages or camps under the protection of His Majesty's forces; "And whereas the burghers of the late Republics, now under arms against His Majesty's forces, are not only few in number, but have also lost nearly all their guns, and war requisites, and are without proper military organization, and are therefore not in a position to carry on a regular war, or to make any organized resistance against His Majesty's forces in any part of the country; "And whereas the burghers who are now still under arms, although not in a position to carry on a regular war, continue to make attacks on small posts and divisions of His Majesty's forces, to plunder and to destroy farms, and to cut the railway and telegraph lines, both in the Orange River Colony and in the Transvaal and other parts of His Majesty's South African possessions; "And whereas the country is thus kept in a state of unrest, and the carrying on of agriculture and industries is hindered; "And whereas His Majesty's Government has decided to make an end of a situation which involves unnecessary bloodshed and devastation, and which is ruining the great majority of the inhabitants, who are willing to live in peace, and are desirous of earning a livelihood for themselves and their families; "And whereas it is only just that steps should be taken against those who still resist, and principally against those persons who are in authority, and who are responsible for the continuance of the present state of disorganization in the country, and who instigate their fellow citizens to persist in their hopeless resistance against His Majesty's Government; "I, Horatio Herbert Baron Kitchener, of Khartoum, G.C.B., K.C.M.G., General Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's forces in South Africa; High Commissioner in South Africa, on behalf of His Majesty's Government, proclaim and make known as follows: "All Commandants, Veldtcornets and leaders of armed bands--being burghers of the late Republics--still resisting His Majesty's forces in the Orange River Colony and the Transvaal, or in any part of His Majesty's South African possessions, and all members of the Government of the late Orange Free State and of the late South African Republic, shall, unless they surrender before the 15th September of this year, be banished for ever from South Africa; and the cost of maintaining the families of such burghers shall be recoverable from, and become a charge on, their properties, whether landed or movable, in both Colonies. "GOD SAVE THE KING. "Given under my hand at Pretoria, the seventh day of August, 1901. "KITCHENER, GENERAL, _High Commissioner of South Africa._" I answered Lord Kitchener very carefully in the following words:-- "EXCELLENCY,-- "I acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency's missive in which was enclosed your Proclamation, dated the 7th August, 1901. I and my officers assure your Excellency that we fight with one aim only--our independence, which we never can or will sacrifice!" It would have been childish to fear that letter and that Proclamation. From the short answer which I sent to Lord Kitchener, the reader will clearly see the opinion that I and my officers held concerning it: "Bangmaak is nog niet doodmaak,"[98] as our proverb says. It was curious to see how this Proclamation was taken by the burghers. It had no effect whatsoever. I heard many burghers say that it would now be seen whether the officers had the cause of their country really at heart or not, and whether they were themselves to surrender and lay down their arms before the 15th of September. I must here declare that I know of no single case where an officer in consequence of this proclamation surrendered; on the contrary, when the day fixed by Lord Kitchener for the surrender had passed, the burghers had more reason to trust in their officers than before; and I can assure my readers that if at the beginning of the war we had had officers of the same kind as we had towards the end of the strife, it would have been easier to have maintained discipline. September the 15th was thus fixed upon by Lord Kitchener as the last day on which we should have an opportunity of surrendering. The President and Commander-in-Chief of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State returned answer that they would still continue the war, and subsequent events put a seal to their answer. Three battles were fought--one by General Brand at Blakfontein, another by General De la Rey in the west of the Transvaal, and yet another by General Botha at Itala, all in the month of September. President Steyn sent Lord Kitchener a long letter, in which he showed most clearly what the causes of the war had been, and what was the condition of matters at that time. The letter was as follows:-- IN THE VELDT, _August 15th_, 1901. TO HIS EXCELLENCY, LORD KITCHENER, ETC. EXCELLENCY,-- I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency's letter, dated Aug. 7th, 1901, enclosing your Excellency's Proclamation of the same date. The conciliatory tone of your Excellency's letter encourages me to speak freely, and to answer it at some length. I have noticed that not only your Excellency in your letter asserts, but that also responsible statesmen in your country assert, that the declaration of war from the South African Republic, and the inroad on the British territory, had been the cause of the war. I hardly believe it necessary to remind your Excellency that, in 1895, when the South African Republic was unarmed and peaceful, and had no thought but that their neighbours were civilized nations, an unexpected attack was made on them from the British territory. I do not consider it necessary to point out to your Excellency that the mad enterprise--for surely the instigators of it could not have been sane--miscarried, and the whole body of invaders fell into the hands of the South African Republic. The South African Government, trusting in the integrity of the English nation, handed over to His Majesty's Government all the persons whom they had taken prisoner, notwithstanding that, in conformity with international law, these persons had merited death. I also do not consider it necessary to remind your Excellency that after an honest judge had condemned the leaders of this expedition to imprisonment, the most prominent of them were not compelled to serve the whole of their time, but, previous to its termination, were liberated for various most insufficient reasons. Neither need I remind your Excellency that when a Parliamentary Commission was nominated, to investigate the causes and reasons of the said expedition, this Commission, instead of investigating the matter, would not allow the proofs to come to light, and that, when the Commission, notwithstanding the high influence at work during its sitting, had found the chief conspirator, Mr. Rhodes, guilty, and had reported him as such to Parliament, Mr. Chamberlain, who was one of the members of the Commission, contradicted his own report[99] by defending Mr. Rhodes. Your Excellency will have to acknowledge that the South African Republic as well as the civilized world was perfectly justified in coming to the conclusion that the Jameson expedition, which we first believed to have been undertaken by irresponsible persons, and without the cognizance of His Majesty's Government, was well known, if not to all, yet still to some members of His Majesty's Government. I need not remind your Excellency that since that time, not only has no reasonable indemnity been paid to the South African Republic, as was at that time promised, but also that the Republic has been harassed with despatches and threats concerning its internal Government. I also need not tell your Excellency that outside influence was used in order that memorials to His Majesty's Government might be drawn up concerning alleged grievances, so that His Majesty's Government might have the desired opportunity of interfering with the inner policy of the South African Republic. As I have said, I do not think it necessary to remind your Excellency of the above-mentioned facts, because I am of opinion that they are well known to you. I, however, should like your Excellency to be good enough to pay attention to the following facts:-- When, at the time of the circulation of the last-mentioned Memorial, I could see that a certain party was working hard to involve the British Government in a war with the South African Republic, I stepped into the breach, and endeavoured, by bringing the parties together, and by using my influence with the South African Republic, to induce the latter to give in to the demands of His Majesty's Government in order to maintain the peace. I succeeded in getting the Transvaal to yield, not because I was of the opinion that the English Government had any right to make such demands, but only in order to prevent bloodshed. When the British Government was still not satisfied, then the South African Government made concession after concession to the ever-increasing demands made upon them, until at last there came a request that the law on franchise should be laid before a Commission. On the behest of the British Agent in Pretoria, the South African Republic made a proposal granting far more than was demanded by the High Commissioner. As this proposal was not accepted by His Majesty's Government, who made yet further demands, the South African Republic withdrew their proposal, and declared themselves willing to accept England's proposal to lay the law before the Commission. The British Government then closed all correspondence, and wrote to the South African Republic saying that they would make their demands later on. In other words, the British Government then gave to the South African Republic an ultimatum, and it was clear that they were only prevented from commencing the war at once by the fact that they had not then landed sufficient troops in the country. The Orange Free State Government then again came to the rescue, in order to attempt at the last moment to avoid the war, and cabled through the High Commissioner direct to the British Government, asking for information as to the nature of the demands which were to be made upon the South African Republic; which cable, to my sorrow, was never sent in its entirety. The only answer to my cable was the continual arrival of transports of troops from all quarters of the globe, which were massed, not only on the frontier of the South African Republic, but also on the frontiers of the still friendly Orange Free State. Then, when the South African Republic saw that England had no intention of repairing the alleged grievances, but had only brought them up as an excuse for depriving the Republic of its independence, they requested that the troops might be taken from their frontiers, and that all disputes might be settled by arbitration. This happened about three weeks after the British Government had issued their ultimatum, and about one month after the Orange Free State Government had received a wire asking them to remain neutral, thus clearly giving them to understand that the British Government intended to make war on the South African Government. This telegram was sent to the Orange Free State because they knew that the latter had made a defensive alliance with the South African Republic since the year 1899. Then the South African Republic decided that they must defend their frontiers against the enemy who threatened their borders, and I was obliged to take a most painful step, namely, that of severing the bonds of friendship that existed between us and the British Government, and, true to our alliance with the Transvaal, to help the sister Republic. That we were perfectly correct in our surmise that the British Government had firmly decided to wipe out the two Republics has been clearly proved since the breaking out of the war. It was not only made evident from the documents that fell into our hands, although there it was easy to gather that since 1896, that is from Jameson's raid, the British Government was firmly determined to make an inroad into the two Republics: only lately it has been acknowledged by Lord Lansdowne that he in June, 1899, had already discussed with Lord Wolseley (then Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's troops), the best time at which to make an attack on the two Republics. Your Excellency will thus see that it was not we who drew the sword, but that we only put it away from our throats. We have only acted in self-defence--one of the holiest rights of man--in order to assert our right to exist. And therefore I think, with all respect, that we have a right to trust in a just God. I again observe that your Excellency reverts to the impossibility of intervention by any foreign power, and that your Excellency interprets our resistance as only based on the hope of such intervention. With your Excellency's permission, I should like to clear up our position with regard to intervention. It is this: We hope, and still are hoping, that the moral feeling of the civilized world would protest against the crime which England is now permitting in South Africa, namely, that of endeavouring to exterminate a young nation, but we were still firmly determined that, should our hopes not be realized, we would exert our utmost strength to defend ourselves, and this decision, based on a firm trust in a merciful God, is still unshaken in us. I further notice that your Excellency thinks that our fight is hopeless. I do not know on what grounds this assumption is based. Let us for a moment compare our mutual situations of to-day with those of a year ago, after the surrender of General Prinsloo. Then, the Cape Colony was altogether quiet, and free from our commandos. The Orange Free State was almost entirely in your hands, not only as regards the principal townships, railway lines and villages, but also the whole country, except where Commandant Hasebroek was, with his commando. And in the South African Republic the situation was very similar. That country was also mainly held by you, except in the parts which General De la Rey and General Botha occupied with their commandos, far up in the Boschveldt. How do matters stand now? The Cape Colony is, so to speak, overrun by our commandos, and they are really in temporary possession of the greater part of Cape Colony. They go about there as they choose, and many of our nationality and others also are continuing to join us there, and uniting forces with us against the cruel injustice that is being done to the Republics. In the Orange Free State I willingly acknowledge that your Excellency is in possession of the Capital, the railways, and some other towns not on the railways, but that is all that your Excellency has got. The whole of the Orange Free State, except the parts which I have just mentioned, is in our possession. In most of the principal towns there are landdrosts[100] appointed by us; thus in this State the keeping of order and the administration of justice are managed by us, and not by your Excellency. In the Transvaal it is just the same. There also justice and order are managed by magistrates appointed by our Government. May I be permitted to say that your Excellency's jurisdiction is limited by the range of your Excellency's guns. If your Excellency will look on the matter from a military point of view then it must be acknowledged that notwithstanding the enormous forces that are brought against us in the field, our cause, in the past year, has made wonderful progress. Therefore we need be in no way discouraged, and, if your Proclamation is based on the assumption that we are so, then it has now even less justification than it had a year ago. I am sorry that anything I say should appear boastful, but the assertions in your Excellency's Proclamation compel me to speak in this manner. With regard to the 35,000 men which your Excellency says are in your hands, I cannot speak as to the numbers, but this much I will say, I am not referring to those men who were led astray by the Proclamation of your Excellency's predecessor, and so failed in their duty to their Government; nor to those--thank God they are but few--who from treachery or other cause have gone over to the enemy; but of the remainder who have been taken, not too honestly, as prisoners of war, and are still kept as such. Of these I will say that they are either old men and feeble, or young boys not yet of age, who were carried off by force from their farms by your Excellency's troops, and shut up against their will in your Excellency's camps. To say of these therefore, that they are "dwelling peacefully with you," is an assertion which can hardly be taken seriously. I am able to say with perfect truth, that except the prisoners, and the few who have gone over to the enemy, the overpowering majority of the fighting burghers are still under arms. As regards those who have gone over from us to the enemy--a rare occurrence now--I can only say that our experience is not unique, for history shows that in all wars for freedom, as in America and elsewhere, there were such: and we shall try to get on without them. As regards the 74,000 women and children who, as your Excellency alleges, are maintained in the camps, it appears to me that your Excellency must be unaware of the cruel manner in which these defenceless ones were dragged away from their dwellings by your Excellency's troops, who first destroyed all the goods and property of their wretched captives. Yes, to such a pass had it come, that whenever your men were seen approaching, the poor sacrifices of the war, in all weathers, by day and by night, would flee from their dwellings in order that they might not be taken. Does your Excellency realize that your troops have not been ashamed to fire (in the full knowledge of what they were doing) with guns and small arms on our helpless ones when they, to avoid capture, had taken flight, either alone or with their waggons, and thus many women and children have been killed and wounded. I will give you an instance. Not long ago, on the 6th of June, at Graspan, near Reitz, a camp of women, falsely reported as a convoy to your Excellency, was taken by your troops. This was rescued again by us, whilst your troops took shelter behind our women, and when your reinforcement came up, they opened fire with guns and small arms on that camp, notwithstanding the fact that they knew it contained women only. I can quote hundreds of cases of this kind, but I do not think it necessary, because if your Excellency will take the trouble to ask any soldier who respects the truth, he will be compelled to confirm my assertion. To say that the women are in your camps of their own free will is not in accordance with the facts, and for any one to assert that they are brought to the camps because the Boers are unwilling to provide for the maintenance of their families as it is said that His Excellency the Minister for War has asserted in Parliament, is to make himself guilty of calumny, that will do more harm to the calumniator than to us, and is a statement which I am sure can never meet with your Excellency's approval. Now, as regards the Proclamation itself, I can give your Excellency the assurance as far as I am myself concerned, that it will make no difference to my fulfilling my duty faithfully to the end, for I shall be guided by my conscience and not by the enemy. Our country is ruined; our hearths and homes are wrecked; our cattle are looted, or killed by the thousand; our women and children are made prisoners, insulted, and carried away by the troops and armed Kaffirs; and many hundreds have already given their lives for the freedom of their fatherland. Can we now--when it is merely a question of banishment--shrink from our duty? Can we become faithless to the hundreds of killed and prisoners, who, trusting in our firmness, offered their lives and freedom for the fatherland? Or can we lose faith in a just God, who has so wonderfully upheld us till now? I am convinced that should we do so, we should be despised not only by your Excellency and all honest men, but also by ourselves. I will close by giving your Excellency the assurance that no one is more anxious than I to see peace restored, and I am therefore ready to meet your Excellency at any time in order to discuss the terms on which this peace can be arranged; but in order that I may not mislead your Excellency, I have to say that no peace will be accepted by us which imperils the independence of the two Republics, or which does not take into consideration the interests of our Colonial brethren who have joined us. If it is a crime to fight in one's self-defence, and if such a crime is to be punished, then I am of opinion that His Majesty's Government should be satisfied with the annihilation of the country, the misery of women and children and the general desolation which this war has already caused. It is in your Excellency's power more than in that of any one else, to put a stop to this, and by doing so, to restore this unfortunate part of the world to its former happiness. We ask no magnanimity, we only demand justice. I enclose a translation of my letter in order to avoid any misinterpretation of it by your Excellency, as this happened not long ago when a letter which I had written to the Government of the South African Republic, and which at Reitz fell into your hands, was published in such a way that it was nearly unrecognizable, as not only was it wrongly interpreted in some places, but sentences were inserted which had never been written, and other parts were left out altogether, so that an entirely wrong meaning was given to the letter. I have the honour, etc., M.T. STEYN, _State-President of the Orange Free State._ [Footnote 98: Nobody dies of fright.] [Footnote 99: The report of the Commission of which he was a member.] [Footnote 100: Resident Magistrates.] CHAPTER XXXI Blockhouses and Night Attacks While the great events recorded at the end of my last chapter were in progress, I paid a visit to the Harrismith burghers, who were under the command of Commandant Jan Jacobsz, and also to some of the Bethlehem men. On my return I learnt that the enemy were occupied in building a line of blockhouses from Heilbron to Frankfort. It has always seemed to me a most unaccountable circumstance that England--the all-powerful--could not catch the Boers without the aid of these blockhouses. There were so many other ways in which the thing might have been done, and better done; and the following incident, which occurred during the war, serves to show that this policy of the _blockhouse_ might equally well have been called the policy of the _blockhead_. On the 27th of February, 1902, the English made one of their biggest "catches" in the Free State. They had made a great "kraal"--what they themselves call a "drive"--and stood, "hand in hand," one might almost say, in a ring around us, coming from Heilbron, Frankfort, Bethlehem, and Harrismith, and stretching, on the Transvaal side, from Vrede to the Drakensberg. Narrower and narrower did the circle become, hemming us in more closely at every moment. The result was that they "bagged" an enormous number of men and cattle, without a solitary burgher (or, for the matter of that, a solitary ox) having been captured by means of their famous blockhouse system. The English have been constantly boasting in the newspapers about the advantages of their blockhouses, but they have never been able to give an instance of a capture effected by them. On the contrary, when during the last stages of the war it happened, as it often did, that they drove some of our men against one or other of the great blockhouse lines which then intersected the country, and it became necessary for us to fight our way through, we generally succeeded in doing so. And that, with fewer casualties than when, as in the instance I have just given, they concentrated their forces, and formed a circle around us. The English then were busy when I returned from the south in building a blockhouse line from Heilbron to Frankfort. They accomplished this speedily, and then proceeded to the construction of other similar lines, not being contented until they had "pegged out" the country as follows:-- On the Natal frontier there was a line from Vrede to Bothaspas, continued westward by a series of forts to Harrismith, whence the line went on, still westward, to Bethlehem, and thence down to the Basutoland border at Fouriesburg. Kroonstad was made, so to speak, the "axle," whence a series of "spokes" proceeded; one to the north-east, to Vrede; a second to the north-west, through Driekopjes Diamond Mine, to Winkledrift, and thence down the Rhenoster River to its confluence with the Vaal; a third, to the south-east, to Lindley; and a fourth, to the south-west, along the railway line, to the frontier of Cape Colony. In the western districts there was a line along the left bank of the Valsch River to the point where it joins the Vaal, and another (also terminating at the Vaal River) starting from Zand River railway bridge, and running parallel to the Zand River. There was also a line from Boshof, across the Cape Colony frontier, to Kimberley. Last, but not least, came the "White Elephant" with which the reader is already acquainted--the line from Bloemfontein to Ladybrand, through Thaba'Nchu. All these lines were in the Free State. I make no mention here of the thousands of miles of similar blockhouse lines, which made a sort of spider's web of the South African Republic. The blockhouses themselves were sometimes round, sometimes angular, erections. The roofs were always of iron. The walls were pierced with loop-holes four feet from the ground, and from four to six feet from one another. Sometimes stone was used in the construction of these walls, at other times iron. In the latter case the wall is double, the space of from six to nine inches between the inner and the outer wall being filled with earth. These buildings stood at a distance of from a hundred to a thousand paces from one another; everything depended upon the lie of the ground, and the means at the enemy's disposal; a greater distance than a thousand paces was exceptional. They were always so placed that each of them could be seen by its neighbours on both sides, the line which they followed being a zigzag. Between the blockhouses were fences, made with five strands of barbed wire. Parallel with these was a trench, three feet deep and four to five feet across at the top, but narrower at the bottom. Where the material could be procured, there was also a stone wall, to serve as an additional obstacle. Sometimes there were two lines of fences, the upper one--erected on the top of the earth thrown up from the trench--consisting of three or four strands only. There was thus a regular network of wires in the vicinity of the blockhouses--the English seemed to think that a Boer might be netted like a fish. If a wild horse had been trapped there, I should like to have been there to see, but I should not have liked to have been the wild horse. The building of these blockhouses cost many thousands of pounds, and still greater were the expenses incurred in providing the soldiers in them with food, which had to be fetched up by special convoys. And it was all money thrown away! and worse than thrown away! for when I come to describe how I broke through these blockhouse lines (see next page), the reader will see that this wonderful scheme of the English prolonged the war for at least three months. Let us turn now to another, and a more successful device of the enemy. From the first weeks of the winter, 1901--the reader must remember that our winter commences in _May_--the English began to make night attacks upon us; at last they had found out a way of inflicting severe losses upon us, and these night attacks grew more and more frequent during the last period of the war. But they would never have thought of them at all, if they had not been instructed in them by the National Scouts--our own flesh and blood! These tactics were not always successful. It sometimes happened that the English got "cornered"; sometimes they had to "right about turn" and run for their lives. The latter was the case at Witkopjes, five miles to the south of Heilbron, and again, near Makenwaansstad. But on only too many occasions they managed to surprise troops of burghers on their camping places, and, having captured those who could not run away, they left the dead and wounded on the ground. We soon discovered that these night attacks were the most difficult of the enemy's tactics with which we had to deal. Sometimes the burghers, surprised by a sudden visit from the English at such an unconventional hour, found it necessary to run away at once as fast as their legs would carry them, so that they often arrived at the nearest camp without their hats. Indeed a series of these attacks produced such a panic among our men that I have known a Boer lose not only his hat, but also his head. I come now, in the regular course of my narrative, to an engagement between my burghers and an English force which had marched from Bethlehem to Reitz, a distance of thirty miles. This force was guided by a son of one of the Free State Members of Parliament, and, marching all night, reached Reitz just as the day began to dawn. This was a smart piece of business; and though the guide to whom its success was due was my enemy, I fully appreciated the skill which he then displayed. The English captured ten or twelve burghers at Reitz, whither they had perhaps gone in search of the President. I was ten miles to the west, on the farm of Blijdschap, and did not receive reports of what had happened until towards noon. What was I to do? I could not call up men from Heilbron, Bethlehem, Vrede, or Harrismith: it would have been at least twenty-four hours before they could have arrived. All I could do was to summon Veldtcornet Vlok with some of the Parijs commandos and Veldtcornet Louwrens, and Matthijs De Beer, and the men. With these and my staff we would not number more than sixty or seventy all told. I at once gave orders to these veldtcornets to meet me at a certain place, and they were there by the appointed hour. My intention was to deliver a flank attack upon the English while they retreated during the night; for, as they only numbered five hundred men, I felt sure that they would not care to remain thirty miles away from their column, but would fall back upon Bethlehem. In the afternoon I marched to within a short distance of Reitz, in order to discover the enemy's plans; then, immediately after sunset, I sent a few burghers quite close to the town, with orders to meet me again at a certain point about two thousand paces to the south, and to inform me whither the enemy were going to march. The scouts returned at ten o'clock that night, and reported that the enemy was on the march towards Harrismith. In order to reach this town they would have to start by the Bethlehem road, from which the Harrismith road forks, at about eight thousand paces from the town. Our horses stood ready up-saddled; I had only to give the order to mount. I meant to cross the Bethlehem road and go to a deep hollow which I knew of near the Harrismith road; then, when the English appeared against the horizon, we would fire at them. But my scouts had blundered. The English were not going to Harrismith after all. For as we came to the Bethlehem road, we nearly stumbled over them. They were riding quietly along only a short distance from us. As we were galloping they knew of our proximity before we were aware of theirs, and when we were less than two hundred paces from them they opened fire. "Charge, burghers!" They all heard me, but they did not all obey. About fifty of the most valiant of them galloped straight at the enemy. The rest fled. After a short but fierce engagement we were forced to retire, as six of our men had been hit. Fortunately, their wounds were but slight, the most severe being that of my son Isaac, who had been shot through the leg below the knee. We rode away a short distance, and saw looming through the darkness a company of horsemen approaching us from Reitz. I thought at first that they were some of my own burghers--the ones who had taken to their heels--but it turned out to be General Wessel Wessels, who was nearer than I knew with his staff, in all some twenty men. I, however, could muster seventy, and we decided to cut off the retreat of the enemy. But they had, in the meantime, been riding on so fast that we did not reach them until it had grown quite light. An engagement, short and fierce as the last, ensued, but as the enemy was from six to seven times as strong as we were, and had a gun and a Maxim-Nordenfeldt with them, we could not stand against them, and had to let them go on their road. We were fortunate in suffering no loss there, and while the English marched on to Bethlehem we rode off in the opposite direction. We had now a short period of repose. The English were so busy building blockhouses that they had no time to fight us. Our poor horses were in a miserable condition, for so little rain had fallen that the grass was very dry and sapless. But at least we could now give them the rest which they sorely needed. CHAPTER XXXII My Commando of Seven Hundred Men Towards the end of September Commandant F.E. Mentz had an engagement with Colonel Byng's column near Heilbron. A portion of this officer's force had held a ridge where there were some Kaffir kraals for cover; and Commandant Mentz had with fifty burghers stormed this ridge, shooting down from thirty to forty of the enemy, and taking twenty-five prisoners. We lost two killed and three wounded. The Frankfort burghers under Commandant Ross had also not been idle, for they had attacked a division of Colonel Rimington's troops with the result that sixteen killed and wounded fell into their hands--among these were seven of the National Scouts. Thus fighting was taking place all over the country. I do not give any report of the various engagements, as I was not present at them, and, as I have already said, I only wish to record my own experiences. But it will be easily seen, even from the scanty information I can give of these skirmishes, that our small commandos had a splendid record of success. It is my intention to ask all my Vice-Commanders-in-Chief to narrate their experiences. And when the whole story is told I am convinced that the world will be astonished at what we were able to accomplish. But however well these small commandos had fought, I myself believed that the time had now come to make a great stroke. With this object in view I gave orders that a number of the burghers should come to Blijdschap, in the district of Bethlehem, under the command of the following officers:--General Michal Prinsloo with Commandants Olivier, and Rautenbach of the Bethlehem Commando; Commandant David Van Coller, who was in command of the Heilbron burghers in the place of Commandant Steenekamp, who had resigned; Commandant Hermanus Botha of Vrede; Commandant Roen of Ladybrand; and Commandant Jan Cilliers of Kroonstad. By the beginning of November I had a force of seven hundred burghers under me at Blijdschap.[101] Although the spring was now far advanced, the veldt was in a very backward condition. I therefore ordered the various subdivisions of my commando to go and camp on the different farms in the neighbourhood. I spread the horses over a large area, as they would thus find better pasture and so the sooner recover their strength. When November was drawing to a close I had an engagement with the English to the south of Lindley. I had with me at that time General Hattingh, General Wessel Wessels, and General Michal Prinsloo. An English force had encamped two days previously on the farm of Jagersrust, which lies some ten miles to the south-east of Heilbron, and about the same distance from Blijdschap. I had wished to make an attack on them the night they arrived, but they were too near to Heilbron for me to venture on it. The previous week three columns which came from Winburg and Kroonstad had been operating near the Liebenbergsvlei, and driving a large laager of women before them towards the north-east of the Liebenbergsvlei. But they had now left the laager alone and returned to Kroonstad. The women had arrived at Blijdschap at noon on November 28th on their way back to Lindley. The morning following, two hours after sunrise, I received a report from General Hattingh, who with Commandant Cilliers and a hundred men was stationed close to Blijdschap. The General reported that the English from Jagersrust were hotly pursuing the women's laager. And it soon appeared that the women were being driven to the west of Blijdschap. When General Hattingh heard that the English were hard by, he was some twenty minutes' ride from Blijdschap, but he mounted his horse at once and rode there as quickly as he could. On his arrival he immediately gave orders to up-saddle, and, having sent me a second report, he started in pursuit of the enemy. As soon as I had received General Hattingh's reports, I followed him with General Wessels and a force of only a hundred men. I was at least five miles from General Hattingh, and the English were twelve miles ahead. General Michal Prinsloo was unfortunately a considerable distance away; and thus it was that I could not at once get together my whole force of six hundred burghers. But General Michal Prinsloo had spent the time in attacking the English force on their left front. Shortly after he had engaged the enemy I came up behind them and delivered an attack on their right. But the veldt was very uneven and high hills and intervening hollows made any co-operation between us impossible, for one force could not tell where the other force was. Meanwhile General Hattingh had attacked the enemy in the rear and thus compelled them to withdraw their vanguard, which was then not far from the women's laager and had nearly succeeded in capturing it. But now that the whole force of the enemy was opposed to General Hattingh, he was forced to give way and leave his positions. We lost two killed and three wounded. Among the dead was the valiant F.C. Klopper of Kroonstad. When I, with General Wessels and Commandant Hermanus Botha hurried up, Commandant Hattingh was just on the point of retreating. The English I saw numbered about a thousand mounted men and they had three guns with them. I determined to make a flank attack, and accordingly marched round to their right, at the same time sending orders to General Prinsloo to get in the rear, or if he preferred in front of the enemy, so that we might make a united attack upon them as they marched in the direction of Lindley. It now began to rain and a little later a very heavy thunderstorm burst on our heads. This forced the English to halt on the farm of Victoriespruit. The rain continued to fall in torrents and hindered General Prinsloo carrying out my orders. And now the sun went down. As our horses were quite exhausted by the hot pursuit after the English, and the burghers wet through to the skin, I decided to postpone the attack to the following day. I was also influenced in my decision by the consideration that as the English were so far from any point from which reinforcements could come, it was quite safe to let them alone until the morning. Nobody could have foreseen that they would escape that night. We slept about five miles from them to the north-east, whilst General Prinsloo and his men were not very far away to the south-east. That night we placed the ordinary outposts, but no "brandwachten." When on the next morning I sent my scouts out to discover the movements of the enemy, what was my surprise when they reported that they had fled. They had gone, my scouts informed me, towards Heilbron, which was about eighteen miles off, and they had left behind them five laden waggons and one cart; and where they had crossed Karoospruit they had, very naturally, lightened their waggons, and flour, seed, oats, tarpaulins, and tents marked the point where they had crossed the spruit. The enemy were already so far ahead when I received this report that it was quite out of the question to catch them before they reached Heilbron; so all idea of pursuing them had to be abandoned. So far as I was able to find out, this column was under the command of Colonel Rimington. As I was unable now to get in touch with the enemy, I set off with my commando to what was once the town of Lindley. Alas! it could not any more be called a town. Every house was burnt down; not even the church and parsonage were spared. We found the veldt in very good condition; the early spring rains and the downpours of the previous day had quite revived the grass. And so I decided to remain at Lindley as long as possible, to give our horses a chance of recovering their condition. It was impossible to provide them with forage, for the amount the English had left behind was entirely insufficient as a supply for the large number of horses we had with us. For ten or twelve days we remained at Lindley, and so the horses had a short breathing time, but not long enough to give the poor animals time fully to regain their strength. In addition to being overworked, some of our horses were suffering from a skin disease which we were quite unable to cure. This disease had never before been known in the Republics. When I was at Lindley I sent Commandant Johannes Meijer, one of my staff, with forty men, to Cape Colony. With him went that brave soldier, Captain Willem Pretorius, of whom I have made mention previously. If Commandant Meijer had had sufficient time to collect a commando in the Colony, I am sure that he would have proved that the younger generation of Free-Staters, to whom he and Willem Pretorius belonged, possess qualities which were entirely unsuspected before the war began. On the 8th of December three columns of the enemy appeared from Kroonstad. It had been my plan to remain at Lindley and wait my chance of dealing with Colonel Baker, for he had under him a certain National Scout, who constantly made raids from Winburg with a band of four or five hundred Kaffirs. A few months previously a division of Commandant Hasebroek's commando had been attacked at Doornberg by this man's Kaffirs, and four burghers had been murdered in a horrible manner. More cases of this nature had taken place, and I only mention this one in passing. I am not in a position to give all the instances, but many of them were sworn to in affidavits, of which copies were sent to Lord Kitchener. The original affidavits fell into the hands of the English; but fresh ones shall be drawn up on my return to South Africa, so that I may be able to prove the statements I have made. The narration of these brutalities I prefer to leave to persons more conversant With the facts than myself. I have only alluded to the subject so as to make it clear why I like to keep my eye on Colonel Baker's column. I must now continue my story where I left it. I took up my position to the north-west of Lindley, in front of the columns which approached from Kroonstad. But after a few skirmishes with them, I returned to the east till darkness came on. When night had fallen I went round to the south, behind Kaffirskop, expecting to receive the news that Colonel Baker was coming up from Winburg, for he generally carried on his operations in conjunction with the forces at Kroonstad. On the following day the enemy marched to Liebenbergsvlei, between Bethlehem and Reitz. Thence they took the road between Lindley and Reitz to Kroonstad. Piet de Wet, of the National Scouts, was with these columns. After we had remained two days at Kaffirskop, we crossed the Valsch River. The news then came that a column with a convoy was on the march from Harrismith to Bethlehem. I felt that it was my duty to attack this column, but, although I advanced with all haste, I was not in time to catch the enemy before they reached Bethlehem. When I saw this, I decided to wait, at a distance of some fifteen miles to the north-east of Bethlehem, for I expected that the column would return to Harrismith. The troops remained in Bethlehem till the morning of the 18th of December; they then marched out towards Harrismith. I at once divided my commando into two parts, each consisting of two hundred and fifty men. One of these divisions I posted behind the eastern end of the Langberg, about forty miles from Bethlehem; the other on the banks of the Tijgerkloofspruit, at the point where the road to Harrismith crosses the stream. I gave strict orders to both divisions that as soon as I opened fire on the English with the Maxim-Nordenfeldt, they were to charge down on them from both sides at the same time. The enemy, I may mention, were about six or seven hundred men strong, and had two guns. I myself, with the Maxim-Nordenfeldt, was now on a high round hill, on the eastern side of Tijgerkloof. I was very careful to be out of sight of the English, so that they might get quite close to the burghers before the gun disclosed my presence. I succeeded in hiding my burghers so successfully that the English did not observe them until they were within about twelve hundred paces of my men in Tijgerkloof. Some of the enemy's scouts rode on ahead, and when I judged that they must almost immediately see the burghers, I ordered Captain Muller, who was standing behind a rise, to come out of cover and open fire; then I jumped on my horse, and down the hill I went, at full gallop, to my burghers. I had scarcely covered half the distance, when Captain Muller opened fire on the enemy. As the sound fell on my ears, it seemed to me that nothing now could save them! What was now my bitter disappointment when I saw that only one-third of my burghers were charging. The others were keeping under cover, and do what I would I could not drive them out. Everything went wrong. When the burghers who were charging the English discovered that the greater part of their comrades had remained, they turned round and retreated. But before this had happened they had attacked the English at four different points. It had been a short but a very hot engagement. There was no possibility of inducing my men to charge, and so I thought it wisest to retreat, swallowing my disappointment as best I could. The burghers re-assembled to the south of the Langberg; and we found that our loss was two killed and nine wounded, of whom two subsequently died. We could not ascertain the English losses, but we saw their ambulances very busy. We heard afterwards that they had suffered much more severely than we had done. [Footnote 101: A court-martial was held at this place, and several persons appeared before it. A certain De Lange was condemned to death for high treason.] CHAPTER XXXIII A Success at Tweefontein The column had marched to Harrismith. It was time that I accomplished something further, and I determined that the next blow I struck should be a heavy one. I therefore retired to the north-east of Bethlehem, and concealed my men in the veldt round Tijgerkloof (which was suited to the purpose) whilst I made my plans. Colonel Firman's brigade was camped between Bethlehem and Harrismith, at Elands River bridge, where he was building the line of blockhouses between the two towns. This camp was so well entrenched that there was no possibility of storming it, and I knew that so long as Colonel Firman thought I was still in the neighbourhood he would not dare to come out and give me an opportunity of attacking him. I saw that a ruse was necessary to entice him out of his fortress. With this object in view I sent for Commandant Jan Jacobsz, with his fifty men from Witzeshoek. When he joined me I confided my secret to him, and ordered him to go back with his fifty men, and to let Colonel Firman see him doing so. He also had instructions to let some of his veldtcornets ride to the Kaffir kraals, which were close to the English camp, in order to tell these Kaffirs that he had had orders to come to me with fifty men, but that when he arrived I had commanded him to return to his district, because I was going to march with my commando to Winburg. The following day Colonel Firman's scouts were, as might have been expected, informed by the Kaffirs of what they had heard from the burghers under Commandant Jacobsz; and the day after--that is, the 22nd of December--Colonel Firman's column, about six to seven hundred men strong, marched from Elands River to Tweefontein, half-way between Elands River and Tijgerkloof. On the farm of Tweefontein there was a mountain called Groenkop--which has since, for a reason which will soon be apparent to the reader, received the name of "Christmas Kop." [Illustration: TWEEFONTEIN. FROM A SKETCH BY THE AUTHOR.] I gave Commandant Jacobsz orders to come to me with his fifty men on Christmas Eve, but this time with the strict injunction that he must conceal his march from the enemy. I also called up Veldtcornet Beukes, with his fifty men, from Wilge River, in the district of Harrismith. Veldtcornet Beukes was a brave man and trustworthy; he was shortly afterwards promoted to the command of a division of the Harrismith burghers. My intention was to attack Colonel Firman early on Christmas morning. Two days previously I had, with General Prinsloo and the Commandant, reconnoitred the neighbourhood of Groenkop, on which Colonel Firman was encamped. I approached as near as possible to the mountain, but could only inspect it from the west, north, and east, but on the following day I reconnoitred it also from the south. My plan of making the attack early the next morning was somewhat spoilt by the fact that the English had already, on the 21st of December, quitted their camp on the mountain. Thus they had had four days in which to entrench themselves. Whilst we were reconnoitring the mountain from the south, we saw three horsemen coming cautiously out of the camp, riding in a north-easterly direction, and thus giving us no chance to intercept them. Commandant Olivier and Captain Potgieter now made a détour, so that they could cut off the unsuspecting scouts from their camp, and could also get nearer to the mountain themselves. I knew that by doing so they would draw the fire of the two guns, which would tell me precisely where Colonel Firman's battery stood. Before these officers could accomplish their purpose they were observed, and seeing that they could not cut off the three men, they turned their horses and galloped back. But when they saw that the three scouts had the temerity to pursue them, they faced round at the first rise and suddenly confronted them. The three (who were Kaffirs), seeing that the tables were turned, hastily wheeled round towards their own camp, but before they could reach it one of their number was caught and shot down. One gun and the Maxim-Nordenfeldt now fired upon our two officers as long as they were in sight, and thus we learnt that the guns were placed on the high western point of the mountain, from which they could shoot in all directions. Let me describe Groenkop. On its western side was a precipice, on the north and south a steep descent, and on the east a gentle slope which ran down to the plain. From which side should the attack take place? Some of the officers were of the opinion that this should take place on the east, where it was the least steep, but I differed from them, for through our field-glasses we could see that the walls of the fort were so built that it was quite clear the enemy had thought that, should they be attacked, it would be from the east. The forts were built in a semicircle towards that side, and although this would be of little importance once the fight had begun (because the defenders had only to jump over the wall to find themselves still entrenched), still it was to the advantage of the attacking party to come from a side where they would not be expected. These reasons brought me to the conclusion that the English would not be on the look-out for us from the west, and I therefore decided to make the attack from this side, the steep side of the mountain. But I did not then know how steep it really was. On the western point there were four forts close to each other. Each was sufficient to give shelter to about twenty five men. To the south there were four forts, and to the east three. The top of the mountain was not more than three to four hundred paces in diameter. To the east in a hollow the convoy was placed, and from every _schanze_ we could rake it with our fire. I remained on the spot from which I was reconnoitring, and sent word to the commando, in the afternoon of the 24th of December, to come to a certain place at Tijgerkloof, which they could do without being observed. I ordered them to remain there until nightfall, and then to advance within four miles of Groenkop, to the north, where I would meet them. This was done. I found the commando at the appointed place, and also General Brand and Commandant Karel Coetzee, who had come on a visit that day to my commando. They also took part in the attack. My men consisted of burghers from General Michal Prinsloo, Commandants Hermanus Botha, Van Coller, Olivier, Rautenbach, Koen, Jan Jacobsz and Mears, in all six hundred men. Of these I left one hundred in charge of the Maxim-Nordenfeldt and the pack-horses. We had not a single waggon with us; every man put what he had with him on his pack-horse, for long we had made it a rule not to be hampered with waggons. Yet whenever we picked up reports of engagements in the camping places of the English we repeatedly saw that they had taken a Boer camp--and their greatest delight was to say that it was one of De Wet's convoys. They could not have been convoys of mine, because for the last fifteen months I had had no waggon-camp with me. If a waggon-camp was taken, it could only have been one consisting of women, who were flying in order to escape capture by the English, and to avoid being sent to the concentration camps. Everywhere in the State the women were taking to flight, and their terror was increased tenfold when the news came that many a woman and child had found an untimely grave in these camps. The troops which had not remained with the pack-horses now advanced towards the mountain. Each commando was ordered to ride by itself, and to leave in single file. My orders were that they were to march quietly to the western foot of the mountain; here the horses were to be left behind, and the climb made on foot, the burghers keeping the same order as that in which they had been riding. Should the English, however, discover us before we reached the mountain, we must then storm it altogether, and leave the horses wherever we had dismounted. We succeeded in coming to the mountain unobserved, and at once began the climb. It was exactly two o'clock in the morning of December 25th, 1901. When we had gone up about half-way we heard the challenge of a sentry:-- "Halt; who goes there?" Then followed a few shots. My command rang out through the night-- "Burghers, Storm!" The word was taken up by the burghers themselves, and on all sides one heard "Storm! Storm!" It was a never-to-be-forgotten moment. Amidst the bullets, which we could hear whistling above and around us, the burghers advanced to the top, calling out, "Storm! Storm!" The mountain, however, was so steep that it can scarcely be said that we stormed it; it was much more of a climb. Often our feet slipped from under us, and we fell to the ground; but in an instant we were up again and climbed on, and on, to gain the summit. I think that after the sentry heard us, three or four minutes must have elapsed before the troops, who were lying asleep in their tents or on the veldt, were awakened and could come out, because their camp was about a hundred paces distant from our point of attack. Directly we reached the top the deafening roar of a heavy fight began, and lasted from fifteen to twenty minutes. Shortly before this the Armstrong gun and the Maxim-Nordenfeldt had each fired two shots, but they fired no more; as we reached the top the gunners were shot down at their guns. After a short but desperate struggle the English gave way, or surrendered, and we took possession of the Armstrong and Maxim-Nordenfeldt. We continued to fire on the troops, who had retreated to a short distance. Again they gave way, and took up another position a little further on, and so it went on for about two thousand paces, and then the English took to flight. As we had no horses with us and it was dark, we did not pursue the fleeing enemy, but returned to the camp. The whole engagement lasted, so far as I could judge, for about an hour. I cannot say for certain, because I made no note of the time. It was a party of Yeomanry with whom we had been dealing, and I must say they behaved very gallantly under exceptionally trying circumstances; for it is always to be expected that when men are attacked during the night a certain amount of confusion must ensue. It was heartrending to hear the moaning of the wounded in the dark. The burghers helped the doctors to bring the wounded into the tents, where they could be attended to; I gave the doctors as much water as they liked to take for the wounded. It was greatly to be deplored that the ambulance had been placed in the centre of the camp, for this was the cause of Dr. Reid being fatally wounded. When the day began to dawn we brought the waggons and guns down the mountain. I sent them in the direction of Langberg, to the west of Groenkop. The enemy lost about one hundred and sixteen dead and wounded, and two hundred and forty prisoners of war. Our loss was also heavy--fourteen dead and thirty wounded; among the dead were Commandant Olivier from Bethlehem and Vice-Veldtcornet Jan Dalebout from Harrismith; among the wounded was one of my own staff, Gert de Wet. Later on two more died, one of them being Veldtcornet Louwrens. I appointed Mr. A.J. Bester as Commandant in the place of Commandant Olivier. Besides one Armstrong and one Maxim-Nordenfeldt, our booty consisted of twenty waggons, mostly ox-waggons, a great quantity of rifle and gun ammunition, guns, tents, five hundred horses and mules, and one waggon laden with spirits, so that the burghers, who were not averse to this, could now satisfy their thirst. The sun had hardly risen when the enemy opened fire from a mountain two miles to the north-east of Groenkop, where there was a little camp with one gun. If I still had had the same numbers as were with me at the storming of Groenkop, then I could also have taken this little camp. But it was not to be thought of, for some of my men had been sent away with the waggons, and the others--well, every one had a horse that he had taken from the English, and as these horses were in the pink of condition for rapid retreat, I thought it wiser not to call upon the burghers to attack. I ordered them, therefore, to go back after the waggons, and in the evening we camped to the north of Bethlehem. From here, on the following day, I sent the prisoners of war through Naauwpoort into Basutoland. On the same day I gave orders to General Michal Prinsloo to take the commando and to strike a course between Reitz and Heilbron. I myself paid a visit to President Steyn and General Wessel Wessels, after which I put matters straight in our hospital at Bezuidenhoutsdrift, which was under the charge of Dr. H.J. Poutsma. CHAPTER XXXIV I Cut my Way Through Sixty Thousand Troops The English could not endure the thought that we had their guns in our possession. And, accordingly, when General Michal Prinsloo came near the Liebenbergsvlei, on the road between Reitz and Heilbron, he met a strong force of the enemy which had come from Kroonstad. The English then had a taste of what it was like to be under the fire of our artillery; and so well did the gunners do their work that the enemy were forced to retreat. This occurred shortly before sunset on the afternoon of the 28th of December. But the forces in front of General Prinsloo were too strong for him, and so when night came he marched past, and the following morning was twelve miles to the south-west of them. The enemy advanced against the position which General Prinsloo had occupied the previous day, quite unaware that he was now in their rear. In the meantime the General was watching their movements from behind, and quietly enjoying their mistake. I left the hospital that afternoon, and crossing the Liebenbergsvlei to the rear of the English, I joined the Heilbron commando. The following day the enemy retreated to the farm of Groenvlei, which lies just to the north of Lindley. They remained there for a few days awaiting large reinforcements. "I quite understand your plan," I said to myself, as I set to work to split up the great force which the enemy were concentrating. And with this object in view I sent each Commandant to his own district, believing that by dispersing my own men I should again induce the English to divide their troops into smaller parties. Commandant Mears, with his fifty men, I ordered to remain with the guns and the artillery, and to guard them by very careful scouting. In less than a fortnight seven large columns of the enemy were operating in the district between Heilbron and Bethlehem and Harrismith. These columns burnt all the houses within their reach, and those which had been spared before were now given over to the flames. And not only were the houses destroyed, but every head of cattle was taken. Towards the end of January, 1902, still more columns arrived and a "drive" began. I remained in the neighbourhood until the 2nd of February and stationed Commandant Mears with the guns to the east of the Wilge River. The English formed a circle round him, but he succeeded in getting the guns away in safety. When he was out of their clutches, I sent him orders to bring the guns through the blockhouse line between Lindley and Bethlehem, and then to push on towards Winburg. It was my intention, on arriving there, to collect as rapidly as possible a commando from the men of Bethlehem, Kroonstad, and Winburg, and to attack the first column that gave me a chance of doing so. Commandant Mears carried out my orders at once. A force of the enemy had been waiting for him for three or four days at the farm of Fanny's Home, on the Liebenbergsvlei. But before the sun had risen, a strong force under Colonel Byng had surrounded him and forced him to abandon the guns. And not only were the guns lost, but Captain Muller and thirteen gunners were taken prisoner. Thus the guns had not been of much benefit to us, for the English had kept us so constantly on the move that it had been impossible to use them. The forces of the enemy between Harrismith and Vrede had formed a line extending from the Harrismith-Bethlehem blockhouses to the blockhouses between Vrede, Frankfort and Heilbron. And now the troops were advancing in close contact with each other, hoping thus to force us against one or other line of blockhouses. Nearer and nearer they came, until at noon on February the 5th we saw them to the east of Liebenbergsvlei. As I was watching their movements from the top of Elandskop, I was informed by heliogram[102] from Blaauwkop and Verkijkerskop that there was a cordon of the English from Frankfort to a spot between Bethlehem and Lindley. The intention of the enemy appeared to be to drive us against the Heilbron-Kroonstad blockhouses and the railway line. We had therefore to be prepared to fight our way through the blockhouses. And these, as I found out lately, had been greatly strengthened. On the 6th of February I was on the march, intending to advance to Slangfontein, to the west of Heilbron. I sent orders to Commandants Mentz, Van der Merwe, and Van Coller, to take a portion of Commandant Bester's burghers, telling them to go to Slangfontein. For I hoped to break through at some point or other that night. Still nearer the enemy came, marching almost shoulder to shoulder. The Commandants Van Coller and Van der Merwe did not go to Slangfontein. They broke through the English columns near Jagersrust, and crossed the Heilbron-Frankfort blockhouse line, where they put a few soldiers to flight, not, however, without a loss of two burghers, who were killed. Neither did the burghers under Veldtcornets Taljaart and Prinsloo arrive. They preferred to go their own way--and all were captured with the exception of twenty-eight men. But this misfortune was not due to the blockhouses. On the contrary, they were taken prisoners when they were attempting to hide themselves in small bodies. In this way more than a hundred burghers fell into the hands of the English. There were now with me Commandant Mentz, and portions of the commandos of Commandants Bester, Cilliers, and Mears. That afternoon we marched to a farm which was twelve miles from the Lindley-Kroonstad line of blockhouses. When it was quite dark, we left the farm with the intention of breaking through this line before daybreak. There had been five or six hundred head of cattle with us, but, without my being aware of it, they had gone astray in the darkness. We intentionally left the path, because we thought that the English would be most vigilant at points where paths crossed the line. Suddenly we found ourselves at a wire fence. The darkness was so thick, that it was only after we had cut the wire that we discovered that we were close to a blockhouse. Although the house was not more than a hundred paces from us, we could hear and see nothing. When we were some four hundred paces on the other side of the line of the blockhouses, I sent a burgher back to see if all the men and cattle had crossed safely--for we were riding in a long trail, and amongst us were old men and youngsters of only ten years, or even less. These boys would have been taken away from their mothers had they stayed at home; and thus the only way to keep them from captivity was to let them join the commandos. The burgher soon returned, and told me that the whole commando and all the cattle had crossed the line. Then I marched forward again. At break of day we were close to the Valsch River. Here I made a short halt, in order to allow the stragglers to come up. It was then that a man came to me who had been riding far behind, and had thus not seen that we had cut the wire. He was probably one of those who quite needlessly feared a blockhouse line. "General, when shall we come to the blockhouses?" he asked me. "Oh! we are through long ago!" I answered. It did not require any deep insight, I can assure you, to see how delighted this burgher was that we were safely out of it! We discovered now that the cattle had not crossed the line. When I investigated the matter more closely, I found that they had gone astray before we reached the blockhouses. But it was impossible to wait for them, and there was nothing left but to proceed without them. When we arrived at the Valsch River, there was a sound of shouting behind us, and presently the cattle appeared coming over a rise. I heard from the drivers that they had lost their way, and had only reached the blockhouses at daylight. But they had succeeded in breaking through under a fierce rifle fire. Twenty head of cattle had been killed or wounded, and one of the men's horses had been shot under him. The burghers who had accomplished this valiant deed were: Jan Potgieter, Gert Potgieter, Jzoon, and Wessel Potgieter--all from the district of Heilbron. I have, myself, seen a report in an English paper of my breaking through the blockhouse line. This paper declared that I had driven a great herd of cattle in front of me to break down the fencing!... This is the way the English write the reports. This breaking through of my cattle inspired the English, at least so I thought, to dig trenches everywhere. But they were again wrong; for although a vehicle might have some difficulty before the trench was filled in, no riders, pedestrians, or cattle would have been stopped for a moment. And now we marched on, till we reached a spot about fourteen miles to the south of the blockhouse line; and there we remained for three days. Whilst we were waiting here, I sent two burghers back to the blockhouse line, to discover in what direction the English columns had marched, so that I might know where I should go myself. Now, less than ever, was it advisable to make night marches, for our horses were in a very poor condition. The day following I received a heliographic message from these burghers, who were now on the other side of the line. They signalled that I could come on with my commando, since the English columns had returned to Kroonstad and Heilbron. When night came I started on my way back. I did not go (as before) to the east of Lindley, but to the farm of Palmietfontein, which lies to the west. When we were close to the line, I sent some burghers in advance to cut the wire. But this time there was a reception ready for us, which we certainly would rather have been without! This was to be ascribed to the fact that instead of only two scouts, as I had ordered, about ten had gone to reconnoitre. So large a number had attracted the attention of the enemy, and the guards had concentrated at the spot where we wished to break through. Thus before my commando reached the line a fierce fire was opened on it from two sides. Yet notwithstanding this the wires were cut and we reached the other side, but not without loss. One of my burghers was killed, and one wounded. A boy of ten was also killed, and another of seven severely wounded. We could not ascertain the losses of the enemy. It was terrible that children should be exposed to such dangers; but, as I have already said, if we had not taken them with us they would have been captured. During the very "drive" I have just described, two children who had remained at home with their mothers were taken prisoner by the English. One of these was a boy of nine, the little son of Jacobus Theron. Notwithstanding the prayers and entreaties of the poor mother, he was torn from her and carried away. In the same way another boy, twelve years old, whose name I do not know, was dragged from his mother's arms. The chronicling of such inexplicable cruelties I leave to other pens. I have drawn attention to them to make it clear that it was not without good cause that children joined the commandos. Some of these little ones became a prey to the bullets of the enemy, and the South African soil is stained by the blood of children slain by England. With the exception of the sad incidents I have described, we came through in safety. I afterwards heard that Lord Kitchener had on this occasion gone to Wolvehoek Station in order to see President Steyn and myself carried away in the train to banishment! But his calculations were not altogether correct. A Higher Power had willed it otherwise. The burghers had now returned to their own districts. I myself went to a farm in the neighbourhood of Elandskop belonging to Mr. Hendrick Prinsloo--the _rooije_.[103] After I had been there a few days I heard that a strong column was approaching Lindley from Kroonstad. During the night of the 17th of February this column attacked some burghers who were posted less than four miles from Elandskop, with the object--as I heard later--of catching me. And they would have been quite successful in their attempt had I been sleeping in the house where their information led them to believe they would find me. But as a matter of fact, I seldom, if ever, slept in a house, for to tell the truth, there were scarcely any houses left to sleep in! The women who had escaped capture lived in narrow shelters, which had been made by placing corrugated iron sheets on what was left standing of the walls that remained. I crossed the Liebenbergsvlei on the 18th of February, and proceeded to the farm of Rondebosch, which stands to the north-east of Reitz. There I met the Government. And now another big "drive" took place. The English columns marched to the south of the Kroonstad-Lindley blockhouse line in the direction of Bethlehem. Other troops came from Heilbron, and advanced to the north of the Heilbron-Frankfort line, driving Commandant Ross across this line to the south. Nearer and nearer these two great divisions approached each other, until at last they stretched without any break from the Bethlehem-Lindley to the Frankfort-Vrede line of blockhouses. On the 21st of February the whole column moved towards Vrede and Harrismith. It seemed to me that my best plan would be to go with President Steyn and the Government to the Witkopjes, which lay between Harrismith and Vrede, and then to break through the English columns near Vrede or Harrismith, or, if it proved impossible to do so at these points, at least to force a way through somewhere. On this occasion we had a great deal more difficulty in escaping from the English than we had had during the previous "drive." Not only had we to deal with these large forces behind, but also with thousands of troops which were now approaching from Villiersdorp, Standerton, Volksrust, and Laingsnek, and which were extended across the country in one continuous line. The whole cordon thus formed consisted, as the English themselves acknowledge, of sixty thousand men. And again on this occasion they did not attempt to drive us against one or other of the blockhouse lines, but they came, column on column, from all sides, and formed a big circle round us. They thus made it quite apparent that they had lost all faith in their blockhouses. I only received news of the approach of these reinforcements on the evening of the 22nd of February, after they had passed the blockhouses. The report was brought to me by Commandant Hermanus Botha, a party of whose burghers had been driven across the Vrede-Frankfort line during the previous night. I have already stated that some of the burghers under Commandant Ross had shared the same experience, and now they were retreating before the English. I also heard that Commandant Mentz had gone eastwards, in the belief that the forces behind him would move to the west, but that unfortunately the columns also moved to the east, so that he jumped into the lion's mouth, which was only too ready to close! We marched that night to Cornelius River, and the day following to Mr. James Howell's farm at Brakfontein. It was my intention to break through somewhere between Vrede and Bothaspas. But my scouts brought me word in the evening that there was a very poor chance of success in that neighbourhood, for the columns had concentrated there. Other scouts, however, reported that there was a small opening at Kalkkrans, on the Holspruit; and so I decided to march to Kalkkrans. When the sun had set I left Brakfontein and started on my road to Kalkkrans, with the firm determination to force my way through there, cost what it might. If I failed in the attempt I knew that it would mean an irretrievable loss, for not only should I myself be captured, but also President Steyn and the whole Government. I had with me a portion of the Harrismith burghers, the commandos from Vrede and Frankfort, and sections of the commandos from Standerton and Wakkerstroom, these latter under Commandant Alberts. This Commandant had come to these districts to obtain horses for his burghers; he was obliged to be content with the wild horses of the veldt, for there were no others to be had. Beside the above burghers, I had with me old men and children, and others who were non-combatants. These had joined the commando to escape falling into the enemy's hands. Altogether I had well-nigh two thousand persons with me. Commandant Mentz was, like myself, enclosed in the "drive," but some distance away. General Wessels, Commandant Beukes, and some of the Bethlehem burghers were in the same predicament to the west of us. I did not know for certain where these officers were placed, and therefore I could not inform them of my plan to break through that night, for I had only come to this determination after the sun had set. But I felt sure that they would at all costs make their way through the cordon.[104] Commandant Jan Meijer had met me at Brakfontein, but one party of his burghers was still six miles to the south. When I decided to break through, I sent him orders to follow me; and this he was quite capable of doing, as he was well acquainted with this part of the country. My orders were that the mounted men were to proceed in advance, taking with them my little waggon drawn by eight mules. This waggon had accompanied me into Cape Colony, and since that time--for fourteen weary months--had never left me. I had even taken it with me when, a fortnight previously, I had broken through the blockhouse lines. Behind the horsemen came the aged and the sick, who occupied the remaining vehicles, and lastly the cattle, divided into several herds. In this order we rode on. When we were approaching the spot at which I expected to find the enemy, I ordered Commandant Ross and one hundred men, with Hermanus Botha and Alberts, and portions of their commandos, to go on ahead of us. After passing through Holspruit we inclined to the west, as the road to the east would, according to my scouts, have led us right into the English camp. But it was not with one camp only that we had to deal: the English were everywhere: a whole army lay before us--an army so immense that many Englishmen thought that it would be a task beyond the stupid and illiterate Boer to count it, much less to understand its significance. I will pander to the English conception of us and say, "We have seen them: they are a great big lot!" We had hardly moved three hundred paces from where we had crossed Holspruit, when the English, lined up about three hundred yards in front of us, and opened fire. We saw that they did not intend our flight to be an easy one. Before we had reached the "spruit,"[105] and while crossing it, the burghers had kept pushing ahead and crowds had even passed us, but the enemy's fire checked them and they wheeled round. Only the men under Commandants Ross, Botha, and Alberts did not waver. These officers and their veldtcornets with less than one hundred men stormed the nearest position of the enemy, who were occupying a fort on the brow of a steep bank. I shouted to my command: "Charge." I exerted all my powers of persuasion to arrest the flight of my burghers; even bringing the sjambok into the argument. Two hundred and fifty were all that I could bring back to the fight, whilst, as I have said, the Commandants had a hundred with them when they charged; the rest, regardless of my attempts to stop them, fled. I was also without my staff, some of whom had remained under the fire of the enemy awaiting my orders as to what was to be done with my little waggon. Others, amongst whom was my son Kootie, who was then acting as my secretary, had followed me, but had got lost in the confusion of the moment. This confusion arose from the fact that the burghers imagined that they had got through at the first attempt, but had found themselves again fired at from the front. Meanwhile, I hurried to and fro, encouraging the burghers in their attempts to break through. When thus engaged I came across two of my staff, Albertus Theunissen and Burt Nissey. To them I gave the order: "Get the waggon through at all costs." I also found my son, Isaac, and kept him with me. The English now were firing not only from in front but also on our right, and there was nothing for it but to clear a road for ourselves, and this we eventually succeeded in doing, and in about forty minutes had at last broken through. The enemy had dug trenches, thirty to forty paces from each other, which served as _schanzes_. In each of these trenches were placed ten to thirty men. They had also a Maxim-Nordenfeldt, which, at first, kept up a hot fire; but soon was silenced as the gunners were shot down. The rest of the troops retired with the gun, but had to leave the caisson behind them. It was evident to me from the way in which they fired that the English were retreating, and so I dispatched two men to tell the burghers, who had gone back, to come on; but this they did not do, thinking perhaps that they could discover a safer route on the following evening. This was short-sighted policy on their part, for the circle within which they were caught was daily becoming narrower, and it was plain that on the third day the enemy would be so close that all hope of escape would be gone. The two burghers did not return, and we went on without them, taking with us our wounded--twelve in number. Two of these, whose injuries were serious, had been placed by some of my staff on my waggon; one was Van der Merwe, a member of President Steyn's bodyguard; the other was a boy of thirteen years old, named Olivier. We hurried on, and came, shortly after sundown, to the farm called "Bavaria," on the Bothasberg. There Van der Merwe died. The boy had already been relieved from his sufferings. Thus, once again, the soil drank the blood of a child. Eleven of my men were left dead on the battlefield. We had to leave them there, for to recover their bodies might have meant the sacrifice of more lives. When the burghers and I forced our way through the storm of bullets, we had with us President Steyn, the Members of the Government, and the Rev. D. Kestell, minister of the Dutch Reformed Church at Harrismith. The greater part of the English, indeed all of them, so far as we could observe, remained, during the 24th, on the spot where we had left them. We found out, later on, that we had broken through their lines at the point where Colonel Rimington's force was stationed. The following day the columns departed. We then went to bury our dead, but found that the enemy had already done so. But as the graves which they had made were very shallow, we dug them deeper. During that night (the 25th) another force of burghers, to the number of about three hundred and fifty, broke through the English cordon. Our men only lost two killed, and eleven wounded. Besides those already mentioned, the burghers under General Wessel Wessels and Commandant Mentz were also among those who escaped of the two thousand troops surrounded by the enemy. With the others it fared but ill. The English closed in, and the circle became narrower and narrower. On the 27th of February, 1902--"Majuba Day"--Commandant Van Merwe and four hundred men fell into the hands of the enemy.[106] On that very day, in the year 1881, the famous battle of Majuba had been fought. Nineteen years afterwards, on the same day of the same month, we suffered a terrible defeat at Paardeberg, where we lost General Piet Cronje and a great force of burghers. And now the 27th of February had come round again, and this time it was the twenty-first anniversary of Majuba that we were celebrating. The day of our coming of age had thus arrived, if I may be allowed to say so. But instead of the Republics now attaining their majority--as they should have done, according to all precedent--_minority_ would have been a more fitting word to describe the condition in which we now found ourselves--for, through the losses which we had just sustained, we were _minus_ not only a large number of burghers, but also an enormous quantity of cattle, which ought to have served as food to our commandos and families, but which the enemy had captured. The cattle which had just been taken from us had formed the greater part of our cattle in this district. We had always been able, until now, to get them safely away; the unevenness of the veldt here was greatly in our favour. This time we could not. How am I to explain the inexplicable? _We had sinned--but not against England!_ [Footnote 102: We had heliographic communication between Elandskop and Blaauwkop, which formed a connecting link between Bethlehem and Lindley; and from Blaauwkop we had communication with Verkijkerskop. There was also heliographic communication between Bethlehem and Lindley, and Biddulphsberg, across the line of blockhouses.] [Footnote 103: "Rooije" is the Taal for "red."] [Footnote 104: In this I was correct. They contrived to break through where the enemy were more scattered.] [Footnote 105: Spruit--rivulet.] [Footnote 106: Also my son, Jacobus (Kootie). He has now returned from St. Helena, whither he had been sent as a prisoner, and we have met. He tells me that on the night when I broke through, he wanted to come with me, but was unable to do so, because his horse had been shot under him.] CHAPTER XXXV I go to the Transvaal with President Steyn On the 26th of February I went with the Government to Duminys Drift, on the Wilge River, and we thus found ourselves again at the farm of Rondebosch. The Government remained there for a few days, and then President Steyn decided to go into the western parts of the State, where Generals Badenhorst and Nieuwouwdt were then operating. He thought that if he absented himself from the north-eastern districts the English would cease their devastations in that part of the country, for it was well known that the enemy's concentration of forces was principally aimed at the President and myself. I, however, did not intend to follow his example, but, on the contrary, got myself ready to join the Heilbron commando. By March 22nd all my preparations were made, and I had, alas! to say farewell to my trusty friend--my little waggon! I saw that it must be relinquished--that I could not carry it about with me any longer. I left it at a farm, first taking out my documents and papers; I ordered these to be concealed for greater safety, in a cave on the farm of General Wessels. The clothes and ammunition of myself and staff had been hidden in this cave for some time. The following day I joined President Steyn, who told me that he wished me to accompany him in his march to the west. And although it did not agree with my own ideas--principally, because I did not want the enemy to think that I was running away from them--I consented to this plan, and the more willingly because it was some time since I had visited the western commandos. It was a long journey that lay before us, and I had only the clothes that I was then wearing. I would have sent for another suit had I not heard that the enemy were encamped close to the cave where our treasures lay hidden.[107] I had therefore to do the best I could with what I had. There was no clothing to be got in the western districts, so that when my present outfit was worn out, I should be compelled to put on "khaki"--although there was nothing I relished less than to rob a prisoner of war. We started out that same evening in the direction of the railway line. Our party consisted of about two hundred men, composed as follows: the President, with his bodyguard of thirty men, under Commandant H. Van Niekerk, the Government, Commandant Van de Merwe, of Vredefort, my staff and myself. Before daybreak we got through the Heilbron-Frankfort line of blockhouses without accident; and on the following night (March 5th) we crossed the railway line, between Wolvehoek and Viljoensdrift. Whilst we were occupied there in cutting the telegraph wires, the enemy fired a few rounds on us, at a distance of five hundred or six hundred paces. We approached nearer, and they then opened fire with a Maxim--but without doing any damage. We continued on our road, past Parijs and Vredefort, towards Bothaville, and we came upon a blockhouse line which extended from Kroonstad to the Vaal River. We rested for two days, to the north of Bothaville; during this time my scouts captured from the enemy eighteen horses, most of which were in good condition. On the night of March 12th we broke through the blockhouse line, some five miles to the west of Bothaville. When we were about fifty paces from the line, somebody to our left challenged us: "Halt! Who goes there?" He challenged us a second time, and then fired. At once seven or eight sentries fired upon us. Shots also were directed at us from the right. Nevertheless we cut through the barbed wire and crossed in safety, the firing still continuing, until we were about fifteen hundred paces on the far side of the line. Fortunately no one was hit. Having thus escaped from the last "White Elephant" that we should have to reckon with, the next obstacle to be encountered was the Vaal River. For the President, since we had crossed the Valsch River, had decided to visit De la Rey, in order to place himself under medical advice. His eyes had become very weak during the last fortnight or so, and he thought that Dr. Van Rennenkampf might be able to do something for them. Thus we had to cross the Vaal River. But we heard that there was a military post at Commandodrift, where we wanted to cross, and further, that all the other fords were occupied by the English. We should have been in a great difficulty had not one of our burghers, Pietersen, who knew this district thoroughly, brought us across the river by a footpath ford. We crossed on March 15th. The current was so strong that in places the horses were almost swimming; in other places the river-bed was strewn with huge boulders, over which our steeds had to climb. However, we all managed to get safely over, and arrived at Witpoort on the evening of the 16th. On the following day we joined General De la Rey. It was a most interesting occasion. We had a hearty reception, several impromptu "addresses" being presented to the President, who in turn spoke to the burghers with much fire and enthusiasm. They were already in the best of spirits, as they might well be, for their General had but recently won victories over Von Donop and Lord Methuen. Dr. Van Rennenkampf, having examined the President's eyes, said that he must remain for some time under his care. Accordingly I left President Steyn with De la Rey, and, on the third day after our arrival, set out with my staff to join General Badenhorst, who was then in the neighbourhood of Boshof. It was becoming more and more important that I should see Badenhorst and Nieuwouwdt, and discuss with them how best they might collect their forces, for I wished to be able to attack the first English column that should enter the western district of the State. I had received reports that, with the exception of the garrison at Boshof, the west, for the moment, was free from the enemy; and this information caused me no surprise, for I could well believe that they had just "packed up their trunks" in the north. On the 25th of March I joined General Badenhorst on the Gannapan,[108] thirty miles to the north-east of Boshof. I at once sent an express to General Nieuwouwdt, ordering him to come to me with all speed, and to bring about four hundred and fifty of his men with him. Meanwhile, General Badenhorst received instructions from me to get all his scattered commandos together.[109] Before there had been time for these orders to be carried out I received, on March 28th, a letter from President Steyn, giving me the following information: Mr. S.W. Burger, Vice-States President of the South African Republic, had written to President Steyn, saying that he was at Kroonstad, and that he wished to meet the Government of the Orange Free State. He also said that a copy of the correspondence between the Governments of the Queen of the Netherlands and of the King of England had been sent to him by Lord Kitchener. From this correspondence it appeared that the Netherlands Government (considering the condition of affairs to be exceptional, in that the Boers who were still fighting were unable to negotiate either with the British Government or with the Deputation in Europe) felt justified in offering to act as an intermediary. In this capacity they were prepared to ask the Deputation if they were willing--supposing that a safe conduct could be obtained from England--to go to South Africa, and discuss matters with the Boers, in order to be able subsequently to return to Europe, empowered to conclude a Treaty of Peace, which would be binding both in South Africa and in Europe. Lord Lansdowne, in the name of the British Government, replied that his Government highly appreciated the humane intentions of the Government of the Netherlands, but that they had made up their minds to abide by their former decision, and not to accept any foreign intervention. Further, that the Deputation could, if they wished, address a request for a safe conduct to the British Government, but that the matter could not be decided in England, until the precise nature of the request, and the grounds on which it was preferred, were fully understood. Lord Lansdowne also said that the British Government was not quite clear as to whether the Deputation still retained any influence over the Boer leaders in South Africa; that they thought that the power to negotiate for the Orange Free State lay with President Steyn, and, for the Transvaal, with President Burger; and that they considered that the most satisfactory arrangement would be for the leaders of the Boers to negotiate directly with the Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in South Africa, who had been ordered to transmit at once to the British Government any offers or proposals which might be made to him. Lord Lansdowne concluded by saying that, if the Boers wished to negotiate, it must be in South Africa, and not in Europe. For, if the Deputation were to go to South Africa, at least three months must elapse before anything could be effected, and, as hostilities must continue during this delay, much suffering would be caused. Vice-President Burger went on to say that when he received a copy of this correspondence he could only conclude that Lord Kitchener, indirectly at least, if not directly, was asking the Boer leaders to negotiate with him. Accordingly, he wrote to Lord Kitchener for a free pass, and, having obtained it, came with his Government by rail to Kroonstad. He now, accordingly, requested President Steyn to let him know when and where the two Governments could meet. He also intimated that he had written to Lord Kitchener, informing him that he wished--after consulting the Government of the Orange Free State--to make a Peace Proposal. President Steyn told me that when the Free State Government received this letter from President Burger, they had not been able to see their way to refuse what the latter asked, as the promise of a Peace Proposal had already been sent. They had regretted, however, that the Transvaal Government had made use of a safe conduct, and gone through the English lines--not that they had for one moment distrusted the Government--but simply because the proceeding had seemed to have been ill-advised. Nevertheless the Free State, finding itself not only obliged to discuss the matters in question with the Transvaal, but also, conjointly with the Transvaal, to make a Proposal to Lord Kitchener, had appointed a place of meeting in accordance with the request which had been addressed to it. This was what I learnt from President Steyn's letter. On the 5th of April the President received another letter from President Burger, arranging that the meeting should take place at Klerksdorp. A safe conduct for the President and Government of the Orange Free State was sent at the same time. [Footnote 107: Shortly afterwards I heard that it was Colonel Rimington's column who were encamped there. They discovered the cave, and removed the documents and wearing apparel, leaving me with only a suit of clothes--which I should have liked to preserve as a curiosity!] [Footnote 108: A salt lake.] [Footnote 109: Commandant Jacobsz was somewhere not very far from Kimberley; Commandant Bester, close to Brandfort; Commandant Jacobus Theron, near Smaldeel; Commandant Flemming, near Hoopstad; and Commandant Pieter Erasmus, near the Gannapan.] CHAPTER XXXVI Peace Negotiations General De la Rey, who, as a Member of the Transvaal Government, had to be present at the coming deliberations, accompanied the President to Klerksdorp, where they arrived on the 9th of April, and found the Transvaal Government already there awaiting them. The two Governments held their first meeting in the afternoon of the same day. The South African Republic was represented by:--Vice-States-President S.W. Burger; Commandant-General Louis Botha; Secretary of State F.W. Reitz; General De la Rey; Ex-General L.J. Meijer; and Mr. J.B. Krogh. Although not a member of the Government, the States-Procureur, L. Jacobsz, was also present. On behalf of the Orange Free State appeared:--States-President M.T. Steyn; Commander-in-Chief C.R. de Wet; Vice-Commander-in-Chief Judge J.B.M. Hertzog; States-Secretary W.J.C. Brebner; and General C.H. Olivier. It was decided that no minutes should be taken. Accordingly, I am only able to give a summary of the proceedings. The meeting having been opened with prayer, the Vice-President of the South African Republic said that the fact that Lord Kitchener had sent in a copy of the correspondence between the Governments of the Netherlands and England, was looked upon by himself and his Government as an invitation on the part of England to the two States to discuss the matter dealt with in that correspondence, and to see if peace could not be concluded. Before, however, the meeting could make a proposal, it would be necessary to hear what the state of affairs really was. Thereupon, firstly, Commandant-General Louis Botha, then I, and lastly, General De la Rey, gave a report of how matters stood. President Burger now asked whether an interview with Lord Kitchener should be asked for, and (in case Lord Kitchener acceded to this) what we were to demand, and what we should be prepared to sacrifice. He went on to ask President Steyn what he thought of the proposal which the Transvaal had made to the Free State Government in the October of the previous year. President Steyn answered that he was still of the same opinion as in June, 1901, when the two Governments had agreed to stand by Independence. If the English now refused to grant Independence, then the war must continue. He said that he would rather surrender to the English unconditionally than make terms with them. The remainder of the day was occupied in listening to speeches from State-Secretary Reitz and President Burger. On the following day the speakers were:--L.J. Meijer, J.B. Krogh, myself, State-Secretary Reitz, and Judge Hertzog. The last-named made a proposal, which was seconded by General C.H. Olivier. This proposal, after it had been subjected for revision to a Commission, consisting of the two Presidents, Mr. Reitz, and Judge Hertzog, was accepted on the following day. It ran as follows:-- "The Governments of the South African Republic and of the Orange Free State, having met, induced thereto by the receipt, from His Excellency Lord Kitchener, of the correspondence exchanged in Europe between the Government of His Majesty the King of England, and that of Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands, referring to the desirability of giving to the Governments of these Republics an opportunity to come into communication with their plenipotentiaries in Europe, who still enjoy the trust of both Governments: "And taking into consideration the conciliatory spirit which, as it appears from this correspondence, inspires the Government of His Britannic Majesty, and also of the desire therein uttered by Lord Lansdowne, in the name of his Government, to make an end to this strife: "Are of opinion that it is now a favourable moment to again shew their readiness to do everything possible to bring this war to an end: "And decide, therefore to make certain proposals to His Excellency Lord Kitchener, as representative of the Government of His Britannic Majesty, which may serve as a basis for further negotiations, having in view the achievement of the desired peace. "Further, it is the opinion of these two Governments that, in order to expedite the achievement of the desired aim, and to prevent, as far as possible, any misunderstanding, His Excellency Lord Kitchener should be asked to meet personally these Governments at a time and place by him appointed, so that the said Governments may lay before him Peace Proposals (as they will be prepared to do), in order that, by direct conversation and discussion with him, all such questions as shall arise may be solved at once, and also that this meeting may further and bring about the desired result." A letter was now written to Lord Kitchener (who was at Pretoria) enclosing the above Proposal, and signed by the two Presidents. In the afternoon the two Governments met again, to consider what proposals they should make to the British Government. After a lengthy discussion, it was decided, on the proposal of General De la Rey, seconded by States-Procureur L. Jacobsz, that the matter in hand should be entrusted to the Commission, which consisted, as I have already said, of the two Presidents, States-Secretary Reitz, and Judge Hertzog: and the next morning this Commission handed in the following report, which was accepted by the meeting:-- "The Commission, after having taken into consideration the wish of the meeting, namely, that proposals should be drafted (in connexion with the letter of yesterday, signed by the two Presidents, to His Excellency Lord Kitchener) for eventual consideration by His Excellency Lord Kitchener, proposes the following points:-- "1. The concluding of a Treaty of Friendship and Peace, including: "(_a_) Arrangements _re_ a Customs Union. "(_b_) " _re_ Post, Telegraph and Railway Union. "(_c_) Granting of the Franchise. "2. Demolition of all States Forts. "3. Arbitration in any future differences which may arise between the contracting parties; the arbitrators to be nominated in equal numbers from each party from among their own subjects; the said arbitrators to add one to their number, who is to have the casting vote. "4. Equal rights for the English and Dutch languages in the schools. "5. Reciprocal amnesty." The same morning a letter enclosing this proposal was sent to Lord Kitchener, after which Judge Hertzog and Commander Louis Botha addressed the meeting. After the latter had finished an address of great importance, General Wilson, who had the command at Klerksdorp, entered the room where the meeting was being held and stated that Lord Kitchener was prepared to grant us an interview, and that we could travel to Pretoria that very evening. Accordingly, on the evening of the 11th of April, we went to Pretoria, where, on the following morning, we met Lord Kitchener and handed in our proposal. Lord Kitchener wished for a proposal of a very different character from that of the two Governments; but as it would not have been proper for them to make any proposal injurious to Independence, the Presidents declared that they could not do so, and asked him to send to the English Government the proposal which they had already laid before him. Lord Kitchener at last acceded to this request, and the following telegram was accordingly sent to England: FROM LORD KITCHENER TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE. "PRETORIA, _April 12th, 1902_. "The Boer Representatives desire to acquaint His Majesty's Government with the fact that they entertain an earnest wish for peace, and that they, therefore, have decided to ask the British Government to bring hostilities to an end, and to proceed to formulate a Treaty of Peace. They are ready to accept an Agreement, by which, in their opinion, all future wars between them and the British Government in South Africa may be avoided. They think that this aim can be attained if provisions are made in relation to the following points:-- "1. Franchise. "2. Equal rights for the Dutch and English languages in Educational matters. "3. Customs Union. "4. Demolition of all the forts in the Transvaal and Free State. "5. Arbitration in case of future disagreements, and only subjects of the parties to be arbitrators. "6. Mutual amnesty. "But in case these terms should not be satisfactory, then they wish to know what terms the British Government will give them, so that the result which they all desire may be attained." On Monday, April 15th, Lord Kitchener sent to the two Governments a copy of the following telegram, which he had received from the Secretary of State:-- FROM SECRETARY OF STATE TO LORD KITCHENER. "LONDON, _April 13th, 1902_. "His Majesty's Government shares with all its heart in the earnest wish of the Boer Representatives, and trusts that the present negotiations will lead thereto. But they have already declared in the clearest manner and have to repeat that they cannot take into consideration any proposals which have as basis the sanction of the Independence of the former Republics, which are now formally annexed to the British Crown. And it would be well if you and Milner were to meet the Boer Representatives, and make this plain to them. You must encourage them to make fresh proposals which we will willingly receive." In this telegram, as the reader will have observed, the name of Lord Milner is mentioned. Up till now we were dealing with Lord Kitchener alone, but at our next conversation the first-named was also present. Both Representatives of the British Government insisted that we should negotiate with them, taking the surrender of our Independence for granted. We could not do so. We had repeatedly told Lord Kitchener that, constitutionally, it was beyond the power of our Governments to discuss terms based on the giving up of Independence. Only the nation could do that. Should however, the British Government make a proposal which had, as a basis, the temporary withdrawal only of the Independence, then we would lay this proposal before the nation. Thereupon the following telegram was drawn up and dispatched:-- FROM LORD KITCHENER TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE. "PRETORIA, _April 14th, 1902_. "A difficulty has arisen in connexion with the negotiations. The representatives declare that, constitutionally, they are not entitled to discuss terms which are based on the surrender of their independence, as the burghers alone can agree to such a basis. If, however, His Majesty's Government can propose terms by which their independence shall be subsequently given back to them, the representatives, on the matter being fully explained to them, will lay such conditions before the people, without giving expression to their own opinions." The reply to this was as follows:-- FROM THE SECRETARY OF STATE TO LORD KITCHENER. "LONDON, _April 16th_. "With great astonishment we have received the message from the Boer leaders, as contained in your cable. The meeting was arranged in accordance with their desires, and they must have been aware, from our repeated declarations, that we should not be prepared to consider any proposal based on the revival of the independence of the two South African States. We, therefore, were justified in believing that the Boer representatives had abandoned all idea of Independence, and that they would make terms for the surrender of the forces still in the Veldt. They now declare that they are not constitutionally in a position to discuss any terms which do not include the restoration of their Independence, but they ask what conditions would be made if, after consulting their followers, they should abandon the claim for Independence. This does not seem to us a satisfactory way of expediting the end of the hostilities which have caused the loss of so many lives and so much money. We are, however, as we said before, desirous of preventing any further bloodshed and of accelerating the restoration of peace and prosperity in the countries harassed by the war, and we empower you and Lord Milner to refer the Boer leaders to the offer made by you to General Botha more than twelve months ago, and to inform them that--although the great decrease which has lately taken place in the forces opposed to us, and also the further sacrifices involved by the refusal of that offer, would justify us in dictating harder terms--we are still prepared, in the hope of a lasting peace and reconciliation, to accept a general surrender in the spirit of that offer, with such amendments with regard to details as might be agreed upon mutually." It was quite self-evident that the Governments could not accept this proposal of the British Government, because by it the independence of the Republics would be sacrificed. President Steyn pointed out emphatically that it lay beyond our right to decide and conclude anything that would endanger the independence of the two Republics. The nation alone could decide on the question of independence. For this reason, therefore, we asked if we might consult the people, and it was agreed by Lord Kitchener and Lord Milner that we should go back to our commandos and hold meetings in every district, in order to learn thus the will of the nation. It was further agreed that at the meetings of the nation representatives should be chosen who, on the 15th of May, 1902, at Vereeniging, should inform the Governments what course the nation desired them to take. On the 18th of April Commandant-General Louis Botha, General De la Rey, and I left Pretoria, provided with a safe conduct for ourselves and for anyone whom we should appoint, and proceeded to our different commandos. I went first to the burghers of Vrede at Prankop, where I met General Wessel Wessels with his commandos on the 22nd of April. The nation was in a very miserable condition, suffering from the want of all necessaries, and living only on meat and maize, which food was also exceedingly scarce, and would only last for a few months more. Notwithstanding this, the burghers decided, to a man, that they would not be satisfied with anything less than independence, and that if the English would not accede to this they would continue to fight. Mr. Wessel Wessels, Member of the Volksraad, was elected as chairman, and Mr. Pieter Schravezander as secretary. The representatives chosen were Commandants A. Ross, Hermanus Botha, and Louis Botha (son of Philip Botha). My second meeting I held at Drupfontein, in the district of Bethlehem, on the 24th of April, with the burghers under the command of Commandants Frans Jacobsz, Mears, and Bruwer. Mr. J.H. Naude was made chairman, and Landdrost J.H.B. Wessels secretary. It was unanimously decided that independence had to be maintained, and Commandants Frans Jacobsz and Bruwer were chosen as representatives. The next meeting I held on the 26th of April, at Tweepoort Farm, with the commandos under General Michal Prinsloo. Mr. Jan Van Schalkwijk was chosen as chairman, and Mr. B.J. Malan as secretary. Here also the votes were unanimous, and General Michal Prinsloo, Commandant Rautenbach, and Commandant J.J. Van Niekerk were elected as representatives. After that on Roodekraal Farm. I met the burghers under Commandants Cilliers, Bester, Mentz, and Van Coller. The chairman was B.W. Steyn (Member of the Volksraad), and the secretary Mr. S.J.M. Wessels. Here again it was unanimously decided not to surrender the independence, and Commandants Mentz, Van Coller and Bester were the representatives chosen. The fifth meeting I held with the commandos under General Johannes Hattingh, on the 1st of May, on the Weltevrede Farm, under the chairmanship of Mr. Jan Lategan, Johannes C. Pietersen being secretary. As representatives we chose General Hattingh and Commandant Philip De Vos. The voting was unanimous that the independence should be maintained. On the 3rd of May I held my sixth meeting, with the commandos under General C.C. Froneman, at Schaapplaats. Mr. Jan Maree was chairman, and Mr. David Ross secretary. The result was the same as at the other meetings, and General Froneman, Commandants F. Cronje and J.J. Koen were chosen to represent the commandos. From there I went to Dewetsdorp, where I met, on the 5th of May, General George Brand's commandos. Mr. C. Smith acted as chairman, and Mr. W.J. Selm as secretary; the representatives chosen were General Brand and Commander J. Rheeder; and the burghers were equally determined to keep their independence. I went on to Bloemfontein, and thence by rail to Brandfort, and afterwards to the Quaggashoek Farm, where, on the 11th, I held my eighth meeting, with the commandos of C.C.J. Badenhorst. The chairman was Mr. N.B. Gildenhuis, and the secretary Mr. H.M.G. Davis. The elected representatives were General Badenhorst and Commandants A.J. Bester and Jacobsz. This was my last meeting, and it also decided on maintaining the independence. The commandos under the Commandants Van der Merwe and Van Niekerk (Vredefort and Parijs), Flemming (Hoopstad), Nagel (part of Kroonstad), and General Nieuwouwdt (Fauresmith, Philippolis, and Jacobsdal), were visited by Commander-in-Chief Judge Hertzog, Member of the Executive Council. At meetings held with these commandos the following representatives were chosen:--General Nieuwouwdt, and the Commandants Munnik Hertzog, J. Van der Merwe, C. Van Niekerk, Flemming, A.J. Bester, F. Jacobsz, H. Pretorius, and Veldtcornet Kritzinger. At these meetings also the burghers were unanimous in their decision not to give up their independence. I must add that Commandant H. Van Niekerk was chosen as representative of the bodyguard of President Steyn. It had been agreed with Lord Kitchener at Pretoria that if the chief officers of a commando were chosen as representatives, then there would be an armistice between this commando and the English during the time the officers were absent at the meeting at Vereeniging. It was also decided that Lord Kitchener should be informed of the date of the departure of such officers. This was done. I sent the following telegram on the 25th of April to Pretoria:-- "TO HIS EXCELLENCY, HEADQUARTERS, PRETORIA: "At meetings held in the districts of Vrede and Harrismith and in that part of Bethlehem east and north-east of the blockhouse lines of Fouriesburg, Bethlehem, and Harrismith, General Wessels and the Commandants were duly chosen as representatives. "I have decided that all the representatives shall leave their different commandos on the 11th of May, and therefore, in accordance with our mutual agreement, I shall expect an armistice to be granted to the different commandos from that date until the return of their commandants from the meeting at Vereeniging, on or about the 15th of May. "I should be glad to receive Your Excellency's sanction to my request that each Representative should have the right to take one man with him. "Your Excellency will greatly oblige by sending a reply to Kaffirsdorp in the district of Bethlehem, where I am awaiting an answer. "C.R. DE WET, General Commander-in-Chief, Orange Free State. BETHLEHEM, _April 25th, 1902_." To this I received the following answer from Lord Kitchener:-- "IMPERIAL RESIDENCY, PRETORIA, _April 25th, 1902_. "TO GENERAL DE WET, KAFFIRSDORP. "In answer to your message, I agree altogether with your demands that during the absence of the chosen Representatives from their commandos, from the 11th of May until their return, such commandos shall not be troubled by us. I also agree that every Representative, as you propose, shall be accompanied by one man. "I shall also be glad if you would send an officer, at least two days before the Meeting, in order to let me know about the number, and the necessary arrangements for the treatment of the Representatives at this Meeting. (Signed) "KITCHENER." On the 11th of May I sent a telegram to Lord Kitchener, in which I said that, as all my generals and chief officers had been chosen as Representatives, the armistice must begin on the 11th of May. The telegram was as follows:-- FROM GENERAL DE WET TO HIS EXCELLENCY LORD KITCHENER. "PRETORIA, _May 11th, 1902_. "The following chief officers have been chosen as Representatives for the commandos of the districts: Hoopstad, Boshof, and parts of Winburg and Bloemfontein,--districts to the west of the railway line. "1. General C. Badenhorst. "2. Commandant J. Jacobsz. "3. Commandant A. Bester. "It thus appears that all my generals and chief commanding officers are chosen as Representatives to attend at the Meeting of Vereeniging, on the 15th inst., and according to our mutual agreement at Pretoria, an armistice will be given from to-day (11th May, 1902) in all districts of the Orange Free State up to a date which shall be agreed upon after the close of the Meeting at Vereeniging. Any answer, previous to noon of the 11th inst., will reach me at Brandfort. "Commander-in-Chief, Orange Free State Armies." In answer to this I received the following telegram:-- "IMPERIAL RESIDENCY, PRETORIA, _May 12th_. "TO GENERAL DE WET, BRANDFORT. "I have given orders, according to our Agreement, that from to-morrow, the 13th inst., all commandos, whose leaders or chief officers have been chosen to attend the Meeting at Vereeniging, shall be exempted from being attacked by my columns during the absence of their leaders, in so far as such commandos withhold from offensive operations. But that does not imply that outposts cannot be taken prisoner in case they should approach our lines. "KITCHENER." It was rather surprising to me that Lord Kitchener, in this telegram, spoke only of an armistice beginning on the 13th of May, because in his telegram of the 25th he had agreed that there should be an armistice from the 11th of May. I heard also from officers of Heilbron, Vrede, and Bethlehem, whom I met, on the evening of the 14th of May, at Wolvehoek Station, that the English columns had operated in their districts on the 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th. My order was that my officers should not operate, but should retreat, if the enemy should unexpectedly operate on the 11th. On the above-mentioned dates houses were burnt down, cattle carried away, maize and other grain destroyed, burghers taken prisoner, and (in one instance) shot. Such a misunderstanding was very regrettable, and all the more so because we were never indemnified for the damage thus done. CHAPTER XXXVII The End of the War On the morning of the 15th of May, I arrived at Vereeniging with some of the Free State delegates. The others were already there, together with the thirty Transvaal delegates, Commandant-General Louis Botha and General De la Rey. In addition to the above, the following had also arrived: Vice-State President Burger, States-President Steyn, the members of the two Governments, and General J.C. Smuts (from Cape Colony). I was exceedingly sorry to find that President Steyn was seriously ill. For the last six weeks he had been in the doctor's hands; and, since his arrival at Pretoria, had been under the care of Dr. Van der Merwe, of Krugersdorp. This physician said that serious consequences might ensue if his patient were to attend our meetings, and advised him to go to his home at Krugersdorp, where he could be properly nursed. It was sad for us to receive this news immediately we arrived. We asked ourselves what we should do without the President at our meetings? At this moment he seemed more indispensable to us than ever before. President Steyn was a statesman in the best sense of the word. He had gained the respect and even the affection of us all. Of him, if of any man, it may be said that he never swerved from his duty to his country. No task was too great for him, no burden too heavy, if thereby he could serve his people. Whatever hardships he had endured, he had never been known to complain--he would endure anything for us. He had fought in our cause until he could fight no longer, until sickness laid him low; and he was worn out, and weak as a child. _Weak_, did I say? Yes! but only in the body--his mind was still as strong, as brave, as clear as ever. And thus it was that President Steyn was only able to be present on two occasions at our meetings; for, on the 29th of May--before the National Representatives had come to any decision--he went with Dr. Van der Merwe to Krugersdorp. As I write these lines--six months after the meetings at Vereeniging--and think that during all the intervening time he has been lying on a bed of sickness--I am cheered by the news which I received in Holland that hopes are now entertained of his ultimate recovery. The National Representatives began their important deliberations on the morning of the 13th of May, 1902. For three days we discussed the condition of our country, and then proceeded with Lord Kitchener and Lord Milner to Pretoria. This Commission was composed of Commandant-General L. Botha, Commander-in-Chief C.R. de Wet, Vice-Commandant-General J.H. De la Rey, Vice-Commander-in-Chief Judge J.B.M. Hertzog, and States-Procureur J.C. Smuts. The negotiations with the representatives of the British Government continued from the 18th to the 29th of May; and upon their conclusion the Commission communicated to the National Representatives the terms on which England was prepared to conclude peace. On May the 31st we decided to accept the proposals of the English Government.[110] The Independence of the two Republics was at an end! I will not attempt to describe the struggle it cost us to accept these proposals. Suffice it to say that when it was over, it had left its mark on every face. There were sixty of us there, and each in turn must answer Yes or No. It was an ultimatum--this proposal of England's. What were we to do? To continue the struggle meant extermination. Already our women and children were dying by the thousand, and starvation was knocking at the door--and knocking loudly! In certain districts, such as Boshof and Hoopstad, it was still possible to prolong the war, as was also the case in the districts of Generals Brand and Nieuwouwdt, where the sheep and oxen, which had been captured from the enemy, provided an ample supply of food. But from the last-named districts all the women and children had departed, leaving the burghers free to wander at will in search of food--to Boshof, to Hoopstad, and even into the Colony. In other parts of the Free State things were very different. In the north-eastern and northern districts--for instance, in Ladybrand, Winburg, Kroonstad, Heilbron, Bethlehem, Harrismith and Vrede--there were still many families, and these could not be sent to Boshof or to Hoopstad or to the Colony. And when, reduced to dire want, the commandos should be obliged to abandon these districts, their wives and families would have to be left behind--to starve! The condition of affairs in the Transvaal was no better. We Free-Staters had thought--and I, for one, had supported the view at Vereeniging--that, before sacrificing our independence, we ought to tell the owners of these farms, where there were still women and children, to go and surrender with their families, and thus save them from starvation. But we soon realized that such a course was not practicable--it would involve the loss of too many burghers. Moreover, even if, by some such scheme as this, we had succeeded in saving the women, we, who remained in the field, would still have been exposed to the dangers of starvation, for many of us, having no horses, could not have left want behind us, by removing to Cape Colony or some other equally prosperous region. In the large eastern divisions of the Transvaal also, there were many burghers without horses, while the poor jaded creatures that remained were far too feeble and exhausted to carry their masters into Cape Colony, without the certainty of being captured by the enemy. Our forces were now only twenty thousand in all, of which the Transvaal supplied ten thousand, the Free State six thousand, while the remainder came from Cape Colony. But our numerical weakness would not in itself have caused us to abandon the struggle had we but received encouraging news from the Colony. But alas! reports which we received from there left us no room for hope. No room for hope! that was the message of Vereeniging--a message which struck a chill in every heart. One after another we painted the destitution, the misery of our districts, and each picture was more gloomy than the last. At length the moment of decision came, and what course remained open to us? This only--to resign ourselves to our fate, intolerable though it appeared, to accept the British proposal, and to lay down our arms. Most bitter of all was the thought that we must abandon our brethren in Cape Colony and in Natal, who had thrown in their lot with ours. And many a sleepless night has this caused me. But we could not help ourselves. There was nothing else to do. And as things have turned out, may we not hope that the Cape and Natal Governments, following in the wake of the British Nation, will soon understand that the wiser course is to forgive and forget, and to grant as comprehensive an amnesty as possible? It is surely not unjust to expect this of these Governments, when one remembers that whatever the Colonists may have done, must be ascribed to the tie that binds them to us--the closest of all ties--that of blood. It is now for the two Governments to strive to realize the situation, and then, by granting a general amnesty, to promote, as far as in them lies, the true progress of South Africa. * * * * * On the evening of the 31st of May, 1902, the members of the Government of both Republics met Lord Kitchener and Lord Milner, in the former's house, at Pretoria. It was there that the Treaty of Peace--the British Proposal which the National Representatives had accepted--was now to be signed. It was a never-to-be-forgotten evening. In the space of a few short minutes that was done which could never be undone. A decision arrived at in a meeting could always be taken into reconsideration, but a document solemnly signed, as on that night, by two parties, bound them both for ever. Every one of us who put his name to that document knew that he was in honour bound to act in accordance with it. It was a bitter moment, but not so bitter as when, earlier on the same day, the National Representatives had come to the decision that the fatal step must be taken. On the 2nd June, 1902, the Representatives left Vereeniging, and returned every man to his own commando. It was now their sad duty to tell their brave and patient burghers that the independence which they cherished so dearly was gone, and to prepare them to surrender their arms at the appointed places. I left Pretoria on the 3rd of June with General Elliott, who had to accompany me to the various centres to receive the burghers' arms. On the 5th of June the first commando laid down their weapons near Vredefort. To every man there, as to myself, this surrender was no more and no less than the sacrifice of our independence. I have often been present at the death-bed and at the burial of those who have been nearest to my heart--father, mother, brother and friend--but the grief which I felt on those occasions was not to be compared with what I now underwent at the burial of my Nation! It was at Reitz that the commandos of Vrede, Harrismith, Heilbron and Bethlehem laid down their arms. Accordingly I went there on the 7th of June, and again had to be a spectator of what I fain would never have witnessed. Had I then to go on from commando to commando, to undergo everywhere the martyrdom of beholding ceaseless surrenders? No! I had had enough, and could bear no more. I decided, therefore, to visit all the other commandos, in order to acquaint the burghers with what had taken place, and to explain to them why we, however unsatisfactory the Peace Proposal was, had felt bound to accept it, and then to leave each commando before the men handed over their arms to General Elliott. Everywhere I found the men utterly despondent and dissatisfied. The whole miserable business came to an end on the 16th of June, when the burghers who had fought under Generals Nieuwouwdt and Brand, laid down their arms--the Nation had submitted to its fate! There was nothing left for us now but to hope that the Power which had conquered us, the Power to which we were compelled to submit, though it cut us to the heart to do so, and which, by the surrender of our arms, we had accepted as our Ruler, would draw us nearer and ever nearer by the strong cords of love. * * * * * To my Nation I address one last word. Be loyal to the new Government! Loyalty pays best in the end. Loyalty alone is worthy of a Nation which has shed its blood for Freedom! [Footnote 110: A complete report of the various proceedings in connexion with the conclusion of peace will be found in the Appendix of this book.] CORRESPONDENCE A LETTER FROM THE STATES-SECRETARY OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC TO THE BRITISH AGENT AT PRETORIA MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, PRETORIA, _9th October, 1899_. SIR,-- The Government of the South African Republic feel themselves compelled to again refer the Government of Her Majesty, the Queen of Great Britain, to the London Convention of 1884, concluded between this Republic and the United Kingdom, which in Article XIV. guarantees certain specified rights to the white inhabitants of this Republic, to wit:-- "All those who, although not born in this Country, yet abide by the laws of the South African Republic, (_a_) shall have full freedom to come with their families into, to travel in, or to reside in any part of the South African Republic; (_b_) shall be entitled to hold in possession their houses, factories or warehouses, shops, and allotments, either on hire or as their own property; (_c_) may transact their business, either in person or through agents, to their own satisfaction; (_d_) shall not be subjected to any other general or local taxation--with regard to their families or properties, or their commerce or trade--than those which shall be laid on the burghers of the said Republics." Our Government wishes also to draw attention to the fact that the above-mentioned rights are the only ones which Her Majesty's Government, in the above-mentioned Convention, has stipulated for the foreign inhabitants in this Republic, and that only contravention of these rights can give the British Government the right of diplomatic intervention; whereas, further, the adjustment of all other questions concerning the position, or the rights, of the foreign inhabitants under the said Convention is vested in the Government and National Representatives of the South African Republic; among the questions the adjustment of which comes exclusively under the authority of the Government and the Volksraad, are those of the Franchise and representation in this Republic. Although, therefore, the exclusive right of this Franchise and representation is indisputable, our Government has approved of discussing in a friendly way the Franchise and the representation with Her Majesty's Government; without, however, acknowledging by so doing any right thereto on the side of Her Majesty's Government. Our Government has also, by the wording of the already existing Voting Law, and the decision concerning the representation, always kept this friendly consultation in view. On the side of Her Majesty's Government, however, the friendly manner of these consultations has made way for a more threatening tone; and the minds of the people of this Republic, and of the whole population of South Africa, have been brought into a state of apprehension; and a state of unusual tension has been created by the action of Her Majesty's Government, in no longer abiding by the laws concerning the voting right, and the decision concerning the representation of this Republic; and lastly, as is expressed in your letter of the 25th of September, 1899, in breaking off all friendly communication, giving us to understand that Her Majesty's Government were about to formulate their own proposals for final arrangement. Our Government can see in the before-mentioned notification nothing less than a new violation of the Convention of 1884, which does not reserve to Her Majesty's Government the right of a one-sided adjustment of a question which belongs exclusively to the inner policy of our Government, and has been already settled by them. On the grounds of the tension, the considerable loss arising therefrom, and the interruption of business in general, which is caused by the correspondence on the Franchise and the representation of this Republic, Her Majesty's Government has not long ago insisted on a speedy adjustment, and finally, through your intervention, insisted on an answer--within forty-eight hours--(later on somewhat amended)--to your Memorandum of the 12th of September, which was answered by the Memorandum of our Government of the 15th of September, and by the Memorandum of the 25th of September, 1899; on which other friendly negotiations were interrupted, and our Government received notice that the proposal for final arrangement would be made within a short time; but although these promises were repeated, no such proposal has as yet reached our Government. When the friendly correspondence was still going on, a great increase of troops was made by Her Majesty's Government, which troops were drawn up in the neighbourhood of the frontiers of our Republic. Taking into consideration certain events in the history of our Republic, which events need not here be recited, our Government found themselves compelled to look upon the Army in the neighbourhood of the frontier as a threat to the independence of the South African Republic, because they were not aware of any circumstances which could justify the presence of such a force in South Africa and in the neighbourhood of their frontier. In answer to a question concerning this, addressed to His Excellency the High Commissioner, our Government received, to their great astonishment, the covert accusation that from the State of the Republic an attack on Her Majesty's Colonies was being arranged, and also a mysterious hint of coming possibilities, by which our Government were strengthened in their suspicion, that the independence of the Republic was threatened. As a measure of defence, they were, therefore, compelled to send a body of burghers to the frontiers in order, if required, to be able to resist such an eventuality. The unlawful interference of Her Majesty's Government in the inner policy of our Republic, in defiance of the London Convention of 1884, which interference consisted in the exceptional strengthening of troops in the neighbourhood of the Republic's borders, has thus created an unbearable state of affairs, of which our Government--not only in the interests of our Republic, but also in the interests of the whole of South Africa,--feel it their duty to bring to an end as speedily as possible, and consider themselves called upon to insist emphatically and energetically on an immediate conclusion of this condition of things, and to ask Her Majesty's Government to give them the assurance (_a_) that all points of mutual difference shall be adjusted by friendly arbitration, or by any other amicable way that may be agreed upon between our Government and that of Her Majesty; (_b_) that the troops on the frontiers of the Republic shall be recalled at once, and that all reinforcements which, after the 1st of June, 1899, have arrived in South Africa, shall be removed within a time agreed upon with our Government,--with the counter assurance and guarantee from our Government that no attack on, or hostilities against, any part of the possessions of the British Government shall be undertaken by the Republic during the further negotiations within the time which shall be agreed upon by the Government--our Government shall, in accordance with this, be ready to call back the armed burghers of the Republic from the frontiers; (_c_) that Her Majesty's troops, which are now on the high sea, shall not be landed in any of the harbours of South Africa. Our Government has to insist on an immediate and favourable answer on the above four points, and urgently requests Her Majesty's Government to give an answer in this spirit before, or on, Wednesday, October 11th, 1889, before 5 o'clock in the afternoon. They wish to add further, that in case, against their expectations, no satisfactory answer within this time should be received by them, that they, to their great sorrow, would be obliged to look upon the actions of Her Majesty's Government as a formal declaration of war, for the consequences of which they do not consider themselves responsible; and, in case further movements of troops should take place within the above-mentioned time in the direction of our borders, that our Government will be compelled to look upon this also as a formal declaration of war. I have the honour to be, etc., F.W. REITZ, _State-Secretary._ MR. CHAMBERLAIN'S TELEGRAMS:-- FROM MR. CHAMBERLAIN TO THE HIGH COMMISSIONER, SIR ALFRED MILNER. (Sent 7.30 p.m. _10th October, 1899_) "10th _October_, No. 7. The British Agent has, in answering the demands of the Government of the South African Republic, to say that, as the Government of the South African Republic have declared in their dispatch, that they will look upon a refusal to consent to their demands as a formal declaration of war, he has received orders to demand his passport." FROM MR. CHAMBERLAIN TO THE HIGH COMMISSIONER, SIR ALFRED MILNER. (Sent 10.45 p.m. _10th October, 1899_) "10th _October_, No. 8. The Government of Her Majesty has received with great sorrow the determined demands of the Government of the South African Republic contained in your telegram of the 9th of October, No. 3. You will, as an answer to the Government of the South African Republic, communicate to them that the conditions put forward by the Government of the South African Republic are of such a nature that the Government of Her Majesty cannot possibly think of taking them into consideration." CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE TWO PRESIDENTS AND LORD SALISBURY FROM THE STATES-PRESIDENT OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC AND THE ORANGE FREE STATE TO HIS EXCELLENCY LORD SALISBURY, LONDON. "BLOEMFONTEIN, _5th March, 1900_. "The blood and tears of the thousands who have suffered through this war, and the prospect of all the moral and material ruin which now threatens South Africa, render it necessary for both parties carrying on the war to ask themselves calmly, and in the faith of the Trinity, for what they are fighting and if the aims of both justify all this horrible misery and devastation. On this account, and with an eye to the assertion of several English Statesmen that the war was begun and carried on with the determined end to undermine Her Majesty's authority in South Africa, and to establish in the whole of South Africa a Government independent of Her Majesty's Government, we consider it our duty to declare that this War was only commenced as a measure of defence and for the purpose of obtaining a guarantee for the threatened independence of the South African Republic, and was only continued in order to ensure the indisputable independence of both Republics as Sovereign International States, and to obtain the assurance that the subjects of Her Majesty who have taken part with us in the war will not suffer the least hurt either in their lives or their possessions. On these conditions alone we demand, as in the past, to see peace restored in South Africa, and an end made to the wrong that now exists there. But if Her Majesty's Government has decided upon destroying the independence of the Republic, nothing remains to us and our people but to persist to the bitter end on the road now taken, notwithstanding the overpowering might of the British Empire, trusting that God, who has lit the inextinguishable fire of the love of liberty in our hearts, and in the hearts of our fathers, will not abandon us, but will fulfil His work in us, and in our descendants. "We hesitated to lay this declaration earlier before Your Excellency, because we were afraid that as long as the advantage was on our side, and our Army had in their occupation positions of defence far into the British Colonies, such a declaration would have hurt the feelings of the English nation; but now that the prestige of the British Empire may be considered to be restored, through the capture of one of our armies, and we are compelled by this to sacrifice other positions which our armies occupied, this difficulty is removed, and we can no longer hesitate to tell you, in the face of the whole civilized world, why we are fighting, and on what conditions we are prepared to make peace." FROM LORD SALISBURY TO THEIR EXCELLENCIES THE STATES-PRESIDENTS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC AND ORANGE FREE STATE. "LONDON, _11th March, 1900_. "I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Honour's cable, dated 5th March, from Bloemfontein, of which the purport is principally whether Her Majesty's Government will acknowledge the indisputable independence of the South African Republic and Orange Free State and treat them as Sovereign International States, and will offer to conclude the war on these conditions. "In the beginning of October of this year, there was peace between the Queen and the two Republics, under the Convention which then held good. There was a discussion carried on during a few months between Her Majesty's Government and the South African Republic, of which the purport was the amendment of very serious grievances under which English inhabitants suffered in the South African Republic. In the course of these negotiations, the South African Republic obtained the knowledge that Her Majesty's Government had made considerable preparations for war, and had taken steps to provide the necessary reinforcements for the English garrisons at Cape Colony and Natal. No inroad on the rights guaranteed by the Conventions had, until then, taken place on the English side. Suddenly the South African Republic, after having two days previously issued an insulting ultimatum, declared War on Her Majesty; and the Orange Free State, with which there had been no disagreement, took a similar step. Thereupon an inroad was made into Her Majesty's territory by the two Republics; three towns within the British frontier were besieged, a great part of the two Colonies was over-run, with great destruction of property and life, and the Republics claimed the right to treat the inhabitants of Her Majesty's territory as if this territory had been annexed by one of these States. The Transvaal having these actions in view, had for years stored up, on an enormous scale, military provisions, which could only have been destined for use against England. "Your Excellencies made some remarks of a negative nature concerning the aim for which these preparations were made. I do not consider it necessary to discuss the question which you have thus raised, but the consequences of the preparations, made in great secrecy, have been that the British Empire has found itself forced to repel an inroad which has brought on a costly war, and caused the loss of thousands of valuable lives. This great misfortune has been the punishment that Great Britain has had to undergo during the last few years for having suffered the two Republics to exist. Keeping in sight the use which the two Republics have made of the position presented to them, and the misfortunes which their unprovoked attacks on Her Majesty's territory have brought, Her Majesty's Government can only reply to Your Honour's telegram by saying that they are not prepared to acknowledge the independence either of the South African Republic, or of the Orange Free State." Appendix A REPORT OF THE MEETING OF THE GENERAL REPRESENTATIVES HELD AT VEREENIGING, IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC, ON THE 15TH OF MAY, 1902, AND THE FOLLOWING DAYS The first meeting of the representatives of the two Governments took place at 11.30 a.m. on May 15th. There were present:-- _For the South African Republic_--His Honour the President, S.W. Burger, F.W. Reitz, Commandant-General L. Botha, Messrs. J.B. Krogh, L.J. Meijer, L.J. Jacobs, and His Honour the Staats-Procureur. _For the Orange Free State_--States-President, M.J. Steyn; Judge, J.B.M. Hertzog; Secretary of State, W.J.C. Brebner; Commander-in-Chief, C.R. de Wet; and Mr. C.H. Olivier. The first matter discussed was the formula for the oath which the delegates were to take, and it was decided that it should run as follows:-- "We, the undersigned, duly swear that we, as special national representatives, will remain true to our people, country, and Government, and that we will serve them to the best of our ability, and fulfil our duties faithfully and with all necessary secrecy, as is the duty of all faithful burghers and representatives of the nation. So help us God." The question now arose as to whether the representatives had the right to decide, if circumstances rendered it necessary, upon any matter touching the independence of the country, irrespective of the powers given to the various delegates, for at some of the meetings the delegates had only received limited powers, whilst at others full authority had been given them to act according to their own judgment. After considerable discussion it was decided to lay the matter before the delegates themselves. The following representatives were called into the tent, and took the oath:-- _For the South African Republic._ 1. H.A. Alberts, Vechtgeneraal; for Heidelberg. 2. J.J. Alberts, Commandant; for Standerton and Wakkerstroom. 3. J.F. De Beer, Commandant; for Bloemhof. 4. C.F. Beijers, Assistant-Commandant-General; for Waterberg. 5. C. Birkenstock, burgher; for Vrijheid. 6. H.J. Bosman, magistrate; for Wakkerstroom. 7. Christiaan Botha, Assistant-Commandant-General; for Swaziland and the States Artillery. 8. B.H. Breijtenbach, Veldtcornet; for Utrecht. 9. C.J. Brits, Vechtgeneraal; for Standerton. 10. J.B. Cilluos, Vechtgeneraal; for Lichtenburg. 11. J. De Clercq, burgher; for Middelburg. 12. T.A. Dönges, Veldtcornet; for Dorp Middelburg in Regeeringswacht. 13. H.S. Grobler, Commandant; for Bethal. 14. J.L. Grobler, burgher; for Carolina. 15. J.N.H. Grobler, Vechtgeneraal; for Ermelo. 16. B.J. Van Heerden, Veldtcornet; for Rustenburg. 17. J.F. Jordaan, Commandant; for Vrijheid. 18. J. Kemp, Vechtgeneraal; for Krugersdorp. 19. P.J. Liebenberg, Vechtgeneraal; for Potchefstroom. 20. C.H. Muller, Vechtgeneraal; for Boksburg. 21. J.F. Naude, burgher; for Pretoria, late Commandant with General Kemp. 22. D.J.E. Opperman, Veldtcornet; for Pretoria. 23. B.J. Roos, Veldtcornet; for Piet Retief. 24. P.D. Roux, Veldtcornet; for Marico. 25. D.J. Schoeman, Commandant; for Lijdenburg. 26. T.C. Stoffberg, Landdrost; for Zoutpansberg. 27. S.P. Du Toit, Vechtgeneraal; for Wolmaransstad. 28. P.L. Uijs, Commandant; for Pretoria. 29. P.R. Viljoen, burgher; for Heidelberg. 30. W.J. Viljoen, Commandant; for Witwatersrand. _For the Orange Free State._ 1. C.C.F. Badenhorst, Vice-Commandant-in-Chief; for Boshof, Hoopstad, West Bloemfontein, Winburg, and Kroonstad. 2. A.J. Bester, Commandant; for Bethlehem. 3. A.J. Bester, Commandant; for Bloemfontein. 4. L.P.H. Botha, Commandant; for Harrismith. 5. G.A. Brand, Vice-Commandant-in-Chief; for Bethulie, Rouxville, Caledon River, and Wepener in the eastern part of Bloemfontein. 6. H.J. Brouwer, Commandant; for Bethlehem. 7. D.H. Van Coller, Commandant; for Heilbron. 8. F.R. Cronje, Commandant; for Winburg. 9. D.F.H. Flemming, Commandant; for Hoopstad. 10. C.C. Froneman, Vice-Commandant-in-Chief; for Winburg and Ladybrand. 11. F.J.W.J. Hattingh, Vice-Commandant-in-Chief; for the eastern part of Kroonstad, in the district of Heilbron. 12. J.B.M. Hertzog, Commandant; for Philippolis. 13. J.N. Jacobs, Commandant; for Boshof. 14. F.P. Jacobsz, Commandant; for Harrismith. 15. A.J. De Kock, Commandant; for Vrede. 16. J.J. Koen, Commandant; for Ladybrand. 17. H.J. Kritzinger, Veldtcornet; for Kroonstad. 18. F.E. Mentz, Commandant; for Heilbron. 19. J.A.P. Van der Merwe, Commandant; for Heilbron. 20. C.A. Van Niekerk, Commandant; for Kroonstad. 21. H. Van Niekerk, Commandant. 22. J.J. Van Niekerk, Commandant; for Ficksburg. 23. I.K. Nieuwouwdt, Vice-Commandant-in-Chief; for Fauresmith, Philippolis, and Jacobsdal. 24. H.P.J. Pretorius, Commandant; for Jacobsdal. 25. A.M. Prinsloo, Vice-Commandant-in-Chief; for Bethlehem in Ficksburg. 26. L.J. Rautenbach, Commandant; for Bethlehem. 27. F.J. Rheeder, Commandant; for Rouxville. 28. A. Ross, Commandant; for Vrede. 29. P.W. De Vos, Commandant; for Kroonstad. 30. W.J. Wessels, Vice-Commandant-in-Chief; for Harrismith and Vrede. The meeting now proceeded to choose a chairman, and the following were proposed:--J. De Clercq, C.F. Beijers, C.C. Froneman, W.J. Wessels, and G.A. Brand. The choice of the meeting fell on General C.F. Beijers, who called upon the Rev. Mr. Kestell to offer prayer. His Honour, S.W. Burger, now declared that the meeting was formally opened, and after the Chairman had spoken a few words, the representatives adjourned until three o'clock. When they reassembled, the Chairman requested President Burger to explain the objects for which the meeting had been called. Then the President spoke a few words of welcome to all; he expressed his sorrow for the absence of some who would certainly have been present had they not given their lives for their country. But still there were many left to represent the two Republics. "The difficulties which confront us," continued the President, "are like a great mountain, at the foot of which we have just arrived. Everything now depends on us who are assembled together here. It is impossible to deny that the state of affairs is very serious, and that the future looms dark before us. Our position requires the most careful consideration, and as there are sure to be differences of opinion, it will be necessary for us to bear with one another, and yet, at the same time, to speak our minds freely." The President proceeded to refer to the correspondence which had taken place between Holland and England. A copy of this correspondence had been sent, through Lord Kitchener, to the Governments of the two Republics. The opinion of the Transvaal Government (which was the first to receive the correspondence) was that advantage should be taken of this opportunity. It was proposed to ask Lord Kitchener to allow the Transvaal Government to meet that of the Orange Free State, so that they might discuss the desirability of making a peace proposal to England. The two Governments had accordingly met, and had corresponded with Lord Kitchener and Lord Milner. As a result of this, a letter, with the above correspondence annexed, had been sent to the various commandos. "We felt," continued President Burger, "that we had no power to surrender our independence, and that we were only justified in making such terms of peace as would not endanger our national existence. Whether it is or is not our duty to surrender our independence is a question that must be left to the decision of our people. And it is to represent the people that you are here. It is from your lips, then, that our Governments must learn the opinions of the two nations. It is clear enough that the English Government has no idea of allowing us to remain independent--it expresses surprise that we even dare to speak of such a thing. "You have now to report upon the condition of the country, and upon the circumstances in which your wives and children are placed. You have also to decide whether you are willing to make any further sacrifices. We have lost so much already that it would be hard, indeed, to lose our independence as well. But, although this matter is so near to our hearts, we must still listen to the voice of reason. The practical question, then, which we have to ask ourselves is, whether we are prepared to watch our people being gradually exterminated before our eyes, or whether we should not rather seek a remedy. "The Government can do nothing without the support of the nation. You, therefore, must determine our best course. For instance, if you come to the conclusion that we have exhausted every expedient, will you still continue the struggle? Are we not to desist until every man of us is in captivity, in exile, or in his grave? Again let me urge you to speak freely, and yet with consideration for the feelings of others. For myself, I can truly say that my spirit is not yet broken; but I would hear from you what the feeling of the people is." "At this point, however, a difficulty arises. Some of you, having only received limited powers from your constituencies, appear to think that you would not be justified in exceeding your mandates, while others have been authorized to act as circumstances may seem to require. But I do not think that this difficulty should be insurmountable. At least I beg of you not to allow it to cause any dissension among you. Let us all be of one mind. If _we_ are united, then will the nation be united also; but if we are divided, in what a plight will the nation find itself?" A letter was then read from the deputation in Europe, which had been written five months previously, and which had been brought through the English lines in safety. It contained little more than an assurance that our cause occupied a better position in Europe than it had ever done before. The Chairman then asked Commandant L. Botha to address the meeting. Complying with this request, the Commandant said that he wished to be assured, before anything further was done, that the fact that some of the representatives had been entrusted with limited powers, whereas others had been given a free hand, was not going to prove to be an insurmountable obstacle to united action on their part. To this Judge Hertzog replied that it was a principle in law that a delegate is not to be regarded as a mere agent or mouthpiece of his constituents, but, on the contrary (when dealing with public affairs), as a plenipotentiary--with the right, whatever his brief might be, of acting to the best of his judgment. States-Procureur Smuts concurred in this opinion, which appeared to satisfy both the Commandant-General and also all the other representatives, for no further allusion was made to the subject by anybody. Commandant-General Botha now made his report. In the districts of Vrijheid and Utrecht, he stated, the store of maize was so small that it could not last for more than a short time; but there was still a great number of slaughter-cattle. In the districts of Wakkerstroom there was hardly sufficient grain for one month's consumption. Two other districts had still a large enough number of slaughter-cattle--enough, in fact, to last for two or three months. In Ermelo, to the west and north-west of the blockhouses, and in Bethal, Standerton, and Middelburg, there was grain for one month. But the Heidelberg and Pretoria commandos had now, for the first time, no corn remaining for food. In the neighbourhood of Boksburg the only grain left was the old maize of the previous year, whilst there were no cattle at all in the district. When he had visited Boksburg he had found that the commandos had had no meat for three days. In the country between Vereeniging and Ermelo there were only thirty-six goats, and no cattle whatsoever. In the Wakkerstroom district, however, there were still a few slaughter-cattle. The horses were everywhere worn out and exhausted. They had been so constantly kept on the move, owing to the enemy's increasing attacks, they could now only cover the shortest distances. The Kaffir question was becoming from day to day more serious. At Vrijheid, for instance, there was a Kaffir commando which had already made several attacks upon the burghers. This attitude of the Kaffir population was producing a very dispiriting effect upon the burghers. The women were in a most pitiable state, now that the lines of blockhouses had been extended in all directions over the country. Sometimes the commandos had to break through the lines and leave the women behind alone; and when the burghers later on returned they would perhaps find that the women had been driven from their houses, and, in some instances, treated with atrocious cruelty. Referring to the numbers in the field, he said that there were, in the whole of the Transvaal, ten thousand eight hundred and sixteen men, and that three thousand two hundred and ninety-six of them had no horses. The enemy during the summer had taken many of the burghers prisoner; and since June, 1901, the commandos had diminished to the extent of six thousand and eighty-four men. The burghers thus lost to them had either been killed, or taken prisoner, or had surrendered their arms. The number of households was two thousand six hundred and forty. The Commandant-General concluded by saying that the three greatest difficulties with which they were confronted were their horses, their food supply, and the miserable condition of their women and children. Commander-in-Chief de Wet then spoke. He said he would leave it to the delegates who were officers to make reports. They had come from far and near, and knew exactly what the condition of things was. He, however, could state that the number of burghers in the Orange Free State was six thousand one hundred and twenty, of whom about four hundred were not available for service. The Basutos, he found, were more favourably inclined to the Boer cause than ever before. "General De la Rey," continued General de Wet, "like myself, does not quite know what task he has to perform here, but he thinks with me that the duty of making reports belongs to the delegates. However, he feels bound to state that in his divisions there is a great scarcity of everything. But precisely the same state of affairs existed there a year ago. And when his burghers were at that time without food--well, he went and got it for them." (Cheers.) General Beijers (Waterberg) then addressed the delegates, telling them that he would not detain them long. In Zoutpansberg, he stated, they had still a plentiful supply of food, for they were able to buy from the Kaffirs. At Waterberg the Kaffirs were neutral, but at Zoutpansberg they were getting out of hand. Yet, since no co-operation existed amongst them, they were not to be feared, and any uprising could easily be quelled. Besides this trouble, they had many difficulties to face, which were produced by horse-sickness and fever. As to the question of grain, there was food enough for the whole of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. But now the English were beginning to buy up the maize at £1 a sack. General Muller (Boksburg) reported that in his division the burghers had never suffered from hunger. He could still hold out for a few months more, as food could be obtained from the Kaffirs. There was, it could not be denied, a tendency to mutiny amongst the Kaffirs, but he did not think that this need cause any anxiety. He believed that he would be able to carry on operations until the end of the winter. General Froneman (Ladybrand) said that the condition of his divisions, namely Winburg and Ladybrand, gave no cause for uneasiness. There were still eighty families in the districts, but they were able to provide for all their necessities. The Kaffirs were peaceable and well disposed, and were of great service to the burghers, for whom they bought clothing in Basutoland. It was possible for the burghers, he considered, to hold out for more than a year. General Hattingh (Kroonstad) declared that in one part of the Kroonstad district there were still plenty of sheep and cattle, and that seed had been sown for next year's harvest. But another part of the district was entirely exhausted, and had to obtain its supplies from Bethlehem. General Badenhorst (Boshof) stated that he could report on the Boshof district and the parts of the Winburg and Bloemfontein districts to the west of the railway. There were enough cattle to last his commandos for years, even if they had no other food at all. Recently he had captured fifteen hundred head of cattle, and he was in a position to give assistance to other districts. Grain, however, was not so plentiful as it had been the previous year, but nevertheless there was still a large enough supply to permit him to send help to others. General Nieuwouwdt (Fauresmith) reported that his district was entirely devastated, and that for the last seven months there had been a dearth of all provisions; nevertheless, his burghers had contrived to live. There was, moreover, enough corn left to last them for another year. There were now only three women in the whole of his district. General Prinsloo (Bethlehem) declared that he would be telling a falsehood if he were to say that there was no food in his district. He possessed slaughter-cattle and corn, and could help other districts. One of his commandants had recently found a store of maize (consisting of one hundred and thirty sacks) buried in the ground. The enemy had made many inroads into his district, and especially during the last few months. The blockhouses were a source of constant annoyance to him. General Brand (Bethulie) reported upon the south-western part of the Orange Free State, where he commanded. There were some parts of his division, he said, which had been entirely laid waste. Everything had been carried off; there was not a sheep left; and the burghers had been without meat for days. But he was able to capture booty, and could still hold out for a year. General Wessels (Harrismith) drew attention to the constant passage of large Kaffir families through the districts of Harrismith and Vrede. He could tell the delegates that the Kaffirs had been quite astonished that there were still cattle and sheep and supplies of grain in the districts. He had not yet come to the end of his provisions; but, even if everything were taken, he saw a chance of obtaining food from elsewhere. Commandant C.A. Van Niekerk (Kroonstad) declared that if there was one part of the country which was entirely exhausted it was the part where he was in command, namely Hoopstad and a portion of Kroonstad. But yet, during the last twelve months, they had been able to obtain food, and even to sow for the ensuing year. There were no cattle in his district; but he had taken a thousand sheep and fifty-two cattle from the English. Commandant Van der Merwe (Heilbron) spoke to the same effect. General Smuts was the next to address the meeting. He began by saying that his expedition into Cape Colony had been the outcome of the advice which the deputation had given in July, 1901, namely to continue the war. That _he_ had been in command of it had come about in the following way. News had been received in the Transvaal that affairs in Cape Colony were taking a favourable turn, and accordingly General De la Rey had received orders to go thither, and to take over the command there. But afterwards it was thought wiser to annul these orders, because De la Rey could not well be spared from the western parts of the Transvaal. Owing to this, he (General Smuts) took the task upon his own shoulders, and crossed the Orange River with two hundred men. He had had a difficult task to accomplish. He had marched through Cape Colony to Grahamstad, and from thence he had pushed on towards the coast, through Graaff Reinet. Thence he had proceeded to the neighbourhood where he was now carrying on operations. He had visited every commando, and as he had seen that there were signs of disorder amongst them he had taken them all under his own command. In this way he had found himself at the head of some fifteen hundred men. During his expeditions Commandant Lotter had been captured with a hundred men; this had reduced his force to only fourteen hundred. But since then the number had nearly doubled, so that they now had two thousand six hundred men (divided into twenty commandos) under arms in Cape Colony. In addition to these men there was a division under General De Villiers operating in Griqualand West, and another under Commandant Van der Merwe in Bechuanaland. The total numbers of these two divisions amounted to about seven hundred men. Passing on to the question whether help was to be expected from Cape Colony, General Smuts declared that there would be no general rising. The reports which represented such a rising as possible had exaggerated matters. There were great difficulties in the way of a general rising. First, there was the question of horses--and in Cape Colony the want of horses was as great, if not greater, than in the Republics. Secondly, it was exceedingly difficult for Colonials to rise, for they knew that not only would they have to be _voetgangers_,[111] but also that if they were captured they would be very severely punished by the English. The scarcity of grass was also greatly against any such attempt. The horses had to be fed, and, as the enemy had forbidden any sowing, it was almost impossible to find food for them. A counter proclamation had indeed been issued by the Republics, but it had been of no avail. He was of opinion that the small commandos which had already been in Cape Colony had done the best they could. The question that now arose was whether the whole of their forces ought to be sent from the Republics into Cape Colony. He himself thought that there was an opening for them, but the difficulty was to find a method of getting them there. The existence of this difficulty, and the facts which he had brought before the delegates, had forced him to the conclusion that a general rising in Cape Colony was an impossibility. As to the continuation of the war and matters of that nature, they must naturally be settled by the Republics, and not by Cape Colony. The meeting was then adjourned until eight o'clock in the evening. * * * * * Upon its reassembling, Commandant Nijs (Pretoria, North) said that in that part of the district of Pretoria which lay to the north of the Delagoa Bay Railway there were still cattle enough to last for a considerable time, but that the store of grain would be exhausted within a fortnight. The number of horses also was insufficient. The district could muster one hundred and fifty-three mounted men and one hundred and twenty-eight _voetgangers_. In the division of Onderwijk, Middelburg, there were twenty-six mounted men and thirty-eight _voetgangers_. Commandant Grobler (Bethal) stated that in his district they had not been left undisturbed during the summer. Only a short time previously he had lost sixty-three men in an engagement, where he had been besieged in a kraal, out of which he, with one hundred and fifty-three burghers, had managed to escape. Bethal had been laid waste from one end to the other, and he had no provisions for his commandos. He had on his hands three hundred women and children; these were in a serious position, owing to the lack of food; some of the women had also been assaulted by Kaffirs. General Christiaan Botha (Swaziland) then reported on the condition of the Swaziland commando. They had no provisions in hand, and were simply living by favour of the Kaffirs. They had no women there. His commando of one hundred and thirteen men was still at Piet Retief. As there was no grain to be had, they were compelled to go from kraal to kraal and buy food from the Kaffirs, and this required money. Yet somehow or other they had managed to keep soul and body together. "I have fought for the Transvaal," he concluded, "for two and a half years, and now, since I hear that there is food in the Free State, I shall fight for the Free State for two and a half years more." General Brits (Standerton) said that he had still provisions for two months, but no cattle. He had sixty-five families with him, and found it very difficult to provide them with the necessaries of life. Altogether, things were in a most critical state. Mr. Birkenstock (Vrijheid) spoke as follows: "I shall go deeper into some of the points which the Commandant-General has brought forward in his general report of the matter. At Vrijheid we have been harassed by large forces of the enemy for six or eight months, and the district is now completely devastated. The presence of women and children causes great difficulty, for of late the English have refused to receive the families which, compelled by absolute famine, wished to take refuge with them. There is also continual danger from the Kaffirs, whose attitude towards us is becoming positively hostile. Both horses and grain are scarce; but as far as the latter is concerned there will be sufficient, provided that the enemy does not return. One morning recently a Kaffir commando, shortly before daybreak, attacked a party of our men, who lost fifty-six killed out of a total of seventy. That peace must be made at all costs is the opinion of all the families in my district, and I feel it my duty to bring this opinion before you." Commandant Alberts (Pretoria and Middelburg) said that his burghers had had no rest for a year, and that during that period no ploughing or sowing had been done in the district. Consequently a commando would not be able to find the means of subsistence there. On three occasions he had been forced to take refuge in a kraal, but fortunately had always been able to make his escape. They had no cattle which they could use for food, although he had received some, through Commandant Roos, from the Free State. Their horses were in the worst possible condition. Landdrost Bosman (Wakkerstroom) then gave an account of the condition of affairs in his district. They were dependent for everything, except meat, upon the Kaffirs, giving them meat in exchange. This year there had been a very poor crop of mealies, and, such as it was, it had been much damaged by the enemy. Still the burghers might manage, with what mealies they had, to last out for another two months; but the women and children also needed to be provided for. The cattle were beginning to run short, and the few horses that they had were so weak that they would require a fortnight's rest before they could be used. It might become necessary for the commandos to leave the district, and if so, what was to become of the families? Mr. De Clercq (Middelburg) regretted that he was unable to give as cheery a report as some of the gentlemen present had done. The part of Middelburg which he represented was in an almost hopeless condition. There were no slaughter-cattle, and only enough grain to last for a very short time. Out of five hundred horses only one hundred now remained, and these could do no work, being too weak even to get away when it became necessary to retreat from the enemy. The state of the burghers was very discouraging; if they should be compelled to leave the district the question would arise whether, considering the condition of their horses, it would be possible for them to reach their new destination. There were fifty families in Middelburg, and things were going very badly with them. The district would have to be abandoned, and what would then be the fate of the families, which even now could only be scantily provided for? The women had wished to go on foot to the English, but he had advised them to wait until the results of the present negotiations should become known. Commandant David Schoeman (Lijdenburg) said that although but a short time ago there had been eight hundred head of cattle in his district, they had now all been carried off. Grain there was none. Should fighting be continued, he was at a loss to know how he could provide for the women. Commandant Opperman (Pretoria, South) reported on that part of the Pretoria district which lies south of the line. What he said agreed substantially with the report of Commandant Alberts. (See page 343.) Commandant Liebenberg (Potchefstroom) stated that during the last eight or nine months blockhouses had been erected in his district. All that was now left to him was a strip of country about twelve miles long; here he could still exist. A good deal of seed had been sown, but the crops had of late fallen into the hands of the English. The grain was altogether spoilt; some of it had been burnt, the rest trodden down by the horses. There were ninety-three households in his district. Between Lichtenburg and Potchefstroom there were some women from the Orange Free State who were reduced to the most dire straits. They had told him that if things did not improve they intended to go on foot to Klerksdorp, and he had replied that they must wait for the result of the negotiations. He had still four hundred mounted men, in addition to one hundred _voetgangers_. He could hold out for a short time longer, and then would have to look for some way out of his difficulties. General Du Toit (Wolmaransstad) said that there were five hundred families in his district, but little enough for them to live on. Though his horses were weak, he would be able to save himself by strategy if he should get into a tight corner. His commandos were small--only four hundred and fifty mounted men. The cattle were in good condition, but grain was scarce. Commandant De Beer (Bloemhof) had still under his command as many as four hundred and forty-four mounted men and one hundred and sixty-five _voetgangers_. Both grain and cattle were scarce, but then Bloemhof had never possessed many head of cattle. So far the families had not suffered from want. He would be able to hold out for another year. General Kemp reported that he had under him Krugersdorp, Rustenburg, and parts of Pretoria and Johannesburg. In the district of Krugersdorp no more sowing was possible, and the majority of cattle had been carried away. Yet there was no want. Why should he lack for anything when he was in possession of a great "commissariat" extending as far as the Zoutpansberg, where General Beijers was in command? He took what he wanted from the Kaffirs--it was not their property; he was only taking back what really belonged to the burghers. Commandant-in-Chief de Wet here asked why the eastern divisions of the Transvaal could not do like General Kemp, and take what they required from the Kaffirs? General Kemp replied that the fact that in the eastern parts the Kaffirs were united with the English made the difference. The Kaffirs there, he said, gave all they looted to the English, who then sold them the cattle back again. If then cattle were taken in those parts, it would be cattle which was really the property of the Kaffirs. Moreover, the Zulus were Kaffirs of a different sort to those with which he (the General) had to deal. General Botha also had said that among the Kaffirs in the Eastern Transvaal there were not to be found any cattle belonging to the burghers. Mr. J.L. Grobler (Carolina) had not as yet had to complain of any lack of cattle or grain in his district. The English, however, by their system of blockhouses, had cut the burghers off from the greater part of the crop. If nothing happened, the newly-sown crops ought to produce a good harvest; but he did not like the temper of the Kaffirs. His men could still hold out for another six or seven months. The three hundred horses still remaining to them were in a weak condition; such as they were, there was not one apiece for the burghers. Mr. J. Naude (Pretoria) said that he represented a part of Pretoria and General Kemp's flying column. In his district sowing and harvesting went on as usual. There were fortunately no women and children. Although the commandos had not a superabundance of cattle, yet no one lacked for any of the necessaries of life. The meeting was then closed with prayer, and adjourned until the following morning. [Footnote 111: Infantry.] FRIDAY, MAY 16TH, 1902. The meeting opened with prayer a little after nine a.m. The correspondence which the two Governments had addressed to the burghers, in order that it might be communicated to their representatives at one of these meetings, was first read. It was then debated whether the meeting should request Lord Kitchener to put it into communication with the deputation in Europe. After speeches _pro_ and _con_, it was decided not to do so. Thereupon General Froneman proposed the following resolution: "This meeting is of opinion that the Governments should be asked in the first place to thank His Majesty the King of England and Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands, through Lord Kitchener, for the efforts which (as appears from the correspondence between the said Governments) they have made to set on foot negotiations for peace; and, in the second place, to express to them the regret of this meeting that His Majesty's Government has not accepted the proposal of Her Majesty's Government that the representatives of the two Republics now in Europe (who still enjoy the full confidence of their fellow-countrymen) should be allowed to return home, and also that Lord Kitchener has declined a similar request addressed to him by the Governments of the two Republics." This proposal was seconded by Commandant Flemming, and carried. After another proposal, made by H.J. Bosman, and seconded by J.L. Grobler, had been rejected, the correspondence referred to above came under discussion. The first speaker was Mr. P.R. Viljoen, who spoke as follows: "We can apply to our own country those words of Scripture, 'The place whereon thou standest is holy ground.' The soil on which we are now standing, wet as it is with the blood and tears of our forefathers and also of the many who have fallen in this present struggle, may well be regarded as 'holy ground.' "That we should ever have to surrender this country is a horrible thought. Yet it must be faced. It is certain at least that many districts must be abandoned, for the enemy is doing his utmost to collect us together at a few isolated places, where he will be able to concentrate his forces upon us. "From the reports which we have received it appears that the state of affairs in the Orange Free State is still hopeful. Not so in the Transvaal. There our prospects are of the gloomiest. "My opinion is that we must endeavour to bring this war to an end. If there was the least chance of our being able to maintain our independence, we would still fight on, and not even the bitterest sufferings would appear unendurable. But have we any such chance?--that is the question which we have got to answer. "We know nothing, it will be said, of the present state of affairs in Europe, for the report from our deputation, which has just been read in your presence, is six months old. Nevertheless, if anything favourable to us had occurred since then, we must have heard of it by now. "It is evident that we must endeavour to obtain peace on terms honourable to ourselves. But how are we to do so? By keeping our independence in view when making terms with the enemy, you will answer. Nevertheless, I think it would be advisable for us to commission our Governments to ask the English Government once more what concessions it is prepared to make to us on condition of our surrendering our independence. Until we know this we can come to no final decision. "Though it is a bitter thing to have to say, yet I feel it my duty to tell you that I honestly believe it to be impossible for us to carry on the war any longer." Mr. De Clercq then addressed the meeting in the following words: "The question before us is, whether or not the war can be continued? To answer it, we must look forward into the future. We must ask ourselves what consequences will ensue from a continuance of hostilities, and what will be the result of their cessation. "We have only fifteen thousand men against the enemy's quarter of a million. Our food and horses are scarce, and we have other difficulties besides these. It is impossible to go on with the struggle. "Nevertheless, if I believed that to do so would give us a chance of retaining our independence, I also would be ready for further sacrifices. But as it is impossible to retain our independence, surely we shall only be storing up misery for the future if we continue fighting until every man of us is a prisoner or in his grave. I am of opinion that our most reasonable course is to save what is still left to us--our existence as a nation. It is not too late to save it now, but who can tell what the future holds in store for us? If we are to be still further reduced in number, we shall soon cease to exist as a nation. Can it be right to sacrifice a nation which has fought as the African nation has done?" Commandant Rheeder (Rouxville) then spoke as follows: "I know that the times are very dark, but still there are some rays of light. You have been asked whether you will continue fighting until you are exterminated. But there is another alternative. Will you not continue fighting until you are relieved? I maintain that our independence must be a _sine quâ non_ of any negotiations that we make--we cannot give it up. So long as we have life we must continue to fight, and we must only lay down our arms when relief arrives." General Kemp now rose to his feet. "I am fully aware," he said, "of the very serious position in which we are placed. Yet, when the war began, the position was no less grave. We must continue our resistance. When we recall to our minds how much this war has cost us, and what rivers of blood have flowed, we feel that it is impossible to surrender. As far as I am concerned, unless relief comes, I will fight on till I die. "But one should not look only at the dark side of the picture. It is true enough that in some districts food is scarce, but there are none in which it is absolutely unobtainable. The districts threatened by famine must be abandoned--that is the way to deal with the difficulty. "It has been pointed out that a large number of our men have been killed or taken prisoners. This fact, however, only fills me with courage. A cause that has cost us so dearly must never be forsaken. To own ourselves beaten would be to dig a grave for the African nation, out of which it would never rise. Why should we lose our trust in God? Up to this moment He has aided us, and He will always be our Helper." Vice-Commandant Breijtenbach (Utrecht) then spoke as follows: "The burghers whom I represent have told me to inform them, when these deliberations have come to an end, whether a continuation of the war is possible, and if it be possible, how it is to be accomplished. If I cannot assure them that we are able to continue the struggle, the men of Utrecht will not fight any more. As you know, I can give them no such assurance. "There are ten districts in the Transvaal which are unable to fight any longer. It surely is not proposed to leave these districts in the lurch! We must not only consult our sentiments, but also our reason. And what does the voice of reason say? This--that the continuation of the war is an impossibility. Should you decide now to continue the war, you would have to start a fresh campaign; and you know that that is beyond our powers. "A previous speaker has referred to the help of the Lord, but who is able to fathom His counsels? Yet we can understand the answer God has given to our prayer--that prayer which we offered with the Mausers in our hands when the war began. And what was the answer we received ... I leave it to you to reply. "Yes, we must use our reason. If we continue the struggle we give the death-blow to our existence as a nation. We have been told that there are ten districts that cannot go on fighting. Are we going to say, 'We will continue the struggle and leave these districts to their fate'? No! We must save what we can." General Liebenberg then spoke. "I am able to give my support," he said, "to all that has fallen from the lips of Messrs. Viljoen and De Clercq. It cannot be doubted that the future is very dark. Yes, we can only trust in God, and use our reason to the best of our ability. I have been commissioned by those whom I represent to retain our independence if possible, and if it be not possible to make peace on the best terms that we can get." Commandant Uijs was the next speaker. He explained that if the war were to be continued he would have to leave his district and abandon the women and children to the mercy of the Kaffirs. He could see a chance of saving the mounted men if only he could feel certain that they would all follow him, but the case of the women and children would be hopeless. A serious difficulty confronted the delegates, and it was with them, and no longer with the Government, that its solution rested. Never before had he been called upon to face so gigantic a task. It was not the time now to criticize one another, but to practise mutual forbearance. The Bible had been quoted by one of the speakers, but let them not forget the text in which the king is spoken of who calculated whether he was strong enough with ten thousand to encounter him who marched against him with twenty thousand. Then there was the question as to the disposal of the widows and orphans. What was to become of them if the burghers, by refusing to come to terms with the enemy, should no longer be able to act as their mutual protectors? Let them make no more widows and orphans, but let them open their eyes and recognize that the hand of God was against them. The next business was the reading of two letters--one from General Malan and the other from General Kritzinger. Malan reported on his doings in the Cape Colony, while Kritzinger advised that the war should be discontinued. General Du Toit then spoke, emphasizing the responsibility of the delegates and the importance of the occasion. He went on to say that he represented a part of the nation which had suffered very severely, but which nevertheless had commissioned him to stand up for independence, if by any means it could be retained; if he failed in this, he was to take whatever course seemed best to him. In his district the burghers were not reduced to such a pass as to oblige them to surrender, but the condition of other districts must also be taken into consideration, and if it appeared that the war could not be continued, the delegates must get the best terms they could. In their demands they must be united--this was the principal reason why dissension was so much to be avoided. For himself, he could only say that whether the meeting voted to continue the war or to bring it to a conclusion, he would fall in with the wishes of the majority. Any decision would be better than the failure of this conference, as that would leave everything undecided. He was followed by Secretary of State Reitz, who said: "You all know what the Governments have done. The question now is, Is there anything further that we can do? For my part, I think that there is. We might offer to surrender Witwatersrand and Swaziland; we might also relinquish our rights to a foreign policy; we might even accede to an English Protectorate. If France has been able to do without Alsace and Lorraine, surely we can do without the goldfields. What benefit have they ever done us? Did the money they brought ever do us any good? No! rather it did us harm. It was the gold which caused the war. It is then actually to our advantage to cede the goldfields, and moreover by so doing we shall be rid of a very troublesome part of our population." Mr. Reitz then went on to discuss in detail the position in regard to Swaziland, the question of a British Protectorate, and the surrender of our right to treat with foreign powers. General Muller (Boksburg) expressed sympathy with the views of the Secretary of State, while Vice-Commandant Roux (Marico) said that he was prepared to sacrifice many things, but that he intended to hold out for independence. The next speech was made by Landdrost Stoffberg (Zoutpansberg), who said: "I agree with General Du Toit in what he said about the necessity for unity amongst us. Disunion must not be so much as mentioned. I have a mandate from the burghers of Zoutpansberg not to sacrifice our independence. But if anything short of this will satisfy the English, I am quite prepared to make concessions. Some of the burghers think that it might be well to surrender the goldfields for a certain sum of money, while others point out that the gold was the cause of the war. I also think that we have suffered through the gold, and that we might give up the goldfields without doing ourselves any harm. For what has the gold done for us? It has enriched us, many will say. Yes! but it has also been a stumbling-block to many a man. And is it not better to be a poor but independent nation than to be rich and at the same time subject to another Power. Let the goldfields go. We shall still, with our markets, be rich enough." Commandant Mentz (Heilbron) then rose. "I appeal to the forbearance of the delegates," he said, "for making any speech at this meeting. I fear I am unable to give as rose-coloured a report as my brother Free-Staters have done: My district has been continually harassed by the enemy's troops, and great devastation has been wrought. But the greatest trouble I have is the presence of so many families, for there are still two hundred in the district. I have only eighty burghers under my command, and it is clear to me that I shall soon be obliged to leave the district. What will then become of these families? I received a commission not to sacrifice our independence. But since my burghers met more than half of them have been made prisoners. The remainder have instructed me to do my best to preserve our independence, but if I find that it cannot be maintained to act according to my own judgment. It appears to me that it may be possible to retain our independence by ceding some part of the country; if this be the case it ought most certainly to be done. I can remember the late President Brand saying in connexion with the diamond fields, 'Give them up; you will gain more by giving them up than by keeping them.' This remark may well apply to the present situation." Commandant Flemming (Cape Town) reported that his district was well-nigh devastated. But they still possessed a fair number of cattle, which they had carried away with them. But even if they had no cattle, that would be no excuse for surrender, for in his district it was possible to live on the game. The view which he and his burghers had taken was that since they had already sacrificed nearly everything they possessed, they would not now sacrifice their independence. For should this also be lost, then there would be nothing left to them. That had been their opinion, but they had not then known how matters stood in the Transvaal. Now that he was aware of the state of affairs, he agreed with State Secretary Reitz that their best course was to cede a part of their territory. Vice-President Burger now rose from his seat, and said: "This meeting has to formulate a fresh proposal to the English Government, and to await its answer. If this proposal be rejected, well, you will be no worse off than you are at present. If there be a man who has earnestly considered what the sacrifice of everything means to us, then I am that man. It has been said, we must retain our independence, or else continue to fight; and we are still able to hold out for another six months, or even a year. Now, supposing that we can hold out another year, what should we gain by doing so? Why, we should only grow weaker, whilst the enemy grew stronger! I emphatically state that the war cannot be carried on any longer; and I ask if there is any man here who can maintain with a clear conscience that the struggle can be successfully continued. "Some of you may tell me that complications may arise in Europe. But that is a groundless hope. Others may say that it is astonishing enough that we have been able to hold out till now, and that we still have the power of making our voices heard. Yes! that is very surprising; but shall we retain this power long? I heard some delegates say, 'We shall fight till we die!' That is a manly sentiment. But was it not, perhaps, prompted by a desire to make a fine speech, which would go down to posterity? Was not the aim in some cases that future generations might recall these speeches when they were told of the brave fight our men had made? "Let every one consider this well: Is he prepared to sacrifice the nation on the shrine of his own ambition? Ambition, although it may cost us our lives, can never lead to martyrdom. A martyr is made of finer stuff! "Have we not arrived at the stage of our history when we must pray, 'Thy will be done'? That prayer, considered rightly, is a prayer of faith. Do not let us imagine that we can compel God to do _our_ will--that is not faith. "I beg of you to consider what will become of the women and the children and the banished burghers if you still persist until your last shot has been fired. What right shall we have to intercede for these unfortunate ones when we have rejected the proposals of the English Government? We shall have no right whatsoever. "Perhaps it is God's will that the English nation should oppress us, in order that our pride may be subdued, and that we may come through the fire of our troubles purified. "My opinion is that we should make a peace proposal to England, yielding as much as we rightly can; and if England rejects our proposal, it will be time enough then to see what other course is open to us. "There is one fact which we cannot allow ourselves to forget. There are ten districts in the Transvaal which must be abandoned. In the Free State, too, there are districts in a similar plight. It is the opinion of lawyers that so long as the inhabitants remain in a district their property cannot lawfully be confiscated; but if the district be abandoned, then confiscations can take place. "It is criminal to say, 'Come what may, we will fight till everything is lost and all of us are dead!'" The following resolution was then proposed by General Kemp, and seconded by Mr. J. Nand: "_This meeting decides, in order to expedite the work in hand, to depart from the original programme; and to constitute a Commission, to be composed of the Hon. Jacob Smits and the Hon. Judge Hertzog, and to give this Commission authority to draw up, conjointly with the two State Presidents, a draft proposal, to be laid before the delegates to-morrow morning._" This resolution was put to the meeting, and accepted by the delegates. The meeting then adjourned. * * * * * At half-past seven in the evening the delegates reassembled. General Cilliers (Lichtenburg and Marico) was the first to make a report. "In my division," he said, "things are in a very favourable condition. Yet we are bound to take the other divisions into consideration. My burghers said to me, 'Stand firm for independence!' But when they gave me the order they did not know about the condition of the other districts. Will those other districts--such of them, I mean, as are in a worse predicament than ourselves--be able to co-operate with us in continuing the war? Some of them have already answered my question in the negative. Must we then not ask ourselves, What will be the best for the nation as a whole? Shall we say continue the war, or shall we approach the enemy and make a proposal? "But are we really justified in prolonging the struggle, and making still further sacrifices? Some will answer, 'Yes, for we have a God in whom we have trusted from the beginning; shall we not continue to trust in Him who has worked such wonders for us already?' But I have heard a brother say, 'God's hand is against us.' It was bitter to hear these words from him, and for myself I will have none of them. My vote is given here and now for a continuance of the war. "But we must hear what the rest of the delegates have to say, and if they can point out some other way by which we can retain even a portion of our national independence, we must be ready to follow it." General Froneman next addressed the meeting. "I fear," he began, "that too much is being made of the condition of my division: things are not so prosperous with us as some here appear to imagine. But for all that, my burghers are for nothing short of absolute independence. They cannot forget the blood which has already been spilt in our cause. They mean to hold out until they are relieved. "I sympathize deeply with those districts that are less happily circumstanced than my own, but it pains me to discover that there are some here who doubt that God is for us. For what has supported us up till now save faith in God?--the faith of those who first prayed God to prevent the war, and then, when they saw that this was not His will, fought like men, putting all their trust in Him. "Up till now the Lord hath been my helper; the enemy has cut us off from everything, and yet we see our two little Republics still full of hope, still holding out." He concluded his speech by saying that he would like to hear the opinions of Generals Botha, De Wet, and De la Rey. They ought to be able to throw much light upon the matter. Commandant General Botha then rose, and said: "I am glad to have an opportunity of giving my views upon the present state of affairs. We know that differences of opinion are to be found everywhere and on every question; when, therefore, a man differs from those who think that this war can and ought to be continued, we must ascribe his opinion to discouragement, weakness, or cowardice. We must acknowledge the truth of the facts from which he draws his conclusions, and which have compelled him to utter it. His object is to make known the true state of the country--which indeed is his plain duty. Were he not to do so on the present occasion he would be accused, later on, of having kept secret what he ought to have revealed. Differences of opinion then need not, and must not, cause a disunion and discord. Whatever our private opinions may be, yet, as delegates of the burghers, we must speak and act as one man. "The war has now lasted two years. But the question for us to answer is this: Are we going forwards or backwards? My own conviction--a conviction founded upon the views expressed by my commandos and the speeches which I have listened to at this meeting--is that we are not gaining, but losing ground. There is nothing, in my opinion, more evident than that, during the last six months, the tide has been setting steadily against us, and in favour of the enemy. "A year ago there were no blockhouses. We could cross and recross the country as we wished, and harass the enemy at every turn. But now things wear a very different aspect. We can pass the blockhouses by night indeed, but never by day. They are likely to prove the ruin of our commandos. "Then, as regards food. We are told that there is food here, and food there; but how are we to get at it? How are we to transport it from one district to another? Outside the frontiers of our Republics there are plenty of provisions, but it becomes daily more difficult to get them into our hands. The cattle, for instance, that used to be at Ladysmith have now been removed to Estcourt. Even the friendly Kaffirs, from whom we are now able to obtain provisions, may quite possibly soon turn against us. The time is coming when we shall be compelled to say, 'Hunger drives us to surrender.' "The horses have been chased about so incessantly, and have suffered so much from want of forage, that their strength is almost exhausted. They are so weak that it is almost impossible to accomplish any long distance with them. "As to the Cape Colony, I had always understood that the Colonists were going to rise _en bloc_, but General Smuts has just told us that there is no chance of such a thing happening. And he speaks from personal knowledge, having just returned from paying them a visit. Moreover, he has seen our horses, and says that it is impossible for them to go into the Colony, so it appears that our successes there are over. This is a severe check indeed; but it could not have been otherwise. We have not enough horses to enable us to give the Colonists effectual help, and they themselves have been cowed by the heavy penalties imposed upon all those who did rise. Many of those who are well disposed towards us dare not join us now. "Again, there is no chance of European intervention: not one of the Powers will do anything for us. To see this it is only necessary to peruse that correspondence between the Netherlands and England, which was the cause of these negotiations. There we shall find that the Dutch Minister says that our deputation is only accredited to Holland, whereas it had been accredited by the two Republics to all the Governments in Europe. Moreover, the correspondence makes it very plain that England will not tolerate the intervention of any foreign Power whatsoever. But the truth is, that no foreign Power wants to help us. When the women were first made prisoners I thought that European intervention might perhaps be attempted, because to make prisoners of women is a thing quite outside the usual methods of warfare. But nothing was done even then. We were told that we had the sympathy of the nations of Europe--their sympathy, and nothing more! "I have come to a subject that is very near our hearts--our women-folk. If this meeting decides upon war, it will have to make provision for our wives and children, who will then be exposed to every kind of danger. Throughout this war the presence of the women has caused me anxiety and much distress. At first I managed to get them into the townships, but later on this became impossible, because the English refused to receive them. I then conceived the idea of getting a few of our burghers to surrender, and sending the women in with them. But this plan was not practical, because most of the families were those of prisoners of war, and the men still on commando were not so closely related to these families as to be willing to sacrifice their freedom for them. "We have heard much talk about fighting 'to the bitter end.' But what is 'the bitter end'? Is it to come when all of us are either banished or in our graves? Or does it mean the time when the nation has fought until it never can fight again? As to myself, personally, I can still continue the struggle. I have horses, my household is well provided for, and as far as my own inclination goes I am all for going on. But am I only to consider myself? Is it not my first duty to look at the interests of my nation? I have always been, and still am, of the opinion that, before letting the nation go to rack and ruin, it is our duty to parley. We must not let the chance for negotiations slip out of our hands. When our numbers have fallen to only four or five thousand men under arms we shall no longer have that chance, and this will undoubtedly happen if we hold out for another year, or even six months. "There are some who say, 'We must trust in God and keep on fighting,' and I grant them that miracles are possible at all times. But it is beyond our power to say whether God will work a miracle for us. We do not know what His will may be. If we continue the war, and if it should afterwards appear that everything has been in vain, our responsibility will be only the heavier, the blinder our confidence now is. And over and over again we shall hear, 'He is dead,' 'and he, and he.' Will not this make our remorse all the more bitter? Our commandos are so weak, our country so exhausted, that the loss of one great battle, the surrender of a single strong force, would spell ruin for us. "'But we have managed to hold out for so long.' Yes, but there is a natural reason, a military reason, why this has been the case. The fact that our commandos have been spread over so large a tract of country has compelled the British, up to the present time, to divide their forces. But things have changed now; we have had to abandon district after district, and must now operate on a far more limited territory. In other words, the British army can at last concentrate its forces upon us. "I firmly believe that, under like circumstances, no other nation in the world would have fought as our nation has done. Shall such a nation perish? No! we must save it. If we delegates are convinced that we can no longer offer resistance to the enemy, it is our plain duty to tell the people so. We must not let them be exterminated for want of timely advice. More than twenty thousand women and children have died in the camps during this one year. "There are men of our own kith and kin who are helping to bring us to ruin. If we continue the war, it may be that the Afrikanders against us will outnumber our own men. "What is there left to hope for? Are we to retain our independence by ceding a part of our territories? Most assuredly yes, if such a compromise is feasible. As regards Swaziland, it is of so little importance to us that we can give it up without a thought. Then there are the goldfields--let them go. They are but a cancerous growth, sapping the very life of our country. "We must face the fact that things are not at a standstill: we are slipping back every moment. We must all pull together, or everything is lost. If our sacrifices will buy our independence, well and good. But suppose that we are compelled to give it up--well, if it even comes to this, we must never do so unconditionally. An unconditional surrender would be well enough if the leaders only had to be considered. But we must think of the interests of the nation. We must say to our people, 'We have no thought of ourselves: our only desire is to place ourselves in the breach, if so we may save you.'" General Botha then proceeded to discuss eventualities in the event of independence being lost. Representative government, he said, might perhaps still be retained, and the national language need not necessarily be supplanted. Thus the nation would still retain its old ideals and its old customs. General Roux had been pertinently asked whether it were better to strive for the recuperation of the people now or to wait until they were altogether overpowered and reduced to such straits that it would require some thirty years before they could once more call themselves a nation. He then went into the terms of the proposal by the British Government, and repeated that there must be no idea of unconditional surrender. The General concluded in the following words: "Although we do not _wish_ to accept terms, we have no right to refuse them altogether. On the other hand we must not say to the English, 'Do with us as you like.' For then our descendants would eternally reproach us. We should have lost the privilege of looking after our own wives and children. They would be handed over to strangers. No! we must secure by some means or other that we ourselves shall be able to provide for them. The fate of our country is in the hands of the men in this tent. It has been bitter, indeed, for me to have to speak as I have done. But if I have not spoken the truth, convince me of my error, and I will be the first to own it. But do not condemn me, for I have had no other object than to tell you what I believe to be the truth." General De la Rey spoke. "I will not detain you long," he began, "but there are a few points to which I wish to draw attention. In regard to the districts under my command, every one will understand that my burghers, after their recent brilliant successes, are firmly resolved not to sacrifice their independence. If I allude to the battles which I have just fought it is with no thought of boasting, but only that you may picture to yourselves the effect which they must have had upon the enemy; and that no one may be angry with myself and my burghers for standing firm when our feet are on such solid ground. "But since my arrival at Vereeniging I have heard about our districts where matters are in a far less favourable condition than in my own. So far as I myself am concerned, I cannot think of laying down my arms. Yet it appears to me that some parts of the country will be compelled by starvation to give up the struggle. It is well that those who represent these parts have spoken openly, and not left this meeting in ignorance of the state of affairs only to go and lay down their arms. "I myself have never thought intervention possible. Even before the war broke out I said that nothing would come of it. I saw that South Africa was divided between Germany and England. And that if only the Republics could be extinguished, then England and Germany would be the only Powers left, and Germany would be safe. But if the Republics were victorious, then Germany would be in danger. Why then should Germany interfere in favour of the Republics, when she has everything to lose by such a course of action? No! intervention was entirely out of the question. "There has been talk about fighting to the bitter end; but has not the bitter end already come? Each man must answer that question for himself. "You must remember that everything has been sacrificed--cattle, goods, money, wife, and child. Our men are going about naked, and some of our women have nothing but clothes made of skins to wear. Is not this the bitter end? "I believe that the time has now come to negotiate. England will never again give us the chance of doing so, should we allow this opportunity to slip by. But how shall we negotiate? I must leave it to this meeting to answer that question. If we do not obtain what we ask for, we shall at least stand or fall together. Yet let us act with reason. "I cannot agree with one of the opinions expressed by Commandant-General Botha and States-Secretary Reitz. They have stated that they are against surrendering the goldfields to England; firstly, because England would never accept such a proposal, for by doing so she would declare to the whole world that she had only been fighting for the goldfields; and, secondly, because if we gave up the goldfields we should lose a source of revenue, without the aid of which we could not repair the damages which the war has wrought." Commandant-in-Chief de Wet spoke as follows: "I am of opinion that the circumstances in the Orange Free State are no less critical than those in the Transvaal. Nine districts were entirely ruined; but these, though at one time abandoned by the burghers, have now been reoccupied. "If I now differ from those who are of opinion that it is useless to prolong the war, it must not be thought that I am lacking in respect for their judgment. By no means. I know that what has been said about the wretched plight of the people is only too true; but they must not take it amiss if I point out that the same condition of affairs was described in the correspondence from the Transvaal which fell into the hands of the English at Reitz. But, granting that the facts have been correctly stated, even then the Orange Free State will refuse to give in. Let me be candid with you, and say frankly that, in my opinion, this is virtually the Transvaal's war. This, however, makes no difference to me. For me the barrier of the Vaal River has never existed. I have always endeavoured to maintain the Nauwere-Vereeniging,[112] and I feel strongly the obligation which the union of the two States casts on each one of us. They are two nations, but their cause is one. "What, then, is the prevailing feeling in the Orange Free State? Of the six thousand burghers who have been attending meetings, I myself have been in command of five thousand, and I can confidently say that never were five thousand men more unanimous in their opinion than were those I led when they cried, as with one voice, 'Persevere; we have everything to lose, but we have not yet lost it.' What, then, is the answer to be? I am firmly persuaded that we have only one course before us. If we are unable to obtain what we are asking for, then it only remains for us to alleviate as best we may the lot of those who cannot help themselves. I do not as yet clearly see how this is going to be done, but, at all costs, let us continue fighting. What was our total strength when we began this war? Sixty thousand men all told. Against this the English had a standing army of seven hundred and fifty thousand troops. Of these two hundred and fifty thousand, or one-third, are now in South Africa. We know from experience that they are unable to send more than one-third. And we? Have we not also one-third of our army left? "I do not wish to imply that I am not prepared to concede something, but nothing will induce me to consent to any part of the country in _our_ territory being given up. It will never do to have an English colony planted in our midst, for England then would have far too firm a hold upon our country. "It is said, and with some truth, that the goldfields have been a curse to us, but surely there is no reason why they should continue to be so. I fail to see how, without retaining possession of these goldfields, the Republics are to be saved. Swaziland perhaps could be ceded, but never the goldfields. I feel that any intervention is out of the question; but is not the very fact that it has not taken place a sure proof that it was not the will of God? Does it not show that He is minded to form us, by this war, into a nation worthy of the name? Let us then bow to the will of the Almighty. "My people will perhaps say, 'Our Generals see only the religious side of the question.' They will be right. Without faith we should have been foolish indeed to have embarked on this war and to continue it for so many months. Indeed, it _must_ be a matter of faith, for the future is hidden from us. What _has been_ is within our ken, but what is before is beyond the knowledge of the wisest man. "Cape Colony is a great disappointment to me. I do not refer so much to what we have learnt about it from the reports as to the fact that no general uprising can be expected in that quarter. So much we have heard from General Smuts. But though there is to be no uprising, we have no reason to think that there has been any falling off in the number of our adherents in the Colony. The little contingent there has been of great help to us: they have kept fifty thousand troops occupied, with which otherwise we should have had to reckon. "I feel deeply for our women and children; I am giving earnest consideration to their miserable plight. But their sufferings are among what we may call the necessary circumstances of the war. I have nothing to do with the circumstances. For me, this is a war of religion, and thus I can only consider the great principles involved. Circumstances are to me but as obstacles to be cleared out of the road. "If we own ourselves defeated--if we surrender to the foe--we can expect little mercy from him. We shall at all events have dug the grave of our national independence, and, as things are, what difference is there between this and digging our own graves?" Mr. Birkenstock said that the question about the goldfields must be carefully considered. This source of income must not be given up. The meeting was then closed with prayer. [Footnote 112: Closer Union.] SATURDAY, MAY 17TH, 1902. The Chairman first called upon Chief Commandant de Wet to offer up prayer. A private report from Mr. J. Schmorderer, who had brought the missive from the deputation in Europe, was then read. The first delegate to speak was Landdrost Bosman (Wakkerstroom), who said: "My opinion is that the best way of ascertaining the probable future course of events is to see what has already happened in the past. A year ago there were six hundred burghers in my district, and each man had a horse; now there are not more than half that number, and many of them have to go on foot. Last year we had from three to four thousand bags of maize ready to hand; this year there are not more than as many hundred, and how to get at them is more than I can tell. If such has been the history of the past year, in what sort of condition shall we be at the end of the present one? "The great difficulty with regard to our families is not how to clothe them, but how to feed them. I know of a woman who has lived for weeks on nothing but fruit. I myself have had to satisfy my hunger with mealies for days together, although I have no wish to complain about it. Even the scanty food we can get has to be obtained from the Kaffirs by persuasion. Moreover, the Kaffirs side with the English, who in their counter-marches are clearing all the food out of the country. "The men in my district told me that if I came back and reported that the war was to be continued, they would be obliged--for the sake of their wives and children--to go straight to the nearest English camp and lay down their arms. As to the women it is true that they are at present full of hope and courage, but if they knew how matters stood in the veldt, they would think very differently. Even now there are many of them who say that the war ought to be put a stop to, if only for their sakes. "The Kaffirs are another great source of trouble; in this problem they are a factor which cannot be neglected. "There is no hope of intervention, nor can we expect anything from the English nation. Facts that have come to my knowledge prove to me that England has become more and more determined to fight to the bitter end. "I do not see what we can possibly gain by continuing the war. Our own people are helping the English, and every day the enemy are improving their position. What advantage can there then be in persisting in the struggle? We have now a chance of negotiating, and we should seize that chance. For we have the opportunity given us of obtaining some help for our ruined compatriots, who would be entirely unable to make a fresh start without assistance. "As to the religious side of this matter, I am not ashamed to say that I believe I am serving God in the course which I am taking. We must not attempt to obtain the impossible against all reason. If we make any such attempt, the results will probably be exactly opposite to what we wish. I have the greatest doubt whether it really is in order to give glory to God that the nation wishes to retain its independence. On the contrary I believe that the motive is obstinacy, a vice to which human nature is always prone. "It has been said that it would be shameful to disregard the blood already spilt; but surely one ought also to consider the blood that might yet be shed in a useless struggle." The proposal of the Commission was now read, and after some discussion accepted. It ran as follows: The meeting of national representatives from both Republics--after having considered the correspondence exchanged, and the negotiations conducted, between the Governments of the two Republics and His Excellency Lord Kitchener, on behalf of the British Government; and after having heard the reports of the deputies from the different parts of both Republics; and after having received the latest reports from the representatives of the two Republics in Europe; and having taken into consideration the fact that the British Government has refused to accept the proposal of our Governments made on the same basis; and notwithstanding the above-mentioned refusal of the British Government--still wishes to give expression to the ardent desire of the two Republics to retain their independence, for which already so much material and personal sacrifice has been made, and decides in the name of the people of both Republics to empower both Governments as follows:--To conclude a peace on the following basis, to wit: the retention of a limited independence offering an addition to what has already been offered by the two Governments in their negotiations, dated the 15th of April, 1902. (_a_) To give up all foreign relations and embassies. (_b_) To accept the Protectorate of Great Britain. (_c_) To surrender parts of the territory of the South African Republic. (_d_) To conclude a defensive alliance with Great Britain in regard to South Africa. During the discussion it was clearly explained that the territory which it was suggested should be ceded was the already mentioned goldfields and Swaziland. The question was put whether the South African Republics would have to pay for the damage done during the war. "By all means let us pay," said Mr. De Clercq. "If I could only buy back the independence of the Orange Free State, I would gladly give all I possess." Several other Transvaal delegates expressed themselves in the same sense, and said that they fully appreciated the sacrifices which the Orange Free State had made. General Froneman thanked them in the name of the Free State. He felt that the two Republics no longer thought of themselves as having conflicting interests. In the fire of this war they had been firmly welded together. Commandant Ross (Vrede) thought it wrong even to discuss the possibility of giving up independence. The delegates had received a definite mandate. They had been commissioned to see that the national independence had remained untouched, whatever else might have to be given up. This being the case, they might come to decisions on all other points, so long as they remembered that independence was not an open question. Commandant J. Van Niekerk (Ficksburg) spoke to the same purpose. He could not even think of sacrificing independence. After some other delegates had made a few short remarks, General Brand, seconded by Commandant A.J. De Kock, proposed the following resolution, which was accepted by the meeting: "This meeting of the national representatives of the two Republics hereby charge the Governments to nominate a Commission for the purpose of entering upon negotiations with His Excellency Lord Kitchener, acting on behalf of His Britannic Majesty's Government. The Commission is to endeavour to make peace on satisfactory terms, and is then to lay the result of its negotiations before this meeting, for the sanction of the two Governments." The meeting was then closed with prayer. Appendix B THE CONFERENCE AT PRETORIA BETWEEN THE COMMISSION OF THE NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES AND LORDS KITCHENER AND MILNER (MAY 19TH-MAY 28TH, 1902) Minutes of the Conference held at Pretoria on May 19th, 1902, between Lord Kitchener and Lord Milner, representatives of the British Government, and Commandant-General L. Botha, Commander-in-Chief C.R. de Wet, General J.H. De la Rey, Judge J.B.M. Hertzog, and General J.C. Smuts, delegates of the national representatives, who had met at Vereeniging on May 15th, 1902. Mr. N.J. de Wet acted as interpreter; Mr. O. Walrond was secretary for the English Government; and the Rev. J.D. Kestell and D. Van Velden acted in a similar capacity for the Commission. The Conference met at ten o'clock in the morning at the house of Lord Kitchener. After having greeted each other, the members took their seats at the table in the centre of the room. Commandant-General L. Botha opened the proceedings in the following words: "Allow me to state that, although the negotiations have taken a longer time than we expected, I am able to assure your Excellencies that we are acting in good faith, and that everything has been done with the sole aim of concluding the peace which we all desire. "I must also draw attention to the fact that everything we transact here must be submitted to our national representatives, in order to obtain their sanction." The suggestion was then made that the proposals which the Commission was prepared to make should be laid before the Conference, whereupon the following letter was read to the meeting: PRETORIA, _19th May, 1902_. _To their Excellencies, Lord Kitchener and Lord Milner, Pretoria._ YOUR EXCELLENCIES,-- With a view to finally concluding the existing hostilities, and being fully empowered by the Government of the two Republics, we have the honour to propose the following points--in addition to the conditions already offered in the negotiations of April last--as a basis for negotiations: (_a_) We are prepared to cede our independence as regards our foreign relations. (_b_) We wish to retain self-government in our country, under British supervision. (_c_) We are prepared to cede a part of our territory. Should your Excellencies be prepared to negotiate on this basis, then the above-mentioned points can be elaborated. We have the honour to be, Your Excellencies' most obedient servants, LOUIS BOTHA. C.R. DE WET. J.H. DE LA REY. J.B.M. HERTZOG. J.C. SMUTS. When this letter had been read, a discussion followed. Lord Milner: "Considering the wide difference between this proposal and that made by His Majesty's Government, when we last met, I fear that I can hold out very little hope of any good results following negotiations on the basis you have suggested." Lord Kitchener: "We can take those proposals into consideration, but I cannot see how it is possible to bring them into harmony with those of His Majesty's Government." Commandant-General Botha: "If this is the position you take, we should like to receive from you a final answer to our proposals." Lord Milner: "Do you wish us to refer your proposals to His Majesty's Government?" Commandant-General Botha: "Yes, unless you have full powers to give us a final reply." Lord Milner: "I am quite convinced that your proposal will be rejected; and I feel bound to say that to refer it, as it stands, to His Majesty's Government will only do you harm." Commandant-General Botha: "If you have no power to decide upon this proposal here, we should like you to refer it to His Majesty's Government." Lord Milner: "I have no objection to taking the responsibility of refusing your proposal on myself. The instructions received by myself and Lord Kitchener are quite clear on this point." Commandant-General Botha: "I must then understand that when Lord Salisbury said that this war was not carried on with a view to annex territory, he did not mean it." Lord Kitchener: "It is no longer a question of territory, for annexation is an accomplished fact." Commandant-General Botha: "I am unable to see how our proposal is inconsistent with annexation." Lord Milner: "I cannot now recall the exact words used by Lord Salisbury, but it is true that Lord Salisbury declared that his Government did not begin the war with the intention of obtaining territory. But in the course of the war circumstances developed in such a way that the decision to annex the Republics became a necessity, and the British Government have pronounced their firm intention not to withdraw from this decision." Judge Hertzog: "I should like to be informed as to what the great difference is between the basis now proposed by us and that laid down by His Majesty's Government during the negotiations of last year--I do not mean the difference in details, but in principle." Lord Kitchener: "Do you mean by your proposal that the Boers will become British citizens?" General Smuts: "I cannot see that our proposal is necessarily in contradiction to that of last year. Our proposal only makes provision concerning the administration." Lord Milner then quoted from the terms offered at Middelburg by the British Government the previous year:-- "At the earliest possible date military administration shall cease, and be replaced by civil administration in the form of a Crown Colony Government. At first there will be in each of the new Colonies a Governor, an Executive Council consisting of the highest officials, and a Legislative Council, which latter shall consist of a certain number of official members and also of a nominated non-official element. But it is the wish of His Majesty's Government to introduce a representative element as soon as circumstances permit, and, in course of time, to grant to the new colonies the right of self-government. "It may be that I do not properly understand your proposal, but it seems to me to differ not only in detail, but also in spirit from the scheme I have just read to you." Judge Hertzog: "I entirely agree with you that there is a difference in idea between the two proposals; but only such a difference in idea as might well be found between Colonies of the same State. In other words, one constitution is adapted for one colony, whilst another constitution is found fitting for another colony, but yet they all belong to the same Empire." Lord Milner: "Exactly. There are different constitutions in different Colonies; but it seems to me that the _policy_ laid down in your proposal differs from that laid down by His Majesty's Government." Judge Hertzog: "I think that I am expressing the opinion of the whole Commission when I say that we wish for peace. I draw attention to this to show the way in which, according to my opinion, we should consider the matter. For if we on both sides are really desirous of coming to a settlement, we should not make too much of theoretical difficulties, so long as the practical aim has been obtained. For instance, the different Colonies which now are joined to form the United States once possessed constitutions differing much from one another. Now the constitution laid down in our proposal does not differ so much from that laid down in yours that a practical difference should arise therefrom; and such a practical difference would arise if you insisted upon carrying on negotiations on your own basis. I imagine that England has a certain object before her in South Africa, and I believe that that object can be as well obtained by our proposal as by that of Middelburg. I therefore ask, Is the difference so great that, in order for England to obtain her object, an entirely new status must be called into existence?" Lord Milner: "We are comparing two different things. Here in the Middelburg scheme there are a number of definite proposals, which enter upon a great mass of particulars. I do not mean to imply that _we_ have not the power to go into particulars. I perfectly understand that it lies within the power of Lord Kitchener and myself to carry on further deliberations with you about details, so as to throw light on any doubtful points, and, perhaps, to make such changes as would not fundamentally affect the scheme. As you say that your proposals are not in contradiction with those formulated at Middelburg, then there is no reason why you should not lay aside your proposals and discuss the Middelburg proposals, which are definite." Judge Hertzog: "I quite admit that you, Lord Milner, are entitled to say that there is a fundamental difference between our proposals. But it is another question whether the difficulty that thus arises is of such a nature that we--those of us who on both sides are anxious to conclude peace--should not be able to find a solution to it satisfactory to both parties. I cannot answer that question; nor can I see why the same result would not be reached by negotiating on the basis proposed by us as by carrying on negotiations on the Middelburg proposal." Lord Milner: "I understand, then, that you acknowledge that there is a fundamental difference between the two bases. Well, I do not think that we are empowered to negotiate on a basis differing from that laid down in the last report of His Majesty's Government, and also differing from the tenor of the Middelburg proposal. I may say that I believe that His Majesty's Government in their latest message went as far as it was possible for them to go with the object of meeting you. The whole spirit of the telegram was to that effect." Commander-in-Chief de Wet: "I hope you will understand that I do not speak as a lawyer. (Lord Kitchener, laughing: "That's the case with me too!") I fully concur with what General Botha and Judge Hertzog have said in regard to our eagerness to establish peace. In order to be brief, I will only remark that I did not understand His Excellency, Lord Milner, to mean--any more than I myself meant--that we should go to the nation with the Middelburg proposal, with the idea of coming back with it unaltered." Lord Milner: "No; if I gave that impression, I did not intend to do so. But I believe that when you went to your people with the last message from His Majesty's Government it was with the knowledge--which the message itself made clear--that His Majesty's Government was not prepared to take into consideration any terms which differed widely from the policy laid down in the Middelburg proposal." Commander-in-Chief de Wet: "That was indeed what I understood; and accordingly we have now come with a proposal which does not differ very much from the Middelburg proposal." General Smuts: "I thought that the vital principle your Government had in view was the destruction of our independence, and in our proposal the independence of the two Republics with regard to foreign relations is given up. I was therefore of opinion that the two parties might come to an arrangement on this basis. I did not think that for the restoration of peace the Middelburg terms were essential." Lord Milner: "Not in the details, but in the general ideas. As the British Government has laid down a basis, and you have had weeks in which to consider the matter, it would never do for you now to put it on one side. Lord Kitchener has given your nation considerable time in which to take counsel; and now you come back, and, ignoring the Middelburg terms, you propose entirely different ones of your own, and say, let us negotiate on these. I do not believe that I and Lord Kitchener would be justified in doing this. But in case he is of another opinion, the British Government can be asked if they are prepared to set on one side all the former deliberations and begin again on a new basis." Commander-in-Chief de Wet: "We cannot, of course, prevent Lord Kitchener from asking his Government any questions he pleases, but, at the same time, we request that you will cable our behests to the English Government." Commandant-General Botha: "I cannot see that we are beginning again on a new basis, for, in consequence of the negotiations in April last, you were ordered by the British Government to encourage us to make fresh proposals. Our present proposal is the direct result of that order." Lord Milner: "I did my best to get fresh proposals from you, but you would not make any. You forced the British Government into making proposals." Commandant-General Botha: "I am of opinion that we must both work together in this matter of formulating proposals." Lord Kitchener: "You were asked to make proposals, but you did not do so; and now, after the British Government has made a proposal, you yourselves come forward with one of your own." General De la Rey: "I think that it was the encouragement given us by correspondence between the Netherlands and the British Government that caused us to make our proposals." Lord Milner: "That correspondence was at the beginning of the negotiations." Commander-in-Chief de Wet: "If we had been obliged to make a new proposal in April, we would not have been able to make one so fair, and so much to the advantage of the British Government, as our present one, for, not having consulted the nation, we would have been compelled to insist on entire independence." Lord Milner: "I must remind you of what has taken place; not with the object of putting you in the wrong, but in order to make the position clear, for there are some points about it which are not very clear. You came and made a proposal. The British Government gave you a distinct answer--they refused to accept it. Their answer was perfectly outspoken, and perfectly intelligible. At the same time they said, 'We are anxious for peace; will you make other proposals?' You then said, 'No! we have no power to do so; we must first consult the nation.' We admitted that argument. Then you said, 'Let the British Government make proposals.' The British Government did so, and they are fully entitled to an answer. In what position do you think you are placing Lord Kitchener and myself? You come back with a totally fresh proposal, and do not say anything about ours. This is not fair treatment to the British Government, and we are not bound to take your proposal into consideration." Judge Hertzog: "I have endeavoured to show that our reply really cannot be taken as ignoring the proposal of the British Government. The great question in the correspondence in April between us and the British Government was the question of independence; and now, after having consulted the nation, we come here and say that we are prepared to sacrifice in some degree our independence, and we indicate how far we will give it up. And, as General Smuts has said, that is the basis which we have laid down in our present proposal." Lord Milner: "You say that you give up your independence as regards foreign relations." Judge Hertzog: "Yes. But then you must understand that this is only a general principle, which we treat in detail later on." General Smuts: "The independence is given up both in regard to our foreign relations and in regard to interior administration, which will be placed under the supervision of the British Government. So that the effect of these two articles is, that the independence is sacrificed, and that the two Republics will not in the future be able to be regarded as Sovereign States." Lord Milner: "I understand perfectly well that they would not be Sovereign States any longer, but my intellect is not bright enough for me to be able to say what they really would be." Lord Kitchener: "They would be a new kind of 'international animal.'" General Smuts: "It has more than once happened in the course of history that difficulties have been solved by compromise. And this draft proposal goes as near as seems possible towards making us a Colony." Lord Kitchener: "Do you accept the annexation?" General Smuts: "Not formally; but I do not see in what way this proposal is in opposition to the annexation proclamation." Lord Kitchener: "I am afraid I am not clever enough to comprehend this. There would be two Governments in one State. And how do you imagine that this arrangement could be carried on?" General Smuts: "A more ample explanation will have to be given of the word 'supervision'; and I thought that this was just one of the points on which we could carry on further discussions and negotiations." Lord Milner: "I am certainly not going to give up an explicit basis for a vague proposal." Lord Kitchener: "I feel convinced that your proposal would never be able to be carried out in the practical governing of a country." Commander-in-Chief de Wet: "I agree that our proposal has not been fully worked out, but neither have the Middelburg proposals. This was clearly indicated by Lord Kitchener and Lord Milner when these proposals were made, and they were only looked upon as a basis on which we could negotiate, so that the business might be begun. We naturally cannot compel the British Government to accept our proposal; but, at all events, it is a basis." Lord Milner: "I am very anxious that these discussions should not end in smoke, and I shall not allow any formalities to stand in the way, but to abandon the definite proposals of Middelburg (March 7th) for a thing like this, and to begin a fresh discussion on the basis of something which is so very vague will surely land us in trouble. I believe we are quite entitled to keep you to the Middelburg proposal, which we might modify in regard to details." Commandant-General Botha: "Perhaps it would be well if you would first give an answer to our proposals." Commander-in-Chief de Wet: "I think that (unless your Excellencies have power to give a final answer to our terms) it would not be unfair if we were to ask you to lay our proposal before your Government." Commandant-General Botha: "We are come here with the earnest intention of concluding peace; and I think that if our proposal is carried out Boer and Briton will be able to live side by side in this country. I presume that it is the wish of both parties to be fair and just, and to make a peace by which both can abide, and which will be permanent in South Africa." Lord Milner: "That is certainly our aim." Lord Kitchener: "Your proposal would involve important changes in our own--changes which, so far as I understand them, we should be unable to permit." Commandant-General Botha: "I am of opinion that before a proposal is made from your side you should give a definite answer to ours." Lord Kitchener and Lord Milner: "Well, then, change your proposal into ours." Lord Milner: "I do not believe that the British Government is prepared to go any further to meet you than they have done in their last proposal. They think that they have already gone far in their efforts for peace--further, indeed, than the general opinion of the British public would warrant." Lord Kitchener: "The difference between our proposals seems to be too great." Commandant-General Botha: "We shall always remain under the supervision of the British Government." Lord Kitchener: "Will you then consider yourselves British subjects? 'Supervision' is a new word, and 'suzerainty' has already caused us too much trouble." Judge Hertzog: "The idea is not so very new. There are several kinds of different States, all belonging to the British Empire. For instance, there is Basutoland." Lord Milner: "There are many different kinds, but this one is a new variety." Judge Hertzog: "If your Excellencies could only understand us! We have no wish to lose a single minute. We have been to the nation, and we know what the nation wants and what their temper is. If, then, we are to make a proposal here, it must be:--Firstly, a proposal which shall meet the English Government in a fair way; and, secondly, a proposal which we are honestly convinced will be acceptable to our nation. And such a proposal we have laid before you. And now we are placed in a disadvantageous position, for we are here before your Excellencies, who have not full power finally to decide the matter." Lord Kitchener: "We are in the same position as yourselves." Judge Hertzog: "We offer you here what we know is in accordance with the mind of the nation; we cannot possibly do anything that is against it." Lord Milner: "Are we to understand that the Middelburg proposals are not according to the mind of your people?" General Smuts: "As yet no answer has been given to them. The only decision come to by the national meeting is that which we are now laying before you." Lord Kitchener: "Are you prepared to set aside your present proposal and to hand in another one bearing a closer resemblance to that of Middelburg? We must try and find some middle course; and as we are here to endeavour to arrive at something definite, let us try to obtain a basis for discussion. Shall we make a new proposal?" General Smuts: "As soon as there is a final answer to our proposal we shall be able to take a fresh one into consideration." Lord Milner: "I believe that the fact that you have refused to enter upon the proposal made by the British Government justifies us in not considering your proposal. Let us rather say that your very refusal implies your answer to what we have proposed." General Smuts: "I understand the position to be as follows--The British Government has declined our proposals, and at the same time holds fast to the old basis, but without prejudice to its power of making a new proposal." Lord Milner: "The whole difference between you and myself is that I take the letter of 7th March to be the utmost concession that the British Government is able to grant; not that that letter binds us down to every clause of the proposal, but that it is an indication of how far our Government is prepared to go on the general question. Your answer, however, is no answer at all." Lord Kitchener then read his telegram, dated 14th April. ["A difficulty has arisen in getting on with the proceedings; the representatives state that constitutionally they have no power to discuss terms based on the surrender of independence, inasmuch as only the burghers can agree to such a basis. Therefore, if they were to propose terms, it would put them in a false position with regard to the people. If, however, His Majesty's Government could state the terms which, subsequently to a relinquishment of independence, they would be prepared to grant, the representatives, after asking for the necessary explanations, and without any expression of approval or disapproval, would submit such conditions to their people."] "Clearly you have not kept to what you undertook in this telegram." Commander-in-Chief de Wet: "If it had only been a question of our feelings being hurt by having to give an answer on the basis proposed to us by the British then it would not have been necessary for the people to come together at Vereeniging. But in matter of fact we have come here with a proposal, which, rightly understood, is nearly equivocal to the Middelburg proposal, and which meets the wishes of the English Government as far as possible." Commandant-General Botha: "I do not see why we should insist so much on our proposal. If it is not to the mind of your Excellencies, if it is an unacceptable proposal, then let us have a definite answer to it." Lord Milner: "We wish to have an answer to the proposal made by us." General Smuts: "I do not see that any proposal has been made by the British Government. A certain basis only has been laid down, and therefore no formal answer is required." Lord Milner: "Our proposal is six times as definite as yours, and I believe that the British Government is justified in wanting to know if your people are inclined to come to terms on the general lines which have been placed before them." Lord Kitchener: "Here is quite an original suggestion: How would it be if you were to go back to your people and ask them if they would not make a proposal?" General Smuts: "You must understand that the Middelburg proposal, with all that took place in April, has been read to the people. Their answer was neither 'Yes' nor 'No.' They simply elected the delegates. The delegates as yet have not given any answer. They are still considering the matter, and, in order to gain time, they have commissioned us to see whether we could not come to some arrangement." Lord Milner: "We are getting away from the subject. Tell us what alterations you want, and then place our proposal before your people." Lord Kitchener: "Should you agree that your proposal is not in opposition to the annexation, we shall have accomplished something." General Smuts: "Is it your opinion that our proposal must be set aside?" Lord Kitchener: "Yes, surely. It is impossible for us to act on it." Lord Milner: "It is impossible for us to take your proposal into consideration. We can send it to England, but this would certainly tend to hinder the negotiations. This is my personal opinion, which naturally you are not bound to accept. All that we can say is, that this is the only answer that we can give you." Lord Kitchener: "It would be better to draw up a new document, in which everything of importance would be noted down, and all unimportant matters left out." General Smuts: "But paragraph 3 of our proposal has not even been mentioned. We are prepared to cede a part of our territory." Lord Milner: "This would be in contradiction to the annexation of the whole. If the _whole_ becomes annexed by us, how then can a _part_ be ceded by you?" General Smuts: "The ceded part would then become a Crown Colony, the remaining part being governed as is here proposed." Lord Milner: "You mean that one part would become a British Colony of the ordinary type, and another part a protected Republic?" Lord Kitchener: "Two forms of government in the same country would lead to great friction. Our proposals are too divergent. From a military point of view, the two forms of government could not co-exist. Before a year was over we should be at war again." The meeting was then adjourned till the afternoon. During the interval the Commission discussed the situation, and sent General J.C. Smuts to deliberate on several points with Lord Kitchener and Lord Milner. The meeting opened again at four o'clock. Lord Milner: "In consequence of an informal conversation with General Smuts, Lord Kitchener and I have drawn up a document, which will show the form in which, as we think, the only agreement that can be arrived at must be worded. It is a draft document, and we believe the Governments will be able to sign it. Our idea is that after it has been taken into consideration here it might be laid before the burghers, and you could ask them, 'Are you willing that we should put our signatures to it?'" This document ran as follows:--"The undersigned, leaders of the Boer forces in the Veldt, accepting, in their own name, and in that of the said burghers, the annexations as mentioned in the proclamations of Lord Roberts, dated respectively the 24th May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred, and number 15, dated 1st day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred, and accepting as a consequence thereof their status of British citizens, agree herewith immediately to lay down their weapons, and to hand over all guns, small arms, ammunition, and stores in their possession, or under their hold, and to cease all further resistance against the Government of His Majesty King Edward Seventh, or his successors. They do this trusting in the assurance of His Majesty's Government that neither their personal freedom nor their property shall be taken away from them, or from the burghers who surrender with them; and that the future action of His Majesty's Government in relation to the consequences of the war shall be in harmony with the declaration mentioned below. It is clearly understood that all burghers who at present are prisoners of war, in order to be able to enjoy the above-mentioned assurance, will have to notify their acceptance of the status of British citizens." Commandant-General Botha: "Are we to understand that our proposal is now altogether rejected?" Lord Milner and Lord Kitchener: "Yes." Commandant-General Botha: "Then I understand that you are going to be guided only by the Middelburg proposals?" Lord Kitchener: "No; we can alter them." Lord Milner: "This draft document was originally written out in order to be annexed to the Middelburg proposals. But instead of the Middelburg proposals, this document is now drawn up, in order to place us in the position to formulate the proposals differently." General Smuts: "If the idea is then that the Middelburg proposals should be amended, would it not be best to do so now, and then to annex them to this document?" Lord Milner: "That which will take the place of the Middelburg proposals has to be added as a schedule to this document, and we have to work out this schedule together." General Smuts: "I think it would be far better if you were to alter the proposal yourselves, and then lay it before us for consideration; we could then see what we could do to meet you." Lord Kitchener: "I think that a sub-committee should be formed by you in order to draw up the schedule." Lord Milner: "My idea is that the schedule should be drawn up, so that it and the document could be taken into consideration together." General Smuts: "We should like to consider first whether we will help in drawing it up." Lord Milner: "I am willing to draw it up in conjunction with you, or to let it be drawn up by you alone, but, from past experience, I must decline to draw it up by myself." General Smuts: "If we were to sign this document, would not the outcome be that we leaders made ourselves responsible for the laying down of arms by our burghers." Lord Milner: "Yes. And should your men not lay down their arms it would be a great misfortune." Lord Kitchener: "I do not think so, for if some of the burghers refused to lay down their arms, the signatories could not help it. There are sure to be some who are dissatisfied." General Smuts: "The document does not mention this." Lord Kitchener: "It can be amended." General De la Rey: "Well, then, there can be no peace, for one part of the burghers will hold back and continue the war." Lord Milner: "If the national meeting agrees to give you power to sign this document, it will certainly mean that the burghers as a whole are agreeable; and those who after this do not submit will be--well, I do not know what I can call them--outlaws. But we will not consider such an eventuality possible." General Botha: "We desire a peace that will be honourable to both parties. And, as I understand this document, we are leaving honour behind us, for we are now not only surrendering our independence, but we are allowing every burgher to be fettered hand and foot. Where is the 'honourable peace' for us? If we conclude peace, we have to do it as men who have to live and die here. We must not agree to a peace which leaves behind in the hearts of one party a wound that will never heal. I will do everything in my power to obtain peace. But it seems to me that this document asks too much of us, because, if I interpret it aright, it means that we must surrender our independence, that every one must give up his weapons, and that the leaders, in addition, must sign an undertaking to this effect." Lord Milner: "All that we wish is that the people should live peacefully together as British citizens. If we do not obtain this, then I do not know what we do obtain." Lord Kitchener: "I do not think that the Commandant-General realizes what the schedule contains. In it we state what we are ready to grant. Perhaps it would be best that the schedule should be arranged now, and then you will see that an honourable peace is proposed." General Botha: "Well, then, explain the document." Lords Kitchener and Milner: "You are to help us: we do not know what the burghers demand." Commander-in-Chief de Wet: "By signing this document we shall place ourselves in the position which the Commandant-General has so clearly described." General De la Rey: "We cannot form a judgment on anything that is not properly elaborated. I have no objection to the constitution of a sub-committee with the duty of helping in the work." Commandant-General Botha: "I also have no objection, since I understand that it binds nobody to anything." Lord Kitchener: "No, nobody will be bound." General De la Rey: "We wish to have the matter concluded, so that we may know what is before us." Commander-in-Chief de Wet: "I should like to have it clearly understood that I do not think there is the least chance of a Government of which Lords Kitchener and Milner are the heads being accepted. An arrangement of this nature would, it seems to me, be an insurmountable difficulty. When I feel so strongly in this matter, it would not be fair to their Excellencies for me to remain silent." Lord Kitchener: "I think it would be better if General de Wet were to wait until he has seen the whole document before he gives his opinion." It was then agreed that Judge Hertzog and General Smuts should act as a sub-committee, in order to draw up a complete draft with Lord Kitchener, who was to be assisted by Sir Richard Solomon. The meeting then adjourned. On Wednesday, 21st May, 1902, the Conference reassembled. Lord Milner laid before the meeting the documents which he had drawn up with the help of the sub-committee. It was in the form of a contract, and the names of the members of both Governments were now filled in. The document was the same as that telegraphed, with the exception of Article 11, dealing with the notes and receipts and the sum of three million pounds. It was read in Dutch and English, and ran as follows:-- "General Lord Kitchener of Khartoum, Commander-in-Chief, and His Excellency Lord Milner, High Commissioner, on behalf of the British Government; "Messrs. S.D. Burger, F.W. Reitz, Louis Botha, J.H. De la Rey, L.J. Meijer, and J.C. Krogh, on behalf of the Government of the South African Republic and its burghers; "Messrs. M.T. Steyn, W.J.C. Brebner, C.R. de Wet, J.B.M. Hertzog, and C.H. Olivier, on behalf of the Government of the Orange Free State and its burghers, being anxious to put an end to the existing hostilities, agree on the following points:-- "Firstly, the burgher forces now in the Veldt shall at once lay down their arms, and surrender all the guns, small arms and war stores in their actual possession, or of which they have cognizance; and shall refrain from any further opposition to the authority of His Majesty King Edward VII., whom they acknowledge as their lawful sovereign. "The manner and details of this surrender shall be arranged by Lord Kitchener, Commandant-General Botha, Assistant-Commandant-General J.H. De la Rey, and Commander-in-Chief de Wet. "Secondly, burghers in the Veldt beyond the frontiers of the Transvaal and of the Orange River Colony shall, on their surrender, be brought back to their homes. "Thirdly, all prisoners of war, being at the time burghers out of South Africa, shall, on their declaring that they accept this status of subjects of His Majesty King Edward VII., be brought back to the farms on which they were living before the war. "Fourthly, the burghers who thus surrender, or who thus return, shall lose neither their personal freedom nor their property. "Fifthly, no judicial proceedings, civil or criminal, shall be taken against any of the burghers who thus return for any action of theirs in connexion with the carrying on of the war. "Sixthly, the Dutch language shall be taught in the public schools of the Transvaal and of the Orange River Colony, where the parents of the children demand it; and shall be admitted in the courts of justice, wherever this is required for the better and more effective administration of justice. "Seventhly, the possession of rifles shall, on taking out a license in accordance with the law, be permitted in the Transvaal and in the Orange River Colony, to persons who require them for their protection. "Eighthly, military administration in the Transvaal and in the Orange River Colony shall, as soon as possible, be followed by civil government; and, as soon as circumstances permit it, a representative system tending towards autonomy shall be introduced. "Ninthly, the question of granting the franchise to the natives shall not be decided until a representative constitution has been granted. "Tenthly, no special tax shall be laid on landed property in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony to meet the expenses of the war. "Eleventhly, a judicial Commission shall be appointed, to which the government bank notes, issued under Law No. 1 of the South African Republic, may be presented within six months. All such notes, if found to have been duly issued in conformity with the terms of the law, and if the presenting party shall have given consideration in value, shall be honoured, but without interest. "All receipts issued in the Veldt by the officers of the late Republics, or by their orders, may also be presented to the said Commission within six months; and if they have been given _bona fide_ in exchange for goods used by the burghers in the Veldt, they shall be paid in full to the persons to whom they were originally issued. "The amount payable on account of the said Government's notes and receipts shall not exceed £3,000,000; and in case the whole amount of such notes and receipts accepted by the Commission should exceed that amount, a _pro rata_ reduction shall be made. "The prisoners of war shall be given facilities to present their notes and receipts within the above-mentioned six months. "Twelfthly, as soon as circumstances shall permit, there shall be appointed in each district of the Transvaal and of the Orange River Colony a Commission, in which the inhabitants of that district shall be represented, under the chairmanship of a magistrate or other official, with a view to assist in the bringing back of the people to their farms, and in procuring for those who, on account of losses through the war, are unable to provide for themselves, food, shelter, and such quantities of seed, cattle, implements, etc., as are necessary for the resuming of their previous callings. Funds for this purpose, repayable by instalments extending over a number of years, shall be advanced--free of interest--by the Government." Lord Milner: "If we come to an agreement, it will be the _English_ document which will be wired to England, on which His Majesty's Government will decide, and which will be signed." Commandant-General Botha: "Will not a Dutch translation be annexed?" Lord Milner: "I have no objection to the addition of a Dutch translation. This, then, is the document which we are prepared to lay before the English Government." Commandant-General Botha: "There are a few points on which I wish to speak. The first is in reference to the receipts given by our officers. It seems to me quite right that they should be mentioned in the paragraph about government notes. These receipts were issued, in accordance with instructions given by our Government, for the purchase of cattle, grain, and other necessaries for the support of our commandos; and the chief officers now present, as well as all other officers, have acted according to these instructions and issued receipts. Therefore I make this request. Some of these receipts were afterwards paid in part, and others in full, in government notes. But many were not paid at all. I do not believe that the amount is great, but it will strengthen our hands to be able to take up this affair honourably, for our honour is concerned in so far as we have signed the receipts. It will be a great point in our favour to be able to go before our delegates and tell them that they are guaranteed on this point, for most of them are officers." Lord Kitchener: "I understand that General Botha refers not to commandeer or requisition notes, but only to actual receipts issued on the Treasury." Lord Milner: "I do not see any difference between these receipts and commandeer notes. The willingness of persons to sell goods makes no difference in a legal document." Lord Kitchener: "I mean that it makes a difference whether it is an order on the Treasury or a requisition note. I should limit this (guarantee) to receipts on the Treasury, issued in consequence of a law that permitted a certain sum to be issued." Commander-in-Chief de Wet: "No decision was come to in the Free State as to how much was to be issued." Lord Kitchener: "Am I to understand by this that it is an unlimited amount, or does it come within the amount decided on by the Volksraad?" General Smuts: "While the Government existed the Volksraad empowered it to issue notes up to a certain amount. And this was done. Moreover the officers in the Veldt had the right to make purchases for the commandos and to give receipts for them." Lord Milner: "I can see no difference between receipts and requisition notes, and they have been issued for an unlimited amount." General Smuts: "These receipts were issued under a totally different law. They were not paid out of the credit voted by the Volksraad." Commander-in-Chief de Wet: "I would have it clearly understood that I quite agree with what has been said by the Commandant-General, namely that the honour of every officer is engaged for these documents, and if your Excellencies agree it will give us a strong weapon with which to return to the delegates." Lord Milner: "The proposal is _de facto_ that the British Government shall repay all the monies which the Republics borrowed with the object of fighting against England." Commander-in-Chief de Wet: "Yet we have fought honourably, and if we give up our independence it is no more than fair that you should meet us in this matter." Commandant-General Botha: "Am I to understand your position to be that we must surrender everything, and that whilst you take away the freedom of our country (which amounts to many millions) you at the same time refuse all responsibility for our debts. We had been recognized by you as belligerent, and so are entirely in our rights in asking that when you seize the riches of the country you shall also take its debts upon your shoulders. So long as the British Government reaches the great goal at which it is aiming, a matter so easily arranged as this should not cause any difficulty: we are not bickering about trifles, but are bringing forward what to us is a real hardship, and you must take it for granted that when we say something here we really mean it. And now we tell you that this matter is an obstacle in our way. Personally, we have not signed many receipts: it was the officers of lower rank who signed the greater number, and it is these very officers who form the majority of the national meeting at Vereeniging. In some instances, I may add, special persons were appointed for the purpose of carrying out this work." Lord Milner: "We do not take over the assets without taking also the liabilities. We take over all the debts owed by the country before the war, and we have even agreed to take over a debt--a legal debt--in the shape of notes, which notes we are fully aware it only became necessary to issue on account of the war, and thus we are already paying a part of the cost incurred in fighting us. I think this is a very great concession; and when I agreed that it should be put down I said that I believed (and I still am of the same opinion) that the English Government would take exception to it, although I hope that this will not be the case. But to go further than this, and to ask us to pay not only a debt contracted under a law for the furtherance of the war, but also every debt contracted by every officer in the armies of both Republics, for the purpose of fighting us, is to my mind a most extravagant proposal. In answer to what General Botha has said, I may observe that the Commission appears to think that we have no persons behind us whose feelings and prejudices (if you use that word) we are bound to take into consideration. If this matter causes a difficulty among your burghers, I can only say that I am sure that your proposal will cause the British Government the greatest trouble when dealing with the nation, with whose feelings they have to reckon." Commander-in-Chief de Wet: "I should like to explain the position of the Orange Free State. In the Transvaal a law was passed empowering the Government to issue £1,000,000; but in the Orange Free State nothing was done, as the Government possessed the right to pay with receipts, and we thought that a receipt was as good and as legal as a note; and therefore, from my point of view, the two are of equal importance." Commandant-General Botha: "I might point out that we should not insist so much on the technical meaning of words--and this is especially true for your side, because we have assembled here with the aim of stopping the hostilities which cause you such great expenses every month; and our meeting may be able to bring these expenses to an end. Therefore, if you accept our proposal and pay these receipts, you might save almost enough to cover the cost you incur. It would be much cheaper to make an end of the war by co-operation than to let matters drift on. Therefore I believe that it is the duty of both parties to be willing to make concessions when obstacles appear." General de Wet: "I can assure His Excellency, Lord Milner, that the people always believed that should everything be lost they still would be able to obtain this money due on receipts. If this is not granted, I cannot imagine what the results will be. I am afraid of the consequences; and I trust that you will do your best to meet our wishes." Commandant-General Botha: "It will not be a very large sum, but we cannot give you the exact amount." Commander-in-Chief de Wet: "You can well understand that our expenses are only a drop in the ocean compared with yours. If I am right, the Orange Free State had three quarters of a million when the war began, and the issue of receipts only started when that sum was exhausted. Your Excellencies must acknowledge that we have the same obligation of creditor through these receipts as we should have in any other case." Commandant-General Botha: "You have already many of our notes in your possession. In one case alone there were fifty thousand hidden away, and found by you. I have stated privately to Lord Milner that what we are now striving to obtain has already been granted to us _de facto_ by Lord Kitchener. In Lord Kitchener's Middelburg proposal the paying of the Government notes was refused, but there was a proviso that the receipts should be paid to the amount of one million. Should this now be withdrawn, surely such a withdrawal would form a deviation from the Middelburg proposal. The paying of notes is legal, and is on quite another footing, and I cannot understand how it could have been refused in the Middelburg proposal. That it should be granted now is only reasonable. But as regards the payment of receipts, although it was allowed then up to a certain amount, it is now withdrawn. At this present stage of the proceedings I think that a point which had already been practically conceded in the previous negotiations should not be allowed to form a stumbling-block to a final agreement. I believe that the amount is only small; I was for one year in conjunction with De la Rey in command of the forces of the South African Republic. During that period of time an account was kept of all the receipts, and only a short time back the books were still in our possession. These receipts were issued in an orderly manner, and each of them was duly entered in a book, as far as I was able to judge. These receipts amounted to quite a small sum; and although Lord Milner would draw back if the sum was very big, the question how far he will go can be settled when the proposal is accepted. Yet I personally think that there are no grounds for fear, and the amount is really far smaller than you imagine." Lord Milner: "I do not think it is so much a question of amount. This paying of notes and requisition notes appears to me very unreasonable. I believe that in this matter I am only voicing the opinion of the great majority of the British nation when I say that my countrymen would much prefer to pay a large sum at the conclusion of hostilities with the object of bettering the condition of the people who have been fighting against them than to pay a much smaller sum to meet the costs incurred by the Republics during the war. Whether such a view is right or wrong, it is a view you have to reckon with. We do not wish to pay the accounts of both parties; and my opinion of the clause quoted from the Middelburg proposal is that that clause was one of its faults. But should anything of the kind become necessary, then I think that the paying of the notes is less objectionable than the paying of the requisition notes. I placed this point about the payment of notes in the draft because I thought that if it came to a choice between paying one or the other you would prefer that the notes should be paid. However, if it should be thought better to return on this point to the Middelburg proposal, although I am greatly against the clause, I will waive my objection to it if Lord Kitchener is agreeable." General Smuts: "I am afraid that we cannot agree to this, for we thought that the notes would be beyond all dispute." Judge Hertzog: "I do not think that your Excellency is representing the matter fairly when you say that you will not pay the bills of both parties. There is one thing to be taken into consideration as regards the Orange Free State, and which must be considered before everything else, and that is, that we have made no loans nor have we given any government notes. The notes we used were notes of the South African Republic, which had been sent to the Orange Free State. Our law was formed on the idea that in case of war all the costs should be paid by commission notes. The Orange Free State acted on this principle, and receipts were issued. If we take into consideration at the same time that we have been and still are recognized by you as belligerent, then we can only say: On our side we surrender everything that we possess, and we only ask the other party to acknowledge the fact that if we had contracted a loan it would have been to the charge of the British Government, who, in taking everything from us, renders itself responsible for our public loans. Lord Milner should understand that it is of just as much importance to us for the receipts to be paid as it is to the South African Republic for the loan, which it contracted before the war, to be taken over by the British Government. But I can even go further and give Lord Milner the assurance that we have acted more economically when issuing these receipts than we should have done had we contracted the loan previous to the war. Now we have only what is absolutely necessary to meet our present needs. So that Lord Milner must own that we find ourselves in the same position towards those who are in possession of receipts, as we should have occupied towards any other creditor we might have had before the war began. I must give my support to what the Commandant-General has said; and I can only repeat what I have already informally told Lord Milner, namely, that this difficulty is almost insurmountable." Lord Milner: "We can refer this to our Government. But your proposal is altogether antagonistic to the Middelburg proposal, which absolutely rejected the idea of taking over all the debts of the two States." Lord Kitchener: "I should like to know the amount." General De la Rey: "My issue of notes amounts to between twenty and fifty thousand pounds; but I cannot say what the issue in receipt has been." Lord Milner: "There really is a feasible compromise, namely, to allow the notes and receipts to come in and to establish the suggested limit of £1,000,000." Lord Kitchener: "Would that meet your difficulty?" Commandant-General Botha: "No." Lord Kitchener: "Well, would two or three million be sufficient? We must have a limit before we can do anything." Commander-in-Chief de Wet: "It is impossible to stipulate the amount." Lord Kitchener: "If you were in a position to give a limit, it would simplify matters." Commander-in-Chief de Wet: "I agree with that entirely, and I can quite understand the position in which you are placed. Yet it is absolutely impossible to assign an amount. Will you give us your permission to adjourn for a moment in order to discuss the matter?" The meeting was then adjourned. It reassembled at 2.30 p.m. Commander-in-Chief de Wet: "We have agreed to fix on a sum of £3,000,000 for the government notes and receipts; their amount paid _pro rata_ can be lowered should this sum prove insufficient. We have drawn up an article to lay before the meeting." General Smuts then read a draft which was inserted at the end of Article 11 in the draft agreement. In answer to a question by Lord Kitchener, Commander-in-Chief de Wet said: "The prisoners of war on the different islands who are in possession of such notes should be given an opportunity of sending them in for payment." Lord Milner: "What is the next point you wish to raise? We now understand what your position is." Commandant-General Botha: "Am I to understand that you mean that we are getting away from the point in discussion?" Lord Milner: "This document contains your view of the matter, so we are now aware of your idea." Commandant-General Botha: "We must know what to say to the delegates." Lord Kitchener: "Is this the only point you wish to bring forward, or are there others in addition?" Commandant-General Botha: "There is another concerning the protection of debtors, which is a vital question for us." Lord Milner: "We must not have any beating about the bush. Everything must appear in the document." General Smuts: "Most of the debts contracted before the war will have to be paid after the war; and if the debtors cannot pay we are afraid that it will result in the ruin of a great part of the inhabitants. We should like to see steps taken to prevent this. If Lord Milner intends to take such steps, we should like to be informed what they are." Lord Milner: "I think it would be best if you were to make a proposal on this point." General Smuts: "Our proposal is roughly that all interest which became payable during the war should be joined to the principal, and that this should be payable six months after the war." Lord Kitchener: "Is it necessary to make a proposal about this?" General Smuts: "If the Government is prepared to meet us in this difficulty it will be unnecessary to place a formal clause in the draft agreement." Lord Milner: "As I look at the matter, the Government is making certain promises in this document, and I consider that all promises to which a reference may be made later should appear in it. Everything to which the Government is asked to bind itself should appear in this document, and nothing else. I do not object to clauses being added, but I wish to prevent any possible misunderstanding." General Smuts: "Well, in that case we are quite willing to propose such a paragraph." Commandant-General Botha: "We waive this question, so that early measures may be taken to arrive at an understanding. In case a great number of the inhabitants become subjects of His Majesty, it is to every one's interest, and principally to that of the Government, that these people should not be ruined. They will be thrown upon the mercy of a Government, whose duty it is to study their interests. If steps are not taken to prevent it, speculators who have been buying up the liabilities will, as soon as peace is concluded, enforce them, and directly the Courts of Justice are opened they will issue summonses. Against this we have to be on our guard." Lord Milner: "I agree with the Commandant-General. I think that as these people become subjects of His Majesty, then some provision will have to be made for them. But I believe it to be neither necessary nor advisable to point out in every particular case the way in which His Majesty's Government has to provide for these people. I think that an idea exists--perhaps it is a very natural idea--because we have been fighting against the burghers that, therefore, after peace has been concluded we shall still retain a feeling of enmity against them. Just the opposite, however, is the truth. Our endeavour will naturally be, from the moment hostilities cease, to gain the confidence of the people and to do our best to promote their welfare. But if we have to bind ourselves beforehand in regard to the manner in which we shall deal with all sorts of involved legal questions, further misunderstandings are certain to occur. If you have not confidence in us--that we shall try to be a righteous Government, and to maintain the balance between the different classes of His Majesty's subjects--then you must put in writing every point that strikes you, and let them be laid before His Majesty's Government, to see what they think about them." Commander-in-Chief de Wet: "I trust that you will not think that we are trying to tie the hands of His Majesty's Government. There are many other points which will give the Government opportunity to win the confidence of the people. But about things which concern the financial position of burghers who are entirely ruined we feel it our duty to obtain definite promises. They will be a weapon in our hands when we return to the delegates." Commandant-General Botha: "I do not quite understand, Lord Milner. I did not interpret Mr. Chamberlain's telegram in the sense that we had to present new proposals in order to bind our hands further. I thought that proposals were to be made with a view to establishing peace." Lord Kitchener: "I do not think that it is altogether necessary to include this proposal in the document. It concerns the very involved legal questions as to what the rights of creditor and debtor shall be, and as to what the law in the Transvaal may be on the matter. I think that every one can rest assured that the interests of the Boers will be protected by the Government in every way; and this, whether the point is put down now or left in the hands of the Government with the recommendation from this Commission to take the matter into serious consideration. "I think that I know of a better way to deal with this involved question. Let this matter be brought under the consideration of the Government. I may be mistaken, but, as far as I can see, it will prove a very thorny question for the lawyers, and will take a long time before it can be clearly stated. It is, however, the wish of us all that you should return to the delegates equipped in such a way that you will be able to arrive at a decision. You may rest assured that the matter which you have brought before us has been included in the minutes of this meeting. I do not think that it is necessary for you to go further than this. The matter can now be carefully considered, not only here, but also in England; and you may be quite sure that your interests will receive, in every way, full consideration." General De la Rey: "I think that the matter has been sufficiently discussed in the presence of your Excellencies, and that it need not be placed in the draft contract, for by so doing one might stumble on legal questions." Commander-in-Chief de Wet: "This is my point of view: There are two parties, and one of them is about to cease to exist. It is, therefore, natural that this party cannot allow a vital question to pass unnoticed. It is for this reason that I cannot agree that this matter should be omitted from the draft contract. It will not be necessary that the military Government which now exists should continue after the war." Lord Kitchener: "But the question will have to be settled by the Civil Government. It is a matter for lawyers, and must be laid before them, and will require much consideration." Commandant-General Botha: "When hostilities are concluded it will be possible to summon a burgher for a debt contracted before the war. I put this request because our law states that no burgher can be summoned till sixty days have elapsed since the conclusion of peace." Lord Kitchener: "You may entirely rely upon this, that whenever the war is over each burgher will have the absolute right to obtain consideration for his position in every way, and that his interests will be protected under the new as under the old régime." Commandant-General Botha: "I understand that perfectly. But the possibility exists that syndicates may be formed to buy up all the debts, and the people may be ruined before a single burgher is in the position to earn anything or to have his position restored." Lord Kitchener: "I quite agree with what the Commandant-General has said, and he is quite right to bring the question up. Yet I do not think that the draft contract is the best place in which to bring it forward. Once peace is a fact, then it will be the duty of every one to draw the attention of the Government to what is required to aid the nation; but to bring up difficulties at the present moment, and to attempt to right them, seems to be an endless task, and one for which this document was not destined." Commander-in-Chief de Wet: "I am of opinion that this is a matter which should be settled by a proclamation; but I want to have as many weapons as possible in my hands when I return to the national delegates, and one of the first questions that will be asked me is this, 'What guarantee do we possess that we shall not be ruined by our creditors?' It would not be much trouble to you to give us now a draft of the proclamation which would be issued as soon as peace is concluded." Lord Kitchener: "But this would be something quite apart from the matter under discussion." Commander-in-Chief de Wet: "Yes." Lord Milner: "What is the good then?" Commander-in-Chief de Wet: "It is such a vital question for us that you cannot take it amiss if we insist upon it, for we have to give up everything." Lord Kitchener: "Of course, no one is blaming you." Lord Milner: "But without any thought of blame, I must point out that the effect of their proposal would be that another clause would have to be inserted in the draft contract, undertaking that such a proclamation would be issued." Lord Kitchener: "I think that as long as the delegates receive an assurance that the Government will take this matter into consideration, in the interests of their subjects, whom they are bound to protect, that such an assurance ought to suffice. There should be no written undertaking, but only a promise that the matter shall receive attention. It is not advisable after the subject has been brought before the Government to press the matter further. The feelings of the burghers, moreover, in other ways than this, will be brought before Lord Milner." Commander-in-Chief de Wet: "If we wished to do so, we could insist upon many other little points, but we only bring up vital questions." Lord Kitchener: "This is one of the questions which, when once brought under the consideration of the Government cannot be put aside; and you may tell the burghers that their interests will be protected as fully as is possible. I think that, in so complicated a matter, this ought to be sufficient for them. All that is debated here is recorded in the minutes, and these minutes will be considered not only here, but also in England. Are you satisfied with this?" Commandant-General Botha: "Yes, so far as I am concerned." Commander-in-Chief de Wet: "I also am satisfied." Lord Milner: "I hope it is quite understood that if the matter is allowed to remain where it is, my Government will be under no obligation to treat the matter in any particular way." Lord Kitchener: "But there is a pledge that the matter will be properly considered." Lord Milner: "Yes, naturally; if we put anything down in writing. I am convinced that it is necessary to make it quite clear that this document must contain everything about which there is anything in the form of a pledge." Lord Kitchener: "There is, then, a pledge that the point upon which you have touched will be considered in your interests." General Smuts: "There still remains the question of the payment of receipts." Lord Kitchener: "That will be placed before the Government. The sum is an essential point; I believe the amount to be considerable. I should now like to know that it is understood that we are agreed about all these draft proposals, including your amendments, and that there are no further questions to be brought forward--it is necessary to know this, as they would have to be telegraphed to England." Commander-in-Chief de Wet: "We have no further points to raise." Lord Milner: "The telegram that I shall despatch is as follows: 'The Commission is prepared to lay before their burgher meeting the following document (in the event of it being sanctioned by His Majesty's Government), and to ask of the meeting a "Yes" or "No."' "Is that satisfactory?" Commander-in-Chief de Wet: "Yes, naturally. Only I cannot say that this document has my approval. Yet I shall be content to abide by the decision of the delegates." Judge Hertzog: "I should not like to think that we are bound to use our influence with the delegates." Lord Milner: "I think that is understood. I understand that the members of the Commission are not bound in respect of the opinions they may express before the burghers. They are only bound, if the British Government approves of the document, to lay it before the people. I propose to send the following telegram: 'The Commission is prepared to lay the following document before the burgher meeting at Vereeniging, for a "Yes" or "No" vote, in the event of His Majesty's Government approving of it.' "I want also to state that we have completely deviated from the Middelburg proposal. I believe everyone is fully aware that the Middelburg proposal has been annulled altogether. Should an agreement be arranged in conformity with this document, and signed, then no attempt must be made to explain the document, or its terms, by anything in the Middelburg proposal." The meeting was now adjourned. WEDNESDAY, MAY 28TH, 1902. The Commission met Lord Kitchener and Lord Milner at eleven o'clock with the purpose of hearing the British Government's answer to the draft proposal sent by their Lordships. Lord Milner read the following memorandum: "In answer to the telegram composed at our last meeting with the consent of the Commission and of which the members have received a copy, the following message has been received from His Majesty's Government:-- 'His Majesty's Government sanctions the laying before the meeting for a "Yes" or "No" vote the document drawn up by the Commission and sent by Lord Kitchener on the 21st May to the Secretary of War, with the following amendments: 'The final proposal made by the British Government, on which the national representatives at Vereeniging have to answer "Yes" or "No." 'General Lord Kitchener of Khartoum, Commander-in-Chief, and His Excellency Lord Milner, High Commissioner, on behalf of the British Government; 'Messrs. S.W. Burger, F.W. Reitz, Louis Botha, J.H. De la Rey, L.J. Meijer, and J.C. Krogh on behalf of the Government of the South African Republic and its burghers; 'Messrs. M.T. Steyn, W.J.C. Brebner, C.R. de Wet, J.B.M. Hertzog, and C.H. Olivier on behalf of the Government of the Orange Free State and its burghers, being anxious to put an end to the existing hostilities, agree on the following points: 'Firstly, the burgher forces now in the Veldt shall at once lay down their arms, and surrender all the guns, small arms, and war stores in their actual possession, or of which they have cognizance, and shall abstain from any further opposition to the authority of His Majesty King Edward VII., whom they acknowledge as their lawful sovereign. 'The manner and details of this surrender shall be arranged by Lord Kitchener, Commandant-General Botha, Assistant-Commandant-General J.H. De la Rey, and Commander-in-Chief de Wet. 'Secondly, burghers in the Veldt beyond the frontiers of the Transvaal and of the Orange River Colony, and all prisoners of war who are out of South Africa, who are burghers, shall, on their declaration that they accept the status of subjects of His Majesty King Edward VII., be brought back to their homes, as soon as transport and means of subsistence can be assured. 'Thirdly, the burghers who thus surrender, or who thus return, shall lose neither their personal freedom nor their property. 'Fourthly, no judicial proceedings, civil or criminal, shall be taken against any of the burghers who thus return for any action in connexion with the carrying on of the war. The benefit of this clause shall, however, not extend to certain deeds antagonistic to the usages of warfare, which have been communicated by the Commander-in-Chief to the Boer Generals, and which shall be heard before a court martial immediately after the cessation of hostilities. 'Fifthly, the Dutch language shall be taught in the public schools of the Transvaal and of the Orange River Colony when the parents of children demand it; and shall be admitted in the Courts of Justice, whenever this is required for the better and more effective administration of justice. 'Sixthly, the possession of rifles shall, on taking out a licence in accordance with the law, be permitted in the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony to persons who require them for their protection. 'Seventhly, military administration in the Transvaal and in the Orange River Colony shall, as soon as it is possible, be followed by civil government; and, as soon as circumstances permit it, a representative system tending towards autonomy shall be introduced. 'Eighthly, the question of granting a franchise to the native shall not be decided until a representative constitution has been granted. 'Ninthly, no special tax shall be laid on landed property in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, to meet the expenses of the war. 'Tenthly, as soon as circumstances permit there shall be appointed in each district in the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony a Commission, in which the inhabitants of that district shall be represented, under the chairmanship of a magistrate or other official, with the view to assist in the bringing back of the people to their farms, and in procuring for those who, on account of losses in the war are unable to provide for themselves, food, shelter, and such quantities of seed, cattle, implements, etc., as are necessary for the resuming of their previous callings. 'His Majesty's Government shall place at the disposal of these Commissions the sum of £3,000,000 for the above-mentioned purposes, and shall allow that all notes issued in conformity with Law No. 1, 1900, of the Government of the South African Republic, and all receipts given by the officers in the Veldt of the late Republics, or by their order, may be presented to a judicial Commission by the Government, and in case such notes and receipts are found by this Commission to have been duly issued for consideration in value, then they shall be accepted by the said Commission as proof of war losses, suffered by the persons to whom they had originally been given. In addition to the above-named free gift of £3,000,000, His Majesty's Government will be prepared to grant advances, in the shape of loans, for the same ends, free of interest for two years, and afterwards repayable over a period of years with three per cent. interest. No foreigner or rebel shall be entitled to benefit by this clause.' Lord Milner: "In making this communication to the Commission we are instructed to add that if this opportunity of concluding an honourable peace is not taken advantage of within a time to be fixed by us, then this conference shall be regarded as closed, and His Majesty's Government shall not be bound in any way by the present terms. I have, in order that there may be no mistake about these terms, made a copy of the documents and of Lord Kitchener's telegram, also of the amendments and additions determined on by His Majesty's Government, and of the memorandum to which I have just drawn your attention." A debate now followed on the time that should be allowed for the discussion of the proposals at Vereeniging, and it was agreed that Commandant-General Botha should propose a term that very day before the Commission left Pretoria. It was subsequently settled that the delegates must arrive at a decision before Saturday evening, May 31st. General Botha asked if there were any objection to the delegates erasing any paragraph of the proposal sent by the British Government. Lord Milner: "There must be no alteration. Only 'Yes' or 'No' is to be answered." Commandant-General Botha: "I think that the burghers have the right to erase any article they may wish, for they have the right to surrender unconditionally." Lord Milner replied that the burghers certainly had the power to do so, but the document of the British Government could not be changed. There now followed an informal discussion about the colonists who had been fighting on the side of the Republics. Lord Milner communicated what the British Government's intentions were with regard to these colonists; and read the following document:-- "His Majesty's Government has to formally place on record that the colonists of Natal and the Cape Colony who have been engaged in fighting and who now surrender shall, on their return, be dealt with by the Colonial Governments in accordance with the laws of the Colonies, and that all British subjects who have joined the enemy shall be liable to be tried under the law of that part of the British Empire to which they belong. "His Majesty's Government has received from the Government of Cape Colony a statement of their opinion as regards the terms to be offered to British subjects of the Cape Colony who are still in the Veldt or who have surrendered since April 12th, 1901. The terms are as follows:--In regard to the burghers, they all, on their surrender, after having laid down their arms, shall sign a document before a resident magistrate of the district in which their surrender has taken place, in which document they shall declare themselves guilty of high treason; and their punishment, in the event of their not having been guilty of murder, or of other deeds in contradiction to the customs of civilized warfare, shall be that for the rest of their lives they shall not be registered as voters, nor shall they be able to vote in Parliamentary, district, or municipal elections. As regards justices and veldtcornets of the Cape Colony, and all other persons who had occupied official positions under the Government of Cape Colony, and all who held the rank of commandant in the rebel or burgher forces, they shall be brought on the charge of high treason before the ordinary Courts of the country, or before such special Courts as later on may legally be constituted. The punishment for their misdeeds shall be left to the discretion of the Court, with this reservation, that in no case shall capital punishment be inflicted. "The Government of Natal is of opinion that the rebels should be judged by the laws of the Colony." The meeting now adjourned. The secretaries and Messrs. de Wet and J. Ferreira, with the help of lawyers, set themselves the task of making copies of the proposal of the British Government for the use of the national representatives at Vereeniging. This work kept them engaged until the evening. At seven o'clock the Commission left Pretoria and returned to Vereeniging. THE MIDDELBURG PROPOSAL. LORD KITCHENER TO COMMANDANT-GENERAL BOTHA. PRETORIA, _March 7, 1901_. YOUR HONOUR,-- With reference to our conversation at Middelburg on the 28th February, I have the honour to inform you that, in the event of a general and complete cessation of hostilities, and the surrender of all rifles, ammunition, cannon and other munitions of war in the hands of the burghers, or in Government depots, or elsewhere, His Majesty's Government is prepared to adopt the following measures. His Majesty's Government will at once grant an amnesty in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony for all _bonâ fide_ acts of war committed during the recent hostilities. British subjects belonging to Natal and Cape Colony, while they will not be compelled to return to those Colonies, will, if they do so, be liable to be dealt with by the laws of those Colonies specially passed to meet the circumstances arising out of the present war. As you are doubtless aware, the special law in the Cape Colony has greatly mitigated the ordinary penalties for high treason in the present case. All prisoners of war, now in St. Helena, Ceylon, or elsewhere, being burghers or colonists, will, on the completion of the surrender, be brought back to their country as quickly as arrangements can be made for their transport. At the earliest practicable date military administration will cease, and will be replaced by civil administration in the form of Crown Colony Government. There will, therefore, be, in the first instance, in each of the new Colonies, a Governor and an Executive Council, composed of the principal officials, with a Legislative Council consisting of a certain number of official members to whom a nominated unofficial element will be added. But it is the desire of His Majesty's Government, as soon as circumstances permit, to introduce a representative element, and ultimately to concede to the new Colonies the privilege of self-government. Moreover, on the cessation of hostilities, a High Court will be established in each of the new Colonies to administer the laws of the land, and this Court will be independent of the Executive. Church property, public trusts, and orphan funds will be respected. Both the English and Dutch languages will be used and taught in public schools when the parents of the children desire it, and allowed in Courts of Law. As regards the debts of the late Republican Governments, His Majesty's Government cannot undertake any liability. It is, however, prepared, as an act of grace, to set aside a sum not exceeding one million pounds sterling to repay inhabitants of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony for goods requisitioned from them by the late Republican Governments, or subsequent to annexation, by Commandants in the field being in a position to enforce such requisitions. But such claims will have to be established to the satisfaction of a Judge or Judicial Commission, appointed by the Government, to investigate and assess them, and, if exceeding in the aggregate one million pounds, they will be liable to reduction _pro rata_. I also beg to inform Your Honour that the new Government will take into immediate consideration the possibility of assisting by loan the occupants of farms, who will take the oath of allegiance, to repair any injuries sustained by destruction of buildings or loss of stock during the war, and that no special war tax will be imposed upon farms to defray the expense of the war. When burghers require the protection of firearms, such will be allowed to them by licence, and on due registration, provided they take the oath of allegiance. Licences will also be issued for sporting rifles, guns, etc., but military firearms will only be allowed for purposes of protection. As regards the extension of the franchise to Kaffirs in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, it is not the intention of His Majesty's Government to give such franchise before representative Government is granted to those Colonies, and if then given it will be so limited as to secure the just predominance of the white race. The legal position of coloured persons will, however, be similar to that which they hold in the Cape Colony. In conclusion I must inform Your Honour that, if the terms now offered are not accepted after a reasonable delay for consideration they must be regarded as cancelled. I have, etc., KITCHENER, GENERAL, Commander-in-Chief British Forces, South Africa. To His Honour, Commandant-General Louis Botha. Appendix C MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE SPECIAL NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES AT VEREENIGING, SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC, THURSDAY, THE 29TH OF MAY, 1902, AND THE FOLLOWING DAYS MAY 29TH, 1902. The Rev. J.D. Kestell having offered prayer, the Chairman requested Vice-President Burger to address the meeting. Vice-President Burger said that the documents laid before the Governments by the Commission would now be read to the meeting. Thereupon Mr. D. Van Velden read the following letter: REPORT OF THE COMMISSION. PRETORIA, _28th May_, 1902. _To the Governments of the Orange Free State and the South African Republic:_ HONBLE. GENTLEMEN,-- In accordance with instructions received from you, we went to Pretoria in order to negotiate with the British authorities on the question of peace. We have the honour to make the following report: The meetings lasted from Monday, May 19th, to Wednesday, May 28th, its prolongation having been principally caused by the length of time taken up by the cable correspondence with the British Government. We first handed in a proposal (annexed under A)[113] in which we attempted to negotiate on the basis of a limited independence with surrender of part of our territory. Lords Kitchener and Milner refused emphatically to negotiate on this basis, and expressed the opinion that to cable this proposal to the British Government would be detrimental to the objects of these negotiations. They told us they had already informed the two Governments that the British Government would only negotiate on the basis of an amended form of the Middelburg proposal. In order finally to formulate this proposal, Lord Milner asked the assistance of some members of the Commission; and this was granted, on the understanding that the assistance of these members of the Commission should be given without prejudice to themselves. As the result of the deliberations of this sub-committee, Lord Milner produced a draft proposal, in which we insisted that a fresh clause (No. 11) should be inserted; and this was done. This draft proposal (annexed under B)[114] was then cabled to the British Government, revised by them, and then communicated to us in its final shape (annexed under B).[115] We were informed by the British Government that no further revision of this proposal would be allowed, but that it must now be either accepted or rejected in its entirety by the delegates of the two Republics; and that this acceptance or rejection must take place within a stipulated time. We then told Lord Kitchener that he should know our final decision by the evening of the next Saturday at latest. During our formal negotiations certain informal conversations took place in reference to the British subjects (in Cape Colony and Natal) who have been fighting on our side. As a result of these informal conversations a communication from the British Government was imparted to us (annexed under B).[116] We have the honour to remain, etc., LOUIS BOTHA. J.H. DE LA REY. C.R. DE WET. J.B.M. HERTZOG. J.D. SMUTS. Vice-President Burger said that the delegates must proceed to discuss this document, and that they would then be asked to decide--firstly, whether the struggle should be continued; secondly, whether the proposal of the British Government should be accepted; and, thirdly, whether they were prepared to surrender unconditionally. It was decided that minutes of the meeting should be kept, and the delegates then proceeded to discuss the different articles of the British Government's proposal. The whole of the morning and a part of the afternoon sitting were devoted to questions dealing with the meaning of the several clauses, the members of the Commission answering to the best of their ability. After these questions had been disposed of, Mr. De Clercq rose to speak. He said that he had already given his own opinion, but that now it was for the whole meeting to decide whether they would give up the war, and, if they resolved to do so, whether they would accept the proposal unconditionally. As to the proposal, it could not be denied that it did not give all that they themselves desired, but _that_ could not have been expected. Should they now return to their commandos and be asked by their burghers what they had effected, they would have to reply, "Nothing." How would they be able to meet their burghers with such an answer as that? It would therefore be better to get terms from the British Government; and by doing so they would also gratify the British nation. As for himself, he was for accepting the proposal, unless it could be proved to him that unconditional surrender would be a still better course to take. General Nieuwouwdt then proposed that the meeting should, without further delay, proceed to vote whether the war should be terminated, and whether the terms offered to them should be accepted. General Froneman seconded this proposal. Mr. Birkenstock (Vrijheid) felt that this was too important a matter to be treated with such haste. A decision about such a document as the one now lying before the meeting could not be come to in a moment. The delegates would hardly agree with the last speaker in his opinion that they should at once proceed to vote whether the war should or should not be continued. Time was required before coming to such a decision. Moreover it had to be proved whether it were possible to continue the war. There were some districts where it certainly could no longer be carried on. Was it possible for one part of the nation to continue fighting without the other? Then there was the question whether their resources and the troops which they still had were sufficient to justify them in prolonging the struggle. If they were insufficient the war must be discontinued and terms must be accepted. It would not be an easy thing to do; one could not, with a light heart, give up the independence of their country; but half a loaf was better than no bread,[117] and even such a sacrifice as this might be necessary if the nation was to be saved. Commandant Jacobsz (Harrismith) was at one with the last speaker in holding that they must not be in too great a hurry to vote on the proposal. Mr. P.R. Viljoen (Heidelberg) felt that the proposal of the British Government would so tightly bind them that they would never again be free. They were _knee-haltered_[118] now, but under certain circumstances they might even be _hobbled_.[119] He considered that the meeting should ask the Governments to stop the war. General Du Toit (Wolmaransstad) said that the times through which they were passing were very critical; every one ought to say exactly what he thought, and no one ought to be condemned for doing so. A delegate who should say that the war could not be continued must not be considered disloyal to his country because he did so. As regarded the three questions before the meeting, according to the opinion of his burghers the war ought to be continued. The views of his burghers when he left the commandos had been clearly expressed. "Let us retain our independence, or go on fighting," they had said. But why were they of this mind? Because they were unaware how matters stood in other districts. The eyes of the delegates, however, while directed towards God, were also able to observe the condition of the eastern parts of their country. If the burghers in those parts could not hold out, it would be impossible for the other commandos to do so. It could not be denied that some of the commandos were no longer able to continue fighting. That being the case, even if there were a majority in favour of prolonging the struggle, that majority would have to yield to the wishes of the minority, and for this reason: if the war were to be continued in conformity with the wishes of the majority, and if the minority were to be compelled to surrender (and nobody would be surprised at this), then the majority would find themselves too weak to go on fighting. Thus there were clear reasons why the war must be ended. Moreover, its continuation would involve not only the _national_ but also the _moral_ death of the Republics. But it was still to be proved that a continuation of the war was even possible; for himself he feared that it was not so, and if fight he must he could only fight without hope and without heart. If he were now to go back to his burghers, and they were to ask him why he persisted in the war, and he was compelled to reply that he was doing so on the strength of opinions expressed in newspapers, and on the encouragement given to the cause of the Republics in their pages, he would be told that he was building on sand. Again, he feared that if the war were to be continued, detached parties would be formed which would try to obtain terms from the English for themselves. And should the commandos in time become so weak as to be forced to surrender unconditionally, what then would be the fate of the officers? Would they not lose everything, and be banished into the bargain? Let no one think, however, that he was trying merely to do what was best for himself. No. There was now a chance for negotiating; should the meeting let slip that chance, unconditional surrender would most certainly result, and that would be disastrous to all. He hoped that he would not be misunderstood; if the meeting decided to go on with the war, he, for one, would not lay down his arms. No, he would actively prosecute the war, and operate in conjunction with the other generals. But what would be the use of it: he sided with those who held that the struggle could no longer be carried on. Commandant Rheeder (Rouxville) wished to reply to those who demanded reasons for the continuation of the war. One reason, he said, was to be found in the fact that England would not allow them to have any communication with the deputation in Europe; that meant that something advantageous to us was being held back. Another was the consideration of what their descendants in time to come would say. "How is it," they would ask, "that we are not now free men? There were a large number of burghers in the veldt to continue the war--what has become of our independence?" And what answer shall we be able to make?--we whose courage failed us before such tremendous odds, and who laid down our arms when victory was still possible? The speaker would only be satisfied if the meeting were unanimous for stopping the war, not otherwise. He thought of the families. How would the delegates face their families on their return, after the sacrifice of independence? He considered that the commandos should leave those districts where resistance was no longer possible and go to others. If to discontinue the war meant to surrender independence, then the war must not be discontinued. Vice-President Burger said that he had not heard from the last speaker any reasons whatsoever for continuing the war. Commandant Rheeder then remarked that if they wanted to surrender their country they should have done so earlier, when the burghers were not entirely destitute. But now nothing was left to them. As to the narrowness of the field of operations, there was still room enough to fight. Commandant P.L. Uijs (Pretoria) referred to the frequent allusion which had been made to their European deputation. That deputation was now in Holland, and must know if anything was going on there to the advantage of the Republics. If there were any hopeful signs there, their comrades would certainly have informed them. They had not done so, and therefore the meeting should dismiss this subject from its thoughts. The meeting then adjourned until 7.15 p.m. Upon reassembling, Commandant Cronje (Winburg) said that he would not detain the meeting for long; he only wished to say a very few words. It had been rightly said that they were passing through a momentous period of their history. To his mind the present was _the_ critical epoch in the existence of the African nation, whose destinies they had now to decide. Delegates were asking what hopes they could now entertain. But what grounds for hope were there when the war began? In his opinion there were none. It was only that men believed then that Right was Might, and put their trust in God. And God had helped them. When the enemy had entered their country everything was dark. There had been a day on which more than four thousand men had surrendered. Then, even as now, they had been without hope. Then, even as now, those who wanted to continue the war had been told that they were mad. That had been some two years ago, and yet the war was still going on. Then, even as now, there had been no food, and yet they had managed to live. The delegates represented a free people; let them not take a step of which they would afterwards repent. As regarded intervention, he had often said that one could not rely on it. But they _could_ rely on God. When he returned to his burghers, and was questioned as to his reason for the course of action which he had advocated, he hoped to be able to answer, "Belief in God." There had always been times when there was no food, and yet they had always managed to live. A deputation had been officially sent to Europe, and was now there to represent their interests. Had the meeting lost its confidence in that deputation? Did it not realize that if the case of the Republic was hopeless in Europe the deputation would send word to that effect? It had been said that by continuing the war they would be exterminating the nation. He did not believe this. The way to exterminate the nation was to accept the British proposal. To go on with the war was their only policy, and it was a very good policy. The deputation had claimed that their advice should be taken before any negotiations were attempted. What right, then, had the delegates to give up the war on the basis of the proposal now before them? To do so was to give the death blow to their national existence; later on they would have cause to rue it. Moreover, the proposal did not safeguard the interests of their brethren in Cape Colony. Again, landed property belonging to burghers had already been sold, and in all probability these burghers would never see any of the proceeds. The sum (£3,000,000) which the proposal offered to compensate for all damages, was not sufficient to cover damage already done. For these and other reasons the proposal could not be accepted. No other course was open to them except to reject the proposal and to continue hostilities. General Froneman (Ladybrand) agreed with the last speaker. He loved his country, and could not think of surrendering it. The reasons which had induced them to begin the war were still in force. He had been through the whole campaign, and saw stronger reasons now than ever before for the continuing of the war. His districts, like those of others, were exhausted, and yet his burghers remained in the veldt. He had been present at the surrender of the four thousand; he had seen General Cronje give up his sword. Those had been dark days, but the struggle still went on; they could still keep on their legs. It had been God's will that this war should take place. Prayers had been offered that it might be averted, but God had ruled it otherwise. Therefore they must carry the war through, and never think of surrender. They were Republicans. What would it be to have to give up that name for ever? He had consulted his burghers and their women-folk; he had asked them, "What conditions of peace will you accept?" They had answered, "No peace at all, if it means any loss of independence." And so, before he could vote for peace, he would have again to take the opinion of his burghers. Veldtcornet B.H. Breijtenbach (Utrecht) urged that a definite yes or no must be given to the question, Is the war to continue? The general condition of the country had been laid before the meeting, and it had been clearly shown that its condition made the carrying on of the war impossible. One could not escape from that fact. Why then should they argue any longer? What reason had they for wishing to prolong this struggle? They surely would not do so blindfold. Unless good reasons could be alleged for continuing it, the war would have to be stopped. As those good reasons were not forthcoming, he would vote with those who were for peace. To continue the war would be a crime. Some of the last few speakers had stated that there had been no sufficient reasons for commencing the war. That might be true. They might have been over-confident then. Be that as it might, they certainly had lost so much ground since then that they must now give up the struggle. This was his irrevocable opinion. It had been clearly shown that fourteen commandos were unable to continue in the veldt. This made peace a necessity, for what was to be gained by continuing a struggle without a proper army. The war might last a few months longer, but it must end then--and end in disaster. Commandant W.J. Viljoen (Witwatersrand) said that some speakers were for and others against the continuation of hostilities. The first were guided by faith alone; the second had brought forward definite grounds for their opinion. A year ago both parties had been inspired by faith, but what had been the result? He would be glad enough to be convinced, but those who wished to continue the war must show grounds for such a line of action. General De la Rey would only say a few words. He had received definite instructions before he went to his burghers neither to encourage nor discourage them, whatever they might say at their meetings. He had strictly observed these instructions, and had never attempted to influence them. There were present among the delegates nine men (one being from Cape Colony) who represented his burghers, and who would testify as to their state of mind and temper; he need not therefore say anything. The delegates could bear witness how full of courage the men were. Nevertheless, the war could not be continued. Say or do what they would at that meeting, the war must cease. Some had talked about faith. But what was faith? True faith consisted in saying, "Lord, Thy will, not mine, be done." They must bow before the will of God. The delegates, he continued, must choose one of the three courses which were open to them. It would be a great calamity if they were to decide to surrender unconditionally. Had it been necessary to do so it should have been done while they still possessed something. Should they then continue the war? But the question as to what would become of the people under those circumstances must be faced--to continue fighting would be the ruin of the nation. The delegates might go away determined to fight, but the burghers would lay down their arms, and the state of affairs which would thus ensue would not redound to their honour. But the British Government offered guarantees; it would help the nation so that the nation might help itself. If any one were to say now, "Continue fighting," he and his generals might have the heart to do so if they kept their minds fixed on their recent exploits. For himself, however, he would refuse absolutely to accede to that request. And what real advantage had accrued from his successes in the veldt? What had followed on them? All his cattle had been taken away, some three hundred of his men had been killed, wounded, or taken prisoner. Some of the delegates set their hopes on the European deputation, but what did that deputation say a year ago? It said that all depended on their continuing to fight. They _had_ continued to fight. What more, then, was there left for them to do? Some gentlemen present had definite mandates from their burghers, who very likely had no knowledge of the actual state of affairs when they gave those mandates. He himself had not known at that time in what a plight the country was. He challenged each and all of the delegates to show their burghers the proposal of the British Government, and then to see if those burghers were not in favour of unconditional surrender. But if the meeting insisted on the continuation of hostilities, the nation would be driven into _hands-upping_; thus the war would end in dishonour and disgrace. Landdrost Bosman (Wakkerstroom) was glad that General De la Rey had spoken out so boldly; it was every one's duty to do so. He himself also was against the continuance of the war. Although it had been said that the war had been begun in faith, it ought not to be forgotten that it had also been begun with hope of intervention, as was shown by the sending of the deputation to Europe--that deputation which, as they had often heard, had done so much good work. Another proof that there had then been hope of intervention was that the burghers had ordered the delegates to keep them in communication with the deputation. And that they had not relied exclusively on faith at the beginning of the war was shown by the fact that they had founded great hopes on what their brethren in Cape Colony might accomplish. These hopes had now been dissipated by General Smuts, who had just said that there was no chance of a general insurrection. Again, could the war be continued when their commandos were so much weakened, and when food was so scarce? It was nonsense to say that food had been scarce a year ago; there had been a sufficiency then, and at the present time there was not. One could ride from Vereeniging to Piet Retief without seeing more than two or three herds of cattle. Moreover, the women and children were in a most pitiable condition. One delegate had spoken against any scheme which would be as it were a trampling on the blood which had already been spilt--he shared that delegate's sentiments; but he considered that to shed yet more blood in a cause which was to all appearance hopeless would be still more reprehensible. He should prefer not to enter into the religious aspect of the question. It was difficult to fathom the purposes of God; perhaps it might be the Divine will that they should lose their independence. All that they could do was to follow the course which seemed to be good and right. Were they, then, to surrender unconditionally? He would say no. It would be giving the enemy opportunities for doing things from which they might otherwise desist. Moreover, by voting for such a policy the leaders would incur the displeasure of the nation. In choosing what course they would pursue the delegates should let nothing else sway them save the good of the nation. They must not be carried away by their feelings; they must listen only to the voice of reason. Commandant H.S. Grobler (Bethal) felt that, under the circumstances, the war could not be continued. It had already reduced them to such straits that they would soon have to fly to the utmost borders of their territories, leaving the enemy unopposed in the very heart of the country. At the beginning of the war they had not relied on faith alone; there had also been guns, war material and provisions. But now none of these things were left to them. It was terrible to him to think that they must sacrifice the independence of their country. He was a true son of his country, and could not consent to the surrender of her independence unless that were the only way of saving the women and children from starvation. But it was not only the women and children who were on the verge of starvation; the burghers still left in the laagers were in the same predicament. What, moreover, was to happen to the prisoners of war, if the struggle were to be continued? And to the families in the camps? The delegates must not forget those families. If the people generally were dying a _national_, the families were dying a _moral_, death. It was a sad thought that there were among their women in the camps, many who were thus losing their moral vitality. It was a thought which should make them determined to conclude the war. Commandant Van Niekerk (Ficksburg) said that his commandos had commissioned him to hold out for independence. The proposal of the British Government could not be accepted. They must take no hasty step. If they persevered in the war, the enemy would grant them better terms. All they had to do was to act like brave men. General J.G. Celliers (Lichtenburg) had already told the meeting what mandate he had received from his burghers. But he was there to do the best he could for the nation as a whole. The condition of the country was very critical. The fact that his own commandos were faring well was not a sufficient reason for continuing the war. He must take all circumstances into consideration. He had said that he was in favour of an arrangement by which peace should be made without the sacrifice of independence. Such an arrangement they had attempted to bring about. They had elected a Commission, which had done all in its power to give effect to their wishes in this matter. And the result was the proposal of the British Government now lying before them. That was what the Commission had obtained for them. Which of them could say that he could have obtained better terms for the people than those contained in that proposal? Or that, if the war were to be continued, the people would gain any advantage which that proposal did not give them? It had been said that the deputation in Europe had encouraged the burghers in their prolonged struggle. The last message they had received from the deputation had been: "Go on till every remedy has been tried." Could that be called encouragement? It had also been said that the nation must have faith. He admitted the necessity--but it must not be the sort of faith which chose what it would believe, and what it would disbelieve. They must be prepared to believe that it might be the will of God that they should yield to the enemy. As he had more insight into the state of affairs than his burghers, and therefore was better qualified to form a judgment, he did not feel himself bound by their mandate. Had the burghers known what he now knew, they would have given him a very different commission. He felt that it was a serious thing to continue sacrificing the lives of his fellow-countrymen. Moreover, however dear independence might be, it was useless to attempt impossibilities. Their one aim should be to safeguard the interests of the nation. His vote would be with those who were for accepting the proposal of the British Government. Commander-in-Chief de Wet was the next to address the meeting. His speech was as follows:-- "As I feel it to be my duty to speak out all my mind before this meeting, I shall go back to the very beginning of the war. And recalling my feelings at that period, I can say that I had less hope then for intervention than I have now. I do not mean to say that I am sanguine about it even now; but I know to-day, what I did not know then, that great sympathy is felt for us by other nations. Even in England this sympathy is to be found, as is shown by the largely-attended 'Pro-Boer' meetings which have been held in that country. And that the feeling in our favour is widespread is evident from the reports which we received by word of mouth from the messenger to whom the deputation entrusted its recent letter, for we cannot believe that the deputation would have employed an unreliable person. And what did that messenger say? Among other things, he said that our cause was winning new adherents every day. It may be asked, however, why the deputation did not send a report of its own? I reply that it had its hand upon the pulse of the Governments, and that the information it was thus gaining was of such a character that it could not be entrusted to any messenger whatsoever. Perhaps the deputation was unable _in any way_ to communicate what it knew to us--it would never do to noise abroad the secrets of European policy. The silence of the delegates ought not, then, to discourage us; on the contrary, we should regard it as a hopeful sign. "If there is any one man who feels deeply for the critical condition of our country, I am that man. And critical our condition certainly is; so that I am not surprised that some of us are asking, 'What hope have we now in continuing the struggle?' But I would ask another question: 'What hope had we at the beginning of the war?' Our faith in God--we had nothing else to rely on! At the very outset of the war I knew that we, with our forty-five thousand troops, were engaged in a contest against a nation that had no less than seven hundred and fifty thousand men under arms, and who could easily send against us a third of that number. And to counterbalance the terrible odds against us, we had nothing, as I knew, but our faith. At that time there were some who expected that effectual help would come from Cape Colony. I was never deluded by this hope. I knew of course that there were men there who would fight with us against England; I knew how much those men sympathized with our cause; but I also knew that the circumstances of that country would make it impossible for the colonists to help us more than they have, as a matter of fact, done. No! God was our one Hope when the war began. And if, when the war is over, victory lies with us, it will not be the first time that faith in God has enabled the weaker nation to overthrow the stronger. "Those of you who urge that the war should be discontinued, ask us, who are for carrying it on, what tangible reason we have for our hope. But what tangible reason for hope was there at the beginning of the war? Are our affairs darker now? Quite the contrary--miracles have been worked in our favour during the last twenty-two months. General Botha wrote to me some time ago, saying that the scarcity of ammunition was causing him much anxiety. And he had good cause for that anxiety--ammunition was exhausted. When a burgher came to me at that time with an empty bandolier, it absolutely terrified me. But now, to use an expression of General Joubert's, my pleasure is tempered with shame when I think of the plentiful store of ammunition which we possess. I am not angry with those of my compatriots who ask for reasons--I give my reasons--nor have I given a thousandth part of them. "The enemy has already made us some concessions. There was a time when Lord Salisbury said that the English Government would be satisfied with nothing short of unconditional surrender. He does not say so to-day. England is negotiating with us--that is to say, she shows signs of yielding to our demands. If we continue the war, England will negotiate again; she will offer still more favourable terms; she will not even stick at independence. "Do you want more of my reasons? Look back once more upon our past history, and you shall find them. Recall the time when the Transvaal was at war with England. At that time we did not know the English so well as we now know them; we had only thirteen cartridges for each man; and there were the so-called 'Loyalists'--a chicken-hearted crew--to hamper us. Faith was our only support then--and you all know how that war resulted. "I am asked what I mean to do with the women and children. That is a very difficult question to answer. We must have faith. I think also that we might meet the emergency in this way--a part of the men should be told off to lay down their arms for the sake of the women, and then they could take the women with them to the English in the towns. This would be a hard expedient, but it may be the only one possible. "America has been referred to by some of the speakers, who have compared our circumstances with those of the United States, when they made war upon England. The comparison is, in one respect at least, an apt one, for we also have large territories to which we can always retreat. "As to Europe--we know little of the condition of things there. Our information about Europe comes only from newspapers, and 'Jingo' newspapers at that. If there is not a great deal going on in Europe which England wants to hide from us, why is she so careful not to let us see European journals? If there were anything in them _unfavourable_ to our cause, England would flood our country with them in her own interests. We must also note that England will not permit our deputation to return to us. "Taking all these facts into consideration, and remembering that the sympathy for us, which is to be found in England itself, may be regarded as being, for all practical purposes, a sort of indirect intervention, I maintain that this terrible struggle must be continued. We must fight on, no matter how long, until our independence is absolutely secure." General Beijers (Waterberg) said that he had to give an answer to the question whether he ought to follow his reason or his conscience; he could only reply that conscience had the first claim upon him. If he were to perish whilst following the guidance of reason, he would feel that he had been unfaithful; whereas, were he to die whilst obeying the dictates of conscience, he would not fear death. Martyrs of old had died for their faith; but he feared that the martyr spirit was now only to be met with in books! Those martyrs had died, and with their death it had seemed that all was lost; but the truth, for which they had given up their lives, had lived! But how is it now with us? We think our cause a righteous one, but are we willing to die for it? Some spoke of our existence as a nation--but whether that were to be preserved or lost, did not lie with us--it was in the hands of God--He would take care of it. Right must conquer in the end. They must take care to be on the side of right, should it even cost them their lives. He agreed with those who said that, even if the present deliberations were to come to nothing, they would have another chance, later on, of negotiating. This had been proved by what had already happened. General de Wet had shown them how Lord Salisbury had gone back upon his first demands; he (General Beijers) could tell them that on one occasion Lord Roberts had declined even to speak to General Botha--and yet the English were negotiating with them now. He was quite open to conviction, but at present he could not see that the war ought to be stopped. Nevertheless he was not blind to the critical state of their affairs. But their case was not yet hopeless; their anxiety about food, their lack of horses--these were not insurmountable difficulties. They might even find some means by which to save their womenfolk. No. These difficulties were not insuperable; but there was one difficulty which _was_ insuperable--the present spirit of the nation. When a spirit, be it what it might, inspired or ruled a man, then that man would submit to no other sway. The spirit that now ruled the burghers was a spirit that was driving them over to the enemy. Against that spirit it was impossible to contend. General De la Rey had said that, if the proposal now before the meeting were to be shown to the burghers, they would at once accept it--that was the sort of spirit that was in them, and one must take it into consideration, for he was convinced that it presented an insurmountable obstacle to the continuation of the war. The meeting was then closed with prayer. [Footnote 113: See page 363 _et seq._] [Footnote 114: See page 379 _et seq._] [Footnote 115: See page 391 _et seq._] [Footnote 116: See page 395 _et seq._] [Footnote 117: The Boer form of this proverb is: Half an egg is better than an empty shell.] [Footnote 118: The head fastened to the knee.] [Footnote 119: Having two legs fastened together.] FRIDAY, MAY 30TH, 1902. After the preliminary prayer had been offered, Vice-President Burger said that before beginning the business of the day, it was his sad duty to inform the meeting that the President of the Orange Free State had been obliged to resign, on account of serious illness. President Steyn had been compelled, in order to obtain medical assistance, to put himself in the hands of the enemy. He had further to communicate that Commander-in-Chief de Wet had been appointed Vice-President of the Orange Free State. He wished to express his deep sympathy with the representatives in the severe loss which they had sustained. President Steyn, he said, had been a rock and pillar to their great cause. Vice-President de Wet having thanked the Vice-President of the South African Republic for his kind and sympathetic words, Mr. J. Naude (the representative of Pretoria, and of General Kemp's flying columns) put some questions with regard to the colonists who had been fighting on the Boer side. These questions were answered by General Smuts. Mr. Naude then asked if the delegates were expected to come to any decision about independence. General Botha replied that the Governments had informed Lords Kitchener and Milner that they were not in a condition to decide that question--that it was a matter for the nation to settle. The delegates had then gone to their burghers, and now had returned, and were present. Mr. Naude said that it must therefore have been known at Klerksdorp that the delegates had to decide upon the question of independence. If that were so, he found himself in a difficulty. Either the delegates had been misled, or they were the victims of a mistake, for they had never been told that they had been elected as plenipotentiaries. Notwithstanding all that the lawyers might say, he considered himself as having a certain definite mission. He had obtained the votes of his burghers on the understanding that he would take up a certain position. He had asked them whether independence was to be given up, and they had answered in the negative. He could not therefore vote for the acceptance of the proposal now before the meeting, for that proposal demanded the surrender of independence. His burghers had also insisted on being allowed to keep their arms, and on the use of their language in schools and Courts of Justice, both of which conditions were refused by the British proposal. Since, therefore, he could not agree to the proposal, he was for continuing the war. Some asked what were the chances of success? He remembered the state of feeling among the burghers at Warmebad--that was a dark time indeed. The Commandant-General had paid those burghers a visit, and had told them that they had nothing to lose, but everything to win, by continuing the struggle. That had been enough for them. They had not had much prospect then; they could not see whither their road was leading. But they had found out afterwards. It had been a dark time too when Pretoria was taken, but most of the burghers had remained steadfast. And after the darkness the light had come back. Again a dark cloud was over them--it would pass away, and the light would reappear. General De la Rey explained that he had not intended to mislead anybody at the gatherings of the burghers. Every document which the Government had handed over to him had been laid before those gatherings. Mr. Naude had asked whether the delegates at that meeting had to decide about independence. Most certainly they had. And to do so was a duty devolving upon Mr. Naude as much as on any other delegate present. They would have to decide, not for their own districts alone, but for the whole country. Mr. Naude said that he had no wish to free himself from his responsibility, but he could not forget that he had come there with a definite mission. Judge Hertzog wished again to explain the rights of the question from a legal point of view. One must ask: If the nation were here, what would it wish to be done? And one must act in conformity with what one thinks its answer would be. The Judge then proceeded to speak on the matter in general. What, he asked, were the arguments in favour of continuing the war? In the first place, England was growing weaker just as their own nation was. Any one could see that with their own eyes. It was true as regarded the financial side of the question. No doubt England could still collect millions of pounds, if she wished, but the time would come when she would have trouble with her tax-payers. Already the British Government found it difficult to pay the interest on the sum borrowed for war expenses, as was proved by the fact that a corn tax had been levied in England. That tax would not have been levied unless things had been in a serious condition. In the second place, he would ask how it was they had not been allowed to meet their deputation? It would only have taken the deputation fourteen days to perform the journey; by now it would have been among them. But permission had been refused them. And why? It was said that to grant a permission would have been a military irregularity. But the present meeting was also a military irregularity. There must be something more behind that refusal. But what were the arguments against going on with the war? He would enumerate them--the situation in which they found themselves was critical; the country as a whole was exhausted. Nearly all the horses had died or had been captured. The strongest argument of all, however, was that some of their own people had turned against them, and were fighting in the ranks of the enemy. Then the condition of the women caused great anxiety; a fear had been expressed that a moral decay might set in among the families in the camps. That consideration had great weight with him. No one with any heart could remain indifferent to it. If there was one thing which more than anything else made him respect Commandant-General Botha, it was that the Commandant-General had the heart to feel, and the courage to express, the importance of that consideration. The present war was one of the saddest that had ever been waged. He doubted if there had ever been a war in which a nation had suffered as they had. But all those sufferings, horrible though they were, did not influence his decision. Did he but see the chance of finally securing freedom for the nation, he would put all such considerations on one side, and go on fighting till death. No; it was not the horror of the situation which influenced him; there was something that weighed upon his heart yet more heavily--it was _the holding of that meeting at Vereeniging_. He reproached no one. Every one had acted with the best intentions. Nevertheless that meeting was a fatal error; it would give them their death blow. For what had it produced--a statement from the lips of the Commandant-General himself that the condition of the country was hopeless. If there were yet any burghers whose courage was not gone, would they not be utterly disheartened when they heard what their leaders had said at that meeting? That was the saddest thought of all. He could understand that those burghers who had already lost heart should be leaving the commandos, but now those who had never yet been disheartened would become so. But notwithstanding all this, it was difficult to feel certain which was the right course to pursue--to give up the war or to continue it. He could only suggest that those who were now in doubt on the matter should support the line of action which, before their doubt began, had appeared to them to be best. Mr. L.J. Meijer (a member of the Government of the South African Republic) then gave some account of the devastation of that part of the country which lay to the north of the Eastern Railway, and on the further side of the Sabi River. (This report coincided with those already given by the delegates.) He went on to say that as they were all in the dark, and could not see the road they were travelling along, they must take reason and conscience for their guide. They had already lost much: let them not lose everything. And what could they hope to gain by continuing the struggle? To do so might be to throw away their last chance of peace. What would their progeny say of them if they were to persist in the struggle and thus lose everything they had possessed? They would say, "Our forefathers were brave, but they had no brains." Whereas, if they were to stop the war, their progeny would say, "Our forefathers did not fight for their own glory." He pointed out that however little the British proposal contained of what they desired, it nevertheless promised them representative government. In the past he had been against the war; he had wished that the five years' franchise should be granted. Although the people had opposed this measure he had always supported it. And why? Because he had feared that were that measure not conceded African blood would stain the ground. Must they still continue to shed blood? After the capture of Bloemfontein there had been a secret meeting of the council of war at Pretoria. His Government had then been willing to surrender, but the Free State had refused. The two Governments had therefore decided to go on with the war. A year later, in the month of June, there had been another meeting. A letter had been sent to the Free State. The two Governments had met at Waterval, and had once more decided to continue the struggle. Later on, again, the Government of the South African Republic wrote another letter to the Free State; but there had been no opportunity of meeting until the present occasion, which saw them assembled together at Vereeniging. Were they again going to decide to continue their resistance? It was a matter for serious consideration. There was but little seed-corn left. This must, if they had to go on fighting, be preserved from the enemy at all costs; were it to be destroyed, the African nation must cease to exist. But they could not continue the war. It was the Boers now who were teaching the English how to fight against us; Boers now were with the enemy's forces, showing them how to march by night, and pointing out to them all the foot passes. Commandant Van Niekerk (Kroonstad) pointed out that the Colonists had already rendered them valuable aid, and could still do so. Were they now to abandon these Colonists, and--thinking only about saving themselves--leave them to fight on alone? It would be sad indeed if the burghers were compelled to lay down their arms. Commandant-General L. Botha said that in regard to the holding of a national meeting, he had already chosen delegates with power to act. He spoke of the state of affairs at the beginning of the war--the two Republics had then at least sixty thousand men under arms. In reference to the Cape Colony, he said that it had never been expected that that country would allow its railways to be used for the transport of troops. The Commandant-General then proceeded as follows:-- "I used to entertain hopes that the European Powers would interfere on our behalf. All that they have done, however, has been to look on while England was introducing all sorts of new methods of warfare, methods, too, which are contrary to all international law. "When the war began we had plenty of provisions, and a commando could remain for weeks in one spot without the local food supply running out. Our families, too, were then well provided for. But all this is now changed. One is only too thankful nowadays to know that our wives are under English protection. This question of our womenfolk is one of our greatest difficulties. What are we to do with them? One man answers that some of the burghers should surrender themselves to the English, and take the women with them. But most of the women now amongst us are the wives of men already prisoners. And how can we expect those not their own kith and kin to be willing to give up liberty for their sakes? "As to the deputation, we must remember that it was accredited to all the Powers of Europe. And yet it has only been able to hand in its credentials to the Netherlands Government. Does not this prove that no other Government is willing to receive it? If you need further proof, I refer you to the letter in which the deputation--they were still allowed to write to us then--said: 'There is no chance for us in Europe.' The deputation wanted to be allowed to return home, but our Government advised them to remain in Europe, because their arrival in South Africa would be a death blow to the hopes of many. That is why the deputation is still in Europe. Later on they said that, although they knew that there was no chance of intervention, yet they felt that they ought to persist in their efforts, because of the sacrifices which we had already made. It is possible that a war may arise in Europe from which we shall gain something, but what right have we to expect such a contingency? Moreover, great nations take but little interest in the fate of small ones--indeed, it is to the advantage of the former that the small nations should be wiped out of existence. "I cannot refrain from alluding to the faithlessness of some of our burghers, who are to be found in the ranks of the enemy. But this is not the only sign of the way in which affairs are trending--I look back on the past. I remember that we have been fighting a full year since we last heard of our deputation. What have we gained since June, 1901? Nothing. On the contrary, we have been going backwards so fast that, if this weakening process goes on much longer, we shall soon find ourselves unable any more to call ourselves a fighting nation. What have we not undergone in the course of this year which is just over! In the concentration camps alone, twenty thousand women and children have died. When I was in Pretoria I received reports from our information office, and otherwise, of our losses. I found that there were thirty-one thousand six hundred prisoners of war, of whom six hundred had died, and that three thousand eight hundred of our burghers had been killed in the war. Is not a loss such as this, in so short a time as two and a half years, a serious matter? Think, too, of the sufferings which those twenty thousand women who died in the camps must have endured! "I am not deaf to the claims of the colonists who have been fighting for us. I have said that if we surrender our independence, we must provide for them. Should we serve their interests by continuing the war? No, indeed! The best thing for them would be that we should bring it to a close. But if we are absolutely determined to go on fighting, let us at least say to them, 'We advise _you_ to desist.' "What I am saying now is in substance what I said at Warmbad at a time when there were two thousand men of that district in the Veldt. How many are there now? Four hundred and eighty! On that occasion I also said that we must continue the war until we were driven by sheer starvation to make peace. Well, in some divisions starvation has already come. The delegates themselves have had to confess that our strength up till now has lain in the fact that we have been able to continue the struggle in every district. In this way we have divided the enemy's forces. But if we are compelled to abandon some of our districts, and to concentrate on certain points, then the English also will concentrate, and attack us with an irresistible force. "It has been suggested that we ought to march into Cape Colony. I know, however, what that would mean--Commander-in-Chief de Wet marched into the colonies. He had a large force, and the season of the year was auspicious for his attempt, and yet he failed. How, then, shall we succeed in winter, and with horses so weak that they can only go _op-een-stap_.[120] "What, then, are we to do? Some will reply, 'Go on with the war,' Yes, but for how long? For ten or twelve years? But would that be possible? If in two years we have been reduced from sixty thousand fighting men to half that number, where will our army be after another ten years of war? It is clear enough to me that if we go on any longer, we shall be compelled to surrender. Would it not be better to come to some agreement with the enemy, while we have the opportunity? We have all received the gift of reason; let us use it on the present occasion. "As far as I and my own burghers are concerned, to continue the struggle is still possible. But we must not only think of ourselves. We must almost think of others. There are, for instance, the widows and orphans. If we accept the terms now offered to us, they will remain under our care. But if we go on with the war until we are forced to surrender, who will then take care of them? Or if we were all killed, what could we do for them? We should not even be able to send a deputation to Europe, to ask for money to help us to rebuild our farms, and to feed our burghers. "There are three questions now before us--three alternatives between which we have to choose--the continuing of the war, unconditional surrender, and the acceptance of the British proposal. With regard to the first, I fail to see what satisfactory result can come to us from persisting in this unequal contest, which must result in the end in our extermination. As to the choice between the other two, in many ways unconditional surrender would be the better. But, for the sake of the nation, we may not choose it. Although to reject it may involve us in many hardships, yet we must think of nothing else but the interests of the nation. Our only course, then, is to accept the proposal of the English Government. Its terms may not be very advantageous to us, but nevertheless they rescue us from an almost impossible position." After a short adjournment the delegates again assembled at about 2 p.m. General C.H. Muller (Boksburg) said that his burghers had sent him to defend their menaced independence. One part of them had authorized him to act as his judgment should dictate; another part had ordered him to hold out for independence and to try to get into communication with the European deputation. He had long ago told his burghers that they must trust in God if they wished to continue the war, for they could not do so by relying only on their guns and rifles. He did not like to think of what they would say if he were to go back to them and tell them that he had not been in communication with the deputation, and that the proposal of the English Government had been accepted. He could not bring himself to surrender. Nevertheless, having in view what the Commandant-General and others had said, he felt that he must do so, for it was impossible for him to prosecute the war single-handed. But could not the delegates continue to stand by one another, and make a covenant with the Lord? The district which he represented was one of the poorest in the whole country, and the £3,000,000 offered by the enemy did not include any provision for those who, like his burghers, could do nothing to help themselves. He would again suggest that the delegates should make a vow unto the Lord. For himself, he could not vote for the acceptance of the British proposal. General J.H. Smuts then spoke as follows:-- "Up till now I have taken no part in this discussion, but my opinions are not unknown to my Government; we have arrived at a dark period both in the history of our war, and in the course of our national development. To me it is all the darker because I am one of those who, as members of the Government of the South African Republic, provoked the war with England. A man, however, may not draw back from the consequences of his deeds. We must therefore keep back all private feeling, and decide solely with a view to the lasting interests of our nation. This is an important occasion for us--it is perhaps the last time that we shall meet as a free people with a free government. Let us then rise to the height of this occasion; let us arrive at a decision for which our posterity shall bless, and not curse us. "The great danger for this meeting is that of deciding the questions before it on purely military grounds. Nearly all the delegates here are officers who in the past have never quailed before the overwhelming forces of the enemy, and who therefore are never likely to do so in the future. They do not know what fear is, and they are ready to shed the last drop of their blood in the defence of their country. "Now if we look at the matter from _their_ point of view, that is to say, if we look at it merely as a military question, I am bound to admit that we shall come to the conclusion that the war _can_ be continued. We are still an unconquered power; we have still about eighteen thousand men in the field--veterans, with whom one can accomplish almost anything. From a purely military standpoint, our cause is not yet lost. But it is as a _nation_, and not as an _army_, that we are met here, and it is therefore for the nation principally that we must consult. No one sits here to represent this or that commando. One and all, we represent the African nation, and not only those members of it which are now in the field, but also those who rest beneath the soil, and those yet unborn, who shall succeed us. "No! We do not only represent our burghers on commando, the troops over which we are placed in command; we represent also the thousands who have passed away, after making the last sacrifice for their country; the prisoners scattered all the world over; the women and children dying by the thousand in the prison camps of the enemy; we represent the blood and the tears of the whole African nation. From the prisons, the camps, the graves, the veldt, and from the womb of the future, that nation cries out to us to make a wise decision now, to take no step which might lead to the downfall or even to the extermination of their race, and thus make all their sacrifices of no avail. Our struggle, up to the present, has not been an aimless one. We have not been fighting in mere desperation. We began this strife, and we have continued it, because we wanted to maintain our independence and were prepared to sacrifice everything for it. But we must not sacrifice the African nation itself upon the altar of independence. So soon as we are convinced that our chance of maintaining our autonomous position as Republics is, humanly speaking, at an end, it becomes our clear duty to desist from our efforts. We must not run the risk of sacrificing our nation and its future to a mere idea which can no longer be realized. "And ought we not to be convinced that independence is now irretrievably lost? We have been fighting without cessation for nearly three years. It is no exaggeration to say that during that period we have been employing all the strength and all the means which we possess, in the furtherance of our cause. We have sacrificed thousands of lives; we have lost all our earthly goods; our dear country is become one continuous desert; more than twenty thousand of our women and children have perished in the camps of the enemy. And has this brought us independence? Just the reverse; it is receding further and further from us every day. The longer we fight, the greater will be the distance between us and the aim for which we are fighting. "The manner in which the enemy has been conducting, and still continues to conduct, this war, has reduced our country to such a state of exhaustion, that it will soon be a physical impossibility for us to fight any longer. Our only hope lies in the chance of help from outside. A year ago I, in the name of my Government, communicated the condition of our nation to His Honour States-President Kruger, in Europe. He wrote in reply that we must rely on the state of affairs in Cape Colony--and the sympathy of European nations--and that we must continue the war until all other means were exhausted." The speaker here enlarged upon the political developments which had taken place in the United States and in the principal European countries during the preceding two years, and then continued:-- "So far as we are concerned, the sum total of the foreign situation is that we obtain a great deal of sympathy, for which we are naturally most grateful. More than this we do not obtain, nor shall obtain for many a long year. Europe will go on expressing sympathy with us until the last Boer hero has died on the field and the last Boer woman has gone down to her grave--until, in fact, the whole Boer nation has been sacrificed on the altar of history and of humanity. "I have already, on a former occasion, told you what I think about the situation in Cape Colony. We have made great mistakes there; perhaps even now Cape Colony is not ripe for the sort of policy which we have been pursuing with regard to it. At all events, we cannot entertain any hopes of a general rising of the Colonists. We cannot, however, give too much honour to those three thousand heroes in the Colony who have sacrificed all in our behalf, even though they have not succeeded in securing our independence for us. "Thus we have given President Kruger's advice a fair trial. For twelve months we have been testing the value of the methods which he urged upon us. And, as a result of it all, we have become convinced that those methods are of no avail--that if we wish to remain independent we must depend upon ourselves alone. But the facts which the various delegates have brought before our notice show that we _cannot_ thus depend upon ourselves; that, unless we obtain outside help, the struggle must come to an end. We have, then, no hope of success. Our country is already devastated and in ruins; let us stop before our people are ruined also. "And now the enemy approaches with a proposal, which, however unacceptable it may be to us in other respects, includes the promise of amnesty for our Colonial brethren who have been fighting side by side with us. I fear that the day will come when we shall no longer be able to save these so-called rebels, and then it will be a just ground for reproach that we sacrificed their interests in a cause that was already hopeless. Moreover, if we refused the proposal which the British Government now makes to us, I am afraid that we shall considerably weaken our position in the eyes of the world, and thus lose much of the sympathy which to-day it evinces in our favour. "Brethren, we have vowed to stand fast to the bitter end; but let us be men, and acknowledge that that end has now come, and that it is more bitter than ever we thought it could be. For death itself would be sweet compared with the step which we must now take. But let us bow before the will of God. "The future is dark indeed, but we will not give up courage, and hope, and trust in God. No one shall ever convince me that this unparalleled sacrifice which the African nation has laid upon the altar of freedom will be in vain. It has been a war for freedom--not only for the freedom of the Boers, but for the freedom of all the nations of South Africa. Its results we leave in God's hands. Perhaps it is His will to lead our nation through defeat, through abasement, yes, and even through the valley of the shadow of death, to the glory of a nobler future, to the light of a brighter day." Commandant A.J. Bester (Bloemfontein) said that at the meeting at which he had been elected his burghers had told him that they were resolved not to become the subjects of England. The arguments now urged against the continuation of the war were not new--they had been used in former times of depression. History gave many instances in which their nation had been delivered out of the most critical positions. One could not help believing that Right would conquer. How was it to be explained that two hundred and forty thousand troops had failed to exterminate two small Republics? Then there had been miraculous escapes; surely the thoughts of these ought to encourage them. They must all be of one mind. His own decision was to stand or to fall for his freedom. Mr. Birkenstock (Vrijheid) asked whether the proposal could not be accepted under protest. General J.C. Smuts answered that the meeting could empower the Governments to accept the proposal, and to add that they did so with such and such provisos. Commandant A.J. Bester (Bloemfontein) thought that there had been enough said, and recommended that the discussion be closed. Commandant F.E. Mentz (Heilbron) also thought that it was not necessary to argue any more. He believed that the war could not be continued. In Heilbron, Bloemfontein, and part of Bethlehem there were not five head of cattle left. The helpless condition of the women and children also demanded consideration. The state of the country was becoming so desperate that they were now obliged to break away from the kraals. He himself had been compelled to this not long ago, and had lost forty men in one day. He would have to leave his district, but could not bring it to his heart to leave the women behind. It was quite clear to him that the war must be stopped, for some parts of the Transvaal were absolutely unable to go on fighting. Moreover, were the war to continue, commando after commando would go over to the enemy. General Kemp (Krugersdorp) took a more encouraging view of affairs. He would stand or fall with the independence. His mandate was to that effect. His conscience also would not justify him in taking any other course. He thought that the proposal of the English Government was vague, that there was not sufficient provision for the Boer losses in it, and that it treated the Dutch language as a foreign tongue. Circumstances had often been dark, and the darkness would pass away this time as it had done before. Remembering the commission which had been given to him by the burghers, he could not do otherwise than vote for a continuation of the war. Vice-President Burger: "I have already given my opinion. I am sorry that the meeting seems to be divided. It is necessary for the welfare of our nation that we should be of one mind. Are we to continue the war? From what I have seen and heard, it is clear to me that we cannot do so. I repeat that there is no possibility of it, neither does any real hope exist that by doing so we should benefit the nation. It is idle to compare our condition in the struggle in 1877-1881 with that in which we now find ourselves; I speak from experience. "It is true that the victory was then ours; that it was so is due to the help which we received from outside. The Orange Free State remained neutral, but assistance came from President Brand in South Africa and from Gladstone in England: thus it was not by our own sword that we were enabled to win. "It will be asked why, if we have kept up the struggle for two years and a half, can we not still continue to do so? "Because, in the meantime, we have become weaker and weaker, and if we persist the end must be fatal. What grounds have we for expecting that we may yet be victorious? Each man we lose renders us weaker; every hundred men we lose means a similar gain to the enemy. England's numerical strength does not diminish; on the contrary, there are even more troops in the country at this moment than when Lord Roberts had the command. England also has used our own men against us, and has not been ashamed of arming the Kaffirs; the enemy are learning from our own men in what way they should fight--he must be blind indeed who cannot see these facts. "I do not think we can appropriately call this altogether a 'war of faith.' Undoubtedly we began this war strong in the faith of God, but there were also two or three other things to rely upon. We had considerable confidence in our own weapons; we under-estimated the enemy; the fighting spirit had seized upon our people; and the thought of victory had banished that of the possibility of defeat. "The question still remains, What are we to do? I have no great opinion of the document which lies before us: to me it holds out no inducement to stop the war. If I feel compelled to treat for peace it is not on account of any advantages that this proposal offers me: it is the weight of my own responsibility which drives me to it. "If I think that by holding out I should dig the nation's grave, nothing must induce me to continue the struggle. "Therefore I consider it my duty, as leader of our nation, to do my utmost that not one man more shall be killed, that not one woman more shall die. "The sacrifice must be made; is not this also a trial of our faith? What shall we gain by going on? Nothing! It is obvious that further surrenders will take place--here of a few, there of many--and our weakness will increase. "We shall also be obliged to abandon large areas of the country. Will this make us stronger? Rather, will it not enable the enemy to concentrate still more? And the abandoned tracts--to whom will they belong? To the enemy! "In all probability this is our last meeting. I do not believe that we shall be given another chance to negotiate: we shall be deemed too insignificant. If we reject this proposal, what prospects have we in the future? If we accept it, we can, like a child, increase in size and strength, but with its rejection goes our last opportunity. "Fell a tree and it will sprout again; uproot it and there is an end of it. What has the nation done to deserve extinction? "Those who wish to continue the war are influenced chiefly by hope; but on what is this hope founded? On our arms? No. On intervention? By no means. On what then? No one can say. "I am sorry that the Transvaal and the Orange Free State are at variance on this point, and I regret that it is the Transvaal which has to declare itself unable to proceed further; but the enemy have concentrated all their forces in this State, and we can hold out no longer." Mr. L. Jacobsz: "I have hitherto not spoken, because I am a non-combatant. I have also suffered much, although less than others. I have listened to what has been said, but my opinion is not changed by the views I have heard expressed. "I repeat now what I said at Klerksdorp, namely that the struggle cannot continue. I have noted the condition of the country, which is such that the commandos can no longer be supported. I would point out the condition of the women and children, of whom many are dying, and all are exposed to great dangers. If there was a chance of succeeding in the end, then we might hold out, but there is no such chance; there is no possibility of intervention, and the silence of the deputation is ominous. "I sympathize with the heroes present at this meeting; we must have a foundation for our faith, and we cannot altogether compare our people with the people of Israel. Israel had promises made to them; we have none. I would further point out that, in the interests of the nation, it will not do to surrender unconditionally: the terms before us may be deceptive, but they are the best obtainable. "With regard to the difficulty of those delegates who consider that they are bound to act as they have been commissioned, I am of the same opinion as Judge Hertzog and General Smuts." Commandant J.J. Alberts (Standerton) spoke more or less in the same strain. He was of opinion that the war should be finished by ceding territory, but, failing this, that it should be ended on any terms obtainable. Vice-President de Wet expressed his opinion that, considering the short time at their disposal, they should proceed, if possible, to make some proposal. General D.A. Brand said that he would have spoken if he had not thought that enough had been said; he considered it desirable to close the discussion, and was willing to make a proposal. Veldtcornet D.J.E. Opperman (Pretoria South) considered that the difficulties of continuing the war, and of accepting the proposal, were equal. Some of his burghers would fight no longer. What troubled him most was the condition of the women; it went to his heart to see these families perish. He was of opinion that, for the sake of the women and children who were suffering so intensely, the proposal should be accepted under protest. Veldtcornet J. Van Steedden, seconded by Veldtcornet B.J. Roos, moved that the discussion be now closed. The meeting was adjourned after prayer. [Footnote 120: The step of a tired horse.] SATURDAY, MAY 31ST, 1902. The meeting was opened with prayer. General Nieuwouwdt, seconded by General Brand, made the following proposal:-- "This meeting of special deputies from the two Republics, after considering the proposal of His Majesty's Government for the re-establishment of peace, and taking into consideration (_a_) the demands of the burghers in the veldt and the commissions which they had given to their representatives; (_b_) that they do not consider themselves justified in concluding peace on the basis laid down by His Majesty's Government before having been placed in communication with the delegates of the Republic now in Europe, decides that it cannot accept the proposal of His Majesty's Government, and orders the Governments of the two Republics to communicate this decision to His Majesty's Government through its representatives." Mr. P.R. Viljoen, seconded by General H.A. Alberts, made a proposal, amended afterwards by General Smuts and Judge Hertzog, which appears later on under the proposal of H.P.J. Pretorius and C. Botha. A third proposal by General E. Botha and General J.G. Celliers was laid upon the table, but subsequently withdrawn. Mr. F.W. Reitz considered it to be his duty not only to the nation but also to himself as a citizen, to say that, in case the proposal of the British Government should be accepted, it would be necessary for the meeting to make provisions as to whose signatures should be attached to the necessary documents. He himself would not sign any document by which the independence would be given up. Remarks were made by several members on the first proposal, and Mr. P.R. Viljoen asked that no division should arise. Vice-President de Wet then said that, as the time was limited, and all could not speak, he would propose that a Commission should be nominated in order to draw up a third proposal in which various opinions of the members should be set down; and that, whilst the Commission was occupied in this way, the Orange Free State delegates on their part and those of the South African Republic on their part, should meet in order that an understanding might be come to between them. They must endeavour to come to a decision, for it would be of the greatest possible advantage to them. Commandant-General Botha thought that this hint should be taken. They had suffered and fought together: let them not part in anger. The above-mentioned Commission was then decided upon, and Judge Hertzog and General Smuts were elected. Then the Orange Free State delegates went to the tent of Vice-President de Wet, whilst those of the South African Republic remained in the tent in which the meeting was held. After a time of heated dispute--for every man was preparing himself for the bitter end--they came to an agreement, and Judge Hertzog read the following proposal:-- "We, the national representatives of both the South African Republic and the Orange Free State, at the meeting held at Vereeniging, from the 15th of May till the 31st of May, 1902, have with grief considered the proposal made by His Majesty's Government in connexion with the conclusion of the existing hostilities, and their communication that this proposal had to be accepted, or rejected, unaltered. We are sorry that His Majesty's Government has absolutely declined to negotiate with the Governments of the Republics on the basis of their independence, or to allow our Governments to enter into communication with our deputations. Our people, however, have always been under the impression that not only on the grounds of justice, but also taking into consideration the great material and personal sacrifices made for their independence, that it had a well-founded claim for that independence. "We have seriously considered the future of our country, and have specially observed the following facts:-- "Firstly, that the military policy pursued by the British military authorities has led to the general devastation of the territory of both Republics by the burning down of farms and towns, by the destruction of all means of subsistence, and by the exhausting of all resources required for the maintenance of our families, the subsistence of our armies, and the continuation of the war. "Secondly, that the placing of our families in the concentration camps has brought on an unheard-of condition of suffering and sickness, so that in a comparatively short time about twenty thousand of our beloved ones have died there, and that the horrid probability has arisen that, by continuing the war, our whole nation may die out in this way. "Thirdly, that the Kaffir tribe, within and without the frontiers of the territory of the two Republics, are mostly armed and are taking part in the war against us, and through the committing of murders and all sorts of cruelties have caused an unbearable condition of affairs in many districts of both Republics. An instance of this happened not long ago in the district of Vrijheid, where fifty-six burghers on one occasion were murdered and mutilated in a fearful manner. "Fourthly, that by the proclamations of the enemy the burghers still fighting are threatened with the loss of all their movable and landed property--and thus with utter ruin--which proclamations have already been enforced. "Fifthly, that it has already, through the circumstances of the war, become quite impossible for us to keep the many thousand prisoners of war taken by our forces, and that we have thus been unable to inflict much damage on the British forces (whereas the burghers who are taken prisoners by the British armies are sent out of the country), and that, after war has raged for nearly three years, there only remains an insignificant part of the fighting forces with which we began. "Sixthly, that this fighting remainder, which is only a small minority of our whole nation, has to fight against an overpowering force of the enemy, and besides is reduced to a condition of starvation, and is destitute of all necessaries, and that notwithstanding our utmost efforts, and the sacrifice of everything that is dear and precious to us, we cannot foresee an eventual victory. "We are therefore of opinion that there is no justifiable ground for expecting that by continuing the war the nation will retain its independence, and that, under these circumstances, the nation is not justified in continuing the war, because this can only lead to social and material ruin, not for us alone, but also for our posterity. Compelled by the above-named circumstances and motives, we commission both Governments to accept the proposal of His Majesty's Government, and to sign it in the name of the people of both Republics. "We, the representative delegates, express our confidence that the present circumstances will, by accepting the proposal of His Majesty's Government, be speedily ameliorated in such a way that our nation will be placed in a position to enjoy the privileges to which they think they have a just claim, on the ground not only of their past sacrifices, but also of those made in this war. "We have with great satisfaction taken note of the decision of His Majesty's Government to grant a large measure of amnesty to the British subjects who have taken up arms on our behalf, and to whom we are united by bonds of love and honour; and express our wish that it may please His Majesty to still further extend this amnesty." Mr. P.R. Viljoen then withdrew his proposal. Commandant H.P.J. Pretorius, seconded by General C. Botha, presented the proposal, as read by the Commission. General Nieuwouwdt also withdrew his proposal, but it was at once taken over by General C.C.J. Badenhorst, seconded by Commandant A.J. Bester, of Bloemfontein. The meeting then adjourned till the afternoon. * * * * * In the afternoon at 2.05 it again met. Proceeding to the voting, the proposal of H.P.J. Pretorius, seconded by General C. Botha, was accepted, by fifty-four votes against six. Then Vice-President Burger spoke a few words suitable to the occasion as follows:--"We are standing here at the grave of the two Republics. Much yet remains to be done, although we shall not be able to do it in the official capacities which we have formerly occupied. Let us not draw our hands back from the work which it is our duty to accomplish. Let us ask God to guide us, and to show us how we shall be enabled to keep our nation together. We must be ready to forgive and forget, whenever we meet our brethren. That part of our nation which has proved unfaithful we must not reject." Later, Vice-President Burger spoke a few words of farewell to the Commandant-General, to the Members of the Executive Councils, and to the delegates. In the afternoon, as it turned out for the last time, Commandant Jacobsz, seconded by General Muller, made the following proposal, which was unanimously accepted by the meeting:-- "This meeting of Delegates, having in view the necessity of collecting means to provide for the wants of the suffering women and children, widows and orphans, and other destitute persons, who have through this war come to a condition of want, and also having in view the desirability of nominating a Committee, whose duty it shall be to arrange the necessary steps in this matter, and to finally decide on the management and distribution of the donations received, decides:-- "To nominate the Hon. Messrs. M.J. Steyn, S.W. Burger, L. Botha, C.R. de Wet, J.H. De la Rey, A.P. Kriel, and J.D. Kestell, as the Committee, to carry out all arrangements for the above-mentioned purposes, that may seem desirable and expedient to them, and also to appoint new Members, Sub-Committees and working Committees; and the said Committee is empowered to draw up regulations, and to amend them from time to time as shall seem to them expedient. "This meeting further decides to send abroad from the above-mentioned Committee, Messrs. C.R. de Wet, L. Botha, and J.H. De la Rey, in order that they may help in collecting the above-mentioned donations." Then this--the last meeting of the two Republics--was closed with prayer. Index Aard, Commandant Frans van-- Election as Commandant of Kroonstad, 115 Killed in engagement between Kroonstad and Lindley, 157 Abraham's Kraal--Bombardment by British, Boer Flight, 52 _Achterlaaiers_, 3 Active Service--Calling up of Orange Free State Burghers, 4 Commando Law as to Equipment, Provisions, etc., 3 Notification to Orange Free State Burghers to hold themselves in readiness, 3 Alberts, Capt.--Tribute to, 243 Albrecht, Major--Command of Boer Reinforcements at Koedoesberg, 28 Ammunition--Amount possessed by Boers in 1902, 408 Capture of Ammunition by the Boers, 173 Dewetsdorp, 178 Doornspruit, Capture of Train near, 132 Roodewal--Amount captured, 103 Digging up, 191, 193 Disposal of, 104, 106 Tweefontein, 282 De Wet's, Commander-in-Chief, Ammunition hidden in Cave, 298 Amnesty--General Amnesty for Boer Sympathisers in Cape Colony and Natal, proposed, 322 Annexation of the South African Republic--Battles fought after the alleged Annexation, 229 Peace Negotiations at Pretoria, References to the Annexation, 367 Armistice to admit of attendance of Officers at the Vereeniging Meeting (May, 1902), 315 Misunderstanding on the part of the British Columns, 317 Arms, Surrender of, _see_ titles Banishment and Surrender Assistant-Commander-in-Chief Gen. de Wet obtaining Post from Government, 95 Assistant-Commander-in-Chief of the Orange Free State-- Prinsloo, Mr. Marthinus, Illegal Election of, 126 Steenekamp, Commandant, Nomination of, 144 Badenhorst, Siege of, by Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 77, 78 Abandonment of Siege, 79 Badenhorst, Veldtcornet, 94 Vice-Commander-in-Chief in Districts of Boshof, etc., Appointment, 159 Baggage Animals of British Troops--Exhaustion of, 148 Use of, 279 Baker's, Col., Column--Commander-in-Chief de Wet lying in wait with a view to Reprisals, 271 Banishment Proclamation of Aug. 7, 1901 (Lord Kitchener's Proclamation), 247-250 Battles fought subsequent to, 252 Burghers, Effect on, 252 Kitchener's, Lord, Letter to Commander-in-Chief de Wet enclosing copy of Proclamation, 247 De Wet's, Commander-in-Chief, Reply, 248 Officers, Effect on, 250 President and Commander-in-Chief of Transvaal and Orange Free State--Replies, 250, 251, 257, 258 Steyn's, President, Letter to Lord Kitchener, 251-259 Terms of, 247-251 Bank Notes of the South African Republic--Peace Terms, Arrangements for honouring Notes, 380 Prisoners of War, Opportunity of sending in Notes for Payment, 386 Barbed Wire Fences, _see_ Wire Fences Barton, Gen., Attack on at Frederiksstad by Commander-in-Chief de Wet and Gen. Liebenberg, 164-167 Beijers, Gen.--Continuance of the War, Spirit of the Nation an obstacle--Speech at Vereeniging Conference, 410 Waterberg District, Situation in--Report to the Vereeniging Conference, 339 Bergh, Capt.--Attacks on Boer Forces with bands of Kaffirs, 271 Bester, Commandant A.J.--Continuance of the War, Argument in favour of at the Vereeniging Conference, 421 Bester Station, Skirmish at, 10 Bethlehem--Commandants of Boer Forces, Appointments, 227, 228 Defence of--British Reinforcements, Arrival of, 121, 122 Dispositions of Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 120, 121 _Voetgangers_ on Wolhuterskop, Bravery of, 121, 122 Engagement near, 194, 195 Fall of, 122 Bethlehem Commando--Fidelity of Burghers, 94, _note_ Bezuidenhoutspas--Occupation by Vrede Commando, 7, 8 Biddulphsberg Engagement--English wounded burnt by veldt fire, 84 "Big Constable"--Transvaalers mistaking President Steyn for Police Agent, 86, 87 Birkenstock, Mr.--Continuance of the War, Terms of Surrender, etc., 399 Situation in South Africa on May 15, 1902--Report to the Vereeniging Conference, 343 Blauwbank, Fight at, 30 British Camp abandoned--Booty taken by Boers, 33, 34 British Convoy, Commander-in-Chief de Wet's Attack on, 32, 33 Blijdschap--Arrival of Laager of Women, 268 De Lange sentenced to death for High Treason at, 268, _note_ Massing of Commandos at, 268 _Blikkiescost_, 4 Blockhouse System--"Blockhead" System, alleged, 260 Boer Success in breaking through Blockhouses, 260, 261 Bothaville, Boers breaking through Blockhouse Line, 299 British loss of faith in Blockhouses, 291, 292 Cost of erection and maintenance, 262 Description of, 262 Districts surrounded by the British, 261 Failure of, alleged, 261 Lindley-Kroonstad Line, Boers breaking through, 287 Palmietfontein, Boers breaking through Line near, 289, 290 Prolongation of the War by, alleged, 263, 264 Small number of Captures effected, 260, 261 Springhaansnek--Commander-in-Chief de Wet breaking through the Line of Blockhouses on the march to the South, 173 Thaba'Nchu and Sanna's Post, Forts between--Capture by Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 201, 202 Trenches dug by British near Blockhouse Lines, etc., 288, 294, 295 Bloemfontein--Capture by British, 55 Defence of--Commander-in-Chief de Wet's Arrangements, 54 Water Works--Occupation by General Broadwood, 61 "Boer Biscuits," 3 Boer Forces-- Burghers who had returned home after fall of Bloemfontein, Re-call to the front, 71 Commandos left with Commander-in-Chief de Wet after fall of Bloemfontein, _note_ 57 Confusion among Burghers at Holspruits, 294, 295 Discipline, _see_ that title Disposition of Forces after fall of Bethlehem, 124 Harrismith Commando, Refusal to part with Waggons--Return home, 161, 163 Medical Certificates, Abuse of, _note_ 59 Mobility, _see_ that title Numbers at Outset of War, 408, 414, 415, 491 Numbers at the Termination of the War, 322, 338, 339, 347, 348, 359, 360, 361, 362 Orange Free State Commandos-- Commander-in-Chief, Election of, 6, 7 Harrismith, Concentration at, 4, 6-7 Heilbron Commando, _see_ that title Number of Burghers ready to fight after fall of Pretoria, 94 Panic after Paardeberg, 48, 49, 51, 52, _note_ 57 Permission given to Burghers by Commander-in-Chief de Wet to return home, 56, _note_ 57--Gen. Joubert's Protest, 57 Reduction in numbers due to Paardeberg Surrender, etc., 89, 90 Roberts', Lord, Surrender Proclamation--Effect on Numbers rejoining Commandos, 60 Non-observance of Terms, Burghers returning to Commandos, 80 Separation of Free Staters and Transvaalers after fall of Kroonstad, Reasons for, 89, 90 Boesmanskop Skirmish, 80 Boshof, Vrow--Gift of Clothes to Burghers who had swum the Orange River, 221, 222 Bosman, Landdrost--Continuance of the War, Terms of Surrender, etc., 404, 405, 406 Situation in South Africa on 15th May, 1902--Report to the Vereeniging Conference, 361, 362 Botha--Capture at Honingkopjes, Subsequent Escape and Death, 110 Botha, Commandant-General-- Continuance of the War, Arguments against--Terms of Surrender, etc., 414, 415 Estcourt Skirmishes--Capture of Armoured Train, etc., 19 Fortitude after Fall of Pretoria, 93 Independence of the South African Republic and Orange Free State--Vereeniging Conference Delegates' power to decide as to Independence, 411 Junction with Commander-in-Chief de Wet at Rhenosterriviersbrug, 88, 89 Middelburg Peace Proposals, _see_ that title Mission to Europe on behalf of Relief Fund Committee, 428 Peace Negotiations--Member of Commission of National Representatives at the Pretoria Conference, 320, 365-396 Situation in South Africa on 15th May, 1902--Report to the Vereeniging Conference, 337, 338, 354-358 Botha, General Philip-- Dewetsdorp Defences, Occupation of, 175, 176 Engagement with General Knox's Forces, 194, 195 Kroonstad War Council, Presence at, 58 Reinforcements sent to Commander-in-Chief de Wet before Paardeberg, Command of, 36, 37 Stinkfontein--Failure to recapture Position, 45 Storming of, 40 Tabaksberg, Engagement at, 83 Botha, Mr. Jan--Commander-in-Chief de Wet's Tribute to, 150, 151 Bothaville--Boers breaking through Blockhouse Line, 299 Surprise Attack by the British on Commander-in-Chief de Wet's Forces--Boer Panic, 168-170 Losses of the Boers, 170-171 _Bout Span_, 5 Boys--Presence with Commandos, 287, 289, 290 Children killed and wounded, 289, 290, 295, 296 Brabant's, General, Successes, 50 Brabant's Horse--Attack on Commandant Kritzinger and Captain Scheepers, 185, 186 De Wet's, Commander-in-Chief, Opinion of, 75, 76 Brand, President--Assistance rendered to South African Republic in War of 1877-1881, 422, 423 Brandfort, Boer Forces at--Hotels closed by Commander-in-Chief, 60 _Brandwachten_, 22 Breijtenbach, Veldtcornet B.H.--Continuance of the War, Impossibility of Carrying on the Struggle, 403, 404 British Forces--Artillery, Commander-in-Chief de Wet's Tribute to, 25 March from Bethlehem to Reitz, under guidance of Free Staater, 263, 264 Sixty Thousand Men, Cordon of, 291, 292, 293, 294 Broadwood, General--Occupation of Thaba'Nchu, 65, 66 Retreat towards Thaba'Nchu before General Olivier, 62 Broodspioen, 207, 208 Bruwer, Commandant--Appointment to Command of Bethlehem District, 227, 228 Buller, Sir Redvers--Drakensberg Frontier, Crossing of, 93 Landing at Cape Town, 21 Relief of Ladysmith, 50 Strength of Positions operated against by Sir Redvers Buller, 21 Bulwana Hill--Boers surprised by British, 21 Burger, Vice-President--Continuance of the War, Terms of Surrender, etc., 398, 421, 422, 424, 425 Meeting with Orange Free State Government, Letter to President Steyn, 301, 302 Situation in South Africa on 15th May, 1902--Address at the Vereeniging Conference, 336, 337, 351-354 Steyn, President, Resignation of--Announcement at Vereeniging Conference, 411 Cape Colony-- De Wet's, Commander-in-Chief, Attempted Inroad--March towards Cape Colony-- Blockhouses--Commander-in-Chief de Wet breaking through the Line at Springhaansnek, 173, 187, 188, 189 Dewetsdorp-- Defences, British neglecting to hold, 175, 176 Storming of, 175-179 Forces under Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 172 "Good Hope" Farm, Engagement near, 181 Knox's, Gen., Arrival with British Reinforcements, 181 Gun and Amount of Ammunition taken, 173 Karmel, March towards, 181, 182 Knox's, Gen., Pursuit of Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 185, 186, 187, 189, 190 Orange and Caledon Rivers in flood--Commander-in-Chief de Wet "cornered," 182, 183 Prinsloo's, Commandant Michal, Commando--Appearance in the nick of time, 187, 188 Retreat across Orange River, 184, 185 De Wet's, Commander-in-Chief, Expedition into-- Capture of Farm held by British Troops, 207, 208 Courage and Endurance of Burghers, 212 Diminution in number of Boer Forces, 206, 207 Engagements with British Troops, 206, 207, 212 Escape of Boer Forces in the darkness, 216, 219, 220 Fodder, Lack of, 206, 207 Knox's, Gen., Movements, 201, 202, 203 Miraculous Nature of Boer Achievements, 223, 224 Moddervlei, Passage of--Boer Loss of Ammunition and Flour Waggons, 208, 209, 210, 212 Officers serving with Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 195, 196 Position of Boer Forces after crossing Orange River, 205, 206 Retreat across Orange River, Difficulties of, etc., 217-224 Strategy employed to mislead Gen. Knox, 202, 203, 204 General Rising of Burghers, Impossibility of--Reports of Delegates at the Vereeniging Conference, 340, 341, 342, 355, 360, 361, 405, 406 Position of affairs at the beginning of 1901--Colonial Burghers' Sympathy with Boer Cause, 195, 196 Sheep-farming, success of in North-Western Districts, 211 Small Commandos sent to Cape Colony, Policy of, 234 Cape Mounted Rifles, Commander-in-Chief de Wet's opinion of, 77, 78 Cartwright, Mr., Editor of _South African News_--Punishment for publication of "not to take prisoners" Anecdote concerning Lord Kitchener, 184, 185 Casualties, _see_ Losses in Killed and Wounded, etc., on either side Cattle--Blockhouse Line between Lindley and Kroonstad, Boer Cattle breaking through, 288 Capture of Boer Cattle on "Majuba Day," 296, 297 Destruction by the British, 192, 232 Supply available on May 15, 1902--Report of Vereeniging Delegates, 337, 338, 339, 340, 341, 343, 344, 345, 346, 351, 352 Causes of the War--British Government Interference with the inner policy of the South African Republic, 252, 253 Declaration of War by the South African Republics as the Cause--President Steyn's Contradiction, 251, 252 Extermination of the Republics already determined on by England, alleged, 254, 255 Franchise Law--British Government Demands, 252, 253, 254 Goldfields the main object, alleged, 350, 351 Jameson Raid as a Cause, alleged, 251, 252, 253 Memorials to H.M. Government concerning alleged Grievances--President Steyn's efforts to keep the Peace, 252, 253, 254 Orange Free State joining issues with the Transvaal, 254, 255 Steyn's, President, Letter to Lord Kitchener, 250-259 Troops landed by the British Government prior to outbreak of War, 253, 254 Ultimatum of Boers, Lord Salisbury's Assertion, 53, 54 Ceylon--Boer Prisoners taken with Gen. Prinsloo sent to Ceylon, 156 Chamberlain, Mr. J.--Boer Ultimatum--Telegrams to Sir A. Milner, 329 Jameson Raid--Defence of Mr. Rhodes, President Steyn on, 251, 252 Cilliers, Gen. J.G.--Continuance of the War, Terms of Surrender, etc., 404, 405 Situation in South Africa on May 15, 1902--Address at the Vereeniging Conference, 353, 354 Cilliers, Sarah--Death at Frederiksstad Engagement, 166, 167 Clothing--De Wet's, Commander-in-Chief, Clothes hidden in Cave, 298 Difficulty of obtaining, 233 Hides for tanning, Destruction by the British, 233 Stripping British Prisoners to obtain, 233 Colenso--British losses at, 23 Colesberg--Strength of Boer Positions, 26 Colonial Burghers--British subjects fighting on Boer Side, Boer Hopes of Assistance unfulfilled, 405, 406, 408, 420 British Government Intentions with regard to Rebels, 394, 395 Proposal for General Amnesty, 413, 414 Safeguarding in Peace Negotiations, 398, 402, 403, 411, 414, 415, 416, 421, 427 Commandeering--Provisions of Commando Law, 3 Commander-in-Chief of Orange Free State-- De Wet, Gen.--Appointment of, 49 Secret Election of, 118 Prinsloo, Election of, 6, 7 Commando Law--Provisions as to Commandeering, 3 Commandos--Division of into small parties, 225 Advantages of, 227 List of Districts and Commandants, 225-227 Skirmishes, Splendid Record, 267 Small Commandos sent into Cape Colony--De Wet's Policy, 234 (For particular Commandos _see_ their names) Commissariat--Comparison of Boer and British Commissariat Arrangements, 4, 5, 6, 7 Compensation for Boer Losses, _see_ Repatriation Concentration Camps--Number of Deaths in, etc., 416, 419, 426 Women--Flight of to avoid being sent to Camps, 193, 279 Maintenance of Boer Women and Children by the British Government--President Steyn on, 257, 258 Treatment of, 232, 257, 258 Conduct of the War by British--Exhaustion of the Republics, 419 Continuance of the War in 1902, Vereeniging Conference-- Burghers, Attitude of, 404, 405, 410, 411 Effect on Vereeniging Meeting, 413, 414 Comparison of Situation with that of 1877-1881, Futility of, 421, 422 De Wet's, Commander-in-Chief, Speech, 407 Kruger's, President, Advice, 420 Possibility, Question of--Situation in South African Republic, Reliance on Government, etc., 347, 348, 349, 350, 351, 352, 353, 354-358, 359, 360-362, 363, 399, 400, 401, 402, 403, 404, 405, 407, 408, 410, 412, 413, 414, 415, 417, 418, 420, 421, 422, 423, 424, 426 Reasons for, 400, 401 Correspondence relating to the War, Preservation of, 247 Court Martial on Commandant Vilonel, Composition of, _note_ 85 Cowboys, Capture by Boers--Blauwbank Capture, 33, 34 Cronje, Commandant--Continuance of the War, Reliance on God, etc., 402 European Intervention, Boer Deputation to Foreign Courts, 402, 403 Cronje, Gen. A.P.--Modder Spruit, Command at, 11 Sanna's Post, Share in Engagement, 64 Vechtgeneraal of Orange Free State, Nomination as, 11 Cronje, Gen. Piet--De Wet's, Commander-in-Chief, Scheme for breaking Lord Methuen's Railway Communications--Refusal to permit Execution of, 23 Ladysmith, Occupation of Positions South and Southwest of, 19 Magersfontein--Command at, 23, 24 Refusal to profit by Commander-in-Chief De Wet's Advice, 25 Message in reply to Commander-in-Chief De Wet's warning before Paardeberg, 31 Retreat towards Paardeberg, 36, 37 Surrender at Paardeberg (_see_ Paardeberg) Cronje, Vechtgeneraal Andreas--Command of Boers' Reinforcements from Bloemfontein, 45 Cropper, F.C., Death of, near Lindley, 269 Dakasburg Engagement, 200 Dalgety, Colonel--Command at Badenhorst, 77 Davel, Commandant--Command of President Steyn's Bodyguard, 191 Days of Thanksgiving and Humiliation, Appointment of, 243 De Clercq, Mr.--Continuance of the War, Terms of Surrender, 399 Situation in South Africa on May 15, 1902--Report to the Vereeniging Conference, 344, 348 De la Rey, General--Colesberg Command, 24 Continuance of the War, Terms of Surrender, etc., 403, 404 Fortitude after Fall of Pretoria, 93 Independence of the South African Republic--Powers of Vereeniging Delegates to decide on Question, 411, 412 Kraaipan, Capture of Armoured Train, 8 Kroonstad War Council, Presence at, 58 Magersfontein Laager, Command at, 23 Mission to Europe on behalf of Relief Fund Committee, 428 Peace Negotiations--Member of Commission of National Representatives at the Pretoria Conference, 320, 365-396 Permission given to Burghers to return home, 56 Reitfontein, Work at, 52 Roberts', Lord, Attempt to cross the Orange River--Success in preventing, 26 Situation in South Africa on May 15, 1902--Report to the Vereeniging Conference, 358 Steyn's, President, and General de Wet's visit to, 300 De Lange--Sentence of Death for High Treason at Blijdschap, 268 _note_ De Wet, General Piet--Advice to Commander-in-Chief De Wet after Siege of Badenhorst, 81 Discontinuance of Struggle proposed--Commander-in-Chief de Wet's Reception of Proposal, 130 Lindley Garrison, Capture of, 92 Sanna's Post Engagement, Share in, 64 Swartbooiskop, Guarding after Fight at Nicholson's Nek, 17 De Wet, Jacobus, Capture of, 296, 297 De Wet, Johannes--Death near Smithfield, 181 De Wet, Veldtcornet--Wounded during Retreat from Dewetsdorp, 181 Debtors, Protection of, against Creditors for Six Months after the War--Peace Negotiations at Pretoria (May, 1902), 387 Declaration of War by South African Republic (_see_ Ultimatum) Deputation to European Powers to ask for Intervention (1900)--Departure from Delagoa Bay, 53, 54 Encouragement to continue Struggle, 407 England's Refusal to permit Return of Deputation, 409, 412, 413 European Governments unwilling to receive, 415, 416 Failure of, 355, 356 Object of, 54 Silence of, 401, 402, 403, 404, 405, 407 Delagoa Bay Harbour, Forbidden to Boers by Portuguese Government, 53, _note_ 54 Destitution caused by the War, 321, 322 Appointment of Committee to Collect and Administer Relief Funds, 428 Devastation by the British--War against Boer Property, 192 Crops destroyed, Corn burnt, etc., _note_ 83 Farm-burning and Waggons (_see_ those titles) Male Attire, Burning of, 221, 222 Dewetsdorp, Occupation by British, 71 Storming by Commander-in-Chief de Wet's Forces, 174-179 Diederiks of Boshof, Commandant, 24 Discipline of Boer Forces--Imperfect Discipline, 7, 8, 9, 57 Failure to remove Cattle along Railway Line, 111 Roodewal, Commander-in-Chief de Wet's Difficulties in carrying away Booty, 103, 104 Sanna's Post, irritating Results at, 67 Stricter Discipline, Results of, 61 Taljaart's and Prinsloo's, Veldtcornets, Burghers "preferred to go their own way," 286 Waggon Difficulty, 120, 121 Harrismith Burghers' Refusal to part with their Waggons at Spitskopje, 161-163 Doornberg, War Council at--Decision as to Presidential Election, 197 Doornspruit--Line near crossed by Commander-in-Chief de Wet, Capture of Train, Ammunition, etc., 132 Drakensberg Range-- Boundary between Boer and British Territory in 1899, 7, 8 Passes, Occupation by Orange Free State Commandos, 7, 8 Drive Tactics of British-- Bethlehem-Lindley to Frankfort-Vrede Line--Cordon of Sixty Thousand Men, 290-296 Boer Forces caught between Cordon of Troops and Vaal River, 135, 136 Harrismith, Heilbron and Bethlehem District, 285, 286 Du Toit, General--Continuance of the War, Terms of Surrender, etc., 400, 401 Dundee, Line near, cut by Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 9, 10 Elandsfontein Engagement--Commandant Michal Prinsloo's Exploit, 119, 120 Elandskop--British Attack in Hope of Capturing Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 290, 291 Elandslaagte Engagement, 114 Els, Veldtcornet Marthinus, wounded outside Ladysmith, 20 Epithets applied by the British to the Boer Forces, 227, 228 European Journals kept from Republics by England, 409 Eustin, Lieut. Banie, wounded and captured by British, 204, 205 Extermination of the South African Republics--British Determination to exterminate the Republics prior to the Outbreak of War, alleged, 254, 255 Fanny's Home Farm--Recapture of Guns by British, 285 Farm-burning, etc., by the British--Heilbron, Bethlehem and Harrismith District, 285 Roberts', Lord, Proclamations, ordering, 192 Shelter, Lack of--Women living in Narrow Sheds, 290, 291 Wholesale Destruction of Farms by the British, 232 Fauresmith and Jacobsdal Burghers--Failure to rejoin Commandos, 60 Return Home without Permission after Poplar Grove, 56 Ferreira, Mr. T.S., Commander-in-Chief, at Kimberley--Death due to Gun Accident, 49 Firing of the Veldt by Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 141, 142 Fissher, Abraham--Member of Boer Deputation to Europe (1900), 53, 54 Food Supply--Failure of Food Supply, Reason for Acceptance of British Peace Terms, 233, 321, 401, 402, 405, 406, 410, 416, 417, 421, 422, 427, 428 Kemp's, Gen., Plan of Commandeering Food Supplies from the Kaffirs, 345 Situation in the various Districts on May 15, 1902--Reports of the Delegates to the Vereeniging Conference, 337, 338, 339, 340, 341, 342, 343, 344, 345, 346, 355, 361, 362 Forces--Comparison between numbers, etc., engaged on either Side in the War, 339 (_See_ also titles Boer and British Forces) Fourie, General Piet--Bethlehem Engagement, 281 Blauwbank, Exploits at, 33, 34, 35 Cape Colony Expedition, Part in, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 210, 212, 213, 221, 222 Commandos escaped from behind the Roodebergen, Command of, 238, 239 Despatch of, to the South-Eastern Districts, 225 Engagement with British Troops from Bloemfontein (1900), 80 Prinsloo's Surrender, Escape from, 128 Springhaansnek, Leader in Attack on Blockhouse Line, 187, 188, 189 Vice-Commander-in-Chief in Bloemfontein District, Appointment, 157 Franchise--British Government Demands on the South African Republic prior to Outbreak of War, 252, 253, 254 Frankfort, British Success at (1900), 82 Ross', Commandant, Engagement with Colonel Rimington's Troops, 267 Fraser, Gordon--One of two faithful Burghers of Philippolis District, 94 Frederiksstad Station--Attack by Commander-in-Chief de Wet and General Liebenberg on General Barton, Causes of Failure, etc., 165-168 French, General-- Koedoesberg, Fight for, 27 Magersfontein--Boer Lines broken through, 36, 37 Froneman, General-- Continuance of the War at all Costs advocated, 402, 403 Escape from Paardeberg, 41 Frederiksstad, Attack on General Barton--Failure to hold advanced Position, 165, 166, 167 Koedoesberg, Share in Fighting at, 27, 28 Kroonstad War Council, Presence at, 58 Prinsloo's Surrender--Escape from, 128 Railway Line wrecked near America Siding, 115, 116 Reddersburg, March on, 72, 73 Rhenosterriviersbrug Engagement, 99, 101, 104, 105 Sanna's Post Engagement, Share in, 62 Smithfield Expedition, Results of, 79 Train captured by, near Jagersfontein Road Station, 203, 204 Ventersburg, Failure to hold Position, 85 Gatacre, General--Capture of Stormberg, 50 Gatsrand--Death of Danie Theron, 153, 154 Germany--Attitude towards the War, Reasons for Non-intervention, 358, 359 Gladstone-- Assistance rendered to South African Republic in War of 1877-1881, 422, 423 De Wet's, Commander-in-Chief, tribute to, 85 Goldfields--Surrender of, to the British proposed, 350, 351, 352, 357, 358, 359, 360, 361, 362, 363, 364 Gouveneurskop--General de Villiers' Exploits at, 83 Government of Orange Free State-- Accompanying Commander-in-Chief de Wet in Departure from Roodebergen, 124, 129 Bethlehem, Transference to, 117 Cape Colony, Expedition into, Decision to accompany, 197 Capture of Members of the Government by the British at Reitz--Escape of President Steyn, 244 De Wet's, Commander-in-Chief, Operations after Prinsloo's Surrender--Government accompanying Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 124, 129 Executive Raad, Constitution of, 198 Heilbron, Transference to, 86 Kroonstad, Transference to, 58 Third Transference, Reasons for, 92 Volksraad--Impossibility of assembling a legally constituted Volksraad, 198, 199 Government of South African Republic-- Capture of Members by the British at Reitz, 244 Appointments to Vacancies, 244 Treachery on the part of Burgher Steenekamp, 244 Steyn's, President, Visit to Machadodorp, 144 Termination of the War (_see_ that title) Governments of the Orange Free State and South African Republic-- Peace Deliberations, Meeting at Klerksdorp, 303, 305 Peace Negotiations at Pretoria, Boer Proposals for Retention of Self-Government under British supervision, 366, 371, 372 Grain Waggons, captured by British near Vredefort, 133 "Granary" of Orange Free State lost to Boers, 84 Grant by the British Government for Repatriation Purposes, Re-stocking Farms, etc., 394 Great Britain, King of--Thanks of Boer Generals for Efforts to promote Peace--Resolution at the Vereeniging Conference, 346 Grobler, Commandant H.S.--Continuance of the War, Impossibility of carrying on the Struggle, 406 Grobler, Mr. E.R.--Colesberg Command, 22 Groenkop, Description of, 278 "Guerillas"-- Designation of Boer Forces by the British as "Guerillas," Objections to the term, 228, 229 Meaning of the term, 229 Guns-- Boer Captures-- Blauwbank, 33 Colenso and Stormberg, 22 Dakasburg Engagement-- Capture of a Maxim-Nordenfeldt, 200 Dewetsdorp, 178 Nicholson's Nek, 16 Sanna's Post, 67, 69 Tweefontein, 282 Boer Losses, 208, 209 Bothaville, Number lost at, 170, 171 Fanny's Home Farm, Recapture of Guns by the British, 285 Frederiksstad, Retreat after--Loss of one gun, 167 Springhaansnek, Gun Abandoned, 189, 190 Ventersdorp, Loss of Krupp Gun near, 141 "Hands-uppers," British use of, 18 Harbour, Boer Lack of, _note_ 53 Harrismith-- Engagement with British Troops near, 272-274 Boer Casualties, 274 Failure of Boer Charge, 273 Orange Free State Troops, Concentration at, 4, 6 Harrismith Burghers-- De Wet's, Commander-in-Chief, Visit to, 260 Surrender following Prinsloo's Surrender, 128 Waggon, Refusal to part with--Return home, 161-163 Hasebroek, Commandant--Cape Colony Expedition--Holding the Enemy in Check, 212, 215, 219, 220 Engagement with Colonel White near Thaba'Nchu, 189, 190 Hattingh, General--Command at Harrismith and Vrede Commandos, 161 Commander-in-Chief in the Drakensberg Appointment, 117 Hattingh, Veldtcornet Johannes--Leader in Springhaansnek Attack on Blockhouse Lines, 187 Heenop, David--Swimming the Orange River, 220 Heilbron--District to which Commander-in-Chief de Wet belonged, 4 Government of Orange Free State transferred to, 86 Mentz, Commandant F.E., Engagement with Colonel Byng's Column, 267 Heilbron Commando--Commandant Mr. L. Steenekamp, 4 Vice-Commandant, Election of Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 7 Visits to, by Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 230, 243 Heliographic Communication, Use by Boers, 286 _note_, 289 Hertzog, Judge--Continuance of the War, Arguments for and against--Vereeniging Conference, 412 Despatch of, to the South-Western Districts, 225 Mission to bring back Commandos which had escaped from Prinsloo's Surrender, 137 Peace Negotiations--Member of Commission of National Representatives at the Pretoria Conference, 320, 365-396 Rejection of British Terms--Proposal, 425, 426 Report on Attitude of Burghers in North-Western Parts of Cape Colony, 195 Vice-Commander-in-Chief, Appointment in Districts of Fauresmith, etc., 158 Hides for Tanning--Destruction by the British, 233 Hijs, Commandant, P.L.--Impossibility of European Intervention, 401, 402 Holspruits--Boers breaking through British Lines, 293, 294 Honing Kopjes--Commander-in-Chief de Wet's first Engagement with Lord Kitchener, 108-110 Honingspruit Station, Failure of Commandant Olivier's Attack, 115, 116 Horses--Bothaville, Capture of Horses by Boers, 299 Condition of Boer Horses, 338, 339, 341, 342, 343, 344, 345, 346, 355 Dependence of the Boers on their Horses, 172 Fodder, Scarcity of, 341, 355 Skin Disease among, 271, 272 Wild Horses of the Veldt, Use of, by the Boers, 292, 293 Humiliation Days, Appointment of, 243 Independence of the Republics-- Afrikander Feeling as to, 58 British Government Attitude towards, 337 Correspondence between Presidents Kruger and Steyn and Lord Salisbury, 330-332 De Wet's, Commander-in-Chief, Meetings to ascertain the feeling of the Burghers as to Surrender of Independence, 313 "Irretrievably Lost," 419 Maintenance of--Burghers' Mandate to Vereeniging Delegates, 333, 337, 338, 347, 348, 362, 363, 400, 401, 402, 403, 404, 405, 407, 411, 412, 417, 421, 422, 423, 424 Peace Negotiations--Conference at Pretoria between Commission of the National Representatives and Lords Kitchener and Milner (May 19-28, 1902), 366, 370, 371 Refusal of the British Government to consider Terms based on Retention of Independence, 53, 54, 309, 310, 397 Steyn, President, Views of, 306 Surrender of--Conditions offered by the British in exchange, 346, 347, 358 Vereeniging Conference, opinions of Burghers' Delegates, 333, 336, 346, 347, 348, 350, 351, 352, 353, 354, 362, 363, 364 Intervention of Foreign Powers on behalf of the Republics-- Attitude of England towards, 356, 362, 363 Boer Deputation to European Powers (_see_ Deputation) Boer Hopes unfulfilled, 405, 406, 412, 414, 415, 416, 423, 424 Germany, Reasons for Non-intervention, 358, 359 Improbability of Intervention, 355, 358, 359, 360, 361, 362, 363, 433 Intervention not desired by Boers, 54 Steyn, President, on, 354, 355 Jameson Raid, President Steyn on, 251, 252 Jew at Nicholson's Nek--Burgher declining to do Business, 15 Johannesburg Police, Behaviour at Nicholson's Nek, 15, 16 Jonson, Burgher, Death at Bester Station--First Victim in the Fight for Freedom, 10, 11 Joubert, General-- Junction with Orange Free State Forces at Rietfontein, 13 Kroonstad War Council, Presence at, 58 Kaffirs--Arming by England, 422, 423 Attitude towards the Boers--Reports of Vereeniging Delegates, 337, 338, 339, 340, 343, 345, 346, 355, 361, 362, 363 Boer Women, Treatment of, 151, 152, 153 Capture of Kaffirs by Boers at Dewetsdorp, 178, 179 Release of Prisoners, 181 Treatment of Kaffirs by Boers--Kaffirs captured at Leeuwspruit Bridge, 113 Warfare, Native Methods--Boer Sufferings at the Hands of Zulus and Basutos, 10 Kemp, General--Continuance of the War, Independence of the Republics, etc., 421, 422 Situation in South Africa on May 15, 1902--Report to the Vereeniging Conference, 345, 347, 348 Kitchener, Lord--Armistice agreed on, to admit of Attendance of Boer Officers at the Vereeniging Meeting, 316 Misunderstanding on the Part of the British Columns, 317, 318 Capture of President Steyn and Commander-in-Chief de Wet anticipated--Visit to Wolvehock Station, 290, 291 Escape from Armoured Train, near Leeuwspruit Bridge, 112 Honingkopjes and Roodepoort--Commander-in-Chief de Wet's first Engagement with Lord Kitchener, 108, 109 Independence of Republics as basis for Peace Negotiations, Refusal to consider--Pretoria Conference, 309, 310, 397 Kroonstad, Arrival at, 111 Middelburg Peace Proposals (_see_ that title) Peace Negotiations--Conference at Pretoria with Commission of National Representatives (May 19-28, 1902), 320, 365, 395, 396 Proposals by the Boer Representatives in April, 1902, 305-313 Prisoners, Order given to Gen. Knox "not to take prisoners"--_South African News_ Statement, 184, 185 Klerksdorp--Peace Deliberations, Meeting of Governments of the Republics, 303, 304, 305 Knight, Captain Wyndham-- Surrender at Rhenosterriviersbrug, 105, 106 Tribute to, by Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 107 Knox, General--Bethlehem, Engagement near, with Generals Botha and Fourie, and Commandant Prinsloo, 194, 195 Cape Colony--Commander-in-Chief de Wet's Operations--Attempted Inroad--Fighting near Smithfield, 181 Expedition into Cape Colony, Dispositions to prevent, 201, 202, 203 Kroonstad taken by, 194, 195 Pursuit of Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 185, 186, 187, 189, 190 Thaba'Nchu, Engagement near, with Gen. Fourie, 201, 202 Koedoesberg--Struggle between General French and Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 27, 28, 29 Kotzé, Mr. (General Prinsloo's Secretary)--Bearer to Commander-in-Chief de Wet of News of General Prinsloo's Surrender, 135, 136, 137 Kraaipan--Armoured Train captured by Boers, 8, 9 Kritzinger, Commandant--Crossing of Orange River, Seizure of British Outpost, 195, 196 Kritzinger, Commandant, and Captain Scheepers--Engagement with Brabant's Horse, 185, 186 Krom Ellenborg, Sub-district to which Commander-in-Chief de Wet belonged, 4 Kroonstad--British Advance, 86, 87 Abandonment by Boers, 87, 88 Capture by General Knox, 194, 195 Government of Orange Free State transferred to, 58 Government of Orange Free State transferred to Heilbron, 86, 87 Kitchener's Lord, Arrival--Strength of British Forces, etc., 111 Kroonstad Commando, Share in Battle of Modderspruit, 10, 11 Kruger, President--Despatch of Mission to Europe to represent Condition of the Country to President Kruger, proposed, 236, 237, 238 Peace, Joint Letter to Lord Salisbury stating Conditions on which the Republics were willing to make Peace, 330, 331, 332 Poplar Grove, Visit to Boer Troops at, 50 War Council at Kroonstad, Presence, at, 58 Krugersdorp-Potchefstroom Railway--Crossed by Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 149 Ladysmith-- British Retreat on Ladysmith, 9, 10 Bulwana Hill--Boers surprised by British, 21 Engagement of 3rd Nov., 1899, 29, 30 Relief, 50 Landsheer, Doctor de--Death at Bothaville, English Newspaper Report, 170, 171 Language Question-- Equal Rights for English and Dutch Languages in Schools--Boer Peace Proposals to Lord Kitchener (April, 1902), 308, 309 Terms of the Peace Protocol, 380, 393, 394 Objections to, 412, 421, 422 Leeuwspruit Railway Bridge--Commander-in-Chief de Wet's Scheme for breaking British Lines of Communication, 112 Froneman's, General, Failure to carry out Instructions, 113 Kitchener's Lord, Escape, 112 Leeuwspruit Scheme, Failure of, 112 Methuen's, Lord, Railway Communications--General Cronje's Refusal to permit Execution of Commander-in-Chief de Wet's Scheme for Cutting, 23 Orange Free State Railway--Commander-in-Chief de Wet's Work on, 153, 154 Scheepers, Captain, Work of, 154 Wolvehoek, Wrecking the Railway, 163 Liebenberg, General-- Frederiksstad--Failure of Attack on General Barton, 164, 165, 166, 167 Mooi River, Junction with Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 140, 141 Retreat from Rustenburg, 142, 143 Liebenbergsvlei-- British Retreat, 284 Guns, Recapture by British at Fanny's Home Farm, 285 Lindley-- British Garrison Captured by General Piet de Wet, 92 Destruction by the British, Alleged, 271, 272 Engagement near, 268 Postponement of Second Boer Attack--Escape of the British during the Night, 270 Halt of Commander-in-Chief de Wet's Forces, 271, 272 Lindley-Kroonstad Line of Blockhouses--Boers breaking through the Line, 287 Lines of Communication--Boer Attempts to cut British Lines, 172, 246 America Siding Railway Line Wrecked by General Froneman, 115, 116 De Wet, Commander-in-Chief, Schemes of, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153 Frederiksstad Station--Wrecking of Railway Bridge and Line, 140, 141 "Little Majuba"--Name given to Swartbooiskop after Nicholson's Nek, 13 Loans by the British Government for restocking Farms, etc., 394 Long Tom damaged by Dynamite, 21 Looting by British, 6, 7 Losses in Killed, Wounded, etc., on either side during the War, 201, 202, 247, 265, 266, 415, 416, 417, 422, 423 Blijdschap, 269 Bothaville, 170, 171 Cape Colony Expedition, 206, 207, 208, 209 Colenso, 22 Dakasburg Engagement, 200 Dewetsdorp, 177, 178 Engagement between Commandant Hasebroek and Colonel White, 189 Frederiksstad Engagement, 166, 167 Heilbron, 26 Koffiefontein, 35, 36 Ladysmith, Engagement of 3rd Nov., 1899, 20 Leeuwspruit Bridge, 112, 113 Lindley, 267, 269 Magersfontein, 23 Modder Spruit, 11 Nicholson's Nek, 16 Paardeberg, 50 Prinsloo's Surrender, 127 Reitz, 265 Rhenosterriviersbrug, 105 Roodewal, Extent of British Losses, 102 Sanna's Post, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70 Stinkfontein, 40, 46 Stormberg, 23 Tijgerfontein, 138, 139 Tweefontein, 181 Vanvurenskloof, 139, 140 Verkijkersdorp, 239, 240 Vredefort Engagement, 134, 135 Loyalty to British Government--Commander-in-Chief de Wet's Final Advice to the Boers, 324 Lubbe, Commandant--Return from Paardenberg's Drift, 36, 37 Wounded and Captured near Thaba'Nchu, 82 Lyddite Shells, Effect of-- Bethlehem Incident, 121, 122 Magersfontein Laager, 24 Maagbommen, 5 Macdonald, General Sir Hector-- Command of Reinforcements against Bethlehem, 121, 122 Machadodorp--President Steyn's Visit to the Government of the South African Republic, 144 Magalies Mountains, Passage of, by Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 145, 146, 147 Magersfontein Engagement-- British Losses, 23 Magersfontein Laager-- De Wet's, Commander-in-Chief, Command, 23, 24 Duties and Annoyances of Command, 64 Shelling by British, 24 Women, Presence of--Commander-in-Chief de Wet's Failure to induce Government to Prohibit, 25 Mailbags captured at Roodewal, Contents used by Boers, 102 "Majuba Day"--Capture of Commandant van Merwe and men, 296, 297 Malan, Lieut.--Expedition into Cape Colony, 206, 207 Martial Law--Proclamation by Governments of the Republics, 7, 8 Massey, Major--Command at Dewetsdorp, Commander-in-Chief de Wet's Tribute, 175, 176 Matthijsen, Corporal Adriaan and the crossing of the Magalies Mountains, 146, 147 Mauser Rifle in Portrait of Commander-in-Chief de Wet, History of, 151, 152 Mears, Commandant--Loss of Guns at Fanny's Home Farm, 285 Medical Certificates, Abuse of by Burghers, _note_ 59 Meijer, Commandant J.--Tribute to, 271, 272 Mentz, Commandant J.E.-- Continuance of the War, Impossibility of, 421, 422 Situation in South Africa on 15th May, 1902--Report to the Vereeniging Conference, 351, 352 Merve, Commandant-General van, wounded at Sanna's Post, 68, 69 Merve, Commandant van der-- Appointment to Command of Winburg Burghers, 64 Capture of, on "Majuba Day," 296, 297 Meyer, Mr. J.L.--Continuance of the War, Arguments against, Vereeniging Conference, 413, 414 Meyer, Veldtcornet--Loss of Position at Stinkfontein, 42 Middelburg Peace Proposals-- Annulled by the Terms of Peace arranged at the Pretoria Conference (May, 1902), 392 Communications between the Boer Leaders with reference to the proposed Conference, 230 Difference between the Basis of Negotiations proposed by the Boer Representatives in May, 1902, and the Middelburg Proposals, 367, 372, 373 Receipts issued by Boer Officers, Proviso as to Payment, 384, 385 Milner, Lord-- Boer Ultimatum--Mr. Chamberlain's Telegrams, 329 Independence of Republics as Basis for Peace Negotiations, Refusal to consider--Pretoria Conference, 365-396, 397 Peace Negotiations--Conference at Pretoria with Commission of National Representatives (May 18-29, 1902), 320, 365-396 Mobility--British Incapacity to keep pace with Boers, 140, 141 (_see_ also Waggons) Modder River--British entrenched at, 24 Modder Spruit, Battle of, 9, 10, 11 Boer and British Losses, 11, 12 Modderrivierpoort (_see_ Poplar Grove) Muller, Capt.--Exploit at Roodewal, 101 Muller, General C.H.--Continuance of the War--Vereeniging Delegates' Refusal to accept British Surrender Proposal, 417 Myringen, Burgher, killed at Rhenosterriviersbrug, 105, 106 Naauwpoort--Prinsloo's Surrender, 85 Natal--British Subjects fighting for the Boers (_see_ Colonial Burghers) Natal Operations-- Absence of Commander-in-Chief de Wet after 9th Dec., 1899, 21 Bester Station Skirmish, 10, 11 Colenso, Magersfontein, and Stormberg Engagements--British Losses, 23 Drakensberg Passes, Occupation by Orange Free State Commandos, 7, 8 Estcourt Skirmishes--General Louis Botha's Exploits, 19 Failure of Boers to cut off English at Dundee and Elandslaagte, 9, 10 Kraaipan, Capture of Armoured Train by General De la Rey, 8, 9 Ladysmith (_see_ that title) Modder Spruit, Battle of, 9, 10, 11 Natal Frontier, Commander-in-Chief C. de Wet's Reconnaissance, 7, 8 Nicholson's Neck (_see_ that title) National Representatives (_see_ Peace Negotiations) National Scouts--Arming men who had taken the Oath of Neutrality, 159 Bergh's, Captain, Attacks on Boers with bands of Kaffirs, 271, 272 Night Attacks by the British instigated by, 263, 264 Services to the British, 184, 185, 223, 224 Naude, Mr. J.--Independence of the South African Republic and Orange Free State, Vereeniging Delegates' power to decide as to Position of British Subjects fighting on Boer side, etc., 411 Neikerk, Altie van--Capture at Honingkopjes, 186 Neikerk, Captain--Appointment as Commandant of President Steyn's Bodyguard, 245 Nel, Commandant-- Farm stormed by English--Escape of Commander-in-Chief C. de Wet, 152, 153, 154 Modder Spruit--West Wing of Boer Forces commanded by Nel, 10, 11 Nicholson's Nek--Failure to hold Swartbooiskop, 13, 14 Resignation, 115, 116 Nerwe, Van de--Drowned in crossing Orange River, 217 Netherlands-- Peace--Correspondence with the British Government, 301, 302 Boer Response to the Invitation implied in the forwarding of the Correspondence, etc., 305, 306, 370, 371 Queen of--Thanks of Boer Generals for efforts to promote Peace--Resolution at the Vereeniging Conference, 345, 346 Newspapers--Circulation of European Papers prohibited in Republics by England, 409 Nicholson's Nek-- Ambulance for British wounded--Sir G. White's Delay in sending, 17 Booty taken by Boers, 16 Swartbooiskop-- Nel's, Commandant, Failure to hold, 13, 14 Storming by Steenekamp and Commander-in-Chief C. de Wet, 14, 15 White Flag Incident, 15 Transvaal Burghers, Work of, 17 Nieuwouwdt, General--Peace, Rejection of British Terms, Proposal, 424, 425 Night Attacks by the British--Success of, Losses caused to the Boers, 263, 264 Norvalspont--Commander-in-Chief C. de Wet's Schemes for Operations in rear of British, 81, 82 Oath of Neutrality, Breaking--Re-arming of Burghers who had taken the Oath, Commander-in-Chief de Wet's Scheme, 156-160 British Military Authorities' Breach of Terms of Lord Roberts' Proclamation justifying Scheme, 159, 160 Olivier, Commandant-- Bethlehem District, Appointment to Command, 227, 228 Honingspruit Station, Failure of Attack on, 115, 116 Prinsloo's, General, Position as Private Burgher, Dissatisfaction with, 118 Oliviershoekpas--Occupation by Bethlehem Commando, 7, 8 Orange Free State-- Annexation of--Battles fought after the alleged Annexation, 228, 229 De Wet, Commander-in-Chief, Return of, 144, 150, 151 Government (_see_ Government of Orange Free State) Number of Burghers in Arms after Fall of Pretoria, 94 Outbreak of War--Orange Free State joining issues with the South African Republic, 254, 255 President--Powers granted to President in Matters Concerning War, 9, 10 Situation of Boer and British Forces in 1901, President Steyn on, 255, 256 Ortel, Mr. Charles--Owner of Abraham's Kraal, 51 Outbreak of the War, 7, 8 Paardeberg--General Cronje's Forces surrounded by the British, Bombardment of Laager, etc., 39 Boer Reinforcements, Arrival of, 45 Cronje's, Gen., Determination not to abandon Laager, 41 Efforts to release General Cronje--Storming of Stinkfontein, etc., 40-46 Abandonment of Position by Boers, 44 Botha's, General, Attempt to recapture Position abandoned on 25th February, 45 British Efforts to recapture Position, 42, 43, 44 Way of Escape opened to General Cronje, 41, 43 Sketch of Boer and British Positions, 38 Surrender of General Cronje, 47 Effect on Boer Forces, 48, 49, 51 Theunisson, Mr., Capture by British, 6, 7 Paardenberg's Drift, British Advance on, 30 Camp of "Water-draggers" surprised by British, 32, 33 Palmietfontein--Boers breaking through Blockhouse Line, 289, 290 Panic among Boer Forces-- Burghers returning to Farms after Fall of Pretoria, 93 Holspruits, 294, 295 Peace Negotiations--Boer Overtures, etc.-- Armistice agreed on, to admit of attendance of Officers at the Vereeniging Meeting, 315 Misunderstanding on the part of the British Columns, 317, 318 Concessions in addition to the Terms already offered in the Negotiations of April, 1902, 366 Conference at Pretoria between the Commission of National Representatives and Lords Kitchener and Milner (19-28 May, 1902), 320, 365 Draft Document drawn up to place Negotiations in position to amend the Middelburg Proposals, 376, 377 Prolongation of Meetings due to Cable Correspondence with Great Britain, 397 Report of Commission discussed at Vereeniging Meeting, 397 Governments of the Republics, Meeting at Klerksdorp, 303, 304, 305 Burger's, Vice-President, Letter to President Steyn, 301, 302 Independence (_see_ that subheading) Middelburg Peace Proposals (_see_ that title) National Representatives-- Commission sent to the Pretoria Conference (May, 1902)-- Decision to appoint Commission, 364 Names of Members, 412 Election of Representatives for the Commandos, 313, 314 Meeting at Vereeniging (15th May) to consider the Situation, 352, 353, 358, 359, 362, 363 Peace Terms Proposed, 362, 363, 364 Netherlands' Communication with the British Government, 301, 302 Boer Response to the Invitation implied in the forwarding of the Correspondence, etc., 305, 306, 370, 371 Letter sent to Commandos, 336, 345, 346, 347 Presidents of the Republics--Correspondence with Lord Salisbury, and Lord Salisbury's Reply (5th March, 1900), 50, 53, 54, 330-332, 409 Proposals to Lord Kitchener (April, 1902), 299 Correspondence between Lord Kitchener and the Secretary of State--Independence Difficulty, 401, 402 Signing of Peace at Pretoria, 323, 324 Steyn's, President, Views, 258, 259 Terms of Peace sanctioned by the British Government and accepted by the Boers (May, 1902)-- Acceptance of British Terms, 320, 427, 428 Acceptance under Protest proposed, 421 Dissatisfaction among men of the Commandos, 324 Failure of Food Supply as reason for acceptance, 321 Unconditional Surrender v. Acceptance, 399, 401, 404, 405, 417, 423, 424 Better Terms, Possibility of obtaining, 406, 409, 410, 423, 424 Decision as to Acceptance or Rejection essential, 425, 426 Middelburg Proposal Annulled by the Terms of the Peace Protocol of May, 1902, 392 Milner's, Lord, Telegrams, 392 Rejection of Terms proposed, 424, 425 Signatures to Acceptance, Question of, 425, 426 Sub-committee appointed to aid in formulating Peace Proposals, 378, 398 Text of Draft Proposal and of Draft Proposal with Amendments sanctioned by the British Government, 379, 393 Time allowed for discussion of Terms, 394, 395 "Ultimatum," Description of British Terms, 321 Penzhorn, Mr., Relatives of--Kindness to Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 145 Petrusberg--Capture of by British, 51 De Wet's, Commander-in-Chief, Visit, 232 Plans, Sketch Plans of Engagements, 97, 276 Plessis, Veldtcornet du--Death due to White Flag Treachery at Reddersburg, 76 Poplar Grove-- Concentration of Boer Troops at, 50 Kruger's, President, Visit to Boer Troops, 50 Panic among Boers--Commander-in-Chief de Wet unable to prevent flight, 51 Potchefstroom, Portrait of Commander-in-Chief de Wet, History of Mauser Rifle, which appears in the photograph, 151, 152 Potgieter, Commandant (of Wolmaranstadt)--Escape from Paardeberg, 41 Potgieter, Mr. Hendrik--Appointment as Public Prosecutor of Orange Free State, 198 Preeij, Vice-Commandant Ignatius du, killed near Bethlehem, 194, 195 Presidency of Orange Free State-- Expiration of President Steyn's term of office--Difficulties in the way of an Election, Action of the Doornberg War Council, 197, 198 Resignation of President Steyn, 411 Rhodes, Mr., proposed as Candidate, 198 Pretoria-- Capture by British, 92 Panic ensuing among Transvaalers, 93 Peace Negotiations--Conference between Commission of National Representatives and Lords Kitchener and Milner (May 19-28, 1902), 320, 365 Pretorius, Willem-- Storming of British Schanze on Orange River, 204, 205 Tribute to, 271, 272 Veldtcornet, Nomination as, 205, 206 Prinsloo, Commandant Michal-- Bethlehem Engagement, 194, 195 Elandsfontein Exploit, 119, 120 Liebenbergsvlei Engagement, 284 Springhaansnek, Covering Commander-in-Chief de Wet's Passage of Blockhouse Lines at, 187, 188 Train captured and burned by, 152, 153 Vice-Commander-in-Chief of Bethlehem and Ficksburg Sub-districts, Appointment, 227, 228 Prinsloo, Mr. Marthinus-- Assistant Commander-in-Chief, Irregular Election as, 126 Commandant of Winburg District, 6, 7 Commander-in-Chief of Orange Free State, Election, 6, 7 Natal Campaign, Preliminary Arrangements, 7, 8 Resignation of Post as Commander-in-Chief in the Drakensberg, 117 Surrender at Naauwpoort, 85 Letter to Commander-in-Chief de Wet announcing Surrender and Commander-in-Chief de Wet's Reply, 136, 137 News brought to Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 135, 136, 137, 138 Suspicious Circumstances of Surrender, 127 Prinsloo's, Veldtcornet, Burghers, Capture of, 286 Prisoners--Boer Prisoners-- Bank Notes of the South African Republic, Opportunity of sending in for Payment, 386, 387 Ceylon--Prisoners taken with General Prinsloo sent to Ceylon, 156 Merwe, Commandant, and men--Capture on "Majuba Day," 296, 297 Number taken by the British, Frederiksstad, 40, 46, 170, 171, 264, 265 Total Number (35,000) in the Hands of the British in 1901, 256, 257 Taljaart's and Prinsloo's Veldtcornets, Burghers, Capture of, 286 British Prisoners-- Boer Inability to keep their Prisoners, 227, 228, 426, 427 Clothing taken by the Boers, 233 Numbers taken, 16, 23, 66, 67, 69, 70, 76, 102, 105, 106, 112, 113, 163, 178, 179, 185, 186, 194, 195, 202, 203, 205, 206, 207, 222, 223, 267, 281 Release on Fall of Pretoria due to Transvaalers' negligence, 92 Treatment by Boers-- Personal Property of Prisoners, etc., Disposition of, 101, _note_ Prisoners taken in Cape Colony Expedition, Treatment of, 210 Kaffir Prisoners taken by Boers-- Dewetsdorp, 178, 179 Release of Prisoners, 181 Leeuwspruit Bridge, 113 "Pro-Boers"-- De Wet's, Commander-in-Chief, Tribute to, 218 Meetings in England, 407 Public Prosecutor of Orange Free State--Appointment of Mr. Hendrick Potgieter, 198 Railways--Wrecking the Lines, Cutting British Lines of Communication, 172, 242 America Siding, Line near, wrecked by General Froneman, 115, 116 De Aar and Hopetown, Line blown up, 208, 209, 211 Frederiksstad Station, Bridge and Line wrecked, 115, 116 Leeuwspruit, Failure of Commander-in-Chief de Wet's Attempt, 112, 113 Orange Free State Line, Commander-in-Chief de Wet's Work on, 153, 154, 155 Scheepers, Captain, Work of, 153, 154 Schemes of Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153 Wolvehock, 163 Rebels--Colonial Burghers Fighting on Boer Side (_see_ Colonial Burghers) Roberts', Lord, Description of Burghers continuing to fight after annexation of the Republics as "Rebels," 227, 228 Receipts issued by Boer Officers for the Purchase of Cattle, Grain, etc.--Peace Negotiations, Boer Representatives' Request for a Guarantee of Payment, 382 Amount likely to be required, 386, 387 Middelburg Proposal, 384, 385 Orange Free State, Position with reference to Receipts, 383, 384, 385, 386 Terms of Peace Agreement, 380 Reddersburg--Boer Messenger fired on by British, 74 British Commanding Officer's Reply to Commander-in-Chief de Wet's Advice to Surrender, 74 De Wet's, Commander-in-Chief, Dispositions, 71-74 Mostertshoek, British Failure to reinforce Detachment at, 75 White Flag Treachery, 75, 76 Reich, Dr.--Commander-in-Chief de Wet's Meeting with at Senekal, 231 Reitz--Engagement near, 263-266 Surrender of Arms by Commandos after Declaration of Peace, 323, 324 Reitz, Secretary of State--Situation in South Africa on May 15, 1902, Report to the Vereeniging Conference, 350, 351 Relief Funds for Destitution caused by the War--Appointment of Committee to Collect and Administer, 428 Repatriation of Boers--Compensation for Losses sustained during the War--District Commissions, Institution of, 393, 394 Grant of £3,000,000 by the British Government, 393, 394 Inadequacy of Proposals, 402, 403, 421 Loans by the British Government, 394, 395 Rheeder, Commandant--Continuance of the War, Terms of Surrender, etc., 401 Rhenoster River, Fighting on, 89, 90 Hurried Retreat of Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 90 Rhenosterriviersbrug--General Froneman's Success, 104, 105, 106 Rhodes, Mr. C.-- Jameson Raid--Mr. Chamberlain's Defence of Mr. Rhodes, 251, 252 Presidency of Orange Free State--Mr. Rhodes proposed as a Candidate, 198 Rietfontein, Battle of (_see_ Modder Spruit) Roberts, Lord-- Advance of, into the Orange Free State, 26 Bloemfontein, Appearance before, 54 Dispositions after Capture of Kroonstad (May 18, 1900), 88, 89 Inaction after Paardeberg, 50 Thaba'Nchu, Operations near (1900), 82 Proclamations-- Burning of Buildings within radius of Ten Miles from Railway wrecked by Boers, 192 Oath of Neutrality, Proclamation as to Charge against Lord Roberts of violating Terms of Proclamation, 80, 159 Effect in preventing Burghers from rejoining Commandos, 60 Roodewal Disaster due to negligence of Lord Roberts, 105, 106 Sanna's Post, Failure to reinforce Troops at, 70 _note_ Ventersburg, Attack on, 85 Roch, General--Natal Campaign, General Roch's Command in Opening Movement of Boer Forces, 9, 10 Roodebergen--De Wet's, Commander-in-Chief, Departure from, 124, 129 Occupation by Boer Forces--Commander-in-Chief De Wet's Opposition to Scheme, 124 Passes of, 123 Roodepoort--Commander-in-Chief De Wet's first Engagement with Lord Kitchener, 108, 109 Roodewal Station, Action at, 98-101 Booty burnt by Boers, 104, 105 Sketch Plan, 97 Roux, Assistant Commander-in-Chief--Prinsloo's Surrender, weak and childish Conduct of General Roux, 126, 127 Roux, Deacon Paul, Appointment as Vechtgeneraal, 85 Russian Reception of Escaped Burghers, 110 _note_ Rustenburg--General Liebenberg's Retreat, 142, 143 Salisbury, Marquess of--Peace Negotiations, Boer Proposals of March 5, 1900--Reply to, 50, 53, 54, 409 Peace--Correspondence with Presidents Kruger and Steyn, 330-332 Sanna's Post, Action at-- Broadwood's, General, Troops, Arrival of, 65, 66 De Wet's, Commander-in-Chief, Preparations, 62, 64 Koornspruit, Position occupied by Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 64, 65, 66 Women and Children from Thaba'Nchu, Commander-in-Chief de Wet's Care for, 66, 67 Scheepers, Captain, and Commandant Kritzinger-- Brabant's Horse, Engagement with, 185, 186 Despatch Rider chosen by Commander-in-Chief de Wet, to carry Message to General Cronje before Paardeberg, 31, 32 Orange River, Crossing of--Seizure of British Outpost, 195, 196 Railway Lines, Wrecking of, 152, 153, 154 Scouting Services, 124, 131 Zandnek Engagement, 139, 140 Scouting-- Boer and British Methods--Services rendered to the British by Boer Deserters, etc., 18, 121, 122 Importance of, 165, 166 National Scouts, Services of (_see_ National Scouts) Secrecy as to Future Movements--Commander-in-Chief de Wet's Determination to keep his Plans secret, 61, 199 Self-Government, Retention of under British Supervision--Peace Negotiations, Boer Representatives' Proposals at the Pretoria Conference (May 19, 1902), 366, 371, 372 Sheep--Huge Tail of African Sheep, 211 Situation in South Africa on May 15, 1902--De Wet's Commander-in-Chief, Address at the Vereeniging Conference, 358-362 Situation of the Boer and British Forces in 1901, President Steyn on, 255, 256 Sketch Plans of Engagements, 38, 97, 276 Smith, Veldtcornet Hans, of Rouxville, Desertion after Roodewal, 106, 107 Smuts, General-- Continuance of the War, Arguments for and against--Vereeniging Conference, 418 Peace Negotiations--Member of Commission of National Representatives at the Pretoria Conference, 320, 365-396 Situation in South Africa on May 15, 1902--Report to the Vereeniging Conference, 340-342 Sobriety of Boers, 60 _South African News_--Publication of, Order not to take Prisoners, Anecdote of Lord Kitchener, 184, 185 South African Republic-- De Wet's, Commander-in-Chief, Journey with General De la Rey, Incidents during, 238, 239, 242 Extermination of, by the British determined on prior to the Outbreak of War, alleged, 254, 255 Government of (_see_ Government of South African Republic) Situation of, in 1902--Impossibility of continuing the War, 421, 422 Situation of Boer and British Forces in 1901--President Steyn on, 255, 256 Speller, Veldtcornet, of Wepener--Capture by British at Stinkfontein, 44 Springhaansnek--Blockhouse Line broken through by the Boers, 173, 187, 188 Spruit, Commandant--Capture by British at Stinkfontein, 42, 43; Subsequent Escape, 43 States-Procureur of Orange Free State--Capture of Mr. Jacob de Villiers at Bothaville, 170, 171, 198 Steenekamp, Burgher--Betrayal of Members of the South African Government to the British, 244 Steenekamp, Commandant-- Assistant-Commander-in-Chief, Nomination as, 144 Heilbron District, Commandant of, 4, 6, 7 Illness of, 7, 8, 9, 10 Vredefort Road Station, Attack on, 98, 105, 106 Steyn, President-- Accompanying Commander-in-Chief de Wet in his departure from Roodebergen, 129 Bethlehem Engagement, Presence at, 117 Bloemfontein, Departure from, 57 Bodyguard-- Davel, Commandant, Command of, 191 Niekerk, Captain--Appointment as Commandant, 245 Botha, General Philip, Visit to, 86, 87 Burgher's Vice-President, Request for Meeting with Orange Free State Government, 301, 302 Cape Colony Expedition, Decision to accompany, 197 Capture of Members of Governments of the South African Republics by the British at Reitz--President Steyn's Escape, 244 Causes of the War--Letter to Lord Kitchener, 250-259 Commander-in-Chief of Orange Free State, Refusal to allow Election--Consent to Election of Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 118 De Wet's, Commander-in-Chief, Schemes for operating in the Rear of the British, Opposition to, 82 De Wet's, Commander-in-Chief, Tribute to, 212 Eyes, Weakness of--Visit to Dr. van Rennenkamp, 300 Government of the South African Republic, Meetings with-- Machadodorp Visit, 144 Vrede Meeting, 231 Illness of, 319 Independence of the Republic, Refusal to surrender, 306 Intervention of Foreign Powers, Attitude as to, 54 Kroonstad War Council presided over by President Steyn, 58 Peace--Correspondence between Presidents Kruger and Steyn and Lord Salisbury, 330-332 Resignation owing to Illness, 411 Ventersdorp--Meeting with Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 168, 169 Western Parts of the State, Visit to, 298-302 Steyn, Willie, Capture at Honing Kopjes--Subsequent Escape, 110 _note_ Stinkfontein, Stormed and Abandoned by Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 40 Stormberg-- British Losses at, 22, 23 Capture by General Gatacre, 50 _Stormjagers_, 5 Strauss, David--Prisoner taken by the British in contravention of Lord Roberts' Proclamation, 80 Stripping British Prisoners in order to obtain Clothing, 233 Supervision of the British Government--Peace Negotiations, Boer Representatives' offer to accept Supervision as a Compromise on the Independence Question, 366, 371, 372, 373 Surrender-- Banishment Proclamation (_see_ that title) Oath of Neutrality, Lord Roberts' Proclamation (_see_ Oath of Neutrality) Peace Negotiations at Pretoria in May, 1902--Draft Agreement, 376 Surrender of Arms after Declaration of Peace, 323, 324 Swartbooiskop-- Nel's Commandant, Failure to hold, 13, 14 Storming by Commandant Steenekamp and Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 14, 15 Swaziland--Cession to the British, Proposals of the Vereeniging Conference, 350, 351, 360, 361, 363, 364 Sympathy felt for Boer Cause in England--Indirect Intervention, etc., 407, 410, 420 Tabaksberg Engagement, 83 Taljaart's, Veltcornet, Burghers, Capture of, 286 Telegraph Wires--cutting wires between Wolvehock and Viljoensdrift, 299 Telegraphic Communication between Orange Free State and Transvaal, 92 Termination of the War-- Attitude of the Burghers, 237, 238 Boer Women, Opinion of, 361, 362 Conference between Transvaal and Orange Free State Governments-- Decision to continue Fighting, 242, 243 Klerksdorp Meeting, 303, 304, 305 De Wet's, Commander-in-Chief, Forebodings, 58 Letter from Commandants in the Field to Secretary of the Orange Free State-- Conference with Transvaal Government, 242 Discussion of, by President Steyn and Generals De la Rey and De Wet, 234 Steyn's President, Answer, Extracts from, 236-239 Terms of, 234-237 Mission to President Kruger on behalf of South African Republic proposed, 236, 237, 238 Vereeniging Conference--Views of the Representatives, 346, 347, 348, 349, 350, 351, 352, 353, 354, 354-358, 359, 360-362, 363 Territory, Session of--Peace Negotiations-- Pretoria Conference, Boer Representatives' Offer, 366, 375 Vereeniging Conference Proposals (15th May, 1902), 350, 351, 352, 357, 358, 359, 360, 361, 362, 363, 364 Thaba'Nchu-- De Wet's, Commander-in-Chief, Retreat on after Badenhorst, 81 Occupation by General Broadwood, 65, 66 Thanksgiving Days, Appointment of, 243 Theron, Danie-- Death at Gatsrand, 153, 154 Paardeberg--Passing Enemy's Lines to carry Message from Commander-in-Chief de Wet to General Cronje, 46 Scouting Party, Appointment as Chief by Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 54 Scouting Services, 88, 89, 124, 131 Train Captured by, 132 Theron, Jan--Appointment to succeed Commandant Danie Theron, 153, 154 Theunissen, Commandant of Winburg, 45 Capture by British at Stinkfontein, 46 Election as Commandant of Winburg, 6, 7 Thring, Veldtcornet--War Experiences, Commander-in-Chief de Wet's Tribute, etc., 87, 88, 89 Tijgerfontein Engagement, 138, 139 Tintwaspas--Occupation by Kroonstad Commando, 7, 8 Tonder, Mr. Gideon van--Killed by Lyddite Shell at Magersfontein, 25 Trains-- Blowing up with Dynamite, 230, 246 Devices to throw the British off the Scent, 246 Mechanical Devices, 246 Boer Captures of, 132, 152, 153, 203, 204 Transvaalers-- Negligence in leaving Prisoners at Pretoria, 92 Nicholson's Nek, Work at, 17 Truter, Commandant--Abandonment of Krupp gun and Ammunition, 182 Tweefontein--Attack on British Position, 275-283 Sketch Plan, 276 Uijs, Commandant--Situation in South Africa on May 15, 1902, Report to the Vereeniging Conference, 349, 350 "Uitschudden"--Institution of, in order to obtain Clothing, 233 Ultimatum by the South African Republic-- Cause of the War alleged-- Salisbury's, Lord, Assertion, 53, 54, 409 Salisbury's, Lord, Demand, 53, 54, 409 Steyn's, President, Contradiction, 251, 252 Chamberlain's, Mr. J., Telegrams to Sir A. Milner, 329 Text of the "Ultimatum," 325-328 Unconditional Surrender--Discussion at Vereeniging Meeting of May 29, 1902, 398, 399, 401, 405, 406, 423, 424 Vaal River--Crossing of President Steyn's Party, 300 Valsch River Bridge, Destruction by Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 88, 89 Van Dam, Under Captain--Command of Johannesburg Police at Nicholson's Nek, 16 Van Niekerk, Commandant--Continuance of the War, Argument in favour of, 414, 415 Van Reenen's Pass-- Occupation by Harrismith and Winburg Commandos, 7, 8 War Council at--Commander-in-Chief de Wet attending in place of Commandant Steenekamp, 8, 9 Vanvurenskloof, Boer Retreat from, 139, 140 Vechtgeneraal of the Orange Free State-- Abolition of Post, 95 Creation of Post, 9, 10 De Wet, Commander-in-Chief, Appointment of, 22 Roux, General Paul, appointed by Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 85 Ventersburg--Boer Lines broken through, 85 Ventersdorp-- Fighting near, 140, 141, 142 Meeting between President Steyn and Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 168, 169 Vereeniging-- Meeting of General Representatives to discuss the Situation (May 15, 1902), 333-364 Authority given to Delegates to voice the wishes of their Constituencies, 333, 337, 338, 400, 402, 403, 404, 405, 407, 411, 412, 417, 421, 422, 423, 424 Thanks of the meeting to the King of England and Queen of the Netherlands for efforts to promote Peace, 345, 346 Unity among Delegates essential, 337, 338, 349, 350, 351, 357 Meeting of Special National Representatives to discuss British Peace Terms (May 29, 1902), 397 Armistice agreed on to admit of Attendance of Officers, 315 Misunderstanding on the part of the British Columns, 317, 318 Divisions among Delegates, 421, 422, 423, 424, 425, 426 Meeting a Fatal Error, 413, 414 Questions to be decided, 398, 411, 417 (For details of subjects discussed _see_ Independence, Peace Negotiations, etc.) Verkijkersdorp--Capture of Women's Laager near, by the British, and Rescue by Commander-in-Chief de Wet's Commando, 238-241 British Casualties, 239, 240 Vice-Commanders-in-Chief, Orange Free State-- Badenhorst, Veldtcornet, C.C., Appointment for Districts of Boshof, etc., 159 De Wet, Gen., Appointment of, 49 Fourie, Gen., Appointment for Districts of Bloemfontein, etc., 157 Hertzog, Gen., Appointment for Districts of Fauresmith, etc., 158 Vice-President of Orange Free State-- Appointment of Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 411 Creation of Temporary Post, 198 Viljoen, Mr. P.R.--Situation in South Africa on May 15, 1902, Report of the Vereeniging Conference, 346, 347 Villiers, General de--Death due to Wound received at Biddulphsberg, 84 Natal Expedition, Commanding as Vechtgeneraal, 8, 9 Prinsloo's Surrender, Escape from, 128 Work in South-Eastern Districts of the Orange Free State, 83 Villiers, Mr. Jacob de, States-Procureur of Orange Free State, Capture of at Bothaville, 170, 171, 198 Vilonel, Commandant-- Resignation--Enforced Resignation due to Insubordination, 64 Surrender to British--Recapture by Captain Pretorius and Trial for Desertion, 84 Removal from Bethlehem to Fouriesburg, 121, 122 Waggons, Persistence in use of, 62 Visser, Commandant--Death of at Jagersfontein Engagement, Faithfulness and Valour of Commandant Visser, 158 Vleeschkorporaal, Duties of, 4, 5 Vrede-- De Wet's, Commander-in-Chief, Meeting with Louis Botha, 231 Meeting between President Steyn and the Transvaal Government, 231 Vrede Commando, Surrender following Prinsloo's Surrender, 128 Vredefort-- Capture of British Outpost, 232 Engagements near, 133, 134, 135 Retreat of the Boers to the Vaal River, 164, 165 Surrender of Arms by Commando after Declaration of Peace, 323, 324 Vredefort-weg Station--Commandant Steenekamp's Success at, 98, 105, 106 Vrijheid--Kaffir Atrocities, Murder and Mutilation of Burghers, 426, 427 Waggons-- Boer Reluctance to abandon use of, 62, 120, 121, 129, 131, 135, 136 Harrismith Burghers' Refusal to part with their Waggons at Spitskopje, 161-163 De Wet, Commander-in-Chief, Use of Little Waggon, 293, 294, 398 Destruction by British, 120, 121, 191 No Waggons with Commander-in-Chief de Wet's Commando, 279 Vilonel's, Commandant, Persistence in using Waggons, 62 Waggon Camps, Regulation prohibiting, 58 War Commission--Orders to commence Natal Campaign, 4 War Councils, 19 Decisions of Council of March 28, 1900, 61 Doornberg, Council at--Decision as to Presidential Election, 197 Kroonstad Council--Officers present, Decisions, etc., 58 _note_, 59 War of 1877-1881--Futility of Comparison with War of 1899-1902, 421, 422 Warfare, Boer Methods of-- Checking an Enemy's Advance--Boer Tactics, 213 Rapidity of Action, Importance of, 75 Wauchope, General--Death at Magersfontein, 23 Weilbach, Commandant--Desertion of Post at Bloemfontein, 54 Wessels, General J.B.-- Kroonstad War Council, Presence at, 58 Sanna's Post Engagement, Share in, 64 Wessels, Mr. C.J.-- Commander-in-Chief of Free Staters at Magersfontein and Kimberley, 23 Member of Boer Deputation to Europe (1900), 53, 54 Wessels, Veldtcornet-- Capture of, at Frederiksstad, 166, 167 Dewetsdorp Exploits, 176, 177, 178 White, Colonel--Engagement with Commandant Hasebroek near Thaba'Nchu, 189, 190 White Flag Treachery at Reddersburg, 75, 76 Wire Fencing-- Bothaville Boers cutting the Wire, 299 Erection of, by the British, 262 Lindley-Kroonstad Line of Blockhouses--Escape of Boers, 287 Palmietfontein, Boers breaking through Line, 289, 290 Witkopjes Rheboksfontein Engagement, 135, 136 Witwatersrand, Cession to the British--Proposals of the Vereeniging Conference, 350, 351, 360, 361, 363, 364 Wolfaard Brothers--Wounded by Lyddite Shell at Magersfontein, 25 Wolmarans, Daniel--Member of Boer Deputation to Europe (1900), 53, 54 Wolvehock--Railway blown up by Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 163 Women and Children-- De Wet's, Commander-in-Chief, Care for, after Sanna's Post, 66, 67 Difficulties of providing for--Deliberations of the Vereeniging Conference, 333, 339, 342, 343, 344, 345, 349, 350, 351, 352, 353, 356, 405, 406, 410, 412, 413, 415, 416, 417, 423, 424, 425, 426, 427 Flight of Boer Women to escape Capture by the British, 279 Kaffir Treatment of Boer Women, 151, 152, 153 Magersfontein Laager, Presence in, 25 Sufferings in Concentration Camps, etc., 198, 290, 291, 421, 422 Treatment by the British, 232, 239, 240, 241, 257, 258 Verkijkersdorp Laager, Capture of by British, and rescue by Commander-in-Chief de Wet's Commando, 238-241 Wonderkop--General de Villiers' Exploits, 83 Wounded, Boer Treatment of-- Doornspruit, Care of Wounded after, 133, 134 Nicholson's Nek--Care for Wounded by Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 17 Yeomanry, Imperial--Gallantry at Tweefontein, 281 Yule, General--Ladysmith Retreat conducted by, 9, 10 Zandnek--Captain Scheepers' Engagement near, 139, 140 Zwavelkrans Farm--British Convoy Captured by Commander-in-Chief de Wet, 96, 98 
26198	----	[Illustration: "ALL THAT WAS LEFT OF THEM." THE BLACK WATCH AFTER THE BATTLE OF MAGERSFONTEIN. From the Drawing by R. Caton Woodville.] SOUTH AFRICA AND THE TRANSVAAL WAR BY LOUIS CRESWICKE AUTHOR OF "ROXANE," ETC. WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS IN SIX VOLUMES VOL. II.--FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE WAR TO THE BATTLE OF COLENSO, 15TH DEC. 1899 EDINBURGH: T. C. & E. C. JACK 1900 CONTENTS--VOL. II. PAGE CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE vii CHAPTER I THE CRISIS AT HOME 1 IN SOUTH AFRICA 2 THE OCCUPATION OF DUNDEE 7 THE BATTLE OF GLENCOE 14 ELANDSLAAGTE 20 THE RETREAT FROM DUNDEE 32 SIR W. PENN SYMONS--GLENCOE 35 THE BATTLE OF REITFONTEIN 36 LADYSMITH 38 THE BATTLE OF LOMBARD'S KOP 41 THE DISASTER OF NICHOLSON'S NEK 45 THE SIEGE OF LADYSMITH 51 CHAPTER II THE SIEGE OF MAFEKING 55 KIMBERLEY 64 CHAPTER III NATAL 70 THE INVASION OF CAPE COLONY 76 THE BATTLE OF BELMONT 86 THE BATTLE OF GRASPAN 92 THE BATTLE OF MODDER RIVER 97 AFTER THE FIGHT 108 CHAPTER IV THE INVESTMENT OF LADYSMITH 110 ESTCOURT 119 ARMOURED TRAIN DISASTER AT CHIEVELEY 121 ESTCOURT 126 THE FIGHT ON BEACON HILL 132 LADYSMITH 135 ESTCOURT AND FRERE 139 SURPRISES AT LADYSMITH 145 FRERE CAMP 151 CHAPTER V ACTIVITY AT THE CAPE 154 WITH GENERAL GATACRE 159 THE REVERSE AT STORMBERG 163 AT THE MODDER RIVER 168 THE BATTLE OF MAJESFONTEIN 171 CHAPTER VI CHIEVELEY CAMP 187 THE BATTLE OF COLENSO 188 FACSIMILE OF MS. OF MR. RUDYARD KIPLING'S WAR POEM "THE ABSENT-MINDED BEGGAR" 203 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS--VOL. II. CHART SHOWING STAFF APPOINTMENTS MADE AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE WAR _At front_ 1. _COLOURED PLATES_ PAGE "ALL THAT WAS LEFT OF THEM." The Black Watch after the Battle of Majesfontein. By R. Caton Woodville _Frontispiece_ OFFICER OF THE 9TH LANCERS 38 SERGEANT, KING'S ROYAL RIFLES 80 PRIVATE AND CORPORAL OF THE GORDON HIGHLANDERS 96 SERGEANT AND PRIVATE OF THE DUBLIN FUSILIERS 102 SIGHTING A NAVAL FIELD GUN 128 SERGEANTS OF THE ROYAL HORSE ARTILLERY WITH A 12-POUNDER 144 SERGEANT-MAJOR OF THE NEW SOUTH WALES LANCERS 154 2. _FULL-PAGE PLATES_ THE OUTBREAK OF WAR--THE DRAKENBERG MOUNTAINS 6 THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR--TRANSPORT LEAVING ENGLAND FOR THE CAPE 16 THE BATTLE OF ELANDSLAAGTE 26 BEFORE LADYSMITH--HORSE ARTILLERY GALLOPING TO TAKE UP A NEW POSITION 42 LADYSMITH, NATAL 54 NIGHT SORTIE FROM MAFEKING 64 THE BATTLE OF BELMONT 90 THE BATTLE OF MODDER RIVER 106 SCENE ON THE TUGELA 112 REPELLING AN ATTACK FROM THE TRENCHES AROUND LADYSMITH 138 FROM FRERE TO CHIEVELEY 150 STORMBERG PASS 160 THE MODDER RIVER 172 THE BATTLE OF COLENSO--QUEEN'S (ROYAL WEST SURREY) REGIMENT LEADING THE CENTRAL ATTACK 188 THE BATTLE OF COLENSO--THE DUBLIN FUSILIERS ATTEMPT TO FORD THE TUGELA 192 THE BATTLE OF COLENSO--THE LAST DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO SAVE THE GUNS 198 3. _FULL-PAGE PORTRAITS_ LIEUT.-GENERAL J. D. P. FRENCH 22 MAJOR-GENERAL SIR W. PENN SYMONS, K.C.B. 32 GENERAL JOUBERT 48 COLONEL ROBERT S. S. BADEN-POWELL, the Defender of Mafeking 58 RIGHT HON. SIR REDVERS HENRY BULLER, K.C.B., V.C. 74 LIEUT.-GENERAL LORD METHUEN, C.B. 86 GENERAL SIR GEORGE STEWART WHITE, V.C., G.C.B., the Defender of Ladysmith 118 MAJOR-GENERAL ANDREW G. WAUCHOPE, C.B. 176 4. _MAPS AND ENGRAVINGS IN THE TEXT_ COLOURED MAP OF SEAT OF WAR _At Front_ MAP OF NORTHERN NATAL 9 POSITION OF FORCES BEFORE THE BATTLE OF GLENCOE 15 THE BATTLE OF GLENCOE 17 POSITION OF FORCES BEFORE THE BATTLE OF ELANDSLAAGTE, NOON 21 PLAN OF BATTLE OF ELANDSLAAGTE 25 MAP OF LADYSMITH AND SURROUNDING HEIGHTS 42 THE CREUSOT QUICK-FIRING FIELD GUN, OR "LONG TOM" 44 4.7-INCH NAVAL GUN ON IMPROVISED MOUNTING 52 12-POUNDER NAVAL GUN ON IMPROVISED CARRIAGE 52 15-POUNDER FIELD GUN 62 AN ARMOURED TRAIN 68 THE MAXIM GUN 79 LORD METHUEN'S LINE OF ADVANCE 87 PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF BELMONT 90 PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF MODDER RIVER 101 COMPLETE MACHINE GUN DETACHMENT OF MOUNTED INFANTRY 118 THE 5-INCH HOWITZER OR SIEGE GUN 127 FACSIMILE OF PAGE OF NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED IN LADYSMITH DURING THE SIEGE 137 TELEGRAPH SECTION OF THE ROYAL ENGINEERS 144 4.7 NAVAL GUN ON CAPT. PERCY SCOTT'S IMPROVISED CARRIAGE 154 MAP ILLUSTRATING THE OPERATIONS ON THE SOUTH OF THE ORANGE RIVER 164 BATTLE OF MAJESFONTEIN 174 SKETCH PLAN OF POSITIONS AT MAJESFONTEIN 176 SKETCH PLAN OF BATTLE OF COLENSO 191 MAP SHOWING THE ATTEMPTED PASSAGE OF THE RIVER BY GENERAL BULLER ON DECEMBER 15 194 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE--VOL. II. OCTOBER. 11.--Boer Ultimatum time-limit expired. Great Britain commenced to be at war with Transvaal and Orange Free State. 12.--Text of Great Britain's reply to Boer Ultimatum issued. It stated that the conditions demanded were such as her Majesty's Government deemed it impossible to discuss. Mr. Conyngham Greene recalled. Armoured train captured by Boers near Mafeking. Colonel Baden-Powell moved a large force outside Mafeking, and took up a strong defensive position. 13.--Newcastle abandoned. 14.--Sir R. Buller and Staff left England. 15.--Boers occupied Newcastle. 16.--Dundee evacuated. 17.--Parliament opened. Successful sortie by Colonel Baden-Powell from Mafeking. Armoured train in action near Kimberley during reconnaissance. 18.--Mr. Balfour announced that the Militia and Militia Reserves were to be called out. 19.--Transvaal flag hoisted at Vryburg. 20.--Boers repulsed by British at Talana Hill (Glencoe). 21.--General French, with about 2000 men, attacked a Boer force under General Kock at Elandslaagte. 22.--General Symons promoted to be Major-General. General Yule retired from Dundee on Ladysmith. 23.--Death of General Symons. Mafeking bombarded. Transvaal National Bank seized at Durban. 24.--Sir George White engaged Boers at Reitfontein. Services accepted of Sir William M'Cormac, President of the Royal College of Surgeons, to attend the wounded. 26.--Generals Yule and White joined forces at Ladysmith. Bombardment of Mafeking commenced. 28.--Boers were closing round Ladysmith. Proclamation issued declaring the Boer "commandeering" of certain portions of Cape Colony null. 30.--Engagement at Lombard's Kop. Sir George White sent out from Ladysmith to Nicholson's Nek a Mountain Battery, with the Irish Fusiliers and the Gloucesters, to turn the enemy's right flank. Mules, with guns and reserve ammunition, stampeded into enemy's lines. After gallantly defending their position for six hours, men's ammunition was exhausted, and about 800 were captured. Naval Brigade did excellent work. 31.--Sir Redvers Buller landed at Cape Town. NOVEMBER. 1.--Boers invaded Cape Colony. 2.--Free Staters' position at Besters brilliantly taken by cavalry. Boers lost heavily; our casualties slight. Boers treacherously used white flag. Colenso evacuated by the British. Arrangements for a supplementary Naval Brigade completed. Orders issued for mobilising the Militia. 3.--Naauwpoort and Stormberg evacuated by the British garrisons. 5.--Death of Commander Egerton, of _Powerful_. 6.--Ladysmith isolated. 9.--Boers attacked Ladysmith, and repulsed with heavy loss. Orders issued for mobilisation of a Fifth Division. 10.--Engagement of Belmont. Colonel Keith Falconer killed. 11.--Captain Percy Scott, of H.M.S. _Terrible_, appointed commandant of the forces defending Durban. 12.--Lord Methuen arrived at Orange River. 14.--Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Warren appointed to command the Fifth Division for service in South Africa. 15.--Armoured train wrecked by Boers near Frere. Mr. Winston Churchill and a number of Dublin Fusiliers and Volunteers captured. Boers defeated at Estcourt. 16.--Fighting near Orange River. 17-22.--Transports arrived at Cape Town with 22,000 troops. 20.--Lord Methuen's force reached Witteputts. 23.--Lord Methuen attacked Boers at Belmont. Boers routed at Willow Grange. 25.--Lord Methuen engaged the Boers at Graspan (Enslin), and after four hours' hard fighting carried position. 26.--Mooi River Column joined at Frere by General Hildyard. 28.--Lord Methuen engaged enemy, 8000 strong, at Modder River, and after ten hours' desperate fighting, drove them back. 30.--Sixth Division for South Africa notified. DECEMBER. 2.--General Clery reached Frere. 3.--Transport _Ismore_ wrecked 180 miles north of Cape Town--all troops landed. 6.--Sortie from Kimberley. Major Scott Turner killed. 7.--Arundel occupied by British. 8.--British sortie from Ladysmith, Lombard's Kop being carried. 9.--General Gatacre sustained serious reverse at Stormberg, having been misled by guides. Lieutenant-Colonel Metcalfe, 2nd Rifle Brigade, with 500 men from Ladysmith, captured Surprise Hill, destroying a howitzer. 10.--General French drove the enemy from Vaal Kop. 11.--Lord Methuen attacked 12,000 Boers entrenched at Majesfontein, but attack failed, although British troops held their position. Major-General Wauchope, Major Lord Winchester, and Colonel Downman killed. 13.--General French defeated 1800 Boers between Arundel and Naauwpoort. British loss, 1 killed, 8 wounded. 14.--Orders given for the mobilisation of a Sixth Division, and a Seventh in reserve. Sir Charles Warren and Staff arrived at the Cape. 15.--General Buller suffered a serious reverse at Colenso, troops having to retire to Chieveley, leaving behind 11 guns. General Hector Macdonald appointed to succeed General Wauchope. CHART OF STAFF APPOINTMENTS MADE AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE WAR, AS ISSUED BY THE WAR OFFICE, 7TH OCTOBER, 1899. LINES OF COMMUNICATION. The Lines of Communication will be under the general command and direction of Lieut.-General Sir F. W. E. F. Forestier-Walker, K.C.B., C.M.G. The following Officers will be employed and will have the Staff position shown opposite their names:-- Names of Officers Selected. Staff Position. Colonel H. H. Settle, C.B., Colonel on Staff. D.S.O., p.s.c. Captain F. A. Molony, p.s.c., Staff Officer to Colonel on R.E. Staff. Colonel J. W. Murray, p.s.c. Colonel on Staff. Colonel W. D. Richardson, C.B. Deputy Adjutant-General for Supplies and Transport. Lieut.-Colonel F. F. Johnson, Staff Officer to Deputy Army Service Corps Adjutant-General for Supplies and Transport. Brevet-Colonel C. H. Bridge, Deputy Adjutant-General C.B., Army Service Corps for Transport. Brevet-Major (local Director of Railways.[A] Lieut.-Colonel) E. P. C. Girouard, D.S.O., R.E. Captain H. G. Joly de Staff Officer to Director of Lotbinière, R.E. Railways. Captain (local Major) J. H. \ Twiss, R.E. } Assistant Directors of Captain (local Major) V. } Railways.[B] Murray, R.E. / Major J. E. Capper, R.E. \ Deputy-Assistant Directors Captain H. C. Manton, R.E. } of Railways. Capt. W. D. Waghorn, R.E. / Major (local Lieut.-Colonel) A. E. Wrottesley, R.E. Director of Telegraphs.[A] Colonel R. S. R. \ Fetherstonhaugh, h.p. } Brevet-Colonel C. P. Ridley, } 2nd Bn. Manchester Regt. } Brevet-Lieut.-Colonel P. T. } Rivett-Carnac, 1st Bn. } Station Commandants.[A] West Riding Regt. } Brevet-Lieut.-Colonel H. P. } Shekleton, p.s.c., 1st Bn. } South Lancashire Regt. / Capt. J. G. Baldwin, Royal \ Garrison Artillery } Captain A. E. Lascelles, 2nd } Staff Officers to Station Bn. Norfolk Regt. } Commandants.[C] Captain C. R. Ballard, 1st } Bn. Norfolk Regt. } Captain C. V. C. Hobart, } D.S.O., 2nd Bn. Grenadier } Guards / Brevet-Colonel E. W. D. Ward, \ C.B., Army Service Corps. } Assistant Col. J. K. Trotter, C.M.G., } Adjutant-Generals. p.s.c. } Lieut.-Col. F. W. Bennet, R.E. } Brevet-Lieut.-Colonel H. M. } Lawson, p.s.c., R.E. / Lieut.-Colonel S. H. Winter, \ Army Service Corps } Lieut.-Colonel W. R. Winter, } Army Service Corps } Lieut.-Col. R. B. M'Comb, } Army Service Corps } Deputy-Assistant Brevet-Lieut.-Colonel F. W. B. } Adjutant-Generals. Landon, Army Service Corps } Major J. H. Poett, p.s.c., } 2nd Bn. Dorsetshire Regt. } Major C. Rawnsley, Army } Service Corps } Major R. B. Gaisford, p.s.c., } Royal Scots Fusiliers } Brevet-Major E. G. T. } Bainbridge, 2nd Bn. East Kent } Regt. } Major R. C. B. Haking, p.s.c., } Hampshire Regt. } Major A. W. Thorneycroft, } 2nd Bn. Royal Scots } Fusiliers } Captain E. H. Hughes, p.s.c., } 1st Bn. York and Lancaster } Regt. } Captain G. S. St Aubyn, King's } Royal Rifle Corps / Brevet-Lieut.-Colonel J. Adye, \ p.s.c., Royal Garrison } Artillery } Major H. N. C. Heath, p.s.c., } Yorkshire Light Infantry } Brevet-Major C. J. Mackenzie, } 1st Bn. Seaforth Highlanders } Major R. L. Walter, 7th Hussars } Major E. F. Gosset, p.s.c., } 2nd Bn. East Yorkshire Regt. } Brevet-Major A. G. } Hunter-Weston, R.E. } Major G. D. Baker, p.s.c., } Royal Garrison Artillery } Major E. S. C. Kennedy, West } General Duty. India Regt. } Captain A. W. Elles, 2nd Bn. } Yorkshire Light Infantry } Captain E. St G. Pratt, 1st } Bn. Durham Light Infantry } Capt. C. B. Jervis-Edwards, } 1st Bn. Duke of Cornwall's } Light Infantry } Captain F. B. Maurice, } Derbyshire Regt. } Lieutenant W. M. C. Vandeleur, } 2nd Bn. Essex Regt. } Lieutenant G. P. Appleby, } 1st Bn. Bedfordshire Regt. } Lieutenant F. S. Reeves, 1st } Bn. East Kent Regt. / COLERIDGE GROVE, M.S. WAR OFFICE, _4th October 1899_. _Note._--The above list only shows the Officers employed on Staff duties on the Lines of Communication. It does not show those employed on medical, ordnance, clerical, supply, pay, &c., services.--C. G. FOOTNOTES: [A] Graded as Assistant Adjutant-Generals. [B] Graded as Deputy-Assistant Adjutant-Generals. [C] Graded as Staff Captains. NATAL FIELD FORCE. Staff Position. Names of Officers Selected. General Officer Commanding Lieutenant-General Sir G. S. (Lieut.-General on Staff) White, V.C., G.C.B., G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E. Assistant Military Secretary Colonel B. Duff, C.I.E., p.s.c., Indian Staff Corps. Aides-de-Camp (2) Captain R. G. Brooke, D.S.O., 7th Hussars. Captain F. Lyon, R.F.A. Assistant Adjutant-General Colonel I. S. M. Hamilton, C.B., D.S.O. Deputy-Assistant (_a_) Major F. Hammersley, Adjutant-Generals p.s.c., Lancashire Fusiliers. (_b_) Major E. R. O. Ludlow, p.s.c., Army Service Corps. Officer Commanding Royal Lieut.-Colonel and Brevet-Col. Artillery C. J. Long, R.H.A. Commanding Royal Engineer Lieut.-Colonel W. F. N. Noel, (Colonel on Staff) R.E. Principal Medical Officer Lieut.-Colonel R. Exham, R.A.M.C. Medical Officer Major J. F. Bateson, M.B., R.A.M.C. Chaplains (2) Rev. L. J. Matthews (R.C.) Rev. E. G. Macpherson, B.A. Assistant Provost-Marshal[D] Major A. G. Chichester, 1st Bn. Royal Irish Regt. Signalling Officer Captain J. S. Cayzer, 7th Dragoon Guards. FOOTNOTES: [D] Graded as a Deputy-Assistant Adjutant-General. 4TH DIVISION. Staff Position. Names of Officers Selected. General Officer Commanding Colonel (local Lieut.-General) (Lieut.-General on Staff) Sir W. P. Symons, K.C.B. Aides-de-Camp (2) Assistant Adjutant-General Colonel C. E. Beckett, C.B., p.s.c. Deputy-Assistant (_a_) Major and Adjutant-Generals Brevet-Lieut.-Colonel Sir H. S. Rawlinson, Bart., p.s.c., 2nd Bn. Coldstream Guards. (_b_) Captain T. D. Foster, Army Service Corps. 7TH BRIGADE. Major-General Colonel (local Major-General) F. Howard, C.B., C.M.G., A.D.C. Aide-de-Camp Captain H. E. Vernon, D.S.O., 4th Bn. Rifle Brigade. Brigade-Major Brevet-Lieut.-Colonel Hon. C. G. Fortescue, C.M.G., p.s.c., Rifle Brigade. 8TH BRIGADE. Major-General \ Aide-de-Camp } To be nominated locally. Brigade-Major / 3RD CAVALRY BRIGADE. Major-General Colonel (local Major-General) J. F. Brocklehurst, M.V.O. Aide-de-Camp Lieutenant H. W. Viscount Crichton, Royal Horse Guards. Brigade-Major Captain G. P. Wyndham, p.s.c., 16th Lancers. COLERIDGE GROVE, M.S. WAR OFFICE, _3rd October 1899_. STAFF OF 1ST ARMY CORPS. Staff Position. Names of Officers Selected. General Officer Commanding General Rt. Hon. Sir R. H. Army Corps (General Buller, V.C., G.C.B., Commanding-in-Chief) K.C.M.G. Military Secretary Colonel Hon. F. W. Stopford, C.B., p.s.c. Aides-de-Camp (4) Captain H. N. Schofield, R.A. Captain C. J. Sackville-West, King's Royal Rifle Corps. Lieutenant A. R. Trotter, 2nd Life Guards. 2nd Lieut. C. A. Howard, Shropshire Light Infantry. Chief of the General Staff Major-General Sir A. Hunter, (Major-General on Staff) K.C.B., D.S.O. Aide-de-Camp Brevet-Major A. J. Kings, Royal Lancaster Regt. Deputy Adjutant-General Colonel A. S. Wynne, C.B. Assistant Adjutant-Generals Colonel H. S. G. Miles, M.V.O., (2) p.s.c. Colonel C. W. H. Douglas, A.D.C. Deputy-Assistant (_a_) Lieut.-Colonel C. à Adjutant-Generals (4) Court, p.s.c. (_a_) Major L. E. Kiggell, p.s.c., Royal Warwickshire Regt. (_b_) Major P. J. Lewis, Army Service Corps. (_b_) Major A. H. Thomas, Army Service Corps. Commandant, Head-Quarters[E] Colonel R. Pole-Carew, C.B., h.p. Principal Medical Officer Surgeon-General W. D. Wilson, M.B. Medical Officers Major W. G. A. Bedford, M.B., R.A.M.C. Captain M. L. Hughes, R.A.M.C. Provost Marshal[E] Major Hon. J. H. G. Byng, p.s.c., 10th Hussars. Intelligence Duties-- Assistant Adjutant-General Major E. A. Altham, p.s.c., (1) Royal Scots. Deputy-Assistant Major H. J. Evans, p.s.c., Adjutant-Generals (2) Liverpool Regiment. Captain Hon. F. Gordon, p.s.c., Gor. Highlanders. Deputy-Assistant Adjutant-General for Lieut.-Colonel W. W. C. Topography Verner, p.s.c. Commanding Royal Artillery Colonel (local Major-Gen.) (Major-General on Staff) G. H. Marshall. Staff Officer, Royal Artillery Major H. C. Sclater, R.A. Aide-de-Camp, R.A. Captain A. D. Kirby, R.F.A. Chief Engineer (Major-General Colonel (local Major-Gen.) E. on Staff) Wood, C.B. Staff Officer, Royal Engineers Major E. H. Bethell, p.s.c., Royal Engineers. Aide-de-Camp, Royal Engineers Brevet-Major R. S. Curtis, Royal Engineers. Military Mounted Police[F] Brevet-Major R. M. Poore, 7th Hussars. Press Censor[F] Major W. D. Jones, p.s.c., Wiltshire Regt. Principal Chaplain Rev. E. H. Goodwin, B.A. Director of Signalling[E] Major (local Lieut.-Colonel) E. Rhodes, D.S.O., Royal Berks Regt. Chief Ordnance Officer Colonel R. F. N. Clarke, Army Ord. Department. Principal Veterinary Officer Veterinary Lieut.-Colonel I. Matthews, Army Veterinary Department. Orderly Veterinary Officer CORPS TROOPS. Officer Commanding Corps Colonel C. M. H. Downing. Artillery (Colonel on Staff) Adjutant Captain E. S. E. W. Russell, Royal Field Artillery. Officer Commanding Royal Horse Lieut.-Colonel W. L. Davidson, Artillery Royal Horse Artillery. Adjutant, R.H.A. Captain G. W. Biddulph, Royal Horse Artillery. Officer Commanding F.A. (I.) Lieut.-Colonel J. S. S. Barker, p.s.c., R.F.A. Adjutant Captain E. J. Duffus, R.F.A. Officer Commanding Field Lieut.-Colonel P. C. E. Artillery (II.) Newbigging, R.F.A. Adjutant Captain E. C. Cameron, Royal Field Artillery. Officer Commanding Corps Lieut.-Colonel C. A. Troops, Royal Engineers Rochfort-Boyd, R.E. Adjutant Lieut. S. D. Barrow, R.E. FOOTNOTES: [E] Graded as Assistant Adjutant-General. [F] Graded as Deputy-Assistant Adjutant-Generals. 1ST ARMY CORPS--1ST DIVISION. Staff Position. Names of Officers Selected. General Officer Commanding Lieut.-General P. S. Lord (Lieut.-General on Staff) Methuen, K.C.V.O., C.B., C.M.G. Aides-de-Camp (2) Major H. Streatfield, Grenadier Guards. Captain J. A. Bell-Smyth, 1st Dragoon Guards. Assistant Adjutant-General Colonel R. B. Mainwaring, C.M.G. Deputy-Assistant (_a_) Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Adjutant-Generals H. P. Northcott, C.B., p.s.c., Leinster Regt. (_b_) Major R. H. L. Warner, p.s.c., Army Service Corps. Assistant-Provost-Marshall[G] Captain R. J. Ross, 1st Bn. Middlesex Regt. Chaplains (2) Rev. T. F. Falkner, M.A. Rev. E. M. Morgan (R.C.) Principal Medical Officer Colonel E. Townsend, C.B., M.D., R.A.M.C. Medical Officer Major C. H. Burtchaell, M.B., R.A.M.C. Divisional Signalling Officer Lieut. Hon. E. D. Loch, D.S.O., 1st Bn. Grenadier Guards. 1ST BRIGADE. Major-General Major-General Sir H. E. Colvile, K.C.M.G., C.B. Aide-de-Camp Captain G. C. Nugent, Grenadier Guards. Brigade-Major Captain H. G. Ruggles-Brise, p.s.c., Grenadier Guards. 2ND BRIGADE. Major-General Major-General H. J. T. Hildyard, C.B., p.s.c. Aide-de-Camp Lieut. A. Blair, King's Own Scottish Borderers. Brigade-Major Major L. Munro, p.s.c., Hampshire Regt. FOOTNOTES: [G] Graded as Deputy-Assistant Adjutant-General. 1ST ARMY CORPS--2ND DIVISION. Staff Position. Names of Officers Selected. General Officer Commanding Major-General (Local (Lieut.-General on Staff) Lieut.-General) Sir C. F. Clery, K.C.B., p.s.c. Aides-de-Camp (2) Major F. E. Cooper, Royal Artillery, p.s.c. Captain L. Parke, Durham Light Infantry. Assistant Adjutant-General Major and Bt.-Colonel B. M. Hamilton, p.s.c., East Yorkshire Regiment. Deputy-Assistant (_a_) Captain H. E. Gogarty, Adjutant-General p.s.c., Royal Scots Fusiliers. (_b_) Captain W. G. B. Boyce, Army Service Corps. Assistant Provost-Marshal[H] Major G. F. Ellison, p.s.c., Royal Warwickshire Regt. Chaplains (2) Rev. A. A. L. Gedge, B.A. Rev. J. Robertson (P.). Principal Medical Officer Colonel T. J. Gallwey, M.D., C.B., R.A.M.C. Medical Officer Major W. Babtie, M.B., C.M.B., R.A.M.C. Divisional Signalling Officer Lieut. J. S. Cavendish, 1st Life Guards. 3RD BRIGADE. Major-General Maj.-Gen. A. G. Wauchope, C.B., C.M.G. Aide-de-Camp Captain J. G. Rennie, R.H. Brigade-Major Major and Bt.-Lieut.-Col. J. S. Ewart, p.s.c., Cameron Highlanders. 4TH BRIGADE. Major-General Major-General Hon. N. G. Lyttelton, C.B. Aide-de-Camp Captain Hon. H. Yarde-Buller, Rifle Brigade. Brigade-Major Captain H. H. Wilson, p.s.c., Rifle Brigade. FOOTNOTES: [H] Graded as a Deputy-Assistant Adjutant-General. 1ST ARMY CORPS--3RD DIVISION. Staff Position. Names of Officers Selected. General Officer Commanding Major-General (local Lieut.-Gen.) (Lieut.-General on Staff) Sir W. F. Gatacre, K.C.B., D.S.O., p.s.c. Aides-de-Camp (2) Lieutenant A. J. M'Neill, 1st Bn. Seaforth Highlanders. Assistant Adjutant-General Colonel R. E. Allen, p.s.c. Deputy-Assistant (_a_) Lieut.-Colonel W. H. H. Adjutant-Generals Waters, M.V.O., p.s.c. (_b_) Major P. E. F. Hobbs, Army Service Corps. Assistant Provost-Marshal[I] Captain J. R. F. Sladen, p.s.c., East Yorkshire Regt. Chaplains (2) Rev. E. Ryan (R.C.) Rev. R. Armitage, M.A. Principal Medical Officer Lieut.-Colonel J. D. Edge, M.D., R.A.M.C. Medical Officer Maj. G. E. Twiss, R.A.M.C. Divisional Signalling Officer Captain S. Fitz G. Cox, 2nd Bn. Lincolnshire Regt. 5TH BRIGADE. Major-General Major-General A. Fitzroy Hart, C.B., p.s.c. Aide-de-Camp Captain Hon. St L. H. Jervis, King's Royal Rifle Corps. Brigade-Major Major C. R. R. MacGrigor, p.s.c., King's Royal Rifle Corps. 6TH BRIGADE. Major-General Major-General G. Barton, C.B., p.s.c. Aide-de-Camp Brigade-Major Captain J. A. E. MacBean, D.S.O., p.s.c., Royal Dublin Fusiliers. FOOTNOTES: [I] Graded as a Deputy-Assistant Adjutant-General. STAFF OF CAVALRY DIVISION. Staff Position. Names of Officers Selected. General Officer Commanding Col. (Lieut.-General) J. D. P. French. (Lieut.-General on Staff) Aides-de-Camp (2) Lieutenant J. P. Milbanke, 10th Hussars. Assistant Adjutant-General Colonel Hon. G. H. Gough, C.B., p.s.c. Deputy-Assistant (_a_) Major D. Haig, p.s.c., 7th Adjutant-Generals Hussars. (_b_) Major G. O. Welch, Army Service Corps. Officer Commanding, Royal Horse Lieut.-Colonel F. J. W. Artillery Eustace, R.H.A. Adjutant, R.H.A. Capt. A. D'A. King, R.H.A. Chaplain (1)[K] Rev. W. C. Haines Principal Medical Officer Lieut.-Colonel W. Donovan, Royal Army Medical Corps. Medical Officer Major H. G. Hathaway, Royal Army Med. Corps. Assistant Provost-Marshal[L] Captain P. A. Kenna, V.C., 21st Lancers. Intelligence Department-- Deputy-Assistant Captain Hon. H. A. Lawrence, Adjutant-General p.s.c., 17th Lancers. 1ST BRIGADE. Major-General Col. (local Major-General) J. M. Babington. Aide-de-Camp Lieutenant F. W. Wormald, 7th Hussars. Brigade-Major Captain C. J. Briggs, 1st Dragoon Guards. Officer Commanding Mounted Major and Brevet-Lieut.-Colonel Infantry[J] E. A. H. Alderson, p.s.c., Royal West Kent Regt. Adjutant Mounted Infantry[L] Captain H. M'Micking, Royal Scots. 2ND BRIGADE. Major-General Colonel (local Major-Gen.) J. P. Brabazon, C.B., A.D.C. Aide-de-Camp Major Hon. C. E. Bingham, 1st Life Guards. Brigade-Major Captain Hon. T. W. Brand, 10th Hussars. Officer Commanding Mounted Captain and Brevet-Lieut.-Colonel Infantry[J] R. J. Tudway, 2nd Bn. Essex Regt. Adjutant Mounted Infantry[L] Captain H. L. Ruck-Keene, Oxford. Light Infantry. FOOTNOTES: [J] Graded as Assistant Adjutant-General. [K] Will act for both Brigades. [L] Graded as Deputy-Assistant Adjutant-Generals. COLERIDGE GROVE, M.S. _2nd October 1899._ SOUTH AFRICA AND THE TRANSVAAL WAR CHAPTER I THE CRISIS AT HOME "Patience, long sick to death, is dead. Too long Have sloth and doubt and treason bidden us be What Cromwell's England was not, when the sea To him bore witness, given of Blake, how strong She stood, a commonweal that brooked no wrong From foes less vile than men like wolves set free, Whose war is waged where none may fight or flee-- With women and with weanlings. Speech and song Lack utterance now for loathing. Scarce we hear Foul tongues, that blacken God's dishonoured name With prayers turned curses and with praise found shame, Defy the truth whose witness now draws near To scourge these dogs, agape with jaws afoam, Down out of life. Strike, England, and strike home." --ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE. In the face of the insolent Ultimatum which had been addressed to Great Britain by the South African Republic, the nation closed its ranks and relegated party controversy to a more appropriate season. The British people were temporarily in accord. A wave of indignation surged over the country, and united men of different shades of politics and of varying religious creeds, making them forget their private feuds, and remember only the paramount fact that they were sons of the Empire. There were some, it is true, who remained afar off--a few exceptions to prove the rule of unanimity, beings with souls so dead that never to themselves had said, "This is my own, my native land," and who yet looked upon the Boer as an object of commiseration. But these were, first, men linked either by birth or family ties with the Afrikander cause; second, fractious Irishmen and political obstructionists who posed for notoriety at any price; and, third, eccentrics and originals, whose sense of opposition forbade them from floating at any time with the tide of public opinion. Every one else cried aloud for a chance to uphold Great Britain's prestige, and the War Office was so beset with applications from volunteers for the front that it was found almost impossible even to consider them. Nor was the excitement confined to officers alone. Recruiting went on apace, and not only did recruits pour in, but deserters, who had slunk away from regimental duty, now returned and gave themselves up, praying to be allowed to suffer any penalty and then march out to battle as soldiers of the Queen! Two Royal Proclamations having been issued--the one directing the continuance in army service, until discharged or transferred to the reserve, of soldiers whose term of service had expired or was about to expire; the other, ordering the army reserve to be called out on permanent service--some 25,000 men received notice to rejoin the colours. These in large numbers promptly appeared. The New South Wales Lancers, who had been going through a course of cavalry training at Aldershot, at once volunteered their services and started for the Cape amidst scenes of great enthusiasm. Other colonial troops were as eager to join, and the spirit of military rivalry throughout Her Majesty's dominions was both amazing and inspiriting. Queensland had the honour of opening the ball. Her sympathy with the policy of Great Britain and her loyalty to the mother country was shown in practical form. She intimated, in the event of hostilities, her willingness to send 250 mounted infantry and a machine-gun to the front. New Zealand followed suit; she also offered two companies of mounted rifles fully equipped at the cost of the Colony. These offers were gratefully accepted. Not to be behind-hand, Western Australia and Tasmania made similar offers, and Her Majesty's Government gladly agreed to accept one unit of 125 men from each. The Parliament of Victoria voted the despatch of a contingent of 250 men to South Africa, and the Governments of New South Wales and South Australia actively discussed similar measures. This expression of Colonial public opinion, embodying as it did the independent judgments of so many free juries, uninfluenced by personal or direct interests, had a significance which, besides being politically important, was eminently satisfactory. All Her Majesty's dominions, on which the sun never sets, were at this critical moment holding hands in a wide circle that encompassed the earth, and the picture of the small mother country with all her big children gathered around her in her hour of need was not one that the romance of history can afford to disregard. IN SOUTH AFRICA Before hostilities had actually begun, refugees from Johannesburg began to pour down to Natal and the Cape, and there were daily reports of insults received by the Uitlanders at the hands of the Boers. Ladies were spat upon, and passengers suffered indignities sufficient to make an Englishman's blood boil. Fresh troops began to arrive from India, and Sir George White, in a chorus of farewell shouts, "Remember Majuba," went off from Durban to Pietermaritzburg. This was on the 7th of October 1899. At that time the troops were thus distributed:-- At Pietermaritzburg--1st Battalion Manchester Regiment and Mounted Infantry Company; 2nd Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps. At Estcourt--Detachment Natal Naval Volunteers; Natal Royal Rifles. At Colenso--Durban Light Infantry. At Ladysmith--5th Lancers; Detachment 19th Hussars; Brigade Division, Royal Artillery; 10th Mountain Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery; 23rd Company, Royal Engineers; 1st Battalion Devonshire Regiment; 1st Battalion Liverpool Regiment, and Mounted Infantry Company; 26th (two sections) British Field Hospital, and Colonial troops. At Glencoe--18th Hussars; Brigade Division, Royal Artillery; 1st Battalion Leicestershire Regiment, and Mounted Infantry Company; 1st Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps, and Mounted Infantry Company; 2nd Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers, and Mounted Infantry Company; 6th Veterinary Field Hospital. There was also one Company 1st Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps at Eshowe, and a detachment of the Umvoti Mounted Rifles at Helpmakaar. Meanwhile, at Pretoria, the Boers, protesting at the notice taken of the "chimerical grievances of the so-called Uitlanders," made energetic efforts to appoint General Viljeon, a rabid anti-Briton, in place of General Joubert as Commander-in-Chief of the Transvaal forces. The troops under Commandant Cronje, the hero of Potchefstroom, advanced nearer to the border, in the direction of Mafeking, and in the expectation of attack, this town was securely fortified, while all the women and children were advised to leave. The fortification of Kimberley was also commenced. The European exodus from all quarters continued, defenceless men and women alike being subjected to insult and ill-treatment by the Boers. Mr. Kruger's birthday was kept at Pretoria with general rejoicing, and on the following day a telegram was sent by President Kruger to the _New York World_ saying:-- "Through the _World_ I thank the people of the United States most sincerely for their sympathy. Last Monday the Republic gave Great Britain forty-eight hours' notice within which to give the Republic an assurance that the present dispute would be settled by arbitration or other peaceful means, and that the troops would be removed from the borders. This expires at five to-day. The British Agent has been recalled. War is certain. The Republics are determined, if they must belong to Great Britain, that a price will have to be paid which will stagger humanity. They have, however, full faith. The sun of liberty will arise in South Africa as it arose in North America." From this letter it was patent that Mr. Kruger was either pursuing his policy of bluff, or had made long and elaborate preparations for war with the British. On the same date an announcement was published in the town of Pretoria:-- "GOVERNMENT HOUSE, _October 11_. "Her Majesty's Agent at Pretoria was to-day instructed to make the following communication to the Government of the South African Republic: 'The Imperial Government have received with great regret the peremptory demands of the Government of the South African Republic conveyed in the telegram of October 9. You will inform the Government of the South African Republic that the conditions demanded by the Government of the South African Republic are such as Her Majesty's Government deem it impossible to discuss. With the delivery of the above,' the Imperial Government add, 'as the Transvaal Government stated in their Note that a refusal to comply with their demands would be regarded as a formal declaration of war, the British Agent is instructed to ask for his passports.'" Of course, this news caused intense excitement, and all who had remained sanguine of peace now gave up hope. At Bloemfontein President Steyn simultaneously issued a Proclamation to the Burghers of the Free State. He said that "the sister Republic is about to be attacked by an unscrupulous enemy, who has long looked for a pretext to annihilate the Afrikanders." He went on to say that the people of the Orange Free State were bound to the Transvaal by many ties, as well as by formal treaty, and solemnly declared, in the presence of the Almighty, that they are compelled to resist a powerful enemy owing to the injustice done to their kith and kin. Solemn obligations, continued the Proclamation, have not protected the Transvaal against an annexation conspiracy. When its independence ceases, the existence of the Orange Free State as an independent State will be meaningless. Experience in the past has shown that no reliance can be placed on the solemn promises and obligations of Great Britain when the Administration at the helm is prepared to tread treaties under foot. After giving a historical sketch of the wrongs which he alleged had been done to the Transvaal, President Steyn said: "The original Conventions have been twisted and turned by Great Britain into a means of exercising tyranny against the Transvaal, which has not returned the injustice done to it in the past. No gratitude has been shown for the indulgence which was granted to British subjects, who, according to law, had forfeited their lives and property. Compliance with the British demands would be equivalent to the loss of our independence, which has been gained by our blood and tears. For many years British troops have been concentrating on the borders of the Transvaal in order to compel it by terrorism to comply with British claims. The crafty plans of those with whom love of gold is the motive are now being realised. While acknowledging the honour of thousands of Englishmen who abhor deeds of robbery and violence, the Orange Free State execrates the wrongful deeds of a British statesman." After expressing confidence that the Almighty would help and aid them, and counselling the Burghers to do nothing unworthy of Christians and Burghers of the Free State, the President concluded with the following words: "Burghers of the Free State, stand up as one man against the oppressor and violator of right." Meanwhile Sir George White, accompanied by Colonel Ian Hamilton (Assistant Adjutant-General), Colonel Duff (Assistant Military Secretary), Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Henry Rawlinson, and Captains Brooke and Lyon, aides-de-camp, was proceeding on his journey to Ladysmith. The principal British camps were situated near Glencoe Junction and Ladysmith, and around these some twelve or fifteen thousand Boers were reported to be stationed between Sandspruit, Volksrust, and Wakkerstroom, while on the western side the Natal border was threatened by the Orange Free State's forces, which were posted in the neighbourhood of Van Reenen's Pass. A Proclamation, signed by Sir Alfred Milner and Mr. Schreiner, was issued in Cape Town, warning British subjects of their duty to the Queen, while at the same time the German Consul-General officially ordered his countrymen to remain neutral. A similar warning was given by the German Consul to Germans in Johannesburg. Preparations were made for the immediate landing of a Naval Brigade from the British battleships in Simon's Bay, and volunteers of all kinds hurried to tender their services for special corps. In Pretoria a further manifesto was issued, calling on Afrikanders to resist the British demands, and accusing Lord Salisbury, Mr. Chamberlain, and Sir Alfred Milner of pursuing a "criminal policy." It also declared that it was perfectly clear that the desire and object of Great Britain was to deprive the Transvaal Republic of its independence on account of the gold-mining industry on the Rand. The manifesto went on to say that Great Britain had offered two alternatives--a five years' franchise or war. It pointed out that the difference between the two Governments of two years in the matter of the franchise had been considered as a sufficient justification for Her Majesty's Government to endeavour to swallow up the Republics, and it reminded the Afrikanders that God would assuredly defend the right. The manifesto was signed "Francois Willem Reitz, Secretary of State." It created a profound sensation, and a million copies were printed in Dutch and English. By this time General Viljoen, in command of the Free State artillery, was marching towards Albertina, and a party of Boers was encroaching on the Natal border near Berg. Newcastle was warned that a state of war had begun. It was abandoned by the British, and taken possession of by the Boers, while Mafeking held itself in readiness to withstand the enemy. At Sandspruit the Boers were scattered in various camps over a wide area, and on the Portuguese border the Barberton and Lydenburg commandoes were concentrating. Terrified refugees were still fleeing to the Cape in such large numbers that it was almost impossible to find accommodation for them, and large sums of money were being subscribed both there and in Great Britain for the relief of the unhappy exiles. Mr. Rhodes, as usual, gave munificently in aid of the sufferers, and Sir Alfred Milner exerted himself to save the unhappy victims of British and Boer disagreement from destitution. The treatment that these poor persons received from the Boers in the course of their journey caused intense indignation, and profound sympathy was felt for the homeless ones who thus suddenly had been cast adrift from domestic comfort to complete poverty. It was now believed that, following the precedent of 1881, an attempt would be made to isolate Mafeking and Kimberley, and carry on irregular sieges at these places. The enemy's forces on the northern frontier of Natal were estimated at some 13,000 men, while at Mafeking and Kimberley they were supposed to number some three thousand each. On the east, the seaport of Lorenzo Marques now sprung into great importance, and the supposed neutralisation of the harbour was effected. On the 11th of October Mr. Coningham Greene, the British Agent in Pretoria, left that place for Cape Town; and on the 14th General Sir Redvers Buller, as Commander-in-chief of the British forces engaged against the Boer Republics, started from England. The state of war had commenced in earnest. The Boers in hot haste began to issue further Proclamations, and President Steyn continued to call on his Burghers to "stand up as one man against the oppressor and violator of rights." Twenty-four hours later they were over the border, tearing up railway lines and severing telegraph wires, and thus cutting off communication between Mafeking, Vryburg, Rhodesia, and Cape Colony. The investment of Kimberley was imminent, but it was generally believed that the Diamond City was strong enough to hold its own till our troops should come to the rescue. The First Brigade of the Army Service Corps started on the 20th of October from Southampton, the second left on the following day, and the third sailed on Sunday the 22nd. About the same time the Canadian Government decided to contribute 1000 men for service in South Africa, and the New Zealand Contingent sailed for the Cape. [Illustration: THE OUTBREAK OF WAR--THE DRAKENBERG MOUNTAINS WHERE THE BOERS WERE LAAGERED.] In spite of the energetic movements that were suddenly set on foot, a few pessimists ventured to declare that we would be bound to reap the results of our previous unpreparedness, and that in consequence of our procrastination and the weakness of the Government in not having taken the initiative and allowed us to mobilise earlier, the Boers would get a good six weeks' start--a loss it would be hard for the best tacticians or the finest fighting men in the world to retrieve. But the mouths of the grumblers were silenced. Every one was convinced that the fate of the nation was perfectly safe in the hands of Sir Redvers Buller and Mr. Thomas Atkins, and, so convinced, thousands upon thousands flocked to see them off, and roared their God-speed with cheery British lungs, albeit with sad and anxious hearts. THE OCCUPATION OF DUNDEE Late in September a force consisting of two battalions of infantry, a regiment of cavalry, and two field-batteries was hurriedly pushed forward to occupy Dundee. Affairs between the British and the Boers were nearing a crisis. It was beginning to be believed that the Dutchmen meant to take the initiative and strike a blow against our supremacy in South Africa, though some at home were still shilly-shallying with sentimental arguments as to the propriety of fighting our "brother Boer" at all. As we now know, it wanted but the smallest move on the part of the British to bring things to a head. Large commandoes were gathered together with a rapidity which would have been marvellous had the Boers not designedly brought about the issue of war, and the frontier of the northern angle of Natal was threatened. Dundee is an important coal-mining centre situated some forty-eight miles north-east of Ladysmith. Why it was chosen as our advance post is hard to decide. Its communications with Ladysmith were open to attack from either flank, and, in the light of after events, we see that the position there of a detached force was highly precarious. General Sir George White in an official despatch thus describes his action in the matter:-- "Since my arrival in the Colony I had been much impressed by the exposed situation of the garrison of Glencoe, and on the evening of October 10 I had an interview on the subject with his Excellency the Governor, at which I laid before him my reasons for considering it expedient, from a military point of view, to withdraw that garrison, and to concentrate all my available troops at Ladysmith. After full discussion his Excellency recorded his opinion that such a step would involve grave political results and possibilities of so serious a nature that I determined to accept the military risk of holding Dundee as the lesser of two evils. I proceeded in person to Ladysmith on October 11, sending on Lieutenant-General Sir William Penn Symons to take command at Glencoe. "The Boers crossed the frontier both on the north and west on October 12, and next day the Transvaal flag was hoisted at Charlestown. My great inferiority in numbers necessarily confined me strategically to the defensive, but tactically my intention was, and is, to strike vigorously whenever opportunity offers." Everything at this juncture depended on the rapidity with which our army at home could be mobilised and sent to the Cape, and though we took to ourselves some credit for the energy displayed by all concerned, we were really scarcely up to date in the matter of activity. For instance, in 1859 it took only thirty-seven days for France to collect on the river Po a force of 104,000 men, with 12,000 more in Italy, while in 1866 the Prussian army, numbering 220,000 men, were placed on the frontiers of Saxony and Silesia in a fortnight. But more expeditious still was Germany in 1870. In nine days she was able to mobilise her forces, and in eight more to send to the French frontier an army of 400,000 soldiers and 1200 guns! We had, it is true, to ship off our troops a distance of some 8000 miles, but, without counting this--a natural disadvantage--there were others--many others, the upshot of red-tapism--to be contended with. This Sir George White was beginning to feel, but his sufferings in regard to the initial delay were threefold later on. To return to Dundee. It was maintained both by the Government and the people of Natal that the valuable coal supply should be protected, and an attempt was therefore made to guard it. The misfortune was that from the first Lieutenant-General Sir W. Penn Symons--who, before the arrival of Sir George White, commanded in Natal--seemed to be ill acquainted with the enormous forces that the Boers could bring to bear against him. It was true that he could not at that time be certain, any more than appeared to be the Government at home, that the Free Staters would join the Republicans; but to any one acquainted with the subject, the fact that President Steyn had pulled the strings of the Bloemfontein affair was sufficient evidence of a contemplated alliance. With the Free State neutral, the aspect of affairs might have been entirely changed, and Dundee, with Ladysmith to support it, might have held its own. As it was, these small places were from the first placed in the most unenviable quandary. General Symons, on the arrival of Sir George White in Natal, took command of the forces in Dundee, and began active preparations for the reception of the Dutchmen. [Illustration: MAP OF NORTHERN NATAL. SCALE 15 STATUTE MILES TO THE INCH.] The latter, immediately after the declaration of war, took possession of Newcastle, and our patrols soon came in touch with the enemy. In spite of their animated and aggressive movements, however, Sir W. Penn Symons was disinclined to believe that the enemy meant a serious attack upon Dundee, and though fully prepared for hostilities, he was somewhat amazed when really informed of the rapid advance of the united Republicans. But he lost no time. He made inquiries, and satisfied himself that he was in a position of some danger and that he must promptly leap to action. The chief difficulty of the situation lay in the number of passes through which the Boers with their easily mobilised forces could manage to pour in bodies of men, and the limited number of British troops at General Symons's disposal. From the movements of the Boers it was obvious that the plan of attack had long been cleverly and carefully arranged. The Free State Boers on the 12th of October seized Albertina Station, near the Natal frontier, and took possession of the key, the stationmaster having to make his way on a trolley to Ladysmith. There, as yet, all was externally peaceful, as though no enemy were near, but a suppressed anxiety to be "up and at 'em" prevailed among the troops. Their ardour was in nowise damped by the incessant rain that fell, and converted the surrounding country into a wide morass, nor by the snow that followed, which gave the Drakenberg Mountains an additionally impregnable aspect and rendered them at once picturesque and forbidding. A steady increase of the commandoes in the neighbourhood of Doornberg continued, and an attack within a few days seemed imminent. Thereupon a large number of troops left Ladysmith for Acton Homes, where a Boer commando of four miles long was reported to be laagered. But the Boers retreated, and the troops remained some ten miles from Ladysmith, the Dublin Fusiliers alone moving back to Glencoe, whence they had come by train by order of General Symons. At Glencoe we had, as before stated, some 4000 men, but report said that General Viljeon had an enormous force, nearly double ours in number, which was lying at the foot of Botha's Pass, one and a half miles on the Natal side of the Border. Besides this, General Kock had a commando at Newcastle. The invasion of Natal by the Boers in three columns was formally announced by an official statement from the Governor:-- "PIETERMARITZBURG, _October 16_. "Natal was invaded from the Transvaal early on the morning of the 12th inst., an advance being made by the enemy in three columns. On the right a mixed column of Transvaal and Free State Burghers with Hollander Volunteers marched through Botha's Pass. In the centre the main column, under General Joubert's personal command, crossed Lang's Nek and moved forward _viâ_ Ingogo. On the left a large commando advanced from Wakkerstroom _viâ_ Moll's Nek and Wool's Drift. The object of all three columns was Newcastle, which was occupied on the night of the 14th, the central column having slept the previous night at Mount Prospect, General Colley's old camping-place. On Sunday an advance party of 1500 Boers, with artillery, pushed south of Ingagane, but the greater portion of this commando retired later in the day on Newcastle. A Boer force which had been concentrating at De Jager's Drift captured six Natal policemen. A picket of the King's Royal Rifles Mounted Infantry has exchanged a few shots with the enemy. This has hitherto been the only fighting. "A large force of Free State Boers, estimated at from 11,000 to 13,000, is watching the passes of the Drakensberg from Olivier's Hoek to Collins's Pass. They have pushed a few patrols down the berg, but hitherto the main force has not debouched from the actual passes, which are being intrenched." As will be seen, the advance of the foe seemed to be converging on Sir George White's position from all directions, and threatening Glencoe from the north, east, and possibly west. Still the troops remained cheerful and looked forward to a brush with the enemy. On the 18th hostilities were begun by the Free State commando moving about ten miles down the Tintwa Pass. They opened fire with their artillery on some small cavalry patrols, but their shooting was distinctly inferior, and no one was injured. They retreated on the advance of the 5th Lancers. Several more commandoes were known to have advanced to join a force stationed at Doornberg, some twelve miles from Dundee, and the enemy's scouts having also been seen some seven miles off Glencoe, an engagement was expected at any moment. An interesting account of this interval of suspense was given by an officer writing on the 16th October from Dundee, interesting and pathetic, too, when, in reading it, we remember that the gallant fellow to whom the writer alluded is alive no longer. He said:-- "Hitherto there has been no fighting at all, but our patrols are in touch with the enemy. I was out on my first patrol the day before yesterday since the declaration of war. My orders were to start at 6 A.M., push on about twelve miles along the Newcastle road, and stay out till about 6 P.M. I went out to a small hill about four miles from the camp and reconnoitered, and then went on to a place called Hadding Spruit, where I found a few people at the station and the stationmaster. This is at present the terminus of the line, all the rolling stock north of this having been sent south, and all the wires cut and instruments removed by the railway people. There is a large coal-mine here, and the people are in a deadly funk about being blown up. I pushed on to a large kopje, a few miles this side and west of Dannhauser, and climbed to the top, where I spent an hour or so, as from there one can see as far as Ingagane Nek, four miles this side of Newcastle, the place I sketched. Just as I looked over the top of the hill I saw two men on ponies with guns. They were talking to a Kaffir. I at once put them down as Boers, and thought of firing at them, but decided not to disclose my position and watch them. This was lucky for them, as I caught them later, and found them to be refugees flying from the Boers, who I discovered were in occupation of Ingagane and Newcastle, and had their patrols out nearly to Dannhauser. "I then went on to Dannhauser, which consists of a railway station, two farms, a store, a couple of coolie stores, a mine, and a few huts. We approached with magazines charged and expected to see a Boer every minute, but found that they were not expected to come down as far as that till next day. I then made my way slowly back by the main road, and reached camp about 5 P.M., when I found that the other patrol (six men and an officer is the strength of each) had proceeded to De Jager's Drift and had not returned. A telephonic communication from the police-station at De Jager's Drift said, 'A large force of forty Boers have crossed Buffalo to cut off your patrol. Am trying ...'--and then ended abruptly. It eventually transpired that the Boers rushed the police-station before the message could be completed. Thackwell, who was in command of the patrol, pursued twelve Boers up to the river. Then thirty-four crossed to our side, and twelve lower down, the twelve trying to cut him off behind. However, he retired on to a nek behind, and as they did not come on, he moved off in about half an hour by another road. This was lucky for him, as he saw the twelve men who had crossed by Landsman's Drift disconsolately coming down from a lot of rocks where they had been lying in wait for him on the road he had come by. "There seems to have been something going on at Kimberley. I wish they would buck up here and do something. I am on picket to-night, which means no sleep and a lot of bother, as the picket is about seven miles from camp at the junction of the Vant's Drift and De Jager's Drift roads, where there is a chance of being plugged at. The picket on the Helmakaar road was shot at the other night. "One of the armoured trains came up here yesterday--an ugly-looking beast with the engine in the middle, all covered with iron, so that only just the top of the funnel is visible. I do not believe in them. If any one puts a dynamite cartridge under a rail--pop! up goes the armoured train. "I think this will be a very interesting war, as the railway will play such an important part in the tactics. Thus the other day we sent the Dublin Fusiliers down to Ladysmith to repel an expected attack at half-an-hour's notice, and brought them back the same night.... "We are under an awfully nice General--one Penn Symons--a real good chap." On the 18th of October the Carabineers were in touch with the enemy in the neighbourhood of Bester's Farm a great part of the day, and Lieutenant Galway, son of the Chief-Justice of Natal, who remained to watch his troops off the kopje, was reported missing. The Carabineers were compelled to retire owing to being completely outnumbered by the Boer force, and had they not done so they would have run the risk of being cut off from their supports. There were some hair-breadth escapes, and Major Taunton, who was riding at the head of his squadron, came through a vigorous hail of bullets quite uninjured. Major Rethman, in command of 300 Natal Mounted Rifles, also actively engaged the enemy near Acton Homes, but was also compelled to retire for fear of being cut off. Being quite conversant with Boer tactics, he refused to be drawn by the pretence of retreat made by the Dutchmen, knowing that concealed forces of the enemy in great numbers were waiting to entrap him. Major Rethman, believing in the old saw that brevity is the soul of wit, reported his loss as "one hat." The Dutchmen now advanced. An armoured train, sent by Sir George White to bring in wounded from Bester's Farm, returned discomfited, as the rails over the bridge four miles off Ladysmith had been tampered with. It was found that a farm, which had been deserted earlier in the day, was now in the occupation of the Boers, but these, though established on the south side of the line, made no effort to attack the train and allowed it to return unmolested. Rumours of fighting were in the air, and skirmishes between advance parties of British troops and Boers were the order of the day. A report reached the Glencoe camp that the Boers had been seen some seven miles off, whereupon Major Laming with a squadron of the 18th Hussars rode out to reconnoitre. Lieutenant Cape, the advanced officer's patrol, discovered a strong advance party of the enemy, who delivered a heavy fire, but fortunately without result. This most probably was due to the swift and clever manoeuvring of the Hussars. The Carabineers and Border Mounted Rifles, who were in action nearly the whole of the 18th of October, returned to camp at three in the morning of the 19th. They were quite worn out and famished, having been for twenty-four hours without food, and three days and two nights in the saddle. Considering the excitement and fatigue, they were in excellent spirits. Their experience was a novel one, for on this occasion the Boers, who usually prefer to skulk under cover, made incipient rushes at certain points. They gave way, however, before the pressing attentions of the Maxims, and fled helter-skelter to cover again; but their departure was on the principle of "those who fight and run away live to fight another day." They reserved themselves for a more decisive effort. At midday on the 19th a mixed train running from Ladysmith to Dundee was captured by the enemy about a mile off Elandslaagte Station, which stands about fifteen miles from Ladysmith, and is the first station from thence on the line. A war correspondent was taken prisoner, four Carabineers were wounded, and some horses and cattle seized. Telegraphic communication in the north was cut off, and four trucks of stores in the Elandslaagte Station were captured. THE BATTLE OF GLENCOE On the night of the 19th, Sir W. Penn Symons discovered that he was surrounded by the enemy. Three of their columns were converging on his position--one from the north-west under General Erasmus by the Dannhauser-Hattingspruit road; one from Utrecht and Vryheid by Landsman's Drift from the east, under Commandant Lucas Meyer; and a third under General Viljoen from Waschbank on the south, this latter being the force which cut through the Ladysmith-Dundee railway. The Boer plan was to deliver simultaneously different attacks from all sides of the Glencoe camp. The column under Erasmus was to open the attack from the north-west, and falling back, was to draw Symons in pursuit away from his camp. Then Viljoen and Meyer were to close on the pursuers from either flank and annihilate them. Fortunately this skilfully-devised programme was not fulfilled. For this reason: The force under Lucas Meyer was the first to arrive, and its leader, impatient to secure the glories of war, decided on an independent course of action. Before the other columns could put in an appearance he opened the attack. On the hills round Glencoe the Boers had posted cannon, and from thence at daybreak on the 20th of October Meyer's gunners began to fire plugged shells into the camp. A flash--a puff of smoke--a whizz and a crash! Hostilities had begun! By 5 A.M. all General Symons's troops were under arms. It was evident that the enemy were in force, and that their guns were some half-a-dozen in number. Their range was 5000 yards, but, fortunately, their shots, though well directed, flew screaming overhead and buried themselves in the soft earth, doing no damage whatever. A few tents fell, a few marquees were torn up. That was all. Our artillery soon came into action, at first at too long a range, but afterwards--from a position south of Dundee--with greater success. They then replied to the enemy's challenge with considerable warmth and excellent effect; and, since our batteries numbered some three to one, by 11.30 o'clock the enemy's Krupps were silenced. In the meantime the infantry, the 1st King's Royal Rifles and the 2nd Dublin Fusiliers, formed for attack opposite the enemy's position, which was situated some two miles off at the top of an almost impregnable hill. Huge boulders margined the sides of it, and half-way up an encircling wall added to the impassability of the position. But the word impossible is not to be found in the dictionary of a soldier, and General Symons gave an order. The hill was to be taken. The bugles rang out; the infantry fixed bayonets. Then was enacted another, only a grander, Majuba, but now with the position of the contending forces inverted. Doubtless the memory of that historic defeat inspired our men, for they evidently decided that what the Boer had done, the Briton also could do, and, spurred by their officers, who showed an absolute disregard of the possibilities of danger, went ahead and carried the crest in magnificent style. No such brilliant achievement of British infantry has been recorded since Albuera. But this, as we shall see, was not accomplished in a moment. It involved tremendous exposure in crossing an open plain intersected with nullahs under a terrific fire, followed by a long spell of dogged climbing, finally on hand and knees, over more than a mile of broken, sometimes almost perpendicular, ground, and in the midst of an incessant and furious fusilade. [Illustration: POSITION OF FORCES BEFORE THE BATTLE OF GLENCOE.] At 7.30 A.M. the head of the Hattingspruit column appeared; appeared but to vanish--for it was at once saluted by the 67th Field Battery, and being unprepared for this somewhat boisterous attention, made haste to beat a retreat. At 8.50 the infantry brigade was ordered to advance. Soon the Dublin Fusiliers and the Rifles, who had been reinforced by the Royal Irish Fusiliers, were steadily moving on, firing by sections, and using what cover the ground afforded. Overhead, from the hill described, and from another south of the road, the ever-active shells continued their grim music, while all around was the dense curtain of fine rain that drizzled down like wet needles from an opaque sky, making a screen between the opposing forces. But on and on, led by their gallant officers, our infantry continued to toil, their advance ever covered by the 13th and 67th Field Batteries--under the command respectively of Major Dawkins and Major Wing--while the enemy from above poured upon them volley after volley as hard as rifles would let them. When half-way up, where the kopje was girded by a flat terrace and a stone wall, the troops, scattered by the terrific fire, hot, drenched, and panting with their climb, made a halt. There, under the lea of the hill, it was necessary to get "a breather," and to gather themselves together for the supreme effort. The scene was not exhilarating. The grey mist falling--the scattered earth and mud rising and spluttering, the shrieking shells rending the air, already vibrant with the whirr of bullets--the closer sounds and sights of death and destruction--all these things were sufficient to stem the courage of stoutest hearts. Still the British band remained undaunted, still they prepared boldly for the final rush. Presently, with renewed energy the three gallant regiments, steadily and determinedly as ever, started off, scaled the wall, clambered up the steep acclivity, and finally, with a rush and a roar as of released pandemonium, charged the crest. The rout of the enemy was complete. At the glint of the steel they turned and ran--ran like panic-stricken sheep, helter-skelter over the hill, in the direction of Landmann's and Vant's Drifts. Their retreat was harried by cavalry and mounted infantry, and, so far as it was possible, in view of the inaccessible position, by the field artillery. At this juncture the enemy displayed a white flag--without any intention of surrender, it appears--but our firing was stopped by order of the artillery commander. Two guns and several prisoners were captured, together with horses and various boxes of shells for Maxim, Nordenfeldt, and Krupp quick-firing guns. Our wounded were many, and some companies looked woefully attenuated as the remnant, when all was over, whistled themselves back to camp. Their gallant leader, General Penn Symons, who had taken no precautions to keep under cover, but, on the contrary, had made himself conspicuous in being accompanied by a lancer with a red flag, fell early in the fight, mortally wounded. His place was taken by Brigadier-General Yule, whose position at that time was far from enviable. A message had been brought in by scouts, stating that some 9000 Boers were marching with the intention of attacking the British in the rear, and that at the very moment the advancing multitude might be cloaked in a dark mist that was gathering round the hills. Fortunately the hovering hordes failed to appear, and the first big engagement of the war terminated in a glorious victory for British arms. [Illustration: THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR--TRANSPORT LEAVING ENGLAND FOR THE CAPE. Drawing by Charles J. de Lacia.] From all accounts the two hostile columns numbered respectively 4000 and 9000 men, and against these forces Sir Penn Symons had at his command in all about 4000. Among these were the 13th, 67th, and 69th Field Batteries, the 18th Hussars, the Natal Mounted Volunteers, the 8th Battalion Leicester Regiment, the 1st King's Royal Rifles, the 2nd Dublin Fusiliers, and several companies of mounted infantry. But on the Dublin Fusiliers, the King's Royal Rifles, and the Royal Irish Fusiliers fell the brunt of the work, the task of capturing the Boer position, and the magnificent dash and courage with which the almost impossible feat was accomplished brought a thrill to the heart of all who had the good fortune to witness it. [Illustration] Though the fight was a successful one, a grievous incident occurred. The 18th Hussars had received orders at 5.40 A.M. to get round the enemy's right flank and be ready to cut off his retreat. They were accompanied by a portion of the mounted infantry and a machine-gun. Making a wide turning movement, they gained the eastern side of Talana Hill and there halted, while two squadrons were sent in pursuit of the enemy. From that time, though firing was heard at intervals throughout the day, Colonel Moeller, with a squadron of the 18th Hussars and four sections of mounted infantry, was lost to sight. The rain had increased and the mist covered the hills, and it was believed that in course of time this missing party would return. But the belief was vain. In a few days it was discovered that they were made prisoners and had been removed to Pretoria. The following is a list of the gallant officers who were so unluckily captured:-- Colonel Moeller, 18th Hussars; Major Greville, 18th Hussars; Captain Pollok, 18th Hussars; Captain Lonsdale, 2nd Battalion Dublin Fusiliers; Lieutenant Le Mesurier, 2nd Battalion Dublin Fusiliers; Lieutenant Garvice, 2nd Battalion Dublin Fusiliers; Lieutenant Grimshaw, 2nd Battalion Dublin Fusiliers; Lieutenant Majendie, 1st Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps; Lieutenant Shore, Army Veterinary Department, attached to 18th Hussars. An official account of the circumstances which led to the capture was supplied by Captain Hardy, R.A.M.C., who said: "After the battle, three squadrons of the 18th Hussars, with one Maxim, a company of the Dublin Fusiliers, a section of the 60th Rifles and Mounted Infantry, Colonel Moeller commanding, kept under cover of the ridge to the north of the camp, and at 6.30 moved down the Sand Spruit. On reaching the open the force was shelled by the enemy, but there were no casualties. "Colonel Moeller took his men round Talana Hill in a south-easterly direction, crossed the Vant's Drift road, captured several Boers, and saw the Boer ambulances retiring. Colonel Moeller, with the B Squadron of the Hussars, a Maxim, and mounted infantry, crossed the Dundee-Vryheid railway, and got near a big force of the enemy, who opened a hot fire, and Lieutenant M'Lachlan was hit. "The cavalry retired across Vant's Drift, 1500 Boers following. Colonel Moeller held the ridge for some time, but the enemy enveloping his right, he ordered the force to fall back across the Spruit. The Maxim got fixed in a donga (water-hole). Lieutenant Cape was wounded, three of his detachment were killed, and the horses of Major Greville and Captain Pollok were shot. "The force re-formed on a ridge north of the Sand Spruit, and held it for a short time. While Captain Hardy was attending to Lieutenant Crum, who was wounded, Colonel Moeller retired his force into a defile, apparently with the intention of returning to camp round the Impati Mountain, and was not seen afterwards." The following list of casualties shows how hardly the glory of victories may be earned:-- Divisional Staff.--General Sir William Penn Symons, mortally wounded in stomach; Colonel C. E. Beckett, A.A.G., seriously wounded, right shoulder; Major Frederick Hammersley, D.A.A.G., seriously wounded, leg. Brigade Staff.--Colonel John Sherston,[1] D.S.O., Brigade Major, killed; Captain Frederick Lock Adam, Aide-de-Camp, seriously wounded, right shoulder. 1st Battalion Leicestershire Regiment.--Lieutenant B. de W. Weldon, wounded slightly, hand. 1st Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers.--Second Lieutenant A. H. M. Hill, killed; Major W. P. Davison, wounded; Captain and Adjutant F. H. B. Connor, wounded (since dead); Captain M. J. W. Pike, wounded; Lieutenant C. C. Southey, wounded; Second Lieutenant M. B. C. Carbery, wounded dangerously, face and shoulder; Second Lieutenant H. C. W. Wortham, wounded severely, both thighs. Royal Dublin Fusiliers.--Captain George Anthony Weldon, killed; Captain Maurice Lowndes, wounded dangerously, left leg; Captain Atherstone Dibley, wounded dangerously, head; Lieutenant Charles Noel Perreau, wounded; Lieutenant Charles Jervis Genge, wounded (since dead). 1st Battalion King's Royal Rifles.--Killed: Lieutenant-Colonel R. H. Gunning,[2] Captain M. H. K. Pechell, Lieutenant J. Taylor, Lieutenant R. C. Barnett, Second Lieutenant N. J. Hambro.--Wounded: Major C. A. T. Boultbee, upper thigh, dangerously; Captain O. S. W. Nugent, Captain A. R. M. Stuart-Wortley, Lieutenant F. M. Crum, Lieutenant R. Johnstone, both thighs, severely; Second Lieutenant G. H. Martin, thigh and arm, severely. 18th Hussars.--Wounded: Second Lieutenant H. A. Cape, Second Lieutenant Albert C. M'Lachlan, Second Lieutenant E. H. Bayford. The Boer force engaged in this action was computed at 4000 men, of whom about 500 were killed, wounded, or taken prisoners. Three of their guns were left dismounted on Talana Hill, but there was no opportunity of bringing them away. Our own losses were severe, amounting to 10 officers and 31 non-commissioned officers and men killed, 20 officers and 165 non-commissioned officers and men wounded, and 9 officers and 211 non-commissioned officers and men missing. Though General Symons was known to be at the point of death, his promotion was speedily gazetted, and it was some consolation to feel that the gallant and popular officer lasted long enough to read of the recognition of his worth by an appreciative country. The following is an extract from the _Gazette_:-- "The Queen has been pleased to approve of the promotion of Colonel (local Lieutenant-General) Sir W. P. Symons, K.C.B., commanding 4th Division Natal Field Force, to be Major-General, supernumerary to the establishment, for distinguished service in the field." An officer who was taken prisoner by the enemy, writing home soon after this engagement, made touching reference to some of the killed and wounded: "Poor Jack Sherston! Several of the officers here saw him lying dead on the hill at Dundee. When he left with the message entrusted to him he said to me, 'I shall never return.' Poor Captain Pechell! He had a bullet through the neck. General Symons was wounded and thrown from his horse, but he remounted and was conducted to the hospital, where he learnt that the height had been taken by our troops. His health improved a little, but he died on the following Tuesday. What a list of losses already! It is terrible to think that our own cannon were fired by mistake on our men, killing a large number. I saw M'Lachlan when he was wounded with a bullet in his leg. He went about on horseback saying that it did not hurt him, but at last he had to go to the hospital. My bugler, such a pleasant fellow, was hit in the head, the body, and the throat, and killed on the spot.... From a wounded officer, who is a prisoner, I hear that poor Cape had a bullet in the throat and another in the leg. He emptied his revolver twice ere falling. He is progressing towards recovery.... He had the command of our Maxim gun which fell into the hands of the enemy. The entire detachment which worked the gun was killed or wounded. At that moment bullets were whistling all round us. Cape, I think, has been exchanged for one of the enemy's wounded. I suppose that he will be sent home invalided. I wonder what the future has in store for us? It is really heart-breaking to think that we are penned in here without being able to do anything but wait." ELANDSLAAGTE Amongst other things, it was known in Ladysmith on the 18th of October that General Koch's commando was moving to the Biggarsberg Pass on the way to Elandslaagte. The advanced guard of the Boers finding a train at the Elandslaagte station, attempted to seize it, but the driver with remarkable pluck turned on steam, and, though pelted with bullets, got safely to Dundee. The second train was captured, however, and with it its valuable cargo of live stock, and two newspaper correspondents, who were made prisoners. Finding that the enemy was gathered in force round Dundee, and that an attack there was hourly to be expected, and, moreover, that several Free State commandoes were shifting about round Ladysmith, the inhabitants of that town had an uneasy time. Major-General French, who had but recently arrived from England, was directed by Sir George White to make a reconnaissance in force in the neighbourhood of Elandslaagte. He moved his cavalry in the pouring rain some twelve miles along the Dundee road, but besides locating the enemy, and beyond the capture of two of their number, who seemed not ill-disposed to be made prisoners, little was done. On the following day, Saturday, another reconnaissance was made. General French with Lieutenant-Colonel Scott Chisholme and the Imperial Light Horse, the Natal Volunteer Artillery with six guns, supported by half a battalion of the Manchesters, with railway and telegraph construction companies, started in the direction occupied by the enemy on the preceding day. General French's orders were simple and explicit, namely, to clear the neighbourhood of Elandslaagte of the enemy and to cover the construction of the railway and telegraph lines. The troops slowly proceeded along a low tableland which terminated in a cliff. On a plain below this cliff lay the station and village of Elandslaagte, and round and about this settlement mounted Boers were swarming. These no sooner espied the British than they made off as fast as their nimble steeds could carry them, ascending in the direction of a high kopje some 5000 yards away. Those who remained in the station were fired on by our Volunteer Battery, while a squadron under Major Sampson moved round to the north of them. [Illustration: POSITION OF FORCES BEFORE THE BATTLE OF ELANDSLAAGTE, NOON] The first two shells caused considerable consternation among the Dutchmen, but they were soon returned with interest. Though the enemy used smokeless explosives, their battery was revealed by the yellow flash of the guns in the purple shadow of the hill. These guns were worked with marvellous accuracy, but, fortunately, many of the shells--fired with percussion fuses--dug deep into the sand before bursting. The Volunteer Battery found their own guns so inferior to those of the enemy that there was little chance of silencing them, and General French, seeing there was no question of occupying Elandslaagte with the small force at his disposal, moved his guns back towards his armoured train, telephoned to Sir George White, and withdrew in the direction of Modder's Spruit. There he awaited reinforcements from Ladysmith. These at 11 o'clock began to appear: One squadron of the 5th Dragoon Guards, one squadron of the 5th Lancers under Colonel King, and two batteries of artillery, the latter having come out at a gallop with double teams. Then the infantry arrived under Colonel Ian Hamilton, the second half-battalion of the Manchester Regiment, a battalion of the Devonshire Regiment under Major Park, and five companies of the Gordon Highlanders under Lieutenant-Colonel Dick-Cunyngham, V.C. At 3.30 P.M. General White arrived on the scene, but the executive command of the troops engaged remained in the hands of General French. The Boers were discovered to be magnificently posted on a horseshoe-shaped ridge about 800 feet above the level of the railway to north of the Ladysmith-Dundee road, standing almost at a right angle from the permanent way, though some 2000 yards removed from it. On the side nearing the railroad the ridge was crowned with a peaked kopje, which hill was connected by a nek with another eminence of the same kind. These hills were held by the enemy, while their laager was situated on the connecting ridge. The position was strewn on both flanks by very rough boulders which afforded excellent cover. On the main hill were three big guns strongly posted at three different points so as to command a wide expanse of country and leave a retreat open over the hills in the direction of Wessel's Nek. Facing the ridge was a wide expanse of veldt rising upwards in the direction of Ladysmith. At four--an unusually late hour for the commencement of hostilities--the first gun boomed out; the range was 4400 yards. A few moments of furious cannonading, then the enemy's guns ceased to reply. The silence enabled the artillerymen to turn their attention on a party of the foe who were annoying them with a persistent rifle-fire on the right flank at a range of 2000 yards. It was an admirable corrective, and the Boer sharpshooters retired discomfited. Meanwhile the infantry had been brought up in preparatory battle formation of small columns covered by scouts. The position of the infantry was then as follows:-- The first battalion Devonshire Regiment, with a frontage of 500 yards and a depth of 1300 yards, was halted on the western extremity of a horseshoe-shaped ridge. The opposite end of this ridge, which was extremely rugged and broken, was held by the enemy in force. The first battalion Manchester Regiment had struck the ridge fully 1000 yards to the south-east, just at the point where it begins to bend round northwards. The second battalion Gordon Highlanders were one mile in rear. [Illustration: LIEUT.-GENERAL J. D. P. FRENCH. Photo by Lambert Weston & Son, Folkestone.] Now, no sooner had the Devonshire Regiment commenced to move forward than they attracted the shell of the enemy, but owing to the loose formation adopted, the loss at this time was slight. In spite of the furious fire, the regiment still pushed on to within 900 yards of the position, and then opening fire, held the enemy in front of them till 6 P.M. The batteries also advanced and took up a position on a ridge between the Devonshire and Manchester Regiments, about 3200 yards from the enemy. Then began an animated artillery duel, the roar of guns mingling with the thunder of heaven, which at this juncture seemed to have attuned itself to suit the stormy state of the human tempest that was raging below. At this period considerable damage was done. Captain Campbell, R.A., was wounded, an ammunition waggon overturned, and many men and horses were killed or injured. For some time the interchange of deadly projectiles was pursued with vigour, then the 42nd Field Battery came into action. The Imperial Light Horse now moved left of the enemy's position; some mounted Boers at once pushed out and engaged them. Soon after this the guns from above ceasing firing, our gunners turned their attention to the mounted Boers, who rapidly fell back. Then, as the sun was setting and dark clouds were rolling over the heavens and screening the little light that remained, the infantry pressed forward. The plan was that while the Devonshire Regiment made a frontal attack, the Manchester Regiment, supported by the Gordons with the Imperial Light Horse on the right, were to advance along the sloping ridge, turn the enemy's flank and force him back on his main position. This movement was to be supported by the artillery, which was to close in as the attack developed. The Devons, under Major Park, marched out, as said, leading the way across the plateau and into the valley coolly and deliberately, though under a terrific fire from above. The Boer guns, which were served with great courage, invariably gave tongue on the smallest provocation, and the ground was ploughed up in every direction with bursting shell. But fortunately few of the gallant Devons were hit. Later on they drew nearer the position, and the regiment, halted under cover of convenient ant-hills, and opened fire. The rifles of the enemy were not slow to reply. Their Mauser bullets whirred like swarms of bees around the heads of the plucky fellows, who, heedless of them, dauntlessly advanced to within some 350 yards of the summit of the hill. There they awaited the development of the flank attack. Meanwhile the Manchesters, with the Imperial Light Horse and the Gordons, were winding round the lower steeps, the Gordons bearing to the right through a cutting in the hills. Here, ascending, they came under the artillery fire of the enemy, the Boers having moved their guns. Shells, and not only shells but huge boulders, dropped among the advancing troops, crushing and mutilating, and leaving behind a streak of mangled bodies. But though the ordeal was terrible, and the sound and sight of wounded and bleeding were enough to paralyse the stoutest heart, the ever "gay" Gordons plodded on, passing higher and higher, while their officers leading, cheered and roared them up the precipitous ascent. Thus they clambered and plodded, with men dropping dead at their elbows, with torn and fainting comrades by their sides. A storm of rain from the gathering thunderclouds drenched them through to the skin, but they heeded it not. A storm of bullets from the Boers sensibly diminished their numbers, but they never swerved. Then their gallant commander fell. Colonel Dick-Cunyngham, the honoured and beloved, was shot in two places. Several other dashing Scottish officers were wounded, but many still heroically stumbled and reeled over the boulders, some even waving their helmets to pretend they were unhurt, and to encourage their companions to the great, the final move.... At last the signal for the charge was sounded. The bugle blared out and was echoed and re-echoed. Then came flash of bayonet and sound of cheering throats, the rush of Devons, Manchesters, Gordons, and dismounted Imperials--a wild, shouting mass making straight for the enemy's position. To account for the presence of the Devons in the grand melée it is necessary to go back somewhat, as the great assault was not accomplished in a moment. Our men were advancing in short rushes of about fifty yards, the Boers all the while lying under cover and shooting till the troops were within some twenty or thirty yards of them. Then the Dutchmen, as suited their convenience, either bolted or surrendered. When the end ridge was gained and the guns captured, the enemy's laager was close in sight. A white flag was shown from the centre of the camps. At this Colonel Hamilton gave an order. The "Cease fire" was sounded. There was a lull in the action, some of our men commencing to walk slowly down-hill towards the camp. Suddenly, without warning, the crackle of musketry was heard, and a deadly fire poured from a small sugar-loaf shaped kopje to east of the camp. For one short moment our men, staggered by the dastardly action and the fierce suddenness of the attack, fell back, and during this moment a party of some forty Boers had stoutly charged uphill and effected a lodgment near the crest. [Illustration: PLAN OF BATTLE OF ELANDSLAAGTE] But this ruse was a failure and their triumph short-lived. The 1st Battalion Devonshire Regiment, who, as we know, had been holding the enemy in front during the commencement of the infantry attack, and had since then pushed steadily forward, had now reached to 350 yards from the enemy. Here they lay down to recover breath before charging with fixed bayonets. Five companies assaulted the hill to the left and five to the right; and a detachment of these, arriving at the critical moment when the Boers were making their last stand, helped to bring about the triumphant finale. Like the lightning that shot through the sky above, the Boers, at the sound of the united cheers, had fled! Some scampered away to their laager on the Nek, and from thence to other kopjes. Others filed in troops anywhere, regardless of consequences. While they were in full retreat, and the mists of darkness, like a gathering pall, hung over the scene, the 5th Lancers and the 5th Dragoon Guards charged the flying enemy--charged not once nor twice only, but thrice, dashing through the scattered ranks with deadly purpose, though at terrible risk of life and limb. Never were Boers so amazed. The despised worms--the miserable Rooineks--had at last turned, and, as one of them afterwards described it, they had "come on horses galloping, and with long sticks with spikes at the end of them, picked us up like bundles of hay!" The cost of victory, however, was heavy. Roughly estimated, we lost 4 officers and 37 men killed; 31 officers and 175 men wounded. Ten men were missing. The Boers lost over 300 Burghers killed and wounded, besides several hundred horses. Their hospital with wounded prisoners was placed under the care of the British hospital, they having only one doctor, who, with his primitive staff, was quite unable to cope with the arduous work of attending the multitude of sufferers. Numbers of the enemy of all nationalities--Germans, Hollanders, Irish, and others--were made prisoners, and among them were General de Koch and Piet Joubert, nephew of General Joubert. General Viljoen was killed. The mongrel force, estimated at about 1200 strong, was commanded by Colonel Schiel, to whom it doubtless owed its excellent tactical disposition. This officer was wounded and taken prisoner. The _Times_ gave somewhat interesting character sketches of prominent Boers who were killed or wounded on this occasion:-- "General Koch was Minute-Keeper to the Executive, and was President Kruger's most influential supporter. His son, Judge Koch, was appointed to a seat on the Bench, but was not popular, and was regarded as a puppet. The fighting Koch is not to be confounded with the General Koch, who belongs to Vryheid, and is a sterling warrior. "Advocate Coster was State Attorney at the time of the Reform trials, but resigned owing to President Kruger having insulted him at a meeting of the Executive. He was an accomplished man, a member of the Inner Temple, and was very popular with the Dutch Bar. "General Ben Viljoen was responsible for most of the fire-eating articles which appeared in the _Rand Post_." "Colonel Schiel was court-martialled in past days for shooting four natives whom he accused of insubordination." The courage of the Boers during this battle was immense. About two thousand were engaged, and these, though certainly aided by the strength of their position, fought valiantly, facing doggedly the heavy consummately well-directed fire of the British artillery, and returning it with undiminished coolness. An interesting incident is mentioned in connection with the battle. When the fire of the British guns became overwhelming, eight plucky Boers dashed forward from cover, and, standing together, steadily opened fire on the men of the Imperial Light Horse, with the evident purpose of drawing their fire, while their comrades should change position. Out of this gallant little band, only one man was left to tell the tale! [Illustration: THE BATTLE OF ELANDSLAAGTE--CHARGE OF THE 5th LANCERS. Drawn by R. Caton Woodville.] The following is the casualty roll of officers killed at the battle of Elandslaagte:-- Imperial Light Horse.--Colonel Scott Chisholme,[3] commander, killed; Major Wools Sampson, bullet wound, thigh, severely; Captain John Orr, bullet wound, neck, severely; Lieutenant William Curry, bullet wound, foot, severely; Lieutenant Arthur Shore, bullet wound, chest, severely; Lieutenant and Adjutant R. W. Barnes, wounded severely; Lieutenant Lachlan Forbes, wounded severely; Captain Mullins, wounded; Lieutenant Campbell, wounded; Lieutenant Normand, wounded. 21st Battery Field Artillery.--Captain H. M. Campbell, bullet wound, chest, severe; Lieutenant W. G. H. Manley, shell wound, head, severe. Staff.--Captain Ronald G. Brooke, 7th Hussars, bullet wounds, thigh and head, severe. 1st Battalion Devonshire Regiment.--Second Lieutenant H. R. Gunning, severely, bullet wound in chest; Second Lieutenant S. T. Hayley, severely, bullet wounds in hand and leg; Second Lieutenant G. F. Green, severely, bullet wound in forearm; Captain William B. Lafone, slightly, bullet wound. 1st Battalion Manchester Regiment.--Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Curran, bullet wound, shoulder; Captain Charles Melvill, bullet wound, arm, severe; Captain William Newbigging, bullet wound, left shoulder, severe; Captain Donald Paton, bullet wound, thigh, severe; Lieutenant Cyril Danks, bullet wound, scalp, slight. 2nd Battalion Gordon Highlanders.--Killed: Major H. W. D. Denne, Lieutenant C. G. Monro, Second Lieutenant J. G. D. Murray, Lieutenant L. B. Bradbury. Wounded: Lieutenant-Colonel Dick-Cunyngham, bullet wound, arm, severe; Major Harry Wright, bullet wound, right foot, severe; Captain J. Haldane, bullet wound, leg, severe; Captain Arthur Buchanan, bullet wound, right side, severe; Lieutenant M. Meiklejohn, fractured humerus, severe; Lieutenant C. W. Findlay, bullet wound, arm and thigh, severe; Lieutenant J. B. Gillat (attached from Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders); Second Lieutenant I. A. Campbell, bullet wound, head and chest, dangerous; Lieutenant A. R. Hennessy (3rd Batt.), bullet wound, head and chest, severe. The following tribute to the memory of Colonel Scott Chisholme is taken from Mr. John Stuart's correspondence to the _Morning Post_:-- "No death has been more severely felt than the Colonel's. He was a good man and a good soldier, brave to the point of recklessness, a wonderfully-inspiriting leader, and, as I judged from about a month's knowledge of him, single-minded, fervent in all his work, passionately in earnest. His regiment almost worshipped him. On the day of the fight their keenness was increased because he was keen, and they ignored the hardships they had gone through because he shared them and took them lightly, and did his best to improve matters. "During the fight he only took cover once or twice, going from troop to troop, praising and encouraging the men in words that were always well chosen, for no man could phrase his blame or praise more aptly. At the last ridge he stopped to tie up the leg of a wounded trooper, and was shot himself in the leg. Two of his men went to his assistance, but he waved them off, telling them to go on with their fighting and to leave him alone. Then he was shot in one of the lungs, and the men went to his help, but while they were trying to get him to cover, a bullet lodged in his head and killed him. The last words he was heard to say were, 'My fellows are doing well.' His fellows will always remember that. "I may be allowed to recall one or two interesting recollections of the Colonel. One is the speech he delivered when the Maritzburg Club dined him and his officers. Both he and General Symons spoke. Neither man was an orator, and yet each was more convincing than many orators, speaking simple, soldierly, purposeful words, words whose simplicity drove them home. Almost a week before the battle I saw the Colonel arranging his camp. He had taken off his tunic and helmet, and did twice as much direction as any other officer, and he worked as hard as any of the men. It was then, when I saw his vigour in full activity, that I realised his wonderful capacity for work--a capacity of which I had often heard, but which I had not been able to comprehend before. "The last time I saw him was at the outspan before the battle began. He came to a group of us and gave one or two orders in such pleasant words that one knew that to obey him must in itself be a real delight. Then he sat down and gossiped with us, first about his luck in the morning, when a shell that hit the ground between his horse's feet had failed to burst, and afterwards about luck in general. He advised the officers to tell their men to sleep while they could, and then he said, 'Now I'll go and get half-an-hour's sleep myself.' But at that moment an aide-de-camp came saying that General French wanted to see him. When the Colonel returned, it was to order his regiment to saddle up and prepare to mount. In half-an-hour he was leading the attack on the first kopje. "I like to think that before death smote him he knew that the battle was won, and that his fellows had done well, as he expected that they would, as he had helped them to do by example and generous encouragement." A private of the Gordon Highlanders, in a letter dated Ladysmith, November 2, gave a vivid account of the charge of the Gordons at Elandslaagte, and described how Lieutenant-Colonel Dick-Cunyngham was wounded when leading his men, and that officer's chagrin at his being rendered impotent. He said: "We charged three times with the bayonet, and my gun was covered with whiskers and blood, though I don't remember striking anybody, but I was nearly mad with excitement, shells bursting and bullets whizzing round like hail. I was close behind the commanding officer when he was wounded. He was shot and had to sit down, but he cheered on his men. 'Forward, Gordons,' he cried, 'the world is looking at you. Brave lads, give it to the beggars, exterminate the vermin--charge.' He then started crying because he could no longer lead his battalion, and he would not retire from the field until the day was won. He is a fine man to lead a battalion--as brave as a lion. The Gordons were the last line, and we raced through the Manchesters and the Devons and the Light Horse Volunteers, all charging together." Here we have a proof how much the morale of soldiers may be influenced by their immediate chief. The _Natal Advertiser_ in its account of the final scene said:-- "By a quarter past six the Devonshire Regiment, the Gordon Highlanders, and the Manchester Regiment, with the Imperial Light Horse, were in a position to storm the Boer camp from the enemy's front and left flank, and the signal for the bayonet charge was sounded. Then was witnessed one of the most splendid pieces of storming imaginable, the Devons taking the lead, closely followed by the Gordons, the Manchesters, and the Light Horse, in the face of a tremendous, killing fire, the rattle and roar of which betokened frightful carnage.... A bugler boy of the 5th Lancers shot three Boers with his revolver. He was afterwards carried round the camp amid cheers." So many acts of gallantry were performed that they cannot all be related. It is impossible, however, to allow the wondrous pluck of Sergeant Kenneth M'Leod to go unrecorded. During the charge this gallant Scot was twice struck, once in the arm and once in the side. He however continued to pipe and advance with the Gordons to their final rush. Presently came more bullets, smashing his drones, his chanter, and his windbag, whereupon the splendid fellow had to give in. Perhaps the most heart-rending period was that following the last gleam of daylight, when the Medical Staff went forth to do their melancholy duty. All were armed with lanterns, which, shining like pale glow-worms, made the dense gloom around more impenetrable still. Yet, groping and shivering through the black horror of the night, they patiently pursued their ghastly task with zeal that was truly magnificent. Dead, dying, wounded, were dotted all over the veldt. There, bearded old Boers, boys, Britons in their prime, were indiscriminately counted, collected, tended, the Field Hospital men and Indian stretcher-bearers working incessantly and ungrudgingly till dawn. Gruesome and heart-rending were the sights and scenes around the camp-fires when such wounded as could crawl dragged themselves towards their comrades. Pitiable the faces of the survivors as news came in of gallant hearts that had ceased to beat. A pathetic incident was witnessed in the grey gloom of the small hours. One of the bearers chanced on an ancient hoary-headed Boer, who was lying behind a rock supporting himself on his elbows. The bearer approached warily, as many of the enemy were known to have turned on those who went to their succour. This man, however, was too weak from loss of blood to attempt to raise his rifle. Between his dying gasps he begged a favour--would some one find his son, a boy of thirteen, who had been fighting by his side when he fell. The request was obeyed. The little lad, stone-dead, was discovered. He was placed in the failing arms of his father. The unhappy old fellow clasped the clay-cold form, and hugged it despairingly to himself, and then, merciful Providence pitied him in his misery--his stricken spirit went out to join his son. An officer who was wounded, and who spent the night in the terrible scene, thus described his own awful experiences: "I lay where I fell for about three-quarters of an hour, when a doctor came and put a field-dressing on my wound, gave me some brandy, put my helmet under my head as a pillow, covered me with a Boer blanket which he had taken from a dead man, and then went to look after some other poor beggar. I shall never forget the horrors of that night as long as I live. In addition to the agony which my wound gave me, I had two sharp stones running into my back; I was soaked to the skin and bitterly cold, but had an awful thirst; the torrents of rain never stopped. On one side of me was a Gordon Highlander in raving delirium, and on the other a Boer who had his leg shattered by a shell, and who gave vent to the most heart-rending cries and groans. War is a funny game, and no one can realise what its grim horrors are till they see it in all its barbarous reality. I lay out in the rain the whole of the night, and at daybreak was put into a doolie by a doctor, and some natives carried me down to the station. The ground was awfully rough, and they dropped me twice; I fainted both times. I was sent down to Ladysmith in the hospital train; from the station I was conveyed to the chapel (officers' hospital) in a bullock-cart, the jolting of which made me faint again. I was the last officer taken in. I was then put to bed, and my wound was dressed just seventeen hours after I was hit. They then gave me some beef-tea, which was the first food I had had for twenty-seven hours." The amazing spirit of chivalry that animated all classes, general officers, medical officers, chaplains, and even stretcher-bearers, in this campaign has been the subject of much comment. It was thought that modernity had rendered effete some of the sons of Great Britain, and the war, if it should have done no other good, has served to prove that times may have changed, but not the tough and dauntless character of the men who have made the Empire what it is. The following, from a Congregational minister of Durban, who had volunteered to go to the front as honorary chaplain to the Natal Mounted Rifles, in which corps many of his congregation enrolled, is of immense interest. It gives us an insight into the inner core of valour--the valour of those who, unarmed, share the dangers without the intoxications of the fight. It runs:-- "The Lancers, who were mistaken by the Boers in the growing darkness for a body of their own men, fell upon them and turned a rout into a wild flight. Commander Schiel was very furious at losing the battle, and said he would like to kill every man, woman, and child in Natal. In this he was the exception to the rule, for the captives whom we liberated said the Boers had treated them with great kindness. After the battle Dr. Bonnybrook and I spent the night on the field of battle, and also followed the retreating Boers for a distance of six or seven miles, searching for and tending the wounded and dying. In the early hours of the morning we came to a Boer field-hospital, and shouting out, 'Doctor and Predicant,' we entered and rested, and slept there awhile. By daybreak we were out again. About six miles from camp Dr. Bonnybrook rode up to twenty-five mounted and armed Boers, and told them they were his prisoners. Ordering two to take the weapons of their comrades, he marched them into camp prisoners. For an unarmed man to accomplish alone, this was an exceedingly brave thing to do. After the battle one of the captured held up his gun and said, 'Look through this. I have not fired a shot. I am a Britisher. They forced me to come.'" Among other heroes of Elandslaagte was Lieutenant Meiklejohn of the Gordon Highlanders. This young officer, one of the "Dargai boys," helped the charge in an endeavour to embarrass the Boer flank. Supported by a party of Gordons, so runs the narrative, Meiklejohn waved his sword and cried out to his party hastily gathered round him. But the Boer ranks were alert, and poured in a deadly fire on the gallant band. Lieutenant Meiklejohn received three bullets through his upper right arm, one through the right forearm, a finger blown away, a bullet through the left thigh, two bullets through the helmet, a "snick" in the neck, while his sword and scabbard were literally shot to pieces. He has by now lost his right arm, but, happily, being left-handed, it is hoped he may remain in the profession he is so well calculated to adorn. A private soldier in the 2nd Battalion Gordon Highlanders recounted an extraordinary personal experience. He said:-- "We, the Devons, Imperial Light Horse, and others, had a fight at Elandslaagte with the Boers, and I never enjoyed myself so much before. You first have to get christened to fire, and then you think nothing of the shells bursting about you, and the bullets which go whistling past like bees. We went forward by fifty-yard rushes, and at every rush you could hear a groan, and down would go one of our comrades, either killed or wounded, poor chap. When we were miles from the enemy they opened fire on us with shell, and as we were going along in mass, one of the shells burst on the left of the company, and one of our men of my section--Bobby Hall--got shot dead with a piece of the shell going straight through his head. That was what made more than one wish to turn and run. But what would Britain do if her soldiers ran from the enemy? At last we got to where we could get a shot at the Boers with our rifles, and you may bet we gave them more than one, as perhaps the papers have told you. I got through the rifle-fire down to the bayonet charge on the hillside, when I felt a sting in the left arm, and looking down, found I was shot in the wrist. In changing my position I got shot in the centre of the forehead. The bullet did not go straight through. It glanced off my nose-bone, and came out above my right temple.... On looking round, I was just in time to see the blood squirt from the first wound. I shifted my position in quick time, for I did not want another from the same rifle. I lay still after doing this for a while, when the thought came to me to get my wrist bandaged and try to shoot again. On changing my position I got a bullet right in the 'napper.' I was out of action then, for all was dark. I heard the officer I was going to get the bandages from say, 'Poor chap! he's gone.' But no, I am still kicking." THE RETREAT FROM DUNDEE Owing to the Boers having posted their 15-centimetre gun on the Impati for the purpose of shelling the camp and town, the troops and inhabitants removed to a position some three miles south of Dundee village. The movement was fraught with many discomforts. Rain fell in torrents, making the roads a mass of slush and enveloping everything in a thick mist, while provisions, which had been hastily gathered together, were scarce. On the following day, Sunday, an attempt was made to return to camp, but the Boer firing continued so active that the project had to be abandoned. Thereupon, on Sunday night the whole column, having first loaded four days' supplies from their old camp and set there lighted candles sufficient to cause such an illumination as would suggest to the Boers an idea of occupation, quietly stole away. No one exactly knew their destination. At nine of the clock the Army Service Corps waggons moved to the camp, were loaded, and by midnight commenced rumbling along in the damp obscurity. The advance column, after passing through Dundee, where it was joined by transport and rearguard, proceeded along the Helpmakaar road on the way to Ladysmith. [Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL SIR W. PENN SYMONS, K.C.B. Photo by R. Stanley & Co., London.] On Monday afternoon the first halt was called, but the rest was of short duration, for at ten the column was again plodding along through the miry roads in hourly dread lest the whole scheme should be spoilt, and the Boers suddenly arrest the course of the two-mile-long column. And they had indeed good reason for alarm. They were forced to plod through a narrow pass in the Biggarsberg range of mountains, so narrow indeed that a hundred Boers might have effectually barred their way. Here, through this perilous black cylinder of the hills, they marched at dead of night. It took them between the hours of half-past eleven till three, stumbling and squelching in the mire, and knowing that should the enemy appear, should they but shoot one of the oxen of the leading waggon of the convoy, and thus block the cramped defile, all chance of getting safely through to Ladysmith would be at an end. This was by no means a happy reflection to fill men's minds in the dripping, almost palpable, darkness of the night, and the resolute spirit of the gallant fellows who unmurmuringly stowed away all personal wretchedness and stuck manfully to their grim duty is for ever to be marvelled at and admired. Fortunately the Dutchmen, "slim" as they were, had not counted on the possibility of this march being executed at all, still less of its being executed in pitch darkness. They were caught napping, and the party, who had left kit, provisions (except for the four days), and everything behind them, who were now drenched to the skin in the only clothes they possessed, at last reached Sunday River in safety. Here they eagerly awaited an escort of the 5th Lancers, which had been detached by Sir George White from Ladysmith to meet them. These, to the great joy of the worn-out travellers, appeared on Wednesday afternoon. On that evening the column again started off for a last long wearisome tramp, the men, who had not been out of their clothes for a week, being now ready to drop from sleeplessness and exhaustion. But valiantly they held on. Not a word, not a grumble. All had confidence in General Yule and his officers, who shared with the men every hardship and every fatigue; each realised his individual duty to make the very best of a very bad job, and pluckily kept heart till the last moment. Torrents of rain fell, making the night into one vast immensity of slough and pool, but the stumbling, straining left, right, left, right, of the retreating men continued ceaselessly through the weary hours. On Thursday morning, the 26th, to their intense relief, they found themselves at last in the long-looked-for camp at Ladysmith. The excitement of arrival was almost too much for the exhausted, fainting troops, but the cheers that went up from a thousand throats brought light to their sleep-starved eyes and warmth to their chilled frames. There was rest at last--rest and safety, food and warm covering, though of a more practical than artistic kind. The Devons--who had just come grandly through the fight at Elandslaagte and looted the Boer camp of innumerable saleable odds and ends--out of their newly-gained wealth "stood treat." In the joy of their hearts each of the men subscribed sixpence, and the gallant Dublin Fusiliers, the heroes of Glencoe, who, all unwashed and unshorn, now looked like chimney-sweeps rather than the warriors they were, were invited to a fine "square meal." It is difficult to imagine the condition of those battered braves after their week of hardship, fighting, and privation, and sticklers for etiquette would have been shocked at the manners and customs enforced by warlike conditions. One who dined with the Dundee column gave the following graphic description of the luxurious repast:-- "To begin with, there was no sort of furniture either in the messroom or the anteroom. If you wanted to sit down, you did so on the floor. We each got hold of a large tin mug, and dipped it into a large tin saucepan of soup and drank it, spoons not existing. A large lump of salt was passed round, and every one broke off a piece with his fingers. Next you clawed hold of a piece of bread and a chunk of tongue, and gnawed first one and then the other--knives and forks there were none. This finished the dinner. Add to this two or three tallow-candles stuck on a cocoa tin, and the fact that none of the officers had shaved, or had had their clothes off for a week, and had walked some forty-five miles through rivers and mud, and you will have some idea of how the officers' mess of one of the smartest of Her Majesty's foot regiments do for themselves in time of war. Not a murmur or complaint was to be heard." Their state must certainly have been pitiable, for it will be remembered that on the retirement from Dundee rations for four days only were loaded, and provisions for two months, besides all officers' and men's kit and hospital equipment, were left behind. And, sad to say, so also were the wounded. It was necessary for their future well-being to desert them. The men who had so gloriously led to victory now found themselves stranded and in a strange position--the vanquishers at the mercy of the vanquished! Most melancholy of all must have been the plight of those unhappy sufferers when they first learnt that their comrades were marching farther and farther away, and that they, in all their helplessness, must be left lonely--unloved, and perhaps untended--in charge of the enemy. One dares not think of the agonies of those sad souls--the nation's invalids--bereft of kindly words and kindred smiles; one cannot linger without a sense of emasculating weakness on the sad side-picture of battle that, in its dumb wretchedness, seems so much more paralysing than the active horror of facing shot and shell in company with glorious comrades in arms. Let us hope there was some one to whisper to them, to persuade them that all was for the best; that the safety of their sick selves and their sound mates depended on this retreat, this wondrous retreat which, when the tale of the war in its entirety shall be told, will shine like a dazzling light among records whose brilliancy in the history of British achievements cannot be excelled. Perhaps, too, they had faith to inspire them with the certainty that all that they had suffered in that dark hour for their country and for the weal of their fellows, would be remembered to their glory in the good times to come. While the retreat was going forward Glencoe's gallant hero was breathing his last. After hopelessly lingering for three days, General Sir W. Penn Symons passed away. He expired in the hands of the enemy at Dundee hospital on Monday the 23rd of October. The next day he was quietly buried with profound signs of mourning. SIR W. PENN SYMONS--GLENCOE By the death of Major-General Sir William Penn Symons, the British army lost a brilliant and distinguished soldier, and a man of great valour and courage. He came of a Cornish family, the founder of which was a Norman knight who came over with William the Conqueror. The eldest son of the late William Symons, Recorder of Saltash, he was born in 1843, and in 1863 joined the South Wales Borderers--the old 24th Regiment. He became lieutenant in 1866, captain in 1878, major in 1881, lieutenant-colonel in 1886, and colonel in 1887. His first experience of active service was in 1877, when the Borderers took the field against the Galekas. In the Zulu War of 1879 he served with distinction, but was not present at the battle of Isandlwana, being away from his regiment on special duty. In 1885 he served as Deputy-Assistant-Adjutant and Quarter-Master-General, organising and commanding the Mounted Infantry in the Burmese Expedition. Being honourably mentioned in dispatches for his services with the Chin Field Force, he received a brevet-colonelcy. In 1889-90 he was given a brigade in the Chin-Lusha Expedition, was again mentioned in despatches, made a C.B., and received the thanks of the Government of India. He commanded a brigade of the Waziristan Field Force in 1894-95 with like distinction, but he will best be remembered in connection with the campaign on the North-West Frontier of India in 1897-98, after which he was made a K.C.B. In 1898 he gave up his appointment in India and took command of the British troops in Natal. He was one of the best shots in the army, his military hobby in fact being musketry, though he was also a great authority on the subject of mounted infantry. He was a keen sportsman, an excellent linguist. He was highly respected by all who knew him. As an evidence of how he was regarded by his brother officers, one may quote from the telegram which was sent from Sir G. White to the War Office on the morrow of the battle of Glencoe. The communication said: "The important success is due to his great courage, fine generalship, and gallant example, and the confidence he gave to the troops under him." Mr. Winston Spencer Churchill's remarks about him, in a letter to the _Morning Post_, show how fully he was appreciated for his social as well as for his military qualities. "So Sir Penn Symons is killed! Well, no one would have laid down his life more gladly in such a cause. Twenty years ago the merest chance saved him from the massacre at Isandhlwana, and Death promoted him in an afternoon from subaltern to senior captain. Thenceforward his rise was rapid. He commanded the First Division of the Tirah Expeditionary Force among the mountains with prudent skill. His brigades had no misfortunes; his rearguards came safely into camp. In the spring of 1898, when the army lay around Fort Jumrood, looking forward to a fresh campaign, I used often to meet him. Every one talked of Symons, of his energy, of his jokes, of his enthusiasm. It was Symons who had built a racecourse on the stony plain; who had organised the Jumrood Spring Meeting; who won the principal event himself, to the delight of the private soldiers, with whom he was intensely popular; who, moreover, was to be first and foremost if the war with the tribes broke out again; and who was entrusted with much of the negotiations with their _jirgas_. Dinner with Symons in the mud tower of Jumrood Fort was an experience. The memory of many tales of sport and war remains. At the end the General would drink the old Peninsular toasts: 'Our Men,' 'Our Women,' 'Our Religions,' 'Our Swords,' 'Ourselves,' 'Sweethearts and Wives,' and 'Absent Friends'--one for every night in the week. The night I dined it was 'Our Men.' May the State in her necessities find others like him!" THE BATTLE OF REITFONTEIN On the morning of the 23rd, thirty men of the 18th Hussars rode into camp at Ladysmith, after having had some exciting adventures. The facts were these. On the arrival at Glencoe camp of the news of the Boer defeat at Elandslaagte, General Yule had detached a force to cut off the flying Boers. Unfortunately, the Hussars who were sent out for this purpose were themselves cut off, but at last, with the enemy at their heels, succeeded in fighting their way down a dangerous pass, and eventually effecting their escape. This, too, without the loss of a man! To return to the great retreat. While General Yule was falling back to effect a junction with General White, the latter officer conceived a brilliant plan to ensure the safety of the returning force. He was aware that Yule's column was marching _via_ the Helpmakaar road, Beith, and the Waschbank and Sunday River Valleys, and therefore, to cover the movement, he sent out a strong force to the west of the road. The force consisted of the 21st, 42nd, and 53rd Field Batteries, 1st Devons, 1st Liverpools, 1st Gloucesters, 2nd King's Royal Rifles (just arrived from Maritzburg), 19th Hussars, 5th Lancers, Natal Carabiniers, Border Mounted Rifles, and Imperial Light Horse. The enemy was already strongly posted on the kopjes a mile and a half west of the railway and two miles south-east of Modder Spruit station, in all, some seven miles from Ladysmith. It was necessary, therefore, to keep him well occupied, and divert his attention from the Dundee column. On both sides firing soon commenced, but our guns were promptly silenced. Then the British took up a position three-quarters of a mile west of the railway, and for some twenty minutes kept up a heavy artillery fire supplemented by sharp volleys from the infantry. Before long the kopjes were cleared and the object of the British attack accomplished. The main body of the Boers retired in the direction of Besters, a point to the south of Ladysmith, where, in the circumstances, it was more advisable for them to be. In this battle a great deal of sharpshooting, especially at officers, took place on the part of the foe, who also resorted to their old tactics of discharging their guns and running away, again discharging them and again running--a trick they had been mightily fond of in their dealings with the Zulus, and which was calculated to tire out the fleetest antagonists. Colonel Wilford of the 1st Gloucester Regiment was mortally wounded. Sir George White had a narrow escape, as the Boers turned their artillery on the Staff, and their first shell came screaming within fifteen yards of the General. Captain Douglas, 42nd Battery, had also a marvellous escape, his horse having been wounded and his haversack ripped open by a splinter. In this smart engagement, as Sir George White in his official statement declared, "Our side confined its efforts to occupying the enemy and hitting him hard enough to prevent his taking action against General Yule's column." The manoeuvre, as we know, was eminently successful, but was not executed without cost to those who assisted in it. The following was the official list of the officers killed and wounded:-- 1st Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment.--Killed: Lieutenant-Colonel and Colonel Edmund Percival Wilford. 42nd Battery Field Artillery.--Wounded: Lieutenant S. W. Douglas, shell-graze of abdomen, slight. 53rd Battery Field Artillery.--Major Anthony J. Abdy, shell-graze of right knee, slight; Lieutenant Arthur Montague Perreau, bullet wound, right leg, severe; Lieutenant George Herbert Stobart (from 34th Battery), bullet wound, finger, slight. 19th Hussars.--2nd Lieutenant A. Holford, bullet wound, slight. 1st Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment.--Lieutenant Carlos Joseph Hickie, slightly. The Boers, triumphant, entered Dundee about the same time as General Yule and his worn-out troops were being enthusiastically greeted in Ladysmith. They attacked the Dundee Town Guard, putting it to flight, and turned many civilians out of their houses. Later, they mounted two big guns at Intintanyone, some 4500 yards from the Ladysmith camp, and their energies pointed to further activities. LADYSMITH Here it may be as well to review the geographical position of this now famous place. Ladysmith, as a position for purposes of defence, is very badly situated. It lies in the cup of the hills, and stony eminences command it almost in a circle. Towards the north is Pepworth's Ridge, a flat-headed hill fringed at the base with mimosa bushes. North-east is Lombard's Kop, which is flanked by a family of smaller kopjes. South of this hill and east of Ladysmith is a table-headed hill called Umbulwana. South of this eminence runs the railway through the smaller stations of Nelthorpe and Pieters towards Colenso. To the west of Pepworth's Ridge is Surprise Hill, and other irregular hills which rise from four to five hundred feet on all sides. The place is watered by the Klip River, which enters the valley between the hills on the west, twists gracefully in front of the town, and turns away among the eastern hills before making its way to the south. The position, commanded as it was on every hand, was not an enviable one, but the glorious fellows who had fought in two brilliant engagements were in no wise disconcerted. [Illustration: OFFICER OF THE NINTH LANCERS. Photo by Gregory & Co., London.] Yet all were on the alert, for the Boers had now closed in round the town, and an engagement was hourly expected. A little desultory fighting took place, but when the British troops advanced, those of the Orange Free State at once retired towards the border. The town, however, was somewhat harassed for want of water, owing to the Boers having cut off the main pipes. The inconvenience was merely temporary, as the Klip River, which runs through the main position, was fairly pure, and there were wells which could be made serviceable. A captive balloon was inflated by the Royal Engineers, and was used for the purpose of making observations, much to the annoyance of the Dutchmen, who had securely perched themselves at points of vantage on the surrounding hills. They were at this time on the north and east, having laagered south-east of Modder Spruit and Vlaak Plaats, some seven miles from Ladysmith, and were preparing to arrange a closely-linked chain of earthworks that should effectually surround the garrison. An exchange of shots now and then, however, was all that took place for a while between the contending parties, though both sides were evidently gathering themselves together for some definite move. The situation was thus described by a captive in Ladysmith:-- "Saturday and Sunday have passed without any demonstration being made by the enemy. The camp has again assumed its condition of readiness and watchfulness. On Saturday afternoon it was rumoured that General Joubert, with the commando encamped at Sunday River, was experiencing difficulty in transporting the 40-pounders across the spruit, which was swollen after the heavy rains. Small parties of Boers are constantly on the alert, and are harassing the British outposts. "Scarcely a day passes without the outlying pickets being fired upon. The latest reports say that the enemy are gathered in considerable force on Dewdrop Farm. "Great excitement has been caused in the Artillery camp by the capture of a supposed spy, who was caught in the act of tampering with the guns. The man had eluded the vigilance of the sentry, and had opened the breech of one of the 15-pounders when he was noticed. He was promptly arrested. When asked what he was doing, he said he was a lieutenant in the 18th Battery. Questioned further, he contradicted himself, and said that it was quite by accident that he opened the breech. He admitted that he belonged to Johannesburg. He was marched off in custody of the guard. The sequel of the story has not been made public. "No camp followers are allowed, and all here have been ordered to leave. The enemy are now undoubtedly closing round Ladysmith. A large commando is reported to be on the Helpmakaar road, and a large camp has been formed between the Harrismith Railway Bridge and Potgieter's Farm. The camp on Dewdrop Farm extends for four miles. The enemy have an exceptional number of waggons. The Boer patrols are very venturesome; they have approached within three and a half miles of the town, and one party actually removed carcasses ready dressed for consumption from within the slaughtering lines." The prospect was far from cheering, particularly as Sir George White was well aware that his field-guns were ineffective against the powerful guns of position which the enemy were handling with unpleasant dexterity. At this critical period the united forces of Ladysmith and Glencoe only amounted to some 10,000 men, more than half of whom were infantry. The General, however, put the best face he could on the matter, telegraphed home for big guns--and waited! General Joubert now expressed his opinions on the causes of the war. His ideas, published in the German journals, were of interest as showing the sentiments of the opposite camp:-- "It was evident to our Government after the Jameson raid, that Great Britain would be forced in time by various sordid elements into a war of extermination with the Boers. It was equally clear that this danger could only be averted by armaments on a most extensive scale. We were conscious that the impending war of annihilation would incur the sharpest condemnation on the part of the other European Powers, but history had taught us that not one of these Powers would be roused to intervene in our favour. In these circumstances we had to rely on our own strength. "By indefatigable zeal and heavy sacrifices to augment our forces, and yet to secrete them from the observation of the British--these were the objects of our noblest exertion. Well, we succeeded, and hoodwinked the British. Spies were permitted to obtain glimpses of our obsolete artillery, but until the war was on the point of breaking out they had no suspicion of the formidable extent of our stores of modern material. "We counted on the unreliability of the British announcements concerning their own preparedness, and attended as little to their cries of 'To Pretoria!' as did the Germans in 1870 to the Parisian boasters who shouted 'À Berlin!' Without completely denuding her colonies of troops, Great Britain cannot possibly despatch more than about 85,000 men to South Africa. Of this imposing force, only half will be available for the chief battles. It may be possible for Great Britain to effect the landing in various places of these troops by the middle of December. I estimate, however, that the losses in prisoners, killed, sick, and wounded will amount in the meantime to some 10,000. There will thus remain 75,000 men. "Even should we fail to prevent the junction of the British troops under Sir Redvers Buller and be compelled to retreat, the British army would become from natural causes so debilitated that it would represent a force for operative purposes not exceeding 35,000. The remainder would have to be employed in protecting lines of communication extending some 700 miles. "Our lines of depôts, on the contrary, are in home territory. They are constructed at regular distances in three directions, and barely 500 men are necessary to cover them. Excellently-organised communications have been established between them, and if any one of them be seriously threatened, the stores--if rescue be impossible--will be destroyed. "Moreover, defensive warfare--to which we need not think, however, of resorting for a long time to come--is fraught with far greater advantages to us than offensive operations. With a change of _terrain_ there will be a change of tactics. In Natal and the south we have to deal with unfamiliar conditions. On the high plains of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State we shall be at home, and the British will meet opposition from us and from Nature at every step of the way, and at all times be prepared for action on two or three fronts. In this way will be developed a guerilla warfare of a most inconceivably bloody character, such as the British will be unable to endure for more than a few months." General Joubert then protested that the Boers were fighting merely for the freedom of their own "narrower" Fatherland, and not with a view to the destruction of British preponderancy in South Africa. He acknowledged the bravery of the British soldiers, but imagined that hardships and deprivations would so demoralise them that they would be unable to hold out against an enemy superior in numbers. "In these circumstances," he continued, "do not accuse me of boasting when I frankly say that victory will be ours. Every one of us is filled with the same conviction and unshakeable faith in God, that He will remain as true to us in this as in former wars, and that He will not allow the blood shed and to be shed in this struggle, that will probably last yet a year, to extinguish us and our children." THE BATTLE OF LOMBARD'S KOP Towards the end of October Sir George White decided that something must be done to protect his line of communication with the south. The Boers were spreading out in crescent form and drawing gradually nearer to the town. On the north were troops commanded by General Joubert. On the west was a Free State commando, and on the east was General Lucas Meyer, who owed us a grudge after the events of Talana Hill. Reinforced by troops from General Erasmus, he now desired to press towards the railway with a view to seizing it at some point south of the town. It was necessary at all costs to put a stop to this scheme. Colonel Ian Hamilton with an Infantry Brigade was therefore despatched on the 27th to Lombard's Kop, a hill some five miles east of Ladysmith. There he bivouacked for the night, with a view to clearing the enemy out at the point of the bayonet on the morrow. He never brought his plan into execution, however, for Sir George White, having been informed of the size of Meyer's force, ordered him to fall back on the town. On Sunday the 29th it was discovered that the Boers were intrenched in lines that extended over twenty miles, while "Long Tom," their six-inch gun, was perched on Pepworth Hill, its big ominous muzzle being situated some 7500 yards to the north of Ladysmith. In addition to this formidable weapon, field-guns with a range of some 8000 yards were posted about in well-concealed positions. For the protection of our line of communication it was necessary that the enemy, though three times as strong as the British force, should be dispersed, and that night, at half-past ten o'clock, Colonel Hamilton again set out with three battalions, the Devons, the Gordons, the Manchesters, and a Brigade Division of Artillery. The night was dark but clear, and the troops marched along the Newcastle Road to Limit Hill, a strong kopje some three miles north of Ladysmith, and half-way between that town and Pepworth Hill. There they bivouacked for the night. While this party was moving as described, a small force under Colonel Carleton, composed of four and a half companies of the Gloucestershire Regiment and six companies of the Royal Irish Fusiliers and No. 10 Mountain Battery, was moving towards Nicholson's Nek with a view of seizing it. But of Colonel Carleton's column anon. [Illustration: MAP OF LADYSMITH AND SURROUNDING HEIGHTS] On Colonel Ian Hamilton's right flank, towards Lombard's Kop, was Colonel Grimwood, with the 1st and 2nd King's Royal Rifles, the Liverpools, Leicesters, and Dublin Fusiliers, three Field-Batteries, and the Natal Volunteer Artillery. On the extreme right, when day broke, was General French with a Cavalry Brigade and some volunteers. The idea was, that while Colonel Grimwood was shelling the Boer position to the north of Lombard's Kop, General French should prevent any attempt to turn his right; the enemy's artillery silenced, Colonel Grimwood was to drive him along the ridge running to Pepworth, and, under cover of the British guns, press the Boers towards their centre. Meanwhile our centre, under Colonel Hamilton, was to attack a hill where the enemy was in force, rout him and join in the general scheme, while Colonel Carleton protected the centre from a flank movement. Unfortunately "the best laid schemes o' mice and men gang aft agley," and General White's admirable scheme failed, as we shall learn. An artillery duel began operations, and this continued for two long hours, while the warm spring morning developed, and the Boers, who had been warned of our plans and had changed their position during the night, were laughing in their sleeves at the capital surprise they had prepared. They had drawn off their men from the point that was to have been the objective of our centre, and extending and reinforcing their left, were calmly waiting our attack. The artillery duel continued till seven o'clock, our batteries with great difficulty searching out the enemy's position. Colonel Grimwood, with two battalions of the King's Royal Rifles, held the kopjes and ridges in front of Farquhar's Farm, while mounted infantry and troopers of the 18th Hussars, supported by the Liverpools and Leicesters, were posted on the hills on the right. Behind them came the artillery, who directed their fire at the hill above the farm, where the enemy was supposed to be intrenched. [Illustration: BEFORE LADYSMITH--HORSE ARTILLERY GALLOPING TO TAKE UP A NEW POSITION. Drawn by R. Caton Woodville.] The Boers, who in great hordes had streamed from the hills like a mountain torrent and concealed themselves in the surrounding ridges, now made all Colonel Grimwood's plans impossible. He seemed, indeed, in danger of being annihilated by sheer force of superior numbers, when troops from the centre were pushed forward to his support. A smart engagement ensued, the Boers making energetic efforts to penetrate the line between the Infantry and Artillery, while the 53rd Battery changed front to meet the attack and the 5th Lancers struggled to form up on the left of the rifle regiments. But the enemy's automatic quick-firing gun vomited forth its death-dealing steel with such persistence that the cavalry was forced to retire at a gallop. The gunners again came to the rescue, and six field-batteries, spread over in a semicircular front of three-quarters of a mile, sent their shrapnel over the heads of the infantry to crash on the ridges occupied by the Boers. At this critical moment, when the turmoil of warfare was at its hottest, and when our gallant troops were struggling unsuccessfully to hold their own against an overwhelming number of the enemy, a message came from Sir George White to retire. Some sort of a panic had taken place in the town, owing partly to the fact that the Boers were threatening it from another quarter, partly to the persistent shelling of "Long Tom," which, as some one described, was like a voluble virago, determined to have the last word! All efforts to silence the horrible weapon had failed, and for some three or four hours it had sent its eighty-four-pound shells shrieking into the town. There was no resource but to fall back, which was done to the appalling detonations of the Boer guns all going at once, while "Long Tom," like some prominent solo-singer, dominated the whole clamouring orchestra. To silence him and to cover the retreat, a Lieutenant of the _Powerful_, in charge of a gun drawn by a team of oxen, went out on the road between Limit Hill and Ladysmith. Before the gun could be got in position, however, "Long Tom" had spotted it--barked at it--overturned it, and killed several of the oxen. But his triumph was short-lived. Another rival performer had come on the scene, namely, the twelve-and-a-half-pounder of the Naval Brigade. It came, saw, and conquered, knocking out "Long Tom" at the fourth shot! [Illustration: TYPES OF ARMS--THE CREUSOT QUICK-FIRING FIELD GUN, OR "LONG TOM"] The whole action of the Naval Brigade reads like a fairy story. Ladysmith on the point of exhaustion, with all its troops engaged and no big guns wherewith to meet the terrific assaults of the six-inch cannon on Pepworth Hill, was almost in despair. At the eleventh hour up came the Naval Brigade under Captain the Hon. Hedworth Lambton of H.M.S. _Powerful_ with 280 Bluejackets, two 4.7 guns, and four twelve-and-a-half-pounders. Then the affair was done. It was just one, two, three, and away--for the fourth splendidly-directed shot saved the situation. In this engagement great feats of daring were accomplished, feats which have now become so general that we have almost ceased to gasp in wonder at the heroism of the "mere man" of the nineteenth century. When the regiments were forced to retire from the death-laden region of Lombard's Kop, Major Abdy of the 53rd Battery R.A., dashing across the plain under a storm of shells from a quick-firing gun, brought his battery between the enemy and the straggling mass of retreating soldiers. Horse and man rolled over, but the fire of the 53rd never slackened till the imminence of danger was past. The correspondent of the _Standard_, who was present, said: "When the moment came for the battery to fall back, the limber of one of the guns had been smashed and five horses in one team had been killed. Captain Thwaites sent back for another team and waggon limber, and brought back the disabled gun under a concentrated fire from the enemy, who were not more than four hundred yards distant. Lieutenant Higgins, of the same battery, also distinguished himself for gallantry. One of the guns was overturned in a donga. In the face of a close and heavy fire the Lieutenant succeeded in righting the gun and bringing it into a place of safety." The following is a list of killed and wounded among the officers who were engaged on Lombard's Kop:-- 13th Field Battery, R.A.--Major John Dawkins, wounded, slightly. 42nd Field Battery.--Lieutenant James Taylor M'Dougall, killed. 69th Field Battery.--Lieutenant Harold Belcher, bullet wound, forearm, severely. 1st Battalion King's Royal Rifles.--Major W. T. Myers (7th Battalion), Lieutenant H. S. Marsden, and Lieutenant T. L. Forster, killed; Lieutenant H. C. Johnson, bullet wound in shoulder, severely. 2nd Battalion King's Royal Rifles.--Major H. Buchanan Riddell, bullet wound, abdomen, severe. 1st Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment.--Captain Willcock, bullet wound, shoulder and wrist; Captain Bertram Fyffe, bullet wound, forearm and chest, severe; Captain Frederick Staynes, bullet wound, forearm, severe. Royal Army Medical Corps.--Major Edward G. Gray, killed. Natal Mounted Rifles.--Lieutenant W. Chapman, killed. THE DISASTER OF NICHOLSON'S NEK The circumstances which attended the movements of Colonel Carleton's column are even now somewhat fraught with mystery. He carried out the night march unmolested until within two miles of Nicholson's Nek. Then some boulders, loosened evidently for the purpose, rolled down the hill, and a sudden crackling roll of musketry stampeded the infantry ammunition mules. The alarm became infectious, with the result that the battery mules also broke loose from their leaders, practically carrying with them the whole of the gun equipment. The greater part of the regimental small-arm ammunition reserve was similarly lost. In consequence of this misfortune, Colonel Carleton's small force, after a plucky fight and heavy loss, had to capitulate. The real truth about the affair may never be known, but for the lamentable result Sir George White in an official dispatch, with heroic courage--greater perhaps than any required by warriors in the field--took upon himself the entire blame. The General knew well that the failure of his programme in the engagement of Lombard's Kop had inevitably brought about the disaster to the isolated force. The list of officers taken prisoners by Boers was as follows:-- Staff.--Major W. Adye. 1st Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers.--Lieutenant-Colonel F. R. C. Carleton; Majors F. H. Munn and C. S. Kincaid; Captains Burrows, Rice, wounded, and Silver, severely wounded; Lieutenants A. E. S. Heard, C. E. Southey, W. G. B. Phibbs, A. H. C. MacGregor, H. B. Holmes, A. L. J. M. Kelly, W. D. Dooner, wounded; Second Lieutenants R. J. Kentish, C. E. Kinahan, R. W. R. Jeudwine; Chaplain Father Matthews. 1st Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment.--Majors S. Humphrey, H. Capel Cure, and W. R. P. Wallace; Captains S. Duncan and R. Conner, both slightly wounded; Lieutenants A. Bryant, F. C. Nisbet, J. O'D. Ingram, R. M. M. Davy, C. S. Knox, W. A. M. Temple, A. H. Radice, F. A. Breul, W. L. B. Hill, P. H. Short; Second Lieutenants H. H. Smith, W. S. Mackenzie, R. L. Beasley, Lieutenant and Quartermaster R. J. Gray. Royal Artillery Mountain Battery.--Major G. E. Bryant; Lieutenants Wheeler, G. R. H. Nugent, W. H. Moore, Webb (attached): Newspaper Correspondent, J. Hyde. Some details of their misfortune were given by the prisoners in Pretoria, and they serve to throw more light on the subject. Colonel Carleton, as we know, was sent towards Nicholson's Nek to hold it and prevent the Free Staters from coming to the assistance of the other Boers. Having lost his reserve ammunition and the water of all the battery through the stampede of the mules, he set to work to construct a defensive position. But stones were scarce and the defences were slender, and by the light of dawn his position was revealed. At this time a long-range fire was opened from three hills to south and west, dropping from 1500 yards into the position, and taking it both in flank and in rear. From his observations Colonel Carleton discovered that General White's scheme had failed--that it was being abandoned. In consequence of this failure the whole Boer force was enabled to swarm from all directions towards the isolated column. Firing fierce and incessant, exhausted the already worn-out Irish Fusiliers, while the advanced companies of the Gloucesters were severely mauled by the Martini bullets of the enemy. The hill was now completely surrounded, the ammunition expended; still Colonel Carleton had no idea of giving in. The bayonet was left, and by the bayonet he meant to stand or fall. Suddenly a wounded officer ordered the white flag to be raised. It was then hoisted, but uncertainty prevailed as to the authority for the exhibition of the flag, and some of our men still continued to fire. However, the mischief was done, and the surrender was merely a matter of moments. The most vivid account of the disaster, from an outsider's point of view, was given by the _Times_ special correspondent at Ladysmith. He wrote:-- "This column, consisting of six companies of the Royal Irish Fusiliers, four and a half companies of the Gloucestershire Regiment, and No. 10 Mountain Battery, left camp on Sunday night at 10.30, with the object of occupying a position from which it would be able to operate upon the right of the Boer position on Pepworth Hill. The column was guided by Major Adye, of the Field Intelligence, and a staff of the headquarters guides. Their destination was Nicholson's Nek, a position which, when reconnoitred from this side, appeared to possess the necessary tactical advantages for a detached force. Nicholson's Nek lies about four miles up Bell's Spruit, a donga due north of Ladysmith. The men blundered along in the darkness, the Irish Fusiliers leading, the battery in the centre, the rear being brought up by the Gloucestershire Regiment. There seems no doubt upon one point, and that is, the enemy were aware of this part of the movement from the beginning. Probably they were aware of the whole of the plans for Monday, for in Ladysmith it was impossible to say who was a Boer agent and who not. However that may be, it is certain that the enemy were on the flanks of the column all night, one of the survivors positively stating that he constantly heard the snapping of breeches, and once the peculiar noise which a rifle makes at night when it is dropped. "Two hours before daybreak, while the column was in enclosed country, either a shot was fired or a boulder rolled into the battery in column of route. The mules stampeded, and easily broke away from their half-asleep drivers. They came back upon the Gloucestershire Regiment, the advance party of whom fired into the mass, believing in the darkness that it was an attack. This added to the chaos; the ranks were broken by the frenzied animals, and they dashed through the ranks of the rearguard, carrying the first and second reserve ammunition animals with them. It became a hopeless panic; the animals, wild with the shouting and the turmoil, tore down the nullah into the darkness, and the last that was heard of them was the sound of ammunition-boxes and panniers as they were splintered against the boulders. The hubbub of those few minutes was sufficient to have alarmed the enemy. By a strenuous effort the officers succeeded in getting the men again under control, and when daylight came they seized the first position which presented itself, and which was about two miles short of the original goal. They were forced to take advantage of the first kopje, as Boer scouts were all round them, and the day was ushered in with desultory firing. It was a sorry position which they had chosen, and the men were in a sorrier plight. All their reserve ammunition was gone, and though they had saved pieces of the screw-guns, they were not able with these pieces to patch up a single mounting. "The position itself was a flat kopje commanded on the south by a self-contained ridge. To the east was another kopje, which commanded the top of the position at about 500 yards. On the west were two similar spurs, also commanding the position at short ranges. The summit of the kopje was a plateau, all the sides being gradual slopes except the eastern, which was almost sheer, this latter being the side from which access had been gained. From below it appeared a defensible position, but when once the top was reached it was evident that it was commanded from all sides. The men busied themselves attempting to build breastworks. The Gloucestershire companies, with their Maxim gun, were given the northern face to hold, two companies being detached on to a self-contained ridge of the position which lay on the south side. The Irish Fusiliers had the precipitous flank to defend. "From earliest daybreak Boer scouts were reconnoitring, and about eight o'clock mounted Boers could be seen galloping in small groups to the cover at the reverse of the hill on the west. Later two strong parties of mounted men took position on the far side of the two hills commanding the kopje from the west. About nine o'clock these two parties had crowned the hills and opened a heavy fire at short ranges right down upon the plateau. Our men made a plucky attempt to return this fire, but it was impossible; they were under a cross-fire from two directions, flank and rear. The two companies of Gloucesters holding the self-contained ridge were driven from their shelter, and as they crossed the open on the lower plateau were terribly mauled, the men falling in groups. The Boers on the west had not yet declared themselves, but about 200 marksmen climbed to the position which the two companies of the Gloucesters had just vacated. These men absolutely raked the plateau, and it was then that the men were ordered to take cover on the steep reverse of the kopje. As soon as the enemy realised this move, the men on the western hill teemed on to the summit and opened upon our men as they lay on the slope. They were absolutely hemmed in, and what had commenced as a skirmish seemed about to become a butchery. The grim order was passed round--'Faugh-a-Ballaghs, fix your bayonets and die like men!' There was the clatter of steel, the moment of suspense, and then the 'Cease fire' sounded. Again and again it sounded, but the Irish Fusiliers were loth to accept the call, and continued firing for many minutes. Then it was unconditional surrender and the men laid down their arms." [Illustration: GENERAL JOUBERT. Photo by Elliott & Fry, London.] An officer of the Gloucestershire Regiment described the affair thus:-- "HOSPITAL, WYNBERG, 9/11/1899. "We were ordered out with six companies of Royal Irish Fusiliers and No. 10 Mountain Battery, Royal Artillery, to make a night march through the Boer lines and hold a hill behind their right flank till the rest of the troops took us off, which they expected to do about 11 A.M. As it turned out, they were not able to do this, but they did keep the Boer guns employed, luckily for us. We started off at 8.30 P.M., and got to the foot of our hill about 2 A.M. The Royal Irish Fusiliers were in front, then the battery and S.A.A. mules, and last ourselves. The Royal Irish Fusiliers had got part way up the hill--a very steep one--when three mounted Boers galloped down amid clouds of dust, rolling stones, &c. They started off the battery and S.A.A. mules, the Boers firing as they passed. The mules cut right through the regiment, and all was chaos for a time. "It was pitch dark, and the noise of the mules and the loads and the stores falling about was enough to put any one off. Several men were hurt, some got in next day, some are missing.--Part of Stayner's, Fyffe's, and my company were cut off from the rest altogether, and when we got them in some sort of order, we had quite lost the rest of the column. The orders were to push on, no matter what happened, and every one left to look out for himself. After some time trying to find the path, we came across a straggler, who told us which way the regiment had gone, and eventually we found them on the top of a hill. We were ordered, as soon as we got on the hill, to put up sangars, which we worked at by the light of a very small moon till daylight. Then the Boers began on us all round, not very many, till about half-past eight. From then till 2.30 the fire was hot, and hottest at 2.30, when our ammunition being almost down and the fire devilish from all sides, we had to give in. "I got a grazing shot on my left hand and a bullet in my right forearm early (about 8.30 A.M., and two more grazers--right thigh and left elbow)--later, finally, a bullet from behind through the right shoulder about a quarter of an hour before the end. I don't know who gave the order to 'Cease fire.' The firing could not have gone on five minutes more on our side for want of ammunition, and the Boer fire was tremendous from all round. It was like 'magazine independent' at the end of field-firing. The astonishing thing is so few were hit. If we had had our guns and ammunition, I think we could have held on until night and then got off, but there were 1200 of them, they said, to our 800, not counting gunners, and you could not till the very end see a dozen of them. The way they take cover is simply wonderful. All the prisoners were marched off at once and sent by rail to Pretoria. It was a terribly hot day, and no shade or water except what the Boers gave us. They were very good about water, giving us all they had, and fetching more from the bottom of the hill, one and a half mile away." An officer of the Royal Irish Fusiliers, writing from Staatsmodel Schule, Pretoria, said:-- "We were all taken prisoners, together with the Gloucester Regiment and a Battery of Mounted Artillery, which accounts for us being in Pretoria so soon. As we were going up the hill in the dark, a small party of Boers dashed through our ammunition mules, causing them to stampede. By this move we lost all our mules, 200 in all, and with them all our ammunition and artillery.... You don't know what it means shooting a Boer; he is behind a rock, and all you can ever see is his rifle sticking out. For the last hour of the fight I had a rifle and ammunition which I took from a dead man, and blazed away for all I was worth. Then we fixed bayonets and prepared for a rush, when the 'Cease fire' sounded. Our senior Captain has told me that my name has been mentioned to our Colonel, who was commanding the force, as having caused a lot of men to rally. We were all then taken prisoners, except two officers killed and eight wounded, and marched to the Boer laager, and sent off that night to a station twenty miles distant in waggons. While we were in their laager they treated us extremely well, and gave us food and tobacco. All you read about the Boers in England is absolutely untrue. They are most kind to the wounded and prisoners, looking after them as well as their own wounded, and anything they've got they will give you if you ask them, even if they deprive themselves. We came up to Pretoria in first-class sleeping-carriages, and the way they treated us was most considerate, feeding us and giving us coffee every time we stopped. The day we arrived we took up quarters on the racecourse, but we have been moved into a fine brick building with baths, electric light, &c. They provide us with everything, from clothes down to tooth-brushes. They also feed us, and we are constantly getting presents of vegetables and cigars from private people. In fact, we can have everything we like except our liberty; for some reason or other they won't at present give us parole, and we are surrounded by sentries. There are close upon fifty officers in this building, and they have got any amount of wounded ones in different places. They say they won't exchange the officers at any price." As this letter had evidently to pass through the hands of the prison censor, we may take the eulogies of the Boers for what they were worth! However, it is but just to own that there are Boers and Boers. For instance, it is a fact that Captain Gerard Rice, who was wounded in the ankle and unable to move, offered a Boer half-a-sovereign to carry him off the field. The man refused the money, but performed the action with great kindness. Father L. Matthews, chaplain of the Royal Irish Fusiliers, who was captured at Nicholson's Nek on October 31 and subsequently released, gave the following version of the disaster:-- "We were sent out to occupy the position with the object of preventing the two Boer forces from joining. We started at 8.30 on Sunday night, marched ten miles, and got to the hill at 1 A.M. The first mishap was that the mountain battery stampeded and scattered the whole lot of mules. We formed up again and gained the top of the hill. The guns were gone, but not all the ammunition. I do not know what stampeded the mules. They knocked me down. It was pitch dark. "We had one hour's sleep. Firing began just after daylight. It was slack for some time, but the Boers crept round. Then the firing became furious. Our men made a breastwork of stones. "After 12 o'clock there was a general cry of 'Cease fire' in that direction. Our fellows would not stop firing. Major Adye came up and confirmed the order to cease fire. Then the bugle sounded 'Cease fire.' In our sangar there was a rumour that the white flag was raised by a young officer who thought his batch of ten men were the sole survivors. "We were 900 alive, having started perhaps 1000. I think that many of the battery men escaped. Our men and officers were furious at surrendering. The Boers did not seem to be in great numbers on the spot, but I heard that the main body had galloped off. "The men had to give up their arms. The officers were sent to Commandant Steenekamp. The officers then ordered the men to fall in. The officers were taken away from the men and sent to General Joubert. On the same day the officers went in mule-waggons and slept at some store _en route_, and next day took the train at Waschbank for Pretoria. The officers are very well treated, and so, I have heard, are the men. There has been no unpleasantness in Pretoria. The officers are in the Model School, and are allowed to walk as they please in the grounds. "I think that the surrender was a great blunder, and was caused by a misunderstanding. Major Adye was much put out. The white flag was not hoisted by the Irish Fusiliers." Father Matthews puts the case mildly. Some of the officers of the Irish Fusiliers were so exasperated at the exhibition of the white flag, that they set to work and smashed their swords rather than give them up. The final figures of the losses sustained at Nicholson's Nek were as follows: The total of missing of the Gloucesters and Royal Irish Fusiliers was 843. Thirty-two of the Gloucesters, 10 of the Fusiliers, and 10 of the Mountain Battery were found dead on the field, while 150 wounded were brought into camp at Ladysmith. Between 70 and 100 of the men escaped and got back to camp. THE SIEGE OF LADYSMITH It was now found necessary to issue a proclamation giving all strangers the option of leaving the town at twenty-four hours' notice. In spite of this notice, however, many civilians remained. Meanwhile, shells continued to drop uproariously, if harmlessly, into the town, while the balloon corps worked steadily in their task of locating the hostile guns. The enemy objected to that original form of spy, and aimed at him many a shot, but, fortunately, without effect. The Naval Brigade, always animated, active, and efficient, completed the mounting of the long-range guns which were to add to the safety of the place and the discomfiture of its besiegers. On the whole, the position was becoming somewhat serious, particularly for those whose nerves were unaccustomed to the uproar of diurnal thunderstorms. Lord Wolseley has somewhere said that "the effect of artillery fire is more moral than actual; it kills but very few, but its appalling noise, the way it tears down trees, knocks houses into small pieces, and mutilates the human frame when it does hit, strikes terror into all but the stoutest hearts." It may be imagined that the early days of this experience must have been somewhat embarrassing, though later on, so attuned became the nerves, even of women, that they engaged in shopping in the midst of bombardment, quite unmoved. On 2nd November at 2.30 P.M. the telegraphic communication with Ladysmith was interrupted, but it was undecided whether the Boers had got sufficiently far south to promote the interruption or whether the wires had been cut by Dutch sympathisers or small scouting parties of the enemy. The Boers applied for an armistice with a view to burying their dead, their real object most probably being, as in many previous cases of a similar nature, to obtain time for refitting their heavy guns. This request was refused, but they were permitted to bury their slain under a flag of truce. Meanwhile, General Joubert's force received large reinforcements of Free State burghers under the command of Lucas Meyer, and additional commandoes from the Middleburgh and Leydenburg districts under Schalkburger were expected. After this the siege of Ladysmith began in real earnest. "Long Tom," though temporarily incapacitated, soon resumed his volubility, and was assisted by another of his calibre nicknamed "Slim Piet." Curiously enough, the first house hit during the siege was a commodious bungalow-shaped residence with large verandah belonging to Mr. Carter, the author of the now well-known "Narrative of the Boer War." The owner fortunately had left before the bombardment, and the premises were then occupied by nurses. [Illustration: TYPES OF ARMS--12-POUNDER NAVAL GUN ON IMPROVISED CARRIAGE] [Illustration: TYPES OF ARMS--4.7-INCH NAVAL GUN ON IMPROVISED MOUNTING] Lieut. Frederick Egerton, of the _Powerful_, who was wounded by a shell in the left knee and right foot, was promoted to the rank of Commander in Her Majesty's fleet for special services with the forces in South Africa. But his promotion came too late. He expired after some hours of suffering.[4] The Boers by now had established batteries on Grobler's Kloof, a commanding eminence from whence they could attack both Ladysmith on the north and Colenso on the south. Women and children vacated the place, and the trains coming in and out had to run the gantlet of the Boer fire, both Nordenfeldt quick-firing guns and Mauser rifles being brought to bear on the refugees. The Boers, however, continued to salute the town without much effect, while the naval gunners replied with telling emphasis. They succeeded in dismounting the Boers' 40-pounder which had been so comfortably posted on Pepworth's Hill. The carriages and platforms on which the naval guns were mounted at Ladysmith, and which proved so important a feature in promoting the defence of the place, were specially designed by Captain Percy Scott of the cruiser _Terrible_. In regard to this officer's resourcefulness the _Times_ expressed an opinion that is worthy of remembrance:-- "Captain Percy Scott, of the _Terrible_, came to the rescue, adding one more to the numerous instances in which this country has owed to individual resource and initiative its escape from the disasters invited by the incompetence of the War Office. There is no need to inquire just now into the balance of political and military considerations which determined the policy of making a stand at Ladysmith. It is enough that that policy was definitely adopted in ample time to allow of providing Ladysmith with the long-range guns which its position renders peculiarly necessary, dominated as it is by hills on three sides. Why were such guns not provided? Why was it left to fortunate accident to furnish the garrison at the very last moment with the means of defence? The conclusions of German military science, as will have been noted by all who read the interesting account of German manoeuvres which we published yesterday, are all in favour of saving the lives of the infantry by a very free use of artillery at long ranges. The country around Ladysmith seems to be one that calls loudly for even a more lavish artillery equipment than might normally suffice. Yet, in spite of science and of common-sense, the Ladysmith garrison, occupying a predetermined position open to artillery fire from all sides, was left absolutely destitute of long-range guns, and none too well provided with field-artillery. But that Captain Scott proved himself able, just in time, to improvise out of the rough materials at hand an effective gun-carriage, there would have been nothing to prevent the Boers from using their big guns at half the distance they have actually had to keep." At this time British troops were withdrawn from Colenso and moved farther south, and Boer armies continued to close round Ladysmith. Isimbulwana Hill, lying east of Ladysmith, was taken possession of, and a force advancing from Dewdrop, on the west of the town, moved south towards Colenso, and there on high ground posted its guns. Yet, in spite of this, the town showed itself to be "all alive and kicking." Though cut off from the telegraph, it sent out pigeon-posts; though engirdled by Boers, it made sorties of the most animated description, and literally laughed at the hint of surrender. On the 2nd, Colonel Brocklehurst made an attack on the enemy's laagers with a force of cavalry, mounted infantry, and mounted volunteers, surprising the Dutchmen and driving them back with comparatively small loss, and on the following day fighting lasted for some hours between the British cavalry, supported by field-artillery, Imperial Light Horse, and Natal Mounted Volunteers, and the Republicans. Many shells were pitched into the town, and an artillery duel rampaged with such relentless vigour that the general sensation to those who remained enclosed in the town was as though a thunderstorm with earthquake was passing over the place. Nothing worse happened, and the enemy for a while were driven back to their camp and some thirty or more prisoners were taken. Major Charles Kincaid, 1st Royal Irish Fusiliers, with nine wounded prisoners, was exchanged by the Boers for eight of their countrymen in similar plight. Others of them were not fit to travel. The enemy continued active, replacing disabled guns with new ones and dragging fresh powerful weapons to bear on the situation. On the 4th of November they announced their annexation of Upper Tugela, and a counter-proclamation of the nature already quoted was issued by the Governor. A large commando of the enemy commenced the bombardment of Colenso, and the troops forming the garrison of that place fell back on Estcourt, where was stationed a force of considerable strength. By "considerable strength" it must be understood that the force was sufficiently strong for purposes of defence, though not for purposes of offence. As a matter of fact, the force in Natal was not, and has not since been, sufficiently strong for attack of a foe in such powerfully intrenched positions. From beginning to end our military commanders on that side of the theatre of war were sorely handicapped by the tardy recognition by the Home Government of the gravity of the situation. But here it is now desirable that something should be said of the early history of the towns of Mafeking and Kimberley, which, like Ladysmith, were by this time almost completely isolated, rails and telegraph wires having been cut around both places respectively. [Illustration: LADYSMITH, NATAL. Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.] FOOTNOTES: [1] Colonel Sherston, D.S.O., of the Rifle Brigade, in which he held the rank of Major, was a son of the late Captain Sherston, of Evercreech House, Somerset, and a nephew of Lord Roberts. He entered the army on February 12, 1876, and on the Afghan War breaking out two years later was appointed aide-de-camp to his uncle, then Sir Frederick Roberts. He was present in the engagement at Charasiah on October 6, 1879, and the subsequent pursuit of the enemy, his services being mentioned in despatches. A similar distinction fell to his lot in connection with the operations around Cabul in 1879, including the investment of Sherpore. He accompanied Lord Roberts in the famous march to Candahar, and was present at the battle at that place, when he was again mentioned in despatches. His services during the operations were rewarded with the medal with three clasps and the bronze decoration. In 1881 he took part in the Mahsood Wuzeeree Expedition, and on August 20, 1884, he received his company. He served with the Burmese Expedition in 1886-87 as D.A.A. and Q.G. on the Headquarters Staff, and was again mentioned in despatches and received the Distinguished Service Order and the medal with clasp. On October 15, 1898, A.A.G. in Bengal. [2] Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Henry Gunning, of the 1st King's Royal Rifles, was the eldest son of Sir George William Gunning, fifth Baronet, of Little Horton House, Northampton, the Chairman of the Conservative Party in Mid-Northamptonshire, by his marriage with Isabella Mary Frances Charlotte, daughter of the late Colonel William Chester-Master, of the Abbey, Cirencester, and was born on July 17, 1852. Educated at Eton, he entered the army as a sub-lieutenant on March 26, 1873, and was gazetted to the 60th Foot (now the King's Royal Rifle Corps) as a lieutenant on September 9, 1874. He served in the Zulu War of 1879 with the third battalion of his regiment, and was present at the action of Gingindhlovu and the relief of Ekowe, afterwards serving as adjutant of the battalion throughout the operations of "Clarke's Column," for which he wore the medal with clasp. He was gazetted captain in August 1883, was an adjutant of the Auxiliary Forces (the 5th Militia Battalion of the King's Royal Rifles) from March 1886 to March 1891, having obtained the rank of major on June 25, 1890. In 1891-92 he took part in the war in Burma, being engaged in the operations in the Chin Hills in command of the Baungshe column, for which he wore a second medal with clasp. His commission as lieutenant-colonel bore date April 16, 1898. Colonel Gunning, who was in the Commission of the Peace for the county of Northants, married in 1880 Fanny Julia, daughter of the late Mr. Clinton George Dawkins, formerly Her Majesty's Consul-General at Venice. [3] Colonel John James Scott Chisholme, who was killed at Elandslaagte, belonged to the 5th (Royal Irish) Lancers, and who was detached on special service in South Africa, came of an old Scottish family, the Chisholmes of Stirches, Roxburghshire, his family seat being situate at the latter place. He was the only son of the late Mr. John Scott Chisholme (who assumed the name of Scott in 1852 under the will of his uncle, Mr. James Scott of Whitehaugh), by his marriage with Margaret, eldest daughter and co-heir of the late Mr. Robert Walker of Mumrells, Stirlingshire, and was born in 1851. He entered the army in January 1872, his first services being with the 9th Lancers, and reached the rank of captain in March 1878. From that year till 1880 he served with the 9th Lancers in the Afghan War, was present at the capture of Ali Musjid, took part in the affair of Siah Sung, where he was severely wounded, and in the operations around Cabul in December 1879, when he was again wounded, and obtained mention in despatches, being rewarded with the brevet of major (May 2, 1881), and the medal with two clasps. He reached the substantive rank of major in December 1884, and from that year till 1889 was a major of the 9th Lancers, when he was transferred to the 5th Lancers. He was Military Secretary to Lord Connemara when Governor of Madras from 1888 to 1891. He reached the rank of lieutenant-colonel in August 1894, and that of colonel on August 12, 1898. [4] Commander Egerton was a nephew of the Duke of Devonshire and of the first Earl of Ellesmere. He was the son of the late Admiral the Hon. Francis Egerton, M.P. for East Derbyshire, 1868-86. Commander Egerton, who was in his thirty-first year, entered the navy seventeen years ago. He became a lieutenant in 1891, and in 1897 he was appointed gunnery officer in the cruiser _Powerful_, having specially qualified in gunnery. He possessed honorary certificates from the Royal Naval College, but he had had no previous experience of war service. CHAPTER II THE SIEGE OF MAFEKING President Kruger's Ultimatum having been accepted in its full significance, General Cronje crossed the border and the telegraph wires to Mafeking were cut. Mafeking is a smart little town on the Bechuanaland Railway. It stands about eight miles from the Transvaal border, about 200 miles north of Kimberley, and some 875 miles from Cape Town. It is the headquarters of the Bechuanaland Border Police, a crack corps, whose every member is thoroughly wide-awake and well versed in the niceties of the guerilla style of warfare favoured of the Boers. In the town is the "Surrey Hotel" and others; English, Dutch, and Wesleyan churches; a cricket-ground and a racecourse. Its supplies, in time of peace, are drawn from Dutch farms situated in the Marico Valley, while its pure water is drawn from the springs at Rooi Grond in the Transvaal territory. Mafeking itself is less than a mile square. The railroad, running north and south, takes a westerly bend as it crosses the Molopo River some 300 yards south of the town. In this westerly direction is a native Stadt, a constellation of mushroom huts wherein the blacks congregate. To east, north, and west the surrounding country is flat; elsewhere it rises and affords a certain amount of cover. Towards the south-east is Sir Charles Warren's old fort, named Cannon Kopje, which was viewed as the key of the position and promptly rendered impregnable. In the north-west corner of the town was the railway station, now useless; on the north-east, the convent; on the south-east, Ellis House; and south-west, the Pound, near which were the quarters of the British South African Police. The population of the town consisted of some 2000 whites, while in the Stadt, owing to the presence of native refugees, there were about 7000 blacks. On the outbreak of hostilities, Colonel Baden-Powell, who had been sent out on special service to South Africa to report on the defences of Rhodesia, applied himself at once to face a situation which made demands on all his extensive capabilities. In the very early days of the investment he got guns into position and made dashing sorties, determining to show the besiegers that they would not have what in popular phrase is known as "a walk over." So great was the versatility of this officer, that, while these energetic measures for the protection of those around him were going forward, he yet managed to correct and send home proofs of a "Manual on Scouting," a work at the moment most interesting and precious to the military man, while to the layman it makes as good reading as the "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes." In Mafeking was also Major Lord Edward Cecil (Grenadier Guards), D.S.O., the fourth son of the Prime Minister--whose activity and energy were remarkable, even in a community where those qualities were ubiquitous--and Captain Gordon Wilson (Royal Horse Guards), with his wife, Lady Sarah Wilson, a lady of much enterprise, to whose energies the garrison owed not a little. Among others there were Colonel Hore (South Staffordshire Regiment), Major Godley (Royal Dublin Fusiliers), Captain Marsh (Royal West Kent Regiment), Captain Vernon (King's Royal Rifles), Captain FitzClarence (Royal Fusiliers), Lord Charles Cavendish-Bentinck (9th Lancers), the Hon. H. Hanbury-Tracy (Royal Horse Guards), Lieut. Singleton (Highland Light Infantry), Captain the Hon. D. Marsham (4th Bedfordshire Regiment), Captain Pechell (3rd King's Royal Rifles), and Major Anderson (R.A.M.C.). There were in addition several Colonial officers who proved themselves the soul of activity--notably Captain Goodyear, Captain Nesbitt, V.C., Lieuts. Paton and Murchison, and several others. Colonel Vyvyen and Major Panzera also worked like Trojans to secure the safety of the town. Major Baillie of the _Morning Post_ made himself useful in every capacity. Later on he forwarded a description of the garrison which gave a good idea of the splendid plan of organisation adopted. He said:-- "The town was garrisoned by the Cape Police under Captains Brown and Marsh. These and the Railway Volunteers were under Colonel Vivian, while Cannon Kopje was entrusted to Colonel Walford and the B.S.A.P. Colonel Baden-Powell retained one squadron of the Protectorate Regiment as reserve under his own immediate control. These arrangements were subsequently much augmented. After the convent had been practically demolished by shell-fire, and the railway line all round the town pulled up or mined during the close investment by the Boers, the small work was erected at the convent corner, garrisoned by the Cape Police and a Maxim under Lieutenant Murray, who was also put in charge of the armoured train, which had been withdrawn to the railway station out of harm's way. "The Railway Volunteers garrisoned the cemetery, and had an advance trench about 800 yards to the front and immediately to the right of the line. To the westward came Fort Cardigan, and then again Fort Miller; to the south-west was Major Godley's Fort, at the north of the native stadt, with Fort Ayr, and an advance fort crowning the down to the northern end of the stadt, and though rather detached, having command of the view for a great distance. To the south of the northern portion of the stadt the Cape Police were intrenched with a Maxim, and 500 yards to the west front of Captain Marsh's post lay Limestone Fort, commanding the valley, on the other side of which lay the Boer laager and intrenchments. At the south-western corner, and on the edge of the stadt Captain Marsh's fort was situated. The whole of the edge of the stadt was furnished with loopholes and trenches, and was garrisoned by the native inhabitants. Near the railway were situated two armoured trucks with a Nordenfeldt, and Cannon Kopje with two Maxims and a 7-pounder lay to the south-east. And now to the immediate defences of the town. At the south-western corner is the Pound, garrisoned by Cape Police under Captain Marsh, then eastwards is Early's Fort, Dixon's Redan, Ball's Fort, Ellis's corner, with Maxim and Cape Police, under Captain Brown. On the eastern front are Ellitson's Kraal, Musson's Fort, De Kock's Fort with Maxim, Recreation Ground Fort. To the left of the convent lies the Hospital Fort. All these, unless otherwise mentioned, are defended by the Town Guard." Operations began on the 12th with an episode that cannot afford to be forgotten. It was discovered that two trucks of dynamite were in the station yard, and it was at once decided, for the safety of the population, that they must be removed. An engine was, therefore, despatched in charge of a plucky driver (Perry) for the purpose of conveying the trucks into the open, where they might explode without danger to the town. While he was engaged in the work of deporting the destructive material, the enemy suddenly appeared and commenced to fire. Perry, with the utmost coolness, a coolness which in the circumstances was nothing less than heroism, uncoupled his engine, and leaving the trucks to their fate, steamed back to the town. Before he could reach his destination, however, the shock of an awful detonation greeted his ears. The Boers had again fired on the trucks, believing them to be full of passengers, and, as a natural consequence, the dynamite had exploded! The garrison, numbering from 800 to 1000, now began to furbish itself up, to arm and practise with the rifle. The old forts round the place were put into repair, and the armoured train, with a Maxim gun and a Nordenfeldt, was made ready for coming excursions. Nothing was neglected. It was well known that the Boers looked upon the town as their personal property, and when it came to fighting, meant to make it so--if they could! The two available regiments, the Protectorate Regiment and the Mounted Police, spent most of their time manoeuvring, with a view to awakening the intelligent interests of the ranks and instructing the men on the nature of the ground in the vicinity. Colonel Baden-Powell lost no opportunity of preparing for the gallant Cronje, and, in order to show that he did not mean to be caught napping, some nights were passed by the garrison in their day kit. On the 12th October an armoured train that was escorting two light guns of old pattern from the Cape to Mafeking was seized by the Boers, who had torn up the rails at Kraalpan. They pounded the machine with artillery, and captured it with guns and men in charge--all, save the engine-driver, being made prisoners. Lieutenant Nesbitt was wounded and the driver lost five fingers. The latter escaped through hiding himself in the sand and thus avoiding observation. In Mafeking itself the Sisters of the Roman Catholic Convent busied themselves. These noble women refused to leave the place, electing to remain face to face with danger in order to nurse the sick. Many of the houses were converted into hospitals, all the streets were barred with waggons, and even the inhabitants of the town were supplied with rifles and taught the use of them. The telegraph wires were now cut at Maribogo, some forty miles south of Mafeking. The bridge that crossed the Molopo River above Mafeking was next blown up by the Boers with tremendous uproar. Still the inhabitants were not dismayed. They had implicit confidence in their commander and worked incessantly. As a defensive position, Kimberley, whose history will be told later, had the advantage of Mafeking. The refuse heaps from the mines at the former place served as natural fortifications. But Mafeking was in one way fairly secure: its troops, though few, were efficient, and owing to its not being the abode of Mr. Rhodes, it was no longer looked upon by the Boers as the most attractive prize of the war. Besides this, Colonel Baden-Powell's plans of defence were very complete. The town was divided into sections, each one of which had its separate arrangements for defence. The perimeter was about six miles in circumference. Huge earthworks were thrown up. Shelters were built, with panellings and roofings of corrugated iron. Colonel Baden-Powell had decided to hold the town, and declared that if he should hold it at all, his grip should be a firm one. For himself, he constructed a bomb-proof bureau, where his literary work could safely be pursued, if need be, to the accompaniment of a score of guns, and round him were telephonic communications with each of his outposts. He had also a private signaller placed with telescope on the watch to inform him of outside doings and forewarn the garrison in case of assault. Wire communications were arranged so that each discharge of a shell might be reported by an alarum, in order that inhabitants of the threatened quarter might have time to burrow in places of safety. During the daytime the bell of the signaller was actively employed, but at night the Boers seldom bombarded the place, and its inhabitants were free to emerge from their hiding-places and breathe the fresh air. Fortunately in the matter of food much foresight had been exercised. With everything against him, Colonel Baden-Powell had succeeded in making provision for, if necessary, a prolonged state of siege. [Illustration: COLONEL ROBERT S. S. BADEN-POWELL, THE DEFENDER OF MAFEKING. Photo by Elliott & Fry, London.] At daylight on the 14th, the whole garrison was on the alert. Reports declared the Boers to be advancing on the south. Firing was at the same time heard from the north, and Lord Charles Cavendish-Bentinck was reported to be in action. While the firing continued the armoured train was hurriedly got in readiness, and started with the object of engaging the enemy. The crew of the leading truck, "Firefly," consisted of a detachment of the British South African Police and Railway Volunteers, Captain Ashley Williams himself being in command, Mr. Gwayne being the driver of the engine, and Mr. A. Moffat acting as stoker. The second truck was in charge of Lieutenant More, an engineer on the Bechuanaland Railway. No. 1 truck was armed with a Maxim, and its crew mostly with Lee-Metfords. Truck No. 2, which carried another Maxim, rejoiced in the name of "Wasp." A third truck, the "Gun," carried a Hotchkiss. The crew of the trucks numbered barely fifteen in each. The train, after passing Lord Charles Bentinck's squadron, who hailed it with a cheer and various humorous sallies, came on the enemy, about 500 strong, to right front of the trucks. A fierce interchange of bullets followed, the Mafeking party firing with such success that the enemy cautiously withdrew into the distance; still they kept up a rattling fire against the armour of the train, which careered up and down the line for some time with imperturbable yet cheerful activity. Presently, however, Colonel Baden-Powell despatched Captain FitzClarence with a squadron of men to cover its retreat, but before this could be effected the Boers again appeared, and a determined engagement ensued. Some sharp fighting took place, and Captain FitzClarence, though ordered to return to Mafeking, was unable to do so without reinforcements on account of the number of his wounded. The phonophore having been connected with the railway line, a telegraph message to this effect was sent to headquarters. Thereupon Lord Charles Bentinck was ordered to take his squadron to the relief of Captain FitzClarence. Meanwhile Captain Ashley Williams and a party of the South African Police alighted from the train, and went unarmed to the assistance of the wounded. Among these was Lieutenant Brady of Queenstown. Soon, the helpless were removed into the trucks, and the train was steaming on its return to Mafeking after having done great execution among the enemy. Travelling in an armoured train, even when you are not wounded, is scarcely an enjoyable experience; indeed, it may be described as one of the most superb tests of warrior qualities. The machine itself resembles a species of tank-truck, boxed round with seven-feet high walls of iron or steel, without doors or windows, and with no covering for the occupants save the dome of heaven. You climb in and you climb out as you would into a bath, by hanging on to the loopholes made for the rifles, and planting your feet on the exterior ridges that act as steps for the nimble toe. Once in, there is comparative safety. From all sides there is shelter from rifle-fire save when going down-hill below the enemy, who can then with ease pour cascades of bullets upon the heads of the travellers. The machine is painted kharki colour to make it less observable to the enemy, and has the distinction of being quite the ugliest of the many ugly inventions of modern science. Occasionally the exterior is of varied hue--particularly in green country, when it is made to look verdant and covered with boughs to give it an arboreal aspect, and render its shape less observable. But the ugliness and inconvenience of the train are nothing to the dangers it may have to encounter. The occupant may find himself surrounded by a party of the enemy before he has been a mile out from his base; he may find the rail cut behind him; he may steam straight into an ambush at any moment, or be blown up before he can wink. It has rightly been called a "death trap," for it provides chances of dissolution many and varied. But notwithstanding these risks, the machine was at this time continually in use, and the pluck of the defenders of Mafeking rose superior to all tests. The engagement of the 14th, with all its thrilling and painful experience, bore good fruit; for all felt that the encounter had been beneficial in many ways, more especially in strengthening the sense of security that everywhere began to prevail. To show how much courage and determination was the order of the course, it must be noted, in somewhat Irish phrase, that the manning of the town was assisted by women, some of whom refused to go into laager, but elected to handle their Lee-Metfords for the protection of themselves and their companions. In the engagement of this day, Lord Charles Cavendish-Bentinck and Lieutenant Brady were both slightly wounded. Major Baillie had a narrow escape, his horse having been shot under him, while his water-bottle was also struck by a bullet. In the evening Colonel Baden-Powell issued a general order congratulating the A and L squadrons, commanded by Captain FitzClarence and Lord Charles Bentinck, and the crew of the armoured train, under Captain Williams and Lieutenant More, for their highly creditable performances. About this time some discomfort and anxiety was occasioned by the fact that water became scarce in the town, owing to the Boers having taken possession of a fountain from which the inhabitants were supplied. Still, as Colonel Baden-Powell is an officer of genius, full of resource and infinite capacity for taking pains, all had confidence that he would not allow himself to be overcome by a temporary difficulty, and that he and his would emerge from all tests much as Colonel Pearson and his gallant party emerged from the ordeal of Eshowe. So the water difficulty was soon settled. Under Major Hepworth's supervision all the wells were cleaned out, and Sir Charles Warren's old well re-opened. On the 16th of October Commandant Cronje's commandoes took up a position among the thorns above the racecourse and opened fire on the town. Then a Boer party bearing a flag of truce was sent by Cronje to demand surrender to avoid further bloodshed. "Certainly, but when will bloodshed begin?" asked Colonel Baden-Powell, who, alive to all the little dodges of his enemies, knowingly kept the Burgher messenger blindfolded while he formulated his reply. Of course he meant to hold out, and he said so in round terms, and the Burgher departed discomfited and without having secured a plan of the fortifications! Subsequently some Boer Krupp batteries were brought up to cover the town, to impress those concerned and to show that the enemy meant business. But the bombardment so far was not fraught with much damage, for Colonel Baden-Powell, telegraphing on the 21st, thus comically described the situation: "All well. Four hours' bombardment. One dog killed." [Illustration: TYPES OF ARMS--15-POUNDER FIELD-GUN. PHOTO BY CRIBB, SOUTHSEA.] The Boers had now begun to penetrate to Tuli in Rhodesia. Tuli is the nearest post on the north to Transvaal territory. It stands on a river that comes down from the Matopo Hills, and joins the Limpopo about twenty miles beyond the town, which commands the cross-roads from the Transvaal to Buluwayo and from Mafeking to Victoria. The troops here were under the command of Colonel Plumer, who, from the time that Mafeking was besieged, was untiring in his efforts to come to the rescue. With Colonel Plumer were the following officers: Majors Pilsen and Bird, Captain Maclaren (13th Hussars), the notable polo-player, Captain Blackburn (Cameronians), Captain Rolt (York and Lancashire Regiment), Lieutenant Rankin (7th Hussars), Lieutenant French (Royal Irish Regiment), and several others. On the 19th of October a party of the enemy was suddenly met on the Rhodesian side of the river by a reconnoitring patrol. The Dutchmen fired on the patrol, wounding a trooper. Captain Glynn went off for the purpose of locating the enemy, and discovered the presence of a Boer column in his neighbourhood. Two days later a smart skirmish took place between a strong patrol and the enemy, who was encountered at Rhodes's Drift, with the result that two troopers were killed and two wounded. The Boers afterwards took up a strong position on a kopje at Pont's Drift, fired in a dastardly manner on Major Pilsen, Sergeant Shepstone, and his party while they were removing dead and wounded to an ambulance and a cart brought for the purpose, and their work of mercy had to be carried on under the most trying and aggravating conditions. There were also some skirmishes at Crocodile River. An armoured train got within about 1500 yards of a Boer laager three miles south of Crocodile Poort. Captain Blackburn (Cameronians) was seriously wounded and died on the road to Tuli, whither the British retired by Colonel Plumer's orders. It is satisfactory to note that Sergeant Shepstone, who gallantly came to Captain Blackburn's assistance, received his commission. Skirmishing took place at odd intervals, and Colonel Plumer continued to send reconnoitring parties up and down the river. On many occasions these were fired upon, but without serious result. On the 28th, however, Captains White and Glynn reconnoitred a kopje at Pont's Drift--each approaching the hill on a different side--whereupon a brisk skirmish ensued, when five of their men were shot by the enemy and four wounded. Later on, after his reconnaissance westward along the Crocodile River, Colonel Plumer returned to Tuli. Boer commandoes were at that time supposed to have retired to the neighbourhood of either Pietersburg or Mafeking. Colonel Spreckley's camp was shelled by the enemy on the 3rd of November, and the mules and horses belonging to the squadron promptly stampeded. To return to Mafeking. The Boers had now begun their activities, and miniature artillery duels were continually taking place between the British and the enemy. More guns were brought to bear upon the position by Cronje and his gang, and they set to work to do as much damage as possible. The Convent was hit, but no one was injured. Finally, after several days of bombardment and reciprocated shelling, Colonel Baden-Powell decided to give the enemy a taste of cold steel. A council of war was held, and on the 27th of October a most courageous night attack was made on the Boer trenches by Captain FitzClarence. As darkness descended, the little force stole noiselessly out of their stronghold with fixed bayonets, creeping like cats along the veldt, breath even being almost suspended lest a sound should put the enemy on guard. Then, on a given signal--a whistle from Captain FitzClarence--the men dashed forward on the foe, cheering lustily, while from the town the echoes and the voices of anxious watchers gave back cheer for cheer. The tussle was short and sharp. It was a case of fifty desperate men with fifty bayonets dealing destruction to a roaring rabble under the tarpaulins! Then came a storm of hostile bullets from the rear of the trenches, a swift reply from the attacking party, followed by Captain FitzClarence's whistle, "Cease fire. Scatter homeward." Under a withering fire the forces obeyed, returning as they went, in silence and in darkness. Then came the roll-call. Six were killed and eleven wounded, but of the latter all returned, none being left on the field. Here we may read Colonel Baden-Powell's general order:-- "The Colonel commanding wishes to record his high appreciation of the dash with which the attack on the enemy's trenches was carried out last night by D squadron of the Protectorate Regiment, under Captain FitzClarence, supported by the Cape Police under Lieutenant Murray. The whole operation was executed exactly as was wanted, and the results, though gained at the cost of several gallant lives, were entirely successful and of great value. By this action the intention of the enemy to push their intrenchments to within rifle distance of the town has been checked, and the heavy loss that they have sustained has given them a wholesome fear of the dash of our men, and they have had an introduction to cold steel such as will not encourage them willingly to face it again. The steadiness of the Town-Guard on the east front was noticeable later in the night, when the enemy had a scare, and broke into wild firing, to which the guard made reply.--By order (Signed) E. H. CECIL, Major, C.S.O." After this the Boers brought a big gun to bear on the position, and blazed away at a distance of seven miles from the town. Out of sixteen shells only one struck. This set fire to a store. The huge weapon evidently proved a white elephant, for before long the besiegers, much to the joy of the besieged, ceased their attempts to work it. But heavy bombardment still took place. The Boer hosts attacked the town from three sides at once and were steadily repulsed by the British Maxims. All through the week Cronje's commandoes indulged in desultory rifle-fire, now and again throwing a shell by way of variety, to which attentions Colonel Baden-Powell and his smart garrison responded with such zest and animation, that the Boers, discomfited, declared that the place contained "not men, but devils!" On Tuesday, the 31st of October, in the early hours of the morning, some hard fighting again took place. Colonel Walford and his detachment of the British South African Police held the fort called Cannon Kopje against an advance of the enemy, made under cover of four heavy guns and one 100-pounder. The affair ended in an entire defeat of the Dutchmen, but not before some gallant lives were sacrificed. The following order, issued the same day by Colonel Baden-Powell, describes the action:-- "The detachment of British South African Police forming the garrison at Cannon Kopje under the command of Colonel Walford, have this day performed a brilliant service by the gallant and determined stand made by them on their post in the face of a very hot shell-fire from the enemy. The intention of the Boers had been, after getting their guns and attacking force into position during the night, to storm Cannon Kopje at daybreak, and thence to bombard the south-east position of the town and carry it with a large force. They collected in the Molopo Valley. Their whole scheme has been defeated by the gallant resistance made by the garrison at Cannon Kopje, who not only refused to budge from their position under a cross-fire of artillery, but succeeded in inflicting such losses on the enemy as compelled them to retreat. In this way they were assisted by the timely and well-directed fire of a seven-pounder, under Lieutenant Murchison. The Colonel Commanding deplores the loss of the gallant officers and men who fell this day. By the death of the Hon. Douglas Henry Marsham and Captain Charles Alexander Kerr Pechell, Her Majesty loses two officers of exceptional promise and soldier-like qualifications. The Colonel Commanding believes he is giving voice to the feeling of the whole Mafeking garrison in expressing the deepest sympathy with the British South African Police in their loss. At the same time he congratulates Colonel Walford and his men on their brilliant achievement." A pathetic funeral followed, the honoured dead being wrapped in the Union Jack, and buried by the grim light of a lantern, while the Rector and Roman Catholic Chaplain each said over the graves the last solemn words according to the rites of his Church. There was no Dead March, nor were any volleys fired, but the dumb grief of the community told its own tale of mourning. [Illustration: NIGHT SORTIE FROM MAFEKING. Drawing by R. Caton Woodville.] KIMBERLEY Kimberley, as has been said, is by no means a picturesque place. On first acquaintance it appears to be surrounded by redoubts or forts, being dotted with mounds of greyish slag, technically called "tailings," which represent the refuse soil from which the diamondiferous ore has been extracted. The buildings are somewhat formal and unpleasing, being for the most part of corrugated iron, and conveying the impression that they are constructed with a view to being carried off at any moment. There are a few private residences, which the orthodox house-agent might style "handsome" or "commodious." The hotel is merely useful as a place for passengers to alight at and depart from, and that it is no more may be accounted for by the fact that Kimberley hospitality is so double-handed that visitors are seldom left to the tender mercies of public caterers. The Kimberley Club dispenses hospitality royally, and for this reason travellers are made independent of outside luxury. Round Kimberley are the suburbs of Beaconsfield, Kenilworth, and Gladstone. Beaconsfield, which was once a growing town, has become stunted, while Kenilworth has blossomed forth under the auspices of Mr. Rhodes. When the Boer Ultimatum was pronounced, all eyes turned naturally in the direction of the Diamond City, and as naturally the Diamond City, under the direction of Colonel Kekewich, prepared to defend itself. The population to be protected numbered some 33,000, of whom 19,000 were blacks. Among these latter were 4000 women. At that time it was doubtful if the Zulus, Matabeles, and Basutos were to be trusted, and consequently the position of the Colonel in supreme command was one of great responsibility. Fortunately the place was stocked with arms and ammunition, though the number of the regulars was absolutely inadequate to the requirements of so large an area. The Imperial garrison sent to Kimberley for the defence only consisted of the 23rd Company Royal Garrison Artillery, with six 7-pounder mountain guns, Major Chamier commanding; one section of the 7th Field Company Royal Engineers, under Lieutenant M'Clintock; Captain Gorle and three non-commissioned officers and men of the Army Service Corps, and the headquarters and four companies of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, under Major Murray; in all, 564 officers and men. The staff included Lieutenant-Colonel Kekewich, North Lancashire Regiment, commanding; Major Scott-Turner, Royal Highlanders (staff officer); Captain O'Meara, Royal Engineers (Intelligence Officer); and Lieutenant MacInnes, Royal Engineers. The volunteer forces, when first called out for active service, consisted of one battery Diamond Fields Artillery, six 7-pounder field-guns, Major May, 3 officers, and 90 rank and file; Diamond Fields Horse, Major Rodger, 6 officers, 142 rank and file; Kimberley Regiment, Colonel Finlayson, 14 officers, 285 rank and file:--total all ranks, 1060. The whole garrison was reviewed, and a town-guard was formed at Beaconsfield, under the command of Major Fraser. Colonel Harris commanded the Volunteers, most of these being employees of the De Beers mines. Preparations were made for the arrival of Mr. Cecil Rhodes, who was hastening to the scene of his early life-work, and for whose body, alive or dead, it was reported the Boers had sent out an offer of £5000. The artillery was exercised and defences were erected on all sides. Ladies and children made haste to leave by every train, but one lady of note, the Hon. Mrs. Rochfort Maguire, remained. The Commandant of Kimberley gave orders that trees should be felled and the bush cleared, in order to open a fine field for firing, the garrison to a man exerting themselves so as to give a warm reception to the enemy directly he should show a head above the kopje. On the 12th of October Mr. Cecil Rhodes arrived. His entry was somewhat melodramatic, as his train was delayed and spies were actually on the platform lying in wait for him. Fortunately he was not recognised. The magnetism of his presence added fresh zest to the proceedings in the town, while the calm confidence of his bearing became absolutely infectious. In fact, he soon delighted every one by stating that he considered Kimberley to be every bit "as safe as Piccadilly." At this time the town was well provisioned and the mines were kept working. Most of the garrison occupied the brigade grounds, while the detachment of regulars and the Kimberley regiments were stationed at the Sanatorium. The Town-Guard soon numbered 2000. Skirmishing took place on Friday, the 14th of October, and on the following day there were more encounters. One squadron in an armoured train was held up by the Boers, and their attack was supported by a second force. The second squadron of the Protectorate regiment grandly repelled the attack. The train, in which were several Imperial officers, was uninjured. The Boer artillery gave way at last, and the forces withdrew, but not before having sustained heavy loss. On the 15th a proclamation was made establishing martial law in Griqualand West and Bechuanaland. Persons not members of the defending forces were ordered to register their firearms, and no one was allowed to leave their houses between nine at night and six in the morning. The canteens without permits were opened only for a few hours during the day. Death was to be the punishment for acts contrary to civilised warfare. Fourteen Streams and Vryburg were now evacuated, the police detachments retiring from them on Kimberley. In order to maintain internal order, Colonel Kekewich divided the town into four sub-districts, and the people were cautioned against holding communication with the Queen's enemies. The consumption of meat was regulated, each man being allowed 1 lb. daily, while the exports of foodstuffs and forage were prohibited. Roads were closed, and no one without authority or a permit was allowed to pass in or out. The defences everywhere were strengthened. On the 21st of October, an armoured train that went out to reconnoitre discovered the enemy in the neighbourhood of Spyfontein. A proclamation having been issued by the Boers at Vryburg annexing Bechuanaland, most probably for the purpose of impressing the disloyal Dutch, Colonel Kekewich forthwith issued another, threatening that British subjects found assisting the Queen's enemies would be summarily dealt with as base rebels. He also declared that, in spite of the hoisting of the Vierkleur in Vryburg, the status of British subjects in Griqualand and Bechuanaland would remain unaltered. An armoured train was again engaged on this date, but only one man was killed. Two trucks of dynamite, however, which had been safely removed, were blown up by the Boers. The town was now completely isolated, the railway line being cut north and south. On the 24th inst. the garrison, supported by two armoured trains, had a fresh and an exceedingly animated encounter with the enemy. Colonel Scott Turner and 270 mounted volunteers marched north to Macfarlane's Farm. There they off-saddled and kept a look-out for the Boers. Soon afterwards they appeared, and Colonel Turner opened fire. The Boers promptly intrenched themselves behind a sandheap, and from thence kept up a hot fusilade. To Colonel Turner's assistance there came the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, followed at noon by their Colonel--Colonel Murray--with two guns, two Maxims, and 70 mounted men. [Illustration: AN ARMOURED TRAIN] The Boers advanced on Colonel Murray and tried to cut off the party, and in endeavouring to frustrate their efforts Colonel Turner found himself in the thick of a furious fire which burst from a dam wall 500 yards on his left. The British guns promptly began to blaze on the enemy, who very briskly responded. In the end, however, they were compelled to fall back. At this juncture the Lancashires, whose pluck and dexterity were magnificent throughout, hastily occupied the position, fixed bayonets, and gallantly drove off the enemy whenever he turned to make a stand. The fight, which was in every way a brilliant success, lasted four long hours. The British loss was three killed and twenty-one wounded, while that of the Boers was considerable. Commandant Botha was said to be among the killed. During this engagement Kimberley, as may be imagined, was in a state of frantic excitement, and the return of the troops was looked for by swarms of people, including women, who crowded the trenches and received the gallant defenders with great enthusiasm. Mr. Rhodes afterwards made an amusing speech to the Volunteers, complimented them on their splendid work, and explained that there was one man whom the Boers wished to capture, and that man was himself. Owing to the efficiency of the troops, however, he declared that he rejoiced in a sense of complete security. Cheers followed, for the Queen, the Governor, Mr. Rhodes, and the officers of the corps. After this things were fairly quiet, though the garrison remained on the alert. Lord Methuen, it became known, had started from the Orange River on the 22nd, and was daily decreasing the distance between his relieving force and the town; and, in order to meet his energetic advance, the Boers were unable to afford a sufficient number of troops to force the town into surrender. So Kimberley kept up its spirits--it viewed life with "one auspicious and one drooping eye"--mingling the discharge of guns with the chime of marriage-bells. This is no figure of speech, for there was actually a wedding--two people, at least, having found time to be romantic in their love amid the storm and stress of war. A dance and a concert also took place. Indeed, things were conducted with such high spirit and in so convivial a manner that it might have been imagined that the Boers were commissioned to supply the fireworks, and that a species of "Brock's benefit" was got up whenever events were inclined to wax monotonous. Reports computed the investing force at 4000, and it was further stated that General Cronje's commando would be reinforced by the arrival of some 1500 more. Yet the gallant little town smiled within itself and said "The more the merrier." Colonel Scott Turner made a reconnaissance on the 1st of November, found the enemy posted on a kopje, was thundered at with thirteen shells, but returned with his force in safety. On the 4th of November Commandant Wessels invited Colonel Kekewich to hand over the troops and town on pain of bombardment. The exact terms of the invitation are not known, but some portions of the communication were as follows:-- "In case your Honour should determine not to comply with this demand, I hereby request your Honour to allow all women and children to leave Kimberley, so that they may be placed out of danger, and for this purpose your Honour is granted time from noon on Saturday, November 4, 1899, to 6 A.M. on Monday, November 6, 1899. I further give notice that during that time I shall be ready to receive all Afrikander families who wish to remove from Kimberley, and also to offer liberty to depart to all women and children of other nations desirous of leaving." The Boers soon began to receive the reinforcements which have been mentioned. These came from the direction of Mafeking, that place having proved too much a "spitfire" for their liking. As a last resource, they directed their attention to Kimberley, and by way of exercise blew up some £3000 worth of dynamite which was stored in some huts belonging to the De Beers Company. While these exciting events were taking place, and with the roar of intermittent explosions in his ears, Mr. Rhodes pursued a placid way. His labours were eminently horticultural--at least so they appeared on the surface. He engaged himself at Kenilworth, the suburb which he may be said to have created, in planting an avenue a mile long with orange-trees, espalier vines, and pepper-trees. It was called his Siege Avenue. There was suggestion in the arrangement, and the mind instinctively conjured up visions of mystery--mystery somewhat prolonged and clinging, with spice of a stimulating kind thrown in. News from the Orange River, which came in by fits and starts, hinted that after the evacuation of Colesberg would come the abandonment of Stormberg. Stormberg was intended to be the depôt where stores, tents, ammunition, and all the commissariat details of the Third Division under General Gatacre would be accumulated. These stores, owing to the Boer advance from Bethulie and Aliwal North, were now being removed to Queenstown, some sixty miles down the line. CHAPTER III NATAL In consequence of the incursion of about 3000 refugees--some of them most undesirable in character--it was deemed expedient to issue a proclamation of martial law in Natal. This was followed by the seizure of the Transvaal National Bank at Durban, a most exciting episode, which caused quite a ferment in the town. All around the offices a curious and somewhat rowdy rabble congregated, and it was found necessary to guard the premises with Bluejackets and marines. However, after the place had been searched, the men, looking strangely transmogrified in their kharki, returned to Her Majesty's ship _Tartar_, and affairs went on as usual. At the Cape, owing to widespread rumours of disloyalty, Sir Alfred Milner issued the following proclamation, dated October 28:-- "Whereas it has been reported to me that a proclamation has been made by or on behalf of the Government of the South African Republic purporting to declare as part of the territory of the Republic certain portions of that part of this Colony situated north of the Orange River, and which have been invaded by the forces of the said Government; and whereas it is necessary to warn all Her Majesty's subjects, especially those resident in the aforesaid portions of this Colony, of the invalidity of such proclamation: "Now therefore, in virtue of the authority committed to me as Governor of this Colony, I do hereby proclaim and make known that any such proclamation, if made, is null and void and of no effect, and I do hereby further warn and admonish all Her Majesty's subjects, especially those resident in the aforesaid portions of this Colony, that they do, in accordance with their duty and allegiance, disregard such proclamation, as being of no force and effect whatsoever, and observe their obligations to her Majesty, her Crown and Government, and in no way voluntarily accept or recognise the Government of the South African Republic in any part of this Colony which may have been proclaimed territory of that Republic. "And I do further warn that any one failing, in contravention of the law, to obey the terms of this proclamation, will render himself liable to be prosecuted for the crime of high treason." To Mr. Chamberlain he wrote on the subject on the same date:-- "It is impossible accurately to find out what has happened as regards the alleged annexation by the Government of the South African Republic or Orange Free State of portions of the Cape Colony. "No copies of any proclamation by either Government to that effect have reached me here, but news coming from various parts of districts west and north of Kimberley clearly show that the people there credit the annexation theory. "It seems, however, more probable on the whole that it is the Government of the South African Republic which has annexed the district north of the Vaal River. "With the consent of Ministers, I issued yesterday the proclamation contained in my previous message, in order to check the mischief which this widespread report is causing." Apropos of Sir Alfred Milner's letter, it must be mentioned that several of the Bechuanaland Dutch had openly joined the Boers; and on the occasion of the hoisting of the Transvaal flag in Vryburg, Commandant Delarey took occasion to deliver himself of an effective speech, in which he said that the flag of the country was now floating over the whole Orange River, and that the flag of Britain would never again do so unless it were hoisted over the dead bodies of the Burghers. At Klipdam also the Boers put in an appearance, and celebrated their incursion by holding "at homes" in the Magistrates' Court; but hearing of the British successes at Kimberley, and judging discretion to be the better part of valour, they decamped northwards, leaving food and stores behind. The disaffection of the Dutch was as yet almost confined to the western border. On the eastern side the inhabitants for the most part were staunch. Indeed, in the history of the war the splendid loyalty of Natal as a whole will ever be remembered. Her trials were many and her faith almost sublime. Weekly the _Times of Natal_ had poured forth its plaint on the dilatoriness or insouciance of the Imperial Government, yet nothing was done till those who put their trust in the good faith of the mother country were deprived of home and fortune, and in their bitterness were tempted to declare that British protection was as Dead-Sea fruit--a profitless show, that was apt to turn to ashes in the mouth. The following letters serve to show the attitude of a staunch loyalist under the severe strain put upon him, and they are quoted because they are descriptive, not of individual anxiety and distress, but of the general feeling of the Colony in those months of supreme trial. One letter, dated October 27, began:-- "Those brave fellows up at Ladysmith have been fighting all day. We heard their cannon even after dusk. What is the result, I wonder? I fear we shall not hear till to-morrow. That essential but most aggravating censor causes such delays, and dishes up such garbled accounts of the actual facts, as to astound those who know the truth.... There is little chance of our being able to attempt even to defend this place. It simply means evacuation or surrender, and stand by and see the Transvaal flag go up! O England! England! As ever, unprepared." The next letter, dated October 31, said:-- "Here we are in peace and quiet, such as it is possible to enjoy with the roar of artillery booming over the few miles of echoing hills which divide us from the scene of battle and bloodshed, torn limbs and ceaseless pain. I am weary of the contemplation of all this frightful suffering and brutality.... I do not know what opportunities you have of obtaining correct information, for the trash the papers publish after the real facts have been distorted by the censor is as good as useless. I hardly like to say too much, as one never knows into whose hands one's letters may fall, and our own noble defenders are as severe in suppressing the knowledge of the true facts of the battles and movements of the forces as any enemy could possibly be. However, the game is with the English still.... If only Ladysmith is held, the Colony is safe. This shocking flight of women and children from town after town is too awful to witness. Shame on the British Government to make our Colony the scene of this bloody struggle, and leave the handful of soldiers sent out all unsupported, unprepared--unprepared as usual--all smug and self-confident in the little overcrowded, over-comfortable island, and forgetful of the horrors to which unfortunate colonists are exposed across the sea." The Governor of the British prison at Misina, Pomeroy, Natal, wrote in a similar heart-breaking strain:-- "I have only time for a few lines. I am tired out, having been turned out of house and home by the cursed Boers. I have ridden the ninety-one miles to Pietermaritzburg. I and four other Government officials had to remain at our posts till the last. We had to ride for our lives. I never shall forget these times. We waited almost too long--long enough for the five of us to have a shot at the advanced guard, of whom we captured two, and rode with them to the Volunteer camp, eighteen miles from Pomeroy, at Tugela. I never felt like shooting any one before a commando of about 400 came down for myself and the magistrate." In regard to the readiness of Natal to support British supremacy, a visitor who participated in the raising of the volunteer regiments there stated that there were 4500 volunteers in the field, three-fourths of whom were drilled men. They were enrolled at the rate of 200 a day. Durban a month later raised a splendid corps of colonial scouts for the purpose of checking Boer raiding. It was composed of some sixty or seventy men of the best families in the place. The conduct of the Natal women was especially noteworthy. Their patience, their fortitude, their eager desire to be of service, their readiness to face sacrifice, won general esteem. One eye-witness stated that while shells were hurtling through the air and bursting on the ground, they--the women-folk of the place--calmly traversed the streets in ordinary costume and with ordinary demeanour, as though no hostile Boer or bellowing gun was within a hundred miles of them. Not a trace of fear or panic was manifest. It was not surprising to learn that a community boasting such noble specimens of womanhood decided to remain where they were rather than accept the dubious shelter offered them by the Boer general. Mr. Winston Spencer Churchill, writing of the Natalians in the _Morning Post_, feelingly said: "There are several points to be remembered in this connection. Firstly, the colonists have had many dealings with the Boers. They knew their strength; they feared their animosity. But they have never for one moment lost sight of their obligations as a British colony. Their loyalty has been splendid. From the very first they warned the Imperial Government that their territories would be invaded. Throughout the course of the long negotiations they knew that if war should come, on them would fall the first fury of the storm. Nevertheless, they courageously supported and acclaimed the action of the Ministry. Now at last there is war--bitter war. It means a good deal to all of us, but more than to any it comes home to the Natalian. He is invaded; his cattle have been seized by the Boer; his towns are shelled or captured; the most powerful force on which he relies for protection is isolated in Ladysmith; his capital is being loopholed and intrenched; Newcastle has been abandoned, Colenso has fallen, Estcourt is threatened; the possibility that the whole province will be overrun stares him in the face. From the beginning he asked for protection. From the beginning he was promised complete protection; but scarcely a word of complaint is heard. The townsfolk are calm and orderly, the Press dignified and sober. The men capable of bearing arms have responded nobly. Boys of sixteen march with men of fifty to war--to no light, easy war. The Imperial Light Infantry is eagerly filled. The Imperial Light Horse can find no more vacancies, not even for those who will serve without pay. The Volunteers and Town-Guards bear their parts like men." Of the excellence of the service of the Natalians a great deal remains to be said. At present the story must proceed. The arrival of Sir Redvers Buller at Cape Town on the 31st of October was a signal for general rejoicing. The streets were filled to overflowing, and cheer after cheer rung from thousands of throats. As the General drove to Government House, he was greeted by cries of "Avenge Majuba!" and "Bravo, General!" and by the amount of emotion expended and the universal expression of relief evidenced, it was plain that the Cape colonists, like the cockney Londoner, were prepared "to bet their bottom dollar" on the combination of Sir Redvers Buller and Mr. Thomas Atkins! On the 2nd November the Boers proclaimed the Upper Tugela division of Natal to be Free State Territory, and they seized Colesberg Bridge, some eighteen miles north of the town of Colesberg, where the road between that place and Philippolis crosses the Orange River. However, as Orange River, De Aar, Colesberg, and Stromberg were still held by our forces, the inhabitants remained confident. Yet reports of the Boer advance on Colesberg were scarcely reassuring, and rumours of increased disaffection among the Dutch farmers in this region were rife. It was a curious fact that some of the Boers started from Johannesburg for the frontier wearing in their hats the national colours, red, white, and blue--and green, with above them a yellow band, thus completing the insignia of the United South Africa for which they were to fight. It would be interesting to know how the red, white, and blue became associated with the green, and whether Aylward, the agitator, and his Fenian friends introduced it for the purpose of giving prominence to the sympathy of the Anti-English brotherhood in the Emerald Isle. The disloyal Natal Dutch, such of them as there then were, were distinguished by a red rose badge. These signs were of no consequence in themselves, but they served to demonstrate the preconcerted nature of Boer actions, which were supposed by certain persons to have been a sudden and spontaneous outcome of British oppression. Racial feeling grew stronger and fiercer day by day, and Mr. Kruger's threat to "stagger humanity" was by some declared to be within an ace of being fulfilled. The Boer is inherently as tough as the Briton, and as obstinate: he was now well equipped for warfare, well led, and the chances of a terrific and bloody struggle seemed hourly to become more and more certain. Fortunately, each day brought our troops nearer to the Cape, and after the 9th of November they began to disembark--a total, so far, of 11,000 in all. At first sight this military multitude seemed an imposing addition to our force, but, in view of the losses we had sustained and the general complications of the position, some 100,000 was nearer the figure required. However, the Home authorities chose to send out their help in driblets, and the same Home authorities were supposed to know how the driblets might be adequately disposed. It was only to the ignorant "man in the street" that the problem of how to meet the massed armies of the Boers with diffused handfuls of troops became incomprehensible. Among the misfortunes with which the British had to contend was the unfit state of the horses after prolonged travel. Horses are intensely liable to sea-sickness; they also suffer much from being cribbed, cabined, and confined for any length of time; and the difference between the state of the Australian and the British animals on landing was very marked. The former were in good working fettle, while the latter had swollen and stiff joints, and were generally below par. The New Zealand chargers were all that could be desired, and they made an excellent show when compared with those of some of the other mounted regiments. Horse-sickness had also to be contended with, and it was with great difficulty averted. Some of the officers, however, discovered that by keeping the horses protected by their nosebags during the dewy hours of early morning the liability to the complaint was lessened. The question of horses was a serious one, almost as important as the question of guns. The exceeding mobility of the Boer army for long had been a matter of surprise, if not to the initiated, at least to the general public, and, as it later appeared, to the Government itself. They had sent out important generals and learned tacticians, and a fairly large and unwieldy mass of men, who were bound by their healthy appetites to stick to their base and hug the railway lines, while the enemy shifted about with the most annoying and confounding velocity, delighting to deceive as to their position, and in their deception being for the most part eminently successful. There is a passage in the Scriptures that mentions that "the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountain," and this quotation on the approach of our weighty military machine, the Boers, ever Biblical, must have been inclined to remember and to appreciate. [Illustration: Rt. Hon. SIR REDVERS HENRY BULLER, K.C.B., V.C. Photo by Knight, Aldershot.] The opinion seemed prevalent, particularly in Colonial circles, that English generals, in consequence of their European or Indian experiences, were unequal to a struggle with the "slim" and shifty Boers. Laing's Nek, Ingogo, and Majuba had all proved that some extraordinary weakness, either tactically or mentally, seemed to possess the bravest warriors in the face of this incomprehensible foe. Since the date of Majuba the ways of the Boers had become still more of a conundrum. They had kept up their habit of sharpshooting, and had acquired an insight into German tactics. For all that, on occasion certain of their old commanders resorted to the primitive tricks of the Zulus, and advanced in horn fashion, keeping one horn in ambush as long as possible, so as to create a surprise for an unprepared enemy. Even to eminent tacticians like General Clery and others, the blend of modern German and antique Zulu in the ordering of war must have been confounding, and it is scarcely surprising that they took some little time to master the subject. The landing, on the 8th November, of the Naval Brigade with twenty guns for the defence of Durban was a move in the right direction, and the arrival and marching in of the brigade was an inspiriting sight. The streets swarmed with an enthusiastic multitude that welcomed the jolly Jack Tar with delight, and cheered itself hoarse, almost drowning the vigorous strains of the band of the _Terrible_, which played outside the Town-Hall. Captain Percy Scott of the _Terrible_, inventor of the now celebrated gun-carriages, replaced Major Bethune as commandant of the forces defending the port, while the latter officer returned to the active command of the Uitlander corps. The tide of reinforcement now began to flow evenly into Cape Colony and Natal, and there was great excitement owing to the arrival of the _Moor_, which left Southampton on October the 21st. Among those on board were Lieutenant-General Lord Methuen, commanding the First Division of the Field Force; Major-General Sir C. F. Clery, commanding the Second Division; and Major-General Sir W. F. Gatacre, commanding the Third Division; and a large number of officers for service on the Staff. THE INVASION OF CAPE COLONY The position of affairs in the direction of the Orange River was at first somewhat stationary. The British were awaiting the arrival of troops and keeping on the alert; the Boers were making proclamations and annexing adjacent villages. A column from Cape Colony had started, and more troops were pushing up as fast as train could carry them in the direction of De Aar. A letter from a British officer from that place describes the state of affairs on the 20th of October. He said:-- "This place is to be a big base when the British troops arrive; 10,000 are to come here, but are not expected for at least a month. At present we are the only regiment here, and have to keep the line open and guard all the stores coming up for the 10,000 troops. We have not got half enough men, as the front of our position is nearly five miles, and we cannot watch it properly. Our position is strong as long as we can hold the hills; but if the Boers can get artillery near us, they will wipe us out in a few hours without getting within rifle range at all, as we have no guns ourselves. We keep on telegraphing for them, but the officials at home and at Cape Town do not seem to understand the position. The worst of this place is that there is not a loyal native within twenty miles of us, and they are only waiting for a good opportunity to rise. We can only be ready for them--that is, we cannot attack them, as they have not yet declared openly for the Transvaal, though they are all spies, and give the Boers information on all our dispositions." In this short letter we find the keynote of all our subsequent troubles. The complete and almost absurd confidence of the British, supported as it was by valour without wisdom or activity, was a "voice" and nothing more. Deeply have we suffered since those words were written, for an arrogant under-estimation of the enemy, a reprehensible delay in preparing for him, and a parsimonious system of carrying out those preparations when attempted. However, it is useless to cry over spilt milk. To thoroughly appreciate the situation at this period it is necessary to understand the direction in which our troops were moving. Modder River, Hope Town, and Orange River are situated on the railway between Kimberley and the junction of the lines which run south to Cape Town and Port Elizabeth respectively. De Aar, of which we began to hear so much, is an important station at the apex of the triangle, just over 500 miles from Cape Town, and here towards the end of the month of October many troops were congregating. Here, though no hostilities were actually taking place, there was a good deal of simmering activity; for it must be remembered that De Aar Junction was our advanced supply base in the Colony, and owed its strategical importance at this critical period to the fact that it was the junction of Cape Town and Port Elizabeth railways. It is situated about sixty miles from the Orange River and Free State border. The contrast at this time between camps British and camps Dutch in the neighbourhood of the border was curious. The Boers were prepared, taking their ease. The British were in suspense. Disaffection was visible on all sides, and yet inaction, irritating inaction, was obligatory. Morning, noon, and night a perennial sand-storm blew; overhead, the sun grilled and scorched. Meals, edibles, and liquids were diluted with 10 per cent. of grit, and when perchance Tommy strove to strain his hardly-earned beer--to make a filter of a butter-cloth--phut! would come a gust of wind and bring the experiment to a melancholy conclusion. Poor Thomas's temper was much tried! He was, of necessity, an exceedingly temperate fellow in those days, but when he got a pot of beer he preferred it to be beer, and not porridge. He did not relish in his mouth the same thing that the wind was distributing impartially into ears and eyes. He said he could take in--at the pores--enough of that to suit his liking. But he was no grumbler, as a rule. He worked hard and incessantly, Colonel Barter determining to keep his men of the Yorkshire Light Infantry quite up to the mark. It was necessary to take every precaution against surprise, and for commanding officers to remain eternally on the _qui vive_. It needed considerable tact to order sufficient work, and only sufficient. It was dangerous to over-fatigue troops who might be required to leap to arms at any moment; it was also risky to allow active men in a hot sun to give way to inertia. There was the never-ceasing routine of guards and picquets, the practice of route marching and field manoeuvres, and the daily round of minor camp duties to keep the warriors hale and hearty, and prepare their thews for a tough tussle. A regular system of scouting was matutinally carried on, and it was thought that the enemy would not be able to encroach beyond his border without enjoying a startling reception. At this time he was not visible, and all that scouts could detect, beside some innocent hares and springbok among the hills, was now and then a flying horseman who disappeared on their approach. But the Boers were not far off. They were encamped close to the border. One adventurous individual, for his personal satisfaction, performed the feat of travelling north and swimming across the Orange River to reconnoitre. In the darkness of the night he stole out, plunged cautiously into the river, clothes and all, and swam safely to the other side. Then striking out in a north-easterly direction, he made for a small kopje overlooking the Boer camp. Meanwhile the moon had sailed out, and began to throw a sheet of silver over the panorama. Below, the three lines of tents were outlined, and these were flanked and interspersed with multitudinous waggons, which formed a chain almost along the entire length of the valley. In the early dawn more objects became discernible, the flickering red tongues of the camp-fires, the winking eye of a lantern that hung from a pole. By this illumination it was possible to note the general scene of disorder. Scattered garments and goods in promiscuous array--ammunition and provisions, harness, saddles, biltong, and gin-bottles--a multifarious, slovenly litter, shed here, there, and everywhere. Only two sentries were visible, and these our friend stealthily evaded. One Cerberus sat on the ground with his back planted against a waggon wheel yawning dolefully, and farther on slouched another, hands in pockets, head on chest, walking back and forwards with the air of an automaton. The individual creeping past them, close under their noses, smiled softly to himself. How simple to sweep off a dozen or two of the inmates of the camp before these so-called sentries recovered from their dozing. Fifty men and fifty bayonets could have got in without difficulty, and the rout of the rebels would have been an affair of moments. Now, perhaps before nightfall the whole commando would have melted away! Presently at the bottom of the kopje came horsemen--some five of them--galloping along, and the adventurous one made haste to hide. The Boer patrol passed within some two hundred yards of him, and he was safe. It was now time to hurry off. The day was breaking. Again a plunge into the icy river, again a fight with the racing current, again a safe landing, this time on the British bank. So the escapade ended, but it enabled those interested to form a fair idea of the lack of organisation among the Dutch, and to argue that if once they should leave their naturally strong fortifications and intrenchments, the first united and sustained attack on the part of the British would mean their certain discomfiture. At the end of October the Border Regiment arrived upon the scene. The Yorks almost immediately struck camp and prepared to entrain for Orange River; but presently a counter-order arrived, and, much to their regret, the regiment again resumed its former routine. The place at this time was under military law, and precautions were rigorously taken against spies. The railway stations were cautiously guarded night and day, and none was allowed to approach without proper authority. Troops soon began to pour through on the way to Orange River, whence the advance was shortly to take place. Tremendous labour came on the hands of Lieut.-General Sir F. Forestier Walker, who took trips along the lines of communication to ascertain that all arrangements were satisfactory. [Illustration: TYPES OF ARMS--THE MAXIM GUN. PHOTO BY GREGORY, LONDON] In readiness for the influx of troops new sidings were constructed to north and south of the railway station, and the little karoo junction began to assume an air of wonderful importance. Among the innovations was a branch of the Standard Bank adjoining Friedlater's Store, showing that, though not a Klondyke, this place, which has been described as "the windiest, dustiest, most unfinished, most inhospitable corner of the South African wilderness, the veritable jumping-off place of the globe," was fast becoming the base of gigantic military operations. The outlying farms were still in occupation, though inhabitants were few. These apparently were indifferent to the progress of coming events, but possibly at that time they were engaged in careful investigation as to the side of the bread which held the most butter before committing themselves to an attitude. Their sole obvious desire was that patrols should not omit to close the gates after them whenever they chanced to pass through their domains. The Border Regiment soon after its arrival moved to Naauwpoort, and a battery and a half of artillery swelled the little garrison. The development of the place now went on more rapidly. Mr. E. F. Knight, the brilliant correspondent of the _Morning Post_, wrote an interesting description of this now important locality only a few days before he had the misfortune to lose his arm through the treachery of the Boers. He said:-- "The township, which surrounds the railway station, is merely a congregation of a few houses belonging to people connected with the railway. It stands in the midst of a desert--a dusty, treeless plain covered with sparse low sage brush and enclosed by rocky ridges. The camp is ever increasing in size, but, as I write, it consists of two encampments, one to the north and one to the south of the township, all the troops being under canvas. In the North Camp are the 2nd Battalion of the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, eight hundred strong, and a field-battery and a half-battery (15-pounders), and in the South Camp, in which I have pitched my tent, is the remount camp, with a company of the Army Service Corps, a supply detachment of the same corps, with a field-bakery, two half-sections of the Royal Engineers, a company of the Army Ordnance Corps, and a detachment of the Volunteer Medical Staff Corps. A wing of the Berkshire Regiment has also just come in from Naauwpoort, which we have abandoned as being untenable by the small force which could at present be spared to defend it. There are at De Aar now about two thousand men all told, including Major Rimington's two hundred scouts. More artillery is expected from Cape Town, and by the time this letter reaches England we shall probably be largely reinforced. Several redoubts, lines of intrenchments, and sangars on the heights protect the camps, and a few small guns have been posted on the neighbouring kopjes. The surrounding country is being well patrolled, and we cannot well be taken by surprise.... In short, one sees here all that skilled, laborious, indispensable preparation for the campaign of which the British public knows so little, and which never receives its due credit at home. "It is wonderful, indeed, that the Boers did not attempt to seize this valuable prize a week or so ago, when the camp was practically undefended, and when our officers, momentarily expecting attack, were sleeping in their boots. Our position is far from secure even now; our force here is insignificant, and it seems that the Boers are getting nearer. They have crossed the river at various points. "Our scouts have been in touch with their commandoes. We have had some false alarms since I have been here; it is rumoured to-day that they are close to, and that the attack on De Aar is but a question of hours. But still the heavily-laden trains come in with their valuable freight and the military stores accumulate. It is to be hoped that we shall have the men, too, without delay." [Illustration: SERGEANT OF THE KING'S ROYAL RIFLES. Photo by Gregory & Co., London.] In the above words we have, repeated, the story of suspense and anxiety that was told by one and all who had the misfortune to spend October and November on the Transvaal border, a story of brave Britons, practically unarmed--heroically valorous but impotent--standing almost in the teeth of the enemy and sickening with hope deferred. The Dutchmen came to work much fresher. The warrior-farmer was untrammelled by red tape--unwearied by routine. He was not hampered by minute regulations, though he was bound to look after himself and rely on his own resources. He provided his own provisions, his own waggon and horses, but the Government in the event of his requiring it supplied him with the necessaries of the campaign. He could have luxuries _ad libitum_ sent from home, and while battle was not absolutely going on he had little to do but to eat, drink, and sleep. Drills and field exercises were unknown, though, of course, each had to take his turn at guard duty. In action the operations of the Boer commandoes were presided over by field-cornets, and in camp the work was carried out by corporals, who superintended the supply department--the munitions of "war" and "mouth," as we call them, on which the fighting line depended for ammunition and food. General Wood arrived at De Aar on the 4th of November and took over the command of the troops. His first action was to employ the Engineers and some Cape boys to throw up defensive works and erect sangars on a ridge--some 2000 yards from the camp--which by a sheer accident had not been seized by the Boers. From this point of vantage it was possible for the British guns to command the plain for many miles round. He then put the place under martial law, as Dutchmen and spies were slinking about in the neighbourhood of the railway and the camps. The General's regulations ran thus:-- "No person is allowed to remain in or to quit De Aar without a permit signed by the Magistrate, and countersigned by the Camp Commandant. The permits for railway officials will be signed and issued by the heads of the traffic, locomotive, and engineering departments, those for postal officials by the heads of that department. Any person found selling intoxicating liquors to a soldier or to a native or coloured person will be immediately apprehended and the whole of his goods will be seized. The sale of intoxicating liquors to others can only take place between the hours of 11 A.M. and 6 P.M. This includes sale of liquors to persons staying in any hotel or boarding-house in De Aar. Every person keeping an hotel or boarding-house, or any one receiving persons into his private house to stay for one night or more, is required to obtain permission of the Camp Commandant before doing so. No persons other than railway and postal officials, who will be provided with a special pass, will be allowed to be out of their houses after 9.30 P.M. Any person infringing these regulations will be dealt with by martial law." We must now move in the direction of the Orange River, where more activities were taking place. Information having been received that the Boers in great numbers were gathered at Kaffir's Kop, a hill some 500 feet high east of Belmont, a reconnaissance was made in that direction on the 10th of November. The reconnoitring force was composed of a couple of squadrons of the 9th Lancers and detachments of the Munster Fusiliers, the Northumberland Fusiliers, and the Loyal North Lancashires. With these were a handy lot of mounted infantry and a half battery of field-artillery. They bivouacked two nights before on the north side of the bridge, in order to be ready to move on at daybreak. Early on Thursday morning they marched out, the cavalry forming a wide screen, behind which were the mounted infantry and guns. Belmont, which was some twenty-eight miles off, was reached at 2.30, but not a sign of the Dutchmen was to be seen. The troops consequently returned to Fincham's Farm, some ten miles back, where they spent the night. In the morning they went east, where the enemy was reported to have retired. The object of the reconnaissance was to ascertain the strength of the enemy, and this was soon achieved, for he was found to be in immense force in a position of natural strength flanked by huge hills. Some smart skirmishing ensued. Colonel Gough with a battery of field artillery engaged the Boers and sent one and a half companies of mounted infantry to turn the enemy's left flank and discover his laager. Fighting continued for more than three hours, during which Colonel Keith-Falconer,[5] Northumberland Fusiliers, was killed. Lieutenant Wood, North Lancashire Regiment, was shot through the head, and Lieutenants Bevan and Hall of the Northumberland Fusiliers were also wounded. An armoured train came to the rescue and attracted the Boer fire, pouring from two Maxims a withering storm of bullets on the enemy and inflicting heavy loss. The Dutchmen were discovered to be in great force all around, and as they blocked the road to Kimberley, the promise of more spirited engagements was in the air. Already it was ascertained that a number of culverts on the railway line had been destroyed by the hostile troops, and rumours of Boer invasion were continually being brought in. The next day, amid universal regret, the two gallant officers who had lost their lives in leading their men against the powerful enemy, were buried. Lieutenant Brook (9th Lancers) on the day of the reconnaissance had a narrow escape, and experiences more exciting than pleasurable. Early in the morning he had gone on ahead of the column for the purpose of making a route sketch. This done, he sent it back by his orderly, and while continuing his investigations found himself confronted with the enemy. A shower of bullets greeted him. His horse was shot and he was brought to the ground. It was neck or nothing now, and he ran for dear life pursued by a horde of mounted Boers. Fortunately he came to a wire fence, vaulted it, and was for a moment safe. The enemy's ponies could not follow. But the Boers sent shots after his retreating form, shots which luckily missed him, and he was enabled to reach two troops of the 9th Lancers which galloped up to the rescue. On the 12th Lord Methuen arrived, and there was general satisfaction among the troops. They were now in fine fighting condition, and, having had one taste of battle, were longing to advance and get in touch with the enemy. But the advance of Lord Methuen's column was no simple affair. It must be remembered that from Cape Town to the base, De Aar, is 500 miles, to Belmont 591, to Kimberley 647, and to Mafeking 870 miles, and the railway from place to place needed continual guarding, and especially the bridges in localities where the disaffected portion of the Dutch community resided. Lord Methuen's route, too, lay across a species of dusty Sahara, over boulder-strewn plains with scarcely a tree to offer shade, though dotted about now and then with some ancient kopjes to vary the monotony of the South African scene. On these kopjes it was as likely as not that Boer sharpshooters might already be hidden, for the affluent Dutchmen forced their poorer countrymen to maintain eyrie-like positions--padded with blankets and hedged in with boulders--in readiness for the approach of an army, while they themselves arrived fresh, spick and span, only on the rumour of battle. With all its alarms, however, life in camp was not without its joviality. The Naval Brigade prepared for action laughing and singing, and Jack Tar indulged in promiscuous hornpipes between the conversations of his big guns. A correspondent of the Central News Agency gave an entertaining account of his sojourn among the military. He said:-- "There are, of course, pleasantries and pleasantries. The other night a correspondent was returning to camp when he was met with the usual challenge. 'Who goes there?' shrieked the sentry. 'A friend,' replied the correspondent. 'Stand, friend, and give the countersign,' promptly demanded the watchful guardian of the camp. The correspondent had forgotten the countersign. He knew it related to Yarmouth. As a matter of fact, it was Yarmouth. So he made a desperate bid for bed, and replied 'Bloaters.' The sentry replied, 'Advance, friend,' and the scene closed. You doubt this as _ben trovato_. Well, do not doubt any longer when I plead conviction in personal guilt. I was 'Bloaters.' Nevertheless, to an active sentrydom, as well as to vigilant curfew, we were becoming cheerfully accustomed. It is martial law, and the camp is the centre of Boerdom. Anything, indeed, is welcome, even martial law, if it relieves boredom at the same time." On the 14th of November General Wauchope, commanding the Highland Brigade, arrived on the Orange River, followed a day or two later by Major-General Sir H. Colvile, who assumed command of the Guards Brigade and camp north of the river. The First Division was composed of two brigades. The Ninth was an Infantry Brigade, consisting of portions of the Northumberland Fusiliers, a wing of the North Lancashires, portions of the Manchesters, the Yorkshires, and the Northamptonshire Regiment. The Guards Brigade was composed of the Scots Guards, two battalions of the Coldstreams, and one of the Grenadiers. To this brigade was attached the Naval Brigade (Captain Prothero, H.M.S. _Doris_). There were also two squadrons of the 9th Lancers, "bits" of the Engineers, of the A.S.C. and the Army Medical Corps--the whole force numbering some 9000 men. The transport arrangements having been completed, the advance was to be made in the course of the week. Officers and men were to wear uniform as similar as possible, in order not to give the sharpshooters a chance of distinguishing them. The men covered their buttons with mud and sand in order to make them more of a piece with their kharki, and their haversacks in the same way were darkened to match. At this time Naauwpoort and Stormberg were evacuated by order of Sir Redvers Buller, on the ground that our frontier line was weak and too much extended. The troops from the former place reinforced De Aar, those from the latter strengthened Queenstown. The enemy, though he left De Aar in peace, was active elsewhere. A Boer commando of 1300 to 2000 strong entered Colesberg on the 15th November before dawn, and planted itself on the kopjes surrounding the town, much to the surprise of the inhabitants. The invaders possessed themselves of the keys of the town, and endeavoured with great parade to hoist the Free State flag. The ceremony was a fiasco, however, as before the flag reached the top of the staff, the halyard, which had been secretly cut partly through by some loyalists, broke, so that the flag, flying a little above half-mast, could neither be hoisted properly nor hauled down again. Ultimately the Boers tied another flag on to the end of a long bamboo, and sent that up instead. The Mayor endeavoured, in impassioned periods, to address the loyal inhabitants, but his eloquence was useless. He could not make himself heard, and had at last to desist. The Mounted Police, who were forced to retreat from Colesberg, joined the New South Wales Lancers at Naauwpoort, and from thence went on to De Aar. Aliwal North was occupied by a Free State commando, and the inhabitants of Lady Grey were ordered to vacate the place. They were allowed until the 25th November to obey orders. The public offices there were closed, and preparations were made to occupy the town. Here must be noted the story of a woman in a thousand--the post-mistress of Ladygrey. When the Boers came to seize the post-office, she "stuck to her post" with a vengeance. She refused to budge or to give it up, and when the Free State flag was hoisted, she promptly hauled it down and substituted the Union Jack. Not content with this, she tore down the proclamation of the Boers annexing the district, and put in its place the Governor's proclamation against treason. Pluck carried the day; the Boers were worsted, and the post-mistress remained mistress of the situation. What became of this heroine of the war is not yet known. Proclamations emanating from Bloemfontein, and signed by Mr. Wessels, President of the Volkraad, were also issued, declaring the whole of Griqualand West, except Kimberley and Mafeking and the districts four miles around each of these places, to be Free State territory. In the face of these energetic movements action on the part of the British was necessary to restore the confidence of the wavering people, and consequently the following telegram was despatched by the General Commanding in Chief to the officer commanding at Queenstown:-- "_November 15._--General Gatacre, with the 1st Battalion of the Seventh Brigade, left yesterday for East London. More troops will follow as they arrive. "Owing to the distance from England, it has not been possible to give the frontier districts, at first, the protection they merit, and the enemy's troops have in places entered our territory. "Make known as widely as possible that her Majesty's Government will exact compensation for any actual injury done to the property of individuals who remain loyal, and take every means in your power to obtain and record the names of any who may act disloyally, with a view to the consideration of their cases afterwards. Circulate this as widely as you can in English and Dutch." On the other side the enemy exerted himself freely. A curious appeal was made to the farmers about Colesberg by the Boer commander. He addressed the crowd with great fervour, and called on all to join the Republican cause and to throw off the yoke of England, whose tyranny could no longer be endured. War, he declared, had been forced upon them. They were now fighting for liberty, and it was the will of God. He said it depended on the Afrikanders themselves whether they would for ever continue to be ruled from Downing Street or become an independent nation. So far, he added, their arms had been victorious, and God had been with them. * * * * * Meanwhile Lord Methuen and his troops were preparing to march to the relief of Kimberley _via_ Witteputs, and in expectation of his arrival (of which they were duly informed by their many spies and the disloyal Dutch in the neighbourhood), the Boers, reinforced, posted a cannon at Belmont Station, and again took up a powerful position on the Kaffir's Kop range of hills. [Illustration: LIEUT.-GENERAL LORD METHUEN, C.B. Photo by Elliott & Fry, London.] THE BATTLE OF BELMONT On the morning of Tuesday, the 21st of November, at three o'clock, Lord Methuen's march to the relief of Kimberley definitely began. The force consisted of the Naval Brigade, the 9th Brigade under Colonel Featherstonhaugh, the Guards Brigade under General Sir H. Colvile, two batteries of Field Artillery, Rimington's Guides, and the 9th Lancers. The first halt was made at Fincham's Farm, some twelve miles off, where the troops breakfasted, and whence the 9th Lancers and Rimington's Guides started on a reconnoitring expedition, which was not without its excitement. The Boers were reported to be somewhere in the vicinity, and soon they were espied, some three hundred of them, climbing a kopje with the evident intention of firing down on the party. This they did, and with such rapidity that only by sheer luck the men escaped. They went on to the farm of one Thomas, a supposed loyalist, for the purpose of watering their horses. This person had declared that there were no Boers in the neighbourhood; but no sooner had the tired beasts begun to dip their dusty noses in the cool and longed-for draught than a brisk fire was opened on them from all sides, and the troops had hurriedly to return to the main body at Fincham's. But they lost three horses. On the following day the division moved on to the said Thomas's Farm. The advance party again came under fire--"Just by way of salute," as Tommy said--but the enemy was promptly silenced. Here the troops bivouacked. On the night of the 22nd coffee was served out about twelve o'clock, and after this the whole force prepared to move. The general orders were as follows: "At three A.M. Guards Brigade to advance from small white house near railway on Gun Kopje, supported by battery on right plus Naval Brigade; 9th Brigade on west side of Table Mountain; at same hour, bearing already taken, supported by battery on left, 9th Lancers, two squadrons, one company Mounted Infantry, marching north of Belmont Station, keeping one to two miles on left flank and advanced; Rimington's Guides, one squadron Lancers, one company Mounted Infantry from Witte Putt to east of Sugar Loaf; one company Mounted Infantry on right of Naval Brigade, protecting right; the force having got over open ground should arrive at daybreak on enemy; 9th Brigade having secured Table Mountain to swing round left and keep on high ground, and then advance east to west on A (on plan; not printed); Guards Brigade conform, being pivot; then Guards advance on east edge of Mount Blanc, guns clearing entire advance with shrapnel; cavalry to get round rear of enemy, securing horses and laager." [Illustration: LORD METHUEN'S LINE OF ADVANCE] This carefully-arranged programme, however, was not followed in its entirety. In the grim blackness of the small hours the Grenadiers lost direction, and Lord Methuen was committed to a frontal attack. But still the attack was a brilliant success. The Boers were caught napping, for they were in the happy belief that the troops were still at Witte Putt at the very hour when they were marching steadily upon them. The infantry tramped four miles in pitch darkness and took up their position on a long low hill facing the enemy. The Boers occupied a magnificent horseshoe-shaped position on a series of kopjes and ridges eastward of Belmont railway station. As usual, they had utilised the boulders as screens, behind which they could safely blaze away at the advancing ranks. Near daybreak--the hot summer morning dawned about four o'clock--firing began. The Guards had opened out for the attack, and the Boers, suddenly espying them from the heights, thereupon commenced to pelt and batter them. The Scots and Grenadiers nevertheless proceeded. Their position was far from comfortable, as it was necessary to cross some hundred yards of arid open veldt with no cover at all, while the enemy, ensconced behind tremendous rocks some 500 feet above their level, had nothing to do but to point their rifles and send their bullets whizzing at the advancing mass. But the Guards stoutly held their own, lying down and returning volley after volley for a full half-hour. Meanwhile the 9th Brigade advanced across the plain in extended order, and at half-past four two batteries posted near the railway commenced shelling the enemy's position. Now the Guards began to proceed. Steadily forward they went--the thin, extended line moved as on parade, no supports being behind them. Scarcely had they reached the base of the hill than a fierce storm of lead poured like a cascade from guns and rifles. It was useless now to attempt to return the fire--the Boers were invisible. There was no help for it; the men had only to move on and trust to their best "cold Sheffield" and their warm, gallant hearts. They fixed bayonets. Major Kinloch gave the word to his men to advance. "Now, boys, as hard as you can go!" he sang out. The other officers shouted their orders; all were dashing along like lions loosened from a cage. Cheers rent the air, bullets buzzed, cannons roared, blood streamed and spouted, plucky men and brave boys dropped dead on every side. Yet on went the infantry brigades! The first kopje was stormed! The Boers had vanished! It was a sight to thrill the blood, to make the heart leap to the throat--so grand, so awful, so reminiscent of all the great traditions of British history. The enemy went helter-skelter to their second kopje on the right, where another force was strongly intrenched. Here they were sheltered by a number of "schantz," or trenches built of boulders and arranged in gallery form, and here our men mounted after them--Coldstreams, Grenadiers, Scots Guards, Northumberlands, Northamptons, and 2nd King's Own Yorkshires, now steadily advancing without excitement and with stern determination, and through a horrible cross-fire from the death-dealing rifles of the enemy. Their advance was grand--a feat of heroism--with the Boer missiles flying about their heads and the track of blood seeming to tinge the very atmosphere with red. On and on they pushed, cheering loudly up the steep incline and over the boulders, nimble as goats, determined as giants, on and on, and, with a mighty roar, took the position. Dead men lay at their feet, but honour, with its laurel crown, wreathed their heads! Again the Boers made a hasty, a desperate retreat; again they sought a strongly-fortified position; again, our cavalry being too far off to reach them, the infantry combat was renewed. A hurricane of bullets poured down. Death for the third time stared and gibbered; for the third time our gallant fellows, all in mass, again advanced to the attack. The Naval Brigade brought up four guns, and Captain Prothero got his cannon in position of 1800 yards and blazed out a chorus of distraction. The enemy fled. The rout was now complete. Away went the 9th Lancers, away went the Mounted Infantry, both pursuing the fugitives for a good five miles. Thus the battle of Belmont was won. The whole of the camp waggons, filled with boxes of clothing, hundreds of horses and bullocks, were captured, and tons of ammunition were destroyed. But this fight, that has taken so short a time to describe, and which was over in less than four hours, was hardly won. Forms all bloodily dashed lay here and there and everywhere, and the Scots Guards, who had stormed the kopje to inspiriting strains of drums and pipes, were doomed later on to hear the wail of the pibroch for many comrades mourned and buried. In all, our losses--about 200--were comparatively small considering that the engagement was a series of three battles, during which the Boers were constantly carrying off dead and wounded. Very many of our officers were wounded and three were killed. One--Lieutenant Fryer of the Grenadier Guards--was slain while gallantly leading his men and creeping along the bed of a stream in the enemy's rear. After the battle Lord Methuen made the following address to the troops: "Comrades, I congratulate you on the complete success achieved by you this morning. The ground over which we had to fight presented exceptional difficulties, and we had as an enemy a past-master in the tactics of mounted infantry. With troops such as you are, a commander can have no fear of the result. There is a sad side, and you and I are thinking as much of those who have died for the honour of their country and of those who are suffering as we are thinking of our victory." Three instances were reported of the despicable treachery of the Boers. Lieutenant Willoughby was shot at from an ambush under cover of the white flag; a Boer holding a white flag in his left hand murdered Lieutenant Brine with his right, and Lieutenant Blundell-Hollinshead-Blundell (3rd Batt. Grenadier Guards) was shot in the merciful act of tending a wounded Boer. Lord Methuen after the fight sent a remonstrance to the Boer commander, saying, "Acting quite fairly with you, I decline to take Kimberley men who know the country, because their parole cannot be accepted. I must ask you to warn your wounded not to shoot our officers. I must warn you not to use Dum-Dum bullets, or use the flag of truce treacherously. Such action is cowardly in the extreme, and I cannot countenance it." [Illustration: PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF BELMONT.] The Boer losses were reported as very small, but no credence can be placed on their statements, for the very good reason that it has been President Kruger's policy to conceal from outsiders, and even from his own country, the extent of his losses. Whenever the Boer dies in battle, his body is weighted and cast into a river, or into a trench as quickly as possible. His family are left in ignorance as to his fate, and their only conclusion is to assume that he is dead. But Mr. Kruger's methods and his ruthless military oligarchy were disapproved even by his own countrymen, and more especially by his own countrywomen, who now began to mistrust the continual story of Boer victory, and asked pitifully for permission themselves to seek for fathers, sons, and brothers from whom they never heard. In some cases many of these were lying not an inch below their feet, for a British search party came upon a portion of the veldt that was literally mosaicked with dead Dutchmen whose bodies were scarcely more than peppered with earth! Mr. Knight, the correspondent of the _Morning Post_, who was a general favourite, was wounded in a singularly treacherous manner. He was in the firing line of the Northamptons, who were then attacking the Boers. Some of the enemy suddenly emerged from behind rocks and displayed a handkerchief attached to a rifle. On this sign Mr. Knight with two others rose, and all three were instantly shot with Dum-Dum bullets. Mr. Knight's sufferings were great, and the arm was amputated. The use of Dum-Dum bullets had been proscribed, as, after hitting the mark, they expand and cause wounds as large as a five-shilling piece. The Boers, besides using them on occasion, so manoeuvred the Mauser bullets that they could act in identical fashion. Another treacherous Boer device was the wearing of the red cross upon their sleeves--an action on a par with the display of the white flag--for convenience' sake. However, it must always be remembered that the Boer armies were commandeered and cosmopolitan armies, and not disciplined troops. [Illustration: THE BATTLE OF BELMONT, 23rd November 1899--BAYONET ATTACK BY THE SCOTS AND GRENADIER GUARDS. Drawing by Frank Dodd, R.I.] During the heat of the fray Colonel Crabbe, commanding the Grenadier Guards, became detached from his regiment. He was instantly surrounded by Boers, and being wounded, might probably have been killed had not a private suddenly rushed to the rescue. The plucky fellow shot two of the enemy, silenced a third with his bayonet, and finally, amid a shower of bullets, carried off the Colonel to the shelter of an ambulance waggon. Colonel Crabbe sustained injuries to wrist and thigh, but was not dangerously wounded. A curious experience befell the Hon. George Peel, who was trying to reach Kimberley, where his sister, the Hon. Mrs. Rochfort Maguire, was imprisoned. Roaming about after the battle of Belmont, he came by accident on a Boer camp. A Dutchman promptly emerged, and when he was preparing to meet a grim fate, deciding that all hope was lost, he found himself accosted and handed a Bible. He was in the very act of congratulating himself on his lucky escape when on the scene came two grenadiers, who seeing his battered condition and his Bible, mistook him for a Boer spy and carried him off as a prize. Fortunately he was recognised by a member of Lord Methuen's camp and liberated. Very interesting are the following official particulars given by the General Officer Commanding the 9th Brigade to the Chief Staff Officer of the 1st Division:-- "BELMONT, _Nov. 23, 1899_. "SIR,--I have the honour to submit the following report of the part taken by the brigade under my command in the action which took place to-day. The rendezvous was left at 3.7 A.M. in the following formation: Northumberland Fusiliers, in column of companies, on the left, directing, and fifty paces from them moved the Northamptonshire Regiment in similar formation, and parallel to them. In rear of both these battalions was the 2nd Battalion King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and two companies Munster Fusiliers." (Having described the operations which ended in the occupation of a ridge south of Table Mountain, Major-General Featherstonhaugh continues:) "This party of the enemy was finally dislodged at the point of the bayonet, and 'independent fire' poured into them at a distance of fifty yards, when a white flag was hoisted by the party. On our men ceasing fire, the white flag still being displayed, a shot was fired by this party at our men; but the actual bearer of the flag of truce, followed by some eleven or twelve unarmed Boers, surrendered themselves to Colonel Money and were made prisoners.--Signed for Major-General Featherstonhaugh, EDWARD S. BULFIN, _Captain, Brigade Major, 9th Brigade_." The following is the list of officers killed and wounded at the battle of Belmont:-- 3rd Grenadier Guards.--Lieutenant Fryer, killed; Lieutenant Blundell-Hollinshead-Blundell, dangerously wounded; Second Lieutenants Leslie and Vaughan, wounded; Lieutenants Gurdon Rebow and Russell, slightly wounded; and in addition the following officers reported as wounded: Lieutenants Lygon and Cameron, and Lieutenant-Colonel Crabbe. 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards.--Lieutenant Grant, wounded. 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards.--Lieutenant the Hon. Claude Willoughby, slightly wounded; Second Lieutenant Burton, severely wounded. 1st Battalion Scots Guards.--Major the Hon. North Dalrymple Hamilton, severely wounded; Second Lieutenants Bulkley and Alexander, wounded. 1st Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers.--Captain Eagar and Lieutenant Brine, killed; Major Dashwood and Lieutenant Festing, dangerously wounded; Captain Sapte and Lieutenant Fishbourne, Brigadier-General Featherstonhaugh, Captain Freeland, 2nd Northampton, Lieutenant Barton, 2nd Northampton, severely wounded. THE BATTLE OF GRASPAN The commandos defeated at Belmont fell back upon Graspan, the next station northwards on the way to Kimberley. There Lord Methuen decided they should not long remain. He thought, to use his own words, "that it would be best to march the division at once to Swinks Pan, which would place me on the left front of the enemy's position, and that if I worked one battery round each flank, sent my cavalry and mounted infantry well forward, the greater part of the cavalry being on the eastern side, I ought to capture the eastern force. The Naval Brigade and 9th Brigade I left for protecting the guns or assaulting a position if necessary. The Guards Brigade I left with the baggage to march to Enslin, where I had my next camp. The brigade could always give a hand if wanted. I had left 1st Battalion Scots Guards at Belmont Station, also two companies Munster Fusiliers, because there were 500 Boers and a gun, so it was said, threatening Belmont. I made this my divisional battle, marching straight from Belmont to Enslin. The armoured train with infantry was to give me a help from the line." Thus the General briefly described his programme. On the day following the battle of Belmont, a hot, blistering day, with the sun glaring pitilessly till the heavens looked like a sheet of burnished brass, the Division, with the Yorkshire Light Infantry as advance guard, moved on towards Graspan. This place is probably called Graspan because it is the centre of a circular phalanx of huge kopjes, which, rising out of the smooth white sand, have an air of quaint picturesqueness resembling that of some ancient ruined arena. There the troops encamped. Here, in the light of the stars and rolled in their blankets, they laid them down to their hard-earned rest. Before cock-crow, however, the men were up and doing, and as the lavender hues of dawn began to lighten the horizon, the gallant warriors were on the move. It was known that the enemy was near at hand, sneaking on the surrounding heights, therefore the last two miles were covered in fighting formation, the Naval detachment and the 5th Fusiliers being supported by the Yorkshire Light Infantry and the Northampton Regiment. The enemy, not 400 strong as was supposed, but 2500, with six guns, one Hotchkiss, and one Maxim, was posted on a series of five kopjes over 200 feet in height, joined by neks, all of which save one were strongly occupied. In a laager in the remote distance 500 more Boers were reported to be hidden in reserve. The ground on all sides had been previously measured to find the ranges, the Boers having evidently been quite well informed regarding the British plan of action. In advance of the troops came the armoured train, a pachydermatous monster which moved cumbrously in front of the column, and was saluted by the smoking wrath of big guns as soon as it appeared. It retired cautiously, and disgorged its gallant crew of marines to help in handling the naval guns. Lord Methuen deployed the cavalry on the flanks, while the artillery took up positions in front of the Boer trenches. Meanwhile the 9th Brigade went forward in skirmishing order. This consisted of the Northumberland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion Northamptons, half-Battalion Loyal North Lancashires, 2nd Battalion King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. With the 9th was the Naval Brigade, commanded by Captain Prothero. At six o'clock an active artillery duel began, the guns of the foe being splendidly posted, and their range, as before-said, carefully calculated. Their shells burst with appalling fracas over our batteries, but the brave British gunners never swerved. They gave the Boers some smart and telling replies, and presently, on withdrawing their guns to a new position, quite defeated the calculations of the enemy, whose shells now began to fall wide of the mark. The rifle-fire of the Dutchmen was not so accurate as usual, and was evidently under no control, though there were sharpshooters who crept under cover for the purpose of sniping at any prominent person who might be taken for an officer. As has been stated, there was now no outward or visible sign of rank, so for the time being the enemy's efforts were unsuccessful. They were more deadly--grievously deadly--however, when the gallant Naval Brigade, the officers of which were distinguishable by their swords, came to the foot of the hill. The fire from the kopjes was terrific, and every moment men threw up their arms and fell. They had advanced in extended order, but in converging upon the position to be taken, found themselves closed in, and in that formation attempted the ascent. Meanwhile the rest of the infantry was moving forward in preparation for attack. The Northamptons worked from the left round to the right, where they were joined by the Yorkshires and Northumberlands. All this time a scene of terrific slaughter was taking place, a tremendous and unceasing fire being poured from the Boer positions upon our steadily advancing men. But these were undefeatable, the 2nd Yorkshire Light Infantry, the Marines, and the 1st North Lancashire acquitting themselves nobly in a most perilous situation. One after another of their numbers dropped. Stones and sand were heaped with the mutilated and fainting, and dyed with the life-blood of trusty comrades that a moment ago had been hearty and hale; but on they went, these gallant lads, while a storm of shrapnel bellowed overhead, and bullets whistled past their ears, and dust and dirt blinded their eyes. With a ringing cheer the Yorkshire men directed a fusilade towards the crest of the enemy's sangar, and then the whole mass crawled up with splendid effort, neared the summit, and prepared to charge. The Boers, however, began discreetly to remove themselves to a second position still better intrenched, from whence they could fire on the British as they gained the top. At this time the British guns were forced to be almost inactive, as the storming line was now so near the crest that the shrapnel could only be directed on the enemy by enfilading the position from the ridge of the kopje on the left, and it was during the lull that Lieutenant Taylor, Yorkshire Light Infantry, and Lieutenant Jones, of the Marines, scaled the sangar. The next instant there was a roar and a rush, and all were leaping forward to clear the second position. This was only accomplished after some desperately hard work and a quarter of an hour's hand-to-hand fighting--an eternity it seemed to those engaged--for the kopje was stubbornly held. But even Boer pluck, of which in this case there was no lack, could not resist the impetuous advance of the British infantry, and at last, when the hill-top was one crimson crown of blood and half the gallant number were struck down, the Boers bolted one after another down the back of the hill, pursued by our artillery fire, and made for their horses. Finally, as they were retreating in hot haste across the plain, the 9th Lancers charged them, and succeeded in catching up their rear close to a kopje where they were sheltering. But here the place literally swarmed with Dutchmen, and the Lancers, whose numbers were small, and whose horses were exhausted, were forced to retire. Still the object of the fight was magnificently accomplished. The rout of the enemy was complete. The gallant Naval Brigade, Yorkshire Light Infantry, and Loyal North Lancashires remained masters of the situation. A party of Boers who had rushed from their sheltering kopje were intercepted by the detachment of the New South Wales Lancers, who, charging, forced them back to their hiding-place. The amazing gallantry of the Marines, who bore the brunt of the desperate fight, was the subject of general eulogy. Many of these splendid fellows had three wounds, while some had four. Sixty per cent. of the officers and sergeants were hit. Nothing could have been more heroic than the conduct of poor Huddart, who so gloriously fell in doing his duty. Captain Le Marchant, Royal Marine Light Infantry, who was left in command of the Naval Brigade with Lord Methuen's force after the action at Graspan, reported as follows: "It is with deep regret that I have to report the death of Midshipman Huddart, who behaved magnificently, and still advanced after he had been twice wounded, until he was finally struck down mortally wounded." A brother naval officer also wrote: "At the bottom of the hill Huddart was hit in the arm, and half-way up he was shot in the leg, but still he pressed on. On reaching the top of the kopje he was shot through the stomach and fell." Captain Le Marchant, when his senior officers were killed or wounded, led the remnant of the Naval Brigade up the kopje with splendid pluck and ability. But magnificent deeds were numerous. Lieutenant W. J. C. Jones, Royal Marine Light Infantry, though he had a bullet in his thigh, led his men up the kopje, and only after the day was won consented to have his wound dressed. Colour-Sergeant Waterhouse was also mentioned by Lord Methuen, who said in his despatch, "I beg to bring to your notice No. 1843, Colour-Sergeant Waterhouse, King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, who at a critical moment acted with great coolness in shooting down an enemy who had been doing great execution on our men at 1150 yards." The General deplored the lack of a cavalry brigade and horse artillery, owing to which he was unable to reap the fruits of his hard-fought action, and all must unite to condole with this much-tried commander on the manner in which he had been handicapped from the first. Lord Methuen in his despatch drew attention to the excellent work done by the Naval Brigade near the line. He said:-- "Lieutenants Campbell and L. S. Armstrong displayed great coolness in conducting the fire of their guns. Petty Officers Ashley, _Doris_, and Fuller, _Monarch_, laid their guns with great accuracy under fire. "I again draw attention to the exceptional organising power of Colonel Townsend. At Swinks Pan at 11.30 P.M. I was informed that, owing to all the ambulances having been used for taking the wounded to the train at Belmont, I had scarcely a field-hospital mounted officer, only three ambulances and three stretchers. I knew I had to fight next morning, so got together fifty blankets in order to carry wounded with help of rifles. I also sent to Colonel Townsend to make arrangements for wounded by 3 A.M., a messenger having to ride seven miles to him. He met me on the field with full supply of ambulances, and I never saw anything more of him or the wounded, because he had a train ready for them between Graspan and Belmont. His only complaint is that there is not much of his mules left, an observation which applies equally to men and animals." To show how completely all the British projects were known, a curious incident of this battle may be quoted. Four men were captured by Rimington's Guides, but three of them being unarmed were released. It was subsequently discovered that these same persons had taken to the Jacobsdal commando minute details regarding the British camp, with the result that a Boer force was detached to attack the station. The total British casualties were estimated at 197, including twenty killed and seven missing. At the close of the action, Lord Methuen complimented the members of the Naval Brigade on their splendid behaviour, and expressed regret at the losses they had sustained. The following is the list of officers killed, wounded, and missing at the battle of Graspan or Enslin of 25th November:-- 2nd Battalion Yorkshire Light Infantry.--Wounded: Captain C. A. L. Yate, Lieutenant H. C. Fernyhough, Lieutenant C. H. Ackroyd. Naval Brigade.--Killed: Commander Ethelston, _Powerful_;[6] Major Plumbe, R.M.L.I., _Doris_; Captain Senior, R.M.A., _Monarch_; C. A. E. Huddart, Midshipman, _Doris_. The following were severely wounded:-- Flag-Captain Prothero, _Doris_, and Lieutenant Jones, R.M.L.I., _Doris_. [Illustration: PRIVATE AND CORPORAL OF THE GORDON HIGHLANDERS. Photo by Gregory & Co., London.] Lord Methuen addressed his division in stirring words, congratulating his men on the work they had done and the hardships they had surmounted. The work, he said, was the severest accomplished by the British army for many a long day. Not a single point, he added, could they afford to give to the enemy. The Boers' tactics had been proved excellent and their courage admirable. The gallant General added that when called on to fight for his country, he preferred to fight against a foe worthy of his steel rather than against savages, whose sole recommendation was bravery. He hoped that he and his men had gained each other's confidence, and that they would all do their duty to their country as Englishmen should. Lord Methuen described as dastardly the firing by the enemy on ambulance waggons, the shooting of a British officer by a wounded Boer, and the use of Dum-Dum bullets; but he refused to believe that these acts were characteristic of the enemy; he would give them credit until he was convinced to the contrary that they wished to fight fair and square. Addressing the Scots Guards, the General said that they had acted as he expected his old battalion would. The troops rested well on the night of the 27th, and on the following day proceeded towards Modder River, where the General was aware that the passage of the river would involve a bloody fight. By this time General Pole-Carew had taken command of the 9th Brigade, in place of General Featherstonhaugh, who was wounded. THE BATTLE OF MODDER RIVER This battle, to use Lord Methuen's words, was one of the hardest and most trying fights in the annals of the British army. He might also have truly said that it was one of the most gloriously-fought engagements that has been known in modern warfare. On reconnoitring the enemy's position, the Boers were found to be strongly entrenched and concealed behind a fringe of furze and foliage and in front of trees in the neighbourhood of Modder River. From native sources it was learnt that the river and the Riet River were fordable anywhere--a statement which was afterwards found to be entirely false. The enemy was discovered on the east of the village to be in strong force and aggressive. His trenches commanded the plain for a distance of 1600 yards, and there was no means of outflanking him, as the Modder River was in flood. The word Modder means muddy, and this term was appreciated in its full significance when our parched troops came to make acquaintance with it. But there are times and seasons when even ochreous water becomes clear as crystal to the fevered imagination, and before this day of days was over--in the sweltering, merciless sun, with the thermometer at 110 degrees in the shade--men felt as though they would stake their whole chance of existence for one half-bottle of the reviving fluid. But this is a digression. The horror of that day's thirst had barely set in at the time treated of--4 to 8 A.M. At that hour there was no suspicion that the enemy, strong in numbers, would continue to fight, and be strengthened by some 8000 more Dutchmen. He appeared to be retiring, and there were no signs that the village would be held. But at 8.10 a fierce roar of guns multifarious declared that the river was fringed by the enemy, and that he was well and skilfully concealed. Parallel to the river on the north side the Boers had constructed, with their wonted cunning, long sandbag trenches and various complicated breastworks, which afforded them splendid cover. The line extended over some five miles, and they were discovered to be posted on both sides of the water. Where the stream of the Riet joins the Modder there is a small and picturesque island some two acres in extent. It has shelving banks all fringed with willows, and thus forms an excellent natural cover for troops. Till now this spot had been the resort of picnickers and pleasure-seekers from the Diamond City. On the north bank were farmhouses and hotels, which had been evacuated by their owners and had been taken possession of by the Boers. Here they had posted guns of every available kind, in every available spot. They had Hotchkiss guns and Maxim guns, and the deadly, much-abhorred Vickers-Maxim quick-firer, a machine which, by the way, was offered some time ago to the British Government--and refused! This objectionable weapon was christened by some "Putt-Putt," by others "Bong-Bong," and one officer styled it "the Great Mogul," because its presence was invariably greeted with profound salaams and Chinese prostrations. With these guns the enemy began to show that he meant business, as will be seen. The division, that had been strengthened by the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, had moved out from Wittekopslaager about 5 A.M., breakfastless, because it was thought that on reaching the river, which was but a short march of five miles off, there would be ample time for a meal. But by seven o'clock the fighting had begun. The General had arranged with the officer commanding the Royal Artillery to prepare the infantry attack with both batteries from the right flank, and the Infantry Division being still some miles distant, he gave them two distinct points to march on, which allowed of the brigades keeping in extended order and covering a very wide front. The Guards Brigade had orders to develop their attack first, which they did with the 1st Battalion Scots Guards on the right, with directions to swing their right well round in order to take the enemy in flank, the 2nd Battalion Coldstreams and the 3rd Battalion Grenadiers making the frontal attack, the former on the left to keep touch with the 9th Brigade; the 1st Battalion Coldstreams in reserve in the right rear. Well, before they could look about them and settle down into their positions, the whole force found itself facing the Boer commando 8000 strong, two large guns, Krupp guns, &c. The Scots Guards on the extreme right marched through the old reservoir, and directly they emerged from cover a shower of bullets greeted them. Soon after their Maxim gun was disabled by the Hotchkiss gun of the enemy, and presently their whole detachment was completely wiped out. First the sergeant in charge was killed, then an officer was wounded, then Colonel Stopford of the Coldstream Guards was hit in the neck and killed, and the horse ridden by Colonel Paget was shot in five places and dropped dead. Meanwhile the 75th Battery in return launched some magnificent shots in the direction of the Dutchmen. The third of these struck a farmhouse in which the Boers and a gun were posted, and set the whole place in a blaze. Not till the roof was burnt about their ears, however, did the Boers budge. They clung with ferocious tenacity to every position, and the fight at all times of the day was one of great stubbornness. The 1st Battalion of the Coldstream Guards had extended, and, swinging their right round, had prolonged the line of the Scots Guards to the right. Farther advance was checked by the Riet River. The troops then lay down, being fairly under cover in that position. The heat was scorching, and in the plain occupied by our troops Mauser bullets swept the field in thousands. There was absolutely no cover save the shelving bank of the river, which served no purpose directly they rose on elbow from the ground. For hours our men lay on their faces unable to show a head without inviting a shower of lead--lay on the blistering sand with the hot African sun grilling them, some of the Highlanders having their legs veritably toasted, their mouths parched and full of sand, while bullets were fluting a death-song in the air, and the thunderous detonations of the big guns seemed to be raking the very bowels of the earth. Still the Boers stuck to their posts. For hours they plied their guns without sign of exhaustion. A terrific fire was kept up on both sides for a long--a seemingly interminable--time, but without any appreciable advance in the state of affairs. It was felt that nothing could be done on the right flank till the guns had cleared the position. The 18th Battery, however, came vigorously into play, and so brilliantly acquitted itself that finally the enemy was forced to evacuate their ferociously-contested positions among the houses. But so ably had they constructed their intrenchments that from these it was impossible to dislodge them. Meanwhile the 9th Brigade had advanced the Northumberland Fusiliers along the east side of the railway line, supported by half a battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. The Yorkshire Light Infantry moved along the west side of the railway, supported by the remaining half battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. The half battalion Loyal North Lancashire prolonged the line to the left, and endeavoured to cross the river and threaten the enemy's right flank. The six companies of Northamptons acted as a baggage-guard. Early in the day a plucky attempt was made on the extreme right of the line to cross the Modder. Colonel Codrington and Captain Feilding of the 1st Coldstreams, with Captain Selheim of the Queensland Permanent Force with some two dozen men, forded the river. The water was almost chin deep, and while they crossed, the Hotchkiss gun directed an appalling fire on them. Though laden with all their gear and 150 rounds of ammunition, they yet succeeded in reaching the other side, where they found themselves almost swamped in mud. As they were not supported they had to retire. But this was easier said than done. On the return passage two men were almost drowned, and had it not been for the ingenious device of their comrades, who, by joining hands and slinging their putties together, managed to drag them ashore, they would certainly have perished. Soon after this the General, who had been moving about surveying and commanding, was shot through the thigh. Then followed some confusion, as the two brigades, in the absence of orders, had to act independently of each other, and there was some fear that the 9th Brigade would fire on the 1st. Command of the field was now assumed by Major-General Sir H. E. Colvile, whose headquarters were on the right close to the river. It had been Lord Methuen's idea to take the position at nightfall at the point of the bayonet, but owing to the tremendous day's work, the heat, the absence of food, and the general fatigue that all had undergone, this project was abandoned. There was another reason for the change of plan. Just as it was beginning to grow late some of the most brilliant work of the day commenced. As the trenches were found to be utterly impregnable to rifle-fire, it was felt that only desperate measures would rout the Dutchmen from their stronghold. Colonel Barter (King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry) and Lieutenant Thorpe, with some men of the Argyll and Sutherland and North Lancashire Regiments, started off, and, much to the surprise of the Boers, who had evidently not calculated upon such dauntless agility, got safely across the river. The wonderful way in which this feat was accomplished was described by an eye-witness, a correspondent of the _Times_. "That it could even be attempted to cross the river sliding sideways through the rush of water over the paddles along a rickety iron bar one by one, clinging to the short supports in full view of the opposite shore, was an act of reckless heroism against which even the wary Cronje had not provided. This, however, is what was actually done, and it would be difficult to find a parallel for the stubborn pluck of the men who accompanied Colonel Barter across the 300 yards of dam and weir. One by one some 400 of them crossed. Then a detachment of the Royal Engineers, showing how well they could take their part in the forefront of the fighting line, followed them, after that some more of the Yorkshire Light Infantry. Little by little a force was collected which cleared several of the nearest houses on the right and effected an occupation of an irrigation patch from which they were never dislodged." It was quite wonderful to note the effect of the gallant British cheer which rang out from General Pole-Carew's men as they burst from the river, bayonet in hand. The Boers were startled and fled, with our men closely in pursuit. At the rousing, ringing, menacing sound, their hopes had failed--they thought that the rumour of victory was already in the air. "The thunder growl edged with melodious ire in alt," as Carlyle called it, never did better work. It demoralised and brought about the end. [Illustration: PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF MODDER RIVER] Shortly after, a battery of Royal Artillery came upon the scene, but before it had time to unlimber, more Boers took to their heels, falling over each other in their haste to be off and catch their horses. The sound of British lungs in their rear and the sight of the guns was too much for them. Thus after twelve hours' fighting the day was practically won, for, when morning came, it was found that the enemy had entirely cleared out, and removed to fresh intrenchments half-way between the river and Spyfontein. It was a brilliant but a hardly-earned victory. It is stated that the Naval guns fired over 500 rounds, and the 18th Battery more than 1100. The 75th fired 900 rounds, the 62nd (who came to the rescue from the Orange River late in the day), 500 rounds. The glorious gunners vied with one another in the display of gallantry and proficiency. A vivid story of the energetic march of the 62nd Battery was told by an officer, who must have had an even more trying time than most. "We had orders to reinforce the main body at once; marched twenty miles the first day, had a few hours' rest, and started at the first streak of dawn again. We did about twenty-five miles, and were just going to have a well-earned rest when an orderly came galloping up with the order to go at once (I am talking of the 62nd now), as the battle was going against our troops. We started off again at a trot, and kept it up for about five miles, when our horses were just done up. We had to take four out of our gun-teams, as they dropped dead of exhaustion. The sergeants hooked their own horses in, and off we went again. We lost more horses, and had to walk after we had done about eight miles. We were only able to just make the horses drag the guns into action. I shall never forget it. I was feeling very queer. I don't think any of us were afraid, but we were all of us expecting to be shot every minute, as the bullets came in showers.... We were in action in this place about two hours. Our troops were being shot down in heaps, and things were looking very black, when Lord Methuen came up to our Colonel and asked him to send his batteries up closer (we were then 1500 yards from the Boer trenches, and you must understand that a rifle carries 2500 yards). Our Colonel did. We then advanced up past our own infantry and came into action about 900 yards closer than artillery had ever taken up position before. After severe loss on our side we managed to silence the Boer guns. The order was then given to retire. We got out of range, and were on the point of congratulating ourselves on being so lucky, when up rode an orderly giving us instructions to go and relieve the Guards. Our Major advanced.... We took up our position 800 yards from the Boer trenches, and, by Jove! the Boers let us have a fearful reception. Before I got my horses out they shot one of my drivers and two horses ... and brought down my own horse. We then got my gun round on the enemy, when one of my gunners was shot through the brain and fell at my feet. Another of my gunners was shot whilst bringing up shell, and I began to feel queer.... At last we had a look in; our shells began to tell. We were firing six rounds a minute, and were at it until it was too dark to fire any more. The Boer firing had ceased, and the Guards were able to get up and retire. They blessed the artillery that day. We had to keep our position all night, with not a soul near us and nothing to eat and drink. Our orders were to open fire as soon as it was light enough, and the infantry were to take the place at the point of the bayonet.... But in the morning the Boers had fled. The field presented a terrible sight at daybreak; there were dead and dying in every direction. I couldn't describe it; it was awful. We lost heavily on our side, but the Boer losses must have been heavier. The Boers bury their dead in the trenches as soon as they drop, so that one cannot gauge their loss, but we counted hundreds." [Illustration: SERGEANT AND PRIVATE OF THE DUBLIN FUSILIERS. Photo by Gregory & Co., London.] It is pleasant to remember that this hurried march and its trials were fully appreciated by Lord Methuen, who reported that the 62nd Battery was of great service. It must be noted that it came into action between three and four o'clock in the afternoon. The gunners had made a splendid forced march from Orange River in some twenty-three hours, yet there and then, with worn-out horses and jaded frames, joined in the fight. Heroic actions were so abundant that they made quite a formidable list in the General's despatch, but they afford such inspiriting reading to all who honour Great Britain's heroes, that the list is reproduced in its entirety. "_From the Lieut.-General Commanding the First Division to the Chief Staff Officer._ "MODDER RIVER, _Dec. 1, 1899_. "I have much pleasure in bringing to your notice the names of the following officers and rank and file who distinguished themselves during the day:-- "Major Count Gleichen, C.M.G., for the coolness shown by him throughout the engagement, especially in attending to the wounded under a heavy fire. "Sergeant Brown and Private Martin, 3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards, who helped him, were both shot. "Sergeant-Major Cooke, 3rd Battalion Grenadiers, displayed remarkable coolness under fire. "Lieutenant the Hon. A. Russell showed great coolness in working the machine-gun, which he did with marked success. "Major Granville Smith, Coldstream Guards, in volunteering to find a ford, which he did in dangerous mud and a strong river. "Captain and Adjutant Steele, Coldstream Guards, for excellent service during the day. "Sergeant-Major S. Wright, Coldstream Guards, showed great coolness when a change of ammunition carts was being made, and was of great value at a critical time. "Native Driver Matthews for making the other natives stick to their carts when they would otherwise have bolted. "Drill and Colour-Sergeant Price, Coldstream Guards, at Belmont and at Modder River rendered excellent service whilst commanding half a company. "Drill and Colour-Sergeant Plunkett, Coldstream Guards, collected 150 men, and helped the 9th Brigade crossing the river under Captain Lord Newtown Butler. "No. 1825, Lance-Corporal Webb, Coldstream Guards, twice asked leave to go into the open to bind up the wounds of a Grenadier; under a heavy fire he succeeded in his object. "Captain Hervey Bathurst, Grenadier Guards, was of great value in rallying a number of Grenadiers and Coldstreams shaken by the fire. "I again call attention to Colonel Paget's cheerfulness and intelligence under the most trying surroundings. "He draws attention to Captain Moores, Royal Army Medical Corps, who, although wounded in the hand, said nothing, but continued his duties. Also he draws attention to the good services of the Master of Ruthven, Scots Guards. The valuable services of Captain Nugent, aide-de-camp, and Captain Ruggles-Brise are again noted. "The names of Lieut.-Colonel Barter, King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, and Major the Hon. C. Lambton, Northumberland Fusiliers, are mentioned for having rendered invaluable assistance to their Brigadier. Captain Bulfin, Yorkshire Regiment, did his duty admirably. "Lieutenant Percival, Northumberland Fusiliers, managed with great difficulty to establish himself with a small party on a point near the railway, from which, by his judgment and coolness, he was able to keep down the fire of the enemy, many of his small party being killed. "Nos. 3499, Lance-Corporal R. Delaney, 4160, Private J. East, 4563, Private Segar, 4497, Private Snowdon, Northumberland Fusiliers, under a very heavy fire picked up and brought in a wounded man of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders; No. 3955, Private Smarley, Northumberland Fusiliers, No. 1 of a Maxim detachment, who showed great coolness and judgment when wounded. "Major Lindsay, Royal Artillery, 75th Battery, ignored a painful wound, and continued in command of his battery. Lieutenant Begbie, Royal Artillery, suddenly placed in command of his battery, led it and brought it into action with great coolness. "Captain Farrell, wounded a second time, continued to do his duty, having first placed a wounded man on one of the gun-carriages. Wounded gunners and drivers continued at their duty. "Lieutenant Rochford Boyd, Royal Artillery, on this, as on former occasions, showed himself reliable and capable of acting without orders. "I personally bring to notice the value of Lieut.-Colonel Rhodes's service and Major Streatfeild's service in sending forward reinforcements to Major-General Pole-Carew, for on this movement the result of the evening's success depended. "I cannot too highly commend the conduct of the troops, ably assisted by the Naval Brigade, for on them the whole credit of our success rests." There were some miraculous escapes, one sergeant in the Coldstream Guards having had many nasty experiences. In an account of them he said:-- "During the afternoon some one seemed to have spotted me from the trenches. First a shot struck the side of my boot and struck my rifle just in front of my face, filling my eyes with dirt and splinters. I rose up a little, when another shot struck the middle finger of my left hand. I had got on my knees, when a bullet struck me fair in the chest on the buckle of my haversack, breaking it through the centre and causing a slight puncture of the skin and bruising my chest. Have been congratulated as being the luckiest beggar in my battalion." The terrible nature of the fighting was described by an officer in the Guards, who must have had a charmed life. He wrote:-- "We had no cover except little scrub bushes about six inches high, and the ground sloped gently down to the Boers from about 2000 yards. I don't suppose troops have ever been in a more damnable position. I sat up occasionally to see how things were going, but only for a moment, as it was always the signal for a perfect storm of bullets. My ammunition-bearer had his head blown to bits by a 1-lb. shell from a 37-millimetre Maxim, a most damnable gun. I happened to be in the line of it just before dark, and they pumped six rounds at me. The first four pitched in a line about twenty, ten, fifteen, and the fourth four yards in front of me, and threw dirt all over me, and the next two just pitched behind me. I didn't like it a bit.... It was the worst day I have ever spent in my life. Twelve hours under a constant and heavy fire of Maxims, 12-pounders, and other quick-firing guns and rifles, a hot sun, no cover, no water, and no food is more than enough for yours truly.... The guns yesterday fought magnificently, and I believe fired more rounds per gun than have ever been fired in a battle before.... We had a lovely wash this morning. I washed shirt and drawers, besides myself--I wanted it. My clothes have not been off since we left the Orange River on November 21.... Cronje and Steyn are said to have both been present at the battle." In this battle the hardships of warfare were accumulated. Not only had the troops to display active but passive heroism. Though the longing for water exceeded the craving for food and repose, the unfortunate fellows were very near the verge of famine. Their position at times must have savoured of the tortures of Tantalus, for many of the men were groping after the enemy in a doubled-up fashion and under a shower of lead, along farms and gardens, while hens clacked, pigs grunted, goats offered milk, and potatoes and other edibles smiled a mute invitation. When the Boers were routed, however, these delicacies at last became the reward of their labours, but of the niceties of the culinary operations it is best not to speak. Our gallant Highlanders needed the services of no Vatel--an old can and a wood fire right royally served their purpose. The crossing of the river, which was so splendidly effected, particularly by the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, was fraught with unlooked-for dangers, as the following quotation from a letter of a private in the regiment will show. Talking of the enemy he said:-- "They held their position for five or six hours, and it was with great difficulty that we managed to shift them. Our regiment was the first to cross the river on the left flank, and my company was the first to get over. We advanced along the river and drove the Boers before us; but, unfortunately, our big guns dropped two or three shells uncomfortably close to us, entirely by mistake. When the first of these shells fell, I was only about ten yards past the spot. About twenty of our men were killed by the Boer bullets; and our regiment, I think, sustained the heaviest loss of any that took part in the fight. I felt a bit frightened when I first went into battle, but as the day advanced I got myself again. My legs are badly burned by the sun, and are very sore, but I am rapidly getting all right again. We expect to have another fight this week, and it will be even worse than the last, so one never knows the hour when he may fall." [Illustration: THE BATTLE OF MODDER RIVER, THE ARGYLL AND SUTHERLAND HIGHLANDERS CROSSING THE DRIFT. Drawing by Allan Stewart.] Indeed they did not, and it was a pathetically common experience to wish a man good luck one morning and on the next to find that his helmet and belongings were being gathered together--all that was left of him--to be sent home to his friends. For instance, there was the case of poor Colour-Sergeant Christian of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, a hero who did magnificent work, but who never lived to receive the decorations he deserved. An extract from one of his last letters is full of pathetic interest:-- "We have been fairly roughing it since we came out here. I have lost everything, and have nothing but what I stand up in. I haven't had the kilt off since we landed from the boat three weeks ago, and we consider it very lucky if we can manage to get a wash once a week. Just now we are all right, as the river is close at hand. You wouldn't know the regiment now if you saw us; we are brown all over. They have taken our sporrans away and covered our kilts with khaki cloth; in fact, I believe they will be making us dye our whiskers khaki colour next. Not a man has shaved since we left Dublin, so you can imagine what we are like. I haven't said anything about the battle, as I am sure you will know more about it at home than we do here. It may seem strange, but it is true. The people at home know more about what is going on than we do here. We have been receiving congratulatory telegrams from every one connected with the regiment, giving us great praise for our share in the battle, and really I must say the regiment did very well, considering we have so many youngsters in the ranks. The most trying part was lying down so long under fire without seeing any one to fire at. I was rather luckier, having to retire at first, and then chase some Boers out of the house with the bayonet, and then we had to ford the river and clear the north bank of the river. We were clearing them beautifully with the bayonet when a shell from our own guns burst among us. This seemed to demoralise every one, and they all commenced to retire. But, seeing this was my first fight, I couldn't see my way to retire without seeing who I was retiring from, and besides there was a lot of wounded lying about; so a major of the North Lancashire Regiment and myself succeeded in rallying ten men of different corps and held an enclosure. We were soon tackled by the Boers, but after we killed half-a-dozen of them they appeared to get tired of it and cleared off, and we managed to get all the wounded in. I believe I have got recommended for the Distinguished Conduct Medal and the Victoria Cross for my share in this, but of course it is one thing being recommended and quite another thing getting it." Boer treachery, of which we had many examples, had hitherto been practised with monotonous regularity. They had fired on the white flag and disregarded the sacred sign of the red cross. They had shot the hand that tended them, they had used Dum-Dum and explosive bullets, but on this occasion the triumph of originality in treacherous trickery was achieved. On the principle of "all is fair in love and war," the enemy utilised their ambulance for the purpose of removing their Hotchkiss gun from the field, and that too when the precious weapon was not even invalided! Tales of many plucky actions which were recorded would fill a volume in itself. Private Anderson, Scots Guards, over and over again traversed the fire zone and carried off the wounded to a place of safety. Lieutenant Fox, Yorkshire Light Infantry, was seriously wounded whilst valiantly leading an assault against the enemy's strong position. When the horses approached to take the guns out of action, the Boers at once commenced to aim at them, and for the moment it seemed as though the work of removing the guns could not be persisted in. Twenty-five horses were killed, but the chargers of several officers were next utilised, and the officers themselves, some of them wounded, walked or crawled off the field in order that the valuable weapons should be borne off in safety. A driver was also heroically self-abnegating. Though shot through the lungs, he refused to leave his post, and valiantly drove his gun out of action. The list of killed and wounded was a grievously long one:-- Killed: Staff--Lieutenant-Colonel H. P. Northcote.[7] 2nd Coldstream Guards--Lieutenant-Colonel H. Stopford,[8] Captain S. Earle. Wounded: Field Artillery--Major W. Lindsay, hand; Captain Farrell, foot; Lieutenant Dunlop, shoulder; Lieutenant Furse. 3rd Grenadier Guards--Major Count Gleichen, severely; Lieutenant Hon. E. Lygon, slight. 2nd Coldstream Guards--Lieutenant Viscount Acheson. Royal Army Medical Corps--Captain Gurse Moore. Killed: 2nd Yorkshire Light Infantry, Second Lieutenant L. W. Long. Wounded: Staff--Lieutenant-General Lord Methuen, slightly; bullet flesh wound in thigh. Royal Engineers--Captain N. G. Von Hugel, slightly. 3rd Grenadier Guards--Second Lieutenant A. H. Travers, slightly. 1st Scots Guards--Lieutenant H. C. Elwes, seriously; Second Lieutenant W. J. M. Hill, 1st Loyal North Lancashire--Lieutenant R. B. Flint, slightly. 2nd Yorkshire Light Infantry--Major H. Earle, Major G. F. Ottley, Lieutenant R. M. D. Fox. 1st Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders--Lieutenant H. B. F. Baker-Carr, Second Lieutenant W. G. Neilson. AFTER THE FIGHT All night long energetic members of the Ambulance Corps picked their way over the battlefield collecting the wounded and succouring them. Not only had our unhappy sufferers to be attended to, but many of the enemy, of whom there was an unusual number. So anxious had been the Dutchmen to clear out before our troops could reach them in the morning, that, contrary to custom, they had left wounded, doctors, and ambulance train behind them. After the uproar of the conflict and the night of merciful repose were over, the troops were able to inspect their new quarters. The pretty little village presented a strange sight--a study in contrasts for the meditative mind. A pastoral calm reigned everywhere, though scarcely a house, farm, or hotel but could bear witness to the terrible energy of the British fire. The scene was one of picturesque green fertility and black blistered ruin. Peacefully flowed the cool rippling river--the river in which the delighted Tommy rushed to bathe--while in its bosom lay the bodies of the slain, Boer men and Boers' horses, which had hurriedly been cast away and hidden, so that the full tale of loss might never be revealed. Serenely waved the willows and acacias on the banks and neighbouring islets, smiling with polished green leaves over the forms of the ragged, grimy, unkempt slain--the riffraff of the Boer commandoes, who were left lying as they fell. The dark trail of blood dyed the earth round mimosa and cactus hedges, while a thousand perforations on the roofs of the corrugated iron dwellings confessed to the all too fervent kisses of British lead. Shell holes, shattered doors and broken windows, telegraph poles lying about, with their hairy whiskers twisting raggedly over the veldt, farmhouses burnt to cinders, hotels that had once been smart in their way now weevilled by shrapnel--all these things surrounded the encamped division which so brilliantly had crossed the river. And in the hearts of the conquerors there was also (in some measure) a reflection of these contrasts--there was rejoicing over animal comforts restored, the freedom to quench thirst, to remove boots, to eat and to smoke after an over-long spell of battle; yet at the same time, deep down, there lurked a numb and dumb feeling of regret for the good fellows who were going--were known to be sinking into eternity, and for those--so many of them!--who had already gone. Very simple but very sad and impressive was the funeral of Colonel Stopford, who was shot early in the fight the day before. His grave was made in a peaceful spot beside one of the gardens of the village, and garlands gathered by his men of the 2nd Coldstream Guards were placed all over it. Major the Marquis of Winchester--so soon to join his lost comrade--acted as chief mourner. He took over the duties of Commandant of the regiment, which duties he was doomed to perform for twelve days only. But we are anticipating. During the whole of the days following, a melancholy procession of invalids passed to the railway, and on, home for good, or to hospital, whence they hoped to return again to pay their debt to the enemy. On some death had set his mark, with others he had but shaken hands and passed on. The river was soon found to be crowded with dead men and horses, which had been hurriedly consigned to the mercy of the waters, and arrangements had to be made for encampment farther up the stream. Quantities of Boer spies still lingered about the camp, some of them pretending to be ambulance drivers, in order to get nearer and closer inspection of British movements. Fortunately these wily folk somewhat overreached themselves, and their further activities were interrupted by arrest. Meanwhile the sappers wrought wonderful things. They had shown the stuff they were made of by crossing over the river-dam in the teeth of the enemy. They now demonstrated their ability in their own special line. The Modder bridge was entirely wrecked, but very speedily a temporary one was constructed, and the railway, which had also suffered at the hands of the enemy, was repaired with great celerity, and brought into working order. Lieutenant Crispin of the Northumberland Fusiliers was wounded while out on patrol duty. Fortunately the injury sustained by Lord Methuen was slight, and there was every hope that he would be equal to active duty in the course of a very few days. We must now leave this division in the enjoyment of its well-earned repose and return to Ladysmith, which was fast becoming the cage of 9000 of our gallant troops. FOOTNOTES: [5] Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Cecil Edward Keith-Falconer, born in October 1860, was gazetted to the Northumberland Fusiliers in January 1883. He was promoted Captain in 1892 and passed through the Staff College with honours. He served with the 13th Soudanese Battalion in the Dongola Expeditionary force under Lord Kitchener in 1896, and acted as Brigade-Major to Colonel H. Macdonald at the engagements of Abu Hamed, Berber, Atbara, and finally at the battle of Omdurman. In recognition of these services he was three times mentioned in despatches, promoted as Brevet-Major in March 1898, and Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel in November 1898, and received the Khedive's medal with four clasps. He acted as A.D.C. to Lord Loch when Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Victoria from 1887 to 1889, and subsequently at the Cape of Good Hope from 1889 to 1890. Colonel Keith-Falconer was the eldest son of the late Major the Hon. Charles J. Keith-Falconer, son of the seventh Earl of Kintore. [6] Commander Alfred Peel Ethelston, of the cruiser _Powerful_, who was among the killed at the battle of Graspan, joined the navy in 1875, and two years later became a midshipman. In 1882 he attained the rank of sub-lieutenant, was promoted to a lieutenancy in 1885, and was made commander at the beginning of 1897. As sub-lieutenant of the _Helicon_ he took part in the naval and military operations in the Eastern Soudan at Suakim in 1884-85, for which he received the Egyptian medal and the Khedive's bronze star. Commander Ethelston was appointed to the _Powerful_ two years ago. [7] Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel H. Ponting Northcote, who belonged to the Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment, became a Lieutenant in 1877, Captain in 1886, and Major in 1894. He served in the Sherbro' Expedition in 1883 with the 2nd West India Regiment, and was mentioned in despatches, receiving a medal, and was afterwards created a C.B. In 1888 he served in the operations in Zululand as Deputy-Assistant Adjutant-General, while in 1895 he accompanied the expedition to Ashanti under Sir Francis Scott, receiving the star. [8] Lieutenant-Colonel Horace Robert Stopford, of the Coldstream Guards, was appointed a Lieutenant in 1874, Captain in 1885, and Major in 1893. He had not previously been on war service. CHAPTER IV THE INVESTMENT OF LADYSMITH Before going farther it may be interesting to inspect a rough table showing approximately the composition and total strength of the British and Boer forces at the various points mentioned:-- LADYSMITH BRITISH BOER 21st, 42nd, and 53rd Field \ \ Batteries; Battalion of Natal | | Artillery; two guns of the | | Natal Naval Reserve; Natal | | Mounted Volunteers; 5th | | Lancers; 19th Hussars; 1st | | Battalion Liverpool Regiment; | | 2nd Battalion Gordon | | Highlanders; 1st Battalion | | Devonshire Regiment; 1st | | Manchesters; several companies | | of Mounted Infantry; Medical | | Corps; Veterinary Corps; 23rd | | Company Royal Engineers; | | reinforcements from | Combined Free State and | Maritzburg; Naval Brigade }13,550 Transvaal forces }30,500 (750) | | | | _Following from Glencoe_:-- | | | | 13th, 67th, and 69th Field | | Batteries; 18th Hussars; Natal | | Mounted Volunteers; 1st | | Battalion Leicestershire | | Regiment; 1st and 2nd | | Battalions King's Royal | | Rifles; 2nd Battalion Dublin | | Fusiliers; several companies | | of Mounted Infantry; Field | | Hospital Corps / / KIMBERLEY Four companies of the Loyal \ Free Staters, and probably \ North Lancashire Regiment; | some Transvaal Boers, with | Battery of Royal Garrison | four field-guns, 3500; on | Artillery, consisting of six }2500 Orange River, 2000; }6500 7-pounder mountain-guns; a | Reinforcements from | large party of Royal | Mafeking, 1000 | Engineers; detachment of the | | Army Medical Corps / / MAFEKING Colonel Baden-Powell, with 500 \ 1000 Transvaal Boers under \ Cavalry, 200 Cape Mounted | Commandant Cronje; 500 | Police and B.S.A. Company's | Boers at Maritzani | Mounted Police, 60 Volunteers, }1500 }1500 6 machine-guns, two | | 7-pounders, 200 to 300 | | townsmen used to arms / / At Tuli, or moving towards Mafeking, was Colonel Plumer's column, which consisted of about 1000 men, and was opposed by an equal force of Boers. At Palapye there was a British force of 700, which was watched by a Burgher force of about 1000. The Boers had also a force estimated at 3000 in laager near Komati Poort. At Estcourt there was a considerable force under Brigadier-General Wolfe-Murray, and at Pietermaritzburg other troops. Distributed along the northern border of Cape Colony were some 5000 Free State Boers and about 1000 or 1500 British troops and police. The Natal Field Force was now confronted with the bulk of the Boer commandoes, whose strength was vastly superior to its own, and whose courage was generally acknowledged to be splendid. The Dutch have ever a stoical stolidity which serves them in the hour of need as does the bulldog tenacity of the Briton, and therefore "those who knew" were not without apprehension in regard to the upshot of hostilities. It was plain to all who were in any way familiar with previous history and with local conditions that the struggle was likely to be both prolonged and bloody, and they urged on the attention of those at home the need of reinforcements. Yet the soldiers, particularly those who had recently arrived, were light-hearted and confident, full of satisfaction to be let loose from their hencoops in the ships, and keen to try conclusions with the Boers. At Ladysmith the state of affairs was becoming more and more complicated, and the invasion of the Free Staters into Cape Colony was now an accomplished fact. The enemy's tactics everywhere were acknowledged to be excellent, and where tactics failed tricks succeeded. The Boer dodges, though scarcely honourable, might be described by the Americans as "cute." For instance, an enterprising officer of the Transvaal artillery conceived the idea of utilising the flag of truce in a new and original fashion. Disguised as an ambulance driver, he arrived at Ladysmith, and improved the occasion by observing the effects of Boer artillery fire on the town. The use of the white flag by the enemy was now beginning to be distrusted, for daily evidences of treachery were forthcoming. As one correspondent said in writing home of the subject, "Its advantages they seem to construe in too liberal a spirit, but of its obligations on the men who hoist it they do not appear to be aware." As in old times, they tried to use the white flag to assist them in going from cover to cover, or to create delay while guns were being adjusted in more convenient positions. Nor was this all. A wounded Boer accepted water with one hand from a British soldier, while he shot him with the other, and numberless accounts of dastardly deeds of a similar nature were reported and authenticated. On November 2 the Boers began to occupy the points of vantage around Ladysmith, and telegraphic communication with the south was cut. They energetically commenced the building of emplacements for their guns of position, which were fast being forwarded from the Transvaal. Reinforcements from the Free State were also pouring in, and a Boer commando was creeping towards Colenso. In spite of threatened serious inconveniences, hopes were high and spirits cheery, especially among the newspaper correspondents, who, regardless of danger, drove four-in-hand round the camp and fortifications, and helped to maintain a devil-may-care attitude that was certainly reassuring. Ammunition was plentiful, but water--Klip water--was somewhat inclined to cause colic, and, in consequence, to be generally suspected. It was no uncommon sight to see at the Royal Hotel ladies heating their kettles prior to drinking their doubtful contents. Flies were so numerous as to make another persistent inconvenience. They destroyed such repose as the inhabitants might otherwise have enjoyed. Added to these petty discomforts were night-alarms of various kinds, and curious and disconcerting discoveries. For example, one young man--an immaculate young man--well turned out and apparently plentifully endowed with ready money, was discovered to be a Boer spy, and was promptly arrested. An account of the last days of a British sojourner in Ladysmith serves to give an example of the trials and anxieties through which hundreds had to pass:-- "Since my last note to you we have had some lively times of it at Ladysmith. I always had a liking to see a real battle, but never thought that it would be my luck. However, I have now seen four battles, and I think that I am satisfied. I can assure you that it is anything but pleasant to go on the field after battle. The sights of the wounded and dead are horrible, and yet the soldiers are always laughing and joking when they are going out to fight, and the poor fellows are getting very little rest. They never have a chance to get their boots off. They have to be always ready to move at a moment's notice, and they do it with light heart. Your heart would have ached to see the lot that came down to Ladysmith from Dundee. They were not strong enough for the Boers, so they made a forced march of it, and they had terribly bad weather. It was raining all the time, and when they came into Ladysmith they were mud all over and in rags. Some of them were carrying their boots in their hands and could hardly crawl. Mrs. V. and myself made some buckets of coffee and let them have a pull at it; and were not they thankful for it? A word about how we are going on here. I don't know whether you are getting any news at home about the war, but we can't get to know anything here, as the whole country is under martial law, and they won't let the papers publish any news concerning the war.... Now the Boers are all round Ladysmith, and our troops can only defend the town. I don't think for a moment that the Boers will take Ladysmith unless they get strongly reinforced, and I don't think that will happen. However, the sooner that troops arrive for the relief of the garrisons that are here and hemmed in by the Boers the better it will be for Britain. There is no doubt about it that the Boers have got our troops in a tight corner, and Britain is a bit slow, not having her troops here before now. I hear that troops are likely to land next week, and I hope that it is true. I had to leave Ladysmith on November 2; the military authorities would not grant me a permit to stay, so they gave me my free pass to Durban, where I intend to stop until the trouble is over. You would have laughed to see some of the men running out into the street with no clothes on when the Boers sent their first shell into Ladysmith. It came into the town at 5.15 A.M. I was up and partly dressed, as I had heard the firing, and was going to have a look at the battle, when in came the shell right over the house I was staying in and dropped on the road. I was sure that it was going to hit the house. The shell makes a terrific whistling as it travels through the air.... The Bluejackets did some very good work. They arrived by train about eleven o'clock, and by twelve o'clock they had off-loaded their guns and got them into action, and their third shot silenced the Boers' 40-pounder." [Illustration: SCENE ON THE TUGELA.] Our cavalry while reconnoitring discovered a large force of the Boers which was manoeuvring to the south of the town. The troopers charged, and succeeded in cutting their way through the enemy. Meanwhile at Grobler's Kloof the Volunteer Light Infantry, a corps that had been doing splendid work throughout, met the enemy, and a sharp encounter was maintained, but they were outnumbered by their assailants. An armoured train brought troops to their assistance, and these enabled them to return safely to headquarters. The naval gunners were active, and scored as usual, for they finally succeeded in putting the big gun on Hepworth Hill out of action. "Long Tom," an objectionable weapon and a great favourite with the enemy, was now posted on Mount Umbulwana, whence at intervals it spat viciously upon the town, but without causing serious damage. The enemy, as we know, made a move towards Colenso, and the officer commanding at that place decided to fall back with men and horses on Estcourt. The move over some twenty miles of hilly country was admirably executed, and all stores, huts, kit, &c., were preserved. Meanwhile Sir George White sent out a strong force under the command of Colonel Brocklehurst, reinforced by the 5th Dragoon Guards, Royston's Horse, and two batteries, for the purpose of making a flank attack on the Boer commando that was advancing on Colenso. Splendid work was done, the Boers being routed from all their positions and three guns silenced. The Imperial Light Horse pressed too far into a gully, and for a time their position was critical, but they were extricated by the 5th Dragoon Guards. The Boers took up a strong position on the hills, and were shelled with terrific effect by the British artillery. Finally they retreated, and were cut to pieces by the cavalry. Quantities of prisoners were made, and over a thousand burghers were said to be slain--in fact, the veldt was a complete parquet of dead Dutchmen. Lieutenant the Hon. R. Pomeroy, 5th Dragoon Guards, greatly distinguished himself by pluckily riding to the rescue of a dismounted trooper and carrying him out of the fire zone. Captain Knapp and Lieutenant Brabant were killed. At Ladysmith there was temporary peace after the enemy's fire had succeeded in hitting the hospital and a hotel. Fortunately no one was injured. All were mourning the loss of Major Taunton, Captain Knapp, and Lieutenant Brabant, who fell in the engagement on the previous day. General French, by what is termed "a close shave," succeeded in getting out of Ladysmith, and went down to Cape Town to take over the command of the Cavalry Brigade, and General Wolfe-Murray at Estcourt, with a mounted battery, reconnoitred in the direction of Colenso. Efforts were made to restore communication with Ladysmith, but in vain; yet the troops within kept up a cheerful attitude, and a continuous artillery duel was carried on between besiegers and besieged. The art of dodging shells had by this time begun to be studied by the least nervous, for no place was safe from these screeching messengers of death. Hard roadways were rent in twain and deep gulfs dug in their midst. Gardens, from being trim and neat, became a scene of upheaval and dilapidation; the open veldt was strewed with dust and debris, and rocks were shot from their positions and sent hurtling here and there to assist in the work of wreckage. It was curious to notice upon different temperaments the effect of the shells' arrival. Some persons might be seen holding their hands to their heads as though to protect them from damage; others shrank under the nearest available cover or screwed themselves up as though endeavouring to make smaller parcels of themselves, or hoping to lessen their own obstructiveness to the passage of the devilish invader; some would flatten their backs against a wall--make pancakes of themselves--while others would fall prone to earth, and there grovel till the moment of peril was past. Many would rush helter-skelter towards the river-caves, vast places of refuge that had been dug into the deep-shelving clay and sandbanks of the Klip, and there, in their rocky hiding-places, breathe freely and await the inevitable fracas that told them, temporarily, that the coast was clear. These caves and their powers of accommodation began to be deeply interesting to the community, and daily the soldiers were set to work constructing new ones for the safety of the apprehensive. The places varied in size and quality according to the demands of their tenants. Some would accommodate a dozen people standing upright in them, and even admitted of furniture of a rough kind--bedding, seats, eatables, and cooking-pots--just enough to enable nervous folks to go "out of town" for a day or two during a period of bombardment. Others were mere fox-holes, as it were, alcoves scooped out of the bank to serve as a screen for the more hardy souls who were content to breathe the air of the river-brink, and only popped their heads under cover in ostrich fashion when danger threatened. The banks thus became honeycombed, and it was not unusual to find a whole family perched all day long with their backs against the protecting wall and their eyes fixed meditatively on the purling stream, awaiting with resignation the whims of "Long Tom." In the early days of the siege a great deal of scooping and excavating went on, and you might see on one side some gallant tiller of the soil providing cover for a lady, while another rigged up sheltered garden-seats for children. An amusing picture was beheld of three massive Gordons in their kilts plying pick and shovel for a small couple in distress, a natty little woman in a state of panic which agreed badly with her smart ribbons, and her small lord who shared her anxiety for a place of safety. The Scotsmen delved and scooped and built the temporary shelter, indulging in the gayest jokes, and laughing and talking the while delicious "Aberdeen awa,'" till the hearers became so absorbed and interested that they almost forgot the fact that such a thing as a "Long Tom" existed. The daily operations were also of a highly-spirited character, for the British forces not only defended themselves with the greatest animation against artillery somewhat superior to their own, but at times took the offensive and harassed the enemy considerably. On three different occasions they made attacks on the Boer batteries on Umbulwana Hill, and though the British losses were somewhat heavy, those of the Boers were still greater. A message was sent by Sir George White to General Joubert requesting him to allow women, children, and non-combatants to leave the town in order to escape the effects of the bombardment, and the Boer General invited those who wished to go, to do so under protection of the Umbulwana guns, but intimated that all who had borne arms would be treated as prisoners of war. Finally, however, after a meeting had been held and the matter discussed threadbare, it was decided that the citizens of Ladysmith could accept no terms from the enemy, and the meeting dispersed to the tune of "God save the Queen," in which all fervently joined in chorus. The only means of communication with the outer world was now by pigeon-post, and there was therefore much excitement when Lieutenant Hooper (5th Lancers) arrived on the scene. Guided by a Natal policeman, he had managed to sneak unnoticed through the Boer lines and to reach the British camp in safety. All sorts of efforts were made to save Ladysmith from her doom, and an armoured train was sent from Estcourt for the purpose of reestablishing communication with the town, but the train had to return without accomplishing its mission. In spite of this, the proprietor of a hotel in Ladysmith very cleverly managed to travel from the beleaguered town to Estcourt without being captured by the Boers. He made a detour along Kaffir paths in order to elude the Boer outposts, riding all night and arriving at his destination unharmed. At that time, as may be imagined, the investment of Ladysmith was almost complete. The enemy's big guns dominated the town east, north, and west, "Long Tom" pursuing its annoying and disquieting vocation with intermittent vigour. Most of the people had now quitted their homes and were taking refuge in the caves before described, while the shops, in default of customers, were closed. The convent, which was occupied by nuns together with the wounded, was struck by a shell, but happily without injury to its inmates. The neutrals betook themselves to a camp under Mount Umbulwana, which some inventive person appropriately christened "Funkumdorf," but there some plucky women and children refused to go, preferring to cast in their lot with the valiant defenders of the little town. At this time people and horses were still in good condition and spirits; the military inhabitants amused themselves with polo and cricket, as though there was no chance of being bowled out by "Long Tom," while the ladies gave little concerts for the amusement of the select circle. So great was the pluck of this little community, that they even edited a paper called the _Ladysmith Lyre_, a species of Transvaal edition of _Truth_, which, if not _vero_, was certainly _ben trovato_. A new instance of the Boers' treachery soon took place. They sent in under a flag of truce a number of refugees from the Transvaal. They were met outside the pickets by a flag of truce from Ladysmith, but no sooner had the parties separated, and before the British could reach the pickets, than the Boers fired upon them. These continued breaches of the laws of civilised warfare continued to exasperate the troops, who, whenever they got a chance, naturally tried to wipe off old scores. On the 9th November, the King's Royal Rifles and the Rifle Brigade in the north, and the Manchester Regiment in the south, succeeded in repelling two simultaneous attacks, inflicting on the Boers a loss roughly estimated at about 700 to 1000. A deep trench which had been made by the enemy on their temporary retirement, to bring forward horses, was promptly captured by the Rifle Brigade. From thence, when the Boers returned, they were briskly fired on, with the result that they retreated in hot haste across open ground. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the artillery commenced an effective fire, inflicting on the Dutch considerable loss. The Manchester Regiment, which occupied a position at Cæsar's Camp, for the purpose of protecting the south-western side of the town, caught several hundred Boers hiding from shells in a ditch. They poured on them several volleys, and the enemy suffered severely. Unfortunately, Lieutenant Lethbridge (Rifle Brigade) was mortally wounded, and Lieutenant Fisher, of the Manchesters, received a slight wound in the shoulder. About noon, after seven hours' continuous fighting, the combined attack upon the town failed and the Boers retired. Then, in honour of the Prince of Wales's birthday, the big guns in the Naval redoubts commenced a salute of twenty-one guns, each shot in stately procession following the other and bursting over the Boer positions. Outside the battery, on King Kop, stood Sir George White surrounded by his Staff. The General led the way by raising three cheers for the Prince, and then Captain Lambton and the gunners on the top of the breastwork took up the roar and passed it on to the Rifle Brigade, lying in their sangars along the top of the ridge, till the whole atmosphere was vibrant with loud and prolonged cheering. In the evening the troops drank to the health of his Royal Highness, and succeeded in sending home telegraphic congratulations. On that day the townspeople, for greater safety, went into laager on the racecourse, and the military lines were removed some three miles out, so as to avoid the persistent shelling of the enemy. Major Gale, R.E., was wounded while sending a message. Efforts were made to establish heliographic communication between Estcourt and Ladysmith, but the atmospheric conditions were entirely against the success of the operation. Bombardment continued, and life was pursued to the continuous thunder of the Naval guns firing lyddite and the "Long Toms" of the Boers, now within a three-mile range, replying with persistent and deadly reverberation. But the community in Ladysmith were not so depressed by their incarceration as to lose the spirit of fun altogether. In default of other entertainment, they beguiled the time by indulging in various practical jokes at the expense of the Boers. The greatest achievement was the preparation of a smart dummy, on which the irate Dutchmen wasted a considerable amount of ammunition. The effigy was manufactured of straw and attired in the uniform of the Lancers, by whom it was modelled. Its imposing form, placed near the Boer position, had an air of lifelike reality, and naturally the enemy jumped at a chance of riddling so venturesome a foe. Away whistled Mauser bullets round the head of the supposed courageous Lancer, who budged never a bit. Shot failing--the big gun was turned on. Bang, bang! Boom, boom! Still was the warrior unperturbed. After considerable expenditure of both shot and shell, the truth, much to the disgust of the assailants, dawned upon them! [Illustration: COMPLETE MACHINE GUN DETACHMENT OF MOUNTED INFANTRY. PHOTO BY ELDRIDGE, COLCHESTER] So pleasing was the success of this manoeuvre, that the Liverpools, for further recreation, got up a miniature Tussaud's. They arrayed a row of martial effigies, and waited with the glee of school-boys while the artillery from the neighbouring hills pounded away at what they imagined to be some dauntless Britons who dared to defy them. Efforts to signal to Ladysmith by heliograph still continued to fail, at least to reach those for whom the display was intended, though the Boer heliograph graciously acknowledged the communication. It answered jocosely, "Will be with you to-morrow." The British reply was monosyllabic! The pigeon-post medium was resorted to, and by this means those outsiders struggling for its relief were informed that with Ladysmith all was well. [Illustration: GENERAL SIR GEORGE STEWART WHITE, V.C., G.C.B., THE DEFENDER OF LADYSMITH. Photo by Window & Grove, London.] The process of pigeon postal communication was exceedingly interesting. Mr. Arthur Hirst, who at the onset of the war had started a loft of the best Yorkshire racing pigeons at Durban, settled himself at the Intelligence Department Headquarters, Ladysmith, and from thence sent out his intelligent birds. Of these he had some 200, all of which were trained by himself and his assistants. His early experiments were most successful. He despatched thirteen pigeons to Durban, a distance of 200 miles, yet they arrived safely with messages within five hours. The birds were returned from thence for more work. After that time Mr. Hirst continued training a hundred young birds to travel from the seat of war to Ladysmith, and great interest was taken by all who began to understand that news of the outer world would shortly be very limited indeed. On the 14th the Free State troops took up a position on a small kopje whence a British battery strove to rout them. There was some smart cannonading, till the British were forced to fall back on the town. Their day assault over, the Boers tried a new experiment, that of a midnight attack. All the Afrikander cannon simultaneously opened fire on the town, turning the sleeping scene into a lurid inferno. Several buildings caught fire, and the whistling and shrieking shells at intervals made terrifying music in the weird silence of the night. ESTCOURT Opinions regarding Estcourt differ. Some consider it a picturesque and verdant little village, placed in the bosom of the hills and very similar to a Sussex hamlet on the Downs. Others have described it as well deserving the name of being the hottest and most unpleasant region in the high veldt of Natal. It is in the thorn country, and is surrounded with rough irregular kopjes. The railway bridge over the Bushman's River is an imposing structure, and the line leads from Durban to Maritzburg, Colenso, and Ladysmith, and thence to the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. A little lower down the river is a substantial bridge that runs across from Estcourt to Fort Napier, a quaint-looking structure, neither ornamental nor useful, for hills behind and round it command the situation. Thus commanded, it is utterly indefensible, and would need an army corps to hold it. The garrison, under Brigadier-General Wolfe-Murray, at this time consisted of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, the Border Regiment, one squadron of Imperial Light Horse, Natal Field Artillery, and some scouts. This small force would have been absolutely inadequate to the defence of the place had it been seriously attacked. The Boers in hordes were supported at Colenso by heavy guns, while the British troops that had to evacuate that village had but one obsolete nine-pounder manned by volunteers. The absence of good guns was everywhere deplored. At Ladysmith the position was merely saved by the hasty arrival at the very last moment of the Naval Brigade with their formidable weapons, and at Colenso the regrettable evacuation was obligatory solely on account of the lack of guns. The depressing effect of retreat on the unhappy colonists who had their homes in the neighbourhood may be imagined. From Estcourt on a clear day, with a northerly wind blowing, the exciting sound of hostilities in the neighbourhood of Ladysmith was distinctly to be heard, the deep bass of "Long Tom" booming upon the air, while the heavy baritone of the 4.7 Naval guns kept up the diabolical duet. Intense curiosity as to the doings of the besieged prevailed, but it was impossible to do more than mount up some of the highest hills and look down into the cup of shadow where Ladysmith was known to be. In that direction the hollow presented the air of an active volcano, volumes of smoke floating upwards, and spreading their message of bombardment and resistance far and wide. But nothing active could be done. The tiny garrison, it was true, was receiving reinforcements, but these came in by driblets. General Wolfe-Murray engaged himself in planning defences which should at all events make Estcourt into a hard nut to crack, and caused redoubts and intrenchments to be constructed so that the place might be safe against such attack as the Boers would make. The troops were kept in excellent training, to ensure their fitness to take the field at a moment's notice. On the 9th of November there was general satisfaction owing to the safe arrival, under a flag of truce, of ninety-eight wounded from Dundee. The officers among them were Colonel Beckett of the Natal Field Force, Major Hammersley, Lancashire Fusiliers; Captain Adam, A.D.C.; Captain M'Lachlan, Major Boultbee, King's Royal Rifles; Lieutenant C. N. Perreau, Captain Dibly, Dublin Fusiliers; and Lieutenant B. de W. Weldon of the Leicesters. There was also some grim rejoicing in hearing reports that were brought in that the Boers in their attack on Ladysmith had suffered severely, and that Bester's Farm, to meet the strain, had been turned by them into a hospital. The first detachment of the long-looked-for division was now expected, and every one in camp began already to think the siege of Ladysmith might be considered a thing of the past. Nothing warlike took place for some days. On the 14th, however, at noon, the sound of three guns gave evidence that parties of the enemy had somewhere made their appearance. The garrison--now counting the West Yorks--numbering some 3000 men, stood to arms. Colonel Martyn, in command of the mounted troops, at once started off in the direction whence a crackling of musketry proceeded. The Boers, in some force, were located on the summit of a hill firing at our scouts, who quickly retired. Two guns of the Natal Field Artillery were at once sent for, but their arrival was a signal for the enemy to beat a hasty retreat. Their retirement was merely momentary, however, for they went along a chain of hills, and appeared again on another eminence in full force. A squadron of the Natal Carabineers attempted to turn their flank for the purpose of ascertaining their strength, and in so doing estimated their numbers at about 500; any effort to dislodge so large a party would therefore have been useless, and Colonel Martyn with his small force was just about to retire to the hills above Estcourt, when the Boers were observed to be on the move. They were evidently preparing to clear off, which they rapidly did, particularly when assisted by a volley from the Natal Carabineers, whose nimble horses clambered up to the crest with marvellous celerity. After this, in default of sufficient cavalry, there was no choice but to retire. Men and horses were absolutely "dead beat." The expedition, with the mounting of the almost impregnable hill, had occupied six hours. This, however, was only an example of the many, almost daily, encounters that were necessary to arrest the enemy in his advance to the south. ARMOURED TRAIN DISASTER AT CHIEVELEY So little is known by civilians of the nature and appearance of armoured trains, which played so prominent a part in the war, that a rough sketch of the "altogether" of one of these ungainly and diabolical machines may here be given. Armoured trains are hastily-constructed affairs, consisting of a locomotive and a few waggons, the engine generally being located about the middle of the train. The waggons and locomotive are covered by boiler-plating three-quarters of an inch thick, as firmly riveted as time will allow. One of these trains was constructed at Mafeking, where there are several railway shops, the town being on the new main line from the Cape to Buluwayo. The locomotive is the only part of the train that does not carry guns, the steel casing being solely to protect the mechanism of the engine from the shot of the enemy. The remainder of the armour is thickly perforated with portholes, through which guns of varying calibre peep, the Maxim, Nordenfeldt, and Gatling being the most serviceable weapons for this kind of work. The smaller holes are for the rifles of the marksmen, and usually the deadliest shots in a regiment are, when possible, selected for the position. It takes an expert marksman to shoot with satisfactory results from a quickly-moving train. Usually an armoured train is also supplied with a powerful searchlight, in view of a possible night attack. Of course, the boiler tubing can offer no resistance to artillery. In fact, rifle shots fired at short range will sometimes penetrate the plates, and to meet such a possibility sand-bags are often provided, as was the case in the Egyptian campaign, when the Sirdar found the armoured train of great service. The man in command of an armoured train thinks first, when an emergency arises, of his engine. So long as that remains in workable condition the odds are on his side; but once the vital parts of the locomotive are damaged, the outlook becomes serious, for an armoured train can only carry a small body of men, who would be quickly surrounded by the enemy, who might number hundreds or thousands. The chances are that an armoured train could not be damaged to such an extent unless artillery, dynamite, or some equally destructive force were used. A machine of this kind, but of third-rate pretensions, was now continually used by the troops at Frere for the purpose of discovering the whereabouts of the enemy, and on the 15th of November an exciting and disastrous voyage was made in the "death-trap," as it was called. The troops had orders to proceed from Estcourt to Frere, and beyond if possible, to ascertain how far the line was practicable for the passage of an army. The crew of this train consisted of Captain Haldane (Gordon Highlanders), in command of some seventy non-commissioned officers and men of the Dublin Fusiliers, Lieutenant Frankland, Captain Wylie, and Lieutenant Alexander, with forty-five non-commissioned officers and men of the Durham Light Infantry, and five Bluejackets under a petty officer. Mr. Winston Spencer Churchill, who was acting as war correspondent to the _Morning Post_, also accompanied the party, and in addition to him were certain railway employees to repair damages. No sooner had the train got to Frere and telegraphed "all well" than trouble began. It started to go still farther forward, in spite of the fact that natives were seen gesticulating warnings. On reaching Chieveley Station, it was found that there were Boers, who had hitherto been lying in ambush, eagerly looking out for them. These were posted in large numbers on either side of the line. Of course, the train began at once to steam back, but even as it did so a volley was poured on it from the enemy. With hideous clatter the bullets thudded on the iron, and several cannon began at once to play on the unlucky machine. Then, to add to its misfortunes, without pause or warning of any kind, the trucks suddenly, with a jerk and a crash, leapt into the air. They, at least, appeared to do so, overturning in the act, and shooting their contents helter-skelter, "like potatoes out of a sack." The words are quoted from the description of a sufferer who himself experienced the unpleasant sensation. Several of the men were mortally injured. A platelayer was killed on the spot. The cause of the disaster was simple and easily to be explained. The Boers had laid a trap for the train, and placed an impediment on the rails behind it, so that on its retreating journey it should become a complete wreck, and thus place the troops entirely at their mercy. And their ingenious machinations succeeded. The enemy, triumphant, then opened fire with a Maxim and two 9-pounders from a kopje covered with brushwood, while Boer sharpshooters hidden in dongas and behind boulders also assisted. The Dublins and Volunteers fought gallantly; thrice they drove the enemy back, but the brave fellows, already suffering from the shock of having been shot with great force on the line, were from the first at a disadvantage, and unable at once to gather themselves together to meet the instantaneous fire of the Dutchmen. All they could do was to scramble to their feet--some were too securely jammed under the trucks to be freed--take up a position as firm as barked knees and bruised spines would allow, and defend themselves against the sudden attack. Mr. Churchill and Lieutenant Frankland immediately called for volunteers to help in clearing the line. Many hearty voices responded. Wildly they worked amid a hailstorm of bullets to free the engine and remove the wreckage, Mr. Churchill, between the screams of the injured and the rattling of the rifles, rallying the men and helping them, though every moment volley after volley picked off some of their numbers and sensibly thinned them. Some of these men were not only men but marvels; they worked with the zeal of giants and the pluck of heroes. Vigorously the Dublins and Durhams continued to fire at the unseen enemy, while the rest of the party by sheer main force got the engine into working order, smashing everything in its way, and packing it, as tenderly as possible, with the helpless creatures whose groans and cries were in themselves enough to make the blood of the stoutest hearts run cold. Every man seemed bent on eclipsing the courage of his comrade and following the example set by the gallant war correspondent. Sergeant Bassett of the Dublins roared his orders with firm and steady voice, giving his men the range with an air of cool unconcern that was truly reassuring, while Wright of the Durham Light Infantry was also conspicuous. During the turmoil he fired from the knee in the regular position, and was as calm and collected as if he had been at a rifle-range. With each shot he cracked a joke and kept his comrades from getting excited. All this time the poor fellow was wounded, half his right ear having been shot away. Private Kavanagh, the wag of the Dublins, chaffed his comrades, telling them the Boer shells were harmless, they could hit nothing "at all, at all!" and Corporal Dickie, though wounded and lying on his back, continued to bellow to his mates, "Give 'em beans, boys! give 'em beans!" And meanwhile Mr. Churchill, though rained on with lead and almost stunned by the noise, was coolly giving directions for the lifting of the wounded and for the moving of the engine. Finally, he had the satisfaction of getting the engine and tender safely charged with their mutilated human freight and started on the melancholy return journey. Swiftly the train steamed off, protected by the fire of Dublins and Durhams, and as it did so, Mr. Churchill, who went with it a little way, but who had stoutly refused all requests to continue farther, returned to the help of such of the wounded as had been left behind. His noble self-sacrifice, however, was of no avail. Directly afterwards he was set on by the enemy and made a prisoner, in company with two brave officers, Captain Haldane and Lieutenant Frankland, and fifty-eight of the wounded. The unfortunate party was then marched in the pouring rain to Colenso. On the following morning they were taken to the Boer camp before Ladysmith, and thence _via_ Modder Spruit to Pretoria. In the course of the journey a great concourse of persons crowded to see the captured, and in justice to the Boers it must be said that there was only one exception to prove the rule that courtesy on all sides was observed. An officer writing of the armoured train affair at Chieveley so well described the glorious deeds that were performed that his version was quoted even by war correspondents. It is therefore reproduced here. "The train," he writes, "had gone on past Frere towards Chieveley, when a party of about 200 Boers were seen evidently watering their horses. After watching them for some time the train reversed, and went back at a fair speed. On rounding a curve, a truck containing men of the Durham Light Infantry toppled over, almost burying the inmates. Fortunately the men had room to scramble out, although three or four had almost to be dug out before they got free. In the meantime the Boers were pouring a rifle-fire into the train, and were working their big guns and Maxim as fast as it was possible for them to load and fire. The Dubs (Dublin Fusiliers) in the truck in what was now the rear of the train were firing as hard as they could, and the Naval men on an open waggon at the rear opened fire with their 7-pounder, but after about three shots it was put out of action. Gradually all the men got out of the overturned truck, and, seeking cover behind waggons, returned the Boer fire, but the enemy was so well protected that hardly a man could be seen. It soon became apparent that the foe being in overwhelming force and provided with heavy artillery, the best thing was to endeavour to get the road clear. "Twenty volunteers were called for, and it was at this point that Lieutenant Winston Churchill so distinguished himself. With the greatest coolness he superintended the operation of getting the trucks free of the line. He encouraged the men at work by walking about in the open with bullets flying round him, and telling the working party not to mind the Boer fire, as the aim was bad. "The engine was backed and then pushed against the trucks on the line, and it was when this operation was going on that another truck, behind which the men were firing to cover the working party, fell over and injured one or two D.L.I. seriously. They had been ordered to stand back while the engine butted against the derailed trucks, but they evidently did not hear the order. "After nearly an hour's hard work and harder fighting, the line was clear enough for the engine to go forward, but the waggons behind had to be uncoupled and left. The Dubs who were in them and the Naval men, however, had got out, and had gone away in extended order, and the engine had moved on just when the line was clear. "Captain Wyllie was shot in the thigh and dropped. Sergeant Tod, who had also been injured in the hand, went to the Captain's assistance and built up a cover of stones as a protection against rifle-fire. Just as he was lying down a shell burst right in front, scattering the stones in all directions, and some of the pieces struck Tod in the hip, inflicting an ugly but not a serious wound. "The engine in the meantime had gone forward, and was brought by Lieutenant Churchill to pick up as many wounded as could be found. Captain Wyllie and Tod were taken up on the tender, and the engine went on some distance farther, when Captain Haldane of the Gordons and Lieutenant Churchill jumped off and joined the men fighting their way back; but the Boers were now closing all round, and the engine barely got through." The _Echo_, in a leading article, spoke warmly of Mr. Churchill's exploit. It said: "In this affair Mr. Churchill, though a non-combatant, displayed the courage of his stock, and cheered the men in the work of rescuing the wounded and the bodies of the dead, crying, 'Come on, men!' with all the courage that his father showed in political warfare or his great ancestor on the fields of Blenheim or Malplaquet. When the engine steamed off, Mr. Churchill remained behind to help. Every one will hope that he is not killed." It is somewhat interesting here to note Mr. Churchill's soliloquy on his journey in an armoured train, published in the _Morning Post_ at the very time the noble fellow was suffering for his bravery on an identical trip. "This armoured train," he said, "is a very puny specimen, having neither gun nor Maxims, with no roof to its trucks and no shutters to its loopholes, and being in every way inferior to the powerful machines I saw working along the southern frontier. Nevertheless it is a useful means of reconnaissance, nor is a journey in it devoid of interest. An armoured train! The very name sounds strange; a locomotive disguised as a knight-errant--the agent of civilisation in the habiliments of chivalry. Mr. Morley attired as Sir Lancelot would seem scarcely more incongruous. The possibilities of attack added to the keenness of the experience. We started at one o'clock. A company of the Dublin Fusiliers formed the garrison. Half were in the car in front of the engine, half in that behind. Three empty trucks, with a plate-laying gang and spare rails to mend the line, followed. The country between Estcourt and Colenso is open, undulating, and grassy. The stations, which occur every four or five miles, are hamlets consisting of half-a-dozen corrugated iron houses, and perhaps a score of blue gum trees. These little specks of habitation are almost the only marked feature of the landscape, which on all sides spreads in pleasant but monotonous slopes of green. The train maintained a good speed; and, though it stopped repeatedly to question Kaffirs or country folk, and to communicate with the cyclists and other patrols who were scouring the country on the flanks, reached Chieveley, five miles from Colenso, by about three o'clock; and from here the Ladysmith balloon, a brown speck floating above and beyond the distant hills, was plainly visible. "Beyond Chieveley it was necessary to observe more caution. The speed was reduced--the engine walked warily. The railway officials scanned the track, and often before a culvert or bridge was traversed we disembarked and examined it from the ground. At other times long halts were made while the officers swept the horizon and the distant hills with field-glasses and telescopes. But the country was clear and the line undamaged, and we continued our slow advance." Little did he know when these thoughts passed though his busy brain that in a few days he would find himself in the State School of Pretoria, a prisoner, far from kith and kin, and uncertain whether or not he, like others, might be tried by Judge Gregorowski, who would take a grim pleasure, as he did in the case of the Uitlanders, in sentencing him to death. On this score great anxiety was felt, and it is no exaggeration to say that his countrymen, whether friends or strangers, were all equally regretful at his loss, and deeply anxious as to the fate that might befall so gallant a descendant of a great line. ESTCOURT Things were now going from bad to worse. The Ermelo commando, some 2000 strong, with six 7-pounders and two French guns, took up a threatening position near Ennersdale, with a view to attacking Estcourt at an early date, and there was every chance that the place would be surrounded. Meanwhile the inhabitants of Ladysmith reported themselves in good health, some of them having taken refuge during the daytime in the caves by the river-bank, returning to their homes only to sleep. The war-balloon continued to attract a great deal of the enemy's attention, and they expended a vast quantity of ammunition in taking pot-shots at its tranquil form as it floated on the skyline of the hill behind the hollow from which it was sent up. Lieut.-Colonel Sir Henry Rawlinson, of the headquarters staff, while aloft making a reconnaissance had a narrow escape. A shrapnel shell pierced the balloon, came out on the other side, and burst some distance beyond. Had it exploded while traversing the gas-bag, the balloon and its occupant would have been done for; as it was, the balloon made a gentle and dignified descent, and the sole casualty reported was "one balloon wounded." [Illustration: TYPES OF ARMS--THE 5-INCH HOWITZER OR SIEGE GUN. PHOTO BY CRIBB, SOUTHSEA] Various commandoes were now seen advancing towards the railway bridge, which is half a mile north-west of Estcourt, and also from a northerly direction. Upon this General Hildyard's force stood to arms. The outpost fired on the enemy, and one shell at 8000 yards' range was launched from the Naval guns. The effect was good, for the enemy with all celerity retired. At the same time around Ladysmith the Boers were continuing their bombardment from four strong positions: the first at Wonona, the second on Intintanyone Hill, the third on Umbulwana Hill, and the fourth at Grobler's Kloof. Sorties from time to time took place, thus frustrating the intention of the enemy to make the investment closer. Sir George White's lyddite shells were discovered to be more effective than those of the Boers, many of which were charged with sand, and jocosely said to be "made in Germany." As a matter of fact, the shells were charged with cordite which had probably grown stale and ineffective from over-keeping. It may be remembered that they were stored for use against the British after the Jameson Raid. On the 19th November General Hildyard found that it was necessary either to reinforce the mounted troops that were posted at Willow Grange, thus dividing the forces at his disposal, or to evacuate the place. He decided on the latter alternative, and thereupon the Boers, with delighted expedition, commenced to make preparation for a triumphant progress to Maritzburg. The weather now grew intensely hot, and at night the fall in the thermometer became almost dangerously pronounced. In fact, the troops had all the discomforts of India without the conveniences commonly at hand in that country for the amelioration of its conditions. The railway between Maritzburg and Estcourt was cut, and further aggressive action seemed to be brewing. All news from Ladysmith came out either by pigeon-post or by Kaffir runners, who, in a manner peculiar to themselves, managed to get through the enemy's lines. Food in the beleaguered town was still moderate in price, meat being tenpence a pound and bread threepence. A good deal of concern prevailed because the country between Ladysmith and the south was fast being taken possession of by the enemy, and the peaceful farmers and loyalists in the vicinity were shaking in their shoes, spending days and nights in an agony of suspense as to their future and the safety of their belongings. [Illustration: SIGHTING A NAVAL FIELD GUN. Photo by Gregory & Co., London.] The people in the neighbourhood of Willow Grange at this time had some exciting and alarming experiences. The Boers bound for Maritzburg, of course, made their way into such farms as suited them. They had encamped themselves on the surrounding kopjes, and these soon became living hives, moving hills, of horses, cattle, and human beings, dotted with some fourteen or fifteen ambulances carrying red-cross flags. They endeavoured to make themselves agreeable to such of the inhabitants as remained, assuring them that they did not intend to hurt those who sat quietly on their farms, though they meant to loot and raid everything from deserted homesteads. Here is a description given at the time by an owner of a farm who entertained Field-Cornet Joubert to breakfast--a plucky lady who determined to show that the Boers had no terrors for her. "We hurried breakfast, and had hardly finished when the yard was full of men, galloping all through the trees. I went out, and was fiercely greeted with, 'Where are the other two men? We have taken three prisoners (Thorneycroft's scouts) out of five, and two are here.' "They rode into the stable, looked through my outside bedroom door, dairy, and every conceivable place. Luckily, the men got clear. "Shortly afterwards the Boers began to pass, cutting fences and riding in all directions, anywhere through the homestead; no discipline whatever, just like a pack of hounds when the fox is lost. They lined our kopjes overlooking Willow Grange, Weston, and Estcourt. They could hear the cannon at Ladysmith, and were not more than a mile from the house. But as scouts our boys are not in it. No stranger would have believed that stony hills were full of men and horses. I don't think that there were more than 400 or 500, evidently the advance-guard. We were kept lively the whole time, as almost every man and horse came into the yard for water, which is in a spring fifty yards from the front door, and had to be got out in buckets. They asked for anything and everything except meat. We gave as long as we could, thinking discretion the better part of valour. They invariably offered to pay, but our answer was, 'We are under martial law.' "On Monday three men came to commandeer our carriage horses, one riding-horse, and my youngest boy's pony. We argued; but no! They must take them, as they were big and fat. My husband had almost given it up, being tired out. When they entered the stable, I stood by my favourite and slated them. The men were not Boers, but some of the scum who have joined. "One, as ugly as sin, replied, 'Well, we will allow the lady to keep her trap-horses, but we will take the two riding-horses. We want this flat-backed, nice-looking pony for a stout man.' "Then followed a scene. My son, aged eleven, rushed and threw his arms round his pony's neck, sobbing, and shouting out, 'I'll shoot the first Dutchman that touches him' (the boy is a cadet). "'What a ---- of a row, mates; let's clear.' "It was too much even for that scoundrel. "Within an hour they brought down the troop branded N.G., put them in the kraal, caught unbroken mares with foals--anything the wretches could lay hands on. "I stood by, and said, 'Are you Boers (farmers) like ourselves or vagabonds? I'll put a fire in the grass for you.' "A genuine Boer remonstrated with them, but it was of no use; so, for a loaf of bread, he agreed to take a note to Commandant-General David Joubert. "I wrote explaining matters, and received a courteous reply, saying they had no authority from him. He called later on, and told us to resist them; that if he required anything he would write, and send one of his own officers; and Mr. Kirby must go into the camp and pick out all the horses--an honour he declined, saying we were under martial law, and he wished to have nothing to do with them. "On my going out to meet General Joubert, he sat on his horse, pipe in mouth, slouch hat well pulled over his ears. "His aide-de-camp said, 'Our Commandant-General.' "I shook hands, and said, 'Commandant who?' "He replied, 'David Joubert;' he's only a second-cousin of the other. "Later on we had a visit from Commandant Trichardt. He also expressed regret, saying he had men of all nations, and could not keep order. "But it's funny to watch them. They never salute an officer or stand at attention; they talk and crack jokes round them, and when ready, say, 'Let's be going.' This, mind, to men in command. "They shot our sheep. "I sent my youngest son into camp. The Boers asked after several people, whom the child did not know. They crowded round him a dozen deep. The young native with him began to cry, but the boy enjoyed it. He picked out a number of horses, which they eventually caught again and cleared with. He spotted the ugly fellow who wanted to steal his pony, and called out, 'You wanted to take my horse, and to-day you've got Scrick, the fright.' "The others laughed and jeered the fellow. "They told us some funny tales. One was that the balloons are the English people's gods, but Slim Piet sent £5 worth of shot at one and brought it down, as he wanted to see it. "Another was, 'We don't mind Rhodes, but show us old Franchise; that's the man we want.' "Some say they are tired of this life, as they have it 'bitter sware,' but will fight for their country for five years, as they believe this is the war the Bible speaks of. After this we shall have a thousand years' peace. "On Sunday a skirmish took place. David Joubert's son was wounded. They fired on to the Hoek farmhouse. "On Wednesday heavy firing was heard in the direction of Willow Grange, and on Friday every man was on the alert. We, knowing nothing of the outside world, expected a night attack, and put food and wraps ready for the night, as we were afraid of the British shells coming on to the house. "They advised us to hoist the white flag, but we steadily refused, nor will we carry a flag of truce, as they advised, if we left the house for a hundred yards.... "One man came for dry firewood, and tried to be agreeable; gave a very vivid description of our balloons, and finished off by saying, 'You would have laughed last night (Friday night). The Dutch and Fusiliers got mixed up. When they found it out, one ran one way and one the other. The Fusiliers shot one of our scouts only; but they are good fellows, these Fusiliers; they are nearly as tough as we are.' "One had a big lump out of his leg, his hand blown off, and a hole in his cheek. He stood up and said, 'Well, I've had enough.' He further said, 'The Fusiliers can fight; we fought them seven and a half hours before we took 1200 prisoners. They fought hard, and would not give in.' He evidently admired them. "The Dutch troopers carry all they have with them on horseback (no transport); they have one blanket, one mackintosh, and live principally on meat (grilled); each cooks for himself. They sleep out in the open veldt--no tents, except for their heads; and one Boer said he had never had his clothes off for a month. They water their horses, and then swill their faces in the dregs. "Our neighbour had deserted his home. They turned his house into a hospital, hoisted the red-cross flag on his chimney, and have broken and destroyed everything about his place, killed off his sheep, &c., eaten bottles of fruit, and broken the bottles. "The description they themselves gave of wrecked homes was heart-rending. Some of them sported all sorts of loot, and were dressed in clothes that were never bought by them. "I offered (through a trooper) to exchange Field-Cornet Joubert hats. I would give him a new grey felt helmet for the one he wore--a battered, brown, hard felt hat, bound with Transvaal colours, two bullet-holes right through the crown, just above the band. No doubt he had placed it on a stone as a target. I was told he had been in hospital with a wound in his leg, got at the same time his hat was hit, but he was so strong and tough he soon came out again. I don't know if he would have exchanged, as I only made the offer the morning they retreated. I thought of sending it to our museum." On the 20th of November some 700 Boers from Weenen took up a strong position at Highlands, which is situated some thirteen miles from Estcourt. They occupied two farms north-east of the Mooi River. On the following day communication with Estcourt was interrupted and the telegraph wires south of the place were cut, and later on the lines were torn up. That done, the Boers began to shell the Mooi River village. They were posted in two strong positions, but their fire, though accurate, did little damage. Cattle-looting was briskly continued, the enemy varying the monotony by firing at intervals. In this district alone the direct loss to the loyal colonists amounted to over £25,000. From the north a hot artillery fire was poured into the Mooi River camp, while from the west further Free State commandoes were marching in. Great caution was observed in the camp, as it was known that the enemy had entirely captured the railway line, and there was no knowing what their next tactics, or rather dodges, might chance to be. THE FIGHT ON BEACON HILL Some definite action was now bound to be attempted, for after the evacuation of Willow Grange the investment of Estcourt was practically complete. The enemy, some 7000, with eight big guns and led by the Commandant-General, had taken up a strong position about six miles south of Willow Grange. There was nothing now between him and Maritzburg but the force at Mooi River, and, in fact, there was no knowing how soon he might overrun the whole colony of Natal. The curious entanglement of military operations at this time formed a puzzle that, had the British not been too gravely interested, would have afforded them entertainment. The rules of no known military war game could be applied to the situation, and its uniqueness was a matter as incomprehensible to the tactician as to the ignoramus. For instance, from Maritzburg to Ladysmith one side alternated with the other at intervals along the line. There were British troops at Maritzburg, Boers at Balgowan; British at Mooi River, Boers at Willow Grange; British at Estcourt, Boers at Ennersdale; British within Ladysmith, and Boers without. To the Commander this complicated sandwich of friend and foe must have been most confounding, and the upshot of the war, even by experts, could no longer be hopefully foretold. Sir George White was surrounded at Ladysmith, General Hildyard at Estcourt, and General Barton at Mooi River, and the Boers seemed able, after detaching troops sufficient to form three forces, consisting in all of about 17,000 men, still to be going onward with 7000 odd towards the sea. During the afternoon of the 22nd of November a column moved out of camp in the direction of Beacon Hill to check the Boer advance. No sooner had they started than a tremendous downpour of rain accompanied by heavy thunder began to transform the whole earth into one huge morass. Naturally the already heavy task of marching was made doubly severe; but the splendid "Tommies" nevertheless plodded steadily over five miles of undulating ground, always steep in parts, and now terribly slippery from slush. Torrents continued to fall, accompanied by large hailstones, but still the troops moved on, arriving eventually at the foot of Beacon Hill where the Boer camp was situated, and beginning with steady and dogged steps to climb. Rivulets swollen by rain were successfully crossed, swamps negotiated, and massive boulders stumbled over. The force, which consisted of the 2nd Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment, half 2nd Battalion of Queen's, seven companies 2nd Battalion East Surrey Regiment, and the Durham Light Infantry, on reaching its destination, bivouacked for the night. A Naval 12-pounder gun was placed on the summit of the hill, and the 7th Battery Royal Field Artillery was also in position. These forces were under the command of Colonel Kitchener, who was directed to make a midnight attack and seize the enemy's guns and laager. The Border Regiment from Estcourt was to arrive in the morning and assist in the operations. Unfortunately the troops, while taking up their position at the base of Beacon Hill, were discovered by the enemy, who at once blazed out with their artillery. Thereupon the Naval gun from its post on the hill snorted defiance, and from this time the Boers remained on the alert. Nevertheless in the grey gloom of the early dawn the ascent was begun, the West Yorks, supported by the Queens and East Surreys, struggling to the summit over steep and rocky ground. From the base of the hill on the left flank of the enemy's position a wall led straight to the crown, and this wall and the absence of beaten tracks helped to make the already hard task additionally arduous. However, by patience and perseverance the crest of the hill was at last gained, and the troops, with a lusty cheer, cleared out some 150 Boers at the point of the bayonet. These with remarkable agility fled to a second position, on which the bulk of their force was situated. So precipitate was the flight that thirty horses were left behind and captured, together with saddlery and camp equipment. The West Yorks then took up a position on the hill behind a barricade of stones. Meanwhile hard work during the afternoon and night of the 22nd and 23rd had been taking place in other directions. The Naval gun, supported by the Durham Light Infantry, with the greatest difficulty had been transported over the veldt, and lugged by sheer force of muscle up the almost inaccessible mountain. The route of the strugglers lay either across sponge or rock, and the choice was not exhilarating. The 7th Battery of Field Artillery also toiled manfully in bringing guns up the steep incline. When the day broke, the enemy opened fire from the surrounding kopjes, and the Yorks finding the Boers had to an inch the range of their position, were then forced to retire. A heavy Boer gun had been posted on a hill to west of Willow Grange Station, and this murderous weapon blazed away at the infantry with unabated zeal, though our guns warmly returned the fire. The Boer shells did practically no damage, while our shots from the Naval gun failed to reach the hostile quarters, its range being shorter than that of the Boer weapons. However, the object of the reconnaissance was attained, namely, to prevent the enemy from taking up certain positions overlooking Estcourt and from spreading farther to the south. The mounted troops, under Lieut.-Colonel Martyr, were directed to co-operate at daylight by a movement towards Willow Grange Station, and subsequently to patrol towards Highlands. Bethune's Mounted Infantry Regiment was directed to operate on Colonel Kitchener's right flank. The troops under Lieut.-Colonel Martyr, after holding a party of some 300 Boers south of Willow Grange, moved to the support of Colonel Kitchener's left flank, where they did valuable service in helping him back and assisting to get the wounded of the 2nd Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment down the hill. The troops, after being under arms from 2 P.M. on Wednesday 22nd to 5.30 P.M. of Thursday 23rd of November, gradually returned into camp. The 2nd Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment was the last to retire. During the movement the Border Regiment, Durham Light Infantry, and Natal Royal Rifles held Beacon Hill, supported by the 7th Battery of Artillery. The Imperial Light Horse, Carabineers, Natal Police, and King's Mounted Infantry took conspicuous parts in the engagement. The Volunteers, by their well-directed volleys, compelled the enemy to remain at a respectful distance. General Hildyard commanded, and Colonel Kitchener, Lieut.-Colonel Martyr, and Major Mackenzie of the Carabineers did yeoman service. A curious feature of the fight was the fact that Boer women must have been engaged on the hill, as some of their side-saddles were captured among the guns, ammunition, blankets, &c., seized by the West Yorks when the Boers were routed from the hill-top. Many acts of gallantry and devotion were performed, especially by Lieutenant Nicholson, Corporal Wylde, and Private Montgomery. Private Montgomery, though shot through the thigh, went on firing, and when shot through the other thigh, refused to be taken to the rear for fear of exposing the stretcher-bearers. Major Hobbs was made prisoner while attending to a wounded man. General Hildyard especially commented on the valorous behaviour of Lieutenant Davies, Mounted Infantry Company, King's Royal Rifles. This young officer, under a heavy fire, dismounted, disentangled the reins of a horse he was driving in front of him, and assisted one of his men, who had lost his horse, to mount and escape. Lieutenant James, Royal Navy, who commanded the Naval gun, greatly distinguished himself in his efforts to reach the enemy's position, in spite of the persistent attentions of a Creusot gun which had the range of him. Captain Bottomley, Imperial Light Horse, rescued several of the wounded under a heavy fire, and Lieutenant Palmer, R.A.M.C., while attending the sufferers, was taken prisoner. He was subsequently released. An amusing story was told of a trooper who was found to have shot a very smart Boer, dressed in the regulation coat and polished leather boots. "He was," explained Tommy, "such a swell of a toff, that one couldn't help potting him." One of the West Yorks also viewed life with much pluck and some jocosity. Though hopelessly shot through the neck, with the bullet emerging in his left eye, he still demanded tobacco, saying, "Ah wor varry near killed befoor wi' fallin' off a house, but ah'm noan dead yet, and ah'm noan bown to dee." Let us hope the plucky fellow lived to give his doctors the lie. The glorious behaviour of all men of the West Yorks was especially eulogised. They conducted themselves heroically; and those of the 2nd Battalion East Surrey behaved with great gallantry under most trying circumstances. During the fight Lieutenant Bridge, R.A., attached to the Imperial Light Horse, under a heavy fire of both shot and shell rushed to a wounded man of the West Yorks, picked him up, slung him over his shoulder, and brought him to a place of safety. Trooper Fitzpatrick, I.L.H., brother of the author of "The Transvaal from Within," and a prominent member of the Reform movement--specially referred to in General Hildyard's despatch--was killed while gallantly helping to save a wounded man. The West Yorks' ambulance had just been reached when the poor fellow was caught by a bullet in the back of the neck. He was buried in the afternoon with military honours, his body being carried to the grave by his comrades. Our loss was estimated at eleven killed and sixty wounded. This highly successful night attack was, strategically speaking, of prodigious value. The hostile hordes that were advancing to the south with the intention of overrunning the Colony of Natal were summarily disposed of, their treatment at the hands of Colonel Kitchener and his small force being such that they preferred not to try conclusions with him again for some time to come. They at once took themselves off to Colenso, and in a very short space of time the telegraph lines and rails between Weston, Estcourt, and Frere were restored. The arrival of the first trains in camp was greeted with uproarious cheers. LADYSMITH The inhabitants of Ladysmith had almost begun to accustom themselves to the promiscuous arrival of shells at odd hours throughout the day, when General Joubert hit on the happy idea of varying the monotony of the daily routine by making the night into a "lurid inferno"--the term is borrowed from the Boers. Now no sooner were the besieged wrapped in slumber than boom! bang! a shower of 94-pound shells was launched into their midst. In an instant all was confusion. Strange forms, some weird, some grotesque, all terrified, fled from their beds and hung hovering in gardens and verandahs, uncertain whether to believe their eyes and ears. The nights were mostly dark, and from the black ridges occupied by the enemy came with a swish and a roar red tongues of flame and the spitting, splitting fury of bursting steel, which produced in the mind of those who had recently been folded in the arms of Morpheus a sensation as of fevered nightmare or threatened madness. But the sturdy soon attuned themselves to the terrific reality, though for some days, while the midnight cannonading continued, many of the more nervous were well-nigh distraught. The bombardment was accounted for in different ways. Some said it was to celebrate a victory over the advance-guard of Hildyard's brigade, others declared that the firing had been attracted by some companies of the Liverpool Regiment who had gone to cut firewood, and were visible in the gleams of the moonlight. This midnight uproar continued for several days with more or less vigour, and then it languished, possibly from economy, possibly because the Boers themselves desired to sleep. On the 18th Dr. Stark, a naturalist who had come to Natal to study birds, was killed as he was standing near the door of the Royal Hotel, a shell having descended through the roof and come out by the door. It grew ever more and more difficult to communicate with the relieving forces, as the Kaffir runners stood in fear of their lives, many having been killed during their hazardous journeys. Shells from "Long Tom" and the new gun on Bulwana continued to cause horror in the daytime and to pursue uninterruptedly their mission of mutilation. The porch of the English Church was destroyed, several rooms of houses wrecked, and splinters and flying fragments of brick and rock kept all who moved abroad in a state of suspense and mental anxiety. No! not _all_. There was one imperturbable Scot who occupied a house between the Naval guns and the Boer position, who watched the havoc played by the shells in his house or garden, and occasionally applauded with the remark, "Aye, aye! Lord, man, that wuz a hummin'-bird damned weel hatched!" [Illustration: FACSIMILE OF PAGE OF NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED IN LADYSMITH DURING THE SIEGE.] On the 21st an inhuman action defaced the ordinary programme of warfare. As before said, the Town Hall had been turned into a hospital for sick, and this, by reason of its conspicuous clock-tower with the red flag flying above it, made a convenient mark for the shots of the enemy. In spite of all remonstrances, the Boer commandant proceeded to batter the place with shell after shell, with the result that on one occasion the wing of the hall was destroyed, fortunately without loss of life, and on another, a shell breaking through the roof, some nine poor patients were wounded and one killed. The General had chosen this way of expressing his annoyance that his proposed arrangements were not complied with. He had insisted that the wounded should be taken to the neutral camp at Intombi, where they would have been virtually prisoners. This could not be allowed, and therefore he was evidently determined, out of spite, to make the life of the unhappy sick in the hospital a long-drawn agony. They were helpless, stricken in body and nerve, and the perpetual crashing of bursting steel, the rending of buildings in their vicinity, was almost worse than the pang of actual death. Still, in spite of everything, the garrison bore up wonderfully and tried to put a good face on matters. A message sent out on the 25th of November, even showed signs of spurious jocosity. The writer said, "Shells and flies very numerous, but the latter more annoying." There was a pathetic ring in the little pleasantry. In reality, valiant Ladysmith was beginning to droop with the suspense of hope deferred that maketh the heart sick. The heat was getting terrific, and cases of fever were beginning to appear. The Boer firing was becoming more accurate, and their commandoes seemed to remain at their full strength, some 10,000. The besieged lost about seventy head of cattle--a terrible mishap at this crisis--and these could not, unfortunately, be recovered. A party went in pursuit of the valuables, but had to return worsted! The total casualties up to this date were eight killed and twenty-three wounded. Searchlight for night-signalling began to be in continual use, and Sir George White, being fully acquainted with the plan of campaign, was preparing himself to co-operate whenever the great hour and moment should arrive. The third big cannon, which had been christened "Franchise," now began to open fire on the tunnels in which the British were said to be concealed, and assisted actively in the already murderous chorus. On the 29th, much to the joy of the community, a message from the Prince of Wales was received, thanking officers and men for the birthday congratulations they had succeeded in forwarding to him. Hopes of speedy relief revived. It was known that General Clery had by this time some 23,000 men (including Natal Volunteers) coming to the rescue, and these, together with Sir George White's 9500 in Ladysmith, would, when the time for junction should arrive, make a not insignificant total with which to meet the Boers. But the troops were beginning to grow somewhat restless and impatient for the hour when they should be let loose to settle their little account with those outside. At this juncture Commandant Schalk-Burger grew "slimmer" than ever. In order still further to cramp Sir George White, the Dutch general sent to him a crowd of some 400 coolies, on the score that they were British subjects whom he could not feed. As it was impossible to receive any addition to the numerous mouths already inside the place, Sir George suggested their being sent on to Estcourt; so the little ruse was defeated. [Illustration: FIX BAYONETS! REPELLING AN ATTACK FROM THE TRENCHES AROUND LADYSMITH. Drawing by R. Caton Woodville.] ESTCOURT AND FRERE Tugela Drift was next attacked by the enemy. Some 300 Boers advancing from Helpmakaar were met by Umvoti Mounted Rifles under Major Leuchars and some Natal Police under Sub-Inspector Maxwell. Two good hours of fighting ensued, after which the Boers turned tail and made off. Here we must note that every one spoke highly of the Natal Mounted Police. The members of the force, mostly gentlemen, were fine horsemen and crack shots. Being Colonial bred, they were conversant with every inch of the country, having done splendid service in Zululand, Pondoland, and the outlying districts. Their experience was, therefore, invaluable. At this time two important events took place, the Tugela River rose, and became impassable save for boats and punts, and the long-looked-for arrival of Sir Redvers Buller at Maritzburg was the signal for general rejoicing. He now began the direction of operations. So many are the minor yet exciting incidents of war, that it is impossible to recount them; yet in these minor incidents many glorious lives have been heroically hazarded, and indeed sacrificed, with scarce any recognition from the country in whose service the daring deeds were done. Some idea of the adventures of scouting parties may be obtained from an account given by the correspondent of the _Natal Times_ on the 25th of November. "A patrol party of sixty members of the Rifle Association went out to-day under Captains Gough and D. E. Simmons to locate the enemy on the Berg side of the railway. "They found the enemy encamped on Simmon's farm, and commissariat waggons on Blaker's farm, about twenty-two miles from here, and seven and a half west of Mooi River. "On reaching the swollen river near Nourse Varty's farm, eight of the party swam across on horseback to scale the kopje. "While doing so, the scouts, who had been sent along the river-bank, gave the alarm, and reported that the Boers were closing round the kopje to cut them off. "They at once retreated, and crossed the river, but the horses could not climb the bank and returned riderless to the other side. "The riders swam in and brought them back, and succeeded in dragging the exhausted animals up, when they discovered that they had been the victims of a false alarm. "After resting, the party again crossed the river, leaving their clothes behind. "Without a vestige of clothing, they proceeded to a height a mile off, and saw the Boers breaking up camp, and moving towards Ulundi Road. "The naked party remained watching for an hour and a half, when Simmons recrossed the river and came back to camp to report the news, leaving Gough to report the enemy's further movements." Here it must be mentioned that General Hildyard spoke most highly of the members of the Rifle Association and of the admirable scouting done by them. He said also that great credit was due to Captains Symonds and Ross and their officers for the wonderful efficiency which they had displayed. From the accounts received of the battle that took place outside of Estcourt while that village was shut off, it was believed that Boer women had come to help their lords to smash the "verdomde rooineks." Those who are well acquainted with the Boers suggest that their ladies were brought upon the scene to act in the place of white flags, for certainly in the storming of Beacon Hill one of our officers ceased to fire because he was confronted with a woman. Others declared that they formed a portion of a trek which had come to implore the Boer generals to cease the war. As we all know, the Boer women in ancient history--such ancient history as the trekkers have--egged their husbands and fathers on to warfare, loading their guns for them, and even firing themselves when needful; therefore the idea of their being desirous of peace was improbable. It is possible they would scorn to treat the petticoat in the light of a white flag, and prefer to stand side by side with their mates in their thinning ranks. The Boers now entirely vacated their position along the Highland range of hills, owing, it was believed, to the River Mooi being in flood, and also in consequence of a smart engagement that had taken place with General Hildyard's troops. Ladysmith remained calm, and though there was some cannonading, it evoked no response. The Boers congratulated themselves that the days of Ladysmith were numbered, that another week would find them in possession of the place, and, though no great humourists, they indulged in mild witticisms, christening their big guns "Suzerainty" and "Franchise." The besieged meanwhile consoled themselves. Their position was stronger than ever, having been made so with redoubts and breastworks, and they awaited the coming of Sir Redvers Buller and his forces with cheerfulness and confidence. On the 26th of November the British troops began to advance on Colenso, marching from Estcourt to Frere, where they found that the railway bridge had been destroyed. The lines, however, were rapidly repaired. By this time all had learnt to look cautiously out for the derailing of the trains, and Kaffirs with flags were posted at points in the line to signal if danger were ahead. Another contingent of the Naval Brigade from Her Majesty's ship _Terrible_ started from Durban with guns and special mountings invented by Captain Percy Scott. The officers in command were Commander Limpus, Lieutenants Richards, Wilde, and England. Surgeon Lomas accompanied them. The new gun-carriage designed by Captain Percy Scott at this time came in for a great share of attention. The feature of the invention is a spade which holds the gun in position, while the recoil is absorbed by the compression of oil and springs. Great strain is thus placed on the spade, and consequently its success depends largely on the character of the soil and the hold obtained. On this subject a correspondent writing to the _Times_ from Natal said:-- "You may be interested to hear a little about the Navy, who have come to the front as usual and met an emergency. From the first it would seem that what was wanted were long-range guns which could shell the enemy at a distance outside the range of their Mauser rifles, and the captain of the _Terrible_, therefore, proposed a field-mounting for the Naval long 12-pounder of 12 cwt., which has a much longer range than any artillery gun out here. A pair of waggon wheels were picked up, a balk of timber used as a trail, and in twenty-four hours a 12-pounder was ready for land service. Captain Scott then designed a mounting for a 4.7-inch Naval gun by simply bolting a ship's mounting down on to four pieces of pile. Experts declared that the 12-pounder would smash up the trail, and that the 4.7-inch would turn a somersault; the designer insisted, however, on a trial. When it took place, nothing of the kind happened, except that at extreme elevation the 12-pounder shell went 9000 yards and the 4.7-inch (lyddite) projectile 12,000 yards. Captain Scott was, therefore, encouraged to go ahead, and four 12-pounders were fitted and sent round to Durban in the _Powerful_, and also two 4.7-inch guns. People say here that these guns saved the situation at Ladysmith. A Naval friend writing to me from the camp says: 'The Boers complain that we are not "playing the game"; they only expected to fight rooineks, not sailors who use guns that range seven miles, and they want us to go back to our ships. One of our lyddite shells went over a hill into their camp, killed fourteen men and wounded thirty. Guns of this description are not, according to the Boer idea, at all proper, and they do not like our way of staggering humanity. Had these guns been landed earlier, how much might have been saved? It is a peculiar sight to see the 4.7-inch fired. Many thought it would turn over, but Captain Percy Scott appears to have well calculated the stresses; there is with a full charge of cordite a slight rise of the fore end, which practically relieves all the fastenings. Hastily put together, and crude as it looks, it really embraces all the points of a scientific mounting, and it wants a great expert to pronounce an opinion on it. The gun is mounted so high that to the uninitiated it looks as if it must turn over on firing, but it does not, and the higher angle of elevation the less strain there is on it. The arrival of our guns practically put the Royal Artillery guns out of use, for they can come into action 2000 yards behind those supplied to the soldiers and then make better practice. Their arrival has, every one admits, quite changed the situation.' "Captain Scott has also rigged up a searchlight on a railway truck with a flasher attachment, the idea being to use it for communication with Kimberley and Ladysmith if these places are surrounded. It has been tested at a distance of forty miles, and proved a great success. I am told, too, that he is now engaged in designing a travelling carriage for a 6-inch gun, and has, indeed, converted the _Terrible_ into a factory for curiosities in gun-mountings. "Each mounting, by the way, has an inscription upon it, presumably concocted by the ship's painter. One, a parody upon the Scotch proverb, runs, 'Those who sup with me will require a devil of a long spoon'; another, 'For what we are going to receive may the Lord make us truly thankful--Oom Paul'; and a third, 'Lay me true and load me tight, the Boers will soon be out of sight.' I saw one of these guns fired with an elevation of 24 degrees and a range of 12,000 yards, and fully expected to see the whole thing capsize, but it hardly moved. After the firing of several rounds I carefully examined the mounting, and noticed that, crude as it might appear, a wonderful amount of practical knowledge was apparent in its construction; the strain was beautifully distributed, every bolt and each balk bearing its proportionate share. It is in every way creditable to the navy that when emergency arises such a thing could be devised and made by the ship's engineering staff in twenty-four hours." While the brigade was pushing on to the front, General Joubert was falling back, with a view to disputing the passage of the Tugela River. He was believed to be concentrating three corps--one on Ladysmith, one on the Tugela, and one to east of Maritzburg. As the scene of the armoured train disaster was only about two miles from Frere camp, several of the officers rode out to look at the wreckage of the machine. The trucks were still lying on the line, a most lamentable evidence of shock and collapse. One armoured truck was off the metals, two unarmoured trucks were also overturned, one containing the platelayers' tools standing on its head, wheels uppermost, in a state of melancholy abandonment. All the trucks were mute witnesses to the fierce fire to which the train and men had been subjected. Shell-holes were here, there, and everywhere, and the iron was ripped up and rent as though it had been matchwood. The spring of one of the waggons had been blown into space, and the Naval gun which was posted on one of the low-sided trucks must have gone with it, for no trace of its existence remained. The method of derailing the train had been simple. A railway metal had been arranged across the lines with stones at the end to weigh it down and keep it from being pushed clear. Besides this, fish-plates had been loosened, and stones put under the rails. Round the scene still lay helmets and remnants of clothing, many of these being blood-stained and ragged. At Estcourt all was quiet. Farmers were returning to their homes and provisions streaming in. Much satisfaction was displayed at the arrival of some 500 cattle and sheep which the Boers had apparently looted and left behind them. With Lord Methuen's advance in the west and General Buller's arrival in the east the campaign may be said to have begun in earnest. The Boer programme in a fashion seemed to have collapsed; the support of the Cape Dutch, on which it had relied, was not forthcoming. The idea of the Republics was to consolidate themselves and capture Natal, while minor forces were to blockade Mafeking, Vryburg, and Kimberley. This latter place was to be the rallying-point of the Cape Dutch. But fortunately the Cape Dutch did not see it. They did not rise to time and cut off all the railway systems, and Lord Methuen in his part of the world was too active in bringing up his advance to allow for the development of any nefarious schemes which might have been on the tapis. In face of this disappointment and this advance, the Boers had to gather themselves together. They had no reserves to send down to the assistance of their forces in the southern borders, and could only assist these by withdrawing men from commandoes already in the field. As a natural consequence, therefore, certain commandoes had to be withdrawn from Mafeking and Kimberley. In Natal all watched the forward march of the British with eager eyes. The Boers, hampered by a long train of waggons, captured cattle, and miscellaneous loot, had been headed off at the only point on the Tugela where a crossing, since the heavy rains, could be effected. It seemed, therefore, that Fortune had twisted her wheel, and that before long the prospects of South Africa would be brightened, and the remembrances of eighteen years would be entirely sponged out. Rumours were afloat, however, that the Boers were concentrating in their old positions near Colenso at the back of Grobler's Kloof, and everything pointed to the fact that a last determined effort would be made to prevent the British from crossing the Tugela. [Illustration: TELEGRAPH SECTION OF THE ROYAL ENGINEERS. PHOTO BY ELLIOTT & FRY] In spite of the success of our flying column in driving the foe back across the river, there was cause for regret that the distance was too great to allow of our bringing up guns and reinforcements in time to save the bridge from destruction. But the distance from Frere to Colenso was considerable, and roads were so heavy that the dragging of guns from one place to the other would have meant a stiff day's work. There was apparently no option, the Frere bridge being broken, but to let the enemy destroy the Colenso bridge, invaluable as it was. It became very evident that the enemy meant to fight tooth and nail, and that the passage of the Tugela would be disputed inch by inch. However, none was dismayed: all believed that when the great tug-of-war should come, they would be equal, and more than equal, to the occasion. Indeed, now that the forward movement of the troops had commenced, the camp was animated by a wave of patriotic fervour. The men were literally on fire with enthusiasm. They longed to press on and come to some distinct turning-point in the history of the campaign. A word must here be said of the splendid work done at this time by the irregular mounted troops, about 700 in number. Their value in all manner of ways was continually being demonstrated. This force was made up of a troop of Natal Mounted Police under Captain Fairlie, the Imperial Light Horse, Bethune's Horse, 60th Rifles Company of Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry, Mackenzie's Carabineers, and the 7th Battery of field-guns. [Illustration: SERGEANTS OF THE ROYAL HORSE ARTILLERY WITH A 12-POUNDER. Photo by Gregory & Co., London.] The Boers were now energetically preparing a warm reception for General Buller. Small parties were found in the neighbourhood of Chieveley, and these were endeavouring to post their long-range guns in convenient positions for the defence of the river. They were not destined to have things entirely their own way, however, and were promptly engaged by the Imperial Light Horse and forced to retire. This they did to the tune of a tremendous explosion, which could be heard for miles off. It was caused by the blowing up of the Colenso bridge, for the purpose of impeding our possible advance. The iron bridge over the Tugela River had previously been rendered a hopeless wreck. The number of Boers round Colenso at this time was said to be about 15,000, with some 15 guns. At Frere camp our troops numbered about 3500, and at Estcourt there were about the same number, but reinforcements were expected. SURPRISES AT LADYSMITH At Ladysmith, St. Andrew's Day was duly kept by the Gordon Highlanders, and Scottish compliments, appropriately seasoned with whisky--now getting tragically scarce--were passed round. Sir George White dined with the gallant regiment. Now that the town was in heliographic communication with Sir Redvers Buller, and military intelligence was received regarding the movements of the relieving force, there was a general sense of security among those who had been incarcerated so long. The Ladysmith force under General White's command amounted to a total of some 12,500 troops, and these, could they once get free and join the force, numbering about 20,000, at Sir Redvers Buller's disposal, would have made a sensible difference on the fortunes of Natal. At this time provisions were fairly moderate in price, meat being one shilling a pound and bread fourpence a pound, but luxuries, liquors, &c., were growing scarce. For instance, a tin of milk--the last in Ladysmith--fetched three shillings, and eggs were purchasable for six shillings a dozen. The military authorities had commandeered all eatables, arranging that bread and meat should be sold at prices fixed for all. The health of the troops was kept up by athletic exercises, and the officers at times played polo. The bars at the hotels were closed, but mineral waters were obtainable. Horses began to look lean, though oats and mealies, bran and hay were forthcoming in sufficient quantity; but of pasturage there was little. The Boers made great efforts to shoot the cattle, thinking that though they might not storm the garrison they might starve it to surrender. Very few newspapers were smuggled into the town, and these were rapturously seized and devoured. Life was monotonous and a little sickness began to be apparent, many of the cases arising from using the muddy water of the river. It was now discovered that the fashionable entertainment of the Dutch ladies was to take special weekly trains from Pretoria for the purpose of joining the Boers on the hills outside Ladysmith and inspecting the unhappy town. The forces surrounding the place were commanded by Schalk-Burger and Louis Botha, who doubtless, with Pretorian dames, were the heroes of the hour. On Sundays Divine Service took place in the Church of England, the Congregational minister's house, and in the Convent, all these religious devotions partaking of a particularly solemn and earnest character. Every man stood, as it were, with his life in his hands before his God, and week after week it was impossible to say which of the devout flock might be missing, and have gone out into the invisible to solve the _grana peut-être_. There was a pathetic atmosphere surrounding these religious meetings that none who joined in them will ever forget. On the 8th of December a very brilliant operation took place at Lombard's Kop. General Hunter, with a hundred picked men of the Imperial Light Horse under Colonel Edwards (5th Dragoon Guards), and five hundred Natal Carabineers under Colonel Royston, started from Ladysmith camp about nine o'clock on the previous night. Four abreast they marched from the outpost and faded in the gloom. The march lay across a stony, rugged plain, through the scrub of mimosa bush and among dongas deep and shallow. Close on the heels of Major Henderson and several of the Corps of Guides the troops pressed on. About ten o'clock they reached the base of the hill under Lombard's Kop, and there took up a position. While still pitch dark--two o'clock in the morning--they began to advance on their perilous enterprise, climbing up steep and slippery slopes, and stumbling over boulders, and tripping on loosened stones. The stars blinked, the sky seemed slumbering in one vast dream of blue. Stealthily they moved with the footfalls of tigers stalking their prey. Not a word was spoken. Scarcely a breath drawn. Above, on the flat top of the hills, were the objects of British desire--the Boer guns. A 6-inch Creusot, throwing a 94-lb. shell, and a 4.7-inch howitzer, firing a 40-lb. shot. More anxious than sweetheart for the sight of his lady-love were these gallant fellows for the touch of these treasures. Up they went, each outracing the other, straining every nerve and muscle to gain the summit of the hill, to be first to handle the prize! At last, when about half the distance had been cleared, they were challenged by the picket. "Wie gaat daar?"--"Who goes there?" he sang out in alarm. It was a thrilling moment. To the challenge there could be but one reply. That reply they gave. Shots rang out in the darkness. There was now no more creeping. Tongues of flame darted from every side. The troops pushed forward in the grey mysterious gloom to the ping of bullets that whizzed in shoals swiftly past their ears. Major Henderson dropped. More bullets rained down. A Guide fell wounded by cycle bearing-balls shot from a rifle--so it was subsequently said. One gallant fellow after another threw up his arms dying or dead. But still the troops pressed on, Colonel Edwards in advance shouting them on to victory. "Fix bayonets," he called with a voice of thunder, knowing there were but four bayonets among the lot. "Give 'em cold steel," shouted some one else with delirious rapture, and the Carabineers and Light Horse, with scarce a bayonet to their name, cheered and charged! But the Boers delayed not to find out if there were steel or no steel. They fled in dismay, leaving behind them their cherished guns. So swift indeed was their flight, that hats, boots, letters, everything--were scattered to the winds. Thereupon Captain Fowke and Lieutenant Turner, R.E., with great skill destroyed a 6-inch gun and a 4.7-inch howitzer with gun-cotton. They also captured a Maxim. This magnificent piece of work, counting from the moment the order to charge was given, was performed in three-quarters of an hour, with the loss to our troops of only seven men. The conduct of the Imperial Light Horse was superb, and Major Edwards was the first man in the embrasure. The following is an account of the destruction of the guns given by the war correspondent of the _Standard_:-- "In order to give the rest of the force time to complete its work, Major Edwards, who was the first man to set foot on the summit, led his men of the Imperial Light Horse to the far side of the hill, and poured volleys in the direction of the Boer retreat. Some of their vedettes could be seen hovering about, but they were evidently too demoralised to approach us closely. "Meanwhile, the Volunteers and Sappers were making a hurried search for the big guns. For a moment the horrible thought seized us that there might be no guns at all--that the enemy, as has so often been the case of late, had somehow got wind of the projected attack, and had removed the cannon to a safe distance. But at last, to the delight of everybody, 'Long Tom' itself was discovered, snugly ensconced behind a parapet of sand-bags no less than 31 feet thick. A 4.7-inch howitzer was found in an emplacement hardly less strong, with a Maxim gun between the two--posted there, apparently, for the purpose of repelling any such assault as the one we had actually delivered. "Lieutenant Turner, with a party of two sappers and six artillerymen, at once took charge of 'Long Tom,' and, getting to work with crowbars and hammers, smashed the breach and elevating gear. Two charges of gun-cotton were then placed in the breech and muzzle and connected with fuses. While 'Long Tom' was thus being provided for, similar attentions were bestowed on the howitzer by Captain Fowke and the other sappers and gunners. "The preparations being complete, General Hunter ordered the men to make their way back down the hill, and the fuses were set light to with the burning ends of the officers' cigars. Everybody fell back, with the exception of Captain Fowke, who remained midway between the big guns, and, after a couple of minutes' suspense, a loud report showed that our object had been accomplished. Captain Fowke hastened to examine the _débris_, and found that the 6-inch gun had two gaping holes in its muzzle, which was badly bulged, and that the breech and rifling had been destroyed beyond all chance of repair. The howitzer was in an even worse plight, the explosion having wrecked the carriage as well as the gun." The force under General Hunter was composed of a hundred men selected from three squadrons of the Imperial Light Horse: Squadron B, Captain Mullens; Squadron E, Captain Codrington; Squadron F, Captain Fowler; Commanding Officer, Colonel A. H. M. Edwards, of the 5th Dragoon Guards, with Major "Karri" Davis, and Captain Fitzgerald, Adjutant of the Regiment. The second hundred men were chosen from the Natal Volunteers, and were led by Major Addison. The flanking parties, under Colonel Royston, were composed of Natal Mounted Rifles, under Major Evans; Border Mounted Rifles, under Major Rethman; Carabineers, under Colonel Greene; and Natal Mounted Police, under Inspector Clarke; Colonel Royston in command. Major Henderson was in charge of the Guides. Our casualties were nine wounded, one mortally. A little later in the day a smart skirmish commenced between Colonel Knox with one squadron of the 19th Hussars and the Boers on Pepworth Hill. The enemy thinking that all the troops had been engaged, to their discomfiture, near Lombard's Kop, arranged that they would seize the opportunity to approach the town. Again they were somewhat surprised to find Colonel Knox and his party in readiness for them. Some brisk fighting ensued, but all was over by six o'clock, and the net result of the morning's work was considered highly satisfactory. The voice of "Long Tom" was completely silenced, and Ladysmith had got a Maxim to the good. The Boer telegraph lines were cut and their kraals burnt. On the whole, the troops were well pleased with themselves, and returned to receive an enthusiastic reception from those within the town. The only regret was that Major Henderson, D.A.A.G., 1st Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, should have been wounded in two places. Probably this was the first time in the history of British arms that guns have been stormed by Mounted Infantry, and the complete success of the movement reflected the utmost credit, not only on the troops themselves, but on Major-General Hunter, who so magnificently led the assault. After the men returned to camp, General White had the Volunteers, Light Horsemen, and other portions of the force paraded, and addressed them as follows:-- "Colonel Royston, officers and men of the Natal Mounted Volunteers, officers and men of the Imperial Light Horse, and officers and men of the Imperial Forces,--I have heard the details of last night's work from Major-General Hunter, who so ably planned the undertaking and carried it out. He has asked me to express to you his appreciation--and deep appreciation--of the admirable manner in which you supported him in it throughout. It is a great pleasure to me that I am here, not only to acknowledge the fine work you did last night and your valuable services, but also as I was longing for an opportunity of acknowledging the value of your services since this campaign commenced. I am glad to think that the very important service rendered last night was got through with so few casualties. It will be a great pleasure to me to report to General Sir Redvers Buller, whom we all hope to see in a few days, the good behaviour and great help we have had from the Natal Volunteers, who, I may say without any inflated or exaggerated language, are a credit, not only to their own Colony, but to the Empire. We I daresay, have a lot of severe fighting before us, and it is a great gratification to me to know I have the help of such men as I see before me. I know you had a bad night last night and are needing rest, but I thought you would not, perhaps, mind my turning you out to tell you how all the officers of this force appreciate your behaviour, and I hope you will keep it up to the end. Colonel Royston, I won't keep the parade any longer." Hearty cheers were given for General White, Major-General Hunter, and the Queen. General White also addressed the Royal Engineers and Artillery, stating that all praise was due to the officer in charge for the able manner in which he had performed his duty, and to the men for the steadiness with which they had assisted individually. General White visited the I.L.H. camp, inspecting the corps on parade, and expressed himself in similar terms to those used to the Volunteers. Doubtless the success of the last midnight sortie roused a spirit of emulation in the breast of the gallant besieged, for another daring manoeuvre was secretly planned. It was decided that an effort should now be made to destroy an inconveniently active 4.7-inch howitzer which was posted on a height appropriately termed Surprise Hill. When the shades of night began to fall, five companies of the Rifle Brigade, with an Engineer detachment in charge of Lieutenant Digby Jones, R.E., started off from King's Post on their dangerous mission. The moon, however, shone clear and white, throwing undesirable magnesian light over their progress. It was a night for Hero and Leander, not for deeds dark and deadly. For this reason they halted at the base of Observation Hill until such time as it was possible to proceed in safety. Presently the moon sank behind clouds and they moved on. At half-past one they crossed the railway lines and commenced, stealthy as cats, to ascend the hill. One company and a half was left on the right, and one company and a half on the left flank. A half company was posted in a nullah near the railway. The remainder of the force, led by Colonel Metcalfe, deployed into line and ascended with steady, cautious step. The Boer picket was evidently dozing, as the party was never challenged till the British had almost reached the top of the hill. Then, with a sudden surprised "Who goes there?" and a leap to arms, the enemy fired several shots. Directly afterwards, the order to "Fix bayonets" was given. This was followed by the click of steel and the rush of our men wildly cheering--cheering till the midnight echoes rang with weird reverberations. The crest of the hill was carried! The Boers, after firing a few shots, had vanished into space. After some moments of anxious search the gun--the object of the British operations--was found. It was promptly surrounded, and the breech-block and muzzle were destroyed with gun-cotton by Lieutenant Digby Jones, R.E. The fuse unluckily declined at first to ignite, causing the delay of some twenty minutes, during which interval the Boers, reinforced, had swept back round the kopje and sandwiched themselves between the attacking force as they retired down-hill and the reserves. The confusion that ensued was lamentable, as the fighting line were forced to cut their way through with the bayonet, but this with extreme caution, as in the darkness it was difficult to distinguish between friend and foe. The Boers cunningly enhanced the difficulty of the position by passing themselves off as British, and repeating our cries and orders, and calling "Is that the Rifle Brigade?" &c. On receiving an answer they promptly fired, our reserve being unable to make return owing to a fear of injuring our own force. The Boers' losses were great. Our own were: Lieutenant Fergusson, 2nd Rifle Brigade, and ten rank and file killed; Captain Paley, Second Lieutenant Davenport, Second Lieutenant Bond, and forty rank and file wounded. Six men of the Rifle Brigade who remained in charge of the wounded were taken prisoners. Sir George White now continually used his balloon for purposes of observation. He was also in communication with Frere Camp, where an electric searchlight was in operation, and with Umkolanda, near Weenen, where Captain Cayzer of the Dragoons worked the heliograph. The garrison still remained cheerful although the Boer bombardment grew heavier. Threatening sounds of firing in the neighbourhood of Colenso caused them to sustain hope, though the pinch of siege life, suspense, sickness, and shell-fire were beginning to be felt. However, owing to the admirable forethought of Colonel Ward, Army Service Corps, the food supply was still equal to the drain upon it. FRERE CAMP General Sir F. C. Clery arrived at Frere on the 2nd of December, and assumed command of the Second Division. He took up his quarters at the shattered house of the stationmaster. Preparations were set on foot to repair Frere bridge, which had been entirely wrecked, and a mounted force under Lord Dundonald was actively engaged in chasing large parties of Boers on their return to Colenso. Great interest was caused by the arrival in camp of another of the inventions of Captain Scott of the _Terrible_. It consisted of a searchlight apparatus for signalling to Ladysmith, with engine and dynamo, entirely armoured. Communication with Ladysmith by heliograph was soon successfully established, much to the consternation of the Boers at Colenso, who tried their best to interfere with messages. The camp was daily increasing in size, and reinforcements, with their baggage, horses, waggons, and guns, began to pour in from Maritzburg, while the Durban Light Infantry and a battery of Natal Field Artillery were posted to protect Estcourt, Willow Grange, and Mooi River from raiders and attacks on lines and telegraph wires. [Illustration: FROM FRERE TO CHIEVELEY--DIFFICULTIES OF TRANSPORT. Drawing by R. Caton Woodville.] The arrival of Generals Buller and Clery and the increasing concentration of troops now began to presage an important and, it was hoped, decisive movement. Visual communication was being held nightly with General White, and a combined action seemed quite possible. It was recognised, however, that the Boer position at Colenso could not be taken by direct frontal attack, and that some arrangement to turn the left of the enemy must simultaneously accompany a demonstration in front. Mounted troops had now joined the British forces, and there was every hope that the Dutchmen, once routed, could be pursued and kept on the run. But so far the Boers were unconcerned; they seemed to be in fine fettle, and even indulged in humour at the expense of the British garrison. When the heliographers questioned the enemy, "Are you Boers?" they replied, "Yes." They were then asked, "Where are you going?" and bounced back, "To Maritzburg." "God help you," said we. "We think He will," they devoutly replied. They also indulged in compliments of a less righteous description, finishing up with the crude and scarcely eloquent expression, "Go to h--ll." But, as a mild diversion, Boer humour was accepted, for, in the routine of the soldier's existence, the smallest mercies in the form of distraction were thankfully received. Life just then, even for the officers, was not roseate--the messes had a ubiquitous menu of bully beef and bread, and the mess-tents were made of the tarpaulins of the big mule-waggons. Repose was a beautiful name. The torture of sleeping on a valise on the ground for weeks at a stretch was--so an officer declared--much the same as that produced by some beds in Irish inns--after lying down for some hours, you have to get up and take a rest! Meanwhile, Provost-Marshal Major Chichester, at Frere Camp, distinguished himself. On the 7th of December he started off with thirty men of the Natal Carabineers and a few Mounted Police for the purpose of arresting three colonists suspected of aiding the enemy. They left camp for the Gourton district at about 5 A.M., and marched through the country beneath the snow-capped Drakensberg Mountains some fifty miles. There the landscape is picturesque and beautiful as any in Natal; but their object was not to admire scenery, but to pursue traitors. At a small farm they came upon the objects of their search. The miscreants were promptly seized, together with their loot, some 150 head of cattle. With these the party started to return, but were fired on by six Boers from a neighbouring donga or ditch. Major Chichester then ordered forward part of his troop with the prisoners in charge, while he and the rest of his men held the enemy at bay. A brisk fusillade ensued, in which five of the enemy's ponies were killed, and several of the Boers were shot. The party returned to camp safely, after having accomplished the object of their expedition in the space of twenty-three hours. The trestle bridge at Frere was now completed, and trains began to run over it. Frere Bridge, on the Natal Government Railway, some twenty miles from Ladysmith, was, it may be remembered, the first to be blown up by the Boers on their retreat from Estcourt to Colenso. The following is a rough list of the force, under General Sir Redvers Buller, Major-General Sir C. F. Clery, Major-General Hildyard, and Major-General Barton, which was now advancing towards Ladysmith from Durban by way of Pietermaritzburg, Mooi River, Estcourt, and Colenso:-- 1st Border Regiment, 2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers, 2nd West Yorkshire, 2nd East Surrey, 2nd West Surrey, 2nd Devonshire, 1st Welsh Fusiliers, 2nd Scottish Rifles, 2nd Royal Fusiliers, 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers, 2nd Royal Irish Fusiliers, 1st Royal Dragoons, 1st Durham Light Infantry, 13th Hussars, 1st Connaught Rangers, 1st Dublin Fusiliers, 1st Gordon Highlanders, 1st Inniskilling Fusiliers, 2nd Somersetshire Light Infantry, 3rd King's Royal Rifles, B Squadron 6th Dragoon Guards, one Squadron Imperial Light Horse, Durban Light Infantry, various Local Rifle Associations, Naval Detachments, Volunteer Cavalry and Infantry, Uitlander Corps under Major Thorneycroft, 7th, 14th, 64th, 66th, 73rd Field Batteries, several Companies Royal Engineers, several Companies R.A.M.C., Field Hospitals. Besides the arrival of incoming regiments, camp life at Frere was enlivened by many minor episodes. Provost-Marshal Major Chichester paid more surprise visits to Dutch farms whose owners were suspected of aiding the enemy. Though looting was strictly forbidden, some of the raiding parties returned with interesting souvenirs of their expeditions--sometimes in the form of corpulent turkey, squeaking sucking-pig, or other dainty with which to vary the monotony of camp fare. Good-nature prevailed among the troops, and the health of the men testified to the excellence of their feeding. Fair beef, occasional mutton, and beer were available, and with these at hand and the enemy in front, and shortly to be interviewed by heavy guns plus the bayonet, "Tommy" was well content. Meanwhile, reinforcements continued to come up from Maritzburg in all haste. The march from thence to Balgowan made the first twenty-five miles. On to Nottingham Road made another ten. After a halt they took another twelve miles stretch to Mooi River. To Estcourt was twenty-four miles over fresh and verdurous country, and to Frere Camp was another fifteen. The troops, as a rule, were on the move about three in the morning, for it was now the Cape summer, and as much toil as possible was accomplished before the sun was up. Striking tents, loading waggons, feeding and watering horses, swallowing breakfast, took place in twilight, and then they proceeded to saddle up and march. Arrived at their destination, the troops off-saddled, attended to the horses, pitched tents, and performed other camp duties. Rations consisted of bread, tea, coffee, sometimes meat and potatoes. Water was a luxury, and so little was wasted for external application that several troopers offered to play the part of Othello without any make up. The war kit of the men was somewhat of the Christmas-tree order. On them were haversacks containing food, horse-brush, currycomb, and towel, water-bottle, bandolier with fifty cartridges, waistbelt and gun weighing ten pounds. Often as not they turned in to rest, if not exactly thus equipped, at least booted and spurred, ready to be up and doing at a moment's notice! On the morning of the 14th of December the troops advanced from Frere to Chieveley. Reveille was sounded at 3 A.M., and soon the camp was one buzz of active life. In the warm glow of camp-fires tents were struck, kits packed, horses fed and watered, and the men breakfasted. Four regiments of infantry "fell in" and moved out from the camp, followed at intervals by other arms. The procession measured some eight miles long, and was composed of variegated objects, such as ambulance waggons dragged by innumerable oxen, mule and donkey carts, the teams and guns of six field-batteries, cavalry and infantry, and hale and hearty Jack Tars, looking very ship-shape, square and determined, and joking as though they were off to a ball. All were equally jovial, all confident that the big move was begun, and a big and glorious ending was in store. The entire force encamped three miles from the Tuegla River to north-west of Chieveley Station; the Infantry Brigades being on the extreme front, while the Cavalry, Mounted Infantry, and Artillery were nearer to Chieveley. Soon after this the Naval guns set to work to search the intrenchments and positions of the enemy north of Colenso. These guns, consisting of two 4.7-inch and four 12-pounders, were posted some 3000 yards south of the Tugela, about three miles from Colenso village, and facing what was afterwards discovered to be the Boers' position. Their bark resounded over the kopjes for miles, throwing up gigantic volcanic eruptions, which resembled mammoth mushrooms suddenly springing to life. But beyond filling the hearts of hearers with awe, they produced no result. The Boers were silent, so silent indeed that some imagined that they had vacated their positions and that the passage of the Tugela would after all be quite a frolicsome picnic, with perchance a few crackers thrown in. All were deceived--even those well acquainted with Boer tricks and duplicity--and all imagined that the enemy had fallen back, possibly for the closer protection of Ladysmith. But before going further, it is necessary to keep in touch with other brave defenders of the Empire. [Illustration: TYPES OF ARMS--4.7 NAVAL GUN ON CARRIAGE IMPROVISED BY CAPT. PERCY SCOTT OF H.M.S. _Terrible_. PHOTO BY E. KENNARD, MARKET HARBOROUGH] CHAPTER V ACTIVITY AT THE CAPE Boer annexations continued with insolent persistency, and the High Commissioner, Sir Alfred Milner, telegraphed thus to Mr. Chamberlain:-- "_16th November_--Having been informed that Orange Free State have issued Proclamations annexing Griqualand West and portions of the Aliwal North, Albert, and Colesberg districts, I issued counter-Proclamation on 10th November and 15th November of a similar kind to that in my telegram of 28th October, and have declared latter districts to be under martial law." [Illustration: SERGEANT-MAJOR OF THE NEW SOUTH WALES LANCERS. Photo by Gregory & Co., London.] At this time the British reinforcements arriving in Cape Colony were:-- 3rd Battalion Staffordshire, 1st Highland Light Infantry and Mounted Infantry, 1st Battalion Scots Guards, 2nd Northampton Regiment, 2nd Battalion Royal Highlanders, part of 2nd East Surrey, 3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards, 2nd Battalion Devonshires, 12th Lancers, Engineers, R.A.M.C., Field Hospitals, Post-Office Corps, Seamen and Marines, and 2nd Royal Irish Rifles--about 10,900. It must here be noted that among the many prominent persons who had placed themselves at the disposal of their country and were leaving for the front were Sir W. MacCormac and Mr. Makins, whose surgical skill was offered to relieve the suffering. Mr. Treves, the eminent surgeon, had also volunteered his services. The following regiments arrived at Cape Town on the 20th of November, and went on to reinforce the advance columns or to preserve the lines of communication under the command of Lieut.-General Sir W. E. F. Forestier-Walker:-- 12th Lancers, one squadron 14th Hussars, 2nd Northumberland Fusiliers, 1st Royal Munster Fusiliers, four companies 2nd Berkshire, 2nd Royal Highlanders, 1st Highland Light Infantry, 2nd Seaforth Highlanders, 1st Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 1st Welsh Regiment, several Corps of Engineers, including Balloon Sections, Batteries, Field Hospitals, Seamen and Marines, Post-Office Corps, Railway Engineers, Corps of Light Horse (in course of formation), New Zealand contingent:--a total of about 8000 men. The South African Light Horse, a corps formed of the Uitlanders, was being rapidly organised, and great enthusiasm prevailed among the Colonists. All were anxious to be first in the field and to display their loyalty to the Sovereign. Indeed, there was not a little jealousy lest other Colonists might debar those at the Cape from proving their devotion to the full. The new regiment started on the 30th of November for the north amid enthusiastic cheers. Quantities of reports having been circulated and a great deal of misapprehension caused as to the policy and intention of the Government, Sir Alfred Milner issued a proclamation addressed to the people of Cape Colony. In it he said:-- "Misleading manifestoes from beyond the borders represent the Imperial Government as desiring to oppress the Dutch, and the idea has been spread abroad that the Dutch are to be deprived of constitutional rights. "There is absolutely no truth in such allegations. The Imperial Government desires the greatest freedom of self-government for Dutch and British alike, and the extension, not the curtailment, of the above. The Constitution can solely be endangered by rebellion. "The Imperial Government adheres firmly to the principles of equal freedom for all loyal Colonists. "Her Majesty the Queen during her long reign has given innumerable proofs that she does not favour one race at the expense of another. All allegations to the contrary are made either in ignorance or with the deliberate intention of shaking the loyalty of a section of the community, including many connected by close ties of kinship with a people with which we are now at war. "An attempt is being made to inflame their minds, and to convert feelings of sympathy with kinsmen into a spirit of rebellion, by representing the Imperial Government as hostile to the Dutch, and by otherwise distorting its acts and objects. "I gladly recognise that the majority, nevertheless, maintain a law-abiding attitude, and I am proud of their worthiness of the confidence reposed in them. But the statements which continue to be spread abroad are producing a deplorable effect in some quarters, and I therefore most earnestly warn all against being misled into defection from their allegiance, and thereby exposing themselves to grave consequences. "I call upon all the Queen's subjects, of whatever race, to stand together in support of the Crown and its authority." But, for the treachery of some of Her Majesty's subjects, the devotion and fealty of others made glorious atonement. There are loyal people in the Cape, who, if they live to be as old as Methuselah, will never forget the opening of December. The streets of Cape Town were literally panting with enthusiasm, every hole and corner being alive with animated crowds to welcome the New Zealanders, Australians, and Canadians, gallant fellows, who, from sheer pride in being associated with the defence of the mother country, came trooping to do battle in her cause. Each successive arrival of the Colonists was the cue for fresh demonstrations and for the display of flags and banners bearing mottoes, "For Queen and Empire," "Welcome, Brother Colonists," and the like; and by the time the Canadians had landed patriotic feeling had reached its climax. Then public enthusiasm literally seemed to burst all bounds. The streets, windows, verandahs, roofs, were packed with an excited, surging, shouting, cheering throng, and the air was thick with hats, and flags, and handkerchiefs, waving a hearty welcome to our British brethren from across the seas. The Canadians, about 1000 strong, were "a sicht for sair e'en," as the Scots would say, a hale, well-grown, muscular set of men, who evidently appreciated the magnificent reception that was accorded them, and who as evidently meant to earn laurels in the service of the great Queen Mother. Indeed, all the Colonial troops were remarkable for their excellent appearance, and the sight of them arriving from every corner of the earth to support the honour and prestige of the Empire was vastly inspiriting. One may safely assert that such an exhibition of patriotic solidarity and power was without precedent in the world's history. There never was such a show of fine men, said all who saw them; but--. There was a great But. We were deficient still in other ways. We had the men, but in the matter of guns we were still lamentably weak; we could not compete with our enemies. Those in power seemed to have been ignorant of, or apathetic to, the fact that the expenditure of the Transvaal Government for artillery during the previous four years had been enormous. The marvel was that our Intelligence Department should have taken no cognisance of these gigantic preparations, or that if it had, the Cabinet had not acted on its information. In 1894 £100,000 was handed over to Krupp of Germany, and the same amount to an Austrian firm. Two of the finest guns in the world were imported in 1895. These were 48 feet long, 120 tons in weight, throwing a shell weighing 2300 lbs., and requiring 904 lbs. of powder for each discharge. Both were amply provided with ammunition, which, in addition to the great steel and iron shells, consisted of shrapnel holding 3000 balls, weighing 3½ ounces each. One of these treasures was pointed at Ladysmith, and the other was used to defend the fortifications of Pretoria. This was not all. In 1895 Krupp received another £100,000, and field-guns of long range, which we now know too well, were forwarded, and also certain mountain and bush guns suited to high ground and hot climate. In 1896 further developments took place. Six Creusot guns were introduced, to be followed later on by eighteen more. In 1897, '98, and '99 further additions to the Boer artillery were made, and the frontier kopjes fortified, and distances marked and measured. Then were bought forty-eight rapid-fire Schneider-Canet 14½ pounders, that throw a shrapnel containing 234 bullets, to be fired 200 times per minute, with a range of 3½ miles. Maxims in plenty were invested in, as those in Mafeking and Ladysmith knew to their cost, and the Boers also secured four batteries of 12-lb. quick-firing Vickers Maxim guns, with a range extending up to 5000 yards. Four guns with a range of 1200 yards were distributed between hills guarding the Drakensberg passes, Ladysmith, and Pretoria. With this array of guns only our Naval guns could compete. As regards horses, we were also deficient. The sea-voyage played terrible havoc with the poor beasts. Ill-luck seemed to pursue us, for on the 4th of December grievous news arrived that the _Esmore_ with the 10th Hussars and a battalion of infantry on board had gone ashore at St. Helena, some 180 miles from Cape Town. Fortunately the men were rescued from the transport, but their chargers were all lost. This was a terrible blow, for at the time cavalry was almost a nullity, and operations were somewhat suspended, if not entirely crippled, owing to the lack of that arm. Indeed, Lord Methuen's brilliant operations on the Orange River had all been heavily handicapped owing to the impossibility of pushing his victories home, and at this time the one cry of the commandants in chorus was, "Oh for a Cavalry Brigade!" There was General French, a born cavalry commander, minus mounted troops; General Gatacre with his division distributed in fragments everywhere; Lord Methuen hampered as before described, all because the nation had allowed itself to slumber and drift, and put its hand to the helm too late! As there were continual changes in the military situation, it may be as well to make a rough computation of the troops engaged in the various campaigns. In Ladysmith, Sir George White had some 9500 men, while at Colenso, Weenen, and Natal, Generals Buller and Clery had between them some 23,000. Advancing from Queenstown to attack Stormberg was General Gatacre with 6000 men, while a probable 3000--cavalry and infantry--were with General French at Naaupoort. In the west, advancing from the Modder River to the relief of Kimberley, Lord Methuen had less than 8000 men, and on the line of communications at Graspan, Orange River, and De Aar were some 8000 more. At Kimberley there were about 2000 troops, while with Colonel Baden-Powell at Mafeking and Colonel Plumer in Rhodesia were about 1000 men respectively. The newly-arrived Canadian contingent, numbering some 1000 men, were sent to the front to act in concert with the Black Watch and Seaforth Highlanders. Quantities of soldiers and volunteers were daily arriving, all of them in high spirits at a chance of seeing service. Among the many passengers who landed on the 11th of December was one whose zealous determination to serve his country caused not a little emotion in those who heard his story. He was a reservist belonging to the Seaforth Highlanders, who was absent when called up. He had been in France, and only arrived in England twenty-four hours after the troopship which brought out his regiment started. He therefore proceeded to Southampton, paid his passage to Cape Town, and went on to the front at his own expense. Of course, this is a solitary example of devotion to duty, but there are thousands which might be recorded. Millionaires rushed from their palaces, from the lap of nineteenth-century luxury into sober kharki, with all its accompaniment of bully beef and muddy water; bridegrooms tore themselves from winning brides, and scurried from the altar-rails to sacrifice their lives--at that moment more precious than at any other time--for the honour of the Empire. Not only "Dukes' sons," but a Duke indeed joined in the magnificent mob who clamoured to fight for the great cause. This impetuosity of gallantry had even its comic side, for deserters came from hiding ready to face shot and shell rather than be out of it; small boys tried spurious dodges to bring themselves to "regulation" height; and many fibbed right royally as to their ages! Some even, when rejected, were found stowed away after the transports had put to sea! "Trifles these," some prosaic readers will remark. Possibly, but to others such trifles made confirmation "strong as holy writ" that the martial majesty of our mighty nation was never more grandly evident than in the declining years of Victoria's reign! The glorious work done by Cape Colony in aid of the Empire may be appreciated in viewing the following figures, which show that nearly 6000 South African volunteers were called out for service during the month of December:-- Prince Alfred's Own Artillery, Cape Town, 120; Cape Garrison Artillery, Cape Town, 450; Duke of Edinburgh's Own Rifles, Cape Town, 1000; Cape Town Highlanders, Cape Town, 500; Prince Alfred's Guard, Port Elizabeth, 600; Uitenhage Rifles, Uitenhage, 200; Kaffrarian Rifles, East London, 400; 1st City Volunteers, Grahamstown, 500; Queenstown Rifle Volunteers, Queenstown, 300; Kimberley Regiment, Kimberley, 650; Diamond Fields Artillery, Kimberley, 120; Frontier Mounted Rifles, Cathcart, 200; Komgha Mounted Rifles, Komgha, 100; Transkei Mounted Rifles, Butterworth, 125; Xalanga Border Mounted Rifle Club, 72; Tembuland Mounted Rifle Club, 52; Engcobo Mounted Rifle Club, 47; Cape Medical Staff Corps, 200:--total, 5636. This number only included volunteers, and did not take in the paid irregular regiments, Mounted Police, and other bodies, of which there were several thousand more. In fact, it was estimated that the Colonial levies in Cape Colony alone numbered, at the end of 1899, about 12,000 men. The troops in South Africa early in December, apart from the force under Sir George White, were approximately the following:-- CAVALRY DIVISION (Lieut.-General French).--1st Brigade (Major-General Babington)--R Battery R.H.A., 6th Dragoon Guards, 10th Hussars, Mounted Infantry, Ammunition Column, No. 9 Field Hospital. 2nd Brigade (Major-General Brabazon)--O Battery R.H.A., 1st Royal Dragoons, 6th Dragoons, 2nd Dragoons, Ammunition Column, No. 12 Company R.A.M.C. KIMBERLEY RELIEF COLUMN (Lord Methuen's Command).--Major-General Sir H. E. Colvile's Brigade--1st Scots Guards, 1st Coldstream Guards, 2nd Coldstream Guards, 3rd Grenadier Guards. Major-General Pole-Carew's Brigade--1st Northumberland Fusiliers, 2nd Northamptonshire Regiment, 2nd Yorkshire Light Infantry, 2nd Loyal North Lancashire Regiment (half-battalion). Major-General Wauchope's Brigade--1st Highland Light Infantry, 1st Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 2nd Royal Highlanders, 2nd Seaforth Highlanders, No. 8 Field Hospital. Naval Brigade, G and P Batteries R.H.A., 18th, 37th (howitzer), 62nd, and 75th Royal Field Artillery, 9th and 12th Lancers, 7th Field Company Royal Engineers, Ammunition Column, No. 19 Field Hospital. COLONIAL FORCES (in support of Lord Methuen).--Canadian Contingent, New South Wales Lancers, New Zealand, South and West Australian, Tasmanian, and Victorian Contingents. TROOPS IN SOUTH NATAL (Lieut.-General Sir C. F. Clery's Command).--Major-General Hildyard's Brigade--2nd Royal West Surrey, 2nd West Yorkshire, 2nd East Surrey, 2nd Devonshire. Major-General Lyttleton's Brigade--2nd Scottish Rifles, 1st Durham Light Infantry, 1st Rifle Brigade, 3rd King's Royal Rifles, No. 14 Field Hospital. Major-General Barton's Brigade--1st Royal Welsh Fusiliers, 2nd Royal Irish Fusiliers, 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers, 2nd Royal Fusiliers, Field Hospital. Major-General Fitzroy Hart's Brigade--1st Connaught Rangers, 1st Royal Dublin Fusiliers, 1st Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, No. 10 Field Hospital Company, No. 16 Bearer Company, 2nd Somerset Light Infantry, 1st Borderers, 2nd King's Royal Rifles, 1st Gordon Highlanders, 7th, 14th, 64th, 66th, and 73rd Batteries R.F.A., 12th Field Company R.E., Ammunition Column, No. 3 Field Hospital. IN CAPE COLONY (Lieut.-General Gatacre's Command).--1st Welsh Regiment, 1st Royal Scots, 2nd Northumberland Fusiliers, 2nd Royal Berkshire, 2nd Royal Irish Rifles, 1st Rifle Brigade, 1st Royal Munster Fusiliers, 2nd Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, 2nd Shropshire Light Infantry, 74th, 77th, and 79th Batteries R.F.A., Two Station Hospitals. CORPS TROOPS.--4th, 38th, 61st, 65th, and 78th Batteries R.F.A., 4th Mountain Battery, 13th Hussars, 1st Telegraph Division R.E., 10th Railway Company R.E., 26th Field Company R.E., 1st Field Park R.E., Pontoon Troop R.E., Balloon Section R.E., No. 5 Field Hospital. UNATTACHED.--1st Suffolks, 1st Essex. WITH GENERAL GATACRE By the end of November two British forces were advancing from East London by way of Queenstown to the Stormberg and Colesberg districts in the north of Cape Colony. With General French's advance we must deal anon: that of Major-General Sir W. F. Gatacre calls for immediate attention. The General had under his command what was by courtesy termed the 3rd Division, namely, 2nd Royal Irish Rifles, four companies of the 1st Royal Berkshire Regiment, a troop of the New South Wales Lancers, some companies of Army Medical Corps, Field Hospital, and Volunteer Mounted Infantry. The total was about 5000 men. On the 28th of November he was reinforced by the 2nd Northumberland Fusiliers. His force, as we see, was none too large, for he was proceeding through country where it may be said that every hand was either openly or stealthily turned against him. For strategical reasons, and for the purpose of reassuring the British population, however, General Gatacre had decided that some sort of advance must be made. He reconnoitred in and around Molteno, and visited the outposts of regulars, irregulars, and police, and ascertained to an almost pitiful degree the slenderness of his resources should any strain occur. [Illustration: STORMBERG PASS--THE SCENE OF GENERAL GATACRE'S OPERATIONS. Drawing by J. C. S. Wright.] On the 26th November the Boers occupied Stormberg, and on the 28th General Gatacre moved to Bushman's Hoek with a battalion of infantry and some mounted infantry, the main body being at Putter's Kraal. On the 29th he accomplished a smart piece of work, though any really decisive action could not be attempted till more troops arrived from the Cape. The General concentrated a force at Molteno, commandeered five trains, and secured 1000 bags of flour which were in danger of being captured by the Boers. On the 5th December the headquarters of the 3rd Division were still at Putter's Kraal, and here reinforcements were arriving daily. Manifestations of disloyalty grew more and more prevalent throughout Cape Colony, and the spread of the spirit of rebellion around Stormberg pointed to the fact that there were deliberate designs to assist in the overthrow of British supremacy. On the 5th of December it was decided that a forward movement must at last be made. The plan was for the column to start by train to Molteno, and from thence march to the Boer laager at Stormberg. A dash was to be attempted in the darkness preceding dawn, and the position was to be carried at the point of the bayonet. The project was fraught with extreme risk, but General Gatacre, though fully aware that he was without the necessary reinforcements to make good a continuous advance, resolved to accept the hazard for the sake of the chance of success, and for the sake of the moral effect such success might make in a district weevilled with disaffection. The game of war is one where reputation, armies, and empires are the stakes, and needs to be played not only with science, but with bluff, and no committee of generals, not even one composed of Napoleon, the Archduke Charles, and Wellington, could have laid down any fixed theory on the art of war as practised in the Transvaal at that moment. So our officers had to watch which way the wind blew and trim their sails accordingly; and Sir William Gatacre judged that it would be perilous to delay an attack on Stormberg until circumstances seemed to be absolutely propitious. The Colonial Boers were daily joining the enemy in considerable numbers, British subjects were imploring aid to save their property from destruction, and it was imperative to make some strong move which, if successful, would immediately arrest the threatened tide of rebellion. The worst of it was that everything depended on the strength of the move, and it was exactly this strength that was wanting. The Third Division was broken up and distributed in various parts of the country, and General Gatacre was forced to make a hazardous venture with only such forces as he could muster. On all sides the same unfortunate tale of weakness could be told. Our force was so divided up that each general was crippled with the consciousness that he had no hope of getting reinforcements for some time to come. Lord Methuen, now on the extreme west, while struggling for the relief of Kimberley, had kept the Free Staters at bay with great loss to himself, and was suffering from the weakness consequent on violent strain to his resources. General French, his eye fixed on Colesberg, with a diminutive and totally inadequate force, had dodged about from town to town, keeping the enemy ever on the alert and allowing him no time to snore behind his intrenchments, and no opportunity to proceed farther in his invasion of the Colony; while General Gatacre was now about to do his best in the midst of a swarming enemy to capture Stormberg. Thus we see that at one and the same time four different battles, in the most trying circumstances, were taking place in the Transvaal, and that the flower of our army was being exposed on all sides to the murderous shells of an overwhelming foe powerfully posted in places of his own choosing--at Modder River, at Arundel, at Stormberg, at Colenso--in each of these regions the continuous thunder of guns, the gallant advance of heroes, the stubborn and courageous defence of a preponderating enemy. It is some satisfaction to think that, though from the first the British suffered from inferiority in numbers, though they were out-fought by sheer weight of the Boer commandoes and guns, still they displayed an undismayed front, and those superb fighting qualities which tradition has taught us to look for in the British race, and which the enemy, misled or self-deceived, had chosen to under-estimate. It was also a matter for congratulation that the foe, with all the natural advantages of the situation, his knowledge of every inch of the ground, his great mobility and advanced preparations, merely succeeded in repelling the British attack, and never took the initiative in attempting one single forward movement in the face of the British army. But it must be allowed our own forward moves were so stubbornly resisted, that General Sir William Gatacre, while attempting to advance, recognised that in some bold and well-conceived plan of action lay his only chance of success. Such a plan he attempted to carry out, but with deplorable results, as we shall see. THE REVERSE AT STORMBERG General Gatacre left Putter's Kraal and concentrated at Molteno the 2nd Northumberland, 2nd Royal Irish Rifles, and Nos. 74 and 77 Batteries of Field Artillery, with Mounted Infantry, Cape Mounted Rifles, the 12th Company of Engineers, and details--in all about 2500 men. At 9 P.M. on December 9th, began the march that was destined to be so ill-fated. The night was black, the ground was rocky, and the guide, a local policeman, from ignorance, under-estimated the distance and led the troops by a circuitous route absolutely into the teeth of the enemy. Instead of going north-east for nine miles, the men were led north-west, a detour of twenty miles. A terrible night-march this, which none who undertook it can ever forget. Tramp, tramp, through the long midnight hours, over hills and down nullahs, through rivers and stumbling over stony kopjes with bayonets fixed, in grim silence, with scarce a whisper allowed, and with never a pipe as consolation lest the scent should betray the stealthy advance. For seven long hours the force, like a phantom procession, trudged and stumbled until they came to a small V-shaped plateau surrounded by kopjes, which, unknown to them, was fronting the enemy's position. This was on a high unscalable eminence called Rooi Kop, that jutted black against the clear grey of early morning. From here the Boers, chuckling doubtless at their own cunning, were slyly watching the approach of the party; for it was now dawn. On nearing the plateau below this eminence, the Irish Rifles, with General Gatacre and his staff at the head of the column, were greeted, to their astonishment, by a fierce tornado which was suddenly opened by the enemy on the right. Though the column was marching in fours and utterly unsuspicious of the position of the enemy, they gathered themselves together with marvellous rapidity. Following the Rifles were over a hundred of the Northumberland Fusiliers, and in the rear the artillery. In a very short space of time General Gatacre got his column into line for action, and a hot fight ensued, in which the Rifles--all honour to them!--distinguished themselves in distressing circumstances. It was not possible to recover easily from the surprise, and it was evident that the General and his men were totally unprepared to meet, and unequal to crushing, a powerful enemy in an intrenched position. Naturally the casualties were many. However, the artillery were soon climbing a small kopje on the left, while the Rifles and Northumberland Fusiliers, in skirmishing order, mounted the hill held by the Republicans. Footsore and weary with their long midnight march, they toiled up the steeps amidst a cruel hailstorm from the enemy's fire, which came pouring at the same time from three separate quarters in flank and rear. One of the almost impregnable hill-tops was gained at the point of the bayonet, but so furious became the storm of bullets that the British, now outnumbered at the rate of seven to one, were forced to retire. Meanwhile the artillery were drawing the fire of the enemy's guns and launching their shrieking shells into the fort that the Boers had constructed at the corner of the kopje. But the position was unassailable. The Boers had expected the attack, and by an elaborate system they had measured and marked off distances from their batteries--a system which could not be upset in a moment. The Dutchmen swarmed in hundreds behind excellent cover and were not to be routed. Our men, who, many of them, had been occupied the whole previous day in fatigue-work, were numb from exhaustion, dropping here and there, fainting or asleep, in the very face of death. [Illustration: MAP ILLUSTRATING THE OPERATIONS ON THE SOUTH OF THE ORANGE RIVER] The infantry, with the Maxim detachment, were then ordered to retire towards Molteno, while the artillery remained to cover the retreat. But the retirement was not so easy. The triumphant Boers now brought their guns to the tops of the kopjes, and sent shell after shell to catch the troops as they slowly wound along the valley. Many of the shells burst with terrific force, ploughing up the roadway around our men, and shooting clouds of blinding dust into eyes and ears and throats, but fortunately doing little damage. The Boers also brought their rifles to bear on the little force, and our worn-out troops suffered the horrible experience of being hunted like hares along roads through which they had so laboriously, so hopefully, toiled the night before, tramping the weary ten miles to Molteno with the enemy taking long shots at them from innumerable points of vantage. Their progress was necessarily slow, for sometimes they had to hide in cornfields, to crouch among boulders, and occasionally to fall prone to earth when shells came screaming and bursting along their line of route. Afterwards they would rise again, still holding their life in their hands, and plod on in the expectation that every step would be their last. For eight long miles this exciting form of torture was experienced, numbers of the poor fellows dropping all along the road from wounds, exhaustion, and from the effects of the now fiercely blazing sun. Terrible was their plight both during the attack and after it, for the Boers, as usual, paid no heed to the sacred demand of the wounded or of the white flag, and no sooner saw a party of stretcher-bearers approach to pick up a man than they made the event the signal for a volley. All, therefore, that could be done for those stricken down was to wait patiently till they could crawl a short distance out of the line of fire and swoop down on them and bear them hastily away. The unfortunates who were too severely wounded to so crawl, and those who were killed, had to be left where they fell. Nor did those who were successfully removed in the ambulance waggon fare much better, for this was fired on continually, but luckily, owing to the shells not bursting, caused more horror than harm. They reached Molteno at last in safety, but with numbers woefully thinned. When they formed up for the roll-call, the ominous silence that followed the call of name after name was more than tragic. Dismay blanched every face. Where were the 366 splendid fellows of the Northumberland Regiment who had started out in rude health only the night before? They were missing, perhaps dead! Where, too, were the roistering, cheery boys of the Royal Irish Rifles--some 294 of them--none of whom, when his name was spoken, was there to give back the word? They too were missing, perhaps dead! In this hour of mute regret those who were left could only thank God that they had come safely through the terrible ordeal, and think with awe on the strange workings of fate that had caused some to be taken and others left. Naturally enough after a disaster so great, all had something to say of the mistakes which brought it about. Reuter's correspondent declared that "the primary and greatest mistake made on the 10th inst. was that what was to have been at the utmost a four hours' night-march lengthened out to over seven hours, and landed us right into the enemy's position in broad daylight. Of course, the guides went wrong, took the force a roundabout way, and are accordingly blamed. But how is it that our leaders, knowing that four hours should suffice to take them to their objective, should have wandered on for seven without suspecting that something was radically wrong? Then, also, at the end of that time our troops walked, in daylight, in a column four deep, right under the enemy's nose. No scouts or skirmishers were out, and it was here that we lost so heavily, the Boers from covered positions firing volley after volley right into the mass of men below. Again, the men, most of whom had been on duty since 4 A.M. the previous (Saturday) morning, were tired and hungry, and yet were asked to storm the position without rest immediately after a long and tiring night-march." The _Times_ correspondent attributed some of the misfortune to the fact that "the Berkshire Regiment, by whom the redoubts now occupied by the Boers at Stormberg had been built, and to whom every inch of the ground was familiar, were left at Queenstown, instead of being employed to recapture the works which they had so unwillingly evacuated about a month previously. The consequence of no one knowing where he was going or what he had to attack or when proximity to the enemy had been reached, was that the infantry, marching in fours, were suddenly fired into at a point where, after ascending but a few feet, their further advance against the enemy was precluded by an unclimbable precipice. The moment that the first shots were fired companies doubled straight at the points whence the firing seemed to have proceeded, and commenced to scale the hill. Soon, however, they came upon a perpendicular wall of rock, from the summit of which the Boers were plying their rifles at half-a-dozen yards' distance. Here fell Lieutenant-Colonel Eager, and close to him Major Seton of the Royal Irish Rifles. Colonel Eager was the man who reached the highest point attained by any of the attackers, and was then shot down, where many another British officer has fallen before now, at the head of his battalion, gallantly leading them as in the days of old, when long-range weapons had not been invented." Others hinted that it was the habit of the General to overwork his troops--a habit so well known that it had earned for him in Egypt the title of "General Backacher." Further comments were made by those who always find the art of criticism so much easier than the art of performance, but to repeat them at a time when the principal actors in the sorry affair are unable to defend themselves would be unjust and ungenerous. Our Generals, besides treachery, had from the first unusual ignorance to deal with. One of our misfortunes has been the necessity to rely for information on friendly Kaffirs, or those who affected to be friendly. Now, as all know, the Kaffirs, even when honest, are scarcely reliable. Their notions of size, for instance, are on a par with those of the man who described the dimensions of a bump by saying it was about the size of a piece of chalk. To the Kaffir an impi is an army, whether small or large, and it is almost impossible to bring home to him the value of exactness. In fact, in the matter of ambiguity the Kaffir has the makings of a politician, and therefore it was no wonder that so many of the well-organised military schemes in this unlucky war came to grief. But in the case at Stormberg there were other difficulties to contend with. The map of the ground was utterly unreliable. The configuration of the hills was incorrectly presented and the distances badly judged. The general knowledge of the direction was so imperfect that none was sufficiently well informed to put a check upon the movements of the guide, nor had the position been reconnoitered by any of those engaged against it. In this way the winding and circuitous route more than doubled the march, knocked up the troops, and ruined the effect of the night assault; for it was full daybreak before the British approached the point of attack. One of the sufferers from the disaster declared that the British were so worn out that after the engagement they threw themselves down and did not mind whether they were taken prisoners or not. He himself crawled to within three miles of the base camp, and then lay down on the veldt and fell asleep. How long he remained asleep he did not know. Most of the prisoners, he believed, were taken by the Boers while the men were asleep. A report was circulated that General Gatacre had shot with his own hands the guide who led him astray, but this statement was entirely incorrect. The military authorities thoroughly sifted the case of the sergeant of the Cape Police who acted as guide on the occasion, and it was allowed that he erred genuinely in mistaking the enemy's position. The following officers were wounded in the engagement at Stormberg:-- 2nd Royal Irish Rifles--Lieutenant-Colonel Eager (since dead), Major Seton, Captain Bell, Captain Kelly, Lieutenant Stephens, Lieutenant Barnardstone. Suffolk Regiment--Second Lieutenant Maynard. Missing: Captain Weir, Lieutenant Christie, Second Lieutenant Rodney. 74th Field Battery--Lieutenant Lewis. 77th Field Battery--Major Percival. 2nd Northumberland Fusiliers--Missing: Major Stevens, Captain Fletcher, Captain Morley, Second Lieutenant Wake, Second Lieutenant Coulson, Lieutenant Radcliffe. Dorset Regiment--Three hundred and six non-commissioned officers and men were also missing. The scene of General Gatacre's disaster was on the junction of the eastern line of railway in Cape Colony running from East London through Queenstown, Molteno, and Burgersdorp to Bloemfontein in the Orange Free State. There were many strategical reasons for wishing to seize upon it. First, it was desirable to engage the enemy in the centre, and so save the Boer commandoes from falling in too great strength on Lord Methuen's line of communications. Secondly, from the situation of the place it was possible also to effect a junction by rail with General French. Thirdly, a victory gained in the centre of the disaffected districts would have been a feather in the cap of the General, for it must have drawn to him such waverers whose vacillating loyalty was daily growing dangerous. The melancholy reverse was, therefore, from many points of view to be regretted. Perhaps, however, it achieved one object. It forced those at home to realise the necessity for sending more than sprinklings of troops to meet a strong, courageous, and well-equipped foe. The General, in giving an explanation of the reverse, declared that the operation which proved so wretched a failure was started under the promise of complete success. By himself and the local guide, however, the distance was under-estimated. He did not consider that the guide was guilty of treachery, merely of unintentional error. However this may have been, it is certain that the British plans were entirely well known, and that the Boers had had ample time to prepare for the coming of the force. It was evident that the gallant General did not take a leaf out of the book of Metellus, the Spanish commander, who, when asked how he should proceed the next day, said, "If my shirt knew I would put it in the fire." Possibly, being a great theorist, as was poor Sir George Colley, he may have agreed with the opinion held by Marshal Bugeaud, that military affairs were too often wrapped in mysterious silence. Certainly there was no secrecy about the strategy of the advance on Stormberg, and the guileless manner in which the General trusted to the guidance of a local policeman was commented on none too generously by the distressed public, whose disappointment was too great to allow them to look coolly at the ups and downs of warfare and the fallibility of human designs. General Gatacre, after the reverse, held Bushman's Hoek and Cyphergat, two positions to the south of Molteno, where he could await the reinforcements which would shortly reach him from the Cape. AT MODDER RIVER At dawn on the day following the battle the guns opened fire, with a view to effecting the clearance of the enemy, but it was soon discovered that the Boers had made themselves scarce, preferring to march through the long midnight hours to remaining where a chance of the bayonet might be awaiting them. Their artillery they at first left, but discovering that the British had not crossed the river, they returned and removed it to Spyfontein, where the next encounter was expected to take place. Had only the troops been less worn out--they were so expended that they could scarcely move one leg before the other--these guns might have been captured and victory assured. But fatigue must overcome the finest warriors, and ours had done prodigious work in circumstances of the most trying and varied kind. The next morning Lord Methuen's forces quietly occupied the town, and spent the day in the melancholy duty of burying the dead. Owing to the carcasses of beasts and the corpses of dead men in the stream, the troops had soon to bivouac some three miles farther up. There they could enjoy the rare luxury of a bath and drink their fill in safety. No "wee drappie" ever cheered the heart of Scotsman as did the quarts of Modder that went down the throats of thirsty Highlanders who had been toasted inside and out during the long hours of the battle. As one appropriately, if not elegantly, described it:-- "When it comes to slaughter You'll do your work on water, And lick the bloomin' boots of him that's got it." But the water everywhere was bad, and for safety boiling was imperative. For some days the men had been bathing in and drinking from the polluted stream, and it was quite wonderful that enteric had not seized upon the troops. A Dutch lady stated that she had seen four dead Boers with stones round their necks thrown into the river by their comrades, but when the bed of the stream came to be investigated, at least seventeen corpses were hauled out. The enemy's loss was estimated at 500, and doubtless those of the slain who were not lying under an inch layer of sand were disposed of in the river. The air, too, was far from salubrious. The winds of evening were reminiscent of the dead horses and mules that remained half-buried on the banks. Fortunately the vultures and ants, and other useful agents, soon reduced the pestiferous masses to harmless skeletons. Meanwhile the rest of the Highland Brigade was on its way up to join Lord Methuen at headquarters. Some went by train and others marched, as the line--a single one--was frightfully congested with traffic. Stores and ammunition and baggage of all kinds were being sent up, while the wounded, in "emptied" trains, were being sent down. The march was a trying one, even for hardy men who could well have managed twenty-five to thirty miles a day on their native heath. Now, they were supposed to carry 35 lbs. each, without counting clothes, and twelve miles a day in the broiling heat of a South African midsummer was counted remarkably good going. What with rifle, 100 rounds of ammunition, a big coat, a two-quart water-bottle, field-glasses, and haversack, officers and men were nearly as heavily weighted as itinerant peddlers. They carried their warlike pack over sandy roads that threw off clouds of dust which caked hair and skin, and made the whole outer man a complete study in kharki. What failed to go down their throats went into their eyes, blinding or worrying, while overhead a merciless sun blazed and tortured. There was no shade; there was little water. The night was cold as the day was hot. In the small hours the men were thankful for the single blanket which was allowed each of them, and which was carried in mule and bullock waggons for their use. Luxuries for the toilet were no longer in vogue. A sponge, a shirt, a pair of socks--these made the sum total of the Highland officers' wardrobe. Some still stuck to their razors, and others had succumbed to necessity and wore nature's hirsute decorations, plus a peppering of ochreous dust. But they were in the best of tempers, and looked forward to some reviving dips in the Modder on their arrival there. Lord Methuen resumed command of the troops on the 6th of December, and all were glad to find that the injury to their gallant commander had been slight. It was now clear that the Boers intended to make a stand at Spyfontein, for they were preparing for themselves fortified positions such as their souls delighted in--deep, and long, and rocky. They had time at their disposal, for a long halt at Modder River was imperative for the purpose of replenishing the ammunition of the artillery batteries and for bringing up relays of stores and food. Our expenditure of ammunition in the fight on the 28th was said to have been 200 rounds per gun, and consequently an extra supply was necessary before pursuing aggressive operations. Having deserted the river, the Boers were now planted in front of and on the British right flank, so close indeed that daily passages at arms took place between our patrols and those of the enemy. Several of Rimington's Scouts were wounded, and wild rumours of approaching attack were afloat. During the night of the 6th and the morning of the 7th the communications by rail and telegraph at Enslin were cut. On this occasion the 2nd Northamptonshire Regiment had a narrow escape. They had been left by Lord Methuen to guard the line of communications at Enslin, and there they were attacked by a Boer force 1000 strong. Fortunately the General, hearing the news, despatched in hot haste to the assistance of the regiment the 12th Lancers and the Seaforth Highlanders, who had just arrived at the camp, under Brigadier-General Wauchope, together with the 62nd Field Battery. The attack commenced at 4.30, and continued till eleven, at which time the Lancers and Seaforths appeared. The Boers thereupon retired with all speed, the Lancers following closely in pursuit. The British loss was one killed and six wounded. On the same day the first train ran over the temporary bridge which had been rapidly constructed by the Engineers, whose smart workmanship elicited general admiration. An interesting affair took place on the 9th of December. At night one of the Naval 4.7-inch guns, which had been fitted with a field-carriage and dignified with the name of "Joe Chamberlain," was hauled by a team of thirty-two oxen to a ridge on the north side of the town. At an early hour in the morning the Naval detachment manned the gun and opened fire on a Boer position that had been previously located by Colonel Rhodes. More than a dozen shells were scattered among the enemy, causing frightful consternation. The Boers at the time were busily engaged in constructing an emplacement for one of their 40-pounders, but when "Joe Chamberlain" made himself not only heard but felt, there was a stampede. The lyddite ploughed up the hills with terrific uproar, and the surrounding atmosphere appeared as though a sirocco of red sand had swept over the district. The force now massing on the Orange River, with Lieutenant-General Lord Methuen in command, consisted of:-- 2nd Yorkshire Light Infantry, 2nd Northamptonshire, 1st Loyal North Lancashire (Mounted Infantry), 1st Loyal North Lancashire, 1st Northumberland Fusiliers, 3rd Grenadier Guards, 1st Coldstream Guards, 2nd Coldstream Guards, 1st Scots Guards, 9th Lancers, 1st Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 1st Highland Light Infantry, 2nd Seaforth Highlanders, Part of 2nd Royal Highlanders (Black Watch), several Companies of Royal Engineers, 18th, 62nd, and 65th Field Batteries, one or two Horse-Artillery Batteries, part of Kimberley Light Horse, part of Diamond Fields Horse, Naval Brigade, Contingents from Australia, several Companies of Army Medical Corps, Field Hospitals, Colonial Mounted Irregulars, Rimington's Scouts, South African Reserve. The total was about 14,000 men. The number of Boers prepared to meet the British advance was supposed to be between 15,000 and 18,000, but, in spite of this, it was decided that some onward move must soon be made. The week's delay for the arrival of reinforcements and other preparations was now over, and Spyfontein was ahead. There the Boers held, if possible, a stronger position than any that had yet been attacked. Towards the east they were congregating from the direction of Jacobsdal, and the extent occupied by them was already enormous. Lord Methuen, if he meant to get to Kimberley at all, was forced to attempt to do so by frontal attack, as the area occupied by the Boers was so great that no other means of tackling them was feasible. Still the troops were in excellent spirits, the prospect of shortly relieving a besieged multitude giving them courage to compensate for their fatigue. On the morning of the 10th there was a voluntary Church Parade. According to a wag who reported from the camp, a Saturday-night's order was given, which stated briefly that Presbyterians must go washed, Church of England might go unwashed! The question of ablutions did not affect the devotions of Tommy, who heartily joined in the singing of hymns, which he said reminded him more than anything else of home. THE BATTLE OF MAJESFONTEIN On Sunday, the 10th of December, Lord Methuen, having completed his plans, moved forward from his position for the momentous fight, which was not only to decide the fate of Kimberley, but determine the attitude of the waverers among the Dutch, of which there were now very many. The Boers occupied a wide crescent-shaped front, extending some six miles from the hills on the west of the railway at Spyfontein to the kopjes on the east of the Kimberley road at Majesfontein. The northern portion of the position consisted of a kopje about three miles long, and the southern end terminated in a high hill which was looked upon as the key to the position. Towards these rugged kopjes the veldt sloped gently upwards from the river a distance of five miles, and though from afar this plain seemed to face the ridge of hills spreading from east to west, it in reality penetrated wedgewise into the boulder-strewn area. Someone described the great Boer position as the end of a pocket, a veritable _cul de sac_, doubtless lined with Boer guns and Boer trenches--the jaws of a dragon, in fact. [Illustration: THE MODDER RIVER. Photo by Miss E. C. Briggs.] Orders were given that this stronghold was to be bombarded, and from 4.50 P.M. to 6.30 P.M. the guns, including the Naval 4.7-inch, played over kopjes and trenches with accuracy, and, it was thought, with deadly effect. The operation was carried on with precision and perseverance as long as a gleam of daylight lasted, but no response was elicited from the enemy, who carefully concealed their very existence. At night a tremendous downpour of rain descended and saturated the troops, who were bivouacking where they were, some 4000 yards in front of the Majesfontein position, thus rendering their already uncomfortable situation more uncomfortable still. But this was merely an item in the misfortunes they were shortly destined to endure. The general plan was for the Highland Brigade, supported by guns, to assault the southern end of the kopje, their right and rear being protected by the Guards Brigade. According to Lord Methuen's despatch, it seems that before moving off Major-General Wauchope explained all that was to be done, and the particular part each battalion was to play in the scheme: namely, that they were to march direct on the south-west spur of the kopje, and on arrival near the objective before daybreak the Black Watch were to move to the east of the kopje, where he believed the enemy to be posted under shelter, while the Seaforth Highlanders were to march straight to the south-east point of the kopje, with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders prolonging the line to the left; the Highland Light Infantry to be in reserve until the action was developed. The brigade was to march in mass of quarter columns, the four battalions keeping touch, and, if necessary, ropes were to be used for the left guides. The three battalions were to extend just before daybreak, two companies in firing line, two companies in support, and four companies in reserve, all at five paces interval between them. Soon after midnight the march began. The distance was only two and a half miles, and daybreak was due about 3.25 A.M. But the gruesome night rendered the progress of the troops unusually slow. Rain came down in torrents, thunder growled, lightning played over the hill, glinted on rifles, and disorganised the compasses by which Major Benson was steering his course. Towards dawn the gloom of Erebus seemed to deepen rather than lift, and in the obscurity they must have been quite unaware of the exceedingly close proximity of the enemy, for the Highland Brigade--in the following order, Black Watch, Seaforths, Argyll and Sutherland, and Highland Light Infantry--continued to approach in quarter column though within some two hundred yards of the Boer entrenchments. It was imagined that the Dutchmen were in force on a kopje on the other side of the veldt, and not a soul suspected the existence of the formidable line of intrenchments on which our soldiers were gaily advancing. Before they could discover their mistake they were greeted by the Dutchmen--who had allowed the brigade to approach without showing any signs of life--with a raking fire on their flanks. The whole hill seemed on the instant to become alive with the roar of musketry. Fire vomited as from a live volcano at their very feet. A moment before they had seen only a dark barrier of bush and shrub, and then, flash! the earth yawned, crackled, and emitted the flame of hell. [Illustration: BATTLE OF MAJESFONTEIN] So seemed to them the sudden conflagration in that first, awful moment. They started back--a confused, congested mass, with death in their midst. Their Colonel then ordered the Seaforths to fix bayonets and charge. The officers commanding other battalions followed suit. At this moment, darkness still reigning, some one called "Retire." There was a rush, many hurrying and hustling off to obey one order, while others were still charging forwards to obey the other. The confusion was intense, dead men dropping thick as autumn leaves, bullets whirring, shouts, orders--conflicting orders--ringing out on every side. For some seconds the rout of the gallant Highlanders seemed to be imminent. Their retirement, however, was due mainly to sudden panic, the consternation and amazement at the murderous outburst, blazing as it did in the dim deceitful dusk, from the unsuspected trenches. These, it must be owned, were most skilfully concealed at the foot of a series of kopjes. They were screened from sight by a tangle of brushwood and scrub, while round the glacis of the trenches was crinkled a triple line of barbed wire. When, therefore, a deadly furnace broke from this tangle, the troops were aghast. For the first moment the superb crowd, unduly huddled together and helpless, threatened to become disorganised, but it was only for a moment. The Highlanders retired some 200 yards, and then they instantly formed up, such as were left of them, for out of two companies of the Black Watch only fifty men escaped. A more tragic scene than that at the onset of the battle cannot be conceived. From all directions came an avalanche of lead, sweeping south and east and west in the gloaming, and flecking the whole visible universe with red. Cries and groans and curses and shouts intermingled with orders innumerable. "Advance," shouted some one; "Retire," called another; "Fix bayonets," cried a third; "Charge," roared a fourth. Meanwhile Seaforths and Black Watch, scrambling and tripping over the bodies of fallen comrades, were pressing on through the high wire entanglements, tearing their already excoriated legs, and struggling for the enemy's trenches. Here fell their gallant leader, dauntless Wauchope--fell never to rise again. But dying he cheered on the men of the Black Watch by his side. "Good-bye, men," he called to them with his last breath; "fight for yourselves--it is man to man now." And they did fight, struggling over and over again to make their way to the trenches in spite of the menace of almost certain death. Valiantly they held their ground, availing themselves of such cover as there was, bushes and scrub that were dotted here and there, and returning to the deadly greetings of the Mausers no mean reply. At this time the avalanche of buzzing, whirring, death-dealing lead was enough to make the stoutest heart quail, but the officers were seen marching boldly forward, and where they led--veritably into the jaws of death--there their loyal Highlanders followed. Meanwhile, so soon as it was light enough to see, the artillery had come to the rescue, and so remarkable were its performances that even the enemy confessed that on this day they had suffered greater loss than at any other time during the war. The howitzer battery was placed directly in front of the position, and poured forth a terrible fire over the whole face of the hill. Lyddite shells sped snorting into the trenches, and, with a terrific detonation, shot up the earth in clouds. One destroyed a laager on the kopje, others did fearful execution, striking the hard rocks and boulders, and spreading devastation far and wide. But still the enemy failed to budge from their strong entrenchments. The 62nd and 18th Field Batteries, under Majors Grant and Scott respectively, took up a position behind the Highlanders, sending shell after shell into the enemy's position with such amazing accuracy that the Boer numbers were considerably thinned. During this feat they were assailed with a scourging storm of lead from the whole line of intrenchments. The Boers displayed more than their ordinary courage, standing upright in their trenches, and sometimes advancing, the better to aim at the aggressive "men-women," as they called the kilted warriors, though at other times they completely hid themselves and fired wildly, in consequence of holding their guns above the level of their heads. The Brigade, nevertheless, advanced to within 300 yards of the enemy, where they pluckily held their position in the teeth of galling fire for some hours. Both their tenacity and their dash were astounding, for the volleys of the enemy were accurate and persistent, and sufficiently deadly to demoralise the most veteran troops in the world. The Boers, having been reinforced during the engagement, their number had now mounted to some 18,000 men. Eye-witnesses have described this, his fourth fight, as quite the stiffest on Lord Methuen's record, and have declared that the obstinate resistance of the Highland Brigade, and the magnificent coolness and daring of its officers, quite equalled the most splendid deeds of British history. The Brigade about noon was reinforced by the Gordons, and these, as they advanced towards the wire-girded trenches, were exposed to a terrific cross-fire from the enemy, their route having taken them past a Boer trench from which the concealed foe promptly assailed them, and they found themselves literally battered by volleys in front, flank, and rear. [Illustration: SKETCH MAP OF POSITIONS AT MAJESFONTEIN] The Guards Brigade meanwhile were taking a heavy share of the work. They occupied the centre and right, moving due north over a level plain which was shelled by the Boers from the ridges. The extreme right rested on the river, where the Yorkshire Light Infantry, under a tremendous fire, held the drift. These clung tenaciously to their position throughout the day, even after all their ammunition was exhausted. They fired in all some 7000 rounds, inflicting terrible damage and losing only ten wounded. About two o'clock, after the enemy had been reinforced, the firing, which had temporarily slackened, began again with stertorous uproar. The air was thick with projectiles dealing death and mutilation on every side. Then it was that the real disaster of the day occurred. The portions of the shattered Highland Brigade, which, in spite of the shock to its numbers, had stuck manfully to its terrific duty, suddenly became disorganised. As a matter of fact, though it was not at the moment recognised, nearly all its officers had fallen. A few minutes later and they retired, by whose order none knows. The order was given. No shouting of counter-orders could rally them; and indeed how could it, since the revered familiar voices of their commanders were silent, some of them perhaps never to be heard again! Major Ewart, Brigade-Major of the Highlanders, rode up with an order--almost an entreaty, some say--from the commanding officer to the effect that all he asked of the Brigade was to hold the position till dark. But the officer in this desperate situation could actually find no other to help him to repeat the command to the scattered remnant, and he was thankful for the assistance of Colonel Dawney, who, as a civilian, was surveying the battle from Horse Artillery Hill. Eventually a rally was effected, and the brigade, stiffened and supported by the Scots Guards, got back to the guns; but their nerve was shattered by the terrific experiences of the morning, by the losses they had sustained, and by the disappointment of being unable to fulfil the glorious expectations which the renowned Highland Brigade has ever encouraged and ever nobly fulfilled. [Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL ANDREW G. WAUCHOPE, C.B. Photo by Horsburgh, Edinburgh.] It will serve no purpose to dwell further on the miserable details of mighty effort wasted, splendid lives sacrificed, and gallant hearts crushed by mischance. There are moments when, like the Oriental, one can but lift helpless hands to the Unseen and cry "Kismet!" While the engagement was going forward, Major-General Pole-Carew sent an armoured train, under cover of a Naval gun, within 2500 yards of the Boer position. This gun during the whole day, whenever occasion required, made itself prominent by its magnificent practice, firing lyddite shells behind the main ridge, and searching kopjes, trenches, and laager with amazing accuracy. For instance, at one moment a train of bullocks drawing guns was seen by the Naval Brigade--in the next the whole affair had ceased to exist! In the same summary way the Guards dealt with the foe. They came on a picket of some forty Boers, who had been left for purposes of observation, and in shorter time than it would take to tell the tale the whole party were killed, wounded, or taken prisoners. The troops held their own in front of the enemy, entirely clearing them out of the upper intrenchments until darkness put a stop to the operations. This was another of the day's misfortunes, for at the very hour of dusk the Boers were deciding to evacuate their position. Then our troops intrenched themselves in face of the Boer position. But finally, on the following day, they had to retire to Modder River on account of the scarcity of water. Nearly all the loss was borne by the Highland Brigade, who lost fifty-three officers either killed, wounded, or missing, and a total of 650 of all ranks. Our line was three and a half miles long, while that of the Boers was almost double. The loss of the enemy in mounted infantry was enormous, and their Scandinavian commando of eighty strong, which, under Baron Faderscwold, had been removed from Mafeking, was entirely destroyed, every man being killed or wounded except seven, who were taken prisoners. There seems to be little doubt that Lord Methuen's ill-success was largely due to treachery, for in the course of the battle an officer detected a Cape Dutchman on the left rear in the act of exchanging signals with the Boers. In fact, much of the information supplied both to General Gatacre and General Methuen was found to be deliberately false, and it was known that the districts through which they had to pass were seething with disaffection. For this reason most probably this glorious and desperate fight proved a drawn battle, but there were, of course, other possible causes to be considered. Lord Methuen had advanced from De Aar with a brilliant army which had already acquitted itself nobly, though with great loss, in three battles, against an enemy entrenched in stony hills. With his thinned force of some 8000 men he now hurled himself against troops which not only had been greatly reinforced, but were situated behind complicated earthworks miles in length, built on the most approved system of modern tactics. In regard to strategy, there was no doubt that the Boers had scored. They had been lying in wait fully aware of our plans, and had the approach of the troops signalled to them by means of a lantern fixed high on the hills. The Highlanders were fairly at their mercy. By the time the shouts and orders and counter-orders had rung out, those who had uttered them were dead or dying, and many who were left were rushing--rushing and dropping--to get out of the fiery furnace into which they had been led. It must be remembered that on that day there was no artillery preparation; the heights had not been searched, and the enemy was master of the field. The artillery operated later in the morning; but after the first momentary retirement the Brigade of its own accord formed up, consigned itself again to the hell of flame and death, and there stuck as targets for the enemy till midday. In the official despatch occurs the line, "I attach no blame to this splendid brigade." Fortunately there is none among the great multitude to whom the story of the tragic affair is known who would dream of associating the word blame with the glorious band who so grievously have suffered. Where the blame rests it is not for the civilian to say. Indeed the exact facts of the matter can never be known, as the two dead heroes most concerned cannot speak, and those who live can never argue with certainty of facts occurring in the turmoil of battle. In reference to the Brigade Lord Methuen said:-- "I have made use of Lieutenant-Colonel Hughes Hallett's report (the acting Brigadier) for the description of the part the Highland Brigade took in this action. Major-General Wauchope told me, when I asked him the question, on the evening of the 10th, that he quite understood his orders, and made no further remark. He died at the head of the brigade, in which his name will always remain honoured and respected. His high military reputation and attainments disarm all criticism. Every soldier in my division deplores the loss of a fine soldier and a true comrade. The attack failed; the inclement weather was against success; the men in the Highland Brigade were ready enough to rally, but the paucity of officers and non-commissioned officers rendered this no easy matter. I attach no blame to this splendid brigade." Examples of individual daring and individual self-abnegation during this glorious though ineffectual fight were too numerous to be quoted. The Medical Staff, for instance, exposed themselves with a persistence that was truly marvellous, succouring the injured and carrying them off to shelter, till in some instances they themselves were shot. Very tragic was the state of the gallant wounded, the bravest of the brave, who had dared to advance too near the trenches, for these in the wretched plight could not even enjoy the medical attention lavished on the others, as no sooner were the doctors seen to be approaching them than a storm of fire was immediately sent in their direction. The patience of the sufferers was at times more than heroic. Notwithstanding their agonies and the horrible pangs of thirst that are the inevitable result of wounds, some, knowing that water was too scarce to go round, would not consent to do more than moisten their lips from the water-bottle offered them, while others hid the fact of their being wounded, so as not to absorb attention from those more in need of it than themselves. The Marquis of Winchester was one of those who fell nobly. For the most part of the day he seemed to have a charmed life, and though bullets whizzed through his helmet and round his ears, he moved fearlessly among his men instructing each as to the direction in which he should fire. At last, however, came the fatal shot which pierced his spine and laid him low. The gallant colonel of the Gordons, Colonel Downman, was seen shouting on his men till a bullet dealt him a mortal wound. Another Scottish hero, a private, was heard wildly remonstrating as the stretcher-bearers tried to remove him from the field. His ankle was smashed, but he still roared that he had been wounded for twelve hours, and had been fighting all the while, and was still as fit as any man in the army! He was not alone in his valour, for instances of remarkable gallantry occurred on every side. Sergeant Gash (Rimington's Horse) singly assisted a wounded man, sticking to him under a heavy fire till the poor fellow was placed out of harm's way, and Lieutenant Riley (Yorkshire Light Infantry) bore on his back a man of the Mounted Infantry while covered by Sergeant Cassen and Privates Bennett and Mawhood. The reason why so many officers fell may be attributed to the fact that the Boers employed sharpshooters who walked coolly about lifting their field-glasses and picking off such persons as appeared in any way conspicuous. The prominence of the officers, however, was not due to peculiarity in their uniforms, they having discarded swords, revolvers, and belts, and adopted kharki aprons over their kilts. One of the Seaforth Highlanders wrote pathetically of the awful day's work. He said:-- "We were in quarter-column of companies in line--that is, we were offering a front of, say, 50 yards--and immediately behind, following in double ranks, were company after company of the Highland Brigade, of, say, 3500 men. Suddenly the whole hillside was one mass of flame, and the Seaforths, leading, received a discharge of rifle-fire from over 16,000 Boers. It was awful. Talk about 'hell'--the hillside was one continuous line of fire. We immediately scattered and spread one in lines right and left.... Monday's work was a huge blunder, and who is to blame I do not know; but there is no doubt the Highland Brigade were led like lambs to the slaughter. We were led more as if we were on a Volunteer review at Hyde Park. We had a sorrowful job on Tuesday night. We had fifty-three dead brought in and buried. You could hear nothing but the wailing of the pibrochs as the Highlanders were buried." A colour-sergeant of the 2nd Black Watch writing from hospital thus described the moments when the unlucky Brigade which had stood gloriously against the terrific shock first became disorganised:-- "The brigade was moving in mass of quarter-column, with a few mounted scouts in front and our battalion leading the Brigade. We had to file through a narrow part and form up as we got through, and when my company got to its place I could see the dim outline of the hill in front, and thought we were in a very dangerous place if the enemy, as I thought, occupied it, for it was the extreme left of their position, and therefore they were bound to strongly hold the flank. However, the brigade formed up nicely on the open ground, and a lamp that was shining on the left on a prominent spur was put out. Simultaneously the whole of the hillside was lit up with the most damnable discharge of rifles, &c., that any one can possibly imagine. They seemed to be formed up in tiers all up the hillside, and were pouring magazine fire into us at a terrific rate. Then came all sorts of shouts--'Lie down,' 'Charge,' 'Extend,' &c., and of the whole brigade there was only the front rank of A Company of ours that could have used their rifles, as everybody else was straight in rear of them. Well, two companies in front did charge, but were stopped by barbed wire fences and entanglements fifteen yards from the trenches and mostly shot down. Others broke to right and left or retired, and after waiting about a minute for a bullet to hit me, as it appeared impossible to escape one, and as it did not arrive, I thought perhaps it was advisable to go with the remainder. I walked away to the right, still expecting one, but they were all going too high, and it was not yet light. I got clear away and discovered a mob of excited soldiers of all regiments, and with Captain Cameron we tried to get them together, but they had lost their head, and several Boers who had moved out of the trenches to get round our flank happening to fire in this direction, they became disorganised. It was then daylight before sunrise. The Boers, moving smartly, then showered us with bullets, and many were bowled over. I walked along quite casually, shouting to one and another to take cover and keep cool, and I was once followed about 200 yards by quite an accompaniment of bullets, I should say about twelve keeping it up; but as they were evidently aiming at me, none hit me. Slowly getting back with any amount dropping, I lost sight eventually of these persevering gentlemen, when another alarm came from a fresh direction. Thinking possibly it was some of our own troops, I lay down behind an ant-heap facing the direction, loaded my rifle, and waited to be certain before firing. I did not fire, however, as at that moment somebody hit me on the back of the neck with a bar of iron weighing two tons and a half, for so it seemed to me; it quite numbed me for a few seconds, and a chap who had lain down beside me shouted he was shot and began to howl, upon which I politely asked him to shut up and get it bandaged, and I then moved away to find out where they were forming up. After half an hour my equipment became too heavy for me, and meeting a stretcher-bearer he took it off and bandaged me up. The bullet had entered the left side of my neck, and, taking a downward course, passed through the neck and out at the back of the right shoulder. I was then conducted to the ambulance and away to hospital, and on my way down saw the Gordons marching up from the baggage to take a part in it, but the artillery had been working away for two or three hours then." Could any troops, officerless, unhinged, riddled through and through, instantly gather themselves together with sufficient force to hold out against a foe flushed with triumph and intoxicated with success? Impossible! Students of Napier may recall the description of the panic to the Light Division in the middle of the night, when no enemy was near, and may understand how the bravest and most warlike troops, when exposed to unexpected and unknown danger, have shrunk back in dismay. On the occasion referred to some one called out "A mine!" and such was the force of the shock to the imagination that "the troops who had not been stopped by the strong barrier, the deep ditch, the high walls, and the deadly fire of the enemy, staggered back appalled by a chimera of their own raising." If this result can have been effected by a chimera, how then could anything else be expected by a real shock, a tangible shock, such as the gallant Brigade suffered in that dark hour of horror and despair? It is difficult for the outsider within the protecting walls of home to realise the awful moments, each long as a lifetime, through which these noble fellows passed--moments full of heroism as they were full of pathos! For instance, when the clamour of battle was at its loudest, when no voice of officer could be heard, and the stricken Highlanders were groaning in heaps upon the blistering veldt, Corporal M'Kay, of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, standing in the midst of the cyclone of lead, struck up "The Campbells are coming" in order to rally the unfortunate men. These, jaded and broken as they were, drew taut their aching limbs, and, reviving with the heartening strains, once more dragged themselves towards the whirlwind of lead, determining once more either to do or to die. The desperate situation in which the Highlanders were placed may also be pictured from descriptions given by two more of their ill-starred number. The first wrote:-- "At twelve o'clock we started to advance. Well, we got to within 500 yards of the position, and if ever a man was led into a death-trap my regiment was. We led the brigade. Our general must have been under the impression that the Boers had left the hill, for he had us up in mass of quarter column. When we got within 500 yards they opened fire at us. My God, I shall never forget it in my life. It was terrible, fearful; we were shot down like dogs, without a chance to return their fire. The groans of those hit sound in my ears yet, and will do for many years to come. Well, as soon as they opened fire we fell flat, and got the order to fix bayonets and charge. We did so. The Black Watch only got into their trenches, and I am happy to tell you my bayonet has still got on it the stain of a Boer's blood. Not having any support from any other regiment, we got the order to retire to 400 yards, and I can tell you there were not many who got into the trenches who ever left them. There is hardly any man in the regiment that has any part of his equipment left whole. I have three holes in my kilt." The second corroborated the above statement:-- "The Black Watch in front made an attempt to charge the position, but we had to retire and simply run for it, the enemy blazing at us all the way and dropping our fellows like skittles from their splendid positions. There was nothing for it but to lie down and pretend to be dead, and this I did about 5.30 A.M. till I suppose 6 P.M., the sun pouring down on me all the time, and not a drink of water all day, and dare not stir hand or foot, and expecting every instant to be my last. I could hear nothing but the cries, moans, and prayers of the wounded all round me, but I daren't so much as look up to see who they were. Shots and shells were going over me all day from the enemy and our side, and plenty of them striking within a yard of me--I mean bullets, not shells--and yet they never hit me. I believe some of the fellows went off their heads and walked right up to the enemy's place, singing till they dropped them. One youngster lying close to me said he would make a dart for it about 3 P.M. I tried my best to persuade him not to, but he would go. A couple of seconds after I could hear them pitting at him, and then his groans for about a minute, and then he was quiet. About this time the sun began to get fearfully hot, and I began to feel it in the legs, which are now very painful and swollen, besides was parched with thirst. Most of the wounded round me had ceased groaning by this time. As it began to get dark, I managed to wriggle my body through the shrub farther back, and after I had been at it some time, on looking up found myself right in front of another intrenchment of the enemy. They sent a few rounds at me, but they struck just in front and ricochetted over my head. After a bit, it getting darker, I got up and walked back, and there was nothing but dead Highlanders all over the place." Can anything be more pathetic than these rough outlines of the tragic scene where so many valiant souls sacrificed their lives without a chance to win for themselves even the shroud of glory? Truly in this surprisingly-fought yet disastrous battle-- "A thousand glorious actions that might claim Triumphant laurels and immortal fame, Confused in crowds of gallant actions lie, And troops of heroes undistinguished lie." Dim, as the dawn of that dire December morning, is our knowledge of the real agony of those appalling moments, the absolute magnificence of these human souls who were ordered to march to the grave as surely as was the Light Brigade at Balaclava. For though Balaclava was a scene of triumph and Majesfontein was one of misery, both brigades started gloriously forth, and both were martyrs to a mistake. If ever monument should be erected to the brave Scottish dead who were sacrificed at Majesfontein, these four words should be carved thereon, that all who hereafter may read of their high failure may remember also, that this failure was entirely due to the tragic fact that "Some one had blundered." The picture of disaster given by the _Daily News_ was heart-breaking:-- "General Wauchope was down, riddled with bullets; yet gasping, dying, bleeding from every vein, the Highland chieftain raised himself on his hands and knees and cheered his men forward. Men and officers fell in heaps together. The Black Watch charged, and the Gordons and the Seaforths, with a yell that stirred the British camp below, rushed onward--onward to death or disaster. The accursed wires caught them round the legs until they floundered, like trapped wolves, and all the time the rifles of the foe sang the song of death in their ears. Then they fell back, broken and beaten, leaving nearly 1300 dead and wounded." Yes; dead and wounded--for many of the latter even remained there till morning. Among these was poor young Wauchope, the soul of gallantry. He was hit in four places, and lay for hours in the bitterly cold night glued to the ground in his own gore. He was not picked up till dawn. But gruesome as was his position, he was in the company of heroes. Round and about were the most splendid fellows that had ever worn kilt; Colonel Coode, and brave brilliant MacFarlan, the Adjutant of the Black Watch, who, times and again, rallied not only his men, but any stragglers who could be got to follow his dauntless lead. And beyond all these, close in the teeth of the enemy, was the glorious General, the intrepid warrior, who, after distinguishing himself in many battlefields, in the shambles of Majesfontein "foremost fighting fell." No word, no lament, can sufficiently express the mourning of the nation. Of him only can we say, as was said of Sir John Moore at Coruna, "If glory be a distinction, for such a man death is not a leveller!" Neither for such a man is there any death! Though his dust may mingle with the dust of the veldt, his actions must stand out for all time, and remind his countrymen that of such glorious, immemorial dust the British Empire has been built! General Wauchope was born in 1846, and entered the army in 1865; was Lieutenant in 1867, Captain in 1878, Major in 1884, Brevet-Lieutenant-Colonel the same year, Colonel in 1888, and Major-General in 1898. He served in the Ashanti War in 1873, was slightly wounded in the advance-guard engagement of Jarbinbah, and severely wounded at the battle of Ordashu. He was mentioned in despatches, and was awarded the medal and clasp. In the Egyptian War of 1882 he served with the Black Watch, and took part in the battle of Tel-el-Kebir, receiving medal with clasp and the Khedive's Star. Two years later he was in the Soudan Expedition under Sir Gerald Graham as D.A.A.G., and was severely wounded at El Teb, receiving the brevet rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and two clasps for his bravery. In the Nile Expedition of 1884-85 Colonel Wauchope was attached to Major-General Earle's river column, and in the engagement of Kerbekan was again wounded--this time very severely. At the conclusion of the campaign he was awarded two clasps. In 1898 he took part in the Soudan Expedition under Lord Kitchener, and led the first British brigade into action at the battle of Omdurman. For his services he was made Major-General, was awarded the medal and the Khedive's medal with clasps, and received the thanks of Parliament. When the present war in South Africa began, he was appointed to command the Highland Brigade of Lord Methuen's column. In the political sphere Major-General Wauchope distinguished himself also, though he never entered Parliament. He was, however, Mr. Gladstone's opponent in the re-election for Midlothian in 1892. It was a fight which excited the keenest interest all over Great Britain, and was conducted by Colonel Wauchope with untiring energy. The result was that he reduced the Radical majority from the 4631 of the previous election (of 1885) to 690. He would probably have been returned in 1895, but he was then once more on the active list of the army. In June 1898 he contested South Edinburgh, but lost by a Liberal majority of 831. The news of his death caused a feeling of great distress in the Scottish capital, and the sorrow among his tenantry in Midlothian was intense. The following is the list of officers killed and wounded:-- Highland Brigade (Staff)--Killed: Major-General Wauchope. Seriously wounded: Lieutenant Macleod (West Riding Regiment). Wounded: Lieutenant Wauchope (2nd Royal Highlanders), Lieutenant Vaughan (1st York and Lancaster Regiment), slightly. 2nd Royal Highlanders--Killed: Lieut.-Colonel Coode,[9] Captain Elton, Lieutenant Edmonds, Captain Hon. Cumming Bruce, Captain MacFarlan, Lieutenant Ramsay. Wounded: Major Cuthbertson, Captain Cameron, Lieutenant St. J. Harvey, Lieutenant Berthon, Lieutenant Tait, Second Lieutenant Bullock, Second Lieutenant Drummond, Second Lieutenant Innes. Slightly wounded: Major Duff, Major Berkeley, Lieutenant J. Harvey. 2nd Seaforth Highlanders--Killed: Captain J. R. Clark, Lieutenant Cox, Second Lieutenant Cowie, Captain Brodie. Missing: Major K. R. Mackenzie. Wounded: Captain Featherstonhaugh, Lieutenant Chamley, Second Lieutenant Waterhouse (dangerously), Second Lieutenant Hall, Second Lieutenant Wilson, Second Lieutenant Clive, Second Lieutenant Baillie. 1st Highland Light Infantry--Killed: Captain Cowan, Captain Lambton. Wounded: Lieut.-Colonel Kelham (slightly), Captain Noyes (severely), Captain Wolfe Murray (slightly), Captain Richardson, Second Lieutenant A. J. Martin, Second Lieutenant Knight, Second Lieutenant Fraser, 1st Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders--Killed: Lieut.-Colonel Goff.[10] Wounded: Major Robinson (since died), Lieutenant Graham, Second Lieutenant King, Second Lieutenant Scott (seriously), Captain Campbell (slightly). 1st Gordon Highlanders-of wounds: Captain Wingate. Dangerously wounded: Lieut.-Colonel Downman,[11] Captain W. E. Gordon, Second Lieutenant Campbell. Seriously wounded: Captain Macnab. Guards Brigade.--1st Coldstream Guards--Wounded: Lieut.-Colonel Codrington, Major Hon. W. Lambton, Captain J. Sterling, Second Lieutenant W. Beckwith, Second Lieutenant G. Follett. 2nd Coldstream Guards--Killed: Major the Marquis of Winchester.[12] Cavalry Brigade (Staff)--Wounded: Captain Briggs (1st Dragoon Guards), Brigade-Major. Mounted Infantry--Killed: Major Milton, Major Ray (1st Northumberland Fusiliers). Wounded: Lieut.-Colonel Bigron (Australian Artillery) (attached), and Lieutenant Cowie. Royal Horse Artillery--Wounded: Lieutenant Tudor (G Battery) and Major Maberley. Royal Army Medical Corps--Wounded: Lieutenant Douglas. Taken prisoner: Major C. H. Burtchaell. FOOTNOTES: [9] Lieutenant-Colonel John Henry Collier Coode, of the 2nd Battalion Royal Highlanders (Black Watch), entered the army in 1875, obtained his company in 1882, was major in 1890, and lieutenant-colonel in June 1898. From 1884 to 1889 he was an adjutant of the Auxiliary Forces, but until the present campaign had seen no active service. [10] Lieutenant-Colonel Gerald Lionel Joseph Goff, of the 1st Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, was the eldest surviving son of the late Mr. Joseph Goff, of Burton Grange, Herts, by his marriage with Lady Adelaide Henrietta Louise Hortense, a daughter of the second Earl of Ranfurly. He was born on March 8, 1855, and entered the army on March 10, 1875, from the Militia, being posted as a lieutenant to the 91st Foot (now the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders). He obtained his company on July 1, 1884, and was adjutant of the 1st Volunteer Battalion of the North Staffordshire Regiment from January 2, 1888, to January 1, 1893. He reached the rank of major on September 21, 1892, and that of lieutenant-colonel on July 23, 1898. This was not his first service in South Africa, he having taken part with the 91st Highlanders in the Zulu war of 1879, when he was present at the action of Gingindhlovu and the relief of Ekowe, for which he had the medal with clasp. He was a magistrate for Hants and Wilts, and resided at Hale Park, Salisbury. He married in 1894 Ellen, the youngest daughter of Sir Robert Dundas, of Arniston, Midlothian, who survives him. [11] Lieutenant-Colonel George Thomas Frederick Downman, of the 1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders, who subsequently died of wounds received in this battle, joined the army twenty-three years ago, became captain in 1883, and major in 1891. In 1896 he was appointed second in command of his regiment, and received a brevet lieutenant-colonelcy in May 1898. He first saw service in the Soudan campaign of 1884, and was present at El Teb and Tamai, receiving the medal with clasp and the Khedive's star. In the Nile Expedition which followed he was with the River Column under Major-General Earle, and was awarded a clasp. In 1895 he was with his regiment in Chitral under Sir Robert Low, and took part in the storming of the Malakand Pass, being mentioned in despatches and receiving the medal with clasp. Then in 1897-98 he went with his battalion to the North-West Frontier under Sir William Lockhart and was present in the engagement at Dargai and at the subsequent storming of the Dargai heights, being mentioned again in despatches. He was present also at the capture of the Sampagha and Arhanga Passes, and went through the succeeding operations in the Maidan, Waran, and Bara Valleys. His name was mentioned also in these despatches, and his services secured for him, besides his brevet of lieutenant-colonel, two clasps. He was forty-four years of age, and was gazetted to the lieutenant-colonelcy of his regiment in July 1899. [12] Augustus John Henry Beaumont Paulet, Marquis of Winchester, Premier Marquis of England and the fifteenth bearer of the title, was born in 1858, and succeeded his father in 1887. Educated at Eton, he entered the Coldstream Guards in 1879, was lieutenant in 1881, captain in 1890, and received his majority in April 1897. He served in the expedition to the Soudan in 1885 as aide-de-camp to Sir John M'Neill, and was present in the engagements at Hasheen and the Tofreck Zereba, and at the destruction of Tamai, receiving the medal with two clasps and Khedive's star. He went out to the Cape with his regiment in the _Gascon_, arriving there just a month ago. It was only on the previous Saturday that his appointment as second in command of the regiment was notified, the vacancy having been caused by the death of Lieutenant-Colonel Stopford at the battle of Belmont. Lord Winchester was the hereditary bearer of the Cap of Maintenance--a cap of dignity carried before the Sovereigns of England at their coronation. He was a D.L. for the county of Southampton, was unmarried, and is succeeded by his brother, Lord Henry William Montagu Paulet, formerly a lieutenant of the 3rd Battalion Hampshire Regiment, who has just attained his 37th year. CHAPTER VI CHIEVELEY CAMP Deeply to be deplored, yet generally recognised, was the fact that so far, no decisive defeat had been inflicted on the Boers. We had fought gloriously, sometimes successfully; great men and brave had written their names in blood on the roll of heroes and had passed away, but nothing decisive had been done. It was true that the enemy had been routed time after time, but he had got away without chastisement, and in most cases with his guns. The main reason for his safe flight was our lack of cavalry, and also the fact, that such horses as we had were not of the same nimble build as those--inferior, yet smart--which were possessed by the Boers. These, thoroughly acclimatised and also educated to the curious nature of the boulder-strewn country, were able to career into space before our heavier chargers could get even with them. Lord Methuen had fought three glorious battles successfully, and a fourth, equally glorious though productive of no result, insomuch as the distance of his troops from Kimberley remained the same, while their numbers were very materially attenuated. It was reasonably to be supposed that a general who had come victoriously through three engagements--all accomplished within a week--should, in a measure, have exhausted some of his fighting material, and that such unequalled feats of arms as had been displayed must be paid for. The morale and stamina of the troops had been tried in every way. They had faced shot and shell at Belmont, at Enslin, and at Modder River. They had marched many miles under a torrid sun and slept many nights exposed to contrasting cold. Yet, at Majesfontein they had risen to the occasion, and flung themselves into the hurlyburly of battle as though a hint of fatigue were unknown. And their ill-success, it was discovered, was mainly due to treachery, against which it was almost impossible to be entirely guarded. The one compliment that can be paid to a Boer is to call him "slim" or sly, and this slimness in warfare has helped the foe to circumvent the broader and more open tactics of the Briton. There was, indeed, no knowing how far or how ingeniously the ramifications of "slimness" had extended, and, to be even with them at all, our warriors have needed to add to the courage of lions the astuteness of weasels! Some of the Cape Dutch had worked surreptitiously for the foe, others affected an attitude of neutrality, more dangerous than open antagonism; while Kaffirs, either from fear of being made biltong of, or for bribes, had lent themselves to delude and trick the British on more than one occasion. However, notwithstanding impediments, every one waited anxiously to hear a decisive note in the war news, and continued to hope for the best. Lord Methuen having done his part, all eyes were now turned towards the Natal force and Sir Redvers Buller, in expectation of relief. In England the tension was becoming painful; in the Cape it was causing colourless loyalty to become tinged with doubt; in the besieged towns it was bringing patience to the snapping-point. In effect, the whole nation was standing with bated breath for the great, the important stroke, and the entire world looked to Colenso, that hitherto unknown spot in the Empire, for one of the biggest battles of the campaign. THE BATTLE OF COLENSO On Friday the 15th December the Ladysmith relief column under Sir Redvers Buller attacked the enemy in full force. The Dutchmen held very strong positions north of Colenso, their camps and laagers being linked with those surrounding the southern side of Ladysmith, while to the south of the river they also held a formidable and commanding post. About three miles in front was an open plain, with hardly a vestige of cover in any direction. All around was a crescent-shaped constellation of high kopjes. The great hill of Hlangwane, on the left flank of the enemy, though it was not known at the onset, was strongly fortified, and _vis-à-vis_ to the Hlangwane guns on the extreme right were posted more guns. Between these two eminences was the plain aforesaid, veined with dongas which reached to the terribly steep banks of the river, where were more intrenchments. From Fort Wylie, another of the fortified kopjes, the Boers commanded the little village of Colenso and the expanse of country through which Sir Redvers Buller proposed to advance to Ladysmith. The Tugela, wide and deep, ran between the foes, except on the left of the Doer position, where the Dutchmen held both banks of the river. Upon their defensive works the Boers had spent a vast amount of labour. Besides rows of trenches cunningly concealed by grass and scrub upon the flats on both sides of the river, barbed wire entanglements complicated the situation both at the trenches and under the water at the river fords. The water of the river was also deepened by means of cleverly-made dams, in order that any troops which might endeavour to ford the current would find themselves carried off their feet. [Illustration: THE BATTLE OF COLENSO--QUEEN'S (ROYAL WEST SURREY) REGIMENT LEADING THE CENTRAL ATTACK. Drawing by J. Finnemore, R.I.] But, of course, the intricacy of these ingenious arrangements was only discovered at the cost of bitter experience. Later on, a great deal of after-the-event wisdom was forthcoming, and the ignorance of all concerned regarding the nature of the position to be attacked was severely commented upon. It was said that no satisfactory reconnaissance of the enemy's position was made, and that accurate knowledge of the nature of the ground to be passed over was not forthcoming. It was also averred that neither subordinate officers nor men were informed of what was expected of them, and that the only maps supplied to regimental officers were small-scale maps of the whole of South Africa, forty miles to the inch. However, it is clear that General Buller fully believed in his ability to force the passage of the Tugela, and viewed the position, though formidable, as less formidable than it really was. From all accounts it was plain that all the generals believed the village of Colenso to be evacuated, and none of them seemed to foresee very powerful opposition from that quarter or to take into account the exceeding rapidity with which the Boers managed to return to positions temporarily vacated. Selections from the general orders of the day will show the proposed plan of action, and help to an understanding of how much one side may propose and the other dispose in a modern campaign:-- GENERAL ORDERS. "Orders of Lieutenant-General Sir Francis Clery, commanding the South Natal field forces. "CHIEVELEY, _Dec. 14, 1899_ (10 P.M.). "1. The enemy is intrenched in the kopjes north of the Tugela; one large camp is reported to be near the Ladysmith road, about five miles north-west of Colenso. Another large camp is reported in the hills which lie off the Tugela in a northerly direction from Hlangwane Hill, a rough scrub-covered kopje. "2. It is the intention of the General Officer Commanding to force a passage of the Tugela to-morrow. "3. The 5th Brigade (Major-General Hart's) will move from its present camp at 4.30 A.M. and march towards Bridle Drift (a ford about four miles west of Colenso), immediately west of the junction of Doornkop Spruit and the Tugela. The brigade will cross at this point, and after crossing move along on the left bank of the river towards the kopjes north of the iron bridge. "4. The 2nd Brigade (Major-General Hildyard's) will move from its present camping-ground at 4 A.M., and, passing south of the present camping-ground of No. 1 and No. 2 of the divisional troops, will march in the direction of the iron bridge at Colenso, and the brigade will cross at this point and gain possession of the kopjes north of the iron bridge. "5. The 4th Brigade (Major-General the Hon. N. G. Lyttelton's) will advance at 4.30 A.M. to the point between Bridle Drift and the railway south, and can support either the 5th or the 2nd Brigade. "6. The 6th Brigade (Major-General Barton's), less half a battalion as escort to the baggage, will move at 4 A.M. east of the railway in the direction of Hlangwane Hill to a position where it can protect the right flank of the 2nd Brigade, and, if necessary, support it or the mounted troops referred to later as moving towards Hlangwane Hill. "7. The officer commanding the mounted brigade (the Earl of Dundonald) will move, at 4 A.M. with a force of 1000 men and one battery, No. 1 brigade division, in the direction of Hlangwane Hill. He will cover the right flank of the general movement, and will endeavour to take up a position on Hlangwane Hill, where he will enfilade the kopjes north of the iron bridge. The officer commanding the mounted troops will also detail two forces of 300 and 500 men, to cover the right and left flanks respectively and protect the baggage. "8. The Second Brigade Division of the Royal Field Artillery will move, at 4.30 A.M., following the Fourth Brigade, and will take up a position whence it can enfilade the kopjes north of the iron bridge. The Sixth Brigade (Major-General Barton's) will act on any orders it receives from Major-General Hart. The six Naval guns, twelve-pounders, now in position north of the Fourth Brigade, will advance on the right of the Second Brigade Division Royal Field Artillery. No. 1 Division Royal Field Artillery, less one battery detached to the mounted brigade, will move at 3.30 A.M. east of the railway, and proceed, under cover of the Sixth Brigade, to a point from which it can prepare a crossing for the Second Brigade. The six Naval guns will accompany and act with the Brigade Division." It must be remembered that the railway bridge had been blown up, but a footbridge still existed. [Illustration: SKETCH PLAN OF BATTLE OF COLENSO, MADE ON THE SPOT BY A MILITARY DRAUGHTSMAN.] Before dawn Lord Dundonald with a mounted brigade and a battery of artillery moved to the east, while General Hart and his brigade started to try and cross Brindle Drift. The field-guns came next with cavalry--the 1st Royals and 13th Hussars--to protect either flank. Major-General Hildyard's brigade advanced to occupy the post of honour in the centre of the theatre of war. On the right were the West Surrey with the West Yorks in support. On the left marched the Devons with the East Surrey in rear. At 6 A.M. the Naval Contingent opened the proceedings. Their 12-pounders began to snort and to roar, and lyddite whizzed and shrieked over to Grobler's Hill and in the neighbourhood of Fort Wylie. But it whizzed and shrieked in vain. The Boers were "mum." They were "lying low," and had determined to keep their position masked as long as possible. They adopted the same tactics which had so confounded us at Majesfontein. The infantry now advanced, while Colonels Long and Hunt made haste--undue haste, as lamentable experience proved--to come into line with their field-batteries. At this moment, when all seemed to be going well, when Hart's, Hildyard's, and Barton's brigades were moving to their several positions, the sudden combined roar of Boer artillery and musketry was heard, coming not, as might have been supposed, from the distance, but _from the immediate front_, and apparently from all sides. A very cyclone of Mauser bullets swept all around, rattling and barking from the river bank, from trenches north and south of the Tugela, from Fort Wylie, and from every available point of vantage. Flame in tongues and forks belched out as from a crackling bush. The advancing infantry--the Devons and the West Surrey--found themselves almost carried off their feet; leaden hail beat the dust around, digging deep into the earth and sending up spurts of blinding dust, or whistling a warning of death to the heart of many an honest lad and true. So deadly, so awful was this fusillade, that it seemed impossible to do aught but flee. Yet the gunners stood tight to their guns, and the infantry with set faces like masks of bronze, regardless of the companions that dropped thick and fast around and upon them, stared Death straight in the face--stared at and recognised and knew him, and still maintained their ground! More--they advanced; nearer and ever nearer to the invisible enemy they came, afterwards lying down and returning the fire with interest, while the guns of Long's and Hunt's field-batteries boomed and bellowed and vomited fire like Inferno released. Fort Wylie and its neighbourhood were swept with shrapnel and almost silenced, but only for a moment. Disaster was in the air. The concealed sharpshooters of the enemy, who crowded the Boer lines, had applied themselves to making a concentrated attack on the guns, picking off horses and officers and men, and finally reducing the snorting weapons which had been galloped too quickly into action, and were within 700 yards of the enemy's trenches, to a condition of pitiable impotence. Only the third field-battery and the Naval battery could move, and these were quickly drawn off to a place of safety. Amidst this scene of tragedy and uproar the Devons and West Surrey were steadily pursuing their way with a heroism that absolutely defies description. The enemy was driven out of the platelayers' and surrounding houses, and Colenso village was cleared. What the guns failed to do the bayonet accomplished, and before the glint of the steel--the cold, stern steel they so much dread--the Boers had bolted. But all around them Krupps and Maxims and Hotchkiss guns were still working hard, spouting and shrieking, and tearing earth and men and horses, and throwing them together in one horrible, hideous heap. Certainly the advance of Hildyard's men was a noble achievement. Their effort to capture the road bridge and hold the village of Colenso in face of a scene of carnage was an act of splendid courage and determination; but they were assailed with so deadly a storm of shot and shell that they had no choice but to retire. Though they had imagined the village to be evacuated, the place had been swarming with Boers, they evidently having expected to be attacked in this quarter. Not only were they strongly intrenched, but the guns on the surrounding hills commanded the position, and when the Boers were temporarily routed the guns still continued to sweep the whole place with such unerring accuracy and fierceness that the ground was thickly strewn with the bodies of the mangled. Until those guns could be silenced, efforts of the infantry were so much waste of valiant flesh and blood; but our power to silence them was at an end. The guns of the 14th and 66th Batteries were doomed. They had, as before said, been approached too close to the river, and thus been exposed to the unerring rifle-fire of the Boer mercenaries. The attack was immediately returned, but before long the whole party, officers, gunners, and horses, were simply mown down. As fast as more horses were brought up they were annihilated. In addition to this the gunners ran short of ammunition. To await the arrival of this, such survivors as there were doubled back to the shelter of a donga twenty yards in their rear. At that time there was no intention of abandoning the guns. Superb were the efforts made to save them. Three officers rushed forward into the open, and, with some heroic drivers and such horses as they could get, made their way very deliberately towards the two field-batteries and into the mouth of a flaming hell. These were Captain Schofield, R.A. (A.D.C. to General Buller), Captain the Hon. F. Roberts, 60th Rifles, and Captain Congreve, Rifle Brigade. This glorious bravery was almost an act of suicide, and in sheer amazement at the wondrous valour of these dauntless Britons, the Boer rifle-fire, for one instant, was suspended. In the next, shot and shell burst forth afresh and the scene became too harrowing for description. Roberts, the gallant and the beloved, dropped, wounded in five places, while his horse was blown to bits, and Congreve, his jacket riddled to ribbons, was hit several times. Schofield, by a miracle, came whole from the ordeal, and succeeded in the almost impossible task of hauling off the two guns, for which all three and many others had risked their lives. The rest of the guns were captured by the enemy, but of this anon. [Illustration: THE BATTLE OF COLENSO--THE DUBLIN FUSILIERS ATTEMPT TO FORD THE TUGELA. Drawing by Rene Bull and Enoch Ward, R.B.A.] Major-General Hart's Brigade, consisting of the Dublins, Inniskillings, Borderers, and Connaughts, fulfilled in a measure what was expected of them. Some of them actually crossed the Tugela, but, alas! to no purpose. The position near the other side was untenable. A dam had been thrown across the water to deepen it. Cascades of artillery shrapnel were so liberally poured upon them, there was no holding up a head in such a fusillade. Yet they pushed on to the river, and the enemy fell back before them or dropped under their steady determined fire. The Dutchmen were driven to the north bank of the Tugela, and the Irish Brigade gallantly plunged in, thinking the water was knee-deep or at least fordable, and it was only then that they discovered that the wire entanglements that had been spread around the trenches were also under water, and that the flood itself was unexpectedly deep, owing to the ingenious dam that had been constructed by the "slim" adversary. There were now ten feet of water instead of two, and sad was the plight of many a poor fellow of the Dublins and Connaughts, who, weighted with ammunition and accoutrements, found it impossible to swim to shore or even to return. They were drowned in the flood, while others dropped in heaps under the enemy's fire, and even under volleys of our own men, who, unluckily, mistook them for the foe. But the Irishmen's blood was up, and some, at any cost, determined to reach the other side to get one grip of the enemy, but what many of them thought to be the other bank was merely the bank of a winding spruit, which took them no farther towards the foe. The disappointment and rage was intense. Boom, boom, went the cannons roaring their dirge of death; bang, bang, bellowed the Naval battery in reply; rattling and raking came the bullets above the heads of the plunging Irishmen; splash, splash, sang the cold muddy water in their ears as they scrambled from rock to stone or swam for dear life. All that gallantry could do was done, but there was no appreciable advance with them, or indeed anywhere--ill-luck or bad management frustrated the best efforts on every hand. Men fell in heaps; horses with half their bodies blown away littered the veldt; the guns were stuck fast--useless lumber, too valuable to leave, too heavy to get away. Some say that had it not been for the action of the artillery commander in taking a whole brigade division--three batteries--up at a gallop to within 700 yards of the enemy's trenches, the day might still have been ours. The valiant Irishmen would still have pursued their risky advance. Others declared that the want of proper scouting caused the whole fiasco, and that all the pluck of the Irish Brigade was so much heroism wasted. They had no information relative to the intrenchments of the place to be attacked by them, nor any conception of the strength of the opposition they were liable to meet. No scouts appear to have discovered the position of the ford by which they were ordered to cross, or the nearness of the enemy to that point, and consequently the brigade marched in quarter-column into the very jaws of death, only deploying when shells had already begun to burst in their midst. Like the guns of the Royal Artillery, they found themselves before they were prepared in the midst of a close and deadly fusillade--the more deadly and unnerving because on the clearest of days not a whiff of smoke betrayed the quarters from whence the murderous assaults were coming. [Illustration: MAP SHOWING THE ATTEMPTED PASSAGE OF THE RIVER BY GENERAL BULLER ON DECEMBER 15.] General Barton's brigade, like Hart's and Hildyard's, failed to effect its object. It was found impossible to obtain possession of Hlangwane Hill, which was much more strongly held than it was believed to be. The troops were assailed from thence by such galling shell and rifle fire that they were eventually forced to retire. On the extreme right, the mounted troops, under Lord Dundonald, made a vigorous attack at the Hlangwane Hill, on which was posted the Boer pieces which had wrought such devastation among the British batteries. However, in advancing up the valley, they were outflanked by the Boers, and had eventually to retire under a storm of bullets. The irregulars, for their part, worked splendidly. The South African Horse advanced on the front under a heavy shell fire. Thorneycroft's Horse, the Natal Carabineers, the Imperial Light Horse, and the Mounted Infantry at the same time attempted the flanking attack; but the Boer lines, which ran along some high ground to the right of the flanking party, defeated their best efforts. Owing to the bad light, and to the fact that the Boers used smokeless powder, their fire failed to reveal their position, and the discomfort of the attacking party was considerable. Meanwhile the 7th Battery, which was with Lord Dundonald, kept shelling Hlangwane and Fort Wylie in turns, the latter being done in order to assist the general advance. About noon Lord Dundonald was ordered to retire. This, however, was immediately impossible. So soon as the men began to move they became targets for the foe. Many of the men were reluctant to retire at all, and were pressing in their desire to still "have a go" at the enemy. The retirement at last, after a two hours' struggle, was accomplished without undue loss. The 7th Battery, under command of Major Henshaw, made splendid practice. During the engagement Lord Dundonald sent a team of gun and waggon horses, under Captain Reed, to assist the 14th and 66th Batteries to recover their guns. Captain Reed returned to the 7th Battery, and though he came back with a bullet in his leg, he insisted on remaining with it until he was ordered back to camp. Generals Buller and Clery were ubiquitous, riding coolly about and directing where the hurricane of lead was thickest, and running risks which rendered all who saw them anxious for their safety. Indeed, as some one remarked, one would have thought they were lieutenants trying to make a name, and not generals with the responsibility of an army on their minds. The loss of either of these prominent officers would have been counted by the Boers as a sign of victory, and therefore, when one was hit in the side and another in the arm by glancing bullets, there was considerable alarm among those who were near enough to observe what had taken place. Captain Hughes, R.A.M.C., was killed, and others of the Staff were wounded. Lord Gerard twice had narrow escapes, his horse being twice wounded. A squadron of the Imperial Horse had an exciting experience. The men, who had dismounted to move in extended order across level country, were beginning to cross a ploughed field. Suddenly a rifle volley was opened upon them, and they were forced to lie down for cover. But the enemy, though on a kopje not 500 yards distant at this time, was quite invisible; and on this clear, hot day, though the song of the Mauser went on persistently, there was no smoke to betray the enemy's position. The Imperial Horse lay quiet, and the enemy thinking they were perhaps annihilated ceased firing. Presently, however, when the troopers ventured out, the firing was renewed, and many were killed and wounded. It is invidious to mention special regiments when all fought so resolutely. The behaviour of the irregular forces, however, was the subject of general remark. They held their position under a heavy cross-fire, refusing to retire without their wounded. And when they did retire, the movement was executed without flurry, with precision and composure, as if the battlefield were one vast manoeuvring ground. Meanwhile the Boers still struggled to outflank our right, and the 13th Hussars had a lively time, Colonel Blagrove having his charger shot under him; but there were few serious calamities, only two of the troopers being killed. Many instances of heroism were recorded on the part of men and officers belonging to all the regiments engaged in the battle. Lieutenant Ponsonby, of Thorneycroft's Horse, while endeavouring to save a wounded man, was fired at, the shot striking his unhappy burden and mortally wounding him. The young officer was slightly wounded himself, but managed to escape after shooting his assailant dead at very close quarters. The conduct of the Dublins was the subject of universal praise. They lost heavily; some 216 out of 900 men. When ordered to retire, although the crossing of the Tugela Drift was a sufficiently fearful experience, they were intensely disgusted. "Let us only see the beggars!" they asked. "Give us a chance with the bayonet!" said these gallant fellows, who had already passed through a hurricane of shot and shell. The Scottish Fusiliers lost 75 out of 301, but they were still ready, still bent, if allowed, upon carrying the bridge at all costs. Their enterprise was badly rewarded. They got left in an untenable position and were surrounded. Captain Herbert, Staff Officer to Colonel Long, had his horse killed under him, while the Colonel himself was severely wounded by a bullet from a shrapnel shell. Captain White-Thomas, while on his way back to the limbers to get blankets for the injured, received a nasty wound. Colonel Brook (Connaught Rangers) was shot, and while being carried off the field by some of his men, one of these was wounded. The Colonel insisted on being put down, but Pat also insisted that he was equal to carrying his burden to a place of safety, and did so, though a shot had pierced his neck and passed clean out on the other side. So many valiant deeds were performed that space will not admit of all being recounted. The irregulars and regulars seemed determined to out-distance each other in feats of chivalry. Private Farmer, of the Carabineers, struggled to save a comrade at the risk of his own life. Colour-Sergeant Byrne, in a storm of bullets, gallantly saved three of his comrades who were drowning, though he and they were heavily weighted with ammunition and equipment. Major Gordon, wounded as he was, fiercely and nobly led on his men till he dropped from exhaustion. The conduct of some of the drivers was simply amazing, and their daring was repeated and reflected in the achievements of the infantry. Quite wonderful was the bearing of these men, mere private soldiers, in their magnificent nobility of sacrifice, their utter regardlessness of self. Each strove to set an example to the other of steadfast, almost reckless devotion to duty. The circumstances attending the capture of the guns were deeply tragic. Late in the terrible afternoon, when the red sun was sending horizontal rays across the blood-dyed field, a strong party of Boers swam the river for the purpose of seizing the guns and forcing the wounded, who were huddled together in the donga, to surrender. It was a fearful moment. Our worn-out, fainting, and dying men were lying about drenched in their own gore, helpless, and none could move to save the precious guns from falling into alien hands. Some raged, some wept with mortification at their powerlessness to stay the inevitable. Three Boers approached them for the purpose of demanding their instant surrender, and were shot at from the donga. A larger body then arrived, and though Colonel Bullock doggedly refused to surrender, and was struck down by their leader, they eventually forced the party to submit. It is said--let us hope it was mere report--that they threatened to shoot the wounded if they did not! However, the fact was mentioned by Sir Redvers Buller, who doubtless had been well informed on the subject. The following is the list of casualties in the engagement at Colenso:-- Royal Field Artillery--Killed: Captain A. H. Goldie, Lieutenant C. B. Schreiber. Royal Dublin Fusiliers--Killed: Captain A. H. Bacon, Lieutenant P. C. Henry. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers--Killed: Captain Frank C. Loftus. Devon Regiment--Wounded: Captain M. J. Goodwyn (b), Captain J. F. Radcliffe (b), Captain P. U. W. Vigor (c), Lieutenant H. B. W. Gardiner (c), Second Lieutenant H. J. Storey (c). Rifle Brigade--Wounded: Second Lieutenant R. G. Graham (b), Captain W. N. Congreve (c). Fifth Brigade Staff--Wounded: Captain Hon. St. Leger Jervis (b). Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers--Died of wounds: Major G. F. W. Charley. Wounded: Captain A. G. Hancocks (a), Captain W. F. Hessey (b), Captain E. J. Buckley (b), Lieutenant H. A. Leverson (b), Second Lieutenant T. W. Whiffen (b), Lieutenant A. D. Best (b), Lieutenant W. W. Weldon (c), Lieutenant J. G. Devenish (b). Border Regiment--Wounded: Major K. H. G. Heygate (b), Captain J. E. S. Probyn (c), Lieutenant G. T. Marsh (b). Connaught Rangers--Wounded: Colonel L. G. Brooke (a), Lieutenant G. F. Brooke (a). Royal Dublin Fusiliers.--Wounded: Major A. W. Gordon (b), Captain H. M. Stewan (b), Second Lieutenant M'Leod (b). Royal Irish Fusiliers--Wounded: Captain T. E. R. Brush (b). Royal Horse Artillery--Wounded: Colonel Long (a). Royal Field Artillery--Wounded: Lieut.-Colonel H. Hunt (c), Captain H. D. White-Thomson (c), Captain H. L. Reed (c), Captain F. A. G. Elton (b). Lieutenant Frank Goodson (c). Royal Army Medical Corps--Killed: Captain M. C. Hughes. Wounded: Major F. A. Bracington (? Brannigan) (c). Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry--Killed: Lieutenant C. M. Jenkins. Wounded: Lieutenant W. Otto (b), Lieutenant Ponsonby (c), Second Lieutenant Holford, 19th Hussars (attached) (a). Natal Carabiniers--Wounded: D. W. Mackay (b), Lieutenant R. W. Wilson (c). South African Light Horse--Wounded: Lieutenant B. Banhurst (b), Lieutenant J. W. Cock (c). King's Royal Rifles--Wounded: Lieutenant Hon. F. H. S. Roberts (since died). Field Artillery--Prisoners: Second Lieutenant R. W. St. L. Gethin, Major A. L. Bailward, Lieutenant A. C. Birch, Second Lieutenant C. D. Holford, Major W. Y. Foster. Devon Regiment--Prisoners: Lieut.-Colonel G. Bullock, J. M'N. Walter, Lieutenant S. N. F. Smyth-Osbourne. Essex Regiment--Prisoner: Lieutenant W. F. Bonham. Royal Scots Fusiliers--Prisoners: Captain D. H. A. Dick, Captain H. H. Northy, Lieutenant E. Christian, Lieutenant E. F. H. Rumbold, Lieutenant M. E. M'Conaghey, Second Lieutenant G. E. Briggs. Royal Artillery--Missing: Lieutenant S. T. Butler. Connaught Rangers--Missing: Captain G. H. Ford-Hutchison, Second Lieutenant E. V. Jones. (a) dangerously wounded; (b) seriously; (c) slightly. Our losses were 1167 all told. Killed, 5 officers and 160 men; wounded, 36 officers and 634 men; missing and prisoners, 26 officers and 311 men--a terrible list for one day's work. [Illustration: THE BATTLE OF COLENSO--THE LAST DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO SAVE THE GUNS OF THE 14th and 66th BATTERIES. Drawing by Sidney Paget.] Sad to state, our ambulances were designedly fired upon. Five shells fell in the neighbourhood of a waggon packed with wounded, and one party of ambulance men was forced twice to abandon their work of succour. The tents of the field-hospitals were no sooner erected than shells fell all round them, and the men were forced to desist from their labours. The heroic conduct of the civilian stretcher-bearers was generally the subject of remark. These men, though fired at by the enemy and injured, continued zealously to carry on their humane work, and assisted in saving many lives which might otherwise have been sacrificed. The force of the enemy opposed to us was estimated at 12,000 to 14,000. From a tactical standpoint the Boers had overwhelming advantages. Their numbers were immense, and the dangerous high-banked river, which they themselves had carefully dammed and filled with wire entanglements, made a formidable shield for the defensive party. In addition to this, they had constructed long, highly scientifically-arranged trenches, along which their Nordenfeldt gun could quickly travel, and thus defy any attempt of our gunners to get the range. Still the Naval guns were wonderfully worked, and wrought considerable havoc among the Boers in the over-hanging kopjes. Though their loss could not be accurately estimated, it was declared to be about 2000. The trenches were said to be choked with dead Dutchmen. On the 16th of December an armistice was agreed upon, to last from noon till midnight, to enable both sides to collect and bury their dead. The following "recommendations to notice" illuminated the somewhat sad nature of the General's despatch:-- "From the General Commanding-in-Chief the Forces in South Africa to the Secretary of State for War. "CHIEVELEY CAMP, _Dec. 16, 1899_. "SIR,--I have the honour to bring the following cases of Distinguished Service in the Field to your notice. "At Colenso, on December 15, the detachments serving the guns of the 14th and 66th Batteries, Royal Field Artillery, had all been either killed, wounded, or driven from their guns by infantry fire at close range, and the guns were deserted. "About 500 yards behind the guns was a donga, in which some of the few horses and drivers left alive were sheltered. The intervening space was swept with shell and rifle fire. "Captain Congreve, Rifle Brigade, who was in the donga, assisted to hook a team into a limber, went out and assisted to limber up a gun; being wounded, he took shelter, but seeing Lieutenant Roberts fall badly wounded, he went out again and brought him in. Some idea of the nature of the fire may be gathered from the fact that Captain Congreve was shot through the leg, through the toe of his boot, grazed on the elbow and the shoulder, and his horse shot in three places. "Lieutenant the Honourable F. Roberts, King's Royal Rifles, assisted Captain Congreve. He was wounded in three places. "Corporal Nurse, Royal Field Artillery, 66th Battery, also assisted. I recommend the above three for the Victoria Cross. "Drivers H. Taylor, Young, Petts, Rockall, Lucas, and Williams, all of the 66th Battery, Royal Field Artillery, rode the teams, each team brought in a gun. I recommend all six for the Medal for Distinguished Conduct in the Field. "Shortly afterwards Captain H. L. Reed, 7th Battery, Royal Field Artillery, who had heard of the difficulty, brought down three teams from his battery to see if he could be of any use. He was wounded, as were five of the thirteen men who rode with him; one was killed, his body was found on the field, and thirteen out of twenty-one horses were killed before he got half-way to the guns, and he was obliged to retire. "I recommend Captain Reed for the Victoria Cross, and the following non-commissioned officers and men, 7th Battery, Royal Field Artillery, for the Medal for Distinguished Service in the Field:-- "86,208 Corporal A. Clark, wounded; 87,652 Corporal R. J. Money; 82,210 Acting-Bombardier J. H. Reeve; 28,286 Driver C. J. Woodward; 22,054 Driver Wm. Robertson, wounded; 22,061 Driver Wm. Wright, wounded; 22,051 Driver A. C. Hawkins; 26,688 Driver John Patrick Lennox; 22,094 Driver Albert Nugent, killed; 23,294 Driver James Warden; 32,087 Driver Arthur Felton, wounded; 83,276 Driver Thomas Musgrove; 26,523 Trumpeter William W. Ayles, wounded. "I have differentiated in my recommendations, because I thought that a recommendation for the Victoria Cross required proof of initiative, something more, in fact, than mere obedience to orders, and for this reason I have not recommended Captain Schofield, Royal Artillery, who was acting under orders, though I desire to record his conduct as most gallant. "Several other gallant drivers tried, but were all killed, and I cannot get their names.--I have, &c., REDVERS BULLER, General." Appended is an account of the battle given by Captain Walter Norris Congreve, one of the heroes of the day. It is deeply interesting, though it makes little reference to his own gallant action for which he gained the Victoria Cross:-- "Our big Naval guns shelled the enemy's position off and on all day, but could get no response. We could see very few Boers about, and it was a horrid position to attack.... I don't believe any troops could have taken it. However, we tried yesterday and failed. We bombarded every place that looked like holding Boers for two hours, without response and without a sign of a Boer. To see the shells bursting, you would have thought nothing could have been left alive in the vicinity. After this, infantry, which had already got into position, advanced line after line and extended widely. Instantly thousands of bullets began pattering about, and their guns pitched shells all over the place. Where they came from no one could see till the end. Sir Redvers Buller rode all along the line, and came in for a good deal of attention from bullets and shells. "My first experience was my stick being knocked out of my hand by a bullet; then a horse beside me was killed by a shell. About 10 o'clock two batteries which had advanced far too close ran short of ammunition. Their waggons were about 800 yards behind, the horses and men sheltering in a deep narrow nullah. General Buller told them to take the waggons up to the battery, but instantly they emerged a stream of bullets and shells fell all round, and most of the men got into the nullah again. Generals Buller and Cleary stood out in it and said, 'Some of you go and help Schofield.' A.D.C. Roberts, myself, and two or three others went to the waggons, and we got two waggons horsed with the help of a corporal and six gunners. I have never seen even at field-firing the bullets fly thicker. All one could see were little tufts of dust all over the ground accompanied by a whistling noise, 'phut,' where they hit, and an increasing rattle of musketry somewhere in front. "My first bullet went through my left sleeve and just made the point of my elbow bleed. Next a clod of earth caught me a smack on the other arm; then my horse got one; then my right leg one, and my horse another. That settled us, for he plunged, and I fell about 100 yards short of the guns we were going to. A little nullah was by, and into that I hobbled and sat down. I had not been in a minute before another bullet hit the toe of my boot, went into the welt, travelled up, and came out at the toe-cap, two inches from the end of the toe. It did not even scratch me, but I shifted my quarters pretty quickly to a better place, where I found Colonels Hunt and Long, R.A., and a dozen or so wounded gunners; a doctor, Colonel Bullock, and about fifteen men of his regiment--all that were left of the escort and two batteries. "At about 11 o'clock the fire slackened, and I went out, finding poor Roberts badly wounded, and with help got him into the nullah. There we lay from 11 till 4.30: no water, not a breath of air, no particle of shade, and a sun which I have never felt hotter even in India. My jacket was taken to shade Robert's head, and what with blood and dirt I was a pretty object by the time I got out. At 4.30 the Boers rode up and asked us to surrender, or they would shoot us all. Colonel Bullock was the senior unwounded officer, and had, perhaps, twenty rifles all told. He refused, and they at once began a fusillade from fifty yards distant, and our people returned it. It was unpleasant, and only a question of minutes before they enfiladed our trenches and bagged the lot. Bullock's men knocked over two, and they then put up a white flag, parleyed, said we might remove our wounded, and the remainder either be taken prisoners or fight it out. However, while we were talking 100 or so crept round us. We found loaded rifles at every armed man's head, and we were forced to give in. One of our ambulances came up, and we were gradually collected at one spot, and a colour-sergeant of the Devon Regiment carried me upon his back." END OF VOLUME II. Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. Edinburgh & London [Illustration: _Facsimile of MS. of_ MR. RUDYARD KIPLING'S _War Poem_ "THE ABSENT-MINDED BEGGAR"] [Illustration] _The above facsimile is printed by arrangement with the Daily Mail Publishing Co., London_ +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | TRANSCRIBERS' NOTES | | | |General: Errors and inconsistencies in punctuation have been corrected | | without individual notes. | |Pages vi, 6, 10: Drakenberg standardised to Drakensberg. | |Page vii: repeated date 2 November removed. | |Chart of Staff Appointments; Natal Field Force; 4th Division: Aides- | | de-Camp(2) blank in original | |Chart of Staff Appointments; Staff of 1st Army Corps: Orderly | | Veterinary Officer blank in original | |Chart of Staff Appointments; 1st Army Corps 3rd Division; 6th Brigade: | | Aide-de-Camp blank in original | |Chart of Staff Appointments; Staff of Cavalry Division: Aides-de-Camp | |(2)--Only one listed in original | |Page 32: rear-guard standardised to rearguard. | |Pages 35, 36: Isandhlwana/Isandlwana not standardised as it is used as | | part of a quotation. | |Page 37: viâ standardised to via. [N.B. other usages not standardised as| | part of a quotation.] | |Page 44: Blue-jackets standardised to Bluejackets. | |Page 45: similarily corrected to similarly. | |Page 46: Brvant corrected to Bryant. | |Page 51: fortunnately corrected to fortunately. | |Pages 53, 121: Nordenfelt standardised to Nordenfeldt. | |Page 82: reconnaisance corrected to reconnaissance. | |Page 91: Comanding corrected to Commanding. | |Pages 114, 148: debris/débris not standardised as it is used as part of | | a quotation. | |Page 120: McLachlan standardised to M'Lachlan. | |Page 145: comandeered corrected to commandeered. | |Page 147: sandbags standardised to sand-bags. | |Page 150: downhill standardised to down-hill. | |Page 151: search-light standardised to searchlight. | |Page 183: The quotation from Addison is actually incorrect. It should | | read: | | | | "A thousand glorious actions, that might claim | | Triumphant laurels, and immortal fame, | | Confused in clouds of glorious actions lie, | | And troops of heroes undistinguished die." | | | |Page 185 (footnote): Gingindhlovo standardised to Gingindhlovu. | |Page 187: Repeated 'the' removed from 'remained the the same' | | | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 
38768	----	SOUTH AFRICA AND THE TRANSVAAL WAR [Illustration: THE QUEEN LISTENING TO A DISPATCH FROM THE FRONT. From the Picture by S. Begg] SOUTH AFRICA AND THE TRANSVAAL WAR BY LOUIS CRESWICKE AUTHOR OF "ROXANE," ETC. WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS IN SIX VOLUMES VOL. IV.--FROM LORD ROBERTS' ENTRY INTO THE FREE STATE TO THE BATTLE OF KARREE EDINBURGH: T. C. & E. C. JACK MANCHESTER: KENNETH MACLENNAN, 75 PICCADILLY 1900 Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. At the Ballantyne Press CONTENTS----VOL. IV. PAGE CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE vii CHAPTER I THE VOTE OF CENSURE 1 KIMBERLEY 14 GENERAL FRENCH'S RIDE, FEBRUARY 12 TO 15 30 STRATEGY _versus_ TACTICS 37 THE HERDING OF CRONJE, FEBRUARY 16 TO 18 49 THE BATTLE OF PAARDEBERG, FEBRUARY 18 54 TRAPPED 62 THE SURRENDER OF CRONJE 71 CHAPTER II MAFEKING, DECEMBER AND JANUARY 80 CHAPTER III AT POPLAR GROVE 95 THE FIGHT AT DRIEFONTEIN, MARCH 10 101 AT BLOEMFONTEIN, MARCH 13 108 CHAPTER IV MAFEKING, FEBRUARY 112 CHAPTER V AT CHIEVELEY AGAIN 121 LADYSMITH, FEBRUARY 1 TO 26 129 THE BATTLE OF PIETERS, FEBRUARY 20 TO 27 134 EXPECTATION 151 THE RELIEF OF LADYSMITH, FEBRUARY 28 153 THE FORMAL ENTRY, MARCH 3 156 CHAPTER VI CHANGES IN CAPE COLONY, FEBRUARY AND MARCH 163 AT BETHULIE, MARCH 12 171 CHAPTER VII BLOEMFONTEIN UNDER BRITISH RULE 174 THE BATTLE OF KARREE 192 CHAPTER VIII MAFEKING IN MARCH 194 COLONEL PLUMER'S OPERATIONS 204 LIST OF STAFF 213 APPENDIX 215 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS----VOL. IV. MAP ILLUSTRATING THE MOVEMENTS FOR THE RELIEF OF KIMBERLEY AND THE CAPTURE OF BLOEMFONTEIN _At Front_ 1. _COLOURED PLATES_ PAGE THE QUEEN LISTENING TO A DISPATCH FROM THE FRONT _Frontispiece_ THE IMPERIAL YEOMANRY 12 THE ROYAL LANCASTERS 16 WEST YORKSHIRE AND YORKSHIRE REGIMENTS 88 THE INNISKILLING DRAGOONS 104 SOUTH AFRICAN LIGHT HORSE, BRABANT'S HORSE, AND DUKE OF EDINBURGH'S VOLUNTEER RIFLES 120 STRATHCONA'S HORSE 184 THE CAPE TOWN HIGHLANDERS 200 2. _FULL-PAGE PLATES_ PAGE THE DASH FOR KIMBERLEY--THE 10TH HUSSARS CROSSING KLIP DRIFT 32 THE LAST STAND MADE BY THE BOERS BEFORE KIMBERLEY 36 CAPTURE OF A BOER CONVOY BY GENERAL FRENCH'S TROOPS 40 THE BATTLE OF PAARDEBERG 56 CRONJE'S STRONGHOLD 64 CRONJE SURRENDERS TO LORD ROBERTS 72 CRONJE'S FORCE ON THEIR MARCH SOUTH 80 SHELL FROM THE NAVAL BRIGADE DISPERSING BOERS 96 THE FORMAL SURRENDER OF BLOEMFONTEIN 108 SLEEPLESS MAFEKING 112 THE RELIEF OF LADYSMITH--THE LAST RUSH AT HLANGWANE HILL 128 IN BELEAGUERED LADYSMITH--WATCHING FOR BULLER FROM OBSERVATION HILL 152 HINDOO REFUGEES FROM THE TRANSVAAL IN CAMP AT CAPE TOWN 168 CONVEYING WOUNDED TO WYNBERG HOSPITAL CAMP 172 THE BRITISH OCCUPATION OF BLOEMFONTEIN--AN EVENING CONCERT IN MARKET SQUARE BY THE PIPERS OF THE HIGHLAND BRIGADE 176 COLONEL PLUMER'S GALLANT ATTEMPT TO RELIEVE MAFEKING FROM THE NORTH 208 3. _FULL-PAGE PORTRAITS_ PAGE THE MARQUIS OF SALISBURY, K.G. 8 LIEUT.-GENERAL THOMAS KELLY-KENNY, C.B. 24 GENERAL CRONJE 48 MAJOR-GENERAL A. FITZROY HART, C.B. 136 MAJOR-GENERAL H. J. T. HILDYARD, C.B. 144 BRIGADIER-GENERAL THE EARL OF DUNDONALD, C.B. 156 LIEUT.-GENERAL HON. N. G. LYTTELTON, C.B. 160 MR. M. T. STEYN, LATE PRESIDENT ORANGE FREE STATE 192 4. _MAPS AND ENGRAVINGS IN THE TEXT_ PAGE SHELL PICKED UP IN KIMBERLEY STREETS 15 "LONG CECIL" MADE AT DE BEERS MINES 21 PLACARD ERECTED BY MR. RHODES 27 TYPICAL UNDERGROUND DWELLING AT KIMBERLEY 36 10TH HUSSARS WITH NORDENFELDT GUN 46 PLAN OF PAARDEBERG 57 GUNS CAPTURED AT PAARDEBERG 68 BOER TRENCHES AT PAARDEBERG 78 MARKET SQUARE, MAFEKING 85 GUN MADE IN MAFEKING 87 DIRECTING AN ARMY FROM A MILITARY BALLOON 102 FACSIMILE OF "THE MAFEKING MAIL" 114 SCENE OF FIGHTING AT MONTE CRISTO 125 BALLOON MAP--BATTLE OF PIETERS AND RELIEF OF LADYSMITH 135 SIGNAL APPARATUS OF H.M.S. "FORTE" 146 KING'S POST, LADYSMITH 151 MAP OF OPERATIONS ON ORANGE RIVER 165 SIGNAL STATION AT BLOEMFONTEIN 182 NATIVE CHURCH, MAFEKING 199 MAP SHOWING ADVANCE TO MAFEKING 205 LOBATSI RAILWAY STATION 212 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE----VOL. IV. FEBRUARY 1900. 12-13.--General French, following up Hannay's movement, crossed Riet River, and next day with a strong force marched twenty-five miles into the Free State, seized Klip Drift on the Modder River, occupied the hills to the north, and captured three of the enemy's laagers, with supplies. 13-14.--6th (Kelly-Kenny's) Division on north bank of the Riet River at Waterfall Drift. 14.--Lord Roberts advanced to Dekiel's Drift. 15.--General French reached and relieved Kimberley, captured Boer laager and supplies, and forced the enemy to withdraw. The Boers evacuated Majersfontein and Spyfontein, retreating to Koodoosrand Drift. 16.--General Kelly-Kenny, in pursuit of Cronje retiring east with 10,000 men on Bloemfontein, captured 78 waggons with stores, 2 waggons with Mauser rifles, and 8 waggons with shell belonging to Cronje's column. Capture of Cingolo Hill by Sir Redvers Buller's force. Lord Roberts occupied Jacobsdal. Flight of Cronje's force and occupation of Majersfontein by the Guards. 17.--Cronje's force overtaken and surrounded at Paardeberg. General Brabant engaged the enemy near Dordrecht. Successful reconnaissance by Colonel Henderson from Arundel. 18.--Severe fighting at Paardeberg, where Cronje was being gradually surrounded. Capture of Monte Cristo. General Lyttelton's Division, by a brilliant converging movement, drove the Boers across the river. 19.--Capture of Hlangwane by the Fusilier Brigade. The Boers evacuated the hill, and left a large camp behind them. Bombardment of Cronje's position began. Boer reinforcements driven back. Cronje asked for armistice, but Lord Kitchener demanded his surrender; Cronje refused, and was then bombarded heavily. Reoccupation of Dordrecht. General Brabant entered the town in the morning, the Boers taking to flight. 20.--General Hart occupied Colenso. Lord Roberts defeated Boer reinforcements at Paardeberg. 21.--5th Division crossed the Tugela at Colenso. 23.--Advance on Ladysmith continued. The Boers' position at Grobler's Kloof attacked. The cordon round Cronje began to close in. Captain Hon. R. H. L. J. de Montmorency, V.C. (21st Hussars), killed while doing magnificent work with his Scouts near Stormberg. 26.--Finding the passage of the river near Colenso commanded by strong entrenchments, Sir Redvers Buller sent his guns and baggage back to the south side of the Tugela, and found a new crossing. 26-27.--Colesberg and Rensberg, having been evacuated by the Boers, were occupied by General Clements, while Jamestown was occupied by General Brabant. 27 (on anniversary of Majuba, 1881).--Cronje, with 44 commandants and other officers of all grades, and over 3500 men, surrendered unconditionally to Lord Roberts. Sir Redvers Buller's force captured the Boer position at Pieters. This action opened the road to Ladysmith. Boers retired north to Ladysmith. 28.--Relief of Ladysmith after 120 day's investment. MARCH 1900. 1.--Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener visited Kimberley and attended a meeting in the Town Hall. 2.--Cronje and his staff, having been moved to Simonstown under a guard of City Imperial Volunteers, were put on board H.M.S. _Doris_, and sent to St. Helena. 3.--General Buller formally entered Ladysmith. Skirmish near Osfontein. General French came in contact with a Boer force, who tried to get away, but were held to their position by the British force. 4-5.--General Brabant advanced from Dordrecht against Labuschagne, and was completely successful. 5.--General Gatacre occupied Stormberg without opposition. 7.--Lord Roberts dispersed Boers near Poplar Grove. General Gatacre reached Burghersdorp. 8.--General Clements occupied Norval's Pont. 10.--The Boers dispersed near Driefontein, fifteen miles east of Poplar Grove. 11.--Presidents Kruger and Steyn received reply from the Prime Minister refusing to entertain their absurd overtures for peace. 12.--General French (with cavalry, R.H.A., and Mounted Infantry) arrived before Bloemfontein, and captured two hills which command the railway and town. General French captured the railway near Bloemfontein. General Gatacre approached Bethulie. 13.--Lord Roberts occupied Bloemfontein. His despatch ran:--"The British flag now flies over the Presidency vacated last evening by Mr. Steyn, late President of the Orange Free State. The inhabitants gave the troops a cordial welcome." 14.--General Pretyman, C.B., appointed Military Governor of Bloemfontein. 15.--General Gatacre occupied Bethulie. Boers attacked Colonel Plumer's camp and were repulsed. 16.--Fighting at Fourteen Streams. 19.--Lord Kitchener occupied Prieska, and received the submission of rebels. 20.--Rouxville occupied by Major Cumming. 21.--Smithfield occupied by British troops. 23.--Party of English officers shot near Bloemfontein. 27.--General Clements occupied Fauresmith, and arrested the landrost. Death of General Joubert. 29.--Action at Karree Siding. Boer position taken. Wepener occupied by Brabant's Horse under Colonel Dalgety. 30.--Colonel Broadwood with Cavalry Brigade and two batteries Royal Horse Artillery at Thabanchu retired on waterworks pressed by the enemy. 31.--Loss of convoy and six guns at Koorn Spruit. Action at Ramathlabama for the relief of Mafeking, and Colonel Plumer's small force repulsed by the Boers. [Illustration: MAP ILLUSTRATING THE MOVEMENTS FOR THE RELIEF OF KIMBERLEY AND THE CAPTURE OF BLOEMFONTEIN EDINBURGH AND LONDON T. C. & E. C. JACK.] SOUTH AFRICA AND THE TRANSVAAL WAR CHAPTER I THE TURNING OF THE TIDE _February 27, 1900._ "Storm, strong with all the bitter heart of hate, Smote England, now nineteen dark years ago, As when the tide's full wrath in seaward flow Smites and bears back the swimmer. Fraud and fate Were leagued against her: fear was fain to prate Of honour in dishonour, pride brought low, And humbleness whence holiness must grow, And greatness born of shame to be so great. The winter day that withered hope and pride Shines now triumphal on the turning tide That sets once more our trust in freedom free, That leaves a ruthless and a truthless foe And all base hopes that hailed his cause laid low, And England's name a light on land and sea." --ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE. THE VOTE OF CENSURE The terrible events of the month of December had produced a disquieting effect upon the public mind. Agitated questions were asked on all subjects connected with the series of catastrophes, and the replies were so unsatisfactory that one and all became sensible that the actions of those in power were not sufficiently in unison with public sentiment, and even the keenest supporters of the Government numbly experienced a loss of confidence in those at the helm. It was felt that some one must be to blame for the miserable condition of affairs, the hideous series of defeats that had made Great Britain an object of ridicule on the Continent. For the forwarding of our troops "in driblets," for the ineffectiveness of our guns in comparison with Boer weapons, for the uselessness of the carbine in competition with the Mauser, for the scarcity of horses, for the preparedness of the Boers, for the unpreparedness of the British, for the under-estimation of the strength of the enemy, and for many other things which tended to bring about the national disaster, various members of the Government were blamed. Charges of incapacity were levelled at the Secretary of State for War, the War Office, and the Committee of National Defence. Even the stoutest Tories were found declaiming against the attitude of lethargy--flippancy, some said--adopted by those in whose hands the fate of the nation rested. Mr. Balfour, in certain speeches somewhat ill-advisedly delivered at a critical moment, had contrived almost to wound people who were already deeply wounded by humiliation and anxiety. His mood had not been in sympathy with the public mood. He had endeavoured to brush away the stern problems facing him by minimising their seriousness, by affecting to believe that the Government was, like Cæsar's wife, beyond reproach. His attitude implied that the Cabinet could do no wrong, and that the misfortunes and errors (if errors there were) were due to a concatenation of circumstances for which neither the Government at home nor the generals abroad could be held responsible. In consequence of this attitude, on one side Mr. Balfour was blamed, on another, Mr. Chamberlain. The Colonial Secretary was accused of the policy of "bluffing with a weak hand," while the Chancellor of the Exchequer, as was inevitable, came in for his share of obloquy. It was the cheeseparing principle that was at the bottom of it all; cheeseparing and red-tape were responsible for debility and delay of all kinds, and political inertia had undoubtedly spelt defeat. The clamour was reasonable and just. It was felt that prudence and energy should have served as fuel to stoke the engine of public affairs, not as a brake to be put on in the face of disaster. On all hands the public of one consent cried for a new broom and "a great co-ordinating guiding mind," and the universal clamour awoke the Government to a consciousness that there are times and seasons in the history of nations when party recriminations and crystallised party etiquette must give way before the stress of a great national need--the need to preserve at all costs the honour and the reputation of the Empire in face of the whole world. Accordingly, the opening debate of the Session was one which cannot be passed over. The Queen's Speech struck a note of decision that was at once comforting and in sympathy with her people. Thus it ran: "I have witnessed with pride and the heartiest gratification the patriotism, eagerness, and spontaneous loyalty with which my subjects in all parts of my dominions have come forward to share in the common defence of their Imperial interests. I am confident that I shall not look to them in vain when I exhort them to sustain and renew their exertions until they have brought this struggle for the maintenance of the Empire and the assertion of its supremacy in South Africa to a victorious conclusion." The Earl of Kimberley commented on the ignorance of the Government regarding the military preparations that for years had been going on in the Transvaal, and indulged in criticisms which might have been weighty had his hearers not been tickled by the strange irony of fate which converted into critic one of the authors of the humiliating drama which had been left to shape itself from the disastrous _scena_ of 1881. To these criticisms the Prime Minister--somewhat broken by domestic bereavement--offered but a weak and depressing reply. "How," he asked, in regard to the Boer preparations, "could the Government know what was going on?" "I believe, as a matter of fact, though this must not be taken as official, that the guns were generally introduced in the boilers of locomotives, and that the munitions of war were introduced in piano-cases and tubs. But we had no power of search, we had no power of knowing what munitions of war were sent out. We certainly had no power of supervising their importation into the Transvaal. It is a very remarkable peculiarity of the public opinion of this country that people always desire to eat their cake and have it. They rejoice very much with a spirit of complacency that we have a very small Secret Service Fund. Information is a matter of money and nothing else. If you want much information you must give much money; if you give little money you will get little information; and considering the enormous sums which are spent by other Powers, not least by the Transvaal Republic, in secret service--which I was told on high diplomatic authority has been £800,000 in one year--and comparing this with the ludicrously small sums which have for a great number of years been habitually spent by English Governments, it is impossible for us to have the omniscience which the noble Earl seems to regard as a necessary attribute of Her Majesty's Government." Further on he said: "We must all join together to exercise all the power that we can give in order to extricate ourselves from a situation that is full of humiliation and not free from danger, though I do not say the danger may not be easily exaggerated. Many a country has commenced a great war with difficulties of this kind. We have only to look back at what the Northern States of America went through at the opening of the Civil War to see how easy it would be to draw a mistaken inference from the reverses which we have met at the opening of this war. We have every ground to think that if we set ourselves heartily to work and exert all the instruments of power we possess we shall bring this war to a satisfactory conclusion. I think we must defer the pleasing task of quarrelling among ourselves until that result has been obtained. We have a work that now appeals to us as subjects of the Queen, as Englishmen, and it must throw into shadow the ancient claims which party expediency has on the action of all our statesmen." This speech concluded, Lord Rosebery suddenly sprang up, and delivered himself with thrilling emphasis of sentiments which went at once to the heart of the nation. Deeply he deplored the Prime Minister's speech, which made it hard for "the man in the street" to support the policy of the Government. The country, he insisted, had a right to know if there was adequate information given to the Government before the crisis of the Transvaal affair, or even sufficient to guide them in their diplomacy or their negotiation. "That is a point which the nation will insist on knowing, whether in this House or the other. If you had not sufficient information, dismiss your Intelligence Department, dismiss Mr. Conyngham Greene and your consular agents wherever they had touch with this matter--at Lourenço Marques or elsewhere. If you did know of it, you have a heavy responsibility to bear. The noble Marquis asks, 'How could we see through a deal board?' I suppose he meant by that to allude to the pianoforte cases in which, with more knowledge than he gave himself credit for, he unofficially states that the ammunition was brought into Pretoria." Passing on to the question of Secret Service money, he declared that the Government was in possession of a very commanding majority in the House, and that if they had the responsibility of Government they were bound to ask for what funds, whether Secret Service or other, which they might think necessary for the safety of the Empire. "They cannot," he pursued, "devolve that responsibility on others by speaking of the working of the British Constitution. I ask noble Lords to analyse the speech of the noble Marquis, which is still ringing in their ears. It is the speech of a Minister explaining a disastrous position. He practically has only given two explanations of that situation. They are, first, that the Government had not enough Secret Service money to obtain information, and, secondly, the mysterious working of the British Constitution. I suppose that there are foreign representatives in the gallery listening to this debate, and I suppose that the speech of the Prime Minister will be flashed to-night all over Europe, and Europe, which is watching with a keen and not a benevolent interest the proceedings of our armies in South Africa, will learn that the causes of our disasters are one avoidable and the other inevitable. The avoidable one is the inadequate amount of the Secret Service Fund, and the inevitable one the secular working of the British Constitution." Leaving the question of unpreparedness, he came to the great point, and asked what the Government intended to do. "There is a paragraph in the Queen's Speech which I rejoice to see, of a somewhat didactic character in its first sentence, but not without interest in its second. 'The experience of a great war must necessarily afford lessons of the greatest importance to the military administration of the country. You will not, I am convinced, shrink from any outlay that may be required to place our defensive preparations on a level with the responsibilities which the possession of so great an Empire has laid on us.' The noble Marquis made no reference to that paragraph, except to say that he does not think we shall see compulsory service in the life of the youngest peer present. I do not affirm or question that proposition, but I can say I do not think it is so immeasurably remote as the noble Marquis considers that some form of compulsory service may have to be introduced to meet the growing exigencies of the Empire. I am sure that neither from this nor from any other sacrifice will the nation recoil to preserve the predominance of our Empire. We have sent away from our island a vast mass of troops which usually garrison it. Situated as we are in the centre of a universe by no means friendly to us, that we should not have a hint from the First Minister of the Crown what military measures the Government propose to take in face of the disasters we have met with, and what sacrifices we must inevitably be called on to make to redress them, is one of the most extraordinary features of the working of the British Constitution on which the noble Marquis has laid such great stress. I agree with him in saying that the country will carry this thing through. It will carry it through in spite of all the impediments, both of men and of methods, that have shackled it in the past; but I venture to say that it will have to be inspired by a loftier tone and by a truer patriotism than we have heard from the Prime Minister to-night." Mr. Balfour, in the House of Commons, was as damping to popular hopes as the Prime Minister in the House of Lords. Regarding the all-important subject of the under-estimation of the Boer strength, he somewhat airily said: "It will be asked, How comes it, then, that this great under-estimate of the Boer strength was made if we knew approximately what the Boer armaments were, and what Boers were likely to take the field? I do not know that I have got any very satisfactory answer to give to that question. It is a purely and strictly military problem, and, as history shows, it is a kind of problem very difficult to answer satisfactorily. You can gauge the military strength of a European nation with a fixed army, with all their modern military apparatus, and with all their military statistics at your disposal; but when you come to problems of States whose military organisation is not of that elaborate kind, great mistakes have been made in the past, and I doubt not great mistakes will be made in the future. They certainly have been made by almost every military nation of whom we have any record. But if this is regarded as an attack upon the military experts of the War Office, it is surely an unfair attack, because soldiers, who are not especially given to agreeing with one another, were absolutely unanimous upon this point. I do not believe you will be able to quote the opinion of a single soldier of any position whatever, or of no position, delivered before, say, July 31 or August 31 last, indicating any opinion which will show that the force which we in the first instance sent out would not be amply sufficient, or more than amply sufficient, for all purposes. (Cries of "What about Butler?") The right hon. gentlemen put a question to me about Sir W. Butler. We had not the slightest trace at the War Office in any communication, public, semi-public, or private--no communication of any sort, kind, or description, which indicated that in Sir W. Butler's opinion the force we sent out was not sufficient--I was going to say doubly sufficient--for any work that it might be called upon to perform." Indeed, the whole tenor of the speech was generally regarded as unsatisfactory and dispiriting. It was felt that, as Lord Rosebery expressed it, the Government must be left to "muddle through" somehow. People who hung anxiously on the lips of the Government for definite statements regarding future resolute action were disappointed, and waited wearily the conclusion of the debate. On February 1, Sir Charles Dilke drew vigorous comparisons between the present and former campaigns. In regard to our lack of artillery he said: "All our generals had told us that direct artillery fire had failed against the Boer entrenchments. It had been known for years past that direct artillery fire would be likely to fail against strong entrenchments; yet we sent twenty-one batteries of field-artillery to South Africa before the first one of the three howitzer batteries was despatched. It was one of the strongest charges which he and others had brought against the War Office for some years, that our army was more badly supplied with field-artillery than any other army in the world. It was not even comparable with the field-artillery of Switzerland and Roumania. In regard to our guns, the Leader of the House had stated in a speech at Manchester that we had guns in South Africa sufficient for three army corps of regular troops. He should like to know on whose authority the right hon. gentleman made that statement. The first force sent to South Africa from India was supplied with guns, not on that scale, but still in fairly decent and respectable measure. The forces of Lord Methuen and Sir Redvers Buller fell altogether short of even the scale adopted for the Indian Contingent. Both these generals had themselves called attention to their deficiency in this respect. We had not even now got artillery on anything like the scale laid down by the right hon. gentleman, and we could not have it in South Africa, because we had not got it in the world. In these circumstances he could only characterise the statement of the Leader of the House as entirely erroneous and misleading, and altogether a blunder. With regard to the batteries which were even now being sent out, many of them were manned by reservists and by garrison artillerymen, who had had no experience in the handling of modern field-guns." Proceeding to the question of lack of cavalry, he argued: "With regard to cavalry as with regard to artillery, the first force was well supplied, but the forces of Lord Methuen and General Buller were very deficient in that respect. In that connection the First Lord had made an attack on the critics of the War Office. He said they had not seen, or if they had seen had not insisted on, a novel fact in the present war, namely, that for the first time in the history of the world they had seen an army composed entirely of mounted infantry. The right hon. gentleman had only to read Sir William Butler's 'Life of General Colley,' where he would find very marked attention drawn to that matter. As to the Defence Committee of the Cabinet, of which the right hon. gentleman was a member, though he himself had been spoken of as the author of that body, he must admit that it had failed. It was instituted after a correspondence in which he himself, his hon. friend (Mr. Arnold Foster), and Mr. Spenser Wilkinson took part, and it was not new to the present Government. It was instituted in the time of Lord Rosebery's Government as a Committee of the Cabinet, but it had been proclaimed to the world in the time of the present Government. It had failed on account of the slackness of those who attended the deliberations of the Committee. It had not been worked as the authors of the proposal thought it might have been worked in the interests of the Empire. The Committee ought to have foreseen these difficulties with respect to mounted men; they were foreseen by military men. Though political differences occurred between Sir A. Milner and Sir W. Butler, Sir A. Milner consulted General Butler on the military aspect of the situation, and General Butler's opinions were known to the Government, or should have been. They were known to Sir A. Milner at any rate and were not concealed by him when he was in this country a year ago. According to his (Sir C. Dilke's) information, which reached him immediately after the statement had been made to Sir A. Milner, General Sir W. Butler declared that 60,000 men would be required in Cape Colony and 25,000 men in Natal. Leaving that, however, what was the attitude of the Cabinet with regard to the need for cavalry? They telegraphed to the Colonies to refuse mounted men. They gave their reasons in the telegram of October 3: 'In view of the numbers already available, infantry most and cavalry least serviceable.' On December 16 they telegraphed to the Colonies, 'Mounted men preferred.' After all the loss of life that had taken place, and the months of checks and reverses, they had discovered what competent soldiers had discovered before the war, and must have told them, that mounted men were essential for a campaign of this kind." In reply, the Under-Secretary of State for War made the first telling and apposite statement which had been furnished for the Government during the course of the proceedings. His exposition was straightforwardness itself. Though merely the mouthpiece of the Government, Mr. Wyndham gave utterance to definite statements which created a very favourable impression throughout the country, and served at once to wipe away the taste of foregone pronouncements. He said: "Every one to his dying day would look back with regret on the great many disasters which had followed, but no one could ever know what would have happened if the other course had been adopted. It was very easy to conceive that if Sir G. White had not stayed at Ladysmith and Sir R. Buller had not gone to his relief disaster might have been developed in another line, and that there might have been that universal rising of the Cape Dutch which, thank Heaven, had not occurred. When it was stated that Lord Methuen had not sufficient cavalry and artillery with him, it must be remembered that Lord Methuen was hurried off to the Orange River, and, as a matter of fact, he arrived on the frontier in fewer days than the German army reached the French frontier, and he had not with him the cavalry, which had been diverted for the relief of Ladysmith and other purposes. On the morrow after Nicholson's Nek three more battalions were sent from home, though none had been asked for, and Lord Landsowne offered a sixth division. In reply, he was told that preparation was desirable, but that there was no immediate need for its despatch. The situation was again changed by the reverses at Stormberg and Magersfontein and the check at Colenso. Thereupon the sixth division was ordered to embark without any communication from South Africa, and at the same time the seventh division was ordered to be mobilised. On December 15, the day after his check at Colenso, Sir R. Buller asked for the seventh division, the mobilisation of which had already been ordered, and for 8000 mounted irregulars from this country. Lord Landsowne replied that the seventh division would embark on January 4, which it did. Next day the first step was taken in connection with the raising of the Imperial Yeomanry, and volunteers were invited to come forward in order to fill the places left vacant by the raising from each battalion of one company of mounted infantry. The patriotism of the Militia was also appealed to, and fourteen battalions were now serving in South Africa, while others were on the way. A great military authority once said, 'When a battalion is asked for, send a brigade.' That had been the course pursued by Lord Landsowne." In regard to the number of our guns, Mr. Wyndham continued his argument in the following terms:-- "As the right hon. baronet had pressed for information with regard to the number of guns which had been despatched to South Africa, it would not be out of place to tell the House that we had sent and were sending 36 siege train heavy guns; there were already there 38 mobile naval guns, and in addition to these there were 36 5-inch howitzers carrying a heavy shell charged with 50 lbs. of lyddite, in all 110 guns, some of them with a range of 10,000 yards, and all capable of throwing heavy shells. Besides these there were 54 horse-artillery guns and 234 field-artillery guns, in all, counting the howitzers, 324 guns capable of accompanying troops in the field. Including the two mountain batteries, there were altogether 410 guns in South Africa, without reckoning the guns that were going out with the Volunteers and the Colonials, which would bring the number up to 452." [Illustration: THE MARQUIS OF SALISBURY, K.G. PRIME MINISTER AND FOREIGN SECRETARY. Photo by Russell & Sons, London.] Then taking the subject of mounted troops, he went on:-- "On the question of mounted troops, it had been said that the Government announced to the world their conviction that unmounted troops were the kind of troops most suitable to South African warfare. The word 'mounted' was never used. However, he would not insist on that, but he did think that those who had quoted this opinion so often should consider when they were used, because then they would see that they gave no indication that the Government held the opinion attributed to them. As a matter of fact, since the outbreak of the war the Government had sent out a larger proportion of mounted troops than was usually contemplated, because they believed that mounted troops were especially suited to go to Africa. The time at which the phrase was used that infantry was most wanted and cavalry least wanted was on October 3, before the ultimatum was sent, before the war began, and at a time when Sir R. Buller was satisfied that an army corps, a cavalry division, and the necessary troops for the line of communication, giving 50,000 men in addition to the 25,000 already in South Africa, was an adequate force. When the question of the Colonial Contingents was first raised, Queensland offered 250 and New Zealand 200 mounted infantry, and the 108 New South Wales Lancers then in this country volunteered, making in all 558 mounted men. No specific offer was received from the other Colonies, but they expressed a wish that they might be allowed to take some part in the campaign. He thereon consulted Sir R. Buller as to the number that should be asked for in order that each Colony might be represented more or less in proportion to their respective populations. Sir Redvers stated that it would be easier to give the Colonial troops an immediate place at the front if they were invited to contribute manageable units of 125 men each. If the original offers of the Colonies had been accepted, there would have been 1375 more mounted men at the front at an earlier date, when no one contemplated that the force sent out would be insufficient for its task. The Colonial Legislatures have not changed their note in consequence of the disappointments and reverses which have been experienced, but have made further offers--an example which might well have been followed nearer home. Altogether there had been accepted from the Colonies 2075 unmounted and 4678 mounted men. The proportion of mounted to unmounted troops in South Africa at four different periods were: In the original garrison, 7600 unmounted and 2000 mounted; on October 9, the day of the ultimatum, 12,600 unmounted and 3400 mounted; on January 1, 83,600 unmounted and 19,800 mounted; while the total number of troops in South Africa, not including the Fourth Cavalry Brigade, were 142,800 unmounted and 37,800 mounted, and in the next fortnight or three weeks there would be out there 180,600 of all arms." Sir Edward Grey said:-- "He was giving the right hon. gentleman some instances of the value of the support from his side. The primary object of the policy which had ended in the war was not to drive the Boers from British territory, as they were not then on it. The primary object was not to plant the British flag at Pretoria and Johannesburg. These two things might be the result of the war, but they were not the primary objects of the Government policy. The objects which he wished to see attained, and which he would pledge himself to give the utmost support to the Government in attaining, were, first, equal rights between all white men in South Africa, and by that he meant that never again should a situation arise in any part of the British sphere in which a modern industrial community should be placed under the heel of an antiquated minority which was dominated by prejudice and governed by corruption. The second object was that never again in South Africa should it be possible for arsenals to be formed or an accumulation of military material under any control except British control. That was the end to be attained, and to that end the Government would have support." On the 3rd of February Mr. Bryce expressed his opinions. He affected to disbelieve that there had been any Dutch conspiracy to drive the British from South Africa, and considered that, owing to the menace of the Government in the arrangement of negotiations, the meek Boer had no resource but to prepare for war. Mr. Goschen admitted the gravity of the situation and the responsibility of the Government _en masse_. The Cabinet, he decided, must stand or fall together. The Admiralty, in acceptation of its responsibility, had assisted the army with heavy guns without weakening its resources. Lastly, he touched enthusiastically on the exhibition of Colonial loyalty:-- "Before concluding I must say a word with reference to the Colonists. They have been supporting us with unstinted loyalty and unstinted generosity. There has been a spirit shown by the Colonies of affection to the mother country which has been the admiration of the world. May we not suggest that that unstinted loyalty and that unstinted generosity is to some extent a reward for the consideration which has been shown the Colonies for some time past; and is it not right to remember that for years there has not been a Secretary for the Colonies who has so endeavoured to win the affection of the Colonies as the right hon. gentleman who now holds that office? You tax us with not having shown foresight and judgment. At all events our treatment of the Colonies has ensured, not their loyalty--that will always be there--but the enthusiastic impulse of the Colonies to come to the assistance of the mother country. We have a great work to do; we want to do that work, and now hon. gentlemen opposite move an amendment the only object of which could be to damage and weaken the Government, who are the instruments of the national will. If hon. gentlemen opposite do not wish to take our places and to bear the burden which rests on our shoulders, is it wise to endeavour to shake the confidence of the country in the men who must continue this war, and gather together all the forces of the Empire to bring it to a successful conclusion? Supposing there should be a division which could be called a bad division for the Government, what would the cheers which would greet that division mean? They would mean, 'We have succeeded in damaging and weakening the Government.' The time may come when we will be damaged. If the war is not successful, sweep us away as men who have no judgment, but do not lame the arm of the Executive Government when they have such a work on hand as we have got to do. There has been patriotic co-operation between us and some of the Liberal Party. We thank them for it. I believe this is a Parliamentary bad dream--an interlude between the patriotic attitude of these gentlemen a few weeks ago and the patriotic attitude which I hope we may look forward to when this debate closes. They have assured the country they will support us in going forward. I thank them for that, for it is more important than the petty criticisms to which we have been treated. We are the trustees of the nation for the work that has to be done. The nation will support us, I believe; and so long as we receive that support, God willing, we will fulfil our task." Sir E. Clarke, among other things, said:-- "He did not believe the annexation of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State would be of the slightest benefit to the country. The annexation of the two Republics would compel us to very greatly increase our already enormous military expenditure, and it would not give us any advantage commensurate with the difficulties of administration. He had no desire to press his own views, which were singular, and certainly not popular, on that side of the House. He only pleaded that this question might be left open, and that Ministers might not pledge themselves to a course which would involve so great a sacrifice. While he agreed generally with the doctrine of Cabinet responsibility, he considered that the real responsibility for the war lay with the Colonial Secretary. The Prime Minister, in whom all England put the greatest confidence, having many other things to deal with, and being distressed by domestic anxieties, might not have been able to attend so closely as he otherwise would have done to South African affairs; but it could not be gainsaid that there were two men, one in this country and the other in South Africa, who must be associated with the beginning of the war. He wished that the highest sentiments of patriotism would induce those two men to leave to others the positions they now occupied. He believed that the difficulties involved in a solution of the questions arising out of the war would be increased by the fact that the lines of communication and action in South Africa were in the hands of the Colonial Secretary and Sir A. Milner. He had not a word to say about the honesty of these two gentlemen; but if, for a few weeks or a few months, in this grave national crisis and time of deep anxiety, others could take their places--if the Prime Minister himself would take under his own control the communications of the Colonial Office with South Africa, and if Lord Rosebery would give his services to the country, and go out to South Africa to assist in a solution of the difficulties, it would be a sacrifice not too great to ask even from the greatest men among us, and one for which the country would be very grateful. He had said that he was not going to make a controversial speech. He did not think he had. If he had, it had been with no intention of personal attack or party bitterness, but with the deep conviction that in deciding on the great issues with which Parliament had to deal we had to consider not only the things of to-day but the things of the future." Mr. Chamberlain's speech on the 5th of February was an advance on former proceedings. Sir William Harcourt dilated on the indomitable energy of a free people fighting for their independence, praised the gallantry of the troops, and blamed the Government for being led by the opinions of the authors of the Jameson Raid, to which the Colonial Secretary made dignified reply. Finally he questioned-- "How do we meet the charge of mistakes? Not by denying the mistakes, but by saying what we have done and what we are doing to repair them. You say we sent too few troops. We are pouring troops into South Africa, and, as you have been told, in a few weeks you will have an army of 200,000. You said we were forgetful of the need for mounted men. We have been increasing the number of horse infantry until in a very short time the number of mounted men in the British forces will be almost as great, if not as great, as the total number of mounted men in the Boer army. You say our artillery is deficient and not heavy enough. We have sent battery after battery, until now you have an unexampled force of that arm. We have at the same time added a number of heavier guns. When the war began, no doubt the needs of the war were under-estimated at that time; it is part of the same mistake. We failed to respond as we ought to have done to the splendid offers that came from our Colonies. We accepted enough to show how much we valued their assistance, but we hesitated to put on them any greater strain than necessary. But what is happening now? They are multiplying their forces, and every offer is gratefully and promptly appreciated and accepted. And we shall have in this war before it is over an army of Colonials called to the aid of Her Majesty who will outnumber the British army at Waterloo and nearly equal to the total British force in the Crimea." In conclusion he said:-- "In Africa these two races, so interesting, so admirable, each in its own way, though different in some things, will now, at any rate, have learned to respect one another. I hear a great deal about the animosity which will remain after the war, but I hope I am not too sanguine when I say that I do not believe in it. When matters have settled down, when equal rights are assured to both the white races, I believe that both will enjoy the land together in settled peace and prosperity. Meanwhile, we are finding out the weak spots in our armour, and trying to remedy them. We are finding out the infinite potential resources of the Empire; we are advancing steadily, if slowly, to the realisation of that great federation of our race which will inevitably make for peace, liberty, and justice." On the following night Mr. Asquith, on Talleyrand's principle--that speech is given us to hide our thoughts--dilated interestingly on the position, his sympathies oscillating between the Opposition, the Government, and Mr. Kruger. Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman declared it to be the duty of the Opposition to press Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice's amendment to a division. He inferred that the conspiracy of the Cape Dutch was a chimera, and went so far as to suggest that when our military supremacy was asserted in South Africa the question of settlement might be left to decide itself _sine die_! Said he: "Provided that our territories are free and our military supremacy asserted, what matters it at what time or what place a settlement is arrived at?" In his reply Mr. Balfour distinguished himself. He said that it was discovered that the War Office has more than fulfilled its promises, and appealed to the members of the Opposition who sympathised with the justice of the war to reflect before voting for the amendment. It was necessary to help the soldiers at the front by proving to them that they were supported by a united country, and that every hostile vote might induce or encourage our opponents to prolong the contest. He concluded by saying:-- "Can they contemplate with equanimity that their first action in a session of Parliament meeting under such circumstances should be a weakening of the Government, whose hands they profess to desire to strengthen--whose hands I believe they genuinely desire to strengthen--in every succeeding operation connected with this war? Can they contemplate with equanimity the reflection that possibly their votes may lengthen the war, and, by lengthening it, may increase that tragic list of losses with which we are already too familiar? If in giving their vote they add one fraction to the chances of a European complication, one fraction of a chance that an unnecessary life may be lost or a family thrown into mourning, can they easily reconcile that with their duty towards their own principles and to that country of which they are, I believe, as devoted servants as we on this side of the House? I think it is a violation of every Parliamentary tradition that men who desire to keep in office a Government should vote for an amendment which, if carried, will turn out that Government, and that it is contrary to every patriotic instinct to vote in a minority against the Government. The size of that minority will affect the whole course of European policy, the whole course of the war. I have stated the problem as it presents itself to my mind. I know that you are men of conscience and honour, and I must leave it to you to decide the problem, each man in his own case as his conscience and honour dictate. To the House at large I can only make one appeal. It is that we, who are the representatives of the country, may rise to the height reached by those whom we represent. I ask no more, and I can ask no more, of the House than that they should imitate, for they cannot exceed, the courage, steadfastness, resolution, and firmness under adversity, and the calmness of temper with which our countrymen all over the world have dealt with the situation in its entirety. If the House of Commons do, as no doubt they will, imitate, for they cannot better, the conduct of those who have sent them here, then who can doubt that the clouds by which we are at present surrounded will in a short time be dissipated and the Empire will issue from the struggle in which it is now engaged stronger, not only in its own consciousness of strength, but in the eyes of the civilised world." [Illustration: SERGEANT OF THE IMPERIAL YEOMANRY. Photo by Gregory & Co., London.] In the end, by 352 to 139--a majority of 213--the vote of censure on the Government moved by Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice was defeated. The decision adequately expressed the feelings of the country. It must be remembered that many of the Government supporters were in South Africa, consequently a total poll of 491 represented a heavy vote. The following list serves to show the number of members of both Houses who had sacrificed party spirit to patriotic convictions, and had proceeded to the front:-- HOUSE OF LORDS.--Earl of Airlie, commanding 12th Lancers; Earl of Albemarle, lieutenant-colonel, City of London Imperial Volunteers; Lord Basing, major, 1st Dragoons; Lord Castletown, special service, South Africa; Lord Chesham, commanding a battalion of Imperial Yeomanry; Earl Cowley, lieutenant, Imperial Yeomanry; Lord Denman, lieutenant, Imperial Yeomanry; Earl of Dudley, D.A.A.G. for Imperial Yeomanry; Earl of Dundonald, C.B., major-general, commanding 3rd Brigade (Natal) Cavalry Division; Earl of Dunraven, captain, Imperial Yeomanry; Earl of Erroll, special service, South Africa; Earl of Essex, second in command of battalion of Imperial Yeomanry; Earl of Fingal, lieutenant, Imperial Yeomanry; Lord Kitchener of Khartoum, G.C.B., K.C.M.G., Chief of the Staff; Earl of Leitrim, lieutenant, Imperial Yeomanry; Earl of Longford, captain, Imperial Yeomanry; Lord Lovat, captain, Lord Lovat's Corps; Duke of Marlborough, staff captain for Imperial Yeomanry; Lord Methuen, K.C.V.O., C.B., commanding 1st Division in South Africa; Duke of Norfolk, K.G., captain, Imperial Yeomanry; Lord Roberts of Kandahar, K.P., G.C.B., G.C.I.E., G.C.S.I., V.C., Field Marshal Commanding-in-Chief; Lord Romilly, special service, South Africa; Lord Rosmead, major, 6th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers; Duke of Roxburghe, lieutenant, Royal Horse Guards; Earl of Scarborough, second in command of battalion of Imperial Yeomanry; Earl Sondes, lieutenant, Imperial Yeomanry; Duke of Westminster, A.D.C. to Governor; Lord Wolverton, second lieutenant, Somersetshire Yeomanry Cavalry; Lord Zouche, lieutenant, Imperial Yeomanry. HOUSE OF COMMONS.--Mr. W. Allen, trooper, Imperial Yeomanry; Hon. A. B. Bathurst, captain, 4th Battalion Gloucester Regiment; Colonel A. M. Brookfield, commanding battalion of Imperial Yeomanry; Lieutenant-Colonel R. G. W. Chaloner, commanding battalion of Imperial Yeomanry; Hon. T. H. Cochrane, captain, 4th Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders; Lord A. F. Compton, captain, Imperial Yeomanry; Viscount Cranborne, commanding 4th Battalion Bedford Regiment; Mr. W. Bromley-Davenport, captain, Imperial Yeomanry; Sir J. Dickson-Poynder, lieutenant, Imperial Yeomanry; Viscount Folkestone, major, 1st Wilts Volunteer Rifle Corps; Mr. W. R. Greene, lieutenant, Imperial Yeomanry; Hon. J. Guest, lieutenant, Imperial Yeomanry; Mr. G. Kemp, captain, Imperial Yeomanry; Mr. E. H. Llewellyn, major, 4th battalion Somerset Light Infantry; Mr. H. L. B. McCalmont, commanding 6th battalion Royal Warwick Regiment; Mr. F. B. Mildmay, lieutenant, Imperial Yeomanry; Viscount Milton, lieutenant, Imperial Yeomanry; Mr. D. V. Pirie, with Remounts Department, South Africa; Lord Stanley, special service, South Africa; Lord Edmund Talbot, special service, South Africa; Viscount Valentia, A.A.G. for Imperial Yeomanry; Major W. H. Wyndham-Quin, captain, Imperial Yeomanry; Major the Hon. H. V. Duncombe, adjutant, Imperial Yeomanry; Sir Elliott Lees, captain, Imperial Yeomanry; Sir S. Scott, lieutenant, Imperial Yeomanry. KIMBERLEY There was little bombardment after the 25th of November, and though not living on the fat of the land, the garrison was not short of provisions. Mr. Rhodes, with characteristic forethought, now caused the formation of a committee to inquire into the resources of those dependent on the men killed, with a view to compensating them for their loss, and in other ways exerted himself for the welfare of sufferers in the town. Considerable friction occurred between the civil and military authorities. The clashing of wills was inevitable in so small an area, for Colonel Kekewich represented military power, while Mr. Rhodes could be no other than he is, and ever has been--a power in himself. It was unfortunate that two such forces should have been placed in collision, but it remains to the credit of both that, in spite of the tension of the situation, they should have co-operated to the end to save the town from the common enemy, and protect the interests and lives of all who, but for this co-operation, might have suffered much more intensely than they did. Early on the morning of the 9th of December a force with a battery under Colonel Chamier--to whom the efficient and mobile condition of the artillery was due--made a reconnaissance to the north. The Lancashire's Mounted Infantry and two guns were posted on Otto's Kopje while the Cape Police protected the Dam Wall. The Kimberley Light Horse in the centre extemporised some rifle-pits out of some prospectors' huts in order to cover retreat when necessary. The enemy were screened by the debris of a wall at Kamfeens, but when the boom of the British gun burst out and a shell roared in their midst, they hurriedly sought cover in their foremost rifle-pits, whence with great energy they "sniped" in the direction of the officers who were superintending the operations. Meanwhile tremendous barking of cannon and pinging of rifles continued, the Boers having got the range of Otto Kopje to perfection. The troops had an exceedingly hard time, but continued their operations till dusk. They lost only one killed and four wounded. On the wise principle that it is safer to act early on the aggressive if you do not want to have to act late on the defensive, the smart little force indulged in more military movements. [Illustration: SHELL PICKED UP IN KIMBERLEY STREETS. Photo by Alf. S. Hosking, Cape Town.] Colonel Kekewich's general plan for the defence of Kimberley was based on the principle of always keeping the enemy on the move and constantly in fear of attack from an unexpected quarter, but the immediate object of the numerous sorties and demonstrations in force now made by the garrison was to assist the operations of Lord Methuen. The Colonel explained that, "when the advance of the Relief Column from the Orange River commenced, and I was put in possession of information concerning the probable date of its arrival at Kimberley, I adopted such measures as I hoped would cause the retention of a large force of the enemy in my immediate neighbourhood, and thus enable the Relief Column to deal with the Boer force in detail." As the portions of mounted corps were continually employed, the work which fell on the detachment, 1st Batt. Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, Cape Police, Diamond Fields Horse, Kimberley Light Horse, and the Diamond Fields Artillery, was very arduous; but the bravery and dash of these troops was unending. Colonel Murray, of the Loyal North Lancashire, was invaluable in many capacities, and Captain O'Brien of the same regiment, in command of a section of the defences, was unfailing in energy and zeal. Cool as the proverbial cucumber were Major Rodger of the Diamond Fields Horse and Major May of the Diamond Fields Artillery. The motto of these officers was the reverse of that of the notable _gens d'armes_, for they were "always there when wanted," and generally in the fore-front. The officers of the Kimberley Regiment, too, were conspicuous for courage, coolness, and sagacity. They knew as by intuition what was wanted and did it. From Colonel Finlayson, who commanded the regiment, to Surgeon-Major Smith, who tended the wounded in the field, there was none who did not contribute to the stock of efficiency which was placed at the disposal of the Colonel. On the 20th of December, the mounted detachments under Colonel Peakman, with maxims and 7-pounders under Colonel May, started off in the pitch darkness of 2 A.M., and marched through Kenilworth in the direction of the wreck of Webster's Farm, and on towards Tollpan in the Free State. British cannonading then took place, the Kimberley guns shelling Tollpan Homestead at 2500 yards' range, and the Boer gun on Klippiespan ridge returning the compliment with interest. Fortunately the hostile shells burrowed deep in the sandy soil, and consequently little damage was done. The Boers were found to be very comfortably situated at the three corners of a six-mile triangle--at Coetgie, Scholtz, and Alexandersfontein--commanding three separate sources of water supply. This reconnaissance was of importance, as the positions of the enemy's guns and outposts were determined, and the garrison was enabled to be on guard against raiders and snipers, and to protect itself, its patrols, and cattle from the fire of the enemy. In the matter of protecting the cattle from the tricks of the Dutchmen, as in many other ways, Mr. Fynn, manager of the De Beers farms, did splendid service. This gentleman was Mr. Rhodes's right-hand man, and as a natural consequence of the honour he enjoyed rose to every occasion that offered, now managing a corps of scouts, now superintending the conveyance of food, now dealing with truculent natives, and always conducting his varied avocations with immense energy and tact. [Illustration: Lieutenant. Captain. Adjutant. THE ROYAL LANCASTERS. Photo by Gregory & Co., London.] On the 22nd of December a good deal of martial activity took place. At cockcrow a detachment of mounted forces, with artillery and infantry, went west for the purpose of reconnoitring Voornitzright and part of Weldermstkuil. On the right were the Diamond Fields Horse under Major Rodger, supported by a company of the North Lancashire Regiment under Lieutenant de Putron. Presently an animated cannonade began between the enemy's artillery from Kamferdam and the Diamond Fields Artillery guns on Otto's Kopje. In the centre Colonel Peakman, with the Kimberley Light Horse and Cape Police, proceeded along Lazaretto Ridge. There, before retreating, he made the necessary discoveries--firstly, that the Boer patrols were then the only occupants of the place, and secondly, that the enemy's reinforcements were advancing behind Wimbledon Ridge. Meanwhile Colonel Chamier on the left, with R.A. guns and an escort under Major Snow, was exchanging salutations with the Boer guns posted in the earthwork in the centre of Wimbledon Ridge. This occupation was pursued for some time, during which the enemy were found to be rapidly approaching. Directly the guns were limbered up some 500 Boers came on the scene, and began to pour a fierce fire from the earthworks at the foot of the Ridge upon the Kimberley troops, who retired to cover. The object of the reconnaissance was gained, however, for it proved in what an inconceivably short space of time the enemy could summon his reinforcements, and, moreover, that three of his guns were yet in the neighbourhood of the town. On Christmas Eve congratulations were received by flashlight signals from the Military Secretary at Cape Town:-- "Convey to Colonel Kekewich and all the garrison and inhabitants of Kimberley his Excellency's best wishes for their good luck on Christmas Day and in the coming New Year." Colonel Kekewich replied:-- "Kindly inform the Military Secretary that I and the garrison and inhabitants of Kimberley thank his Excellency for his kind message. We also wish respectfully to offer our very best wishes for Christmas and New Year." This little interchange of compliments caused infinite pleasure to those whose days were one unvarying round of trial and suspense. The weather was exceedingly hot; at times the thermometer registered 105° in the shade, and life without absolute necessities in torrid weather is trying even to the patience of the active. To those whose intercourse with the world was confined to flashlight signals, it was barren in the extreme. But with much pluck they thus announced their sentiments in a journal called the _Diamond Fields Advertiser_, which still maintained a languishing existence: "Excepting two or three of our inhabitants who shared the terrible privations of the siege of Paris, few of us have ever spent such a Christmas before, and few will ever care to spend such a Christmas again. The scarcity of turkeys and plum-pudding at this time of traditional plenty need only distress the gourmand. The majority of the people of Kimberley are happily made of sterner stuff, and do not look for luxuries in a time of siege." They were nevertheless not utterly plum-puddingless. Mr. Rhodes, with characteristic forethought, had caused to be cooked in the Sanatorium some two score of these bombshells to digestion, and had distributed them in each of the camps. Here they were devoured with much merrymaking and a general interchange of felicitations, which went on by telephone from one camp to another. From the Mounted Camp to the Royal Artillery: "Best wishes and longer range to your guns." From the gunners, in return, while they kept one ear open for movement in the direction of the Boers' "Susannah:" "May our range be always long enough for us to be guardian-angels to the Mounted Corps." On the following day the artillery was at work responding to the salutes of the Boers, who commenced to fire with great activity after their Christmas rest. They dropped some thirty-five shells in the direction of the fort, and received nineteen well-directed replies. Two of the mines were fired by the thunderstorm of the previous night, but no one was injured. Food now was becoming more and more scarce, and those connected with the distribution of provisions had to exercise much forethought and economy. The task of arranging for the victualling and supply of the garrison and 40,000 people in the town was undertaken by Major Gorle, Army Service Corps, and the zeal and resource which he brought to bear on his onerous duties were applauded on all sides. Of course there were found persons who, on the take-everything-from-everybody-else-and-give-it-all-to-me principle, thought they were badly treated, but these were the exception rather than the rule. The arrangements for milk were made by a special civil committee, consisting of Mr. Oliver, the Mayor, whose courage and energy in keeping up the spirits of the people were wonderful, Mr. Judge, and four visiting surgeons of Kimberley Hospital, Doctors Ashe, Watkins, Mackenzie, and Stoney. These made themselves notable for the untiring energy with which they devoted themselves to their incessant duties. They kept a sharp eye on the milk, serving it out cautiously at the depôt, and only to those who had a medical certificate that they required it. The Colonel was very appreciative of the help given by most of his civilian coadjutors, for, in reference to the difficulties of his position, he stated in his despatch: "It will be realised that, under the peculiar circumstances in which the defence of the scattered town, containing over 40,000 inhabitants and much valuable machinery, was entrusted in the first instance to a force consisting of about 570 Imperial troops and 630 Colonial troops, my efforts would have been of no avail had it not been for the valuable assistance and advice which many citizens afforded me in a military as well as a civil capacity." Mr. Henderson, Captain Tyson of the Kimberley Club, and Dr. Smart collaborated with the ruling spirit of the place, organising relief committees, distributing thousands of pints of soup per diem, and apportioning such fruit and vegetables as were to be had for the good of those who were most sorely in need. That green stuffs were scarce may be gathered from the fact that the allowance for nine people for half a week was a bunch of five carrots, four liliputian parsnips, and several beets (duodecimo editions). The garrison, later on, were glad of mangel-wurzels, when quantity rather than quality came to be appreciated. The Boers were now beginning to build redoubts on Dronfield Kopjes, about a mile east of the railway and in a northerly direction, showing that whatever withdrawals might be going on from besieged places elsewhere, the City of Mines would receive its due of attention up to the last. The Boer prisoners inside the town presented quite a rejuvenated appearance, owing to the delicate attentions of Mr. Rhodes. Christmas saw them provided with new outfits, and a general air of cleanliness and health pervaded them. The invalids in hospital, both British and Boers, were visited frequently by the Colossus, whose generosity in the matter of delicacies, which were now very scarce, was highly appreciated. Much of the Kimberley news was obtained through the energy and acuteness, almost amounting to genius, of the despatch-runners. Of these, Mr. Lumming of Douglas succeeded in getting in and out of the town with missives for and from Mr. Rhodes, always at tremendous risk. The Boers had offered a large reward for his capture. On one occasion, so as to evade observation in a district swarming with the enemy, he had to travel quadruped fashion on hands and knees for some thirty miles. Tales of the despatch-runners' ingenuity in all parts of the Colony were many. One Kaffir boy, though caught by the Boers and stripped by them, carried his despatch safely, it having been packed in a quill and hid in his nostril, while another--a canny Scot--concealed his treasure in the inmost recesses of a hard-boiled egg. On the morning of the 27th of January the mounted troops under the indefatigable Colonel Peakman at an early hour reconnoitred the Boer position near the Premier mine. The Boers were indulging in a last little doze, when some shells were neatly dropped into their laager. The alarum was effective. They were up and doing in no time, and set to work firing with the utmost vigour, but their shots were not accurate and much waste of ammunition took place. It may be remembered that Colonel Peakman, Kimberley Light Horse, after the death of Colonel Turner was selected for the command of the mounted troops in Kimberley. A tower of strength of himself, he was surrounded by a gallant crew, among whom were Major Scott, V.C., Captains Ap-Bowen and Mahoney (both severely wounded on the 25th of November), Captains Robertson and Rickman. There were also in the corps several lieutenants conspicuous for dash and daring, notably Lieutenants Hawker (wounded 22nd November), Harris, and Chatfield. Of the Colonel an amusing tale was told, which, if not _vero_, was certainly _bentrovato_, and served to cheer up those who needed to salt the monotonous flavour of daily life. It fell to the duty of Colonel Peakman to introduce horse-flesh at the officers' mess, a ticklish task, and one that required considerable tact. When the dish was served, the Colonel said, "Gentlemen, as I was unable to get the whole of our ration in beef, a part of it had to be taken in horse-flesh. Here is the beef," said he, carving at the joint opposite him, "that at the other end of the table is the horse. Any one who prefers it may help himself." No one accepted the invitation, and after there had been a great run on the beef, the Colonel suddenly said, "By Jove, I'm mistaken; of course _this_ joint is the horse, the other is the beef!" Thus the palates of the heroes of the Kimberley Light Horse were educated to the fare that was shortly to become unvaried. Later on, a chunk of donkey occasionally replaced the equine morsel, and cats, it was noticed, began to be less in evidence. There were whispers--hints---- But to proceed to facts. On the 29th a tussle took place between the foe and a man named Sheppy, who, with twelve mounted natives, was herding a thousand De Beers horses and mules. The cattle-drivers were at work when out from the bushes rushed a hundred Boers. These at once opened fire, but the herdsmen managed to return it and effect their escape. The transformation of diamond-diggers into warriors was an entire novelty, of which Kimberley boasted not a little. The entire community of the De Beers Company were now soldiers of the Queen, receiving the same rate of pay as before, with food in addition. The total white population in the town was 14,000, and of these 6000 were employés of the mine, men from Natal. The Company worked wonders--of course under the auspices of the ruling genius of Kimberley. They stuck at nothing, from assisting with food supplies--distributing soup in gallons--to providing for the employment of upwards of 4000 natives in making improvements in the town. Sanitation too they undertook when contractors failed, and, when the supply of water was cut off at the main reservoir by the enemy, they came to the rescue by providing another source of water supply. Owing to the excellent management and regulation of stores, the community had hitherto been enabled to live at normal prices, and food had been within the reach of all. But now the pinch of the siege began to be felt. Luxuries such as eggs, vegetables, &c., were naturally scarce, but horse-flesh even grew to be limited, for there was little forage left. The tramcars ceased to work, and Dr. Ashe predicted that presently there would be "no carts save military ones and the doctors' and the hearse!" People had to take their meat allowance half in beef and half in horse-flesh, and the over-fastidious were but meagrely nourished. These, however, soon came to "take their whack" of horse-flesh gladly, and some even declared that horse, by any other name, would be quite appetising! Conversation largely consisted of speculations regarding food or its absence, and once or twice there was a rub with the military. Dr. Ashe expressed himself frankly when confronted with red-tape difficulties, addressed the Colonel--of course, minding p's and q's, for people had to look to the dotting of i's and crossing of t's in those days--and suggested that, "in matters which affected the health and feeding of the people," the doctors thought that, in virtue of their knowledge of town, climate, and people, they might be consulted. The objection to the red-tape difficulty being proved sound, the Colonel at once altered the routine, but, said Dr. Ashe, "he flatly declined to ask any opinion from the general body of doctors, as they might have ideas which would affect the military situation." [Illustration: "LONG CECIL," MADE AT THE DE BEERS MINES. Photo by D. Barnett, War Correspondent.] The new gun, "Long Cecil," manufactured in De Beers, was greatly prized. It distinguished itself on its début by plumping a shell in the centre of the Kamfersdam head-laager exactly over the position of the Dutchmen's gun. Bombardment continued spasmodically, sometimes at night, the shells entering several houses and "making hay" of the furniture; but wantonly barbarous was the attack on the laager containing the women and children, which took place on the 23rd of January. One of the little innocents was killed and another probably maimed for life. On the 24th more bombardment began as early as four in the morning, and firing continued all day. The worst feature in the affair was the attack--deliberate and premeditated it appeared--on the hospital, which caused general grief and indignation. There was no excuse for such inhumanity, as the place was distinguished by two Red Cross flags. Very lamentable was this habit of the Boers to violate the sacred rules of the Geneva Convention, for it alienated even those who were in sympathy with their cause. They could not plead ignorance of the rules of warfare, for at one time they ignored these rules to play the barbarian, while at another they utilised them to act the poltroon. The history of the Convention may not be generally known. It was promoted in 1864 and subsequently signed by all the Continental Powers. It was decided that-- 1. Ambulances and military hospitals were to be recognised as neutral, and as such to be protected and respected by all belligerents. 2. The _personnel_ of these hospitals and ambulances, including the _intendance_, the sanitary officers, officers of the administration, as well as military and civil chaplains, were to be benefited by the neutrality. 3. The inhabitants of the country rendering help to the sick and wounded were to be respected and free from capture. 4. The sick and wounded were to be attended to without distinction of nation. 5. A flag and a uniform were to be adopted for the hospitals, ambulances, and convoys of invalids; an armlet or badge for the _personnel_ of the ambulances and hospitals. 6. The badge was to consist of a red cross on a white ground. Committees were formed throughout Europe and America to carry out this convention, and the Society worked under the title of the "International Society of Aid for the Sick and Wounded." It played its first important part in 1870 in the Franco-German War, before which time battlefields had been scenes of almost inhuman torture. Now, in consequence of the brutal disregard of a world-appreciated agreement, the Boers--in many ways men of fine character--were placing themselves beneath contempt. Their conduct also to the loyalists and non-belligerents was also causing exasperation. The ministers of all denominations--Wesleyan, Presbyterian, Baptist, Congregational, and Jewish--all united in condemning the Boer Government and its methods. They were especially scandalised at the inhumanity of the Dutch commandoes, who intermittently poured shells not only into the heart of the town, but into the suburbs, where women and children were known to congregate, while leaving for the most part unmolested the forts occupied by the citizen-soldiers. Homes were destroyed mothers and children stricken down, and some killed. These might have been looked upon as the accidents of war had it not been confessed in Boer papers that such acts were deliberately committed and vaunted. Spasmodic bombardment took place during the evening of the 24th, and continued through the night, striking some buildings--the hospital and other defenceless positions--and maiming a woman and her child. Another child was killed. Profound admiration was expressed by all in the achievements of "Long Cecil," and the utility of the new long-range weapon was highly appreciated. Indeed, Mr. Rhodes viewed this Kimberley masterpiece with quite a paternal eye, and his pleasure in firing it was considerable. Enough could not be said of the splendid valour and pertinacity of the townspeople, who co-operated in the warlike proceedings as though they had been to the manner born. Though the fortification belt was some twelve miles in circumference, at all points it was protected by these amateurs of the sword, who, under no military obligations whatever till sworn in on the immediate emergency, rose to the occasion with a chivalric warmth that was as perfectly amazing as it was admirable. Devotion to the Sovereign Lady who rules the Empire was never more steadfastly shown and more ardently maintained. The zeal and the "go" of the Cape Police was notable. Among the most prominent of the corps were Colonel Robinson, gallant Major Elliot and Major Ayliff (wounded on December 3), who was brave as he was tactful. Perpetually useful and conspicuously gallant were Captains Colvin, Crozier, White, and Cummings. Their duties, most difficult, were almost interminable. Life was monotonous in the extreme. From the town it was possible on clear days to view the Modder River balloon, and the occasional sight of it afforded a stimulus to the drooping spirits of the inhabitants. Its rotund form floating so peacefully high in air seemed like a harbinger of hope promising and consoling, and teaching the lesson of patience and perseverance that overcome all things! Of course, it was only the sentimentalists of the community who thus interpreted the language of the aërial monster, but these, like the people who find sermons in stones, promptly took heart, and bore their trials with renewed dignity and pluck. Both these qualities were in great demand, for the Boers and their tactics were exhausting to the patience of the most forbearing. Their pertinacity was great. At one moment they would pour shells into the town, making hearts palpitate or stand still in horror at the gruesome fracas; at others they would persistently "snipe" from hidden corners and bushes, and render movements in the open, to say the least of it--inconvenient. Sniping always continued, though, for a day or two, no serious bombardment took place. Indeed, there was reason to believe that a Boer gun was _hors de combat_. The report came in that "Susannah" had burst. There was general jubilation. Later on it filtered out that "Susannah" was "all serene," but this was doubted. The sanguine hoped against hope. We are ready enough to believe what we wish to be true, and finally, for want of something to discuss, the question of "Has she burst, or has she not burst?" was bandied about in the tone of a popular riddle. Unfortunately "Susannah" was intact, as subsequent experience proved. Not only was "Susannah" herself again, but it was reported that a considerable Boer reinforcement had arrived in the neighbourhood, and that three guns from Spyfontein were being ranged in attitude to defy "Long Cecil," whose prowess was more decided than pleasant. Still the inhabitants bore up very creditably, and enlivened themselves continually with concerts or entertainments of some kind. The programmes, it must be noted, were always marked "weather and Boers permitting"--a modern adaptation of the customary _D.V._ The Boer spies took a lively interest in all that concerned Mr. Rhodes, and hopes were entertained that before long some one would receive the price of his capture. But this gentleman pursued his avocations in the town and its suburbs with unabated interest, arranging for the comfort of the refugees, and evincing paternal solicitude in the laying out of new suburbs, and the construction of a regular row of bomb-proof shelters, which were being excavated at Kenilworth. People now became great connoisseurs on the virtue of brick, old and new, and began to mistrust corrugated iron as affording less protection from the artillery fire of the enemy. They became judges also of shell--of the peculiarities of shrapnel and ring shells--and sapiently discussed the merits of time fuses and percussion fuses. Food, however, was the prime subject of conversation--a subject of "devouring" interest, some one said. The refugee fund now amounted to £3000, owing to the united subscriptions of Mr. Rhodes and the De Beers Company. It was none too much, as the demand on its resources was some £600 weekly. [Illustration: LIEUT.-GENERAL THOMAS KELLY-KENNY, C.B. Photo by C. Knight, Aldershot.] The Colossus, regardless of the fate that hung over the town, continued to make plans and projects for the development of the place. On a high plateau he purposed to create a new suburb, and the name will doubtless bear a relationship to the great events of 1900. A column was in course of erection to commemorate the siege, but the tale of bombardment, writ large on many of the buildings, is one that will scarcely be forgotten, and forms memorial enough. Some curious damage was done, a shrapnel shell electing to penetrate the wall of a draper's shop and wound a feminine dummy and smash a wax effigy of a boy used as a clothes model. Fortunately few human beings suffered. Great precautions were taken for the safety of the inhabitants, and a look-out was kept, so as to give warning by whistle whenever the smoke of the enemy's guns breathed a hint of coming destruction. A calculation was made as to the sum total expended by guns, British and Dutch, and it was discovered that Kimberley had fired 1005 shells, while the besiegers had spent three times that number. The total loss of life attributable to shell fire amounted at this date to about twelve killed. Affairs within the town were now growing almost as bellicose as affairs without it. Continued friction generates heat, and of this throughout the siege there had been more and more as time went on. It was quite evident that Kimberley was not sufficiently large to afford an arena for the combat of brains _versus_ military discipline, and that the patience of the besieged was nearing the snapping-point. Indeed there was doubt as to whether operations for the relief of Kimberley would be pursued, and it is averred that the Commander-in-Chief sent a message to Mr. Rhodes, saying, "Hope I shall not be compelled to leave you in the lurch." Naturally the Kimberley barometer fell to zero. Then came rumours of the coming of Lord Roberts, but these scarcely served to allay the general impatience. A curious incident occurred on the 29th. Some thirty-five Zulus took their departure. They had been ordered by their chief to leave the town, but when they obeyed they had promptly to return, as they encountered the Boers, who threatened to shoot them. At this time food was becoming more and more scarce; even horse-flesh was distributed with caution. Milk was obtainable only by the invalids, and some four hundred babes died for want of proper nourishment. It was pathetic to see people standing at the Town Hall waiting eagerly to take their turn for the scanty portion of meat that could be provided for them. The ceremony of the drawing of meat rations had an aspect almost comic in its desperate seriousness. Matutinally at 5.30 A.M. might be seen a vast concourse of persons scampering in hot haste to gain a front place. So animated was the early bird to catch its morning worm, that it was up and doing before the regulated hour, 5.30 (fixed by proclamation), before which time people were forbidden to leave their houses. The police put a stop to this superactivity, and hungry persons were seen from five to the half-hour waiting patiently at their gates till the exact moment should arrive when they could make a dash for a place in the tremendous crush which, two by two, gathered outside the market. Marvellous was the rapidity with which this vast crowd, at hint of a shell, would drop to earth. As by some mechanical process there would come a bang, and then, like a card castle, the whole procession would drop flat. The Boers, knowing, most probably, that this was an eventful period of the morning, would invariably start off about six with a boisterous "good-morrow." Gradually the rations grew shorter and shorter and shorter. They now consisted mainly of horse-meat, served out every second day, mealie meal, stamped mealies, with a sparse allowance of tea, coffee, and bread. For those who had children under three years of age one tin of milk was allowed. With this strong children could get along well, but there were many weakly ones, and these waned and waned till the baby funerals became pathetically frequent. The Dutchmen were exceedingly ingenious in the invention of tricks and traps. One of these was to move a waggon with sixteen fat oxen in charge of but two men into the open Vlei below Tarantaal Ridge, and there to leave it, apparently unguarded, for two hours. They thought that this bait would lure forth the cattle-guard, but they were disappointed, for the authorities were too acute to allow them to get "a bite." They knew that in rear of the Vlei was a deep sand-drift, behind which a large body of men might be comfortably concealed, and consequently left waggon and cattle severely alone. After this began the bombardment by a new Boer gun--a diabolical instrument, whose perfections were hymned by an artillery expert, who declared it to be one of the most perfect pieces of ordnance ever made! A correspondent in the _Daily Telegraph_ described the terrifying effect produced on the nerves of the sick and the weakly. He went on: "The shock caused by the firing of this gun was distinctly perceptible five feet under ground at a distance of five miles, and the miniature earthquake thus created was clearly registered by the new seismograph at Kenilworth, the pendulum of which remained perfectly stationary during the firing of the smaller guns, or the passage of the most heavily laden trains or vehicles at very close quarters." The 9th of February was a terrible day. There was crashing and booming from morning till night, and no one dared venture abroad. One inhabitant had his child killed under his very eyes and his wife mortally stricken down. Towards sundown a shell struck the Grand Hotel, killing Mr. Labram, the De Beers chief engineer, whose valuable brains had been the salvation of the place. He had constructed armoured engines, armoured trains, and had completed his ingenious labours by constructing the huge 4.1-inch gun, with carriage and shells complete--a triumph of science considering the conditions under which the achievement was attempted. Now he was gone, and Kimberley was vastly the poorer. The bombardment was growing daily more severe. Each time the Boers fired their 100-pounder gun a bugle was blown from the conning tower and all ran to cover. There would be an interval of seven minutes between every shell, and the bombardment would last for about two hours. Then the Boers would take a rest, and, after a breathing spell, begin again. By the kindness of Mr. Rhodes the mines now became harbours of refuge for thousands of women and children, who, huddled together in the 1200-feet level, were thus protected from the shells which were launched in the midst of the town. Those days in dark diamondiferous caverns were full of strange experiences. There, over a thousand shrinking beings found asylum, bedding, food, and such comfort as could be secured for them. There, babes were born into the world--human diamonds brought into the daylight from the grottoes of the millionaires--babes which surely should take some strange part in the drama of the century. It was an underground village swarming with the weak and the distressed, a feminine populace, kept from panic and despair by the man who, large enough to make empires, yet proved himself capable of sympathy with the small sorrows and quakings of the sick and the fearful. [Illustration: PLACARD ERECTED BY MR. RHODES. Photo by F. H. Hancox, Kimberley.] The experiences of a lady who enjoyed the hospitality of the mine were scarcely exhilarating. She said: "We went down the mine, but only stayed one day. Of course, one felt safe, but it was so miserable; still, it was another siege experience, the crowds of people down there. On the 1000-feet level were 500 persons alone, and the buzz of tongues, and the children crying, and the noises altogether, besides the damp, were horrible; although Mr. Rhodes and those working under him did all in their power to make things as comfortable as possible. Hot coffee, soup, bread, milk for the children, everything obtainable was sent down; and some thousands of people were fed free of charge from the Saturday night till the following Friday morning.... Those people who run down Mr. Rhodes should have been here during the four months of the siege. The soup-kitchen was another of his institutions, threepence a pint for good soup, and those who had no money got it free." Now that the nerve-destroying capabilities of the Boers' 100-pounder gun were proved, and Mr. Rhodes and other citizens were conscious of the immense amount of danger to town and life that must result from the bombardment, the Colossus, in conjunction with the Mayor and others, forwarded to Colonel Kekewich a letter which he begged might be heliographed to headquarters. The letter ran:-- "KIMBERLEY, _February 10_. "On behalf of the inhabitants of this town, we respectfully desire to be informed whether there is an intention on your part to make an immediate effort for our relief. Your troops have been for more than two months within a distance of little over twenty miles from Kimberley, and if the Spytfontein hills are too strong for them, there is an easy approach over a level flat. This town, with a population of over 45,000 people, has been besieged for 120 days, and a large portion of the inhabitants has been enduring great hardships. Scurvy is rampant among the natives; children, owing to lack of proper food, are dying in great numbers, and dysentery and typhoid are very prevalent. The chief food of the whites have been bread and horse-flesh for a long time past, and of the blacks meal and malt only. These hardships, we think you will agree, have been borne patiently and without complaint by the people. During the last few days the enemy have brought into action from a position within three miles of us a 6-inch gun throwing a 100-lb. shell, which is setting fire to our buildings and is daily causing death among the population. As you are aware, the military guns here are totally inadequate to cope with this new gun. The only weapon which gives any help is one of local manufacture. Under these circumstances, as representing this community, we feel that we are justified in asking whether you have any immediate intention of instructing your troops to advance to our relief. We understand large reinforcements have recently arrived in Cape Town, and we feel sure that your men at Modder River have at the outside 10,000 Boers opposed to them. You must be the judge as to what number of British troops would be required to deal with this body of men, but it is absolutely necessary that relief should be afforded to this place." To this Lord Roberts replied:-- "I beg you represent to the Mayor and Mr. Rhodes as strongly as you possibly can the disastrous and humiliating effect of surrender after so prolonged and glorious a defence. Many days cannot possibly pass before Kimberley will be relieved, as we commence active operations to-morrow. Future military operations depend in a large measure on your maintaining your position a very short time longer." A great deal of gossip hung round the suppression of the _Diamond Fields Advertiser_, but the whole affair was merely a storm in the ink-pot resulting from the clashing of opinions civil and military. After the publication of a leading article on the 10th of February, an article with which Mr. Rhodes was entirely in accord, the military censor addressed the following letter to the editor:-- "ARMY HEADQUARTERS, KIMBERLEY, _February 10, 1900_. "Sir,--Since the _Diamond Fields Advertiser_ has now on two occasions printed leading articles on the military situation which are extremely injurious to the interests of the army and the defence of this town, without previously submitting the same to the military censor, I am directed to inform you that from this date the proof of the _Diamond Fields Advertiser_ must be submitted to me before the copies of any daily number, leaflet, or other form of publication is issued to the public. "I am further requested to inform you, in your own interests, that on the two occasions referred to you have committed the most serious offences dealt with by the Army Act, under which Act you are liable to be tried.--Yours faithfully, W. A. O'MEARA, Major, Military Censor." The military censor was within his rights. The editor, after the manner of editors, did not care to be muzzled, so the _Diamond Fields Advertiser_ was temporarily suspended. The editorial chair at the time was not an enviable berth, owing to the invasion of shells from the 100-pounder gun, therefore the holiday may have been beneficial in more ways than one. The new gun, mounted on the kopje at Kamferdam, was determined to make life hideous, and so incessantly swept the neighbourhood that a state of panic began to prevail even among those who had hitherto borne themselves with unconcerned front. In addition to this perpetual tornado of horror the pinch of famine was becoming sharper, and the question of relief seemed to be growing into one of "now or never." Despair seized on many. They began to count the days, and wonder when it would all end, and whether indeed it would ever end at all! Two days--three days--five days--the 15th of February! Then, dramatically, as in a fairy tale or a stage play, came the rumour of help, the whisper that French, the gallant, the energetic, the invincible, was coming, as on the wings of the wind--coming to restore freedom to those who, in their tedious imprisonment, were fainting with hope deferred. In an instant all was changed. The rumour became reality. Colonel Kekewich and his staff rode forth, and it was as though the good fairy had waved a wand. In an instant the dismal streets seemed to grow gaudy with flags, to flutter and flare as with the hues of the butterfly. Panic ceased, and gave way to almost hysterical joy. People laughed, chaffed, threw up their hats. The mines disgorged their human wealth--some thousand of women and children, who came forth alacrious, with swinging step and loudly babbling--babbling like mountain torrents let loose from the ice of winter! It was a scene for painter, not for penman; for who shall describe wrinkles of anxiety swept suddenly away, pangs of hunger allayed by thrills of glad excitation, nervous exhaustion magically forgotten, and all this simply because there was dust in the distance--the dust of coming feet--the dust of the British cavalry sweeping nearer and nearer on a glorious errand of deliverance! Five minutes later the looked-for moment had arrived. Anticipation had given way to fact--the 124 days' siege was at an end. Yet there were some who could scarce believe their ears. A man, hearing that General French had arrived, approached a trooper who was holding a horse outside the Club, and asked if the good news was true. "Yes," was the reply; "I'm 'is horderly; this is 'is 'at, and over there is 'is 'orse!" And the Kimberley man stared at the three objects before him as though he could never take his fill of satisfaction. GENERAL FRENCH'S RIDE And now, as the conjuror says, to explain how it was all done. The object of the combined movements was to turn Cronje's position, which extended west and east from Majersfontein to Koodoesberg Drift on the one side towards Klip Drift on the Modder on the other, to relieve Kimberley, and, if possible, cut off the retreat of the Boers to Bloemfontein and invest the whole force. This stupendous programme was unfolded to General French and his A.A.G. Colonel Douglas Haig at the time already mentioned, when the great cavalry leader mysteriously ran down from Colesberg to the Cape. Here the plans for the future campaign were discussed, and here General French agreed to embark on an enterprise which had it failed in a single particular might have brought about "such a disaster as would have shaken England's dominion in South Africa to its very foundation." This is the opinion of Captain Cecil Boyle, a splendid young officer, who, when asked to join General French's staff as galloper, was almost overcome with joy. But the plan did not fail: indeed it succeeded beyond expectation, and the relief of Kimberley, accomplished solely by the mounted troops--said to be the largest force ever commanded by a British General--was a feat scarcely to be excelled in the annals of warfare. This feat was performed between the 11th and the 15th of February, during which the Division experienced hardships of every kind. Horses and men were worked incessantly, without a day's rest and in a broiling sun, which literally baked every portion of the human frame exposed to it, and grilled the eyeballs, causing the most acute suffering to man and beast. Supplies and forage ran short, and the horses were reduced to 1½ lb. of corn a day, while the men lived finally from hand to mouth, killing and eating as they went along, now a sheep, now a goat, and presently nothing but boiled mealie cobs. Water was so scarce, and the sufferings of the animals so terrible, that when a stream was once encountered, the brutes, wild with an anguish of delight, tore towards it in their frantic career, becoming absolutely beyond control, and carrying their riders straight into the river. Some in this way were drowned. Many horses died of exhaustion. At the end, out of 8000, only 5400 remained. But all discomforts were forgotten in the success of the achievement, which from first to last was conducted with admirable _finesse_ and consummate dash. Indeed this marvellous ride is looked upon by those who could technically criticise the difficulty and daring of the enterprise as one of the finest achievements of British arms. On the 11th of February the great cavalry division under General French started. With marvellous rapidity, and with a vast amount of mystery, the troops had gathered together in the neighbourhood of Enslin or Graspan, and commenced to move south-east on the now celebrated march for the relief of Kimberley. So swiftly was everything planned, and so dexterously was it accomplished, that even the wary Cronje, whose spies were everywhere, was incapable of believing that the detested rooineks were advancing with the rapidity of a cyclone for the purpose of sweeping him and his burghers from their comfortable positions. But a clean sweep they made nevertheless. Before the British advance Dutchmen fled precipitately from their farms, leaving their sweet mealie pap _in statu quo_, and all their effects exactly as they had been using them. They carried to Cronje wild rumours of British multitudes approaching, and preparing to make a last frontal attack upon Majersfontein, rumours which exactly suited Lord Roberts' strategic plan. Cronje instantly primed himself for the reception of the British, strengthening his fortifications and keeping his eye on the west, where he knew the Highland Brigade was operating. This again was precisely what Lord Roberts had intended him to do. Meanwhile, in the light of the stars, the great cavalry division with its batteries of artillery was on the move, rumbling cautiously through the mysterious, Boer-haunted regions under the guidance of the Hon. Major Lawrence, Chief of the Intelligence Department, and travelling many miles before sunrise on its important journey to Ramdam. Here horses were watered, men rested, details and remounts from Orange River picked up. On the morning of Monday the 12th, the troops were again on the move, starting at 3 A.M., and endeavouring to cover as many miles as possible before the sun should rise and make the whole earth into a scorching, blistering wilderness. But now, in return for the cool night air, they had to contend with jetty obscurity. Very slow, therefore, was their progress. When helped by the dawn they got along faster, and soon the whole division reached Waterval. Here extra precautions were taken, for none knew how many Dutchmen might be ensconced in the surrounding kopjes or whether the drift might be swarming with Boers. But they were not long left in doubt. A Boer shell greeted the troops with such nicety of range that the General and his staff barely escaped. Colonel Eustace, R.H.A., immediately turned his attention to the hostile gun, and shortly silenced it, but the enemy still held on. Dekiel's Drift is commanded by kopjes, having on the bank an octopus-armed donga which cuts deeply into the soil. At this drift the Boers endeavoured to make a stand, but the Mounted Infantry and Roberts' Horse were too much for them. Unfortunately, Captain Majendie, second in command of the latter regiment, was shot from Drift Kopje, in the shadow of which his remains were interred. There was no time for expression of mourning and regret; the Boers had to be routed, and presently, finding their rear threatened, they went streaming away from their strong position, taking with them their guns. After this the drift was taken possession of, and in the rays of the setting sun the disciplined hosts--brigade after brigade--crossed the Riet River, keeping possession of both banks. Horses and men were wearied out, scorched, and famishing, and there was a general sense of relief when at last they were joined by Lord Kitchener and staff and the Sixth Division, with convoys of provisions and fodder. At dawn on Tuesday a great deal had to be done--breakfast finished, nose-bags filled, &c., before it was possible to order the advance. Day was well developed by the time the brigades had started, and now came the exceeding trials of their march. The level veldt was like a mirror to a brazen sky, and all through the sweltering hours when the sun blazed its strongest, men and horses, shadeless, parched, and sparsely fed, moved on mile after mile on their imperative errand without pause and without relief. Even a beautiful well of water, which tempted them to distraction, had to be passed by untouched. It was necessary to reserve it for the infantry, who were following on the morrow. So dry, dejected, yet determined, they went on and on, crossed the districts of Poortje, Zwart Kopjes, Kromkuil, and made a brief halt at Wegdraai. From thence they swung along past pans and kopjes and plains, due north to Klip Drift. [Illustration: THE DASH FOR KIMBERLEY--THE 10th HUSSARS CROSSING KLIP DRIFT. Drawing by John Charlton, from a Sketch by G. D. Giles, War Artist.] Captain Boyle, in the _Nineteenth Century_, gave a fresh and spirited account of their movements on this important and critical march. "The distance covered in extended order was great, and to save the artillery horses Major Lawrence directed the columns by a slight _détour_ north-easterly, leaving Jacobsdal some seven or eight miles to our left. The heat was now intense, and was further increased by the accidental burning of the veldt over a large area, thereby destroying our field-cable, as we learnt afterwards. From flank to flank the distance was so great that at times the General's gallopers could not move their horses out of a walk, though the message was important, and everywhere men and horses alike suffered from sun and thirst. "General Gordon's brigade, far away on the left, was ordered to bring up its left shoulders to meet what looked like an attack on the right, but the guns of the 1st Brigade put the enemy to flight, and the march was resumed in slightly different order. The left brigade, under General Gordon, was ordered to advance; the centre brigade, under General Broadwood, was deployed to the right; and the right brigade, under Colonel Alexander, was ordered to follow in the rear. From a little stone-covered knoll the General and his staff scanned the distant river and its banks eight miles off, and instantly determined to push on for the drift. 'Move up the whole division,' and the three gallopers started back with the order to the brigades, which had been halted meanwhile. General Gordon on the left, with the 9th and 16th Lancers and his guns, and General Broadwood on the right, with the 12th Lancers, Household Composite, and 10th Hussars, moved off at once; but Colonel Alexander's brigade was far in the rear--he had already lost sixty horses, and the rest could move but slowly. The artillery horses could scarcely drag their guns and waggons, but still the General determined to force the drift; and I believe this decision was one of the most critical in the relief of Kimberley, for, had we not gained the drift directly our presence was known, the enemy would most certainly have fortified a very strong natural position. But the General's mind was made up, and he was quick to act. Throwing Gordon on to the left to effect a crossing, and Broadwood some five miles away on his right, the advance to the river was made so swiftly that the enemy were absolutely surprised. After shelling for some time, Gordon crossed and went in pursuit. Only four guns out of twelve could come into action in the centre, but with such effect that the enemy shortly retreated over the hills. By this time General Broadwood had crossed on the right, and his brigade trumpeter sounded the 'pursue.' The general rout was now complete--camp, waggons, everything was in our hands. New bread was lying about on the veldt and dough-tins ready to be placed on the fire, with such haste had the Boers left their position. "My horse had died with my last message to the 1st Brigade, and I trudged on over the level veldt partly on foot, partly on ammunition waggons, over the last five miles, crossed the Modder River with the four guns of P and G Batteries, and went to congratulate the General, who was sitting on the north bank, on his splendid achievement; for by this last forced march of nearly ten miles he had won half his way to Kimberley. Little incidents after the rout were full of the humour that hangs around everything grave. One of the staff plunged into the river and caught some geese, but some one else ate them; a pig ran the gauntlet through the camp--amidst roars of laughter, even from the serious General--of lances, bayonets, knives, sticks, boots, water-bottles, anything to hand, and at length was caught by a lucky trooper, who shared his feast that night with his friends. A waggon of fresh fruit was taken, sufficient to make thirsty men's mouths water, but some thought the grapes were sour. Why the Boers retreated in such a hurry is difficult to understand, for the position and drift were very strong and easy to defend, especially against a spent foe; and, but for the quickness of the advance over the open veldt, which took the Boers completely by surprise, the division would have encountered a very nasty opposition." The Dutchmen were pursued with splendid animation by General Gordon's jaded brigade, who succeeded, worn out as they were, in capturing some ambulance waggons and some Boer doctors; while General Broadwood's brigade, also worn out, chased the Boers into the far distance till absolute exhaustion forced the abandonment of the pursuit. So at the drift the cavalry division enjoyed its terribly needed repose. They had gone through an appalling ordeal, but it had been wonderfully surmounted, and the command of river both at Klip Drift and Klip Kraal, some miles to the east, had been secured. On the 14th the Boers still continued to buzz about after the fashion of mosquitoes--now advancing, now retiring, worrying and annoying, but never coming boldly to the attack. They made strong efforts to fathom the movements and designs of the British, but without success. Colonel Gorringe, Chief of Lord Kitchener's Staff, now arrived, and announced that Lord Kitchener and General Kelly-Kenny were advancing by night from Dekiel Drift, whereupon Captain Laycock, A.D.C., rode out and succeeded by midnight in conducting these officers safely to camp. In the small hours the Sixth Division, after a hard and really glorious march, which must be described anon, arrived. Thus his left flank being secured, General French was free to pursue his impetuous ride. This he did after handing over to the infantry the positions he had gained. While the cavalry division moved out, Kelly-Kenny's division--as in the game of "general post"--quickly shifted to the vacant place, thus making any return of the fleeing Boers impossible. The three cavalry brigades then drew up in columns of brigade masses, with the seven batteries of horse-artillery on their left, where the strongest attack from the laager near Kimberley was expected. How far the Boers were aware and prepared for the British move was uncertain, but it was decided that at all costs the cavalry would cut through them. Operations began with the shelling and capture of two laagers on the north side of the river, and the way being thus cleared of the enemy, the division made its way to a point where it was met by the contingent from the Modder River. The force, now increased by Scots Greys, Household Cavalry, and two Lancer Regiments, numbered some 10,000 men, seven batteries of horse-artillery and three field-batteries. Scarcely had the brigades proceeded before the Boers opened fire, and soon men and gunners fell, and horses riderless and pairs devoid of drivers were seen rushing madly over the plain. From a kopje on the right came the rattle and roar of musketry, which was replied to by the guns of the horse-artillery. There was no doubt now that a horde of Boers were hiding in front, and that the way forward was only to be gained by a desperate plunge. There was no hesitation. General Gordon and his gallant men were ordered to charge and clear the right front, and the thing was done. Away went the 9th and 12th Lancers, galloping for all they were worth, on and on like a flash of avenging lightning. At sight of the human avalanche the Boers, who had been "raining hell" from their trenches, suddenly threw up Mausers and hands; but it was too late, the whirlwind was upon them, and over a hundred Dutchmen bit the dust. Others ran helter-skelter, a whimpering and shouting rabble! Now came the greatest sight that military men have witnessed for years--the rush of the legions across the great plain of Alexandersfontein. This vast area, about three to five miles square, is surrounded by menacing kopjes, which harboured Boers rendered desperate by surprise and consternation. Across the open the Lancer regiments and Scots Greys as advance guard, with the rest of the force deployed at ten yards' intervals, rushed like a hurricane, a sirocco in the desert. Boers still showered down their lead, but the cavalry, heedless, thundered along, throwing up a volume of dust, while kopje after kopje was swept by the mounted infantry. The enemy was dispersed on every side. Five long miles the race of the centaurs continued--centaurs galloping as if for dear life--Carabineers and Greys leading the main body, the 12th Lancers on the left, the Household Composite Regiment with the 9th Lancers on the right--a regal show, and one worth a lifetime to have witnessed. [Illustration: TYPICAL UNDERGROUND DWELLING AT KIMBERLEY.] At De Villiers the exhausted warriors watered their horses and strove to gather together the poor brutes for a final effort. Many were sun-stricken, others had simply used themselves up. The speed that was to outwit Cronje had to be paid for in horse-flesh. But, owing to that speed, much loss of human life was spared. Lieutenant Sweet Escott (16th Lancers) had fallen early in the day, but considering the fire of the enemy it was a marvel that only one officer had been killed. One man was also slain, and there were about thirty wounded. [Illustration: THE LAST STAND MADE BY THE BOERS BEFORE KIMBERLEY--CHARGE OF BRITISH CAVALRY IN THE ENGAGEMENT AT KLIP DRIFT. Drawing by W. S. Small, from a Sketch by G. D. Giles, War Artist.] At two o'clock the troops were halted at the base of a small kopje, from the crown of which it was possible to descry the chimneys of Kimberley in the distance. It was as though they had sighted the Promised Land. Up went a mighty cheer from a thousand throats, ringing almost against the vault of the burnished heaven, and echoing far and wide among the threatening Boer-haunted kopjes! Kimberley was on the eve of relief. The trial, the trouble, the turmoil were over! The triumph was won! On went the Division, riding now with all their might, and at sight of them the enemy, hot-foot, commenced to gallop into space. Soon the Division was within sight of the suburbs, and their guns were addressing themselves to a Boer laager on the east of the town. The extra uproar struck fresh alarm in the people of Kimberley, who had been driven distraught by the Boer's 100-pounders, and a message was flashed out, "The Boers are shelling the town." Then came the answer--the glorious answer--"_It is General French coming to the relief of Kimberley_." The news to the imprisoned multitude seemed incredible. They dreaded lest it might be a new wile of the Dutchman, and, to make assurance doubly sure, flashed out a fresh query. But by sunset the British troops had appeared: the whole force, battered, bronzed, but jubilant, was galloping into Beaconsfield. STRATEGY _VERSUS_ TACTICS Some one has said that strategy is a permanent science whose principles are immutable, while tactics vary with the variations of weapons and modes of warfare. The first example of this permanent science was presented only when Lord Roberts came to South Africa, but so complete and skilful, and withal so subtle, was the initial demonstration, that its fruits within ten days of his arrival at the front were ready to drop to his hand. Looking back, the plan of Lord Roberts' operations appears simple in the extreme, but at the time only masterly conception and accuracy of execution could have ensured success for so complicated a programme. To appreciate its subtlety and its neat execution, it becomes necessary to follow the other portions of the programme, beginning from the entry into the Free State of the enormous army that was massed on its borders by Monday the 12th. On that day three divisions of infantry, the 6th, 7th, and 9th, General French's division, two brigades of mounted infantry under Colonels Hannay and Ridley respectively, the artillery under General Marshall, consisting of three brigade divisions of horse-artillery, two brigade divisions of field-artillery, one howitzer battery, and a Naval Contingent of four 4.7-inch and four 12-pounders, marched from Graspan and Honeynest Kloof through Ramdam. The total field force amounted to 23,000 infantry and 11,000 mounted men, with 98 guns, and a transport of over 700 waggons drawn by nearly 9000 mules and oxen. Later on the artillery was reinforced by the arrival of a battery of 6-inch howitzers, throwing 100-lb. shells, and three Vickers-Maxim quick-firers and the Brigade of Guards, which had remained opposite the Boer trenches at Majersfontein. The following table serves to show roughly the disposition of the troops:-- FIELD-MARSHAL LORD ROBERTS' FORCE FIRST DIVISION.--(Lieutenant-General Lord Methuen).--1st (Pole-Carew's) Brigade--3rd Grenadier Guards; 1st Coldstream Guards; 2nd Coldstream Guards; 1st Scots Guards. 9th (Douglas's) Brigade--1st Northumberland Fusiliers; 1st Loyal North Lancashire (half); 2nd Northamptonshire; 2nd Yorkshire Light Infantry; 18th, 62nd, 75th Field Batteries. SIXTH DIVISION.--(Lieutenant-General Kelly-Kenny).--12th Brigade--2nd Worcestershire, 1st Royal Irish, 2nd Bedfordshire, 2nd Wiltshire (half battalions). 13th Brigade (Knox's)--2nd East Kent; 1st Oxfordshire Light Infantry; 1st West Riding; 2nd Gloucester; 76th, 81st, and 82nd Field Batteries; 38th Company Royal Engineers. SEVENTH DIVISION.--(Lieutenant-General Tucker).--14th Brigade--2nd Norfolk; 2nd Lincoln; 1st King's Own Scottish Borderers; 2nd Hants. 15th Brigade--2nd Cheshire; 1st East Lancashire; 2nd South Wales Borderers; 2nd North Stafford; 83rd, 84th, and 85th Field Batteries; 9th Company Royal Engineers. NINTH DIVISION.--(Major-General Sir H. Colvile).--3rd (Highland) Brigade (MacDonald's)--1st Argyll and Sutherland; 1st Highland Light Infantry; 2nd Seaforth Highlanders; 2nd Royal Highlanders (Black Watch). 18th Brigade--1st Essex; 1st Yorkshire; 1st Welsh; 2nd Royal Warwick. CAVALRY DIVISION.--(Major-General (Local Lieutenant-General) French).--1st Brigade (Broadwood)--10th Hussars; 12th Lancers; Household Cavalry. 2nd Brigade (Porter)--6th Dragoon Guards; 6th Dragoons (two squadrons); 2nd Dragoons; New Zealanders; Australians. 3rd Brigade (Gordon)--9th Lancers; 16th Lancers; Horse Artillery; G, P, O, R, Q, T, U Batteries. TROOPS WITH LORD ROBERTS.--Gordon Highlanders; 2nd Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry; 2nd Shropshire Light Infantry; Canadian Regiment; Roberts' Horse; Kitchener's Horse; City of London Imperial Volunteers (Mounted Infantry Company); 2nd, 38th, 39th, 44th, and 88th Field Batteries; A Battery R.H.A.; 37th and 65th Howitzer Batteries; three Naval 4.7-in. guns; part of Siege Train. It will be seen by the above that General Colvile had been appointed to the command of the Ninth Division, while Colonel Pole-Carew was transferred from the command of the Ninth Brigade to that of the Guards Brigade, and was succeeded in the former post by Colonel Douglas, late Chief of the Staff to Lord Methuen. Having viewed this force, it becomes somewhat interesting to note how smoothly wheel turned within wheel. The movement began by the concentration of General French's division at Ramdam. On the morning of the 12th the infantry appeared, and General French moved on, crossed Dekiel's Drift on Tuesday the 13th, and captured Klip Drift and Drieput Drift, on the Modder River. Following him closely on the 12th came the divisions of General Tucker and General Kelly-Kenny. The latter division was accompanied by Lord Kitchener and his staff. The negotiation of the first drift, which was almost impassable for transport, next occupied the ingenuity and tested the perseverance of the troops. The drifts, like the kopjes, are the almost unconquerable bogies of South Africa. They are the natural defences of the country, offering obstruction on every hand, and, however boldly you may storm the kopje, you must with infinite patience negotiate the drift. This is no small undertaking, for drifts, in a way, partake of the paradoxical character of individuals--the weaker the person, the more difficult is he to manage; the more insignificant the river, the greater the perverseness of the drift. It resolves itself in both cases into a question of narrowness. Small streams and small minds are banked up too high to allow moving room in their midst. The result of an attempt to advance is congestion of a painful kind. At this particular drift it was found impossible for the team of mules to lug the formidable waggon-loads up the north bank, and at last the feat had to be accomplished by adding relays of oxen to assist in the tremendous labour. Finally, by 4 A.M. the next morning the troops got across, General Tucker's division marching to within some three miles of Jacobsdal, and hugging the river all the way, so as to run no risk of being without water. General Kelly-Kenny followed, marching from Waterval Drift to Wegdraai on the morning of the 14th, and proceeding thence at 5 P.M. on the same day to Klip Drift, which was reached in the middle of the night. The rapidity with which this rush on his heels was accomplished enabled General French, who had been awaiting the arrival of the infantry, to proceed on his flying swoop for the relief of Kimberley. This, as we know, was accomplished on Thursday the 15th of February. Meanwhile the wheels of the strategic machinery were going round. A small cavalry patrol had entered Jacobsdal, which town was found to be full of wounded, including many of our own invalids from Rensburg. On the way back the mounted infantry were attacked, and Colonel Henry was fired on by a party of Dutchmen who were concealed in the vicinity of the river, and so sudden was the attack that nine men were wounded. Colonel Henry, Major Hatchell, and ten men were missing. A battery of artillery shelled the environs of the place, and put to flight such Boers as were hanging about, whereupon the British remained masters of the situation. Thus it will be seen that while the Dutchmen were fleeing from Jacobsdal, from Alexandersfontein, and from the neighbourhood of Kimberley, for fear of being cut off, they had surrounding them Lord Methuen at Majersfontein, General Tucker at Jacobsdal, General Kelly-Kenny at the Klip and Rondeval Drifts, General French on the north, and General Colvile wheeling around, ready to suit his movements to any emergency. In this manner Cronje found the teeth of a trap preparing to close on him, and recognised that there was no alternative but to "make a bolt for it." Thus the first part of the programme was accomplished. Kimberley was automatically relieved; Cronje was on the run. But his running was no easy matter. Since Lord Roberts' strategy had come into play, there was a prospect of a neck-and-neck race between the mobile Boer and the mobile Briton, and success depended on General French's ability not only to rout but to head off the retreat of the Dutchman. That the British cavalry commander should outmatch him in celerity was a contingency which had not occurred to Cronje; that he should advance independently of the rail, and start off across the Riet to trek to the Modder, was described by one of his countrymen as distinctly "un-British." Whether this epithet was used to denote admiration or contempt we cannot say. Certain it was that the wily persecutor of Mafeking and Kimberley thought that the secret of the art of trekking was confined to himself and his rabble, until he discovered, too late, that the equally wily French with his disciplined legions was ready to ride over him. On the 16th of February the astonished commandant, with a horde of 10,000 Boers, was scudding in full retreat towards Bloemfontein. On all sides were Boer laagers in a state of abandonment--stores, tents, food, Bibles, raiment--everything had been left by the amazed and panic-stricken Dutchmen. Dronfield, Saltpan, Scholtz Nek, and Spyfontein were now evacuated. Under cover of darkness the investing hordes had taken to their heels, leaving behind them even herds of cattle and ammunition, in their desire to gain a loophole of escape. But they soon found that, wherever they might go, there was the rumour of British opposition, an armed and avenging race advancing! The fact was that the trekking of the Boer hordes had been adroitly discovered by Lord Kitchener, who, having detected an unusual haze of dust in the distance, at once gave orders for the mounted infantry not to follow French, but to pursue the enemy. Accordingly, to quote the _Times_ correspondent, who was present:-- "The mounted infantry rode in pursuit across the plain, endeavouring to get to the north of the convoy, while General Knox's Brigade was pushed along the north bank of the river, which makes a large bend to the north between Klip Drift and Klipkraal Drift, to strike the convoy on its southern flank. Cronje sent on his waggons to Drieputs Farm, at the north-eastern end of the bend, where they laagered at about eleven, and maintained a running fight with our troops all day. The skill with which the Boers conducted this rear-guard action extorted unqualified praise from all our officers. As the detachments on the extreme right of the Boer line were driven back by our mounted infantry, they rode round behind their centre and took up fresh positions on their left against the 81st Battery and Knox's Brigade, which were advancing along the north bank of the river. At midday the Boers attempted to hold three low kopjes two miles north-east of Klip Drift, but were driven back to a stronger position at Drieputs." [Illustration: CAPTURE OF A BOER CONVOY BY GENERAL FRENCH'S TROOPS NEAR KIMBERLEY. Drawing by Stanley L. Wood, from a Sketch by an Officer.] Fighting went on throughout the day. At seven o'clock on the evening of the 16th it became almost possible to see the end; the artillery had commenced the vigorous shelling of the laager, and all the divisions moving on the great axis were now aware that Lord Roberts' strategic plan was likely--how soon they knew not--to be crowned with success. But we must here break off to eulogise the wonderful activity of Kelly-Kenny's division, which acquitted itself so honourably. The march from Graspan to Brandvallei beyond Klip Drift, a distance 55¾ miles, was accomplished in five marching days. The Light Brigade on the eve of the battle of Talavera did sixty-two English miles in twenty-six hours, losing only seventeen stragglers by the way. They accomplished this feat by adopting the peculiar step invented by Sir John Moore, three paces walking alternating with three paces running, which enabled them, when tracks were suitable, to cover six miles an hour! No such evolutions as these were possible, owing to the torrid weather and the necessity to take precautions against exposure in the open veldt during midday. The temperature may be imagined when it is stated that in one day about sixty-six soldiers sun-stricken fell out of the ranks. On the morning of the 12th of February the infantry marched some nine and a half miles from Graspan to Ramdam, and from thence on the 13th moved to Waterval Drift. On the 14th they proceeded to Wegdraai, and on to Klip Drift, which was reached in the small hours of the 15th. Here, notwithstanding their fatigues, the 13th Brigade at once engaged with the enemy's rearguard, and exhibited splendid fighting qualities, which in the circumstances were remarkable even for Englishmen. The West Riding, Gloucesters, Buffs, and Oxfords had a warm time during the whole of the 16th, as the enemy from kopjes beyond the river in the region of Klipkraal assailed them for nearly eight hours, assisted by a pom-pom which caused considerable loss. Though a furious sandstorm later on permitted the Boers under cover of night to get away, abandoning seventy-eight waggons, the next morning the invincible Sixth Division started in pursuit. Captain Trevor (1st East Kent Regiment), Lieutenant Shipway (2nd Gloucester Regiment), and Colonel M'Donnell, R.A., were wounded in the course of the engagement. Major Evelegh, Oxford Light Infantry, while proceeding to join his battalion in the Sixth Division with a small convoy and escort, was surrounded by a large party of Boers, and after a gallant defence was forced to surrender. Fighting and marching without ceasing, the infantry went to Brandvallei and thence to Paardeberg, where they arrived at 9.30 P.M. on the 17th, in time to take a brief rest prior to the operations which have yet to be described, and in which they took such a prominent part. The marching, considering the tremendous heat and the difficulty of obtaining water, was a feat of which General Kelly-Kenny might justly have felt proud. Though plodding along incessantly through the heavy burning sand under a sun which baked and frizzled even through their uniforms, these men maintained patience and cheerfulness in a rare degree. The whole force was animated by complete faith in their commander, and moved unanimously like some magnificent piece of machinery, scarce taking time to eat or sleep in the zest of their persistent pursuit of the enemy. And they were not alone in their zealous performance of their share in the great scheme. The nicety and precision of the transport arrangements may be imagined when we remember that at one time four divisions were moving independently of their base, making marches across the arid waterless tracks, and carrying with them the necessaries of life for a healthy working multitude. A new regime had begun, and the mobility of our columns had grown equal to that of the Boers, while the railway had been relegated to a subordinate place in the strategical plan. Colonel Graham, in his "Art of War," declares that "to organise the means of transport for an army acting at a long distance from its principal magazines, in a country where it is entirely dependent on its own supplies, is a problem difficult of solution." Now, the solution of this problem was due to the wonderful talent of Lord Kitchener, who was earning his right to be looked upon as the greatest military organiser of his generation. But his gigantic effort did not increase the popularity of the late Sirdar. He ran counter to too many private interests. The army is too intersected with grooves to be crossed without a few nasty jars, and it was scarcely possible for so young and successful a general and a peer--one possessed of almost criminal good luck and amazing moral as well as physical courage--to be looked upon by his contemporaries-in-arms with excessive approval. The secret of discord was given in a nutshell by Mr. Ralph of the _Daily Mail_. He wrote:--"His first conspicuous act when in South Africa was the withdrawal of the transport service from separated commands in order that it should be managed by the Army Service Corps. Thus it came about that every brigadier and colonel saw a certain amount of his power shifted to what he considered a subordinate branch of the service. A goodish degree of latitude in the enjoyment of comforts and extras, which had been made possible when these officers controlled the waggons, was also curtailed. The army wailed and gnashed its teeth, but I confess I always thought that reason and right were on Lord Kitchener's side in this matter. Lord Kitchener's plan was the only one by which an insufficient number of waggons and teams could be utilised for all that they were worth." The mobility of an army depends on the reduction of transport, and to the task of organising transport sufficient to ensure the mobility of 100,000 men the hero of Omdurman applied himself with his customary thoroughness. He conceived the gigantic ambition of doing away with all distinctions of transport, regimental, departmental, ammunition, or ambulance, and merging them in an immense whole, thus creating a single general corps, and it was doubtless to this conception and the able way that the scheme--with the assistance of Colonel Richardson--was carried out, that Lord Roberts owed the expedition of his march to Bloemfontein and the further success which resulted from his sure and swift rushes onward. Ordinarily speaking, in the army each unit is allowed its own transport. For instance, colonel, adjutant, and orderly-room are allotted by regulation a tent apiece. Every three officers share a tent, every fourteen men another. Staff-sergeants, batmen, and other details are proportionately provided for. Mounted officers are allowed 80 lbs. baggage, double the amount allowed for "smaller fry." Without going into minute particulars, we may reckon that a brigade would move with 70 waggons and a division with about 180. To reduce the huge encumbrance of say some 2000 waggons, with their complement of oxen and drivers, was a stupendous labour, from which, with its consequences, this military Hercules did not shrink. Each unit was taken in hand, and its excrescences--regulation excrescences, we may call them--were cut down, peeled of all superfluities, much to the disgust of the staff officers and various other personages who stickle for their rights, and resent any innovation that threatens to dock off an iota of the creature comforts that belong to them by the divine right of red-tape and red-book regulations. Not only were the rules of transport revised, but special hints tending to the development of the initiative of the private soldier were issued to the troops. Herewith is appended the notable document which may be said to have marked the beginning of the new era:-- CAPE TOWN, _February 5, 1900_. The following notes by the Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief are communicated for the guidance of all concerned.--By order, KITCHENER OF KHARTOUM, _Chief of Staff_. NOTES FOR GUIDANCE IN SOUTH AFRICAN WARFARE _Cavalry_ 1. On reconnaissances or patrols not likely to be prolonged beyond one day, the cavalry soldier's equipment should be lightened as much as possible, nothing being taken that can possibly be dispensed with. 2. It has been brought to my notice that our cavalry move too slowly when on reconnaissance duty, and that unnecessary long halts are made, the result being that the enemy, although starting after the cavalry, are able to get ahead of it. I could understand this if the country were close and difficult, but between the Modder and the Orange Rivers its general features are such as to admit of small parties of cavalry, accompanied by field-guns, being employed with impunity. _Artillery_ 3. If the enemy's guns have, in some instances, the advantage of ours in range, we have the advantage of theirs in mobility, and we should make use of them by not remaining in position the precise distance of which from the enemy's batteries has evidently been fixed beforehand. Moreover, it has been proved that the Boers' fire is far less accurate at unknown distances. In taking up positions, compact battery formations should be avoided, the guns should be opened out, or it may be desirable to advance by sections or batteries. Similarly retirements should be carried out, at considerably increased intervals, by alternate batteries or sections, if necessary, and care should be taken to travel quickly through the dangerous zone of hostile artillery fire. The following plan, frequently adopted by the Boers, has succeeded in deceiving our artillery on several occasions. Suppose A to be a gun emplacement, the gun firing smokeless powder. Simultaneously with the discharge of the gun at A a powder flash of black powder will be exploded at B, a hill in rear, leading us to direct our projectile on B. Careful calculation with a watch, however, will defeat this plan. _Infantry_ 4. The present open formation renders it difficult for officers to exercise command over their men, except such as may be in their immediate vicinity. A remedy for this would appear to be a system of whistle calls, by which a company lying in extended order could obey orders as readily as if in quarter column. I invite suggestions for such a system of whistle calls as would be useful. 5. It is difficult to recognise officers as equipped at present, and it seems desirable they should wear a distinguishing mark of some kind, either on the collar at the back of the neck or on the back of the coat. 6. Soldiers, when under fire, do not take sufficient advantage of the sandy nature of the soil to construct cover for themselves. If such soil is scraped, even with a canteen tin, a certain amount of cover from rifle fire can be obtained in a short time. 7. The distribution of ammunition to the firing line is one of the most difficult problems of modern warfare. One solution, which has been suggested to me, is for a portion of the supports gradually to creep forward until a regular chain of men is established from the supports (where the ammunition carts should be) right up to the firing line. The ammunition could then be gradually worked up by hand till it reached the firing line, where it could be passed along as required. This would, no doubt, be a slow method of distributing ammunition, but it appears to be an improvement on the present method, which is almost impossible to carry out under fire. 8. Reports received suggest that the Boers are less likely to hold entrenchments on the plain with the same tenacity and courage as they display when defending kopjes, and it is stated that this applies especially to night-time, if they know that British infantry are within easy striking distance from them. How far this is true time only can show. ROBERTS, _Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief, South Africa_. To return, however, to the great advance. Much of the travelling was done by night, in order to save the oxen from the trying temperature of the day, though even during the night the heat was equal to that of an ordinary British midsummer. In addition to the painful toil of motion over the heavy, sandy, rugged leagues, there was the hourly danger of attack. Cronje had made known his need for reinforcements, and at the time, from the south, Andries Cronje was moving, and from the north, Commandants Snyman and Fournie, while from other quarters and in the direction of Ladysmith there was the belief that Boer hordes might be advancing. There was only one encounter with the Dutchmen, but it ended in a mishap that was a serious one, for the results were felt for days afterwards, and helped to try the heroism of the troops who engaged in the movement to the uttermost. A convoy of 180 waggons, one-quarter of the total transport, containing forage and provisions, was lost at Waterval Drift. An interesting picture of the terrible passage of the drift was given by a sapper who accompanied the convoy:-- "It was a pitiful sight to see the poor infantry fellows played out, some dropping with a slight sunstroke, and the cattle dropping dead in all directions. We moved sometimes by day and sometimes by night. Night-time was the best on account of the oxen working much better in the cool of night. Nothing occurred of note with us--but our fellows were fighting every day in front on their way to Kimberley--till we got to Riet River or Drift, which was a terrible pass in the river. Miles and miles of transport had to pass through a narrow passage across the drift, and it took a terrible time for one waggon to pass over, let alone the hundreds that had to pass. We were lucky to get across and encamp below a hill for the night. Next day they still continued to pass the drift, in fact they had been at it all night, and still hundreds of waggons to come on. The Boers evidently knew of this obstacle, and a party came up from the south and had vengeance on the column, as they couldn't on the fighting line. It was a lucky thing for us we were clear, or else we might have found our baggage gone and ourselves put over the border (i.e. sent to Pretoria or shot). The Boers took up position in the hills and shelled the waggon convoy. The nigger drivers are terrible cowards, and all fled to the hills or kopjes near at hand, leaving the waggons and oxen to the mercy of the Boers. Some of the oxen we succeeded in driving back into our camp on the other side of the river. The good old New Zealanders (who have proved of great use and very daring in this campaign) rode over to where the nigger drivers were, and threatened to blow their brains out if they didn't return to the waggons, which they did after the Boers had left off shelling for a bit, after doing a terrible lot of damage. Lord Bobs came up just as they were going to try and get some of the waggons away, and said 'Let them go.' Our loss proved to be over £100,000, which I am glad to say we recovered later. The Boers thought this convoy was lost purposely, and when we arrived here we found the whole of it except what had been sent to our prisoners at Pretoria." [Illustration: TROOP OF THE 10TH HUSSARS WITH NORDENFELDT GUN. Photo by H. Johnston, London.] The unpleasant adventures of E Squadron of Kitchener's Light Horse, who were taken as prisoners to Pretoria, make a separate narrative of themselves, as they took place while the main body was moving on to the relief of Kimberley. The squadron was attached to General French's column, and took part in the engagement at Riet River. On its way to the relief of Kimberley, a halt was made at a farm a short distance from Modder River, and part of E squadron was detached to hold a well of water until the arrival of another column, expected in four hours, and then to advance along with them. The relieving column never arrived. Squadron E held the position for four days without food against a large force of Boers. They (E Squadron) occupied an old farmhouse. They loopholed the walls, and although continuously harassed by the Boer fire, they managed to maintain their position and the post they were placed in charge of. During that time they had to subsist on water only, and that brackish. Their horses were dying daily, as there was not a blade of grass on the veldt, and the stench was abominable. On the third day of the siege a poor goat that had wandered near the besieged was immediately captured and devoured. On the fourth day they commandeered one of the enemy's horses, which they intended to slaughter, their own being too emaciated for that purpose. But the Boers, having been reinforced, gave them no time to do the butchering. On the evening of the fourth day a messenger bearing a letter from General de Wet arrived, demanding surrender within ten minutes. The Boer force consisted of 500 men and two 12-pounders. The officers consulted together, and decided, in view of the hopeless condition of their little garrison of fifty all told, worn out and starving and their horses dead, to accept the inevitable. While all this was going on, and Cronje was making the discovery that he might be completely outflanked, and that the position of the Boer army at Spyfontein must become untenable, Lord Roberts was entering into Jacobsdal. The place was orderly and quiet. The three churches were full of patients, the town having been used mainly as an hospital. The invalids, for the most part, were sufferers from enteric, the result of too much Modder River. After a long and painful intimacy with the grilling veldt, the sight of houses and civilised dwellings struck gratefully on the eyes of the incoming troops. A store was hailed as a veritable godsend. Some one bought a tin of oatmeal, and walked off with it as one who had secured a prize; some one else gave a goodly price for a pot of pickles, and came away licking his lips like a modern Eliogabalus. The rejoicing was no mean emotion, for the unfortunate men, with the appetites of athletes, had been existing on lovers' fare. One of the famished but cheery fellows wrote: "We marched into Jacobsdal, and as soon as we arrived we thronged the stores for provisions. I made the following purchases for three of us:-- _s._ _d._ Three two-pound loaves at 1s. each 3 0 Three tins of condensed milk at 1s. each 3 0 Two tins of syrup at 1s. 3d. each 2 6 One small packet of cocoa 0 9 One tin of Quaker oats 1 3 One pound of sugar 0 6 -------- 11 0 Then we gorged ourselves to make up for three weeks' semi-starvation. The most prominent building of Jacobsdal is the church, which stands in the centre of the town. The town itself lies in a hollow--Sleepy Hollow would be an apt title for the place just now. Most of the houses, including the church, are at present converted into hospitals, and the female population are acting as nurses. Most of them are in mourning for relatives lost during the campaign." Later, the troops moved on and encamped at a farm which had also been used as an hospital. Sights pathetic were only too common--our own sick and wounded in various stages of suffering, and outside, to use a "Tommy's" description, "some poor devils wrapped in sheets ready to be put to bed for the last time!" [Illustration: GENERAL CRONJE. From a Photo by M. Plumbe.] Lord Roberts visited the large German hospital, and expressed himself well pleased with the splendid cleanliness of the place and the general evidences of good management. Among the sufferers was found Colonel Henry, who had been taken prisoner on the 14th. Strangely enough, all the inhabitants of the place evinced satisfaction at the arrival of the British, particularly on making the discovery that it was not the habit of the British troops to loot and destroy, as they had been led by the Burghers to believe was the case. They were now made acquainted with the proclamation which Lord Roberts issued to the Burghers of the Orange Free State when his force invaded their territory. It was printed both in English and Dutch:-- "The British troops under my command having entered the Orange Free State, I feel it my duty to make known to all Burghers the cause of our coming, as well as to do all in my power to put an end to the devastation caused by this war, so that, should they continue the war, the inhabitants of the Orange Free State may not do so ignorantly, but with full knowledge of their responsibility before God for the lives lost in the campaign. "Before the war began the British Government, which had always desired and cultivated peace and friendship with the people of the Orange Free State, gave a solemn assurance to President Steyn that, if the Orange Free State remained neutral, its territory would not be invaded, and its independence would be at all times fully respected by Her Majesty's Government. "In spite of that declaration, the Government of the Orange Free State was guilty of a wanton and unjustifiable invasion of British territory. "The British Government believes that this act of aggression was not committed with the general approval and free will of a people with whom it has lived in complete amity for so many years. It believes that the responsibility rests wholly with the Government of the Orange Free State, acting, not in the interests of the country, but under mischievous influences from without. The British Government, therefore, wishes the people of the Orange Free State to understand that it bears them no ill-will, and, so far as is compatible with the successful conduct of the war and the re-establishment of peace in South Africa, it is anxious to preserve them from the evils brought upon them by the wrongful action of their Government. "I therefore warn all Burghers to desist from any further hostility towards Her Majesty's Government and the troops under my command, and I undertake that any of them who may so desist, and who are found staying in their homes and quietly pursuing their ordinary occupations, will not be made to suffer in their persons or property on account of their having taken up arms in obedience to the order of their Government. Those, however, who oppose the forces under my command, or furnish the enemy with supplies or information, will be dealt with according to the customs of war. "Requisitions for food, forage, fuel, or shelter made on the authority of the officers in command of Her Majesty's troops, must be at once complied with; but everything will be paid for on the spot, prices being regulated by the local market rates. If the inhabitants of any district refuse to comply with the demands made on them, the supplies will be taken by force, a full receipt being given. "Should any inhabitant of the country consider that he or any member of his household has been unjustly treated by any officer, soldier, or civilian attached to the British army, he should submit his complaint, either personally or in writing, to my headquarters or to the headquarters of the nearest general officer. Should the complaint on inquiry be substantiated, redress will be given. "Orders have been issued by me prohibiting soldiers from entering private houses or molesting the civil population on any pretext whatever, and every precaution has been taken against injury to property on the part of any person belonging to or connected with the army. "ROBERTS, _Field-Marshal, Commanding-in-Chief, South Africa_." THE HERDING OF CRONJE To return to General French. The cavalry division bivouacked outside the town of Kimberley, but their repose was limited. At 3 A.M. on the morning of the 16th they were up and doing. The enemy in the north was giving trouble. Some sharp fighting took place, during which Lieutenants Brassey (9th Lancers) and P. Bunbury were killed. This early activity was tough work for the already weary troops, who had been fifteen hours without a meal. Indeed, it was generally remarked that the relievers looked sorrier specimens of humanity than the relieved. The Colonial troops, the Queensland and New Zealand Contingents, and the New South Wales Lancers, considering all things, were wonderfully fit after having played a conspicuous part in the operations. These troops had joined General French's column from the regions of the Orange and Modder Rivers. The New South Wales Lancers rode on the extreme right flank of the first brigade, and their ambulance corps, under Lieutenant Edwards, kept up with the column, and was complimented on being the first ambulance to cross the Modder River. Like the rest of the troops, they had taken their share of small rations, merely nominal rest, sun-scorching, and maddening thirst, and yet were full of zeal--"keen as mustard," as some one said--to engage in the herding of Cronje and effect his capture. Worn out as they were, they had sprung to attention on a rumour brought in by a despatch-rider to the effect that Cronje had evacuated Majersfontein and was in full retreat. At midnight on the 16th, no confirmation of this news had been received. The jaded troops, and still more jaded horses--mere skeletons in horse's skins--were preparing for real repose, when all was changed! A telegram arrived from Lord Kitchener saying that Cronje, with 10,000 men, was in full retreat from Majersfontein, with all his waggons and equipment and four guns, along the north bank of the Modder River towards Bloemfontein; that he had already fought a rearguard action with him; and that if French, with all available horses and guns, could head him and prevent his crossing the river, the infantry from Klip Drift would press on and annihilate or take the whole force prisoners. Here was a surprise! Pleasant yet unpleasant, for shattered men in the last stage of fatigue. But General French--whom some one has described as possessing the shape of a brick, with all the solid and excellent qualities of one--rose to the occasion. He was on the point of going to sleep, but there was no thought of rest now. Arrangements had to be made, horses weeded--out of a division of 5000 only one brigade was fit to move!--more borrowed from the Kimberley Light Horse, whose holiday-time had come, and other preparations hurriedly set on foot to ensure an immediate rush--a swoop that should be as swift and successful as it was startling! One may imagine the midnight picture. The dark immensity of veldt--the dust-driven, sweltering veldt--and Cronje, miles ahead with his horde, the remnant of his convoy, his women and children, fleeing along the north bank of the Modder, harassed by the Sixth Division, threatened by the Seventh and Ninth, and yet longing to cross the river, to get safely to Koodoosrand Drift, where he hourly expected reinforcements would come to his succour. French, dead beat after glorious work accomplished, rising from the first hospitable pillow he had seen for days--springing suddenly to action, ordering, organising, deciding how to effect the great swoop on Koodoosrand Drift and head off the fugitive. There was no time for the buckling on of mental and moral armour; only the warrior at soul could have been ready for such a situation. But such an one was here. He gave swift orders. In three hours' time General Broadwood and his brigade and three batteries of artillery--the only ones available out of seven--sallied forth towards the east, in the dusk of the morning. Their destination--Koodoosrand Drift--was some forty miles off, and once here Cronje's last loophole of escape would be gone! The General and his staff followed at 4.15 A.M., riding at full speed, and catching up the brigade about fifteen miles off. The whole nature of their errand and the proposed movement was a surprise, for this manoeuvre had not entered into General French's original calculations. When the General had seen the Sixth Division safely at Klip Drift and secured his left flank, he proceeded on his rush to Kimberley. Of other movements save his own he was ignorant. Even as he and the troops were riding into the town, Cronje, who had discovered the futility of his position at Majersfontein and the danger of it, was trekking madly across the front of the Sixth Division. On the morning of the 16th Lord Kitchener, hearing that the Majersfontein laager and the Modder River camp were deserted, and seeing a cloud of dust in the distance, had guessed what was happening, and immediately altered his plans to meet the emergency. As we are aware, he instantly gave orders for the mounted infantry not to follow French, but to pursue and attack the Boer convoy, while he telegraphed later to French, with the results just described. General French grasped the position at a glance. He knew no time was to be lost, and soon Broadwood's brigade, with horses that could barely move, was pushing on as fast as spurs could insist. The early morning dusk broke into the green and grey and gold of dawn; birds flew frightened hither and thither; foxes rushed to their holes; springbok and hares tempted the sportsmen, but never a glance to right or left was wasted. All eyes were strained to the east, to the momentous east, and the wooded banks of the distant river. Nearer and ever nearer they came--specks were seen on the horizon--men?--horses?--the enemy moving?--scudding away before he could be cornered? No--Yes? A moment of excitement, anguish--joy! The General had mounted a kopje, reconnoitred, and discovered the truth. It was Cronje's force--the remnants of his convoy some 4000 yards off--the convoy streaming down into the drifts that lead to Petrusberg and thence to Bloemfontein! They must never reach that destination! Kitchener's words--"Head him and prevent his crossing the river"--so simple in sound, so complex in execution, thrilled every heart. Quickly the guns were got into action--grandly--almost magically--the first shot plumped--bang! in front of the leading waggon just as the convoy was preparing to descend the drift! What a reveillé! Cronje, as we know, was rushing from the clutches of the Sixth Division at Drieputs. Breathless, he gathered himself together. Suddenly he found himself assailed by a new force--a new terror! He divined in a moment what had happened. It was French, the ubiquitous French--French redivivus, as it were--who was putting the finishing touch to the chapter of disaster. Poor Captain Boyle, in his letter to the _Nineteenth Century_, thus described the great Dutchman's plight:-- "His only chance now was to sacrifice his guns and convoy, and cut his way across the river under the heavy fire of our guns. Immediately on the first shell bursting in the laager, about thirty Boers galloped out to seize a kopje on our right, afterwards called Roberts' Hill; but the 10th Hussars in a neck-and-neck race had the legs of them, and seizing the hill in advance, beat them off with their carbine and Maxim fire. The Boers from their laager answered our shell fire for a short time with great accuracy from two or three guns. But these were quickly silenced, and shell after shell from Artillery Hill fell plump into the laager. Finally, our second battery was moved to a little distance from Roberts' Hill and opened fire from the southern slope on to a kopje to which the Boers had retired. All that afternoon at intervals our guns poured shells into the laager, but no response came, and we spent our time watching the Boers, now 3000 yards away, entrenching themselves in the open and along the river-bank. Their waggons caught fire and the ammunition exploded, and as they realised their position more and more, so must their hearts have sunk. Anxiously must they have waited for the first sign of the infantry gathering round, as anxiously as we did in our turn watching from the high kopjes. "The cavalry, worn out as they were and without food, had to hold the kopjes and water their horses in turn some five miles off. They got what grazing they could in the kopjes as they lay there, for no corn had come on from Kimberley, and neither men nor horses had had any food except the three days' rations with which they originally started from Klip Drift the Thursday before, a good deal of which had been shaken off the saddles or lost in the long gallop up the plain to Kimberley. The General, the men, the horses, all alike had to live on what was found at Kamilfontein--a few mealies, a few onions, and the crumbs of biscuits in our pockets were all we had until some Free Staters' sheep and cattle were rounded and killed. Had it not been for this plentiful supply of meat, the men must have fared very badly for the next three days. No transport came in until Monday night, and the horses had but 1½ lb. of corn in three days. The men were put on half rations of biscuits even after the transport arrived. "Meanwhile, on Saturday afternoon about 5 P.M. Broadwood sent word to French that in the far distance he observed the dust rising, which he took for Kelly-Kenny's division. French returned to Roberts' Hill, and, until the sun set, anxiously awaited the arrival of the infantry--but they marched but slowly. From 6 P.M. till 7 P.M. we opened fire again from our batteries to show Lord Kitchener our exact positions." The splendid work done by the Royal Horse Artillery was described by another eye-witness. He said: "I will give you an idea of what good gunners we have in the Artillery. General French said to one of the gunners, 'See those three waggons over there? (a distance of about 3½ miles); see what you can do with them.' The gunner fired three shell, and the waggons were no more." We must now watch the progress of the other portions of the force who were actively engaged in taking their share in the huge undertaking. Colonel Stephenson's brigade, on the night of the 16th (while General French was learning the great news), had re-crossed the river at Klip Drift, and on the morning of the 17th (at the same hour as Broadwood's brigade was moving from Kimberley) had marched to the south of the river with the same intention--that of heading off Cronje at Paardeberg and Koodoosrand Drift. Thus, with Broadwood's brigade on one side, and Stephenson's on the other, Cronje's prospects of escape were scarcely worth a dime. The _Times'_ correspondent, talking of Colonel Stephenson's troops on the morning of the fateful 17th, said:-- "They were joined about ten at Klipkraal Drift by Knox's brigade, which marched along the northern bank. The mounted infantry, pushing on, reached Paardeberg Drift that evening, and encamped on rising ground close to the south bank. The infantry, leaving Klipkraal at six in the evening, made a night march for Paardeberg Drift, but, missing their way, slightly passed the Drift and bivouacked on some rising ground nearly two miles beyond, separated from the river by a smooth plain shelving gently down to it. The mistake was a fortunate one, as it brought the infantry almost opposite to the place where Cronje had determined to cross. Cronje had left Drieputs during the night after the battle, abandoning seventy-eight waggons, and pushed on along the north bank of the river during Saturday for Koodoosrand Drift. Soon after passing north of Paardeberg Drift he heard that French had already returned from Kimberley, and was holding a line of high kopjes running north-west from Koodoosrand Drift, and completely commanding the drift. Wheeling his waggons to the right across the plain, he laagered on the north bank of the river at Wolveskraal Farm. This was opposite to a drift of the same name, about half-way between Paardeberg and Koodoosrand Drifts, being about four miles in a straight line from each. Here he intended to cross on Sunday morning. But already, during the night, he became aware of the presence of the mounted infantry south of Paardeberg Drift, and decided that he could not get his convoy away without fighting. Probably Cronje did not realise that Kelly-Kenny's infantry could have already marched up and occupied the rising ground not three thousand yards south of Wolveskraal Drift; still less could he know that General Colvile's division (whose endurance had been extraordinary) was but a few miles behind, and was to reach Paardeberg Drift before daybreak. If Cronje had known this, there is little doubt that he would have promptly sacrificed all his transport and all his guns in order to get his men away and escape from the trap into which he was now caught. As it was, he sent a great part of his force to line the river-bed all the way down to Paardeberg Drift, in order to act as a rear-guard and check any attempt to interfere with his crossing Wolveskraal Drift at his leisure." Later on, the Ninth Division, with the Highland Brigade, who had made a forced march from Jacobsdal, arrived on the scene just in time to see the Boers sending up rockets to show their position to expected reinforcements. And there is little doubt that Cronje, unable to realise the expeditious advance of "lumbering Britons," mistook General Colvile's troops for the longed-for relief. Among the missing from near Paardeberg were Lieutenants Romilly (Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry) and Metge (Welsh Regiment), and Captains Arnold and Vaughan of Kitchener's Horse. Here we have the position of affairs as they stood on the night of the 17th and on the morning of the 18th, when the trap so ingeniously set for Cronje commenced to close little by little--north, south, east, and west. Everywhere he turned the detestable rooineks menaced him, and he who so lately had eaten his breakfast to the tune of his 100-pounder gun, that belched ruin and mutilation over the whole region of Kimberley, was now constrained to breakfast to a new and disagreeable inversion of an identical melody! THE BATTLE OF PAARDEBERG On Sunday, the 18th of February, the most exciting action of the war took place. It was costly as it was momentous, for it served to decide the fate of the fleeing Dutchman. The scene of the drama was not unpicturesque. From the Paardeberg to the Koodoosrand Drift the Modder flowed along a deep hollow from thirty to a hundred yards in depth. To either side the forks of small dongas radiated, while the high banks were fringed with the feathery foliage of the mimosa and willow. Donga and tree stump afforded excellent cover for the slim adversary, sniper or scout. The river travelled from Koodoosrand Drift west-south-west, deviating southwards on either side of the Wolveskraal Drift. A vast expanse of veldt, some two thousand yards wide, shelved down towards the south bank of the river, fringed by higher ground; and this grassy plain extending eastwards joined a circle of kopjes now known as Kitchener's Hill. On the opposite, the north bank of the river, was another similar plain, dotted with minor kopjes to within a thousand yards of the river, and beyond them was the higher hump of Paardeberg Hill. The action began at dawn. Firing grew hotter and hotter with the growth of the morning, and soon pandemonium was let loose. While part of the mounted infantry was forcing the rearguard up the river another part was manoeuvring on the right front and flank of the enemy. The Dutchmen meanwhile from King's Kop turned on a quick-firing Hotchkiss gun, which swept the flat country from the kop to the southern bank of the river. The antagonists had both posted themselves on the north bank of the river--both banks of which were level, and this expanse afforded no cover for movements. Over this expanse the Ninth Brigade had to move, struggling through a zone of fire towards the concealed enemy. Cronje by this time had realised that his position was critical--almost hopeless. Bringing his fine military qualities to bear on the situation, he decided to make the best of a bad job, and entrench himself with all the skill possible. He held about one square mile of the river-bed on either side of Wolveskraal Drift, and beyond that he knew were encircling kopjes, each one concealing its multitude of rooineks. On the east, slowly creeping up, were the menacing numbers of Tucker's Division; on the west the vast crowds of the mounted infantry and the Sixth Division; on the south were field-guns little more than a mile off, threatening to shower destruction from Gun Hill, while on the north were Naval guns and howitzers. Indeed, everywhere was fate frowning, obdurate, vengeful. But the Dutchman retained his pluck and his wits. He even believed that with everything against him he might yet employ the same tactics which had nonplussed Lord Methuen at Modder River. He still retained a poor opinion of his adversary, and his delusion lent him confidence. He hurriedly built trenches, that in themselves were masterpieces of defensive art, and took up his headquarters in the centre, in a red brick house--a species of travellers' hostelry, which may be found near all drifts in South Africa. Here at night Mrs. Cronje joined him. During the day she was placed in the women's shelter at the east side of the area, which shelter was protected by waggons and trenches all along the bed of the river. Talking of these trenches, the correspondent of the _Times_ declared that "the skill with which they were constructed as defences against both rifle and shell fire was worthy of the highest praise. All except those of the outer lines of pickets were made so narrow and deep that it seems as though they were in many cases entered from one end rather than the top, as any such ingress must even in a week's time have considerably widened the neck of the excavation. At the top they were perhaps eighteen inches wide, at the bottom about three feet, and by crouching down the most complete protection was afforded from bursting shell. "Every natural protection, such as the ramifications of the dongas which eat into the banks on both sides of the river, had been utilised, though the bombardment from both sides compelled them to abandon their first hasty breastworks cut into the actual top of the bank, which was here from about fifty to a hundred yards from the river itself, and thirty feet in height. "For the first time here the 'T' trenches, of which much has been said during the present campaign, were used. They did not seem to present the least advantage over the ordinary shapes, except that in an exposed angle they may have provided additional protection against an enfilading fire." Cronje's first object in entrenching himself in the bed of the river was to arrest the further advance of the mounted infantry, who had taken possession of the bed of the river west of his position. In this he was successful. Worn, harassed, and almost helpless, he determined to make a desperate stand, hoping against hope to gain time till some help from without should arrive. But this help never reached him. A grand enveloping movement commenced, and Cronje, brought to bay, found himself face to face with what proved to be his Sedan. By this time he and his followers were snugly ensconced in bush and donga and scrub round the laager, and from the trees around they vigorously sniped and poured volleys at the advancing troops. In the advance to the attack the Highland Brigade was on the left, General Knox's brigade in the centre and on the right, while General Smith Dorrien's brigade, after crossing the river by Paardeberg Drift, moved along the north bank. The Highland Brigade had a terrific duty. The Boers, from their position in the bed of the river and on both sides of it, commanded the left of the Brigade, and as the kilted mass moved forward in the open poured upon them a deadly fire, which forced them to lie prone for the rest of the day. Here at noon, when bullets were humming their loudest, General Hector Macdonald was wounded. He had dismounted, and was directing the movements of the brigade, when overtaken by a shot which penetrated thigh and foot. Despite this unlucky accident and a tremendous spell of hard fighting, the brigade exhibited splendid pluck and tenacity. They were destitute of cover, but maintained their position with astonishing fortitude, and this after the long forced march they had made from Jacobsdal, and while enduring the tortures of maddening thirst, which could not be assuaged. A heavy thunderstorm mercifully overtook them in the course of the afternoon and raindrops large as gooseberries clattered down their relieving moisture on the parched and exhausted troops. [Illustration: THE BATTLE OF PAARDEBERG. Drawing by Sidney Paget from a Sketch by W. B. Wollen, R.I.] On the north bank of the river was Cronje's laager, an environment of waggons, carts, ammunition, and stores. While General Smith Dorrien's force, among which were the Canadians, Gordons, and Shropshires, attempted to charge into the laager, they too were vigorously shelled by the enemy, who, undefeatable, held on valiantly to a kopje on the south bank of the river. Here they posted a Vickers-Maxim and other deadly weapons, and in a measure divided our force in two. The Seaforths and the Cornwall Regiment made a splendid charge with the bayonet, and drove the Boers from their cover round the drift, but in the glorious rush both the Colonel and Adjutant of the Cornwalls were stricken down. Ninety-six of the men were wounded, but they now held the north-west side of the enemy's position. [Illustration: PLAN OF THE BOER LAAGERS AND TRENCHES AND THE BRITISH POSITIONS AT PAARDEBERG. (By an Officer of the Royal Field Artillery.)] On the east the Sixth Division was hard at work tackling a horde of Boers, who made a last despairing lunge in order to burst through the entangling forces and push for the south bank of the river. The effort was stubborn as it was desperate, but they were defeated by the dash of the West Riding Regiment, who pressed forward with the bayonet and succeeded in seizing the drift. Many splendid fellows were wounded and slain in the collision. Meanwhile the artillery continued to direct their incessant thunder against the laager, pouring in a deluge of destruction from all quarters, and forcing the Dutchmen to shrink within the space, little more than a mile square, into which they had so hurriedly scrambled. General Kelly-Kenny having possessed himself of both Klip Drift and Koodoosrand Drift, the Boers were now enclosed east and west. But here, crunched in a veritable death-trap, they fought tenaciously. Worn, harassed, and weakened by their hurried march, they yet held a stubborn front to our assaulting troops, and from the cramped region of their laager did as much damage as it was possible to do. The Canadians, who had behaved with conspicuous gallantry in the attack on the laager, lost nineteen killed and sixty-three wounded. A description of the fight as seen from their point of view was given by a private in the 1st Contingent:-- "We left Klip Drift on the Modder River at 6 P.M. Saturday, and marched all night until seven on Sunday morning, covering 23 miles. During the march we could hear the guns ahead. I was orderly man for Sunday, so, removing my pack, I went to the river for water. Just a little way up the river a brisk fire opened up. When I got back to our lines I found them issuing a ration of rum. I had mine, and it just braced me up. "By this time the engagement was pretty brisk. Our brigade was ordered on the left of the river, which we crossed at a ford just in rear of the camp. The Shropshires crossed first, then followed the Canadians and Gordons. The water was up to our necks. Some went deeper and had to swim. We crossed in fours, holding on to each other, formed up in column and advanced a short distance, when we extended to seven paces in skirmishing order. C Company formed to support A Company. "By this time the bullets were coming pretty thickly, and we had some very narrow squeaks. We reinforced A Company at 500 yards and opened fire. The Boer fire was heavy, and some of our boys had been hit, but we soon subdued the fire. Their position was in the river, and we were lying out in the open, no cover of any kind except a few anthills. We could see very little to fire at except the fire from their guns. Our line was in a crescent shape, the right on the river, and the left extended along about 500 yards. In the afternoon our troops were ordered to cease fire. As soon as we stopped they started sniping, which made us hug the ground. "Shortly after joining the firing line Captain Arnold of A Company was struck. The Boers started a murderous fire on the stretcher-bearers who carried him away, a trick they did all day long. Towards evening the left was ordered to reinforce the right. It was a daring move, but we did it by running down in threes and fours. At dark all the forces retired, and quite a few men volunteered to search for the wounded. I was out all night until four the next morning, when I laid down played out. I never want to witness such terrible sights as I saw that night again. Whenever we showed ourselves in the moonlight the sharpshooters would fire at us. We were all up early next morning, but the Boers had retired farther up the river. So we collected our wounded and buried the dead. I was helping a hospital sergeant, and he sent two of us up the river to search for wounded. We found a few, and also came across a wounded Boer, whom we bandaged and took back to camp. We also came across a few dead. We questioned the Boer, and he said that they had retired during the night, carrying their wounded and throwing the dead into the river. After dinner, which we had about four, we went out on outpost duty. During the night there was quite a little firing going on. This morning we advanced towards the position again, and about ten o'clock retired for some breakfast and advanced again. Although under fire all day we did not fire, but the artillery certainly played Cain with them." Captain Arnold's wound was mortal, but Lieutenant Mason, who was also shot, was not dangerously hurt. A Colonial, writing from the front at Paardeberg, said that fighting "went on during the day until about five o'clock, when the Cornwalls arrived in support. The officer commanding this battalion seemed to think that too much time had already been spent in fighting the Boers, so ordered the charge. The result was fatal to the Cornwalls, as they had to retire. The Canadians, acting under the orders of the commanding officer of the Cornwalls as senior officer, also charged, and with a like result; but the Canadians, in place of retiring, simply lay down and remained. It was during this charge that most of the fatalities occurred. The unfortunate commanding officer of the Cornwalls was killed, and Captain Arnold and Lieutenant Mason of the Canadians wounded. The Brigadier subsequently expressed his regret that the charge took place, but at the same time warmly congratulated the Canadians on their behaviour, as did Lord Roberts also." Of gallantry and daring there was no end. From dawn till sunset raged a battle of appalling fierceness, of magnificent persistency. From drift to drift the hollows reverberated with the perpetual roll of musketry, the brawling of multifarious guns, the hoarse cheers of charging troops, the shouts of the unflinching enemy. Curling smoke burst in wreaths and garlands from the sides of the hills and rose against the purple of thunder-clouds; flaring tongues of vengeful flame danced and forked their reflections of heaven's lightnings; spouts and torrents of water poured from the sky, mingling with the heroical blood of Britain's best, that trickled in rivulets, north, south, east, and west of the scene, and traced far and wide the history of sacrifice on the now sacred ground. For all this, the position of the contending parties remained unchanged--Cronje defiant and enclosed, the British lion crouching, watching. At dusk the scene was weirdly, terrifically picturesque. From the south and north sides of the river shells hurtled through the air, falling and exploding along the river-bed, now setting fire to a waggon, now a cart, and filling the gloom with lurid panoramas of flame and an awe-striking, ceaseless din. Once an ammunition waggon was struck. Then the blaze and crackling which followed, intermingling as they did with the roar of artillery and the rattle of rifles, made a fitting concert for Hades. And to the tune of this demoniacal intermezzo the cordon round the enemy was gradually closing, his last chances of escape were one by one being sealed, the last links in Lord Roberts' strategical chain were being forged. At night there was peace. The Modder might have been the placid purling Thames winding along between fringed and sloping banks to the bosom of the sea. But there was none to admire the pretty scene. All were worn out, and glad to drop to sleep where they had fought, while the bearer-parties--"body-snatchers," as they were jocosely styled--picked their way in the darkness, doing their deeds of mercy with zealous, unflagging perseverance. During this time many deserters from the enemy came in. They had seen the hopelessness of their case, and had been urging, uselessly, the implacable Cronje to surrender. The following is the list of those who were killed and wounded during the fight:-- _Killed_:--Mounted Infantry--Colonel Hannay.[1] 2nd Warwick--Lieutenant Hankay. Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry--Lieutenant-Colonel Aldworth,[2] Captain E. P. Wardlaw, Captain Newbury. Seaforth Highlanders--Second Lieutenant M'Clure. Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders--Lieutenant Courtenay. West Riding Regiment--Lieutenant Siordet. 1st Yorkshire--Second Lieutenant Neave. Oxford Light Infantry--Lieutenant Bright, Second Lieutenant Ball-Acton. _Wounded_:--Staff--Major-General Knox (13th Brigade), Major-General Hector MacDonald (3rd Brigade). Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry--Captain J. H. Maunder, Lieutenant H. W. Fife, Second Lieutenant J. W. C. Fife, Second Lieutenant R. M. Grigg. Seaforth Highlanders--Captain G. C. Fielden, Captain E. A. Cowans, Captain G. M. Lumsden, Lieutenant J. P. Grant, Second Lieutenant D. P. Monypenny (died of wounds), Second Lieutenant A. R. Moncrieff. 1st Gordon Highlanders--Second Lieutenant W. B. J. Nutford. Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders--Lieutenant C. N. Macdonald, Lieutenant G. Thorpe, Second Lieutenant G. A. Akers-Douglas, Second Lieutenant F. G. S. Cunningham. Black Watch--Lieutenant-Colonel A. M. Carthew-Yorkstoun, Major Hon. H. E. Maxwell, Major T. M. N. Berkeley, Captain J. G. H. Hamilton, Lieutenant J. G. Grieve (N.S.W. forces attached). West Riding Regiment--Captain F. J. de Gex, Captain H. D. E. Greenwood. 1st Yorkshire--Lieutenant-Colonel H. Bowles, Major Kirkpatrick, Lieutenant C. V. Edwards, Captain A. C. Buckle (South Stafford attached). Oxford Light Infantry--Major Day, Captain Watt, Lieutenant Hammich. East Kent Regiment--Captain Geddes. Shropshire Light Infantry--Captain Gubbins, Captain Smith, Lieutenant English, Second Lieutenant Kettlewell. Canadians--Captain H. M. Arnold (since died of wounds), Lieutenant J. C. Mason, Lieutenant Armstrong. R.A.M.C.--Captain J. E. C. Canter. Lieutenant G. H. Goddard. East Surrey--Captain A. H. S. Hart. 2nd Lincoln--Second Lieutenant Dockray Waterhouse. 1st Yorkshire--Second Lieutenant W. G. Turbet. 2nd Oxford Light Infantry--Captain Fanshawe, Lieutenant Stapleton. 2nd Bedford--Captain R. W. Waldy, Lieutenant Selous. 2nd Norfolk--Lieutenant Cramer-Roberts. 1st Welsh--Lieutenant-Colonel Banfield, Major Ball. 2nd East Kent--Captain Godfrey-Faussett, accidentally shot (died February 21). 1st West Riding--Captain Taylor, Captain Harris. Roberts' Horse--Lieutenant A. Grant. Argyll and Sutherland--Captain N. Malcolm, D.S.O. 1st Gordon Highlanders--Lieutenant Ingilby. 1st Welsh Regiment--Major Harkness, Lieutenant F. A. Jones, Lieutenant Veal. Mounted Infantry--Lieutenant-Colonel Tudway (1st Essex). 1st Essex--Captain Milward, Second Lieutenant Thomson. _Missing_:--Captain Lennox, 81st Field Battery R.A. The following table gives the distribution of the losses among officers:-- _Killed._ _Wounded._ _Missing._ _Total._ Staff -- 2 -- 2 2nd Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry 3 4 -- 7 2nd Seaforth Highlanders 1 6 -- 7 1st Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders 1 4 -- 5 1st West Riding Regiment 1 2 -- 3 1st Yorkshire Regiment 1 4 -- 5 1st Oxfordshire Light Infantry 2 3 -- 5 2nd East Kent Regiment -- 1 -- 1 1st Gordon Highlanders -- 1 -- 1 2nd Royal Highlanders -- 4 -- 4 2nd Shropshire Light Infantry -- 4 -- 4 Royal Canadian Regiment -- 2 -- 2 Royal Army Medical Corps -- 2 -- 2 81st Battery R.A. -- -- 1 1 --- --- --- --- Total 9 39 1 49 The heaviness of this list and the evenness with which the casualties were shared bear witness to the dash and daring displayed by all the battalions engaged. A good deal of comment subsequently took place regarding the methods adopted during this day's warfare, and many were of opinion that the attempt to take the position by assault was unnecessarily wasteful of life. Considering the positions of the various regiments on the morning of the battle, it seemed as though the encircling of the enemy and forcing him to submission by a slow process of pressure would have served equally well to bring about the inevitable end. But again it has been urged that there was at the time no knowing how soon reinforcements might come to the assistance of Cronje, or what results might accrue from permitting the Boers--at the time breathless and weary--to gather themselves together for fresh resistance. Delay was evidently the one thing that Cronje was playing for, and Lord Kitchener, on his side, was averse from risks which might bring about the failure of the vital undertaking. TRAPPED The enemy had little rest. The small hours were spent in constructing entrenchments round the laager. All owned that their stubborn energy was admirable, but further active resistance on the part of Cronje was now beginning to be regarded by all--even his own people--as an act of suicide and murder. "It was magnificent, but it was not war," as the Frenchman said. The Mounted Infantry and a battery of artillery next morning turned their attention to an offending kopje, whence the Boers could yet pour their equivalent for "cold water" on the British plans, and while circling round the position were accosted with a morning salutation from the rifles of the Federals on the summit of the hill. Fortunately the fusillade was launched with more vigour than accuracy, and there were no casualties. Pursuing their investigations, the troops discovered a good defensive position and seized it. Early in the morning Cronje sent a white flag, demanding twenty-four hours' armistice for the purpose of burying his dead. This most probably being part of a wary plot to gain time for reinforcements to come to the rescue, a reply was sent back from Lord Kitchener to the effect that it was impossible to grant the request, which must await the arrival of the Commander-in-Chief. Lord Roberts was then on his way from Jacobsdal, and when the matter was referred to him, he at once sent a message refusing to accede to the proposition. General Cronje's reply, being roughly translated, implied that he wished to surrender, but when Lord Kitchener requested him to surrender in person, it was discovered that he had no notion of capitulation--unconditional surrender being the terms offered. Lord Roberts then ordered the resumption of the bombardment. About midday came the rumour that French was at hand, and that he was taking his share of the great hemming-in movement, but the cavalry division was then nowhere in view. Lord Roberts arrived later, and addressed the troops, who welcomed him with cheers. Meanwhile the 18th, 62nd, and 75th field-batteries and the 65th (howitzer) battery surrounded the laager, and commenced an avalanche of destruction, the howitzers battering the river-bed with an enfilading fire, the fumes of lyddite rendering the surrounding air green with noxious vapour. Waggon after waggon of ammunition exploded with infernal uproar, shrapnel and lyddite danced diabolically over the river-bed and laager, yet there were no signs of surrender--not the flutter of a white flag in the direction where remained the obdurate man who, his last chance gone, refused to bow to the inevitable. Prisoners now and then, worn out and disgusted, came in, their rifles slung, and gave themselves up. In the laager were sixty women and girls, they said, and Cronje, "disconsolate and defiant, sat holding Mrs. Cronje's hand and comforting her in the river-bed." Meanwhile Broadwood's brigade had appeared, exhausted and starving. The cavalry had come along the river-bank to Paardeberg in order to reach the forage and the convoy which was accompanying the infantry divisions from Klip Drift. Their state was lamentable, for it must be remembered that General Broadwood had galloped off during the night of the 16th almost provisionless. His brigade had borne the brunt of the fray, for General Gordon had only been able to follow later with some 120 horses out of his whole brigade. Colonel Porter's brigade marched later still, owing to some accident with the telegraph. The work of relieving Kimberley and heading Cronje had cost the cavalry some 990 horses out of a total of 4800. The loss of life, however, had not been excessive considering the strain and the engagements that had taken place between the 14th and 16th, but some goodly young officers were missing. Lieutenant Carbutt (R.H.A.), Lieutenant Brassey (9th Lancers), Lieutenant Hesketh (16th Lancers), and Lieutenant the Hon. M'Clintock Banbury (Scots Greys), were among the killed. Among the wounded were Captain Humfreys (Q Battery), Lieutenant Houston (P Battery), Lieut. Barnes (Q Battery), Captain Gordon and Lieut. Durand (9th Lancers), Captain Tuson (16th Lancers), Lieut. Fordyce and Second Lieut. Long (Scots Greys), Lieut. Johnson (Inniskilling Dragoons), Lieut. Gray (Roberts' Horse). The fatigued remnant of the cavalry division now engaged in tackling the reinforcements that Cronje had so ardently expected. In consequence of the huge circumference of the British circle, it was almost impossible to chronicle the innumerable small but brilliant actions which were continually taking place, and which in the excitement of the investment were almost overlooked. On the night of the 19th the Gloucesters performed a dashing though futile feat. In the afternoon they neared a kopje in which the Dutchmen were ensconced. They bided their time, and just as the shades of night began to fall rushed on the enemy with bayonets and drove them off with considerable loss. The positions taken were evacuated, however, during the night. On the 20th the Boers before dawn were again hard at work increasing their entrenchments all round their laager, but their plucky labours were impeded by continual shells which were launched now and again to prevent the work from being carried to completion. Meanwhile from the east came the echo of artillery, a rumour of battle which proved that the untiring French was actively engaged in standing between the Boer reinforcements and Cronje, who still held out gallantly in the fond yet forlorn hope of their ultimate arrival. He was humanely offered many chances to give in, but since he stoutly refused them all, measures were taken by Lord Roberts to bring the fighting to a speedy conclusion. But the doggedly valiant attitude of the enemy was not lost on his assailants. It had been impossible to withhold from Cronje a certain admiration for the masterful manoeuvres which extricated him from his impossible position at Majersfontein, or for the stubborn resistance with which his force, outwitted, harassed by the mounted infantry, and fighting a skilful rearguard action, had succeeded in getting at least thirty-five miles to Koodoosrand Drift. It was now equally impossible to overlook the magnificent energy of the man, who, with his means of flight at an end, his 50,000 lbs. of ammunition sacrificed, his stores captured, his oxen exhausted to the death, with almost certain defeat staring him in the face, could turn and fight an action both ferocious and sanguinary. Moreover, by the sheer magnetism of his personality he forced his followers to show a bold front and maintain a desperate, almost fatuous, courage in the face of the most terrific shelling that the century has known. [Illustration: CRONJE'S STRONGHOLD ON THE MODDER RIVER. Drawing by H. C. Seppings Wright, from a Sketch by Frederic Villiers, War Artist.] Little by little the enclosing circle began to grow narrower. The infantry--the Cornwalls assisted by the Engineers--again set to work to push the enemy still farther back into the river, but otherwise little advance was made. The position was now sufficiently terrible for the enemy. Cronje's trap was about a mile square, while commanding it in every direction were guns multifarious; bushes and banks and ravines were swept by cataracts of shrapnel, while volumes of greenish-yellow smoke from bursting lyddite curved and twisted around the river-bed, then carried their noxious vapour to the serene sapphire of the heavens. In the clear atmosphere the reiterations of Maxims filled up the pauses between the steady booming of artillery, while now and again the impotent despairing splutter of rifles from the enemy's laager mingled with the stertorous rampage. On the fourth day of Cronje's resistance what might have been an unfortunate incident occurred. The Gloucester and Essex regiments by an accident had bivouacked on the north side of the river too close to the enemy's laager. The result was that on the first gleam of daylight they were discovered by the Dutchmen, who treated them to a volley by way of reveillé. Luckily the firing was not at all up to the Boer mark and the regiments came off scot-free. During the day General Smith Dorrien's force on the north worked towards the doomed laager while General Knox's brigade held the containing lines on the south side of the river. In the east General French was keeping an eye on a swarm of Boers who were hoping to come to the rescue of Cronje. These held a strong position on a kopje which seemed to be specially constructed by nature for defensive purposes. Still, when General Broadwood's brigade and a battery of horse-artillery turned their attention to the summit and scoured it thoroughly, the Dutchmen helter-skelter fled. Unluckily for them, their precipitate action took them straight into the arms of General French, who having headed them towards the drift, now gave them so warm a reception that numbers bit the dust. Some escaped, but fifty were taken prisoners. Forage, provisions, and equipment were also seized, though the corpses of the slain were carried off, so that the tale of loss could not be told. The capture of the kopje was an excellent move, as it was a useful position whence to watch for and intercept reinforcements that might be coming from Ladysmith or elsewhere to the succour of the doomed. A message was sent to the obdurate Commandant offering a safe conduct and a free pass anywhere for the women and children. Lord Roberts also proffered medical attendance and drugs. The offers were curtly rejected. Finding courteous overtures of no avail, the bombardment of the position was resumed, and the artillery continued to fire till dusk put an end to the operations. While the firing was taking place the mules of the 82nd Battery, while still hitched to the waggons, took it into their heads to stampede, causing a scene of the wildest confusion. The next day, however, all save one waggon were recovered. During the night the Shropshire Regiment accomplished a fine feat. They pressed forward some two hundred yards, captured new ground, and there entrenched themselves. It was an excellent finale to four days' incessant work under a withering fire, and by the 22nd they were fairly exhausted. They were then relieved by the Gordons. Here be it noticed that the Gordons were now incorporated with the Highland Brigade, which was thus composed of four kilted regiments. The Highland Light Infantry, who wear "trews," had joined General Smith Dorrien's force. The exchange of positions between the Shropshires and Gordons was effected in a manner worthy of the slim Boer himself, and showed that the Britons had speedily taken practical lessons from their adversaries. The Shropshires having, as said, seized 200 yards of new ground, they were relieved the following morning by the Gordons. The Highlanders, snake-like, wormed themselves forward to the trenches on their stomachs, while the Shropshire men in like manner crawled over the bodies of the relieving force. An officer who witnessed the evolution said, "I have often heard of walking on an empty stomach, but I'm hanged if I've ever seen the feat accomplished so well and so literally." Another tremendous thunderstorm broke over the position, causing considerable discomfort to the troops, but still more to the unhappy creatures who, through the stout resistance of Cronje, were held to all the horrors of the trap into which he had fallen. We were now closing in on every side. A grand attempt was made on the morning of the 23rd to bring help to the Dutchman. Commandant de Wet with a horde of some 1000 Boers, collected from the region of Ladysmith, appeared, and made a desperate effort to thrust himself through the British lines. Part of the force on its way towards its hoped-for destination was luckily accosted from a kopje occupied by the Scottish Borderers. The greeting, smart and accurate, was scarcely to the Dutchmen's liking, and they made off in another direction, but still with the same result. From position to position they were hunted, and in sheer despair they made for an unoccupied kopje, where they hoped at last to make a stand. But they were disappointed. The lively Scottish Borderers were "one too many for them." Seeing the Boers in act of seizing this point of vantage, the Borderers promptly hurled themselves in the coveted direction. There was an animated neck-and-neck race, and the Borderers, who won by a nose, promptly took possession of the hill and completely routed the Federals. Finally the Boers found shelter in a kopje which was _vis-à-vis_ to a like eminence held by the Yorkshires. A passage at arms followed, with the result that the fusillade of the enemy died a natural death. Then the Yorkshires, who had so strenuously brought about this result, were reinforced by the Buffs, lest some more of the Boer hosts from Ladysmith should put in an appearance. At this time the 75th and 62nd Batteries gave tongue from an adjacent farm, but their vociferous notes produced little effect upon the crown of the Boers' stronghold. So great was the silence that the Yorkshires moved on with a view to prodding the enemy in his lair, but, in the attempt, they were so furiously assailed by the shot of the enemy that they, in default of cover, were unable to proceed. Meanwhile the Buffs persevered, moving warily round the position till within 150 yards of the Dutchmen, who were eventually driven off. More than eighty--their horses having been shot--surrendered. On many of these were discovered explosive bullets, and it became evident that desperation was driving the Boers to disregard the rules of civilised warfare. Many of our wounded were found injured by these unholy missiles; and other tricks--barbarous tricks--were reported. On one occasion a Vickers-Maxim gun was directed at an ambulance, which at the time was fortunately unoccupied. During the week our losses were fewer than on the opening day. Captain Dewar and Lieutenant Percival, 4th King's Royal Rifles, and Lieutenant Angell, Welsh Regiment, were killed. Among the wounded were:-- 2nd Gloucester--Lieutenant-Colonel R. F. Lindsell; 2nd Derbyshire--Lieutenant C. D. M. Harrington; 9th Lancers--Captain Campbell; P.R.H.A.--Lieutenant Houston; Royal Engineers--Captain Crookshank; 1st Lincoln--Second Lieutenant Wellesley; Argyll and Sutherland--Lieutenant and Adjutant Glasford; 1st East Kent Regiment (attached 2nd Battalion)--Lieutenant Hickman; 2nd Lincoln--Captain Gardner; King's Own Scottish Borderers--Captain Pratt; East Kent--Captain Marriott; Yorkshire--Captain Pearson, Lieutenant Gunthorpe, 2nd Lieutenant Wardle. Lieutenant Metge (1st Welsh Regiment) was missing. Daily the enemy was squeezed into a smaller space. General Smith Dorrien had now pushed up the river-bed to within two hundred yards of Cronje's entrenchments. The object lesson in perseverance, both on the part of Boers and British, was becoming almost awe-inspiring--the tension was veritably appalling. Soaked with rain to the very skin--the fevered skin that had been scorched, and toasted, and begrimed with dust--our men, grim and fierce, with the storm-winds piping the pipe of death about their ears, held their ground. Rations had been intermittent till the convoys began to come in, and, almost fasting, they had been acutely conscious of the foul, the nauseating atmosphere that now enveloped them like a loathely vaporous entanglement. The river had swollen and bore upon its turbid breast horrific revelations--thousands of rotting carcases and festering loads of poisonous wreckage, that rendered the act even of drawing breath almost a heroism. All along the great march endurance had been put to supreme test, for the track had been margined with the dead bodies of exhausted oxen and horses. These lay littered about, unburied, disembowelled, and in various stages of putrefaction. Everywhere vultures and flies and other loathsome parasites of the veldt hovered and sidled and crawled, glutting themselves at veritable orgies of destruction, and contesting their prizes with the winds. These, taking their fill, hastened to diffuse the remains of the grisly banquet far and wide. Thus the foul dust, wantonly distributed, blew in the throats and eyes and ears of gallant men, and contributed death more liberally, more pitifully, than even the bullets of the Boers! [Illustration: GUNS CAPTURED AT PAARDEBERG. Photo by Alf. S. Hosking, Cape Town.] Plentiful rain had fallen, saturating humanity, and causing the heated ground to retract the fumes of a charnel-house. But in one way better times had come. There was fuller fare. Large convoys made a daily appearance, and the men were refreshed after their labours with the promise of plenty. Food of a substantial kind was indeed necessary, for it served to attune the stomach to the noxious vapours that hourly grew almost tangible. Cronje, though he knew it not, was sowing the seeds of a harvest of revenge! He was killing his thousands! For many days our troops had been enduring lenten fare; they had rung the changes on hardships, fatigues, and self-abnegations of all kinds. They had been battered on by storms. They had outstripped transport and supplies. They had kept the inner man appeased and working on quarter rations. They had marched like giants in ten-league boots, and meanwhile fed like fairies; yet withal had borne countenances cheery and noble, full of confidence and unquenchable pluck. But these splendid creatures were but mortal. The foul fiends of enteric and malaria were already sapping their buoyant constitutions, and marking them, one after another, with the deadly seal of possession. Every day of the Dutchman's resistance was therefore full of horror, full of anxiety. There were continual rumours that the Boer reinforcements were in view, that the Federals were massing for a desperate effort. Wearied and battered, the cavalry at Koodoosrand were perpetually speeding on wild-goose chases, in one of which both General French and Colonel Haig nearly lost their lives. A reconnaissance in force had been ordered. The drift, swollen by rains, was now a torrent, and in crossing the General and his A.D.C. were thrown by their restive horses into the river, whence they only emerged safe and sound in consequence of their being fine swimmers and pneumonia-proof Britons. Cronje, finding that the reinforcements failed to reach him, decided on the night of the 26th to cut his way out and seize a kopje before dawn. But his intention was frustrated by the Mounted Infantry, who, in spite of the darkness, kept a watchful eye on the slippery enemy. Quite early on the morning of the 27th of February, the anniversary of Majuba day, the splutter of musketry greeted the ears of the dozing camp. Some one was up and doing early. It was the Canadians. They were acting on the principle of the early bird that catches the morning worm. Supported by the Gordons, Cornwalls, and Shropshires, they were advancing, building a trench in the very teeth of the enemy, and at fifty yards' range were saluting him with such deadly warmth as to render his position untenable. How this energetic and gallant movement, the wonder and admiration of all, was brought about was described by the correspondent of the _Times_. "It appeared that Brigadier-General MacDonald sent from his bed a note to Lord Roberts, reminding him that Tuesday was the anniversary of that disaster which, we all remembered, he had by example, order, and threat himself done his best to avert, even while the panic had been at its height; Sir Henry Colvile submitted a suggested attack backed by the same unanswerable plea. For a moment Lord Roberts demurred to the plan; it seemed likely to cost too heavily, but the insistance of Canada broke down his reluctance, and the men of the oldest colony were sent out in the small hours of Tuesday morning to redeem the blot on the name of the mother-country. "From the existing trench, some 700 yards long, on the northern bank, held jointly by the Gordons and the Canadians, the latter were ordered to advance in two lines--each, of course, in extended order--thirty yards apart, the first with bayonets fixed, the second reinforced by fifty Royal Engineers under Colonel Kincaid and Captain Boileau. "In dead silence, and covered by a darkness only faintly illuminated by the merest rim of the dying moon, 'with the old moon in her lap,' the three companies of Canadians moved on over the bush-strewn ground. For over 400 yards the noiseless advance continued, and when within eighty yards of the Boer trench the trampling of the scrub betrayed the movement. Instantly the outer trench of the Boers burst into fire, which was kept up almost without intermission from five minutes to three o'clock to ten minutes past the hour. Under this fire the courage and discipline of the Canadians proved themselves. Flinging themselves on the ground, they kept up an incessant fire on the trenches, guided only by the flashes of their enemy's rifles; and the Boers admit that they quickly reduced them to the necessity of lifting their rifles over their heads to the edge of the earthwork and pulling their triggers at random. Behind this line the Engineers did magnificent work; careless of danger, the trench was dug from the inner edge of the bank to the crest, and then for fifty or sixty yards out through the scrub. The Canadians retired three yards to this protection and waited for dawn, confident in their new position, which had entered the protected angle of the Boer position, and commanded alike the rifle-pits of the banks and the trefoil-shaped embrasures on the north." For some time it seemed as though hostilities were suspended, and then--a sign, a flutter of white, a signal of surrender caught the straining eyes of the regiment nearest the crest of the hill. In an instant the plains and the hollows, the kopjes, and even the dome of heaven, seemed animated--lending themselves to repeat the ringing cheer, to reiterate the cry of an immense joyous heart splitting a little universe in twain. Ears languid, ears hard-working, ears occupied, ears expectant, all caught the sound, echoed it and knew that at last the looked-for hour had come, Cronje had surrendered! Many Boers threw up their hands and dashed unarmed across the intervening space; others waved white flags and exposed themselves carelessly on their entrenchments, but not a shot was fired. Colonel Otter and Colonel Kincaid held a hasty consultation, which was disturbed by the sight of Sir Henry Colvile (commanding the Ninth Division) quietly riding down within 500 yards of the northern Boer trenches to bring the news that at that very moment a horseman was hurrying in with a white flag and Cronje's unconditional surrender, to take effect at sunrise. THE SURRENDER OF CRONJE Then all was activity. A note was borne to Lord Roberts stating that Cronje had given in, and General Pretyman thereupon rode out to take his surrender. The scene was highly impressive. Lord Roberts, in front of the cart in which he slept, walked up and down awaiting his prisoner, while a guard of the Seaforth Highlanders with drawn bayonets formed a line to either side. In the distance a small group of horsemen was seen approaching, a silhouette which gradually grew clearer in the golden light of the morning. It was General Pretyman with the redoubtable Cronje riding a white pony on his right and the escort of the 12th Lancers following. The subsequent scene was a study in reserve. After all the tumultuous passions, the ferocity of bloodshed, the diamond-cut-diamond activities of death-dealing lyddite and Vickers-Maxims, the two leaders met without the smallest sign of emotion. To Lord Roberts, who stood with his staff awaiting him, Colonel Pretyman said, "Commandant Cronje, sir!" The two great men looked at each other, the Dutchman touched his hat, the Englishman returned the salute. The group dismounted, and then, regretfully be it noted, Lord Roberts, the blameless upright British soldier gave his hand to the tyrant of Potchefstroom. "You have made a gallant defence, sir," said the British Commander-in-Chief; "I am glad to see you. I am glad to get so brave a man!" The picture of the redoubtable Cronje as he approached our great little Field-Marshal was remarkable in its contrast. On the one side you saw a burly square-jawed agriculturist, grizzly of beard, tanned and battered of complexion, portly and cumbrous of form. On the other, you had the lithe figured aristocratical British soldier, trim in his kharki uniform, and wearing his sword with the air of nameless distinction which belongs to the born ruler of men. Cronje's aspect was that of a substantial farmer, his heavy cane, his slouch hat encircled by its orange leather band, his bottle-green overcoat and tan boots were distinctly bucolic, but his rigid implacable countenance, an utterly impenetrable façade, betrayed the masterly and indomitable character of the man. There is no doubt that by his fierce, his masterly resistance to the British he won for himself the respect of all who trapped him. His undoubted pluck, a quality which has such unending fascination for the English, served in a great measure to wipe off the terrible remembrance of his atrocious deeds in other years. Cronje spoke scarcely a word. He said there were 3000 Boers in the laager--as a matter of fact, there were over 3700--and also requested that his wife, son, grandson, and secretary might be allowed to remain with him. This request was acceded to; arrangements were made that his relatives should accompany him into captivity. He then partook of refreshment in Lord Roberts' quarters with the staff. Though he smoked, he said little and remained gloomy and preoccupied. The prisoners trooped across the river like some patriarchal or gipsy horde, with trousers turned up so as not to damp them in the swollen drift. They splashed along, each armed with his household effects, pots and pans, blankets and rifles, some jesting and skipping in sheer exuberance of animal spirits that long had been subdued, some stolid and serious in the full comprehension of the grievous end of all their pluck and endurance. And they had endured! From the hundreds of wounded that were brought in the same tale of suspense, and misery, and horror was told in varying keys. Always they had awaited reinforcement; they had even invented a scheme for cutting a way out to meet the relieving force which never came. But volunteers for this deed of daring were few. About a hundred in all. This meagre array was not sufficient. Others had pressed on the relentless Cronje the philosophy of surrender. They urged that directly, if not annihilated by shell fire, they would be laid low by fever; already eighty-seven men were slain and a hundred and sixty wounded. These had no doctors even to attend them. The surgeons had been left behind on the Modder, and the offer of Lord Roberts of medicine and succour had been refused. The suffering had indeed been terrible and now was of no avail. It was not pleasing to the vanity of the British army to find themselves confronted with such a rabble of tatterdemalions, and to remember how this nondescript mob had so long held them in check. But there was no denying that the ruffians had qualities, and that they, unkempt and undisciplined as they were, had proved themselves foemen worthy of our steel and tacticians meriting study. [Illustration: "MAJUBA DAY"--CRONJE SURRENDERS TO LORD ROBERTS AT PAARDEBERG. Drawing by R. Caton Woodville, from a Sketch by Frederic Villiers, War Artist.] It was curious how much our troops had learnt both from the undisciplined Boers and the inexperienced Colonials. From the latter they picked up the art of taking cover, and from the former the art of obtaining it. The Boer was not content merely to crouch behind a stone and show a head only when about to shoot. He cunningly arranged his sangar so that he should expose no head at all. He built up his small stones to the necessary height, taking care to leave a central loophole through which he could take aim and yet remain invisible. An officer, in giving his opinion of the Boer as a fighter, showed the lessons that had been taught by him. "As a defender of defensive positions in a mountainous country he is unequalled. He digs good trenches and chooses good defensive positions, and he lies there quietly and waits for his enemy to advance across the open. But he never, hardly ever, dares to attack in the open, and if his flank is turned or his rear threatened, he gets nervous, and retires to a better position if he can. If our positions could be reversed--that is, if Tommy Atkins had to defend the kopjes, and if the Boers had to attack them in the open, there can be no doubt as to the result. Tommy, perhaps, would not be quite so good as the Boer in defence, but, on the other hand, the Boer would fail in the attack; indeed, he could not be brought to attempt it. As a shooter the Boer is no better than our own men. The only difference is that he attempts to shoot at far longer ranges. The Boer has taught us to dig big trenches and to use big guns as mobile artillery." The mobility of the big guns was at the moment more of a puzzle than ever. The Boers were in possession of some Vickers-Maxims in laager, two 15-pounders, and some big guns. We captured the minor weapons, but the big ones were sedulously hidden, and how they had vanished became a problem that was never solved. It was supposed they were buried in the bed of the river, but search failed to unearth them. Trophies innumerable were picked up. Sir Howard Vincent succeeded in securing a quaint seventeenth-century Bible, and Roberts' Horse possessed themselves of Cronje's green bell-tent and ox-waggon. One cavalry officer thought himself lucky to secure a new pair of stays marked "11¾, waist 28 inches," evidently the property of a capacious vrow. Letters multifarious were found, among them Cronje's commission, signed by President Steyn. Most of the prisoners, when interrogated, declared they were sick of the war, and confessed that but for their fear of Cronje they would long ago have surrendered. His was the powerful, the guiding hand. Some of them expressed queer notions of the causes of the trouble, giving forth at second and even third hand--and in a very garbled condition--the sentiments poured into them by "sympathisers." Said one, "The war is got up by the capitalists. The generals arrange a victory or a reverse to suit their own interests on the Stock Exchange!" A private remonstrated, "You don't include Lord Roberts? You'll admit that he is disinterested!" "Not a bit of it! He is a shareholder along with Chamberlain and Rhodes and the other millionaires. They all look after number one." Against such prejudice and ignorance it was useless to argue. Some of the Free Staters expressed their joy at being relieved of the company of the Boers. They had been on bad terms with them, and had scarcely dared to speak a word in English for fear of their lives. One declared that he was not permitted even to address his horse in the odious language! There were great and astonishing contrasts in the groups of prisoners that were gathered together. Many of them were youths of sixteen to eighteen years of age. Some seemed in a hopeless stage of sickness and despair, others attenuated by the amount of vinegar consumed to cure the stupefying effects of our lyddite. Endurance, it was plainly to be seen, had been carried to the last pitch. Some, on the other hand, appeared as though already reviving with the relaxation of the strain to which they had been subjected; some even delighted to find themselves in British hands, no longer tormented by "hell-scrapers," as they called the shrapnel, and already clamouring to partake of spirits and refreshment, for which they had longed in vain. The rapture at their deliverance overcame all other sentiments; they had no thought for the ups and downs of the war, and many, indeed, were still unaware of the causes that had led them to share in it. Cronje had evidently kept a tight hand on them, and but for his unique influence many would long before have surrendered. This peculiar despotism was marvellous when it is considered that none of the younger commanders could induce more than a portion of his commando to follow him from the Natal side to the scene of operations. Cronje had the privilege of being the most admired and well-detested person on the stage of the moment, and one Boer was seen clenching his fist in the direction of the vanquished tyrant and exclaiming, "You hard man! you deserve to be shot." There were many who heard him who endorsed the opinion. A great deal of undue attention seemed to be bestowed on the Dutch Commandant, and evidently it was his undisputed military genius that earned for him the admiration of his conquerors. Only to this final display of skill and pluck can be attributed the deference paid to a man whose Anglophobia had made itself prominent for many years, one who cut such a despicable figure in his relations with us at Potchefstroom, and who was responsible in particular for much of the brutality which has been accredited to the Boers in general. It was certainly a case of turning the other cheek to the smiter, for the captive was allowed to take with him his wife, and retain in his possession his favourite horse, Wolmarens! Accompanied by Mrs. Cronje, he was sent to Cape Town in a covered waggon, guarded by a special convoy under the command of Colonel Pretyman. There was considerable pathos in the scene of departure, for many of the other prisoners had gone through the ordeal of the bombardment with their wives by their sides, and these, less fortunate than Mrs. Cronje, had to be left behind! The majority of people, it must be owned, were horrorstruck at the consideration shown to one to whom the word consideration was an empty name. A Scottish Colonial, writing home, expressed his irritation at the mode in which warfare was conducted. He said: "Cronje is now a hero, housed in the Admiral's cabin on board the _Doris_. He is probably saying, 'What fools the British are.' For, give him a chance, and he would commit again the treacherous murders for which he has been responsible in the past with as little compunction as he would feel at putting his heel on a scorpion. I wonder if we may take this bit of foolishness as an indication of the way in which England is going to settle up finally with the Republics. Her policy has so often before ended in weakness that one cannot help feeling nervous." He was merely one of a thousand who argued that it was impossible to go to war with kid-gloves on, and who regretted the terms of the proclamation which had been made on the entry of Lord Roberts to the Free State. This proclamation, which will be discussed anon, was another of the nineteenth-century humanitarian movements which were mistakenly applied to seventeenth-century comprehension. To return to the events of Majuba day. Lord Roberts subsequently visited the Boer laager, and testified his admiration of the ingenuity and energy with which the position was made almost impregnable to assault. In spite of ten days' bombardment by over fifty guns and howitzers, the number of Boer wounded was said to amount to only 160--a fact which went to prove that the power of artillery can be broken by the ingenious use of the spade. The entrenchments, when examined, proved to be most skilfully contrived, with narrow mouths some eighteen inches wide, and wide bases, some quite three feet broad, which rendered them almost impregnable to shell fire. The effect of the bombardment was terrific. The laager presented an appearance of black chaos, varied only by streaks of yellow, which told of the gambols of lyddite. Waggons were wrecked with shrapnel; some had ceased to exist; rings and twists and girandoles of distorted metal were all that was left of them. Within the laager was a decaying, disordered mass of Boer belongings, saddles innumerable, karosses and panniers, coats and feminine apparel, fragments of old tin trunks, and 2,000,000 rounds of ammunition; wreckage of all sorts, united by the super-evident, unavoidable, and persistent bonds of stench, which permeated everything, weaving visible and invisible in one noxious nightmare of the senses. Round this arena of pestilence sentries were posted. It was necessary to prevent loot, though little of value remained save munitions of war. Most of the Boer property had been left behind in the hurried rush from Majersfontein and Spyfontein. Still the locality had to be guarded, and the guards, as well as all who approached, had to pocket their sensibilities. Indeed, it was a marvel how the Boers had managed to exist in the pestilential atmosphere that pervaded the river-bed. Dotted everywhere, or collected in heaps, already rotting in the tropical heat, were the remains of horses, mules, and cattle, some of which had been driven to death, while others had been hurried there by the voice of our howitzers or the rain of our rifle fire. In the fringe of this atmosphere our troops had lived for some three days past, for nightly they had advanced some fifty to an hundred yards nearer the laager, and there dug trenches and located themselves, till, at the end, the last three nights were passed almost within pistol-shot of the enemy and in the thick of a stench whose opacity was well-nigh suffocating. An interesting account of his enforced stay in the laager was given by a trooper in Kitchener's Horse, who was taken prisoner on the day previous to the great battle which settled Cronje's fate. He had become separated from the rest of his troop while scouting along the Modder River. When he looked round for his friends, he found himself surrounded by a party of Boers, who, jumping from the bushes, fired upon him. His horse was shot and rolled over upon the young trooper, carrying him with him into the river. The Boers rescued him, relieved him of his bandolier, and made him prisoner. Together they went to the laager. "There," the trooper said, "I was taken before Commandant Cronje, who asked me our strength and movements. On my replying that I was only a trooper, and did not know, he said, 'Oh, never mind; if you don't want to tell me, I shall not try to make you.' A guard was placed over me, and we stayed the night in the laager. I should say there were about 6000 Dutchmen all told, and forty women and children. A great many among them were Irishmen, a few Scotchmen; in short, almost every nation was more or less numerously represented. All that night they were busy entrenching themselves, employing a great deal of native labour to help them." Through the whole of the 18th of February the young man endured the bombardment, which he described as so heavy that it was impossible to remain in the laager, and consequently all, even the women and children, took refuge in the trenches. The Boers' mode of firing he specially made a note of: "The Boers did not in the least mind our attack, and laughed amongst themselves as they saw the men advancing. They allowed them to come up to about 600 yards from the trenches, and then opened a tremendous fire from their rifles. It did not seem to be aimed at any particular man, but more at a certain fixed distance. At that they fired as fast as they could. The range was obtained by a few fixed shots, who fired, watched the dust caused by the strike of the bullets, and then gave out the range. Our men came up to within 150 yards and then retired. They fired volleys at the longer distances, but all their fire seemed to me to be short." Each day there were losses, but comparatively few, as the bottle-shaped trenches afforded excellent cover; those that fell, however, were buried where they lay. He went on to say that "The shelling of Monday night destroyed several waggons, two of which were on either side of Cronje's own. No one could have been braver than he was. He stood upon the waggon-step, field-glasses in hand, and did not seem to care in the least how thickly the shells and bullets fell. Many of the Free Staters, however, were quite the reverse, and were in a great state of terror when the bombardment began. The ammunition waggons blew up, and several of the provision waggons were burned. The shrapnel killed the majority of the horses and cattle, which had no shelter but the banks of the river. Beyond that the fire did little real damage." The prisoner declared his belief that "could they have kept their laager out of fire they would never have surrendered. The loss of the provision waggons was what caused them to give in. They had only four days' food left. Their ammunition was still plentiful. After the explosion of the ammunition waggons by shell-fire on February 19, all the remaining cartridges were distributed throughout the trenches, and on the south side every trench was still full of unused ammunition. Everything was done in the trenches, even the cooking, each individual having with him a box of provisions sunk into the ground. These boxes were replenished at night as there was no possibility of reaching the laager during the day." Lord Roberts addressed the Canadians, and expressed his satisfaction and appreciation of the splendid work they had done and the courage they had shown. To them he attributed the greater share in the Boer surrender. All were delighted at the attention shown the heroic Colonials, who had done splendid work, and at the exhibition of Lord Roberts' tact and kindliness in thus singling out the Canadians for the position of honour. In the Jubilee of 1897 the Field-Marshal had told the Colonial Bodyguard that he would like to have them with him if he were ever in another campaign, and now the Canadians felt that the Chief's cherished words had been no mere formula, and that they had been given the chance to distinguish themselves that they had so eagerly desired. To General Colvile was given the credit of inventing the order of attack which at last brought the Boers to their senses. He arranged that the first rank should advance, bayonets fixed, till the enemy opened fire. Then they were to lie down and continue to fire on the Boers, while Engineers and the second line dug a trench. The trench thus made was within eighty yards of those of the Boers, and owing to its trefoil shape, the troops were able to enfilade both the river and northern trenches of the enemy and make them untenable. From their point in the original trench the Gordon Highlanders kept up a brisk fire, while the Shropshire Light Infantry, who were posted over a thousand yards to the north-west of the position, co-operated. In the very successful attack on the enemy's trenches the Royal Canadian Contingent lost seven killed and twenty-nine wounded. Major Pelletier, who commanded the French company, foremost of the three companies, was wounded, and also Lieutenant Armstrong. It is interesting to note that few of this gallant company of Great Britain's defenders could speak English! [Illustration: BOER TRENCHES AT PAARDEBERG. Photo by Alf. S. Hosking, Cape Town.] Colonel Otter, in command of the Canadians, had distinguished himself on many occasions by rare coolness and display of great talent in the field, and he now took pleasure in reporting excellently of the various members of the battalion under his command who had especially distinguished themselves. Among these were:-- Captain H. B. Stairs, 66th P. L. Fusiliers, and Lieutenant and Captain A. H. Macdonell, Royal Canadian Regiment. E Company, No. 5130, Corporal T. E. Baugh, R.C.R. F Company, No. 7782, Private O. Matheson, 12th Newcastle Field Battery; No. 7803, Private A. Sutherland, D. of Y. R. C. Hrs.; No. 7868, Sergeant W. Peppeatt, Royal Canadian Artillery; No. 7871, Corporal R. D. M'Donald, Royal Canadian Artillery; No. 7822, Private C. Harrison, 2nd Montreal Regiment C.A.; No. 7841, Private A. Bagot, 65th Montreal Rifles; No. 7778, Private Sievert, 93rd Cumberland Infantry; No. 7615, Private A. T. Seriault, 9th Voltigeurs de Quebec. But these were only a select few among the number who were engaged in incomparable things done incomparably well. FOOTNOTES: [1] Colonel Ormelie Campbell Hannay was in his fifty-second year, having been born on December 23, 1848. He entered the army as an ensign in the 93rd Foot (now the Princess Louise's Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders) on October 5, 1867, received his lieutenancy on the 28th of October 1871, and from February to November 1878 was instructor of musketry. Obtaining his captaincy on November 17, 1878, he was employed on special service in South Africa during the latter part of the Zulu War, from June to October 1879, for which he had the medal with clasp. From April to September 1883 he was aide-de-camp to the brigadier-general at Aldershot, was gazetted a major in January 1884, and from September 1886 to November 1887 was again employed on staff service, for the first portion of the period as an aide-de-camp in Bengal, and for the latter portion in Bombay. He became lieutenant-colonel in June 1893, and colonel in June 1897, and in June 1899 was placed on the half-pay list, from which he was removed last October in order to take up the temporary appointment of assistant-adjutant-general at Portsmouth. Not till December 30, 1899, was he chosen for special service in South Africa. [2] Lieutenant-Colonel William Aldworth, D.S.O., was forty-four years of age, having been born on October 3, 1855. He entered the army as a sub-lieutenant on June 13, 1874, and was gazetted to the 16th Foot, of which he was adjutant from October 17, 1877, to March 29, 1881. Gazetted a captain in the Bedfordshire Regiment on March 30, 1881, he served with the Burmese Expedition from January 14, 1885, to March 3, 1886, as aide-de-camp and acting military secretary to Sir Harry Prendergast, first as a major-general in Madras, and then as general officer commanding in Upper Burma, being mentioned in despatches and receiving the D.S.O. and the medal with clasp. He also took part in the Isazai Expedition in 1892, and in February 1893 was gazetted a major. In 1895 he served with the Chitral Relief Force under Sir Robert Low with the 1st battalion of his then regiment (the Bedfordshire), and took part in the storming of the Malakand Pass and the engagement near Khar, for which he had the medal with clasp. Again he was in active service in 1897-98, under Sir William Lockhart, in the campaign on the North-West Frontier of India, with the Tirah Expeditionary Force as deputy-assistant-adjutant-general of the 2nd Brigade, and with the Khyber Force as deputy-assistant-adjutant-general, being present at the forcing of the Sampagha and Arhanga Passes, and the operations against the Chamkanis and in the Bazar Valley. He was mentioned in despatches, received the brevet of lieutenant-colonel (May 20, 1898), and two clasps. He obtained the substantive rank of lieutenant-colonel in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry on October 12, 1898. CHAPTER II MAFEKING IN DECEMBER AND JANUARY Christmas Day, in deference to warlike etiquette, was observed as a holiday; but, in spite of the pacific nature of the occasion, the man who was the brain of Mafeking was organising a plan by which the cordon around the town might be broken. He was deciding that there must be a big fight on the morrow, and that a desperate effort must be made to change the cramped vista of affairs. Waiting was a weary game, and it was felt that some one must make a move. The Boers certainly, had they chosen, might have carried the town by assault, but for such activity they had no appetite. This was no boy's job, and, as they themselves confessed, they went out to shoot, not to be shot. Not so the gentle civilians, who, while incarcerated in this little hamlet of the veldt, had developed into valiant campaigners. They were always ready to be up and doing, and gladly fell in with the Colonel's plans. Frequent reconnaissances had disclosed the fact that the enemy's position, though strong on the western face, was fairly vulnerable at a point on the east, and at this point it was decided an attack on the morning of the 26th should be directed. The plan of attack was as follows:--Captain R. Vernon, King's Royal Rifles, with C Squadron, and Captain FitzClarence and D Squadron, to lead; Captain Lord Charles Bentinck, with A Squadron, to hold the reserve upon the left, which was under the command of Colonel Hore. Major Panzera and the artillery were to take up a position upon the extreme left of the line. The railway running to within a few hundred yards of Game Tree had been repaired, in order that the armoured train, under Captain Williams and twenty men of the British South Africa Police, with one-pounder Hotchkiss and Maxim, from a point parallel with Game Tree, might protect the right flank. This flank was to be further supported by Captain Cowan and seventy men of the Bechuanaland Rifles. The entire operations from this side were to be under the command of Major Godley, while Colonel Baden-Powell and his staff, Major Lord Edward Cecil (Chief Staff Officer), Captain Wilson, A.D.C., and Lieutenant Hanbury Tracy watched the direction of events from Dummie Fort. [Illustration: CRONJE'S FORCE ON THEIR MARCH SOUTH. Drawing by Sidney Paget, from a Sketch made 8 Miles South of Paardeberg by W. B. Wollen, R.I.] It must be remembered that at that time the character of the fort they intended to assail was barely known. In reality, it rose some seven feet above a ditch deep and wide, which almost defied assault. However, it was decided that Game Tree, from which had poured voluble rifle and artillery fire for many weeks, must at all hazards be silenced. It was most important that communication with the north should be, if possible, re-established, and there was every hope that a successful fight might make it easier for Colonel Plumer to eventually join hands with the besieged. The night passed. As the grey dawn broke over the veldt, a flash weirdly orange and a golden puff of smoke showed that the preconcerted plan had begun to be put in operation. Major Panzera with his seven-pounders had started the programme. Presently the Maxim rapped out in chorus, while on the right the great dusty crocodile, the armoured train, slunk along to its destination. Its whistle shrieked. It was Captain Vernon's signal for action. On the instant a thin line of moving kharki broke from cover, bayonets glittered among the scrub, cheers and the rattle of musketry filled the air. Officers and men were dashing, as only Britons can dash, each striving to outrush the other towards the lair of the enemy. Quick as thought they had plunged into the scrub that girdled the sandbags, and excitedly, jubilantly, some one on Dummie Fort sang out, "They are swarming over the bags--the position is ours!" All waited anxiously, almost breathlessly. The moments grew and grew, seconds became years. The sputtering of rifles continued, and swelled into a vast hum, and then some one--the same some one, only in a very different voice from that which spoke last, said hoarsely, "Our men are coming back!"... Yes. They were indeed coming back--the remnant--firing sullenly their parting shots ere they receded. The enemy's position had been proved impregnable! Their parapet was loopholed in triple tiers and roofed with a bomb-proof protection. It had but a single opening, large enough to admit one man at a time. It was in firing his revolver into one of the loopholes and endeavouring to pull out a sandbag with his left hand that Lieutenant Paton was killed. Captain FitzClarence, far ahead of his men, was shot in the thigh within 150 yards of the fort, and both Captains Sandford and Vernon were laid low almost within a stone's throw of the rifles of the enemy. Lieutenant Swinburne, who, directly Captain FitzClarence was wounded, led his men forward with dauntless energy, escaped unhurt. But few were equally lucky. Out of a storming party of eighty, twenty-one were killed and thirty-three wounded. It was when he saw this useless sacrifice of life that Major Godley sent a message to headquarters by the aide-de-camp. "Captain Vernon, sir, has been repulsed," he said, "and Major Godley does not think it worth while trying again." Nor was it. All that could be done was to send the ambulance to perform its grim duty. In describing the tragic affair, Mr. Angus Hamilton, in _Black and White_, said: "Indeed, from the armoured train it could be seen that the progress of the men towards the fort was like the Charge of the Six Hundred into the Valley of Death--a conviction which became more and more apparent as our men gallantly held to their course. Within 300 yards of the fort it was almost impossible for any living thing to exist, and the rush of the bullets across the zone of fire was like the hum of myriads of locusts before the wind. The gallantry of the effort, the admirable steadiness and precision with which the attack was delivered, has been compared by our commanding officers to deeds which rank among the foremost of our martial chronicles." It was veritably a charge of heroes. Scarcely one man could be singled out as the bravest of the brave where all showed such magnificent courage. Captain Sandford, Indian Staff Corps, though wounded mortally by a bullet in the spine, with his last breath ordered his men to continue their advance and leave him to his fate. Captain FitzClarence, wounded in the leg, bleeding, exhausted, was seen sitting up and directing the charge. Elsewhere was Captain Vernon, with a bullet through him, rushing on and on in company with the heroic youth, Paton, whose effort to scale the inaccessible rampart brought about his death. This splendid fellow was shot through the heart; while Captain Vernon, who had again been hit, and still pursued his onward course into the teeth of the foe, was struck on the head and killed. The only other officer that escaped uninjured was Lieutenant Bridges, and he hurt his ankle while assisting a wounded comrade. The details of the killed and wounded were as follows:--Officers killed, three; wounded, one. Men killed, eighteen; wounded, thirty-two; missing, thirteen. Thus ended a superb effort, which, failure though it was, was vastly superior to many a meaner martial success. So the garrison had to go on in the old, old way, though many popular and beloved members were now missing, and the hospital was full of cases that threatened to end seriously. Owing to the commendable forethought of Lord Edward Cecil and the enterprise of Messrs. Julius Weil, the garrison was provided with the wherewithal to make what resistance they did. Lord Edward Cecil's work was ceaseless; as Chief Staff Officer he came in for both the external fights and the internal discords. He smoothed down quarrels, dispensed justice, allayed "siege fever" in all its intermittent phases, and in fact performed the tasks of ten men, with unfailing courtesy and inexhaustible patience. The pinch of the siege had gradually become more painful, and luxuries for some time had been commandeered for the use of the sick. Luckily, some Chinamen among the besieged contrived to grow vegetables in small quantities for the use of the inhabitants, and by force of good management in the disposal of the food supplies, which had been stocked by Messrs. Weil before the outbreak of the war, a fixed scale of rations for every man, woman, and child was secured. Conversation grew monotonous. It circled round the positions of the guns, the chance of relief, and question of stores, till it produced a mental giddiness that verged on the idiotic. Few grumbled, few swore. In this matter the Boers acted as a safety-valve. When people felt in the "something's too bad of somebody" mood, they could go out and snipe, and vent their spleen usefully and to the honour of their country! Sundays were more than ever flat. There was not the excitement attendant on dodging shells in the open. Speculation on the subject of food languished round the limitations of Hobson's choice. Mr. Neilly in the _Pall Mall Gazette_ gave a sorry outline of the scanty fare. "I will attempt to give you an idea of what this scarcity of diet means. You are in a trench. In the early morning you have handed to you a piece of bread as big as a breakfast roll and a little tin of 'bully' sufficient for one average meal. You have some of it for breakfast, and if you have not an iron will you will eat the lot there and then, and go hungry for the rest of the twenty-four hours. What you leave is kept in the broiling sun until luncheon-time, when you find the beef reduced to an oily mess that does not look very appetising. You eat more and tighten your belt a hole or two to delude yourself into the belief that you have had a satisfying meal. You roast away again until dinner-time, when you gather up the last crumb and sigh for a few hours in the Adelaide Gallery or even in an East-End cookshop. But this is not all; you are for guard duty from midnight until 3 A.M. You have no sleep before you go on, and the slumber you fall into when relieved is destroyed an hour after you have entered upon it by the morning order to stand to arms. You thus get a schoolboy's luncheon to keep you alive for twenty-four hours. It is made unpalatable by the sun, and if a Mafeking shower falls, the odds are that it will be flooded over and buried in the mud at the bottom of the trench." At this time Cronje, by way of recreation, returned to Mafeking, a fleeting visit, possibly to test some novel plans for the purpose of subduing the town. He came armed with incendiary shells, which were supposed to hit and blaze up and cause an inspiriting conflagration. But they did not succeed. They caused a conflagration certainly, but its duration was limited. At the end of it, Mafeking smiled still, but smiled with the curled lip of scorn. The convent, notwithstanding its symbol of the Red Cross, had been hit, and crushed, and wrecked; the hospital had been assailed; the sacred claim of humanity had been outraged; women and children had been subjected to terrors of fact and terrors of dread. These atrocities continued, and Her Majesty's long-suffering subjects looked on and waited; they believed that deliverance must soon come. If they had not had that belief to help them, they would have died or surrendered. They believed that a day of reckoning would arrive, and that then Cronje and his diabolical hirelings would come by their deserts. If only they could have skipped six weeks and looked into the mirror of Fate, the drama at Paardeberg Drift would have reassured them. As it was, they had to live in faith. The series of atrocities that marked the Boer assaults had scarcely a counterpart in modern history, and it grew doubtful, if ever their turn should come, whether the besieged would be prevailed upon to emit one spark of that "magnanimity" with which their countrymen had been so lavish, and which the Boer had grown to account as a natural weakness of these "verdomde rooineks." Siege life was now becoming painfully irksome. A blazing sun, a drenching rain, a gust of wind through the pepper trees, this was all the variety at hand. The inhabitants of the town began to feel like ghosts of themselves, ghouls walking the earth, yet out of touch with those who spoke of them as a memory, and nothing more. To them it was the quiet of the grave. They waited like some enchanted princess of a fairy tale for the time when the magic wand should wave and their pulses throb with joy and excitation, with laughter and zest for the good things of the hour. Now they walked as in a dream to the accompaniment of shot and shell, surrounded by devilish ogres and looters of the dead, while somewhere within a few miles of them, kith and kin, living and breathing kith and kin, seemed as phantoms in a nightmare to pass by and to ignore! A speechless, soundless asphyxia of the soul seemed to be creeping over these tired patient heroes! They still waited and hoped, but hoping and waiting had now grown monotonous, almost mechanical, as the tickings of an eight-day clock. Rumours many and fantastic were brought in by the natives. It was believed that a new year's gift of three waggon loads of ammunition had been received by the Boers from Pretoria, and also a new gun. This weapon it was afterwards discovered was provided with more combustible bombs, horrible missiles that disgorge a chemical liquid which ignites in contact with the air. Here was a continual horror, and one that was only combated by extreme precautions. Though Colonel Baden-Powell in his nook on the stoep of his house continued to whistle his insouciant notes, his busy brains needed to be Machiavellian in their ingenuity. Some declared he slept with one eye open; others, that he never slept at all. Certain it was that when all were hushed in slumber he was "on the prowl," either on the roof or in the open, reading from the heavens above or the earth beneath the enemy's approaching machinations. Some find sermons in stones; B.-P. found inspiration in sand and sky. [Illustration: THE MARKET SQUARE, MAFEKING.] The Boers continued their bombardment, the sun continued to blaze, to smite the tin roofs and glaring sandy roads. After persistently directing shells on the women's laager the ruffians succeeded in murdering three little children. These were of Dutch nationality, and it was hoped that their loss might possibly awaken a feeling of humanity and remorse in the breast of those who had prompted the assault on the defenceless position. But their conduct was rendering those within the town exasperated almost to madness. They panted for a chance to mete out annihilation to the blood-lusting rascals and untamed savages who were harassing them. They did their best, and sat down to the business of clearing off as many as possible of the polyglot horde who worked the guns. The work done by the Bechuanaland Rifles and the British South Africa Police was prodigious. They shrunk from no toil and no exposure so that they might reduce the number of the besiegers. Early in the New Year the Rifles entrenched themselves within 900 yards of the enemy's big guns, and spent days and nights in the trenches, relieved at intervals by the Police. From nine on one night till nine the next they would occupy their unenviable position, carrying with them their day's food and water, and employing themselves during the hours of light by keeping up a persistent fire on the Boer siege gun. On occasions their fire was so accurate that the Dutchmen had entirely to abandon the work of loading and training the gun. So smart, at last, grew the British sharpshooters, that during each Sabbath the gun was shifted farther and farther away. Colonel Baden-Powell's resourcefulness was again put to the test, and was again triumphant. The Boers were somewhat nonplussed by the discovery that he had a new weapon of defence. They put their heads together and concluded that the weapon must have sprung from the bowels of the earth. It so happened that in some long-forgotten stores in the town an old ship's gun was suddenly discovered. Quickly it was brought into action. But the ways of this old muzzle-loading 16-pounder were not as the ways of the modern "Long Toms," whose tricks were "understanded" of the Boer people. It had curious and distinctive virtues of its own. This gun threw solid shot, which, unlike a shell that bursts and is done with for better or for worse, gallivanted along the ground according to its own sweet will, and produced little surprises that caused the Colonel much amusement and not a little satisfaction. [Illustration: GUN MADE IN MAFEKING. Photo by D. Taylor, Mafeking.] The biography of the treasure-trove was written by Mr. Angus Hamilton of _Black and White_, who declared that there was quite a flutter of excitement at the appearance of the antiquated weapon. "It would seem," he said, "to have been made about 1770, and is identical with those which up till very recently adorned the quay at Portsmouth. Its weight is 8 cwt. 2 qr. 10 lbs., and it was made by B. P. & Co. It is a naval gun, and is stamped 'No. 6 port.' How it came here is uncertain, and its origin unknown; but one gathers that it must have been intended more for privateering than for use in any Government ship of war, since it is wanting in all official superscription. This weapon, which we have now christened 'B. P.' out of a compliment to the Colonel, has been lying upon the farm of an Englishman whose interests are very closely united with the native tribe whose headquarters are in Mafeking Stadt. Mr. Rowlands can recall the gun passing this way in charge of two Germans nearly forty years ago. He remembers to have seen it in the possession of Linchwe's tribe, and upon his return to the Baralongs, after one of his trading journeys, he urged the old chief to secure it for use in defence of the Stadt against the attacks of Dutch freebooters. The chief then visited Linchwe and bought the gun for twenty-two oxen, bringing it down to Mafeking upon his waggon. In those days it had three hundred rounds of ammunition, which were utilised in tribal fights. With the exception of visits which the gun made to local tribes, it has remained here, and is now in the possession of Mr. Rowlands. It has recently been mounted, and is in active operation against our enemies. We have made balls for it, and are intending to manufacture shells, in the hope we shall at least be able to reach the emplacement of Big Ben. The first trial of 'B. P.' in its new career gave very satisfactory results. With two pounds of powder it threw a ball of ten pounds more than two thousand yards. The power of the charge was increased by half pounds until a charge of three pounds threw a ball of the same weight as the first rather more than two miles. We, therefore, have pinned our hopes upon it, and commend to the responsible authorities the reflections which may be derived from the fact that our chief and most efficient means of defence lie in such a weapon." The mosquito tactics of the wily Colonel proceeded as usual, but the Boer was hard to checkmate. On the 15th of January an attack was made by the sharpshooters against the enemy's big gun battery, with the pleasing result that on the following day the 94-pounder and high-velocity Krupp evacuated their positions, and retired to a more distant one on the east side of the town, whence their command of the place was comparatively limited. In this quarter, now that the foe was pushed out of rifle range, it was possible to open grazing for cattle, a very desirable movement, for the poor lean beasts were waning rapidly. At this time Captain FitzClarence was reported among the convalescents, the wound received on the 26th of December having almost healed. Preparations were set on foot for the purpose of routing the enemy with dynamite, failing all other means of ridding the town of his too intimate proximity. Colonel Baden-Powell's motto, unlike that of British Governments, was to take time by the forelock. He left nothing to chance. In order to avert any risk of running short of supplies, rations were reduced, and oats which had previously belonged to the beasts were promoted to the use of their owners. Very stringent laws existed for the economising of everything. Matches and tinned milk were commandeered, and the theft of a matchbox was now viewed as a heinous crime. Tobacco in small quantities remained, but wines and spirits were fast running out. There were pathetic leave-takings as each quart of whisky disappeared from the stores; there was no knowing when would arrive the hour for a fond and a last farewell. Conversation grew still more monotonous. It mostly consisted of how the inner man should be sustained, and of anecdotes of agility in avoiding shot and shell. [Illustration: WEST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT (Colour-Sergeant). YORKSHIRE REGIMENT (Sergeant). Photo by Gregory & Co., London.] Still, considerable interest was taken in the performances of the old 16-pounder, which had been rigged up and christened by some "Skipping Polly," on account of its skittish habits and its propensity to ricochet. This, though erratic in its proceedings, did good work, and struck the parapet of the enemy's fort. On the 10th of January violent rains came down, and rendered most of the trenches in front of the town uninhabitable, and life in general almost unendurable. Never was there greater need for the inestimable virtues of pluck and patience, and if medals had been awarded for these united qualities, the inhabitants of Mafeking would all have possessed them. The pinch of siege life now became terribly evident, for the Kaffirs were reduced to eating mules. The British feared their turn at this diet would come directly. But the garrison was still cheery, and their entrenchments were considerably improved. In these Colonel Baden-Powell took a just pride, and his activity in promoting the safety and comfort of the inhabitants was boundless. They declared that they could feed themselves for another three months, but the nature of the form of provision was not divulged. Hardships and privations were endured by the little force with really amazing pluck. Beds they had scarcely enjoyed since the commencement of the siege; baths were almost as foreign, few had had a chance to remove their clothes; and news--the stimulus of the outside world--was entirely lacking. Letters now and then were passed out, but the real truth could never be trusted to black and white. The office of censor was undertaken by the Hon. A. H. Hanbury Tracy (Royal Horse Guards). His occupation was a hard and a thankless one, for constant vigilance had to be exercised lest reports concerning the inner state of Mafeking--reports most ardently craved by those interested at home--might fall into the hands of the enemy, and thus cramp the operations of Colonel Baden-Powell and those who helped him to present a bold and fearless front to the hovering hordes who were waiting smugly for what they believed to be the inevitable. On the 17th General Snyman bethought himself of a new way of starving the garrison into surrender. He sent a party of natives to enjoy the hospitality of the already sparsely fed town. It had not a mule to spare for extra Kaffirs, and Colonel Baden-Powell sternly though regretfully refused admittance to the new-comers. According to Boer usage, the officer and orderly who conveyed the message, notwithstanding the fact that they carried a white flag, were fired upon by the enemy while they were returning. A dastardly trick this, and the garrison resented it. At this time the news of the grand Ladysmith sortie was received with rejoicings, and the bellicose youngsters of the community began to rack fertile brains in hope to emulate the courage and dash of the sister garrison. On this day a shell hit the shelter occupied by Major Baillie and Mr. Stent, Reuter's correspondent, and portions crashed through Dixon's Hotel, but fortunately without injuring any one. News now reached the benighted villagers that Colonel Plumer, with three armoured trains, had actually reached Gaberones, some three hundred miles north of Mafeking. The troops had some sharp tussles with the Boers, and drove them out of rifle range while the railway operatives mended the line. Where Colonel Plumer's three trains came from was a mystery. He was known to have _one_, but there was no saying of what Rhodesia might not be capable in time of stress. Colonel Plumer had his work cut out for him, but he was not a man to sheer off difficult tasks, and there was intense hope that he might succeed. But there was always the Boer artillery--a terrible barrier between the relieving force and Mafeking--and in the face of this even the finest warriors, almost gunless, could scarcely be expected to advance alive. On the 19th of January the small community celebrated the 100th day of the siege. All the corners of the square had been knocked off by the ever-active Boers, but the village maintained a suitable air of liveliness. Exhibitions were arranged, and some smart fighting showed that the right arm of the British had lost none of its cunning. There were fat days and lean days in Mafeking. Though for the most part leanness prevailed, there was now and then to be found an oasis in the desert of the commissariat. Occasionally some successful raid made by the natives was productive of real meals--succulent beef _versus_ old mule and husks. In the course of one daring foray the natives secured two dozen head of cattle; in another they carried off prizes of fat kine to the tune of a score. The excursions took place under cover of darkness, and, like all raids, were pursued without the consent of the Government. The natives had a process peculiarly their own in seducing the fat kine to follow them home. Devoid of clothing, and crawling snake-like over the veldt, they would approach the grazing cattle and gradually draw off such beasts as appeared goodly in their eyes, and which had been previously marked down with the acuteness of hungry instinct. Noiselessly the animals were enticed on and on till they reached the precincts of the staadt, where the raiders were anxiously looked for by their Baralong friends. These famishing individuals greeted the successful capture of the wherewithal to maintain life with shouts and dances of joy. The garrison was soon put on a scale of still more reduced rations. These consisted of half a pound of meat and the same of bread daily. The luxuries of life--the people in England looked on them as necessaries!--tea, sugar, biscuits, jams, &c., were commandeered. In January the following housekeeper's notes were made by the correspondent of the _Times_:--"Meal and flour have jumped from 27s. per bag to 50s.; potatoes, where they exist at all, are £2 per cwt.; fowls are 7s. 6d. each; and eggs 12s. per dozen. Milk and vegetables can no longer be obtained, and rice has taken the place of the latter upon the menus. These figures mark the rise in the more important food-stuffs as sold across the counter, but the hotels have, in sympathy, followed the example, they upon their part attributing it to the increase which the wholesale merchants have decreed. A peg of whisky is 1s. 6d., dop brandy 1s., gin 1s., large stout is 4s., small beer 2s. In ordinary times whisky retails at 5s. per bottle. This rate has now advanced to 18s. per bottle and 80s. per case. Dop, which is usually 1s. 4d., is now 12s. per bottle; the difference upon beer is almost 200 per cent., and inferior cigarettes are now 18s. per 100." On the good management of the contractors, Messrs. Weil & Co., every one depended for flesh and blood. On them rested the responsibility of issuing daily rations--bread and meat for the garrison, forage for horses, and food for natives--and very excellently they fulfilled their difficult task. On the 21st an unusual sort of show was held. The exhibits ranged from foals to babies, Mr. Minchin (Bechuanaland Rifles) securing first prize for the former, while Sergeant Brady, B.S.A.P., was the proud winner of the prize for the latter. Colonel Baden-Powell sent a despatch reporting his own doings at the end of January to Colonel Nicholson. It ran as follows:-- "Inform the Commanding Staff Officer that we are well here. On January 23 the enemy moved their north-east supporting laager to within 4500 yards of the town. We pushed our advance works in that direction, and mounted Lord Nelson, an old naval smooth-bore gun, in an emplacement 3100 yards from the enemy. On the evening of January 29 we unmasked our guns and shelled the enemy's camp with complete success. Next morning the Boer laager was moved back two miles. "On the 31st we were busy on all sides of the town. On the south the men in our advance works had a skirmish with three of the enemy's Krupp and Maxim guns, the firing being very heavy. A bombardment of our front on Cannon Kopje by the Boer 94-pounder followed. On the east front our four guns replied to this by a concentrated fire on the brickfield entrenchments, where the enemy poured in a musketry and artillery fire. "On the north the enemy's 5-pounders kept up a steady fire. They dropped one shell through the roof of the hospital, but luckily it did not explode. On the west the enemy, from their advanced works, opened a heavy rifle and Maxim fire on Fort Ayr, which our fort eventually silenced by the well-aimed fire of its guns. The enemy sent three big shells into the town after dark, but they gained nothing during the day. "Our casualties during the past two days from the enemy's shell fire have been three killed and three wounded. Mr. Kiddy, of the Railway Department, has died of fever. "On February 2 General Snyman, in reply to my letter with regard to his deliberately shelling the women and children's laagers on the 27th ult., offered no excuse or apology, and by a transparent falsehood practically admits that he ordered it. I have told him that I have now established temporary premises for the Boer prisoners in the women's laager and in the hospital, in order to protect these places from deliberate shelling." General Snyman and Colonel Baden-Powell had also a correspondence regarding Snyman's arming and raising of natives. In reply the old commandant said that he had merely armed the natives as cattle-guards. In his turn he complained that the British had been seen making fortifications on Sunday. The Colonel, who only relaid some mine wires, informed him that he had himself been entertained by watching the building of new fortifications by the Boers on that day. On the 25th of January a shell burst through the convent, which was used as a convalescent hospital, and slightly wounded Lady Sarah Wilson, who had taken upon herself the care of the invalids. On the following day the women's laager was continuously shelled, but fortunately with small result. There was general jubilation at reports received regarding the success of Lord Roberts' operations. The news was an immense stimulus, and speculation as to the date of relief was freely indulged in. The besieged had learnt to gather hope from the smallest incidents. The disappearance from time to time of the 5-pounder Krupp, the 1-pounder Maxim, the 9-pounder quick-firing Creusot, which had a trick of making weekly excursions somewhere--caused them to conjecture whether Colonel Plumer had reached a point where these pieces could be made to come in handy. The 100-pounder Creusot, however, was untiring. It engaged only in shorter peregrinations, moving from one emplacement to another by way of variety, and keeping up a system of torture which acted badly on the nerves of the unhappy persons who were honoured with its attentions. The following telegram, forwarded by runner from the Mayor of Mafeking (Mr. Whiteley), was addressed to Queen Victoria: "Mafeking upon the hundredth day of siege sends loyal devotion to your Majesty, and assurance of continued resolve to maintain your Majesty's supremacy in this town." The splendid little garrison had indeed a right to be proud of itself for having for so long a period held at bay a puissant and spiteful foe. It had fought, it had schemed, it had set its wits against the wits of Cronje and his successors, and defied them magnificently. "No surrender" was its motto, and the reply from the enemy was stamped on every house of this minute town--so minute that it could have been "stowed within the railings of St. James' Park"--and scribbled in large black defacing lines wherever shot and shell could penetrate. Some idea of life's daily accompaniment of artillery may be arrived at by reading a description of his experiences recounted by Mr. Neilly of the _Pall Mall Gazette_. He said:--"When the enemy's artillery began to send us the heavy ration, those who knew most about the power of modern long-range high-velocity arms dreaded most the consequences. At the advice of our commander-in-chief, we went to earth, some into dug-outs, I, with others, into the wine-cellar of the hotel, which I consider was the most comfortable and luxurious place in the town. After breakfast a twelve-pounder on the heights went 'Boom!' Where had the shell gone? Had it struck a house? Had the building collapsed? Would the town be flattened and set on fire when the whole battery came into action? We speculated so until the second boom sounded, and the third quickly followed. Himmel! We had got it, and what a crash it was! Something had given way, and _débris_ and shrapnel scattered like a hailstorm across the dining-room floor overhead. While some calmed the ladies, others of us doubled up through the trapdoor, slid the panel that divides the bar from the dining-room, and looked in. The dense smoke of the bursting charge filled the place, but there was nothing to indicate that anything was aflame. When the air cleared slightly we entered, to find the floor and tables littered with brick-dust and scrap iron; but the area of destruction was confined to the brickwork at the side of the window. Nothing was stirred upon the tables, which were laid for luncheon. That was enough. Had the house been built of good tough English brick, its flank would have probably collapsed; the rottenness of the walls had saved them; the rottenness of all the houses would bring about comparative safety to the town. Solids struck by shell add to the destruction wrought by the projectile through flying splinters; but there is no use in trying to batter sand stuck together with water. The concussion sends off the detonator, the burst makes a hole in the wall, and the further results are an untidied room and a bad fright to anybody who may be in it." The writer, like the rest of the plucky crew, talked airily of the ordeal that all passed through, without a single boast of the splendid effect of the garrison's doughty resistance to the enemy in the early phases of the war. It is scarcely possible to exaggerate the full importance of this magnificent defence at that time. As an object-lesson in British pluck, and the marvellous celerity with which peace-loving citizens may become glorious fighters, the defence as a whole stands without parallel. But from a political point of view the initial stoutness of the resistance was a _coup_ which had far-reaching results. There is no doubt that at the outset of the war a conspiracy was on foot between the Cape Dutch and the Federals, and that the capture of certain towns was to be taken as a signal for the joining of the allies to drive the British from South Africa. It was thought that the apparently insignificant village of Mafeking would be among the first to fall, and the conspirators congratulated themselves that once the place went under, the door to Rhodesia would fly open. The gallant Cronje, with nothing better to occupy him, could have worked his way north, attacked Colonel Plumer and his small force, and without doubt defeated them. He would then have proceeded on a triumphal march. Having intimidated the natives, who invariably back the man with the visible biceps, and having armed the Matabele and Mashonas, he would have completely swept and devastated the fair country of the Colossus before our troops could have had time to save it from ruin. How far the ruin would have spread it is difficult to say. Like dynamite, it would have struck upwards and downwards, north and south. The capture of Mafeking would have unhinged the native population there, and forced them to side with the Boers; and once the natives got under arms the situation would have become so complicated that it might have taken years to unravel, if indeed the Government had the patience to unravel it at all. Then disaffection would have spread rapidly, even to Table Bay. Had Cronje at the outset not been kept tied to the place, occupied in trying to crack the nut which he eventually found too hard for his own teeth and for the sledge-hammer weapons of his mercenaries, he would have gone on from town to town gathering up adherents as he went, and causing intimidation of such a kind that even the loyally disposed would in sheer self-defence have thrown in their lot with him. CHAPTER III AT POPLAR GROVE Before going on, it must be noted that on the 19th Lord Roberts had issued a proclamation to the Burghers of the Free State in English and Dutch. He said that the British having entered the Free State, he felt it his duty to make known the cause, and to do his utmost to end the war. Should the Free Staters continue fighting, they would do so in full knowledge of their responsibility for the lives lost in the campaign. Before the war, the Imperial Government desired the friendship of the Free State, and solemnly assured President Steyn that if he remained neutral the Free State territory would not be invaded and its independence would be respected. Nevertheless, the Free Staters had wantonly and unjustifiably invaded British territory, though the Imperial Government believed that the Free State Government was wholly responsible, under mischievous outside influence, for this invasion. The Imperial Government bore the people no ill-will, and was anxious to preserve them from the evils which the action of their Government had caused. Lord Roberts warned the Burghers to desist from further hostilities, and he undertook that Burghers so desisting should not suffer in their persons or property. Requisitions of food, forage, fuel, and shelter must be complied with. Everything would be paid for on the spot, and if supplies were refused they would be taken, a receipt being given. Should the inhabitants consider that they had been unjustly treated, and should their complaint on inquiry be substantiated, redress would be given. In conclusion, Lord Roberts stated that British soldiers were prohibited from entering houses or molesting the civil population. By the terms of this proclamation it was necessary to abide, though, by degrees, as will be seen, it began to be discovered that generous concessions made to our enemies were misinterpreted and taken advantage of in ways which tended to prolong the war. Lords Roberts and Kitchener paid a flying visit to Kimberley on the 1st of March, and attended a crowded meeting in the Town Hall. Lord Roberts, with his usual grace, dwelt on the courage, endurance, and heroism exhibited by the troops and residents, not only in Kimberley, but in the other besieged towns. Cronje's fate being sealed, the Field-Marshal shifted his headquarters to Osfontein, seven miles up the Modder from Paardeberg. Near here it was rumoured that such Boers as had failed to come to the succour of Cronje had flocked. These, numbering some 10,000, had gathered at the summons of their chief from the regions round Stormberg, Colesberg, and Ladysmith, and were now busily entrenching a position some fifteen miles long. Of this the flanks rested on kopjes to the south of the river on a group called Seven Sisters, and to the north across the river on a flat-topped kopje, behind which were further fortified kopjes, forming a formidable position at Poplar Grove, a place so called because of a sparse display of poplar and Australian gum-trees in the vicinity. At this time the two Presidents of the Republics, finding things getting too hot to be comfortable, made magnanimous proposals for peace. The following is the text of their despatch. "BLOEMFONTEIN, _March 5, 1900_. "The blood and the tears of the thousands who have suffered by this war, and the prospect of all the moral and economic ruin with which South Africa is now threatened, make it necessary for both belligerents to ask themselves dispassionately, and as in the sight of the Triune God, for what they are fighting, and whether the aim of each justifies all this appalling misery and devastation. "With this object, and in view of the assertions of various British statesmen, to the effect that this war was begun and is being carried on with the set purpose of undermining Her Majesty's authority in South Africa, and of setting up an Administration over all South Africa independent of Her Majesty's Government, we consider it our duty solemnly to declare that this war was undertaken solely as a defensive measure to safeguard the threatened independence of the South African Republic, and is only continued in order to secure and safeguard the incontestable independence of both Republics as sovereign international States, and to obtain the assurance that those of Her Majesty's subjects who have taken part with us in this war shall suffer no harm whatsoever in person or property. "On these conditions, but on these conditions alone, are we now, as in the past, desirous of seeing peace re-established in South Africa, and of putting an end to the evils now reigning over South Africa; while, if Her Majesty's Government is determined to destroy the independence of the Republics, there is nothing left to us and to our people but to persevere to the end in the course already begun, in spite of the overwhelming pre-eminence of the British Empire, confident that that God who lighted the unextinguishable fire of the love of freedom in the hearts of ourselves and of our fathers will not forsake us, but will accomplish His work in us and in our descendants. "We hesitated to make this declaration earlier to your Excellency, as we feared that as long as the advantage was always on our side, and as long as our forces held defensive positions far in Her Majesty's Colonies, such a declaration might hurt the feelings of honour of the British people; but now that the prestige of the British Empire may be considered to be assured by the capture of one of our forces by Her Majesty's troops, and that we are thereby forced to evacuate other positions which our forces had occupied, that difficulty is over, and we can no longer hesitate clearly to inform your Government and people, in the sight of the whole civilised world, why we are fighting, and on what conditions we are ready to restore peace." [Illustration: SHELL FROM THE NAVAL BRIGADE DISPERSING BOERS FROM BEHIND THE SEVEN SISTERS KOPJES, DURING THE ACTION OF 7th MARCH AT LE GALLAIS KOPJE, NEAR OSFONTEIN. Drawing by Sidney Paget, from a Sketch by W. B. Wollen, R.I.] The answer to this effusion, addressed by Lord Salisbury on behalf of Her Majesty's Government to the Presidents, ran:-- "FOREIGN OFFICE, _March 11, 1900_. "I have the honour to acknowledge your Honours' telegram, dated March 5, from Bloemfontein, of which the purport is principally to demand that Her Majesty's Government shall recognise the 'incontestable independence' of the South African Republic and Orange Free State as 'sovereign international States,' and to offer, on those terms, to bring the war to a conclusion. "In the beginning of October last, peace existed between Her Majesty and the two Republics under the Conventions which then were in existence. A discussion had been proceeding for some months between Her Majesty's Government and the South African Republic, of which the object was to obtain redress for certain very serious grievances under which British residents in the South African Republic were suffering. In the course of these negotiations, the South African Republic had, to the knowledge of Her Majesty's Government, made considerable armaments, and the latter had, consequently, taken steps to provide corresponding reinforcements to the British garrisons of Cape Town and Natal. No infringement of the rights guaranteed by the Conventions had, up to that point, taken place on the British side. Suddenly, at two days' notice, the South African Republic, after issuing an insulting ultimatum, declared war upon Her Majesty; and the Orange Free State, with whom there had not even been any discussion, took a similar step. Her Majesty's dominions were immediately invaded by the two Republics, siege was laid to three towns within the British frontier, a large portion of the two Colonies was overrun, with great destruction to property and life, and the Republics claimed to treat the inhabitants of extensive portions of Her Majesty's dominions as if those dominions had been annexed to one or other of them. In anticipation of these operations the South African Republic had been accumulating for many years past military stores on an enormous scale, which, by their character, could only have been intended for use against Great Britain. "Your Honours make some observations of a negative character upon the object with which these preparations were made. I do not think it necessary to discuss the questions you have raised. But the result of these preparations, carried on with great secrecy, has been that the British Empire has been compelled to confront an invasion which has entailed upon the Empire a costly war and the loss of thousands of precious lives. This great calamity has been the penalty which Great Britain has suffered for having in recent years acquiesced in the existence of the two Republics. "In view of the use to which the two Republics have put the position which was given to them, and the calamities which their unprovoked attack has inflicted upon Her Majesty's dominions, Her Majesty's Government can only answer your Honours' telegram by saying that they are not prepared to assent to the independence either of the South African Republic or of the Orange Free State." To return to Osfontein. There was now a short and much-needed interval of repose, in which men and horses tried to recuperate. It was, however, necessary for the cavalry to be continually scouring the country to ascertain the whereabouts of the enemy. On the 6th of March Lord Roberts welcomed the Ceylon Mounted Infantry, and sent the following telegram to Sir West Ridgeway, Governor of Ceylon:--"I have just ridden out to meet Ceylon Mounted Infantry, and welcome them to this force. They look most workmanlike, and are a valuable addition to Her Majesty the Queen's army in South Africa." These troops were in excellent condition, so also were their handy Burma ponies, smart, knowing, and game little beasts, warranted to turn on a sixpence and stand any amount of wear and tear. On the same day the Colonials had a smart set-to with the Dutchmen, who were endeavouring to locate themselves in the vicinity, and the New Zealanders and Australians made themselves more than a match for the Boers, losing themselves only six wounded, while they put ten of the enemy out of action. The rest of the gang disappeared, on the principle of those who fight and run away live to fight another day. In fact, they moved to some strong eminences that commanded either side of the river, the centre of the position being at Poplar Grove Farm. Here the Federals thought to embarrass the British advance, but Lord Roberts decided to undeceive them. The Field-Marshal's plan was now to turn their left flank with the cavalry division, and then to meet their line of defence with the infantry divisions, and thus enclose them as Cronje had been enclosed. Accordingly the troops got themselves into battle array. The Naval Brigade brought their 4.7 guns four miles north-east of Osfontein, while the cavalry prepared to turn the Boer left, and started before daybreak of the 7th to accomplish this feat. On the north bank was left the Ninth Division with some handy Colonials and guns. Moving to the east were the Sixth and Seventh Divisions, with the Guards Brigade in the centre. The dawn grew. The Boers in the golden rays of morning were disclosed massed in the far front, and later was seen the glorious mass of French's cavalry sweeping south--a martial broom which the Boers began to know meant business. At eight o'clock the music of battle started, the Naval guns on one side and the batteries of General French on the other. Lyddite and shrapnel bounced and spluttered over all the small kopjes wherein the Dutchmen had made a lodgment. It was sufficient. The Boer guns spat impotently--the puling cry of dismay--then, knowingly, the Federals made preparations for a stampede. They saw in the distance the Sixth Division advancing, the Colonials cleaving the columns of dust, the Highland Brigade coming on and on, their dark kilts cutting a thin line across the atmosphere--they saw enough! To east they flew, speeding towards Bloemfontein--guns, waggons, horsemen--as arrows from the bow, and leaving behind them their well-constructed trenches, their ammunition, tents, and supplies. After them went the Colonials and City Imperial Volunteers, all keen sportsmen, exhilarated with the heat of the chase, but the Boers were uncatchable. No one has yet beaten them in the art of running away. Nevertheless, Lord Roberts was left in undisturbed possession of Poplar Grove. In the early afternoon the Boers certainly endeavoured to make one futile, feeble stand, but their effort was unavailing, and by sunset they were careering into space, while the cavalry vainly endeavoured to hem them in. Horse-flesh had come to the end of its tether; poor food and much galloping had reduced the noble steeds to helpless wrecks, and unfortunately the manoeuvres of Paardeberg could not be repeated. Curiously enough, though no Boers were caught, the military net was full of strange fish, a Russian, a Hollander, a German all being left in the lurch. It was a humorous episode. While the Boers were making off as fast as legs--the mounts of some had been shot--and horses could carry them, a dilapidated country cart, surmounted by a red flag, was seen to be approaching. From this cart presently emerged several forlorn personages, looking very sorry for themselves indeed. They accounted for their plight by saying that while the final fight was taking place their mule-waggon had broken down. The mules having been unloosed, promptly stampeded, and left them between two fires, that of the Boers (to whom they were attached) and the British. The name of one foreigner, in dark blue uniform, was Colonel Prince Gourko, of the Russian army; the other, attired in plain clothes, was Lieutenant Thomson, of the Netherlands (Military Attaché of the Boers). With them was a German servant in attendance on the Russian prince. Finding themselves in an uncomfortable quandary, one from which there was no escape, they decided to join the British. They were introduced to Lord Kitchener, and thereupon presented to the Commander-in-Chief, who received them with his usual courtesy. Lord Roberts, telegraphing home in the afternoon, thus described the day's work:-- "OSFONTEIN, _March 7_ (4.30 P.M.). "March 7.--Our operations to-day promise to be a great success. "The enemy occupied a position four miles north and eleven miles south of Modder River. "I placed Colvile's division on north bank; Kelly-Kenny's and Tucker's, with cavalry division, on south bank. "The cavalry division succeeded in turning the left flank, opening the road for 6th Division, which is advancing without having been obliged to fire a shot up to present time (twelve noon). "Enemy are in full retreat toward north and east, being closely followed by cavalry, horse-artillery, and mounted infantry, while the 7th (Tucker's) and 9th (Colvile's) divisions, and Guards Brigade, under Pole-Carew, are making their way across the river at Poplar's Drift, where I propose to place my headquarters this evening." Later on the Commander-in-Chief wired from the said headquarters:-- "POPLAR GROVE, _March 7_ (7.35 P.M.). "We have had a very successful day and completely routed the enemy, who are in full retreat. "The position they occupied was extremely strong, and cunningly arranged with a second line of entrenchments, which would have caused us heavy loss had a direct attack been made. "The turning movement was necessarily wide owing to the nature of the ground, and the cavalry and horse-artillery horses are much done up. "The fighting was practically confined to the cavalry division, which, as usual, did exceedingly well, and French reports that the horse-artillery batteries did a great deal of execution amongst the enemy. "Our casualties number about fifty. "I regret to say that Lieutenant Keswick, 12th Lancers, was killed, and Lieutenant Bailey, of the same regiment, severely wounded. Lieutenant De Crespigny, 2nd Life Guards, also severely wounded." Though the state of the cavalry was deplorable, it was thanks to the splendid execution of General French that the Boers showed so little fight, and there were so few casualties. The enemy saw the cavalry menacing their line of retreat, and pelted off from kopje to kopje, now and then sniping at the leading squadrons, and occasionally plumping a shell or two into the British midst. With the Dutchmen, Presidents Steyn and Kruger were said to be, and these worthies made a desperate attempt to rally the forces, but without success. Some say they even shed tears to encourage their countrymen, which tears had evidently a damping effect, for the Boers--some 14,000 of them--retreated all the faster. They were absolutely demoralised by Lord Roberts' tactics, and felt seriously injured that the trenches which had been prepared against a frontal attack should have been ignored. They had been so accustomed to be attacked in front that they began to look upon the Commander-in-Chief's "roundabout way of doing things" as distinctly unfair. They took themselves off, and when General French, who advanced ten miles ahead of the main body, scoured the front, he reported that not a Boer was to be seen. A vast amount of ammunition was left behind, and this, including several boxes of explosive bullets, labelled "Manufactured for the British Government," was promptly destroyed. Good news now arrived. The A and B squadrons of Kitchener's Horse, reported missing, suddenly returned to camp at Paardeberg. They, with E squadron, were cut off on the 13th of February, and given up for lost. Though E squadron was captured by the enemy, A and B squadrons succeeded in escaping, and, after losing their bearings on the veldt, and enduring three weeks' somewhat unpleasant experiences, found their way into safety. Quantities of the Transvaalers disbanded and returned to their farms. In other quarters, too, progress was announced. General Gatacre occupied Burghersdorp and General Clements had reached Norval's Pont, and thus the sporadic rebellion in Cape Colony was slowly beginning to die out. The army advanced and formed a fresh camp beyond Poplar Grove, where on the 8th and 9th more of the troops concentrated. The force was now moving through a fine grassy country, made additionally green and refreshing by plentiful rains, and the horses were improving in condition and spirits, while the men were in first-rate fettle. On the 10th of March the army proceeded onwards. By this time the Boers had posted themselves on the kopjes eight miles south of Abraham's Drift. It was imagined that they would be able to offer little resistance to the advancing force, but they, however, made a very determined stand. THE FIGHT AT DRIEFONTEIN On leaving Poplar Grove, Lord Roberts' force, rearranged and divided into three, advanced on Bloemfontein _via_ Driefontein, a place about six miles south-west of Abraham's Kraal and some forty miles from the capital of the Free State. Along the Petrusberg Road, to the right, moved General Tucker's division, with the Gordons and a cavalry brigade. The central column, composed of General Colvile's division, the Guards Brigade (General Pole-Carew), and Colonel Broadwood's brigade of cavalry, accompanied Lord Roberts, while on the left, advancing along the Modder River, was General French with Colonel Porter's cavalry brigade and General Kelly-Kenny's division. The ranks had been filled up by detachments from the Modder and Kimberley, which latter place had been converted into the advanced depôt. Among the additional troops were the Ceylon Mounted Rifles, a soldierly lot and much admired by those who saw them. At 10 A.M. the brigade of cavalry under Colonel Broadwood, which was marching in advance of the central column, came in touch with the enemy. Their position was a strong one, an open, crescent-shaped group of kopjes, with the centre a plateau, dropping on all sides to flat ground. At the extreme end of the semicircle (on the crescent at the north-east) was posted a formidable gun, and this weapon, perched on a commanding kopje at Abraham's Kraal, protected the position from advance from the north-west. It also provided the Republicans with a loophole for escape. Colonel Broadwood had no sooner discovered the enemy in his snake-shaped array of kopjes than he commenced to shell him and drive him forth from the lower projections of the position. That done, he there planted his mounted infantry till reinforcements should come to his aid. [Illustration: DIRECTING AN ARMY FROM A MILITARY BALLOON.] On the right Colonel Porter had now come in contact with the foe. General French's orders were to avoid imbroglio with the enemy and to keep in touch with the centre. On a message being sent by Colonel Porter to inform General French of the presence of the Dutchmen, the infantry division changed its course. They now marched twenty miles to the south, reaching the position about one o'clock. The march was an achievement. Twenty miles across the blistering, blinding veldt, as a commencement to a fighting day six hours in length, was a feat of endurance of which the infantry division might well have been proud. The change of course had the effect of avoiding the necessity to attack Abraham's Kraal, though at the same time it unfortunately left open the enemy's line of retreat to the north, which, later on, he was not slow to make use of. With the arrival of General French's force, Colonel Broadwood was free to continue his movement to the left of the enemy's position, and working round it, found himself assailed by the 9-pounder of the enemy. He nevertheless pursued his course, gaining ground very slowly but surely, and by nightfall the brigade of cavalry had worked eight miles to the rear of the Dutchmen's position. This flanking movement, though not concluded at dusk, resulted in the eventual retirement of the enemy. Meanwhile in the centre of the plateau hot fighting was taking place, General Kelly-Kenny's division having made a bold attack on the north of the stronghold, whence the troops were greeted from behind a screen of boulders with a storm of shot and shell. The Dutchmen, safe and invisible, could not, however, succeed in arresting the dogged advance of the Welsh Regiment, who formed the first line of the attacking force. They went on and on despite the fierce fusillade of the Federals, their numbers growing momentarily thinner, but their nerve and perseverance showing no diminution. The Boers, ingenious as ever, offered a skilful and stubborn resistance, pouring a heavy enfilading fire from kopjes both east and south-west, while they plied two 12-pounders with intense vigour. From the south now came the artillery, T Battery R.H.A. sweeping the way for the infantry advance. But they had no easy task. Before they could get into action the Vickers-Maxim of the Federals commenced its deadly activities, and while the gunners were unlimbering killed first one man then another, and laid low several horses. But the brave artillerymen undauntedly pursued their work, and presently, with the loss of very few minutes, exchanged hearty greetings with the weapon which had wrought such havoc among their numbers. At this time U Battery, at the north of the Boer centre, was active, but later on, when the 76th Field Battery moved towards the enemy with a view to clearing a way for the rush of the infantry, U Battery joined T, and together they blazed away at the ridges held by the Dutchmen. But throughout the whole period they pursued their work under showers which unceasingly rained down from the rifles of the foe. Meanwhile the Welsh Regiment, supported by the Essex and Gloucesters, moved on and on till they reached the shelter of the crest of the ridge. Here, at 500 yards range, a crackling concert of musketry was heard, the Boers firing with great ferocity and stubbornness, the British with coolness and accuracy. From the centre of the position the Yorks, supported by the Buffs, did magnificent work, and they, together with the Essex Regiment, later on in the afternoon began doggedly to ascend towards the stone sangars of the enemy, which yet vomited forks of flame. Now they crawled and now they wormed themselves along through the grass, dripping with gore and covered with sweat, many of their officers gone, comrades dropping to right and to left of them, while the fire of the enemy continued to rattle down in their midst. Then, as the fusillade slackened, they leapt up and made for the ridge, taking it, going over the crest with glittering steel and ringing cheer, and finding not one single Boer had awaited their coming. The Dutchmen had vanished into thin air! It was a magnificent deed--the finest that had been witnessed for a long time--but it was dearly paid for. The way was paved to Bloemfontein, but with the corpses of the honoured dead. The brunt of the fighting fell on the Sixth Division, more particularly on the Welsh and Essex Regiments, the Ninth Division, with the Guards, arriving too late in the day to take part in the fight. A great number of officers were put out of action--so many, indeed, that some of the leading companies were led, and admirably led, by their colour-sergeants. A characteristic feature of the engagement was the Dutchmen's slim and ingenious mode of firing a big gun from amid a group of red houses, each floating a white flag, an arrangement which served to cover the retirement of the enemy, and on the success of which he doubtless complimented himself not a little. [Illustration: SERGEANT OF THE INNISKILLING DRAGOONS. Photo by Gregory & Co., London.] At dusk a splendid sight was visible. In the last glimmer of day Lord Roberts and his staff entered the central plateau, followed by degrees by all the troops--an imposing force, which evidently determined the Boers in their resolution to make themselves scarce. This they did, guns included, with really creditable and surprising rapidity. They were much disheartened by defeat, however, and though they had offered most stubborn resistance, the character of their defence was lacking in evidence of the determination which had hitherto been noticeable. Among the mortally wounded was the gallant officer commanding the Royal Australian Artillery, Colonel Umphelby.[3] The Boers lost over 100, but the list of our own killed and wounded was a long one. Amongst the killed were:--Captain Eustace, the Buffs; Lieutenant Parsons and Second Lieutenant Coddington, Essex Regiment; Captain Lomax, Welsh Regiment; Mr. McKartie, a retired Indian civilian attached to Kitchener's Horse. Wounded--Colonel Hickson, the Buffs, Lieutenant Ronald, the Buffs; Captain Jordan, Gloucesters; Second Lieutenant Torkington, Welsh Regiment; Second Lieutenant Pope, Welsh Regiment; Second Lieutenant Wimberley, Welsh Regiment; Captain Broadmead, Essex Regiment; Lieutenant Devenish, Royal Field Artillery; Major Waite, Royal Army Medical Corps; Lieutenant Berne, Royal Army Medical Corps; Colonel Umphelby, Royal Australian Artillery (since dead); Lieutenant C. Berkeley and Second Lieutenant Lloyd, Welsh Regiment; Second Lieutenant G. H. Raleigh, Essex Regiment. The Australians came in for a heavy share of the fighting. The 1st Australian Horse, brigaded with the Scots Greys, were fiercely fired on by the enemy as they advanced to within 800 yards of the wide bend of kopjes. The New South Wales Mounted Infantry, under Colonel Knight, and the Mounted Rifles, under Captain Antill, engaged in animated pursuit of the enemy as they fled towards the north, their fleet horses showing a marked contrast in condition to the jaded steeds of the English cavalry. Lord Roberts expressed his satisfaction at the brilliant work performed by the Welsh Regiment in the storming of Alexander Kopje, a feat in which they displayed consummate skill as well as amazing pluck. Some heroic actions took place during the day, particularly in connection with the supply of ammunition, which ran short owing to the necessity of relieving the infantry for their heavy march, of fifty rounds apiece. Some dastardly ones were also practised by the Boers, who, finding themselves in a perilous situation, the artillery in front and a squadron of mounted infantry hovering on their flank, hoisted a white flag and threw up their hands in token of surrender. Naturally the British accepted the sign, and, while they were approaching the Dutchmen, some others of their number hastened to pour a volley into the British ranks. Lord Roberts himself having been a witness of this treacherous act, remonstrated with the Boer leaders, and ordered that in future if such action were repeated the white flag should be utterly disregarded. The following protest was made by the Commander-in-Chief:-- "To their Honours the State Presidents of the Orange Free State and South African Republic. "Another instance having occurred of a gross abuse of the white flag, and of the signal of holding up the hands in token of surrender, it is my duty to inform your Honours that if such abuse occurs again, I shall most reluctantly be compelled to order my troops to disregard the white flag entirely. "The instance occurred on the kopje east of Driefontein Farm yesterday evening, and was witnessed by several of my own staff-officers as well as by myself, and resulted in the wounding of several of my officers and men. "A large quantity of explosive bullets of three different kinds was found in Cronje's laager, and after every engagement with your Honours' troops. "Such breaches of the recognised usages of war and of the Geneva Convention are a disgrace to any civilised Power. "A copy of this telegram has been sent to my Government, with a request that it may be communicated to all neutral Powers." The Boers had now entirely disappeared. It was nevertheless hinted that they might be collecting in some new and unexpected region. The column, however, resumed its victorious march, proceeding twelve miles without coming upon the enemy. The beating of yesterday had produced a good effect, for the Dutchmen kept their distance, though in the kopjes all along the direct road to Bloemfontein, which lay due east, they were said to be swarming. It was also reported that Transvaalers and Free Staters had fallen out, and that the former, under Joubert, were determined to make a stand behind a magnificent entrenchment that they had built. The advance was supposed to come from the west, and consequently the Boer line of entrenchments extended some six or eight miles from the town facing towards Bam's Vlei. There were shelter trenches, made not on the kopjes, but about a hundred yards out on the plain beneath. They used sandbags, and had gun epaulements besides. In addition to all this, they had made sangars and piles of stones on the kopjes. Unfortunately for them, our troops made a cunning detour, which again dislocated the Dutchmen's programme, and forced them in their mountain fastnesses to sit inactive, while the cavalry was wheeling south to the outskirts of Bloemfontein! Here there were no fortifications and very few Boers. Mr. Steyn now secretly left Bloemfontein for Kroonstad, as, in spite of Mr. Kruger's representations, it had been decided to surrender the capital of the Free State. Lord Roberts, who had sent in a formal demand for surrender, received no reply. General Joubert made preparations, with some 3000 men, to avert the surrender, but his approach, veritably at the eleventh hour, was barred by the clever manoeuvres of the British. This splendid piece of work was executed by Major Hunter-Weston, R.E. He was sent by General French to cut the railway north of Bloemfontein, and thus preclude any chance of Boer interruption to the triumphal progress into the town. In the dead of night the Major, with seven men of the field-troop, all mounted on picked horses (a precaution that was very necessary considering the hard work done by the troops both before and after the relief of Kimberley), started on their hazardous expedition. Darkness cramped, though it cloaked their movements, and the ground over which they sped was seamed with dongas and many impediments; and, moreover, a wide sweep had to be made to avoid Boer pickets. Before the peep o' day they reached their destination. Then they began to search for a place suitable for demolition. They came on a culvert supported with iron girders, one of which was hastily but cautiously prepared by placing two 10-lb. charges of gun-cotton against the web, which was fired within twenty minutes. Then, with a detonation that seemed to shake the day into dawning, the line was completely wrecked and rendered impassable, and Joubert, whose "special" was timed to arrive at Bloemfontein at 8.10 A.M., lost his last chance of interfering with the proceedings! This in itself was an excellent _coup_, and particularly serviceable, since it secured to the British the use of twenty-six locomotives at a time when they were much needed. General French had also seized and destroyed some portions of the railway south of Bloemfontein. His headquarters were made at the house of Mr. Steyn's brother--who had tried unsuccessfully to get away, and was forced to remain at his farm--while the troops were now posted at different points outside the town, and were, in comparison with their former state, in clover. Early on the 13th the 1st Cavalry Brigade moved slowly towards some kopjes to the east of Bloemfontein and occupied them. All knew the great day was come when Lord Roberts with Kelly-Kenny's and Colvile's divisions, the Guards Brigade, and the Mounted Infantry would be presently marching into the Free State capital. Whereupon the adventurous journalist, determined there should be no pie without the impress of his finger, put his best leg foremost and decided to lead the way. The correspondents of the _Sydney Herald_, the _Daily News_, and the _Daily Telegraph_ were seen like madmen spurring over the plain. There was ten to one on the favourite, the Burleigh veteran, and the Colonial was only backed for a place, yet he it was who won! They were received in the Market Square with beams. There was a shade of relief even on the most surly countenances. Mr. Fraser, a member of the Executive, the Mayor of Bloemfontein, and others, "bigwigs of B.," as somebody called them, came out and did the honours. These gentlemen were invited to take carriages out to welcome the British force, which--diplomacy being the better part of hostility--they accordingly did. In starting they encountered the first of the British victors, Lieutenant Chester-Master, with three of Remington's scouts. At last they came to the Chief's halting-place, and the surrender of the town was made known. The mediæval ceremony of delivering up the keys of Parliament and Presidency was gone through. Formalities over, Lord Roberts made the gracious assurance that, provided no opposition was offered, the lives and properties of the Bloemfontein public were safe in his hands. Having notified his intention to enter the capital in state, the Mayor, Landrost, and others departed to acquaint the townspeople. AT BLOEMFONTEIN Bloemfontein! A name of milk and honey, of flowers and dew! Every vowel breathed of pastoral simplicity, of luscious grasses and lowing kine, of gambolling game and purling stream. A name for a poet to conjure with! a talisman to awaken the mellow music of a Herrick and recall the soul of Walton to benevolent rejoicings in the "sights and sounds of the open landscape." Unfortunately, the mellifluous name was not derived from the German for flowers or from the melody of fountains. It owed its origin to a Boer peasant who stood godfather to the hamlet and also to an adjacent stream. Here in other days the innocent Voertrekker unpacked his waggons and set out his little farmstead, choosing green rising ground, an oasis in the sandy veldt, and the neighbourhood of a refreshing rivulet for comfort's sake, and not because he foresaw that in fifty years this spot would be the central scene in one of the largest dramas of the world! In the year 1845 the Union Jack first waved its protective folds over the homestead. At that period it was converted into the official abode of a British Resident, and from that time, with an expansion which was truly British, the tiny village developed till it became a town, and finally passed over, through British apathy and dislike for responsibility, to the hands of the Free Staters. And there it might and would have remained had not President Steyn, who owed us no grudge, and with whom we were on the best of terms, decided to put his finger in the diplomatic pie, in the hope that some of the plums would fall to his share. Thus, in his greed for power and his contempt for the British, he embroiled his country, and being unable to defend his capital, was forced to scurry off to his birthplace, Winburg, some miles to the east, where, with the assistance of his foreign mercenaries, he yet hoped to save himself from the consequences of his ill-advised interference. So it came to pass that on the 13th of March 1900, thirty-nine days after the commencement of his great march, Lord Roberts, with the magnificent British army in his wake, moved unopposed towards the capital of the Free State. [Illustration: THE FORMAL SURRENDER OF BLOEMFONTEIN. Drawing by J. Finnemore, from a Sketch by W. B. Wollen, R.I.] The entry into the town was an imposing spectacle. The Mayor, Dr. Kellner, the Landrost, Mr. Papenfus, and Mr. Fraser, as we know, had driven out in a cart to meet Lord Roberts, and four miles outside the town the keys of the town were given up. Then the Field-Marshal, the most simply dressed man in his whole army, appeared at the head of a cavalcade a mile long. He was followed by his military secretary, his aides-de-camp, the general officers on his staff with their respective staffs. Then came the foreign attachés, some war-correspondents, and Lord Roberts' Indian servants, who contributed a warm note of colour to the sombre files of kharki. After this came a serpentine train of cavalry and guns, which entered the city at one o'clock. It was the most wonderful military display that has been seen for years. A gigantic army--not a peace but a war army, not the crude army of Salisbury Plain but the perfected article, the army minus its raw recruits and plus its trained reserves, which owed its magnificent development to the man whom Lord Wolseley has called "the greatest War Minister we ever had." Looking at the splendid physique of the warrior multitude, it was impossible for military men, even those who had criticised most severely the short service system, to deny that to-day the triumph of Lord Cardwell's principle was complete! The crowds collected from far and wide, all business was suspended, and knots and cliques gathered together to witness the procession moving up the slopes towards the town itself. Cheer after cheer rang through the air, kerchiefs waved and blessings were prayed for, as the procession marched through the collected crowd and on into the market square. Lord Roberts then went to the Government Buildings, and took formal possession in the name of the sovereign. There was renewed cheering and singing of "God save the Queen," when, half-an-hour later, at twenty minutes to two, a small silken Union Jack, specially worked by Lady Roberts, was seen floating over the town. The day passed without notable incident. A public holiday was observed, and the kharki-clad crowds rejoiced themselves by singing "Tommy Atkins" and feasting right royally. They were quite undisturbed by the scarcely complimentary remarks of the Burghers, who compared them in number and colour and appetite to a swarm of locusts! Mr. Steyn's brother, who, it may be remembered, had failed to get away with his belongings in time, remained discreetly at his farm, where he entertained General French, and subsequently Lord Roberts. One of the curious features of the entry into the capital of the Free State was the extraordinary welcome given by the inhabitants to the conquerors. Regiment after regiment filed past to the tune of hearty cheers, and surprised pleasure at the orderly and humane entry of the enemy was visible on every face. While the public offices were taken over by Lord Roberts' staff, the banks were visited by Colonel Richardson. This officer was accounted one of the heroes of the hour, for sufficient praise could not be given to the achievements of the Army Corps or to Colonel Richardson, whose task of provisioning, foraging, and transporting 40,000 men and 18,000 horses savoured of the labours of Hercules. There were quibblers, of course; but, practically considered, all had gone off without a hitch, and the whole arrangements moved, as the phrase is, "on greased wheels," the influence over all of the beloved "Bobs" having been simply magical. The next day Lord Roberts inspected the Guards Brigade, complimented them on their splendid march, and expressed his regret that through a mistake he had been unable to enter Bloemfontein at the head of the Brigade. He consoled them by saying, "I will lead you into Pretoria!" In these gracious words the troops were rewarded for their disappointment, for the Chief, though he had promised them to lead them into the town, had finally decided that it was expedient to enter the capital without waiting for the infantry. The Guards Brigade had made a magnificent march of thirty-eight miles in twenty-eight hours, taking from 3 P.M. on the 12th to 1 P.M. on the 13th, with an interval of only two and a half hours for sleep. Yet, in spite of this, and of having been in some of the toughest fights of the campaign, they were cheery and elated. One of their number (the Scots Guards) described their arrival:--"We waited three hours outside Bloemfontein for Lord Roberts, as we were told that the Commander-in-Chief wished to ride at the head of the Guards Brigade into the town. But he did not come, and our Colonel got orders to go in on his own. Our reception in Bloemfontein would have surprised you. It was quite funny in its way--not in the least like entering an enemy's town. The people simply came forth and cheered us as friends. A small group of nuns who came out to meet us wished us 'Good evening,' and said we were very welcome. To myself, as an Aberdonian, it was very home-like to pass by a shop with the inscription, 'Bon-Accord Restaurant.' The proprietor was standing at the door shouting himself hoarse. I was not surprised afterwards to learn that he was a pure Aberdonian. We camped outside the town, and next day Lord Roberts reviewed the Guards Brigade. His Lordship made a short speech, in which he complimented us on our rapid march, and said he was sorry he had not been able to lead us into Bloemfontein. 'But,' said his Lordship, 'I hope to be at your head when we go into Pretoria.' We all gave three very hearty cheers for the Commander-in-Chief, who has always been the soldier's friend. We would follow him anywhere." To return to the closing events of the momentous 13th. At 8 P.M. a telegram was sent home describing with simple brevity the entry into the capital:--"From Lord Roberts to the Secretary for War.--Bloemfontein, March 13, 8 P.M.--By the help of God and by the bravery of Her Majesty's soldiers, the troops under my command have taken possession of Bloemfontein. The British flag now flies over the Presidency, vacated last evening by Mr. Steyn, late President of the Orange Free State." An army order was issued on the 14th, in which the Chief said:-- "On February 12 this force crossed the boundary of the Free State; three days later Kimberley was relieved; on the fifteenth day the bulk of the Boer army under one of its most trusted generals was made prisoner; on the seventeenth day news came of the relief of Ladysmith; and on March 13, twenty-nine days from the commencement of operations, the capital of the Free State was occupied. "This is a record of which any army would be proud--a record which could not have been achieved except by earnest, well-disciplined men, determined to do their duty, whatever the difficulties and dangers. "Exposed to the extreme heat of the day, bivouacking under heavy rain, marching long distances often on reduced rations, all ranks have displayed an endurance, cheerfulness, and gallantry which is beyond all praise." Lord Roberts added that he desired especially to refer to the heroic spirit with which the wounded had borne their suffering. No word nor murmur of complaint had been uttered. The anxiety of all when succour came was that their comrades should be attended to first. So the great march was over--the hurry, the fatigue, the loss of life, the perpetual anxieties had brought about the desirable end--and the tremendous first act in the historic drama of the century was nearing its conclusion. Looking back on the difficulties that had been surmounted--the movement of some 40,000 men and 20,000 quadrupeds across over 100 miles of mostly dry veldt, where water was scarce and heat tropical, and where the enemy lurked in masses in kopje or donga, and had to be fought at intervals--the march appeared little short of miraculous. Now the curtain was shortly to go up on the first scene of the second act, an act which would have for its background the Orange River Colony, formerly known as the Orange Free State! FOOTNOTES: [3] Lieutenant-Colonel C. E. E. Umphelby, who died of the wounds which he received during the fight, was forty-six years of age. He commanded the Victorian portion of the Royal Australian Regiment of Artillery. He joined the Victorian Militia Garrison Artillery in 1884, and in the following year was appointed lieutenant in the Permanent Artillery. He was promoted to be captain in 1888, major in 1891, and lieutenant-colonel in 1897. Sent to England by the Victorian Government in 1889, he passed through various artillery courses, including the long course at Shoeburyness. Lieutenant-Colonel Umphelby was attached to the staff of Major-General M. Clarke at Aldershot from June to August 1890. See vol. iii., "Victoria." CHAPTER IV MAFEKING IN FEBRUARY The investment was much less close than formerly. Owing to the increasing activity in other parts of the theatre of war, Colonel Baden-Powell was relieved of the pressing attentions that were previously bestowed on him. Now for the first time he found himself in touch with the outer world, for telegraphic communication was restored in the direction of Gaberones, about ninety miles north of Mafeking, and from thence a bi-weekly service of runners was instituted for the conveyance of letters and telegrams, of course at the owners' risk. There was delight all round, and "Old Bathing Towel," as contemporary Carthusians used irreverently to call him, made haste to rejoice the hearts of those at home with a report of his doings. [Illustration: SLEEPLESS MAFEKING--HOT WORK IN THE TRENCHES. Drawing by R. Caton Woodville.] On the 4th of February the etiquette of the Sabbath was broken by an accident. The machine-gun at Fort Ayr was fired, and the enemy was not slow to reply. Lieutenant Grenfell, unarmed and without a flag of truce, pluckily went out to tender apologies for the accident. He was met by the Boers, who exchanged for a flask of whisky two copies of the _Standard and Diggers' News_, containing glowing accounts of Boer victories on the Tugela! It needed more than the contents of the flask to correct the dismay occasioned by the lamentable, if exaggerated, news of the abandonment of Spion Kop, and the inhabitants could only console themselves by remembering what a stupendous and gratuitous liar the Boer could be. Luckily for them, they only accepted half of the Dutchmen's tales, and had learnt by experience that the art of editing Boer journals was dependent on imaginative rather than realistic talent. For instance, "one who knew" described the methods of _Volkstem_ thus:--"When you knew it, something could be extracted. The key to the mystery was this: The paper always published the exact opposite of what had taken place. For instance, a few days before Cronje's capture it had a grand headline--'Cronje the Captor.' And underneath came the astounding statement that Cronje had cornered 900 British Lancers on the Koodoosrand. Alas! for Cronje and his Lancers! They existed only in the editor's fertile imagination." So, notwithstanding the report of reverses elsewhere, the large heart of Mafeking was still bent on bursting its cramped shell. If antiquated methods of warfare were carried on in other parts of South Africa, they were certainly not pursued here, for Colonel Baden-Powell was a modern of the moderns. The secrets of the enemy's tactics were at his fingers' ends, and where science failed to match them resource came in. He knew how to make dynamite spit and scream and threaten; he studied the problem of tension and the art of playing on the nerves of his adversary, and Cronje's remark, "Not men, but devils," made as that redoubtable one shook the dust of Mafeking off his shoes, must have been the dearest compliment the Colonel's heart could crave. The Colonel, in a despatch forwarded to Colonel Nicholson--an officer who, with a small column and armoured train, held Mangwe, Palapye, and other places on the rail--dated February 12, described his activities:-- "MAFEKING, _February 12_. "On the 3rd inst. our Nordenfeldt was chiefly occupied in preventing the enemy from completing their new work on the northern slope of the south-eastern heights. Assistance was rendered by our seven-pounder, emplaced in the bush to the east of Cannon Kopje. The enemy's siege-gun replied vigorously. During that night the enemy were nervous and restless, and kept firing volleys at our working parties, being apparently apprehensive of attack. Their firing continued until dawn, when the work in our trenches ceased. "There was a curious incident at Fort Ayr that Sunday. Our machine-gun there was fired accidentally, and the enemy replied. Lieutenant Grenfell went out and apologised for the accident. Though the gun had been fired and the enemy had replied, he did not take a flag of truce with him. The Boers met him, and exchanged two copies of the _Standard and Diggers' News_ for a flask of whisky. "On Monday, the 5th, irregular shelling continued all day. In the evening heavy rains fell, but the enemy kept up the bombardment till midnight, firing a new incendiary shell, which, however, failed to take effect. "On the 7th there was a desultory bombardment, and the sharpshooters were busy. On the 8th the enemy's siege-gun fired one shell only. "On the 11th the enemy were quiet, being engaged in fortifying their big gun emplacement, and generally preparing to resist attack from outside. A good deal of night-firing was exchanged between our outlying positions and those of the enemy, volleys being fired at short ranges. "Next day the enemy were fairly quiet. Mr. Dall, a well-known citizen, was killed, and two Cape boys were wounded, while two natives in the town were killed and some four wounded." The circumstances of Mr. Dall's death were deeply tragic, for his wife, who was in the women's laager at the time, on hearing of the news was half-distracted by the shock. Owing to the grievous affair the dance that was to have taken place was postponed to the following day. [Illustration: FACSIMILE OF ISSUE OF 25TH JANUARY 1900 OF THE _Mafeking Mail_.] Colonel Baden-Powell issued an order which broke to the besieged the information that the Commander-in-Chief had requested them to hold on till May. Hearts dropped to zero! If properly conserved, it was believed that provisions might be eked out till the Queen's birthday, but the quality of the fare was bad enough without consideration of the quantity. The men were tough, they were game for anything; but the women--helpless, worn, unnerved, surrounded by children, and limited to the confines of an insanitary laager--they made an additional tangle to the already knotty situation. The townsfolk going to the posts in the trenches, with their own lives in their hands, had upon them the burden of thought for those, their weaklier belongings, who were waning with anxiety and disease--waning many of them into their graves. Still the garrison grumbled little. It set out as Sabbath decoration for the forts and trenches some smart Union Jacks which had been worked by the ladies in the town, and the dauntless ones engaged in a concert, the programme of which was vastly appreciated. Here "B.-P.'s" well-known talents came in handy, for he played the Chevalier of the entertainment and displayed all the versatility of that renowned performer. From the æsthetic Paderewski (with his hair on) to a Whitechapel Coster is a good jump, but the gallant Colonel, who had so long impersonated Job to order of the British Government, was not to be defeated by minor representations, however various. After this joviality a ball was attempted, but alas! with sorry success. Before the gaily attired guests were well under way the uproar of Maxims and Mausers had begun. They tried to dance. It would have been a case of Nero fiddling while Rome was burning. A staff officer arrived ordering all to fall in. Soon there was a general stampede, officers fled to their posts, orderlies rushed off to sound the alarm, the galloping Maxim tore through the blue obscurity from the western outposts to the town; the Bechuanaland Rifles and the Protectorate Regiment hurried to the brickfields, the Cape Police made for the eastern advance posts, while the ladies, charming, disconsolate, hied them precipitately to places of refuge. There, in the lambent beams of the moon, were seen excited shadows, all either rushing to their bomb-proof shelters or scudding to the sniping posts of the river. Showers of bullets flecked the sapphire air, and the exquisite serene night was changed into a long, wakeful, quaking anguish. The Boers kept up their firing operations throughout the small hours, but at dawn, when they received a _quid pro quo_ from the British quarter, they deemed it best to subdue their ardour for a brief space. Rest was short-lived. On the 13th the gunners again made themselves offensive by endeavouring to hit the flour-mill, and they succeeded in their efforts, though fortunately without destroying it. They pursued their murderous industries throughout the day, pouring bullets on any one who dared to show a nose in the open, and about noon succeeded in seriously wounding Captain Girdwood, who was returning to luncheon on his bicycle. The unfortunate officer--one of the most popular fellows and as gallant as he was jolly--never rallied after receiving the fatal wound and died on the following day. In the evening he was buried. The solemn rite was conducted with simplicity under the mild moonbeams which silvered the gloomy scene and softened the rigid faces of the bronzed warriors who hung in melancholy regret round the open grave. The Boers sometimes endeavoured to affect jocosity. From the advanced trench, which was some hundred and ten yards from the besiegers' main trench, their voices could be heard travelling on the breeze. The prelude to their attacks began not seldom with "Here's a good morning to you, Mafeking," or other remarks of cheery or personal nature. Then rattle, rattle, and one of the British band would drop. On one of these occasions an amusing if tragic ruse was perpetrated. The Boers were known to be fond of music, and some one of the tormented hit on the happy idea of performing for the benefit of the hostile audience. The savage breast was soothed. The Boers were "drawn." They stopped to listen. Enraptured, they advanced nearer, nearer. Finally, two enthusiastic, inquisitive heads protruded from cover--protruded never to protrude again! The Boers soon began to try the expedient of attacking Mafeking by proxy. Assaults were made, or rather attempted, by a mongrel force, composed largely of mercenaries--Germans, Scandinavians, Frenchmen, and renegade Irish (probably "returned empties" from the gallant Emerald Isle), ne'er-do-weel's, who felt it necessary at times to do something for their living. These were assisted by natives, who were pressed into their service to make a convenient padding for their front in advance, for their rear in retreat, as they took good care to save their own hides when retirement was obligatory. Fortunately their artillery practice, which was patiently kept up, was very inferior, otherwise Mafeking would soon have been in ruins. On one afternoon the enemy plied his siege-gun and another gun with great vigour. Out of eight rounds one shot besprinkled two of the besieged with dust; a 5-pounder gun from one quarter and a 1-pounder Maxim from another filled the air with deplorable detonations for two whole hours, yet happily no life was lost. To this hot fire the inhabitants replied only with their rifles. It was wonderful in what good stead their rifles had stood them, and it was thanks to them, and not to the Government, that the town had been saved at all. The difficulties both at Kimberley and Mafeking were the result of the obstructive policy adopted by the Colonial Government before the outbreak of hostilities. While the storm-cloud hung on the horizon, Kimberley had appealed to Mr. Schreiner for permission to send up from Port Elizabeth Maxims which had been ordered by the De Beers Company, and the licence was refused on the ground that there was no necessity to strengthen the defences of the town. The appeals from Mafeking were treated in much the same way, the authorities at the Cape suggesting that there was no reason to believe that the situation demanded extra precautions! Ingenuity and pluck had been the backbone of British defence, not British guns. An ordnance factory was established, and excellent shells were cast, and even powder manufactured. Thus the alarm lest ammunition should run out before the arrival of relief was allayed. The great ambition of the garrison was to complete a 5½-inch howitzer, and throw "home-made shells from a home-made gun with home-made powder." Major Baillie described with some pride the self-contained nature of the community: "We have our bank, our ordnance factory, and our police; and we flourish under a beneficent and remote autocracy. And now, as regards the ordnance factory, it was started for the manufacture of shells for our 7-pounder, for shot, brass and iron, for our antique cannon, and for the adaptation of 5-pounder shells (left here by Dr. Jameson) to our 7-pounders by the addition of enlarged driving-bands. These have all proved a complete success, and too much praise cannot be given to Connely and Cloughlan of the Locomotive Department, who have organised and run the factory. As great a triumph has been the manufacture of powder and the invention of fuses by Lieutenant Daniels, British South Africa Police and the Glamorgan Artillery Militia, which render us secure against running short of ammunition. A gun also is being manufactured, and will shortly be used. This factory is of long standing, but the authorities had not allowed us to allude to its existence." Other manufactures, too, were commenced, for manufacture it must be called--the art of making the poor skeletons, at one time known as horses, into succulent meat. Some declared that the number of cats and dogs was visibly thinning, but none dared pry too closely into the workings of the wonderful machinery that fed them. A number of the Protectorate Regiment's horses were slaughtered, and any others that were shot by the enemy were passed on to the commissariat. A soup-kitchen, under the supervision of Captain Wilson, was opened for the purpose of supplying some 600 natives with nourishing food, and rendering them contented with the vicissitudes of fate. The compound was scarcely inviting, and resembled a third-rate haggis. In two great boilers scraps of such meat as could be gathered together were simmered down, and to this immense stockpot was added various meals, which gave the mess the necessary consistency. The natives bought it eagerly at 6d. a quart, and really rejoiced in it. The blacks, indeed, suffered less than the whites. The latter were paying a guinea a day for very scant fare, while the Baralongs, who were earning from 1s. to 2s. 6d. a day, were able to sustain life on half their wages, and save the rest to buy luxuries, a wife possibly, when the stress of the siege was over. The young children suffered most of all, for malaria and unsuitable food played havoc in the women's laager, and the graveyard was filled with small victims to the Imperial cause. About the middle of the month the Boers became abnormally active, and for several days sounds of digging and picking suggested that they were throwing out new trenches beyond those they already manned in the region of the brickfields. The full significance of the activity was discovered by Sergeant-Major Taylor, who--in charge of three pits which formed the most advanced post--suddenly espied, some fifty yards in advance of the limit of the Boer trenches, a hostile figure! The apparition wore a German uniform, and Sergeant-Major Taylor was soon aware that the enemy were intending to sap the British position. Colonel Baden-Powell was informed of the impending danger, and at night a counter-sap extending 100 yards was thrown out, from which point it would be possible for the besieged to fire on the new work. The tension of the situation was extreme. Eighty yards only separated the combatants, and the enemy continued to burrow, approaching little by little, while the British continued to harass them in their labours by an active fusillade whenever a chance presented itself. But the operations continued, and every hour brought the Boers nearer. At last a night came when the enemy had almost reached his goal, and, moreover, had moved the Creusot gun to a position on the south-eastern heights so as to command the entire area. With due precaution the defenders tried to occupy the advanced posts, but the Boer firing was so correct and persistent that the position was rendered untenable. Sergeant-Major Taylor, a splendid fellow--who more than once had ventured eavesdropping to the edge of the Boer trenches--and four others were mown down in their gallant efforts to save the situation. The enemy, satisfied with his exertions in this direction, now began to turn his attention to the forts in the rear--a bad move, for while the Dutchmen hammered in that region the British rapidly seized the occasion to construct a traverse across the mouth of the sap. This, of course, was not carried forward without attracting the attention of the enemy, who fired fast and furiously. But the task was accomplished, after which the Boers and the British, worn out, rested from their hostilities. For a day and a night the Boers were in occupation of the advanced hole and the sap that had been carried from it, but it was soon recaptured, and the connection made with the Boer trenches blown up with dynamite. On the 20th the Protectorate Regiment gave a dinner, which turned out to be quite a luxurious repast. Invitations were supplemented by the request to bring their own bread! Some of the officers shot a few locust-birds, small as quail, which, when carved judiciously, went round among the guests. Added to this there was a sucking pig, obtained none knew whence, but nevertheless most welcome. On the 22nd, Sergeant-Major Looney of the Commissariat was sentenced to five years penal servitude for the misappropriation of comestibles and stores, which had been going on for some time. The Commissariat was reorganised by Captain Ryan (Army Service Corps) with untiring energy and economy. To the soup-kitchen went everything, scraps of meat, or hoof, meal, unsifted oats, bran, all were turned to account, and food of a sustaining, if not luxurious kind, was provided for every one. At this time the Boers were growing despondent, and began to doubt their chance of forcing the town to surrender. From a conversation overheard by some wary ones who had crept close to the enemy's trenches, it appeared that President Steyn had urged Commandant Snyman to carry the town by storm, and afterwards to come to the rescue of the Free Staters with his force, but the Burghers had expressed their opinion that it was now too late to take Mafeking--they should have done so the first week. The inhabitants were very pleased with their own ingenuity, and in their ordnance workshops the manufacture of shot and shell went on apace. The mechanics of the railway works, by a system which seemed to act on the lines of a conjuring trick, turned out from the shell-factory about fifty rounds a day. No waste was allowed. Even the fragments of the enemy's shells were utilised. These and scraps of cast iron were purchased at twopence a pound for smelting, and twopence, it must be remembered, was now a magnificent disbursement, as money was growing more and more scarce. Curiously enough, the present foreman, Conolly, was at one time manager of the shell department of the ordnance factory at Pretoria, where he personally supervised the manufacture of the larger shells. He now necessarily took a parental interest in the shells flung into Mafeking by the Boers' Creusot gun, and also in those new ones that were flung out of Mafeking as a result of his own and others' inventive genius! A good deal of shelling took place, and that on the 23rd was said to be a salute in honour of Independence Day in the Orange Free State. The inhabitants of Mafeking would not have grudged their enemies the, to them, distressing attempt at festivity had they then known that four days later the death-blow of that independence would be struck, and the salute was destined to be the last in the history of the Republics! Fare was growing more and more meagre. Horse-flesh was diversified by bread made from horse forage; water, to say the least of it, was becoming interesting only to bacteriologists. The native population for the most part starved; they now and then indulged in a raid and brought back fat fare, which for a day or two had a visible effect upon their ebon skeletons, but they brought it at the risk of their lives. Uninterrupted deluges of rain made existence a perpetual misery, the trenches and also the bomb-proof shelters were flooded, and the hapless inhabitants, saturated, fled into the open, uncertain whether death by fire was not preferable to death by water. The first, at all events, promised to be expeditious, while the second offered prospects of prolonged sousing and exquisite tortures of enduring rheumatism. Daily the state of affairs became less tolerable. Typhoid and malaria stalked abroad, and in the children's and women's laager diphtheria had set in. On the 25th a message was received from the Queen. Its effect was electrical. It was vastly heartening to feel and to know that the great Sovereign herself knew and sympathised with the history of the struggles and privations, the loyalty and pluck of this little hamlet in a remote corner of Her Majesty's possessions. It seemed more possible now to starve patriotically, and, with every mouthful of nauseating mule or horse, to put aside personal discomfort and to remember the gracious fact that each individual was a symbol, a sorry and dilapidated one perhaps, but nevertheless a symbol of the majesty and might of Greater Britain. In addition to the royal message there came two days later the stimulating intelligence that Kimberley had been relieved, and that Lord Roberts was advancing on Bloemfontein! On Majuba Day, all made sure that some sort of attack might be expected, and they prepared to welcome it with a salute from the new howitzer gun which had engaged the genius of the siege arsenal. The Boers, however, were quiet. A good deal of psalm-singing took place in the Boer camp, while the besieged put the big gun through his paces. Ash Wednesday was observed without sackcloth and ashes. Mafeking had been enjoying Lenten abstinence for months past, and therefore when, at the service on the following Sabbath, the parson reminded them that it was the fast season, every one in the church enjoyed the joke so hugely that smiles were with difficulty suppressed. As one of the congregation afterwards suggested, they had had so much "Extra Special" fasting that they ought to be let off Lenten obligations for five years. [Illustration: SOUTH AFRICAN LIGHT HORSE (Trooper). BRABANT'S HORSE (Trooper). DUKE OF EDINBURGH'S VOLUNTEER RIFLES (Dispatch Rider). Photos by J. E. Bruton, Cape Town.] CHAPTER V AT CHIEVELEY AGAIN On the 8th of February General Buller again retired across the Tugela. He realised that his whole flanking movement had been a failure, and though the ill-success has been attributed to many causes, we may safely say that the main cause of the fiasco was the insufficient rapidity with which the scheme was conducted. Napoleon declared that flank marches should be as short, and executed in as brief a time, as possible. Celerity and concealment in these cases must go hand in hand, and when celerity is overlooked concealment becomes impossible. Delay had given the Boers the opportunity to shift their positions and produce a new front even more powerful than that at Colenso. The General's idea had been, after taking Vaal Krantz, to entrench it as the pivot of further operations, but the experience of two days' hard fighting taught him that, owing to the nature of the ground, and the despatch of the Dutchmen, the plan was far from practicable. The position was found to be dominated in every direction by the enemy, and unless Vaal Krantz could be held securely during the advance to Ladysmith, it was thought advisable not to hold it at all. For this reason the Natal Field Force returned to Chieveley, the original scene of operations, where the "Red Bull," as the Boers called him, with indomitable energy, planned out a fourth scheme of attack. It was now to be directed against the Boer left. The battle of the 15th of December was mainly directed against the Boer right, as there were reasons to believe the right to be the weaker of the two flanks. That attack had failed for reasons we know. Circumstances having changed, and more guns and men being now at his disposal, the General determined to direct his energies to the Boer left. The task was a complicated one. Both river and hills twist themselves mysteriously, and seemingly in conspiracy with Boer notions of defence. For instance, the river after leaving Colenso (which may be looked upon as the Boer centre) twists invisibly into the shelter of the impregnable kopjes, and takes a direct turn towards the north, thereby passing in front of the Boer right and in rear of the Boer left. By taking to themselves possession of Hlangwane the enemy had made their position almost unassailable. This formidable left ran in a series of trenches, sangars, and rifle-pits from Colenso past the thorn-bushes by the river, and on to the powerfully fortified hill of Hlangwane. From thence it was extended over the ridge called Green Hill, and farther to the companion eminences of Cingolo and Monte Cristo, and the nek that united them. The first thing, therefore, to be done in a plan for turning this formidable position was to take possession of Hussar Hill, which was accomplished on the 14th of February, from which day and on till the 27th fighting without cessation took place. Some one called it the fighting march, for it was a series of ferociously contested moves from Chieveley to Hussar Hill, and thence _via_ Cingolo Nek and Monte Cristo Ridge till the Boer line had been turned and the British forces had placed themselves diagonally across the left of the Boer position. Having worked round in a species of hoop, which crumpled the Boer left before it, and having deposited men and guns to mark as milestones the victorious advance, a frontal advance was soon made on Green Hill, the adjacent slope some three miles from Hlangwane, which mountain became, as a natural consequence of the foregoing proceedings, a somewhat easy prize. The victory at Monte Cristo, which enabled us to acquire Green Hill, may be looked upon as the turning of the tide. From the hour that commanding point was occupied the future of the relieving army was practically secure, for the river was gained, and the Boers once on the run, there needed only the fine fighting quality of our troops--the A1 quality of the world--to bring things to a satisfactory conclusion. But now to try to follow this complicated and well-considered march. On the 12th of February a force of mounted infantry, with a battalion of infantry, a field-battery, and a Colt battery, reconnoitred Hussar Hill (so called because it was the scene of the surprise to a picket of the 13th Hussars), a long ridge situated at the south of Hlangwane, where General Buller subsequently established his headquarters. The South African Light Horse and another Colt battery were treated to some fierce volleys by the enemy, with the result that Lieutenant J. Churchill and another officer were wounded. Four men were injured and one was missing. The fight was a brisk one, though of but half-an-hour's duration, for the hill was not strongly held. The troops then moved forwards, winding through a series of wooded ridges to the right, till they reached an entrenched ridge connecting Hlangwane with higher hills on the east. As there were continual increases and changes in regard to the troops, it will be found advisable, before going further, to refer to a table of the distribution of the forces as far as they were then known:-- SIR REDVERS BULLER'S FORCE SECOND DIVISION.--(Major-General Lyttelton).--2nd (Hildyard's) Brigade--2nd East Surrey; 2nd West Yorks; 2nd Devons; 2nd West Surrey. 4th (Norcott's Brigade)--1st Rifle Brigade; 1st Durham Light Infantry; 3rd King's Royal Rifles; 2nd Scottish Rifles (Cameronians); Squadron 13th Hussars; 7th, 14th, and 66th Field Batteries. THIRD DIVISION.--5th (Hart's) Brigade--1st Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers; 1st Connaught Rangers; 2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers; 1st Border. 6th (Barton's) Brigade--2nd Royal Fusiliers; 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers; 1st Royal Welsh Fusiliers; 2nd Royal Irish Fusiliers; Squadron 13th Hussars; 63rd, 64th, and 73rd Field Batteries. FIFTH DIVISION.--(Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Warren).--10th (Coke's) Brigade--2nd Dorset; 2nd Middlesex; 2nd Somerset Light Infantry. 11th (Wynne's) Brigade--2nd Royal Lancaster; 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers; 1st South Lancashire; 1st York and Lancaster; Squadron 13th Hussars; 19th, 20th, and 28th Field Batteries. Corps Troops--1st Royal Dublin Fusiliers; Imperial Light Infantry; Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry; 61st Field Battery (Howitzers); 78th Field Battery; Natal Battery, 9-pounders; twelve Naval 12-pounder quick-firers; 4th Mountain Battery; two 4.7 Naval guns, 1st Cavalry Brigade (Burn-Murdoch)--1st Royal Dragoons; 14th Hussars; Gough's Composite Regiment. 2nd Cavalry Brigade (Dundonald)--Natal Carabineers (squadron); South African Light Horse (four squadrons); Imperial Light Horse (squadron); Natal Police (squadron). General Lyttelton succeeded General Clery (disabled by blood-poisoning) in command of the Second Division, while Colonel Norcott (Rifle Brigade) temporarily took command of the Fourth Brigade. On the 14th the army moved to occupy the new position on Hussar Hill. As we know, the irregular cavalry, the South African Horse, had secured the position, and some disappointed Boers who had thought to be beforehand with them had disappeared with much haste and not a little chagrin. After a short time Generals Wynne Coke, and Barton with their respective brigades joined Sir Charles Warren's division, and bivouacked on the new ground. There was some trouble about water, as Hussar Hill was arid and the nearest river was some miles away. However, necessity is the mother of invention, and necessity brought to light a system of water-waggons by which a small but appreciable amount of water was carried to the troops. While this was going on above, General Lyttelton was moving to the east of Chieveley round the eastern spur of Hussar Hill. Here during the afternoon a number of Boers hiding among the boulders and dense scrub made themselves obstreperous; but their fire was overcome by our artillery, and before long they were dislodged. Little happened for two days save some artillery duelling, then an appreciable advance was made. A wooded hill called Cingolo, part of the range east of Hlangwane, was the next to be seized by an adroit flanking movement of the infantry. They gained and kept the top of the hill with but few casualties owing to the dense cover. At dawn on the 17th a general advance was ordered. Consequently soon after midnight the business of movement began. At daybreak the cavalry under Lord Dundonald marched to discover the enemy's left flank through the tangled and rugged country to the east--country so broken and wooded that on occasions it was impossible to ride, and all that could be done was to lead the horses through thicket, and thorns, and over boulders by the light of intelligence rather than military regime. And while this was going on the artillery was performing a boisterous symphony on seventy instruments, an _aubade_ to awaken such Boers as might still be dozing in rock, ravine, or ridge in the regions of Hlangwane. At last the troopers had wormed and torn and scrambled their way up the ridge, where, on arriving, the Boers accosted them with the music of musketry in tolerably fast time. Bullets whizzed and commenced to send the now well-known cataracts over the advancing troops, and for the moment it seemed to be a toss up as to whether the toil of gaining the position would be in vain. However, the Boers were in small number, and very soon they fell back, leaving the top of the hill before the advance of the Imperial Light Horse and the Natal Carabineers, who slew or captured some Burghers and horses. In their attack they were supported by the Queen's, the right battalion of Hildyard's attack, who had taken a short cut and came up in the nick of time, so that the Boers promptly scurried off and left the troops in undisturbed possession of Cingolo Hill. [Illustration: THE SCENE OF THE FIGHTING AT MONTE CRISTO HILL ON FEBRUARY 19. (From sketches taken during the action by Captain P. U. Vigors, 2nd Devon Regiment.)] Further important movements took place on the 18th. Through the operations of the day before, the Boers had been hunted along towards Monte Cristo, and from thence at daylight they commenced to pour Creusot shells on the British troops. The Queen's, who had bivouacked on the northern slope of Cingolo, and came in for a good deal of fire, valiantly crossed the nek, and, supported by the rest of the 2nd Brigade under General Hildyard, assaulted and finally took the southern end of Monte Cristo. The 4th Brigade occupied the left or western slope. Operations were begun very early, and the long precipitous climb in a baking sun occupied till midday. The advance over country that is trellised with spruits, dongas, thorn-bush, and scrub at times was painfully slow, and the scrambling and stumbling, sometimes on all fours, to the roll and rattle of musketry and the banging of unseen and unlocatable guns occupied some hours. The words of the Scripture, "Eyes have they and see not," might have been applied to this nerve-trying assault against hidden men with smokeless weapons. No sooner had the troops reached the top of Monte Cristo than they were assailed by a well-directed artillery fire from the direction of the invisible foe, shrapnel, Maxim, and Nordenfeldt guns pouring over the men as they advanced. But they steadily pushed on and up till at last they entirely routed the Boers. These, finding themselves in a desperate situation, took to their heels, leaving tents, food, biltong, lard, potatoes, onions, clothing, bridles, blankets, and Bibles behind them in disarray. In their retreat they were fired on by the cavalry, but they made small reply. Quantities of ammunition were captured, and, unfortunately for those who still maintained their respect for the enemy, several forms of expanding bullets. The Royal Welsh Fusiliers, supported by the rest of the 6th Brigade, assailed the eastern flank of the enemy's position. The 2nd Brigade of Cavalry on the extreme right watched the eastern slopes of Monte Cristo, and drove back those of the enemy who scurried there to escape the artillery fire. They had been completely taken by surprise; they had expected the British to begin a frontal attack on Green Hill, a smooth grassy eminence sliced with the gashes of Boer entrenchments, some of these six feet in depth, others blasted in the solid rock. Assaulted now by big guns in front and flank, attacked in flank and rear, the enemy, without offering much resistance, evacuated their strong positions and fled across the Tugela. That their flight was precipitate was testified by the fact that they even left letters behind. One of these was from General Joubert in answer to a request for supports, in which he said these could not be sent; the position was sufficiently garrisoned with the men they had. The crest of Monte Cristo gained, all at once took heart. This hill was the hinge on which all the subsequent movements turned. By means of it Green Hill and the frowning eminence of Hlangwane could become ours. From Hlangwane the whole western section of the great Colenso position could be rendered untenable by the enemy. This the Boers well knew, and this was the reason for their tough resistance on the dreadful 15th of December. Now, seeing us masters of Monte Cristo, they wisely decided to make themselves scarce. The British guns once mounted on Monte Cristo made a complete difference in the situation. It was now possible to enfilade many of the choice positions which for two months had been the snug hiding-places of the enemy. Now, in the distance, was visible--the subject of many dreams, many nightmares--Ladysmith. Around it, here and there, were dotted the enemy's camps and hospitals--only eight miles away--a comfortable walking distance--eight miles ahead of our advanced lines! Ladysmith--an austere queen to be wooed, a fainting beauty to be won--so she had seemed, with lives risked and sacrificed like mere handfuls of sand for the sake of her, for a few yards of approach near to that cestus which engirdled all the grand British blood that had palpitated for our coming, so long, so very long. It was glorious merely to know that Ladysmith was now in sight of the British picquets: there was a sense of exhilaration in the thought of real progress after the ghastly six days at Spion Kop, the fluctuating four at Vaal Krantz, the fourteen in and out and round about the precincts of fatal Colenso. Success was now almost within a stone's throw, and all hearts throbbed with expectation and confidence. All were in some way longing for the handclasp of those beleaguered men. There, in that cup of the hills were kindred; if not kindred, friends; if not friends, comrades in arms--comrades who had belonged to the same old regiments or "ground" with the same "crammers" at the same schools. And even for complete strangers there was a thrill of excitement, almost of exultation, at the prospect of coming in touch with these men, of grasping hands with renowned warriors, every one of whom had helped to illuminate one of the most sumptuous pages of the history of the nineteenth century. The intense heat, the terrific toil, the unparalleled hardships were forgotten. The energy and dash of the troops, hitherto unfailing, were now redoubled. They had now taken possession of the most important ridge which pointed towards the frowning guardian eminence of the beleaguered concave--Bulwana Hill--and hopes were high and spirits exuberant. There remained but Pieter's Hill between them and the imprisoned multitude. They now saw that the turn of the tide had arrived, and already they looked towards the distressed town, veiled in the haze of distance, and pictured the hour when their long spell of strain and turmoil should meet its reward. In this day's fight, the Queens, the Scots Fusiliers, the Rifle Brigade, and the irregular cavalry had especially distinguished themselves. It was the distinction of endurance rather than of display. The dogged perseverance with which they launched themselves at the positions to be taken, toiling through scrub and thorn, "potting away" at an invisible foe, was more to be applauded than more demonstrative feats of heroism. Colenso and Spion Kop had been showy in their tragedy, but the "fighting march," as it was called, was a feat of superb endurance, of obdurate pluck. A perpetual stumbling and tearing, an eternal pushing up and on against opposition the more terrifying because unseen; the sound of booming, smokeless murderous guns; the sight of maimed or mutilated human beings dropping suddenly under the serene and smiling sky were experiences to test the grit of the toughest and most stoical. A bolt from the blue! That was all. Yet presently there were dead men littered about, and far away, unconscious of their woe, were widows and orphans. On the 19th, Hlangwane Hill--the impregnable Gibraltar, as it has been called--was taken by the Fusilier Brigade. As this hill, which commanded Colenso, had been evacuated by the enemy--who had left three camps and all their paraphernalia, thousands of rounds of ammunition, and 2000 Maxim automatic shells behind them--we were now free to cross the Tugela. Whether the enemy would continue to fight inch by inch was uncertain, but still there was one subject of rejoicing--the river was ours. The following officers were killed and wounded during this day's operations:--2nd Royal Fusiliers--Killed, Captain W. L. Thurburn; wounded, 2nd Lieutenant E. C. Packe. 2nd Scottish Rifles--Wounded, 2nd Lieutenant J. M. Colchester-Wemyss. On the 20th General Hart, after a slight resistance by a weak rearguard, occupied the village, and now the line of the Tugela on the south side from Colenso to Eagle's Nest was in British hands. Colenso was found to be a desolate ruin. The enemy had evidently tried to make matchwood of the place. Windows and doors told the tale of wanton destruction. They were wrecked past remedy. Houses everywhere were redolent of the Boer, the walls bore traces of his illiterate caligraphy, and his offensive remarks in many tongues amused without disturbing those who read them. They could afford to smile now. And while they went on their tour of investigation the hidden Boers could not resist some sniping shots from their trenches in Port Wylie, which were only silenced by the forcible arguments of the Naval gunners on Hussar Hill. On this day another trooper of the South African Light Horse (Walters) distinguished himself by swimming across the Tugela and bringing over the pontoon, thus repeating the gallant deed of his comrades at Potgieter's Drift. Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry, though peppered by Boers who were ensconced on the kopjes on the opposite side, succeeded in fording the river, and proceeded to reconnoitre the kopjes on the other side. All the guns were gone, and the kopjes themselves seemed to be weakly held. In the distance small clusters of Boers were seen in the act of digging trenches, but it was generally believed that the enemy's tactics were now those of a rearguard action. [Illustration: THE RELIEF OF LADYSMITH--THE LAST RUSH AT HLANGWANE HILL. From a Sketch by René Bull, War Artist.] Terrible reminiscences of the battle of Colenso greeted them wherever they turned. Fort Wylie was seamed with bombardment. The railway bridge remained a lamentable picture of upheaval. Outside the village, lying as they had dropped, were the rotted carcases of horses which had fallen victims to the enemy's volleys--fallen in tangled masses, all harnessed together, while making a futile effort to save the guns of the 14th and 66th Batteries. The trenches, beginning on the very brink of the river, with their protective layers of sandbags and their ingeniously arranged earthworks, told how comfortably and with what immunity from danger the Boers had set about their fell work on the fatal 15th of December. The labour in making Colenso and its surroundings impregnable must have been as immense as it was skilful. General Hart's advanced guard now proceeded to cross the Tugela, the Boers having vacated all their positions south of the river, and on the 21st he was followed by the 5th Division, who drove back the enemy's rearguard. The enemy had moved north and turned into a strongly fortified line of kopjes midway between the river and Grobler's Kloof, and from thence there was some doubt whether he could ever be displaced. At the approach of the British, he, however, retired precipitately towards Grobler's Kloof. The crossing, on both days, of the magnificent infantry was apiece with all that had gone before. First came one shell, then another, but the troops steadily pursued their warlike course while the missiles hurtling over their heads exploded in the plain behind them. The great question had been as to where the river should be crossed. Now that the British were in possession of the whole area of Hlangwane and its connecting hills, it was possible to cross either where the river ran north and south, or where it ran east and west. The idea was to cross and get along the line of railroad, and follow a straight course up to Ladysmith. The enemy were believed to be in retreat, and therefore it seemed perfectly feasible to advance in the way attempted. On the 21st the gunners continued persistently at work, determining that the Dutchmen should have no spare time for the building of further entrenchments. The foe managed, however, to render themselves aggressive by firing on an ambulance train that was steaming out of Colenso station. Meanwhile the army was moving westward from Hlangwane plateau, with a view to marching up beyond the stream, and getting out of the valley of the river and beyond the kopjes that frowned over it. LADYSMITH The story of famine is an insidious story, a creeping horror that, scarcely visible, yet slowly and very gradually saps first the spirits, then the energies, then the blood, and finally all the little sparks of being that serve to divide us from the dead. The seal of hunger was set on every action, though there was no complaint. The cramped-up Tommy in his sangar was scarcely as conscious of his risk of danger from shot and shell as of the aching void that assured him how much nature abhorred a vacuum. When he marched, he marched now with the step of one who husbands his resources; when he whistled as of old, he ceased abrupt, the lung power being scant and short-lived. His eyes, plucky and Britishly dogged, grew large and wistful, as though looking for something that never came. Dysentery and fever caught him and left him, but left him still in charge of famine, which held him in leading-strings, allowing him his freedom to crawl so far and no farther. Yet daily routine went on as of yore. The shadow of the man went on picket or fatigue duty and met his fellow-shadows as often as not with a jest. In ordinary life you don't look upon cheek-bones as the features of a face. You take stock of eyes, nose, mouth, possibly ears. In Ladysmith a man's character betrayed itself in his cheek-bones and in the anæmic tone of the tanned parchment that was stretched across them. You could read of patience and heroism in the hard, distinct outlines, and comprehend the magnificent endurance of one who, expecting to fight like a devil, was condemned to feed like an anchorite. The men were very near the barbaric brink of starvation. On one occasion a shell plumped into the mule lines and killed a mule. There was a general rush. Shells followed on the first, crashing all around, but the famished racing throng heeded them not; their one desire was to get at the slain beast, to capture the wherewithal to stay their grievous cravings. Quickly with their clasp-knives they possessed themselves of great chunks of the flesh, and then, with death hurtling around them and over their heads, they proceeded to carry their prize to safer quarters. Here they determined to have a good "tuck-in." Fires were kindled, and the flesh was toasted and swallowed with lightning rapidity. For some weeks the inhabitants had been reduced to an essence of horse politely termed Chevril, which was declared to be both palatable and nourishing. The horses, with their ribs shining in painful high lights along their skins, dropped day after day from sheer famine, and were boiled down to meet the pressing demand. Their bones were gelatinous, however wizened their poor flesh. The horses that were used for food, like those that yet crawled, were mere skeletons. When the General, in view of making another sortie, inquired how many there were in camp that could still carry their rider for six miles, he was informed that there were only twelve equal to the task. The lack of fat and milk and vegetables was irremediable, but dainties, so called, were provided in curious ways. Blancmange was manufactured from ladies' violet-powder which had been "commandeered" for service in the kitchen, and biscuits were fried by the men in the axle-grease provided for the carts, in hope to make the task of biting them less like crunching ashes. The place itself appeared to be becoming the Abomination of Desolation. Many of the dwellings were unoccupied; the low bungalow-shaped villas were closed and barricaded; here and there were buildings cracked and seamed by shot and shell, with great gaps in their faces, reminding one of human beings without eyes and teeth. Melancholy and depression reigned everywhere--on the tangled, desolated gardens, as on the silent, listless men, who had almost ceased to converse, for there was nothing left to converse about. Buller's coming had been discussed threadbare; the prospect of the food holding out had been examined in all its hideous emptiness. Lassitude and weariness was the universal expression on the visages of the hollow-eyed spectres that were the remains of the dashing heroes of Glencoe and Elandslaagte. The land and riverbeds presented the appearance of a series of grottoes, shelters of wood, stone, and wire, the dens of wild animals, the caves of primitive man. Between the burrows and caves were sentry-paths and paths to the water-tanks, worn with the incessant traffic of weary feet. Though affairs were arriving at a sorry pass, there were still some wonderful recoveries. For instance, Captain Paley (Rifle Brigade), who was wounded in both hips, was getting on amazingly. Though the leg was badly shattered near the joint of the hip, there was every reason to hope that it might be saved. Captain Mills, too, was mending. To have a bullet pass through the lung and pierce the spinal column is not a common experience, and one that few recover from; yet the doctors gave hopeful reports. They had scarcely thought that Major Hoare would outlive a fractured skull--completely riddled they said it was--yet the Major was expected to be himself again shortly. These were marvellous cases, and probably the wounded owed their curious recovery to the nature of the weapon of offence. Missiles have peculiar characteristics, and differ in their capacity for deadliness. For instance, bullets of the most harmless kind are those having a high velocity, those that hit apex-first and do not "keyhole," and those possessing a hard, smooth sheath with a smooth, rounded surface. After these come missiles of more death-dealing or mutilating nature--the Dum-Dum bullets, with the nickel sheaths around the apex removed in order to expose the lead nucleus, Remington lead or brass bullets, shrapnel bullets, and fragments of shell. Each and all of these things had been endured by one or other of our gallant men during the course of the campaign, and the surgeons were able to make a profound study of causes and effects. One of the heroes of Ladysmith who went near to testing the efficacy of that most deadly thing, the shell, was Archdeacon Barker. With the utmost presence of mind, he picked up a shell in the act of exploding and plumped it into a tub of water, thus saving many lives. Numbers of officers who had been hit by Mausers or Lee-Metfords were now pronounced out of danger, among them Colonel C. E. Beckett (Staff), Major F. Hammersley (Staff), Captain W. B. Silver, Captain M. J. W. Pike, Major H. Mullaly, Lieutenants Crichton, S. C. Maitland, W. W. MacGregor (of the Gordons), and A. A. G. Bond. Captain Lowndes, who was wounded dangerously on Surprise Hill, was picking up wonderfully. Lieutenant Campbell, of the Imperial Light Horse, whose case at first seemed serious, was rapidly gaining ground. Very capricious sometimes was the action of bullets. Some of the injured would have as many as four or five wounds, all "outers," to use their musketry phrase, while others would suffer strange and wonderful things in consequence of the vagaries of a single shot. A strange chapter of accidents befell one officer. He was hit under the left eye, the bullet passing out of his cheek into his left shoulder, and then into his upper arm, which it broke. Not content with doing this damage, the shock of the blow knocked him down, and in falling the unfortunate man broke the other arm! On the other hand, there were some, reported doing well, and expecting to be fit for duty shortly, who were veritably perforated with bullets--"a perfect sieve" one man called himself, with a touch of excusable pride. The bravery of these men! The bravery of these women! Outside we knew only of the husk of their suffering; but the kernel of it, the bitter sickening taste of it, the taste that lived with them, that was there when they woke, and remained after they had closed their eyes in sleep--that, none but themselves could ever know. Boredom and flies, they jestingly said it was! Rather was it a slow petrifaction of the soul. Death to them had lost its sting, as life had lost its fire. Ladysmith was the grave of corpses that were not dead, forms in the cerements of burial now too weak to knock themselves against the coffin-lid and cry, "Save us! our last breath is not yet spent; we are living, loving men!" Yes, they were too weak. They made no sound, no cry. They who had so long resisted could resist no longer; they, who with their last effort on that fatal 6th of January had been a terror to their enemies, were now only a terror to themselves. Could they bear it longer? Was it possible? Might they not in some fit of madness, some palpitating moment of lust for dear life, begin to spell the letters of the unframable word, begin just to think how it might be spelt?--S--u--r--r-- No! They could not get to the end of it! It choked them. They could stand the fetid water, the foul air with its loathsome whispers, its hideous suggestions, which at eventide grew strong as phantoms from the nether world; they could face the sight of virulent disease and gaunt famine stalking up and down as the hyena slinks round and about his prey; they could gasp under the fierce heat; they could tune their ears to the racking, rending tortuous explosions of death dealing shells--they could do all this, but they could not get beyond. The first syllable of the crushing word could never pass their lips! * * * * * Food now was only interesting because of its mystery; it was beginning to have merely an ornamental value in the programme. Various "confections" made of violet-powder that had been impounded, strange brawns of mule-heel and suspicious "savouries" were the subject of speculation and awe. People pretended to be pleased and to put a good face on matters, and indeed they had every reason to be thankful; for, owing to the ingenuity of Lieutenant M'Nalty, A.S.C., under whose auspices potted meats, jellies, soups, were manufactured, the imagination if not the appetite was appeased with what, when not too closely investigated, appeared to be quite delectable fare. The following prices were realised at an auction on February 21:--Fourteen lbs. of oatmeal, £2, 19s. 6d.; a tin of condensed milk, 10s.; 1 lb. of fat beef, 11s.; a 1-lb. tin of coffee, 17s.; a 2-lb. tin of tongue, £1, 6s.; a sucking-pig, £1, 17s.; eggs, £2, 8s. per dozen; a fowl, 18s.; four small cucumbers, 15s.; green mealies, 3s. 8d. each; a small quantity of grapes, £1, 5s.; a plate of tomatoes, 18s.; one marrow, £1, 8s.; a plate of potatoes, 19s.; two small bunches of carrots, 9s.; a glass of jelly, 18s.; a 1-lb. bottle of jam, £1, 11s.; a 1-lb. tin of marmalade, £1, 1s.; a dozen matches, 13s. 6d.; a packet of cigarettes, £1, 5s.; 50 cigars, £9, 5s.; a ¼-lb. cake of tobacco, £2, 5s.; ½ lb. of tobacco, £3, 5s. A doctor, writing home about this time, said:-- "Things are getting very trying here now. For two or three weeks we have had only half a pound of horseflesh and a quarter a pound of very bad mealie-meal bread, with one ounce of sugar. Sometimes a little mealie porridge is added or a little more bread. This is precious low fare, I can tell you, especially as the bread is so bad we can hardly eat it, and it makes us ill. Of course, drinks gave out after the first month, and tobacco followed suit some time ago, but, fortunately, they discovered a little Kaffir tobacco recently, which, vile as it is, we smoke eagerly. Alas! mine won't last long now. It is impossible to get proper food for patients, and not much of improper. Consequently men are beginning to die fast of scurvy, enteric, and dysentery. We have reduced the number of sick from two thousand to seventeen hundred here, of which I have about a hundred severe cases, and am allowed about two to three wineglasses of stimulants a day for the lot; so you can imagine what a farce that is. Drugs, too, are almost finished, and firewood for cooking is an endless difficulty; so you can imagine I am pretty tired of the daily duty in these terrible fever-tents. About half of our doctors and half the nurses are sick, and there were always few enough. One doctor has already died and a nurse." Among the severe cases alluded to was one especially to be deplored. Colonel Royston, whose name is intimately connected with Volunteering in Natal, was hopelessly ill. In spite of his iron constitution, he succumbed to the ravages of enteric fever, and was in reality marked by the finger of death at the very time when the relief force was pressing to deliver the town from the awful doom that hung like a miasma over the whole place. The gallant Colonel had done splendid service, and for two decades had worked energetically to promote the welfare of the Colony and stimulate interest in the Volunteer movement. As trumpeter in the Carabineers in 1872, the youth was found engaging in operations against Langalibalele, including the flying column in the Double Mountains and the capture of the chief; and in 1879, in command of a troop of Carabineers, he distinguished himself in the Zulu campaign. Later he accompanied Sir Bartle Frere to the Transvaal in command of the High Commissioner's escort. From 1881 to 1889 he commanded the regiment, and was appointed Commandant of Volunteers in 1898. When the call to arms came, the brave Volunteers of Natal were ready to a man, fully equipped to go to the front--a practical proof of the splendid ability and foresight of their chief. All agreed in deploring his illness, and declared that an officer more fitted to lead the gallant regiment, more trusted and more beloved, it would be hard to find. THE BATTLE OF PIETERS On Wednesday the 21st, as we know, our troops were back at Colenso. The day was mainly devoted to "sniping," to bringing up heavy guns, and to getting the troops across the Tugela. But the 12-pounder Naval guns on Hlangwane, and the 61st Howitzer Battery in the open, indulged in a stupendous concert addressed to the enemy's position, in which they were assisted from below Monte Cristo on the right by more Naval guns. The enemy was not inactive. No sooner had a pontoon been thrown across the river below Hlangwane than they began to drop shells in the neighbourhood of the troops who were attempting to cross. These, however, accomplished their intention without sustaining much loss. Meanwhile, Corporal Adams, of the Telegraph Brigade, distinguished himself by swimming across the Tugela, wire in mouth. The troops now advanced--General Coke's Brigade, followed by two battalions of General Wynne's and a field-battery. The Somersets, Dorsets, Middlesex, covered by shell-fire from two field-batteries and the heavy guns, moved across the plain to the foot of the hill, with the object of reconnoitring Grobler's Kloof. At first no signs of the enemy were visible, the Dutchmen, though not entrenched, being cunningly hidden in the dongas and thorn-bushes, which crowded the vicinity. But no sooner had the Somersets, who had been the first across the pontoon, approached the base of the hill, than a cataract from the rifles of the enemy suddenly burst over them. The Boers had withheld their fire till the troops were within point-blank range, and then rent the weird mystery of the dusk with jets of flame. Nearly a hundred of the gallant fellows dropped and three officers were killed. Some said that they were fighting the enemy's rearguard, but in reality a large portion of the whole Boer army was engaged. Though it was the first time the regiment had been under fire, the admirable behaviour of the men in the face of overwhelming hostile numbers was remarkable. Nevertheless, the unpleasant discovery of the enemy's strength at last involved the retreat of the troops, and decided the General that an advance in force must be made on the following day. [Illustration: BALLOON MAP ILLUSTRATING THE BATTLE OF PIETERS AND RELIEF OF LADYSMITH.] The following officers were killed and wounded in the operations of 20th and 21st February:-- 1st Rifle Brigade--Wounded, Lieutenant W. R. Wingfield-Digby. 2nd Somersetshire Light Infantry--Killed, Captain S. L. V. Crealock, Lieutenant V. F. A. Keith-Falconer, Second Lieutenant J. C. Parr; wounded, Captain E. G. Elger. 2nd Dorsetshire Regiment--Wounded, Second Lieutenant F. Middleton. 2nd Royal Irish Fusiliers--Wounded, Colonel J. Reeves. Staff--Wounded, Captain H. G. C. Phillips. Royal Army Medical Corps--Died of wounds, Captain R. E. Holt. On Thursday the 22nd, part of General Wynne's Brigade began to advance. They were supported by Hildyard's Brigade from the region of Fort Wylie. (General Barton's Brigade and part of General Hart's were left on the south side of the river.) Progress was slow and painful. The country--a strip some two miles broad and stretching out between high hills and the river--was richly veined with irritating dongas and covered with bushes and scrub. The position was commanded by the wooded slopes of Grobler's Kloof, and enabled the Boers to worry the men in their advance with an enfilading fire. All around were steep kopjes such as the Boer soul delights in, and thorny tangles which afforded comfortable shelter for the enemy's guns. The movement, therefore, was costly, as it was difficult to locate the guns, and the sharpshooters of the enemy, well hidden in their rocky fastnesses, maintained a continuous fire on front and flanks of the advancing force. With their usual wiliness, the Dutchmen had evidently suspended their contemplated retreat, and had gathered together, crept up, and taken up a strong position on the left flank, whence they were enabled to hamper the troops considerably. Nevertheless the Royal Lancasters leading, the South Lancashire following, valiantly advanced towards their objective so resolutely that the Boers, who almost to the last stood their ground, pelted off to the sheltering nooks and dongas in the shadow of Grobler's Kloof. Only one remained to face the bayonet. But the losses consequent on this smart day's work were many. Brigadier-General Wynne while conducting operations was slightly wounded, and about a hundred and fifty more were put out of action. [Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL A. FITZROY HART, C.B. Photo by Elliott & Fry, London.] The troops were now moving on a route along the line of river and rail to Ladysmith, half-way between Colenso and Pieters Hill, and with kopjes to be stormed at intervals during the onward course. They had performed a species of zigzag movement, pointing from Chieveley north-east to Cingolo and Monte Cristo, and coming back in an acute line north-west to the river. Now the forward march involved the capture of all the strong positions, beginning with the twin kopjes, Terrace and Railway Hill, and ending with the whole Pieters position, and possibly Bulwana. On the three hills--Terrace Hill, Railway Hill, and Pieters Hill--rested the Boers' second line of defence. The first hill, called Terrace Hill, lay about a mile and a half to north-east of the right flank. Farther east, divided by a valley, was Railway Hill, so called because on its east came the railway line, on the other side of which was Pieters Hill. Sir Redvers Buller's plan was to advance the infantry beyond the angle of the river, and then stretch round the enemy's left from Railway Hill, and so go straight to Ladysmith. The idea seemed a good one, as the Dutchmen were believed to be moving off; but it was afterwards discovered that they, seeing the assault was not to be made at once upon the weak, the left edge of their position, had gathered courage and returned, reinforced by commandos from Ladysmith, to their well-known hunting-ground on Grobler's Kloof and elsewhere, preparing to give battle so long as there was safety for their extreme left. Most of the night of the 22nd was spent in fighting of desperate character, the Howitzer Battery keeping up an incessant roar, explosion following explosion in the sombre blackness of midnight. The Boers, meanwhile, were attacking with rifle fire all along the line, and so persistent were the Dutchmen in their effort to get rid of the troops, that some even were only repulsed by the bayonet. Details of that dreadful night's work are scarce, but a faint, yet tragic, outline was given by an officer of the 60th Rifles, who was one of the survivors of the fatal fray. This regiment had moved on the left of Hildyard's Brigade, and were swinging along a boulder-strewn hillside, which, surmounted by a series of uneven and indefinite crest-lines, gave on to a plateau where they intended to take up a line of outposts for the night. It so happened that the Boers had ensconced themselves at the rear edge of the position which the troops, in the belief that it was evacuated, were so incautiously approaching. Accordingly, in the gathering gloom a collision of amazing violence occurred--amazing to both Britons and Burghers, for the former surprisedly plumped upon the Dutchmen, who as surprisedly gave way before them. In an instant the gallant 60th were after the fugitives, charging and cheering, but assailed now by fierce volleys from undreamed-of trenches. This sudden and furious attack forced them, unsupported as they were, to seek cover till reinforcements could arrive. But no help appeared. The plight of the unfortunate band, whose peril had been hidden in the grim density of the night, was entirely unsuspected by the companion forces that fringed the crests in the vicinity, and therefore the unhappy fellows lay all night clinging to the cover of the boulders, and rained on by showers of bullets that traced a tale of agony along the ground. At dawn on the 23rd, no supports having arrived, and under the same fervid fusillade, they began to retire. In twos and threes they commenced to go back, finally covered in their retreat by the East Surreys, who had grandly gone forward to the rescue. But the cost of splendid succour was dearly and almost instantaneously paid. Men fell thick and fast over the hilltop--the Colonel, second in command, and four officers of the East Surrey Regiment dropping one after another, some wounded in many places. Captain the Hon. R. Cathcart, "the rearmost of his command, as he had been foremost of the night before," dropped dead, and round him within a few moments fifty other noble fellows had passed to the Unknown! General Buller's orders on the 23rd were brief. Push for Ladysmith to-day, horse, foot, and artillery; both cavalry brigades to cross the river at once. The advance, which had hitherto been slow, was now hurried on. At midday it was in full swing, the cavalry having crossed the Tugela and massed at Fort Wylie. Meanwhile the Boers had taken up a formidable position on the right--on the well-entrenched height called by the gunners Three Knoll Hill, to describe the three hills, Terrace, Railway, and Pieters, that formed the entire position--while on the left they plied their activities from Grobler's Kloof. The artillery in front of Railway Hill concentrated a brisk fire upon the Boers therein entrenched, who returned some animated replies, assisted by other Dutchmen from a hidden vantage-point on the north-east of that eminence. General Hart's Brigade, to whose valiant Irishmen the difficult task of capturing the position was entrusted, was ordered to advance. This advance from Onderbrook Spruit to the base of Terrace Hill, the companion of Railway Hill, was a feat of cool courage that has seldom been equalled. The hill, triangular and standing some three hundred feet above the Tugela, was approached by a wide open space, which was commanded by the Boers, whose complicated position on Railway Hill and its component ridges gave them every advantage. The correspondent of the _Standard_ furnished a description of these precipitous steeps. "Railway Hill rises from the Tugela a mile from Platelayers' House. It is, perhaps, best described as triangular in shape, with one angle pointing towards the river. It rises from the latter in a series of jagged, boulder-strewn kopjes, until three hundred feet or so above the Tugela. A kloof, through which the railway passes upwards on its way to Pieters Station, separates the last jagged ledge from the hill proper. From the last kopje or ledge, and immediately on the other side of the line, the main part of the hill rises abruptly, almost precipitously, with a sharp edge running back in a north-westerly direction for several hundred yards. The base of this north-westerly line of hill makes up a kloof thick with thorn trees, and this kloof recedes round the left end of the hill to the rear, where the enemy's force, under Commandant Dupreez, had its quarters, while a little farther to the rear is still another kloof, in which the enemy's Creusots were mounted. Along the beginning of the sharp edge referred to a long trench was cut out, and right ahead, as the hill ran still upwards on an incline for three hundred yards or so, were other trenches, until the hill terminated in a crest crowded with commanding fortifications." To assail this formidable stronghold the troops moved off in the following order--the Inniskilling Fusiliers leading, followed by the Connaught Rangers, the Dublin Fusiliers, and the Imperial Light Infantry. Steadily marched the kharki-clad throng, advancing along the railroad in single file with rifles at the slope. At that time there was comparative silence save for the muffled drumming of artillery in the surrounding kopjes. These apparently frowned free of human influence, the dark, dull frown that portends many evil things to the eye of the advancing soldier. But nevertheless the troops moved nearer and nearer to the hill over the open ground by the railway bridge with a steady step and that air of consolidated distinction that marks acutely the difference between Briton and Boer armies. They had no sooner showed themselves in the open than the air grew alive, the trenches on the frowning hill vomited furiously. A casual observer remarked that it reminded him of the pantomimes of his youth, of Ali Baba's cave, when, at a given signal, its jars opened and the forty thieves suddenly--simultaneously--popped up their heads. Only now there were not forty but thousands of brigandish forms--forms that hastened to deal death from their Mausers on the advancing men. These were now coming on at a rush, a rush through the hailstorm whose every shower meant disaster. But Hart the valiant had said, "That hill must be taken at all costs"--and that was enough! The hill was about to be seized and the payments had already begun. One, two, three, four, six--more and yet more down, one after another. So the men began to fall. The ironwork of the bridge had now its fringe of fainting forms. Still the splendid fellows pushed on. Still the air reverberated with the puissant pom-poming of the Boers' automatic gun. This they had turned on to the position they knew must be passed by the advancing warriors. Meanwhile the British artillery was saluting the hill, throwing up to heaven dust and splinter spouts that filled the whole atmosphere with blinding, choking debris, and causing the purple boulders far and wide to give forth rumbling echoes of the infernal rampage. Gradually, in face of the deluge of shot and shell, the Inniskilling Fusiliers, the Connaught Rangers, and one company each of the Dublin Fusiliers, had wound their way towards the eastern spurs of Railway Hill, and in the late afternoon were ready for the attack. General Hart gave the word. Then, up the rugged stone-strewn heights the troops laboriously began to climb. Soon they reached a point, some hundred yards above, whence the Boers could pepper them with ease. At the same time from the adjacent hill more bullets whizzed upon them. Yet, with this horrible fire on their flanks and the deadly fusillade from the front, they persevered, dropping one after another like ripe fruit in a gust of wind. Volley after volley poured down on them, but up they went, cutting through wire, leaping boulders, and hurling themselves forward, and in such grand style, that the Boers, seeing the determined glitter of the bayonet, thought it wiser to retreat. They receded some two hundred yards up the hill, while the troops occupied the first position. Then, in the growing dusk, the Dutchmen were seen taking a commanding place on a somewhat higher or parent peak of the hill. From this point the Inniskillings, flushed with their first triumph, deemed it necessary to rout them. Fire streamed and spouted, the dim gloom of twilight came on; still the Irishmen, through the mist of evening and flashings furious from every side, advanced along the hill--a glorious, a tragic advance. One after another bit the dust. Men in mute or groaning agony lay prone in the gathering dusk. First went a major, afterwards another, and then two captains of this gallant band. The Boers had known their business. Some of their kopjes are of the nature of spider-webs; the outer fringe involves entanglement; and this especial eminence was of that particular nature that the second Boer position commanded the first. The Dutchmen, even as they receded, were able to mow down the men as they advanced, by a converging fire, against which it was impossible to stand. It was now an almost hand-to-hand struggle between doughty Dutchman and dashing Briton. The Inniskillings were close, but every inch was gained with appalling loss to their numbers--indeed, the charging companies might almost have been described as individual men! Finally, some one gave the order to retire. But how? Most of the valorous band were stricken down, or had perished. The wounded could not be removed. Yet those that remained were too few to hold the ground in the darkness. All that could be done was to retire below the crest and wait till morning. A retirement was attempted, under the personal direction of the Colonel (Colonel Sitwell),[4] but in the course of the movement he was hit, never to rise again. The troops at last got to the cover of the hill, where they built schanzes and bivouacked. But from this point throughout the night firing continued, while the Boers above, between the intervals of dozing, peppered the bivouacs with bullets. At 7 A.M., while cannonading had elsewhere assumed dangerous proportions, the Irish regiments were again assailed in their schanzes by the persistent Dutchmen. These had crept round the base of the hill and attacked the trenches from the western side. Volleys poured from all directions on a scene that was already deplorable. Only four officers of the Inniskillings remained. Of the Connaught Rangers five officers were wounded. The Dublin Fusiliers had lost their gallant Colonel (Colonel Sitwell), and also Captain Maitland of the Gordon Highlanders (attached). The picture at dawn and on throughout the day was truly appalling. The trenches of the Boers and those of the attacking force were now only some three or four hundred yards apart, and between them was spread an arena of carnage heart-breaking as irremediable. It was impossible for any one to show a nose and live. Wounded lay here, there, and everywhere, heaped as they had fallen, drenched in their own gore and helpless, yet struggling pathetically to edge themselves with hands or knees or heels nearer some place of safety. Dead, too, were entangled with the sinking, huddled together in grievous ghastly comradeship.... For thirty-six hours some of these heroes lay in wretchedness, hanging between life and death. Mercifully the Boers brought them water, but all their acts were not equally generous. Unfortunately, some misinterpretation regarding the Red Cross flag accentuated the misfortunes of the day. The Boers, it appeared, had begun by producing one. This signal should have been responded to by our troops, who, however, were not prepared to show another Red Cross flag, which display would have been the signal for truce. This being the case, the Boers, after carrying off their wounded and giving certain of the British wounded some water, removed their rifles. Further, they rifled their pockets and despoiled dead and wounded of boots and other property. Naturally, those who saw them were so infuriated at this wanton behaviour that they began to fire. From this time hostilities recommenced, and the innate cruelty of the Boers was evidenced in several cases. It was stated on the authority of an officer that many of the wounded in act of crawling away were deliberately shot. Let us hope that the aggravation at the non-appearance of the British Red Cross flag was the cause of the ugly display of character on the part of the enemy. During the late afternoon the worn-out troops in their trenches at the base of the hill were fiercely attacked by the enemy's guns from all quarters. No such effective shell fire had been experienced since Spion Kop. Indeed, with the assistance of Krupps, and Creusots, and Maxims, and other diabolical instruments, the Boers managed to make a fitting concert for Beelzebub. Many of our positions on the lower slopes of the kopjes were enfiladed, and thus many gallant fellows in Hildyard's and Kitchener's brigades were killed. Several officers among those who were fighting on the left also fell, among them Colonel Thorold, Royal Welsh Fusiliers. * * * * * At this juncture, finding that the original passage of the river was commanded by entrenchments on every side, and that further advance would be costly in the extreme, the General decided that he must reconnoitre for another passage across the Tugela. This was forthwith discovered. Meanwhile, the day being Sunday, there was an armistice for the interment of the dead on both sides. Grievous were the sensations of those whose duty brought them to the awesome scene of death, who spent the long hours surrounded by sights hideous and forms uncouth, the remains of heroes, discoloured from days of exposure to the sun's scorching rays, to the damps and dews of night--lying limply rigid and rigidly limp in the unmistakable and undescribable abandonment of untenanted clay; or succouring still more pitiable wrecks, wrecks joined perhaps by an invisible handclasp with comrades in the other world, but still here, making a last struggle for the dignity of manhood, or fainting slowly, peaceably, beyond all knowledge of pain as of the splendid heroism that had placed them where they were! One who was present contributed to _Blackwood's Magazine_ a curious account of that armistice--that was not entirely an armistice--of Colonel Hamilton's approach with the flag of fraternity (so often misused and abused by the Dutchmen), and of the strange apparitions that came forth suspiciously one by one from the depths of the hostile trenches. He said: "Seldom have I set eyes on a more magnificent specimen of male humanity than the Commandant of the trenchful of Boers, Pristorius by name, a son of Anak by descent, and a gallant, golden-bearded fighting-man by present occupation; for in far-away Middleburg those mighty limbs--he told it us without any of that stupid deprecation which would probably have characterised a similar confession on the part of an Englishman--were wont to stretch themselves beneath a lawyer's desk. Close on his heels came what a person who had never seen Boers before would have thought the strangest band of warriors in the world--old men with flowing, tobacco-stained, white beards; middle-aged men with beards burnt black with the sun and sweat of their forty years; young men, mostly clean shaven, exhibiting strongly the heavy Dutch moulding of the broad nose and chin; big boys in small suits, suits of all kinds and colours, tweed, velveteen, homespun, and 'shoddy,' all untidy in the extreme, but mostly as serviceable as their wearers." These strange beings formed a strong contrast to the men who joined them, particularly in their attitude when confronted with the ghastly foreground of death which made the prominent feature of the amicable picture. The eye-witness before quoted declared that "it was much more difficult for them to conceal the natural discomposure which all men feel in the presence of the silent dead than for their more artificial opponents. From the airy and easy demeanour of the uniformed British officers, that dreadful plateau might have been the lobby of a London club. A Briton is at all times prone to conceal his emotions, and certainly in this instance the idiosyncrasy gave him a great social advantage over the superstitious Burghers, with their sidelong glances and uneasy shiftings." By-and-by, however, both parties grew even friendly, and the writer went on to describe an animated dialogue between himself and "a deep-chested old oak-tree of a man, whose swarthy countenance was rendered more gipsy-like by the addition of ear-rings. The opening of the conversation had its humours. 'Good-morning!' quoth I. 'Gumorghen,' rumbled the oak-tree sourly. 'Surely we can be friends for five minutes,' I ventured, after a pause. The rugged countenance was suddenly, not to say startlingly, illumined with a beaming smile. '_Why_ not, indeed! _why_ not, officer! Have you any tobacco?' Out came my pouch, luckily filled to bursting that very morning, and the oak-tree proceeded to stuff a huge pipe to the very brim, gloating over the fragrance of the 'best gold flake' as he did so. The rumour of tobacco had the effect of dispelling the chill that still lingered on the outskirts of that little crowd, and many a grimy set of fingers claimed their share as the price of the friendship of the owners, the Commandant himself not disdaining to accept a fill with a graceful word of thanks. They were out of tobacco in that trench, it appeared, and suffering acutely from the deprivation of what to a Boer is more necessary than food." Near to the place where they were stricken the Irish heroes were buried. Their last bed was made in a picturesque spot within the whisper of the spray of the river, and sheltered by the low-spreading thorn-bushes. The rest of the day was unusually peaceful, but in the evening the crackle of musketry from left to right of the position taken up by the Durhams again showed that the enemy was on the alert, and it was believed he was preparing for offensive operations during the night. It was discovered, however, that a gallant deed had put any effort to rush the British lines out of his power. Captain Phillips with eight Bluejackets had effectually rendered their searchlight useless, and had, moreover, got safely away after the venturesome act had been perpetrated and discovered. The new passage was found by Colonel Sandbach (Royal Engineers) at a point below the waterfall on the east, and again guns, baggage, &c., were ordered to be removed to the south side of the Tugela. It may be advisable to note that the armistice mentioned was an informal one, which did not interfere with military movements. Owing to the desperate straits of the wounded on Inniskilling Hill (as the position, baptized in the blood of our heroes, had now been christened), the General had sent in a flag asking for an armistice. The Boers had refused. On condition that we should not fire on their positions during the day, they only consented to allow the bearer companies to remove the wounded and bury the dead. The Boers meanwhile improved their entrenchments, and the British troops, as stated, prepared for the operation of removal across the river. This they at first did with some misgivings, for they had tacked about so many times, but, on the whole, they bore the strain admirably. What with the hammering of Maxims, Nordenfeldts, and the fluting of Mausers, the men had for twelve days past run through the gamut of discomfort. They had been fed up with war. They were in the daytime fried, grilled, and toasted. At night the cold with its contrast had bitten and numbed them. They had bivouacked now in keen chilly blasts, now in intermittent downpours of rain, which had drenched them and made existence a prolonged wretchedness. And nothing had been achieved. Lives only had been lost. But they still munched their bully beef and biscuit with an heroic cheerfulness and resignation that served to astonish and inspirit all who beheld it. There was no doubt about it that the pluck and perseverance of the British Tommy had become subjects for wonder and veneration! [Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL H. J. T. HILDYARD, C.B. Photo by C. Knight, Aldershot.] During the night the pontoon bridge was removed from its original position and relaid at the point indicated by Colonel Sandbach. The Boers, watching the commencement of the move, were under the impression that a repetition of the retirements from Spion Kop and Vaal Krantz was to be enacted. They therefore deemed that the movement might be carried out with more expedition did they start a magazine fire at long range at such troops as happened to be between Colenso and the angle of the river. When they discovered, however, that only a portion of the troops had departed, they subsided and reserved their ammunition till morning, when a brisk artillery duel commenced operations--a duel in which the British in quantity and the Dutch in quality of practice distinguished themselves. General Buller's revised plan was now to avoid the enemy's front, and work back again to the Hlangwane plateau, whence he would start again, having, as it were, made a redistribution of his troops, so that Hart's brigade in its expensively acquired position would now, instead of being his extreme right, become his extreme left. To this end guns and cavalry were removed, Naval batteries being posted on the Hlangwane and Monte Cristo positions, while Hart's brigade was left holding to the skirts, so to speak, of the enemy at Inniskilling Hill, and preventing him from congratulating himself on freedom. The anniversary of Majuba began in clouds. Guns very early broke into an _aubade_, but awakened few. For there had been little sleep that night. All had dozed in their boots, ready for the worst. The cavalry proceeded to range itself at the northern point of the Hlangwane position, in order that by their guns and long-range rifle fire they might assist the advance of Barton's Brigade. This brigade was the first to start in the attack on the three hills on which the Boer left still rested. The disposition of the forces was as follows:--General Barton's Fusilier Brigade on the extreme right, with Colonel Kitchener's Lancashire Brigade--Colonel Kitchener having taken over General Wynne's Brigade while that officer was wounded--on his left, this latter being on the right of Colonel Northcott's Brigade. Colonel Stuart, working with a composite regiment on the south bank of the Tugela, protected the crossing. General Barton, with two battalions of the 6th Brigade and the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, crept one and a half miles down the banks of the river, the Scots Fusiliers leading. Here the Tugela flowed between high shelving banks, while above them frowned the three spurs of the great Pieters position. As usual, these eminences were well ribbed with shelter trenches, and embedded everywhere were Boer sharpshooters, ready to pit cunning against courage, and sniggle at the victory of one over the other. A hot fire commenced on the river-banks while Barton's Brigade advanced gallantly towards its destination. The top of the hill was being raked noisily by the gunners. "Hell was dancing hornpipes aloft," some one said. However, in the afternoon British bayonets glittered against the skyline, and the thing was done. This, the most wonderful infantry in the world, had ascended precipitous cliffs 500 feet high, assaulted Pieter's Hill, gained the crest, and turned the enemy's left. [Illustration: SIGNAL APPARATUS OF H.M.S. _FORTE_, MOUNTED ON TRUCK AND USED NIGHTLY TO COMMUNICATE WITH LADYSMITH.] This storming of the main position, which was accomplished by the Royal Scots Fusiliers and the Royal Irish Fusiliers, was a remarkable achievement, though the enemy, conscious of their weakness at this point, and knowing how completely they were dominated by the Monte Cristo ridge, made no very prolonged opposition. No sooner had the brigade occupied the hill than the disheartened Boers removed in considerable strength to some dongas on the east, whence they continued to be aggressive, and poured a heavy rifle fire on the Fusiliers, whose losses were considerable. They failed, however, to dislodge them. At this time a simultaneous attack was taking place in the region of the two other hills which composed the Pieter's position. These the 4th Brigade under Colonel Northcott and the 11th Brigade under Colonel Kitchener were now assailing with magnificent courage. For two hours every spot on the kopjes had been searched, painted with the noxious hues of lyddite, and seamed with shrapnel, and few Dutchmen there were who cared to remain to welcome the bayonets of Kitchener's braves. Their preliminary advance was scarcely recognisable, kharki and kopje so smoothly blending themselves in one. Then on a sudden, as in the transformation scene when jars become forty thieves or shell-fish become fairies, the boulders took to themselves human shape and human tongue, and up flew a surging, yelling mass of fierce warriors, rushing the hill in the red light of the setting sun. The crest was carried magnificently by the Royal Lancasters, men who had been in the thick of everything for a month past, and who yet maintained their unconquerable British qualities without a flaw; and the Boers, recognising that the game was up, were seen skimming the distance like swallows in flight. Some magnificent service was done by the gunners of the Royal Navy and the Natal Naval Volunteers, service that was especially eulogised by the General, who declared that the losses consequent on the taking of the position might have been far greater but for the efficient manner in which the artillery was served. Be this as it may, an officer said what many echoed, namely, that however deadly our shell fire was, and however instrumental in winning the battle, "No infantry in the world but ours would have crowned such a victory with so much glory." For the Boers at first fought doggedly, relinquishing their hold of trench after trench only when artillery followed by the bayonets of the infantry made their positions untenable. In turn three hills were stormed; in turn cheer on cheer rent the air and travelled along the funnel-like banks of the river, and floated up to the rejoiced ears of those on Hlangwane and Monte Cristo, who had assisted to bring about the devoutly wished for consummation. The song of victory seemed to be taken up by the elements, earth and air and water, and the last flare of the guns of the enemy repeated it. All now knew that the way to Ladysmith was won; that the toil and tribulation, the perplexity and suspense, that had harassed them since the fatal day of Colenso had come to an end! There, right and left, were little black figures scudding away like ants disturbed; here streams of prisoners who had thrown up hands at glint of bayonet; on all sides kopjes, kopjes, kopjes--ours, unchallengeably ours! Some idea of the situation may be gathered from the description of a sergeant in the 2nd Royal Irish Fusiliers:-- "On the 27th we put the damper on them.... You have read, no doubt, of Barton's Brigade deploying to the right early in the day. That deployment was made by crossing the pontoon bridge put up during the night by the Engineers. Instead of climbing up the banks on the opposite side, we crept down the water's edge over huge rocks for about a couple of miles. In the meantime our Naval guns, artillery, Maxims, were all blazing away overhead, and a terrible rifle fire was raging on the left. As we struggled up the steep banks the beggars spotted us, and things began to get lively. We got under a little cover, and blazed away for all we were worth. "The whole brigade gradually pushed forward from one bit of cover to another, but still the Boers held their ground. About five o'clock in the afternoon the staff passed the word round to charge them out of it. We left our cover, and advanced by half-companies at the double. The company officers were given a point to make for, and as soon as we got in the open it was a case of every man for himself. It was a good 800 yards of open ground where my company had to cross, and, of course, they fired at us for all they were worth. A good many dropped, including A---- and the two subalterns. What with shells bursting and a front and cross fire, it was like a full-dress rehearsal for the lower regions. We got on the hill, and made short work of our Brothers. Needless to say, they didn't all stand for the steel. They kept up a heavy fire on us until long after dark. Orders were passed to hold our own until daylight. As many of the wounded were without water, a terrible night was put in. The shouts for water, mingled with the groans of the dying, the sparks from the Mauser bullets as they struck the rocks, the blackness of the night, &c., fairly made me say my prayers.... The stretcher-bearers searching for the wounded carry lamps, and these lamps made a nice target for Brother Boer to snipe at. Daylight came at last, the night mist began to clear away, dead Tommies grinning at dead Boers, wounded men of all sorts, everybody stiff, sore, dirty, and tired. The Boers scooted." And the next day came the serene happiness of viewing the Boers in full retreat behind Bulwana and in the direction of Acton Homes, the winding string of waggons trekking away from the scene of past triumphs. The misery, the lives, the pains, the doubts, the disappointments were well repaid by that vision of the departing foe, the foe moving off for ever from the strongholds of Natal. All had been accomplished by a blend of pluck, obduracy, and perseverance that can scarcely find its match in the records of British prowess. They had suffered at Colenso, they had tested the deadly summit of Spion Kop. They had backed out from that cruel region with their lives in their hands, and repeated the same process in the equally terrific area of Vaal Krantz. They had come forth smiling, stalwart, staunch as ever, believing and trusting and determining to hew their way through the rocky wilderness sown with destruction and save the 8000 odd of their fellows whose lives verily hung by a thread. And now for fourteen days, each hour fraught with blood and broiling, they had moved on from one dangerous position to a second more dangerous position, till at last, after protracted torment and suspense, they had driven before them the whole horde of adventurous Dutchmen--foes allowed to be the bravest of the brave, if the shiftiest of the shifty. Now they had their reward. The Boers were scrambling to be off--that much they could see of them. It was only in those fleeing moments they saw them at all. At other times, when battle raged warmest, all that was known of the Brother Boer was the shape and number of his bullet! The following officers were killed and wounded on the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th of February:-- Staff--Wounded, Major-General A. S. Wynne, C.B. 3rd King's Royal Rifle Corps--Killed, Lieutenant Hon. R. Cathcart; wounded, Lieutenant D. H. Blundell-Hollinshead-Blundell and Lieutenant A. F. MacLachlan. 2nd Royal Lancaster Regiment--Killed, Lieutenant R. H. Coë and Second Lieutenant N. J. Parker; wounded, Major E. W. Yeatherd, Lieutenant A. R. S. Martin, Lieutenant F. C. Davidson (since dead), and Lieutenant R. G. D. Parker. 2nd East Surrey Regiment--Wounded, Lieutenant-Colonel R. H. W. H. Harris, Major H. L. Smith, Major H. P. Treeby, Captain F. L. A. Packman, Lieutenant C. H. Hinton, Second Lieutenant J. P. Benson. 1st South Lancashire Regiment--Wounded, Captain B. R. Goren, Lieutenant H. R. Kane, Captain S. Upperton, Second Lieutenant C. H. Marsh. 2nd Devonshire Regiment--Wounded, Lieutenant E. J. F. Vaughan. 2nd Royal West Surrey Regiment--Wounded, Lieutenants B. H. Hastie, H. C. Winfield, and A. E. M'Namara. 1st Rifle Brigade--Wounded, Captain and Quarter-Master F. Stone and Second Lieutenant C. D'A. Baker-Carr. 2nd King's Royal Rifle Corps--Wounded, Lieutenant W. Wyndham and Second Lieutenant G. C. Kelly. 2nd Rifle Brigade--Wounded, Second Lieutenant H. C. Dumaresq. 1st Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers--Killed, Lieutenant-Colonel T. M. G. Thackeray,[5] Major F. A. Sanders, Lieutenant W. O. Stuart; wounded, Major C. J. L. Davidson, Captain R. M. Foot, Lieutenant J. Evans, Lieutenant J. N. Crawford, Second Lieutenant C. Ridings, Second Lieutenant H. P. Pott, Second Lieutenant J. G. Devenish; missing, Second Lieutenant T. A. D. Best. 2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers--Killed, Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel C. G. H. Sitwell, D.S.O.; wounded, Lieutenant A. V. Hill, Second Lieutenant A. Broadhurst-Hill, Second Lieutenant F. B. Lane, Second Lieutenant J. T. Dennis. 2nd Gordon Highlanders--Killed, Captain S. C. Maitland. Imperial Light Infantry--Wounded, Major Hay. 1st Connaught Rangers--Wounded, Lieutenant J. L. T. Conroy, Lieutenant R. W. Harling, Lieutenant H. Moore Hutchinson, Lieutenant A. Wise, Second Lieutenant A. T. Lambert, Second Lieutenant J. M. B. Wratislaw, Captain E. M. Woulfe Flanagan (5th Battalion, attached). Royal Welsh Fusiliers--Killed, Lieutenant-Colonel C. C. H. Thorold,[6] Lieutenant F. A. Stebbing; wounded, Second Lieutenant C. C. Norman and Second Lieutenant H. V. V. Kyrke. 2nd Royal Fusiliers--Wounded, Lieutenant R. H. Torkington. The following casualties occurred on the 27th of February:-- _Killed._--1st South Lancashire Regiment--Lieutenant-Colonel W. M'Carthy O'Leary.[7] 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers--Brevet-Major V. Lewis, Captain H. S. Sykes, Second Lieutenant F. J. T. U. Simpson. 1st Royal Warwickshire Regiment--Lieutenant H. L. Mourilyan. Second Royal Irish Fusiliers--Second Lieutenant C. J. Daly. _Wounded._--Major-General Barton. 2nd Scots Fusiliers--Lieutenant-Colonel E. E. Carr, Captain C. P. A. Hull, Captain E. E. Blaine, Lieutenant C. H. I. Jackson, Second Lieutenant H. C. Fraser. 2nd Royal Irish Fusiliers--Major F. F. Hill, Lieutenant A. G. Knocker, Second Lieutenant A. Hamilton, Second Lieutenant V. H. Kavanagh. 1st South Lancashire Regiment--Major T. Lamb. 2nd West Yorkshire Regiment--Captain C. Mansel Jones, Captain C. C. B. Tew, Lieutenant L. H. Spry, Lieutenant A. M. Boyall. 2nd Derbyshire Regiment--Lieutenant H. S. Pennell, V.C. 2nd Royal Lancaster Regiment--Captain G. L. Palmes, Second Lieutenant C. W. Grover, Lieutenant E. A. P. Vaughan. 1st Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers--Second Lieutenant G. R. V. Steward. 1st Rifle Brigade--Captain and Adjutant S. C. Long, Second Lieutenant J. L. Buxton. 2nd Royal Fusiliers--Lieutenant H. B. G. Macartney. 2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers--Lieutenant J. M'D. Hastard, Second Lieutenant De B. Bradford. EXPECTATION [Illustration: KING'S POST, THE ENTRENCHED POSITION OF 2ND BATT. RIFLE BRIGADE AT LADYSMITH. (Reduced facsimile of sketch by Melton Prior.)] "Gloom, gloom, gloom, unending gloom!" So said one on the 26th of February, one who was fast sinking in the slough of despondency into which so many had slipped lower and lower, till they were sucked down and ended their troubles with fever and the grave. Some few days before all hearts had leapt with joy at reading of hopeful signals, listening to booming guns, which all thought to be bursting the gates of their imprisonment. So certain were they that the joyful hour of freedom was at hand that the force was placed on full rations. "We can afford to have a blow-out now," some one had said, and began to arrange what menu he should chose when he at last came face to face with civilisation. Then had come gloom--gloom blacker than Erebus--for it was gloom without and within. The guns--the welcome guns--not the obstreperous ones of Bulwana and the companion hills--had ceased their clamour. Hope was gone, and even the "helio" refused its communications. The sky was overcast, and rumours, that had always been prolific as flies, now began to breed apace. The air of Ladysmith was thick with them. No word from Buller's column. Kaffirs hinted that for the fourth time the relief column had retired at the back of the Tugela. Doubt, anxiety, suspense set in with renewed terrors. Quarter rations--the more trying because temporarily dropped--again became the order of the course. This in spite of the fact that Buller had now signalled "Everything progressing favourably." It seemed that they had heard that message before, those poor, half-hopeful, half-sceptical sufferers. Some said that on Tuesday, Majuba Day, the spirits of the community arrived at their nadir. When the barometer of fate registers its lowest, it is bound to rise. It rose in skips and jumps. There came the grand news that Cronje had surrendered to Lord Roberts. It was evident that the Boers too had heard, understood, and decided that they must scuttle the next morning. Signs of disturbance were evident. Long serpentine lines of trekking waggons were throwing up dust columns in the roads leading to Modder Spruit and Pepworth; droves of oxen were hurried along as fast as hoofs would carry them. Guns--the terrible guns which for 118 days had bayed and barked and rumbled and thundered--were in course of being dismantled. What did it all mean? Time was when the "braves" in Ladysmith would have sallied forth with their inherent dash and turned the retreat into a rout. But things were changed. Men and horses were now almost too weak to enter into sustained conflict with a mosquito, had a mosquito deigned to look at them. But most of them were past even the attentions of mosquitos. All they could do was to send a salvo at the heels of their tormentors, and hope that one or two shells at least might serve to "speed the parting guest." This was all they could attempt. They also flashed to Monte Cristo a message--a deplorable message--full of their despair and despondency. It said, "Garrison bitterly disappointed at delay of relieving force." This was at twelve o'clock. Then, as though Fate, with a full appreciation of the picturesque, had placed her highest light against her deepest dark--then, within the hour, came back glorious news! [Illustration: IN BELEAGUERED LADYSMITH--WATCHING FOR BULLER FROM OBSERVATION HILL. From a Sketch by Melton Prior.] "Have thoroughly beaten the enemy. Believe them to be in full retreat. Have sent my cavalry to ascertain which way they have gone." Surprise, rapture, prolonged jubilation! Cheer on cheer rose on the clear midday air and rang for miles, till the sick in Intombi camp lifted pallid heads and strained their ears and wondered. Then came the rolling National Anthem and "Rule Britannia," and Sir George White and those around him who had grown old within the spell of those awful 118 days, began to grow young again. And soon the Jack Tars set to work and the Naval guns pounded away with a reckless disregard for ammunition and a zest that did them credit. "One more go at him!--only one more!--only one more!" and "Long Tom," which was in act of being dismantled, was the subject of boisterous farewells. THE RELIEF OF LADYSMITH At six o'clock on the evening of the 28th of February all the suffering, suspense, and tension came to an end. The obstinate resistance, the heroic combats, the semi-starvation, the appalling melancholy of enforced exile, all were over. In the late afternoon those viewing the departure of the Boers from a vantage-point at Cæsar's Camp espied along the hazy blue of the valley horsemen recklessly approaching, riding at full gallop across the open. Conjectures wild were attempted. Hearts began to flutter, to stand still, to beat again with sharp quick thuds. Boers? Or Buller's cavalry? Yes--no--yes! Hurrah! Hurrah! They were coming--the squadron was distinctly visible--they were making direct for Ladysmith. A roar went up from a multitude of throats. The Manchesters on Cæsar's Camp, the Gordons at Fly Kraal, and presently the troops in the town, broke into shouts of exultation. Soon it was known everywhere they were coming--coming--coming--at last--at last! It was quite true. There was Lord Dundonald with Major Mackenzie (Light Horse) and Major Gough (16th Lancers), accompanied by the little column of Colonials, grand gallant fellows of the Light Horse, Natal Carabineers, and Border Mounted Police, some three hundred of them, pounding across the open country as fast as horses would carry them. In the twilight the troops sped along over boulder and rock, down donga and ravine, reckless of every obstacle, and at last the melancholy perimeter was reached. Then from out the gloom came a challenge. A British voice called "Halt! Who goes there?" A British voice gave answer--the almost unbelievable answer--"The Ladysmith Relieving Army." Four words, just four words! Paradise seemed to be opened. From all quarters came crowding and cheering--cheering faintly with wizened voices of the famished--men battered and almost bootless--happy, yet for all that deplorably sad in their happiness. Tears even glistened on some cheeks and in some eyes--the "unconquerable British blue eyes" of the Ladysmith "invincibles." With a due sense of decorum, and in the determination to give none the precedence, the procession had arranged itself in special order. The Natal Carabineers and Imperial Light Horse riding two and two abreast, with Major Gough at the head of the column, now marched in triumph into the town. At the English church they were met by General White, the defender of Ladysmith, fevered and thin and grey-haired, yet erect with the carriage of one who, without the strength, has the inextinguishable pride of his race, and the will to bear his country's burden to the last. With him were General Hunter and Colonel Ian Hamilton, heroes of the defence. Each instant the scene gained in colour, in vehemence, in pathos. Cheers and tears were commingled. Women wept unreservedly. Men, to dispose of a lump in their throats, shouted with all the scanty vigour that a limited diet of horse-sausage and mule would allow. But new life coursed through their veins. There was no glow of health on their cheeks, but the gleam of joy in their eyes rendered them young, almost hale. The Kaffirs and coolies gave expression to their rapture by dances and shouts that relieved the almost solemn ecstasy of the moment. Then General White, surrounded on one side by his pallid, worn, and wounded heroes, on the other by the bronzed warriors of the relieving force, made a brief address to the crowd: "People of Ladysmith," he said, in a voice that wavered with the emotion it was needless to conceal--"People of Ladysmith, I thank you one and all for the patient manner you have assisted me during the siege. From the bottom of my heart I thank you. It hurt me terribly when I was compelled to cut down rations, but, thank God, we have kept our flag flying!" Cheers broke out afresh, and then the battered multitude with one voice rent the grey gloom of the evening, and the strains of "God save the Queen" rang forth, till the banks, hollows, and rocks of the surrounding country gave back the glorious refrain. That night Sir George White, with his valorous colleagues around him, gave a dinner to the newly arrived, and these sat down with a feeling of exaltation, almost of awe, to find themselves thus in the familiar company of heroes. And all were conscious of a strange sense of unreality which pervaded the scene. It was almost impossible to realise that the drama was played, that they were about to ring down the curtain on the last act. It was scarce possible to believe that for three months the Natal Field Force had kept at bay a force double its number, had fortified and held a perimeter of fourteen miles against the most fiendish inventions of modern artillery, had made brilliant sorties and repulsed assaults innumerable--two of them being ferocious, almost hand-to-hand combats--had fought and watched and sickened and starved.... And now, all was changed. Those dire experiences were over for ever! Yet the effect of them remained. As a consequence of the close confinement of some 20,000 persons, disease was stalking abroad, even attacking those who but an hour ago had neared the place. Away at Intombi camp, too, where drugs were scarce, many of the patients--convalescent patients--were sinking for want of the sustaining food which was necessary to recovery. There was regret, poignant and newly awakened, in this moment of relief, regret standing dry-eyed, yet with a grievous ache at the heart--regret that before had learnt to bear and be still. It was impossible to see the glad side without also remembering the deeply pathetic one. The pestiferous atmosphere breathed of fever and disease, and those coming into it realised only too well what havoc such an atmosphere must have played on the sickly and the starved. Besides this there were gaps--woeful gaps. Names that dared not be mentioned, spots that could scarce be looked upon with dry eyes. The bronzed warriors, who day after day had shown tough fronts to the enemy, and whose ceaseless struggles should have hardened them to emotion, now turned aside to conceal the agony of bleeding hearts. Outside the town, in a sheltered hollow below Waggon Hill, was a pathetic garden of sleep. Here, under the shadow of cypress trees, lay the honoured remains of brave fellows who had given themselves to save the town, and with the town the prestige of their motherland. The earth barely covered them, but for all that their peace was perfect. They had struggled to save Natal, and Natal through them and the survivors was saved. If there is a loophole whence those who have passed on to the Invisible can peer down and observe the issues of mortal deeds, surely in that great hour, those splendid, those self-abnegating ones, who had given their heart's blood for the glory of the Empire, must then have gazed their fill, and in the general rejoicing have reaped their beatific reward. * * * * * The effect in England of the news of the relief was truly surprising. The spectacle was unique in the annals of Victoria's reign. On Thursday the 1st of March the whole City of London by one consent burst into jubilation. Every human being, however hard-worked, wore a smile; every heart, however sore, throbbed with a sense of reflected triumph; for all, if they had not been at the front in the flesh, had been there in the spirit these many, many days. Never was such a spontaneous outburst of rejoicing! A nation of shopkeepers indeed! Why, shopkeeping and work of all kinds were forgotten, and in front of the Mansion House crowded the delighted multitudes, oblivious of everything save the glorious fact that British bull-dog tenacity had withstood the most fiendish warfare, and wiles, and wickedness that vengeful Dutchmen could invent. From north, south, east, and west the people flocked, springing as it were from the very earth. The news came in at 10 A.M. By eleven the City was alive with drama. Hats were being waved or flung into the air, regardless of the effect upon the nap; flags from here, there, and everywhere fluttered--in default of these, other brandishable things were seized. Sometimes handkerchiefs did duty, newspapers, and even parcels and commercial bags; and from tongues innumerable came cheers and shouts and snatches of patriotic song, till an ignorant spectator, if one such there could have been, might have imagined Bedlam to have broken loose. "Rule Britannia," "God save the Queen," "Tommy Atkins," "The Absent-Minded Beggar"--all tunes poured forth to an accompaniment of cheers. The Lord Mayor was called out, and appeared on his balcony. He was forthwith invited to speak. The great man opened and shut his mouth--he was much moved with the general emotion--but no sound penetrated the uproar. Cheers loud and vehement tore the air, and the walls of the civic domain literally shook with the inspiriting fracas. Then for a moment or two there was a lull, and taking advantage of the opportunity, in a short sincere speech the Lord Mayor expressed himself. "Fellow-citizens, this news of the relief of Ladysmith makes our hearts leap with joy. We are now satisfied that at last our sacrifices of blood and treasure are not in vain!" Upon that the crowd roared itself hoarse, sung "For he's a jolly good fellow," and never with better cause, for Sir A. J. Newton had put the best of himself into the launching of the glorious C.I.V.'s. By-and-by came, with banners and much ceremony, a deputation from the Stock Exchange, and after them waves on waves of shouting enthusiasts--a spectacle so un-English, so genuine, so unrestrained, that the gloomy decorous regions of the City seemed suddenly to have become things apart, card-houses to fill in the background to a soul-stirring scene. Everywhere, in the alleys of "'Arriet," in the haunts of the "wild, wild West," at the Bank, in Leadenhall Market, and along the Thames, went up the jubilant echo--"Ladysmith is relieved!" Whereupon windows and balconies were dressed, flags, red, white, and blue, and the green of Erin with its romantic harp in the corner, fluttered wings of ecstasy from every British nest, and from every British household there rose unanimously a rapturous cry that was almost a sob, a cry of thanksgiving that the end had come, and that Ladysmith and the honour of the old country were saved! THE FORMAL ENTRY It seemed but artistic that Lord Dundonald and his brave irregulars should have met the keen edge of joyous welcome, that the burst of enthusiasm which greeted them should have been the heartiest of which Ladysmith, after a siege of 118 days, was capable. It was right, almost beautiful, that the staunch Colonials, who so well had fought for the Empire, should be the ones to throw open the doors of the dolorous prison, and deliver those who had been not only victims to the devilish machinations of the Boer, but had suffered from the active ache of suspense and the passive one of starvation, from their hellish bondage. Their informal coming was part and parcel of the unrehearsed and the splendid that appeared at every corner in this absolutely incomprehensible war. [Illustration: BRIGADIER-GENERAL THE EARL OF DUNDONALD, C.B. Photo by R. Faulkner & Co.] The next day things were more decorously done--more English in their reserve. Etiquette and custom resumed their sway, and General Sir Archibald Hunter straightened out the limp backbone of the army, and made soldierly preparations to welcome the relief column. There were cleansings and polishings, washings and brushings up, of a ramshackle kind, it is true, but they savoured of the old parade days returned. Poor skeletons of horses were groomed down, Sunday best was smoothed out, everything was done that the slender resources of the melancholy perimeter would allow. Shortly after noon on the 3rd of March Sir Redvers Buller made his formal entry. His arrival was somewhat unexpected, and there was little effervescent demonstration. Sir George White and Sir Redvers Buller meeting with a handclasp, said at first little more than the familiar "D'ye do?" of saunterers in Piccadilly. What else could be done? There was much to say, so much that must remain ever unsaid, and throats to-day were too tightly compressed in strangling the large and unspeakable emotion to give vent to the infinitesimal resource of speech. Meanwhile the forlorn streets had begun to fill. They were margined by the garrison, and with them were collected such of the sorry civilians as were able to stand exposed to the tropical glare of the sun in its zenith. They came out wondering, almost diffident. Was it possible that the morning message of melenite was no longer to be heard? that the hoarse cadence of hostile artillery was silent for good? Was the open distance really innocuous--clear and peaceful as a Swiss landscape? They scarcely recognised themselves or their surroundings, and looked dazedly to right and left as on a changed world. Sir George White, with his staff, now took up a position in front of the Town Hall, where, backgrounded by the ruined tower--it had been battered, as it were, by the whole armoury of Satan--the broken blue tin houses and the parched trees, the group made an appropriate picture of noble wreck--of aristocratical exhaustion. The relievers, though physically hale, were externally scarcely more presentable than the relieved. The outsiders, it is true, were begrimed and tattered, though robust and swarthy; while the Invincibles, rigged up in honour of their deliverers in Sunday best, and washed and scrubbed to a nicety, seemed--soap-like--to have dissolved in the very process of ablution. No joy of the moment could alter the tale of shrinkage that was printed on man and beast. But jubilation expressed itself in the best way it could. From windows and balconies soon hung strips of colour, national emblems, gathered from hither and thither to mark a rapture that it was impossible for human tongue to describe. From hotels and habitations the citizens began to pour forth and to congregate. And then, when all were collected, the curtain drew up on the most wondrous scene that the nineteenth century has witnessed--the march past of the Ladysmith Relieving Column! Sir Redvers Buller, imperturbable of visage as usual, accompanied by his staff, rode at the head of his magnificent warriors, and leading, in the place of honour, were the valorous Dublin Fusiliers, the poor but glorious remnant, consisting now of 400 of the original battalion who had so grandly acquitted themselves in many battlefields. Next came Sir Charles Warren and the Fifth Division, and afterwards General Barton and General Lyttelton's Brigades--goodly fellows all, who had proved themselves deliberately brave and doughtily undefeatable. Meanwhile the pipes and drums of the Gordon Highlanders, with such vigour as was left them, made exhilarating music, to which was united the clanking and clamping of the Artillery Howitzer Battery and Naval Brigade as they filed past with uproarious martial rampage. Each section was greeted with admiring cheers. The regiments moved along in review order, a superb throng, bronzed, and battered, and brawny, a curious contrast to the pallid and emaciated comrades-in-arms--morally superb too, but physically degenerate--who welcomed them. The spectacle was unique in soul-stirring grandeur as in unspoken pathos. "A march of lions," said Mr. Churchill, who had played his part with Lord Dundonald's force, and was now looked on as a critic. "A procession of giants," said some one else, who watched the lines and lines of heroes greeting each other with wild huzzas! Friends, kindred, comrades-in-arms--from either side the yawning gulf of destruction, from even the voracious maw of death--they came together again, all jubilant, all generously appreciative, all self-respecting, and glowing with honest and honourable emotion. The Gordon Highlanders cheered the Dublins, the Dublins, with little sprigs of green in their caps, responded right royally to the greeting of the Scotsmen. One battalion of the Devons met its twin battalion: the men of doughty deeds, large-hearted and large-lunged, accosted with zest the men of equally doughty deeds but dwindled frames, whose deep bass notes cracked with the strain of rollicking intention and futile realisation. While all this was going forward, from the balcony of the gaol a wondering crowd of Boer prisoners looked on agape. They could barely believe the evidence of their eyes: the town was free. Had their compatriots at last turned tail and bolted? They stared down on the vast interminable avenue of men and guns winding through what only the day before yesterday was a fiery concave--watched a continuous moving multitude, tattered and begrimed, saddle-brown and burly--and little by little began to fathom the meaning to themselves of this mighty display. The despised rooineks had, after all, not even been thrust into the sea: in fact, it appeared that the sea had cultivated a trick of casting up rooineks by the thousand, to be killed in scores only to come up in swarms! By-and-by, when the military parade was over, the Mayor of the town, Mr. Farquhar, presented Sir George White with an address, in which the corporation and inhabitants expressed their appreciation of all that he had done for them in those dark days of durance. Flattering reference was also made to the services of General Hunter and Colonel Ward (A.A.G.). To these officers the General, in reply, alluded gratefully, eulogising the work done by the former, and describing the latter as the "best supply officer since Moses." He then called attention to the stubborn patience of the civilians of Ladysmith, "who had borne themselves like good and true soldiers throughout a very trying time." These remarks were followed by three hearty cheers for the civilians of Ladysmith. The Mayor expressed his pride in the manner the civilian population had comported itself, and the excellent feeling that had existed between both civil and military authorities. He then presented an illuminated address to Sir Redvers Buller, of which the following is the text:-- "We, the Mayor and members of the Town Council of the borough of Ladysmith, Natal, and as such representing the inhabitants of the said borough, beg most respectfully to welcome with great joy the arrival of yourself and your gallant soldiers at our township, and to express to you our most sincere and heartfelt appreciation of your noble and courageous efforts in the relief of this long-beleaguered borough. As members of the great British Empire, as loyal subjects of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen, and as colonists of Natal, we beg respectfully to tender you our most hearty thanks, realising as we do the magnitude and difficulty of the work you have accomplished. At the same time our sympathies are great for the heavy losses among your gallant troops that have occurred in your successful efforts to relieve us." The following telegrams were sent to Sir Redvers Buller and Sir George White by the Queen. To Sir Redvers Buller:-- "Thank God for news you have telegraphed to me. Congratulate you and all under you with all my heart. "V.R.I." To Sir George White:-- "Thank God that you and all those with you are safe after your long and trying siege, borne with such heroism. I congratulate you and all under you from the bottom of my heart. Trust you are all not very much exhausted. "V.R.I." Reply from Sir George White to the Queen:-- "Your Majesty's most gracious message has been received by me with deepest gratitude and with enthusiasm by the troops. "Any hardships and privations are a hundred times compensated for by the sympathy and appreciation of our Queen, and your Majesty's message will do more to restore both officers and men than anything else. "GENERAL SIR GEORGE WHITE, Ladysmith." The following telegram was received by the Queen from Sir Redvers Buller:-- "Troops much appreciate your Majesty's kind telegram. "Your Majesty cannot know how much your sympathy has helped to inspire them. "GENERAL BULLER." An additional telegram was sent by the Queen to Sir Redvers Buller on the 2nd inst.:-- "Pray express to the Naval Brigade my deep appreciation of the valuable services they have rendered with their guns. "V.R.I." Later on a special Army Order was issued as follows:-- GALLANTRY OF IRISH REGIMENTS IN SOUTH AFRICA--DISTINCTION TO BE WORN ON ST. PATRICK'S DAY. Her Majesty the Queen is pleased to order that in future, upon St. Patrick's Day, all ranks in her Majesty's Irish regiments shall wear, as a distinction, a sprig of shamrock in their headdress, to commemorate the gallantry of her Irish soldiers during the recent battles in South Africa. * * * * * Soon after this came the transformation scene. Seventy-three waggon-loads of supplies, eleven of which contained hospital comforts, began to wind into the town. Major Morgan and Colonel Stanley, like fairy godmothers in the story-book, waved the wand of office, and promptly the machinery began to revolve, and manna in the form of nourishing food-stuffs poured into the famished regions. The Boers, too, in the precipitate retreat had left welcome loads of grass, herds, and ammunition--the ammunition of the besieged was well-nigh exhausted--besides individual necessaries which came in handy. But of course, the machinery of relief, well as it worked, could scarcely work fast enough to make an appreciable result, and save invalids who were sinking from the protracted trial. It was amazing how the sick-list swelled. Many who had come into the town jocund and jaunty, found themselves in a few hours clutched by the fell fever. It was enough but to breathe the tainted atmosphere to fall sick, and those who were seized at once discovered all the horror of helplessness in an area where provision for the comfort of the suffering was well-nigh exhausted. Looking back on the past from the new standpoint, the gaps became more than ever remarkable; for, despite incessant fighting, shot and shell were responsible for less lives than famine and fever. [Illustration: LIEUT.-GENERAL HON. N. G. LYTTELTON, C.B. Photo by Elliott & Fry, London.] Ladysmith at the commencement of the siege held some 13,496 fighting men and over 2000 civilians. Owing to sickness and hard fighting, the number had diminished to 10,164 men. There were about 2000 in hospital, but the death-rate practically increased only when, after January, food, nourishment of all kinds, and medical appliances grew scarce. At that time sickness of whatever kind assumed an ominous aspect; there was no chance of relief. It was impossible for languishing men to apply themselves to the soup made of old horse and mule, which was gladly devoured by those who had still the appetite without the means of appeasing it. From the 15th of January death stalked abroad uncombated; later he held carnival. Many died from wounds, very slight wounds, received on the 6th of January, from which they had not stamina to recover; the fevered and weakly dropped off from sheer starvation and famine; the gaunt talons needed scarcely to touch them, for they were exhausted, and some of them were glad to go. The deaths as a result of fighting were 24 officers and 235 men, while those attributed to sickness numbered six officers and 520 men, exclusive of white civilians. The following special Army Order was issued:-- "The relief of Ladysmith unites two forces which have striven with conspicuous gallantry and splendid determination to maintain the honour of their Queen and country. The garrison of Ladysmith for four months held the position against every attack with complete success, and endured its privations with admirable fortitude. The relieving force had to make its way through unknown country, across unfordable rivers, and over almost inaccessible heights, in the face of a fully-prepared, well-armed, tenacious enemy. By the exhibition of the truest courage, which burns steadily besides flashing brilliantly, it accomplished its object and added a glorious page to our history. Sailors, soldiers, Colonials, and the home-bred have done this, united by one desire and inspired by one patriotism. "The General Commanding congratulates both forces on their martial qualities, and thanks them for their determined efforts. He desires to offer his sincere sympathy to the relatives and friends of the good soldiers and gallant comrades who have fallen in the fight. BULLER." Less formally and with more warmth the Chief addressed himself to his friends in England. He said:-- "We began fighting on the 14th February, and literally fought every day and nearly every night till the 27th. I am filled with admiration for the British soldiers; really, the manner in which they have worked, fought, and endured during the last fortnight has been something more than human. Broiled in a burning sun by day, drenched in rain by night, lying but 300 yards off an enemy who shoots you if you show as much as a finger; they could hardly eat or drink by day, and as they were usually attacked at night they got but little sleep; and through it all they were as cheery and willing as could be." Telegraphic wires and cables wore themselves out in repeating congratulation on the relief of Ladysmith. Veritably all the winds of heaven seemed to repeat them. From north, south, east, and west came the chorus of acclamation, a chorus most reviving to the magnificent multitude both inside and outside the place, who had been ready to offer up their heart's blood on the altar of patriotism. Though the haunted and worn look could not die out of the faces of the sufferers in a moment, they had already begun to mend; though the shrunken and emaciated forms could not at once be relieved from the starvation and disease which had wasted them, there was over all a soothing glow of hope that acted magically, beatifically, as the mists of sunrise over a squalid landscape. On the 9th of March Sir George White, looking much worn, he having suffered from Indian fever brought on by the malarious surroundings, left with his staff. The General addressed the Gordon Highlanders who formed the guard of honour, and in few and affecting words bade them farewell. FOOTNOTES: [4] Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Claude George Henry Sitwell, D.S.O., 2nd Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers, was born in 1858, and entered the army through the militia in 1878. His first ten years of service were with the Shropshire Light Infantry, from which he exchanged, in 1889, into the Manchester Regiment. He was subsequently promoted to a majority in the 2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers in October 1898. Colonel Sitwell had seen a considerable amount of active service, his first campaign being the Afghan war of 1879-80, in which he served with the Koorum Division, and took part in the Zaimust expedition. He accompanied the 1st Battalion Shropshire Light Infantry in the Egyptian war of 1882, and was present at the occupation of Kafr Dowar and the surrender of Damietta. From 1892 to 1895 he was employed with the Egyptian army, and from 1895 to 1898 in the Uganda Protectorate. In 1895, as a captain, he commanded the expeditions against the Kitosh, Kabras, and Kikelwa tribes in East Africa, and was present with the Nandi expedition in 1895-96. Finally, he commanded the operations against Mwanga in 1897-98, including the engagement near Katonga River, and several minor affairs. For his important services in Uganda Major Sitwell was given a brevet lieutenant-colonelcy, and decorated with the Distinguished Service Order. [5] Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Martin Gerard Thackeray, commanding the 1st Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, was born in 1849, and was appointed to the 16th Foot in 1868. In 1876 he exchanged into the 1st West India Regiment, subsequently obtaining his captaincy in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in 1881. During 1880 and part of 1881 he served as Fort Adjutant at Sierra Leone. He was promoted to the command of the 1st Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in February 1897. [6] Lieutenant-Colonel Thorold, of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, who was killed on February 24, became lieutenant on June 13, 1874, a captain on October 25, 1882, a major on July 10, 1890, and was promoted to be lieutenant-colonel on March 4, 1896. [7] Lieutenant-Colonel William M'Carthy O'Leary, commanding the 1st Battalion of the South Lancashire Regiment, was born on January 6, 1849, and entered the 82nd Foot (now the 2nd Battalion of the South Lancashire Regiment) as an ensign in the old purchase days on April 17, 1869. He obtained his lieutenancy, also by purchase, on February 15, 1871. He was instructor of musketry to the regiment from July 19, 1874, to March 19, 1878, when he became captain, received his major's commission on August 13, 1883, and from the January preceding until January 1888, was an adjutant of Auxiliary forces. He had been lieutenant-colonel of the battalion since November 1896. He was a Justice of the Peace for the County of Cork and one of the Under Sheriffs of the city. CHAPTER VI CHANGES IN CAPE COLONY We must now return to Colesberg after the departure of General French. The Boers, doubtless much relieved to get quit of him, still occupied a semicircular set of camps from east to west round the north of the town, while the British, in the same manner, occupied the opposite half of the circle, and so continued, by dint of much fighting and skirmishing, to keep them in check. On the 9th February the Dutchmen threatened the right flank of the British, and shot one of Rimington's Guides. During the morning Captain Cameron, commanding the Tasmanian Contingent, with Captain Salmon and fifty Australians and Tasmanians, started out from Rensburg on a reconnaissance. He was supported by a detachment of the Inniskilling Dragoons under Captain Stevenson-Hamilton. The enemy was soon encountered, and promptly gave the Australians a warm time as they advanced across the plain. These cleverly took shelter and returned an active fusillade, but the Boers seemed to be everywhere in overwhelming numbers. The Australians with great gallantry took possession of a kopje, and maintained their grip of the position for a good hour and a half; but the crowds opposing them were too great, and when the Dutchmen worked round to the rear and fired on their horses, they thought it high time to come down, mount, and retire, amid a hurricane of lead from the foe. The same action was repeated, the holding of another kopje, and the evacuation of it in consequence of the arrival, in the rear, of the Boers; and finally a retirement had to be effected across the open plain exposed to fierce volleys from the pursuing enemy. Strange to say, very few of the Colonials were injured, though they held their ground throughout the day with wondrous pluck, and tackled the Boers with dexterity equal to their own. Indeed, the coolness and courage of Captain Cameron were reflected by his men, and Captain Salmon, whose baptism of fire it was, made a remarkable display of talent in the field. Of grit and gallantry there was no end. Specially noticeable was the pluck of Corporal Whiteley of the Tasmanians, who hurried to the rescue of a dismounted comrade, and through a storm of bullets brought him to a place of safety. More of the Australians on the same day came in for a good share of work. A reconnaissance was made from Slingersfontein by the Inniskillings and some Australians under Captain Moor. The Australians discovered the enemy in the act of preparing to shell the British camp from the south-east. They therefore took up a position on a hill some 9000 yards from camp, but here were assailed by a party of Dutchmen who endeavoured to force them to surrender. So close had the Boers approached, that their shouts calling them to give up their arms could be heard by the Colonials. For answer, however, the Australians only fixed bayonets and yelled defiance! Their position was most critical; nevertheless they held their ground with such fierce tenacity that the Burghers were cautious of approach. Meanwhile, through the maze of fiery elements and in the teeth of the enemy, a sergeant and two troopers had galloped off to inform the commanding officer of the safety of the little band, and of their intention to make a good fight of it until, under cover of the shades of night, they could effect an escape. This they eventually did. Three of their number were wounded and one was killed in the act of succouring a wounded comrade. On the 11th of February, at Rensburg, a picket of five Victorian Rifles had a nasty experience. After pluckily holding a post for several hours, during which they were fired on by the Boers from an adjacent kopje, they were forced to retire. Three of the party were slightly wounded, and one gallant fellow, who had helped the others to mount and escape, was missing. A patrol from Jasfontein, consisting of eight Tasmanians and eight of French's Guides, also came to grief. Only two Tasmanians and three Guides returned to camp, the rest being captured by the enemy. In course of the day's work Trooper Bosch distinguished himself. On his way with two comrades to join the main body at Slingersfontein he came on a large party of Boers on a hill. Though fired on, the party made off in hot haste, when Trooper Bosch, who was ahead, came suddenly on a solitary horseman. The two riders, each believing the other to be a friend, approached, then discovering their mistake, they raised rifles. But Trooper Bosch being the quicker, promptly disarmed his antagonist and made him prisoner. With the Dutchman in charge, Bosch and his companions proceeded. Presently they came on seven Boer riders. On these the scouts opened fire, with the result that the enemy hurriedly made off, leaving behind them one wounded, who was taken prisoner. So the three scouts returned to camp very proud of their "bag." The correspondent of the _Melbourne Herald_, accompanied by Mr. Cameron, the Australian correspondent, bearing a flag of truce, went to the Boer line west of Rensburg to make inquiries from Commandant Delarey regarding Mr. Lambie and Mr. Hales, the missing Australian correspondents. They were blindfolded before being taken to the Boer camp, where they were informed that Mr. Lambie had been killed, and were handed the portrait of his wife, which had been found in his pocket. Mr. Hales, owing to a fall from his horse, had been taken prisoner. The correspondents were informed that some 120,000 men were fighting with the Federals, which was probably a piece of Boer bravado. [Illustration: MAP ILLUSTRATING THE OPERATIONS ON THE ORANGE RIVER.] It was now found necessary to retire from Coles Kop and the outposts round it, as the Boers had placed a 40-pounder off Bastard Nek, and thus commanded the vicinity. The Wiltshire Regiment retired from Pink Hill, and the Australians and Bedfordshire Regiment moved from Windmill Hill. The Berkshire Regiment had also to move from their post--indeed, a wholesale withdrawal became imperative owing to the activity of the Boer pieces. There was now no camp west of Rensburg, and presently the camp at Slingersfontein had to withdraw on Rensburg, the eastern flank being threatened. There were Boers on all sides busily shelling the hills, and the overwhelming number of the enemy made retreat to Rensburg inevitable. In the course of the fighting Colonel Coningham was mortally wounded.[8] On the 13th the British "strategically" evacuated Rensburg, and General Clements fell back on Arundel. The guns from Coles Kop were safely removed, and a Maxim was destroyed to save it from the clutches of the enemy. The retirement was quite orderly. On the previous day the stores and baggage-waggons were removed. After the evacuation the Boers held a prayer-meeting, and offered up thanks for their success. They then marched off in small parties to their various outposts, chanting in nasal tones their favourite hymns. The gallantry displayed by the members of General Clements' force during the retirement was amazing. It is found impossible to note all the acts of pluck and heroism which took place, and elicited the profound admiration of those who witnessed them, but especially noticeable was the devotion of some score of the Mounted Victorian Rifles. These were surrounded by the enemy--caught in a veritable trap--but they refused to surrender, and declared they would "die game." They fought like heroes, not one of them being left to tell the tale. Near Dordrecht, too, which had been occupied by General Brabant, the Colonial forces were performing prodigious feats of pluck. They forced the rebels to abandon the country between Dordrecht and Penhoek. During the attack on a Boer laager on the 16th, Trooper Drysdale bravely rushed to the succour of Sergeant Weinecke under a close and heavy fire and carried him off to a place of safety. The young Colonial was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in recognition of the valorous deed. Unfortunately two gallant officers--Captain Crallah and Lieutenant Chandler--were killed. Curiously enough, when the Boers and British became acquainted with each other they grew friendly with great rapidity. When Captain Longhurst, R.A.M.C., from Arundel, was attending wounded Australians, he remarked on the exceeding kindness of the enemy to the wounded. He also fraternised with the Boer commander, and discovered they had mutual friends in London. The "Tommies" chatted most amicably with the Boers, notwithstanding the fact that their bandoliers were filled with soft-nosed bullets. To account for their having them, the Boers said, "We must use whatever we can get." It was suggested that their ammunition--since they were of the northern district--had been obtained for the purpose of hunting big game at the Limpopo. This excuse the "Tommies" accepted, and one wounded in the thigh said good-humouredly, "Well, I wish you'd been kind enough to hit me lower down." Another informed a Boer that the British had specially come to deliver them out of the House of Bondage. The Boer was sceptical, whereon "Tommy" enlightened him. "Africander bondage," he explained, with a wink of the eye. The moral effect of the relief of Kimberley soon became obvious. Barkly West was occupied by troops on the 21st of February, and there was evidence that the country west of Cape Colony and Kimberley was gradually settling down. On the same day, General Brabant occupied Jamestown, some twenty miles north of Dordrecht, and seized quantities of horses belonging to the enemy, who in their retreat modestly had recourse to "Shank's pony." During a reconnaissance of the Boer position at Stormberg, a party of scouts under Captain Montmorency, V.C., got within some fifty yards of the enemy, and a fierce and fatal combat ensued, which resulted in the sad loss of one of the most brilliant officers of the day. The object of the reconnaissance was to ascertain the strength of the Boers at Stormberg. Accordingly, with four companies of Mounted Infantry drawn from the Royal Scots, the Northumberland Fusiliers, the Derbyshire Regiment, and the Royal Berkshire Regiment, with the 77th and four guns of the 74th Batteries Royal Field Artillery, the Derbyshire Regiment (Sherwood Foresters), a portion of De Montmorency's Scouts, and some Cape Police, supported by the armoured train under the charge of Lieutenant F. J. Gosset, 2nd Royal Berkshire Regiment, Sir William Gatacre occupied Molteno early on Friday morning the 23rd. Preceded by thirty Scouts, Captain de Montmorency, Lieutenant Hockley, and Colonel Hoskier, the force marched in the same direction that was to have been taken on the night of the fatal affair in December. Unfortunately the Scouts, on nearing their destination, came on a party of dismounted Boers, and these, as the British rushed up a kopje, executed the same feat on the other side of the hill. Though both instantly took cover, the scouts got the worst of it, each one as he raised a head being laid low by the fatal bullets of the completely hidden foe. Among the first to fall was Captain de Montmorency,[9] who, gallant fellow, was creeping round to a flank to surprise the enemy. Not long after Colonel Hoskier[10] received his second wound, a mortal one, and two comrades, Collett and Vice, adventurous and dashing Colonials, were shot through the head. Lieutenant Hockley, rendered almost blind and senseless by a wound between the eyes, was taken prisoner. A gallant attempt to rescue the Scouts was made in the midst of a tremendous storm. All were drenched to the skin. The thunder and lightning rendered artillery fire almost impossible, and very few of the daring party got away from the scene of the fight. On the kopje by Shoeman's Farm were left seven killed and five wounded. On the following day the bodies were recovered by the military chaplains. Deeply to their regret, they discovered that the dead had been robbed, and it is asserted that a Boer was seen in the feathered hat of the heroic leader of the Scouts, while even the clothes of the others had been filched by some despicable Dutchmen. Mr. Duncombe-Jewell in the _Morning Post_ gave a pathetic account of the affair:--"The chaplains to the forces, Father Ryan and Rev. R. Armitage, proceeded under a flag of truce on the following morning to recover the bodies. This they were permitted to do, but they found that the Boers had stripped and robbed the slain, one of them riding about in triumph with poor De Montmorency's hat, with its black riband ornamented with the white skull and cross-bones and the black ostrich feather at the side, hanging at his saddle-bow. So far did they carry these ravages, that on the tunic, which they hastily replaced as the chaplains approached, there remained only one button. The rest of the unfortunate men were as shamefully treated, the three buried by the Boers before the arrival of the flag of truce being interred without either clothing or ceremony of any sort." A sad funeral took place on the Sunday following, when the remains were buried. The band played a dirge as the procession--in which was the younger officer's gallant servant and comrade, Byrne, V.C., of Omdurman fame, and his favourite grey Arab pony--wound its way through the town to the Molteno Cemetery. Wreaths were placed on the newly-turned earth by the General and his staff--ephemeral symbols, but in this case emblems of lasting lament for heroes sacrificed on the altar of duty. [Illustration: HINDOO REFUGEES FROM THE TRANSVAAL IN CAMP AT CAPE TOWN Photo by Alf. S. Hosking, Cape Town.] In a Divisional Order General Gatacre recorded with deep regret the news of the death of Captain Montmorency, V.C., commanding Montmorency's Scouts, and of Lieutenant-Colonel Hoskier, 3rd Middlesex Volunteer Artillery, who were killed at Schoeman's Farm. "By their deaths," the order concluded, "the division has lost two very valuable officers." While this affair was taking place at Molteno the West Riding Regiment was distinguishing itself at Arundel. The troops were preparing to clear some kopjes held by the enemy when some Boers suddenly advanced on them. The West Ridings stood their ground grandly, waited with fixed bayonets the arrival of the Dutch horde, and then promptly advanced and scattered them. Unfortunately Captain Wallis was shot dead. Lieutenant Wilson was wounded, but rescued in the midst of a leaden blizzard by a gallant sergeant (Frith), who rushed to his assistance and carried him off on his back to a place of shelter. Scarcely had he done so than he was wounded in the face--in the left eye and nose. Lieutenant Wilson and Sergeant Frith were placed in an ambulance, but owing to the tremendous storm which prevailed at the time, their waggon lost its bearings and wandered aimlessly throughout the night. The sufferers reached hospital on the following day. On the 26th Colesberg and Colesberg Junction were held by our troops, and on the 27th Rensburg was reoccupied. On the 5th of March Captain M'Neill, who after the death of Captain de Montmorency was appointed to the command of Montmorency's Scouts, discovered that the Boers had evacuated Stormberg. The Scouts now pursued the enemy, determining to keep him on the run. This they did over rugged country and at great personal risk, eventually chasing the Dutchmen to and beyond Burghersdorp. On the 7th of March General Gatacre occupied Burghersdorp, and the railway arrangements towards Stormberg and Steynsburg were being hurried on in view of the coming operations. The enthusiasm of the loyal inhabitants of the district was great and their relief intense. The greetings from one and all were most effusive, the National Anthem was sung, and the British flag hoisted with jubilation so great that many wept at the relaxation of the long strain. General Gatacre issued a proclamation requesting rebels to surrender and give up arms, when they would receive a pass to their farms, and where they were to remain till called to account later. Some few rebels appeared to the summons, but many were still shy and were waiting, as the phrase says, "to see which way the cat jumped." The oath administered to rebels was as follows:-- "I, a British subject, do hereby and hereon swear and declare that I was forced by the Queen's enemies to take up arms against Her Majesty's troops, and that the rifle and ammunition were issued to me by Commandant ----, that I joined the commando on or about ----, and left it on or about ----. I now hand in my horse, rifle, and ammunition, and, if permitted, will proceed direct to my own farm, to remain there as a loyal British subject until Her Majesty's pleasure be made further known. I further promise to hold no further communication, either directly or indirectly, with Her Majesty's enemies, or to aid or abet them in any way whatever, under penalty of death." General Clements now took up his quarters at Norval's Pont, on the south bank of Orange River. The north bank was still being strongly held by the enemy, who had succeeded in blowing up the bridge two days previously. Aliwal North was next occupied, but the occupation was attended with severe fighting across the river. But the British took up tenable positions, while the Boers, after a wholesome experience of British fire, removed their laager from the hills. The inhabitants of the town, despite the fact that our entry was accompanied by shells, were full of enthusiasm. Colonel Page Henderson and his advance party seized the heights beyond Lundean's Nek. The enemy shelled the bridge with Krupp guns with great vigour, and twenty men were wounded. The British from their entrenched positions silenced these barkings, but were then attacked by the Boer riflemen, who were finally driven off by the Border Horse and a Maxim gun. A waggon of ammunition was captured and several Boers. There were general complaints as to the treatment experienced by British people in the place, and there was some satisfaction when Mayor Smuts was subsequently arrested on a charge of treason. Railway and telegraphic communication were now carried to Burghersdorp. Everywhere the commencement of a new system was evident. In the north-eastern districts of the Free State the rebels, on the withdrawal of the commandos, slowly returned to their senses. Both English and Dutch loyalists were beginning to breathe freely; they had both equally suffered from Boer oppression. Europeans and natives were jubilant at the now continual laying down of arms by rebels and Boer refugees along the whole of the Colonial borders. The Boer refugees, some of whom were in a pitiable plight, many of them having subsisted for weeks mainly on bread and water and a species of coffee made from rye, were anxious for protection. They stood in fear of their lives, as Commandant Olivier had threatened to shoot those who should surrender. Major Hook of the Cape Police, with his smart men, occupied Barkly East, and at Lady Grey British rule, after three and a half months of oppression, was re-established. It is pleasing to record that the heroic postmistress returned to her post there with an increased salary. The total collapse of the rebels was impending, and there were now only animated arguments among loyalists and others as to the treatment which should be given to those who had engaged in and fostered the lamentable revolt. All voted for the speedy appointment of a Judicial Commission. Though a policy of revenge was to be deprecated, it was urged that the ringleaders should be punished with exemplary severity, as a deterrent for the future, and for the purpose of demonstrating to those who had suffered annoyances, loss, and anxiety, that there was some advantage in the maintenance of loyalty in trying circumstances. AT BETHULIE Sir William Gatacre, owing to the species of general post that had been set on foot by Lord Roberts' successful advance, suddenly found himself released from the shackles that had bound him. As we know, the enemy had retreated from Stormberg, and from Burghersdorp. Towards the Orange River they had betaken themselves in hot haste, and it was now time to fly after the retreating foe, to catch them, if possible, at the river. At Bethulie there was still the railway bridge. But even as it was neared it ceased to exist. Fragments filled the air. The Boers had blown it up behind them, and wrecked iron was all that displayed itself to the British troops. The road bridge, however, remained; a structure valued by the Colony at £100,000. Of course that would go directly, and the great question was whether the British troops, by putting the spur on their already jaded energies, would be able to reach the place in time to defend it. Captain M'Neill and thirty Scouts made a rush for it; and only just reached the scene of action in time! The Derby was never more hotly contested. The Scouts, like hunted fiends, had sped over obstacle and acre to gain the goal before the fell work of the Boers could begin. They won by a neck. The Boers were already buzzing along the bridge, manipulating with wire and explosive, putting the finishing touches on their design! At sight of the British there was a stampede to north of the river. Here the enemy had supports. (The Scouts carefully hid the fact they had none.) Here the enemy ensconced himself and prepared to do his worst. The Scouts took up their position in the kraal of a farm from which they could sweep the northern approach to the already laid mines, and sent back word urgently praying for reinforcements. Others took their well-deserved rest. Meanwhile with ferocious tenacity some eleven of them held on to the bridge, hawk-eyed, watching, firing, hiding, dodging, anything that should gain time till the reinforcements could appear. On the other side, only a question of yards off was the foe--numberless, it seemed to them, sniping, potting, and banging with every missile at their command, and determining to hang round the precious bone of contention, the valuable road bridge. The British maintained the same determination. Perhaps a touch, an unseen movement, would set the whole string of dynamite mines in motion; perhaps in this moment or the next, with a roar and a rumble, the clear atmosphere would be decked to blindness with little bits--bits of the bridge that stood before them--bits, too, of the men that were! Still they hung on. It was a grievous subject for contemplation, a sorry possibility to roll in the wrappings of meditation. But fear they scorned. The Boers in vast numbers thronged on the opposite side, bullets from Mausers and Martini-Henrys spurted and flicked up their little wisps of dust till sand became thick as a veil between Boer and Briton. But still the hardy Scouts clung to their post. Moments, every one long as days, sped on; hours passed, night waned, day broke. Still the tiny British band of braves behind bush and boulder stayed with rifles cocked and pointed at the bridge. They dared not approach, but they defied the enemy to venture. Then, with morn, the eternity of anxiety was ended--they were reinforced by the Cape Police! Later the artillery came up. Oh, the sigh of relief! The bridge was saved! Oh, the rejoicing to hear the grand bark of British guns, and see the great earth mushrooms opening up to the sky on the opposite side! Then, at eventide came the supreme deed, among deeds no less worthy. Shot and shell were now falling on all sides of the mined bridge. The Boers were firmly ensconced across the front; hidden and sniping, and now and then appearing and firing boldly. The gloaming was otherwise peaceful, the purple shades of evening blending with the gentle, rippling golden grey of the river. Then from his fellows advanced one Lieutenant Popham of the Derbyshire Regiment. Straight to the threatened bridge, already peppered with the storms of the enemy, he went, crossed to the other side, and quick as thought deftly cut the connecting wires for firing the mines! By a miracle no Boers observed the act, an act that rendered abortive all their ingenious efforts and made the British masters of the situation. Then followed more plucky feats. Young Popham, on advancing through the trenches, had come across large, suspicious-looking boxes. He returned to the British lines. He gathered together some of the goodly men of his regiment, and with them again made his way to the threatened bridge. The sight of the party was the signal for a volley from the Dutchmen, but still they pursued their way to the boxes. "Dynamite, by Jove!" said one; "Kingdom come!" said another. But up they took them, and there and then, under a storm of bullets that now meant more even than death, the splendid fellows marched back again. The astonishing feat cast dismay over the Federals on the other side of the water, as it filled with admiration and pride all in the British camp who were privileged to view a sight seldom seen in a lifetime. And then, later on, as though the quality of heroism were inexhaustible as the widow's cruse of oil, another splendid act followed on the heels of the foregoing ones. In the dead of night Captain Grant of the Royal Engineers groped his way to the bridge. The Boers were on the alert, but he groped cautiously. The soldier's martial step gave way to the catlike burglarious tread! It was ticklish work that had to be done--work that needed time and nicety of touch. But he meant to do it, and one hint, one rumour of activity would have roused the whole Dutch horde and ruined his plan. The bridge, as we know, was mined. Lieutenant Popham had cut the wires. But the charges of dynamite were somewhere. These Captain Grant found, removed, and dexterously dropped, buried for ever in the purling river! Then with infinite care he detached the other connecting wires, and the bridge was safe! This was the beginning of the end. A few more passages at arms, and then the British on the 15th of March crossed the Orange River. [Illustration: CONVEYING WOUNDED TO WYNBERG HOSPITAL CAMP. Photo by Alf. S. Hosking, Cape Town.] Yet another brilliant act was performed soon after the arrival of the troops at Bethulie. Captain Hannessy of the Cape Police, an officer on General Gatacre's staff, was detailed to capture the railway station, which was situated some distance from the town. This he did. He examined the telegraph room, found the instrument intact, and learnt by communication with Springfontein that there were Boers still in that direction. Without hesitation he at once set off, in company with another adventurous spirit (Captain Turner of the Scouts), on his way to Springfontein. They commandeered a trolley and moved up the line. On nearing the station they saw two trains with steam up, ready for departure. Within the building were Boers--not slim Boers this time--but snoring ones, with bandoliers awry and rifles lollopping. It was a moment to be grasped. The rifles and the bandoliers were gently removed. Then the sleepers were awakened. They rubbed their eyes, and found, not rifles or bandoliers, but that they were prisoners of war! They were without arms, resistance was useless. They were escorted to the railway trucks; an engine-driver was found, and presently the two officers with their "bag" (two trains and eight prisoners) returned in triumph to Bethulie. Here their big-game hunting was vastly appreciated, as at this time, their engines having been left on the other side of the river, the capture of rolling stock was of tremendous importance. Soon after this, troops from Bloemfontein were sent off to occupy Springfontein. FOOTNOTES: [8] Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Coningham, 2nd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment, was born in 1851, and joined the army in 1872. His first appointment was to the 103rd Foot, afterwards the 2nd Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers, with which he served until 1891, when he was transferred as major to the Worcestershire Regiment. Colonel Coningham was an adjutant of Militia from 1889 to 1894. He also served in the Soudan with the Frontier Field Force in 1885-86. [9] Captain the Hon. Raymond Harvey Lodge Joseph de Montmorency, 21st Empress of India's Lancers, and commanding De Montmorency's Scouts in South Africa, was the eldest son of Viscount Frankfort de Montmorency, K.C.B. He was born on February 5, 1867, joined the army on September 14, 1887, as second lieutenant in the Lincolnshire Regiment, and was promoted to a lieutenancy in the 21st Lancers, November 6, 1889. In this rank he served in the campaign in the Soudan in 1898, and was present at the battle of Khartoum, and was awarded the Victoria Cross for the following service:--"At the battle of Khartoum on September 2, 1898, Lieutenant de Montmorency, after the charge of the 21st Lancers, returned to assist Second Lieutenant R. G. Grenfell, who was lying surrounded by a large body of Dervishes. Lieutenant de Montmorency drove the Dervishes off, and finding Lieutenant Grenfell dead, put the body on his horse, which then broke away. Captain Kenna and Corporal Swarbrich then came to his assistance, and enabled him to rejoin the regiment, which had begun to open a heavy fire on the enemy." Lieutenant de Montmorency, in addition to being mentioned in despatches and receiving the V.C., had also the British medal and Khedive's medal with clasp. He was promoted to captain August 2, 1899, having in the previous October been despatched on special service to South Africa, when he raised and commanded the special body of scouts whose gallant services have under him been so frequently referred to in connection with the operations in the neighbourhood of Stormberg and Dordrecht. [10] Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant F. H. Hoskier was a well-known Volunteer officer, who had brought the force which he commanded to a high state of military efficiency. He held a certificate for proficiency in several subjects, and had obtained special mention in examinations in tactics, besides having qualified as an interpreter. CHAPTER VII BLOEMFONTEIN UNDER BRITISH RULE The pastoral little town of brick and tin in the vast expanse of toasted grass had now become a centre of civilisation, one may almost say a fashionable rendezvous. There regiments multitudinous were congregated, and these helped to convert the sleepy, dozing capital into a miniature sphere of many dialects born of a common tongue. Human beings, the conquered and the conquerors, brushed shoulders in friendliness, bought and sold, listened to the bands playing the well-worn British airs in the market-place, and discoursed, under the ægis of the Union Jack, which fluttered from pinnacle and spire, of trade and prospects as though such things as big guns had never acted in place of handshakes, and such men as Steyn had never staked their all on the possibilities of a mirage. That potentate had betaken himself to Kroonstad, which, in new conditions, had also assumed a new aspect. It was now the capital of the Free Staters, and the seat of the polyglot army that was gathered together to consider the new face of affairs. A Norwegian attaché, who was with the strange horde, gave a description of the quaint dust-bound town and its still quainter inhabitants:-- "KROONSTAD, _March 16_. "Here prevails the most extraordinary life it has ever been my lot to witness. All hotels and private houses are filled to overflowing, whilst little laagers are spread everywhere in and outside the town. A wild stream of loose horses, mules, donkeys, and oxen, and little bodies of troops and solitary riders pour through the streets, broken by heavy ox-waggons and mule-carts driven by whips and shouts. All nationalities and all colours are present, and the most Babylonian babble of tongues resounds on all sides. Here are foreign military attachés, surgeons, nurses, regular and irregular Boer troops, volunteers of all arms, officers as well as privates, and besides a goodly lot which I can only stamp as 'freebooters,' for they do not belong to any fixed commando, but look upon the fighting as sport or chase. Frequently, however, among them I come across men of high culture and of first-class families, often fine handsome men with martial bearing, side by side with the worst scum of the earth. Many pass from one war to another. I have spoken with some who have gone through the Greek, Cuban, and Philippine wars. And what uniforms do these mercenaries wear? None at all, or, more correctly speaking, each one has invented his own! The only common badge is the bandolier across the shoulder and the slouch hat. Otherwise every one wears whatever clothes he may possess, only so that it is nothing new. Many of them who are well off have donned a fantastic costume--slouch hat, with waving ostrich feathers and gold lace, jacket edged with yellow, orange, and green bands, epaulettes with great gold tassels, white or gilt buttons, stripes on the trousers, top-boots with spurs, cockades in the hat and on the breast, and revolvers in the belt. At present the Boer troops are spread all over the place, mostly without any order or discipline. Most of them, particularly the Orange Boers, are sick of the war, and long to go home to their families and farms. Others have simply gone home after the Bloemfontein _débâcle_. In these circumstances Steyn considered it best to allow his men to go home for a few days, and call them together again when the great council of war at the end of the week had decided whether the war should be continued. Many thousands have thus gone home, with or without leave. Will they return? It seems a dangerous experiment." The fact was that gradually, very gradually, the eyes of the Boers were being opened, though they still tried to persuade themselves that Lord Roberts' presence in the capital of the Free State had no decisive effect on the game of war. They began to look anxiously towards the Continental Powers, who, they had been led to believe, were in sympathy with them, and to wonder when some intervention would save them from the doom they had brought on themselves. In one respect they were beginning to see clearly and to understand, that the great ideal of sweeping the British into the sea was a chimera, and that they must limit their aim to retaining their own freedom, the sole one that could be indulged in and clung to with any shadow of success. The Dutchmen still hoped against hope for victory, but their scorn for the British was fast dying a natural death. Our repeated fights, had they served no other purpose, succeeded in educating those who had dared to flout us, and after the capture of Cronje the effect of the somewhat brusque lesson was very conspicuous. Before the battle of Elandslaagte, a resident of Cape Town indulged in argument with an obstinate Boer in terms somewhat similar to these:-- "We are going to send 50,000 or 60,000 troops into the field." "They will be all shot!" he bragged. "We shall send another 50,000 or 60,000." "They, too, will all be shot!" he repeated. "We shall send more." "Almighty! am I to keep on shooting the Englishman all my life!" sighed the Dutchman, with his best air of braggadocio. Such bumptiousness was not confined to himself. All his compatriots started on the campaign with identical bombast, for they took their cue from the attitude of those Continental nations with which they had lately become associated. Our neighbours across the Channel had found it convenient to persuade themselves we were a decadent race, that the Old Country was played out and her children effete. As with the empires of Xerxes, Alexander, Augustus, so with that of Victoria, they said to themselves; and since the wish is father to the thought, the idea was rapidly propagated that Great Britain was fast becoming a second-rate Power. Almost the whole of Europe had indulged in objectionable comment on the subject of the campaign, and treated us to naked truths that, though unpalatable, were useful as an excellent opportunity to see ourselves as others see us, and correct a somewhat overweening passion for resting on British-grown laurels. But however good as a tonic the cosmopolitan criticism may have been, it was distinctly ill-timed and decidedly ungrateful. Our sneering foes should have patted us on the back, have applauded us. They might even have subscribed to help us to do the hard work of Europe, for, as the Norwegian showed, we were not fighting the Boer alone, but were attacking thousands of his mercenaries--the scum of Europe. We were scouring a veritable Augean stable. Ne'er-do-weels of every nationality were congregated under the Transvaal flag--vagabonds, for the most part, who had made their own country too hot to hold them, and who hoped by promoting a general upheaval to come down on their feet safely--somehow, somewhere! Fortunately Lord Roberts' masterly combinations had rapidly brought about a general disillusionment, and served to prove to our critical neighbours that our martial race--from officers to the most raw and fledgling "Tommies"--was the same race as of yore, "game for anything," even when the thing might range between and include shot and shell, sickness and starvation! The object-lesson was a grand one, and could not pass unrecognised. For us the sad part of it was that the flower of our country, the valiant sons of brave men and the noble descendants of kings, should have had to risk their lives against such a mob of adventurers and filibusters, creatures who were actuated by none of the finer and natural impulses of the Boers to secure their independence, but flung themselves into the fight merely because the spirit of ruffianism which had driven them from their native soils was too rampant to be appeased by any other exercise. But there is no achievement without sadness--no success without pain. Lives must ever be sacrificed to maintain any great nation's prestige, and now how much more noble seemed the sacrifice when it secured the prestige of a Power that had propagated equality and civilisation over the whole face of the world! [Illustration: THE BRITISH OCCUPATION OF BLOEMFONTEIN--AN EVENING CONCERT IN MARKET SQUARE BY THE PIPERS OF THE HIGHLAND BRIGADE. Drawing by A. Forestier.] The British once having put their hand to the plough, had stuck manfully to their work, not in hope of reward, but in the belief in the ministry of their great race. Beyond the minor considerations of franchise and political advantage, there had been greater and higher ends to be attained, and as the flag was fluttering over the capital of the Free State these great ends served to inspire and refresh those who almost fainted by the way. Where the British flag waved there was freedom, enlightenment, progress, evolution--there was emancipation from sin, injustice, and degradation; therefore at the cost of precious lives, and for no personal gain, the great end for which they toiled and suffered and died had to be achieved. Every ideal, whether merely human or bordering on the divine, demands enormous sacrifices from those who desire to realise it, and the spread of civilisation calls for its ministers and martyrs, and will continue to call for them so long as there are men of heroic mould who, regardless of personal cost, are ready to prize and protect a great and national cause. Only this reflection could serve to hearten and brace our warriors at the front, for, at this time, Lord Roberts' glorious position was far from a happy one. It was impossible to ignore the cost at which the prestige of his country and his splendid success was being secured. He found himself at Bloemfontein with the wreck of an army on his hands, with men dropping thick as flies from disease resulting from the terrible exhaustion of the march and from the insanitary conditions of the camp at Paardeberg. There the only water available for drinking purposes had flowed down from the Boer camp a mile and a half up the river, and was polluted by rotting carcases in various stages of decomposition, and, as a natural consequence of these conditions, Bloemfontein was suddenly filled with an appalling number of sick, some 2000 patients suffering from typhoid and enteric, in addition to a very considerable number of wounded at the fight at Driefontein. How to help the abnormal number of sufferers was a problem that taxed the medical authorities to the utmost, for it was impossible to meet the huge demand under the existing conditions. To improvise mere accommodation for so large an influx of sick within the narrow confines of Bloemfontein was a hard task in itself, and even the field-hospitals were inadequate, for owing to the rapidity of the march from the Modder no tents were carried with the force, and none were available until railway communication with Cape Colony could be restored. The Commander-in-Chief of this immense army in this dilemma had but a single narrow-gauge line of railway between himself and his base some 700 miles distant, and this line of rails was not yet available. The first duty was to utilise it for the bringing up of supplies sufficient to sustain the bare life of the healthy force, and prevent those who were sound from joining those who were already exhausted. Tents for the sick, nurses, doctors, hospitals were ordered up, but these could only arrive in their turn, and meanwhile the patients were distributed in all the public buildings, schools, &c. The town being small, this accommodation was meagre in the extreme, and quantities of the sick in the field hospitals had to place their blankets and waterproof sheets on the ground, and lie there huddled together in a condition that was grievous in the extreme. The mortality was tremendous, and the sufferings of those who were recovering were pitiable, but these things it was impossible to avert; they have belonged in all ages to the horror of war, and in other times were the natural and ordinary, and not, as in the present case, an abnormal consequence of an exceptional situation. * * * * * The relief of Ladysmith and Kimberley accomplished, Lord Roberts was able to adhere to the cherished Napoleonic maxim--an army should have but one line of operation, which should be carefully preserved, and abandoned only as the result of weightier considerations. This army was now being reorganised as one great whole, a task which involved gigantic labour and called for rare discrimination. But the marvellous tact, one might say magnetism, of Lord Roberts smoothed every difficulty, and the enthusiasm with which those who were brought into contact with the Commander-in-Chief alluded to him, was remarkable. An army chaplain, writing home, voiced the popular feelings for the one and only "Bobs":--"We are serving under the best and noblest man who ever led an army. You can have no conception of the passionate and devoted affection which Lord Roberts inspires in all ranks. It is not artifice, or adroitness, or dramatic power, but a simple overflowing of the milk of human kindness. Every one notices it; all remark it. The roughest and most cynical of the brave men out here cannot escape the fascination of his delightfully quiet and natural manner, his transparent unselfishness; and one sees in him the value in a born leader of men of a clear and musical voice, and eyes bright and piercing, yet full of kindness and benevolent sympathy. He is entirely without affectation, and takes care that the troops are fed, and not stinted of recreation whenever it can be found. Nothing pleases him more than to mix with the men when at play. And he is an example to all in his regular attendance at public worship and in resting on the Lord's Day. His staff take their 'tone' from him, and this is good for all who come into contact with that staff. I never met so active a man. At daybreak he is in the saddle, riding round the camp before he makes an informal inspection, without notice, of some portion of the lines. He shows no sign of failing strength or of impaired energy, and fatigue is a word not to be found in his vocabulary. I am told that the secret is frugal living and early to rest which keeps him in such excellent health. It is a privilege which all value very highly that they have had the good fortune to serve under our Field-Marshal." No such raptures were expended on the silent man of Egyptian fame who had made himself into the machinery of the tremendous movement, but how much his wonderful work was appreciated the following extract from the _Times_ serves to show:--"When Lord Roberts and his Chief of the Staff reached Cape Town, we had troops of all arms in South Africa, but we had no field-army, and until we had a field-army the enemy were to a great extent masters of the position. It is not easy to realise the abilities and the unwearying energy needed to convert all the scattered raw material we possessed in South Africa and the reinforcements daily arriving from all parts of the Empire into the coherent and mobile fighting machine now directed by the Commander-in-Chief. To Lord Kitchener under him belongs the credit of that remarkable achievement. He has not only marshalled the fragmentary units of the paper army corps into a workmanlike fighting force, but in a country without roads in a European sense, and with few and light railways, he has seen that they were fed and clothed and supplied with all the innumerable articles indispensable to their efficiency. If Lord Roberts has won the battles, Lord Kitchener has been the 'organiser of victory.'" The result of the combined methods of these two great soldiers was little short of marvellous, and when we look back to the days of Wellington, and compare the army of his day with the army at Bloemfontein, we can but wonder and admire and congratulate ourselves. For instance, the army at Bloemfontein, the victorious army, which had suffered exceedingly from the many annoyances of the Boers, comported themselves in their day of triumph with admirable reserve. Brave as the British warriors of old, they showed themselves men of finer stamp and higher discipline than the men who followed Wellington. We have the words of that great commander, to assure us that his force was almost incorrigible. He declared that his own troops at the beginning of the Peninsular war were "a rabble, who cannot bear success any more than Sir John Moore's army could bear failure." He also confessed, "I am endeavouring to tame them, but if I should not succeed, I must make an official complaint of them, and send one or two corps home in disgrace. They plunder in all directions." Things in Bloemfontein were very different. The victorious army under Lord Roberts walked in like the heroes they were, stopped their predatory instincts at a word, and paid their way and conducted themselves like gentlemen. Indeed the Free Staters lined their pockets almost too satisfactorily at the expense of their conquerors! Meanwhile the enemy conspired and plotted. On the 17th of March, at Kroonstad, a great council of war was held by the two Presidents, which was attended by a strange and mongrel community. Among the motley crew were some forty Boer leaders, De Wet, De Larey, Botha, and De Villebois-Mareuil (who was killed at Boshop later on). They were not goodly to look on, as uniform was non-existent, and clean shirts were luxuries that long since had been dispensed with. The action of the Boers, their strength and weakness, came under discussion, and all decided that they must fight to the bitter end. President Kruger offered up prayer, and petitioned the Almighty to give ear to the just claims of his people, while President Steyn, when his turn came, stuck to practical matters, discussed the situation, and declared that if the English thought that because they had captured the Free State capital they had won the battle they were self-deluded. He went on to say: "How should we now continue the war? Should we, as before, defend ourselves in fortified positions, or should we try a new method? I am no soldier," he continued, "but, according to my conviction, we ought no longer to occupy fortified positions, as the English have learned to manoeuvre us out of them without fighting, for which they invariably have plenty of men. Therefore, we ought only, as much as possible, to hamper the enemy's forward march, and, whilst threatening his rear and flank, attack him everywhere where there is a chance with small commandos without train. We must by this method proceed more offensively than hitherto, and before all turn upon his lines of communication." The President's scheme was much applauded and approved, after which De Larey began to complain of the state of the Boer army, the size and irregularity of the commandos, and the huge waggon laagers behind their positions, stating that owing to these being threatened by a manoeuvre of the British, the men were forced hurriedly to leave the ranks to look after the safety of the waggons. He attributed the Boers' flight at Poplar Grove entirely to anxiety regarding these waggons. He suggested in future fighting with small commandos without train, as he declared it impossible for the Boers to succeed in wielding big armies, because when the enemy attempted to surround or outflank them the Boers lost their heads. General Joubert proposed "that the so-called 'veldcornetschappen,' which are too large bodies to be led by one man, should be reduced to sections of twenty-five, with a corporal at the head. In the Transvaal this had already been initiated with very satisfactory results." This proposal was also adopted, with the proviso that "'veldcornets' who did not at once adopt it should be fined £10." The position of such a corporal is similar to that of a sergeant in Europe. Discussion later turned to the coalfields in Dundee, and to prevent them becoming of use to the British it was decided that they must be destroyed. General Botha, however, objected to this destruction, on the principle that the fields were not contraband of war, but private property. Thereupon President Steyn argued: "I am not of a destructive disposition, but this is necessary, and in accord with the law of nations. Does any one think that the English would let a vessel with coal for the Transvaal go by? If I had to blow up half the Orange Free State in order to secure the independence of my people I would do so." The great council then closed with the following appeal by President Steyn:----"I close the council in the hope that every officer realises the seriousness of the situation. It is a question of life or death to us, whether we shall remain an independent nation or become slaves. I do all that is in my power, and so does also my elder brother (Kruger). I am no soldier, but you officers are, and to you much is entrusted--the future of our country. Your reward will depend on your actions. Your task is a very difficult one. May God aid you! We are all mortal, but is there a more glorious death than to fall for your country and people at the head of your fellow-Burghers. May God help us! The position is indeed full of trouble, but when night is darkest dawn is nearest." These impassioned periods were highly effective, and the Burghers who were present forgot to ask themselves why the speaker had carefully insured himself against so glorious an exit from life by carefully taking to his heels whenever he was confronted by the British! Some Burghers evidently thinking that an ounce of example was worth a ton of precept, decided not to die gloriously, but to live at peace with all men inside their homes, and consequently turned their backs on their party and returned to their farms. A proclamation had been issued requiring Burghers residing within ten miles of the military headquarters and the town to deliver up all arms and ammunition by noon on the 18th, under penalty of being punished and having their goods confiscated, and by degrees, as a consequence of the proclamation, rifles in considerable quantities were handed in. On the other hand, a great many more modern weapons were surreptitiously disposed of, many of them being buried in order to be dug up as occasion might require, and obsolete firearms surrendered in their place. The work of pacification was going on apace at Springfontein, where the 1st Scots Guards, the 3rd Grenadier Guards, four Royal Artillery guns, and forty Mounted Infantry were now stationed, and at Bethulie, which place also had decided not to show fight. Sir Godfrey Lagden from Maseru now telegraphed to Lord Roberts stating that the residents of Wepener (a town at the extreme east of the Free State on the Basutoland border) wished to receive copies of the proclamation and had decided to lay down their arms, and it was stated that many more towns on the eastern fringe desired to follow suit. With marvellous celerity things began to shape themselves. The law courts resumed work. Mr. Papenfus, whose services as Landrost had been dispensed with, was replaced by Mr. Collins. A train service was speedily established between Bloemfontein and Cape Town, and the Bank of Africa and the National Bank of the Free State were permitted (subject to restriction) to continue business. Transactions with towns in the Transvaal and Free State still occupied by the enemy were not allowed. [Illustration: SIGNAL STATION AT BLOEMFONTEIN. On the left of the picture is the heliograph, and on the right a Begbie signal lamp, for use when there is no sun. (Photo by Reinhold Thiele.)] Naturally some of the best type of farmers in the vicinity who had surrendered were anxious for protection against attacks by Boers still in the field, and Lord Roberts, bearing this in mind, sent out columns to register names and take over arms, and give assurance that the necessary protection was forthcoming. During the end of March, General French, on this mission intent, was sent to Thabanchu (forty miles east of Bloemfontein), while a detachment from General Gatacre's headquarters had gone to Smithfield (some forty miles north of Aliwal North). General Clements operated in the same pacific way round the south-west skirts of Bloemfontein, while General Brabant "tackled" the only still aggressive force of the Boers in the southern part of the Free State. Commandant Olivier with a force of some 5000 men and sixteen guns was there, being pushed back inch by inch, it was hoped into the arms of General French, who was waiting with such horses as he could still muster at Thabanchu to pounce on him. Still, though slowly, the country was settling down, and the inhabitants were beginning to realise the advantage of bringing in supplies for sale. They, however, were "slim" at the core, and their slimness was responsible for some lamentable occurrences with which we shall have to deal anon. The telegraph was now restored as far as Reddersberg Railway, communication had been restored with Bethulie, and the railway at Norval's Pont had been completed. In south and west peace reigned. There were even signs that the Transvaalers were thinking of abandoning the defence of the Free State. Friction between the Federals was reported on all sides. Even Mr. Steyn and Mr. Kruger were scarcely at one. Mr. Steyn's last remark to the grand old man of Pretoria when they parted at Bloemfontein was, "Mind the British don't catch you, or you will get better quarters in St. Helena than I." Both Presidents were aware that the Commander-in-Chief was a person to be reckoned with, and that, if they wished to make a last wild effort, they must put their shoulder to the wheel. So on the 21st of March President Steyn and General Joubert went on a tour of inspection for the purpose of encouraging the troops. With them was a foreigner who described their movements. "The troops who are in laager at Venterburg, Roodstation, Zand River Bridge, and Smaldeel (Winburgroodstation), number only some 700 men, with a battery and six machine guns, all Transvaal Boers. The feeling was everywhere buoyant, and all were determined to hold out. To-day the Orange Boers begin to return after their leave. It looks as if they are recovering their breath after the Bloemfontein _débâcle_, and if the English wait much before they advance, the men will have time to reorganise themselves. Colonel De Villebois-Mareuil is now occupied with the scheme of organising a flying column of foreigners, to be called the 'European Corps,' of 600 men, two guns, and a waggon with dynamite and tools, with which he intends to operate on the English lines of communication, if possible in conjunction with Major Stenekamp, who has collected some 2000 men to the west, who are furnished with ammunition, stores, and money by General du Toit at Fourteen Streams. The English have indeed lost much valuable time; the next few weeks should show if the Boers have understood to take advantage of it. But there seems to be too little plan and too little organisation among them." The loss of time was deplored on all hands, but Lord Roberts, rather than do things imperfectly, was content to wait. There was no use in attempting to hammer at the demoralised Boers till, rail, horses, and constitutions being in working order, his tools should be equal to the task required of them. But the Chief, though stationary, was not allowing the grass to grow under his feet. It must be remembered that prior to his entry into Bloemfontein he had been marching and fighting for a month away from the railway, and that his primary duties had been, first, to capture and secure the railroad; second, to repair it and get it, together with bridges, &c., in working order; and thirdly, to shift his base from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth, a distance of 750 miles, by a single line of rails with a rise of 4500 feet. Much time had also been spent in defeating detached forces of the enemy which threatened his communications with Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, and blocked them from East London. The question of horses, too, was a most important one, one which could not be settled without much delay, because, do what it might, the Government could scarcely send them off with sufficient haste to meet the demand. During the first four months of the new year there had been shipped, as remounts, in addition to those sent with the troops, 27,041 horses and 17,143 mules. A further supply was expected in May, consisting of 7500 horses and 4500 mules, and after that date another batch of 7500 horses and 20,000 mules was to be forwarded. The total of remounts bought since the opening of 1900 was about 42,000 horses and 23,000 mules! But, until the steady flow of these into the country commenced, the great final move could not be more than planned out. [Illustration: STRATHCONA'S HORSE. Photo by Pittaway, Ottawa.] The art of battle had resolved itself into a question of pace. The Boers had taught us that to be successful we must be slim, swift, and sudden. Lord Roberts decided that there must be no breathing-time, that their cunning commandos must not be permitted to collect, and that mounted troops must be met by mounted troops. It began to be evident that the army of the future would need to gallop--machine guns with the Horse Artillery, Royal Engineers with the cavalry, while guns of position and traction engines would have to follow a corresponding process of activity! With flying cavalry and mounted infantry must also go flying engineers, ready to take their share in schemes of scientific demolition, effective destruction of lines and culverts and bridges, which cannot be remedied under the loss of days--days which will mean the success or the failure of the enterprise in hand. In fact, hereafter a vast and wonderful military dictionary will be comprised in the word "mobility." To the ordinary mind the question of mobility resolves itself into a mere matter of mounted men. It is almost impossible to follow the extraordinary ramifications strategically and tactically connected with the term. To increase the mobility of the army--the problem which had to be faced by Lord Roberts on his arrival at the Cape and again at Bloemfontein--it was, above all things, imperative to have quicker moving transport; strategically, a leader would be hand-tied without it. After this it was necessary to provide for perpetual relays of mounts for the cavalry with far less weight on the saddle, and to feed up the infantry, and thus restore to the men their mental and muscular elasticity. Tactical mobility was dependent on these considerations, and they had to be faced equally with the great difficulty of how to deal with the daily increasing number of sick. The Boers had been given too much breathing-time at first, and the delay had to be made up for by the hurried and costly swoop on Cronje, which turned the tide of British fortune. It was now important that another rush should be made--a rush without the "intervals for refreshments" which had served the Boers so conveniently, and enabled their recuperative courage to assert itself--and to organise this a somewhat long halt was obligatory. The Chief now intended to make the capital the advanced base for the invasion of the Transvaal, and decided to attempt no further move till sixty days' supplies should have arrived from the Cape. The heterogeneous units of Imperial and Colonial troops now called for redistribution. Gaps had to be filled in and "inefficients" weeded out. General Warren was put into civil charge of Griqualand West; General Nicholson was given charge of the transport--a thankless and onerous post; General Chermside took over the Third Division from General Gatacre; General Hunter was drawn with Barton's Brigade from Natal to the Free State side; Generals Pole-Carew and Rundle got Divisions; and General Ian Hamilton was appointed to the command of a Division of Mounted Infantry, 11,000 men in all, composed of two Brigades, each of four corps, with batteries of artillery attached. The remounting of the cavalry and Mounted Infantry was an undertaking needing time and help from all parts of the British world. Activities were not all serious, however. Bloemfontein boasted a newspaper. It was styled the _Friend of the Free State_. Before many days were over it had changed hands, and had become the perquisite of the war correspondents. It was now run on Imperial lines, and formed the organ of official communications during the military occupation of the capital. But for that reason it did not lose the sense of humour with which the freelances of the press--Rudyard Kipling among them--were bubbling. A specimen of the jocosity of our exuberant scribes serves as a memento of a wonderful period. "STINKOSSMULEFONTEIN" THE DESCRIPTIVE ART We have often felt that the gallant members of Lord Roberts' force, although themselves daily engaged in doing deeds which will live in history, yet have to exercise a vast amount of patience before they can read for themselves the brilliant, graphic, and wonderful accounts of their doings sent home by the war correspondents attached to the force. England is three weeks away, and it is a long time for the gallant soldier to wait to see his name in all the glory of leaded type. With the usual enterprise of the _Friend_, we have--we will not say how--managed to see and copy the telegrams sent home by the leading correspondents describing the action at Stinkossmulefontein Kopje. It was not, it is true, a very big engagement, for two companies of Mounted Infantry were sent to see if there were any Boers in the said kopje. They found them there--in the usual manner--one man wounded and six horses--and then retired to report the fact. That is the bare solid truth of the whole thing; now for the correspondents' accounts:-- _Times_ (London):--Human element in what commonly supposed be machine, namely, two companies Mounted Infantry to-day severely tried. To put to-day's action form algebraic equation situation briefly this Boers keen-eyed, rugged held kopje (forget name kopje but know stink and fontein in it but see Reuter) sitting behind boulders, while other portion equation represented two companies Mounted Infantry (don't know commander or regiment see Reuter) is possible work whole thing algebraically Boer on kopje equal ten Mounted Infantry advancing along level plain therefore fifty boers on kopje more than match for two hundred Mounted Infantry advancing across plain whole thing followed mathematical sequence Mounted Infantry returned from kopje having tried solve impossible equation. _Daily Telegraph_ (London):--Early morning while camp asleep rose prepared my coffee saddled horse left camp each side lay poor wearied soldiers fast asleep dreaming doubtless home mothers wives sweethearts some tossed uneasily hard veldt moon shone pouring paling with silver light features [please insert here one my night-before-battle scenes No. 4] but I could not help feeling Army doing wrong sleep knew enemy front determined myself go forward find out position enemy passed outlying picket told officer keep good look out as knew enemy front officer answer and actually wished prevent me passing picket but when told him my name allowed pass sun now rising glorious [insert sunrise scene No. 2] moved cautiously forward saw near distance kopje approached near suddenly whole kopje burst forth into flame of flashes bullets whizzed past but I remained still counting carefully each flash till I found out exactly number Boers then putting spurs galloped back full speed flying past picket sentries horse lines arrived myself and horse breathless Field Marshal's cart dismounted saluted told him I had discovered fifty enemy in position four miles on. Field marshal drinking coffee said thank you continued eating breakfast I then developed to him my plan campaign drew statement correct map. Field marshal continued breakfast again said thank you I left him field marshal following my plan ordered two companies Mounted Infantry reconnoitre position which did with loss one man six horses wounded [insert famous "Vulture Scene"]. _Daily News_ (London):--Again British arms successfully came contact enemy locating position number with great exactness early morning two companies mounted infantry under Major Jones pushed just as sun tinging kopjes with ruby light saw kopje front which from indications appeared be held enemy opening into skirmishing order small force advanced till within rifle range when enemy opened heavy fire Major Jones having found what he wanted immediately ordered retirement of force without replying to enemys fire our loss man wounded six horses enemys loss unknown but must be enormous value of horses wounded about £150. _Cape Times_ (Capetown):--Morning opened with soft breezes from north just sufficient to shake mimosa bushes into sweet rustling music when I rose rode forward fully sure that I should see something and I did for before we rode forward two gallant companies of Mounted Infantry having, it is true, none of the shining pomp war for every button, every shining bit of steel or metal covered with kharki still little force looked gallant enough reminded me one James Grant's novels. Veldt was green with recent rains there was a freshness in the air everything was peaceful around me but in front was war and wounds and death. I stood on rising ground and saw before me a panorama unfolded the little band of British soldiers approaching the grim kopje where lay the watchful Boer. Closer and closer rode our men and now I could see them open out and work like a perfect machine round the bases of the kopje and then across the still morning air came the ominous crack! which told me that the grim game had commenced crack! crack! crack! followed in quick succession the Boers were firing on our men whose orders were simply to feel for the enemy, but they not only felt for him, but also felt him for as we retired one man was wounded in the fleshy part of the arm, and through six horses Boer bullets passed though without fatal effects. And then I rode back with the little force who in spite of the shower of lead which had passed through their ranks laughed and chaffed and thought only of their coming breakfast. _Cape Argus_ (Capetown):--Early this morning two companies Mounted Infantry under Major Jones proceeded west came into touch with enemy at Stinkossmulefontein Kopje which lies on farm belonging old Pete Bumbleknuckel who well known Rand circles his daughter married Jacobus Pimplewinkel who lost an eye fighting in the Langberg Campaign his cousin maternal side is Jack Jackson who is one of General Brabant's most active Scouts. But to return to the skirmish the mounted infantry succeeded in locating the enemy retired having effected their object with the loss of one man and six horses wounded on way back I met native who told me commander Boer force Lucus Prussic old personal friend mine who curious to relate still owes me five pounds which borrowed just before I left Johannesburg. _Daily Mail_ (London):--Shakespeare said better lie bed than go fighting early morning. I agree but Plutarch said man who lies abed when work abroad moral coward am not moral coward but all same wish people fight decent hours fancy going out fighting cold raw morning nothing in stomach but one miserable cup cocoa however went being late lost my way instead witnessing fight British side found myself next Boer who not perceive me firing over our men by happy interposition Providence managed reach our men leaving behind enemy's hand one horse Cape cart pipe lucky get off with life insensibly reminded celebrated lines Heine "wo ist mein pferd und mein kaap-tart?" no breakfast when arrived camp kept thinking how Boers enjoying my sausages drinking my whisky Boers must be destroyed now, with spirit old Roman I now say "delendi sunt Boeri" though I have greater reason for saying so since Hannibal's soldiers never stole sausages and whisky from Roman correspondents. _Morning Post_ (London):--Stinkossmulefontein mounted Jones reconnoitred kopje half dismounted half rear enemy fired returned front. Experience say half gone left flank greater success turning movement only against Boers see Page 431 Napoleonic Legends also Life Moltke Page 239 Battle Schweitzerkässe. Had Jones read more Schweitzerkässe--no Moltke--would capture whole army waggons. Paper should impress importance this all arms. _Reuter_ (London):--Stinkossmulefontein Thursday via Disselboomlaagte per despatch riders--Yesterday two companies Mounted Infantry Major Jones under orders General Flanker proceeded reconnoitre kopje was present what some may call unimportant rearguard action can say was most important event entire expedition at distance 2033.4216 yards enemy opened fire. Jones dismounted A company, B company sent E.N.E. by E. direction rear enemy. At 6.3½ a.m. front rank left section A after returned fire 6.4¼ a.m. Trooper Metford, fourth man rear rank right section A received wound four inches below left elbow. Having ascertained strength enemy force returned camp object reconnaissance accomplished six horses missing five receiving wounds sixth left behind with staggers not shot as some declare. Every one exerted himself to make the newspaper a success, and, as may be imagined, the journal became a source of merriment and delight. Nor was it without pathos. Mr. Rudyard Kipling, whose patriotic feeling had dragged him to the scene of action to view the British flag as erected there by Mr. Thomas Atkins, contributed his quota. On the death of Mr. G. W. Steevens, the brilliant young war correspondent, who died in Ladysmith, he wrote the following lines:-- "Through war and pestilence, red siege and fire, Silent and self-contained, he drew his breath. Brave not for show of courage, his desire: Truth as he saw it, even to the death." The Naval Brigade was now busy furbishing itself up, and veritably began to look as "fresh as paint." The guns received new coats, and the Bluejackets and marines made themselves spick and span. It is not often that Tommy waxes enthusiastic over Jack, but over the conduct of the Naval Brigade he was even eloquent. One writing home said:--"It was a good job the Boers did not make a stand at Bloemfontein, for it would have been a great pity to have had to destroy so fine a town. It would not have taken us long to have made the town a heap of stones, as in addition to our ordinary batteries, we had with us 'Joe Chamberlain' and five of his 'chums' belonging to the Naval Brigade. I hope when the war is over you at home will not forget the splendid service of the Naval men. I for one shall never forget the way in which they dragged their heavy guns across a most difficult country, or the manner in which they handled them in the face of the enemy." On the 21st the Brigade, under Captain Bearcroft, was inspected by Lord Roberts, who made one of the charming and appropriate speeches which have always rendered him so popular. He thanked the Brigade for the excellent work done in the campaign, and wished good luck to those about to rejoin their ship. The Chief also eulogised the splendid service of Captain Lambton and his men in saving the situation at Ladysmith. Meanwhile on the east and south of the Free State things were not entirely comfortable. Commandant Olivier and his hordes, with their usual cunning, assisted by their remarkable mobility, were flitting about, now withdrawing before General Brabant, now evading the equally cunning and active French, now laying in wait for unprotected detachments, or hanging about railway lines in order to wreck them, but making themselves scarce with lightning velocity when a hint of British reinforcements was given by the appearance of a dust-cloud on the horizon. Fortunately our officers on the principal line of communications were so vigilant and cautious that the rail, running through some hundred miles of hostile ground, was safely protected. On the 23rd of March an unlucky incident took place in the neighbourhood of Karee Siding. Some officers of the Guards Brigade rode off from Glen Camp in the early morning to make arrangements with the local farmers for ensuring forage and supplies. Glen Siding is a station on the Orange Free State Railway some fourteen miles north of Bloemfontein. Near here the Brigade of Guards and a force of Mounted Infantry had been stationed owing to the destruction by the Boers of a bridge on the Modder. Other troops were posted at intervals along the line of rail in order to watch over the enemy and prevent any further efforts at dynamite wrecking. On this day the party consisted of Colonel Crabbe, 3rd Grenadiers (who greatly distinguished himself in the battle of Belmont, and was wounded); Colonel Codrington, Coldstreams; Adjutant Hon. E. Lygon, who was also wounded at Belmont; Captain Trotter, and an orderly, Private Turner of the 1st Cape Volunteers. Why, when officers of high rank were so extremely valuable, these two Colonels should have thus recklessly exposed themselves has never been satisfactorily explained. The day was spent in making a tour of the farms, and everything went well until the middle of the afternoon. While riding along close to a homestead called Maas Farm, the Guards party discovered that four mounted men were making for a kopje as though to head them off. Whereupon the party instantly advanced to meet the enemy. These promptly hid themselves behind the friendly boulders, where they were joined by three other Dutchmen, who assisted them in pouring a smart shower of lead upon the approaching officers. These, with only four Lee-Metfords between them, made an effort to get at the unseen enemy, but in a very few moments all the members of the British band had dropped. Colonel Crabbe had a bullet through arm and leg, and his horse was killed. Colonel Codrington was injured in the thigh. Lieutenant Lygon was shot through the heart and died instantaneously, while Captain Trotter and Private Turner were also wounded. The situation was a lamentable one. The veldt was strewn with helpless men, while from the kopje the Dutchmen continued to fire, the flute-like song of the Mauser falling ominously on the ears of the gallant men who were unable to move a limb in defence. Then between the prostrate Colonels a debate took place. Now that resistance was useless, each invited the other to display a white handkerchief. One refused because he declared he couldn't--his handkerchief was a crimson one. The other refused because he vowed he wouldn't--his handkerchief was a British one, and never manufactured for waving at Boers. But, finally, he was brought to reason, and immediately on the display of the magic square the Boers ceased fire. They now emerged from their boulders, tended the wounded, spoke apologetically of their good marksmanship, and finally carried off their prizes to the neighbouring farm. Here the prisoners were fed and carefully looked after till evening. A messenger was sent to the Guards' Camp at Glen requesting surgeons and an ambulance to remove the wounded to their headquarters, and on the arrival of the medical party the officers were given up by their captors and allowed to return to camp in their charge. They were relieved of their warlike belongings, firearms, and glasses, &c., but their private effects remained in their pockets undisturbed. The body of the Hon. E. Lygon was also removed, but the next day, in accordance with the wishes of his family, it was interred in the wild and lonely spot where he met his death. On the 27th of March Sir Alfred Milner arrived at Bloemfontein on a private visit, and was met by Lord Roberts and his Staff. General French returned from Thabanchu after having occupied the town and captured the flour-mills. Lord Kitchener also reappeared. His operations had been short and to the point. He came on the same day from Prieska, having received the submission of some 200 rebels, and put to flight such of them as had no taste for an encounter with "the man of ice and iron" as the Italians called the hero of Omdurman. Towards Ladybrand news was less satisfactory. The British loyalists, owing to their sympathy with their fellow-countrymen, were subjected to annoyance and cruelty. Many of them were captured, imprisoned, and some were sent to Kroonstad, which had been declared to be the capital of the Free State. Daily, English farmers were commandeered, robbed, threatened. The smart activities of Olivier had produced a lamentable effect on the state of affairs, as it was now impossible to afford full protection to the farmers in the south-east and east who had surrendered their rifles, and who were subjected to the vengeful barbarity of the Boers. The mistaken policy of leniency to the Free Staters was now being demonstrated, the "live and let live" principle having helped Olivier to gather together under his banner such of the enemy as had met us with a Janus-faced surrender. Those who fight and run away, live to fight another day; and on this cautious code the Free Staters had modelled their manners, so as to reserve themselves for further truculent exploits. Again British magnanimity was mistaken for weakness, and the temporary success of their manoeuvres in the east was causing the Boers to indulge in reprisals of abominable kind on British born people, whose action in surrendering was the only possible one in the circumstances. A rumour existed that the late President Steyn had issued orders that all British burghers refusing to fight with the Boer army would be shot. On the 27th of March a formidable figure was removed from the drama in South Africa. General Joubert, who had long been in somewhat delicate health (so much so that in his campaigns he was accompanied by his wife, who cooked for him), now suddenly succumbed to an acute attack of inflammation of the kidneys. General Joubert was much esteemed by all who knew him. In him the Boers lost not only a remarkable commander, but an enlightened and level-headed politician. It was declared that had the General succeeded to the Presidency in 1895, the whole Uitlander agitation would have ceased to exist. The deceased Dutchman had moderately progressive views, and he announced his belief that the demand for a five years' franchise was a reasonable one. He also discountenanced the idea of war, and in many ways used the influence he had with his countrymen in the cause of reason and liberality of outlook. At times he seemed to desire friendly co-operation with Great Britain. For this cause he was accused by his more narrow countrymen of being half-hearted in the Africander cause, and was intrigued against by Mr. Kruger and such of the subsidised sympathisers as the President could gather around him. Still his attitude may be gauged by his famous speech in 1878:-- "I have been to England, and have with my own eyes seen the might of that mighty nation. And let me tell you that England is a very mighty nation--in my opinion the mightiest in the world. But, thank God, it is not almighty." And his motto, which he invented for himself, was, "Trust in God, and fight England." On hearing the news of General Joubert's death, Lord Roberts sent the following to President Kruger:-- "I have just received the news of General Joubert's death, and desire at once to offer my sincere condolence to your Honour and the burghers of the South African Republic on the sad event. "I would ask you to convey to General Joubert's family the expression of my most respectful sympathy in their sad bereavement, and to assure them also from me that all ranks of her Majesty's forces serving in South Africa share my feeling of deep regret at the sudden and untimely end of so distinguished a general, who devoted his life to the service of his country, and whose personal gallantry was only surpassed by his humane conduct and chivalrous bearing under all circumstances." On the afternoon of the 29th the funeral took place, and many wreaths were sent by the British officers in the Pretoria prison. THE BATTLE OF KARREE Karree Station is situated some seventy miles north of Bloemfontein, and here the Dutchmen were distributed on kopjes commanding the railway west and north. As they promised to be an impediment to further progress, Lord Roberts decided that they must be removed. Generals Tucker, Wavell, and Chermside, with infantry and artillery, were already in the vicinity. To join them General French started from Bloemfontein with reinforcements on the 28th of March. These consisted of a Cavalry Brigade composed of 12th Lancers, the Carabineers, the Greys, the Australian Horse, a Mounted Infantry Brigade, Kitchener's Horse, and three Vickers-Maxim guns under Colonel Le Gallais. [Illustration: Mr M. T. STEYN. LATE PRESIDENT ORANGE FREE STATE. From "South Africa" by permission of the Publishers.] The artillery planted their shells with admirable exactness on the kopjes west of Karree where the enemy had ensconced himself. Meanwhile, in a wonderful and almost invisible manner, an enveloping movement was organised, Colonel Le Gallais, the Mounted Infantry, and Kitchener's Horse operating on the right wing, while General French with 1st and 3rd Cavalry Brigades were on the left. General Chermside's Brigade was on the right centre, and General Wavell's on the left centre. About midday the enemy was discovered near a farmhouse some two miles east of Karree. The Dutchmen then began to fire from some small kopjes, on the infantry. From this point they were routed by the smart action of the Norfolks, but they continually reappeared, there being some five thousand of them, under Grobler, occupying four different positions, with a frontage some three miles long. Both ends of the position were strengthened by trenches and guns. The right flank consisted of a thickly wooded hill connected with the main position by a ridge also covered with scrub. The left was protected by an incrustation of minor kopjes, and round these fastnesses the Boers clung tenaciously. The finest performance of the day was that of the East Lancashires, who, with comparatively small loss, eventually succeeded in moving the enemy from his main stronghold. The City Imperial Volunteers also distinguished themselves, the men advancing the first time under fire with the utmost coolness. While the enemy were retreating from the assault of the Lancashires General French's guns opened on them, and with such good result that the fight was practically at an end, for the Boers having begun to beat a retreat were forced finally to scuttle off as fast as legs would carry them. Till sunset the artillery continued to direct deadly attentions to the various kopjes, thus deciding the Dutchmen that their efforts to run and return would be of no avail. Dusk was setting in, and consequently the cavalry failed to pursue them, and they succeeded once more in getting away clear. Owing to the rapidity with which the night came on, most of the troops, who had experienced some very trying hours of fighting, bivouacked where they were. The battery on the right centre was unable to come into action owing to the nature of the ground, which was sliced with ravines and blotched with irregularities, but nevertheless the upshot of the day's work was satisfactory, as the country as far as the little town of Brandfort--important to us in our future operations--was swept clear of the enemy, and henceforth the British outposts covered the ground gained and preserved it from further incursions of the nimble Dutchmen. The casualties were numerous:-- King's Own Scottish Borderers.--_Killed._--Capt. A. C. Going. _Wounded._--Lieut. E. M. Young, dangerously (since dead); Second Lieut. B. J. Coulson; Capt. W. D. Sellar. Norfolk Regiment.--Capt. E. Peebles; Capt. A. H. Luard. Lincolnshire Regiment.--Capt. L. Edwards. South Wales Borderers.--Lieut. W. C. Curgenven. Hampshire Regiment.--Lieut. C. N. French. 1st Dragoon Guards.--Capt. W. M. Marter (Brigade Major). CHAPTER VIII MAFEKING IN MARCH Five months of beleaguerment and no nearer the end! Ruefully the caged crowd began to draw pictures of themselves as weird Rip Van Winkles, curious fossilised things that would some day be unearthed by the inquiring historian. They wondered whether Ginevra in her sealed oaken chest felt more lost to the world, more forgotten, more impossible of rescue! "We," said some one who shall be nameless, "we are all modern Ginevras--only no one seems to look for us, and, by-and-by, perhaps no one will even mourn. It is five months, you see! Ginevra was probably asphyxiated in five hours, whereas we--we do the thing more sluggishly--more painfully--we starve mentally and physically by slow degrees. If we get air, it is air that is best not respired." Nevertheless, these people sent forth to the world radiant accounts of their doings, and sported the mask of Punchinello over the visage of Melpomene. It was very British, this jocose unreserve that was a still more tragic reserve, this festivity on the lips with famine gnawing at the vitals. Fever, the fever of heat, ennui, and mental and bodily depression, had begun to assail the unfortunate besieged. The climate of Mafeking--in ordinary circumstances most inspiriting--was becoming tainted, and the feeling of creeping malaria swept over all who were forced to remain cooped within the sorry regions. But the chief on whose wits the whole community depended defied the malign influence of his surroundings. During the day, with reserved, adamantine calm, he busied himself inventing the thousand and one projects by which might be defeated any possible move of the enemy, in reviving the spirits of his followers, and providing for their appetites, in fighting against the encroachments of disease and retaining the perfect discipline, which was no easy matter in so small a radius with so many conflicting emotions to be dealt with. At night, stealthy as a cat, he would creep forth to make the necessary investigations and acquaint himself with the state of the force opposing him, and if possible discover the Boer machinations of the future. Creeping along the veldt all eyes and ears, he gathered inspiration from a glimmer, the sound of a hoof, the flutter of bird and rustle of bush. Even the colour of the darkness in east and west gave him unspoken hints of designs nefarious--secrets or prophetic warnings of movements to be. And then he would return from his mysterious peregrinations primed with notions ingenious and plans elaborate, and remain for the day under the roof of the verandah of the headquarters office concocting some of the multitudinous schemes which confounded the Boers and frustrated their best efforts at assault. On the 3rd of March a little peace was secured owing to the disappearance of the Teuton who worked the huge gun. He had been what was described as "providentially potted." On the other hand a more valuable life than that of the German mercenary had been sacrificed, for Sergeant-Major Taylor of the Cape Boys, who had been doing splendid work for his country, fell early in the morning mortally wounded. The Boers fired something under forty shells before breakfast, and might have pursued their activities the whole day had the loss of their chief gunner not damped their ardour and forced them to postpone their activities to a more convenient period. They nevertheless "sniped" at intervals throughout the following Sunday, doubtless with the righteous desire to avenge their artillery-man. New brooms sweep clean. As a fresh gunner had come upon the scene, there now began some more active bombardment. But the activity was no longer what it had been, and but for the meagreness of the fare, and the fear that the rations might diminish till they became invisible, the besieged would have got on fairly well. On the 7th there died an adventurous Scotsman whose history would have delighted the heart of the late Robert Louis Stevenson. Major Baillie in his sparkling account of the siege gave a brief outline of his romantic career. "Trooper M'Donald joined the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in 1847, served in the Crimea (French and Sardinian medals and two clasps) and in the Indian Mutiny, was kidnapped when embarking home by Americans, fought for the North against the South, deserted the North and fought for the South, afterwards went to Australia, thence to New Zealand, and served in the Maori War, in which he was taken prisoner. Later he came to South Africa, served in the Basuto War with Sir Charles Warren's expedition, Carrington's Horse, the Bechuanaland Border Police, and transferred to the Cape Police, in which corps he has died of hardships and old age, fighting the Boers." The Major went on to say: "He is not the only Crimean veteran we have here. Both the Navy and Army are represented. Mr. Ellis joined the Royal Navy in 1854, served in the Baltic and the Black Sea, came to Africa and served in the Galika War. Mr. Brasier served in the Crimea and the Mutiny, and there are others of whose records of service I am not so certain. The contrast between them and the cadet corps, utilised for orderly work, &c., is remarkable, and if the Boers have their greybeards and boys fighting, why so have we." The cadet corps was composed of youths ranging from the ages of ten to fifteen years, game little fellows who did their duty splendidly. The great news of the capture of Cronje and his horde now served to raise the drooping spirits of the community. It was also reported that Snyman was on the move, and that Malan, who was opposing Colonel Plumer, had come into the neighbourhood of Mafeking. Sounds of rejoicing came from the Boer camp, and on the following day Boers with their field kit were seen to be clearing off. The information that the force was marching to Bloemfontein, that Cape Colony was being swept of rebels, that Ladysmith was relieved, now poured in, and caused the whole place to become simply inebriated with joy. On the 9th of March, to commemorate the victory at Paardeberg, a special siege slip was published at the newspaper office. The news was announced in the form of a poster, and concluded with the effectively printed information: "Cronje a prisoner. Snyman to be hanged." Copies were afterwards liberally pelted into the Boer quarter, who digested the news with their morning biltong. On the 11th (Sunday) a truce was observed. The Colonel, writing at that date, said:-- "Our men, sitting upon the parapets, held a friendly conversation with a detachment of the enemy, and an enterprising photographer endeavoured to get them into line while he photographed them, but they were evidently suspicious, and feared the temptation to turn a Maxim upon them instead of a camera would prove too great. Small parties appeared throughout the day, and amicable relations were maintained until dark." The Boers outside were a hardy and stalwart lot, brawny and uncouth and unkempt, though from a distance not unpicturesque. In their rough-and-tumble attire no two were alike. Some were slouching in velveteen coats and soft felt hats, others in black jackets with "billycocks," and all with the inevitable well-worn neckerchief that some one suggested might "come in handy for turtle soup." Their bandoliers and their Martini and Mauser rifles gave them a certain uniformity of aspect, but otherwise they seemed the most motley gang that the hands of fate could have shuffled together. Some of the Boers did not approve of the camera, and were inclined to suspect the British of attempting dodges equal to their own, but others took a pride in being portrayed. A remarkable, almost a pathetic, feature of Mafeking fighting was the strange ability of both sides to fraternise when hostilities were suspended. The fact was that the combatants were linked together by ties of relationship so mysteriously interwoven that the fights partook of the nature of civil war--brothers and cousins-in-law, and, in one case, two brothers, contending on either side of the battlefield. Naturally, when the bloody business of their lives was ended, they were inclined to foregather, to compare losses and make kindly inquiries strangely inconsistent with the trend of their antagonistic pursuits. The Colonel further reported:-- "Sergeant Currie has been promoted to the rank of a commissioned officer. He has thus risen by gallantry and hard work from a third-class private to be a lieutenant within five months. Early on Monday morning (12th) the enemy recommenced the bombardment with their six-inch gun, which had been comparatively silent the previous week, now firing shrapnel. Used against troops in the open the fire of these projectiles is ineffectual as long as cover can be obtained, but they are more dangerous to persons passing to the front from the streets of the town. A detachment of Colonial native troops, under Lieutenant Mackenzie, made an advance on Jackal Tree Fort, the position originally occupied by the siege gun on the south-western heights. The Boers got wind of the movement, and evacuated the position before it could be carried through. To cover the advance on Jackal Tree Fort, a detachment of Baralong natives were despatched to make a feint attack on Fort Snyman, a new work recently erected by the Boers, and threatening the most advanced western position. They succeeded in creeping to within thirty yards of the enemy, many of whom were sleeping outside, and when near the fort poured in two or three rapid volleys. Trooper Webb got sufficiently close to the fort to blow out the brains of one of the enemy. The natives then beat a rapid retreat, in accordance with instructions previously given to them, having inflicted some losses upon the enemy. In the brickfields the Cape Boys were reinforced by a detachment of Protectorate troops under Captain Fitzclarence." All were much perturbed at the sad news of the death of the genial young trooper, Webb of the Cape Police, who was shot through the head while on guard in the brickfields. This gallant fellow had been previously wounded in October, and had been carried off under fire by Trooper Stevens, and had only just returned to duty when he lost his life--possibly in revenge for the act described above. According to Colonel Baden-Powell's despatch of this date, a raiding party of Baralongs, who had gone out on their own initiative, encountered a patrol of the enemy, and opened fire upon them, killing one man, whose rifle and bandolier they secured. The enemy retired for reinforcements, but the Baralongs ambushed these reinforcements from a convenient ditch at Madibi Siding, and the enemy fell back in confusion, losing six men. The Baralongs, being unable to cope with long-range fire, then commenced to retire on Mafeking, having captured two horses with saddles and bridles. Finding the Boers were in pursuit, and fearing the arrival of reinforcements from the investing forces, however, they returned to a kopje in the vicinity of Madibi. Here they maintained their position until dark, and then made good their retreat into the stadt, having lost one killed and bringing in a few wounded. Three of the party were missing. It was impossible to prevent the Baralongs from retaliating by raids of this description upon those whom they called the murderers of their women and children. Mr. C. G. Bell, however, rendered invaluable service in dealing with the natives, and a board was appointed by the Colonel commanding to go thoroughly into the native question. The Colonel described the effects of the bombardment on the following day:-- "On Tuesday a shrapnel shell, bursting just about my bomb-proof, sprinkled the wall of the fire brigade office with bullets, which entered the bedrooms of Dixon's Hotel. These were unoccupied, but afterwards a steel-plated shell passed through the wall of the office, and when spent fell beneath the table, and was scrambled for by the staff of clerks. In the afternoon a shell, bursting in the court-house, killed two natives and wounded four, slightly injuring another. All these belonged to an unfortunate working party who happened to be passing at the moment. A woman was also slightly wounded." The conduct of the Boers towards the natives varied according to the policy of the commandant engaged in subduing Mafeking. A Scottish farmer who remained some ten miles south of the heroic hamlet, said that in the beginning of the war the Boers were not so severe on the natives as they were later on. About Christmas-time natives began to come out of Mafeking and loot cattle to take back into the town. Then the Boers were ordered to give no quarter to natives. If this order had had reference to those found looting cattle, it would only have been according to the rules of warfare, but the Boers were told to shoot down any strange native found in the veldt without a pass from their people; and this was done in a very large number of cases, their bodies being left to rot on the veldt as if they were dogs. In some cases they had come out of Mafeking, which need hardly be wondered at, in view of the scarcity of food amongst the natives there. Considering the risk run, it was wonderful how natives could be found willing to creep through the Boer lines with despatches; but the natives are certainly anything but cowards. Towards the middle of March the attitude of the Boers towards the natives improved, and they began to allow fugitives to escape through their lines. The reason for this change of front was attributed to a desire to conciliate the Baralongs in the event of Boer defeat, and to keep them from raiding into Boer territory when their time for reprisals might come. Native spies brought in all manner of rumours, to the effect that Colonel Plumer's armoured train had reached Pitsani Pothlugo, notable as Jameson's starting-point on his famous raid, and that the enemy was concentrating at Ramathlabama to prevent the advance of the relieving force. But news certainly lost nothing by passing through the medium of native channels, and the inhabitants of Mafeking were not over credulous. The great ideal of the Bechuanas was Dr. Jameson, and he, it was averred, was coming down from Buluwayo with an army to relieve Mafeking. One rumour had it that the famous raider had totally annihilated a Boer laager with a bomb from a balloon! Over an extensive area, west and south of Mafeking, all the natives had been compelled to leave their homes, and were placed near the Transvaal border with a view--it was thought--to prevent despatches passing through to Mafeking. Whatever the object, such a proceeding, especially in the wet season, was very cruel. The poor people were robbed of their herds and household goods, and driven away, and deposited like cattle wherever the Boers thought fit to place them. [Illustration: NATIVE CHURCH, MAFEKING.] On the 18th the Boers were found in occupation of the new trench which had just been triumphantly constructed by the besieged. It was, as Mr. Neilly said, "like the soldier crab who gets into the shell of a winkle when the winkle has gone out for a walk. As a rule the soldier crab keeps what he has gained, but in this case the winkle came back and recovered his shell." He did so very promptly. Lieutenant Feltham and a small party advanced and threw bombs at the intruders, which caused them quickly to evacuate their trenches. Then some of the Bechuanaland Volunteers "speeded the parting guest" with a smart fusillade from the flank, and the prized trench was recovered. On the 20th the Boers appeared to be breaking up their western laager, and on the 23rd it was discovered that the enemy had evacuated his positions in the brickfields. These were promptly annexed and dismantled by the Mafeking men. Major Panzera had what some one called "a real sporting day." From morn till night he plied his Hotchkiss and kept the Boers active till dusk. After dark the acetyline searchlight built by the railwaymen was erected at the main work, but no demonstration from the direction of the enemy took place. Then started off Lieutenant Murray and trooper Mallalen (Cape Police) to reconnoitre. On reaching the enemy's sap they crawled round cautiously on hands and knees to investigate. It was a ticklish moment, but they were rewarded. They peered in and made the discovery that the Boers had vanished. They crept still farther along the connecting trench to the rear of the main work and made assurance doubly sure. The Dutchmen were flown. So rapid had been their flight that biltong, biscuits, and journals were left behind. Quick as thought the trench was dismantled. Then Sergeant Page (Protectorate Regiment) burrowed about for the mine which he and Mr. Kiddy had laid in the direction of this trench in the early days of the siege. The Boers had "slimly" unearthed the dynamite, and presently it was discovered that the evacuated trench was connected by a copper wire with the enemy's line. This was carefully cut. Then its direction was traced, and a neat little plot of the Boers exposed itself to view. They had arranged some 250 pounds of war gelatine and dynamite in the trench, which, at a given moment, a touch from the wily Dutchman on the look-out was meant to explode and blow some of the garrison into the air. This failure served to depress the Boers, and for a time their siege gun ceased fire, something having gone wrong with its works. Colonel Baden-Powell was very proud of the brickfield's success and those who contributed to it. Colonel Vyvyan, Inspector Marsh (Cape Police), Majors Panzera and Fitzclarence, Inspector Browne, Lieutenant Currie (Cape Police), Sergeant Page, and trooper Thompson (Cape Police), were all eulogised in general orders. [Illustration: (Captain). (Sergeant). THE CAPE TOWN HIGHLANDERS. Photo by J. E. Bruton, Cape Town.] The captured newspapers afforded great satisfaction to the beleaguered company, for they recounted the entry of Lord Roberts to Bloemfontein, the surrender of Cronje, and the relief of Ladysmith. The intelligence was intensely heartening, and the garrison seemed to gain in backbone--not that it had ever been deficient in that quality. But now its obstinate resistance of the Boers was resumed with renewed zest. It must be noted that besides the Baralongs, who defended their own stadt, were four other black contingents--the Fingoes, under Webster; the Cape Boys, under Lieutenant Currie, B.S.C.P., who succeeded Captain Goodyear when that officer was wounded; a detachment of Baralongs, under Sergeant Abrams; and a Zulu crowd, called the "Black Watch," under Mackenzie. All these contingents "put their backs into it," and rejoiced in making things as hot and uncomfortable for the enemy as they could. In default of other amusement some of the inhabitants interested themselves in the Dutch snipers, and began to grow so familiar with them that they resorted to the primeval mode of christening, that of designating each individual by his personal attributes. One would be called "Bow-legs," another "Bluebeard," or "Draggle Beard," and so on. One Rip Van Winkle was particularly admired. Despite his years and his probable "rheumatics," he would take up his post from dawn till dusk, and snipe with persistence worthy a better cause. His patience and perseverance somewhat endeared him to the garrison, and there was felt to be something missing in the excitement of life when it was found that he, like many of his compatriots, had been "curried," otherwise "dished," by Lieutenant Currie, B.S.C.P., and his ever-active contingent. These cheery fellows in off moments were ready enough to exchange jocosities with the foe, almost treating him, despite his barbarism, as one of themselves. The correspondent of the _Pall Mall Gazette_ quoted a sample scene to describe the style of friendly intercourse that took place. "Cape 'boy' to Boer: 'Could you hit a bottle?' 'Yes, I think so. Put one up.' (A hand rises cautiously to the top of the British trench, and a black bottle is deposited there.) "Boer: 'I can't see it. Put it higher.' (The Cape 'boy' balances a hat on the head of the bottle and says, 'There you are; you can see that.') The Boer fires, and the bullet flies wide. "Cape 'boy': 'Wide to the left.' (Boer fires again and asks, 'Is that nearer?') "Cape 'boy': 'Rather high.' Boer fires a third shot that comes through the loophole. "The Cape soldier announces the result, and the Boer, fearing that he will lose his good reputation for marksmanship, and angered by his bad display, sings out-- "'Look here, you rooinek, we were sent here not to shoot bottles, but men.'" Curiously enough many of the Boers were hopelessly ignorant and unsophisticated. They hardly knew what they were fighting for, and one raw individual was heard to declare that he didn't believe the Queen had caused this war, but the foreman of the English Raad. They retained their bumptiousness in all circumstances. After a victory they would brag of the number of British killed, about 80,000 as a rule, their news being gleaned from the imaginative columns of the _Standard and Diggers' News_. On the subject of defeat they were reticent, but fairly confident that the Dutch flag in a month or two was bound to be floating over South Africa. On Sunday the 25th, a great Siege Exhibition took place--an exhibition notable for its originality. Among the articles on view were bonnets which had been trimmed with "siege" materials by ladies of the town. These were never tired of showing their usefulness and versatility, but, as Lady Sarah Wilson--a host in herself--declared in the _Daily Mail_, "even the dogs played a prominent part in the siege. One belonging to the base commandant was wounded no less than three times; another, a rough Irish terrier, accompanied the Protectorate Regiment in all its engagements; a third amused itself by running after the small Maxim shells, barking loudly and trying hard to retrieve pieces; while the Resident Commissioner's dog, a prudent animal, whenever she heard the alarm-bell tore into the bomb-proof attached to her master's redoubt, and remained there till the explosion was over. The sagacious creatures rendered themselves most valuable, for no sooner had the warning bell announced the firing of a shell than the town dogs began to bark loudly in all quarters, thus enabling persons who, owing to the direction of the wind or other circumstances, had failed to note the signal, to escape to their shelters." The natives were much more apathetic, and Reuter's correspondent gave curious instances of their stupidity and _laisser faire_. "They would gather in great crowds round the soup-kitchens in the town, and when bells were rung warning them that the enemy's 6-inch gun had been fired they were too lazy to take cover in the lee of the surrounding buildings, and had to be driven to do so by means of sticks and sjamboks. Many would rather die than work, and were too lazy to attempt the now comparatively safe journey to Kanya." It was annoying to hear perpetual rumours of relief and to find relief as far off as ever. Runners continually brought in telegrams of congratulation, which added not a little to the bitterness of incarceration. At one moment Plumer seemed to be coming; he was said to be only eleven miles off, and the town was in ecstasies; at another bombardment began briskly as ever, and spirits descended to zero. One of the besieged, writing home on March 22, said:-- "Things are going on as usual. Every one is heartily sick and tired of the siege. Colonel Plumer, with 1500 men, is only about thirty-five miles away, with provisions for us.... Every one here feels the want of more, better, and varied food. A friend of ours was very ill for ten days, and the only comforts the doctor could order were two tins of milk and some lunch biscuits! There is no margarine left in the town, and the Commissariat Department is calling in all the starch. The hospital is very full; and there is a good deal of malarial and typhoid fever.... Sometimes the bread is awful, black, and made from locally-crushed oats, with all the husks on, simply split in long pieces. We are all downright hungry, and cannot buy a bit of food, except on some special occasion. Last Sunday Weil's store was allowed to sell certain articles of food, _e.g._ pea flour and margarine; former, 2s. 6d. a tin; latter, 3s. per lb. The crush outside the store was so great that women fainted, and some were waiting for hours, and then unable to get in.... The railings of the park and tennis-courts are used for firing, and we are authorised to use our fences for the same purpose. Our meat is good, but poor and tough. We almost entirely depend upon the natives looting enemy's cattle, and sometimes we have horse-flesh, but that I cannot manage, so on those days I am hungrier than ever.... My husband is quarter-master-sergeant in charge of the rations--not a very enviable billet. The whole town is on rations. We are all under martial law, and Colonel Baden-Powell looks after us all, and we may be very thankful that the defence of Mafeking has been entrusted to such a capable man." The menu was not variegated. You took your choice between a species of porridge (made from the husks of oats fermented for some hours prior to boiling) and a noxious brown biscuit, or, as the Indians called it, "chupattie." But it had none of the savouriness of the chupattie, and was described as a cross between a ship's biscuit and a baked brick. It was certainly filling at the price, so filling, in fact, that those who devoured it suffered from what was styled "hippopotamus on the chest" for some hours afterwards. March 27th was described as the hottest day in the siege, the mud walls of Mafeking being liberally dosed to the tune of 200 shells by Creusots and quick-firing Krupps. As many as 250 shells were said to have been fired into the town, while the 100-pounder was responsible for 70. Sergeant Abrams, of the Cape Police, an officer who had been in the thick of the whole siege, was caught by a high-velocity shell and had the misfortune to lose his foot. Some of the shells penetrated the bomb-proofs, and one or two persons were more or less injured. It was calculated that during the sixty-four days of the siege as many as 1300 shells from the 100-pound Creusot, independently of minor missiles, had descended in the midst of the valorous community. Some of the shells were sold as curios and fetched as much as five guineas apiece; rarer ones sold for ten or twelve. The losses of the garrison up to this date were: Killed and missing: 7 officers and 93 men, besides 53 native and other non-combatants. Wounded: 11 officers and 38 men, besides 114 native and other non-combatants. The congratulations of the Lord Mayor of London on the relief now arrived, and all began to hope that "coming events cast their shadows before." But cruel disappointment followed. Heavy firing was reported from the north on the 31st, and there was tremendous excitement. One and all agreed that it was Colonel Plumer coming to the rescue. They hoped, they prayed, and when at last the sounds died away hope died with them. The next morning explained it. General Snyman sent in a letter under a flag of truce requesting Colonel Baden-Powell to send an ambulance for Colonel Plumer's dead! A horrible description of the battlefield "strewn with corpses" followed, and caused deep concern to those who were the cause of the gallant enterprise which had cost so many lives. Fortunately only three bodies were found, but these had rifled pockets, while the boots of one had been removed. The action of removing boots from the dead savours of the barbaric, but it must be remembered that the Boers, and indeed some of our own men, were almost soleless. War brings about strange conditions and strange ethics. A trooper, one of the remnant of the Light Brigade, told a strange story of how on that "great occasion" he came on the corpse of a Russian officer magnificently booted, while he himself could barely hobble in his tatters. He could not resist the prize, and possessed himself of the much-needed apparel. He was in the act of going off in triumph when his conscience smote him; he returned, and taking off his own boots reverentially clothed the feet of the dead man! He appeased his qualms by arguing that exchange was not robbery! COLONEL PLUMER'S OPERATIONS Colonel Plumer lived in the hope of joining hands with Colonel Baden-Powell at Mafeking, and messages were successfully interchanged between the two officers. Life in the north was occupied mainly with skirmishes and the repairs of railway lines and culverts, which were needed along almost every mile of route. Between Gaberones and Crocodile Pools the engineers worked arduously, under the protection of an armoured train and a strong body of dismounted men. Very useful information was received of the Boers' whereabouts from papers contained in a Boer mail-bag captured between Sequani and Sauerpoord. The Boers were found to be in force at Crocodile Pools, and to have in their possession two cannon and two machine-guns, and here it was evident they meant to harass any progressive movement of the British. [Illustration: MAP SHOWING THE ADVANCE FROM THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH FOR THE RELIEF OF MAFEKING. The above sketch-plan of Mafeking shows the Boer trenches and the British lines of defence round the town, with the localities and dates of the principal fights which have taken place between the besiegers and besieged. Above and below the plan (though not, of course, upon the same scale) there is a map of the country between Kimberley and Tuli. The margin is divided into spaces of twenty-five miles, measuring from Mafeking north and south, and the advance of Plumer from the north and of Methuen from the south is shown step by step.] On the 11th of January Colonel Plumer, with a portion of his forces, arrived near Mochudi. The Boers--about 200--were reported to have gathered some thirty miles to the south-east, while others were entrenched on the kopjes by the railway at Crocodile Pools. With them were said to be guns in charge of German officers--an objectionable discovery for the British, who were almost gunless! There was reason to suppose that discontent reigned among the Boers owing to scarcity of provisions, and that they were longing to throw up the sponge and return to their farms. They found life in the trenches and kopjes not what is vulgarly described as "all beer and skittles," and began to think of the coming seasons which would find them empty as the fabled grasshopper in winter. Some of the troops also proceeded to Gaberones, where three armoured trains were kept active. On the 12th a Boer patrol made an effort to burn a bridge a mile north of the station, but was frustrated by the promptness with which Lieutenant Wallis brought No. 3 armoured train on the scene. When the enemy fell back on the station they were welcomed by No. 1 armoured train under Colonel Llewellyn, and the welcome was so unexpected and so hearty that the enemy bolted. Owing to the darkness they got off in safety. Reconnaissances were made, and it was discovered that the Boers were located one mile south of Crocodile Pools. Major Bird made a reconnaissance on the 23rd of January--with four squadrons of the Rhodesian Regiment--in the direction of a Boer laager. In consequence of a storm of rain operations could not be carried as far as intended, but some of the enemy were dislodged from a hill, and two horses and two Transvaal flags were captured. On the 31st an animated artillery duel took place between Colonel Plumer and Commandant Eloff, and on the following day it was some satisfaction to see the Boers busily engaged in repairing the havoc wrought by the British 12½-pounder on their fort. On the 2nd of February more activities took place. Major Bird, with 150 mounted infantry and one 7-pounder, made a demonstration on the right flank of the Boer position. This occupied a ridge running for a mile and a half from south-west to north-east. In the centre of the ridge was a nek, which was protected on either side by a fringe of Boer sharpshooters. This nek became the object of British attention, and Lieutenants Harland and Blunt with their men poured on it some forty volleys, to which the Boers replied, but without serious effect. While the rattling of musketry was kept up by the mounted infantry, a 7-pounder, manned by the British South African Police, escorted by troopers under Captain Maclaren, shelled the nek. Whereupon the Boers brought into play a 12½-pounder, which forced the British 7-pounder to retire. The weapon, however, was met by one of its own calibre, which was posted near Basuto kopje, and a spirited contest ensued. On the 4th of February the hostile guns were silenced by well-directed shells adroitly dropped by Lieutenant Montmorency in the middle of the Boer fortress. Colonel Plumer, though still too weak to make a decisive move on, was bent on energetically annoying the Boers, but night escapades for some time were stopped by infamous weather. On the first opportunity Major Bird devised a midnight attack, which, unfortunately, was more costly than successful. In dense darkness, on the night of the 11th of February, the troops deployed at the base of a thorny and rocky ridge at Crocodile Pools Bridge, where the enemy was entrenched. No sooner had the men neared the summit than they came on wire entanglements and thorny scrub, and in surmounting wire and bush they necessarily made some noise. This set the Boer dogs barking and the Boer pickets blazing with their rifles. Thereupon Major Bird ordered a bayonet charge. He had forbidden rifle fire lest it should betray the position of the storming party. Before the men could get to close quarters, however, the Dutchmen exploded dynamite mines and followed the fracas with volleys of musketry. The result was disastrous to the British, and Major Bird ordered a retreat. Captain French (Royal Irish Regiment) was among the killed. Seven of the party were more or less severely injured. At first the Boers refused to give up the dead and wounded. When Archdeacon Upcher and Father Hartmann, under cover of the white flag, made the demand, they declared that they could not respect the symbol, as General Buller had stated that the British would no longer respect it. They eventually gave up five of the dead, but refused for some time to part with the wounded. Among these were Major Straker and Colonel Hon. H. White (British South African Police). On the 26th of February Colonel Plumer, after many strenuous efforts and continued fighting, occupied the enemy's position at Crocodile Pools, the Boers having taken themselves off and gone south to Lobatsi. Trains were now moving from the Pools to Ramoutsa. A cairn was erected over the spot where the valiant officer, Captain French, met his fate. The wounds received by Major Straker in the disastrous night attack were mending slowly, and great hopes were entertained of his ultimate recovery. Colonel Plumer and his little force, numbering some 700 in all, continued to suffer many harassments, to fight and to struggle manfully for the assistance of Mafeking, whose relief they believed could not be long delayed. To help in this relief was their perpetual aim, and to this end Colonel Plumer accumulated a vast quantity of stores at Kanya, some sixty miles to the west of Crocodile Pools, so that when opportunity should offer the starving braves might not have to wait for provisions. For some weeks the troops had been fixed on a string of kopjes to the north of the Metsima Suma Bridge, while the Boers' laager, strongly fortified, occupied another ridge in the vicinity. Both Britons and Boers from their elevated posts could command the river above named, and the Notwani River for some miles. On the 26th of February, for some unaccountable reason, the Boers suddenly made themselves scarce, and suspicion grew that events elsewhere were demanding their prompt attention. The disappearance caused some sensation, as it was reported--erroneously as it afterwards proved--that not a Boer was visible between the British and Mafeking. Thereupon Colonel Plumer decided to be up and doing, and an advance on Lobatsi (situated some forty-five miles from Colonel Baden-Powell's kingdom) was organised. First of all telegraph lines and rails were repaired, an armoured train being sent forward to Pitsani Pothlugo to protect the operations. This work accomplished, rations for thirty days, the base hospital, &c., were transferred to Lobatsi. There on the morning of the 6th of March Colonel Plumer's force arrived. The efforts of the relieving party were now directed to the reconstruction of the railway and bridges which had been wrecked by the Boers in October. These were slowly got into working order. Reconnaissances were pushed south with a view to farther advance, and provision was made for the protection of the railway behind him as Colonel Plumer advanced. [Illustration: COLONEL PLUMER'S GALLANT ATTEMPT TO RELIEVE MAFEKING FROM THE NORTH. Drawing by Frank Dudd, R.I., from a Sketch by F. J. Mackenzie.] At daybreak on the 13th of March a column of some 300 men with three guns marched towards Kanya on the west, while Colonel Bodle (B.S.A.P.) with 150 men and a Maxim proceeded towards Pitsani. When the former party had succeeded in reaching a place some twenty miles beyond Lobatsi camp they were suddenly ordered to return. Captain Maclaren with his party, though fairly worn out after a long day's tramp, at once obeyed orders, marched throughout the night, and by dawn on the 15th had retraced his steps. The reason for the recall was this. Colonel Bodle's advanced scouts had come upon swarms of the enemy to the north of Pitsani, and the colonel with his small force had been compelled to retire in hot haste. His position was a ticklish one, for all round, in every available kopje, the Boers had ensconced themselves, and only by great nerve and splendid presence of mind was it possible to execute anything like an orderly retreat. But these qualities were possessed by Colonel Bodle, who promptly retired his ambulance and waggons, covering their move by forming his troops in Zulu fashion in crescent shape. Unluckily the right horn of the crescent, under Lieutenant Chapman, was pounced upon by some hidden Boers, who succeeded in making three or four of the party prisoners, and capturing a box or two of ammunition. Owing to an accident to his horse Lieutenant Chapman was thrown and captured. Corporal Galt nearly shared the same fate, but while he was engaged in a smart tussle for freedom, Colonel Bodle came to the rescue and put the Boers to flight. The Dutchmen then commenced to follow at the heels of the column, approaching to within some 2500 yards of the camp, doing some damage among cattle with their smokeless guns, which with difficulty could be located. Their fire was eventually returned, but not before Lieutenant Tyler (West Riding Regiment) had fallen a victim to a shell, which caught him in his tent and killed him instantaneously. The next day (the 16th) the Boers pursued their aggravations, and the British, as usual, gave a very good account of themselves, though their gunners had neither range-finder nor range-table. An animated artillery duel lasted for some hours, and was only terminated at sunset by the successful landing of a shell in the midst of the Boer guns. This served to silence them for the rest of the day. That done, the troops retired, most of the force moving from Lobatsi back to Crocodile Pools (whither stores, &c., had been removed by rail during the whole of the previous night), while Colonel Plumer and the mounted men took the direction of Kanya. On the 17th of March the armoured train voyaged towards Lobatsi, where it was saluted by the Boers, who had returned in hordes with marvellous celerity, and were hovering round that place. The enemy had now placed a 1-pound Maxim and a 12½-pounder on the east side of the line 4000 yards to the south of the main camp, but fortunately the right flank was protected by the Chief Bathoen, who defied the Boers to enter his territory. The left flank, however, engaged Colonel Plumer's attention, and there was every fear that the enemy, repulsed on the western border, might fall in force upon the Rhodesians. The Dutchmen were now busy in wrecking the rail south of Lobatsi, and preparing to meet any further advance made by Colonel Plumer with stout resistance. On the 18th, somewhat exhausted with fruitless toil and endless marching and fighting, the troops were once more at their starting-point on the ridges overlooking the Metsima Suma and Notwani Rivers, Colonel Plumer's force now occupying the position there formerly held by the Boers. On the 21st Commandant Snyman entertained himself with a little journey to Lobatsi and gaily bombarded it, in ignorance that it had been evacuated by Colonel Plumer's force, and explosions on all sides announced that he also was engaged in the destruction of the railway. While the Boers were away, the Baralongs made hay--they utilised the shining hour by looting some of the Boer cattle and driving them in triumph into Mafeking. There, the result of Snyman's attack on Plumer was in its way approved; the town enjoyed temporary repose. The bombardment lessened for a day or two, and the besieged were buoyed up by the hope that Colonel Plumer was pursuing his advance. To intercept the same the enemy had taken up positions at Maritzuni and Ramathlabama, but they at the same time had to engage themselves with a native chief in the south. This personage, who had hitherto been friendly to them, working on the good old principle of "kick a man when he's down," had heard of the Boer reverses in the Free State, and promptly seized his opportunity. On the 25th Colonel Plumer left his base camp with a force of infantry and as little impedimenta as possible, and invaded the Transvaal, making two rapid night marches for the purpose of threatening the Boer lines of communication. In this way, though he found himself too weak in men and guns for really aggressive operations, he determined to make himself a thorn in the side of the persecutors of Mafeking, and keep the Boer hordes too busily engaged to allow of their attempting serious operations on their own part. Early on the morning of the 31st Colonel Plumer, with 270 mounted men, some infantry, and a Maxim reached Ramathlabama, where the Boers were said to have made their headquarters. The advance guard under Colonel White proceeding within six miles of Mafeking, encountered a Boer commando, whereupon Captain Kensman on the left and Major Bordan on the right simultaneously became engaged. Desperate fighting ensued, the Boers almost doubling the British. The Dutchmen formed a semicircle, vainly endeavouring to outflank the party east and west, while Colonel Plumer's small force, fighting "tooth and nail," retired slowly, the squadrons covering the retreat of the unmounted men for a good ten miles till the force reached its base. Owing to the close proximity of the Boer laagers, reinforcements of Dutchmen and guns were constantly at hand, while Colonel Plumer was entirely at a disadvantage. Little cover was available, and the railway embankment, which was his only protection, was barely two feet high. Captain Crewe, a most popular officer, was mortally wounded while covering the retreat of the rest, as was also Lieutenant Milligan while gallantly defending his position. Some interesting particulars of the fighting outside Mafeking came in a letter from a trooper. "On our latest patrol we had a real exciting time. We went to have a look at Mafeking, and actually saw the promised land, but we had to pay dearly for the sight. We marched from here (halfway between Kanya and Mafeking) on March 30th, and arrived at Ramathlabama on the 31st at 9 A.M. Between 300 and 350 men went, with one Maxim, all under Colonel Plumer himself. We were all mounted except thirty men of E Squadron. We formed a camp at Ramathlabama, and at 11 A.M. all the mounted men moved off towards Mafeking, our unmounted men and the Maxim remaining in camp. Our troop and Crewe's scouts formed the advance guard under our skipper, Colonel White. We rode on about eight miles, and then we got our first glimpse of Mafeking. We raised a bit of a cheer on spotting the place. Very soon we saw a large body of Boers coming up in front at a fast pace, while others were working round our flanks. We started firing at 1000 yards, with hardly anything to see to fire at. Their fire was high at first, but some of them soon got the range. We had to retreat, as we were far outnumbered, and the Boers were working away at our flanks. Moreover, they had an unlimited supply of ammunition, their base being a mile or two away, while we had to go slow with ours. So we retired by alternate squadrons. "We were nearly caught once. The Boers were coming round on our flank, and were making for some Kaffir kraals whence they would have had us fairly on toast. Our skipper, however, spotted the move in time, and we raced them for the first place and won. Crewe's men, who were sent to the second kraal, also got there first. We made them turn tail and bolt, and they were never afterwards quite so keen in getting round our flank. Our skipper worked splendidly. It was a running fight for about eight miles, lasting from 1 P.M. till 6 P.M. When we reached the camp we found that Colonel Plumer had decided to abandon it, and had already sent the waggons off an hour before. We had to cover the retreat of the unmounted men, who had been in turn covering the retreat of the Maxim. There was a very warm time over that business. The unmounted men nearly got caught. Our casualties were pretty heavy--52 in all--12 killed, 26 wounded, and 14 missing. Altogether 75 horses were killed, wounded, and missing. Don't get the idea that we were disgracefully licked. We retreated certainly and were chased by the Boers, but we retreated in perfect order without any confusion. Moreover, in retreating we were doing as we were intended to do. Colonel Baden-Powell had some move he wished to make at Mafeking, and we were to draw away as many Boers as possible, and we certainly were successful in that. There must have been at least 600 or 700 against us." In the fight at Ramathlabama the following were taken prisoners:--Captain K. Maclaren, Captain F. Crewe, Captain Duncan Robertson, all badly wounded; the two last mentioned since dead. Staff-Officers Cecil and Granville and nine soldiers, of whom six were more or less severely wounded, were also captured. Owing to the absence of war correspondents with Colonel Plumer's force this officer's unceasing efforts to match the Boers and rescue Colonel Baden-Powell received none of the publicity they deserved. It has been possible only from private sources to gauge the terrible tension of the situation, and the truly noble activity that was maintained in the face of a most alarming outlook. Of the heroism of the commander little has been said, but from a few lines written by a trooper we may understand how his gallant conduct stimulated his men. He said: "It was a good fight, and our men behaved very well. Plumer was slightly wounded, but behaved splendidly. He sent his horse away and walked behind the dismounted men, encouraging them when they were retreating." Colonel Bodle and Captain Rolt (adjutant) were also slightly wounded. Some splendid service was rendered by Sergeant-Major Manning (5th Dragoon Guards), on whom the whole work of staff officer afterwards devolved. Another writer shows the trying circumstances in which Colonel Plumer's campaign was conducted, circumstances which, when the historian of the future sets to work, cannot be disregarded:-- "On the 31st ult. we got as far as six miles from Mafeking, but had to retire after four hours' heavy fighting, losing 48 killed, wounded, and missing. We have had a very rough time indeed, always fighting against much superior odds armed with splendid artillery, living on short rations, without tents or any other shelter, wet through with the rain, and scorched with the sun, and yet the people at home never give us a thought. We have been so hard up for tobacco that men have been smoking tea leaves. We have not had a thing from home, not even the Queen's chocolate, and yet we have done as much in our small way as the troops down south. Of course, we have had no big battles, as we have not the men or guns, but we have had constant patrols and skirmishes, nearly always losing men killed or wounded, or both. We have also suffered very heavily with fever and dysentery, and all our hospitals are full." These lines in their bald simplicity are quoted because they, like the work they describe, were originated with no view to effect nor applause, and serve exactly to describe the modest deeds of perpetual valour which were perpetrated by our countrymen, and which by force of circumstance were left to waste their smartness "on the desert air." [Illustration: LOBATSI RAILWAY STATION] LIST OF STAFF The following is a list of appointments to the Staff of the Eighth Division, which left England in February:-- EIGHTH DIVISION Lieutenant-General on the Staff--Major-General (temporary Lieutenant-General) Sir H. M. L. Rundle, K.C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., R.A. Aides-de-Camp (2). Assistant Adjutant-General--Colonel G. E. Harley, C.B. Deputy-Assistant Adjutant-Generals--Major A. E. J. Cavendish, _p.s.c._, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders; Captain G. I. Walsh, Leicestershire Regt. Assistant Provost-Marshal[11]--Lieut.-Colonel R. H. Morrison. Principal Medical Officer--Lieut.-Colonel W. A. May, Royal Army Medical Corps. Medical Officer--Major J. W. Jerome, Royal Army Medical Corps. Chaplains--Rev. C. F. O'Reilly; Rev. F. J. P. Jellicoe. Divisional Signalling Officer--Captain C. H. Bennett, Worcestershire Regt. 16th BRIGADE Major-General on the Staff--Major-General B. B. D. Campbell, M.V.O. Aide-de-Camp. Brigade-Major--Captain E. F. O. Gascoigne, D.S.O., Grenadier Guards. 17th BRIGADE Major-General on the Staff--Major-General J. E. Boyes. Aide-de-Camp. Brigade-Major--Captain C. B. FitzHenry, 7th Hussars. At the same time a Ninth Division was formed under the command of Lieut.-General Sir Henry Colvile, consisting of the 3rd (Highland Brigade), Colonel (Major-General) H. A. Macdonald, C.B., and 19th Brigade, Colonel (Major-General) H. L. Smith-Dorrien. For particulars, see Vol. V. FOOTNOTES: [11] Graded as a Deputy-Assistant Adjutant-General. APPENDIX KURUMAN[12] At time of the surrender of Kuruman it was impossible to obtain complete details regarding the gallant defence of the place. The following short story published by the _Cape Argus_ serves to throw light on deeds too brave to be overlooked:-- "On the 15th October 1899, the Cape Police, Vryburg, 96 miles north-east of Kuruman, evacuated their station without giving battle to the Boers; the detachment with one Maxim and 110 men retiring on Kimberley. The commanding officer, Major Scott, Cape Police, committed suicide _en route_. Refugees came into Kuruman on the 16th and following days. "On the 23rd October communication was cut off from Kuruman except by wire to Koopmansfontein, and on the 5th November all wires were cut. Information reached Kuruman that the South African Republic and Orange Free State Boers, assisted by rebels from that and surrounding districts, intended to march on Kuruman and hoist the 'Vierkleur.' "The defence of Kuruman was commenced by Captain Bates,[13] C.P. (formerly captain B.B.P. under Sir Frederick Carrington), assisted by Sergeant Hemsworth, C.P., and Captain Dennison, Intelligence Department. On the 19th October, Colonel Kekewich, officer commanding forces Griqualand West and Bechuanaland, instructed the force to endeavour to prevent Kuruman falling into the hands of the enemy. The officer commanding, Captain Bates, had orders to defend the place, and the Kuruman defence force was raised, consisting of, approximately, 54 Cape Police and Special Police (whites), 62 Bastards and natives--total, 116. "Redoubts were built on the north, south, east, and west sides of the main camp, which was fortified with trenches and stone walls loopholed and raised with sandbags. "On the 12th November 1899, a letter was received from Commandant Visser (signed Fighting General), demanding the surrender of Kuruman voluntarily in the name of the Z.A.R. and O.F.S. Governments, saying that he was at Pakani, six miles off, with his commando, and failing compliance with his demand he would attack and take Kuruman by main force at 7 A.M. the following day. A reply was sent that should he attack he would have to take the consequences of his illegal act, as no instructions had been issued by the Colonial Government to evacuate the town. "At 9 A.M. on the 13th November a commando of about 400 men came at full gallop towards the Soeden Mission Station, three miles from Kuruman. Coming within range (1500 yards) the redoubt on the eastern side opened fire on them with their rifles. The enemy halted, and then at once retired out of range. After about ten minutes, one portion, 250 strong, advanced towards the Mission Station, the other, 150 strong, moving to the ridge above the Court House. At 10 A.M. the commando from Soeden attacked the western redoubt held by Corporal Childs, C.P., with six whites and seven natives. Heavy firing took place. At about 5 P.M. the enemy, who had during the day occupied a ridge about 400 yards from the redoubt, retired, and in so doing lost heavily--they were seen falling from their horses. Our men behaved splendidly. The estimated Boer loss was six killed and fourteen wounded; ours, one native killed. Captain Bates rode up during the day to encourage the men, and both going and returning was received with heavy volleys from the Boers, but both he and his horse returned unhurt. While the fighting was going on Corporal Barnes, C.P., and nine men volunteered to take an extra supply of ammunition to this redoubt, about 1000 yards in the open, under heavy fire, and remained there to the end of the attack without any further casualty. Firing from all the enemy's schanzes was kept up during the night. "At dawn next day it was discovered that the enemy had built schanzes (stone entrenchments) all round our redoubts at distances varying from 1200 to 900 yards, and commenced firing volleys into our positions. We replied, and our losses this day were one native slightly wounded and five horses badly wounded. The enemy stuck to their schanzes and continued firing heavily on us daily until the 19th November, when to our surprise they withdrew to Pakani. "On the 20th November our scouts, who were sent to find out the enemy's movements, returned, stating that they were retiring towards Vryburg. "On the 26th November it was reported by our scouts that the Boers had formed three laagers, one at Mooifontein, 30 miles away; one at Magagapirie, 20 miles off; and one at Botitilotse, about 18 miles off; the total commando numbering about 1100 to 1200 men, and a large number of waggons. "On the 1st December a headman, Seloa, reported that the Boers were waiting for a cannon from Pretoria, and were coming again to attack us or starve us out. Captain Bates strengthened the forts as much as possible to resist shell fire. "On the 5th December the enemy arrived with from 1100 to 1200 men under Visser, of the Transvaal, now Commandant, and Field-Cornet Wessels, of the Free State, but without any cannon. They commenced by attacking Captain Dennison's (Intelligence Officer to Commanding Officer, Kimberley, Colonel Kekewich) redoubt on the east, but were repulsed. The enemy made five night attacks on this redoubt and a smaller one held by Private Brown, Special Police, about 300 yards on the S.E. Their mode of attack was as follows:--They built schanzes within 500 yards of these redoubts, surrounding them, and threw up small schanzes of stone and bags within thirty or forty yards of the redoubts early in the night and attacked about two or three o'clock in the morning, retiring from time to time to these small schanzes. They thus succeeded in pushing off the sandbags from our redoubts on the S.E. side, but were driven back, losing about four killed and ten or twelve wounded. This redoubt was held by Private Brown, three white men, and two natives, the enemy numbering from sixty to seventy men. Our casualties were one white man wounded. During these attacks a bullet (presumably an explosive one) struck inside the east fort or redoubt, badly wounding two whites and two others slightly. Firing was kept up night and day for these five days. The enemy ceased their attacks and went in for volley firing and sniping, coming nearer our redoubts by building schanzes during the night. These two redoubts had to be abandoned, as the loopholes of sandbags were shot away, and there was no means of building them up agin. The enemy occupied them after being abandoned for two nights, and also took possession of a store in a hollow about 800 yards from the main camp, between it and the Court House. This left only one of our redoubts occupied by our defence force, and which commanded the water. Corporal Gash, C.P., was in charge. Our horses had to be watered at night. "The Boers made several attempts to cut us off from the water, but were prevented by our pickets, who were placed in entrenched positions to cover our cattle and horses while watered. The Boers must have fired away an enormous quantity of ammunition, and they had five waggon-loads of it. A unique armistice was arranged on Christmas Day. F. C. Wessels, of the Free State, wrote to the Commanding Officer saying that if we would not fire on them this day, the Boers would not fire on us. This was agreed to, and word was sent round to all the schanzes and redoubts notifying this. The men came out, but to our surprise, as one of us was going to bathe, a volley from the Transvaal Boer schanzes on the east was sent after him. Wessels went to inquire the reason, and was told that the Transvaal commando would not agree to this armistice, whereupon Wessels arranged with us that the Free State men, who were on the south and south-east side, would not fire on us, and our men, running the gauntlet of the Transvaal fire for about 20 yards, went under cover of the Free State schanzes, and British and Boer bathed together at the bathing-place. This circumstance caused a split in the Boer camp, and Wessels with 150 men of the Free State burghers left for the south, presumably towards Kimberley. The Boers continued firing and sniping daily. Up to this we had one white (Private Ward, C.P.) and two natives killed, seven whites and seven natives wounded. Of the animals 23 horses were killed and wounded and three oxen killed. We were holding out and were confident of doing so for another two months, when on the 1st January 1900, a New Year's gift arrived in the Boer camp in the shape of a 9-pounder. They started shelling at dawn, with common shell, the redoubt on the north side; then came to a ridge on the south and shelled the main camp, four shells falling in the camp without doing any serious damage. They then fired on the western redoubt without hitting it. On going to their schanzes about 2000 yards on the eastern side, they shelled the only remaining redoubt on that side, held by Corporal Gash, C.P., and 15 men. The 90th shell breached the redoubt, the 91st and 92nd striking it, and the 93rd falling inside. The men in the redoubt got into the trenches, which, owing to the stony nature of the ground, could not be dug deep, and were subjected to such a heavy fire from three of the enemy's schanzes, that they were compelled to surrender. "Captain Bates then saw that as the key of the position had fallen, and that reinforcements could not possibly arrive for weeks or months, it was hopeless to continue to hold out. "Thus Kuruman was surrendered after seven weeks, and its defence was principally due to Captain Bates. Captain Dennison and Sergeant Hemsworth and Captain Bates were sent to the Pretoria gaol (as they were supposed to know too much, whatever that meant), and the Magistrate was sent to the State Model School with the other officers." FOOTNOTES: [12] See Vol. iii. p. 25. [13] This officer's name was originally given as Baker in telegrams home. TRANSCRIBERS' NOTES Page vi: Christo standardised to Cristo after "Scene of Fighting at Monte" Page vii: Reit standardised to Riet after "on north bank of the" Page vii: Majesfontein standardised to Majersfontein (two instances) Page vii: Koodoesrand standardised to Koodoosrand after "Spyfontein, retreating to" Page viii: landdrost standardised to landrost after "and arrested the" Page 9: " added after "180,600 of all arms." Page 13: no corrected to not after "now engaged stronger," cf. Hansard Page 22: "Homes were destroyed mothers and children stricken" as in the original, without punctuation Page 30: Kimberly standardised to Kimberley before "man stared at the three objects" Page 33: Accent on détour not standardised as part of a quotation Pages 34, 152: Variable spelling of mosquitoes/mosquitos as in the original Page 36: horseflesh standardised to horse-flesh after "Cronje had to be paid for in" Page 39: Duplicate the removed from "for the the team of mules" Page 40: duplicate an removed in "having detected an an unusual haze of dust" Pages 40, 54: Inconsistent hyphenation of rear-guard as in the original. Retained as part of a quotation Page 56: . added after "for the rest of the day" Page 60: Infanty corrected to Infantry in "Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry" Page 62: mid-day standardised to midday before "came the rumour that French" Page 65: reveille standardised to reveillé after "a volley by way of" Page 69: insistance as in the original Page 71: silhoutte corrected to silhouette before "which gradually grew clearer" Page 88 [Illustration]: ( added before Colour-Sergeant) Page 93: Accent on débris not standardised as part of a quotation Page 101: depot standardised to depôt after "converted into the advanced" Page 115: shortlived standardised to short-lived after "Rest was" Page 116: Mr. Shcreiner corrected to Mr. Schreiner Page 120: Horseflesh standardised to Horse-flesh before "was diversified by bread" Page 122: head-quarters standardised to headquarters after "subsequently established his" Page 123: Lyttleton corrected to Lyttelton after "While this was going on above, General" Page 128: caligraphy as in the original Page 132: Lee-Mitfords corrected to Lee-Metfords after "been hit by Mausers or" Page 133: Inconsistent hyphenation of horseflesh as in the original. Retained as part of a quotation Page 148: unchallengably corrected to unchallengeably after "kopjes, kopjes, kopjes--ours," Page 148: . added after "rifle fire was raging on the left" Page 150: Lieutenan corrected to Lieutenant before "C. H. I. Jackson" Page 177: martrys corrected to martyrs after "calls for its ministers and" Page 182: Llandrost corrected to Landrost after "Mr. Papenfus, whose services as" Page 189: fourteeen corrected to fourteen after "on the Orange Free State Railway some" Page 190: markmanship corrected to marksmanship after "spoke apologetically of their good" Page 192: ensconed corrected to ensconced after "where the enemy had" Page 200: lookout standardised to look-out after "the wily Dutchman on the" Page 210: Inconsistent hyphenation of halfway as in the original. Retained as part of a quotation Page 216: agin as in the original 
46303	----	TRANSCRIBERS' NOTE: In this plan text version, text in italics in the original is surrounded with _underscores_. Text in bold in the original is surrounded with =equals signs=. Text in an ornate font (awards of the Victoria Cross) is surrounded by #hash marks#. The following publishers' note was bound into the middle of the book. To simplify reading of that section and allow interested readers to view it easily, it has been moved here. Corrections are individually listed at the end of the text. PUBLISHERS' NOTE. The prolongation of the War far beyond the calculation of those best able to form an opinion on the subject has necessarily affected the plan of Creswicke's "South Africa and Transvaal War," and in consequence the completion of the work in a manner satisfactory to subscribers, and worthy of a book now widely recognised as a great History of the Campaign, has been most carefully considered by both Author and Publishers. They have decided to adhere closely to the plan of the work sketched in the original prospectus; that is to say, Volume VI. will bring to a close the History of the War so far as the annexation of the Transvaal is concerned. All the important and daring movements that culminated in the occupation of Lydenburg and the flight of Kruger are treated in graphic detail. A condensed account is also given of the subsequent Guerilla Warfare down to March 1901. At the end of the Volume will be found the valuable Appendix matter announced in Prospectus:-- (1.) =Gazetteer.= This gives in alphabetical order all the information that is required as to places in South Africa. =Military terms are also fully explained.= (2.) =Biographical Record.= No attempt has been made elsewhere to deal biographically in one list with the prominent actors connected with the South African Campaign. This list, which would form in itself a good sized volume crowded with facts, will be of permanent value. (3.) =Recipients of the Victoria Cross=: giving details regarding those who have earned this honour during the War up to the date of publication. It is evident, however, that the Guerilla operations, spread over so large an area as they are, would themselves furnish material for an extensive book. In view, therefore, of the importance of this unique development of the campaign, the military interest of the story, and the many heroic deeds which deserve the fullest recognition possible, the Publishers have decided to issue =an additional and strictly supplementary Volume= dealing with Lord Kitchener's regime as Commander-in-Chief and the Guerilla War. This additional volume will be uniform as regards general style, number of illustrations, price, &c., and it is hoped that it will be found possible to include in it some account of the ultimate settlement and the resources of the new Colonies. The Publishers are confident that subscribers will find this a valuable addition to the work. * * * * * Readers interested in this work are requested to assist the writer of the narrative by forwarding authentic letters or accounts throwing light on the military operations subsequent to Lord Roberts's departure from South Africa. The names of correspondents will not be made public, and their communications will be returned if desired. All letters should be addressed, LOUIS CRESWICKE, Esq., c/o Messrs T. C. & E. C. Jack, Causewayside, Edinburgh. [Illustration: MUSTER OF THE CAPE TOWN GUARD ON THE PARADE GROUND CAPE TOWN, FOR INSPECTION BY GENERAL BRABANT, JANUARY 12, 1901. Photo by Alf. F. Hosking, Cape Town.] SOUTH AFRICA AND THE TRANSVAAL WAR BY LOUIS CRESWICKE AUTHOR OF "ROXANE," ETC. WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS IN SIX VOLUMES VOL. VI.--FROM THE OCCUPATION OF PRETORIA TO MR. KRUGER'S DEPARTURE FROM SOUTH AFRICA, WITH A SUMMARISED ACCOUNT OF THE GUERILLA WAR TO MARCH 1901 EDINBURGH: T. C. & E. C. JACK MANCHESTER: KENNETH MACLENNAN, 75 PICCADILLY 1901 Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. At the Ballantyne Press CONTENTS--VOL. VI PAGE CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE v OFFICIAL TABLE OF CASUALTIES IN SOUTH AFRICA viii CHAPTER I AT PRETORIA, JUNE 5 TO 10 1 THE BATTLE OF DIAMOND HILL, JUNE 11 TO 12 12 GUARDING THE COMMUNICATIONS 19 CHAPTER II GENERAL BULLER'S OPERATIONS--ROUTING THE BOERS FROM LAING'S NEK, MAY 19 TO JUNE 12 27 THE ADVANCE FROM LAING'S NEK TO STANDERTON--JOINING HANDS WITH LORD ROBERTS'S FORCE, JUNE 13 TO 22 32 CHAPTER III IN ORANGE RIVER COLONY (EAST), JUNE 37 IN THE WESTERN TRANSVAAL, JUNE TO JULY 9 40 CHAPTER IV THE BATTLE OF BETHLEHEM--THE SURRENDER OF PRINSLOO 43 AFFAIRS IN AND AROUND PRETORIA--THE CAPTURE OF MIDDELBURG 54 PROTECTING THE KRUGERSDORP-POTCHEFSTROOM RAILROAD 66 CHAPTER V CHASING DE WET IN THE WESTERN TRANSVAAL 70 PLOTS AND PROCLAMATIONS, AUGUST 81 CHAPTER VI GENERAL BULLER'S MOVEMENTS--CLEARING THE TRANSVAAL BETWEEN VOLKSRUST AND BELFAST 88 CHAPTER VII THE LYDENBURG CAMPAIGN 93 THE ORANGE RIVER COLONY 112 THE WESTERN TRANSVAAL 117 EXIT MR. KRUGER 120 CHAPTER VIII GUERILLA WARFARE 125 AFTERWORD 137 BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF NOTABLE PERSONS ENGAGED IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN CAMPAIGN 152 RECIPIENTS OF THE VICTORIA CROSS 191 LEXICON OF TERMS AND PLACES CONNECTED WITH THE CAMPAIGN 197 DEATHS IN ACTION AND FROM DISEASE 208 LIST OF CASUALTIES 211 INDEX 213 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS--VOL. VI. MAP ILLUSTRATING GENERAL BULLER'S CAMPAIGN IN NATAL, MAY-JUNE 1900 _At Front_ 1. _COLOURED PLATES_ PAGE MUSTER OF THE CAPE TOWN GUARD _Frontispiece_ THE GRENADIER GUARDS 8 THE HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY 56 THE VICTORIA MOUNTED RIFLES 72 THE ROYAL WELSH FUSILIERS 120 THE 2ND NORTHAMPTON REGIMENT 140 MARKET SQUARE, JOHANNESBURG 148 COMMANDER AND ABLE-SEAMAN, R.N. 192 2. _FULL-PAGE PLATES_ AUSTRALIAN BUSHMEN ON THE MARCH 24 A HISTORIC BATTLEFIELD: MAJUBA 32 PRINSLOO'S COMMANDO RETREATING TO THE BRANDWATER BASIN 44 PRINSLOO'S LAST STAND IN THE VALLEY OF THE LITTLE CALEDON 48 THE SURRENDER OF PRINSLOO'S FORCE 52 ALGOA BAY AND PORT ELIZABETH 64 BOERS TAKING THE OATH OF NEUTRALITY 88 PRISONERS' CAMP AT NOOITGEDACHT 96 THE NIGHT CHARGE OF THE 19TH HUSSARS NEAR LYDENBURG 104 THE DÉBÂCLE: ON THE TRACK OF A FLEEING COMMANDO 112 SIMON'S TOWN, CAPE COLONY 124 BURNING THE FARM OF A TREACHEROUS BURGHER 128 THE HARBOUR, EAST LONDON 132 THE INSPECTION OF COLONIAL SOLDIERS AT WINDSOR 136 RETURN OF THE CITY IMPERIAL VOLUNTEERS 144 DURBAN, NATAL 200 3. _FULL-PAGE PORTRAITS_ THE EARL OF AIRLIE 16 MAJOR-GENERAL CLEMENTS, D.S.O. 40 DE WET 80 MAJOR-GENERAL BARTON 152 H.R.H. PRINCE CHRISTIAN 160 SIR FRANCIS CLERY, K.C.B. 168 MAJOR-GENERAL SMITH-DORRIEN, D.S.O. 176 LIEUT.-GENERAL TUCKER, C.B. 184 4. _MAPS AND ENGRAVINGS IN THE TEXT_ MAP OF SEAT OF WAR 5 PLANS--BATTLE OF DIAMOND HILL 14, 16 LINES TORN UP BY DE WET 22 BATTLE OF ALMOND'S NEK (MAJUBA) 28 REPAIRING LAING'S NEK TUNNEL 31 RAILWAY MAP--E. AND S.E. OF PRETORIA 33 " " W. AND S.W. OF PRETORIA 41 " " E. ORANGE RIVER COLONY AND NATAL 45 POSITION OF TROOPS ROUND THE BRANDWATER BASIN BEFORE THE SURRENDER OF PRINSLOO 50 NITRAL'S NEK 58 MAP ILLUSTRATING THE EASTWARD MOVE FROM EERSTEFABRIEKEN TO MIDDELBURG 64 MAP--THE BATTLEFIELDS OF PRETORIA 73 COMMANDO'S NEK, MAGALIESBERG 79 A CAPITAL ON WHEELS 94 MAP--LYDENBURG CAMPAIGN 104 BARBERTON 107 HARRISMITH 113 MAJOR-GENERAL BRABAZON 155 BRIGADIER-GENERAL BROADWOOD 155 LIEUT.-COLONEL DALGETY 161 HON. SIR W. HELY-HUTCHINSON 169 MAJOR-GENERAL HUTTON, C.B. 171 COLONEL KEKEWICH 172 LIEUTENANT ROBERTS, V.C. 182 LIEUTENANT-COLONEL THORNEYCROFT 186 CAPTAIN TOWSE, V.C. 186 SURG.-GENERAL W. D. WILSON 189 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE--VOL. VI. JUNE 1900. 5.--The British flag hoisted in Pretoria. 7.--The 4th Battalion Derbyshire Regiment (Sherwood Foresters) captured by the enemy at Roodeval. 9.--Klerksdorp surrendered to General Hunter. 11.--Lord Methuen gained a complete victory over De Wet. 12.--Almond's Nek having been forced the previous day, the Boers evacuated Laing's Nek and Majuba at nightfall, and General Buller encamped four miles north of Volksrust. The battle of Diamond Hill. Lord Roberts defeated Botha 15 miles east of Pretoria. The Boers retreated in the night farther east. 13.--The Boers continued their aggressions on the Senekal-Ficksburg line. The Senekal-Winburg telegraph line was damaged. General Lyttelton occupied Wakkerstroom. 14.--Rustenburg occupied by General Baden-Powell. Botha's rearguard surprised and "thoroughly routed" by General Ian Hamilton's Mounted Infantry. Position on Zand River attacked by 800 Boers with three guns. Enemy driven off by General Knox. 15.--Column left Pretoria to meet General Baden-Powell and repair telegraph between Pretoria and Rustenburg. 18.--General Baden-Powell arrived at Pretoria. General Hunter occupied Krugersdorp. 19.--Lord Methuen defeated De Wet at Heilbron. 20.--Extinction of rebellion in Cape Colony. Surrender of De Villiers. 22.--Lord Dundonald occupied Standerton. 24.--General Clements defeated the Boers at Winburg. General Ian Hamilton occupied Heidelburg. 26.--Boer attack repulsed near Senekal, and enemy's laager burned. 27.--Attack on British at Roodeval Spruit. Boers beaten off. JULY 1900. 1.--Generals Hunter and MacDonald joined hands at Frankfort. 4.--General Buller's forces and those of the Commander-in-Chief joined at Vlakfontein. Entire railway from Natal to Johannesburg in hands of the British. General Paget drove the enemy from strong positions towards Bethlehem. 7.--General Buller arrived at Pretoria. Bethlehem captured by Generals Clements and Paget. De Wet put to flight. 11.--Squadron of Scots Greys, five companies of the Lincolnshire Regiment, with two guns of the O Battery of the Royal Horse Artillery, captured at Nitral's Nek. General Smith-Dorrien successfully engaged the Boers near Krugersdorp. 16.--Determined attacks by Boers on left flank of British posts in the Pretoria district. Enemy driven off with loss. 19.--General Little engaged De Wet near Lindley, and broke up his forces. 21.--Advance begun from Pretoria east, along Delagoa Bay Railway. A supply train, with 100 Welsh Fusiliers, captured near Honing Spruit. 23.--The Black Watch capture a hill at Retief's Nek. The Highland Light Infantry were compelled to retire from a steep hill above the Nek. 25.--Lord Roberts's force reached Balmoral on the way to Middelburg. French's Cavalry and Hutton's Mounted Infantry put Boers to flight six miles south of Balmoral. Boers flee in disorder before Lord Roberts's advance. General French crosses Oliphant's River. 26.--Philip de Wet, younger brother of Christian de Wet, surrendered at Kroonstad. General Hunter occupied Fouriesburg. General MacDonald, after fighting a rearguard action, blocked Naauwpoort Nek. 27.--Occupation of Middelburg by advance guard of Lord Roberts without opposition. 30.--Surrender of Generals Prinsloo, A. J. Villiers, and Crowther, and 4000 Boers to General Hunter. AUGUST 1900. 4.--Surrender of Harrismith to General MacDonald. 10.--Discovery of the plot at Pretoria to kidnap Lord Roberts and the British officers. Pursuit of De Wet continued. 12.--De Wet escaped. 16.--Eland's River garrison relieved. 24.--Lord Roberts left for the front in the Eastern Transvaal to operate against General Botha. 25.--Lieutenant Hans Cordua shot in Pretoria for his participation in the plot against Lord Roberts. 26.--Great battle near Dalmanutha. Capture of Commandant Olivier and his two sons at Winburg. 27.--Important positions captured near Dalmanutha. 28.--General Buller's troops occupied Machadodorp. Bergendal occupied. 29.--Kruger fled to Nelspruit. The Boers evacuated Helvetia, which was occupied by General Buller. 30.--British occupation of Waterval Boven. Release of about 2000 British prisoners at Nooitgedacht. SEPTEMBER 1900. 1.--Lord Roberts annexed to the British Empire the South African Republic, which henceforth will be known as the Transvaal Colony. 4.--General Buller and Botha engaged at Lydenburg. Siege of Ladybrand raised. 6.--British occupied Lydenburg. Botha retreated. 8.--Spitz Kop captured. 11.--Kruger, having fled from the Transvaal, arrived in Portuguese territory, and proceeded to Lorenzo Marques. 13.--Lord Roberts issued a proclamation calling upon the Boers to surrender. General French occupied Barberton. 16.--British occupied Nelspruit. 20.--British occupation of Kaap Muiden. 24.--Arrival of the British at the Portuguese frontier. Evacuation of all the Boer positions near the frontier. 25.--Lord Roberts telegraphed to the Lord Mayor of London that the City Imperial Volunteers might be expected home "before November 5th." Surrender of Boers to the Portuguese. OCTOBER 1900. 3.--Return of General Buller to Lydenburg after having marched through the whole of the hilly country to the north as far as Pilgrim's Rest, and having occupied the principal Boer positions. 9.--Continuous series of engagements in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, and defeat of De Wet, who was driven north, across the Vaal, at Venterstroom. 10.--General Buller prepared to return home. 11.--Anniversary of Kruger's insolent ultimatum. 19.--Mr. Kruger left Lorenzo Marques for Europe, and made his exit from the political stage. 24.--General Buller left Cape Town for England. Koffyfontein besieged. 25.--The Transvaal formally annexed. NOVEMBER 1900 3.--Koffyfontein relieved. 6.--Engagement with De Wet near Bothaville. 16.--Conspirators against Lord Roberts arrested. 18.--Lord Roberts met with an accident at Johannesburg. 23.--Garrison at Dewetsdorp surrendered to De Wet. 27.--General Charles Knox in touch with De Wet at Beyersberg. 29.--Lord Kitchener took over the command in South Africa. DECEMBER 1900. 5.--De Wet crossed the Caledon with a view to entering Cape Colony. 11.--Lord Roberts left Cape Town for England. De Wet, after being turned northward by General Knox, moved towards Reddersburg. 13.--Reverse to General Clements near the Magaliesberg. Brabant's Horse mishap near Zastron. 19.--Boers under Delarey routed. Boer raid into Cape Colony. 21.--War Office arranged for reinforcements. 22.--Boer movement in Cape Colony checked. 26.--General Charles Knox engaged with De Wet near Leeuw Kop. 28.--De Wet, frustrated in his attempt to break through to the south, withdrew to Senekal. Cape raiders driven northward. 29.--British garrison at Helvetia captured. 30.--Preparations made for the frustration of a more ambitious Boer raid into Cape Colony. JANUARY 1901 1.--"Call to arms" at Capetown. Enthusiastic response. 7.--Boers attacked Belfast, Wonderfontein, Nooitgedacht, Widfontein, and Pan, and after sharp fighting were dispersed. 10.--Machadodorp attacked by night. Post gallantly defended. 12.--Boers driven eastward from Witwatersberg by General French. Activities in Cape Colony to frustrate Hertzog's advance. 22.--Death of Queen Victoria. Lamentation throughout the world. 23.--Colonels De Lisle, Scobell, and Collenbrander drove the enemy out of Calvinia and Van Rhynsdorp, and pursued him north to Carnarvon. 28.--General French marched eastward, clearing the valley of the Wilge River. FEBRUARY 1901. 6.--General French, after encountering little resistance, entered Ermelo. General Smith-Dorrien repulsed 2000 of the enemy. His losses were 23 killed and 52 wounded. 9.--Eastern movement continued in deluges of rain, but invasion of Natal by Botha eventually frustrated. 10.--De Wet, after many contests with the British forces in Orange River Colony, succeeded in crossing the river at Sand Drift. 14.--Animated chases after De Wet. 23.--De Wet succeeded in recrossing the river after losing 200 prisoners, all his guns, ammunition, and waggons. 27.--Lengthy negotiations for the promotion of peace took place between Lord Kitchener and Commandant Botha, which negotiations eventually fell to the ground. OFFICIAL TABLE OF CASUALTIES IN SOUTH AFRICA. The following is a table of casualties in the Field Force, South Africa, reported during the month of December 1900, and total casualties reported since the beginning of the war, up to and including the month:-- [Transcribers' Note: In order to fit the table within the standard Project Gutenberg constraints, column headings have been keyed as follows: D: Died of Wounds in South Africa (included in wounded). M: Missing and Prisoners. T: Total Killed, Wounded, Missing and Prisoners. O: Officers. N: N.C.O.'s and Men.] +---------------------------+--------+-----------+-------+---------+-----------+ | | Killed.| Wounded. | D | M | T | | Casualties in Action. +---+----+----+------+--+----+---+-----+----+------+ | | O | N | O | N |O | N | O | N | O | N | +---------------------------+---+----+----+------+--+----+---+-----+----+------+ |Nooitgedacht, December 13 | 9| 57| 11| 183|..| 12|[A]|18[A]| 20 | 258| |Other casualties | 4| 141| 41| 382| 4| 71| 2| 101 | 47| 624| | +---+----+----+------+--+----+---+-----+----+------+ |Total casualties | | | | | | | | | | | | reported during the month| 13| 198| 52| 565| 4| 83| 2| 119 | 67| 882| | +---+----+----+------+--+----+---+-----+----+------+ |Total casualties reported | | | | | | | | | | | | up to and including the| | | | | | | | | | | | month-- | | | | | | | | | | | | Belmont, | | | | | | | | | | | | November 23, 1899 | 3| 50| 25| 220| 1| 21|...| ...| 28| 270| | Colenso, | | | | | | | | | | | | December 15, 1899 | 7| 134| 43| 719| 2| 20| 21| 206| 71| 1039| | Driefontein, | | | | | | | | | | | | March 10, 1900 | 5| 58| 29| 342| 1| 18|...| 2| 24| 402| | Dundee, October 20, 1899 | 8| 43| 21| 84| 3| ...| 25| 305| 44| 432| | Elandslaagte, | | | | | | | | | | | | October 21, 1899 | 5| 50| 30| 169|..| 6|...| 4| 35| 223| | Enslin (Graspan), | | | | | | | | | | | | November 25, 1899 | 3| 14| 6| 162| 1| 4|...| 9| 9| 185| | Farquhar's Farm and | | | | | | | | | | | | Nicholson's Nek, | | | | | | | | | | | | October 30, 1899 | 6| 56| 9| 244|..| 10| 43| 927| 58| 1227| | Johannesburg and | | | | | | | | | | | | Pretoria, capture of | 3| 20| 34| 132| 1| 8| 5| 38| 42| 190| | Karee, near Brandfort, | | | | | | | | | | | | March 29, 1900 | 1| 20| 9| 152| 1| 11|...| ...| 10| 172| | Ladysmith, Relief of, | | | | | | | | | | | | February 19 to 27, 1900| 22| 241| 91| 1530| 3| 80| 1| 11| 114| 1782| | Magersfontein, | | | | | | | | | | | | December 11, 1899 | 23| 167| 45| 645| 3| 35|...| 91| 68| 903| | Monte Christo | | | | | | | | | | | | (Colenso), &c., | | | | | | | | | | | | February 15 to 18, 1900| 1| 13| 8| 180|..| 3|...| 4| 9| 197| | Modder River, | | | | | | | | | | | | November 28, 1899 | 4| 66| 20| 393|..| 32|...| 2| 24| 461| | Paardeberg, | | | | | | | | | | | | February 16 to 27, 1900| 18| 245| 74| 1137| 6| 69| 6| 58| 98| 1440| | Potgeiter's Drift, | | | | | | | | | | | | February 5 to 7, 1900 | 2| 23| 18| 326|..| 8|...| 5| 20| 354| | Pretoria, east of, | | | | | | | | | | | | June 11 and 12, 1900 | 8| 6| 16| 128| 1| 4| 1| 3| 25| 137| | Reddersburg, | | | | | | | | | | | | April 3 and 4, 1900 | 2| 10| 2| 33| 1| 1| 8| 397| 12| 440| | Rietfontein, | | | | | | | | | | | | October 24, 1899 | 1| 11| 6| 98|..| 4|...| 2| 7| 111| | Sanna's Post, | | | | | | | | | | | | March 31, 1900 | 3| 15| 16| 122| 2| 7| 18| 408| 37| 545| | Senekal, May 29, 1900 |...| 38| 7| 127| 1| 5|...| 12| 7| 177| | Spion Kop, &c., | | | | | | | | | | | | January 17 to 24, 1900 | 30| 276| 53| 1061| 6| 52| 4| 314| 87| 1651| | Stormberg, | | | | | | | | | | | | December 10, 1899 |...| 31| 7| 51|..| 1| 13| 620| 20| 702| | Uitval's Nek, | | | | | | | | | | | | July 11, 1900 | 3| 16| 3| 53|..| 3| 4| 186| 10| 255| | Willow Grange, | | | | | | | | | | | | November 23, 1899 |...| 11| 1| 66|..| 2| 1| 8| 2| 85| | At Ladysmith, during | | | | | | | | | | | | Investment-- | | | | | | | | | | | | Battle of January 6, | | | | | | | | | | | | 1900 | 14| 164| 33| 287| 4| 25|...| 2| 47| 453| | Other casualties | 6| 60| 36| 280| 3| 29|...| 12| 42| 352| | At Kimberley during | | | | | | | | | | | | Investment | 2| 36| 15| 124|..| 4| 1| 3| 18| 163| | At Mafeking during | | | | | | | | | | | | Investment | 5| 64| 10| 152|..| 9| 1| 41| 16| 257| | Other casualties |139|1278| 562| 5434|57| 564|152| 4372| 853|11,084| | +---+----+----+------+--+----+---+-----+----+------+ | Total casualties in | | | | | | | | | | | | action reported up to |324|3216|1209|14,451|97|1035|304| 8042|1837|25,709| | December 31 | | | | | | |[B]| [B] | | | +---------------------------+---+----+----+------+--+----+---+-----+----+------+ FOOTNOTES: [A] In this action 15 officers and 560 men were reported missing. The great majority of these were captured, but were released on December 16. [B] Of these, 293 officers and 7052 men have been released or have escaped, and 4 officers and 92 men have died in captivity. +------------------------------------------+---------+----------+ | Other Casualties. |Officers.| N.C.O.'s | | | | and Men | +------------------------------------------+---------+----------+ |Reported during the month-- | | | | Died of disease in South Africa | 11 | 445 | | Accidental deaths in South Africa | 1 | 24 | | Invalids sent home | 87 | 1437 | | +---------+----------+ |Total up to and including the month-- | | | | Died of disease in South Africa | 174 | 7011 | | Accidental deaths in South Africa | 5 | 200 | | Invalids sent home-- | | | | Wounded | } | { 5662 | | Sick | } 1638 | {30243 | | Not specified which | } | { 1081 | +------------------------------------------+---------+----------+ |Total reduction of the Field Force, South | | | | Africa, due to casualties. | | | | | | | |Reported during the month-- | | | | Killed in action | 13 | 198 | | Died of wounds in South Africa | 4 | 83 | | Died of disease in South Africa | 11 | 445 | | Accidental deaths in South Africa | 1 | 24 | | Missing and prisoners | 2 | 119 | | Sent home as invalids | 87 | 1437 | | +---------+----------+ | Total | 118 | 2306 | | +---------+----------+ |Totals reported up to and including the | | | | month-- | | | | Killed in action | 324 | 3216 | | Died of wounds | 97 | 1035 | | Prisoners who have died in captivity | 4 | 92 | | Died of disease | 174 | 7011 | | Accidental deaths | 5 | 200 | | +---------+----------+ | Total deaths in South Africa | 604 | 11,554 | | Missing and prisoners (excluding those | | | | who have been recovered or have | | | | died in captivity) | 7 | 898[C]| | Sent home as invalids | 1638 | 36,986[C]| | +---------+----------+ | Total, South African Field Force | 2249 49,438 | | | \ / | | | 51,687[D] | +------------------------------------------+---------+----------+ |Total reduction of the Military Forces | | | | through war in South Africa-- | | | | Deaths in South Africa | 604 | 11,554 | | Missing and prisoners | 7 | 898[D]| | Invalids sent home who have died | 4 | 243 | | Invalids sent home who have left the | | | | Service as unfit | ... | 1570 | | +---------+----------+ | | 615 14,265 | | | \ / | | | 14,380[E] | +------------------------------------------+--------------------+ FOOTNOTES: [C] Of these, 243 have died, 1570 have been discharged from the Service as unfit, and 654 are in hospital. [D] This total includes a number of men reported "missing" who subsequently rejoined, but whose return has not yet been notified. [E] The difference between these two numbers is due to the fact that the great majority of the men invalided home have recovered and rejoined for duty. (See note B.) [Illustration: T. C. & E. C. Jack. Edinburgh. MAP ILLUSTRATING GENERAL BULLER'S CAMPAIGN IN NATAL--MAY-JUNE 1900.] SOUTH AFRICA AND THE TRANSVAAL WAR CHAPTER I TO QUEEN VICTORIA "May children of our children say, 'She wrought her people lasting good; 'Her court was pure; her life serene; God gave her peace; her land reposed; A thousand claims to reverence closed In her as Mother, Wife, and Queen; 'And statesmen at her council met Who knew the seasons when to take Occasion by the hand, and make The bounds of freedom wider yet 'By shaping some august decree, Which kept her throne unshaken still, Broadbased upon her people's will, And compass'd by the inviolate sea.'" --TENNYSON. PRETORIA Pretoria, like most South African towns, dozes in the lap of the hills, dozes tranquilly in a haven of generous nature, as dozed her Dutchmen in the midst of growing civilisation. The place from the distance is fair to the eye, poplar-groved, verdant, and picturesque, with the glimmer of red roofs cutting against the green, and veils of gauzy clouds, now grey, now purple, now azure, interlacing the hills and linking them with the sky. Its quaint, old, low-storeyed houses--in some cases thatched like bungalows--and its more modern tenements roofed with zinc, and bounded by pleasant rose-gardens tangled with flowers, seemed to the new-comers strangely suburban in contrast with the imposing Government buildings and shops which were soon alive with all the fluster of nineteenth-century money-getting. For the great entry made, the capital was swift to resume its everyday aspect, and trade grew even brisker than before. Famine prices reigned: though in some hotels where comforts were many, baths and sanitary arrangements were primitive. The Boers were busy "making hay while the sun shone," consequently living became twice as expensive as in England; and, what was worse, with the enormous and somewhat voracious army to be fed, supplies threatened at no very remote date to become exhausted. At first all things seemed to denote that the war was practically over, that nothing remained but to accept the surrender of the defeated Boers, and to settle quickly the administration of the conquered Republics. By degrees, however, disappointment set in--disappointment not unmixed with alarm. The redoubtable Christian de Wet had theories of his own; he put on his shoulders the mantle of the deposed Cronje, and set to work to show his generalship by destroying the railway in the south, cutting the telegraph wires, and generally harassing the lines of communication. Indeed, there was every appearance that the late investing forces might in their turn become invested in the capital. Postal and telegraphic communications were cut, supplies and reinforcements were menaced, and gradually the sunny outlook of conquest grew nebulous. The defeated forces also began to concentrate at Machadodorp, beyond Middelburg, where Mr. Kruger was actively engaged in conference with his friends. They were not devoid of funds, for it was found that before leaving Pretoria the Boer officials had provided themselves with £300,000 from the National Bank, and while this sum lasted and he remained in the country, it was argued that Mr. Kruger's schemes of bribery and corruption might be expected to continue, and even develop. Still Lord Roberts was undismayed! He had foreseen attacks on his communications, but had hazarded all on the one throw of reaching the capital before the Boers could gather together their forces for organised resistance, pushing forward in the only way possible if the conquered were to be left breathless. Napoleon's advice to one of his marshals, "A commander-in-chief should never give rest either to the victor or the vanquished," had been followed to the foot of the letter, as the French say. In this notable march the marvellous genius of Lord Roberts had been shown in many ways, but in courage before all. He had adapted his fighting dispositions on a system specially suitable to the idiosyncrasies of the Boers--had observed their natural disinclination to take the initiative, their failure to act on the offensive rather than the defensive, and, on this discovery, had invented new tactics which were exactly appropriate and eminently successful. His infantry had made the centre of the advancing line to east and west of the rail, perpetually threatening the enemy with frontal attack, while active and competent wings of mounted troops unceasingly wheeled round both flanks, threatening to turn them so soon as opportunity should offer. Thus the Boers, for fear of being outflanked, were forced to extend their front till the central position--at the railway line--became too weak for resistance, and they had of necessity to retreat, and continue to retreat, till they were too exhausted to do more than run. At the Chief's masterly combinations, his ingenious synchronal schemes, his almost prophetic foresight regarding the positions of the enemy, and the effect of his every move upon those positions, it is impossible not to marvel--as at the amazing boldness and rapidity of execution with which was developed a design which brought him with his enormous army in little more than a month from Bloemfontein to Pretoria. From the following general order issued on his arrival at his destination it is possible to understand the magnitude and the daring of the Chief's plan, which, merely to read of, renders one almost breathless:-- "PRETORIA, _June 7_. "In congratulating the British Army in South Africa on the occupation of Johannesburg and Pretoria, the one being the principal town and the other the capital of the Transvaal, and also on the relief of Mafeking after a heroic defence of over 200 days, the Field-Marshal Commanding-in-chief desires to place on record his high appreciation of the gallantry and endurance displayed by the troops, both those who have taken part in the advance across the Vaal River and those who have been employed in the less arduous duty of protecting the line of communication through the Orange River Colony. "After the force reached Bloemfontein on March 13, it was necessary to halt there for a certain period. Through railway communication with Cape Colony had to be restored before supplies and necessaries of all kinds could be got up from the base. The rapid advance from the Modder River, and the want of forage _en route_, had told on the horses of the cavalry, artillery, mounted infantry, and the transport mules and oxen, and to replace these casualties a considerable number of animals had to be provided. Throughout the six weeks the army remained halted at Bloemfontein the enemy showed considerable activity, especially in the south-eastern portion of the Orange River Colony, but by the beginning of May everything was in readiness for a further advance into the enemy's country, and on the 2nd of that month active operations were again commenced. "On May 12, Kroonstad, where Mr. Steyn had established the so-called government of the Orange Free State, was entered. On May 17, Mafeking was relieved. On May 31 Johannesburg was occupied, and on June 5 the British flag waved over Pretoria. "During these thirty-five days, the main body of the force marched 300 miles, including fifteen days' halt, and engaged the enemy on six different occasions. "The column under Lieutenant-General Ian Hamilton marched 400 miles in forty-five days, including ten days' halt. It was engaged with the enemy twenty-eight times. "The flying column under the command of Colonel B. Mahon, which relieved Mafeking, marched at the rate of nearly fifteen miles a day for fourteen consecutive days, and successfully accomplished its object, despite the determined opposition offered by the enemy. "The newly raised battalion of the City of London Imperial Volunteers marched 500 miles in fifty-four days, only once having two consecutive days' halt. It took part in twenty-six engagements with the enemy. "During the recent operations the sudden variations in temperature between the warm sun in the daytime and the bitter cold at night have been peculiarly trying to the troops, and owing to the necessity for rapid movement the soldiers have frequently had to bivouac after long and trying marches without firewood and with scanty rations. "The cheerful spirit in which these difficulties have been overcome and hardships disregarded are deserving of the highest praise, and in thanking all ranks for the successful efforts to obtain the objects in view, Lord Roberts is proud to think that the soldiers under his command have worthily upheld the traditions of her Majesty's army in fighting, in marching, and in the admirable discipline which has been maintained throughout a period of no ordinary trial and difficulty. (Signed) ROBERTS, Field-Marshal." As may be imagined, the man who could accomplish so much in so short a span of time remained unperturbed by a vision of clouds on the horizon. He knew that though with the fall of Pretoria the campaign nominally ended, there were many minor passages at arms to be expected in various parts of the two Republics. There were the remnants of Botha's army to north and east; there were De Wet and his marauders playing havoc with lines and telegraph wires, prowling in search of ill-defended convoys, and inspirited to fresh deeds of aggression by the successful capture of Colonel Spragge's Yeomanry; there were Potchefstroom and Klerksdorp to be occupied by Sir Archibald Hunter, and Griqualand to be finally pacified by Sir Charles Warren. [Illustration: MAP OF THE SEAT OF WAR.] Still, it was unpleasant to receive the report that while the main army had been advancing, an immense force of Boers, through a series of unfortunate mistakes, had succeeded in capturing in the vicinity of Vredefort Road, a convoy and an escort of a company and a half of Highlanders on its way to Heilbron. The outline of the unhappy affair was painful in the extreme. As the mysterious circumstances attending the movements of the convoy have not yet been fully sifted, it would be unfair to accept the numerous criticisms offered on the subject, and details regarding the capture are so lost in the "fog of war," that it is difficult to give an account of the series of muddles that brought about disaster. It appeared that though the enemy were lurking everywhere the convoy was travelling from Winburg under escort of only a company and a half "odd" men of the Brigade with orders to pick it up at Kroonstad, which place was subsequently changed to Heilbron. At Vredefort the party were to leave the rail and go by road; but shortly it received orders to await an escort that was being sent from Heilbron. General Hector MacDonald wired that it should not proceed further till escorted by a strong force of mounted troops, infantry, and artillery, as he himself, during his five days' march, had been repeatedly in collision with the foe. The officer in command laagered up. Next day an orderly reconnoitred and failed to detect the presence of the enemy. Suspicion had been aroused, however, by the disappearance of a Colonial conductor, who, it seems, used the occasion to report to De Wet, who promptly seized the time and the opportunity. He sent in with a flag of truce a terse message, "I have 1200 men and five guns. Surrender at once." An hour earlier Major Haig with 600 men, marching from Vredefort Road, had got to within two miles of the convoy, but hearing that the railhead was threatened had turned back. The convoy was therefore at De Wet's mercy, and he knew it. He refused to give any terms, so the small party capitulated! General Hector MacDonald, in defence of his Highlanders, who were evidently not at fault, gave a concise account of the circumstances attending the misadventure--an account more trustworthy than those of outsiders-- "While the Brigade was at Wynberg, a company of the Black Watch was sent as escort to a convoy of pom-pom ammunition to Smalldeel railway station, and a day or two later half a company of Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders with captured arms and ammunition, and we were informed that they would join us at Kroonstad. The Brigade, however, instead of going to Kroonstad, marched by way of Ventersburg and Lindley to Heilbron, while the detached companies marched by the railway to Roodeval. As we were opposed--practically surrounded--for the last five days of our march, a wire was sent to Smalldeel not to send in a convoy until it could be escorted by a strong force of mounted troops, infantry, and artillery. The Commandant at Smalldeel, however, sent away the convoy under escort of the company and a half of Highlanders, with the result that it was captured. Perhaps the Commandant was acting under orders from the army headquarters, and that remains to be seen." Certain it was that the Highland Brigade, who had already been subsisting on frugal, one may say starvation, fare was left in a sorry plight, and fully appreciated the significance of the saying that too many cooks will spoil the broth. On the shoulders of which of the cooks the blame will eventually rest remains to be seen. It was the opinion of some that sufficient precautions were not taken to insure the expedition's transmission of supplies, and the entrenchment and strong fortification of small bodies of troops sent to guard the line of rail; and also that there was an insufficiently co-ordinated system of intelligence, in consequence of which commanding officers moving with detached forces were without definite information regarding the movements and destination of other forces, friendly or inimical, which might have to be encountered. The mishaps of Sanna's Post--the capture of the Yeomanry and other corps--were thought to have been occasioned by the absence of a general staff--a general staff trained by years of practice to the exigencies of life in the field. Such a staff of trained and picked officers was educated by Napoleon for his use under his personal supervision, while Lord Roberts, with a gigantic army of 200,000 men, had a merely improvised machine. He had certainly Lord Kitchener at his elbow, but this officer's duties developed into those of the "handy-man"--now organiser, now fighter, now administrator in rebellious districts--thus depriving the Chief of the clockwork apparatus that should be represented by the General Staff, at a time when generals and troops, like engines and railway carriages, had to be timed to arrive and depart from stations on the hard-and-fast principles of Bradshaw. At this date with Lord Roberts in Pretoria were two and a half infantry divisions, a cavalry division, and a mounted infantry division, Wavell's Brigade having been left at Johannesburg, while the other half proceeded to the Capital. General Hunter's Division, joined by Colonel Mahon's force, was operating at Ventersdorp, while Colonel Plumer without opposition occupied Zeerust, the officials agreeing to take the oath provided they were protected from their fellow-countrymen. Elsewhere, across the Orange River Colony, the troops were fairly well expanded. General Colvile with the Highland Brigade was near Heilbron, and south of him Lord Methuen, while at Lindley was General Paget. At Senekal and Hammonia were General Clements and General Rundle respectively. South of these again, Generals Chermside and Brabant were operating. It was imagined that the combined vigilance of these officers had entirely protected the communications in the Orange River Colony, but on the 7th of June the unquenchable Dutchmen succeeded in cutting line and telegraph wire north of Kroonstad, and in taking prisoners most of the 4th Battalion of the Derbyshires (Sherwood Foresters), who were guarding the district. Of the battalion, the Colonel, a lieutenant, and thirty-four rank and file were killed, five officers and ninety-nine men were wounded, and the rest, save six, made prisoners! The story ran thus: At dusk on the 4th, the Derbyshire Militia Regiment arrived at Roodeval and pitched their camp in the lee of a string of kopjes that shelved away to the west, and terminated in a high hump which, jutting out of the plain, commanded rail, camp, and the surrounding hills. Owing to the darkness it was impossible to do much in the way of reconnoitring, and though some scouts and natives warned the commanding officers that Boers had been espied in the vicinity, little notice was taken. The pickets, which had been posted on a range of kopjes north of the camp, were strengthened, and some few shots fired at distant snipers. Then the party laid themselves down to rest, and slept placidly. Before dawn they were awakened by the furious crackling of musketry, and even as the men turned out with their rifles, they dropped. One after another as they left their tents fell victims to the unseen foe. The fact was, the pickets had been attacked and driven in, and the enemy occupied the range which commanded the British troops. Presently the early morning was humming with shot and shell, the Boers now having brought four big guns and a pom-pom to bear on the unfortunate camp and the bald plain that surrounded it. Valiantly the militiamen, raw and unfledged warriors as they were, fought; long, bloody, and disastrous hours passed, and they, falling thick as autumn leaves, continued to hold out in a completely defenceless position till the plain was littered with dead and wounded--more than eighty of them now lying in a trap from which it was impossible to escape. Colonel Baird-Douglas,[1] wounded in four places, fought like a lion, encouraging his men, and vowing to shoot the first who should display a white flag. Then he dropped exhausted and breathed his last. Finally 420 prisoners were taken, including the following officers of the 4th Derbyshire Regiment:-- Captain J. Humber, Captain C. P. Piers, Captain A. M. W. Mohun-Harris, Captain E. M. Wilmot, Captain R. C. Fenwick, Captain and Adjutant R. Britten, Lieutenant P. C. Shepard, Second-Lieutenant A. C. Hewitt, Second-Lieutenant J. L. Heymann, Second-Lieutenant H. L. Napier, Second-Lieutenant H. M. Milward, Second-Lieutenant J. H. W. Becke, Second-Lieutenant J. H. Mathias, Second-Lieutenant H. S. Anderson, Second-Lieutenant E. N. T. Collin, Hon. Lieutenant and Quartermaster M. M'Guire. Among the killed were:--Lieutenant-Colonel Baird-Douglas and Lieutenant Horley. Among the wounded:--Colonel Wilkinson, Captain Bailey, Second-Lieutenants Hall and Lawder, Lieutenant Blanchard, Canadian Infantry (attached to 4th Derbyshire). It was said that after the capture the commandants, on bringing the prisoners to the station, were seen cordially shaking hands with a railway official as though exchanging congratulations. This circumstance was one of many which bore witness to the innumerable acts of treachery and duplicity with which commanding officers had to contend. [Illustration: Colour-Sergeant. Sergeant-Major. THE GRENADIER GUARDS. Photo by Gregory & Co., London.] On the same day, in the same locality, there was another engagement, which resulted in the capture of a number of the Railway Pioneer Corps. According to an account in the _Bloemfontein Post_, the corps was awakened at 5.26 in the morning by an unusual stir among the sentries. A moment afterwards a voice was heard asking, "Can any one speak Dutch?" A man, evidently a burgher, approached Captain Grant McDonnel and Lieutenants Blanchard and Hayes with a note from the Boer commandant in the vicinity, stating that he had 1200 men and five guns with him, and adding that he would give the British force ten minutes in which to surrender. The bearer, after delivering the note, went back to a large body of Boers mounted on horses, who had by this time approached so close as to be plainly visible. The Pioneer Corps, realising their dangerous position, endeavoured hastily to improvise a barricade with a number of railway trucks, and also requisitioned a large quantity of biscuit and meat tins for the purpose. The orders of Captain Gale were speedily carried out, and soon his little force, numbering 160, were completely sheltered behind the barricade. The Boers, after waiting the specified ten minutes, and perceiving the efforts of the British to offer resistance, immediately opened fire, pouring volley after volley on the force. Captain Gale and two pioneers fell from the rifle fire, while shrapnel shells bursting near killed three men. The enemy then directed their heavy artillery on the barricades and station buildings, the latter being practically destroyed. The Boers were now only fourteen hundred yards away, and well hidden. An endeavour was made to have the wounded conveyed to safety behind a large tank, but a shell from the Boer guns exploded among the horses and the animals stampeded. Firing from heavy guns was afterwards heard coming from the opposite direction to the Boers. Hopes were high among the gallant force that relief was at last arriving from Kroonstad. The pioneers, however, soon became too painfully aware that the firing came from another body of the enemy, who had surrounded the 4th Derbyshire Regiment the same morning. Although the firing continued, an outlying patrol attempted to reach the pioneers. The whole of the Boer guns were now worked with increased energy, and soon the want of ammunition compelled the British force to surrender. The report then went on to say that Commandant De Wet, mounted on an English charger, advanced and asked the number of British killed. Looking at the dead body of Captain Gale, the Boer commandant remarked sympathetically, "Poor man. Very sad. Bury him at once." He also courteously allowed the body to be wrapped in a Union Jack. De Wet is a tall, heavily built man, with a brown beard. He wore a tweed suit and an overcoat, and carried a rifle and bandolier. Attached to his gold chain was a medal, on which was a representation of Kruger's head. De Wet was very polite to his captives, and kindly expressed his sorrow at having to destroy two thousand bags of mails. Unless he did so, he added, the young Boers would open the letters. The bags were afterwards ripped open, and the Boers looted the baggage. One burgher found a number of bank notes as part of his spoil, while others obtained tobacco, cigars, and various medical comforts. Lieutenant Thurston, Cape Pioneer Railway Regiment, and Lieutenant Staffkett, Cape Pioneer Railway Regiment, were made prisoners. Some of the prisoners were called together and made to take off parts of their dress, which the Boers then donned. The British wounded were well attended to, and were subsequently removed to the Yeomanry Hospital at Kroonstad. As a consequence of these attacks De Wet obtained possession of the line, which became so twisted and uptorn as to resemble unfinished Jacob's ladders to heaven, while Pretoria found itself minus its longed-for home letters, and standing hourly in fear of running short of food. Still affairs were going on as though nothing had happened. The Town Council temporarily continued its duties. An English Burgomaster was chosen, and a new Court of Justice was established. Colonel Maxse became the head of the police, and many Colonials who volunteered for civil employment were given posts of importance. Owing to the many acts of duplicity practised by the Boers who had surrendered, more stringent regulations regarding oath-breakers were promulgated. The publication of malicious and false reports was forbidden, and a sharp look-out was kept over the movements of the spies with which the capital was still swarming. One hundred and forty-eight officers, and 3039 men were released, and these were rearmed from the 2000 stands of arms which were given up in Pretoria on and after the British occupation. The list of the officers who had been suffering imprisonment at the hands of the Boers is a long one, and dates almost from the outset of the war:-- 18th Hussars--Lieutenant-Colonel B. D. Moller, Major H. A. F. Greville, and Captain and Adjutant W. P. M. Pollock. Army Veterinary Department--Veterinary Lieutenant F. H. Shore. 1st King's Royal Rifles--Lieutenant B. J. Majendie and Lieutenant F. M. Crum. 2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers--Captain M. P. E. Lonsdale, Lieutenant C. Garvice, Lieutenant C. T. W. Grimshaw, and Second Lieutenant T. H. C. Frankland. 10th Mountain Battery Royal Garrison Artillery--Major G. E. Bryant, Lieutenant G. D. Wheeler, Lieutenant G. R. Nugent, Lieutenant W. H. Moore, and Second Lieutenant G. T. W. Webb (attached). 1st Gloucester Regiment--Major S. Humphery, Major W. R. P. Wallace, Captain S. Duncan, Captain Connor, Lieutenant A. Bryant, Lieutenant F. C. Nisbet, Lieutenant R. M. M. Davy, Lieutenant F. A. Brent, Lieutenant C. S. Knox, Lieutenant W. A. M. Temple, Lieutenant A. H. Radice, Lieutenant J. Ingram, Lieutenant P. H. Short, Lieutenant R. L. Beasley, Second Lieutenant W. S. Mackenzie, Second Lieutenant H. H. Smith, Lieutenant and Adjutant W. L. B. Hill, Lieutenant and Quartermaster R. J. Gray. 1st Royal Irish Fusiliers--Lieutenant-Colonel F. R. C. Carleton, Major F. H. Munn, Captain A. R. Burrowes, Lieutenant A. E. S. Heard, Lieutenant C. E. Southey, Lieutenant W. G. B. Phibbs, Lieutenant H. B. Holmes, Lieutenant A. H. C. MacGregor, Lieutenant A. L. J. M. Kelly, Second Lieutenant R. J. Kentish, Second Lieutenant C. E. Kinahan, and Second Lieutenant R. W. R. Jeudwine. Rhodesian Horse--Lieutenant A. E. Harenick. Natal Carabineers--Lieutenant A. J. Gallwey. 2nd West Yorks Regiment--Major H. de T. C. Hobbs. 2nd Northumberland Fusiliers--Major W. E. Sturges, Captain E. W. Fletcher, Captain F. B. Morley, Second Lieutenant G. R. Wake, and Second Lieutenant L. B. Coulson. 2nd Dorsetshire Regiment--Lieutenant F. W. Radcliffe. 2nd Royal Irish Rifles--Captain A. V. Weir, Lieutenant E. J. Christie, Second Lieutenant L. G. B. Rodney, Second Lieutenant P. G. W. Maynard, Captain V. J. Kelly, Captain W. J. M'Whinnie, Captain A. C. D. Spencer, Lieutenant E. H. Saunders, Second Lieutenant T. L. B. Soutry, and Second Lieutenant J. C. Bowen-Colthurst. 1st Suffolk Regiment--Lieutenant S. J. B. Barnardiston, Captain W. G. Thompson, Captain C. A. H. Brett, and Second Lieutenant F. W. Wood-Martin. 2nd Devonshire Regiment--Lieutenant-Colonel G. M. Bullock, Major J. M'N. Walter, and Lieutenant G. N. F. Smyth-Osbourne. 2nd Essex Regiment--Lieutenant W. F. Bonham. Royal Field Artillery--Lieutenant-Colonel H. V. Hunt. 66th Battery Royal Field Artillery--Major W. Y. Foster, and Lieutenant G. L. Butler (attached). 14th Battery Royal Field Artillery--Major A. C. Bailward, Lieutenant A. C. Birch, and Second Lieutenant C. F. Holford. Royal Scots Fusiliers--Captain D. H. A. Dick, Captain H. H. Northey, Lieutenant E. Christian, Lieutenant M. E. M'Conaghey, Lieutenant C. F. H. Rumbold, and Lieutenant G. C. Briggs. 1st Connaught Rangers--Captain G. H. Ford-Hutchinson, and Second Lieutenant E. V. Jones. Cape Mounted Police--Inspector E. W. Blyth, and Sub-Inspector W. A. Genllond. South African Light Horse--Captain H. Fitzherbert. 12th Lancers--Lieutenant N. M. H. Tristram. 2nd Coldstream Guards--Lieutenant H. Chandos-Pole-Gell. Reserve of Officers--Lieutenant C. M. Grenfell, late 10th Hussars. 6th Dragoon Guards--Lieutenant F. E. Till. Royal Horse Guards--Captain W. F. Ricardo. 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers--Captain W. F. Elmslie and Captain G. H. B. Freeth. Royal Lancaster Regiment--Major G. A. Carleton. King's Royal Rifles--Major O. S. W. Nugent. 2nd Wiltshire Regiment--Major H. A. Stock. Royal Engineers Militia--Lieutenant J. H. Prior (attached Suffolk Regiment). 1st Oxfordshire Light Infantry--Major F. J. Evelegh. Kitchener's Horse--Captain W. Vaughan, Captain A. S. Arnold, Lieutenant Burghuys, Lieutenant H. D. Duban, Lieutenant W. J. Horne, Lieutenant J. Sampson, Lieutenant L. A. Myburgh, and Lieutenant N. A. N. Black. 6th Dragoons--Lieutenant G. K. Ansell. 2nd Bedford Regiment--Lieutenant G. D. Jebb. 1st Royal Munster Fusiliers--Lieutenant D. Best (? Lieutenant T. A. D. Best. Inniskilling Fusiliers). 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers--Lieutenant-Colonel C. J. Blomfield. Victoria Rifles--Captain T. M. M'Inerney. Scouts--Lieutenant W. Hockley. British South Africa Police--Lieutenant H. Chapman. Royal Horse Artillery--Major J. C. Wray, Captain H. Rouse, Captain G. H. A. White, Lieutenant F. H. G. Stanton, and Lieutenant F. L. C. Livingstone-Learmonth. Northumberland Fusiliers--Lieutenant H. S. Toppin. Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry--Lieutenant H. T. Cantan. 2nd Royal West Kent--Lieutenant R. J. T. Hildyard. Army Service Corps--Lieutenant C. J. Croxford. Indian Staff Corps--Lieutenant R. J. Stewart (attached Army Service Corps). Roberts's Horse--Veterinary Captain P. D. Bray, Lieutenant J. F. Hawkins, Lieutenant H. R. Horne, and Lieutenant T. J. Truter. King's Royal Rifle Corps--Lieutenant G. H. Martin. Welsh Regiment--Lieutenant R. H. Metge. 1st Royal Dragoons--Second Lieutenant T. D. Pilkington. Royal Artillery, Staff--Captain H. T. Tennant. Durham Light Infantry--Second Lieutenant L. J. P. Butler. South African Light Horse--Captain J. C. Kirkwood. Cape Police--Captain A. Bates. Brabant's Horse--Captain P. M. W. Little, and Lieutenant H. A. Steele. 9th Lancers--Lieutenant S. R. Theobald. Yorkshire Light Infantry--Captain G. G. Ottley. 1st Australian Horse--Lieutenant J. W. Wilkinson. 6th Dragoons--Lieutenant N. W. Haig. Prince Alfred's Volunteer Guards--Lieutenant W. B. Everton. Lumsden's Horse--Lieutenant C. E. Crane. Royal Engineers--Lieutenant M. T. Webber. 10th Hussars--Lieutenant Anderson Pelham, and Lieutenant Crichton. 2nd East Kent--Lieutenant W. G. F. Barnard. Eastern Province Horse--Lieutenant J. M. P. Bowker. 16th Lancers--Captain C. J. Eccles. Cameron Highlanders--Captain MacEwen. Intelligence Department--Captain L. G. Dennison. Police Magistrate--C. H. Hilliard. Newspaper Correspondents--Lord Rosslyn, Lord C. Manners, and M. H. Donohue. The following officers, prisoners of war, were found in hospital:-- Lieutenant the Hon. D. R. H. Anderson-Pelham, and Lieutenant C. W. H. Crichton, 10th Hussars (convalescent after enteric fever); Lieutenant H. Chapman, British South Africa Police (contusion, convalescent); Lieutenant G. H. Martin, King's Royal Rifle Corps (tonsillitis, cured); Lieutenant R. H. Metge, 1st Welsh Regiment (neuralgia, cured); Lieutenant G. C. Briggs, 1st Royal Scots Fusiliers (doing well); Major F. H. Munn, Royal Irish Fusiliers (neuralgia, cured); Major J. C. Wray, Royal Horse Artillery (convalescent); Lieutenant N. W. Haig, 6th Dragoons (enteric fever, seriously ill, but improving). Nine hundred and ninety prisoners were removed, however, and, it was believed, were taken some forty miles from Komati Poort. On the 8th a curious experience was related by some of the Canadian Mounted Infantry, who, happening to lose their way and pass, unchallenged, the Boer lines, found themselves at the little town of Hebron. The inhabitants imagining them to be the forerunners of a British force, promptly surrendered arms and ammunition. The Canadians, with a due sense of humour, engaged in the formalities with becoming gravity, commandeered an ox-waggon, loaded it with their booty and returned again through the Boer lines, plus eighty-eight rifles and a big store of ammunition! THE BATTLE OF DIAMOND HILL The outlook was not a cheery one. The enemy, split into small factions, were bent on playing havoc north and south, and horrible rumours were afloat which contrived to annoy, perplex, and discourage those who, in the absence of newspapers and correspondence, gave rein to their imagination. General Maxwell, who was acting as Governor of Pretoria in this emergency, inaugurated a system of official bulletins, which served to distribute what intelligence there might be, and sustain the drooping spirits of the community. The prolongation of the war, after all seemed to have been skilfully accomplished, was depressing to even the most ardent and bellicose mortals. Still more so was it to those who had had their fill of fighting, and who could not number the list of their engagements even with the fingers of both hands. It was known that Botha, after the surrender of the city, had retired with a small force to a crevice in the hills some fifteen miles east, astride the Delagoa Bay Railway, and that round him he was gathering a goodly number of burghers, who assisted him in intimidating other burghers who might have been willing to tender their submission. As all overtures towards peaceable negotiations failed, it was necessary to take definite action, and this on the 11th of June Lord Roberts accordingly did. A great combined enveloping movement was planned out. General French, with Porter's and Dickson's Cavalry Brigades, and Hutton's Mounted Infantry, marched out on the left of the Chief, while General Ian Hamilton with Broadwood and Gordon's Cavalry Brigades, and Ridley's Mounted Infantry, and General Bruce Hamilton's Infantry Brigade on his right, prepared to assail the tremendous frontage of the left of Botha's position. The Dutchman, perched on a series of steep and irregular hills, and strongly protected in front, had placed most of his force on his flanks. These he knew by experience to be his vulnerable points, and against these he divined that Generals French and Ian Hamilton would be operating. General Pole-Carew, in the centre, advanced his Division, numbering some 6000 bayonets and twenty guns, in support of General Ian Hamilton. He moved eastward along the line and engaged in a duet with the enemy with long-range guns, a duet which lasted during the whole day. It was found that the enemy's position extended some sixteen miles, their left, the Diamond Hill, being so strong and so extended that movement of an enveloping kind was thought to be almost impossible. Nevertheless, while General French (assisted by Hutton's Mounted Infantry), through country inimical to cavalry operations, was perilously and vigorously engaged in making a wide detour in order to envelop the right flank of the enemy and hold him from swelling his numbers elsewhere, General Ian Hamilton on the enemy's left flank (some six miles south of the line), his ambitions centred on Diamond Hill and the line of rail beyond, operated correspondingly. Far to right, in a somewhat crab-like fashion, moved the cavalry; Gordon's Brigade--the outer pincer as it were--wheeled round the almost impregnable stronghold of the Boers; to left, Ridley's Brigade and De Lisle's Corps of Mounted Infantry--forming the left or inner pincer--twisted towards Pienaar's Poort, while Broadwood's Brigade--the head and front of the creature--endeavoured to spit forth and pierce through this central gap, and if possible get behind the Boers on Diamond Hill. Early in the day the southern slopes of Diamond Hill became the scene of contest between Ridley's Brigade and the enemy, whose rifles poured their sleet over the advancing mass and whose guns clamoured loudly in the distance. Broadwood's Brigade, meanwhile, began a bold advance--across a spruit and over a plain to a passage towards the railway line--an advance which was hailed more boisterously than pleasantly by a converging storm from the enemy's heavy guns. Still the cavalry pushed forward, while Lieutenant Conolly with two horse guns was set to clear the course. But the Boers, inch by inch, stubbornly contested the way. The stentorian tones of warring artillery were heard in an argument that lasted hours, while parties of Boer riflemen approached with such audacity with a view to the annihilation of the gunners of Q Battery and the capture of their pieces, that for protection sake the 12th Lancers were ordered to charge. Unfortunately, at this critical juncture their commander, the Earl of Airlie, who already had had his horse shot under him, was seeking a new charger. He joined his regiment in time to lead to the attack, but taking a more northerly direction than was intended, he found himself exposed to a murderous tornado from the southern slopes of Diamond Hill. Nevertheless, the charge of the valiant band, small though it now was, had a glorious result. Away scudded the Boers to both sides, scattering over the distance towards Diamond Hill, while their oppressive propinquity to the British guns and Broadwood's right flank was brought to an abrupt close. This done, Lord Airlie decided, as the horses were too jaded and overworked to engage in effective pursuit, to become no further involved. He was about to withdraw his regiment when suddenly a bullet caught him, and, almost instantly, he fell dead. Thus the Empire lost one of its finest soldiers, one of its most honourable, well-beloved of men.[2] The charge cost the regiment two officers and seventeen troopers, a deplorable loss considering its diminished size since the commencement of operations. At the same hour, while Gordon's Brigade was heavily engaged on the right, the Boers became so obstreperous that the Household Cavalry had been ordered to charge. This order was obeyed with zest. The Dutchmen, numerous as they were, took in at a glance all that was meant by the approaching whirlwind--a flashing avalanche of naked blades--and turned tail. Away they fled over their grassy ridges, seized their horses and made off so quickly that none of the Lifeguardsmen and few of their chargers were sacrificed to the dashing exploit. It was thought that the whole body of the foe were on the move, but this was not the case. The congregating crowds of the enemy amid the scrub-covered ridges around the main position had yet to be cleared off. Accordingly, soon after noon, the 21st Brigade (Bruce Hamilton) advanced, cleverly clambering up the crests, which had previously been scoured by artillery, and finally succeeded in folding back the formidable wave of Dutchmen which guarded the line, and forcing them, such as could escape, amid a hurricane of bullets, to gallop to fresh cover. Dusk set in early, but the troops, sticking to the ground they had won, covering a front of some 25 miles, there bivouacked for the night. [Illustration: _Scale, Diagram is about 16 miles square._ BATTLE OF DIAMOND HILL--POSITION ON 11TH JUNE[3]] Early the next day (the 12th) the Dutch overture began, the foe operating vigorously with their long-range guns. They were evidently unappeased, and meant a dogged resistance. General Ian Hamilton was among the first to be hit, but not dangerously. The incident caused not a little concern, for this remarkably energetic officer had become, as it were, almost hoary with fighting the Boers. From early days when he commanded the infantry at Elandslaagte to the splendid defence at Wagon Hill he had been eternally to the fore, brilliant in intellect and unfailing in dash and daring. After his entry to the Free State he had fought his way from Israel's Poort, Thabanchu, Houtnek, and on through all the varied phases of the advance of the right wing of the army towards Pretoria. It was no marvel that the thought of his even temporary disablement caused consternation. Fortunately it was discovered that no bones were broken, and the gallant officer, though in some pain, refused to leave the field. [Illustration: BATTLE OF DIAMOND HILL--POSITION ON 12TH JUNE] At midday General Bruce Hamilton's Brigade made a brilliant attack on the Diamond Hill plateau. The Derbyshires to the right, the City Imperial Volunteers in the middle, the Sussex on their left, grandly advanced amid an enfilading fire of considerable warmth, which only ceased its horrible activity when the 82nd Field Battery, under Major Conolly, by a feat of herculean energy, was dragged to the rocky heights, and vomited vengeance at a distance of 1700 yards from the stubborn enemy. But though it ultimately had the effect of silencing the Boers, it did not accomplish its arduous task without grievous loss. Gunners were hit on all sides, and horses dropped in the moment of unlimbering, but the gallant work never ceased, and, though a scene of carnage reigned around, the guns with unflinching and heroic persistence continued to pour on the hills their cleansing fires for two mortal hours. In the late afternoon the Guards came into action, and more guns, the Boers having rapidly taken up a position near the railway, and to the drumming of mighty pieces and the whistling tune of musketry the twilight set in. Face to face the belligerents grew lost in mist. Preparations were then made for the complete rout of the Boers on the morrow, but when morning arrived it was found that the Dutch hordes had made themselves scarce. Pursuit was attempted, but the horses were too exhausted for more heavy work. The Westtralians, however--150 of them belonging to Colonel de Lisle's Corps--were unappeased. They pushed on to a point whence the Boer army, a crowd of some 4000, with waggons, cattle, and guns, could be seen crossing Bronkher's Spruit. That place of grievous memories, where Colonel Anstruther[4] fell victim to Boer perfidy, awoke its own ghosts, for scarcely had the Dutchmen reached the fatal area than an avenging sleet from the magazines of the Westtralians brought them to a state of panic. In an instant Dutchmen, waggons, guns, were scattering in all directions, while the Colonials, expending 20,000 rounds of ammunition, coolly plied their rifles in their coign of vantage till the numbers of the enemy were sensibly thinned by death, wounds, or flight. Thus was given the finishing touch to a battle which had a double purpose. It served to clear the way for forty miles to the east and relieve Pretoria of the too close attentions of the massed enemy, and it engaged many of the Boers who had fallen back from Laing's Nek on the taking of Pretoria, thus assisting General Buller's operations at Volksrust, which have yet to be described. Sir Redvers, in his turn, aided the main scheme by causing the Boers to feel that their rear would shortly be threatened, and that even retreat to the east must now have its geographical limits. [Illustration: LIEUT.-COLONEL THE EARL OF AIRLIE (12th Lancers) Killed at Battle of Diamond Hill, June 11th Photo by Bassano, London] General French was unable to fulfil his part of the programme, firstly, because the Boers saw through his plan, and secondly, because his Division was merely the shadow of the goodly Division that had flown to Kimberley in February, and his operations were entirely handicapped, not only by the nature of the country, but by the nature of his tools. General Ian Hamilton was little better off. Broadwood's Brigade, which once had numbered 1800, was now reduced to 400, while the Household Cavalry mustered only 63, the 12th Lancers 120, and the 10th Hussars 200. Not only were the regiments reduced in numbers, but their mounts were now of the most heterogeneous description, Basuto, Argentine, and Cape ponies doing duty for chargers, and in many cases utterly unequal to the exertion expected of them. Without this explanation it would be difficult to comprehend why so apparently large a force should have been unable to do more than rout the enemy. But when it is once understood that a considerable part of Lord Roberts's army was now represented merely _on paper_, the difficulties of the latter part of the campaign may be better conceived. The C.I.V.'s had two days of stiff battle. A private, giving an account of his experiences, declared that they were the heaviest days' fighting he had seen. "The C.I.V.'s were in the firing line both days, and our casualties were about sixty. One of our lieutenants had a very sad death just in front of my company. I have heard two names given to the action, but I don't know which is correct; they are Diamond Hill and Donkerskoek. Our General said it was a second Spion Kop, the Boer position being so fine, and the firing from the trenches so heavy. Our regiment had got to within about 400 yards of the position, and had fixed bayonets, but had to give up the idea of charging, for if we had half the regiment would have been swept away. One of the Boer doctors was down at our hospital after the first day's fight, and he told us that the Boers had lost about 600 that day. They must have lost another 600 the next day, as our artillery was much nearer, and simply poured shells into them all day." The total losses were about 200, but most deeply deplored by all ranks was the gallant commander, the Earl of Airlie. He was as brave as he was popular, and, like all his famous fighting race, was a soldier _born_, not made. Besides his record of previous service, he had distinguished himself in the Modder River battle, and was twice mentioned in despatches by Lord Methuen. On one of these occasions he made himself notable for the splendid dash with which he dismounted a section of his men and drove back a party of Boers who were enfilading the British force. In May he was wounded in the fighting round Welkom, was nursed to health at Bloemfontein by Lady Airlie, and went again to the front just before the surrender of Pretoria. Two other distinguished officers fell: Major the Hon. L. Fortescue, and Lieutenant the Hon. C. Cavendish, 17th Lancers. Besides those already noted the list of casualties during the various engagements contained the names of:-- _Killed_:--12th Lancers--Lieutenant G. C. de C. Wright. 82nd Battery Royal Field Artillery--Second Lieutenant W. S. Luce. New South Wales Mounted Infantry--Lieutenant Drage. 1st Royal Sussex Regiment--Captain C. J. K. Maguire. City Imperial Volunteers--Lieutenant W. B. L. Alt. _Wounded_:--12th Lancers--Second Lieutenant H. R. Milvain. F Battery Royal Horse Artillery--Captain R. England. Royal Lancaster Regiment Mounted Infantry--Captain J. M. Graham. Indian Staff Corps--Captain E. Barnes. New South Wales Mounted Infantry--Captain W. Holmes, Lieutenant W. R. Harrison. Kitchener's Horse--Lieutenant J. S. Cape. 1st Royal Sussex Regiment--Second Lieutenant G. C. Morphett. 1st Derbyshire--Captain T. H. M. Green, Lieutenant A. S. Murray. 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles--Captain A. C. Macdonald. 8th Hussars--Captain E. A. S. O'Brien. 1st Coldstream Guards--Lieutenant Brett. Royal Army Medical Corps--Major H. G. Hathaway. _Missing_:--12th Lancers--Captain F. Egerton Green. GUARDING THE COMMUNICATIONS--LORDS METHUEN AND KITCHENER While the battle for the Delagoa railway line was being planned, Lord Kitchener, with a small force, pushed south and joined Lord Methuen (whose force was at Heilbron) at Vredefort station on the evening of the 10th of June. Together they decided to hunt the marauders. In passing, it is interesting to note that at this time the following militia corps were doing unostentatious but valuable and perilous service on the lines of communication:-- 3rd Royal Scots; 3rd Royal West Surrey; 3rd East Kent; 3rd Royal Lancaster; 4th Royal Lancaster; 6th Royal Warwickshire; 3rd Norfolk; 4th Somerset Light Infantry; 4th West Yorkshire; 4th Bedfordshire; 3rd Yorkshire; 6th Lancashire Fusiliers; 4th Cheshire; 3rd South Wales Borderers; 3rd King's Own Scottish Borderers; 4th Scottish Rifles; 3rd East Lancashire; 4th East Surrey; 4th South Staffordshire; 3rd South Lancashire; 3rd Welsh; 4th Derbyshire; 6th Middlesex; 9th King's Royal Rifles (North Cork Militia); 4th North Staffordshire; 3rd Durham Light Infantry; 4th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders; 3rd Leinster; 5th Royal Munster Fusiliers; 5th Royal Dublin Fusiliers. On the 11th Lord Methuen proceeded to scour the railway line, and found the enemy prowling within rifle range on either side of his route. Whereupon, at Rhenoster River, he overtook and engaged De Wet, over whom a temporary victory was gained. The British commander succeeded in capturing camp and etceteras, and scattering the Dutchmen in all directions, though De Wet himself, with his usual nimbleness, disappeared. During the day's engagement Lieutenant Erle, 12th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry, was slightly wounded. On Tuesday the 12th the force hurriedly advanced towards Kroonstad, owing to a report that that town, garrisoned by a single battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Militia, had fallen a prey to the enemy. Fortunately it was discovered that the rumour was groundless, and Lord Methuen continued his southern march. On the 13th and 14th the Boers pursued their system of annoyance around the railway, and directed a storm of bullets on a construction train which had arrived under the personal direction of Colonel Girouard, R.E., for the purpose of repairing the depredations of the past few days. Luckily, thanks to the pluck of the construction party (they were short of rifles, owing to many having been left in the rear train), a very able defence was kept up all night, until a party of mounted infantry--who at the first sound of firing started to the rescue--arrived with their guns and routed the foe. They came none too soon, for the Boers had made a fairly big haul, and carried off some forty of the construction workers as prisoners. The mounted infantry scurried after the retiring Dutchmen, but, as usual, these had knowingly melted into twos and threes and were uncatchable. In the attack on the train one man was killed and eleven wounded, including Lieutenant Micklem, Royal Engineers, Second Lieutenant Bigge, Volunteer Royal Engineers. Meanwhile, at Virginia the garrison had an exceedingly trying time; but owing to the energy of Colonels Capper and North and the troops under them, and the conspicuous coolness and valour of Lieutenant Mitchell, the Boers were repulsed. At daybreak on the 14th some 800 Boers, with one or two pom-poms, a Maxim, and a field gun, ensconced themselves in the dense scrub surrounding the Zand River post. The garrison consisted of four companies 3rd Battalion Royal Lancasters under Colonel North (about 250 fit for duty), four companies Railway Pioneer Regiment under Major Seymour (300 fit for duty), and some 25 men of the Royal Irish Regiment (16 fit for duty) under Lieutenant Davenport. The position was a somewhat extended one, the left being in advance trenches on broken and jungly ground. This point the Boers attacked with determination, and were as determinedly resisted by Lieutenant W. Mitchell and No. 3 Company Railway Pioneer Regiment. The enemy in the dense bush were practically surrounding the British party, but these fought doggedly, engaging their assailants at very close quarters and keeping them at bay till nearly noon, when the Dutchmen were ultimately driven out of their hiding-places by an advance through the scrub of a line of reserve Railway Pioneer Regiment, aided by half a company of Militia. Thus driven forth, they made haste to retire before the arrival of a body of 170 Yeomanry (under Lieutenant Crane), which had hastened to the rescue from the south. The losses were comparatively small, owing to the marvellous grit of young Mitchell, who, though wounded at the onset in both thighs, continued for six hours to encourage and direct his men (there were only 22 of them scattered in several small trenches), ordering them not to waste ammunition, cheering them, and concealing from them, till the worst was over, the fact that he himself was seriously wounded. Another gallant officer, Major Seymour, distinguished himself, but he paid for his valour with his life. He was killed while advancing with the extended line through the bush to clear out the snipers. Lieutenant Clement of No. 2 Company of the Railway Pioneer Regiment was mortally wounded. On the 18th Lord Kitchener, having restored communications, returned to Pretoria, and Lord Methuen moved to Heilbron. Precautions to avert further interruptions on the railway had been taken by establishing posts within communicable distance of each other all along the line, connected by a continually perambulating military train carrying field and automatic guns. A combined movement had again to be planned for the surrounding of De Wet, who, though defeated on the 13th by Lord Methuen, and subsequently by Lord Kitchener, was still displaying an elasticity of disposition greatly to his credit, if discomforting to his pursuers. He and his followers now rebounded in the direction of Heilbron, where on the 18th he endeavoured to arrest the entry of Lord Methuen and a large convoy which he was escorting. A smart engagement ensued, which, it was thought, would have the effect of clearing the air. But peace was short-lived, as we shall see. The war at this time, though full of inspiriting events, was as hard, perhaps harder, for the soldier than ever. There were the same chances of being wiped out by shot, shell, or disease, but the honour and glory of laying down one's life for one's country was bereft of its glamour. Tommy Atkins now needed all his patience, all his pluck. There are men who can face hostile artillery, but will squirm before a dentist. In these days there were many seasoned fighters, who might be excused if they shrunk from the railway accident or promiscuous sniping from invisible farms, which was part and parcel of the guerilla form of warfare adopted by the remnant of the Boer army--the malcontents, who, subversive of discipline and hating the British race, had decided to fight to the bitter end. Comments regarding the attitude of some of our troops have been made by many who lack the large mind to look at the enormous army as a whole, and who find pleasure in examining only its flaws with the microscope and holding them up to public contempt. Such comments it is unnecessary to reproduce. The brilliant British army, like all great and brilliant things, must necessarily have the defects of its qualities, and it is with the immense qualities and not the infinitesimal defects of victors that the faithful recorder has to do. To return, then, to the nerve-trying ordeals that formed part of the almost daily programme of the soldier's duty. At Honing Spruit, situated on the rail twenty-one miles north of Kroonstad, an exciting affair took place on the 22nd of June, all the more exciting as those engaged had but a few days previously been rescued from durance vile in Pretoria prison. On the 14th a party of 16 released officers from various regiments, with some 400 men, was ordered to Elandsfontein, the station outside Johannesburg, which had been so admirably secured by Colonel Henry's force. On the 21st this party was moved on to Katbosh Camp, a mile or so beyond Honing Spruit, where were stationed two companies of the Shropshires and some mounted Canadians under the command of Colonel Evans. The officers of the composite force were: Colonel Bullock, of the Devonshires, commanding; Major Stock, of the Wiltshire Regiment; Major Carleton, Royal Lancasters; Captains Elmslie and Freeth, of the Lancashire Fusiliers; Lieutenants Bryant, Temple, Radice, Smith, Mackenzie, and Gray, of the Gloucestershire Regiment; Jones, of the Connaught Rangers; Best, of the Inniskilling Fusiliers; Prior, Engineer Militia; Colson, of the 5th Fusiliers; and Wood-Martin, of the Suffolk Regiment. These, all of them, had had sufficiently horrible experiences, both during the hardly fought engagements in which they had been taken prisoners, and in the period of incarceration at the Model School, and vowed never again to be caught alive in the trap of the Dutchmen. They then hardly realised how near that trap they were. [Illustration: LINES TORN UP BY DE WET NEAR KROONSTAD. (Photo by D. Barnett.)] The night was unusually cold, and travelling in coal trucks was scarcely an inspiriting beginning. In the gloom of early dawn the train reached Honing Spruit Station. Some of the officers alighted and exercised themselves to restore circulation--they were numb and weary--and in doing so espied, in the east, the dark outlines of mounted figures approaching. They promptly gave the alarm. Colonel Bullock proceeded in all haste to get the men out of the trucks, and speedily they were formed up round the station. An effort was then made with such picks and shovels as were at hand to dig trenches. But these were a mere apology for shelter. They made, however, according to an officer who scraped his little burrow for himself, a "moral" support. Of other support, it must be owned, they had little. A few officers were provided with Mausers, carbines, and bandoliers of ammunition, but the force for the most part were saddled with Martini-Henry rifles and black powder ammunition--rifles discarded by the Boers, and left by them in the arsenal at Pretoria. These venerable weapons were sighted at 1200 yards--the ordinary range of Lee-Mitford or Mauser may be taken at 1500 to 2000 yards--and were served out of necessity, owing to the insufficiency of ammunition for Mauser rifles. Thus handicapped at the outset in the way of weapons of defence, ragged and tattered, some in boots that were dropping to pieces, some partly in uniform, partly in mufti, garbed exactly as they had been in the prison, they found themselves once again in presence of the enemy. Colonel Bullock, stouthearted and truculent as ever, at once wired for help to Kroonstad, and with the line cut on both sides of him, and the Boers blowing up culverts as they came along, prepared to make a stand against the advancing foe. Meanwhile bang! bang! went a series of explosions on every side, voicing a vindictive tale and promising unthinkable horrors to come. According to their slim tactics, and to find out the strength of the party most probably, the Boers now sent forward a man with a white flag, declaring by the messenger, that they had many men and guns, and that if the force refused to surrender they would be annihilated. But the Boers had got hold of the wrong man. The officer who had doggedly held firm in the blood-dyed donga at Colenso till the Dutchmen had threatened to murder the wounded unless he gave in, was not the man to surrender without a tussle. Colonel Bullock quickly sent the messenger and his white flag to the right about, and made preparations for stout resistance till help should arrive. But it was a sorry piece of "bluff." They were gunless, the old muskets were of little use, and the black powder was objectionable, as it would have betrayed their positions and the smallness of the force. It was therefore necessary to tackle the Boers with extreme caution. "At first," said an officer who was engaged, "they were only near the line to the north of us, covering the men who were destroying the culverts and telegraph lines, but they gradually worked round to the east, and about 8 or 8.30 down came the first shell--shrapnel--from about 2000 yards away. The train all this time was in the station, and I think they wanted to damage the engine, but their shooting wasn't good enough. The engine went a little way up the line, but found it cut, and had to return. Shells were pretty frequent now, and bullets too numerous to be exactly pleasant, but Colonel Bullock and Major Hobbs, who was second in command, were walking about seeing to everything in the coolest possible way. No. 1 Company, under Captain Elmslie, of the Lancashire Fusiliers, had made some small trenches facing north, but when the Boers worked round to the east we were, of course, enfiladed, so we got into a ditch running along the side of the line north and south. They peppered us pretty well while we were getting there, but only one man was hit in the arm. Previous to this poor Major Hobbs, who, with the Colonel, had been sitting behind one of our small shelters which did not anything like cover them, was shot through the heart and killed." (Major Hobbs, it may be remembered, was the gallant officer who was taken prisoner while tending a wounded man in the brilliant engagement at Willow Grange.) "Young Smith, of the Gloucesters, had been sent down the ditch near the line with seven men to try and get a bit nearer to the Boers who were damaging the culverts. They had rather a warm time, and Colonel Bullock sent Freeth, the adjutant, to bring them back. Poor Smith was shot through the groin, and the bullet went right through him. Two of his men were wounded and one killed out of the seven. Smith got back with Freeth's help all right, and I found him afterwards sitting up in bed smoking cigarettes and as unconcerned as possible." A small tin house at the station was used as a hospital, and a Red Cross flag was improvised with difficulty. It was composed of a pillow-case with red bands made from strips of a Kaffir blanket discovered in the house. This was mounted on the shaft of an uptilted cart, but the Boers affected not to comprehend its meaning, and sent in a man under a white flag to ask an explanation. Here the wounded were tended by Mr. Cheatle who, by a stroke of luck, happened to occupy a saloon carriage in the "held up" train. There was no other doctor. This well-known surgeon who had gone out, _con amore_, as it were, with Sir William MacCormac, was on his way home, thinking his errand of mercy was over. He came quickly in action again, bringing his brilliant wits to meet a somewhat desperate situation. His bandages were made from ladies' under garments found in a wardrobe, from the bed sheets in the train, and for antiseptic powder he had recourse to the carbolic tooth-powder in the possession of some of the officers. When this came to an end he utilised boiled rags, and persistently attended to the nerve-shaken wounded, who all the time were torn with bodily agony and horror-stricken by the continual howling of shells against walls and ground. [Illustration: AUSTRALIAN BUSHMEN ON THE MARCH Drawing by Allan Stewart, from details supplied by Surgeon Captain Watt, New Zealand Roughriders] Meanwhile the Boers plied their guns, shelling at the same time from north and east--an antiphonal duet of most appalling description. One shell broke through the saloon carriage, another buried itself in some bales of wool which luckily protected the verandah of the hospital. To this the only return that could be made was a persistent peppering with the ancient Martinis, a peppering which was carried on for several hours. The officers worked hard with their Mauser carbines. The one before quoted said he fired off fifty-five rounds, but did not know with what result, except that some Boers, exposing themselves on the sky line, very quickly got down flat on the grass after he had taken a "steady pot" at them at about 1400 yards' distance. He went on to say: "The Boers must have known how we were armed, as it is quite against their custom to expose themselves at all. At last we saw some men coming over the hill to our right, and thought it was the relief force, but they turned out to be Boers in khaki, some of whom, I believe, had helmets, probably taken from the convoy they collared a week or two ago, somewhere in this neighbourhood." The telegram for help was despatched to Kroonstad about 7 A.M., but the reinforcements did not arrive till nearly 3.30 P.M. The Boers early became aware of their near approach, however, and began cautiously to remove their four guns, two of which--15-pounders--were part of their capture at Sanna's Post. Meanwhile the small force, who had been straining every nerve and muscle for many hours, and meant to die in the last ditch rather than surrender, were anxiously looking towards the south for succour. Then, at last, the friendly scouts were seen coming over the hill. Oh! the relief of it! The welcome rumour of help gave energy to the men, who, after their long inactivity, had been suddenly thrown, vilely armed, into vigorous action, and were by now well-nigh exhausted. Away flew the hostile hordes, but not without having done a fair day's work of destruction--line, telegraph, and culverts being wrecked, one officer and three men killed, and one officer and seventeen men wounded! While this gang of Boers were worrying the Honing Spruit party, another had attacked the Shropshires and Canadians at Katbosh Camp, and thus deterred them from going to the assistance of their brothers in distress. But it was owing to the splendid fighting of the Canadians that the Dutchmen had found it impossible to close in round Honing Spruit, and the party at the railway station were enabled to hold out till the relieving force arrived. After the Boers left, the troops still remained in the trenches, and strengthened them as much as possible; but the Argyll and Sutherland Militia and some Mounted Infantry and a battery arrived from Kroonstad, and the battery shelled some kopjes three miles away, where the Boers--some 700 to 1000 of them, with three or four guns--were collecting. It was said that the Boer loss was six killed, and that they took away three waggons full of wounded, but this, of course, could not be verified. Some circumstances attending the brilliant resistance of the Colonials are almost heroic. Lieutenant Inglis, with eight men of the Frontier Police on worn-out ponies, were sent from the Katbosh Camp to reconnoitre. They were suddenly surrounded by Boers, but fought furiously, with the result that they made their way through, with the loss of four, to an embankment which offered shelter. Fifty Boers then came within short range and fired on them. A response from the British remnant followed. There were presently only four of them, commanded by Corporal Morden, who, Lieutenant Inglis being disabled, took his place. Here, in the face of these terrible odds, the Corporal sent off Private Miles to inform Colonel Evans of his plight. The messenger executed his errand, and returned to assist his comrades. He was hit, but still persisted in "having a go at the enemy." Then Corporal Morden dropped with a bullet through the brain. Miles, wet with his own gore--fainting--supported himself against a tussock and continued to direct the firing of his brother and Private Kerr. Eventually the Boers made off, but not before Kerr had been killed by a parting shot. Finally the relief party arrived, and carried the few remaining heroes back to camp. Among the day's casualties were: Major H. T. de C. Hobbs, West Yorkshire Regiment, killed; Second Lieutenant H. H. Smith, 1st Gloucester Regiment, severely wounded; Lieutenant W. M. Inglis, 2nd Canadian Mounted Infantry, severely wounded. The total casualties amounted to thirty-one. The programme of surprise parties, trapping of small forces, and abuse of the white flag, continued with little variety. Owing to the disposition of the British troops to east of the railway, and the scarcity of supplies and transport that militated against their mobility, the Boers were temporarily in the ascendant. It was no easy matter to have and to hold the arteries of the great army whose head was Pretoria, and yet to guard the railway lines and send reinforcements at a moment's notice to points menaced by the agile commandos of the enemy, and consequently those who were responsible for the safety of the communications lived the life of Damocles--without that personage's certainty of whence the fatal blow might be expected! The maintenance of the safety of the line from Kroonstad to Pretoria was in the hands of General Smith-Dorrien, who placed at every post two companies with two or more guns. He himself eternally perambulated the line, now repairing, now mounting guns, now despatching patrols, in fact, playing with almost superhuman energy and vigilance the game of fox and geese--the fox De Wet, the geese the long tail of communications. In spite, however, of the surprising energy of the General, the dog fox--the wiliest reynard that ever challenged chase--redoubled his activities. FOOTNOTES: [1] Lieutenant-Colonel A. Baird-Douglas was a militia officer whose first appointment was dated October 1, 1881. His name is to be found among the list of officers of the reserve, who have held commissions in the Hon. Artillery Company of London, Militia, Yeomanry, or Volunteers. He had been Major and Hon. Lieutenant-Colonel of the 3rd Battalion of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders since March 1898; was attached to the 4th (Militia) Battalion of the Derbyshire Regiment, which was embodied on the 4th of December 1899. [2] The Earl of Airlie was born in 1856, and was the eldest son of the seventh Earl, whom he succeeded in 1881. He was educated at Eton, and entered the army in 1874. He served with the 10th Hussars in the Afghan War in 1878-79. In that war he distinguished himself on more than one occasion. He was present at the attack and capture of Ali Musjid, and in the engagement at Futtehabad. He next saw active service in the Soudan Expedition in 1884, and was present at the engagement at Temai. Then he joined the Nile Expedition as brigade-major under Sir Herbert Stewart, and was slightly wounded at Abu Klea, and in the reconnaissance to Metemmeh. He was frequently mentioned in despatches for conspicuous conduct, and for his distinguished services he received many medals, clasps, and orders. From 1889 to 1895 he was on staff service as an adjutant of the Hampshire Yeomanry Cavalry, and in 1897 he was appointed lieutenant-colonel in command of the 12th Lancers, with which regiment he went out to South Africa last year. He was a Scottish representative peer, and deputy-lieutenant of the County of Forfar. [3] This block and that on p. 16 are from "Ian Hamilton's March," by permission of Mr. Winston Churchill and Messrs. Longmans. [4] See vol. i. p. 71. CHAPTER II GENERAL BULLER'S OPERATIONS--ROUTING THE BOERS FROM LAING'S NEK[5] The Natal Field Force, after the departure of Sir Charles Warren, was composed as follows:-- SECOND DIVISION (Lieutenant-General Sir C. F. Clery).--2nd Brigade (Major-General Hamilton)--2nd East Surrey; 2nd West Yorks; 2nd Devons; 2nd West Surrey. 4th Brigade (Colonel C. D. Cooper)--1st Rifle Brigade; 1st Durham Light Infantry; 3rd King's Royal Rifles; 2nd Scottish Rifles (Cameronians), 7th, 14th, and 66th Field Batteries. FOURTH DIVISION (Lieutenant-General Lyttelton).--7th Brigade (Brigadier-General F. W. Kitchener)--1st Devon; 1st Gloucester; 1st Manchester; 2nd Gordon Highlanders. 8th Brigade (Major-General F. Howard)--1st Royal Irish Fusiliers; 1st Leicester; 1st King's Royal Rifles; 2nd King's Royal Rifles. Two Brigade Divisions Royal Artillery--13th, 67th, 69th Field Batteries; 21st, 42nd, 53rd Field Batteries. FIFTH DIVISION (Lieutenant-General H. J. T. Hildyard).--10th Brigade (Major-General J. T. Coke)--2nd Dorset; 2nd Middlesex; 1st Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. 11th Brigade (Major-General A. S. Wynne)--2nd Royal Lancaster; 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers; 1st South Lancashire; 1st York and Lancaster; 19th, 28th, and 78th Field Batteries. Corps Troops--1st Royal Dublin Fusiliers; 2nd Rifle Brigade; 1st King's Liverpool; Imperial Light Infantry; 61st Field Battery (Howitzers); Two Nordenfeldts (taken from the Boers); Natal Battery 9-pounders; Fourteen naval 12-pounder quick-firers; 4th Mountain Battery; 10th Mountain Battery, two guns; Four 4.7 naval guns; Naval 6-in. gun; Part of Siege Train. CAVALRY DIVISION.--1st Brigade (Major-General J. J. F. Burn Murdoch). 2nd Brigade (Major-General J. F. Brocklehurst). 3rd Brigade (Major-General the Earl of Dundonald)--5th Dragoon Guards; 1st Royal Dragoons; 5th Lancers; 13th Hussars; 18th Hussars; 19th Hussars; A Battery Royal Horse Artillery; South African Light Horse; Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry; Bethune's Mounted Infantry; Natal Carabineers; Natal Mounted Rifles; Border Mounted Rifles; Umvoti Mounted Rifles; Natal Police; Colt Battery. At the request of Sir Redvers Buller, on the 2nd of June, Christian Botha, brother of Commandant Louis Botha, accompanied by Fourie and Pretorius, met him near Majuba for the purpose of holding a conference regarding terms of surrender of Laing's Nek. A proposition was made, of course involving unconditional surrender, and hostilities were suspended for three days in order that it might be digested by the Dutchmen. It was found unpalatable and rejected. Whereupon the belligerents resumed their warlike attitude. The interval had been utilised by the Boers, who had entrenched themselves for about ten miles from Pogwani east of the Buffalo, to the fringes of Majuba, and further westward still. The natural barriers of Natal--the historic barriers that had made the "grave of reputations"--were now terraced with trenches, and nodulous with gun-pits. Another Gibraltar, frowning with menace, was prepared to accommodate 5000 desperate Boers. But they had not calculated that a way round might be found, and that they in their fastnesses might be "turned" before they could utilise that cleverly arranged system of self-defence. Yet the unforeseen occurred, and we shall see. [Illustration: THE LAST BATTLE OF MAJUBA HILL--THE BATTLE OF ALMOND'S NEK. (From a Sketch by Lieut. E. B. Knox, R.A.M.C.)] On the 6th of June Sir Redvers Buller began his new move. General Talbot Coke and the 10th Brigade and South African Light Horse, after some brisk skirmishing with the enemy, seized Van Wyk's Hill, whereupon, during that day, and the following day, the 7th, two 4.7-in. guns and two 12-pounder naval guns were mounted on the eminence, while two 5-in. guns were perched on the south-western spur of Inkwelo. General Hildyard, who during the armistice had moved across from Utrecht to Ingogo, concentrated his Division for advance over Botha's Pass, while General Clery kept an eye on Laing's Nek, and beyond him General Lyttelton, co-operating, brushed the enemy away from the right flank, and kept clear the country between Utrecht and Wakkerstroom. Thus was prepared the way for General Hildyard's brilliantly planned and admirably executed assault of the spur of the Berg between Botha's Pass and Inkwelo, which took place on the 8th, with the result that the enemy, some 2000 strong, were outflanked and routed from their mountain strongholds, and the pass was captured without serious loss. The 9th was spent in a general halt on the summit of the pass, getting the transport through the Drakensberg, hauling baggage up the steeps, and skirmishing with Boers who hovered on the outskirts of the hills. The labour entailed was prodigious, as the roads to the pass were intensely precipitous, the hill being over a mile long, and many of the transport waggons had to be double-spanned before they could make appreciable advance. The troops, too, were sorely tried, for at night they shivered in the crisp, frosty atmosphere, which appeared additionally numbing after the warm sunlight of midday. Still, with unquenchable zeal, they pursued their labours, climbing and clambering over boulder and slab, and looking down on the chasms below with genuine satisfaction at the thought of obstacles surmounted and decisive work to be accomplished. They had now secured a commanding position, which in a very short space of time they hoped to make unchallengeable. On the 10th General Buller's force, marching over the wide veldt, reached the junction of Gans Vlei, some ten miles north, while General Hildyard's crossed the pass and concentrated on Klip River, situated some fifteen miles due west of Laing's Nek, and in face of some rugged country on the way to Volksrust. The Dutchmen were there congregating, and preparing in the Almond's Nek region to intercept the passage. The South African Light Horse, before the arrival of the main column, had captured a useful kopje, and they, and some squadrons of the Irregulars, made a dashing attack on the mass of Dutchmen who were barring the main road. A most animated engagement was fought, which cost the South African Light Horse six killed and eight wounded. The enemy after the encounter slowly retired, harassed by the 2nd Cavalry Brigade. The main column, frost-bitten and weary, bivouacked in the shadow of the captured kopje, the 11th Brigade immediately below, and further down, the 10th Brigade, while still lower down came the 2nd Brigade, commanded now by General Hamilton in place of General Hildyard, who, as we know, was raised to divisional rank. On the 11th the advance was continued in the direction of Volksrust, and General Hildyard (Fifth Division) made a brilliant frontal attack against the Boers, who were now holding a formidable position with several guns at the east of Almond's Nek, which place stands about seven miles north of Gans Vlei. After the artillery had been pounding a dangerous hoop of ridges for a considerable time, filling the whole atmosphere with reverberating roars, the 10th Brigade, the Dorsets in the firing line, the Middlesex in support, advanced on the right of the ridge beyond which were the Mounted Infantry, while the 2nd Brigade, the East Surreys and Queen's leading, treading the open, made a bold dash for the foe. These, concealed among the steep boulders, proceeded to pour a thunderous and fiery welcome on all who approached. The stertorous rampage continued for hours. But, fortunately, in their fastnesses our big guns--two 4.7-in. monsters and six little "handy" 12-pounders--eventually searched them out, and subsequently a gallant charge--one of the most brilliant in the campaign--the charge of the Dorsets who, in a blizzard of lead, swarmed upon the position with fixed bayonets, decided the fortunes of the day. The superb manner in which those seasoned warriors launched themselves at miles and miles of entrenched positions--a veritable phalanx of church steeples--was beyond praise. Their great assault cost the valiant regiment ten killed and forty wounded. Some Boer prisoners were taken, and five or six Dutchmen bit the dust. But most of them had bolted before the gleam of the bayonets, and in their flight had set fire to the grass so as to render pursuit impossible. Simultaneously with the charge of the Dorsets, the 2nd Brigade was doing identical work, and doing it splendidly. They succeeded in capturing the whole of the position, in clearing the enemy entirely off the scene, and in rendering the formidable galleries of doom, the rows of trenches on Laing's Nek, "full of emptiness." The Irregulars under Colonel Gough, brave as ever and cool as cucumbers, had been also vigorously engaged on the right, so vigorously, so dauntlessly that two officers, Captain Mann (Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry), and Captain O'Brien (Composite Regiment) were mortally wounded. But, losses apart, the day's work was in every way effective, as the Boers by evacuating Laing's Nek left open the Volksrust Road, and virtually ceased from defacing British soil. Thus in two marches Sir Redvers Buller had succeeded in effectively sweeping Northern Natal, a feat of which his army was very justly proud. There was no doubt that the Chief had now made himself master both of the tactics of the enemy and the peculiarities of the country over which he had to travel. He had bought his experience in a hard school, but in this march he applied it brilliantly, and exacted from all the applause that was his due. Through broken country and steep he had made a flank march of fifty miles with an immense force and tremendous transport, clearing the way before him with the loss of about 30 killed and 150 wounded. His strategy had been ingenious as masterly, for while he made a demonstration on their left and kept the Boers in expectation of attack in that quarter, he had wheeled his force to their right, and surprised them before they had time to gather themselves together sufficiently to frustrate the tactics of the advancing force. [Illustration: REPAIRING LAING'S NEK TUNNEL BLOWN UP BY THE BOERS. (Drawing by J. J. Waugh, from a photo by Captain P. U. Vigors.)] The triumphant issue of the movement was a source of intense satisfaction to all concerned in it. The Natal Field Force had hitherto scarcely been fortunate, and there were many among its members who were inclined to envy those who, to use a popular word, had "processed" up the Free State figuratively to the tune of "See the Conquering Hero comes." The Natal Force had had a prodigious number of kicks, and knew what hard fighting meant, and had felt sore to find themselves, so to speak, "on the unfashionable side." It became a question with these much battered warriors whether the kicks would be productive of halfpence, and whether, when honours were ladled out, those who so richly deserved it would come in for a bare spoonful. The splendid "little battle that did a big thing"--that, on the 11th of June, left Almond's Nek purged of Boers and enabled General Clery and his Division to occupy Laing's Nek--settled all misgivings. Sir Redvers Buller's flanking movement was full not only of political but sentimental importance, for the reconquest of Majuba and Laing's Nek meant the sponging out of humiliating memories which had grown more painful with the passage of years. In these operations the total casualties amounted to 153. On the 7th Second Lieutenant Andrews, 6th Company Western Division Royal Garrison Artillery, was severely injured on the head, and on the following day Second Lieutenant E. F. Grant-Dalton, 2nd West Yorkshire Regiment, was wounded. On the 11th, the casualties among officers were: Lieutenant Stafford, East Surrey Regiment, severely wounded; Captain Mansel, Second Lieutenant Herbert, 2nd Dorsets, slightly wounded; Lieut.-Colonel Mills, Lieutenant Seppings, 1st Royal Dublin Fusiliers, slightly wounded; Lieutenant Johnstone, 11th Hussars, killed; Captain Northey, 2nd Cameronians, slightly wounded; Captain O'Brien mortally wounded (since dead). GENERAL BULLER'S ADVANCE FROM LAING'S NEK TO STANDERTON The next stage in the proceedings was begun on the 20th, when Sir Redvers Buller moved to Paarde Kop, and from thence proceeded to Standerton, when he opened up communications with Lord Roberts. On the 15th of the month Lord Roberts, telegraphing to the War Office, said, "Buller, I hope, is at Standerton." But this was not the case, the Natal Force being delayed at Laing's Nek for various reasons connected with transport and the rearrangement and recuperation of the troops and the repair of the Laing's Nek tunnel. Doubtless the inability of the General to proceed, had considerable effect upon the main war programme, and many imagine that if the force had been able to occupy Standerton, which lies directly between Machadodorp, where President Kruger had fled, and Reitz, where President Steyn had located himself, concerted action between the two Presidents might have been nipped in the bud. As it was, the Dutchmen continued to use the telegraph till the 22nd of June, when Sir Redvers Buller's troops threw a formidable barrier between them, and spoilt the hatching of further elaborate plots for the continuance of organised warfare. Meanwhile, General Hildyard occupied Wakkerstroom, but marched thence to join General Buller on the 19th. [Illustration: A HISTORIC BATTLEFIELD: JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1881, AND MAY 1900 From a Sketch by Major-General Coke, Commanding the 10th Brigade] On the 20th General Buller's headquarters arrived at Sandspruit Station beyond Volksrust, and pitched camp two miles further on, to west of the rail. Many surrenders took place, and some blowing up of culverts by those who were retreating in disgust at the defeat at Almond's Nek, a defeat which they considered the worst disaster to their arms that had yet occurred. The Natal Volunteers were now about to be disbanded, and left for Dundee. They were highly praised by all, and the Chief issued an order expressing his keen appreciation of the services rendered by Brigadier-General Dartnell and his stalwart followers in the arduous task which has resulted in the expulsion of the enemy from Natal territory. General Lyttelton now moved from Coetzes Drift to Laing's Nek to protect the line from Newcastle to Volksrust, while General Coke's Brigade mounted guard over the latter place. The next day, the 21st, the advance column reached Paardekop, situated some thirty miles from their destination. Standerton was neared by Lord Dundonald's mounted force on the 22nd, while the infantry followed some eight miles behind, the 10th Brigade only being left at Paardekop. As Major Gough and a squadron of the Composite Regiment entered Standerton a party of Boers made off, leaving the place to be occupied without resistance. The railway bridge was found to be injured, as also were some engine trucks and engines. The Hollander railway officials, for whose idle hands the devil had invented this mischief, were imprisoned. [Illustration: RAILWAY MAP SHOWING LINES FROM PRETORIA TO E. AND S.E. (Scale, 1 inch = 64 miles. By permission of the Publishers of "South Africa.")] While these activities were taking place, and General Buller was slowly making his way into the Transvaal from the east (guarding every inch of the rail in his rear, so that when he should reach Heidelberg the Natal Field Force would be extended all along the line), General Ian Hamilton, in order to join hands with him, was moving with a mobile force _viâ_ Springs to Heidelberg, which was occupied on the 23rd. Both armies thus approaching were now capable of frustrating concerted and combined action between the hostile bands of the Transvaal and those still lingering in Orange River Colony. Lord Dundonald's Brigade, meanwhile, had been joined by Strathcona's Horse, a picked body of sporting men who were tingling for fight.[6] This experience they soon enjoyed, as in the course of the march towards Heidelberg they came on a gang of Boers and had an animated encounter which cost them a man killed and two missing, including the officer who was in command of the party. Four Boer victims were left on the scene of the fray. The Boers, though many were surrendering, were sustained in their dogged determination to fight by the exquisite inventiveness of Mr. Kruger, who, undoubtedly, is a Defoe or a De Rougemont lost to the world. He caused a proclamation to be issued, stating that the Russians had declared war on Japan, and that Great Britain was bound by treaty to support the Japanese, and must therefore withdraw her troops from South Africa. The proclamation also stated that Lord Roberts had no supplies, and implored the burghers to keep up their courage. About a thousand burghers accordingly collected in the neighbourhood of Sandspruit with the wily ambition of severing the lines of communication. The Komati Poort Bridge had been threatened, and the cauldron of Boer machination was simmering portentously in the neighbourhood of Machadodorp. With Buller's force on the east, Rundle's on the south, Hunter's to the west, it was hoped that the animated De Wet might be trapped as Cronje had been trapped. Still the wily one--slim by instinct, slimmer now by experience--contrived to become slippery as an eel whenever the fingers of the enveloping British hand began to curve in his direction. There was no doubt about it that this sometime butcher of Barberton, this late speculator in potatoes, who, it is stated, "went bankrupt in an unsuccessful attempt to establish a potato corner on the Johannesburg market," was a born genius in the art of war. He was aware of his own potentialities, and is reported to have said that he gave Lord Kitchener--if he put his mind to it--ten days to catch him in, while to Lord Roberts he allowed three weeks, and to Lord Methuen the rest of a lifetime! And the statement was not all Boer bounce, as time proved. General Hamilton from the west approached Heidelberg on the 22nd, and exchanged shots with the Boer patrols; but during the night the enemy disappeared and the troops occupied the town. The force consisted of General Gordon's and General Broadwood's Cavalry Brigades (the 9th, 16th, 17th Lancers, and Household Cavalry, 10th Hussars, and 12th Lancers respectively), two batteries Royal Horse Artillery, two batteries Field Artillery, two 5-inch guns, a brigade of Mounted Infantry under General Ridley, and the 21st Brigade (City Imperial Volunteers, Camerons, Sussex, and Derbys) under General Bruce Hamilton. It was found that the Boers had retreated to a crescent of hills turning south-east of the town, and from here they fired on patrols of the New South Wales Contingent. General Hamilton advanced on the Dutchman's haunts, while General Broadwood, with a pom-pom and Field Battery, Roberts's Horse, the Ceylon Mounted Infantry, and Marshall's Horse, made a vigorous flank attack which sent the enemy scudding into space. The casualties were few. Among the wounded were Captain F. Whittaker, Roberts's Horse, since dead; Captain H. Carrington Smith, Royal Dublin Fusiliers; Captain M. Browne, Roberts's Horse; Lieutenant C. Livingstone Learmonth, Roberts's Horse; Lieutenant E. Rex King, Roberts's Horse. General Ian Hamilton unluckily fell from his horse and sustained a fracture of the collar-bone. Generals Hunter and Hart, therefore, hurriedly joined General Ian Hamilton on the 25th at Heidelberg, the former replacing the latter in command there, as General Hamilton's injury temporarily incapacitated him from resuming his duties. How General Hunter managed so opportunely to arrive on the scene must be described. General Hunter, after taking Christiana, moved _viâ_ Vryburg, Lichtenburg, Potchefstroom, and Krugersdorp to Johannesburg. With Colonel Mahon--who had joined him and was in command of the Cavalry Brigade--he had been engaged in the task of pacifying the Wolmaranstad and Potchefstroom districts. Klerksdorp surrendered on the 9th of June (uselessly, as it afterwards appeared). A few days later Colonel Mahon's Cavalry Brigade entered Potchefstroom after a bitterly cold night march. On the 15th General Hunter moved _viâ_ Krugersdorp (which surrendered on the 18th), towards Johannesburg (Colonel Mahon preceding him and moving to Pretoria) and went to Springs in support of General Hamilton's advance to Heidelberg. General Hunter's reduced force now consisted of the Dublin Fusiliers, part of the Somersetshire Light Infantry, and a small number of the Yeomanry. By the 25th he had taken over the command of General Hamilton's column and at once proceeded to engage himself with the work that that officer was intending to accomplish. General Hart before this time had been at Frederickstad, some fifteen miles north of Potchefstroom on the rail and best road to Johannesburg, but speedily moved on to assist. The plan was to arrange for the permanent garrisoning of Frankfort in the Orange River Colony, Heilbron, Lindley, and Senekal, the taking of Bethlehem, and, if possible, the cornering of De Wet. General Hunter marched from Heidelberg towards Frankfort with a view to finding out the haunts of the malcontents, but encountered no opposition, and reached his destination on the 1st of July. Two days later he was joined by the troops from Heilbron under General Macdonald. General Hart, with a battalion and a half of infantry, remained in Heidelberg and engaged in the repair of the railway bridge, which had been wrecked by the Boers. Here for the nonce we must leave them while the operations in other parts of the disturbed Colonies are investigated. General Buller had accomplished his work of clearing Natal, and had joined hands with Lord Roberts's force, and thus interposed a strong British barrier between Botha at Middelburg and De Wet in Orange River Colony. These two adventurous spirits had now to be tackled separately, and the cornering of De Wet came first in Lord Roberts's programme. The commando of the astute Free Stater was to be pushed eastward towards Bethlehem and surrounded, and for this purpose General Hunter was to co-operate with Generals Rundle, Clements, and Paget, while Lord Methuen in the neighbourhood of Paardekraal (ten miles south-west of Heilbron on the Kroonstad Road), was to mount guard over the rail between Kroonstad and the Vaal River and prevent De Wet from breaking out westward. FOOTNOTES: [5] See Map at front. [6] See vol. iii. p. 146. CHAPTER III IN ORANGE RIVER COLONY, EAST. JUNE General Rundle's activities had never relaxed. In June he was vigilantly guarding the Senekal-Ficksburg region, posting strong forces at intervals along the road, and fixing his headquarters at Scheepers Nek. Here he was strengthened by the arrival of General Campbell's Brigade (16th), while General Brabant's Force moved along the line in order to keep a wary eye on the guerilla bands that were intent on ravage and destruction. In a day or two he returned to Hammonia, however, as swarms of the enemy were circling about sniping, forcing Boers who had retired to their farms to rejoin the rebels, destroying telegraph wires, attempting to cut off parties of troops and to press their way towards the south, and, in fact, making themselves generally offensive. In consequence of Lord Roberts's proclamation, Free Staters remaining in the field now became rebels. But Mr. Steyn issued a counterblast--warned burghers to take no notice of the proclamation at their peril, and declared the country was still an International Sovereign State, with a President and properly constituted Government. The unfortunate burghers, therefore, found themselves between two fires, and their sentiments must have resembled those of the man who, torn between rival fair ones, cried, "How happy could I be with either, were t'other dear charmer away!" Botha, it was said, desired to surrender, but from sense of loyalty to De Wet was prevented from so doing, both Dutchmen having agreed to hold out so long as one remained uncaptured. De Wet was reported to be still keeping together some 6000 men in the Orange River Colony, Botha with some 5000 more, broken into marauding bands, was guarding the east of the Transvaal, while Mr. Kruger and his allies between Machadodorp and Nelspruit resided in a railway carriage, awaiting the whistle that should warn them to steam off. On the 19th General Rundle, accompanied by his staff, Colonel Maxwell and Captain George Farrar of General Brabant's Division, made a careful examination of Ficksburg and its fortifications, and afterwards, during a reconnaissance, it was discovered that a hornet's nest was concealed in a series of sinister kopjes near by. The desperadoes had guns, and without doubt intended to use them should the British be caught in the open, but they were playing a waiting game, at which pastime General Rundle decided to show himself equally proficient. Further investigations proved that the Boer lines between Ficksburg and Bethlehem were of great strength, and that the Dutchmen numbered some 5000. Besides these bands, other roving commandos flitted about mosquito-wise, seeking to draw British blood. On the 20th Colonel Dalgety at Hibernia reported that he had been surrounded. He stated that some 200 Dutchmen were ensconced on Doorn Kop near his camp, and asked for help in order to effect their capture. Off went General Rundle, with Scots Guards, Cavalry and Artillery, marching nimbly, in the fond hope of making a "bag," through the pitchy blackness of the night, and reaching the destination at dawn. When the troops arrived, however, it was found that Colonel Dalgety had retired, and the Boers in dispersed gangs were again a prowling danger to the vicinity. Meanwhile General Paget, who was holding Lindley, was attacked by De Wet, who brought five pieces to bear on him, but the guerilla chief was successfully repulsed by the 2nd Yorkshire Light Infantry, assisted later on by a battery of the City Imperial Volunteers which gave a splendid account of itself. General Rundle's march was continued on the 23rd towards Senekal, whereupon the Dutch hordes, seizing their opportunity, pounced on the rear of the transport. Under cover of a fiercely-flaring veldt fire they poured a volley on the rear guard--the Scots Guards and Hampshire Yeomanry under Captain Seely--who instantly jumped to action, giving the oncoming Boers so keen a dose from rifles and a Maxim, that they bolted to their main position at Tafelberg. Sundry of their party, seeking safety at the farm of some supposed neutral, were luckily captured and their harbour of refuge razed to the ground. (It was impossible longer to shut our eyes to the fact that the farms had become half-way houses for rebels, and there was no other means of disposing of these death traps.) In this engagement many of the Boers bit the dust, for the British troops actively pursued the enemy in their flight, and succeeded in thinning their numbers without casualties on their own side. The dogged determination of the Boers was to break through to the south, and it took all the ingenuity of Generals Rundle and Brabant to create a linked chain from Winburg to the Basutoland border, through which the slim ones could not squeeze. Owing to the nature of the country--in some places a replica of Switzerland, with snow-capped peaks, enormous gorges, and treacherous passes--it was difficult to assume the offensive, and Sir Leslie Rundle had to content himself with the task of keeping the Boers in check while help came from the north. General Clements, on the 24th, engaged a body of fierce ruffians near Winburg, where he had gone to gather guns and supplies prior to combining his force with those at Lindley, Heilbron, and Heidelberg. He succeeded in driving the rebels north of the Zand River without great loss, though Captain G. E. F. Fitzgerald, 2nd Bedfordshire Regiment, was severely wounded, and Second Lieutenant R. H. Lascelles, 8th Battery Royal Field Artillery, was slightly injured. At Bloemfontein, at this time, there was deep regret at the loss of Captain Lord Kensington,[7] 2nd Life Guards, who had died of his wounds. Meanwhile, near Ficksburg, on the 25th, General Boyes' Brigade also encountered the Dutchmen. Two valuable officers were killed--Captain E. B. Grogan and Lieutenant G. L. D. Brancker, 1st South Staffordshire Regiment--and five men were wounded and missing. A convoy returning with General Clements to Senekal from Winburg was also attacked some seven miles from Senekal. Hearing of the fray, Colonel Grenfell and his Colonials set out from Senekal, attacked the enemy's left flank, and became so hotly engaged that General Brabant, with all the available troops, rushed to the succour of the party. Of the combined forces three men were killed and twenty-three wounded. General Paget was also desperately engaged at Lindley on the 26th, when a convoy of stores moving towards that place was attacked by the marauding bands, but after a heavy rearguard action succeeded in getting to their destination in safety. Ten men were killed and four officers and fifty men wounded. On the following day the Roodival Spruit post was attacked, but the detachment of the Shropshire Light Infantry and West Australian Mounted Infantry, who were there, briskly sent the enemy flying. General Methuen, too, was not inactive. On the 28th the Boer laagers near Vach Kop and Spitz Kop were found to be hastily removing in the direction of Lindley, whereupon the General gave chase, pursued the enemy for twelve miles, and eventually wrested from them some 8000 sheep and 500 head of cattle they had appropriated during their freebooting excursions in the neighbourhood. Lieutenant G. C. W. G. Hall and Lieutenant L. Simpson, 2nd Yorkshire Light Infantry, and four men were wounded, but otherwise the operations were highly satisfactory, as the Boer larder, if not the Boer person, had been made to pay heavily at a time when both belligerents were none too fully fed! The enemy once hemmed in, and once devoid of supplies, it was hoped the end of the war would be reached. On the 2nd of July General Clements joined hands with General Paget, and the combined force began their advance on Bethlehem, of which anon. IN THE WESTERN TRANSVAAL. JUNE Early in the month came a report from General Baden-Powell, from camp forty miles west-south-west of Rustenburg, that the railway to Mafeking had been repaired, and that over a hundred arrested rebels were awaiting their trial. The General was working his systematic way through the districts of Manrico, West Lichtenburg, and Rustenburg, carrying out a mission of pacification, re-establishing order, and collecting arms and supplies. It must be explained that in recognition of his splendid services he had been promoted to the rank of major-general, after which he was appointed a lieutenant-general on the staff while employed with her Majesty's forces in South Africa. Lord Edward Cecil now filled the post of Administrator of the Rustenburg district, and had already accepted surrenders and collected rifles innumerable. Rustenburg was occupied on the 14th of June by General Baden-Powell, and a column from Pretoria was sent out to meet this officer, to repair the telegraph between the two places, and thus provide a second line of telegraph between the Chief and Cape Town. This, with the opening of the railway line from Durban to Pretoria (shortly to be accomplished by Sir Redvers Buller's operations), made important advance in the work of occupation. On the 18th General Baden-Powell arrived at Pretoria, where he had an enthusiastic reception. He stayed but two days, and was off again on his return journey towards Rustenburg. This town at the time was garrisoned by a very small force and one gun, whose occupation it was to continue the work of pacification, and accept the surrender of arms--most of which appeared to be of obsolete type. [Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL R. A. P. CLEMENTS, D.S.O., A.D.C. Photo by Elliott & Fry, London] At this date, between Rustenburg and Pretoria, a body of the enemy under Commandant Du Plessis were roaming about, and these were met on the 19th by Hutton's Mounted Infantry, who came out of the fray with two guns to their credit. It was not often in the history of the war that Boer guns were seized, and the little British force was justifiably pleased with their prowess. There was no end to the activity of Hutton's Mounted Infantry, and skirmishes with wandering tribes of the enemy were of almost daily occurrence. On the 24th Captain Anley had a smart "set-to" with Boer patrols south of Pretoria, in which Lieutenant Crispin and one man of the Northumberland Fusiliers were wounded. [Illustration: RAILWAY MAP SHOWING LINES TO W. AND S.W. OF PRETORIA. (Scale, 1 inch=64 miles. By permission of the Publishers of "South Africa.")] About this period an informal armistice was in operation; Botha having been given time to consider the philosophy of fighting against the inevitable. Lord Roberts made the suggestion that the Boer commandant should disarm his forces, and thus avert unnecessary bloodshed, but the Dutchman doggedly refused to surrender without the consent of his Government, and demanded further respite to obtain the same. This being probably another ruse to enable the Dutch rebels, mercenaries, and others--who were gathering round the standard of the commandant--to gain breathing time, the request was refused, and hostilities were resumed. An official warning was given to the effect that any further activities in the form of the destruction of railway lines, &c., would be met with prompt punishment, and involve the demolition of all farms within five miles of the point molested. Colonel Girouard was also authorised to compel leading residents to accompany trains--a wise precaution, reminiscent of the policy of the East, which forces the Grand Vizier to taste of every dish prepared for his sovereign! When the cat is away the mice may play, and the opportunity for a game was not lost on the Boers. During General Baden-Powell's absence from Rustenburg a party of Dutchmen under Commandant Limmer made an effort to lodge themselves on the heights commanding the town, and demanded its surrender. Major Hanbury Tracy, who with 120 men was in charge of the place, replied that he held Rustenburg for her Majesty's Government, and intended so to do. Thereupon hostile artillery began its thunderous detonations, and things grew frowning. But Colonel Holdsworth (7th Hussars) from the region of Zeerust, forty-eight miles off, scenting fight from afar, made a brilliant march, and assisted by Colonel Airey and his mettlesome Bushmen drove back the enemy. Two Bushmen were slain, and Captain Machattie and three men were wounded. This was the state of affairs when General Baden-Powell returned on the 9th of July. By the 10th the Boers had betaken themselves to Olifant's Nek in the Magaliesberg range, and so as to secure the other pass--Magato Nek--the Rustenburg party seized it. Unfortunately, nearer Pretoria was another nek, the Commando Nek, and here, as we shall see anon, the Boers, on the 11th of July, managed cunningly to locate themselves, thus cutting off General Baden-Powell from Pretoria. FOOTNOTES: [7] Lord Kensington, of the 2nd Life Guards, succeeded his father in 1896. He was educated at Eton, and entered the army as second lieutenant on June 22, 1892; he was promoted to lieutenant on April 5, 1893, and obtained his company on February 3, 1900. He was J.P. for Pembrokeshire and for Haverfordwest. CHAPTER IV JULY THE BATTLE OF BETHLEHEM AND THE SURRENDER OF PRINSLOO The drama in Natal having been concluded, the curtain rose on the last act of the drama in Orange River Colony, the final scenes of which went "on greased wheels," as it were, owing to the tremendous energy and talent in the field of, first, General Sir Leslie Rundle, who had had all the hard preliminary work to do; second, Generals Clements and Paget, and finally of the greatest martial performer of all--General Sir Archibald Hunter. It will be remembered that this officer, after the accident to General Ian Hamilton, had taken over his command, but July found him released from the eastern Transvaal and in act of assisting in the concluding operations in the Orange River Colony. His force now consisted of the 2nd and 3rd Brigades of Mounted Infantry, Kitchener's Horse, Lovat's Scouts, the Composite Regiment of Cavalry from the Transvaal, the Highland Brigade (minus the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders guarding Heilbron), the Munsters, the Yorkshire Light Infantry, the Scottish Rifles (Militia), and South Staffordshire (Militia), under the command of General Arthur Paget, the 38th Battery Royal Field Artillery and Battery of the City Imperial Volunteers, the Scottish Yeomanry, under Colonel Burn, the 14th and 15th Imperial Yeomanry, and the Imperial Australian Regiment. In conjunction with General Brabant and General Rundle, who were in or around Senekal and Hammonia respectively, he moved steadily to the south-east, the main object of the operations being to dislodge the Boers from Bethlehem and sweep them off from the rich grain country on the eastern side of the Orange River Colony, and prevent them from penetrating lower and disturbing already pacified districts. Near Lindley, as we are aware, as a commencement of the combined closing in movement, Generals Clements and Paget had effected a junction. The Boers clustering in the neighbourhood of Winburg and Senekal were known to be yet active, though many of their number came in at times and surrendered, while others, longing to do likewise, were caught sneaking forth and were sjamboked by their compatriots. In fact, strong guards had to be posted round the laagers to prevent the desertion of Boers of pacific tendencies. Still, when they fought, they fought well and tenaciously, and managed to give a vast amount of trouble at every turn of the road. General Paget, on the 3rd, attacked the Dutchmen in their strong position at Pleisirfontein, driving them off across Leeuw Kop to Broncrifontein. He bivouacked for the night in the position he had secured, not without some fierce fighting, an account of which was given by one of the Imperial Yeomanry:-- "We moved from Lindley on the morning of July 2, and by midday were in touch with the enemy, who had taken up a position on some kopjes overlooking the road on which we had to pass. We opened fire with the 38th Battery Field Artillery 15-pounder, and also with the C.I.V. 12-pounder quick-firing guns. The Boers replied with two 15-pounders, but we were too much for them, and by 2 P.M. we had driven them off and our Mounted Infantry and Yeomanry had taken the position. It was a miserably cold day with drizzling rain, so you may imagine it was anything but pleasant. "We camped that night at a farm which the enemy had occupied all day. They retired some distance, and continued shelling our camp till dark, and though some of their shells fell into our camp and among the waggons no harm was done. Our casualties were two of our men wounded. After we had pitched our camp it came on to rain, so we had to lie down in our wet blankets on the damp veldt. We were, however, able to get plenty of wood from the farmhouse, so we made a large fire which, with some warm tea, was a comfort. Next day we moved camp at 8 A.M. and proceeded, after the Boers had dropped a few shells into us. Our artillery went on ahead, and took up a position on a kopje, and shortly after we located the Boer guns on another kopje. To-day we found they had a large gun, a Creusot, which outranged ours. The artillery duel lasted all day till 4 P.M. when a general attack was made by the Infantry and Yeomanry on the kopje. While this was going on a force of Boers dressed in khaki and helmets, the same as those used at Lindley, managed to creep up on the 38th Battery, who had run short of ammunition, and shot the men down at the guns. The captain and lieutenant were killed, and Major Oldfield was mortally wounded." [Illustration: PRINSLOO'S COMMANDO RETREATING TO THE BRANDWATER BASIN AFTER THE FIGHT AT RETIEF'S NEK From a Sketch by M. F. R.] As may be imagined the situation was now verging on disaster. Major Oldfield had received his death-blow, Captain Fitzgerald was helpless with a bullet in the thigh, Lieutenant Belcher was shot at his guns. The gunners and drivers of the guns had nearly all dropped dead or were disabled--their horses in death agonies strewing the ground. It was impossible, therefore, to remove the guns. The Bushmen had been forced to retire at a critical moment, and it seemed as though the day were lost. Then up came the C.I.V. Battery, and with the assistance of Captain Budworth--whose wits and gallantry were never better displayed--fired their two guns trail to trail over the heads of the 38th, battered the triumphantly advancing foe on the left front and, in a word, saved the situation. Off scudded the Boers, after them went the Bushmen, Budworth riding at the head, and finally with the assistance of the Infantry--the Yorkshire Light Infantry, the Munster Fusiliers, and the Imperial Yeomanry who had rushed up the hills and scattered the remaining Dutchmen at the point of the bayonet--they succeeded in getting the guns limbered up and away! The dashing work cost forty killed and wounded, besides Captain Dill, 2nd Yorkshire Light Infantry, wounded, and Lieutenant and Adjutant A. F. C. Williams, Indian Staff Corps (Attached Brabant's Horse), dangerously wounded. [Illustration: RAILWAY MAP OF EASTERN PORTION OF ORANGE RIVER COLONY AND NATAL. (Scale, 1 inch=64 miles. By permission of the Publishers of "South Africa.")] On the following day, 4th, the enemy was pursued as far as Blaauw Kop, fifteen miles north-west of Bethlehem, where Mr. Steyn's seat of government was now supposed to be. Mr. Steyn had cautiously betaken himself to Fouriesburg (between Bethlehem and Ficksburg), leaving De Wet and some 3000 men to await the attack of the British forces. Meanwhile round Ficksburg fierce fighting was taking place, the Boers making a midnight attack with the despairing idea of reoccupying that town. Their furious effort lasted but an hour, when they found themselves beaten. On the 5th the position at Doornberg, on the Winburg-Senekal road, which the Dutchman had evacuated, was promptly taken possession of by General Brabant, who thereby ousted them from a vantage-point whence they could pounce on convoys proceeding to and from the base at Winburg, and secured the line of rail in the vicinity of Zand River, round which hovering gangs of wreckers had persistently congregated. To return to the Dutchmen inside Bethlehem. The town, like many other South African towns, is dominated by cliffs or kopjes, two of these being on the north-west, while another (Wolhunter Kop) rises in the south in a high and solitary peak above the plain, and descends steeply towards the side of the town. Naturally these obstructive eminences were chosen as the stronghold of the foe, and as naturally the object of the British was now to clear the Boers from them, and to this end General Arthur Paget marched his force to within two miles of his objective, and encamped near the northerly spurs of the north-western kopjes. General Clements's column, consisting of the Royal Irish, Worcesters, Wiltshires, a battery of Field Artillery, and two 5-inch guns moved about six miles on the left rear of General Paget's force towards the east of the town; where, on all the available ridges and cliffs were Boer trenches and gun emplacements, some of these knowingly and skilfully arranged at a right angle with the cliffs and with their backs to the town, in order that any approaching force could be swept from all directions as they neared the position. General Clements sent to De Wet a flag of truce demanding the surrender of the place, and on receipt of a refusal the hammer-and-tong process of warfare began. Both Generals simultaneously attacked from different points, but owing to the crusted and gibbose nature of the ground in this part of the Orange Colony it was impossible for the Cavalry to attempt any very wide turning movement. The result was that on the dash and daring of the Infantry much was found to depend and that eventually carried all before it. The Cavalry, the 14th and 15th Imperial Yeomanry, and Imperial Australian Regiment operated on the right, and made themselves masters of a position on a kopje at the northerly ridge of the eminences held by the Boers. General Clements engaged the foe in his eastern fastnesses, capturing them on the following day through the gallantry of the Royal Irish Regiment, while the Infantry with General Paget fought with splendid persistence, till their ammunition being exhausted they finally charged with the bayonet so gallantly, so effectively, that the Boers were routed, and General Paget at nightfall found himself in possession of a kopje which faced and was the key to the terrific steeps leading to the precipitous peak of Wolhunter's Kop. This charge of the Munsters, supported by the Yorkshire Light Infantry, was described by one of the officers of the former splendid regiment in glowing terms: "The Royal Munster Fusiliers had to storm a kopje at the point of the bayonet. For the last 800 yards my men had not a round of ammunition left. We kept advancing, cheering as we went on, with bayonets fixed. We got within fifty yards, when the Boers fired their last volley and bolted. The position was won. The G.O.C., in his despatch to Lord Roberts, said the gallantry displayed by the Munsters was beyond all praise.... My men behaved excellently. I never want finer fellows to be with in an attack." Mr. Blundell, of the _Morning Post_, related a characteristic anecdote which served to show the debonnair spirit, the coolness and aplomb of some of the doughty band: "In the midst of the rush past some Kaffir kraals a goose waddled out through the line, and a man, not too preoccupied to forget the future, lowered his bayonet, swung the bird over his shoulder in his stride, and took possession of the captured position with his dinner on his back." The goose was eaten in face of the frowning Wolhunter's Kop, which next day, the 7th, fell into the hands of the British through a series of ingenious martial manoeuvres, assisted by the brilliant execution of the 38th Battery R.F.A. and the C.I.V. Battery under Major M'Micking. The decisive move in the operations was brought about by the splendid persistence of the Royal Irish, who, extended in three lines, stormed a formidable kopje amidst cascades of fire, dropping, and sweating, and shouting, yet never halting till they had reached the crest, captured it, and in addition to it a prize--a gun, one of our own lost in the fatal affair at Stormberg. By midday the enemy was in full retreat, and the town was occupied by the combined forces. The casualty list on the first day, considering the magnitude of the operations and the strength of the positions assailed, was not large: Thirty-two men of the Munster Fusiliers were wounded and one man missing; seven men of the Yorkshire Light Infantry wounded; one man of the 58th Company Imperial Yeomanry was killed, and two men wounded. The wounded officers were: Lieutenant A. H. D. West, 8th Battery Royal Field Artillery; Captain T. W. Williams, 5th Volunteer Battalion Liverpool Regiment (attached Royal Irish Regiment); Captain G. D. M'Pherson, 1st Munster Fusiliers; Captain W. C. Oates, 1st Munster Fusiliers; Lieutenant Conway, 1st Munster Fusiliers; Second Lieutenant Boyd Rochford, 4th Scottish Rifles. The following casualty occurred on the 7th: Captain J. B. H. Alderson, 1st Royal Irish Rifles, wounded (since dead). On the morrow, Broadwood's Brigade, preceding General Hunter, arrived. After this, by systematic and strategic pressure, the Free Staters were being pushed off their impregnable heights to a mountainous place called the Brandwater Basin, some fifteen miles square, in the region of the Caledon River, leaving us in possession of practically the last of their towns--Lindley, Bethlehem, Biddulph's Berg, and Senekal. Bethlehem was occupied by General Paget, Biddulph's Berg by General Clements, Senekal by General Rundle, and thus a cordon was supposed to be drawn round the wily enemy. Unluckily, on the 15th, between Bethlehem and Ficksburg, a small gap existed--a gap which but for delay in regard to his supplies would have been held by General Paget--and through this loophole, Stabbert's Nek, that very slippery fish De Wet contrived to slide, taking with him 1500 men and five guns. This was unfortunate, as the escaped enemy threatened to become a serious diversion from the business in hand, particularly as no general advance could be made till the necessary convoys had arrived for the enormous amount of troops forming the cordon. Nevertheless while General Hunter, on one side, actively engaged in reconnoitring the positions held by the remainder of De Wet's forces between Bethlehem, Ficksburg, Fouriesburg, Retief's and Stabbert's Neks, General Little (temporarily commanding the 3rd Brigade) pursued De Wet himself, and the force that had recently broken through the cordon was found to be hovering between Bethlehem and Lindley. A smart contest ensued, which lasted till dusk, when the Boers broke up into two parties and again vanished, leaving several dead and two wounded upon the field. On the same day, 19th, General Broadwood, commanding 2nd Cavalry Brigade, who had been following up the fleeing Boers since the 16th, spent some hours in an animated engagement near Palmietfontein, between Ventersburg and Lindley. The enemy, with swelled numbers, and said to be accompanied by Steyn and one of the De Wets, had been wheeling round the railway communications as moths circle around a chandelier. Having caught them here General Broadwood made a brisk fight of it, but the Boers under cover of darkness evaded pursuit. On the following morning it was found that they had doubled back to Paardekraal during the night. The line on the north of Honing Spruit showed signs of their depredations, and on the western side the telegraph wires to Pretoria _viâ_ Potchefstroom were cut. During the fight Major Moore, West Australian Mounted Infantry, was killed, and Lieutenant the Hon. F. Stanley, 10th Hussars, Lieutenant Tooth, Australian Contingent, and fourteen men were wounded. General Broadwood proceeded to Vaal Krantz, which place was reached on the 22nd. [Illustration: PRINSLOO'S LAST STAND IN THE VALLEY OF THE LITTLE CALEDON: THE BOERS' POSITION ON THE HEIGHTS From a Sketch by M. F. R.] Meanwhile the desperadoes, routed on all sides, made a rush upon the line near Roodeval, tore up the rails, and succeeded in capturing on the night of the 21st, between Kroonstad and the Vaal, a supply train with two officers and a hundred men of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. De Wet's force, doubtless well pleased with itself, then moved _viâ_ Vredefort in a north-easterly direction, quickly pursued by General Broadwood, who, in his turn, was followed by General Little. The former officer succeeded on the 23rd in capturing some of De Wet's waggons at Vredefort, at which place he halted till joined by General Little. On the 25th De Wet, ubiquitous, was found posted on some comfortable heights at Reitzburg, some seven miles south of the Vaal, while General Broadwood, like a cat watching a bird, was preparing to spring. But the bird was too wary, and kept his wings flapping for flight at the first provocation. Indeed, he had dodges at his fingers' end, and tried a new variety every time he was warned of the British approach. One of these was at a certain place to keep a dozen or so Boer hats, which had previously been strung on a line, continually bobbing over a certain entrenched spot in order to impress the British and lead them astray, while he and his horde took an opposite direction. While the chase was going forward some fighting took place, in which the Berkshire Yeomanry, the Imperial Bushmen, and the 38th Field Battery took part. They disputed the possession of a high hill to west of Bethlehem, but as possession makes nine points of the law, the Boers, posted in strength upon the hill, caused the small force to retire. During the retirement one officer and nine men were lost. General Bruce Hamilton also engaged in some active work, which cost him three of the Cameron Highlanders, whose regiment, assisted by 500 Mounted Infantry and the 82nd Battery, succeeded in securing a strong position on Spitzray. Captain Keith Hamilton, Oxford Light Infantry, was wounded severely, and Captain Brown, Captain A. C. M'Lean, and Lieutenant Stewart, Cameron Highlanders, Captain E. S. C. Hobson, Mounted Infantry Worcester Regiment, and thirteen Cameron Highlanders were all more or less severely injured. Of the terribly hard work done by the 21st Brigade it has been impossible to take due note. Since the 28th of April they had covered on foot some 1200 miles, and had done more fighting and marching than any brigade at the front. They could count as many as forty-three engagements to their credit, and as one of the Sussex men said, "We have been in several tight corners, but have always come out on top." The Irish, Scottish, and Colonial Corps had all received their meed of praise, but certain English regiments, notably the Sussex, the Wiltshire, and the Liverpool Regiments, owing to the fact of their not being prominently engaged in the "historic" battles, got less than their share of appreciation, though no better and braver and more enduring regiments could be found in the British army. [Illustration: POSITION OF TROOPS ROUND THE BRANDWATER BASIN BEFORE THE SURRENDER OF PRINSLOO.] Operations were now carried forward with additional vigour, for it was known that Boers, some 6000 of them, led by Roux and Prinsloo, who had not bolted with De Wet, must still be in the neighbourhood of the Caledon Valley, the river behind them, the only passes available among the snow-capped mountains, Commando Nek below Fouriesburg, Stabbert's and Retief's Neks near Bethlehem, and Golden Gate, leading out of the valley. But these, it must be remembered, were fairly far apart, and loopholes of necessity were many. At all these points the British, lynx-eyed, furious at being given the slip by De Wet, crouched. General Hunter himself observed Retief's Nek, while General Bruce Hamilton barred Golden Gate, and Generals Paget and Rundle took up positions watching Stabbert's and Commando Neks respectively. To appreciate the nicety of the movement a glance at the map is necessary. The geographical nature of the situation in which the Boers found themselves after the battle of Bethlehem was thus concisely sketched by Mr. Spenser Wilkinson:-- "The Boers were holding a great mountain horse-shoe, of which the curved end is at the north, and the open end or back is on the Caledon River, the inside of the shoe being the basin of the Brandwater. On the right-hand limb of the shoe at the second nail from the end is Fouriesburg, and Retief's Nek is at the top right-hand nail, the road from Ficksburg to Bethlehem going up the Brandwater valley and over Retief's Nek. "Outside the horse-shoe to the right, the east, the road from Fouriesburg to Harrismith goes by the Little Caledon River, which is separated by a long east and west range of hills from the hilly plain of Bethlehem. North of this range is Naauwpoort, and from the Caledon Valley to Naauwpoort the road crosses over Naauwpoort's Nek and goes on to Harrismith on the north side of the range." Having blocked the passes to the best of his ability, General Hunter hoped for the best. He knew the Boers might evaporate--as they seemed so magically to do--over the mountains, but he guessed, and guessed rightly, that it would be too much of a wrench to tear themselves from their effects--horses, oxen, carts, and waggons--and these could never be dragged over the barring acclivities. The first attack on Retief's Nek was made on the 23rd by General MacDonald, the Highland Brigade, Lovat's Scouts, Remington's Guides, and a battery and two 5-inch "cow"-guns. The Boers had previously been thrown off the scent owing to the British troops having taken a wide detour, and they were somewhat surprised in their rocky caves to find themselves in the thick of lyddite, which growled and crashed and fumed at them. Then the Highland Light Infantry, with the Sussex to help them, deployed, the former bearing to left, the latter, with the 81st Battery of Field Artillery, to right, the Infantry making brilliant rushes towards the impregnable lair of the enemy, despite the murderous jets from the rifles of the Dutchmen, which spouted disaster the nearer they approached. Each battalion lost thirty men or so, but brilliant and inexhaustible as they were, found themselves unable, on the initial day, to push the attack. The Black Watch were more fortunate, however, and gallantly carving their passage with the bayonet, managed before nightfall to secure a foothold on the summit of the hills whence they could now await the morrow. At that time General Clements's Yeomanry were attempting to force the passage of Stabbert's Nek, gaining ground with difficulty, but clinging to it all night in a perilous position; while on the south-western fringe General Rundle demonstrated in the region of Commando Nek. The morning brought success all round. Stabbert's Nek was forced by the renewed and sturdy efforts of the Yeomanry and the Royal Irish, and the afternoon of the 24th found the combined columns camped inside the Nek. The Boers, quickly recognising the inconvenience of their position, by noon had stampeded towards the east, hoping to cut through Naauwpoort's Nek and gain the Harrismith Road, galloping off, however, with the sagacity of purpose for which at all times they had made themselves notable. The losses so far were sufficiently large, but considering the importance of the position gained they were looked upon as insignificant, and General Hunter formally expressed the opinion that it was owing to the excellent work done by Lovat's Scouts, who for days in advance had scouted, stalked, and "spied" over the country, that so few losses were recorded. The casualties at Stabbert's Nek were:-- _Killed_:--1st Royal Irish Regiment--Captain W. Gloster. _Wounded_:--Royal Field Artillery--Captain H. E. T. Kelly. 2nd Wiltshire Regiment--Captain E. Evans. 6th Company Imperial Yeomanry--Lieutenant G. A. Clay. 1st Royal Irish Regiment--Captain E. F. Milner. Those at Retief's Nek were:-- _Wounded_:--Royal Sussex--Captain E. L. M'Kenzie, Second Lieutenant J. C. W. Anderson, Second Lieutenant H. G. Montgomerie, Second Lieutenant G. E. Leachman. 2nd Royal Highlanders--Major E. M. Wiltshire (since dead), Lieutenant H. K. Smith. Captain Sir W. G. Barttelot, 2nd Volunteer Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment, was killed. The 25th found Generals Hunter, Clements, and Paget in possession of Brandwater Basin, while Generals MacDonald and Bruce Hamilton were blocking Inguwooni and Golden Gate. Fouriesburg was occupied by the Eighth Division, and there they found a number of British prisoners and Mrs. Steyn, who was left in charge of the chief of the Commissariat Department. Generals Hunter and Rundle paid the lady a complimentary visit. On the following day General MacDonald, who had kept an eye on Naauwpoort's Nek and Golden Gate, had a hard day's fighting outside Naauwpoort in the Bethlehem Hills, but the effect of this doughty rearguard action was the blocking of Naauwpoort's Nek for the Boer waggon traffic, and without their precious carts the Boers were "winged." Among the wounded were Lieutenant A. M. Brodie, Lovat's Scouts, and Lieutenant W. E. Campion, Mounted Infantry Company, East Yorkshire Regiment. On the 28th, Hunter, with Clements's and Paget's Brigades, attacked the Boers, who were posted on two neks. The first nek, after a vigorous fight, was secured by the Royal Irish, Wiltshire, and Leicester Regiments; the final position, Slaapkrantz, later on and under cover of the dusk, by the brilliant dash of the Scots Guards. During the operations Lieutenant Hon. R. B. F. Robertson, 1st Battalion Imperial Yeomanry (Machine Gun Section), and Second Lieutenant F. G. Alston, 2nd Scots Guards, were wounded. [Illustration: THE SURRENDER OF PRINSLOO'S FORCE AT THE CALEDON RIVER Drawing by Ernest Prater, from a Sketch by Major Romilly, D.S.O., Commanding 2nd Scots Guards] The net result of all the combined blockage of the passes was a demand on Sunday morning, 29th, from Prinsloo, under a flag of truce, for a four days' armistice in order to enter into peace negotiations. As this demand was tantamount to saying, "Hold on while I get wind for another bout," General Hunter sent a message refusing to enter into any negotiations, and saying that the only terms he could accept was unconditional surrender. Until these were complied with, hostilities could not cease. This settled the matter. Prinsloo, knowing it was impossible to get his guns and waggons over the mountains, forthwith handed himself over--arms, ammunition, and the rest of his warlike impedimenta--to the conqueror. With him were Villiers and Crowther and about 1000 men, but other Boer leaders, Olivier among them, who had succeeded in slipping to the farther side of the hills, refused to abide their chief's ruling, and declined to submit. Hostilities in respect to these malcontents had consequently to be resumed, but the surrender of Prinsloo, and with him the Ficksburg commando of some 550 men and the Ladybrand commando, about 450 strong, together with 1500 horses, three guns, two of which were our own, lost at Koorn Spruit, 50 waggons and 50 carts, may be considered as the closing scene of the Free Stater's resistance. The finale at Fouriesburg was an impressive affair. The Generals, their staffs, Sir Godfrey and Lady Lagden from Basutoland, grouped on horseback, were surrounded by the troops drawn up in two lines on the hills overlooking the valley. Between the lines thus made rode Prinsloo, tall, fair--even prepossessing. He handed up his rifle to the General, setting the example to his followers, an agriculturalist rabble, motley of mien as of habit, who, on their small, nimble ponies, galloped up, throwing down rifle and bandolier with a certain effort at swagger, though seemingly nothing loth to finish their fighting career. In cart and waggon they came, too, with all their curious nomadic luggage and blankets, cook-pots and the like, some laughing, and some chaffing as they gave up arms and ammunition, and then moved on to the camp of Brabant's Colonials, with whom they soon got on the best of terms. The formalities occupied three days, the haul of cattle that were hidden in the neighbouring gorges being enormous. The condition of the captured Boer horses contrasted strangely with that of the dilapidated hacks which now remained to the British force, and, as may be imagined, remounts were more than acceptable. July ended with a triumphant flourish of trumpets in honour of the united labours of, first, General Sir Leslie Rundle, who may claim the east of the Orange Colony as his military perquisite, and finally General Sir Archibald Hunter. Prinsloo's surrender was followed by that of 1200 more Free Staters, and the Commandants Roux and Fonternel. To General Bruce Hamilton came Commandants Deploy, Potgieter, and Joubert, and Lieutenant Alderson, a Danish officer of Staats Artillery, and with them 1200 rifles, 650 ponies, and an Armstrong gun. The Free State army was therefore only represented by De Wet and his followers--some 1500--who were hovering in the neighbourhood of the Vaal, and Olivier, who, having refused to consider himself bound by Prinsloo's actions, had taken up a position in the direction of Harrismith, where he was being tracked by General Rundle. AFFAIRS IN AND AROUND PRETORIA--THE CAPTURE OF MIDDELBURG Late in June, at the time of the armistice before-mentioned, there seemed to have been some hesitation on the part of Botha and Kruger whether they should unconditionally surrender, but they were incapable of decisive action while Steyn, who now had nothing to lose and everything to gain, kept the field. The position was best described by Mr. Spenser Wilkinson when he likened Kruger and Steyn to Hannibal and Hasdrubal: "the strongest proof that his cause was lost that could be given to Hannibal was Hasdrubal's head sent into his camp." Another important consideration influenced the President in his hesitation; he bargained, or wished to bargain, that he might remain in the country, a condition which of course could not be entertained. Both Mrs. Kruger and Mrs. Botha exerted themselves to bring about the termination of the useless struggle. One went to her husband's camp in hope to influence him, while the other wrote imploring her better half to come to terms. But their efforts were of no avail. According to some accounts, the President was in the hands of his generals, who, declaring he had played his cards and played them badly, arrogated to themselves the right to judge when hostilities should cease. He was, moreover, in bad odour even with his own burghers, and many of them were openly denouncing him for his conduct in feathering his own nest, and leaving his compatriots alone to face ruin and extricate themselves from the hurly-burly into which he had inveigled them. His foreign mercenaries, too, were furious. They had been calculating on magnificent rewards for their championship of the Boer cause, and now found it hard to digest the philosophic maxim, "Blessed are they who expect nothing, for they shall not be disappointed!" On the 24th, 25th, and 26th of June, efforts were made to surround the enemy in the hills some fifteen miles to the east beyond Silverton. General French on the left, General Ian Hamilton on the right, and the Eleventh Division in the centre engaged in the enveloping movement; but, by the night of Tuesday the 26th, there was nothing to envelop--the Boers had vanished along the Delagoa Bay Railway. The operation caused a loss of about 150. Stringent measures had now to be adopted to frustrate the wily efforts of the Boer generals to obtain news of the military movements of the British. The town was teeming with spies, who actively communicated to the foe the secret doings of the authorities, and diffused intelligence in relation to the intentions of the Boer forces, which was both alarming and paralysing to the inhabitants. It was reported that a combination existed between the Boer leader without the town and the burghers who had surrendered within it, to join forces and attack the place, and in consequence of these rumours extensive precautions were adopted, the number of guards around the capital were increased, and armoured trains patrolled the line daily. Nevertheless, in other ways the town was assuming a more business-like and settled aspect. Some of the Dutch women, knowing themselves safe in the hands of the British, continued to flaunt their national colours, while others flung insulting epithets at the officers, thus unintentionally and subtly complimenting them, as such demeanour demonstrated a firm conviction on the part of the ladies that those whom they insulted were too chivalrous to retaliate. Revelations respecting the intrigues of the late Transvaal Government came gradually to hand, and documents found in Pretoria divulged some unpleasant secrets. First, that large bribes had been paid to sundry prominent foreigners who had visited the Transvaal during the war and promised intervention; second, that letters of dubious complexion had been sent by certain members of the British House of Commons to the Boers--letters which those who were apt to dub a spade a spade called traitorous, and others who talked of "implement of agriculture" styled unpatriotic! The enemy, who had succeeded in capturing Lieutenant Rundle (6th Dragoon Guards) and some men of his patrol, continued to engage himself in mischief around the right flank, so much so that Lord Roberts decided that he must make a clean sweep towards the east of Bronker's Spruit. It must be remembered that after the battle of Diamond Hill the Boers had moved off, only to widen, if to thin, their half-circle round the neighbourhood of Pretoria. Botha remained astride the Delagoa Railway line toward the east, threatening with his left, so far as he dared, the south-east of the town. Grobler gathered his force on the north, while beyond him, to north-west, went Delarey and his hovering hordes, bent on menacing the road to Rustenburg. It was impossible as yet to engage in very decisive operations owing to lack of remounts, but some action was necessary. Accordingly, General Hutton's Mounted Infantry was despatched to reinforce Colonel Mahon, who on the 6th of July was attacked at Rietfontein by some 3000 Boers with six guns and two Vickers-Maxims. Fighting fierce and sustained was continued for two days, when the desired object was achieved, and the Boers cleared from the immediate neighbourhood. The Imperial Light Horse, brilliant as ever, unhappily lost two officers--Captain Currie and Lieutenant Kirk--and thirteen men, their unusual loss being occasioned by the gallantry of B Squadron in pressing to the assistance of a wounded comrade in the teeth of a host of the enemy. Poor young Kirk was a volunteer in the highest sense of the term. His career was typical of the careers of many of the gallant Colonials who rushed to the aid of their country. He had served in the Matabele War, and jumped to arms at the outbreak of the present campaign. He was conspicuous among the heroes of the heroic regiment during the siege of Ladysmith, and was wounded while binding up the injuries of a comrade. He received his commission, and afterwards took part in the famous relief of Mafeking, and later, was again wounded, and severely, while out on patrol with Colonel Baden-Powell. Nevertheless he managed to rejoin the Imperial Light Horse in the great advance _viâ_ Lichtenburg and Potchefstroom to Johannesburg and Pretoria. Among others wounded was Captain and Adjutant Nelles, 1st Battalion Canadian Mounted Rifles. General Hutton on the following day was attacked by 5000 of the enemy near Rietfontein, but he succeeded in routing his assailants, capturing a French officer and inflicting considerable loss, the enemy leaving their injured upon the field. Lieutenant Young, 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles, was slightly wounded. [Illustration: OFFICERS OF THE HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY. Photo by Gregory & Co., London.] Meanwhile Sir Redvers Buller had arrived in Pretoria, looking remarkably well in spite of the tremendous strain of the work of the relief of Ladysmith and the more brilliant achievements that had secured the whole of Natal. Report came in from Ladysmith that some 800 prisoners--Yeomanry and Derbyshire Militia--without officers, had been put over the Natal border from Reitz, and were making their way towards Acton Homes. The plight of these unhappy fellows, without food, tattered, torn, and limping, with only a poor acquaintanceship with the country through which they plodded, was deplorable. Waggons and food were sent out by the O.C. of the Drakensberg Defence Force, and the wretched men were encountered and brought in. Having been marched about for over a month with De Wet, they were so footsore and exhausted that some could barely crawl. The Boers had treated them well, but they had too many mouths of their own to feed, and had been forced by the pressure of circumstance to turn them adrift. [Illustration: NITRAL'S NEK.] On the 11th Botha decided there should be fighting all along the line, and so cleverly were things managed that the British suffered considerably. At dawn the Boers under Delarey, having failed in getting round the right rear of the British, collected on the hills surrounding Nitral's Nek with a view to attacking the left flank. Nitral's Nek, a position some eighteen miles west of Pretoria, near where the road crosses the Crocodile River, was held in order to maintain telegraphic and road communication with Rustenburg. Garrisoning this place were one squadron of Scots Greys, two guns of O Battery Royal Horse Artillery, and five companies of the Lincolnshire Regiment. The Dutchmen were in great force, and admirably disposed, evidently by a preconcerted arrangement, and succeeded in directing a converging fire on the small garrison and on the various portions of it occupying the plain some distance off. As early as possible the news of the attack was sent to Pretoria, whereupon the King's Own Scottish Borderers, under Colonel Godfrey, were despatched to the rescue. It took some hours to reach the scene of the fray, and by the time the reinforcements arrived the small garrison, who had been fighting all day, and had expended their ammunition, were overpowered. It appeared that about this time the Scots Greys had been ordered to proceed to Crocodile Bridge to relieve General Baden-Powell. They followed the same route they had taken when marching to relieve the prisoners at Watervall, a route with only one attraction--it passed through one of the most golden orange groves of the Transvaal, and jaded and depressed as they were, they felt thankful that their ways were cast among the refreshing fruit. A squadron was left at Tulikat's or Nitral's Nek, while the rest of the party, cold, worn, and famishing, reached camp at 10 P.M. on the 7th. On Sunday, the 8th, the force still further divided, one squadron, under Captain Maude, going to Commando Nek, while the remainder recrossed the river and took up a position on a kopje between the two neks guarded by the squadrons mentioned. "To understand the position," said one who was present, and whose description is so interesting and so pathetic that it must be quoted at length, "imagine a kopje in the hollow of your hand, the spaces between your thumb and forefinger, and between your little finger and third finger, Tulikat's Nek and Commando Nek respectively. At your wrist, twenty miles eastward, lay Pretoria. On our front the hills were very steep and high, but on the far side they sloped and were covered with brushwood. It was through this brushwood that the Boers cunningly crept on Tuesday night to make their attack at dawn. "This attack was a bit of first-class generalship. It was made at five different points against five separate forces, and at exactly the same hour, and, when the day was over, the Boers had by far the best of it. On Tuesday afternoon five companies of the Lincolns, under Colonel Roberts, arrived to relieve our squadron at the Nek, who were on the fatal morning to join the other squadrons and march to reinforce General Smith-Dorrien. About 5.30 on Wednesday morning I was awakened by the crackle of rifles. I thought they were just behind the kopje. I jumped up, and picking up my glass, I made for the top. I was soon joined by other officers, and, while we could see nothing, we listened with serious and solemn awe, owing to the continuous rattle of many Mausers. We knew what it meant to our comrades in the gully, and worst of all, we could not help them very much. About eight o'clock a galloper came from Major Scobell to bring over all the guns. This was done, and soon our shells were dropping on the ridges where we could see some Boers. We could not fire into the hollow for fear of killing our own men. The fire became fiercer and fiercer. We now knew the Boers had secured both sides of the valley, and that our poor comrades were at their mercy. Were it not for the many boulders, nooks, and crevices which were taken for cover, few should have come out alive. The situation was critical in the extreme. What was to be done? Colonel Alexander asked me if I would ride into Pretoria, see Lord Roberts, explain the situation, and urge out reinforcements. I went off at full gallop. After riding ten miles I noticed a gentleman on a bicycle. Something said to me, secure this bike. I gave my horse to the cyclist, told him to wait for me and I would return his bike, and then mounted and scorched to headquarters. I sketched and explained the whole situation to Lords Roberts and Kitchener, and by this time strong reinforcements were despatched. After a much needed and kindly provided lunch in Lord Roberts's dining-room, I, with his despatch to our Colonel, cycled back, anxious to see what was what, and hoping that something had been done to help our comrades in their dire straits. "There was scarcely a soldier left to guard Pretoria, so the order I carried was to run no risks and return to Pretoria as soon as possible. Oh, it was hard when I overtook them and found they could do nothing for these poor fellows who had held out against the tremendous odds throughout that fatal day, and who were now either dead, wounded, or in the hands of the enemy. We all retired, reaching our camp outside Pretoria about 1 A.M. Oh, the sadness and gloom at our mess that night! Few words were spoken. Some of us hoped against hope. We earnestly cherished the hope that Major Scobell would find some way out of this gorge of death. At 5.30 we were up and ready to march. About eight a war correspondent informed us that Major Scobell had escaped, two officers had been killed, and one wounded, and the squadron prisoners. This was a terrible blow to us all. We rejoiced at the escape of our popular and gallant Major, but we mourned deeply the loss of the others. There was brave Lieutenant Conolly, a dashing, ready-for-anything young soldier, a great favourite in our midst. He, poor fellow, had fallen, shot through the brain. His death was instantaneous. There was young Lieutenant Pilkington, one of the most gentle and sweet-tempered fellows I ever met. He had been five months a prisoner in Pretoria, and on being liberated got his desire gratified by being attached to us. We all loved him, and he, too, was among the dead, shot in several places while leading his men against the foe. He had five months before been taken prisoner because he refused to abandon a wounded comrade. Poor fellow! Black indeed was the brief page of this fine young soldier's campaign. May his friends be comforted by the assurance that we all loved him, and that he died as a true and brave soldier at his terrible post. Captain Maxwell was seriously wounded. I rode by his side for a long bit on our march to that fatal death-trap, and had a very pleasant conversation together. He didn't like the idea of being left in the Nek. He was, as we all were--for we were all so happy together--dejected at the regiment being divided. I'll never forget how, with a clap on the back, he said, 'Good night, Padre.' Little I thought the next time I would see him would be prostrated by the Boer bullet. When we heard the news, I was anxious to get to the battle-field to lend what hand I could to the wounded and bury our dead." On the way the Samaritan, to his intense joy and relief, encountered Major Scobell, who had been captured by the Boers and had escaped by a marvel. From him he learnt the sad story of the battle, and the splendid resistance of the troops till ammunition had been exhausted. He then proceeded to visit Captain Maxwell, who was lying wounded in the hands of the Boers, and afterwards engaged in carrying in the wounded on stretchers, consoling the dying and tending the injured. Finally, after Herculean labours, such sick as remained alive were carried off to Pretoria. All, on this memorable day, behaved like heroes, but prominent among them was Sergeant Rawdon, who worked a Maxim which was supporting the D and F Companies of the Lincolns. While the others retired he stuck to his gun under a concentrated fire from the enemy. As ill-luck would have it his gun jammed, but the gallant fellow, undefeatable, dissected the weapon, recoupled the parts, and resumed firing till the Maxim, pocked with bullet marks, could be removed by volunteers of the D Company! An officer serving with General French described the sad events of the day: "The Scots Greys were detached from their brigade, and one squadron was sent to accompany a column under Colonel Roberts of the Lincoln Regiment, which proceeded towards Commando Poort on the Crocodile River, north-west of Pretoria. "The fate of this column was briefly as follows. It encamped in a pass with a poort on its front, consisting of high hills. The tops of these hills were not occupied by our outposts, and at daybreak it was found that the enemy had established himself there. The detachment of Greys and Lincolns, with two guns, found themselves under a heavy fire, which continued throughout the day. Our guns were unable to reply, as the Boers were on high ground close on their front. The guns were abandoned, and the fight was continued till evening, when our force surrendered. Major Scobell, the squadron leader, escaped after having been taken prisoner, and about fifty horses of the Greys were cut loose by the sergeant-major and found their way back to our lines." Simultaneously an attack was made by a commando under Grobler on the outposts at Deerdepoort, about 8000 yards north of Wonderboom Fort. The 7th Dragoon Guards were briskly engaged, and Colonel Lowe with great skill tackled the enemy, keeping the Dutchmen in check, and preventing them from making a turning movement towards the extreme left of General Pole-Carew's position. Some seventeen losses were sustained, however, owing to the fact that the scouts mistook a party of Boers dressed in khaki for the 14th Hussars, and were fired on at a range of 100 yards. Few escaped, but these had managed to warn the regiment of the approach of the enemy. General Hutton in the meantime was opposing the southern detachment of Boers near Lewpoort. He had four days' fighting, and finding that he was being outflanked, asked for reinforcements. The 1st Cavalry Brigade left Kameeldrift on the 9th of July, the 8th Hussars taking the place of the Greys. On the 11th the Brigade carried Lewpoort Hill at the gallop--the position for which General Hutton had been fighting before. Only one man was lost in this operation. The Cavalry Brigade then went into camp at Olifantsfontein, on the right of General Hutton's position at Reitvlei. (The whole force continued to draw its supplies from Springs Station, the terminus of a short mineral line from Johannesburg, where, at the end of June, the Boers had been routed by the Canadians who garrisoned the place.) The Dutchmen moved to some kopjes, and infested the high ground on the east of Bronkhers Spruit. The outposts of the two forces were continually in contact, and sniping was part of the daily programme. The Cavalry remained at Olifantsfontein till after the 21st of July, while preparing for a general advance towards Middelburg. The list of casualties on that fatal 11th was a long one:-- Near Deerdepoort: _Killed_:--7th Dragoon Guards--Second Lieutenant K. K. Mackellar. _Wounded_--Captain B. E. Church; Lieutenant H. A. Chomeley. At Nitral's Nek: _Killed_:--Royal Scots Greys--Lieutenant Conolly. Royal Dragoons--Second Lieutenant Pilkington. 2nd Lincoln--Lieutenant G. F. Prichard. _Wounded:_--Lincolnshire Regiment--Captain J. J. Howley, Lieutenant C. J. Rennie, Major E. Herapath. _Made Prisoners_:--Lincolnshire Regiment--Colonel H. R. Roberts, wounded; Lieutenant C. G. Lyall, unwounded. At Kaalboschfontein: Royal Scots Greys--Captain C. J. Mitchell, severely wounded. Owing to the disaster at Nitral's Nek, it now became evident that all the British movements within the capital were reported to the Boers--that, in fact, they had organised an elaborate intelligence department, some of their spies attending the markets as innocent farmers, while others figured in khaki in the guise of British officers. Steps were taken to identify _soi-disant_ soldiers attempting to pass through the lines, and to clear out the natives who, either from fear or for pecuniary advantage, were assisting in the transmission of information. Things in Johannesburg were no better. It needed all the acumen of Colonel Mackenzie, Director of Military Intelligence, to cope with the duplicities of the rogues and vagabonds of all nationalities that spent their time in hatching conspiracies. Three hundred and eighty of these were put in prison, while their respective Consuls were communicated with and held responsible for their good behaviour. In the course of these proceedings the whole of a dramatic plot came to light, and the following despatch, concisely describing the nature of the conspiracy, was forwarded by Lord Roberts to the Secretary of State for War:-- "The police and the Military Governor received information that, on the 14th July, the anniversary of the taking of Bastille, an attempt would be made to overpower garrison and murder British officers. "A race meeting was to take place on that day, and it was assumed that a large proportion of officers would attend it unarmed. "Bolder spirits among plotters were to go to the races armed, and murder officers, while an ostensibly French national gathering was to be the rallying point for the low class who were to murder all the police, and then take possession of the Government Offices, &c. "A Boer commander at Zwart Kop, to the north of the town, was in direct communication with the plotters. "By the 13th July the police were in possession of sufficient evidence to justify numerous arrests, which were accordingly carried out during the night of 13th to 14th. "At noon, 14th July, the Consuls of Germany, France, Sweden, and America, of which nations some subjects had been arrested, met the Commissioner of Police and discussed the question. "Each Consul concerned was furnished with a statement of the facts of the case. "The interview passed off most satisfactorily, and the Consuls expressed entire concurrence with action taken, and promised to render every assistance. "Between four hundred and five hundred arrests were made, but of these seventy-five were subsequently released on being vouched for by their respective Consuls." The rest were deported, and none too soon, as will be seen. On the 16th a new brigade, consisting of the Border Regiment, the King's Own Scottish Borderers, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, and the Berkshires, under Colonel Cunningham, together with Colonel Hickman's force of 1800 Mounted Infantry, various details, an Elswick battery, and a Canadian battery attached to Colonel Cunningham's force, the whole under General Ian Hamilton, was despatched to clear out the Boers from a chain of hills on the north and north-west, in which they were congregating. But their discretion prompted them, on receiving information of the movement, to evacuate their position, and General Hamilton moved unchallenged to Watervall, and from thence, on the 17th, to Hamanskraal. Thus far the sweeping back of the northern portion of the Boer crescent was satisfactorily accomplished, and the Boers were forced towards their original position in the east, where Lord Roberts eventually intended to drive them before him. The fact was the Dutchmen, having found the right flank well guarded on the 16th, had made a ferocious lunge at the left of General Pole-Carew's position, and simultaneously all along the left. A tremendous day's fighting followed, during which the posts held by the Royal Irish Fusiliers, under Major Munn, the New Zealanders under Captain Vaughan, the Canadians under Colonel Alderson, were defended with amazing valour and persistence. So many officers distinguished themselves that it was almost impossible to record their names. Colonel Clowes, who temporarily commanded the 1st Cavalry Brigade on the extreme right of the line, was commended by the Chief for his handling of his men. The gallantry of Captain Barnes (R. A.), Major Hill, Lieutenants Knight and Hughes, Royal Irish Fusiliers, was especially remarkable, the Irish officers having defended their post against an onslaught at so close quarters that it was possible to hear the raucous shouts of the enemy inviting the Fusiliers to surrender! Heroic qualities were also displayed by two young Canadian officers, Lieutenants Borden and Birch, 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles, who were killed while leading their men in a counter-attack on the enemy's flank at a critical juncture of the attack on the position. The loss of young Borden was especially deplored. A soldier to the marrow, he had been twice mentioned in despatches "for gallant and intrepid conduct." He was the only son of the Canadian Minister of Militia, and was popular as he was plucky. Among the wounded were Lieutenant C. Battye, Shropshire Light Infantry; Civil Surgeon J. C. Willes, who was detained by the Boers; Lieutenant J. Findlay, New Zealand Mounted Rifles; Captain Bourn and Lieutenant J. Cameron, New Zealand Contingent (third), were missing. Of the rank and file five men were killed (one Shropshire Light Infantry, and four Royal Irish Fusiliers), twenty-six wounded and twenty-one missing. General Ian Hamilton and Colonel Mahon from Hamanskraal continued to march eastward over country that was full of ruggedness, presenting obstacles at every turn. The enemy, however, offered no opposition. Their destination was Eerstefabrieken Station, where they joined hands with General Pole-Carew's Division. [Illustration: MAP ILLUSTRATING THE EASTWARD MOVE FROM EERSTEFABRIEKEN TO MIDDELBURG.] Lord Roberts now decided to advance, with a view to pushing back the enemy, taking possession of the line to the Portuguese frontier, and occupying the towns fringing thereon, thus diminishing the Boer resources, breaking up their commandos, and reducing them rather to guerilla bands than organised armies. The move was fraught with difficulties, for every step gained implied so much loss to the bulk of the main army, every point of the railway demanded its special guard--the result being that, large as was Lord Roberts's force in theory, in action it was daily thinning to an almost attenuated degree. It was impossible to remain stationary, however. In the advance the same principles were adopted as in the march from Bloemfontein to Pretoria, only now, while General Pole-Carew continued to proceed along the railway, Generals French and Hutton were to co-operate on his _right_, and General Ian Hamilton to form the _left_ wing, and menace such Boers as hoped to retreat to the north. [Illustration: ALGOA BAY AND PORT ELIZABETH, FROM THE LIGHTHOUSE Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen] On the 23rd General Ian Hamilton took possession of Doornkraal (while General Stephenson's Brigade occupied Elands River), and proceeded due north of Bronkhers Spruit, thus so completely threatening the enemy's line of retreat that they were forced to abandon the strong position which they had hitherto been holding in face of General Pole-Carew's Division. It was possible now to make an appreciable advance to the east. The right was protected by the 1st and 4th Brigades of Cavalry (French) and Hutton's Mounted Infantry, the former crossing to east of Wilge River. There they came upon a huge body of the enemy, and succeeded in driving them still farther back, and in taking many prisoners. One officer, Lieutenant Ebsworth, 1st Australian Horse, was mortally wounded during the encounter. The Boers, seeing the trend of affairs, quickly scudded towards Lydenburg, whither Mr. Kruger was said to be travelling. A certain number of the burly gang remained ensconced in the bush veldt, where they hoped a few bridges might yet be destroyable, and unguarded gaps of the line would offer invitation for the exercise of mischievous ingenuity. Neither their position nor that of their hunters was to be envied, for the rainy season had set in with roar and rampage, the wind, blowing through the poorts that clave the ridges with which the landscape was studded, roared like a giant through a fog-horn. At night the freezing atmosphere nipped nose, toes, and eyelids, rain deluged, and converted the whole surroundings into a vast universe of slime, till the duties of the camp had to be executed in a series of ploughings and plungings which were exhausting to man and beast. On the 24th the Boers engaged French's Cavalry and Hutton's Mounted Infantry about six miles south of Balmoral. Alderson's Mounted Infantry attacked their right, while French made a wide turning movement to their left, which proved entirely discomfiting, for the enemy rapidly "broke and fled," followed by both forces. One officer, Lieutenant Wilson of the Imperial Yeomanry, was wounded. On the 25th Generals French and Hutton continued their pursuit of the Dutchmen, and the former, having crossed Olifant's River, could view, from the east bank, the enemy about seven miles off retiring in disorder towards Middelburg. Violent efforts were made to be even with them, but morass and sludge and temperature were in favour of the Boers. Finally the pursuit had to be abandoned. Rain descended in torrents; the east wind blustered, and the Mounted Infantry spent an ever-memorable night of anguish on the west of the river where they bivouacked. One man died of exposure, while the mules and oxen, uttering sounds that added horror to the already horrific night, suffered so exceedingly that many were dead by the dawn. Owing to the exertions of the right and left wings of the advance, the main army, without seeing a vestige of the Dutchmen, marched to Balmoral where Generals Pole-Carew and Ian Hamilton concentrated, while General French untiringly scoured more distant tracks towards the east. By the 28th the Cavalry commander, having by his wide turning movement driven the Dutchmen from the Wilge River beyond Middelburg, occupied the latter place. He was now eighty miles east of Pretoria and within sixty of Machadodorp, whither the Boers were trekking. Reinforced by Hutton's Mounted Infantry and two regiments of Infantry, General French held the line of the Klein Olifant's River. General Pole-Carew with the Guards Brigade followed to Brug Spruit, twenty miles to west of Middelburg, but Lord Roberts himself returned to Pretoria. The closing month found the British firmly posted some ten miles west of Machadodorp, where they were temporarily checked by the enemy, while General Ian Hamilton's column, "looking very fit and workmanlike," were once more moved back to Pretoria. PROTECTING THE KRUGERSDORP-POTCHEFSTROOM RAILROAD[8] Lord Methuen continued his task of diligently patrolling the district from Heilbron to Kroonstad, and succeeded in capturing at Paardekraal, half-way between the two places, the commandant of De Wet's Scouts, and also Andries Wessels, a person of some magnitude in relation to the Africander Bond. Just before the tragic 11th of July, General Smith-Dorrien sent out orders that the 19th Brigade, consisting of the Shropshire Light Infantry, Gordon Highlanders, Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, and the Royal Canadians, were to proceed by train to Krugersdorp, and marching northwards were to co-operate with the Scots Greys, who were supposed to be marching, on the said 11th of July, to meet them. On this day, the Gordon Highlanders moved out in skirmishing order, protected on their flanks by the Scottish Yeomanry under Sir James Miller, and two guns under Lieutenant Turner, 78th Battery Royal Field Artillery. At Dolverkranz they came in for a heavy fire from the two long low hills where the enemy had posted themselves, to which a response was made by the British guns, which had galloped up between the kopjes. Promptly the Highlanders made for a kopje on the left which the Dutchmen naturally coveted, and these scurried from their main position and poured vengeance on the advance. Then, nearer approaching, they attacked the British guns and their gunners, and the tornado on both sides was waxing both warm and exhilarating when from the rear, to the dismay and horror of all, there opened a volcano--spouts of death within 200 yards, bowling over the horse of the brigade major, and trying to make matchwood of ambulance waggons and baggage guard. Very soon fifteen out of seventeen British gunners were hit, and at last Lieutenant Turner was seen serving his own gun till wounded in three places. In the midst of the rampage, horror followed horror. Just as the troops, thinking themselves surrounded, were preparing to rush and capture the ridges of the main position, which might shortly be remanned by the enemy, Lord Roberts sent a message reporting the discomfiture of the Scots Greys at Nitral's Nek, and commanding the cancelling of operations! Here was a situation! Colonel MacBean hesitated. Was he to retire his Gordons and leave the guns in the enemy's hands? Never! He called for volunteers to bring in the pieces, and his Scotsmen leapt to the word. All could not be accepted--too large a number must not be risked. Captains Gordon, Younger, and Allen, leading a band of ten men, pushed forward in a blizzard from the Mausers of the foe. Captain Younger, hit in three places, dropped, the others gloriously struggled on, but in vain, to rescue the prized weapons of war. Still undaunted, the Colonel asked permission to effect his object after dark, and biding his time, held his fire-beaten ground till, in the gloom of the evening, he could bring his team alongside of the guns and drag them off into a place of safety. This was eventually accomplished. Meanwhile Captain Younger--helpless, dying--had been borne out of the fray on the back of a glorious fellow, M'Kay by name, who was no new hand at deeds of valour, and had repeatedly faced death in order to tend the suffering. Among others who were wounded was Captain Higginson, 2nd Shropshire Light Infantry. This hard day's work, the day of many heroes, set a brilliant seal on the wonderful record of the 19th Brigade, which had been engaged in nearly all the momentous actions in the Free State and Transvaal. Since its formation on 12th of February it had marched 620 miles, often on half rations and seldom on full. It had taken part in the capture of ten towns, fought in ten general actions, and on twenty-seven other occasions. Within a period of thirty days it had fought twenty-one times and marched 327 miles. The casualties had been between four and five hundred, the defeats nil! The enemy continued active. Some of them, flitting about in the neighbourhood of the line between Potchefstroom and Krugersdorp, succeeded, on the 19th, in wrecking a train near Bank Station which was carrying two officers and twenty-one sick men to the latter place. The officers were Lieutenant Harris, Welsh Fusiliers, and Lieutenant French-Brewster, Royal Fusiliers. Luckily no one was injured, for most of the men were fairly convalescent. Lord Methuen, who was clearing the country between Krugersdorp and Rustenburg, occupied with little opposition the town of Heckpoort, which lies on the road to Rustenburg, some fifteen miles north-west of Krugersdorp. He then continued his march, and engaged the enemy's rearguard near Zandfontein on the 20th, during which engagement one man was killed and another wounded. Early on the 21st he was up and doing, caught the enemy again at Olifant's Nek, and left him dilapidated and retreating, thus, as he thought, saving Rustenburg from the overpowering attentions which were at this time being lavished on General Baden-Powell. On the 22nd Colonels Airey and Lushington drove off 1000 Boers from a strong position west of Pretoria, inflicting considerable loss and sustaining some. Captain Robinson, Royal Marines, was killed, and five men; nineteen men were wounded. Unluckily, as before said, the operations in this region merely resembled the process of fanning off flies, which were whisked from one corner to congregate in another. About the same time the civilians who represented British authority had some nasty experiences in Klerksdorp, where another commando threatened them. The place was protected by some 120 armed men, and these, finding themselves surrounded, had to take their choice between surrender or stout defence. Many of the party belonged to the Kimberley Mounted Corps, who at once made preparations to protect the town and hold it till their last breath. But the gallant fellows received orders to surrender, and had the humiliation of seeing the British flag torn to tatters and trampled on by the burghers, who were only too glad to revenge themselves for being thrust out of Klerksdorp some weeks before. The following were taken prisoners: Lieutenant Blagden, Lieutenant Shepherd, Lieutenant Purvis, Lieutenant W. A. White, all of the Kimberley Mounted Corps. At Krugersdorp General Barton reconnoitered along the line to the station where the train was wrecked on the 19th, and replenished the supplies of Lord Methuen, who was moving on Potchefstroom, which place was reached at the end of the month. On the eighteen miles' march from Frederickstad, though the troops were engaged with the enemy the greater part of the day, the casualties were few; but the Dutchmen, revenging themselves, took up some of the rails on the Krugersdorp-Potchefstroom Railway, and threw a supply train escorted by a detachment of the Shropshire Light Infantry off the line, killing thirteen persons, including the engine-driver, and causing injuries to thirty-nine more. This made a bad termination for July, particularly disappointing, as General Smith-Dorrien had told off special patrols to prevent trains from passing over damaged parts of the rail, and a reason for the accidents was not forthcoming. The troops encamped near Frederickstad were set upon by Commandant Lieseberg and his hordes, who, having requested the commanding officer to surrender, had received the usual reply. The Dutchman was gallantly routed by Colonel M'Kinnon and his dashing C.I.V., assisted by the Suffolk and Bucks Yeomanry, before the arrival of Methuen's force, which had been signalled for. In the course of the fray Captain A. V. Poynter, 10th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry, was dangerously wounded. This somewhat inexplicable forward and backward march on the part of Lord Methuen was due to the necessity of acting in co-operation with the movement of troops on the north-west of Pretoria, and thus saving any particular portion of the position from affording loopholes for the junction of Boer commandos. FOOTNOTES: [8] See Map at p. 41. CHAPTER V IN THE WESTERN TRANSVAAL--CHASING DE WET--THE SIEGES OF RUSTENBURG AND ELANDS RIVER Before entering on the complications which occurred in the Western Transvaal immediately after the return of Lord Roberts and General Ian Hamilton from the Middelburg Campaign, it is necessary to remember that, while the Chief's back was turned and most of the army was moving to the east, and a certain portion was forced to guard Pretoria, Delarey's gang had been mustering round the Magaliesberg range. Here, as we know, the passes were but poorly, if at all, protected, owing to the disasters at Deerdepoort and Nitral's Nek, which thinned the already thin British forces. Therefore the direct road from Pretoria to Mafeking, the road past Rustenburg, Elands River, and Ottoshoop, which it was imperative to guard--and which was guarded by Colonel Hore at Elands River, General Baden-Powell at Rustenburg, and Sir Frederick Carrington further on--was seriously menaced by the hovering hordes of the enemy. Indeed the Boers, after their petty triumphs at Nitral's and Commando Neks, had continued so to cluster around Rustenburg, that towards the end of July General Baden-Powell was in danger of enduring the miseries of a second siege. The General prepared himself for all emergencies, and investigated all the Boer arrangements for bombardment which were in course of completion. Meanwhile he was aware that to his support Methuen, with a force of 6000 men, was approaching Olifant's Nek, and Colonel Plumer prepared himself to co-operate. Unluckily the synchronal arrangements were imperfect, and the result was that the passes which should have been blocked to the Boers were open, and their several forces succeeded in effecting a junction, and menacing not only Rustenburg and the Elands River Station, but the Krugersdorp-Potchefstroom railway line. Therefore Lord Methuen promptly retraced his steps, and by the 23rd of July, as we have seen, had moved back to Krugersdorp, leaving General Baden-Powell to rely on the wits that had hitherto stood him in such good stead. At this time Colonel Airey sent information to Rustenburg which promised to bring about the capture of Boers who were threatening a convoy that was expected from Mafeking, and accordingly reinforcements were sent out, but only to find that Colonel Airey's Australians had got into difficulties, and that the enemy, having killed six, wounded nineteen, and shot down their horses, were very much in the ascendant. The Colonials were fairly trapped, and surrender stared them in the face. Fortunately, at this juncture, Captain FitzClarence and the Protectorate Regiment galloped up, threatening the rear of the assailants, and forced them to make off with all possible speed. But from this date until at the beginning of August, when relief was sent from Pretoria, Rustenburg remained cut off from the outer world. General Ian Hamilton with the opening of August started towards the west on his way to Rustenburg to the rescue of General Baden-Powell's garrison. Near Vitbaal Nek he encountered some opposition, but skilfully brushed away the Dutchmen, losing in the fray two officers and five men wounded. He succeeded in turning the enemy entirely off the Magaliesberg Range, a feat which was mainly accomplished by the gallantry of the Berkshires and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. The officers wounded were Lieutenant-Colonel Rhodes, Berkshire Regiment, and Major G. D. Williams. Thirty-nine men, twenty-six of whom belonged to the Berkshires, were also injured. Their wounds were mostly of a serious nature, as the seventeen prisoners who were taken, owned to the fact that they had had soft-nosed bullets served out to them and used them. The General reached Rustenburg on the 5th, and scattered the investing Boers. He then heard the sound of firing in the direction of Elands River, and soon it became known that the small force mounting guard there was also in trouble. The fact was that at dawn on the morning of the 4th, the garrison at Elands River--they arrived there on the day before to guard the line between Zeerust and Rustenburg--was attacked by the Boers. The force, which was commanded by Colonel Hore of Mafeking fame, consisted of 140 Bushmen, 80 Rhodesians, and 80 Rhodesian Volunteers. Sir Frederick Carrington, with a smart force of Yeomanry (Paget's Horse) and Bushmen, about 700 rifles, and a 15-pounder battery manned by New Zealanders, who was on his way to that region, being warned of the trouble, had instantly hurried to the succour of the garrison. His troops had reached Zeerust on the 1st, the Boers who were there decamping before them in the direction of Elands River. The force followed them up and fought them, but more Dutchmen--those pushed off from the neighbourhood of Rustenburg--had added to the already large mass of the enemy, and made further advance impracticable. General Carrington had barely realised the impossibility of proceeding, when the report came in that Elands River garrison had surrendered. He therefore decided to go no farther, but fall back on Mafeking. This he did on the 9th, moving afterwards to Ottoshoop with supplies for Lord Methuen, and engaging the enemy _en route_. His casualties were somewhat large, but the fighting was of a desperate kind, and the mettlesome New Zealanders were as usual to the fore. Captain J. A. Harvey, New Zealand Mounted Infantry, and Lieutenant Gilpin, Victoria Bushmen, were killed. Captain H. F. Fulton and Lieutenant R. W. Rollins, New Zealand Rough Riders, were wounded. Captain R. Arbuthnot, Royal Irish Regiment, was dangerously wounded. In the engagements prior to the return to Mafeking, Major Paget, 20th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry, and Lieutenant Webb were among the twelve wounded. To return to General Hamilton. Having accomplished his mission, and freed General Baden-Powell, and being advised that Colonel Hore had surrendered, he was returning with General Baden-Powell and Colonel Plumer to Commando Nek, when in came contradictory yet joyful news that Elands River garrison was still holding out. Off went his mounted troops to the rescue, while the unfortunates who had had to leave their homes in Rustenburg, and the prisoners, among whom was a son of Kruger, were sent on to Pretoria in charge of General Baden-Powell. Meanwhile the small garrison at Brakfontein (Elands River), to whose aid two forces had been moving, were fighting like demons, and making one of the most magnificent stands of the war. Very little is known of their pluck, their dexterity, and their heroism, but what little we do know goes to prove that these Australians and Rhodesians were made of the stuff that supplies the conquerors of the world. No sooner had they comfortably settled down than they became aware of the close proximity of Boers. Their camp was on a flat plain near a boulder-strewn kopje, enclosed by a girdle of menacing hills which commanded not only them but the nearest point of the river half a mile off. The Colonials looked and saw, and came to their conclusion with rapidity: they were in a trap as close as Cronje's, a trap which must be kept open as long as possible. There were Boers already in the hills, but it was only on the morning of the 4th that they knew the Boers had big guns--six of them--in position, and meant to use them! [Illustration: OFFICER OF THE VICTORIA MOUNTED RIFLES. Photo by Gregory & Co., London.] With dawn the overture had begun, an overture to a murderous opera, for shells, 1500 in number, during that dismal day, were hurled over the little British band. But these were not the fellows to be bombarded with impunity. They examined their resources, looked ruefully at their one gun, a muzzle-loader, which before long jammed, and became more of a danger than a defence. The Boers' fire was too hot and snipers too numerous to allow of remedy to the damage, so nothing could be done but wait--wait for the kindly cloak of night. Then, the besieged set to work with a will, brawny arms and knowing heads helping to construct trenches and shelters, splinter proofs and tunnels, which should defy the snorting weapons of the Dutchmen. But these, despite the darkness, continued to snort and to shriek, and went on persistently till daybreak. Then the besiegers varied the entertainment by directing at the defenceless ones a pom-pom. This was as the last straw that breaks the camel's back. Off rushed gallant young Aanat with twenty-five dashing dare-devils, creeping, rifles in hand, into the bush, and then--the pom-pom was silent! The Boers, chastened, were too cautious again to approach it. But alas! at night this remarkable young Queenslander, so full of grit and gallantry, dropped dead, a victim to the shells that still poured intermittently into the camp. But his good work was done, and the valiant Lieutenant, though he knew it not, had struck the keynote of victory. His comrades swore with a tremendous oath that they would die rather than give in, that the white flag should never float over those five acres that were then the melancholy and diminutive symbol of British Empire. [Illustration: THE BATTLEFIELDS OF PRETORIA. (From a personal survey). Scale 17 miles to an inch.] The next day Delarey sent in to say that Rustenburg and Zeerust were occupied by Boers, that they presently would be in possession of the whole country, and he further mildly suggested that if they refused to surrender, his 94-pounder "would blow them off the face of the earth." Colonel Hore's reply stated that he was in command of Imperial troops who would not surrender, and the ultimatum was met with renewed bombardment. All day long the tempest of artillery raged. Then, to their joy, and also to their anxiety, they heard the guns of Carrington coming to their relief--the echo of them in the distant hills--and hope grew and grew, and--waned. Carrington, as we know, had heard the report of their surrender, and having given battle to an overwhelming force of Boers for what he thought no purpose, had retired! So, the 3000 Republicans in their hills laughed together, and trained their guns on to the spot where, at night, they knew the gallant men who defied them must water their horses and refresh themselves after their long day's burrowing in the bowels of the earth. But these, emerging parched and sinking from their subterranean holes, were still equal to the ruses of their tormentors. Some took one way--the way towards the longed-for river--while others took another, and went forth on sniping operations which subdued, if they did not vanquish, their enemies, and protected those who had to run through fire to reach the longed-for draught. And so for eleven days the contest between Boer obstinacy and British determination continued, till at last on the horizon the dust rose and a rumour of the approach of Broadwood's Cavalry brought gladness into a scene of desperation. But the little garrison by now was sadly thinned, and the nature of the warlike activities may be guessed by the casualty list. Five were killed, seven were mortally struck down, eleven were wounded, and twenty-seven, though slightly injured, remained combatants to the end! What the losses might have been had not the ingenious Colonials applied their pluck and their wits to the scientific construction of trenches, which defied the six big guns of the enemy, cannot be discussed, for surrender would have been inevitable. However, on the 16th, Colonel Hore and his doughty warriors were still holding out when, to his intense relief, and that of his emaciated band of heroes, the Boers were routed. Lord Kitchener had pressed to their succour from the south-east. How Lord Kitchener contrived to push up and arrive on the scene, may be told in a few words; but, to make the movement intelligible, it is necessary to go back several days. * * * * * On the 5th of August Lord Kitchener, who was operating south of the Vaal, was joined by a strong detachment of what was familiarly known as "Brabanditti," and also by the Canadian Regiment. The late Sirdar was personally superintending the hunt after the wiliest of foxes, De Wet, whose nimbleness since his rush from Stabbert's Nek was a matter for marvel and admiration even to his opponents. On the one side of the quarry was Lord Kitchener, with cavalry and mounted infantry; while on the right bank of the Vaal was Lord Methuen, preparing to pounce on the Dutchman's advance guard, which was known to have crossed the river. Early on the 7th, Lord Methuen engaged a portion of De Wet's force, which was occupying a strong position on a succession of kopjes near Venterskroon. In brilliant style the Scots and the Welsh Fusiliers charged hill after hill, driving the Boers therefrom, but without frustrating the designs of De Wet, who had succeeded in getting across. The fighting was costly, for seven men were killed, and among the wounded officers were Major F. C. Meyrick and Lieutenant H. Gurney, both 5th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry; Major A. P. G. Gough, Captain G. F. Barttelot, Second Lieutenant E. A. T. Bayly, all Royal Welsh Fusiliers; and also Lieutenant E. S. St. Quintin, 10th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry. On the 9th, Lord Methuen fought a rearguard action near Buffel's Hoek, captured six waggons, two ambulances, but--no De Wet. Lieutenant Knowles was killed, and Colonel Younghusband was wounded. The fugitive, fleeing before the forces of Kitchener at Gatsrand (south of the Krugersdorp-Potchefstroom Railway) and those of Methuen still further to the south-west, now strove to cross the rail at Welverdiend Station, and in so doing dropped almost into the jaws of Smith-Dorrien, who promptly engaged him. Into the plan for frustrating the Dutchman's design the City Imperial Volunteers and the 2nd Shropshires flung themselves with zeal, the former regiment marching thirty miles in seventeen hours, the latter forty-three in thirty-two hours, in order, as they hoped, to be "in at the finish." But De Wet accomplished his purpose and eluded all. Later Lord Methuen, after a forced march of thirty-two miles, came in contact with the Boer convoy, fought vigorously a whole day, recaptured one of our guns lost at Stormberg, sixteen waggons of stores and ammunition, but again--no De Wet. Still the troops were full of hopes, and telegrams home said, "His capture is only a matter of hours." But the Dutchman was more than their match. He blew up three waggons rather than be impeded by them--(he always attributed Cronje's downfall to the tenacity with which he clung to his waggons)--and let loose from his camp sixty British prisoners and an officer, left behind thirty wrecks of horses at Schoolplats, and even flung away ammunition. Having thus thrown out ballast, as it were, he soared into the unknown. The disappointment on all sides was extreme, for sometimes the troops had been so close on the track that they had even boiled their kettles on the camp fires left by their quarry. "Collisions, but no cornering," was the terse telegram home of a youthful officer who had been keen in the hunt. Colonel Ricardo (10th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry) whose gallant men had displayed first-rate cavalry qualifications, had gone so far as to offer £50 for the prize, dead or alive! Yet the _ignis fatuus_ danced gaily ahead, but never within clutch! Still, clever as he showed himself to be, it must be remembered he had everything in his favour. His spies were in every farmhouse, and no inch of the country was strange to him; he could burrow, circle, or climb by day or by night, while his pursuers, though their waggons had double teams of picked animals, were forced to relinquish their vigilance at sundown. So both Lords Methuen and Kitchener found themselves outmarched, and De Wet (who had gone off through Olifant's Nek in the Magaliesberg range, while Methuen was blocking Magato Pass, some twelve miles further westward) doubtless plumed himself on his ingenuity. The reason for his success lay in the fact that, owing to some synchronal accident, General Baden-Powell on vacating Olifant's Nek had not been immediately relieved by General Ian Hamilton, who was due on the 13th. Lord Methuen, unaware of this hitch, thought that by veering towards Magato Pass De Wet must effectually be cornered, and discovered too late that his mighty marches and spirited efforts had been thrown away. Thus in following De Wet's evolutions we learnt not so much a lesson in strategy as a lesson in quick-wittedness. Moral maxims teach us to catch time on the wing; De Wet taught us more--to leap to the back of opportunity, and fly with it where it may lead. As at Koorn Spruit so elsewhere. He jumped to his decisions and acted on them at one and the same moment. At Koorn Spruit it was a matter of minutes that made him master of the situation. At Stabbert's Nek it was little more. He was informed that there must be some hours' delay in the clicking of the padlock round the Brandwater basin, and he used those hours, exactly as he had now used the synchronal hitch that left a gap at Olifant's Nek between the evacuation of General Baden-Powell and the arrival of General Ian Hamilton. Deliberation in all three cases would have been fatal. He did not deliberate but acted, and in getting across from the south of Orange River Colony to the north of Pretoria he showed himself a born genius in the art of war. Lord Methuen, knowing further pursuit to be useless, moved afterwards to Mafeking, where he could recoup his force, and allow it to recuperate after having fought fourteen engagements besides skirmishes innumerable since his march from Boshof in May. Lord Kitchener, saving his strength, diverted his course and rushed to the rescue of Colonel Hore. He arrived, as we know, on the 16th, and scattered the enemy with small loss to himself. Unluckily in the collision one of the most active and brilliant of the heroes of the campaign, Colonel De Lisle (Durham Light Infantry), was seriously wounded.[9] To resume. General Carrington, as we know, was at Ottoshoop, and General Ian Hamilton, freed from the necessity to relieve Colonel Hore, was now able to occupy Olifant's Nek in the Magaliesberg, which he did on the 17th, meeting with considerable opposition from the enemy. His advance troops (under Colonel Mahon) having reached Roode Kopjes on the west bank of the Crocodile River, came in for a full share of fighting, but the operations were crowned with success, and finally General Hamilton crossed the Crocodile River in a north-easterly direction, plus two Krupp guns, some transport and ammunition waggons, and seven Boer prisoners. The losses on our side were small, but unhappily Lieutenant Henry Bradburn succumbed to his injuries. [Illustration: COMMANDO'S NEK, MAGALIESBERG] An interesting case of diamond cut diamond took place elsewhere, which resulted in the temporary tracing of De Wet. General Baden-Powell, who was now holding Commando Nek, received a messenger with a flag of truce from the Boer commandant requiring him to surrender, his real purpose being to discover the strength of the garrison. The General, with his usual "slimness," replied demanding what terms he was prepared to offer, his demand being formulated with the object of ascertaining whether De Wet himself was conducting the operations! Each of the "slim" ones having obtained the information he required--having crossed the swords of intellect, as it were--De Wet proceeded on his way to the north, probably to effect a junction with Delarey, and General Baden-Powell, chuckling, "shadowed" him. The 20th found an animated chase taking place on the north-west of Pretoria. De Wet was scurrying north-eastwards from Hebron--which is nineteen miles north-west of the capital, with Colonel Mahon at his heels, General Paget menacing his right rear, and General Baden-Powell--who was now encamped at Waterval, and whose soldierly defenders of Mafeking had there been inspected and complimented by the Chief--in readiness to assist. Both the latter officer and General Paget, while moving up the Pietersburg railway between Haman's Kraal and Pienaars River Station, became engaged with some of the roving commandos, and unfortunately a gallant young fellow, Lieutenant Fordham Flowers, Warwickshire Yeomanry, was killed. Lieutenant Kirkby (49th Company Imperial Yeomanry) was severely wounded, and six men of various corps were also injured. The whole of the 21st was spent in warm contest with Grobler's forces, with the result that the enemy was driven off, prevented from going west, and the railway station was occupied by General Baden-Powell's forces. But these hard marching days in the bush veldt, groping after the enemy, involved lamentable sacrifice. The splendid Rhodesian Regiment lost many of its fine fighters, but most notably Colonel Spreckley,[10] whose services throughout Colonel Plumer's operations had been invaluable. Lieutenant Irvine and six men were wounded, as also was Captain Kinsman (Dublin Fusiliers). Captain Bolton, 1st Wiltshire Regiment, was also wounded during General Paget's operations. De Wet, finding himself cornered towards the east, had now whisked back in the direction of the Magaliesberg with the intention of again trying his success in Orange River Colony. His excursion from Bethlehem had been costly. Starting, he had some 1500 men and six or eight guns, while behind him in the hills were Prinsloo and some 5000 Dutchmen. He now was returning to find the Bethlehem band on its way to Ceylon and his own force thinned to attenuation. Poor De Wet! At this juncture his display of talent in the field had bred a feeling of pity which was "akin to love," and those who were most interested in his capture were those loudest in appreciation of his sporting proclivities, and pronounced him "a first-class fighting man." He certainly seemed never at a loss, and even now, in making his way back to Orange Colony, chased and jaded as he was, he pursued the mosquito tactics which worried, annoyed, and wore out those who were subjected to them. To cover his crossing of the rail near Bank Station on the Potchefstroom line, his ally Delarey with a large force summoned the garrison (the City Imperial Volunteers, under Lord Albemarle) to surrender. Of course, the summons was declined, but the little interlude served De Wet's purpose and gave him the time he needed to save his skin and gather himself together. Still, as he was fairly crippled, and the recuperative period promised to be a long one, the main operations against Botha on the east, which had been gradually planned out, could now be begun. [Illustration: DE WET From a Photograph] PLOTS AND PROCLAMATIONS. AUGUST.--THE TRIAL OF CORDUA Affairs in Pretoria and Johannesburg that preceded the warlike movements connected with the Lydenburg campaign must now be briefly discussed. On the 1st of August the Railway Pioneer Regiment arrived at Johannesburg, and entered on its new duties, that of policing the mines. The Transvaal constabulary, under Colonel Maxse, continued to increase in size--by this time 700 Colonials had joined--and in the Court of Justice many actions which, owing to lack of faith in Transvaal administration, had been set aside during the war, were now brought up for adjudication. Things seemed to be shaping themselves fairly well, notwithstanding the rumour that the Boers intended to maintain guerilla warfare till the presidential election in America in November was over, when intervention was promised them. America was scarcely propitiated by the conduct of Theron's Scouts, however, for a day later a train flying the stars and stripes, and containing the American Consul-General, Colonel Stowe, was thrown off the rails and burned at Honing Spruit. To be awakened at 1 A.M. by the hail of bullets and the hurly-burly of derailed waggons is scarcely pleasing, and Theron's mode of ingratiating himself with the Americans, if not happy, was original. Seventeen bullets penetrated the carriage in which the Consul was travelling, one of which struck a friend who was occupying the compartment. Colonel Lord Algernon Gordon Lennox, who was journeying south, was taken prisoner, together with forty men, but all were liberated at the request of Colonel Stowe. Two, however, were killed by the overturning of the waggons. The next day a force of Mounted Infantry chased the Boers, but these, later on, continued to hover in the neighbourhood of the line. Though General Knox was operating north of Kroonstad, and had attacked them at Rhenoster Kop, and driven them off with the loss of their cattle and waggons, these operations, and others which were going forward in all parts of the line, remained similar to the action of fanning away gnats--the pests receded merely to buzz elsewhere! As an instance of this, it was found that owing to the withdrawal of the garrison at Springs (an important coal centre on the East Rand) the Boers had buzzed back there, seized railway rolling stock, threatened the destruction of the mines, and generally made themselves offensive. A regiment was sent to retake the place. Meanwhile, at Waterval, they were giving trouble by treachery. A party having notified to the officer commanding there their intention to surrender, seized the occasion to attempt ambush and assassination. Fifteen of Strathcona's Horse approached the place of rendezvous--fortunately in extended order--and when within fifty yards of the house three native scouts were shot--two wounded, and one killed. That done, the sergeant was called on to surrender. "Never!" he shouted, and before he could gallop off a bullet had pierced his heart. A trooper was also wounded, and only discovered a day later by a patrol. Examples of Boer treachery were continually being reported, and one incident described by Reuter's correspondent served to show how regardless were the enemy of the sacred oath of neutrality, and what a farce was the administration of it. "A Boer ambulance sometime ago marched into our lines by error, thinking they were their own. The waggon was searched, and was found to contain a number of boxes of ammunition and seven burghers carrying arms. When the latter were searched, each was found to be carrying on him the oath of neutrality which he had subscribed in Bloemfontein." But little else could be expected of a nation fed on deceit. Lies hot from the Boer factory had continually been served out to the simple farmers, and were still being foisted on them with a view to stimulating their interest in further hostilities. At one time it was announced that Lord Roberts had committed suicide, at another that the plague was ravaging the British. Fabrications regarding American sympathy and intervention were many, and they asserted that both the commandants, De Wet and Botha, had indignantly refused the offer of bribes to surrender. Among the lesser and wilder tarradiddles was the statement that the first batch of Dublin Fusiliers who had been taken prisoners, had offered to join the Boers, but their sympathetic overtures had been declined! These fictions were swallowed greedily, and thus the "neutrals" were inveigled into having a new lunge at the British, which lunge they firmly believed might yet be effective. Still the western districts of Cape Colony were becoming pacified, so much so that Sir Charles Warren was able to leave for England, and the command of the troops in the Colony was given over to Sir F. Forestier Walker. On the 13th a sad discovery was made by Colonel Hickman. He came on the body of Colonel Helyar,[11] who had been reported missing since the end of July. The gallant officer, who had so nobly rendered his services in the hour of the nation's distress, was deeply regretted. He was buried with military honours, and Lord Roberts attended the impressive ceremony. General Paget's Brigade, which returned to Pretoria on the 14th, was followed on the 23rd by Colonel Mackinnon and a wing of his sturdy battalion of C.I.V. after a 224 mile march, accomplished in fourteen days, of which one was a halt. In telegrams home the Chief expatiated on the excellent and workmanlike appearance of the force and of the gallant 2nd Yorkshire Light Infantry and Munster Fusiliers, who had so distinguished themselves in operations around Bethlehem. While the military routine continued as usual, Pretoria was seething with inordinate emotion and excitement. Early in August an alarming conspiracy had been suddenly brought to light. The main feature of the plot was simultaneously to assassinate the British officers in Pretoria, and to carry off the Chief. The idea was to set fire to some big buildings on the west of the town, in the hope of drawing thither the troops for the purpose of extinguishing the flames. While this excitement distracted the attention of the British force, the Boers and their allies in the town, headed by the ringleader Cordua, were to combine and kidnap Lord Roberts, posting off with him, on fleet horses kept ready for the purpose, to join the nearest commando. The conspirators, about fifteen in number, ten of whom were immediately arrested, had taken the oath of neutrality, which especially stated that any contravention was liable to punishment under martial law. This diabolical development in the tactics of a supposed civilised belligerent naturally caused consternation not unmixed with rage, and there was a general outcry against the leniency which had made an abuse of trust possible, and a universal demand for more drastic measures in dealing with an enemy who had descended from the level of fine fighters to that of marauders and assassins. The trial of the ringleader, Hans Cordua, a youth of twenty-three, formerly lieutenant of the Staats Artillery, was opened on the 16th. The prisoner was charged with having broken his parole, and attempted to abduct British officers, to which charges he pleaded guilty. Evidence was then brought forward to prove the extent and ramifications of the plot, the complicity of Botha and others therein. The prisoner was ably defended by Mr. Berrange, who endeavoured to show the complicity of the witness, Detective Gano, a clever Mexican, who was accused by Cordua of having been instigator of the plot. This imputation was denied by Gano, who declared that the plot was already hatched when he was sounded on the subject. The accused, on the other hand, declared his own unwillingness to join in the plot, and pretended that he had been overpersuaded by the detective, who represented that he was a pro-Boer in British employ, who, tired of his position, desired to help the Boers. The detective gave evidence rebutting these assertions, stating on oath that he had been employed to carry out inquiries in regard to a suspected plot to injure persons and property connected with the British troops. He obtained close acquaintance with the prisoner for the purpose of discovering, in his capacity as secret-service agent, the nature of the plot, and his actions in relation to Cordua were conducted with a view to that end. With this object he affected a desire to join the enemy, and had purposely behaved so as to arouse suspicion and cause his own arrest, and with it that of the prisoner. The trial was conducted with the utmost impartiality, and at the close of the address for the defence the prisoner's counsel thanked the court for all the facilities which he had been afforded for the conduct of that defence. The prisoner was found guilty on all charges, and was condemned to death. On the 24th he met his fate like a brave man within the precincts of the gaol, General Maxwell, Colonel Maxse, the chaplain, the doctor, and the firing squad being the only persons present at the execution. So ended one of the most remarkable episodes of the campaign, and the career of a young enthusiast, whose curious ambition renders more convincing the old aphorism that every blackguard is a hero spoilt. Regarding the clever capture which averted a crime calculated to "stagger humanity," the _Bloemfontein Post_ reproduced some details. These were given to an interviewer by Gano himself:-- "When the plot seemed to be nearly ripe," said Mr. Gano, "Cordua and I rode out of Pretoria one night to communicate with Botha, a fire burning on a kopje being the signal that his commando had arrived. Of course the authorities knew of Cordua's move, so I was ordered to accompany him to see what was really going to take place. Cordua was going to obtain for me a billet on Botha's staff, and that was the ostensible reason of my travelling with him. When we were some distance out in the direction of Silverton, I hinted to Cordua that it would be advisable for me to return to Pretoria with him, but he did not think it necessary. "This put me into rather a difficult position, but fortunately the commando was not at the kopje, and after riding round for hours we had to return. I knew he had some papers on him, but how to get at them was the difficulty. We both entered a farmhouse, and then I purposely so aroused the farmer's suspicions without giving myself away to Cordua that he sent for the English picket, and the farmhouse was surrounded. We were arrested and taken to a tent. "I wanted the officer to search us, but this he neglected to do, and Cordua still held the indispensable papers to prove the plot. Then I turned to Cordua suddenly and said: 'Quick, hand me your papers, they are going to search us.' He handed me some letters, and as I hastily put them in my pocket, I noticed him chewing, and later swallowing, a piece of paper. The letters were in cypher, and he had swallowed the key. But I had the letters, and that was something. My next move was to find out who were actively implicated in the plot. As we jolted along to Pretoria in an ox-waggon, I told Cordua it was a serious business for me; who would protect me should I escape? He gave me the names of several persons in Pretoria who would shelter me. When we reached the city I prevailed on the picket to take two cabs, and we were driven as prisoners to the Provost-Marshal's office. That is the story of how Cordua was captured, but my experiences were by no means ended there. "Cordua was still under the impression that I was a prisoner, an impression I wanted maintained, in order that I might lay hold of the other conspirators. When we were taken into the office, I therefore darted through a back door, and escaped into the street, the officer recognising me. I was instructed to continue my investigations, and went as an escaped prisoner to the house to which I was directed by Cordua, where I was concealed. The police, of course, kept searching for me, and soon after I was settled they came along. I was changed from one house to another with great rapidity. Sometimes there were shots fired during the operations, sometimes not; sometimes I even fired myself. I became quite expert at jumping out of back windows and over fences, but it was necessary in the interests of the service. After a short experience of this kind I was allowed to relinquish my rôle of escaped prisoner, and return to my ordinary duties." It was now admitted that the Boers had misunderstood the principle of leniency. They had used it as a cloak for further resistance, with the result that precious lives were sacrificed, owing to the impossibility of distinguishing between combatants and non-combatants, between supposed neutrals and intending guerillas. Lord Roberts, therefore, found it necessary to revoke his former proclamation--except in regard to those who had already taken the oath--and promulgate a new set of rules of a more stringent nature. In future all persons who had taken the oath and broken it would be punished with death, imprisonment, or fine. All burghers in districts occupied by British forces, except those who had sworn the oath, would be regarded as prisoners of war and transported; and all buildings, structures, and farms where the enemy's scouts were harboured would be liable to be razed to the ground. All fines under the former proclamation would be rigorously exacted, and prisoners were warned to acquaint her Majesty's forces of the presence of the enemy on their farms, otherwise they would be regarded as aiding and abetting the enemy. This new move afforded general satisfaction to those who had suffered from the duplicity of the foe, and it was felt that the time was ripe for the formal annexation of the country, whose capital was in our hands, and for the intimation to Mr. Kruger that no longer could his scattered knots of burghers be viewed in the light of belligerents, but merely as irresponsible marauders. In reference to Lord Roberts's proclamations, it is of interest to read the following letter, which was addressed by "the envoys of the South African Republic and of the Orange Free State to the Right Honourable the Marquis of Salisbury, K.G.," by the "Consul-General temporarily in charge of the interests of the South African Republic":-- "ST. PETERSBURG, _August 18, 1900_. "EXCELLENCY,--According to a publication issued at Pretoria on June 25, 1900, under the designation, 'Government Gazette Extraordinary, vol. i. No. 7,' some proclamations have been addressed to inhabitants of the South African Republic by Lord Roberts, Field-Marshal, Commander-in-Chief of her Britannic Majesty's troops in South Africa. "By the first of those proclamations, dated Johannesburg, May 31, 1900, it is, _inter alia_, announced to all burghers 'who have not taken a prominent part in the policy which has led to the war between her Majesty and the South African Republic,' &c., 'and who are willing to lay down their arms at once, to bind themselves by an oath to abstain from further participation in the war,' that they would be allowed, after taking the oath, to return to their homes (section 2 of the proclamation). "By the second proclamation, dated at Pretoria, June 6, 1900, it is, _inter alia_, notified that, in the event of any burgher being granted a pass under paragraph 2 of the above proclamation, he would be allowed to retain possession of his stock; or should any or all of this stock be required for the use of her Majesty's troops, he would receive current market value for the same in cash. "The undersigned, in the name of the Government of the South African Republic and the Government of the Orange Free State, feel themselves obliged most strenuously to protest against the intent of both these proclamations. "Because from these proclamations, taken in their mutual relation to each other, there appears to be no other deduction than that the burghers are only guaranteed retention of their property if they shall first have taken the oath referred to in paragraph 2 of the first-named proclamation clearly. The declaration set forth in the proclamation of June 6, 1900, only has sense if it is assumed that in the judgment of Field-Marshal Roberts the property of burghers (even of those who have taken no 'prominent part' in the policy which led to the war) may be taken away from them by him solely on the ground of there being war between England and the South African Republic. "This now is in direct conflict with principles of international law in force for ages already, according to which private property, not being contraband of war, must be respected in war with the country, and which have been once more expressly acknowledged by Article 46 (being a part of the 3rd Section, entitled 'De l'autorité militaire en le territoire de l'état ennemi') of the declaration annexed to the 'Convention concernant les lois et coutumes de la guerre sur terre,' which was also signed on behalf of her Britannic Majesty. Said article reads as follows:-- "'L'honneur et les droits de la famille, la vie des individus, et la propriété privée, ainsi que les convictions religieuses et l'exercice des cultes, doivent être respectés. La propriété privée ne peut pas être confisquée.' "Although the South African Republics are not included amongst the contracting Powers, the principles enunciated in the article quoted may none the less be invoked by them, because that article does nothing more than formulate what during ages has been common right in war between civilised nations. "By further proclamations of June 16, marked A 1 and A 2, the threat is made in case of damage occasioned to railways and telegraph lines that the principal inhabitants of the villages and districts affected would be held jointly and severally responsible for such damage; moreover, a heavy fine would be imposed, and nothing be paid for goods delivered; also that houses and farms in the neighbourhood would be devastated, and that one or more of the inhabitants would be taken along in trains used for purposes of war. "By these proclamations punishments are threatened for actions whereto a belligerent party has every right, and the infliction of those punishments are by anticipation provided for even for cases wherein no proof whatever of guilt is furnished, private property is confiscated and destroyed, and an attempt is made to make burghers appear against one another. "Against the intent also of both these proclamations, which violate every sense of right, the undersigned desire to record their most strenuous protest. "The Envoys, "W. J. LEYDS. "A. FISCHER. "C. H. WESSELS. "A. D. W. WOLMARANS. "His Excellency the Right Hon. the Marquis of Salisbury, Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, &c., London." Elsewhere the Dutchmen continued to make themselves obnoxious. On the morning of the 27th Major Brooke, R.E., commanding at Kraai Railway Station, had come in for his share of annoyance, some Boers having lodged themselves in a kopje preparatory to pouncing on the rail. The Major with a hundred men promptly went forth to tackle the conspirators, and with the assistance of this small but plucky crew, notable among them the brave fellows, Lieutenant Maurice Griffith and Sergeant Hannam (Volunteer Company Royal Welsh Fusiliers) and Sergeant Southrood (Cape Garrison Artillery), he succeeded in completely routing the Dutchmen, who left five dead on the field. FOOTNOTES: [9] In order to fully appreciate the excitement of the De Wet chase, it is interesting to read the account, contributed by the editors of _St. Paul's School Magazine_, of a British prisoner who perforce was with the hunted: "On the seventh day of our captivity we joined De Wet's commandos as they were crossing the Vaal, going north to Lindique. As we arrived at the Vaal a battle was in progress with Lord Methuen's force, which had come down from Potchefstroom. We were hurried across Schoeman's Drift, and barely cleared the drift when British infantry appeared, lining the ridges commanding the drift, and we came under a heavy rifle fire. We joined up with De Wet's waggons, who were trekking as fast as they could towards Wolve Nek. A very steep ridge of hills runs from Schoeman's Drift in a north-easterly direction, parallel with the Vaal River. De Wet held a very strong position here. Lord Methuen's force was on the west and north-west, and Lord Kitchener's cavalry and mounted infantry column was on the southern bank of the Vaal. We remained here twenty-four hours, and could see the British columns closing in on De Wet's laagers. It was here the Boer general did a smart thing. Seeing that his only plan was to break up his laagers, directly night came he moved his waggons out and spread them in a long line along the roads that led out of the hills in horse-shoe shape, commanding both western and eastern ridges. This gave him two alternate routes to escape by, and commanded the narrow neks where the three ridges of hills running in a north-east direction met at an apex. Theron's force, with whom we still remained, were camped a mile south of the front bend of the horse-shoe laagers, and nearest to the British lines. At daybreak the following morning the Boers were caught napping; a tremendous commotion was observable, and our inquiry elicited the two words, 'Khaki's coming!' And no mistake, for during the night the British had occupied a ridge on the west, flanking and commanding the western end of the horse-shoe, and with the first grey streaks of dawn bang came their shells into the waggons. The Boers scattered, abandoned eight waggons, took half their convoy by the main road to the north, and the balance, with their main column, the road to the north-east, Theron's crowd and De Wet's burghers covering their rear. I saw at a glance we were in an awkward fix, with two alternatives--either blown to pieces where we stood, or run the gauntlet of a direct flank fire. De Wet soon settled it, and ran the gauntlet. Away we went helter-skelter up the steep slopes of the hills, aiming for an almost impossible-looking pass, strewn with gigantic boulders and small stones. We had just reached the pass when three waggons toppled over and fell down the gorge, and every moment we expected the same fate. The pass selected was an inconceivable place for vehicles to get through, but the Boer has a happy knack of negotiating difficult country. Over through the nek we went bumping and thumping on the boulders, and directly we showed on the other side we were greeted with shell, as British artillery had gained a position covering our exit. Shell after shell came whizzing over our heads; one struck ten yards on the right of our cart, another shaved our left, a third whizzed close by my head, causing a deafening sensation in my ears, and a fourth plumped right down in front of our leading horses, killing both. A crash, and over went the cart, flinging us through the air in company with mailbags, Mausers, and cushions, landing amongst a pile of boulders. With great difficulty the Boers righted the cart, pulled the hood down, as being too conspicuous a mark, and putting in two horses we dashed off. Fortunately, when we toppled over the British stopped shelling, but directly we started, whiz! bang! came the shells, until we reached a dip in the road, which shielded us from view, and, dashing on, we caught up their main body, a mass of Cape carts and guns, yelling and shrieking drivers, flogging their oxen and urging them on, while the rattle of Mausers and boom of guns showed that a fierce rearguard action was in progress. Again we were doomed to disappointment. Shelled by our comrades, within an ace of being killed, we had the mortification of being dragged away from the scene of what might have been our deliverance. All through the broiling hot day we pushed on, never halting until 6 P.M., to enable the rearguard to close up. We were on the move again at 10 P.M. to midnight; then on at 2 A.M., climbing the Gatsrand, and halting at 7 in the morning. Again on the march at 8 to 10 A.M.; twenty hours' continuous trekking out of the twenty-four, covering a distance of close upon 40 miles. Here we rested until 2 P.M., then inspanned, and crossed a high ridge of the Gatsrand near Wolvaardt. As we reached the top of this ridge we heard the boom of British artillery, showing that we were being closely followed up. This welcome sound to us caused the Boers to redouble their efforts, and we went scrambling, tumbling, and slipping down the slopes of the Gatsrand at breakneck speed, halting at 7 P.M. a few miles from the Potchefstroom-Krugersdorp railway. At 8 P.M. we crossed this railway near Welverdiend, the Boers blowing up the line in half-a-dozen places. Pushing on to 1 A.M., De Wet thought he had outdistanced his pursuers, and felt safe, especially as he was reinforced here by 1500 burghers and some guns. Our position now was near to Bosman's Kop and Rietfontein, and we had covered about 95 miles from Schoeman's Drift in 46 hours, fighting a rearguard action the whole time. I here learnt our objective was the fastness of the Magaliesberg mountains, to effect a junction with Delarey's commandos. At 8 P.M., to De Wet's consternation, artillery fire was heard close to his left rear flank, which turned out to be either Lord Kitchener's, Smith-Dorrien's, or Lord Methuen's force shelling the Boer left rearguard, posted in some kopjes near Klerkskraal, while the British field battery of horse artillery were paying attention to his convoy. A shell burst on the waggon containing British prisoners, wounding three men. The Boer guard fled, and sixty out of eighty British soldiers made a rush in the confusion for the British lines. De Wet was so closely pressed here that he abandoned a gun and hastily left his position, trekking night and day to reach the bush veldt of the Magaliesberg, where he knew kopjes or ridges offered excellent positions to hold and detain the British from following him up too closely. We pushed on the following day, climbing the Magaliesberg, while a stiff rearguard action was being fought with Lord Kitchener's combined forces, and, dropping into the Hox River valley, pushed on till we reached the Olifant's Nek. De Wet was now comparatively safe, having the mountains behind and between him and the British force. A day or so after reaching Olifant's Nek all the British prisoners taken at Klerksdorp, Potchefstroom, and ourselves were collected and placed in four ox waggons, with an escort of 100 burghers, and proceeded through Rustenburg, our ultimate destination being Nooitgedacht." [10] Lieutenant-Colonel Spreckley was the son of the late Mr. George Spreckley of Derby, and was born in 1865. After spending four years on an ostrich farm, he joined the British Bechuanaland Police in 1885, and remained two years. He was quartermaster in the South Africa Company's pioneer expedition to Mashonaland in 1890, and a Mining Commissioner in Rhodesia from 1891 to 1894. He served with the Salisbury Horse against the Matabele in 1893 and 1894, for which he was awarded a medal, and on the outbreak of the Matabele rebellion in 1896 he was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the volunteer force which fought against the rebels. He greatly distinguished himself during that campaign, and Sir Frederick Carrington spoke highly of him in his despatches. He did good service in the conduct of a successful engagement at Umquasa, and commanded an important patrol to Shiloh and Inyati. His services were rewarded with a C.M.G. He was manager of the Willoughby Consolidated Company at Buluwayo. He, with Colonel Plumer, had fought during the various engagements on the Transvaal border, and was present at the relief of Mafeking. [11] Colonel Helyar obtained his commission on February 2, 1864; he was promoted to lieutenant on December 1, 1868, obtained his company on October 31, 1871, was gazetted major on October 15, 1881, was promoted to lieutenant-colonel on April 15, 1891, and became a colonel on April 15, 1895. He retired on half-pay on October 26, 1895, but volunteered his service for South Africa, where he was given the command of a battalion of Imperial Yeomanry. CHAPTER VI GENERAL BULLER IN JULY AND AUGUST--CLEARING THE COUNTRY FROM VOLKSRUST TO BELFAST[12] Before narrating the events which concluded the month of August, it is necessary to return to General Buller and follow his sweeping operations on the Natal frontier, which operations allowed him to penetrate further into the Transvaal and eventually to scour the country from the Natal railway line to that of the Delagoa Bay railway. By glancing at the map it is possible to draw a straight line from Volksrust and Amersfoort _viâ_ Ermelo to Wonderfontein near Belfast, and having drawn it to understand the object of the movements which occupied the end of July and the beginning of August. Before that straight line (which represents Sir Redvers Buller's march to join hands with Lord Roberts's force) could be followed, it was imperative to secure the whole railway line from Volksrust to Johannesburg, and that being guarded behind him it was possible for the General to march straight across country, brushing back, as he went, the Boers who gradually were being heaped like a wave to north-east of him, and further on, astride the Delagoa Bay line. First, then, to watch the securing of the Natal and Johannesburg line. General Clery occupied Greylingstad (midway between Standerton and Heidelberg) on the 2nd of July, and though there was some sniping and several men were wounded, very little serious opposition was offered. Meanwhile General Talbot Coke with the 10th Brigade was reconnoitring the ground towards Amersfoort, situated between Volksrust and Ermelo, where the enemy in some force made himself known, killing two and wounding six men. After having retaliated with his guns the General retired. On the 3rd General Hart, who, as we know, had joined General Hunter after General Ian Hamilton's accident, received the surrender of many respectable Boers in Heidelberg, and the Soldiers' Home was opened, the inhabitants assisting in the initial outlay to the tune of £40. On the 4th Generals Clery and Hart joined hands at Vlakfontein, thus securing the line. Progress was slow and sure. Trains were now able to run from Natal to Greylingstad, though beyond that place there were still damaged culverts and ruined rails. But these were immediately taken in hand and the line to Heidelberg restored, thereby rendering the railway communication between Natal, Johannesburg, and Pretoria complete. [Illustration: BOERS TAKING THE OATH OF NEUTRALITY AT GREYLINGSTAD Drawing by H. M. Paget, from a Sketch by Lieut. E. B. Knox, R.A.M.C.] Thus ended the first stage of the new campaign. But the Boers were by no means inactive, and Botha kept a hungry eye on the improving communications. A convoy on its way to Vlakfontein was vigorously shelled by the Dutchmen from a formidable position among the hills. Their nearest shell fell within twenty yards of the waggons. The bombardment continued for an uncomfortable period, until the Boer duet became a quartette by the prompt action of a section of the Chestnut Battery under Lieutenant Eden, whose two guns in the open finally outvoiced those of the Boers on the hills. One brave gunner was killed and one wounded, six horses were disabled, and an ammunition waggon overturned, but the valuable convoy was saved. To check the activity of the Boers, General Clery on the 12th moved east from Greylingstad to a point on the road between Standerton and Heidelberg, while Lord Dundonald and his invaluable South African Light Horse routed the Boers and captured a camp belonging to them in the region of Vlaklaagte Station. Thorneycroft's Horse and Strathcona's gallant corps were also playing a rival game of indefatigability with the Boers. On the 21st Major English (Royal Dublin Fusiliers), who was commanding a post at Railhead, thirteen miles east of Heidelberg, was attacked at daybreak by Botha, who was evidently anxious to imitate the tactics of Delarey at Nitral's Nek. The position was garrisoned by two companies of the Dublin Fusiliers, 110 Royal Engineers, and ten Yeomanry. Fortunately Major English had skilfully fortified his post and prepared himself for such surprises. He instantly telegraphed for assistance to Heidelberg, whereupon General Hart started to his succour with two guns, a "pom-pom," and 140 Marshall's Horse and Yeomanry. The Boers meanwhile had begun to pound the garrison with three guns and a pom-pom, and they having entirely surrounded it, the position at noon was scarcely enviable. But owing to the first-class fighting quality of the Irishmen, and the military prescience of their commander, the Boers were worsted. Major English himself was slightly wounded by a shell. General Clery's troops arrived at Grootspruit on the 23rd, and finding no trace of the enemy afterwards returned to Greylingstad. General Hildyard meanwhile operated in the neighbourhood of Volksrust hunting the foe from the rail and clearing the surrounding region. On the night of the 26th the post guarding the railway station at Vlaklaagte was twice attacked, but without success. General Clery on the following day reached Sugarbush Spruit, ten miles east of Heidelberg, near where the Boers were so valorously repulsed on the 21st. At the end of the month he had completed the disposition of his forces along the railway as far as Heidelberg, where General Cooper now replaced General Hart. FROM AMERSFOORT TO VAN WYKS VLEI August brought a renewal of activities. Major Gough, with four companies of Mounted Infantry, two pom-poms, and four field-pieces, accomplished a clever piece of work after the smartest Boer pattern. Moving from Standerton by night, he came before dawn on a Boer laager, opened a heavy shell fire by way of reveillé, broke up the camp, sent some 300 Dutchmen scampering into space, captured 150 of Delange's cattle, burnt his house, and returned to camp, having effectually cleared the air on the right flank! And all this without a single casualty. Through the defeat of Prinsloo in the Orange Colony, Sir Redvers Buller was now freed from the task of dividing the southern from the northern Boer forces, and was able to plan a move from Paardekop which should cut due north over the open veldt towards the Delagoa Bay railway, and enable him to assist the movement already begun by Lord Roberts, but at that time somewhat checked in consequence of lack of horses and supplies. On the 7th the General began the cross-country march in the direction of Ermelo, squeezing back his adversaries towards Machadodorp as he went. Before him he drove from one frowning and well-entrenched kopje to another, some 2000 Dutchmen under Christian Botha, with six pieces of cannon and four pom-poms, reaching and occupying Amersfoort on the same night. As usual, General Dundonald's brilliant warrior, Gough, had been to the fore, both he and Steward having scoured and scouted in advance with such dash and enterprise that the Infantry--1st King's Royal Rifles, Liverpools, Gordons, and their gallant Volunteer Company--were enabled to push their way, climbing hill after hill to find it deserted, and covering eighteen miles in the course of the day. The advance was made on a front as wide as twenty miles, on account of the extent of hidden country to be scoured. During the day's actions, Captain L. B. Cumberland and Second Lieutenant F. L. Pardoe, 1st King's Royal Rifle Corps, were wounded. Sir Redvers Buller continued his march northward, and reached Rietspruit, eight miles north of Amersfoort, crossing the Vaal at Beginderlyn. The force marched into Ermelo on the 11th, having met with little opposition, and on the following day Dr. Everett, who was in charge of the ambulance, handed over the keys of the public offices. One bag of mails was secured. On the safes, according to Reuter's correspondent, a Boer official had chalked, "No blooming oof"--a truthful and terse statement which was, however, characteristic of the blossoming Briton. On went the troops--the cavalry to Carolina--meeting with no opposition, owing to the fact that in the interval some 182 burghers of the Standerton commando had surrendered to General Clery, while others were evidently oscillating between discretion and valour. General Buller himself halted at Twyfelaar till the 21st, in order to replenish his supplies and establish communication with Pretoria. His scouts came in touch with those of General French, who was operating round Wonderfontein. Meanwhile, on the 14th of August, General Clery had continued his activities. Captain Reynolds and twenty-two non-commissioned officers and men of the 5th Dragoon Guards completely surprised the Boers near Dornkop and caused them considerable loss, though Captain Reynolds was himself wounded in the spirited encounter. The Boers were still gathered some ten miles beyond Carolina, peeping in there occasionally with caution, but soon making off in fear of a surprise. Between Carolina and Machadodorp where the Boer leaders, Botha, Meyer, Schalk-Burger, Fourie, and Smuts--the last wounded seriously--were said to be, there were many laagers, all of which were carefully located by Strathcona's Scouts. On the 21st General Buller moved to Van Wyks Vlei, fifteen miles due south of Belfast. Near here a British detached party encountering the enemy, who seemed to be in force, had a very rough time. The Gordons were forced to return to camp under cover of dusk, while the Lancers, who were acting as scouts, remained for some hours dodging the heavy fusilades of the enemy, who had contrived to spring up on three sides of them. Lieutenant Field (18th Hussars) and Captain Ellershaw (Royal Artillery) were wounded, seven of the Gordon Highlanders were slain and twenty men were wounded, while five were missing. An exciting episode also took place on the 22nd at Newcastle, where were stationed the 13th Hussars. A portion of this regiment came into collision with some of the enemy, and during the encounter Major W. C. Smithson and Second Lieutenant C. E. Jenkins were wounded. One man was killed and another wounded. Young Jenkins was taken prisoner under somewhat heroic circumstances. While he was lying helpless, a trooper came to his aid and insisted on giving up his own horse in order that the young officer might escape. "It won't matter if they collar me," argued the brave fellow. But Mr. Jenkins sturdily refused to accept the sacrifice, and thus fell into the hands of the Boers. The enemy made a desperate effort on the 23rd to prevent General Buller from reaching Belfast. They endeavoured to lay a trap for the cavalry, opening on them at fairly short range with a long-range 15-pounder and pom-poms. A section of the 21st Battery, under Lieutenant Rainsford, promptly set to work to silence them, and the ruse failed. But at night, when the turmoil of the day was thought to be over, through an accident, two companies of the Liverpools, who had advanced into a hollow out of sight of the main body, were surrounded and suffered severely. The casualties, morning and evening, made a long total. South African Light Horse: wounded, Captain A. Savory (since dead) and two men. Royal Artillery: killed, one man; wounded, Lieutenant F. Rainsford-Hannay and two men. Army Veterinary Department: wounded, Lieutenant J. Steele. 1st Liverpool Regiment: killed, ten men; wounded, Captain Plomer, who was taken prisoner, and forty-five men; missing, thirty-two. Leicester Regiment: killed, one man; wounded, six; missing, one. 1st Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers: wounded, one man. On the following day some more fighting took place, prior to the General's arrival at Belfast, Lieutenant Tarbet, 1st Yorkshire Mounted Infantry, and thirteen men being wounded. On the 25th, General Buller reached his destination, and met Lord Roberts in order to discuss at a council of war the operations which made the closing act of the drama. FOOTNOTES: [12] See Map, p. 33. CHAPTER VII THE LYDENBURG CAMPAIGN Lord Roberts moved, _viâ_ Wonderfontein, to Belfast, which had been previously occupied by General Pole-Carew. The Chief arrived on the 25th of August, and immediately proceeded to order a reconnaissance of the Boer position between Belfast and Dalmanutha, south-west of which place, about six miles off, were the forces of Generals Buller and French. The Boers were ensconced in a perfect chain of ridges--a frowning rampart of menace, thirty miles in extent--some 8000 yards east of the station, where they evidently intended to dispute possession of every inch of the ground to Machadodorp, and whence it was the intention of the Commander-in-Chief to sweep them. The Field-Marshal called together his generals--Sir Redvers Buller, and Generals French and Pole-Carew--and their several rôles in the forthcoming operations were discussed. General Buller was to advance on the right flank, General Pole-Carew as usual to maintain a central position, while General French's Cavalry Brigades would fly well to left, scouring again the terrible country towards Machadodorp and beyond it. Almost immediately General Buller's force was shelled by the Boers, and so also was General Stephenson's Brigade on the extreme left, the General himself having a narrow escape from a hostile pom-pom. The town was also liberally attacked, and the enemy, with long-range guns from Dalmanutha, made a stubborn defence of their ground, even trying to squeeze a small force to the rear of General French, a manoeuvre which was quickly frustrated. General Buller continued to push steadily forward, with General French on his flank, driving back Boers as he went, and bivouacking on the ground he had gained. The whole of the 26th was spent in furious fighting over the whole thirty-mile radius, the bellowing of guns multifarious continuing from dawn till sunset. Lyttelton's Division (General Buller directing), with two brigades of cavalry, operated south-west of Dalmanutha; while French's cavalry, moving north by the west of Belfast, crumpled back the foe towards a place on the Belfast-Lydenburg road, called Lekenvlei. General Buller was supported by the Guards Brigade, who advanced steadily from Belfast in spite of an enfilading fire, contesting their way against a clamorous tornado of Dutch artillery--Long Toms, pom-poms, and many other formidable weapons, accompanied by Mausers, which persistently continued their flute-like concert--till both belligerents were enveloped in the eerie shadows of night. The cavalry operated over uncongenial ground, well suited to the tactics of the Boers and consequently hazardous to themselves; but only one officer, Captain Harrison (Scots Greys), was seriously wounded. [Illustration: A CAPITAL ON WHEELS: MR. KRUGER'S SEAT OF GOVERNMENT AT MACHADODORP] On the 27th came the grand attack which may be said to have broken the back of the Boer army. General Buller, having found it impossible on the previous day to find an artillery position whence the infantry could be assisted in an attack, sent forward on the morning of the 27th the 2nd Cavalry Brigade (General Brocklehurst), "A" Battery R.H.A. (Major Burrows), 53rd Battery R.F.A. (Major Gordon), two pom-poms, and the 4th Division Mounted Infantry (Major Stewart), towards a commanding ridge which ran from Belfast on the south side of the railway towards Dalmanutha. Here the Boers occupied about a mile or two of frontage, the centre being a picturesque homestead called Bergandal Farm, the kopjes on the left being thickly peopled with the enemy. Having obtained excellent artillery positions, the General directed the fire of all the British guns on this farm. Quickly the gunners got to work, and a fierce bombardment commenced and continued to grow heavier and heavier as the moments wore on, till at last the roar and rampage sounded as though Vulcan were holding festival in the bosom of the hills. The place was described by General Buller as a "natural fortress surrounded by a glacis of about 1500 yards absolutely without cover." Others who saw it looked upon it in the light of another Spion Kop, yet this the infantry were ordered to assault. General Kitchener directed Colonel Metcalfe to move the 1st Battalion Rifle Brigade under cover of the ridge from which the guns were firing, and place his battalion across the main east and west ridge, on which the farm stood, and assault it frontally from the west. Colonel Payne was at the same time to move the Inniskilling Fusiliers down the face of the gun ridge, and assault the flank of the position from the south, the 1st Devons supporting the left centre, the 2nd Gordons the right attack. At the moment of starting the leading companies of Inniskillings were assailed by an accurate and deadly fire from the Boer pom-pom, which was somewhat staggering, but nevertheless without loss of time they reformed themselves, and, "admirably led by their commanding officers," pressed on and on against the stubborn foe. These only gave way when the troops were absolutely in among them, many continuing to fire till actually made prisoners. General Buller described the attack made without the assistance of any cover as a most gallant one. "The moment the kopje was carried the Rifle Brigade, although they lost their Colonel (who, to our great regret, was wounded while gallantly leading the advance), at once reformed, and swept on their own initiative up the plateau, carrying all before them, supported by the Devons, who had got up on the left, and the Gordons and Inniskillings who joined in on the right." He went on to say, "The honours of the assault belong to the Rifle Brigade, as they had to attack that part of the kopje which had been most protected from our artillery fire, but all the troops did splendidly, and the carrying of such a position, held as it was by resolute men, will always remain present to the minds of those who witnessed it as a most gallant feat of arms." The gunners had a terrific day's work, but on this occasion they seemed to have surpassed themselves, for though the Dutchmen had stubbornly decided to contest the principal heights, by noon the whole of the Johannesburg police, by whom this vantage-point was defended, had fallen victims to the excellence of their execution. A noticeable incident in the attack was the great tactical skill with which the Maxims of the Gordons, Inniskillings, Rifle Brigade, and Devons were handled by their respective detachments. The fire of these guns contributed materially to the successful result of the assault. An eye-witness describing the operations said: "It was a sight never to be forgotten. It was truly grand--the shells from some sixty guns or more all bursting within a circle of 200 yards diameter, shrapnel with its white puff of smoke in the air, lyddite raising a dirty brown cloud as it struck. It was awful. I must say one could not but admire the courage of the defenders. They were the Zarps, Johannesburg Police, 130 of them, and 113 were killed or wounded in that one spot. Then Buller advanced his infantry across the open, the Rifle Brigade bearing the brunt of it. It was splendid, and the Boers gave way all along the line. Lord Roberts rode out to meet Buller on the kopje, and on his way back told our men the news, and they cheered him." The casualties were chiefly among the Rifle Brigade, whose stiff work has been described. Captain G. L. Lysley and thirteen men were killed, and the following were wounded: Lieutenant-Colonel C. Metcalfe, Captain R. Alexander, Captain J. D. Heriot-Maitland, Captain Ernest G. Campbell (since dead), Captain W. H. W. Steward (since dead), Lieutenant B. A. Turner, Second Lieutenant W. F. Bassett, and fifty-seven non-commissioned officers and men. Nineteen prisoners and a pom-pom were captured from the foe. Captain O'Neill, R.A.M.C., met a tragic fate. When the heat of the battle was over and night had fallen he went forth with an ambulance to grope for wounded and dead. While performing this merciful act, lantern in hand, he approached a Boer picket and was at once shot dead! In the moment of warfare it is impossible to stop to eulogise the splendid heroism of the doctors and chaplains who, deprived of the intoxication of contest, have yet risked their lives in the service of their fellow-creatures. The coolness and daring of these noncombatant, death-defying men has often passed unnoted, and will need to find a memorial in the hearts of those at home, whose dear ones have enjoyed safety and skill and consolation at their hands. On the following day (28th) the enemy, chased over difficult country by Lord Dundonald's force, was retiring northward, while Buller's advance troops occupied Machadodorp, whither Mr. Kruger had fled to Nelspruit. Beyond them, General French, arriving at Elandsfontein, removed the enemy with such scant ceremony that they left their dinners behind them. He now got into signalling communication with General Buller, while General Pole-Carew marched towards Waterval Onder. Lord Dundonald's Cavalry pushed forward as far as Helvetia, beyond which his mounted force could not proceed owing to the strong position taken by the Dutchmen in the crusted and gibbose country, which was growing more and more alpine as the troops advanced. A few officers were wounded in General Buller's force: Major W. R. Birdwood, 11th Bengal Lancers; Captain F. R. Ewart, 1st Liverpool Regiment; Second Lieutenant H. Wadlow, 16th Company Southern Division Royal Garrison Artillery. [Illustration: BRITISH PRISONERS WAITING FOR RELEASE: THE CAMP AT NOOITGEDACHT Drawing by Frank Dadd, R.I., from a Sketch by Lieut. Essex Capell, one of the Prisoners] The Boers, owing to their crushing defeats at Bergendal and Dalmanutha, were now forced to let loose most of their captives, and, to the great delight of their comrades, over 1700 of our countrymen trickled into camp and were sent to Pretoria. The following officers were kept as prisoners and moved to Barberton: Lieutenant-Colonels Spragge and Holland, Captain Robinson, Lieutenants Lord Ennismore, Rutledge, Craig, Dupre, Lane, Wright, Woodhouse, and Mitchell, all of the Yeomanry; Lieutenants Mowbray, Black Watch; Capel, Bethune's Horse; Bentnat, Eastern Province Horse; Birble, Brabant's Horse; Boyes, Border Horse; and Captain Howard, Strathcona's Horse. Others belonging to the Yeomanry were also sent to Barberton as prisoners, the Boers saying that though they were not officers they must be in the position of officers, as they were able to pay for any extra food they required: Sergeant-Major Pringle, Sergeant Robb, Corporal Woodeness, Sergeant Milner Brown, Lance-Corporal Hodgson, Troopers Walker, Footner, K. Elphinstone, Bonham, Garrett, Boultbee, Lubbock, Curtis, P. Gold, Young, Soames, Kinyon, Rickitt, Billhille, Darby, Campbell, L. Elphinstone, Eyre, Thomas, Clarke, Pomeroy, Hill, Dale, Wells, G. Gold, Sweats, Evelyn, O'Gorman, Hughes, Holden. The 1st of September was a red-letter day in the annals of the campaign, for Lord Roberts took the occasion to issue from the army headquarters, Belfast, proclamations formally announcing the fact that "The Transvaal will henceforth form part of her Majesty's dominions." The campaign was now developing into little more than guerilla warfare, for Mr. Kruger's days in the Transvaal were numbered, while he had practically abdicated the functions of government. Certainly he had gone through the form of appointing Mr. Schalk Burger to take his place, but the action was a mere figure of speech, this Dutchman being nicknamed "flighting general" by his own burghers, and his nomination was of no account in regard to the proceedings which were expressly made public to bring home to the minds of the burghers the real facts of the situation and the futility of flying longer in the face of the inevitable. This definite move afforded considerable satisfaction even among the supposed "irreconcilables," as the inconvenience of serving two masters had rendered their situation almost unbearable. The 2nd of September found Lord Dundonald's mounted troops at Nooitgedacht, and General French's Cavalry at Waterval Onder, while General Buller was engaged in making a reconnaissance of the Boer position towards Lydenburg, the dispersed parties having so disposed themselves that the complete scouring of the surrounding country became necessary. (It must be noted that the Natal Field Force at this time was divided, part of it being occupied in guarding the line of communications. General Wolfe Murray protected the district between Ladysmith and Newcastle; General Hildyard that between Newcastle and Platrand; and General Clery that between Platrand and Heidelburg.) In the passes of the impenetrable mountains overlooking the town of Lydenburg, Botha, with 2000 burghers, was found to have fortified himself. He took care on the advent of the South African Light Horse to give the dashing Colonists a reception with three Long Toms and a high-velocity gun, which put to the test their admirable courage and that of the Composite Regiment which occupied the right of the basin into which murderous missiles poured the whole day without stint. The Boers in their precipitous cliffs and their forbidding ravines were too strong to be turned, and fortunately there was no necessity now for the frontal attacks which had been forced upon General Buller in the early days of the war when he had been left to fling himself against living mountains with the thinnest of "thin red (or khaki) lines." He forthwith called for reinforcements, and quickly got them. General Ian Hamilton (who had arrived with a strong force at Belfast) pushed along the direct Belfast-Dulstroom road to his succour. Assisted by Brocklehurst's brigade of cavalry, amidst passes, and gorges, and acclivities, he endeavoured to work round by Helvetia to turn the Boer right flank, while Buller thundered on their left; the Leicester Regiment and King's Royal Rifles dragging a battery of artillery up the steeps with herculean vigour. The foe were ensconced in bush, and scrub, and tangle, and were protected by the creeks into which they had burrowed, but nevertheless, by Ian Hamilton's turning movement, the way was cleared for Buller's force, and on the 6th, Lydenburg was occupied. An officer of the Royal Scots gave some interesting details of the stupendous undertaking. "On the 2nd September, General Smith-Dorrien, to whose brigade we had been posted, inspected us with a similar result. That night we got orders to move next day. At 6.30 A.M. on the 3rd we moved off. We were with the advanced guard, besides C.I.V., Mounted Infantry, two pom-poms, and a battery Royal Artillery. At about noon, as we neared Zwarteskopjes, our advanced mounted men came in contact with the enemy. We pushed on, and presently--and I must confess to every one's surprise--'bang,' and a Long Tom 6-inch shell burst 200 yards from us--a bad shot. The Boers were in position on our right front. We at once opened out the companies, and moved to the left behind the brow of a spur, changing front so as to face the Boers. The men did this splendidly, and though we were shelled throughout the movement, at a range of about 5000 yards, never a man was hit. Two were knocked down by a shell that burst between them, and another had his helmet plugged, and a shell fell in the middle of the band, but no skin was broken. Our guns came into action; four of our companies attacked in front, two to the left to seize some kopjes. The Boers decamped, and we bivouacked on the position won. Next morning we were off again, found our friends, the Long Toms, which greeted us, but our "cow" guns (5-inch naval guns) were up, and the Long Toms made off, we after them. We were in the mountains now. The scenery was magnificent, quite Himalayan; but it was awful work for men and animals. We passed through Dullstroom that day, where we found the remains of a large Boer laager. On the 5th we reached Palmietfontein, rifle firing daily. "That evening at five o'clock, our commanding officer got a message that the General wanted to see him. Going off, he found Generals Ian Hamilton and Smith-Dorrien in close consultation, and looking at a mountain at the exit of a gorge, through which the column had to pass next day. (After passing through it, General Hamilton told me that it was just like the Khyber, but shorter.) Our commandant was told that the General wanted this mountain seized that night. It is called Zwaggershoch, and was about five miles from our bivouac. Its possession would give us complete control of that side of the pass, and we should be behind the right of the Boer position, where they were holding Buller at Klipspruit. He had selected us to undertake this task. With 500 men and half-a-dozen mounted men we started off at 8 P.M. by moonlight. The men were splendid--not a sound. We sounded up three farms on the way, lest they concealed Boers, and we had no idea of being cut off. We reached the foot of the hill all right. The companies then advanced at attack formation, so as to envelop the top of the hill. Then commenced a most awful climb. What Boers there were there I cannot tell you. It was very misty. We 'put up' seven, and they bolted. It is impossible to say what they had behind them. We reached the summit at 12.30 A.M., drenched through and through with perspiration. We set to and made sangars, and then lay down in biting cold at about 2 A.M., one blanket apiece. In spite of the cold I should have slept had it not been for a man alongside me who snored vigorously all night. We were lying on flat rocks--none too soft. Our commanding officer was up before dawn looking out for our friends, the Boers, opposing Buller, for we were now in rear of their right, and if they had waited till daylight we should have gone for them; but our friends the seven must have warned them, for they had retired during the night. "Thus he relieved Sir Redvers from what he told Ian Hamilton was the most difficult position he had found himself in since the beginning of the campaign. Besides that, we effectually stopped all sniping from our side of the pass, whilst the column marched through, though there was plenty on the other side, out of range from us. We climbed precipitous hilltops all that day as we pushed men on and on, so as to get command up to the very exit. I was a bit done when I got into bivouac. I hadn't really had a meal since 6 P.M. the day before, and had been hard at work night and day. We were off again on the 6th--Buller level with us now on the other road--and we marched into Lydenburg." The Boers, turned back from their grand emplacements and cleverly constructed trenches, were forced to follow their plan of splitting into two forces, one taking the direction of Kruger's Post, the other going to Pilgrim's Rest, where the President was said to have gone. But still, though retiring, other marauding bands had found leisure to prowl in the region of the railway, for on the 5th, both morn and eve were made hideous by their murderous ingenuity. At dawn they attempted to cut the line between Pan and Wonderfontein, but the Canadian Mounted Rifles briskly blazed on the raiders, and though there were but 125 of the British against a horde of Dutchmen with two guns and a pom-pom, they contrived to rout the enemy without needing the assistance of Colonel Mahon, who was promptly sent to their succour. "A very creditable performance," telegraphed the Chief, who was well pleased with the smartness of Major Sanders and his men. The Major and Lieutenant Moodie were slightly wounded, and several men were injured and taken prisoners. At night a train between Belfast and Pretoria was derailed owing to the engine being blown up with dynamite, but nevertheless the "Tommies" who were in the train gathered themselves together with amazing rapidity, and drove off the Boers who were hovering like expectant vultures round what they hoped would be a scene of blood. To return to Lydenburg. The town lies within the hollow of a gigantic mountainous range, which frowns some 1500 feet above it. Its aspect, foliaged and green, with running brooks rippling in every direction, delighted the hearts of the wayworn troops. Grateful to every eye, after the monotonous drab of sun-dried veldt, was the sight of its blue gum-trees and verdurous gardens; refreshing to the long parched and heated senses, the babble of many pellucid streams! Here at last, they thought, was a haven of rest, and here on the 7th, when Generals Buller and Ian Hamilton had joined hands, the Union Jack was hoisted with resonant cheers. But the joy was of short duration. Scarcely had the strains of "God Save the Queen" died away than the Boers from the region of Spitz Kop, a formidable hill some twenty-five miles east, to which Botha with all his big guns had retreated, celebrated the occasion by firing into the town, and that despite the fact that it contained some thirty burghers' families! Now it became evident that the troops must face the prodigious task of clearing the Boer positions--natural fortresses they may be called--above Lydenburg and beyond it--a task for which the heroes of Pieter's and Laing's Nek were well fitted. It was a curious fact that to the share of these warriors fell the opening and the closing scenes of an arduous campaign, a dramatic fact like the working of a stage play, which takes care that all the prominent characters of the piece shall say their last say before the falling of the curtain. The plan of attack was simple to read of but complex to execute. North of the road, towards the lair of the enemy, Lyttelton with Kitchener's Brigade was to march; south of it, Hamilton with Smith-Dorrien's Brigade and three batteries of artillery were to clear the course. Early the next morning, the 8th, the troops, as described, proceeded to attack the foe--who at once began to thunder at them from the serpentine sweeps round Spitz Kop--while part of the forces crossed the Mauchberg ridge, so as to give battle to another hostile section which was perched on a commanding ridge some 1500 feet high. The whole series of eminences, cleft asunder in different parts, forming deep and treacherous ravines, was forbidding in the extreme to infantry; yet undaunted, the Devons, Royal Irish, and Royal Scots, marching steadily on and on like a vast machine, swept towards both sides of the position, and gradually converged as they neared the hill. The 20th and 53rd Batteries raked the summit, and finally, with a mighty roar, the combined infantry carried the crest and sent the enemy scuttling to a narrow causeway, which, sheltering them in a dense fog, allowed them unpunished to disappear with their guns. The experiences of the officer before quoted were exhilarating. He said:-- "At 3 A.M. on the 8th September an order reached us, which proved to be Sir Redvers' order for attack that morning. We breakfasted at 5.30 A.M., marched off at 6.30 A.M., forded a stream, and got under cover at the rendezvous, about four to five miles from the Boer position on Paarde Kraal. It looked quite impregnable--indeed, some of the ground between it and us seemed impassable. At 7.30 A.M. the plan of attack was explained to us. We were to be on the right (not left as the newspapers had it) in the first line, the Gordons behind us in the second line, the Royal Irish (half battalion) on our left, and on the left of them again the Devons, supported by more of Buller's force. The battalion, nearly 1200 strong, covered an enormous front. The men extended to ten paces. We had twelve lines at first, but absorbed four very quickly, to prolong the right. After a severe trudge we reached the ravine. The near side was some 1500 yards from the Boer trenches, the far side about 1200 yards. It had precipitous sides of rock, with two small rocky gullies, down which the men climbed. Its depth was from 300 to 400 feet. At the bottom was a fast running stream, nowhere less than 2 feet in depth, with very slippery, round black rocks at the bottom. "The men went splendidly, and when Buller saw us appear at the top of the other side and open fire he turned to General Smith-Dorrien and said, 'By Jove! those Royal Scots are devils to go. I never saw a regiment cross such ground so quickly.' He also mentioned the regiment specially in orders that night. The scene inside the ravine was grand. The precipitous rocky sides, the tropical vegetation, the running stream, with thickly wooded banks, together with the incessant roar of guns, bursting shells, the 'knock-knock' of the pom-poms, and rattle of rifles, combined to make it a weird and splendid experience. We fired by volleys and independently from the edge of the ravine for some time, whilst our artillery supported us nobly. It is impossible to overrate the value of their support. They placed their shells exactly in the right places. Between us and the trenches was a plateau of 1200 yards, without any cover at all, flat, with thin and short grass. At first we advanced by rushes, then in general lines. A grand feeling of elation carried us on regardless of anything. We got to within 200 yards and fixed bayonets. The men, full of excitement, yelled and charged, the guns ceasing exactly at the right moment--one more shell would have hit us--but it was of no use, the Boers had bolted before we reached the trenches, delayed as we were by boulders and steepness. What, however, was worst of all was the fog that now fell on the mountains. It spoilt our bag. We were right round the Boer left, but could see nothing, and except for a few caught at 200 yards by case from our guns, they slipped away." Of the British forces thirteen were killed, twenty-five wounded, sixteen of whom belonged to the Volunteer Company of the Gordons. This company, while marching in column about seven miles from the enemy, were caught by a shrapnel shell, which burst among them, but it was noted that they "continued to march steadily forward as if nothing had happened." It was not the first time these fine fellows had shown surprising grit in awkward situations. * * * * * General French, who for the time had been halting at Carolina, now continued his march towards Barberton, fighting as he went. With him were Dickson's and Gordon's brigades of cavalry, the Suffolks and Shropshires, and the 4.7 naval guns under Captain Bearcroft. From one fortified position to another they pushed back the enemy, the Suffolks distinguishing themselves by their gallantry in clearing a formidable peak and escaping with few casualties owing to the skilfulness of their leading. General Hutton's Mounted Infantry marched east from Belfast _viâ_ Rietvlei to Tafel Kop, and beyond it to Kaapsche Hoop, one of the most beautiful and formidable heights of the Drakensberg, which places command the railway valley to north and west. The view thence towards Barberton is unique. From a precipitous height you gaze over rank on rank of irregular spurs seamed with gullies of sand, russet, and orange, the cradles of alluvial gold. The object of the operation was to clear these districts of Boers and secure General French's left flank, and also enable the Eleventh Division to advance and take possession of the railway route to Godwan Station. General Hutton's force consisted of Colonel Alderson's command, Brabant's Horse, with one 15-pounder and one Hotchkiss gun, 300 men of 1st Mounted Infantry Corps, and two pom-poms. Colonel Henry's command consisted of 400 men of the 4th Mounted Infantry Corps, with two pom-poms; Brigade troops consisting of J Battery Royal Horse Artillery, New South Wales Field Hospital, under Major Fiaschi, and New South Wales Bearer Company, under Major Eames; the Mounted Pioneers, under Lieutenant Earle, Royal Engineers, Corps of Scouts, and Telegraph Section. In a thick fog impenetrable as an iced blanket--the same that gathered around the gorges of the Spitz Kop and helped the flying Boers--the troops moved to the place of rendezvous on the Dalmanutha Road, passing the field of the battle of the previous week and the graves of many gallant fellows of the Rifle Brigade who had fallen on that occasion. The troops proceeded according to orders, marching over rough, mountainous, and capricious country, that caused so much inconvenience with the transport that as many as seven waggons upset within the space of a mile. Some waggons, though double-spanned, could not surmount several of the steep ascents; one was at an angle of 45 degrees, and had finally to be sent back some fifteen miles to Machadodorp. In fact, the road was gradually becoming so steep and unnegotiable that nearly all vehicles had to be sent back, nevertheless the top of Kaapsche Kop was reached and found to be vacated by Boers, who had taken to their heels two hours before. This gigantic march enabled the Eleventh Division to march on, and finally, to the Guards Brigade was handed over the possession of the mountain. General Buller proceeded to occupy the region of the Mauchberg range on the 9th, in spite of some resistance from the enemy, who were at last dislodged by the King's Royal Rifles. Among the wounded were Second Lieutenant G. Lumley Johnstone, 53rd Battery Royal Field Artillery. Regardless of infamous roads and execrable weather, the troops moved on and on towards the frowning heights of Spitz Kop. But it was a tremendous ten miles along narrow passes among mountains, some of them 6000 feet high, skirting deep gorges, and in the very teeth of the enemy, who ever and anon launched at them fire from pom-poms and musketry, yet failed to arrest the steady onward progress of men and guns. On the 10th they were at Kipgat, midway between Mauchberg and Spitz Kop, the Boers, a demoralised rabble, hurrying before them in such panic that they were unable to prevent the capture of tons of food stores, the gun tackle of a heavy gun, and some ammunition. The rest, rather than it should fall into British hands, they flung over the crags--thirteen waggons being sacrificed to the necessity for speedy flight. [Illustration: MAP TO ILLUSTRATE THE MOVEMENTS FOR THE CAPTURE OF LYDENBURG.] Meanwhile the rest of the army was creeping east--creeping indeed, owing to the difficult nature of the country, that grew more and more obstructive and confounding with every mile. The Guards Brigade, with General Pole-Carew, moved from Nooitgedacht to Godwan Station on the 12th, protected on the right flank by General Hutton, who was in signalling communication with General French. This officer having crossed the Komati River on the 10th, was making his way against considerable opposition towards the hills west of Barberton, while General Ian Hamilton, having completed his task for the relief of General Buller, was leaving Helvetia for Waterval Onder. [Illustration: THE NIGHT CHARGE OF THE 19th HUSSARS NEAR LYDENBURG ON NOV. 7th, 1900 Drawing by R. Caton Woodville] "On the 11th," said one who was with him, "we marched to Helvetia, and here we halted for one day--our first and only halt from the time we left Belfast until we reached Komati Poort _viâ_ Lydenburg. On the 13th we descended 3000 feet sheer to Watervalonder--scenery quite lovely. We were then in the fever valley of the Elandspruit. Our daily marches now involved throwing forward piquets to hold the tops of the mountains on either side till the tail of the column had passed through. Advanced and flank guards were useless. On the 14th we reached Nooitgedacht, and on the 15th we passed Godwan, and bivouacked on the lowest slope of Kaapsche Hoop--a charming site for a camp, amongst a natural rockery. On the 16th we had a heavy day. We had to get to the summit of the Kaapsche Hoop, the loftiest mountain in the neighbourhood. It is also called the Devil's Kantoor, and is covered with alluvial gold diggings. The whole of the infantry moved off at 3.30 A.M. in darkness. That meant rising at 1.45, and breakfast at 2.30, but early breakfast in the dark was a common occurrence, and not a pleasant one when the fare consisted of trek ox and dry biscuit, as it generally did. It was difficult to get down; yet we had to force ourselves to it, for there was no chance of food until we reached our next bivouac. All the infantry left in the dark, and was split up along the road at the worst bits, where drag-ropes were distributed, and the men took off their equipment, and each waggon was helped up the steeps. It would have been impossible to have got them up without. The men worked splendidly, the Royal Scots putting their backs into it in a way which elicited the admiration of the General." At this juncture Mr. Kruger, preceded by a great portion of his worldly goods, made off to Lorenço Marques. To the great relief of every one this misguided old man now disappeared from the political platform, and left his country to be lifted, by those he had been pleased to call his enemies, from the ruin he had brought about. As that notable socialist, Mr. Bernard Shaw, expressed it, he had had a chance "to play the statesman," but had "played the Mahdi,"--now, like Mahdism, Krugerism was extinct. It was therefore Lord Roberts's turn to take up the tangled skein of law and order in the Transvaal. To this end he ordered the following proclamation to be printed and widely circulated in English and Dutch:-- "MACHADODORP, _September 13_. "The late President Kruger, with Reitz and the archives of the South African Republic, crossed the Portuguese frontier, and arrived at Lorenço Marques, with a view of sailing for Europe at an early date. "Mr. Kruger has formally resigned the position he held as President of the South African Republic, thus severing his official connection with the Transvaal. "Mr. Kruger's action shows how hopeless, in his opinion, is the war which has now been carried on for nearly a year, and his desertion of the Boer cause should make it clear to his fellow-burghers that it is useless for them to continue the struggle any longer. "It is probably unknown to the inhabitants of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony that nearly fifteen thousand of their fellow-subjects are now prisoners of war, not one of whom will be released until those now in arms against us surrender unconditionally. "The burghers must by this time be cognisant of the fact that no intervention on their behalf can come from any of the Great Powers, and, further, that the British Empire is determined to complete the work which has already cost so many valuable lives, and to carry to its conclusion the war declared against her by the late Governments of the Transvaal and Orange Free State--a war to which there can be but one ending. "If any further doubts remain in the minds of the burghers as to her Britannic Majesty's intentions, they should be dispelled by the permanent manner in which the country is gradually being occupied by her Majesty's forces, and by the issue of the proclamations signed by me on the 24th May and 1st September 1900, annexing the Orange Free State and the South African Republic respectively in the name of her Majesty. "I take this opportunity of pointing out that, except in the small area occupied by the Boer army under the personal command of Commandant-General Botha, the war is degenerating, and has degenerated into operations carried on in an irregular and irresponsible manner, and in very many cases by insignificant bodies of men. "I should be failing in my duty to her Majesty's Government and to her Majesty's army in South Africa if I neglected to use every means in my power to bring such irregular warfare to an early conclusion. "The means which I am compelled to adopt are those which the customs of war prescribe as being applicable to such cases: they are ruinous to the country, entail endless suffering on the burghers and their families; and the longer this guerilla warfare continues the more vigorously must they be enforced." From the Hague Messrs. Fischer, Wessels, and Wolmarans, the Boer delegates, now issued an appeal addressed to all nations in favour of intervention. After expressing the conviction that the only object of the annexation of the Transvaal which had been proclaimed by Great Britain was to enable the British to continue the war in an inhuman manner, and contrary to the principles of International Law, the appeal said-- "The British generals wish to treat as rebels the people of the South African Republics, previously recognised as belligerents, and mercilessly to pursue to the bitter end the exhausted combatants. With the help of God this object will not be attained. The citizens of the Republics will continue the struggle to their last breath. Have they not shown themselves worthy of their liberty and their fatherland? Will the world allow them to be crushed? The Powers have not intervened up to the present, perhaps abstaining from so doing as long as the war was regular; but will the restoration of peace never be pronounced, not even now when Great Britain tramples under foot by her theoretical annexations all the principles of International Law, and thus endeavours to acquire freedom of action in order to exercise her powers, and if possible annihilate completely the existence of a free people? In the name of justice and humanity we appeal to all peoples who sympathise with us to come to our aid even in this critical and supreme moment, and to save our country. We commit ourselves to God, trusting that our prayers will be heard." [Illustration: BARBERTON.] It may here be mentioned that Messrs. Fischer, Wessels, and Wolmarans had been sent in May as delegates to Holland and to America in the effort to enlist the sympathy of outsiders in the great quarrel. They went first to The Hague, where they hoped to secure the application of the resolution adopted by the Acts of the Peace Conference to the Transvaal question. Messrs. Fischer, Wessels, and Wolmarans were cordially welcomed, and expressed their satisfaction with the kindly reception accorded them by a people united to them by bonds of race and religion. (As an aside, it may be stated that not very long since, the Hollanders were wont to dub the Boers "White Hottentots," and disdain any connection with them. This on the word of a Dutchman.) The delegates then proceeded to America with the avowed object of securing the aid of the Americans. "We are going," said Mr. Fischer, "to a sister Republic, the people of which a century ago fought the same fight as our people are now fighting. We are going to a great free people, pre-eminent for their sentiments of liberty and justice. We go to rectify erroneous opinions and to make known the truth. Our enemies have said much that they cannot prove, and have thus misled many. We are certain that, once the truth is known, no civilised nation will refuse us support. The chief charge against us is that we desired or sought war. We shall try to dispel this error. We only desire peace and tranquil possession of what is as dear to us as it is to the American people--namely, our independence, without impairing the rights of other peoples. We do not appeal to one or the other political party, but to the American people, hoping that all parties will unite on a common platform, since the greatness of a great nation like the United States will be still more enhanced if it aid a small nation in a struggle for its rights and freedom. Our aim is to put an end to this cruel bloodshed on both sides, but especially the destruction of our own fellow-citizens, who are indispensable to our continued existence as a people. We hope this appeal to the Government and people of America will not be in vain, and that our manner of conducting the war will have shown that we have the right to demand the independent existence of our people as an independent State in South Africa." Their errand was fruitless, as the conclusion of the Secretary of State's reply serves to show. "The President sympathises heartily with the sincere desire of all the people of the United States that the war which is now afflicting South Africa may, for the sake of both parties engaged, come to a speedy close, but having done his full duty in preserving a strictly neutral position between them, and in seizing the first opportunity that presented itself for tendering his good offices in the interest of peace, he feels that in the present circumstances no course is open to him except to persist in his policy of impartial neutrality. To deviate from this would be contrary to all our traditions, and all our national interests, and would lead to consequences which neither the people nor the President of the United States could regard with favour." The same attitude was taken up by other Powers who were appealed to by the still optimistic Dutchmen. General Buller by this time had located himself on Spitz Kop, which stands some 7100 feet high and commands an enormous expanse of country. Here fifty-eight burghers surrendered, and he captured trophies--300,000 bales of supplies, and 300 boxes of ammunition. But the Boers were luckier elsewhere. An engineer convoy under Lieutenant Meyrick, Royal Engineers, with an escort of nineteen Hussars, in act of repairing telegraph line, was attacked near where the road crosses the Crocodile River. The young officer was wounded and the escort was missing. Generals Pole-Carew and Hamilton meanwhile pushed on, the Boers retreating as they saw themselves in danger. General French surprised the enemy and occupied Barberton on the 13th. He came on sufficient supplies to last three weeks, and made a splendid haul of prisoners, ammunition, and waggons, together with forty-five locomotives, which latter came in handy at a moment when engines were much needed. On the 17th fifty more locomotives were captured by French's Cavalry at Avoca Station, while six more on the arrival of the 18th Brigade (Stephenson's) were found at Nel Spruit. At the same time Generals Pole-Carew and Hamilton were moving towards Kaap Muiden Station. A word about General Hildyard. While the fighting had been going on round Lydenburg the General had been keeping his eye on Natal, chasing bands of Boers, fighting, dispersing them, and establishing fortified posts and restoring telegraphic communication at different points. On the 9th at Groen Vlei Lieutenant Watson, 1st Royal Dublin Fusiliers, and Captain Cracroft, 1st Royal Irish Fusiliers, were wounded. On the 10th the Boers were driven from Langwacht Pass, and the hills scoured in the direction of Utrecht. This quaint little Dutch town, containing a very big church, and some very small houses rendered picturesque by gardens full of blossoming fruit-trees, was soon reoccupied. The Royal Dragoons and 13th Hussars arrived there in advance of General Hildyard, and spread consternation among the Boers. Colonel Blagrove deposed the Llandrost, seized his effects, and let loose some British prisoners who had been in Boer clutches. The Dutchmen a few days later revenged themselves by committing an act of treachery. Some women in a farm floating a white flag invited a party of the 13th Hussars, who were patrolling some ten miles to the west, to enter and partake of refreshment. This they did. As they were riding from the house, they were fired on from within. These barbarities were far from infrequent, and the only method of dealing with the assassins was to destroy the homesteads which had harboured them. Vryheid was occupied on the 19th, the Boer position being turned by the Mounted Infantry, the Dutchmen in the neighbourhood causing a comparatively small amount of trouble. Most of the Boers had foreseen the trend of the British operations, and commenced to trek on the taking of Utrecht. Here we must leave the Natal defence force and return to the Chief. The 19th found Lord Roberts at Nel Spruit, all events having progressed, notwithstanding the mountainous nature of the country, with the rapidity and success which usually characterised the Field-Marshal's movements. Upwards of 3000 Boers had retreated towards Komati Poort, and of these many had dispersed into broken gangs, while more than 700 had crossed the Portuguese border. Thus the field operations were coming to an end, for, as the Commander-in-Chief put it, there were now left of the Boer army "only marauding bands." General Pole-Carew, with Henry's Mounted Infantry and the Guards Brigade, hewing the roads as they went through a jungle forked with ravines, arrived dust-choked at Kaap Muiden, capturing at the station 114 truck-loads of goods more or less valuable. One march behind the Guards, came General Ian Hamilton's column. On the 22nd the "marauding bands" made themselves obnoxious in three places on the line. At dawn, a commando under Erasmus, with a 15-pounder and two pom-poms, attacked Elands River Station. (It must be noted that Elands River runs both east and west of Pretoria.) B Company, under Captain Cass, with about 120 Infantry and Cavalry details, succeeded admirably in defending their position, and after three hours' smart fighting drove off the enemy with eleven men disabled. The British party had only one casualty. This was a curious military rendering of the popular rhyme, "Taffy was a Welshman," which runs:-- "I went to Taffy's house, Taffy wasn't at home; Taffy came to my house and stole a marrow bone." Taffy, the filcher, in this case was the Briton; the filchee was the Boer. When Erasmus and his commando knocked with big guns at the door of Elands River Station, "Not at home," was so definitely expressed that the visitor was forced to turn on his haunches. Unfortunately, during his absence Taffy had called at his house and helped himself, not merely to a marrow bone, but to a good deal more. In other words, General Paget, the "slim" hero of the exploit, with the West Riding Regiment, two companies of the Wiltshires, two companies of the Munster Fusiliers, the City Imperial Volunteer Battery and two 5-in. guns, had made a forced night march of twenty-six miles, seized Erasmus's vacant camp, and with it 2500 cattle, 6000 sheep, 50 horses, 12 prisoners, 20 rifles, and some ammunition! Erasmus will be cautious when he goes a-visiting in future. At the same hour, a smaller commando attempted mischief at Bronker's Spruit, and was dispersed by Colonel Donald, with five companies of Royal Fusiliers, while at noon some other "snipers" pelted a train, which was conveying Generals Wood and Marshall from the front, between Brug Spruit and Balmoral. The enemy's sole success, after surprising activity, was the cutting of the line between Elands River and Skie Poort. On the 24th, General Pole-Carew, after one of the hardest and most fatiguing marches on record over nineteen miles of waterless jungle, occupied Komati Poort. Here he found the bridge, though prepared for destruction, still intact. Fourteen Long Toms and an enormous number of other guns, including two of the lost 12-pounders belonging to Q Battery Royal Horse Artillery, were found by the Guards, while General Ian Hamilton discovered more trophies in the Crocodile River near Hector Spruit. Rifles, small arm ammunition, boxes of Long Tom and other shells innumerable, formed the prizes of a memorable march, which was another feather in the cap of the Guards, whose endurance and cheerfulness under toil and privation was little less than heroic. General Buller, who was clearing the country north of Lydenburg, continuing his operations, moved from Spitz Kop. The gallant Devons, under Captain Jacson, drove the enemy from the Burghers Pass, and on the 26th the General took up a position on the Machlac River. On the following day he reached Pilgrim's Rest without casualties. The enemy were ensconced on the top of Pilgrim's Hill, and from here, marching by night on the 28th, Colonel Byng decided to turn them. This was brilliantly accomplished by the, now veteran, South African Light Horse, who caused the enemy to vacate his lair with much precipitation. Two prisoners, forty oxen, and 4000 sheep were the prize of this dashing exploit. More work of the hardest fell to the lot of the troops on the 29th, the long steep road to the top of Pilgrim's Hill making terrible demands on man and beast. But nevertheless the men worked "like niggers," dragging the waggons up the obstinate country, eventually reaching Kruger's Post on the 1st of October. To this date the enemy had lain "doggo," as the phrase is, but no sooner was General Buller in possession of Kruger's Post, than they brought long-range guns to bear on him. The position from which the Dutchmen fired was situated at about 9000 yards from the British bivouac, and towards this point Major Henderson (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders) with some men of the 6th Lancers, 18th and 19th Hussars, at once proceeded. Owing to the nature of the country to be traversed, they reached their destination about four in the morning, and then to their disappointment found that they were not in time to prevent the Boers from disappearing with their guns. These, meanwhile, had done a good deal of damage. Second Lieutenant H. W. Cuming, 1st Devon Regiment, was killed, and one man of the South African Light Horse. Among the wounded were Captain N. Luxmore, 1st Devonshire Regiment, dangerously; seven men of South African Light Horse; and one man of Strathcona's Horse. On the 2nd General Buller's force returned to Lydenburg, bringing with it 600 head of cattle, 4000 sheep, and 150 waggon-loads of supplies. Sir Redvers had also the satisfaction of reporting the surrender of 109 burghers as the result of his very successful expedition. In honour of the birthday of the King of Portugal, the British troops, under General Pole-Carew, paraded at Komati Poort, and presented arms to the Portuguese flag. With this martial _tableau vivant_ closed the main operations. The Eleventh Division subsequently returned to Pretoria, Lord Kitchener remaining at Komati Poort with Lieutenant Legget, Assistant Director of Railways. Repairing of lines and bridges was continued with unabated zeal, and the line to Johannesburg was speedily cleared. Unfortunately, in the work of destroying Boer ammunition, a Gordon Highlander was killed, Lieutenant Doris and eighteen men were wounded, also a Royal Engineer. ORANGE RIVER COLONY On 4th August Harrismith surrendered to General MacDonald, and simultaneously a squadron of the 5th Lancers from Besters and one of the 13th Hussars from Ladysmith arrived there, after having captured Van Reenen's Pass and secured it for General MacDonald's advance. The people of the town, mostly Scottish, were jubilant at the return of the "good old times." They had expected to be relieved soon after the relief of Ladysmith, and had possessed their souls in patience through many weary weeks, made doubly weary by the fact that, the railway being broken and the wires cut, no news from friends was forthcoming, and supplies were not to be had. [Illustration: THE DÉBÂCLE: ON THE TRACK OF A FLEEING COMMANDO Drawing by H. C. Seppings Wright] A most interesting account of the arrival of the British troops was given by a smart Yeoman--a hoary veteran of twenty-two!--who had been present at engagements innumerable, and still cheerily endured all the varieties of hardship--cold, famine, and fatigue included--which had fallen to the share of the Yeomanry since the early days of June. This Yeoman, Sergeant H. T. Mackenzie (Yorks Imperial Yeomanry), was actually the first of the troops to enter the town, and thus he described his experiences: "We arrived in sight of the town at 9 A.M., and I was sent on with the advanced guard of twenty-five men under Major Coptam, and we had to make arrangements for the formal entry of the General. We posted sentries on the principal buildings, such as the Bank, Post-Office, &c. We had an awfully good time; the inhabitants crowded round us and insisted on shaking hands, and also brought us tea, cake, and bread and butter, which was much more to the point. I was treated to three lunches and half-a-dozen teas. There are three fine hotels, and I had excellent lunches!" The young trooper's relish of these treats may be imagined when we remember that all the gallant fellows had been roughing it since the 1st of June, spending every day under fire, and living on three-quarter rations most of the time. Mr. Mackenzie went on to say: "By about ten o'clock the people had all put on their best clothes, and had raised several flags. Soon after, the procession entered, headed, of course, by the Highland Brigade. The General stopped at the Court-house and hoisted the Union Jack, while the band played 'God Save the Queen,' and we presented arms and tried to look imposing. This is rather difficult when you have not washed for a week and your uniform is in rags. However, the inhabitants seemed satisfied. The General then took up his stand under the flag, and we all marched by. We went through the principal street of the town, and then marched into camp, about three miles the other side of the town. I was left behind with the guard, and had a very good time.... The ladies brought us out afternoon tea on the verandah of the Bank, where we had a guard stationed." The hoisting of the flag did not take place without a somewhat exciting scene, which was described in the letter before quoted. "The Llandrost, or Chief Magistrate, refused to take off his hat while 'God Save the Queen' was being played, so one of the doctors in Harrismith gently knocked it off. The Llandrost's son then hit the doctor in the mouth, whereupon the doctor, being a Scotsman, promptly stretched him out. We then interfered, and MacDonald made them shake hands all round." [Illustration: HARRISMITH. (Photo by Mr. Kemp.)] To insure the safety of General MacDonald's advance, a simultaneous move, as we know, had been taken from the Ladysmith direction. The 13th Hussars received sudden orders to start minus baggage or tents and meet the 5th Lancers at the foot of the Drakensberg and secure Van Reenen's Pass. They reached their destination in the drear dead of midnight. Shivering in every limb, and rolled only in the fur rugs from their saddles, the small band awaited the daylight; then a few men being left to guard the Pass they pressed on hot-foot to Harrismith, which was reached at 5 P.M., just twenty-four hours after leaving Ladysmith--a distance of fifty-four miles. Thanksgiving services were held on the 5th at both church and town-hall in honour of the arrival of the British troops, and the general joy in spite of the cold (Harrismith, about 5000 feet above the sea level, was in a state of mid-winter) was inspiriting to the least patriotic heart. In other places the surrendering of Boers continued, as many as 130 having come into Bethlehem during the 8th and 9th of August. On the 15th, General Hunter in his northward march encountered the enemy south of Heilbron, where the Boers with six guns were strongly posted at Spitz Kop. (This must not be confounded with the kop of the same name captured by General Buller.) After some ferocious fighting the position was turned, but not before three men of the Highland Light Infantry were killed, and thirty-three were wounded. The wounded officers were: Lieutenant-Colonel Kelham, Highland Light Infantry; Second Lieutenant L. H. Gibson, Highland Light Infantry (since dead). On the 24th, Colonel Ridley with 250 mounted men and twenty-five infantry of the Imperial Yeomanry, while reconnoitring found himself confronted by a huge force of the enemy. He took up a position in a farm, and there defied 1000 Boers with two guns. The situation was critical, but General Bruce Hamilton's Brigade was despatched to the rescue, and arrived and dispersed the raiders. Colonel White, R.A., had also been despatched by General Kelly-Kenny, and had flung his small column into the fray, losing five men missing, one killed, while Lieutenant Jones (Yeomanry) was slightly wounded. The Boers proceeded to attack Winburg on the 26th, and General Bruce Hamilton had the satisfaction of beating them off minus their presiding genius, Olivier (who, it will be remembered, had refused to surrender with Prinsloo), and his three sons, all of whom were captured. Commandants Haasbrook, Roux, and Fourie, were the only prominent Boers now flitting about the Orange Colony, and one of these caused the wire between Winburg and Ladybrand to be cut, and made signs of attacking the latter place. This was on the 29th. For some time, as we know, Ladybrand had been a centre of attraction for the enemy. It is situated in the heart of their grain country, and now, they, being what is vulgarly known as out at elbows, naturally made plans to capture the place. It is some seventy-two miles due east of Bloemfontein, near to Thabanchu, and within a cart drive of Maseru, and in the shadow of the purple mountains of Basutoland. On Sunday the 2nd of September, Commandant Fourie, with some 3000 Boers, nine guns, and a pom-pom, invited Major White, Royal Marine Light Infantry, and his gallant band of 150 men to surrender. A refusal caused the hostile artillery to open fire, while the enemy approached on both flanks, surrounding the garrison. The Boers on one side had made for Lilleyhoek, those on the other for Vandermuelen's Farm, adjoining the town, which they viciously bombarded. The British force, consisting of one company of the Worcester Regiment, with Lieutenant Moss and Second Lieutenant Dorman, and forty-three rank and file of the Wiltshire Yeomanry with Lieutenants Awdry and Henderson, was entrenched on the mountain, and in the caves below it opposite the town, but within rifle range of it. They had a good supply of food, plenty of water, and had fortified several houses in the town, and therefore had a firm conviction that they could and would hold out till reinforcements should arrive from Thabanchu. On the following day the Boers, their numbers swelled by others on parole, drew closer, and during the whole day a duelling with small arms was maintained. Meanwhile the foe placed a big gun at a point in the church square, and from thence attacked the garrison. They also fired from windows, walls, and every available shelter; but fortunately both Dutch and English inhabitants had sought refuge in Maseru. The garrison meanwhile held on doggedly, and repulsed the Boers in two attempts to charge. These, it was imagined, "put their backs into it," because, disgusted at the loss of their Commandant, Olivier, they proposed to secure supplies--clothing, groceries, and stock--before returning to their farms to recuperate. Any way, they worked with a will, determining to make hay while the sun shone, for report said that Bruce Hamilton with a relief column was marching in ten-league boots to the rescue. (The infantry covered eighty miles in four days and a half!) Early the next morning the foe plied guns and small arms, and the noble little garrison, puny in size but large in spirit, replied with intense vigour and activity. Finally the big gun of the opposition stopped, whether from lack of ammunition or other causes, none knew. The fighting continued, however, and was viewed with interest, yet not without anxiety, by Sir Godfrey Lagden and the Basuto Chief, Lerothodi, from a point of vantage on an opposite mountain. Efforts were made to obtain news by heliograph, but these were unsuccessful, and the tug-of-war dragged on. But soon there were evidences that the Boers lay in fear of the arrival of the relief column, and were becoming concerned whence would come the attack. This concern increased, and by nightfall of the 4th, after looting stores and appropriating horses in the town, the Boers retreated in the direction of Clocolan with the loss of twenty-four killed and thirty-five wounded. The British casualties were few. Lieutenant Dorman, Worcester Regiment, was slightly wounded, but the injuries of Sergeant-Major Clifford, Wiltshire Yeomanry, were severe. All the officers behaved heroically, and the gallantry of Lieutenant Moss was especially remarkable. The routed Boers soon betook themselves to the railway line in the region of Brandfort. As it was evident some mischief was brewing, General Kelly-Kenny communicated with General MacDonald, who brought the Highland Brigade from Winburg, whither he had gone to co-operate with General Hunter's scheme for enclosing the raiders. On the 13th the gallant Scot, assisted by Lovat's dashing Scouts, caught the enemy, drove them across the Vet River, and pursued them north of the Winburg-Smaaldeel Railway, the scattered rabble fleeing before the braw men of the north in such haste and panic that their track was marked with the trail of their effects. A magnificent "bag" was the Highland Brigade's reward: 7 prisoners, 31 waggons, 270 trek-oxen, 6 cases of dynamite, gun and rifle ammunition, groceries, blankets, clothing, besides useful odds and ends of all kinds. The British casualties were nil. On the 14th and 15th two notable lieutenants, in different parts of the Orange Colony, decided to maintain the high traditions of the British Army. The first, Lieutenant Power, 8th Company Derbyshire Yeomanry, and his patrol, was attacked some six miles out of Bethlehem. Field-Cornet Froeman, in command of the Boers, sent a letter calling on the young officer to surrender, and threatening, if he refused, to attack him in a quarter of an hour, adding that he would guarantee no quarter, no lives would be spared. The note was promptly returned by the bearer with two words scrawled on the back, "No surrender." Fortunately in the nick of time reinforcements appeared, and Froeman vanished. In the second case, at Bulfontein in the west, the garrison, consisting of sixteen Police and Yeomanry under Lieutenant Slater, Imperial Yeomanry, was attacked by a hundred Boers. Undaunted by the superior number of the foe, the doughty sixteen held out until the following day, when relief arrived. The warlike proceedings at this date were degenerating into acts of brigandage, raids, and marauding excursions, and these continued through October and on. THE WESTERN TRANSVAAL The district round Krugersdorp was greatly disaffected, and contests between British and Boers occurred almost daily. On the 29th of August a smart tussle took place near Modderfontein between a column under Colonel Bradley (North Staffordshire Regiment) and a band of desperadoes, who were driven off with some loss. Three men of the North Staffordshire Regiment were killed, and among the wounded were Lieutenant Wyatt and five men. Meanwhile the Colonial Division--a portion of it--with the 3rd Cavalry Brigade, was marching and fighting from Zeerust _viâ_ Krugersdorp to Kroonstad, losing in all sixty of their number. General Little, commanding the Brigade, was wounded, and was succeeded by Colonel Dalgety. Nearer Pretoria, at a place called Rooikop, Colonel Plumer had a brush with the enemy, resulting in the discomfiture of the latter, who dispersed, minus 100 rifles, 40,000 rounds of ammunition, 350 head of cattle, some waggon-loads of supplies, and seven of their number, who were taken prisoners. Captain Brooke, R.A.M.C., was wounded, as was Lieutenant Wylly and three Tasmanians. The history of captures and surrenders, of marauding excursions and surprises, of sniping and derailing of trains, of Boer treachery and Boer shiftiness continued. The exciting episodes it would be impossible to chronicle in detail, but a fair idea of the strain on the already hard-worn troops may be gauged by looking at a table of guerilla incidents which followed at each other's heels in the course of the first week in September. On the 1st the rails were torn up near the Klip River; a supply train was overturned and captured, and the engine wrecked by dynamite. On the following day the line below Kroonstad was wrecked and a train containing stores captured, while another portion of the line--at America Siding--was cut. South of Heidelberg the line was cut on the 3rd, and injuries to the Heidelberg rails occasioned the upset of a train. On the 4th the line was cut near Honing Spruit, on the 5th near Krugersdorp, on the 6th near Balmoral, when an engine was blown up and five trucks were derailed. To finish the seven days' work the enemy on the 7th blew up the rail near Roodeval. At this time strong columns under Generals Clements and Hart had set to work to scour the country between Krugersdorp and Johannesburg, and clear it of bands of marauders. The former skirmished near Kekepoort and elsewhere with Delarey, the latter operated south-west of Krugersdorp. Small parties of Boers were being driven hither and thither, and were usually hurried off with such rapidity that they left supplies and waggons behind them. General Knox, sweeping north-west of Kroonstad, had the satisfaction of capturing two of De Wet's despatch riders, bearing interesting letters for that officer, and thus returning a suitable _quid pro quo_ for the attack on the British mails made by the Dutchman in June. Lord Methuen's force, which had been halting at Mafeking, completed its re-equipment and started for Lichtenburg. Some little opposition was met with _en route_. On the 11th the Boers, who had assembled near the Malopo, were dispersed. Thirty prisoners were captured, twenty-two waggons, and forty thousand rounds of ammunition. In the fray Captain Bryce (Australian Bushmen) was severely wounded. On the 12th there was more fighting, near Ottoshoof. Captain S. G. Hubbe (South Australian Bushmen) was killed; Lieutenant White (6th Imperial Bushmen) was severely wounded and taken prisoner. While these engagements were taking place, General Clements gave battle to Delarey's band and drove them from two positions, with the loss of two men killed and fourteen wounded. Later, on the 16th, he caught the raiders again near Hexpoort and again fought them, losing a gallant young fellow, Lieutenant Stanley of the Imperial Yeomanry, and one or two men wounded. Elsewhere the clearing process continued, and tussles were part of the daily programme. General Paget was operating around the north-west of Pretoria, at Warmbaths and Pienaar's River; and General Barton, outside the Krugersdorp line, protected the west flank of Johannesburg. General Hart was actively employed in the neighbourhood of Potchefstroom, which place he occupied on the 11th, in the smartest manner possible. He was getting tired of cannonadings and fusilladings, futile and fatiguing, which resulted only in the dispersion of the enemy, who had a knack of reappearing on the warpath directly his back was turned. There had been many days of hopeful advance; "Little Bobs," the naval gun, had searched kopjes innumerable; Marshall's Horse and the Imperials and others had boldly assaulted them, but at the end of it all, they had arrived only to find--a vacuum! This was depressing and wearisome, so the General gave rein to his _penchant_ for night attacks, and reaped the reward of what looked like temerity. The force, leaving Welverdiend Station on the 8th, made forced marches of thirty-six and thirty-eight miles in fifteen hours for the infantry, and forty-four for cavalry, and surprised the Boers so completely that the town was captured, and also some eighty prisoners, with comparatively little fighting. Unfortunately young Maddocks, a most promising and popular officer of the 2nd Somersetshire Light Infantry, lost his life. Incessant attacks on the railway lines, too numerous to be recorded, continued, of course throwing an enormous strain on the staff of the military railways, who had verily to sleep with one eye open, unknowing when and where the Boer would perpetrate fresh outrages. On the 12th, the guerillas destroyed a bridge on the Krugersdorp line, and elsewhere they made futile but annoying efforts to dislocate traffic. Lord Methuen at this time was moving steadily on across the Western Transvaal, occasionally varying his route by animated chases after Boer convoys. In one of these he was splendidly successful, and his booty included a 15-pounder lost at Colenso, 26 waggons, 8000 cattle, 4000 sheep, and about 20,000 rounds of small arm ammunition. Thus enriched he moved on the following day, the 20th, to Rietpan, forty-five miles east of Vryburg station. Here he chased more Boers, and increased his "bag" by 634 cattle, 3000 sheep, 29 horses, and 24 donkeys. On the 26th Rustenburg was reoccupied by General Broadwood without loss. With Generals Clements and Ridley he spent his time in clearing the surrounding country, capturing waggons, rifles, and small arm ammunition, and occasionally--Boers. These, as a rule, dispersed like a flock of rooks at the sound of British pursuit, but twenty-four Dutchmen were captured and sent into Rustenburg. There, on the 4th of October, arrived Lord Methuen, who had fought two engagements on the 28th of September--one commanded by himself, the other by General Douglas--routing Lemmers's force and taking fourteen of them prisoners. Seven were killed. Two of the British were also lost, and among the wounded were Captain Lord Loch (Grenadier Guards), Lieutenant Parker (R.A.M.C.), and Lieutenant Noel Money (Imperial Yeomanry). General Hart meanwhile continued to spend his energies in identical activities in the districts of Potchefstroom and Krugersdorp, to which latter place he returned on the last day of September. He came not empty-handed. His "bag," like those of Generals Paget and Methuen, was big almost to inconvenience. His prizes ran as follows: 2720 head of cattle, 3281 sheep and goats, and large quantities of mealies, potatoes, oats, bran, and hay, 90 horses, 28 ponies, 11 mules, and 67 carts and waggons. Of prisoners there were ninety-six. This was the result of a thirty-three days' march, during which the column had covered 310 miles and skirmished or fought on twenty-nine occasions. Of the British "braves" only three were killed. Twenty-four were wounded and three missing. General Barton had his share of fighting, and on the 11th of October, in a somewhat serious contest with the enemy, the Welsh Fusiliers, led by Sir Robert Colleton, greatly distinguished themselves. Unhappily they lost Second Lieutenant Williams-Ellis, a gallant boy of only twenty years of age. Captain Gabbett was dangerously wounded, and Second Lieutenant Kyrke sustained a severe injury to the head. Captain Trenchard (Royal Scots Fusiliers) was also seriously wounded, as were eleven men of the Welsh Fusiliers. EXIT MR. KRUGER With Lord Roberts's return to Pretoria on the 21st of September commenced the general winding-up of affairs. At Schweizer Reneke the Boers had been giving trouble, and General Settle, with a force of 7000 men, went to the relief of the garrison and drove off the Boers, who lost heavily. On the 25th General Baden-Powell returned from the Cape to Pretoria to take up his post as head of the Transvaal Police, and was promptly beset by upwards of 17,000 applications for appointments in his new force. Seventeen officers and 319 men of the Royal Canadian Regiment left on their return to Canada, while the City Imperial Volunteers prepared to follow in order to reach home before the 5th of November. These were in high feather: declared that they had acquired marvellous digestions from the practice of eating oxen that must have taken part in the Great Trek, and vaunted their ability to kill, clean, and cook anything from a chicken to a pig, and make chupatties fit for the Lord Mayor! They were still more exuberant when, early in October, they were reviewed, prior to departure, by the Chief, who commented on the fine performances of the gallant body of men, the conduct of the infantry under the Earl of Albemarle (who was at Cape Town invalided), and the excellent work done by Colonel Mackinnon. He spoke of their cheerful and ungrudging services, of their long marches, the privations and hardships, the fever and fighting they had endured, and he also alluded to the coolness and utility of the mounted branch under Colonel Cholmondeley. He wished them success on the resumption of their ordinary professions, and God-speed upon their journey. The Volunteers had great cause to be proud of themselves, for on all occasions they had acquitted themselves admirably. On their entry into Pretoria their "soldierly bearing" had been remarked on by the Chief, in the subsequent battle of Diamond Hill, where young Alt lost his life, they had "greatly distinguished" themselves, and besides fighting twenty-six engagements had done some record marching, which has been noted elsewhere. On the 31st of July some of the C.I.V. came into action at Frederickstad, losing one man killed and four wounded. Later they engaged in the chase after De Wet, throwing themselves with zeal into the pursuit, particularly on one occasion when they marched thirty miles in seventeen hours. Altogether, from first to last, the Volunteers had nobly thrown off the civic character for the honour of fighting for their country, had "put their backs into it," and showed that clerk or shopkeeper, gardener or groom, "A man's a man for a' that!" [Illustration: (Pioneer). (Private). THE ROYAL WELSH FUSILIERS. Photo by Gregory & Co., London.] The C.I.V. Battery under the command of Major M'Micking, H.A.C. (late R.H.A.) and Captain Budworth, R.A., Adjutant of the H.A.C., acting as Captain of the Battery, had been invaluable. They moved to Bloemfontein in June, proceeded along the Kroonstad line to suppress the activities of De Wet, and from thence came into action at Lindley. The Battery did excellent work, and finally silenced the Boer guns with their rapid and accurate fire. At Bethlehem they comported themselves gloriously, averted disaster, saving the guns and the situation. Afterwards, on the 22nd of September, again under Paget, they assisted in the surprise of Erasmus and capture of his camp. Their official record of casualties to the end of August was: killed in action, 6; wounded, 65; died of wounds received in action, 3; died of disease, 44; taken prisoners and missing, 12; invalided home, 121.[13] On the 27th, at Pienaar's River Station, forty miles north of Pretoria, the force under the command of Colonel Lionel Chapman was attacked by the enemy, who had crept up within 200 yards either side, through the thick scrub surrounding the district. Three hours' fierce fighting ensued, in which a Bushman was killed and three Munster Fusiliers were taken prisoners. These succeeded in escaping, owing to the number of the Boer wounded. Many of the foe, in addition to those slain in the fray, were killed owing to the explosion of a mine of whose existence they were unaware, and so great was the number of the wounded that ambulances had to be twice sent out to collect the Boer sufferers. In the region of Groot Vlei Railway the marauders were surprised by a Mounted Infantry Patrol of the South Wales Borderers, under Lieutenants Dickinson and Gross, who themselves were surprised, on taking six prisoners, to find that their prizes were not Boers but Frenchmen! September closed with the anniversary of the birthday of the beloved Chief, who was born at Cawnpore in 1832. Moltke did his great work at the age of seventy; Wellington accomplished his at the age of forty-six; and Roberts put the finishing touch to his crown of laurels at sixty-eight. Most appropriately, the day was chosen to announce the appointment of the gallant Field-Marshal to the post of Commander-in-Chief of the British army--an appointment which was looked upon both in England and abroad as an auspicious omen for the thorough reform of the British military system, and as a guarantee for the future defence of the Empire. The whole British world united in wishes--one may almost say prayers--for the long life and welfare of its grandest soldier. On the 2nd of October, Colonel Rochfort, with the Dublin Fusiliers Mounted Infantry, attacked a Boer laager between Johannesburg and Pretoria, the Fusiliers charging into the midst of the enemy with the bayonet, and capturing some nine marauders who had been actively engaged in the district for some time. The Boers, too, had their innings, for on the evening of the same day they succeeded in derailing, near Pan Station, a train containing three companies of the 2nd Coldstream Guards. On the unfortunate men they poured a vigorous fire with their Mausers, with the result that five were killed. Thirteen were injured, among them Second Lieutenant C. Heywood. Five men of other regiments were wounded. An effort was made to surprise some of the Boer bandits at Bulfontein on the 4th, but Captain Henty (16th Middlesex Volunteers) found the party far stronger than his own small force, and was compelled to retire, which he did after three hours' fighting. Six of his men were wounded, including Lieutenant Slater (57th Company Imperial Yeomanry). Lieutenant Thomas (Ceylon Mounted Infantry) was reported missing but believed to be dead. During the early days of October the Boers made more despairing efforts to be aggressive. The engine of a train conveying some men of the Naval Brigade and Coldstream Guardsmen was derailed on night of 5th near Balmoral by the explosion of a dynamite cartridge, but fortunately no casualties occurred. Signs were not wanting that the Boers were sickening of the war, for General Kelly-Kenny reported that an armed Boer was brought in a prisoner by two of his former countrymen who were wise enough to see the futility of kicking against the pricks. Commandant Dirksen, who had been commanding a Boer band opposed to General Paget, also surrendered. He had been kept in ignorance of the real state of the political outlook, and was allowed to proceed to Komati Poort to learn the truth regarding Kruger's flight for himself. He returned satisfied, and gave up his arms. Thus very slowly affairs were moving on, the Boer belligerents thinning, the work of pacification growing gradually less troublesome. General Buller took his departure for home on the 6th, leaving General Lyttelton in command at Lydenburg. The farewell meeting between the Chief and the troops who for nearly a year had followed him confidently through blood and fire, disaster and success, was remarkably touching, a demonstration which--leaving the formula of red-tape and blue-books--may almost be termed affectionate. Certainly, whatever may have been the opinion of the arm-chair critics at home, that of the "do or die" soldiers of Natal was expressed in a lusty and spontaneous burst of enthusiasm, which left no room for doubt. On the 7th Captain Bearcroft and the Naval Brigade left, having first received the thanks of the Chief for the able assistance they had afforded during the war. The Natal Volunteers had also left for their homes, with many compliments on the excellent services they had rendered. On the 8th Lord Roberts visited the camp of the Australians and Rhodesians at Daspoort, and thanked the men for their devotion and bravery, especially for their fine defence of Elands River. A chapter of accidents took place on the 9th. During the night a train conveying men and animals was upset near Kaap Muiden; three men were killed and fifteen injured--Lieutenant Hawkes sustaining a fracture of the leg--while over forty animals were killed or maimed. In the morning, to inquire into the mischief, Captain Paget, with Lieutenants Stubbs and Sewell and eighteen men of the Vlakfontein Garrison, went on an engine and truck to the scene of the disaster. The Boers, of course, were waiting their happy chance, and promptly assailed the party. The fighting at this time was fast and furious. On hearing of the attack Captain Stewart (Rifle Brigade) with forty men hastened to the rescue, and there, fighting, fell. A private in the Rifle Brigade was also killed, and among the injured were Captain Paget and Lieutenant J. H. Stubbs. Five men attached to the Royal Engineers were also wounded. Lieutenant Sewell, Royal Engineers, and ten men of the Rifle Brigade were captured. At this period there was a good deal of enteric fever in Pretoria, and among the invalids, whose condition caused considerable anxiety, was Major Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein.[14] Not that his state at the time was in the least critical, but interest hung around him because he was, first, the grandson of the Sovereign; second, because he was a gallant officer and a prince; and lastly, because he was before all things a delightful comrade, as popular as he was genial. His death, which did not occur till fighting had developed into guerilla warfare, was deplored by all who were acquainted with him; and also by the nation at large, who knew how to appreciate the devotion to duty of one who, though born in the purple, preferred to take his share of the country's work, and fight shoulder to shoulder with her defenders. His last wish was characteristic of his noble nature--he desired no royal resting-place, but elected to be buried "by the side of his comrades." On the 19th, in the grey of the dawn, Mr. Kruger slunk from South Africa on board the Dutch man-of-war _Gelderland_. With the utmost secrecy he was smuggled to sea to evade, not his foes the British, but his dupes the Boers, the luckless refugees who lusted for revenge on the man who had ruined their country, deceived, robbed, and deserted themselves. When he departed his moneybags were full! Theirs--his beloved people's--were empty! Rich, he fled to escape the consequence of his own inflated obstinancy; beggared, they remained to endure the brunt of it! Round the debased fugitive it was impossible to cast the smallest glamour of sentiment. The absence of all sense of honour and truth, the sordid ambition and personal greed of the man, exposed now to the full, deprived him of the sympathy of those who had formerly watched his remarkable career with interest and admiration. Hitherto, most people had been prone to believe that the President of the Transvaal was, as the patriarchs of old, narrow-minded and obstinate no doubt, but saved by a simplicity that was picturesque as it was primitive. The romantic were even wont to look on him as another Cromwell of the English--a new Hofer of the Tyrolese--a brawny moral giant, to wonder at and revere. But, gradually, the massive peasant became transformed into the pinchbeck potentate, a despot with never an inkling of statesmanship to redeem the unctious sophistries and hypocritical cant with which he attempted to blind the world and himself. Now, it was impossible for his admirers to ignore the clay feet of their idol, and his compatriots, many of them, were forced to realise that his character, like the bar gold he paid to his creditors, was little more than a delusive show of amalgam. His last evasion declared that he had received "six months' leave of absence for the benefit of his health." So let it remain--a crumbling rung on the long ladder of his duplicity. There was more truth in the fabrication than he recked of. He had gone from his native land for six months--and as many more as he cared to take--and, if his flight were not for the benefit of his personal health, it was assuredly for the health of the great mass of human beings whose lives in the Transvaal had hitherto been asphyxiated by the narrowness of his prejudices and the autocracy of his rule! So, good-bye to him! [Illustration: SIMON'S TOWN, CAPE COLONY Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen] FOOTNOTES: [13] All the prisoners have since been released or returned to camp. Five poor fellows died on their voyage home. [14] Prince Christian Victor Albert Ludwig Ernest Anton was the eldest son of Prince and Princess Christian. He was born on April 14, 1867, and died at Pretoria on October 29, 1900. He was educated at Wellington College and Magdalen College, Oxford, and subsequently entered the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. He received his commission in 1888, and was appointed second lieutenant in the King's Royal Rifle Corps. Two years later he was promoted to be lieutenant, and in 1896 became captain, with the brevet rank of major. He served with the Hazara Expedition in 1891 as orderly officer to Major-General Elles, commanding the forces. He was mentioned in despatches, and received the medal and clasp. He was in the Miranzai Expedition of the same year, and was present at the engagements at Sangar and Mastan. The next year he accompanied the Isazai Expedition. When it was found necessary to despatch a force to Ashanti against King Prempeh in 1895 his Highness volunteered his services, and was made aide-de-camp to Major-General Sir Francis Scott, who commanded the expedition. For his share in the Ashanti Expedition Prince Christian Victor received the star and promotion to the brevet rank of major. He also served with the Soudan Expedition under Sir Herbert (now Lord) Kitchener in 1898 as staff officer to the troops on board the gunboat flotilla. He took part in the bombardment of the forts of Omdurman, and was present at the battle of Khartoum. He was mentioned in despatches, and given the Fourth Class of the Osmanieh, the British medal, and the Khedive's medal with clasp. Prince Christian Victor was gazetted in October 1899 for special service in South Africa. He took part in many engagements before the occupation of Pretoria, and was appointed an extra aide-de-camp to Lord Roberts in August. CHAPTER VIII GUERILLA WARFARE With the ceremony of the formal annexation of the Transvaal, under title of the Transvaal Colony, which took place at Pretoria on the 25th of October, a recrudescence of hostility on the part of the enemy became apparent. A violent attack was made on Jacobsdaal (near Kimberley), the Boers having succeeded in secreting themselves in the houses surrounding the British camp, and this through the treachery of the women whom we were protecting! The attack was repulsed after some hours of hard fighting by the energy of the garrison (composed mainly of Cape Town Highlanders), and by the dash of Finlayson in charge of the Cape Mounted Police who came to the rescue, routed the Boers, and killed Bosman their Commandant. Fourteen of the garrison were slain and thirteen wounded, and the sole punishment which could be meted out to the dastardly inhabitants who had been "accessories" of the assault was the burning of their houses. In three of these were found large stores of soft-nosed bullets. General Paget, who was becoming quite a master in the cunning of the guerillas, made himself notable for defeating a huge gang of Dutchmen with a convoy, taking--together with twenty-six prisoners--some 25,000 head of cattle--"the biggest haul of the campaign." The Boers had been driven out of the region of Bethlehem, which was occupied by Colonel Oakes with the Worcesters, 62nd Middlesex Yeomanry, and two guns of the 79th Battery. The marauders were further routed from a valuable well some miles off by Colonel Golightly, Imperial Yeomanry, with Hants and Gloucester companies, and two companies of Grenadier Guards, and half a battalion of Scots Guards. During the operations young Lord G. R. Grosvenor (Scots Guards) while gallantly leading his company, was wounded in the thigh. Meanwhile Lord Methuen, with General Douglas and Lord Erroll, by a skilfully combined movement, dislodged and dispersed the enemy from his settling-place near Zeerust, and possessed himself of more cattle and more prisoners. General Barton, too, with Scots and Welsh Fusiliers, did smart work near Frederickstad, at close quarters and at bayonets' point; but in the brush with De Wet lost thirteen killed and forty-five wounded. The Boers suffered correspondingly, and twenty-six of them were captured. Of the Scots Fusiliers Captain Baillie fell, while Lieutenant Elliott was dangerously wounded. Captain Dick's injuries were also severe, and Lieutenant Bruce was slightly wounded. Among the Welsh Fusiliers' officers wounded were Captain Delmé Radcliffe and Lieutenants Best and Nangle. The plucky little garrison of Phillipolis, which for some days had been withstanding the assault of the Boers, were relieved on the 24th, by the Imperial Yeomanry acting in conjunction with two other columns, and two days later, General Kitchener attacked by night the Boers around Krugerspoort, and captured their laager. General French, ever active, swept his way from Bethel to Heidelberg, fighting continuously, and gathering up prisoners and stores; while General C. Knox on the 27th harassed De Wet's force in its retreat from Barton's stalwart Fusiliers, and succeeded in depriving the Dutchmen of two guns and three waggons, while U Battery R.H.A. blew up another ammunition waggon by a shell. The engagement was another feather in the cap of De Lisle, whose handling of the troops was excellent. Of the two guns taken from De Wet one was a Krupp. It was captured by the New South Wales Mounted Infantry. The other belonged to U Battery, and was captured by Le Gallais's mounted troops, assisted, much to the satisfaction of the officers and men, by U Battery. General Hunter engaged in operations for the purpose of driving the Boers from the line near Ventersburg, where they had been intent on mischief for some time, and in the fighting on the 30th a gallant officer of Artillery, Major Hanwell, commanding the 39th Battery, received such serious injuries that he succumbed. A company of the 3rd Battalion of the Buffs became hotly engaged, and behaved "with conspicuous steadiness," while the Surrey Regiment, charging grandly, sent the Boers scudding into space. To those at home who ignore the truth of the German's dictum that "invading armies melt away like snow," it was a matter of wonder what became of the enormous force of some 200,000 men which was reported to be in South Africa, and how it happened that, with so many troops engaged, the proportionately small number of Boers attacking them achieved any success whatever. A glance at the map of the main railway routes will serve to show the melting-away process. At every bridge and at every culvert were camps; at every village and at every town were posted portions of the army. From Cape Town to Komati, from Durban to Potchefstroom, from De Aar to Mafeking, from Mafeking to Pretoria, and from Mafeking to Rhodesia the British forces were distributed, and far from wondering why the regiments thus trickling along the country failed to annihilate the Boers, those who knew were inclined to marvel that there were any regiments to spare for giving chase to the marauders in their desultory schemes of annoyance. The British duty of sticking fast was infinitely more arduous than the Boer one of slipping away. On the 28th a Boer commando captured near Kroonstad an outpost of ninety volunteers, and proceeded to loot a mail train, but later General Paget at Magato Pass drove the enemy from two positions. Night expeditions to surprise the Dutchmen were engaged in by Lord Kitchener and General Smith-Dorrien, the former near Lydenburg attacking two Boer laagers, one under Schalk Burger, and driving the Dutchmen north, the latter moving towards Witkop and surrounding the enemy, but failing to do the damage intended owing to inclement weather. A more awful night than that of the 1st of November the unhappy troops could scarcely recollect, but as the two small columns, one under General Smith-Dorrien and the other under Colonel Spens (Shropshire Light Infantry), were operating in support of each other and some miles apart, neither could turn back. Only after surrounding and surprising the Boers at daybreak were they able to retire, and no sooner was the retirement commenced than the Boers boldly dashed after them, one of their number being slain within fifty yards of the Gordons. Our losses were Captain Chalmers, Canadian Mounted Rifles, killed, and Major Saunders, of the same corps, wounded. Captain Gardyne of the Gordons sustained slight injuries. The circumstances attending the death of Captain Chalmers were most pathetic. Major Saunders, in the thick of a blizzard of fire, was riding back with a sergeant who had lost his horse, and to whose rescue he had bravely galloped. At this moment the Major's horse, which was cumbered with the two riders, was killed, and the Major himself wounded. To his assistance rushed Chalmers, who, though begged to save himself, refused, and promptly fell a sacrifice to his own gallantry. Such deeds of heroism were occurring daily. Though at home public interest in the war began to wane, and certain notoriety hunters endeavoured to hint that the British troops were not as smart as they might be, the gallant men at the front fought and toiled and suffered nobly. Besides actual warfare, pillage and the wrecking and burning of trains formed part of the normal programme, and daily deeds of devotion and courage were enacted. But these deeds, as a rule, found none to record them, and only now and then some special instance of heroism was wafted home on the wires. In one case the _Pall Mall Gazette_ gave publicity to a story that makes one glory in the name of Briton. About this time a train to the south of Standerton, on the Natal line, was "stuck up" and fired upon. The driver and stoker were both wounded, the former being hit eight times and having both his arms smashed. Nothing daunted, however, he butted the lever of his engine with his head, and drove it full speed into Standerton, working the lever the whole way with his head alone! The Boers, some said, were growing disheartened for want of food and ammunition, but others found that as the want grew stronger they became emboldened. Success of any serious kind was impossible, but their capacity for annoyance was considerable, and Boer marauding bands continued to raid the neighbourhoods of Cradock, Aliwal North, Ladybrand, causing alarm to the British farmers and also to those Boer ones who were pacifically inclined. The hopes of the guerillas were mainly stayed by the inventive fertility of Mr. Steyn, who stimulated them to the struggle by false accounts of their successes. He assured them also that 5000 Dutchmen had risen in Cape Colony, and that Mr. Kruger had gone to Europe to obtain intervention, and, failing it, meant to sell the Transvaal to the highest bidder. This the sturdy fellows believed, and continued to fight on, not with the valour of despair, but the persistence of anticipation. * * * * * Meanwhile at home, on the 25th of September, Parliament had been dissolved, and a general election had taken place, with the result that Lord Salisbury's Government triumphantly returned to power. Thus the hopes of the Boers--that with a Radical Government might come a repetition of the climb-down policy of '81--were defeated. To vent his disgust, and as a sequel to his letter of a year ago,[15] the correspondent signing himself P. S. sent another highly educational letter to the London journals, a letter which is quoted to serve, as did the former one, to allay the doubt of any who may have questioned the original aggressiveness of the Boers, or doubted the justice of the war sentiment among the British:-- "SIR,--I beg you to give expression to the immense surprise and satisfaction with which my colleagues on the Continent and myself have learnt the results of the election. We fully expected that in consequence of British intoxication with the partial success your Government has achieved in North and South Africa, that the Anti-Boer Party would have obtained a majority of at least two hundred and twenty votes in the new Parliament. Now we know that there will be a strong Opposition of about two hundred and seventy members in the new House, our hopes of the future independence of South Africa have risen high. We are sorry for the loss of some old friends, but we rejoice in having some new and more discreet allies in the House of Commons. Not only that, but we see also good grounds for hope for vengeance. In China, India, and Morocco trouble is brewing, and will overtake you before you can reorganise your little military forces or form a decent army to protect your own land from the invasion of the trained millions of the Continental Powers. Soon there will be such a conflagration in Europe that all your energies will be needed to try to defend your own island, but you will be too late in your preparations, and then our chance will come. "You seek to settle matters quickly in Africa by your leniency and conceding the use of the Dutch language to us. See 'British Leniency,' in _Morning Post_, Saturday 13th inst. But I tell you that your leniency in general and your kindness to our men, now prisoners in your hands, are regarded by us only as bribes, offered to us to be faithless to our land and our independence. We will accept your bribes, but we will not be seduced by them to accept your friendship and to cease from working for our independence and the downfall of your Empire. But as my Continental colleagues truly say, your destruction at an early date is assured. The present election shows that at the first sign of invasion fully one-third of the population of the island of Great Britain will rise against the Government and welcome the invaders, as their forefathers would have done in the days of the first Napoleon. "We have not studied the domestic history of the English people and the present feelings of the great working class for nothing. We are not so blind as your statesmen. Moreover, we can pay for the services that we shall receive from our friends. Thanks to our previous arrangements we shall still be able to obtain in Europe the sinews of war from our inexhaustible gold mines in the Transvaal, and we know that European politicians as well as the European press can always be bought at a moderate price, and that they will faithfully render good service therefor.--Yours, &c. "P. S." In this frank epistle we were given the programme of future guerilla warfare, of Boer hopes, and Boer ambition. Whether the European politicians and press would continue to be purchasable at "a moderate price" remained to be seen, but this honest avowal revealed the secret of Pro-Boerism in its nakedness, and served to account most appositely for many curious and unjustifiable assertions which have been made regarding British actions in the course of the war. While Boer gold existed, Europe and even Great Britain would find Judases ready to do business. The Dutchmen, their political prospects in Great Britain blighted, now hung all their expectations on the chance that in America the Presidential election of 6th of November would bring about a change in their favour. Mr. M'Kinley, the President, in a private interview with the Boer delegates on the 2nd of May, had informed them of his intention to persist in a policy of impartial neutrality between Great Britain and the Boer Republics, and from that moment they looked to the Opposition--to Mr. Bryan and Democrat sympathisers--for the intervention that they still eagerly sought. But in America they met with even less luck than in England. The election resulted in an overwhelming victory for the Republicans. Mr. M'Kinley secured 292 electoral votes, while Mr. Bryan had to content himself with 155. [Illustration: BURNING THE FARM OF A TREACHEROUS BURGHER Drawing by R. Caton Woodville, from a Sketch by Melton Prior, War Artist] In France the Boer cause met with sympathy, and the late President of the Transvaal on arrival there was fêted. He was the lion of the moment--but political activity went no further than lionising. In Holland the gentle young Queen extended hospitality to a distinguished fellow-countryman; in Germany a straightforward line was taken, the Emperor refused an interview which might mar the hue of his neutrality; while in Russia the Tzar, though seriously ill, maintained his determination not to be lured into the imbroglio. But of these matters the burghers in the Transvaal were kept in ignorance, and they doggedly fought on--wearing themselves out and losing and taking life for a now hopeless cause. On the 3rd of November Koffyfontein, which had been besieged since the 24th of October, was relieved by Sir Charles Parsons and some of General Settle's Mounted troops. The dogged way in which a garrison of but fifty miners under a volunteer officer, Captain Robertson of the Kimberley Light Horse, withstood the persistence of the foe, excited the admiration of friends and enemies. The miners in the débris heaps contrived so cleverly to render their position impregnable that all the efforts of the enemy were frustrated. Captain Robertson escaped with his life by a miracle. He, with four natives, made a midnight raid on a Boer hot-bed--a farmhouse a mile and a half from the village. He was met by a man with a Mauser, who fortunately missed him, but in so doing extinguished the light. A hand-to-hand encounter followed, and in complete darkness some thrilling moments were passed--the officer firing ineffectual shots, the Boer being assisted by another of his tribe, who succeeded in disarming Captain Robertson and wounding him, almost stunning him with the butt of a rifle. This gallant officer, with some of his wits still about him, regained his pistol, and transferring it from one hand to the other, shot his assailant dead! While all this was going forward, Steyn and De Wet became more actively aggressive, and consequently Colonel Le Gallais's force was sent from Honing Spruit, while De Lisle, with the Colonial Division, marched from Koppies, the first station north of Rhenoster, for the purpose of executing a wide turning movement, and if possible cutting off the retreat of De Wet across the Vaal. Le Gallais, after some disappointments and heavy marching, got at last on the track of the fugitive in the region of Bothaville. Early on the 6th the chase was continued with considerable animation, the 5th Mounted Infantry leading, followed by the 8th Corps under Colonel Ross. Three guns of U Battery, under escort of the 5th, 17th, and 18th Companies of Imperial Yeomanry, moved with the force, while one gun of U Battery, with the 7th Mounted Infantry under Major Welsh, remained to protect the baggage in crossing the drifts. Major Lean, with some sixty of the 5th Mounted Infantry in advance, came to a rise, whence suddenly they viewed the enemy's laager. Quickly they surprised the Boers with some volleys, and caused a stampede. Hot-foot flew De Wet and Steyn to their Cape cart, mounted it, and were off. The rest flung themselves into their stirrups. It was a case of _sauve qui peut_, for everything, guns, waggons, and ammunition, were left behind. But soon the Dutchmen found a harbour--a strong position in the neighbourhood of a farmhouse, and from the adjacent dams, a stone-walled enclosure, and even a pigsty, they began to return the fire of the British party. By this time Colonels Le Gallais and Ross had galloped to the fray, and dismounting, took up a position in a farmhouse, whence they could survey the proceedings. This central position was held by some men of the Oxford Light Infantry, while on their right were some Buffs and Royal Irish Mounted Infantry under gallant Engelbach, who was slain, and beyond them came Captain Holland and some Worcester Mounted Infantry, skirted by the Royal Irish under Captain Brush. To left of the farmhouse, near a Kaffir kraal, were the 8th Mounted Infantry and some men of the Oxford Light Infantry under Captain Maurice. Later on, as the Boers were seen to be making an effort to wheel round both flanks, Major Welsh was ordered to place his baggage in safety and to push forwards to the rescue with every available man. Meanwhile the situation was growing more and more serious, as the Boers had got the range of the farmhouse to a nicety, and fired through doors and windows, so that within it now dropped Le Gallais, and Ross, and young Lieutenant Percy-Smith, and several men. Lieutenant Williams fell dead at once, and Captain Colvile had been hit while leading the Oxford Light Infantry earlier in the day. Nevertheless the splendid party holding the front clung tenaciously to their position, though one after another dropped, and groaning and dying littered the ground, already too thinly defended against the 200 active Mausers of the foe. For four long hours of the morning the battle pursued its course, Major Taylor, with U Battery, paying with interest the debts incurred at Koorn Spruit. Gradually--both flanks becoming stronger with the arrival of Major Welsh and his party--an adequate defence against the encroachments of the Boers was attempted, and their attempts at flanking operations repulsed. Then with considerable skill the troops to right and left were manoeuvred by De Lisle, so that, while relieving the pressure on the front, the Boer laager was practically enclosed on three sides and finally rendered untenable. The white flag then fluttered within the Dutchman's stronghold; but it was not to be trusted now, and the Boers were shouted to to leave cover and surrender, which, sulkily, they did. During the persistent fighting Le Gallais, mortally wounded though he was, continued his inquiries as to the progress of the battle. The noble fellow's last words serve better than all else to show the heroic mould of his dauntless mind: "If I die, tell my mother that I died happy, as we got the guns!"[16] Happily he lived to know that, dearly bought as they were, we were in possession of seven guns lost by the 14th Battery at Colenso, a 12-pounder taken from Q Battery at Sanna's Post, three Krupp 75 mm., one "pom-pom," and one 37 mm. quick-firer--not to speak of stores of gun and small-arm ammunition, black powder, dynamite, and other camp supplies, and a "bag" of 100 prisoners. In addition to those already mentioned, Major Welsh, Captains Harris and Mair, and Lieutenant Peebles were wounded. At the same time tussles innumerable were going forward in various regions. Lord Methuen, near Ottoshoop, was harassing Snyman with success, and the 3rd Royal Rifle corps near Heidelberg repulsed a party of raiders without loss. Phillipolis was occupied by Major MacIntosh (Seaforth Highlanders) with loss in wounded of several gallant Scotsmen and Surgeon Hartley of Lovat's Scouts, and in the neighbourhood of Lydenburg a party of the 19th Hussars and Manchester Mounted Infantry distinguished themselves mightily, the troopers under Captain Chetwode charging by moonlight into the midst of the enemy, who were finally routed by the artillery and mounted infantry. The redoubtable Plumer also repulsed an attack of 400 men under Delarey, and elsewhere--at Vrede, Reitz, Harrismith, Pienaar's River--parties of guerillas, driven desperate by famine, were beaten off with more or less ease. While the affair at Bothaville was demonstrating the cool courage and tenacity of our troops, General Smith-Dorrien's much-embattled braves were again displaying devoted gallantry in the country between Belfast and Komati River. The force consisted of 250 mounted men from the 5th Lancers, Canadian Dragoons, and Mounted Rifles, two guns of the Canadian Royal Horse Artillery, and four of the 84th Battery. With them were 900 of the Suffolks and Shropshires. The Boers hung upon the front, flanks, and rear of the troops from Belfast to Komati River, but here they established themselves in a species of stronghold whence they thought they could not be dislodged. Nevertheless the Suffolks and Canadian Rifles, creeping round their flank, showed them their mistake, and caused them to retire. The next day, reinforced, the Dutchmen returned and endeavoured again to seize their lost ground, but Colonel Evans, with the Canadians and two guns of the 84th Battery, had the legs of them, and after a two-mile race disappointed the nimble ones and established themselves at the goal. But all this activity was no child's play. On the 6th the smart force lost six killed and twenty wounded, mostly gallant Shropshires, and on the following day two were killed and twelve wounded of the Royal Canadian Dragoons, whose splendid energy in keeping the enemy off the infantry and convoys was highly extolled by the general. The fighting at one time took place at extremely close quarters, for the Boers, contrary to custom, charged the rearguard to within seventy yards, and were only repulsed by the magnificent dash of the Canadian Dragoons, sixteen of whom fell into the hands of the Boers. These were afterwards released. Three plucky Canadian subalterns were among the wounded--Lieutenants Elmsley, Turner, and Cockburn. Desultory fighting went on in various directions, the Boers near Wepener, Standerton, and elsewhere maintaining persistent activity, which did credit to their tenacity if not to their common sense. Notwithstanding the failure of the Cordua plot, the towns of Johannesburg and Pretoria continued to seethe with disaffection and intrigue. Anarchists and ruffians of all nations were known to be in league against the authorities, and a strict watch was kept over their movements, with the result that five Italians, four Greeks, and a Frenchman were arrested on the 16th of November. They had prepared a diabolical plot against the life of the Commander-in-Chief--their intention having been to explode a mine in the church to be attended by him on the 18th--a plot which was fortunately discovered before any ill consequences could arise. Minor engagements took place near Frankfort, and Dainsfontein, fine hauls of stock were made at Klersdorp and Heidelberg, near which regions were nests of marauders. A serious disaster occurred at Dewetsdorp on the 23rd of November, when the garrison, some 400, consisting of 68th Field Battery, detachments of Gloucesters, Highland Light Infantry, and Irish Rifles, the whole under Major Massy, after losing fifteen killed and forty-two wounded, surrendered to the enemy, who numbered about 2500. The Dutchmen, under De Wet, had invested the place on the 18th, and poured a heavy fire on the position occupied by the Highlanders, creeping nightly nearer and nearer, and ceasing neither day nor night in their attack. The water supply was cut off, and the wretched men were scorched by sun and torn by raging thirst. By the 22nd their position was rendered untenable, but through the gallantry of their comrades, the men were able to retire on their main position. But the occupation of their trenches rendered the situation hopeless, and ammunitionless and waterless, surrender was inevitable.[17] A column, 1400, had been sent to the relief but failed to arrive in time. General C. Knox joined this force and entered the town, which he found evacuated, seventy-five sick and wounded being left behind. He promptly pursued the Dutchmen, and caught Steyn and De Wet and their followers near Vaalbank on the 27th, and handled them somewhat roughly, scattering them west and north-west, and capturing two waggons and stampeding 300 horses. Engagements also took place between Plumer and some 500 malcontents near De Wagen Drift, with the result that the enemy retired in confusion. At Tiger Kloof on the 23rd, when the Scots Guards routed the foe from a strong position, the Imperial Yeomanry did excellent work. Unfortunately Lieutenant Southey, while gallantly leading his men, was shot dead, and Major Hanbury was hit in three places. Near Springs in the Transvaal, on the 25th, General Bruce Hamilton surprised a Boer laager, and on the 27th, at Bullfontein, Colonel White achieved a success, and drove the enemy across the river, mainly through the dash and gallantry of the troops under Colonel Forbes, and the skilful handling of them by the commanding officer. General Settle, a day later, occupied Luckhoff, after fighting for five hours and defeating Herzog's commando at Kloof. General Paget, with Colonels Plumer and Hickman, with Queenslanders, New Zealanders, and Tasmanian Bushmen, York, Warwick, and Montgomery Yeomanry, some companies of West Riding and Munster Regiments, the 7th and 38th Batteries, two "pom-poms," one Colt, one Maxim, and two naval quick-firing 12-pounders, moved from the region north-east of Bronker's Spruit on the 29th with a view to giving battle to the enemy, the plan being for General Lyttelton to co-operate by sweeping up from Middelburg on the enemy's rear. The synchronal arrangements were imperfect, and the projected attacks did not proceed as intended. The enemy's lines were longer than those of the British, and General Paget's attempt to turn them was a failure, the enemy, some 2000 of them, being screened by boulders as big as houses, behind which they were completely safe. To left and right went Plumer and Hickman respectively, pushing on in a leaden blast from the hidden foe, while on Hickman's right the gallant West Ridings, led by their splendid Colonel--Colonel Lloyd--pressed to the attack. So close they came that the voices of the Dutchmen were to be heard in conversation, but these with Mausers and four guns and friendly boulders made themselves unassailable. Over seventeen hours of fighting cost the West Riding their colonel, and the brilliant New Zealanders some thirty killed and wounded, all the officers save one being hit. The wounded officers were: Lieutenants Townsend and Oakes, Captain Acworth and Lieutenant Harman, all of West Riding Regiment; Lieutenant Challis, Royal Army Medical Corps, severely, being hit in three places while gallantly attending wounded men under a heavy fire; Captain Crawshaw and Lieutenants Montgomerie, Somerville, and Tucker, and Surgeon-Captain Godfray, all of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles. The total loss was eighteen killed and fifty-eight wounded. At night the guns of General Lyttelton came to work, and by morning the Boers had disappeared. [Illustration: THE HARBOUR, BUFFALO RIVER, EAST LONDON Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen] By this time Lord Kitchener, with the local rank of General, had assumed command of the troops in South Africa, Lord Roberts having started for England in complete confidence that his successor would accomplish the pacification of the country in due time. His work was most complicated, for besides being impoverished by the scarcity of troops (the Volunteers and Colonials having many of them left on the expiration of their year of service), the lack of horses put a perpetual stopper on the flow of military operations. Clausewitz has said that when cavalry is deficient, "La riche moisson de la victoire ne se coupe pas plus alors à la faux, mais à la faucille" (The rich harvest of victory is not cut with scythe but with the sickle.) And never was the truth of his aphorism more keenly felt than at this moment. The harvest of splendid victories that had been achieved was being reaped with the sickle, and the reaping operations were taking months, which, had mounts been available, would have taken moments! December opened with animation. General C. Knox, near the Bethulie-Smithfield Road, on the 2nd harassed the Boers with a convoy and succeeded in capturing seven prisoners. General Paget's mounted men skirmished successfully around Lieufontein, and near Utrecht some of the garrison engaged 200 of the foe for two and a half hours and put them to flight, leaving six Dutchmen _hors de combat_. In the Cape Colony the members of the Bond were preparing for a Congress, and sundry chameleon complexioned gentlemen indulged in speeches regarding the question of loyalty and future settlement, which were sufficiently ambiguous to have served as examples in the art of blowing hot and cold with the same mouth, but fortunately the eagle eye of Kitchener was upon them and the result of their verbosity was a careful readjustment of such forces as were at the Commander-in-Chief's disposal, to advert any general rising among those who had previously been pacified. The Congress eventually took place at Worcester, and the freedom of speech indulged in at the meeting was said to be responsible for the aggressions of the Boers which subsequently took place. Mr. Cronwright Schreiner declared that the British people had grossly failed in their duty toward the people of Cape Colony, their attitude since the Raid being one of dishonesty and cowardice. "British statesmen," he said, "had been the tools of Capitalists. Their attitude had been to force war on South Africa. Great Britain is now forcing British soldiers to wage war with an inhumanity and barbarism that is astonishing the civilised world." He dilated on the alleged wrong done to women and children (already disproved to the satisfaction of every one), and proceeded to harrow his audience by describing details. In conclusion he stormed, "We Africanders will never acquiesce in Britain taking away the independence of the Republics." In the end it was decided that an African mission to Great Britain should demand: First, the termination of the war raging with untold misery and sorrow--such as the burning of houses and the devastation of the country, the extermination of the white nationality, and the treatment to which women and children were subjected which would leave a lasting heritage of bitterness and hatred, while endangering further relations between civilisation and barbarism in South Africa. Second, the retention by the Republics of their independence, whereby the peace of South Africa can be maintained. Meanwhile, Great Britain was taking her own steps for the maintenance of lasting peace in South Africa. Parliament reassembled to vote a continuance of the current of men, horses, weapons, and supplies, without which the generals who were striving to bring guerilla-raiding to a summary conclusion, would remain paralysed and resourceless. The Boers achieved something of a success on the 3rd as they came across a convoy of 140 waggons three miles long, proceeding in two sections from Pretoria to Rustenburg, and succeeded in destroying the first section (escorted by two companies of West Yorks, and two squadrons of the Victoria Mounted Rifles, with two guns of the 75th Battery). Delarey, hiding in a donga with 700 of his gang, waited till the convoy and men got within effective range, and sent a shower of bullets into their midst. The troops made a grand defence, set the guns trail to trail, and blazed back at the approaching hordes who were now endeavouring to surround them, with the result that the marauders failing to capture the convoy satisfied themselves by setting fire to the waggons and retiring, thus leaving the second section (escorted by two companies of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders) unharmed. Our loss was fifteen killed and twenty-three wounded, among the latter Lieutenant Baker, R.F.A. On the 5th De Wet made an audacious attempt upon Cape Colony, which, in spite of his marvellous acuteness and activity, proved a failure. He crossed the Caledon and moved towards Odendaal, which was held by the 1st Coldstreams. (It must here be noted that the Guards after their march to Komati Poort, and a brief rest in the Transvaal, were moved to their old hunting grounds on the Orange River, all the drifts of which they assiduously guarded.) At Commassie Bridge he was completely worsted by our troops and forced to trek to the north-east, and back over the Caledon, leaving behind him 500 horses, many Cape carts, and a long stream of dying and dead cattle. He was continually pursued and harassed by General C. Knox, who captured a Krupp gun and a waggon-load of ammunition, and kept up a running fight in the direction of Reddersburg; which was said to be one of the most exciting episodes in the whole war. On the 8th a Boer gang near Barberton made a violent and indeed valiant lunge at the troops guarding the place. Though once repulsed by the Mounted Infantry they again returned to the attack, and succeeded in getting to very close quarters. The British lost three and had five wounded and thirteen taken prisoners. These, as too troublesome to feed, were afterwards released. On 13th of December a grievous affair took place at Nooitgedacht on the Magaliesberg, where General Clements with his force of 500 mounted men and 400 Northumberland Fusiliers, while holding the tops of some kopjes was attacked by 2500 kharki-clad Boers under Delarey. The foe crept up without being recognised and seized vantage-points on the ridges, first overpowering the Northumberland Fusiliers (who fought for hours till ammunition was exhausted), and thereby rendering the position of the camp untenable. Under a heavy fire guns and transport were moved, and a second position one mile and a half to south-east taken, where till afternoon the troops remained. Then they retired on Rietfontein, sixty of the 12th Brigade of Mounted Infantry keeping the Boers at bay while the movement was accomplished. The fighting was very severe, and five officers and nine men were killed; eighteen officers and 555 men, most of them Northumberland Fusiliers, were missing. As the natives bolted, a considerable amount of transport was lost, though the Army Service Corps vigorously defended the waggons. A most popular officer, Colonel Legge, 20th Hussars, was hit by three bullets, but was seen to shoot five Boers with his revolver before he dropped. The other officers killed were Captain Macbean, Dublin Fusiliers; Captain Murdoch, Cameron Highlanders; and Captain Atkins, Wiltshire Regiment. On the same day Colonel Blomfield (at this time in command of the Lancashire Brigade) achieved a great success in the neighbourhood of Vryheid. There, three days previously, the Boers had attacked and had been driven off with a loss of about 100 killed and wounded, to our six killed, nineteen wounded, and thirty missing. Unfortunately two gallant officers of the Royal Lancaster Regiment were killed, Colonel Gawne and Lieutenant Woodgate. Now the avenging Colonel swooped down on the Dutchmen at Scheepers Nek, and drove them off in confusion, securing a quantity of arms and stock, and inflicting heavy punishment. Two Naval Volunteers, whose corps behaved splendidly, were killed. Lord Methuen at the same time was helping to balance the Nooitgedacht account by attacking two Boer positions in the region of Ottoshoop, and taking unto himself fifteen ox waggons and Cape carts, 15,000 rounds of ammunition, 1460 head of cattle, and 2000 sheep. Unfortunately the roll of prisoners was small; for the art of running away is simpler than the art of holding on, and the chase ended, as chases usually ended, by the capture of a handful of prisoners and a prodigious haul of waggons and cattle. In the Zastron district a party of the 2nd Division of Brabant's Horse--mostly raw recruits--got into difficulties on the 13th. They became detached from the main body, were caught in a defile, and 120 of them were taken prisoners. The captain in command was wounded in several places, and the Colonials lost eight killed and eighteen wounded, three of whom since died. At this time De Wet was retreating north, flying towards the Thabanchu region from the pursuit of Knox, and struggling to break through the British cordon. After delivering several ineffectual assaults on the various British positions, on the 14th, he in person led a gallant attack--charged through the British lines, and, with the loss of thirty men killed and wounded, twelve prisoners, some waggons of ammunition, a 15-pounder gun (taken at Dewetsdorp), a "pom-pom," and many horses and mules, succeeded once more in making his escape! Parties of his dispersed force at different points had crossed the Orange River and commenced cutting railway lines, threatening communications between Cape Town and Buluwayo, their object being to possess themselves of De Aar Junction. But their movements were circumscribed. Burghersdorp, Stormberg, Rosmead, and Naauwpoort were all strongly held by the British, while the Orange River, as though vengefully, had risen at the back of the marauders and pressed them close to the British forces, hemming them round. Still, some 2000 of them on mischief bent caused considerable alarm and annoyance, holding up trains, capturing convoys, and calling on small garrisons to surrender, and fighting, till, on the approach of reinforcements, they deemed it advisable to decamp to fresh fields of diversion. Lord Kitchener promptly arrived at De Aar and adopted measures to quell the invasion and allay the apprehensions of those who found themselves at the mercy of the bandits. But the work was not to be accomplished without infinite patience, for, as one of the gay Colonials remarked, "Sport in these districts is no longer fox-hunting, but rat-catching!" A new proclamation, dated 20th December, was issued by the Commander-in-Chief. It ran thus: "It is hereby notified to all burghers that if, after this date, they voluntarily surrender, they will be allowed to live with their families in Government laagers until such time as the guerilla warfare now being carried on will admit of their returning safely to their homes. "All stock and property brought in at the time of surrender of such burghers will be respected and paid for if requisitioned by the military authorities." To ensure a more speedy termination of hostilities, active steps were taken to make up for the loss of the Colonial and other troops which had returned to their homes. The recruiting of Colonial Police to the number of 10,000 was being carried forward, 800 mounted infantry and two cavalry regiments from England were under orders to leave as soon as possible, and a sixth New Zealand Contingent consisting of 200 men (one-half Maoris) was preparing to sail. A second band of marauders had now got across by Zandsdrift, the object of the Boer leaders being to run all over Cape Colony and there gather around them as many Dutch sympathisers as they could manage to stimulate with a belief in their ultimate success, and, if possible, to get access to the sea coast. A Gazette Extraordinary was therefore issued on the 20th proclaiming martial law in twelve additional districts of Cape Colony, and warning all persons of the risks incurred by those who had previously assisted the enemy and had been released. It was subsequently arranged that owing to the state of affairs the loyal inhabitants should be called upon to form a Colonial Defence Force in order to resist the invasion, protect communications, and preserve order in the disturbed districts. The term of service named was three months. The operations in the Colony were to be conducted by Generals Little, Jones, and MacDonald. On the 19th and 20th General Clements, in conjunction with General French, fought a continuous series of engagements with Delarey's men, and eventually drove them from the Magaliesberg region. But these took their revenge on the 29th by capturing Helvetia, on the Machadodorp-Lydenburg Railway. This position, a very strong one, was held by a detachment of the Liverpool Regiment, who were surprised by the enemy at 2.30 A.M., the Dutchmen having first "rushed" the 4.7 gun. The officer commanding the post at Swarzkopjes sent out a post, shelled away the enemy, and forced them to temporarily abandon their prize; but the Boers eventually secured the trophy by knowingly forming an ægis of British prisoners around it. Major Cotton was severely wounded, and four other officers; eleven men were killed and twenty-two wounded, and two hundred taken prisoners. It was a sorry finale for the year, yet those who could appreciate the complexities of the work of subjugation now engaging Lord Kitchener, possessed their souls in patience, and looked to 1901 for the dawn of better things. LONDON, _December 1900_. [Illustration: THE INSPECTION OF COLONIAL SOLDIERS AT WINDSOR CASTLE BY QUEEN VICTORIA, NOV. 16, 1900 Drawing by R. Caton Woodville] FOOTNOTES: [15] See vol. i. p. 186. [16] Colonel Philip Walter Jules Le Gallais was born on August 17, 1861. He entered the army, from the Militia, as a second lieutenant in the 8th Hussars on April 23, 1881, obtaining his lieutenancy in the following July and his troop in March 1888. He served on the staff as aide-de-camp to the Commander-in-Chief in Bombay from July 1891 to March 1893, and was adjutant of his regiment from July 1893 to May 1896. From November 1896 until he went out to South Africa he was serving with the Egyptian Army, obtaining his majority in April 1897. He was actively engaged in the Nile Expedition in 1897 (for which he received the medal with clasp), and also in the expedition of the following year, when he took part in the cavalry reconnaissance on April 4, and the battles of the Atbara and Khartoum, obtaining mention in despatches, published in the _London Gazette_ of May 24 and September 30, and being rewarded with the brevet of lieutenant-colonel (November 16, 1898) and the 4th class of the Osmanieh and two clasps to his Egyptian medal. Colonel Le Gallais was an officer qualified as an interpreter in French. He had been on the staff of the army in South Africa as a cavalry leader, graded as an assistant adjutant-general, since April 7 last. A correspondent, writing to the _Times_, said: "His death is especially to be deplored, as he stood in the front rank of the few cavalry officers who have proved exceptional abilities during the recent war.... It is interesting to note that the three junior cavalry officers who have been given independent commands in South Africa upon merit were serving together in the last Nile campaign. These are Brigadier-General Broadwood and Colonels Le Gallais and Mahon. At Bloemfontein, where the Mounted Infantry Division was formed, Colonel Le Gallais was appointed Assistant Adjutant-General to General Ian Hamilton, and he accompanied that officer in his flank march to Pretoria and Heidelberg. After the breaking up of the Division, Colonel Le Gallais was given a detached mounted infantry command, and his force has since been operating with the many flying columns on the heels of De Wet, with the final result reported on Friday. Besides being a brilliant soldier, Colonel Le Gallais was well known as a polo player and an expert steeple-chase rider." [17] The following were taken prisoners: Gloucestershire Regiment, Major H. R. Tufnell, Second Lieutenant A. K. Ford, Captain B. O. Fyffe, Captain A. J. Menzies, Captain W. H. Walshe, and all non-commissioned officers and men of "A," "B," and "F" Companies; 68th Battery R.F.A., Major Massy and one section; Highland Light Infantry, Second Lieutenant Alston and one Company; Army Service Corps, Second Lieutenant M'Nally; Orange River Colony Police, Lieutenant Boyle; Royal Irish Rifles, detachment, strength unknown. The total taken prisoners numbered 451 of all ranks. AFTERWORD JANUARY 1 Lord Kitchener, on the departure of Lord Roberts from the scene of his triumphs, had found himself confronted with a tangled skein of military affairs. The army, through loss by disease and death in the field, was a phantom of the army that was, and in consequence of the prodigious work that had been going forward, a proportionate amount of wastage and disorganisation had set in. The troops were here, there, and everywhere, just where fate had landed them after their chases of De Wet and their scurries to protect threatened posts on the lines of communication. At one point were knots of mounted men and guns in plenty, while at another there was found a mere handful of troops to maintain some important strategic position; here, remote and useless, were gathered batteries of artillery; there, where Boers threatened to pounce at any moment, a scarcely protected gun or two offered invitation to the clustering foe. In fact there had been a species of general post, and, as a natural consequence, brigades loosened from their original positions were often hovering perilously in mid-country with an uncertainty of purpose which was far from reassuring. For this reason it was but possible to act on the defensive till affairs should be righted; though Lord Kitchener's giant brain bent itself to the load, and in a comparatively short time--a little over two months--things began to get once again into working order. Reinforcements had been demanded from England, and these, together with the force of newly raised Colonials, brought the number of troops about to operate in South Africa to over 500,000 men, half of whom consisted of field artillery, cavalry, and mounted infantry. Arrangements were made on a revised principle to meet the newer form that warfare had assumed. Owing to the necessity to dot bunches of troops in every direction, the old divisional commands were broken up, and brigades, grouped under the central command of a general of division, were fixed in definite positions, each working over a special area to a point where they would overlap or get in touch with other brigades who, working again under their special divisional commander, operated in like manner within their special radius. Thus the country was divided, as in a chess-board, into squares, but still more geometrically subdivided in order that, should necessity require it, the angles forming squares could point together on emergency and form a solid concentration at any place, their action being much as that of a kaleidoscope, which at one time breaks into particles of colour, or at another groups into masses of it, at will. As may be imagined, with this possibility of diverse movement, the position of the enemy, astute and slippery as they were, was hardly enviable. For one turn of the military kaleidoscope might bring them against the hard teeth of the converging brigades, while another might find them inextricably harassed by an army in their rear. The towns were being garrisoned and stored to act as bases of supply for mounted troops scouring the country, and supply depots were so arranged as to be within two days' journey of brigades, and thus enable these, if despoiled by the Boers, to hold on till provisions from another depot should reach them. Thus a sense of security began to prevail, while a corresponding sense of doubt and diffidence influenced the conduct of the Dutchmen. Nevertheless they continued active in their attacks on trains, convoys, and isolated posts, the nature of the attacks being invariably of the nature of a surprise. The operations, though involving great loss to the troops, and retarding the settlement of the country, produced no effect on the strategical position, and the position of the British troops in the important towns occupied by them remained impregnable. Ventersdorp, a central point of the Western Transvaal, which for some months had been in the hands of the Boers, was captured by General French, with small loss to himself. The garrisons of Jagersfontein and Fauresmith being withdrawn, the inhabitants seeking protection were removed to Edenburg. Ficksburg and Senekal were in the hands of the British, but in the northern part of the Cape Colony a commando, which was supposed to be surrounded by the British, had succeeded in slipping through the cordon and escaping into the Middelburg district. They captured a small patrol of Nesbitt's Horse, and held up a train near Sherborne. Finding the town of Middelburg was held by the British, they dispersed and turned west in the direction of Hanover and Richmond, while the main body marched south, bent on a colossal loot and the recruiting of rebels. Engagements, with slight loss on either side, took place on the 1st and 2nd of January west and south of Middelburg. Meanwhile a western commando made for Carnarvon and tore on to Fraserburgh, with De Lisle and Thorneycroft's columns thundering at their heels, losing horses in the heat of their rush, and living from hand to mouth, as it were, on the country they were harassing, but still succeeding admirably in evading the skill of their pursuers. Fortunately this rolling stone of a commando gathered little moss in the form of rebels, for though they received help in stores and supplies, and the British gained no information, the number of the enemy was little augmented by the invasion. Still, there was no knowing how much more to the south the Boers would penetrate, and how many sympathisers they would enlist, and how much damage they would do, and precautions for moral and material reasons were set on foot to frustrate their machinations. Therefore the new year opened with a surprise for Cape Town in the form of the following call to arms:-- PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE, CAPE TOWN, _31st December 1900_. In view of the fact that armed forces of the enemy have invaded this Colony, and that parties of them have penetrated south of Carnarvon in one direction and south of the town of Middelburg in another, and in view of the necessity for repelling such invasion as promptly as possible, the Government of this Colony has decided to call upon the loyal inhabitants, more especially of certain districts thereof mentioned in the annexed schedule, to aid the efforts which the military forces of her Majesty are making in that direction. It is contemplated to raise a special force, to be called the Colonial Defence Force, to be utilised for the sole and exclusive purpose of repelling the present invasion, guarding railways and other lines of communication, and maintaining order and tranquillity in districts in which such measures are necessary. Volunteers are called for to give in their names with a view to enrolment in this force to the Civil Commissioner of the division in which they reside, or to any officer specially appointed for that purpose, and whose appointment has been publicly notified. Applicants should state: (_a_) Whether they can ride and shoot. (_b_) Whether they are prepared to serve as mounted men, and if so, whether they can provide their own horses, saddles, and bridles. (_c_) Whether they are prepared to serve only in their own district or in any part of the Colony, it being clearly understood that the services of this force will not be utilised anywhere outside the boundaries of this Colony. Persons whose services are accepted by the Government will receive pay at the rate of 5s. a day, with 2s. 6d. extra to those supplying their own horses, saddles, and bridles. Rations, forage, and arms will be provided. Pay of officers and non-commissioned officers in proportion. It is not expected that the term of service will be longer than three months. The force will be under military control, but officers under the rank of Major will, as far as possible, be elected by the members of the force. J. GORDON SPRIGG. SCHEDULE. _List of Districts to which this Notice is Specially Applicable._ Cape Town and Cape Division Paarl Stellenbosch Worcester Prince Albert Beaufort West Port Elizabeth Uitenhage Jansenville Aberdeen Graaf-Reinet Cradock Somerset East Bedford Fort Beaufort Albany Bathurst Victoria East Queen's Town Cathcart Stutterheim King William's Town Komgha East London Peddie Any person resident in any other district and desirous of joining the force may send in his name to the nearest Civil Commissioner. (Government Notice No. 8, 1901.) PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE, CAPE TOWN, _4th January 1901_. COLONIAL DEFENCE FORCE. With reference to the enrolment of men of the above-mentioned force, the following orders are published for general information. SYDNEY COWPER, _Secretary_. I.--ARTILLERY. An Artillery Contingent is being formed in connection with the above force of men who have already had training in Artillery Corps. Application should be made to Kitchener Anderson, Esq., late Lieutenant, P.A.O.C.A., Artillery Quarters, Drill Hall, Darling Street. II.--TOWN GUARD. Enrolment will take place for (1) Cape Town, at the Town House, Greenmarket Square, (2) Green and Sea Point, (3) Woodstock, (4) Mowbray, (5) Rondebosch, --at the respective Municipal Offices. (6) Claremont, (7) Newlands, (8) Kenilworth, (9) Wynberg, --at the Office of the Resident Magistrate, Wynberg. (10) Muizenberg and Kalk Bay, at the Municipal Office. (11) Simons Town, at the Office of the Resident Magistrate. III.--GENERAL CONDITIONS. The force raised will be organised in companies of 100 strong, under the orders of the Colonel Commanding Base. The officers will be in proportion of one subaltern to every twenty-five men, and one captain to every 100. Officers will be elected by the men. N.C.O.'s will be appointed by the captains of companies. Only one-fourth of the effective strength of the corps will be called out at a time for service, except in case of emergency. In the event of men being called out for active service, pay and allowances will be in accordance with the provisions of Government Notice No. 943, of the 31st December. Men called out for drilling purposes only will be allowed five shillings per week, conditionally on their attending not less than two drills per week, of not less than one hour's duration each. As far as possible all drills will be held outside of office hours. The character, formation, and duties of the Town Guard may be judged from the following rules, which enabled every loyal citizen to come forward for the protection of hearth and home:-- (1) Employers may enrol their own men, and obtain enrolment cards from the Town House. (2) Members of every company are empowered to elect their own officers. (3) Employers or captains of companies will be empowered to arrange their own times for drills. (4) Captains will be empowered to detail the rotation for duty. (5) In case of the Commandant finding it necessary to call out the Town Guard, he will make a levy upon all companies in equal proportions, that is to say, every company will be required to furnish an equal percentage of men. (6) Volunteers of one company will be allowed to make arrangements with another company for drill. (7) Several employers of a small number of men may join together to form a company. (8) The duties of the Town Guard will consist in guarding positions, picket and patrol duty usually undertaken by the regular forces now being withdrawn for service further afield. The area of service of the Town Guard will be the limit of the Municipality. (9) No member of the Town Guard will be employed for more than twenty-four hours at a stretch. (10) The duration of service will not exceed three months; if, as all hope will prove to be the case, the danger to the peace of the Western Province be removed earlier, the Town Guard will be disbanded before the three months have expired. These conditions applied equally to town and suburb. In response to the "call" came a spontaneous, remarkable, almost mad rush of recruits. No such scene of martial ardour had taken place since the outbreak of the war. The excitement was intense. The Drill Hall, where Colonels Girouard, R.E., and Southey, and Captain Chester-Master were presiding, became a pandemonium, every man anxious to know how best he could assist, either by his personal efforts or by allowing those in his employ to "sign on," and the streets, and clubs, and public conveyances literally buzzed with enthusiastic volunteers, who were itching to be "each of them doing his country's work." It appeared that no section of the public would consent to be left out in the cold. Streaming to the banner came numbers of prominent townsmen, among them Messrs. R. M. Maxwell, Cecil Jones, L. Cloete, J. Rawbone (Somerset West), T. Bromley, Abe Bailey, G. Kilgour, C.E., A. Myburgh, E. Field, Colonel Coates, W. Duffus, and W. G. Rattray. Mr. R. Stuart Solomon was busily engaged as recruiting officer of the Defence Force, and was beset by volunteers Colonial born, who, when asked where they would like to serve--town districts or Colony--replied unanimously, "Anywhere!" [Illustration: (Corporal). (Private). THE 2nd NORTHAMPTON REGIMENT. The Uniform, with the exception of the Badge and Buckle, is the same for the Middlesex, Lincolnshire and Devon Regiments. Photo by Gregory & Co., London.] The spirit with which the Town Guard proposition was taken up was altogether without precedent, a striking demonstration of the solidarity of sentiment in the city, and within a few days the number of those eager to come forward in defence of home and district had reached 4000. As an instance of the practical zeal of the community, it may be mentioned that the Civil Service Company of the Town Guards (under Captain Callcott Stevens, who had previously seen active service with the D.E.O.V.R. in the Basuto War) was raised in the course of an afternoon! There was little martial glory to be attained in spending dreary nights on picket work or in sentry-go, therefore the enthusiasm with which these civilians threw themselves into the drudgery of battle for duty's sake was as amazing as it was honourable. Naturally the partisans of Dutch independence looked on with dumb consternation, and in the face of this ardent multitude their hopes gradually trickled away. The force was given in charge of General Brabant, while Colonel Cooper, the Base Commandant, took control of the arrangements of the Town Guards, and put the enrolling in the hands of the Major of each municipality, thus relieving the pressure on the Drill Hall Staff. Recruiting went merrily, and soon the first drafts for the Western Province Mounted Rifles, commanded by Captain Chester-Master, were equipped and despatched to Piquetberg Road, where their mounts awaited them--and where Colonel Du Cane expressed his approval of the expedition with which the admirable corps had been despatched. These were followed by others without loss of time. The crack infantry regiment of the Colony, the Duke's, under the auspices of Colonel Goold Adams, was permitted to form a second battalion; a Cyclist Corps was raised, which included a number of well-known cyclists--Messrs. Donald Menzies, T. Denham, G. Roberts, A. M. Carroll, W. E. Tyler--with Captain J. G. Rose in command, and Lieutenants Brunton and Walker as subalterns; and the Cape Medical Staff Corps was augmented, in order that a medical company should be attached to every regiment of 800 men. Additional recruits were secured for the C. G. Artillery and the C. T. Highlanders, forces which had already distinguished themselves in the field; a Jewish Corps was originated under the direction of Mr. L. Waldman, assisted by a recruiting committee: Messrs. Harry Solomon, H. Goodman, S. Bebro, and J. H. Goldreich; while a Caledonian, a Legal, and a Cricketers' Corps were also started. Mr. Abe Bailey showed practical appreciation of the Cricketers, by giving a donation of £100 to the troop for the purpose of transport equipment, and the first troop, commanded by Lieutenant Feltham (late Protectorate Regiment)--and among whom were the well-known players: M. Bisset (sergeant), T. W. Bell, E. Yates, G. Macfarlane, J. Rushton, D. Home, C. Bartlett, E. Warren, E. Gill, H. Wrensch, C. M. Neustetel, J. Graham, K. Hunter, F. R. Brooke, L. H. Fripp, W. Reid, H. Stidolph, S. Horwood, A. Baker, W. Marshant, J. Fehrsen, R. Solomon, I. Difford, H. Reid, and L. J. Tancred--was soon under way. Arrangements for forming a second troop were in course of completion. The Volunteer Veterans' Association, by means of their Vice-President, Major J. Scott, introduced themselves to the favourable consideration of Colonel Southey; and the Scotsmen--so many were already in the field--rallied bravely round Messrs. Parker, M'Leod, Bowie, Collie, and Ramage, the energetic committee in charge of the formation of the Caledonian Corps. Colonel Warren (late Kitchener's Horse) was now appointed to the command of a regiment to be styled Warren's Mounted Infantry--and a grand reunion of veterans of Prince Alfred's Own Cape Artillery took place in order that old gunners might form a company. When it is explained that at this time 6500 South African Irregulars had already been recruited, 2500 of whom had been contributed by Cape Town, the wonderful zeal of the community may be appreciated. Indeed, space does not admit of a detailed account of the further warlike preparations, but sufficient has been said to prove that this demonstration of loyalty was unparalleled in the history of the Cape. All these exertions were due to the fact that De Wet and Botha had secretly arranged a combined system of attack which would keep our troops on tenterhooks while the Boers gathered together recruits, arms, and ammunition. Hertzog was to skirmish his way down the Colony, fan the smouldering disloyalty of Africanders, and gradually steer his course to the coast. De Wet, with more men, was to join him, and together they were to fight their way to a point of St. Helena's Bay, where a vessel bearing a fresh consignment of arms and ammunition forwarded by sympathisers in Europe, or from their own party in Holland, would be awaiting them. While they were thus carrying out their movements, Botha was to assist them by creating a diversion, and invading Natal with all the commandos at his disposal. The most important and alarming scheme--the parent scheme as it were--was De Wet's. That needed to be strangled in its birth, and to this end various complicated military movements were set on foot; firstly, to prevent Hertzog from advancing farther into British territory; secondly, to frustrate his efforts to gain recruits either by intimidation or inflated promises of success; thirdly, and chiefly, to arrest the rush to his assistance of De Wet and the concentration of the scattered commandos at any given point. So much for the arrangements to meet the parent scheme. In regard to Botha's tactics, Lord Kitchener's plans for meeting them were of that complex nature which makes for simplicity. A crescent shaped rake of troops was to work eastwards towards the low country of Piet Retief, sweeping Botha's hordes--they numbered from five to eight thousand still--before it till the Boer chief should find himself wedged against the Swaziland border, and confronted with four equally uninviting alternatives. 1st. He might elect to fly into the arms of the loyal Swazis (who cherish an old-time hatred for their hereditary oppressors); 2nd, into those of the Zulus (who may be said to be equally antagonistic to Boer ways); 3rd, he might trek north-east into regions redolent of fever, and more deadly than the most bullet-laden battlefield; or, 4th, he might surrender and come to really easy terms with conquerors who were ready and anxious to hold out to him the hand of fellowship. But to return to Scheme No. 1. At Cape Town the City Guard was armed, and musketry practice went on apace. The enrolment of the Johannesburg Mine Guard continued, and other regiments, the Western Province Horse and the Prince of Wales' Horse, were moved to strong positions, while Colonel Owen Thomas took command of a growing corps of smartly mounted men to replace troops that had worn themselves out with repeated combats with the enemy. The Marquis of Tullibardine, in command of the first regiment of Scottish Horse, prepared to take up his quarters at Johannesburg, _viâ_ Natal. In a brisk encounter by a detachment of General C. Knox's force, 120 strong, with an overwhelming herd of Boers near Lindley, the British had the misfortune to lose three officers--Lieutenant-Colonel D. T. Laing, Lieutenants S. W. King and Vonschade--and fifteen men, while two officers--Lieutenants Sampson and Perrin--and twenty men were wounded. The facts were these. On the morning of the 3rd, the Commander-in-Chief's Body-guard, under Colonel Laing, were ordered to get in touch with the town of Reitz. In so doing, they found themselves assailed by Boers to right and to left of them--Boers carefully concealed in kopjes some 600 yards distant. The colonel fell, and an effort was made to retire, but the Dutchmen placed a wedge of some 500 of their number between the bodyguard and Colonel White's column. An appalling scene ensued. The British at bay fought ferociously, determining never to surrender, while young Bateson of the gallant number charged through the mass of Boers to inform Colonel White of the desperate drama that was going forward; but in spite of this noble effort, by the time reinforcements and guns appeared on the scene, the bodyguard was surrounded. Some even then refused to cease firing, but finally the Boer general threatened to shoot every man who continued, and they were eventually made prisoners. On the 5th, General Babington drove back from Naauwpoort, a place north of Potchefstroom, the commandos of Delarey and Steenkamp, and captured a prisoner in the form of Commandant Duprez. The Dutchmen had secured an excellent and almost impregnable position in the Witwatersrand, but when the mounted infantry of Babington at Naauwpoort and Gordon at Zandfontein launched themselves at the offensive strongholds, the enemy fled to the north-west, pursued for fifteen miles by the Imperial Light Horse, who had lost heavily through their gallantry in the affair. In the neighbourhood of the Delagoa line the Boers still buzzed, and on the night of the 7th, in a dense fog, which served as a curtain to their machinations, they simultaneously crept up to all the British posts--at Belfast, Wonderfontein, Nooitgedacht, Widfontein, and Pan. The movement was most astutely managed, and not till about 4 A.M., after ferocious firing, were the swarming Dutchmen driven off and dispersed. Captain Fosbery was killed and twenty of the men, and three officers and fifty-nine men were wounded. The Boers left twenty-four of their number on the field. On the 9th, Lieutenant Spedding, with sixty dashing men of the Royal Irish Rifles, proceeded by night from Ventersburg road, surprised the enemy at the romantically named kopje, Alleen, and returned plus three prisoners, 300 horses, and a quantity of cattle. A few days later the Victorians, under Captain Umpleby, made a fine haul of sixty fat cattle near Rustenburg, but unfortunately, starvation only made the Boers more daring and more rabid in their animosity. Lord Kitchener now decided to evacuate all towns lying outside the line of communications, thus clearing the Boers' happy hunting-grounds of lootable convoys. Large camps of Boer families under British protection were formed at Brandfort and Kroonstad, and elsewhere near the railway lines. De Wet, driven hither and thither, now developed symptoms of unusual ferocity, which seemed to prove that such civilised habits as have been accredited to him owed their origin rather to the desire to obtain the respect and sympathy of Europe than to humanitarian motives. Now that intervention was out of the question, the commandant decided to "gang his ain gait," and gave rein to his bitterness. Three agents of the Peace Committee were taken as prisoners to De Wet's laager; the burghers were flogged by his orders, and a British subject, one Morgendaal, was flogged and afterwards shot. Piet De Wet endeavoured to mediate, to point out the futility of further bloodshed, and sent an appeal which was both pathetic and practical, an appeal which passed unheeded. An attack was made by night on Machadodorp, but before dawn on the 10th, the marauders had been routed, though a gallant young fellow, Lieutenant E. M. Harris, Royal Irish Fusiliers, lost his life in defending the post. At Zeerust, Durban, in the region of Krugersdorp and the stations Zuurfontein and Kaalfontein, the Boers made themselves offensive, and from all places, after brisk fighting, retired with loss. At Zuurfontein, on the 12th, owing to the enemy being clothed in kharki, they were able to deceive the sentry and capture him, but the detachments of the Lincolns under Lieutenant Cordeaux, and the detachments of the Norfolks under Lieutenant Atkinson, soon routed their assailants and shot their commandant, who was within seven yards of the trenches. While these subalterns were distinguishing themselves at Zuurfontein, another--Williams-Freeman of the Cheshires--was having a warm time at Kaalfontein; but he, with the small garrison of 120, after fighting for six hours in a blizzard from the Mausers of the foe, succeeded in driving them off without sustaining a single casualty. About this period Sir A. Milner was appointed Governor of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, retaining the High Commissionership; Sir W. Hely-Hutchinson, Governor of the Cape Colony; Sir Henry McCallum, Governor of Natal; and Major Goold Adams, Lieutenant-Governor of the Orange River Colony. The Secretary of State for War now authorised the enlistment of 5000 Imperial Yeomen to make up for the wastage which had occurred in that force at the front, and further contributions of troops were also invited from the colonies. The invitations, it is almost needless to say, were accepted with alacrity bordering on enthusiasm. A few words must now be said on what may be called the Hospitals question. In consequence of grave allegations made by Mr. Burdett-Coutts (M.P. for Westminster) regarding the treatment of the sick and wounded in South Africa, the Government, on the 5th of July, decided to appoint a small Commission of three persons, afterwards increased to five, to report on the arrangements for the care and treatment of the sick and wounded during the campaign. The Commission, which consisted of Dr. Church, President of the College of Physicians; President Cunningham, of Trinity College, Dublin; Sir David Richmond (ex-Lord Provost of Glasgow); and Mr. Harrison, General Manager of the London and North-Western Railway, with Lord Justice Romer, went to South Africa, returned late in October, and concluded taking its evidence on the 5th of November. Into the particulars of the inquiry it is impossible to enter; the sorry state of the mass of sufferers in Bloemfontein at the time of the epidemic has been described.[18] The utter impossibility of instantly remedying the evils and relieving the distress, while the bare life of the force depended on the supplies coming by train along a railway some 900 miles long, of which every bridge for the last 128 miles had been destroyed, was recognised by all who gave the matter practical thought. Still, in view of the charges made, which unrefuted, may live after those concerned have passed away and the good they have done has been "interred with their bones," it may be as well to state that after pointing out defects, &c., in the care of the sick and wounded, the commissioners came to the following conclusion:--"Reviewing the campaign as a whole," they said, "it has not been one where it can properly be said that the medical and hospital arrangements have broken down. There has been nothing in the nature of a scandal with regard to the care of the sick and wounded; no general or widespread neglect of patients, or indifference to their suffering." All witnesses of experience in other wars were, the commissioners declared, "practically unanimous in the view that, taking it all in all, in no campaign have the sick and wounded been so well looked after as they have been in this." The report of the commissioners merely corroborated the views of all experienced men. The military and medical authorities could not have anticipated that the war would attain the proportions it did, and the Royal Army Medical Corps was insufficient in staff and equipment for the magnitude of the conflict. It was so constituted that the staff could not be suddenly enlarged or deficiencies instantly rectified. The deficiency in the staff of the corps before the war was, it was pointed out, not the fault of the Director-General and the staff of officers associated with him. They had, it is said, for a considerable time before the outbreak "urged on the military authorities the necessity for an increase of the corps, but for the most part without avail." [Illustration: RETURN OF THE CITY IMPERIAL VOLUNTEERS: ARRIVAL AT ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL Drawing by Frank Dadd, R.I., and S. T. Dadd] The commissioners, while suggesting for future guidance various improvements and the correction of defects, declared in regard to the officers of the Royal Army Medical Corps that, as a whole, their "conduct and capacity deserve great praise"; while the civil surgeons as a body did their duty "extremely well." Taking in special consideration the state of affairs in hospital in Bloemfontein, respecting which most of the serious charges had been made, the commissioners, in stating where the conditions were unsatisfactory, pointed out that "there is nothing in them to justify any charge of inhumanity or of gross or wilful neglect, or of disregard for the sufferings of sick and wounded." They went on to state:-- "There were some special allegations made by certain witnesses which we ought to refer to before we leave the subject of Bloemfontein. It is said that on one occasion twenty typhoid patients were improperly removed to the Portland Hospital. We have inquired into this allegation, and as a result we have to state that in our own opinion the removal was necessary in the interests of the patients. A gruesome story of a corpse being stuffed into a lavatory was mentioned by Mr. Burdett-Coutts, M.P., but he states that he only spoke of the matter from information given to him. Inquiry has been made in all quarters to find out whether there is any foundation for this allegation. No such case can be found to have occurred, either at Bloemfontein or elsewhere in South Africa, and we are satisfied that Mr. Burdett-Coutts was misled by his informant. Some observations have also been made with reference to the dead at Bloemfontein, as if the corpses, owing to their great number, were dealt with in a hurried or neglectful way. This is not the fact. In the first place the numbers of men dying in Bloemfontein have been overstated by some witnesses. There were not fifty deaths a day, the maximum was forty, and that only for one day. Each body was buried separately and with every respect and care, and each grave was numbered, and the number and name of the dead man registered." Certain other complaints and statements were not attended to by the commissioners, who explained their silence as indicating that they regarded them as not well founded. * * * * * And now comes the most painful duty of the chronicler. In writing of the end of the war and the triumph of British arms in the cause of civilisation, it is a grievous necessity to speak of the close of a great and glorious life. Queen Victoria, to the inexpressible grief of her large family and her devoted subjects, passed away at 6.30 P.M. on the 22nd January. On Friday, the 18th, the British public was shocked to hear that their hitherto hale, though venerable, Sovereign was stricken in health. On the following day her condition was found to be grave. On Sunday the Empire lived in suspense. The members of the Royal Family were called together, the German Emperor--as the Queen's grandson, not as a reigning monarch--hurried to these shores. Monday was a day of tribulation, for all knew there was no hope, and the world figurately watched with bated breath around that august bedside where the glorious Queen, a good and gracious lady, was slowly throwing aside the weight of years and sovereignty which she had so nobly borne. On Tuesday the end came, and the Empire was plunged in gloom. Victoria, the greatest queen the world has ever known, the purest ideal of womanhood, strong of brain and gentle of heart, had breathed her last. But she left behind her an undying fame, an influence which will be felt not for one but for many generations--a light to lighten the feet of men and women of the future whether in State or home. * * * * * To return to the Cape. About the middle of the month the situation stood thus. Colonel de Lisle's column, consisting of the 6th Mounted Infantry, the New South Wales Mounted Infantry, the Irish Yeomanry, a section of R Battery Royal Horse Artillery, and a "pom-pom," arrived at Piquetsberg, to assist in routing the guerillas, who, in clusters varying from 120 to 2000 strong, were reported to be marching towards Clanwilliam, Calvinia, Worcester, Piquetsberg, and the Beaufort West district. A concerted movement against the invaders was being rapidly organised, and quantities of separate columns under General Settle, each in touch with the other and moving simultaneously, were to sweep clear the country and wipe off the Boers from the neighbourhood of Matjesfontein and Calvinia, whither Hertzog's commando had penetrated. At Matjesfontein Colonel Henniker's troops formed the centre of a semicircle, travelling left in the direction where Thorneycroft's and Bethune's forces operated, and bending coastwards were De Lisle and his nimble men who kept guard over the loopholes to the sea whence supplies might be drawn. The passes in the hills, of this the most difficult and mountainous country, were held by the Cape Town Cyclist Corps, together with the Western Province, Scottish and Welsh Horse, while the Australians patrolled around Lamberts and Bast, Clanwilliam and the coast, and took care the enemy found no means of squeezing to the left. There was little chance of a complete cessation of hostilities for a good time to come, for the Dutchmen were cunning, and having discovered that their wives and children were so humanely provided for, considered themselves free to keep the field with increased persistence. That they were not unsuccessful in their machinations was due to the fact that they carefully eluded the British troops, and were fed and cared for at the expense of the country people who kept them well informed as to the manoeuvres of their pursuers. Meanwhile Hertzog was beating up recruits and scouring districts known to be disaffected for hale and hearty bachelors who would share the life of the marauders. But martial law having been proclaimed there was no great rush to his banner, though from the attitude, laudatory and almost reverential, of the farmers towards De Wet and his exploits, it was plain that, should he succeed in eluding Knox and breaking south, he might end by fizzing comet-wise through the Colony with a trail of rebels at his heels. In the Transvaal Botha's followers, to the strength of 3000, were concentrated near Carolina, while others of the gang hovered round Johannesburg and Standerton. On the 17th, from this latter place, they were driven off with loss by Colonel Colville's mobile column, and their discomfiture was completed by the seizure by the Johannesburg Mounted Rifles of a Boer outpost near Springs. They scored, however, by capturing a train with mine materials near Balmoral, and also by damaging, on the 22nd, the electric light work near Johannesburg. Lord Methuen, meanwhile, was clearing the Boers out of Kuruman and Griqualand. On the 25th a goods train, with cattle and provisions for the far north of Kimberley, was captured at Slipklip by the marauders, who had previously captured an outpost of twenty Dublin Fusiliers. The Dutchman would have succeeded in seizing a second train which was following, but for the presence of mind of the driver of the first train, who directly he found himself pelted by bullets rolled off the engine, made a detour of several miles, and reached the line near Kimberley in time to arrest the progress of the second train. General Smith-Dorrien, marching from Wonderfontein to Carolina, came on a mass of the enemy who had been tampering with the line, and were now strongly ensconced round the river. He gave battle to them--five hours the engagement lasted--and eventually succeeded in dispersing them, but with the loss of one officer and four men killed and three officers and thirteen men wounded. He afterwards returned to Pretoria. The scattered horde, after sniping at him to the best of their ability, gathered round a train with a view to creating damage, but the driver, a smart fellow, shot down the ringleader, one Commandant Liebrant (who was tampering with the vacuum brake), with the result that his comrades fled, leaving his body behind. On the 29th the ubiquitous Knox engaged De Wet's force about forty miles north of Thabanchu. De Wet had been "loafing about" in the region between Ladybrand and Winburg, waiting, it was believed, for more of his followers (who were enjoying furlough), prior to making the grand invasion of Cape Colony. Fighting was fierce and sustained, but at last the Dutchmen made off, leaving behind them five dead Boers and three others who were taken prisoners. Our losses included Lieutenant Way, Durham Light Infantry, and one man, while among the wounded was Major Copeman, Essex Regiment. De Wet himself, with a gang of some 2500 guerillas, came into contact with Major Crewe's composite column on the 31st of January near Tabaksberg, a rectangular slab of mountain, which was held by a force five times superior to the British in number, who poured a terribly severe rifle fire on the British party. A brilliant retirement was effected in the dusk and the convoy saved, though a pom-pom, after desperate efforts to remove it, had to be abandoned. Meanwhile, disaster had overtaken us in the eastern Transvaal. On the 30th, during a storm of rain, a post at Moddersfontein was "rushed" by night by some 1400 Dutchmen with a gun and a pom-pom. A relief column sent out from Krugersdorp failed to avert the fall of the post, who had had their water supply cut off, and had no resource but to surrender. They however disabled their Maxim before so doing. The casualties were:--Two officers, Lieutenant Green, 59th Company Imperial Yeomanry, and Civil Surgeon Walker, killed; Captain Magniac, 59th Company Imperial Yeomanry, and Lieutenant Crawley, South Wales Borderers, wounded. To the south of Middelburg General Campbell's column was engaged with some 500 Boers, who were driven back with loss. Lieutenant Cawston, 18th Hussars, was dangerously wounded (since dead); Lieutenant Reade, King's Royal Rifles, severely wounded. Eighteen men were killed and wounded. Of the situation at the close of January and the beginning of February it is impossible to give more than a rough outline. Four main movements had been organised against the cliques of the enemy. Towards the east of the Transvaal, in order to make a complete clearance of the Boers from Delagoa line of communications, the following columns, each in touch with the other, had started on the 27th of January:-- General Smith-Dorrien's from Wonderfontein, General Campbell's from Middelburg, General Alderson's from Eerstefabrieken, General Knox's from Kaalfontein, Colonel Allanby's (?) from Zuurfontein, General Dartnell's from Springs, and Colonel Colville's from Greylingstad. The southern columns were commanded by General French; those sweeping from the north by General Lyttelton. In the Potchefstroom, Rand, and Krugersdorp districts, General Cunningham was operating against some 2000 of Delarey's followers, while Generals Knox, Plumer, Bruce-Hamilton, and Maxwell, with Colonels White and Pilcher and Major Crewe, were all engaged in hunting De Wet in hope of forcing him into the arms of one or other of the corps concentrated on the Orange River. This irrepressible one was marching hot-foot with a force of 3000 men south of Thabanchu, and the excitement among the various British regiments preparing to intercept his plan of crossing the Orange River was intense. The fourth movement for the clearance of Cape Colony was being developed by General Brabant and Colonel Girouard (chief of staff). These two were on the watch to prevent De Wet and his followers, two 15-pounders, a Maxim and a pom-pom (captured from Major Crewe's column while crossing the rail between Edenburg and Springfontein), from co-operating with Hertzog's band in the Cape Colony, and carrying out his threat to "give the farmers there a taste of what we ourselves have suffered through this war." The volunteers and town-guards in the districts of Oudtshoorn, Clanwilliam, Somerset East, and other parts of the Colony had exciting times, as the enemy, broken into mere marauding bands, looted and destroyed or damaged farms and property at every turn; but they bore these ills with spirit, and prepared themselves by night or day to give the aggressors a fitting reception. The marauders' tactics were everywhere the same--they lived on the country, and worked east, avoiding contact with the mounted troops, and speedily dispersing before places which offered resistance to their attacks. Ermelo was occupied by General French on the 6th, when fifty Boers surrendered. Botha and his tribe of 7000 had retired eastward, and in the dusk before dawn attacked General Smith-Dorrien at Bothwell. After fierce fighting the Dutchman was repulsed with considerable loss to himself, for General Spruit was killed and two field cornets, while General Raademeger was wounded. Many other Boers were seriously wounded, and twenty were left on the ground. Of the British party twenty-four were slain and fifty-three wounded. At Petrusburg a column brought in some 3500 horses and cattle without sustaining any casualty. More captures were made at Lillefontein, east of Vryburg; 12 waggons and 200 cattle formed the bag, and the enemy was dispersed. On the 11th, General French made a magnificent haul, a convoy being captured--50 waggons, 15 carts, and 45 prisoners--and this with the loss of one man only. [Illustration: MARKET SQUARE, JOHANNESBURG, TRANSVAAL COLONY. Photo by G. W. Wilson & Co., Aberdeen.] Indeed day after day, before French and his hard-worked warriors in the neighbourhood of Piet Retief, Botha was suffering severely, and some 5000 Dutchmen were dispersing in disorganised gangs, having lost already over 280 in killed and wounded. Of their number 183 had surrendered, while 56 were made prisoners. They had lost a 15-pounder gun, 462 rifles, 160,000 rounds of small-arm ammunition, 3600 horses, 70 mules, 3530 trek oxen, 18,700 cattle, 155,400 sheep, and 1070 waggons and carts! But this was not all. A few days later, on the 25th, came additional captures in the form of a 19-pounder Krupp gun, a howitzer, a Maxim, 20,000 rounds of small-arm ammunition, 153 rifles, 388 horses, 52 mules, 834 trek oxen, 5600 cattle, 9800 sheep, and 287 waggons and carts! Three hundred of the enemy now surrendered, while their losses in killed and wounded were about nine. No British casualties were reported. Further operations were delayed by torrents of rain, which converted the country into a swamp; but Boers surrendered daily, and Botha's whole force was now represented only by scattered bands of malcontents. The plight of the Dutchmen was equally sorry elsewhere. Lord Methuen, who was marching from Taungs to Klerksdorp with the object of clearing the Masakani Range at Haartbeestfontein, engaged De Villiers and Liebenberg with a band of 400 and defeated them, losing in the encounter 16 killed (among them 3 officers) and 34 wounded, while 18 Dutchmen bit the dust. The 10th Yeomanry, Victoria Bushmen, and the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment came out of the fray with flying colours. De Wet also, after a really magnificent venture south, was forced back to his old haunts discomfited. The tale of his audacious invasion of Cape Colony can but be outlined here. Briefly, the Dutchman with his force succeeded, despite the resistance of the troops before-mentioned, in getting across the Orange River by Zand Drift on the 11th, with a view to following in the track of Hertzog, and fulfilling the programme already described. Ever active, he sped on, made a lunge at the garrison of Philipstown on the 14th, and, after a three hours' tussle, was repulsed, and bolted (followed closely by General Plumer) in the direction of Hout Kraal. Here he arrived on the 15th, with the intention of pushing on to De Aar, but he was frustrated by the timely arrival there of Lord Kitchener, who bore down on the scene from Pretoria and made dispositions which finally forced the foe into more northerly hunting-grounds. Meanwhile, Colonel Crabbe, thundering in rear of the Dutchman, caught up his convoy, seized twenty waggons, a score of Boer tatterdemalions, a Maxim, and over 200 horses. Still De Wet continued to flee, his aim being to cross the Brak River and reach Britstown; but Nature frustrated him, for the swollen river had become impassable, and there was nothing left but to turn tail and scurry northwards and escape the hunters Knox and Plumer, who were still in full chase. Dividing his forces, De Wet steered them between the Brak River and the rail, pounding on from the keen pursuit of the converging columns as fast as floods and quagmires would permit. His sole object now was to recross the Orange River with a whole skin, and rushing breathlessly first to Read's Drift, then to Mark's Drift (near Douglas), both of which were impassable, he found himself again frustrated and forced to twist downwards--clinging ever to the river bank, with the indomitable Plumer hanging to his coat-tails. At last, near Hopetown, on the 23rd, he was overtaken by Colonel Owen, one of Plumer's lieutenants, who relieved him of fifty of his gang, some carts full of ammunition, a gun and a pom-pom. The wily one himself veered off in the direction of Petrusville with a following of some 400 men, the rest having dispersed before the avenging K.D.G.'s, Victorians, and Imperial Light Horse, according to custom, like the fragments of a bursting shell, leaving behind them steaming cooking-pots and horses ready saddled. The affair was another plume in the cap of the man who so unostentatiously had harried and fought and skirmished around Mafeking for the relief of Colonel Baden-Powell, but he had to pay for his hard work in persistently chasing and eventually turning the foe, by a spell of complete exhaustion. The pursuit was then carried forward by Colonels Henniker and Crabbe. General Plumer entrained and moved to Springfontein in order to await developments and be ready on the north of the river should De Wet succeed in evading the pursuit and in getting across. The fugitive at this time (24th) was in no enviable position. Chased by Henniker and Crabbe, worn, weary, and dropping shattered horses as he went, he found himself again within the same square hunting-ground he had left, bounded on the north by the Orange, on the south by the De Aar-to-Naauwpoort line, on the east by the line connecting Naauwpoort with Norval's Pont, on the west by that leading from De Aar up to Orange River Station. But there were now stern limitations. Coming down from Hopetown towards Petrusville he was conscious of his cramped position and of his danger, for he had fled into a ring which was growing smaller and smaller as he rushed across country for an outlet. At the back of him was a half hoop, like an incoming wave, created by the troops of Henniker and Crabbe, supported by those of Thorneycroft, who guarded the region from Krankuil to the bank of the river. Coming up from Hanover Road on the south (to prevent him doubling back) were Colonels Hickman, Haig, and Williams; and waiting for him towards the east, with his arms open as it were, was Colonel Byng, moving from Colesberg. Thus all along the line of the Zeekoe River was guarded, or supposed to be. As De Wet's luck would have it, Colonel Byng, under orders, made a temporary move to Hamilfontein, causing a gap, of which the slim Dutchman was not slow to avail himself. He tore along towards the bank of the river, found the loophole at Lilliefontein (some four miles west of Colesberg Road bridge), and was over the river like a rocket! Space does not admit of a detailed account of this exciting chase, of Captain Dallimore's prodigious haul of twenty-seven Boers by fifteen Victorians, and of the part taken by all the splendid troops, that knew no rest night nor day for over a fortnight. Disappointment was great at the loss of the quarry, but there was at least the consolation of knowing that the projected invasion was a disastrous failure from beginning to end, and the brilliant guerilla chief was crippled for a good time to come. On the 27th, a meeting took place at Middelburg between Lord Kitchener and Botha, with the object of making terms which would induce the Dutchman and his allies to surrender. A most liberal offer was made, but the Boers clamouring only for "independence," the one thing which it was impossible they could have, failed to come to terms, and after a lengthy correspondence of some weeks' duration, the proceedings fell through, and it was understood, both at home and abroad, that the enemy had decided to fight to the finish. This decision was received by many with unfeigned thanksgiving. Though all were weary of war, of the ruin and sacrifice involved, they yet preferred to suffer and endure rather than run the risk of a magnanimous compromise which would "shame the living and cheat the dead," which must assuredly be regarded by the Boers as a demonstration of weakness, and might eventually bring about a recurrence of the terrible war drama that is now drawing to a close. Patience and pluck and determination are needed--they will be required for some months to come--but the end is in view. The bold, dogged, and doughty enemy will have to learn the lesson that the British are equally bold, dogged, and doughty--that they mean not only to have, but to hold, that which they have earned by a vast expenditure of blood and treasure; to maintain the avowed policy of the British nation, to establish British suzerainty from the Cape to the Zambesi, and make South Africa "indisputably and for ever one country under one flag, with one system of Government, and that system the British." The lesson once taught, the vista will grow clear. Into the newly acquired territory will be introduced the true meaning of the word Justice; of the phrase "liberty and equality for all white men." Then, slowly--by infinitesimal degrees, perhaps--but surely, will liberty and equality develop into fraternity, and the stalwarts who, like ourselves, have passed bravely through the fiercest ordeal of Manhood, will, with us, work shoulder to shoulder to bring about an era of prosperous peace and abiding amity. LONDON, _March 1901_. FOOTNOTES: [18] See vol. iv. p. 177. BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF NOTABLE PERSONS ENGAGED IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN CAMPAIGN[19] ABBREVIATIONS K.G. Knight of the Garter. K.T. Knight of the Thistle. K.P. Knight of St. Patrick. G.C.B. Knight Grand Cross } K.C.B. Knight Commander } of the Bath. C.B. Companion } G.C.S.I. Knight Grand Commander } K.C.S.I. Knight Commander } of the Star of C.S.I. Companion } India. G.C.M.G. Knight Grand Cross } K.C.M.G. Knight Commander } of St. Michael and St. C.M.G. Companion } George. G.C.I.E. Knight Grand Commander } K.C.I.E. Knight Commander } of the Indian C.I.E. Companion } Empire. G.C.V.O. Knight Grand Cross } K.C.V.O. Knight Commander } of the Royal Victorian C.V.O. Commander } Order. M.V.O. Member 4th or 5th Class } D.S.O. Companion of the Distinguished Service Order. A.D.C. Aide-de-Camp. V.C. Victoria Cross. =Abinger= (4th Baron).--James Yorke Macgregor Scarlett. Late Captain 3rd Battalion Queen's Own (Cameron Highlanders). =Acheson= (Viscount).--Archibald Charles Montagu Brabazon, D.L. for County Armagh. Lieutenant 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards. =À Court.=--Lieut.-Col. C. À Court. Entered Rifle Brigade, 1878; Brev. Lieut.-Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--Staff Capt. (Intell.) Headquarters of Army, 1890-93; D.A.A.G. (Intell.) Headquarters of Army, 1893-95; D.A.A.G., Egypt, 1897-98; Brig.-Maj. Soudan Ex. Force, 1898; Mil. Attaché (temp.) Brussels and the Hague, 1899; D.A.A.G., S. Africa, 1899-1900. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1878 (medal with clasp); Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches, May and Sept. 1898; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.; Egyptian medal with clasp; medal); S. African War, 1899-1900; with Ladysmith Relief Force; Spion Kop (Despatches). =Airey.=--Lieut.-Col. H. P. Airey, D.S.O. This dashing officer commanded the New South Wales Imperial Bushmen. =Airlie= (8th Earl of).--David William Stanley Ogilvy, Baron Ogilvy of Airlie (_see_ vol. vi. p. 15). =Albemarle= (8th Earl of).--Arnold Allan Cecil Keppel, Baron Ashford, Viscount Bury. Colonel, C.I.V.; late Dorset Militia; late Scots Guards. =Alderson.=--Lieut.-Col. E. A. H. Alderson, Royal West Kent Regt. Entered 1878; Brev. Lieut.-Col., 1897. _Staff Service_--Spec. Serv. S. Africa, 1896-97; D.A.A.G., Aldershot, 1897-99; Comdg. Mounted Inf. Cav., 1st Brig., S. Africa, 1899. _War Service_--S. African War, 1881; Egyptian Ex., 1882 (medal with clasp; bronze star); Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (2 clasps); Op. in S. Africa, 1896 (Despatches; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.); S. African War, 1899-1900; Comdg. Corps of Mounted Inf. =Aldworth.=--Lieutenant-Colonel W. Aldworth, D.S.O. Commanding 2nd Battalion Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. For career, _see_ vol. iv. p. 60. =Alexander.=--Lieut.-Col. H. Alexander, 10th Hussars. Entered 1880; Lieut.-Col., Aug. 1900. _Staff Service_--Adjt. Yeomanry Cavalry, 1890-95. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900; twice wounded (once severely). =Alexander.=--Lieut.-Col. Hon. W. P. Alexander, Royal Scots Greys. Cor. 2nd Dragoons, 1869; Brev.-Col., July 1900. _Staff Service_--Adjt. Aux. Forces, 1884-89. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900. =Allen.=--Major-General Ralph Edward Allen, J.P., A.A.G. South African Field Force. Entered 1865; Colonel, 1896. _Staff Service_--Brigade Major, Belfast, 1884; D.A.A. and Q.M.G., South Africa, 1884-85; Brigade Major, Eastern District, 1886-87; D.A.A.G., Chatham, 1887; A.A.G., Curragh, 1896-97; A.A.G., South Africa, 1899-1900. _War Service_--Bechuanaland Expedition, 1884-85 (honourably mentioned; Brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel); South African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. Major-General Allen, born in 1846, is the son of the late Major R. Shuttleworth Allen, J.P., D.L., and the daughter of Sir Samuel Cunard, Bart. =Allin.=--Lieut.-Col. W. B. Allin, A.M.S., P.M.O., Natal Field Force; Lieut.-Col. R.A.M.C., 1893. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1878-1880 (medal); Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (Despatches, 1885; medal with clasp; bronze star; promoted Surg.-Maj.); Isazai Ex., 1892; S. African War, 1899-1900. =Appelbe.=--Col. E. B. Appelbe. Lieut.-Col., 1898. _Staff Service_--Employed with Egyptian Army, 1887-93; Ord. Officer 3rd class, 1896-98; Ord. Officer 2nd class, 1898. _War Service_--S. African War, 1879-81 (medal with clasp); Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (medal with 2 clasps; bronze star); Soudan, 1888-89 (3rd class Medjidie); S. African War, 1899-1900; Chief Ord. Officer, Lines of Communication. =Armstrong.=--Lieut.-Col. F. W. Armstrong. This officer rendered valuable service with the East Griqualand Mounted Volunteers. =Arthur.=--Sir George Compton Archibald Arthur, 3rd Battalion Herts Yeomanry Cavalry; Lieutenant, 2nd Life Guards, 1880-86. _War Service_--Egyptian Campaign, 1882; Nile Expedition, 1885. Born 1860. [Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL BARTON, C.B. Photo, Debenham & Smith, Southampton] =Ava= (Earl of).--Archibald James Leofric Temple Blackwood (late 17th Lancers), son of 1st Marquis of Dufferin and Ava. For career, see vol iii. p. 90. =Babington.=--Major-General J. M. Babington. Entered 1873; Colonel, 1896. _Staff Service_--A.A.G., Punjab, 1896-99. _War Service_--Bechuanaland Expedition, 1884-85 (Despatches); S. African War, 1899-1901; A.A.G., afterwards Commanding 1st Cavalry Brigade. =Babtie.=--Major W. Babtie, #V.C.#, C.M.G., R.A.M.C. (_See_ Recipients of the V.C.) Entered 1881. This notable medical officer, the first of the Scottish heroes to earn the V.C. in South Africa, was born in 1859, and is the son of Mr. J. Babtie, J.P., of Dumbarton. He served with distinction in India, Malta, and Crete, and was decorated for services rendered during the international occupation of that island. His action at Colenso is described elsewhere. =Bacon.=--Maj. W. Bacon. This officer rendered notable service with the Queensland Mounted Infantry. =Baden-Powell.=--Lieutenant-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell. Special Service, Mafeking. Entered 13th Hussars, 1876; Major-General, 23rd May 1900. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to G.O.C. Cape of Good Hope, 1888; A.M.S. and A.D.C. to G.O.C. Cape of Good Hope, 1888-90; A.M.S. and A.D.C. to Governor of Malta, 1890-93. Special Service, Ashanti, 1895-96; South Africa, 1899-1900. _War Service_--Operations in Zululand, 1888 (honourably mentioned); Ashanti Expedition, 1895-96 (honourably mentioned; Brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel, Star); Operations in South Africa, 1896 (Despatches; Brevet of Colonel); South African War, 1899-1900; Mafeking. Afterwards on Staff. Promoted Major-General for distinguished services in the field. The heroic defender of Mafeking is the son of the late Prof. Baden-Powell, who married the eldest daughter of Admiral W. H. Smyth, F.R.S., a descendant of the gallant Captain John Smith of Elizabethan age. Their son, Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, was born on the 22nd February 1857. He was a godson of Robert Stephenson, the celebrated engineer. He is a keen soldier, a smart scholar, a fine actor, and a born wit, and to these qualities, combined with his amazing versatility and excellent spirits, he owes his popularity and success. In 1870 he was nominated by the Duke of Marlborough for Charterhouse, where he distinguished himself not only by his mental but moral qualities, while his irrepressible spirits caused him to be looked upon as the life of the school. In addition to his other accomplishments he is a first-rate polo-player and pig-sticker, a capital shot, and an ambidextrous artist. His favourite mottoes are: "Don't flurry; patience gains the day!" and "A smile and a stick will carry you through any difficulty in the world." =Bagot.=--J. F. Bagot, J.P., D.L., M.P. for South Westmorland since 1892, County Councillor for Westmorland, Parliamentary Private Secretary to Financial Secretary to Treasury. This gallant officer (serving with Yeomanry Cavalry) retired as Captain in Grenadier Guards in 1886. Prior to that date he acted as A.D.C. to the Governor-General of Canada in 1882-83 and 1888-89. He is the eldest son of Colonel Charles Bagot, Grenadier Guards; was born in 1854, and married in 1885 to the daughter of Sir John Leslie, Bart. =Bainbridge.=--Brev.-Maj. E. G. T. Bainbridge, The Buffs. Entered 1888; Brev.-Maj., 1898. _Staff Service_--Employed with Egyptian Army, 1896-98; D.A.A.G., S. Africa, 1899-1900. _War Service_--Ex. to Dongola, 1896 (Despatches, Nov. 1896); Nile Ex., 1897 (Despatches, Jan. 1898; clasp to Egyptian medal); Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches, Sept. and Dec., 1898; Brev. of Maj.; clasp to Egyptian medal; medal); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff; Commanding Corps of Mounted Inf. =Ball.=--Maj. J. W. Ball. This officer rendered valuable service with the Queenstown Rifle Volunteers. =Banfield.=--Lieut.-Col. R. J. F. Banfield, The Welsh Regiment. Entered 1871; Lieut.-Col., 1896. _Staff Service_--D.A.A.G. for Inst. W. Dist., 1887-92. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900; Op. at Paardeberg; severely wounded, 18th Feb. 1900. =Bartlett.=--Sir Ellis Ashmead Bartlett, M.P., Lieutenant, 4th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment. Sir Ellis was born in 1849, and married in 1874 the daughter of Mr. Walsh of Philadelphia. He was M.P. for Suffolk from 1880-85, for Ecclesall Division, Sheffield, since 1885, and Civil Lord of the Admiralty from 1885-86, 1886-92. =Barton.=--Major-General G. Barton, C.B. Commanding 6th Brigade Natal Field Force. Entered 1862; Major-General, 1898. _Staff Service_--Special Service, Ashanti Expedition, 1873-74; A.D.C. to Brigadier-General, Aldershot, 1874-77; Special Service, South Africa, 1878-79; D.A.A. and Q.M.G. (commandant Foot Police); Expeditionary Force, Egypt, 1882; Assistant Military Secretary, China, 1884-85; Assistant Military Secretary to Lieutenant-General, Expeditionary Force, Suakim, 1885; A.A.G. Thames District, 1895-97, North-West District, 1897-98; Major-General Infantry Brigade, South Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Ashanti, 1873-74, wounded (Despatches; medal with clasp; promoted Captain); South African War, 1879 (Despatches; medal with clasp; Brevet of Major); Egyptian Expedition, 1882 (Despatches; medal with clasp; bronze star; Brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel, 4th class, Osmanieh); Soudan Expedition, 1885 (clasp); South African War, 1899-1900; on Staff; wounded February 27, 1900. =Basing= (2nd Baron).--George Limbrey Sclater-Booth. Entered 1st Dragoons, 1882; Major 1898. _War Service_--S. African War (Despatches). Lord Basing was born in 1860, and married, in 1889, the daughter of Mr. John Hargreaves, Maiden Erleigh, Berks, and Whalley Abbey, Lancs. =Bayly.=--Lieut.-Col. A. W. L. Bayly, D.S.O., I.S.C. Entered 108th Foot, 1874; Lieut.-Col., June 1900. _Staff Service_--D.A.A. and Q.M.G. Burmese Ex., 1886-87; D.A.Q.M.G. Dist. Staff Officer, 2nd class; D.A.A.G., Bombay, 1887-92; A.A.G., India, 1896; D.A.A.G., S. Africa, March 1900. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1879-80 (medal with clasp); Soudan Ex., 1885 (medal with clasp; bronze star); Burmese Ex., 1886-87 (Despatches, Sept. 1887; medal with 2 clasps; D.S.O.); S. African War, with Ladysmith Relief Force; wounded 24th Jan. =Beale.=--Col. Beale. This officer rendered valuable service with the Rhodesian Regt., British S. Africa Company. =Bearcroft.=--Capt. J. Bearcroft, Royal Navy. Entered R.N. 1864; Capt., 1895. _War Service_--Commanded _Philomel_, and landed in command of Naval Brigade, S. African War, 1899-1900; C.B., Oct. 1900. =Beckett.=--Colonel C. E. Beckett, C.B., 3rd Hussars. Entered 1869; Colonel, 1898. _Staff Service_--D.A.A. and Q.M.G., Egypt, 1882; Brigadier-Major Cavalry Brigade, Egypt, 1882-83; Assistant Military Secretary to G.O.C. Forces, Ireland, 1886-88; D.A.A.G., Headquarters, Ireland, 1888-91; Assistant-Inspector General of Ordnance, Headquarters of Army, 1898-99; A.A.G., Natal, 1899; A.Q.M.G., Headquarters of Army, 1900. _War Service_--Egyptian Expedition, 1882 (Despatches; medal with clasp; bronze star; Brevet of Major, 4th class Medjidie); Soudan, 1884-85 (clasp); South African War, Dundee, severely wounded. =Belcher.=--Maj. R. Belcher acted as second in command of the splendid corps known as Strathcona's Horse. See vol. iii. p. 147. =Belfield.=--Col. H. E. Belfield. Entered 1876; Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--Brig.-Maj., Aldershot, 1890-93; D.A.A.G. (and also for Inst.), Aldershot, 1893-95; Spec. Serv., Ashanti, 1895-96; A.A.G., S. Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Ashanti Ex., 1895-96 (hon. mentioned; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.; star); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Bell-Irving.=--Lieut.-Col. A. Bell-Irving, R.A. Entered 1875; Lieut.-Col., 1900. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1878-80 (Despatches; medal with clasp); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Benson.=--Colonel F. W. Benson. Joined 21st Hussars, 1869; Colonel, 1898. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Lieutenant-Governor North-West Provinces, India, 1877; employed with Egyptian Army, 1893-94; D.A.A.G. for Inst., Dublin, 1895-98; A.A.G. South-East District, 1898-99; Special Service, South Africa, 1899-1900; A.A.G. South Africa, 1900. _War Service_--Fenian Raid, Canada (medal with clasp); South African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Bentinck.=--Lord Charles Cavendish Cavendish Bentinck, Lieutenant 9th Lancers. Special Service, S. Africa, 1900. =Bentinck.=--Lord Henry Cavendish Bentinck, M.P., Yeomanry Cavalry. Lord Henry, born in 1863, is the son of General Bentinck. He married in 1892 Lady Olivia, daughter of the late Earl of Bective. =Bethell.=--Lieut.-Col. E. H. Bethell, R.E. Entered 1873; Lieut.-Col., Jan. 1900. _Staff Service_--Brig.-Maj. Royal Engineers, Headquarters, Ireland, 1890-95; Staff Off. Royal Engineers, S. Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1878-80 (Despatches; medal). S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Bethune.=--Lieutenant-Colonel E. C. Bethune. Entered 1875; Lieutenant-Colonel, 1900. _Staff Service_--Garrison Instructor, D.A.A.G., Madras, 1887-94; D.A.A.G., India, 1898-99; A.A.G., India, 1899; D.A.A.G., South Africa, 1899; Special Service, South Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1878-80 (medal with clasp); South African War, 1881; South African War, 1900; on Staff; raised and commanded Bethune's Mounted Infantry. =Bewicke-Copley.=--Lieut.-Col. R. C. A. B. Bewicke-Copley, 3rd Batt. King's Royal Rifle Corps. Entered 1876; Lieut.-Col., March 1900. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Lieut.-Gov., Bengal, 1880; D.A.A.G., Barbadoes, 1890-92; Headquarters, Ireland, 1892-95; A.M.S. and A.D.C. to Lieut.-Gen., India, 1896-98. _War Service_--Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (medal with clasp; bronze star); Op. in Chitral, 1895 (medal with clasp); N.W. Frontier of India, 1897-98 (Despatches; Feb. 1898; 2 clasps); Tirah, 1897-98 (Despatches; April 1900; clasp); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Bingham.=--Maj. Hon. C. E. Bingham, 1st Life Guards, A.D.C. Entered 3rd Hussars 1882; Major, 1st Life Guards, 1898. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Maj.-Gen. Cav. Brig., S. Africa, 1899-1900; A.D.C. to Lieut.-Gen. Cav. Brig., S. Africa, Feb. 1900; D.A.A.G., S. Africa, May 1900. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Blagrove.=--Colonel H. J. Blagrove. Commanding 13th Hussars. Entered 13th Hussars 1875; Brevet-Colonel, July 1900. _Staff Service_--Staff Captain Remount Establishment, 1887-92. _War Service_--Egyptian Expedition, 1882 (medal with clasp; bronze star); South African War, 1899-1900. =Blomfield.=--Lieutenant-Colonel C. J. Blomfield, D.S.O. Commanding 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers. Entered 1875; Lieutenant-Colonel, 1898. _Staff Service_--Adjutant, Auxiliary Forces, 1884-89; D.A.A.G., Bombay, 1892-97; A.A.G., India, 1897. _War Service_--Nile Expedition, 1898 (Despatches; D.S.O. Egyptian medal with clasp; medal); South African War, 1899-1900. Colonel Blomfield, born in 1855, is the son of the late Rev. G. Blomfield and the daughter of the late Bishop of London. He married the daughter of the late Major E. Bristoe. The gallant Colonel, whose splendid regiment distinguished itself at Spion Kop, had the misfortune to be taken prisoner on that occasion (see vol. iii. p. 111). =Bodle.=--Lieut.-Col. Bodle. This officer rendered valuable service with the British S. Africa Police. =Bowles.=--Lieut.-Col. H. Bowles, Yorkshire Regt. Entered 1876; Brev. Lieut.-Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--Staff Capt., Egypt, 1884-85; D.A.A., and Q.M.G., Egypt, 1885-86. _War Service_--Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (Despatches; Brev. of Maj.); Op. on N.W. Frontier of India (Despatches; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.; medal with 2 clasps); S. African War, 1899-1900 (Despatches, May 1900); Paardeberg, wounded. =Boyes.=--Major-General T. E. Boyes. Commanding 17th Brigade. Entered 1861; Major-General, 1899. _Staff Service_--Brigade-Major, Straits Settlements, 1869-70; Major-General Infantry, Aldershot, January 1900 to March 1900; South Africa, March 1900. _War Service_--Egyptian Expedition, 1882-84; (Despatches; medal with clasp; bronze star; Brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel, 4th class Osmanieh); Soudan (2 clasps); Soudan Expedition, 1884-85 (clasp); South African War, 1900. =Brabant.=--Brigadier-General E. Y. Brabant, M.L.D., C.M.G. (Brabant's Horse). Entered 2nd Derby Militia, 1855; joined Cape Mounted Rifles, 1856, and retired in 1870. Commandant of Colonial Forces, 1878; C.M.G., 1880; Commanding Colonial Division in South Africa, 1900. [Illustration: MAJ.-GEN. BRABAZON _Photo by H. W. Barrett, London_] =Brabazon.=--Major-General J. P. Brabazon, C.B., A.D.C. to the Queen. Commanding Imperial Yeomanry, South Africa. Entered 1862; Colonel, January 1899. _Staff Service_--Acting as Volunteer with rank of Captain, Ashanti Expedition, 1873-74; A.D.C. (extra to Viceroy of India), 1877-79; Brigade-Major, Afghan Campaign, 1870-80; A.D.C. to the Queen, 1889; Colonel on Staff; Commanding Cavalry Brigade, South-East District, 1899; Major-General, Cavalry Brigade, South Africa, 1899-1900. _War Service_--Ashanti, 1874 (medal with clasp); Afghan War 1878-80 (Despatches; March, November, 1879; January, May, December, 1880; Medal with 4 clasps; bronze star; Brevet of Major); Egyptian Expedition, 1884 (Despatches; medal with clasp; bronze star; Brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel); Soudan, 1884-85 (clasp); South African War, 1899-1900 (Despatches). General Brabazon, born in 1843, is the son of the late Major Brabazon (late 15th Hussars), and the daughter of the late Sir W. H. Palmer, Bart. =Bradley.=--Lieut.-Col. C. E. Bradley, North Stafford Regiment. Entered 1874; Lieut-Col., 1899. _War Service_--Op. in Zululand, 1888; S. African War, 1890-1900. =Brassey.=--Captain Hon. T. Allnutt Brassey, B.A., J.P., West Kent Yeomanry Cavalry. Captain Brassey is the son of the 1st Baron Brassey and the daughter of 1st Marquis of Abergavenny. =Bridge.=--Col. C. H. Bridge, C.B., A.S.C. Brev.-Col., 1898. _Staff Service_--D.A.Q.M.G., Headquarters of Army, 1888-91; D.A.A.G., S. Africa, 1896-97; E. Dist., 1897-99; D.A.G. for Transport, S. Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex., 1882 (medal; bronze star); Op. in S. Africa, 1896 (Despatches; C.B.); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. [Illustration: BRIG.-GEN. ROBERT GEORGE BROADWOOD _Photo by T. Fall, London_] =Broadwood.=--Brigadier-General R. G. Broadwood. Entered 12th Lancers 1881; Brevet of Colonel, 1898. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to G.O.C. Belfast District, 1892; employed with Egyptian Army, 1892-99; Brigadier-General, Cavalry Brigade, South Africa, February 1900. _War Service_--Expedition to Dongola, 1896 (Despatches; Brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel; Egyptian medal with 2 clasps; medal); Nile Expedition, 1897 (2 clasps to Egyptian medal, 4th class Osmanieh); Nile Expedition, 1898 (Despatches, May and September 1898; Brevet of Colonel; 2 clasps to Egyptian medal; medal); South African War, 1899-1900. =Brocklehurst.=--Major-General J. F. Brocklehurst, M.V.O. Commanding 13th Cavalry Brigade. Entered 1874; Colonel, 1899. _Staff Service_--D.A.A. and Q.M.G., Egypt, 1884-85; Equerry to the Queen, 1899; Major-General, Cavalry Brigade, Natal, 1899. _War Service_--Egyptian Expedition, 1882 (medal with clasp; bronze star); Soudan Expedition, 1884-85 (Despatches; clasp; Brevet of Major); South African War, 1899-1900. =Bromley Davenport.=--W. J. P. Bromley Davenport, M.P., Yeomanry Cavalry. Born 1863. Son of late Lieutenant-Colonel W. Bromley Davenport, M.P. =Brooke.=--Col. L. G. Brooke, 1st Batt. Connaught Rangers. Entered 1869; Brev.-Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--Adjt. Aux. Forces, 1881-86. _War Service_--S. African War, 1879; Ulundi, slightly wounded (Despatches; medal with clasp); S. African War, 1899-1900; Ladysmith Relief Force; Colenso, dangerously wounded. =Brooke.=--Captain R. G. Brooke, D.S.O., A.D.C. to Sir George White. Entered 1885; Captain, 7th Hussars, 1896. _War Service_--Operations in Chitral, 1895 (Despatches; medal with clasp); Operations on North-Western Frontier of India, 1897-98 (2 clasps); Nile Expedition, 1898 (Despatches, May and September 1898; D.S.O. Egyptian medal with 2 clasps); South African War, 1899-1900; Elandslaagte, severely wounded. Captain Brooke is the son of Sir Victor Brooke and the daughter of Sir Alan Bellingham. =Browne.=--Maj. R. S. Browne. This officer rendered valuable service with the Queensland Mounted Infantry. =Bryan.=--Major Hon. G. L. Bryan, Imperial Yeomanry. This officer, born in 1857, is a son of the 3rd Baron Bellew. He spent some years in the 10th Hussars, and served in the Nile Expedition. =Buchan.=--Lieut.-Col. L. Buchan. This officer served with distinction with the Royal Canadian Regiment of Infantry. =Buchanan-Riddell.=--Lieut.-Col. R. G. Buchanan-Riddell, 3rd Batt. King's Royal Rifle Corps. For particulars see vol. iii. p. 111. =Buller.=--General Sir Redvers Henry Buller, #V.C.#, P.C., G.C.B., K.C.M.G. Commander-in-Chief of Forces, Natal. Entered 1858; Colonel, 1879; General, 1896. _Staff Service_--D.A.A.G., Ashanti Expedition, 1873-74; D.A.A.G., Headquarters of Army, 1874-78; Special Service, Cape of Good Hope, 1878-79; A.D.C. to the Queen, 1879-84; A.A. and Q.M.G., North Britain; Aldershot, 1880-81; D.A. and Q.M.G., South Africa, 1881; Brigadier-General, South Africa, 1881; D.A. and Q.M.G., Intelligence Department, Expeditionary Force, Egypt, 1882; A.A.G., Headquarters of Army, 1883-84; Major-General (Chief of Staff), Egypt, 1884-85; D.A.G. to the Forces, Headquarters of Army, 1885-86; Special Service, 1886-87; Q.M.G. to the Forces, Headquarters of Army, 1887-90; Adjutant-General to the Forces, Headquarters of Army, 1890-97; Lieutenant-General commanding troops, Aldershot, 1898-99; General Commanding-in-Chief, South Africa, October 1899 to January 1900; General Officer Commanding Natal, January 1900. _War Service_--China War, 1860 (medal with clasp); Red River Expedition, 1870; Ashanti, 1873-74; wounded (Despatches, November 1873, March 1874; medal with clasp; Brevet of Major; C.B.); South African War, 1878-79 (thanked in General Orders; Despatches, 11th, 18th June 1878; 5th, 15th, 28th March; 7th May, 21st August 1879; medal with clasp; Brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel; A.D.C. to Queen; #V.C.#, C.M.G.); Egyptian Campaign, 1882-84 (Despatches; medal with clasp; bronze star, 3rd class Osmanieh; K.C.M.G.); Soudan, 1884 (Despatches, March, April, May, 1884; 2 clasps; promoted Major-General for distinguished service); Soudan, 1884-85 (Despatches, March, August, 1885; clasp; K.C.B.); South African War, 1899-1900. Sir Redvers Buller, born in 1839, is the son of the late Mr. J. W. Buller and the daughter of the late Lord H. M. Howard. He married in 1882 the daughter of the 4th Marquis Townshend and widow of the Hon. G. T. Howard. The General's character has been much discussed, and it is universally allowed that for pluck, obstinacy, and bluntness he cannot find his match. The deeds that won him the Victoria Cross are now world-famous (_see_ vol. i. p. 60), but the public is less acquainted with the story of his gallantry at El-Teb, and the way he saved the situation at the desperate little battle of Tamai. Of this Mr. Charles Lowe, in his interesting book of "Our Greatest Living Soldiers," says: "Buller's square, composed of the 'Gay Gordons,' the Royal Irish, and the 60th Rifles, amongst the ranks of whom he had first won his spurs, had been assailed in the same furious manner as that of Davis, but had blown away all opposition to its advance, about five hundred yards on the right rear of its fellow-brigade, to whose support it now moved up, steady and machine-like, as if on parade. Encouraged by the splendid steadfastness of Buller's embattled men, Davis's disrupted square was quick to rally, and then the two brigades began to rain such an infernal fire of bullets on their savage foe that the latter were forced to break, and the day was won." Of his obstinacy an amusing anecdote is told. While he and Lord Charles Beresford were serving together in Egypt, an argument arose as to the direction to be taken by the river steamer. Each doggedly defended his own opinion, but finally, on gaining the day, Sir Redvers triumphed. "I was right after all!" he cried, when his programme had been fulfilled. "And so was I," replied Lord Charles. "I merely recommended the other because I knew you would go against anything I said!" =Bullock.=--Lieut.-Col. G. M. Bullock, 2nd Batt. Devonshire Regt. Entered 1872; Lieut.-Col., 1897. _Staff Service_--Brig. Maj. S.E. Dist., 1882-87; Station Staff Off., 1st class, Bengal, 1889-91; D.A.A.G., Bengal, 1891-94. War Service--S. African War, 1899-1900; with Ladysmith Relief Force; Action at Colenso (Despatches); wounded. =Burdett-Coutts.=--W. Ashmead Bartlett Burdett-Coutts, J.P., M.P. This gentleman, whose dissatisfaction with the hospital arrangements in South Africa caused considerable stir in the country, acted as Correspondent of the _Times_. Mr. Burdett-Coutts, born in America in 1851, is mainly notable in consequence of his marriage with the Baroness Burdett-Coutts, one of the most benevolent and esteemed ladies of the Victorian Era. =Burger.=--Schalk Burger, the reported "Acting President" of the Transvaal, _vice_ Mr. Kruger, was born at Lydenburg in the year in which the Sand River Convention was signed. His grandfather, one of the original Voortrekkers, had the distinction of having the price of £300 set on his head by the British Government, in consequence of his share in a Natal rebellion. His grandson is more of a politician than a soldier. Enlightened and shrewd, but--progressive though he was inclined to be--he could never have rivalled Mr. Kruger in his influence over his countrymen. =Burnham.=--F. R. Burnham. This marvellous Canadian scout and tracker was invited by Lord Roberts to join his Staff. He was formerly a cow-boy, and has had unlimited experience of warfare. His hairbreadth 'scapes would form the nucleus of a library of adventure. His services have been invaluable. =Burn-Murdoch.=--Brigadier-General J. F. Burn-Murdoch, J.P. Entered 1878; Brevet-Colonel, 1st Dragoons, 1898. _Staff Service_--Brigade-Major of Cavalry, 1890-91; Brigade-Major Cavalry Brigade, Aldershot, 1891-94; employed with Egyptian Army, 1894-95; Brigadier-General Cavalry Brigade, South Africa, February 1900. _War Service_--Soudan Expedition, 1884-85 (medal with clasps; bronze star); Expedition to Dongola, 1896 (Despatches, Brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel, Egyptian Medal with 2 clasps); South African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. Colonel Burn-Murdoch, born 1859, is the son of the Rev. Canon Burn-Murdoch. =Buston.=--Lieut.-Col. P. T. Buston, R.E. Entered 1872; Lieut.-Col., 1899. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1878-79-80 (Despatches; medal with 2 clasps); Hazara Ex., 1888 (Despatches; medal with clasp; Brev. of Maj.); Hazara Ex., 1891 (Despatches; clasp); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Butcher.=--Lieut.-Col. G. J. Butcher, Army Ordnance Dept. Entered 1880; Lieut.-Col., 1900. _Staff Service_--Dep.-Assist. Com. Gen. Ord. Store Dept., 1885-95; Assist. Com. Gen. Ord. Store Dept., 1895-96; Ord. Off., 3rd class, 1896-1900; Ord. Off., 2nd class, April 1900. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900. =Byng.=--Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon. J. Hedworth G. Byng, 10th Hussars. Entered 1883; Colonel, 1898. _Staff Service_--D.A.A.G., Aldershot, 1897-99; Provost-Marshal, South Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Egyptian Expedition, 1884 (medal with clasp; bronze star); South African War, 1899-1900, Commanding South African Light Horse. Colonel Byng, born 1862, is a son of the 2nd Earl of Strafford. =Byron.=--Lieutenant-Colonel J. J. Byron, Royal Australian Artillery. A.D.C. to Lord Roberts. Wounded at Majesfontein. =Cameron.=--Maj. C. Cameron. Maj. Cameron served with distinction with the Tasmanian Mounted Infantry. =Campbell.=--Major-General B. B. D. Campbell, M.V.O. Commanding 16th Brigade. Entered 1864; Major-General, 1898. _War Service_--Egyptian Expedition, 1882; (medal with clasp; bronze star); South African War, 1899-1900. =Campbell.=--Lieut.-Col. W. P. Campbell, 2nd Batt. King's Royal Rifle Corps. Entered 1875; Lieut.-Col., Jan. 1900. _Staff Service_--Adjt. Volunteers, 1889-94; Dist. Insp. of Musk., N.W. Dist., 1896-98. _War Service_--Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (medal with 2 clasps; bronze star); S. African War, 1899-1900; wounded. =Capper.=--Lieut.-Col. J. E. Capper, R.E. Entered 1880; Major, 1899. _Staff Service_--Dep. Assist. Dir. of Rlys., S. Africa, 1899. War Service--Op. on N.W. Frontier of India, 1898 (medal with clasp); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff; Commanding Railway Pioneer Regt. =Carleton.=--Capt. F. M. Carleton, D.S.O., Royal Lancs. Regt., A.D.C. Entered 1888; Capt. W. African Regt., 1898. _Staff Service_--Employed with Egyptian Army, 1896-97; A.D.C. to Maj.-Gen. Inf. Brig., S. Africa, 1899-1900. _War Service_--Ex. to Dongola, 1896 (Despatches); Nile Ex., 1897 (medal); Op. in Sierra Leone, 1898-99 (Despatches; D.S.O.; medal with clasp); S. African War, 1899-1900; Ladysmith Relief Force; Spion Kop, slightly wounded. =Carr.=--Lieut.-Col. E. E. Carr, 2nd Batt. Royal Scots Fusiliers. Entered 1873; Lieut.-Col., 1898. _Staff Service_--Adjt. Aux. Forces, 1885-90; Dist. Insp. of Musk., N.E. Dist., 1893-96. War Service--Op. on N.W. Frontier of India, 1897-98 (medal with 2 clasps); S. African War, 1899-1900; Ladysmith Relief Force; severely wounded, 27th Feb. =Carrington.=--Major-General Sir Frederick Carrington, K.C.M.G., K.C.B., 1897. Entered the 24th Foot as Ensign. Promoted Lieutenant 1867. Commanded Mounted Infantry in the Griqualand Expedition, 1875; and "Carrington's" Horse in the Kaffir War, 1877-81 (Despatches); Commandant of the Transvaal and Volunteer Force (Despatches; Brevet of Major and Lieutenant-Colonel, also C.M.G.); Commanded Cape Mounted Rifles in Basutoland Campaign, 1880-81; promoted to Colonel; Commanded 2nd Mounted Rifles, Bechuanaland Expedition, 1884; promoted Major-General 1893. Commanded Native Levies in the operations in Zululand, 1888. Commanded Infantry Brigade at Gibraltar, 1895. Sir Frederick is the son of Mr. E. Carrington, and was born in 1844. He married the daughter of Mr. Elmes, Colesbourne. =Carter.=--Lieut.-Col. H. M. Carter, Wilts Regiment. Entered 1868; Lieut.-Col., 1898. _Staff Service_--D.A.A.G., Bengal, 1879-81. War Service--Afghan War, 1879 (medal); S. African War, 1899-1900; severely wounded. =Carter.=--Lieut.-Col. S. H. Carter. Lieut.-Col. R.A.M.C., Sept. 1894. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1878-80 (medal with clasp); Egyptian Ex., 1882 (medal with clasp; bronze star); Op. on N.W. Frontier of India, 1897-98 (medal with 2 clasps); S. African War, 1899-1900; Sen. Med. Officer Inf. Div., Natal Field Force. =Carthew-Yorstoun.=--Lieut.-Col. A. M. Carthew-Yorstoun, The Black Watch. Entered 1875; Lieut.-Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--Adjt. Volunteers, 1890-95. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900; Paardeberg; wounded. =Castletown of Upper Ossory= (2nd Baron).--B. E. Barnaby Fitzpatrick, B.A., Lieutenant-Colonel 4th Leinster Regiment. Retired from the army in 1875. South African War Special Service Officer, including Service under Base Commandant, Cape Town; afterwards A.A.G. =Cecil.=--Major Lord E. H. Cecil, D.S.O. Entered 1887; Brevet-Major, 1898. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to G.O.C. Forces, Ireland, 1891-92; Special Service, Egypt, 1896; employed with Egyptian Army, 1898; South Africa, 1899; A.A.G. South Africa, 1900. _War Service_--Expedition to Dongola, 1896 (Despatches; 4th class Medjidie, Egyptian medal with 2 clasps; Brevet of Major); Nile Expedition, 1898 (Despatches, May and Sept. 1898; D.S.O.); South African War, 1899-1900. Lord Edward Cecil, whose splendid ability and services in Mafeking have made him world famous, is a son of the Marquis of Salisbury. He was born in 1867. He married the daughter of Admiral Maxse. Lord Edward's tact, patience, and good sense smoothed over many a perilous situation. =Chamberlain.=--Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, J.P., M.P., Secretary of State for Colonies, 1895, M.P. for Birmingham, 1876-85, and thrice Mayor; President of Board of Trade, 1880-85; President of Local Government Board, 1886. Mr. Chamberlain, the foremost man in the drama of the Transvaal, the originator of the great Colonial movement which has made a united family of the Empire, began life as an advanced Radical. On the principle that extremes meet, he became at last the chief of the Tory Cabinet. That he is well hated as he is well loved, is the natural consequence of his staunchness in friendship as in antagonism. He has iron nerves, iron will, and an iron constitution with which to wield them. He has supreme confidence in himself, and thus maintains a youthful and cheery optimism even in the face of the vilest abuse which the members of his sometime party take a delight in hurling at him. Mr. Chamberlain, who was born in 1836, has been thrice married: first, to the daughter of Mr. A. Kenrick (mother of Mr. T. Austen Chamberlain, Civil Lord of the Admiralty, M.P.); second, to the daughter of Mr. T. Kenrick; third, to the daughter of Mr. W. Endicott, Secretary for War, U.S., late Judge Supreme Court, U.S., New York, 1888. =Chamberlain.=--Col. N. F. Fitzgerald, I.S.C. Entered 11th Foot 1873; Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Lieut.-Gen., Afghan Campaign, 1878; A.D.C. to Com.-in-Chief, Madras, 1881-85; Persian Interpreter to Com.-in-Chief in India, 1885-89 (D.A.A. and Q.M.G., Burmese Ex., 1886-87); Col. on Staff, India, 1899; Priv. Sec. to Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief the Forces, S. Africa, 1899-1900. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1878-80, wounded (Despatches, Feb., Jan., May, 1880; medal with 4 clasps; bronze star); Burmese Ex., 1886-87 (Despatches; medal with clasp; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Chauncey.=--Maj. H. Chauncey. This officer rendered valuable service with Lumsden's Horse. =Chauvel.=--Maj. H. G. Chauvel. This officer distinguished himself with the 1st Contingent of the Queensland Mounted Infantry. =Cheatle.=--G. L. Cheatle, F.R.C.S.; Prizeman in Surgery, King's Coll.; Assist.-Surg. W. Lond. Hosp. and King's Coll. Hosp.; Teacher of Practical Surgery, King's Coll.; late House Surg. and Assist. House Surg., King's Coll. Hosp.; Demonstrator of Surgery and Assistant Demonstrator of Anatomy, King's Coll. Mr. Cheatle rendered service of incalculable value at a time of abnormal pressure on the Army Med. Dept. =Chermside.=--Major-General Sir H. C. Chermside, G.C.M.G., C.B. Commanding Third Division on the departure of General Gatacre. Entered 1870; Major-General, 1898. _Staff Service_--Vice-Consul, Anatolia, 1879-82; D.A.A.G. and Q.M.G., Egypt, 1882-83; A.A. and Q.M.G., Egypt, 1884; Governor-General, Red Sea Littoral, 1884-86; Consul, Koordistan, 1888-89; Military Attaché, Constantinople, 1889-96; Commissioner, Crete, Colonel on Staff, Crete, 1896-99; Major-General, Curragh, 1899; Major-General Infantry Brigade, South Africa, 1899-1900; Lieutenant-General Infantry Division, April 1900. _War Service_--Military Attaché with Turkish troops, Russo-Turkish War, 1876-78 (Turkish medal); Egyptian Expedition, 1882-84 (medal, bronze star, clasp); Soudan Expedition, 1885 (Despatches; clasp, Brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel); Soudan, 1887 (Brevet of Colonel); South African War, 1899-1900. =Chesham= (3rd Baron).--C. C. W. Cavendish, J.P., D.L., Honorary Colonel Bucks Yeomanry Cavalry. Commanding Brigade Imperial Yeomanry. Entered Coldstream Guards 1870. Lord Chesham, born 1850, retired as Captain from the 16th Lancers in 1879. He married a daughter of the Duke of Westminster. =Cheyne.=--Watson Cheyne, M.B., F.R.S., Consulting Surgeon. This notable man of science rendered valuable advice and assistance to the medical officers, and worked incessantly to promote the comfort and save the lives of sick and wounded. =Chichester.=--Capt. Sir E. Chichester, Bart., Royal Navy, C.M.G. Entered Navy 1863; Capt., 1889. _War Service_--Lieut. of _Thalia_ during war in Egypt, 1882; Principal Transport Officer, 1884-85; served on various committees connected with North Sea fisheries; commanded _Immortalité_ in China during Spanish and American War; A.D.C. to Queen, 1899; S. African War, 1899-1900; Naval Transport Officer at Cape Town. =Chiene.=--J. Chiene, M.D., F.R.C.S., F.R.S. (Edin.), Prof. of Surg. Edin. Univ. since 1882; Member of the Royal Med. and Surg. Soc., Edin.; Hon. Fellow Surg. Association, America; Educated Edin. and Paris; late President of Roy. Med. Soc., Edin. Rendered valuable service at a time of extreme pressure on the Army Med. Dept. =Cholmondeley.=--Lieut.-Col. H. C. Cholmondeley, London Rifle Brig., City of London Imperial Volunteers Mounted Inf. Lieut.-Col., Aug. 1889 (late Capt. Rifle Brig.). _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900 (Despatches). =Churchill.=--W. L. Spencer Churchill, M.P., War Correspondent to _Morning Post_, afterwards joined South African Light Horse. Entered the army 1895; retired 1898. This well-known young soldier, writer, and politician is a son of the late Lord Randolph Churchill. Though he was but three years in the army, he contrived to see more service than many officers have done in their whole lives. With the Spanish forces in Cuba, with the Malakand Field Force, with the Tirah Expeditionary Force, with the Nile Expeditionary Force, he was always in the forefront, fighting and writing, until the authorities determined to disassociate the two occupations, whereupon Mr. Churchill exchanged the sword for the pen, and decided to fight for the cause of Imperialism in the House of Commons. =Clarke.=--Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Marshall Clarke, K.C.M.G., late R.A. Resident Commissioner in Southern Rhodesia. Sir Marshall, who retired from the army in 1882, has had considerable experience--both civil and military--of South Africa. He served in the first Boer War of 1881-82 (Despatches), and commanded the Turkish regiment of Egyptian Gendarmerie in 1882 (Order of Medjidie, 3rd class). Before the Boer War, he had acted as Resident Magistrate at Pietermaritzburg, as A.D.C. to Sir Theophilus Shepstone, as Special Commissioner, South Africa, and as Political Officer and Special Commissioner, Lydenburg. Later on he became Commissioner of Cape Police, then Resident Commissioner in Basutoland, and from 1893 to 1898 was Acting Administrator in Zululand. =Clarke.=--Colonel R. F. Noel Clarke. _War Service_--Soudan Expedition, 1884-85 (medal with clasp; bronze star); South African War, 1899-1900, Chief Ordnance Officer. =Clements.=--Major-General R. A. P. Clements, D.S.O. Commanding 12th Brigade; A.D.C. to the Queen. Entered 1874; Colonel, 1899. _Staff Service_--Brigade-Major, Burmese Expedition, 1885; Assistant Provost-Marshal, Burmese Expedition, 1885-86; A.D.C. to Queen, 1896; Major-General Infantry Brigade, Aldershot, 1899; Major-General Infantry Brigade, South Africa, 1899. _War Service_--South African War, 1877-78-79; (Despatches; medal with clasp); Burmese Expedition, 1885-89, severely and slightly wounded (Despatches; medal with 2 clasps; Brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel); South African War, 1899-1900; (Despatches). =Clery.=--Lieutenant-General C. Francis Clery, K.C.B. Entered 1858; Major-General, 1894. _Staff Service_--Instructor Royal Military College, 1871-72; Professor, Tactics, 1872-75; D.A.A. and Q.M.G., Headquarters, Ireland, 1875-77; D.A.A. and Q.M.G., Aldershot, 1877-78; Special Service, Cape of Good Hope, 1878-79; Brigade-Major, Expeditionary Force, Egypt, 1882; A.A. and Q.M.G., Egypt; D.A. and Q.M.G., Egypt, 1882-85; Brigade-General Chief of Staff, Egypt, 1886-87; Command Staff College, 1888-93; Major-General, Infantry Brigade, Aldershot, 1895-96; D.A.G. to the Forces, Headquarters of Army, 1896-99; Lieutenant-General, Infantry Division, South Africa, 1899. _War Service_--South African War, 1879 (Despatches, March and August 1879; medal with clasp; Brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel); Egyptian Expedition, 1884 (Despatches, March and May 1884; medal with 2 clasps; bronze star; promoted Colonel, C.B.); Soudan Expedition, 1884-85 (clasp); South African War, 1899-1900. General Clery, who is renowned in the class-room as in the field, was born in 1838. In the art of war he has long been the recognised authority, and his "Clery on Tactics," has passed through several editions, and become a text-book in Germany, Russia, America, and Italy. In addition to this work, his influence has made itself felt at the War Office on behalf of the British soldier, to whom he has always been a sincere and practical friend. He is popular in all ranks of society, save perhaps with the Cadets at examination times! =Clery.=--Col. J. A. Clery, M.B. Col. R.A.M.C., 1899; Principal Medical Officer of the Lines of Communication. _War Service_--Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (medal with clasp; bronze star); Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches; Egyptian medal; medal); S. African War, 1899-1900 (Despatches). =Clowes.=--Lieut.-Col. P. L. Clowes, 8th Hussars. Entered 1875; Lieut.-Col., 1897. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Com.-in-Chief, Bombay, 1890-91. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1879-80 (medal); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Cochrane.=--Hon. T. H. A. E. Cochrane, D.L., J.P., M.P., late of 93rd Highlanders and Scots Guards, is a son of the 11th Earl of Dundonald. He married the daughter of the 6th Earl of Glasgow. =Coke.=--Major-General J. Talbot Coke. Entered 1859; Colonel, 1898. _Staff Service_--Adjutant, Auxiliary Forces, 1875-81; A.A.G., Headquarters Ireland, 1891-94; Curragh, 1894-96; A.A.G., Aldershot, 1896; D.A.G., Aldershot, 1896-98; Colonel on Staff, Mauritius, 1898-99; Major-General Infantry Brigade, South Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Fenian Raid, Canada, 1866 (medal); Soudan, 1888 (Despatches; medal with clasp; bronze star; 3rd class Medjidie); Operations on Nile, 1889; South African War, 1899-1900; Ladysmith Relief Force. =Colleton.=--Lieut.-Col. Sir R. A. W. Colleton, Royal Welsh Fusiliers. Entered 1874; Lieut.-Col., May 1900. _Staff Service_--Adjt. Nagpur R.V.C., 1885-86; D.A.A.G. (Musk.) Bengal, 1886-91. _War Service_--Hazara, 1891 (Despatches); Op. on N.W. Frontier of India, 1897-98 (medal with 2 clasps); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Colvile.=--Major-General Sir H. E. Colvile, K.C.M.G., C.B. Commanding Ninth Division till June 1900. Entered 1870; Major-General, 1898. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to G.O.C. Cape of Good Hope, 1880-83; D.A.A. and Q.M.G., Nile Expedition, 1884-85; A.A. and Q.M.G., Egypt, 1885-98; employed, Uganda Protectorate, 1893-95; Major-General Infantry Brigade, Gibraltar, 1899; Major-General Infantry Brigade, South Africa; Lieutenant-General Infantry Brigade, South Africa, 1899-1900; Major-General, Gibraltar. _War Service_--Egyptian Expedition, 1884 (Despatches, March and May 1884; medal with clasp; bronze star); Soudan Expedition, 1884-85 (Despatches; clasp; C.B.); Soudan, 1885-86 (Despatches; promoted Colonel); Unyora Expedition, 1894 (medal; C.M.G.); South African War, 1899-1900; Kimberley Relief Force (Despatches, January and March 1900). General Colvile, like many keen soldiers and honourable men before him, has discovered that South Africa is "the grave of reputations." Nevertheless, it must not be forgotten, that even in the present war his services during the long and trying time prior to the relief of Kimberley, and the capture of Cronje, were notable, though perhaps his most distinguished service was rendered in the Soudan in 1885 with the Frontier Field Force. Sir H. Colvile was born in 1852, and is the son of the late Colonel C. R. Colvile of Lullington and the daughter of the 23rd Baroness de Clifford of Kirkby Hall. He married, firstly, the daughter of the Hon. R. Daly, and after her death was united in 1886 to the daughter of M. de Préville, Château des Mondraus, Basses Pyrénées. =Colville.=--Lieut.-Col. A. E. W. Colville, 1st Batt. Rifle Brigade. Entered 1875; Lieut.-Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--D.A.A.G. for Inst., Curragh Dist., 1891-96; Comdt. Naauwpoort, S. Africa, 22nd Jan. 1900 to 10th Feb. 1900. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1878-79 (medal); Mahsood Wuzeeree Ex., 1881; Op. on N.W. Frontier of India, 1897 (medal with clasp); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Compton.=--Lord Alwyne F. Compton, M.P., Bedfordshire Yeomanry (Compton's Horse). This officer, born in 1855, is a son of the Marquis of Northampton and the daughter of the late Hon. Sir G. Elliot, K.C.B. He served both in the Grenadier Guards and the 10th Hussars, and was present in the Soudan Campaign of 1884-85. =Congreve.=--Captain W. R. Congreve, Rifle Brigade. Entered 1885; Captain, 1893. _See_ list of V.C.'s. =Coningham.=--Lieutenant-Colonel C. Coningham. For career of this gallant officer, who was mortally wounded at Rensburg, _see_ vol. iv. p. 166. =Cooke.=--Lieut.-Col. E. Cooke. Entered 1876; Lieut.-Col., Scottish Rifles, 1899. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900. =Cooper.=--Maj.-Gen. C. D. Cooper. Entered 103rd Foot 1868; Brev.-Col., Royal Dublin Fusiliers, 1899. _Staff Service_--Adjt. Aux. Forces, 1884-89; Maj.-Gen. Inf. Brig., S. Africa, March 1900. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Cooper.=--Colonel Harry Cooper. Entered 1865; Colonel, 1896. _Staff Service_--Special Service, Ashanti Expedition, 1873-74; Vice-Consul in Bosnia, 1877-78; D.A.A. and Q.M.G., Headquarters, Ireland, 1878-79; Vice-Consul, Asia Minor, 1879-80; D.A.A. and Q.M.G. Headquarters, Ireland, 1882-84; A.D.C. to Viceroy, India, 1884-88; D.A.A.G., Jamaica, 1892-93; D.A.A.G., Dublin, 1893-95; A.A.G. Egypt, 1896-99; A.D.C. to the Queen, 1898; A.A.G., Western District, 1899; Colonel on Staff, Commandant Base, South Africa, April 1900. _War Service_--Ashanti War, 1874 (medal); South African War, 1881-82; Burmese Expedition, 1886 (medal with clasp); Expedition to Dongola, 1896 (Egyptian medal; medal); South African War, 1899-1900. =Cowan.=--Colonel H. V. Cowan. Entered R.A. 1873; Lieutenant-Colonel, 1899. _Staff Service_--Brigade-Major, R.A., Woolwich, 1897-99; Assistant-Military Secretary to G.O.C. the Forces, Ireland, 1899; Assistant-Military Secretary to Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief the Forces, South Africa, 1899-1900; Military Secretary to Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief the Forces, South Africa, February 1900. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1878-79-80 (Despatches; medal with 3 clasps); Egyptian Expedition, 1882; severely wounded at Tel-el-Kebir (Despatches; medal with clasp; bronze star; 5th class Medjidie; Brevet of Major); South African War, 1900. =Cowley= (3rd Earl).--H. A. Mornington, J.P., Imperial Yeomanry. Lord Cowley, born in 1866, was Captain in the 3rd Battalion Wiltshire Regiment. He succeeded his father in 1895. The first Lord Cowley was the brother of the 1st Duke of Wellington. =Coxhead.=--Lieut.-Col. J. A. Coxhead, R.A. Entered 1872; Lieut.-Col., 1898. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Capt.-Gen. and Gov.-in-Chief, Jamaica, 1883-87. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900; Comdg. Brig. Div. R.A., Elandslaagte and Reitfontein; Siege of Ladysmith, slightly wounded. =Cradock.=--Maj. M. Cradock. This dashing officer commanded the 2nd Contingent of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles. =Cranborne.=--Viscount, J. E. H. G. Cecil, Q.C., M.A., M.P., Hon. Colonel, 1st Volunteer Battalion Essex Regiment. Lord Cranborne, born in 1861, is the eldest son of the 3rd Marquis of Salisbury. He married the daughter of the 5th Earl of Arran. =Crawley.=--Col. Crawley, 8th Batt. Imperial Yeomanry. This officer with his corps performed excellent service at the action at Faber's Put. =Crichton.=--Viscount H. W. Crichton, Royal Horse Guards. Lord Crichton, born in 1872, is the eldest son of the 4th Earl of Erne. He has been acting as A.D.C. to General Brocklehurst. =Cronje.=--Pietrus Arnoldus Cronje. The Commandant of the Boer Army to whom the Jameson Raiders surrendered at Doornkop. He was responsible for withholding from Colonel Winslow, at the Siege of Potchefstroom in 1881, the fact that an armistice existed, thereby causing unnecessary anguish and distress. In spite of his tricks and tyrannies, he has shown himself a first-class fighter, and a remarkable leader of men. He profoundly detests the British, but the British, while returning the compliment, have a generous appreciation of his abilities. =Cuming.=--Lieut.-Col. H. B. Cuming. This officer rendered valuable service with the Kaffrarian Rifles. [Illustration: H.H. PRINCE CHRISTIAN Photo, Russell & Sons, Windsor] =Cunningham.=--Brigadier-General Glencairn Cunningham, D.S.O., Derbyshire Regiment. Entered 1881; Brevet-Colonel, 1900. _Staff Service_--Employed with Egyptian Army, 1886-94; Civil employment, Uganda, 1891-96; Special Extra Regimental Employ, 1896-97; Brig.-General, Mounted Infantry Brigade, South Africa, 1900. _War Service_--Egyptian Expedition, 1882; twice wounded (Despatches, September, November, 1882; medal; bronze star; 5th class Medjidie; Brevet of Major); Soudan Expedition, 1884-85 (clasp); Soudan, 1887-89; wounded (Despatches; clasp); Unyaro Expedition, 1895; wounded (Despatches; medal); Nandi Expedition, 1895-96 (Despatches, D.S.O.); Operations on the Niger, 1897 (Despatches; Brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel; medal with clasp); Operations in Sierra Leone, 1898-99 (Despatches; Brevet of Colonel; clasp); South African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Cunyngham.=--Lieutenant-Colonel W. H. Dick-Cunyngham, #V.C.# Commanding 2nd Battalion Gordon Highlanders till 6th January 1900 (see vol. iii. p. 89). =Cure.=--Major H. Capel Cure, D.S.O. 1st Battalion Gloucester Regiment. Entered 1878; Major, 1895. _Staff Service_--Special Service, Burmese Expedition, 1887-88. _War Service_--Burmese Expedition, 1886-87 (Despatches; medal with clasp, D.S.O.); South African War, 1899-1900. =Curran.=--Lieut.-Col. A. E. R. Curran, 1st Batt. Manchester Regt. Entered 1872; Lieut.-Col., 1898. _Staff Service_--Adjt. Aux. Forces, 1884-99. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900; Elandslaagte, wounded. [Illustration: LIEUT.-COLONEL DALGETY _Photo by Healey, Queenstown, S.A._] =Dalgety.=--Lieut.-Col. E. H. Dalgety, The gallant defender of Wepener. _See_ vol. v. p. 54. =Dalrymple-Hamilton.=--Lieut.-Col. Hon. N. de C. Dalrymple-Hamilton, Scots Guards. Entered 1871; Lieut.-Col., March 1900. _Staff Service_--Brig.-Maj. Home Dist., 1883-85; Brig.-Maj. Guards Brigade Ex. Force, Suakin, 1885; Brig.-Maj. Home Dist., 1890; A.D.C. to G.O.C., S. Dist., 1891-93; A.D.C. to G.O.C., Aldershot, 1893-94. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex. (medal with clasp; bronze star; 5th class Medjidie); Soudan Ex. 1885, wounded (clasp); S. African War, 1899-1900; with Kimberley Relief Force; Belmont, seriously wounded. =Dalrymple-Hay.=--Brev. Lieut.-Col. J. R. M. Dalrymple-Hay, West India Regt., Comdt. at Volksrust. Entered 21st Foot 1879; Brev. Lieut.-Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--Garr. Adjt., Cape Coast Castle, 1889-90; Adjt. Volunteers 1891-96; Special Service, S. Africa. _War Service_--S. African War, 1881 (Despatches); W. Africa, 1897-98 (Despatches; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.); Op. in Sierra Leone, 1898-99 (medal with clasp); S. African War, 1899-1900; Special Service Officer; afterwards Station Comdt. and Dist. Commissioner. =Dalzell.=--Lieut.-Col. Hon. A. E. Dalzell, 1st Batt. Oxfordshire Light Infantry. Entered 12th Foot 1870; Lieut.-Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to G.O.C. Brig., Malta, 1884-85; Insp. of Gymnasia, Bengal and Punjab, 1892-96. _War Service_--Burma, 1889-92; S. African War, 1899-1900. =Dartnell.=--Colonel J. G. D. Dartnell, C.M.G. Colonel commanding Natal Volunteers and Mounted Police (_see_ vol. iii. p. 167). Entered 1855; Retired 1864. This gallant officer, born in 1838, was severely wounded while serving with the Central India Field Force in 1857 (medal and clasp; Brevet-Major). He acted as A.D.C. to General Tombs in the Bhootan Expedition, and served at Isandhlwana under Lord Chelmsford. =Davidson.=--Lieut.-Col. W. L. Davidson, R.H.A. Entered 1869; Col., 1900. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. (extra) to Com.-in-Chief in India, 1875-76; A.D.C. to Gov. and Com.-in-Chief, Gibraltar, 1881-82; Col. on Staff for R.A., S. Africa, April 1900. _War Service_--S. African War, 1879; Ulundi, slightly wounded (Despatches; medal with clasp); Afghan War, 1880 (medal); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Davies.=--Maj. R. H. Davies. Major Davies rendered excellent service with the 4th Contingent New Zealand Mounted Rifles. =Dawson.=--Lieut.-Col. H. L. Dawson, 9th Bengal Lancers. Entered 2nd Foot 1873; Lieut.-Col. I.S.C., 1899. _War Service_--Soudan Ex., 1885 (medal with clasp; bronze star); Op. in Chitral, 1895 (medal with clasp); Tirah, 1897-98 (2 clasps); S. African War, 1899-1900; Commanding Mounted Inf. Corps. =De la Warr= (8th Earl).--G. T. R. Sackville, D.L., J.P. Lord de la Warr, born 1869, is the second son of the 7th Earl and the daughter of the 1st Lord Lamington. He married the daughter of Lord Brassey. He joined Bethune's Horse, and was present at the unlucky affair near Vryheid (_see_ vol. v. p. 177). =De Lisle.=--Lieutenant-Colonel H. de B. de Lisle, D.S.O., Durham Light Infantry. Entered 1883; Captain (Adjutant, Durham Light Infantry, 1892-96). _War Service_--Soudan, 1885-86 (Despatches; medal; D.S.O.); South African War, 1899-1900, severely wounded; Commanding Mounted Infantry Corps (Despatches). This dashing officer, who has made himself remarkable for his talent in the field during this war, has long been associated with polo, and sport of all kinds. He was born in 1864, and is the son of the late Mr. R. de Lisle, Guernsey. =De Montmorency.=--Hon. R. H. de Montmorency, #V.C.# For distinguished career _see_ vol. iv. p. 167. =Denison.=--Major S. J. A. Denison, The Royal Canadian Regt. of Infantry. This officer performed valuable service as A.D.C. to the Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief. =Denman= (3rd Baron).--T. Denman. Lord Denman, who was formerly in the Royal Scots, served with the Imperial Yeomanry. =De Villiers.=--Right Hon. Sir John Henry de Villiers, K.C.M.G. Chief-Justice, Cape of Good Hope. =Dewar.=--Lieut.-Col. G. Dewar, Army Pay Dept. Entered 1880; Lieut.-Col., 1898. _War Service_--S. African War, 1879 (medal with clasp); Soudan, 1885-86 (medal; bronze star); S. African War, 1899-1900. =De Wet.=--Sir Jacobus Albertus de Wet, K.C.M.G. Formerly Member of Legislative Council of Cape Colony, and then British Agent in the Transvaal. =De Wet.=--Christian de Wet, Commandant of Boer Forces. This brilliant Dutchman, who clasped about him the mantle of Cronje, was said to have been a butcher at Barberton, and a potato dealer in Johannesburg. Whatever his past, he certainly missed his vocation, for he is undoubtedly a born warrior and keen sportsman. Though he can scarcely be described as a great general, he may be called a bold and cunning Guerilla chief; a man whose powerful and dominating personality is endowed with both the magnetism and the passion of a leader. He displays withal a sense of soldierly chivalry, and has striven to contend against the treacherous and cruel instincts of his rude followers.[20] =Dickson.=--Major-General J. B. B. Dickson, C.B., commanding 4th Cavalry Brigade. Entered 1860; Colonel (Staff employ), 1897. _Staff Service_--Special Service, Cape of Good Hope, 1879; D.A.A. and Q.M.G. Nile Expedition, 1884-85; Colonel on Staff (commanding Cavalry Brigade), Eastern District, 1897-99; Colonel on Staff, Straits Settlements, 1899-1900; Major-General, Cavalry Brigade, South Africa, February 1900. _War Service_--South African War, 1879 (Despatches; medal with clasp); Soudan Expedition, 1884-85, severely wounded (medal with 2 clasps; bronze star); South African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Dickson-Poynder= (6th Bart.).--Captain Sir J. Poynder Dickson-Poynder, J.P., M.P. (Wilts Yeomanry), born in 1866, was formerly in the 3rd Battalion Royal Scots. =Donald.=--Lieut.-Col. C. G. Donald. Entered 1874; Lieut.-Col. Royal Fusiliers, 1898. Staff Service--A.D.C. to Maj.-Gen., Madras, May 1883 to Dec. 1884, and Dec. 1884 to Jan. 1886. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1878-79 (medal); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Donne.=--Lieut.-Col. B. D. A. Donne, Royal Sussex Regiment. Entered 1875; Lieut.-Col., 1898. _Staff Service_--Employed with Egyptian Army, 1883-93. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex., 1882 (medal; bronze star); Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (clasp); Soudan, 1888-89 (Despatches; clasp; Brev. of Major); Actions of Arghiri and Toski (Despatches; clasp; 3rd class Medjidie); Tirah, 1897-98 (medal with 2 clasps); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Donovan.=--Lieutenant-Colonel W. Donovan, R.A.M.C. Principal Medical Officer Staff, Cavalry Division. Entered 1872; Lieutenant-Colonel, 1896. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1879-80 (medal); Boer War, 1881; Chitral Relief Force, 1895 (Despatches; medal with clasp). =Douglas.=--Major-General C. W. H. Douglas. Commanding 9th Brigade. Entered 1869; Colonel, 1898. _Staff Service_--Special Service Expeditionary Force, Suakim, 1885; D.A.A. and Q.M.G., Egypt, 1885; Adjutant Volunteers, 1886-91; Brigade-Major, Aldershot, and D.A.A.G., 1893-98; A.A.G., Aldershot, 1898-99; A.D.C. to the Queen, 1898; A.A.G., South Africa, 1899-1900; Major-General Infantry Brigade, South Africa, 1900. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1878-80 (Despatches, July and December 1880; medal with 3 clasps; bronze star; Brevet of Major); South African War, 1881; Soudan Expedition, 1884-85 (Despatches; medal with clasp; bronze star); South African War, 1899-1900; Kimberley Relief Force (Despatches). =Douglas.=--Lieut.-Col. W. Douglas, Royal Scots. Entered 1st Foot, 1878; Major, 1895. _Staff Service_--Adjt. Militia, 1888-93. War Service--Bechuanaland Ex., 1884-85; S. African War, 1899-1900; Comdt. De Wet's Dorp. =Douglas-Pennant.=--Hon. E. Sholto Douglas-Pennant, M.P., J.P., D.L., was born in 1864, and married in 1887 to the daughter of Lord Southampton. From 1885 to 1891 he served in the 1st Life Guards. =Downe= (8th Viscount).--Colonel Sir Hugh R. Dawnay, C.I.E., M.A., Bart. Entered 1865; Colonel, 1897. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Major-General Cavalry Brigade, Cape of Good Hope, 1879-82; A.D.C. to Major-General, Bengal, 1883-85; A.D.C. to Commander-in-Chief, 1892-95; Colonel on Staff Commanding Cavalry Brigade, Curragh, 1897-99; A.D.C. to Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief the Forces, South Africa, 1899; Staff Officer for Military Attachés, February to July 1900. _War Service_--South African War, 1879 (Despatches; medal with clasp; Brevet of Major); South African War, 1899-1900. =Downing.=--Maj.-Gen. C. M. H. Downing, R.A. Entered 1866; Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--Chief Inst. Sch. of Gunnery, 1897-99; Col. on Staff for R.A., Natal, 1899; Col. on Staff for R.A., S. Africa, 1899-1900; Maj.-Gen. for R.A., S. Africa, March 1900. _War Service_--Abyssinian Ex., 1867-68 (medal); Afghan War, 1878-79 (medal); S. African War, 1899-1900; Ladysmith; O.C. Corps Artillery; afterwards O.C. R.A. =Drury.=--Col. C. W. Drury, A.D.C. This notable officer commanded the Royal Canadian Artillery. =Dudley= (2nd Earl).--W. Humble Ward, Major Worcester Yeomanry Cavalry. _War Service_--South African War, 1899-1900; D.A.A.G. Imperial Yeomanry. =Duff.=--Colonel Beauchamp Duff, C.I.E. Entered, Royal Artillery, 1874; Major, Indian Staff Corps, 1894; Colonel, 1898. Staff Service--D.A.A.G., Bengal, 1891-95; Military Secretary to Commander-in-Chief, India, 1895-99; Assistant Military Secretary for Indian Affairs; Headquarters of Army, 1899; Assistant Military Secretary to Lieutenant-General of Natal, 1899-1900; A.A.G. South African War, 1900. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1878-80 (medal); Isazai Expedition, 1892; Waziristan Expedition, 1894-95 (Despatches, June and July 1895; medal with clasp; Brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel); South African War, 1899-1900. =Dundonald= (12th Earl).--Major-General Douglas Mackinnon Baillie Hamilton Cochrane, Bart., M.V.O. Entered, 2nd Life Guards, 1870; Colonel, 1889. _Staff Service_--Colonel on Staff Irregular Mounted Brigade, South Africa, 1899-1900; Major-General Cavalry Brigade, South Africa, March 1900. _War Service_--Soudan Expedition, 1884-85 (Despatches; medal with 2 clasps; bronze star; Brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel); South African War, 1899-1900. Lord Dundonald, who took so prominent a part in the relief of Ladysmith and the subsequent sweeping of Natal and the Eastern Transvaal, was born in 1852. He is the son of the 11th Earl and the daughter of the late Mr. W. A. Mackinnon, of Mackinnon, M.P. He comes of a fine fighting race, the 10th Earl (Lord Cochrane) having distinguished himself not only in destroying Napoleon's fleet in 1809, but subsequently during the wars for the independence of Chili and Peru, and in Brazil. His kinsman promises to make as great a mark in history. =Earle.=--Major Sir H. Earle, Bart., D.S.O. Entered 1876; Major, York. Light Infantry, 1894. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Brigadier-General, Expeditionary Force, Egypt, 1882; Adjutant, Volunteers, 1891-96. _War Service_--Jowaki Expedition, 1877 (medal with clasp); Afghan War, 1878-79-80 (medal); Egyptian Expedition, 1882 (medal with clasp; bronze star; 5th class Medjidie); Burmese Expedition, 1886-89 (Despatches; 2 clasps, D.S.O.); Operations on North-West Frontier of India, severely wounded (medal with 2 clasps); South African War, 1899-1900, severely wounded (Despatches). =Eddy.=--Maj. Eddy. This gallant officer, who did splendid service with the Victorian Mounted Rifles, was killed in action. =Edge.=--Lieutenant-Colonel J. D. Edge, R.A.M.C. Principal Medical Officer, Staff, Third Division. Entered 1871; Lieutenant-Colonel, 1896. _War Service_--Engagement Orange Walk, B. Honduras, 1872 (Promoted Staff Surgeon); South African War, 1879 (medal with clasp); Afghan War, 1879-80 (thanked by Government of India; medal with clasp); Egyptian Expedition, 1882 (medal with clasp; bronze star; 4th class Osmanieh); Burmese Expedition, 1887-89 (medal with 2 clasps); South African War, 1899-1900, Stormberg. =Edwards.=--Lieut.-Col. A. H. M. Edwards (5th Dragoon Guards), Commanding Imperial Light Horse. Entered 1883; Major, 1897. _Staff Service_--A.A.G., S. Africa, May 1900. _War Service_--Hazara Ex., 1888 (Despatches); S. African War, 1899-1900; Ladysmith, wounded 6th Jan. =Elliot.=--C. Bletterman Elliott LL.B., C.M.G. General Manager of Cape Government Railways. =Elliot.=--Maj. Sir Henry George Elliot, K.C.M.G., created 1899; Chief Magistrate, Tembuland, Cape of Good Hope. Born 1826; son of the late Maj. J. F. Elliot. Married, first, 1865, a daughter of Mr. J. Drummond; second, 1879, a daughter of Mr. W. Gardner. Entered the Army, Royal Marines, 1841; retired (Major), 1870; served in the Crimea, 1854-55, including Sebastopol and Balaclava (Despatches; medal with clasp; Turkish medal; 5th class Medjidie); S. Africa, 1877-78 (C.M.G.). =Eloff.=--Grandson of President Kruger. This young man, some years ago, made himself obnoxious in consequence of his disrespectful reference to her Majesty the Queen. He would otherwise have earned the esteem of even his enemies for the enterprise of his assault on Mafeking (_see_ vol. v. p. 109). =Ennismore= (Viscount).--R. Granville Hare. Captain 4th Battalion Royal Munster Fusiliers. Lord Ennismore, born 1866, is the son of the 3rd Earl of Listowel, and was formerly in the 1st Life Guards. =Erasmus.=--Boer Commandant, son of the sometime Acting President of the South African Republic. =Erroll.=--(19th Earl of).--Brigadier-General Charles Gore, LL.D., D.L. Entered R.H.G., 1869; Colonel, 1898. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Commander-in-Chief; A.A.G., under I.G. of Cavalry, 1898-99; Special Service, South Africa, 1899-1900; A.A.G., South Africa. January, 1900; March 1900; Brigadier-General, Imperial Yeomanry Brigade, South Africa, March, 1900. _War Service_--South African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Escombe.=--Right Hon. Harry Escombe, P.C., LL.D. Commandant of Naval Natal Volunteers, and late Prime Minister and Attorney-General of Natal. Sir Harry Escombe, who died at the close of 1899, was intimately associated with affairs connected with Natal, and universally esteemed. =Essex= (7th Earl of).--G. Devereux de Vere Capell, J.P. Lord Essex was formerly in the Grenadier Guards. He retired in 1882, but instantly offered his services when the need for them arose. =Eustace.=--Lieut.-Col. F. J. W. Eustace, R.H.A. Entered 1870; Col., Feb. 1900. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Lieut.-Gen. Comg. Afghan Campaign, 1880; A.D.C. (prov.) to Com.-in-Chief, E. Indies, 1881-82; A.D.C. to Com.-in-Chief, E. Indies, 1883-84; A.A.G., S. Africa, Feb. 1900. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1878-79 (medal); S. African War, 1899-1900 (Despatches, May 1900). =Evans.=--Lieut.-Col. E. S. Evans, Royal Munster Fusiliers. Entered 1874; Lieut.-Col., 1896. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900. =Evans.=--Maj. R. W. Evans. Commanded Natal Mounted Rifles, Ladysmith. =Evans.=--Lieut.-Col. T. D. B. Evans. This dashing officer rendered valuable service with the Royal Canadian Dragoons. =Ewart.=--Lieut.-Col. J. S. Ewart, Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, A.A.G. Entered 1881; Brev. Lieut.-Col., 1898. _Staff Service_--Garr. Adjt., Egypt, 1885-86; A.D.C. to G.O.C. Scottish Dist., 1893-94; A.M.S. to Gov. and Com.-in-Chief, Malta, 1894-98; D.A.A.G., W. Dist., 1898-99; Special Service, Natal, 1899; Brig. Maj. Inf. Brig., S. Africa, 1899-1900; A.A.G., S. Africa, Feb. 1900. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex., 1882 (medal with clasp; bronze star); Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (clasp); Soudan, 1885-86 (Despatches; 5th class Medjidie); Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.; Egyptian medal with clasp; medal); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Exham.=--Colonel R. Exham, R.A.M.C., P.M.O., Natal Field Force. Entered 1871; Colonel, 1899. =Fairholme.=--Major W. E. Fairholme, C.M.G., R.A. Entered 1879; Major, 1897. _Staff Service_--Staff Captain (Intelligence), Headquarters of Army, 1893-94; D.A.A.G. (Intelligence), Headquarters of Army, 1894-98; employed with Turco-Greek Boundary Commission, 1898; Assistant-Commissioner, Crete, 1898-99; Special Service, South Africa, 1899-1900; A.A.G., South Africa, 1899-1900; Assistant-Military Secretary to Governor and Commander-in-Chief, Gibraltar, July 1900. _War Service_--South African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Festing.=--Major A. H. Festing, D.S.O. (Royal Irish Rifles). Entered 1888; Brevet-Major, 1898. _Staff Service_--Special Extra Regimental Employ, 1895-98; employed with West African Frontier Force, 1898-1900; Special Service, Rhodesian Field Force, 1900. _War Service_--Operations on Niger, 1896-97 (Despatches; medal with clasp; Brevet of Major); West Africa, 1896-97-98 (Despatches, D.S.O.); South African War, 1899-1900. =Fetherstonhaugh.=--Major-General R. S. R. Fetherstonhaugh. Entered 1867; Colonel, August 1900. _Staff Service_--Station Commandant, South Africa, 1899; Infantry Brigade, South Africa, Nov. 1899, Feb. 1900; Major-General, Infantry Brigade, Aldershot, August 1900. _War Service_--South African War, 1879; Soudan Expedition, 1885 (Despatches; medal with 2 clasps; bronze star; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.); S. African War, 1899-1900, wounded Belmont (Despatches). =Fiaschi.=--Maj. J. H. Fiaschi, New South Wales Medical Staff Corps. This officer has made himself notable for the zeal and skill with which his humane duties were carried out, and the efficient condition in which he kept the ambulance under his command. =Fincastle= (Viscount).--A. E. Murray, #V.C.#, Captain 16th Lancers. Entered 1891; Captain, 1899. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Viceroy, India, 1895 and 1897; Special Service, Egypt, 1896; A.D.C. to Lieutenant-General, Infantry Division, South Africa, April 1900; _War Service_--Operations on North-West Frontier of India, 1897-98 (Despatches; November 1897, January and April 1898, #V.C.#); Dongola Expedition, 1896 (medal); South African War, 1899-1900. This notable officer, born 1871, is the eldest son of the 7th Earl of Dunmore. =Finlayson.=--Lieut.-Col. R. A. Finlayson. This officer commanded with distinction the Kimberley Regiment, composed of the Diamond Fields Horse and Kaffrarian Rifles. =Fisher.=--Lieut.-Col. R. B. W. Fisher, 10th Hussars. Entered 1874; Brev.-Col., Aug. 1900. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1878-79-80 (Despatches, May and Dec. 1880; medal with 3 clasps; bronze star); Mahsood Wuzeeree Ex., 1881 (Despatches); S. African War, 1899-1900 (Despatches, May 1900). =Fitton.=--Major H. G. Fitton, D.S.O. Entered Royal Berks Regiment 1884; Brevet-Major, 1898. _Staff Service_--Employed with Egyptian Army, 1894-99; D.A.A.G., South Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Soudan Expedition, 1885; Suakim (medal with clasp; bronze star); Soudan, 1885-86; Expedition to Dongola, 1896, wounded (Despatches; D.S.O.; Egyptian medal with 2 clasps); Nile Expedition, 1897 (Despatches; 4th class Medjidie; clasp to Egyptian medal); Nile Expedition, 1898 (Despatches; Brevet of Major, 2 clasps to Egyptian medal; medal); South African War, 1899-1900. =Fitz Clarence.=--Captain C. Fitz Clarence, Royal Fusiliers; Special Service, Mafeking, twice wounded. _See_ V.C. list. =Fitzgerald.=--Sir T. N. Fitzgerald, L.R.C.S., Ireland, 1857; F.R.C.S., 1884; Senior Surg., Melbourne Hosp.; Consulting Surg., St. Vincent Hosp., Melbourne. Born Ireland, 1838; late President Inter-Colonial Medical Congress of Australasia; President of Medical Society of Victoria, 1883-89. Sir T. Fitzgerald rendered valuable service at a time of abnormal pressure on the Army Medical Dept. =Flint.=--Lieut.-Col. E. M. Flint, R.A. Entered 1871; Lieut.-Col., 1897. _Staff Service_--Adjt. Aux. Forces, 1883-88. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900. =Folkestone= (Viscount).--J. Pleydell Bouverie, M.P. Major, 1st Wilts Rifle Volunteers. Eldest son of the 5th Earl of Radnor. =Ford-Hutchinson.=--Captain J. H. Ford-Hutchinson, D.S.O., Connaught Rangers. Entered 1885; Captain, 1891. _Staff Service_--Special Service, Egypt, 1896-97; employed with Egyptian Army, 1897-99; Railway Staff Officer, South Africa, June 1900. _War Service_--Expedition to Dongola, 1896 (Egyptian medal); Nile Expedition, 1897 (clasp to Egyptian medal); Nile Expedition, 1898 (Despatches, May and September 1898; D.S.O; 2 clasps to Egyptian medal; medal); South African War, 1899-1900. =Forestier-Walker.=--Lieutenant-General Sir T. W. E. F. Forestier-Walker, K.C.B., C.M.G. Entered, S. F. Guards, 1862; Lieutenant-General, 1895. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Major-General, Mauritius, 1866-67; Assistant Military Secretary to G.O.C. Cape of Good Hope, 1873-78; Military Secretary to Governor, Cape of Good Hope, 1878; Special Service, Cape of Good Hope, 1878-79; A.A. and Q.M.G., Home District, 1882; A.A. and Q.M.G., South Africa, 1884-85; Brigadier-General, Aldershot, 1889-90; Major-General, Egypt, 1890-93; Lieutenant-General, Western District, 1895-99; Lieutenant-General, South Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Expedition to Griqualand West, 1875; South African War, 1878-79 (Despatches, March and May 1879; medal with clasp; C.B.); Bechuanaland Expedition, 1884-85 (honourably mentioned; C.M.G.); South African War, 1899-1900. =Fortescue.=--Lieutenant-Colonel Hon. C. G. Fortescue, C.M.G., Rifle Brigade. Entered 1881; Brevet-Colonel, 1899. _Staff Service_--Employed Gold Coast, 1897-99; Private Secretary to Secretary of State for War, 1899; Brigade-Major, Natal, 1899. _War Service_--Burmese Expedition, 1888-89 (medal with clasp); West Africa, 1897-98 (Despatches; C.M.G.; Brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel); South African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Fortescue.=--Commander Hon. Seymour J. Fortescue, M.V.O., Naval A.D.C. to Commander-in-Chief. Entered Navy, 1869; Commander, 1890. This distinguished officer, lately Equerry-in-Waiting to the Prince of Wales, served in 1882 in the bombardment of Alexandria in the Egyptian War (medal; clasp; Khedive's Star); in the Soudan (Suakim clasp). He is a son of the 3rd Earl Fortescue. =Foster.=--Colonel W. H. Foster, M.P. Commanding Yeomanry Cavalry. This gallant officer, who for many years has been associated with the 2nd West Yorks. Yeomanry Cavalry, volunteered immediately he found the country had need of his services. Like many other wealthy and notable volunteers, he had everything to lose and nothing to gain in fighting his country's battles save the esteem of a grateful nation. =Fowler.=--Captain J. S. Fowler, R.E., D.S.O. Entered 1886; Captain, 1895. _Staff Service_--Director of Telegraphs, Orange River Colony, 1900. _War Service_--Isazai Expedition, 1892; Operations in Chitral, 1895; wounded (Despatches; D.S.O.; medal with clasp); Operations on North-West Frontier of India, 1897-98 (Despatches; 2 clasps); South African War, 1899-1900. =Fowler.=--Sir Thomas Fowler, Bart., Lieut. 2nd Battalion Royal Wilts Yeomanry Cavalry. =Franks.=--Mr. Kendal Franks, M.B., F.R.C.S.I., Consulting Surgeon. Mr. Franks rendered untiring service by using his skill for the benefit of the sick and wounded, and thus saving many valuable lives. =French.=--Lieutenant-General John Denton Pinkstone French. Commanding Cavalry Division. Entered 1874; Major-General, 21st February 1900. _Staff Service_--Adjutant, Auxiliary Forces, 1881-84; A.A.G., Headquarters of Army, 1895-97; Colonel on Staff, Commanding Cavalry Brigade, S.E. District, 1897-99; Major-General, Cavalry Division, Aldershot, 1899; Major-General, Cavalry, Natal, 1899; Lieutenant-General, Cavalry Division, South Africa, October 1899. _War Service_--Soudan Expedition, 1884-85 (Despatches; medal with 2 clasps; bronze star); South African War, 1899-1900; Elandslaagte; Relief of Kimberley (promoted Major-General for distinguished service; Despatches). General French, who is now world famous, was born in 1852. He is a brother of the well-known Commandant of Colonial Forces, New South Wales, who himself volunteered for service in South Africa, and was informed that his services were too valuable to be spared. =Gallwey.=--Lieut.-Col. E. J. Gallwey, 2nd Batt. Somersetshire Light Infantry. Entered 1870; Lieut.-Col., 1898. _Staff Service_--Adjt. Aux. Forces, 1885-90; Comdt. Sch. of Inst. for Mil. and Vols., Aldershot, 1891. _War Service_--S. African War, 1878-79; Sekukuni and Zulu Campaigns; Ulundi (medal with clasp); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Gallwey.=--Colonel T. J. Gallwey, C.B., M.D., R.A.M.C., P.M.O., Second Division. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1879 (medal with clasp); Egyptian Expedition, 1882 (medal with clasp; bronze star); Soudan Expedition, 1884-85 (Despatches; clasp; promoted Surgeon-Major); Expedition to Dongola, 1896 (Despatches; C.B.; Egyptian medal with clasp); Nile Expedition, 1897; Nile Expedition, 1898 (Despatches, May and September 1898; promoted Colonel; 2 clasps, Egyptian medal); South African War, 1899-1900. =Garstin.=--Col. A. A. Garstin, A.A.G. Entered 1871; Col., 1898. _Staff Service_--D.A.A. and Q.M.G. Ex. Force, Suakin, 1885; Spec. Serv., South Africa, Feb. to April 1900; A.A.G., S. Africa, April 1900. _War Service_--S. African War, 1879 (medal with clasp); Soudan Ex., 1885 (medal with clasp; bronze star); S. African War, 1899-1900; Spec. Serv. Officer, and on Staff. =Gascoigne.=--Captain E. F. O. Gascoigne, D.S.O. Entered Grenadier Guards, 1892. _Staff Service_--Brigade-Major, Aldershot, January 1900; South Africa, March 1900. _War Service_--Nile Expedition, 1898 (Despatches; D.S.O; Egyptian medal with clasp; medal); South African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Gatacre.=--Lieutenant-General Sir W. F. Gatacre, K.C.B., D.S.O. Commanding Third Division till May 1900. Entered, 77th Foot, 1862; Major-General, 1898. _Staff Service_--Instructor in Surv. Royal Military College, 1875-79; D.A.A. and Q.M.G., Aldershot, 1879-80; A.A.G., Madras, 1880-81; D.Q.M.G., India, 1885-90; Adjutant-General, Bombay, 1890-94; Brigade-General, India, 1894-97; Major-General, Infantry Brigade, Aldershot, 1897-98; Major-General commanding Brigade, Egypt, 1898; Major-General commanding Division, Soudan Expedition Force, 1898; Major-General, E. District, 1898-99; Lieutenant-General, Infantry Division, S. Africa, 1899-1900; Major-General, E. District, June 1900. _War Service_--Hazara Expedition, 1888 (Despatches; medal with clasp; D.S.O); Burma, 1889-90 (clasp); Operations in Chitral, 1895 (Despatches; C.B.); Nile Expedition, 1898 (Despatches, May and September 1898; K.C.B., 2nd class Medjidie; thanked by both Houses of Parliament; Egyptian medal with 2 clasps; medal); South African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Gawne.=--Lieutenant-Colonel J. M. Gawne, R. Lanc. Regt. Entered 1874; Colonel, February 1900. _Staff Service_--D.A.A.G., Egypt, 1895-97. _War Service_--South African War, 1879 (medal with clasp); Bechuanaland Expedition, 1884-85; South African War; died of wounds received in action, December 1900. =Gerard.=--Col. Lord W. C. Gerard, Hon. Col. Lancs. Hussars Yeomanry Cavalry. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900; A.D.C. to G.O.C. Natal. =Gifford.=--Hon. Maurice R. Gifford, C.M.G. This remarkable officer, now associated with the Rhodesian Horse, is the son of 2nd Baron Gifford. He has seen an immense amount of fighting in various parts of the world. He served in the Egyptian Campaign, 1882; as scout in Canada (medal and clasp); and again in the Matabele Campaign of 1893 (medal). He raised "Gifford's Horse" in the Matabele Rebellion, 1896, when he lost an arm. His services were rewarded with the C.M.G. =Girouard.=--Lieutenant-Colonel E. P. C. Girouard, D.S.O., R.E. Entered, Royal Engineers, 1888; Brevet-Major, 1899. _Staff Service_--Railway Traffic Manager, Royal Arsenal, 1890-95; employed with Egyptian Army, 1896-98; Special Extra Regimental Employ, 1898-99; Director of Railways, South Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Expedition to Dongola, 1896 (Despatches, D.S.O.; Egyptian medal with clasp); Nile Expedition, 1897 (Despatches; clasp to Egyptian medal; Brevet of Major); South African War; on Staff. Colonel Girouard is generally recognised as one of the foremost organisers and engineers of his day, and it has been said that what he does not know of his craft "is not knowledge." He was born at Montreal in 1867, and educated at the Royal Military College, Kingston. =Gleichen.=--Count Albert Edward W. Gleichen, C.M.G., Major. Entered Grenadier Guards, 1881; Major, 1898. _Staff Service_--Equerry to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, 1892; Extra Equerry to H.M. the Queen, 1892; Staff Captain, Headquarters of Army, 1895-98; D.A.A.G., Headquarters of Army, 1898-99; Special Service, South Africa, and D.A.A.G., 1900. _War Service_--Soudan Expedition, 1884-85 (medal with 2 clasps; bronze star); Expedition to Dongola, 1896 (Egyptian medal); South African War, 1899-1900; Kimberley Relief Force; severely wounded (Despatches, January 1900). =Godfray.=--Lieut.-Col. J. W. Godfray, King's Own Scottish Borderers. Entered 1871; Lieut.-Col., 1898. _Staff Service_--Adjt. Aux. Forces, 1881-82; D.A.A. and Q.M.G., Jersey, 1882-87; D.A.A.G., Cyprus, 1893-94. _War Service_--Op. in Chitral, 1895 (Despatches; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.; medal with clasp); Op. on N.W. Frontier of India, 1897-98 (2 clasps); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Goggin.=--Lieut.-Col. G. T. Goggin, R.A.M.C., Lieut.-Col., March 1900. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900; Sen. Med. Officer Inf. Div. =Goold-Adams.=--Major H. J. Goold-Adams C.M.G., C.B., Resident Commissioner in Bechuanaland. Entered 1878; Major, 1895. _Staff Service_--Employed with Bechuanaland Border Police Force, 1895; Delimitation Duties, Bechuanaland, 1895-96; Delimitation Duties, Barotseland, 1896-97; Resident Commissioner, Bechuanaland Protectorate, 1897; Special Service, South Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Bechuanaland Expedition, 1884-85; Commanded in Matabeleland, 1893. =Gordon.=--Brig.-Gen. J. R. P. Gordon, Commanding 3rd Cav. Brig. Entered 1879; Lieut.-Col., Feb. 1897. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Maj. Gen., Madras, 1887-89; Adjt., Yeom. Cav., 1889-91; Spec. Serv., Lagos, 1892; Recruiting Staff Officer, 2nd class, Dublin, 1892-94, London, 1894-96 (Spec. Serv., Ashanti, 1895-96). Brig.-Gen. Cav. Brig., S. Africa, Feb. 1900. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1880 (medal); S. African War, 1881; Bechuanaland Ex., 1884-85; Burmese Ex., 1887 (Despatches; G.G.O. 864 of '87; medal with clasp); Ex. against the Yebus Lagos, 1892 (Despatches; medal with clasp); Ashanti Ex., 1895-96 (hon. mentioned; star); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Gordon.=--Col. J. M. Gordon. This gallant officer commanded the South Australian Bushmen. =Gore.=--Lieut.-Col. St. J. C. Gore, Commanding 5th Dragoon Guards. Entered 1879; Lieut.-Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--A.M.S. and A.D.C. to Lieut.-Gov., Bengal, July to Oct. 1898. _War Service_--Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (medal with clasp; bronze star); S. African War, 1899-1900; Elandslaagte. =Gorringe.=--Lieutenant-Colonel G. F. Gorringe, D.S.O., R.E. Entered, Royal Engineers, 1888; Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel, March 1900. _Staff Service_--Employed with Egyptian Army, 1893-99; A.D.C. to Major-General (Chief of Staff), South Africa, 1899-1900; D.A.A.G., South Africa, February 1900. _War Service_--Expedition to Dongola, 1896 (Despatches, D.S.O.); Nile Expedition, 1897 (Despatches; Brevet of Major); Nile Expedition, 1898 (Despatches, May and September 1898; 4th class Medjidie; clasps to Egyptian medal; medal); Nile Expedition, 1899 (Despatches; Brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel); South African War; on Staff. =Gough.=--Maj. H. de la P. Gough, 16th Lancers. Entered 1889; Capt., 1894. _Staff Service_--S. Africa. _War Service_--Op. on N.W. Frontier of India, 1897-98 (medal with 2 clasps); S. African War, 1899-1900; Special Service Officer. This excellent Cavalry officer distinguished himself as a leader of the Composite Regiment, Mounted Infantry, during the operations for the relief of Ladysmith. =Graham.=--Lieut.-Col. E. R. C. Graham, Cheshire Regiment. Entered 1878; Lieut.-Col., 1900. _Staff Service_--D.A.A.G., Headquarters Madras, 1895; A.A.G. India, 1895-99; Assist. Prov.-Marshal, S. Africa, Feb. 1900. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Graham.=--Major H. W. G. Graham, D.S.O. Entered 1884; Major, 5th Lancers, 1899. _Staff Service_--Employed with Gold Coast Constabulary, 1888-90; employed with Egyptian Army, 1891-93; Special Service, Ashanti, 1895-96; D.A.A.G., Natal, 1898-99; A.A.G., South Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Operations on West Coast of Africa, 1889 (Despatches; D.S.O.); Ashanti Expedition, 1895-96 (honourably mentioned; star); North-West Frontier of India, 1897-98 (Despatches; medal with clasp); Tirah, 1897-98 (clasp); South African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Grant.=--Captain P. G. Grant, R.E. Entered 1888; Captain, 1899. _War Service_--Operations in Chitral, 1895 (medal with clasp); South African War, 1899-1900; A.D.C. to G.O.C. Infantry Division. =Greene.=--Lieut.-Col. E. M. Greene, Commanding Natal Carabineers. =Greer.=--Lieut.-Col. J. Greer, Dir. of Mil. Postal Services. S. African War, 1899-1900. =Grenfell.=--Lieut.-Col. H. M. Grenfell. Entered 1st Life Guards 1892; Brev.-Maj., 1898. _Staff Service_--Spec. Extra Regimental Employment, 1895-96; A.D.C. to Maj.-Gen., Egypt, 1897-98; A.D.C., and afterwards A.M.S., to Gov. and Com.-in-Chief, Malta, 1899; Spec. Serv., S. Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches, 1898; Brev. of Maj.; Egyptian medal with clasp; medal); S. African War, 1899-1900; Commanding Regt. Brabant's Horse. =Grierson.=--Lieut.-Col. J. M. Grierson, R.A., M.V.O. Entered 1877; Brev.-Col., 1900. _Staff Service_--D.A.Q.M.G., Indian Cont. Exped. Force, Egypt, 1882; Spec. Serv. Exped. Force, Suakim, 1885; D.A.A. and Q.M.G., Egypt, 1885; Station Staff Officer, Bengal, 1889; D.A.A.G., Headquarters of Army, 1890-94; Brig.-Maj. R. A., Aldershot, 1895-96; Mil. Attaché, Berlin, 1896-1900; Spec. Serv., S. Africa, 1900; Staff Officer; D.A.G., China. _War Service_--Egyptian Exped., 1882 (Despatches; medal with clasp; bronze star; 5th class Medjidie); Soudan Exped., 1885 (Despatches; clasp); Hazara Exped. (Despatches; medal with clasp; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Grove.=--Lieut.-Col. A. W. S. Grove, Royal West Kent Regiment. Entered 1873; Brev. Lieut.-Col., Aug. 1900. _Staff Service_--Garr. Inst., Egypt, 1884; D.A.A. and Q.M.G., Egypt, 1884-85; D.A.A. and Q.M.G., Canada, 1885-87; D.A.A.G., E. Dist., 1887-88. _War Service_--S. African War, 1881; Egyptian Ex., 1882 (medal with clasp; bronze star; Brev. of Maj.); Soudan Ex., 1884-85; S. African War, 1899-1900. =Guest.=--Hon. Ivor Guest, M.P. Imperial Yeomanry. Mr. Guest, who is the eldest son of Lord Wimborne, was born in 1873. He volunteered with other patriotic politicians in England's "dark hour." =Guinness.=--Lieut.-Col. H. W. N. Guinness, Royal Irish Regt. _War Service_--Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (Despatches; medal with clasp; bronze star; Brev. of Maj.); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Guinness.=--Hon. Rupert E. C. L. Guinness. Mr. Guinness, a notable oarsman, is another patriotic nobleman who placed his services at the disposal of his country. He is the eldest son of Lord Iveagh, and was born in 1874. =Haig.=--Major Douglas Haig. Entered 1885; Major, 1899. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Insp. Gen. of Cavalry, 1894-95; Employed with Egyptian Army, 1898; Brig.-Maj. Cav. Brig., Aldershot, 1899; D.A.A.G., Natal, 1899; D.A.A.G., S. Africa, 1899-1900; A.A.G., S. Africa, Feb. 1900. _War Service_--Nile Exped., 1898 (Despatches; Brev. of Maj.; E. medal with 2 clasps); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff (Despatches). =Hall.=--Lieut.-Col. R. H. Hall, Commanded 1st Batt. South Lancashire Regt. on death of Col. M'Carthy O'Leary. Entered 1873; Lieut.-Col., Feb. 1900. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900. =Halliwell.=--Maj. H. L. Halliwell (late Royal Scots). This officer rendered valuable service with the Queenstown Rifle Volunteers. =Hamilton.=--Maj.-Gen. Bruce M. Hamilton. Entered 1877; Brev.-Col., 1897. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Gov., Bombay, 1883-85 and 1885-89; D.A.A.G., S. Dist., 1894-97; Special Service, Ashanti, 1895-96 (Employed with Niger Coast Protectorate, 1897); A.A.G. S. Africa, 1899-1900; Maj.-Gen., Inf. Brig., S. Africa, April 1900. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1879-80 (medal); S. African War, 1881 (Despatches); Burmese Ex., 1885 (medal with clasp); Ashanti Ex., 1895-96 (hon. mentioned; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.; star); Benin Ex., 1897 (Despatches; Brev. of Col.; medal with clasp); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff; with Ladysmith Relief Force; Colenso; Operations 17th to 24th Jan.; wounded. =Hamilton.=--Lieut. Hon. G. G. Hamilton. This officer, serving in Compton's Horse, was formerly in the Scots Guards. He is the eldest son of Baron Hamilton of Dalzell. =Hamilton.=--Major H. I. W. Hamilton, D.S.O. Entered 1880; Major R. W. Surr. Reg., 1898. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Gen. 3rd Inf. Brig., Aldershot, 1896-97; employed with Egyptian Army, 1897-99; A.D.C. to Lieut.-Gen. Inf. Div., S. Africa, 1899-1900; D.A.A.G., S. Africa, 1900. _War Service_--Burmese Exped., 1886-88 (medal with clasp); Nile Exped., 1897; Nile Exped., 1898 (Despatches, May and Sept., 1898, D.S.O.); Nile Exped., 1899; S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Hamilton.=--Lieut.-Gen. Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton, C.B., D.S.O. Entered 1872. Col., Gordon Highlanders, 1898. _Staff Services_--A.D.C. to Com.-in-Chief, Madras, 1882-85; A.D.C. to Com.-in-Chief, E. Indies, 1886-90; A.A.G., Bengal, 1890-93; Mil. Sec. to Com.-in-Chief, E. Indies, 1893-95; D.Q.M.G. in India, 1895-98; Comdt., Sch. of Musk., 1898-99; A.A.G., Natal, 1899; Maj.-Gen., S. Africa, 1899-1900; Lieut.-Gen., Mounted Inf. Div., S. Africa, 10th April 1900. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1879-80 (Despatches; medal with 2 clasps); S. African War, 1881, severely wounded (Despatches); Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (Despatches; medal with 2 clasps; bronze star); Burmese Ex., 1886-87 (Despatches; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.); Op. in Chitral, 1895 (Despatches; C.B.); Op. on N.W. Front. of India, 1898 (Despatches); S. African War, 1899-1900; Elandslaagte; Siege of Ladysmith. This distinguished officer, born in 1853, is the son of Col. C. M. Hamilton and the daughter of the 3rd Viscount Gort. He married in 1877 the daughter of Sir John Muir, Bart. No better idea of his remarkable personality can be obtained than that suggested by the graphic pen of Mr. Winston Churchill in his unique record of the campaign: "A man of more than middle height, spare, keen-eyed, and of commanding aspect. His highly nervous temperament, animating what appears a frail body, imparts to all his movements a kind of feverish energy. Two qualities of his mind stand forward prominently from the rest. He is a singularly good and rapid judge of character. He takes a very independent view on all subjects, sometimes with a slight bias towards or affection for their Radical and Democratic aspects, but never, or hardly ever, influenced by the set of people with whom he lives. To his strong personal charm as a companion, to his temper, never ruffled or vexed either by internal irritation or the stir and contrariness of events, his friends and those who have served under him will bear witness. He has a most happy gift of expression, a fine taste in words, and an acute perception of the curious, which he has preserved from his literary days. But it is as a whole that we should judge. His mind is built upon a big scale, being broad and strong, capable of thinking in army corps, and, if necessary, in continents, and working always with serene smoothness, undisturbed alike by responsibility or danger. Add to all this a long experience in war, high military renown both for courage and conduct, the entire confidence and affection of the future Com.-in-Chief, the luck that has carried him through so many dangers, and the crowning advantage of being comparatively young, and it is evident that here is a man who in the years that are to come will have much to do with the administration of the British Army in times of peace and its direction in the field." =Hanbury-Tracy.=--Maj. the Hon. A. H. C. Hanbury-Tracy, R. Horse Guards. Entered 1892; Brev.-Maj., March 1900. _Staff Service_--Employed in Brit. E. Africa Protectorate, 1897; Special Service, S. Africa, 1899; D.A.A.G., S. Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Uganda, 1897-98 (Despatches; 3rd class brilliant star of Zanzibar; medal with clasp; Brev. of Maj.); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Hannay.=--Col. O. S. Hannay. Commanding 1st Brigade Mounted Infantry. For career of this much esteemed and regretted officer, _see_ vol. iv. p. 60. =Harley.=--Col. G. E. Harley, C.B. Entered 1864; Col., 1897. _Staff Service_--Capt. Inst. of Sch. of Musk., Hythe, 1882-85; D.A.A.G., N. Brit. and N. Dist., 1886-89; D.A.A.G., Sch. of Musk., 1889-91; A.A.G., Belfast Dist., 1897-1900; A.A.G., Aldershot, 1900; A.A.G., S. Africa, March 1900. _War Service_--Op. in Chitral, 1895 (Despatches; C.B.; medal with clasp); S. African War. =Harris.=--Rear-Admiral Sir R. H. Harris, Royal Navy. Entered Navy 1856; Capt., 1879; Rear-Admiral, 1895. This gallant officer commanded Training Squadron from 1893 to 1895; was Rear-Admiral, Mediterranean Fleet, 1896-98; and Commander-in-Chief, Cape of Good Hope and West Coast of Africa, 1898-1900; K.C.B. =Harris.=--Lieut.-Col. R. H. W. H. Harris. Entered 1870; Lieut.-Col. East Surrey Regt., Dec. 1896. _Staff Service_--Adjt. Aux. Forces, 1884-89. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1878-80 (medal); Mahsood Wuzeeree Ex., 1881 (Despatches); S. African War, 1899-1900; Willow Grange; Ladysmith Relief Force, wounded, 22nd Feb. =Harris.=--Lieut.-Col. V. D. Harris. This officer rendered valuable service in command of the Kimberley Town Guard. =Harrison.=--Lieut.-Col. C. E. C. B. Harrison, Lieut.-Col., Royal West Kent Regt. Entered 1876; Lieut.-Col., March 1900. _War Service_--S. African War, 1881; Transvaal Campaign; Egyptian Ex., 1882 (medal; bronze star); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Harrison.=--Lieut.-Col. R. A. G. Harrison, R.F.A. Entered 1874; Lieut.-Col., April 1900. _Staff Service_--Adjt. Volunteers, 1886-91. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900. =Hart.=--Maj.-Gen. A. Fitz-Roy Hart, C.B. Entered 1864; Maj.-Gen., 1898. _Staff Service_--Spec. Serv., Ashanti Ex., 1873-74; Brig.-Maj., Aldershot, 1876-78; Spec. Serv., S. Africa, 1878-79, 1881-82; Special Employment, Egypt, 1882; A.A.G., Belfast Dist., 1896-97; Maj.-Gen., Aldershot, 1897-99; Maj.-Gen., Inf. Brig., S. Africa, October 1899. _War Service_--Ashanti War, 1873-74, wounded (Despatches, Feb. and March 1874; medal with clasp); S. African War, 1879-81 (Despatches, 2nd March and 7th May 1879; medal with clasp; Brev. of Maj.); Egyptian Ex., 1882 (Despatches; medal with clasp; bronze star; Brev. of Lieut.-Col., 4th class Osmanieh); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff; Ladysmith Relief Force. This notable officer, who represents the backbone of "Ould Oireland," was born in 1844. He is the son of the late Gen. H. G. Hart, and married in 1868 the daughter of the late Mr. M. S. Synnot, D.L., J.P., Ballymoyer, co. Armagh. =Hartley.=--Surg. Lieut.-Col. E. B. Hartley, #V.C.#, Cape Medical Staff Corps. This already distinguished officer, as P.M.O. of the Colonial Forces, worked with untiring energy and skill both from a military and a medical point of view. =Heath.=--Lieut.-Col. H. N. C. Heath, Yorkshire Light Infantry, A.A.G. Entered 1881; Maj., 1898. _Staff Service_--Staff Capt. (Intell.) Headquarters of Army, 1898-99; Spec. Serv., S. Africa, Oct. to Nov. 1899; A.A.G., S. Africa, Nov. 1899. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex., 1882 (medal; bronze star); Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (Despatches; 2 clasps; Brev. of Maj.); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. [Illustration: LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR FRANCIS CLERY, K.C.B. Photo, J. & S. Cumming, Aldershot] =Hegan.=--Col. E. Hegan. Entered 1876; Lieut.-Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--Comdt., Sch. of Aux. Cav., Aldershot, 1882-84; A.D.C. to G.O.C. W. Dist., 1889-90; D.A.A.G., Cork Dist., 1890-93; Spec. Serv., S. Africa, 1899-1900; A.A.G., S. Africa, Feb. 1900. _War Service_--S. African War, 1881; Tirah, 1897-98 (Despatches; medal with 2 clasps); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Hely-Hutchinson.=--The Hon. Sir Walter Francis Hely-Hutchinson, G.C.M.G. Governor of Natal and Zululand, and Special Commissioner for Amatongaland since 189 ; Barrister of the Inner Temple, 1877; Private Secretary to Sir Hercules Robinson, Governor of New South Wales; for Fiji Affairs, 1874; for New South Wales, 1875; Colonial Secretary of Barbadoes, 1877; Chief Secretary to the Government of Malta, 1883; Lieut.-Governor of Malta, 1884; Governor of Windward Islands, 1889; Governor of Natal and Zululand, 1893. Sir Walter is the second son of the 4th Earl of Donoughmore and the daughter of Mr. W. Steele, and was born in 1849. He married in 1881 the daughter of General W. C. Justice, C.M.G. (commanding the troops in Ceylon). He inaugurated the system of Responsible Government in Natal, and completed the annexation of the Trans-Pongola Territories, which form an integral part of Zululand. [Illustration: HON. SIR W. HELY-HUTCHINSON _Photo by Elliott & Fry, London_] =Henderson.=--Col. G. F. R. Henderson. Entered 1878; Lieut.-Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--Dep.-Assist. Com.-Gen. Ord. Store Dept., 1885-89; Inst. R. Mil. Coll., 1890-92; Prof. Staff Coll., 1892-96, and 1897-99; Spec. Serv. S. Africa, 1899-1900; Dir. of Intelligence, S. Africa, Jan. 1900; Specially Employed, Headquarters of Army, Aug. 1900. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex., 1882 (medal with clasp; bronze star; 5th class Medjidie; Brev. of Maj.); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Henniker-Major.=--Lieut.-Col. Hon. A. Henniker-Major. Entered C. Guards, 1875; Lieut.-Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--Comdt. Sch. of Inst. for Aux. Forces, Wellington Bks., 1886; Assist. Priv. Sec. to Sec. of State for War, 1888-91; D.A.A.G., S. Dist., 1891-94; D.A.A.G. for Inst., Home Dist., 1896-98; D.A.A.G., Headquarters of Army, 1898. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex., 1882 (medal; bronze star); S. African War, 1899-1900; Belmont (Despatches). =Henry.=--Col. St. G. C. Henry, Northumberland Fusiliers. Entered 1880; Brev.-Col., March 1900. _Staff Service_--Employed with Egyptian Army. _War Service_--Ex. to Dongola, 1896 (Despatches; Egyptian medal with 2 clasps); Nile Ex., 1897 (clasp to Egyptian medal); Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches, Sept. and Dec. 1898; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.; clasp to Egyptian medal; medal); Nile Ex., 1899 (Despatches; Brev. of Col.); S. African War, 1899-1900; commanded 4th Corps Mounted Infantry. =Herbert.=--Col. I. J. C. Herbert, C.B., C.M.G. Entered, G. Guards, 1870; Col., 1898. _Staff Service_--Brig.-Maj., Home Dist., 1882; Brig.-Maj., Ex. Force, Egypt, 1882; Brig.-Maj., Home Dist., 1882-83; Comdt. Sch. of Inst. for Aux. Forces, Wellington Bks., 1885-86; Mil. Attaché, St. Petersburg, 1886; G.O.C., Mila. Domin. Canada, 1890-95; A.A.G., Home Dist., 1898-99; Spec. Serv., S. Africa, 1899-1900; A.A.G., S. Africa, Feb. 1900. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex., 1882 (Despatches; medal with clasp; bronze star; Brev. of Maj.; 4th class Medjidie); Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (2 clasps); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Hicks.=--Lieut.-Col. H. T. Hicks, Royal Dublin Fusiliers. Entered 1872; Lieut.-Col., March 1900. _Staff Service_--Adjt. Militia, 1886-91. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900. =Hickson.=--Lieut.-Col. R. A. Hickson, 2nd Batt. The Buffs (East Kent Regt.). Entered 1867; Brev.-Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Brig.-Gen., Aldershot, 1883-84; A.D.C. to Maj.-Gen., Gibraltar, 1884-88. _War Service_--Op. in Chitral, 1895 (medal with clasp); S. African War, 1899-1900; Driefontein, severely wounded. =Hildyard.=--Lieut.-Gen. H. J. T. Hildyard, C.B., Commanding Fifth Div. Entered R. Navy, 1859; Army, 1864; Maj.-Gen., 1899. _Staff Service_--Brig.-Maj., Cyprus, 1878; Brig.-Maj., Gibraltar, 1878-82; D.A.A. and Q.M.G., Ex. Force, Egypt, 1882; Brig.-Maj., Gibraltar, 1882-83; D.A.A.G., Headquarters of Army, 1883-89; A.A.G., Aldershot, 1889-91; A.A.G., Headquarters of Army, 1891-93; Comdt. Staff Coll., 1893-98; Maj.-Gen. Inf. Brig., Aldershot, 1898-99; Maj.-Gen., Inf. Brig., S. Africa, 1899-1900; Lieut.-Gen. Inf. Div., S. Africa, April 1900. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex., 1882 (Despatches; medal with clasp; bronze star; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.; 4th class Osmanieh); S. African War, 1899-1900; Willow Grange; Ladysmith Relief Force; Colenso (Despatches). This brilliant officer, who has vastly increased his reputation in the present war, is the son of the late Mr. T. B. T. Hildyard, M.P., of Flintham Hall, Newark. Like many other able commanders, distinguished alike for valour and versatility, he began life in the Royal Navy, afterwards electing to join the sister service. He is a strict disciplinarian, and a recognised authority on military tactics and strategy. =Hill.=--Capt. A. Hill, M.P., 5th Batt. R. Irish Rifles. Eldest son of Rt. Hon. Lord Arthur Hill. =Hime.=--Col. Hon. Sir A. Hime, K.C.M.G., Royal Engineers. Prime Minister of Natal. Rendered valuable service throughout the Natal Campaign. =Hinde.=--Col. J. H. E. Hinde, 1st Batt. Border Regt. Entered 1867; Brev.-Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--Adjt. Aux. Forces, 1883-88. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900; Willow Grange. =Hippisley.=--Lieut.-Col. R. L. Hippisley. Entered 1873; Lieut.-Col. 1898. _Staff Service_--Assist. Inst. Sch. of Mil. Eng., 1886-88; Inst. Sch. of Mil. Eng., 1889-91; Dir. of Telegraphs, S. Africa. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex., 1882 (medal; bronze star); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. This indefatigable officer, who rendered such valuable service in keeping the Commander-in-Chief in touch with his large force, was born in 1853. =Hoad.=--Col. J. C. Hoad. This officer served with distinction with the Victorian Mounted Infantry. =Hobart.=--Capt. C. Vere Cavendish Hobart, D.S.O., G. Guards. Entered 1890; Capt., 1899. _Staff Service_--Employed in Uganda Protectorate, 1897-99; Staff Off. to Station Comdt., S. Africa, 1899-1900; Staff Off. to Assist. Insp. Gen., L. of C., S. Africa, Feb. 1900. _War Service_--Uganda, 1897-98 (Despatches, D.S.O.; medal with clasp); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Hobbs.=--Lieut.-Col. G. R. Hobbs. Entered Army Ord. Dept. 1880; Lieut.-Col., 1896. _Staff Service_--Ord. Off., 3rd class, April to July 1896; Ord. Off., 2nd class, July 1896. _War Service_--S. African War, 1879 (medal); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Hofmeyr.=--Hon. J. H. Hofmeyr. This gentleman for some years has been a prominent figure in S. African affairs, and intimately associated with many leading men. With Sir Henry de Villiers and Sir Charles Mills, he represented S. Africa at the Ottawa Conference, and in the same capacity was present at London (Salisbury-Knutsford) Conference, with Sir T. Uppington, K.C.M.G., Q.C., and Sir John Robinson. K.C.M.G. =Hope.=--Lieut.-Col. L. A. Hope, C.B., A.S.C. Lieut.-Col., 1892. _Staff Service_--D.A.A.G., Curragh Dist., 1892-95; Egypt, 1897-1900; Spec. Serv., S. Africa, Jan. 1900. _War Service_--S. African War, 1879 (medal with clasp); Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (medal with clasp; bronze star); Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches; C.B.; Egyptian medal with clasp; medal); S. African War, 1899-1900; Spec. Serv. Off. =Hore.=--Lieut.-Col. C. O. Hore. Entered 1878; Brev. Lieut.-Col. 1898. _Staff Service_--Spec. Serv., S. Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex. (medal with clasp; bronze star; 5th class Medjidie); Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (2 clasps); Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.; Egyptian medal with clasp; medal); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Hoskier.=--Lieut.-Col. Hoskier. For particulars regarding this patriotic Volunteer officer _see_ vol. iv. p. 168. =Houdin.=--Maj. Houdin. This officer rendered energetic service with the Royal Canadian Artillery. =Howard.=--Maj.-Gen. F. Howard, C.B., C.M.G. Entered 1866; Col. 1899. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to the Queen, 1895; Maj.-Gen. Inf. Brig., Natal, 1899. _War Service_--Jowaki Ex., 1877-78 (medal with clasp); Afghan War, 1878-79 (medal with clasp); Burmese Ex., 1888-89 (Despatches; clasp; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.); Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches; Good Service Reward; Egyptian medal with clasp; medal); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Hughes.=--Lieut.-Col. S. Hughes. Lieut.-Col. Canadian Local Forces; Spec. Serv. Officer, including service as Railway Staff Officer. =Hughes-Hallett.=--Lieut.-Col. J. W. Hughes-Hallett, D.S.O. Entered 1872; Lieut.-Col. Seaforth Highlanders, 1897. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1878-79 (Despatches; medal with clasp); Egyptian Ex., 1882 (Despatches; medal with clasp; bronze star); Op. in Chitral, 1895 (Despatches, D.S.O.; medal with clasp); S. African War, 1899-1900; wounded with Kimberley Relief Force. =Hunter.=--Lieut.-Gen. Sir Archibald Hunter, K.C.B., D.S.O. Entered 1874; Brev.-Col., 1894. _Staff Service_--Employed with Egyptian Army, 1884-87; Gov. of Red Sea Littoral and Comdt. Suakim, 1892-94; Gov. of Frontier and Comdt. F. F. Force, Egypt, 1894-96; Gov. of Dongola and Comdt. F. F. Egypt, 1896-99; Maj.-Gen., India, 1899; Maj.-Gen. (Chf. of Staff), Natal, 1899; S. Africa, 1899-1900; Maj.-Gen., Chief of Staff, Natal, Jan. 1900; Lieut.-Gen. Inf. Div., March 1900. _War Service_--Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (Despatches; medal with clasp; bronze star; Brev. of Maj.; 4th class Osmanieh); Soudan, 1885-86-89; severely wounded (Despatches; D.S.O.; 3rd class Medjidie); Toski, wounded (Despatches; clasp; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.); Ex. to Dongola, 1896 (Despatches; promoted to Lieut.-Gen.; medal; Egyptian medal with 2 clasps); Nile Ex., 1897 (Despatches; 2nd class Osmanieh, 2 clasps to Egyptian medal); Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches, May and Sept. 1898; K.C.B; thanked by both Houses of Parliament; 2 clasps to Egyptian medal); S. African War; on Staff; Natal, Ladysmith; G.O.C. Inf. Div. This remarkable officer, whose services have been so invaluable in the present war that he has run the risk of being overworked, not long ago enjoyed the distinction of being the youngest Maj.-Gen. in the British Army. The Boer Campaign has carried him still farther on the road of honour, and his almost magical success is to be attributed to his marvellous gift of observation, his ready grasp of character and situation, and the keen foresight which enables him so to organise as to suit the deed to the word. Like Lord Kitchener and Sir Leslie Rundle, he has a profound knowledge of Oriental languages and character. He was born in 1856, and is the son of the late Mr. A. Hunter and the daughter of Maj. Duncan Grahame of Perthshire. =Hunter-Weston.=--Maj. A. G. Hunter-Weston, R.E. Entered 1884; Brev. Maj., 1895. _Staff Service_--Spec. Serv., Egypt, 1896; D.A.A.G., S. Africa, July 1900. _War Service_--Miranzai Ex., 1891; Waziristan Ex., 1894-95; wounded (Despatches, June and July, 1895; Brev. of Maj.); Ex. to Dongola, 1896 (Despatches; Egyptian medal with clasp; 4th class Medjidie; medal); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. Maj. Hunter-Weston, who is associated with many daring acts during this campaign, comes of an ancient Scottish family. His father, Col. Hunter-Weston of Ayrshire, served in the Indian Mutiny, and commanded one of the outposts during the Siege of Lucknow. =Hutton.=--Maj.-Gen. E. T. H. Hutton, C.B. Entered 1867; Col., March 1900. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Maj.-Gen. Ex. Force, Egypt, 1882; Assist. Mil. Sec. to G.O.C., Egypt, 1882-83; Brig.-Maj., Aldershot, 1883-84; D.A.A. and Q.M.G., Egypt, 1884-85; D.A.A.G. Aldershot, 1887-89, 1889-92; A.D.C. to the Queen, 1892; Comdt. Col. Forces, N.S.W., 1893-96; A.A.G., Dublin, 1896-97; Curragh, 1897-98; G.O.C. Mila., Domin. of Canada, 1898-1900; Spec. Serv., S. Africa, 1900; Maj.-Gen. Inf. Brig., S. Africa, March 1900. _War Service_--S. Africa War, 1879-81 (Despatches; medal with clasp); Egyptian Ex., 1882 (Despatches; medal with clasp; bronze star; Brev. of Maj.; 4th class Medjidie); Soudan Ex., 1885 (clasp); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. This gallant officer, who has energetically interested himself in the Colonial patriotic movement from its inception, is the son of Mr. E. T. Hutton of Beverley, Yorks. He was born in 1848, and married in 1889 the daughter of Lord Charles Paulet. [Illustration: MAJ.-GEN. E. T. H. HUTTON, C.B., A.D.C. _Photo by Freeman & Co., Sydney_] =Inglefield.=--Lieut.-Col. F. S. Inglefield, East Yorkshire Regiment. Entered 1874; Lieut.-Col., April 1900. _Staff Service_--Brig.-Maj., Gibraltar, 1888-92; Inst. R. Mil. Coll., 1892-96; Spec. Serv., S. Africa, 1899-1900; Brig.-Maj. Inf. Brig., S. Africa, Feb. 1900; A.A.G., S. Africa, June 1900. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Innes.=--Hon. James Rose Innes, LL.B., Member for Cape Division in the House of Assembly. This well-known politician, who is "distinguished by his great ability and volubility," is the son of Mr. J. Rose Innes, Under Secretary for Native Affairs. He entered the Cape Parliament in 1884 as Member for Victoria East; joined the Rhodes' Ministry as Attorney-General in 1890, and helped to break it up in 1893. He married the niece of Sir Gordon Sprigg. =Ireland.=--Lieut.-Col. R. Ireland. Col., 1899. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900. =Jameson.=--Leander Starr Jameson, C.B. This notable Scotsman, born in 1853, who has played such a prominent rôle in S. African affairs, gave up his medical duties to become Administrator of Rhodesia from 1891 to 1895. (For story of the Raid _see_ vol. i. p. 156.) Dr. Jameson lately assisted the defenders in the Siege of Ladysmith. =Jarvis.=--Maj. A. M. Jarvis. This officer made himself notable for excellent work with Strathcona's Horse. =Jenner.=--Sir Walter K. W. Jenner, 2nd Bart., Maj. 9th Lancers. Entered, 9th Lancers, 1880; Maj., 1898. _Staff Service_--D.A.A.G. for Inst., Curragh, 1896. =Jennings.=--Capt. J. W. Jennings, D.S.O., R.A.M.C. Capt. 1891. _War Service_--Ex. to Dongola, 1896 (Egyptian medal), Nile Ex., 1897 (clasp to Egyptian medal), Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches; D.S.O.; 4th class of the Medjidie; clasp to Egyptian medal; medal). =Jervis.=--Maj. Sir J. H. H. Jervis-White-Jervis, 4th Bart. Entered R.A. 1877; Maj. 1895. _War Service_--S. African War, 1879; Zulu Campaign (medal with clasp); S. African War, 1899-1900 (Despatches). =Johnston.=--Lieut.-Col. P. H. Johnston, R.A.M.C. Lieut., R.A.M.C., 1897. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1879-80 (medal); Hazara Ex., 1888; S. African War, 1899-1900. =Jones.=--Capt. Edward P. Jones, C.B. Naval Cadet, Sept. 1863; Capt., Jan. 1, 1895; is serving as Captain on the _Victory_ at Portsmouth. He was Lieutenant of the _Carysfort_ during the Egyptian War of 1882 (Egyptian medal; Khedive's bronze star); also during the naval and military operations near Suakin in the Eastern Soudan, 1884 (Suakin clasp); highly commended by Gen. Buller in his despatches for the manner in which he fought his guns and silenced every one of the enemy's guns that could be located at Colenso on Dec. 15, 1899; also for the smart manner in which the heavy guns of the brigade were brought into action on Sunday, June 10, 1900, when the troops concentrated on Klip River at the junction with Gans Vlei Stream; C.B. October, 1900, for services during the war. =Jones.=--Maj.-Gen. I. R. Jones, Scots Guards. Entered 1866; Col., 1890. _Staff Service_--Maj.-Gen. Guards Brigade, S. Africa, April 1900. _War Service_--Soudan Ex., 1885 (medal with clasp; bronze star); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Jones.=--Lieut.-Col. M. Q. Jones, C.B., 2nd Batt. the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Entered 1873; Lieut.-Col., 1898. _Staff Service_--Adjt. Aux. Forces, 1886-91; Comdt. Sch. of Inst. for Mil. and Vols., Aldershot, 1891-94. _War Service_--Bechuanaland Ex., 1884-85; Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches; C.B.; Egyptian medal with clasp; medal); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Joubert.=--Gen. Pietrus Jacobus Joubert, Vice-President of the Transvaal Republic. Com.-in-Chief of the Boer Army. Born in Cango, Cape Colony, 1831. Defeated Sir George Colley at Laing's Nek and Majuba Hill in 1881. Suppressed the Swazis in 1895, and captured the Jameson Raiders in 1897. _See_ vol. iv. p. 191. He was of Huguenot descent, which may have accounted for his civilised attitude as statesman and politician, and the wide views which some of his countrymen failed to appreciate. The General was an inveterate smoker and a shrewd thinker. He had been to England several times, and knew better than his compatriots the risk of embroiling himself with a mighty nation. Nevertheless he went into the field as a brave man, determined to meet the inevitable--fighting. =Jousey.=--Maj. T. Jousey. This dashing officer commanded the 3rd Contingent New Zealand Mounted Rifles. =Kekewich.=--Brev.-Col. R. G. Kekewich, N. Lancashire Regiment. _Staff Service_--D.A.A. and Q.M.G., Egypt, 1884-85; Brig. Maj., Egypt, 1885-87; Mil. Sec. to Com.-in-Chief, Madras, 1891-93; A.M.S. and A.D.C. to Lieut.-Gen., Madras, 1893-97. _War Service_--Perak Ex., 1875-76 (medal with clasp); Soudan Ex. (Despatches; medal with clasp; bronze star; Brev. of Maj.), Soudan, 1888 (Despatches; 4th class Medjidie); S. African War, 1899-1900 (Brev. of Col.; Despatches); Siege of Kimberley. [Illustration: COLONEL KEKEWICH _Photo by Browning, Exeter_] =Kelham.=--Lieut.-Col. H. R. Kelham, Highland Light Infantry. Entered 1873; Lieut.-Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--Fort Adjt., Hong-Kong, 1878-79; Brig.-Maj. (Act.), Straits Settlements, 1879. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex., 1882 (medal with clasp; bronze star); S. African War, 1899-1900; with Kimberley Relief Force; Majesfontein, slightly wounded, also severely Aug. 1900. =Kelly.=--Lieut.-Col. N. W. Kelly. This dashing officer served with the Victorian Imperial Bushmen. =Kelly.=--Maj.-Gen. W. Freeman Kelly. Entered 1867; Maj.-Gen., 1900. _Staff Service_--Brig. Maj., Egypt, 1884-87; A.M.S. and A.D.C. to G.O.C., Cape of Good Hope, 1888; D.A.A., Cape of Good Hope, 1888-90; A.A.G., S. Africa, 1890-93; D.A.G., Headquarters, Ireland, 1894-99; Spec. Serv., S. Africa, 1899-1900; D.A.G. (Brig.-Gen. on Staff) S. Africa, 1900. _War Service_--N.W. Frontier, India, 1876; Egyptian Campaign, 1882-84 (medal; bronze star); Soudan, 1884 (Despatches; 2 clasps; 4th class Medjidie; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.); Soudan, 1885 (Despatches; 2 clasps); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Kelly-Kenny.=--Lieut.-Gen. T. Kelly-Kenny, C.B. Commanding Sixth Division. Entered 1858; Maj.-Gen. 1897. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to G.O.C., Cape of Good Hope, 1859-60; D.A.Q.M.G., Bombay, 1869-70; A.A.G., N. Dist., 1887-89; A.A.G., N.E. Dist., 1889-92; A.A.G., Headquarters of Army, 1893; A.A.G., Aldershot Dist., 1893-96; Maj.-Gen., Aldershot, 1896-97; Insp. Gen. Aux. Forces and Recg. Headquarters of Army, 1897-99; Lieut.-Gen. Commanding Troops, Aldershot, 1899; Lieut.-Gen., S. Africa, 1899. _War Service_--China War, 1860 (Despatches; medal with clasp); Abyssinian Ex., 1867-68 (Despatches; medal); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff; also commanding portion of Lines of Communication. =Kemp.=--G. Kemp, M.P. (Yeomanry Cavalry). This patriotic officer, Capt. Duke of Lancaster's Own (Y.C.), born in 1866, is the son of the late Mr. G. Tawke Kemp. He married the third daughter of the 3rd Earl of Ellesmere. =Kenna.=--Capt. P. Aloysius Kenna, #V.C.#, 21st Lancers. Entered 1886; Capt., 1895. _Staff Service_--Assist. Prov.-Marshal, S. Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches; #V.C.#; Egyptian medal with clasp; medal); S. African War, 1899-1900 (Despatches). =Kenney.=--Lieut.-Col. A. H. Kenney, C.M.G., R.E. Entered 1873; Lieut.-Col., 1900. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1878-80 (medal with clasp); Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (Despatches; medal with 2 clasps). =Kerr.=--Capt. F. W. Kerr, D.S.O. Entered 1886; Capt., 1896. _War Service_--Op. in Chitral, 1895 (Despatches; D.S.O.; medal with clasp); Op. N.W. Frontier of India, 1897-98; Dargai (2 clasps); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Kerry= (Earl of).--H. W. Edmund Petty-Fitzmaurice, Lieut. Irish Guards; A.D.C. (extra) to Field-Marshal Com.-in-Chief the Forces, S. Africa, Feb. 1900. =Kirkpatrick.=--Lieut.-Col. W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1st Batt. York and Lancashire Regiment. Entered 1874; Lieut.-Col., 1897. _Staff Service_--Adjt. Aux. Forces. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex., 1882 (Despatches; medal with clasp; bronze star; Brev. of Maj.). =Kitchener of Khartoum.=--Maj.-Gen. Lord Kitchener of Khartoum, R.E., G.C.B., K.C.M.G. Entered 1871; Maj.-Gen., 1896. _Staff Service_--Employed with Egyptian Army, 1883-85; D.A.A.G. and Q.M.G., Egypt, 1884-85; employed with Egyptian Army, 1886; Gov.-Gen. Red Sea Littoral and Comdt., Suakim, 1886-88; A.D.C. to the Queen, 1888-96; Maj.-Gen. (Chief of Staff), S. Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (Despatches; medal with clasp; bronze star; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.); Op. round Suakim, 1888, severely wounded; Soudan, 1888-89 (Despatches, Jan. 1889; Despatches, Sept. 1889; 2 clasps; C.B.); Ex. to Dongola, 1896 (Maj.-Gen. for distinguished service; K.C.B.; 1st class Osmanieh; Egyptian medal with 2 clasps); Nile Ex., 1897 (Despatches; clasp to Egyptian medal); Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches, May and Sept. 1898; raised to Peerage; G.C.B., and thanked by both Houses of Parliament; clasps to Egyptian medal; medal); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff.[21] =Kitchener.=--Brig.-Gen. F. W. Kitchener. Entered 1876; Brev.-Col., 1898. _Staff Service_--D.A.A.G. for Inst., Bombay, 1891-96; Spec. Serv., Egypt, 1896; Specially employed with Egyptian Army, 1897-99; Brig.-Gen., Inf. Brig., S. Africa, 1900. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1878-79-80 (Despatches; medal with clasp); Ex. to Dongola (Despatches; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.; 4th Class Osmanieh; Egyptian medal with 2 clasps); Nile Ex., 1897; Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches; Brev. of Col.; 3rd class Medjidie; 3 clasps to Egyptian medal; medal); S. African War, 1899-1900 (Despatches); on Staff. =Knox.=--Maj.-Gen. Charles E. Knox. Commanding 13th Brig. Entered 1865; Col., 1889. _Staff Service_--Maj.-Gen. Inf. Brig., Aldershot, 1899; Maj.-Gen. Inf. Brig., S. Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Bechuanaland Ex., 1884-85 (honourably mentioned; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff; severely wounded at Paardeberg. =Knox.=-Lieut.--Col. E. C. Knox, 18th Hussars. In ranks three years; Lieut., 18th Hussars, 1882; Lieut.-Col., 1900. _War Service_--Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (medal with clasp; bronze star); S. African War, 1899-1900; Ladysmith Relief Force (Despatches). =Knox.=--Maj.-Gen. W. G. Knox, C.B., R.A. Entered 1867; Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--A.M.S. and A.D.C. to G.O.C., Bermuda, 1892-94; Col. on Staff, Natal, 1899-1900; Maj.-Gen. Inf. Brig., S. Africa, 1900. _War Service_--Abyssinian Ex., 1887-88 (medal); Ashanti War, 1873-74 (medal with clasp); Afghan War, 1878-79 (Despatches; medal with clasp); S. African War, 1879; Zulu Campaign (Despatches; medal with clasp; Brev. of Maj.); S. African War, 1899-1900; Col. on Staff; Advance Depôt, Ladysmith; Lines of Communication; afterwards G.O.C. Inf. Brig. =Kruger.=--Stephen J. Paul Kruger, President of the Transvaal Republic from 1882 to 1900. Born at Colesberg, Cape Colony, 1825. For character sketch _see_ vol. i. p. 110. =Lagden.=--Sir Godfrey Yeatman Lagden, K.C.M.G., C.M.G. Commissioner of Basutoland; Clerk to Secretary of Government of the Transvaal under British Administration, 1878; Private Secretary to Sir O. Lawson, Sir W. Bellairs, and Sir Evelyn Wood, while administering the Government; Secretary to the Transvaal Royal Commission for Compensation Claims, 1881; War Correspondent in Egypt, 1882; Colonial Secretary of Sierra Leone, 1883; Secretary and Accountant in Basutoland, 1884; Assistant Commissioner, 1885; Acting Commissioner of Swaziland, 1892; Resident Commissioner of Basutoland, 1893. Sir Godfrey, whose splendid diplomacy and tact have kept the Basuto Chief and his tribe from launching themselves into the South African complication, is the son of the late Rev. R. Dowse Lagden, and was born in 1851. Lady Lagden, whom he married in 1881, is the daughter of Bishop Bousfield of Pretoria. =Lambton.=--Lieut.-Col. Hon. C. Lambton, D.S.O., 5th Fusiliers. Entered, 5th Foot, 1876; Lieut.-Col. Northumberland Fusiliers, 1900. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Lieut.-Gen. and Gen. Gov. Ireland, 1886-89. _War Service_--Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches; D.S.O.; Egyptian medal with clasp; medal); South African War, 1899-1900 (Despatches, 26th Jan. 1900). =Lambton.=--Capt. Hon. Hedworth Lambton, R.N., C.B., H.M.S. _Powerful_. Entered the Navy 1870; Capt., 1889. _War Service_--Egyptian War, 1882 (medal with 2 clasps; 2nd class Medjidie; bronze star). This gallant officer, who performed such excellent service at Ladysmith and was decorated for his bravery, was born in 1856. He is a son of the 2nd Earl of Durham, and brother of the present earl. He acted as Private Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty in 1894-97. =Law.=--Lieut.-Col. C. H. Law, 2nd Batt. Dorset Regiment. Entered 1869; Lieut.-Col., 1897. _Staff Service_--Adjt. Volunteers, 1887-92. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1878-79 (medal); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Lawley.=--The Hon. Arthur Lawley, Administrator of Matabeleland since 1898. Born Nov. 12, 1860; fourth son of the 2nd Baron Wenlock; married a daughter of Sir Edward Cunard, 2nd Bart., 1885; formerly Captain 10th Hussars; Private Secretary to the Duke of Westminster, 1892-96. =Lawson.=--Brev. Lieut.-Col. H. M. Lawson, R.E. Entered 1877; Brev. Lieut.-Col., 1898. _Staff Service_--D.A.A.G., Dublin Dist., 1889-92; D.A.Q.M.G. Headquarters of Army, 1893-98; Specially employed with Egyptian Army, 1898-99; A.A.G., S. Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex., 1884 (medal with clasp; bronze star; 5th class Medjidie); Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (Despatches; 2 clasps; Brev. of Maj.); Nile Ex., 1898, dangerously wounded; (Despatches; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.; Egyptian medal with clasp; medal); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff; Ladysmith. =Leary.=--Lieut.-Col. T. G. Leary. This officer served with distinction with the Transkei Territories Contingent. =Le Gallais.=--Lieut.-Col. P. W. J. Le Gallais, 8th Hussars. Entered 1881; Brev.-Col., 1898. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Maj.-Gen., Bengal, 1890-92; Employed with Egyptian Army, 1897-98; Mil.-Sec. to Viceroy, India, 1899; Spec. Serv., S. Africa, 1899; A.A.G., S. Africa, 1900. _War Service_--Nile Ex., 1897 (Egyptian medal with clasp); Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches, May and Sept., 1898; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.; 4th class Osmanieh; 2 clasps for Egyptian medal; medal); S. African War, 1899-1900, Commanding mixed force. This distinguished officer was killed in the engagement at Bothaville on the 5th of November. =Legge.=--Lieut.-Col. Norton Legge, D.S.O., 20th Hussars. Killed in action on 13th Dec. 1900. Entered 1882; Major, 1898. _Staff Service_--Employed with Egyptian Army, 1894-96 and 1898. _War Service_--Soudan Ex., 1885 (medal with clasp; bronze star); Soudan, 1885-86 (Despatches); Ex. to Dongola, 1896 (Despatches; D.S.O.; Egyptian medal with 2 clasps); Nile Ex., 1897 (clasp to Egyptian medal); Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches, 1898; clasp to Egyptian medal; medal); S. African War, 1899-1900, Comdg. Mtd. Inf. Corps. =Lessard.=--Lieut.-Col. F. L. Lessard. This gallant officer served with the Royal Canadian Dragoons. =Leuchars.=--Lieut.-Col. G. Leuchars. This officer commanded the Umvoti Mounted Rifles with distinction. =Lewis.=--Brev. Maj. Vernon Lewis, 2nd Batt. Royal Scots Fusiliers. This promising young officer, who lost his life at Pieters Hill at the age of twenty-eight, had seen a considerable amount of service, both with the Chitral Relief Force and with the West African Frontier Force. He took part in operations on the Niger; was mentioned in Despatches, and honourably mentioned by the Colonial Office; he was awarded the medal with clasp, and the Brevet of Major, dated October 10, 1899, his commission as Captain bearing date of the preceding day. Throughout Gen. Buller's operations he greatly distinguished himself by his intelligence and daring, and through his exertions the passage of the Tugela, which ultimately proved to be the key to Ladysmith, was discovered. =Leyds.=--Willem Johannes Leyds, Doctor at Law, Plenipotentiary Extraordinary of the S. African Republic, Attorney-General S. African Republic, 1884. Dr. Leyds, who has been the principal wirepuller in the political intrigues of Mr. Kruger, was born at Java in 1859. He was recommended to Mr. Kruger in 1884 by Professor Moltzer of Amsterdam University as a young man of promise. His abilities are undoubted--the use he has made of them open to question. He is said to be Mr. Kruger's _alter ego_, and he has certainly worked hard in the cause of the Krugerites. =Lloyd.=--Lieut.-Col. F. Lloyd, D.S.O., Grenadier Guards. Entered 1874; Commanding Guards' Depôt, Aug. 1896; Lieut.-Col., 1898. _Staff Service_-Comdt. Schools of Inst. for Mil. and Vols., London, 1894-96. _War Service_--Soudan Ex., 1885 (Despatches; medal with clasp; bronze star); Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches; D.S.O.; Egyptian medal with clasp; medal); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Lloyd.=--Col. G. E. Lloyd, D.S.O., West Riding Regiment. Entered 1876; Col., 1897. _Staff Service_--Employed with Egyptian Army, 1884-96; Gov. of Red Sea Littoral and Comdt., Suakim, 1894-96. _War Service_--Jowaki Ex., 1877 (medal with clasp); Afghan War, 1878-79 (medal with clasp); Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (Despatches; medal with clasp; bronze star; Brev. of Maj.); Soudan, 1885-86-87, 1888-89; (Despatches, 1886; D.S.O.; Despatches, 1887; 3rd class Medjidie; Despatches, Jan. 1889; Despatches, Sept. 1889; 2 clasps); Ex. to Dongola, 1896 (Despatches; promoted Lieut.-Col.; medal). This distinguished officer, born in 1855, lost his life while gallantly leading his men in the fight of 29th of Nov. 1900. =Loch.=--Capt. Lord Edward D. Loch, D.S.O., Grenadier Guards. Entered, Grenadier Guards, 1893; Capt., 1899. _Staff Service_--Div. Signalling Officer, S. Africa. _War Service_--Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches; D.S.O.; Egyptian medal with clasp; medal); S. African War; on Staff. =Longford= (5th Earl).--Thomas Pakenham, Capt. 2nd Life Guards. Lord Longford, who has been serving with Yeomanry Cavalry, was born in 1864. He is the son of the 4th Earl and the daughter of Lord Dynevor, and was married in 1899 to the daughter of the 7th Earl of Jersey. =Lonsdale= (5th Earl).--Hugh Cecil Lowther. This patriotic peer, now serving as A.A.G. with Imperial Yeomanry, has occupied the positions of Hon. Col. of 1st Cumberland Volunteer Artillery since 1884, and Hon. Col. 3rd Batt. Border Regiment since 1891. He was born in 1857, and married in 1878 the daughter of the 10th Marquis of Huntly. =Lowe.=--Lieut.-Col. W. H. M. Lowe, 7th Dragoon Guards. Entered 1881; Lieut.-Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--Spec. Serv., Burmese Ex., 1886-87. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex., 1882 (medal with clasp; bronze star); Burmese Ex., 1886-89 (medal with 2 clasps); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Lumsden.=--Col. Dougall Lumsden. This patriotic volunteer, through whose exertions "Lumsden's Horse" came into being, has passed much of his life in tea-planting in India, but nevertheless has perpetually interested himself in the Volunteer movement. When the demand for extra troops for the Transvaal arose, he cabled an offer to provide a corps, and soon after Lumsden's Horse with its gallant promoter (who had spent over £3000 in his dashing work), took ship for S. Africa! _See_ vol. iii. p. 159. =Lysaght.=--Lieut.-Col. J. D. Lysaght. Entered Army Pay Dept. 1881; Lieut.-Col., 1899. _War Service_--Soudan Ex., 1885 (medal with clasp; bronze star); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Lyttelton.=--Maj. Gen. Hon. Neville G. Lyttelton, C.B., Commanding 4th Brigade. _War Service_--Jowaki Ex., 1877 (medal with clasp); Egyptian Ex., 1882 (Despatches; medal with clasp; bronze star; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.; 4th class Osmanieh); Nile Ex. (Despatches; promoted Maj. Gen. for distinguished service; thanked by both Houses of Parliament; Egyptian medal with clasp; medal); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. Gen. Lyttelton is not only a remarkably fine soldier, but an excellent cricketer. He is the son of 4th Baron Lyttelton, was born in 1845, and married a daughter of the Rt. Hon. J. Stuart Wortley. =Macbean.=--Capt. J. A. E. Macbean, D.S.O., 1st Batt. Royal Dublin Fusiliers. _War Service_--Nile Ex., 1897 (Despatches; 2 clasps to Egyptian medal); Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches; D.S.O.; 2 clasps to Egyptian medal); S. African War, 1899-1900; Brig.-Maj. Inf. Brig. Killed in action, 13th of December 1900. =MacCartie.=--C. F. MacCartie, C.I.E. A retired Indian civilian attached to Kitchener's Horse. The son of a Yorkshire parson, he was well known in hunting, sporting, and steeple-chasing circles in India. He served as Private Secretary to Lord Wenlock, Gov. of Madras, and also joined the mounted infantry in the Burmese War, and hunted dacoits with Sir Penn Symons. At the outbreak of the S. African War he volunteered, and at Driefontein achieved the dearest wish of his heart, "to die in his boots!" =M'Calmont.=--H. L. B. M'Calmont, M.P. Major M'Calmont was among the first who volunteered to go to the front. He was formerly in the Scots Guards, and for some years has been associated with the 4th Batt. Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Like many other wealthy men of this marvellous period, he left the lap of luxury for the risks and hardships of the fight rather than neglect the duties of a Briton. =Mac Cormac.=--Sir William Mac Cormac, 1st Baronet. Created, 1897; Kt., 1881; K.C.V.O., 1898. Consulting Surgeon to the Forces in S. Africa; President of Royal College of Surgeons of England and Member of the Court of Examiners, Royal College of Surgeons, and Examiner of H.M. Naval Medical Service. Sir William is covered with medical honours acquired in England, France, Italy, Prussia, Sweden, Portugal, Bavaria, Spain, and Turkey. He was created a baronet on the occasion of the Queen's Jubilee in 1897. He is the eldest son of Dr. Henry Mac Cormac, M.D., and was born at Belfast in 1836. He has performed signal services in the cause of science and humanity during the present war. =MacDonald.=--Brig.-Gen. Hector A. MacDonald, C.B., D.S.O. Became Lieut. Gordon Highlanders, 1881; Col., 1900. _Staff Service_--Employed with Egyptian Constabulary, 1885-88; employed with Egyptian Army, 1898-99; A.D.C. to the Queen, 1898; Brig.-Gen., India, 1899-1900; Brig.-Gen. Inf. Brig., S. Africa, Jan. 1900. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1879-80 (Despatches; medal with 3 clasps; bronze star; promoted to Second Lieut.); S. African War, 1881; Majuba (Despatches); Soudan Ex., 1885; Soudan, 1888-89 (Despatches, Jan. 1889; 3rd class Medjidie; Despatches, Sept. 1889; medal with 2 clasps; bronze star; D.S.O.); Capture of Tokar (3rd class Osmanieh; clasp to bronze star); Ex. to Dongola, 1896 (Despatches; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.; Egyptian medal with 2 clasps); Nile Ex., 1897 (Despatches, 1898; 2 clasps to Egyptian medal); Nile Ex., 1898; battles of Atbara and Khartoum (Despatches, May and Sept. 1898; A.D.C. to the Queen; Brev. of Col.; thanked by both Houses of Parliament; 2 clasps to Egyptian medal); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff; wounded at Paardeberg. This remarkable officer, the hero of exploits too numerous to mention, well has earned for himself the title of "Fighting Mac." For ten years he served in the ranks, and then was offered his choice between a V.C. and a commission. Wisely for himself, and luckily for the British Army, he chose the latter, and was able at once to make his rapid way to the foremost rank among the warriors of the age. =Macdonald.=--Maj. R. P. Macdonald, D.S.O. (Reserve of Off.) Joined Hampshire Regt., 1878; Maj., 1892; retired, 1897. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1879-80 (medal); Burmese Ex., 1885-89 (Despatches, 1887-89; medal with 2 clasps; D.S.O.); S. African War, Spec. Serv. =M'Donnell.=--Lieut.-Col. J. M'Donnell, R.A. Entered 1872; Lieut.-Col., 1897. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1879-80 (medal); S. African War, 1899-1900; Klip Kraal, severely wounded. =M'Donnell.=--Hon. Schomberg Kerr M'Donnell, C.B. Mr. Schomberg M'Donnell, who is numbered among our noble citizen-soldiers, was born in 1861. He is the fifth son of the 5th Earl of Antrim, and till the war acted as Principal Private Secretary to the Marquis of Salisbury. =Mackay.=--Col. Hon. J. A. K. Mackay. This valuable officer commanded the New South Wales Mounted Infantry. =Mackenzie.=--Col. Colin John Mackenzie, Seaforth Highlanders. Entered 1881; Brev.-Maj., 1899. _Staff Service_--Spec. Serv., Burmese Ex., 1887; A.D.C. to Com.-in-Chief, E. Indies, 1890-92; D.A.A.G. in Bengal and Bombay, 1892-96; Dir. of Mil. Intell., S. Africa, and Mil. Gov., Johannesburg, 1900. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex., 1882 (medal with clasp; bronze star); Burmese Ex., 1886-88 (medal with 2 clasps); Hazara Ex., 1888 (Despatches; clasp); Hunza-Nagar Ex., 1891-92 (Despatches; Brev. of Maj.; clasp); Waziristan Ex., 1894-95 (Despatches; clasp); Nile Ex., 1898; Khartoum; S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Mackenzie.=--Lieut.-Col. G. F. C. Mackenzie, Suffolk Regiment. Entered 1876; Lieut.-Col., 1900. _Staff Service_--Adjt. Volunteers, 1890-95. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1879-80 (medal); S. African War, 1899-1900. =M'Kenzie.=--Maj. D. M. M'Kenzie. This officer served with distinction with the Natal Carabineers. =Mackinnon.=--Col. W. H. Mackinnon. Entered Grenadier Guards, 1870; Col., 1889. _Staff Service_--Assist. Mil. Sec. to Gov. and Com.-in-Chief, Malta, 1884-85; Priv. Sec. to Gov., Madras, 1885-86; A.A.G., Home Dist., 1893-98; A.A.G., Home Dist. (temp.), 1899. This officer commanded C.I.V. troops, and held a unique position "hitherto unprecedented in the annals of our military history." =MacMunn.=--Captain G. F. MacMunn, D.S.O., R.A. Entered 1888; Capt., 1898. _Staff Service_--Station Staff Off. (graded Staff Capt.), S. Africa, 1900; Assist. Prov.-Marshal, S. Africa, May 1900. _War Service_--Burma, 1892 (Despatches; medal with clasp; D.S.O.); Burma, 1893; Op. on N.W. Frontier of India, 1897-98 (medal with 3 clasps); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =MacNeece.=--Lieut.-Col. J. G. MacNeece. Lieut.-Col. R.A.M.C., August 1898. _War Service_--Nile Ex., 1898 (medal with clasp; medal); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Mahon.=--Brig.-Gen. Bryan Mahon, D.S.O. Entered 1883; Brev.-Col., March 1900. _Staff Service_--Employed with Egyptian Army, 1893-1900; Spec. Serv., S. Africa; Commanding Colonial Mounted Troops, Kimberley Column, S. Africa; Brig.-Gen., S. Africa, May 1900. _War Service_--Ex. to Dongola, 1896 (Despatches; D.S.O.; Egyptian medal with 2 clasps); Nile Ex., 1897 (clasp to Egyptian medal); Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches; Brev. of Lieut.-Col., 2 clasps to Egyptian medal); Nile Ex., 1899 (Despatches; Brev. of Col.); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. This dashing officer, whose name will ever be associated with the relief of Mafeking, was born in 1862. He is the son of the late Mr. H. Mahon, of Belleville, Co. Galway, and the daughter of Col. Seymour, Ballymore Castle, Co. Galway. =Mainwaring.=--Col. R. B. Mainwaring, C.M.G. Entered 1871; Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--A.A.G. S. Dist., 1899; A.A.G. S. Africa, 1899-1900. _War Service_--Ashanti War, 1873-74 (medal); Burmese Ex., 1885-86 (medal with clasp); Hazara Ex., 1891; S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Makins.=--G. H. Makins. Mr. Makins acted as Consulting Surgeon to the Forces in S. Africa. =Mapleton.=--Lieut.-Col. R. W. Mapleton, M.B., R.A.M.C. Lieut.-Col., 1893. _War Service_--S. African War, 1881; Soudan Ex., 1885 (medal with clasp; bronze star); S. African War, 1899-1900; Sen. Med. Officer Lines of Communication. =March= (Earl of).--C. H. Gordon-Lennox, eldest son of 6th Duke of Richmond. Col. 3rd R. Sussex Regt. =Marlborough= (9th Duke).--C. R. J. Spencer-Churchill. The Duke of Marlborough, who was the first of the British to greet our prisoners in Pretoria, has been serving with the Yeomanry Cavalry. As was natural to one of his glorious martial line, he volunteered at the first sniff of battle. He is as yet a very young man, having been born in 1871, but he has already shown wonderful zeal and activity in the affairs, political and military, of the nation. He owes not a little to America, where, in 1895, he married the daughter of Mr. William Vanderbilt of New York. The Duke is staunch Conservative, a keen sportsman and dashing polo-player. =Marling.=--Maj. P. S. Marling, #V.C.#, 18th Hussars. Entered 1880; Maj., 1896. _Staff Service_--Adjt. Yeomanry Cavalry. _War Service_--S. African War, 1881; Egyptian Ex., 1882-84 (medal with clasp; bronze star); Soudan, Battles of Teb and Tamai (Despatches; 6th May 1884; 2 clasps; #V.C.#); Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (2 clasps); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Marshall.=--Maj. G. Marshall. This officer commanded the gallant regiment known as Marshall's Horse, which was composed of the Grahamstown Volunteers and the Witenhage Volunteer Rifles. =Marshall.=--Maj.-Gen. G. H. Marshall, Commanding R.A. Entered 1861; Col., 1897. _Staff Service_--Chief Inst. Sch. of Gunnery, 1893-97; Brig.-Gen. Commanding R.A., Aldershot Dist., 1897-99; Maj.-Gen. Commanding R.A., S. Africa, 1899. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900. =Marshall.=--Capt. W. T. Marshall, #V.C.#, 19th Hussars. Served for ten years in ranks; became Hon. Capt. 20th Jan. 1895. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex., 1882-84 (medal with clasp; bronze star); Soudan, 1884; Battle of Teb and Tamai (Despatches; 2 clasps; #V.C.#); S. African War, 1899-1900. This dashing officer received the Victoria Cross for his conspicuous bravery during the cavalry charge at El-Teb in bringing Lieut.-Col. P. H. S. Barrow, 19th Hussars, out of action. That officer, having been severely wounded and his horse killed, was on the ground surrounded by the enemy, when Quartermaster-Sergeant W. T. Marshall, who stayed behind with him, seized his hand and dragged him through the enemy back to the regiment. Had Lieut.-Col. Barrow been left behind he must have been killed. =Martin.=--Lieut.-Col. H. Martin, M.B., Lieut.-Col. R.A.M.C., March 1900. _War Service_--Zhob Valley Ex., 1884; S. African War, 1899-1900. =Martyr.=--Lieut.-Col. Cyril G. Martyr, D.S.O. Entered 1880; Brev. Lieut.-Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--Employed with Egyptian Army, 1886-96; Spec. Serv., Egypt, 1896; employed in Uganda Protectorate, 1897-99; Spec. Serv., S. Africa, 1899-1900; Brig.-Maj. S. Africa, April 1900. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex., 1882 (medal with clasp; bronze star); Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (2 clasps); Soudan, 1888-91 (clasp; 4th class Medjidie); Toski (clasp); Capture of Tokar, 1891 (4th class Osmanieh; clasp to bronze star); Ex. to Dongola, 1896 (Despatches; D.S.O.; Egyptian medal with 2 clasps; 2 clasps); Uganda, 1898 (Despatches; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.; medal); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. [Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL H. L. SMITH-DORRIEN, D.S.O. Photo by Bassano, London] =Maxse.=--Lieut.-Col. F. I. Maxse, D.S.O. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to G.O.C. Scottish Dist., 1893-94; A.D.C. to Gov. and Com.-in-Chief, Malta, 1894; employed with Egyptian Army, 1897-99; Spec. Serv., S. Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Nile Ex., 1897 (Despatches; Egyptian medal with 2 clasps); Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches, May and Sept, 1898; D.S.O.; 2 clasps to Egyptian medal; medal); Nile Ex., 1890 (Despatches; Brev. Lieut.-Col.); S. African War, 1899-1900; Transport Officer Mounted Inf.; Assist. to Mil. Gov., Pretoria. =Maxwell.=--Maj.-Gen. J. G. Maxwell, D.S.O. Entered 1881; Brev. Lieut.-Col., 1900. _Staff Service_--Staff Capt. Mil. Police, Egypt, 1883-85; employed with Egyptian Army, 1886-97, and 1897-1900; Spec. Serv., S. Africa, Feb. 1900 to April 1900; Maj.-Gen. Inf. Brig., S. Africa, April 1900. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex., 1882 (medal with clasp; bronze star); Soudan Ex., 1854-85 (Despatches; clasp); Soudan, 1885-86-88-89 (Despatches; D.S.O.); Action at Gamaizah (Despatches; 4th class Osmanieh; clasp); Action at Toski (Despatches; Brev. of Maj.; clasp); Ex. to Dongola, 1896 (Despatches; Brev. of Lieut.-Col., Egyptian medal with 2 clasps); Nile Ex., 1897 (Despatches; Gaz. Jan. 1898; clasp to Egyptian medal); Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches; Brev. of Col.; thanked by both Houses of Parliament; 2 clasps to Egyptian medal); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =May.=--Lieut.-Col. E. S. May, R.F.A. Entered 1875; Maj., Nov. 1891. _Staff Service_--Inst. in Mil. Topog., R. Mil. Acad., 1885-91; Prof. R. Mil. Acad., 1891-95. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900; Ladysmith. =Mellor.=--Lieut.-Col. L. S. Mellor, Liverpool Regt. Entered 1873; Lieut.-Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--Adjt. Aux. Forces, 1886-91. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1878-79 (medal with clasp); S. African War, 1899-1900; Ladysmith. =Menzies.=--Maj. M. Menzies. This dashing officer served with the Ceylon Mounted Infantry. =Merriman.=--Hon. John Xavier Merriman. Mr. Merriman is the son of Bishop N. J. Merriman, of Grahamstown. He entered the Cape Parliament as Member for Aliwal North in 1869; strongly opposed Responsible Government; joined Mr. Molteno's administration in 1875 as Commissioner of Crown Lands and Public Works. He was dismissed by Sir Bartle Frere, February 1878, and returned to office as Commissioner under Sir Thomas Scanlen in 1881. He retired in 1884; sat for Namaqualand since 1878; turned Transvaaler and manager of the Langlaagte Estate in 1889; a few months later he became once more a colonist; joined the Rhodes' Ministry as Treasurer-General in 1890, and helped to smash it in 1893. =Metcalfe.=--Lieut.-Col. C. T. E. Metcalfe, Rifle Brigade. Entered 1874; Lieut.-Col., 1898. _War Service_--Burmese Ex., 1886-87 (medal with clasp); Op. on N.W. Frontier of India, 1897-98 (medal with clasp); S. African War, 1889-1900; severely wounded. =Methuen= (3rd Baron).--Lieut.-Gen. Paul Sanford Methuen, K.C.V.O., C.B., C.M.G. Entered S. F. Guards, 1864; Col., 1888; Lieut.-Gen., 1898. _Staff Service_--Brig.-Maj. Home Dist., 1871-76; Spec. Serv., Ashanti Ex., 1873-74; Assist. Mil. Sec., Headquarters, Ireland, 1877; Mil. Attaché, Berlin, 1878-81; A.A. and Q.M.G. Home Dist., 1881-82; Comdt. at Headquarters, (A.A. and Q.M.G.), Ex. Forces, Egypt, 1882; A.A. and Q.M.G., Home Dist., 1882-84; D.A.G., S. Africa, 1888-90; Maj.-Gen. Home Dist., 1892-97; Lieut.-Gen., Inf. Div., S. Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Ashanti War, 1873-74 (medal); Egyptian Ex., 1882 (Despatches; medal with clasp; bronze star; 3rd class Osmanieh; C.B.); Bechuanaland Ex., 1884-85 (hon. mentioned; C.M.G.); Op. on N.W. Frontier of India, 1897-98 (Despatches; medal with 2 clasps); S. African War, 1899-1900. Lord Methuen, born 1845, is the son of the 2nd Baron, and was married in 1879 to the daughter of Sir F. H. Hervey-Bathurst, Bart., and after her death to the daughter of Mr. D. A. Sanford. This officer, at the commencement of the war, enjoyed the distinction of being the youngest Lieut.-Gen. in the Army. He had hitherto taken a prominent part in promoting the efficiency of the Metropolitan Volunteer Corps, which services cannot be too highly estimated. Owing to his remarkable and increasing activity during the present war, he has proved himself one of the chief mainstays of Lord Roberts's operations. =Meyer.=--General Lucas Meyer. Boer commandant, who got into bad odour with his compatriots for his precipitancy at the battle of Glencoe. =Micklem.=--Lieut. H. A. Micklem, D.S.O., R.E. Entered 1891. _Staff Service_--Employed with Egyptian Army, 1897-99; Rail. Staff Officer, S. Africa, 1900. _War Service_--Nile Ex., 1897 (Egyptian medal with clasp); Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches; D.S.O.; 4th class Medjidie; clasp to Egyptian medal; medal); S. African War, 1899-1900. Severely wounded. Superintendent of Works, and on Staff. =Mildmay.=--F. B. Mildmay, M.P. This patriotic politician and notable polo player and sportsman, born in 1864, is the son of Mr. H. B. Mildmay, Shoreham, Kent, and Flete, Devon. He was originally a Liberal, but after 1886 became a Liberal Unionist. =Miles.=--Col. H. S. G. Miles, M.V.O., A.A.G. Entered 1869. _Staff Service_--Garr. Inst., Aldershot, 1881-87; D.A.A. and Q.M.G., D.A.A.G. for Inst., Aldershot, 1887-88; D.A.Q.M.G., Headquarters of Army, 1889-93; A.A.G., Aldershot, 1893-98; Comdt. Staff Coll., 1898-99; A.A.G., S. Africa, 1899-1900; Chief Staff Officer, 1900; Col. on Staff, Natal, 1900. _War Service_--S. Africa, 1899-1900, on Staff (Despatches). =Miller.=--Sir James P. Miller, 2nd Batt. Yeomanry Cavalry. Sir James, born 1864, was formerly in the 14th Hussars. He retired in 1892, but promptly got into harness when his services were required. He is Master of the Berwickshire Hunt, and won the Derby with "Sainfoin" in 1890. In 1893 he married the daughter of 4th Baron Scarsdale. =Mills.=--Lieut.-Col. G. A. Mills, 1st Batt. Royal Dublin Fusiliers; Commandant at Estcourt. Entered 1873; Lieut.-Col., 1898. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to G.O.C., Ceylon, 1879-82; employed with Egyptian Constabulary, 1885-87. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900; slightly wounded. =Milner.=--Sir Alfred Milner, G.C.M.G., 1897; K.C.B., 1895; Governor of Cape Colony and High Commissioner of S. Africa since 1895; Private Secretary to Mr. Goschen (Chancellor of the Exchequer), 1887-89; Under-Secretary for Finance in Egypt, 1889-92; Chairman Board of Inland Revenue, 1892-97. Sir Alfred Milner, the only man who has been a match for Mr. Kruger, was born in 1854. He is the only son of Dr. C. Milner, M.D., and the daughter of General Ready (Governor of the Isle of Man). He had a distinguished scholastic career, and was alluded to by Dean Church as the "finest flower of culture that the University of Oxford has produced in our time." His masterly handling of affairs in South Africa has earned the admiration of a grateful nation. He is popular both as an individual and as a statesman, and Lord Rosebery's opinion that he has that "union of intellect with fascination which makes men mount high," is very generally endorsed. =Milton= (Viscount).--W. Charles de Meuron Wentworth Fitzwilliam, M.P., is among the gallant volunteers who have served with the Imperial Yeomanry. He is the son of the late Viscount Milton, M.P., and a daughter of the late Lord Charles Beauclerk. He was born in 1872, and married in 1896 the daughter of the Marquis of Zetland. =Money.=--Lieut.-Col. C. G. C. Money, C.B., 1st Batt. Northumberland Fusiliers. Entered 1872; Lieut.-Col., 1897. _Staff Service_--Employed with Army Pay Dept., 1885-89; Adjt. Volunteers, 1889-94. _War Service_--Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches; C.B.; Egyptian medal with clasp; medal); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Morris.=--Col. W. G. Morris, C.M.G., Col. on the Staff., Commanding Royal Engineers. Entered R.E. 1867; Col., 1898. _Staff Service_--Assist. Inst. in Surv., Sch. of Mil. Eng., 1877-82; Assist. Comdt., Sch. of Mil. Eng., 1895-98; Col. on Staff, S. Africa, 1898. Col. Morris, born in 1847, is the son of the late Lieut.-Col. W. J. Morris, H.E.I.C.S. =Mortimer.=--Col. W. H. Mortimer. Col., 1899. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex., 1882 (medal with clasp; bronze star); S. African War, 1899-1900; Chief Paymaster (Maritzburg). =Munro.=--Sir Hector Munro, 11th Bart., Hon. Lieut.-Col. 3rd Batt. Seaforth Highlanders; embodied Dec. 1899. =Murray.=--Brig.-Gen. J. Wolfe Murray. Entered R.A. 1872; Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--D.A.A. and Q.M.G. N. Brit. Dist., 1884; D.A.Q.M.G. (Intell. Br.) Headquarters of Army, 1884-87; D.A.A.G., 1887-90; Spec. Serv., Off. Headquarters of Army, 1892-94; D.A.A.G. for Inst., Aldershot, and D.A.A.G. for Aldershot, 1894-97; Spec. Serv., Ashanti, 1895-96; A.A.G., India, 1898-99; A.Q.M.G. (Intell. Headquarters), India, 1899; Col. on Staff, S. Africa, 1899; Brig.-Gen. on Staff, S. Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Ashanti Ex., 1895-96 (hon. mentioned; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.; star); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff; commanding Lines of Communication, Natal. =Napier.=--Col. Hon. J. S. Napier. Entered 1867; Brev. Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Gov. of Madras, 1869-72; A.D.C. to Viceroy of India, 1872; A.D.C. to Com.-in-Chief, E. Indies, 1872-73; Adjt. Aux. Forces, 1881-86; Insp. of Gymnasia, Aldershot, 1897-1900; Spec. Serv., S. Africa, 1899-1900. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1878-79-80 (Despatches, May, July, and Dec. 1880; Brev. of Maj.; medal with 3 clasps; bronze star); S. African War, 1881; S. African War, 1899-1900. =Nash.=--Lieut.-Col. W. F. Nash. Entered 1881; Lieut.-Col., S. Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Burmese Ex., 1889-90; S. African War, 1899-1900. =Nesbitt.=--Lieut.-Col. R. A. Nesbitt. This dashing officer commanded the splendid volunteer corps known as Nesbitt's Horse. =Nesbitt.=--Capt. R. C. Nesbitt, #V.C.# Mashonaland Mounted Police. This gallant officer, who was taken prisoner early in the war (_see_ vol. ii. p. 58), has seen a considerable amount of irregular service in Mashonaland and Gazaland. He was decorated for rescuing a party at the beginning of the Mashonaland rebellion in 1896. =Newall.=--Lieut.-Col. S. Newall. This gallant officer commanded the 5th Contingent New Zealand Mounted Infantry. =Nicholson.=--Maj. J. S. Nicholson, D.S.O., 7th Hussars. Entered 1874; Maj., 1899. _Staff Service_--Spec. Extra Regimental Employment, 1896-98; Comdt.-Gen. B.S.A. Police, 1898. _War Service_--Op. in S. Africa, 1896 (Despatches; D.S.O.); S. African War, 1899-1900, Commanding 1st Brig. Rhodesian Field Force. =Nicholson.=--Maj.-Gen. Sir W. G. Nicholson, K.C.B. Entered R.E. 1878; Col., 1891. _Staff Service_--A.A.G. for R.E., Bengal, 1885-90; Mil. Sec. to Com.-in-Chief in India, 1890-93; employed in Mil. Works Dept., India, 1893-95; D.A.G., Punjab, 1895-98; Adjt.-Gen. in India, 1898-99; Mil. Sec. to Field-Marshal Com.-in-Chief, S. Africa, 1899-1900; Dir. of Transport Maj.-Gen. S. Africa, 1900. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1878-79 (Despatches); 1879-80 (Despatches; medal with 3 clasps; bronze star; Brev. of Maj.); Egyptian Ex., 1882 (medal with clasp; bronze star; 4th class Osmanieh); Burmese Ex., 1886-87 (Despatches; medal with clasp; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.); Tirah, 1897-98 (Despatches; K.C.B.; medal with 2 clasps); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Norcott.=--Col. C. H. B. Norcott, 1st Batt. Rifle Brigade. Entered 1867; Brev.-Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Maj.-Gen., Bengal, 1884-88. _War Service_--Burmese Ex., 1888-89 (Despatches); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Norreys= (Lord).--Montague Charles Townley-Bertie, Imperial Yeomanry. Lord Norreys, born in 1860, is the eldest son of the 7th Earl of Abingdon. He married the daughter of the 4th Lord Wolverton. =Nugent.=--Maj. O. S. W. Nugent, D.S.O., King's Royal Rifle Corps. Entered 1882; Maj., 1899. _War Service_--Hazara Ex., 1891 (medal with clasp); Miranzai Ex., 1891 (Despatches; clasp); Isazai Ex., 1892; Op. in Chitral, 1895 (Despatches; medal with clasp; D.S.O.); S. African War, 1899-1900; seriously wounded at Dundee. =O'Dell.=--Lieut.-Col. T. J. O'Dell, A.M.S., A.A.G. Entered 1878; Lieut.-Col., A.S. Corps, Aug. 1900. _Staff service_--Dep. Assist. Com. Gen., Com. and Trans. Staff, 1886-88; D.A.A.G. S. Dist., 1894-97. _War service_--Egyptian Ex., 1884 (medal with clasp; bronze star); S. African War, 1889-1900. =Ogilvie.=--Maj. G. H. Ogilvie. This officer rendered valuable service with the Royal Canadian Artillery. =O'Leary.=--Col. W. M'Carthy O'Leary, 1st Batt. S. Lancs. Fusiliers. For career _see_ vol. iv. p. 150. =Orr-Ewing.=--Maj. J. A. Orr-Ewing, Imp. Yeomanry. This distinguished officer, born 1857, was the son of the late Sir A. Orr-Ewing, and married in 1898 the daughter of the 7th Duke of Roxburghe. He lost his life while gallantly fighting at Kheis on 28th of May 1900. =Otter.=--Col. W. C. Otter, A.D.C. This officer distinguished himself in command of the Royal Canadian Regiment of Infantry. =Paget.=--Maj.-Gen A. H. Paget. Scots Guards. Entered 1869; Col., 1893. _Staff Service_--Spec. Serv., Ashanti Ex., 1873-74; Maj.-Gen. Inf. Brig., S. Africa, April 1900. _War Service_--Ashanti War, 1873 (medal); Soudan Ex. 1885 (medal with clasp; bronze star); S. African War, 1899-1900 (Despatches); on Staff. =Park.=--Lieut.-Col. C. W. Park, 1st Devon Regiment. Entered 1875; Lieut.-Col., 1899. _Staff service_--D.A.A.G. Madras, 1892-93; A.A.G., Madras, 1893-97. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1878-80 (medal); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Parsons.=--Col. Sir C. S. B. Parsons, K.C.M.G. Entered R.A. 1874; Col., 1899. _Staff service_--Employed with Egyptian Army, 1883-84; A.D.C. to Gov. and Com.-in-Chief, Malta, 1884-85; A.D.C. to G.O.C. E. Dist., 1887-88; A.D.C. to G.O.C., Aldershot, 1889-92; employed with Egyptian Army, 1892-99; Gov. of Red Sea Littoral, and Comdt. Suakin, 1896-99; A.A.G. Woolwich Dist., 1899; Col. on Staff, Com. R.A. Curragh Dist., 1899-1900; Col. on Staff (R.A.) S. Africa, Jan. 1900, Feb. 1900; Col. on Staff (Assist. Insp. Gen. L. of C.) S. Africa, Feb. 1900. _War service_--S. African War, 1877-80; (Despatches, 1879; medal with clasp; Despatches, 1881); Egyptian Ex., 1882 (Despatches; medal with clasp; bronze star; 5th class Medjidie; Brev. of Maj.); Ex. to Dongola, 1896 (Despatches; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.; Egyptian medal with clasp); Nile Ex., 1897; Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches; Brev. of Col.; clasp to Egyptian medal; K.C.M.G.); S. African War, 1899-1900; Deputy Mil. Gov. of Northern Cape Colony and Comdt. W. Kimberley Dist. =Parsons.=--Col. L. W. Parsons. Entered 1870; Col., 1900. _Staff service_--Adjt. Aux. Forces, 1881-86; Col. on Staff (R.A.), S. Africa, April 1900. _War service_--S. African War, 1899-1900; (Despatches). =Peakman.=--Maj. T. C. Peakman. This dashing officer's unflagging energy in command of the Kimberley Light Horse is already well known. =Pennell.=--Capt. H. S. Pennell, #V.C.#, Derby Regt. Entered 1893. _War service_--Op. on N.W. Frontier of India, 1897-98 (Despatches; #V.C.#; medal with 2 clasps); S. African War, 1899-1900; Ladysmith Relief Force; wounded 27th Feb. =Phipps-Hornby.=--Maj. E. J. Phipps-Hornby, #V.C.#, R.A. Entered 1877; Maj., 1895. _War service_--Bechuanaland Ex., 1884-85; S. African War, 1899-1900 (#V.C.#, _see_ V.C. list). This notable officer and splendid polo player, born 1857, is a son of the late Admiral Phipps-Hornby. =Pickwoad.=--Col. E. H. Pickwoad, R.A. Entered 1873; Col., 1898. _Staff service_--Adjt. Aux. Forces, 1885-89. _War service_--Afghan War, 1878-79 (medal); S. African War, 1899-1900, Commanding Brig. Div. R.A.; Siege of Ladysmith; severely wounded. =Pilcher.=--Lieut.-Col. T. D. Pilcher, Bedfordshire Regiment. Entered 1879; Brev. Lieut.-Col., 1899. _Staff service_--D.A.A.G., Dublin Dist., 1895-97; Employed with W. African Frontier Force, 1897-99; Spec. Serv., S. Africa, 1899. _War service_--W. Africa, 1897-98 (Despatches; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.); S. African War, 1899-1900. Commanding Corps Mounted Infantry. =Pilkington.=--Lieut.-Col. H. L. Pilkington (Reserve of Officers). Col. Pilkington rendered conspicuous service with the 2nd West Australian Mounted Infantry. =Pilson.=--Maj. A. F. Pilson, Royal Dublin Fusiliers. Entered 1888; Brev. Maj., 1897. _Staff service_--Spec. Serv., S. Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Op. in S. Africa, 1896 (Despatches; Brev. of Maj.); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Pink.=--Lieut.-Col. F. J. Pink, D.S.O., R. W. Surrey Regiment. Entered 1878; Brev. Lieut.-Col., 1898. _Staff service_--D.A.A. and Q.M.G. Burmese Ex., 1887-89; employed with Egyptian Army, 1895-99. _War service_--Afghan War, 1879-80 (medal); Burmese Ex., 1886-89 (Despatches, Sept. 1887, Nov. 1889; medal with 2 clasps; D.S.O.); Ex. to Dongola, 1896 (Despatches; Egyptian medal with 2 clasps); Nile Ex., 1897 (Despatches; clasp to Egyptian medal); Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches, May and Sept. 1898; Brev. Lieut.-Col.; 2 clasps to Egyptian medal; medal). =Pirie.=--Duncan Vernon Pirie, M.P. This gallant officer retired from the army in 1898, after having acted as A.D.C. to Sir G. Graham in Egypt, and A.D.C. to the Governor of Ceylon, in which capacities he greatly distinguished himself. He is the eldest son of Mr. G. Pirie, was born in 1858, and married, in 1894, the daughter of 17th Baron Sempill. =Plumer.=--Lieut.-Col. H. C. O. Plumer, York and Lancaster Regiment. Entered 1876; Brev. Lieut.-Col., 1897. _Staff service_--D.A.A.G., Jersey, 1890-93; D.A.A.G., Aldershot, 1897-99; Spec. Serv., S. Africa, 1899. _War service_--Egyptian Ex., 1884 (Despatches; medal with clasp; bronze star; 4th class Medjidie); Op. S. Africa, 1896 (Despatches; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.); S. African War, 1899-1900; Spec. Serv.; wounded. =Pole-Carew.=--Lieut.-Gen. R. Pole-Carew, C.B. Entered, Coldstream Guards, 1869. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Viceroy of India, 1879; A.D.C. to Maj.-Gen., Afghan Campaign, 1879-80; Mil. Sec. to Com.-in-Chief, Madras, 1884-85; Mil. Sec. to Prov. Com.-in-Chief, Madras, 1885; Mil. Sec. to Com.-in-Chief, E. Indies, 1885-90; Comdt. Headquarters Staff, S. Africa, 1899; Maj.-Gen. Inf. Brig., S. Africa, 1899-1900; Lieut.-Gen. Inf. Div., S. Africa, 1900. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1879-80 (Despatches, Jan., May, and Dec., 1880); Egyptian Campaign, 1882 (medal with clasp; bronze star); Burmese Ex., 1886-87 (Despatches; C.B.); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff (Despatches). =Poore.=--Maj. R. M. Poore, 7th Hussars. Entered 1886; Brev.-Maj., 1898. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Gov. of Bombay, 1894-95; employed with Mil. Mounted Police, S. Africa, 1899; Prov.-Marshal, S. Africa, Nov. 1899. _War Service_--Op. in S. Africa, 1896-97 (Despatches; Brev. of Maj.); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Pratt.=--Lieut.-Col. A. S. Pratt, R.A. Entered 1874; Lieut.-Col., 1900. _Staff Service_--Inst. Sch. of Gunnery, 1886-91, 1891-95. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900. =Pretyman.=--Maj.-Gen. G. T. Pretyman, C.B., R.A. Entered 1865; Maj.-Gen., 1897; _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Maj.-Gen., Afghan Campaign, 1878-79; and to Lieut.-Gen., Afghan Campaign, 1879-80; Mil. Sec., Madras, 1881-84; A.A.G. for R.A., Bengal, 1887-89; Brig.-Gen., Bengal, 1889-94; Comdt. Headquarters, S. Africa, 1899-1900; Maj.-Gen., Mil. Gov., Bloemfontein, March 1900. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1878-79-80 (Despatches; medal with 3 clasps; bronze star; Brev. of Maj. and Lieut.-Col.); Isazai Ex., 1892; S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Price.=--Col. T. Price. This officer rendered conspicuous service with the Victorian Mounted Infantry. =Pritchard.=--Lieut. Harry Lionel Pritchard, D.S.O. Entered R.E., 1891. _Staff Service_--Spec. Serv., Ashanti, 1895-96; Spec. Serv., Egypt, 1896; employed with Egyptian Army, 1896-98; Specially employed, Cyprus, 1898-99; Staff Off. to Assist. Dir. of Railways., S. Africa, 1900. _War Service_--Ashanti Ex., 1895-96 (hon. mentioned; star); Ex. to Dongola (Despatches; 4th class Medjidie; Egyptian medal with clasp); Nile Ex., 1897 (clasp to Egyptian medal); Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches; D.S.O.; clasp to Egyptian medal); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Quill.=--Lieut.-Col. B. C. Quill. Entered 1872; Lieut.-Col., Feb. 1900. _Staff Service_--Assist. Insp. of Gymnasia, Aldershot, 1888-92; Spec. Serv., S. Africa, Feb. 1900. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex., 1882 (medal with clasp; bronze star); S. African War, 1899-1900; Spec. Serv. Officer. =Rawlinson.=--Lieut.-Col. Sir H. S. Rawlinson, 2nd Bart., D.S.O., Coldstream Guards. Entered 1884; Brev. Lieut.-Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Com.-in-Chief, E. Indies, 1885-86, and 1886-87; A.D.C. (Extra) to Com.-in-Chief, E. Indies, 1887; A.D.C. to Com.-in-Chief, E. Indies, 1887-88, and 1889-90; Brig.-Maj., Aldershot, 1895-98; D.A.A.G., Egypt, 1898; D.A.A.G., Natal, 1899-1900; A.A.G., S. Africa, March 1900. _War Service_--Burmese Ex., 1886-87 (Despatches); Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.; medal); S. African War, 1899-1900; Siege of Ladysmith. This well-known officer, born in 1864, is the son of the late General Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, Bart., the distinguished Orientalist. He married in 1890 the daughter of Mr. Coleridge Kennard. =Rawson.=--Lieut.-Col. H. E. Rawson. Entered 1872; Lieut.-Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--Sec. R.E. Committee, 1890-94. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900; Commanding R.E. Lines of Communication. =Reade.=--Maj. C. Y. Reade. This officer rendered valuable service with the South Australian Mounted Rifles. =Reed.=--Capt. H. L. Reed, R.A. _See_ V.C. list. Entered 1888; Capt., 1898. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900 (Despatches; #V.C.#) =Reeves.=--Col. J. Reeves, 2nd Batt. Royal Irish Fusiliers. Entered 1874; Brev.-Col., 1899. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex., 1884 (medal with clasp; bronze star); S. African War, 1899-1900; with Ladysmith Relief Force; Colenso, wounded, 21st Feb. =Rethman.=--Maj. F. J. Rethman. Commanded Border Mounted Rifles, Ladysmith. =Rhodes.=--The Rt. Hon. Cecil John Rhodes, D.C.L., M.A. For career _see_ vol. i. p. 118. =Rhodes.=--Maj. E. Rhodes, D.S.O. Entered 1878; Maj., 1893. _Staff Service_--Assist. Insp. of Signalling, Aldershot, 1895-97; and 1898-99; D.A.A.G. for Signalling, 1899; Dir. of Signalling, S. Africa, 1899-1900. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex., 1882 (medal; bronze star); Soudan Ex., 1885 (Despatches; 2 clasps); Soudan, 1885-86 (Despatches; D.S.O.); S. African War; on Staff (Despatches). =Rhodes.=--Col. F. W. Rhodes, D.S.O. Entered 1873; Col., 1889. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Brig.-Gen. Force on the Nile, 1884-85; A.D.C. to Maj.-Gen., Egypt, 1885; A.D.C. to Maj.-Gen., Dublin Dist., 1886-87; A.D.C. to Maj.-Gen., Egypt., 1888-89; Mil. Sec. to Gov., Bombay, 1890-92; Civil Employment, Uganda, 1892-93. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex., 1884 (Despatches; medal with clasp; bronze star); Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (Despatches; 2 clasps; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.); Soudan, 1888 (Despatches; clasp; 3rd class Medjidie); S. African War, 1899-1900; Attached to Headquarters Staff. =Ricardo.=--Lieut.-Col. P. R. Ricardo. Col. Ricardo commanded with distinction the 1st Contingent Queensland Mounted Infantry. =Rice.=--Maj. D. R. Rice, R.E. Entered 1877; Maj., 1896. _Staff Service_--Adjt. Sch. of Mil. Eng., 1892-95. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900. This officer, commanding R.E. in Ladysmith, was "indefatigable in his exertions both day and night." =Richardson.=--Col. W. D. Richardson, C.B., A.S.C. Col., 1897. _Staff Service_--D.A.A.G., Aldershot, 1883-87; Egypt, 1889-96; Dublin, 1894-97; A.A.G., W. Dist.; D.A.G. for Supplies, S. Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Ashanti War, 1873-74 (medal); S. African War, 1877-78-79 (Despatches; medal with clasp; promoted Dep. Commissary); Egyptian Ex., 1882 (medal; bronze star); Bechuanaland Ex., 1884-85 (hon. mentioned; hon. and rel. rank, Lieut.-Col.); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. This remarkable officer, whose labours have been as the labours of Hercules, and to whom much of the success of Lord Roberts's great marches has been due, was born in 1854. He married the daughter of the Rev. J. Ewing. =Ridley.=--Brig.-Gen. C. P. Ridley. Entered 1873; Brev. Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--Station Comdt., S. Africa, 1899; A.A.G. (Assist. Insp.-Gen. L. of C.), S. Africa, 1899-1900; Brig. Gen. Mounted Inf. Brig., S. Africa, Feb. 1900. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex., 1882 (medal; bronze star); Miranzai Ex., 1891 (medal with clasp); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Rimington.=--Lieut.-Col. M. F. Rimington, Rimington's Horse. Entered, 6th Dragoons, 1881; Col., Sept. 1900. _Staff Service_--Staff Capt. Remount Establishment, 1897-99; Spec. Serv., S. Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Op. in Zululand, 1888; S. African War, 1899-1900 (Despatches, May 1900). =Rivett-Carnac.=--Lieut.-Col. P. T. Rivett-Carnac, West Riding Regiment. Entered 1873; Brev. Lieut.-Col., 1898. _Staff Service_--Employed with Army Pay Dept., 1884-89; Spec. Extra Regt. Employ., 1896-98; Station Comdt., S. Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex., 1884 (medal; bronze star); Op. in S. Africa, 1896-97 (Despatches; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.; medal with clasp); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Roberts of Kandahar and Waterford.=--Rt. Hon. Frederick Sleigh, Lord Roberts, K.P., G.C.B., G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E. Entered 1851; Field-Marshal, 25th May 1895. _Staff Service_--D.A.Q.M.G., Indian Mutiny, 1857-58; D.A.Q.M.G. in charge of the Viceroy's Camp, 1859-60; D.A.Q.M.G., Army Headquarters, India, 1860-65; A.Q.M.G., Bengal, 1866-67; A.Q.M.G. 2nd Div., Abyssinian Ex., 1867-68; A.Q.M.G. Army Headquarters, India, 1869-71; A.Q.M.G. Looshai Ex., India, 1871-72; D.Q.M.G., Bengal, 1872-75; Q.M.G., Bengal, 1875-78; Maj.-Gen. Afghan Campaign, 1878-79; Lieut.-Gen. (local) Afghan Campaign, 1879-80; Lieut.-Gen. Madras, 1881-85; Com.-in-Chief E. Indies, 1885-93; Gen. Commanding the Forces, Ireland, 1895-99; Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief the Forces, S. Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Indian Mutiny, 1857-58 (Despatches, 15th Dec. 1857; 16th Jan., 29th Jan., 22nd Feb., 25th May, 31st May, and 8th June, 1858; received the thanks of the Gov.-Gen. of India; medal with 3 clasps; Brev. of Maj.; #V.C.#); N.W. Frontier of India Ex., 1863 (medal with clasp); Abyssinian Ex., 1868 (Despatches; 30th June, 3rd July, 10th July 1868; medal; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.); Looshai Ex., 1871-72 (Despatches); Afghan War, 1878-79-80 (Despatches, 4th Feb., 21st Feb., 21st March, 13th May, and 7th Nov., 1879; 16th Jan., 4th May, and 3rd Dec., 1880; received thanks of both Houses of Parliament, 4th Aug. 1879 and 5th May 1881, and created a Baronet; thanked by Government of India and Gov.-Gen. in Council; medal with 4 clasps; bronze star; K.C.B., G.C.B.); Burmese Ex., 1886 (thanked by Government of India; Despatches; clasp); S. African War, 1899-1900; Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief the Forces in S. Africa. This wonderful officer, "the idol of the army and of the nation, and the greatest commander of modern times," was born in 1832. He is the son of Gen. Sir Abraham Roberts, G.C.B., and the daughter of Maj. Bunbury of Kilfeacle, co. Tipperary. He married in 1859 the daughter of Capt. Bews, 73rd Foot. He was created a Baron in 1892, in connection with his famous services in Afghanistan. Owing to the popularity of his famous work, "Forty-One Years in India," the facts of his marvellous career are well known, but the book being the output of the most modest of men, it fails to do justice to the personal qualities which have made this great leader so deservedly celebrated and beloved. A few lines from Mr. Maclaren Cobban's "Life and Deeds of Earl Roberts" express so ably the view of the multitude that it is a temptation to quote them. "His successes as a general have not been merely warlike--could not be merely warlike; for he has an understanding and an imagination which compel him to look 'before and after'--to note how the necessity for war has arisen, and to consider how war may promote a more secure and perfect peace. He has exhibited the mind of a statesman and an administrator, as well as of a soldier; and in the highest sense he has ever been an 'Empire-builder'; for he has not only made strong the borders of her Majesty's dominions in India and S. Africa, but he has also consistently maintained and strengthened the ancient and inalienable British reputation for justice and truth, kindness and mercy--the intangible bonds, light as air but tougher than steel, which bind our widespread Empire together.... And so we come to the fascination of his personality. The Commander-in-Chief is a great soldier, but he is a greater man. It is in his character as a man rather than as a soldier that he has won the unrestrained affections even of the army. Since the 'little corporal,' no great commander has held so entirely the confidence and devotion of all sorts and conditions of soldiers; but, while Napoleon imposed himself upon his embattled hosts as a kind of demigod, he who is most widely known as 'little Bobs' has impressed his soldiers as a man of men, as the best, the most sympathetic, the cleverest and dearest of comrades. His regard for the soldier is so well known, that such a saying would be incredible of him as that which is recorded of the Duke of Wellington, who described the men who won his battles as 'the greatest scoundrels in Europe.' It is, indeed, one of the rarities of history to find a successful leader of armies distinguished by such sweetness and such gentleness of temper, such kindness and such tact of conduct and of speech. These qualities are commonly regarded as marking the ideal character of a domestic person, of a man of peace, and in bringing them into complete accord with the triumphant practice of war he who has been so widely known as Lord Roberts shows himself our 'own ideal knight.'" =Roberts.=--Hon. F. H. S. Roberts, Lieut. King's Royal Rifles. _See_ vol. ii. p. 193; also V.C. list. [Illustration: LIEUTENANT ROBERTS, V.C. Killed at Colenso _Photo by Chancellor & Son, Dublin_] =Robertson.=--Maj. W. R. Robertson, D.S.O. In ranks over ten years; Lieut., 3rd Dragoon Guards, 1888; Maj., March 1900. _Staff Service_--Staff Lieut. Intell. Br. Q.M.G. Dept., India, 1892-95; Staff Capt. Q.M.G. Dept., India, 1895-96; Staff Capt. Intell. Dept. Headquarters of Army, 1899; D.A.A.G. Headquarters of Army, 1899-1900; D.A.A.G., S. Africa, Feb. 1900. _War Service_--Op. in Chitral, 1895 (Despatches; medal with clasp; D.S.O.); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Robin.=--Maj. A. W. Robin distinguished himself in command of the 1st New Zealand Contingent. =Roche.=--Lieut.-Col. Hon. U. de R. B. Roche, S. Wales Borderers. Entered 1876; Lieut.-Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--D.A.A.G., Bengal, 1890-95. _War Service_--S. African War, 1877-78 (medal with clasp); Burmese Ex., 1886-89 (medal with 2 clasps); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Romilly.=--Maj. F. W. Romilly, D.S.O. Entered 1873; Brev.-Maj. Scots Guards, 1894. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Lieut.-Gen., Egypt, 1883-84, and 1885-87; D.A.A.G., Malta, 1890-93; Mil. Sec. to Gov. Madras, 1896-98. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex., 1882-84 (medal with clasp; bronze star; Despatches; 2 clasps); Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (2 clasps); Soudan, 1885-86 (Despatches; D.S.O.) S. African War, 1899-1900; wounded. =Ross.=--Maj. W. C. Ross, Durham Light Infantry. Entered 1877; Lieut.-Col., S. Africa, Feb. 1900. _Staff Service_--Insp. and Adjt. Gt. Indian Penin. Rly. V.C., 1890-95; A.M.S. and A.D.C. to Lieut.-Gov., Punjab, 1898-1900. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1879-80 (medal); S. African War, 1899-1900; Commanded 8th Corps Mounted Infantry till severely wounded. =Rowell.=--Lieut.-Col. J. Rowell. This officer commanded the 4th Contingent South Australian Bushmen. =Roxburghe= (8th Duke).--H. John Innes-Ker, Lieut. Royal Horse Guards. This young nobleman, born in 1876, son of 7th Duke of Roxburghe and the daughter of the 7th Duke of Marlborough, was originally in the 4th Batt. Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. He has now been serving in the Household Cavalry Composite Regiment. =Royston.=--Col. W. Royston. Commanding Natal Volunteer Force. _See_ vol. iv. p. 134. This officer and his force reflected "the highest credit on the Colony of Natal." =Rundle.=--Lieut.-Gen. Sir H. M. Leslie Rundle, K.C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O. Entered R.A. 1876; Brev. Col., 1894. _Staff Service_--Employed with Egyptian Army, 1883-98; Maj.-Gen. E. Dist., 1898-99; D.A.G. Headquarters of Army, 1899-1900; Lieut.-Gen. Commanding Div., Aldershot, Jan. 1900, March 1900; Lieut.-Gen. Inf. Div., S. Africa, March 1900. _War Service_--S. African War, 1879-81 (Despatches; medal with clasp; wounded in defence of Potchefstroom; Despatches); Egyptian Ex. (medal with clasp; bronze star); Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (Despatches; clasp; Brev. of Maj.); Soudan, 1885-86-87-89-91 (Despatches; D.S.O.; 3rd class Osmanieh); Action of Toski (Despatches; clasp; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.); Capture of Tokai (clasp to bronze star); Ex. to Dongola, 1896 (Despatches; promoted to Maj.-Gen.; Egyptian medal with 2 clasps); Nile Ex., 1897 (Despatches; clasp to Egyptian medal); Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches, May and Sept. 1898; K.C.B.; thanked by both Houses of Parliament; clasp to Egyptian medal; medal); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Samut.=--Lieut.-Col. A. Samut, Army Ord. Dept. Entered 1878; Lieut.-Col., 1900. _Staff Service_--Dep.-Assist. Com. Gen. Ord. Store Dept., 1885-94-95; Assist. Com. Gen. Ord. Store Dept., 1895-96; Ord. Off., 3rd class, 1896-1900; Ord. Off., 2nd class, 1900. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900. =Sandbach.=--Lieut.-Col. A. E. Sandbach, R.E. Entered 1879; Brev. Lieut.-Col., 1898. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Maj.-Gen., Bengal, 1890-92; employed with Egyptian Army, 1897-98; Mil. Sec. to Viceroy, India, 1899; Spec. Serv., S. Africa, 1899; A.A.G., S. Africa, Dec. 1899. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex., 1882 (medal with clasp; bronze star); Soudan Ex., 1885 (clasp); Burmese Ex., 1886-87 (medal with clasp); Sikkim Ex., 1888 (clasp); Hazara Ex., 1891 (Despatches; clasp); Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.; Egyptian medal with clasp; medal); S. African War, 1899-1900; Spec. Serv.; on Staff. =Sandwith.=--Lieut.-Col. R. L. Sandwith, Leicestershire Regt. Entered 1880; Lieut.-Col., S. Africa, March 1900. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Sauer.=--Hon. J. W. Sauer. Son of a Free State Landdrost; was five times Member for Aliwal North, Cape House of Assembly; was Secretary for Native Affairs in Scanlen Ministry, 1881-84; Colonial Secretary in the Rhodes Ministry, 1890. He was one of "the three" who broke it up in 1893. He calls himself a philosophic radical, and is sufficiently consistent to have declined a knighthood. =Schermbrucker.=--Hon. Frederick Schermbrucker, Senior Member King William's Town, Cape House of Assembly. Son of the Hon. Christopher Schermbrucker; was born at Frankfurt-on-the-Maine; entered ranks of Bavarian Army as a private, with the privileges of a gentleman cadet, and fought among the Royalists during the disturbances in 1850-52, and gained his commission. Since this time, he settled at King William's Town as German interpreter to the Resident Magistrate; subsequently, after many adventures, became editor of _Bloemfontein Express_, and, according to the Cape "Parliamentary Companion," he left Bloemfontein in a hurry, and was burned in effigy; he returned to King William's Town; volunteered for service in the Frontier War; appointed Commandant of the Amatola division; volunteered for service against the Zulus; commanded at Luneberg; was present at the battles of Zlobane and Kambula; distinguished himself on the Pemvani River; in 1880 accompanied Mr. Sprigg to Basutoland to raise a police force; retired with that Sprigg Government; elected Member Legislative Council for the Eastern Province, 1882; re-elected 1884; became Commissioner Crown Lands and Public Works, Upington Ministry, 1884; successfully contested King William's Town general election, 1888. He succeeded in raising several companies of German Colonists to go to the front in 1901. =Schleswig-Holstein.=--Maj. H. H. Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein. _See_ vol. vi. p. 123. =Schofield.=--Maj. H. N. Schofield, R.A. Entered 1884; Maj., Feb. 1900. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to G.O.C., Aldershot, 1898-99; A.D.C. to Gen. Com.-in-Chief, S. Africa, 1899-1900; A.D.C. to G.O.C., Natal, Jan. 1900. _War Service_--S. Africa, 1899-1900; Colenso. This distinguished officer, who saved two guns at Colenso and by his gallantry should have earned a #V.C.#, was only debarred from receiving the coveted honour owing to the fact that being a gunner officer his actions were done in pursuance of his duty. It is a distinction without a difference which many have failed to see, in view of the decoration having been given to other artillery officers while also in pursuance of their duty. =Schreiner.=--Hon. W. P. Schreiner, Q.C., C.M.G., Premier of Cape Parliament, 1898. Mr. Schreiner, son of a Lutheran missionary and an English lady, was born in 1859. He is the brother of Miss Olive Schreiner (Mrs. Cronwright) the authoress whose anti-British proclivities are well known. Mr. Schreiner was educated in England, was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 1882, and on his return to the Cape engaged in politics and became Mr. Rhodes' Attorney-General. In 1898 he became Premier, but his sympathies were not with the British, and his attitude caused him to be described as "the pro-Boer Premier of an Africander Government." He was married to the sister of Mr. Reitz, formerly President of the Orange Free State. =Scott.=--Capt. P. M. Scott, C.B., Royal Navy, H.M.S. _Terrible_. This notable officer and clever inventor of the now celebrated gun-carriages (_see_ vol. ii. p. 53) has seen a considerable amount of service. He took part in the Ashanti War, the Congo Expedition, and the Egyptian War. He has been twice mentioned in despatches, and, in addition to his British medals, has the Khedive's star. He was promoted from the 4th to the 3rd class Medjidie in 1890. =Scott.=--Maj. R. G. Scott. This officer rendered valuable service with the Kimberley Light Horse. =Scott= (6th Bart.).--Sir Samuel E. Scott, M.P. Imperial Yeomanry. =Scott.=--Lieut.-Col. W. A. Scott, 2nd Batt. Gordon Highlanders. Entered 1874; Lieut.-Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--Adjt. Volunteers, 1891-96; Comdt. Sch. of Inst. for Mil. and Vols., Aldershot, 1897. _War Service._--S. African War; Ladysmith. =Scott-Chisholme.=--Col. J. J. Scott-Chisholme, Imperial Light Horse. _See_ vol. ii. p. 27. =Selheim.=--Maj. V. C. M. Selheim rendered valuable service with the Queensland Mounted Infantry. =Settle.=--Brig.-Gen. H. H. Settle, R.E., C.B., D.S.O. Entered 1867; Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--D.A.A. and Q.M.G., Egypt, 1885; Employed with Egyptian Army, 1886-92; Insp.-Gen. of Egyptian Police, 1892-94; Assist. Insp.-Gen. of Fortifications, Headquarters of Army, 1895-99; Col. on Staff (Commanding R.E.), Malta, 1899; Col. on Staff, S. Africa, 1899; Col. on Staff (Insp.-Gen. Lines of Communication), S. Africa, 1899. _War Service._--Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (Despatches; medal with clasp; bronze star; Brev. of Maj.); Soudan, 1888-99 (Despatches; clasp; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.); Action of Toski (Despatches; clasp; 2nd class Medjidie); Capture of Tokar, 1891 (clasp to bronze star); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Settrington= (Lord).--Charles H. Gordon-Lennox, Second Lieut. Life Guards; Extra A.D.C. to Lord Roberts. This officer is eldest son of the Earl of March, who is heir to the 6th Duke of Richmond. =Sharpe.=--Lieut.-Col. J. B. Sharpe, R.E. Entered 1872; Lieut.-Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--D.A.A.G. for Inst., Curragh Brig., 1886-91. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1878-80 (Despatches; medal); S. African War, 1899-1900; with Kimberley Relief Force; Belmont; Enslin; Modder River; and Majesfontein. =Sim.=--Lieut.-Col. G. H. Sim, R.E. Entered 1872; Lieut.-Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--Inst. Sch. of Mil. Eng., 1893-98. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1878-80 (medal); Soudan Ex., 1885 (medal with clasp; bronze star); S. African War, 1899-1900; with Ladysmith Relief Force; Spion Kop. =Sitwell.=--Col. C. G. H. Sitwell, D.S.O., 2nd Batt. Royal Dublin Fusiliers. For career _see_ vol. iv. p. 141. =Sitwell.=--Col. W. H. Sitwell. Entered 1880; Brev. Lieut.-Col., 1898. _Staff Service_--Employed with Bechuanaland Border Police, 1891-93; D.A.A.G., Guernsey, 1895-97; Spec. Serv., Ashanti, 1895-96; Employed with Egyptian Army, 1897-99. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1880 (medal); Ashanti Ex., 1895-96 (star); Nile Ex., 1897; Nile Ex., 1898, wounded (Despatches; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.; Egyptian medal with 2 clasps; medal); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Smith-Dorrien.=--Brig.-Gen. H. L. Smith-Dorrien, D.S.O. Entered 1876; Brev. Col., 1898. _Staff Service_--Spec. Serv., Cape of Good Hope, 1878-79; employed with Egyptian Army, 1884-87; Station Staff Off., 1st class, Bengal, 1892-93; D.A.A.G., Bengal, 1893-94; A.A.G., Bengal and Punjab, 1894-96; Maj.-Gen., Inf. Brig., S. Africa, Feb. 1900. _War Service_--S. African War, 1879 (Despatches; medal with clasp); Egyptian Ex., 1882 (medal; bronze star); Soudan Ex., 1885 (clasp); Soudan, 1885-86 (Despatches; D.S.O.); Op. on N.W. Frontier of India, 1897-98 (Despatches; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.; medal with 2 clasps); Nile Ex., 1878 (Despatches; Brev. of Col.; medal); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Sondes= (2nd Earl).--George E. Milles, D.L., J.P., Imperial Yeomanry. Lord Sondes, who is one of the gallant many who hastened to volunteer for the front, was born in 1861. He is the son of the 1st Earl and the daughter of Sir Henry Stracey, Bart. =Southey.=--Lieut.-Col. R. G. Southey. This energetic officer, formerly in H.M. Foot, has been commanding Colonial Volunteers, and is now Acting Staff Officer for Colonial Forces in S. Africa. =Spence.=--Col. W. A. Spence, Commanding Duke of Edinburgh's Own Volunteer Rifles. A "most gallant and efficient commanding officer." Killed in action at Faber's Spruit. _See_ vol. v. p. 169. =Spens.=--Lieut.-Col. J. Spens, 2nd Batt. King's Shropshire Light Infantry. Entered 1872; Lieut.-Col., 1898. _Staff Service_--Insp. R. Mil. Coll., 1886-98. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1879-80 (medal); S. African War, 1899-1900 (Despatches). =Spragge.=--Maj. B. E. Spragge, D.S.O., Col. Imperial Yeomanry. This officer, though he retired as a Major in 1894, has seen a considerable amount of service. In the Jowaki Ex. (medal with clasps); in the first Afghan War; the second Afghan War (Despatches; medal with clasp); as D.A.A.G. in the Burmah War (Despatches twice; medal with 2 clasps; Brev.-Maj.; D.S.O.), he has done notable military work. =Spreckley.=--Col. Spreckley, Rhodesian Regt. For career, _see_ vol. vi. p. 80. =Sprenger.=--Maj. C. F. Sprenger. This gallant officer of the Cape Mounted Rifles lost his life during the Siege of Wepener. _See_ vol. v. p. 67. =Sprigg.=--Rt. Hon. Sir J. G. Sprigg, K.C.M.G. This well-known politician has spent most of his life at the Cape, where he settled in 1858 at the age of twenty-eight. He has filled a series of posts from 1878 to 1898. As Prime Minister and Colonial Secretary, 1878-81; as Treasurer, 1884-86; as Prime Minister and Treasurer, 1886-90; Treasurer, 1893-96; Prime Minister and Treasurer, 1896-98, he has laboured zealously in the interests of the Cape Colony. =Stanford.=--Lieut.-Col. W. E. M. Stanford, C.M.G. This officer commanded the East Griqualand Mounted Rifle Volunteers, and rendered valuable service. =Stanley= (Lord).--Edward George Villiers Stanley, M.P. Lord Stanley, who was formerly in the Grenadier Guards, and has acted as Press Censor and Priv. Sec. to Lord Roberts. He was born in 1865, and is the son of the 16th Earl of Derby and the daughter of the late Earl of Clarendon. He married in 1889 the daughter of the 7th Duke of Manchester. =St. Clair.=--Col. J. L. C. St. Clair. Entered 1871; Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Maj.-Gen. Ex. Force, Egypt, 1882-83; Brig.-Maj., Aldershot, 1884-87; D.A.A.G., W. Dist., 1887-89; Guernsey, 1892-95; Dep. Judge Adv., London, 1896-99; Dep. Judge Adv., S. Africa, 1899-1900; Dep. Judge Adv.-Gen., S. Africa, Feb. 1900. [Illustration: LIEUTENANT-GENERAL TUCKER, C.B. Photo, Raja Deen Dajal & Sons, Bombay] =Steele.=--Lieut.-Col. S. B. Steele, Strathcona's Horse. This gallant officer of the N.W. Mounted Police is a native Canadian, born at Ontario, but his father was a Capt. in the Royal Navy. In 1866 he entered the 35th Batt. "Simcoe Foresters." He served in the Red River Ex. under Lord Wolseley, and on the formation of the N.W. Mounted Police in 1873 he joined as Troop Serg.-Maj. He was promoted in 1885 for his share in the pursuit of Big Bear's band in the Rebellion, and was mentioned in despatches. His courage, intrepidity, and keen sense of duty have won him the esteem of all with whom he has served. =Stephenson.=--Col. T. E. Stephenson, Essex Regiment. Commanded 18th Brigade. Entered 1874; Brev.-Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--D.A.A.G. for Inst., Gibraltar, 1883-86; N. Dist., 1886-89; N.E. Dist., 1889-90. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff (Despatches, May 1900). =Stevenson.=--Lieut. A. G. Stevenson, R.E., D.S.O. Entered 1891. _Staff Service_--Employed with Egyptian Army, 1895-99; Railway Staff Off., S. Africa, Jan. 1900. _War Service_--Ex. to Dongola 1896 (Despatches; 4th class Medjidie); Nile Ex., 1897 (clasp; clasp to Egyptian medal); Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches; D.S.O.; clasp to Egyptian medal; medal); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Stevenson.=--Col. R. Stevenson. Entered 1864; Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--Adjt. Aux. Forces, 1879-82; Recg. Staff Off., 1st class, Leeds Recg. Dist., 1892-97; Assist.-Insp. of Remounts, 1899; Remount Dept., S. Africa, Oct. 1899. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Steyn.=--M. T. Steyn, President of the Orange Free State till 1900. Advocate, 1883-89; State Attorney, 1889-93; Second Puisne Judge, 1889-93; First, 1893-96. Mr. Steyn, born at Winburg in 1857, is the son of Mr. M. Steyn and the daughter of Comdt. Wessels. In 1897 a Joint-Federal Council was appointed (consisting of five members from each Republic) to discuss questions of mutual importance, and it was then arranged that the franchise should be granted indiscriminately to burghers of both States, both States agreeing to stand by each other in the event of war. As a result of this agreement Mr. Steyn played a prominent part in the Conference at Bloemfontein in 1899. He married a lady of Scottish descent, the daughter of the Rev. Colin Fraser. Like "Oom Paul" he stands six feet high in his stockings, but unlike him, is well educated and civilised in his customs, having inherited from his father (who was called "Shiny Shoes" on account of his neatness) habits of greater cleanliness and refinement than those of Mr. Kruger. =Stokes.=--Sir William Stokes. This eminent surgeon devoted himself to the wounded, and by his skill saved many lives and mitigated much suffering. =Stoneman.=--Lieut.-Col. J. Stoneman, A.S.C.; Lieut.-Col., 1894; D.A.A.G. Ladysmith, 1899. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex., 1882 (medal; bronze star); S. African War, 1899-1900; D.A.A.G. Lines of Communication. =Stopford.=--Col. Hon. Frederick W. Stopford, C.B. Entered Grenadier Guards 1871; Col., 1897. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Chief of Staff Ex. Force, Egypt, 1882; A.D.C. to. Brig.-Gen., Egypt, 1884-85; A.D.C. to Maj.-Gen. Ex. Force, Suakin, 1885; Brig.-Maj. Guards Brigade, Egypt and Cyprus, 1885; Brig.-Maj., Aldershot, 1886-89; D.A.A.G., Headquarters of Army, 1892-94; D.A.A.G., Aldershot, 1894-97; Spec. Serv., Ashanti, 1895-96; A.A.G., Headquarters of Army, 1897-99; Mil. Sec. to Gen. Com.-in-Chief, 1899-1900; S. Africa Mil. Sec. to G.O.C., Natal, Jan. 1900. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex., 1882 (Despatches; medal with clasp; bronze star; 5th class Medjidie); Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (Despatches; clasp; Brev. of Maj.); Ashanti Ex., 1895-96 (hon. mentioned; Brev. of Col.; star); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. Col. Stopford, born 1854, is the son of the 4th Earl of Courtown. =Streatfield.=--Maj. H. Streatfield. Entered 1876; Maj., Grenadier Guards, 1893. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Gov. Gen., Canada, 1883-85; Mil. Sec. to Gov. Gen., Canada, 1886-88; A.D.C. to Viceroy, India, 1888-91; A.D.C. to Lieut.-Gov. and Gen.-Gov., Ireland, 1892-94; Assist. Mil. Sec. to G.O.C. the Forces, Ireland, 1895-99; A.D.C. to Lieut.-Gen. Inf. Div., S. Africa, 1899. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff; with Kimberley Relief Force (Despatches; Jan. 1900). =Stuart= (7th Bart.).--Sir Simeon H. L. Stuart, Capt. Suffolk Yeomanry Cavalry; Commanding Imperial Yeomanry. Sir Simeon Stuart was formerly in the 5th Dragoon Guards. He was born in 1864, and married in 1891 the daughter of Mr. H. Gudge, Sec. to the Austrian Legation. =Symons.=--Sir William Penn Symons, K.C.B. _See_ vol. ii. p. 35. =Talbot.=--Lieut.-Col. Lord Edmund Bernard Talbot, M.P. Entered, 11th Hussars, 1875; Lieut.-Col., Sept. 1900. _Staff Service_--Spec. Service, S. Africa, 1899-1900; D.A.A.G., S. Africa, Feb. 1900. Lord Edmund Talbot, born in 1855, is the brother of the Duke of Norfolk. He married in 1879 the daughter of the 7th Earl of Abingdon. =Teck= (Duke of).--H.S.H. Adolphus C. A. Albert Edward George Philip Louis Ladislaus of Teck, K.C.V.O.; Capt. 1st Life Guards. Entered 1888; Capt., 1895. The Duke, born 1868, is the son of the late Duke and the late H.R.H. Princess Mary of Cambridge, and the brother of the Duchess of York. He married the daughter of the 1st Duke of Westminster. =Teck.=--H.S.H. Prince Alexander A. F. W. A. G. of Teck, K.C.V.O., Capt. 7th Hussars. Entered 1894; Capt., April 1900. _War Service_--Op. in S. Africa 1896-97 (Despatches); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Teck.=--H.S.H. Prince Francis J. L. F. of Teck, K.C.V.O., D.S.O., Capt. 1st Dragoons. Entered, 9th Lancers, 1889. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Maj.-Gen., India, 1896-97; Spec. Serv., Egypt, 1897; A.D.C. to G.O.C., S.E. Dist., 1899; Staff Capt. Remount Estab., 1899-1900; Remount Dept., S. Africa, May 1900. _War Service_--Nile Ex., 1897 (medal); Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches; D.S.O.; 2 clasps); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Thackeray.=--Col. T. M. G. Thackeray, 1st Batt. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. For career _see_ vol. iv. p. 149. =Theron.=--T. P. Theron, Member of Cape House of Assembly. A sheep farmer, an ardent Bondsman, and "much envied by his fellow Africanders for his townsman's aptitudes." He was born in 1839 at Tulbagh, elected Member for Richmond in 1884, and re-elected in 1888. =Thomas.=--Major A. H. Thomas, D.S.O., A.S.C. Entered 1880; Maj., 1895. _War Service_--Op. in Sierra Leone, 1898 (Despatches; D.S.O.; medal with clasp); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Thomas.=--Lieut.-Col. Sir G. V. Thomas, Bart., R.A. Entered 1875; Maj., R.A., 1892. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1878-9 (medal); Egyptian Ex., 1882-84 (medal with clasp; bronze star); Soudan, 1884 (2 clasps; 4th class Medjidie). =Thorneycroft.=--Lieut.-Col. A. W. Thorneycroft. Entered from Militia, 1879; Maj., Royal Scots Fusiliers, 1899. _Staff Service_--D.A.A.G. Natal, 1899; Spec. Serv., S. Africa, Oct. 1899. _War Service_--S. African War, 1879-81 (medal with clasp); S. African War, 1899-1900. This officer, a giant in every sense of the word, who raised and commanded Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry, has made himself noted for gallantry and ability. He is the son of Colonel Thorneycroft of Tettenhall Towers; every inch a soldier like his father; an enthusiastic sportsman, and distinguished in social as in military accomplishments. [Illustration: LIEUTENANT-COLONEL THORNEYCROFT _Photo by Mayall & Co., London_] =Thorold.=--Col. Thorold, Royal Welsh Fusiliers. For career _see_ vol. iv. p. 150. =Tickell.=--Maj. E. J. Tickell, D.S.O. Entered 1885; Maj., 14th Hussars, 1899. _Staff Service_--Employed in Uganda Protectorate, 1898-1900; Spec. Serv., Rhodesian Field Force, Feb. 1900. _War Service_--Uganda, 1898 (Despatches; D.S.O.; medal with clasp); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Todd.=--Lieut.-Col. O. Todd, M.B., R.A.M.C. Lieut.-Col., March 1900. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900. =Townsend.=--Col. E. Townsend. Col. R.A.M.C., 1897. _War Service_--Abyssinian Ex., 1867-68 (medal); Perak Ex., 1875-76, severely wounded (medal with clasp); S. African War, 1879 (Despatches; medal with clasp); Egyptian Ex., 1882 (medal with clasp; bronze star); Burmese Ex., 1885-86 (medal with clasp); Ashanti Ex., 1895-96 (hon. mentioned; star); N.W. Frontier of India, 1897-98 (Despatches; medal with clasp); Tirah, 1897-98 (Despatches; C.B.; clasp); S. African War, 1899-1900 (Despatches). =Townshend.=--Lieut.-Col. C. V. F. Townshend, C.B., D.S.O. Entered 1881; Brev. Lieut.-Col., 1896. _Staff Service_--Employed with Egyptian Army, 1896-98; Spec. Serv., S Africa; Staff Mil. Gov., Bloemfontein, March, 1900. _War Service_--Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (Despatches; medal with 2 clasps; bronze star); Hunza Nagar Ex., 1891-92 (Despatches; medal with clasp); Op. in Chitral, 1895 (thanked by Govt. of India; Despatches; Brev. of Maj.; C.B.); Ex. to Dongola, 1896 (Despatches; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.); Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches, May and Sept. 1898; D.S.O.); S. African War; on Staff. =Towse.=--Capt. E. B. Towse, #V.C.# Entered from Militia, Wiltshire Regiment, 1885; Capt. Gordon Highlanders, 1896. _War Service_--Op. in Chitral, 1895 (medal with clasp); Op. on N.W. Frontier of India, 1898 (2 clasps); S. African War, 1899-1900 (Despatches; #V.C.#; severely wounded). _See_ V.C. list. [Illustration: CAPTAIN TOWSE _Photo by Winter, Derby_] =Trench.=--Lieut.-Col. F. A. Le P. Trench, A.S.C. Lieut.-Col., Feb. 1895. _Staff Service_--D.A.A.G. Scottish Dist., 1899. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900. =Treves.=--Frederick Treves, F.R.C.S. Consulting Surgeon to the Forces in S. Africa; Member of Court of Examiners of the Royal College of Surgeons; Examiner in Surgery at the University of Cambridge and in Anatomy at the Universities of Aberdeen and Durham. Mr. Treves was born in 1843, and married in 1877 to the daughter of Mr. Mason of Dorchester. He has written innumerable scientific works, and won the Jacksonian Prize Essay at the Royal College of Surgeons in 1884. Officers and men are deeply grateful for the skill and devotion he has expended on their behalf during the present war. =Trotter.=--Lieut.-Col. J. K. Trotter, C.M.G. Entered R.A. 1870; Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--Spec. Serv., Bechuanaland, 1884-85; Brig.-Maj. (Cork Dist.) R.A. and Malta, 1886-90; Staff Capt. (Intell.) Headquarters of Army, 1890-91; D.A.A.G. (Intell.) Headquarters of Army, 1892-95; employed on Sierra Leone Boundary Commission, 1895-96; A.A.G. S. Africa, 1899; D.A.G. S. Africa, Jan. 1900. _War Service_--Bechuanaland Ex., 1884-85 (hon. mentioned); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Tucker.=--Lieut.-Gen. Charles Tucker, C.B. Entered 1855; Maj.-Gen., 1893. _Staff Service_--Col. on Staff, Natal, 1891-93; Brig.-Gen., Natal, 1893-95; Maj.-Gen., India, 1895-99; Lieut.-Gen. Inf. Div., S. Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Bhootan Ex., 1865-66 (medal with clasp); S. African War, 1878-79 (Despatches, April and Aug. 1879; medal with clasp; C.B.); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. Gen. Tucker, born in 1838, is a son of Mr. Tucker of Ashburton and a daughter of Mr. Hayter, Painter-in-Ordinary to Queen Victoria. As a practical, resourceful, and rough-and-ready soldier, he has no equal. He was rewarded in 1896 for "distinguished and meritorious" service with a "good-service" pension. =Tullibardine.=--Capt. the Marquis of Tullibardine, D.S.O., Royal Horse Guards. Entered 1892; Capt., 1899. _Staff Service_--Specially employed with Egyptian Army, 1898. _War Service_--Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches, May and Sept. 1898; D.S.O.; Egyptian medal with 2 clasps); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Tunbridge.=--Maj. W. H. Tunbridge rendered valuable service with the 3rd Contingent Queensland Mounted Infantry. =Umphelby.=--Lieut.-Col. C. E. E. Umphelby. For career _see_ vol. iv. p. 104. =Valentia= (11th Viscount).--Arthur Annesley, M.P. Lieut.-Col. Oxford Yeomanry Cavalry; Assist. Adjt. Gen. Imp. Yeomanry. Lord Valentia, born in 1843, succeeded his grandfather in 1863. He retired from the 10th Hussars in 1872, and in 1878 married the widow of Sir Algernon Peyton. =Vandeleur.=--Maj. C. F. Seymour Vandeleur, D.S.O. Entered 1889; Brev. Maj., 1899. _Staff Service_--Employed in Uganda Protectorate, 1894-96; Spec. Extra Regt. Employ, 1896-97; employed with Egyptian Army, 1897-99; Spec. Serv., S. Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Unyoro Ex., 1895 (Despatches; medal); Nandi Ex., 1895-96 (Despatches; D.S.O.); Op. on the Niger, 1897 (Despatches; Brev. of Maj.; medal with clasp); Nile Ex., 1898, wounded (Despatches; 4th class Medjidie; 2 clasps to Egyptian medal); S. African War 1899-1900. =Verner.=--Lieut.-Col. W. Willoughby Cole Verner. Entered 1873; Lieut.-Col., 1896. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Maj.-Gen., Gibraltar, 1877-78; D.A.A. and Q.M.G., Egypt, 1885; D.A.A.G. for Inst. S.E. Dist., 1885-92; Prof. R. Mil. Coll., 1896-99; D.A.A.G. (Topog.); S. Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (Despatches; medal with 2 clasps; bronze star); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Vernon.=--Capt. H. E. Vernon, D.S.O. Entered 1888; Capt. Rifle Brig., 1897. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Maj.-Gen., Inf. Brig., Natal, 1899. _War Service_--Op. in S. Africa, 1896 (Despatches; D.S.O.); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Vialls.=--Maj. H. G. Vialls. A notable member of the West Australian Bushman's Corps. =Vincent.=--Sir Charles E. Howard Vincent, K.T., K.C.M.G., C.B., M.P., Lieut.-Col. 13th Middlesex V.R.C. Sir Charles Howard Vincent who, in spite of his numerous duties, so patriotically hurried to the front with the rest of the gallant volunteers, has always kept in touch with military affairs. He was born in 1849, and spent the years from 1868 to 1873 in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. Later, he joined the Berks Militia, and afterwards became Lieut.-Colonel of the Central London Rangers. He has filled with distinction many important posts. He was Director of Criminal Investigations, Metropolitan Police, 1878-84; Member of Metropolitan Board of Works, 1888; Founder of United Empire Trade League, 1891; Chairman of National Union Conservative Associations, 1895; Member of London County Council, 1889-96. He has been M.P. for Central Sheffield since 1885. =Waldron.=--Lieut.-Col. F. Waldron, R.A. Entered 1873; Lieut.-Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--D.A.A.G., Canada, 1890-95. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900. =Walford.=--Col. Walford. This officer rendered meritorious service with the British S. Africa Police. =Wallack.=--Col. T. E. Wallack. This officer rendered splendid service with the Tasmanian Corps of Imperial Bushmen. =Wallnutt.=--Maj. Claude C. M. Wallnutt, D.S.O. This gallant officer entered the army in 1881, and became a Major in 1898. He had distinguished himself in the Soudan, in the Chitral Relief Force, and on the N.W. Frontier of India, including Dargai and the Operations in the Maidan. He was killed in the Boer attack on Waggon Hill, Ladysmith, on the 6th of Jan. =Ward.=--Col. E. W. D. Ward, C.B., A.A.G., Natal. _Staff Service_--D.A.A.G., Headquarters, Ireland, 1892-95; D.A.A.G., Home Dist.; Spec. Serv., Ashanti, 1895-96; A.A.G., Natal, 1899. _War Service_--Soudan Ex., 1885 (Despatches; medal with 2 clasps; bronze star; promoted Assist. Comdt.-Gen.); Ashanti Ex., 1895-96 (hon. mentioned; star); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. This remarkable officer, born in 1853, who was one of the prime actors in the gallant defence of Ladysmith, is the son of the late Capt. J. Ward, R.N. =Warren.=--Lieut.-Gen. Sir Charles Warren, R.E., G.C.M.G., K.C.B. Entered 1857; Lieut.-Gen., 1897. _Staff Service_--Inst. in Surveying School of Mil. Eng., 1880-84; Maj.-Gen. (local), S. Africa, 1884-85; Maj.-Gen. (local), Egypt, 1886; Col. on Staff, Straits Settlements, 1889-93; Brig.-Gen., Straits Settlements, 1893-94; Maj.-Gen., Thames Dist., 1895-98; Lieut.-Gen., Inf. Div., S. Africa, 1899-1900. _War Service_--S. African War, 1877-79 (Despatches; medal with clasp; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.); Egyptian Ex., 1882 (medal; bronze star; K.C.M.G.; 3rd class Medjidie); Bechuanaland Ex., 1884-85 (G.C.M.G.); S. African War, 1899-1900; afterwards Mil. Gov., N. Cape Colony. Sir Charles, who was born in 1840, is the son of the late Gen. Sir Charles Warren, K.C.B. He married in 1864 the daughter of Mr. Haydon, Guildford. =Watermeyer.=--Capt. Watermeyer, Cape Town Highlanders; A.D.C. to Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief. =Watson.=--Maj. J. K. Watson, D.S.O., A.D.C. to Lord Kitchener. Entered 1885; Brev.-Maj., 1898. _Staff Service_--Employed with Egyptian Army, 1894-99. _War Service_--Burma, 1891-92; Ex. to Dongola, 1896 (Despatches; D.S.O.; Egyptian medal with 2 clasps); Nile Ex., 1897 (4th class Medjidie; clasp to Egyptian medal); Nile Ex., 1898 (Despatches; Brev. of Maj.; 2 clasps Egyptian medal; medal); Nile Ex., 1899 (Despatches); S. African War, 1899-1900. This distinguished officer, who, in S. Africa as in the Soudan, has performed a vast amount of valuable service with little display, is the son of Gen. J. K. Watson (late 60th Rifles). He was born in 1865. =Wauchope.=--Maj.-Gen. A. G. Wauchope, C.B., C.M.G. For career _see_ vol. ii. p. 184. =Wavell.=--Maj.-Gen. Archibald G. Wavell. Entered 1863; Brev. Col., 1894; Maj.-Gen. Inf. Brig., S. Africa, 1900. _Staff Service_--Fort Adjt., King William's Town, 1868-70; Spec. Serv., S. Africa, 1879; Staff Officer Volunteers, Cape of Good Hope, 1880-81; D.A.A.G. and D.A.A.G. for Inst., Scottish Dist., 1894-95; A.A.G. for Recg., Headquarters of Army, 1898-1900. _War Service_--S. African War, 1879 (medal with clasp); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Wells-Cole.=--Capt. H. Wells-Cole, D.S.O., York Light Infantry. Entered 1884; Capt., 1892. _War Service_--Op. on N.W. Frontier of India, 1897-98 (Despatches; D.S.O.; medal with 2 clasps); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Western.=--Col. C. M. Western. Entered Royal Artillery, 1869; Brev.-Col., 1899. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1878-79 (medal); S. African War, 1881. =Westminster= (2nd Duke of).--Hugh R. A. Grosvenor. The Duke of Westminster, born in 1879, joined the Royal Horse Guards in Aug. 1900. He has acted in the capacity of A.D.C. (extra) to Lord Roberts. =White.=--Gen. Sir George Stewart White, #V.C.#, G.C.B., G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E., G.C.V.O., Col. Gordon Highlanders. Entered 1853. Lieut.-Gen., 1895. _Staff Service_--Mil. Sec. to Viceroy, India, 1880-81; Spec. Serv., Egypt, 1885; A.A. and Q.M.G., Egypt, 1885; Brig.-Gen., Madras, 1885; Commanding Brig., Burmese Ex., 1885-86; Commanding Upper Burmah Field Force, 1886-89; Maj.-Gen., Bengal, 1889-93; Com.-in-Chief, E. Indies, 1893-98; Q.M.G. Headquarters of Army, 1898-99; Lieut.-Gen., Natal, 1899-1900; Gov. and Com.-in-Chief, Gibraltar, July 1900. _War Service_--Indian Mutiny (medal); Afghan War, 1879-80 (Despatches; medal with 3 clasps; bronze star; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.; #V.C.#; C.B.); Soudan Ex. 1884-85 (medal with clasp; bronze star); Burmese Ex., 1885-89 (thanked by Govt. of India; Despatches; K.C.B.; promoted Maj.-Gen.); Op. of Zhob Field Force, 1890 (Despatches); Op. N.W. Frontier of India (Despatches); S. African War, 1899-1900; G.O.C. Natal Field Force. Sir George White, born in 1835, is the son of Mr. J. R. White and the daughter of Mr. G. Steuart. He married in 1874 Miss Bayley, daughter of the Archdeacon of Calcutta. Before the Afghan War General White was comparatively unknown, but after that date honours rained thickly upon him. From the outset Lord Roberts had noted his splendid ability, and in "Forty-one Years in India" he showed his readiness to recognise how much of the success of the victory of Charasiah he owed to his gallant subordinate. The following passage serves to show the generosity of the one, and the gallantry of the other: "Major White explained to me his part in the victory of the previous day. From my inspection of the ground I had no difficulty in coming to the conclusion that much of the success which attended the operations on this side was due to White's military instincts, and, at one supreme moment, his extreme personal gallantry. It afforded me very great pleasure, therefore, to recommend this officer for the Victoria Cross, an honour of which more than one incident in his subsequent career proved him to be well worthy." In the prosaic language of the London _Gazette_ the "supreme moment" is thus described: "Finding that the artillery and rifle fire failed to dislodge the enemy from a fortified hill, which it was necessary to capture, Major White led an attack upon it in person. Advancing with two companies of his regiment, and climbing from one steep ledge to another, he came upon a body of the enemy, strongly posted, and outnumbering his force by about eight to one. His men being much exhausted, and immediate action being necessary, Major White took a rifle and, going on by himself, shot the leader of the enemy. This act so intimidated the rest that they fled round the side of the hill, and the position was won." The "gallant and ever-foremost Major White" was again eulogised by the conqueror of Kandahar, who wrote inspiritingly of the intrepidity with which he and the dauntless Gordons dashed themselves against the one remaining entrenched position: "It now became necessary to take this position by storm, and recognising the fact with true soldierly instinct, Major White, who was leading the advanced companies of the 92nd, called upon the men for just one charge more, 'to close the business.' The battery of screw guns had been shelling the position, and under cover of its fire, and supported by a portion of the 2nd Gurkhas and 23rd Pioneers, the Highlanders, responding with alacrity to their leader's call, dashed forward and drove the enemy from their entrenchments at the point of the bayonet. Major White was the first to reach the guns, being closely followed by Sepoy Inderbir Lama, who, placing his rifle on one of them, exclaimed, 'Captured in the name of the 2nd (Prince of Wales's Own) Gurkhas!'" =White.=--Lieut.-Col. H. White. This officer rendered conspicuous service with the British S. Africa Police. =Williams.=--Col. W. D. C. Williams. This officer rendered meritorious service with the New South Wales Army Medical Corps. =Williams.=--Capt. W. de L. Williams, D.S.O., Hampshire Regiment. Entered 1891; Capt., 1898. _Staff Service_--Spec. Extra Regimental Employ, 1898-99. _War Service_--Op. on N.W. Frontier of India, 1897-98, severely wounded (medal with 2 clasps); W. Africa, 1898, wounded (Despatches; D.S.O.); S. African War, 1899-1900, severely wounded. =Wilson.=--Surgeon Gen. W. D. Wilson, R.A.M.C. Col. R.A.M.C., 1894; Army Medical Staff, 1898. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1878-79-80 (medal); Egyptian Ex., 1882-84 (medal; bronze star); Soudan, 1884 (Despatches; 2 clasps; pro. Surg.-Maj., ranking with Lieut.-Col.), S. African War; P.M.O. [Illustration: SURGEON-GENERAL W. D. WILSON _Photo by Heath, Plymouth_] =Winchester= (15th Marquis).--Augustus J. H. B. Paulet. For career _see_ vol. ii. p. 186. =Wolseley-Jenkins.=--Lieut.-Col. C. B. H. Wolseley-Jenkins, 19th Hussars. Entered 1874; Lieut.-Col., 1897. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex., 1882-84 (medal with clasp; bronze star); wounded (Despatches; 2 clasps; 4th class Medjidie; Brev. of Maj.); S. African War, 1899-1900; Commanding Cavalry, Ladysmith. =Wood.=--Col. C. K. Wood, R.E. Entered 1872; Col., S. Africa, April 1900. _Staff Service_--Adjt. Volunteers, 1889-94; Col. on Staff (Chf. Eng.), Natal, April 1900. _War Service_--Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (medal with clasp; bronze star); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Wood.=--Lieut.-Col. C. Wood, Essex Regiment. Entered 1872; Lieut.-Col., 1900. _Staff Service_--Adjt. Militia, 1887-92. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900. =Wood.=--Maj.-Gen. Elliot Wood, C.B. Entered R.E. 1864; Col., 1889. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. to Inspector-General of Fortifications, War Office, 1880; Spec. Serv., Egypt, 1884; A.A.G., Royal Engineers, Headquarters of Army, 1889-94; Col. on Staff (Commanding R.E.), Malta, 1894-99; Col. on Staff (Commanding R.E.), Aldershot, 1899; Maj.-Gen. (Chief Eng.), S. Africa, 1899. _War Service_--Egyptian Ex., 1882-84 (Despatches; medal with clasp; bronze star; Brev. of Maj.; 4th class Medjidie; Despatches, March, 2nd and 6th May, 1884; 2 clasps; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.); Soudan Ex., 1885 (Despatches; 2 clasps; C.B.); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Woodgate.=--Maj.-Gen. Sir E. Robert Prevost Woodgate, K.C.M.G., C.B., C.M.G. For career _see_ vol. iii. p. 116. =Woodland.=--Lieut.-Col. A. L. Woodland, 1st Batt. Durham Light Infantry. Entered 1867; Lieut.-Col., 1896. _War Service_--S. African War, 1899-1900. =Wools Sampson.=--Lieut.-Col. Wools Sampson. This dashing officer commanded the splendid regiment of S. African Colonials, the Imperial Light Horse. =Wright.-=-Lieut.-Col. A. J. A. Wright, East Lancashire Regiment. Entered 1870; Lieut.-Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--D.A.A.G. (Musk.) Bengal, 1883-95; Adjt. Militia, 1890-98. _War Service_--Op. in Chitral, 1895 (medal with clasp); S. African War, 1899-1900. =Wyndham-Quin.=--Maj. W. H. Wyndham-Quin, M.P. Major Wyndham-Quin, who was formerly in the 16th Lancers, is another of the patriotic number who went to the front with the Imperial Yeomanry. He was born in 1857, served in the Boer War of 1881, and married in 1885 the daughter of the 6th Earl of Mayo. =Wynne.=--Maj.-Gen. A. S. Wynne, C.B. Entered 1863; Col., 1891. _Staff Service_--Spec., S. Africa, 1881; employed with Egyptian Army, 1883-85; D.A.A.G., Headquarters of Army, 1886-88; A.A.G., Curragh, 1891-94; D.A.G., Malta, 1894-98; Aldershot, 1898-99; Assist. Mil. Sec., Headquarters of Army, 1899; D.A.G., S. Africa, 1899-1900; Maj.-Gen. Inf. Brig., S. Africa, Jan. 1900. _War Service_--Jowaki Ex., 1877 (Despatches; medal with clasp); Afghan War, 1878-79 (Despatches; medal with clasp; Brev. of Maj.); S. African War, 1881; Soudan Ex., 1884-85 (Despatches; medal with clasp; bronze star; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff; with Ladysmith Relief Force (wounded, Feb. 22). =Wynyard.=--Capt. E. G. Wynyard, D.S.O., Welsh Regiment. Entered 1883. _Staff Service_--Adjt. Volunteers, 1899; Inst. R. Mil. Coll., 1899. _War Service_--Burmese Ex., 1885-87 (Despatches; medal with clasp; D.S.O.). =Yarde-Buller.=--Capt. Hon. H. Yarde-Buller, Rifle Brigade, A.D.C. Entered 1884; Capt., 1893. _Staff Service_--A.D.C. (extra) to Gov., Bombay, 1887-88; A.D.C. (extra) to G.O.C., Aldershot, 1896-97; A.D.C. to Maj.-Gen. Inf. Brig., S. Africa, 1899; A.D.C. to Lieut.-Gen. Inf. Div., S. Africa. _War Service_--Waziristan Ex., 1894-95; Nile Ex., 1898 (Egyptian medal with clasp; medal); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. =Younghusband.=--Maj. G. J. Younghusband, I.S.C. Entered 1878; Major, I.S.C., 1898. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1878-80 (medal with clasp); Soudan Ex., 1885 (medal with clasp; bronze star); Burmese Ex., 1886-87 (medal with clasp); Op. in Chitral, 1895 (Despatches; Brev. of Maj.); S. African War, 1899-1900; severely wounded; Commanded 3rd Battalion Imperial Yeomanry throughout Lord Methuen's operations. =Yule.=--Col. J. H. Yule. Entered 1865; Col., 1899. _Staff Service_--Maj.-Gen. Inf. Brig., Natal, 1899. _War Service_--Afghan War, 1879-80 (medal); Burma, 1889-92 (medal with clasp; Brev. of Lieut.-Col.); Op. on N.W. Frontier of India, 1897-98 (Despatches; Brev. of Col.; medal with 2 clasps); S. African War, 1899-1900; on Staff; action at Dundee. FOOTNOTES: [19] The military details do not extend beyond the information contained in the Official Army Lists of 1900. [20] This was written prior to the display of brutality towards the Peace Envoys. [21] Now Commander-in-Chief in S. Africa. RECIPIENTS OF THE VICTORIA CROSS Queen Victoria was pleased to confer the decoration of the Victoria Cross on the following officers, non-commissioned officers, and men, whose claims were submitted to her Majesty's approval, for their conspicuous bravery in South Africa, as stated against their names[22]:-- =Captain Matthew Fontaine Maury Meiklejohn= of the Gordon Highlanders.--At the battle of Elandslaagte, on October 21, 1899, after the main Boer position had been captured, some men of the Gordon Highlanders, when about to assault a kopje in advance, were exposed to a heavy cross-fire, and, having lost their leaders, commenced to waver. Seeing this, Captain Meiklejohn rushed to the front and called on the Gordons to follow him. By his conspicuous bravery and fearless example, he rallied the men and led them against the enemy's position, where he fell, desperately wounded in four places. =Captains C. H. Mullins and R. Johnstone=, Imperial Light Horse.--On the 21st October 1899, at Elandslaagte, at a most critical moment, the advance being momentarily checked by a very severe fire at point-blank range, these two officers very gallantly rushed forward under this heavy fire and rallied the men, thus enabling the flanking movement which decided the day to be carried out. On this occasion Captain Mullins was wounded. =Sergeant-Major (now Quartermaster and Hon. Lieutenant) William Robertson= of the Gordon Highlanders.--At the battle of Elandslaagte, on October 21, 1899, during the final advance on the enemy's position, Sergt.-Major Robertson led each successive rush, exposing himself fearlessly to the enemy's artillery and rifle fire to encourage the men. After the main position had been captured, he led a small party to seize the Boer camp. Though exposed to a deadly cross-fire from the enemy's rifles, he gallantly held on to the position captured, and continued to encourage the men until he was dangerously wounded in two places. =Second Lieutenant John Norwood=, 5th Dragoon Guards.--On October 30, 1899, Second Lieutenant Norwood went out from Ladysmith in charge of a small patrol of the 5th Dragoon Guards. They came under a heavy fire from the enemy, who were posted on a ridge in great force. The patrol, which had arrived within about 600 yards of the ridge, then retired at full speed. One man dropped, and Second Lieutenant Norwood galloped back about 300 yards through heavy fire, dismounted, and picking up the fallen trooper, carried him out of fire on his back, at the same time leading his horse with one hand. The enemy kept up an incessant fire during the whole time that Second Lieutenant Norwood was carrying the man until he was quite out of range. *=Lieutenant H. E. M. Douglas=, Royal Army Medical Corps.--On December 11, 1899, during the action at Majesfontein, Lieutenant Douglas showed great gallantry and devotion under a very severe fire in advancing in the open and attending to Captain Gordon, Gordon Highlanders, who was wounded, and also attending to Major Robinson and other wounded men under a fearful fire. Many similar acts of devotion and gallantry were performed by Lieutenant Douglas on the same day. =Corporal J. Shaul=, the Highland Light Infantry.--On December 11, 1899, during the battle of Majesfontein, Corporal Shaul was observed (not only by the officers of his own battalion but by several officers of other regiments) to perform several specific acts of bravery. Corporal Shaul was in charge of stretcher-bearers; but at one period of the battle he was seen encouraging men to advance across the open. He was most conspicuous during the day in dressing men's wounds, and in one case he came, under a heavy fire, to a man who was lying wounded in the back, and, with the utmost coolness and deliberation, sat down beside the wounded man and proceeded to dress his wound. Having done this, he got up and went quietly to another part of the field. This act of gallantry was performed under a continuous and heavy fire as coolly and quietly as if there had been no enemy near. =Captain W. N. Congreve=, the Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own).--At Colenso, on December 15, 1899, the detachments serving the guns of the 14th and 66th Batteries, Royal Field Artillery, had all been either killed, wounded, or driven from their guns by infantry fire at close range, and the guns were deserted. About 500 yards behind the guns was a donga in which some of the few horses and drivers left alive were sheltered. The intervening space was swept with shell and rifle fire. Captain Congreve, Rifle Brigade, who was in the donga, assisted to hook a team into a limber, went out, and assisted to limber up a gun. Being wounded, he took shelter; but seeing Lieutenant Roberts fall, badly wounded, he went out again and brought him in. Captain Congreve was shot through the leg, through the toe of his boot, grazed on the elbow and the shoulder, and his horse shot in three places. =Lieutenant the Hon. F. H. S. Roberts= (since deceased), the King's Royal Rifle Corps.--Lieutenant Roberts assisted Captain Congreve. He was wounded in three places. =Corporal G. E. Nurse=, 66th Battery, Royal Field Artillery.--Corporal Nurse also assisted. =Captain H. L. Reed=, 7th Battery, Royal Field Artillery.--Captain Reed, who had heard of the difficulty, shortly afterwards brought down three teams from his battery to see if he could be of any use. He was wounded, as were five of the thirteen men who rode with him; one was killed; and thirteen out of twenty-one horses were killed before he got half-way to the guns, and he was obliged to retire. =Major William Babtie, C.M.G.=, of the Royal Army Medical Corps.--In the engagement the wounded of the 14th and 66th Batteries, Royal Field Artillery, were lying in an advanced donga close in the rear of the guns without any medical officer to attend to them, and when a message was sent back asking for assistance, Major Babtie rode up under a heavy rifle fire, his pony being hit three times. When he arrived at the donga, where the wounded were lying in sheltered corners, he attended to them all, going from place to place exposed to the heavy rifle fire which greeted any one who showed himself. Late in the day Major Babtie went out with Captain Congreve to bring in Lieutenant Roberts, who was lying wounded on the veldt. This also was under a heavy fire. =Captain Charles FitzClarence=, the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment).--On the 14th October 1899, Captain FitzClarence went with his squadron of the Protectorate Regiment, consisting of only partially trained men, who had never been in action, to the assistance of an armoured train which had gone out from Mafeking. The enemy were in greatly superior numbers, and the squadron was for a time surrounded, and it looked as if nothing could save them from being shot down. Captain FitzClarence, however, by his personal coolness and courage, inspired the greatest confidence in his men, and by his bold and efficient handling of them, not only succeeded in relieving the armoured train, but inflicted a heavy defeat on the Boers, who lost fifty killed and a large number wounded, his own losses being two killed and fifteen wounded. The moral effect of this blow had a very important bearing on subsequent encounters with the Boers. On the 27th October 1899, Captain FitzClarence led his squadron from Mafeking across the open, and made a night attack with the bayonet on one of the enemy's trenches. A hand-to-hand fight took place in the trench, while a heavy fire was concentrated on it from the rear. The enemy was driven out with heavy loss. Captain FitzClarence was the first man into the position, and accounted for four of the enemy with his sword. The British lost six killed and nine wounded. Captain FitzClarence was himself slightly wounded. With reference to these two actions, Major-General Baden-Powell states that, had this officer not shown an extraordinary spirit and fearlessness, the attacks would have been failures, and we should have suffered heavy loss both in men and prestige. On the 26th December 1899, during the action at Game Tree, near Mafeking, Captain FitzClarence again distinguished himself by his coolness and courage, and was again wounded (severely through both legs). =Sergeant H. R. Martineau=, Protectorate Regiment.--On the 26th December 1899, during the fight at Game Tree, near Mafeking, when the order to retire had been given, Sergeant Martineau stopped and picked up Corporal Le Camp, who had been struck down about ten yards from the Boer trenches, and half dragged, half carried him towards a bush about 150 yards from the trenches. In doing this Sergeant Martineau was wounded in the side, but paid no attention to it, and proceeded to staunch and bandage the wounds of his comrade, whom he afterwards assisted to retire. The firing while they were retiring was very heavy, and Sergeant Martineau was again wounded. When shot the second time he was absolutely exhausted from supporting his comrade, and sank down unable to proceed further. He received three wounds, one of which necessitated the amputation of his arm near the shoulder. =Trooper H. E. Ramsden=, Protectorate Regiment.--On the 26th December 1899, during the fight at Game Tree, near Mafeking, after the order to retire was given, Trooper H. E. Ramsden picked up his brother, Trooper A. E. Ramsden, who had been shot through both legs and was lying about ten yards from the Boer trenches, and carried him about 600 or 800 yards under a heavy fire (putting him down from time to time for a rest) till they met some men who helped to carry him to a place of safety. =Lieutenant (now Captain) Sir John P. Milbanke, Bart.=, 10th Hussars.--On the 5th January 1900, during a reconnaissance near Colesberg, Sir John Milbanke, when retiring under fire with a small patrol of the 10th Hussars, notwithstanding the fact that he had just been severely wounded in the thigh, rode back to the assistance of one of the men whose pony was exhausted, and who was under fire from some Boers who had dismounted. Sir John Milbanke took the man up on his own horse under a most galling fire and brought him safely back to camp. [Illustration: COMMANDER AND ABLE-SEAMAN, R. N. Photo by Gregory & Co., London.] =Lieutenant Francis Newton Parsons= (since deceased), Essex Regiment.--On the morning of the 18th of February 1900, at Paardeberg, on the south bank of the river Modder, Private Ferguson, 1st Battalion Essex Regiment, was wounded and fell in a place devoid of cover. While trying to crawl under cover he was again wounded in the stomach. Lieutenant Parsons at once went to his assistance, dressed his wound under heavy fire, went down twice (still under heavy fire) to the bank of the river to get water for Private Ferguson, and subsequently carried him to a place of safety. This officer was recommended for the Victoria Cross by Lieutenant-General Kelly-Kenny, C.B., on the 3rd of March last. Lieutenant Parsons was killed on the 10th of March in the engagement at Driefontein, on which occasion he again displayed conspicuous gallantry. =Private (now Corporal) A. E. Curtis=, 2nd Battalion East Surrey Regiment.--On the 23rd February 1900, Colonel Harris lay all day long in a perfectly open space under close fire of a Boer breastwork. The Boers fired all day at any man who moved, and Colonel Harris was wounded eight or nine times. Private Curtis, after several attempts, succeeded in reaching the Colonel, bound his wounded arm, and gave him his flask--all under heavy fire. He then tried to carry him away, but was unable, on which he called for assistance and Private Morton came out at once. Fearing that the men would be killed, Colonel Harris told them to leave him, but they declined, and after trying to carry the Colonel on their rifles they made a chair with their hands and so carried him out of fire. =Lieutenant E. T. Inkson=, Royal Army Medical Corps.--On the 24th February 1900, Lieutenant Inkson carried Second Lieutenant Devenish (who was severely wounded and unable to walk) for three or four hundred yards under a very heavy fire to a place of safety. The ground over which Lieutenant Inkson had to move was much exposed, there being no cover available. =Captain Conwyn Mansel-Jones=, the West Yorkshire Regiment.--On February 27, 1900, during the assault on Terrace Hill, north of the Tugela, in Natal, the companies of the West Yorkshire Regiment on the northern slope of the hill met with a severe shell, Vickers-Maxim, and rifle fire, and their advance was for a few moments checked. Captain C. Mansel-Jones, however, by his strong initiative, restored confidence, and, in spite of his falling very seriously wounded, the men took the whole ridge without further check, this officer's self-sacrificing devotion to duty at a critical moment having averted what might have proved a serious check to the whole assault. =Sergeant H. Engleheart=, 10th Hussars.--At dawn on March 13, 1900, the party that had destroyed the railway north of Bloemfontein had to charge through a Boer piquet and get over four deep spruits in order to make their way back through the Boer lines. At the fourth spruit Sapper Webb's horse failed to get up the bank, and he was left in a very dangerous position. In face of a very heavy rifle and shell fire, and notwithstanding the great chance of being cut off, Sergeant Engleheart returned to Sapper Webb's assistance. It took some time to get the man and his horse out of the sluit, and the position became momentarily more critical owing to the advance of the Boers. He was, however, at last successful, and retiring slowly, to cover Webb's retreat, was able to get him safely back to the party. Shortly before this, Sergeant Engleheart had shown great gallantry in dashing into the first spruit, which could only be reached in single file, and was still full of Boers hesitating whether to fly or fire. Had they been given time to rally they must have destroyed the small party of British, as they outnumbered them by four to one. =Major Phipps-Hornby, Sergeant Charles Parker, Gunner Isaac Lodge, Driver Horace Harry Glasock=, Q Battery, R.H.A.--Four Victoria Crosses were awarded to members of Q Battery, Royal Horse Artillery, for gallantry displayed at Koorn Spruit. As every man of the battery had displayed equally conspicuous courage, Lord Roberts decided to deal with the case under Rule 13 of the Warrant of the Order, and allotted four badges--one for officers, one for non-commissioned officers, and two for gunners and drivers. The circumstances in which Major Phipps-Hornby was selected for the honour in the first class mentioned are set forth in the following extract from the London _Gazette_: "On the occasion of the action at Koorn Spruit on March 31, 1900, a British force, including two batteries of the Royal Horse Artillery, was retiring from Thabanchu towards Bloemfontein. The enemy had formed an ambush at Koorn Spruit, and, before their presence was discovered by the main body, had captured the greater portion of the baggage column and five out of the six guns of the leading battery. When the alarm was given Q Battery, Royal Horse Artillery, was within 300 yards of the spruit. Major Phipps-Hornby, who commanded it, at once wheeled about and moved off at a gallop under a very heavy fire. One gun upset when a wheel-horse was shot, and had to be abandoned, together with a waggon, the horses of which were killed. The remainder of the battery reached a position close to some unfinished railway buildings, and came into action 1150 yards from the spruit, remaining in action until ordered to retire. When the order to retire was received, Major Phipps-Hornby ordered the guns and their limbers to be run back by hand to where the teams of uninjured horses stood behind the unfinished buildings. The few remaining gunners, assisted by a number of officers and men of a party of mounted infantry, and directed by Major Phipps-Hornby and Captain Humphreys, the only remaining officers of the battery, succeeded in running back four of the guns under shelter. One or two of the limbers were similarly withdrawn by hand, but the work was most severe and the distance considerable. In consequence, all concerned were so exhausted that they were unable to drag in the remaining limbers or the fifth gun. It now became necessary to risk the horses, and volunteers were called for from among the drivers, who readily responded. Several horses were killed, and men wounded, but at length only one gun and one limber were left exposed. Four separate attempts were made to rescue these, but when no more horses were available the attempt had to be given up, and the gun and limber were abandoned. Meanwhile the other guns had been sent on, one at a time, and, after passing within 700 or 800 yards of the enemy, in rounding the head of a donga and crossing two spruits, they eventually reached a place of safety, where the battery was reformed. After full consideration of the circumstances of the case, the Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief in South Africa formed the opinion that the conduct of all ranks of Q Battery, Royal Horse Artillery, was conspicuously gallant and daring, but that all were equally brave and devoted in their behaviour. He therefore decided to treat the case of the battery as one of collective gallantry under Rule 13 of the Victoria Cross Warrant, and directed that one officer should be selected for the decoration of the Victoria Cross by the officers, one non-commissioned officer by the non-commissioned officers, and two gunners or drivers by the gunners and drivers. A difficulty arose with regard to the officer, owing to the fact that there were only two unwounded officers--Major Phipps-Hornby and Captain Humphreys--available for the work of saving the guns, and both of these had been conspicuous by their gallantry and by the fearless manner in which they exposed themselves, and each of them nominated the other for the decoration. It was ultimately decided in favour of Major Phipps-Hornby, as having been the senior concerned." Sergeant Charles Parker was chosen by the non-commissioned officers as the one among them most deserving the distinction. Gunner Isaac Lodge and Driver Horace Harry Glasock were selected in the like manner by the vote of their comrades. *=Lieutenant F. A. Maxwell=, D.S.O., Indian Staff Corps, attached to Roberts's Light Horse.--Lieutenant Maxwell was one of three officers not belonging to Q Battery, Royal Horse Artillery, specially mentioned by Lord Roberts as having shown the greatest gallantry and disregard of danger in carrying out the self-imposed duty of saving the guns of that battery during the affair at Koorn Spruit on March 31, 1900. This officer went out on five different occasions and assisted to bring in two guns and three limbers, one of which he, Captain Humphreys, and some gunners, dragged in by hand. He also went out with Captain Humphreys and Lieutenant Stirling to try to get the last gun in, and remained there till the attempt was abandoned. During a previous campaign (the Chitral Expedition of 1895) Lieutenant Maxwell displayed gallantry in the removal of the body of Lieutenant-Colonel F. D. Battye, Corps of Guides, under fire, for which, though recommended, he received no reward.[23] =Lieutenant W. H. S. Nickerson=, Royal Army Medical Corps, attached to Mounted Infantry.--At Wakkerstroom, on the evening of the 20th April 1900, during the advance of the Infantry to support the mounted troops, Lieutenant Nickerson went, in the most gallant manner, under a heavy rifle and shell fire, to attend a wounded man, dressed his wounds, and remained with him till he had him conveyed to a place of safety. =Corporal H. Beet=, 1st Battalion Derbyshire Regiment Mounted Infantry.--At Wakkerstroom, on the 22nd April 1900, No. 2 Mounted Infantry Company 1st Battalion Derbyshire Regiment, with two squadrons Imperial Yeomanry, had to retire from near a farm, under a ridge held by Boers. Corporal Burnett, Imperial Yeomanry, was left on the ground wounded, and Corporal Beet, on seeing him, remained behind, and placed him under cover, bound up his wounds, and by firing prevented the Boers from coming down to the farm till dark, when Dr. Wilson, Imperial Yeomanry, came to the wounded man's assistance. The retirement was carried out under a very heavy fire, and Corporal Beet was exposed to fire during the whole afternoon. =Captain Ernest Beckwith Towse=, the Gordon Highlanders.--On the 11th December, 1899, at the action of Majesfontein, Captain Towse was brought to notice by his commanding officer for his gallantry and devotion in assisting the late Colonel Downman, when mortally wounded, in the retirement, and endeavouring, when close up to the front of the firing line, to carry Colonel Downman on his back, but finding this not possible Captain Towse supported him till joined by Colour-Sergeant Nelson and Lance-Corporal Hodgson. On the 30th of April, 1900, Captain Towse, with 12 men, took up a position on the top of Mount Thaba, far away from support. A force of about 150 Boers attempted to seize the same plateau, neither party appearing to see the other until they were but 100 yards apart. Some of the Boers then got within 40 yards of Captain Towse and his party, and called on him to surrender. He at once caused his men to open fire, and remained firing himself until severely wounded (both eyes shattered), succeeding in driving off the Boers. The gallantry of this officer in vigorously attacking the enemy (for he not only fired, but charged forward) saved the situation, notwithstanding the numerical superiority of the Boers. =Corporal F. M'Kay=, the Gordon Highlanders.--On the 29th of May 1900, during the action on Crow's Nest Hill, near Johannesburg, Corporal M'Kay repeatedly rushed forward, under a withering fire at short ranges, to attend to wounded comrades, dressing their wounds, while he himself was without shelter, and in one instance carrying a wounded man from the open, under a heavy fire, to the shelter of a boulder. =Corporal F. Kirby=, Royal Engineers.--On the morning of June 2, 1900, a party sent to try to cut the Delagoa Bay Railway were retiring, hotly pressed by very superior numbers. During one of the successive retirements of the rearguard a man, whose horse had been shot, was seen running after his comrades. He was a long way behind the rest of his troop, and was under a brisk fire. From among the retiring troop, Corporal Kirby turned and rode back to the man's assistance. Although by the time he reached him they were under a heavy fire at close range, Corporal Kirby managed to get the dismounted man up behind him, and to take him clear off over the next rise held by our rearguard. This is the third occasion on which Corporal Kirby has displayed gallantry in the face of the enemy. =Private C. Ward=, 2nd Battalion the King's Own (Yorkshire Light Infantry).--On June 26, 1900, at Lindley, a picket of the Yorkshire Light Infantry was surrounded on three sides by about 500 Boers at close quarters. The two officers were wounded, and all but six of their men were killed or wounded. Private Ward then volunteered to take a message asking for reinforcements to the signalling station about 150 yards in the rear of the post. His offer was at first refused, owing to the practical certainty of his being shot; but, on his insisting, he was allowed to go. He got across untouched through a storm of shots from each flank, and, having delivered his message, he voluntarily returned from a place of absolute safety and recrossed the fire-swept ground to assure his commanding-officer that the message had been sent. On this occasion he was severely wounded. But for this gallant action the post would certainly have been captured. =Sergeant Arthur Herbert Lindsey Richardson= of Lord Strathcona's Corps.--On July 5, at Wolve Spruit, about fifteen miles north of Standerton, a party of Lord Strathcona's Corps, only thirty-eight in number, came into contact and was engaged at close quarters with a force of eighty of the enemy. When the order to retire had been given, Sergeant Richardson rode back under a very heavy cross-fire and picked up a trooper whose horse had been shot, and who was wounded in two places, and rode with him out of fire. At the time when this act of gallantry was performed, Sergeant Richardson was within 300 yards of the enemy, and was himself riding a wounded horse. =Captain William Engleson Gordon=, the Gordon Highlanders.--On July 11, 1900, during the action near Leehoehoek (or Doornbosch Fontein), near Krugersdorp, a party of men, accompanied by Captains Younger and Allan, having succeeded in dragging an artillery waggon under cover when its horses were unable to do so by reason of the heavy and accurate fire of the enemy, Captain Gordon called for volunteers to go out with him to try to bring in one of the guns. He went out alone to the nearest gun under a heavy fire, and with the greatest coolness fastened a drag-rope to the gun and then beckoned to the men, who immediately doubled out to join him in accordance with his previous instructions. While moving the gun, Captain Younger and three men were hit. Seeing that further attempts would only result in further casualties, Captain Gordon ordered the remainder of the party under cover of the kopje again, and, having seen the wounded safely away, himself retired. Captain Gordon's conduct, under a particularly heavy and most accurate fire at only 850 yards' range, was most admirable, and his manner of handling his men most masterly; his devotion on every occasion that his battalion has been under fire has been remarkable. =Captain David Reginald Younger=, the Gordon Highlanders, in recognition of the conspicuous bravery displayed by him on July 11, 1900, as described above, would have received the Victoria Cross had he survived his gallant action. =Sergeant T. Lawrence=, 17th Lancers.--On the 7th August 1900, when on patrol duty near Essenbosch Farm, Sergeant Lawrence and a Private Hayman were attacked by twelve or fourteen Boers. Private Hayman's horse was shot and the man was thrown, dislocating his shoulder. Sergeant Lawrence at once came to his assistance, extricated him from under the horse, put him on his own horse, and sent him on to the picket. Sergeant Lawrence took the soldier's carbine, and, with his own carbine as well, kept the Boers off until Private Hayman was safely out of range. He then retired for some two miles on foot, followed by the Boers, and keeping them off till assistance arrived. =Corporal H. J. Knight=, 1st Battalion Liverpool Regiment, No. 1 Company, Fourth Division Mounted Infantry.--On the 21st August 1900, during the operations near Van Wyk's Vlei, Corporal Knight was posted in some rocks with four men covering the right rear of a detachment of the same company who, under Captain Ewart, were holding the right of the line. The enemy, about fifty strong, attacked Captain Ewart's right and almost surrounded, at short range, Corporal Knight's small party. That non-commissioned officer held his ground, directing his party to retire one by one to better cover, where he maintained his position for nearly an hour, covering the withdrawal of Captain Ewart's force, and losing two of his four men. He then retired, bringing with him two wounded men. One of these he left in a place of safety, the other he carried himself for nearly two miles. The party were hotly engaged during the whole time. =Private William Heaton=, 1st Battalion the King's (Liverpool Regiment).--On the 23rd August 1900, the company to which Private Heaton belonged, advancing in front of the general line held by the troops, became surrounded by the enemy and was suffering severely. At the request of the officer commanding Private Heaton volunteered to take a message back to explain the position of the company. He was successful, though at the imminent risk of his own life. Had it not been for Private Heaton's courage there can be little doubt that the remainder of the company, which suffered very severely, would have had to surrender. =Lieutenant Guy G. E. Wylly=, Tasmanian Imperial Bushmen.--On the 1st of September 1900, near Warm Bad, Lieutenant Wylly was with the advanced scouts of a foraging party. They were passing through a narrow gorge, very rocky and thickly wooded, when the enemy in force suddenly opened fire at short range from hidden cover, wounding six out of the party of eight, including Lieutenant Wylly. That officer, seeing that one of his men was badly wounded in the leg, and that his horse was shot, went back to the man's assistance, made him take his (Lieutenant Wylly's) horse, and opened fire from behind a rock to cover the retreat of the others, at the imminent risk of being cut off himself. Colonel T. E. Hickman, D.S.O., considers that the gallant conduct of Lieutenant Wylly saved Corporal Brown from being killed or captured, and that his subsequent action in firing to cover the retreat was "instrumental in saving others of his men from death or capture." =Private J. H. Bisbee=, Tasmanian Imperial Bushmen. Act of courage for which recommended.--On September 1, 1900, Private Bisbee was one of an advanced scouting party passing through a rocky defile near Warm Bad, Transvaal. The enemy, who were in ambuscade, opened a sudden fire at close range, and six out of the party of eight were hit, including two officers. The horse of one of the wounded officers broke away and bolted. Private Bisbee gave the officer his stirrup leather to help him out of action; but, finding that the officer was too badly wounded to go on, Private Bisbee dismounted, placed him on his horse, mounted behind him, and conveyed him out of range. This act was performed under a very hot fire and in a very exposed place. =Major E. D. Brown=, 14th Hussars.--On the 13th October 1900, at Geluk, when the enemy were within four hundred yards, and bringing a heavy fire to bear, Major Brown, seeing that Sergeant Hersey's horse was shot, stopped behind the last squadron as it was retiring, and helped Sergeant Hersey to mount behind him, carrying him for about three-quarters of a mile to a place of safety. He did this under a heavy fire. Major Brown afterwards enabled Lieutenant Browne, 14th Hussars, to mount, by holding his horse, which was very restive under the heavy fire. Lieutenant Browne could not otherwise have mounted. Subsequently Major Brown carried Lance-Corporal Trumpeter Leigh out of action. =Lieutenant A. C. Doxat=, 3rd Battalion Imperial Yeomanry.--On the 20th October 1900, near Zeerust, Lieutenant Doxat proceeded with a party of Mounted Infantry to reconnoitre a position held by one hundred Boers on a ridge of kopjes. When within three hundred yards of the position the enemy opened a heavy fire on Lieutenant Doxat's party, which then retired, leaving one of their number who had lost his horse. Lieutenant Doxat, seeing the dangerous position in which the man was placed, galloped back under a very heavy fire and brought him on his horse to a place of safety. *=Lieutenant H. Z. C. Cockburn=, Royal Canadian Dragoons.--During the action at Komati River on the 7th of November, Lieutenant Cockburn, with a handful of men, at a most critical moment held off the Boers to allow the guns to get away; to do so he had to sacrifice himself and his party, all of whom were killed, wounded, or taken prisoners, he himself being slightly wounded. *=Lieutenant R. E. W. Turner=, Royal Canadian Dragoons.--Later in the day, when the Boers again seriously threatened to capture the guns, Lieutenant Turner, though twice previously wounded, dismounted and deployed his men at close quarters and drove off the Boers, thus saving the guns. *=Sergeant E. Holland=, Royal Canadian Dragoons.--Sergeant Holland did splendid work with his Colt gun, and kept the Boers off the two twelve-pounders by its fire at close range. When he saw the enemy were too near for him to escape with the carriage, as the horse was blown, he calmly lifted the gun off and galloped away with it under his arm. =Sergeant Farmer=, Cameron Highlanders.--During the attack on General Clements' camp at Nooitgedacht on December 13, 1900, Lieutenant Sandilands, Cameron Highlanders, with fifteen men, went to the assistance of a picquet which was heavily engaged, most of the men having been killed or wounded. The enemy, who were hidden by trees, opened fire on the party at a range of about twenty yards, killing two and wounding five, including Lieutenant Sandilands. Sergeant Farmer at once went to the officer, who was perfectly helpless, and carried him away under a very heavy and close fire to a place of comparative safety, after which he returned to the firing line, and was eventually taken prisoner. FOOTNOTES: [22] The names are arranged according to the dates on which were performed the deeds that earned the distinction. An asterisk denotes the V.C.'s conferred by King Edward VII. [23] This decoration was the first Victoria Cross conferred by King Edward VII., on March 8, 1901. LEXICON OF TERMS AND PLACES CONNECTED WITH THE CAMPAIGN =Accoutrements.=--The belts which support the arms, pouch, or pouches of a soldier. These belts are usually made of "buff" leather in the English Army, and are marked inside, as are also the pouches, &c., with the number of the regiment to which they belong. =Adjutant.=--An officer not above the rank of Major, appointed to assist the commanding officer in all the details of duty and discipline; receives and issues that officer's orders to the regiment in general, and is bound to bring to his notice all infraction of rules and orders. He is responsible for the correctness of the regimental books; he prosecutes on all court-martials; supervises the sergeants' mess; has charge of the orderly-room (Colonel's office); inspects all escorts and guards; has charge of the official correspondence; and has to spend much of his time in drilling recruits, and in all duties tending to discipline and the smartness and efficiency of the regiment. =Adjutant-General.=--One of the chief staff officers of the army, through whom all orders are promulgated, and to whom all reports are sent for the information of the Commander-in-Chief. In time of peace all official correspondence passes through his office, and he is responsible for the general efficiency of the army. On a campaign, in subordination to the Chief of the Staff, he regulates the daily duties of the force. He keeps an exact account of each division and brigade, with a roll of the general and field officers. He issues the orders of the day, and communications on the field are made to him in the absence of a Chief of the Staff. To his department are attached Deputy-Adjutant-Generals, Assistant-Adjutant-Generals, and Deputy-Assistant-Adjutant-Generals. =Advanced Posts.=--A term applied to picquets, and any fortified position in country or village in advance of the main line of battle. Their object is to prevent the enemy surprising the main body of the army, and to give it time to form up; this being done, the advanced posts fall back upon their supports and join the main force. =Africander.=--A white man born of European parents in South Africa. =Africander Bond.=--An association to protect the interests of the Africanders in Africa; now known as the "Dutch party" in Cape Colony, who were certainly not wholly loyal. =Aide-de-camp.=--An officer attached to the personal staff of a general officer in garrison or in the field. He carries all orders given him by the general. These he must deliver most distinctly, so as to avoid all chance of mistake, and it is understood his orders must be implicitly obeyed. Thus only officers of intelligence and smartness are appointed. In times of peace, the aide-de-camp assists his chief in official correspondence, in introducing officers, and in dispensing the courtesies of the general's house. An officer cannot be appointed until he has served two years with his regiment, and passed the prescribed examination. The number of aide-de-camps allotted to general officers in the field are: Commander-in-Chief, four; Generals of Division, two; General of Brigade, one. In time of peace a general has three only. Aide-de-camps receive extra pay in addition to the pay of their regimental rank, which rank is seldom above that of captain. Aide-de-camps are attached to the sovereign, the appointment carrying with it the rank of Colonel in the army. Governors of provinces also have them. =Aliwal North.=--A town on the Orange River, on the border between the Free State and Cape Colony, where the Frere Bridge (860 ft. in length) crosses the river. It had a population a little over 2000; and with its park, racecourse, golf links, and sulphur springs, acted as the Leamington of Cape Colony. =Ambulance.=--A four-wheeled, covered waggon for the conveyance of sick and wounded soldiers. Two stretchers, the legs of which have small iron wheels, can be run into it, three men can sit on the tailboard, which lets down to serve as a foot-rest, and three others on a like seat in front. Buckets hang below the waggon; a barrel of water is fastened to the splinter-bar, and from the high canvas roof depends a basket for the men's arms and valises. This roof is marked with the Geneva Cross. =Amnesty.=--An act of forgiveness for offences committed against the State, these offences being usually of a political nature. =Ammunition.=--A term applied to charges of powder for ordnance and small arms; also to all kinds of projectiles, and to various appliances for igniting the charges, &c. During a campaign the reserve ammunition for small arms is carried in carts, each containing 9600 rounds, under the charge of the officers commanding battalions; three carts to each battalion. The remainder of the reserve ammunition, gun and small arm, is with the ammunition column. =Ambush= or =Ambuscade=.--Troops, in small or large bodies, placed in concealment in order to surprise and attack an enemy. =Approaches.=--All works are generally so called that are carried on towards a besieged place, such as trenches, saps, galleries, redoubts, lodgments, and places of arms. =Armistice.=--A truce or suspension of hostilities between two armies, a stated time being given for its duration, at the expiration of which, if the contending nations do not come to an agreement, hostilities begin again. =Armoured-Train.=--A train, the carriages of which are externally plated with metal, and loop-holed to admit of soldiers firing, while they themselves are protected. =Arms.=--Weapons of different forms for attack and defence in the various branches of the army. =Army Corps.=--A small army, under the command of a general, composed of all arms of the service, and furnished with every requisite for active service. Its war strength in the British army is about 40,000 officers and men, 12,846 horses, 122 guns, 25 machine-guns, and 1573 carts and waggons. =Army Ordnance Corps.=--Its duties consist in issuing stores and munitions of war, and are most onerous. =Army Reserve.=--A force composed of men who have enlisted for twelve years, a portion of which service, viz. seven or eight and not less than three years, must be passed with the colours, the residue being spent in the reserve. These are known as "short service men." Other soldiers eligible to enter the reserve force are those who have exceeded their first term of service, men of say thirteen or fourteen years' service, and are yet under thirty-four years of age. =Artillery.=--Horse artillery consists of men mounted on horses or on the limbers of the guns. They are armed with 12-pounders, and manoeuvre with cavalry. Field artillery moves more slowly, the men being carried on guns and waggons. Garrison or siege artillery furnishes gunners and heavy guns of position drawn by horses, bullocks, and in India, elephants. There are now 28 Horse batteries, 151 Field batteries, and 10 of the Mountain division of garrison artillery. =Badge.=--An honorary distinction worn on the colours of a regiment. According to the Queen's Regulations, all regimental badges granted under special authority to different corps are to be strictly preserved. =Baggage.=--In a military sense, includes clothes, camp-equipage, and cooking apparatus of a regiment or army. The baggage of troops, if proceeding by sea, is divided into "light" and "heavy" baggage. =Balloon.=--Useful in warfare for purposes of reconnoitring, also in cases of a beleaguered city of keeping up communications with the outside world. The Prussians reconnoitred the French position before Metz, in 1870, by means of a balloon with telegraph attached, and thus the survey of the position of the French army was instantaneously conveyed to General Von Moltke. =Bandoliers.=--Belts of leather or canvas to hold small-arm cartridges, worn over the shoulder. =Base of Operations.=--In military language represents the original line on which an offensive army forms, whether it be the frontier of a country, river, or safe position, whence it takes the field to invade an enemy's country. The base of operations in case of retreat is always kept open to fall back upon. =Battalion=--An infantry unit. A British battalion is composed of 1010 of all ranks and one machine-gun. It is usually constituted thus: Lieutenant-colonel in command, majors 4, captains 5, lieutenants (first and second) 16. =Battery.=--Signifies, first, generally guns grouped and in position for action; second, the unit of an artillery command, as a battalion of infantry or a squadron of cavalry; thirdly, any work, permanent or temporary, considered as a position for a group of guns. =Bayonet.=--A short sword or triangular-shaped dagger, fixed on to the muzzle of a rifle, which, in this position, gives the soldier increased means of offence and defence. The name is derived from Bayonne in France, where it was supposed to have been first invented. Originally the bayonet was a blade of steel attached to a helve of wood, which was thrust into the barrel, but this arrangement interfered with the loading and firing of the weapon, and to remedy this defect, an elbow and socket were constructed, and the result was the present mode of attaching the bayonet. This improvement took place about the seventeenth century. The first regiment which appears to have had the bayonet attached to its musket was the Grenadier Guards in 1693. Macaulay attributes the loss by the English of the battle of Killiecrankie to the then awkward mode of attaching the bayonet, as the Highlanders were upon the troops before they could convert their firelocks into pikes. The older form of bayonet was 22 inches long, and weighed nearly a pound. The modern bayonet is about 12 inches in length, and weighs 15 ounces. =Beaconsfield.=--A suburb of Kimberley, containing several hotels, municipal offices, court-house, tramways, &c. Population about 10,000, half of whom are whites. =Bearer Company.=--Company of Royal Army Medical Corps for the removal of the wounded from the field of action to the dressing station or hospital. =Bechuanaland.=--A protectorate containing the territories of various native chiefs. The Crown Colony of British Bechuanaland was annexed to Cape Colony, November 1895. It is bounded on the north by the Motopo River, beyond which is the country known as the British Protectorate. =Belmont.=--A station on the railway from Cape Town to Kimberley, 591 miles from the former and about 54 miles from the latter. =Berg.=--A mountain or high hill. =Biltong.=--Strips of meat dried in the sun. It is much used by the Boers in war-time, as it is very portable and can be kept for an almost unlimited period. =Bivouac.=--From _bis_, "double," and the German word _wache_, "a guard." An army is said to bivouac when it does not encamp at night and sleeps in the open. This form of resting has the advantage over tents, as it does not enable the enemy to form any conception of the strength of his adversary. =Black Watch.=--The 42nd Regiment of the line, known as one of the most distinguished corps in the British army. In Chambers's "Encyclopedia" is found the following: "'Black Watch,' the appellation given to certain armed companies employed to watch the Highlands of Scotland. The term 'black' arose from the dress of this species of militia being composed of tartans of dark colours. Some Highlanders had been armed by Government as early as 1725, when General Wade was appointed Commander-in-Chief in Scotland, but it was not till about 1729 or 1730 that the companies assumed a regular form." They were stationed originally in different parts of the Highlands, and, acting independently of each other, were styled "the Independent Companies of the Black Watch." Subsequently, after being of great use for local purposes, the companies, united, were formed into the 42nd Regiment under the command of the Earl of Crawford, in 1739. =Bloemfontein.=--The capital of the Orange Free State, on the railway line between Cape Town and Pretoria, 750 miles from the former and 290 from the latter town. Population about 7000 white, 3000 black inhabitants. It is a picturesque, cleanly, and prosperous town. Three English newspapers are published there, and it is much frequented by the English, by whom the fine climate is much esteemed. =Boers.=--The Dutch word for farmers. For early history and character _see_ vol. i. =Bombproof Buildings.=--Buildings formed so as to withstand the shock of heavy shot or shell falling on them. =Boschveld.=--Plain covered with bush or scrub. =Boshof= is seventy-two miles north-west of Bloemfontein, and about forty north-east of Kimberley. From Boshof to the nearest point of the Vaal River--near Warrenton, or Fourteen Streams--is about twenty-five miles. =Brigade.=--A body of troops, the unit of a division. An infantry brigade is composed of four battalions. The term brigade is given to the Brigade of Guards, which consists of four regiments of Foot Guards; to the Household Cavalry, composed of two regiments of Life Guards, and the Royal Horse Guards. =Brigade-Major.=--Takes the same place in relation to a brigade as an adjutant in relation to a regiment. =Brigadier.=--A military officer whose rank is next above a Colonel. He exercises the command of a brigade of troops, with the rank, on active service, of Major-General. =Bulawayo= (the place of killing).--The capital of Rhodesia. White population 4000. A thriving, well-built town, with every modern convenience. It boasts many large hotels and churches, two theatres, a racecourse, and several schools. Electric light, newspapers, and a splendid avenue of trees, 2540 yards long and 130 feet broad, speak of the march of civilisation and bear the impress of the finger of Mr. Rhodes. A statue, characteristically colossal, of the empire-maker has been executed by Mr. John Tweed for erection on the scene of his life labours. _See_ vol. i. p. 124. =Burg.=--A town. =Burgher.=--European male inhabitant of the Republics, who may have obtained the franchise. For particulars regarding the Uitlanders and the franchise _see_ Mr. Loveday's speech, 1895, vol. i. p. 146. =Camp.=--The extent of ground occupied by an army either in huts or under canvas. They are placed, as a general rule, where wood and water are easily accessible. In standing camps the regulated interval is ten paces between each tent. =Campaign.=--The period during which an army keeps the field and carries on a series of operations. =Canteen.=--A regulated establishment (otherwise a store), managed for the benefit of the men by a committee of officers, for the purpose of supplying liquor, groceries, &c., to the soldier at reasonable prices. =Cape Boys.=--Coloured people, the offspring of intermarriage between mixed races and negroes. =Cape Colony.=--Bounded by the Orange River and Orange Colony on the north, by Natal on the north-east; and by the Atlantic and Indian Oceans on the west, south, and south-east. Area about 277,150 miles. Population in 1896 (exclusive of Pondoland and British Bechuanaland) about 1,822,000--one-fifth of whom are whites. The climate is highly esteemed and is said by some to have upon the constitution the effect of champagne. It is highly recommended for those suffering from pulmonary complaints, and as the seasons are exactly the reverse of those in England, health travellers to South Africa can escape the rigours of the British winter entirely. The defence of the Cape Colony has hitherto been maintained by a small British fleet, and by a small British garrison supplemented by the admirable corps of volunteers whose services in the present need have been so zealously placed at the service of the Empire. For details _see_ vol. iii. p. 161. The imports in 1898 stood thus: Cape Town, £5,128,292; Port Elizabeth, £6,246,429; East London, £3,519,697. The exports were: Cape Town, £15,881,952; Port Elizabeth, £2,103,351; East London, £954,654. =Cape Town.=--Population over 50,000 before the war. Distance from Southampton 5978 miles. A flourishing, well built and ordered town, boasting eighteen miles of tramway lines. The water supply is good, but owing to bad drainage the death rate in hot weather is about 27 per 1000. =Captain.=--In the army an officer who commands a troop of horse or a company of infantry. The badges of rank are two stars on each shoulder-strap. In the navy a captain commands a cruiser or a battleship. He ranks with a lieutenant-colonel in the army, and after three years' service with a full colonel. =Carbine.=--A small-arm rifle used by the cavalry, shorter and lighter than that of the infantry. =Cavalry.=--Mounted branch of the army--divided into _heavy_ and _light_. The duties of cavalry are extensive, and comprise the care of reconnoitring parties, outpost duties, feelers in advance of an army. Cavalry is classed as heavy, medium, and light. The Household Cavalry and two regiments of Dragoons are _heavy_, all other dragoons and dragoon guards are _medium_, and Hussar regiments _light_. The whole carry carbines and swords, or carbines and swords and lances. Every regiment is divided into three or four squadrons, which are each divided into two troops. General de Brack, in remarking on the qualifications of the cavalry officer, said, "To be a good officer of advance guard, it is not enough to be brave and to command well under fire; it is necessary to have brought there the greatest possible number of men, and in the best condition to act with effect.... The habit of judging of the health of men and horses; a knowledge of prompt remedies applicable in particular cases, the daily and minute inspection of appointments; understanding the necessary and judicious modes of repairing the same; the providing of all that can be useful to the soldier and his horse without overloading the latter; the equipment well arranged; regularity of pace in the line of march; good situation for the bivouacs; with constant attention to everything which can contribute to a horse's ability even to dispense for a time with the farrier; a notion of the method of using the utensils contained in a soldier's case; understanding the occasions favourable to refreshment and repose; the moral acquaintance with men under his command; discipline preserved when the dragoons have no longer before their eyes the dread of the guard-room or jail; that foresight which ever watches to prevent useless distress to the horses; personal example offered upon every occasion, and afforded the more readily in proportion as those occasions may be trying or difficult; confidence; unbounded devotion; the power of exciting enthusiasm among his followers: these are capabilities the theories of peace cannot teach, these are what, in addition to courage, military _coup d'oeil_, and a ready judgment on the field of battle, form the officer of real distinction." This quotation serves to enhance our appreciation of the "real distinction" of the British cavalry leaders who relieved Kimberley and Mafeking. =Charlestown.=--Situated north of Natal, a few miles from Majuba Hill. =Colenso.=--Small village in Natal near the Tugela River. =Colesberg.=--Small town 37 miles beyond Naauwpoort. Population, 1830. =Colonel.=--Highest rank in the army below that of general. Their rank is denoted by two stars and a crown on each shoulder-strap. A lieutenant-colonel wears a crown and one star. =Colonel of a Regiment.=--A general officer placed at the head of a regiment as reward of long and meritorious services. An honorary distinction merely. The Prince of Wales is Colonel of the 10th Hussars. =Column.=--Formation of troops several ranks in depth and of any length of front, disposed so as to move in regular succession. Sometimes the name _column_ is given to a body of troops which is in effect a small army. =Combatant.=--As distinct from noncombatant officers such as chaplains and surgeons. =Commandant.=--The chief of the Boer commando. =Commandeer.=--To call out on service. =Commander.=--Naval officer ranking next below a captain. He receives the title of captain socially, and ranks with a colonel in the army. =Commander-in-Chief.=--Highest Staff appointment in the army. He acts in conjunction with the Secretary of War. There is a _local_ Commander-in-Chief over the Indian forces, and also over those in Ireland. All these officers in their different posts supervise the training, discipline, and appointments, &c., of the army. =Commando.=--An irregular regiment of mounted Boers. =Commissariat.=--An organisation responsible for collecting food, forage, and necessaries for troops in cantonments or in the field. The duties, divided into (1) transport, (2) supply, are carried out by the Army Service Corps. The difficulties of securing and carrying food in an enemy's country are very great. Owing to this difficulty the First Crusade never got beyond Hungary. In the Ashantee War the Fantees were so afraid of the Ashantees that they refused to carry the food or baggage of the army, and the duty devolved on the West India Regiments. =Commission.=--Warrant signed by the sovereign authorising the officer to exercise command in the army. The purchase of commissions was abolished in 1871. They are now given to candidates after passing the prescribed examination before the Civil Service examiners, when they are sent to Sandhurst or Woolwich Academies for further instruction, chiefly of military nature. Quantities of "irregulars" and volunteers have now been given commissions as reward for practical service in the field. =Communications.=--The lines by which an army communicates with its base from any point to which it has advanced, and by which it must retreat in the event of disaster. They are the arteries that vitalise the mechanism and allow it to work. =Company.=--A body of men commanded by a captain, and forming the first unit of an infantry battalion. The number of a company may be reckoned as about 100. About eight companies make a battalion. [Illustration: DURBAN, NATAL Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen] =Contraband of War.=--Arms, ammunition, coal, food, &c., which a neutral power is prohibited by the Law of Nations from carrying to countries in a state of war. =Cordite.=--Smokeless powder resembling cords, which defies the best efforts to locate the enemy. Invented by Sir F. Abel and Professor Dewar. =Corporal.=--Next grade below that of sergeant. =Creusot Gun.=--The famous "Long Toms" of the Boers are Creusot guns. They were originally named after the place of Le Creuzot, where the firm of Schneider & Co. manufacture these weapons. But the term is now applied to other guns made by the same firm. =De Aar.=--Important junction of the Cape Town and Port Elizabeth Railways. =Division.=--First unit of a _corps d'armée_, and commanded by a general officer. Consists of two or more brigades, and is composed of three arms of the service, infantry, cavalry, and artillery. =Donga.=--River bed with high banks on either side. Generally dry, save in the rainy season. =Dorp.=--A hamlet. =Dundee.=--Town in Natal, north of Ladysmith. Noted for its coal-fields, which are the best in S. Africa. They produced about 1000 tons a day before the war. The locality is rich in iron, and the future of this now historic region promises to be commercially rosy. =Durban.=--Flourishing port of Natal. Population about 39,245, of which over 17,700 are whites. It is twenty-nine hours' journey by rail from Pretoria, and 6800 miles by sea from Southampton. It has several good hotels, restaurants, and clubs; and two daily newspapers are published there. Trams and electric lights form part of the attractions of the town. =Earthworks.=--In fortification, all works thrown up for attack or defence in which earth enters chiefly into the construction. It is a question whether--in the defence of a place--earth be preferable to masonry. In the latter case, the defenders are liable to be injured by splinters, while in the former, repairs are more readily effected. The reason why the capture of the Mamelon during the Crimean War was so hard a task, is attributed to the fact that repairs were very easily accomplished during the night. =Elandslaagte= (The Glen of the Eland).--Small and now ever memorable village near Ladysmith. _See_ vol. ii. p. 20. =Engineers.=--The duties of this branch are so numerous, it is almost impossible to define them. They are required to be jack-of-all-trades, and masters of each. The construction of works and bridges, and of military buildings--the planning and direction of the attack and defence of a fortification, and a thousand and one other duties fall to their lot. The following lines by Rudyard Kipling form a summary of the Sappers' accomplishments:-- "We lay down their sidings an' help 'em entrain, An' we sweep up their mess through the bloomin' campaign. They send us in front with a fuse an' a mine, To blow up the gates that are rushed by the Line; They send us behind with a pick an' a spade, To dig for the guns of a bullock-brigade.... Now the Line's but a man with a gun in his hand, An' Cavalry's only what horses can stand. Artillery moves by the leave o' the ground; But _we_ are the men that do something all round: For _we_ are her Majesty's Royal Engineers, With the rank and pay of a Sapper!" =Epaulment.=--An earthwork thrown up to conceal and protect guns and gunners from the fire of the enemy. =Esprit de Corps.=--It is described in James' "Military Dictionary" as the "feeling of attachment a soldier has for his regiment, even to the point of thinking it the best in the army. It fosters goodwill and fellowship among officers and soldiers. It produces an emulous thirst after military glory. In fact, true _esprit-de-corps_ creates such a feeling of enthusiasm and love for all that is honourable and noble, that an officer or soldier will be careful in his conduct to do nothing which would bring dishonour or reproach on his regiment." =Estcourt.=--Important trading town in Natal, situated near the junction of the Bushman's and the Little Bushman's River. It is the seat of Magistracy for Weenen County. Population 300. It possesses two hotels, a church, and a library. The climate is considered one of the finest in Natal. =Facings.=--Regiments are distinguished by the colour of their facings, otherwise by the colour of the cuffs and collar of their regimentals. =Feint.=--A mock attack to deceive the enemy as to the real direction of the assault. =Field-Cornet.=--A Boer sub-magistrate of a district. =Field-Marshal.=--Highest military rank a General can obtain. =Field Officer.=--One below the rank of general and above that of captain. Majors, lieut.-colonels, or colonels of brevet or regimental rank, are field officers. =Flag of Truce.=--Flag--generally a white handkerchief attached to a staff and carried by an officer sent to communicate with the enemy. =Flank Attack.=--One of the modes of attack whereby the side or flank of an army is attacked. =Flank Movement.=--A change of march in course of a battle, with a view to turning either one or both wings of the enemy. =General.=--The name designates his command as having the general or highest orders to give in battle. There are three grades: General, Lieut.-General, and Major-General. Brigadier-General is the title given to an officer while in command of a brigade. =Glencoe= (Talana Hill).--A now notable little town, N.E. of Ladysmith. =Guards.=--The Guards compose the Household Brigade. This consists of 1st and 2nd Life Guards--red, the Royal Horse Guards--blue, the Grenadier Guards, the Coldstream Guards, the Scots Guards, and the Irish Guards. The Life Guards greatly distinguished themselves at Waterloo. The Horse Guards (Oxford Blues) took part in the campaigns of both Marlborough and Wellington. The Grenadier Guards is the senior regiment of infantry in the army. The devoted royalists clinging to Charles II. in 1656 formed the first nucleus of this gallant regiment. The Coldstreams were raised in 1660, by General Monk, when Parliament consented to give a brigade of guards to Charles II. The splendid work done by the Guards in the present war speaks for itself. =Gun.=--The modern word for cannon of all kinds. =Gunner.=--A private in the Royal Artillery. The duties of the gunner are manifold--he has to be instructed in drill and in the services of the various natures of ordnance, heavy and light, to be acquainted with ammunition, mode of using it, and caution required in dealing with it. In other days few gunners were attached to either train or battery, only one per gun, assisted by a matross. The duties of a matross were only in some ways similar to those of the present gunner. The men belonged to a class termed artificers, and were engaged more for the usefulness of their trade than for the knowledge of artillery. With the increase of guns came the increase of gunners, and the mere artificer was superseded, and the gunner became the handy, well-instructed, yet dashing man he has proved himself to be. =Harrismith.=--Situated near the Natal border in the Orange Free State, an important trading centre and a highly approved health resort. Population--mostly British--1700. =Heidelburg.=--Town on the rail 50 miles south of Pretoria. Population about 2500. =Heliograph.=--An apparatus invented by Mr. H. C. Mance, for telegraphing by means of the sun's rays reflected from mirrors. The mirror, generally of steel, mounted on a stand, is movable, so that its reflections flash in given figures across the sky. The process has been adapted to the Morse system of dots and dashes, and messages have been successfully carried over a distance of 150 miles. The signal can be read in ordinary weather without telescopes up to 50 miles. =Helmet.=--A head-dress of light cork or wicker generally covered with kharki, to protect the troops from the sun. It is the universal head-dress for officers and men in India. =Honourable Artillery Company.=--A volunteer force--the oldest military body in England. =Horse Artillery.=--Mounted branch of the British Service. On account of its mobility, it acts with cavalry. Field Artillery is also a mounted branch. =Hospital= (Military).--They are of three kinds, general, field, and convalescent. Cases of infectious nature are sent to a general hospital specially appointed for their reception. Field hospitals are temporary establishments for the care of sick and wounded in the vicinity of the field of battle. Serious cases, when practicable, are sent off to the nearest general hospital in the rear. Convalescent hospitals describe themselves. =Hospital Ships.=--They serve either as stationary hospitals, or, if sick accumulate, can sail home or to the nearest station, discharge, and return to fill again. One of these, the _Maine_, was organised by Lady Randolph Churchill, and proved invaluable. =Howitzer.=--Short siege gun throwing lyddite shells at a high angle, so that they can descend upon a fortress or besieged town. They have a range of over 8000 yards. There are also field howitzers. =Hussars.=--Light cavalry. Derived from the Hungarian (_huss_) twenty and (_ar_) pay, because every twenty houses had to provide one horse soldier. =Imperial Light Horse.=--_See_ vol. iii. p. 165. =Infantry.=--Foot soldiers. The words derived from the Spanish soldiery of the _infanta_, and the term _infanteria_ was applied to them, in consequence of their being the troops of the Infanta of Spain. The British infantry was declared by Marshal Soult "the finest in the world." There are 109 infantry regiments in the British army. The oldest of these, formed between 1660 and 1662, are the Guards, the 2nd Queen's (raised for the defence of Tangiers), and the 3rd Buffs (the old London train-bands). =Intelligence Department.=--A branch of the Quartermaster-General's Department, which has for its object the collecting and sifting and arranging information useful to Government or army in peace or war. =Intrench= or =Entrench=.--To secure a position or body of men against the attack of the enemy by digging a ditch or trench. =Invest.=--To surround a place and prevent all communication with the outer country. =Irregular Troops.=--Troops which do not belong to the regular forces. Until lately there were no such troops in the British Army, now it is almost impossible to enumerate them. In India there are several irregular forces of cavalry and infantry for the protection of Native States. =Jack.=--The nation's "pet" name for a sailor, as "Tommy" is the "pet" name for a soldier. =Jacobsdaal.=--Small town in the Orange Free State. =Jagersfontein.=--Small town sixty miles south-west of Bloemfontein. In its valuable diamond mine have been found both the largest and the most perfect stones yet discovered. The largest specimen was brought to light in 1893, the most flawless one in 1895. =Johannesburg.=--This important city extends over an area of six miles, its parks alone occupying an area of 84 acres. Rural population in 1896 was 48,331, of which 38,868 were whites. District population, 102,078, of which 50,907 were whites. Johannesburg was declared a Municipality in 1896. Fine hotels, public buildings, churches, clubs, and theatres abound. There are 126 miles of road, and most of the streets are regularly laid out with several open squares at intervals. Cabs, trams, jim rickshaws, and omnibuses ply for hire; electric lights brighten the streets, while public-houses and low canteens innumerable, where the vilest and most poisonous liquor is sold, deface them. These, together with gambling hells, &c., contrive to make the place a sink of abomination equal to Chicago. The cost of living in Johannesburg is enormous. The board and lodging of a bachelor is estimated at about £8 per month. Clothing and food are said to be nearly 50 per cent. dearer than in Europe. Seven newspapers exist, two of which are published in Dutch. Johannesburg in 1886 was represented by some straggling shanties dotting the line of reef now forming the Wemmer and Ferreira Company's ground. When the existence of the reef, till then unknown, was discovered, steps were taken to secure a more convenient locality, and as a result the present township was laid out in the December of that year. The spot chosen was one of the bleakest and highest in the Transvaal, and land was of so small value for agricultural purposes, that farms were known to change hands for the price of a team of oxen. In 1895, however, two stands in Commissioner Street sold for £22,000, and in 1897, one in Pritchard Street fetched £40,000. The reefs that have brought about the transformation run east and west of the city, a distance of about 130 miles, and all around the country is dotted with battery houses, and other buildings connected with the working of the mines. Regarding the output, _see_ vol. i. p. 129. =Karoo.=--Hottentot name for a dry place, but now denoting certain districts. =Kharki.=--A dust-coloured material in wool or calico used for the uniforms of soldiers, in order to make them less distinguishable from a distance. Indian troops are always clothed in kharki. Of late, every article used on service has been painted or dyed the same colour, from guns, carriages, and scabbards, to horses, and the attire of the Naval Brigade. =Kilt.=--A dress worn by Highlanders, consisting of a loose petticoat, extending from waist to knees. It dates from the seventh century, when the kilt was made of skins. =Kit.=--A military term expressing the regimental necessaries of a soldier. =Kimberley.=--A flourishing town whose existence dates from the year 1870, when diamonds were discovered on two farms--Du Joits Pan and Bulsfontein (_see_ vol. i. p. 133). Since that date the place has widened with astounding rapidity, growing gradually from a mining camp into a large somewhat irregularly planned town full of corrugated iron buildings, dotted at intervals with edifices of more substantial nature. The principal public buildings are the High Court of Griqualand West, with its imposing clock tower, the adjacent Post and Telegraph Offices in the market-square, the Public Library, said to contain the best collection of books in South Africa, the Kimberley Club, the Masonic Temple, the Hospital, and the Sanatorium on the Beaconsfield Road. There are hotels in plenty, and churches of all denominations; also, a fine park with recreation grounds, and two pavilions. The climate is splendid--an ideal one for invalids. The population is about 28,718, of whom 12,658 are of European extraction. =Krupp Gun.=--A breech-loading rifled gun, taking its name from the inventor. =Kuruman.=--Though the surrounding country is scarcely attractive, land is said to yield good pasturage, and water can be obtained by digging from five to thirty feet. The price of Crown lands in Kuruman in 1896 was at the rate of 2-3-1/2 per morgen. =Kloof.=--A ravine. =Kop.=--A hill. =Kopje.=--The diminutive of kop. =Kraal.=--Cattle fold. =Kroonstad.=--An active little town situated 877 miles from Cape Town. Population about 2000. It has several hotels, a charming climate, good fishing on the Valsch River, golf links, a club, and several churches. A railway connecting the place with the coal mines at Groenfontein is shortly to be made. Superior coal has also been found some forty-five miles off at Vierfontein, and near the town is the Lace Diamond Mine, which (in 1899) produced about 1500 carats a month. =Krugersdorp.=--A small town, situated twenty-two miles from Johannesburg, where, on the 15th of December, a species of national pilgrimage to celebrate the victory over the Kaffirs in 1836, and over the British at Majuba in 1881, was made by the Boers. It is also notable as the place where Dr. Jameson and his band surrendered in 1896. It contains a monument to those who have fallen in the service of their country. =Laager.=--A fortification usually formed by placing waggons lashed together in a circle, and covering them with tangled thorn and scrub. It now signifies a camp. =Ladysmith.=--This now historic town lies in a basin of the hills some thirty miles from the Drakensberg range. Its population is about 4500, exclusive of military. The climate is dry and bracing, and highly recommended to those suffering from affection of the lungs. There are many churches, a Public Library, a Town Hall, Court House, Jail, and School. The town, which claims to be the third in importance in Natal, derived its name from the wife of Sir Harry or Henry Smith, Governor of Cape Colony. _See_ vol. i. p. 11. =Lancers.=--A regiment of cavalry armed with lances. This nature of cavalry was much appreciated by the great Napoleon, who placed great reliance on some Polish lancer regiments. =Landdrost.=--Stipendiary magistrate to collect the revenues of a district. =Lee-Metford.=--Magazine rifle bearing the name of its inventors, Mr. Lee and Mr. Metford. =Lieutenant.=--Ranks next below a captain. The senior lieutenant takes command of a company in the event of accident to the captain. =Lieutenant-Colonel.=--Ranks next below a colonel in the army. =Lieutenant-General.=--Ranks next below a general. =Life Guards.=--Mounted bodyguard of the sovereign. These regiments distinguished themselves in the Peninsula, at Waterloo, and in Egypt. They seldom leave this country, save on special occasions. =Lourenço Marques.=--A Portuguese township in Delagoa Bay, situated 7090 miles from Southampton, with which it is connected by a service of steamers _viâ_ Durban. Boats returning to Europe _viâ_ the Suez Canal call here. The importance of Delagoa as a trading station and as a base of railway to the interior has long been recognised, and in 1887 Colonel M'Murdo (having obtained a concession from the Portuguese Government in 1883) formed a company to connect Lourenço Marques with Komati Poort on the Transvaal frontier. This railway was confiscated by the Portuguese in June 24, 1889, compensation to the shareholders (as a result of arbitration which was placed in the hands of three Swiss jurists) having only recently been awarded. =Lyddite.=--A very powerful explosive, the exact composition of which is a secret. The early experiments of lyddite were made at Lydd, a small town in Kent, from which it derives its name. Its effects are so deadly that the mere concussion of the displaced air particles serves to kill any one who may be within fifty yards of the shell. =Mafeking.=--This small but world-famous town, 870 miles from Cape Town, was considered as a gateway to Rhodesia, and standing as it does on the route to Mashonaland, between Bechuanaland and the Transvaal, its importance as a centre for distribution is evident. The Molopo River and the Ramathlabama Spruit, a few miles north of the town, form the southern boundary of the Bechuanaland Protectorate. =Major.=--The lowest rank of field officer. Being a field officer he is mounted on all parades and going into action. To every infantry battalion there are four, and to every squadron of cavalry one. =Major-General.=--The lowest grade of general officers. A brigade in the army is properly a major-general's command. =Majuba Hill.=--Scene of the Boer triumph over Sir George Colley in 1881. Near this spot is the grave of the gallant general, and not far off are the burial places of Colonel Deane at Laing's Nek and the men who fell in their country's cause. It is four miles distant from Charlestown. =Marines.=--A body of men under the control of the Admiralty--for service in the navy or on shore. They have been described as "amphibious animals," because they are equally at home on land or at sea. They form part of naval brigades landed for service on shore, and co-operate with the sailors. The force consists of two branches, Royal Marine Artillery and the Royal Marine Light Infantry. They were first raised in 1664. A finer and more serviceable set of men it is difficult to find. =Martial law.=--Martial law means no law at all. According to the Duke of Wellington it represents the will of the general who commands the army. Proclamation of martial law cautions the inhabitants of the district concerned, that in consequence of rebellion or other rising, the responsibility of superseding the jurisdiction of the ordinary tribunals for the protection of property and persons rests with the military authorities, who will act as they think expedient for the public safety. =Mauser.=--A rifle sighted up to 2200 yards, but capable of much longer range, of which the bullet leaves the muzzle at a speed of 2300 feet per second. It weighs three quarters of a pound less than the Lee-Metford, and is much neater in appearance. The Mauser is a favourite rifle with the Boers though its magazine is only capable of holding five cartridges, while that of the Lee-Metford will accommodate ten. =Maxim Guns.=--Guns of small bore weighing 59 lbs., sighted up to 2500 yards. =Mobilisation.=--Fitting an army for the field--bringing the units to war strength and calling out the reserves. The success of a war depends largely on the rapidity with which armies can be got ready previous to their being concentrated on the threatened points, and thus enabled to take the aggressive. In the Swiss army the whole organisation is so completely carried forward in time of peace that at the outbreak of hostilities the headquarters staff need do no more than telegraph the one word--mobilise. The rapidity with which foreign armies can be mobilised has been gradually increasing. In 1866 the Prussian armies, 220,000 strong, reached the frontiers of Saxony and Silesia in a fortnight. In 1870 Germany took nine days to mobilise, and eight days more to send an army of 400,000 men and 1200 guns to the French frontier. =Mounted Infantry.=--Good shots of the infantry mounted and joined into separate companies. The Boers have taught us the value of mounted infantry, and in the near future they will probably become a permanent arm of the British forces. =Naauwpoort.=--Situated at the junction of the branch line to De Aar and the main line to Pietersburg, _viâ_ Bloemfontein and Pretoria. It is about 270 miles distant from Port Elizabeth. =Nachtmaal.=--The Communion Service. Held quarterly by the Boers, who congregate from different parts to partake of it together. =Natal.=--_Terra Natalis_, or Christmas land, was so named by its discoverer, Vasco da Gama, on the 25th of December 1497. Population 900,000, a tenth of whom are whites. Natal became a British Colony in 1843, and in 1856 was made independent of Cape Colony. The total area of New Natal is 35,000 square miles. Pietermaritzburg is the capital, and its most flourishing seaport is Durban. The climate is excellent, and has been likened to that of "Kashmir with a dash of English South Down thrown in." It is called the Garden of South Africa, and its picturesqueness is generally commented on. Some declare the scenery to be reminiscent of Scotland, though on a larger scale. Perhaps this very likeness to their native land may have influenced the early British explorers to settle in the place, which from then till now has been everywhere redolent of the Scotsman. The names of Glencoe and Dundee bear witness to his early enterprise, and the railway system, so admirably managed, serves to show how energetically he has continued to make this region entirely his own. The revenue for 1898 was £2,121,034; the expenditure £1,923,978. The Postal Telegraph Service acquired a profit of £36,767. Since 1897 Natal has supplied free of cost 12,000 tons of coal to the British Navy. =Naval Brigade.=--A detachment of seamen, marines, and guns landed from men-of-war to assist the army ashore. A Naval Brigade did signal service in the siege of Sebastopol, and earned twelve out of sixty-two Victoria Crosses presented to the British forces. In the Indian Mutiny and in the Zulu War they were again active, and several times in African campaigns the bluejacket has shown the desperate valour, fertility of resource, and versatility of accomplishments that have earned for him the nickname of "The Handy Man." =Nek.=--Junction between two hills. =Newcastle.=--Population 1746. This small town, eighty miles north of Ladysmith, is noted for its coal. The place, situated at the foot of the Drakensberg range, was used as the base of military operations in 1881. =Non-Commissioned Officer.=--The title includes staff-clerks, sergeants, corporals, and bombardiers. Above them in rank are sergeant-majors and bandmasters, who are warrant officers. "Non-coms." are described as "the backbone of the army," many of them, when their officers have been stricken down, having led the men to victory. _See_ vol. iv. p. 104. =Nordenfeldt Gun.=--Modern gun named after its maker. =Nullah.=--An Indian term. The dry bed of a stream. Like donga. =Objective.=--A technical military term signifying the aim or object of the military combinations and movements in the theatre of war. =Occupation= (Army of).--An army that remains in possession of a newly acquired country, retaining it as a kind of hostage till peace is signed and the war indemnity paid. Armies of occupation are usually fed at the expense of the defeated nation. =Operations Military.=--General movements of armies in the field. They are of two kinds, strategical and tactical; the former undertaken before being within reach of the enemy, the latter being developed during the battle. =Orange Free State.=--Area about 50,000 square miles, bounded on the north by the Transvaal, the east by Natal and Basutoland, and on the south and west by Cape Colony. Population in 1898, 400,000, two-thirds of whom were blacks. Revenue, £799,757. Expenditure, £956,752. Postal service profit, £2510. Telegraph service, £3140. The place is rich in diamonds, gold, iron, saltpetre, and various other metals and minerals of less valuable description. =Organisation.=--The organisation of an army is the duty of a general staff in time of peace, and should be so perfect in detail as not to break down in the eventuality of war. Owing to the unpreparedness and inferiority of France in the matter of organisation, she was beaten by Germany in 1870 and 1871. =Parole.=--An officer in the hands of the enemy may be permitted to proceed to his country on _parole_, having promised not to take up arms against his captors till the war is over. =Patrol.=--A party of men moving between the line of posts, to keep one informed of the state of the other. Also a body of men told off for purposes of quelling disturbances, picking up stragglers, &c. =Pickets.=--The real outposts of any body of troops are the pickets with their dependent small bodies, patrols, and vedettes. As a rule twenty to thirty men is a reasonable strength for a picket. =Pietermaritzburg.=--Capital of Natal. Population 20,155, consisting of 11,309 whites, 2692 Indians, 6151 natives. It possesses some fine buildings, hotels and churches, a theatre, a museum, and a library. It boasts three newspapers and a lunatic asylum. =Pietersburg.=--A gold-producing locality 240 miles north-east of Pretoria. =Pigeons= (Carrier).--Birds known as homing pigeons that supply the most simple and practical means of transmitting orders to a distance during military operations. Carrier pigeons are said to have been used by the ancient Roman navigators as a species of pigeon telegraph before the time of the Cæsars. =Pont.=--Ferry over a river. =Pontoon.=--Flat-bottomed open boat like a punt, used by Royal Engineers for supporting temporary bridges by which troops can cross a river. =Poort.=--Funnel-shaped gap between mountains. =Port Elizabeth=, 839 miles by rail from Cape Town, is the second city of importance in Cape Colony. Population 25,325, of which 13,000 are of European origin. The town was named after the wife of Sir Rufane Donkin, who there erected a pyramid to her memory. There are many hotels, churches, and libraries, and the general appearance of prosperity and modernity that pervades the place has caused it to be called the Liverpool of South Africa. =Potchefstroom.=--The most ancient town of the Transvaal, situated eighty-eight miles from Johannesburg. Population 5000. It was the original seat of the Boer Government, and later in 1881 became the scene of Colonel Winslow's resistance to the Boers. After stoutly holding out, starving and fighting, and losing one-third of his men, he surrendered to Cronje, only to find that ten days previously an armistice had been proclaimed. =Pretoria.=--The capital of the Transvaal, lies thirty-two miles north of Johannesburg. Population 12,000. It has many fine public buildings, the chiefest being the splendid Government Buildings, which were erected at a cost of £200,000. The newly completed Courts of Justice are also immensely imposing. There is an English Cathedral, and many churches of all denominations, a public library, a public hospital, a museum, some large hotels, and several clubs, notably the Pretoria Club. The President's house is at the western extremity of Church Street, the main business thoroughfare. The new market buildings on Market Square were erected at a cost of £35,000. =Rand.=--Short of Witwatersrand. =Reconnaissance.=--The art of reconnoitring--examining a portion of the country with a view to ascertaining its resources for movements and subsistence of the army. =Regiment.=--Consists of two or more battalions of infantry. A cavalry regiment is composed of three or four squadrons. =Rooinek.=--Boer name for the British, signifying red neck. =Rustenberg.=--Population 500. Situated east of Pretoria, near the Magaliesberg range. =Shell.=--A hollow projectile filled with explosive so arranged as to act by means of a fuse, and, at a certain point and time, spread destruction by the forcible dispersion of its fragments. The common shell, which is used for destroying earth-works, fortifications, and solid matters, is filled with powder which forms the bursting charge, and is fitted with either a time or a percussion fuse according to the nature of ordnance from which it is fired. The Shrapnel shell is similar in external form, but is filled with bullets (sand shot), cemented together with rosin. It was invented by Colonel Shrapnel, R.A., in 1808. The object in using Shrapnel shell is to give the projectile at long distances the power and efficacy of case shot, and to cover a large space of ground with its effects. Against artillery it has the effect of placing men and horses _hors de combat_, which is the most efficacious way of silencing the fire of a battery. =Shelter Trenches.=--Trenches constructed in the presence of the enemy as cover for troops from the action of shot and shell. =Siege.=--A regular organised attack on a fortified position by means chiefly of artillery. Sir John Jones, the author of "Peninsula Sieges," says "the most celebrated commanders and best engineers are agreed that as a general principle the besieging army should vary in proportion to the strength of the garrison according to the numbers of the garrison; and as an approximation have fixed that proportion at 5 to 1 when the garrison consists of 15,000 men, 6 to 1 when of 10,000 men, 7 to 1 when of 5000, 8 to 1 when of 3000, and in still greater proportion when it consists of a less number." This curious computation is explained by the fact that the more numerous the garrison the smaller the besieging army need be in proportion to it, since the attack of a similar front or fronts of fortification is little different. If the garrison contain 5000 or 10,000 men, the guards of the trenches and other duties increase proportionately, but the work does not. =Spruit.=--A stream. =Spy.=--Persons sent into the enemy's camp to gain information regarding the intentions of the enemy. There are two classes of spy: the spies who betray their own people to the enemy, and those who go to the enemy in the interests of their own party. In both cases martial law orders the death of a detected spy. =Squadron.=--A fourth division of a cavalry regiment, divided in two troops each, commanded by a captain. =Stad.=--A town. =Staff.=--A body of officers appointed to assist a general in command, to form a link between him and the various branches of the army, and thus give coherence to all its parts. =Subaltern.=--A term applied to a commissioned officer in the army, under the rank of captain. =Succour.=--Assistance in men, stores, or ammunition. =Sword.=--Offensive weapon in use throughout the world. One of the arms of the British cavalry. During the Anglo-Saxon period swords were made of iron, two-edged, long, and straight. =Team.=--Two or more horses or animals harnessed together. =Trek.=--A journey. =Troop.=--Two troops form a cavalry squadron. Each troop is commanded by a captain and two lieutenants. =Tugela River.=--River dividing Zululand from Natal. =Tuli.=--Town, 340 miles from Pretoria. The junction of several roads radiating towards Victoria, Bulawayo, Mangwe, Mafeking, and Pretoria. The direct road from Tuli to Bulawayo, cut in 1874 for the Zeederberg Service of coaches (now discontinued), reduced the distance from Pretoria to Bulawayo to 500 miles. =Uitlander.=--A resident in the Transvaal not entitled to the Franchise. The term is generally applied to Europeans resident in or around Johannesburg, of which before the war there were some 50,000, mostly British. _See_ vol. i. p. 146. =Uitspan.=--To unharness and halt. The reverse of inspan. =Uniform.=--Dress of officer or soldier. So-called because men of same rank and duties are clothed in a uniform manner. =Union Jack.=--National flag of Great Britain. The original English flag was the banner of St. George. On the union of Scotland with England the banner of St. Andrew was added, and on the union of Ireland, that of St. Patrick. It now consists of a red and white diagonal cross (the last two being side by side), on a blue ground. =Unit.=--Euclid describes number to be a collection of units. In military organisation the term unit is applied to a single portion upon which any part of an army, regiment, &c., is formed. A company is the unit of a regiment; a battery, that of a brigade of artillery. =Unlimber, to.=--To disconnect the limber from the gun or carriage. =Veldt.=--An open plain. =Victoria Cross.=--A decoration in form of a bronze Maltese Cross, conferred on members of the Army, Navy, or Volunteers who have distinguished themselves in face of the enemy by abnormal deeds of valour at risk of their lives. The V.C. was instituted in 1856 at the conclusion of the Crimean War, when sixty-two were earned. The cross was then made from the cannon captured at Sebastopol with the Royal Crest in the centre, and underneath, the words "For Valour." It is worn with a red ribbon in the Army--a blue one in the Navy. =Vierkleur.=--Four-coloured Boer flag. The colours are red, white, and blue in horizontal lines, with a perpendicular line of green near the staff. =Volunteers.=--Citizen soldiers who voluntarily fight in defence of their country. The oldest Volunteer Corps is the Hon. Artillery Company, instituted in 1485. The Volunteer movement gained ground in 1793-94, when invasion was threatened by France. The force enrolled numbered 70,000, of which 41,000 were Irish. =Voortrekker.=--One of the early trekkers. =War.=--The present war is the fortieth war that has taken place during the reign of Queen Victoria. In 1854 there was the Crimea; in 1838, 1849, and 1878 came wars against Afghanistan; four wars against China in the years 1841, 1856, 1849, and 1860; two against the Sikhs in 1845 and 1848; three against the Kaffirs in 1846, 1854, and 1877; three against Burma, 1850, 1852, and 1885; nine in India, in 1857, 1860, 1863, 1864, 1868, 1869, 1890, 1895, and 1897; three in Ashantee, 1864, 1873, and 1896; a war against Abyssinia, 1867; a war against Persia, 1852; a war against the Zulus, 1878; a war against the Basutos, 1878; a war in Egypt, 1882; three in the Soudan, 1894, 1896, and 1899; a war with Zanzibar, 1890; a war against the Matabele, 1894; and finally two wars against the Transvaal, 1881 and 1899-1900. =Waterworks.=--The Waterworks at Sanna's Post, on the Modder River, are situated twenty miles from Bloemfontein. By means of powerful pumps the water is raised from the level of the river to the top of Bushman's Kop, nearly half-way to the town. From that point it flows into Bloemfontein by the force of gravitation. The works are capable of delivering 250,000 gallons of water daily. There are thirty-four miles of pipes, laid down at a cost of £80,000. =Yeomanry.=--The Yeomanry Cavalry of Great Britain is chosen from among the gentlemen and yeomen of each county. They are liable to be called out in aid of the civil power, and in case of invasion would have to assemble for actual service. For Imperial Yeomanry, _see_ vol. iii. p. 168. =Zululand.=--Situated north-east of Natal, east of the Transvaal, and south of Amatongaland. Area, about 10,456 miles; population 170,000, including only 1200 whites. It became part of Natal in 1897. Gold and various minerals have been found there in appreciable quantities. DEATHS IN ACTION AND FROM DISEASE The following is a list of the officers who have died in South Africa from June 5th to December 19th, 1900:-- JUNE 1900 =6.=--Fever at Bloemfontein: Capt. G. Murrell. Fever at Johannesburg: Capt. the Hon. L. R. D. Gray. Fever at Kroonstad: Sec. Lieut. R. Forrester. =7.=--In action at Roodeval: Lieut.-Col. B. Douglas, and Sec. Lieut. B. J. Horley. In action at Rhenoster: Capt. Gale. Fever at Kroonstad: Capt. G. P. Ellison. Wounds at Pretoria: Lieut. A. J. G. Meek. =8.=--Fever at Kroonstad: Lieut. Kerans. Dysentery at Bloemfontein: Maj. Power. =9.=--Suddenly at Pretoria: Capt. W. G. Thomson. Fever at Wynberg: Capt. E. F. Harrison. Fever at Newcastle: Lieut. S. F. Brooks and Vet. Lieut. E. T. C. Ensor. =10.=--Fever at Bloemfontein: Lieut. A. Byrne. Pneumonia at Johannesburg: Lieut. W. J. Berry. =11.=--In action at Diamond Hill: Lieut.-Col. the Earl of Airlie, Maj. the Hon. L. H. D. Fortescue, Lieut. the Hon. C. W. H. Cavendish, and Lieut. W. B. L. Alt. In action at Almonds Nek: Capt. W. D. O'Brien, Capt. H. Mann, and Lieut. N. M. Johnson. Fever at Bloemfontein: Capt. T. S. Hichens. In action at Zand River: Maj. L. J. Seymour. =12.=--In action at Diamond Hill: Capt. C. J. K. Maguire, Lieut. P. W. C. Drage, and Sec. Lieut. W. S. Luce. =13.=--Fever at Newcastle: Capt. F. Hunnard, D.S.O. =14.=--Wounds received at Zand River: Lieut. W. Harrison. =15.=--Wounds received at Bappisfontein: Lieut. Hon. C. M. E. Freke. Wounds at Kroonstad: Lieut. Blanchard and Sec. Lieut. R. H. Hall. =17.=--In action near Kwisa: Capt. M. Wilson. =19.=--Fever at Cape Town: Surg. Lieut.-Col. J. S. Forrester. =20.=--Fever at Bloemfontein: Lieut. B. B. Waddell-Dudley. =21.=--Wounds at Pretoria: Lieut. Kortwright. =22.=--In action at Honing Spruit: Maj. H. T. de C. Hobbs. Fever at Wynberg: Sec. Lieut. W. G. Rait. =23.=--Fever at Johannesburg: Capt. J. B. T. Pratt. Poisoning at Volksrust: Lieut. N. M'Lean. =24.=--Wounds at Bloemfontein: Capt. Lord Kensington. Wounds at Heidelberg: Capt. F. J. Whittaker. =25.=--In action at Ficksburg: Capt. E. B. Grogan and Lieut. G. L. D. Brancker. =27.=--Fever at Dewetsdorp: Sec. Lieut. J. S. Preston. =28.=--Fever at Kroonstad: Surg. Lieut.-Col. J. Creagh. =30.=--Fever at Heilbron: Lieut. J. Hunter. JULY 1900 =1.=--Fever at Bloemfontein: Lieut. G. P. Rayner. =3.=--In action near Lindley: Sec. Lieut. W. G. Belcher. =6.=--Wounds at Pleiserfontein: Maj. H. E. Oldfield. Dysentery at Johannesburg: Lieut. J. B. Grylls. =7.=--Wounds received at Bethlehem: Capt. J. B. S. Alderson. In action at Rustenburg: Capt. Machattie. In action at Rietfontein: Capt. Currie and Lieut. Kirk. =11.=--Fever at Durban: Lieut. P. W. Tindal-Atkinson, R.N. In action near Krugersdorp: Capt. D. R. Younger. In action at Nitral's Nek: Lieut. T. Conolly, Lieut. G. F. Prichard, and Sec. Lieut. T. D. Pilkington. In action at Derdepoort: Sec. Lieut. K. K. Mackiller. =12.=--Dysentery at Marrandellas: Capt. H. C. W. Hamilton. =16.=--In action near Pretoria: Lieut. H. L. Borden and Lieut. G. B. Burch. Fever at Vrede: Vet. Lieut. Fenner. =19.=--In action at Palmietfontein: Maj. Moore. Wounds at Pretoria: Capt. B. B. Church. =20.=--Fever at Newcastle: Lieut. W. H. Kenyon. =22.=--In action at Majate Pass: Capt. C. W. Robertson. =23.=--In action at Retief's Nek: Capt. Sir W. G. Barttelot. In action at Stabbert's Nek: Capt. W. Gloster. Pneumonia at Pretoria: Capt. F. S. Kent. =24.=--In action at Bronkhorst Spruit: Lieut. A. Ebsworth. =25.=--Murdered at Pretoria: Col. C. W. H. Helyar. Wounds at Retief's Nek: Maj. E. M. Wiltshire. =26.=--Syncope at Pretoria: Sec. Lieut. W. V. St. C. M'Laren. =28.=--Wounds at Potchefstroom: Lieut. Drew. Fever at Winburg: Sec. Lieut. H. B. D. Bird. =29.=--In action at Stephanusdrai: Capt. E. Q. Robertson. AUGUST 1900 =5.=--Wounds at Paardekop: Capt. M. S. Wellby. =6.=--In action at Elands River: Lieut. J. W. Annat. =7.=--Wounds at Durban: Capt. E. Lucas. =9.=--In action at Rietfontein: Lieut. A. M. Knowles. =14.=--At Naauwpoort: Lieut. and Quartermaster P. J. Gleeson. Wounds: Sec. Lieut. Gibson. =18.=--At Pietermaritzburg: Sir W. Stokes, Consulting Surgeon to the Forces. =19.=--Wounds at Crocodile Drift: Lieut. H. Bradburn. =20.=--In action at Klip Drift: Lieut.-Col. Spreckley. In action at Haman's Kraal: Lieut. R. F. Flowers. Wounds at Pretoria: Lieut. J. Leash. =21.=--In action at Ottoshoop: Lieut. A. G. Gilpin. =23.=--In action at Geluk: Capt. A. Savory. =25.=--At Durban: Lieut.-Col. A. G. S. Wade-Gregory. In action: Lieut. J. H. Robbins. =26.=--In action near Brandwater Basin: Capt. W. S. Clarke. =27.=--In action at Bergendal: Capt. G. L. Lysley and Lieut. Abbot. Wounds at Nylstroom: Lieut. D. M. M. Oliver. =28.=--Sunstroke: Capt. W. B. Norwood. =29.=--Wounds: Capt. E. G. Campbell. Wounds at Nooitgedacht: Capt. A. D. Plomer. =30.=--Wounds received at Bergendal: Capt. W. H. W. Steward. Wounds at Waterval Onder: Lieut. J. L. Lawlor. SEPTEMBER 1900 =3.=--Wounds at Mafeking: Capt. R. Arbuthnot. Wounds received at Belfast: Lieut. J. C. Harrison. =7.=--Wounds received at Newcastle: Maj. Hilliard. =10.=--In action at Welverdiend: Lieut. T. B. Maddocks. =12.=--In action at Wonderfontein: Lieut. R. J. L. White. =16.=--In action at Hekpoort: Lieut. H. T. Stanley. =19.=--From blood poisoning contracted at the Tugela: Lieut. J. T. Lowry. =24.=--Fever at Barberton: Lieut. L. H. Gilliat. OCTOBER 1900 =1.=--In action at Kruger's Post: Sec. Lieut. H. W. Cuming. =4.=--In action near Lindley: Capt. H. Wiltshire. =6.=--In action near Bultfontein: Lieut. A. H. Thomas. =9.=--Wounds received at Kaap Muiden: Capt. G. L. Paget. In action at Kaap Muiden: Capt. A. D. Stewart. In action at Dwarsvlei: Sec. Lieut. J. R. Williams-Ellis. Fever at Pretoria: Sec. Lieut. P. A. M'Cutchan. =13.=--In action at Machadodorp: Capt. H. W. Taylor. In action at Dalmanutha: Lieut. F. W. Wylam and Lieut. P. A. T. Jones. In action at Jagersfontein: Lieut. E. M. Hanbury. =14.=--In action at Ventersburg Road Station: Lieut. H. K. Attfield. =16.=--In action near Bethel: Sec. Lieut. A. W. Swanston. =17.=--Tuberculosis at Pretoria: Capt. E. St. A. Pearse. =19.=--In action near Bethel: Sec. Lieut. N. Calvert. =20.=--In action at Weltevreden: Capt. G. E. B. Wood. =21.=--In action near Frederikstad: Lieut. E. H. Finch. =25.=--In action at Frederikstad: Capt. W. L. Baillie. In action at Vrede: Lieut. J. C. Browne. =29.=--Fever at Pretoria: Prince Christian Victor. =30.=--In action at Ventersburg: Maj. J. Hanwell. NOVEMBER 1900 =1.=--Wounds received at Syferfontein: Capt. W. B. Chappell-Hodge. =2.=--In action at Witkop: Capt. Chalmers. Of hepatitis at Wynberg: Capt. J. Loughlin. =5.=--In action near Bothaville: Lieut.-Col. P. W. J. Le Gallais, Capt. F. Engelbach, and Lieut. W. A. G. Williams, D.S.O. =9.=--Wounds at Vrede: Sec. Lieut. H. G. W. Woodhouse. =10.=--Wounds received at Bothaville: Maj. N. C. Welsh. =12.=--Fever at Standerton: Lieut. H. P. Pigott. =13.=--Fever at Mooi River: Capt. N. M. Lynch. At Barberton: Capt. L. H. Hawkes. Wounds at Kimberley: Lieut. W. Rolfe. =16.=--In action at Thabanchu: Sec. Lieut. L. Paxton. =21.=--Disease at Daniel's Kriel: Capt. M. K. Crozier. =23.=--In action at Tiger's Kloof: Lieut. A. M. Southey. =28.=--Disease at Prieska: Capt. H. Masterman. =29.=--In action at Rhenoster Kop: Lieut.-Col. G. E. Lloyd, D.S.O. Wounds at Krugersdorp: Lieut. H. G. Berghuys. =30.=--Wounds near Ladybrand: Lieut. W. H. Dobbie. DECEMBER 1900 =3.=--Fever at Pretoria: Col. L. J. A. Chapman. Fever at Pietermaritzburg: Capt. H. D. Marshall. =5.=--Concussion of the brain at Germiston: Lieut. H. C. Ingram. =7.=--Fever at Pretoria: Vet. Lieut. D. C. Barningham. =9.=--Wounds at Lichtenburg: Lieut. F. Arbuthnot. =10.=--Fever at Pietermaritzburg: Lieut.-Col. Stoneman. =11.=--Lightning at Dundee: Lieut. J. F. Thompson-Pegge. In action at Vryheid: Lieut. W. A. D. Lippert. =12.=--Wounds at Vryheid: Lieut.-Col. J. M. Gawne and Lieut. W. E. S. Woodgate. =13.=--In action at Nooitgedacht: Lieut.-Col. N. Legge, D.S.O., Capt. J. A. E. MacBean, Capt. A. J. C. Murdoch, Capt. W. Atkins, Lieut. J. C. C. Reid, Capt. H. de C. Moody, Lieut. W. Skene, Lieut. A. C. Campbell. Fever at Springfontein: Lieut. Lord O'Hagan. Fever at Pretoria: C. W. P. Dalyell. =19.=--Disease at Cape Town: Maj. E. G. Giles. LIST OF CASUALTIES As it has been found impossible to mention the number of casualties that occurred during the numerous desultory engagements which followed the occupation of Pretoria, lists of some of the wounded are here appended:-- JULY 1900 At Kruisfontein, on the 1st: Lieut. Horace Cole, Imperial Yeomanry. At Waterval: Capt. Donald M'Lean-Howard, Lord Strathcona's Corps (missing). At Bakenkop, on the 3rd: Maj. Rae, New Zealand Bushmen (slightly); Lieut. J. C. Collins, Roberts's Horse (dangerously). At Paardeplatt, on the 19th: Capt. H. I. Nicholl, Mounted Infantry, Bedfordshire Regiment; Lieut. Sir F. Burdett, 17th Lancers. At Zinkerbosch, on the 21st: Lieut. R. H. Greig, Royal Engineers. Among officers wounded in action near Kosk's River were: Lieut. A. Eckford, New South Wales Contingent; Lieut. L. Leask, Lieut. R. H. Walsh, Queensland Mounted Infantry; Capt. F. J. Ingolby, Lieut. John Davis, Capt. C. Hall, West Australian Contingent. At Spitz Kop, on the 22nd: Lieut. C. C. Wilson, Westmoreland and Cumberland Yeomanry, attached to 8th Hussars (severely). Near Stinkhoutboom, on the 24th: Capt. C. H. M. Doughty, 1st Royal Welsh Fusiliers; Lieut. B. C. Dwyer, 2nd Leicester Regiment; Lieut, A. A. C. Taylor, 1st Royal Dublin Fusiliers; Capt. R. L. Adlereron, Lieut. A. J. C. Murdoch, 1st Cameron Highlanders. At Rooi Koppies: Capt. Rogers, Volunteer Company Gordon Highlanders. At Stephanusdrai, on the 29th: Capt. W. R. Marshall, Derbyshire Regiment. AUGUST 1900 At Paardekop, on the 3rd: Capt. M. S. Wellby, 18th Hussars (died from wounds). Near Ottoshoop, on the 6th: Lieut. Collins, South Australian Bushmen. At Derdepoort, on the 9th: Lieut. Howell, Somerset Yeomanry (attached for duty to Transvaal Constabulary). At Rietfontein: Col. G. J. Younghusband, 3rd Batt. Imperial Yeomanry. On the 12th: Lieut. F. G. Newton, Queensland Mounted Infantry. At Zilicats Nek, on the 20th: Capt. Bonham Christie, Reserve of Officers, attached for duty to 1st Mounted Infantry. On the 25th: Brig.-Gen. M. O. Little (severely). At Doornhoek, on the 26th: Maj. Robinson, Natal Border Mounted Rifles. At Jachtfontein, on the 29th: Lieut. L. J. Wyatt, 2nd North Staffordshire Regiment. At Kwaggasfontein, on the 31st: Capt. J. P. Farrar, Lieut. J. H. Beswick, Capt. A. Rose-Innes, Capt. J. M. Fairweather, Capt. and Adjt. (temp. Maj.) R. H. Price, Capt. J. Donovan, Kaffrarian Rifles. At Welverdiend: Lieut. G. H. J. S. Smyth, 9th Lancers. SEPTEMBER 1900 Near Warmbaths, on the 1st: Capt. E. W. Brooke, Army Service Corps. At Waterval Onder, on the 3rd: Lieut. F. Darling, West Australian Mounted Infantry. At Boschfontein, on the 11th: Lieut. Lang, 2nd Worcester Regiment. At Bethlehem, on the 12th: Lieut. Power, 8th Imperial Yeomanry. At Witpoort, on the 20th: Lieut. the Hon. W. E. Guinness, 12th Batt. Imperial Yeomanry. At Kail Vlei: Lieut. Clifford, 1st Batt. Imperial Yeomanry At Zandfontein, on the 25th: Capt. G. M. H. Stirling, Essex Regiment; Lieut. J. Higson, Queensland Bushmen. At Doornkop, on the 28th: Lieut. Sherrard, R.E. (dangerously). OCTOBER, NOVEMBER, AND DECEMBER Among the wounded in various engagements were: Lieut. Richardson, Natal Mounted Rifles; Capt. E. Molyneux, 12th Bengal Lancers (severely); Lieut. Stubbs; Capt. N. Luxmoore, 1st Devonshire (dangerously); Lieut. S. A. Slater, 57th Co. Imperial Yeomanry; Capt. G. M. H. Stirling, Essex Regiment (slightly); Lieut. J. Higson, Queensland Bushmen (severely); Capt. Lord Loch, Grenadier Guards (severely): Lieut. L. E. L. Parker, R.A.M.C. (slightly); Lieut. Noel Money, 5th Batt. Imperial Yeomanry (slightly); Major C. E. Duff, 8th Hussars; Second Lieut. H. Gilmour, 16th Lancers; Lieut. W. S. Brancker, R.H.A.; Lieut. H. T. Pomfret, Imperial Yeomanry; Lieut. O. Humphrey, Cape Mounted Rifles; Capt. H. M. Trenchard, Royal Scots Fusiliers; Capt. R. E. P. Gabbett, Second Lieut. H. V. Kyrke, Royal Welsh Fusiliers; Major A. E. Cavendish, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders; Col. F. G. Blair, Imperial Yeomanry (slightly wounded); Lieut. R. B. B. England, 14th Batt., Lieut. J. Crocker, 3rd Batt., and Capt. P. Davidson, 5th Batt. Imperial Yeomanry; Sec. Lieut. A. Cameron, 1st Gordon Highlanders; Major Broke, R.E.; Lieut. H. J. Hall, Lieut. P. G. Anstruther, 2nd Seaforth Highlanders; Capt. J. W. Yardley, Lieut. E. Paterson, Lieut. J. Harris, 6th Dragoons; Capt. H. Delmé-Radcliffe, Lieut. W. Best, Lieut. F. H. Nangle, Royal Welsh Fusiliers; Capt. D. H. A. Dick; Sec. Lieut. A. G. Bruce, Sec. Lieut. J. Elliott, Royal Scots Fusiliers; Capt. H. M. Brown, N.S.W. Bushmen; Lieut. W. Rolfe, Cape Mounted Rifles; Lieut. C. H. Mullins, Marshall's Horse; Capt. D. J. Glasford, 1st Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, Sec. Lieut. Lord G. R. Grosvenor, 2nd Scots Guards (slightly); Lieut. J. H. Elmsley, Lieut. L. E. W. Turner, Lieut. H. Z. C. Cockburn, 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles; Capt. G. H. Reynolds, Capt. T. R. Stannus, Lieut. Viscount Ennismore, Imperial Yeomanry (slightly); Lieut. J. G. Craik, 2nd Seaforth Highlanders (slightly); Surg. Hartley, Lovat's Scouts (slightly); Capt. G. T. Mair, R.H.A. (severely); Lieut.-Col. W. C. Ross, Durham Light Infantry (dangerously); Capt. G. N. Colvile, Oxford Mounted Infantry (severely); Lieut. A. S. Peebles, Suffolk Mounted Infantry (severely); Lieut. C. Percy Smith, Middlesex Mounted Infantry (slightly); Capt. O. Harris, West Riding Mounted Infantry (slightly); Maj. N. C. Welch, Hampshire Mounted Infantry (severely); Lieut. J. D. Lyons, 13th Hussars; Lieut. E. M. Baker, 2nd Manchester Regiment; Lieut. Hawke, R.F.A. (accidentally injured); Maj. A. R. Austen, 2nd Shropshire Light Infantry (slightly); Lieut. H. A. H. Stepney, 2nd Coldstream Guards (slightly); Lieut. W. R. K. Mainwaring, Imperial Yeomanry (severely); Maj. E. E. Hanbury, 2nd Scots Guards (severely); Lieut. Hon. H. Baring (severely), Lieut. C. H. Gresson (slightly), Roberts's Horse; Lieut. F. C. Grey, Imperial Yeomanry (severely); Lieut. Roos, Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry (severely); Capt. Wingfield-Digby, Gloucester Regiment (slightly); Lieut. H. W. T. Elam, R.F.A. (slightly); Lieut. M. Home, Highland Light Infantry (dangerously); Sec. Lieut. Cooke-Collis, Royal Irish Rifles (slightly); Lieut. E. A. B. Clive, 2nd Seaforth Highlanders (severely); Major Taylor, R.H.A.; Sec. Lieut. Moffat, 2nd South Wales Borderers (slightly); Lieut. G. Conder, Veterinary Dept. (slightly); Lieut. J. N. S. Stott, 3rd Norfolk (slightly); Capt. E. G. Elger, 2nd Somerset Light Infantry (slightly); Lieut. E. N. Townsend, Lieut. H. J. L. Oakes (severely), Capt. L. R. Acworth (slightly), 1st West Riding Regiment; Lieut. O. Challis, R.A.M.C. (severely); Lieut. J. E. Montgomerie, Lieut. C. L. Somerville (severely), Capt. G. Crawshaw, Capt. S. C. Godfray, and Lieut. F. G. Tucker, New Zealand Mounted Infantry; Lieut. F. Arbuthnot, Imperial Yeomanry (dangerously); Lieut. E. J. M. Hanley, Queensland Mounted Infantry (severely); Lieut. S. R. Theobald, 9th Lancers (slightly); Capt. C. Warner, 17th Lancers (slightly); Lieut. H. W. Compton, 5th Royal Fusiliers (severely); Capt. Dennison, Dennison's Scouts (slightly); Capt. Bolitho, 27th Co. (slightly), Capt. R. W. Purvis, 20th Co. Imperial Yeomanry (severely); Capt. Stevenson, Kitchener's Horse (severely); Sec. Lieut. L. W. Gordon, 2nd Bedfordshire (slightly); Lieut. A. Friedlander, Brabant's Horse; Maj. E. D. Cropper (dangerously), Lieut. B. Napier, Imperial Yeomanry (since dead); Lieut. D. F. Miller, New South Wales Bushmen (severely); Lieut. G. R. Taylour, Royal Warwickshire Regiment (slightly); Capt. H. Cholmondeley, Brabant's Horse (severely); Lieut. M. B. White (slightly), Capt. C. E. Radclyffe, Rifle Brigade (slightly); Capt. H. H. Harvest R.F.A. (very severely), Lieut. H. E. S. Wynne, R.F.A. (dangerously); Lord F. Blackwood, 9th Lancers (severely); Lieut. C. J. Thackwell, 18th Hussars (severely); Lieut. E. N. Kelly, Nesbitt's Horse. INDEX Africander Bond, origin and nature of, i. 115 Alice, Mount, iii. 94 Aliwal North occupied, iv. 170 Almond's Nek, battle of, vi. 29 Armoured train, ii. 59, 121, 125 Arundel, _see_ Colesberg Baden-Powell, Colonel, at Mafeking, ii. 55; his clever ruses and energy, iii. 32; remarkable letter to the Boers, 38; private letter home, 39; his "Manual on Scouting," 53; despatch to Colonel Nicholson, iv. 91; correspondence with Snyman, v. 47; receives a message from the Queen, 49; sends a message to Lord Roberts, 51; attacked by Eloff, 110; relief, 131, 134; further operations, vi. 40; arrives at Pretoria, 40; at Rustenburg, 70; guerilla war, 125. _See_ Mafeking Balloon, range of country visible from Mount Alice, iii. 98 Barberton, vi. 108 Barton, Maj.-General, at Colenso, ii. 190 Bastion Hill, capture of, iii. 101 Basutoland, i. 12 Beacon Hill, fight at, ii. 132 Beaconsfield, i. 44 Bechuanaland, i. 114 Belfast attacked, vi. 93 Belmont, engagement near, ii. 81; battle of, 86; casualties, 92; colonial forces at, iii. 60 Bethlehem, battle of, vi. 42 Bethulie, saving the bridge at, iv. 171; capturing the station, 173 Biddulph's Berg, battle of, v. 161-68 Bloemfontein, i. 11; conference, 182; surrender of, iv. 107-11; fever, 177; army at, 185; preparations for the advance northwards, v. 32; life in, 38; on the eve of the great advance, 87 Bloomplaats, battle of, i. 12 Boer brutality outside Kimberley, iii. 43; at Spion Kop, 115 Boers, origin and early history of, i. 1; their character, 15 Bonaparte, Louis Napoleon, the Prince Imperial, i. 51 Boshof, battle of, v. 38; casualties, 45 Botha, General, conference at Kroonstadt, iv. 180; conference with General Buller near Majuba, vi. 27; great activity along Delagoa line, 55; guerilla tactics, 142; conference with Kitchener, 150 Brabant, General, and the relief of Wepener, v. 64-68, 75-81; further operations, vi. 38, 42; guerilla war, 125 Brandfort occupied, v. 91 British South Africa Company, origin of, i. 122 Bronker's Spruit, massacre of, i. 71 Buller, General, ii. 6; arrives at the Cape, 73; at Pietermaritzburg, 139; Colenso, 188; his despatch, 199; his second advance, iii. 92; his force, 92; at Spearman's Farm, 96; his plan, 97; at Spion Kop, 115 and appendix; Vaal Krantz, 117; plans for another attempt, iv. 121; forces as reorganised, 123 (_see_ Pieters Hill, Ladysmith, &c.); advance to Newcastle, v. 171; his forces, 171, vi. 27; routing the Boers from Laing's Nek, vi. 27; conference with Botha, 27; Majuba, 29; to Standerton, 32; arrives in Pretoria, 56; Lydenburg campaign, 93; clearing the country from Volksrust to Belfast, 88; returns home, 122 Buluwayo, i. 120, 124 Bushmen's corps, iii. 158 Cæsar's Camp, attack on, iii. 81; casualties, 90 Campbell-Bannerman, his views on the war, iii. 15 Canadian contingents, iii. 138-148 Cape Colony, early history of, i. 2; invaded by the Boers, ii. 76; loyalty of, 156; volunteers, 159, iii. 161; invaded by De Wet, vi. 134; the call to arms, 138 Cape Town, enthusiasm at, ii. 156; the call to arms, vi. 138 Carrington, General, his force arrives at Beira, v. 53; plans, 127; in the Western Transvaal, vi. 70 Cetchwayo, i. 30, 34, 57 Chamberlain, Mr., i. 148; and the Jameson Raid, 174; speech, Feb. 5, 1900, iv. 11 Chelmsford, Lord, i. 40 _et seq._ Chermside, General, operations in Free State, v. 71, 78 Chieveley, armoured train disaster at, ii. 121, 153, 187; iii. 93; army returns to, iv. 121 Christian, Prince, vi. 123 Christmas day in the field, iii. 15 Churchill, Mr. Winston, ii. 36, 73; captured, 122; story of his escape, iii. 11; his letter to Mr. de Sousa quoted, 97; marvellous escape near Dewetsdorp, v. 72 Clements, General, vi. 42 _et passim_; guerilla war, 134 Clery, Sir C. F., his force, iii. 92 Clery, General, details of his force, ii. 160; general order at Colenso, 189 City Imperial Volunteers, iii. 171 Coke, Major-General, iii. appendix Colenso evacuated, ii. 54; advance towards from Estcourt, 141; bridge destroyed, 144-45; battle of, 154; casualties, 197 Colesberg, ii. 73, 85; operations near, iii. 52; disaster to the Suffolks, 175; remarkable operations, 176; the Australians at, iv. 164 Colley, Sir George, i. 70, 78 _et seq._ Colonies, the, response of, ii. 2, iii. 136 Colvile, General, and the Lindley affair, v. 161-168 Congreve, Captain, his account of battle of Colenso, ii. 200 Conventions: Sand River, i. 12; of 1881, 106 and appendix; of 1884, 110 and appendix Cronje, General, i. 70; treachery, 106; and the Jameson Raid, 166, 172-73; invests Mafeking, ii. 55 _et passim_; leaves Mafeking in disgust, iii. 32; his position at Majesfontein, iv. 31; his position turned, 30-79; flight, 40; Paardeberg, 54; trapped, 62; surrenders, 70; a prisoner, 74 Dalgety, Captain, the hero of Wepener, v. 54 De Aar, ii. 77 _et passim_ Deaths in action and from disease, January to June 1900, v. 195 _et passim_ Delarey, the guerilla war, vi. 125 De Wet attempts to relieve Cronje at Paardeberg, iv. 66; conference at Kroonstadt, 100; his great activity, vi. 21; chased in the Eastern Transvaal, 70; near Bethlehem, 45; guerilla war, 125; invades Cape Colony, 134 Diamonds discovered, i. 30; effects, 132; statistics, 135 Diamond Hill, battle of, vi. 12; casualties, 18 Dick-Cunyngham, Colonel, death of, iii. 89, 90 Doornkop, _see_ Jameson Raid Doornkop, battle of, v. 147; casualties, 148 Douglas, the relief of and exodus from, iii. 66 Driefontein, fight at, iv. 101; casualties, 104 Dundee, ii. 7 (_see_ Glencoe); retreat from, 32, 37; occupied by Boers, 38, 98; wounded sent to Estcourt, 120; occupied by the British, v. 174 Dundonald, Lord, ii. 151; at Colenso, 190, 194; iii. 94, 100 _et passim_; Ladysmith, iv. 153; advance to Newcastle, v. 176 Durban, military occupation of, i. 10; bank seized, ii. 70 Dutch disloyalty at the Cape, ii. 76, 143 _et passim_ Elandslaagte, ii. 14; battle, 20; casualties, 27 Elands River, operations at, vi. 70 Election, General, October 1900, vi. 127 Elliot, Captain, fate of, i. 73 Eloff, Commandant, attack on Mafeking, v. 109 Enslin, _see_ Graspan Estcourt, ii. 116, 117; the situation at, 119, 126, 131, 139, 143 Europe and the war, vi. 128 Farms, Dutch, description of, iii. 74 Fever at Bloemfontein, iv. 177 Fitzpatrick's "Transvaal from Within," i. 178 Force, total in the field, Dec. 1899, iii. 15 Forestier-Walker, General, ii. 79 _et passim_ Fort Wylie, _see_ Colenso Franchise question, the, i. 141, 146, 179; ii. 5 French, General, at Elandslaagte, ii. 21; Lombard's Kop, 43; gets out of Ladysmith, 114; his force, 159; operations in Colesberg district, iii. 52, 174; his famous ride to Kimberley, iv. 30; back again on the track of Cronje, 49; at Paardeberg, 65; movements in Free State, v. 73 _et seq._; moves northward towards Pretoria, 91, 96; fighting near the Zand River, 104; casualties, 105; Doornkop, 147; advance to Pretoria, 187; battle of Diamond Hill, vi. 12; capture of Middelburg, 54; Lydenburg campaign, 93; guerilla war, 125 Frere, ii. 139; great activity at the camp, 151; life in camp, 152 Frere, Sir Bartle, i. 33, 37 _et seq._ Gatacre, General, details of his force, ii. 160; operations, 160; Stormberg, 163; operations, 18th Dec. to 20th Jan., iii. 47-52; occupies Burgersdorp, iv. 169; oath administered to rebels, 170; at Reddersburg, v. 17; recalled to England, 34 Geneva Convention, iv. 22 German tactics adopted by the Boers, iii. 3 Germany in South Africa, i. 114 Gladstone, Mr., his policy, i. 66 Glencoe, troops at, ii. 3, 7, 11; battle of, 14; casualties, 18; occupied by the British, v. 174 Gold discovered, i. 30, 116; the goldfields, 127, 137 Graspan, battle of, ii. 92; casualties, 96 Griqualand, i. 11 Griqualand West, i. 132 Grondwet, the, i. 26 Guerilla war, vi. 125 Haldane, Captain, and Lieutenant Mesurier escape from Pretoria, v. 21 Hamilton, General Ian, ii. 5, 22; at Lombard's Kop, 41; composition of his division for advance on Pretoria, v. 35; moves north from Bloemfontein, 74, 95; crosses the Zand River, 102; casualties, 104; Doornkop, 148; advance to Pretoria, 187; battle of Diamond Hill, vi. 12; capture of Middelburg, 54; approaches Heidelberg, 34, 42; Lydenburg campaign, 93 Harrismith occupied, vi. 112 Hart, Major-General, at Colenso, ii. 190; his force, iii. 92, 94; at Spion Kop, 100 _et seq._; Vaal Krantz, 117; at Pieters Hill, iv. 138 Heilbron occupied by Colvile, v. 156; Highlanders captured near, vi. 6 Heliograph, humours of the, ii. 151 Highland Brigade at Koodoesberg, iii. 186; at Paardeberg, iv. 56; march to Heilbron, v. 156 Highlanders' devotion to their dress, iii. 77 Hildyard, Major-General, at Colenso, ii. 190; iii. 104, 117 Hlangwane Hill, ii. 194; taken, iv. 128 Hollanders, Sir Bartle Frere's opinion of, i. 77 Hospitals question, the, vi. 144 Hunter, General, brilliant exploit at Ladysmith, ii. 146; scheme to relieve Mafeking, v. 117; occupies Christiana, 132; moves to Johannesburg, vi. 35; surrender of Prinsloo, 42 Imperial Yeomanry, iii. 167; distinguish themselves at Boshof, v. 39, 41 India contingents, iii. 159 Ingogo, engagement, i. 85 Irish troops, matchless bravery of, iv. 140-144 Isandlwana, battle of, i. 40 Jacobsdaal, iii. 72, 73; entered by Lord Roberts, iv. 47 Jameson, Dr., i. 122. _See_ Jameson Raid Jameson Raid, i. 149; report to War Office, 157; after Doornkop, 172; fate of raiders and reformers, 177 Johannesburg (_see_ Gold, Jameson Raid, Reform Movement, &c.); the mines threatened, v. 145; Germiston occupied by Roberts, 149; yields, 151; entered by the British, 152; the road to Pretoria, 185 Joubert, General, i. 70, 73, 79, 109; ii. 10, 14; opinions on causes of the war (_see_ Ladysmith, 40); conference at Kroonstadt, iv. 180; death, 191; remarks, 191 Karee, battle of, iv. 192; casualties, 193 Karee Siding, incident at, iv. 189 Kekewich, Colonel, defends Kimberley, ii. 66 _et passim_; his plan for defence of Kimberley, iv. 15 Kelly-Kenny, General, leaves England, iii. 14; his part in the great turning movement, iv. 34-79 Kharki dress adopted, iii. 17 Kimberley (_see_ Diamonds), i. 133; ii. 3, 6; description of, 64; the garrison, 65; early incidents of the siege, 66; the opposing forces, 110; engagement at, Nov. 4, iii. 39; opposing forces, 41; bombardment, 41; humours, 41; another engagement, Nov. 17, 42; hopes of the besieged, 42; strong reconnaissance, 25th Nov., 44; again, 28th, 45; death of Colonel Scott-Innes, 45; further details of the siege, Nov.-Feb., iv. 14-30; relief, 30, 36-79; casualties, 63 Kimberley, Lord, i. 48, 100 Kipling, Mr. Rudyard, poem, in facsimile, ii. 203 Kitchener, Lord, leaves for the Cape, iii. 14; his part in the great turning movement, iv. 32-79; detects the flight of Cronje, 40, 51; his organising genius, 42-44, 179; at Paardeberg, 62; guarding the communications, vi. 19; in the Western Transvaal, 75; succeeds Lord Roberts, 133; conference with Botha, 151; proclamation, 136 Knox, General, and the guerilla war, vi. 132 _et seq._ Komati Poort, vi. 110 Koodoesberg, battle of, iii. 186; casualties, 189 Koorn Spruit, disaster at, v. 1; casualties, 13 Kroonstadt, Lord Roberts enters, v. 106 Kruger, Mr., his father, i. 12; becomes Commandant-General, 28, 108; becomes President, 109; visits England, 109; his character, &c., 110; and the Uitlanders, 138; closes the drifts, 148; Jameson Raid, 155; Bloemfontein Conference, 183; telegram to _New York World_, ii. 3; proclamation, 4; despatch to Lord Roberts, Feb. 3, 1900; despatch, iv. 96; at Poplar Grove, 100; at Kroonstadt with Steyn, 180; leaves South Africa, vi. 124 Kruger, Mrs., i. 178 Krugersdorp, i. 70. _See_ Jameson Raid Krugersdorp-Potchefstroom railroad, protecting the, vi. 66 Kuruman, story of, iii. 25; gallant defence of, 215 Ladysmith, ii. 3; the position at, 38; Lombard's Kop, 41; invested, 50; the opposing forces, 110; early days of the siege, 112, 126; the siege, 136; hospital fired on, 137, 140; surprises at, 145; communication established by heliograph, 151; composition of the relief force, 152; Christmas at, iii. 79; activities, 80; attack on Wagon Hill, 81; privations, 125; great sufferings, iv. 129; relief, 153; effect at home, 155; formal entry, 156 Laing's Nek, i. 77; routing the Boers from, vi. 27. Languages, i. 116 Leyds, Dr., i. 117 Lindley, capture of the Yeomanry at, v. 161-68 Lobengula, i. 120, 121-23 Lombard's Kop, battle of, ii. 41; casualties, 45; General Hunter's night attack on, 146 Lydenburg Campaign, the, vi. 93 Lyttelton, Major-General, at Colenso, ii. 190; crosses the Tugela, iii. 95; at Spion Kop, 100 _et seq._; at Vaal Krantz, 117 and appendix; succeeds General Buller, vi. 122 MacDonald, General Hector, arrives at Modder, iii. 76; his career, Majuba, Omdurman, 76; at Koodoesberg, 186; wounded at Paardeberg, iv. 56; occupies Harrismith, vi. 112 Mafeking, becomes British, i. 116; Dr. Jameson at, 151; ii. 3, 6; besieged, 55; the garrison, 56; armoured train attacked, 57, 59; night sortie, 63; heavy fighting, 63; the opposing forces, 110; further incidents, iii. 19; _Daily Chronicle_ correspondent shot, 20; the _Mafeking Mail_, 21; the opposing forces in November, 25; no surrender thought of, 31; another sortie, 33; dynamite mines, 33; _Punch_ in Mafeking, 34; sniping, 34; humours of the siege, 36; Lady Sarah Wilson, 36; Baden-Powell's remarkable letter to the Boers, 38; attack on Game Tree fort, iv. 80; Cronje again, 83; siege life, 84-94; a magnificent defence, 93; must hold out till May, 113; events in February, 112; in March, 194; during April, v. 46; May, in extremities, 109; great attack by Eloff, 109; casualties, 115; relief (and casualties), 131, 134; extraordinary enthusiasm throughout the Empire, 140 Mahon, Colonel, his dash for Mafeking, v. 117, 131, 134 Majesfontein, battle of, ii. 172; casualties, 184 Majuba day at Paardeberg, iv. 69; Buller's victory at, vi. 29 Majuba Hill, battle of, i. 86 Matabeleland, i. 113, 120 Matabele War, i. 122 Methuen, General, at De Aar, ii. 83, 86 (_see_ Belmont, Graspan, Modder River, &c.); details of his force, 160 and 171; Majesfontein, 172; at Boshof, v. 38; at Kroonstadt, 159; guarding the communications, vi. 19; further operations, 39; protecting Krugersdorp railway, 66; at Rustenburg, &c., 70; guerilla war, 131 Middelburg, capture of, vi. 54 Militia, permitted to volunteer, iii. 3 Milner, Sir Alfred, i. 125, 182; Sir Alfred issues proclamation, Oct. 11th, 1899, ii. 5; again Oct. 28th, and letter to Mr. Chamberlain, 70; telegram to the same, Nov., 155; proclamation, Nov., 156; congratulates Colonial troops, iii. 58; appointed Governor of the Transvaal, &c., vi. 144 Modder River, battle of, ii. 97; casualties, 107; town occupied, 169; situation at, iii. 73; demonstration against Boer left, 76; locusts, 77 Molteno, ii. 165 Monte Christo Hill taken, iv. 126 Naauwpoort. _See_ Colesberg Natal Volunteers, iii. 166 Natal, early history, i. 7 Natal's splendid loyalty, ii. 71 Naval Brigade, at Ladysmith, ii. 44, 75, 83; at Graspan, 95-96, 113, 141; at Colenso, 190; on Mount Alice, iii. 98 Newcastle, abandoned, 6, 8, 9 New Republic, origin of, i. 115 New South Wales contingents, iii. 148 New Zealand contingents, iii. 151 Nicholson's Nek, disaster at, ii. 45; casualties, 45 Nitral's Nek, disaster at, vi. 57; casualties, 61 Oliver, General, curious controversy with General Gatacre, iii. 50 Orange Free State, origin of, i. 10; early history, 24; sides with the Transvaal, ii. 4; measures for control of, v. 37; complicated movements in, before the advance to Pretoria, 70 Osfontein, battle of, iv. 97; Kruger and Steyn try to rally the Boers, 100 Paardeberg, battle of, iv. 54; casualties, 60, 67, 79; feat by Canadians, 69; the surrender and after, 71-79 Paget, General, vi. 42 _et passim_, 125, 132 Parliament, vote of censure, iv. 1; M.P.'s at the front, 13 Peers at the front, iv. 13 Pieter's Hill, battle of, iv. 134; casualties, 149 Pilcher's, Colonel, expedition to Sunnyside and Douglas, iii. 61; itinerary, 67; further adventures, 68 Pitsani, i. 150, 156 _et seq._ Plumer, Colonel, in Rhodesia, ii. 61; his force, 110; account of operations, iii. 27; guarding the drift, 35; operations for relief of Mafeking, iv. 204; further efforts (April), v. 49, 53; co-operates with Mahon and relieves Mafeking, 124, 131, 134; the guerilla war, vi. 132 Pole-Carew, General, ii. 177; operations in Free State, v. 73, 75, 77, 84; battle of Diamond Hill, vi. 12; capture of Middelburg, 65; Lydenburg campaign, 93 Potchefstroom, i. 96, 106 Potgeiter's Drift, iii. 95; pontoon captured, 95 Pretoria, siege of, i. 95; British resident in, 108; changed to diplomatic agent, 110; fortifications, 179; Mr. Kruger leaves, v. 179; forts fired on, 180; prisoners liberated, some removed, 181; occupied by the British, 184; escape of prisoners, v. 21; list of officers imprisoned at, vi. 10; affairs in and around, 54; plot, 62; further events, 81; the Cordua plot, 85 Pretorius, i. 6, 12 Prieska occupied, iii. 78 Prinsloo, his surrender, vi. 42 Queensland contingents, iii. 153 Raad. _See_ Volksraad. Railways in South Africa, i. 129; Transvaal monopoly, 143; ii. 168 Reddersburg, mishap at, v. 16; casualties, 20 Reform movement, the, i. 148 _et seq._ Reitfontein, battle of, ii. 36; casualties, 38 Rensburg. _See_ Colesberg Reverses, reason for, iii. 1; criticism, 7 Rhodes, Mr. Cecil, i. 116; his early career, 118; and General Gordon, 118; premier, 119; and Rhodesia, 120; his connection with the Jameson Raid, 150; goes to Kimberley, ii. 65; his devotion to the cause of the town, iii. 44; his various activities, iv. 14-30; heliograph message to Roberts, 28 Rhodesia, i. 118; uncivilised, 119; civilised, 124; operations in, ii. 61, 110; Northern, state of affairs in November, iii. 26; Southern, state of affairs in, 31 Roberts, Lieutenant, his death at Colenso, ii. 193; burial, iii. 8 Roberts, Lord, i. 101; leaves England, iii. 7; arrives, 131; and the Colonial troops, 133; correspondence with Kruger, 134; arrives at the Modder, 185; his despatch regarding Spion Kop, appendix; his message to Rhodes, iv. 28; his great plan to relieve Kimberley, 30; his force as reorganised, 38; issues "Notes for Guidance," 43; enters Jacobsdaal, 47; Proclamation, 48; Paardeberg, 62; receives Cronje's submission, 70; march to Bloemfontein, 108-11; characteristics, 178; plans and changes, 185; letter to Kruger, 192; preparations for advance to Pretoria, v. 32; distribution of force for subjection of Free State, 68; his plan for advance northward, 89; forces, 89; advance begins, 91; enters Kroonstadt, 106; enters Johannesburg, 152; enters Pretoria, 157; issues a General Order, vi. 3; plot in Pretoria, 62; Lydenburg campaign, 93; proclamation, 105; appointed Commander-in-Chief, 121; leaves for England, 133 Robinson, Sir Hercules and the Jameson Raid, i. 170, 172, 174 Roodeval, militia captured, vi. 8 Rorke's Drift, i. 42 Rosebery, Lord, his attack on the Government, iv. 3 Rundle, General, operations in Free State, v. 71, 77, 84; march to Senekal, 154; the Lindley affair, 161-68; movements in East Orange State, vi. 37, 42 Rustenburg occupied by Baden-Powell, vi. 40; siege of, 70 St. Helena, stranding of the _Esmore_, ii. 158 Salisbury, Lord, i. 45; reply to criticisms, iv. 3; reply to Kruger's despatch, 97; letter from the Envoys to, vi. 86 Sanna's Post, _see_ Koorn Spruit Schreiner, Mr., ii. 5 Scott, Captain Percy, R.N., ii. 53, 75, 141, 151 Scott-Chisholme, Colonel, tribute to, ii. 27 Scott-Turner, Colonel, death of, iii. 45, 46. _See_ Kimberley Shepstone, Sir T., i. 31, 33, 37 Smith-Dorrien, General, and the guerilla war, vi. 126 South African Republic, name taken, i. 109. _See_ Transvaal South and West Australian Contingents, iii. 154 Spion Kop, engagement at, iii. 95, 96, 98, 100 _et seq._; casualties, 116 and appendix Springfield, concentration at, iii. 94 Staff appointments (Chart), ii. _front._; iii. 199; iv. 213; v. 193 Steyn, Mr., becomes President, i. 182; issues proclamation October 1899, ii. 4; leaves Bloemfontein for Kroonstadt, iv. 106; leaves Kroonstadt for Lindley, v. 106; still keeps the field after Kruger's flight, vi. 54; guerilla war, 129 Stormberg, ii. 73, 84; reverse to General Gatacre's force at, 163; casualties, 167; explanations, 166-68; reconnaissance at, iv. 167 Strathcona's Horse, iii. 146 Sunnyside, action at, iii. 62 Swartz Kop, iii. 95, 101, 120 Swaziland, i. 145 Symons, General, ii. 8; at Glencoe, 14-20; death and career, 34 Talana Hill, _see_ Glencoe Tasmania contingents, iii. 157 Thabanchu occupied, v. 83 Thorneycroft, Colonel, iii. 114 _et passim_, and appendix _Times'_ report on Nicholson's Nek, ii. 47; the remarkable letter to, i. 186; another letter to, vi. 127 _Toronto Globe_, description of Colonel Pilcher's raid, iii. 64 Transport in the field, iii. 93 Transvaal, origin and early history of (_see_ Appendix), i. _et seq._ 4, 23; nature of, 14; dissensions, 29; annexed, 1876, 34; rebellion, 69; retrocession and its effects, 100; gold discovered, 127; of to-day, i. 136; corruption, 142; Jameson raid, 150; annexed to British Empire, vi. 97 Trichardt's Drift, crossing at, iii. 96 Truce flag, abuse of by Boers, ii. 89, 111, 116; iii. 10 Tugela River, _see_ Colenso; iii. 95; final crossing, iv. 128, 134, 142, 145; casualties, 136 Tuli, expedition from, iii. 35 "Uitlanders," i. 116; their treatment, 138; and the Jameson raid, 149; their treatment after, 179; complaints to the Queen, 180 Ultimatum, the, of 1899, i. 178-89 Ulundi, battle of, i. 49 Vaal, British army crosses, v. 145 Vaal Krantz, battle of, iii. 117; casualties, 125 Venter's Spruit casualties, iii. 104 Victoria, Queen, death of, vi. 145 Victoria contingents, iii. 150 Viljeon, General, ii. 3, 5, 10, 14 Villebois-Mareuil, de, Colonel, v. 41; his plan of campaign, 42 Volksraad, i. 8, 27, 108, 117, 140, 145, 179 _et seq._ _See_ Appendix Volunteers offer themselves for foreign service, iii. 5 Vryburg, v. 121, 133 Wagon Hill, attack on, iii. 81; casualties, 90 Warren, Sir C., Bechuanaland expedition, i. 115; iii. 7; his force, 92; crosses the Tugela, 96; at Spion Kop, 100 _et seq._ and Appendix; engagement near Douglas, v. 169 Wauchope, General, ii. 84; at Majesfontein, 173; his death, 175, 183; his career, 184 Wepener, siege of, v. 54; casualties, 67; operations for relief, 70-82 White, Sir George, ii. 11; Reitfontein, 37; Ladysmith, 38; Lombard's Kop, 41; defends Ladysmith, 50 _et passim_. _See_ Ladysmith Willoughby's, Sir J., report to War Office on the Jameson raid, i. 157 Willow Grange, ii. 128. _See_ Beacon Hill Winburg, v. 97; occupied, 100 Wolseley, Sir Garnet, i. 62; his declaration, 65 Wood, Colonel Evelyn, i. 43 _et seq._; Sir Evelyn, i. 100 Wood, General, occupies Zoutpansdrift, iii. 74 Woodgate, General, iii. 104, 105, 109, 116. Worcester Congress, vi. 133 Yeomanry volunteer for foreign service, iii. 3 Yule, General, ii. 16; famous retreat, 32, 37 Zand River crossed, v. 101 Zulus, conflicts with the Boers and British, 1836-38; origin of the war in 1879, i. 30, 36; the war, 38 Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. Edinburgh & London TRANSCRIBERS' NOTE The following amendments have been made to the original text: General: Corrections to punctuation have not been individually noted. Page 17: Volkrust standardised to Volksrust. Page 27: Nordenfelts standardised to Nordenfeldts. Page 42: Colonel Airie corrected to Colonel Airey. Page 45: Fouriesberg standardised to Fouriesburg. Page 53: consesequently corrected to consequently. Page 103: unnegociable corrected to unnegotiable. Page 105: Lydenberg standardised to Lydenburg. Page 124: asphixiated corrected to asphyxiated. Page 133: Lieufontien standardised to Lieufontein. Page 142: via standardised to viâ. Page 148: maurauding corrected to marauding. Page 157: politican corrected to politician; Buchuanaland standardised to Bechuanaland. Page 169: In the entry for Hely-Hutchinson, the blank after 189 is as in the original. Page 202, 214: Jacobsdal standardised to Jacobsdaal. Page 203, 205: Drakensburg standardised to Drakensberg. Page 204: Jerra corrected to Terra in the entry for Natal. Page 206: Pattrick corrected to Patrick in the entry for Union Jack; Magaliesburg standardised to Magaliesberg. Page 207: Sannah's standardised to Sanna's. Page 209: hepititis corrected to hepatitis. Page 215: Krugerdorp standardised to Krugersdorp. 
36866	----	[Illustration: Photo by Russell and Sons, London.] SOUTH AFRICA AND THE TRANSVAAL WAR BY LOUIS CRESWICKE AUTHOR OF "ROXANE," ETC. WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS IN SIX VOLUMES VOL. III.--FROM THE BATTLE OF COLENSO, 15TH DEC. 1899, TO LORD ROBERTS'S ADVANCE INTO THE FREE STATE, 12TH FEB. 1900 EDINBURGH: T. C. & E. C. JACK MANCHESTER: KENNETH MACLENNAN, 75 PICCADILLY 1900 CONTENTS--VOL. III. PAGE CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE vii CHAPTER I PAGE THE SITUATION 1 DOINGS AT CHIEVELEY 8 CHRISTMAS AT THE CAPE AND NATAL 14 CHAPTER II PAGE MAFEKING 19 KURUMAN AND ELSEWHERE 25 MAFEKING, NOVEMBER 31 KIMBERLEY 39 CHAPTER III PAGE LIFE WITH GENERAL GATACRE 47 WITH GENERAL FRENCH 52 CHAPTER IV PAGE THE COLONIALS AT BELMONT 60 COLONEL PILCHER'S RAID 61 ACTIVITIES AND SURPRISES 68 AT MODDER RIVER 72 CHAPTER V PAGE CHRISTMAS AT LADYSMITH 79 THE ATTACK ON WAGON HILL 81 CHAPTER VI PAGE BULLER'S SECOND ADVANCE 92 THE FLANK MOVEMENT 97 THE BATTLE OF SPION KOP 104 THE THIRD GREAT EFFORT--VAAL KRANTZ 117 DISAPPOINTMENT AT LADYSMITH 125 LORD ROBERTS AT THE CAPE 131 CHAPTER VII PAGE THE WONDER OF THE WORLD 136 FIRST CANADIAN CONTINGENT 138 THE SECOND CANADIAN CONTINGENT 144 STRATHCONA'S HORSE 146 NEW SOUTH WALES 148 VICTORIA 150 NEW ZEALAND 151 QUEENSLAND 153 SOUTH AUSTRALIA 154 WEST AUSTRALIA 157 TASMANIA 157 THE BUSHMEN'S CORPS 158 INDIA'S CONTINGENTS 159 THE SOUTH AFRICAN VOLUNTEERS-- CAPE COLONY 161 NATAL 166 THE IMPERIAL YEOMANRY 167 THE CITY IMPERIAL VOLUNTEERS 171 CHAPTER VIII PAGE AT COLESBERG 174 LORD ROBERTS'S ADVANCE 183 "FIGHTING MAC" AT KOODOESBERG 186 PAGE APPENDIX 190 THE STORY OF SPION KOP 190 LIST OF STAFF 199 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS--VOL. III. BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE GROUND COVERED BY GENERAL BULLER'S OPERATIONS _At Front_ 1. _COLOURED PLATES_ PAGE FIELD-MARSHAL LORD ROBERTS OF KANDAHAR, V.C. &c. _Frontispiece_ SERGEANT-MAJOR--IMPERIAL LIGHT HORSE 24 ARMY SERVICE CORPS 40 HOUSEHOLD CAVALRY--CAPTAIN, 2ND LIFE GUARDS 80 ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY (ACTION FRONT) 100 CYCLISTS--LANCASHIRE FUSILIERS 120 PRIVATE, DRUMMERS, PIPER, AND BUGLER--THE BLACK WATCH 134 OFFICERS--CITY OF LONDON IMPERIAL VOLUNTEERS 176 2. _FULL-PAGE PLATES_ PAGE A PICKET OF 13TH HUSSARS SURPRISED NEAR THE TUGELA RIVER 8 A RECONNAISSANCE IN FORCE WITH GENERAL FRENCH'S CAVALRY NEAR COLESBERG 56 COLONEL PILCHER'S ATTACK ON SUNNYSIDE KOPJE 64 H.M.S. "POWERFUL" 84 THE GREAT ASSAULT ON LADYSMITH 88 PIETERMARITZBURG FROM THE EAST 92 THE CROSSING OF POTGIETER'S DRIFT, JANUARY 16 96 TAKING THE 4.7 NAVAL GUN ACROSS THE TUGELA 104 GOING OUT TO THE ATTACK ON SPION KOP 112 THE SCENE ON SPION KOP 116 FALLS ON THE TUGELA RIVER 124 ARRIVAL AT CAPE TOWN OF WOUNDED FROM NATAL 132 LADY MINTO PRESENTING COLOURS TO HERCHMER'S HORSE 144 THE CITY IMPERIAL VOLUNTEERS CROSSING WESTMINSTER BRIDGE 168 NEW ZEALANDERS SAVING A PICKET OF THE YORKSHIRE REGIMENT NEAR SLINGERSFONTEIN 184 "FIGHTING MAC" AND THE HIGHLAND BRIGADE IN ACTION AT KOODOESBERG 188 3. _FULL-PAGE PORTRAITS_ PAGE LIEUT.-GENERAL FORESTIER WALKER, K.C.B. 16 MAJOR-GENERAL LORD KITCHENER OF KHARTOUM 32 MAJOR-GENERAL SIR W. F. GATACRE, K.C.B. 48 MAJOR-GENERAL HECTOR A. MACDONALD, C.B. 72 LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR CHARLES WARREN, G.C.M.G. 128 COLONEL W. D. OTTER 136 HON. W. P. SCHREINER, C.M.G. 152 GENERAL BRABANT, C.M.G. 160 4. _MAPS AND ENGRAVINGS IN THE TEXT_ PAGE MAP--THE SEAT OF WAR 9 SKETCH OF POSITIONS AT MAFEKING 20 OUTPOST AND INTRENCHMENT AT MAFEKING 24 FACSIMILE OF HANDWRITING OF COL. BADEN POWELL 32 PLAN OF KIMBERLEY 40 SPLINTER PROOF SHELTER AT KIMBERLEY 43 MAP OF MOVEMENTS OF GATACRE AND FRENCH 51 MAP OF COLONEL PILCHER'S RAID 62 LORD DUNDONALD'S GALLOPING GUN CARRIAGE 70 MAXIM AUTOMATIC GUN OR POM-POM 75 MAP OF LADYSMITH 87 MOUNTAIN BATTERY 97 SKETCH, &C., OF SPION KOP 107 PLAN OF ENGAGEMENT OF SPION KOP 111 PLAN OF ENGAGEMENT OF VAAL KRANTZ 120 BRITISH 7-POUNDER FIELD GUN 126 SIEGE OF LADYSMITH 128 NAVAL 12-POUNDER FIELD GUN 132 MR. KRUGER'S AUTOGRAPH 134 SOUTH AFRICAN SCOUT 163 12½-POUNDER FIELD GUN (C.I.V.) 172 MAP OF POSITION AT COLESBERG 179 SKETCH OF POSITION AT COLESBERG 181 MAP ILLUSTRATING MOVEMENT TO KOODOESBERG 187 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE--VOL. III. DECEMBER 1899. 17.--Field-Marshal Lord Roberts, K.P., G.C.B., V.C., &c., appointed Commander-in-Chief in South Africa, with Lord Kitchener of Khartoum as his Chief of the Staff. War Office issued orders under which the remaining portion of the Army A Reserve were called up; and large reinforcements were to proceed to South Africa without delay. General Gatacre advanced from Sterkstroom to Putters Kraal. General French established his headquarters at Arundel. Offers of Second Contingents by the Colonies accepted. 18.--Additional Battalions of Militia embodied. There were now fifty-four Battalions of Militia embodied. Sir Charles Warren and the Staff of the Fifth Division left Cape Town. Reconnaissance by General French. Sortie from Ladysmith. 19.--Important order issued from the War Office, announcing that the Government had decided to raise for service in South Africa a Mounted Infantry force, to be called "The Imperial Yeomanry." The force to be recruited from the Yeomanry. 21.--Mr. Winston Churchill arrived at Lourenço Marques after an adventurous journey. 23.--Departure of Lord Roberts from London and Southampton for the Cape. 24.--Dordrecht occupied by General Gatacre. Sortie from Mafeking. Two British officers captured by Boers near Chieveley. 25.--Bluejackets blew up Tugela Road bridge, and cut off Boers with their guns. Colonel Dalgety with Mounted Police and Colonial troops held Dordrecht. (Gatacre's Division.) 26.--Sir Charles Warren arrived at the Natal front. Boers appeared at Victoria West. Mafeking force attacked a Boer fort. 27.--Boers unsuccessfully bombarded Ladysmith. 28.--H.M.S. _Magicienne_ captured German liner _Bundesrath_, near Delagoa Bay, with contraband of war on board. 30.--Skirmish near Dordrecht. Boers defeated with loss. Two British officers captured through mistaking Boers for New Zealanders. JANUARY 1900. 1.--Enrolment of the first draft of the City Imperial Volunteers. Surrender of Kuruman, after a stout resistance, to the Boers. Twelve officers and 120 police captured. General French occupied a kopje overlooking Colesberg. Flight of Boers, leaving their wrecked guns and quantities of stores. Brilliant manoeuvre by Lieutenant-Colonel Pilcher at Sunnyside. Captured the entire Boer camp, made forty prisoners, advanced and occupied Douglas on Vaal River. Colonel Plumer and Colonel Holdsworth from Rhodesia continued their march to the relief of Mafeking. 2.--Loyal inhabitants of Douglas escorted to Belmont. General French still engaged with enemy at Colesberg. 3.--General French reinforced from De Aar. Boers being surrounded; fighting in the hills. General Gatacre repulsed Boer attack on position commanding Molteno. Colonel Pilcher, for "military reasons," evacuated Douglas. 4.--General Gatacre occupied Molteno; Boers retreated to Stormberg with loss. General French manoeuvring to enclose Colesberg; further fighting. 5.--General Gatacre hotly engaged at Molteno by Boers from Stormberg; drove them off, inflicting heavy losses. 6.--Great battle at Ladysmith. Boers repulsed on every side with heavy loss. General Buller made a demonstration in force to aid General White. General French inflicted severe defeat on Boers at Colesberg. A Company of the 1st Suffolk Regiment captured. 9.--British troops invaded Free State territory near Jacobsdal. The Queensland and Canadian Volunteers cleared a large belt across the Free State border. 10.--Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener arrived at Cape Town. Forward movement for the relief of Ladysmith from Chieveley and Frere. 11.--Sir Redvers Buller crossed the Little Tugela, and occupied the south bank of the Tugela at Potgieter's Drift. Lord Dundonald and Mounted Brigade crossed the Tugela at Potgieter's Drift. General Gatacre made a reconnaissance in force towards Stormberg. 13.--The City Imperial Volunteers left London for South Africa. 15.--Boers attacked General French and were repulsed at Colesberg. 16.--General Lyttleton and Mounted Brigade crossed the Tugela at Potgieter's Drift. 17.--Sir Charles Warren crossed, with his Division, at Trichardt's Drift. Lord Dundonald had an action with the Boers near Acton Homes. 18.--Tugela bridged and crossed by a Brigade and battery. 20.--Sir Charles Warren moved towards Spion Kop. Reconnaissance by Lord Dundonald. 21.--Heavy fighting by Clery's force; they attacked the Boers and captured ridge after ridge for three miles. 22--Sir Charles Warren's entire army engaged. 23.--Spion Kop captured by Sir Charles Warren; General Woodgate wounded. 25-27.--Abandonment of Spion Kop. Sir Charles Warren's force withdrew to south of Tugela. 27.--Brigadier-General Brabant, commanding a Brigade of Colonial forces, joined General Gatacre. 28.--General Kelly-Kenny occupied Thebus. 30.--British force reoccupied Prieska. FEBRUARY 1900. 3.--Telegraphic communication restored between Mafeking and Gaberones. 4.--General Macdonald occupied Koodoe's Drift. 5.--General Buller crossed the Tugela at Manger's Drift. 6.--General Buller captured Vaal Krantz Hill. 7.--Vaal Krantz Hill abandoned, and British force withdrew south of the Tugela. 9.--General Macdonald retired to Modder River. Lord Roberts arrived at Modder River. 10.--Colonel Hannay's force moved to Ramdam. 12.--General French with Cavalry Division, proceeding to the Relief of Kimberley, seized Dekiel's Drift. [Illustration: BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE COUNTRY COVERED BY GENERAL BULLER'S OPERATIONS FOR THE RELIEF OF LADYSMITH. EDINBURGH AND LONDON: T. C. & E. C. JACK] SOUTH AFRICA AND THE TRANSVAAL WAR CHAPTER I THE SITUATION "The wave that breaks against a forward stroke Beats not the swimmer back, but thrills him through With joyous trust to win his way anew Through stronger seas than first upon him broke And triumphed. England's iron-tempered oak Shrank not when Europe's might against her grew Full, and her sun drunk up her foes like dew, And lion-like from sleep her strength awoke. As bold in fight as bold in breach of trust We find our foes and wonder not to find, Nor grudge them praise whom honour may not bind: But loathing more intense than speaks disgust Heaves England's heart, when scorn is bound to greet Hunters and hounds whose tongues would lick their feet." --ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE. A week of disaster had terminated woefully. Three British Generals in succession--Sir William Gatacre, Lord Methuen, and Sir Redvers Buller--had advanced against strongly fortified Boer positions and suffered repulse. The hearts of the miserable loyalists, who hung in dire suspense on the result of British action, sank in despair--their dismay and their grief were pitiful. Great Britain echoed their sentiment. Disappointment was universal. General Gatacre had failed through lack of caution and mischance; the other Generals had come to grief owing to the circumstances which forced them willy nilly to hurry to the assistance of beleaguered towns in the face of overwhelming disadvantages, notably the lack of cavalry and the inefficiency of the guns. Lord Methuen had been unable to bring home his early victories owing to the absence of mounted men. Sir Redvers Buller had failed to dislodge the enemy from his strong, naturally fortified positions owing to the weakness of his artillery in comparison to that of the enemy, who had Nordenfeldt and Hotchkiss quick-firing guns in every available position. He had made a glorious attempt--owned to be magnificent; but it was not war, and in his failure he recognised that it was not the game of derring-do, but the game of "slim" warfare as played by his brother Boer which must claim his attention. Now was verified the prophecy of the Polish apocalypse: "The war of the future will be a war of sieges and entrenched positions. In the war of the future the advantage will always rest with the defensive. In the war of the future, frontal attacks, without immense superiority in numbers, will be impossible." Every campaign, they say, has its lessons. This one we now find to be full of them, so full indeed that it has necessarily taken our Generals some time to become acquainted even with their grammar. When the war was forced upon us by the Pretoria oligarchy for the long-cherished purpose of ousting Great Britain from South Africa, many of the authorities were of opinion that a rabble of undisciplined farmers would be incapable of offering any formidable resistance to the superior military system of Great Britain. Not a hint of doubt as to the success of our arms and the effectiveness of our war apparatus was entertained. When Colonials in the summer of '99 volunteered their services, the Government received the offers with a sniff. Later they accepted them with grateful thanks. It was never imagined that colonists could know anything of the art of war, or that they might teach a lesson or two even to that august institution the Staff College. Those who knew ventured to suggest that in South Africa the same cast-iron principles that existed in European warfare would be valueless, and that the lessons of Ingogo and Majuba in '81 might be repeated in '99 in all their dire and dismal reality. But these pessimists were scoffed at. They therefore waited, and hoped against hope. Now and then they feebly wondered by what process infantry, arriving two months late, when the enemy had had time to entrench the whole country at various naturally strong strategic points, would be able to overcome the disadvantages attendant on immobility. But they were silenced by a look. British pluck and endurance might be calculated upon to surmount everything and anything--some said! No one seemed to care to tackle the problem of how men on foot would be enabled to compete creditably, in anything like equal numbers, with a mounted enemy possessing more than ordinary mobility. A mounted enemy has many advantages in his favour. He can select his own position, he can place all his force _en masse_ into the fighting line, he can so pick his positions that one man on the defensive can make himself the equal of three men of the attacking force; and, besides, he can occupy a length of position which must extend his flanks far beyond those of the attackers on foot. These in consequence are either forced to extend to equal length, at almost certain risk of being unable to reinforce any weak point developed during the attack, and thereby cause the attack to be broken at points; or they have to "contain" only a portion of the enemy in position, and perhaps leave his wings--or one wing--free to execute an outflanking movement. It is impossible when a line extends for miles, and the enemy's strength is not discoverable before the heat of the engagement, for infantry to come from a great distance to the assistance of weak points; and by reason of this immobility it is equally impossible for infantry in the heat of action, and when the front is extended for miles, to suddenly change a plan of attack in time to save a situation. The task set before our Generals was, therefore, almost superhuman: they were expected to make up for want of mobility with superior strategical qualifications; but, as has been said, no committee of Generals could at this juncture have decided on a strategy applicable to the complicated situation. That the Boer was a born strategist, and had able advisers, was amply proved. The amalgam of Boer methods, with Zulu theories and modern German tactics, was sufficient to try the most ingenious intelligence. For instance, the Boers in early days selected positions on the sides and tops of kopjes, and at the commencement of the campaign, at Talana Hill and at Elandslaagte, they were so perched, in accordance with the primitive principles of their race. They ignored the fact that such positions were the worst they could select against artillery fire with percussion fuses. Even for their own rifle practice such positions were also the worst, as, firing down at an angle, their bullets as a rule ran the chance of ploughing the earth without ricocheting, and served only to hit the one man aimed at. They worked, and still work, on the old Zulu principle of putting their whole strength into the fighting line, acting on the Zulu axiom, "Let it thunder--and pass." A sound principle this, no doubt, but one which our ponderous military machinery would not allow us to adopt. To these early methods, and to his native "slimness" and cunning, the Boer now added some German erudition. The influence of German officers and German tactics began to work changes curious and inexplicable. The Boers built scientific entrenchments, no longer on the kopjes alone but also below them, thus reducing the effect of hostile artillery, save that of howitzers, and permitting their sharpshooters to sweep the plain with a hurricane from their Mausers. In addition to this they built long castellated trenches, perfect underground avenues, to allow of the invisible massing of troops at any given point. They were also provided with ingenious gun-trenches, quite hidden, along which their Nordenfeldt gun, that pumped five shells in rapid succession, could be removed swiftly from one spot to another, and thereby defeat the efforts of the British gunners to locate it. Thus it will be seen a new complexion was put upon Boer affairs. Novel and trying conditions were imposed on those who already had to cope with the problem of how to match in mobility a rival who brought to his support six legs, while the British only brought two. Whole armies consisting merely of mounted infantry and artillery had never before come into action, and it began to be understood that a war against bushwhackers, guerillas, and sharpshooters, plus the most expensive guns modernity could provide, was a matter more serious than any with which the nineteenth century had hitherto had to deal. We had to learn that sheer pluck, endurance, and brute force were unavailing, and that strategy of the hard and fast kind--the red-tape strategy of the Staff College--was about as unpractical as a knowledge of the classics to one who goes a-marketing. There is no finality in the art of war, and nations, be they ever so old and wise and important, must go on learning. One of the newer questions was, how far personal intelligence might be distributed among a body of men? The General as a head, the Staff Officers as nerves that convey volition to the different members, we had accepted, but how far individual acumen was needed to insure success now began to be argued. Certain it was that in this campaign we had opportunities for studying the comparative value of individual discretion _versus_ "fighting to order." The Boers, every one of them, were working for themselves, absolutely for hearth and home, though perhaps under a general plan which certainly served to harass and annoy and keep the British army in a dilemma; while we laboured on a consolidated system which, if not obsolete, was certainly inappropriate. However, as there was no use in bemoaning our reverses, we began to congratulate ourselves on having discovered the cause of them. It was decided that first there must be more troops sent out to meet the extended nature of our operations, and that these troops must be accompanied by a sufficient number of horses to insure the necessary mobility, without which even the brute force of our numbers would be useless. Of the successful issue of future proceedings none had a doubt. All knew that the finest strategy in the world must be useless when tools were wanting, and all felt certain that the admirable abilities of our Generals, when once the means of playing their war game came to hand, were bound to rise to the prodigious task still in store. But for the dire necessity of the three gallant towns--Mafeking, Kimberley, and Ladysmith--a waiting game would have been possible and wise. The Boer stores of food and ammunition would eventually have run out, and the guns gone the way of much-used guns. Trek-oxen, instead of dragging the waggons of their masters, would have had to go to feed the hungry commandoes, and the history of slow exhaustion would have had to be told. But--again there was the great But!--those three valiant towns were holding out their hands, they were crying for help, they were standing in their hourly peril hopeful and brave because they believed--they were certain--that we should never desert them! At home the grievous news of the reverse was digested by the public with dumb, almost paralysed resignation. At first it was scarcely possible to believe that the great, the long-anticipated move for the relief of Ladysmith had proved a failure, and that the Boers were still masters of the situation, and moreover the richer by eleven of our much-needed guns. By degrees the terrible truth began to be accepted by us. By degrees the Government awakened to the fact that the fighting of the Dutchmen within the region of Natal meant more than the pitting of one Briton against two Boers, that it meant the dashing of a whole Army Corps against Nature's strongholds, our own by right of purchase and blood, and captured from us merely by reason of neglect and delay! To awake, however, was to act. In our misfortune it was pleasant to recall the words of Jomini, when speaking of Frederick the Great and his defeats in Silesia. "A series of fortunate events," he said, "may dull the greatest minds, deprive them of their natural vigour, and level them with common beings. But adversity is a tonic capable of bringing back energy and elasticity to those who have lost it." The tonic was sipped. Jomini's theories were proved! Though Great Britain through a series of fortunate events--a long reign of comparative peace--had become lethargic and money-grubbing, she, at the first shock of adversity, regained all her elasticity, vigour, and natural spirit of chivalry. Promptly the entire nation nerved itself to prove that, as of old, it was equal to any struggle, any sacrifice. The whole country seemed with one consent to leap to arms. The Militia, nine battalions of Infantry, was now permitted to volunteer for service in any part of the Queen's dominions where such services might be wanted, while it was arranged that specially selected contingents of Yeomanry and Volunteers would start for the Front as soon as there were found ships sufficient to carry them. Noble as amazing was the hurried response of the Volunteers to the intimation that their services would be accepted for the war. Hastily they pressed forward in crowds to enrol themselves. Their promptitude was goodly to look upon and to read of, for it showed that, in spite of the theories of Tolstoi and the influence of the spirit of modernity, patriotism is inherent and not a mere exotic or cultivated sentiment in the British race. We now found that though many traditions may be worn to rags, those of the British army had grown, like old tapestry, the more precious for the passage of time. Still the military position was pregnant with anxieties. A horse that is left at the post may perhaps win in the end, but his chances of success are remote. An army that lands in driblets three months after time is scarcely calculated to succeed against a rival army which has spent that interval in equipping itself for the fray. We were forced to remember that at the onset our officers were placed in the most dangerous positions, with inadequate support and no prospect of reinforcement, until their energies, mental and physical, had been sapped by undue and prolonged strain. On the north Tuli had but a handful of troops to resist an enormous and powerful enemy; Mafeking was surrounded, isolated, and able only to resist to the death the persistent attacks of shot and shell; Vryburg was allowed to be treacherously given away to the enemy; and Kimberley was left in the lurch as it were, to fight or fall according to the pluck of those who were ready to exhaust their vitality in loyalty to the Queen. On the Natal side things were still worse. The country, every inch of which is familiar to the Boer, had almost invited invasion. The whole strength of Boers and Free Staters was permitted to launch itself against an army which was entirely without reserves, and which could not be reinforced under a month. That brave and unfortunate soldier, Sir George Colley, had a theory that small, well-organised troops were worth as much again as large and desultory ones; but he took no account of peculiar facilities which are almost inherent to armies fighting on their own soil, as it were, and habits of warfare which have, so to speak, become ancestral with the Boer. From old time the Dutchman has employed his mountain fastnesses, his boulders, and his tambookie grass as screens and shelters, till in war the "tricks of the trade" have become a second nature to him, and serve in place of more complicated European methods. The small Natal army was, on Sir George Colley's principle, allowed to pit itself against a fighting mass, dense and desultory it may be, but a fighting mass of enormous dimensions, which, whatever their failings, had weight, equipment, courage, obstinacy, and intimacy with their surroundings entirely in their favour. That the enemy was first in the field they had to thank the original promoters of war, the Peace party--the humanitarian persons who so long hampered reason by loud outcries against the shedding of blood that their own countrymen in the Transvaal were condemned to all the tortures of suspense, to be aggravated later by all the agonies of famine and disease. Their own countrywomen and their babes were saved from shot and shell to be sent defenceless and homeless to wander the world till the charity of strangers or the relief of death should overtake them, while the loyal natives were left in a state of trepidation and suspense, without protection, yet forbidden to raise a hand in their own defence. Reason now had its way. But remedies cannot be applied in a moment, and the public, which is always wise after the event, vented its anguish and its feelings of suspense by indulging in criticism, or in asking questions which, of course, could not be answered till the principal persons concerned were able to take part in the catechism. For instance, some of the riddles buzzed about in club and railway carriage were: Why did Sir Redvers Buller make a frontal attack across an open plain against an enemy admirably entrenched, and posted in a position not only made strong by art but by nature? Why was it that the Government, in spite of the warnings given by Sir Alfred Milner while he was in England in May '99, neglected to take such precautions as would have prevented the enemy from being entirely in advance of us in the matter of time? Why, also, were the Boers permitted to arm themselves with the most expensive modern weapons, to be used against us, under the very eye of our representative in Pretoria, without our being warned of the inferior quality of our own guns, and of the impossibility of making ourselves a match for the enemy so long as the cheese-paring policy of the authorities at home was countenanced? Why, with an Intelligence Department in working order, was it never discovered that united Free State and Transvaal Dutchmen would vastly outnumber all the troops we were prepared--or, rather, unprepared--to put in the field, the troops we strove to make sufficient till the strain of reverse forced from us the acceptance of help from the Colonies, the Militia, and the Volunteers? The great question of reinforcements filled all minds. Nothing indeed could be looked for till they should reach the Cape. Fifteen huge transports were due to arrive between the end of December and the beginning of January, bringing on the scene some 15,000 troops of all arms. The Fifth Division, under Sir Charles Warren, consisting of eight battalions of Infantry and its complement of Artillery and Engineers was expected, also the Household Cavalry Composite Regiment, the 14th Hussars, a siege train, a draft of Marines, and various odd branches of the service. Later on more troops would follow, but pending the arrival of the warrior cargoes it was impossible for our Generals to do more than act on the defensive, and consider themselves fortunate if they could prevent the further advance of the enemy to the south. But the most momentous move of the closing year was the departure of Lord Roberts for the seat of war. Here was this gallant officer, whose life had been devoted to the service of his country, and who was at an age when many other men would have elected to stay by hearth and home, suddenly called on to act in the most difficult and trying crisis. And, in the very hour that he was asked to rouse himself to meet the call of Queen and country, he was dealt a crushing blow. His gallant son, the only one, and one well worthy to have worn the laurels of his noble father, besides adding to them by his own splendid acts, was carried off, a victim to the severe wound he received at Colenso. Here was a supreme trial, so supreme indeed that none dared touch it. All, even Lord Roberts's sincerest friends, shrunk from dwelling on the agony of mind that must have been endured by this great hero when at the same moment the voice of duty and the cry of domestic love jarred in conflict. On the one side he was called upon to brace himself to meet a political situation fraught with all manner of indescribable complications, while on the other, human nature with a thousand clinging tendrils drew him towards the numbness of mute woe or the consolation of private tears. But, like the great warrior he is, he got into harness and started off, leaving his misery in the hands of the great British people, who held it as their own. The "send off" they gave him at Waterloo Station was one of the most remarkable outbursts of public feeling on record, and this was not only due to admiration for the conqueror of Kandahar, but to profound sympathy for the man and the father who was thus laying aside his private self and placing all his magnificent ability at the service of the Empire. DOINGS AT CHIEVELEY It was now found desirable to remove part of the camp about ten and a half miles to the south, to get out of range of the Boer big guns which commanded the position. The wounded were daily being sent off in train-loads to Maritzburg, many of them, in spite of being shot in two or three places, cheerful and anxious to return quickly "to be in at the death," as they sportingly described it. The funeral of Lord Roberts's gallant son caused a sense of deep depression to prevail in all ranks, for he was not only regretted by those who held his brilliant qualities in esteem, but in sympathy with the sore affliction which had befallen the veteran "Bobs," whose name, wherever Tommy goes, is one to conjure with. The ceremony was a most impressive one, and the pall-bearers were all men of young Roberts's corps. These were Major Prince Christian Victor, Colonels Buchanan-Riddell and Bewicke-Copley, and Major Stuart-Wortley. The graves of all the unfortunate slain were marked round, covered with flowers, and temporary tablets arranged till suitable memorials should be prepared. [Illustration: A PICKET OF 13th HUSSARS SURPRISED NEAR THE TUGELA RIVER (HUSSAR HILL). Drawing by John Charlton.] Meanwhile the Naval guns were unceasing in their activity, and made an appalling accompaniment to the afternoon siestas in which many, owing to the excessive heat, were inclined to indulge. For strategical reasons it was now found necessary to blow up the road-bridge over the Tugela, and thus prevent the Boers from advancing further to the south or spying upon our positions. [Illustration: MAP OF THE SEAT OF WAR. Scale 1 inch=86 miles.] Extra precautions were taken in regard to the white flag. It began to be believed at last that the Boer would take an unfair advantage of the Briton whenever he should get a chance. Strangely enough, our officers seemed to have forgotten or disregarded the object-lesson of the tragic affair of Bronker's Spruit. Yet Boer "slimness" was then well enough established. The unfortunate Colonel Anstruther caused to be printed in the Transvaal Government _Gazette_ a bi-lingual proclamation, informing the Boers that, in consequence of the many treacherous uses to which the white flag had been put, he would in future recognise the emblem only under the following conditions: two Boers accompanied by an officer, and all unarmed, must approach the lines bearing the white flag aloft. The British soldiers were also advised to keep well under cover whenever the flag was displayed. This showed that reliance on Boer honour would in no case be attempted. At the present date Boer morality had not improved, and it was even declared that the Free Staters had made their women boil down their national flag, so that in its pallid state it might at a little distance be mistaken for the white flag, and come in handy in case of need. On the 20th of December a picket, consisting of seven men belonging to the 13th Hussars, was surprised some five miles from camp, in the direction of Weenen, by a party of sixty Boers. These cautiously crept round some kopjes to where the outpost was stationed. A smart tussle ensued. Two men were killed and seven horses were lost. No sooner had information of the fight reached camp than some of Bethune's and Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry were despatched to the rescue, but the Boers, on perceiving these reinforcements, quickly fled and thus escaped punishment. At this time the second advance for the relief of Ladysmith was very secretly being organised, but no one knew exactly when Sir Redvers Buller meant to move, or whether he intended to give up the idea of a frontal attack altogether. Our Generals were criticised for making frontal attacks, but Clausewitz declares that the attempt to turn the flank of the enemy can only be justified by a great superiority; this superiority may be either actual superiority of numbers, or it may follow from the way in which the lines of communication are placed. Unfortunately we had no favouring strength; the Boers outnumbered us everywhere, and not only did they exceed us numerically, but their mobility enabled them so quickly to move from front to flank positions that they were, on desire, facing us at any moment. In fact the Boer army had no flank, and therefore the vast amount of after-the-event wisdom which was gratuitously handed about by "the man in the street" was absolutely wasted. An unfortunate incident now occurred. Capt. James Rutherford and Mr. Grenfell, S.A.L.H., while visiting the pickets, disappeared. They apparently rode into the midst of the enemy's scouts, who were everywhere prowling about, and were forced to surrender. The report of the capture was brought to the camp by native runners, who stated that the officers had been removed to Pretoria. However, for two gallant Britons lost there was one gained, for at the very time Mr. Winston Churchill had almost miraculously made himself free of his captors. The story of his escape reads like a novel; but truth is stranger than fiction. When removed to Pretoria after the disaster to the armoured train at Chieveley, he almost gave up hope of escape; indeed he had every reason so to do, for on the 12th of December he was informed by the Transvaal Government's Secretary for War that there was little chance of his release. Whereupon, with many doubts and misgivings, he discussed with himself the best means of struggling for freedom. The State Schools Prison was well guarded; it was surrounded by a high wall, and the sentries were vigilant in the extreme. He formed for himself a plan, however, and once when the back of the sentry was momentarily turned he took his courage in both hands as the French say, rushed at the six-foot wall, scaled it, and let himself down into a neighbouring garden before his movement could be detected. The garden was the garden of an inhabited house. There were lights in the windows; more, there were visitors on the verandah, and presently, ramblers among the paths! Moments of horror as the escaped hid in the trees seemed to become years, discovery appeared to be merely a matter of moments. But evidently the Fates decided that so useful a member of creation--warrior, writer, and politician--could not be spared by society or his country, and in a little while Mr. Churchill found himself wandering, undisguised and unrecognised, through the streets of the town. Burghers passed him, passengers brushed his shoulders. Nobody asked his business. It was evident that Fate wanted him. The stars said so, and following their direction he struck out towards the Delagoa Railroad. He knew that he dared ask his way of none; he was aware that he must make the most of the cloak of night; he was intimate enough with Boer customs to be certain that in a few hours his description would be posted throughout the two Republics. The present, and only the present, was his. He walked along the line, evading the watchers on bridges and culverts, and determining to stick to the rails, without which he might find himself lost or wandering back in the teeth of the enemy. Once free of the town, he bided his time cautiously in the neighbourhood of an adjacent station. There he watched the coming of a train, and just as it steamed past him, with an alacrity and agility born of sheer despair, he made a leap towards a truck, grabbed at a hook on the edge, boarded it, and was soon burrowing deep in a cargo of coal-sacks. There he lay, grimy, exhausted, and almost distraught, but happy. He was free. Every minute the anxiety for freedom had grown within him, till now, fighting his way towards it, it had become an almost savage passion. He had decided he would never go back. No one should capture him. But this was easier to swear than to accomplish. To escape detection it was necessary again to risk his life--to leap off the train as he had leapt on it, while the machinery was in full swing and the driver ignorant of the existence of his distinguished passenger. Before dawn, therefore, he emerged from the coal-heap, and with a flying leap landed flat on the railroad. He gathered himself together, and by sunrise was concealed in a wood, his only companion for some time being a vulture. The sojourn in the cool boskage of the Transvaal was fraught with good luck, and at dusk when the fugitive emerged he was another man. At last he was able to gather his forces together for another trip on a passing train. There was always danger though--danger because it was necessary to hug the line, and where the line was, there also were railway guards, or at least humanity--inimical humanity, who most probably were plotting his ruin. Plod, plod, plod; so passed the hours, scrambling along in the dead of night through sluits and dongas in the effort to avoid the direct neighbourhood of huts, bridges, stations, and yet keep in touch with the winding iron track that led to the longed-for sea. For five days and nights he persevered, tramping after dark and sneaking under cover all day, and dimly conscious that the hue and cry had gone forth, and that every man's hand in the enemy's country was now turned against him. On the sixth day he managed again with amazing good fortune to safely board a train, and this time it was one going from Middleburg to Delagoa Bay. Again he burrowed among sacks and carefully hid himself, so carefully, indeed, that owing to his extreme precaution discovery was evaded. The train was searched, the sacks were prodded. Deep down, scarcely daring to breathe, lay the man they were seeking--an inch or two off--just an inch or two off. He drew a long breath and praised God for his escape. After that he passed some sixty hours in all the agonies of suspense. Famine and thirst preyed on him, and active horror lest all his exertions should be in vain, lest, at the very last moment, the whole struggle of hope and wretchedness would end in dire and fatal disaster. But he was preserved. He arrived at Lourenço Marques on the 21st of December, and from there proceeded to Natal. "I am very weak, but I am free." Such were the words of his telegram; no wired words ever meant more. "I have lost many pounds in weight, but I am lighter in heart; and I avail myself of this moment, which is a witness to my earnestness, to urge an unflinching and uncompromising prosecution of the war." In regard to Mr. Winston Churchill's arrival among his friends in Natal, an eye-witness wrote:-- "The 23rd of December last was a memorable day at Durban, perhaps the most memorable since that on which the Boers' ultimatum was published. From Lourenço Marques had come the exciting intelligence that young Winston Churchill, a distinguished member of a world-renowned race, had succeeded in evading his jailers at Pretoria, and, after a series of thrilling adventures, had arrived safely at Delagoa Bay. The telegrams had further announced that the hero had immediately shipped on board the Rennie liner _Induna_ and would land at Durban that very afternoon. The fame of Mr. Churchill as a soldier and an author was already established. The history of his gallantry both in India and at Omdurman was already well known to every good Natalian before he first stepped ashore there as one of the war correspondents of the _Morning Post_. His subsequent courageous conduct at Chieveley at the unfortunate incident of the armoured train and his capture by the Boers, now capped by his marvellous escape from Pretoria, had set Durban agog with excitement, and filled all and sundry with hearty desires to afford him a right royal welcome on his landing again on British soil. "The brilliant summer sunshine, tempered by a fresh sea-breeze which sent a soft ripple across the deep blue surface of the magnificent harbour; the bold headland of the bluff contrasting vividly against the streets of iron-roofed dwellings in the township; the large numbers of ocean-going steamers and sailing craft, gay with bunting; the eager, expectant crowd of every class of society, from gaily-dressed ladies to wharf labourers, refugees, and Kaffirs in but shirts and trousers, all contributed to the completion of a picturesque panorama never to be forgotten. Long before midday did we assemble in our thousands. When it was whispered about that the _Induna_ would berth alongside the steamer _Inchanga_, and that Mr. Churchill must cross the decks of the _Inchanga_ before stepping ashore, a rush was made for her, and, in spite of all the efforts of the officers and crew, the crowd swarmed like bees on her. They took possession of every available point of vantage; they invaded the sacred precincts of the captain's bridge; they braved the perils of the rigging; they huddled together on the 'fo'cas'le'; they filled every boat; and, heedless of fresh paint, they clung affectionately to the ventilators and the funnel. "After having been several times reported the _Induna_ rounded the point at half-past two. Amid breathless expectation she steamed slowly across the harbour. Standing beside the captain on the bridge a smallish, clean-shaven man was descried, and the crowd at once recognised him as the hero whom they had assembled to honour. A thousand good British cheers broke the silence, a thousand lusty throats shouted a heartfelt welcome. But this was not all. The sturdy Natalians did not stop at shouting. The moment the _Induna_ was moored Mr. Churchill, smiling, was seized bodily by twenty pairs of brawny arms, was patted and thumped on the back by hundreds of applauding hands, and finally, after being nearly strangled by over-zealous admirers who were waving hats and handkerchiefs and crying 'Bravo!' and 'Well done!' he was carried shoulder-high across the decks of the _Inchanga_ and deposited in a ricksha, whence a speech was demanded. In a few modest sentences Mr. Churchill good-humouredly narrated some of the more prominent episodes of his exploit, and a start was made for his hotel, the ricksha-boy being assisted more or less by some fifty amateur ricksha-men and escorted by a majority of the crowd. After picking up the editor of the _Natal Mercury_ on the way, and installing him in state by the side of Mr. Churchill, the hotel was at last reached, and the demand for another speech having been acceded to, Mr. Churchill was permitted at four o'clock to retire from the public gaze. The same night he left Durban for the front." The following is a copy of the letter written by Mr. Winston Churchill to Mr. de Souza prior to escaping from prison:-- "STATE SCHOOLS PRISON, PRETORIA. "DEAR MR. DE SOUZA,--I do not consider that your Government was justified in holding me, a press correspondent and a non-combatant, as a prisoner, and I have consequently resolved to escape. The arrangements I have succeeded in making with my friends outside are such as to give me every confidence. But I wish, in leaving you thus hastily and unceremoniously, to once more place on record my appreciation of the kindness which has been shown me and the other prisoners by you, by the commandant, and by Dr. Gunning, and my admiration of the chivalrous and humane character of the Republican forces. My views on the general question of the war remain unchanged, but I shall always retain a feeling of high respect for the several classes of the Burghers I have met, and on reaching the British lines I will set forth a truthful and impartial account of my experiences in Pretoria. In conclusion, I desire to express my obligations to you, and to hope that when this most grievous and unhappy war shall have come to an end, a state of affairs may be created which shall preserve the national pride of the Boers and the security of the British, and put a final stop to the rivalry and enmity of both races. Regretting that circumstances have not permitted me to bid you a personal farewell, believe me, yours very sincerely, "WINSTON CHURCHILL. "_December 11, 1899._" CHRISTMAS AT THE CAPE AND NATAL We had arrived at what might be termed a breathing spell. There was no serious movement in the direction of the Modder River, and Lord Methuen was evidently biding his time. General Gatacre felt himself too weak to take up any very active or offensive step, while General French contented himself with such harassing and cleverly annoying operations as kept the enemy, like a man with a mosquito round his nose, from napping. There was great hope of better things, however, for it was known that the _Dunottar Castle_ had left England and was conveying to the Cape--in addition to Lord Roberts--Lord Kitchener and Major-General T. Kelly-Kenny, the Commander of the Sixth Division. Besides these were the following officers of Lord Roberts's Staff:--Major-General G. T. Pretyman; Colonel Viscount Downe, C.I.E.; Major H. V. Cowan; Captain A. C. M. Waterfield; Major J. F. R. Henderson; Major C. V. Hume; Brevet-Major G. F. Gorringe, D.S.O.; Colonel Lord Erroll; Commander the Hon. S. J. Fortescue (Naval Adviser to Lord Roberts); Captain Lord Herbert Scott; Captain Lord Settrington. This showed that when at last we set to work we did so with a will. The forces in South Africa before the war had amounted to 25,000, which number was augmented by 55,000 on the arrival of the First Army Corps. Late in December came the Fifth Division of about 11,000, under Sir Charles Warren, followed by the Sixth Division of 10,000 men. The Seventh and Eighth Divisions of 10,000 men respectively were shortly to increase the forces at the disposal of Lord Roberts, together with some 2000 additional Cavalry, 10,000 Yeomanry, 9000 Volunteers, seven battalions of Militia, drafts for regiments at the front amounting to 10,000, and about 20,000 local forces. The first Colonial contingents consisted of about 2500 men, and these were to be followed by second contingents of like strength. The Naval Brigade was composed of about 1000; so that in all, roughly estimated, we were on the eve of putting 184,000 men into the field. Christmas day at the Cape was solemnised with much speechifying, both from Dutch pulpits and Dutch partisans, and not a few peacefully disposed persons in this time of general goodwill lugged in Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman by the ears and quoted him to suit their purpose. That amiable worthy had said the war could have been avoided, and that cheap and incontrovertible statement the Bond got hold of and chewed and rolled on the tongue as an accompaniment to its plum-pudding and mince-pies. Of course, the war could have been avoided. Of course, it would have been quite possible to voluntarily retire from the Cape and allow South Africa to become entirely Dutch. In the same way we could give up governing India and hand it over to Russia and confine our expenses and our energies to Great Britain, the water supply, the development of national cookery, and the propagation of cabbages. But peace with dishonour was fortunately not to the taste of the British public, and those who spent their Yuletide in active service were far too devoted to the sacred duty of maintaining the prestige of the Empire to sigh for the domestic hearth and regal sirloin that might have been theirs had the Government extended its accommodating apathy a few months longer. There were no holly decorations and displays of bunting, no rubbings of hands and vigorous snow-balling, because the South African sun blazed with the glare of beaten brass, and the thermometer stood to the height of some 100 degrees at midday. But there was a vast amount of joke-making and hearty goodwill nevertheless, and many prayers for friends and family and Queen. In Natal there were lively doings in honour of the festal season. At a time when even cracker manufacturers wax poetic, the journalistic poets thought it their duty to burst into rhyme. The Natal papers indulged in some jocose doggerel, which would have been comic had it not been deeply tragic. The lines ran thus: "To Ladysmith"--the only lines, by-the-bye, that did run there-- "'Hold the Fort, for I am coming,' Says the helio-- Quick as light the answer flashes, 'Ain't you coming slow?'" But Tommy was pleased and thought the stanza a capital joke. He meant to get there directly, and merely quoted the proverb about "slow and shure"--there were so many Irishmen about, fine fellows, who believed in themselves and they were shure about everything. They had nothing to do with doubt, for doubt, after all, is the mother of diffidence! And some of these rollicking youngsters managed to retain their native good-humour in most distressing circumstances. A good story was told of one gallant private in hospital who had lost his leg but persisted in apostrophising the missing limb whenever it ached. "Be aisy wid ye. Can't ye be quiet? Ye'll niver take me into the foight again. Ohovo!" Other examples of amazing good-temper and pluck on the part of the wounded filled all eye-witnesses with pathetic admiration. One man, a quondam music-hall singer, carried his jocose art into his sick-bed. A Boer prisoner had lost his arms, and the poor fellow helplessly shook his head when offered tobacco. But the music-hall singer saw the shake of the head and tearful eye that accompanied it. In a moment, with gymnastic dexterity, he had placed his arms round the Boer and performed the office of the missing ones, giving the fellow the advantage of a good smoke. Another of our men who had lost his right arm co-operated with a Boer who had lost his left, and between them they rolled cigarettes to the great satisfaction of both. While they were in hospital another sufferer pretended to be in no way depressed by the loss of his arm, and ventured on mild whimsicalities regarding the economy of being able to share a single pair of gloves with any right-handed man who might also have lost a limb! [Illustration: LIEUT.-GENERAL FORRESTIER WALKER, K.C.B. Commanding the Lines of Communication. Photo by Elliott & Fry, London.] On the whole, well or ill, Tommy was temporarily in clover. The fat of the land was being sent out by fervent admirers at home. Indeed he was getting somewhat inundated with worsted goods which the fair hands of his countrywomen had been devotedly manufacturing. Jack Tar, despite his magnificent work, was not so highly distinguished, at least so he thought, and occasionally vented his disgust into private ears. But, as one of them said, they'd had a treat for Christmas--the treat of a wash! It was bathing under difficulties, however, for one half of the men had to keep guard with loaded rifles while the other half wallowed in water that, in harmony with the general scheme of things in camp, was also of kharki hue! Tommy at the front was externally scarcely the Tommy of our acquaintance. His bright spick and span exterior was gone. Kharki had sobered him and planed down his individuality. His uniform no longer sat without a crease. It was washed and worn and shrunken from hard and honourable usage, and his carriage was no longer the carriage of Tommy on parade. He seemed to have taken a leaf out of Jack's book, and the slight slouch became him well. It gave him the air of a workman and an individual, and seemed to point to the fact that there was no longer occasion for him to be judged by appearances. We knew the inner man now. He did his duty grandly, and his splendid courage and perseverance had made him independent of the pomp and panoply of war. In the matter of "grit" they were all alike. But in externals they had curious differences, their characteristics varying considerably according to the regiment to which they belonged. Some were dapper still--the newly arrived ones--with hair clipped to an eighth of an inch for head and half an inch for moustache; others had succumbed to circumstances, and had grown beards of odd sizes and shapes and colours (scumbled in all cases with dust), while the youngsters displayed an unhappy medium, styled by an officer "pieces of unexpected wool," on promiscuous parts of their faces! Still, when all was said, joviality and "grit" put an identical veneer on them all! The officers too were transmogrified. They were dressed exactly like the men. Tan brown belts, swords, and revolvers were no longer in evidence. When going off to war, or any other duty at all under arms, each officer arrayed himself in his servant's belt and equipment--stained with clay paste to the prevalent dust or kharki colour--and took with him his servant's rifle and one hundred rounds of ammunition. There was a difference without a distinction. The officer carried a field-glass, and this when not in use was concealed in a coat-pocket. Every precaution was now adopted to prevent them from inviting an undue share of attention. The mounted officers had carbines--neat, handy weapons, which slipped into a leather carbine bucket in the saddle, on the other side of which went the very necessary wire-cutters. Barbed wire entanglements were so much a part of the Boer programme--"to cheer you up in crossing the drifts," some one said--that the cutters became an essential part of warlike gear. A strange innovation this; very small but very full of meaning. The Boers were teaching us a great deal. We were beginning to understand, almost to admire, their curious modes of warfare--their strange ability to "sit tight," wire themselves in, and yet to fly away! Years ago, when some tactician ventured to say that the war of the future embraced only the question of long-range rifles and wire-entangled trenches, we were inclined to pooh-pooh! Now we were beginning to see wisdom in this stubborn and persistent, and yet skittishly mobile foe! When we looked at our wire nippers and their strong entrenchments we began to formulate the war motto of the future, which resolves itself into five words: "Six legs and a spade!" The sword, the bayonet, the cavalry charge were passing away for ever. Here the dignified charger was ill-matched with the nimble steed of the country, and many officers were only too glad to supplement their English horses with Basuto ponies--to secure four serviceable and sure legs, as the climate and other circumstances contrived to wear out those of their British beasts. Fortunately there was still a plentiful choice in horse-flesh, what with British and Australian and Argentine specimens, but the Basuto ponies were the most knowing and handy for the purposes required. The imported horse, it was discovered, needed a long and probationary period to make him at home on the South African veldt. Like other aristocratical creatures, he was unequal to the hand-to-mouth existence of the African-born animal, who, by habit and instinct, could shift for himself. He was neither knowing nor cautious, having been unaccustomed to ground honeycombed with mole-holes, sluits, and other obstacles, or to the trick of rolling on the veldt and picking up his meals haphazard from the first bush he came across. Hence it became evident that horses in plenty must be forthcoming if we were ever to remedy our deficiencies and make our progress something other than the steam-roller style of progress to which we had been accustomed. CHAPTER II MAFEKING Plucky little Mafeking continued to hold its own, and not merely to hold its own, but to make itself dauntlessly aggressive. Continual sorties took place, and indeed formed part of the routine of daily life. Commandant Cronje now sent in a communication disputing the right of the British to use dynamite in any way in the operations for the defence of the town; but Colonel Baden-Powell was inclined for deeds, not arguments, so Cronje was silenced. The town was enlivened by a great concert, in which the National Anthem was sung with fervour and intense significance. This showed without doubt that Mafeking meant to fight so long as breath should last. In regard to provisions and water, the garrison was getting on well. The art of dodging shells, said one officer, was being carried to a state of great perfection, and the fighting was being conducted in strict accordance with military etiquette, Commandant Cronje always giving due notice of bombardment! For some time after Colonel Walford's gallant defence of Cannon Kopje on the 31st October, nothing much occurred. The losses from this attack were more than at first supposed. Captain the Hon. H. Marsham, as we know, was killed, and Captain Pechell, who was hit in the abdomen by a piece of shell, succumbed to his injuries. Sergeant Lloyd, who did splendid service with the Red Cross company, was struck while attending to the wounded, and died. Trooper Nicholas, whose arm was shattered, succumbed owing to shock to the system. A trooper who was hit by a bullet in the collar-bone escaped death miraculously. Fortunately, Lieutenants Brady and Dawson, who were also injured, were getting on well. Among the marvellous escapes recorded, and these were not a few, was one of a negro who was shot through the brain by a bullet. The projectile passed through one temple and lodged in the other, yet the man still survived, and showed a decided intention to recover. There is an old story of a Jamaica negro who fell from a tree without injury, and when asked how he escaped, he explained his good fortune by saying, "Tank God, me fall on me head!" The invulnerability of the nigger cranium in that case, as in this, had its advantages, and it would be interesting if some of our specialists--say Dr. Horsley--would account for the rough-and-tumble superiority of blacks over whites. On the 1st of November a lamentable incident occurred. Parslow, the correspondent of the _Daily Chronicle_, was shot by a member of the garrison. The following is an extract from a letter relating to the sad affair, which was in the possession of the Editor of the _Daily Chronicle_:-- "MAFEKING, _November 19_.--One item, the most unpleasant of the whole beleaguerment, occupied attention during last week--that is, the court-martial of Lieutenant Murchison for the murder of Mr. Parslow, special war correspondent of the London _Daily Chronicle_. He was a genial, good-humoured young fellow, and asked Murchison, an artilleryman of ability and undoubted courage, to dine with him. After dinner Mr. Parslow strolled with Murchison across the Market Square towards Dixon's Hotel, the headquarters of the Staff, the ostensible purpose being for both of them to obtain a copy of the orders for the day, usually issued about that time--half-past nine or ten o'clock P.M. Some words ensued apparently during the few minutes occupied in reaching Dixon's. Parslow left his companion in the passage of the hotel, and was passing out, when it is alleged that Murchison drew his revolver and shot him dead, the bullet entering his head on the occipital protuberance an inch or an inch and a half behind the left ear, and lodging against the base of the skull. The case is completed, and the court closed to consider the verdict." The young journalist was exceedingly popular and deeply regretted. He was buried with military honours on the evening of the 2nd. His coffin was covered with the Union Jack, and carried to the grave by Major Baillie of the _Morning Post_, Mr. Angus Hamilton of the _Times_, Mr. Hellawell of the _Daily Mail_, Mr. Reilly of the _Pall Mall Gazette_, and the correspondent of the Press Association. The funeral was attended by many members of the Staff, who were desirous of showing their esteem for the promising and gallant writer. [Illustration: THE SIEGE OF MAFEKING TOPOGRAPHICAL SKETCH SHOWING THE BRITISH AND BOER POSITIONS From a sketch by a British officer brought by runner to Buluwayo] The enemy now engaged in hostilities under the command of the son of Cronje, who was said to have had, in the interval, a _passage d'armes_ with his father, the General, the younger man having taunted the elder for not having succeeded in reducing Mafeking to submission. Whereupon Cronje _fils_ undertook to do the great deed himself, and in setting about it managed to get killed. The Boers again stormed the place, and were driven back in confusion by the magnificent energy of the British South African Police, leaving strewn on the field of action an enormous number of dead and wounded. Their removal occupied two hours. Captain Goodyear, commanding a squad of Cape "boys," made a dashing sortie, and received a wound in the leg, but he nevertheless captured the brickfields, and held them against the enemy, thus preventing him from utilising them for sniping operations. Sunday the 5th of November was, as usual, observed as a day of truce. The enemy made an effort to defy the rules of Sabbath etiquette, and were informed, under a flag of truce, that if they should continue to erect works commanding the brickfields, the guns would open fire on them. This warning had the desired effect. The memory of Guy Fawkes, together with the news of our victories in Natal, was honoured by an exhibition of fireworks--a display which some thought rather _de trop_ considering the nature of the daily operations in the town. On the following day the Boers made themselves unpleasantly obstreperous by saluting the place with quick-firing guns, weapons whose shells burst almost simultaneously with the report, thus depriving those aimed at of the chance of running to cover. The air of Mafeking is said to be equal to champagne, and perhaps to its stimulating influence the garrison owed its sprightliness and activity. The little township "ran" a journal of its own, and though not so effervescent as _The Lyre_ of Ladysmith, it had its humorous side. The _Mafeking Mail_, as it was called, was issued daily--shells permitting. Quoting from the _Mail_ of the 1st of November, a facsimile of which was reproduced by the _Daily Telegraph_, we read that-- "We have borne the much-feared bombardment for a fortnight, and still Mafeking stands. From what we have experienced we do not consider ourselves too optimistic in anticipating a successful ending to the contest. For the first time in the history of Boer warfare have the Boers been defeated at every turn by a force far inferior in point of numbers. Since the first attack on Saturday, October 14th, they fly directly our guns are heard. Safely out of range they fire into the town, but they do not appear to be pining for another attempt at storming Mafeking. In the 'general orders' issued last Sunday the following occurs:--'The Colonel Commanding having made a careful inspection of the defences of the town and the native stadt, is now of opinion that no force that the Boers are likely to bring against us could possibly effect an entrance at any point.' Now, this is like the advertisements say a certain cocoa is--grateful and comforting, and we feel that having got so far through the ordeal, we have only to remain steadfast, as the matter of a little time will see decided the first great step towards the settlement of the future of South Africa. There is no doubt that the attention of Great Britain, the Colonies, in fact, the whole world, is now riveted upon this little spot, which is now playing a prominent part in the most important epoch in the history of this wonderful continent. We know there is no need to urge the claims of our country and kindred upon our gallant garrison. Being in such close touch with each other that nothing but the exceptional circumstances thrust upon us could have made possible, we are in a position to judge and recognise the steady determination that British blood and British pluck exhibit when such a crisis as the present arises, and we know that the memory of Bronkhurst Spruit, Majuba, and Potchefstrom will make that determination, supported by the knowledge of our grand successes of the past fortnight, more firm, more strong, and more united than has been before, and this, with the grand soldier who is in command here, will render certain the first stages towards the complete crushing of the enemy. "There is no doubt that there was landed in South Africa by Sunday last a body of 57,000 men, including probably twelve or fourteen regiments of cavalry, twenty or twenty-two batteries of artillery, and forty regiments of infantry, besides, most likely, a body of mounted infantry. Of this force there will be not less than 15,000 disembarked at Cape Town and despatched on the road here. They may now be settling accounts with the Boers outside Kimberley, in which case Vryburg might be reached by Sunday, allowing for some delay at Fourteen Streams. When our troops reach Vryburg the air of Mafeking will not suit Cronje sprinters, so by _this day week_ we may begin to wish them a pleasant journey back to the Transvaal. It will then be merely an interchange of courtesy if we return the visit. "When the big gun with which the enemy hoped to pulverise us, and which has sent more shells in the neighbourhood of the hospital and women's laager than in any other parts of the town, is taken by our troops, we think it only fair to Mafeking that it should be brought here. It will make a good memorial and be an object lesson to succeeding generations, who, reading the history of our bombardment, and seeing the weapon employed against our women and children, will be able to judge of the nineteenth-century Boer's fitness to dominate such a territory as the Transvaal. Let it be placed, say, in the space opposite the entrance to the railway station, raised on end, with the unexploded shells piled at its base, with a description of Colonel Baden-Powell's clever defence of the place. We hope the Colonel will bear the town in mind when the disposal of the gun is under discussion. "Major Lord E. Cecil, C.S.O., last evening issued the following under the heading of 'General Orders':"-- [Here was recorded Colonel Baden-Powell's appreciation of the action of Colonel Walford and his gallant men, which has been previously quoted.] The perusal of the opening paragraphs of the _Mafeking Mail_ serves to enlighten us as to the degrees of hope deferred through which the plucky inhabitants had to pass. The pathos of the expression, "So by this day week we may begin to wish them a pleasant journey back to the Transvaal," can only be understood by comparing the date to which it referred with that of the relief of the noble garrison--the 17th of May 1900! On the 7th of November, the force under Major Godley and Captain Vernon made a successful sortie, the excellent management of which was recognised in an order issued by Colonel Baden-Powell:-- "The surprise against the enemy to the westward of the town was smartly and successfully executed at dawn this morning by a force under the direction of Major Godley. Captain Vernon's squadron of the Protectorate Regiment carried this operation out with conspicuous coolness and steadiness. The gunners, under Major Panzera, fought and worked their guns well under a very trying fire from the enemy. The Bechuanaland Rifles are to be congratulated on the efficient services rendered by them under Captain Cowan in this their first engagement in the field. The enemy appeared to have suffered severely, while our casualties were luckily very light. This is largely due to the fact that Major Godley delivered his blow suddenly and quickly, and withdrew his force again in good time and order. The Colonel Commanding has much pleasure in placing on record a plucky piece of work by Gunners R. Cowan and F. H. Godson. The Hotchkiss gun, of which they had charge, was overturned and its trail-hook broken in course of action. In spite of a very heavy fire from the enemy's one-pound Maxim and seven-pound Krupp, these men attached the trail to the limber by ropes, and brought the gun safely away." At this time the town was surrounded by some 2000 Boers, and a heavy shell-fire was daily exchanged. The damage done, however, was slight, except in the case of the Convent, which seemed to be a favourite mark for the Boer gunners. The trenches of the besiegers had been moved to about 2000 yards of the town, and from here the enemy fired with rifles, but with indifferent success. The Boers, in fact, were getting disheartened. Colonel Baden-Powell was proving himself prepared to enter into a competitive examination on the subject of "slimness" with them, and they were somewhat disturbed at the intellectual strain demanded for rivalry against so smart a pupil. All manner of efforts were made, and there was even a Dutch council of war as to the propriety of making a midnight attack upon the place. But the wily Colonel was ready for them. He took care that lanterns should be placed in suitable positions to illumine the paths of the would-be assailants, and when they turned on these lanterns the attention of their guns and broke them, more were immediately found to take their place. There was also the British bayonet in reserve, and a hint which they did not care to prove as a certainty--that dynamite was somewhere or other arranged in a ring round the place, so that at a given sign the too pressing attentions of intruders might be disposed of. These some one called "the B. P. Surprise Packets," which were arranged on the lucky-tub principle, ready for those who might venture on an experimental dive. The exact locality was not disclosed, in order that their whereabouts might prove a never-ending source of wonder and interest to the besiegers. [Illustration: OUTPOST AND ENTRENCHMENT, SOUTHERN FORT, MAFEKING] As before said, continual sorties took place, and Colonel Baden-Powell succeeded in capturing mules and horses from the enemy and generally harassing him. Great expectations sustained the gallant little party that Colonel Plumer's force would shortly make its way from the north and join hands with Colonel Baden-Powell. Early in November the opposing forces stood thus:-- Colonel Baden-Powell, with 500 Cavalry, 200 Cape Mounted Police, and B.S.A. Company's Mounted Police, 60 Volunteers, six machine-guns, two 7-pounders, and 200 to 300 townsmen used to arms 1500 1000 Transvaal Boers under Commandant Cronje, and 500 Boers at Maritzani 1500 But later, some of the Boers were drawn off for service in the south. [Illustration: SERGEANT-MAJOR--IMPERIAL LIGHT HORSE. Photo by Gregory & Co., London.] KURUMAN AND ELSEWHERE Of the diminutive town of Kuruman and its gallant struggle little can be said. The garrison--consisting of seventy-five British subjects, including the men that came from Bastards--under the command of Captain Baker stood out valiantly, fighting with rare obstinacy, and hoping that British success elsewhere would speedily draw off the intermittent attentions of the Boers. From the 13th to the 20th of November a strong party of Dutchmen kept up incessant pressure, but they were forced to retreat, though both sides suffered loss. On the part of the British one special constable was killed. The official details of the defence showed that the Mission Station which was formerly the centre of Dr. Moffat's long work among the natives of that part of Africa was the point of resistance to the Boer attack. When the Dutch commandant notified the magistrate of his intention to occupy the place, the latter replied that he had orders to defend it. Thereupon he collected twenty natives and thirty half-castes, with whose aid he barricaded the Mission Chapel, and there resisted the assault of 500 Boers for six days and nights, after which the Boers abandoned the attack. To look back on the amazing valour of the tiny garrison, unsuccessful though it was, makes every British heart swell with pride. On the outbreak of hostilities, Mr. Hilliard, the Resident Magistrate, called a meeting of the inhabitants, and eloquently urged them to remain loyal. This, as we know, they did, with the result that the place resisted the Boers and routed them, and, moreover, set a most salutary example of loyalty to the surrounding districts of Cape Colony. The following extracts from five short letters (all dated November 24), written by Mr. and Mrs. Hilliard to relatives, will be of interest, as showing the gallant spirit that sustained these brave people, and the love for Queen and country that was so practically displayed by them. Mr. Hilliard said:--"Just a short letter to say we have been fighting the Boers here from the 13th to the 18th, and have driven them back with heavy loss. I received a letter from their 'Fighting General,' Visser, on Sunday the 12th, saying that if I did not surrender the town voluntarily, he would take it by main force. I replied that if he did he would have to take the consequences of his illegal act, as my Government had not instructed me to evacuate the town. The enemy has drawn off towards Vryburg." In another letter he said:--"We are going strong; the brave little garrison is so good and cheerful. The army has gone, but may return, so we are prepared." In yet another he wrote:--"We are all right up to now, and shall stick to our dear old flag till the last, whatever happens. May God defend the right and our dear Queen. Three cheers for all." Mrs. Hilliard wrote:--"On Monday, November 13, the Boers attacked Kuruman. Our men fought bravely for six days, after which the Boers departed, and we don't know if they intend returning or not. Charlie is at the Police Camp, and looks well and happy. He is very proud of our men. Our men are still on the alert, and are strengthening their forts, as the Boers will not return without a cannon. They quite expected this place to be handed over to them at once, as Vryburg was." This state of affairs continued till the end of the year. On the 1st of January the plucky little garrison was at last forced to surrender. This, they said, they would never have done had they possessed a single cannon. The Boer artillery knocked to pieces the improvised fort before the white flag was hoisted over the ruins. Four men were killed and eighteen wounded in the splendid but hopeless effort to hold the open village against a foe provided with artillery and superior in numbers. The Boers numbered twelve hundred against some seventy-five practically helpless men! So the unequal tug-of-war came to an end--we may say, an honourable end. In Northern Rhodesia, British subjects were practically isolated. The telegraph to the south was cut, and the railway--some four hundred miles of it--was damaged in various places. To show the state of remoteness in which the unfortunate inhabitants found themselves, it is sufficient to say that a telegram from London to Buluwayo took sixteen days in transit. Letters from Port Elizabeth were received about three weeks after being posted. It may easily be imagined what dearth of news prevailed, and how even such news as it was, was falsified by rumour. But the excellent fellows kept heart, although they were, as one of them said, "absolutely ignored by the British Government, and had not a red coat in the country." He went on to say, "We have any quantity of men of grit, and about a thousand fellows have volunteered to fight out of a total population of men, women, and children of six thousand at most." So little could reach us as to the doings of Colonel Plumer's splendid little force, that the following letter from Trooper Young, a barrister, who joined at the outbreak of the war, may be quoted. It supplies some early links in the chain of the brave history:-- "FORT TULI, SOUTH AFRICA, _November_ 9, 1899. "I've had a bit of an exciting time since I last wrote--almost too exciting at one time. Last time I wrote was when we were leaving Tuli for Rhodes Drift. We arrived there all right after much marching and counter-marching, mostly by night. The second night of it, for the small portion we had for sleep I struck a guard; so by the third night I was in a wretched state from want of sleep. I was always dropping off to sleep on my horse and suddenly waking up. Moreover, I began to see all sorts of strange things. Brooks and trees were transformed into houses and gardens, and then I would come-to with a start and pinch myself and try to keep awake--a very unpleasant experience. When we reached Rhodes Drift, our squadron was quartered there alone, and we had a couple of brushes with the enemy to start with. "I missed the first, in which we had much the best of it. We only had one man hit, and that only slightly, and in return we bowled over a couple of Dutchmen (others may have been wounded), stampeded their horses, over a hundred in number (we surprised their grazing guard), killed or wounded twenty of the horses, and jumped seven. The next fight was warm for a bit. We had only half the squadron--about forty-five men--who were reconnoitring round the enemy's fort dismounted. This was only three miles from our camp and in British territory. We had four men wounded, and did an equal amount of damage to them, if not more. We got off very cheap, for their fire was very hot, and very close too. The third fight came off on November 2, and that was a scorcher. On the night before it I was on guard. It was a beastly night, raining and blowing hard, so I got very little sleep when it was my turn off. In the day I was in charge of the grazing guard with three other men. "About one o'clock I got orders to bring in the horses, which I did, and had just got all the horses tied up when the Dutch started firing on us. I'd just got into a nice position behind a good big rock when I was ordered to ride out to warn our outlying pickets. There were three of them, four men in each, about a mile or a mile and a half away. A risky job it was too. Two of us were sent. I asked the other man which he would go to. He chose the one I had wanted, so I had the worst job--two pickets to warn, and had to ride right through the line of fire. As I started, one of our officers shouted, 'Don't spare your horse; ride like h--ll;' and I did too. Directly I got out, ping-ping came two bullets, a bit high, but others soon followed much closer. I got out, though, all right, warned the two pickets, and came in with them. We got a bit of a fusillade on us when we got near the fort, but had no casualties. The man who rode to the other picket had his horse shot under him; so I scored--not for long, though, for my own horse was shot soon after. "When I got back, I found we were having a very hot time. Our position was a couple of small kopjes close together. On two sides there was an open space for about 600 or 700 yards. On the other two sides there was a lot of bush and a ridge running round us, which we were not strong enough to occupy. The Boers had in the field between 300 and 400 men, so we thought; we afterwards found that that was not overstating their number. Moreover, they had 250 men and one gun at Brice's Store, about six miles away on the Tuli road, and strong reinforcements at their camp. They gave us the devil of a time. At first they fired mostly at the horses. They, poor beasts, had no cover, and nearly every one was hit. A few broke loose and bolted. Later, they turned their attention to us. Luckily, their shell-fire was very wild, or we should have suffered heavily. As it was, we had not a man even wounded; but it was a miracle we did not, for at times their rifle-fire was very heavy, and now and then they got a good shell in. I had a narrow shave. A shell burst just near me, and one of the splinters struck a stone and sent a piece of it bang against my leg. It cut right through my putties, three folds of them. I made certain I was wounded, and was much relieved to find there was no damage done. "When the evening came, we had two alternatives--to stay where we were and wait to be cut up, or try to go through to Tuli. It was finally decided to do the latter, and it was undoubtedly the right thing to do. If we had remained, we should have been surrounded the next day, and every one slaughtered. With ninety men against a thousand we should have had no show; still, it was a very bitter pill having to sneak off at night, leaving everything behind (including the few horses left alive), our kit and waggons, even the ambulance waggon. It was horrible saying good-bye to our horses. My poor little Whiskey was wounded and very unhappy; we were not allowed to shoot the wounded ones, as we had to sneak off as quietly as possible. It was very sad work. Luckily we had no man hit. I don't know what we should have done if we had. I suppose we should have remained there and taken the inevitable consequences, as we would not have left them. We left at 8 P.M., and arrived at Tuli at 1 P.M. next day, only two halts, one and a half in the night for sleep, and another of half-an-hour for breakfast, which for me and most of us consisted of water. I had nothing to eat except one small cookie from 8 A.M. the morning of the fight to 2 P.M. the next day. "Altogether, we marched forty miles through awful country, for a long way through brushwood called the 'wait-a-bit' thorn, and in the night, too; it tore our clothes, hands, arms, and faces to bits; then through sand, over kopjes covered with thick brush. Altogether it was equal to sixty miles of English roads, and we went pretty fast when the way allowed. We had one pleasant surprise; one of our officers left us and rode on to Tuli when we were about ten miles off, and reported that we were only a few miles out, pretty dead-beat, as we were. Until Captain Glynne arrived, they believed we were all cut up, and one of the squadrons rode out to us and lent us their horses, for which we were very grateful. They met us about three miles out, and I'm blowed if I know how we could have crawled in without them; we were absolutely dead-beat. I was never so glad of a ride in my life. When we got into camp, we found that three or four of the men of E squadron, who had been left behind at Tuli sick, or had come in riding with dispatches, had prepared food for us, which was also very grateful, for we wanted it. We had left most of our kit behind at Tuli, so we were able to have a change of clothes and a wash, both very much needed, and then I must say I did enjoy myself. It was simply delightful to lie down and loaf about and do nothing but smoke cigarettes. All the bitterness of the defeat and the loss of our horses seemed to disappear, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself that afternoon. "At Tuli every one believed we were cut up. A party from there, twenty-five in number, when escorting some waggons to us, were attacked by a much superior force at Brice's Store and badly defeated. They had to take to the bush and abandon the waggons. They brought four men wounded back, while seven were missing, including the parson, who was coming to see us--he was wounded in the leg. According to the men who were there, he was taking a distinctly active part in the fight. A squadron of some of the police, about 120 in all, were sent out to try and relieve us, but near the store were met by some of the boys who had bolted from us, and who reported that we were already wiped out, every man killed; so they returned without trying to force their way through to us. In Tuli they were much relieved to hear of our safe arrival. It was certainly a very narrow squeak for us; it is still a wonder to me how we managed to escape without losing a man. Certainly we had very good cover, and took advantage of it; it was the only thing we could do. We managed to silence their rifle-fire once or twice, but could do nothing against their long-range shell-fire. Since then we have had very little to do, but expect to have some more fighting before long, when we hope to get a bit of our own back. One thing I think I may say without boasting--we all behaved very well. There was not a sign of funk, and every one took it coolly. As a matter of fact, more than half of E squadron had been under fire before, either in Rhodesia or elsewhere." To understand the effect of war upon Rhodesia at this time, we must read the following extracts from a letter written by a "Son of the Manse" in business near Buluwayo, dated 11th November 1899:--"We have been cut off from the south for more than five weeks, and are very badly off for news. Such news as we get comes by Beira, and as there is no cable between Delagoa Bay and Beira, this makes things worse. We have heard nothing from Mafeking since its investment by the Boers except a couple of messages sent out by a native runner to the nearest telegraph office still in touch with Buluwayo. A number of men from here are on the southern frontier keeping the Boers in check, so as to prevent them making a raid in this direction. They have had several skirmishes, but the Boers are not in any great force, as they appear to have concentrated their men on the Natal border, where most of the fighting will probably take place. Business is so slow here that numbers can get leave from their offices for the asking, and there were lots of fellows in town doing nothing who were only too glad of the chance of earning 10s. a day, which the Government are paying the Volunteers. The local newspaper here is of little use at present, as it has not funds to get direct news from Natal, and the only reliable information we get is published by the authorities. The _Chronicle_ here came out with a special edition yesterday, describing a serious reverse to the British (two thousand men and forty-six officers captured), but it turned out to be taken from a German paper published in Zanzibar and sent to Beira, and I trust it may prove false. We won't get any newspapers, I fear, as long as the mails come _viâ_ Beira, owing to the cost of bringing them from Salisbury by coach, but we hope there will be a change for the better soon. When the newspapers come they will be interesting reading.... The stoppage of the railway has had a serious effect in Buluwayo, as it has caused a tremendous rise in the prices of everything, and if most of the merchants had not laid in immense stocks in anticipation of what was coming, things would be very much worse. Some articles are very scarce. Potatoes are about £5 a sack, and of very inferior quality. Sugar is 9d. to 1s. per lb.; and a 200-lb. sack of flour costs 50s. to 60s., cheaper than most things, as there was an enormous stock stored. Everything is likely to go up still higher before supplies can reach the town, and fresh meal will soon be practically unattainable, and every one will have to depend on tinned meat. There are no colonial eggs coming up, so we are getting about 5s. a dozen for ours, and the price will probably rise, as with everything else. Some of the restaurants and hotels have had to close their dining-room, as so many men have gone to the front. The demand for eggs and fuel (wood) is, therefore, somewhat decreased. Several storekeepers talk of getting things from Salisbury, and if prices rise very much perhaps it would pay. The average rate per waggon to Salisbury lately was nearly 25s. per 100 lbs. weight. The mines are still working fairly, and may be kept on. The Kaffirs round here seem to take little interest in the war, and the most of them have not the remotest idea where Natal is, although the Matabele came from there less than seventy years ago. Of course they all know the Boers, and thoroughly detest them, as they have very good reason to do. We have only had a few showers of rain here so far, and the grass is very poor. We can work our donkeys much at present on that account, as I want to have them in good order, as transport will be very high when communications are again established." In Southern Rhodesia the Boers were kept in check by the activities of Colonel Holdsworth. In order to reconnoitre, and, if possible, attack the Boer laager at Sekwani, he started on the 23rd of November with seventy-five mounted men and ten cyclists on a night march over sandy roads in a region where water was extremely scarce. At daybreak they reached the Dutch laager and caught the Boers napping. Lieutenant Llewellyn wished them an energetic "Good morning" by means of a Maxim gun at 1000 to 1200 yards range, with the result that the enemy, about eighty strong, were routed from their position among the kopjes. The Boers retired to other kopjes, and from thence offered resistance, but as storming them would have entailed considerable loss, the British force returned to camp. They, however, burned a large store of ammunition and captured some rifles. Therefore their hundred-mile march, accomplished in twenty-three hours, was not profitless. MAFEKING, NOVEMBER Poor Mafeking! The inevitable hung like a ghost over everything--bodiless, formless, but always there at the elbows of the gallant band that so long had held out against the foe. He was now coming closer--closer, continuing to sap and approach by parallels, till before long not only shells but rifle-fire would render streets impassable, shelters useless, and fortified positions dangerous. Colonel Baden-Powell's brilliant wits were hard pressed to keep the enemy from carrying the town by storm, and all who valued their lives lived underground, burrowing like rabbits, or in bomb-proof shelters, from which occasionally they were routed, not by fire but by water. Still the word surrender was unspelt. None dared breathe it aloud. A battery of seven field-guns blazing their hot fire and doing their fell work made no effect--the besieged remained firm. Mauser bullets whizzed past their ears; shells long as coal-scuttles and nearly as thick crashed into buildings, now into the hospital, now the convent, or sometimes into the women's laager, leaving not seldom a track of mourning and blood; but the Boer could not plume himself on victory. Not so far off his white tents reflected the sunlight, and closer still the grim music of his rifles was eternally to be heard; but inside the little town were men who were developing from mere men of commerce into toughened warriors, and assisting Colonel Baden-Powell and his diminutive force to maintain the majesty of Great Britain, with a chivalry that might have done honour to the knights of old. Towards the middle of the month the garrison was much cheered by the arrival on the scene of a plucky American journalist, who had ridden from the Cape straight through the Boer lines, and who came with all the buoyancy of the outer world to delight the ears of the British with tales of Lord Methuen's advance. Other news now and then filtered in, and this the Colonel, either _viva voce_ or by means of his typewriter, promptly shared with the whole interested community. [Illustration: FACSIMILE OF WRITING IN ALBUM BY COL. BADEN-POWELL] To make it evident that Mafeking was determined to keep lively and aggressive in spite of intermittent bombardment, several more gallant sorties were made, and on each occasion the little place came off with flying colours. Commander Cronje, disgusted, finally took himself off with some twenty waggons to Riceters (Transvaal), leaving his guns with the remaining commandoes and relegating to them the task of reducing the truculent town to submission. Ruses, which are as the breath of his nostrils to the Boer in warfare, continued to be tried on Colonel Baden-Powell, who may be said to have almost enjoyed new chances to whet his wits and showed himself the last person to be caught napping. Indeed, some one at the time remarked that if they wanted to take him in they would have to get up very early in the morning and stay awake all night into the bargain! The latest Boer device was to make a show of going away and leaving a big gun apparently in a state of being dismantled. This of course was what in vulgar phrase might be called a "draw" for the besieged. But the Colonel was not to be drawn; his smart scouts continually found the enemy hidden in force, and thereupon put every one on their guard. Mafeking, in fact, "sat tight" and--winked! [Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL LORD KITCHENER OF KHARTOUM. Photo by Bassano, London.] Meanwhile the inhabitants were pushing out advanced works with good effect, and began to feel more and more confident that their pluck and patience would ultimately receive their reward. Their bomb-proof shelters were becoming works of art. They were no longer rabbit-warrens, but well-ventilated apartments, roofed with the best steel rails and sand-bags, and lighted by windows resembling portholes. Great ingenuity was displayed in the wedding of safety with comfort, and the owners soon began to grow interested in the artistic quality of their improvised retreats! On the 25th of November another gallant sortie was made, and the Chartered Company's Police, with magnificent pluck and determination, attacked Eloffsfort and kept the Boers from further encroachment. For some days nothing unusual took place. The Boers continued to annoy with their 10-ton gun and the Boer flag began to float over the fortified places surrounding the town. In fact, there was a somewhat wearisome monotony in the programme of daily life. The laconic report at that time of one of the sufferers was that the sole resource was to "snipe and wait!" Fortunately pressure elsewhere was beginning to draw off some of the hostile legions, and consequently the activity of the assault on the town was diminished. It was quite evident that Colonel Baden-Powell had been found a nasty nut to crack, and that his earthworks, his trenches, his underground shelters, his night attacks, and his hundred-and-one minor dodges, which had been craftily invented to test the amiability of the ingenuous Boer, were scarcely appreciated. Indeed, the worthy Cronje, when wisely taking himself off, was reported to have owned that the Mafeking blend of Baden-Powell-dynamite-mine-and-best-Sheffield was decidedly infernal! On this subject the correspondent of the _Times_, who was cooped in Mafeking, said: "The significance of the dynamite mines which surround our position cannot be under-estimated. Had the Boers any trustworthy information as to the whereabouts of the mines, the town would probably have been stormed weeks ago. The general ignorance on their part of the locality of the mines creates corresponding dread. The mines may be taken as a material effort on the part of Rhodesia to assist Imperial prestige and interests. The Postmaster-General of Rhodesia lent Mr. Kiddy, manager of telegraphs, to superintend the laying of mines, telephones, and field-telegraphs. The services so rendered have been invaluable." Of the Commandant another of the beleaguered band wrote: "Commanding us we have a man than whom we could have none better. The Colonel is always smiling, and is a host in himself. To see 'B. P.,' as he is affectionately termed, whistling down the street, deep in thought, pleasing of countenance, cheerful and confident, is cheering and heartening--far more cheering and heartening than a pint of dry champagne. Had any man in whom the town placed less confidence been in command, disaster might have befallen Mafeking; and if we are able to place the name of Mafeking upon the roll of the Empire's outposts which have fought for the honour and glory of Britain, it will be chiefly because Baden-Powell has commanded us." That our good old friend _Punch_ should, in his old age, cause almost intoxicating delight is a fact worthy of note. A copy brought by Reuter's cyclist-runner was safely carried into the town, to the intense joy of its inhabitants. It contained the cartoon by Sir John Tenniel in which John Bull is represented as telling the Boer that if he wishes to fight it must be a fight to the finish. The journal was read and re-read even to the advertisements, and gloated over for many days. What has now become of it is a question of interest. There are doubtless many collectors of war trophies who would pay more than his weight in gold for Mr. Punch after he had lived through and shared in the vicissitudes of siege life in Mafeking. The pluck of Colonel Baden-Powell seemed to be epidemic. Young boys, and even women, clamoured to do their share of the work, and strove to display a perfectly unruffled front in face of shot and shell. In one house some ladies stuck to their abode while the breastworks were being built, and employed the interval in playing and singing the National Anthem, thus stimulating and cheering the workers outside, who joined heartily in the chorus. On the 28th of November grand preparations were made for an evening attack, and these were quietly inspected by Colonel Baden-Powell in the small hours of the morning. But the Boers, whose spies were for ever busy, were forewarned and had evacuated their position. From the advanced trench in the river-bed some successful sniping at the foe on the brickfields was carried on, however, and from here the enemy was eventually routed by the smart action of the besieged. During the night the Colonel ordered Captain Fitzclarence, with D squadron and a Hotchkiss gun, to relieve Lord C. Bentinck and to support the "snipers" in the river-bed. D squadron took up a position in the river-bed under Captain Fitzclarence and Lieutenant Bridges 1400 yards from "Big Ben." The Cape Police and a Maxim at the extreme south-east corner, and Captain Marsh with a detachment of the Cape Police in the native stadt at 2000 yards range, co-operated. It now became impossible for the Boer artillerists to hold the emplacement of their 100-lb. gun. Heavy three-cornered volleying from the British positions swept the parapet of "Big Ben" every time its detachment attempted to turn the gun upon the town. The remarkable accuracy of our fire kept the Boer gunners at bay, and after discharging two shells they withdrew the weapon below its platform. The enemy made some futile efforts to renew the shelling, but at last desisted. But on the morrow the customary salute of big guns was resumed. Meanwhile the Colonel employed himself with various jokes of a very practical nature, which served to keep the wits and energies of the Boers in a perpetual state of polish. News from Colonel Plumer and his force was scarce, but all were aware that their days and nights were spent in hard work, great discomfort, and in perpetual and gallant efforts to come to the aid of the besieged town. It must be remembered that the Rhodesian Regiment originally had for its object the protection of the northern border of the Transvaal and a portion of the western side. Mafeking made, as it were, the outer gate, and this gate it was necessary to defend in order to preserve the communications with the north and with Buluwayo. No sooner, therefore, was it locked by a state of siege, than the entire responsibility of keeping the Boers at bay in the northern fringe of the Transvaal devolved on Colonel Plumer, who, on arrival at Tuli, set to work to guard the Drifts, and keep an eye on all quarters along the Crocodile where the Boers might try to effect a crossing. At Rhodes Drift, twenty-six miles south of South Tuli, he posted Major Pilsen with 250 mounted infantry, while Captain Maclaren, with fifty men of the Rhodesia Regiment and twenty of the Bechuanaland Border Police, was sent to garrison Macloutsie, some thirty miles north of the Limpopo, where it was said the Boers hoped to put in an appearance. Major Pilsen, as we know, was forced to retire on Tuli, after which the position vacated by him was occupied by Colonel Spreckley (Southern Rhodesia Volunteers), who in his turn was obliged to make a night march back to Tuli, with the loss of all his horses. Soon after this, strong Boer patrols approached daily towards Tuli, and the garrison had an anxious and energetic time. Minor skirmishes took place with certain success, but leaving behind them their melancholy roll of killed and wounded. Soon, however, a British victory south, and Colonel Plumer's exertions round about, combined to alter the Boer plans, and at length their retirement in the direction of Mafeking was reported. Whereupon this enterprising officer prepared to enter the Transvaal, whither he was driven, not by the enemy, but by drought. On the 1st of December he started from Tuli with a force of mounted men, and, after hairbreadth escapes, in four or five days reached a place some fifty miles north of Petersburg, the chief town in the north of the South African Republic. He also proceeded down the railway line towards Mafeking, but was continually harassed by the enemy, and continually obliged to retrace his steps owing to lack of water and other insuperable difficulties. Here we must leave him for a time. The Boers, learning that necessity is the mother of invention, and finding they could not get into Mafeking, were obliged to communicate with the Baden-Powell "braves" in an original manner. They fired into the town a five-pounder shell, which failed to explode. It was examined, opened, and discovered to contain the following jocose epistle:--"Dear Powell,--Excuse an iron messenger. There is no other means of communicating. Please tell Mrs. -- Mother and family all well. Don't drink all the whisky. Leave some for us when we get in." This was a little piece of innocent diversion compared to other experiences. On the following day a shell from a Boer 100-pounder struck a store, sending its splinters far and wide, and carrying devastation in its wake. Daily some tragic episode was the result of a well-directed shot, some white or black inhabitant was left a mangled, hopeless wreck--a pathetic fortuitous atom blown to the winds by the blast of war. In addition to the intermittent uproar of the heavy guns, heaven's thunders at times broke out, with copious showers of rain, and one of these, on the 5th, was so violent that it flooded out the trenches, and made all bomb-proof shelters untenable. Trouble and discomfort were as far as possible relieved with great energy by Lord Edward Cecil and others, but the effects of the inundation were not easily removed. Brisk engagements between the sharpshooters on either side now formed part of a morning and evening programme, and the Protectorate Regiment, under Lord Charles Bentinck, did such good service that the enemy grew shy of approach, and concluded that the process of starving out the garrison would be more comfortable than shelling so vigorous and retaliative a community. On the 10th of December the Dutchman Viljoen, who was a prisoner, was exchanged for Lady Sarah Wilson. The story of this enterprising lady is one of remarkable interest. In the beginning of the siege she left Mafeking and rode to Setlagoli Hotel, where she arrived on the same night. No sooner was she asleep than the rattle and roar of musketry commenced. This was afterwards discovered to be the gallant fight of Lieutenant Nesbitt on the armoured train, which has been described in the opening story of the siege. Poor Nesbitt, it may be remembered, was taken prisoner. Lady Sarah, a day or two after the fight, rode to the scene of the engagement and photographed the wreck. Later on, this intrepid lady moved from Mosuti to the care of a colonial farmer, and with great difficulty and much expenditure of energy and coin, she managed to induce the natives to provide her with information. All this time she and her friends were subject to the insults of the Boers. At one period she was declared to be the sole survivor of Mafeking, in hiding in the disguise of a woman. At another, she was believed to be the wife of one of the British generals. Others declared that the extraordinary lady was a member of the Royal Family, who was acting as spy on the doings of the Boers in the Colony. After moving to Vryburg, life for her became more exciting still. A young Boer passed her off as his sister, and some loyalists in the town gave her shelter, and helped her to obtain official despatches and news. But her state was far from comfortable, for most of her excursions had to be made under the shadow of night, and her days were spent enclosed in a room at the hotel. When Lady Sarah desired to leave the town, her exit was not so easy. The magistrates had issued orders that no one was to leave, and but for the kindness of her "brother Boer," she might not have been able to depart. Their journey was commenced at four in the morning, while it was still dark, and before leaving the town they had to submit to a search of their car, lest it should contain any contraband of war. At last, however, it was discovered that Lady Sarah Wilson's energy was connected with despatch-running, and her liberty was threatened. One day while riding to Mafeking with her maid she was captured by the Boers. On reaching Snyman's camp, the general refused to allow her to proceed to her destination or to return to Setlagoli. She was then detained as a prisoner of war, pending negotiations with Colonel Baden-Powell regarding the terms of her release. The Colonel offered to exchange for Lady Sarah a Boer lady prisoner, but the enemy refused to part with their prize till Viljoen, who was incarcerated in Mafeking, was first given up. Colonel Baden-Powell then represented that he, as a natural consequence, and without terms of exchange, had at once transferred women and children prisoners to the care of their people; but the Boer general was not to be prevailed upon by argument. Eventually Viljoen was given up and Lady Sarah returned safe and well to Mafeking. The transaction, though somewhat unpleasant, was on the whole decidedly complimentary to Lady Sarah in particular, and to the British feminine sex in general. It fully proved that an Englishwoman might in future view herself as the equivalent of a Boer officer. The artillery-fire of the enemy was now beginning to prove more efficient than formerly. In spite of this, however, Colonel Baden-Powell, in the kindness of his heart, issued a warning to the Burghers advising them to make terms and go home. This very characteristic epistle is here reproduced, as it shows the amazing blend of serpent and dove in the spirit of the man who was at that moment facing the choice of death or surrender:-- "To the Burghers under arms round Mafeking:-- "Burghers,--I address you in this manner because I have only recently learned how you have been intentionally kept in the dark by your officers, the Government, and the newspapers as to what is happening in other parts of South Africa. As the officer commanding Her Majesty's troops on this border, I think it right to point out clearly the inevitable result of your remaining longer under arms against Great Britain. You are aware that the present war was caused by the invasion of British territory by your forces without justifiable reasons. Your leaders do not tell you that so far your forces have only met the advanced guard of the British forces. The circumstances have changed within the last week. The main body of the British are now daily arriving by thousands from England, Canada, India, and Australia, and are about to advance through the country. In a short time the Republic will be in the hands of the English, and no sacrifice of life on your part can stop it. The question now that you have to put to yourselves before it is too late is:--Is it worth while losing your lives in a vain attempt to stop the invasion or take a town beyond your borders, which, if taken, will be of no use to you? "I may tell you that Mafeking cannot be taken by sitting down and looking at it, for we have ample supplies for several months. The Staats artillery has done very little damage, and we are now protected both by troops and mines. Your presence here and elsewhere under arms cannot stop the British advancing through your country. Your leaders and newspapers are also trying to make you believe that some foreign combination or Power is likely to intervene in your behalf against England. It is not in keeping with their pretence that your side is going to be victorious, nor in accordance with facts. The Republics having declared war and taken the offensive, cannot claim intervention on their behalf. The German Emperor is at present in England, and fully sympathises with us. The American Government has warned others of its intention to side with England should any Power intervene. France has large interests in the goldfields, identical with those of England. Italy is entirely in accord with us. Russia has no cause to interfere. The war is of one Government against another, and not of a people against another people. The duty assigned to my troops is to sit still here until the proper time arrives, and then to fight and kill until you give in. You, on the other hand, have other interests to think of, your families, farms, and their safety. Your leaders have caused the destruction of farms, and have fired on women and children. Our men are becoming hard to restrain in consequence. They have also caused the invasion of Kaffir territory, looting their cattle, and have thus induced them to rise and invade your country and kill your Burghers. As one white man to another, I warned General Cronje on November 14 that this would occur. Yesterday I heard that more Kaffirs were rising. I have warned General Snyman accordingly. Great bloodshed and destruction of farms threaten you on all sides. "I wish to offer you a chance of avoiding it. My advice to you is to return to your homes without delay and remain peaceful till the war is over. Those who do this before the 13th will, as far as possible, be protected, as regards yourselves, your families, and property, from confiscation, looting, and other penalties, to which those remaining under arms will be subjected when the invasion takes place. Secret agents will communicate to me the names of those who do. Those who do not avail themselves of the terms now offered may be sure that their property will be confiscated when the troops arrive. Each man must be prepared to hand over a rifle and 150 rounds of ammunition. The above terms do not apply to officers and members of the Staats artillery, who may surrender as prisoners of war at any time, nor to rebels on British territory. "It is probable that my force will shortly take the offensive. To those who after this warning defer their submission till too late, I can offer no promise. They will have only themselves to blame for injury to and loss of property they and their families may afterwards suffer."--(Signed) R. S. S. BADEN-POWELL, Colonel, Mafeking, December 10." If this warning did nothing else, it certainly had the effect of touching General Snyman in a soft spot, for he at once wrote to his Burghers in fiery language, expressing his disapproval that such a communication should have been addressed direct to them. The idea that "sitting and looking at a place is not the way to take it" seems to have gone home to him, for he promptly challenged the besieged to come out and drive him away! On the same day as his address to the Burghers the Colonel wrote home to a relative in England, and sent the missive folded in a quill, which was in its turn rammed into the pipe of a Kaffir:-- "MAFEKING, _Dec._ 12, 1899. "All going well with me. To-day I have been trying to find any old Carthusians in the place to have a Carthusian dinner together, as it is Founder's Day; but so far, for a wonder, I believe I am the only one among the odd thousand people here. "This is our sixtieth day of the siege, and I do believe we're beginning to get a little tired of it; but I suppose, like other things, it will come to an end some day. I have got such an interesting collection of mementoes of it to bring home. I wonder if Baden[1] is in the country? What fun if he should come up to relieve me! "I don't know if this letter will get through the Boer outposts, but if it does, I hope it will find you very well and flourishing." KIMBERLEY At Kimberley on November 4 things were still cheerful, though short commons had begun to be enforced. The Transvaalers advanced on Kenilworth, and Major Peakman with a squadron of the Kimberley Light Horse, emerging suddenly from the bush, gave them a warm reception. Colonel Scott-Turner reinforced Major Peakman, and two guns were sent to support him against the enemy's guns, which at that juncture ceased firing. The enemy's fire with one piece of artillery was on the whole poor, and fortunately little serious damage was done. Later in the afternoon came another encounter with the enemy, an encounter which was kept up till dusk, and in which the enemy sustained considerable loss. Unfortunately Major Ayliff of the Cape Police, a brave and efficient officer, was wounded in the neck. The Boers occupied the Kampersdam mine, some five miles distant, and shelled the Otto Kopje mine, while the manager, Mr. Chapman, like a Spartan, watched the destruction of his property and kept Colonel Kekewich informed as to the damage done. This was luckily small. On November 6 General Cronje sent a message to Colonel Kekewich calling on him to surrender, otherwise the town would be bombarded, and on the following day a force of Free State artillery, supported by a large commando, began further offensive operations. Captain Brown, who rode out a short distance to Alexandersfontein, was captured, and stripped by the Boers because he would reveal nothing regarding the state of the town. [Illustration: PLAN OF KIMBERLEY AND ENVIRONS] [Illustration: ARMY SERVICE CORPS. Photo by Gregory & Co., London.] According to rough calculation, the opposing forces at Kimberley early in November stood thus:-- Four companies of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment; battery of Royal Garrison Artillery, consisting of six 7-pounder mountain guns; a large party of Royal Engineers; detachment of the Army Medical Corps 2500 In addition to these were the following irregular troops:-- One battery Diamond Fields Artillery with six 7-pounder field guns, 3 officers and 90 non-commissioned officers and men; Diamond Fields Horse, 6 officers and 142 non- commissioned officers and men; Kimberley Regiment, 14 officers and 285 non-commissioned officers and men 540 Free Staters, and probably some Transvaal Boers, with four field-guns, 3500; on Orange River, 2000; reinforcements from Mafeking, 1000 6500 The disparity was not enlivening, but, though provisions were beginning to run low, pluck was inexhaustible. And with pluck, as with faith, one may move mountains. On the 11th of November the bombardment of the town was commenced with great vigour, the Boers firing from three positions. Little serious damage was done, owing to the fact that many of the shells did not burst. In spite of the incessant brawling of artillery, the perpetual appearance of fog, and a stinging pall of smoke in which they lived, the inhabitants of the place kept up an air of cheery unconcern, which naturally they were far from feeling. They also determined to disquiet the enemy by continual threats of attack from unexpected quarters. With the spirit of philosophers they at times made small divertisements for themselves. Once when a cooking-pot was struck the debris were put up to auction, and some fun was got out of the brisk competition for the historic relics. Some of the choicest of these were knocked down--this time not by guns--for the sum of £2 a piece. The price of a complete shell was about £5, and portions of one could be purchased at proportionate rates. Bits and fragments fetched sums varying from half a crown to half a sovereign! Nothing further happened, save that a cabdriver was captured, interrogated, threatened, and finally set free. Commandant Wessels, who sounded him regarding the dynamite mines round Kimberley, concluded with the message--a typical specimen of Boer braggadocio--"Tell Rhodes I shall take Wesselton mine next Tuesday, and then he must stand whiskies!" On the 12th Lord Methuen, on whom all had pinned their faith, arrived with his staff at the Orange River. This was a red-letter day. The news of British relief so close at hand was most inspiriting, and those whose patience was inclined to languish began to take heart. In Kimberley itself the weather was fine and warm, and as yet little ill consequence from the shelling was suffered. A peacock was killed, some buildings damaged, some nervous persons terrified. The military authorities issued a proclamation ordering that all people not engaged with the defensive forces should give up arms and ammunition, a decision that was found necessary to prevent irresponsible persons from infringing the laws of civilised warfare. On the 17th of November a force composed of detachments of the Diamond Fields Horse, Kimberley Light Horse, and Cape Police, under Colonel Scott Turner, went out with a field-gun and two Maxims to ascertain the strength of the enemy's position at Lazaretto Ridge. The enemy, who were posted on a rocky mound between Carter's Farm and the reservoir, opened fire on the advancing men, who, though some vigorous volleys were returned, were obliged to retire. Meanwhile the Beaconsfield Town Guard had a tussle with the foe, and, after much firing on either side, he eventually retired. As usual, he hid behind rocks and stones, and made himself generally inaccessible. On the following day some smart engagements ensued, and so brisk was the volleying from rifles and the booming of field-guns, that the townspeople believed that some decisive battle must be taking place. There were, however, few casualties. All eyes were now fixed on the doings of the Kimberley relief force that was concentrating at Orange River. A few more weeks, nay, a few more days, and those patient, cheery prisoners would march out free to have their reckoning with the Boers. Lord Methuen, once joined by the Coldstream Guards, Grenadiers, and Naval Brigade, would be able to push on, and then the first big move in the war would be made. So they hoped, and with reason, for an electric searchlight, worked by the Naval Brigade under Colonel Ernest Rhodes, was signalling to Kimberley, whose searchlights were plainly visible to the advancing army. To the dreary imprisoned inhabitants this mode of communication was vastly exciting. Every day the relief column was approaching nearer and nearer, and the patient though longing besieged began to feel as if they were already almost liberated. They commenced preparing an enthusiastic welcome for the incoming troops, and ironical farewell salutations were now levied at the Boers in acknowledgment of shells and of their general artillery prowess. At that time, coming events--the disasters of Majesfontein and Colenso--had not cast their shadows before! Mr. Rhodes was particularly cheery, and took most whimsically to the information conveyed through Kaffir sources that the enemy was keenly desirous of exhibiting him in a cage at Bloemfontein prior to despatching him to Pretoria! The brutal manners and customs of the Boers, however, were no subject for joke, as shown by their treatment of four "boys" who were found and captured while searching for stray cattle. After killing a couple of them, the enemy ordered the remaining two, having first flogged them, to bury the bodies of their comrades, and then go back to Kimberley and tell their friends how they had been treated. [Illustration: THE SIEGE OF KIMBERLEY: TYPICAL SPLINTER-PROOF SHELTER OF SAND-BAGS AND IRON PLATES Photo, Hancox, Kimberley] Boer tricks continued to be practised with little success. They served instead to sharpen the wits of the beleaguered Kimburlians--if one may be allowed to coin a word which seems to suit them. A few rifle-shots were fired in the direction of Wright's Farm for the purpose of pretending that the long-looked-for relieving force was approaching, and thus draw out the Diamond Fields Horse; but the manoeuvre was a failure. The Boers consoled themselves by blowing up two large culverts near the rifle-butts on the line towards Spyfontein, where the bulk of the Boer forces were then supposed to be. An official estimate at that date (Nov. 25) placed the number of shells fired by the Boers during the bombardment at 1000, while the number of shells fired by the British was 600. Owing to the fact that the hostile shells had so often fallen in sandy ground, their effect had been neutralised. Experiments were made with "home-made" shells, or rather De Beers-made shells, which exploded to the general satisfaction of their manufacturers. Some of these were said to be labelled "With J. C. Rhodes's compliments," but this was doubtless a cheery quip for the entertainment of the lugubrious, as Colonel Kekewich and the "Colossus" were too good men of business to waste their ammunition on pleasantries. These two marvellous people were now working hand in hand, the great business brain of the one lending support to the military skill of the other. Mr. Rhodes placed at the disposal of the Colonel--one should say of his country--the whole resources of De Beers, and worked without cessation for the welfare of the people, spending without stint, intellect, energy, and funds on their behalf. When the mines ceased to work, he still paid full wages to the 2000 white men employed on them, and laid out large vegetable gardens in the midst of Kenilworth for the purpose of supplying the inhabitants with green foods. He organised a mounted force of 600 men, supplying them himself with horses; and later on he instituted a service of native runners and scouts, which served to keep the garrison alert as to the whereabouts of the enemy. Indeed, space does not allow of a faithful recital of the doings of this public benefactor, who, without display, made his influence felt in every quarter of the town. Kimberley, as said, was now in communication by searchlight with Colonel Rhodes, and was racking its brains how an attempt might be made from the east side to march out and assist the troops coming from Belmont. "So near and yet so far" was the general feeling in regard to these troops, and a burning desire for the handclasp of the gallant rescuers filled all the brave yet anxious hearts that for so long had been cut off from the outer world. On the 25th of November there was unusual activity. The mounted troops at dawn made a strong reconnaissance in force under Lieut.-Colonel Scott Turner. The guns were under the charge of Colonel Chamier of the Royal Artillery. Hostilities commenced with a hot fire from the Diamond Fields Artillery's guns under Captain May, in the direction of Carter's Farm, Colonel Scott Turner with his troops marching towards Lazaretto Ridge, where the enemy was strongly entrenched. This took place at about 4.30 A.M. in the dusk of the early dawn. By good chance the pickets were found to be asleep, and Colonel Scott Turner and his forces crept along the ridge and with marvellous energy rushed the Boer redoubts. On the instant rifles bristled--shots blazed out. But all was to no purpose; the Boers had to surrender. They did this in their usual treacherous fashion, hoisting the white flag while they took stray pot-shots at their conquerors. This charge was one worthy of record, for few of the men who engaged in it had ever used a bayonet in their lives. So little did they know of the weapon, that they were unable to fix it in the socket, and consequently rushed upon the enemy, rifle in one hand and naked blade in the other! As ill-luck would have it, there was a lack of ammunition, and the British attack could not be pressed home. Meanwhile the Royal Engineers on Otto Kopje were protecting the flanks, and a strong body of infantry with a mounted force, field-guns and Maxims, were checking the advance of the enemy from Spyfontein. An armoured train, also, under Lieutenant Webster (North Lancashire Regiment), was reconnoitring north and south. The train (which was supported by three half companies of the Beaconsfield Town Guard under Major Fraser) proceeded south of Kimberley, and held the enemy's reinforcements in check as they advanced from Wimbledon. Subsequently, owing to the brisk firing of the Boer guns, it was decided to return to Kimberley, where Colonel Scott Turner, in consequence of his inability to hold the position he had stormed, was forced also to retire. But during the hot cannonade in which our artillery was engaged with that of the enemy in all directions save Kenilworth, this gallant officer was wounded. First his horse was shot under him, then a bullet pierced the muscle of his shoulder. But he continued to perform his duties regardless of the inconvenience caused by his wound. The Boers, as usual, paid no respect to the ambulance waggon, despite the obvious Red Cross flag which fluttered over it. They fired at it when they chose, and, as some reported, used explosive bullets. Eight prisoners were captured, in addition to two wounded Boers. The day's work on the whole was satisfactory, as it ably demonstrated that there was life in the garrison yet. And this glorious activity was subsequently recognised in the following order:-- "The officer commanding desires to thank all ranks who took part in to-day's engagement for their excellent behaviour. The garrison of Kimberley have this day shown that they can not only defend their positions, but can sally out and drive the enemy from their entrenched positions. He deplores the loss of the brave comrades who have so honourably fallen in the performance of their duty." A second sortie of the same kind was attempted on the 28th of November, but with more disastrous results. The troops took the same direction as before--attacked the Boers, beat them back, and captured their laager and three works. But, on attempting to take the fourth work, the enemy fought desperately, and Lieut.-Colonel Scott Turner was killed. When Colonel Scott Turner fell, Lieutenant Clifford, North Lancashire Regiment, who had more than once distinguished himself, assumed command of the Imperial Mounted Infantry, and, though wounded in the scalp, pluckily remained on duty till all was over.[2] There was terrible grief in the garrison at the loss of this splendid officer, the principal organiser of the Town Guards and the successful leader of so many skirmishes and sorties throughout the siege. The following special order was issued:-- "The officer commanding has again to congratulate the troops of the garrison who engaged the enemy yesterday on their excellent behaviour and on the capture of the enemy's laager, with his supplies, ammunition, &c. It was in every respect a most creditable performance. He has also again to deplore the loss of many brave men who have fallen at the call of duty. It was with profound sorrow he learnt that Lieut.-Colonel Scott Turner was killed while gallantly leading his men against the last stronghold of the enemy's defences. In Lieut.-Colonel Scott Turner the garrison of Kimberley loses a brave and most distinguished comrade, and the officer commanding feels sure the whole population of Kimberley will join with them in mourning the loss of this true British officer, to whose skill and activity in the field is so largely due the complete success of our efforts to keep the enemy at a safe distance from this town." Major M. C. Peakman, an excellent and most dauntless officer, succeeded to the command of the Kimberley Light Horse in consequence of Colonel Scott Turner's death. Lieutenant Wright of the Kimberley Light Horse was killed, and among the wounded were Lieutenant W. K. Clifford (1st Battalion Loyal North Lancashire Regiment), Captain Walleck (Diamond Fields Horse), and Lieutenant Watson (Kimberley Light Horse). On the afternoon of the 29th of November, amid feelings of universal regret, the remains of Colonel Scott Turner and others who fell in Tuesday's sortie were interred. The ceremony, so common in those days, was yet full of deep pathos. Round the graves stood Mr. Cecil Rhodes, Dr. Smart, the Mayor of Kimberley, Mr. and the Hon. Mrs. Rochfort Maguire, and indeed the whole mournful community of the place. Six volleys were fired over the graves, six blasts blown on the bugle, and then a last prayer being said, they left them "alone in their glory." FOOTNOTES: [1] Captain Baden-Powell, of the Scots Guards. [2] Henry Scott Turner entered the Black Watch at the age of twenty in 1887. After taking part in the operations in Matabeleland in 1893-94, he was, in the latter year, placed on the "Special Extra Regimental Employment List," and in 1896 served with the Matabeleland Relief Force as adjutant and paymaster. For this service he was mentioned in despatches and received a brevet majority. After serving with the British South African Police, Major Scott Turner was, last July, reappointed as a "Special Service Officer," and in that capacity had done excellent service in Kimberley under Colonel Kekewich. CHAPTER III LIFE WITH GENERAL GATACRE On the 18th of December, General Gatacre withdrew from Putter's Kraal, his original advance post, to Sterkstroom. At this time, in the central sphere, Generals French and Gatacre, while guarding the lines of communication, were merely waiting the turn of events. Owing to a series of successful skirmishes, in which a patrol under Captain de Montmorency, V.C., was engaged, the Boers thought discretion the better part of valour, and cleared out of Dordrecht, with the result that on the 24th of December Colonel Dalgety, of the Cape Mounted Rifles, with his force occupied the town. At Bushman's Hoek were four companies of the Royal Scots, two 12-pounders, three Maxim guns, about 800 Kaffrarian Rifles, and about thirty Engineers. Owing to scarcity of water General Gatacre's force had to be divided, the rest remaining at Sterkstroom. There water had to be conveyed by rail, whence, with some difficulty, it was hauled to Bushman's Hoek in water-tanks by mules. The railway in these parts, a species of South African switchback on two narrow rails, rambled up hill and down dale with engaging ingenuity. Though water was dependent on the trains, fresh foods were sometimes obtainable. At neighbouring farms it was possible to purchase butter-milk, grain, and bread, but to "go a marketing" it was necessary to start in full marching order, for there was no knowing when the Boers might block the road, or what nefarious tricks might be taking place. It was quite impossible to be even with the Dutchmen's ruses. For instance, one who knew their ways said that if a Boer horse went lame or knocked up, twenty chances to one a "loyal" would place a mount at his disposal, give him bed, "tucker," forage, &c., while he would also watch the horizon for the approach of the military, and should they come the Boer would be a man of peace, without uniform, arms, or anything else to incriminate him. Therefore, as may be imagined, life was never too easy-going. The day began at 3.15 A.M., but night itself, short as it was, was scarcely restful. The troops slept with their straps on, 150 rounds of ammunition apiece by their side, in hourly expectation of attack. Niceties of the toilet were unknown, and gallant fellows with black faces and whiskers whose acquaintance with water was only weekly, were the rule. Some even presented the appearance of opera-house brigands, having locks so redundant and long, that jocose Tommies suggested writing home to their sweethearts for the loan of hairpins. In other respects the daily routine was not unpleasant. Bullocks and sheep were killed regularly and found their way into the camp-kettle; bread was still served out, and supplemented with biscuits. For recreation there was football; and to enliven the spirits there were four cheery pipers, who at night-time made the welkin ring, and caused their compatriots to start up and indulge in reels and Highland flings, and almost to forget that they were in the land of the enemy. On the 29th, a pouring day, Captain de Montmorency started with his scouts and thirty Cape Mounted Rifles in hope of catching the enemy. But the Boers, under cover of the mist, took themselves off in the direction of the Barkly East district. On the 30th of December a hundred of Flannigan's Squadron of Brabant's Horse had a smart brush with an equal number of Dutchmen, who, however, were promptly reinforced. Thereupon the squadron retired, but unfortunately Lieutenant Milford Turner and twenty-seven men were left behind in a donga which none would leave, determining to remain there and protect Lieutenant Warren of Brabant's Horse, who was wounded. To their assistance went Captain Goldsworthy the next day, accompanied by Captain de Montmorency's scouts, 110 men, and four guns. These arrived on the scene so early as to surprise the Boers, who, after having been kept at bay by the small force of Colonials, had continued to snipe at them from a distance throughout the night. A sharp fight now ensued, and, after some clever manoeuvring on both sides, the enemy retired with the loss of eight killed, while the party in the donga was relieved, and returned in safety to Dordrecht. The rescue was highly exciting, as the Boers were finally sent helter-skelter just as our men, worn out with a night's anxiety in the nullah, had almost given up hope of release. As it was, they were restored to their friends in camp amid a storm of cheers. Early on the 3rd of January a force was sent out from the advanced camp at Bushman's Hoek to meet a hostile horde that occupied Molteno. The Boers had mounted a big gun on a kopje in front of Bushman's Hoek, and from thence commenced to fire at about eight o'clock. Around the neighbourhood the Boers were seen to be swarming; therefore the force, composed of Kaffrarian Rifles, Mounted Infantry of the Berkshire Regiment, and the Cape Mounted Police, at once engaged them. [Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL SIR W. F. GATACRE, K.C.B. Photo by Elliott & Fry, London.] Two hours later General Gatacre and Staff started from headquarters with half a battalion of the Royal Scots and the 78th Battery of Artillery. The Boers from their point of vantage were firing from the hill on which was placed their big gun, and they continued to fire on the Infantry as they advanced over an undulating plain to right of Cypherghat, whence the population had fled panic-stricken at the outset of the fight. Fortunately the hostile shells burst without doing damage, and the troops continued to advance. The Artillery made a detour to the right, secured a commanding position on a kopje, and from thence began a ten minutes' cannonade which had the effect of silencing the Boers. They withdrew their gun and retreated, the bulk of their force now advancing, now retiring, to cover the movement. At this juncture the Mounted Infantry, which had worked its way round with a view to outflanking the enemy's position, came on the scene only to learn of the withdrawal. This was carried on without check owing to our lack of cavalry. While General Gatacre's force were thus engaged, the enemy was making a determined attack on 140 men of the Cape Police and 60 men of the Kaffrarian Rifles at Molteno. They were splendidly repulsed, though the Police had an unpleasant experience. Five shells dropped into their camp, but all miraculously escaped injury. The Boers now retired as mysteriously as they had come, and none knew the exact reason for their arrival. It was suspected that it was a "slim" trick to draw General Gatacre into another trap. A strong force left Sterkstroom before dawn on the morning of the 8th of January for the dual purpose of reconnoitring in the direction of Stormberg and taking possession of the meal and flour from Molteno Mills. The force comprised the Derbyshire Regiment, the 77th and 79th Field Batteries, 400 mounted men of the Cape Police and Berkshire Regiment, the Kaffrarian Rifles, and the Frontier Rifles. The expedition was eminently successful. The operation of removing the food-stuffs and detaching the vital parts of the machinery of the mills was carried on under the protection of the Derbyshire Regiment and the 77th Battery. That of reconnoitring was undertaken by the force under Colonel Jefferies, R.A., and it was discovered that the Boers, who were supposed to have evacuated Stormberg, were within a two-mile range. A survey of the Boer position was made by the Engineers, and the troops returned to camp well satisfied with the result of their labours. No larger martial moves could be attempted, for General Gatacre lived in a chronic state of suspended activity for lack of reinforcements. The Dutchmen had now fallen back from Stormberg, leaving only a small garrison there, and established themselves near Burghersdorp. The Boer strength in this district was estimated at about 4500, a force made up for the most part of Free Staters and Cape rebels. On the 18th of January General Gatacre moved some three hundred of all ranks from Bushman's Hoek to Loperberg, and the 74th Field Battery, with one company of Mounted Infantry, from Sterkstroom to Bushman's Hoek. The Boers continued a system of annoyance and petty progress by destroying railway bridges in the neighbourhood of Steynsburg and Kromhoogte, about eleven miles from Sterkstroom, and damaging portions of the line near Stormberg. Though General Gatacre's Division was merely the shadow of the division it should have been, and his strength, such as it was, materially thinned by reverse, he had at his elbow one man who was a host in himself. This man was Captain de Montmorency. He kept the Boers who were holding Stormberg in a simmering state of excitement and suspense. He and his active party of scouts were perpetually reconnoitring and skirmishing and emerging from very tight corners, getting back to camp by what in vulgar phrase is called "the skin of their teeth." One of these narrow escapes was experienced on the 16th January, when Captain de Montmorency and his men went out from Molteno to gain information regarding the whereabouts of the enemy. A smart combat was the result of their efforts, and when they were almost surrounded Major Heylen with sixty Police came to the rescue, and the whole force, after some animated firing, returned safely to Molteno, plus horses, mares, foals, and oxen, which had been captured from the enemy. At this time a curious correspondence took place between the Boer Commandant, General Olivier, and General Gatacre. It was a species of Dutch _tu quoque_--the Boer leader thinking to charge the British one with the same tricks as those in which his countrymen had been detected. General Olivier solemnly declared that a store of ammunition had been found in an abandoned British waggon--a waggon marked with red crosses and purporting to be an ambulance waggon. General Gatacre emphatically denied the "slim" impeachment. He forwarded affidavits sworn by Major Lilly, R.A.M.C., who was the last man with the waggon before it had to be abandoned, who stated that if such ammunition had been found it had been subsequently deposited there. General Gatacre further informed the Commandant that the practice of taking wives and children in or near camp and allowing them to run the risks common to belligerents was contrary to the rules of civilised warfare, and desired to point out the responsibility he incurred in so doing. He further remonstrated that a servant who had been on the field of battle to assist Father Ryan in the succour of the wounded had been detained in the Boer camp after assurances of his release had been made. To these remarks and complaints the General received no reply. Fortunately, our wounded who were not captured were doing well. The ladies at Sterkstroom were particularly devoted, and visited and cheered the sick daily, and carried them little luxuries which were mightily appreciated. Though there were not many losses, sick and disabled were constantly being carried into the hospital as the result of reconnoitring and scouting expeditions, which were ceaseless, and had to continue ceaseless, owing to the inability of the force to take powerful action. [Illustration: MOVEMENTS OF GATACRE AND FRENCH.] On the 20th of January Lieutenant Nickerson, R.A.M.C., who had accompanied the wounded after the misfortune at Stormberg, arrived in camp. Father Ryan's servant, on whose account General Gatacre, as already mentioned, addressed Commandant Olivier, also returned. They brought interesting news. More guns had been brought on the scene, and these were served by German gunners. Septuagenarians and striplings were drafted into the commandoes, while at Burghersdorp the Town Guard was composed of lads of about thirteen years of age. This showed that the stream of reinforcements was beginning to run dry. Many youngsters were said to have been sent from their college at Bloemfontein straight to the front. Commandant Olivier now took the opportunity to announce that he meant to retain as prisoners all correspondents who might be captured. The correspondents were flattered, and began to calculate whether "Experiences in Pretoria" would make good "copy," but finally decided for the liberty of the press. A little innocent diversion was provided by the Boers during the night of the 20th. The British were awakened by furious fire, which was continued for some time. Great consternation prevailed, till it was afterwards discovered that a scare in the Boer lines had taken place, and the sound of some stampeding cattle had been mistaken for the advance of the British! The Boers had at once flown to arms, fired right and left in the midnight darkness, and as a natural consequence shot some of their own cattle! After this, there was silence, like the ominous lull which comes before a storm. Little puffs and pants of hostility took place around Sterkstroom and Penhoek, while at Colesberg the Boers were on guard, with the fear of some impending ill. Important developments were dreaded. It was known that swarms of troops were moving from the Cape, and that the positions which had hitherto been held by the Federals in consequence of the weakness of British forces in all quarters, would soon be tenable no longer. And the waverers began to shake in their shoes. They began suddenly to adopt a helpful attitude towards the forces. The fact was, Lord Roberts had issued a proclamation encouraging Free Staters and Transvaalers to desert by the promise that they should be well treated. To the Colonial rebels he had diplomatically tendered the advice to surrender before being caught in _flagrante delicto_. WITH GENERAL FRENCH While all eyes were turned in the direction of the Natal force for the relief of Ladysmith, General French was making things lively for the Boers. It may be remembered that he left Ladysmith immediately before Sir George White's garrison was hemmed in, and betook himself to the central sphere of war. On the 23rd of November, with a reconnoitring force consisting of a company of the Black Watch, some mounted infantry, police, and the New South Wales Lancers, he went by train towards Arundel, and was fired on by Boers who were sneaking in the hills. Three of the party were wounded, but the rest drove the enemy off. The rails had been lifted just in front of the scene of the fight. From this time activities of the same kind took place daily, the General devoting his energies to reconnoitring east and west of his position, keeping the enemy from massing at any given point, and forcing them to remain on the _qui vive_ in perpetual expectation of attack. Scouting at this time was carried on to the extent of a fine art. Never a day was devoid of excitement. "We start out before dawn, and get back--well, when we can!" This was the pithy description of a youngster who enjoyed some thrilling moments. The following sketch of the experiences of a New Zealander show how one and all willingly risked their lives in the service of their country:-- "I was under fire for the first time on my birthday (Dec. 7), when a section of us (four men) were sent out as a mark for any Boers to shoot at. We rode to the foot of a kopje and left one of us in charge of the four horses. Another chap and I climbed to the top. Puff! bang went three shells from their Long Tom and a perfect fusillade of bullets. It is marvellous how we escaped. We were to report as soon as we were fired at, so I volunteered as galloper to go back to our lines to report. I did a quick time over that two miles of veldt, bullets missing me all the time. I reported, and was told to go back and withdraw the men, which I did. Afterwards we took eight men, and under cover kept up a steady fire for five hours. I was horribly tired, as I had been in the saddle eighteen hours the previous day. My mate was fresh--we were planted behind stones in pairs--and while he kept up the firing I slumbered, strange as it may seem. There are thousands of troops in the camp. General French, in command of this particular division, has complimented us on many occasions on our coolness under fire and our horsemanship. He said we could gallop across country where English cavalry could only walk. He told us after a skirmish we had with the enemy that he couldn't express in words his admiration of us, that we were the best scouts he had ever employed, and that we always brought in something, either prisoners, horses, sheep, cattle, or valuable information--which latter is entirely true. During the slack time our chaps are busy breaking in remounts for the English cavalry. Horses die like flies here, and Cape ponies are substituted." Numerous and ingenious tricks were practised on the Boers, many of them doubtless owing their origin to the active and fertile brains of General French and Colonel Baden-Powell, the author of the "Manual on Scouting." One of these was to take in the enemy's scouts by tethering ostriches to bushes on the hills. The presence of the birds naturally gave to the place an air of desolation, and satisfied the enemy that the ground was unoccupied. In Colonel Baden-Powell's opinion fine scouting is a true bit of hero-work, and his description of the "sport" in his own words serves to show of what stuff our Colonial scouts were made. He says: "It is comparatively easy for a man in the heat and excitement of battle, where every one is striving to be first, to dash out before the rest and do some gallant deed; but it is another thing for a man to take his life in his hand to carry out some extra dangerous bit of scouting on his own account, where there is no one by to applaud, and it might be just as easy for him to go back; that is a true bit of hero's work, and yet it is what a scout does continually as 'all in the day's work.' The British scout has, too, to be good beyond all nationalities in every branch of his art, because he is called upon not only to act against civilised enemies in civilised countries like France and Germany, but he has also to take on the crafty Afghan in his mountains, or the fierce Zulu in the open South African towns, the Burmese in his forests, the Soudanese on the Egyptian desert, all requiring different methods of working, but their efficiency depending in every case on the same factor--the pluck and ability of the scout himself. To be successful as a scout you must have plenty of what Americans call 'jump' and 'push,' 'jump' being alertness, wideawakeness, and readiness to seize your opportunity, 'push' being a never-say-die feeling. When in doubt as to whether to go on or to go back, think of that and of the Zulu saying, 'If we go forward we die, if we go backward we die; better go forward and die.' Scouting is like a game of football. You are selected as a forward player. Play the game; play that your side may win. Don't think of your own glorification or your own risks--your side are backing you up. Football is a good game, but better than it, better than any other game, is that of man-hunting." Of this game, our troops, particularly in the disaffected regions of Cape Colony, were beginning to have their fill. On the 8th of December Colonel Porter, with the 5th Dragoon Guards and Mounted Infantry, arrived at Arundel from Naauwpoort, for the purpose of making a reconnaissance and locating the enemy and discovering his strength. The force detrained some four miles outside the town and advanced across the plain, the Dragoons to left and right, the Mounted Infantry, consisting of New Zealanders and Australians, in the centre slightly in the rear. The Boers in the surrounding kopjes, seeing their danger, took themselves off with great rapidity to another ridge three miles to the north. This position was located before nightfall. At daybreak four companies of Mounted Infantry were posted on a hill two miles north of Arundel, while a troop of Dragoons reconnoitred the town and found it evacuated by the enemy. The advance was then resumed. At 8 A.M. the troops reached Maaiboschlaagte, and spied the enemy on the hills near Rensburg's Farm. The Boers were busy dragging a huge gun up the hill. Having no artillery, the flanking movement on the left was discontinued, but the Dragoons on the right, who were three miles in advance of the remainder of the force, crossed the plain and outflanked the enemy. The crackling of muskets followed, and soon after the booming of two guns. The New South Wales Lancers now reinforced the first line, and though for many hours their "baptism of fire" was prolonged, they suffered the only loss of the day--the loss of a horse. The operations were successful, and the strength of the enemy was found to number about 2000. The occupation of this region by our troops was considered of great strategical importance, as it formed a convenient advance base for further operations. The town is situated some twelve miles from Colesberg, and is in a fashion a natural fortress. It consists of rugged hills surrounding flats, and is provided with refreshing water springs. On the 12th of December a patrol under Lieutenant Collins was fiercely fired upon; a sergeant of the Carabineers was killed and a private was reported missing. This happened as they were turning away from a farm at Jasfontein belonging to Field-Cornet Geldenhuis, with whom they had had an interview. The proprietor received his just deserts, for later on two squadrons of Carabineers with two guns and a company of Mounted Infantry were sent out to shell the farm, which duty was accomplished with zest and thoroughness. General French's report of the affair is too interesting to be omitted. He said:-- "I wish particularly to bring to notice the excellent conduct and bearing of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles, commanded by Major A. W. Robin, on one of these occasions. "On 18th December I took them out with a battery of Horse Artillery to reconnoitre round the enemy's left flank, and determined to dislodge him from a farm called Jasfontein lying on his left rear. The guns shelled the farm, and the New Zealand Mounted Rifles then gained possession of it. But the enemy very suddenly brought up strong reinforcements and pressed on us with his Artillery. Our Artillery had been left some way behind to avoid this latter fire, and I had to send back some distance for its support, during which time we were exposed to a heavy musketry fire from the surrounding hills. The conduct of the New Zealanders was admirable in thus maintaining a difficult position till the Artillery caused the enemy to retire." Early on the morning of the 13th patrols were again fired upon, this time from Platberg, a kopje on the fringe of Colesberg Commonage. About 4 A.M., in the dusk of early dawn, the Dutchmen, some 1800 strong, were found to be leaving their position and advancing in the direction of Naauwpoort. Thereupon Colonel Porter, with Carabineers, Inniskillings, 10th Hussars, and four guns of the R.H.A., moved eastwards. What Mr. Gilbert describes as "a short sharp shock" followed, and the enemy's guns, after firing three shots, were silenced. Our cavalry headed the enemy off, and soon after 2 P.M. the bulk of his forces retired to their former position. Vaalkop was held by one squadron of cavalry and two guns for the rest of the day. Some Boers remained at Talboschlaagte, and some later on occupied Kuilfontein Farm, but were driven out by British shells with loss of forty killed and wounded. Our own losses during two days' sharp work amounted to one man killed. Captain Moseley (Inniskillings) was slightly wounded, and four men also received injuries. On the same date Colonel Miles reported from Orange River an unlucky incident. Part of the Mounted Infantry under Captain Bradshaw and the Guides under Lieutenant Macfarlane patrolled in the direction of Kamak and Zoutpansdrift, ten miles east of Orange River, for the purpose of reconnoitring and reporting the strength of the enemy. The Boers were said to be holding the drift, and near there, somewhat suddenly, a strong party of them appeared. The Mounted Infantry attacked, and a brisk engagement followed, with the result that the enemy decamped to Geemansberg. Unfortunately, for this smart piece of work Captain Bradshaw paid with his life; Lieutenant Greyson (Buffs) was wounded, three men were killed, and seven wounded. Captain Bradshaw was an energetic and valuable officer, and his loss was deeply deplored. To return to General French. Hard days of work in a broiling sun with little to show for it were the lot of those around Naauwpoort at this time. On the morning of the 15th two guns of the Horse Artillery, going eastward across the veldt from Vaalkop, shelled a Boer waggon which had been espied winding along the road. It was presumably from Colesberg, and laden with supplies for the artillery of the enemy. Several shells were at once launched, but they failed to strike it. The artillery then tried a new position, and were "sniped" at by odd sharpshooters from the hills. Finally a "Long Tom" was brought by the Boers to bear on the situation, and then the artillery, pursued by shells, returned to Vaalkop. Boer aggression continued. On the 16th the enemy took up a position on a hill near Kannaksolam and sniped at the British patrols when they went to water their horses. The Dutchmen were splendidly concealed, so splendidly that it was impossible for the patrols to return the fire. The New Zealanders were also fired upon, and though five scouts lay for hours on the hill watching the Boers' hiding-place, not one of the foe showed his nose out of cover. At last, in the afternoon, Captain Jackson, with eight Carabineers on patrol, caught sight of the enemy peeping from his lair, and suddenly found himself in the midst of a volley. Captain Jackson was shot in the spine and instantly killed, the other members of the party and the riderless horse fleeing amid a storm of bullets. On the morning of the 18th the remains of the gallant officer were buried at Naauwpoort with military honours. The enemy's position was shelled at daybreak by ten guns. [Illustration: A RECONNAISSANCE IN FORCE WITH GENERAL FRENCH'S CAVALRY NEAR COLESBERG. Drawing by R. Caton Woodville.] On the same day General French made a successful reconnaissance with a battery of Horse Artillery and the New Zealand Rifles. The New Zealanders had some exciting experiences. Major Lee and his men went forth to draw the fire of the Boers, and unfortunately, instead of drawing the shell of the enemy they drew the shot, and found themselves all at once in a very warm corner indeed. They were rapidly hemmed in on three sides, and stood a very good chance of being cut off. But pluck carried the day, and though all their accoutrements, saddles, and water-bottles showed visible signs of the hurricane of destruction through which they had ridden, they arrived in camp safe and sound, much to the satisfaction of the General, who issued an order complimenting them on the success of their reconnaissance. Major Lee, who was in command of the New Zealanders at Arundel, was reported to be a splendid fellow--not the typical dashing officer by any means, but what was described as a regular paterfamilias of somewhat aldermanic proportions. He was hale, hearty, and beaming, and withal a man of coolness and courage. The qualities possessed by this officer were said to be shared by most of his men, who, though of the rough and ready stamp, were true chips of the old British block. Mr. Gifford Hall was most enthusiastic about Colonials all and sundry, and, knowing their excellence and Great Britain's needs, delivered himself of words of wisdom which are worthy of repetition:-- "Ex-frontier cavalryman myself, with further experience as cowboy in both the United States and North-west Canada, and also as stockrider in Australia, I have never for a moment doubted that in the raising of an irregular Anglo-Boer force lay the solution of England's problem, 'How to successfully cope with the enemy.' Sans standard of physique, sans much orthodox training, sans everything but virility, inherent horsemanship, inherent wild-land craft, mounted on his own pony--bronco of Canada or brumbie of Australia--the Canadian ranche hand, the Australian stockrider, shearer, station rouseabout, or the 'cull' of all lands Anglicised might easily become the quintessence of a useful and operative force against a semi-guerilla enemy. A pair of cord breeches, a couple of shirts, his big hat, and a cartridge-filled belt, Winchester carbine, a pony of the sort that can be run to a white sweat, and staggering, tremble, and then be kicked out to nuzzle for grass or die--that's what your man wants. The pants and shirts will be better than he has worn for years; the gun he has 'shot straight' with ever since he first handled his 'daddy's' muzzle-loader; and the 'hoss,' why each is of the other, horse and man, each apart, a thing inept. Orthodoxy against the Boers in military operations doesn't wash. Aldershot-cum-Sandhurst-cum-Soudan-cum-Further-India and War-Office tactics fall flat. The Boer is here, there, and everywhere, not to be followed by 'crushing forces'--only to be checked and turned and tracked and harried and hustled by a brother Boer. There is scarce a Canadian ranche hand but owns a pony of bronco breed, scarce an Australian station hand of any decent calibre but owns or can procure a tough and serviceable semi-'brumbie' mount. And will these men volunteer? Yes, plenty of them, and those that won't can't. Surely Empire saved or gained is worth their worth to the Motherland they fight for. Let her hire them. Transportation and time? The Boer war is not over yet, and England's pocket is deep. To-day she fights for her life, for her honour, and win she must. Arm them and saddle them, men of the wild-lands and prairies. Work them van, flank, and rear. This folly of 'standard' physique and 'training'--to the winds with it. The theory of weight and height for effective fighting is exploded. Heart, eye, and seat, and wild-land inherent tact make up for it. Five-feet-six can ride and shoot and fight or die as well as six-feet-two. We wild-landers have proven it over and over again. Even when the war is over, and our regulars and reserves must return, make these men into protective police for a while, officered not by orthodoxy but by knowledge and experience. They will 'learn the country.' They will evolve scouts from amongst them who shall make no mistakes. They will give to England what she needs in times like these--to come again or not. Your yeomanry won't do the trick; nor your oat-fed kharki-clad higher Colonials either. 'Tis your Anglo-Boer, cowboy, stockrider, shearer, rouseabout, cull, given his way and a cause--yes, he and his scrub-fed mongrel mount and 'gun.'" These expressions of opinion almost amounted to a prophecy, for very shortly the Canadian ranche hands, the Australian stockriders, the hardy New Zealanders, and the "higher" Colonials--as Mr. Hall styled them--taught us lessons which we were swift enough to follow. At Christmas the troops fared well, and contributions of a homely and delectable kind were supplied to make the season pleasurable. The inhabitants of Naauwpoort showed their appreciation of Mr. Thomas Atkins in many tangible ways, notably by providing him with appetising refreshments as he arrived by rail. Of course, there was a run on the telegraph office. Christmas greetings went pouring out and came pouring in, while the mail-bags swelled with a plethora of seasonable blandishments. At Arundel Colonel Fisher and the officers of the 10th Hussars endeavoured to forward Christmas greetings to the Colonel of the Regiment, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, but for some unexplained reason the felicitation was not allowed to go beyond the vigilant eye of the censor. The great attraction of Christmas, and its accompaniment the New Year, was the expectation of a gift from Queen Victoria, which was specially prepared according to the order of the Sovereign herself. It was to take the form of a tin of chocolate, and was to be presented to every soldier on service in South Africa. The box was specially designed, and adorned with the regal monogram. This unique gift, in order to make it the more valuable as a trophy or a family relic, was manufactured only of the exact number required for presentation to each individual serving at the front. Naauwpoort enlivened itself with sports, and though the weather was almost tropical, the activity served to compensate for the absence of the mirth of Merrie England. At this time the Boers were approaching nearer the British camp. There was a three days' truce, it is true, but their positions were only six miles from our troops, and they were warned that a nearer approach would mean prompt action by the guns. The daily routine went on somewhat monotonously--the grooming, watering, and exercising of horses; drilling, exercising the mules of ambulance and transport waggons; unloading the food supplies, cooking them--occupations which afforded work in plenty, but the real business of warfare was suspended. Some of the officers made an effort to get up hunting parties, and succeeded in bagging a few springbuck, but their expeditions were fraught with even more risk to themselves than to their quarry. For instance, in one case, while two gallant Nimrods were in the act of stalking a splendid springbuck, their chargers made off. They suddenly found themselves almost surrounded by Boers, and an animated chase followed. Luckily the carcass of the springbuck, which was left behind, was too great a prize to be parted with, and the enemy captured it in preference to the huntsmen! At this time there was great consternation in camp, as two cavalry officers were taken prisoners. It subsequently transpired that the officers, Lieutenant Till (Carabineers) and Lieutenant Hedger (attached to the 10th Hussars), were captured through an unfortunate accident. They mistook the Boers for New Zealanders, and therefore were unprepared to offer resistance. On discovering their error they made a desperate attempt to escape, but were overpowered. The Colonials afterwards discarded their picturesque hats and took to helmets. Owing to the resemblance of their headgear to that of the Boers, some British pickets had mistaken them for the enemy and fired on them. On the 29th the enemy fell back on Colesberg, and there with his small force General French proceeded to tackle him. "So near and yet so far" must have been repeated many times by both Generals French and Gatacre when each failed to accomplish some clever moves for want of the necessary reinforcements. In the ordinary course of things, from Naauwpoort to Sterkstroom was an easy three-hours journey by rail, but now, with the barrier of the Boers at Stormberg--the junction between the East London and Port Elizabeth systems--it was necessary to travel, if by rail, _via_ Port Elizabeth, thus making a three-days instead of a three-hours trip. And railway travelling was by no means a safe and enjoyable exercise. True, the lines of communication were protected by some eleven hundred Volunteers, but as martial law had not been proclaimed south of Naauwpoort, and disloyalty was here the rule and not the exception, it was quite on the cards that at any moment culverts would be found blown up and rails twisted. CHAPTER IV THE COLONIALS AT BELMONT On Christmas Day Lieut.-Colonel Pilcher, formerly of the Northumberland Fusiliers, late of the Bedfordshire Regiment, arrived at Belmont and took command of the troops. The Station Staff now consisted of Colonel Pilcher; Major Bayly, Major MacDougall, and Major Dennison. The garrison was soon strengthened by two companies of the 2nd Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry under Major Ashby. A general state of high polish was begun, and the Canadians, ever active and on the alert, came in for some excellent training, which they were not slow to profit by. Owing to the insecure state of the neighbourhood, it was put in a fair state of defence. Stone sconces were built on the kopjes; earthwork trenches were built at the station and elsewhere; and a series of alarm drills was carried on, in order to enable all concerned to take up their especial posts at a moment's notice. For instance, at an appointed hour an alarm on the bugles would wake the echoes. The men would rush to arms; every company, previously instructed, would fall in on its own private parade ground, and then set out at the double for its post. Celerity without fluster was the motto of the movement. When all were posted, some in trenches a mile off, others three or four hundred yards away, the Colonel would proceed to make such disposition of his troops as the imagined enemy might impose. For instance, he would picture the attack coming from the north-east and march some of his force in the direction of the assumed attack, covering it with a strong line of skirmishers, while other troops in springless four-wheeled buck waggons were sent to their support. The movement would be only sufficiently developed to give the men an intelligent appreciation of what might be required of them, and certainly nothing could exceed the promptness and alacrity with which the troops threw themselves into their military rehearsals. The Canadians especially distinguished themselves by their zest and acuteness, and in all the bogus engagements--the attack drill--earned the praise of the commander. The following is a copy of a regimental order: "The officer commanding the Royal Canadian Regiment is desired by the officer commanding the troops at this station to express his satisfaction with the intelligent and quiet way in which this morning's work was carried out by the officers, non-commissioned officers, and men of the Royal Canadian Regiment." The Colonel particularly appreciated the manner in which the men avoided "bunching," the most fatal error that can be made by troops in modern warfare of the kind in hand. At the end of the year more Australians arrived. These troops had been stationed for a short time at the Orange River, getting their horses into condition after a six weeks' voyage. From thence they moved on to Belmont. The two companies of Queensland's Mounted Infantry found their green tents awaiting them, and a hearty welcome. The men, a hardy and stalwart set, tall and comely to look on, were well fitted in their kharki uniform, which showed no signs of relationship to the slouching apparel peculiar to hastily rigged-out troops. Their jackets, cord breeches, felt hats looped up at the side with a tuft of feathers of the emu, gave them a picturesque as well as workmanlike air. But their leggings were dangerously dark, and scarcely as suited to sand or morass--the ground was either one thing or the other--as the familiar puttees. These useful articles had now been assumed by the Canadians instead of their shrunken or loosely flapping duck trousers. The effect was infinitely more dapper, becoming to the figure, and serviceable for hard wear. The Queenslanders and Canadians at once fraternised, the older arrivals making the new comers welcome by inviting them to drinks and breakfast, and generally "showing them around." The bond of union was cemented by the fact that the officer in command of the Queenslanders, Colonel Ricardo, was an old Royal Canadian Artillery officer. COLONEL PILCHER'S RAID New Year's Day was a great occasion for the Colonial troops. They had been burning with impatience to come in touch with the enemy, and till now no opportunity had been afforded for testing their prowess in the field. At midday on the 31st of December a force under Colonel Pilcher started off from Belmont. The force consisted of 200 Queenslanders, commanded by Colonel Ricardo; 100 Canadians, Toronto Company, with two guns; and a horse battery under Major de Rougemont; 30 Mounted Infantry under Lieutenant Ryan (Munster Fusiliers); the New South Wales Ambulance, under Surgeon-Major Dodds; and 200 Cornwall Light Infantry. These left Belmont and proceeded westward. Twenty miles were covered before sunset, and the force encamped at Cook's Farm. In this region, on a string of kopjes, a Boer laager was reported to be, and this--it was decided--must be removed. [Illustration: MAP ILLUSTRATING COLONEL PILCHER'S RAID. Scale 9 miles = 1 inch.] Colonel Pilcher's programme, however, was not divulged. Great caution was preserved, as the country was swarming with native spies, and all movements of the troops were watched and reported to the enemy. The Colonel therefore very adroitly arranged that no person should have a chance of reporting his movements, and caused a watch to be kept on all the natives, and these during the night were shut in their huts to prevent any from escaping and communicating the intention of the troops. The vigilance was certainly well rewarded. At daybreak the force steadily marched out, creating as little dust as possible, and took up a position at a place some fifteen miles off, called Sunnyside. Here the enemy's laager was reported to be situated. It was posted on two connected kopjes to north and south, and towards these kopjes the troops advanced. When within a distance of some four miles the troops halted. Major de Rougemont with two guns under Lieutenant Atkinson, Captain Barker with the Toronto Company of Canadians, and Lieutenants Ryan and Smith with the Mounted Infantry were ordered in the direction of the enemy's laager to the north; while Colonel Pilcher with Colonel Ricardo and the Queenslanders, A Company under Captain Chaucer, and B Company under Captain Pinnock, advanced from the south. Patrols were sent to the east. All was done with great quietness and precision, and the Boer tactics so closely imitated that the enemy were unconscious of the arrival of the British till the troops were upon them. Major Rougemont's force made use of all the existing cover, which luckily was sufficient to screen both man and horse, and in a very short time had discovered some excellent ground which gave on to the Boer position. The enemy's laager was ensconced in a nest of trees, at the base of a range of kopjes commanded by a convenient ridge. This ridge--reported by the Mounted Infantry to be clear of the enemy--with great promptness was practically seized and occupied before the Boers had sufficiently gathered themselves together to contest the position. The guns were advanced at a trot, and unlimbered within 1500 yards of the laager, into which two shells were neatly plumped, with a stupendous detonation that startled the whole surrounding neighbourhood. Up scrambled the Boers, streaming and bounding along the sides of the kopje like stampeded goats, and commencing to fire with all their might. Upon our guns and gunners came a torrent of lead fierce and sustained. Two Maxims under Captain Bell now prepared to give tongue from the right, and then the Toronto Company was ordered to double into action. They leapt to the word. With a gasp of relief they cried, "At last!" and were off. When within 1000 yards of the position their rifles came into play. A hurricane of bullets met the enemy's fire: met it, continued fiercely--and finally subdued it. While the guns under Lieutenant Atkinson were booming and banging, the Mounted Infantry, ably led by Lieutenant Ryan, were working their way along the right, and hunting the enemy from a concealed position among the scrub. At midday Colonel Pilcher and the Queenslanders were steadily nearing the position from three separate directions. They approached under cover, cautious as tigers and nimble as cats, finally firing, and returning the fire, but only when they caught glimpses of the enemy. Then they blazed away to good purpose, and continued to approach nearer and ever nearer, till the enemy, in view of the persistent and deadly advance, shrank from his ground, and sulkily retired. The dexterity of the Queenslanders was remarkable; they stalked the enemy as a sportsman would stalk a deer, criticising their own fire and the fire of the foe with workmanlike coolness and interest. The success of these tactics was complete. The laager was captured, and with it forty ill-kempt, surly prisoners. Lieutenant Adie, who was with a patrol of four men, came suddenly on a number of the enemy, and was wounded in two places, but he was saved and carried off by two plucky fellows, Butler and Rose, who came to his rescue. The latter was wounded, and his horse was killed. Another dashing Queenslander, Victor Jones, was shot through the heart, and Macleod, an equally brave comrade, after many lucky escapes, while advancing with Colonel Pilcher's force, was shot through the spine. While these heroic and tragic doings were taking place, General Babington with a mounted force had been working hard, his operations having been arranged for the purpose of co-operating with Colonel Pilcher, and distracting the enemy's attention from the north. These manoeuvres had the desired effect, and the day's work, apart from its pathetic side, was accounted a glorious success. So cleverly had the proceedings been contrived, and so ingeniously were the orders interpreted by one and all, that the Boers were completely nonplussed. There was a hurried stampede, and the Federals bolted, leaving their laager with all its luxuries, its boiling soup, its gin and water bottles, &c., at the mercy of the invaders. [Illustration: COLONEL PILCHER'S ATTACK ON SUNNYSIDE KOPJE--CANADIAN AND AUSTRALIAN CONTINGENTS RECEIVE THEIR "BAPTISM OF FIRE." Drawing by H. C. Seppings Wright from Sketch by Fred. Villiers.] A vivid description of the Boer camp was given by Mr. Frederick Hamilton of the _Toronto Globe_, who accompanied the Canadians. "Fourteen ancient tents, their blankets, kettles, and camp utensils, tossed about in wild confusion. Three long waggons of the type in which the voortrekkers voyaged the veldt, a team of a dozen magnificent oxen, a big water-cart which we eyed greedily, a Kaffir wattled hut, its floor piled high with odds and ends of clothing and valuables, its doorway marked by a shell-smash; the rocky kopje-side behind, a flat plain dotted with shaggy, bushlike trees in front--such was the Boer laager. Prisoners came from here and there, over a score from the kopje-top, more from this corner and that of the field, and were taken to the hut. Within it and around its door they squatted, a silent downcast crew; what a mess they had made of their affairs! Perhaps they were not so despondent as we thought, for one man as he sat in the guarded group pointed out a rifle which one of the victors was carrying, and claimed it as his own--a piece of cheek which staggered our men. The prisoners claimed only part of our attention; with eager curiosity the camp was ransacked. At last we had our hands upon these Boers: what manner of men were they, and how did they live? Poorly enough, I should say; the camp must have been densely crowded with the motley gathering, and we could see the odd admixture of practical barbarism with occasional contact with civilisation, as when good suits of clothes lay side by side with repulsive-looking strips of biltong. We felt that all this was ours, ours by right of battle, ours by virtue of victory. Perhaps we were wrong, perhaps the confiscated property of rebels should fall to the Crown, but as long as men go to war so long will victors walk through the camp of the vanquished with just that feeling swelling through their veins. Something else lay heavy upon us--thirst. It raged through us. The yellow pool where the veldt cut into the kopje face filled our water-bottles, and we drank and drank. The foul dregs of the Boers' water-cart were drained with joy. As the sun was setting our own water-cart with more wholesome water drove up, and we drank and drank again. As our fires were lighted, what receptacles could be found were filled and the muddy fluid boiled. Our transport waggons were miles away, and for tea or coffee we were dependent on what we found in the Boer waggons. I remember drinking a cup of hot water and finding it most refreshing. Food was foraged. One section of our men found a sheep's carcass hanging up under a tree, slaughtered by the rebels before our shell changed the tenor of their day. Some had hardtack or army rations in their haversacks. Here and there they picked up enough to make up a meal, not especially plentiful, and very scrappy, but satisfying. Indeed a most peculiar thing about the whole affair was the great amount of work we managed to do on a very small amount of food. The shadows of the evening were falling as we finished our meal, sent out the necessary pickets, and prepared for rest." Later came the death of poor Macleod the Queenslander, whose wound had been mortal. As the Queenslanders had early moved on to Rooi Pan (a farmhouse across the veldt where rebels were suspected to be in hiding), the Canadians took upon themselves the duty of conducting the sad ceremonies of burial. A grave was dug and a New Testament found. Then the Canadians slowly bore to its last resting-place the remains of the heroic young Colonial who had lost his life in the service of the mother country. Major Bayly, the Staff Officer of the expedition, read a few selections from Corinthians over the body, after which it was consigned to the heart of the veldt. A rude cross bearing his name and corps was placed to mark the spot, and written thereon was also the intimation that it was "Erected by his Queensland and Canadian comrades." The noble young fellow Victor Jones secured less formal burial, though his loss was as deeply regretted. On the following day two of his comrades from Rooi Pan started off in search of his body, and having found it, buried it without ceremony or rite, but with the keenest feelings of sorrow. On this day, the 2nd of January, the work of destruction of Boer effects was begun. Soon after dawn a huge bonfire was made under such waggons and ammunition of the foe as could not be utilised, and as the troops marched out they were saluted by the appalling uproar of the exploding cartridges. The procession, as it moved on its way to Rooi Pan, a distance of some four or six miles, presented a somewhat mediæval aspect in spite of symbols of modernity--magazine rifles and machine guns. In front was the wide expanse of grassy veldt; behind, the curling blue smoke from the burning wreckage of the camp. Along the road came the heavy springless waggons piled high with booty, their negro drivers flourishing their long whips and repeating their vociferous bark of "Eigh" to encourage the small, contumacious mules. With them marched the bronzed, picturesque-looking army with its train of captives in the rear, an unkempt, dilapidated crew--a strange contrast to the lively and robust Canadians, who, rejoiced at their yesterday's feat, were singing as they tramped along. Very curious was it to hear, instead of the familiar British airs our soldiers love, the Niagara camp-song with its Hallelujah chorus, and the popular "The Maple Leaf" proceeding from the brawny throats of these brother soldiers of the Queen. Their joy and their triumph was complete, and with a good night's rest and the beautiful morning air to refresh them, their spirits were effervescent in the extreme. At Rooi Pan there was a halt for half-an-hour, during which Colonel Pilcher took the opportunity to address his force, and convey to them congratulations on the recent fight which had been forwarded by General Wood, commanding at the Orange River. Water-bottles were then filled from the clear pond in the farm of one of the prisoners, and soon, the sun growing momentarily hotter, the party advanced. This time their route lay over dust ankle-deep in places, dust which rose up in clouds and came down into eyes and ears and throats, and settled itself in hot cakes and rings on hair and beards and necks. But presently, after a few miles, the state of things was improved. Government roads stretched a smooth highway in front, and kopjes--the dangerous kopjes that afforded such comfortable hiding-places for the wily foe--grew fewer and farther between. There was now comparative comfort, for there was little fear of encounter with the enemy in the open. The journey was continued without event. There was no sign of opposition, and about three o'clock in the afternoon, as they neared their destination, a message came in, "Nothing to be seen in Douglas but Union Jacks and red ensigns." This was a fact, and Colonel Pilcher and his troops very soon occupied the town. Never was there a more enthusiastic demonstration: the loyal inhabitants cheered to the echo; some almost wept at the arrival of their deliverers. This town is situated below the junction of the Modder and Vaal Rivers, and is of some importance. Here the long-suffering loyalists had remained, ever since the commencement of hostilities, in anxious expectation, awaiting the arrival of the British troops. Naturally the frenzy of their delight knew no bounds, particularly when it was found how completely the rebels had dispersed. Fourteen tents, three waggons, an immense store of rifles and ammunition, saddles, forage, equipment, and many incriminating letters were seized. On some of the envelopes were stamped "On Her Majesty's Service," showing that these had been used by the newly appointed Landrost of Douglas in the absence of an official Free State superscription. The joy of the loyalists was of short duration. In the afternoon Colonel Pilcher broke to them the terrible news. He stated that, for military reasons, his force would be obliged to leave on the morrow. Consternation prevailed. The leading members of the community explained that, if deserted, their lives would not be worth a moment's purchase. It was impossible to remain where they were and await the return of the enemy, consequently Colonel Pilcher ordered all who wished to leave to be ready by six the next morning, and promised them safe conduct to Belmont. Thereupon a scene of great animation ensued. An immense exodus was actively arranged. Vehicles of all kinds, sizes, and shapes were got ready, while the women and babies--such as overflowed the transport accommodation--were taken charge of by the gallant Canadians. These marched forth singing, to keep up the spirits of the community, and finally, when the wearisome end of the journey seemed never to be reached, some of the noble fellows, although worn out with a long spell of active work, and suffering from sore feet, carried the babies, and thus relieved the women of the fatigue of the march. The cortège left Douglas at eight o'clock on the morning of the 3rd, and reached Dover Farm at two o'clock. With the refugees were sent forward the captured rebels. These before their departure were paraded, and Colonel Pilcher enjoined those who were Free Staters or Transvaalers to step from the ranks, as they would be treated as prisoners of war. The rebels who had taken up arms against their Queen would suffer different treatment. No one stepped forward, and it was evident that either there were no Boers among the number, or they mistrusted the assurances of Colonel Pilcher, and preferred to meet their fate _en bloc_. (They were subsequently sent to the Cape for trial.) Colonel Pilcher's "slim" arrangement for the confusing of the natives prior to making his advance was eminently successful, for the Boers, so a prisoner said, considered themselves deeply aggrieved that they had not received information regarding the proposed movements. On the 5th Colonel Pilcher's column arrived at Belmont. The night's march from Cook's Farm was splendidly managed. News had reached him to the effect that some 600 or 800 Boers intended to effect a junction, and attack the column. At eight o'clock, therefore, the whole force started quietly forth, stealing off in the jetty obscurity like a band of conspirators. A halt was made during the night to allow the troops a short spell of repose: after this they continued their journey without mishap. Two companies of Canadians were employed to hold a pass some six miles off Belmont, in order to prevent the incoming force being cut off by the enemy. So ended, happily, a most successful raid. The Colonial troops had more than acted up to the expectation of every one; and, though it was somewhat disappointing that Douglas had to be instantly evacuated, the expedition had helped to demonstrate to the loyalists that the British could and would come to their aid, and that faith in the end has its reward. The following table of their march is interesting as showing the wear and tear to which the troops were subjected:-- Miles. Sunday, December 31, Belmont to Thornhill 22 Monday, January 1, Thornhill to Sunnyside (action) 13 Tuesday, January 2, Sunnyside to Rooi Pan, 6 miles; Rooi Pan to Douglas, 15 miles 21 Wednesday, January 3, Douglas to Thornhill 24 Thursday night, January 4, Thornhill to Richmond 10 Friday, January 5, Richmond to Belmont 12 --- Total 102 This smart little military exploit was appreciated throughout the globe. Telegrams poured in from all parts of the Queen's dominions congratulating Colonel Pilcher and the Colonials on the excellent work they had accomplished. The following from G.O.C., Cape Town, read:-- "Congratulate Colonel Pilcher on brilliant exploit, which will have far-reaching effect." From Military Secretary, Government House:-- "Please send following message to Colonial troops employed in action at Sunnyside: 'His Excellency Sir Alfred Milner sends you his heartiest congratulations on your success, and hopes it is only the forerunner of many more. While regretting the loss of some of your brave comrades, he feels sure that your friends in the colonies over the sea will feel proud of the success of their representatives, as he himself does.'" From Sir Redvers Buller the following was received:-- "General Buller desires that his congratulations be conveyed to the Colonial troops on their action at Sunnyside." From the Governor, Queensland, came:-- "Request you will be good enough to convey to Queensland Mounted Infantry hearty congratulations on gallant conduct at Sunnyside and sympathy in loss of life. Second contingent embarks for South Africa next week." ACTIVITIES AND SURPRISES More useful work, which had a direct bearing on the events of the future, took place during Colonel Pilcher's three weeks' stay at Belmont. Soon after the Douglas expedition another excursion was devised. More Canadians were to be employed. The Queenslanders were to send such men as they could mount, their animals being, many of them, still _hors de combat_ from the sea trip, and the guns and infantry were to go as a matter of course. A dive into the enemy's country was projected--one of the first deliberate incursions upon the Southern Dutch Republic. These incursions were of immense value, and served in reality as pilotage for the gigantic military engine that was shortly to sweep the way from the Cape to Bloemfontein. At six o'clock in the morning of Tuesday, January 9, the column started. It was composed as follows:-- Royal Horse Artillery--Two guns, 45 men, 51 horses. Queensland Mounted Infantry--Two Maxims, 116 men, 106 horses. Royal Munster Fusiliers Mounted Infantry--15 men, 15 horses. Royal Canadian Regiment--Two Maxims, 293 men, 2 horses. New South Wales Army Medical Corps--Two ambulances, 18 men, 14 horses. Total--487 men, 188 horses. The officers who were engaged in the flying column were:-- Staff--Lieut.-Col. T. D. Pilcher, P.S.C., in command; Major M. Dobell, R.C.R.I., Staff Officer; Major S. J. A. Denison, R.C.R.I., Quartermaster; Major Brown, Q.M.I., Transport Officer; Lieut. Lafferty, R.C.R.I., Transport Officer; Lieut. J. H. C. Ogilvy, in charge of R.C.R.I. machine gun section; Capt. Pelham, Q.M.I., in charge of Queensland machine gun section; Lieut. A. C. Caldwell, R.C.R.I., attached; Lieut. C. W. M'Lean, R.C.R.I., attached; Rev. J. M. Almond, chaplain. Royal Horse Artillery--Major de Rougemont and Lieut. Atkinson. Queensland Mounted Infantry--Lieut.-Col. Ricardo, Capt. Chauvel, Capt. Pinnock, Lieut. Bailey, Lieut. Glascow. R.M.F. Mounted Infantry--Capt. Bowen, Lieut. Tyrrell. Royal Canadian Regiment--Lieut.-Col. Pelletier. A Company--Capt. Arnold, Lieut. Hodgins, Lieut. Blanchard. B Company--Lieut. Ross, Lieut. J. C. Mason, Lieut. S. P. Layborn. H Company (half-company)--Lieut. Burstall, Lieut. Willis. New South Wales Army Medical Corps--Capt. Roth, Lieut. Martin; Capt. Dods, Queensland, attached. (Lieut.-Col. Patterson of Queensland also went with the force as a spectator.) The troops marched out by the road skirting the kopje so gallantly stormed by the Guards, and moved over the veldt some few miles to the south-east, towards the Free State. After passing Riet Pan a wide left wheel was made, and the force struck north-east to eastwards, towards the Free State. Here the dull purple kopjes wound along in chains, dotted here and there with small plains some three or four miles in depth and width. At Blaauwbosch Pan the border was reached--the border between Griqualand West and the Southern Republic. A halt was called. The troops gathered on a circular plain fringed with high kopjes. The road, fenced across with wire, ran through the plain, and close by was a small pan or pool, which glittered like diamonds when shaken by the thunder showers; for the sky, always overcast and threatening, now and then burst into tears. Though these tears had the effect of April showers they were mightily drenching, and the troops, in saturated overcoats like tepid sponges, pursued their march somewhat uncomfortably. In the place above described Col. Pelletier, with two companies of the Canadians, was left with orders to remain till three in the afternoon, in readiness, if occasion demanded, to reinforce Colonel Pilcher. Failing a message, he was to return to camp. The flying column proceeded, travelling north till parallel with Enslin, where Gordons and Australians were encamped, and from whence the Victorian Mounted Infantry were skirmishing. Great caution had to be observed, as it was difficult, particularly with so many Colonials about in their soft felt hats, to discern friend from foe. Scares, as may be imagined, were many. One of these took place when advancing horsemen were seen skimming the distance. These dismounted and knelt. They meant business. The excitement was intense. Signallers instantly fluttered flags, and presently, after some moments of suspense, the troops were reassured. It was a squadron of the 9th Lancers, who had come from Modder River reconnoitring, keeping the Riet between them and the Jacobsdal position. But we are anticipating. [Illustration: TYPES OF ARMS--LORD DUNDONALD'S GALLOPING GUN-CARRIAGE WITH MAXIM. (Photo by Gregory & Co., London.)] On the first day of their march, the force enjoyed unlooked-for hospitality. About five miles east of the border was the house of one Commandant Lubbe, the commandant of Jacobsdal, a luminary of some magnitude in the Free State. He may be described as a "man of substance," to which his comfortable dwelling and flourishing surroundings testified. Upon this pastoral domain the troops, somewhat famished and fatigued, advanced. Their arrival, for the Boers, was most ill-timed and unexpected. At that very moment dinner for some fifteen persons was being spread, piping hot, on the festive board. Odours of succulent fare pervaded the atmosphere, odours inviting--tantalising! The portly Burghers were in the very act of setting to when they were warned of the approach of British scouts. A stampede followed. Departing coat-tails, and, five minutes later, mounted dots racing away to the shelter of distant kopjes--that was all that our troops on arrival beheld. But they saw something better than Boers. Their eyes lighted on the goodly array of edibles, and, presto! the officers were seated. Joyously they surrounded the well-equipped table, and demolished with zest and considerable humour the repast which had been prepared for their foes. A couple of negro domestics were the sole persons left on the homestead. The place was searched; ammunition was found, and dies for casting bullets. These were promptly destroyed. Some live stock and various other useful articles were seized, including three rifles left behind in the flight of the Burghers. Presently there came a report that the enemy were in hiding in the neighbourhood of some kopjes. A rush to action was made. The Maxim gun section went to some kopjes flanking the house, the Canadian guns went to a height on the east, the Queensland ones to a height on the west. Lieutenant Willis took his section of H Company to support the Queensland guns, while Lieutenant Burstall took his section, with intrenching tools, to a ridge midway between farm and kopje, to prepare a position. Clatter and clank went the horse artillery guns to a coign of vantage on the right, whence they could spit at the enemy if they should attempt to mount or surround the big kopje in that direction, while the Queenslanders on the west commenced explorations for the reported foe. Horror! Slouch-hatted horsemen were distinctly visible--they were coming nearer and nearer--though evidences of their own caution were visible. They were not going to be trapped. Our gallant troops were as determined not to be surprised. Thus must the Kilkenny cats have commenced overtures. Both parties were wide awake! Both parties were sidling up! It was but a matter of moments, and they would promptly spring at each other's throats! Excitement was at a supreme pitch, when the good glasses of an officer offered a revelation. The hostile hordes--the advancing horsemen--were now plainly discernible. They proved to be not blood-thirsty Boers--not an innocent crowd of ostriches that so often in the distance had been mistaken for cavalry, but only a company of Victorian Mounted Rifles from Enslin, from which place the advanced line was this time but some dozen miles distant. It was a pleasant surprise. The scouts came in contact, exchanged greetings, and the troops each went on their respective way. Colonel Pilcher's force bivouacked at the farmhouse, and the next morning, the 10th of January, saw them on their return journey to Belmont. It was during this journey, as they wound homewards with their captured prizes of oxen, that more horsemen were seen in the distance--those who, as before said, were discovered to be the 9th Lancers, on business already mentioned. The force reached camp about noon. On the following day the sojourn of Colonel Pilcher in those regions came to an end. He moved on to Modder River to command the Mounted Infantry force at the front. His stay was fraught with much benefit to the troops, as his energetic measures, smart manoeuvres, and surprise drills brought the spirited Colonials to a high state of alertness and proficiency. AT MODDER RIVER General Methuen, as has been noted, was forced at last to fall back on his base at the Modder River, since the Boers held their position in great strength, and it became necessary to rest the men, free them from tension, and save them from unnecessary sufferings due to the scarcity of water. In addition to this, the Engineers were enabled to carry on much necessary work. Railway communication was perfected, and the permanent bridge was repaired, to provide against accident, which in case of a flood might overtake the temporary one. On the Boer left flank, from the extreme end of Majesfontein south-eastwards to the Riet River, was comparatively open ground. Beyond the broad expanse of bush which stretched for over a thousand yards was a road leading to Jacobsdal, and farther on was flat country which offered no cover, and appeared singularly free from traps or trenches. Looking over this open ground, it seemed possible to turn the Boer flank and cut off the enemy's communications with Jacobsdal, and possibly threaten his line of retreat to the Free State. Some one has called the Modder River the Hampton Court of Kimberley, and perhaps it was fortunate that the troops found themselves forced to halt in a locality which is one of the most picturesque in South Africa. The surroundings were comforting after the desolation of Gras Pan--with never a house to hint at humanity, and only the frowning darkness of threatening kopjes to break the monotony of the view--and the primitive prettiness of Honeynest Kloof, which boasts but a farm or two and a few trees to give it life. From this point the country became greener, the eye was relieved from the autumnal drabs and purples of the rocky hills, and began to lean affectionately on the suggestion of moistness implied by the expanse of verdure. Across the river was the crowded railway station, choked with stores and goods waggons, and the usual medley of camp kit. On one side accoutrements, lances, swords, the steel of their scabbards glinting through the crackled coats of kharki--odds and ends of uniform--telling their tale of action--action--action--in all its phases. And close beside them were other portions of baggage seemingly the same, but--oh! how tragically different! Here were rifles and bayonets, broken, battered, and blood-stained--all that was left of the heroic dead who had acted their last drama at Majesfontein, and whose belongings, in an inert mass, seemed to confess dumbly that they were "off duty" for ever. [Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL HECTOR A. MACDONALD, C.B. Photo by Heath, Plymouth.] Christmas Day was an unpleasant memory--a tropical sun overhead, a whirlwind of dust around. It is said that every man must eat a peck of dirt in his life-time, and on this day the troops certainly ate their quantum. Food and drink were ruined, and tempers into the bargain, for the day was made into one long twilight misery by a hurricane of driving dust. The position of the Boers soon after this period grew somewhat uncomfortable. Night attacks were threatened; indeed, Lord Methuen had the Naval guns laid on to the Boer positions by day, with the order that they were to be fired by night. And the order was obeyed with zest. The Boers were on tenter-hooks. The shells burst, throwing gorgeous haloes into the Majesfontein night. Of course, the compliment was returned. Tier after tier of the Boer positions spitted and spouted and vomited flame, and the night breezes, carrying the fracas on their wings, brought it close, so close indeed, that an attack sounded as though imminent. Still our outposts were silent. Discipline kept them "mum." Still the Boers continued, and the rattle of their rifles directed at nothing in particular, and everybody in general, wakened the echoes of the hills. There was nothing further to be done. Reinforcements had to be awaited with annoying, almost humiliating patience. The Boers were stretched from Jacobsdal on the east to a point miles away on the west of the railway; they were intrenched horse-shoe fashion, with Majesfontein for their most imposing stronghold. There was no means of outflanking them, for in order to wheel to the west the force would need to march through an arid and waterless desert. Had the march been ventured upon, the position might not have bettered, as Lord Methuen, even supposing he had succeeded in reaching Kimberley, would still have had before him the bulk of the Boer commandoes, who would have been at liberty to cut off his supplies. The "relief" of Kimberley without supplies would have been the reverse of relief. All the British could do was to struggle to hold their ground, and make their proximity as uncomfortable as possible for the enemy. Routine went on like clockwork, save that the Modder River clock had no works. It was a child of Necessity! A broken steel rail suspended from a crossbeam was struck by the sentry with the blunt head of an axe. The stupendous clang proclaimed the hours all over the camp. The troops were not allowed too much leisure, and ennui was not permitted to reach them; they dug trenches, constructed breastworks, and generally improved the lines of defence; indeed they worked with a will at anything that came to hand. Some one, seeing them alight at a railway station, remarked: "They've left all their frills behind them." This was truly the case. Mr. Atkins was now above the desire for display. He was workmanly in the extreme, and made himself a jack of all trades, alternately groom, labourer, cook, porter, mule-driver, laundryman, and hero! To-day he was scouring, rubbing, kharki-painting, and hoisting; to-morrow he was good-humouredly playing the rôle of his own washerwoman by the river-side. One moment he was pulling or coaxing or cudgelling obdurate mules, and apostrophising them in language peculiarly his own; the next he was rushing gallantly to the forefront to spend his heart's blood in the service of his Queen! To General Wood must be given the credit of the first entry into the enemy's country. On the 6th of January, with a force of all arms, he occupied Zoutpansdrift, the place--situated north of the Orange River, in Free State territory--where gallant Captain Bradshaw met his fate. Communications between the banks of the river were maintained by means of a pontoon bridge. This was an excellent piece of work, for by holding the drift it was possible to control the progress of the Free Staters, and avert sudden raids against the railway between Orange Station and De Aar. A great deal of active though scarcely "showy" work was carried on at this time, often under the most unfavourable conditions. For instance, on the 14th of January, one of the most obnoxious and ever to be remembered dust-storms burst over the place. It made life temporarily into a bilious sea, a blinding, suffocating bath of yellow sand. Food was ruined, to say nothing of temper. Clothes were covered, eyes and throats were clogged, and the pores of the skin were caked with showers of ochreous pepper, which made every one in camp miserable for a period of quite seven hours! Cavalry reconnaissances at this period were frequent. The troops, always in peril of their lives, explored some twenty-five miles into the Orange Free State, and found the country clear of the enemy with the exception of patrols. The Victorian Mounted Rifles under Captain M'Leish did some admirable scouting, and visited several farms, which they found had been vacated in hot haste at their approach. The country was thoroughly searched, the 9th and 12th Lancers under General Babington doing valuable work. It was this party that came in touch with Colonel Pilcher and the Queenslanders near Lubbe's Farm. Our warriors became well versed in peculiarities of Boer homesteads. All the Dutch farms had a brotherly likeness, and were usually found at a sufficient distance from each other to carry out the Boer ideal that one man should not breathe or see the smoke from his neighbour's chimney. They commonly nestled under cover of some small kopje, and seemed as though so planted for purposes of self-protection. Self-protection is the first law of nature, and the Boer character has a great reverence for first laws. In every farm was found a harmonium--on the Natal side there were pianos--and many Bibles. Some of these were valuable, and were old enough to arouse the covetous interest of the bibliophile. Most probably they were heirlooms, and had belonged to the early trekkers, who could thumb them out, text by text, when their capacity for other reading was nil. These one-storeyed abodes were composed of sun-baked bricks plastered over, and the flat roofs were lined within by ceilings of deal. Simplicity, ignorance, bad taste, and uncleanliness reigned everywhere. Indeed, it was a matter for wonder how close to civilisation, yet how remote from it, the Dutchmen had contrived to dwell. The cattle kraals and homestead were surrounded with rudely-constructed walls of stone that in their ruggedness were not unpicturesque. [Illustration: TYPES OF ARMS--MAXIM AUTOMATIC MACHINE-GUN (THE "POM-POM"). (By permission of Messrs. Vickers Sons & Maxim, Limited.)] To return to camp. The Boers, determining not to be accused of lack of invention, adopted a new and ingenious dodge. In the distance from the British outposts a Highlander was observed in the act of driving cattle. As the proceeding was contrary to orders, the manoeuvres of the man were carefully observed, and he was discovered to be a Boer masquerading in Highland uniform. He was at once fired upon and he fell, but succeeded in rising and making off before he could be captured. On the 16th of January Lord Methuen made a demonstration against the left of the Boer entrenchments at Majesfontein, for the purpose of drawing off some of the force investing Colonel Kekewich's garrison. On the following day, the 17th, a similar demonstration was made, but the enemy was nothing if not "canny," and refused to be drawn. Then new tactics were tried. On the 23rd there was quite a theatrical bombardment. Night fell. The moon rose, empurpling the frowning kopjes and filling the whole foreground with magnesian radiance. Then the balmy breath of evening was ruffled with the uproar of British shells, whizzing like rockets and bursting in the Boers' lair. For full half-an-hour a brisk cannonade was maintained, neither party being in view of each other, both being wrapped in the mysterious gloom of the midnight shadows; but the echoes took up the weird tale of warring souls and repeated it into the ear of the winds. Ordinarily, shelling morning and evening was a matter of daily ritual. So many shells into the Boer trenches, so much breakfast. An hour of brisk bombardment, four hours of night's repose. Such might have been the printed programme. On the 24th of January a tremendous reception was given to General Hector Macdonald, who arrived in the best of health and spirits, and at once took command of the Highland Brigade. With each of the officers he conversed, and apprised them of a special message entrusted to him by Lord Roberts, an attention which afforded immense satisfaction to all concerned. The appointment of "Fighting Mac"--as he is popularly called--to the command of the Highland Brigade was full of romantic interest. As a sergeant in the Gordon Highlanders he was one of those who took part in the disastrous fight at Majuba. He was unluckily taken prisoner, but so great was his valour and dash that he even excited the admiration and appreciation of the enemy. This was testified to this remarkable man in a remarkable way. General Joubert, to show his esteem for his fine qualities as a soldier, decided on restoring to him the sword which he had necessarily surrendered. As the sword was not immediately forthcoming, the Boer commander offered a reward for it, so that it should be returned to the gallant fellow who had so nobly striven to defend it. The picture of Colonel Macdonald and his Khedivial Brigade at Omdurman was made ever present to us all through the vivid word-painting of Mr. Steevens in his book "With Kitchener to Khartoum"; and now it is easy to realise that the kilted warrior was at the moment the right man in the right place. The men wanted him. Some were sick and sore and fretted to get a chance to distinguish themselves in the field. Tradition demanded it, and tradition was dear to them; strangely and absurdly dear, some thought. Here were men exposed to the fierce sun in what the layman calls "petticoats," suffering agonies in the muscles of their scorched legs, yet enduring anything rather than part with the external attributes of their warrior land. Though the kilt and the sporran had to be extinguished under a hideous apron of kharki, and though the heat and weight of wool pleats surmounted by cotton was overwhelming, they preferred these sufferings to any change in their gear. Suggestions were offered on every side, but it was certain that nothing would overcome the conservative devotion of the Highlander for the warlike insignia of his race. Yet their plight was sometimes pitiable, particularly on occasions when, as a Scot described it, he had to take a barbed wire entanglement at "the double" and emerged "a bleeding mass, with his kilt hard a starboard, his kharki flap half left turn, and his sporran dangling on the wire." Anyhow the men of the kilt meant to hold on to all their traditions, and to take the taste of Majesfontein out of their mouths. And they were truly glad of "Fighting Mac" to help them. Camp routine was occasionally varied and upset by locust swarms. These descended persistently for a space of about three hours, making the atmosphere dense, as though thick with snowflakes. It was a snowstorm in mourning. Down came the creatures in myriads, gobbling every blade of grass, every crumb, every edible fragment, and then, swiftly as they had come, disappearing on the wings of the wind. They were useful at times, however, for on one occasion, just as a party of troopers had almost fallen into a trap laid by the enemy, the air became suddenly dark, and presently a veil of locusts descended, entirely cutting off the British from the Boers, and enabling the former to scuttle campwards in the sudden obscurity. Not so convenient or comforting was the dust-storm, with which the troops were becoming well acquainted. The dust-storm or dust-spout is analogous to a waterspout. Columns of dust rise vertically to a height of about 150 feet in the air and promptly descend with alarming velocity, sweeping over the earth at the rate of five or six miles an hour, and making life for the time being into a state of chaos. But everything may be turned to account, and the British, being tired of Boer tricks, utilised even the sand-storm with pleasing results. One of the great difficulties of our gunners in shelling the enemy consisted in the fact that the Boers, at the first sign of fire, rushed to bomb-proof trenches. They employed lookout men to give a signal of warning. On the 29th of January, however, when the Naval gunners saw a storm brewing, they bided their time. No sooner had the whirl descended than they set to work and plumped lyddite with great success into the enemy's lines. Coming events now began to cast their shadows before. Activities around the railroad showed that the influence of Lord Kitchener was already at work. The Royal Engineers commenced to build a strong and permanent bridge across the Modder at its confluence with the Riet. This bridge was constructed about fifteen feet above water, to insure it against the flooding of the river during the rainy season in the Free State, and enable the heaviest traffic to be carried to the scene of action. This promised shortly to be situated in the direction of Jacobsdal. Here the Boers kept a species of headquarters; and here, in the open plain dividing them from Kopjesdam, they set fire to the veldt for two miles. The conflagration began in the afternoon of Wednesday, the 31st of January, and continued throughout the night, illuminating earth and sky with weird reflections. The smoke of these fires served to act as a screen for Boer movements, for at this time the hostile armies were reinforced by troops from Barkly and Koodoesberg districts. The burning of the grass might also have been arranged with the object of procuring a black background against which the approach of winding, snake-like columns of kharki could be more distinctly visible. There was some excitement in camp as to the reported capture of Mr. Jourdaan, the private secretary of Mr. Rhodes, who had endeavoured to pass from the beleaguered town with messages from the "Colossus" relating to the critical affairs of the moment. On the 31st of January the British occupied Prieska unopposed. The Boers had been in possession of the place in all about five days, and had left, taking with them two prisoners, one of whom they subsequently released. Commandants Olivier and Snyman were busy recruiting, and finding themselves at a loss for combatants, were now forcing Dutchmen all and sundry to serve with the Transvaal colours. "There is no such thing as a loyal Dutchman," declared Olivier, and promptly commandeered young and old on pain of fine or imprisonment. CHAPTER V CHRISTMAS AT LADYSMITH Prices at Ladysmith had now gone up, but still those whose purses were plethoric could treat themselves to a few luxuries. Jam, for instance, was 3s. 6d. per lb., a possible price but a tantalising; while eggs were sold at about half a guinea a dozen. Whisky fetched from £5 to £7 a bottle, so there was little fear of dipsomania; and small packets of cigarettes were worth 3s. 6d. a piece. On the 23rd of December there was a grand auction. The Mayor at one time had instituted periodical auctions for the sale of the town produce, but finding competition too brisk, and fearing prices would never return to their normal level, the plan had been dropped. However, in face of Christmas there was a great sale, and the soldiers eagerly competed for bargains in the way of chickens and ducks and etceteras of the meal. In default of Covent Garden or Leadenhall, a long table at an angle of the main street was set out with inviting fare tantalizing to all but the most stoical. One Gordon was seen dragging off another in act of making an extravagant bid--"Come awa, mon! we dinna want nae sour grapes." Poultry was fetching from 8s. to 10s. a bird; while vegetables, in proportion, were more costly still. Vegetable marrows were sold for 2s. 9d. each; and carrots, homely and almost despised carrots, fetched over 3s. a bunch! As a great luxury a turkey, a goose, a sucking-pig now and then appeared on the Ladysmith board; but the ordinary domestic meal was composed of trek beef and "goat" mutton. But even these were becoming beautifully less. Christmas passed off well. Hope revived. News of Lord Methuen's earlier victories refreshed the ears of the community, and a series of sports of various kinds helped to impart to the day a suitable air of festivity. Quantities of popular people set to work to make the day merry. Colonel Dartnell, Major Karri Davies, Colonel Rhodes--the delight of all from the Tommies to the babes--arranged a Christmas Tree. It was decorated with gifts and mottoes, "Imperial to the core," and attended by children of all sizes and degrees, even to a siege baby aged three days! But behind the scene enteric fever and dysentery flourished, and languishing in Intombi camp, two miles out, were pathetic remnants of the hale and hearty regiments who had marched to the front in October. The other gallant warriors were now nothing more than a mob of badly-dressed scarecrows, lean and wizened, but, as one of them said, "good enough food for powder." The horses, too, had grown thin and spiritless, their anatomy was grievously obvious, and in their eyes--those erstwhile fiery eyes--there seemed to dwell the melancholy foreboding of a strange hereafter--the hereafter when sausages should be served out to the hungry, and the poor equine devotees would have spent the last of themselves to keep the British flag flying. The message of the Queen warmed the hearts of the weary garrison. It was pleasant to know that the Sovereign, in thought, lived in the shadows as in the sunlight of Empire. Still, none but those experiencing it could plumb the depths of monotony and wretchedness. It was enough to kill the martial spirit of the most valorous, though none would own that bellicosity was exuding little by little from their wasted finger-ends. Far from it. Sir George White maintained a series of night attacks or threats of night attacks, which served to keep the Boers uncomfortably on the _qui vive_, and these, as a necessary return, indulged in exasperating bombardment during the day. On the 26th as many as 176 shells were flung into the town before nine in the morning, independently of the action carried on by the Maxim automatic guns. It was plain the Boers considered that the inactivity of Christmas Day must be atoned for, and therefore the guns were plied with additional ardour. On the 27th, unfortunately, their murderous efforts were more than rewarded. A shell was fired from the Creusot gun on Bulwana, which dropped into the Devons' mess at Junction Hill. There, were congregated many of the officers, and of these Lieutenant Dalziel and Lieutenant Price-Dent were killed. Many others were wounded. Lieutenant Twist was injured in five places, and Lieutenants Scafe, Kane, Field, Byrne (Inniskilling Fusiliers), Tringham (Royal West Surrey), and Captain Lafone--who had been previously wounded at Elandslaagte--were all more or less mutilated. [Illustration: HOUSEHOLD CAVALRY--CAPTAIN, 2nd, LIFE GUARDS. Photo by Gregory & Co., London.] On the 28th the Naval Battery took on itself to avenge the loss of the noble fellows who had fallen victims to the Bulwana gun, and directed at it, or rather at its gunners, six well-intentioned shots from the 4.7 inch and 12-pounder, with the result that the voice of the aggressor was temporarily silenced. There was some satisfaction in the feeling that the gunners who had created such awful havoc and regret had met their deserts. Both Lieutenant Dalziel and Lieutenant Price-Dent were particularly promising young officers, having both seen service with Sir William Lockhart on the Indian frontier, the latter having also served in the Chitral Relief Force. A sentiment of gloom mingled with fury disturbed the fortitude of the gallant party, and the only satisfaction they enjoyed was calculation and speculation as to what form Sir Redvers Buller's next move would take. "When will Buller come, and how?" such were the questions which were repeated scores of times during the day. The cessation of the fire from Bulwana was certainly cheering, and from various sources it was discovered that the Boers were becoming nervous in fear of night attacks and the destruction of more of their big guns. Their state of mind was not evidenced entirely by their conduct, for two plugged shells fired into the camp were found to contain a hunk of plum-pudding and the compliments of the season. Sickness, as we know, was rife, but fortunately there were many doctors of repute in the town, members of the Army Medical Department, and also independent practitioners. There was Dr. Jameson, whose ability was for years testified at Kimberley, and also Dr. Davies of Johannesburg; these assisted materially in giving advice, but unfortunately medicines were now growing scarce, and milk, though some invalids could digest nothing else, was not to be had. It is too pathetic to deal with the losses that must have occurred through the lack of suitable nourishment for those whose cases, not in themselves serious, only required care and sustenance. The bombardment on the first day of the New Year had tragic results. A shell crashed into the house of Major Vallentine and killed a soldier servant named Clydesdale. Later, another shell burst near the railway station, where a cricket match between the railway officials and bridge guards was taking place, and killed Captain Vallentine Todd. The unlucky player was in the act of bowling, and dropped with the ball still in his hand. THE ATTACK ON WAGON HILL Our midnight surprises had not been without their lesson, and now the Boers conceived the brilliant, the desperate idea of emulating British example, and bringing Ladysmith to her knees by assault in the small hours. Some three days before the event, a Kaffir deserter had warned the besieged that an attack was contemplated; that it had been decided among the Boers that a large force must be moved up from the neighbourhood of Colenso, and that a final assault at arms must be attempted. The warning was pooh-poohed. Kaffir tales were almost as prevalent as flies! It was proverbial that night attacks to the Dutchman were taboo--they were dangerous, they tried the nerves, and cold steel glittered horribly in the moonlight. So Ladysmith slept. But as a matter of fact the Kaffir was right. These arrangements had taken place, and two storming parties from the Heidelberg and Harrismith commandoes were promised immediate return to their homes if they should succeed in the hazardous enterprise. Accordingly, on the evening of the 5th of January they arranged a plan which on Saturday the 6th they almost carried out. The main object of their attack, they decided, should be on the western side of the perimeter, where a crescent-shaped, flat-topped eminence divided them from the town. At the south point of this crescent was placed Cæsar's Camp, bounded on the east by the Klip River, and at the west point, a distance of some four miles, was a post known as Wagon Hill. Close to this was a twin plateau called Wagon Hill West. Cæsar's Camp was guarded by the Manchester Regiment, the 42nd Field Battery, and a Naval 12½-pounder gun. Only half a battalion of 60th Rifles were on Wagon Hill, while two squadrons of Imperial Light Horse were on Wagon Hill West. Against these positions the enemy decided to make their concentrated attack. The darksome steeps were almost perpendicular, and afforded excellent cover for approach. In some respects they resembled Majuba, where a man climbing up was almost invisible till he came face to face with his quarry. Some three hundred warrior-farmers of the Harrismith commando arranged secretly to gather in Fournier's Spruit, a dry nullah which intersected the base of the position, and there wait till the gloom of the small hours should give them the chance they were expecting. Their plan was to divide in two columns. The one, under the Harrismith Commandant, De Villiers, was to attack the steeps of Wagon Hill West, while the other, in concert, was to crawl to the nek or slope which united that hill with Wagon Hill proper, and thus cut off the former hill from the rest of the camps. In this way, should the plan succeed, they hoped to make the southern peak of the hill, Cæsar's Camp, untenable. Accordingly, divesting themselves of shoes, they started off, and under cover of darkness, like stealthily slinking panthers, approached, from different points, the British lines. It so happened that a Hotchkiss gun and some Naval guns were being placed in position on the top of Wagon Hill West. Possibly these guns may have tempted the enemy. They would be useful, they thought, to capture and turn on camp or town. All day and all night the Royal Engineers and Bluejackets had been labouring to get the weapons into position, and at this hour the party were taking a "breather" after their long and arduous efforts. With them, to cover their operations, were the King's Royal Rifles and the Gordon Highlanders, who occupied a post on the front and flank. The fatigue party were resting, as before stated. Suddenly, in the stillness of the night, a curious and unusual sound was heard. The velvety sound of a muffled footfall. A crumbling as of broken earth. Ears pricked up. The sentry at once cried out, "Who goes there?" "Friend," was answered, and the next moment the sentry dropped dead! Curiously enough, while the beforesaid plan of attack was in course of being enacted, Lieutenant Mathias was visiting his posts. In the obscurity he all at once found himself confronted by Boers on every side. With amazing presence of mind he faced about, and seeing that the Dutchmen mistook him for one of themselves, acted as if he also were assaulting the hill. When near enough, however, he made a rush--a desperate rush--to warn the pickets of their danger. But he was too late. Two men were shot dead, whilst Lieutenant Mathias and a third trooper were wounded. There was no help at hand, and before assistance could be summoned, the enemy were already sweeping the hill. But the sound of the first shots had given the alarm. Instantly all was flurry and confusion. Men that a moment before had been sleepily yawning after their heavy labours were racing hither and thither, groping in the darkness in search of arms. Others however, who were armed, forebore to fire, the felt hats of the foe being mistaken for those of the Imperial Light Horsemen. With a desperate effort Lieutenant Digby Jones gathered together his sappers. Hurried shots were fired, hurried orders given, but nothing could efface the effects of the sudden surprise. The Boers had gained the hill and driven the defenders over the crest! This all in a darkness that might have been felt. Such lanterns as there were had been overturned and extinguished in the hustle of the stampeding Kaffirs, who had been assisting at the arrangement of the gun, and who, at the first approach of the enemy, had fled. Forks and flashes of flame shining from the nek between the twin hills showed that the second column of the Dutch commando also was attaining its object. The gun, which fortunately had not yet been erected on the top of the hill, was instantly got to work under the direction of Lieutenant Parker; rifles were seized, and an effort was made in the obscurity to sweep the hill in the direction where the enemy was supposed to be. But the Boers were completely enveloped in the darkness of the night, and it was impossible to locate them; and the Hotchkiss gun was drawn back within the sandguard which had hurriedly been thrown up, only just in time. The Boers were now almost upon it. All the available men about Wagon Hill had instantly rushed to the rescue, and the Imperial Light Horse, some King's Royal Rifles, and a few Gordon Highlanders were soon in the thick of the fray. The Highlanders, taking their place round the crest, fired, as hard as rifles would let them, down the slope. Some fierce fighting followed. Before the Boers could get farther up, the Imperial Light Horse with their wonted gallantry engaged them, and sent the invaders helter-skelter down hill into the mysterious mists of the dawn. But this was but for a moment--it was merely the commencement of affairs. The whole garrison got under arms, not only the military, but every available man taking up some weapon to assist in withstanding the onslaught. It was felt to be a desperate situation, desperate for both sides, for the enemy knew that something must be done, and that quickly, to prevent the pending arrival of relief by Sir Redvers Buller, while the garrison, in face of reduced rations, disease, dysentery, and decreasing ammunition, was aware that it was a case of now or never. The alarm once given, Colonel Hamilton from the west had sent for reinforcements with amazing rapidity, and up came two and a half companies of Gordon Highlanders from the base of Cæsar's Camp, while one company under Captain the Hon. R. T. Carnegie started to support the Manchester pickets on Cæsar's Camp, and a company and a half went to Wagon Hill. It was while the Gordons were marching up and crossing the bridge of the Klip River that they met with their first mishap. Colonel Dick Cunyngham, only just recovered from his wound at Elandslaagte, was struck by a chance bullet and fell mortally wounded. Major Scott then took the command. Presently came the Rifle Brigade and half a battalion of the first 60th to the rescue, while the 21st Field Battery hurried to cover the western approaches to Wagon Hill, and the 53rd Battery took up a position to guard the most southern point of Cæsar's Camp. But all this movement was not accomplished till much carnage had been wrought. As already mentioned, the Boers had nearly achieved their object and cut off Wagon Hill West from Wagon Hill proper. By dawn they were straggling on the plateau connecting the two hills, merely checked in their further advance on Wagon Hill by the remnant of the Light Horse. Firing at this time was so terrific and at such close range that it was impossible to move from cover and live. Bullets literally buzzed like bees in the serene morning air. On one side were the Boers making for the second hill, on the other were the British struggling to ward them off. Meanwhile, trickling along through the Fournier's Spruit were arriving more desperate farmers, more picked men of skilled marksmanship and deadly purpose. At this time reinforcements also arrived for the brave little band who were so gallantly resisting the Dutchmen. But even the additional numbers were insufficient, it was impossible to cope with the marvellous marksmanship of the advancing horde. They came ever nearer and nearer, firing thick and fast--and with explosive bullets. The Colonel, two Majors, and four other officers of the Light Horse dropped--the enemy seized the position--and from thence it was impossible to dislodge them! To do this it would have been necessary to rush through some sixty yards of what seemed hell-fire--a perfect avalanche of death. Major Mackworth made the dashing effort, but in the very act he was stricken down, and most of the gallant fellows of the 60th Rifles who accompanied him. Another officer, Lieutenant Tod, pluckily attempted the same hazardous exploit. Twelve noble fellows followed him. Six were hit, and the valiant young leader dropped dead before he had moved three yards from cover. Colonel Codrington (11th Hussars), who was commanding a squadron of the Imperial Light Horse, made a rush forward to ascertain if it were possible to get cover for his men, but before he had gone thirty yards, he too shared the fate of the other officers. These experiences were sufficient. It was decided that the best plan would be to wait under cover till dusk, when the bayonet might be made to supersede the rifle. [Illustration: H.M.S. "POWERFUL." Photo by Symonds, Portsmouth.] While all this was taking place on Wagon Hill, a terrific drama was being enacted at Cæsar's Camp; and exciting assaults, defeats, and re-assaults were following each other on Wagon Hill West. Soon after dawn, the 52nd Field Battery, under Major Abdy, commenced to shell the slopes below Cæsar's Camp, and keep the enemy from ascending in that direction. The operation was one fraught with extreme difficulty, as the shells were forced to travel over the heads of our own men in order to effect a lodgment at the desired spot. But the work of the gunners was admirable, and the shells burst with a precision that wrought awful destruction on the enemy. The whole of the eastern slopes of the hill were covered with dead Dutchmen lying amidst fragments of steel and iron in the blood-clotted grass. The scene around Ladysmith at this time was appalling. Away in the direction of Wagon Hill, fiercely every inch of ground was being contested, and here the Naval guns and artillery were bellowing and roaring and sending their deadly messages all along the ridge of Cæsar's Camp, driving off the enemy, who came back again and again. There was a hard tussle, particularly for the Gordons and the Rifle Brigade. Their lives hung by a thread. The Boers were inflamed with either hope or desperation, and, contrary to custom, advanced to death and destruction with dogged and, one may say, admirable pluck. Day broke and grew to its zenith, and still the fighting raged; still the guns roared and snorted; still the dust and dirt flew to the skies, coming down again to stop the mouths of gasping, dying men, and blind the eyes of those who, blood-stained and sweltering, were yet selling their lives at the dearest price that could be asked. Just as the fire was slackening, possibly from sheer fatigue on both sides, the heavily charged thunder-clouds burst over the position, and a terrific downpour of hail and rain scourged the contesting forces and flooded the trenches. The Boers at this time had been driven to a corner like wolves at bay, and could not emerge without running the gantlet of a tremendous fire from the Ladysmith guns. Wet to the skin, the ground one vast meadow of slush, the combatants still held on with grim tenacity, each side watching lynx-eyed, each being now almost mad with an insatiable and ferocious desire for victory. The storm continued and grew. Instead, as imagined, of relinquishing the fight, the Boers took courage from the tempest. The tornado from heaven only served to increase the tornado below! It seemed to suit the stormy state of human passions, to stimulate rather than subdue. Under cover of the thunder and the swirl of the elements the Federals made one desperate onward rush, but the furious fire which met them from Volunteers and British Infantry hurled them back and sent them spinning in heaps or rushing with howls down the hill. The 53rd Battery swept the bush country with a storm of shrapnel, and away to cover they went, and with them their reinforcements, who had been hiding in the neighbouring nullahs, waiting for the great, the final hour of triumph. So much for Cæsar's Camp. On Wagon Hill before noon the Devons, with their gallant commander, had come to the forefront, Colonel Park again leading them to renewed success. As we know, the Boers were already on the hill, and the Gordons, who had lost their officers, were falling back when Major Milner Wallnutt rallied them. The enemy were soon removed from the emplacement which they held; but they rushed towards the west, and were there as dangerously fixed as ever. About two o'clock the most horrible moment of the fight arrived. The hill that had been the subject of such eager contest was again attacked, this time by a small but desperate body of Dutchmen. De Villiers, their Commandant, made a wild forward rush to secure the position. In an instant Major Wallnutt and a sapper were shot dead, but the rest of the sappers magnificently fronted the invaders with fixed bayonets. Presently the brilliant youth, the hero of the Surprise Hill affair, Lieutenant Digby Jones, R.E., led them forward, shot De Villiers, and dropped! A bullet had sent him home to his last account. The hoary-headed Burghers were stayed in their onward march by the splendid action of the noble boy, who so many times had risked his young life in the service of his country. At this juncture up came a dismounted squadron of the 18th Hussars, and the situation was saved. The plateau was reoccupied. [Illustration: PLAN OF LADYSMITH AND CHRONICLE OF EVENTS. (From Drawing by W. T. Maud.)] But even then all was not over. The great, the supreme effort to recapture Wagon Hill came at four o'clock in the afternoon. The lightning flashed, the thunder rolled, the hail clattered and splashed, the guns blazed, vomited, and growled, and the silky whistle of bullets made a flute-like treble to the awful orchestra of sound. In the midst of the uproar the Boers again obstinately advanced up the heights, firing deliberately as they came. On their heads poured the wrath of the British guns, and among their numbers rained the ceaseless bullets of the Infantry; but they steadily moved up, doggedly determined once more to reach the crest of the hill. They came nearer and ever nearer till, on a sudden, they flung themselves upon the Devons, who, cheering wildly, rushed into their midst and dispersed them. One short moment--one wild, valiant rush, and then--then the trusty British bayonets dripped with gore, and the Boers--all that were left of them, a racing, disorganised rabble--surged madly down the hill! The worst was over; the British conquerors rushed after the retreating foe. The Devons, led by their intrepid commander, charged down the slope, and this time, with a wild exultant yell--which echoed like a tocsin among the caves and the boulders and the honeycombed banks of the river--effectually drove the fleeing herd from the scene of carnage. The lost ground was recovered, but the lost lives.... Yes; they, too, live in the glorious annals of British history. Captain Lafone, Lieutenants Field and Walker were among the slain; and Lieutenant Masterton was wounded. The splendid charge cost the Devons all the company officers--fifteen killed and forty wounded! [Illustration: THE GREAT ASSAULT ON LADYSMITH--THE DEVONS CLEARING WAGON HILL. Drawing by W. T. Maud.] It was a dreadful seventeen hours' work. Not a soul but had his duty, and more than his duty, cut out for him. The jolly Jack Tars stood to their guns from morn till night, blazing away with marvellous accuracy and precision, while the gallant Natal Police, Natal Carabineers, and Mounted Rifles were wedged between the Boers from Mount Bulwana and the rest of their attacking party, and signally defeated all their efforts to effect a junction. The Manchester Regiment, the Border Regiment, a detachment of Mounted Rifles, the Gordon Highlanders, and the Rifle Brigade defended the east of Cæsar's Camp like heroes, while on the west, as we know, the Imperial Light Horse, more Gordon Highlanders, the Devon Regiment, the King's Royal Rifles, and a Naval detachment did glorious deeds. The Naval Brigade and the Natal Naval Volunteers occupied a central position, while three batteries of the Field Artillery were perched on a hill, and one remained on the ground below. All these were called upon to act with might and main to avert the pending calamity, to meet the stubborn, mulish persistency of the Boers with its match in British bulldog obstinacy, and show the enemy that with all the odds against them the besieged would never surrender. Valiantly--almost miraculously--they held their own. They who for months had been exposed to privation of all kinds, who had fought engagement after engagement, who had eaten, drunk, and slept with the shadow of death hanging over them, knowing that at any moment the caprice of fate might make them victims to the incoming shells or threatened disease, came out with enfeebled frames, but wills of iron, determined to conquer or to die. Elsewhere there had also been bloody doings. The enemy had even tried to force their way into the town, and from here they were chased by the gallantry and daring of the Gloucester, Leicester, and Liverpool Regiments. The Boers were forced to retire, but even in their retirement they showed characteristic "slimness," as they made their way in line with the neutral camp at Intombi Spruit, and thus defied the British to fire upon them. Nor was this the only example of their ingenious mode of self-defence on that day. Their "slimness" was carried on on every available opportunity. For instance, a party of the enemy, under cover of darkness of the early morning, had got almost within touch of Lieutenant Royston, who at once called on the Border Mounted Rifles to fire. They were in the act of doing so when a voice rang out, "Don't shoot. We are the Town Guard." No sooner, however, had the order to "Cease fire" been heard than crack, crack, ping, ping, a volley was at once poured on the Colonials. Several of their number dropped, but the rest, exasperated beyond endurance at the hateful duplicity, charged into the midst of the enemy, leaving scarce one of them to tell the tale. These tricks and dodges set aside, the Boers fought more pluckily than was their wont, and they, cheered on by their dauntless Commandant, De Villiers, came to such close quarters that Colonel Hamilton had recourse to his revolver. Among the first of the gallant defenders to drop was the glorious, heroic figure of Colonel Dick-Cunyngham.[3] He was seen standing on the road-bridge in the act of leading his men, and was struck by some sharp-shooting Boer. By seven o'clock in the morning numbers of other splendid fellows had fallen, and the air of Ladysmith was rent with the cries and groans of the dying, who thickly strewed the ground. Lord Ava, orderly officer to Colonel Hamilton, fell mortally injured,[4] and Colonel Edwards's wound was also severe. Lieutenant Digby Jones (Royal Engineers) took a most heroic part, alas! with tragic results. With his own hands he shot three of the enemy, and clubbed a fourth, but for his gallant conduct, which doubtless would have been rewarded with a V.C., he paid later on in the day with his life. One gallant young trooper of the Imperial Light Horse had strange experiences. He, with only a sergeant, was among the first to meet the Boers. In the dusk of dawn the sergeant fell, and the trooper was wounded. He recovered his senses sufficiently to try and creep to cover. A shower of rain drenched him, then the sun blazed out mercilessly and scorched him. Worn out, he decided he would stagger to the Devons and get support, but, battered as he was, they failed to recognise him, and arrested him as a spy! Numerous deeds of amazing valour were performed, so many indeed that they deserve a separate record without the limits of the narrative. But the story of the heroic Bozeley cannot be omitted. During the action there was a sergeant in command of one of the guns sitting rather doubled up on the trail of his gun. A 4.7 shell took off his leg high up on one side, and took the arm out of the socket, and he fell across the trail of the gun, as they thought, an inanimate, speechless mass. But to the astonishment of every man amongst them, a voice came from the mass inciting them on to their duty, and saying: "Here, you men, roll me out of the way, and go on working the gun." The list of casualties was a grievously long one:-- _Killed_:--5th Lancers--Second Lieutenant W. H. T. Hill. 23rd Corps Royal Engineers--Lieutenant R. J. T. Digby Jones, Second Lieutenant G. B. B. Dennis. 1st Devonshire Regiment--Captain W. B. Lafone, Lieutenant H. N. Field, Lieutenant C. E. M. Walker, 1st Somerset Light Infantry (attached). Imperial Light Horse--Lieutenant William F. Adams, Lieutenant John Edward Pakeman. 1st King's Royal Rifle Corps--Brevet-Major F. Mackworth, 2nd Royal West Surrey Regiment (attached). 2nd King's Royal Rifle Corps--Major R. S. Dowen, Lieutenant M. M. Tod, 1st Cameronians (attached), Second Lieutenant F. H. Raikes. 2nd Gordon Highlanders--Major C. C. Miller Wallnutt. 2nd Rifle Brigade--Second Lieutenant L. D. Hall. _Wounded_:--Staff--Captain Earl of Ava dangerously (died January 11). Intelligence Department--Local Captain H. Lees-Smith, slightly. 5th Lancers--Captain E. O. Wathen, slightly. Imperial Light Horse--Lieutenant-Colonel A. H. M. Edwards, 5th Dragoon Guards (attached), slightly, Major W. Karri Davis, slightly, Major D. E. Doveton, dangerously (died February 14), Lieutenant W. R. Codrington, 11th Hussars (attached), dangerously, Lieutenant J. Richardson, 11th Hussars (attached), severely, Lieutenant Douglas Campbell, dangerously, Lieutenant P. H. Normand, slightly. 1st Devonshire Regiment--Lieutenant J. Masterson, severely. 1st Manchester Regiment--Major A. E. Simpson, slightly, Captain A. W. Marden, slightly, Captain T. Menzies, slightly, Second Lieutenant E. N. Fisher, severely. 1st King's Royal Rifle Corps--Lieutenant R. McLachlan, severely. 2nd Gordon Highlanders--Lieutenant-Colonel W. Dick-Cunyngham, severely (died January 7), Captain Hon. R. Carnegie, severely, Lieutenant W. Macgregor, severely. 2nd Rifle Brigade--Brevet Major G. Thesiger, severely, Captain S. Mills, dangerously (died February 2), Captain R. Stephens, severely, Captain H. Biddulph, slightly, Second Lieutenant C. E. Harrison, slightly. 5th Lancashire Fusiliers--Lieutenant F. Barker, attached Army Service Corps. Natal Mounted Rifles--Captain A. Wales, slightly, Lieutenant H. W. Richardson, slightly. Volunteer Medical Staff, Lieutenant R. W. Hornebrook, slightly. Royal Army Medical Corps--Major C. G. Woods, slightly. On the following day--Sunday--in the Anglican Church, a thanksgiving service for victory was held, and all who were able attended the solemn function. At the close of the simple yet impressive service General White and his staff stood at the altar rails while the _Te Deum_ was performed, and this was afterwards followed by the singing in thrilling unison of the National Anthem. Round the Chief were the men who have fought by his side through many days of sore trouble--each hour an eternity in its experiences. The well-known forms of General Sir Archibald Hunter and General Ian Hamilton were in evidence, but some, alas! of that goodly company would never be seen again. In the Town Hall close by, and in the adjacent hotels and dwellings, honest manly souls were breathing their last, and others had already taken their flight to where the great thanksgiving service of creation goes on for ever and ever. Among these last was a man who was the pride of his sex and an ornament to his profession, Colonel Dick-Cunyngham, V.C. Wounded previously, from his second blow he never rallied, and on this sad Sunday passed away. In a few words the _Daily Telegraph_ summed up the surprising qualities of the heroic figure that had so lamentably passed from society as from the scene of war: "Lieutenant-Colonel Dick-Cunyngham was the beau-ideal of a Highland officer, and there was not a man or woman in the world who had a bad word to say about him. His heart was as true as steel, and his manner was courtesy itself. In his kilt and bonnet, a moustache that was so light that it was nearly white telling against the bronze of his face, and with a mountaineer's figure, he was a man who caught every artist's eye at once, and he has figured, without his knowledge, again and again in pictures and illustrations. At Shirpur he first gave proof of his great gallantry by rallying the men when for a moment they wavered; at Majuba he was the officer who asked permission to charge. Elandslaagte and Ladysmith are the last two names in his long record of heroism." FOOTNOTES: [3] Lieutenant-Colonel William Henry Dick-Cunyngham, V.C., of the Gordon Highlanders, entered the army in 1872, and first saw service in the Afghan War of 1878-80, and won his Victoria Cross in that campaign. He was present on transport duty in the advance to Candahar and Khelat-Ghilzie under Sir Donald Stewart; with the Thull Chotiali Force under Major-General Biddulph; under Sir Frederick Roberts in the Koorum Valley Field Force in the 92nd Gordon Highlanders, including the engagement at Ali Kheyl; and he took part in the operations round Cabul in December 1879, including the attack on the Sherpur Pass. He was with the Maidan Expedition in 1880 as acting adjutant of a wing of the 92nd Gordon Highlanders, including the engagement at Charasiah on April 25; accompanied Sir Frederick Roberts in the famous march to Candahar, and was present at the reconnaissance of the 31st of August, and at the Battle of Candahar. He was awarded the V.C. "for the conspicuous gallantry and coolness displayed by him on the 13th of December 1879 at the attack on the Sherpur Pass, in Afghanistan, in having exposed himself to the terrible fire of the enemy, and by his example and encouragement rallied the men who, having been beaten back, were at the moment wavering at the top of the hill." He served in the Boer War of 1881 as Adjutant of the 92nd Gordon Highlanders, and was subsequently D.A.A.G. at Bengal. He went out in the autumn of 1899 to Natal in command of the 2nd Battalion of the Gordon Highlanders, and led them into action at the battle of Elandslaagte. He fell early in the charge, wounded by a bullet in the leg. While lying on the ground he called to his men to go on and leave him, and then calmly took out and lit his pipe, waiting for hours before being removed by the ambulance party. At the end of the year Sir George White reported that Colonel Dick-Cunyngham had completely recovered. He returned to active duty only to be again wounded--this time mortally. He was uncle to Sir William Dick-Cunyngham, the present baronet, and fifth son of the eighth baronet. Born in 1851, he married in 1883 Helen, daughter of Mr. Samuel Wauchope, C.B. [4] Archibald James Leofric Temple Blackwood, born in 1863, was educated at Eton. He was a member of Methuen's Horse in Sir Charles Warren's Bechuanaland Expedition. Then he served with the Carabineers, and afterwards obtained a lieutenancy in the 17th Lancers. He accompanied the Natal Force, in an unattached capacity, on the outbreak of hostilities. CHAPTER VI BULLER'S SECOND ADVANCE At last, after a long period of suspense, it was possible for General Buller's force to make an appreciable advance. The arrangements were set on foot with the utmost secrecy, and on the 9th of January the second forward movement of the troops from Frere and Chieveley may be said to have commenced. General Barton and the Fusilier Brigade were deputed to watch over Colenso, and with them were left some dummy cannon, cunningly contrived by Jack Tar so as not to forewarn the Boers, and allow them to congratulate themselves on the absence of lyddite from their vicinity. This was not the first time that guns in effigy had been arranged to do duty in our dealings with the Boers. During one of the sieges in the year 1881, a "Quaker" cannon was erected in an inviting position on purpose to draw the Boers' fire, with the result that they expended the best part of a day and a vast amount of valuable ammunition on the imperturbable object! [Illustration: PIETERMARITZBURG FROM THE EAST. Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.] To appreciate the gigantic nature of the advance now made, we may refer to a rough table showing the composition and strength of the forces in Natal at this date under the command of Sir Redvers Buller. SIR REDVERS BULLER'S FORCE SECOND DIVISION.--(Lieutenant-General Sir C. F. Clery).--2nd (Hildyard's) Brigade--2nd East Surrey; 2nd West Yorks; 2nd Devons; 2nd West Surrey. 4th (Lyttelton's) Brigade--1st Rifle Brigade (included in Sir C. Warren's Division); 1st Durham Light Infantry; 3rd King's Royal Rifles; 2nd Scottish Rifles (Cameronians); Squadron 14th Hussars; 7th, 14th, and 66th Field Batteries, less 11 guns of 14th and 66th Batteries lost at Colenso. THIRD DIVISION.--5th (Hart's) Brigade--1st Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers; 1st Connaught Rangers; 1st Royal Dublin Fusiliers; 1st Border. 6th (Barton's) Brigade--2nd Royal Fusiliers; 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers; 1st Royal Welsh Fusiliers; 2nd Royal Irish Fusiliers; Squadron 14th Hussars; 63rd, 64th, and 73rd Field Batteries. FIFTH DIVISION.--(Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Warren).--10th (Coke's) Brigade--2nd Dorset; 2nd Middlesex. 11th (Woodgate's) Brigade--2nd Royal Lancaster; 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers; 1st South Lancashire; 1st York and Lancaster; Squadron 6th Dragoons; 19th, 20th, and 28th Field Batteries. Brigades uncertain--2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers; 2nd Somerset Light Infantry. Corps Troops--61st Field Battery (Howitzers); Natal Battery 9-pounders; Six Naval 12-pounder quick-firers; 4th Mountain Battery; 4.7 Naval guns. Cavalry Brigade--1st Royal Dragoons; 13th Hussars. South African Colonial Troops--500 Bethune's Mounted Infantry; Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry; Natal Carabineers; South African Light Horse (seven squadrons); Imperial Light Horse (squadron); Imperial Light Infantry; Natal Police. This table suggests a very imposing army, but it is necessary to remember that only a part of any force assembled at the base is available for actual attack. The lines of communication to Chieveley alone were some 160 miles in length, and the necessary work of guarding them, securing easy transport and supply, Royal Engineer work, and other business connected with the munition of war, independent of sickness, absorbed a large proportion of the troops. Military experts estimated that the absolute fighting men were far fewer than supposed. The table here shown represents some 30,000 men, but of these about 5000 were engaged in miscellaneous work. Out of twenty-three battalions of infantry it was necessary to use three or even more for the guarding of the lines of communication. Of three regiments of cavalry, only a part was available, while of the other arms, allowance had to be made for the loss that had been sustained, and also for sickness. In this march, now that the army had at last moved from the railway, the baggage column was enormous. It made a procession of some miles in length as it lumbered along primitive roads, through mud sometimes ankle-deep. It had been decided to bring up all tents, sheep, coops, &c., and consequently the various fatigue duties involved in the move were enormous. When one considers the ordinary transport of a mere regiment, it is possible to form some idea of the amazing cortège that had to follow the movements of the commander. The transport of a regiment in South Africa, roughly speaking, was composed of six ox-waggons, each drawn by sixteen oxen in pairs tandem fashion (managed by Kaffir boys, one driving the wheelers, another spurring the whole caravan by means of an enormous whip and a profuse vocabulary); four ammunition carts, each drawn by six mules; a water-cart, with pair of mules; a "Scotch" cart, and a strong luggage-cart, drawn by four mules, for conveyance of tents, blankets, and food, &c. A little mental multiplication will help us to picture the long serpentine coil that was twisting its way from Colenso to the new westerly point of attack. The procession was forced to move slowly and cautiously through a rugged, mountainous district, from which no supplies of any sort could be drawn. The ox-waggon of the country had to be relied upon entirely for heavy transport. This mode of conveyance is somewhat characteristic of the progress of the tortoise; two miles an hour was the average rate of advance, and at most the shambling cattle succeeded in covering about twelve to fifteen miles a day. Of proper roads there were none. The country was a vast swamp after heavy rain, or, in fine weather, a mass of dry ruts and tracks, steep hills, difficult fords, and irritating boulders. Over all this had to be coaxed or goaded the patient oxen, or, still worse, the stubborn, obstinate mules which dragged the lighter carts, and which, like ignorant persons, sometimes jibbed for sheer jibbing's sake, true to the obstructionist instinct that belongs to the intellectually stolid. When a team of these strong yet strange beasts chooses to jib at a ford or in a pass, it takes some companies of infantry to haul the waggon on to level ground, and then, and only then, will they condescend to resume their labour. It may therefore be imagined that the progress of troops--dependent as they were for food and forage on the tempers of quadrupeds--was at this time slow and not always sure! However, troops and baggage were gradually concentrated at Springfield, while the Boers, who had spies everywhere, among boulders, in dongas, and upon the formidable height of Spion Kop, hurried about their preparations for the renewed and mighty tussle which was now pending. On the 10th of January Lord Dundonald, at the head of the Cavalry Brigade, started at dawn from Frere Camp. A few miles outside they came on targets erected by the Boers to represent a force advancing in skirmishing order, which showed that the enemy had evidently been indulging in rifle practice. The troops marched some twenty-four miles in a north-westerly direction to Springfield, through the country, which was one vast quagmire beset with the enemy, without mishap of any kind. There were thrilling moments when the enemy were known to be ensconced in neighbouring kopjes or hiding in the bush, but every precaution was taken, the country having been previously searched by scouts, and the whole movement so successfully carried out that the brigade at last was able to occupy a strong position dominating Potgieter's Drift on the Upper Tugela. Here at once extra defences were made, to ensure against surprise from the enemy, who, finding the rivers in flood, had retired to the north, and to enable Lord Dundonald's force to hold its ground, and thus render safe the passage of the river. Lord Dundonald's Brigade was accompanied by the Fifth Brigade under General Hart, comprising the Dublin Fusiliers, the Connaught Rangers, the Border Regiment, and the Inniskilling Fusiliers. These, on hearing that Springfield was unoccupied by the enemy, now took possession of the place. The column then advanced to Mount Alice, one of the spurs of Swartz Kop or Black Hill, a rocky eminence which faced the mountain fastnesses of the foe. From this point the panorama was magnificent. In front the Tugela looped and twisted in four big silvery bends, and great kopjes, the scenes of future fights, rose on the other side. It was possible to see the flat crowned summit of Spion Hill, which was held by the Boers and covered with trenches, and another frowning eminence also held by the enemy. A glimpse, too, might be had of the distant laager of the Boers perched on the Tugela heights; but the Dutchmen being evidently warned of the coming of the British troops, struck camp and silently melted away. Still it was known that there were some of them within almost a stone's throw, for on the arrival of Lord Dundonald's force at Potgieter's Drift it was discovered they had been there the previous day. The next morning, the 11th, the pontoon from the enemy's side of the river was very cleverly captured, it may be said in the very teeth of the foe, by Lieutenant Carlyle and six of his men of the South African Horse. They leapt into the stream, which at that place was running strong, swam to the Boer side, untied the pont, and succeeded in getting it across for the use of the troops. The achievement was a brilliant one, because during the whole proceedings the exact position of the Boers was unknown. At any moment a volley might have been poured on the adventurous party from which it would have been almost impossible to escape. No sooner had they removed the fastenings of the pont and were getting it across than shots were fired, one of them grazing Lieutenant Carlyle, who, however, pursued his work to the end. From the heights we had gained, operations were soon commenced both with heliograph and telescope. Mount Bulwana and part of the outskirts of Ladysmith were clearly visible. Fringed around them were Boer camps, waggons, and cattle; while studded over the ground the enemy was seen, some building forts, others digging trenches, and all working like bees to protect the road from our advance. The Ladysmith chief signaller, Captain Walker, rapidly came into communication with the signallers on Swartz Kop, and Sir George White was informed of the satisfactory progress of the advance so far. The Naval guns were now comfortably ensconced on the western ridge of the hill, ready to do duty in sweeping away the strong positions which were being rapidly built up by the hostile hordes, who were fast beginning to congregate from the neighbourhood of Colenso. Meanwhile General Lyttelton's brigade had streamed in with howitzers, and soon these, under cover of the guns of the Naval Brigade, were across the river, and safely located on the other side. At the same time was commenced the fortifying of Mount Alice. The men were all in great fettle, working like Trojans, and perfectly regardless of fatigue. They crossed the scudding river, steadying themselves by holding each other's rifles, in a burning sun with the water up to their waists, and advanced in skirmishing order over the boulder-strewn country, settling themselves at last on some low kopjes to the north of the river and facing the enemy's defences five miles north of the drift. While these important events were taking place at Potgieter's Drift, General Sir Charles Warren with the 5th Division was also moving forward by a circuitous route. By another drift, called Trichardt's Drift, some five miles farther west, the entire force eventually got across and took up a position beyond the river, with the object of turning the position of the enemy, who were posted on Spion Kop. This journey was not achieved without coming in touch with the Boers. Some of them were hidden in a wooded nook by a farmhouse, and from thence poured rifle-shots on the advance guards. They even brought their cannon to bear on the troops; but the _passage d'armes_ was of short duration, and the enemy, warmed with fervent salutations from the Naval guns on the hills, was soon in full flight across country. Then the engineers, with celerity which looked to the uninitiated like a conjuring trick, in two hours threw a pontoon bridge over the river, and the crossing was successfully accomplished. The great object of Sir Charles Warren was now, as stated, to turn the enemy's position. This, situated about five miles off to his right front, was undoubtedly a strong one. It ran laterally with the river, with Spion Kop for its centre, and all around the enemy were actively engaged in intrenching themselves. The plan of the combined movement was to make as hasty an attack as possible and prevent the Dutchmen from strengthening their position and reinforcing their right from their centre and left, and perhaps enable the Ladysmith garrison to do its share in threatening the enemy's rear. For this reason General Barton, with sufficient troops, had been left at Colenso to hold the Boers' forces and prevent them from massing on the line of Sir Redvers Buller's march. This latter officer with a small force directed the combined operations from Spearman's Farm, a little to the south of Mount Alice. The headquarters of himself and his staff were at the picturesque homestead of one Martinius Pretorius, a personage who thought it advisable not to remain to play the host. [Illustration: THE CROSSING OF POTGIETER'S DRIFT, JANUARY 16. Drawn by Enoch Ward from a Full Sketch by René Bull, War Artist with General Buller.] The troops, in spite of their trying march--the mud collected by tremendous rains, the arduous business of getting across the river, the grilling sun overhead, and the enemy possibly threatening from unknown quarters--were bright, healthy, and hopeful. Immense enthusiasm was occasioned in every camp when all were made acquainted with the brief yet stirring words of Sir Redvers Buller: "_We are going to the relief of our comrades in Ladysmith; there will be no turning back_." A short emphatic statement this--blunt as the conversation of the man who made it, but instinct with noble meaning--of superb resolve! It touched every heart, and made each bronzed-face warrior repeat once more to himself the oath to do or die for the honour of his country and for the service of those to be relieved! THE FLANK MOVEMENT Before going further, it is interesting to examine with the map a rough hint made by Mr. Winston Churchill, correspondent of the _Morning Post_, of the general plan of the advance. [Illustration: TYPES OF ARMS--A MOUNTAIN BATTERY. (Drawn by Ernest Prater.)] "Having placed his army within striking distance of the various passages across the Tugela, Sir Redvers Buller's next object was to cross and debouch. To this end his plan appears to have been--for information is scarcely yet properly codified--something as follows: Lyttleton's Brigade, the corps troops forming Coke's Brigade, the ten Naval guns, the battery of howitzers, one field-battery, and Bethune's Mounted Infantry to demonstrate in front of the Potgieter position, keeping the Boers holding the horseshoe in expectation of a frontal attack and masking their main position; Sir Charles Warren to march by night from Springfield with the brigades of Hart, Woodgate, and Hildyard, the Royal Dragoons, six batteries of artillery, and the pontoon train to a point about five miles west of Spearman's Hill, and opposite Trichardt's Drift on the Tugela. Here he was to meet the mounted forces from Spearman's Hill, and with these troops he was next day, the 17th, to throw bridges, force the passage of the river, and operate at leisure and discretion against the right flank of the enemy's horseshoe before Potgieter's, resting on Spion Kop, a commanding mountain, ultimately joining hands with the frontal force from Spearman's Hill at a point on the Acton Homes Ladysmith road. To sum up briefly, seven battalions, twenty-two guns, and three hundred horse under Lyttleton to mask the Potgieter position; twelve battalions, thirty-six guns, and sixteen hundred horse to cross five miles to the westward, and make a turning movement against the enemy's right. The Boer covering army was to be swept back on Ladysmith by a powerful left arm, the pivoting shoulder of which was at Potgieter's, the elbow at Trichardt's Drift, and the enveloping hand--the cavalry under Lord Dundonald--stretching out towards Acton Homes." This plan on the surface appeared fairly practicable if the action could be carried on with sufficient rapidity to prevent the enemy from gathering in his crowds, as he had gathered at Colenso. Here was the great--If. The art of war is at best a choice of difficulties, and at this time our Generals had an embarrassment of that choice. It says a great deal for their courage that they handled these difficulties one after another, and let go only when they thought they had been squeezed dry. The British troops having done with the fatigue of the march, did not allow the grass to grow under their feet. No sooner had they crossed the river than they began to threaten some of the Boer lines of retreat to the Free State. The Naval Brigade also set to work with vigour, and they, together with the howitzers from Mount Alice, pounded the whole vicinity to the right impartially. The range having been ascertained to a nicety, with the assistance of the balloon, whose occupants directed the gunners, some effective shots were launched at the Boer entrenchments, and others which were rapidly in course of construction. From the balloon these were plainly visible, but their tenants, if tenants there were, vouchsafed no reply. Many mounted Boers were seen galloping from Colenso to their laagers in the shelter of the more northerly kopjes, while others were also discovered coming in the direction from Ladysmith, evidently with a view to reinforce the commandoes on Spion Kop. While the Naval Brigade was hammering in the direction of the Boer position, which was somewhat below the level of Mount Alice, General Lyttleton was moving north of the position for the purpose of making a demonstration towards Brakfontein, and Sir Charles Warren's force was approaching two high kopjes overlooking a ravine behind Spion Hill. It was now the 18th of January. The cavalry started in advance of the rest of the force. The order of march being, first, the Composite Regiment (one squadron of Imperial Light Horse, sixty Rifles Mounted Infantry, one squadron Natal Carabineers), four squadrons South African Light Horse, Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry, and behind these the Royals and 13th Hussars. But the Composite Regiment at midday was found to have moved still farther west, and soon from that region came an ominous crackling. Something deadly was afoot. It appeared that a party of Boers was caught trekking by the Acton Homes Road towards the Free State, and was in act of being cut off. Firing was fast and furious, and presently dead and dying Boers besprinkled the field that a few moments before had been green and gracious to the eye. A message was sent to the main body demanding reinforcements. Promptly Lord Dundonald with the rest of his troops came on the scene. Hostilities grew in animation--the situation was desperate. The Boers made a hard fight of it, clung tenaciously to their position, refusing, though surrounded, to surrender. Their fire rained furiously down on the Rifles as they advanced, so furiously that they were forced to seek the shelter of a desirable donga. The obstinate combat was on the point of renewal when up went a white flag. The old dodge, one to which now our troops had become so accustomed that they scarcely heeded it. Both sides continued to blaze away in uncertainty and mistrust till presently hands flew up, and this sincerest and distinct sign of surrender was accepted. Twenty-four burly Boers were then captured, while, round about, the wounded of the foe were assiduously succoured and tended by the very men who in the race for dear life had stricken them down. Twenty-four captured, ten killed, eight wounded--such was the result of a few hours' work on the enemy. Of our number, Captain Shore of the Imperial Light Horse was severely wounded, two soldiers of the Mounted Infantry were killed, and one trooper of the Imperial Light Horse was slightly injured. A word must be said of the South African Light Horse or "Cockyoli Birds," as they were jocosely styled in deference to the plumes in their headgear. These had become the heroes of the hour owing to the splendid action formerly mentioned of Lieutenant Carlyle and his plucky companions, Sergeant Turner, Corporals Cox and Barkley, and Troopers Howell, Godden, and Collingwood. In addition to this plucky feat they were ceaseless in their activity, as we shall afterwards see. Before this date the men of the squadron had been much commented on and universally praised. Their dash, their aptness, their marvellous intelligence had earned the admiration of all the regulars who had been associated with them. They, in their neat kharki, looked as efficient a body of mounted infantry as any one could wish to come across. Among their numbers were Afrikanders of good birth, Canadians, Australians, gentlemen of means, sporting men, old soldiers, and the like. They were hard as nails and bronzed as their saddles, acute as weasels, and big-hearted and adventurous as any of Robin Hood's world-famed merry men. If they were rough they were ready, sniffing adventure in the air and rushing hot-foot to greet it, or stalking warily like old Shikari, saving no pains so that they eventually brought down their quarry. The engagement was a grand feather in the cap of the cavalry, and an additional one in that of the "Cockyoli Birds." On the morning of Saturday the 20th of January Sir Charles Warren advanced his whole force to the attack. The scheme had been thought out with immense care. There was an excellent general with a superb division of troops, and there was every chance of success. General Woodgate's and General Hart's brigades marched forward at 3 A.M. from their bivouac on the low ridges below Spion Kop, with a view to capturing a position called Three Tree Hill, so called because of three mimosa trees whose fragrance filled the air. The proceedings opened with an animated bombardment from all quarters, our guns in the neighbourhood of Potgieter's and Tritchardt's Drifts engaging the attention of the Boers. By this time the Dutchmen were powerfully intrenched, and were still hurrying and scurrying to protect the big mountain that stood between the British and the object of their desire--Ladysmith. Woodgate's Brigade had pushed forward in this direction. Later Hart's Brigade took up a position on the spur parallel to the left of the Lancashire Brigade, and, under cover of the field-guns, the troops, in the thick of a storm from rifles and artillery, fought their way almost inch by inch up the steeps held by the Boers. They finally succeeded in gaining some portions of the enemy's line of intrenchments. But this was not achieved without an exhibition of pluck and valiant obstinacy that was heroic. [Illustration: ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY (ACTION FRONT). Photo by Gregory & Co., London.] The Irish Brigade, as usual, were in the thick of the fight, jovial yet determined, and holding their grip of every inch they gained notwithstanding shadows of threatened dissolution, the sights of death and sounds of horror that filled the air. Captain Hensley, a brave and gallant soul, was shot through the head, and several officers were smitten, but still their valorous commander, waving his sword, pressed on, and still his sturdy Irishmen, animated, encouraged, confident, pursued their upward way. They had debts to settle--some old scores to wipe out. They remembered their hideous disappointment of Colenso, their grievous experiences of Dundee, and also they remembered--a far grander remembrance!--that the honour of the Emerald Isle rested on their shoulders, and that the quality of its loyalty stood proved by the quality of their famous deeds! All around played the fierce fire of the enemy's guns, Creusot, Maxim, Nordenfeldt, and others. These were posted in commanding positions on a chain of hills to the west of Spion Hill, and from various points of vantage the Dutchmen were able to keep up a ceaseless clamour, and pour a rapid torrent of death and mutilation upon the advancing troops. These, by reason of the bad ground and the caution required in the manner of approach, could travel but slowly. The enemy, owing to the delay in our advance, had increased their forces most unexpectedly, and seemed, though scarcely to have existed a week ago, to be now ubiquitous! During the afternoon General Lyttleton's Brigade made a frontal attack on the Dutchmen's position between Schwartz Kop and Spion Kop, to divert their attention pending the movements of Sir Charles Warren. This movement, it was imagined, had been kept very "dark," but, in spite of the secrecy and caution, the agile foe had contrived again to concentrate a huge force to oppose his every turn. More artillery seemed continuously to be brought to the scene, and also some of the trophies captured in the ill-fated attack on Colenso. Our Naval guns bombarded the ridge all day, and the howitzers boomed and roared, but the whole place appeared to be bustling with Boers. On the extreme left Lord Dundonald engaged in more energetic demonstration, and the indefatigable South African Light Horse, under Colonel Byng, more than ever distinguished themselves. In the most gallant manner they captured Bastion Hill, a hill between the Dutch right and centre. This hill in the hands of the Boers was a standing menace, as from thence they could direct a cross-fire at the infantry on the opposite spur of the big mountain. Major Childe, commanding F Squadron, South African Light Horse, decided that he, and not the Federals, must secure so important a vantage-point. Dismounting with his men, and leaving his horses in rear of the heights, he cautiously crept round through a mealie field and various dongas which gave him cover from the storm of shot directed from the curve of the hills. In spite of the pelting lead, he got to the base of the position in safety. Then, with half the squadron, he started laboriously to climb. It was tough work, the sugar-loaf eminence being steep and stony and the sun above blisteringly hot. Thus they sweated and toiled for a whole hour. Finally, the Boers were seen scampering from the top. They had detected the approach of men--bayonets were suspected--they discreetly bolted. Just then Trooper Tobin, who had grandly led the way up the precipitous height, had reached his goal. Here he stood in his delight and triumph waving his helmet and shouting, and quite regardless of the fact that he made an excellent mark for Boer sharpshooters or their mercenaries. Up, too, rushed Major Childe with a dozen or so of his nimble men, into the midst of a tornado of shot and shell which had suddenly started from the Boer left and centre. Promptly every one went to earth. It was useless at the moment to attempt to return so withering a fire. Then came a shell--bursting and banging--and the gallant Major was caught on the head and killed. Several others were slain, among them Godden, who had been one of the gallant seven who distinguished themselves in the pont exploit. Shattered by the terrible fire of artillery, breathless from past exertions, the troops still hung on. Then our own artillery came to the rescue and kept the Boer gunners occupied. Meanwhile, reinforcements from Hildyard's Brigade were sent up to the help of the brave fellows who for twelve hours had been without rest or water, and on the following day, to the West Surreys, the cavalry, after a tremendous and fatiguing experience, handed over the charge of the hill which they had so magnificently gained. The losses during this complex series of engagements were many, but the sufferings due to hunger, heat, thirst, and fatigue were even greater than those due to actual wounds. The Lancashire Fusiliers, Lancashire Regiment, and the Dublin Fusiliers lost most during the day. Their wounded numbered about 350 officers and men. These troops had a peculiarly trying time, as for three whole days previously they had remained on some captured hills, sun-baked and fired on promiscuously, while at night, when the temperature had run down with its customary rapidity, they had found themselves chilled to the bone, with no blankets or overcoats to cover them. They had about two hours' sleep on an average per night and very little to eat during the day. From 3 A.M. on the 20th the Lancashires had taken up a position screened behind a string of low kopjes, while the artillery on the right battered and pounded at the Boer earthworks in front and half-left and half-right. The troops had remained quiet and painfully inactive in the sweltering sun for many hours, stray bullets whistling round their ears, and, as one of the officers said, "causing great levity among the men." At 1.30 they had begun to advance. Immediately they showed their heads they were caught by a hailstorm of bullets, and seven men dropped. Rushing dauntlessly on, they made for the shelter of a ring of rocks some 150 yards in advance, remained for some ten minutes or so, then pushed forward another 400 yards, losing less men and taking a lesson in caution from the Boers. Thus, in short energetic rushes, they had managed to get within 900 yards of the enemy. On the top of the hillock a perfect deluge of bullets descended, and though the General had moved some 400 forward, so quickly were the men hit that only thirty or so could use their rifles. Afterwards the order was given to make breastworks, and there was a rush into the open to gather stones and rocks and boulders, when more men were stricken down. All the wounded could do was to creep to a rock in the rear, and there await the turn of events. Some lay as they crawled from 3 to 8.30 at night. It was impossible for them to be removed from the hill, as the Boers promptly fired on the stretcher-bearers. The sights and sounds were heart-rending. On one side was seen a man sent to his last account in a breath; on another was one still hobbling along and plying his rifle, with both ankles smashed. Here lay a poor fellow who had a splinter of rock driven clean through his lungs and out at his back; there languished another shot through the eye and brain--hopeless. All of them suffered patiently, but were madly athirst, craving for the hour when the sun should go down and they might get a chance of removal from the awful scene. And yet there were some, wounded too, who bore the long hours with amazing cheeriness. One, shot in the leg, lay on his back, drew forth his home letters, and perused them in the midst of a deadly fusillade. Another, more seriously wounded still, had the audacity to beguile the weary moments by taking a "snap-shot" at General Hart in the act of waving his sword and gesticulating. So much for pluck! After sundown came the moment so longed for by the wretched beings, some of whom were now literally glued to earth in their own gore. But their miseries were not yet at an end. It took some two hours to go three-quarters of a mile in the darkness over the bad ground; there were creeks, and dongas, and boulders everywhere. No lights were allowed. In the jetty obscurity the Samaritans tripped and stumbled. "I was only dropped twice," smiled a wounded youth when he was at last safely borne towards the stretcher-bearers. Others at intervals were brought in soaked with blood and rain, the hot stream and the cold mingling uncannily and to their supreme discomfort. Many who were wounded soon after midday only succeeded in reaching the field-hospital about half-past twelve at night. Some, more pathetic still, did not reach it at all! They had patiently waited till past the need of assistance! Very pathetic were the circumstances attending the fall of Major Childe. It was said that on the previous day he had had forebodings of disaster, so much so that he even begged of his companions, in the event of his death, to put on his grave his chosen quotation, "Is it well with the child? It is well." This dying wish was faithfully carried out. His burial took place on the day after the engagement, Lord Dundonald reading the solemn words of the funeral service. Over his roughly-made grave was placed the gallant officer's name, the date of his death, and the text he had desired to have written on his tomb. On the following day the fight was waged as fiercely as ever so far as artillery was concerned. Six field-batteries and four howitzers bombarded the enemy's position with tremendous vigour, and inflicted considerable loss. The Boer rifles were indefatigable, however, and continued their fiendish activity, and the Dutch or German gunners maintained their excellent practice with scarcely a moment's cessation. While General Woodgate made a demonstration on the right, General Hart and his brigade continued to advance, and General Hildyard's troops joined in the attack from the valley past the right of Bastion Hill. Here a cleft appeared to open between the right and centre of the Boer position, and here the infantry, pushing on, practically divided the position in two; but it was found that the second line of defence was a formidable one; that the Boers had secured to themselves a magnificent point of vantage, whence they could sweep the country and command all the approaches with cross-fire, and even with converging fire; but, in spite of this, the troops tenaciously retained the positions they had gained, remaining there throughout the 22nd and 23rd, partially covered, so that in all their loss was inconsiderable. The following officers were wounded in action near Venter's Spruit on the 20th of January:-- Staff--Colonel B. Hamilton, Major C. M'Grigor. 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers--Captain R. B. Blunt, Second Lieut. M. G. Crofton, Second Lieut. E. I. M. Barret. 1st Border Regiment--Captain E. D. Vaughan, Second Lieut. Muriel. 1st York and Lancaster Regiment--Second Lieut. A. H. Kearsey. 2nd Dublin Fusiliers--Captain C. A. Hensley (since dead), Major F. English. 2nd Gordon Highlanders--Second Lieut. P. D. Stewart. Non-commissioned officers and men, 279. Royal West Surrey Regiment--Second Lieut. Du Buisson. 16th Lancers (Staff)--Captain Dallas. SPION KOP On Tuesday the 23rd, the continuous and steady assault of the Boer position seemed to be reaching a promising climax. For four days on the heights above the Venter Spruit the English and Irish Brigades had been doggedly moving up and on, and had carried one position after another in the teeth of many guns, and in the face of discomforts and discouragements multifarious. They had achieved a great deal with comparatively small loss, viewing the masterly manner in which the Boer guns were served. Fortunately the rifle-fire of the foe was not equal in accuracy to their shell-fire, most probably for the reason that the bucolic Dutchman had lost his ancient cunning in wielding the rifle, while in the management of guns of position he was assisted--nay, relieved, by his German mercenaries. The astonishing dexterity of the Teutonic specialists in planting shells accurately at a range of over 3000 yards was a matter for marvel and admiration. Their success was attributed partly to the fact that the range had previously been marked, and also that spots had been selected over which it was known bodies of troops must eventually pass, and where it was certain every shot must be made to tell. For all that, and considering the cross-fire to which the troops were subjected on the opening days of Sir Charles Warren's attack, the losses were small. A council of war had been held, and three courses had been sifted: first, a frontal attack by night on the second Boer position, possibly attended by terrible loss; second, retirement beyond the river to seek for a new passage; third, attack by night on the mountain of Spion Kop, thence to enfilade and dominate all the Boer positions. [Illustration: TAKING THE 4·7 NAVAL GUN ACROSS THE TUGELA. Drawing by J. Finnemore.] The last course was decided on. Spion Kop was to be attacked by night, the Boer trenches to be scooped out with the point of the bayonet, and the position held till again--by night--guns could be dragged up to assist in commanding the position of the foe. Spion Kop, the extreme left of the Boer position, once fortified, would become a key to the door of Ladysmith. So it was thought. General Woodgate was informed of what was required of him, and Colonel Thorneycroft discussed the programme of the night attack. By his desire, satisfactory reconnaissances had been made, and there was every reason to believe that the attempt would be crowned with success. Accordingly, soon after midnight, General Woodgate, accompanied by Colonel àCourt, started forth with the 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers, the Royal Lancaster Regiment, a portion of Thorneycroft's Horse, and half a company Royal Engineers, supported by two companies of the Connaught Rangers and by the Imperial Light Infantry. In pitch darkness the troops began their march up the southern slope of the giant mountain called Thaba Emunyama. The steeps were precipitous and rocky, and had to be negotiated with extreme care. Dongas were on this side, boulders on that; these had to be crept through and leapt over with stealthy, cat-like tread lest the enemy on the summit should be forewarned. Now and then the whirr of a bullet showed that the Dutchmen were awake, and were indulging in the pastime of sniping; otherwise the still, purple night spoke of peace. Led by General Woodgate and Colonel Blomfield, the Fusiliers (who, being seasoned fighters, were specially selected for the honour of engaging in "ticklish" work) ascended softly, advancing higher and higher in single file and in cautious silence. When more than half-way up, the approaching multitude was discovered, and the Boer picket, firing, fled. But the warrior crowd pressed on, Colonel Thorneycroft now leading the way, firing never a shot, and waiting till the trusty bayonet should teach its lesson. At three o'clock the summit was reached. The rain drizzled down, the clouds wrapt the hill, but the ardour of the troops was unabated. With a wild, ringing cheer, which echoed far over the hills, the position was carried. The force then proceeded to fortify itself so far as was possible in the hard and rocky ground that covered the heights. It must here be noted that, owing to the darkness and the impossibility of judging exact distances, the trenches that were dug were badly situated. Instead of the whole or most part of the triangular tableland of the top, the force occupied merely a cramped position on the extreme point. This point was already marked and commanded by six Boer guns, while on the very hill itself was another hostile weapon. Sneaking around the crust of the kop--on the brim, as it were, while we occupied the crown--were sharpshooters and snipers, who from thence could pelt the northern hump of the slope; but in the dense atmosphere of the early morning these facts were unknown, and the effort, under cover of the darkness, to widen our position and capture the entire triangle was not then made. [Illustration: SKETCH AND PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF SPION KOP. Made on the spot by Lieutenant E. B. Knox of the Royal Army Medical Corps.] While the hazy blue pall of the morning yet hung over the hills the trenches near the crest were occupied. The clouds hung low, and not a Dutchman was to be seen. For some time the troops were protected by the enshrouding mist, but so soon as it cleared, the Boers from their posts opened fire. They realised that the position to them was virtually one of life or death. Ping! ping! rang the rifles in chorus; bong! bong! went the guns, with a deep basso that reverberated in the hollows of the hills. It was an awe-striking reveillé. The hostile artillery had the range to a nicety; each shell followed the other with precision, and burst with terrific uproar on the patch of earthworks held by our infantry. Under this fearful fusillade our men, pelted yet undismayed, faithfully held their ground for two mortal hours. But the shell-fire made horrible gaps in the stalwart company; and by-and-by General Woodgate, who, having captured the position, still continued to direct and encourage his men, was wounded, Colonel Blomfield, of the 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers, took over command, and sent for reinforcements. He also fell. Then, by reason of merit rather than of seniority, Major Thorneycroft, local lieutenant-colonel, was appointed to take the place of the disabled chief. With the rising of the sun, with the development of day, developed the battle. Shrapnel from 15-pounders sprayed hither and thither; lyddite opened out earth-umbrellas far and wide. The roar and the roll of fiends in fury rent the clear, mimosa-scented atmosphere, and made even the bosom of the placid, silvery river shudder and quake as it wound and twisted and looped round Potgieter's Drift. For three and a half hours the tornado pursued its deadly course. Death--mutilation--agony--thirst--these were more prominent than the word glory in that long, immemorial period. Officers and men alike could scarce lift a head lest they should meet the doom that hung over every creature that dared to stand upright in the murderous arena. They crouched, and took cover, and waited. The Boers, seeing their advantage, noting the terrible strain on the men that held the captured trenches, and the dance of death among Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry, also bided their time. With great caution and "slimness" they finally commenced to creep up nearer and nearer, firing the while, and hoping, when things became a shade worse, to rush the position. Unfortunately there were no guns to rout the adventurous crew--not one handy Naval 12-pounder to sweep the enemy from the plateau. There they were, and there they meant to remain. Major-General Coke's brigade had started to get to the scene of action, and before long the Middlesex, Dorset, and Somerset Regiments were moving up the heights to the assistance of the battered regiments above. Major Walters, in charge of the ambulance, was also carrying out his grim, unusually heavy duties, but he, in the midst of his deeds of mercy, was caught by a shot and brought to earth. By this time the glorious Lancashire Fusiliers, who held the captured trenches, had suffered most severely, not only from wounds, but from the agonies of thirst, for which there was no remedy. Their losses were horrible, and so also were those of Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry, and they lay in many cases too far removed for the ambulance-bearers to reach them, and in too exposed a position for help from any around. Indeed, the state of affairs was so lamentable, the Boers forcing their way with such persistency, that the question of holding the hill hung by a thread. Three times before midday had the Dutchmen returned, driven the Britons back, and again been driven back themselves, till the ups and downs of the fight became like a perilous game of see-saw, none daring to prognosticate the conclusion. From noon till the late afternoon the Boers persisted in their desperate efforts to retake the crest of the hill. They evidently regarded the position of so much importance that reinforcements from their right were drawn away to help in the work. But the gallant fellows who were in possession hung doggedly to their prize. "Only a day," they said; "a day's more endurance, and to-morrow we shall mount guns. We shall be rulers of the roost." So they fought on with a will. Fortunately, at this time they had no premonition of impediments to success. The place turned out to be very difficult to hold. Its perimeter was large, and water was exceedingly scarce, and their ammunition, moreover, gave out at a critical period. All these discoveries were gradually and painfully made as the day wore on, but nevertheless they resisted the assaults of the enemy with herculean vigour--with courage that was Spartan. For two hours in the afternoon the scene on the summit of the kop was terrific. A hurricane of shot and shell swept the crest--it became a seething Inferno. Six quick-firing guns, two Hotchkiss guns, and numerous other weapons of more or less deadliness played upon the troops. Maimed and dying were being carried off as fast as possible. General Woodgate, brave as a lion, who had worked like a Trojan till struck down by a piece of shell, refused to leave. Usually a placid man, he was now irrepressible, protesting that he would remain on the field, though his sufferings--since he was shot over the left eye--must have been severe. Reinforcements had now arrived--the Middlesex, Dorsets, and Somersets--the plateau was crowded--overcrowded, some say--and death was taking a full meal. The Boer Maxim-Nordenfeldt, which had done its fell work at Colenso, perambulated from position to position with insatiable greed, preying on the life-blood of our bravest and best, and defying the efforts of our gunners below to locate it. Its work, and the work of the Mausers, lay everywhere--the hill was a shambles. Major Walters, chief of the Natal Volunteer Ambulance, had dropped; his brother, of the 2nd Scottish Rifles, was killed; Captain Murray, of the same regiment, was simply riddled with bullets--he received as many as four, yet persisted in leading on his men till struck down mortally. Colonel Buchanan Riddell, King's Royal Rifles, another hero, was slain later, while directing a flanking movement. The turmoil of those exciting hours was described by an officer:-- "I crawled along a little way with half my company, and then brought up others in the same manner. The men of the different regiments already on the hill were mixed up, and ours met the same fate. It was impossible, under the circumstances, to keep regimental control. One unit merged into another; one officer gave directions to this or that unit, or to another battalion. I saw some tents on the far side of the hill to our front, and knowing the enemy must be there, opened with volleys at 1800 yards, when we saw a puff of smoke, indicating that one of the Boer guns had just fired. We lay prone, and could only venture a volley now and again, firing independently at times when the shower of bullets seemed to fall away, and the shells did not appear likely to land specially amongst us. Everywhere, however, it was practically the same deadly smash of shells, mangling and killing all about us. The only troops actually close to me then were a party of the Lancashire Fusiliers inside a _schanze_, F Company of the Middlesex, and a mixed company of other troops on the left front. A good many shells from the big guns burst near us, and a lance-corporal of the Fusiliers was killed. The only point I could see rifle-fire proceeding from was a trench, the third, I believe, occupied by our troops on the right, and looking towards Spearman's. "Presently I heard a great deal of shouting from this trench, in which were about fifty men. They were calling for reinforcements, and shouting, 'The Boers are coming up.' Two or three minutes afterwards I saw a party of about forty Boers walking towards the trench. They came up quite coolly; most of them had their rifles slung, and all, so far as I could observe, had their hands up. Our men in the trench--they were Fusiliers--were then standing up also, with their hands up, and shouting, 'The Boers are giving in, the Boers are giving in.' I did not know what to think, but ordered a company of my regiment to fix bayonets. We waited to see what would happen. Just then, when the Boers were close to the trench, some one--whether an enemy or one of our men--fired a shot. In an instant there was a general stampede, or rather a _mêlée_, my men rushing from their position and charging, while the Boers fired at the men in the trench, knocking several back into it, dead. Previous to this a Boer came towards me saying, 'I won't hurt you.' He looked frightened, and threw down his rifle. Immediately afterwards the Boer fired, and there was a frightful muddle. I fired at one Boer, and then another passed. We were fighting hand to hand. I shot the Boer in order to help the man, and he dropped, clinging, however, to his rifle as he fell, and covering me most carefully. He fired, and I fell like a rabbit, the bullet going in just over and grazing the left lung. I lay where I fell until midnight. Subsequent to my being hit, parties of Boers passed twice over me, trying on the same trick, holding up their hands, as if they were asking for quarter. But our men refused to be taken in again, and fired, killing or driving them back." In this fight the Dutchmen were unusually obstinate. Over and over again they advanced to within seventy yards of the captured trenches, and from thence were only routed at the point of the bayonet. Their rushes were most valiant and persistent, and nothing but the heroism of officers and men could have withstood the overwhelming nature of the attack made upon them. But dodges with the white flag and other frauds continued to be practised by the Boers. Colonel Thorneycroft escaped merely by an accident from an endeavour to play a trick upon him. The leader of a commando facing Thorneycroft's Horse advanced with a white flag. The Colonel approached to the parley, but being suspicious, he told the leader to go back, as he refused to confer with him. Both retired, but before the Colonel could return to his regiment a volley was poured on him by the enemy. Another and more curious trick was practised on some of the privates. They were approached by an officer in kharki and directed to follow him to a better position. This they began to do till, at last, seeing themselves being led into the jaws of the enemy, they halted, and some one demanded to know who this bogus officer might be. At that moment the party was met by a storm of Boer bullets, and scarcely a man came whole from the adventure. Fortunately, the miscreant--an Austrian--who had played the trick on them was bayoneted ere all our gallant fellows dropped down. Strange, too, was the fate of gallant Colonel Blomfield, whose regiment, one of the smartest of the smart regiments present, had done such splendid work, and had held on to its post to the bitter end. This officer was wounded early in the day, as already recorded, and lay in a trench helpless and fainting for hours and beyond the reach of help. Finally, he was able to crawl out and make his way down the side of the hill--down the _wrong_ side, unluckily for himself--and when next he was heard of he was a prisoner in Pretoria. That his life was saved at all was a marvel. Captain Tidswell, on seeing his Colonel wounded, rushed out with Sergeant Lightfoot and dragged him under a heavy fire into a trench, where he remained till the action was over. [Illustration: PLAN OF ENGAGEMENT AT SPION KOP.] During the early part of the day the Scottish Rifles and the 3rd Battalion of the King's Royal Rifles had been sent off to storm the kopjes forming an extension of Spion Kop, and thus occupy the enemy and relieve the pressure of his attack. The river was forded at Kaffir Drift by Colonel Buchanan Riddell's troops, and soon after the battalion divided, half being led by the Colonel to the right, and half under Major Bewicke-Copley advancing to the left, of the objective. The enemy was everywhere--at the base of the kopjes and in the trenches up the sides. Still the troops advanced. The Dutchmen were shifted upwards inch by inch from their defences. The best cold Sheffield glittered near the trenches, and--the trenches were vacated! Up and up moved the Boers, on and on went the Rifles--on and up, rushing wildly, gallantly, charging and cheering, and finally gaining the crest! Meanwhile the Scottish Rifles had advanced on Spion Kop. Nothing could exceed the smartness with which they scaled the steeps. They marched straight to the front firing line, and, in a word, saved the situation. No sooner did the enemy show his nose than the Scottish Rifles held him in check, and over and over again showed him that British tenacity was equal to both Boer stubbornness and slimness combined. The enemy could make no headway against them. But the gallant action of the King's Royal Rifles was one of the grand deeds that end in the ineffectual. The battalion in its triumph had pressed the Boers upwards, but on doing so became practically isolated. The Boers were above and between them and our own troops, and as a result of its too forward movement the regiment stood in peril. Seeing their position of jeopardy, orders were sent up to retire. It was disgusting, heart-breaking, but it had to be done. The glorious company, after capturing two positions, slowly, reluctantly, moved down the hill they had ascended in the flush of triumph--moved again to their bivouac, sadder and wiser men. But they were only the first of many sad and sorry men that day. Meanwhile the battle on the great hill raged continuously, and shells, not alone those of the enemy, but those of our own guns which had attempted to assist, made the crowded kop a "veritable hell." [Illustration: GOING OUT TO THE ATTACK ON SPION KOP ON JANUARY 24. Drawing by R. Caton Woodville.] Presently, in the late afternoon a still more serious situation presented itself. Water, always scarce, threatened to run short altogether. Ammunition failed. A more appalling quandary in the drama of war can scarcely be imagined. Fortunately, to the relief of the plucky band on the heights, at last came a mule-train with much-desired water and cartridges, and the fight was pursued in more auspicious circumstances. But the Boer guns lost none of their persistency. Shells hurtled over the plateau, and as dusk set in, regiments and battalions and such officers as were left were mixed up in a surging, stumbling _mêlée_, wounded men firing last shots at the darkness, and hale ones dropping helpless as the blaze from the bursting projectiles showed, for one moment, the scene of agony. When night made further activity impossible the position of affairs came under discussion. Was this sorry game worth the vast, the costly candle that was being expended--that yet might have to be expended? One commanding officer said "Yes!" another said "No!" It is stated that the decision rested with Colonel Crofton. He argued in favour of withdrawal. The troops were terribly mauled; the dead lay in crowds, a ghastly testimony of their impetuous courage. It had been found impossible to secure good cover against the enemy's shrapnel and venomous, unceasing quick-firers. There had scarcely been time for the raking of rifle-pits, the construction of stone defences--the guns of the foe had been too active and unceasing--and besides this, the troops were unaccustomed to the sly art of crouching to cover. While the Colonial crawled like a stalker along dongas and through gulleys to get at his quarry, the hardy Briton always exposed himself as though pluck demanded that he should make a mark of himself. As some one at the time expressed it, "Their courage is incontestable, their methods absurd." For this reason many of the trenches that our soldiers had so grandly defended became in the end their graves. The number of slain was appalling to see. The flower of the country lay struck down as the grass beneath the scythe of the reaper. It was a harvest of blood. The dead lay literally in stacks, the sole protection of their living comrades. Crowds upon crowds had pressed to the top of the great hill, offering a thick, compact front to the guns of the enemy, an imposing target to the horrible shells that merely breathed death as they passed. Liberally as the brigades exposed themselves, liberally they paid the penalty. Late in the evening, guns--Naval guns and a battery--toiled towards the scene, rattling along through the night air to get into position for the morrow, and take revenge, though late, on the devastating "pom-poms" of the foe. But the die was cast. The withdrawal had begun. At 7.30 P.M. Colonel Thorneycroft gave the word. Slowly and in confused fashion the shattered braves began to wind downwards, and by nine the summit of the hill was almost deserted. Pitiable were the circumstances of the retirement. The wounded, with staggering footsteps, crawled or crept down the mountain-side, reeling from loss of blood and exhaustion. Streams of officers and knots of men scrambled along calling for their units and finding them not. Drowsy, stupefied beings stumbled through dongas and broke their ankles against boulders, trying before they dropped to come in touch with their fellow-men. Many wandered aimlessly, twining the hill and passing over it into the hands of the enemy. Battalion was mixed with battalion, company with company. Dazed men searched in vain for the rendezvous. Some cursed, some swore, some slept or seemed to sleep. One commanding officer sat helplessly on the spur of the hill, staring like a somnambulist, deaf to all consciousness of the outer world; another, lying among the trenches, was given up for dead. The losses were terrific. The Royal Engineers, in some cases, were riddled with bullets. Major Massey died covered with wounds. Lieutenant Falcon, 17th Company, had arms, legs, knees, and helmet perforated with lead. In fact, no one has been able very clearly to describe in its hideous reality the awful picture of the battle of Spion Kop. A great holocaust some called it, and with truth, for the mountain from morn till night was literally scourged with lead, raked in all directions by Maxim-Nordenfeldts, artillery, and musketry. The tale is only writ in the wounds and on the graves of those who by a miracle took the summit, and by sheer grit held it in the face of overwhelming odds. Over a thousand men gave their lives to gain that which, in twenty hours--hours each one crowded with moments of heroism--had to be abandoned. The evacuation was carried out by order of Colonel Thorneycroft, one of the most valiant of the many valiant men who went up only to come down again. The excellence of his reasons was acknowledged, and his personal valour was beyond dispute. His authority for action was the sole source of debate. A military correspondent of the _Daily Telegraph_ related an incident of the fight which served to show what manner of commander had taken the place made vacant by the wounding of General Woodgate. Some men, about a score, who had lost their officers, threw down their arms to surrender, but Thorneycroft, seeing the act, rushed out to the front and called to the Boers to go on firing, for he commanded on the hill, and he alone would give the word to surrender. The Boers promptly responded. The officer went on to say, "Luckily a fresh regiment arrived at our side and restored the battle, but Thorneycroft undoubtedly saved a dreadful disaster by conduct so gallant that it recalls the old story of _Messieurs de la Garde Française, tirez_." Acts of gallantry were so numerous that V.C.'s were surely earned by the dozen. Lieutenant Mallock's devotion to duty was remarkable, and all regretted his loss. Captain Stewart, who also lost his life, assisted in maintaining the high traditions of the 20th Regiment. The King's Royal Rifles lost three officers killed and five wounded. Their Colonel, the bravest of the brave, was hit while in the act of leading the regiment up the steeps. He rose for one instant to read a message and was shot through the brain. The commanders of three leading companies were all wounded. Colonel Thorneycroft was injured, Captain the Hon. J. H. Petre, though twice struck, held on to his duty till another bullet laid him low. Captain O'Gowan was hit in two places, and Lieutenant Lockwood in four, as also was Captain Murray of the Scottish Rifles while attempting to lead his men towards the Boer trenches. Death claimed this splendid officer before the end of the day. Captain Walter was killed by a shell. Curious stories were told of the behaviour of the Boers to the Colonial soldiers, stories which were hardly creditable to the Dutchmen. What their deadly missiles had failed to do the Boers themselves accomplished. They clubbed some unfortunates to death. These were Uitlanders, or suspected of being such. The correspondent of the _Daily Telegraph_ gave the names of two men slaughtered in this way--Corporal Weldon and Private Daddon, ex-Pretoria men! In addition to this brutality, explosive bullets in quantities were used. A drummer and a private of the Fusiliers were both killed by them. It was said that the quantity of losses sustained by Thorneycroft's, the Imperial Light Horse, and other South African "Irregulars" was due to special spite owing to a suspicion on the part of the Boers that these regiments might have been recruited from Uitlanders. This charge was so generally believed that many of the "Regulars" came to the assistance of the Colonials, transferring to them their badges in order to save them from the consequences of discovery; for it was distinctly stated that cases had occurred where the Boers deliberately shot the wounded whom they knew to be Colonials. So as to be thoroughly impartial, however, we must remember that there are blood-thirsty villains of all nationalities in times of peace as well as in times of war. Next morning, General Buller, riding to the scene of action, then, and then only, became acquainted with the decisive move, the abandonment of Spion Kop. His astonishment was great--so was that of the Boers. Some said that the foe had already begun trekking, believing, in spite of their stout resistance, that the position was lost. Others argued that any trekking that they might have attempted meant merely a manoeuvre consistent with their mobility to entice the British farther on into a trap from whence they could not have escaped. Be this as it may, a man of immense courage gave the order to withdraw, and he had his reasons, which reasons proved satisfactory to the Chief. [Illustration: THE SCENE ON SPION KOP--MAJOR THORNEYCROFT'S DESPERATE SITUATION. Drawing by Frank Craig from a Sketch by a British Officer.] On the 25th the battle dragged on, the artillery barking and rifles snapping at each other, while the transport slowly prepared to retrace its winding way whither it had come, across the Tugela. The most gallant and perhaps the most melancholy feature of the war was at an end. General Warren's right flanking movement had failed, and the Commander-in-Chief decided that there was no alternative but to again concentrate in the neighbourhood of Potgieter's Drift. The movement was conducted, under the personal direction of General Buller, with admirable precision and skill, and though there were weary and disgusted hearts among the bitterly disappointed troops, they bore their trial with dignity. The return was orderly, and no further misfortune happened. The enemy made no attempt to interfere. They, too, though successful in their defence, were hard hit. The following casualty list represents the cost of the great flanking movement:-- _Killed_:--Staff--Captain Virtue, Brigade-Major. 3rd King's Royal Rifles--Lieut.-Colonel Buchanan Riddell, Lieutenant R. Grand, Second Lieutenant French-Brewster. 2nd Cameronians--Captain F. Murray, Captain Walter, Lieutenant Osborne. 17th Company Royal Engineers--Major Massey. 2nd King's Royal Rifles--Lieutenant Pope Wolferstan. 1st South Lancashire--Captain Birch. 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers--Captain Stewart, Lieutenant J. Mallock, Lieutenant Fraser. Imperial Light Horse--Lieutenant Rudall, Lieutenant Kynock. 2nd Middlesex Regiment--Captain Muriel, Second Lieutenant Lawley, Second Lieutenant Wilson. 2nd Lancaster Regiment--Major Ross, Captain Kirk, Lieutenant Wade. Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry--Captain Hon. W. Petre, Captain Knox-Gore, Lieutenant Grenfell, Lieutenant Newnham, Lieutenant M'Corqudale, Lieutenant Hon. Hill-Trevor. South African Light Horse--Major Childe. 2nd West York--Captain Ryall. _Wounded_:--Staff--Major-General Sir E. Woodgate[5] (since dead), Captain Castleton, A.D.C. 3rd King's Royal Rifles--Major Thistlethwayte, Major Kays, Captain Beaumont, Captain Briscoe. 2nd Cameronians--Major S. P. Strong, Major Ellis, Captain Wanless-O'Gowan, Lieutenant H. V. Lockwood, Second Lieutenant O. M. Torkington, Second Lieutenant F. G. W. Draffen. Indian Staff Corps--Major Bayly. Bethune's Horse--Captain Ford. 17th Company Royal Engineers--Lieutenant Falcon. 1st South Lancashire--Lieutenant Raphael. 1st Border Regiment--Captain Sinclair-M'Lagan, Second Lieutenant Andrews. 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers--Lieut.-Colonel Blomfield (taken prisoner), Major Walter, Lieutenant Griffin, Lieutenant Wilson, Lieutenant Charlton. Royal Engineers--Captain Phillips. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers--Captain Maclachlan. 2nd West York--Lieutenant Barlow. 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers--Captain Wolley-Dod, Captain White, Captain Ormond, Lieutenant Campbell. 1st York and Lancaster--Lieutenant Halford, Lieutenant Duckworth. 2nd West Surrey--Captain Raitt (since dead), Captain Warden, Lieutenant Smith, Lieutenant Wedd. 2nd Middlesex Regiment--Major Scott-Moncrieff, Captain Savile, Captain Burton, Second Lieutenant Bentley. 2nd Lancaster Regiment--Captain Sandbach, Lieutenant Dykes, Lieutenant Stephens, Second Lieutenant Nixon. Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry--Captain Bettington, Lieutenant Foster, Lieutenant Baldwin, Lieutenant Howard. _Missing_:--2nd Lancashire Fusiliers--Captain Elmslie (taken prisoner), Captain Hicks, Captain Freeth. 2nd Middlesex Regiment--Lieutenant Galbraith. 2nd Lancaster Regiment--Major Carleton. Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry--Lieutenant Power-Ellis. THE THIRD GREAT EFFORT--VAAL KRANTZ At this time it seemed as though the word "As you were" had been spoken by the military authorities. But it was, alas! no longer possible to believe that the position was as it had been; for it was now a case of melancholy experience plus previous melancholy experience. Nearly six weeks before, the great frontal attack at Colenso had failed--failed partly by reason of the tremendous strategical position taken up by the Boers, with the river Tugela as a natural moat for its protection, and partly on account of the disaster to the guns, which completely upturned the plan of Sir Redvers Buller's calculations. Now a great flank movement had been attempted, and had failed as signally as the first frontal effort. It was really discovered that a flanking movement, truly interpreted, was impossible, for there is no flank to a circle, and the Boer lines were found to be equally strong all round from Colenso to Ladysmith. This horrible discovery naturally made the situation very grave indeed. The effect on the garrison of Ladysmith--the terrible rebound from delighted anticipation to amazed despair--may be partly imagined. None, indeed, save those who had so valiantly endured the terrible changes in the barometer of expectation could entirely gauge the sensitivity of those ill-fed, debilitated thousands, ravaged by disease, privation, and warfare, who hung oscillating day after day between salvation and destruction. They now knew that their saviours, Sir Charles Warren and his force, were withdrawn to the south of the Tugela. This was done because the river forms a species of natural rampart, beyond which the country--a species of South African Switzerland--offered no facilities to an attacking force. It was found that the Boers had carefully fortified every position already well formed by nature for purposes of defence. It was the same as Colenso. The theatre of war was margined by fortifications, regular galleries, rising tier upon tier on originally favourable positions. The opportunity to occupy these favourable positions the Boers owed entirely to us--to the procrastination and pacific tendencies of the British Government. It was now owned that Sir Alfred Milner should have gone to the Conference with a forest of rifles at his back, an army of mounted Colonials at his elbows, and some big guns "up his sleeve." As it was, while he talked and the Government spent its money on telegraphic palaver, the Boers, assisted by their German mercenaries, were marking out the choicest positions, not for their own defence, but for the defence of Natal (which they were allowed time to seize) against the "magnanimous" Briton. Yes, the Boers from the beginning had decided to talk the British into delay, and had profited gloriously by their strategy. In our first volume, a letter on "Boer ignorance" candidly showed the Dutchman's hand--too late, of course, for then the trick was bound to be taken. The Dutchmen conferred with Sir Alfred Milner to suit their own ends and to further their main objects; firstly, to keep the war outside their own territories, and secondly, to confine it to soil that, geographically and by a species of hereditary instinct, they knew to perfection. They, boy and man, loved those kopjes. In those semi-circular windings, those almost inaccessible peaks and cones, those boulders which afforded eternal cover to the sniper, those vast arenas of open veldt where an approaching enemy might be stormed upon by a deluge of leaden hail--they had mentally played hide-and-seek for eighteen years. Now the reality of the game was come. From the early days when Sir Harry Smith found them prospecting the fair land of Natal, they had learnt its intimate geography. We, to whom the fair land belonged, had barely heard of the Tugela or the region around it. To us it was superficially known only at the cost of dire experience. The Boers had been aware that the British advance northwards through the Free State would lie across flat fair country, and knowing this, had decided that during the month taken to land the British army they must take up their positions beyond and around it; and so excellent was their cunning, so amicably pacific the temper of the British nation, that they were enabled to follow their strategic programme in its entirety, and plant themselves in firmly rooted masses to await our arrival! The problem of how to dislodge them and how to relieve Ladysmith was once more staring Sir Redvers Buller in the face with hard and unbending austerity. According to military experts, who viewed the plan of campaign with dispassionate eyes, the fate of Ladysmith should have been left out of the calculations. The troops should have been massed to a common centre and at the south, and from thence boldly advanced into the Free State. But against that opinion was the picture of the noble ten thousand inside a beleaguered town, a grand British multitude, who had been kept for months hoping against hope, fighting bravely, and praying of the Almighty to hasten the hour of their deliverance. They could not be left. While he had men and guns the General felt he must go on. But how? Certainly not by the newer route. The recapture of Spion Kop was decided to be impracticable, and the force remained stationary south of the Tugela while the complicated situation was reviewed. The General, whatever his misfortunes, had lost none of the confidence of his troops. As he himself said of them, "The men were splendid." They were disgusted at being a second time defeated without being beaten, and disappointed at again being forced back from the road to Ladysmith; but their steadfast faith in their chief was unalterable. Sir Redvers Buller again addressed his warriors, promising them they should be in Ladysmith soon, and the men, Britons to the core, again said in their hearts, "We shall." To replace 1600 killed and wounded in the late actions, drafts of 2400 men had now arrived. A mountain battery, A Battery R.H.A., and two fortress guns had strengthened the artillery, while two squadrons of the 14th Hussars had been added to the cavalry, thus bringing the strength of the force to 1000 more than the number which had started for Spion Kop. This was an imposing increase, but its value at the present time was much less than it would have been had Sir Redvers Buller originally taken the field with a proper complement of men and guns. "To do the thing handsomely we want 150,000 men," a tactician declared at the onset; but nobody heeded him, and in consequence of this heedlessness the complications in Natal had arisen. "However," as a military officer expressed it, "there was not a sore head nor a timid heart in Buller's army. As we lie in our bivouacs at night, the Southern Cross and a thousand constellations watching over our slumbers, we dream of the Angel of Victory, and in our dreams we hear the flapping of her wings." The optimism of the army was undiminished. There was no doubt whatever that they would relieve Ladysmith, but the when and the how remained as yet unsolved. The troops had not yet sustained actual defeat at the hands of the Boers, and, while our losses could be replaced, and _were_ being replaced, the recuperative power of the Boers was nil. Indeed it was stated that they had come to the end of their resources, and that they were already forcing Kaffirs to fight for them in the trenches. Later on it was discovered that females even--true to the ancient sporting instinct of the Boer woman--were lending a hand in the management of the rifle. At last, after some days of deliberation, a third great attempt to reach the imprisoned multitude in Ladysmith was planned out. A week of waiting and then a new advance was decided on. Seventy guns drew up in line on the hills to prepare the way for another gigantic move. This time Sir Redvers Buller's plan was to occupy a hill called Vaal Krantz and get forward between Spion Kop and the Doorn Kloof ranges. But after a very short yet valorous essay, it was discovered that there were veritably cannon to right of them, cannon to left of them. The Boers commanded the hills on either side the road through which the troops must pass. Not only were there guns on both sides, but these Krupps and Creusot cannon far outranged anything that our artillery could bring to bear on them. The Naval guns alone were capable of not only barking but biting, and these three were not enough to meet the formidable array of the Republicans. [Illustration: PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF VAAL KRANTZ] On the 5th of February, however, the gallant attempt was made. The cavalry moved forward about 6 A.M.--one brigade under Colonel Burn-Murdoch advanced to the right below Swartz Kop, the Colonials under Lord Dundonald kept nearer to Potgieter's Drift, Sir Charles Warren with one brigade remained west of Mount Alice in a position commanding the road leading to Potgieter's Drift. The Naval guns meanwhile came into action, shelling the Boer positions, dongas, and trenches, and every imaginable hiding-place with immense energy, but with little result. The Boers in their trenches were quiet, as usual reserving themselves for an effective outburst later on. Meanwhile the Lancashire Brigade (now under Colonel Wynne) were advancing in skirmishing order to the tune of the mighty orchestra, while above an officer of sappers in the balloon spied out the Boer haunts, and directed accordingly. By nine o'clock pandemonium was unloosed--lyddite bellowed, shrapnel clattered over the whole fortified face of Brakfontein, while the infantry steadily moved on. Presently from dongas and trenches, at ranges of 1000 yards and less, came the crackling of rifles, to which our troops responded by volleys now and again. Between these volleys they proceeded steadily, regardless of the uproar and the fell work of the eternally active sniper. [Illustration: CYCLISTS--LANCASHIRE FUSILIERS. Photo by Gregory & Co., London.] While this feint attack was taking place on the left before the now flaming ridges of Brakfontein, a real and vigorous move was being made on the extreme right for the purpose of carrying the crest of Vaal Krantz, which was then thought to be the key to the direct road to Ladysmith, and was not very strongly fortified by the Dutchmen. The Royal Engineers with immense energy set to work laying a pontoon bridge across the treacherous depths in the direction of Skiet's Drift, an operation which had to be performed with infinite patience and pluck, as the Boers were no sooner aware of their activities than they plied their Mausers with a will. This crossing-place, styled Munger's Ford, now attracted the attention of the whole Boer artillery, and the "pom-poms" and 40-pounders of the enemy contrived to render the locality anything but an enviable place of rendezvous. Our pieces, from their hiding-place among the trees in the neighbourhood of Swartz Kop, soon bombarded the Boer position with equal activity. By ten o'clock the bridge had been thrown across the river, and General Lyttelton and his troops were preparing for the assault of Vaal Krantz. The artillery now made its finishing demonstration before Brakfontein, there being no necessity--now that the troops had come successfully across the pontoon bridge--for a continuation of the feint attack. For this reason the Lancashire Brigade was now ordered to retire. The gallant fellows, having done what was required of them, marched back in excellent order to their original position. All this while shells were shrieking, lyddite was bursting, and musketry crackling, till the whole earth seemed riven with an enormous convulsion. The gunners had some terrific experiences, and nobly, in a truly alarming position, they comported themselves. They were on low ground, exposed without shelter to the Boer works, which dominated the plain; yet they pursued their labours with unerring care and intelligence that was truly remarkable. Shell plumped in their midst, under the limbers, over the guns, above their heads, round their feet. They stuck to their duty. Horses dropped and shrieked in their agony, gunners fell shot through the heart and were carried away. Loudly the vociferous chorus of death went on, steadily the gunners took their share of the fearful drama of destruction. To show the vast amount of "grit" that these gunners could boast, an incident of the day must be recorded. About noon the batteries were ordered to approach nearer to Vaal Krantz and prepare the way for the infantry assault. The guns, ever under a scathing fire, moved off in due order to take up the fresh position on the right facing Vaal Krantz. Finally they came to the last waggon, an ammunition waggon belonging to the 78th Battery R.A., which was horseless. The team had been wiped off by the enemy. Nevertheless the gunners put their shoulders to the wheel, and, with a mighty effort, rolled the machine straight through the fiery hurricane to a place of safety! The conduct of the Jack Tars also stuck another feather in their already well-decorated caps. While the new balloon made its descent it became an object of attention, and was saluted vigorously by the enemy. Nevertheless the sailors stuck to their work, held the basket, took possession of the truculent aërial vessel, and marched off with it under a galling fire. By-and-by, when Vaal Krantz had been thoroughly searched and swept by the British batteries, and the snipers from the base of Doorn Kloof had been partially reduced to silence by the joint efforts of the artillery and Hildyard's Brigade, Lyttelton's gallant band began to move off from the direction of Munger's Farm on the road to Vaal Krantz. It was now the early afternoon, but from all sides the deadly missiles of the enemy still bellowed and hooted. Still the Durham Light Infantry, with the 3rd King's Royal Rifles on their right, pushed steadily on--forward from the river and up the precipitous broken face of the hill. Cheering, they went, clambering and leaping, and whether it was the menacing roar, or the suggestion it gave of coming steel that stirred them, certain it was that few of the foe remained to meet the charge. The Boers saw them--heard them--gauged the meaning of the lusty British cheer--and bolted. Scarcely any elected to fall victim to the bayonet. Those who were there threw up their hands and appealed for mercy. These were promptly made prisoners, and the British, for the time being, reigned supreme on the hill. But their reign had its discomforts. Dutchmen crowded the ground, west, east, and north of them, dosing them liberally with lead from their rifles, while their position was perpetually pounded by the big guns of the enemy. These, vomiting on the eastern slopes of the hill, set fire to the grass and added to the discomforts of the position by surrounding it with appalling fumes, which choked and blinded, and destroyed the view of the Dutchmen's haunts. Nevertheless, the kopje once gained, the men rushed along the crest and entrenched themselves in a spot that looked as though it had been overtaken by a prairie fire. Our shells had effectually cleared the grass and scrub. The gunners from the surrounding kopjes kept a sharp lookout, firing at the Boers as they brought up their guns from all directions, while General Lyttelton maintained his ground. Meanwhile efforts were made to get the batteries forward to the hill, but the task was a difficult one, and the position was strengthened and enlarged in order to assist in the accomplishment of the desired object. Until guns could be mounted and made to defy the active aggression of the "pom-poms," Creusots, and other deadly weapons of the enemy, there could be no hope of getting the troops and their baggage through to Ladysmith. At this time an obstinate effort to gain lost ground was made by the Republicans, but owing to the doughty resistance of the Scottish Rifles and the King's Royal Rifles, the attempt to dislodge them entirely failed. Towards seven o'clock a drizzling rain and darkness descended. The troops which had gathered together between Swartz Kop, Munger's Drift, and the newly acquired hill were forced to bivouac where they were for the night, Sir Redvers Buller and his staff remaining on the field with the men. At dawn on the 6th of February the Boers resumed their activity. Long Tom--the first to awake--with his big black snout snorted sonorously. Bang went a hundred-pound shell across the plain--helter-skelter flew the British Tommies, who were enjoying their morning tea, and crash and splash went their delicious brew. Fortunately no serious harm was done. A few horses were killed. But after this began an artillery duel of vigorous nature. This was chiefly directed against General Lyttelton's troops on Vaal Krantz. The Boers seemed everywhere, more ubiquitous than usual. From the lower crests of Spion Kop, from the peak of Doorn Kloof, from the mountains commanding the road to Ladysmith, flame vomited, and lead and steel and powder spouted and spluttered. The fact was that during the night the Boers, in order to proceed with the work of defence, had set fire to more grass in the neighbourhood of the British position, and utilised the illumination for the transfer of their guns from one place to another. Early, therefore, they were enabled to greet the camp with the roar of a Creusot gun and other weapons from all quarters playing upon the position. Shells burst everywhere, some even reaching headquarters. It was said that Buller, the imperturbable, welcomed them. Certainly his Spartan-like disregard of danger was remarkable, and was responsible for the superb nonchalance of those who served under him. Still, with his courage he displayed caution, the caution that only a courageous man would dare to display. He decided later on that his move was impracticable, that more lives should not be spent in futile effort. Of this anon. While the Creusots and Krupps pounded the hill, the Boers strove their uttermost to regain their hold on the lost position. Meanwhile the Naval guns rumbled and rampaged, ammunition waggons blew up, earthquakes filled the clear blue atmosphere with avalanches of dust, and one of the enemy's cherished weapons on Spion Kop was knocked clean out of action. Late in the afternoon, the worn-out troops of Lyttelton's Brigade were relieved by Hildyard's men, who came in from a violent night-attack by the enemy. This in their usual gallant style was repelled by the East Surrey and the West Yorks--the veteran West Yorks, who had learned not a little from Beacon Hill onwards. On Wednesday the firing grew terrific. More guns were brought up, seemingly from the bowels of the earth; they were posted everywhere--another 6-inch Creusot gun, Maxim cannons, two 30-pounders, three "pom-poms," in addition to the death-dealing weapons of the previous day. Shells hurtled and burst on hill and dale, mountain and valley, smoke, flame, and dust spouted forth, making the atmosphere dense, torrid, and fearsome. Still Hildyard's dauntless brigade held their ground unflinchingly, while the Naval guns strove bravely, but strove in vain, to tackle the great snorting crew of the opposition. It seemed as though the advance must be accomplished not merely through a zone, but a sheath of fire, for the road to Ladysmith was barred from end to end, a sheer _cul-de-sac_, with flame and death for its lining. Our troops during the whole day hung tenaciously to Vaal Krantz, while the Dutchmen obstinately challenged their right to be there. But nothing appreciable was achieved, and evacuation seemed the wiser and more profitable course to pursue. By this time it began to be recognised that the strategic value of Vaal Krantz for turning the Brakfontein position had been over-estimated, and that an advance would necessitate the routing of the Boers from Brakfontein and the taking and holding of Doorn Kloof, if our communications through the valley were to be maintained. There was no glory in trying to proceed in the teeth--nay, into the jaws--of so overpowering a foe, a foe who was on the eve of outflanking us. It would have been walking into a fiery furnace--into the pocket of hell. Another council of war took place. Retirement was suggested. General Hart, as distinguished for valour as General Lyttelton for brave discretion, proposed the storming of Doorn Kop. He and his were ready for everything: he had Ireland at his back. But Pat was not to be thrown away on an impossible undertaking, and consequently the majority had their way, and the retirement was effected. On Friday the whole glorious persevering band were again across the Tugela, preparing to strike out in a fresh direction. [Illustration: FALLS ON THE TUGELA RIVER. Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.] The following is the list of casualties between the 5th and 7th of February:-- _Killed_:--1st Durham Light Infantry--Major Johnson Smith; Second Lieutenant Shafto. _Wounded_:--1st Durham Light Infantry--Lieut.-Colonel Fitzgerald; Captain Lascelles; Second Lieutenant Lambton; Second Lieutenant Appleby. 1st Rifle Brigade--Captain Thorp; Captain Talbot; Lieutenant Blewitt; Lieutenant Ellis; Lieutenant Sir T. Cunninghame, Bart. 3rd King's Royal Rifles--Lieutenant Sims. Royal Artillery--Lieut.-Colonel Montgomery, Captain Dawson, 78th Battery R.F.A. 2nd Scottish Rifles--Second Lieutenant Ferrars. 2nd West Yorkshire--Second Lieutenant Bicknell. 2nd East Surrey--Captain White. R.A.M.C., Major Rose. DISAPPOINTMENT AT LADYSMITH The fearful and ghastly activity of the 6th of January ceased with dusk. Night descended: she came softly as the footsteps of angels moving lightly among the tranquil dead. The moon, with pale white serenity, looked down on the scene of carnage, so still, so appallingly still; and the dots of twinkling stars seemed like a thousand eyes of heaven, seeing and inquiring how the face of the fair earth could grow so changed within a day. And everywhere there moved leaden hearts and feet weary with the long strain of foregone hours. Hunger, exposure, and long vigils had become a daily routine, but this close and sustained attack, and the terrible havoc it had wrought on the weakening numbers, brought with it new alarms. True, the bayonet, the trusty bayonet, had served its turn, and might serve again, so long as strength would hold out. But there were doubts. The Russian general Suvaroff once said, "The ball is a fool, but the bayonet is a brick." He took it for granted that the bayonet even must needs have a man, and not the ghost of a man, at the back of it; and the poor heroes in Ladysmith were fast becoming shadows of the hale and muscular fellows who had scaled the steeps of Talana Hill and broken the echoes of Elandslaagte with the yell of victory. Sadly and solemnly they now set themselves to the pathetic work of removing the slain. On the 7th of January one of the Boer medical officers rode in under a Red Cross flag, requesting the burial of the British dead. A party started to fulfil this sad office, and while they wandered about picking up the melancholy mutilated forms, the Boers assisted in the task, and in some cases helped to dig the graves and carry the slain; conversing the while with such perfect amity, that it was almost impossible to believe they were deadly foes. Deeply pathetic was the reading of the solemn burial service by the commanding officer, for Britons and Boers stood side by side, and one of the latter, moving apart, uttered a short prayer that the war would soon be at an end. This was followed by the singing of a hymn in Dutch, a quaint, simple, earnest solemnity, which was vastly touching to all. The curious blend of courage and pleasantness, of trickery and barbarity, in the Boer character has been remarked upon before. It was never more displayed than in the dealings of the Boers around Ladysmith. On one day they would shell an hospital, or rather the Town Hall, knowing it to serve as an hospital; on another they would treat the wounded with almost brotherly consideration. For instance, one man in the 19th Hussars, who was wounded on January 6, and subsequently taken prisoner, gave a refreshing account of Boer manners. Though shot in the arm, he remained at his post till dark, and then in the gloom mistook his way to camp and wandered down the wrong side of the hill. He was captured and detained till morning, while his wound was dressed and cared for. Then he was sent back to camp armed with a tin of jam and a box of chocolate! A somewhat similar experience was related by another man, one of the Gordons, who was wounded and taken prisoner on Waggon Hill early in the morning, and was removed in charge of an old Boer to a place of safety half-way down the slope. From here he subsequently escaped. In the _mêlée_ that followed the Devons' charge across the plateau in the thick of the hailstorm, the Boers, shouting in Dutch that the rooineks were upon them, stampeded, and consequently the prisoner was left to his own devices. He thereupon rejoined the troops. [Illustration: BRITISH 7-POUNDER FIELD-GUN.] The Boers in the fight had been animated by unusual confidence. They had seemed assured of victory. Their demeanour was cool and deliberate, some of them doing an hour's firing while others put in a half-hour's nap under cover of the rocks. All their preparations were made with a view to spending Sunday in Ladysmith, and their tents were ready to be pitched immediately they had obtained possession of the ridge. They, in fact, firmly believed that they would make a repetition of Majuba, and it was noticed that their tactics were identical with those observed on that tragic occasion. Curiously enough, an exceedingly interesting relic of Majuba came to hand. A rifle bearing the mark "Majuba" and the name of the 58th Regiment was found on an old Boer. It had evidently been captured on the fatal day when Colley fell. Much regret was felt for the loss of Lord Ava, one of the cheeriest of soldiers and most handsome and brilliant of men. He had served with the 17th Lancers, and had also cast in his lot with the irregulars in South Africa under Methuen. He was essentially a sporting and a romantic figure in all circles of London society, having resuscitated the fortunes of Ranelagh and engaged himself actively in plans and projects for the brightening of social life. He was moreover a general favourite, and sympathy with Lord Dufferin on the loss of his promising heir was great. Now that the rivers were flooded the service of native runners was precarious, and less than ever was known of the outside world. But the Boers were seen to be in active movement on the distant hills, and there was a very general belief that the quiet that was enjoyed was due to some advance movement on the part of General Buller that was demanding the attention of the Dutchmen. This belief was confirmed by the sight of two machine-guns which were being galloped off post-haste to a destination unknown. Since Christmas the prices had gone up. Eggs by the middle of January were worth 19s. a dozen, and jam cost 6s. 6d. a tin. Condensed milk was sold for 10s. a tin, other things, particularly medicines, were becoming priceless. An appalling apathy almost approaching despair had settled on the community. It was going on for three months since they had been shut off from the outside world, during which their losses had exceeded 1500 in slain, wounded, and missing, yet they were no nearer release. Indeed, each began to wonder whether death or Sir Redvers Buller's force would reach them first. One month after another passed, and with them, precious lives, yet little fuss was made, for death was a common visitor. Much regret was felt at the loss on the 15th of the brilliant author and correspondent of the _Daily Mail_, Mr. G. W. Steevens. His was a young career, rich in promise. But death is a connoisseur--he chooses the best. Only a few days before, Mr. Mitchell, sub-editor of the _Johannesburg Star_, and Lieutenant Stabb (Naval Reserve) of the _Times of India_, had been carried off by enteric fever; while young Ferrand, sometime a correspondent of the _Morning Post_ and a trooper of the Light Horse, fell in action on the 6th. [Illustration: THE SIEGE OF LADYSMITH, JAN. 1900. VIEW FROM BULWANA HILL. From a sketch by George Lynch, War Correspondent. The hospital train is here shown on its way to Intombi Camp with its daily load of sick and wounded.] But soon a change came. Sounds of unusual guns reached their ears--ears now well attuned to all the surrounding noises. Though news by heliogram came slowly and at long intervals, all were conscious that something was afloat. They were soon wild with excitement and anticipation. Not only could Sir George White's garrison hear the distant thunder of the guns of the relieving column, a sound which made heavenly music to their ears, but from the lookout posts on the heights held by them they could occasionally see the bursting of the shells fired by the Naval guns from the region of Potgieter's Drift. The attention of the investing force was now distracted; the Dutchmen were concentrating their energies to repel the movement of the British troops on the Upper Tugela, and continued to send reinforcements westward to meet the demand on their resources there. But they strengthened their works on the north of the town, added some more howitzers and fired a few shells by way of introduction. [Illustration: LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR CHARLES WARREN, G.C.M.G. Photo by Elliott & Fry, London.] At this time impatience and anxiety arrived at an almost painful pitch. Every soul was panting for the signal that might call upon them to co-operate in the final tug-of-war which should set Ladysmith free. Acutely were the movements of General Buller's relieving force watched from the highest points in the town. Intense was the interest displayed as every bursting shell threw forth its dense volumes of brown smoke, and showed how the friendly lyddite worked to the rescue. The garrison looked forth breathlessly for the coming of relief, hoping, praying, doubting, fearing, with nothing to vary the ever-recurrent anguish of anticipation. At this date a journalist made a daring sortie on his own account, and reached Durban in safety. He left with permission at nightfall on the 18th of January, and, guided by a wily Kaffir, made tracks for Chieveley. Having gone about two miles to the east of Cæsar's Camp and approached unwarily a Boer picket, he was promptly challenged. Then ping! ping! ping! a swift whistling sound of Boer bullets, and silence! The journalist, to use a sporting phrase, was lying "doggo." Not a shot touched him. Flat on his stomach he remained for fully half an hour with bated breath, then, when murmurs of the disquieted Boers ceased to ruffle the night air, he resumed his way, groping on hands and knees, and wishing fervently that he had taken lessons in deportment earlier--from the quadrupeds. Perilous was the onward journey, clambering and crawling up hill and down dale, and falling over rocks and stones in the pitch darkness. Daylight saw him at the hut of a friendly native not far from Chieveley, and here concealed, he spent twenty-four hours of terrible suspense till it was time again to proceed on his journey. The Boers almost discovered him. They called at the hut for milk, absorbed it, and looked about suspiciously, while the man of the pen was penned in amongst a heap of blankets, a perspiring mass, quaking but safe. Meanwhile with the rumour of battle in the air, hope revived. It continued to increase as the British positions from the heights around the town became visible--the newly gained positions on Swartz Kop and the eminences near the Tugela at Potgieter's and Trichardt's Drifts. Every red flash was like a smile of welcome--every roar of bursting shrapnel seemed a very chorus of jubilation. To the ears of the besieged the tremendous awe-striking cannonade appeared as the loved assurance of Great Britain, their deliverer, saying, with grand majestic tone, "I am coming." In the distance the Boers could be seen in frenzied activity inspanning their waggons, and towards the evening they were observed trekking northwards towards Van Reenan's Pass. Many conjectures were rife, and subsequently on the 25th curiosity grew to fever heat. Surely the British were in possession of Spion Kop! Decidedly they were masters of the situation! Yet in the nek below, by the light of the telescope, Boer camps could be seen on the plains; under cover of the great hill Boer cattle were grazing. What could this mean? Had the Boers gone and left everything to the mercy of their victors? or were they merely in hiding, intending to return at nightfall, and remove their valuables? Certainly the Burghers were to be viewed mounted and decamping in the direction of the pass, and also winding strings of waggons pursuing their slow way in the same direction. Still the riddle remained unsolved. Night fell. The suspense grew more and more fevered; it became almost a delirium. There was little sleep; then, when morning dawned, there was more anxiety and more puzzling, more mental torture. The Boers were as much in evidence as ever! Disappointment may be borne with a show of spirit when the inner machinery is well oiled, but the inhabitants of Ladysmith had no such source of fortitude. True, they had fared, if not sumptuously, at least practically, on horse-sausages, which were turned out wholesale from a factory for the benefit of the troops, and on fairly nourishing soup which was supplied in the same way; but of civilised food there was none. Eggs had now gone up to 36s. a dozen, and a diminutive and emaciated fowl could be purchased for 18s. These luxuries were for the elect. For the mass a varying dietary of horse and mule was obligatory. Vegetables were sold at a prohibitive price, and a case of whisky was raffled for and fetched £145, so that "Dutch courage" wherewith to meet their misfortune was unpurchasable. Not till Sunday the 28th the fearful truth was learned, that Warren, after holding Spion Kop, had retired, and left the Boers in undisturbed occupation of their commanding position! As all the latest events to the south were communicated to the garrison as fast as they were made known to the chief, the news of the capture of Spion Kop and the disappointing retirement therefrom was published in general orders. Blank faces turned from each other, that none should see the reflection of his own despondency. Intense had been the rapture of the anxious inhabitants when they had heard the far-away booming of the British guns, seen the splashing of British lyddite, watched the great spouts of smoke that spoke of tremendous activity and their possible salvation. Now their dismay was more than proportionate. After all their agony--silence. Silence, so far as they were concerned. Mystery, doubt, and agonising suspense--and now the news, the woeful news, that the second splendid effort to break through the imprisoning Boer girdle had failed! Still the garrison was resolved to hold on to the last, preferring death by starvation or disease rather than surrender. The malodorous surroundings were borne with patience, the diminution of the supply of medicines, watched with pathetic resignation. Nevertheless an untold weariness crept over the unhappy sufferers, who spent their days huddled underground and dreading to expose themselves in the open lest they should be caught by a shell or "sniped" at by some Boer more enterprising than the rest. How they longed, how they prayed for the great hour! They believed in Buller; they knew he would come, they said to themselves. But when, O when? And echo answered--When? LORD ROBERTS AT THE CAPE On the 10th of January Lord Roberts arrived. He was received by General Sir F. Forestier Walker on behalf of Sir Alfred Milner. All the ships in port were dressed, and there was immense excitement at the prospect of better things. Many recalled to mind the occasion of the last coming of the great little man, when, on the eve of a campaign to retrieve Majuba, he found that the British Government, unknown to him, had arranged peace on contemptible terms. At that time it was said he broke his sword in indignation at the betrayal to which he had been subjected, and vowed never again to serve under a British Government. Be this as it may--he had now come at the earnest call of his country, and all felt that his coming meant a turn in the wheel of fortune. After his arrival things began gradually to unfold themselves, and the promise of decisive movement was in the air. Lord Roberts's decision to bring the Colonial volunteers to the support of the Imperial forces was acknowledged to be a great move. The Colonist's services were eminently to be desired, for he had taken the Boer measure. He knew him in all the complex windings of his sinuous, twisting nature. In some respects the Boer had been his lesson-book. From him he had learned the necessity to be a good shot, a smart horseman, and a long stayer. He followed the ins and outs of the Dutchman's war game, and could practise the art of dodging round kopjes and into dongas, hiding in scrub and disappearing from mortal ken at a moment's notice, with the zest and agility of a schoolboy playing at hide and seek, and with a certain enjoyment in the diamond-cut-diamond sort of exercise. On the 26th of January General Brabant arrived at Queenstown to take over the command of the Colonial Division, and on the same day General Kelly Kenny, commanding the Sixth Division, occupied Thebus, a position on the railway between Middleburg and Stormberg Junction. This station is situated about ninety miles from Colesberg, around which General French so untiringly operated, and forty-five miles from Stormberg, the scene of General Gatacre's disaster. On the 1st of February the City of London Volunteers landed. Immediately after their arrival at the Cape they were honoured by a visit from the great man who was about to control the destinies of South Africa. Gracefully he welcomed them, and said how little it had been imagined in days gone by, the days when the Volunteer force had been established, that any of its members would come to take part in a war in South Africa. He expressed his belief that nothing was more calculated to benefit the army than employment together on service of all its component parts, and that these would learn to appreciate each other, and acquire a spirit of comradeship which would have far-reaching results. He reminded them that strangely enough the first Volunteers left home three hundred years ago to fight for the Dutch, and arrived just in time to save Flushing from the Spaniards. On this occasion they would take an equally brilliant part in establishing peace, order, and freedom in South Africa. [Illustration: TYPE OF ARMS--NEW NAVAL 12-POUNDER FIELD-GUN. (Photo, Cribb, Southsea.)] The members of the corps were delighted. Colonel Cholmondeley expressed their thanks, and they all cheered right royally. They were burning to get to the front, and, in spite of the sudden change of temperature from British midwinter to tropical sunshine, their zeal to be up and doing was unabated. They waited at the Cape to be joined by the second detachment and receive their horses, after which they entrained for the western border, where they were so soon to distinguish themselves. [Illustration: ARRIVAL AT CAPE TOWN OF WOUNDED FROM NATAL. Photo by Hosking, Cape Town.] There was great satisfaction at the announcement that General Brabant would command the Colonial corps. The class of men enlisting in Brabant's Horse, the Imperial Horse, Bailey's Horse, and other of the South African mounted corps was a superior one. The volunteers were mostly well-to-do men, sons of farmers and Colonials who were residents in the country, and were intimately acquainted with its geography. Moreover, they were men and not striplings, and were averse from being commanded by young officers who were absolutely without South African experience. It has been rumoured that the British officers and those of the irregular troops have not always been in accord. The fact is, that one is a master of discipline and the other a master of independence. The Colonial is accustomed to habits of complete self-reliance; he expects to be treated like an individual and not as a machine. Our military system is a machine-made system, and one which, unluckily for us, has been incapable of any of the smart plasticities which warfare with the Boers has demanded. Colonial troops will be led, but they won't be driven. They are composed of men of first-rate quality, but not men accustomed blindly to obey orders. The Colonist obeys because of the personal influence of a man or men whom he holds intellectually or morally in esteem, but the word discipline for sheer discipline's sake he is disinclined to understand. Among the ranks of the Colonials are many men of wealth and influence, men of high character and good education. These could not suddenly be treated in the same way as the British regulars, who, being gifted with more dare-devil courage than knowledge of the three R's, require to be welded together on a system. A tactician once asked the question--What is the difference between an army and a mob? and the general answered--"Discipline." It is discipline that converts a rowdy British youngster into the glorious British Tommy that he is. With the Colonial we have already the trained and independent man, and the system of give and take is the only system that can avert friction between men who, though brothers in blood, have, and always must have, the special idiosyncrasies attendant on their dissimilar forms of life. Lord Roberts, recognising all this, with his usual diplomacy and sympathy for those who serve the Queen, decided to form a bodyguard, to accompany him to the front, of Colonials, the troops to be representative of all the corps--volunteers, irregulars, &c. The guard was to consist of Major Laing, an officer well versed and distinguished in Colonial matters, a lieutenant, two sergeants and corporals, and about forty picked troopers taken from the various irregular corps already at the front. The men of the corps were to continue to wear their own uniform, and merely to be distinguished by a badge. Preference in choosing the members of the guard was given to men of Colonial birth, good shots, riders, and scouts, who were well acquainted with all the peculiarities of Colonial life. To further show his appreciation of the services of the Colonials, Lord Roberts appointed as extra aide-de-camp on his personal staff Colonel Bryon of the Australian Artillery. He also sent telegrams to the Governors of Victoria and New South Wales congratulating them on the spirit of patriotism in Australia, and expressing his appreciation of the useful and workmanlike troops that had been sent to assist in restoring peace, order, and freedom in South Africa. [Illustration: PRIVATE, DRUMMERS, PIPER, AND BUGLER--THE BLACK WATCH. Photo by Knight, Aldershot.] At this time the following correspondence between the Presidents of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State and Lord Roberts was published at the Cape. It began with a joint despatch from Presidents Steyn and Kruger dated Bloemfontein, February 3, stating:-- "We learn from many sides that the British troops, contrary to the recognised usages of war, have been guilty of destruction by burning and blowing up with dynamite farmhouses and devastating farms and goods therein, whereby unprotected women and children have often been deprived of food and shelter. This happens not only in places where barbarians are encouraged by British officers, but even in Cape Colony and in this State (Orange Free State), where white brigands come out from the theatre of war with the evident intention of carrying on general devastation without any reason recognised by the custom of war and without in any way furthering the operations. We wish earnestly to protest against such practices." [Illustration: MR. KRUGER'S AUTOGRAPH] In reply Lord Roberts wrote:-- "I beg to acknowledge your Honours' telegram charging British troops with the destruction of property contrary to the recognised usages of war, and with brigandage and devastation. These charges are made in vague and general terms. No specific case is mentioned. No evidence is given. I have seen such charges made before now in the Press, but in no case which has come under my notice have they been substantiated. Most stringent instructions have been issued to British troops to respect private property so far as it is compatible with the conduct of military operations. All wanton destruction and injury to peaceful inhabitants are contrary to British practice and traditions, and will, if necessary, be vigorously repressed by me. "I regret that your Honours should have seen fit to repeat the untrue statement that barbarians have been encouraged by British officers to commit depredations. In the only case in which a raid has been perpetrated by native subjects of the Queen, the act was contrary to the instructions of the British officer nearest the spot, and entirely disconcerted his operations. The women and children taken prisoners by the natives were restored to their home by the agency of the British officer in question. "I regret to say it is the Republican forces which in some cases have been guilty of carrying on war in a manner not in accordance with civilised usage. I refer especially to the expulsion of loyal subjects of Her Majesty from their homes in the invaded districts because they refused to be commandeered by the invaders. It is barbarous to attempt to force men to take sides against their sovereign country by threats of spoliation and expulsion. Men, women, and children had to leave their homes owing to such compulsion. Many of those who were formerly in comfortable circumstances are now maintained by charity. "That war should inflict hardships and injury on peaceful inhabitants is inevitable, but it is the desire of Her Majesty's Government and my intention to conduct this war with as little injury as possible to peaceful inhabitants and private property. I hope your Honours will exercise your authority to ensure that it is conducted in a similar spirit on your side." Meanwhile the British Commander was rapidly maturing his plans. Troops were pouring into the Cape and mysteriously departing none knew whither. Great doings were in the air, and secret communications between Lord Roberts and the wily General French--communications which Boer spies endeavoured to intercept--promised that the splendid fastnesses hitherto enjoyed by the enemy would not much longer serve to keep him from the punishment that was his due. FOOTNOTES: [5] Colonel (local Major-General) E. R. P. Woodgate, who was in command of the 9th Brigade, joined as Ensign in the 4th Foot on April 7, 1865, and became Brevet-Colonel on June 26, 1897. He commanded a Regimental District from September 1897 to April 1898; was on special service in the Ashanti expedition from September 1873 to March 1874, also on special service in South Africa from June 1878 to November 1879; was Brigade Major in the West Indies from February 1880 to February 1885. He was employed with the West African Regiment from April 9, 1898; with the Abyssinian expedition in 1868; and was present at the capture of Magdala, for which he received a medal. He served in the Ashanti war, 1873-74, and was present at the actions of Essaman, Ainsah, Abrakrampa, and Faysoonah, at the battle of Amoaful and capture of Coomassie. For these services he received a medal with clasp. He also served through the Zulu campaign in 1879, at the action of Kambula and battle of Ulundi, and received a medal with clasp and his brevet of Major; and in 1898 in West Africa, in command of forces in expeditions against Sierra Leone insurgents. He was fifty-four years of age. CHAPTER VII THE WONDER OF THE WORLD "Forty years had I in my city seen soldiers parading, Forty years as a pageant, till unawares the lady of this teeming and turbulent city, Sleepless amid her ships, her houses, her incalculable wealth, With her million children around her, suddenly, At dead of night, at news from the south, Incens'd struck with clinch'd hand the pavement. A shock electric, the night sustain'd it, Till with ominous hum our hive at daybreak pour'd out its myriads." --WALT WHITMAN. The eyes of Europe, and indeed of the universe, turned upon the forces at war in Natal with amazement almost akin to awe. There, in the eve of the twentieth century, was presented a tenth wonder of the world! Where, among the states, principalities, and powers, could be found another example of an army being raised veritably from all points of the compass to serve the Mother Country? Whence in the history of heroic ages could be quoted the counterpart of spontaneous, simultaneous, exultant patriotism such as was brought forth by a few reverses to British arms? Here were men, brothers, whom we had never seen, whose names we had never heard, rushing to our side--influential citizens, judges, merchants, landowners in the distant dominions of the Queen--throwing over domestic comfort, ease, commercial advantage, political distinction, for the sheer desire to barter breath for fame, and to win laurels in the cause of the Empire. Our friends--the Powers--gazed and rubbed their eyes and marvelled! Our enemies--the Powers--gazed, rubbed their eyes, and--well! if they did not curse, they certainly trod warily and pondered! We were providing an object-lesson for eternity. The infinitesimal little island, the bird's-nest of the Little Englanders, was introducing to the nations her stalwart progeny--introducing with the easy pride of motherhood gigantic sons, all young and strong and well-grown, full of the vigour of youth and the finest traits of the parent stock--a martial multitude, clamouring to defend her in her hour of need! Yes, if our enemies--the Powers--did not curse, they walked warily and pondered! [Illustration: COLONEL W. D. OTTER. Commanding the First Canadian Contingent.] They did wisely, for by the beginning of March the number of Colonial troops at the front was approximately as follows: Cape Colony, 15,000; Natal, 7000; Canada, 2820; Ceylon, 130; New South Wales, 1800; Queensland, 810; South Australia, 340; West Australia, 230; Victoria, 500; Tasmania, 180; New Zealand, 730; India, 250; total, 29,790. This tremendous increase in the size of the Transvaal force was a magnificent spectacle for the world at large. While it constituted the greatest military concentration in the history of the Empire, it left the British possessions in India, Malta, Crete, Barbadoes, Bermuda, Ceylon, Hong-Kong, Gibraltar, and elsewhere, if not adequately, at least powerfully defended. For instance, in India alone we had still a superb British army. It was composed of forty-seven battalions of infantry, six regiments of cavalry, sixty-two batteries of artillery, not to mention the enormous Indian Army, of which the cavalry was styled by Lord Curzon "the finest cavalry in the world." Even then we were not at the end of our tether. Conscription was undreamt of. Our military resources had barely been tested. The display of loyalty to the British flag, love for the Mother Country, and an ardent desire to uphold her rights, had not been confined to Great Britain's larger colonies. Small contingents for South Africa had been offered by Jamaica and Trinidad and elsewhere, and these, though gratefully acknowledged, had been refused, mostly in cases where the contingents were not large enough to constitute a military unit, and there might have been trouble in the movement of the force. The growth of Colonial offers of assistance from the time--the 10th of July--when Queensland sent an anticipatory telegram proposing military aid, it is interesting to follow. Two days later, the 12th of July, came a telegram from Lord Brassey at Victoria, saying that "offers have been received from Volunteers for service in South Africa." Five days passed. Then an offer of 300 men from the Malay States Guides arrived, the High Commissioner intimating, however, that he could not spare them. Three hundred Hausas from Lagos volunteered on the 18th of July. On the 21st of that month New South Wales offered 1860 officers, non-commissioned officers, and men. The offer of Hong-Kong on the 21st of September was followed by New Zealand's Parliamentary resolution to send a Transvaal Contingent. On the 5th of October Western Australia came forward, and on the 9th Tasmania offered her unit. On the 13th the offers of troops from South Australia and Canada were "gratefully accepted." Last, but not least, came the offer of assistance from India, and additional help from those whose aid had previously been given and acknowledged as invaluable. Thus, by degrees, the whole concourse of Great Britain's best was gathered together, the flowers of her numerous flocks were drawn to a common centre by the tie of blood and the pride of it--drawn to a far quarter of the earth, there to demonstrate the crowning triumph of British colonisation. The long-talked-of consolidation of the Anglo-Saxon race for the welfare and freedom of humanity was no longer an idealist's dream; it had become a living and a lasting reality! FIRST CANADIAN CONTINGENT Early in the century the spirit of loyalty was developed in Canada. From her first years, when Wolfe made Canada a colony of Great Britain, the colonists began to recognise their debt to the British Crown. The feeling of reverence and love for the Mother Country strengthened and grew with the strength and growth of Canada itself, till the sentiment of Imperialism, always silently existing, suddenly found almost passionate utterance in the month of October 1899. What came to pass a great man had foreseen. Sir John Macdonald, who gauged aright the sentiment of the Canadians, described almost prophetically the expansion of that sentiment, and pointed out the developments that might be looked for in the future. In one of his pro-Confederation speeches he said:-- "Some are apprehensive that the fact of our forming this Confederation will hasten the time when we shall be severed from the Mother Country. I have no apprehension of that kind. I believe it will have the contrary effect. I believe that as we grow stronger, as we become a people able, from our union, our population, and the development of our resources, to take our position among the nations of the world, she will be less willing to part with us than now. I am strongly of opinion that year by year, as we grow in population and strength, England will more see the advantage of maintaining the alliance between British North America and herself. Does any one imagine that when our population, instead of 3,500,000 will be 7,000,000, as it will be ere many years pass, we would be one whit more willing than now to sever the connection with England? The Colonies are now in a transition state. Gradually a different colonial system is being developed, and it will become year by year less a case of dependence on our part, and of overruling protection on the part of the Mother Country, and more a case of healthy and cordial alliance. Instead of looking upon us as a merely dependent colony, England will have in us a friendly nation, a subordinate but still a powerful people, to stand by her in North America in peace or in war." Many other prominent persons, Sir John Thompson, Sir Charles Tupper, Sir Wilfred Laurier, shared the same opinion, and confidently asserted that Great Britain had but to hold out her hand and the hand of Canada would go out to meet it with firm and cordial grasp. Then came the hour and the opportunity. Canada acted exactly as Canada's greatest men had expected her to act. She did not jump to action, for the idea of participating in the active affairs of the Empire had scarcely dawned upon her, but, the opening once made, Canada lost no time in availing herself of it. Great things have small beginnings, and the grand movement which has astonished the universe commenced in a simple manner. While the possibility of war drifted like a small cloud on the horizon, a certain Colonel Hughes, of Lindsay, Ontario, set to work to raise a volunteer regiment for possible service in South Africa. In September 1899 he openly expressed himself. In answer to energetic remonstrance he wrote, that "unless the Government of the Dominion showed itself patriotic enough to do its duty by the Imperial Government, he was justified in his action, the object of which was to assist in upbuilding the British Empire and rendering justice to one's fellow-countrymen, even at great sacrifice, and that as little delay as possible should result on the outbreak of hostilities in enrolling a corps." The idea, to use the popular phrase, "caught on." All the notabilities of the Dominion put their heads together, with the result that, early as October 3, the Canadian Military Institute in Toronto proposed to offer a Canadian Contingent to the British Imperial Government, in the event of a war breaking out with the Boers. It was also suggested and carried unanimously, that whereas all the expenses of the Canadian Contingent sent to the aid of the British troops in the Crimean War had been borne by the British Government, the expenses of the Contingent it was now proposed to send to South Africa, should be provided by the Dominion of Canada, that the Canadian Government should train, arm, equip, transport, and pay the force raised, and, if necessary, pension those deserving it. The offer of a Canadian Contingent was accordingly made through the Government to the British Government, who accepted it with two reservations--First, that the force raised should consist of 1000 men only; Second, that half the expenses of the Contingent should be met by the Imperial Government. To this the Canadians consented under protest, declaring, however, that should any further assistance be required during the course of the war, they would be ready and glad to send it. Thousands of volunteers offered their services, but only a limited number could be accepted. It was decided to allow each locality to have the honour of taking part in the patriotic movement, and the formation of companies was authorised as follows:--A Company, Manitoba and the North-West; B, London, Ontario; C, Toronto; D, Ottawa and Kingston; E, Montreal; F, Quebec; G, Fredericton and Prince Edward Island; H, Halifax. The men were thus gathered from all parts of Canada, the smaller towns sending from three to seven representatives each, and the larger ones supplying some regulars from the city regiments, in addition to volunteers. The enrolling and equipping of these 1000 volunteers, scattered as they had been over 3500 miles of territory, was accomplished in little more than a fortnight--a wonderful feat in view of the pacific times enjoyed by the Colonials. It was quite inspiriting to note the general activity. All the Dominion displayed its loyalty in deeds as well as words. Men living in idleness and comfort, professional men of standing, family men with innumerable ties, came to the fore and volunteered their services; while employers assisted the splendid movement by offering facilities to those serving them who might care to enlist. Every soul insisted on taking his share in the Imperial doings. Those who could not volunteer united their efforts and showed their loyalty by showering gifts on the battalion. The officers and men of every company were presented at their own headquarters with a sum of money varying according to rank, but in each case of substantial value, as a contribution to their warlike needs. Every officer received from public subscriptions a field-glass, revolver, and $125 in money. Privates were presented with a silver match-box and $25. The Bank of Ottawa contributed $1000 for the purchase of delicacies for the men on their sea-voyage. In addition to this generosity, firms of all kinds sent in their own manufacture, life insurances were effected on special terms for officers and men of the battalion covering compensation for partial disablement, and the telegraph and telephonic companies liberally agreed to transmit private messages for all connected with the Contingent free of charge. The mobilisation and concentration at Quebec of the composite battalion was no mean undertaking, but it was accomplished by the 27th of October. On the following night a dinner to the officers was given, and later, a smoking concert. On the 29th the special service battalion attended divine service, the Catholics at the Cathedral, the Roman Catholics at the Basilica. The sermon given at the Cathedral was a notable one, and served to mark the historical nature of the occasion. Among other things, the Rev. J. G. Scott expressed himself of sentiments that all might do well to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest. He said: "What is the Empire of which we are a part? It is not a mere collection of subservient peoples adding to the revenue and importance of a small island to the north-west of Europe. No; it is much more than that. It is a vast federation of peoples of all nations, tongues, languages, and creeds joined together in 'liberty, equality, and fraternity,' by common laws and a common love to their real or their adopted mother. England and England's flag must remain the symbol of our common patriotism. But the British Empire, the Empire of the future, the Empire rising with the sun of a new century, is founded in deeper principles than mere sentimental devotion to the land of our fathers. The principle underlying it is the liberty and brotherhood and welfare of man. We conquer and advance. Wild lands come under our sway. Savage races are subjugated or turn to us for protection. But all with what result? With the result that the waste lands are cultivated, the hidden mines of the earth yield up their treasures, continents are spanned by vast railways and the bed of ocean by electric cables, with the result that the savage is brought under the yoke of civilisation, and religion, education, and commerce raise him almost to the level of a European. But this progress has not been, nor can it be, unaccompanied by difficulties. At the present time our race in its general advance is brought face to face with forces that retard, not merely the growth of the British Empire, but the principles of freedom and humanity which underlie it. The nineteenth century is confronted in South Africa with a remnant of the seventeenth. Our brethren, oppressed by an intolerable tyranny, cry to us for help, and we, a republic under a monarchical form, go to crush a despotism under the form of a republic." This last phrase was a masterpiece, one that all who have enjoyed the liberty, fraternity, and equality of our republican empire can fully appreciate. Continuing, the preacher went on to say: "Surely, if we go forth firmly, fearlessly, and mercifully to fight in such a cause, we can feel, like Israel of old, that 'the Eternal God is our refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms, and that He will thrust out the enemy from before us.' And you, my brethren, who are privileged to go forth under the flag of our Queen and the Empire, are the representatives of a great people, formed of various creeds, and nationalities, and languages, but blended in a common law and a common love for the liberty which makes men--men. The call to arms from the Motherland has sent a thrill to the four corners of the earth. The Empire, which has been knit together by community of race, by commerce, by railways and by cables, is to be drawn now into an absolutely indissoluble bond by the voluntary sacrifice of blood and life on a common battlefield. No ordinary departure of troops to the front is yours. You are the pioneers of a new era in our history. The importance of this day is not to be measured, any more than was the importance of the great battle in the Plains hard by, according to numerical computation. We have taken a step, a step on the threshold of another century, which is destined in time to put an end to the distinction of Colony and Motherland, and will finally give us a voice in the conduct of the Empire. Surely, to those going forth as champions in a noble cause, I cannot do better than to commend to you individually the watchword of Israel's--nay, of England's strength, 'The Eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.' There may come moments to some of you, in the irksomeness of discipline, in the pause before the battle-charge, in the silence of lonely picket duty, or during sleepless nights on the hospital pallet, when the memory of the parting service in these hallowed walls--walls which, during this century, have seen many heroes arm at the call of duty--will come back to you with the comfort which even the bravest need, and you will feel that in life and death 'the Eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.' Then, like the knights of old, consecrate to-day your hearts and swords to God's service, and you who are communicants draw near to the altar of God and receive the strength which comes from the Body and Blood of Christ. You are not a wild horde let loose in savage warfare, but Christian men armed for a great cause. Keep then your lives pure--pure as the memories of your Canadian home. Be sober, as men who can face danger without artificial courage. Let the talk at mess and in camp be clean, and above all remember to pay regularly the daily homage of prayer to your Heavenly Father. Do not be ashamed to confess Christ before men." These heart-stirring words found their echo in every breast--the great body of patriotic volunteers was thrilled through with the ambition to do great deeds in a great way, to go forth and write their names in blood, if need be, alongside of those of their brothers of the Anglo-Saxon race whose records loomed large and indelible upon the scrip of Time. In the evening the Governor-General entertained the superior officers and staff at dinner, and on the following morning the last parade was held. Major-General Hutton, commanding the Canadian Militia, commenced his inspection at 11.30. At noon the Governor-General, the Premier, Sir Wilfred Laurier, and other members of the Cabinet arrived on the ground. His Excellency addressed the men as follows: "Colonel Otter, officers, non-commissioned officers, and men of the Canadian Contingent, I congratulate you on the splendid appearance of your regiment on parade, and Canada may justly be proud of her representative troops. But, Colonel Otter, the force you command represents a great deal more than a serviceable regiment on parade. We are standing here upon historic ground, under the ramparts of the old city of Quebec, surrounded by celebrated battlefields, and in an atmosphere full of the glorious traditions of two great nations--nations who, respecting each other's warlike qualities on many a hard-fought field, have now joined in common loyalty to their Queen and Empress. Your companies have been gathered from British Columbia to the Atlantic coast, from the settlers in the Rocky Mountains and the Far West, from Ontario and the Maritime Provinces, and from the old French families of Quebec. They represent the manhood of the Dominion from the west to the east, but, above all, they represent the spontaneous offer of the people of Canada, British born and French Canadian, to the Mother Country. The people of Canada have shown no inclination to discuss the quibbles of Colonial responsibility; they have only unmistakably asked that their loyal offers should be made known, and they rejoice in their gracious acceptance. In so doing surely they have opened a new chapter in the history of our Empire; they have freely made their military gift to an Imperial cause, to share the privations, and the dangers, and the glories of an Imperial army. They have insisted on giving vent to the expression of that sentimental Imperial unity which may, perhaps, hereafter prove more binding than any written Imperial constitution. The embarkation of your force, Colonel Otter, to-day will mark a memorable epoch in the history of Canada and the Empire. Of the success of your future we have no doubt; we shall watch your departure with very full hearts, and shall follow your movements with eager enthusiasm. All Canada will long to see the Maple Leaf well to the front, and to give her Contingent a glorious welcome home again. And now, as the representative of Her Majesty, I wish you God speed and every success." Lord Minto then called on the men to give three cheers for the Queen, which they did with all the zest of lusty Anglo-Saxon lungs. Sir Wilfrid Laurier then addressed the regiment. He reminded them they were going to obey the call of duty, that their cause was the cause of justice, the cause of humanity and of civilisation. Men of our own race were being unjustly oppressed, and the troops were going forth in the interests of the Empire and of liberty. He rejoiced to see the alacrity with which Canadians had responded to the call and rushed to the aid of the great Empire of which all were so proud. He wished them God speed, and expressed his confidence that they would be an honour to themselves and to their native land. Major-General Hutton impressively assured the troops that their honour was Canada's honour, that their renown was Canada's renown; and though strain and hardships might be great, they would remember that in the far-off Dominion thousands of men and women looked to the Royal Canadian Regiment to uphold the honour of their native land. French Canadians and English Canadians must recollect the responsibility that would rest upon their shoulders, and he knew they would acquit themselves well of their duties. Then followed an address by the Hon. S. Parent, Mayor of Quebec. He read: "The citizens of Quebec offer you the most cordial welcome in this old fortress, so often stormed by war and tempest, whose inhabitants, from their earliest years, have been accustomed to the music of military bands, to the smell of powder and the smoke of battles. We are proud of the honour that has been done our city in its selection as the scene of the mobilisation of this select regiment which the Canadian people send to the assistance of our Mother Country. The presence in our midst of the representative of our Most Gracious Sovereign, His Excellency the Governor-General, and other dignitaries of the State, adds not only lustre and _éclat_ to this day's ceremony, but gives to our proceedings a deeper and wider meaning. It was no vain appeal that was made to our valour and our loyalty, for along the way from Victoria to Halifax, a thousand picked men, representing the youth, physical strength, the discipline and the courageous daring of our people, freely volunteered to serve under the British flag. The people of various origin and different religious creeds that go to make up the population of this country are represented in your regiment, and now that we are, for the time being, assembled within the walls of the most French city of the New World, let us claim for the French-Canadian element a large share of the warm and spontaneous outburst of sentiments of loyalty to England which marked your triumphal passage from your homes to Quebec. No matter how diverse may be our origin and the languages that we speak, who is there that will dare to affirm that we have not all the qualities necessary for the making of a real nation? Who dare say, upon such an occasion as the present, that we are not all sincerely united and loyal towards the Canadian Dominion, and loyal to England which has given us so complete a measure of liberty? We French-Canadians have loyally accepted the new destinies that Providence provided for us upon the battlefield of 1759. Is it possible that anybody can have forgotten 1775 and 1812? On the summit of this proud rock of Quebec, rendered illustrious by Jacques Cartier and Champlain, behold, but a few steps from this place, the superb monument erected by an English Governor to the memory of Wolfe and of Montcalm! Why may we not make it the emblem and the symbol of our national unity? Let us leave to each individual amongst us the privilege to retain, as a sweet souvenir worthy of a noble heart, the rose, the thistle, the fleur-de-lys, or the shamrock, and even the pot of earth that the Irish immigrant brings with him from under distant skies, and let us be united for the great and holy cause that we have in hand: the foundation of a great nation and the development of the boundless resources of a rich and immense country. Our best wishes accompany you in the long journey, at the end of which you will, no doubt, find glory as well as suffering, privations, and perhaps even heroic sacrifices. When you will be under the burning sun of Africa, you may be sure that our hearts will follow you everywhere, and that in our long winter evenings you will be the principal object of our fireside talk and solicitude. Be quite sure, too, that this Canada of ours will watch with a maternal care over the loved ones that you leave behind you, and who, in parting with you, are making so great and generous a sacrifice. May the God of battles crown your efforts! May He preserve you in the midst of danger! And may He bring you back safe and sound to the beloved shores of your fatherland!" Never was more impressive scene, and even the stoutest warriors among the audience were thrilled with the consciousness of the solemnity of the moment, the sacredness of their future duty. Colonel Otter, who was much moved, replied as a soldier--briefly, but to the point. He thanked all around for their goodwill, and expressed his confidence that the Canadian Contingent would do its duty and do honour to the land of its birth. The list of the principal officers was as follows:-- To command--Lieut.-Colonel W. D. Otter, Canadian Staff, A.D.C. to His Excellency the Governor-General. To be Major and second in command--Lieut.-Colonel L. Buchan, Royal Canadian Regiment. To be Major--Lieut.-Colonel O. C. C. Pelletier, Canadian Staff. To be Adjutant--Major J. C. M'Dougall, Royal Canadian Regiment. To be Quartermaster--Capt. and Brevet-Major S. J. A. Denison, Royal Canadian Regiment. To be Medical Officers--Surgeon-Major C. A. Wilson, 3rd Field Battery, C.A.; Surgeon-Major E. Fiset, 89th Batt. To be attached for Staff duty--Major L. G. Drummond, Scots Guards, Military Secretary to His Excellency the Governor-General. A Company (British Columbia and Manitoba).--To be Captain--Capt. M. G. Blanchard, 5th Regt. C.A. Major H. M. Arnold, 90th Batt.; Capt. A. E. Hodkins, Nelson R. Co.; Lieut. S. P. Layborn, R.C.R.I. B Company (London)--Major Duncan Stuart, 26th Batt.; Capt. J. C. Mason, 10th Batt.; Capt. J. M. Ross, 22nd Batt.; Second Lieut. R. H. M. Temple, 48th Highlanders. C Company (Toronto)--Capt. R. K. Barker, Q.O.R.; Lieut. J. C. Ogilvie, R.C.A.; Lieut. W. R. Marshall, 13th Batt.; Lieut. G. S. Wilkie, 10th Batt. D Company (Ottawa and Kingston)--Major S. M. Rogers, 43rd Batt.; Capt. W. T. Lawless, G.G.F.G.; Lieut. R. G. Stewart, 43rd Batt.; Lieut. A. C. Caldwell, 42nd Batt. E Company (Montreal)--Capt. A. H. Macdonell, R.C.R.I.; Capt. C. K. Fraser, 53rd Batt.; Lieut. A. E. Swift, 8th Batt.; Lieut. A. Laurie, P. of W. R. F Company (Quebec)--Capt. J. E. Pelletier, 65th Batt.; Capt. H. A. Panet, R.C.A.; Lieut. L. Leduc, R.C.R.I.; Lieut. E. A. Pelletier, 55th Batt. G Company (New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island)--Major W. A. Weeks, Charlottetown Engineers; Capt. F. C. Jones, 3rd Regt. C.A.; Lieut. J. H. Kaye, R.C.R.I.; Second Lieut. C. W. W. M'Lean, 8th Hussars. H Company (Halifax)--Capt H. B. Stairs, 66th Batt.; Capt. H. E. Burstall, R.C.A.; Lieut. R. B. Willis, 66th Batt.; Second Lieut. J. C. Oland, 63rd Batt. Machine-Gun Section--Lieut. and Capt. A. C. Bell, Scots Guards, A.D.C. to the Major-General commanding the Canadian Militia. The following officers were attached to the Royal Canadian Regiment for whatever duty might be allotted to them in connection with the campaign: Lieut.-Colonel F. L. Lessard, Royal Canadian Dragoons; Lieut.-Colonel C. W. Drury, A.D.C., Royal Canadian Artillery; Major R. Cartwright, Royal Canadian Regiment; Capt. W. Forester, Royal Canadian Dragoons. Medical officer--Capt. A. B. Osborne, C.A.M.S. (provisional). By five o'clock in the afternoon all was over. The great ship _Sardinian_, with slow dignity, as though conscious of the gallant burden she was bearing to battle, sailed out into the great immensity of sea and sky. Cheers rent the air, tears--the tears not of personal grief, but of sympathetic patriotism--dimmed every eye. Many sorrowed, but many more were overwhelmed with sheer joy and pride to see this goodly throng going forth to do martial deeds, and bring back laurels to crown the land that Wolfe had made glorious. Slowly and with precision the minute guns boomed from the Citadel, loudly, the bands played the well-loved tunes, the "Maple Leaf" and "God Save the Queen." Swiftly now sped the _Sardinian_, flaunting her gay decorations, and bearing on the bosom of the water a thousand of Canada's best, a thousand brave hearts and true. THE SECOND CANADIAN CONTINGENT After the departure of the first Contingent the loyalty of Canada continued to increase. Every incident of the war was carefully watched and discussed, the great deeds that were on foot found lavish appreciation. At numerous meetings which took place in various parts of Canada the spirit of the country was described by such declarations as: "We, too, are loyal Britons, and our patriotism is at its best when our country needs us most." On November 7th Canada made the offer to the British Government of a second Contingent for South Africa, and on December 18th Sir Wilfred Laurier received a cablegram from Mr. Joseph Chamberlain accepting the offer. As one of the Canadian Ministry afterwards said, "It did not take much more than five minutes for the Cabinet to decide that the Hon. F. W. Borden, Minister of Militia, should immediately instruct his officers at the Militia Department to go on with the preparations for sending the second Contingent." The fact was that most of the details had been ready for a month and more. The Minister of Militia had early come to the conclusion that a second Contingent of Canadians should be gathered together in the form of cavalry or mounted infantry and artillery. The first to be given a chance of enlisting for South Africa were the Mounted Police. Forty-eight hours later steps were taken towards recruiting 200 Prairie Cowboys, men who could ride and shoot as well as any cavalrymen in the world, and who are accustomed to subsisting on the scantiest of rations. Next came the Royal Canadian Dragoons, regulars, who were mounted on well-trained horses, and so well drilled as to make it possible for every man of them to instruct the less trained recruits during the voyage. The Boers having a healthy horror of the lance as a cavalry weapon, it was decided that half at least of Canada's cavalry should be given this arm. [Illustration: LADY MINTO PRESENTING COLOURS TO HERCHMER'S HORSE, ON LEAVING OTTAWA, 19th JAN. 1900. Drawing by J. H. Bacon, from Photo by J. C. Hemment.] It was considered that the Cowboys, and such "Plainsmen of the West" as Herchmer's Horse, _broncho busters_ who had never been conquered by man or horse, would be specially valuable in the style of warfare affected by the Boers. With nerves of steel and thews of wire, they could speak without boasting of their capacity for putting in thirty-six hours consecutively in the saddle, and for living "on the smell of an oiled rag." Ardent volunteers who had failed to get a place in the first Contingent now rushed forward from every side. The sole disappointment was, that only a limited number could be accepted, and those must all be mounted men or artillery. The wild enthusiasm aroused by the brave and splendid work of that portion of the first Canadian Contingent which was with Colonel Pilcher in South Africa, and the inspiring accounts given by the correspondent of the _Toronto Globe_, resulted in more volunteering, and a third Contingent could easily have been raised, even after the rigorous medical examination had rejected numbers. The people of Canada responded nobly to the call for funds to provide for the families of their volunteers on service in South Africa, the large amounts subscribed by the Banks of Montreal and British North America, followed by donations of 15,000 dollars by the Canadian Pacific Railway and 2000 dollars by Holsen's Bank, having served to stimulate action in this direction. The City Council of Toronto insured for 1000 dollars the lives of all the 123 men they had sent to form part of the second Contingent. On January 19, the Dominion Government, in a house which cheered itself hoarse in response to patriotic speeches, decided to offer, if required, 12,000 men to the Imperial Parliament for service in South Africa. Lord Strathcona meantime, at his own expense, raised a mounted battalion for service, which was to be ready to sail on February 10 for South Africa, the War Office having given their consent to the formation of the corps. The matter was placed in the hands of the Hon. Dr. Borden, Canadian Minister of Militia and Defence, who was given a free hand to recommend officers, organise and equip the corps, Lord Strathcona reserving only the right to reject or confirm his decisions. The following officers left for the front at the end of January: Officers of D Battery--Major W. G. Hurdman, Capt. D. J. V. Eaton; Lieutenants, first section, T. W. Vantuyl; second section, J. M'Crea; third section, E. W. B. Morrison. Officers of E Battery--Major G. H. Ogilvie; Capt. R. Costigan; Lieutenants, first section, W. F. Murray; second section, A. T. Ogilvie; third section, W. G. Good. Officers attached for duty--Captain H. J. Uniacke; Adjutant, Captain H. C. Thatcher; Medical Officer, Surgeon-Major A. Worthington; Veterinary Officer, Veterinary-Major Massie. These were followed by Regimental Staff Commander Lieut.-Colonel Herchmer; Adjutant Lieut. Montague Baker; Transport Officer, Lieut. Eustace; Quartermaster, Captain Allan; Medical Officer, Surg.-Capt. Devine; Veterinary Officer, Lieut. R. Riddell. In command of squadrons, Majors Howe and Sanders; Captains Cuthbert and Macdonnell; Lieutenants Begin, Davidson, Wroughton, Cosby, Chalmers, Taylor, and Inglis. When the mounted section of the second Canadian Contingent, numbering eighty men, started, some twelve extra men were invited to volunteer. To meet the demand no less than 400 applicants, many of them men of independent means, instantly came forward. Here was a remarkable proof of martial spirit, of devotion to the cause of the Mother Country. Vanity some said it was. Any way, it was a vanity fringing on the sublime. It is interesting to note, that before the gallant members of the second Contingent left for Halifax they were presented with guidons by Lady Minto, the gifts being inscribed with the motto of the Elliot clan--"Wha daur meddle wi' me." This delicate mark of attention was highly appreciated by the men. Early in February the Mounted Bushmen's Corps of 300 men and horses started for the Cape. All the Canadians, volunteers it must be remembered, were picked men from all parts of the Dominion, and with them were scouts from British Columbia, who, for the most part, were recruited from the Mounted Police of the North-West and from Cowboys. Being about the smartest riders and best shots in the world, it was felt that they would distinguish themselves in the war game as played by the Boers. Among those at the front prominently connected with Canada was Captain Kirkpatrick, Royal Engineers, who was attached to the staff of Sir Redvers Buller. This officer is a graduate of the Royal Military College, Kingston, and on leaving that institution received a commission in the Royal Engineers. When the war broke out, Captain Kirkpatrick was ordered from Malta to South Africa, where he commanded the Fortress Company of the Royal Engineers. Major Denison, a prominent officer in the Royal Canadian Infantry, who had personal charge of the recruiting for the first Canadian Contingent, and was appointed quartermaster to the battalion at Quebec, had the honour in January of being appointed aide-de-camp on the staff of Lord Roberts. Another of the patriotic band was Colonel Girouard (the French Canadian of Egyptian fame), who assisted Lord Kitchener and the Engineers in marvellous operations along the line of rail. This officer has achieved a glorious reputation, one which has been declared to be a closer bond between French Canada and Great Britain than any words. Another honoured Canadian, who was mortally wounded in the attack near Spearman's Camp on the 20th of January, was Captain Hensley (Dublin Fusiliers). This gallant officer was born at Charlottetown and educated at King's College, Windsor, whence he passed into the Royal Military College. Major-General Hutton, commanding the Canadian Militia, early in the year was selected for special service in South Africa. No better officer could have been chosen. He had ample experience of the subject in hand, as he himself stated in speaking to the Canadian Contingent before their departure: "It was my lot to have seen two campaigns in South Africa, including the campaign against the Boers in 1882. It was also--I was going to say my privilege--it was certainly not my pleasure--to have been at Pretoria at the time the present Convention was made; and I therefore know their leaders, and a little something--I may say almost too much--of South Africa and the Transvaal, and therefore I recognise perhaps more clearly than many of you do the very great difficulties and the dangers which our Contingent and the Imperial troops in South Africa are exposed to." STRATHCONA'S HORSE Strathcona's Horse, consisting of 530 men and 560 horses, was commanded by Colonel Steele of the North-West Mounted Police. He is regarded as an ideal officer for a scouting force, and his men were all picked men, the cream of the expert riders and riflemen of the Dominion. Morally and physically they were declared to be the best soldiers that have ever been enrolled in Canada. Their mounts were small shaggy bronchos, but sturdy long stayers. In regard to Lord Strathcona's timely generosity it is impossible to say enough--the general appreciation of his splendid and patriotic act is expressed in the following resolution, which was adopted by the Executive Committee of the British Empire League in Canada: "That the Executive Committee of the British Empire League in Canada has heard with unqualified satisfaction of the magnificent undertaking of Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal, a Vice-President of this League, to raise, equip, and support, at his entire expense, a corps of mounted troops composed of Canadians for service for the Empire in the South African war, and desires to place on record its enthusiastic appreciation of his patriotic munificence, and is certain that his work will yet further convince the rest of the Empire of Canada's devotion to the cause." Speaking of this noble promoter of his country's weal, Lieutenant Cooper, Q.V.R., said: "Generously has the British Empire done by Lord Strathcona, and generously and freely has Lord Strathcona done by the Empire. Under the ægis of the Union Jack in Scotland, Donald Alexander Smith spent the first eighteen years of his life. In 1838 he entered the service of the Hudson's Bay Company, and learned the intricacies of North American trade in Labrador and the North-West. In later years he took a prominent part in the organisation of the Canadian Government in the newly-acquired Rupert's Land, and was intimately connected with the early official days of Manitoba and the North-West Territories. After representing Montreal for two terms in the Dominion Parliament, he was appointed Canadian High Commissioner in London, England, a position which he still fills to the satisfaction of the Canadian people. In 1897 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal of Glencoe and Montreal." The force, equipped after the manner of other mounted troops, and not armed with lances, was paid by Lord Strathcona until it landed in South Africa, when it was taken over by the Imperial Government. As in the case of the Contingents from the various Colonies, the officers of the corps were appointed as follows: S. B. Steele, gent., Canadian North-West Mounted Police, to be Lieut.-Colonel, with the temporary rank of Lieut.-Colonel in the army. To be Majors, with the temporary rank of Major in the army: Lieut. R. C. Laurie, Canadian Militia Reserve of Officers; R. Belcher, Inspector Canadian North-West Mounted Police; A. M. Jarvis, Inspector Canadian North-West Mounted Police; A. E. Synder, Inspector Canadian North-West Mounted Police. D. M. Howards, Canadian North-West Mounted Police, to be Captain, with the temporary rank of Captain in the army. To be Lieutenants, with the temporary rank of Lieutenant in the army: Major G. W. Camden, Canadian Militia; Captains R. M. Courtney, Canadian Militia; J. J. Macdonald, Canadian Militia; E. F. Mackie, Canadian Militia; Lieutenants T. E. Pooley, Canadian Militia; R. H. B. Magee, Canadian Militia Reserve of Officers; Second Lieutenant P. Fall, Canadian Militia; F. L. Cartwright, Inspector Canadian North-West Mounted Police; A. E. Christie, Inspector Canadian North-West Mounted Police; J. E. Leckie, Graduate Royal Military College, Kingston, Canada; A. W. Strange, gent., late Canadian Militia. Lieutenant M. P. Cotton, Canadian Militia, to be Lieutenant for Machine-Gun Detachment, with the temporary rank of Lieutenant in the Army. W. Parker, Canadian North-West Mounted Police, to be Quartermaster, with the temporary rank of Lieutenant in the army. C. B. Keenan, gent., M.D., to be Medical Officer, with the temporary rank of Captain. Dr. M'Millan of Brandon was appointed Veterinary Surgeon for the Strathcona Horse. His assistant was Mr. Millican, of Rapid City, Manitoba. The regiment was recruited from a territory covering a million square miles, some men having travelled from Yukon and the Peace River district in order to enlist. Many distinguished men were among them. In one troop were to be found Mr. Beresford (formerly a Naval officer), cousin of the Marquis of Waterford; Mr. Warren, son of Colonel Warren, R.H.A.; Mr. Shaw, son of a Baronet; Mr. O'Brien, a kinsman of Lord Inchiquin; Hon. Mr. Cochrane, son of the now notable Lord Dundonald; and Lord Seymour. Colonel Steele (N.W.M.P.), in command of the corps, is a son of a Captain in the Royal Navy. He was born in Canada, and is noted for his bravery and devotion to duty. Major Belcher, a notable swordsman and lancer, was for some years in the 9th Lancers. The troops received an enthusiastic send off, and multitudes gathered together to do honour to the latest addition of Great Britain's army. Several beautiful guidons were presented to the corps by the ladies of Ottawa. Each was made of crimson silk, with a broad white stripe through the centre, on which was embroidered in crimson letters, "Strathcona's Horse." On the upper crimson bar was Lord Strathcona's motto, "Perseverance," done in crimson on a white garter. Above the garter was a Baron's coronet and tiny brown beaver on a green maple leaf. On the lower crimson bar was the squadron's designation. NEW SOUTH WALES New South Wales fell into line with the other Australasian Colonies, and decided to send a military force for service with the Imperial army in South Africa. The New South Wales Lancers, who had been in training at Aldershot, were the first to start. They were then about to return home, but were stopped _en route_, and proceeded to the Cape. Of their number some few refused to serve and went home, but on arrival many offered to return to the front. The rest gave satisfactory reasons for being unable to do so. Subsequently another Contingent was sent, and also the Bushmen Corps, at least 1000 strong. It was composed of men who could ride well, shoot splendidly, and were accustomed to camping out and roughing it in pursuit of their usual vocations. It must be noted that this was not the first time that New South Wales had come to the assistance of the Mother Country. A force went to Egypt in the earlier Soudan wars, when one man was wounded. Some discontent at that time was shown owing to the troops not being allowed to go to the front. On this occasion they were to serve and fare as the Imperial troops, and to be considered as such while in the field. Each Contingent was composed of--1st, N.S.W. Lancers; First Australian Horse; N.S.W. Artillery; Mounted Rifles; Infantry, who, being good horsemen, were subsequently mounted by the Imperial Government. 2nd Contingent consisted of three Mounted Rifle units of 125 men each, one unit of Australian Horse of 100 men (475), one Battery of Artillery--18 officers, 175 men, 140 horses (629). The total of the New South Wales troops at the front in February amounted to 1331 men. Though not at first very enthusiastic in expressions of patriotism, New South Wales soon became strong in deeds. Enthusiasm became epidemical. Mr. Lyne, the Premier, threw himself into the movement, and rapidly pushed forward the arrangements, and did all in his power to move in sympathy with the patriotic feelings of the Colony, which were daily growing more ardent. As a practical expression of the intensity of their patriotism, the citizens arranged and subscribed for the despatch of 500 expert roughriders and Bush marksmen, while the New South Wales Government assisted by supplying arms and ammunition. The volunteers were all part, or had formed part, of the land forces. The only actual _regular_ regiment, as understood by us, was the artillery, a small company of Submarine Mining Engineers, 27; Army Service Corps, 10; and Army Medical Staff, 11. All the rest were partially paid or volunteers. The men came from the whole country, and were men who were serving in the various corps either as volunteers or partially paid troops. All the infantry corps were volunteers--all cavalry regiments and some of the field and garrison artillery were partially paid troops, and were called regulars, though not on the permanent staff. The officers of the Contingents were--1. Captain C. F. Cox, N.S.W. Lancers, Major Bridges, N.S.W. Artillery, Captain Legge, General Staff N.S.W. Inf.; 2. Major and Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Thomas Samuel Parrott, V. D. Corps of Engineers, an officer who served in 1885 with the Australian Contingent in the Soudan. Colonel Sydenham Smith com. Artillery; Major J. H. Plunkett Murray, com. 8th Inf. (Union Regiment); Captain and temporary Major P. T. Owen, General Staff; Staff officer for Engineer services, Captain L. H. Kyngdon, N.S.W. Regt. R.A.; Captain A. P. Popham Luscombe; N.S.W. Regt. R.A.A., Captain Henry P. Ramsay Copeland. Reserve of officers--Captain R. St. Julien Pearce; N.S.W. Art. (Field), Lieutenant R. S. Hay Blake Jenkins; N.S.W. Regt. R.A.A., Lieutenant C. F. Bracen, N.S.W. Art. (garrison). 1st Aus. (Vol.) Horse unit--1st Lieut. R. R. Thompson, Permanent Staff, with rank Captain; 2nd Lieutenant J. F. Moore Wilkinson, 1st Aus. Horse (Vol.), with rank 1st Lieutenant; 1st Lieutenant Keith Kinnaird Mackellar, 5th Inf. (Vol.) Regt.; Lieutenant B. J. Newmarch, N.S.W.A.M.C.; Lieutenant J. A. Dick, N.S.W.A.M.C.; Lieutenant A. H. Horsfall, N.S.W.A.M.C. Additional officers--Dr. A. MacCormick, to be Consulting Surgeon, hon. rank Major; Dr. R. Scot-Skirving, to be Consulting Surgeon, hon. rank Major; Dr. W. R. Cortis, rank Captain; N. R. Howse, rank Lieutenant. Chaplains--Church of England--Rev. H. J. Rose, hon. rank Major; Rev. Patrick Fagan, hon. rank Captain. The first Contingent reached Cape Town (from London) on November 2, 1899. The second Contingent started on January 17th and 18th in three transports; these, while in dock, had to be watched, as some Boer sympathisers were suspected of wishing to set fire to them. Nevertheless there were most remarkable demonstrations of loyalty on all sides, and the troops went off in high feather, having been previously addressed by Mr. Lyne in the following stirring speech: "I wish to tell you that every man and woman in this country is not so proud of anything as of you. You are not enlisting in the ordinary sense of the term, in that you are volunteering to serve with the British troops in the interests of the Empire. You are certain to meet a foe such as Great Britain has not met for some considerable time, and I feel we shall all be proud of your deeds. It is admitted that you are particularly useful, knowing bush life and being able readily to seize commanding points. Great Britain is finding that her Colonies form a valuable nursery ground, and we, on our part, are prepared to supply Great Britain with a force which is rapidly becoming a powerful adjunct of the British arms. You will be placed where you must show energy and determination, and must manifest pluck and courage, and we believe that you will bring back as a reward a wide recognition that our arms have been of service to the Empire. You will make a name for us such as rarely falls to the lot of a youthful country. You will show the world that the Empire is united, and that we are prepared to defend her and our homes if the necessity arises. We in Australia wish you God-speed, and every heart here beats in accord with every loyal heart in South Africa. I can only add, for those who may fall, that their memories will be revered, and you depart knowing that the loved ones of those yielding their lives will be tended by a generous Government and a generous public. Again I wish you God-speed, and may you return covered with all honour." On the 19th of January the Premier received the following cable: "Her Majesty's Government learn with great satisfaction of the despatch of the Contingent and the patriotic feeling in New South Wales. The Queen commands me to express her thanks for these renewed expressions of loyalty. "CHAMBERLAIN." VICTORIA The Victorian Contingent started off with the same flourish of trumpets and the same outbursts of popular feeling which had accompanied all the Transvaal Contingents. There was a mixture of song and shout, of sorrow and tears. The weather was unchangeably splendid; the city of Melbourne was thronged with visitors to witness the unusual sight, the crowd being augmented by numerous Tasmanians who journeyed across the straits to get a last glimpse at the brave band of warriors as they started on their voyage. Lord Brassey gave a short address, and in the name of the Queen wished them God-speed. FIRST VICTORIAN CONTINGENT FOR SOUTH AFRICA.--Nominal Roll of Officers of the Victorian Contingent for service in South Africa, sent in accordance with the cablegram of the Right Honourable the Secretary of State for the Colonies of 4th October 1899: Major G. A. Eddy, Captain (Medical Staff) W. F. Hopkins, Lieutenant T. M. M'Inerney, Lieutenant H. W. Pendlebury, Lieutenant A. J. N. Tremearne. Mounted Infantry Unit--Captain M'Leish, Lieutenant and Adjutant Salmon, Lieutenant Thorn, Lieutenant Chomley, Lieutenant Staughton, Lieutenant Roberts, Veterinary-Captain Kendall. The following officers were attached for instruction in accordance with the cablegram of the Right Honourable the Secretary of State for the Colonies, dated 27th October 1899: Colonel J. C. Hoad, Lieutenant-Colonel C. E. E. Umphelby, Captain G. J. Johnston, Captain J. H. Bruche. Transport Officer for service with troops for South Africa on board s.s. _Medic_--Lieutenant-Commander W. J. Colquhoun. SECOND VICTORIAN CONTINGENT FOR SOUTH AFRICA (two companies of mounted infantry).--Nominal Roll of Officers who embarked on s.s. _Euryalus_ on 13th January 1900 for service in South Africa: Colonel T. Price, Captain D. H. Jenkins, Lieutenant T. H. Sergeant, Lieutenant T. F. Umphelby, Lieutenant G. O. Bruce, Lieutenant A. A. Holdsworth, Lieutenant M. T. Kirby, Lieutenant E. O. Anderson, Lieutenant T. A. Umphelby, Lieutenant E. S. Norton, Lieutenant R. S. R. S. Bree, Lieutenant and Adjutant J. L. Lilley, Major (Medical Staff) A. Honman, Chaplain Rev. F. W. Wray, Veterinary-Captain H. S. Rudduck. Officer attached for special service with Army Service Corps: Lieutenant A. J. Christie. In addition to these Contingents the Colony contributed 250 Bushmen, making in all up to the month of April, 751; officers, 46. Among the officers of the Victorian Contingent were some whose careers were particularly interesting:-- Lieut.-Colonel Charles Edward Ernest Umphelby was forty-six years of age, and a native of Victoria. He commanded the V.R.A.A. He joined the Militia Garrison Artillery at Warrnambool on the 20th June 1884; in March 1885 was appointed lieutenant in the Permanent Artillery, being promoted to be captain on the 1st January 1888. In August 1891 he was promoted to be major, and in June 1897 to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In addition to commanding the artillery he also commanded the Western District Garrison Artillery. He was sent to England by the Victorian Government in 1889 to undergo courses of instruction, and while there was attached to the staff of Major-General Clarke. He passed through various artillery courses, including the long course at Woolwich and Shoeburyness. Captain George Jamieson Johnston is a Victorian native, and is thirty-one years of age. He is an officer of the Field Artillery Brigade, which is commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Kelly. Captain Johnston was appointed lieutenant on the 11th January 1889, and was promoted to be captain on the 1st July 1895. He is well known as a straight and regular follower of the Melbourne Hounds. Captain Julius Henry Bruche was born on the 6th March 1873, and educated at the Scotch College, Melbourne. His first experience of military work was in the ranks, and as an officer in the cadet corps, under Major W. Whitehead. After leaving the Scotch College cadets he was appointed to the senior cadets, and from them was transferred to the 1st Battalion Infantry Brigade as a lieutenant on 15th May 1891. Whilst in the 1st Battalion he passed the examination for captain, "distinguished in all subjects." He was appointed permanent adjutant of the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Infantry Brigade on the 18th July 1898, and was promoted to the position of captain on the 17th February 1899, after passing the examination for regular officers, and going through a course of musketry and Maxim machine-gun, obtaining an officer's extra certificate, and a certificate as qualified as instructor of the Maxim machine-gun. Captain Bruche is a barrister and solicitor, but gave up his profession to join the permanent staff of the Victorian forces. It may here be mentioned that Victoria has the distinction of being the birthplace of Dr. Robert Andrew Buntine, who was mentioned for bravery at the battle of Glencoe in Sir George White's despatches. Dr. Buntine was born on the 13th of November 1869. He matriculated in the Melbourne University with honours, and at once entered upon his medical course, where he acquitted himself with some distinction, for although close upon a hundred students entered their curriculum with him, only five (and he was one of them) passed consecutively all their examinations with honours. In 1890 he graduated with honours, and took his M.B., Ch.M. degrees. He then became one of the resident surgeons of the Melbourne Hospital for a year. After that, and the hard work of the University, he decided upon a year's travel. Accordingly, he travelled first in South Africa, and then in Great Britain for some months, visiting many interesting historical spots, and finally returning to South Africa, where he bought a practice in partnership with Dr. Currie, of Pietermaritzburg, Natal. Both are surgeons in the army, Dr. Buntine being surgeon to the Volunteers, and Dr. Currie to the Carabineers. NEW ZEALAND On the 21st of October, the anniversary of Trafalgar, Wellington was very early astir. Great were her preparations to commemorate the departure of her Contingent--the first Contingent to embark from the Colonies. Bunting began to break out before breakfast, and town and shipping were soon fluttering with flags. In the streets groups were congregating at a time when people are usually given up to business, and uniforms everywhere dotted the thoroughfare. Large numbers of volunteers came in from the country, some travelling all night, and there was a turn out of local forces amounting to 1500. The march through the town began at 1.20 P.M. It was an inspiriting sight, and one that all wished to bear in memory. The road at intervals was so dotted with cameras, that one humourist in the ranks was heard to remark that this was the "real original March of the Camera Men." The crowds thickened and enthusiasm increased. Jervois Quay, the broadest avenue in the city, as well the open land abutting on it, was thronged from end to end. All the roofs commanding a view were lined, the steamers at the wharves were packed even to the rigging, and the long breastwork along the quay was crammed to suffocation. Here the passage for the Contingent was kept by a double row of volunteers. The weather had been frowning and gusty, but no sooner had the Contingent formed up in front of a temporary stand projecting from the breastwork, on which Lord Ranfurly, the Governor, Lady Ranfurly and suite were accommodated, than the sun burst forth resplendent while the wind gently lulled. Speeches were made, followed by pathetic leave-takings of friends and relatives. At the last moment so great was the crush that some of the men were cut off from the rest, and had afterwards to struggle to the steamer as best they could. As the big vessel slowly steamed off, cries of farewell, shouts, cheers rent the air, and continued unceasingly, till the _Waiwera_ bearing New Zealand "Soldiers of the Queen" to the scene of war, had passed from sight. The first New Zealand Contingent was commanded by Major Robin, who is a splendid example of the born warrior. Originally a gunner in the B Battery New Zealand Artillery, he rose in the Otago Hussars through all the grades of non-commissioned officers to command of the troop. This regiment from that time was unsurpassed in efficiency by any in the Colony. As an instance of the pluck and energy of the gallant major, a characteristic story is told: When Sir John Richardson died he was accorded a military funeral, and was interred in the Northern Cemetery. On the day of the funeral the Leith was in high flood, and there was a general opinion that the Dundas Street Bridge would not bear the weight of the gun-carriage bearing the honoured remains. Major Robin at once volunteered to drive the gun-carriage across, and accomplished the dangerous task without mishap. Major Robin took charge of the New Zealand Contingent which attended the Diamond Jubilee, and had the honour of commanding the mixed Colonial escort which accompanied the Queen on her visit to London during the celebrations. Captain Madocks, who distinguished himself in the fight of the 15th of January at Slingersfontein, is a Wellington man, full of pluck and resource, and as we now know, admirably calculated to become a leader of men. The second Contingent, under the command of Major Cradock and numbering 242 officers and men and 300 horses, left Wellington on the 20th of January--upwards of 70,000 spectators congregating to witness the departure of the fine fellows, whose appearance was alike martial and workmanly. These two Contingents, equipped and sent over at the cost of the New Zealand Government--the funds being raised among the settlers themselves--were not by any means New Zealand's entire contribution. Two more Contingents followed, and afterwards a fifth, consisting of 500 rough riders; some of the smartest men that could be gathered together! Indeed the whole force was remarkable for its smartness, and before it had been long in the Transvaal was highly praised by General French for its fine horsemanship and coolness under fire. An interesting feature belonging to the New Zealanders, and one which must have struck consternation in the heart of the Boers, was the Maori war-cry of the troops. This was composed by Trooper Galloway, one of the Volunteer Contingent, and taught by him to his comrades. The war cry in the Maori tongue is "Kia, Kaha, Niu Tireni. Whawhai maiea mo te Kuini, to kaianga. Ake! ake! ake!" which interpreted means, "Be strong, New Zealand. Fight bravely for your Queen, for your country. Ever! ever! ever!" The interest of the Maoris in Great Britain was evinced in practical form. They held carnival, danced native dances, and sang native songs, devoting the proceeds to the Patriotic Fund. Their only regret was their inability to be enrolled among the defenders of the country. [Illustration: HON. W. P. SCHREINER, C.M.G. Premier of the Cape Parliament, 1898-1900. Photo by Elliott & Fry, London.] QUEENSLAND The Queenslanders, under the command of Colonel Ricardo, have, as before said, the honour of being the first of Great Britain's children to come forward to her assistance. Their deeds are now familiar to us, for they are associated with Colonel Pilcher's famous raid to Sunnyside and Douglas, and also with the magnificent ride of General French for the relief of Kimberley. But before July 1899 we were scarcely acquainted with our warlike brothers across the ocean. The prime mover in the patriotic scheme of assisting the Mother Country in her need was the Hon. J. R. Dickson, the Premier. As we know, he lost not a moment. He did not wait for the need of assistance to be recognised. In this respect he followed the splendid example set in 1884 by the late Mr. Dalley, who, while acting Premier for Sir A. Stuart, telegraphed independently the wish of New South Wales to assist in the military undertakings of the Mother Country. The Premier knew the spirit of loyalty and patriotism that pervaded Queensland, and made haste to give it utterance. He was well supported by all sections of the Government and of the people, and speedily his action was imitated all over the world. Queensland by degrees sent out two Contingents composed of mounted infantry and one machine-gun section of Royal Australian Artillery; and finally, a third Contingent, of which 75 per cent. were bushmen, all first-class riders and splendid shots. They were men of grand physique, many of them wealthy, and many sons of prominent citizens. The infantry were not mounted when despatched, but all being good horsemen, and their services being chiefly required as scouts or to assist cavalry, they had mounts provided for them on arrival by the Imperial authorities. The Queensland Mounted Infantry was organised in 1884 by Colonel Ricardo, who is styled the "father" of mounted infantry in Queensland, and belongs to the Militia Division of the Colonial Defence force. The force is organised on the basis of three years' service, and ordinarily is recruited from the bushman and farmer class--a sterling and hardy set of fellows, whose plain motto is "For God and the right." The uniform, a highly becoming one, is of kharki, with claret-coloured facings. The hat is of the usual "brigand" shape, decorated at the side with a smart tuft of emu plumes. The whole of the expenses of transport, equipment, arms, and food for men and horses during the voyage was defrayed by the Colony; pay on the field was met by the Imperial Exchequer, the Colony only meeting the difference between the Imperial and Colonial rates, the latter being higher. The first Contingent consisted of 262 men and officers, who sailed in the _Cornwall_ on November 11, 1899, amid a wild display of patriotic enthusiasm. Officers of the first Contingent--Staff--Major P. R. Ricardo, to rank as Lieut.-Colonel; Sup. Captain R. S. Browne; Lieutenant C. H. A. Pelham; Machine-Gun Section--Lieutenant C. H. Black, Royal Australian Artillery. A Company Queensland Mounted Infantry--Captain H. G. Chauvel; Lieutenant A. G. Adie (wounded at Sunnyside under Colonel Pilcher); Lieutenant C. A. Cumming; Lieutenant T. W. Glasgow; Lieutenant D. E. Reid. B Company Queensland Mounted Infantry--Captain P. W. G. Pinnock; Lieutenant H. Bailey; Lieutenant R. Dowse; Lieutenant R. Gordon. The second Contingent was composed of 148 men and 8 officers, with 5 additional officers for special service in South Africa. Officers of second Contingent--Lieut.-Colonel Kenneth Hutchison, Headquarters Staff, commanding; Captain W. G. Thompson, Queensland Mounted Infantry; Lieutenant H. J. Imrie Harris, Queensland Mounted Infantry; Lieutenant A. F. Crichton, Queensland Mounted Infantry; Lieutenant James Walker, 3rd Queensland (Kennedy) Regiment; Lieutenant R. M. Stodart, Queensland Mounted Infantry. Supernumeraries--Captain Sir Edward Stewart-Richardson, Bart., 3rd Battalion Black Watch; Lieutenant John H. Fox. Additional officers attached--Surgeon-Captain H. R. Nolan, A.M.C. Queensland Defence; Major D. W. Rankin; Captain F. W. Toll, special service; Captain A. E. Crichton, Camp Quartermaster; Captain W. T. Deacon, Camp Adjutant. The second Contingent sailed in the _Maori King_ on January 20. The night before they were to start it was discovered that the ship had been set on fire, but the flames were extinguished before much damage was done. There seemed to be no doubt it was the work of an incendiary, and the police kept a close watch over the vessel till she was fairly away. It was regarded as significant that the crew consisted mainly of Dutchmen and Germans. The third Contingent, which sailed in the _Duke of Portland_ on March 1, was 300 strong, with 350 horses. In addition to the above, about 20 men and 50 horses had been sent to Sydney, and sailed with the New South Wales Contingent on February 26. After accommodating men and horses, it was found that the _Duke of Portland_ had still 500 tons of space available for cargo; this the Queensland Government offered to fill with forage for horses and men, and present to the Imperial Government. SOUTH AND WEST AUSTRALIA South Australia speedily sent two Contingents to the front, and offered more should further help be required. The first Contingent was commanded by Captain F. H. Howland. This officer was born in Kensington, London, 1863, and served for three years in the Middlesex E.V. Royal Engineers. At the expiration of that time he went to Australia, and in 1885 joined the volunteer company which was being formed at Mount Gambier, in which he was appointed lance-corporal. Since then he has passed through every rank, was appointed captain in 1893, and made adjutant in June 1898. Captain Howland then became senior captain in the second battalion, and--having passed his examination for his majority--on the illness of his commanding officer, commanded the battalion on several occasions. The officers of the Contingent were as follows: Captain F. H. Howland, D Company, Mount Gambier Infantry, C.O.; Captain G. R. Lascelles, Royal Fusiliers, A.D.C. to Lord Tennyson (attached); Lieutenant J. H. Stapleton, A Company, first battalion infantry; Lieutenant F. M. Blair, B Company, first battalion infantry; Lieutenant J. W. Powell, D Company, Mount Gambier Infantry; Major J. T. Toll, Medical Staff. In regard to the payment of the troops the arrangement was simple. The men received 5s. a day. That meant that the pay received through the South Australian Government and the pay from the Imperial Government would together amount to 5s. a day. Whatever amount the Imperial Government gave their soldiers, members of the South Australian Contingent received the same while on active service, and the balance paid to them by the South Australian Government would bring the amount up to 5s. a day. They did not propose to send any money from the Colony while the men were away, in order that, while fighting side by side with the Imperial soldiers, they should not receive more pay than their comrades. Their South Australian pay would be left at home until their return. If the British rate of pay were 1s. 4d., that arrangement would mean that 3s. 8d. per day would be due to them from the Colonial Government. Before starting the men received one month's pay, amounting to £7, which was considered sufficient to supply their immediate wants, and see them over the voyage. On arrival at Port Elizabeth they began to receive the same pay as the British soldiers. The officers of the second Contingent were: Captain J. Reade, commanding; J. F. Humphries, senior subaltern; G. H. Lynch, second subaltern; F. M. Rowell, third subaltern; G. J. Restall Walter, junior subaltern; W. J. Press, warrant officer, in charge of the "Colt" automatic machine-gun; William De Passy, warrant officer. The first Contingent of infantry was afterwards turned into mounted infantry. The second Contingent was composed of cavalry, and one machine-gun section. The Australian Horse was drilled on exactly the same lines as British cavalry, and was, in fact, under the instruction of British cavalrymen. The men were either members of volunteer corps, or volunteered on the outbreak of the war from all parts of the Colony. When the news of British reverses reached the Colony, the patriotic fervour of which the despatch of the first Contingent was a practical proof, was once more fanned into flame. The desire for Australian representation on the field of battle again translated itself into action, and the intimation that not only would further assistance be welcomed but that it was really wanted met with ready response. No lack of volunteers troubled the authorities, for numerous offers to serve were received from all parts of the colony, from persons of all classes and all ages. Among the youngest of those volunteering was Allan O'Halloran Wright, who was but fourteen years of age, who accompanied the Contingent as trumpeter. He is exceptionally well developed, and considerably taller than many of the rank and file. Among others was Sergeant Hanley, who was in the thick of the fight at Majuba Hill. He served with the 92nd Gordon Highlanders in the Afghan War, and received two decorations, including medal with the Kabul, Kandahar, and Charasia bars, and a star for the historical march from Kabul to Kandahar. He, with others, was mentioned in despatches for his conduct in defending Lord Roberts from an attack of the Ghilzais. He fought in twenty-seven engagements in Afghanistan, and was the youngest man in the regiment. He stood side by side with "Fighting Mac," who was then a lance-corporal, and promoted to a commission for his distinguished services. After the Afghan War he went to India, and though he had completed seven years service, and need have done no more, he volunteered for service with the 92nd Highlanders in South Africa. After the miserable experiences of Majuba he went to South Australia, where he served for nine years with the permanent force. He acted as warder in the Yatala prison till, hearing of the war, he instantly volunteered. On the 28th of October the Contingent dined at Government House, and after the meal the men were received in the great hall and thus eloquently addressed by Lord Tennyson: "Men of the South Australian Contingent of the British army in South Africa--I am proud of being your Commander-in-Chief because of your splendid patriotism, your alacrity in obeying the summons of the old country, your self-sacrifice in leaving your comfortable homes to fight for the United Empire, to maintain the Queen's position in South Africa, and to rescue the down-trodden Uitlanders from the political and social serfdom imposed on them by the Boers. When I was at home in 1897 I saw some of you in the Jubilee procession, and you were vociferously cheered by the millions of people in the streets. Why did they cheer you? Because they felt that you were our kith and kin, and that you were not only taking part in a triumphal procession in honour of the Queen, but that you were pledging yourselves that, if the needful occasion should arise, you would fight for our Queen and for our Empire. Your action now, and the action of all Australasia and of Canada, will make the nations of the earth hesitate before they strike at our Empire in the future, seeing our Imperial loyalty, our Imperial solidarity, our Imperial unity, our Imperial strength. I believe from my experience as your Governor that there is no man throughout South Australia who would not stand up in time of stress in defence of the Queen, the Empire, and the Union Jack. You are a gallant and stalwart body of men, and we rejoice in your soldierly appearance and your loyal enthusiasm. We feel sure that you will do your duty nobly, and return covered with honour and renown. Remember, my men, that obedience to discipline, and patience in enduring hardship, and promptitude in the performance of your military duties are the first steps towards the making of a victorious army. You are to be joined in South Africa to highly organised battalions of troops, some of the best in the world, commanded by highly trained and scientific officers. Obey these officers and your own implicitly, from the corporal to the Commander-in-Chief, whether on the field or in garrison, or wherever you are; and I need not tell you that, if you keep your eyes and ears open, you will learn a great deal that will be useful to you in the future. May Australia never be visited by war! If this ever happens, the British fleet will protect Australia in the first line of defence, but you must have an efficiently trained army as a second line of defence. Knowing this, the Federal Government of the future will, I am confident, put Australia in a proper state of military preparedness; and that is one of the reasons why I glory in our Federal Commonwealth to be. Remember always, my friends, that you are the guardians of a magnificent heritage, of a country of which you are justly proud, and that the experience which you Australians will gain in South Africa will not only enable you to fight, if necessary, for this country, but will also enable you to teach your comrades-in-arms, who are obliged to stay at home, something of the needful requirements of modern warfare. I know the General who is to lead you, Sir Redvers Buller. He is married to a cousin of my wife's, and I can tell you that a finer soldier could not be met with. The motto he would wish to be given you would be: 'Obedience and cheerful courage on service are an army's strength.' I am glad to have allowed--though it is personally a loss to myself--my A.D.C., Captain Lascelles, to accompany you, with special leave from the War Office at home. As you are aware, in him you have a thoroughly experienced and capable officer, and, like Captain Howland and your other officers, he is fond of you and devoted to your welfare. If I had to command a British army, I should know that, when you have had a little more military experience, with your pluck, your good marksmanship, and your loyalty, the standard of the Queen could well be intrusted to the keeping of the Australian Contingent. It is my duty as well as my pleasure to tell you that, on behalf of the British people, Her Majesty's Government have sent me two telegrams appreciative of the enthusiastic patriotism of yourselves, of the Ministry, and of South Australia. It is also my duty as well as my pleasure to read you the kindly and gracious message from the Queen, which has moved us all very deeply: 'Her Majesty the Queen desires to thank the people of her Colonies in Australia for the striking manifestation of loyalty and patriotism in their voluntary offer to send troops to co-operate with Her Majesty's Imperial forces in maintaining her position and the rights of British subjects in South Africa. She wishes the troops God-speed and a safe return.' The Boers have forced war upon us and have invaded our territory. You are going to fight for the cause of British freedom, for the honour of Great Britain, for the honour of Australia. In the name, then, of our beloved Queen, of Great Britain, and of South Australia, I bid you farewell, and I wish you, after your work is accomplished, a safe and happy home-coming." On the 26th of January the second South Australian Contingent started for the Transvaal amid scenes of great enthusiasm. The Governor, Lord Tennyson, again made an inspiriting speech and wished them God-speed. WEST AUSTRALIA West Australia sent with the same energy of patriotism two Contingents amounting to 230 officers and men, with offers of more if required. The officers were: Capt. R. Moor, R.A.; Capt. H. S. Pilkington, late 21st Hussars; Major M'Williams, Medical Officer; Lieut. J. Campbell; Lieut. H. F. Darling; Lieut. F. W. M. Parker. TASMANIA The Tasmanian Government were not behind the other Colonies of Australia in their desire to show their loyalty and patriotism by offering troops for Imperial service. There was, of course, some difference of opinion regarding the policy of going to fight at all, as the following cutting from a local journal will show: "In Tasmania, as elsewhere, there is a certain number, not many, of the crawling tribe, who always find that their country is in the wrong, and are never so happy as when they can hold up some foe as a model of virtue in contrast with the brutal Briton. It is curious to find those who call themselves friends of the working-classes indulging in this vein of oratory, but it is common to all the Colonies, and may be said to account for the little influence that the party has on general affairs. We have had here, of course, the inevitable Catholic priest who has denounced the British, for he always appears when Great Britain has any serious work to do, just as there is the usual meeting of Irish in New York. In Hobart the Catholic priests spoke feeling and appropriate words about the departure of the Contingent, but on the West Coast one Father Murphy went on the rampage in the good old style, and proceeded to denounce the country under the Government of which he lives, and which is liberal enough to allow him to say such things with impunity. I wonder whether these folk ever think about what would happen to them if they talked in the same strain in France, Germany, or even in the United States. It does not matter to Great Britain what these discontented ones say, but they might learn from the liberty they use the value of the freedom which they enjoy. On the whole, the people of Tasmania, while they deeply regret that war should be necessary, are fully alive to the value of a united empire, and are keenly anxious that she may vindicate her position in South Africa, and finally get rid of the Boer incubus which has weighed upon the country ever since the Gladstone Ministry adopted the policy of scuttle and palaver." This quotation shows the drift of popular sentiment, and in the end loyalty everywhere prevailed, and some splendid fellows volunteered to go to the front. These were not "raw material," but intelligent, handy soldiers, accustomed to the rough and tumble of bush life, and ready to provide for emergencies. Their commander, Captain Cameron, had seen some service, and took part in the famous march to Kandahar. The first Contingent, sent in the _Medic_, consisted of eighty men, of which the officers were: Capt. C. St. Clair Cameron, Erandale, commanding (who was afterwards a prisoner in Pretoria); Lieut. W. Brown; Lieut. F. B. Heritage; Lieut. G. E. Reid, 1st Regt., Hobart. Of the privates the following were subsequently taken prisoners to Pretoria: M. H. Swan, V. J. Peers, A. Button. J. H. Whitelaw, also a private, who has distinguished himself by gallantry in the field and by saving a comrade's life at the imminent risk of his own, will probably receive the V.C. The second Contingent, which consisted of forty-five men, was under the command of Sergt. J. Stagg, of Deloraine. Both Contingents were composed almost entirely of gentlemen. Tasmania also contributed 100 men to the Imperial Australian Corps which was raised at Mr. J. Chamberlain's suggestion from all the Australasian Colonies. The volunteering of the Tasmanian contingent to join hands with Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and shoulder to shoulder to support the "flag of old renown" in South Africa, gave origin to the following lines written by a Tasmanian poet:-- "War? We would rather peace; but, Mother, if fight we must, There be none of your sons on whom you can lean with a surer trust; Bone of your bone are we, and in death would be dust of your dust!" THE BUSHMEN'S CORPS There was immense excitement over the formation of the Imperial Bushmen or Roughriders' Corps. It consisted of over 2000 mounted men, selected from those experienced in riding and looking after stock in country in its natural rough state, unbroken by cultivation, fences or roads. In the first instance, New Zealand made an offer to provide 500 such men, after which--as more were required--Australia was asked to raise a further 2000, the Imperial Government bearing the cost of forwarding them to the seat of war, and maintaining and paying them there. Four thousand applications from Victoria and 2000 from Adelaide were received. The citizens of Rockhampton immediately offered to provide and equip twenty-five Bushmen. New South Wales was represented by a Contingent of 500 men, and Queensland decided to join with the other Colonies in organising this smart and serviceable corps, whose value was estimated as equal to twice the number of infantry. The movement was a most popular one, and gifts of horses were sent in from every direction. The public subscribed liberally, Captain Bridges alone giving £1000 towards the expenses of the Victorian Bushmen. The officers selected for the New South Wales Bushmen were Lieut.-Colonel Airey in command, Major Onslow, three captains and fourteen subalterns. The movement was so popular and subscriptions so liberal, that it was decided that 100 men should be sent from South Australia instead of the fifty originally proposed. Colonel Williams, of the New South Wales Contingent, was appointed principal medical officer for all the Australian Contingents serving in South Africa. The departure of the Bushmen on the 17th of January was a magnificent climax to the many magnificent demonstrations of patriotism which had been evidenced throughout the Colonies. INDIA'S CONTINGENTS Between the Australasian and Canadian Colonies and the Volunteer Contingent from India there is a certain difference which it is necessary to recognise. In the Colonies, the movement to help the Mother Country in her need, though prompted and encouraged by popular enthusiasm, patriotism, and donations from private and public resources, was suggested, voiced, and supported by the respective Governments, the Premiers of which acted very prominently in the enterprise, whereas in India, the offer of military assistance was a spontaneous impulse springing from individual patriotism and carried out by private enterprise. India, being a Crown Colony, could display her loyalty in no other way. Her position was somewhat similar to the Home Establishment, and her regular British troops were under orders for South Africa in exactly the same way as were the Home forces. Nevertheless, India was not backward in independent demonstrations of loyalty. English officers from various native corps, who, in ordinary circumstances, could serve only in their respective Indian Contingents, now came forward and volunteered for active service in aid of the Imperial cause in South Africa. The "men" volunteered from all directions. Dapper young Calcutta merchants, sporting tea-planters from Assam, gallant indigo-planters, and dashing roughriders from Bombay, Assam, Bengal, Cawnpore, Mysore, and all manner of districts unknown even by name to the Little Englander sent in their appeal, and pressed to be allowed to play their part in the defence of the Empire; and thus the smart regiments known as Lumsden's Horse, the Railway Contingent, and the Ceylon Mounted Contingent came to be recruited. Colonel Lumsden, lately Commandant of the Assam Valley Light Horse, generously assisted both financially and personally in raising and equipping the force, and quantities of Calcutta men offered their services, their expenses being guaranteed by the firms employing them. Gifts and subscriptions poured in. Lord Curzon, the Viceroy, headed the subscription-list by a handsome contribution, and so generous was the response of all India, that about £30,000 was collected in connection with the Transvaal war, including the equipment of volunteers. The native princes offered troops and horses, and loyally expressed themselves towards the Queen Empress. The troops were declined, it being understood that the war was between white men alone. Their offers of horses were, however, accepted. Nevertheless, the generosity of the princes was not to be denied, and several among them, the Maharajah of Bikanir, the Maharajah of Durbhanga, and the Nawab of Moorshedabad, subscribed liberally to the expenses of Lumsden's Horse, offering at the same time their best wishes for the success of the Contingent and the complete triumph of the British arms in South Africa. The Nizam of Hyderabad, whose State is as large as France, and whose relations with the sovereign have always been most cordial, assisted handsomely, saying at the same time, with true Oriental grace, that his troops, his purse, and his own sword were at the service of the Queen. The Maharajah of Tanjore contributed 5000 rupees, while his son furnished a complete set of X-ray apparatus. The Nawab of Bhavnagar State presented fifty fully equipped Arab horses to the force, and quantities of other prominent Nawabs displayed corresponding liberality. The Maharanee of Bettiah generously presented to each volunteer from her district a horse, and Khwajah Mahomed Khan forwarded from Mardan (on the Punjab frontier) the sum of 2000 rupees as an expression of loyalty, with his best wishes for the success of Lumsden's Horse. As an instance of the excitement and martial feeling in regard to the Indian Transvaal Contingent, it may be noted that the instant the scheme was proposed, two-thirds of the Light Horse of Behar volunteered for service, promising to provide everything except means of transport. They formed part of Lumsden's Horse, who were all men under forty years of age, many of them of independent means, with horses of their own. The following is the list of officers who were appointed to Colonel Lumsden's Corps:-- Lieut.-Colonel Dugald McT. Lumsden, Assam Valley Light Horse Volunteers, to be Commandant, with the temporary rank of Lieut.-Colonel in the army; Lieut.-Colonel Eden Showers, late Commandant Surma Valley Light Horse Volunteers, to be second in command, with the temporary rank of Major in the army; Captain J. H. B. Beresford, Indian Staff Corps, to be Company Commander. To be Captains, with the temporary rank of Captain in the army: Major Henry Chamney, Surma Valley Light Horse Volunteers; Captain Francis Clifford, Coorg and Mysore Volunteer Rifles; Second Lieutenant Bernard W. Holmes, East India Railway Volunteer Rifles; Second Lieutenant John B. Rutherford, Behar Light Horse Volunteers. To be Lieutenants, with the temporary rank of Lieutenant in the army: Lieutenant Charles L. Sidey, Surma Valley Light Horse Volunteers; Herbert O. Pugh, gent.; George A. Nevill, gent.; Charles E. Crane, gent. Captain Louis H. Noblett, the Royal Irish Rifles, to be a Company Commander; Captain Neville C. Taylor, Indian Staff Corps, to be Adjutant; Surgeon-Captain Samuel A Powell, M.D., Surma Valley Light Horse Volunteers, to be Medical Officer, with the temporary rank of Captain; William Stevenson, gent., to be Veterinary Officer, with the temporary rank of Veterinary Lieutenant. The Government provided free passages, and the railway authorities gave free passes. With the force went Mrs. C. W. Park and Mrs. M. C. Curry, wives of Lieut.-Colonel C. W. Park and Major M. C. Curry, of the 1st Devonshire Regiment, to assist in the hospitals in Natal. This regiment, it may be remembered, was with Sir George White, and had four officers severely wounded in its first battle, Elandslaagte, and was shut up in Ladysmith for over four months. Lumsden's Horse sailed from India on February 6, much envied by all who had not the good fortune to be of their number. [Illustration: GENERAL BRABANT, C.M.G. After Photo by S. B. Barnard, Cape Town.] Ceylon was not behind India in patriotic enthusiasm, though its powers were more limited. Great demonstrations of loyalty prevailed everywhere in the island, and volunteers were eager to be enrolled. Out of the numbers applying 125 men were picked out and 5 officers. The force was armed with Lee-Metford magazine rifles, 500 rounds of ammunition, and were nearly all mounted on trained horses. Captain Rutherford, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, was in command, and Captain Anderson, Royal Artillery, was second in command. Captain Toogood (Warwickshire Regiment) also accompanied the force. The planters and merchants of Ceylon presented upwards of 30,000 lbs. of tea to be delivered free to the troops in South Africa, to be shipped with the Contingent, and many private individuals were equally generous. The Legislative Council unanimously agreed that all expenses connected with the equipment, arming, transport, and, when necessary, mounting of the Ceylon Contingent, should be borne by the Colony. This liberal decision was acknowledged by Mr. Chamberlain in the following terms:-- MR. CHAMBERLAIN TO GOVERNOR THE RIGHT HON. SIR J. WEST RIDGEWAY. "Your telegrams of January 9 and January 10. Her Majesty's Government congratulate Ceylon on completion of Contingent, which they accept with much pleasure, and highly appreciate patriotic and generous action of Legislative Council." The Ceylon Mounted Contingent sailed on February 2 for active service in South Africa, amid the prayers and good wishes of a huge concourse of people. In addition to the above contingents from India and Ceylon, the Indian Government sent the guns and equipment for three field-batteries of 15-pounders, and also three corps of native transport drivers and muleteers--about 400 in all--under British officers. THE SOUTH AFRICAN VOLUNTEERS[6] CAPE COLONY It has been said that the whole course of the campaign might have been changed had the Cape Colony forces been utilised sufficiently early. If the Cape Ministry had begun at once by employing the splendid Colonial forces at its disposal, not for purposes of defiance, but of defence, the tale of raid and rebellion, which has been as harassing as the tale of war, would never have been told. But as it is useless to talk of the _might have been_, or of things done or left undone by the Cape Ministry, we must proceed to consider the services of the Cape Colonial Force, of the ten thousand volunteers, when they were eventually allowed to come into action. Of the splendid troops in Mafeking and Kimberley the Colony must ever be proud, for on them fell the weight of showing what worthy offshoots of the bold and the brave the sun of South Africa has reared. These men, recruited for the most part from Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, East London, Queenstown, Grahamstown, and Kimberley, consisted largely of past and present Cape Colony Volunteers. They were bone of our bone, and when the hour of stress arrived they proved themselves as such. They were immensely proud to be included in the term British, and right royally they acted up to the higher interpretation of that term. Though they have borne years of insult and suffered in innumerable ways for their fealty and devotion to the Mother Country, they rushed to arms joyfully in the hope that Great Britain would reassert herself, annex the whole of South Africa, and administer it under one Government. They longed to be quit of Dutch intrigue. They pined for a strong rule, one that would be free of the vacillations that had kept them on tenter-hooks for years, and prevented their living in a sense of security enjoyed by other freeborn British subjects. By these loyal fellows the towns of Mafeking and Kimberley were practically defended. In those places there were very few Imperial troops, and little could have been accomplished without the aptness and grit of the Colonials. The reason why they appeared to be neglected is not far to seek. No man is a prophet in his own country, and to this trite fact may be attributed the want of instant appreciation accorded to the Cape Colonial Volunteers who so spontaneously and with genuine zeal responded to the call of duty. While we made much of the Colonials from over the seas--the "Visiting Colonials" as they are called--we failed to see that at our elbows were the very men who would leap forward at a word and check the onward career of the enemy and put a stop to his annexations while our troops in England were getting into shape. But later we jumped at them. Then the Cape Colonists began to be vastly appreciated, and to receive the highest encomiums from all who had the good fortune to serve with them. The following is a table of some of the prominent Colonial forces of Cape Colony, 1900:-- ----------------------+-------------+------------------------+---------------- |ESTABLISHMENT| EFFECTIVE TO DATE | +-----+-------+--------+--------+------+ CORPS |All | | |N.C.O.'s| | |Ranks|Horses |Officers|and Men |Horses|OFFICERS ----------------------+-----+-------+--------+--------+------+---------------- IRREGULARS RAISED | | | | | | BEFORE WAR | | | | | | | | | | | | Rhodesian Regiment | ... | | ... | ... | ... | ... Protectorate Regiment}| | | | | |{Col. Baden- }| 650 | ... | ... | ... | ... |{Powell, 5th Kimberley Regiment }| | | | | |{Dragoon Guards Diamond Fields Horse | 100 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... Bechuanaland Rifles | 100 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | | | | | | IRREGULARS RAISED | | | | | | SINCE WAR | | | | | | | | | | | | Rimington's Guides | 212 | 220 | ... | ... | ... |{Lieut.-Col. | | | | | |{Hon. J. Byng, 1st S.A.L. Horse | 599 | 580 | ... | ... | ... |{10th Hussars | | | | | |{Capt. Villiers, Roberts's Horse | 599 | 580 | ... | ... | ... |{Royal Horse | | | | | |{Guards Kitchener's Horse | 599 | 580 | 41 | 617 | 586 | ... 1st Brabant's Light | | | | | | Horse | 599 | 580 | ... | ... | ... | ... 2nd Brabant's Light | | | | | | Horse | 599 | 580 | ... | ... | ... | ... Gatacre's Scouts | 50 | 50 | ... | ... | ... | ... Montmorency's Cavalry | | | | | | Division Scouts | 100 | 100 | ... | ... | ... | ... 6th Cavalry Division | | | | | | Scouts | 25 | 25 | ... | ... | ... | ... Chief in Command's | | | | | | Body Guard | 50 | 50 | ... | ... | ... | ... | | | | | | LOCAL DEFENCE CORPS | | | | | | Nesbitt's Mounted | | | | | | Local Defence Corps | 400 | 400 | ... | ... | ... | ... Bayley's Mounted | | | | | | Local Defence Corps | 500 | 500 | ... | ... | ... | ... Orpen's Horse | 300 | 300 | ... | ... | ... | ... Railway Pioneer | | | | | | Regiment |1008 | 8 | 34 | 959 | 15 | ... | | | | | | VOLUNTEERS | | | | | | | | | | | | P.A.O. Cape Artillery | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... Diamond Fields | | | | | | Artillery | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... Cape Garrison | | | | | | Artillery | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... ----------------------+-----+-------+--------+--------+------+---------------- [[Transcriber's note: The following text was written vertically in a column of the table above. It has been rendered here for ease of display. REMARKS: These numbers have been increased within the last few months by recruiting, Kitchener's Horse showing an increase of about 50. The figures, therefore, are only approximately correct]] STRENGTH OF VOLUNTEER CORPS ON ACTIVE SERVICE Prince Alfred's Own Cape Artillery--officers, 5; other ranks, 117; total, 122. Diamond Fields Artillery--officers, 4; other ranks, 119; total, 123. Cape Garrison Artillery--officers, 18; other ranks, 431; total, 449. Duke of Edinburgh's Own Volunteer Rifles--officers, 31; other ranks, 1027; total, 1058. Cape Town Highlanders--officers, 12; other ranks, 392; total, 404. Prince Alfred's Volunteer Guard--officers, 21; other ranks, 494; total, 515. First City Volunteers--officers, 22; other ranks, 556; total, 578. Kaffrarian Rifles (Colonel Cuming)--officers, 31; other ranks, 672; total, 703. Queenstown Rifle Volunteers--officers, 18; other ranks, 299; total, 317. Frontier Mounted Rifles--officers, 10; other ranks, 131; total, 141. Uitenhage Volunteer Rifles--officers, 16; other ranks, 396; total, 412. Komgha Mounted Rifles--officers, 5; other ranks, 41; total, 46. Stellenbosch Mounted Infantry--officers, 1; other ranks, 31; total, 32. Kimberley Regiment--officers, 25; other ranks, 541; total, 566. Bechuanaland Rifles--officers, 5; other ranks, 61; total, 66. A Company Cape Medical Staff Corps--officers, 2; other ranks, 55; total, 57. B Company Cape Medical Staff Corps--officers, 3; other ranks, 71; total, 74. C Company Cape Medical Staff Corps--officers, 0; other ranks, 13; total, 13. Transkei Mounted Rifles--officers, 5; other ranks, 66; total, 71. No. 1 Xalanga Border Mounted Rifle Club--officers, 4; other ranks, 40; total, 44. No. 19 Tembuland Mounted Rifle Club--officers, 2; other ranks, 21; total, 23. No. 23 Nqamakwe Mounted Rifle Club--officers, 1; other ranks, 21; total, 22. No. 25 Engcobo Mounted Rifle Club--officers, 1; other ranks, 28; total, 29. No. 29 Tsomo Mounted Rifle Club--officers, 1; other ranks, 29; total, 30. [Illustration: SOUTH AFRICAN SCOUT. FULL EQUIPMENT.] To prove his appreciation of the devotion and military prowess of the Cape colonists Lord Roberts, on his arrival in South Africa, decided on raising a Colonial Division. The official intimation of the formation of this division was contained in the following announcement:-- "The Commander-in-Chief, recognising the value of the services rendered by the Colonial troops, has authorised the formation of a division. Colonel Brabant, M.L.A., C.M.G., has been given the local and temporary rank of a Brigadier-General, and will be in command. Brabant's Horse, with several other irregular corps and mounted contingents, limited in number, from the infantry volunteer regiments, will form the first portion of this force, and its first object will be to drive the enemy out of the Colony, and to co-operate with the Imperial troops. It has been decided to raise a further 1500 mounted irregulars, so as to give all Colonials and men with Colonial experience a chance of joining this division. Men who enrol in this Mounted Irregular Corps, and who cannot afford to go on a long campaign, will be allowed to register their names for service in the Colony only, but any portion of such registered men can volunteer to take part in any further advance that may be ordered beyond the Orange River. To raise this latter force recruiting stations will be open in all parts of the Colony, and it is proposed to elect officers from Colonial gentlemen or those with Colonial experience." As may be imagined, there was great jubilation among the thousands of martial spirits at the Cape, who for long had been fretting at enforced inactivity. Some very interesting particulars regarding raising of some of the Colonial Corps were elicited from Mr. W. Hosken, who was chairman of the Uitlander Council and the Chamber of Commerce at Johannesburg. He said: "I was chairman of the committee which obtained permission from the Government to raise Thorneycroft's and Bethune's Corps of mounted infantry and the Imperial Light Horse, and all raised in Natal and mainly from refugee Uitlanders from Johannesburg. From the Imperial officers with whom I was brought into contact I received every consideration and the greatest cordiality. But again it should be remembered that we got the permission only after pressure had been brought to bear by public meetings at Durban and Maritzburg, and in other ways. The response was most gratifying. Only when the Boers were threatening to advance on Maritzburg were we allowed to form the Imperial Light Horse. Intimation of the permission was given on the Friday. By the following Wednesday we were able to report that 1300 men had offered for service, and that the medical examination would be at once begun. Thorneycroft's Corps was the first to take the field, and was actually fighting within six weeks from the date of its enrolment. The testimony from Boer sources as to the value of these regiments has been most gratifying. In one verbal statement by a Boer commandant they were described as 'evidently skilled sharpshooters.' Then there are the Natal Volunteers, recruited in very much the same way as your Volunteers at home, clerks and artisans from the towns, with the mounted companies from the country districts. They took the field possibly with some misgivings as to their capacity, just as the Volunteers here might do; but they have proved themselves equal to any military duty that is imposed on them. The soldiers of the regular army recognise them as worthy comrades, and the greatest cordiality exists between the regular and volunteer forces. Later on there was formed also in Natal a body of Colonial scouts--750 strong--recruited from local men who knew the country. Those who wished to serve together were placed in the same squad. Every section of twenty-five men elects its own leader, and every four sections its commander. They have already proved their efficiency in service with Sir Redvers Buller's army. Then there is the corps of ambulance bearers. When General Buller was making arrangements for the attack on Colenso last month he asked for 1200 white bearers. On the first day the notice was posted in Durban 900 men volunteered. Far more than the required number offered, and a selection was made of those who were considered the most fitted for the duty. These men did excellent work, bringing out the wounded under fire during that disastrous day at Colenso. Three were killed and several wounded, and every one of the corps behaved splendidly." In regard to the apparent neglect of the Volunteers at the Cape, he went on to say: "The delay in recruiting irregulars at the Cape was not in the least due to the unwillingness of the Uitlanders there or of the British residents. It was the result of political considerations which were then thought to be of sufficient weight by well-advised men on the spot. The delay caused a great deal of heart-burning among hundreds who were only too keen to take up arms; and it is only quite recently that permission has been given to form irregular corps and to accept the services of the Cape Volunteers already in existence, who were eager to serve. Directly the permission was given men flocked to the standard, and you have now Rimington's Guides, the South African Light Horse, and the Cape Volunteers, who have all promptly proceeded to the front. Another most useful body is now being recruited both in Natal and in Cape Colony--I mean the Railway Pioneer Corps. It is being officered by the most eminent of the mining engineers of Johannesburg, and the rank and file are made up of skilled mechanics, who are specially qualified for the particular duties they will have to perform. They will be armed in the ordinary way, drilled as an engineer corps, and will be expected to do the ordinary work of the military engineer." The Imperial Light Horse, formed by Majors Sampson and Karri Davies, was largely composed of Australians. Many Johannesburg people joined it, most of them "all-round sportsmen, capital shots, and keen riders." They joined on the principle of not allowing the Mother Country to fight their battles for them while they had a right arm with which to assert themselves. The Cape Mounted Police, 1000 strong, who were also sent on active service at the commencement of the war, were invaluable. They were remarkable, not alone for gallantry, but efficiency. When Captain de Montmorency's Scouts were cut off near Labuschagnes Nek by some 800 Boers, Captain Golsworthy on the last day of the year came to the rescue with a party of the Cape Mounted Police, and put the enemy to flight. Early in 1900, the Rhodesian Field Force, under the command of Lieut.-General Sir Frederick Carrington, was organised to operate in Northern Rhodesia, and stop any trekking of members of the Free State or Transvaal or rebels of Cape Colony into Rhodesian territory. The officers were:--Major C. D. Learoyd, Royal Engineers; Major A. V. Jenner, D.S.O., Rifle Brigade; Major C. L. Josling, Royal Army Medical Corps; Major G. A. R. Carew, 7th Hussars; Captain E. Peach, Indian Staff Corps; Captain R. G. Partridge, Army Ordnance Department; Captain W. E. Lawrence, South Wales Borderers; Second Lieutenant C. S. Rome, 11th Hussars; Second Lieutenant C. H. Dillon, Rifle Brigade; Paymaster G. J. C. Whittington, Hon. Colonel; Lieutenant Pemberton; Major P. Dalton, late 3rd V.B. Royal Fusiliers; Major C. D. Guise, 3rd Gloucester Regiment; Brevet-Major P. Moir Byres, 1st Dragoon Guards; Captain C. W. Kennard, 3rd Gordon Highlanders; Second Lieutenant W. H. Longden, 4th East Surrey Regiment; Chaplain Rev. F. P. Moreton, M.A.; Lieutenant R. Laing, surgeon; Lieutenant E. A. Parsons, surgeon; Lieutenant H. Cardin, surgeon; Lieutenant F. F. Bond, surgeon; Lieutenant G. H. Collard, surgeon; Lieutenant F. R. Pullin, surgeon; Lieutenant H. D. Buss, surgeon; Colonel H. C. Wood, late 10th Hussars; Lieut.-Colonel J. Leslie, 5th Royal Irish Fusiliers; Lieutenant-Colonel B. G. Booth, late Scots Guards; Major J. W. Traill, late 4th Cheshire; Captain R. Gray, C.M.G., late 6th Dragoons; Captain E. C. P. Curzon, late 18th Hussars; Captain F. C. P. Curzon, Royal Irish Rifles; Captain H. F. F. Fisher, Army Service Corps; Veterinary-Captain H. T. W. Mann; Lieutenant J. K. Rashleigh, late Artillery Militia; Lieutenant F. J. Lawrence, late English Militia; Lieutenant C. A. Burgoyne, 3rd Dragoon Guards; Lieutenant A. Wormald, surgeon; Major E. J. Tickell, D.S.O., 14th Hussars; Captain J. Ponsonby, Coldstream Guards; Captain Pereira, Coldstream Guards; Captain H. J. Haddock, Royal Welsh Fusiliers; Captain R. K. Arbuthnot, Royal Irish Regiment; Lieutenant W. D. P. Watson, late Scots Greys; Major G. Wright, R.G.A.; Major A. Paris, R.M.A.; Captain and Hon. Major G. E. Giles, late R.A. In all, forty-four officers. NATAL The following is a list of the names and numbers of the local forces which the colony of Natal has put into the field: Natal Naval Volunteers, 150; Natal Carabineers (Colonel Royston, since dead), 465; Natal Mounted Rifles, 200; Border Mounted Rifles, 270; Umvoti Mounted Rifles (Major Leuchars), 130; Natal Field Artillery, 120; Natal Royal Rifles, 145; Durban Light Infantry, 400; Medical Staff, 7; Veterinary, 3; Staff, 19; Natal Mounted Police (Europeans) at Ladysmith and other portions of the Colony (Colonel Dartnell), 649; Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry (Colonel Thorneycroft, Royal Scots Fusiliers, D.A.A.G.), 500; Bethune's Mounted Infantry (Lieut.-Colonel Bethune, 16th Lancers, Colonel Addison second in command), 500; Imperial Light Infantry (Colonel Nash), 1000; Imperial Light Horse (Colonel Scott Chisholm, killed 21st November 1899), 500; Colonial Scouts (Colonel Edwards, Captain Sydney Osborne), 500; Ambulance Bearers (1st section), 1000; Ambulance Bearers (2nd section), 600. Total, 7158. The South African Light Horse is mentioned among the Cape Colonial troops, though it has done notable work in Natal. The second and third regiments of the corps became respectively Roberts's and Kitchener's Horse. In the district of Kaffraria half the available men were embodied, men belonging to the Duke of Edinburgh's Own Volunteer Rifles--one of the corps of "regulars" belonging to Cape Colony. The South African Light Horse was started on the 12th of November. By order of Sir Redvers Buller a recruiting office was opened in Cape Town, whereupon the place was instantly invaded. Patriotic fervour ran high, and every one desired to take a share in showing forth the might of Great Britain. The officers, Major Byng (10th Hussars, with temporary rank of colonel) and Captain Villiers (R.H.G., with temporary rank of major), set themselves manfully to hurry the work of organisation. In no time men were picked--fine riders and fine shots--mounted and equipped. Saddlery, tents, harness, ammunition--all were gathered together with startling celerity. Among the troopers were British-born subjects, Uitlanders, Colonials, Americans, farmers, seamen, &c. The officers hailed from many regiments--the 10th Hussars, Royal Horse Guards, Life Guards, 11th Hussars, 20th Hussars, Gordon Highlanders, Yeomanry, Militia--all manner of men of distinction and wealth and breeding uniting together in a common brotherhood for a common cause. The following is a list of the officers: Colonel Byng, 10th Hussars, commanding; Major Villiers, Royal Horse Guards, second in command; Captain Fraser, 1st Life Guards, adjutant; Captain French, late L.G., Maxims; Captain Harden, Transport; Captain Murray; Captain Anderson; Captain Hull, paymaster; Vet.-Captain Walker; Vet.-Lieutenant Steele; Chaplain Rev. G. Eales. Squadron Leaders--Captain Balfour, late 11th Hussars; Major (Bimbash) Stewart, Gordon Highlanders; Captain Kirkwood; Captain Gatacre; Captain Renton; Captain Whittaker; Captain Child; Captain Allgood. Lieutenants Milne, Tucker, Brown, Jobling, De Rougemont, Tarbutt, Davis, Bathurst, Shepherd; Second Lieutenants Warren, Carlton Smith, Hamilton, Cock, Leith, Welstead, Robinson, Oates, Johnson, Vignelles, Vaughan, Carlisle, Marsden, Overbeck, Newman, Penrose, Kuhlman, Horne, Cloete, Walker-Leigh, Hon. de Saumarez, Thorold, Kitson, Vaghan. Three squadrons under Captain Byng proceeded to the front to Natal, where they immediately distinguished themselves, while the remainder of the regiment went to the western border, and there took a full share of incessant work. The Natal Mounted Police under Colonel Dartnell, "a genius, planner, and guide," did wonderful deeds in relation to the defence of Ladysmith and during the trying actions which preceded it. The gallant colonel, who has been described in action as being "as good as a brigade," placed his own horse at the disposal of General Symons, who was wounded, and saw him safely off the field at Glencoe. The Natal Carabineers served splendidly both within and without Ladysmith, some of the force, under Lord Dundonald, being the first to relieve the town. Their fighting qualities are well known, and it is unnecessary to do more than quote the words of General Hunter, who said, "I never wish to serve with better men." First-rate work has been done by the Frontier Mounted Rifles, a well-trained and excellently-equipped body of men, all in the prime of life, and drawn from the eastern border towns of the Cape Colony. They held a position of continual danger, being encamped nearest the enemy. Being born and bred among the kopjes which afforded the Boers such cosy hiding-places, they were acquainted with every nook and corner, and could find their way about them both in daylight and dark. This force, with the Cape Police, helped to keep General Gatacre informed regarding the seething mass of disloyalty that surrounded him. It was difficult to choose between the honest hostility of the Free Staters and the crafty antagonism of the rebel Dutchmen, who had joined the enemy almost to a man. These were known to be in active collusion with the foe, assisting them by spying, blowing up culverts, wrecking railway lines, and generally assisting in the development of the plots to sweep British rule from the soil of Africa. Loyal British subjects had much to suffer at the hands of these people, who spent their time carrying off and destroying furniture and valuables, smashing windows and doors, and damaging all property other than their own that they could lay hands on, and with these duplicit ruffians the British troops unaided by Colonials could never have been even. Besides the valuable services of the Frontier Mounted Rifles and the Cape Police, General Gatacre had under him four other regiments of Cape Colonials, who were all trying to outrival each other in nobility, pluck, and usefulness. Of many other regiments pages might be written, but space does not permit. In regard to the Imperial Light Horse, one sentence expressed by Sir George White speaks volumes. He said it was composed of the finest fighting material that he had ever had under his command. THE IMPERIAL YEOMANRY Early in the days of war Lord Lonsdale offered to take out to South Africa 200 men of the Westmoreland and Cumberland Yeomanry, of which he is colonel, and to fully equip and clothe them. Lord Harris and his regiment, the East Kent Mounted Rifles, also were among the first to volunteer for the front, and before that the Middlesex Yeomanry (the Duke of Cambridge's Hussars) made a hurried application to go to the Transvaal, which impetuosity of loyalty was met by the War Office with courteous refusal. At that time the need for light cavalry in South Africa seemed scarcely to have dawned on the authorities. It was true that October mists and November fogs had enveloped London, and that no one between Downing Street and the Mansion House could see an inch before his nose, and it was equally true that by the time these mists had cleared away there was only one question, namely, "How many men could be sent abroad out of the 10,000 who constituted the Yeomanry Cavalry?" Then, in December, the following announcement, with regulations to be observed in the organisation of a Contingent of Yeomanry and Volunteers, was published:-- YEOMANRY.--1. Her Majesty's Government have decided to raise for service in South Africa a mounted infantry force, to be named "The Imperial Yeomanry." 2. The force will be recruited from the Yeomanry, but Volunteers and civilians who may possess the requisite qualifications (as given below) will be specially enrolled in the Yeomanry for this purpose. 3. The force will be organised in companies of 115 rank and file, five officers being allotted to each company, viz., one captain and four subalterns, preference being given to Yeomanry officers. 4. The term of enlistment for officers and men will be for one year, or for not less than the period of the war. 5. The officers and men will bring their own horses, clothing, saddlery, and accoutrements. Arms and ammunition, camp equipment, and regimental transport will be provided by Government. 6. The men will be dressed in Norfolk jackets, of woollen material of neutral colour, breeches and gaiters, lace boots, and felt hats. Strict uniformity of pattern will not be insisted upon. 7. The pay will be at cavalry rates, with a capitation grant for horses, clothing, saddles, and accoutrements. All ranks will receive rations from date of joining. Gratuities and allowances will be those laid down in special army order of May 10, 1899. 8. Applications for enrolment should be addressed to colonels commanding Yeomanry regiments, or to General Officers commanding districts, to whom instructions will be immediately issued. _Qualifications._--(_a_) Candidates must be from twenty to thirty-five years of age and of good character. (_b_) Volunteers or civilian candidates must satisfy the colonel of the regiment through which they enlist that they are good riders and marksmen, according to Yeomanry standard. (_c_) The standard of physique to be that for cavalry of the line. VOLUNTEERS.--Her Majesty's Government have decided to accept offers of service in South Africa from the Volunteers. A carefully selected company of 110 rank and file, officered by one captain and three subalterns, will be raised (one for each British line battalion serving in, or about to proceed to, South Africa) from the Volunteer battalions of the territorial regiment. These Volunteer companies will, as a general rule, take the place in the line battalion of its company, serving as mounted infantry. The Volunteer battalions from which a company is accepted will form and maintain a waiting company in reserve at home. The selection of men from the Volunteer battalions for service with the line battalion in the field, will devolve on the commanding officers of Volunteer battalions. The terms of enlistment for officers and men will be for one year, or for not less than the period of the war. Full instructions for the information of all concerned will be issued with the least possible delay through General Officers commanding districts. [Illustration: LONDON'S RESPONSE--THE CITY IMPERIAL VOLUNTEERS CROSSING WESTMINSTER BRIDGE. Drawing by Allan Stewart.] A committee was formed to assist in organising the Yeomanry force, among which were the following notable persons: Colonel Lord Chesham, Colonel A. G. Lucas, Colonel Viscount Valentia, Colonel the Right Hon. W. H. Long, M. P. Colonel the Earl of Lonsdale consented to assist the committee in the obtaining of horses. The following Acting Staff Officers were nominated to assist Colonel Lord Chesham: Captain the Hon. W. Bagot (late Scots Guards), Captain L. Sandwith (8th Hussars), Adjutant of the 2nd Yeomanry Brigade. In a short, an almost incredibly short, space of time numerous battalions were in readiness, and a strong contingent from Ireland was raised, composed mainly of hunting men. The Under-Secretary for War wrote to correct the impression which prevailed in some quarters that the raising of funds by private subscriptions for the Volunteers and Imperial Yeomanry going to South Africa was promoted by Government in order to do work which ought to be done with Government money. He pointed out that the Government was bearing the whole cost of those forces, providing them directly with their pay, food, and arms, and, through their regiments, with clothing and equipments. But the Government allowance for these things was calculated on the regular army scale, and the public subscription would be serviceable in the way of making better provision in those directions for the local Volunteers and Yeomanry, of locally overcoming certain difficulties of organisation, and of decentralising a great deal of contracting for horses, saddles, clothing, &c. Why, they argued, should the man who volunteers his service in the field bear also all the cost of making himself efficient, and all the cost entailed by his absence from his trade or profession? Surely those who could not volunteer for the front will be glad to assist him, or his corps in this case, as they have assisted him or his corps in time of peace for forty years? Quantities of men of independent means throughout the country, a great many of whom were acquainted with each other, were ready and anxious to form a corps of the Imperial Yeomanry, messing and fighting together, and enduring the hardships and dangers of the trooper in emulation of the regular service man; and to this body of men the corps specially appealed. Though at first some 5000 men were called for, it was evident that 10,000 could have been recruited if needed. The magnificent example set by thousands of young men in humble stations of life, who left home and good employment courageously to serve their country, acted as a powerful incentive to their more fortunate brethren of means and leisure, and it was astonishing to find how readily all the members of the "upper ten" sacrificed themselves rather than be "out of it." Eventually the Duke of Cambridge's Own, the Special Corps, went to Africa, paying their own expenses. In this corps every trooper, equally with every other member of the Imperial Yeomanry, was entitled to a grant of £65 on joining, but all other expenses were defrayed by themselves, and even the pay received during the campaign was devoted to swell the Imperial War Fund for the widows and orphans of soldiers who had fallen in action. The cost of equipment of each recruit amounted to £170. The special purpose of the scheme was to attract men of social standing and education, and enable groups of friends to serve together in the same unit at the front. Among those who were enrolled was Lord Elphinstone; Mr. Geoffrey Malcolm Gathorne-Hardy, grandson of the Earl of Cranbrook; Captain Shaw; the Hon. Aubrey N. Molyneux Herbert (brother of the Earl of Carnarvon); the Hon. A. Hill-Trevor. Lord Lovat engaged himself actively in raising a corps of Highland gillies. In addition to the Government grant, magnificent contributions poured in for the full equipment of the corps. Lord Loch worked energetically in organising the South African Contingent of the Imperial Yeomanry. These troops were formed only of men who had South African experience, and had seen service there. The following is a list of the various battalions:-- 1st Battalion (Colonel Challoner)--1st and 2nd Co. Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry; 4th Co. Glamorganshire Detachment; 3rd Co. Gloucestershire Yeomanry. 2nd Battalion (Colonel Burke)--32nd Co. Lancashire Hussars; 21st and 22nd Co. Cheshire Yeomanry; 5th Co. Warwickshire Yeomanry. 3rd Battalion (Colonel Younghusband)--9th Co. Yorkshire Hussars; 11th Co. Yorkshire Dragoons; 12th Co. South Notts; 10th Co. Notts (Sherwood Rangers). 4th Battalion (Colonel Blair)--7th Co. Leicestershire Yeomanry; 8th Co. Derbyshire Yeomanry; 6th Co. Staffordshire Yeomanry; 28th Co. Bedfordshire Detachment. 5th Battalion (Colonel Meyrick)--14th and 15th Co. Northumberland; 13th Co. Shropshire; 16th Co. Worcestershire. 6th Battalion (Colonel Burn)--17th Co. Ayrshire Yeomanry; 18th Co. Lanarkshire Yeomanry; 19th Co. Lothian and Berwickshire; 20th Co. Fife Light Horse. 7th Battalion (Colonel Helyar)--27th Co. Royal 1st Devon, Royal North Devon; 48th Co. North Somerset; 25th Co. West Somerset; 26th Co. Dorsetshire. 8th Battalion (Colonel Crawley)--23rd Co. Duke of Lancaster's Own; 51st and 52nd Co. Mr. Paget's Corps; 24th Co. Westmoreland and Cumberland. 9th Battalion (Colonel Howard)--29th Co. Denbighshire; 30th Co. Pembrokeshire; 31st and 49th Co. Montgomeryshire. 10th Battalion (Colonel Lord Chesham)--37th and 38th Co. Buckinghamshire; 39th Co. Berkshire; 40th Co. Oxfordshire, 11th Battalion (Colonel Wilson)--42nd Co. Hertfordshire; 43rd and 44th Co. Suffolk; 41st Co. Hampshire Carabineers. 12th Battalion (Colonel Mitford)--34th and 35th Co. Middlesex; 33rd Co. Royal East Kent; 36th Co. West Kent. 13th Battalion--54th and 56th Co. Irish (Belfast) Companies; 45th Co. Irish (Dublin) Company; 47th Co. Lord Donoughmore's Corps (Duke of Cambridge's Own). 14th Battalion (Lieut.-Colonel Brookfield)--55th Co. Northumberland; 53rd Co. Royal East Kent; 50th Co. Hampshire; 62nd Co. Middlesex. 15th Battalion (Lieut.-Colonel Sandwith)--56th and 57th Co. Bucks; 58th Co. Berks; 59th Co. Oxford. 16th Battalion (Lieut.-Colonel Ridley)--63rd Co. Wilts; 64th Co. Cheshire; 65th Co. Suffolk; 66th Co. York. 17th Battalion (Lieut.-Colonel Moore ?)--60th Co. North Irish, Belfast; 61st Co. South Irish, Dublin. 18th Battalion--67th, 70th, and 71st Co. Sharpshooters. 19th Battalion (Lieut.-Colonel Rodney ?)--69th Co. Sussex; 68th Co. Paget's Corps; 72nd Co. Rough Riders; 73rd Co. Paget's Corps. Each battalion consisted of four companies of 116 each. Colonel Viscount Downe, who was serving on Lord Roberts's staff in South Africa, was elected to command a brigade of the Imperial Yeomanry, and Lieutenant the Hon. R. F. Molyneux, Royal Horse Guards, was selected as his aide-de-camp. Lord Dunraven's Battalion of Sharpshooters embarked for Africa to join the Rhodesian Force on the 6th of April. It was composed of four companies. The 67th, under the command of Captain Crum (late 52nd Regiment), was accompanied by Lieutenants Langford, Jones, Curley, and Dyke. The 75th, commanded by Major Warden (late Middlesex Regiment), was accompanied by Lieutenants Gabbett, Power, Warde, and Bosanquet. The 70th Company, comprising the Scottish Unit under Colonel Hill (late 12th Lancers), was accompanied by Lieutenants Clark, Torrance, Hotchkiss, and Andrews. The remaining company was commanded by Sir Savile Crossley. The Earl of Dunraven, the founder of the corps, went to South Africa as Supernumerary Captain on the Battalion Staff. THE CITY IMPERIAL VOLUNTEERS The announcement that the Government had decided to send to South Africa a force of Volunteers, was received with general delight by our civilian soldiers throughout the country. Here was a chance--a chance never before offered to earn distinction in the field; and here was an opportunity--most seasonable and appropriate, for the expression of public opinion, and for the display, the universal and effervescent patriotism that had found little chance of outlet in the prosaic walks of everyday life. The official intimation came as a surprise, and surprise in a few moments developed into unrestrained joy. The proposal to employ "a strong contingent of carefully selected Volunteers" was no sooner published than the War Office was besieged with applicants all eager to know what chance of being included in the great military movement might be available. A few weeks before the opening of Parliament Colonel Sir Howard Vincent volunteered "marksmen" for service in South Africa, and other colonels of Volunteer regiments followed suit. General Trotter (commanding the Home District) expressed a belief that the employment of Volunteers in the present crisis would demonstrate for all who should care to profit by the lesson the magnificent reserve force of civilian soldiers possessed by our nation, a force utterly ignored by Continental nations. This force was practically a force of picked men, selected marksmen who, unlike the "Regulars," were all first-rate shots, and fit to cope with the skilled sharpshooters of the Boers. The marksmanship of many of the London corps of Volunteers has for many years been phenomenal, and it was said that in one company of the 13th Middlesex there were no less than sixty-three first-class shots out of eighty. Finally, it was decided that the "C.I.V.'s," as they were called, should consist of 1400, and both corps sailed towards the end of January. Prior to their departure the Freedom of the City was conferred upon the officers of the regiment at the Guildhall, and later an impressive farewell service was held at St. Paul's Cathedral. Their departure through London was somewhat difficult, owing to the dense and enthusiastic multitude that thronged the streets to see the last of them. [Illustration: 12½-POUNDER QUICK-FIRING FIELD-GUN--CITY OF LONDON FIELD BATTERY. (By permission of Messrs. Vickers, Sons & Maxim, and the publishers of the _Engineer_.)] The Lord Mayor, Mr. Newton (now Sir A. J. Newton, Bart.), who was the moving spirit in the organisation of the corps, gave an excellent account of the splendid work that had been accomplished and of the prompt equipment and despatch of the regiment. This report concisely and modestly describes the enormous undertaking, though it does not sufficiently enlarge on the keen personal interest and magnificent services rendered by the prime mover in the great scheme. The Lord Mayor said: "From the moment when the Commander-in-Chief did me the honour of placing in my hands, as Chief Magistrate of the City of London, the organisation of a regiment of thoroughly qualified Volunteers for service in South Africa, I have been profoundly impressed with the responsibility of the trust, and the importance of every promise made on behalf of the Corporation and City of London being fulfilled in its integrity. The original promise was 1000 Metropolitan Volunteers, all recommended by their commanding officers, all between twenty and thirty-five years, all bachelors, and that at least 250 should be mounted. That was on the 20th of December (1899), and now, on the 3rd of February (1900), the City of London, with the approval of the military authorities, has completely equipped and despatched to the seat of war upwards of 1550 selected Volunteers, of whom 500 men and 17 officers are already in Cape Town--all approved by the General Officer commanding the Home District. Of these, 400 are mounted infantry, having their saddlery with them, and their horses ready at the Cape. Four small Maxim guns, with 200,000 rounds of ammunition, have also been shipped. A highly trained battery of field artillery, mainly provided by the Honourable Artillery Company, through the zealous co-operation of the Earl of Denbigh, composed of 140 men and officers, left the Royal Albert Docks by the steamship _Montfort_. This section took with it four 12½-pounder quick-firing guns and ample ammunition, together with their full complement of 110 horses, purchased here, as they must be of a stouter type than the Cape horses. The City has also--which was not originally intended--provided the entire camp and tent equipment for the whole force when it leaves Cape Town, and, at the request of the authorities, done a good deal in the direction of land transport, without interfering with the responsibility of the Headquarters Staff in South Africa in respect of maintenance of the corps. The regiment constitutes a part of her Majesty's regular army. The officers and men are soldiers, and remain so during the campaign. The time has been very brief, but there has been neither hurry nor confusion, and the explanation of the successful results may be fairly summed up as follows: As soon as Lord Wolseley accepted my offer, made on behalf of the Corporation and City, I was in the position of an autocrat in this business, and the power of the purse was promptly placed at my disposal--in the first instance by the Corporation with its grant of £25,000, by the City Livery Companies, the large shipowners, bankers, merchants, the Honourable Artillery Companies, its members, and the citizens generally. The Metropolitan Volunteer commanding officers vied with each other as to who could send the most men, do the most work, and be the most useful. The result is that, with the exception of a few staff officers from the regular army, the officers of the City Imperial Volunteers are gentlemen engaged in civil pursuits, but who have spent years in efficiently performing their duties. The non-commissioned officers are most carefully picked from the vast band of qualified men holding the same or higher rank in their own Volunteer regiments, and every man of the rank and file has been expressly recommended by his commanding officer for the particular duty allotted to him. Several committees have dealt with sea and land transport, equipment, saddlery, and finance, and Volunteer commanding officers have served on all these. A committee of the Honourable Artillery Company and the battery officers arranged the details of their own equipment without coming to the Mansion House for anything but the inevitable cheque. The selection of Colonel Mackinnon, A.A.G., Home District, as commandant was a very fortunate one for all concerned. Major-General Turner, C.B., R.A., has been constant in his attendance at the Mansion House, and always at hand when technical assistance was required. Major Freemantle and Lieutenant Grantham have been indefatigable, while my son as hon. secretary to, and Mr. A. D. Watson, a member of, the Equipment Committee, have gone to Cape Town as the connecting link for a short time between the regiment and its headquarters--the Mansion House. Colonel C. G. Boxall, C.B., on whose initiative I took up this work, has thoroughly and loyally fulfilled in every sense his promise to me to see this business completed, for which his admittedly great technical knowledge and his indomitable zeal in the Volunteer cause so eminently fit him. Mr. Abe Bailey, D.L. of the City, who from the first placed his services at my disposal, is acting as honorary agent of the regiment at Cape Town. He purchased over four hundred horses, and arranged for their being put in training and ready for the arrival of the first contingent, besides rendering other and invaluable aid. Several City firms have furnished contingents of their expert employees, whose services at the Guildhall in the preparation and distribution of "kits" have been of great assistance. The payment of accounts is now progressing, and at the first opportunity an audited statement of receipts and expenditure will be presented. In conclusion, I would state that the whole force has gone to the front with no burning desire for glory, but with a determination to do its duty, and with an intense loyalty and devotion to their beloved Sovereign." ROLL OF THE CITY OF LONDON IMPERIAL VOLUNTEERS. Officers.--Infantry--Colonel, Earl of Albemarle; second in command, Lieutenant-Colonel A. G. Pawle; Adjutant, Captain the Hon. J. R. Bailey. A Company--Captain A. Reid; Lieutenant F. R. Jeffrey; Lieutenant E. D. Townroe. B Company--Captain C. W. Berkeley; Lieutenant B. W. Garnett; Lieutenant J. W. Cohen. C Company--Captain C. Matthey; Lieutenant the Hon. S. McDonnell, C.B.; Lieutenant E. Treffry. D Company--Captain F. J. Cousens; Lieutenant J. H. Smith; Lieutenant F. R. Burnside. E Company--Captain R. B. Shipley; Lieutenant W. J. P. Benson; Lieutenant F. B. Marsh. F Company--Captain W. Edis; Lieutenant P. F. Brown; Lieutenant S. H. Hole. G Company--Captain A. A. Howell; Lieutenant C. P. Grindle; Lieutenant P. Croft. H Company--Captain C. A. Mortimer; Lieutenant W. B. I. Alt; Lieutenant B. C. Green. Quartermaster, Captain S. Firth. Medical Officer, Surgeon-Captain E. St. V. Ryan. Staff--Colonel W. H. Mackinnon; Lieutenant E. H. Trotter; Transport Captain J. E. H. Orr; Paymaster Captain Triggs (late A. P. D.); Medical Officer, Surgeon-Captain R. R. Sleman; Veterinary Officer, W. S. Mulvey. Battery--Major G. McMicking; Captain E. C. Budworth; Lieutenant A. C. Lowe; Lieutenant H. Bayley; Lieutenant J. F. Duncan; Surgeon, Captain A. Thorne. Mounted Infantry--Colonel H. C. Cholmondeley; Adjutant Captain E. Bell; Quartermaster J. Ridler. Machine-Gun Section--Lieutenant E. V. Wellby. No. 1 Company--Captain J. W. Reid; Lieutenant G. Berry; Lieutenant W. H. Brailey; Lieutenant B. Moeller; Lieutenant C. H. W. Wilson. No. 2 Company--Captain J. F. Waterlow; Lieutenant A. Bailey; Lieutenant E. G. Concanon; Lieutenant A. H. Henderson; Lieutenant E. A. Manisty. FOOTNOTES: [6] For much valuable information I am indebted to the editor of the _South African Volunteer Gazette_. CHAPTER VIII AT COLESBERG The troops with General French were in very fine fettle. They had no past history; they were not damped by the remembrance of a Majesfontein, a Stormberg, or a Colenso. They had perfect confidence in their chief; they had just enough hard work to keep their wits polished and their minds alert, and in the intervals there was sport of a kind for those who fancied it. Fighting in and around Colesberg was incessant. The Boers were most stubborn in their determination to get rid of the British, and General French was equally stubborn in his determination to get rid of the Boers! Colesberg was a situation to be desired, and both British and Boer forces fought desperately to hold it. It is situated some thirty-seven miles north of Naauwpoort, which is the junction of a branch line to De Aar. Between Naauwpoort and Colesberg are undulating pastures, and the town itself, which boasts a population of 1900 souls, possesses three--till lately--thriving hotels. In addition to these attractions it has for the Boers another--the attraction of being the birthplace of Oom Paul. Its capture would have mightily impressed the waverers in Cape Colony, consequently General French determined to celebrate the New Year by making another lunge at the enemy. Early on Monday morning his troops took up a position upon the kopjes surrounding the town. His force, divided into two brigades commanded by Colonel Porter (Carabineers) and Colonel Fisher (10th Hussars), simultaneously attacked the Boer position. The second brigade started from Rensburg at five on the previous afternoon, passed the night at Maider's farm, and in the small hours proceeded to their destination, the Boer position on Kul Kop, and seized the kopjes overlooking Colesberg on the west. The advance was made on the Boer haunts at nine, and was greeted by a tornado from the surprised enemy, whose position extended for six miles round the entire village. Our artillery answered briskly, continuing a two hours' argument which had the result of effectually silencing the seven or eight Boer guns. (Curiously enough, on inspection, it was discovered that some of the Boer shells had been manufactured at the Royal Laboratory, Woolwich!) Meanwhile the cavalry and horse-artillery were endeavouring to work round to the north of the enemy's position. The foe, ever nimble, was kept "on the trot." He was driven from hill to hill. Brilliantly the Berkshires, under Major M'Cracken, stormed a kopje to the west of Colesberg, occupying successive positions and pouring a torrent of lead on the enemy, who fled in disorder with loud shouts! Splendidly wheeled the cavalry, under Colonel Fisher, executing at the same time a flank movement and closing in round the Dutchmen, who had but time to flee. The enemy retired towards the west, followed always by the British, but owing to the peculiar disposition of the many kopjes in the vicinity the task of pursuing them was difficult. In their retreat towards Colesberg Junction they were hotly chased by the cavalry, and Colesberg itself was left almost in our hands. On the 2nd of January an unfortunate accident occurred. A train within the British lines was mysteriously set in motion, and was carried by the impetus given to it in the direction of the Boer lines. It travelled slowly, but sufficiently fast to get out of reach, and as the machine was full of supplies, it was necessary to fire on and destroy it rather than allow the Boers to reap the reward of rebel treachery. The brakes were found to have been taken off the trucks, and a Dutchman was arrested on suspicion of having perpetrated the deed. At first an attempt was made to mend the trucks, the working party being supported by Carabineers and the Mounted Infantry; but these were bombarded by the Boers, and finally the trucks had to be fired to prevent the rations they contained, a quantity of rum, from falling into the hands of the enemy. The New South Wales Lancers under Major Lee, who were sent to the scene to avert looting by the foe, spent five hours under fire, holding the position and returning the fire with great gallantry. The small force under General French's command at this time consisted of the Carabineers, 10th Hussars, Inniskilling Dragoons, O and R Batteries of Horse Artillery, the Berkshires and Suffolks, the New South Wales Lancers and New Zealanders. With this limited number he had worked wonders, driving the Dutchmen out from the kopjes immediately around Arundel, and forcing them continually to shift their position, a process which effectually deterred them from gaining ground. The Boer position now lay on long lines of kopjes to east and west of the rails, from Taaibosch Laagte to Rensburg; in the middle of the plain was the dumpling-figured kopje known as Val Kop which the British had been forced to evacuate. The enemy now prepared a little surprise. At daybreak on the 4th they made a sudden attempt to outflank the British position beyond Coleskop, westward of the town; thus hoping to reopen communications with the northern waggon bridge. In General French's report of the day's work, he said: "The enemy was found to have established himself in strength at some hills running about east and west at right angles to the left rear of our position. The cavalry on the left should not have allowed him to do this unseen, but in turning him out they rendered signal service. The 10th Hussars, with two guns which I sent to them, threatened to take them in reverse, and they were heavily fired upon by the remaining four guns of O Battery in front. This caused several hundred to abandon the position, and the plain was covered with flying horsemen. The 10th Hussars on one flank, and a squadron of the Inniskillings on the other, dashed after them. The 10th Hussars were checked by some of the Boers taking up a strong position in some rocks to cover the retreat of the others. In a most gallant style Colonel Fisher dismounted his men and led them on foot against this position, which they carried with great boldness and intrepidity. "In this daring operation, I regret to say, Major Harvey was killed, and Major Alexander severely wounded. "The 6th Dragoons, led by Captain E. A. Herbert, showed no less dash, pursuing the enemy, mounted, and inflicting some loss with their lances. Some 200 of the enemy had, however, still clung to the hills, and after shelling them for some considerable time, both in front and flank, I decided to clear the position with the Mounted Infantry. Advancing under cover of the fire of the artillery, Captain De Lisle moved his men with great skill to a position where he could move against the enemy's right flank. Here he dismounted and advanced to attack, choosing the ground with admirable care. At this threat at least 100 more of the Boers took to flight in many small parties, the remainder endeavoured to check the Mounted Infantry advance. When one half the position was made good, a final exodus was made by the enemy, and twenty-one last remaining Boers surrendered. The Mounted Infantry suffered no casualties. This operation was most skilfully and boldly carried out by Captain De Lisle. It has been conclusively ascertained that on this day the enemy lost upwards of ninety killed and wounded, our casualties being six killed and fifteen wounded." [Illustration: OFFICERS--CITY OF LONDON IMPERIAL VOLUNTEERS. Photo by Gregory & Co., London.] On the 5th of January, Lieutenant Sir John Milbanke, who went out with a patrol of five men on the plain north of Colesberg, came in touch with the enemy. The Boers galloped up to intercept the small British party, and Sir John Milbanke was slightly wounded in the thigh. This form of skirmish was an almost daily occurrence, for round the place was a species of Boer girdle. The Dutchmen, like flies--swept off at one moment to return the next--now buzzed in the hills within a mile radius from the town, while on the north, in the direction of the Free State, and in the east towards Aliwal and Burghersdorp, they remained in undisturbed possession of the country. To the north of Colesberg was a hill which practically commanded the road to Orange River, and also other roads leading to the town. That this hill should be in British possession was eminently desirable, and Colonel Watson conceived the idea that it might be easily taken and held by us. With General French's permission, on Friday, the 5th of January, he arranged an expedition, a midnight one, for the purpose of gaining the coveted position. He started forth at two o'clock on the morning of the 6th with four companies of the Suffolk Regiment. After marching stealthily in the darkness for about a mile, they reached the foot of the hill. This kopje had been often reconnoitred by various officers, and it was not due to any rashness on their part that a lamentable accident occurred. They marched through the dead of night to the top of the hill. In the morning twilight they were attacked by the enemy, who, aware of their design, was awaiting them. So completely had the troops fallen into a trap, that when the rifles blazed out they were at a distance of only thirty paces from the Dutchmen. The Colonel, who had halted to address the men, the Adjutant, and two other officers, were wounded before the Suffolks had found time to fire a single shot. Indeed, so quickly were they pounced on, that Colonel Watson, on giving orders to charge, fell riddled with bullets. Suddenly orders, none knew from whence, were given to "retire." Some said it was a ruse of the Boers. The rear fled back to the pickets, some thousand yards off, believing the order came from their officers; others--about a hundred and twenty officers and men--remained, refusing to budge. They fought bravely, but were eventually compelled to surrender. All were killed, wounded, or taken prisoners. Of eleven officers, but one remained! The Boers were evidently well-informed of the commanding officer's programme, and their tactics were so clever and combined that they contrived to create something of a panic when the unfortunate Suffolks, who thought themselves only preparing for attack, were definitely attacked. Critics sitting in judgment at home declared that ordinary precautions would have averted the chance of being entrapped, but others, who knew Kaffir ways and the condition of the country, where every keyhole was an ear and every leaf of a tree an eye, were inclined to marvel that so few disasters happened. One of the officers writing of the affair said: "It is quite certain the Colonel never gave that order, or the officers would have retired too. They remained to a man, except Graham, who was wounded early, and could not hold his rifle. He dragged himself down the hill, and somehow crawled the two miles into camp. The Boers said those that were left charged three times and behaved splendidly. The position was impossible to take, even if a brigade had attacked, although it had been carefully reconnoitred. The ditch, with the loopholed wall near the top of the hill, could only have been discovered by a balloon. The Colonel's last words were, 'Remember Gibraltar, my boys!'"[7] There was deep regret at the loss of this distinguished officer, and the whole force lamented the first check which this column had sustained. The enemy was shelled at intervals, so as to make his position as uncomfortable as possible, but the Boers still remained in possession of the route leading to the Free State by Achtertang. Soon the Essex Regiment was sent on to replace the 1st Suffolk, who went south to recruit their shattered forces. Among the wounded officers was Major Graham; Lieutenants Wilkins, Carey, and White were killed. With those taken prisoners were Captains Brett, Thomson, Brown; Second Lieutenants Allen, Wood-Martin, and Butler. Of the men, 26 were killed, 45 wounded, and 72 taken prisoners or missing. The British occupied Slingersfontein on the 9th of January. From this time Colonel Porter and his splendidly alert troops--the 5th Dragoons, New Zealanders and New South Wales Lancers--were busily occupied in keeping the enemy "on the run," forcing him to leave one kopje after another, and maintaining harassing tactics which entirely upset the Dutchmen's calculations. Still the Boers were ubiquitous. They now held a strong position between Colesberg and Slingersfontein, from which with the small force at hand it was impossible to dislodge them. On the 13th, the inconvenience of the situation was rendered more intense by a perfect cyclone of dust which caused the utmost discomfort. Meals were also made impossible by the aggressive attacks of the enemy, who plumped shell after shell in the midst of the camp. Colonel Porter retired his troops to the cover of a neighbouring hill, while three squadrons of the 6th Dragoon Guards and four guns of O Battery, Horse Artillery, advanced across the plain and prepared to tackle the enemy. This was done with such celerity and decision that almost in five minutes the Boer guns were silenced and the enemy driven to cover. As a result of the prompt activities of our artillery, the Boer tents were removed eastwards. [Illustration: POSITION AT COLESBERG ABOUT 20TH JANUARY.] These sand-storms, characteristic of the Veldt, were a terrible test to patience. At one moment the camp was an orderly array of mushroom tents springing decorously from the earth; in the next it was seemingly an animated mass of anthills trying to maintain life against an ochreous avalanche of dust. Occasionally when the cyclone of grit had ceased, it was followed by a hurricane of hail, accompanied by the gloom of night, the bellow of the blast and growl of the thunder-claps fighting together in the hills. Then would the frightened cattle stampede, and the whole routine of military life become deranged. A rushing mob, a battle of the elements, a vast ditch irrigated with rivulets, bombardment by the big guns of the wind--such would be the programme for a good hour or so! Then, as often as not, the sun would suddenly come out and shine affably, with the placid, self-satisfied beam of dear old ladies when they've trumped their partner's best card of a long suit at whist! After this, the routine of life would go on much as before, the Dutchmen clinging to their positions, and General French determining to make these as untenable as possible. On the 15th the New Zealanders had an excellent opportunity of exhibiting their smartness and dash. The Boers made a stubborn attempt to seize a hill that practically commanded the country to east and west of their main position. This valuable eminence was held by a detachment of New Zealanders and D Company of the Yorkshire Regiment under Captain Orr. Early in the morning desultory firing began, and later the Boers, increasing the warmth of their fire, worked towards the right of the position held by the New Zealanders. At the same time they assailed the Yorkshires, directing their fire at a small wall held by them and forcing them to keep close cover. Gradually the Boers advanced, creeping towards the wall ever nearer and nearer. They then blazed furiously from their position on the slopes, killing the Sergeant-Major and wounding Captain Orr. At this time Captain Madocks, R.A. (attached to the New Zealand Mounted Rifles), and ten New Zealanders appeared on the scene, and, to the dismay of the Boers, the whole party with a dash and a yell leapt over the wall and charged down on their assailants with fixed bayonets. It was a splendid act, and one which, as the officer commanding the Yorkshires had dropped wounded, came just in time to save the situation. Away rushed the enemy, rolling one over another in their effort to be off, while a sustained storm of bullets inflicted heavy loss on their retreating numbers. From the distance they made a feeble attempt to fire at the gallant fellows who had routed them, but eventually they retired to the small kopjes at the base of the contested hill. There they were saluted by a detachment of two guns of O Battery from the west of the kopje. The enemy's long-range gun now came into play and forced the British guns to move their position farther to the west. That done, the small kopjes were effectively shelled and the Dutchmen's fire silenced. The whole engagement was a signal success, and the Yorkshires and New Zealanders were well pleased with their share of the day's work. Twenty-one Boers were left dead on the field and many more were wounded. (On the morning of this day an unfortunate incident occurred at Colesberg. Lieutenant Thompson, R.H.A., while out scouting, was wounded and taken prisoner. This officer, together with Lieutenants Talbot Ponsonby, Lamont, and Aldridge, was especially mentioned for services performed with the guns.) [Illustration: GENERAL FRENCH'S REMARKABLE POSITION AT COLESBERG, AS SEEN FROM KUL OR COLE'S KOP ABOUT 15TH JANUARY. Sketch by Frederick Villiers, War Artist.] The events of the last few days had served to show that, however the Colonials might differ in their customs, habits, and ideas, they were assuredly identical in their dogged bravery and their fine spirit of dash-- "They come of The Blood, slower to bless than to ban, Little used to lie down at the bidding of any man,"-- and Captain Madocks and his hardy New Zealanders had now the well-merited good fortune to have earned the esteem and appreciation of all who had seen their splendid rush to the rescue of the Yorkshires. On the 16th General French visited the New Zealanders' camp and congratulated them on their gallant conduct during the fight. The Boers now brought to bear on the position one of the guns captured by them at Stormberg, and launched some ten shots into the kopjes held by a company of the Welsh Regiment. They got as good as they gave, and before long the enemy was completely silenced. General French's system was a tit-for-tat form of warfare, which failed to commend itself to the Dutchmen. It served well, however--in default of sufficient troops to make any definite advance--to hold the enemy from proceeding farther south in British territory. News now came in that a large force of Dutchmen had been transferred from Majesfontein for the purpose of reinforcing the Boer commandoes at Colesberg, and thus rendering the paralysis of the British complete. A very serious disaster befell a patrol consisting partly of New South Wales Lancers and South Australian Horse, who had so nobly volunteered their services to the Mother Country at the beginning of the war. On the morning of the 16th of January a party of nineteen rode out from Colonel Porter's camp for the purpose of reconnoitring towards Achtertang. It was not yet dawn, but they pursued their investigations, reaching Norval Camp without seeing any signs of the enemy. About 8 A.M. they commenced the return journey naturally with a feeling of greater security than when they started. They unfortunately fell into an ambush. A hot fight ensued, but the Boers were in overwhelming numbers, and the party was hard pressed. Two escaped to camp, and six more, after hiding till it was possible to make good their escape, followed them. The rest were made prisoners, but not without a struggle, as the bodies of four dead Australian and seven dead Boer horses, left on the field, served to testify. Lieutenant Dowling was killed. The enemy now occupied Klein Toren to the north of Slingersfontein. On the 18th inst. Major-General Clements, D.S.O., arrived with two regiments of the 12th Brigade (the Royal Irish and the Worcestershire), and was placed in command of all the troops at and east of Slinger's Farm. Two battalions were posted at that place, and occupied a good commanding position, which had been well fortified and intrenched. General Clements had also, at Slinger's, one company New Zealand Mounted Rifles; one squadron and four guns. Colonel Porter, 6th Dragoon Guards, with four squadrons, two guns, and one company of infantry, was posted at a farm called Potfontein, some eight miles east, and a little south, of Slinger's. The enemy's force at Colesberg was now hemmed in on the west, south, and east, and their position began to look uncomfortable, particularly as a battery firing lyddite shells was at hand to assist in the British operations. The British now held a series of positions of great extent, shaped after the manner of a mark of interrogation, with Colesberg within the curve of the hook. The distance to be covered between the camps on the east and west flanks was about sixteen miles. Supplies were conveyed by waggons drawn by mules of South African breed--sleek, and as a rule good-tempered beasts. The South American mules were of a weaklier stamp, their poor condition being the result of importation. The tracks through the veldt, called by courtesy roads, were now in many places a foot deep in dust wherever sand-drifts had been lodged, and these promised in the event of rain to develop into morasses. On the 25th General French made a reconnaissance in person, and discovered that the enemy was strongly posted at Rietfontein. The reconnaissance occupied two days, during which the troops covered forty miles. In spite of many efforts to cut the Boer's communications with the Free State the Boers outwitted him, or rather out-dodged him, and retained their hold on Colesberg. Their position consisted of commanding hills down a defile through which a spruit flows towards the Orange River. The windings of this stream are followed by Waggon Road for more than a mile, then, after passing the hills, it flows over undulating country towards the river. On Saturday, the 27th, a melancholy incident took place. For some weeks Major MacCracken had been holding a hill close up to the Boer position, and on this particular morning, though no fighting was taking place, a shell was plumped upon the hill by the enemy with the result that an officer was wounded. A New Zealander named Booth, orderly to General Clements, was killed while holding the General's horse. At this time General French had mysteriously disappeared. His destination, though not announced, was Cape Town, where he went on a visit to Lord Roberts, whose plans were rapidly approaching completion. The upshot of that momentous visit we shall discover anon. LORD ROBERTS'S ADVANCE At Modder River Lord Methuen, to encourage the performers in a series of inter-regimental boxing matches, offered three splendid challenge cups for competition. These were won by the Scots Guards, the Grenadier Guards, and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders respectively, on the 3rd of February, when the series came to an exciting conclusion. Meanwhile, when the cat was away the mice could play. The Boers engaged in their usual game of destroying railway tracks between Modder Camp and Langeberg, and as many as thirty-three explosions were heard, which portended considerable damage to line and culverts. However the trains conveying the sick to hospital at the Cape got away in safety, and as many invalids as possible were despatched to the base in order that the advance movement, when it should commence, would not be hampered. The junction of De Aar at this time was simmering with activity. Stores to the value of a million pounds were being accumulated in preparation for a gigantic move in the direction of Modder River. Though at the moment Lord Roberts's plans were not generally known, it was certain that a vast number of troops--many more than those then under Lord Methuen's command--were about to congregate in the neighbourhood of Orange River, and in consequence there was suppressed excitement among the British and corresponding trepidation among the Free Staters. General French, whose splendid activity had been going on in most trying circumstances, now found himself freed to begin operations on a scale more fitted to his talents and more congenial to them. Cavalry was pouring in, and with cavalry and such a commander there was immense cause for hope. The Suffolks who, after their disaster at Colesberg, went to Port Elizabeth to recruit their forces, now came up to De Aar, and were re-officered prior to being sent to the front. Other regiments were also trickling in, and slowly disposing of themselves in positions previously arranged by Lord Roberts at the Cape. All these dispositions were made with intense secrecy, Lord Kitchener setting himself to work to reorganise the transport department in such a manner as to make all the complicated moves of the coming war game possible. [Illustration: WITH GENERAL FRENCH: NEW ZEALANDERS SAVING A PICKET OF THE YORKSHIRE REGIMENT NEAR SLINGERSFONTEIN ON JANUARY 15. Drawing by W. Small from a Sketch by G. D. Giles.] Life at Modder River began to grow correspondingly animated. Experiments in the working of the Marconi wireless telegraphy were set on foot, and other active preparations for decisive combat were pushed forward. The Boers were busy too. They were making further trenches in front of the Majesfontein ridge with a view to still further strengthening their position, an exertion which they subsequently found to be somewhat unnecessary. They also swelled their numbers. From the report of deserters it seemed that President Steyn had drawn to his banner many reluctant farmers by means of false representations, he having circulated the report that the British meant to seize and confiscate property for the purpose of enriching their own soldiers after the war. The Canadian Regiment, who till then had been guarding the lines of communication, moved to the front. They were in great spirits, and much rejoiced at being allowed to take a more active share in operations. The Australian Infantry Regiment was now to be mounted. It was a misfortune that the Australians were not mounted from the first, as all were good horsemen, and would have come in handy to assist the British cavalry in the work of reconnaissance, which the mobile nature of Boer movements rendered unusually hard. The companies were composed of about 125 men from Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, West Australia, and Tasmania respectively. On the 6th of February Lord Roberts left Cape Town for the front. He stopped _en route_ at Belmont. Every eye was turned to him as he alighted at the railway station. It was nine o'clock, and presently a crowd collected to view the two warriors on whom the British Empire pinned its faith. One was the smallest man in the station; the other was the largest. The Field-Marshal, neat as a new pin, with his refined visage, grey moustache and tufted imperial, looked young, even happy, and undisturbed by his responsibilities; the hero of Omdurman, large and broad-shouldered, his forage cap crammed on his head, his keen steel-tinted eyes piercing the heart of things at a glance, appeared stern and preoccupied. They were met by Colonel Otter, and the Field-Marshal at once asked to see the Canadians. Colonel Otter accordingly brought him to the main guard, which consisted of one sergeant, one corporal, and two men. One of these described the inspection by the august chief. "We were standing at the present, and Lord Roberts appeared to be sizing us up pretty well. He inquired how we liked our bandoliers for cartridges, and on Sergeant Ellard informing him that they were too loose, and that the cartridges fell out of them, Lord Roberts said that he would see that this was remedied. Lord Roberts presented Sergeant Ellard with a basket of roses, and on distribution of them I received one." This flower was treasured and sent home to the trooper's family in remembrance of the great day which brought him face to face with England's grandest soldier. On the 9th the Chief arrived at Modder River. At this time General Macdonald and the Highland Brigade were keeping the Boers occupied on the west, and during this manoeuvre tremendous activities were set on foot. For instance, while General Macdonald's Brigade was marching back to camp on the 10th of February, a force consisting of 23,000 infantry, 11,000 mounted men, and 48 guns, with transport of some 700 waggons, drawn by 9000 mules and oxen, was approaching the Free State! A brigade of Mounted Infantry under Colonel Hannay was moving from Orange River to Ramdam, situated about eight miles from Jacobsdal. On the 11th, Boers were discovered intercepting the road and holding the hills, but these, with a detached part of Colonel Hannay's force, were held where they were, while the main body with the baggage pushed on to their destination. On the 12th General French--who was now for the first time since his departure from Ladysmith, in command of a cavalry division--seized the crossing of the Riet River at Dekiel's Drift, whereupon the 6th and 7th Divisions there encamped themselves. Before going further, it is necessary to follow the movements of the Highland Brigade, movements which materially assisted the development of the intricate plan of advance. "FIGHTING MAC" AT KOODOESBERG The Boers were now threatening the line between the Orange and Modder Rivers, and in consequence of various reports regarding their movements Colonel Broadwood proceeded to Sunnyside with the Royal Horse Artillery, Mounted Infantry, and Roberts's Horse, the newly-raised regiment from whom great things were expected. The enemy retired and crossed the Riet River, taking care to keep well out of the way, for it was known that "Fighting Mac" was on the warpath, and the last thing the rebels desired was to find their own line of communications interrupted. On the 3rd of February General Macdonald with the Highland Brigade, 9th Lancers, 9th and 62nd Batteries Royal Field Artillery, moved out in a westerly direction with a view to blocking the main drift at Koodoesberg, and thus preventing a force reported to be coming from Griqualand West from joining that coming from the north for the purpose of cutting Lord Methuen's line of communication. There was also another motive for the movement, and that was to attract the attention and energy of the enemy while Lord Roberts was arranging for a decisive stroke in another quarter. The march was a trying one owing to the tropical temperature, exposure to a scorching sun, and the perpetual inconvenience of dust. The troops however, bore it bravely. They bivouacked at Fraser's Drift, and on the following (Sunday) morning moved forward to Koodoesberg. The distance--some thirteen miles--was covered, again in sweltering conditions, over a shadeless expanse of rough road, which reflected the glare of the heavens and threw out hot rays as from a baker's oven. Men dropped continually from sunstroke, and exhaustion, and thirst; but, fortunately, owing to the near proximity of the river, there were few serious cases. The troops arrived at their destination about one o'clock, without having seen any Boers. On reaching the drift the men refreshed themselves by bathing in the river, a luxury in which they revelled. But repose was short. A hurried meal of bully beef and biscuits and they were at work again, providing for contingencies. Two thousand yards off were a group of kopjes, behind which it was said some 4000 Boers were hiding. [Illustration: MAP ILLUSTRATING THE MOVEMENT TO KOODOESBERG.] The General at once set himself to construct breastworks to protect the drift and secure his positions on north and south of the river, while the 9th Lancers and their scouts reconnoitred the surrounding country to ascertain the strength and disposition of the enemy. They came on a small picket of Boers--there was a rapid exchange of shots--but on the nearer approach of our troops the Boers fled. On Monday both sides of the river were taken possession of. A large body of mounted Boers were seen advancing about 2000 yards off, but beyond firing a few shots at the British force no serious conflict took place. On Tuesday there was a smart race between our men and a large force of Boers advancing from their laagers. Both parties made for a big kopje, which was cleverly gained by the British after a breathless scramble. The enemy, worsted, galloped off, pursued by the Lancers. At nine o'clock on Wednesday, the 7th, the Boers, who had engaged themselves in dragging a heavy gun to the scene of action, began to blaze out upon the Seaforth Highlanders. These, with alacrity, sprang to action. As a private said, "It was not a Majesfontein affair this time, and a holy joy filled our hearts at the prospect of having a little bit of our own back." The enemy was established at the north end of Koodoesberg, whence they shelled the works that were being constructed to protect the drift. At the drift were seven companies of Highland Light Infantry. On the left bank were the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, half a battalion of Seaforths, two guns, and the 9th Lancers observing both flanks. Holding the south end of Koodoesberg on the right bank of the river were the Black Watch, half a battalion of Seaforths, one company of Highland Light Infantry, and four guns (62nd Field Battery). An animated battle ensued, and the British guns did splendid execution. The troops took cover behind hastily-constructed sangars, and the bullets of the enemy failed to touch them. There were no evidences of the celebrated Boer marksmanship on this occasion. The enemy pounded the hill with shrapnel, and made a ferocious effort to rout the Highlanders from their position. The 62nd Field Battery, after some smart cannonading, which was as effective as it was vigorous, forced the Dutchmen to shift their gun to a position farther north. Eventually the weapon of the Dutchmen was silenced altogether. Meanwhile, at the request of General Macdonald, General Babington, with his own regiment of cavalry (12th Lancers) and two batteries of Horse Artillery, had been despatched from Modder River. They started at 11.30 A.M. on the 7th, and had they arrived in time might have cut off the retreat of the enemy and entirely hemmed them in. As it was, they marched along the north side of the Modder, and only arrived at four o'clock, in time, however, to quickly pursue the foe in his retreat northwards, which retreat had been begun with all speed on the first hint of the coming of an additional force. The sufferings endured by some of the cavalry were intense, and one man expired through exposure and thirst. Others were in pitiable plight, but finally recovered. While the great struggle was taking place it was discovered that the enemy was intrenched at a small drift on the west. Whereupon two companies of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders became engaged in a smart skirmish, and gave the Federals so warm a time that by nightfall, after being shelled in their trenches, they were glad enough to slink off. By morning the enemy had entirely evacuated their position, and not a vestige of them was to be seen. Had the cavalry not been utterly worn out on reaching the scene of action, the Dutchmen would have been caught before they had time to seek refuge in flight. [Illustration: "FIGHTING MAC" AND THE HIGHLAND BRIGADE IN ACTION AT KOODOESBERG. From a Sketch by Lestor Ralph.] The troops then, under orders from Lord Methuen, retired to Modder River. They started from Koodoesberg on the evening of Thursday, made a moonlight march to Fraser's Drift, returning to camp footsore and dilapidated on Friday. But before leaving, the officers and men who fell in the action were buried on the south bank of the river. Among them was Captain Blair, who, after having been previously struck by a bullet, had been mortally wounded by a shell. Lieutenant Tait, a very gallant officer, a notable golfer, and a general favourite, also fell, and Captain Eykyn eventually died of his injuries. General Macdonald's reconnaissance at Koodoesberg Drift was entirely satisfactory. The position there was important, as it prevented Boer reinforcements from passing _via_ the chief drift from Douglas to Majesfontein, and the movement served to confound the enemy, and protect the operations of the Belmont garrison in the direction of Douglas, not to speak of its value in keeping Boer activities to the west of Majesfontein at the time when Lord Roberts was developing his plans in regard to the east of that place. The enemy had been kept amused and out of mischief, and been wholesomely trounced into the bargain! The casualties, which were comparatively few, were as follows:-- _Killed_:--2nd Royal Highlanders--Captain Eykyn; Lieutenant Tait. 2nd Seaforth Highlanders--Captain Blair. _Wounded_:--2nd Seaforth Highlanders--Captain Studdert, A.S.C. 1st Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders--Captain Kirk. 9th Lancers--Second Lieutenant Cavendish; Lieutenant Mackenzie, R.A.M.C. FOOTNOTES: [7] Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur John Watson was forty-six years of age. He entered the army as a sub-lieutenant of the 12th Foot (now the Berkshires) on August 9, 1873, and received his lieutenancy from the same date. He was instructor of musketry to the regiment from February 12, 1880, to January 24, 1883, received his company on the 14th of April following, and, passing the Staff College in 1884, served with the Bechuanaland Expedition under Sir Charles Warren later in the year, and from February 17 to October 28, 1885, was brigade-major in Bechuanaland, being honourably mentioned in dispatches. He was employed on staff service with the Egyptian army from February 12 to September 7, 1886, obtaining his major's commission on October 21 following; and in 1888 served in the Hazara Expedition as brigade-major to the first column under Brigadier-General Channer, when he was again mentioned in dispatches, and received the medal with clasp. From July 20, 1889, to February 20, 1896, he was garrison instructor in Bengal, and deputy assistant-adjutant-general for instruction in the Punjaub, taking part in 1895 in the operations in the Chitral, accompanying the relief force under Sir Robert Low, acting as road commandant on the lines of communication. For his services in this campaign he received his second medal with clasp. He was gazetted lieutenant-colonel of the Suffolk Regiment on September 19, 1898. APPENDIX THE STORY OF SPION KOP. A great deal of consternation and not a little surprise was caused by the publication of the official account (_London Gazette_, April 16, 1900) of the evacuation of Spion Kop. In order to make intelligible the causes of the terrible fiasco it is necessary to quote for the benefit of those interested not only Lord Roberts's comments on the subject, but the statements of the officers concerned. Sir Redvers Buller, writing from Spearman's Hill, January 30, 1900, gave his version of the proceedings:-- "I have the honour to report that General Sir Charles Warren's Division having arrived at Estcourt, less two battalions 10th Brigade, which were left at the Cape, by the 7th January, it moved to Frere on the 9th. "The column moved as ordered, but torrents of rain fell on the 9th, which filled all the spruits, and, indeed, rendered many of them impassable for many hours. To forward supply alone took 650 ox waggons, and as in the 16 miles from Frere to Springfield there were three places at which all the waggons had to be double spanned, and some required three spans, some idea may be formed of the difficulties; but these were all successfully overcome by the willing labours of the troops. "The 4th Brigade reached Springfield on the 12th in support of the mounted troops, who had surprised and seized the important position of Spearman's Hill, commanding Potgieter's Drift, on the 11th. "By the 13th all troops were at Springfield and Spearman's Hill, and supply was well forward. "On the 16th a reserve of seventeen days' supply having been collected, General Sir Charles Warren, in command of the 2nd Division, the 11th Brigade of the 5th Division, the Brigade Division Royal Field Artillery, 5th Division, and certain corps troops, including the Mounted Brigade, moved from Springfield to Trichardt's Drift, which is about six miles west of Potgieter's. "I attach Sir Charles Warren's report of his operations. "On the night of the 23rd General Warren attacked Spion Kop, which operation he has made the subject of a special report. On the morning of the 25th, finding that Spion Kop had been abandoned in the night, I decided to withdraw General Warren's force; the troops had been continuously engaged for a week, in circumstances entailing considerable hardships; there had been very heavy losses on Spion Kop. I consequently assumed the command, commenced the withdrawal of the ox and heavy mule transports on the 25th: this was completed by midday the 26th; by double spanning, the loaded ox waggons got over the drift at the rate of about eight per hour. The mule waggons went over the pontoon bridge, but all the mules had to be taken out and the vehicles passed over by hand. For about seven hours of the night the drift could not be used as it was dangerous in the dark, but the use of the pontoon went on day and night. In addition to machine guns, six batteries of Royal Field Artillery and four howitzers, the following vehicles were passed: ox waggons, 232; 10-span mule waggons, 98; 6-span, 107; 4 span, 52; total, 489 vehicles. In addition to these the ambulances were working backwards and forwards evacuating the sick and wounded. "By 2 P.M. the 26th all the ox waggons were over, and by 11.30 P.M. all the mule transports were across and the bridge clear for the troops. By 4 A.M. the 27th all the troops were over, and by 8 A.M. the pontoons were gone and all was clear. The troops had all reached their new camps by 10 A.M. The marches averaged for the mounted troops about seven miles, and for the infantry and artillery an average of five miles. "Everything worked without a hitch, and the arrangements reflected great credit on the Staff of all degrees; but I must especially mention Major Irwin, R.E., and his men of the Pontoon Troop, who were untiring. When all men were over, the chesses of the pontoon bridge were so worn by the traffic that I do not think they would have lasted another half-hour." He concluded by saying:-- "Thus ended an expedition which I think ought to have succeeded. We have suffered very heavy losses, and lost many whom we can ill spare; but, on the other hand, we have inflicted as great or greater losses upon the enemy than they have upon us, and they are, by all accounts, thoroughly disheartened; while our troops are, I am glad and proud to say, in excellent fettle." Sir Charles Warren's report addressed to the Chief of the Staff, ran thus:-- "On the 8th January field orders were published constituting the 10th Brigade of the 5th Division a Corps Brigade, and placing the 4th Brigade in the 5th Division. The 5th Division thus constituted marched from Frere on the 10th instant, arriving at Springfield on the 12th instant. "On the 15th January I received your secret instructions to command a force to proceed across the Tugela, near Trichardt's Drift to the west of Spion Kop, recommending me to proceed forward, refusing my right (namely) Spion Kop, and bringing my left forward to gain the open plain north of Spion Kop. This move was to commence as soon as supplies were all in, and the 10th Brigade (except two companies) removed from Springfield Bridge to Spearman's Hill. "I was provided with four days' rations with which I was to cross the Tugela, fight my way round to north of Spion Kop, and join your column opposite Potgieter's. "On the 15th January I made the arrangements for getting supplies, and moved the 10th Brigade on the following day, and on the evening of the 16th January I left Springfield with a force under my command, which amounted to an Army Corps (less one Brigade), and by a night march arrived at Trichardt's Drift, and took possession of the hills on the south side of the Tugela. "On the 17th January I threw pontoon bridges across the Tugela, passed the infantry across by ponts, and captured the hills immediately commanding the drift on the north side with two brigades commanded by Generals Woodgate and Hart. The Commander-in-Chief was present during part of the day, and gave some verbal directions to General Woodgate. "The Mounted Brigade passed over principally by the drift, and went over the country as far as Acton Homes, and on the following day (18th) had a successful action with a small party of Boers, bringing in 31 prisoners. "During the night of the 17th, and day of the 18th, the whole of the waggons belonging to the force were brought across the Tugela, and the artillery were in position outside of Wright's Farm. "On the 19th two brigades advanced, occupying the slopes of the adjoining hills on the right, and the waggons were successfully brought to Venter's Spruit. "In the evening, after having examined the possible roads by which we could proceed, I assembled the General Officers and the Staff, and the Officer Commanding Royal Artillery, and Commanding Royal Engineer, and pointed out to them that of the two roads by which we could advance, the eastern one by Acton Homes must be rejected, because time would not allow of it, and with this all concurred. I then pointed out that the only possible way of all getting through by the road north of Fair View would be by taking three or four days' food in our haversacks, and sending all our waggons back across the Tugela, but before we could do this we must capture the position in front of us. "On the following day, 20th January, I placed two brigades and six batteries of artillery at the disposal of General Sir C. F. Clery, with instructions to attack the Boer positions by a series of outflanking movements, and by the end of the day, after fighting for twelve hours, we were in possession of the whole part of the hills, but found a strongly-intrenched line on the comparatively flat country beyond us. "On the 21st the Boers displayed considerable activity on our left, and the Commander-in-Chief desired me to move two batteries from right to left. At a subsequent date, during the day, I found it impossible to proceed without howitzers, and telegraphed for four from Potgieter's. These arrived early on the morning of the 22nd, and the Commander-in-Chief, arriving about the same time, directed me to place two of these howitzers on the left, two having already been placed on the right flank. I pointed out to the Commander-in-Chief that it would be impossible to get waggons through by the road leading past Fair View, unless we first took Spion Kop, which lies within about 2000 yards of the road. The Commander-in-Chief agreed that Spion Kop would have to be taken. Accordingly that evening orders were drawn up giving the necessary instructions to General Talbot Coke to take Spion Kop that night, but, owing to an absence of sufficient reconnaissance, he requested that the attack might be put off for a day. "On the 23rd January the Commander-in-Chief came into camp, the attack on Spion Kop was decided upon, and Lieut.-Colonel àCourt, of the Headquarter Staff, was directed by the Commander-in-Chief to accompany General Woodgate, who was detailed to command the attacking column. The account of the capture of Spion Kop is given in another report. "On the morning of the 25th January the Commander-in-Chief arrived, decided to retire the force, and assumed direct command. The whole of the waggons of the 5th Division were got down to the drift during the day, and were crossed over before 2 P.M. on the 26th January." In regard to the Council of War, Sir Charles Warren amplified his previous statement: "Upon the 19th of January, on arrival at Venter's Laager, I assembled all the General Officers, Officers Commanding Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers of Divisions, and Staff Officers, together. I pointed out to them that, with the three and a half (3½) days' provisions allowed, it was impossible to advance by the left road through Acton Homes. In this they unanimously concurred. I showed them that the only possible road was that going over Fair View through Rosalie, but I expressed my conviction that this could not be done unless we sent the whole of our transport back across the Tugela, and attempted to march through with our rations in our haversacks--without impedimenta." Sir Charles then added:-- "The hills were cleared on the following day, and very strong intrenchments found behind them. The Commander-in-Chief was present on the 21st and 22nd January, and I pointed out the difficulties of marching along the road, accompanied by waggons, without first taking Spion Kop. "Accordingly, on the night of the 22nd, I ordered General Coke to occupy Spion Kop. He, however, desired that the occupation might be deferred for a day in order that he might make a reconnaissance with the Officers Commanding battalions to be sent there. "On 23rd January the Commander-in-Chief came into camp, and told me that there were two courses open--(1) to attack, (2) to retire. I replied that I should prefer to attack Spion Kop to retiring, and showed the Commander-in-Chief my orders of the previous day. "The Commander-in-Chief then desired that I should put General Woodgate in command of the expedition, and detailed Lieutenant-Colonel àCourt to accompany him as Staff Officer. "The same evening General Woodgate proceeded with the Lancashire Fusiliers, the Royal Lancaster Regiment, a portion of Thorneycroft's Horse, and half-company Royal Engineers, supported by two companies of the Connaught Rangers and by the Imperial Light Infantry, the latter having just arrived by Trichardt's Drift. "The attack and capture of Spion Kop was entirely successful. General Woodgate, having secured the summit on the 24th, reported that he had intrenched a position and hoped he was secure, but that the fog was too thick to permit him to see. The position was rushed without casualties other than three men wounded. "Lieutenant-Colonel àCourt came down in the morning and stated that everything was satisfactory and secure, and telegraphed to the Commander-in-Chief to that effect. Scarcely had he started on his return to headquarters when a heliogram arrived from Colonel Crofton (Royal Lancaster). The message was, 'Reinforce at once, or all lost. General dead.' "He also sent a similar message to headquarters. I immediately ordered General Coke to proceed to his assistance, and to take command of the troops. He started at once, and was accompanied by the Middlesex and Dorsetshire Regiments. "I replied to Colonel Crofton, 'I am sending two battalions, and the Imperial Light Infantry are on their way up. You must hold on to the last. No surrender.' "This occurred about 10 A.M. "Shortly afterwards I received a telegram from the Commander-in-Chief, ordering me to appoint Lieutenant-Colonel Thorneycroft to the command of the summit. I accordingly had heliographed, 'With the approval of the Commander-in-Chief, I place Lieutenant-Colonel Thorneycroft in command of the summit, with the local rank of Brigadier-General.' "For some hours after this message I could get no information from the summit. It appears that the signallers and their apparatus were destroyed by the heavy fire. "I repeatedly asked for Colonel Thorneycroft to state his view of the situation. At 1.20 P.M. I heliographed to ascertain whether Colonel Thorneycroft had assumed command, and at the same time asked General Coke to give me his views on the situation on Spion Kop. Still getting no reply, I asked whether General Coke was there, and subsequently received his view of the situation. He stated that, unless the Artillery could silence the enemy's guns, the men on the summit could not stand another complete day's shelling, and that the situation was extremely critical." Later on in the evening arrangements were made to send two (Naval) 12-pounders, and the Mountain Battery, Royal Artillery, to the summit, together with half-company Royal Engineers (and working parties, two reliefs of 600 men each), to strengthen the intrenchments and provide shell cover for the men. The 17th Company, Royal Engineers--it must be noted--proceeded at the same time as General Woodgate's force, and were employed until daylight upon the intrenchments, then upon road-making and water supply. Sand-bags were sent up early on the 24th instant, but they were too late. Colonel Sim and his party, while ascending, met Colonel Thorneycroft descending the hill. The position was evacuated. Sir Charles Warren concluded thus:-- "I wish to bring to notice that I heard from all but one expression of the admirable conduct and bravery shown by officers and men suffering under a withering artillery fire on the summit of the slopes, and also of those who, with so much endurance, persisted in carrying up water and food and ammunition to the troops during the day. "During the day a Staff Officer of the Headquarter Staff was present on the summit, and reported direct to the Commander-in-Chief. "At sunset I considered that the position could be held next day, provided that guns could be mounted and effective shelter provided. Both of these conditions were about to be fulfilled, as already mentioned. "In the absence of General Coke, whom I ordered to come to report in person as to the situation, the evacuation took place under orders, given upon his own responsibility, by Lieut.-Colonel Thorneycroft. This occurred in the face of the vigorous protests of General Coke's Brigade-Major, the Officer commanding the Middlesex Regiment, and others. "It is a matter for the Commander-in-Chief to decide whether there should be an investigation into the question of the unauthorised evacuation of Spion Kop." General Buller, in forwarding to the Secretary of State for War Sir Charles Warren's report, made the following observations:-- "Sir C. Warren is hardly correct in saying that he was only allowed three and a half days' provisions. I had told him that transport for three and a half days would be sufficient burden to him, but that I would keep him filled up as he wanted it. That he was aware of this is shown by the following telegram which he sent on the day in question. It is the only report I had from Sir C. Warren:-- (Sent 7.54 P.M. Received 8.15 P.M.) 'Left Flank, 19th January. 'To the Chief of the Staff-- 'I find there are only two roads by which we could possibly get from Trichardt's Drift to Potgeiter's, on the north of the Tugela, one by Acton Homes, the other by Fair View and Rosalie; the first I reject as too long, the second is a very difficult road for a large number of waggons, unless the enemy is thoroughly cleared out. I am, therefore, going to adopt some special arrangements which will involve my stay at Venter's Laager for two or three days. I will send in for further supplies and report progress. WARREN.' "The reply to this was that three days' supply was being sent. "I went over to Sir C. Warren on the 23rd. I pointed out to him that I had no further report and no intimation of the special arrangements foreshadowed by this telegram of the 19th, that for four days he had kept his men continuously exposed to shell and rifle fire, perched on the edge of an almost precipitous hill, that the position admitted of no second line, and the supports were massed close behind the firing line in indefensible formations, and that a panic or sudden charge might send the whole lot in disorder down the hill at any moment. I said it was too dangerous a situation to be prolonged, and that he must either attack or I should withdraw his force. I advocated, as I had previously done, an advance from his left. He said that he had the night before ordered General Coke to assault Spion Kop, but the latter had objected to undertaking a night attack on a position the road to which he had not reconnoitred, and added that he intended to assault Spion Kop that night. "I suggested that as General Coke was still lame from the effects of a lately broken leg, General Woodgate, who had two sound legs, was better adapted for mountain climbing. "As no heliograph could, on account of the fire, be kept on the east side of Spion Kop, messages for Sir C. Warren were received by our signallers at Spearman and telegraphed to Sir C. Warren; thus I saw them before he did, as I was at the signal station. The telegram Sir C. Warren quotes did not give me confidence in its sender, and at the moment I could see that our men on the top had given way and that efforts were being made to rally them. I telegraphed to Sir C. Warren: 'Unless you put some really good hard fighting man in command on the top you will lose the hill. I suggest Thorneycroft.' "The statement that a staff officer reported direct to me during the day is a mistake. Colonel àCourt was sent down by General Woodgate almost as soon as he gained the summit. "I have not thought it necessary to order any investigation. If at sundown the defence of the summit had been taken regularly in hand, intrenchments laid out, gun emplacements prepared, the dead removed, the wounded collected, and, in fact, the whole place brought under regular military command, and careful arrangements made for the supply of water and food to the scattered fighting line, the hills would have been held, I am sure. "But no arrangements were made. General Coke appears to have been ordered away just as he would have been useful, and no one succeeded him; those on the top were ignorant of the fact that guns were coming up, and generally there was a want of organisation and system that acted most unfavourably on the defence. "It is admitted by all that Colonel Thorneycroft acted with the greatest gallantry throughout the day, and really saved the situation. Preparations for the second day's defence should have been organised during the day and have been commenced at nightfall. "As this was not done I think Colonel Thorneycroft exercised a wise discretion. "Our losses, I regret to say, were very heavy, but the enemy admitted to our doctors that theirs were equally severe, and though we were not successful in retaining the position, the losses inflicted on the enemy and the attack generally have had a marked effect upon them. "I cannot close these remarks without bearing testimony to the gallant and admirable behaviour of the troops, the endurance shown by the Lancashire Fusiliers, the Middlesex Regiment, and Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry was admirable, while the efforts of the 2nd Battalion Scottish Rifles and 3rd Battalion King's Royal Rifles were equally good, and the Royal Lancasters fought gallantly." The Commander-in-Chief, writing to the Secretary of State for War, thus criticised both operations and operators:-- "The plan of operations is not very clearly described in the despatches themselves, but it may be gathered from them and the accompanying documents themselves that the original intention was to cross the Tugela at or near Trichardt's Drift, and thence by following the road past Fair View and Acton Homes, to gain the open plain north of Spion Kop, the Boer position in front of Potgieter's Drift being too strong to be taken by direct attack. The whole force, less one brigade, was placed under the orders of Sir Charles Warren, who, the day after he had crossed the Tugela, seems to have consulted his General and principal Staff Officers, and to have come to the conclusion that the flanking movement which Sir Redvers Buller had mentioned in his secret instructions was impracticable on account of the insufficiency of supplies. He accordingly decided to advance by the more direct road leading north-east and branching off from a point east of Three Tree Hill. The selection of this road necessitated the capture and retention of Spion Kop, but whether it would have been equally necessary to occupy Spion Kop, had the line of advance indicated by Sir Redvers Buller been followed, is not stated in the correspondence. As Sir Charles Warren considered it impossible to make the wide flanking movement which was recommended, if not actually prescribed, in his secret instructions, he should at once have acquainted Sir Redvers Buller with the course of action which he proposed to adopt. There is nothing to show whether he did so or not, but it seems only fair to Sir Charles Warren to point out that Sir Redvers Buller appears throughout to have been aware of what was happening. On several occasions he was present during the operations. He repeatedly gave advice to his subordinate Commander, and on the day after the withdrawal from Spion Kop he resumed the chief command." The abandonment of Spion Kop was condemned by Lord Roberts in the following terms:-- "As regards the withdrawal of the troops from the Spion Kop position, which, though occupied almost without opposition in the early morning of the 24th January, had to be held throughout the day under an extremely heavy fire, and the retention of which had become essential to the relief of Ladysmith, I regret that I am unable to concur with Sir Redvers Buller in thinking that Lieut.-Colonel Thorneycroft exercised a wise discretion in ordering the troops to retire. Even admitting that due preparations may not have been made for strengthening the position during the night, reorganising the defence and bringing up artillery--in regard to which Sir Charles Warren's report does not altogether bear out Sir Redvers Buller's contention--admitting also that the senior officers on the summit of the hill might have been more promptly informed of the measures taken by Sir Charles Warren to support and reinforce them, I am of opinion that Lieut.-Colonel Thorneycroft's assumption of responsibility and authority was wholly inexcusable. During the night the enemy's fire, if it did not cease altogether, could not have been formidable, and though lamp signalling was not possible at the time owing to the supply of oil having failed, it would not have taken more than two or three hours at most for Lieut.-Colonel Thorneycroft to communicate by messenger with Major-General Coke or Sir Charles Warren, and to receive a reply. Major-General Coke appears to have left Spion Kop at 9.30 P.M. for the purpose of consulting with Sir Charles Warren, and up to that hour the idea of a withdrawal had not been entertained. Yet almost immediately after Major-General Coke's departure Lieut.-Colonel Thorneycroft issued an order, without reference to superior authority, which upset the whole plan of operations and rendered unavailing the sacrifices which had already been made to carry it into effect." In spite of this somewhat severe criticism, however, Lord Roberts went on to say:-- "On the other hand, it is only right to state that Lieut.-Colonel Thorneycroft appears to have behaved in a very gallant manner throughout the day, and it was doubtless due, in a great measure, to his exertions and example that the troops continued to hold the summit of the hill until directed to retire." The action of Captain Phillips he warmly praised:-- "The conduct of Captain Phillips, Brigade-Major of the 10th Brigade, on the occasion in question, is deserving of high commendation. He did his best to rectify the mistake which was being made, but it was too late. Signalling communication was not re-established until 2.30 A.M. on the 25th January, and by that time the Naval guns could not have reached the summit of the hill before daybreak. Major-General Coke did not return, and Lieutenant-Colonel Thorneycroft had gone away. Moreover, most of the troops had begun to leave the hill, and the working parties, with the half-company of Royal Engineers, had also withdrawn." Briefly the Commander-in-Chief deplored the chaotic state of affairs prior to the retirement. He said:-- "It is to be regretted that Sir Charles Warren did not himself visit Spion Kop during the afternoon or evening, knowing as he did that the state of affairs there was very critical, and that the loss of the position would involve the failure of the operations. He was, consequently, obliged to summon Major-General Coke to his headquarters in the evening, in order that he might ascertain how matters were going on, and the command on Spion Kop thus devolved on Lieutenant-Colonel Thorneycroft; but Major-General Coke was not aware of this. About midday, under instructions from Sir Redvers Buller, Sir Charles Warren had directed Lieutenant-Colonel Thorneycroft to assume command on the summit of the hill, with the temporary rank of Brigadier-General, but this order was not communicated to Major-General Coke, who, until he left the position at 9.30 P.M., was under the impression that the command had devolved on Colonel Hill, as senior officer, after Colonel Crofton had been wounded. Omissions or mistakes of this nature may be trivial in themselves, yet may exercise an important influence on the course of events; and I think that Sir Redvers Buller is justified in remarking that 'there was a want of organisation and system which acted most unfavourably on the defence.'" In conclusion, the principal actors in the drama were censured, while the troops engaged received well-merited praise:-- "The attempt to relieve Ladysmith, described in these despatches, was well devised, and I agree with Sir Redvers Buller in thinking that it ought to have succeeded. That it failed may, in some measure, be due to the difficulties of the ground and the commanding positions held by the enemy--probably also to errors of judgment and want of administrative capacity on the part of Sir Charles Warren. But whatever faults Sir Charles Warren may have committed, the failure must also be ascribed to the disinclination of the officer in supreme command to assert his authority and see that what he thought best was done, and also to the unwarrantable and needless assumption of responsibility by a subordinate officer. "The gratifying feature in these despatches is the admirable behaviour of the troops throughout the operations." LIST OF STAFF The following Divisions reached South Africa at the end of 1899 and the beginning of 1900. FIFTH DIVISION Lieutenant-General--Lieut.-General Sir C. Warren, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., R.E. Aides-de-Camp--Major R. M. B. F. Kelly, R.A.; Lieut. I. V. Paton, Royal Scots Fusiliers. Assistant Adjutant-General--Colonel A. W. Morris, _p.s.c._ Deputy-Assistant Adjutant-Generals--Bt.-Major T. Capper, East Lancashire Regt., _p.s.c._; Bt.-Major H. N. Sargent, Army Service Corps. Assistant Provost-Marshal--Bt.-Major E. C. J. Williams, East Kent Regt. Principal Medical Officer--Lieut.-Colonel W. B. Allin, M.B., R.A.M.C. Divisional Signalling Officer--Captain A. A. McHardy, R.A. 10TH BRIGADE Major-General--Colonel (local Maj.-General) J. T. Coke. Aide-de-Camp--Lieut. W. E. Kemble, R.A. Brigade-Major--Captain H. G. C. Phillips, Welsh Regt., _p.s.c._ 11TH BRIGADE Major-General--Colonel (local Maj.-General) E. R. P. Woodgate, K.C.M.G., C.B., _p.s.c._ Aide-de-Camp--Captain F. M. Carleton, D.S.O., Royal Lancashire Regt. Brigade-Major--Captain N. H. Vertue, East Kent Regt. SIXTH DIVISION Lieutenant-General--Major-General (local Lieut.-General) T. Kelly-Kenny, C.B., _p.s.c._ Aides-de-Camp--Major H. I. W. Hamilton, D.S.O., Royal West Surrey Regt., _p.s.c._; Captain W. H. Booth, East Kent Regt. Assistant Adjutant-General--Colonel A. E. W. Goldsmid, _p.s.c._ Deputy-Assistant Adjutant-Generals--Major C. C. Monro, Royal West Surrey Regt., _p.s.c._; Major J. E. Caunter, Lancashire Fusiliers, _p.s.c._ Assistant Provost-Marshal--Major M. G. Wilkinson, King's Own Scottish Borderers. Principal Medical Officer--Lieut.-Colonel W. L. Gubbins, M.B., R.A.M.C. Divisional Signalling Officer--Lieut. J. T. Burnett-Stuart, Rifle Brigade. 12TH BRIGADE Major-General--Colonel (local Maj.-General) R. A. P. Clements, D.S.O., A.D.C. Aide-de-Camp--Captain H. de C. Moody, South Wales Borderers. Brigade-Major--Captain R. S. Oxley, King's Royal Rifle Corps, _p.s.c._ 13TH BRIGADE Major-General--Colonel (local Maj.-General) C. E. Knox. Aide-de-Camp--Captain O. H. E. Marescaux, Shropshire Light Infantry. Brigade-Major--Captain R. W. Thompson, North Lancashire Regt., _p.s.c._ SEVENTH DIVISION Lieutenant-General--Major-General (local Lieut.-General) C. Tucker, C.B. Aides-de-Camp-- Assistant Adjutant-General--Colonel H. E. Belfield, _p.s.c._ Deputy-Assistant Adjutant-Generals--Brevet-Major H. G. Fitton, D.S.O., Royal Berkshire Regt., _p.s.c._; Lieut.-Colonel H. G. Rice, Army Service Corps. Assistant Provost-Marshal--Brevet-Major F. Wintour, Royal West Kent Regt., _p.s.c._ Principal Medical Officer--Lieut.-Colonel J. A. Gormley, M.D., R.A.M.C. Divisional Signalling Officer--Captain J. R. K. Birch, Cheshire Regt. 14TH BRIGADE Major-General--Major-General Sir H. C. Chermside, G.C.M.G., C.B., R.E. Aide-de-Camp--Captain E. FitzG. M. Wood, Devonshire Regt. Brigade-Major--Captain W. M. Marter, 1st Dragoon Guards, _p.s.c._ 15TH BRIGADE Major-General--Colonel (local Maj.-General) A. G. Wavell, _p.s.c._ Brigade-Major--Captain L. R. Carleton, Essex Regt., _p.s.c._ END OF VOL. III. Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. Edinburgh & London TRANSCRIBERS' NOTES General : Corrections to punctuation have not been individually documented Page 5: "enroll" standardised to "enrol" after "forward in crowds to" Page 15: "Divison" corrected to "Division" after "the Sixth" Page 30: Variant spelling "viâ" not standardised as part of a quotation Page 31: "bombproof" standardised to "bomb-proof" after "burrowing like rabbits, or in" Page 55: "Jaysfontein" corrected to "Jasfontein" after "away from a farm at" Page 56: "Zoutspansdrift" corrected to "Zoutpansdrift" after "in the direction of Kamak and" Page 56: "Naauwport" corrected to "Naauwpoort" after "lot of those around" Page 58: "Naauwport" corrected to "Naauwpoort" after "The inhabitants of" Page 71: "bloodthirsty" standardised to "blood-thirsty" after "They proved to be not" Page 71: "farm-house" standardised to "farmhouse" after "bivouacked at the" Page 73: "horse-shoe" as in the original. Not standardised as this is an adjectival usage Page 77: "look-out" standardised to "lookout" after "They employed" Page 78: "Koodoosberg" corrected to "Koodoesberg" after "troops from Barkly and" Page 85: "bloodstained" standardised to "blood-stained" after "the eyes of those who," Page 86: "gantlet" as in the original Page 92: "Divsion" corrected to "Division" after "Second" Page 96: "POTGEITER'S" corrected to "POTGIETER'S" after "THE CROSSING OF" Page 99: "Carbineers" corrected to "Carabineers" after "one squadron Natal" Page 108: "roast" corrected to "roost" after "We shall be rulers of the" Page 123: "head-quarters" standardised to "headquarters" after "some even reaching" Page 134: "Blomfontein" corrected to "Bloemfontein" after "Steyn and Kruger dated" Page 148: "rough-riders" standardised to "roughriders" after "despatch of 500 expert" Page 174: "Naauwport" corrected to "Naauwpoort" after "thirty-seven miles north of" Page 179: "sandstorms" standardised to "sand-storms" after "These" Page 182: "Ochtertang" corrected to "Achtertang" after "reconnoitring towards" Page 185: "unusally" corrected to "unusually" after "Boer movements rendered" Page 194: "Sandbags" standardised to "Sand-bags" before "were sent up early" Page 195: "Potgeiter's" as in the original. Left as part of a quotation. 
36951	----	Jock of the Bushveld By Sir Percy FitzPatrick Illustrations by E. Caldwell Published by Longmans, Green, and Co, London. This edition dated 1922. Jock of the Bushveld, by Sir Percy FitzPatrick. ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ JOCK OF THE BUSHVELD, BY SIR PERCY FITZPATRICK. PREFACE. "Sonny, you kin reckon it dead sure, thar's something wrong 'bout a thing that don't explain itself." That was Old Rocky's advice, given three-and-twenty years ago--not forgotten yet, but, in this instance, respectfully ignored. It happened some years ago, and this was the way of it: the Fox of Ballybotherem having served three generations--in his native Tipperary, in Kaffraria, and in the Transvaal--seemed entitled to a rest; and when, in the half-hour before `lights out,' which is the Little People's particular own, the demand came from certain Autocrats of the Nightgown: "Now, tell us something else!" it occurred to the Puzzled One to tell of Jock's fight with the table leg. And that is how the trouble began. Those with experience will know what followed; and, for those less fortunate, the modest demand of one, comfortably tucked up tailorwise, and emphasising his points by excited hand-shakes with his toes, will convey the idea: "It must be _all true_! and don't leave out _anything_!" To such an audience a story may be told a hundred times, but it must be told, as Kipling says, "Just so!" that is, in the same way; because, even a romance (what a three-year-old once excused as "only a play tell") must be true--to itself! Once Jock had taken the field it was not long before the narrator found himself helped or driven over the pauses by quick suggestions from the Gallery; but there were days of fag and worry when thoughts lagged or strayed, and when slips were made, and then a vigilant and pitiless memory swooped like the striking falcon on its prey. There came a night when the story was of the Old Crocodile, and one in the Gallery--one of more exuberant fancy--seeing the gate open ran into the flower-strewn field of romance and by suggestive questions and eager promptings helped to gather a little posy: "And he caught the Crocodile by the tail, didn't he?" "And he hung on and fought him, didn't he?" "And the Old Crocodile flung him high into the air? High!" and, turning to the two juniors, added "quite as high as the house?" And the narrator-- accessory by reason of a mechanical nod and an absent-minded "Yes" passed on, thinking it could all be put right next time. But there is no escape from the `tangled web' when the Little People sit in judgment. It was months later when retribution came. The critical point of the story was safely passed when--Oh; the irony and poetic justice of it--it was the innocent tempter himself who laid his hand in solemn protest on the narrator's shoulder and, looking him reproachfully in the eyes, said "Dad! You have left out the best part of all. Don't you remember how..." And the description which followed only emphasises the present writer's unfitness for the task he has undertaken. In the text of the story and in the illustration by my friend Mr Caldwell (who was himself subjected to the same influence) there is left a loophole for fancy: it is open to any one to believe that Jock is just beginning or just ending his aerial excursion. The Important People are not satisfied; but then the page is not big enough to exhibit Jock at the top of that flight--of fancy! From the date of that lesson it was apparent that reputations would suffer if the story of Jock were not speedily embodied in some durable and authoritative form, and during a long spell of ill health many of the incidents were retold in the form of letters to the Little People. Other Less Important Persons--grown-ups--read them and sometimes heard them, and so it came about that the story of Jock was to be printed for private circulation, for the Little People and their friends. Then the story was read in manuscript and there came still more ambitious counsels, some urging the human story of the early days, others the wild animal life of South Africa. Conscious of many deficiencies the narrator has left two great fields practically untouched, adhering to the original idea--the story of Jock; and those who come into it, men and animals, come in because of him and the life in which he played so large a part. The attempt to adapt the original letters to the symmetry of a connected story involved, as one might have known, endless trouble and changes, necessitating complete re-writing of most parts; and the responsibility and work became still greater when, after a casual and unforeseen meeting, my friend Mr Caldwell accepted the suggestion to come out to South Africa and spend six months with us in order to study the game in its native bush and to know the conditions of the life and put that experience into the work of illustrating "Jock." The writer is well aware that, from the above causes and one other, there are grave inequalities in style and system, and in plane of phrase and thought, in different parts of the book. For this feature the `one other' cause is alone put forward as a defence. The story belongs to the Little People, and their requirements were defined--"It must be _all true_! Don't leave out _anything_!" It has been necessary to leave out a great deal; but the other condition has been fully and fairly complied with; for it is a true story from beginning to end. It is not a diary: incidents have been grouped and moved to get over the difficulty of blank days and bad spells, but there is no incident of importance or of credit to Jock which is not absolutely true. The severest trial in this connection was in the last chapter, which is bound to recall perhaps the most famous and most cherished of all dog stories. Much, indeed, would have been sacrificed to avoid that; but it was unthinkable that, for any reason, one should in the last words shatter the spell that holds Jock dear to those for whom his life is chronicled--the spell that lies in `a true story.' Little by little the book has grown until it has come perilously near the condition in which it might be thought to have Pretensions. It has none! It is what it was: a simple record, compiled for the interest and satisfaction of some Little People, and a small tribute of remembrance and affection offered at the shrine of the old life and those who made it--tendered in the hope that some one better equipped with opportunities and leisure may be inspired to do justice to it and to them for the sake of our native land. CHAPTER ONE. THE BACKGROUND. Of the people who live lonely lives, on the veld or elsewhere, few do so of their own free choice. Some there are shut off from all their kind-- souls sheathed in some film invisible, through which no thrill of sympathy may pass; some barred by their self-consciousness, heart hungry still, who never learned in childhood to make friends; some have a secret or a grief; some, thoughts too big or bad for comradeship. But most will charge to Fate the thoughtless choice, the chance, or hard necessity, that drew or drove them to the life apart; they know the lesson that was learned of old: "It is not good for man to be alone." Go out among them, ever moving on, whose white bones mark the way for others' feet--who shun the cities, living in the wilds, and move in silence, self-contained. Who knows what they think, or dream, or hope, or suffer? Who can know? For speech among that hard-schooled lot is but a half-remembered art. Yet something you may guess, since with the man there often goes--his dog; his silent tribute to The Book. Oh, it's little they know of life who cannot guess the secret springs of loneliness and love that prompt the keeping of a trifling pet; who do not know what moves a man who daily takes his chance of life and death--man whose "breath is in his nostrils"--to lay his cheek against the muzzle of his comrade dog, and in the trackless miles of wilderness feel he has a friend. Something to hold to; something to protect. There was old Blake--"mad, quite mad," as everybody knew--of whom they vaguely said that horses, hounds, coaches, covers, and all that goes with old estates, were his--once. We knew him poor and middle-aged. How old to us! Cheery and unpractical, with two old pointers and a fowling-piece, and a heart as warm as toast. We did not ask each other's business there; and, judging by the dogs and gun, we put him down as a `remittance man.' But that, it seems, was wrong. They were his all. He left no letters--a little pile of paper ash; no money and no food! That was his pride. He would not sell or give away his dogs! That was his love. When he could not keep them it seemed time to go! That was his madness. But before he went, remembering a friend in hospital, he borrowed two cartridges and brought him in a brace of birds. That was old mad Blake, who `moved on' and took his dogs with him, because they had always been together, and he could not leave their fate to chance. So we buried him with one on either side, just as he would have liked it! There was Turner, who shot the crocodile that seized his dog, and reckless of the others, swam in and brought the dog to land. There was the dog that jumped in when his master slipped from the rock, and, swimming beside him, was snapped down in his stead! And there was the boy who tried a rescue in the dark--when a rustle, yelp and growl told that the lions had his dog--and was never seen again. So it goes, and so it went, from year to year: a little showing now and then, like the iceberg's tip, from which to guess the bulk below. There was a Boy who went to seek his fortune. Call him boy or man: the years proved nothing either way! Some will be boyish always; others were never young: a few--most richly dowered few--are man and boy together. He went to seek his fortune, as boys will and should; no pressure on him from about; no promise from beyond. For life was easy there, and all was pleasant, as it may be--in a cage. `To-day' is sure and happy; and there is no `to-morrow'--in a cage. There were friends enough--all kind and true--and in their wisdom they said: "Here it is safe: yonder all is chance, where many indeed are called, but few--so few--are chosen. Many have gone forth; some to return, beaten, hopeless, and despised; some to fall in sight outside; others are lost, we know not where; and ah! so few are free and well. But the fate of numbers is unheeded still; for the few are those who count, and lead; and those who follow do not think `How few,' but cry `How strong! How free!' Be wise and do not venture. Here it is safe: there is no fortune there!" But there was something stronger than the things he knew, around, without, beyond--the thing that strove within him: that grew and grew, and beat and fought for freedom: that bade him go and walk alone and tell his secret on the mountain slopes to one who would not laugh--a little red retriever; that made him climb and feel his strength, and find an outlet for what drove within. And thus the end was sure; for of all the voices none so strong as this! And only those others reached him that would chime with it; the gentle ones which said: "We too believe," and one, a stronger, saying: "Fifty years ago I did it. I would do it now again!" So the Boy set out to seek his fortune, and did not find it; for there was none in the place where he sought. Those who warned him were--in the little--right: yet was he--in the greater--right too! It was not given to him as yet to know that fortune is not in time or place or things; but, good or bad, in the man's own self for him alone to find and prove. Time and place and things had failed him; still was effort right; and, when the first was clear beyond all question, it was instinct and not knowledge bade him still go on, saying: "Not back to the cage. Anything but that!" When many days had passed, it was again a friend who met him, saying: "Commonsense is not cowardice. You have made a mistake: repair it while you may. I have seen and know: there is nothing here. Come back with me, and all will be made easy." And answer, in reason, there was none; for the little truth was all too plain, and the greater not yet seen. But that which had swelled to bursting and had fought within for freedom called out: "Failure is the worst of all!" And the blind and struggling instinct rose against all knowledge and all reason. "Not back to the cage! Not that!" And the heart that had once been young spoke up for Auld Lang Syne: the old eyes softened and dropped: "God speed you, Boy--Good-bye!" And as the mail-coach rumbled off the Boy put up his head--to try again. The days passed, and still there was no work to do. For, those who were there already--hardened men and strong, pioneers who had roughed it-- were themselves in straitened case, and it was no place for boys. So the Boy moved on again, and with him a man in, equal plight, but, being a man, a guide and comfort to the Boy, and one to lead him on the way. Hungry, they walked all day; yet when the sun went down and light began to fail the place where work and food and sleep should be was still far off. The mountain tracks were rough and all unknown; the rivers many, cold and swift: the country wild; none lived, few ever passed, that way. When night closed in the Boy walked on in front, and the man lagged wearily, grumbling at their luck. In the valley at the mountain foot they came at midnight upon water, black and still, between them and the cabin's lights beyond; and there the man lay down. Then the Boy, turning in his anger, bade him come on; and, dragging him out upon the further bank, had found--unknowing--some little of the fortune he had come to seek. Still, morning brought no change; still, was there no work to do. So the man gave up, and sagging back, was lost. And the Boy went on alone. Rough and straight-spoken, but kindly men and true, were those he came among. What they could they did: what they had they gave. They made him free of board and bed; and, kinder still, now and then made work for him to do, knowing his spirit was as theirs and that his heart cried out: "Not charity, but work! Give me work!" But that they could not do, for there was no work they could not do themselves. Thus the days and weeks went by. Willing, but unused to fend for himself--unfit by training for the wild rough life, heart and energy all to waste, the little he did know of no value there--the struggle with the ebbing tide went on; it was the wearing hopeless fight against that which one cannot grapple, and cannot even see. There was no work to be done. A few days here and there; a little passing job; a helping hand disguised; and then the quest again. They were all friendly--but, with the kindly habit of the place: it told the tale of hopelessness too well. They did not even ask his name; it made no difference. Then came a day when there was nowhere else to try. Among the lounging diggers at their week-end deals he stood apart--too shy, too proud to tell the truth; too conscious of it to trust his voice; too hungry to smile as if he did not care! And then a man in muddy moleskins, with grave face, brown beard, and soft blue eyes, came over to him, saying straight: "Boy, you come along o' me!" And he went. It was work--hard work. But the joy of it! Shovelling in the icy water, in mud and gravel, and among the boulders, from early dawn to dark. What matter? It was work. It was not for hire, but just to help one who had helped him; to `earn his grub' and feel he was a man, doing the work of his friend's partner, `who was away.' For three full weeks the Boy worked on; grateful for the toil; grateful for the knowledge gained; most grateful that he could by work repay a kindness. And then the truth came out! The kindly fiction fell away as they sat and rested on the day of rest. "The claim could not stand two white men's grub" had fallen from the man, accounting for his partner's absence. It was the simple and unstudied truth and calm unconsciousness of where it struck that gave the thrust its force; and in the clear still air of the Sunday morning the Boy turned hot and cold and dizzy to think of his folly, and of the kindness he had so long imposed upon. It was a little spell before his lips would smile, and eyes and voice were firm enough to lie. Then he said gently: If he could be spared--he had not liked to ask before, but now the floods were over and the river turned perhaps it could be managed--he would like to go, as there were letters waiting, and he expected news. Up the winding pathway over rocky ledge and grassy slope, climbing for an hour to the pass, the toil and effort kept the hot thoughts under. At the top the Boy sat down to rest. The green rock-crested mountains stood like resting giants all around: the rivers, silvered by the sun, threaded their ways between: the air was clear, and cool, and still. The world was very beautiful from there. Far, far below--a brownish speck beside the silver streak--stood the cabin he had left. And, without warning, all came back on him. What he had mastered rose beyond control. The little child that lies hidden in us all reached out--as in the dark--for a hand to hold; and there was none. His arms went up to hide the mocking glory of the day, and, face buried in the grass, he sobbed: "Not worth my food!" Science tells that Nature will recoup herself by ways as well defined as those that rule mechanics. The blood flows upward--and the brain's awhirl; the ebb-tide sets--and there is rest. Whatever impulse sways the guiding hand, we know that often when we need it most there comes relief; gently, unbidden, unobserved. The Boy slept, and there was peace awhile. Then came faint echoes of the waking thoughts--odd words shot out, of hope and resolution; murmured names of those at home. Once his hand went out and gently touched the turf, reaching for the friend and comrade of the past--one who knew his every mood, had heard his wildest dreams described, had seen him, hot-eyed, breathless, struggling to escape the cage; one to whom the boyish soul was often bared in foolish confidence; one who could see and hear and feel, yet never tell--a little red retriever left at home; and the boy stirred and sighed, for answer to the soft brown eyes. No! It is not good for man to be alone. A wisp of drifting cloud came by, a breath of cooler air, and the fickle spirit of the mountain changed the day as with a wand. The Boy woke up shivering, dazed, bewildered: the mountain of his dreams had vanished; and his dog was not there! The cold driving mist had blotted out the world. Stronger and stronger grew the wind, driving the damp cold through and through; for on the bleak plateau of the mountain nothing broke its force. Pale and shaken, and a little stiff, he looked about; then slowly faced the storm. It had not struck him to turn back. The gusts blew stronger, and through the mist came rain, in single stinging drops--portents of the greater storm. Slowly, as he bent to breast it, the chilled blood warmed, and when the first thunderclap split overhead, and lost itself in endless roars and rumblings in the kloofs and hills around, there came a warmth about his heart and a light into his eye--mute thanksgiving that here was something he could battle with and be a man again. On the top of the world the storms work all their fury. Only there come mist and wind and rain, thunder and lightning and hail together--the pitiless terrible hail: there, where the hare hiding in the grass may know it is the highest thing in all God's world, and nearest to the storm--the one clear mark to draw the lightning--and, knowing, scurries to the sheltered slopes. But the Boy pressed on--the little path a racing stream to guide him. Then in the one group of ghostly, mist-blurred rocks he stopped to drink; and, as he bent--for all the blackness of the storm--his face leaped out at him, reflected for one instant in the shallow pool; the blue-white flame of lightning, blinding his aching eyes, hissed down; the sickening smell of brimstone spread about; and crashing thunder close above his head left him dazed and breathless. Heedless of the rain, blinking the blackness from his eyes, he sat still for head to clear, and limbs to feel their life again; and, as he waited, slowly there came upon a colder stiller air that other roar, so far, so dull, so uniform; so weird and terrifying--the voice of the coming hail. Huddled beneath the shelving rock he watched the storm sweep by with awful battering din that swamped and silenced every other sound--the tearing, smashing hail that seemed to strip the mountain to its very bone. Oh! the wanton fury of the hail; the wild, destructive charge of hordes of savage cavalry; the stamping, smashing sweep along the narrow strip where all the fury concentrates; the long black trail of death and desolation! The birds and beasts, the things that creep and fly, all know the portents, and all flee before it, or aside. But in the darkness--in the night or mist--the slow, the weak, the helpless, and the mothers with their young--for them is little hope. The dense packed column swept along, ruthless, raging, and unheeding, overwhelming all... A sudden failing of its strength, a little straggling tail, and then--the silence! The sun came out; the wind died down; light veils of mist came slowly by--bits of floating gossamer--and melted in the clear, pure air. The Boy stepped out once more. Miles away the black column of the falling hail sped its appointed course. Under his feet, where all had been so green and beautiful, was battered turf, for the time transformed into a mass of dazzling brilliants, where jagged ice-stones caught the sunlight on their countless facets, and threw it back in one fierce flashing glare, blinding in its brilliance. On the glittering surface many things stood out. In the narrow pathway near the spring a snake lay on its back, crushed and broken; beyond it, a tortoise, not yet dead, but bruised and battered through its shell; then a partridge--poor unprotected thing-- the wet feathers lying all around, stripped as though a hawk had stricken it, and close behind it all the little brood; and further afield lay something reddish-brown--a buck--the large eyes glazed, an ooze of blood upon its lips and nose. He stooped to touch it, but drew back: the dainty little thing was pulp. All striving for the sheltering rocks; all caught and stricken by the ruthless storm; and he, going on to face it, while others fled before-- he, blindly fighting on--was spared. Was it luck? Or was there something subtle, more? He held to this, that more than chance had swayed the guiding hand of fate--that fortune holds some gifts in store for those who try; and faith resurgent moved him to a mute Te Deum, of which no more reached the conscious brain than: "It is good to be alive! But... better _so_ than in the cage." Once more, a little of the fortune that he had come to seek! At sunset, passing down the long rough gorge, he came upon one battling with the flood to save his all--the white man struggling with the frightened beasts; the kaffir swept from off his feet; the mad bewildered oxen yielding to the stream and heading downwards towards the falls--and in their utmost need the Boy swam in and helped! And there the long slow ebb was stayed: the Boy was worth his food. But how recall the life when those who made it set so little store by all that passed, and took its ventures for their daily lot; when those who knew it had no gift or thought to fix the colours of the fading past: the fire of youth; the hopes; the toil; the bright illusions gone! And now, the Story of a Dog to conjure up a face, a name, a voice, or the grip of a friendly hand! And the half-dreamed sound of the tramping feet is all that is left of the live procession long since passed: the young recruits; the laggards and the faint; the few who saw it through; the older men--grave-eyed, thoughtful, unafraid--who judged the future by the battered past, and who knew none more nor less than man-- unconscious equals of the best and least; the grey-hued years; the thinning ranks; the summons answered, as they had lived--alone. The tale untold; and, of all who knew it, none left to picture now the life, none left to play a grateful comrade's part, and place their record on a country's scroll--the kindly, constant, nameless Pioneers! CHAPTER TWO. INTO THE BUSHVELD. "Distant hills are always green," and the best gold further on. That is a law of nature--human nature--which is quite superior to facts; and thus the world moves on. So from the Lydenburg Goldfields prospectors `humping their swags' or driving their small pack-donkeys spread afield, and transport-riders with their long spans and rumbling waggons followed, cutting a wider track where traders with winding strings of carriers had already ventured on. But the hunters had gone first. There were great hunters whose names are known; and others as great who missed the accident of fame; and after them hunters who traded, and traders who hunted. And so too with prospectors, diggers, transport-riders and all. Between the goldfields and the nearest port lay the Bushveld, and game enough for all to live on. Thus, all were hunters of a sort, but the great hunters--the hunters of big game--were apart; we were the smaller fry, there to admire and to imitate. Trophies, carried back with pride or by force of habit, lay scattered about, neglected and forgotten, round the outspans, the tents of lone prospectors, the cabins of the diggers, and the grass wayside shanties of the traders. How many a `record' head must have gone then, when none had thought of time or means to save them! Horns and skins lay in jumbled heaps in the yards or sheds of the big trading stores. The splendid horns of the Koodoo and Sable, and a score of others only less beautiful, could be seen nailed up in crude adornment of the roughest walls; nailed up, and then unnoticed and forgotten! And yet not quite! For although to the older hands they were of no further interest, to the new-comer they spoke of something yet to see, and something to be done; and the sight set him dreaming of the time when he too would go a-hunting and bring his trophies home. Perched on the edge of the Berg, we overlooked the wonder-world of the Bushveld, where the big game roamed in thousands and the "wildest tales were true." Living on the fringe of a hunter's paradise, most of us were drawn into it from time to time, for shorter or longer spells, as opportunity and our circumstances allowed; and little by little one got to know the names, appearances, and habits of the many kinds of game below. Long talks in the quiet nights up there under waggons, in grass shelters in the woods, or in the wattle-and-daub shanties of the diggers, where men passed to and fro and swapped lies, as the polite phrase went, were our `night's entertainments,' when younger hands might learn much that was useful and true, and more that was neither. It was a school of grown-up schoolboys; no doubt a hard one, but it had its playground side, and it was the habit of the school to `drop on to' any breach of the unwritten laws, to `rub in' with remorseless good humour the mistakes that were made, and to play upon credulity with a shamelessness and nerve quite paralysing to the judgment of the inexperienced. Yet, with it all, there was a kindliness and quick instinct of `fair doos' which tempered the wind and, in the main, gave no one more than was good for him. There the new boy had to run the gauntlet, and, if without a watchful instinct or a friendly hint, there was nothing to warn him of it. When Faulkner--dragged to the piano--protested that he remembered nothing but a mere `morceau,' he was not conscious of transgression, but a delighted audience caught up the word, and thenceforth he was known only as `Ankore'--Harry the Sailor having explained that `more so' was a recognised variant. "Johnny-come-lately's got to learn" was held to be adequate reason for letting many a beginner buy his experience, while those who had been through it all watched him stumble into the well-known pitfalls. It would no doubt have been a much more comfortable arrangement all round had there been a polite ignoring of each other's blunders and absurdities. But that is not the way of schools where the spirit of fun plays its useful part; and, after all, the lesson well `rubbed in' is well remembered. The new assayer, primed by us with tales of Sable Antelope round Macmac Camp, shot old Jim Hill's only goat, and had to leave the carcase with a note of explanation--Jim being out when he called. What he heard from us when he returned, all prickly with remorse and shame, was a liberal education; but what he remembers best is Jim's note addressed that evening to our camp: "Boys! Jim Hill requests your company to dinner to-morrow, Sunday!" "Mutton!" As the summer spent itself, and whispers spread around of new strikes further on, a spirit of restlessness--a touch of trek fever--came upon us, and each cast about which way to try his luck. Our camp was the summer headquarters of two transport-riders, and when many months of hard work, timber-cutting on the Berg, contracting for the Companies, pole-slipping in the bush, and other things, gave us at last a `rise,' it seemed the natural thing to put it all into waggons and oxen, and go transport-riding too. The charm of a life of freedom and complete independence--a life in which a man goes as and where he lists, and carries his home with him-- is great indeed; but great too was the fact that hunting would go with it. How the little things that mark a new departure stamp themselves indelibly on the memory! A flower in the hedgerow where the roads divide will mark the spot in one's mind for ever; and yet a million more, before and after, and all as beautiful, are passed unseen. In memory, it is all as fresh, bright and glorious as ever: only the years have gone. The start, the trek along the plateau, the crystal streams, the ferns and trees, the cool pure air; and, through and over all, the quite intoxicating sense of freedom! Then came the long slow climb to Spitzkop where the Berg is highest and where our ascent began. For there, with Africa's contrariness, the highest parts banked up and buttressed by gigantic spurs are most accessible from below, while the lower edges of the plateau are cut off sheer like the walls of some great fortress. There, near Spitzkop, we looked down upon the promised land; there, stood upon the outmost edge, as a diver on his board, and paused and looked and breathed before we took the plunge. It is well to pitch one's expectations low, and so stave off disappointments. But counsels of perfection are wasted on the young, and when accident combines with the hopefulness of youth to lay the colours on in all their gorgeousness, what chance has Wisdom? "See here, young feller!" said Wisdom, "don't go fill yourself up with tomfool notions 'bout lions and tigers waitin' behind every bush. You won't see one in a twelvemonth! Most like you won't see a buck for a week! You don't know what to do, what to wear, how to walk, how to look, or what to look for; and you'll make as much noise as a traction engine. This ain't open country: it's bush; they can see and hear, and you can't. An' as for big game, you won't see any for a long while yet, so don't go fool yourself!" Excellent! But fortune in a sportive mood ordained that the very first thing we saw as we outspanned at Saunderson's on the very first day in the Bushveld, was the fresh skin of a lion stretched out to dry. What would the counsels of Solomon himself have weighed against that wet skin? Wisdom scratched its head and stared: "Well, I am completely sugared!" Of course it was a fluke. No lions had been seen in the locality for several years; but the beginner, filled with all the wildest expectations, took no heed of that. If the wish be father to the thought, then surely fact may well beget conviction. It was so in this case, at any rate, and thus not all the cold assurances of Wisdom could banish visions of big game as plentiful as partridges. A party had set out upon a tiger hunt to clear out one of those marauders who used to haunt the kloofs of the Berg and make descents upon the Kaffir herds of goats and sheep; but there was a special interest in this particular tiger, for he had killed one of the white hunters in the last attempt to get at him a few weeks before. Starting from the store, the party of men and boys worked their way towards the kloof, and the possibility of coming across a lion never entered their heads. No notice was taken of smaller game put up from time to time as they moved carelessly along; a rustle on the left of the line was ignored, and Bill Saunderson was as surprised as Bill ever could be to see a lion facing him at something like six or seven yards. The lion, with head laid level and tail flicking ominously, half crouched for its spring. Bill's bullet glanced along the skull, peeling off the skin. "It was a bad shot," he said afterwards, in answer to the beginner's breathless questions. "He wasn't hurt: just sank a little like a pointer when you check him; but before he steadied up again I took for the nose and got him. You see," he added thoughtfully, "a lion's got no forehead: it is all hair." That was about all he had to say; but, little store as he may have set on it, the tip was never forgotten and proved of much value to at least one of our party years afterwards. To this day the picture of a lion brings up that scene--the crouching beast, faced by a man with a long brown beard, solemn face, and clear unfaltering eyes; the swift yet quiet action of reloading; and the second shot an inch or so lower, because "a lion's got no forehead: it's all hair." The shooting of a lion, fair and square, and face to face, was the Blue Riband of the Bush, and no detail would have seemed superfluous; but Bill, whose eye nothing could escape, had, like many great hunters, a laggard tongue. Only now and then a look of grave amusement lighted up his face to show he recognised the hungry enthusiasm and his own inability to satisfy it. The skin with the grazed stripe along the nose, and the broken skull, were handled and looked at many times, and the story was pumped from every Kaffir--all voluble and eager, but none eye-witnesses. Bob, the sociable and more communicative, who had been nearest his brother, was asked a hundred questions, but all he had to say was that the grass was too long for him to see what happened: he reckoned that it was "a pretty near thing after the first shot; but Bill's all right!" To me it was an absurd and tiresome affectation to show interest in any other topic, and when, during that evening, conversation strayed to other subjects, it seemed waste of time and priceless opportunity. Bob responded good-naturedly to many crude attempts to head them back to the entrancing theme, but the professional interest in rates, loads, rivers, roads, disease, drought, and `fly,' was strong in the older transport-riders, as it should have been, but, for the time at least, was not, in me. If diplomacy failed, however, luck was not all out; for when all the pet subjects of the road had been thrashed out, and it was about time to turn in, a stray question brought the reward of patience. "Have you heard if Jim reached Durban all right?" "Yes! Safely shipped." "You got some one to take him right through?" "No! A Dutchman took him to Lydenburg, and I got Tom Hardy, going back empty, to take him along from there." "What about feeding?" "I sent some goats," said Bob, smiling for a moment at some passing thought, and then went on: "Tom said he had an old span that wouldn't mind it. We loaded him up at Parker's, and I cleared out before he got the cattle up. But they tell me there was a gay jamboree when it came to inspanning; and as soon as they got up to the other waggons and the young bullocks winded Jim, they started off with their tails up--a regular stampede, voorloopers and drivers yelling like mad, all the loose things shaking out of the waggons, and Tom nearly in a fit from running, shouting and swearing." Judging by the laughter, there was only one person present who did not understand the joke, and I had to ask--with some misgiving--who was this Jim who needed so much care and feeding, and caused such a scare. There was another burst of laughter as they guessed my thoughts, and it was Bob who answered me: "Only a lion, lad--not a wild man or a lunatic! Only a young lion! Sold him to the Zoo, and had to deliver him in Durban." "Well, you fairly took me in with the name!" "Oh! Jim? Well that's his pet name. His real name is Dabulamanzi. Jim, my hunting boy, caught him, so we call him Jim out of compliment," he added with a grin. "But Jim called him Dabulamanzi, also out of compliment, and I think that was pretty good for a nigger." "You see," said Bob, for the benefit of those who were not up in local history, "Dabulamanzi, the big fighting General in the Zulu War, was Jim's own chief and leader; and the name means `The one who conquers the waters.'" Then one of the others exclaimed: "Oh! Of course, that's how you got him, isn't it: caught him in a river? Tell us what did happen, Bob. What's the truth of it? It seemed a bit steep as I heard it." "Well, it's really simple enough. We came right on to the lioness waiting for us, and I got her; and then there were shouts from the boys, and I saw a couple of cubs, pretty well grown, making off in the grass. This boy Jim legged it after one of them, a cub about as big as a Newfoundland dog--not so high, but longer. I followed as fast as I could, but he was a big Zulu and went like a buck, yelling like mad all the time. We were in the bend of one of the long pools down near the Komati, and when I got through the reeds the cub was at the water's edge facing Jim, and Jim was dancing around heading it off with only one light stick. As soon as it saw us coming on, the cub took to the water, and Jim after it. It was as good as a play. Jim swam up behind, and putting his hand on its head ducked it right under: the cub turned as it came up and struck out at him viciously, but he was back out of reach: when it turned again to go Jim ducked it again, and it went on like that six or eight times, till the thing was half drowned and had no more fight in it. Then Jim got hold of it by the tail and swam back to us, still shouting and quite mad with excitement. "Of course," added Bob with a wag of his head, "you can say it was only a cub; but it takes a good man to go up naked and tackle a thing like that, with teeth and claws to cut you into ribbons." "Was Jim here to-day?" I asked, as soon as there was an opening. Bob shook his head with a kindly regretful smile. "No, Sonny, not here; you'd 'a' heard him. Jim's gone. I had to sack him. A real fine nigger, but a terror to drink, and always in trouble. He fairly wore me right out." We were generally a party of half a dozen--the owners of the four waggons, a couple of friends trading with Delagoa, a man from Swaziland, and--just then--an old Yankee hunter-prospector. It was our holiday time, before the hard work with loads would commence, and we dawdled along feeding up the cattle and taking it easy ourselves. It was too early for loads in the Bay, so we moved slowly and hunted on the way, sometimes camping for several days in places where grass and water were good; and that lion skin was the cause of many disappointments to me. Never a bush or ant-heap, never a donga or a patch of reeds, did I pass for many days after that without the conviction that something was lurking there. Game there was in plenty, no doubt, but it did not come my way. Days went by with, once or twice, the sight of some small buck just as it disappeared, and many times, the noise of something in the bush or the sound of galloping feet. Others brought their contributions to the pot daily, and there seemed to be no reason in the world why I alone should fail--no reason except sheer bad luck! It is difficult to believe you have made mistakes when you do not know enough to recognise them, and have no extent your own ignorance; and then bad luck is such an easy and such a flattering explanation! If I did not go so far on the easy road of excuse-making as to put all the failures down to bad luck, perhaps some one else deserves the credit. One evening as we were lounging round the camp fire, Robbie, failing to find a soft spot for his head on a thorn log, got up reluctantly to fetch his blankets, exclaiming with a mock tragic air: "The time is out of joint; O cursed spite, That ever I was born to set it right." We knew Robbie's way. There were times when he would spout heroics, suggested by some passing trifle, his own face a marvel of solemnity the whole time, and only the amused expression in his spectacled grey eyes to show he was poking fun at himself. An indulgent smile, a chuckle, and the genial comment "Silly ass!" came from different quarters; for Robbie was a favourite. Only old Rocky maintained his usual gravity. As Robbie settled down again in comfort, the old man remarked in level thoughtful tones: "I reckon the feller as said that was a waster, he chucked it!" There was a short pause in which I, in my ignorance, began to wonder if it was possible that Rocky did not know the source; or did he take the quotation seriously? Then Robbie answered in mild protest: "It was a gentleman of the name of Hamlet who said it." "Well, you can bet he was no good, anyhow," Rocky drawled out. "`Jus' my luck!' is the waster's motto!" "They do say he was mad," Robbie replied, as his face twitched with a pull-your-leg expression, "but he got off a lot of first-class things all the same--some of the best things ever said." "I da' say; they mostly can. But a man as sets down and blames his luck is no good anyhow. He's got no sand, and got no sense, and got no honesty! It ain't the time's wrong: it's the man! It ain't the job's too big: it's the man's too little!" "You don't believe in luck at all, Rocky?" I ventured to put in. "I don't say thar's no such thing as luck--good and bad; but it ain't the explanation o' success an' failure--not by a long way. No, sirree, luck's just the thing any man'd like ter believe is the reason for his failure and another feller's success. But it ain't so. When another man pulls off what you don't, the first thing you got ter believe is it's your own fault; and the last, it's his luck. And you jus' got ter wade in an' find out whar you went wrong, an' put it right, 'thout any excuses an' explanations." "But, Rocky, explanations aren't always excuses, and sometimes you really have to give them!" "Sonny, you kin reckon it dead sure thar's something wrong 'bout a thing that don't explain itself; an' one explanation's as bad as two mistakes--it don't fool anybody worth speaking of, 'cept yerself. You find the remedy; you can leave other folks put up the excuses." I was beaten. It was no use going on, for I knew he was right. I suppose the other fellows also knew whom he was getting at, but they said nothing; and the subject seemed to have dropped, when Rocky, harking back to Robbie's quotation, said, with a ghost of a smile: "I reckon ef that sharp o' your'n hed ter keep the camp in meat we'd go pretty nigh hungry." But it seemed a good deal to give up all at once--the bad luck, the excuses and explanations, and the comfort they afforded; and I could not help thinking of that wretched wrong-headed stembuck that had actually allowed me to pass it, and then cantered away behind me. Rocky, known, liked and respected by all, yet intimate with none, was `going North'--even to the Zambesi, it was whispered--but no one knew where or why. He was going off alone, with two pack-donkeys and not even a boy for company, on a trip of many hundreds of miles and indefinite duration. No doubt he had an idea to work out; perhaps a report of some trader or hunter or even native was his pole-star: most certainly he had a plan, but what it was no living soul would know. That was the way of his kind. With them there was no limit in time or distance, no hint of purpose or direction, no home, no address, no `people'; perhaps a partner somewhere or a chum, as silent as themselves, who would hear some day--if there was anything to tell. Rocky had worked near our camp on the Berg. I had known him to nod to, and when we met again at one of the early outspans in the Bush and offered a lift for him and his packs he accepted and joined us, it being still a bit early to attempt crossing the rivers with pack-donkeys. It may be that the `lift' saved his donkeys something on the roughest roads and in the early stages; or it may be that we served as a useful screen for his movements, making it difficult for any one else to follow his line and watch him. Anyway, he joined us in the way of those days: that is, we travelled together and as a rule we grubbed together; yet each cooked for himself and used his own stores, and in principle we maintained our separate establishments. The bag alone was common; each man brought what game he got and threw it into the common stock. The secret of agreement in the veld is--complete independence! Points of contact are points of friction--nowhere more so; and the safest plan is, each man his own outfit and each free to feed or sleep or trek as and when he chooses. I have known partners and friends who would from time to time move a trek apart, or a day apart, and always camp apart when they rejoined; and so remain friends. Rocky--in full, Rocky Mountain Jack--had another name, but it was known to few besides the Mining Commissioner's clerk who registered his licences from time to time. "In the Rockies whar I was raised" is about the only remark having deliberate reference to his personal history which he was known to have made; but it was enough on which to found the name by which we knew him. What struck me first about him was the long Colt's revolver, carried on his hip; and for two days this `gun,' as he called it, conjured up visions of Poker Flat and Roaring Camp, Jack Hamlin and Yuba Bill of cherished memory; and then the inevitable question got itself asked: "Did you ever shoot a man, Rocky?" "No, Sonny," he drawled gently, "never hed ter use it yet!" "It looks very old. Have you had it long?" "Jus' 'bout thirty years, I reckon!" "Oh! Seems a long time to carry a thing without using it!" "Waal," he answered half absently, "thet's so. It's a thing you don't want orfen--but when you do, you want it derned bad!" Rocky seemed to me to have stepped into our life out of the pages of Bret Harte. For me the glamour of romance was cast by the Master's spell over all that world, and no doubt helped to make old Rocky something of a hero in the eyes of youth; but such help was of small account, for the cardinal fact was Rocky himself. He was a man. There did not seem to be any known region of the earth where prospectors roam that he had not sampled, and yet whilst gleaning something from every land, his native flavour clung to him unchanged. He was silent by habit and impossible to draw; not helpful to those who looked for short cuts, yet kindly and patient with those who meant to try; he was not to be exploited, and had an illuminating instinct for what was not genuine. He had `no use for short weight'--and showed it! I used to watch him in the circle round the fire at nights, his face grave, weather-stained and wrinkled, with clear grey eyes and long brown beard, slightly grizzled then--watch and wonder why Rocky, experienced, wise and steadfast, should--at sixty--be seeking still. Were the prizes so few in the prospector's life? or was there something wanting in him too? Why had he not achieved success? It was not so clear then that ideals differ. Rocky's ideal was the life--not the escape from it. There was something--sentiment, imagination, poetry, call it what you will--that could make common success seem to him common indeed and cheap! To follow in a new rush, to reap where another had sown, had no charm for him. It may be that an inborn pride disliked it; but it seems more likely that it simply did not attract him. And if--as in the end I thought--Rocky had taken the world as it is and backed himself against it--living up to his ideal, playing a `lone hand' and playing it fair in all conditions, treading the unbeaten tracks, finding his triumph in his work, always moving on and contented so to end: the crown, "He was a man!"--then surely Rocky's had achieved success! That is Rocky, as remembered now! A bit idealised? Perhaps so: but who can say! In truth he had his sides and the defects of his qualities, like every one else; and it was not every one who made a hero of him. Many left him respectfully alone; and something of their feeling came to me the first time I was with him, when a stupid chatterer talked and asked too much. He was not surly or taciturn, but I felt frozen through by a calm deadly unresponsiveness which anything with blood and brain should have shrunk under. The dull monotone, the ominous drawl, the steady something in his clear calm eyes which I cannot define, gave an almost corrosive effect to innocent words and a voice of lazy gentleness. "What's the best thing to do following up a wounded buffalo?" was the question. The questions sprung briskly, as only a `yapper' puts them; and the answers came like reluctant drops from a filter. "Git out!" "Yes, but if there isn't time?" "Say yer prayers!" "No--seriously--what is the best way of tackling one?" "Ef yer wawnt to know, thar's only one way: Keep cool and shoot straight!" "Oh! of course--_if you can_?" "An' ef you can't," he added in fool-killer tones, "best stay right home!" Rocky had no fancy notions: he hunted for meat and got it as soon as possible; he was seldom out long, and rarely indeed came back empty-handed. I had already learnt not to be too ready with questions. It was better, so Rocky put it, "to keep yer eyes open and yer mouth shut"; but the results at first hardly seemed to justify the process. At the end of a week of failures and disappointments all I knew was that I knew nothing--a very notable advance it is true, but one quite difficult to appreciate! Thus it came to me in the light of a distinction when one evening, after a rueful confession of blundering made to the party in general, Rocky passed a brief but not unfriendly glance over me and said, "On'y the born fools stays fools. You'll git ter learn bymbye; you ain't always yappin'!" It was not an extravagant compliment; but failure and helplessness act on conceit like water on a starched collar: mine was limp by that time, and I was grateful for little things--most grateful when next morning, as we were discussing our several ways, he turned to me and asked gently, "Comin' along, Boy?" Surprise and gratitude must have produced a touch of effusiveness which jarred on him; for, to the eager exclamation and thanks, he made no answer--just moved on, leaving me to follow. In his scheme of life there was `no call to slop over.' There was a quiet unhesitating sureness and a definiteness of purpose about old Rocky's movements which immediately inspired confidence. We had not been gone many minutes before I began to have visions of exciting chases and glorious endings, and as we walked silently along they took possession of me so completely that I failed to notice the difference between his methods and mine. Presently, brimful of excitement and hope, I asked cheerily what he thought we would get. The old man stopped and with a gentle graveness of look and a voice from which all trace of tartness or sarcasm was banished, said, "See, Sonny! If you been useter goin' round like a dawg with a tin it ain't any wonder you seen nothin'. You got ter walk soft an' keep yer head shut!" In reply to my apology he said that there was "no bell an' curtain in this yere play; you got ter be thar waitin'." Rocky knew better than I did the extent of his good nature; he knew that in all probability it meant a wasted day; for, with the best will in the world, the beginner is almost certain to spoil sport. It looks so simple and easy when you have only read about it or heard others talk; but there are pitfalls at every step. When, in what seemed to me perfectly still air, Rocky took a pinch of dust and let it drop, and afterwards wet one finger and held it up to feel which side cooled, it was not difficult to know that he was trying the wind; but when he changed direction suddenly for no apparent reason, or when he stopped and, after a glance at the ground, slackened his frame, lost all interest in sport, wind and surroundings, and addressed a remark to me in ordinary tones, I was hopelessly at sea. His manner showed that some possibility was disposed of and some idea abandoned. Once he said "Rietbuck! Heard us I reckon," and then turned off at a right-angle; but a little later on he pointed to other spoor and, indifferently dropping the one word `Koodoo,' continued straight on. To me the two spoors seemed equally fresh; he saw hours'--perhaps a whole day's-- difference between them. That the rietbuck, scared by us, had gone ahead and was keenly on the watch for us and therefore not worth following, and that the koodoo was on the move and had simply struck across our line and was therefore not to be overtaken, were conclusions he drew without hesitation. I only saw spoor and began to palpitate with thoughts of bagging a koodoo bull. We had been out perhaps an hour, and by unceasing watchfulness I had learnt many things: they were about as well learnt and as useful as a sentence in a foreign tongue got off by heart; but to me they seemed the essentials and the fundamentals of hunting. I was feeling very pleased with myself and confident of the result; the stumbling over stones and stumps had ceased; and there was no more catching in thorns, crunching on bare gritty places, clinking on rocks, or crackling of dry twigs; and as we moved on in silence the visions of koodoo and other big game became very real. There was nothing to hinder them: to do as Rocky did had become mechanically easy; a glance in his direction every now and then was enough; there was time and temptation to look about and still perhaps to be the first to spot the game. It was after taking one such casual glance around that I suddenly missed Rocky: a moment later I saw him moving forward, fast but silently, under cover of an ant-heap--stooping low and signing to me with one hand behind his back. With a horrible feeling of having failed him I made a hurried step sideways to get into line behind him and the ant-heap, and I stepped right on to a pile of dry crackly sticks. Rocky stood up quietly and waited, while I wished the earth would open and swallow me. When I got up abreast he half turned and looked me over with eyes slightly narrowed and a faint but ominous smile on one side of his mouth, and drawled out gently: "You'd oughter brought some fire crackers!" If only he had sworn at me it would have been endurable. We moved on again and this time I had eyes for nothing but Rocky's back, and where to put my foot next. It was not very long before he checked in mid-stride and I stood rigid as a pointer. Peering intently over his shoulder in the direction in which he looked I could see nothing. The bush was very open, and yet, even with his raised rifle to guide me, I could not for the life of me see what he was aiming at. Then the shot rang out, and a duiker toppled over kicking in the grass not a hundred yards away. The remembrance of certain things still makes me feel uncomfortable; the yell of delight I let out as the buck fell; the wild dash forward, which died away to a dead stop as I realised that Rocky himself had not moved; the sight of him, as I looked back, calmly reloading; and the silence. To me it was an event: to him, his work. But these things were forgotten then--lost behind the everlasting puzzle, How was it possible I had not seen the buck until it fell? Rocky must have known what was worrying me, for, after we had picked up the buck, he remarked without any preliminary, "It ain't easy in this bush ter pick up what don't move; an' it ain't hardly possible ter find what ye don't know!" "Game you mean?" I asked, somewhat puzzled. "This one was feeding," he answered, after a nod in reply. "I saw his head go up ter listen; but when they don't move, an' you don't jus' know what they look like, you kin 'most walk atop o' them. You got ter kind o' shape 'em in yer eye, an' when you got that fixed you kin pick 'em up 'most anywhere!" It cost Rocky an effort to volunteer anything. There were others always ready to talk and advise; but they were no help. It was Rocky himself who once said that "the man who's allus offerin' his advice fer nothin' 's askin' 'bout's much's it's worth." He seemed to run dry of words-- like an overdrawn well. For several days he took no further notice of me, apparently having forgotten my existence or repented his good nature. Once, when in reply to a question, I was owning up to the hopes and chances and failures of the day, I caught his attentive look turned on me and was conscious of it--and a little apprehensive--for the rest of the evening; but nothing happened. The following evening however it came out. I had felt that that look meant something, and that sooner or later I would catch it. It was characteristic of him that he could always wait, and I never felt quite safe with him--never comfortably sure that something was not being saved up for me for some mistake perhaps days old. He was not to be hurried, nor was he to be put off, and nobody ever interrupted him or headed him off. His quiet voice was never raised, and the lazy gentleness never disturbed; he seemed to know exactly what he wanted to say, and to have opening and attention waiting for him. I suppose it was partly because he spoke so seldom: but there was something else too--the something that was just Rocky himself. Although the talk appeared the result of accident, an instinct told me from the start that it was not really so: it was Rocky's slow and considered way. The only dog with us was licking a cut on her shoulder--the result of an unauthorised rush at a wounded buck--and after an examination of her wound we had wandered over the account of how she had got it, and so on to discussing the dog herself. Rocky sat in silence, smoking and looking into the fire, and the little discussion was closed by some one saying, "She's no good for a hunting dog--too plucky!" It was then I saw Rocky's eyes turned slowly on the last speaker: he looked at him thoughtfully for a good minute, and then remarked quietly: "Thar ain't no sich thing as too plucky!" And with that he stopped, almost as if inviting contradiction. Whether he wanted a reply or not one cannot say; anyway, he got none. No one took Rocky on unnecessarily; and at his leisure he resumed: "Thar's brave men; an' thar's fools; an' you kin get some that's both. But thar's a whole heap that ain't! An' it's jus' the same with dawgs. She's no fool, but she ain't been taught: that's what's the matter with her. Men ha' got ter larn: dawgs too! Men ain't born equal: no more's dawgs! One's born better 'n another--more brains, more heart; but I ain't yet heard o' the man born with knowledge or experience; that's what they got ter learn--men an' dawgs! The born fool's got to do fool's work all the time: but the others larn; and the brave man with brains 's got a big pull. He don't get shook up--jus' keeps on thinkin' out his job right along, while the other feller's worryin' about his hide! An' dawgs is the same." Rocky's eyes--for ever grave and thoughtful--rested on the fire; and the remarks that came from the other men passed unnoticed, but they served to keep the subject alive. Presently he went on again--opening with an observation that caused me to move uneasily before there was time to think why! "Boys is like pups--you got ter help 'em some; but not too much, an' not too soon. They got ter larn themselves. I reckon ef a man's never made a mistake he's never had a good lesson. Ef you don't pay for a thing you don't know what it's worth; and mistakes is part o' the price o' knowledge--the other part is work! But mistakes is the part you don't like payin': thet's why you remember it. You save a boy from makin' mistakes and ef he's got good stuff in him, most like you spoil it. He don't know anything properly, 'cause he don't think; and he don't think, 'cause you saved him the trouble an' he never learned how! He don't know the meanin' o' consequences and risks, 'cause you kep' 'em off him! An' bymbye he gets ter believe it's born in him ter go right, an' knows everything, an' can't go wrong; an' ef things don't pan out in the end he reckon it's jus' bad luck! No! Sirree! Ef he's got ter swim you let him know right there that the water's deep an' thar ain't no one to hol' him up, an' ef he don't wade in an' larn, it's goin' ter be his funeral!" My eyes were all for Rocky, but he was not looking my way, and when the next remark came, and my heart jumped and my hands and feet moved of their own accord, his face was turned quite away from me towards the man on his left. "An' it's jus' the same 'ith huntin'! It looks so blamed easy he reckons it don't need any teachin'. Well, let him try! Leave him run on his own till his boots is walked off an' he's like to set down and cry, ef he wasn't 'shamed to; let him know every pur-tickler sort o' blamed fool he can make of himself; an' then he's fit ter teach, 'cause he'll listen, an' watch, an' learn--at? say thank ye fer it! Mostly you got ter make a fool o' yourself once or twice ter know what it feels like an' how t' avoid it: best do it young--it teaches a boy; but it kind o' breaks a man up!" I kept my eyes on Rocky, avoiding the others, fearing that a look or word might tempt some one to rub it in; and it was a relief when the old man naturally and easily picked up his original point and, turning another look on Jess, said: "You got ter begin on the pup. It ain't her fault; it's yours. She's full up o' the right stuff, but she got no show to larn! Dawgs is all different, good an' bad--just like men: some larns quick; some'll never larn. But thar ain't any too plucky!" He tossed a chip of green wood into the heart of the fire and watched it spurtle and smoke, and after quite a long pause, added: "Thar's times when a dawg's got to see it through an' be killed. It's his dooty--same as a man's. I seen it done!" The last words were added with a narrowing of his eyes and a curious softening of voice--as of personal affection or regret. Others noticed it too; and in reply to a question as to how it had happened Rocky explained in a few words that a wounded buffalo had waylaid and tossed the man over its back, and as it turned again to gore him the dog rushed in between, fighting it off for a time and eventually fastening on to the nose when the buffalo still pushed on. The check enabled the man to reach his gun and shoot the buffalo; but the dog was trampled to death. "Were you...?" some one began--and then at the look in Rocky's face, hesitated. Rocky, staring into the fire, answered: "It was my dawg!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Long after the other men were asleep I lay in my blankets watching the tricks of light and shadow played by the fire, as fitfully it flamed or died away. It showed the long prostrate figures of the others as they slept full stretch on their backs, wrapped in dark blankets; the waggons, touched with unwonted colours by the flames, and softened to ghostly shadows when they died; the oxen, sleeping contentedly at their yokes; Rocky's two donkeys, black and grey, tethered under a thorn-tree--now and then a long ear moving slowly to some distant sound and dropping back again satisfied. I could not sleep; but Rocky was sleeping like a babe. He, gaunt and spare--6 foot 2 he must have stood--weather-beaten and old, with the long solitary trip before him and sixty odd years of life behind, he slept when he laid his head down, and was wide awake and rested when he raised it. He, who had been through it all, slept; but I, who had only listened, was haunted, bewitched, possessed, by racing thoughts; and all on account of four words, and the way he said them, "It was my dawg." It was still dark, with a faint promise of saffron in the East, when I felt a hand on my shoulder and heard Rocky's voice saying, "Comin' along, Sonny?" One of the drivers raised his head to look at us as we passed, and then called to his voorlooper to turn the cattle loose to graze, and dropped back to sleep. We left them so and sallied out into the pure clear morning while all the world was still, while the air, cold and subtly stimulating, put a spring into the step and an extra beat or two into the pulse, fairly rinsing lungs and eyes and brain. What is there to tell of that day? Why! nothing, really nothing, except that it was a happy day--a day of little things that all went well, and so it came to look like the birthday of the hunting. What did it matter to me that we were soaked through in ten minutes? for the dew weighed down the heavy-topped grass with clusters of crystal drops that looked like diamond sprays. It was all too beautiful for words: and so it should be in the spring-time of youth. Rocky was different that day. He showed me things; reading the open book of nature that I could not understand. He pointed out the spoors going to and from the drinking-place, and named the various animals; showed me one more deeply indented than the rest and, murmuring "Scared I guess," pointed to where it had dashed off out of the regular track; picked out the big splayed pad of the hyena sneaking round under cover; stopped quietly in his stride to point where a hare was sitting up cleaning itself, not ten yards off; stopped again at the sound of a clear, almost metallic, `clink' and pointed to a little sandy gully in front of us down which presently came thirty or forty guinea-fowl in single file, moving swiftly, running and walking, and all in absolute silence except for that one `clink.' How did he know they were there, and which way they would go, and know it all so promptly? were questions I asked myself. We walked with the sun--that is towards the West--so that the light would show up the game and be in their eyes, making it more difficult for them to see us. We watched a little red stembuck get up from his form, shake the dew from his coat, stretch himself, and then pick his way daintily through the wet grass, nibbling here and there as he went. Rocky did not fire; he wanted something better. After the sun had risen, flooding the whole country with golden light, and, while the dew lasted, making it glisten like a bespangled transformation scene, we came on a patch of old long grass and, parted by some twenty yards, walked through it abreast. There was a wild rush from under my feet, a yellowish body dashed through the grass, and I got out in time to see a rietbuck ram cantering away. Then Rocky, beside me, gave a shrill whistle; the buck stopped, side on, looked back at us, and Rocky dropped it where it stood. Instantly following the shot there was another rush on our left, and before the second rietbuck had gone thirty yards Rocky toppled it over in its tracks. From the whistle to the second shot it was all done in about ten seconds. To me it looked like magic. I could only gasp. We cleaned the bucks, and hid them in a bush. There was meat enough for the camp then, and I thought we would return at once for boys to carry it; but Rocky, after a moment's glance round, shouldered his rifle and moved on again. I followed, asking no questions. We had been gone only a few minutes when to my great astonishment he stopped and pointing straight in front asked: "What 'ud you put up for that stump?" I looked hard, and answered confidently, "Two hundred!" "Step it!" was his reply. I paced the distance; it was eighty-two yards. It was very bewildering; but he helped me out a bit with "Bush telescopes, Sonny!" "You mean it magnifies them?" I asked in surprise. "No! Magnifies the distance, like lookin' down an avenue! Gun barr'l looks a mile long when you put yer eye to it! Open flats brings 'em closer; and 'cross water or a gully seems like you kin put yer hand on 'em?" "I would have missed--by feet--that time Rocky!" "You kin take it fer a start, Halve the distance and aim low!" "Aim low, as well?" "Thar's allus somethin' low: legs, an' ground to show what you done! But thar's no `outers' marked on the sky!" Once, as we walked along, he paused to look at some freshly overturned ground, and dropped the one word, `Pig.' We turned then to the right and presently came upon some vlei ground densely covered with tall green reeds. He slowed down as we approached; I tip-toed in sympathy; and when only a few yards off he stopped and beckoned me on, and as I came abreast he raised his hand in warning and pointed into the reeds. There was a curious subdued sort of murmur of many deep voices. It conveys no idea of the fact to say they were grunts. They were softened out of all recognition: there is only one word for it, they sounded `confidential.' Then as we listened I could make out the soft silky rustling of the rich undergrowth, and presently, could follow, by the quivering and waving of odd reeds, the movements of the animals themselves. They were only a few yards from us--the nearest four or five; they were busy and contented; and it was obvious they were utterly unconscious of our presence. As we peered down to the reeds from our greater height it seemed that we could see the ground and that not so much as a rat could have passed unnoticed. Yet we saw nothing! And then, without the slightest sign, cause or warning that I could detect, in one instant every sound ceased. I watched the reeds like a cat on the pounce: never a stir or sign or sound: they had vanished. I turned to Rocky: he was standing at ease, and there was the faintest look of amusement in his eyes. "They must be there; they can't have got away?" It was a sort of indignant protest against his evident `chucking it'; but it was full of doubt all the same. "Try!" he said, and I jumped into the reeds straight away. The under-foliage, it is true, was thicker and deeper than it had looked; but for all that it was like a conjuring trick--they were not there! I waded through a hundred yards or more of the narrow belt--it was not more than twenty yards wide anywhere--but the place was deserted. It struck me then that if they could dodge us at five to ten yards while we were watching from the bank and they did not know it--Well, I `chucked it' too. Rocky was standing in the same place with the same faint look of friendly amusement when I got back, wet and muddy. "Pigs is like that," he said, "same as elephants--jus' disappears!" We went on again, and a quarter of an hour later, it may be, Rocky stopped, subsided to a sitting position, beckoned to me, and pointed with his levelled rifle in front. It was a couple of minutes before he could get me to see the stembuck standing in the shade of a thorn-tree. I would never have seen it but for his whisper to look for something moving: that gave it to me; I saw the movement of the head as it cropped. "High: right!" was Rocky's comment, as the bullet ripped the bark off a tree and the startled stembuck raced away. In the excitement I had forgotten his advice already! But there was no time to feel sick and disgusted; the buck, puzzled by the report on one side and the smash on the tree on the other, half circled us and stopped to look back. Rocky laid his hand on my shoulder: "Take your time, Sonny!" he said, "Aim low; an' _don't full! Squeeze_!" And at last I got it. We had our breakfast there--the liver roasted on the coals, and a couple of `dough-boys,' with the unexpected addition of a bottle of cold tea, weak and unsweetened, produced from Rocky's knapsack! We stayed there a couple of hours, and that is the only time he really opened out. I understood then--at last--that of his deliberate kindliness he had come out that morning meaning to make a happy day of it for a youngster; and he did it. He had the knack of getting at the heart of things, and putting it all in the fewest words. He spoke in the same slow grave way, with habitual economy of breath and words; and yet the pictures were living and real, and each incident complete. I seemed to get from him that morning all there was to know of the hunting in two great continents--Grizzlies and other `bar,' Moose and Wapiti, hunted in the snows of the North West; Elephant, Buffalo, Rhino, Lions, and scores more, in the sweltering heat of Africa! That was a happy day! When I woke up next morning Rocky was fitting the packs on his donkeys. I was a little puzzled, wondering at first if he was testing the saddles, for he had said nothing about moving on; but when he joined us at breakfast the donkeys stood packed ready to start. Then Robbie asked: "Going to make a move, Rocky?" "Yes! Reckon I'll git!" he answered quietly. I ate in silence, thinking of what he was to face: many hundreds of miles--perhaps a thousand or two; many, many months--may be a year or two; wild country, wild tribes, and wild beasts; floods and fever; accident, hunger, and disease; and alone! When we had finished breakfast he rinsed out his beaker and hung it on one of the packs, slung his rifle over his shoulder, and picking up his long assegai-wood walking-stick tapped the donkeys lightly to turn them into the Kaffir footpath that led away North. They jogged on into place in single file. Rocky paused a second before following, turned one brief grave glance on us, and said! "Well. So long!" He never came back! CHAPTER THREE. JESS. Good dogs were not easy to get; I had tried hard enough for one before starting, but without success. Even unborn puppies had jealous prospective owners waiting to claim them. There is always plenty of room at the top of the tree, and good hunting dogs were as rare as good men, good horses, and good front oxen. A lot of qualities are needed in the make-up of a good hunting dog: size, strength, quickness, scent, sense and speed--and plenty of courage. They are very very difficult to get; but even small dogs are useful, and many a fine feat stands to the credit of little terriers in guarding camps at night and in standing off wounded animals that meant mischief. Dennison was saved from a wounded lioness by his two fox-terriers. He had gone out to shoot bush-pheasants, and came unexpectedly on a lioness playing with her cubs: the cubs hid in the grass, but she stood up at bay to protect them, and he, forgetting that he had taken the big `looper' cartridges from his gun and reloaded with Number 6, fired. The shot only maddened her, and she charged; but the two dogs dashed at her, one at each side, barking, snapping and yelling, rushing in and jumping back so fast and furiously that they flustered her. Leaving the man for the moment, she turned on them, dabbing viciously with her huge paws, first at one, then at the other; quick as lightning she struck right and left as a kitten will at a twirled string; but they kept out of reach. It only lasted seconds, but that was long enough for the man to reload and shoot the lioness through the heart. There was only the one dog in our camp; and she was not an attractive one. She was a bull-terrier with a dull brindled coat--black and grey in shadowy stripes. She had small cross-looking eyes and uncertain always-moving ears; she was bad tempered and most unsociable; but she was as faithful and as brave a dog as ever lived. She never barked; never howled when beaten for biting strangers or kaffirs or going for the cattle; she was very silent, very savage, and very quick. She belonged to my friend Ted, and never left his side day or night. Her name was Jess. Jess was not a favourite, but everybody respected her, partly because you knew she would not stand any nonsense--no pushing, patting or punishment, and very little talking to--and partly because she was so faithful and plucky. She was not a hunting dog, but on several occasions had helped to pull down wounded game; she had no knowledge or skill, and was only fierce and brave, and there was always the risk that she would be killed. She would listen to Ted, but to no one else; one of us might have shouted his lungs out, but it would not have stopped her from giving chase the moment she saw anything and keeping on till she was too dead beat to move any further. The first time I saw Jess we were having dinner, and I gave her a bone-- putting it down close to her and saying, "Here! good dog!" As she did not even look at it, I moved it right under her nose. She gave a low growl, and her little eyes turned on me for just one look as she got up and walked away. There was a snigger of laughter from some of the others, but nobody said anything, and it seemed wiser to ask no questions just then. Afterwards, when we were alone, one of them told me Ted had trained her not to feed from any one else, adding, "You must not feed another man's dog; a dog has only one master!" We respected Jess greatly; but no one knew quite how much we respected her until the memorable day near Ship Mountain. We had rested through the heat of the day under a big tree on the bank of a little stream; it was the tree under which Soltke prayed and died. About sundown, just before we were ready to start, some other waggons passed, and Ted, knowing the owner, went on with him intending to rejoin us at the next outspan. As he jumped on to the passing waggon he called to Jess, and she ran out of a patch of soft grass under one of the big trees behind our waggons. She answered his call instantly, but when she saw him moving off on the other waggon she sat down in the road and watched him anxiously for some seconds, then ran on a few steps in her curious quick silent way and again stopped, giving swift glances alternately towards Ted and towards us. Ted remarked laughingly that she evidently thought he had made a mistake by getting on to the wrong waggon, and that she would follow presently. After he had disappeared she ran back to her patch of grass and lay down, but in a few minutes she was back again squatting in the road looking with that same anxious worried expression after her master. Thus she went to and fro for the quarter of an hour it took us to inspan, and each time she passed we could hear a faint anxious little whine. The oxen were inspanned and the last odd things were being put up when one of the boys came to say that he could not get the guns and water-barrel because Jess would not let him near them. There was something the matter with the dog, he said; he thought she was mad. Knowing how Jess hated kaffirs we laughed at the notion, and went for the things ourselves. As we came within five yards of the tree where we had left the guns there was a rustle in the grass, and Jess came out with her swift silent run, appearing as unexpectedly as a snake does, and with some odd suggestion of a snake in her look and attitude. Her head, body and tail were in a dead line, and she was crouching slightly as for a spring; her ears were laid flat back, her lips twitching constantly, showing the strong white teeth, and her cross wicked eyes had such a look of remorseless cruelty in them that we stopped as if we had been turned to stone. She never moved a muscle or made a sound, but kept those eyes steadily fixed on us. We moved back a pace or two and began to coax and wheedle her; but it was no good; she never moved or made a sound, and the unblinking look remained. For a minute we stood our ground, and then the hair on her back and shoulders began very slowly to stand up. That was enough: we cleared off. It was a mighty uncanny appearance. Then another tried his hand; but it was just the same. No one could do anything with her; no one could get near the guns or the water-barrel; as soon as we returned for a fresh attempt she reappeared in the same place and in the same way. The position was too ridiculous, and we were at our wits' end; for Jess held the camp. The kaffirs declared the dog was mad, and we began to have very uncomfortable suspicions that they were right; but we decided to make a last attempt, and surrounding the place approached from all sides. But the suddenness with which she appeared before we got into position so demoralised the kaffirs that they bolted, and we gave it up, owning ourselves beaten. We turned to watch her as she ran back for the last time, and as she disappeared in the grass we heard distinctly the cry of a very young puppy. Then the secret of Jess's madness was out. We had to send for Ted, and when he returned a couple of hours later Jess met him out on the road in the dark where she had been watching half the time ever since he left. She jumped up at his chest giving a long tremulous whimper of welcome, and then ran ahead straight to the nest in the grass. He took a lantern and we followed, but not too close. When he knelt down to look at the puppies she stood over them and pushed herself in between him and them; when he put out a hand to touch them she pushed it away with her nose, whining softly in protest and trembling with excitement--you could see she would not bite, but she hated him to touch her puppies. Finally, when he picked one up she gave a low cry and caught his wrist gently, but held it. That was Jess, the mother of Jock! CHAPTER FOUR. THE PICK OF THE PUPPIES. There were six puppies, and as the waggons were empty we fixed up a roomy nest in one of them for Jess and her family. There was no trouble with Jess; nobody interfered with her, and she interfered with nobody. The boys kept clear of her; but we used to take a look at her and the puppies as we walked along with the waggons; so by degrees she got to know that we would not harm them, and she no longer wanted to eat us alive if we went near and talked to her. Five of the puppies were fat strong yellow little chaps with dark muzzles--just like their father, as Ted said; and their father was an imported dog, and was always spoken of as the best dog of the breed that had ever been in the country. I never saw him, so I do not really know what he was like--perhaps he was not a yellow dog at all; but, whatever he was, he had at that time a great reputation because he was `imported,' and there were not half a dozen imported dogs in the whole of the Transvaal then. Many people used to ask what breed the puppies were--I suppose it was because poor cross faithful old Jess was not much to look at, and because no one had a very high opinion of yellow dogs in general, and nobody seemed to remember any famous yellow bull-terriers. They used to smile in a queer way when they asked the question, as if they were going to get off a joke; but when we answered "Just like their father--Buchanan's _imported_ dog," the smile disappeared, and they would give a whistle of surprise and say "By Jove!" and immediately begin to examine the five yellow puppies, remark upon their ears and noses and legs, and praise them up until we were all as proud as if they had belonged to us. Jess looked after her puppies and knew nothing about the remarks that were made, so they did not worry her, but I often looked at the faithful old thing with her dark brindled face, cross-looking eyes and always-moving ears, and thought it jolly hard lines that nobody had a good word for her; it seemed rough on her that every one should be glad there was only one puppy at all like the mother--the sixth one, a poor miserable little rat of a thing about half the size of the others. He was not yellow like them, nor dark brindled like Jess, but a sort of dirty pale half-and-half colour with some dark faint wavy lines all over him, as if he had tried to be brindled and failed; and he had a dark sharp wizened little muzzle that looked shrivelled up with age. Most of the fellows said it would be a good thing to drown the odd one because he spoilt the litter and made them look as though they were not really thoroughbred, and because he was such a miserable little rat that he was not worth saving anyhow; but in the end he was allowed to live. I believe no one fancied the job of taking one of Jess's puppies away from her; moreover, as any dog was better than none, I had offered to take him rather than let him be drowned. Ted had old friends to whom he had already promised the pick of the puppies, so when I came along it was too late, and all he could promise me was that if there should be one over I might have it. As they grew older and were able to crawl about they were taken off the waggons when we outspanned and put on the ground. Jess got to understand this at once, and she used to watch us quite quietly as we took them in our hands to put them down or lift them back again. When they were two or three weeks old a man came to the waggons who talked a great deal about dogs, and appeared to know what had to be done. He said that the puppies' tails ought to be docked, and that a bull-terrier would be no class at all with a long tail, but you should on no account clip his ears. I thought he was speaking of fox-terriers, and that with bull-terriers the position was the other way round, at that time; but as he said it was `the thing' in England, and nobody contradicted him, I shut up. We found out afterwards that he had made a mistake; but it was too late then, and Jess's puppies started life as bull-terriers up to date, with long ears and short tails. I felt sure from the beginning that all the yellow puppies would be claimed and that I should have to take the odd one, or none at all; so I began to look upon him as mine already, and to take an interest in him and look after him. A long time ago somebody wrote that "the sense of possession turns sand into gold," and it is one of the truest things ever said. Until it seemed that this queer-looking odd puppy was going to be mine I used to think and say very much what the others did--but with this difference, that I always felt sorry for him, and sorry for Jess too, because he was like her and not like the father. I used to think that perhaps if he were given a chance he might grow up like poor old Jess herself, ugly, cross and unpopular, but brave and faithful. I felt sorry for him, too, because he was small and weak, and the other five big puppies used to push him away from his food and trample on him; and when they were old enough to play they used to pull him about by his ears and pack on to him--three or four to one--and bully him horribly. Many a time I rescued him, and many a time gave him a little preserved milk and water with bread soaked in it when the others had shouldered him out and eaten everything. After a little while, when my chance of getting one of the good puppies seemed hopeless and I got used to the idea that I would have to take the odd one, I began to notice little things about him that no one else noticed, and got to be quite fond of the little beggar--in a kind of way. Perhaps I was turning my sand into gold, and my geese into swans; perhaps I grew fond of him simply because, finding him lonely and with no one else to depend on, I befriended him; and perhaps it was because he was always cheerful and plucky and it seemed as if there might be some good stuff in him after all. Those were the things I used to think of sometimes when feeding the little outcast. The other puppies would tumble him over and take his food from him; they would bump into him when he was stooping over the dish of milk and porridge, and his head was so big and his legs so weak that he would tip up and go heels over head into the dish. We were always picking him out of the food and scraping it off him: half the time he was wet and sticky, and the other half covered with porridge and sand baked hard by the sun. One day just after the waggons had started, as I took a final look round the outspan place to see if anything had been forgotten, I found the little chap--who was only about four inches high--struggling to walk through the long grass. He was not big enough or strong enough to push his way--even the stems of the down-trodden grass tripped him--and he stumbled and floundered at every step, but he got up again each time with his little tail standing straight up, his head erect, and his ears cocked. He looked such a ridiculous sight that his little tragedy of "lost in the veld" was forgotten--one could only laugh. What he thought he was doing, goodness only knows; he looked as proud and important as if he owned the whole world and knew that every one in it was watching him. The poor little chap could not see a yard in that grass; and in any case he was not old enough to see much, or understand anything, for his eyes still had that bluish blind look that all very young puppies have, but he was marching along as full of confidence as a general at the head of his army. How he fell out of the waggon no one knew; perhaps the big puppies tumbled him out, or he may have tried to follow Jess, or have climbed over the tail-board to see what was the other side, for he was always going off exploring by himself. His little world was small, it may be--only the bed-plank of the waggon and the few square yards of the ground on which they were dumped at the outspans--but he took it as seriously as any explorer who ever tackled a continent. The others were a bit more softened towards the odd puppy when I caught up to the waggons and told them of his valiant struggle to follow; and the man who had docked the puppies' tails allowed, "I believe the rat's got pluck, whatever else is the matter with him, for he was the only one that didn't howl when I snipped them. The little cuss just gave a grunt and turned round as if he wanted to eat me. I think he'd 'a' been terrible angry if he hadn't been so s'prised. Pity he's such an awful-looking mongrel." But no one else said a good word for him: he was really beneath notice, and if ever they had to speak about him they called him "The Rat." There is no doubt about it he was extremely ugly, and instead of improving as he grew older, he became worse; yet, I could not help liking him and looking after him, sometimes feeling sorry for him, sometimes being tremendously amused, and sometimes--wonderful to relate--really admiring him. He was extraordinarily silent; while the others barked at nothing, howled when lonely, and yelled when frightened or hurt, the odd puppy did none of these things; in fact, he began to show many of Jess's peculiarities; he hardly ever barked, and when he did it was not a wild excited string of barks but little suppressed muffled noises, half bark and half growl, and just one or two at a time; and he did not appear to be afraid of anything, so one could not tell what he would do if he was. One day we had an amusing instance of his nerve: one of the oxen, sniffing about the outspan, caught sight of him all alone, and filled with curiosity came up to examine him, as a hulking silly old tame ox will do. It moved towards him slowly and heavily with its ears spread wide and its head down, giving great big sniffs at this new object, trying to make out what it was. "The Rat" stood quite still with his stumpy tail cocked up and his head a little on one side, and when the huge ox's nose was about a foot from him he gave one of those funny abrupt little barks. It was as if the object had suddenly `gone off' like a cracker, and the ox nearly tumbled over with fright; but even when the great mountain of a thing gave a clumsy plunge round and trotted off, "The Rat" was not the least frightened; he was startled, and his tail and ears flickered for a second, but stiffened up again instantly, and with another of those little barks he took a couple of steps forward and cocked his head on the other side. That was his way. He was not a bit like the other puppies; if any one fired off a gun or cracked one of the big whips the whole five would yell at the top of their voices and, wherever they were, would start running, scrambling and floundering as fast as they could towards the waggon without once looking back to see what they were running away from. The odd puppy would drop his bone with a start or would jump round; his ears and tail would flicker up and down for a second; then he would slowly bristle up all over, and with his head cocked first on one side and then on the other, stare hard with his half-blind bluish puppy eyes in the direction of the noise; but he never ran away. And so, little by little, I got to like him in spite of his awful ugliness. And it really was awful! The other puppies grew big all over, but the odd one at that time seemed to grow only in one part--his tummy! The poor little chap was born small and weak; he had always been bullied and crowded out by the others, and the truth is he was half starved. The natural consequence of this was that as soon as he could walk about and pick up things for himself he made up for lost time, and filled up his middle piece to an alarming size before the other parts of his body had time to grow; at that time he looked more like a big tock-tockie beetle than a dog. Besides the balloon-like tummy he had stick-out bandy-legs, very like a beetle's too, and a neck so thin that it made the head look enormous, and you wondered how the neck ever held it up. But what made him so supremely ridiculous was that he evidently did not know he was ugly; he walked about as if he was always thinking of his dignity, and he had that puffed-out and stuck-up air of importance that you only see in small people and bantam cocks who are always trying to appear an inch taller than they really are. When the puppies were about a month old, and could feed on porridge or bread soaked in soup or gravy, they got to be too much for Jess, and she used to leave them for hours at a time and hide in the grass so as to have a little peace and sleep. Puppies are always hungry, so they soon began to hunt about for themselves, and would find scraps of meat and porridge or old bones; and if they could not get anything else, would try to eat the raw-hide nekstrops and reims. Then the fights began. As soon as one puppy saw another busy on anything, he would walk over towards him and, if strong enough, fight him for it. All day long it was nothing but wrangle, snarl, bark and yelp. Sometimes four or five would be at it in one scrum; because as soon as one heard a row going on he would trot up hoping to steal the bone while the others were busy fighting. It was then that I noticed other things about the odd puppy: no matter how many packed on to him, or how they bit or pulled him, he never once let out a yelp; with four or five on top of him you would see him on his back, snapping right and left with bare white teeth, gripping and worrying them when he got a good hold of anything, and all the time growling and snarling with a fierceness that was really comical. It sounded as a lion fight might sound in a toy phonograph. Before many days passed, it was clear that some of the other puppies were inclined to leave "The Rat" alone, and that only two of them--the two biggest--seemed anxious to fight him and could take his bones away. The reason soon became apparent: instead of wasting his breath in making a noise, or wasting strength in trying to tumble the others over, "The Rat" simply bit hard and hung on; noses, ears, lips, cheeks, feet and even tails--all came handy to him; anything he could get hold of and hang on to was good enough, and the result generally was that in about half a minute the other puppy would leave everything and clear off yelling, and probably holding up one paw or hanging its head on one side to ease a chewed ear. When either of the big puppies tackled the little fellow the fight lasted much longer. Even if he were tumbled over at once--as generally happened--and the other one stood over him barking and growling, that did not end the fight: as soon as the other chap got off him he would struggle up and begin again; he would not give in. The other puppies seemed to think there was some sort of rule like the `count out' in boxing, or that once you were tumbled over you ought to give up the bone; but the odd puppy apparently did not care about rules; as far as I could see, he had just one rule: "Stick to it," so it was not very long before even the two big fellows gave up interfering with him. The bites from his little white teeth--sharp as needles--which punctured noses and feet and tore ears, were most unpleasant. But apart from that, they found there was nothing to be gained by fighting him: they might roll him over time after time, but he came back again and worried them so persistently that it was quite impossible to enjoy the bone--they had to keep on fighting for it. At first I drew attention to these things, but there was no encouragement from the others; they merely laughed at the attempt to make the best of a bad job. Sometimes owners of other puppies were nettled by having their beauties compared with "The Rat," or were annoyed because he had the cheek to fight for his own and beat them. Once, when I had described how well he had stood up to Billy's pup, Robbie caught up "The Rat," and placing him on the table, said: "Hats off to the Duke of Wellington on the field of Waterloo." That seemed to me the poorest sort of joke to send five grown men into fits of laughter. He stood there on the table with his head on one side, one ear standing up, and his stumpy tail twiggling--an absurd picture of friendliness, pride and confidence; yet he was so ugly and ridiculous that my heart sank, and I whisked him away. They made fun of him, and he did not mind; but it was making fun of me too, and I could not help knowing why; it was only necessary to put the puppies together to see the reason. After that I stopped talking about him, and made the most of the good points he showed, and tried to discover more. It was the only consolation for having to take the leavings of the litter. Then there came a day when something happened which might easily have turned out very differently, and there would have been no stories and no Jock to tell about; and the best dog in the world would never have been my friend and companion. The puppies had been behaving very badly, and had stolen several nekstrops and chewed up parts of one or two big whips; the drivers were grumbling about all the damage done and the extra work it gave them; and Ted, exasperated by the worry of it all, announced that the puppies were quite old enough to be taken away, and that those who had picked puppies must take them at once and look after them, or let some one else have them. When I heard him say that my heart gave a little thump from excitement, for I knew the day had come when the great question would be settled once and for all. Here was a glorious and unexpected chance; perhaps one of the others would not or could not take his, and I might get one of the good ones... Of course the two big ones would be snapped up: that was certain; for, even if the men who had picked them could not take them, others; who had been promised puppies before me would exchange those they had already chosen for the better ones. Still, there were other chances; and I thought of very little else all day long, wondering if any of the good ones would be left; and if so, which? In the afternoon Ted came up to where we were all lying in the shade and startled us with the momentous announcement: "Billy Griffiths can't take his pup!" Every man of us sat up. Billy's pup was the first pick, the champion of the litter, the biggest and strongest of the lot. Several of the others said at once that they would exchange theirs for this one; but Ted smiled and shook his head. "No," he said, "you had a good pick in the beginning." Then he turned to me, and added: "You've only had leavings." Some one said "The Rat," and there was a shout of laughter, but Ted went on; "You can have Billy's pup." It seemed too good to be true; not even in my wildest imaginings had I fancied myself getting the pick of the lot. I hardly waited to thank Ted before going off to look at my champion. I had seen and admired him times out of number, but it seemed as if he must look different now that he belonged to me. He was a fine big fellow, well built and strong, and looked as if he could beat all the rest put together. His legs were straight; his neck sturdy; his muzzle dark and shapely; his ears equal and well carried; and in the sunlight his yellow coat looked quite bright, with occasional glints of gold in it. He was indeed a handsome fellow. As I put him back again with the others the odd puppy, who had stood up and sniffed at me when I came, licked my hand and twiddled his tail with the friendliest and most independent air, as if he knew me quite well and was glad to see me, and I patted the poor little chap as he waddled up. I had forgotten him in the excitement of getting Billy's pup; but the sight of him made me think of his funny ways, his pluck and independence, and of how he had not a friend in the world except Jess and me; and I felt downright sorry for him. I picked him up and talked to him; and when his wizened little face was close to mine, he opened his mouth as if laughing, and shooting out his red tongue dabbed me right on the tip of my nose in pure friendliness. The poor little fellow looked more ludicrous than ever: he had been feeding again and was as tight as a drum; his skin was so tight one could not help thinking that if he walked over a mimosa thorn and got a scratch on the tummy he would burst like a toy balloon. I put him back with the other puppies and returned to the tree where Ted and the rest were sitting. As I came up there was a shout of laughter, and--turning round to see what had provoked it--I found "The Rat" at my heels. He had followed me and was trotting and stumbling along, tripping every yard or so, but getting up again with head erect, ears cocked and his stumpy tail twiddling away just as pleased and proud as if he thought he had really started in life and was doing what only a `really and truly' grown-up dog is supposed to do--that is, follow his master wherever he goes. All the old chaff and jokes were fired off at me again, and I had no peace for quite a time. They all had something to say: "He won't swap you off!" "I'll back `The Rat'!" "He is going to take care of you!" "He is afraid you'll get lost!" and so on; and they were still chaffing about it when I grabbed "The Rat" and took him back again. Billy's failure to take his puppy was so entirely unexpected and so important that the subject kept cropping up all the evening. It was very amusing then to see how each of those who had wanted to get him succeeded in finding good reasons for thinking that his own puppy was really better than Billy's. However they differed in their estimates of each other's dogs, they all agreed that the best judge in the world could not be certain of picking out the best dog in a good litter until the puppies were several months old; and they all gave instances in which the best looking puppy had turned out the worst dog, and others in which the one that no one would look at had grown up to be the champion. Goodness knows how long this would have gone on if Robbie had not mischievously suggested that "perhaps `The Rat' was going to beat the whole lot." There was such a chorus of guffaws at this that no one told any more stories. The poor little friendless Rat! It was unfortunate, but the truth is that he was uglier than before; and yet I could not help liking him. I fell asleep that night thinking of the two puppies--the best and the worst in the litter. No sooner had I gone over all the splendid points in Billy's pup and made up my mind that he was certainly the finest I had ever seen, than the friendly wizened little face, the half-cocked ears and head on one side, the cocky little stump of a tail, and the comical dignified plucky look of the odd puppy would all come back to me. The thought of how he had licked my hand and twiddled his tail at me, and how he dabbed me on the nose, and then the manful way in which he had struggled after me through the grass, all made my heart go soft towards him, and I fell asleep not knowing what to do. When I woke up in the morning, my first thought was of the odd puppy-- how he looked to me as his only friend, and what he would feel like if, after looking on me as really belonging to him and as the one person that he was going to take care of all his life, he knew he was to be left behind or given away to any one who would take him. It would never have entered his head that he required some one to look after him; from the way he had followed me the night before it was clear he was looking after me; and the other fellows thought the same thing. His whole manner had plainly said: "Never mind old man! Don't you worry: I am here." We used to make our first trek at about three o'clock in the morning, so as to be outspanned by sunrise; and walking along during that morning trek I recalled all the stories that the others had told of miserable puppies having grown into wonderful dogs, and of great men who had been very ordinary children; and at breakfast I took the plunge. "Ted," I said, bracing myself for the laughter, "if you don't mind, I'll stick to `The Rat.'" If I had fired off a gun under their noses they would have been much less startled. Robbie made a grab for his plate as it slipped from his knees. "_Don't_ do that sort of thing!" he protested indignantly. "My nerves won't stand it!" The others stopped eating and drinking, held their beakers of steaming coffee well out of the way to get a better look at me, and when they saw it was seriously meant there was a chorus of: "Well, I'm hanged." I took him in hand at once--for now he was really mine--and brought him over for his saucer of soaked bread and milk to where we sat at breakfast. Beside me there was a rough camp table--a luxury sometimes indulged in while camping or trekking with empty waggons--on which we put our tinned-milk, treacle and such things to keep them out of reach of the ants, grasshoppers, Hottentot-gods, beetles and dust. I put the puppy and his saucer in a safe place under the table out of the way of stray feet, and sank the saucer into the sand so that when he trod in it he would not spill the food; for puppies are quite stupid as they are greedy, and seem to think that they can eat faster by getting further into the dish. He appeared to be more ravenous than usual, and we were all amused by the way the little fellow craned his thin neck out further and further until he tipped up behind and his nose bumping into the saucer see-sawed him back again. He finished it all and looked round briskly at me, licking his lips and twiddling his stumpy tail. Well, I meant to make a dog of him, so I gave him another lot. He was just like a little child--he thought he was very hungry still and could eat any amount more; but it was not possible. The lapping became slower and more laboured, with pauses every now and then to get breath or lick his lips and look about him, until at last he was fairly beaten: he could only look at it, blink and lick his chops; and, knowing that he would keep on trying, I took the saucer away. He was too full to object or to run after it; he was too full to move. He stood where he was, with his legs well spread and his little body blown out like a balloon, and finished licking the drops and crumbs off his face without moving a foot. There was something so extraordinarily funny in the appearance and attitude of the puppy that we watched to see what he would do next. He had been standing very close to the leg of the table, but not quite touching it, when he finished feeding; and even after he had done washing his face and cleaning up generally, he stood there stock-still for several minutes, as though it was altogether too much trouble to move. One little bandy hind leg stuck out behind the table-leg, and the bulge of his little tummy stuck out in front of it; so that when at last he decided to make a move the very first little lurch brought his hip up against the table-leg. In an instant the puppy's appearance changed completely: the hair on his back and shoulders bristled; his head went up erect; one ear stood up straight and the other at half cock; and his stumpy tail quivered with rage. He evidently thought that one of the other puppies had come up behind to interfere with him. He was too proud to turn round and appear to be nervous: with head erect he glared hard straight in front of him, and, with all the little breath that he had left after his big feed, he growled ferociously in comical little gasps. He stood like that, not moving an inch, with the front foot still ready to take that step forward; and then, as nothing more happened, the hair on his back gradually went flat again; the fierceness died out of his face; and the growling stopped. After a minute's pause, he again very slowly and carefully began to step forward; of course exactly the same thing happened again, except that this time he shook all over with rage, and the growling was fiercer and more choky. One could not imagine anything so small being in so great a rage. He took longer to cool down, too, and much longer before he made the third attempt to start. But the third time it was all over in a second. He seemed to think that this was more than any dog could stand, and that he must put a stop to it. The instant his hip touched the leg, he whipped round with a ferocious snarl--his little white teeth bared and gleaming--and bumped his nose against the table-leg. I cannot say whether it was because of the shout of laughter from us, or because he really understood what had happened, that he looked so foolish, but he just gave one crestfallen look at me and with a feeble wag of his tail waddled off as fast as he could. Then Ted nodded over at me, and said: "I believe you have got the champion after all!" And I was too proud to speak. CHAPTER FIVE. JOCK'S SCHOOLDAYS. After that day no one spoke of "The Rat" or "The Odd Puppy," or used any of the numberless nicknames that they had given him, such as "The Specimen," "The Object," "Number 6," "Bully-Beef," (because he got his head stuck in a half-pound tin one day), "The Scrap"; and even "The Duke of Wellington" ceased to be a gibe. They still laughed at his ridiculous dignity; and they loved to tease him to see him stiffen with rage and hear his choky little growls; but they liked his independence and admired his tremendous pluck. So they respected his name when he got one. And his name was "Jock." No one bothered about the other puppies' names: they were known as "Billy's pup," "Jimmy's pup," "Old Joe's Darling," "Yellow Jack," and "Bandy-Legged Sue"; but they seemed to think that this little chap had earned his name, fighting his way without anybody's help and with everything against him; so they gave up all the nicknames and spoke of him as "Jock." Jock got such a good advertisement by his fight with the table-leg that every one took notice of him now and remarked about what he did; and as he was only a very young puppy, they teased him, fed him, petted him, and did their best to spoil him. He was so young that it did not seem to matter, but I think if he had not been a really good dog at heart he would have been quite spoilt. He soon began to grow and fill out; and it was then that he taught the other puppies to leave him alone. If they had not interfered with him he might perhaps have left them alone, as it was not his nature to interfere with others; but the trouble was they had bullied him so much while he was weak and helpless that he got used to the idea of fighting for everything. It is probably the best thing that could have happened to Jock that as a puppy he was small and weak, but full of pluck; it compelled him to learn how to fight; it made him clever, cool, and careful, for he could not afford to make mistakes. When he fought he meant business; he went for a good spot, bit hard, and hung on for all he was worth; then, as the enemy began to slacken, he would start vigorously worrying and shaking. I often saw him shake himself off his feet, because the thing he was fighting was too heavy for him. The day Jock fought the two big puppies--one after the other--for his bone, and beat them off, was the day of his independence; we all saw the tussle, and cheered the little chap. And then for one whole day he had peace; but it was like the pause at low water before the tide begins to flow the other way. He was so used to being interfered with that I suppose he did not immediately understand they would never tackle him again. It took a whole day for him to realise this; but as soon as he did understand it he seemed to make up his mind that now his turn had come, and he went for the first puppy he saw with a bone. He walked up slowly and carefully, and began to make a circle round him. When he got about half-way round the puppy took up the bone and trotted off; but Jock headed him off at once, and again began to walk towards him very slowly and stiffly. The other puppy stood quite still for a moment, and then Jock's fierce determined look was too much for him: he dropped the bone and bolted. There was mighty little but smell on those bones, for we gave the puppies very little meat, so when Jock had taken what he could off this one, he started on another hunt. A few yards away Billy's pup was having a glorious time, struggling with a big bone and growling all the while as if he wanted to let the world know that it was as much as any one's life was worth to come near him. None of us thought Jock would tackle him, as Billy's pup was still a long way the biggest and strongest of the puppies, and always ready to bully the others. Jock was about three or four yards away when he caught sight of Billy's pup, and for about a minute he stood still and quietly watched. At first he seemed surprised, and then interested, and then gradually he stiffened up all over in that funny way of his; and when the hair on his shoulders was all on end and his ears and tail were properly up, he moved forward very deliberately. In this fashion he made a circle round Billy's pup, keeping about two feet away from him, walking infinitely slowly and glaring steadily at the enemy out of the corners of his eyes; and while he was doing this, the other fellow was tearing away at his bone, growling furiously and glaring sideways at Jock. When the circle was finished they stood once more face to face; and then after a short pause Jock began to move in closer, but more slowly even than before. Billy's pup did not like this: it was beginning to look serious. He could not keep on eating and at the same time watch Jock; moreover, there was such a very unpleasant wicked look about Jock, and he moved so steadily and silently forward, that any one would feel a bit creepy and nervous; so he put his paw on the bone and let out a string of snarly barks, with his ears flat on his neck and his tail rather low down. But Jock still came on--a little more carefully and slowly perhaps, but just as steadily as ever. When about a foot off the enemy's nose he changed his direction slightly, as if to walk past, and Billy's pup turned his head to watch him, keeping his nose pointed towards Jock's, but when they got side by side he again looked straight in front of him. Perhaps he did this to make sure the bone was still there, or perhaps to show his contempt when he thought Jock was going off. Whatever the reason was, it was a mistake; for, as he turned his head away, Jock flew at him, got a good mouthful of ear, and in no time they were rolling and struggling in the dust--Jock's little grunts barely-audible in the noise made by the other one. Billy's pup was big and strong, and he was not a coward; but Jock was worrying his ear vigorously, and he could not find anything to bite in return. In less than a minute he began to howl, and was making frantic efforts to get away. Then Jock let go the ear and tackled the bone. After that he had no more puppy fights. As soon as any one of the others saw Jock begin to walk slowly and carefully towards him he seemed to suddenly get tired of his bone, and moved off. Most dogs--like most people--when their hearts fail them will try to hide the truth from one another and make some sort of effort or pretence to keep their dignity or self-respect or the good opinion of others. You may see it all any day in the street, when dogs meet and stop to `size' each other up. As a rule the perfectly shameless cowards are found in the two extreme classes--the outcasts, whose spirits are broken by all the world being against them; and the pampered darlings, who have never had to do anything for themselves. Many dogs who are clearly anxious to get out of fighting will make a pretence of bravery at the time, or at least cover up their cowardice, with a `wait-till-I-catch-you-next-time' air, as soon as they are at a safe distance. Day after day at the outspans the puppies went through every stage of the business, to our constant amusement and to my unconcealed pride; for Jock was thenceforth cock of the walk. If they saw him some distance off moving towards them or even staring hard and with his ears and tail up, the retreat would be made with a gloomy and dignified air, sometimes even with growls just loud enough to please themselves without provoking him; if he was fairly close up when spotted they wasted no time in putting on airs, but trotted off promptly; but sometimes they would be too busy to notice anything until a growl or a rustle in the grass close behind gave warning; and it was always followed by a jump and a shameless scuttle, very often accompanied by a strangled sort of yowling yelp, just as if he had already got them by the ear or throat. Some of them became so nervous that we could not resist playing practical jokes on them--making sudden strange noises, imitating Jock's growls, tossing bits of bark at them or touching them from behind with a stick while they were completely occupied with their bones--for the fun of seeing the stampede and hearing the sudden howls of surprise and fright. One by one the other puppies were taken away by their new masters, and before Jock was three months old he and Jess were the only dogs with the waggons. Then he went to school, and like all schoolboys learnt some things very quickly--the things that he liked; and some things he learnt very slowly, and hated them just as a boy hates extra work in play-time. When I poked about with a stick in the banks of dongas to turn out mice and field-rats for him, or when I hid a partridge or a hare and made him find it, he was as happy as could be; but when I made him lie down and watch my gun or coat while I pretended to go off and leave him, he did not like it; and as for his lessons in manners! well, he simply hated them. There are some things which a dog in that sort of life simply must learn or you cannot keep him; and the first of these is, not to steal. Every puppy will help himself until he is taught not to; and your dog lives with you and can get at everything. At the outspans the grub-box is put on the ground, open for each man to help himself; if you make a stew, or roast the leg of a buck, the big three-legged pot is put down handy and left there; if you are lucky enough to have some tinned butter or condensed milk, the tins are opened and stood on the ground; and if you have a dog thief in the camp, nothing is safe. There was a dog with us once--a year or two later--who was the worst thief I ever knew. He was a one-eyed pointer with feet like a duck's, and his name was Snarleyow. He looked the most foolish and most innocent dog in the world, and was so timid that if you stumbled as you passed him he would instantly start howling and run for the horizon. The first bad experience I had of Snarley was on one of the little hunting trips which we sometimes made in those days, away from the waggons. We travelled light on those occasions, and, except for some tea and a very little flour and salt, took no food; we lived on what we shot and of course kept `hunter's pot.' `Hunter's pot' is a perpetual stew; you make one stew, and keep it going as long as necessary, maintaining a full pot by adding to it as fast as you take any out; scraps of everything go in; any kind of meat--buck, bird, pig, hare--and if you have such luxuries as onions or potatoes, so much the better; then, to make the soup strong, the big bones are added--the old ones being fished out every day and replaced by a fresh lot. When allowed to cool it sets like brawn, and a hungry hunter wants nothing better. We had had a good feed the first night of this trip and had then filled the pot up leaving it to simmer as long as the fire lasted, expecting to have cold pie set in jelly--but without the pie-crust--for early breakfast next morning before going off for the day; but, to our amazement, in the morning the pot was empty. There were some strange kaffirs--camp followers--hanging on to our trail for what they could pick up, and we suspected them. There was a great row, but the boys denied having touched the pot, and we could prove nothing. That night we made the fire close to our sleeping-place and moved the kaffirs further away, but next morning the pot was again empty--cleaned and polished as if it had been washed out. While we, speechless with astonishment and anger, were wondering who the thief was and what we should do with him, one of the hunting boys came up and pointed to the prints of a dog's feet in the soft white ashes of the dead fire. There was only one word: "Snarleyow." The thief was lying fast asleep comfortably curled up on his master's clothes. There could be no mistake about those big splayed footprints, and in about two minutes Snarleyow was getting a first-class hammering, with his head tied inside the three-legged pot for a lesson. After that he was kept tied up at night; but Snarleyow was past curing. We had practically nothing to eat but what we shot, and nothing to drink but bush tea--that is, tea made from a certain wild shrub with a very strong scent; it is not nice, but you drink it when you cannot get anything else. We could not afford luxuries then, but two days before Ted's birthday he sent a runner off to Komati Drift and bought a small tin of ground coffee and a tin of condensed milk for his birthday treat. It was to be a real feast that day, so he cut the top off the tin instead of punching two holes and blowing the milk out, as we usually did in order to economise and keep out the dust and insects. What we could not use in the coffee that day we were going to spread on our `dough-boys' instead of butter and jam. It was to be a real feast! The five of us sat down in a circle and began on our hunter's pot, saving the good things for the last. While we were still busy on the stew, there came a pathetic heartbreaking yowl from Snarleyow, and we looked round just in time to see him, his tail tucked between his legs and his head high in the air, bolting off into the bush as hard as he could lay legs to the ground, with the milk tin stuck firmly on to his nose. The greedy thief in trying to get the last scrap out had dug his nose and top jaw too far in, and the jagged edges of the tin had gripped him; and the last we saw of our birthday treat was the tin flashing in the sunlight on Snarley's nose as he tore away howling into the bush. Snarleyow came to a bad end: his master shot him as he was running off with a ham. He was a full-grown dog when he came to our camp, and too old to learn principles and good manners. Dogs are like people: what they learn when they are young, whether of good or of evil, is not readily forgotten. I began early with Jock, and--remembering what Rocky had said--tried to help him. It is little use punishing a dog for stealing if you take no trouble about feeding him. That is very rough on the dog; he has to find out slowly and by himself what he may take, and what he may not. Sometimes he leaves what he was meant to take, and goes hungry; and sometimes takes what was not intended for him, and gets a thrashing. That is not fair. You cannot expect to have a good dog, and one that will understand you, if you treat him in that way. Some men teach their dogs not to take food from any one but themselves. One day when we were talking about training dogs, Ted told one of the others to open Jess's mouth and put a piece of meat in it, he undertaking not to say a word and not even to look at her. The meat was put in her mouth and her jaws were shut tight on it; but the instant she was free she dropped it, walked round to the other side of Ted and sat close up to him. He waited for a minute or so and, without so much as a glance at her, said quietly "All right." She was back again in a second and with one hungry bite bolted the lump of meat. I taught Jock not to touch food in camp until he was told to `take it.' The lesson began when he got his saucer of porridge in the morning; and he must have thought it cruel to have that put in front of him, and then to be held back or tapped with a finger on the nose each time he tried to dive into it. At first he struggled and fought to get at it; then he tried to back away and dodge round the other side; then he became dazed, and, thinking it was not for him at all, wanted to walk off and have nothing more to do with it. In a few days, however, I got him to lie still and take it only when I patted him and pushed him towards it; and in a very little time he got on so well that I could put his food down without saying anything and let him wait for permission. He would lie down with his head on his paws and his nose right up against the saucer, so as to lose no time when the order came; but he would not touch it until he heard `Take it.' He never moved his head, but his little browny dark eyes, full of childlike eagerness, used to be turned up sideways and fixed on mine. I believe he watched my lips; he was so quick to obey the order when it came. When he grew up and had learned his lessons there was no need for these exercises. He got to understand me so well that if I nodded or moved my hand in a way that meant `all right,' he would go ahead: by that time too he was dignified and patient; and it was only in his puppyhood that he used to crouch up close to his food and tremble with impatience and excitement. There was one lesson that he hated most of all. I used to balance a piece of meat on his nose and make him keep it there until the word to take it came. Time after time he would close his eyes as if the sight of the meat was more than he could bear, and his mouth would water so from the savoury smell that long streels of dribble would hang down on either side. It seems unnecessary and even cruel to tantalise a dog in that way; but it was not: it was education; and it was true kindness. It taught him to understand his master, and to be obedient, patient, and observant; it taught him not to steal; it saved him from much sickness, and perhaps death, by teaching him not to feed on anything he could find; it taught him manners and made it possible for him to live with his master and be treated like a friend. Good feeding, good care, and plenty of exercise soon began to make a great change in Jock. He ceased to look like a beetle--grew bigger everywhere, not only in one part as he had done at first; his neck grew thick and strong, and his legs straightened up and filled out with muscle. The others, seeing him every day, were slow to notice these things, but my sand had been changed into gold long ago, and they always said I could not see anything wrong in Jock. There was one other change which came more slowly and seemed to me much more wonderful. After his morning feed, if there was nothing to do, he used to go to sleep in some shady place, and I remember well one day watching him as he lay. His bit of shade had moved away and left him in the bright sunshine; and as he breathed and his ribs rose and fell, the tips of the hairs on his side and back caught the sunlight and shone like polished gold, and the wavy dark lines seemed more distinct and darker, but still very soft. In fact, I was astonished to see that in a certain light Jock looked quite handsome. That was the first time I noticed the change in colour; and it made me remember two things. The first was what the other fellows had said the day Billy gave up his pup, "You can't tell how a puppy will turn out: even his colour changes;" and the second was a remark made by an old hunter who had offered to buy Jock--the real meaning of which I did not understand at the time. "The best dog I ever owned was a golden brindle," said the old man thoughtfully, after I had laughed at the idea of selling my dog. I had got so used to thinking that he was only a faded wishy-washy edition of Jess that the idea of his colour changing did not occur to me then, and I never suspected that the old man could see how he would turn out; but the touch of sunlight opened my eyes that day, and after that whenever I looked at Jock the words "golden brindle" came back to my mind, and I pictured him as he was going to be--and as he really did grow up--having a coat like burnished gold with soft, dark, wavy brindles in it and that snow-white V on his chest. Jock had many things to learn besides the lessons he got from me--the lessons of experience which nobody could teach him. When he was six months old--just old enough, if he had lived in a town, to chase a cat and make a noise--he knew many things that respectable puppies of twice his age who stay at home never get a chance of learning. On trek there were always new places to see, new roads to travel, and new things to examine, tackle or avoid. He learnt something fresh almost every day: he learnt, for instance, that, although it was shady and cool under the waggon, it was not good enough to lie in the wheel track, not even for the pleasure of feeling the cool iron tyre against your back or head as you slept; and he knew that, because one day he had done it and the wheel had gone over his foot; and it might just as easily have been his back or head. Fortunately the sand was soft and his foot was not crushed; but he was very lame for some days, and had to travel on the waggon. He learned a good deal from Jess: among other things, that it was not necessary to poke his nose up against a snake in order to find out what it was. He knew that Jess would fight anything; and when one day he saw her back hair go up and watched her sheer off the footpath wide into the grass, he did the same; and then when we had shot the snake, both he and Jess came up very very cautiously and sniffed at it, with every hair on their bodies standing up. He found out for himself that it was not a good idea to turn a scorpion over with his paw. The vicious little tail with a thorn in it whipped over the scorpion's back, and Jock had such a foot that he must have thought a scorpion worse than two waggons. He was a very sick dog for some days; but after that, whenever he saw a thing that he did not understand, he would watch it very carefully from a little way off and notice what it did and what it looked like, before trying experiments. So, little by little, Jock got to understand plenty of things that no town dog would ever know, and he got to know--just as some people do--by what we call instinct, whether a thing was dangerous or safe, even though he had never seen anything like it before. That is how he knew that wolves or lions were about--and that they were dangerous--when he heard or scented them; although he had never seen, scented or heard one before to know what sort of animal it might be. You may well wonder how he could tell whether the scent or the cry belonged to a wolf which he must avoid, or to a buck which he might hunt, when he had never seen either a wolf or a buck at the time; but he did know; and he also knew that no dog could safely go outside the ring of the camp fires when wolf or lion was about. I have known many town-bred dogs that could scent them just as well as Jess or Jock could, but having no instinct of danger they went out to see what it was, and of course they never came back. I used to take Jock with me everywhere so that he could learn everything that a hunting dog ought to know, and above all things to learn that he was my dog, and to understand all that I wanted to tell him. So while he was still a puppy, whenever he stopped to sniff at something new or to look at something strange, I would show him what it was; but if he stayed behind to explore while I moved on, or if he fell asleep and did not hear me get up from where I had sat down to rest, or went off the track on his own account, I used to hide away from him on top of a rock or up a tree and let him hunt about until he found me. At first he used to be quite excited when he missed me, but after a little time he got to know what to do and would sniff along the ground and canter away after me--always finding me quite easily. Even if I climbed a tree to hide from him he would follow my track to the foot of the tree, sniff up the trunk as far as he could reach standing up against it, and then peer up into the branches. If he could not see me from one place, he would try another--always with his head tilted a bit on one side. He never barked at these times; but as soon as he saw me, his ears would drop, his mouth open wide with the red tongue lolling out, and the stump of a tail would twiggle away to show how pleased he was. Sometimes he would give a few little whimpery grunts: he hardly ever barked; when he did I knew there was something worth looking at. Jock was not a quarrelsome dog, and he was quick to learn and very obedient, but in one connection I had great difficulty with him for quite a little time. He had a sort of private war with the fowls; and it was due to the same cause as his war with the other puppies: they interfered with him. Now, every one knows what a fowl is like: it is impudent, inquisitive, selfish, always looking for something to eat, and has no principles. A friend of mine once told me a story about a dog of his and the trouble he had with fowls. Several of us had been discussing the characters of dogs, and the different emotions they feel and manage to express, and the kind of things they seem to think about. Every one knows that a dog can feel angry, frightened, pleased, and disappointed. Any one who knows dogs will tell you that they can also feel anxious, hopeful, nervous, inquisitive, surprised, ashamed, interested, sad, loving, jealous, and contented--just like human beings. We had told many stories illustrating this, when my friend asked the question: "Have dogs a sense of humour?" Now I know that Jock looked very foolish the day he fought the table-leg--and a silly old hen made him look just as foolish another day--but that is not quite what my friend meant. On both occasions Jock clearly felt that he had made himself look ridiculous; but he was very far from looking amused. The question was: Is a dog capable of sufficient thinking to appreciate a simple joke, and is it possible for a dog to feel amused. If Jess had seen Jock bursting to fight the table-leg would she have seen the joke? Well, I certainly did not think so; but he said he was quite certain some dogs have a sense of humour; and he had had proof of it. He told the story very gravely, but I really do not even now know whether he--Well, here it is: He had once owned a savage old watch-dog, whose box stood in the back-yard where he was kept chained up all day; he used to be fed once a day--in the mornings--and the great plague of his life was the fowls. They ran loose in the yard and picked up food all day, besides getting a really good feed of grain morning and evening; possibly the knowledge of this made the old dog particularly angry when they would come round by ones or twos or dozens trying to steal part of his one meal. Anyhow, he hated them, and whenever he got a chance killed them. The old fowls learned to keep out of his way and never ventured within his reach unless they were quite sure that he was asleep or lying in his kennel where he could not see them; but there were always new fowls coming, or young ones growing up; and so the war went on. One Sunday morning my friend was enjoying a smoke on his back stoep when feeding time came round. The cook took the old dog's food to him in a high three-legged pot, and my friend, seeing the fowls begin to gather round and wishing to let the old dog have his meal in peace, told the cook to give the fowls a good feed in another part of the yard to draw them off. So the old fellow polished off his food and licked the pot clean, leaving not a drop or a speck behind. But fowls are very greedy; they were soon back again wandering about, with their active-looking eyes searching everything. The old dog, feeling pretty satisfied with life, picked out a sandy spot in the sunshine, threw himself down full stretch on his side, and promptly went to sleep--at peace with all the world. Immediately he did this, out stepped a long-legged athletic-looking young cockerel and began to advance against the enemy. As he got nearer he slowed down, and looked first with one eye and then with the other so as to make sure that all was safe, and several times he paused with one foot poised high before deciding to take the next step. My friend was greatly amused to see all the trouble that the fowl was taking to get up to the empty pot, and, for the fun of giving the conceited young cockerel a fright, threw a pebble at him. He was so nervous that when the pebble dropped near him, he gave one great bound and tore off flapping and screaming down the yard as if he thought the old dog was after him. The old fellow himself was startled out of his sleep, and raised his head to see what the row was about; but, as nothing more happened, he lay down again, and the cockerel, finding also that it was a false alarm, turned back not a bit ashamed for another try. The cockerel had not seen the old dog lift his head; my friend had, and when he looked again he saw that, although the underneath eye--half buried in the sand--was shut, the top eye was open and was steadily watching the cockerel as he came nearer and nearer to the pot. My friend sat dead still, expecting a rush and another fluttering scramble. At last the cockerel took the final step, craned his neck to its utmost and peered down into the empty pot. The old dog gave two gentle pats with his tail in the sand, and closing his eye went to sleep again. Jock had the same sort of trouble. The fowls tried to steal his food; and he would not stand it. His way of dealing with them was not good for their health: before I could teach him not to kill, and before the fowls would learn not to steal, he had finished half a dozen of them one after another with just one bite and a shake. He would growl very low as they came up and, without lifting his head from the plate, watch them with his little eyes turning from soft brown to shiny black; and when they came too near and tried to snatch just one mouthful--well, one jump, one shake, and it was all over. In the end he learned to tumble them over and scare their wits out without hurting them; and they learned to give him a very wide berth. I used always to keep some fowls with the waggons, partly to have fresh meat if we ran out of game, but mainly to have fresh eggs, which were a very great treat; and as a rule it was only when a hen turned obstinate and would not lay that we ate her. I used to have one old rooster, whose name was Pezulu, and six or eight hens. The hens changed from time to time--as we ate them--but Pezulu remained. The fowl-coop was carried on top of everything else, and it was always left open so that the fowls could go in and out as they liked. In the very beginning of all, of course, the fowls were shut in and fed in the coop for a day or two to teach them where their home was; but it is surprising how quickly a fowl will learn and how it observes things. For instance, the moving of the coop from one waggon to another is not a thing one would expect the fowls to notice, all the waggons being so much alike and having no regular order at the outspans; but they did notice it, and at once. They would first get on to the waggon on which the coop had been, and look about in a puzzled lost kind of way; then walk all over the load apparently searching for it, with heads cocked this way and that, as if a great big coop was a thing that might have been mislaid somewhere; then one after another would jerk out short cackles of protest, indignation and astonishment, and generally make no end of a fuss. It was only when old Pezulu led the way and perched on the coop itself and crowed and called to them that they would get up on to the other waggon. Pezulu got his name by accident--in fact, by a misunderstanding. It is a Zulu word meaning `up' or `on top,' and when the fowls first joined the waggons and were allowed to wander about at the outspan places, the boys would drive them up when it was time to trek again by cracking their big whips and shouting "Pezulu." In a few days no driving or whip-cracking was necessary; one of the boys would shout "Pezulu" three or four times, and they would all come in and one by one fly and scramble up to the coop. One day, after we had got a new lot of hens, a stranger happened to witness the performance. Old Pezulu was the only one who knew what was meant, and being a terribly fussy nervous old gentleman, came tearing out of the bush making a lot of noise, and scrambled hastily on to the waggon. The stranger, hearing the boys call "Pezulu" and seeing him hurry up so promptly, remarked: "How well he knows his name!" So we called him Pezulu after that. Whenever we got new fowls Pezulu became as distracted as a nervous man with a large family trying to find seats in an excursion train. As soon as he saw the oxen being brought up, and before any one had called for the fowls, he would begin fussing and fuming--trying all sorts of dodges to get the hens up to the waggons. He would crow and cluck-cluck or kip-kip; he would go a few yards towards the waggons and scratch in the ground, pretending to have found something good, and invite them to come and share it; he would get on the disselboom and crow and flap his wings loudly; and finally he would mount on top of the coop and make all sorts of signals to the hens, who took not the least notice of him. As the inspanning went on he would get more and more excited; down he would come again--not flying off, but hopping from ledge to ledge to show them the easy way; and once more on the ground he would scrape and pick and cluck to attract them, and the whole game would be played over again and again. So even with new fowls we had very little trouble, as old Pezulu did most of the teaching. But sometimes Pezulu himself was caught napping--to the high delight of the boys. He was so nervous and so fussy that they thought it great fun to play tricks on him and pretend to go off and leave him behind. It was not easy to do this because, as I say, he did not wait to be called, but got ready the minute he saw the oxen coming up. He was like those fussy people who drive every one else crazy and waste a lot of time by always being half an hour early, and then annoy you by boasting that they have never missed a train in their lives. But there was one way in which Pezulu used to get caught. Just as he knew that inspanning meant starting, so, too, he knew that outspanning meant stopping; and whenever the waggons stopped--even for a few minutes--out would pop his head, just like the fussy red-faced father of the big family looking out to see if it was their station or an accident on the line. Right and left he would look, giving excited inquisitive clucks from time to time, and if they did not start in another minute or two, he would get right out and walk anxiously to the edge of the load and have another good look around--as the nervous old gentleman gets half out, and then right out, to look for the guard, but will not let go the handle of the door for fear of being left. Unless he saw the boys outspanning he would not get off, and if one of the hens ventured out he would rush back at her in a great state and try to bustle her back into the coop. But often it happens while trekking that something goes wrong with the gear--a yokeskey or a nek-strop breaks, or an ox will not pull kindly or pulls too hard where he is, and you want to change his place; and in that way it comes about that sometimes you have to outspan one or two or even more oxen in the middle of a trek. That is how Pezulu used to get caught: the minute he saw outspanning begin, he would nip off with all the hens following him and wander about looking for food, chasing locusts or grasshoppers, and making darts at beetles and all sorts of dainties--very much interested in his job and wandering further from the waggons at every step. The boys would watch him, and as soon as they were fixed up again, would start off without a word of warning to Pezulu. Then there was a scene. At the first sound of the waggon-wheels moving he would look up from where he was or walk briskly into the open or get on to an ant-heap to see what was up, and when to his horror he saw the waggon actually going without him, he simply screamed open-mouthed and tore along with wings outstretched--the old gentleman shouting "Stop the train, stop the train," with his family straggling along behind him. It never took him long to catch up and scramble on, but even then he was not a bit less excited: he was perfectly hysterical, and his big red comb seemed to get quite purple as if he might be going to have apoplexy, and he twitched and jerked about so that it flapped first over one eye and then over the other. This was the boys' practical joke which they played on him whenever they could. That was old Pezulu--Pezulu the First. He was thick in the body, all chest and tail, short in the legs, and had enormous spurs; and his big comb made him; look so red in the face that one could not help thinking he was too fond of his dinner. In some old Christmas number we came across a coloured caricature of a militia colonel in full uniform, and for quite a long time it remained tacked on to the coop with "Pezulu" written on it. Pezulu the Great--who was Pezulu the Second--was not like that: he was a game cock, all muscle and no frills, with a very resolute manner and a real love of his profession; he was a bit like Jock in some things; and that is why I fancy perhaps Jock and he were friends in a kind of way. But Jock could not get on with the others: they were constantly changing; new ones who had to be taught manners were always coming; so he just lumped them together, and hated fowls. He taught them manners, but they taught him something too--at any rate, one of them did; and one of the biggest surprises and best lessons Jock ever had was given him by a hen while he was still a growing-up puppy. He was beginning to fancy that he knew a good deal, and like most young dogs was very inquisitive and wanted to know everything and at once. At that time he was very keen on hunting mice, rats and bush squirrels, and had even fought and killed a meerkat after the plucky little rikkitikki had bitten him rather badly through the lip; and he was still much inclined to poke his nose in or rush on to things instead of sniffing round about first. However, he learned to be careful, and an old hen helped to teach him. The hens usually laid their eggs in the coop because it was their home, but sometimes they would make nests in the bush at the outspan places. One of the hens had done this, and the bush she had chosen was very low and dense. No one saw the hen make the nest and no one saw her sitting on it, for the sunshine was so bright everywhere else, and the shade of the bush so dark that it was impossible to see anything there; but while we were at breakfast Jock, who was bustling about everywhere as a puppy will, must have scented the hen or have seen this brown thing in the dark shady hole. The hen was sitting with her head sunk right down into her chest, so that he could not see any head, eyes or beak--just a sort of brown lump. Suddenly we saw Jock stand stock-still, cock up one ear, put his head down and his nose out, hump up his shoulders a bit and begin to walk very slowly forward in a crouching attitude. He lifted his feet so slowly and so softly that you could count five between each step. We were all greatly amused and thought he was pointing a mouse or a locust, and we watched him. He crept up like a boy showing off until he was only six inches from the object, giving occasional cautious glances back at us to attract attention. Just as he got to the hole the hen let out a vicious peck on the top of his nose and at the same time flapped over his head, screaming and cackling for dear life. It was all so sudden and so surprising that she was gone before he could think of making a grab at her; and when he heard our shouts of laughter he looked as foolish as if he understood all about it. CHAPTER SIX. THE FIRST HUNT. Jock's first experience in hunting was on the Crocodile River not far from the spot where afterwards we had the great fight with The Old Crocodile. In the summer when the heavy rains flood the country the river runs `bank high,' hiding everything--reeds, rocks, islands, and stunted trees--in some places silent and oily like a huge gorged snake, in others foaming and turbulent as an angry monster. In the rainless winter when the water is low and clear the scene is not so grand, but is quiet, peaceful, and much more beautiful. There is an infinite variety in it then--the river sometimes winding along in one deep channel, but more often forking out into two or three streams in the broad bed. The loops and lacings of the divided water carve out islands and spaces of all shapes and sizes, banks of clean white sand or of firm damp mud swirled up by the floods, on which tall green reeds with yellow tasselled tops shoot up like crops of Kaffir corn. Looked down upon from the flood banks the silver streaks of water gleam brightly in the sun, and the graceful reeds, bowing and swaying slowly with the gentlest breeze and alternately showing their leaf-sheathed stems and crested tops, give the appearance of an ever-changing sea of green and gold. Here and there a big rock, black and polished, stands boldly out, and the sea of reeds laps round it like the waters of a lake on a bright still day. When there is no breeze the rustle of the reeds is hushed, and the only constant sound is the ever-varying voice of the water, lapping, gurgling, chattering, murmuring, as it works its way along the rocky channels; sometimes near and loud, sometimes faint and distant; and sometimes, over long sandy reaches, there is no sound at all. Get up on some vantage point upon the high bank and look down there one day in the winter of the tropics as the heat and hush of noon approach, and it will seem indeed a scene of peace and beauty--a place to rest and dream, where there is neither stir nor sound. Then, as you sit silently watching and thinking, where all the world is so infinitely still, you will notice that one reed down among all those countless thousands is moving. It bows slowly and gracefully a certain distance, and then with a quivering shuddering motion straightens itself still more slowly and with evident difficulty, until at last it stands upright again like the rest but still all a-quiver while they do not move a leaf. Just as you are beginning to wonder what the reason is, the reed bows slowly again, and again struggles back; and so it goes on as regularly as the swing of a pendulum. Then you know that, down at the roots where you cannot see it, the water is flowing silently, and that something attached to this reed is dragging in the stream and pulling it over, and swinging back to do it again each time the reed lifts it free--a perpetual seesaw. You are glad to find the reason, because it looked a little uncanny; but the behaviour of that one reed has stopped your dreaming and made you look about more carefully. Then you find that, although the reeds appear as still as the rocks, there is hardly a spot where, if you watch for a few minutes, you will not see something moving. A tiny field-mouse climbing one reed will sway it over; a river rat gnawing at the roots will make it shiver and rustle; little birds hopping from one to another will puzzle you; and a lagavaan turning in his sunbath will make half a dozen sway outwards. All feeling that it is a home of peace, a place to rest and dream, leaves you; you are wondering what goes on down below the green and gold where you can see nothing; and when your eye catches a bigger, slower, continuous movement in another place, and for twenty yards from the bank to the stream you see the tops of the reeds silently and gently parting and closing again as something down below works its way along without the faintest sound, the place seems too quiet, too uncanny and mysterious, too silent, stealthy and treacherous for you to sit still in comfort: you must get up and do something. There is always good shooting along the rivers in a country where water is scarce. Partridges, bush-pheasants and stembuck were plentiful along the banks and among the thorns, but the reeds themselves were the home of thousands of guinea-fowl, and you could also count on duiker and rietbuck as almost a certainty there. If this were all, it would be like shooting in a well-stocked cover, but it is not only man that is on the watch for game at the drinking-places. The beasts of prey--lions, tigers, hyenas, wild dogs and jackals, and lastly pythons and crocodiles--know that the game must come to water, and they lie in wait near the tracks or the drinking-places. That is what makes the mystery and charm of the reeds; you never know what you will put up. The lions and tigers had deserted the country near the main drifts and followed the big game into more peaceful parts; but the reeds were still the favourite shelter and resting-place of the crocodiles; and there were any number of them left. There is nothing that one comes across in hunting more horrible and loathsome than the crocodile: nothing that rouses the feeling of horror and hatred as it does: nothing that so surely and quickly gives the sensation of `creeps in the back' as the noiseless apparition of one in the water just where you least expected anything, or the discovery of one silently and intently watching you with its head resting flat on a sand spit--the thing you had seen half a dozen times before and mistaken for a small rock. Many things are hunted in the Bushveld; but only the crocodile is hated. There is always the feeling of horror that this hideous, cowardly, cruel thing--the enemy of man and beast alike--with its look of a cunning smile in the greeny glassy eyes and great wide mouth, will mercilessly drag you down--down--down to the bottom of some deep still pool, and hold you there till you drown. Utterly helpless yourself to escape or fight, you cannot even call, and if you could, no one could help you there. It is all done in silence: a few bubbles come up where a man went down; and that is the end of it. We all knew about the crocodiles and were prepared for them, but the sport was good, and when you are fresh at the game and get interested in a hunt it is not very easy to remember all the things you have been warned about and the precautions you were told to take. It was on the first day at the river that one of our party, who was not a very old hand at hunting, came in wet and muddy and told us how a crocodile had scared the wits out of him. He had gone out after guinea-fowl, he said, but as he had no dog to send in and flush them, the birds simply played with him: they would not rise but kept running in the reeds a little way in front of him, just out of sight. He could hear them quite distinctly, and thinking to steal a march on them took off his boots and got on to the rocks. Stepping bare-footed from rock to rock where the reeds were thin, he made no noise at all and got so close up that he could hear the little whispered chink-chink-chink that they give when near danger. The only chance of getting a shot at them was to mount one of the big rocks from which he could see down into the reeds; and he worked his way along a mud-bank towards one. A couple more steps from the mud-bank on to a low black rock would take him to the big one. Without taking his eyes off the reeds where the guinea-fowl were he stepped cautiously on to the low black rock, and in an instant was swept off his feet, tossed and tumbled over and over, into the mud and reeds, and there was a noise of furious rushing and crashing as if a troop of elephants were stampeding through the reeds. He had stepped on the back of a sleeping crocodile; no doubt it was every bit as frightened as he was. There was much laughter over this and the breathless earnestness with which he told the story; but there was also a good deal of chaff, for it seems to be generally accepted that you are not bound to believe all hunting stories; and Jim and his circus crocodile became the joke of the camp. We were spending a couple of days on the river bank to make the most of the good water and grazing, and all through the day some one or other would be out pottering about among the reeds, gun in hand, to keep the pot full and have some fun, and although we laughed and chaffed about Jim's experience, I fancy we were all very much on the look-out for rocks that looked like crocs and crocs that looked like rocks. One of the most difficult lessons that a beginner has to learn is to keep cool. The keener you are the more likely you are to get excited and the more bitterly you feel the disappointments; and once you lose your head, there is no mistake too stupid for you to make, and the result is another good chance spoilt. The great silent bush is so lonely; the strain of being on the look-out all the time is so great; the uncertainty as to what may start up--anything from a partridge to a lion--is so trying that the beginner is wound up like an alarum clock and goes off at the first touch. He is not fit to hit a haystack at twenty yards; will fire without looking or aiming at all; jerk the rifle as he fires; forget to change the sight after the last shot; forget to cock his gun or move the safety catch; forget to load; forget to fire at all: nothing is impossible--nothing too silly. On a later trip we had with us a man who was out for the first time, and when we came upon a troop of koodoo he started yelling, war-whooping and swearing at them, chasing them on foot and waving his rifle over his head. When we asked him why he, who was nearest to them, had not fired a shot, all he could say was that he never remembered his rifle or anything else until they were gone. These experiences had been mine, some of them many times, in spite of Rocky's example and advice; and they were always followed by a fresh stock of good resolutions. I had started out this day with the same old determination to keep cool, but, once into the reeds, Jim's account of how he had stepped on the crocodile put all other thoughts out of my mind, and most of my attention was given to examining suspicious-looking rocks as we stole silently and quietly along. Jock was with me, as usual; I always took him out even then--not for hunting, because he was too young, but in order to train him. He was still only a puppy, about six months old, as well as I remember, and had never tackled or even followed a wounded buck, so that it was impossible to say what he would do; he had seen me shoot a couple and had wanted to worry them as they fell; but that was all. He was quite obedient and kept his place behind me; and, although he trembled with excitement when he saw or heard anything, he never rushed in or moved ahead of me without permission. The guinea-fowl tormented him that day; he could scent and hear them, and was constantly making little runs forward, half crouching and with his nose back and tail dead level and his one ear full-cocked and the other half-up. For about half an hour we went on in this way. There was plenty of fresh duiker spoor to show us that we were in a likely place, one spoor in particular being so fresh in the mud that it seemed only a few minutes old. We were following this one very eagerly but very cautiously, and evidently Jock agreed with me that the duiker must be near, for he took no more notice of the guinea-fowl; and I for my part forgot all about crocodiles and suspicious-looking rocks; there was at that moment only one thing in the world for me, and that was the duiker. We crept along noiselessly in and out of the reeds, round rocks and mudholes, across small stretches of firm mud or soft sand, so silently that nothing could have heard us, and finally we came to a very big rock, with the duiker spoor fresher than ever going close round it down stream. The rock was a long sloping one, polished smooth by the floods and very slippery to walk on. I climbed it in dead silence, peering down into the reeds and expecting every moment to see the duiker. The slope up which we crept was long and easy, but that on the down-stream side was much steeper. I crawled up to the top on hands and knees, and raising myself slowly, looked carefully about, but no duiker could be seen; yet Jock was sniffing and trembling more than ever, and it was quite clear that he thought we were very close up. Seeing nothing in front or on either side, I stood right up and turned to look back the way we had come and examine the reeds on that side. In doing so a few grains of grit crunched under my foot, and instantly there was a rush in the reeds behind me; I jumped round to face it, believing that the crocodile was grabbing at me from behind, and on the polished surface of the rock my feet slipped and shot from under me, both bare elbows bumped hard on the rock, jerking the rifle out of my hands; and I was launched like a torpedo right into the mass of swaying reeds. When you think you are tumbling on to a crocodile there is only one thing you want to do--get out as soon as possible. How long it took to reach the top of the rock again, goodness only knows! It seemed like a life-time; but the fact is I was out of those reeds and up that rock in time to see the duiker as it broke out of the reeds, raced up the bank, and disappeared into the bush with Jock tearing after it as hard as ever he could go. One call stopped him, and he came back to me looking very crestfallen and guilty, no doubt thinking that he had behaved badly and disgraced himself. But he was not to blame at all; he had known all along that the duiker was there--having had no distracting fancies about crocodiles--and when he saw it dash off and his master instantly jump in after it, he must have thought that the hunt had at last begun and that he was expected to help. After all that row and excitement there was not much use in trying for anything more in the reeds--and indeed I had had quite enough of them for one afternoon; so we wandered along the upper banks in the hope of finding something where there were no crocodiles, and it was not long before we were interested in something else and able to forget all about the duiker. Before we had been walking many minutes, Jock raised his head and ears and then lowered himself into a half crouching attitude and made a little run forward. I looked promptly in the direction he was pointing and about two hundred yards away saw a stembuck standing in the shade of a mimosa bush feeding briskly on the buffalo grass. It was so small and in such bad light that the shot was too difficult for me at that distance, and I crawled along behind bushes, ant-heaps and trees until we were close enough for anything. The ground was soft and sandy, and we could get along easily enough without making any noise; but all the time, whilst thinking how lucky it was to be on ground so soft for the hands and knees, and so easy to move on without being heard, something else was happening. With eyes fixed on the buck I did not notice that in crawling along on all-fours, the muzzle of the rifle dipped regularly into the sand, picking up a little in the barrel each time. There was not enough to burst the rifle, but the effect was surprising. Following on a painfully careful aim, there was a deafening report that made my head reel and buzz; the kick of the rifle on the shoulder and cheek left me blue for days; and when my eyes were clear enough to see anything the stembuck had disappeared. I was too disgusted to move, and sat in the sand rubbing my shoulder and thanking my stars that the rifle had not burst. There was plenty to think about, to be sure, and no hurry to do anything else, for the noise of the shot must have startled every living thing for a mile round. It is not always easy to tell the direction from which a report comes when you are near a river or in broken country or patchy bush; and it is not an uncommon thing to find that a shot which has frightened one animal away from you has startled another and driven it towards you; and that is what happened in this case. As I sat in the shade of the thorns with the loaded rifle across my knees there was the faint sound of a buck cantering along in the sand; I looked up; and only about twenty yards from me a duiker came to a stop, half fronting me. There it stood looking back over its shoulder and listening intently, evidently thinking that the danger lay behind it. It was hardly possible to miss that; and as the duiker rolled over, I dropped my rifle and ran to make sure of it. Of course, it was dead against the rules to leave the rifle behind; but it was simply a case of excitement again: when the buck rolled over everything else was forgotten! I knew the rule perfectly well--Reload at once and never part with your gun. It was one of Rocky's lessons, and only a few weeks before this, when out for an afternoon's shooting with an old hunter, the lesson had been repeated. The old man shot a rietbuck ram, and as it had been facing us and dropped without a kick we both thought that it was shot through the brain. There was no mark on the head, however, and although we examined it carefully, we failed to find the bullet-mark or a trace of blood; so we put our rifles down to settle the question by skinning the buck. After sawing at the neck for half a minute, however, the old man found his knife too blunt to make an opening, and we both hunted about for a stone to sharpen it on, and while we were fossicking about in the grass there was a noise behind, and looking sharply round we saw the buck scramble to its feet and scamper off before we had time to move. The bullet must have touched one of its horns and stunned it. My companion was too old a hunter to get excited, and while I ran for the rifles and wanted to chase the buck on foot he stood quite still, gently rubbing the knife on the stone he had picked up. Looking at me under bushy eyebrows and smiling philosophically, he said: "That's something for you to remember, Boy. It's my belief if you lived for ever there'd always be something to learn at this game." Unfortunately I did not remember when it would have been useful. As I ran forward the duiker tumbled, struggled and rolled over and over, then got up and made a dash, only to dive head foremost into the sand and somersault over; but in a second it was up again and racing off, again to trip and plunge forward on to its chest with its nose outstretched sliding along the soft ground. The bullet had struck it in the shoulder, and the broken leg was tripping it and bringing it down; but, in far less time than it takes to tell it, the little fellow found out what was wrong, and scrambling once more to its feet was off on three legs at a pace that left me far behind. Jock, remembering the mistake in the reeds, kept his place behind, and I in the excitement of the moment neither saw nor thought of him until the duiker, gaining at every jump, looked like vanishing for ever. Then I remembered and, with a frantic wave of my hand, shouted, "After him, Jock." He was gone before my hand was down, and faster than I had ever seen him move, leaving me ploughing through the heavy sand far behind. Past the big bush I saw them again, and there the duiker did as wounded game so often do: taking advantage of cover it changed direction and turned away for some dense thorns. But that suited Jock exactly; he took the short cut across to head it off and was close up in a few more strides. He caught up to it, raced up beside it, and made a jump at its throat; but the duiker darted away in a fresh direction, leaving him yards behind. Again he was after it and tried the other side; but the buck was too quick, and again he missed and overshot the mark in his jump. He was in such deadly earnest he seemed to turn in the air to get back again and once more was close up--so close that I the flying heels of the buck seemed to pass each side of his ears; then he made his spring from behind, catching the duiker high up on one hind leg, and the two rolled over together, kicking and struggling in a cloud of dust. Time after time the duiker got on its feet, trying to get at him with its horns or to break away again; but Jock, although swung off his feet and rolled on, did not let go his grip. In grim silence he hung on while the duiker plunged, and, when it fell, tugged and worried as if to shake the life out of it. What with the hot sun, the heavy sand, and the pace at which we had gone, I was so pumped that I finished the last hundred yards at a walk, and had plenty of time to see what was going on; but even when I got up to them the struggle was so fierce and the movements so quick that for some time it was not possible to get hold of the duiker to finish it off. At last came one particularly bad fall, when the buck rolled over on its back, and then Jock let go his grip and made a dash for its throat; but again the duiker was too quick for him; with one twist it was up and round facing him on its one knee, and dug, thrust, and swept with its black spiky horns so vigorously that it was impossible to get at its neck. As Jock rushed in the head ducked and the horns flashed round so swiftly that it seemed as if nothing could save him from being stabbed through and through, but his quickness and cleverness were a revelation to me. If he could not catch the duiker, it could not catch him: they were in a way too quick for each other, and they were a long way too quick for me. Time after time I tried to get in close enough to grab one of the buck's hind legs, but it was not to be caught. While Jock was at it fast and furious in front, I tried to creep up quietly behind--but it was no use: the duiker kept facing Jock with horns down, and whenever I moved it swung round and kept me in front also. Finally I tried a run straight in; and then it made another dash for liberty. On three legs, however, it had no chance, and in another minute Jock had it again, and down they came together, rolling over and over once more. The duiker struggled hard, but he hung on, and each time it got its feet to the ground to rise he would tug sideways and roll it over again, until I got up to them, and catching the buck by the head, held it down with my knee on its neck and my Bushman's Friend in hand to finish it. There was, however, still another lesson for us both to learn that day; neither of us knew what a buck can do with its hind feet when it is down. The duiker was flat on its side; Jock, thinking the fight was over, had let go; and, before I could move the supple body doubled up, and the feet whizzed viciously at me right over its head. The little pointed cloven feet are as hard and sharp as horns and will tear the flesh like claws. By good luck the kick only grazed my arm, but although the touch was the lightest it cut the skin and little beads of blood shot up marking the line like the scratch of a thorn. Missing my arm the hoof struck full on the handle of the Bushman's Friend and sent it flying yards out of reach. And it was not merely one kick: faster than the eye could follow them the little feet whizzed and the legs seemed to buzz round like the spokes of a wheel. Holding the horns at arm's length in order to dodge the kicks, I tried to pull the duiker towards the knife; but it was too much for me, and with a sudden twist and a wrench freed itself and was off again. All the time Jock was moving round and round panting and licking his chops, stepping in and stepping back, giving anxious little whimpers, and longing to be at it again, but not daring to join in without permission. When the duiker broke away, however, he waited for nothing, and was on to it in one spring--again from behind; and this time he let go as it fell, and jumping free of it, had it by the throat before it could rise. I ran to them again, but the picking up of the knife had delayed me and I was not in time to save Jock the same lesson that the duiker had just taught me. Down on its side, with Jock's jaws locked in its throat, once more the duiker doubled up and used its feet. The first kick went over his head and scraped harmlessly along his back; but the second caught him at the point of the shoulder, and the razor-like toe ripped his side right to the hip. Then the dog showed his pluck and cleverness. His side was cut open as if it had been slashed by a knife, but he never flinched or loosened his grip for a second; he seemed to go at it more furiously than ever, but more cleverly and warily. He swung his body round clear of the whizzing feet, watching them with his little beady eyes fixed sideways and the gleaming whites showing in the corners; he tugged away incessantly and vigorously, keeping the buck's neck stretched out and pulling it round in a circle backwards so that it could not possibly double its body up enough to kick him again; and before I could catch the feet to help him, the kicks grew weaker; the buck slackened out, and Jock had won. The sun was hot, the sand was deep, and the rifle was hard to find; it was a long way back to the waggons, and the duiker made a heavy load; but the end of that first chase seemed so good that nothing else mattered. The only thing I did mind was the open cut on Jock's side; but he minded nothing: his tail was going like a telegraph needle; he was panting with his mouth open from ear to ear, and his red tongue hanging out and making great slapping licks at his chops from time to time; he was not still for a second, but kept walking in and stepping back in a circle round the duiker, and looking up at me and then down at it, as if he was not at all sure that there might not be some fresh game on, and was consulting me as to whether it would not be a good thing to have another go in and make it all safe. He was just as happy as a dog could be, and perhaps he was proud of the wound that left a straight line from his shoulder to his hip and showed up like a cord under the golden brindle as long as he lived--a memento of his first real hunt. CHAPTER SEVEN. IN THE HEART OF THE BUSH. When the hen pecked Jock on the nose, she gave him a useful lesson in the art of finding out what you want to know without getting into trouble. As he got older, he also learned that there are only certain things which concerned him and which it was necessary for him to know. A young dog begins by thinking that he can do everything, go everywhere, and know everything; and a hunting dog has to learn to mind his own business, as well as to understand it. Some dogs turn sulky or timid or stupid when they are checked, but an intelligent dog with a stout heart will learn little by little to leave other things alone, and grow steadily keener on his own work. There was no mistake about Jock's keenness. When I took down the rifle from the waggon he did not go off into ecstasies of barking, as most sporting dogs will do, but would give a quick look up and with an eager little run towards me give a whimper of joy, make two or three bounds as if wanting to stretch his muscles and loosen his joints, then shake himself vigorously as though he had just come out of the water, and with a soft suppressed "Woo-woo-woo" full of contentment, drop silently into his place at my heels and give his whole attention to his work. He was the best of companions, and through the years that we hunted together I never tired of watching him. There was always something to learn, something to admire, something to be grateful for, and very often something to laugh at--in the way in which we laugh only at those whom we are fond of. It was the struggle between Jock's intense keenness and his sense of duty that most often raised the laugh. He knew that his place was behind me; but probably he also knew that nine times out of ten he scented or saw the game long before I knew there was anything near, and naturally wanted to be in front or at least abreast of me to show me whatever there was to be seen. He noticed, just as surely and as quickly as any human being could, any change in my manner: nothing escaped him, for his eyes and ears were on the move the whole time. It was impossible for me to look for more than a few seconds in any one direction, or to stop or even to turn my head to listen, without being caught by him. His bright brown eyes were everlastingly on the watch and on the move: from me to the bush, from the bush back to me. When we were after game, and he could scent or see it, he would keep a foot or two to the side of me so as to have a clear view; and when he knew by my manner that I thought there was game near, he kept so close up that he would often bump against my heels as I walked, or run right into my legs if I stopped suddenly. Often when stalking buck very quietly and cautiously, thinking only of what was in front, I would get quite a start by feeling something bump up against me behind. At these times it was impossible to say anything without risk of scaring the game, and I got into the habit of making signs with my hand which he understood quite as well. Sometimes after having crawled up I would be in the act of aiming when he would press up against me. Nothing puts one off so much as a touch or the expectation of being jogged when in the act of firing, and I used to get angry with him then, but dared not breathe a word; I would lower my head slowly, turn round, and give him a look. He knew quite well what it meant. Down would go his ears instantly, and he would back away from me a couple of steps, drop his stump of a tail and wag it in a feeble deprecating way, and open his mouth into a sort of foolish laugh. That was his apology! "I beg your pardon: it was an accident! I won't do it again." It was quite impossible to be angry with him, he was so keen and he meant so well; and when he saw me laughing softly at him, he would come up again close to me, cock his tail a few inches higher and wag it a bit faster. There is a deal of expression in a dog's tail: it will generally tell you what his feelings are. My friend maintained that that was how he knew his old dog was enjoying the joke against the cockerel; and that is certainly how I knew what Jock was thinking about once when lost in the veld; and it showed me the way back. It is easy enough to lose oneself in the Bushveld. The Berg stands up some thousands of feet inland on the west, looking as if it had been put there to hold up the High veld; and between the foothills and the sea lies the Bushveld, stretching for hundreds of miles north and south. From the height and distance of the Berg it looks as flat as the floor, but in many parts it is very much cut up by deep rough dongas, sharp rises and depressions, and numbers of small kopjes. Still, it has a way of looking flat, because the hills are small, and very much alike; and because hill and hollow are covered and hidden mile after mile by small trees of a wonderful sameness, just near enough together to prevent you from seeing more than a few hundred yards at a time. Most people see no differences in sheep: many believe that all Chinamen are exactly alike; and so it is with the Bushveld: you have to know it first. So far I had never lost my way out hunting. The experiences of other men and the warnings from the old hands had made me very careful. We were always hearing of men being lost through leaving the road and following up the game while they were excited, without noticing which way they went and how long they had been going. There were no beaten tracks and very few landmarks, so that even experienced hunters went astray sometimes for a few hours or a day or two when the mists or heavy rains came on and nothing could be seen beyond fifty or a hundred yards. Nearly every one who goes hunting in the Bushveld gets lost some time or other--generally in the beginning before he has learned to notice things. Some have been lost for many days until they blundered on to a track by accident or were found by a search-party; others have been lost and, finding no water or food, have died; others have been killed by lions, and only a boot or a coat--or, as it happened in one case that I know of, a ring found inside a lion--told what had occurred; others have been lost and nothing more ever heard of them. There is no feeling quite like that of being lost--helplessness, terror, and despair! The horror of it is so great that every beginner has it before him; every one has heard of it, thought of it, and dreamed of it, and every one feels it holding him to the beaten track, as the fear of drowning keeps those who cannot swim to shallow water. That is just in the beginning. Presently, when little excursions, each bolder than the previous, have ended without accident, the fear grows less and confidence develops. Then it is, as a rule, that the accident comes and the lesson is learned, if you are lucky enough to pull through. When the camp is away in the trackless bush, it needs a good man always to find the way home after a couple of hours' chase with all its twists and turns and doublings; but when camp is made on a known road--a long main road that strikes a fair line between two points of the compass--it seems impossible for any one to be hopelessly lost. If the road runs east and west you, knowing on which side you left it, have only to walk north or south steadily and you must strike it again. The old hands told the beginners this, and we were glad to know that it was only a matter of walking for a few hours, more or less, and that in the end we were bound to find the road and strike some camp. "Yes," said the old hands, "it is simple enough here where you have a road running east and west; there is only one rule to remember: When you have lost your way, don't lose your head." But indeed that is just the one rule that you are quite unable to observe. Many stories have been told of men being lost: many volumes could be filled with them for the trouble of writing down what any hunter will tell you. But no one who has not seen it can realise how the thing may happen; no one would believe the effect that the terror of being lost, and the demoralisation which it causes, can have on a sane man's senses. If you want to know what a man can persuade himself to believe against the evidence of his senses--even when his very life depends upon his holding to the absolute truth--then you should see a man who is lost in the bush. He knows that he left the road on the north side; she loses his bearings; he does not know how long how fat, or how far he has walked; yet if he keep his head he will make due south and must inevitably strike the road. After going for half an hour and seeing nothing familiar, he begins to feel that he is going in the wrong direction; something pulls at him to face right about. Only a few minutes more of this, and he feels sure that he must have crossed the road without noticing it, and therefore that he ought to be going north instead of south, if he hopes ever to strike it again. How, you will ask, can a man imagine impossible to cross a big dusty road twenty or thirty feet wide without seeing it? The idea seems absurd; yet they do really believe it. One of the first illusions that occurs to men when they lose their heads is that they have done this, and it is the cause of scores of cases of `lost in the bush.' The idea that they may have done it is absurd enough; but stranger still is the fact that they actually _do_ it. If you cannot understand a man thinking he had done such a thing, what can you say of a man actually doing it? Impossible, quite impossible, you think. Ah! but it is a fact: many know it for a fact and I have witnessed it twice myself, once in Mashonaland and once on the Delagoa road. I saw men, tired, haggard and wild-eyed, staring far in front of them, never looking at the ground, pressing on, on, on, and actually cross well-worn waggon roads, coming from hard veld into a sandy wheel-worn track and kicking up a cloud of dust as they passed, and utterly blind to the fact that they were walking across the roads they had been searching for--in one case for ten hours, and in the other for three days. When we called to them they had already crossed and were disappearing again into the bush. In both cases the sound of the human voice and the relief of being `found,' made them collapse. The knees seemed to give way: they could not remain standing. The man who loses his head is really lost. He cannot think, remember, reason, or understand; and the strangest thing of all is that he often cannot even _see_ properly--he fails to see the very things that he most wants to see, even when they are as large as life before him. Crossing the road without seeing it is not the only or the most extraordinary example of this sort of thing. We were out hunting once in a mounted party, but to spare a tired horse I went on foot and took up my stand in a game run among some thorn-trees on the low spur of a hill, while the others made a big circuit to head off a troop of koodoo. Among our party there was one who was very nervous: he had been lost once for six or eight hours, and being haunted by the dread of being lost again, his nerve was all gone and he would not go fifty yards without a companion. In the excitement of shooting at and galloping after the koodoo probably this dread was forgotten for a moment: he himself could not tell how it happened that he became separated, and no one else had noticed him. The strip of wood along the hills in which I was waiting was four or five miles long but only from one to three hundred yards wide, a mere fringe enclosing the little range of kopjes; and between the stems of the trees I could see our camp and waggons in the open a quarter of a mile away. Ten or twelve shots faintly heard in the distance told me that the others were on to the koodoo, and knowing the preference of those animals for the bush I took cover behind a big stump and waited. For over half an hour, however, nothing came towards me, and believing then that the game had broken off another way, I was about to return to camp when I heard the tapping of galloping feet a long way off. In a few minutes the hard thud and occasional ring on the ground told that it was not the koodoo; and soon afterwards I saw a man on horseback. He was leaning eagerly forward and thumping the exhausted horse with his rifle and his heels to keep up its staggering gallop. I looked about quickly to see what it was he was chasing that could have slipped past me unnoticed, but there was nothing; then thinking there had been an accident and he was coming for help, I stepped out into the open and waited for him to come up. I stood quite still, and he galloped past within ten yards of me--so close that his muttered "Get on, you brute; get on, get on!" as he thumped away at his poor tired horse, were perfectly audible. "What's up, sportsman?" I asked, no louder than you would say it across a tennis-court; but the words brought him up, white-faced and terrified, and he half slid, half tumbled, off the horse gasping out, "I was lost, I was lost!" How he had managed to keep within that strip of bush, without once getting into the open where he would have seen the line of kopjes to which I had told him to stick or could have seen the waggons and the smoke of the big camp fire, he could never explain. I turned him round where he stood, and through the trees showed him the white tents of the waggons and the cattle grazing near by, but he was too dazed to understand or explain anything. There are many kinds of men. That particular kind is not the kind that will ever do for veld life: they are for other things and other work. You will laugh at them at times--when the absurdity is greatest and no harm has been done. But see it! See it--and realise the suspense, the strain, and the terror; and then even the funniest incident has another side to it. See it once; and recall that the worst of endings have had just such beginnings. See it in the most absurd and farcical circumstances ever known; and laugh--laugh your fill; laugh at the victim and laugh with him, when it is over--and safe. But in the end will come the little chilling thought that the strongest, the bravest, and the best have known something of it too; and that even to those whose courage holds to the last breath there may come a moment when the pulse beats a little faster and the judgment is at fault. Buggins who was with us in the first season was no hunter, but he was a good shot and not a bad fellow. In his case there was no tragedy; there was much laughter and--to me--a wonderful revelation. He showed us, as in a play, how you can be lost; how you can walk for ever in one little circle, as though drawn to a centre by magnetic force, and how you can miss seeing things in the bush if they do not move. We had outspanned in a flat covered with close grass about two feet high and shady flat-topped thorn trees. The waggons, four in number, were drawn up a few yards off the road, two abreast. The grass was sweet and plentiful; the day was hot and still; and as we had had a very long early morning trek there was not much inclination to move. The cattle soon filled themselves and lay down to sleep; the boys did the same; and we, when breakfast was over, got into the shade of the waggons, some to sleep and others to smoke. Buggins--that was his pet name--was a passenger returning to "England, Home, and Beauty"--that is to say, literally, to a comfortable home, admiring sisters and a rich indulgent father--after having sought his fortune unsuccessfully on the goldfields for fully four months. Buggins was good-natured, unselfish, and credulous; but he had one fault--he `yapped': he talked until our heads buzzed. He used to sleep contentedly in a rumpled tarpaulin all through the night treks and come up fresh as a daisy and full of accumulated chat at the morning outspan, just when we--unless work or sport called for us--were wanting to get some sleep. We knew well enough what to expect, so after breakfast Jimmy, who understood Buggins well, told him pleasantly that he could "sleep, shoot, or shut up." To shut up was impossible, and to sleep again-- without a rest--difficult, even for Buggins; so with a good-natured laugh he took the shot gun, saying that he "would potter around a bit and give us a treat." Well, he did! We had outspanned on the edge of an open space in the thorn bush; there are plenty of them to be found in the Bushveld--spaces a few hundred yards in diameter, like open park land, where not a single tree breaks the expanse of wavy yellow grass. The waggons with their greyish tents and buck-sails and dusty wood-work stood in the fringe of the trees where this little arena touched the road, and into it sallied Buggins, gently drawn by the benevolent purpose of giving us a treat. What he hoped to find in the open on that sweltering day he only could tell; we knew that no living thing but lizards would be out of the shade just then, but we wanted to find him employment harmless to him and us. He had been gone for more than half an hour when we heard a shot, and a few minutes later Jimmy's voice roused us. "What the dickens is Buggins doing?" he asked in a tone so puzzled and interested that we all turned to watch that sportsman. According to Jimmy, he had been walking about in an erratic way for some time on the far side of the open ground--going from the one end to the other and then back again; then disappearing for a few minutes in the bush and re-appearing to again manoeuvre in the open in loops and circles, angles and straight lines. Now he was walking about at a smart pace, looking from side to side apparently searching for something. We could see the whole of the arena as clearly as you can see a cricket-field from the railings--for our waggon formed part of the boundary--but we could see nothing to explain Buggins's manoeuvres. Next we saw him face the thorns opposite, raise his gun very deliberately, and fire into the top of the trees. "Green pigeons," said Jimmy firmly; and we all agreed that Buggins was after specimens for stuffing; but either our guess was wrong or his aim was bad, for after standing dead still for a minute he resumed his vigorous walk. By this time Buggins fairly fascinated us; even the kaffirs had roused each other and were watching him. Away he went at once off to our left, and there he repeated the performance, but, again made no attempt to pick up anything and showed no further interest in whatever it was he had fired at, but turned right about face and walked across the open ground in our direction until he was only a couple of hundred yards away. There he stopped and began to look about him and making off some few yards in another direction climbed on to a fair-sized ant-heap five or six feet high, and balancing himself cautiously on this he deliberately fired off both barrels in quick succession. Then the same idea struck us all together, and "Buggins is lost" came from several--all choking with laughter. Jimmy got up and, stepping out into the open beside the waggon, called, "Say, Buggins, what in thunder _are_ you doing?" To see Buggins slide off the ant-heap and shuffle shamefacedly back to the waggon before a gallery of four white men and a lot of kaffirs, all cracking and crying with laughter, was a sight never to be forgotten. I did not want to get lost and be eaten alive, or even look ridiculous, so I began very carefully: glanced back regularly to see what the track, trees, rocks, or kopjes looked like from the other side; carefully noted which side of the road I had turned off; and always kept my eye on the sun. But day after day and month after month went by without accident or serious difficulty, and then the same old thing happened: familiarity bred contempt, and I got the beginner's complaint, conceit fever, just as others did: thought I was rather a fine fellow, not like other chaps who always have doubts and difficulties in finding their way back, but something exceptional with the real instinct in me which hunters, natives, and many animals are supposed to have; though, in fact, I could not get lost. So each day I went further and more boldly off the road, and grew more confident and careless. The very last thing that would have occurred to me on this particular day was that there was any chance of being lost or any need to take note of where we went. For many weeks we had been hunting in exactly the same sort of country, but not of course in the same part; and the truth is I did not give the matter a thought at all, but went ahead as one does with the things that are done every day as matters of habit. CHAPTER EIGHT. LOST IN THE VELD. We were outspanned near some deep shaded water-holes, and at about three o'clock I took my rifle and wandered off in the hope of dropping across something for the larder and having some sport during the three hours before the evening trek would begin; and as there was plenty of spoor of many kinds the prospects seemed good enough. We had been going along slowly, it may be for half an hour, without seeing more than a little stembuck scurrying away in the distance, when I noticed that Jock was rather busy with his nose, sniffing about in a way that looked like business. He was not sure of anything; that was clear, because he kept trying in different directions; not as you see a pointer do, but very seriously silently and slowly, moving at a cautious walk for a few yards and then taking a look about. The day was hot and still, as usual at that time of the year, and any noise would be easily heard, so I had stopped to give Jock a chance of ranging about. At the moment we were in rather open ground, and finding that Jock was still very suspicious I moved on towards where the bush was thicker and we were less likely to be seen from a distance. As we got near the better cover there was a rasping, squawky cry in a cockatoo's voice, "Go 'way; go 'way; go' way!" and one of those ugly big-beaked Go 'way birds came sailing up from behind and flapped on to the trees we were making for. No doubt they have another name, but in the Bushveld they were known as Go 'way birds, because of this cry and because they are supposed to warn the game when an enemy is coming. But they are not like the tick bird or the rhinoceros bird, who stick close to their friends and as soon as they see or hear anything suspicious flutter straight up filling the air with twittering cries of alarm; the Go 'way birds do not feed on ticks and have nothing to do with the game; you find them where there is no game, and it always seemed to me that it is not concern for the game at all, but simply a combination of vulgar curiosity, disagreeableness and bad manners, that makes them interfere as they do. The reason why I do not believe the Go 'way birds care a rap about the game and only want to worry you is that often one of them will make up its mind to stick to you, and you can turn twist and double as many ways as you like, but as soon as you begin to walk on again the wretched thing will fly over your head and perch twenty yards or so in front of you, screeching out "Go 'way" at the top of its voice. There it will sit ready to fly off again as you come on, its ugly head on one side and big hooked bill like an aggressive nose, watching you mercilessly, as vigilant as a hungry fowl and as cross as a tired nurse in a big family. They seem to know that you cannot shoot them without making more row and doing more harm than they do. I stood still for a few minutes to give this one a chance to fly away, and when it would not do so, but kept on screeching and craning its neck at me, I threw a stone at it. It ducked violently and gave a choking hysterical squawk of alarm and anger as the stone whizzed close to its head; then flying on to another tree a few yards off, screamed away more noisily than ever. Evidently the best thing to do was to go ahead taking no notice of the creature and trusting that it would tire and leave me alone; so I walked off briskly. There was a slight rustling in the bush ahead of us as I stepped out, and then the sound of feet. I made a dash for the chance of a running shot, but it was too late, and all we saw was half a dozen beautiful koodoo disappearing among the tree stems. I turned towards that Go 'way bird. Perhaps he did not like the look on my face or the way I held the rifle; for he gave one more snarling shriek, as if he was emptying himself for ever of his rage and spite, and flapped away. Jock was standing like a statue, leaning slightly forward but with head very erect, jaws tightly closed, and eyes looking straight in front, as bright as black diamonds. It was a bad disappointment; for that was the first time we had fairly and squarely come upon koodoo. However, it was still early and the game had not been scared, but had gone off quietly; so hoping for another chance we started off at a trot along the fresh spoor. A big koodoo bull stands as high as a bullock, and although they have the small shapely feet of an antelope the spoor is heavy enough to follow at a trot except on stony ground. Perhaps they know this, for they certainly prefer the rough hard ground when they can get it. We went along at a good pace, but with many short breaks to make sure of the spoor in the stony parts; and it was pretty hot work, although clothing was light for hunting. A rough flannel shirt, open at the throat, and moleskin trousers dyed with coffee--for khaki was unknown to us then--was the usual wear; and we carried as little as possible. Generally a water-bottle filled with unsweetened cold tea and a cartridge belt were all we took besides the rifle. This time I had less than usual. Meaning to be out only for a couple of hours at most and to stick close to the road, I had pocketed half a dozen cartridges and left both bandolier and water-bottle behind. It was not long before we came upon the koodoo again; but they were on the watch. They were standing in the fringe of some thick bush, broadside on but looking back full at us, and as soon as I stopped to aim the whole lot disappeared with the same easy movement, just melting away in the bush. If I had only known it, it was a hopeless chase for an inexperienced hunter: they were simply playing with me. The very things that seemed so encouraging to me would have warned an old hand that running on the trail was quite useless. When they moved off quietly, it was not because they were foolhardy or did not realise the danger. When they allowed us to catch up to them time after time, it was not because they did not expect us. When they stood on the edge of thick bush where we could see them, it was not stupidity. When they could disappear with an easy bound, it was not accident. It was all part of the game. They were keeping in touch with us so that we could not surprise them, and whenever they stopped it was always where they could see us coming through the thinner bush for a long way and where they themselves could disappear in the thick bush in a couple of strides. Moreover, with each fresh run they changed their direction with the object of making it difficult for us to follow them up, and with the deliberate purpose of eventually reaching some favourite and safe haunt of theirs. An old hand might have known this; but a beginner goes blindly along the spoor--exactly where they are expecting him. The chase was long and tiring, but there was no feeling of disappointment and no thought of giving it up: each time they came in sight we got keener and more excited, and the end seemed nearer and more certain. I knew what the six animals were--four cows, one young bull, and a magnificent old fellow with a glorious head and great spiral horns. I carried his picture in my eye and could pick him out instantly wherever he stood and however motionless; for, incredibly difficult as it is to pick out still objects in the bush before your eye becomes accustomed to it, it is wonderful what you can do when your eye is in and you are cool and intent and know what you are looking for. I had the old bull marked down as mine, and knew his every detail--his splendid bearing, strong shaggy neck with mane to the withers and bearded throat, the soft grey dove-colour of the coat with its white stripes, the easy balancing movement in carrying the massive horns as he cantered away, and the trick of throwing them back to glide them through the bush. The last run was a long and hard one; and the koodoo seemed to have taken matters seriously and made up their minds to put a safe distance between us and them. The spooring was often difficult and the pace hot. I was wet through from the hard work, and so winded that further effort seemed almost impossible; but we plodded away--the picture of the koodoo bull luring me on, and Jock content with any chase. Without him the spoor would have been lost long before; it was in many places too faint and scattered for me to follow, but he would sniff about quietly, and, by his contented looks back at me and brisk wagging of that stumpy tail, show that he was on it again, and off we would go on another tired straggling trot. But at last even his help was not enough: we had come to the end of the chase, and not a spoor, scratch, or sign of any sort was to be seen. Time had passed unnoticed, and it was only when it became clear that further search would be quite useless that I looked at my watch and found it was nearly five o'clock. That was rather a shock, for it seemed reasonable to think that, as we had been out for pretty nearly two hours and going fast for most of the time, it would take almost as long to get back again. I had not once noticed our direction or looked at the sun, yet when it came to making for camp again the idea of losing the way never occurred to me. I had not the slightest doubt about the way we had come, and it seemed the natural thing to go back the same way. A short distance from where we finally gave up the chase there was a rise crowned by some good-sized rocks and bare of trees; it was not high enough to be fairly called a kopje, but I climbed it on chance of getting a view of the surrounding country--to see, if possible, how far we had come. The rise was not sufficient, however, to give a view; there was nothing to be seen, and I sat down on the highest rock to rest for a few minutes and smoke a cigarette. It is over twenty years since that day, but that cigarette is not forgotten, and the little rise where we rested is still, to me, Cigarette Kopje. I was so thoroughly wet from the heat and hard work that the matches in the breast pocket of my shirt were all damp, and the heads came off most of them before one was gently coaxed into giving a light. Five minutes rest was enough. We both wanted a drink, but there was no time then to hunt for water in such a dry part as that, so off we started for camp and jogged along for a good time, perhaps half an hour. Then little by little I began to feel some uncertainty about the way and to look about from side to side for reminders. The start back had been easy enough: that part of the ground where we had lost the spoor had been gone over very thoroughly and every object was familiar; but further back, where we had followed the spoor at a trot for long stretches and I had hardly raised my eyes from the ground before me, it was a very different matter. I forgot all about those long stretches in which nothing had been noticed except the koodoo spoor, and was unconsciously looking out for things in regular succession which we had passed at quite long intervals. Of course, they were not to be found, but I kept on looking out for them--first feeling annoyed, then puzzled, then worried. Something had gone wrong, and we were not going back on our old tracks. Several times I looked about for the koodoo spoor as a guide; but it might be anywhere over a width of a hundred yards, and it seemed waste of precious time to search the dry grass-grown and leaf-strewn ground for that. At the first puzzled stop I tried to recall some of the more noticeable things we had passed during the chase. There were two flat-topped mimosas, looking like great rustic tables on a lawn, and we had passed between them; there was a large ant-heap, with a twisty top like a crooked mud chimney, behind which the koodoo bull had calmly stood watching us approach; then a marula tree with a fork like a giant catapult stick; and so on with a score of other things, all coming readily to mind. That was what put me hopelessly wrong. I began to look for particular objects instead of taking one direction and keeping to it. Whenever a flat-topped thorn, a quaint ant-heap, a patch of tambookie grass, or a forked marula came in sight, I would turn off to see if they were the same we had passed coming out. It was hopeless folly, of course; for in that country there were hundreds and thousands of such things all looking very much alike, and you could walk yourself to death zigzagging about from one to another and never get any nearer home: when it comes to doing that sort of thing your judgment is gone and you have lost your head; and the worst of it is you do not know it and would not believe it if any one could tell you so. I did not know it; but it was nevertheless the fact. As the sun sank lower I hurried on faster, but never long in one line-- always turning this way and that to search for the particular marks I had in mind. At last we came to four trees in a line, and my heart gave a great jump, for these we had certainly passed before. In order to make quite sure I hunted for koodoo spoor; there was none to be seen, but on an old molehill there was the single print of a dog's foot. "Ha, Jock's!" I exclaimed aloud; and Jock himself at the sound of his name stepped up briskly and sniffed at his own spoor. Close beside it there was the clear mark of a heeled boot, and there were others further on. There was no doubt about it, they were Jock's and mine, and I could have given a whoop of delight; but a chilly feeling came over me when I realised that the footprints were _leading the same way as we were going_, instead of the opposite way. What on earth did it mean? I laid the rifle down and sat on an old stump to think it out, and after puzzling over it for some minutes came to the conclusion that by some stupid blunder I must have turned round somewhere and followed the line of the koodoo, instead of going back on it. The only thing to be done was to right about face and go faster than ever; but, bad as the disappointment was, it was a certain consolation to know that we were on the track at last. That at any rate was a certainty; for, besides the footprints, the general appearance of the country and many individual features were perfectly familiar, now that I took a good look at them from this point. At that moment I had not a shadow of doubt about the way--no more, indeed, than if we had been on the road itself: no suspicion of the truth occurred to me; yet the simple fact is we were not then on the koodoo trail at all, but, having made a complete circle, had come on to our own trail at the molehill and were now doing the circle the second time--but the reverse way now. The map on the opposite page is an attempt to show what happened; the details are of course only guesswork, but the general idea is correct. The koodoo themselves had moved in a rough circle and in the first attempt to return to the waggons I had started back on their trail but must have turned aside somewhere, and after that, by dodging about looking for special landmarks, have made a complete circle. Thus we eventually came back to the track on which we had started for home, and the things that then looked so convincingly familiar were things seen during the first attempt to return, and not, as I supposed, landmarks on the original koodoo trail. Jock's footprints in the molehill were only a few hundred yards from the Cigarette Kopje and about the same distance from where we had lost the koodoo spoor; and we were, at that moment, actually within a mile of the waggons. It seems incredible that one could be so near and not see or understand. Why should one walk in circles instead of taking a fairly straight line? How was it possible to pass Cigarette Kopje and not recognise it, for I must have gone within fifty yards or less of it? As for not seeing things, the answer is that the bush does not allow you to see much: the waggons, for instance, might as well have been a hundred miles away. As for Cigarette Kop--things do not look the same unless seen from the same point; moreover there are heaps of things easily visible which you will never see at all because you are looking only for something else: you carry a preconceived idea, a sort of picture in your eye, and everything that does not fit in with that is not noticed--not even seen. As for walking in circles, it is my belief that most people, just like most horses, have a natural leaning or tendency towards one side or the other, and unless checked unconsciously indulge it. When riding in the veld, or any open country, you will notice that some horses will want to take any turn off to the right, others always go to the left, and only very few keep straight on. When out walking you will find that some people cannot walk on your right hand without coming across your front or working you into the gutter; others `mule' you from the left. Get them out in open country, walk briskly, and talk; then give way a little each time they bump you, and in a very little while you will have done the circle. If you have this tendency in the Bushveld, where you cannot see any distant object to make for as a goal, any obstacle straight in front of you throws you off to the side you incline to; any openings in the trees which look like avenues or easy ways draw you; and between any two of them you will always choose the one on your favourite side. Finally, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing in the veld, as elsewhere. When you know enough to recognise marks without being able to identify or locate them--that is, when you know you have seen them before but are not sure of the when and the where--goodness only knows what conclusion you will come to or what you will do. I had passed Cigarette Kopje, it's true; but when coming towards it from a new side it must have looked quite different; and besides that, I had not been expecting it, not looking for it, not even thinking of it--had indeed said good-bye to it for ever. When we turned back at the molehill, beginning to do the circle for the second time, we must have passed quite close to Cigarette Kopje again, but again it was from a different opening in the bush, and this time I had thought of nothing and seen nothing except the things I picked out and recognised as we hurried along. To my half-opened beginner's eyes these things were familiar: we had passed them before; that seemed to be good enough: it must be right; so on we went, simply doing the same circle a second time, but this time the reverse way. The length of my shadow stretching out before me as we started from the molehill was a reminder of the need for haste, and we set off at a smart double. A glance back every few minutes to make sure that we were returning the way we had come was enough, and on we sped, confident for my part that we, were securely on the line of the koodoo and going straight for the waggons. It is very difficult to say how long this lasted before once more a horrible doubt arose. It was when we had done half the circle that I was pulled up as if struck in the face: the setting sun shining into my eyes as we crossed an open space stopped me; for, as the bright gold-dust light of the sunset met me full, I remembered that it was my long shadow _in front_ of me as we started from the molehill that had urged me to hurry on. We had started due east: we were going dead west! What on earth was wrong? There were the trees and spaces we had passed, a blackened stump, an ant-bear hole; all familiar. What then was the meaning of it? Was it only a temporary swerve? No! I tested that by pushing on further along the track we were following, and it held steadily to the west. Was it then all imagination about having been there before? No, that was absurd! And yet--and yet, as I went on, no longer trotting and full of hope but walking heavily and weighted with doubt, the feeling of uncertainty grew until I really did not know whether the familiar-looking objects and scenes were indeed old acquaintances or merely imagination playing tricks in a country where every style and sample was copied a thousand times over. A few minutes later I again caught sight of the sunset glow--it was on my direct right: it meant that the trail had taken another turn, while I could have sworn we were holding a course straight as an arrow. It was all a hopeless tangle. I was lost then--and knew it. It was not the dread of a night out in the bush--for after many months of roughing it, that had no great terrors for me--but the helpless feeling of being lost and the anxiety and uncertainty about finding the road again, that gnawed at me and made me feel tucked-up and drawn. I wondered when they would begin to look for me, if they would light big fires and fire shots, and if it would be possible to see or hear the signals. The light would not last much longer; the dimness, the silence, and the hateful doubts about the trail made it more and more difficult to recognise the line; so I thought it was time to fire a signal shot. There was no answer. It was silly to hope for one; for even if it had been heard they would only have thought that I was shooting at something. Yet the clinging to hope was so strong that every twenty yards or so I stopped to listen for a reply; and when, after what seemed an eternity, none came, I fired another. When you shoot in the excitement of the chase the noise of the report does not strike you as anything out of the way; but a signal shot when you are alone and lost seems to fill the world with sound and to shake the earth itself. It has a most chilling effect, and the feeling of loneliness becomes acute as the echoes die away and still no answer comes. Another short spell of tip-toe walking and intent listening, and then it came to me that one shot as a signal was useless; I should have fired more and at regular intervals, like minute-guns at sea. I felt in my pocket: there were only four cartridges there and one in the rifle; there was night before me, with the wolves and the lions; there was the food for to-morrow, and perhaps more than to-morrow! There could be no minute-guns: two shots were all that could be spared, and I looked about for some high and open ground where the sound would travel far and wide. On ahead of us to the right the trees seemed fewer and the light stronger; and there I came upon some rising ground bare of bush. It was not much for my purpose, but it was higher than the rest and quite open, and there were some rocks scattered about the top. The same old feeling of mixed remembrance and doubt came over me as we climbed it: it looked familiar and yet different. Was it memory or imagination? But there was no time for wonderings. From the biggest rock, which was only waist high, I fired off two of my precious cartridges, and stood like a statue listening for the reply. The silence seemed worse than before: the birds had gone to roost; even the flies had disappeared; there was no sound at all but the beat of my own heart and Jock's panting breath. There were three cartridges and a few damp matches left. There was no sun to dry them now, but I laid them out carefully on the smooth warm rock, and hoped that one at least would serve to light our camp fire. There was no time to waste: while the light lasted I had to drag up wood for the fire and pick a place for the camp--somewhere where the rocks behind and the fire in front would shelter us from the lions and hyenas, and where I could watch and listen for signals in the night. There was plenty of wood near by, and thinking anxiously of the damp matches I looked about for dry tindery grass so that any spark would give a start for the fire. As I stooped to look for the grass I came on a patch of bare ground between the scattered tufts, and in the middle of it there lay a half-burnt match; and such a flood of relief and hope surged up that my heart beat up in my throat. Where there were matches there had been men! We were not in the wilds, then, where white men seldom went--not off the beaten track: perhaps not far from the road itself. You must experience it to know what it meant at that moment. It drew me on to look for more! A yard away I found the burnt end of a cigarette; and before there was time to realise why that should seem queer, I came on eight or ten matches with their heads knocked off. For a moment things seemed to go round and round. I sat down with my back against the rock and a funny choky feeling in my throat. I knew they were my matches and cigarette, and that we were exactly where we had started from hours before, when we gave up the chase of tie koodoo. I began to understand things then: why places and landmarks seemed familiar; why Jock's spoor in the molehill had pointed the wrong way; why my shadow was in front and behind and beside me in turns. We had been going round in a circle. I jumped up and looked about me with a fresh light; and it was all clear as noonday then. Why, this was the fourth time we had been on or close to some part of this same rise that day, each time within fifty yards of the same place; it was the second time I had sat on that very rock. And there was nothing odd or remarkable about that either, for each time I had been looking for the highest point to spy from and had naturally picked the rock-topped rise; and I had not recognised it, only because we came upon it from different sides each time and I was thinking of other things all the while. All at once it seemed as if my eyes were opened and all was clear at last. I knew what to do: just make the best of it for the night; listen for shots and watch for fires; and if by morning no help came in that way, then strike a line due south for the road and follow it up until we found the waggons. It might take all day or even more, but we were sure of water that way and one could do it. The relief of really understanding was so great that the thought of a night out no longer worried me. There was enough wood gathered, and I stretched out on the grass to rest as there was nothing else to do. We were both tired out, hot, dusty, and very very thirsty; but it was too late to hunt for water then. I was lying on my side chewing a grass stem, and Jock lay down in front of me a couple of feet away. It was a habit of his: he liked to watch my face, and often when I rolled over to ease one side and lie on the other he would get up when he found my back turned to him and come round deliberately to the other side and sling himself down in front of me again. There he would lie with his hind legs sprawled on one side, his front legs straight out, and his head resting on his paws. He would lie like that without a move, his little dark eyes fixed on mine all the time until the stillness and the rest made him sleepy, and he would blink and blink, like a drowsy child, fighting against sleep until it beat him; and then--one long-drawn breath as he rolled gently over on his side, and Jock was away in Snoozeland. In the loneliness of that evening I looked into his steadfast resolute face with its darker muzzle and bright faithful eyes that looked so soft and brown when there was nothing to do but got so beady black when it came to fighting. I felt very friendly to the comrade who was little more than a puppy still; and he seemed to feel something too; for as I lay there chewing the straw and looking at him, he stirred his stump of a tail in the dust an inch or so from time to time to let me know that he understood all about it and that it was all right as long as we were together. But an interruption came. Jock suddenly switched up his head, put it a bit sideways as a man would do, listening over his shoulder with his nose rather up in the air. I watched him, and thinking that it was probably only a buck out to feed in the cool of the evening, I tickled his nose with the long straw, saying, "No good, old chap; only three cartridges left. We must keep them." No dog likes to have his nose tickled: it makes them sneeze; and many dogs get quite offended, because it hurts their dignity. Jock was not offended, but he got up and, as if to show me that I was frivolous and not attending properly to business, turned away from me and with his ears cocked began to listen again. He was standing slightly in front of me and I happened to notice his tail: it was not moving; it was drooping slightly and perfectly still, and he kept it like that as he stepped quietly forward on to another sloping rock overlooking a side where we had not yet been. Evidently there was something there, but he did not know what, and he wanted to find out. I watched him, much amused by his calm businesslike manner. He walked to the edge of the rock and looked out: for a few minutes he stood stock-still with his ears cocked and his tail motionless; then his ears dropped and his tail wagged gently from side to side. Something--an instinct or sympathy quickened by the day's experience, that I had never quite known before--taught me to understand, and I jumped up, thinking, "He sees something that he knows: he is pleased." As I walked over to him, he looked back at me with his mouth open and tongue out, his ears still down and tail wagging--he was smiling all over, in his own way. I looked out over his head, and there, about three hundred yards off, were the oxen peacefully grazing and the herd boy in his red coat lounging along behind them. Shame at losing myself and dread of the others' chaff kept me very quiet, and all they knew for many months was that we had had a long fruitless chase after koodoo and hard work to get back in time. I had had my lesson, and did not require to have it rubbed in and be roasted as Buggins had been. Only Jock and I knew all about it; but once or twice there were anxious nervous moments when it looked as if we were not the only ones in the secret. The big Zulu driver, Jim Makokel'--always interested in hunting and all that concerned Jock-- asked me as we were inspanning what I had fired the last two shots at; and as I pretended not to hear or to notice the question, he went on to say how he had told the other boys that it must have been a klipspringer on a high rock or a monkey or a bird because the bullets had whistled over the waggons. I told him to inspan and not talk so much, and moved round to the other side of the waggon. That night I slept hard, but woke up once dreaming that several lions were looking down at me from the top of a big flat rock and Jock was keeping them off. Jock was in his usual place beside me, lying against my blankets. I gave him an extra pat for the dream, thinking, "Good old boy; we know all about it, you and I, and we're not going to tell. But we've learned some things that we won't forget." And as I dropped off to sleep again I felt a few feeble sleepy pats against my leg, and knew it was Jock's tail wagging "Good night." CHAPTER NINE. THE IMPALA STAMPEDE. Not all our days were spent in excitement--far far from it. For six or seven months the rains were too heavy, the heat too great, the grass too rank, and the fever too bad in the Bushveld for any one to do any good there; so that for more than half of the year we had no hunting to speak of, as there was not much to be done above the Berg. But even during the hunting season there were many off-days and long spells when we never fired a shot. The work with the waggons was hard when we had full loads, the trekking slow and at night, so that there was always something to do in the daytime--repairs to be done, oxen to be doctored, grass and water to be looked for, and so on; and we had to make up sleep when we could. Even when the sport was good and the bag satisfactory there was usually nothing new to tell about it. So Jock and I had many a long spell when there was no hunting, many a bad day when we worked hard but had no sport, and many a good day when we got what we were after and nothing happened that would interest any one else. Every hunt was exciting and interesting for us, even those in which we got nothing; indeed some of the most interesting were those in which the worst disappointments occurred, when after hard work and long chases the game escaped us. To tell all that happened would be to tell the same old story many times over; but indeed, it would not be possible to tell all, for there were some things--the most interesting of all, perhaps--which only Jock knew. After the fight with the duiker there was never any doubt as to what he would do if allowed to follow up a wounded animal. It made a deal of difference in the hunting to know that he could be trusted to find it and hold on or bay it until I could get up. The bush was so thick that it was not possible to see more than a very few hundred yards at best, and the country was so dry and rough that if a wounded animal once got out of sight only an expert tracker had any chance of finding it again. Jock soon showed himself to be better than the best of trackers, for besides never losing the trail he would either pull down the buck or, if too big for that, attack and worry even the biggest of them to such an extent that they would have to keep turning on him to protect themselves and thus give me the chance to catch up. But the first result of my confidence in him was some perfectly hopeless chases. It is natural enough to give oneself the benefit of any doubt; the enthusiastic beginner always does so, and in his case the lack of experience often creates a doubt where none should have existed; and the doubt is often very welcome, helping him out with explanations of the unflattering facts. For the listener it is, at best and worst, only amusing or tiresome; but for the person concerned it is different--for, as Rocky said, `It don't fool any one worth speakin' of 'cept yerself.' And `there's the rub.' Whenever a bullet struck with a thud, and no dust appeared to show that it had hit the ground, I thought that it must have wounded the buck; and once you get the idea that the buck is hit, all sorts of reasons appear in support of it. There is hardly anything that the buck can do which does not seem to you to prove that it is wounded. It bounds into the air, races off suddenly, or goes away quite slowly; it switches its tail or shakes its head; it stops to look back, or does not stop at all; the spoor looks awkward and scrappy; the rust on the grass looks like dry blood. If you start with a theory instead of weighing the evidence all these things will help to prove that theory: they will, in fact, mean exactly what you want them to mean. You `put up a job on yerself'--to quote Rocky again--and with the sweat of your brow and vexation of spirit you have to work that job out. Poor old Jock had a few hard chases after animals which I thought were wounded but were not hit at all--not many, however, for he soon got hold of the right idea and was a better judge than his master. He went off the instant he was sent, but if there was nothing wounded--that is, if he could not pick up a `blood spoor'--he would soon show it by casting across the trail, instead of following hard on it; and I knew then there was nothing in it. Often he would come back of his own accord, and there was something quite peculiar in his look when he returned from these wild-goose chases that seemed to say, "No good: you were quite wrong. You missed the whole lot of them." He would come up to me with his mouth wide-open and tongue out, a bit blown, and stand still with his front legs wide apart, looking up at me with that nothing-in-it sort of look in his eyes and not a movement in his ears or tail and never a turn of his head to show the least interest in anything else. I got to know that look quite well; and to me it meant, "Well, that job was a failure--finished and done for. Now is there anything else you can think of?" What always seemed to me so curious and full of meaning was that he never once looked back in the direction of the unwounded game, but seemed to put them out of his mind altogether as of no further interest. It was very different when he got on to the trail of a wounded buck and I had to call him off, as was sometimes necessary when the chase looked hopeless or it was too late to go further. He would obey, of course--no amount of excitement made him forget that; but he would follow me in a sort of sideways trot, looking back over his shoulder all the time, and whenever there was a stop, turning right round and staring intently in the direction of the game with his little tail moving steadily from side to side and his hind legs crouched as if ready to spring off the instant he got permission. Twice I thought he was lost for ever through following wounded game. The first occasion was also the first time that we got among the impala and saw them in numbers. There is no more beautiful and fascinating sight than that of a troop of impala or springbuck really on the move and jumping in earnest. The height and distance that they clear is simply incredible. The impala's greater size and its delicate spiral horns give it a special distinction; the springbuck's brilliant white and red, and the divided crest which fans out along the spine when it is excited, are unique. But who can say which of the many beautiful antelopes is the most beautiful? The oldest hunter will tell you of first one, then another, and then another, as they come to mind, just as he saw them in some supreme unforgettable moment; and each at that moment has seemed quite the most beautiful animal in the world. It is when they are jumping that the impala are seen at their best. No one knows what they really can do, for there are no fences in their country by which to judge or guess, and as they run in herds it is practically impossible ever to find the take-off or landing-place of any single animal. Once when hunting along the Wenhla Mohali River we managed to turn seven of them into an old run ending in a rocky gorge; but suspecting danger they would not face the natural outlet, and turning up the slope cleared a barrier of thick thorn scrub and escaped. When we looked at the place afterwards we found that the bushes were nine feet high. We were not near enough to see whether they touched the tops or cleared them; all we were sure of was that they did not hesitate for a second to face a jump nine feet high at the top of a sharp rise, and that all seven did it in follow-my-leader order with the most perfect ease and grace. Every hunter has seen a whole troop, old and young, following the example of the leader, clear a road or donga twenty feet wide, apparently in an effortless stride. It is a fine sight, and the steady stream of buck makes an arch of red and white bodies over the road looking like the curve of a great wave. You stand and watch in speechless admiration; and the first gasp at a glorious leap is followed by steady silent wonder at the regularity of the numbers. Then suddenly you see one animal--for no apparent reason: it may be fright or it may be frolic--take off away back behind the others, shoot up, and sail high above the arch of all the rest, and with head erect and feet comfortably gathered, land far beyond them--the difference between ease and effort, and oh! the perfect grace of both! Something is wrung from you--a word, a gasp--and you stand breathless with wonder and admiration until the last one is gone. You have forgotten to shoot; but they have left you something better than a trophy, something which time will only glorify-- a picture that in daylight or in dark will fill your mind whenever you hear the name Impala. Something of this I carried away from my first experience among them. There were a few minutes of complete bewilderment, a scene of the wildest confusion, and flashes of incident that go to make a great picture which it is impossible to forget. But then there followed many hours of keen anxiety when I believed that Jock was gone for ever; and it was long before that day found its place in the gallery of happy memories. We had gone out after breakfast, striking well away from the main road until we got among the thicker thorns where there was any amount of fresh spoor and we were quite certain to find a troop sooner or later. The day was so still, the ground so dry, and the bush so thick that the chances were the game would hear us before we could get near enough to see them. Several times I heard sounds of rustling bush or feet cantering away: something had heard us and made off unseen; so I dropped down into the sandy bed of a dry donga and used it as a stalking trench. From this it was easy enough to have a good look around every hundred yards or so without risk of being heard or seen. We had been going along cautiously in this way for some time when, peering over the bank, I spied a single impala half hidden by a scraggy bush. It seemed queer that there should be only one, as their habit is to move in troops; but there was nothing else to be seen; indeed it was only the flicker of an ear on this one that had caught my eye. Nothing else in the land moved. Jock climbed the bank also, following so closely that he bumped against my heels, and when I lay flat actually crawled over my legs to get up beside me and see what was on. Little by little he got into the way of imitating all I did, so that after a while it was hardly necessary to say a word or make a sign to him. He lay down beside me and raised his head to look just as he saw me do. He was all excitement, trembling like a wet spaniel on a cold day, and instead of looking steadily at the impala as I was doing and as he usually did, he was looking here there and everywhere; it seemed almost as if he was looking at things--not for them. It was my comfortable belief at the moment that he had not yet spotted the buck, but was looking about anxiously to find out what was interesting me. It turned out, as usual, that he had seen a great deal more than his master had. The stalking looked very easy, as a few yards further up the donga there was excellent cover in some dense thorns, behind which we could walk boldly across open ground to within easy range of the buck and get a clear shot. We reached the cover all right, but I had not taken three steps into the open space beyond before there was a rushing and scrambling on every side of me. The place was a whirlpool of racing and plunging impala; they came from every side and went in every direction as though caught suddenly in an enclosure and, mad with fear and bewilderment, were trying to find a way out. How many there were it was quite impossible to say: the bush was alive with them; and the dust they kicked up, the noise of their feet, their curious sneezy snorts, and their wild confusion completely bewildered me. Not one stood still. Never for a moment could I see any single animal clearly enough or long enough to fire at it; another would cross it; a bush would cover it as I aimed; or it would leap into the air, clearing bushes, bucks and everything in its way, and disappear again in the moving mass. They seemed to me to whirl like leaves in a wind eddy: my eyes could not follow them and my brain swam as I looked. It was a hot day; there was no breeze at all; and probably the herd had been resting after their morning feed and drink when we came upon them. By creeping up along the donga we had managed to get unobserved right into the middle of the dozing herd, so they were literally on every side of us. At times it looked as if they were bound to stampede over us and simply trample us down in their numbers; for in their panic they saw nothing, and not one appeared to know what or where the danger was. Time and again, as for part of a second I singled one out and tried to aim, others would come racing straight for us, compelling me to switch round to face them, only to find them swerve with a dart or a mighty bound when within a few paces of me. What Jock was doing during that time I do not know. It was all such a whirl of excitement and confusion that there are only a few clear impressions left on my mind. One is of a buck coming through the air right at me, jumping over the backs of two others racing across my front. I can see now the sudden wriggle of its body and the look of terror in its eyes when it saw me and realised that it was going to land almost at my feet. I tried to jump aside, but it was not necessary: with one touch on the ground it shot slantingly past me like a ricochet bullet. Another picture that always comes back is that of a splendid ram clearing the first of the dense thorn bushes that were to have been my cover in stalking. He flew over it outlined against the sky in the easiest most graceful and most perfect curve imaginable. It came back to me afterwards that he was eight or ten yards from me, and yet I had to look up into the sky to see his white chest and gracefully gathered feet as he cleared the thorn bush like a soaring bird. One shot, out of three or four fired in desperation as they were melting away, hit something; the unmistakable thud of the bullet told me so. That time it was the real thing, and when you hear the real thing you cannot mistake it. The wounded animal went off with the rest and I followed, with Jock ahead of me hot on the trail. A hundred yards further on where Jock with his nose to the ground had raced along between some low stones and a marula tree I came to a stop--bush all round me, not a living thing in sight, and all as silent as the grave. On one of the smooth hot stones there was a big drop of blood, and a few yards on I found a couple more. Here and there along the spoor there were smears on the long yellow grass, and it was clear enough, judging by the height of the blood-marks from the ground, that the impala was wounded in the body--probably far back, as there were no frothy bubbles to show a lung shot. I knew that it would be a long chase unless Jock could head the buck off and bay it; but unless he could do this at once, he was so silent in his work that there was little chance of finding him. The trail became more and more difficult to follow; the blood was less frequent, and the hot sun dried it so quickly that it was more than I could do to pick it out from the red streaks on the grass and many-coloured leaves. So I gave it up and sat down to smoke and wait. Half an hour passed, and still no Jock. Then I wandered about whistling and calling for him--calling until the sound of my own voice became quite uncanny, the only sound in an immense silence. Two hours passed in useless calling and listening, searching and waiting, and then I gave it up altogether and made back for the waggons, trying to hope against my real conviction that Jock had struck the road somewhere and had followed it to the outspan, instead of coming back on his own trail through the bush to me. But there was no Jock at the waggons; and my heart sank, although I was not surprised. It was nearly four hours since he had disappeared, and it was as sure as anything could be that something extraordinary must have happened or he would have come back to me long before this. No one at the waggons had seen him since we started out together; and there was nothing to be done but to wait and see what would happen. It was perfectly useless to look for him: if alive and well, he was better able to find his way than the best tracker that ever lived; if dead or injured and unable to move, there was not one chance in a million of finding him. There was only one kaffir whom Jock would take any notice of or would allow to touch him--a great big Zulu named Jim Makokel'. Jim was one of the real fighting Zulu breed; and the pride he took in Jock, and the sort of partnership that he claimed in tastes, disposition and exploits, began the day Jock fought the table-leg and grew stronger and stronger to the end. Jim became Jock's devoted champion, and more than once, as will be seen, showed that he would face man or beast to stand by him when he needed help. This day when I returned to the waggons Jim was sitting with the other drivers in the group round the big pot of porridge. I saw him give one quick look my way and heard him say sharply to the others, "Where is the dog? Where is Jock?" He stood there looking at me with a big wooden spoon full of porridge stopped on the way to his mouth. In a few minutes they all knew what had happened; the other boys took it calmly, saying composedly that the dog would find his way back. But Jim was not calm: it was not his nature. At one moment he would agree with them, swamping them with a flood of reasons why Jock, the best dog in the world, would be sure to come back; and the next--hot with restless excitement--would picture all that the dog might have been doing and all that he might still have to face, and then break off to proclaim loudly that every one ought to go out and hunt for him. Jim was not practical or reasonable--he was too excitable for that; but he was very loyal, and it was his way to show his feelings by doing something--generally and preferably by fighting some one. Knowing only too well how useless it would be to search for Jock, I lay down under the waggon to rest and wait. After half an hour of this Jim could restrain himself no longer. He came over to where I lay and with a look of severe disapproval and barely controlled indignation, asked me for a gun, saying that he himself meant to go out and look for Jock. It would be nearer the mark to say that he demanded a gun. He was so genuinely anxious and so indignant at what he considered my indifference that it was impossible to be angry; and I let him talk away to me and at me in his exciting bullying way. He would take no answer and listen to no reason; so finally to keep him quiet I gave him the shot gun, and off he went, muttering his opinions of every one else--a great springy striding picture of fierce resolution. He came back nearly three hours later, silent, morose, hot and dusty. He put the gun down beside me without a word--just a click of disgust; and as he strode across to his waggon, called roughly to one of the drivers for the drinking water. Lifting the bucket to his mouth he drank like an ox and slammed it down again without a word of thanks; then sat down in the shade of the waggon, filled his pipe, and smoked in silence. The trekking hour came and passed; but we did not move. The sun went down, and in the quiet of the evening we heard the first jackal's yapping--the first warning of the night. There were still lions and tigers in those parts, and any number of hyenas and wild dogs, and the darker it grew and the more I thought of it, the more hopeless seemed Jock's chance of getting through a night in the bush trying to work his way back to the waggons. It was almost dark when I was startled by a yell from Jim Makokel', and looking round, saw him bound out into the road shouting, "He has come, he has come! What did I tell you?" He ran out to Jock, stooping to pat and talk to him, and then in a lower voice and with growing excitement went on rapidly, "See the blood! See it! He has fought: he has killed! Dog of all dogs! Jock, Jock!" and his savage song of triumph broke off in a burst of rough tenderness, and he called the dog's name five or six times with every note of affection and welcome in his deep voice. Jock took no notice of Jim's dancing out to meet him, nor of his shouts, endearments and antics; slowing his tired trot down to a walk, he came straight on to me, flickered his ears a bit, wagged his tail cordially, and gave my hand a splashy lick as I patted him. Then he turned round in the direction he had just come from, looked steadily out, cocked his ears well up, and moved his tail slowly from side to side. For the next half-hour or so he kept repeating this action every few minutes; but even without that I knew that it had been no wild-goose chase, and that miles away in the bush there was something lying dead which he could show me if I would but follow him back again to see. What had happened in the eight hours since he had dashed off in pursuit can only be guessed. That he had pulled down the impala and killed it seemed certain--and what a chase and what a fight it must have been to take all that time! The buck could not have been so badly wounded in the body as to be disabled or it would have died in far less time than that: then, what a fight it must have been to kill an animal six or eight times his own weight and armed with such horns and hoofs! But was it only the impala? or had the hyenas and wild dogs followed up the trail, as they so often do, and did Jock have to fight his way through them too? He was hollow-flanked and empty, parched with thirst, and so blown that his breath still caught in suffocating chokes. He was covered with blood and sand; his beautiful golden coat was dark and stained; his white front had disappeared; and there on his chest and throat, on his jaws and ears, down his front legs even to the toes, the blood was caked on him--mostly black and dried but some still red and sticky. He was a little lame in one fore leg, but there was no cut or swelling to show the cause. There was only one mark to be seen: over his right eye there was a bluish line where the hair had been shaved off clean, leaving the skin smooth and unbroken. What did it? Was it horn, hoof, tooth, or-- what? Only Jock knew. Hovering round and over me, pacing backwards and forwards between the waggons like a caged animal, Jim, growing more and more excited, filled the air with his talk his shouts and savage song. Wanting to help, but always in the way, ordering and thrusting the other boys here and there, he worked himself up into a wild frenzy: the Zulu fighting blood on fire and he `saw red' everywhere. I called for water. "Water!" roared Jim, "bring water"; and glaring round he made a spring--stick in hand--at the nearest kaffir. The boy fled in terror, with Jim after him for a few paces, and brought a bucket of water. Jim snatched it from him and with a resounding thump on the ribs sent the unlucky kaffir sprawling on the ground. Jock took the water in great gulpy bites broken by pauses to get his breath again; and Jim paced up and down--talking, talking, talking! Talking to me, to the others, to the kaffirs, to Jock, to the world at large, to the heavens, and to the dead. His eyes glared like a wild beast's and gradually little seams of froth gathered in the corners of his mouth as he poured out his cataract of words, telling of all Jock had done and might have done and would yet do; comparing him with the fighting heroes of his own race, and wandering off into vivid recitals of single episodes and great battles; seizing his sticks, shouting his war cries, and going through all the mimicry of fight with the wild frenzy of one possessed. Time after time I called him and tried to quiet him; but he was beyond control. Once before he had broken out like this. I had asked him something about the Zulu war; and that had started a flood of memories and excitement. In the midst of some description I asked why they killed the children; and he turned his glaring eyes on me a and said, "Inkos, you are my Inkos; but you are white. If we fight to-morrow, I will kill you. You are good to me, you have saved me; but if our own king says `Kill!' we kill! We see red; we kill all that lives. I must kill you, your wife, your mother, your children, your horses, your oxen, your dog, the fowls that run with the waggons--all that lives I kill. The blood must run." And I believed him; for that was the Zulu fighting spirit. So this time I knew it was useless to order or to talk: he was beyond control, and the fit must run its course. The night closed in and there was quiet once more. The flames of the camp fires had died down; the big thorn logs had burnt into glowing coals like the pink crisp hearts of giant water-melons; Jock lay sleeping, tired out, but even in his sleep came little spells of panting now and then, like the after-sobs of a child that has cried itself to sleep; we lay rolled in our blankets, and no sound came from where the kaffirs slept. But Jim--only Jim--sat on his rough three-legged stool, elbows on knees and hands clasped together, staring intently into the coals. The fit worked slowly off, and his excitement died gradually away; now and then there was a fresh burst, but always milder and at longer intervals, as you may see it in a dying fire or at the end of a great storm; slowly but surely he subsided until at last there were only occasional mutterings of "Ow, Jock!" followed by the Zulu click, the expressive shake of the head, and that appreciative half grunt, half chuckle, by which they pay tribute to what seems truly wonderful. He wanted no sleep that night: he sat on, waiting for the morning trek, staring into the red coals, and thinking of the bygone glories of his race in the days of the mighty Chaka. That was Jim, when the fit was on him--transported by some trifling and unforeseen incident from the hum-drum of the road to the life he once had lived with splendid recklessness. CHAPTER TEN. JOCK'S NIGHT OUT. Jock was lost twice: that is to say, he was lost to me, and, as I thought, for ever. It came about both times through his following up wounded animals and leaving me behind, and happened in the days when our hunting was all done on foot; when I could afford a horse and could keep pace with him that difficulty did not trouble us. The experience with the impala had made me very careful not to let him go unless I felt sure that the game was hard hit and that he would be able to pull it down or bay it. But it is not always easy to judge that. A broken leg shows at once; but a body shot is very difficult to place, and animals shot through the lungs, and even through the lower part of the heart, often go away at a cracking pace and are out of sight in no time, perhaps to keep it up for miles, perhaps to drop dead within a few minutes. After that day with the impala we had many good days together and many hard ones: we had our disappointments, but we had our triumphs; and we were both getting to know our way about by degrees. Buck of many kinds had fallen to us; but so far as I was concerned there was one disappointment that was not to be forgotten. The picture of that koodoo bull as he appeared for the last time looking over the ant-heap the day we were lost was always before me. I could not hear the name or see the spoor of koodoo without a pang of regret and the thought that never again would such a chance occur. Koodoo, like other kinds of game, were not to be found everywhere; they favoured some localities more than others, and when we passed through their known haunts chances of smaller game were often neglected in the hope of coming across the koodoo. I could not give up whole days to hunting--for we had to keep moving along with the waggons all the time--or it would have been easy enough in many parts to locate the koodoo and make sure of getting a good bag. As it was, on three or four occasions we did come across them, and once I got a running shot, but missed. This was not needed to keep my interest in them alive, but it made me keener than ever. Day by day I went out always hoping to get my chance, and when at last the chance did come it was quite in accordance with the experience of many others that it was not in the least expected. The great charm of Bushveld hunting is its variety: you never know what will turn up next--the only certainty being that it will not be what you are expecting. The herd boy came noon to say that there buck feeding among the oxen only a couple of hundred yards away. He had been quite close to it, he said, and it was very tame. Game, so readily alarmed by the sight of white men, will often take no notice of natives, allowing them to approach to very close quarters. They are also easily stalked under cover of cattle or horses, and much more readily approached on horseback than on foot. The presence of other animals seems to give them confidence or to excite mild curiosity without alarm, and thus distract attention from the man. In this case the bonny little red-brown fellow was not a bit scared; he maintained his presence of mind admirably; from time to time he turned his head our way and, with his large but shapely and most sensitive ears thrown forward examined us frankly while he moved slightly one way or another so as to keep under cover of the oxen and busily continue his browsing. In and out among some seventy head of cattle we played hide-and-seek for quite a while--I not daring to fire for fear of hitting one of the bullocks--until at last he found himself manoeuvred out of the troop; and then without giving me a chance he was off into the bush in a few frisky skips. I followed quietly, knowing that as he was on the feed and not scared he would not go far. Moving along silently under good cover I reached a thick scrubby bush and peered over the top of it to search the grass under the surrounding thorn-trees for the little red-brown form. I was looking about low down in the russety grass--for he was only about twice the size of Jock, and not easy to spot--when a movement on a higher level caught my eye. It was just the flip of a fly-tickled ear; but it was a movement where all else was still, and instantly the form of a koodoo cow appeared before me as a picture is thrown on a screen by a magic-lantern. There it stood within fifty yards, the soft grey-and-white looking still softer in the shadow of the thorns, but as clear to me--and as still--as a figure carved in stone. The stem of a mimosa hid the shoulders, but all the rest was plainly visible as it stood there utterly unconscious of danger. The tree made a dead shot almost impossible, but the risk of trying for another position was too great, and I fired. The thud of the bullet and the tremendous bound of the koodoo straight up in the air told that the shot had gone home; but these things were for a time forgotten in the surprise that followed. At the sound of the shot twenty other koodoo jumped into life and sight before me. The one I had seen and shot was but one of a herd all dozing peacefully in the shade, and strangest of all, it was the one that was farthest from me. To the right and left of this one, at distances from fifteen to thirty yards from me, the magnificent creatures had been standing, and I had not seen them; it was the flicker of this one's ear alone that had caught my eye. My bewilderment was complete when I saw the big bull of the herd start off twenty yards on my right front pass away like a streak in a few sweep-strides. It was a matter of seconds and they were all out of sight--all except the wounded one, which had turned off from the others. For all the flurry and confusion I had not lost sight of her, and noting her tucked-up appearance and shortened strides set Jock on her trail, believing that she would be down in a few minutes. It is not necessary to go over it all again: it was much the same as the impala chase. I came back tired, disappointed and beaten, and without Jock. It was only after darkness set in that things began to look serious. When it came to midnight, with the camp wrapped in silence and in sleep, and there was still no sign of Jock, things looked very black indeed. I heard his panting breath before it was possible to see anything. It was past one o'clock when he returned. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ As we had missed the night trek to wait for Jock I decided to stay on where we were until the next evening and to have another try for the wounded koodoo, with the chance of coming across the troop again. By daybreak Jock did not seem much the worse for his night's adventures--whatever they were. There were no marks of blood on him this time; there were some scratches which might have been caused by thorns during the chase, and odd-looking grazes on both hind quarters near the hip-bones, as though he had been roughly gravelled there. He seemed a little stiff, and flinched when I pressed his sides and muscles, but he was as game as ever when he saw the rifle taken down. The koodoo had been shot through the body, and even without being run to death by Jock must have died in the night, or have lain down and become too cold and stiff to move. If not discovered by wild animals there was a good chance of finding it untouched in the early morning; but after sunrise every minute's delay meant fresh risk from the aasvogels. There is very little which, if left uncovered, will escape their eyes. You may leave your buck for help to bring the meat in, certain from the most careful scrutiny that there is not one of these creatures in sight, and return in half an hour to find nothing but a few bones, the horns and hoofs, a rag of skin, and a group of disgusting gorged vultures squatting on a patch of ground all smeared, torn and feather-strewn from their voracious struggles. In the winter sky unrelieved by the least fleck of cloud--a dome of spotless polished steel--nothing, you would think, can move unseen. Yet they are there. In the early morning, from their white-splashed eeries on some distant mountain they slide off like a launching ship into their sea of blue, and, striking the currents of the upper air, sweep round and upwards in immense circles, their huge motionless wings carrying them higher and higher until they are lost to human sight. Lie on your back in some dense shade where no side-lights strike in, but where an opening above forms a sort of natural telescope to the sky, and you may see tiny specks where nothing could be seen before. Take your field-glasses: the specks are vultures circling up on high! Look again, and far, far above you will see still other specks; and for aught you know, there may be others still beyond. How high are they? And what can they see from there? Who knows? But this is sure, that within a few minutes scores will come swooping down in great spiral rushes where not one was visible before. My own belief is that they watch each other, tier above tier away into the limitless heavens--watching jealously, as hungry dogs do, for the least suspicious sign--to swoop down and share the spoil. In the dewy cool of the morning we soon reached the place where Jock had left me behind the evening before; and from that on he led the way. It was much slower work then; as far as I was concerned, there was nothing to guide me, and it was impossible to know what he was after. Did he understand that it was not fresh game but the wounded koodoo that I wanted? And, if so, was he following the scent of the old chase or merely what he might remember of the way he had gone? It seemed impossible that scent could lie in that dry country for twelve hours; yet it was clearly nose more than eyes that guided him. He went ahead soberly and steadily, and once when he stopped completely, to sniff at a particular tuft of grass, I found out what was helping him. The grass was well streaked with blood: quite dry, it is true; still it was blood. A mile or so on we checked again where the grass was trampled and the ground scored with spoor. The heavy spoor was all in a ring four or five yards in diameter; outside this the grass was also flattened, and there I found a dog's footprints. But it had no further interest for Jock; while I was examining it he picked up the trail and trotted on. We came upon four or five other rings where they had fought. The last of these was curiously divided by a fallen tree, and it puzzled me to guess how they could have made a circle with a good-sized trunk some two feet high intersecting it. I examined the dead tree and found a big smear of blood and a lot of coarse greyish hair on it. Evidently the koodoo had backed against it whilst facing Jock and had fallen over it, renewing the fight on the other side. There were also some golden hairs sticking on the stumpy end of a broken branch, which may have had something to do with Jock's scraped sides. Then for a matter of a hundred yards or more it looked as if they had fought and tumbled all the way. Jock was some distance ahead of me, trotting along quietly, when I saw him look up, give that rare growling bark of his--one of suppressed but real fury--lower his head, and charge. Then came heavy flapping and scrambling and the wind of huge wings, as twenty or thirty great lumbering aasvogels flopped along the ground with Jock dashing furiously about among them--taking flying leaps at them as they rose, and his jaws snapping like rat-traps as he missed them. On a little open flat of hard-baked sand lay the stripped frame of the koodoo: the head and leg-bones were missing; meat-stripped fragments were scattered all about; fifty yards away among some bushes Jock found the head; and still further afield were remains of skin and thigh-bones crushed almost beyond recognition. No aasvogel had done this: it was hyenas' work. The high-shouldered slinking brute, with jaws like a stone-crusher, alone cracks bones like those and bigger ones which even the lion cannot tackle. I walked back a little way and found the scene of the last stand, all harrowed bare; but there was no spoor of koodoo or of Jock to be seen there--only prints innumerable of wild dogs, hyenas and jackals, and some traces of where the carcase, no doubt already half-eaten, had been dragged by them in the effort to tear it asunder. Jock had several times shown that he strongly objected to any interference with his quarry; other dogs, kaffirs, and even white men, had suffered or been badly scared for rashly laying hands on what he had pulled down. Without any doubt he had expected to find the koodoo there and had dealt with the aasvogels as trespassers; otherwise he would not have tackled them without word from me. It was also sure that until past midnight he had been there with the koodoo, watching or fighting. Then when had the hyenas and wild dogs come? That was the question I would have given much to have had answered. But only Jock knew that! I looked at him. The mane on his neck and shoulders which had risen at the sight of the vultures was not flat yet; he was sniffing about slowly and carefully on the spoor of the hyenas and wild dogs; and he looked `fight' all over. But what it all meant was beyond me; I could only guess--just as you will--what had happened out in the silent ghostly bush that night. CHAPTER ELEVEN. THE KOODOO BULL. Jock had learned one very clever trick in pulling down wounded animals. It often happens when you income unexpectedly upon game that they are off before you see them, and the only chance you have of getting anything is with a running shot. If they go straight from you the shot is not a very difficult one, although you see nothing but the lifting and falling hind quarters as they canter away; and a common result of such a shot is the breaking of one of the hind legs between the hip and the hock. Jock made his discovery while following a rietbuck which I had wounded in this way. He had made several tries at its nose and throat, but the buck was going too strongly and was out of reach; moreover it would not stop or turn when he headed it, but charged straight on, bounding over him. In trying once more for the throat he cannoned against the buck's shoulder and was sent rolling yards away. This seemed to madden him: racing up behind he flew at the dangling leg, caught it at the shin, and thrusting his feet well out, simply dragged until the buck slowed down, and then began furiously tugging sideways. The crossing of the legs brought the wounded animal down immediately and Jock had it by the throat before it could rise again. Every one who is good at anything has some favourite method or device of his own: that was Jock's. It may have come to him, as it comes to many, by accident; but having once got it, he perfected it and used it whenever it was possible. Only once he made a mistake; and he paid for it--very nearly with his life. He had already used this device successfully several times, but so far only with the smaller buck. This day he did what I should have thought to be impossible for a dog of three or four times his size. I left the scene of torn carcase and crunched bones, consumed by regrets and disappointment; each fresh detail only added to my feeling of disgust, but Jock did not seem to mind; he jumped out briskly as soon as I started walking in earnest, as though he recognised that we were making a fresh start, and he began to look forward immediately. The little bare flat where the koodoo had fallen for the last time was at the head of one of those depressions which collect the waters of the summer floods and, changing gradually into shallow valleys, are eventually scoured out and become the dongas--dry in winter but full charged with muddy flood in summer--which drain the Bushveld to its rivers. Here and there where an impermeable rock formation crosses these channels there are deep pools which, except in years of drought, last all through the winter; and these are the drinking-places of the game. I followed this one down for a couple of miles without any definite purpose until the sight of some greener and denser wild figs suggested that there might be water, and perhaps a rietbuck or a duiker near by. As we reached the trees Jock showed unmistakable signs of interest in something, and with the utmost caution I moved from tree to tree in the shady grove towards where it seemed the water-hole might be. There were bushy wild plums flanking the grove, and beyond them the ordinary scattered thorns. As I reached this point, and stopped to look out between the bushes on to the more open ground, a koodoo cow walked quietly up the slope from the water, but before there was time to raise the rifle her easy stride had carried her behind a small mimosa tree. I took one quick step out to follow her up and found myself face to face at less than a dozen yards with a grand koodoo bull. It is impossible to convey in words any real idea of the scene and how things happened. Of course, it was only for a fraction of a second that we looked straight into each other's eyes; then, as if by magic, he was round and going from me with the overwhelming rush of speed and strength and weight combined. Yet it is the first sight that remains with me: the proud head, the huge spiral horns, and the wide soft staring eyes-- before the wildness of panic had stricken them. The picture seems photographed on eye and brain, never to be forgotten. A whirlwind of dust and leaves marked his course, and through it I fired, unsteadied by excitement and hardly able to see. Then the right hind leg swung out, and the great creature sank for a moment, almost to the ground; and the sense of triumph, the longed for and unexpected success, `went to my head' like a rush of blood. There had been no time to aim, and the shot--a real snap shot--was not at all a bad one. It was after that that the natural effect of such a meeting and such a chance began to tell. Thinking it all out beforehand does not help much, for things never happen as they are expected to; and even months of practice among the smaller kinds will not ensure a steady nerve when you just come face to face with big game--there seems to be too much at stake. I fired again as the koodoo recovered himself, but he was then seventy or eighty yards away and partly hidden at times by trees and scrub. He struck up the slope, following the line of the troop through the scattered thorns, and there, running hard and dropping quickly to my knee for steadier aim, I fired again and again--but each time a longer shot and more obscured by the intervening bush; and no tell-tale thud came back to cheer me on. Forgetting the last night's experience, forgetting everything except how we had twice chased and twice lost them, seeing only another and the grandest prize slipping away, I sent Jock on and followed as fast as I could. Once more the koodoo came in sight--just a chance at four hundred yards as he reached an open space on rising ground. Jock was already closing up, but still unseen, and the noble old fellow turned full broadside to me as he stopped to look back. Once more I knelt, gripping hard and holding my breath to snatch a moment's steadiness, and fired; but I missed again, and as the bullet struck under him he plunged forward and disappeared over the rise at the moment that Jock, dashing out from the scrub, reached his heels. The old Martini carbine had one bad fault; even I could not deny that; years of rough and careless treatment in all sorts of weather--for it was only a discarded old Mounted Police weapon--had told on it, and both in barrel and breech it was well pitted with rust scars. One result of this was that it was always jamming, and unless the cartridges were kept well greased the empty shells would stick and the ejector fail to work; and this was almost sure to happen when the carbine became hot from quick firing. It jammed now, and fearing to lose sight of the chase I dared not stop a second, but ran on, struggling from time to time to wrench the breach open. Reaching the place where they had disappeared, I saw with intense relief and excitement Jock and the koodoo having it out less than a hundred yards away. The koodoo's leg was broken right up in the ham, and it was a terrible handicap for an animal so big and heavy, but his nimbleness and quickness were astonishing. Using the sound hind leg as a pivot he swung round, always facing his enemy; Jock was in and out, here, there and everywhere, as a buzzing fly torments one on a hot day; and indeed, to the koodoo just then he was the fly and nothing more; he could only annoy his big enemy, and was playing with his life to do it. Sometimes he tried to get round; sometimes pretended to charge straight in, stopping himself with all four feet spread--just out of reach; then like a red streak he would fly through the air with a snap for the koodoo's nose. It was a fight for life and a grand sight; for the koodoo, in spite of his wound, easily held his own. No doubt he had fought out many a life and death struggle to win and hold his place as lord of the herd and knew every trick of attack and defence. Maybe too he was blazing with anger and contempt for this persistent little gad-fly that worried him so and kept out of reach. Sometimes he snorted and feinted to charge; at other times backed slowly, giving way to draw the enemy on; then with a sudden lunge the great horns swished like a scythe with a tremendous reach out, easily covering the spot where Jock had been a fraction of a second before. There were pauses too in which he watched his tormentor steadily, with occasional impatient shakes of the head, or, raising it to full height, towered up a monument of splendid and contemptuous indifference, looking about with big angry but unfrightened eyes for the herd--his herd--that had deserted him; or with a slight toss of his head he would walk limpingly forward, forcing the ignored Jock before him; then, interrupted and annoyed by a flying snap at his nose, he would spring forward and strike with the sharp cloven fore foot--zip-zip-zip--at Jock as he landed. Any one of the vicious flashing stabs would have pinned him to the earth and finished him; but Jock was never there. Keeping what cover there was I came up slowly behind them, struggling and using all the force I dared, short of smashing the lever, to get the empty cartridge out. At last one of the turns in the fight brought me in view, and the koodoo dashed off again. For a little way the pace seemed as great as ever, but it soon died away; the driving power was gone; the strain and weight on the one sound leg and the tripping of the broken one were telling; and from that on I was close enough to see it all. In the first rush the koodoo seemed to dash right over Jock--the swirl of dust and leaves and the bulk of the koodoo hiding him; then I saw him close abreast, looking up at it and making furious jumps for its nose, alternately from one side and the other, as they raced along together. The koodoo holding its nose high and well forward, as they do when on the move, with the horns thrown back almost horizontally, was out of his reach and galloped heavily on completely ignoring his attacks. There is a suggestion of grace and poise in the movement of the koodoo bull's head as he gallops through the bush which is one of his distinctions above the other antelopes. The same supple balancing movement that one notes in the native girls bearing their calabashes of water upon their heads is seen in the neck of the koodoo, and for the same reason: the movements of the body are softened into mere undulations, and the head with its immense spiral horns seems to sail along in voluntary company--indeed almost as though it were bearing the body below. At the fourth or fifth attempt by Jock a spurt from the koodoo brought him cannoning against its shoulder, and he was sent rolling unnoticed yards away. He scrambled instantly to his feet, but found himself again behind: it may have been this fact that inspired the next attempt, or perhaps he realised that attack in front was useless; for this time he went determinedly for the broken leg. It swung about in wild eccentric curves, but at the third or fourth attempt he got it and hung on; and with all fours spread he dragged along the ground. The first startled spring of the koodoo jerked him into the air; but there was no let go now, and although dragged along the rough ground and dashed about among the scrub, sometimes swinging in the air, and sometimes sliding on his back, he pulled from side to side in futile attempts to throw the big animal. Ineffectual and even hopeless as it looked at first, Jock's attacks soon began to tell; the koodoo made wild efforts to get at him, but with every turn he turned too, and did it so vigorously that the staggering animal swayed over and had to plunge violently to recover its balance. So they turned, this way and that, until a wilder plunge swung Jock off his feet, throwing the broken leg across the other one; then, with feet firmly planted, Jock tugged again, and the koodoo trying to regain its footing was tripped by the crossed legs and came down with a crash. As it fell Jock was round and fastened on the nose; but it was no duiker, impala or rietbuck that he had to deal with this time. The koodoo gave a snort of indignation and shook its head: as a terrier shakes a rat, so it shook Jock, whipping the ground with his swinging body, and with another indignant snort and toss of the head flung him off, sending him skidding along the ground on his back. The koodoo had fallen on the wounded leg and failed to rise with the first effort; Jock while still slithering along the ground on his back was tearing at the air with his feet in his mad haste to get back to the attack, and as he scrambled up, he raced in again with head down and the little eyes black with fury. He was too mad to be wary, and my heart stood still as the long horns went round with a swish; one black point seemed to pierce him through and through, showing a foot out the other side, and a jerky twist of the great head sent him twirling like a tip-cat eight or ten feet up in the air. It had just missed him, passing under his stomach next to the hind legs; but, until he dropped with a thud and, tearing and scrambling to his feet, he raced in again, I felt certain he had been gored through. The koodoo was up again then. I had rushed in with rifle clubbed, with the wild idea of stunning it before it could rise, but was met by the lowered horns and unmistakable signs of charging, and beat a retreat quite as speedy as my charge. It was a running fight from that on: the instant the koodoo turned to go Jock was on to the leg again, and nothing could shake his hold. I had to keep at a respectful distance, for the bull was still good for a furious charge, even with Jock hanging on, and eyed me in the most unpromising fashion whenever I attempted to head it off or even to come close up. The big eyes were blood-shot then, but there was no look of fear in them--they blazed with baffled rage. Impossible as it seemed to shake Jock off or to get away from us, and in spite of the broken leg and loss of blood, the furious attempts to beat us off did not slacken. It was a desperate running fight, and right bravely he fought it to the end. Partly barring the way in front were the whitened trunks and branches of several trees struck down by some storm of the year before, and running ahead of the koodoo I made for these, hoping to find a stick straight enough for a ramrod to force the empty cartridge out. As I reached them the koodoo made for me with half a dozen plunges that sent me flying off for other cover; but the broken leg swayed over one of the branches, and Jock with feet planted against the tree hung on; and the koodoo, turning furiously on him, stumbled, floundered, tripped, and came down with a crash amongst the crackling wood. Once more like a flash Jock was over the fallen body and had fastened on the nose--but only to be shaken worse than before. The koodoo literally flogged the ground with him, and for an instant I shut my eyes; it seemed as if the plucky dog would be beaten into pulp. The bull tried to chop him with its fore feet, but could not raise itself enough, and at each pause Jock, with his watchful little eyes ever on the alert, dodged his body round to avoid the chopping feet without letting go his hold. Then with a snort of fury the koodoo, half rising, gave its head a wild upward sweep, and shook. As a springing rod flings a fish the koodoo flung Jock over its head and on to a low flat-topped thorn-tree behind. The dog somersaulted slowly as he circled in the air, dropped on his back in the thorns some twelve feet from the ground, and came tumbling down through the branches. Surely the tree saved him, for it seemed as if such a throw must break his back. As it was he dropped with a sickening thump; yet even as he fell I saw again the scrambling tearing movement, as if he was trying to race back to the fight even before he reached ground. Without a pause to breathe or even to look, he was in again and trying once more for the nose. The koodoo lying partly on its side, with both hind legs hampered by the mass of dead wood, could not rise, but it swept the clear space in front with the terrible horns, and for some time kept Jock at bay. I tried stick after stick for a ramrod, but without success; at last, in desperation at seeing Jock once more hanging to the koodoo's nose, I hooked the lever on to a branch and setting my foot against the tree wrenched until the empty cartridge flew out and I went staggering backwards. In the last struggle, while I was busy with the rifle, the koodoo had moved, and it was then lying against one of the fallen trunks. The first swing to get rid of Jock had literally slogged him against the tree; the second swing swept him under it where a bend in the trunk raised it: about a foot from the ground, and gaining his foothold there Jock stood fast--there, there, with his feet planted firmly and his shoulder humped against the dead tree, he stood this tug-of-war. The koodoo with its head twisted back, as caught at the end of the swing, could put no weight to the pull; yet the wrenches it gave to free itself drew the nose and upper lip out like tough rubber and seemed to stretch Jock's neck visibly. I had to come round within a few feet of them to avoid risk of hitting Jock, and it seemed impossible for bone and muscle to stand the two or three terrible wrenches that I saw. The shot was the end; and as the splendid head dropped slowly over, Jock let go his hold. He had not uttered a sound except the grunts that were knocked out of him. CHAPTER TWELVE. JIM MAKOKEL'. I am very much afraid that most people would consider him rather a bad lot. The fact of the matter is he belonged to another period and other conditions. He was simply a great passionate fighting savage, and, instead of wearing the cast-off clothing of the white man and peacefully driving bullock waggons along a transport road, should have been decked in his savage finery of leopard skin and black ostrich-feathers, showing off the powerful bronzed limbs and body all alive with muscle, and sharing in some wild war-dance; or, equipped with shield and assegais, leading in some murderous fight. Yes, Jim was out of date: he should have been one of the great Chaka's fighting guard--to rise as a leader of men, or be killed on the way. He had but one argument and one answer to everything: Fight! It was his nature, bred and born in him; it ran in his blood and grew in his bones. He was a survival of a great fighting race--there are still thousands of them in the kraals of Zululand and Swaziland--but it was his fate to belong to one of the expelled families, and to have to live and work among the white men under the Boer Government of the Transvaal. In a fighting nation Jim's kraal was known as a fighting one, and the turbulent blood that ran in their veins could not settle down into a placid stream merely because the Great White Queen had laid her hand upon his people and said, "There shall be peace!" Chaka, the `black Napoleon' whose wars had cost South Africa over a million lives, had died--murdered by his brother Dingaan--full of glory, lord and master wherever his impis could reach. "Dogs whom I fed at my kraal!" he gasped, as they stabbed him. Dingaan his successor, as cruel as treacherous, had been crushed by the gallant little band of Boers under Potgieter for his fiendish massacre of Piet Retief and his little band. Panda the third of the three famous brothers--Panda the peaceful--had come and gone! Ketshwayo, after years of arrogant and unquestioned rule, had loosed his straining impis at the people of the Great White Queen. The awful day of 'Sandhl'wana--where the 24th Regiment died almost to a man--and the fight on H'lobani Mountain had blooded the impis to madness; but Rorke's Drift and Kambula had followed those bloody victories--each within a few hours--to tell another tale; and at Ulundi the tides met--the black and the white. And the kingdom and might of the house of Chaka were no more. Jim had fought at 'Sandhl'wana, and could tell of an umfaan sent out to herd some cattle within sight of the British camp to draw the troops out raiding while the impis crept round by hill and bush and donga behind them; of the fight made by the red-coats as, taken in detail, they were attacked hand to hand with stabbing assegais, ten and twenty to one; of one man in blue--a sailor--who was the last to die, fighting with his back to a waggon-wheel against scores before him, and how he fell at last, stabbed in the back through the spokes of the wheel by one who had crept up behind. Jim had fought at Rorke's Drift! Wild with lust of blood, he had gone on with the maddest of the victory-maddened lot to invade Natal and eat up the little garrison on the way. He could tell how seventy or eighty white men behind a little rampart of biscuit-tins and flour-bags had fought through the long and terrible hours, beating off five thousand of the Zulu best, fresh from a victory without parallel or precedent; how, from the burning hospital, Sergeant Hook, V.C., and others carried sick and wounded through the flames into the laager; how a man in black with a long beard, Father Walsh, moved about with calm face, speaking to some, helping others, carrying wounded back and cartridges forward-- Father Walsh who said "Don't swear, boys: fire low;" how Lieutenants Chard and Bromhead--V.C.s too for that day's work--led and fought, and guided and heartened their heroic little band until the flour-bags and biscuit-tins stood lower than the pile of dead outside, and the Zulu host was beaten and Natal saved that day. Jim had seen all that--and Ulundi, the Day of Despair! And he knew the power of the Great White Queen and the way that her people fight. But peace was not for him or his kraal: better any fight than no fight. He rallied to Usibepu in the fight for leadership when his King, Ketshwayo, was gone, and Jim's kraal had moved--and moved too soon: they were surrounded one night and massacred; and Jim fought his way out, wounded and alone. Without kith or kin, cattle, king, or country, he fled to the Transvaal--to work for the first time in his life! Waggon-boys--as the drivers were called--often acquired a certain amount of reputation on the road or in the locality where they worked; but it was, as a rule, only a reputation as good or bad drivers. In Jim's case it was different. He was a character and had an individual reputation, which was exceptional in a Kaffir. I had better say at once that not even his best friend would claim that that reputation was a good one. He was known as the best driver, the strongest nigger, the hardest fighter, and the worst drinker on the road. His real name was Makokela, but in accordance with a common Zulu habit, it was usually abbreviated to Makokel'! Among a certain number of the white men--of the sort who never can get any name right--he was oddly enough known as McCorkindale. I called him Jim as a rule--Makokel', when relations were strained. The waggon-boys found it safer to use his proper name. When anything had upset him it was not considered wise to take the liberty of shouting "Jim": the answer sometimes came in the shape of a hammering. Many men had employed Jim before he came to me, and all had `sacked' him for fighting, drinking, and the unbearable worry he caused. They told me this, and said that he gave more trouble than his work was worth. It may have been true: he certainly was a living test of patience, purpose, and management; but, for something learnt in that way, I am glad now that Jim never `got the sack' from me. Why he did not, is not easy to say; perhaps the circumstances under which he came to me and the hard knocks of an unkind fate pleaded for him. But it was not that alone: there was something in Jim himself--something good and fine, something that shone out from time to time through his black skin and battered face as the soul of a real man. It was in the first season in the Bushveld that we were outspanned one night on the sand-hills overlooking Delagoa Bay among scores of other waggons dotted about in little camps--all loading or waiting for loads to transport to the Transvaal. Delagoa was not a good place to stay in, in those days: liquor was cheap and bad; there was very little in the way of law and order; and every one took care of himself as well as he could. The Kaffir kraals were close about the town, and the natives of the place were as rascally a lot of thieves and vagabonds as you could find anywhere. The result was everlasting trouble with the waggon-boys and a chronic state of war between them and the natives and the banyans or Arab traders of the place. The boys, with pockets full of wages, haggled and were cheated in the stores, and by the hawkers, and in the canteens; and they often ended up the night with beer-drinking at the kraals or reprisals on their enemies. Every night there were fights and robberies: the natives or Indians would rob and half-kill a waggon-boy; then he in turn would rally his friends, and raid and clear out the kraal or the store. Most of the waggon-boys were Zulus or of Zulu descent, and they were always ready for a fight and would tackle any odds when their blood was up. It was the third night of our stay, and the usual row was on. Shouts and cries, the beating of tomtoms, and shrill ear-piercing whistles, came from all sides; and through it all the dull hum of hundreds of human voices, all gabbling together. Near to us there was another camp of four waggons drawn up in close order, and as we sat talking and wondering at the strange babel in the beautiful calm moonlight night, one sound was ever recurring, coming away out of all the rest with something in it that fixed our attention. It was the sound of two voices from the next waggons. One voice was a kaffir's--a great, deep, bull-throated voice; it was not raised--it was monotonously steady and low; but it carried far, with the ring and the lingering vibration of a big gong. "Funa 'nyama, Inkos; funa 'nyama!" ("I want meat, Chief; I want meat!") was what the kaffir's voice kept repeating at intervals of a minute or two with deadly monotony and persistency. The white man's voice grew more impatient, louder, and angrier, with each refusal; but the boy paid no heed. A few minutes later the same request would be made, supplemented now and then with, "I am hungry, Baas, I can't sleep. Meat! Meat! Meat!" or, "Porridge and bread are for women and piccaninnies. I am a man: I want meat, Baas, meat." From the white man it was, "Go to sleep, I tell you!" "Be quiet, will you?" "Shut up that row!" "Be still, you drunken brute, or I'll tie you up!" and "You'll get twenty-five in a minute!" It may have lasted half an hour when one of our party said, "That's Bob's old driver, the big Zulu. There'll be a row to-night; he's with a foreigner chap from Natal now. New chums are always roughest on the niggers." In a flash I remembered Bob Saunderson's story of the boy who had caught the lion alive, and Bob's own words, "a real fine nigger, but a terror to drink, and always in trouble. He fairly wore me right out." A few minutes later there was a short scuffle, and the boy's voice could be heard protesting in the same deep low tone: they were tying him up to the waggon-wheel for a flogging. Others were helping the white man, but the boy was not resisting. At the second thin whistling stroke some one said, "That's a sjambok he's using, not a nek-strop!" Sjambok, that will cut a bullock's hide! At about the eighth there was a wrench that made the waggon rattle, and the deep voice was raised in protest, "Ow, Inkos!" It made me choke: it was the first I knew of such things, and the horror of it was unbearable; but the man who had spoken before--a good man too, straight and strong, and trusted by black and white--said, "Sonny, you must not interfere between a man and his boys here; it's hard sometimes, but we'd not live a day if they didn't know who was baas." I think we counted eighteen; and then everything seemed going to burst. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The white man looked about at the faces close to him--and stopped. He began slowly to untie the outstretched arms, and blustered out some threats. But no one said a word! The noises died down as the night wore on, until the stillness was broken only by the desultory barking of a kaffir dog or the crowing of some awakened rooster who had mistaken the bright moonlight for the dawn and thought that all the world had overslept itself. But for me there was one other sound for which I listened into the cool of morning with the quivering sensitiveness of a bruised nerve. Sometimes it was a long catchy sigh, and sometimes it broke into a groan just audible, like the faintest rumble of most distant surf. Twice in the long night there came the same request to one of the boys near him, uttered in a deep clear unshaken voice and in a tone that was civil but firm, and strangely moving from its quiet indifference. "Landela manzi, Umganaam!" ("Bring water, friend!") was all he said; and each time the request was so quickly answered that I had the guilty feeling of being one in a great conspiracy of silence. The hush was unreal; the stillness alive with racing thoughts; the darkness full of watching eyes. There is, we believe, in the heart of every being a little germ of justice which men call conscience! If that be so, there must have been in the heart of the white man that night some uneasy movement--the first life-throb of the thought which one who had not yet written has since set down: "Though I've belted you and flayed you, By the living God that made you, You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The following afternoon I received an ultimatum. We had just returned from the town when from a group of boys squatting round the fire there stood up one big fellow--a stranger--who raised his hand high above his head in Zulu fashion and gave their salute in the deep bell-like voice that there was no mistaking, "Inkos! Bayete!" He stepped forward, looking me all over, and announced with calm and settled conviction, "I have come to work for you!" I said nothing. Then he rapped a chest like a big drum, and nodding his head with a sort of defiant confidence added in quaint English, "My naam Makokela! Jim Makokel'! Yes! My catchum lion 'live! Makokela, me!" He had heard that I wanted a driver, had waited for my return, and annexed me as his future `baas' without a moment's doubt or hesitation. I looked him over. Big, broad-shouldered, loose-limbed, and as straight as an assegai! A neck and head like a bull's; a face like a weather-beaten rock, storm-scarred and furrowed, rugged and ugly, but steadfast, massive and strong! So it looked then, and so it turned out: for good and for evil Jim was strong. I nodded and said, "You can come." Once more he raised his head aloft, and, simply and without a trace of surprise or gratification, said: "Yes, you are my chief, I will work for you." In his own mind it had been settled already: it had never been in doubt. Jim--when sober--was a splendid worker and the most willing of servants, and, drunk or sober, he was always respectful in an independent, upstanding, hearty kind of way. His manner was as rough and rugged as his face and character; in his most peaceful moments it was--to one who did not understand him--almost fierce and aggressive; but this was only skin deep; for the childlike simplicity of the African native was in him to the full, and rude bursts of Titanic laughter came readily--laughter as strong and unrestrained as his bursts of passion. To the other boys he was what his nature and training had made him--not really a bully, but masterful and over-riding. He gave his orders with the curtness of a drill sergeant and the rude assurance of a savage chief. Walking, he walked his course, giving way for none of them. At the outspan or on the road or footpath he shouldered them aside as one walks through standing corn, not aggressively but with the superb indifference of right and habit unquestioned. If one, loitering before him, blocked his way unseeing, there was no pause or step aside--just "Suka!" ("Get out") and a push that looked effortless enough but sent the offender staggering; or, if he had his sticks, more likely a smart whack on the stern that was still more surprising; and not even the compliment of a glance back from Jim as he stalked on. He was like the old bull in a herd--he walked his course; none molested and none disputed; the way opened before him. When sober Jim spoke Zulu; when drunk, he broke into the strangest and most laughable medley of kitchen-Kaffir, bad Dutch, and worse English-- the idea being, in part to consider our meaner intelligences and in part to show what an accomplished linguist he was. There was no difficulty in knowing when Jim would go wrong: he broke out whenever he got a chance, whether at a kraal, where he could always quicken the reluctant hospitality of any native, at a wayside canteen, or in a town. Money was fatal--he drank it all out; but want of money was no security, for he was known to every one and seemed to have friends everywhere; and if he had not, he made them on the spot--annexed and overwhelmed them. From time to time you do meet people like that. The world's their oyster, and the gift of a masterful and infinite confidence opens it every time: they walk through life taking of the best as a right, and the world unquestioningly submits. I had many troubles with Jim, but never on account of white men: drunk or sober, there was never trouble there. It may have been Rorke's Drift and Ulundi that did it; but whatever it was, the question of black and white was settled in his mind for ever. He was respectful, yet stood upright with the rough dignity of an unvanquished spirit; but on the one great issue he never raised his hand or voice again. His troubles all came from drink, and the exasperation was at times almost unbearable--so great, indeed, that on many occasions I heartily repented ever having taken him on. Warnings were useless, and punishment--well, the shiny new skin that made patterns in lines and stars and crosses on his back for the rest of his life made answer for always upon that point. The trials and worries were often great indeed. The trouble began as soon as we reached a town, and he had a hundred excuses for going in, and a hundred more for not coming out: he had some one to see, boots to be mended, clothes to buy, or medicine to get--the only illness I ever knew him have was `a pain inside,' and the only medicine wanted--grog!-- some one owed him money--a stock excuse, and the idea of Jim, always penniless and always in debt, posing as a creditor never failed to raise a laugh, and he would shake his head with a half-fierce half-sad disgust at the general scepticism and his failure to convince me. Then he had relations in every town! Jim, the sole survivor of his fighting kraal, produced `blulus,' `babas,' `sisteles,' and even `mamas,' in profusion, and they died just before we reached the place, as regularly as the office-boy's aunt dies before Derby Day, and with the same consequence-- he had to go to the funeral. The first precaution was to keep him at the waggons and put the towns and canteens `out of bounds'; and the last defence, to banish him entirely until he came back sober, and meanwhile set other boys to do his work, paying them his wages in cash in his presence when he returned fit for duty. "Is it as I told you? Is it just?" I would ask when this was done. "It is just, Inkos," he would answer with a calm dispassionate simplicity which appealed for forgiveness and confidence with far greater force than any repentance; and it did so because it was genuine; it was natural and unstudied. There was never a trace of feeling to be detected when these affairs were squared off, but I knew how he hated the treatment, and it helped a little from time to time to keep him right. The banishing of him from the waggons in order that he might go away and have it over was not a device to save myself trouble, and I did it only when it was clear that he could stand the strain no longer. It was simply a choice of evils, and it seemed to me better to let him go, clearly understanding the conditions, than drive him into breaking away with the bad results to him and the bad effects on the others of disobeying orders. It was, as a rule, far indeed from saving me trouble, for after the first bout of drinking he almost invariably found his way back to the waggons: the drink always produced a ravenous craving for meat, and when his money was gone and he had fought his fill and cleared out all opposition, he would come back to the waggons at any hour of the night, perhaps even two or three times between dark and dawn, to beg for meat. Warnings and orders had no effect whatever; he was unconscious of everything except the overmastering craving for meat. He would come to my waggon and begin that deadly monotonous recitation, "Funa 'nyama, Inkos! Wanta meat, Baas!" There was a kind of hopeless determination in the tone conveying complete indifference to all consequences: meat he must have. He was perfectly respectful; every order to be quiet or go away or go to bed was received with the formal raising of the hand aloft, the most respectful of salutations, and the assenting, "Inkos!" but in the very next breath would come the old monotonous request, "Funa 'nyama, Inkos," just as if he was saying it for the first time. The persistency was awful--it was maddening; and there was no remedy, for it was not the result of voluntary or even conscious effort on his part; it was a sort of automatic process, a result of his physical condition. Had he known it would cost him his life, he could no more have resisted it than have resisted breathing. When the meat was there I gave it, and he would sit by the fire for hours eating incredible quantities--cutting it off in slabs and devouring it when not much more than warmed. But it was not always possible to satisfy him in that way; meat was expensive in the towns and often we had none at all at the waggons. Then the night became one long torment: the spells of rest might extend from a quarter of an hour to an hour; then from the dead sleep of downright weariness I would be roused by the deep far-reaching voice; "Funa 'nyama, Inkos" wove itself into my dreams, and waking I would find Jim standing beside me remorselessly urging the same request in Zulu, in broken English, and in Dutch--"My wanta meat, Baas," "Wil fleisch krij, Baas," and the old, old, hatefully familiar explanation of the difference between "man's food" and "piccanins' food," interspersed with grandiose declarations that he was "Makokela--Jim Makokel'," who "catchum lion 'live." Sometimes he would expand this into comparisons between himself and the other boys, much to their disadvantage; and on these occasions he invariably worked round to his private grievances, and expressed his candid opinions of Sam. Sam was the boy whom I usually set to do Jim's neglected work. He was a `mission boy,' that is a Christian kaffir--very proper in his behaviour, but a weakling and not much good at work. Jim would enumerate all Sam's shortcomings; how he got his oxen mixed up on dark nights and could not pick them out of the herd--a quite unpardonable offence; how he stuck in the drifts and had to be `double-spanned' and pulled out by Jim; how he once lost his way in the bush; and how he upset the waggon coming down the Devil's Shoot. Jim had once brought down the Berg from Spitzkop a loaded waggon on which there was a cottage piano packed standing upright. The road was an awful one, it is true, and few drivers could have handled so top-heavy a load without capsizing--he had received a bansela for his skill--but to him the feat was one without parallel in the history of waggon driving; and when drunk he usually coupled it with his other great achievement of catching a lion alive. His contempt for Sam's misadventure on the Devil's Shoot was therefore great, and to it was added resentment against Sam's respectability and superior education, which the latter was able to rub in in safety by ostentatiously reading his Bible aloud at nights as they sat round the fire. Jim was a heathen, and openly affirmed his conviction that a Christian kaffir was an impostor, a bastard, and a hypocrite--a thing not to be trusted under any circumstances whatever. The end of his morose outburst was always the same. When his detailed indictment of Sam was completed he would wind up with, "My catchum lion 'live. My bling panyanna fon Diskop (I bring piano from Spitzkop). My naam Makokela: Jim Makokel'. Sam no good; Sam leada Bible (Sam reads the Bible). Sam no good!" The intensity of conviction and the gloomy disgust put into the last reference to Sam are not to be expressed in words. Where warning and punishment availed nothing threats would have been worse than foolish. Once, when he had broken bounds and left the waggons, I threatened that if he did it again I would tie him up, since he was like a dog that could not be trusted; and I did it. He had no excuse but the old ones; some one, he said, had brought him liquor to the waggons and he had not known what he was doing. The truth was that the craving grew so with the nearer prospect of drink that by hook or by crook he would find some one, a passerby or a boy from other waggons, to fetch some for him; and after that nothing could hold him. If Jim ever wavered in his loyalty to me, it must have been the day I tied him up: he must have been very near hating me then. I had caught him as he was leaving the waggons and still sober; brought him back and told him to sit under his own waggon where I would tie him up like a dog. I took a piece of sail twine, tied it to one wrist, and, fastening the other end to the waggon-wheel, left him. A kaffir's face becomes, when he wishes it, quite inscrutable--as expressionless as a blank wall. But there are exceptions to every rule; and Jim's stoicism was not equal to this occasion. The look of unspeakable disgust and humiliation on his face was more than I could bear with comfort; and after half an hour or so in the pillory I released him. He did not say a word, but, heedless of the hot sun, rolled himself in his blankets and, sleeping or not, never moved for the rest of the day. CHAPTER THIRTEEN. THE ALLIES. Jock disliked kaffirs: so did Jim. To Jim there were three big divisions of the human race--white men, Zulus, and niggers. Zulu, old or young, was greeted by him as equal, friend and comrade; but the rest were trash, and he cherished a most particular contempt for the Shangaans and Chopis, as a lot who were just about good enough for what they did--that is, work in the mines. They could neither fight nor handle animals; and the sight of them stirred him to contempt and pricked him to hostilities. It was not long before Jim discovered this bond of sympathy between him and Jock, and I am perfectly sure that the one bad habit which Jock was never cured of was due to deliberate encouragement from Jim on every possible opportunity. It would have been a matter of difficulty and patience in any case to teach Jock not to unnecessarily attack strange kaffirs. It was very important that he should have nothing to do with them, and should treat them with suspicion as possible enemies and keep them off the premises. I was glad that he did it by his own choice and instinct; but this being so, it needed all the more intelligence and training to get him to understand just where to draw the line. Jim made it worse; he made the already difficult task practically impossible by egging Jock on; and what finally made it quite impossible was the extremely funny turn it took, which caused such general amusement that every one joined in the conspiracy and backed up Jock. Every one knows how laughable it is to see a person dancing about like a mad dervish, with legs and arms going in all directions, dodging the rushes of a dog, especially if the spectator knows that the dog will not do any real harm and is more intent on scaring his victim, just for the fun of the thing, than on hunting him. Well, that is how it began. As far as I know the first incident arose out of the intrusion of a strange kaffir at one of the outspans. Jock objected, and he was forcing a scared boy back step by step--doing the same feinting rushes that he practised with game--until the boy tripped over a camp stool and sat plump down on the three-legged pot of porridge cooking at the camp fire. I did not see it; for Jock was, as usual, quite silent--a feature which always had a most terrifying effect on his victims: it was a roar like a lion's from Jim that roused me. Jock was standing off with his feet on the move forwards and backwards, his head on one side and his face full of interest, as if he would dearly love another romp in; and the waggon-boys were reeling and rolling about the grass, helpless with laughter. A dog is just as quick as a child to find out when he can take liberties; he knows that laughter and serious disapproval do not go together; and Jock with the backing of the boys thoroughly enjoyed him-self. That was how it began; and by degrees it developed into the great practical joke. The curious thing to note was the way in which Jock entered into the spirit of the thing, and how he improved and varied his methods. It was never certain what he would do; sometimes it would be a wild romp, as it was that day; at other times he would stalk the intruder in the open, much as a pointer approaches his birds in the last strides, and with eyes fixed steadily and mouth tightly pursed-up, he would move straight at him with infinite slowness and deliberation until, the boy's nerve failed, and he turned and ran. At other times again he trotted out as if he had seen nothing, and then stopped suddenly. If the boy came on, Jock waited; but if there was any sign of fear or hesitation, he lowered his head, humped up his shoulders--as a stagey boxer does when he wants to appear ferocious--and gave his head a kind of chuck forward, as if in the act of charging: this seldom failed to shake the intruder's nerve, and as soon as he turned or backed, the romp began. Still another trick was to make a round in the bush and come up behind unobserved, and then make a furious dash with rumbly gurgly growls; the startled boy invariably dropped all he had, breaking into a series of fantastic capers and excited yells, to the huge delight of Jim and the others. But these things were considered trifles: the piece that always `brought the house down' was the Shangaan gang trick, which on one occasion nearly got us all into serious trouble. The natives going to or from the goldfields travel in gangs of from four or five to forty or fifty; they walk along in Indian-file, and even when going across the veld or walking on wide roads they wind along singly in the footsteps of the leader. What prompted the dog to start this new game I cannot imagine: certainly no one could have taught it to him; and as well as one could judge, he did it entirely `off his own bat,' without anything to lead up to or suggest it. One day a gang of about thirty of these Shangaans, each carrying his load of blankets, clothing, pots, billies and other valuables on his head, was coming along a footpath beside the road some twenty yards away from the waggons. Jock strolled out and sat himself down in the middle of the path; it was the way he did it and his air, utterly devoid of hostile or even serious purpose, that attracted my attention without rousing any doubts. The leader of the gang, however, was suspicious and shied off wide into the veld; he passed in a semicircle round Jock, a good ten yards away, and came safely back to the path again, and the dog with his nose in the air merely eyed him with a look of humorous interest and mild curiosity. The second kaffir made the loop shorter, and the third shorter still, as they found their alarm and suspicions unjustified; and so on, as each came along, the loop was lessened until they passed in safety almost brushing against Jock's nose. And still he never budged--never moved--except, as each boy approached, to look up at his face and, slowly turning his head, follow him round with his eyes until he re-entered the path. There was something extremely funny in the mechanical regularity with which his head swung round. It was so funny that not only the boys at the waggons noticed it and laughed; the unsuspecting Shangaans themselves shared the joke. When half a dozen had passed round in safety, comments followed by grunts of agreement or laughter ran along the line, and then, as each fresh boy passed and Jock's calm inspection was repeated, a regular chorus of guffaws and remarks broke out. The long heavy bundles on their heads made turning round a slow process, so that, except for the first half-dozen, they were content to enjoy what they saw in front and to know by the laughter from behind that the joke had been repeated all down the line. The last one walked calmly by; but as he did so there came one short muffled bark, "Whoop!" from Jock as he sprang out and nipped the unsuspecting Shangaan behind. The boy let out a yell that made the whole gang jump and clutch wildly at their toppling bundles, and Jock raced along the footpath, leaping, gurgling and snapping behind each one he came near, scattering them this way and that, in a romp of wild enjoyment. The shouts of the scared boys, the clatter of the tins as their bundles toppled down, the scrambling and scratching as they clawed the ground pretending to pick up stones or sticks to stop his rushes, and the ridiculous rout of the thirty Shangaans in every direction, abandoning their baggage and fleeing from the little red enemy only just visible in the grass as he hunted and harried them, were too much for my principles and far too much for my gravity. To be quite honest, I weakened badly, and from that day on preferred to look another way when Jock sallied out to inspect a gang of Shangaans. Between them, Jim and Jock had beaten me. But the weakening brought its own punishment and the joke was not far from making a tragedy. Many times while lying some way off in the shade of a tree or under another waggon I heard Jim, all unconscious of my presence, call in a low deep voice, almost a whisper, "Jock, Jock; kaffirs; Shangaans!" Jock's head was up in a moment, and a romp of some sort followed unless I intervened. Afterwards, when Jock was deaf, Jim used to reach out and pull his foot or throw a handful of sand or a bunch of grass to rouse him, and when Jock's head switched up Jim's big black fist pointing to their common enemy was quite enough. Jim had his faults, but getting others into mischief while keeping out of it himself was not one of them. If he egged Jock on, he was more than ready to stand by him, and on these occasions his first act was to jump for his sticks, which were always pretty handy, and lie in readiness to take a hand if any of the gang should use what he considered unfair means of defence, such as throwing stones and kerries or using assegais or knives; and Jim--the friend of Jock, the avoided enemy of all Shangaans, aching for an excuse to take a hand in the row himself--was not, I fear, a very impartial judge. There was a day outside Barberton which I remember well. We were to start that evening, and knowing that if Jim got into the town he might not be back and fit to work for days, I made him stay with the waggons. He lay there flat out under his waggon with his chin resting on his arms, staring steadily at the glistening corrugated iron roofs of the town, as morose and unapproachable as a surly old watch-dog. From the tent of my waggon I saw him raise his head, and following his glance, picked out a row of bundles against the sky-line. Presently a long string of about fifty time-expired mine-boys came in sight. Jim on his hands and knees scrambled over to where Jock lay asleep, and shook him; for this incident occurred after Jock had become deaf. "Shangaans, Jock; Shangaans! Kill them; kill, kill, kill!" said Jim in gusty ferocious whispers. It must have seemed as if Fate had kindly provided an outlet for the rebellious rage and the craving for a fight that were consuming him. As Jock trotted out to head them off Jim reached up to the buck-rails and pulled down his bundle of sticks and lay down like a tiger on the spring. I had had a lot of trouble with Jim that day, and this annoyed me; but my angry call to stop was unavailing. Jim, pretending not to understand, made no attempt to stop Jock, but contented himself with calling to him to come back; and Jock, stone deaf, trotted evenly along with his head, neck, back, and tail, all level--an old trick of Jess's which generally meant trouble for some one. Slowing down as he neared the Shangaans he walked quietly on until he headed off the leader, and there he stood across the path. It was just the same as before: the boys, finding that he did nothing, merely stepped aside to avoid bumping against him. They were boys taking back their purchases to their kraals to dazzle the eyes of the ignorant with the wonders of civilisation-- gaudy blankets, collections of bright tin billies and mugs, tin plates, three-legged pots, clothing, hats, and even small tin trunks painted brilliant yellow, helped to make up their huge bundles. The last boy was wearing a pair of Royal Artillery trousers; and I have no doubt he regarded it ever afterwards as nothing less than a calamity that they were not safely stowed away in his bundle--for a kaffir would sacrifice his skin rather than his new pants any day. It was from the seat of these too ample bags that Jock took a good mouthful; and it was the boy's frantic jump, rather than Jock's tug, that made the piece come out. The sudden fright and the attempts to face about quickly caused several downfalls; the clatter of these spread the panic; and on top of it all came Jock's charge along the broken line, and the excited shouts of those who thought they were going to be worried to death. Jim had burst into great bellows of laughter and excited--but quite superfluous--shouts of encouragement to Jock, who could not have heard a trumpet at ten yards. But there came a very unexpected change. One big Shangaan had drawn from his bundle a brand new side-axe: I saw the bright steel head flash, as he held it menacingly aloft by the short handle and marched towards Jock. There was a scrambling bound from under the waggon, and Jim, with face distorted and grey with fury, rushed out. In his right hand he brandished a tough stout fighting stick; in his left I was horrified to see an assegai, and well I knew that, with the fighting fury on him, he would think nothing of using it. The Shangaan saw him coming, and stopped; then, still facing Jim, and with the axe raised and feinting repeatedly to throw it, he began to back away. Jim never paused for a second: he came straight on with wild leaps and blood-curdling yells in Zulu fighting fashion and ended with a bound that seemed to drop him right on top of the other. The stick came down with a whirr and a crash that crimped every nerve in my body; and the Shangaan dropped like a log. I had shouted myself hoarse at Jim, but he heard or heeded nothing; and seizing a stick from one of the other boys I was already on the way to stop him, but before I got near him he had wrenched the axe from the kicking boy and, without pause, gone headlong for the next Shangaan he saw. Then everything went wrong: the more I shouted and the harder I ran, the worse the row. The Shangaans seemed to think I had joined in and was directing operations against them: Jim seemed to be inspired to wilder madness by my shouts and gesticulations; and Jock--well, Jock at any rate had not the remotest doubt as to what he should do. When he saw me and Jim in full chase behind him, his plain duty was to go in for all he was worth; and he did it. It was half an hour before I got that mad savage back. He was as unmanageable as a runaway horse. He had walloped the majority of the fifty himself; he had broken his own two sticks and used up a number of theirs; on his forehead there was a small cut and a lump like half an orange; and on the back of his head another cut left by the sticks of the enemy when eight or ten had rallied once in a half-hearted attempt to stand against him. It was strange how Jim, even in that mood, yielded to the touch of one whom he regarded as his "Inkos." I could not have forced him back: in that maniac condition it would have needed a powerful combination indeed to bring him back against his will. He yielded to the light grip of my hand on his wrist and walked freely along with me; but a fiery bounding vitality possessed him, and with long springy strides he stepped out-- looking excitedly about, turning to right and left or even right about, and stepping sideways or even backwards to keep pace with me--yet always yielding the imprisoned arm so as not to pull me about. And all the time there came from him a torrent of excited gabble in pure Zulu, too fast and too high-flown for me to follow, which was punctuated and paragraphed by bursting allusions to `dogs of Shangaans,' `axes,' `sticks,' and `Jock.' Near the waggons we passed over the `battlefield,' and a huge guffaw of laughter broke from Jim as we came on the abandoned impedimenta of the defeated enemy. Several of the bundles had burst open from the violence of the fall, and the odd collections of the natives were scattered about; others had merely shed the outside luggage of tin billies, beakers, pans, boots and hats. Jim looked on it all as the spoils of war, wanting to stop and gather in his loot there and then, and when I pressed on, he shouted to the other drivers to come out and collect the booty. But my chief anxiety was to end the wretched escapade as quickly as possible and get the Shangaans on their way again; so I sent Jim back to his place under the waggon, and told the cook-boy to give him the rest of my coffee and half a cup of sugar to provide him with something else to think of and to calm him down. After a wait of half an hour or so, a head appeared just over the rise, and then another and another, at irregular intervals and at various points: they were scouting very cautiously before venturing back again. I sat in the tent-waggon out of sight and kept quiet, hoping that in a few minutes they would gain confidence, collect their goods, and go their way again. Jim, lying flat under the waggon, was much lower than I was, and--continuing his gabble to the other boys--saw nothing. Unfortunately he looked round just as a scared face peered cautiously over the top of an ant-heap. The temptation was, I suppose, irresistible: he scrambled to his knees with a pretence of starting afresh and let out one ferocious yell that made my hair stand up; and in that second every head bobbed down and the field was deserted once more. If this went on there could be but one ending: the police would be appealed to, Jim arrested, and I should spend days hanging about the courts waiting for a trial from which the noble Jim would probably emerge with three months' hard labour; so I sallied out as my own herald of peace. But the position was more difficult than it looked: as soon as the Shangaans saw my head appearing over the rise, they scattered like chaff before the wind, and ran as if they would never stop. They evidently took me for the advance guard in a fresh attack, and from the way they ran seemed to suspect that Jim and Jock might be doing separate flanking movements to cut them off. I stood upon an ant-heap and waved and called, but each shout resulted in a fresh spurt and each movement only made them more suspicious. It seemed a hopeless case, and I gave it up. On the way back to the waggons, however, I thought of Sam--Sam, with his neatly patched European clothes, with the slouchy heavy-footed walk of a nigger in boots, with his slack lanky figure and serious timid face! Sam would surely be the right envoy; even the routed Shangaans would feel that there was nothing to fear there. But Sam was by no means anxious to earn laurels; he was clearly of the poet's view that "the paths of glory lead but to the grave;" and it was a poor-looking weak-kneed and much dejected scarecrow that dragged its way reluctantly out into the veld to hold parley with the routed enemy that day. At the first mention of Sam's name Jim had twitched round with a snort, but the humour of the situation tickled him when he saw the too obvious reluctance with which his rival received the honour conferred on him. Between rough gusts of laughter Jim rained on him crude ridicule and rude comments; and Sam slouched off with head bent, relieving his heart with occasional clicks and low murmurs of disgust. How far the new herald would have ventured, if he had not received most unexpected encouragement, is a matter for speculation. Jim's last shout was to advise him not to hide in an ant-bear hole; but, to Sam's relief, the Shangaans seemed to view him merely as a decoy, even more dangerous than I was; for, as no one else appeared, they had now no idea at all from which quarter the expected attack would come. They were widely scattered more than half a mile away when Sam came in sight; a brief pause followed in which they looked anxiously around, and then, after some aimless dashes about like a startled troop of buck, they seemed to find the line of flight and headed off in a long string down the valley towards the river. Now, no one had ever run away from Sam before, and the exhilarating sight so encouraged him that he marched boldly on after them. Goodness knows when, if ever, they would have stopped, if Sam had not met a couple of other natives whom the Shangaans had passed and induced them to turn back and reassure the fugitives. An hour later Sam came back in mild triumph, at the head of the Shangaan gang; and, `clothed in a little brief authority,' stood guard and superintended while they collected their scattered goods--all except the axe that caused the trouble. That they failed to find. The owner may have thought it wise to make no claim on me; Sam, if he remembered it, would have seen the Shangaans and all their belongings burned in a pile rather than raise so delicate a question with Jim; I had forgotten all about it--being anxious only to end the trouble and get the Shangaans off; and that villain Jim `lay low.' At the first outspan from Barberton next day I saw him carving his mark on the handle, unabashed, under my very nose. The next time Jim got drunk he added something to his opinion of Sam: "Sam no good: Sam leada Bible! Shangaan, Sam; Shangaan!" CHAPTER FOURTEEN. THE BERG. The last day of each trip in the Bush veld was always a day of trial and hard work for man and beast. The Berg stood up before us like an impassable barrier. Looked at from below the prospect was despairing-- from above, appalling. There was no road that the eye could follow. Here and there a broad furrowed streak of red soil straight down some steep grass-covered spur was visible: it looked like a mountain timber-slide or the scour of some tropical storm; and that was all one could see of it from below. For perhaps a week the towering bulwarks of the High veld were visible as we toiled along--at first only in occasional hazy glimpses, then daily clearer higher and grander, as the great barrier it was. After many hard treks through the broken foothills, with their rocky sideling slopes and boulder-strewn torrent beds, at last the Berg itself was reached. There, on a flat-topped terrace-like spur where the last outspan was, we took breath, halved our loads, double-spanned, and pulled ourselves together for the last big climb. From there the scoured red streaks stood out revealed as road tracks-- for, made road there was none; from there, lines of whitish rock and loose stones and big boulders, that one had taken for the beds of mountain torrents, stood revealed as bits of `road,' linking up some of the broken sections of the route; but even from there not nearly all the track was visible. The bumpy rumbling and heavy clattering of waggons on the rocky trail, the shouts of drivers and the crack of whips, mixed with confusing echoes from somewhere above, set one puzzling and searching higher still. Then in unexpected places here and there other waggons would be seen against the shadowy mountains, creeping up with infinite labour foot by foot, tacking at all sorts of angles, winding by undetected spur and slope and ridge towards the summit--the long spans of oxen and the bulky loads, dwarfed into miniature by the vast background, looking like snails upon a face of rock. To those who do not know, there is not much difference between spans of oxen; and the driving of them seems merely a matter of brute strength in arm and lung. One span looks like another; and the weird unearthly yells of the drivers, the cracks--like rifle-shots--of the long lashes, and the hum and thud of the more cruel doubled whip, seem to be all that is needed. But it is not so: heart and training in the cattle, skill and judgment in the driver, are needed there; for the Berg is a searching test of man and beast. Some, double-spanned and relieved of half their three-ton loads, will stick for a whole day where the pull is steepest, the road too narrow to swing the spans, and the curves too sharp to let the fifteen couples of bewildered and despairing oxen get a straight pull; whilst others will pass along slowly but steadily and without check, knowing what each beast will do and stand, when to urge and when to ease it, when and where to stop them for a blow, and how to get them all leaning to the yoke, ready and willing for the `heave together' that is essential for restarting a heavy load against such a hill. Patience, understanding, judgment, and decision: those are the qualities it calls for, and here again the white man justifies his claim to lead and rule; for, although they are as ten or twenty to one, there is not a native driver who can compare with the best of the white men. It was on the Berg that I first saw what a really first-class man can do. There were many waggons facing the pass that day; portions of loads, dumped off to ease the pull, dotted the roadside; tangles of disordered maddened spans blocked the way; and fragments of yokes, skeys, strops, and reims, and broken disselbooms, told the tale of trouble. Old Charlie Roberts came along with his two waggons. He was `old' with us--being nearly fifty; he was also stout and in poor health. We buried him at Pilgrim's Rest a week later: the cold, clear air on top of the Berg that night, when he brought the last load up, brought out the fever. It was his last trek. He walked slowly up past us, to "take a squint at things," as he put it, and see if it was possible to get past the stuck waggons; and a little later he started, making three loads of his two and going up with single spans of eighteen oxen each, because the other waggons, stuck in various places on the road, did not give him room to work double-spans. To us it seemed madness to attempt with eighteen oxen a harder task than we and others were essaying with thirty; we would have waited until the road ahead was clear. We were half-way up when we saw old Charlie coming along steadily and without any fuss at all. He had no second driver to help him; he did no shouting; he walked along heavily and with difficulty beside the span, playing the long whip lightly about as he gave the word to go or called quietly to individual oxen by name, but he did not touch them; and when he paused to `blow' them he leaned heavily on his whip-stick to rest himself. We were stopped by some break in the gear and were completely blocking the road when he caught up. Any one else would have waited: he pulled out into the rough sideling track on the slope below, to pass us. Even a good span with a good driver may well come to grief in trying to pass another that is stuck--for the sight and example are demoralising-- but old Charlie did not turn a hair; he went steadily on, giving a brisker call and touching up his oxen here and there with light flicks. They used to say he could kill a fly on a front ox or on the toe of his own boot with the voorslag of his big whip. The track he took was merely the scorings made by skidding waggons coming down the mountain; it was so steep and rough there that a pull of ten yards between the spells for breath was all one could hope for; and many were thankful to have done much less. At the second pause, as they were passing us, one of his oxen turned, leaning inwards against the chain, and looked back. Old Charlie remarked quietly, "I thought he would chuck it; only bought him last week. He's got no heart." He walked along the span up to the shirking animal, which continued to glare back at him in a frightened way, and touched it behind with the butt of his long whip-stick to bring it up to the yoke. The ox started forward into place with a jerk, but eased back again slightly as Charlie went back to his place near the after-oxen. Once more the span went on and the shirker got a smart reminder as Charlie gave the call to start, and he warmed it up well as a lesson while they pulled. At the next stop it lay back worse than before. Not one driver in a hundred would have done then what he did: they would have tried other courses first. Charlie dropped his whip quietly and outspanned the ox and its mate, saying to me as I gave him a hand: "When I strike a rotter, I chuck him out before he spoils the others!" In another ten minutes he and his stalwarts had left us behind. Old Charlie knew his oxen--each one of them, their characters and what they could do. I think he loved them too; at any rate, it was his care for them that day--handling them himself instead of leaving it to his boys--that killed him. Other men had other methods. Some are by nature brutal; others, only undiscerning or impatient. Most of them sooner or later realise that they are only harming themselves by ill-treating their own cattle; and that is one--but only the meanest--reason why the white man learns to drive better than the native, who seldom owns the span he drives; the better and bigger reasons belong to the qualities of race and the effects of civilisation. But, with all this, experience is as essential as ever; a beginner has no balanced judgment, and that explains something that I heard an old transport-rider say in the earliest days-- something which I did not understand then, and heard with resentment and a boy's uppish scorn. "The Lord help the beginner's boys and bullocks: starts by pettin', and ends by killin'. Too clever to learn; too young to own up; swearin' and sloggin' all the time; and never sets down to _think_ until the boys are gone and the bullocks done!" I felt hot all over, but had learned enough to keep quiet; besides, the hit was not meant for me, although the tip, I believe, was: the hit was at some one else who had just left us--one who had been given a start before he had gained experience and, naturally, was then busy making a mess of things himself and laying down the law for others. It was when the offender had gone that the old transport-rider took up the general question and finished his observations with a proverb which I had not heard before--perhaps invented it: "Yah!" he said, rising and stretching himself, "there's no rule for a young fool." I did not quite know what he meant, and it seemed safer not to inquire. The driving of bullocks is not an exalted occupation: it is a very humble calling indeed; yet, if one is able to learn, there are things worth learning in that useful school. But it is not good to stay at school all one's life. Brains and character tell there as everywhere; experience only gives them scope; it is not a substitute. The men themselves would not tell you so; they never trouble themselves with introspections and analyses, and if you asked one of them the secret of success, he might tell you "Commonsense and hard work," or curtly give you the maxims `Watch it,' and `Stick to it'--which to him express the whole creed, and to you, I suppose, convey nothing. Among themselves, when the prime topics of loads, rates, grass, water and disease have been disposed of, there is as much interest in talking about their own and each other's oxen as there is in babies at a mothers' meeting. Spans are compared; individual oxen discussed in minute detail; and the reputations of `front oxen,' in pairs or singly, are canvassed as earnestly as the importance of the subject warrants--for, "The front oxen are half the span," they say. The simple fact is that they `talk shop,' and when you hear them discussing the characters and qualities of each individual animal you may be tempted to smile in a superior way, but it will not eventually escape you that they think and observe, and that they study their animals and reason out what to do to make the most of them; and when they preach patience, consistency and purpose, it is the fruit of much experience, and nothing more than what the best of them practise. Every class has its world; each one's world--however small--is a whole world, and therefore a big world; for the little things are magnified and seem big, which is much the same thing: Crusoe's island was a world to him and he got as much satisfaction out of it as Alexander or Napoleon--probably a great deal more. The little world is less complicated than the big, but the factors do not vary; and so it may be that the simpler the calling, the more clearly apparent are the working of principles and the relations of cause and effect. It was so with us. To you, as a beginner, there surely comes a day when things get out of hand and your span, which was a good one when you bought it, goes wrong: the load is not too heavy; the hill not too steep; the work is not beyond them for they have done it all before; but now no power on earth, it seems, will make them face the pull. Some jib and pull back; some bellow and thrust across; some stand out or swerve under the chain; some turn tail to front, half choked by the twisted strops, the worn-out front oxen turn and charge downhill; and all are half frantic with excitement, bewilderment or terror. The constant shouting, the battle with refractory animals, the work with the whip, and the hopeless chaos and failure, have just about done you up; and then some one--who knows-- comes along, and, because you block the way where he would pass and he can see what is wrong, offers to give a hand. Dropping his whip he moves the front oxen to where the foothold is best and a straight pull is possible; then walks up and down the team a couple of times talking to the oxen and getting them into place, using his hand to prod them up without frightening them, until he has the sixteen standing as true as soldiers on parade--their excitement calmed, their confidence won, and their attention given to him. Then, one word of encouragement and one clear call to start, and the sixteen lean forward like one, the waggon lifts and heaves, and out it goes with a rattle and rush. It looks magical in its simplicity; but no lecturer is needed to explain the magic, and if honest with yourself you will turn it over that night, and with a sense of vague discomfort it will all become clear. You may be tempted, under cover of darkness, to find a translation for `watch it' and `stick to it!' more befitting your dignity and aspirations: `observation and reasoning,' `patience and purpose,' will seem better; but probably you will not say so to any one else, for fear of being laughed at. And when the new-found knowledge has risen like yeast, and is ready to froth over in advice to others, certain things will be brought home to you with simple directness: that, sufficient unto the yeast is the loaf it has to make; that, there is only one person who has got to learn from you--yourself; and that, it is better to be still, for if you keep your knowledge to yourself you keep your ignorance from others. A marked span brands the driver. The scored bullock may be a rogue or may be a sulky obstinate brute; but the chances are he is either badly trained or overworked, and the whip only makes matters worse; the beginner cannot judge, and the oxen suffer. Indeed, the beginner may well fail in the task, for there are many and great differences in the temperaments and characters of oxen, just as there are in other animals or in human beings. Once in Mashonaland, when lions broke into a kraal and killed and ate two donkeys out of a mixed lot, the mules were found next day twenty miles away; some of the oxen ran for several miles, and some stopped within a few hundred yards; two men who had been roused by the uproar saw in the moonlight one old bullock stroll out through the gap in the kraal and stop to scratch his back with his horn; and three others were contentedly dozing within ten yards of the half-eaten donkeys when we went to the kraal in the early morning and found out what had happened. There are no two alike! You find them nervous and lethargic, timid and bold, independent and sociable, exceptional and ordinary, willing and sulky, restless and content, staunch and faint-hearted--just like human beings. I can remember some of them now far better than many of the men known then and since:--Achmoed and Bakir, the big after-oxen who carried the disselboom contentedly through the trek and were spared all other work to save them for emergencies; who, at a word, heaved together-- their great backs bent like bows and their giant strength thrown in to hoist the waggon from the deepest hole and up the steepest hill; who were the standby in the worst descents, lying back on their haunches to hold the waggon up when brakes could do no more; and inseparables always--even when outspanned the two old comrades walked together. There was little Zole, contented, sociable and short of wind, looking like a fat boy on a hot day, always in distress. There was Bantom, the big red ox with the white band, lazy and selfish, with an enduring evil obstinacy that was simply incredible. There was Rooiland, the light red, with yellow eyeballs and topped horns, a fierce, wild, unapproachable, unappeasable creature, restless and impatient, always straining to start, always moaning fretfully when delayed, nervous as a young thoroughbred, aloof and unfriendly to man and beast, ever ready to stab or kick even those who handled him daily, wild as a buck, but untouched by whip and uncalled by name; who would work with a straining, tearing impatience that there was no checking, ever ready to outpace the rest, and at the outspan standing out alone, hollow-flanked and panting, eyes and nostrils wide with fierceness and distress, yet always ready to start again--a miracle of intense vitality! And then there was old Zwaartland, the coal-black front ox, and the best of all: the sober steadfast leader of the span, who knew his work by heart and answered with quickened pace to any call of his name; swinging wide at every curve to avoid cutting corners; easing up, yet leading free, at every steep descent, so as neither to rush the incline nor entangle the span; holding his ground, steady as a rock when the big pull came, heedless of how the team swayed and strained--steadfast even when his mate gave in. He stood out from all the rest; the massive horns--like one huge spiral pin passed through his head, eight feet from tip to tip--balancing with easy swing; the clean limbs and small neat feet moving with the quick precision of a buck's tread; and the large grave eyes so soft and clear and deep! For those who had eyes to see the book lay open: there, as elsewhere; there, as always. Jock, with his courage, fidelity and concentration, held the secrets of success! Jim--dissolute, turbulent and savage-- could yield a lesson too; not a warning only, sometimes a crude but clear example! The work itself was full of test and teaching; the hard abstemious life had its daily lessons in patience and resource, driven home by every variety of means and incident on that unkindly road. And the dumb cattle--in their plodding toil, in their sufferings from drought and over-work, and in their strength and weakness--taught and tested too. There is little food for self-content when all that is best and worst comes out; but there is much food for thought. There was a day at Kruger's Post when everything seemed small beside the figure of one black front ox, who held his ground when all others failed. The waggon had sunk to the bed-plank in gluey turf, and, although the whole load had been taken off, three spans linked together failed to move it. For eight hours that day we tried to dig and pull it out, but forty-four oxen on that soft greasy flat toiled in vain. The long string of bullocks, desperate from failure and bewilderment, swayed in the middle from side to side to seek escape from the flying whips; the unyielding waggon held them at one end, and the front oxen, with their straining fore feet scoring the slippery surface as they were dragged backwards, strove to hold them true at the other. Seven times that day we changed, trying to find a mate who would stand with Zwaartland; but he wore them all down. He broke their hearts and stood it out alone! I looked at the ground afterwards: it was grooved in long parallel lines where the swaying spans had pulled him backwards, with his four feet clawing the ground in the effort to hold them true; but he had never once turned or wavered. And there was a day at Sand River, when we saw a different picture. The waggons were empty, yet as we came up out of the stony drift, Bantom the sulky hung lazily back, dragging on his yoke and throwing the span out of line. Jim curled the big whip round him, without any good effect, and when the span stopped for a breather in the deep narrow road, he lay down and refused to budge. There was no reason in the world for it except the animal's obstinate sulky temper. When the whip--the giraffe-hide thong, doubled into a heavy loop--produced no effect, the boys took the yoke off to see if freedom would tempt the animal to rise! It did. At the first touch of the whip Bantom jumped up and charged them; and then, seeing that there was nothing at all the matter, the boys inspanned him and made a fresh start--not touching him again for fear of another fit of sulks; but at the first call on the team, down he went again. Many are the stories of cruelty to oxen, and I had never understood how human beings could be so fiendishly cruel as to do some of the things that one heard of, such as stabbing, smothering and burning cattle; nor under what circumstances or for what reasons such acts of brutality could be perpetrated; but what I saw that day threw some light on these questions, and, more than anything else, it showed the length to which sulkiness and obstinacy will go, and made me wonder whether the explanation was to be sought in endurance of pain through temper or in sheer incapacity to feel pain at all. This is no defence of such things; it is a bare recital of what took place--the only scene I can recall of what would be regarded as wanton cruelty to oxen; and to that extent it is an explanation, and nothing more! Much greater and real cruelty I have seen done by work and punishment; but it was due to ignorance, impatience, or--on rare occasions--uncontrollable temper; it did not look deliberate and wanton. There were two considerations here which governed the whole case. The first was that as long as the ox lay there it was impossible to move the waggon, and there was no way for the others to pass it; the second, that the ox was free, strong and perfectly well, and all he had to do was to get up and walk. The drivers from the other waggons came up to lend a hand and clear the way so that they might get on; sometimes three were at it together with their double whips; and, before they could be stopped, sticks and stones were used to hammer the animal on the head and horns, along the spine, on the hocks and shins, and wherever he was supposed to have feeling; then he was tied by the horns to the trek-chain, so that the span would drag him bodily; but not once did he make the smallest effort to rise. The road was merely a gutter scoured out by the floods and it was not possible either to drag the animal up the steep sides or to leave him and go on--the waggon would have had to pass over him. And all this time he was outspanned and free to go; but would not stir. Then they did the kaffir trick--doubled the tail and bit it: very few bullocks will stand that, but Bantom never winced. Then they took their clasp knives and used them as spurs--not stabbing to do real injury, but pricking enough to draw blood in the fleshy parts, where it would be most felt: he twitched to the pricks--but nothing more. Then they made a fire close behind him, and as the wood blazed up, the heat seemed unendurable; the smell of singed hair was strong, and the flames, not a foot away, seemed to roast the flesh, and one of the drivers took a brand and pressed the glowing red coal against the inside of the hams; but, beyond a vicious kick at the fire, there was no result. Then they tried to suffocate him, gripping the mouth and nostrils so that he could not breathe; but, when the limit of endurance was reached and even the spectators tightened up with a sense of suffocation, a savage shake of the head always freed it--the brute was too strong for them. Then they raised the head with reims, and with the nose held high poured water down the nostrils, at the same time keeping the mouth firmly closed; but he blew the water all over them and shook himself free again. For the better part of an hour the struggle went on, but there was not the least sign of yielding on Bantom's part, and the string of waiting waggons grew longer, and many others, white men and black, gathered round watching, helping or suggesting. At last some one brought a bucket of water, and into this Bantom's muzzle was thrust as far as it would go, and reims passed through the ears of the bucket were slipped round his horns so that he could not shake himself free at will. We stood back and watched the animal's sides for signs of breathing. For an incredible time he held out; but at last with a sudden plunge he was up; a bubbling muffled bellow came from the bucket; the boys let go the reims; and the terrified animal ridding himself of the bucket after a frantic struggle, stood with legs apart and eyeballs starting from the sockets, shaking like a reed. But nothing that had happened revealed the vicious ingrained obstinacy of the animal's nature so clearly as the last act in the struggle: it stood passive, and apparently beaten, while the boys inspanned it again. But at the first call to the team to start, and without a touch to provoke its temper again, it dropped down once more. Not one of all those looking on would have believed it possible; but there it was! In the most deliberate manner the challenge was again flung down, and the whole fight begun afresh. We felt really desperate: one could think of nothing but to repeat the bucket trick; for it was the only one that had succeeded at all. The bucket had been flung aside on the stones as the ox freed itself, and one of the boys picked it up to fetch more water. But no more was needed: the rattle of the bucket brought Bantom to his feet with a terrified jump, and flinging his whole weight into the yoke, he gave the waggon a heave that started the whole span, and they went out at a run. The drivers had not even picked up their whips: the only incentive applied was the bucket, which the boy--grasping the position at once-- rattled vigorously behind Bantom, doubling his frantic eagerness to get away, amid shouts of encouragement and laughter from the watching group. The trials and lessons of the work came in various shapes and at every turn; and there were many trials where the lesson was not easy to read. It would have taken a good man to handle Bantom, at any time--even in the beginning; but, full-grown, and confirmed in his evil ways, only the butcher could make anything out of him. And only the butcher did! CHAPTER FIFTEEN. PARADISE CAMP. There is a spot on the edge of the Berg which we made our summer quarters. When September came round and the sun swung higher in the steely blue, blazing down more pitilessly than ever; when the little creeks were running dry and the water-holes became saucers of cracked mud; when the whole country smelt of fine impalpable dust; it was a relief to quit the Bushveld, and even the hunting was given up almost without regret. On the Berg the air was clear and bracing, as well it might be five to seven thousand feet above the sea. The long green sweeps of undulating country were broken by deep gorges where the mountain streams had cut their way through the uptilted outer edge of the big plateau and tumbled in countless waterfalls into the Bushveld below; and behind the rolling downs again stood the remnants of the upper formation--the last tough fragments of those rocks which the miners believed originally held the gold--worn and washed away, inch by inch and ounce by ounce ever since the Deluge. These broken parapets stood up like ruins of giant castles with every layer in their formation visible across their rugged time-worn fronts--lines, in places a few yards only and in others a mile or more in length, laid one upon another as true as any spirit level could set them--and a wealth of colouring over all that, day by day, one thought more wonderful in variety and blend. Grey and black and yellow, white and red and brown, were there; yet all harmonising, all shaded by growths of shrub and creeper, by festoons of moss or brilliant lichen, all weather-stained and softened, all toned, as time and nature do it, to make straight lines and many colours blend into the picturesque. Paradise Camp perched on the very edge of the Berg. Behind us rolled green slopes to the feet of the higher peaks, and in front of us lay the Bushveld. From the broken battlements of the Berg we looked down three thousand feet, and eastward to the sea a hundred and fifty miles away, across the vast panorama. Black densely-timbered kloofs broke the edge of the plateau into a long series of projecting turrets, in some places cutting far in, deep crevices into which the bigger waterfalls plunged and were lost. But the top of the Berg itself was bare of trees: the breeze blew cool and fresh for ever there; the waters trickled and splashed in every little break or tumbled with steady roar down the greater gorges; deep pools, fringed with masses of ferns, smooth as mirrors or flecked with dancing sunlight, were set like brilliants in the silver chain of each little stream; and rocks and pebbles, wonderful in their colours, were magnified and glorified into polished gems by the sparkling water. But Nature has her moods, and it was not always thus at Paradise Camp. When the cold mist-rains, like wet grey fogs, swept over us and for a week blotted out creation, it was neither pleasant nor safe to grope along the edge of the Berg, in search of strayed cattle--wet and cold, unable to see, and checked from time to time by a keener straighter gust that leapt up over the unseen precipice a few yards off. And there was still another mood when the summer rains set in and the storms burst over us, and the lightning stabbed viciously in all directions, and the crackling crash of the thunder seemed as if the very Berg itself must be split and shattered. Then the rivers rose; the roar of waters was all around us; and Paradise Camp was isolated from the rest by floods which no man would lightly face. Paradise Camp stood on the edge of the kloof where the nearest timber grew; Tumbling Waters, where stood the thousand grey sandstone sentinels of strange fantastic shapes, was a couple of miles away facing Black Bluff, the highest point of all, and The Camel, The Wolf, The Sitting Hen and scores more, rough casts in rock by Nature's hand, stood there. Close below us was the Bathing Pool, with its twenty feet of purest water, its three rock-ledge `springboards,' and its banks of moss and canopies of tree-ferns. Further down the stream spread in a thousand pools and rapids over a mile of black bedrock and then poured in one broad sheet over Graskop Falls. And still further down were the Mac Mac Falls, three hundred feet straight drop into the rock-strewn gorge, where the straight walls were draped with staghorn moss, like countless folds of delicate green lace, bespangled by the spray. We were felling and slipping timber for the goldfields then, and it was in these surroundings that the work was done. It was a Sunday morning, and I was lying on my back on a sack-stretcher taking it easy, when Jock gave a growl and trotted out. Presently I heard voices in the next hut and wondered who the visitors were--too lazily content to get up and see; then a cold nose was poked against my cheek and I looked round to see Jess's little eyes and flickering ears within a few inches of my face. For the moment she did not look cross, but as if a faint smile of welcome were flitting across a soured face; then she trotted back to the other hut where Ted was patting Jock and trying to trace a likeness to The Rat. It was a long time since mother and son had been together, and if the difference between them was remarkable, the likeness seemed to me more striking still. Jock had grown up by himself and made himself; he was so different from other dogs that I had forgotten how much he owed to good old Jess; but now that they were once more side by side everything he did and had done recalled the likeness and yet showed the difference between them. Many times as we moved about the camp or worked in the woods they walked or stood together, sometimes sniffing along some spoor and sometimes waiting and watching for us to come up--handsome son and ugly mother. Ugly she might be, with her little fretful hostile eyes and her uncertain ever-moving ears, and silent sour and cross; but stubborn fidelity and reckless courage were hers too; and all the good Jock had in him came from Jess. To see them side by side was enough: every line in his golden brindled coat had its counterpart in her dull markings; his jaw was hers, with a difference, every whit as determined but without the savage look; his eyes were hers--brown to black as the moods changed--yet not fretful and cross, but serenely observant, when quiet, and black, hot and angry, like hers, when roused--yet without the look of relentless cruelty; his ears were hers--and yet how different, not shifting, flickering and ever on the move, nor flattened back with the look of most uncertain temper, but sure in their movements and faithful reflectors of more sober moods and more balanced temper, and so often cocked--one full and one half-- with a look of genuinely friendly interest which, when he put his head on one side, seemed to change in a curiously comical way into an expression of quiet amusement. The work kept us close to camp and we gave no thought to shooting; yet Jess and Jock had some good sport together. We gave them courses for breathers after Oribi in the open, but these fleetest of little antelopes left them out of sight in very few minutes. Bushbuck too were plentiful enough, but so wily in keeping to the dark woods and deep kloofs that unless we organised a drive the only chance one got was to stalk them in the early morning as they fed on the fringes of the bush. I often wondered how the dogs would have fared with those desperate fighters that have injured and killed more dogs and more men than any other buck, save perhaps the Sable. Once they caught an ant-bear in the open, and there was a rough-and-tumble; we had no weapons--not even sticks--with us, and the dogs had it all to themselves. The clumsy creature could do nothing with them; his powerful digging claws looked dangerous, but the dogs never gave him a chance; he tried hard to reach his hole, but they caught him as he somersaulted to dodge them, and, one in front and one behind, worried the life out of him. Once they killed a tiger-cat. We heard the rush and the row, and scrambled down through the tangled woods as fast as we could, but they fought on, tumbling and rolling downhill before us, and when we came up to them it was all over and they were tugging and tearing at the lifeless black and white body, Jess at the throat and Jock at the stomach. The cat was as big as either of them and armed with most formidable claws, which it had used to some purpose, for both dogs were torn and bleeding freely in several places. Still they thoroughly enjoyed it and searched the place afresh every time we passed it, as regularly as a boy looks about where he once picked up a sixpence. Then the dainty little klipspringers led them many a crazy dance along the crags and ledges of the mountain face, jumping from rock to rock with the utmost ease and certainty and looking down with calm curiosity at the clumsy scrambling dogs as they vainly tried to follow. The dassies too--watchful, silent and rubber-footed--played hide-and-seek with them in the cracks and crevices; but the dogs had no chance there. Often there were races after baboons. There were thousands of them along the Berg, but except when a few were found in the open, we always called the dogs in. Among a troop of baboons the best of dogs would have no show at all. Ugly, savage and treacherous as they are, they have at least one quality which compels admiration--they stand by each other. If one is attacked or wounded the others will often turn back and help, and they will literally tear a dog to pieces. Even against one full-grown male a dog has little or no chance; for they are very powerful, quick as lightning, and fierce fighters. Their enormous jaws and teeth outmatch a dog's, and with four `hands' to help them the advantage is altogether too great. Their method of fighting is to hold the dog with all four feet and tear pieces out of him with their teeth. We knew the danger well, for there was a fighting baboon at a wayside place not far from us--a savage brute, owned by a still greater savage. It was kept chained up to a pole with its house on the top of the pole; and what the owner considered to be a good joke was to entice dogs up, either to attack the baboon or at least to come sniffing about within reach of it, and then see them worried to death. The excuse was always the same: "Your dog attacked the baboon. I can't help it." Sometimes the dogs were rescued by their owners; but many were killed. To its native cunning this brute added all the tricks that experience had taught, sometimes hiding up in its box to induce the dog to come sniffing close up; sometimes grubbing in the sand for food, pretending not to see the intruder until he was well within reach; sometimes running back in feigned alarm to draw him on. Once it got a grip the baboon threw itself on its side or back and, with all four feet holding the dog off, tore lumps out of the helpless animal. A plucky dog that would try to make a fight of it had no chance; the only hope was to get away, if possible. Not every baboon is a fighter like this, but in almost every troop there will be at least one terrible old fellow, and the biggest, strongest and fiercest always dominate and lead the others; and their hostility and audacity are such that they will loiter behind the retreating troop and face a man on foot or on horseback, slowly and reluctantly giving way, or sometimes moving along abreast, a hostile escort, giving loud roars of defiance and hoarse challenges as though ready on the least provocation or excuse to charge. It is not a pleasant position for an unarmed man, as at the first move or call from the leader the whole troop would come charging down again. It is not actual danger that impresses one, but the uncanny effect of the short defiant roars, the savage half-human look of the repulsive creatures, their still more human methods of facial expression and threatening attitudes, their tactics in encircling their object and using cover to approach and peer out cautiously from behind it, and their evident co-operation and obedience to the leader's directions and example. One day while at work in the woods there came to us a grizzled worn-looking old kaffir, whose head ring of polished black wax attested his dignity as a kehla. He carried an old musket and was attended by two youngsters armed with throwing-sticks and a hunting assegai each. He appeared to be a `somebody' in a small way, and we knew at a glance that he had not come for nothing. There is a certain courtesy and a good deal of formality observed among the natives which is appreciated by but few of the white men who come in contact with them. One reason for this failure in appreciation is that native courtesy is in its method and expression sometimes just the reverse of what we consider proper; and if actions which seem suggestive of disrespect were judged from the native's standpoint, and according to his code, there would be no misunderstanding. The old man, passing and ignoring the group of boys, came towards us as we sat in the shade for the midday rest, and slowly came to a stand a few yards off, leaning on his long flint-lock quietly taking stock of us each in turn, and waiting for us to inspect him. Then, after three or four minutes of this, he proceeded to salute us separately with "Sakubona, Umlungu!" delivered with measured deliberation at intervals of about a quarter of a minute, each salutation being accompanied by the customary upward movement of the head--their respectful equivalent of our nod or bow. When he had done the round, his two attendants took their turns, and when this was over, and another long pause had served to mark his respect, he drew back a few paces to a spot about half-way between us and where the kaffirs sat, and, tucking his loin skins comfortably under him, squatted down. Ten minutes more elapsed before he allowed his eyes to wander absently round towards the boys and finally to settle on them for a repetition of the performance that we had been favoured with. But in this case it was they who led off with the "Sakubona, Umganaam!" which he acknowledged with the raising of the head and a soft murmur of contented recognition, "A-he." Once more there was silence for a spell, while he waited to be questioned in the customary manner and to give an account of himself, before it would be courteous or proper to introduce the subject of his visit. It was Jim's voice that broke the silence--clear and imperative, as usual, but not uncivil. It always was Jim who cut in, as those do who are naturally impatient of delays and formalities. "Velapi, Umganaam?" (Where do you come from, friend?) he asked, putting the question which is recognised as courteously providing the stranger with an opening to give an account of himself; and he is expected and required to do so to their satisfaction before he in turn can ask all about them, their occupations, homes, destination and master, and his occupation, purpose and possessions. The talk went round in low exchanges until at last the old man moved closer and joined the circle; and then the other voices dropped out, only to be heard once in a while in some brief question or that briefest of all comments--the kaffir click and "Ow!" It may mean anything, according to the tone, but it was clearly sympathetic on that occasion. The old man's voice went on monotonously in a low-pitched impassive tone; but the boys hung intent on every word to the end. Then one or two questions, briefly answered in the same tone of detached philosophic indifference, brought their talk to a close. The old fellow tapped his carved wood snuff-box with the carefully-preserved long yellowish nail of one forefinger, and pouring some snuff into the palm of his hand, drew it into each nostril in turn with long luxurious sniffs; and then, resting his arms on his knees, he relapsed into complete silence. We called the boys to start work again, and they came away, as is their custom, without a word or look towards the man whose story had held them for the last half-hour. Nor did he speak or stir, but sat on unmoved, a picture of stoical indifference. But who can say if it be indifference or fatalism or the most astute diplomacy? Among white men opinions differ: I put it down as fatalism. We asked no questions, for we knew it was no accident that had brought the old man our way: he wanted something, and we would learn soon enough what it was. So we waited. As we gathered round the fallen tree to finish the cleaning and slip it down to the track Jim remarked irrelevantly that tigers were `schelms,' and it was his conviction that there were a great many in the kloofs round about. At intervals during the next hour or so he dropped other scraps about tigers and their ways, and how to get at them and what good sport it was, winding up with a short account of how two seasons back an English `Capitaine' had been killed by one only a few miles away. Jim was no diplomatist: he had tiger on the brain, and showed it; so when I asked him bluntly what the old man had been talking about, the whole story came out. There was a tiger--it was of course the biggest ever seen--which had been preying on the old chief's kraal for the last six months: dogs, goats and kaffir sheep innumerable had disappeared, even fowls were not despised; and only two days ago the climax had been reached when, in the cool of the afternoon and in defiance of the yelling herd boy, it had slipped into the herd at the drinking-place and carried off a calf--a heifer-calf too! The old man was poor: the tiger had nearly ruined him; and he had come up to see if we, "who were great hunters," would come down and kill the thief, or at least lend him a tiger-trap, as he could not afford to buy one. In the evening when we returned to camp we found the old fellow there, and heard the story told with the same patient resignation or stoical indifference with which he had told it to the boys; and, if there was something inscrutable in the smoky eyes that might have hidden a more calculating spirit, it did not trouble us--the tiger was what we wanted; the chance seemed good enough; and we decided to go. Tigers--as they are almost invariably called, but properly, leopards--were plentiful enough and were often to be heard at night in the kloofs below; but they are extremely wary animals and in the inhabited parts rarely move about by day; however, the marauding habits and the audacity of this fellow were full of promise. The following afternoon we set off with our guns and blankets, a little food for two days, and the tiger-trap; and by nightfall we had reached the foot of the Berg by paths and ways which you might think only a baboon could follow. It was moonlight, and we moved along through the heavily-timbered kloofs in single file behind the shadowy figure of the shrivelled old chief. His years seemed no handicap to him, as with long easy soft-footed strides he went on hour after hour. The air was delightfully cool and sweet with the fresh smells of the woods; the damp carpet of moss and dead leaves dulled the sound of our more blundering steps; now and again through the thick canopy of evergreens we caught glimpses of the moon, and in odd places the light threw stumps or rocks into quaint relief or turned some tall bare trunk into a ghostly sentinel of the forest. We had crossed the last of the many mountain streams and reached open ground when the old chief stopped, and pointing to the face of a high krans--black and threatening in the shadow, as it seemed to overhang us--said that somewhere up there was a cave which was the tiger's home, and it was from this safe refuge that he raided the countryside. The kraal was not far off. From the top of the spur we could look round, as from the pit of some vast coliseum, and see the huge wall of the Berg towering up above and half enclosing us, the whole arena roofed over by the star-spattered sky. The brilliant moonlight picked out every ridge and hill, deepening the velvet black of the shadowed valleys, and on the rise before us there was the twinkling light of a small fire, and the sound of voices came to us, borne on the still night air, so clearly that words picked out here and there were repeated by our boys with grunting comments and chuckles of amusement. We started on again down an easy slope passing through some bush, and at the bottom came on level ground thinly covered with big shady trees and scattered undergrowth. As we walked briskly through the flecked and dappled light and shade, we were startled by the sudden and furious rush of Jess and Jock off the path and away into the scrub on the left; and immediately after there was a grunting noise, a crashing and scrambling, and then one sharp clear yelp of pain from one of the dogs. The old chief ran back behind us, shouting "Ingwa, ingwa!" (Tiger, tiger). We slipped our rifles round and stood facing front, unable to see anything and not knowing what to expect. There were sounds of some sort in the bush--something like a faint scratching, and something like smothered sobbing grunts, but so indistinct as to be more ominous and disquieting than absolute silence. "He has killed the dogs," the old chief said, in a low voice. But as he said it there was a rustle in front, and something came out towards us. The guns were up and levelled, instantly, but dropped again when we saw it was a dog; and Jess came back limping badly and stopping every few paces to shake her head and rub her mouth against her fore-paws. She was in great pain and breathed out faint barely-audible whines from time to time. We waited for minutes, but Jock did not appear; and as the curious sounds still came from the bush we moved forward in open order, very slowly and with infinite caution. As we got closer, scouting each bush and open space, the sounds grew clearer, and suddenly it came to me that it was the noise of a body being dragged and the grunting breathing of a dog. I called sharply to Jock and the sound stopped; and taking a few paces forward then, I saw him in a moonlit space turning round and round on the pivot of his hind legs and swinging or dragging something much bigger than himself. Jim gave a yell and shot past me, plunging his assegai into the object and shouting "Porcupine, porcupine," at the top of his voice. We were all round it in a couple of seconds, but I think the porcupine was as good as dead even before Jim had stabbed it. Jock was still holding on grimly, tugging with all his might and always with the same movement of swinging it round him, or, of himself circling round it--perhaps that is the fairer description, for the porcupine was much the heavier. He had it by the throat where the flesh is bare of quills, and had kept himself out of reach of the terrible spikes by pulling away all the time, just as he had done with the duiker and other buck to avoid their hind feet. This encounter with the porcupine gave us a better chance of getting the tiger than we ever expected--too good a chance to be neglected; so we cut the animal up and used the worthless parts to bait the big tiger-trap, having first dragged them across the veld for a good distance each way to leave a blood spoor which would lead the tiger up to the trap. This, with the quantity of blood spread about in the fight, lying right in the track of his usual prowling ought to attract his attention, we thought; and we fastened the trap to a big tree, making an avenue of bushes up to the bait so that he would have to walk right over the trap hidden under the dead leaves, in order to get at the bait. We hoped that, if it failed to hold, it would at least wound him badly enough to enable us to follow him up in the morning. In the bright light of the fire that night, as Jock lay beside me having his share of the porcupine steaks, I noticed something curious about his chest, and on looking closer found the whole of his white `shirt front' speckled with dots of blood; he had been pricked in dozens of places, and it was clear that it had been no walk-over for him; he must have had a pretty rough handling before he got the porcupine on the swing. He was none the worse, however, and was the picture of contentment as he lay beside me in the ring facing the fire. But Jess was a puzzle. From the time that she had come hobbling back to us, carrying her one foot in the air and stopping to rub her mouth on her paws, we had been trying to find out what was the matter. The foot trouble was clear enough, for there was a quill fifteen inches long and as stiff and thick as a lead pencil still piercing the ball of her foot, with the needle-like point sticking out between her toes. Fortunately it had not been driven far through and the hole was small, so that once it was drawn and the foot bandaged she got along fairly well. It was not the foot that was troubling her; all through the evening she kept repeating the movement of her head, either rubbing it on her front legs or wiping her muzzle with the paws, much as a cat does when washing its face. She would not touch food and could not lie still for five minutes; and we could do nothing to help her. CHAPTER SIXTEEN. THE TIGER AND BABOONS. No one had doubted Jess's courage, even when we saw her come back alone: we knew there was something wrong, but in spite of every care and effort we could not find out what it was, and poor old Jess went through the night in suffering, making no sound, but moving from place to place weary and restless, giving long tired quivering sighs, and pawing at her mouth from time to time. In the morning light we again looked her all over carefully, and especially opened her mouth and examined that and her nostrils, but could find nothing to show what was wrong. The puzzle was solved by accident: Ted was sitting on the ground when she came up to him, looking wistfully into his face again with one of the mute appeals for help. "What is it, Jess, old girl?" he said, and reaching out, he caught her head in both hands and drew her towards him; but with a sharp exclamation he instantly let go again, pricked by something, and a drop of blood oozed from one finger-tip. Under Jess's right ear there was a hard sharp point just showing through the skin: we all felt it, and when the skin was forced back we saw it was the tip of a porcupine quill. There was no pulling it out or moving it, however, nor could we for a long time find where it had entered. At last Ted noticed what looked like a tiny narrow strip of bark adhering to the outside of her lower lip, and this turned out to be the broken end of the quill, snapped off close to the flesh; not even the end of the quill was visible--only the little strip that had peeled off in the breaking. Poor old Jess! We had no very grand appliances for surgery, and had to slit her lip down with an ordinary skinning knife. Ted held her between his knees and gripped her head with both hands, while one of us pulled with steel pliers on the broken quill until it came out. The quill had pierced her lower lip, entered the gums beside the front teeth, run all along the jaw and through the flesh behind, coming out just below the ear. It was over seven inches long. She struggled a little under the rough treatment, and there was a protesting whimper when we tugged; but she did not let out one cry under all the pain. We knew then that Jess had done her share in the fight, and guessed that it was she who in her reckless charge had rolled the porcupine over and given Jock his chance. The doctoring of Jess had delayed us considerably, and while we were still busy at it the old chief came up to say that his scouts had returned and reported that there was no tiger to be seen, but that they thought the trap had been sprung. They had not liked to go close up, preferring to observe the spot from a tree some way off. The first question was what to do with Jess. We had no collar or chain, of course, and nothing would induce her to stay behind once Ted started; she would have bitten through ropes and reims in a few minutes, and no kaffir would have faced the job of watching over and checking her. Finally we put her into one of the reed and mud huts, closing the entrance with some raw hides weighted with heavy stones; and off we went. We found the trap sprung and the bait untouched. The spoor was a tiger's, right enough, and we saw where it had circled suspiciously all round before finally entering the little fenced approach which we had built to shepherd it on to the trap. There each footprint was clear, and it appeared that instead of cautiously creeping right up to the bait and stepping on the setting-plate, it had made a pounce at the bait from about ten feet away, releasing the trap by knocking the spring or by touching the plate with the barrel of its body. The tiger had evidently been nipped, but the body was too big for the teeth to close on, and no doubt the spring it gave on feeling the grip underneath set it free with nothing worse than a bad scraping and a tremendous fright. There was plenty of hair and some skin on the teeth of the trap, but very little blood there, and none at all to be found round about. That was almost the worst result we could have had: the tiger was not crippled, nor was it wounded enough to enable us to track it, but must have been so thoroughly alarmed that it would certainly be extremely nervous and suspicious of everything now, and would probably avoid the neighbourhood for some time to come. The trap was clearly of no further use, but after coming so far for the tiger we were not disposed to give up the hunt without another effort. The natives told us it was quite useless to follow it up as it was a real `schelm,' and by that time would be miles away in some inaccessible krans. We determined however to go on, and if we failed to get a trace of the tiger, to put in the day hunting bushbuck or wild pig, both of which were fairly plentiful. We had not gone more than a few hundred yards when an exclamation from one of the boys made us look round, and we saw Jess on the opposite slope coming along full speed after us with her nose to the trail. She had scratched and bitten her way through the reed and mud wall of the hut, scared the wits out of a couple of boys who had tried to head her off, and raced away after us with a pack of kaffir mongrels yelping unnoticed at her heels. She really did not seem much the worse for her wounds, and was--for her--quite demonstrative in her delight at finding us again. In any case there was nothing to be done but to let her come, and we went on once more beating up towards the lair in the black krans with the two dogs in the lead. The guides led us down into the bed of one of the mountain streams, and following this up we were soon in the woods where the big trees meeting overhead made it dark and cool. It was difficult in that light to see anything clearly at first, and the considerable undergrowth of shrub and creepers and the boulders shed from the Berg added to the difficulty and made progress slow. We moved along as much as possible abreast, five or six yards apart, but were often driven by obstacles into the bed of the stream for short distances in order to make headway at all, and although there did not seem to be much chance of finding the tiger at home, we crept along cautiously and noiselessly, talking--when we had to--only in whispers. We were bunched together, preparing to crawl along a rock overhanging a little pool, when the boy in front made a sign and pointed with his assegai to the dogs. They had crossed the stream and were walking--very slowly and abreast--near the water's edge. The rawest of beginners would have needed no explanation. The two stood for a few seconds sniffing at a particular spot and then both together looked steadily upstream: there was another pause and they moved very slowly and carefully forward a yard or so and sniffed again with their noses almost touching. As they did this the hair on their backs and shoulders began to rise until, as they reached the head of the pool, they were bristling like hedgehogs and giving little purring growls. The guide went over to them while we waited, afraid to move lest the noise of our boots on the stones should betray us. After looking round for a bit he pointed to a spot on the bank where he had found the fresh spoor of the tiger, and picking up something there to show to us he came back to our side. It was a little fragment of whitish skin with white hairs on it. There was no doubt about it then: we were on the fresh spoor of the tiger where it had stopped to drink at the pool and probably to lick the scratches made by the trap; and leaving the bed of the stream it had gone through the thick undergrowth up towards the krans. We were not more than a hundred yards from the krans then, and the track taken by the tiger was not at all an inviting one. It was at first merely a narrow tunnel in the undergrowth up the steep hillside, through which we crept in single file with the two dogs a few yards in front; they moved on in the same silent deliberate way, so intent and strung up that they started slightly and instantly looked up in front at the least sound. As the ascent became steeper and more rocky, the undergrowth thinned and we were able to spread out into line once more, threading our way through several roughly-parallel game tracks or natural openings and stooping low to watch the dogs and take our cue from them. We were about fifteen yards from the precipitous face of the krans, and had just worked round a huge boulder into a space fairly free of bush but cumbered with many big rocks and loose stones, when the dogs stopped and stood quivering and bristling all over, moving their heads slowly about with noses well raised and sniffing persistently. There was something now that interested them more than the spoor: they winded the tiger itself, but could not tell where. No one stirred: we stood watching the dogs and snatching glances right and left among the boulders and their a shady creeper-hidden caves and recesses, and as we stood thus, grouped together in breathless silence, an electrifying snarling roar came from the krans above and the spotted body of the tiger shot like a streak out of the black mouth of a cave and across our front into the bush; there was a series of crashing bounds, as though a stone rolled from the mountain were leaping through the jungle; and then absolute silence. We explored the den; but there was nothing of interest in it--no remains of food, no old bones, or other signs of cubs. It seemed to be the retreat of a male tiger--secluded, quiet, and cool. The opening was not visible from any distance, a split-off slab of rock partly hiding it; but when we stood upon the rock platform we found that almost the whole of the horse-shoe bay in the Berg into which we had descended was visible, and it was with a "Wow!" of surprise and mortification that the kraal boys found they could see the kraal itself and their goats and cattle grazing on the slopes and in the valley below. Tigers do not take their kill to their dens unless there are young cubs to be fed; as a rule they feed where they kill, or as near to it as safety permits, and when they have fed their fill they carry off the remainder of the carcase and hide it. Lions, hyenas, and others leave what they cannot eat and return to it for their next feed; but tigers are more provident and more cunning, and--being able to climb trees-- they are very much more difficult to follow or waylay by means of their kill. They are not big fellows, rarely exceeding seven feet from nose to tip of tail and 130 pounds in weight; but they are extraordinarily active and strong, and it is difficult to believe until one has seen the proof of it that they are able to climb the bare trunk of a tree carrying a kill much bigger and heavier than themselves, and hang it safely wedged in some hidden fork out of reach of any other animal. I have repeatedly seen the remains of their victims in the forks of trees; once it was part of a pig, but on the other occasions the remains were of horned animals; the pig was balanced in the fork; the others were hooked in by the heads and horns. A well-known hunter once told me an experience of his illustrating the strength and habits of tigers. He had shot a young giraffe and carried off as much as he could put on his horse, and hid the rest; but when he returned next morning it had disappeared, and the spoor of a full-grown tiger told him why. He followed the drag mark up to the foot of a big tree and found the remains of the carcase, fully 300 pounds in weight, in a fork more than twenty feet from the ground. He left it there as a bait and returned again the following morning on the chance of a shot; but the meat had once more been removed and on following up the spoor he found what was left hidden in another tree some two hundred yards away. It would have been waste of time to follow our tiger--he would be on the watch and on the move for hours; so we gave it up at once, and struck across the spurs for another part of the big arena where pig and bushbuck were known to feed in the mornings. It was slow and difficult work, as the bush was very dense and the ground rough. The place was riddled with game tracks, and we saw spoor of koodoo and eland several times, and tracks innumerable of wild pig, rietbuck, bushbuck, and duiker. But there was more than spoor: a dozen times we heard the crash of startled animals through the reeds or bush only a few yards away without being able to see a thing. We had nearly reached the kloof we were aiming for when we had the good luck to get a bushbuck in a very unexpected way. We had worked our way out of a particularly dense patch of bush and brambles into a corner of the woods and were resting on the mossy ground in the shade of the big trees when the sound of clattering stones a good way off made us start up again and grab our rifles; and presently we saw, outlined against the band of light which marked the edge of the timber, a buck charging down towards us. Three of us fired together, and the buck rolled over within a few yards of where we stood. We were then in a `dead end' up against the precipitous face of the Berg where there was no road or path other than game tracks, and where no human being ever went except for the purpose of hunting. We knew there was no one else shooting there, and it puzzled us considerably to think what had scared the bushbuck; for the animal had certainly been startled and perhaps chased; the pace, the noise it made, and the blind recklessness of its dash, all showed that. The only explanation we could think of was that the tiger, in making a circuit along the slopes of the Berg to get away from us, must have put the buck up and driven it down on to us in the woods below, and if that were so, the reports of our rifles must have made him think that he was never going to get rid of us. We skinned and cut up the buck and pushed on again; but the roughness of the trail and the various stoppages had delayed us greatly, and we failed to get the expected bag. We got one rietbuck and a young boar; the rietbuck was a dead shot; but the pig, from the shooting standpoint, was a most humiliating failure. A troop of twenty or thirty started up from under our feet as we came out of the blazing sunlight into the gloom of the woods, and no one could see well enough to aim. They were led by a grand boar, and the whole lot looked like a troop of charging lions as they raced by with their bristly manes erect and their tufted tails standing straight up. As we stood there, crestfallen and disgusted, we heard fresh grunting behind, and turning round we saw one pig racing past in the open, having apparently missed the troop while wallowing in a mudhole and known nothing of our intrusion until he heard the shooting. We gave him a regular broadside, and--as is usually the case when you think that quantity will do in place of quality--made an awful mess of it, and before we had time to reload Jess and Jock had cut in, and we could not fire again for fear of hitting them. The boys, wildly delighted by this irregular development which gave them such a chance, joined in the chase and in a few seconds it became a chaotic romp like a rat hunt in a schoolroom. The dogs ranged up on each side and were on to the pig together, Jess hanging on to one ear and Jock at the neck; the boar dug right and left at them, but his tusks were short and blunt, and if he managed to get at them at all they bore no mark of it afterwards. For about twenty yards they dragged and tugged, and then all three came somersaulting over together. In the scramble Jock got his grip on the throat, and Jess--rolled and trampled on--appeared between the pig's hind legs, sliding on her back with her teeth embedded in one of the hams. For half a minute the boar, grunting and snorting, plunged about madly, trying to get at them or to free himself; and then the boys caught up and riddled him with their assegais. After the two bombardments of the pigs and the fearful row made by the boys there was not much chance of putting up anything more, and we made for the nearest stream in the woods for a feed and a rest before returning to camp. We had failed to get the tiger, it is true, and it would be useless giving more time or further thought to him, for in all probability it would be a week or more before he returned to his old hunting-ground and his old marauding tricks, but the porcupine and the pig had provided more interest and amusement than much bigger game might have done, and on the whole, although disappointed, we were not dissatisfied: in fact, it would have needed an ungrateful spirit indeed to feel discontented in such surroundings. Big trees of many kinds and shapes united to make a canopy of leaves overhead through which only occasional shafts of sunlight struck. The cold mountain stream tumbling over ledges, swirling among rocks or rippling over pebble-strewn reaches, gurgled, splashed and bubbled with that wonderful medley of sounds that go to make the lullaby of the brook. The floor of the forest was carpeted with a pile of staghorn moss a foot thick, and maidenhair fern grew everywhere with the luxuriant profusion of weeds in a tropical garden. Traveller's Joy covered whole trees with dense creamy bloom and spread its fragrance everywhere; wild clematis trailed over stumps and fallen branches; quantities of maidenhair overflowed the banks and drooped to the water all along the course of the stream; whilst, marshalled on either side, huddled together on little islands, perched on rocks, and grouped on overhanging ledges, stood the tree-ferns--as though they had come to drink--their wide-reaching delicate fronds like giant green ostrich-feathers waving gently to each breath of air or quivering as the movement of the water shook the trunks. Long-tailed greeny-grey monkeys with black faces peered down at us, moving lightly on their branch trapezes, and pulled faces or chattered their indignant protest against intrusion; in the tops of the wild fig trees bright green pigeons watched us shyly--great big birds of a wonderful green; gorgeous louries too flashed their colours and raised their crests--pictures of extreme and comical surprise; golden cuckoos there were also and beautiful little green-backed ruby-throated honey-suckers, flitted like butterflies among the flowers on the sunlit fringe of the woods. Now and again guinea-fowl and bush-pheasant craned their necks over some fallen log or stone to peer curiously at us, then stooping low again darted along their well-worn runs into the thick bush. The place was in fact a natural preserve; a `bay' let into the wall of the Berg, half-encircled by cliffs which nothing could climb, a little world where the common enemy--man--seldom indeed intruded. We stayed there until the afternoon sun had passed behind the crest of the Berg above us; and, instead of going back the way we came, skirted along the other arm enclosing the bay to have the cool shade of the mountain with us on our return journey. But the way was rough; the jungle was dense; we were hot and torn and tired; and the shadow of the mountain stretched far out across the foothills by the time the corner was reached. We sat down to rest at last in the open on the long spur on which, a couple of miles away, the slanting sun picked out the red and black cattle, the white goats, and the brown huts of the kaffir kraal. Our route lay along the side of the spur, skirting the rocky backbone and winding between occasional boulders, clumps of trees and bush, and we had moved on only a little way when a loud "Waugh" from a baboon on the mountain behind made us stop to look back. The hoarse shout was repeated several times, and each time more loudly and emphatically; it seemed like the warning call of a sentry who had seen us. Moved by curiosity we turned aside on to the ridge itself, and from the top of a big rock scanned the almost precipitous face opposite. The spur on which we stood was divided from the Berg itself only by a deep but narrow kloof or ravine, and every detail of the mountain side stood out in the clear evening air, but against the many-coloured rocks the grey figure of a baboon was not easy to find as long as it remained still, and although from time to time the barking roar was repeated, we were still scanning the opposite hill when one of the boys pointed down the slope immediately below us and called out, "There, there, Baas!" The troop of baboons had evidently been quite close to us--hidden from us only by the little line of rocks--and on getting warning from their sentry on the mountain had stolen quietly away and were then disappearing into the timbered depth of the ravine. We sat still to watch them come out on the opposite side a few minutes later and clamber up the rocky face, for they are always worth watching; but while we watched, the stillness was broken by an agonised scream--horribly human in its expression of terror--followed by roars, barks, bellows and screams from scores of voices in every key; and the crackle of breaking sticks and the rattle of stones added to the medley of sound as the baboons raced out of the wood and up the bare rocky slope. "What is it?" "What's the matter?" "There's something after them." "Look, look! there they come:" burst from one and another of us as we watched the extraordinary scene. The cries from below seemed to waken the whole mountain; great booming "waughs" came from different places far apart and ever so high up the face of the Berg; each big roar seemed to act like a trumpet-call and bring forth a multitude of others; and the air rang with bewildering shouts and echoes volleying round the kloofs and faces of the Berg. The strange thing was that the baboons did not continue their terrified scramble up the mountain, but, once out of the bush, they turned and rallied. Forming an irregular semicircle they faced down hill, thrusting their heads forward with sudden jerks as though to launch their cries with greater vehemence, and feinting to charge; they showered loose earth, stones and debris of all sorts down with awkward underhand scrapes of their fore-paws, and gradually but surely descended to within a dozen yards of the bush's edge. "Baas, Baas, the tiger! Look, the tiger! There, there on the rock below!" Jim shot the words out in vehement gusts, choky with excitement; and true enough, there the tiger was. The long spotted body was crouched on a flat rock just below the baboons; he was broadside to us, with his fore-quarters slightly raised and his face turned towards the baboons; with wide-opened mouth he snarled savagely at the advancing line, and with right paw raised made threatening dabs in their direction. His left paw pinned down the body of a baboon. The voices from the mountain boomed louder and nearer as, clattering and scrambling down the face, came more and more baboons: there must have been hundreds of them; the semicircle grew thicker and blacker, more and more threatening, foot by foot closer. The tiger raised himself a little more and took swift looks from side to side across the advancing front, and then his nerve went, and with one spring he shot from the rock into the bush. There was an instant forward rush of the half-moon, and the rock was covered with roaring baboons, swarming over their rescued comrade; and a moment later the crowd scrambled up the slope again, taking the tiger's victim with them. In that seething rabble I could pick out nothing, but all the kaffirs maintained they could see the mauled one dragged along by its arms by two others, much as a child might be helped uphill. We were still looking excitedly about--trying to make out what the baboons were doing, watching the others still coming down the Berg, and peering anxiously for a sight of the tiger--when once more Jim's voice gave us a shock. "Where are the dogs?" he asked; and the question turned us cold. If they had gone after the baboons they were as good as dead already-- nothing could save them. Calling was useless: nothing could be heard in the roar and din that the enraged animals still kept up. We watched the other side of the ravine with something more than anxiety, and when Jock's reddish-looking form broke through the bracken near to the tiger's rock, I felt like shutting my eyes till all was over. We saw him move close under the rock and then disappear. We watched for some seconds--it may have been a minute, but it seemed an eternity--and then, feeling the utter futility of waiting there, jumped off the rock and ran down the slope in the hope that the dogs would hear us call from there. From where the slope was steepest we looked down into the bed of the stream at the bottom of the ravine, and the two dogs were there: they were moving cautiously down the wide stony watercourse just as we had seen them move in the morning, their noses thrown up and heads turning slowly from side to side. We knew what was coming; there was no time to reach them through the bush below; the cries of the baboons made calling useless; and the three of us sat down with rifles levelled ready to fire at the first sight. With gun gripped and breath hard held, watching intently every bush and tree and rock, every spot of light and shade, we sat--not daring to move. Then, over the edge of a big rock overlooking the two dogs, appeared something round; and, smoothly yet swiftly and with a snake-like movement, the long spotted body followed the head and, flattened against the rock, crept stealthily forward until the tiger looked straight down upon Jess and Jock. The three rifles cracked like one, and with a howl of rage and pain the tiger shot out over the dogs' heads, raced along the stony bed, and suddenly plunging its nose into the ground, pitched over--dead. It was shot through the heart, and down the ribs on each side were the scraped marks of the trap. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. BUFFALO BUSHFIRE AND WILD DOGS. The summer slipped away--the full-pulsed ripeness; of the year; beauty and passion; sunshine and storm; long spells of peace and gentleness, of springing life and radiant glory; short intervals of reckless tempest and destructive storm! Among the massed evergreens of the woods there stood out here and there bright spots of colour, the careless dabs from Nature's artist hand; yellow and brown, orange and crimson, all vividly distinct, yet all in perfect harmony. The rivers, fed from the replenished mountains' stores, ran full but clear; the days were bright; the nights were cold; the grass was rank and seeding; and it was time to go. Once more the Bushveld beckoned us away. We picked a spot where grass and water were good, and waited for the rivers to fall; and it was while loitering there that a small hunting party from the fields making for the Sabi came across us and camped for the night. In the morning two of our party joined them for a few days to try for something big. It was too early in the season for really good sport. The rank tropical grass--six to eight feet high in most places, twelve to fourteen in some--was too green to burn yet, and the stout stems and heavy seed heads made walking as difficult as in a field of tangled sugar cane; for long stretches it was not possible to see five yards, and the dew in the early mornings was so heavy that after a hundred yards of such going one was drenched to the skin. We were forced into the more open parts--the higher, stonier, more barren ground where just then the bigger game was by no means plentiful. On the third day two of us started out to try a new quarter in the hilly country rising towards the Berg. My companion, Francis, was an experienced hunter and his idea was that we should find the big game, not on the hot humid flats or the stony rises, but still higher up on the breezy hill tops or in the cool shady kloofs running towards the mountains. We passed a quantity of smaller game that morning, and several times heard the stampede of big animals--wildebeeste and waterbuck, as we found by the spoor--but it was absolutely impossible to see them. The dew was so heavy that even our hats were soaking wet, and times out of number we had to stop to wipe the water out of our eyes in order to see our way; a complete ducking would not have made the least difference. Jock fared better than we did, finding openings and game tracks at his own level, which were of no use to us; he also knew better than we did what was going on ahead, and it was tantalising in the extreme to see him slow down and stand with his nose thrown up, giving quick soft sniffs and ranging his head from side to side, when he knew there was something quite close, and knew too that a few more toiling steps in that rank grass would be followed by a rush of something which we would never see. Once we heard a foot stamp not twenty yards off, and stood for a couple of minutes on tip-toe trying to pierce the screen of grass in front, absolutely certain that eyes and ears were turned on us in death-like silence waiting for the last little proof of the intruder that would satisfy their owners and start them off before we could get a glimpse. The silence must have made them suspicious, for at some signal unknown to us the troop broke away and we had the mortification to see something, which we had ignored as a branch, tilt slowly back and disappear: there was no mistaking the koodoo bull's horns once they moved! After two hours of this we struck a stream, and there we made somewhat better pace and less noise, often taking to the bed of the creek for easier going. There, too, we found plenty of drinking-places and plenty of fresh spoor of the bigger game, and as the hills began to rise in view above the bush and trees, we found what Francis was looking for. Something caught his eye on the far side of the stream, and he waded in. I followed and when half-way through; saw the contented look on his face and caught his words: "Buffalo! I thought so!" We sat down then to think it out. The spoor told of a troop of a dozen to sixteen animals--bulls, cows, and calves; and it was that morning's spoor: even in the soft moist ground at the stream's edge the water had not yet oozed into most of the prints. Fortunately there was a light breeze from the hills, and as it seemed probable that in any case they would make that way for the hot part of the day we decided to follow for some distance on the track and then make for the likeliest poort in the hills. The buffalo had come up from the low country in the night on a course striking the creek diagonally in the drinking-place; their departing spoor went off at a slight tangent from the stream--the two trails making a very wide angle at the drinking-place and confirming the idea that after their night's feed in the rich grass lower down they were making for the hills again in the morning and had touched at the stream to drink. Jock seemed to gather from our whispered conversation and silent movements that there was work to hand, and his eyes moved from one face to the other as we talked, much as a child watches the faces in a conversation it cannot quite follow. When we got up and began to move along the trail, he gave one of his little sideways bounds, as if he half thought of throwing a somersault and restrained himself; and then with several approving waggings of his tail settled down at once to business. Jock went in front: it was best so, and quite safe, for, whilst certain to spot anything long before we could, there was not the least risk of his rushing it or making any noise. The slightest whisper of a "Hst" from me would have brought him to a breathless standstill at any moment; but even this was not likely to be needed, for he kept as close a watch on my face as I did on him. There was, of course, no difficulty whatever in following the spoor; the animals were as big as cattle, and their trail through the rank grass was as plain as a road: our difficulty was to get near enough to see them without being heard. Under the down-trodden grass there were plenty of dry sticks to step on, any of which would have been as fatal to our chances as a pistol shot, and even the unavoidable rustle of the grass might betray, us while the buffalo themselves remained hidden. Thus our progress was very slow, a particularly troublesome impediment being the grass stems thrown down across the trail by the animals crossing and re-crossing each others' spoor and stopping to crop a mouthful here and there or perhaps to play. The tambookie grass in these parts has a stem thicker than a lead pencil, more like young bamboo than grass; and these stems thrown cross-ways by storms or game make an entanglement through which the foot cannot be forced: it means high stepping all the time. We expected to follow the spoor for several miles before coming on the buffalo--probably right into the kloof towards which it appeared to lead--but were, nevertheless, quite prepared to drop on to them at any moment, knowing well how game will loiter on their way when undisturbed and vary their time and course, instinctively avoiding the too regular habits which would make them an easy prey. Jock moved steadily along the trodden track, sliding easily through the grass or jumping softly and noiselessly over impediments, and we followed, looking ahead as far as the winding course of the trail permitted. To right and left of us stood the screen of tall grass, bush and trees. Once Jock stopped, throwing up his nose, and stood for some seconds while we held our breath; but having satisfied himself that there was nothing of immediate consequence, he moved on again--rather more slowly, as it appeared to us. I looked at Francis's face; it was pale and set like marble, and his watchful grey eyes were large and wide like an antelope's, as though opened out to take in everything; and those moments of intense interest and expectation were the best part of a memorable day. There was something near: we felt it! Jock was going more carefully than ever, with his head up most of the time; and the feeling of expectation grew stronger and stronger until it amounted to absolute certainty. Then Jock stopped, stopped in mid-stride, not with his nose up ranging for scent, but with head erect, ears cocked, and tail poised--dead still: he was looking at something. We had reached the end of the grass where the bush and trees of the mountain slope had choked it out, and before us there was fairly thick bush mottled with black shadows and patches of bright sunlight in which it was most difficult to see anything. There we stood like statues, the dog in front with the two men abreast behind him, and all peering intently. Twice Jock slowly turned his head and looked into my eyes, and I felt keenly the sense of hopeless inferiority. "There it is, what are you going to do?" was what the first look seemed to say; and the second: "Well, what are you waiting for?" How long we stood thus it is, not possible to say: time is no measure of such things, and to me it seemed unending suspense; but we stood our ground scarcely breathing, knowing that something was there, because he saw it and told us so, and knowing that as soon as we moved it would be gone. Then close to the ground there was a movement--something swung, and the full picture flashed upon us. It was a buffalo calf standing in the shade of a big bush with its back towards us, and it was the swishing of the tail that had betrayed it. We dared not breathe a word or pass a look--a face turned might have caught some glint of light and shown us up; so we stood like statues each knowing that the other was looking for the herd and would fire when he got a chance at one of the full-grown animals. My eyes were strained and burning from the intensity of the effort to see; but except the calf I could not make out a living thing: the glare of the yellow grass in which we stood, and the sun-splotched darkness beyond it beat me. At last, in the corner of my eye, I saw Francis's rifle rise, as slowly--almost--as the mercury in a warmed thermometer. There was a long pause, and then came the shot and wild snorts of alarm and rage. A dozen huge black forms started into life for a second and as quickly vanished--scattering and crashing through the jungle. The first clear impression was that of Jock, who after one swift run forward for a few yards stood ready to spring off in pursuit, looking back at me and waiting for the word to go; but at the sign of my raised hand, opened with palm towards him, he subsided slowly and lay down flat with his head resting on his paws. "Did you see?" asked Francis. "Not till you fired. I heard it strike. What was it?" "Hanged if I know! I heard it too. It was one of the big uns; but bull or cow I don't know." "Where did you get it?" "Well, I couldn't make out more than a black patch in the bush. It moved once, but I couldn't see how it was standing--end on or across. It may be hit anywhere. I took for the middle of the patch and let drive. Bit risky, eh?" "Seems like taking chances." "Well, it was no use waiting: we came for this!" and then he added with a careless laugh, "They always clear from the first shot if you get 'em at close quarters, but the fun'll begin now. Expect he'll lay for us in the track somewhere." That is the way of the wounded buffalo--we all knew that; and old Rocky's advice came to mind with a good deal of point: "Keep cool and shoot straight--or stay right home;" and Jock's expectant watchful look smote me with another memory--"It was my dawg!" A few yards from where the buffalo had stood we picked up the blood spoor. There was not very much of it, but we saw from the marks on the bushes here and there, and more distinctly on some grass further on, that the wound was pretty high up and on the right side. Crossing a small stretch of more open bush we reached the dense growth along the banks of the stream, and as this continued up into the kloof it was clear we had a tough job before us. Animals when badly wounded nearly always leave the herd, and very often go down wind so as to be able to scent and avoid their pursuers. This fellow had followed the herd up wind, and that rather puzzled us. A wounded buffalo in thick bush is considered to be about as nasty a customer as any one may desire to tackle; for, its vindictive indomitable courage and extraordinary cunning are a very formidable combination, as a long list of fatalities bears witness. Its favourite device--so old hunters will tell you--is to make off down wind when hit, and after going for some distance, come back again in a semicircle to intersect its own spoor, and there under good cover lie in wait for those who may follow up. This makes the sport quite as interesting as need be, for the chances are more nearly even than they generally are in hunting. The buffalo chooses the ground that suits its purpose of ambushing its enemy, and naturally selects a spot where concealment is possible; but, making every allowance for this, it seems little short of a miracle that the huge black beast is able to hide itself so effectually that it can charge from a distance of a dozen yards on to those who are searching for it. The secret of it seems to lie in two things: first, absolute stillness; and second, breaking up the colour. No wild animal, except those protected by distance and open country, will stand against a background of light or of uniform colour, nor will it as a rule allow its own shape to form an unbroken patch against its chosen background. They work on Nature's lines. Look at the ostrich--the cock, black and handsome, so strikingly different from the commonplace grey hen! Considering that for periods of six weeks at a stretch they are anchored to one spot hatching the eggs, turn and turn about, it seems that one or other must be an easy victim for the beast of prey, since the same background cannot possibly suit both. But they know that too; so the grey hen sits by day, and the black cock by night! And the ostrich is not the fool it is thought to be--burying its head in the sand! Knowing how the long stem of a neck will catch the eye, it lays it flat on the ground, as other birds do, when danger threatens the nest or brood, and concealment is better than flight. That tame chicks will do this in a bare paddock is only a laughable assertion of instinct. Look at the zebra! There is nothing more striking, nothing that arrests the eye more sharply--in the Zoo--than this vivid contrast of colour; yet in the bush the wavy stripes of black and white, are a protection, enabling him to hide at will. I have seen a wildebeeste effectually hidden by a single blighted branch; a koodoo bull, by a few twisty sticks; a crouching lion, by a wisp of feathery grass no higher than one's knee, no bigger than a vase of flowers! Yet, the marvel of it is always fresh. After a couple of hundred yards of that sort of going, we changed our plan, taking to the creek again and making occasional cross-cuts to the trail, to be sure he was still ahead. It was certain then that the buffalo was following the herd and making for the poort, and as he had not stopped once on our account we took to the creek after the fourth crosscut and made what pace we could to reach the narrow gorge where we reckoned to pick up the spoor again. There are, however, few short cuts--and no certainties--in hunting; when we reached the poort there was no trace to be found of the wounded buffalo; the rest of the herd had passed in, but we failed to find blood or other trace of the wounded one, and Jock was clearly as much at fault as we were. We had overshot the mark and there was nothing for it but to hark back to the last blood spoor and, by following it up, find out what had happened. This took over an hour, for we spoored him then with the utmost caution, being convinced that the buffalo, if not dead, was badly wounded and lying in wait for us. We came on his `stand,' in a well-chosen spot, where the game path took a sharp turn round some heavy bushes. The buffalo had stood, not where one would naturally expect it--in the dense cover which seemed just suited for his purpose--but among lighter bush on the _opposite_ side and about twenty yards nearer to us. There was no room for doubt about his hostile intentions; and when we recalled how we had instantly picked out the thick bush on the left--to the exclusion of everything else--as the spot to be watched, his selection of more open ground on the other side, and nearer to us, seemed so fiendishly clever that it made one feel cold and creepy. One hesitates to say it was deliberately planned; yet--plan, instinct or accident--there was the fact. The marks showed us he was badly hit; but there was no limb broken, and no doubt he was good for some hours yet. We followed along the spoor, more cautiously than ever; and when we reached the sharp turn beyond the thick bush we found that the path was only a few yards from the stream, so that on our way up the bed of the creek we had passed within twenty yards of where the buffalo was waiting for us. No doubt he had heard us then as we walked past, and had winded us later on when we got ahead of him into the poort. What had he made of it? What had he done? Had he followed up to attack us? Was he waiting somewhere near? Or had he broken away into the bush on finding himself headed off? These were some of the questions we asked ourselves as we crept along. Well! what he had done did not answer our questions. On reaching the poort again we found his spoor, freshly made since we had been there, and he had walked right along through the gorge without stopping again, and gone into the kloof beyond. Whether he had followed us up when we got ahead of him--hoping to stalk us from behind; or had gone ahead, expecting to meet us coming down wind to look for him; or, when he heard us pass down stream again--and, it may be, thought we had given up pursuit--had simply walked on after the herd, were questions never answered. A breeze had risen since morning, and as we approached the hills it grew stronger: in the poort itself it was far too strong for our purpose--the wind coming through the narrow opening like a forced draught. The herd would not stand there, and it was not probable that the wounded animal would stop until he joined the others or reached a more sheltered place. We were keen on the chase, and as he had about an hour's start of us and it was already midday, there was no time to waste. Inside the poort the kloof opened out into a big valley away to our left--our left being the right bank of the stream--and bordering the valley on that side there were many miles of timbered kloofs and green slopes, with a few kaffir kraals visible in the distance; but to the right the formation was quite different, and rather peculiar. The stream--known to the natives as Hlamba-Nyati, or Buffalo's Bathing Place--had in the course of time shortened its course to the poort by eating into the left bank, thus leaving a high, and in most places, inaccessible terrace above it on the left side and a wide stretch of flat alluvium on the right. This terrace was bounded on one side by the steep bank of the creek and walled in on the other side by the precipitous kranses of the mountains. At the top end it opened out like a fan which died away in a frayed edge in the numberless small kloofs and spurs fringing the amphitheatre of the hills. The shape was in fact something like the human arm and hand with the fingers outspread. The elbow was the poort, the arm the terrace--except that the terrace was irregularly curved--and the fingers the small kloofs in the mountains. No doubt the haunts of the buffalo were away in the `fingers,' and we worked steadily along the spoor in that direction. Game paths were numerous and very irregular, and the place was a perfect jungle of trees, bush, bramble and the tallest rankest grass. I have ridden in that valley many times since then through grass standing several feet above my head. It was desperately hard work, but we did want to get the buffalo; and although the place was full of game and we put up koodoo, wildebeeste, rietbuck, bushbuck, and duiker, we held to the wounded buffalo's spoor, neglecting all else. Just before ascending the terrace we had heard the curious far-travelling sound of kaffirs calling to each other from a distance, but, except for a passing comment, paid no heed to it and passed on; later we heard it again and again, and at last, when we happened to pause in a more open portion of the bush after we had gone half-way along the terrace, the calling became so frequent and came from so many quarters that we stopped to take note. Francis, who spoke Zulu like one of themselves, at last made out a word or two which gave the clue. "They're after the wounded buffalo!" he said. "Come on, man, before they get their dogs, or we'll never see him again." Knowing then that the buffalo was a long way ahead, we scrambled on as fast as we could whilst holding to his track; but it was very hot and very rough and, to add to our troubles, smoke from a grass fire came driving into our faces. "Niggers burning on the slopes; confound them!" Francis growled. They habitually fire the grass in patches during the summer and autumn, as soon as it is dry enough to burn, in order to get young grass for the winter or the early spring, and although the smoke worried us there did not seem to be anything unusual about the fire. But ten minutes later we stopped again; the smoke was perceptibly thicker; birds were flying past us down wind, with numbers of locusts and other insects; two or three times we heard buck and other animals break back; and all were going the same way. Then the same thought struck us both--it was stamped in our faces: this was no ordinary mountain grass fire; it was the bush. Francis was a quiet fellow, one of the sort it is well not to rouse. His grave is in the Bushveld where his unbeaten record among intrepid lion-hunters was made, and where he fell in the war, leaving another and greater record to his name. The blood rose slowly to his face, until it was bricky red, and he looked an ugly customer as he said: "The black brutes have fired the valley to burn him out. Come on quick. We must get out of this on to the slopes!" We did not know then that there were no slopes--only a precipitous face of rock with dense jungle to the foot of it; and after we had spent a quarter of an hour in that effort, we found our way blocked by the krans and a tangle of undergrowth much worse than that in the middle of the terrace. The noise made by the wind in the trees and our struggling through the grass and bush had prevented our hearing the fire at first, but now its ever growing roar drowned all sounds. Ordinarily, there would have been no real difficulty in avoiding a bush fire; but, pinned in between the river and the precipice and with miles of dense bush behind us, it was not at all pleasant. Had we turned back even then and made for the poort it is possible we might have travelled faster than the fire, but it would have been rough work indeed; moreover, that would have been going back--and we did want to get the buffalo--so we decided to make one more try, towards the river this time. It was not much of a try, however, and we had gone no further than the middle of the terrace again when it became alarmingly clear that this fire meant business. The wind increased greatly, as it always does once a bush fire gets a start; the air was thick with smoke, and full of flying things; in the bush and grass about us there was a constant scurrying; the terror of stampede was in the very atmosphere. A few words of consultation decided us, and we started to burn a patch for standing room and protection. The hot sun and strong wind had long evaporated all the dew and moisture from the grass, but the sap was still up, and the fire--our fire--seemed cruelly long in catching on. With bunches of dry grass for brands we started burns in twenty places over a length of a hundred yards, and each little flame licked up, spread a little, and then hesitated or died out: it seemed as if ours would never take, while the other came on with roars and leaps, sweeping clouds of sparks and ash over us in the dense rolling mass of smoke. At last a fierce rush of wind struck down on us, and in a few seconds each little flame became a living demon of destruction; another minute, and the stretch before us was a field of swaying flame. There was a sudden roar and crackle, as of musketry, and the whole mass seemed lifted into the air in one blazing sheet: it simply leaped into life and swept everything before it. When we opened our scorched eyes the ground in front of us was all black, with only here and there odd lights and torches dotted about-- like tapers on a pall; and on ahead, beyond the trellis work of bare scorched trees, the wall of flame swept on. Then down on the wings of the wind came the other fire; and before it fled every living thing. Heaven only knows what passed us in those few minutes when a broken stream of terrified creatures dashed by, hardly swerving to avoid us. There is no coherent picture left of that scene-- just a medley of impressions linked up by flashes of unforgettable vividness. A herd of koodoo came crashing by; I know there was a herd, but only the first and last will come to mind--the space between seems blurred. The clear impressions are of the koodoo bull in front, with nose out-thrust, eyes shut against the bush, and great horns laid back upon the withers, as he swept along opening the way for his herd; and then, as they vanished, the big ears, ewe neck, and tilting hind quarters of the last cow--between them nothing but a mass of moving grey! The wildebeeste went by in Indian-file, uniform in shape, colour and horns; and strangely uniform in their mechanical action, lowered heads, and fiercely determined rush. A rietbuck ram stopped close to us, looked back wide-eyed and anxious, and whistled shrilly, and then cantered on with head erect and white tail flapping; but its mate neither answered nor came by. A terrified hare with its ears laid flat scuttled past within a yard of Francis and did not seem to see him. Above us scared birds swept or fluttered down wind; while others again came up swirling and swinging about, darting boldly through the smoke to catch the insects driven before the fire. But what comes back with the suggestion of infinitely pathetic helplessness is the picture of a beetle. We stood on the edge of our burn, waiting for the ground to cool, and at my feet a pair of tock-tockie beetles, hump backed and bandy-legged, came toiling slowly and earnestly along; they reached the edge of our burn, touched the warm ash, and turned patiently aside--to walk round it! A school of chattering monkeys raced out on to the blackened flat, and screamed shrilly with terror as the hot earth and cinders burnt their feet. Porcupine, ant-bear, meerkat! They are vague, so vague that nothing is left but the shadow of their passing; but there is one other thing--seen in a flash as brief as the others, for a second or two only, but never to be forgotten! Out of the yellow grass, high up in the waving tops, came sailing down on us the swaying head and glittering eyes of a black mamba--swiftest, most vicious, most deadly of snakes. Francis and I were not five yards apart and it passed between us, giving a quick chilly beady look at each--pitiless, and hateful--and one hiss as the slithering tongue shot out: that was all, and it sailed past with strange effortless movement. How much of the body was on the ground propelling it, I cannot even guess; but we had to look upwards to see the head as the snake passed between us. The scorching breath of the fire drove us before it on to the baked ground, inches deep in ashes and glowing cinders, where we kept marking time to ease our blistering feet; our hats were pulled down to screen our necks as we stood with our backs to the coming flames; our flannel shirts were so hot that we kept shifting our shoulders for relief. Jock, who had no screen and whose feet had no protection, was in my arms; and we strove to shield ourselves from the furnace-blast with the branches we had used to beat out the fire round the big tree which was our main shelter. The heat was awful! Live brands were flying past all the time, and some struck us; myriads of sparks fell round and on us, burning numberless small holes in our clothing, and dotting blisters on our backs; great sheets of flame leaped out from the driving glare, and, detached by many yards from their source, were visible for quite a space in front of us. Then, just at its maddest and fiercest there came a gasp and sob, and the fire devil died behind us as it reached the black bare ground. Our burn divided it as an island splits the flood, and it swept along our flanks in two great walls of living leaping roaring flame. Two hundred yards away there was a bare yellow place in a world of inky black, and to that haven we ran. It was strange to look about and see the naked country all round us, where but a few minutes earlier the tall grass had shut us in; but the big bare ant-heap was untouched, and there we flung ourselves down, utterly done. Faint from heat and exhaustion--scorched and blistered, face and arms, back and feet; weary and footsore, and with boots burnt through--we reached camp long after dark, glad to be alive. We had forgotten the wounded buffalo; he seemed part of another life! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ There was no more hunting for us: our feet had `gone in,' and we were well content to sleep and rest. The burnt stubbly ends of the grass had pierced the baked leather of our boots many times; and Jock, too, had suffered badly and could hardly bear to set foot to the ground next day. The best we could hope for was to be sound enough to return to our own waggons in two or three days' time. The camp was under a very large wild fig tree, whose dense canopy gave us shade all through the day. We had burnt the grass for some twenty or thirty yards round as a protection against bush fires; and as the trees and scrub were not thick just there it was possible to see in various directions rather further than one usually can in the Bushveld. The big tree was a fair landmark by day, and at night we made a good fire, which owing to the position of the camp one could see from a considerable distance. These precautions were for the benefit of strayed or belated members of the party; but I mention them because the position of the camp and the fire brought us a strange visitor the last night of our stay there. There were, I think, seven white men; and the moving spirit of the party--old Teddy Blacklow of Ballarat--was one of the old alluvial diggers, a warmhearted, impulsive, ever-young old boy, and a rare good sportsman. That was Teddy, the `man in muddy moleskins,' who stretched out the hand of friendship when the Boy was down, and said "You come along o' me!" one of `God's sort.' Teddy's spirits were always up; his presence breathed a cheery optimism on the blankest day; his humour lighted everything; _his_ stories kept us going; and his language was a joy for ever. In a community, in which such things savoured of eccentricity, Teddy was an abstainer and never swore; but if actual profanity was avoided, the dear old boy all unconsciously afforded strong support to those who hold that a man must find relief in vigorous expression. To do this, without violating his principles, he invented words and phrases, meaningless in themselves but in general outline, so to say, resembling the worst in vogue; and the effect produced by them upon the sensitive was simply horrifying. Teddy himself was blissfully unconscious of this, for his language, being scrupulously innocent, was deemed by him to be suited to all circumstances and to every company. The inevitable consequence was that the first impression produced by him on the few women he ever met was that of an abandoned old reprobate whose scant veil of disguise only made the outrage of his language more marked. Poor old Teddy! Kindest and gentlest and dearest of souls! How he would have stared at this, speechless with surprise; and how we used to laugh at what some one called his `glittering paro-fanities!' Pity it is that they too must go; for one dare not reproduce the best of them. It was between eight and nine o'clock on the last day of our stay; Francis and I were fit again, and Jock's feet, thanks to care and washing and plenty of castor oil, no longer troubled him; we were examining our boots--re-soled now with raw hide in the rough but effective veld fashion; Teddy was holding forth about the day's chase whilst he cut away the pith of a koodoo's horns and scraped the skull; others were busy on their trophies too; and the kaffirs round their own fire were keeping up the simultaneous gabble characteristic of hunting boys after a good day and with plenty of meat in camp. I was sitting on a small camp stool critically examining a boot and wondering if the dried hide would grip well enough to permit of the top lacings being removed, and Jock was lying in front of me, carefully licking the last sore spot on one fore paw, when I saw his head switch up suddenly and his whole body set hard in a study of intense listening. Then he got up and trotted briskly off some ten or fifteen yards, and stood--a bright spot picked out by the glare of the camp fire--with his back towards me and his uneven ears topping him off. I walked out to him, and silence fell on the camp; all watched and listened. At first we heard nothing but soon the call of a wild dog explained Jock's movements; the sound, however, did not come from the direction in which he was looking, but a good deal to the right; and as he instantly looked to this new quarter I concluded that this was not the dog he had previously heard, or else it must have moved rapidly. There was another wait, and then there followed calls from other quarters. There was nothing unusual in the presence of wild dogs: hyenas, jackals, wild dogs and all the smaller beasts of prey were heard nightly; what attracted attention in this case was the regular calling from different points. The boys said the wild dogs were hunting something and calling to each other to indicate the direction of the hunt, so that those in front might turn the buck and by keeping it in a circle enable fresh or rested dogs to jump in from time to time and so, eventually, wear the poor hunted creature down. This, according to the natives, is the system of the wild pack. When they cannot find easy prey in the young, weak or wounded, and are forced by hunger to hunt hard, they first scatter widely over the chosen area where game is located, and then one buck is chosen--the easiest victim, a ewe with young for choice--and cutting it out from the herd, they follow that one and that alone with remorseless invincible persistency. They begin the hunt knowing that it will last for hours--knowing too that in speed they have no chance against the buck--and when the intended victim is cut out from the herd one or two of the dogs--so the natives say--take up the chase and with long easy gallop keep it going, giving no moment's rest for breath; from time to time they give their weird peculiar call and others of the pack--posted afar--head the buck off to turn it back again; the fresh ones then take up the chase, and the first pair drop out to rest and wait, or follow slowly until their chance and turn come round again. There is something so hateful in the calculated pitiless method that one feels it a duty to kill the cruel brutes whenever a chance occurs. The hunt went on round us; sometimes near enough to hear the dogs' eager cries quite clearly; sometimes so far away that for a while nothing could be heard; and Jock moved from point to point in the outermost circle of the camp fire's light nearest to the chase. When at last hunters and hunted completed their wide circuit round the camp, and passed again the point where we had first heard them, the end seemed near; for there were no longer single calls widely separated, but the voices of the pack in hot close chase. They seemed to be passing half a mile away from us; but in the stillness of the night sound travels far, and one can only guess. Again a little while and the cries sounded nearer and as if coming from one quarter--not moving round us as before; and a few minutes more, and it was certain they were still nearer and coming straight towards us. We took our guns then, and I called Jock back to where we stood under the tree with our backs to the fire. The growing sounds came on out of the night where all was hidden with the weird crescendo effect of a coming flood; we could pick them out then--the louder harsher cries; the crashing through bush; the rush in grass; the sobbing gasps in front; and the hungry panting after. The hunt came at us like a cyclone out of the stillness, and in the forefront of it there burst into the circle of light an impala ewe with open mouth and haunting hunted despairing eyes and wide spread ears; and the last staggering strides brought her in among us, tumbling at our feet. A kaffir jumped out with assegai aloft; but Teddy, with the spring of a tiger and a yell of rage, swung his rifle round and down on assegai arm and head, and dropped the boy in his tracks. "Go-sh!--Da-ll! Cr-r-r-i-miny! What the Hex are you up to?" and the fiery soft-hearted old boy was down on to his knees in a second, panting with anger and excitement, and threw his arms about the buck. The foremost of the pack followed hot foot close behind the buck-- oblivious of fire and men, seeing nothing but the quarry--and at a distance of five yards a mixed volley of bullets and assegais tumbled it over. Another followed, and again another: both fell where they had stopped, a dozen yards away, puzzled by the fire and the shooting; and still more and more came on, but, warned by the unexpected check in front, they stopped at the clearing's edge, until over twenty pairs of eyes reflecting the fire's light shone out at us in a rough semicircle. The shot guns came in better then; and more than half the pack went under that night before the others cleared off. Perhaps they did not realise that the shots and flashes were not part of the camp fire from which they seemed to come; perhaps their system of never relinquishing a chase had not been tried against the white man before. One of the wild dogs, wounded by a shot, seemed to go mad with agony and raced straight into the clearing towards the fire, uttering the strangest maniac-like yaps. Jock had all along been straining to go for them from where I had jammed him between my feet as I sat and fired, and the charge of this dog was more than he could bear: he shot out like a rocket, and the collision sent the two flying apart; but he was on to the wild dog again and had it by the throat before it could recover. Instantly the row of lights went out, as if switched off--they were no longer looking at us; there was a rustle and a sound of padded feet, and dim grey-looking forms gathered at the edge of the clearing nearest where Jock and the wounded dog fought. I shouted to Jock to come back, and several of us ran out to help, just as another of the pack made a dash in. It seemed certain that Jock, gripping and worrying his enemy's throat, had neither time nor thought for anything else; yet as the fresh dog came at him he let go his grip of the other, and jumped to meet the new-comer; in mid-spring Jock caught the other by the ear and the two spun completely round--their positions being reversed; then, with another wrench as he landed, he flung the attacker behind him and jumped back at the wounded one which had already turned to go. It looked like the clean and easy movement of a finished gymnast. It was an affair of a few seconds only, for of course the instant we got a chance at the dogs, without the risk to Jock, both were shot; and he, struggling to get at the others, was haled back to the tree. While this was going on the impala stood with wide spread legs, dazed and helpless, between Teddy's feet, just as he had placed it. Its breath came in broken choking sobs; the look of terror and despair had not yet faded from the staring eyes; the head swayed from side to side; the mouth hung open and the tongue lolled out; all told beyond the power of words the tale of desperate struggle and exhaustion. It drank greedily from the dish that Teddy held for it--emptied it, and five minutes later drank it again and then lay down. For half an hour it lay there, slowly recovering; sometimes for spells of a few minutes it appeared to breathe normally once more; then the heavy open-mouthed panting would return again; and all the time Teddy kept on stroking or patting it gently and talking to it as if he were comforting a child, and every now and then bursting out with sudden gusty execrations, in his own particular style, of wild dogs and kaffirs. At last it rose briskly, and standing between his knees looked about, taking no notice of Teddy's hands laid on either side and gently patting it. No one moved or spoke. Jock, at my feet, appeared most interested of all, but I am afraid his views differed considerably from ours on that occasion, and he must have been greatly puzzled; he remained watching intently with his head laid on his paws, his ears cocked, and his brown eyes fixed unblinkingly; and at each movement on the buck's part something stirred in him, drawing every muscle tense and ready for the spring--internal grips which were reflected in the twitching and stiffening of his neck and back; but each time as I laid a hand on him he slackened out again and subsided. We sat like statues as the impala walked out from its stall between Teddy's knees, and stood looking about wonderingly at the faces white and black, at the strange figures, and at the fire. It stepped out quite quietly, much as it might have moved about here and there any peaceful morning in its usual haunts; the head swung about briskly, but unalarmed; and ears and eyes were turned this way and that in easy confidence and mild curiosity. With a few more steps it threaded its way close to one sitting figure and round a bucket; stepped daintily over Teddy's rifle; and passed the koodoo's head unnoticed. It seemed to us--even to us, and at the moment--like a scene in fairyland in which some spell held us while the beautiful wild thing strolled about unfrightened. A few yards away it stopped for perhaps a couple of minutes; its back was towards us and the fire; the silence was absolute; and it stood thus with eyes and ears for the bush alone. There was a warning whisk of the white tail and it started off again--this time at a brisk trot--and we thought it had gone; but at the edge of the clearing it once more stood and listened. Now and again the ears flickered and the head turned slightly one way or another, but no sound came from the bush; the out-thrust nose was raised with gentle tosses, but no taint reached it on the gentle breeze. All was well! It looked slowly round, giving one long full gaze back at us which seemed to be "Good-bye, and--thank you!" and cantered out into the dark. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. SNOWBALL AND TSETSE. Snowball was an `old soldier'--I say it with all respect! He had been through the wars; that is to say, he had seen the ups and downs of life and had learnt the equine equivalent of "God helps those who help themselves." For Snowball was a horse. Tsetse was also an old soldier, but he was what you might call a gentleman old soldier, with a sense of duty; and in his case the discipline and honour of his calling were not garments for occasion but part of himself. Snowball was no gentleman: he was selfish and unscrupulous, a confirmed shirker, often absent without leave, and upon occasions a rank deserter--for which last he once narrowly escaped being shot. Tsetse belonged to my friend Hall; but Snowball was mine! What I know about him was learnt with mortification of the spirit and flesh; and what he could not teach in that way was `over the head' of the most indurated old dodger that ever lived. Tsetse had his peculiarities and prejudices: like many old soldiers he was a stickler for etiquette and did not like departures from habit and routine; for instance, he would not under any circumstances permit mounting on the wrong side--a most preposterous stand for an old salted shooting horse to take, and the cause of much inconvenience at times. On the mountains it often happened that the path was too narrow and the slope too steep to permit one to mount on the left side, whereas the sharp rise of the ground made it very easy on the right. But Tsetse made no allowance for this, and if the attempt were made he would stand quite still until the rider was off the ground but not yet in the saddle, and then buck continuously until the offender shot overhead and went skidding down the slope. To one encumbered with a rifle in hand, and a kettle or perhaps a couple of legs of buck slung on the saddle, Tsetse's protest was usually irresistible. Snowball had no unpractical prejudices: he objected to work--that was all. He was a pure white horse, goodness knows how old, with enormously long teeth; every vestige of grey or other tinge had faded out of him, and his eyes had an aged and resigned look: one warmed to him at sight as a "dear old pet of a Dobbin!" who ought to be passing his last years grazing contentedly in a meadow and giving bareback rides to little children. The reproach of his venerable look nearly put me off taking him--it seemed such a shame to make the dear old fellow work; but I hardened my heart and, feeling rather a brute, bought him because he was `salted' and would live in the Bushveld: beside that, all other considerations were trivial. Of course he was said to be a shooting horse, and he certainly took no notice of a gun fired under his nose or from his back--which was all the test I could apply at the time; and then his legs were quite sound; his feet were excellent; he had lost no teeth yet; and he was in tip top condition. What more could one want? "He looks rather a fool of a horse!" I had remarked dubiously to Joey the Smith, who was `willin' to let him go,' and I can recall now the peculiar glint in Joey's eye and the way he sort of steadied himself with a little cough before he answered feelingly: "He's no fool, sonny! You won't want to get a cleverer horse as long as you live!" And no more I did--as we used to say! Snowball had one disfigurement, consisting of a large black swelling as big as a small orange behind his left eye, which must have annoyed him greatly; it could easily have been removed, and many suggestions were made on the subject but all of them were firmly declined. Without that lump I should have had no chance against him: it was the weak spot in his defence: it was the only cover under which it was possible to stalk him when he made one of his determined attempts to dodge or desert; for he could see nothing that came up behind him on the left side without turning his head completely round; hence one part of the country was always hidden from him, and of course it was from this quarter that we invariably made our approaches to attack. So well did Snowball realise this that when the old villain intended giving trouble he would start off with his head swung away to the right, and when far enough away to graze in security--a hundred yards or so was enough--would turn right about and face towards the waggons or camp, or wherever the danger-quarter was; then, keeping us well in view, he would either graze off sideways, or from time to time walk briskly off to occupy a new place, with the right eye swung round on us like a search-light. Against all this, however, it is only fair to admit that there were times when for days, and even weeks, at a stretch he would behave admirably, giving no more trouble than Jock did. Moreover he had qualities which were not to be despised. He was as sound as a bell, very clever on his feet, never lost his condition, and, although not fast, could last for ever at his own pace. Experience taught me to take no chances with Snowball. After a hard day he was apt to think that `enough was as good as a feast,' and then trouble might be expected. But there was really no safe rule with him; he seemed to have moods--to `get out of bed on the wrong side'--on certain days and, for no reason in the world, behave with a calculated hostility that was simply maddening. Hunting horses live almost entirely by grazing, as it is seldom possible to carry any grain or other foods for them and never possible to carry enough; and salted horses have therefore a particular value in that they can be turned out to graze at night or in the morning and evening dews when animals not immunised will contract horse-sickness; thus they feed during the hours when hunting is not possible and keep their condition when an unsalted horse would fall away from sheer want of food. According to their training, disposition, and knowledge of good and evil, horses are differently treated when `offsaddled'; some may be trusted without even a halter, and can be caught and saddled when and where required; others are knee-haltered; others are hobbled by a strap coupling either both fore feet, or one fore and one hind foot, with enough slack to allow walking, but not enough for the greater reach of a trot or gallop; whilst some incorrigibles are both knee-haltered and hobbled; and in this gallery Snowball figured upon occasion--a mournful and injured innocent, if appearances went for anything! It was not, as a rule, at the outspan, where many hands were available, that Snowball gave trouble, but out hunting when I was alone or with only one companion. A trained shooting horse should stop as soon as his rider lays hand on mane to dismount, and should remain where he is left for any length of time until his master returns; some horses require the reins to be dropped over their heads to remind them of their duty but many can safely be left to themselves and will be found grazing quietly where left. Snowball knew well what to do, but he pleased himself about doing it; sometimes he would stand; sometimes move off a little way, and keep moving--just out of reach--holding his head well on one side so that he should not tread on the trailing reins or the long weighted reimpje which was attached to his bit for the purpose of hindering and catching him; sometimes, with a troop of buck moving on ahead or perhaps a wounded one to follow, this old sinner would rightabout-face and simply walk off--only a few yards separating us--with his ears laid back, his tail tucked down ominously, and occasional little liftings of his hind quarters to let me know what to expect--and his right eye on me all the while; and, if I ran to head him off, he would break into a trot and leave me a little worse off than before; and sometimes, in familiar country, he would make straight away for the waggons without more ado. It is demoralising in the extreme to be expecting a jerk when in the act of aiming--and Snowball, who cared no more for shooting than a deaf gunner, would plunge like a two-year-old when he was play-acting--and it is little better, while creeping forward for a shot, to hear your horse strolling off behind and realise that you will have to hunt for him and perhaps walk many miles back to camp without means of carrying anything you may shoot. The result of experience was that I had to choose between two alternatives: either to hook him up to a tree or bush each time or hobble him with his reins, and so lose many good chances of quick shots when coming unexpectedly on game; or to slip an arm through the reins and take chance of being plucked off my aim or jerked violently backwards as I fired. But it was at the `offsaddles' on long journeys across country or during the rest in a day's hunt that trouble was most to be feared, and although hobbling is dangerous in a country so full of holes, stumps, and all sorts of grass-hidden obstacles, there were times when consideration for Snowball seemed mighty like pure foolishness, and it would have been no grief to me if he had broken his neck! To the credit of Snowball stand certain things, however, and it is but justice to say that, when once in the ranks, he played his part well; and it is due to him to say that during one hard season a camp of waggons with their complement of men had to be kept in meat, and it was Snowball who carried--for short and long distances, through dry rough country, at all times of day and night, hot, thirsty and tired, and without a breakdown or a day's sickness--a bag that totalled many thousands of pounds in weight, and the man who made the bag. "That wall-eyed brute of yours" was launched at me in bitterness of spirit on many occasions when Snowball led the normally well-behaved ones astray; and it is curious to note how strength of character or clear purpose will establish leadership among animals, as among men. Rooiland the restless, when dissatisfied with the grass or in want of water, would cast about up wind for a few minutes and then with his hot eyeballs staring and nostrils well distended choose his line, going resolutely along and only pausing from time to time to give a low moan for signal and allow the straggling string of unquestioning followers to catch up. When Rooiland had `trek fever' there was no rest for herd boys. So too with old Snowball: he led the well-behaved astray and they followed him blindly. Had Snowball been a schoolboy, a wise headmaster would have expelled him--for the general good and discipline of the school. On one long horseback journey through Swaziland to the coast, where few white men and no horses had yet been seen, we learned to know Snowball and Tsetse well, and found out what a horse can do when put to it. It was a curious experience on that trip to see whole villages flee in terror at the first sight of the new strange animals--one brown and one white: in some places not even the grown men would approach, but too proud to show fear, they stood their ground, their bronze faces blanching visibly and setting hard as we rode up; the women fled with half-stifled cries of alarm; and once, when we came unexpectedly upon a party of naked urchins playing on the banks of a stream, the whole pack set off full cry for the water and, jumping in like a school of alarmed frogs, disappeared. Infinitely amused by the stampede we rode up to see what had become of them, but the silence was absolute, and for a while they seemed to have vanished altogether; then a tell-tale ripple gave the clue, and under the banks among the ferns and exposed roots we picked out little black faces half submerged and pairs of frightened eyes staring at us from all sides. They were not to be reassured, either: the only effect produced by our laughing comments and friendly overtures being that the head which deemed itself pointedly addressed would disappear completely and remain so long out of sight as to make us feel quite smothery and criminally responsible. It is in the rivers that a man feels the importance of a good horse with a stout heart, and his dependence on it. There were no roads, and not even known tracks, there; and when we reached the Black Umbelusi we picked a place where there was little current and apparently an easy way out on the opposite side. It was much deeper than it looked; however, we were prepared, and thirty yards of swimming did not trouble us; yet it certainly was a surprise to us when the horses swam right up to the other bank without finding bottom and, turning aside, began to swim up stream. Looking down into the clear depths we saw that there was a sheer wall of rock to within a few inches of the surface. Now, a horse with a man on his back swims low--only the head and half the neck showing above water--and by what instinct or means the horses realised the position I do not know, but, with little hesitation and apparently of one accord, they got back a yard or two from the ledge and, raising first one fore foot and then the other, literally climbed out--exactly as a man or a dog does out of a swimming bath--hoisting their riders out with them without apparent difficulty. That was something which we had not thought possible, and to satisfy ourselves we dismounted and tried the depth; but the ten foot reeds failed to reach bottom. When it came to crossing the Crocodile River we chose the widest spot in the hope that it would be shallow and free of rocks. We fired some shots into the river to scare the crocodiles, and started to cross; but to our surprise Tsetse, the strong-nerved and reliable, who always had the post of honour in front, absolutely refused to enter. The water of the Crocodile is at its best of amber clearness and we could not see bottom, but the sloping grassy bank promised well enough and no hint reached us of what the horses knew quite well. All we had was on our horses--food, blankets, billy, rifles and ammunition. We were off on a long trip and, to vary or supplement the game diet, carried a small packet of tea, a little sugar, flour, and salt, and some beads with which to trade for native fowls and thick milk; the guns had to do the rest. Thus there were certain things we could not afford to wet, and these we used to wrap up in a mackintosh and carry high when it came to swimming, but this crossing looked so easy that it seemed sufficient to raise the packs instead of carrying part of them. Tsetse, who in the ordinary way regarded the spur as part of the accepted discipline, promptly resented it when there seemed to him to be sufficient reason; and when Hall, astonished at Tsetse's unexpected obstinacy, gave him both heels, the old horse considerately swung round away from the river, and with a couple of neatly executed bucks shot his encumbered rider off the raised pack, yards away on to the soft grass-- water-bottle, rifle, bandolier and man landing in a lovely tangle. I then put old Snowball at it, fully expecting trouble; but the old soldier was quite at home; he walked quietly to the edge, sat down comfortably, and slid into the water--launching himself with scarce a ripple just like an old hippo. That gave us the explanation of Tsetse's tantrum: the water came up to the seat of my saddle and walking was only just possible. I stopped at once, waiting for Tsetse to follow; and Hall, prepared for another refusal, sat back and again used his spurs. No doubt Tsetse, once he knew the depth, was quite satisfied and meant to go in quietly, and the prick of the spur must have been unexpected, for he gave a plunge forward, landing with his fore feet in deep water and hind quarters still on the bank, and Hall shot out overhead, landing half across old Snowball's back. There was a moment of ludicrous but agonised suspense! Hall's legs were firmly gripping Tsetse behind the ears while he sprawled on his stomach on Snowball's crupper, with the reins still in one hand and the rifle in the other. Doubled up with suppressed laughter I grabbed a fist full of shirt and held on, every moment expecting Tsetse to hoist his head or pull back and complete the disaster, while Hall was spluttering out directions, entreaties and imprecations; but good old Tsetse never moved, and Hall handing me the rifle managed to swarm backwards on to Tsetse's withers and scramble on to the pack again. Then, saddle-deep in the river--duckings and crocodiles forgotten--we sat looking at each other and laughed till we ached. The river was about three hundred yards wide there with a good sandy bottom and of uniform depth, but, to our disappointment, we found that the other bank which had appeared to slope gently to the water edge was in fact a sheer wall standing up several feet above the river level. The beautiful slope which we had seen consisted of water grass and reed tops; the bank itself was of firm moist clay; and the river bottom close under it was soft mud. We tried a little way up and down, but found deeper water, more mud and reeds, and no break in the bank; there was not even a lagavaan slide, a game path, or a drinking-place. There seemed to be nothing for it but to go back again and try somewhere else. Hall was `bad to beat' when he started on anything--he did not know how to give in; but when he looked at the bank and said, "We'll have a shot at this," I thought at first he was joking. Later, to my remark that "no horse ever born would face that," he answered that "any way we could try: it would be just as good as hunting for more places of the same sort!" I do not know the height of the bank, as we were not thinking of records at that time, but there are certain facts which enable one to guess fairly closely. Tsetse was ranged up beside the bank, and Hall standing in the saddle threw his rifle and bandolier up and scrambled out himself. I then loosened Tsetse's girths from my seat on Snowball, and handed up the packed saddle--Hall lying down on the bank to take it from me; and we did the same with Snowball's load, including my own clothes, for, as it was already sundown, a ducking was not desirable, I loosened one side of Tsetse's reins, and after attaching one of mine in order to give the necessary length to them threw the end up to Hall, and he cut and handed me a long supple rod for a whip to stir Tsetse to his best endeavours. The water there was rather more than half saddle-flap high; I know that because it just left me a good expanse of hind quarters to aim at when the moment came. "Now!" yelled Hall, "Up, Tsetse! Up!"; and whack went the stick! Tsetse reared up, right on end; he could not reach the top but struck his fore feet into the moist bank near the top, and with a mighty plunge that soused Snowball and me, went out. The tug on the leading rein, on which Hall had thrown all his weight when Tsetse used it to lever himself up, had jerked Hall flat on his face; but he was up in a minute, and releasing Tsetse threw back the rein to get Snowball to face it while the example was fresh. Then for the first time we thought of the crocodiles--and the river was full of them! But Snowball without some one behind him with a stick would never face that jump, and there was nothing for it but to fire some scaring shots, and slip into the water and get the job over as quickly as possible. Snarleyow was with us--I had left Jock at the waggons fearing that we would get into fly country on the Umbelusi--and the bank was too high and too steep for him; he huddled up against it half supported by reeds, and whined plaintively. To our relief Snowball faced the jump quite readily; indeed, the old sinner did it with much less effort and splash than the bigger Tsetse. But then came an extremely unpleasant spell. Snowball got a scare, because Hall in his anxiety to get me out rushed up to him on the warty side to get the reins off; and the old ruffian waltzed around, dragging Hall through the thorns, while Snarleyow and I waited in the water for help. At that moment I had a poorer opinion of Snowball and Snarley than at any other I can remember. I wished Snarley dead twenty times in twenty seconds. Crocodiles love dogs; and it seemed to me a million to one that a pair of green eyes and a black snout must slide out of the water any moment, drawn to us by those advertising whines! And the worst of it was, I was outside Snarley with my white legs gleaming in the open water, while his cringing form was tucked away half hidden by the reeds. What an age it seemed! How each reed shaken by the river breeze caught the eye, giving me goose-flesh and sending waves of cold shudders creeping over me! How the cold smooth touch of a reed stem against my leg made me want to jump and to get out with one huge plunge as the horses had done! And even when I had passed the struggling yowling Snarley up, the few remaining seconds seemed painfully long. Hall had to lie flat and reach his furthest to grip my hand; and I nearly pulled him in, scrambling up that bank like a chased cat up a tree. When one comes to think it out, the bank must have been nine feet high. It was mighty unpleasant; but it taught us what a horse can do when he puts, his back into it! CHAPTER NINETEEN. JOCK'S MISTAKE. Half-way between the Crocodile and Komati Rivers, a few miles south of the old road, there are half a dozen or more small kopjes between which lie broad richly grassed depressions, too wide and flat to be; called valleys. The fall of the country is slight, yet the rich loamy soil has been washed out in places into dongas of considerable depth. There is no running water there in winter, but there are a few big pools--long narrow irregularly shaped bits of water--with shady trees around them. I came upon the place by accident one day, and thereafter we kept it dark as our own preserve; for it was full of game, and a most delightful spot. It was there that Snarleyow twice cleaned out the hunter's pot. Apart from the discovery of this preserve, the day was memorable for the reason that it was my first experience of a big mixed herd; and I learned that day how difficult the work may be when several kinds of game run together. After a dry and warm morning the sight of the big pool had prompted an off-saddle; Snowball was tethered in a patch of good grass, and Jock and I were lying in the shade. When he began to sniff and walk up wind I took the rifle and followed, and only a little way off we came into dry vlei ground where there were few trees and the grass stood about waist high. Some two hundred yards away where the ground rose slightly and the bush became thicker there was a fair-sized troop of impala, perhaps a hundred or more, and just behind, and mostly to one side of them, were between twenty and thirty tsessebe. We saw them clearly and in time to avoid exposing ourselves: they were neither feeding nor resting, but simply standing about, and individual animals were moving unconcernedly from time to time with an air of idle loitering. I tried to pick out a good tsessebe ram, but the impala were in the way, and it was necessary to crawl for some distance to reach certain cover away on the right. Crawling is hard work and very rough on both hands and knees in the Bushveld, frequent rests being necessary; and in one of the pauses I heard a curious sound of soft padded feet jumping behind me, and looking quickly about caught Jock in the act of taking his observations. The grass was too high for him to see over, even when he stood up on his hind legs, and he was giving jumps of slowly increasing strength to get the height which would enable him to see what was on. I shall never forget that first view of Jock's ballooning observations; it became a regular practice afterwards and I grew accustomed to seeing him stand on his hind legs or jump when his view was shut out--indeed sometimes when we were having a slow time I used to draw him by pretending to stalk something; but it is that first view that remains a picture of him. I turned at the instant when he was at the top of his jump; his legs were all bunched up, his eyes staring eagerly and his ears had flapped out, giving him a look of comic astonishment. It was a most surprisingly unreal sight: he looked like a caricature of Jock shot into the air by a galvanic shock. A sign with my hand brought him flat on the ground, looking distinctly guilty, and we moved along again; but I was shaking with silent laughter. At the next stop I had a look back to see how he was behaving, and to my surprise, although he was following carefully close behind me, he was looking steadily away to our immediate right. I subsided gently on to my left side to see what it was that interested him, and to my delight saw a troop of twenty to twenty-five Blue Wildebeeste. They, too, were `standing any way,' and evidently had not seen us. I worked myself cautiously round to face them so as to be able to pick my shot and take it kneeling, thus clearing the tops of the grass; but whilst doing this another surprising development took place. Looking hard and carefully at the wildebeeste two hundred yards away, I became conscious of something else in between us, and only half the distance off, looking at me. It had the effect of a shock; the disagreeable effect produced by having a book or picture suddenly thrust close to the face; the feeling of wanting to get further away from it to re-focus one's sight. What I saw was simply a dozen quagga, all exactly alike, all standing alike, all looking at me, all full face to me, their fore feet together, their ears cocked, and their heads quite motionless--all gazing steadily at me, alive with interest and curiosity. There was something quite ludicrous in it, and something perplexing also: when I looked at the quagga the wildebeeste seemed to get out of focus and were lost to me; when I looked at the wildebeeste the quagga `blurred' and faded out of sight. The difference in distance, perhaps as much as the very marked difference in the distinctive colourings, threw me out; and the effect of being watched also told. Of course I wanted to get a wildebeeste, but I was conscious of the watching quagga all the time, and, for the life of me, could not help constantly looking at them to see if they were going to start off and stampede the others. Whilst trying to pick out the best of the wildebeeste a movement away on the left made me look that way: the impala jumped off like one animal, scaring the tsessebe into a scattering rout; the quagga switched round and thundered off like a stampede of horses; and the wildebeeste simply vanished. One signal in one troop had sent the whole lot off. Jock and I were left alone, still crouching, looking from side to side, staring at the slowly drifting dust, and listening to the distant dying sound of galloping feet. It was a great disappointment, but the conviction that we had found a really good spot made some amends, and Snowball was left undisturbed to feed and rest for another two hours. We made for the waggons along another route taking in some of the newly discovered country in the home sweep, and the promise of the morning was fulfilled. We had not been more than a few minutes on the way when a fine rietbuck ram jumped up within a dozen yards of Snowball's nose. Old Rocky had taught me to imitate the rietbuck's shrill whistle and this one fell to the first shot. He was a fine big fellow, and as Snowball put on airs and pretended to be nervous when it came to packing the meat, I had to blindfold him, and after hoisting the buck up to a horizontal branch lowered it on to his back. Snowball was villainously slow and bad to lead. He knew that whilst being led neither whip nor spur could touch him, and when loaded up with meat he dragged along at a miserable walk: one had to haul him. Once-- but only once--I had tried driving him before me, trusting to about 400 pounds weight of koodoo meat to keep him steady; but no sooner had I stepped behind with a switch than he went off with a cumbrous plunge and bucked like a frantic mule until he rid himself of his load, saddle and all. The fact is one person could not manage him on foot, it needed one at each end of him, and he knew it: thus it worked out at a compromise: he carried my load, and I went his pace! We were labouring along in this fashion when we came on the wildebeeste again. A white man on foot seems to be recognised as an enemy; but if accompanied by animals, either on horseback, driving in a vehicle, leading a horse, or walking among cattle, he may pass unnoticed for a long while: attention seems to be fixed on the animals rather than the man, and frank curiosity instead of alarm is quite evidently the feeling aroused. The wildebeeste had allowed me to get close up, and I picked out the big bull and took the shot kneeling, with my toe hooked in the reins to secure Snowball, taking chance of being jerked off my aim rather than let him go; but he behaved like an angel, and once more that day a single shot was enough. It was a long and tedious job skinning the big fellow, cutting him up, hauling the heavy limbs and the rest of the meat up into a suitable tree, and making all safe against the robbers of the earth and the air; and most troublesome of all was packing the head and skin on Snowball, who showed the profoundest mistrust of this dark ferocious-looking monster. Snowball and I had had enough of it when we reached camp, well after dark; but Jock I am not so sure of: his invincible keenness seemed at times to have something in it of mute reproach--the tinge of disappointment in those they love which great hearts feel, and strive to hide! I never outstayed Jock, and never once knew him `own up' that he had had enough. No two days were quite alike; yet many were alike in the sense that they were successful without hitch and without interest to any but the hunters; many others were marked by chases in which Jock's part--most essential to success--too closely resembled that of other days to be worth repeating. On that day he had, as usual, been the one to see the wildebeeste and had `given the word' in time; the rest was only one straight shot. That was fair partnership in which both were happy; but there was nothing to talk about. There was very little wanton shooting with us, for when we had more fresh meat than was required, as often happened, it was dried as `bultong' for the days of shortage which were sure to come. I started off early next morning with the boys to bring in the meat, and went on foot, giving Snowball a rest, more or less deserved. By nine o'clock the boys were on their way back, and leaving them to take the direct route I struck away eastwards along the line of the pools, not expecting much and least of all dreaming that fate had one of the worst days in store for us: "From cloudless heavens her lightnings glance" did not occur to my mind as we moved silently along in the bright sunshine. We passed the second pool, loitering a few minutes in the cool shade of the evergreens to watch the green pigeons feeding on the wild figs and peering down curiously at us; then moved briskly into more open ground. It is not wise to step too suddenly out of the dark shade into strong glare, and it may have been that act of carelessness that enabled the koodoo to get off before I saw them. They cantered away in a string with the cows in the rear, between me and two full-grown bulls. It was a running shot--end on--and the last of the troop, a big cow, gave a stumble; but catching herself up again she cantered off slowly. Her body was all bunched up and she was pitching greatly, and her hind legs kept flying out in irregular kicks, much as you may see a horse kick out when a blind fly is biting him. There was no time for a second shot and we started off in hot pursuit; and fifty yards further on where there was a clear view I saw that the koodoo was going no faster than an easy canter, and Jock was close behind. Whether he was misled by the curious action, and believed there was a broken leg to grip, or was simply over bold, it is impossible to know. Whatever the reason, he jumped for one of the hind legs, and at the same moment the koodoo lashed out viciously. One foot struck him under the jaw close to the throat, `whipped' his head and neck back like a bent switch, and hurled him somersaulting backwards. I have the impression--as one sees oneself in a nightmare--of a person throwing up his arms and calling the name of his child as a train passed over it. Jock lay limp and motionless, with the blood oozing from mouth, nose, and eyes. I recollect feeling for his heart-beat and breath, and shaking him roughly and calling him by name; then, remembering the pool near by, I left him in the shade of a tree, filled my hat with water, ran back again and poured it over him and into his mouth, shaking him again to rouse him, and several times pressing his sides--bellows fashion--in a ridiculous effort to restore breathing. The old hat was leaky and I had to grip the rough-cut ventilations to make it hold any water at all, and I was returning with a second supply when with a great big heart-jump, I saw Jock heel over from his side and with his fore legs flat on the ground raise himself to a resting position, his head wagging groggily and his eyes blinking in a very dazed way. He took no notice when I called his name, but at the touch of my hand his ears moved up and the stumpy tail scraped feebly in the dead leaves. He was stone deaf; but I did not know it then. He lapped a little of the water, sneezed the blood away and licked his chops; and then, with evident effort, stood up. But this is the picture which it is impossible to forget. The dog was still so dazed and shaken that he reeled slightly, steadying himself by spreading his legs well apart, and there followed a few seconds' pause in which he stood thus; and then he began to walk forward with the uncertain staggery walk of a toddling child. His jaws were set close; his eyes were beady black, and he looked `fight' all over. He took no notice of me; and I, never dreaming that he was after the koodoo, watched the walk quicken to a laboured trot before I moved or called; but he paid no heed to the call. For the first time in his life there was rank open defiance of orders, and he trotted slowly along with his nose to the ground. Then I understood; and, thinking he was maddened by the kick and not quite responsible for himself, and--more than that-- admiring his pluck far too much to be angry, I ran to bring him back; but at a turn in his course he saw me coming, and this time he obeyed the call and signal instantly, and with a limp air of disappointment followed quietly back to the tree. The reason for Jock's persistent disobedience that day was not even suspected then; I put everything down to the kick; and he seemed to me to be `all wrong,' but indeed there was excuse enough for him. Nevertheless it was puzzling that at times he should ignore me in positively contemptuous fashion, and at others obey with all his old readiness: I neither knew he was deaf, nor realised that the habit of using certain signs and gestures when I spoke to him--and even of using them in place of orders when silence was imperative--had made him almost independent of the word of mouth. From that day he depended wholly upon signs; for he never heard another sound. Jock came back with me and lay down; but he was not content. Presently he rose again and remained standing with his back to me, looking steadily in the direction taken by the koodoo. It was fine to see the indomitable spirit, but I did not mean to let him try again; the koodoo was as good as dead no doubt, yet a hundred koodoo would not have tempted me to risk taking him out: to rest him and get him back to the camp was the only thought. I was feeling very soft about the dog then. And while I sat thus watching him and waiting for him to rest and recover, once more and almost within reach of me he started off again. But it was not as he had done before: this time he went with a spring and a rush, and with head lowered and meaning business. In vain I called and followed: he outpaced me and left me in a few strides. The koodoo had gone along the right bank of the donga which, commencing just below the pool, extended half a mile or more down the flat valley. Jock's rush was magnificent, but it was puzzling, and his direction was even more so; for he made straight for the donga. I ran back for the rifle and followed, and he had already disappeared down the steep bank of the donga when, through the trees on the opposite side, I saw a koodoo cow moving along at a slow cramped walk. The donga was a deep one with perpendicular sides, and in places even overhanging crumbling banks, and I reached it as Jock, slipping and struggling, worked his way up the other wall writhing and climbing through the tree roots exposed by the floods. As he rushed out the koodoo saw him and turned; there was just a chance--a second of time: a foot of space-- before he got in the line of fire; and I took it. One hind leg gave way, and in the short sidelong stagger that followed Jock jumped at the koodoo's throat and they went down together. It took me several minutes to get through the donga, and by that time the koodoo was dead and Jock was standing, wide-mouthed and panting, on guard at its head: the second shot had been enough. It was an unexpected and puzzling end; and, in a way, not a welcome one, as it meant delay in getting back. After the morning's experience there was not much inclination for the skinning and cutting up of a big animal and I set to work gathering branches and grass to hide the carcase, meaning to send the boys back for it. But the day's experiences were not over yet: a low growl from Jock made me look sharply round, to see half a dozen kaffirs coming through the bush with a string of mongrel hounds at their heels. So that was the explanation of the koodoo's return to us! The natives, a hunting party, had heard the shot and coming along in hopes of meat had met and headed off the wounded koodoo, turning her back almost on her own tracks. There was satisfaction in having the puzzle solved, but the more practical point was that here was all the help I wanted; and the boys readily agreed to skin the animal and carry the four quarters to the camp for the gift of the rest. Then my trouble began with Jock. He flew at the first of the kaffir dogs that sneaked up to sniff at the koodoo. Shouting at him produced no effect whatever, and before I could get hold of him he had mauled the animal pretty badly. After hauling him off I sat down in the shade, with him beside me; but there were many dogs, and a succession of affairs, and I, knowing nothing of his deafness, became thoroughly exasperated and surprised by poor old Jock's behaviour. His instinct to defend our kills, which was always strong, was roused that day beyond control, and his hatred of kaffir dogs--an implacable one in any case--made a perfect fury of him; still, the sickening awful feeling that came over me as he lay limp and lifeless was too fresh, and it was not possible to be really angry; and after half a dozen of the dogs had been badly handled there was something so comical in the way they sheered off and eyed Jock that I could only laugh. They sneaked behind bushes and tried to circumvent him in all sorts of ways, but fled precipitately as soon as he moved a step or lowered his head and humped his shoulders threateningly. Even the kaffir owners, who had begun to look glum, broke into appreciative laughter and shouts of admiration for the white man's dog. Jock kept up an unbroken string of growls, not loud, of course, but I could feel them going all the while like a volcano's rumbling as my restraining hand rested on him, and when the boys came up to skin the koodoo I had to hold him down and shake him sharply. The dog was mad with fight; he bristled all over; and no patting or talking produced more than a flicker of his ears. The growling went on; the hair stood up; the tail was quite unresponsive; his jaws were set like a vice; and his eyes shone like two black diamonds. He had actually struggled to get free of my hand when the boys began to skin, and they were so scared by his resolute attempt that they would not start until I put him down between my knees and held him. I was sitting against a tree only three or four yards from the koodoo, and the boys, who had lighted a fire in anticipation of early tit-bits which would grill while they worked, were getting along well with the skinning, when one of them saw fit to pause in order to hold forth in the native fashion on the glories of the chase and the might of the white man. Jock's head lay on his paws and his mouth was shut like a rat-trap; his growling grew louder as the bombastic nigger, all unconscious of the wicked watching eyes behind him, waved his blood-stained knife and warmed to his theme. "Great you thought yourself," proclaimed the orator, addressing the dead koodoo in a long rigmarole which was only partly understood by me but evidently much approved by the other boys as they stooped to their work, "Swift of foot and strong of limb. But the white man came, and--there!" I could not make out the words with any certainty; but whatever the last word was, it was intended as a dramatic climax, and to lend additional force to his point the orator let fly a resounding kick on the koodoo's stomach. The effect was quite electrical! Like an arrow from the bow Jock flew at him! The warning shout came too late, and as Jock's teeth fastened in him behind the terrified boy gave a wild bound over the koodoo, carrying Jock like a streaming coat-tail behind him. The work was stopped and the natives drew off in grave consultation. I thought that they had had enough of Jock for one day and that they would strike work and leave me, probably returning later on to steal the meat while I went for help from the waggons. But it turned out that the consultation was purely medical, and in a few minutes I had an interesting exhibition of native doctoring. They laid the late orator out face downwards, and one burly `brother' straddled him across the small of the back; then after a little preliminary examination of the four slits left by Jock's fangs, he proceeded to cauterise them with the glowing ends of sundry sticks which an assistant took from the fire and handed to him as required. The victim flapped his hands on the ground and hallooed out "My babo! My babo!" but he did not struggle; and the operator toasted away with methodical indifference. The orator stood it well! I took Jock away to the big tree near the pool: it was evident that he, too, had had enough of it for one day. CHAPTER TWENTY. JANTJE. There was no hunting for several days after the affair with the koodoo cow. Jock looked worse the following day than he had done since recovering consciousness: his head and neck swelled up so that chewing was impossible and he could only lap a little soup or milk, and could hardly bend his neck at all. On the morning of the second day Jim Makokel' came up with his hostile-looking swagger and a cross worried look on his face, and in a half-angry and wholly disgusted tone jerked out at me, "The dog is deaf. I say so! Me! Makokela! Jock is deaf. He does not hear when you speak. Deaf! yes, deaf!" Jim's tone grew fiercer as he warmed up; he seemed to hold me responsible. The moment the boy spoke I knew it was true--it was the only possible explanation of many little things; nevertheless I jumped up hurriedly to try him in a dozen ways, hoping to find that he could hear something. Jim was right; he was really stone deaf. It was pathetic to find how each little subterfuge that drew his eyes from me left him out of reach: it seemed as if a link had broken between us and I had lost my hold. That was wrong, however! In a few days he began to realise the loss of hearing; and after that, feeling so much greater dependence on sight, his watchfulness increased so that nothing escaped him. None of those who saw him in that year, when he was at his very best, could bring themselves to believe that he was deaf. With me it made differences both ways: something lost, and something gained. If he could hear nothing, he saw more; the language of signs developed; and taking it all round I believe the sense of mutual dependence for success and of mutual understanding was greater than ever. Snowball went on to the retired list at the end of the next trip. Joey the Smith stood at the forge one day, trimming a red-hot horse-shoe, when I rode up and dropping the reins over Snowball's head, sang out "Morning, Joey!" Joey placed the chisel on the shoe with nice calculation of the amount he wanted to snip off; his assistant boy swung the big hammer, and an inch cube of red-hot iron dropped off. Then Joey looked up with, what seemed to me, a conflict of innocent surprise and stifled amusement in his face. The boy also turned to look, and--the insignificant incident is curiously unforgettable--trod upon the piece of hot iron. "Look where you're standing," said Joey reproachfully, as the smoke and smell of burning skin-welt rose up; and the boy with a grunt of disgust, such as we might give at a burned boot, looked to see what damage had been done to his `unders.' It gave me an even better idea of a nigger's feet than those thorn digging operations when we had to cut through a solid whitish welt a third of an inch thick. Joey grinned openly at the boy; but he was thinking of Snowball. "I wonder you had the heart, Joey, I do indeed!" I said, shaking my head at him. "You would have him, lad, there was no refusin' you! You arst so nice and wanted him so bad!" "But how could you bear to part with him, Joey? It must have been like selling one of the family." "'Es, Boy, 'es! We are a bit stoopid--our lot! Is he still such a fool, or has he improved any with you?" "Joey, I've learned him--full up to the teeth. If he stops longer he will become wicked, like me; and you would not be the ruin of an innocent young thing trying to earn a living honestly, if he can?" "Come round behind the shop, Boy. I got a pony'll suit you proper!" He gave a hearty laugh, and added "You can always get what you arsk for--if it ain't worth having. Moril! Don't arsk! I never offered you Snowball. This one's different. You can have him at cost price; and that's an old twelve month account! Ten pounds. He's worth four of it! Salted _an'_ shootin'! Shake!" and I gripped his grimy old fist gladly, knowing it was jonnick and `a square deal.' That was Mungo Park--the long, strong, low-built, half-bred Basuto pony--well-trained and without guile. I left Snowball with his previous owner, to use as required, and never called back for him; and if this should meet the eye of Joey the Smith he will know that I no longer hope his future life will be spent in stalking a wart-eyed white horse in a phantom Bushveld. Mungo made amends. There was a spot between the Komati and Crocodile rivers on the north side of the road where the white man seldom passed and nature was undisturbed; few knew of water there; it was too well concealed between deep banks and the dense growth of thorns and large trees. The spot always had great attractions for me apart from the big game to be found there. I used to steal along the banks of this lone water and watch the smaller life of the bush. It was a delightful field for naturalist and artist, but unfortunately we thought little of such things, and knew even less; and now nothing is left from all the glorious opportunities but the memory of an endless fascination and a few facts that touch the human chord and will not submit to be forgotten. There were plenty of birds--guinea-fowl, pheasant, partridge, knoorhaan and bush pauw. Jock accompanied me of course when I took the fowling-piece, but merely for companionship; for there was no need for him on these occasions. I shot birds to get a change of food and trusted to walking them up along the river banks and near drinking pools; but one evening Jock came forward of his own accord to help me--a sort of amused volunteer; and after that I always used him. He had been at my heels, apparently taking little interest in the proceedings from the moment the first bird fell and he saw what the game was; probably he was intelligently interested all the time but considered it nothing to get excited about. After a time I saw him turn aside from the line we had been taking and stroll off at a walking pace, sniffing softly the while. When he had gone a dozen yards he stopped and looked back at me; then he looked in front again with his head slightly on one side, much as he would have done examining a beetle rolling his ball. There were no signs of anything, yet the grass was short for those parts, scarce a foot high, and close, soft and curly. A brace of partridges rose a few feet from Jock, and he stood at ease calmly watching them, without a sign or move to indicate more than amused interest. The birds were absurdly tame and sailed so quietly along that I hesitated at first to shoot; then the noise of the two shots put up the largest number of partridges I have ever seen in one lot, and a line of birds rose for perhaps sixty yards across our front. There was no wild whirr and confusion: they rose in leisurely fashion as if told to move on, sailing infinitely slowly down the slope to the thorns near the donga. Running my eye along the line I counted them in twos up to between thirty and forty; and that I could not have been more than half. How many coveys had packed there, and for what purpose, and whether they came every evening, were questions which one would like answered now; but they were not of sufficient interest then to encourage a second visit another evening. The birds sailed quietly into the little wood, and many of them alighted on branches of the larger trees. It is the only time I have seen a partridge in a tree; but when one comes to think it out, it seems commonsense that, in a country teeming with vermin and night-prowlers, all birds should sleep off the ground. Perhaps they do! There were numbers of little squirrel-like creatures there too. Our fellows used to call them ground-squirrels and "tree-rats"; because they live underground, yet climb trees readily in search of food; they were little fellows like meerkats, with bushy tails ringed in brown, black and white, of which the waggon-boys made decorations for their slouch hats. Jock wanted a go at them: they did not appear quite so much beneath notice as the birds. Along the water's edge one came on the lagavaans, huge repulsive water-lizards three to four feet long, like crocodiles in miniature, sunning themselves in some favourite spot in the margin of the reeds or on the edge of the bank; they give one the jumps by the suddenness of their rush through the reeds and plunge into deep water. There were otters too, big black-brown fierce fellows, to be seen swimming silently close under the banks. I got a couple of them, but was always nervous of letting Jock into the water after things, as one never knew where the crocodile lurked. He got an ugly bite from one old dog-otter which I shot in shallow water; and, mortally wounded as he was, the otter put up a rare good fight before Jock finally hauled him out. Then there were the cane-rats, considered by some most excellent and delicate of meats, as big and tender as small sucking-pigs. The cane-rat, living and dead, I was one of the stock surprises, and the subject of jokes and tricks upon the unsuspecting: there seems to be no sort of ground for associating the extraordinary fat thing, gliding among the reeds or swimming silently under the banks, with either its live capacity of rat or its more attractive dead _role_ of roast sucking-pig. The hardened ones enjoyed setting this treat before the hungry and unsuspecting, and, after a hearty meal, announcing--"That was roast rat: good, isn't it?" The memory of one experience gives me water in the gills now! It was unpleasant, but not equal to the nausea and upheaval which supervened when, after a very savoury stew of delicate white meat, we were shown the fresh skin of a monkey hanging from the end of the buck-rails, with the head drooping forward, eyes closed, arms dangling lifeless, and limp open hands--a ghastly caricature of some hanged human, shrivelled and shrunk within its clothes of skin. I felt like a cannibal. The water tortoises in the silent pools, grotesque muddy fellows, were full of interest to the quiet watcher, and better that way than as the "turtle soup" which once or twice we ventured on and tried to think was good! There were certain hours of the day when it was more pleasant and profitable to lie in the shade and rest. It is the time of rest for the Bushveld--that spell about middle-day; and yet if one remains quiet, there is generally something to see and something worth watching. There were the insects on the ground about one which would not otherwise be seen at all; there were caterpillars clad in spiky armour made of tiny fragments of grass--fair defence no doubt against some enemies and a most marvellous disguise; other caterpillars clad in bark, impossible to detect until they moved; there were grasshoppers like leaves, and irregularly shaped stick insects, with legs as bulky as the body, and all jointed by knots like irregular twigs--wonderful mimetic creatures. Jock often found these things for me. Something would move and interest him; and when I saw him stand up and examine a thing at his feet, turning it over with his nose or giving it a scrape with his paw, it was usually worth joining in the inspection. The Hottentot-gods always attracted him as they reared up and `prayed' before him; quaint things, with tiny heads and thin necks and enormous eyes, that sat up with fore legs raised to pray, as a pet dog sits up and begs. One day I was watching the ants as they travelled along their route-- sometimes stopping to hobnob with those they met, sometimes hurrying past, and sometimes turning as though sent back on a message or reminded of something forgotten--when a little dry brown bean lying in a spot of sunlight gave a jump of an inch or two. At first it seemed that I must have unknowingly moved some twig or grass stem that flicked it; but as I watched it there was another vigorous jump. I took it up and examined it but there was nothing unusual about it, it was just a common light brown bean with no peculiarities or marks; it was a real puzzle, a most surprising and ridiculous one. I found half a dozen more in the same place; but it was some days before we discovered the secret. Domiciled in each of them was a very small but very energetic worm, with a trap-door or stopper on his one end, so artfully contrived that it was almost impossible with the naked eye to locate the spot where the hole was. The worm objected to too much heat and if the beans were placed in the sun or near the fire the weird astonishing jumping would commence. The beans were good for jumping for several months, and once in Delagoa, one of our party put some on a plate in the sun beside a fellow who had been doing himself too well for some time previously: he had become a perfect nuisance to us and we could not get rid of him. He had a mouth full of bread, and a mug of coffee on the way to help it down, when the first bean jumped. He gave a sort of peck, blinked several times to clear his eyes, and then with his left hand pulled slightly at his collar, as though to ease it. Then came another jump, and his mouth opened slowly and his eyes got big. The plate being hollow and glazed was not a fair field for the jumpers--they could not escape; and in about half a minute eight or ten beans were having a rough and tumble. With a white scared face our guest slowly lowered his mug, screened his eyes with the other hand, and after fighting down the mouthful of bread, got up and walked off without a word. We tried to smother our laughter, but some one's choking made him look back and he saw the whole lot of us in various stages of convulsions. He made one rude remark, and went on; but every one he met that day made some allusion to beans, and he took the Durban steamer next morning. The insect life was prodigious in its numbers and variety; and the birds, the beasts, and the reptiles were all interesting. There is a goodness-knows-what-will-turn-up-next atmosphere about the Bushveld which is, I fancy, unique. The story of the curate, armed with a butterfly net, coming face to face with a black-maned lion may or may not be true--in fact; but it is true enough as an illustration; and it is no more absurd or unlikely than the meeting at five yards of a lioness and a fever-stricken lad carrying a white green-lined umbrella-- which is true! The boy stood and looked: the lioness did the same. "She seemed to think I was not worth eating, so she walked off," he used to say--and he was Trooper 242 of the Imperial Light Horse who went back under fire for wounded comrades and was killed as he brought the last one out. I had an old cross-bred Hottentot-Bushman boy once--one could not tell which lot he favoured--who was full of the folklore stories and superstitions of his strange and dying race, which he half humorously and half seriously blended with his own knowledge and hunting experiences. Jantje had the ugly wrinkled dry-leather face of his breed, with hollow cheeks, high cheek-bones, and little pinched eyes, so small and so deeply set that no one ever saw the colour of them; the pepper-corns of tight wiry wool that did duty for hair were sparsely scattered over his head like the stunted bushes in the desert; and his face and head were seamed with scars too numerous to count, the souvenirs of his drunken brawls. He resembled a tame monkey rather than a human creature, being, like so many of his kind without the moral side or qualities of human nature which go to mark the distinction between man and monkey. He was normally most cheery and obliging; but it meant nothing, for in a moment the monkey would peep out, vicious, treacherous and unrestrained. Honesty, sobriety, gratitude, truth, fidelity, and humanity were impossible to him: it seemed as if even the germs were not there to cultivate, and the material with which to work did not exist. He had certain make-believe substitutes, which had in a sense been grafted on to his nature, and appeared to work, while there was no real use for them; they made a show, until they were tested; one took them for granted, as long as they were not disproved: it was a skin graft only, and there seemed to be no real `union' possible between them and the tough alien stock. He differed in character and nature from the Zulu as much as he did from the white man; he was as void of principle as--well, as his next of kin, the monkey; yet, while without either shame of, or contempt for, cowardice; he was wholly without fear of physical danger, having a sort of fatalist's indifference to it; and that was something to set off against his moral deficit. I put Jantje on to wash clothes the day he turned up at the waggons to look for work, and as he knelt on the rocks stripped to the waist I noticed a very curious knotted line running up his right side from the lowest rib into the armpit. The line was whiter than his yellow skin; over each rib there was a knot or widening in the line; and under the arm there was a big splotchy star--all markings of some curious wound. He laughed almost hysterically, his eyes disappearing altogether and every tooth showing, as I lifted his arm to investigate; and then in high-pitched falsetto tones he shouted in a sort of ecstasy of delight, "Die ouw buffels, Baas! Die buffels bull, Baas!" "Buffalo! Did he toss you?" I asked. Jantje seemed to think it the best joke in the world and with constant squeals of laughter and graphic gestures gabbled off his account. His master, it appears, had shot at and slightly wounded the buffalo, and Jantje had been placed at one exit from the bush to prevent the herd from breaking away. As they came towards him he fired at the foremost one; but before he could reload the wounded bull made for him and he ran for dear life to the only tree near--one of the flat-topped thorns. He heard the thundering hoofs and the snorting breath behind, but raced on hoping to reach the tree and dodge behind it; a few yards short, however, the bull caught him, in spite of a jump aside, and flung him with one toss right on top of the thorn-tree. When he recovered consciousness he was lying face upwards in the sun, with nothing to rest his head on and only sticks and thorns around him. He did not know where he was or what had happened; he tried to move, but one arm was useless and the effort made him slip and sag, and he thought he was falling through the earth. Presently he heard regular tramping underneath him and the breath of a big animal: and the whole incident came back to him. By feeling about cautiously he at last located the biggest branch under him, and getting a grip on this he managed to turn over and ease his right side. He could then see the buffalo: it had tramped a circle round the tree and was doing sentry over him. Now and again the huge creature stopped to sniff, snort and stamp, and then resumed the round, perhaps the reverse way. The buffalo could not see him and never once looked up, but glared about at its own accustomed level; and, relying entirely on its sense of smell, it kept up the relentless vengeful watch for hours, always stopping in the same place, to leeward, to satisfy itself that the enemy had not escaped. Late in the afternoon the buffalo, for the first time, suddenly came to a stand on the windward side of the tree, and after a good minute's silence turned its tail on Jantje and with angry sniffs and tosses stepped swiftly and resolutely forward some paces. There was nothing to be seen; but Jantje judged the position and yelled out a warning to his master whom he guessed to be coming through the bush to look for him, and at the same time he made what noise he could in the tree top to make the buffalo think he was coming down. The animal looked round from time to time with swings and tosses of the head and threatening angry sneezes, much as one sees a cow do when standing between her young calf and threatened danger: it was defending Jantje, for his own purposes, and facing the danger. For many minutes there was dead silence: no answer came to Jantje's call, and the bull stood its ground glaring and sniffing towards the bush. At last there was a heavy thud below, instantly followed by the report of the rifle--the bullet came faster than the sound; the buffalo gave a heavy plunge and with a grunting sob slid forward on its chest. Round the camp fire at night Jantje used to tell tales in which fact, fancy, and superstition were curiously mingled; and Jantje when not out of humour was free with his stories. The boys, for whose benefit they were told, listened open-mouthed; and I often stood outside the ring of gaping boys at their fire, an interested listener. The tale of his experiences with the honey-bird which he had cheated of its share was the first I heard him tell. Who could say how much was fact, how much fancy, and how much the superstitions of his race? Not even Jantje knew that! He believed it all. The Honey-bird met him one day with cheery cheep-cheep, and as he whistled in reply it led him to an old tree where the beehive was: it was a small hive, and Jantje was hungry; so he ate it all. All the time he was eating, the bird kept fluttering about, calling anxiously, and expecting some honey or fat young bees to be thrown out for it; and when he had finished, the bird came down and searched in vain for its share. As he walked away the guilty Jantje noticed that the indignant bird followed him with angry cries and threats. All day long he failed to find game; whenever there seemed to be a chance an angry honey-bird would appear ahead of him and cry a warning to the game; and that night as he came back, empty-handed and hungry, all the portents of bad luck came to him in turn. An owl screeched three times over his head; a goat-sucker with its long wavy wings and tail flitted before him in swoops and rings in most ghostly silence--and there is nothing more ghostly than that flappy wavy soundless flitting of the goat-sucker; a jackal trotted persistently in front looking back at him; and a striped hyena, humpbacked, savage, and solitary, stalked by in silence, and glared. At night as he lay unable to sleep the bats came and made faces at him; a night adder rose up before his face and slithered out its forked tongue--the two black beady eyes glinting the firelight back; and whichever way he looked there was a honey-bird, silent and angry, yet with a look of satisfaction, as it watched. So it went all night: no sleep for him; no rest! In the morning he rose early and taking his gun and chopper set out in search of hives: he would give all to the honey-bird he had cheated, and thus make amends. He had not gone far before, to his great delight, there came a welcome chattering in answer to his low whistle, and the busy little fellow flew up to show himself and promptly led the way, going ahead ten to twenty yards at a flight. Jantje followed eagerly until they came to a small donga with a sandy bottom, and then the honey-bird calling briskly, fluttered from tree to tree on either bank, leading him on. Jantje, thinking the hive must be near by, was walking slowly along the sandy bed and looking upwards in the trees, when something on the ground caught his eye and he sprang back just as the head of a big puff-adder struck where his bare foot had been a moment before. With one swing of his chopper he killed it; he took the skin off for an ornament, the poison-glands for medicine, and the fangs for charms, and then whistled and looked about for the honey-bird; but it had gone. A little later on, however, he came upon another, and it led him to a big and shady wild fig tree. The honey-bird flew to the trunk itself and cheeped and chattered there, and Jantje put down his gun and looked about for an easy place to climb. As he peered through the foliage he met a pair of large green eyes looking full into his: on a big limb of the tree lay a tiger, still as death, with its head resting on its paws, watching him with a cat-like eagerness for its prey. Jantje hooked his toe in the reim sling of his old gun and slowly gathered it up without moving his eyes from the tiger's, and backing away slowly, foot by foot, he got out into the sunshine and made off as fast as he could. It was the honey-bird's revenge: he knew it then! He sat down on some bare ground to think what next to do; for he knew he must die if he did not find honey and make good a hundred times what he had cheated. All day long he kept meeting honey-birds and following them; but he would no longer follow them into the bad places, for he could not tell whether they were new birds or the one he had robbed! Once he had nearly been caught; the bird had perched on an old ant-heap, and Jantje, thinking there was a ground hive there, walked boldly forward. A small misshapen tree grew out of the ant-heap, and one of the twisted branches caught his eye because of the thick ring around it: it was the coil of a long green mamba; and far below that, half hidden by the leaves, hung the snake's head with the neck gathered in half-loop coils ready to strike at him. After that Jantje kept in the open, searching for himself among rocks and in all the old dead trees for the tell-tale stains that mark the hive's entrance; but he had no luck, and when he reached the river in the early afternoon he was glad of a cool drink and a place to rest. For a couple of hours he had seen no honey-birds, and it seemed that at last his pursuer had given him up, for that day at least. As he sat in the shade of the high bank, however, with the river only a few yards from his feet he heard again a faint chattering: it came from the river-side beyond a turn in the bank, and it was too far away for the bird to have seen Jantje from where it called, so he had no doubt about this being a new bird. It seemed to him a glorious piece of luck that he should find honey by the aid of a strange bird and be able to take half of it back to the hive he had emptied the day before and leave it there for the cheated bird. There was a beach of pebbles and rocks between the high bank and the river, and as Jantje walked along it on the keen lookout for the bird, he spotted it sitting on a root half-way down the bank some twenty yards ahead. Close to where the chattering bird perched there was a break in the pebbly beach, and there shallow water extended up to the perpendicular bank. In the middle of this little stretch of water, and conveniently placed as a stepping-stone, there was a black rock, and the bare-footed Jantje stepped noiselessly from stone to stone towards lit. An alarmed cane-rat, cut off by Jantje from the river, ran along the foot of the bank to avoid him; but when it reached the little patch of shallow water it suddenly doubled back in fright and raced under the boy's feet into the river. Jantje stopped! He did not know why; but there seemed to be something wrong. Something had frightened the cane-rat back on to him, and he stared hard at the bank and the stretch of beach ahead of him. Then the rock he meant to step on to gave a heave, and a long blackish thing curved towards him; he sprang into the air as high as he could, and the crocodile's tail swept under his feet! Jantje fled back like a buck--the rattle on the stones behind him and crash of reeds putting yards into every bound. For four days he stayed in camp waiting for some one to find a hive and give him honey enough to make his peace; and then, for an old snuff-box and a little powder, he bought a huge basket full of comb, young and old, from a kaffir woman at one of the kraals some miles away, and put it all at the foot of the tree he had cleaned out. Then he had peace. The boys believed every word of that story: so, I am sure, did Jantje himself. The buffalo story was obviously true, and Jantje thought nothing of it: the honey-bird story was not, yet he gloried in it; it touched his superstitious nature, and it was impossible for him to tell the truth or to separate fact from fancy and superstition. How much of fact there may have been in it I cannot say: honey-birds gave me many a wild-goose chase, but when they led to anything at all it was to hives, and not to snakes, tigers and crocodiles. Perhaps it is right to own up that I never cheated a honey-bird! We pretended to laugh at the superstition, but we left some honey all the same--just for luck! After all, as we used to say, the bird earned its share and deserved encouragement. Round the camp fire at nights it was no uncommon thing to see some one jump up and let out with whatever was handiest at some poisonous intruder. There was always plenty of dead wood about and we piled on big branches and logs freely, and as the ends burnt to ashes in the heart of the fire we kept pushing the logs further in. Of course, dead trees are the home of all sorts of `creepy-crawly' things, and as the log warmed up and the fire eat into the decayed heart and drove thick hot smoke through the cracks and corridors and secret places in the logs the occupants would come scuttling out at the butt ends. Small snakes were common--the big ones usually clearing when the log was first disturbed--and they slipped away into the darkness giving hard quick glances about them; but scorpions, centipedes and all sorts of spiders were by far the most numerous. Occasionally in the mornings we found snakes under our blankets, where they had worked in during the night for the warmth of the human body; but no one was bitten, and one made a practice of getting up at once, and with one movement, so that unwelcome visitors should not be warned or provoked by any preliminary rolling. The scorpions, centipedes and tarantulas seemed to be more objectionable; but they were quite as anxious to get away as we were, and it is wonderful how little damage is done. One night when we had been watching them coming out of a big honeycombed log like the animals from the Ark, and were commenting on the astonishing number and variety of these things, I heard Jantje conveying in high-pitched tones fanciful bits of information to the credulous waggon-boys. When he found that we too were listening--and Jantje had the storyteller's love for a `gallery'--he turned our way and dropped into a jargon of broken English, helped out with Hottentot-Dutch, which it is impossible to reproduce in intelligible form. He had made some allusion to `the great battle,' and when I asked for an explanation he told us the story. It is well enough known in South Africa, and similar stories are to be found in the folklore of other countries, but it had a special interest for us in that Jantje gave it as having come to him from his own people. He called it "The Great Battle between the Things of the Earth and the Things of the Air." For a long time there had been jealousy between the Things of the Earth and the Things of the Air, each claiming superiority for themselves; each could do something the others could not do; and each thought their powers greater and their qualities superior. One day a number of them happened to meet on an open plain near the river's bank, and the game of brag began again as usual. At last the Lion, who was very cross, turned to the old Black Aasvogel, as he sat half asleep on a dead tree, and challenged him. "You only eat the dead: you steal where others kill. It is all talk with you; you will not fight!" The Aasvogel said nothing, but let his bald head and bare neck settle down between his shoulders, and closed his eyes. "He wakes up soon enough when we find him squatting above the carcase," said the Jackal. "See him flop along then." "When _we_ find him!" the Aasvogel said, opening his eyes wide. "Sneaking prowler of the night! Little bastard of the Striped Thief!" "Come down and fight," snarled the Hyena angrily. "Thief and scavenger yourself!" So the Things of the Air gathered about and joined in backing the Black Aasvogel; and the Things of the Earth kept on challenging them to come down and have it out; but nobody could hear anything because the Jackal yapped incessantly and the Go'way bird, with its feathers all on end and its neck craned out, screamed itself drunk with passion. Then the Eagle spoke out: "You have talked enough. Strike--strike for the eyes!" and he swept down close to the Lion's head, but swerving to avoid the big paw that darted out at him, he struck in passing at the Jackal, and took off part of his ear. "I am killed! I am killed!" screamed the Jackal, racing for a hole to hide in. But the other beasts laughed at him; and when the Lion called them up and bade them take their places in the field for the great battle, the Jackal walked close behind him holding his head on one side and showing each one what the Eagle had done. "Where is my place?" asked the Crocodile, in a soft voice, from the bank where no one had noticed him come up. The Things of the Earth that were near him moved quietly away. "Your place is in the water," the Lion answered. "Coward and traitor whom no one trusts! Who would fight with his back to you?" The Crocodile laughed softly and rolled his green eyes from one to another; and they moved still further away. "What am I?" asked the Ostrich. "Kindred of the Birds, I am of the winged ones; yet I cannot fight with them!" "Let him fly!" said the Jackal, grinning, "and we shall then see to whom he belongs! Fly, old Three Sticks! Fly!" The Ostrich ran at him, waltzing and darting with wings outspread, but the Jackal dodged away under the Lion and squealed out, "Take your feet off the ground, Clumsy, and fly!" Then it was arranged that there should be two Umpires, one for each party, and that the Umpires should stand on two high hills where all could see them. The Ostrich was made Umpire for the Things of the Air, and as long as the fight went well with his party he was to hold his head high so that the Things of the Air might see the long thin neck upright and, knowing that all was well, fight on. The Jackal asked that he might be Umpire for the Things of the Earth. "You are too small to be seen!" objected the Lion gruffly. "No! No!" urged the Jackal, "I will stand on a big ant-heap and hold my bushy tail on high where all will see it shining silver and gold in the sunlight." "Good!" said the Lion. "It is better so, perhaps, for you would never fight; and as soon as one begins to run, others follow!" The Things of the Air gathered in their numbers, and the Eagle led them, showing them how to make up for their weakness by coming swiftly down in numbers where they found their enemies alone or weak; how to keep the sun behind them so that it would shine in their enemies' eyes and blind them; and how the loud-voiced ones should attack on the rear and scream suddenly, while those with bill and claw swooped down in front and struck at the eyes. And for a time it went well with the Things of the Air. The little birds and locusts and butterflies came in clouds about the Lion and he could see nothing as he moved from place to place; and the Things of the Earth were confused by these sudden attacks; and, giving up the fight, began to flee from their places. Then the Jackal, believing that he would not be found out, cheated: he kept his tail up to make them think they were not beaten. The Lion roared to them, so that all could hear, to watch the hill where the Jackal stood and see the sign of victory; and the Things of the Earth, being strong, gathered together again and withstood the enemy and drove them off. The battle was going against the Things of the Air when the Go'way bird came to the Eagle and said: "It is the Jackal who has done this. Long ago we had won; but, Cheat and Coward, he kept his tail aloft and his people have returned and are winning now." Then the Eagle, looking round the field, said, "Send me the Bee." And when the Bee came the Eagle told him what to do; and setting quietly about his work, as his habit is, he made a circuit through the trees that brought him to the hill where the Jackal watched from the ant-heap. While the Jackal stood there with his mouth open and tongue out, laughing to see how his cheating had succeeded, the Bee came up quietly behind and, as Jantje put it, "stuck him from hereafter!" The Jackal gave a scream of pain and, tucking his tail down, jumped from the ant-heap and ran away into the bush; and when the Things of the Earth saw the signal go down they thought that all was lost, and fled. So was the Great Battle won! CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. MONKEYS AND WILDEBEESTE. Mungo was not a perfect mount, but he was a great improvement on Snowball; he had a wretched walk, and led almost as badly as his predecessor; but this did not matter so much because he could be driven like a pack donkey and relied on not to play pranks. In a gallop after game he was much faster than Snowball, having a wonderfully long stride for so low a pony. A horse made a good deal of difference in the hunting in many ways, not the least of which was that some sort of excursion was possible on most days. One could go further in the time available and, even if delayed, still be pretty sure of catching up to the waggons without much difficulty. Sometimes after a long night's trekking I would start off after breakfast for some `likely' spot, off-saddle there in a shady place, sleep during the heat of the day, and after a billy of tea start hunting towards the waggons in the afternoon. It was in such a spot on the Komati River, a couple of hundred yards from the bank, that on one occasion I settled down to make up lost ground in the matter of sleep, and with Mungo knee-haltered in good grass and Jock beside me, I lay flat on my back with hat covering my eyes and was soon comfortably asleep. The sleep had lasted a couple of hours when I began to dream that it was raining and woke up in the belief that a hail storm--following the rain--was just breaking over me. I started up to find all just as it had been, and the sunlight beyond the big tree so glaring as to make the eyes ache. Through half-closed lids I saw Mungo lying down asleep and made out Jock standing some yards away quietly watching me. With a yawn and stretch I lay back again; sleep was over but a good lazy rest was welcome: it had been earned, and, most comforting of all, there was nothing else to be done. In the doze that followed I was surprised to feel quite distinctly something like a drop of rain strike my leg, and then another on my hat. "Hang it all, it is raining," I said, sitting up again and quite wide awake this time. There was Jock still looking at me, but only for the moment of moving, it appears; for, a minute later he looked up into the tree above me with ears cocked, head on one side, and tail held lazily on the horizontal and moving slowly from time to time. It was his look of interested amusement. A couple of leaves fluttered down, and then the half-eaten pip of a `wooden orange' struck me in the face as I lay back again to see what was going on above. The pip gave me the line, and away up among the thick dark foliage I saw a little old face looking down at me; the quick restless eyes were watchfully on the move, and the mouth partly opened in the shape of an O--face and attitude together a vivid expression of surprise and indignation combined with breathless interest. As my eyes fairly met those above me, the monkey ducked its head forward and promptly `made a face' at me without uttering a sound. Then others showed up in different places, and whole figures became visible now as the monkeys stole softly along the branches to get a better look at Jock and me: there were a couple of dozen of them of all sizes. They are the liveliest, most restless, and most inquisitive of creatures; ludicrously nervous and excitable; quick to chattering anger and bursts of hysterical passion, which are intensely comical, especially when they have been scared. They are creatures whose method of progress most readily betrays them by the swaying of a branch or quivering of leaves, yet they can steal about and melt away at will, like small grey ghosts, silent as the grave. I had often tried to trap them, but never succeeded: Jantje caught them, as he caught everything, with cunning that out-matched his wilder kindred; pitfalls, nooses, whip-traps, fall-traps, foot-snares, drags, slip-knots of all kinds, and tricks that I cannot now remember, were in his repertory; but he disliked showing his traps, and when told to explain he would half sulkily show one of the common kind. The day he caught the monkey he was well pleased, and may possibly have told the truth. Baboons and monkeys, he said, can count just like men, but they can only count two! If one man goes into a mealie field and waits for them with a gun, their sentry will see him, and he may wait for ever; if two go and one remains, it is useless, for they realise that only one has come out where two went in; but if three go in, one may remain behind to lie in wait for them, for the monkeys, seeing more than one return, will invade the mealie field as soon as the two are safely out of the way. That was only Jantje's explanation of the well-known fact that monkeys and baboons know the difference between one and more than one. But, as Jantje explained, their cleverness helped him to catch them. He went alone and came away alone, leaving his trap behind, knowing that they were watching his every movement, but knowing also that their intense curiosity would draw them to it the moment it seemed safe. The trap he used was an old calabash or gourd with a round hole in it about an inch in diameter; and a few pumpkin seeds and mealies and a hard crust of bread, just small enough to get into the calabash, formed the bait. After fastening the gourd by a cord to a small stump, he left it lying on its side on the ground where he had been sitting. A few crumbs and seeds were dropped near it and the rest placed in the gourd, with one or two showing in the mouth. Then he walked off on the side where he would be longest in view, and when well out of sight sped round in a circuit to a previously selected spot where he could get close up again and watch. The foremost monkey was already on the ground when he got back and others were hanging from low branches or clinging to the stems, ready to drop or retreat. Then began the grunts and careful timid approaches, such as one sees in a party of children hunting for the hidden `ghost' who is expected to appear suddenly and chase them; next, the chattering garrulous warnings and protests from the timid ones--the females--in the upper branches; the sudden start and scurry of one of the youngsters; and the scare communicated to all, making even the leader jump back a pace; then his angry grunt and loud scolding of the frightened ones-- angry because they had given him a fright, and loud because he was reassuring himself. After a pause they began the careful roundabout approach and the squatting and waiting, making pretences of not being particularly interested, while their quick eyes watched everything; then the deft picking up of one thing--instantly dropped again, as one picks up a roasted chestnut and drops it in the same movement, in case it should be hot; and finally the greedy scramble and chatter. I have seen all that, but not, alas, the successful ending, when trying to imitate Jantje's methods. Jantje waited until the tugs at the gourd became serious, and then, knowing that the smaller things had been taken out or shaken out and eaten and that some enterprising monkey had put its arm into the hole and grabbed the crust, he ran out. A monkey rarely lets go any food it has grabbed, and when, as in this case, the hand is jammed in a narrow neck, the letting go cannot easily be done instinctively or inadvertently; the act requires a deliberate effort. So Jantje caught his monkey, and flinging his ragged coat over the captive sat down to make it safe. By pushing the monkey's arm deeper into the gourd the crust became released and the hand freed; he then gradually shifted the monkey about until he got the head into the shoulders of the loose old coat, and thence into the sleeve; and worked away at this until he had the creature as helpless as a mummy with the head appearing at the cuff-opening and the body jammed in the sleeve like a bulging overstuffed sausage. The monkey struggled, screamed, chattered, made faces, and cried like a child; but Jantje gripping it between his knees worked away unmoved. He next took the cord from the calabash and tied one end securely round the monkey's neck, to the shrinking horror of that individual, and the other end to a stout bush stick about seven or eight feet long; and then slipped monkey cord and stick back through the sleeve and had his captive safe; the cord prevented it from getting away, and the stick from getting too close and biting him. When they sat opposite and pulled faces at each other the family likeness was surprising. The grimacing little imps invariably tempt one to tease or chase them, just to see their antics and methods; and when I rose, openly watching them and stepping about for a better view, they abandoned the silent methods and bounded freely from branch to branch for fresh cover, always ducking behind something if I pointed the gun or a stick or even my arm at them, and getting into paroxysms of rage and leaning over slang and cheek me whenever it seemed safe. Jock was full of excitement, thoroughly warmed up and anxious to be at them, running about from place to place to watch them, tacking and turning and jumping for better views, and now and then running to the trunk and scraping at it. Whenever he did this there was a moment's silence; the idea of playing a trick on them struck me and I caught Jock up and put him in the fork of a big main branch about six feet from the ground. The effect was magical: the whole of the top of the tree seemed to whip and rustle at once, and in two seconds there was not a monkey left. Then a wave in the top of a small tree some distance off betrayed them and we gave chase--a useless romping schoolboy chase. They were in the small trees away from the river and it was easy to see and follow them; and to add to the fun and excitement I threw stones at the branches behind them. Their excitement and alarm then became hysterical, and as we darted about to head them off they were several times obliged to scamper a few yards along the ground to avoid me and gain other trees. It was then that Jock enjoyed himself most: he ran at them and made flying leaps and snaps as they sprang up the trees out of reach. It was like a caricature of children in one of their make-believe chases; the screams, grimaces, and actions were so human that it would have seemed like a tragedy had one of them been hurt. They got away into the big trees once more, to Jock's disappointment but greatly to my relief; for I was quite pumped from the romp and laughter. The river at this point was broken into several sluices by islands formed of piles of rocks on which there were a few stunted trees and dense growths of tall reeds, and here and there little spits and fringes of white sand were visible. There was plenty of small game in that part, and it was a great place for crocodiles. As we were then about half a mile below where Mungo had been left I strolled along the bank on the look out for a shot, frequently stopping to examine suspicious-looking rocks on the sand spits or at the borders of the reed fringes on the little islands. The shooting of crocodiles was an act of war: it was enmity and not sport or a desire for trophies that prompted it, and when it did not interfere with other chances we never missed a practice shot at these fellows. I picked out several `rocks,' so suspicious looking that I would have had a shot at them had there been a clear chance, and twice, while I was trying to make them out, they slid silently into the water before there was time to fire. However, further on there came a better chance than any: there was something so peculiar about the look of this `rock' that I picked a good spot and sat down to watch it; and presently the part nearest me turned slightly, just enough to show that it was a crocodile lying on the flat sand with his nose towards me and his tail hidden in the reeds. It was fifty yards away, and from where I sat there was not much to aim at, as a Martini bullet would glance from almost any part of that polished hard case if it struck at such an angle. I was sitting on the bank above the shelving beach of the river on which a dense mass of reeds grew, and the waving feathery tops partly obscured the sight. I know the bullet hit him somewhere, because he bounded with astonishing strength and activity several feet in the air and his tail slashed through the reeds like a mighty scythe. The huge jaws opened and he gave a horrible angry bellow--something between a roar and a snarl--as he plunged into the river, sending masses of spray and water flying every way. He made straight across, apparently at me, swimming on top of the water at amazing speed and throwing up a wave on either side and a white swirl of foam from the propelling tail. It was certainly a most surprising and unheard-of proceeding, and as he reached my side of the stream, and because hidden from me by the screen of reeds at my feet, I turned and bolted. It may be that he came at me with murderous intent; or it may be that, blinded by rage or pain, he came towards me simply because he happened to be facing that way; but, whatever the reason, it was painfully clear that if he meant business he would be on to me before it was possible to see him in the reeds. That was enough for me. It had never occurred to me that there was going to be any fun in this for the crocodile; but one's sense of humour and justice was always being stimulated in the Bushveld. With twenty yards of open ground between us I turned and waited; but no crocodile appeared, nor was there a sound to be heard in the reeds. A few minutes wait; a cautious return; a careful scrutiny; and then resort to sticks and stones; but all to no purpose: there was neither sign nor sound of the crocodile; and not being disposed to go into the reeds to look for something which I did not want, but might want me, I returned to Mungo--a little wiser, it is true, but not unduly `heady' on that account. Half an hour's jogging along the bank having failed to propose anything, I struck away from the river taking a line through the bush towards camp, and eventually came across a small herd of blue wildebeeste. Mungo's pricked ears and raised head warned me; but the grass being high it was not easy to see enough of them from the ground to place an effective shot, and before a chance offered they moved off slowly. I walked after them, leading Mungo and trying to get a fair opening on slightly higher ground. Presently half a dozen blackish things appeared above the tall grass; they were the heads of the wildebeeste--all turned one way, and all looking at us with ears wide spread. Only the upper halves of the heads were visible through the thinner tops of the grass, and even an ordinary standing shot was not possible. I had to go to a tree for support in order to tip-toe for the shot, and whilst in the act of raising my rifle the heads disappeared; but I took chance and fired just below where the last one had shown up. The wildebeeste were out of sight, hidden by grass six feet high, but a branch of the tree beside me served as a horizontal bar and hoisting myself chin high I was able to see them again. In front of us there was a dry vlei quite free of bush, some two hundred yards across and four hundred yards long, and the wildebeeste had gone away to the right and were skirting the vlei, apparently meaning to get round to the opposite side, avoiding the direct cut across the vlei for reasons of their own. It occurred to me that there must be a deep donga or perhaps a mud hole in front which they were avoiding; but that it might be possible for me to get across, or even half-way across, in time to have another shot at them the next time they stopped to look back, as they were almost certain to do; so I ran straight on. One does not have to reason things out like that in actual practice: the conclusion comes instantly, as if by instinct, and no time is lost. To drop from the branch, pick up the rifle, and start running were all parts of one movement. Stooping slightly to prevent my bobbing hat from showing up in the grass tops, and holding the rifle obliquely before me as a sort of snowplough to clear the grass from my eyes, I made as good pace as the ground would allow. No doubt the rifle held in front of me made it difficult to notice anything on the ground; but the concentrated stare across the vlei in the direction of the galloping wildebeeste was quite as much the cause of what followed. Going fast and stooping low, with all my weight thrown forward, I ran right into a wildebeeste cow. My shot had wounded her through the kidneys, completely paralysing the hind quarters, and she had instantly dropped out of sight in the grass. The only warning I got was a furious snort, and the black looking monster with great blazing blood-shot eyes rose up on its front legs as I ran into it. To charge into a wounded wildebeeste ready to go for you, just when your whole attention is concentrated upon others two hundred yards beyond, is nearly as unpleasant as it is unexpected; it becomes a question of what will happen to you, rather than of what you will do. That at any rate was my experience. The rifle, if it had hindered me, also helped: held out at arms length it struck the wildebeeste across the forehead and the collision saved my chest from the horns. There was an angry toss of the big head and the rifle was twirled out of my hand, as one might flip a match away. I do not know exactly what happened: the impression is of a breathless second's whirl and scramble, and then finding myself standing untouched five yards away, with the half-paralysed wildebeeste squatting like a dog and struggling to drag the useless hind quarters along in its furious efforts to get at Jock who had already intervened to help me. The rifle lay within the circle of the big hooked horns; and the squatting animal, making a pivot of its hind quarters, slewed round and round, making savage lunges at Jock and great heaves at me each time I tried to get the rifle. It often happens that shots touching the kidneys produce a paralysis, temporarily severe, which passes off to a great extent after some minutes and leaves the wounded animal well able to charge: it happened to me some years later while trying to photograph a wounded sable. I tried to hook the gun out with a stick but the wildebeeste swung round and faced me at once, snapping the sticks and twirling them out of my hands with surprising ease and quickness. I then tried another game, and by making feint attacks from the other side at last got the animal gradually worked away from my gun; and the next attempt at raking was successful. When the excitement was over and there was a chance of taking stock of the position, I found that Jock had a pretty good `gravel rash' on one hip and a nasty cut down one leg; he had caught the wildebeeste by the nose the instant I ran into it, and it had `wiped the floor' with him and flung him aside. I found my bandolier with a broken buckle lying on the grass; one shirt sleeve was ripped open; the back of the right hand cut across; hands and knees were well grated; and there were lumps and bruises about the legs for which there was no satisfactory explanation. I must have scrambled out like an unwilling participant in a dog fight. It was a long job skinning, cutting up, and packing the wildebeeste, and when we reached the outspan the waggons had already started and we had a long tramp before us to catch them. I drove Mungo before me, keeping him at an easy-jog. We had been going for possibly an hour and it was quite dark, except for the stars and the young moon low down on our right; the road was soft and Mungo's jogging paces sounded like floppy pats; there was no other sound at all, not even a distant rumble from the waggons to cheer us; Mungo must have been sick of it and one might have thought him jogging in his sleep but for the occasional pricking of his ears--a trick that always makes me wonder how much more do horses see in the dark than we do. I walked like a machine, with rifle on shoulder and glad to be rid of the broken bandolier, then transferred to Mungo; and Jock trotted at my heels. This tired monotonous progress was disturbed by Mungo: his ears pricked; his head went up; and he stopped, looking hard at a big low bush on our left. I gave him a tap with the switch, and without an instant hesitation he dashed off to the right making a half circle through the veld and coming into the road again fifty yards ahead, and galloped away leaving a rising column of dust behind him. I stood and faced the bush that Mungo had shied at, and the first thing that occurred to me was that my bandolier and cartridges were with the pony. Then Jock growled low and moved a few steps forward and slightly to the right, also sheering off from that bush. I felt that he was bristling all over, but there was neither time nor light to watch him. I stepped slowly sideways after him gripping the rifle and looking hard at the bush. Our line was much the same as Mungo's and would take us some seven or eight paces off the road--more than that was not possible owing to the barrier of thorns on that side. When we got abreast of the bush two large spots of pale light appeared in the middle of it, apparently waist high from the ground. It is impossible to forget the tense creepy feeling caused by the dead stillness, the soft light, and the pale expressionless glow of those eyes--the haunting mystery of eyes and nothing more! It is not unusual to see eyes in the night; but this was a `nervy' occasion, and there is no other that comes back with all the vividness and reality of the experience itself, as this one does. And I was not the only nervous one. Mungo incontinently bolted--probably what he saw warranted it; Jock, as ever, faced it; but when my foot touched his hind leg as we sidled away he flew round with a convulsive jump. He too was strung to concert pitch. As we moved on and passed the reflecting angle of the moon, the light of the eyes went out as suddenly and silently as it had appeared. There was nothing then to show me where danger lay; but Jock knew, and I kept a watch on him. He jogged beside me, lagging slightly as if to cover our retreat, always looking back. A couple of times he stopped entirely and stood in the road, facing straight back and growling; and I followed suit. He was in command; he knew! There was nothing more. Gradually Jock's subdued purring growl died down and the glances back became fewer. I found Mungo a long way on, brought to a standstill by the slipping of his load; and we caught up to the waggons at the next outspan. CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. THE OLD CROCODILE. We reached the Crocodile River drift on a Sunday morning, after a particularly dry and dusty night trek. `Wanting a wash' did not on such occasions mean a mild inclination for a luxury: it meant that washing was badly needed. The dust lay inches deep on the one worn veld road, and the long strings of oxen toiling along kicked up suffocating clouds of fine dust which there was seldom any breeze to carry off: it powdered white man and black to an equal level of yellowy red. The waggons were a couple of hundred yards from the river; and, taking a complete change, I went off for a real clean up. We generally managed to get in a couple of bathes at the rivers--real swims--but that was only done in the regular drifts and when there were people about or waggons crossing. In such conditions crocodiles rarely appeared; they prefer solitude and silence. The swims were very delightful but somewhat different from ordinary bathes; however remote may have been the risk of meeting a crocodile when you dived, or of being grabbed by one as you swam, the idea was always there and made it more interesting. Being alone that day I had no intention of having a swim or of going into the open river, and I took a little trouble to pick a suitable pool with a rock on which to stand and dress. The water was clear and I could see the bottom of the pool. It was quite shallow--three feet deep at most--made by a scour in the sandy bed and divided from the main stream by a narrow spit of sand a couple of yards wide and twenty long. At the top end of the sand spit was a flat rock--my dressing table. After a dip in the pool I stood on to the sand spit to scrub off the brown dust, keeping one unsoaped eye roving round for intrusive crocodiles, and the loaded rifle lying beside me. The brutes slide out so silently and unexpectedly that in that exposed position, with water all round, one could not afford to turn one's back on any quarter for long. There is something laughable--it seemed faintly humorous even then--in the idea of a naked man hastily washing soap out of his eyes and squeezing away the water to take a hurried look behind him, and then after careful survey, doing an `altogether' dowse just as hastily-- blowing and spluttering all the time like a boy after his first dive. The bath was successful and ended without incident--not a sign of a crocodile the whole time! Breakfast was ready when I reached the waggons, and feeling very fit and clean in a fresh flannel shirt and white moleskins, I sat down to it. Jim Makokel' brought the kettle of coffee from the fire and was in the act of pouring some into a big mug when he stopped with a grunt of surprise and, looking towards the river, called out sharply, "What is it?" One of the herd boys was coming at a trot towards us, and the drivers, thinking something had happened to the oxen, called a question to him. He did not answer until he reached them and even then spoke in so quiet a tone that I could not catch what he said. But Jim, putting down the kettle, ran to his waggon and grabbing his sticks and assegais called to me in a husky shouting whisper--which imperfectly describes Jim's way of relieving his feelings, without making the whole world echo: "Ingwenye, Inkos! Ingwenye Umkulu! Big Clocodile! Groot Krokodil, Baas!" Then abandoning his excited polyglot he gabbled off in pure Zulu and at incredible speed a long account of the big Crocodile: it had carried off four boys going to the goldfields that year; it had taken a woman and a baby from the kraal near by, but a white man had beaten it off with a bucket; it had taken all the dogs, and even calves and goats, at the drinking-place; and goodness knows how much more. How Jim got his news, and when he made his friends, were puzzles never solved. Hunting stories, like travellers tales, are proverbially dangerous to reputations, however literally true they may be; and this is necessarily so, partly because only exceptional things are worth telling, and partly because the conditions of the country or the life referred to are unfamiliar and cannot be grasped. It is a depressing but accepted fact that the ideal, lurid--and, I suppose, convincing--pictures of wild life are done in London, where the author is unhampered by fact or experience. "Stick to the impossible, and you will be believed: keep clear of fact and commonplace, and you cannot be checked." Such was the cynical advice given many years ago by one who had bought his experience in childhood and could not forget it. Sent home as a small boy from a mission station in Zululand to be educated by his grandparents, he found the demand for marvels among his simple country relatives so great that his small experience of snakes and wild animals was soon used up; but the eager suggestive questions of the good people, old and young, led him on, and he shyly crossed the border. The Fields of Fancy were fair and free; there were no fences there; and he stepped out gaily into the Little People's country--The Land of Let's Pretendia! He became very popular. One day, however, whilst looking at the cows, he remarked that in Zululand a cow would not yield her milk unless the calf stood by. The old farmer stopped in his walk, gave him one suspicious look, and asked coldly, "What do they do when a calf is killed or dies?" "They never kill the calves there;" the boy answered, "but once when one died father stuffed the skin, with grass and showed it to the cow; because they said that would do." The old man, red with anger, took the boy to his room, saying that as long as he spoke of the lions, tigers and snakes that he knew about, they believed him; but when it came to farming! No! Downright lying he would not have; and there was nothing for it but larruping. "It was the only piece of solid truth they had allowed me to tell for months," he added thoughtfully, "and I got a first-class hiding for it." And was there no one who doubted Du Chaillu and Stanley and others? Did no one question Gordon Cumming's story of the herd of elephants caught and killed in a little kloof? and did not we of Barberton many years later locate the spot by the enormous pile of bones, and name it "Elephants' Kloof?" There are two crocodile incidents well-known to those whom time has now made old hands, but believed by no one else; even in the day of their happening they divided men into believers and unbelievers. The one was of `Mad' Owen--only mad, because utterly reckless--riding through Komati Drift one moonlight night alone and unarmed, who, riding, found his horse brought to a stop, plunging, kicking and struggling on the sand bank in mid-stream where the water was not waist deep. Owen looking back saw that a crocodile had his horse by the leg. All he had was a leaded hunting-crop, but, jumping into the water he laid on so vigorously that the crocodile made off, and Owen remounted and rode out. There are many who say that it is not true--that it cannot be true; for no man would do it. But there are others who have an open mind, because they knew Owen--Mad Owen, who for a wager bandaged his horse's eyes and galloped him over a twenty foot bank headlong into the Jew's Hole in Lydenburg; Owen, who when driving four young horses in a Cape cart flung the reins away and whipped up the team, bellowing with laughter, because his nervous companion said he had never been upset and did not want to be; Owen, who--But too many things rise up that earned him his title and blow the `impossible' to the winds. Mad Owen deserves a book to himself; but here is my little testimony on his behalf, given shamefaced at the thought of how he would roar to think it needed. I crossed that same drift one evening and on riding up the bank to Furley's store saw a horse standing in a dejected attitude with one hind leg clothed in `trowsers' made of sacking and held up by a suspender ingeniously fastened across his back. During the evening something reminded me of the horse, and I asked a question; and the end of Furley's answer was, "They say it's all a yarn about `horsewhipping' a crocodile: all we know is that one night, a week ago, he turned up here dripping wet, and after having a drink told us the yarn. He had the leaded hunting-crop in his hand; and that's the horse he was riding. You can make what you like of it. We've been doctoring the horse ever since, but I doubt if it will pull through!" I have no doubt about the incident. Owen did not invent: he had no need to; and Furley himself was no mean judge of crocodiles and men. Furley kept a ferry boat for the use of natives and others when the river was up, at half a crown a trip. The business ran itself and went strong during the summer floods, but in winter when the river was low and fordable it needed pushing; and then Furley's boatman, an intelligent native, would loiter about the drift and interest travellers in his crocodile stories, and if they proved over-confident or sceptical, would manoeuvre them a little way down stream where, from the bank, they would usually see a big crocodile sunning himself on a sand spit below the drift. The boys always took the boat. One day some police entered the store and joyously announced that they had got him--"bagged the old villain at last!"; and Furley dropped on a sack of mealies groaning out "Glory, Boys! The ferry's ruined. Why, I've preserved him for years!" The other crocodile incident concerns "Lying Tom"--brave merry-faced blue-eyed Tom; bubbling with good humour; overflowing with kindness; and full of the wildest yarns, always good and amusing, but so steep that they made the most case-hardened draw a long breath. The name Lying Tom was understood and accepted by every one in the place, barring Tom himself; for, oddly enough, there was another Tom of the same surname, but no relation, and once when his name cropped up I heard the real Simon Pure refer to him as "my namesake--the chap they call Lying Tom." To the day of his death Tom believed that it was the other Tom who was esteemed the liar. Tom was a prospector who `came in' occasionally for supplies or licences; and there came a day when Barberton was convulsed by Lying Tom's latest. He had been walking along the bank of the Crocodile River, and on hearing screams ran down just in time to see a kaffir woman with a child on her back dragged off through the shallow water by a crocodile. Tom ran in to help--"I kicked the dashed thing on the head and in the eyes," he said, "and punched its ribs and then grabbed the bucket that the woman had in her hand and hammered the blamed thing over the head till it let go. By Jimminy, Boys, the woman was in a mess: never saw any one in such a fright!" Poor Tom suffered from consumption in the throat and talked in husky jerks broken by coughs and laughter. Is there one among them who knew him who does not remember the breezy cheeriness, the indomitable pluck, the merry blue eyes, so limpidly clear, the expressive bushy eyebrows, and the teeth, too perfect to be wasted on a man, and ever flashing with his unfailing smiles? Tom would end up with--"Niggers said I was `takati': asked for some of my medicine! Blamed got no pluck: would've let the woman go." Of course this story went the rounds latest and best; but one day we turned up in Barberton to deliver our loads, and that evening a whisper went about and men with faces humorously puzzled looked at one another and said "Lying Tom's a fraud: the crocodile story is true!" For our party, shooting guinea-fowl in the kaffir lands along the river, came upon a kraal where there sat a woman with an arm so scarred and marked that we could not but ask what had caused it. There was no difference in the stories, except that the kaffirs after saying that the white man had kicked the crocodile and beaten it with the bucket, added "and he kicked and beat with the bucket the two men who were there, saying that they were not men but dogs, who would not go in and help the woman. But he was bewitched: the crocodile could not touch him!" Some of Tom's stories were truly incredible, but not those in which he figured to advantage: he was too brave a man to have consciously gained credit he did not deserve. He died, slowly starved to death by the cruel disease--the brave, kindly, cheery spirit, smiling unbeaten to the end. That was what Jim referred to when he called me to kill the murderer of women and children. It pleased him and others to say that this was the same crocodile; and I believe it was. The locality was the same, and the kraal boys said that it was in the old place from which all its murderous raids had been made; and that was all we knew. I took the rifle and went with the herd boy; Jim followed close behind, walking on his toes with the waltzy springy movement of an ostrich, eager to get ahead and repeatedly silenced and driven back by me in the few hundred yards' walk to the river. A queer premonitory feeling came over me as I saw we were making straight for the bathing pool; but before reaching the bank the herd boy squatted down, indicating that somewhere in front and below us the enemy would be found. An easy crawl brought me to the river bank and, sure enough, on the very spot where I had stood to wash, only fifty yards from us, there was an enormous crocodile. He was lying along the sand spit with his full length exposed to me. Such a shot would have been a moral certainty, but as I brought the rifle slowly up it may have glinted in the sun, or perhaps the crocodile had been watching us all the time, for with one easy turn and no splash at all he slid into the river and was gone. It was very disgusting and I pitched into Jim and the other boys behind for having made a noise and shown themselves; but they were still squatting when I reached them and vowed they had neither moved nor spoken. We had already turned to go when there came a distant call from beyond the river. To me it was merely a kaffir's voice and a sound quite meaningless: but to the boys' trained ears it spoke clearly. Jim pressed me downwards and we all squatted again. "He is coming out on another sandbank," Jim explained. Again I crawled to the bank and lay flat, with the rifle ready. There was another sand streak a hundred yards out in the stream with two out-croppings of black rock at the upper end of it--they were rocks right enough, for I had examined them carefully when bathing. This was the only other sandbank in sight: it was higher than it appeared to be from a distance and the crocodile whilst hidden from us was visible to the natives on the opposite bank as it lay in the shallow water and emerged inch by inch to resume its morning sun bath. The crocodile was so slow in showing up that I quite thought it had been scared off again, and I turned to examine other objects and spots up and down the stream; but presently glancing back at the bank again I saw what appeared to be a third rock, no bigger than a loaf of bread. This object I watched until my eyes ached and swam; it was the only possible crocodile; yet it was so small, so motionless, so permanent looking, it seemed absurd to doubt that it really was a stone which had passed unnoticed before. As I watched unblinkingly it seemed to grow bigger and again contract with regular swing, as if it swelled and shrank with breathing; and knowing that this must be merely an optical delusion caused by staring too long, I shut my eyes for a minute. The effect was excellent: the rock was much bigger; and after that it was easy to lie still and wait for the cunning old reptile to show himself. It took half an hour of this cautious manoeuvring and edging on the part of the crocodile before he was comfortably settled on the sand with the sun warming all his back. In the meantime the waggon-boys behind me had not stirred; on the opposite side of the river kaffirs from the neighbouring kraal had gathered to the number of thirty or forty, men, women and children, and they stood loosely grouped, instinctively still silent and watchful, like a little scattered herd of deer. All on both sides were watching me and waiting for the shot. It seemed useless to delay longer; the whole length of the body was showing, but it looked so wanting in thickness, so shallow in fact, that it was evident the crocodile was lying, not on the top, but on the other slope of the sand spit; and probably not more than six or eight inches--in depth--of body was visible. It was little enough to aim at, and the bullet seemed to strike the top of the bank first, sending up a column of sand, and then, probably knocked all out of shape, ploughed into the body with a tremendous thump. The crocodile threw a back somersault--that is, it seemed to rear up on its tail and spring backwards; the jaws divided into a huge fork as, for a second, it stood up on end; and it let out an enraged roar, seemingly aimed at the heavens. It was a very sudden and dramatic effect, following on the long silence. Then the whole world seemed to burst into indescribable turmoil; shouts and yells burst out on all sides; the kaffirs rushed down to the banks-- the men armed with sticks and assegais, and the women and children with nothing more formidable than their voices; the crocodile was alive--very much alive--and in the water; the waggon-boys, headed by Jim, were all round me and all yelling out together what should or should not be done, and what would happen if we did or did not do it. It was Babel and Bedlam let loose. With the first plunge the crocodile disappeared, but it came up again ten yards away thrashing the water into foam and going up stream like a paddle-boat gone reeling roaring mad--if one can imagine such a thing! I had another shot at him the instant he reappeared, but one could neither see nor hear where it struck; and again and again I fired whenever he showed up for a second. He appeared to be shot through the lungs; at any rate the kaffirs on the other bank, who were then quite close enough to see, said that it was so. The waggon-boys had run down the bank out on to the first sand spit and I followed them, shouting to the kaffirs opposite to get out of the line of fire, as I could no longer shoot without risk of hitting them. The crocodile after his first straight dash up stream had tacked about in all directions during the next few minutes, disappearing for short spells and plunging out again in unexpected places. One of these sudden reappearances brought him once more abreast, and quite near to us, and Jim with a fierce yell and with his assegai held high in his right hand dashed into the water, going through the shallows in wild leaps. I called to him to come back but against his yells and the excited shouts of the ever-increasing crowd my voice could not live; and Jim, mad with excitement, went on. Twenty yards out, where increasing depth steadied him, he turned for a moment and seeing himself alone in the water called to me with eager confidence, "Come on, Baas." It had never occurred to me that any one would be such an idiot as to go into water after a wounded crocodile. There was no need to finish off this one, for it was bound to die, and no one wanted the meat or skin. Who, then, would be so mad as to think of such a thing? Five minutes earlier I would have answered very confidently for myself; but there are times when one cannot afford to be sensible. There was a world of unconscious irony in Jim's choice of words "_Come_ on!" and "_Baas_!" The boy giving the lead to his master was too much for me; and in I went! I cannot say that there was much enjoyment in it for the first few moments--not until the excitement took hold and all else was forgotten. The first thing that struck me was that in the deep water my rifle was worth no more than a walking-stick, and not nearly as useful as an assegai; but what drove this and many other thoughts from my mind in a second was the appearance of Jock on the stage and his sudden jump into the leading place. In the first confusion he had passed unnoticed, probably at my heels as usual, but the instant I answered Jim's challenge by jumping into the water he gave one whimpering yelp of excitement and plunged in too; and in a few seconds he had outdistanced us all and was leading straight for the crocodile. I shouted to him, of course in vain--he heard nothing; and Jim and I plunged and struggled along to head the dog off. As the crocodile came up Jock went straight for him--his eyes gleaming, his shoulders up, his nose out, his neck stretched to the utmost in his eagerness--and he ploughed along straining every muscle to catch up. When the crocodile went under he slackened and looked anxiously about, but each fresh rise was greeted by the whimpering yelps of intense suppressed excitement as he fairly hoisted himself out of the water with the vigour of his swimming. The water was now breast-high for us, and we were far out in the stream, beyond the sand spit where the crocodile had lain, when the kaffirs on the bank got their first chance and a flight of assegais went at the enemy as he rose. Several struck and two remained in him; he rose again a few yards from Jim, and that sportsman let fly one that struck well home. Jock, who had been toiling close behind for some time and gaining slowly, was not five yards off then; the floundering and lashing of the crocodile were bewildering, but on he went as grimly and eagerly as ever. I fired again--not more than eight yards away--but the water was then up to my arms, and it was impossible to pick a vital part; the brain and neck were the only spots to finish him, but one could see nothing beyond a great upheaval of water and clouds of spray and blood-stained foam. The crocodile turned from the shot and dived up stream, heading straight for Jock: the din of yelling voices stopped instantly as the huge open-mouthed thing plunged towards the dog; and for one sick horrified moment I stood and watched--helpless. Had the crocodile risen in front of Jock that would have been the end-- one snap would have done it; but it passed clear underneath, and, coming up just beyond him, the great lashing tail sent the dog up with the column of water a couple of feet in the air. He did as he had done when the koodoo bull tossed him: his head was round straining to get at the crocodile before he was able to turn his body in the water; and the silence was broken by a yell of wild delight and approval from the bank. Before us the water was too deep and the stream too strong to stand in; Jim in his eagerness had gone in shoulder high, and my rifle when aimed only just cleared the water. The crocodile was the mark for more assegais from the bank as it charged up stream again, with Jock tailing behind, and it was then easy enough to follow its movements by the shafts that were never all submerged. The struggles became perceptibly weaker, and as it turned again to go with the stream every effort was concentrated on killing and landing it before it reached the rocks and rapids. I moved back for higher ground and, finding that the bed shelved up rapidly down stream, made for a position where there would be enough elevation to put in a brain shot. The water was not more than waist high then, and as the crocodile came rolling and thrashing down I waited for his head to show up clearly. My right foot touched a sloping rock which rose almost to the surface of the water close above the rapids, and anxious to get the best possible position for a last shot, I took my stand there. The rock was the ordinary shelving bedrock, uptilted at an easy angle and cut off sheer on the exposed side, and the wave in the current would have shown this to any one not wholly occupied with other things; but I had eyes for nothing except the crocodile which was then less than a dozen yards off, and in my anxiety to secure a firm footing for the shot I moved the right foot again a few inches--over the edge of the rock. The result was as complete a spill as if one unthinkingly stepped backwards off a diving board: I disappeared in deep water, with the knowledge that the crocodile would join me there in a few seconds. One never knows how these things are done or how long they take: I was back on the rock--without the rifle--and had the water out of my eyes in time to see the crocodile roll helplessly by, six feet away, with Jock behind making excited but ridiculously futile attempts to get hold of the tail; Jim--swimming, plunging and blowing like a maddened hippo-- formed the tail of the procession, which was headed by my water-logged hat floating heavily a yard or so in front of the crocodile. While a crowd of yelling niggers under the generalship of Jim were landing the crocodile, I had time to do some diving, and managed to fish out my rifle. My Sunday change was wasted. But we got the old crocodile; and that was something, after all. CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. THE FIGHTING BABOON. On the way to Lydenburg, not many treks from Paradise Camp, we were outspanned for the day. Those were the settled parts; on the hills and in the valleys about us were the widely scattered workings of the gold diggers or the white tents of occasional prospectors. The place was a well-known and much-frequented public outspan, and a fair-sized wayside store marked its importance. After breakfast we went to the store to `swap' news with the men on the spot and a couple of horsemen who had offsaddled there. There were several other houses of sorts; they were rough wattle and daub erections which were called houses, as an acknowledgment of pretensions expressed in the rectangular shape and corrugated iron roof. One of these belonged to Seedling, the Field Cornet and only official in the district. He was the petty local Justice who was supposed to administer minor laws, collect certain revenues and taxes, and issue passes. The salary was nominal, but the position bristled with opportunities for one who was not very particular; and the then occupant of the office seemed well enough pleased with the arrangement, whatever the public may have thought of it. He was neither popular nor trusted: many tales of great harshness and injustice to the natives, and of corruption and favouritism in dealing with the whites, added to habitual drunkenness and uncertain temper, made a formidable tally in the account against him; he was also a bully and a coward, and all knew it; but unfortunately he was the law--as it stood for us! Seedling, although an official of the Boer Government, was an Englishman; there were several of them on the goldfields in those days, and for the most part, they were good fellows and good officials--this one was an exception. We all knew him personally: he was effusively friendly; and we suffered him and--paid for the drinks. That was in his public capacity: in his private capacity he was the owner of the fighting baboon of evil and cruel repute. If ever fate's instruments moved unconscious of their mission and the part they were to play, it is certain that Jock and Jim Makokel' did so that day--the day that was the beginning of Seedling's fall and end. It is not very clear how the trouble began. We had been sitting on the little store-counter and talking for over an hour, a group of half a dozen, swapping off the news of the goldfields and the big world against that from Delagoa and the Bushveld; Seedling had joined us early and, as usual, began the morning with drinks. We were not used to that on the road or out hunting; indeed, we rarely took any drink, and most of us never touched a drop except in the towns. The transport-rider had opportunities which might easily become temptations--the load often consisting of liquor, easy to broach and only to be paid for at the end of the trip; but we had always before us the lesson of the failures. Apart from this, however, we did not take liquor, because we could not work as well or last as long, run as fast or shoot as straight, if we did. And that was reason enough! We had one round of drinks which was `called' by one of the horsemen, and then, to return the compliment, another round called by one of us. A few minutes later Seedling announced effusively that it was his `shout.' But it was only ten in the morning, and those who had taken spirits had had enough, indeed, several had only taken a sip of the second round in order to comply with a stupid and vicious custom; I would not and could not attack another bottle of sour gingerbeer; and thus Seedling's round was reduced to himself and the proprietor. No man however thirsty would drink alone in those days--it was taken a mark of meanness or evidence of `soaking'--and the proprietor had to be ready at any time to `take one for the good of the house.' A quarter of an hour passed, and Seedling, who had said nothing since his `shout' was declined, turned away and strolled out, with hands thrust deep in the pockets of his riding breeches and a long heavy sjambok dangling from one wrist. There was silence as he moved through the doorway, and when the square patch of sunlight on the earth floor was again unbroken the man behind the counter remarked,-- "Too long between drinks for him! Gone for a pull at the private bottle." "Is that how it's going?" "Yah! all day long. Drinks here as long as any one'll call, but don't do much shoutin' on his own, I tell you! That's the first time I seen him call for a week. He wanted to get you chaps on the go, I reckon. He'll be wrong all day to-day. I know him!" "Cost him two bob for nothing, eh!" "Well, it ain't so much that; ye see, he reckoned you'd all shout your turns, and drinks'd come regular; but he sees you're not on. Twig? I'm not complainin' mind you--Lord no! He don't pay any way! It's all `chalked up' for him, an' I got to wipe it off the slate when the next loads comes and he collects my customs' duties. His liquor's took him wrong to-day--you'll see!" We did see; and that before very long. We had forgotten Seedling, and were hearing all about the new finds reported from Barberton district, when one of the waggon-boys came running into the store calling to me by my kaffir name and shouting excitedly, "Baas, Baas! come quickly! The baboon has got Jock: it will kill him!" I had known all about the vicious brute, and had often heard of Seedling's fiendish delight in arranging fights or enticing dogs up to attack it for the pleasure of seeing the beast kill the over-matched dogs. The dog had no chance at all, for the baboon remained out of reach in his house on the pole as long as it chose, if the dog was too big or the opening not a good one, and made its rush when it would tell best. But apart from this the baboon was an exceptionally big and powerful one, and it is very doubtful if any dog could have tackled it successfully in an open fight. The creature was as clever as even they can be; its enormous jaws and teeth were quite equal to the biggest dog's, and it had the advantage of four `hands.' Its tactics in a fight were quite simple and most effective; with its front feet it caught the dog by the ears or neck, holding the head so that there was no risk of being bitten, and then gripping the body lower down with the hind feet, it tore lumps out of the throat, breast, and stomach--pushing with all four feet and tearing with the terrible teeth. The poor dogs were hopelessly out-matched. I did not see the beginning of Jock's encounter, but the boys' stories pieced together told everything. It appears that when Seedling left the store he went in to his own hut and remained there some little time; on coming out again he strolled over to the baboon's pole about half-way between the two houses and began teasing it, throwing pebbles at it to see it dodge and duck behind the pole, and then flicking at it with the sjambok, amused by its frightened and angry protests. While he was doing this, Jock, who had followed me to the store, strolled out again making his way towards the waggons. He was not interested in our talk; he had twice been accidentally trodden on by men stepping back as he lay stretched out on the floor behind them; and doubtless he felt that it was no place for him: his deafness prevented him from hearing movements, except such as caused vibration in the ground, and, poor old fellow, he was always at a disadvantage in houses and towns. The baboon had then taken refuge in its box on top of the pole to escape the sjambok, and when Seedling saw Jock come out he commenced whistling and calling softly to him. Jock, of course, heard nothing: he may have responded mildly to the friendly overtures conveyed by the extended hand and patting of legs, or more probably simply took the nearest way to the waggon where he might sleep in peace, since there was nothing else to do. What the boys agree on is that as Jock passed the pole Seedling patted and held him, at the same time calling the baboon, and then gave the dog a push which did not quite roll him over but upset his balance; and Jock, recovering himself, naturally jumped round and faced Seedling, standing almost directly between him and the baboon. He could not hear the rattle of the chain on the box and pole, and saw nothing of the charging brute, and it was the purest accident that the dog stood a few inches out of reach. The baboon--chained by the neck instead of the waist, because it used to bite through all loin straps--made its rush, but the chain brought it up before its hands could reach Jock and threw the hind quarters round with such force against him that he was sent rolling yards away. I can well believe that this second attack from a different and wholly unexpected quarter thoroughly roused him, and can picture how he turned to face it. It was at this moment that Jim first noticed what was going on. The other boys had not expected anything when Seedling called the dog, and they were taken completely by surprise by what followed. Jim would have known what to expect: his kraal was in the neighbourhood; he knew Seedling well, and had already suffered in fines and confiscations at his hands; he also knew about the baboon; but he was ignorant, just as I was, of the fact that Seedling had left his old place across the river and come to live in the new hut, bringing his pet with him. It was the hoarse threatening shout of the baboon as it jumped at Jock, as much as the exclamations of the boys, that roused Jim. He knew instantly what was on, and grabbing a stick made a dash to save the dog, with the other boys following him. When Jock was sent spinning in the dust the baboon recovered itself first, and standing up on its hind legs reached out its long ungainly arms towards him, and let out a shout of defiance. Jock regaining his feet dashed in, jumped aside, feinted again and again, as he had learnt to do when big horns swished at him; and he kept out of reach just as he had done ever since the duiker taught him the use of its hoofs. He knew what to do, just as he had known how to swing the porcupine: the dog-- for all the fighting fury that possessed him--took the measure of the chain and kept outside it. Round and round he flew, darting in, jumping back, snapping and dodging, but never getting right home. The baboon was as clever as he was: at times it jumped several feet in the air, straight up, in the hope that Jock would run underneath; at others, it would make a sudden lunge with the long arms, or a more surprising reach out with the hind legs to grab him. Then the baboon began gradually to reduce its circle, leaving behind it slack chain enough for a spring; but Jock was not to be drawn. In cleverness they were well-matched-- neither scored in attack; neither made or lost a point. When Jim rushed up to save Jock, it was with eager anxious shouts of the dog's name that warned Seedling and made him turn; and as the boy ran forward the white man stepped out to stop him. "Leave the dog alone!" he shouted, pale with anger. "Baas, Baas, the dog will be killed," Jim called excitedly, as he tried to get round; but the white man made a jump towards him, and with a backhand slash of the sjambok struck him across the face, shouting at him again: "Leave him, I tell you." Jim jumped back, thrusting out his stick to guard another vicious cut; and so it went on with alternate slash and guard, and the big Zulu danced round with nimble bounds, guarding, dodging, or bearing the sjambok cuts, to save the dog. Seedling was mad with rage; for who had ever heard of a nigger standing up to a Field Cornet? Still Jim would not give way; he kept trying to get in front of Jock, to head him off the fight, and all the while shouting to the other boys to call me. But Seedling was the Field Cornet, and not one of them dared to move against him. At last the baboon, finding that Jock would not come on, tried other tactics; it made a sudden retreat and, rushing for the pole, hid behind it as for protection. Jock made a jump and the baboon leaped out to meet him, but the dog stopped at the chain's limit, and the baboon--just as in the first dash of all--overshot the mark; it was brought up by the jerk of the collar, and for one second sprawled on its back. That was the first chance for Jock, and he took it. With one spring he was in; his head shot between the baboon's hind legs, and with his teeth buried in the soft stomach he lay back and pulled--pulled for dear life, as he had pulled and dragged on the legs of wounded game; tugged as he had tugged at the porcupine; held on, as he had held when the koodoo bull wrenched and strained every bone and muscle in his body. Then came the sudden turn! As Jock fastened on to the baboon, dragging the chain taut while the screaming brute struggled on its back, Seedling stood for a second irresolute, and then with a stride forward raised his sjambok to strike the dog. That was too much for Jim; he made a spring in and grasping the raised sjambok with his left hand held Seedling powerless, while in his right the boy raised his stick on guard. "Let him fight, Baas! You said it! Let the dog fight!" he panted, hoarse with excitement. The white man, livid with fury, struggled and kicked, but the wrist loop of his sjambok held him prisoner and he could do nothing. That was the moment when a panic-stricken boy plucked up courage enough to call me; and that was the scene we saw as we ran out of the little shop. Jim would not strike the white man: but his face was a muddy grey, and it was written there that he would rather die than give up the dog. Before I reached them it was clear to us all what had happened; Jim was protesting to Seedling and at the same time calling to me; it was a jumble, but a jumble eloquent enough for us, and all intelligible. Jim's excited gabble was addressed with reckless incoherence to Seedling, to me, and to Jock! "You threw him in; you tried to kill him. He did it. It was not the dog. Kill him, Jock, kill him. Leave him, let him fight. You said it--Let him fight! Kill him, Jock! Kill! Kill! Kill!" Then Seedling did the worst thing possible; he turned on me with,-- "Call off your dog, I tell you, or I'll shoot him and your nigger too!" "We'll see about that! They can fight it out now," and I took the sjambok from Jim's hand and cut it from the white man's wrist. "Now! Stand back!" And he stood back. The baboon was quite helpless. Powerful as the brute was, and formidable as were the arms and gripping feet, it had no chance while Jock could keep his feet and had strength to drag and hold the chain tight. The collar was choking it, and the grip on the stomach--the baboon's own favourite and most successful device--was fatal. I set my teeth, and thought of the poor helpless dogs that had been decoyed in and treated the same way. Jim danced about, the white seam of froth on his lips, hoarse gusts of encouragement bursting from him as he leant over Jock, and his whole body vibrating like an over-heated boiler. And Jock hung on in grim earnest, the silence on his side broken only by grunting efforts as the deadly tug--tug--tug went on. Each pull caused his feet to slip a little on the smooth worn ground; but each time he set them back again, and the grunting tugs went on. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ It was not justice to call Jock off; but I did it. The cruel brute deserved killing, but the human look and cries and behaviour of the baboon were too sickening; and Seedling went into his hut without even a look at his stricken champion. Jock stood off, with his mouth open from ear to ear and his red tongue dangling, blood-stained and panting, but with eager feet ever on the move shifting from spot to spot, ears going back and forward, and eyes-- now on the baboon and now on me--pleading for the sign to go in again. Before evening the baboon was dead. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The day's excitement was too much for Jim. After singing and dancing himself into a frenzy round Jock, after shouting the whole story of the fight in violent and incessant gabble over and over again to those who had witnessed it, after making every ear ring and every head swim with his mad din, he grabbed his sticks once more and made off for one of the kraals, there to find drink for which he thirsted body and soul. In the afternoon the sudden scattering of the inhabitants of a small kraal on the hillside opposite, and some lusty shouting, drew attention that way. At distances of from two to five hundred yards from the huts there stood figures, singly or grouped in twos and threes, up to the highest slopes; they formed a sort of crescent above the kraal; and on the lower side of it, hiding under the bank of the river, were a dozen or more whose heads only were visible. They were all looking towards the kraal like a startled herd of buck. Now and then a burly figure would dart out from the huts with wild bounds and blood-curdling yells, and the watchers on that side would scatter like chaff and flee for dear life up the mountain side or duck instantly and disappear in the river. Then he would stalk back again and disappear, to repeat the performance on another side a little later on. It was all painfully clear to me. Jim had broken out. We were loaded for Lydenburg--another week's trekking through and over the mountains--and as we intended coming back the same way a fortnight later I decided at once to leave Jim at his kraal, which was only a little further on, and pick him up on the return journey. I nearly always paid him off in live stock or sheep: he had good wages, and for many months at a time would draw no money; the boy was a splendid worker and as true as steel; so that, in spite of all the awful worry I had a soft spot for Jim and had taken a good deal of trouble on his account. He got his pay at the end of the trip or the season, but not in cash. It was invested for him--greatly to his disgust at the time, I am bound to say--in live stock, so that he would not be able to squander it in drink or be robbed of it while incapable. Jim's gloomy dignity was colossal when it came to squaring up and I invited him to state what he wished me to buy for him. To be treated like an irresponsible child; to be chaffed and cheerfully warned by me; to be met by the giggles and squirts of laughter of the other boys, for whom he had the most profound contempt; to see the respectable Sam counting out with awkward eager hands and gleaming eyes the good red gold, while he, Makokela the Zulu, was treated like a piccanin--Ugh! It was horrible! Intolerable! Jim would hold aloof in injured gloomy silence, not once looking at me, but standing sideways and staring stonily past me into the far distance, and not relaxing for a second the expression of profound displeasure on his weather-beaten face. No joke or chaff, no question or reason, would move him to even look my way. All he would do was, now and again, give a click of disgust, a quick shake of the head, and say: "Aug! Ang-a-funa!" ("I do not desire it!") We had the same fight over and over again, but I always won in the end. Once, when he would not make up his mind what to buy, I offered him instead of cash two of the worst oxen in his span at the highest possible valuation, and the effect was excellent; but the usual lever was to announce that if he could not make his choice and bargain for himself I would do it for him. In the end he invariably gave way and bargained with his kaffir friends for a deal, venting on them by his hard driving and brow-beating some of the accumulated indignation which ought to have gone elsewhere. When it was all over Jim recovered rapidly, and at parting time there was the broadest of grins and a stentorian shout of "Hlala Kahle! Inkos!" and Jim went off with his springy walk, swinging his sticks and jabbering his thoughts aloud, evidently about me, for every now and again he would spring lightly into the air, twirl the stick, and shout a deep throated "Inkos!" full of the joy of living. A boy going home for his holiday! This time Jim was too fully wound up to be dealt with as before, and I simply turned him off, telling him to come to the camp in a fortnight's time. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I was a day behind the waggons returning, and riding up to the camp towards midday found Jim waiting for me. He looked ill and shrunken, wrapped in an old coat and squatting against the wall of the little hut. As I passed he rose slowly and gave his "Sakubona! Inkos!" with that curious controlled air by which the kaffir manages to suggest a kind of fatalist resignation or indifference touched with disgust. There was something wrong; so I rode past without stopping--one learns from them to find out how the land lies before doing anything. It was a bad story, almost as bad as one would think possible where civilised beings are concerned. Jim's own story lacked certain details of which he was necessarily ignorant, it also omitted the fact that had been drunk; but in the main it was quite true. This is what happened, as gleaned from several sources: several days after our departure Jim went down to the store again and raised some liquor; he was not fighting, but he was noisy, and was the centre of a small knot of shouting, arguing boys near the store when Seedling returned after a two days' absence. No doubt it was unfortunate that the very first thing he saw on his return was the boy who had defied him and who was the cause of his humiliation; and that that boy should by his behaviour give the slenderest excuse for interference was in the last degree unlucky. Seedling's mind was made up from the moment he set eyes on Jim. Throwing the reins over his horse's head he walked into the excited gabbling knot, all unconscious of his advent, and laid about him with the sjambok, scattering and silencing them instantly; he then took Jim by the wrist saying, "I want you"; he called to one of his own boys to bring a reim, and leading Jim over to the side of the store tied him up to the horse rail with arms at full stretch. Taking out his knife he cut the boy's clothing down the back so that it fell away in two halves in front of him; then he took off his own coat and flogged the boy with his sjambok. I would like to tell all that happened for one reason: it would explain the murderous man-hunting feeling that possessed us when we heard it! But it was too cruel: let it be! Only one thing to show the spirit: twice during the flogging Seedling stopped to go into the store for a drink. Jim crawled home to find his kraal ransacked and deserted, and his wives and children driven off in panic. In addition to the flogging Seedling had, in accordance with his practice, imposed fines far beyond the boy's means in cash, so as to provide an excuse for seizing what he wanted. The police boys had raided the kraal; and the cattle and goats--his only property--were gone. He told it all in a dull monotone: for the time the life and fire were gone out of him; but he was not cowed, not broken. There was a curl of contempt on his mouth and in his tone that whipped the white skin on my own back and made it all a disgrace unbearable. That this should be the reward for his courageous defence of Jock seemed too awful. We went inside to talk it over and make our plans. The waggons should go on next day as if nothing had happened, Jim remaining in one of the half tents or elsewhere out of sight of passers-by. I was to ride into Lydenburg and lodge information--for in such a case the authorities would surely act. That was the best, or at any rate the first, course to be tried. There was no difficulty about the warrant, for there were many counts in the indictment against Seedling; but even so worthless a brute as that seemed to have one friend, or perhaps an accomplice, to give him warning, and before we reached his quarters with the police he had cleared on horseback for Portuguese territory, taking with him a led horse. We got most of Jim's cattle back for him--which he seemed to consider the main thing--but we were sorely disgusted at the man's escape. That was the year of the `rush.' Thousands of new-comers poured into the country on the strength of the gold discoveries; materials and provisions of all kinds were almost unprocurable and stood at famine prices; and consequently we--the transport-riders--reaped a golden harvest. Never had there been such times; waggons and spans were paid for in single trips; and so great was the demand for supplies that some refused transport and bought their own goods, which they re-sold on the goldfields at prices twice as profitable as the highest rates of transport. Thus the days lost in the attempt to catch Seedling were valuable days. The season was limited, and as early rains might cut us off, a few days thrown away might mean the loss of a whole trip. We hurried down, therefore, for the Bay, doing little hunting that time. Near the Crocodile on our way down we heard from men coming up that Seedling had been there some days before but that, hearing we were on the way down and had sworn to shoot him, he had ridden on to Komati, leaving one horse behind bad with horse-sickness. The report about shooting him was, of course, ridiculous--probably his own imagination-- but it was some comfort to know that he was in such a state of terror that his own fancies were hunting him down. At Komati we learned that he had stayed three days at the store of that Goanese murderer, Antonio--the same Antonio who on one occasion had tried to drug and hand over to the enemy two of our men who had got into trouble defending themselves against raiding natives; the same Antonio who afterwards made an ill-judged attempt to stab one Mickey O'Connor in a Barberton canteen and happily got brained with a bottle of his own doctored spirit for his pains. Antonio suspecting something wrong about a white man who came on horseback and dawdled aimlessly three days at Komati Drift, going indoors whenever a stranger appeared, wormed the secret out with liquor and sympathy; and when he had got most of Seedling's money out of him, by pretence of bribing the Portuguese officials and getting news, made a bold bid for the rest by saying that a warrant was out for him in Delagoa and he must on no account go on. The evil-looking half-caste no doubt hoped to get the horse saddle and bridle, as well as the cash, and was quite prepared to drug Seedling when the time came, and slip him quietly into the Komati at night where the crocodiles would take care of the evidence. Antonio, however, overshot the mark; Seedling who knew all about him, took fright, saddled up and bolted up the river meaning to make for the Lebombo, near the Tembe Drift, where Bob McNab and his merry comrades ran free of Governments and were a law unto themselves. It was no place for a nervous man, but Seedling had no choice, and he went on. He had liquor in his saddle bags and food for several days; but he was not used to the bush, and at the end of the first day he had lost his way and was beyond the river district where the kaffirs lived. So much is believed, though not positively known; at any rate he left the last kraal in those parts about noon, and was next heard of two days later at a kraal under the Lebombo. There he learnt that the Black Umbelusi, which it would be necessary to swim--as Snowball and Tsetse had done--lay before him, and that it was yet a great distance to Sebougwaans, and even then he would be only half-way to Bob's. Seedling could not face it alone, and turned back for the nearest store. The natives said that before leaving the kraal he bought beer from them, but did not want food; for he looked sick; he was red and swollen in the face; and his eyes were wild; the horse was weak and also looked sick, being very thin and empty; but they showed him the footpath over the hills which would take him to Tom's--a white man's store on the road to Delagoa--and he left them! That was Tom Barnett's at Piscene, where we always stopped; for Tom was a good friend of ours. That was how we came to meet Seedling again. He had made a loop of a hundred and fifty miles in four days in his efforts to avoid us; but he was waiting for us when we arrived at Tom Barnett's. We who had hurried on to catch him, believing that the vengeance of justice depended on us, forgot that it has been otherwise decreed. Tom stood in the doorway of his store as we walked up--five feet one in his boots, but every inch of it a man--with his hands resting idly on his hips and a queer smile on his face as he nodded welcome. "Did a white man come here on horseback during the last few days from the Drift?" "No!" "On foot?" "No, not the whole way." "Is he here now?" Tom nodded. "You know about him, Tom?" "Seedling! the chap you're after, isn't it?" "Yes," we answered, lowering our voices. Tom looked from one to the other with the same queer smile, and then making a move to let us into the store said quietly: "He won't clear, boys; he's dead!" Some kaffirs coming along the footpath from the 'Bombo had found the horse dead of horse-sickness half a day away, and further on--only a mile or so from the store--the rider lying on his back in the sun, dying of thirst. He died before they got him in. He was buried under a big fig tree where another and more honoured grave was made later on. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jim sat by himself the whole evening and never spoke a word. CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR. THE LAST TREK. It was Pettigrew's Road that brought home to me, and to others, the wisdom of the old transport-riders' maxim: `Take no risks.' We all knew that there were `fly' belts on the old main road but we rushed these at night, for we knew enough of the tsetse fly to avoid it; however the discovery of the new road to Barberton, a short cut with plenty of water and grass, which offered the chance of working an extra trip into the short Delagoa season, tempted me, among others, to take a risk. We had seen no `fly' when riding through to spy out the land, and again on the trip down with empty waggons all had seemed to be well; but I had good reason afterwards to recall that hurried trip down and the night spent at Low's Creek. It was a lovely moonlight night, cool and still, and the grass was splendid; after many weeks of poor feeding and drought the cattle revelled in the land of plenty. We had timed our treks so as to get through the suspected parts of the road at night, believing that the fly did not trouble after dark, and thus we were that night outspanned in the worst spot of all--a tropical garden of clear streams, tree-ferns, foliage plants, mosses, maidenhair, and sweet grass! I moved among the cattle myself, watching them feed greedily and waiting to see them satisfied before inspanning again to trek through the night to some higher and more open ground. I noticed then that their tails were rather busy. At first it seemed the usual accompaniment of a good feed, an expression of satisfaction; after a while, however, the swishing became too vigorous for this, and when heads began to swing round and legs also were made use of, it seemed clear that something was worrying them. The older hands were so positive that at night cattle were safe from fly, that it did not even then occur to me to suspect anything seriously wrong. Weeks passed by, and although the cattle became poorer, it was reasonable enough to put it down to the exceptional drought. It was late in the season when we loaded up for the last time in Delagoa and ploughed our way through the Matolla swamp and the heavy sands at Piscene; but late as it was, there was no sign of rain, and the rain that we usually wanted to avoid would have been very welcome then. The roads were all blistering stones or powdery dust, and it was cruel work for man and beast. The heat was intense, and there was no breeze; the dust moved along slowly apace with us in a dense cloud--men, waggons, and animals, all toned to the same hue; and the poor oxen toiling slowly along drew in the finely-powdered stuff at every breath. At the outspan they stood about exhausted and panting, with rings and lines of brown marking where the moisture from nostrils, eyes and mouths had caught the dust and turned it into mud. At Matolla Poort, where the Lebombo Range runs low, where the polished black rocks shone like anvils, where the stones and baked earth scorched the feet of man and beast to aching, the world was like an oven; the heat came from above, below, around--a thousand glistening surfaces flashing back with intensity the sun's fierce rays. And there, at Matolla Poort, the big pool had given out! Our standby was gone! There, in the deep cleft in the rocks where the feeding spring, cool and constant, had trickled down a smooth black rock beneath another overhanging slab, and where ferns and mosses had clustered in one little spot in all the miles of blistering rocks, there was nothing left but mud and slime. The water was as green and thick as pea-soup; filth of all kinds lay in it and on it; half a dozen rotting carcases stuck in the mud round the one small wet spot where the pool had been--just where they fell and died; the coat had dropped away from some, and mats of hair, black-brown and white, helped to thicken the green water. But we drank it. Sinking a handkerchief where the water looked thinnest and making a little well into which the moisture slowly filtered, we drank it greedily. The next water on the road was Komati River, but the cattle were too weak to reach it in one trek, and remembering another pool off the road--a small lagoon found by accident when out hunting the year before--we moved on that night out on to the flats and made through the bush for several miles to look for water and grass. We found the place just after dawn. There was a string of half a dozen pools ringed with yellow-plumed reeds--like a bracelet of sapphires set in gold--deep deep pools of beautiful water in the midst of acres and acres of rich buffalo grass. It was too incredibly good! I was trekking alone that trip, the only white man there, and--tired out by the all-night's work, the long ride, and the searching in the bush for the lagoon--I had gone to sleep after seeing the cattle to the water and grass. Before midday I was back among them again; some odd movements struck a chord of memory, and the night at Low's Creek flashed back. Tails were swishing freely, and the bullock nearest me kicked up sharply at its side and swung its head round to brush something away. I moved closer up to see what was causing the trouble: in a few minutes I heard a thin sing of wings, different from a mosquito's, and there settled on my shirt a grey fly, very like and not much larger than a common house-fly, whose wings folded over like a pair of scissors. That was the "mark of the beast." I knew then why this oasis had been left by transport-rider and trekker, as nature made it, untrodden and untouched. Not a moment was lost in getting away from the `fly.' But the mischief was already done; the cattle must have been bitten at Low's Creek weeks before, and again that morning during the time I slept; and it was clear that, not drought and poverty, but `fly' was the cause of their weakness. After the first rains they would begin to die, and the right thing to do, now was to press on as fast as possible and deliver the loads. Barberton was booming and short of supplies and the rates were the highest ever paid; but I had done better still, having bought my own goods, and the certain profit looked a fortune to me. Even if all the cattle became unfit for use or died, the loads would pay for everything and the right course therefore was to press on; for delay would mean losing both cattle and loads--all I had in the world--and starting again penniless with the years of hard work thrown away. So the last hard struggle began. And it was work and puzzle day and night, without peace or rest; trying to nurse the cattle in their daily failing strength, and yet to push them for all they could do; watching the sky cloud over every afternoon, promising rain that never came, and not knowing whether to call it promise or threat; for although rain would bring grass and water to save the cattle, it also meant death to the fly-bitten. We crossed the Komati with three spans--forty-four oxen--to a waggon, for the drift was deep in two places and the weakened cattle could not keep their feet. It was a hard day, and by nightfall it was easy to pick out the oxen who would not last out a week. That night Zole lay down and did not get up again--Zole the little fat schoolboy, always out of breath, always good-tempered and quiet, as tame as a pet dog. He was only the first to go; day by day others followed. Some were only cattle: others were old friends and comrades on many a trek. The two big after-oxen Achmoed and Bakir went down early; the Komati Drift had over-tried them, and the weight and jolting of the heavy disselboom on the bad roads finished them off. These were the two inseparables who worked and grazed, walked and slept, side by side--never more than a few yards apart day or night since the day they became yoke-fellows. They died on consecutive days. But the living wonder of that last trek was still old Zwaartland the front ox! With his steady sober air, perfect understanding of his work, and firm clean buck-like tread, he still led the front span. Before we reached the Crocodile his mate gave in--worn to death by the ebbing of his own strength and by the steady indomitable courage of his comrade. Old Zwaartland pulled on; but my heart sank as I looked at him and noted the slightly `staring' coat, the falling flanks, the tread less sure and brisk, and a look in his eyes that made me think he knew what was coming but would do his best. The gallant-hearted old fellow held on. One after another we tried with him in the lead, half a dozen or more; but he wore them all down. In the dongas and spruits, where the crossings were often very bad and steep, the waggons would stick for hours, and the wear and strain on the exhausted cattle was killing: it was bad enough for the man who drove them. To see old Zwaartland then holding his ground, never for one moment turning or wavering while the others backed jibbed and swayed and dragged him staggering backwards, made one's heart ache. The end was sure: flesh and blood will not last for ever; the stoutest heart can be broken. The worst of it was that with all the work and strain we accomplished less than we used to do before in a quarter of the time. Distances formerly covered in one trek took three, four, and even five now. Water, never too plentiful in certain parts, was sadly diminished by the drought, and it sometimes took us three or even four treks to get from water to water. Thus we had at times to drive the oxen back to the last place or on to the next one for their drinks, and by the time the poor beasts got back to the waggons to begin their trek they had done nearly as much as they were able to do. And trouble begot trouble, as usual! Sam the respectable, who had drawn all his pay in Delagoa, gave up after one hard day and deserted me. He said that the hand of the Lord had smitten me and mine, and great misfortune would come to all; so he left in the dark at Crocodile Drift, taking one of the leaders with him, and joined some waggons making for Lydenburg. The work was too hard for him; it was late in the season; he feared the rains and fever; and he had no pluck or loyalty, and cared for no one but himself. I was left with three leaders and two drivers to manage four waggons. It was Jim who told me of Sam's desertion. He had the cross, defiant, pre-occupied look of old; but there was also something of satisfaction in his air as he walked up to me and stood to deliver the great vindication of his own unerring judgment: "Sam has deserted you and taken his voorlooper." He jerked the words out at me, speaking in Zulu. I said nothing. It was just about Sam's form; it annoyed but did not surprise me. Jim favoured me with a hard searching look, a subdued grunt, and a click expressive of things he could not put into words, and without another word he turned and walked back towards his waggon. But half-way to it he broke silence: facing me once more, he thumped his chest and hurled at me in mixed Zulu and English: "I said so! Sam lead a Bible. Sam no good. Umph! M'Shangaan! I said so! I always said so!" When Jim helped me to inspan Sam's waggon, he did it to an accompaniment of Zulu imprecations which only a Zulu could properly appreciate. They were quite `above my head,' but every now and then I caught one sentence repeated like the responses in a litany: "I'll kill that Shangaan when I see him again!" At Lion Spruit there was more bad luck. Lions had been troublesome there in former years, but for a couple of seasons nothing had been seen of them. Their return was probably due to the fact that, because of the drought and consequent failure of other waters, the game on which they preyed had moved down towards the river. At any rate, they returned unexpectedly and we had one bad night when the cattle were unmanageable, and their nerves all on edge. The herd boys had seen spoor in the afternoon; at dusk we heard the distant roaring, and later on, the nearer and more ominous grunting. I fastened Jock up in the tent-waggon lest the sight of him should prove too tempting; he was bristling like a hedgehog and constantly working out beyond the cattle, glaring and growling incessantly towards the bush. We had four big fires at the four corners of the outspan, and no doubt this saved a bad stampede, for in the morning we found a circle of spoor where the lions had walked round and round the outspan. There were scores of footprints--the tracks of at least four or five animals. In the Bushveld the oxen were invariably tied up at night, picketed to the trek-chain, each pair at its yoke ready to be inspanned for the early morning trek. Ordinarily the weight of the chain and yokes was sufficient to keep them in place, but when there were lions about, and the cattle liable to be scared and all to sway off together in the same direction, we took the extra precaution of pegging down the chain and anchoring the front yoke to a tree or stake. We had a lot of trouble that night, as one of the lions persistently took his stand to windward of the cattle to scare them with his scent. We knew well enough when he was there, although unable to see anything, as all the oxen would face up wind, staring with bulging eyeballs in that direction and braced up tense with excitement. If one of them made a sudden move, the whole lot jumped in response and swayed off down wind away from the danger, dragging the gear with them and straining until the heavy waggons yielded to the tug. We had to run out and then drive them up again to stay the stampede. It is a favourite device of lions, when tackling camps and outspans, for one of them to go to windward so that the terrified animals on winding him may stampede in the opposite direction where the other lions are lying in wait. Two oxen broke away that night and were never seen again. Once I saw a low light-coloured form steal across the road, and took a shot at it; but rifle-shooting at night is a gamble, and there was no sign of a hit. I was too short-handed and too pressed for time to make a real try for the lions next day, and after a morning spent in fruitless search for the lost bullocks we went on again. Instead of fifteen to eighteen miles a day, as we should have done, we were then making between four and eight--and sometimes not one. The heat and the drought were awful; but at last we reached the Crocodile and struck up the right bank for the short cut--Pettigrew's Road--to Barberton, and there we had good water and some pickings of grass and young reeds along the river bank. The clouds piled up every afternoon; the air grew still and sultry; the thunder growled and rumbled; a few drops of rain pitted the dusty road and pattered on the dry leaves; and that was all. Anything seemed preferable to the intolerable heat and dust and drought, and each day I hoped the rain would come, cost what it might to the fly-bitten cattle; but the days dragged on, and still the rain held off. Then came one black day as we crawled slowly along the river bank, which is not to be forgotten. In one of the cross-spruits cutting sharply down to the river the second waggon stuck: the poor tired-out cattle were too weak and dispirited to pull it out. Being short of drivers and leaders it was necessary to do the work in turns, that is, after getting one waggon through a bad place, to go back for another. We had to double-span this waggon, taking the span from the front waggon back to hook on in front of the other; and on this occasion I led the span while Jim drove. We were all tired out by the work and heat, and I lay down in the dusty road in front of the oxen to rest while the chains were being coupled up. I looked up into old Zwaartland's eyes, deep, placid, constant, dark grey eyes--the ox-eyes of which so many speak and write and so few really know. There was trouble in them; he looked anxious and hunted; and it made me heart-sick to see it. When the pull came, the back span, already disheartened and out of hand, swayed and turned every way, straining the front oxen to the utmost; yet Zwaartland took the strain and pulled. For a few moments both front oxen stood firm; then his mate cut it and turned; the team swung away with a rush, and the old fellow was jerked backwards and rolled over on his side. He struggled gamely, but it was some minutes before he could rise; and then his eye looked wilder and more despairing; his legs were planted apart to balance him, and his flanks were Jim straightened up the double-span again. Zwaartland leaned forward once more, and the others followed his lead; the waggon moved a little and they managed to pull it out. But I, walking in front, felt the brave old fellow stagger, and saw him, with head lowered, plod blindly like one stricken to death. We outspanned on the rise, and I told Jim to leave the reim on Zwaartland's head. Many a good turn from him deserved one more from me--the last. I sent Jim for the rifle, and led the old front ox to the edge of the donga where a bleached tree lay across it... He dropped into the donga under the dead tree; and I packed the dry branches over him and set fire to the pile. It looks absurd now; but to leave him to the wolf and the jackal seemed like going back on a friend; and the queer looks of the boys, and what they would think of me, were easier to bear. Jim watched, but said nothing: with a single grunt and a shrug of his shoulders he stalked back to the waggons. The talk that night at the boys' fire went on in low-pitched tones--not a single word audible to me; but I knew what it was about. As Jim stood up to get his blanket off the waggon, he stretched himself and closed off the evening's talk with his Zulu click and the remark that "All white men are mad, in some way." So we crawled on until we reached the turn where the road turned between the mountain range and the river and where the railway runs to-day. There, where afterwards Cassidy did his work, we outspanned one day when the heat became so great that it was no longer possible to go on. For weeks the storm-clouds had gathered, threatened, and dispersed; thunder had come half-heartedly, little spots of rain enough to pock-mark the dust; but there had been no break in the drought. It was past noon that day when everything grew still; the birds and insects hushed their sound; the dry leaves did not give a whisper. There was the warning in the air that one knows but cannot explain; and it struck me and the boys together that it was time to spread and tie down the buck-sails which we had not unfolded for months. While we were busy at this there came an unheralded flash and crash; then a few drops as big as florins; and then the flood-gates were opened and the reservoir of the long months of drought was turned loose on us. Crouching under the waggon where I had crept to lash down the sail, I looked out at the deluge, hesitating whether to make a dash for my tent-waggon or remain there. All along the surface of the earth there lay for a minute or so a two-feet screen of mingled dust and splash: long spikes of rain drove down and dashed into spray, each bursting its little column of dust from the powdery earth. There was an indescribable and unforgettable progression in sounds and smells and sights--a growth and change--rapid yet steady, inevitable, breathless, overwhelming. Little enough could one realise in those first few minutes and in the few square yards around; yet there are details, unnoticed at the time, which come back quite vividly when the bewildering rush is over, and there are impressions which it is not possible to forget. There were the sounds and the smells and the sights! The sounds that began with the sudden crash of thunder; the dead silence that followed it; the first great drops that fell with such pats on the dust; then more and faster--yet still so big and separate as to make one look round to see where they fell; the sound on the waggon-sail--at first as of bouncing marbles, then the `devil's tattoo,' and then the roar! And outside there was the muffled puff and patter in the dust; the rustle as the drops struck dead leaves and grass and sticks; the blend of many notes that made one great sound, always growing, changing and moving on--full of weird significance--until there came the steady swish and hiss of water upon water, when the earth had ceased to stand up against the rain and was swamped. But even that did not last; for then the fallen rain raised its voice against the rest, and little sounds of trickling scurrying waters came to tone the ceaseless hiss, and grew and grew until from every side the chorus of rushing tumbling waters filled the air with the steady roar of the flood. And the smells! The smell of the baked drought-bound earth; the faint clearing and purifying by the first few drops; the mingled dust and damp; the rinsed air; the clean sense of water, water everywhere; and in the end the bracing sensation in nostrils and head, of, not wind exactly, but of swirling air thrust out to make room for the falling rain; and, when all was over, the sense of glorious clarified air and scoured earth--the smell of a new-washed world! And the things that one saw went with the rest, marking the stages of the storm's short vivid life. The first puffs of dust, where drops struck like bullets; the cloud that rose to meet them; the drops themselves that streaked slanting down like a flight of steel ramrods; the dust dissolved in a dado of splash. I had seen the yellow-brown ground change colour; in a few seconds it was damp; then mud; then all asheen. A minute more, and busy little trickles started everywhere-- tiny things a few inches long; and while one watched them they joined and merged, hurrying on with twist and turn, but ever onward to a given point--to meet like the veins in a leaf. Each tuft of grass became a fountain-head: each space between, a little rivulet: swelling rapidly, racing away with its burden of leaf and twig and dust and foam until in a few minutes all were lost in one sheet of moving water. Crouching under the waggon I watched it and saw the little streamlets, dirty and debris-laden, steal slowly on like sluggard snakes down to my feet, and winding round me, meet beyond and hasten on. Soon the grass-tufts and higher spots were wet; and as the water rose on my boots and the splash beat up to my knees, it seemed worth while making for the tent of the waggon. But in there the roar was deafening; the rain beat down with such force that it drove through the canvas-covered waggon-tent and greased buck-sail in fine mist. In there it was black dark, the tarpaulin covering all, and I slipped out again back to my place under the waggon to watch the storm. We were on high ground which fell gently away on three sides--a long spur running down to the river between two of the numberless small watercourses scoring the flanks of the hills. Mere gutters they were, easy corrugations in the slope from the range to the river, insignificant drains in which no water ever ran except during the heavy rains. One would walk through scores of them with easy swinging stride and never notice their existence. Yet, when the half-hour's storm was over and it was possible to get out and look round, they were rushing boiling torrents, twenty to thirty feet across and six to ten feet deep, foaming and plunging towards the river, red with the soil of the stripped earth, and laden with leaves, grass, sticks, and branches-- water-furies, wild and ungovernable, against which neither man nor beast could stand for a moment. When the rain ceased the air was full of the roar of waters, growing louder and nearer all the time. I walked down the long low spur to look at the river, expecting much, and was grievously disappointed. It was no fuller and not much changed. On either side of me the once dry dongas emptied their soil-stained and debris-laden contents in foaming cataracts, each deepening the yellowy red of the river at its banks; but out in mid-stream the river was undisturbed, and its normal colour--the clear yellow of some ambers--was unchanged. How small the great storm seemed then! How puny the flooded creeks and dongas--yet each master of man and his work! How many of them are needed to make a real flood! There are few things more deceptive than the tropical storm. To one caught in it, all the world seems deluged and overwhelmed; yet a mile away it may be all peace and sunshine. I looked at the river and laughed at myself! The revelation seemed complete; it was humiliating; one felt so small. Still, the drought was broken; the rains had come; and in spite of disappointment I stayed to watch, drawn by the scores of little things caught up and carried by--the first harvest garnered by the rains. A quarter of an hour or more may have been spent thus, when amid all the chorus of the rushing waters there stole in a duller murmur. Murmur it was at first, but it grew steadily into a low-toned, monotoned, distant roar; and it caught and held one like the roar of coming hail or hurricane. It was the river coming down. The sun was out again, and in the straight reach above the bend there was every chance to watch the flood from the bank where I stood. It seemed strangely long in coming, but come it did at last, in waves like the half-spent breakers on a sandy beach--a slope of foam and broken waters in the van, an ugly wall with spray-tipped feathered crest behind, and tier on tier to follow. Heavens, what a scene! The force of waters, and the utter hopeless puniness of man! The racing waves, each dashing for the foremost place, only to force the further on; the tall reeds caught waist high and then laid low, their silvery tops dipped, hidden, and drowned in the flood; the trees yielding, and the branches snapping like matches and twirling like feathers down the stream; the rumbling thunder of big boulders loosed and tumbled, rolled like marbles on the rocks below; whole trees brought down, and turning helplessly in the flood--drowned giants with their branches swinging slowly over like nerveless arms. It was tremendous; and one had to stay and watch. Then the waves ceased; and behind the opposite bank another stream began to make its way, winding like a huge snake, spreading wider as it went across the flats beyond, until the two rejoined and the river became one again. The roar of waters gradually lessened; the two cataracts beside me were silent; and looking down I saw that the fall was gone and that water ran to water--swift as ever, but voiceless now--and was lost in the river itself. Inch by inch the water rose towards my feet; tufts of grass trembled, wavered, and went down; little wavelets flipped and licked like tongues against the remaining bank of soft earth below me; piece after piece of it leant gently forward, and toppled headlong in the eager creeping tide; deltas of yellow scum-flecked water worked silently up the dongas, reaching out with stealthy feelers to enclose the place where I was standing; and then it was time to go! The cattle had turned their tails to the storm, and stood it out. They too were washed clean and looked fresher and brighter; but there was nothing in that! Two of them had been seen by the boys moving slowly, foot by foot, before the driving rain down the slope from the outspan, stung by the heavy drops and yielding in their weakness to the easy gradient. Only fifty yards away they should have stopped in the hollow--the shallow dry donga of the morning; but they were gone! Unwilling to turn back and face the rain, they had no doubt been caught in the rush of storm-water and swirled away, and their bodies were bobbing in the Crocodile many miles below by the time we missed them. In a couple of hours the water had run off; the flooded dongas were almost dry again; and we moved on. It was then that the real `rot' set in. Next morning there were half a dozen oxen unable to stand up; and so again the following day. It was no longer possible to take the four waggons; all the spare cattle had been used up and it was better to face the worst at once; so I distributed the best of the load on the other three waggons and abandoned the rest of it with the fourth waggon in the bush. But day by day the oxen dropped out, and when we reached the Junction and branched up the Kaap, there were not enough left for three waggons. This time it meant abandoning both waggon and load; and I gave the cattle a day's rest then, hoping that they would pick up strength on good grass to face the eight drifts that lay between us and Barberton. CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE. OUR LAST HUNT. We had not touched fresh meat for many days, as there had been no time for shooting; but I knew that game was plentiful across the river in the rough country between the Kaap and Crocodile, and I started off to make the best of the day's delay, little dreaming that it was to be the last time Jock and I would hunt together. Weeks had passed without a hunt, and Jock must have thought there was a sad falling away on the part of his master; he no longer expected anything; the rifle was never taken down now except for an odd shot from the outspan or to put some poor animal out of its misery. Since the night with the lions, when he had been ignominiously cooped up, there had been nothing to stir his blood and make life worth living; and this morning as he saw me rise from breakfast and proceed to potter about the waggons in the way he had come to regard as inevitable, he looked on indifferently for a few minutes and then stretched out full length in the sun and went to sleep. I could not take him with me across the river, as the `fly' was said to be bad there, and it was no place to risk horse or dog. The best of prospects would not have tempted me to take chance with him, but I hated ordering him to stay behind, as it hurt his dignity and sense of comradeship, so it seemed a happy accident that he was asleep and I could slip away unseen. As the cattle were grazing along the river bank only a few hundred yards off, I took a turn that way to have a look at them, with natural but quite fruitless concern for their welfare, and a moment later met the herd boy running towards me and calling out excitedly something which I made out to be: "Crocodile! Crocodile, Inkos! A crocodile has taken one of the oxen." The waggon-boys heard it also, and armed with assegais and sticks were on the bank almost as soon as I was; but there was no sign of crocodile or bullock. The boy showed us the place where the weakened animal had gone down to drink--the hoof slides were plain enough--and told how, as it drank, the long black coffin-head had appeared out of the water. He described stolidly how the big jaws had opened and gripped the bullock's nose; how he, a few yards away, had seen the struggle; how he had shouted and hurled his sticks and stones and tufts of grass, and feinted to rush down at it; and how, after a muffled bellow and a weak staggering effort to pull back, the poor beast had slid out into the deep water and disappeared. It seemed to be a quite unnecessary addition to my troubles: misfortunes were coming thick and fast! Half an hour was wasted in watching and searching; but we saw no more of crocodile or bullock, and as there was nothing to be done I turned up stream to find a shallower and a safer crossing. At best it was not pleasant: the water was waist high and racing in narrow channels between and over boulders and loose slippery stones, and I was glad to get through without a tumble and a swim. The country was rough on the other side, and the old grass was high and dense, for no one went there in those days, and the grass stood unburnt from season to season. Climbing over rocks and stony ground, crunching dry sticks underfoot, and driving a path through the rank tambooki grass, it seemed well-nigh hopeless to look for a shot; several times I heard buck start up and dash off only a few yards away, and it began to look as if the wiser course would be to turn back. At last I got out of the valley into more level and more open ground, and came out upon a ledge or plateau a hundred yards or more wide, with a low ridge of rocks and some thorns on the far side--quite a likely spot. I searched the open ground from my cover, and seeing nothing there crossed over to the rocks, threading my way silently between them and expecting to find another clear space beyond. The snort of a buck brought me to a standstill among the rocks, and as I listened it was followed by another and another from the same quarter, delivered at irregular intervals; and each snort was accompanied by the sound of trampling feet, sometimes like stamps of anger and at other times seemingly a hasty movement. I had on several occasions interrupted fights between angry rivals: once two splendid koodoo bulls were at it; a second time it was two sables, and the vicious and incredibly swift sweep of the scimitar horns still lives in memory, along with the wonderful nimbleness of the other fellow who dodged it; and another time they were blue wildebeeste; but some interruption had occurred each time, and I had no more than a glimpse of what might have been a rare scene to witness. I was determined not to spoil it this time: no doubt it was a fight, and probably they were fencing and circling for an opening, as there was no bump of heads or clash of horns and no tearing scramble of feet to indicate the real struggle. I crept on through the rocks and found before me a tangle of thorns and dead wood, impossible to pass through in silence; it was better to work back again and try the other side of the rocks. The way was clearer there, and I crept up to a rock four or five feet high, feeling certain from the sound that the fight would be in full view a few yards beyond. With the rifle ready I raised myself slowly until my eyes were over the top of the rock. Some twenty yards off, in an open flat of down-trodden grass, I saw a sable cow: she was standing with feet firmly and widely planted, looking fiercely in front of her, ducking her head in threatening manner every few seconds, and giving angry snorts; and behind, and huddled up against her, was her scared bewildered little red-brown calf. It seems stupid not to have guessed what it all meant; yet the fact is that for the few remaining seconds I was simply puzzled and fascinated by the behaviour of the two sables. Then in the corner of my eye I saw, away on my right, another red-brown thing come into the open: it was Jock, casting about with nose to ground for my trail which he had over-run at the point where I had turned back near the deadwood on the other side of the rocks. What happened then was a matter of a second or two. As I turned to look at him he raised his head, bristled up all over, and made one jump forward; then a long low yellowish thing moved in the unbeaten grass in front of the sable cow, raised its head sharply, and looked full into my eyes; and before I could move a finger it shot away in one streak-like bound. A wild shot at the lioness, as I jumped up full height; a shout at Jock to come back; a scramble of black and brown on my left; and it was all over: I was standing in the open ground, breathless with excitement, and Jock, a few yards off, with hind legs crouched ready for a dash, looking back at me for leave to go! The spoor told the tale; there was the outer circle made by the lioness in the grass, broken in places where she had feinted to rush in and stopped before the lowered horns; and inside this there was the smaller circle, a tangle of trampled grass and spoor, where the brave mother had stood between her young and death. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Any attempt to follow the lioness after that would have been waste of time. We struck off in a new direction, and in crossing a stretch of level ground where the thorn-trees were well scattered and the grass fairly short my eye caught a movement in front that brought me to instant standstill. It was as if the stem of a young thorn-tree had suddenly waved itself and settled back again, and it meant that some long-horned buck, perhaps a koodoo or a sable bull, was lying down and had swung his head; and it meant also that he was comfortably settled, quite unconscious of danger. I marked and watched the spot, or rather, the line, for the glimpse was too brief to tell more than the direction; but there was no other move. The air was almost still, with just a faint drift from him to us, and I examined every stick and branch, every stump and ant-heap, every bush and tussock, without stirring a foot. But I could make out nothing: I could trace no outline and see no patch of colour, dark or light, to betray him. It was an incident very characteristic of Bushveld hunting. There I stood minute after minute--not risking a move, which would be certain to reveal me--staring and searching for some big animal lying half asleep within eighty yards of me on ground that you would not call good cover for a rabbit. We were in the sunlight: he lay somewhere beyond, where a few scattered thorn-trees threw dabs of shade, marbling with dappled shade and light the already mottled surface of earth and grass. I was hopelessly beaten, but Jock could see him well enough; he crouched beside me with ears cocked, and his eyes, all ablaze, were fixed intently on the spot, except for an occasional swift look up to me to see what on earth was wrong and why the shot did not come; his hind legs were tucked under him and he was trembling with excitement. Only those will realise it who have been through the tantalising humiliating experience. There was nothing to be done but wait, leaving the buck to make the first move. And at last it came: there was another slight shake of the horns, and the whole figure stood out in bold relief. It was a fine sable bull lying in the shadow of one of the thorn-trees with his back towards us, and there was a small ant-heap close behind him, making a greyish blot against his black back and shoulder, and breaking the expanse of colour which the eye would otherwise easily have picked up. The ant-heap made a certain shot impossible, so I lowered myself slowly to the ground to wait until he should begin feeding or change his position for comfort or shade, as they often do: this might mean waiting for half an hour or more, but it was better than risking a shot in the position in which he was lying. I settled down for a long wait with the rifle resting on my knees, confidently expecting that when the time came to move would get up slowly, stretch himself, and have a good look round. But he did nothing of the kind; a turn or eddy of the faint breeze must have given him my wind; for there was one twitch of the horns, as his nose was laid to windward, and without an instant's pause he dashed off. It was the quickest thing imaginable in a big animal: it looked as though he started racing from his lying position. The bush was not close enough to save him, however, in spite of his start, and through the thin veil of smoke I saw him plunge and stumble, and then dash off again; and Jock seeing me give chase, went ahead and in half a minute I was left well behind, but still in sight of the hunt. I shouted at Jock to come back, just as one murmurs good-day to a passing friend in the din of traffic--from force of habit: of course, he could hear nothing. It was his first and only go at a sable; he knew nothing of the terrible horns and the deadly scythe-like sweep that makes the wounded sable so dangerous--even the lioness had fought shy of them--and great as was my faith in him, the risk in this case was not one I would have taken. There was nothing to do but follow. A quarter of a mile on I drew closer up and found them standing face to face among the thorns. It was the first of three or four stands; the sable, with a watchful eye on me, always moved on as I drew near enough to shoot. The beautiful black and white bull stood facing his little red enemy and the fence and play of feint and thrust, guard and dodge, was wonderful to see. Not once did either touch the other; at Jock's least movement the sable's head would go down with his nose into his chest and the magnificent horns arched forward and poised so as to strike either right or left, and if Jock feinted a rush either way the scythe-sweep came with lightning quickness, covering more than half a circle and carrying the gleaming points with a swing right over the sable's own back. Then he would advance slowly and menacingly, with horns well forward ready to strike and eyes blazing through his eyebrows, driving Jock before him. There were three or four of these encounters in which I could take no hand: the distance, the intervening thorns and grass, and the quickness of their movements, made a safe shot impossible; and there was always the risk of hitting Jock, for a hard run does not make for good shooting. Each time as the sable drove him back there would be a short vicious rush suddenly following the first deliberate advance, and as Jock scrambled back out of the way the bull would swing round with incredible quickness and be off full gallop in another direction. Evidently the final rush was a manoeuvre to get Jock clear of his heels and flanks as he started, and thus secure a lead for the next run. Since the day he was kicked by the koodoo cow Jock had never tackled an unbroken hind leg; a dangling one he never missed; but the lesson of the flying heels had been too severe to be forgotten, and he never made that mistake again. In this chase I saw him time after time try at the sable's flanks and run up abreast of his shoulder and make flying leaps at the throat; but he never got in front where the horns could reach him, and although he passed and repassed behind to try on the other side when he had failed at the one, and looked up eagerly at the hind legs as he passed them, he made no attempt at them. It must have been at the fourth or fifth stand that Jock got through the guard at last. The sable was badly wounded in the body and doubtless strength was failing, but there was little evidence of this yet. In the pauses Jock's tongue shot and slithered about, a glittering red streak, but after short spells of panting, his head would shut up with a snap like a steel trap and his face set with that look of invincible resolution which it got in part from the pursed-up mouth and in part from the intensity of the beady black-brown eyes: he was good for hours of this sort of work. This time the sable drove him back towards a big thorn-tree. It may have been done without design, or it may have been done with the idea of pinning him up against the trunk. But Jock was not to be caught that way; in a fight he took in the whole field, behind as well as in front-- as he had shown the night the second wild dog tackled him. On his side, too, there may or may not have been design in backing towards the tree; who knows? I thought that he scored, not by a manoeuvre, but simply because of his unrelaxing watchfulness and his resolute unhesitating courage. He seemed to know instinctively that the jump aside, so safe with the straight-charging animals, was no game to play against the side sweep of a sable's horns, and at each charge of the enemy he had scrambled back out of range without the least pretence of taking liberties. This time the sable drove him steadily back towards the tree, but in the last step, just as the bull made his rush, Jock jumped past the tree and instead of scrambling back out of reach as before, dodged round and was in the rear of the buck before it could turn on him. There were no flying heels to fear then, and without an instant's hesitation he fastened on one of the hind legs above the hock. With a snort of rage and indignation the sable spun round and round, kicking and plunging wildly and making vicious sweeps with his horns; but Jock, although swung about and shaken like a rat, was out of reach and kept his grip. It was a quick and furious struggle, in which I was altogether forgotten, and as one more desperate plunge brought the bull down in a struggling kicking heap with Jock completely hidden under him, I ran up and ended the fight. It always took him some time to calm down after these tussles: he became so wound up by the excitement of the struggle that time was needed to run down again, so to say. While I was busy on the double precaution of fixing up a scare for the aasvogels and cutting grass and branches to cover the buck, Jock moved restlessly round the sable, ever ready to pounce on him again at the least sign of life. The slithering tongue and wide-open mouth looked like a big red gash splitting his head in two; he was so blown, his breath came and went like the puffing of a diminutive steam-engine at full speed, and his eyes with all the wickedness of fight--but none of the watchfulness--gone out of them, flickered incessantly from the buck to me: one sign from either would have been enough! It was the same old scene, the same old performance, that I had watched scores of times; but it never grew stale or failed to draw a laugh, a word of cheer, and pat of affection; and from him there came always the same response, the friendly wagging of that stumpy tail, a splashy lick, a soft upward look, and a wider split of the mouth that was a laugh as plain as if one heard it. But that was only an interruption--a few seconds' distraction: it did not put him off or satisfy him that all was well. His attention went back to the buck, and the everlasting footwork went on again. With his front to the fallen enemy and his fore legs well apart he kept ever on the move forwards and backwards, in quick steps of a few inches each, and at the same time edging round in his zigzag circle, making a track round the buck like a weather chart with the glass at `Changeable.' "Silly old fusser! Can't you see he's finished?" He could not hear anything, but the responsive wag showed that he knew I was talking to him; and, dodging the piece of bark I threw at him, he resumed his ridiculous round. I was still laughing at him, when he stopped and turning sharply round made a snap at his side; and a few seconds later he did it again. Then there was a thin sing of insect wings; and I knew that the Tsetse fly were on us. The only thought then was for Jock, who was still working busily round the sable. For some minutes I sat with him between my legs, wisping away the flies with a small branch and wondering what to do. It soon became clear that there was nothing to be gained by waiting: instead of passing away the fly became more numerous, and there was not a moment's peace or comfort to be had, for they were tackling me on the neck, arms, and legs, where the thorn-ripped pants left them bare to the knees; so, slinging the rifle over my shoulder, I picked Jock up, greatly to his discomfort, and carried him off in my arms at the best pace possible under the circumstances. Half a mile of that was enough, however: the weight, the awkwardness of the position, the effort to screen him, and the difficulty of picking my way in very rough country at the same time, were too much for me. A tumble into a grass-hidden hole laid us both out sprawling, and I sat down again to rest and think, swishing the flies off as before. Then an idea came which, in spite of all the anxiety, made me laugh, and ended in putting poor old Jock in quite the most undignified and ridiculous plight he had known since the days of his puppyhood when his head stuck in the bully-beef tin or the hen pecked him on the nose. I ripped off as much of my shirt as was not needed to protect me against the flies, and making holes in it for his legs and tail fitted him out with a home-made suit in about five minutes. Time was everything; it was impossible to run with him in my arms, but we could run together until we got out of the fly belt, and there was not much risk of being bitten as long as we kept up the running in the long grass. It was a long spell, and what with the rough country and the uncontrollable laughter at the sight of Jock, I was pretty well done by the time we were safely out of the `fly.' We pulled up when the country began to fall away sharply towards the river, and there, to Jock's evident satisfaction, I took off his suit--by that time very much tattered and awry. It was there, lying between two rocks in the shade of a marula tree, that I got one of those chances to see game at close quarters of which most men only hear or dream. There were no snapshot cameras then! We had been lying there it may be for half an hour or more, Jock asleep and I spread out on my back, when a slight but distinct click, as of a hoof against a stone, made me turn quietly over on my side and listen. The rock beside me was about four feet high, and on the other side of it a buck of some kind, and a big one too, was walking with easy stride towards the river. Every footstep was perfectly clear; the walk was firm and confident: evidently there was not the least suspicion of danger. It was only a matter of yards between us, and what little breeze there was drifted across his course towards me, as he too made for the river, holding a course parallel with the two long rocks between which we were lying. The footsteps came abreast of us and then stopped, just as I was expecting him to walk on past the rock and down the hill in front of me. The sudden halt seemed to mean that some warning instinct had arrested him, or some least taint upon the pure air softly eddying between the rocks had reached him. I could hear his sniffs, and pictured him looking about, silent but alarmed, before deciding which way to make his rush. I raised myself by inches, close to the rock, until I could see over it. A magnificent waterbuck bull, full-grown and in perfect coat and condition, was standing less than five yards away and a little to the right, having already passed me when he came to a stop: he was so close that I could see the waves and partings in his heavy coat; the rise and fall in his flanks as he breathed; the ruff on his shaggy bearded throat, that gave such an air of grandeur to the head; the noble carriage, as with head held high and slightly turned to windward he sniffed the breeze from the valley; the nostrils, mobile and sensitive, searching for the least hint of danger; and the eye, large and full and soft, luminous with watchful intelligence, and yet mild and calm--so free was it from all trace of a disturbing thought. And yet I was so close, it seemed almost possible to reach out and touch him. There was no thought of shooting: it was a moment of supreme enjoyment. Just to watch him: that was enough. In a little while he seemed satisfied that all was well, and with head thrown slightly forward and the sure clean tread of his kind, he took his line unhesitatingly down the hill. As he neared the thicker bush twenty yards away a sudden impulse made me give a shout. In a single bound he was lost among the trees, and the clattering of loose stones and the crackle of sticks in his path had ceased before the cold shiver-down-the-back, which my spell-breaking shout provoked, had passed away. When I turned round Jock was still asleep: little incidents like that brought his deafness home. It was our last day's hunting together; and I went back to the dreary round of hard, hopeless, useless struggle and daily loss. One day, a calm cloudless day, there came without warning a tremendous booming roar that left the air vibrating and seemed to shake the very earth, as a thousand echoes called and answered from hill to hill down the long valley. There was nothing to explain it; the kaffirs turned a sickly grey, and appealed to me; but I could give them no explanation-- it was something beyond my ken--and they seemed to think it an evil omen of still greater ill-luck. But, as it turned out, the luck was not all bad: some days passed before the mystery was solved, and then we came to where Coombes, with whom a week earlier I had tried--and failed--to keep pace, had been blown to pieces with his boys, waggon, oxen, and three tons of dynamite: there was no fragment of waggon bigger than one's hand; and the trees all around were barked on one side. We turned out to avoid the huge hole in the drift, and passed on. There were only twenty oxen left when we reached the drift below Fig Tree. The water was nearly breast-high and we carried three-fourths of the loads through on our heads, case by case, to make the pull as easy as possible for the oxen, as they could only crawl then. We got one waggon through with some difficulty, but at nightfall the second was still in the river; we had carried out everything removable, even to the buck-sails, but the weakened bullocks could not move the empty waggon. The thunder-clouds were piling up ahead, and distant lightning gave warning of a storm away up river; so we wound the trek-chain round a big tree on the bank, to anchor the waggon in case of flood, and reeling from work and weariness, too tired to think of food, I flung myself down in my blankets under the other waggon which was outspanned where we had stopped it in the double-rutted veld road, and settling comfortably into the sandy furrow cut by many wheels, was `dead to the world' in a few minutes. Near midnight the storm awoke me and a curious coldness about the neck and shoulders made me turn over to pull the blankets up. The road had served as a storm-water drain, converting the two wheel furrows into running streams, and I, rolled in my blankets, had dammed up one of them. The prompt flow of the released water as soon as I turned over, told plainly what had happened. I looked out at the driving rain and the glistening earth, as shown up by constant flashes of lightning: it was a world of rain and spray and running water. It seemed that there was neither hope nor mercy anywhere; I was too tired to care, and dropping back into the trough, slept the night out in water. In the morning we found the waggon still in the drift, although partly hidden by the flood, but the force of the stream had half-floated and half-forced it round on to higher ground; only the anchoring chain had saved it. We had to wait some hours for the river to run down, and then to my relief the rested but staggering oxen pulled it out at the first attempt. Rooiland, the light red ox with blazing yellow eyes and topped horns, fierce and untamable to the end, was in the lead then. I saw him as he took the strain in that last pull, and it was pitiful to see the restless eager spirit fighting against the failing strength: he looked desperate. The thought seems fanciful--about a dumb animal--and perhaps it is; but what happened just afterwards makes it still vivid and fitted in very curiously with the superstitious notions of the boys. We outspanned in order to re-pack the loads, and Rooiland, who as front ox was the last to be released, stood for a few moments alone while the rest of the cattle moved away; then turning his back on them he gave a couple of low moaning bellows and walked down the road back to the drift again. I had no doubt it was to drink; but the boys stopped their work and watched him curiously, and some remarks passed which were inaudible to me. As the ox disappeared down the slope into the drift, Jim called to his leader to bring him back, and then turning to me, added with his usual positiveness, "Rooiland is mad. Umtagati! Bewitched! He is looking for the dead ones. He is going to die to-day!" The boy came back presently alone. When he reached the drift, he said, Rooiland was standing breast-high in the river, and then in a moment, whether by step or slip, he was into the flood and swept away. The leader's account was received by the others in absolute silence: a little tightening of the jaws and a little brightening of the eyes, perhaps, were all I could detect. They were saturated with superstition, and as pagan fatalists they accepted the position without a word. I suggested to Jim that it was nothing but a return of Rooiland's old straying habit, and probed him with questions, but could get nothing out of him; finally he walked off with an expressive shake of the head and the repetition of his former remark, without a shade of triumph, surprise, or excitement in his voice: "He is looking for the dead ones!" We were out of the fly then, and the next day we reached Fig Tree. That was the end of the last trek. Only three oxen reached Barberton, and they died within the week: the ruin was complete. CHAPTER TWENTY SIX. OUR VARIOUS WAYS. When the trip was squared off and the boys paid, there was nothing left. Jim went home with waggons returning to Spitzkop: once more--for the last time--grievously hurt in dignity because his money was handed to my friend the owner of the waggon to be paid out to him when he reached his kraal; but his gloomy resentment melted as I handed over to him things for which there was no further need. The waggons moved off, and Jim with them; but twice he broke back again to dance and shout his gratitude; for it was wealth to him to have the reims and voorslag, the odd yokes and strops and waggon tools, the baking pot and pan and billies; and they were little to me when all else was gone. And Jim, with all his faults, had earned some title to remembrance for his loyalty. My way had been his way; and the hardest day had never been too hard for him: he had seen it all through to the finish, without a grumble and without a shirk. His last shout, like the bellow of a bull, was an uproarious good-bye to Jock. And Jock seemed to know it was something of an occasion, for, as he stood before me looking down the road at the receding waggons and the dancing figure of Jim, his ears were cocked, his head was tilted a little sideways, and his tail stirred gently. It was at least a friendly nod in return! A couple of weeks later I heard from my friend: "You will be interested to hear that that lunatic of yours reached his kraal all right; but that's not _his_ fault. He is a holy terror. I have never known such a restless animal: he is like a change in the weather--you seem to feel him everywhere, upsetting everything and every one the whole time. I suppose you hammered him into his place and kept him there; but I wouldn't have him at a gift. It is not that there was anything really wrong; only there was no rest, no peace. "But he's a gay fighter! That was a treat: I never laughed so much in my life. Below the Devil's Kantoor we met a lot of waggons from Lydenburg, and he had a row with one of the drivers, a lanky nigger with dandy-patched clothes. The boy wouldn't fight--just yelled blue murder while Jim walloped him. I heard the yells and the whacks, like the beating of carpets, and there was Jim laying it on all over him--legs, head, back, and arms--with a sort of ferocious satisfaction, every whack being accompanied by a husky suppressed shout: `Fight, Shangaan! Fight!' But the other fellow was not on for fighting; he floundered about, yelled for mercy and help, and tried to run away; but Jim simply played round him--one spring put him alongside each time. I felt sorry for the long nigger and was going to interfere and save him, but just then one of his pals called out to their gang to come along and help, and ran for his sticks. It was rare fun then. Jim dropped the patched fellow and went like a charging lion straight for the waggons where the gang were swarming for their sticks, letting out right and left whenever he saw a nigger, whether they wanted to fight or not; and in about five seconds the whole lot were heading for the bush with Jim in full chase. "Goodness knows what the row was about. As far as I can make out from your heathen, it is because the other boy is a Shangaan and reads the Bible. Jim says this boy--Sam is his name--worked for you and ran away. Sam says it is not true, and that he never even heard of you, and that Jim is a stranger to him. There's something wrong in this, though, because when the row began, Sam first tried to pacify your lunatic, and I heard him sing out in answer to the first few licks, `Kahle, Umganaam; Kahle, Makokel'!' (Gently, friend; gently, Makokel'.) `Wow, Makokela, y' ou bulala mena!' (Wow, Makokela, you will kill me.) He knew Jim right enough; that was evident. But it didn't help him; he had to skip for it all the same. I was glad to pay the noble Jim off and drop him at his kraal. Sam was laid up when we left." It is better to skip the change from the old life to the new--when the luck, as we called it, was all out, when each straw seemed the last for the camel's breaking back, and there was always still another to come. But the turn came at last, and the `long arm of coincidence' reached out to make the `impossible' a matter of fact. It is better to skip all that: for it is not the story of Jock, and it concerns him only so far that in the end it made our parting unavoidable. When the turn did come it was strange, and at times almost bewildering, to realise that the things one had struggled hardest against and regarded as the worst of bad luck were blessings in disguise and were all for the best. So the new life began and the old was put away; but the new life, for all its brighter and wider outlook and work of another class, for all the charm that makes Barberton now a cherished memory to all who knew the early days, was not all happy. The new life had its hours of darkness too; of almost unbearable `trek fever'; of restless, sleepless, longing for the old life; of `home-sickness' for the veld, the freedom, the roaming, the nights by the fire, and the days in the bush! Now and again would come a sleepless night with its endless procession of scenes, in which some remembered from the past were interlinked with others imagined for the future; and here and there in these long waking dreams came stabs of memory--flashes of lightning vividness: the head and staring eyes of the koodoo bull, as we had stood for a portion of a second face to face; the yawning mouth of the maddened crocodile; the mamba and its beady hateful eyes, as it swept by before the bush fire. And there were others too that struck another chord: the cattle, the poor dumb beasts that had worked and died: stepping-stones in a man's career; the `books,' the `chalk and blackboard' of the school--used, discarded, and forgotten! No, they were not forgotten; and the memory of the last trek was one long mute reproach on their behalf: they had paved the roadway for the Juggernaut man. All that was left of the old life was Jock; and soon there was no place for him. He could not always be with me; and when left behind he was miserable, leading a life that was utterly strange to him, without interest and among strangers. While I was in Barberton he accompanied me everywhere, but--absurd as it seems--there was a constant danger for him there, greater though less glorious than those he faced so lightly in the veld. His deafness, which passed almost unnoticed and did not seem to handicap him at all in the veld, became a serious danger in camp. For a long time he had been unable to hear a sound, but he could _feel_ sounds: that is to say, he was quick to notice anything that caused a vibration. In the early days of his deafness I had been worried by the thought that he would be run over while lying asleep near or under the waggons, and the boys were always on the look-out to stir him up; but we soon found that this was not necessary. At the first movement he would feel the vibration and jump up. Jim realised this well enough, for when wishing to direct his attention to strange dogs or Shangaans, the villain could always dodge me by stamping or hammering on the ground, and Jock always looked up: he seemed to know the difference between the sounds he could ignore, such as chopping wood, and those that he ought to notice. In camp--Barberton in those days was reckoned a mining camp, and was always referred to as `camp'--the danger was due to the number of sounds. He would stand behind me as I stopped in the street, and sometimes lie down and snooze if the wait was a long one; and the poor old fellow must have thought it a sad falling off, a weary monotonous change from the real life of the veld. At first he was very watchful, and every rumbling wheel or horse's footfall drew his alert little eyes round to the danger point; but the traffic and noise were almost continuous and one sound ran into another; and thus he became careless or puzzled and on several occasions had narrowly escaped being run over or trodden on. Once, in desperation after a bad scare, I tried chaining him up, and although his injured reproachful look hurt, it did not weaken me: I had hardened my heart to do it, and it was for his own sake. At lunch-time he was still squatting at the full length of the chain, off the mat and straw, and with his head hanging in the most hopeless dejected attitude one could imagine. It was too much for me--the dog really felt it; and when I released him there was no rejoicing in his freedom as the hated collar and chain dropped off: he turned from me without a sign or sound of any sort, and walking off slowly, lay down some ten yards away with his head resting on his paws! He went to think--not to sleep. I felt abominably guilty, and was conscious of wanting to make up for it all the afternoon. Once I took him out to Fig Tree Creek fifteen miles away, and left him with a prospector friend at whose camp in the hills it seemed he would be much better off and much happier. When I got back to Barberton that night he was waiting for me, with a tag of chewed rope hanging round his neck, not the least ashamed of himself, but openly rejoicing in the meeting and evidently never doubting that I was equally pleased. And he was quite right there. But it could not go on. One day as he lay asleep behind me, a loaded waggon coming sharply round a corner as nearly as possible passed over him. The wheel was within inches of his back as he lay asleep in the sand: there was no chance to grab--it was a rush and a kick that saved him; and he rolled over under the waggon, and found his own way out between the wheels. A few days after this Ted passed through Barberton, and I handed Jock over to him, to keep and to care for until I had a better and safer home for him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ One day some two years later there turned up at my quarters an old friend of the transport days--Harry Williams--he had been away on a long trek `up north' to look for some supposed mine of fabulous richness of which there had been vague and secret reports from natives. He stayed with me for some days, and one evening after the bout of fever and ague had passed off and rest and good feeding had begun to pull him round, he told us the story of their search. It was a trip of much adventure, but it was the end of his story that interested me most; and that is all that need be told here. They had failed to find the mine; the native who was supposed to know all about it had deserted, with all he could carry off; they were short of food and money, and out of medicines; the delays had been great; they were two hundred miles from any white men; there was no road but their own erratic track through the bush; the rains had begun and the fever season set in; the cattle--they had one waggon and span--were worn-out; the fever had gripped them, and of the six white men, three were dead, one dying, and two only able to crawl; most of their boys had deserted; one umfaan fit for work, and the driver--then delirious with fever-- completed the party. The long journey was almost over; and they were only a few treks from the store and camp for which they were making; but they were so stricken and helpless it seemed as though that little was too much, and they must die within reach of help. The driver, a big Zulu, was then raving mad; he had twice run off into the bush and been lost for hours. Precious time and waning strength were spent in the search, and with infinite effort and much good luck they had found him and induced him to return. On the second occasion they had enticed him on to the waggon and, as he lay half unconscious between bursts of delirium, had tied him down flat on his back, with wrists and ankles fastened to the buck-rails. It was all they could do to save him: they had barely strength to climb up and pour water into his mouth from time to time. It was midday then, and their dying comrade was so far gone that they decided to abandon one trek and wait for evening, to allow him to die in peace. Later on, when they thought it was all over, they tried to scrape out a grave for him, and began to pull out one old blanket to wrap round him in place of a shroud and coffin. It was then that the man opened his eyes and faintly shook his head; so they inspanned as best they could and made another trek. I met the man some years afterwards, and he told me he had heard all they said, but could only remember one thing, and that was Harry's remark, that `two gin-cases were not enough for a coffin, so they would have to take one of the blankets instead.' In the morning they went on again. It was then at most two treks more to their destination; but they were too weak to work or walk, and the cattle were left to crawl along undriven; but after half an hour's trekking, they reached a bad drift where the waggon stuck; the cattle would not face the pull. The two tottering trembling white men did their best, but neither had strength to use the whip; the umfaan led the oxen this way and that, but there was no more effort in them. The water had given out, and the despairing helpless men saw death from thirst awaiting them within a few hours' trek of help; and to add to the horror of it all, the Zulu driver, with thirst aggravating his delirium, was a raving lunatic--struggling and wrenching at his bonds until the waggon rattled, and uttering maniac yells and gabbling incessantly. Hours had gone by in hopeless effort; but the oxen stood out at all angles, and no two would pull together in answer to the feeble efforts of the fainting men. Then there came a lull in the shouts from the waggon and in answer to the little voorlooper's warning shout, "Pas op, Baas!" (Look out, Master!), the white men looked round and saw the Zulu driver up on his knees freeing himself from the reims. In another moment he was standing up full height--a magnificent but most unwelcome sight: there was a thin line of froth along the half-opened mouth; the deep-set eyes glared out under eyebrows and forehead bunched into frowning wrinkles, as for a few seconds he leaned forward like a lion about to spring and scanned the men and oxen before him; and then as they watched him in breathless silence, he sprang lightly off the waggon, picked up a small dry stick as he landed, and ran up along the span. He spoke to the after-ox by name as he passed; called to another, and touched it into place; thrust his way between the next one and the dazed white man standing near it, tossing him aside with a brush of his arm, as a ploughshare spurns a sod; and then they saw how the boy's madness had taken him. His work and his span had called to him in his delirium; and he had answered. With low mutterings, short words hissed out, and all the sounds and terms the cattle knew shot at them--low-pitched and with intense repression--he ran along the span, crouching low all the time like a savage stealing up for murderous attack. The two white men stood back and watched. Reaching the front oxen, he grasped the leading reim and pulled them round until they stood level for the straight pull out; then down the other side of the span he ran with cat-like tread and activity, talking to each and straightening them up as he had done with the others; and when he reached the waggon again, he turned sharply and overlooked the span. One ox had swung round and stood out of line; there was a pause of seconds, and then the big Zulu called to the ox by name--not loudly but in a deep low tone, husky with intensity--and the animal swung back into line again. Then out of the silence that followed came an electrifying yell to the span: every bullock leaned to its yoke, and the waggon went out with a rush. And he drove them at a half-trot all the way to the store: without water; without help; without consciousness; the little dry twig still in his hand, and only his masterful intensity and knowledge of his work and span to see him through. "A mad troublesome savage," said Harry Williams, "but one of the very best. Anyhow, we thought so; he saved us!" There was something very familiar in this, and it was with a queer feeling of pride and excitement that I asked: "Did he ever say to you `My catchum lion 'live'?" "By gum! You know him? Jim: Jim Makokel'!" "Indeed I do. Good old Jim!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Years afterwards Jim was still a driver, working when necessary, fighting when possible, and enjoying intervals of lordly ease at his kraal where the wives and cattle stayed and prospered. CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN. HIS DUTY. And Jock? But I never saw my dog again. For a year or so he lived something of the old veld life, trekking and hunting; from time to time I heard of him from Ted and others: stories seemed to gather easily about him as they do about certain people, and many knew Jock and were glad to bring news of him. The things they thought wonderful and admirable made pleasant news for them to tell and welcome news to me, and they were heard with contented pride, but without surprise, as "just like him": there was nothing more to be said. One day I received word from Ted that he was off to Scotland for a few months and had left Jock with another old friend, Tom Barnett--Tom, at whose store under the Big Fig Tree, Seedling lies buried; and although I was glad that he had been left with a good friend like Tom, who would care for him as well as any one could, the life there was not of the kind to suit him. For a few months it would not matter; but I had no idea of letting him end his days as a watch-dog at a trader's store in the kaffir country. Tom's trouble was with thieves; for the natives about there were not a good lot, and their dogs were worse. When Jock saw or scented them, they had the poorest sort of luck or chance: he fought to kill, and not as town dogs fight; he had learnt his work in a hard school, and he never stopped or slackened until the work was done; so his fame soon spread and it brought Tom more peace than he had enjoyed for many a day. Natives no longer wandered at will into the reed-enclosed yard; kaffir dogs ceased to sneak into the store and through the house, stealing everything they could get. Jock took up his place at the door, and hungry mongrels watched him from a distance or sneaked up a little closer when from time to time he trotted round to the yard at the back of the building to see how things were going there. All that was well enough during the day; but the trouble occurred at night. The kaffirs were too scared to risk being caught by him, but the dogs from the surrounding kraals prowled about after dark, scavenging and thieving where they could; and what angered Tom most of all was the killing of his fowls. The yard at the back of the store was enclosed by a fence of close-packed reeds, and in the middle of the yard stood the fowl-house with a clear space of bare ground all round it. On many occasions kaffir dogs had found their way through the reed fence and killed fowls perching about the yard, and several times they had burgled the fowl-house itself. In spite of Jock's presence and reputation, this night robbing still continued, for while he slept peacefully in front of the store, the robbers would do their work at the back. Poor old fellow! They were many and he was one; they prowled night and day, and he had to sleep sometimes; they were watchful and he was deaf; so he had no chance at all unless he saw or scented them. There were two small windows looking out on to the yard, but no door in the back of the building; thus, in order to get into the yard, it was necessary to go out of the front door and round the side of the house. On many occasions Tom, roused by the screaming of the fowls, had seized his gun and run round to get a shot at the thieves; but the time so lost was enough for a kaffir dog, and the noise made in opening the reed gate gave ample warning of his coming. The result was that Tom generally had all his trouble for nothing; but it was not always so. Several times he roused Jock as he ran out, and invariably got some satisfaction out of what followed; once Jock caught one of the thieves struggling to force a way through the fence and held on to the hind leg until Tom came up with the gun; on other occasions he had caught them in the yard; on others, again, he had run them down in the bush and finished it off there without help or hindrance. That was the kind of life to which Jock seemed to have settled down. He was then in the very prime of life, and I still hoped to get him back to me some day to a home where he would end his days in peace. Yet it seemed impossible to picture him in a life of ease and idleness--a watch-dog in a house sleeping away his life on a mat, his only excitement keeping off strange kaffirs and stray dogs, or burrowing for rats and moles in a garden, with old age, deafness, and infirmities growing year by year to make his end miserable. I had often thought that it might have been better had he died fighting--hanging on with his indomitable pluck and tenacity, tackling something with all the odds against him; doing his duty and his best as he had always done--and died as Rocky's dog had died. If on that last day of our hunting together he had got at the lioness, and gone under in the hopeless fight; if the sable bull had caught and finished him with one of the scythe-like sweeps of the scimitar horns; if he could have died--like Nelson--in the hour of victory! Would it not have been better for him--happier for me? Often I thought so. For to fade slowly away; to lose his strength and fire and intelligence; to outlive his character, and no longer be himself! No, that could not be happiness! Well, Jock is dead! Jock, the innocent cause of Seedling's downfall and death, lies buried under the same big Fig Tree: the graves stand side by side. He died, as he lived--true to his trust; and this is how it happened, as it was faithfully told to me: It was a bright moonlight night--Think of the scores we had spent together, the mild glorious nights of the Bushveld!--and once more Tom was roused by a clatter of falling boxes and the wild screams of fowls in the yard. Only the night before the thieves had beaten him again; but this time he was determined to be even with them. Jumping out of bed he opened the little window looking out on to the fowl-house, and, with his gun resting on the sill, waited for the thief. He waited long and patiently; and by-and-by the screaming of the fowls subsided enough for him to hear the gurgling and scratching about in the fowl-house, and he settled down to a still longer watch; evidently the kaffir dog was enjoying his stolen meal in there. "Go on! Finish it!" Tom muttered grimly; "I'll have you this time if I wait till morning!" So he stood at the window waiting and watching, until every sound had died away outside. He listened intently: there was not a stir; there was nothing to be seen in the moonlit yard; nothing to be heard; not even a breath of air to rustle the leaves in the big fig tree. Then, in the same dead stillness the dim form of a dog appeared in the doorway, stepped softly out of the fowl-house, and stood in the deep shadow of the little porch. Tom lifted the gun slowly and took careful aim. When the smoke cleared away, the figure of the dog lay still, stretched out on the ground where it had stood; and Tom went back to bed, satisfied. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The morning sun slanting across the yard shone in Tom's eyes as he pushed the reed gate open and made his way towards the fowl-house. Under the porch, where the sunlight touched it, something shone like burnished gold. He was stretched on his side--it might have been in sleep; but on the snow-white chest there was one red spot. And inside the fowl-house lay the kaffir dog--dead. Jock had done his duty. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The End. CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT. NOTES. Snake stories are proverbially an `uncommercial risk' for those who value a reputation for truthfulness. Hailstorms are scarcely less disastrous; hence these notes! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mamba.--This is believed to be the largest and swiftest of the deadly snakes, and one of the most wantonly vicious. The late Dr Colenso (Bishop of Zululand) in his Zulu dictionary describes them as attaining a length of twelve feet, and capable of chasing a man on horseback. The writer has seen several of this length, and has heard of measurements up to fourteen feet (which, however, were not sufficiently verified); he has also often heard stories of men on horseback being chased by black mambas, but has never met the man himself, nor succeeded in eliciting the important facts as to pace and distance. However that may be, the movements of a mamba, even on open ground, are, as the writer has several times observed, so incredibly swift as to leave no other impression on the mind than that of having witnessed a magical disappearance. How often and how far they `travel on their tails,' whether it is a continuous movement or merely a momentary uprising to command a view, and what length or what proportion of the body is on the ground for support or propulsion, the writer has no means of knowing: during the Zulu war an Imperial officer was bitten by a mamba _while on horseback_ and died immediately. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hailstorms.--Bad hailstorms occur every year in South Africa, but they do not last long (ten minutes is enough to destroy everything that stands). The distances are immense, and the area of disturbance is usually a narrow strip; hence, except when one strikes a town, very few people ever witness them. This summer hailstorms were more general and more severe in the Transvaal than for some time past. A bad storm baffles description. The size of the hailstones is only one of the factors--a strong wind enormously increases the destructiveness; yet some idea may be gathered from the size of the stones. The writer took a plaster cast of one picked up at Zuurfontein (near Johannesburg), in November 1906, which measured 4.5 inches long, 3.5 wide and 1.125 inches thick--a slab of white ice. In the Hekpoort Valley (near Johannesburg) and in Barberton, about the same date, the veld was like a glacier; the hail lay like snow, inches deep, and during the worst spells the general run of the hailstones varied in size from pigeons' eggs to hens' eggs; but the big ones, the crash of whose individual blows was distinctly heard through the general roar, are described as `bigger than cricket balls' and `the size of breakfast cups,' generally with an elongation or tail--like a balloon. Sheep and buck were killed, and full-grown cattle so battered that some were useless and others died of the injuries; wooden doors were broken in, the panels being completely shattered; corrugated iron roofs were perforated, and in some cases the hailstones drove completely through them. The writer photographed a portion of a roof in Barberton which had suffered thus, and saw plaster casts--formed by pouring plaster of Paris into the indentations which two hailstones had made in a flower bed--in diameter equalling, respectively, tennis and cricket balls. Near Harrismith, O.R.C., in 1903, two herd boys with a troop of about a hundred goats and calves were caught by the hail. The boys and all the stock, except one old goat, were killed. CHAPTER TWENTY NINE. GLOSSARY. NOTE.--_The spelling of Cape Dutch and native names is in many cases not to be determined by recognised authority. The pronunciation cannot be quite accurately suggested through the medium of English. The figures of weights and measurements of animals are gathered from many sources, and refer only to first-class specimens. The weights are necessarily approximate_. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ AASVOGEL (d), a vulture (_literally_. carrion bird). ANT-BEAR, AARDVARK (d) (_Orycteropus jifer_). ANT-HEAP, mound made by termites or `white ants.' Usually formed by one colony of ants; about two to four feet in base diameter and height, but often in certain localities very much larger. The writer photographed one this year near the scene of the Last Hunt, eighteen feet base diameter and ten feet high, and another in Rhodesia which formed a complete background for a travelling waggonette and six mules. In both cases these mounds were `deserted cities,' and trees, probably fifty to one hundred years old, were growing out of them. ASSEGAI (_pronounced_ ass-e-guy) (n), native spear. BAAS (d), master. BANSELA (_pronounced_ baan-se-la) (n), a present. BEKER (_pronounced_ beaker) (d), a cup. BILLY, a small tin utensil with lid and handle, used for boiling water. BUCK-SAIL, tarpaulin used for covering transport waggons, which are known as buck-waggons. BUFFALO, Cape buffalo (_Bos Caffer_). Height, 5 feet 6 inches; weight, possibly 1000 pounds; horns, 48 inches from tip to tip and 36 inches each in length on curve. BULTONG, or Biltong (_pronounced_ biltong) (n), meat cut in strips, slightly salted, and dried in the open air. BUSH BUCK, a medium-sized but very courageous antelope (_Tragelaphus scriptus_). Height, 3 feet; weight, 130 pounds; horns (male only), 18 inches. BUSH VELD, properly Bosch veld (d), bush country; also called Low Veld and Low Country. CANE-RAT (_Thryonomys swinderentanus_). CETYWAYO (_see_ Ketshwayo). CHAKA, properly Tshaka (n), the first of the great Zulu kings and founder of the Zulu military power. DASSIE (_pronounced_ daas-ey) (d), rock-rabbit; coney (_Procavia (Hyrax) capensis_) (_literally_. little badger). DINGAAN, properly Dingan (e) (n), the second of the great Zulu kings; brother, murderer, and successor of Chaka. DISSELBOOM (d), the pole of a vehicle. DONGA (n), a gully or dry watercourse with steep banks. DOUGH-BOYS, scones; frequently unleavened dough baked in coals; also ash-cakes, roaster cookies, stick-in-the-gizzards, veld-bricks, etc. DRIFT (d), a ford. DUIKER (_pronounced_ in English dyker, in Dutch dayker) (d), a small antelope found throughout Africa (_Cephalophus grimmi_). Gross weight, 30 to 40 pounds; height, 28 inches; horns, 5.5 inches. (_literally_ diver, so called from its habit of disappearing and re-appearing in low scrub in a succession of bounds when it first starts running). GO'WAY BIRD, the grey plantain eater (_Schizorbis concolor_). HARTEBEESTE (_pronounced_ haar-te-beast) (d), a large antelope, of which there are several varieties, varying in gross weight from 300 to 500 pounds; height, 48 inches; horns, 24 inches. HIGH VELD, properly Hoogeveld (d), high country; the plateau, about 5000 to 6000 feet above sea-level. HONEY-BIRD, the honey guide (several species; family, _Indicatoriae_). HONEY-SUCKER, sun bird (several species; family, _Nectariniidae_). HORSE-SICKNESS, a lung affection prevalent during summer in low-lying parts; generally fatal; caused by microbes introduced in the blood by some insect. IMPALA (n), an antelope (_Aepyceros melampus_); habitat, Bushveld; weight, 140 pounds; horns, up to 20 inches, straight. IMPI (_pronounced_ impey) (n), an army or body of armed natives gathered for or engaged in war. INDUNA (_pronounced_ in-doo-nah) (n), a head-man, captain, or chief, great or petty. INKOS (_pronounced_ in-kos--`os' as in verbose) (n), chief; used as a term of respect in address or salutation. INSPAN, properly Enspan (d), to yoke up, harness up, or hitch up. ISANDHL'WANA, also 'SANDHL'WANA, incorrectly Isandula (_pronounced_ saan-shle-waa-na), meaning `the little hand', the hill which gave the name to the battle in which the 24th Regiment was annihilated in the Zulu War, 1879. KAFFIR CORN, sorghum. KAHLE (_pronounced_ kaa-shle, corrupted in kitchen-Kaffir to `gaashly') (n), gently, carefully, pleasantly, well. `Hamba kahle,' farewell, go in peace. `Hlala (_pronounced_ shlala) kahle,' farewell, stay in peace. KEHLA (_pronounced_ keh-shlaa) (n), a native of certain age and position entitled to wear the head ring. Dutch, _ring kop_--ring head. KERRIE, or KIRRIE, native sticks used for fighting, frequently knobbed; hence, knob-kerrie. KETSHWAYO (_pronounced_ ketsh-wy-o), incorrectly Cetywayo, fourth and last of the great Zulu kings. KLIPSPRINGER (d), a small antelope, in appearance and habit rather like chamois (_Oreotragus saltator_) (_literally_. a rock-jumper). KLOOF (d), a gorge. KNEEHALTER (d), to couple the head to one fore leg by a reim or strap attached to the halter, closely enough to prevent the animal from moving fast. KNOORHAAN, commonly, but incorrectly, Koorhaan or Koraan, (d), the smaller bustard (_literally_ scolding cock). KOODOO, properly KUDU (n) (_Strepsiceros capensis_). Habitat, rugged bushy country. Height, 5 feet; weight, 600 pounds; horns, up to 48 inches straight, and 66 inches on curve. KOPJE (_pronounced_ copy) (d), a hill (_literally_ a little head). KRAAL (_pronounced_ in English crawl) (d), an enclosure for cattle, sheep, etc, a corral; also a collection of native huts, the home of a family, the village of a chief or tribe. KRANS (d), often spelt KRANTZ (German) (D. _krans_, a circlet or crown), a precipitous face or coronet of rock on a hill or mountain. LAGAVAAN, a huge water lizard, the monitor. Cape Dutch, _lagewaan_ (pure Dutch, _laguaan_) (_Varanus niloticus_). Maximum length up to 8 feet. LOOPER, round shot for fowling-piece, about four times the size of buck shot. MARULA, in Zulu UMGANO, a tree which furnishes soft white wood, which is carved into bowls, spoons, etc; fruit eaten or fermented for drink (_Sclerocarya caffra_). MEERKAT (d), a small animal of the mongoose kind (properly applied to _Suricata tetradactyla_, but loosely to several species). MIDDLEVELD, properly MIDDELVELD (d), the mixed country lying between the High veld and the Bushveld. NEK-STROP (d), the neck-strap, or reim, which, attached to the yokeskeys, keeps the yoke in place. NIX (d), nothing (from D. _niets_). ORIBI (n), a small antelope (_Ourebia scoparia_). Weight, 30 pounds; height, 24 inches; horns, 6 inches. OUTSPAN, properly UITSPAN (d), to unyoke or unharness; also the camp where one has outspanned, and places where it is customary, or by law permitted, to outspan. PAUW (_pronounced_ pow) (d), the great bustard (_literally_ peacock). PANDA, properly 'MPANDE (n), the third of the great Zulu kings. PEZULU (n), on top, up, above. PARTRIDGE, PHEASANT, names applied somewhat loosely to various species of francolin. POORT (_pronounced_ pooh-rt) (d), a gap or gorge in a range of hills (_literally_ gate). QUAGGA, ZEBRA (correctly applied to _Equus quagga_, now extinct, but still applied to the various species of zebra found in South Africa). REIM (_pronounced_ reem) (d), a stout strip of raw hide. REIMPJE (_pronounced_ reempy) (d), a small reim. RIETBUCK, properly (d) Rietbok (_pronounced_ reet-buck), reed buck (_Cervicapra arundinum_). Height, 3 feet 6 inches; gross weight, 140 pounds; horns, male only, up to 16 inches. SABLE ANTELOPE (_Hippotragus niger_; Dutch, _zwaart witpens_). Habitat, bushveld. Height, 4 feet 6 inches; weight, 350 pounds; horns, up to 48 inches on curve. SAKUBONA (n), Zulu equivalent of `Good-day.' SALTED HORSE, one which has had horse-sickness, and is thus considered immune (as in small-pox); hence `salted' is freely used colloquially as meaning acclimatised, tough, hardened, etc. SCHANS (_pronounced_ skaans) (d), a stone or earth breastwork for defence, very common in old native wars. SCHELM (d), a rascal; like Scotch skellum. SCHERM (_pronounced_ skarem) a protection of bush or trees, usually against wild animals. SJAMBOK (_pronounced_ in English shambok, in Dutch saam-bok) (d), tapering raw-hide whip made from rhinoceros, hippopotamus, or giraffe skin. SKEY (_pronounced_ skay), a yokeskey; short for Dutch _jukskei_. SLOOT (d), a ditch. SPAN (d), a team. SPOOR (d), footprints; also a trail of man, animal, or vehicle. SPRINGBUCK, properly SPRINGBOK (d), a small antelope (_Antidorcas (Gazella) euchore_). Habitat, high veld and other open grass country. Height, 30 inches; weight, up to 90 pounds; horns, 19 inches (literally. jumping buck). SPRUIT (_pronounced_ sprait; also commonly, but incorrectly, sproot) (d), a stream. SQUIRREL, or TREE Rat, native name 'MCHINAAND (_Funisciurus palliatus_). STEMBUCK (Cape Dutch, _stembok_ or _steinbok_, from the pure Dutch _steenbok_, the Alpine ibex), a small antelope (_Raphicerus campestais_). Height, 22 inches; weight, 25 pounds; horns, 5 inches. STOEP (_pronounced_ stoop) (d), a raised promenade or paved verandah in front or at sides of a house. TAMBUKI GRASS, also TAMBOOKIE, and sometimes TAMBUTI (n), a very rank grass; in places reaches 15 feet high and stem diameter half inch. TICK, or RHINOCEROS, BIRD, the `ox-pecker' (_Buphaga Africana_). TIGER. In South Africa the leopard is generally called a tiger; first so described by the Dutch--_tijger_. TOCK-TOCKIE, a slow-moving beetle, incapable of flight. Gets its name from its means of signalling by rapping the abdomen on the ground (_tenebrionid_ beetle of the genus _Psammodes_). TREK (d) (_literally_ to pull), to move off or go on a journey; a journey, an expedition--_eg_, the Great Trek (or exodus of Boers from Cape Colony, 1836-48); also, and commonly, the time, distance, or journey from one outspan to another. TREK GEAR, the traction gear, chain, yokes, etc, of a waggon. The Boer pioneers had no chains, and used reims plaited into a stout `rope'; hence _trek-touw_, or pulling-rope. TSESSEBE, an antelope, one of the hartebeeste family (_Damaliscus lunatus_; Dutch, bastard hartebeeste). Height, 48 inches; weight. 300 pounds; horns, 15 inches. TSETSE FLY, a grey fly, little larger than the common house-fly, whose bite is fatal to domesticated animals. TWIGGLE, little people's word for the excited movement of a small dog's tail, believed to be a combination of wriggle and twiddle. UMFAAN (n), a boy. UMGANAAM (n), my friend. UMLUNGU (n), the native word to describe a white man. VELD (_pronounced_ felt) (d), the open or unoccupied country; uncultivated or grazing land. VLEI (_pronounced_ flay) (d), a small, shallow lake, a swamp, a depression intermittently damp, a water meadow. VOORLOOPER (d) (_literally_ front walker), the leader, the boy who leads the front oxen; the _pat'-intambu_ (Zulu for `take the reim'). VOORSLAG (_pronounced_ foor-slaach) (d) (_literally_ front lash or skin), the strip of buck hide which forms the fine end of a whip-lash. WATERBUCK (_Cobus ellipsiprymnus_; Dutch, _kring-gat_). Height, 48 inches; weight, 350 pounds; horns, males only, 36 inches. WILDEBEESTE (_pronounced_ vill-de-beast) (d) (_literally_ wild cattle), the brindled gnu, blue wildebeeste (_Connochaetes taurinus_). Height, 4 feet 6 inches; weight, 400 pounds; horns, 30 inches. WILD DOG, the `Cape hunting dog' (_Lycaon pictus_). WOODEN ORANGE, fruit of the klapper (a species of _Strychnos_). WOLF, the usual name for the hyena, derived from _tijger-wolf_, the pure Dutch name for the spotted hyena. YOKESKEY, the wooden slat which, coupled by nekstrops, holds the yoke in place. 
47449	----	SOUTH AFRICA AND THE TRANSVAAL WAR [Illustration: A STOCK FARM. After a Photo in the Natal Government Collection, by permission.] SOUTH AFRICA AND THE TRANSVAAL WAR BY LOUIS CRESWICKE AUTHOR OF "ROXANE," ETC. WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS VOL. VIII SOUTH AFRICA AND ITS FUTURE EDITED BY LOUIS CRESWICKE MANCHESTER: KENNETH MACLENNAN 75 PICCADILLY PREFACE--VOL. VIII. Everyone who has followed the story of the War in South Africa from start to finish will assuredly have acquired a keen and lasting interest in the land which has been won by the expenditure of so much blood and treasure. Earnestly will he discuss in his mind all questions connected with the development of the New Dominions of the King, and vigilantly will he watch every action of the Government in regard to them. In order rightly to estimate the difficulties to be overcome and the issues to be hoped for, and to follow these questions with complete apprehension, it is necessary to be familiar with their aspect in every possible light. To this end, the Editor has invited the co-operation of various well-known Authorities, each of whom has kindly contributed his opinion on matters coming within his special experience. The Publishers claim, therefore, that in this Volume is collected the cream of modern thought, furnished at first-hand by those whose mastery of their subject, and whose interest in the Empire, render them competent to instruct in the intricacies of the South African problems, with which for some time to come we must stand face-to-face. That these writers do not on all points entirely agree is a matter for congratulation, as readers are thus enabled to view the political panorama from every reasonable standpoint, and weigh the pros and cons of their arguments with perspicuity and without prejudice. At the present juncture, when Mr. Chamberlain, the greatest of Colonial Secretaries, is visiting South Africa, the Publishers are convinced that this Volume is the most valuable book on the new Colonies that has yet been offered to the Public. CONTENTS--VOL. VIII. PAGE EMIGRATION 1 By His Grace THE DUKE OF ARGYLL, P.C., K.T.; Author of "Imperial Federation," "The Life and Times of Queen Victoria," &c. SOUTH AFRICAN FEDERATION: VIEWS OF COLONIAL PREMIERS 16 By E. B. OSBORN, Author of "Greater Canada." LAW AND LANGUAGE 23 By M. J. FARRELLY, LL.D., Barrister-at-Law; Advocate of the Supreme Court of Cape Colony. THE AFRICANDER PARTY: ITS ORIGIN, ITS GROWTH, ITS AIMS 38 By the Hon. A. WILMOT, Member of the Legislative Council, Cape Colony; Author of "History of Our Own Times in South Africa," &c., &c. RHODESIA: SOME PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 55 By E. F. KNIGHT, Author of "Where Three Empires Meet," "The Cruise of the _Falcon_," &c. PROBLEMS AND POSSIBILITIES 72 By JAMES STANLEY LITTLE, Author of "South Africa," "The Progress of the British Empire in the Nineteenth Century," "The United States of Britain," &c. &c. THE FUTURE OF THE MINING INDUSTRY 86 By F. T. NORRIS. THE AGRICULTURAL OUTLOOK 113 By THE EDITOR. WOOL-GROWING 133 By ALLEN G. DAVISON, Chief Inspector of Sheep for Cape Colony. SOUTH AFRICAN RAILWAYS 140 By W. BLELOCH, Author of "The New South Africa." HEALTH RESORTS OF SOUTH AFRICA 157 By ERNEST GRAHAM LITTLE, B.A., formerly Porter Scholar, of the Cape University; M.D. University of London; Member of the Royal College of Physicians; Physician, with charge of the Skin Department, at St. Mary's Hospital; Senior Assistant Physician to the East London Hospital for Children and Dispensary for Women, Shadwell; late House Physician at St. George's Hospital and at the City of London Hospital for Diseases of the Chest. COMMERCIAL PROSPECTS 174 By WILLIAM EGLINGTON, Editor and Proprietor of "The British and South African Export Gazette." THE FUTURE OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONSTABULARY: VIEWS OF MAJOR-GENERAL BADEN-POWELL 186 APPENDIX: MR. CHAMBERLAIN AND THE BOER GENERALS 189 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS--VOL. VIII. COMMERCIAL MAP OF SOUTH AFRICA _At Front_ 1. _COLOURED PLATES_ PAGE A STOCK FARM _Frontispiece_ CHURCH STREET, PRETORIA--THE APPROACH TO THE TOWN 20 AT THE HEAD OF UMGENI FALLS, HOWICK, NATAL 40 THE OUTLET BELOW VICTORIA FALLS, ZAMBESI RIVER 64 LORD MILNER 80 A KAFFIR VILLAGE 120 PEELING BARK ON A WATTLE PLANTATION IN NATAL 132 BLOEMFONTEIN 160 2. _FULL-PAGE PLATES_ THE DOCKS, CAPE TOWN 8 THE LOW VELDT FROM BOTHA'S HILL 48 A HUNTER'S WAGGON, RHODESIA 56 THE RESETTLEMENT OF THE TRANSVAAL--A BOER FAMILY RETURNING TO THEIR FARM 72 WASHING PLANT OF DE BEERS DIAMOND MINES AT KIMBERLEY 88 CYANIDE WORKS (NEW COMET MINE) AT JOHANNESBURG 92 MINES ON THE LINE OF REEF AT JOHANNESBURG 96 DRIVING AN "END" IN MAY CONSOLIDATED MINE, JOHANNESBURG 100 GENERAL VIEW OF THE SURFACE WORKS OF A RAND GOLD MINE (KNIGHT'S) 104 PRITCHARD STREET, JOHANNESBURG 108 MILL (OR BATTERY) OF A GOLD MINE (SALISBURY AND JUBILEE, JOHANNESBURG) 112 TEA FARM, SHOWING COOLIES PICKING 124 A SUGAR-MILL IN NATAL (CENTRIFUGAL ROOM) 128 JOHANNESBURG MAIL TRAIN AT THE FOOT OF MAJUBA 144 COMMISSIONER STREET, JOHANNESBURG 148 MORNING MARKET AT JOHANNESBURG 152 MORNING MARKET AT KIMBERLEY 168 CHURCH STREET EAST, PRETORIA 176 3. _PORTRAITS_ SIR HENRY M'CALLUM, K.C.M.G. 12 HON. SIR W. F. HELY HUTCHINSON 16 RIGHT HON. SIR J. GORDON SPRIGG, K.C.M.G. 24 HON. SIR ARTHUR LAWLEY, K.C.M.G. 32 SIR H. J. GOOLD-ADAMS, C.B., C.M.G. 44 THE COLONIAL CONFERENCE 184 4. _MAPS AND ENGRAVINGS IN THE TEXT_ FIVE-MILE SPRUIT, RHODESIA 56 CAPE TO CAIRO RAILWAY 58 RHODESIAN NATIVES WASHING CLOTHES 63 MACHECKIE RAILWAY BRIDGE 65 THE WANKIE EXPEDITION 68 RHODESIAN MINING--THE DOBIE MILL 70 PROSPECTING FOR GOLD 87 THE INFANCY OF A GOLD MINE 90 SECTION OF A GOLD MINE 93 HEAD-GEAR OF THE WITWATERSRAND GOLD-MINING CO. 100 KAFFIR COMPOUND 102 CYANIDE WORKS 104 GENERAL VIEW OF SURFACE WORKS 106 MAP--TRANSVAAL GOLD-FIELDS 109 MAP--RHODESIAN GOLD-FIELDS 111 WELLWOOD FARM 114 FARM IN THE KARROO PROPER 118 VERMONT MERINO EWES 122 PURE NEGRETTI MERINO RAM 126 ANGORA GOAT (YOUNG EWE) 130 FLOCK OF FAT CROSS-BRED MERINO AND FAT-TAILED SHEEP 133 ANGORA GOATS (YOUNG RAMS) 135 FAT-TAILED HAIRY AFRICANDER SHEEP 136 ANGORA GOAT (RAM) 138 BRIDGE OVER THE TUGELA 142 STATION YARD, DURBAN 146 MAP OF CAPE GOVERNMENT RAILWAY 152, 3 MAP--BRITAIN IN AFRICA 199 [Illustration: COMMERCIAL MAP OF SOUTH AFRICA] SOUTH AFRICA AND ITS FUTURE EMIGRATION BY HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF ARGYLL, P.C., K.T. _Author of "Imperial Federation," "The Life and Times of Queen Victoria," &c._ Emigration of white men and women to South Africa--how can we best secure this? The abiding difficulty at the Cape and throughout the states that will form the future South African Confederation is the colour question. The "colour" is not that of the gold to be found so often in many places, but the question of the white and the black races dwelling in the same country. Dutchman and Englishman will in time form one race. There is nothing to part them. They are European cousins. They both come from North Europe. The blood of the Dutchman runs in the veins of the Englishman. The parent stock of the Dutch gave off many a swarm wherewith to people the East Anglian shores. England has been fed and fought by the Dutch since those old days. We have received many of their sturdy countrymen into London. Any one who does not know the number and influence of the Dutch in comparatively recent times in our metropolis should pay a visit to the Austen Friars, the place where the monks of St. Augustine had their headquarters in the city, and see the fine old church the Dutch built, and in which they still worship. We remember well the stiff battles of Charles II.'s time. We know the names of Van Tromp and De Witt as well as any Dutchman. We have learned to respect our Dutch cousins, both on sea and land. And their religion? There is nothing there to separate us. Has the Presbyterian form of religion kept Scotland separate? No, save in the pride of her ancient history. No Scotsman has any objection to marry an English lass, especially if she has herself more than will give both of them something better than oatcake. And the Dutch Reformed Church is much like the Presbyterian. There is nothing that can in its tenets form any bar to the mixing of the British and Dutch people in South Africa. To be sure, a "nacht-maal" is not precisely a Church of England convocation or congress. It approaches much nearer to a Scottish communion service in out-of-the-way Highland parishes. There is nothing aggressive or exclusive in the staid and sober faith of our Dutch friends. And this being so, Scotsmen especially have intermarried often with the Boers. As trustee of a Highland estate, some time ago my consent was asked to the granting of a leasehold to a Scottish gentleman, who had returned from the Transvaal. The only objection the lawyer who asked the question mentioned as existing against this man was that he was said to have married a native. Some canny objectors had written a letter saying that this ought to form a bar to any grant of land to the man, though he had originally come from the district. Who was the lady? was the next inquiry. Was she a Hottentot Venus? Did she "bang her hair" in too negroid a fashion? Would she introduce among the dim lights of the North the terrible practices of her people? Would the quiet village be scandalised by strange feasts and weird howlings? No, by no means. What was she, then? Why, nothing but a nice flaxen-haired, rather squab-featured, but withal comely Boer girl! So she entered into her Highland possession, had a door "stoop," or something like a bit of raised verandah flooring put outside the entrance, but found, poor soul, that it was rather a dripping place of observation in her adopted climate. Nevertheless, the last news of her is that she is a happy, "sonsie" mother, and has some children, who don't speak Dutch as their common language, but only a few low Dutch words, with very Highland accent. But this is said to be only the case where a Scotsman marries a Boer. There is apparently something in the Scot that makes him look after his family more carefully than does the average Englishman or Irishman. It is therefore only the Scot, as it is said, both in Africa and in Canada, whose children, if he marry one of another race, do not desert the accents of their forefathers on the paternal side. As a rule the children become much what the mother is. I have seen the children of a naval man who had married an Indian woman on the Pacific Coast become almost like the small fish-eating savages around them. They were willing to do a little work for a spurt, and then relapsed into dirt and laziness. So in the north-west of Canada it is only an Orkney or Aberdeen east-coast Scot who can keep his family to civilised life, if he marry a Cree or member of any other Indian tribe. The Frenchman's children, by an Indian mother, take to hunting only. Even with the Scots in Old Canada the same rule holds good, at least wherever a Celt has married a French Canadian. There are numbers of families below Quebec, on the north side of the river St. Lawrence, whose names are Highland. They are the descendants chiefly of Fraser's Highlanders, one of the regiments employed during the war against the French in 1748-49. When the soldiers obtained grants of land on the conclusion of the war they married French-Canadian women. Their descendants now can seldom speak one word of English or of Gaelic. They speak nothing but Canadian French patois. It is the mother's influence, with rare exceptions, that tells. So it is in South Africa. In some districts it is as with Fraser's Highlanders, in Province Quebec. You may visit farm after farm, especially those whose owners have Irish names, and you will not find any person in the house, or on the land belonging to the farm, who can speak a word of either English or Irish! It may be doubted if there would have been much loyalty taught to any government by the use of the Erse tongue. The "Taal" may inculcate a certain amount more of respect for paternal and government authority. Yet if theory distinguishes between Briton and Boer, or Englishman and Africander, Nature does not, and you find that the mingling of the races is a practical principle acted on regularly wherever the races are brought together. We may congratulate ourselves that this is so. The mixed race will be a magnificent one, with the size, courage, and tenacity of the Dutch, and the gentleness, bravery, and power of government and of cohesion of the Britisher. There are no handsomer women anywhere than there are among the Dutch ladies of Cape Colony. Many of their sons are sent to English public schools and universities, and though there are, alas, only too many who live under British institutions and who do not become British, there is no reason why, in course of time, they should not become as good citizens of a British Commonwealth as have the Vanderbilts and Van Horns and Roosevelts, and many others of Dutch name and lineage in New York State, for New York was New Amsterdam, and a very flourishing Dutch colony. On the banks of the Hudson you may still see thoroughly Dutch houses, built in the old days. What New Yorker would now change his nationality, though of Dutch descent? The freedom they have in the United States their cousins will also have in South Africa. They will mix with the English, whose language most of them speak already. They will do so all the more readily as time passes, in that they can never feel themselves to be anything but the equals of the British in all save in numbers. It was for the benefit of the union between England and Scotland that the Scots won Bannockburn and many another hard fight besides. They could point to their victories as the English could to theirs. And so with those of Dutch race at the Cape. They can point to famous names of good soldiers, who have inflicted defeat on the best British troops. And for this they will be all the greater friends hereafter. Unless each partner in business or in marriage can bring something into the common pot, there is not so happy a sense of helpfulness and mutual aid given, as there is when this union is a more equal one. There is another and a most weighty consideration which will tend to the union of the European races. This is the common necessity each has to strengthen the other against any possible predominance of the blacks. The danger in this matter will arise more in the warmer regions of the north of the future confederation than in the more temperate south. Time has proved that the white races can do well in the Cape. They increase rapidly. The climate is most favourable. The physical character of the races does not in any way deteriorate. On the contrary, it improves. They gain, as the Americans say, in "avoirdupois." An "avoirdupois" Dutchman at the Cape, whose ancestors have been "avoirdupoising" there for two centuries, is a better all-round, and very round man, than is his compatriot in race at home among the canals and tulip gardens of Holland. But the black holds his own in weight and in numbers even in the temperate climate of the Cape Colony. Farther north, where the temperature is hotter, it is certain that he will be a better man than the white. The only exception to this can be in the mountain districts, where at high elevations in the plateaus there is probably a possibility that the white man's children may thrive. In general, however, in all the low ground north of the Transvaal, and in many districts there, the "Kaffir" will be more favoured by the climate than will be the white invader. The Europeans will partially subject them, and partially they will remain, deteriorated in morals, but by no means likely to remain only the obedient servants that they are expected to be. There are many who now say that the next big trouble in South Africa will be with the blacks. This apprehension, if there be any reason in it, is another incentive for the whites to combine to make settlements secure and numerous, where they can defy any movement among the blacks. It is an additional incentive to us in the old land to see what we may do to make this union of the whites as British in feeling, as liberty loving, as British institutions can make it. The Boers in fighting have not lost their freedom. They have only lost one form of collective and separate independence. Individually their independence is far better guaranteed under British than under Dutch Africander forms of government. But a great help to their seeing and understanding of this will be the predominance, not the domination, of the English language. In the schools English history and its modern expansion in the colonies should be taught. Half of the dislike of England shown in the Republic and among the people in the United States arises from the teaching of the school-books, which indoctrinates the young American with the idea that as all tyranny known to his American fathers was centralised and expressed in Lord North's Stamp Act and the Tea Duties, so the modern Britisher must still be imbued with the ideas of Lord North, and taxation without representation must go hand in hand with British rule. The young Africander must be taught that we of the old country have learned our lesson. He must know that each of the British self-governing colonies is a separate nation in alliance of its own free will with the mother-land. He must know that even in the wildest dreams of Africanderism the most separatist of the separatists desired the naval stations of the Cape to remain one of the chief resorts of the British fleet. Now that Germany and France have their foot on South African soil, "marching" with the states of the new confederation to be, the youth of the states must be taught to know our forms of government and the history of them, so that they may judge if they would rather be under the German or French flag. To be under any separate new flag would of course be to court danger from the powerful countries, who could cut off their trade from the harbours, were it not for the protection afforded by the British fleets. Union and education are therefore the passwords to success. How can we better help these forces than by well-devised emigration? Our Dutch friends have given us a good example. They imported in the eighteenth century 5000 children from Amsterdam. They knew what they were about. That was at a time when horses were sent round in a ring to tread corn, that the labour of threshing it might be saved. It was a time when, near the outlying settlements to which the children were sent, there were lions and elephants to be met with--real live animals--recognisable by the Noah's ark toys of the children, whose delight at the sight of the creatures was not always shared by their parents! How different is all now! For thousands of miles, up and down the country, life is as safe as in most parishes in England. The only thing to fear is probably an enraged ostrich, and these can easily, even on an ostrich farm where the huge birds are reared for their feathers, be kept out of the children's way. The little ones had a long time of it on board ship, three months in some cases; and glad they must have been to see the coast-line rising as they neared the Bay, and the long flat top of the precipitous Table Mountain, with a white wreath of mist looking like snow against the delicate blue of the sky, on its rocky summit level. They were not all kept in the white town at the base of the beautiful mountain whose ever-changing hues were a delight to them. The children were wisely distributed, that they might take a liking to the place where they were trained, and should have a feeling of home love for the part of the country they would know while yet young. And so it should be done by us in these later times when we have more need of the spread of our own tongue and traditions in this great land. Careful location is indeed necessary, but there are so many good locations, especially along the south coast, that we need not be too timid or too dilatory. Port Elizabeth, Cape Town, two good bays to the northward to which railways must ultimately come--more settlements again along the coast in temperate regions to the east, are wanted, where latitude 34 shows that no great heat can be feared--these are the "plums" for position. And when you turn the corner of that long stretch of coast lying along latitude 34, you must look out for higher sites than those on the sea-beach for the young people. And of these higher sites there are plenty. If Durban be too relaxing there is Pietermaritzburg inland, and so of most of the ports and bays. Leaving the coast and going inland by the railways into the "Orange" and Transvaal, we at once meet the main difficulty of "location" in the want of water. The Transvaal seems like a gigantic turtle-back, and whereas in Australia you may meet with water if you dig 1500 feet or more, where there is no appearance of it on the surface, we must wait for such revelations in the Transvaal. The territories are fed by few good rivers, and these are apt to be either raging torrents or dry gravel beds. But there are "fonteins" in many places, and there is no reason why a fair sprinkling of girls' and boys' institutions should not be comfortably located both in Transvaal and "Orange," where along the river of that name there is a more certain supply of water. The Vaal is of course the largest stream for irrigation in the north. Very little has been done to husband the water of any of the African rivers; and the chief work to be done in matters of material improvement is the adequate damming and storing of the waters of all the principal streams. The winter floods, copious and overwhelming, have been allowed to run to waste. Water and wives must for a long time be the chief wants of South Africa. Lucas gives briefly the main features of the country now under our flag. From the south coast to the Zambesi in the neighbourhood of the Victoria Falls is 1200 miles. The land rises steadily from the sea as you get into the Hinterlands, and the mountain ranges run parallel to the sea. Behind these ranges there is everywhere an elevated plateau, and the highest plains are in the east. There also the rainfall is the greatest. "It is from the south or east that men come into Southern Africa, not from the west, where stretch the dreary deserts of Damara and Namaqua Land." North of the Karoo Desert the principal places are well situated for altitude. To the west Kimberley is 4000 feet above the sea. Bloemfontein, the capital of the Orange State, is higher by 500 feet than is Kimberley. Mafeking has 4200 feet. Pretoria, the capital of the Transvaal, is the same as Bloemfontein. Johannesburg, though so near Pretoria, stands at 5600 feet. In the north, Matebele Land has an average of 2500 feet. It is possible that deep borings may find water in the new states where there is none at present. These heights are sufficient to explain how it is that even far to the north of Cape Colony European settlement may thrive, and children grow up strong and healthy. But "location" is everything. Now, what has been done to foster immigration and settlement up to the present? Hardly anything has been done by Government. Sir Harry Smith, who commanded in the fiercest of the Kaffir wars, and after whose wife Ladysmith received its name, strongly urged the policy of settling soldiers in the Colony. Between the Fish and the Keiskamma rivers "military villages" were encouraged, the settlers "being army pensioners liable to be called on for the defence of the frontier." Then again in the Queenstown district Governor-General Cathcart proposed to settle two Swiss Regiments, but his plan was not supported. Then Sir George Grey, his successor, persuaded the home Government to send out 2300 of the Foreign Legion, as it was called, recruited for the Crimean War. They were to be called on for military service, if wanted, during a period of seven years, and they were to have pay for three years. Each man received his land free of rent, to become his own at the end of the seven years, if he had loyally fulfilled his engagements. The Government of the Cape helped by a grant of money. "At the beginning of 1857," says Lucas in his _Geography of the British Colonies_, "the German soldiers arrived and were settled, some at existing towns or stations, such as East London and King William's Town, some on selected sites, whose villages were yet to be built. Distributed through the eastern districts of the Colony, and through British Kaffraria, they held the lines of communication, as garrisons attached to, and having an interest in the soil. The divisional district of Stutterheim still bears the name of the officer in whose charge the soldiers came, and under whose immediate guidance they were settled on the land. The chief drawback _to the scheme was that only a few of the emigrants brought wives with them_. This defect Sir George Grey sought to remedy by proposing to import a number of German families to be located with and to supplement the military settlers. Some were brought over, but the total expenditure which was contemplated was too large to win the assent of the Imperial Government, and to subsidise an exclusively German immigration, seemed to the Secretaries of State less politic than to provide the existing German settlers with English or Irish wives. The Governor therefore sent on a thousand of the unmarried soldiers to India, and those who remained behind developed into Cape Colonists, and fell into line with the civil population." This experiment has succeeded so well that it is a wonder that it was not repeated. Considering the enormous disproportion in the old country between the number of men and the number of women, it would seem a comparatively simple matter to assist female emigration, especially when a Colony is young and able to absorb any number sent. Nor need any Colonial Government Department be alarmed that the worthless will be sent. There are plenty of useful and excellent women who would be glad to go. As yet the only woman contingents that have been sent out are the few dozen teachers who have proceeded to the concentration camps. A party of these hailing from Toronto and Ottawa were lately in England on their journey to the Cape. Every one who met these ladies was struck with the earnestness they showed and the ability they displayed in conversing on the subject of their hopes and expectations. They seemed a lot drafted from the best women instructresses in some New England State. But Ontario can well afford now to be compared with the best of the New England States in regard to her public instruction. Her schools of all kinds are excellent. A "send off" meeting was held in the Jerusalem Chamber at Westminster Abbey for a party of fifty. They were addressed by Mr. Chamberlain and Lord Peel. Now that peace has come and the camps will have been broken up, these women will doubtless find equally useful employment under the Education Department in the New Colonies. The Government here have a large "reservoir" to draw upon in the women who are employed in the telegraph and postal service in Great Britain. Any of these persons would immediately find a sphere of activity in the new lands. The population of these countries is certain to increase rapidly with the opening of the old mines and the successful exploitation of new. There are large centres of industry where there is no want of water, where there is a certainty of good mining success, and where communities will grow up anxious for good schools, and well able to pay for instructors and instructresses. [Illustration: Photo: Wilson, Aberdeen. THE DOCKS, CAPE TOWN.] It is a curious thing that while at the Cape and elsewhere you find in the hotels plenty of Swiss and German and some French waitresses and housemaids, you find few English. Why? It must be only from want of organisation. At Grahamstown, not far from the bay called Algoa by the Portuguese (whose thoughts went to Goa in India, and named Algoa and Delagoa as calling places for Goa ships) there has been an institution for instruction lately founded. Let me cite here the work of the South African Expansion Committee in their own words. This Association is established to promote Protected Emigration, due regard being had to the interests both of the Emigrants and of the countries to which they go. The Association pledges itself:-- (_a_) To Emigrate only such Women and Girls as are of good character and capacity. (_b_) To select only such Men and Families as are suitable to the requirements of each Colony. (_c_) To secure for them proper Protection on the voyage, and adequate Reception on arrival. (_d_) If possible, not to lose sight of them for a year or two after their Emigration. (_e_) To raise a Loan Fund for necessitous cases, repayment being secured on detained wages. It is recognised by prominent statesmen of all parties that the future of our South African possessions depends on their colonisation--not only by the large bodies of active and energetic men, who at the close of the war will find permanent employment there--but also by trained and capable women. Many situations and professions are already awaiting them, and as the country becomes more settled, fresh openings of all sorts will arise. Women of proved suitability are prepared to go, when the right time comes, but a great barrier to all extensive development of this essential movement is lack of funds. Financial support is needed for the following purposes:-- (1) The establishment, on sound business principles, of Hostels at Cape Town[1] and at the chief centres, such as Durban, Pretoria, Kimberley, Johannesburg, Bloemfontein, Bulawayo, Salisbury, &c., where women and girls can be received for a few days on arrival, and where, if they have daily engagements, they may reside permanently. Each of these Hostels would be also an employment Bureau for every kind of women's work, and would require a capable salaried Lady Superintendent to manage the Home and the Employment Bureau, and to act as correspondent between Employer and Employed. (2) Provision for the proper care and guidance of women throughout the journey from the British Isles to their final destination in South Africa. (3) Grants in aid of passages from the British Isles to South Africa when the traveller cannot afford the whole cost, or loans to be repaid within a given period. (4) Preparation of women at the Leaton Colonial Training Home, Wellington, Salop. (5) Secretarial Expenses. British men and women must alike desire for our new territories, and for South Africa generally, the same ordered, wholesome, law-abiding traditions as are to be found in the Old Country; and these can only be built up on a lasting basis, by rendering life possible there as here for suitable women, whether as teachers, nurses, secretaries, typists, telegraph or telephone clerks, sempstresses, or household assistants. We would appeal for funds not only to help those who go to earn their daily bread, but also to enable the wives, the daughters, and sisters of settlers to join their belongings in the new country. Many a man could make a home for his wife or sister but for the initial cost of her passage and the difficulties of the journey for inexperienced women. Openings in the new territories are declined by men at the front, because they cannot bring out those dependent upon them at home. They need that the ocean be bridged for them by kindly forethought, by experienced and economical organisation, by suitable protection, and by carefully adjusted financial assistance. It is surely not much to ask that those to whom domestic comfort is a matter of course, should contribute in these ways to make a home life possible for those upon whom the future of South Africa depends. The Lady Knightley, of Fawsley, in regard to the preparation for women going to South Africa, says:-- "In laying before the public the scheme for assisting the emigration of women of all classes to South Africa, the Council are specially anxious to enlist the active co-operation of ladies in all parts of the country, and with a view to securing this assistance, they desire to draw the attention, of those who may be disposed to help, to various methods of forwarding the scheme, in the hope that some one or other of them may prove feasible. "Ladies could insure that those desiring to emigrate should have the opportunity of fitting themselves for their new life by helping to provide instruction for them in various departments of practical life. "1. Cooking, Dairying, Poultry-keeping. "2. Breadmaking, Laundry-work. "3. Needlework, Cutting out. "4. Gardening, Fruit-packing, Bee-keeping. "5. Ambulance, Nursing, Health teaching. "In some parts of the country this will be best accomplished by arranging for attendance at County Council Classes for Technical Instruction, or by putting people in the way of gaining the Scholarships which some County Councils provide for dairying, others for nursing, &c. In other districts, where such Classes or Scholarships are not provided by the County Council, or where the Classes are inconvenient of access, it might be arranged for such instruction to be given in a country house. Good, old-fashioned, upper servants, of whom there are some left, might in some cases be glad to help in this way. "An even better plan would be to arrange for girls and young women (especially those from towns) to pass a month or two in a farmhouse, where, under a capable farmer's wife, much of the required teaching would come naturally in the routine of the household. In this way a foundation might be laid which would render the traveller of far greater use on her first arrival in South Africa than would otherwise be the case, and also more able to acquire further knowledge should she obtain a situation on a poultry or other farm. "The improved methods of poultry-keeping inaugurated by the National Poultry Organisation, 12 Hanover Square, should, if possible, be studied. Ladies might supply intending travellers with copies of its valuable leaflets. "Some knowledge of gardening should be acquired, preferably through the medium of the Swanley Ladies' Horticultural College. But should this prove too long and expensive a training, a good deal might be learnt from a head gardener if ladies would make it easy for such instruction to be given. The best methods of packing fruit should also be acquired, and in towns, ladies who are large customers of fruit salesmen might make interest with them for giving instruction. "Ladies who are Members of County Bee-keeping Associations might be able to obtain for intending Emigrants some instruction from the Expert usually attached to such Associations. Mr. Theodore Bent has pointed out that in a country where wild bees do so well as they do in South Africa, tame bees ought to succeed, and as butter at present is somewhat scarce, honey might become a valuable article of food. The same remark applies to jam, and jam-making should be included in the subjects to be taught. "If possible, intending travellers should attend some ambulance, health, and nursing lectures, which would prove a valuable possession in their future lives. Of course, such instruction would be a good deal better than nothing, but regular Ambulance Lectures, with an Examination to follow, would be far better, and in many instances ladies could use their influence in the country in getting such lectures arranged, not of course specially for Emigrants, but to give them the opportunity of attending. They might also, in some cases, pay the necessary fees. There are many ladies, especially among the younger ones, who have acquired a considerable knowledge of nursing, and who might do invaluable service by imparting to intending emigrants some acquaintance with, at all events, such rudiments of nursing as are comprised in changing sheets, improvised cradles, bed rests, and the hundred and one little dodges--if they may be so termed--which make the whole difference in illness, and which so many people are utterly ignorant of. "It is hoped that it may be found possible for nurses to go out on the same ships with parties of emigrants, with a view to their giving nursing and ambulance lectures on the voyage. "Ladies may also help by contributing to the libraries for use on board ship and at the Hostels, which it is intended to establish for the reception of emigrants on their arrival at Cape Town, and also in other South African Centres. "Another form of assistance would be to undertake to pay for the instruction of emigrants in South African languages. Miss Alice Werner (20 Dry Hill, Park Road, Tonbridge) is holding classes for the study of the Zulu language, and also for Taal or Cape Dutch, at King's College, Strand. Besides these, she is prepared to give lessons in some of the languages spoken in British Central Africa. "Clothes are not unfrequently needed for intending emigrants. Working parties could be organised to provide new underclothing, which could also be purchased from institutions and bazaars. These working parties would also furnish a valuable opportunity for making known the scheme among the daughters of the farmers and tradesmen, who are just the class most likely to prove desirable denizens of the new Colonies. "Useful but fashionable slightly-used clothes for middle-class women might also be collected. "Ladies with friends in South Africa may also give valuable assistance by writing to tell them of the scheme, being careful to enclose a prospectus issued by the Association, so that there may be no mistake as to terms, conditions, &c. Ladies in Cape Town should be asked to confer with Mrs. Bairnsfather, Grange Avenue, Rondebosch, Cape Town, and with the Committee which has recently been formed. "It should be known to all who are kindly willing to interest themselves in this undertaking that a Colonial Training Home has been established at Leaton, Wrockwardine, Wellington, Salop, the object of which is to give practical training in domestic work to ladies and girls wishing to proceed to the Colonies, to join their families or as Mothers' Helps. The training given is of the most thorough description, and no servants being kept, the pupils do all the work of the house. The course lasts for three or six months, and the terms are 15s. weekly for a single bedroom, 10s. for sharing a double one. But as only twelve pupils can be received at a time, it will be impossible by this means only, to train the many girls who, it is hoped, will be willing and anxious to avail themselves of the advantages offered by this scheme; and therefore it is that the Council confidently appeal for help on the simple but practicable lines indicated in the foregoing pages." In application to the British Women's Emigration Association (South African Expansion), replies to the following questions have to be forwarded to the Hon. Secretary, South African Expansion, Imperial Institute, London, S. W.:-- 1. Christian and Surname in full; Postal Address in full. 2. Date and Place of Birth; Religious Denomination. 3. (_a_) Parents or near relative living; (_b_) Home Address; (_c_) Father's Profession. 4. To which Colony do you wish to go? 5. Have you friends or relatives there with whom you are in correspondence? if so, give name and address. 6. What line of life do you propose to pursue in that Colony? 7. Have you hitherto had any experience in practical work? 8. Do you propose--(_a_) to invest capital? (_b_) to seek employment in (1) Poultry, Fruit, Vegetable Farming or Dairy? (2) Business, Boarding-house, Tea-shop, Dressmaking, Photography, &c. 9. If from a Colonial or other Training Home, give address. 10. Is your health good? (a Medical Certificate will be required); when were you last vaccinated? 11. Can you meet your travelling expenses, or are you likely to require a small loan? 12. Three references are required. Give name and address if possible of--(_a_) Minister of Religion or Justice of the Peace; (_b_) two ladies or other responsible persons. 13. Space to be left blank for Referee's signature. 14. Length of time Referee has known Applicant. The ordinary ocean fares are as follow:-- Union-Castle Line, from Southampton. _Second Class._ _Mail Steamer._ _Intermediate._ Cape Town 25 to 29 guineas 23 to 26 guineas. Port Elizabeth 17 to 31 " 24 to 28 " East London 28 to 32 " 25 to 29 " Natal 29 to 33 " 26 to 30 " _Third Class._ _Mail Steamer._ _Intermediate._ Cape Town 15 to 17 guineas 12 to 14 guineas. Port Elizabeth 16 to 18 " 13 to 15 " East London 17 to 19 " 14 to 16 " Natal 18 to 20 " 15 to 17 " Aberdeen (Rennie) Line, direct from London. Natal, First Class, £34 13s.; Second Class, £21. Beira, " £40 19s.; " £26. Intermediate Steamers carrying First Class only. Natal, £25, 4s. Beira, £34. Shaw Savill Line to Cape Town only, from London-- Third Class, £9, 9s. to £11, 11s. No Second Class. Also White Star Line to Cape Town occasionally, from Liverpool. Luggage allowed free; 20 cubic feet second class; 10 cubic feet third class, extra at 1s. 6d. per foot. By Aberdeen Line, 40 feet first class; 30 feet intermediate. At the present time there are no assisted passages to Cape Colony. When these are granted, they enable an employer to obtain an employee by paying to the Immigration Office at Cape Town a portion of the passage money, the Government of Cape Colony paying the remainder. Women availing themselves of the advantage of a practically free passage are obliged to sign a contract, which is legally binding, to remain one year or longer, according to the agreement made with the employer. NATAL.--Persons resident in Natal can obtain third class assisted passages from their female relatives and domestic servants through the Immigration Department in the Colony. Adults, £5; children, half-price. Persons travelling under the auspices of the Association are grouped in reserved cabins under an escort. When larger parties are collected they will have the comfort of travelling with an experienced matron, whose authority they will be expected to uphold. Hostels and Employment Bureaux are established for receiving travellers and for Registry Work at Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Salisbury. Reception and forwarding arranged at all seaports. Employment for Elementary and High School Teachers, Trained Nurses, Typists, Dressmakers and Milliners, Useful Helps, Matrons, Business Hands, and Laundresses, can be obtained through the Correspondents of the Association. In Cape Colony and the larger towns of South Africa, the openings will be chiefly for all-round Domestics, and women in Professions and Business; up the country in the New Territories, for women who as Working Housekeepers can utilise native labour. Teachers will be wanted in all the Provinces. Employees will be sent out as soon as employers apply for them and Government Authorities consent. Women who intend to settle up-country should meanwhile perfect themselves in cooking and all household matters, adding a knowledge of dairy work, poultry, and bee-keeping. Travellers going through the Association who have to sleep in London, can be received at 3s. 6d. per day. Three days' notice must be given. Only women of good character, health, and capability, are accepted by the South African Expansion Committee, in whose hands the selection of women to South Africa has been placed. Protection is secured to them till they enter the situations found for them in the Colonies. [Illustration: Photo: Elliott & Fry, London. SIR HENRY M'CALLUM, K.C.M.G. Governor of Natal.] But fully as important as the emigration of adults will be the placing of children in well-selected places in South Africa. The object to be attained is to let children grow up in the country so that they may regard it as their own, and that their early home affection may be largely connected with their adopted land. The difficulty of the selection of children is as nothing compared with the difficulty of the selection of adults. Nor are the objections often raised in a new community against the importation of the last, heard against the first. A wide experience has shown that children are eagerly sought by farmers, and are "placed out" with ease. The remarkable success Dr. Barnardo has had in Canada, to which country he has sent between twelve and thirteen thousand children, has proved this. The number of failures has been only about 1 per cent. Nor is this a haphazard statement. Watch and ward have been kept over the fortunes of the youngsters. They have been carefully placed after due negotiation and correspondence, and each has been reported upon after settlement. The success obtained is best gauged by the ever-increasing number of applications for just such boys and girls as have been previously "located." Every year of late years there have been three great parties sent across the Atlantic, and the cry is ever for more to come. In spring, in midsummer, and in "the fall," the children have been taken out. Entrained on arriving in Canada, the farmers have come down to meet them at the various stations, and they have been at once taken to their new homes, where they have almost uniformly given satisfaction to their employers. They are growing up hearty, happy Canadians, and many hundred letters arrive from them at Stepney where they were trained, telling how they are "getting on." Every penny spent on their teaching in England has had a double return in making room when they go for another boy or girl to be similarly brought up, and in providing Canada and Britain with a small citizen "cut out of whole cloth," as the Americans say, ready to fight for the Empire whether in Canada, in Europe, or in Africa. Now though the East End philanthropist has the greatest number from which to draw his recruits, he does not stand alone. There is Mr. Quarrier, near Alloa in Scotland, who is doing similar work. In London no child who knocks at the door of the many institutions is refused. Each is admitted, and the change in a year is marvellous. The child has already become a good little mechanic or workman of some kind or other. He is cleanly, disciplined, and has many an example ahead of him and around him, to make him follow in the good road on which he has been set. In London £5000 is now asked for by Dr. Barnardo for the African scheme. The greatest care is to be taken to watch over the children sent out. They are to be carefully placed where climate and water is good, and there, after a course of instruction in all that is most useful in South Africa, they will be placed out as in Canada with farmers, with miners, with mechanics, and with any who want them, if the employers can only show that a good home is provided. But until a good home is provided by the Colonists, they are to have a good home out there of their own. There are opportunities of education in the local farming pursuits that "make the mouth water," to have children thus placed. The pastoral work of dairying, as well as the healthy occupations of gardening and produce-raising will all be studied and taught on the spot. What a happy change from the crowded thoroughfares of the east of London! And if these children succeed, as they assuredly will, why should not the Government do a little useful work of the same kind as that undertaken by Dr. Barnardo and by Mr. Quarrier on its own account? Why not utilise for Africa some of the industrial school children? They, if settled together, and sent to English-speaking farmers, will not forget that they are English. They will not make their farms when they get them, after their useful school career, resound only with the expressive but illiterate "Taal" tongue. Good Saxon (even if shorn of a few h's) will be heard in their homesteads in the future. They will add a good reinforcement to those who know that freedom is not to be got by racial separation, and the condemnation of everything British. They will permeate the districts where they grow up to manhood and womanhood with the British idea and practice of common obedience to law and justice as the best security for freedom. FOOTNOTES: [1] The generosity of Mr. Rhodes and of the De Beers Company has made it possible to the influential South African Immigration Committee which has been formed at Cape Town to open a Hostel there already. SOUTH AFRICAN FEDERATION VIEWS OF COLONIAL PREMIERS BY E. B. OSBORN _Author of "Greater Canada"_ I Unification has always been an ideal of South African statesmen, and twice, at least, it has been within measurable distance of realisation. In 1858 Sir George Grey, who had federated the New Zealand settlements despite the intensity of their local jealousies, promulgated the first practical scheme of South African Federation. So well had he ruled the Kaffir tribes on the eastern border of Cape Colony, that the Free State, weary of warfare with the Basutos, made overtures for a federal alliance, and the proposition of the Volksraad was actually laid before the Cape Parliament by Sir George Grey, before the opinion of the British Ministry in regard to his scheme of federation on New Zealand lines and their sanction for the course actually pursued had been received. Sir George Grey was recalled; though on his arrival off the British coast he found that he had been reinstated by a new Secretary of State, the delay led to the loss of an excellent opportunity for carrying through a measure comparable in importance with the Act which brought about the legislative union of Upper and Lower Canada. [Illustration: Photo: Elliott & Fry, London. HON. SIR W. F. HELY HUTCHINSON, Governor of Cape Colony.] For many years after the failure of Sir George Grey's attempt, unification was a little-regarded counsel of perfection. It is true that the Duke of Buckingham, Secretary of State for the Colonies in the Disraeli Ministry of 1868, admitted that it would be politic to consider seriously any further overtures for a federal alliance from the Boers, but the Free State was no longer in the mood to make them, our annexation of Basutoland being resented, and the discovery of diamonds on its western border in 1867 having created fresh causes of irritation. When the second Disraeli Ministry came into power, and Lord Carnarvon, who had collaborated with the Canadian Fathers of Federation (he himself may be described as the Godfather of the Dominion), undertook the charge of colonial affairs, the plan proposed by Sir Henry Barkly for a confederation of South Africa, which should be the logical consequence of the grant of autonomy to Cape Colony, was cordially received. Unfortunately the Free State held aloof, the Cape Ministry remembered only too well the object lessons in anti-Imperialism received from Lord Carnarvon's predecessors, and a _grain de sable_--the tactlessness of Mr. Froude--caused a vast amount of friction. Even then, but for the revival at home of the belief that political quietism and a policy of non-interference with Colonial affairs would enable Great Britain to retain the commercial hegemony of the world, Lord Carnarvon's hopes might have been realised; for he had grasped the all-important fact that South Africa was, and must always remain, a single-minded community, whenever the native question was discussed, and that this unity of opinion was a stronger motive for unification than any or all of those political or commercial considerations which had already led to the making of the Dominion, and seemed certain, sooner or later, to bring about the federation of the Australian Colonies. In more recent years three men of commanding influence have, each in his own way, attempted to realise the ideal of unity. Mr. Kruger's attempt to lay the foundation of a Dutch confederacy, the future greatness of which would have been based (can we doubt it?) on some form of slavery, may be dismissed as an instance of the adage, _corruptio optimi pessima_. Mr. Cecil Rhodes worked for a federation on the model of the United States; since the Cape was half Dutch, the Transvaal was to be made half British, and the settlement of Rhodesia was to insure the preponderance of Imperial ideas in the Union of the future. He saw that the Boers must be persuaded to co-operate, and for that reason he allied himself to Mr. Hofmeyr, the unofficial leader of the Boer party in Cape Colony, who also had his federal scheme. Had the two Boer leaders agreed to work loyally together in their disloyalty, it is conceivable that they might have brought about an act of federation in the Boer interest, and have constitutionally demanded from Great Britain the removal of her garrisons from South Africa, a naval station at Simon's Bay being conceded in order to retain the essential measure of Imperial protection. Such, at any rate, seems to have been Mr. Hofmeyr's dream. But, instead of being content to widen and deepen the influence of the Afrikander Bond until such time as the term "suzerainty" should have been interpreted by the heirs to Mr. Gladstone's South African policy, Mr. Kruger decided to make use of his hoarded armaments, and the future of his great raid involved the failure of Mr. Hofmeyr's long-meditated plan of--shall we call it?--constitutional disloyalty. Nevertheless the twofold ideal of unity, which inspired the acts both of those who deserved and those who did not deserve to succeed, has survived all these vicissitudes, and was never more strong than at the present moment. Indeed it is obvious that not only the British and Dutch inhabitants of South Africa, but also all responsible politicians and competent publicists in Canada and Australia, are now of opinion that complete solutions of the three South African problems of primary importance--the settlement of the native question, agricultural development, and railway administration--can only be obtained through a Federal Parliament, a body which would combine a detailed knowledge of local conditions with the power of seeing each problem as a whole, and devising a general solution. II The foregoing contains the gist of many conversations with those who have a special knowledge of South Africa and South African affairs. The opinions of Sir Albert Hime, the Prime Minister of Natal, who may certainly claim to speak in this matter on behalf of the South African loyalists, were expressed as follows in an interview with the writer:-- "I am convinced that the majority of South Africans are anxious to see a 'United South Africa,' and I believe they will see it before long. I cannot, of course, speak for the Dutch; but I am sure that every 'Britisher' in Natal and in Rhodesia, and nine out of every ten 'Britishers' in the rest of South Africa, are in favour of federation. The great problems of South African development can only be completely solved by a central authority. The native problem, for example, which is the most serious of all, is a case in point. The difficulty of obtaining a sufficient supply of native labour--a difficulty only to be overcome by increasing the wants of the natives--is only one phase of this problem, but it will supply an illustration of the necessity of considering the interests of the whole country in dealing with such matters. As things are arranged at present, the planters and farmers of Natal have a reasonable cause of complaint in the fact that all their available supply of native labour is drawn away to the Rand mines. I may add that the solidarity of South African opinion in regard to the treatment of the natives--all white men in South Africa are agreed, for example, that they must never have the franchise, and that no attempt should be made to create a navvy class in South Africa to compete with the natives in the unskilled labour market--is a great unifying influence. The matter of agricultural settlement is another problem which should be considered with reference to the general interests of the whole country. There is an impression current in certain quarters that immigration should be diverted into the new Colonies. But once the conception of a United South Africa is grasped, it is obvious that a new British settler in Natal will do as much for the maintenance of British supremacy as a new British settler in the Transvaal. If South Africa is not to become a country of two or three large cities in a huge, sparsely settled territory, the problem of agricultural development should be dealt with on the broadest lines, and in the interest of the whole country. Natal has no intention whatever of pursuing a selfish policy in regard to the work of procuring settlers or of obtaining a share of the Transvaal traffic." Asked to express his opinion as to when the "United South Africa" of his hopes would come into being, Sir Albert Hime naturally enough refused to suggest a date. "But I am strongly of opinion that federation should take place before the new Colonies receive self-government, or, at any rate, concurrently with that event. That would be the safest course; for it is quite possible that the new Colonies, after they had received autonomy, would refuse to join. Once they have attained the privileges of self-government as part and parcel of a 'United South Africa,' I do not think there would be any special friction; if there was, it would gradually disappear as local jealousies grew less." "Though I do not regard the question of South African Federation as a matter of merely academic interest," continued Sir Albert Hime, "yet I think it would serve no useful purpose to discuss the details of a federal scheme at the present moment. But, for my own part, I do not regard the arguments of Mr. Cecil Rhodes in favour of making Cape Town the federal capital as conclusive. In a speech at Bulawayo, Mr. Cecil Rhodes summed up those arguments in a forcible manner, and his bequest of Groote Schuur as a residence for the Premier of the United South Africa that is to be, is an additional argument of considerable weight. But I am inclined to think that the fact that the Cape Peninsula is, as Mr. Rhodes said, the seaside sanatorium of South Africa, would not compensate for the remoteness of Cape Town from the centre of the new federation. And, again, if Cape Town were chosen there would be a tendency to make too much of Cape politics, and the spirit of Cape politicians might tend to dominate the Federal Parliament. Johannesburg would be a bad choice. Living will always be costly there, and the influence of cosmopolitan capitalists might be exerted with bad results. Of course we should be glad to have the capital in Natal, but I do not expect we shall have that honour. All things considered, Bloemfontein would perhaps be the best choice. Or we might follow the example of the United States, Canada, and Australia, and settle the claims of the existing capitals by creating a new city for our federal capital." III Sir Edward Barton was at first unwilling to express an opinion on a subject "in which many with better knowledge have a deep interest." "But I am confident," he continued, "that before many years have passed away we shall see a Federated South Africa, and that no South African will wish to return to the old order of things once that federation has come into being. I still believe that the form chosen for the constitution of the Australian Commonwealth was the best available, and I think that it would be better suited to South Africa than the Canadian form. But whichever form is chosen, the whole community will benefit by federation. "We in Australia have had great difficulties to overcome, and a certain amount of friction has necessarily arisen between the States and the federal authority, but the history of the United States and of the Dominion shows that such difficulties and friction cannot be avoided, but can always be surmounted. With the exception of a few discontented persons, I think nobody in Australia would be in favour of a return to the old order of things, and it is already clear that the local jealousies which hampered Australian progress are vanishing. When I was in British Columbia nine years ago, I tried hard to find a man who believed that the act of confederation should be undone; but I could not discover such a person. There may be a few 'Blue Noses' in Nova Scotia who would like to see confederation abolished, but I never met one. In either case, the fact that Annexationists are few--too few to be counted--in Canada, explains my failure. And once South African Federation is an accomplished fact--and though the racial antithesis, as was the case in Canada, renders the accomplishment more difficult than in Australia, where a difference in opinion as to fiscal policy was the chief obstacle--I am very sure that the vast majority of South Africans, whether British or Dutch, will refuse to contemplate a change to the old state of local jealousies. The sooner South African Federation comes, the better for South Africa." [Illustration: CHURCH STREET, PRETORIA THE APPROACH TO THE TOWN. Drawn by Donald E. M'Cracken.] Asked to answer the question: Should federation come before the new Colonies receive self-government, or concurrently with that event? Sir Edward Barton replied that in his opinion either course would create difficulties for the future. "Australian Federation," he continued, "came out of the will of the people. The result of a referendum proved that a majority of the people was in favour of federation, and all the States consented to the terms thereof. Now if the Transvaal and the Orange River Colonies, communities that have enjoyed a form of self-government in the past, had not free choice of assent or refusal, and joined the South African Federation under compulsion (no matter how slight a measure of compulsion), constitutional difficulties might spring up in the hereafter. Disputes might arise between the federal authority and these two States, and they would say, 'We were not asked for our consent, we had not complete freedom of choice.' In any case, representation must be given to them, and it would be awkward if two out of the five Federal States or Provinces were trying to overthrow the federation. I do not say this would happen, but the possibility of such an emergency should be seriously considered. It would be safe, I think, to work and wait for a majority in favour of federation; more especially as there has existed and still exists, as I am informed, a strong feeling that the interests of both peoples in South Africa would be furthered by such a measure." IV Neither Mr. Seddon nor Sir Wilfrid Laurier granted the writer's request for an expression of opinion in regard to the possibility or probability of South African Federation. Mr. Seddon, though he is always ready to advise the various Provinces of the Empire in commercial matters, is averse to interfering in other people's politics. Moreover the word "federation" has a discomfortable sound in the ears of his New Zealand constituents; to a few it suggests Rossetti's "might-have-been," to most its echo is a more or less decided "certainly not." Sir Wilfrid Laurier, who has suffered much from the too imaginative interviewer, both in the United States and in France, makes it a principle not to be interviewed. But a day or two after he had courteously declined to grant the writer's request, he was good enough to allude to the subject of South African Federation in a speech at Edinburgh, from which the following excerpt is taken: "In my humble opinion," said the Canadian Premier, with reference to the attempt of Mr. Rhodes to secure the unification of South Africa, "Mr. Rhodes made one mistake. He made the mistake of being too impatient. Had he allowed time for development, had he allowed the Dutch population to get reconciled to the idea of British citizenship, they would have had much sooner than will be the case the federation of South Africa, _which is the only future of that great country_." To judge from the spirit of his utterances in Canada on the subject of South Africa, it would appear that Sir Wilfrid Laurier's opinions as to the best means of working towards the end of South African Federation do not materially differ from those of Sir Edmund Barton. He believes that the free consent of the new Colonies should be obtained, and that the policy pursued with regard to Manitoba by the "Fathers of Confederation"--a policy of which he disapproved at the time, a policy which led to a long series of disputes between Manitoba and the Dominion Government--should not be pursued in the case of the Transvaal and Orange River Colonies. It will be remembered that the "Red River Settlement" received Provincial status on condition of becoming a member of confederation, and that the terms of membership were accepted under compulsion, and in the hope that they could be bettered. LAW AND LANGUAGE BY MR. M. J. FARRELLY, LL.D. _Barrister-at-Law; Advocate of the Supreme Court of Cape Colony_ I.--THE ROMAN DUTCH LAW AND THE LAW OF ENGLAND The Roman Dutch Law--the body of legal principles and enactments codified under the later Roman Empire by the Emperor Justinian, as modified by legislation of the States-General and decisions of the tribunals of Holland up to the end of the eighteenth century--the date of the British occupation of Cape Colony--constitutes the Common Law of all British South Africa from the Zambesi to the sea. Indeed its sway stretches farther north, if we include the province of Northern Rhodesia. The recent annexation to the Empire of the territories of the two Boer Republics must necessarily have many effects not alone in the sphere of politics, but also in that of law. But no unsettling of the general principles of private law, regulating the rights and duties of the citizens in private relations, can be the result. The invariable practice of the Imperial Government--the only possible one to prevent inextricable confusion of personal status and property rights--has always been to enforce, as the unaltered law of the land, any system of European Law already in operation in territories annexed or ceded to the Empire, being already a portion of the dominion of any State of the European Family of Nations. In this respect the Imperial Government but follows the general practice of other European States: a practice so uniform that it may almost be regarded as a portion of the Law of Nations, of that custom of the European race which for a century we are accustomed to speak of as International Law. The committee of the Privy Council, which, as regards the Empire outside of Europe, may be viewed as the Imperial Court of Appeal, has therefore to adjudicate on systems of law more numerous than these that come before any other tribunal in the world. Not alone questions to be determined under the Common Law of England, but suits to be decided under that law, as modified by the legislation of the self-governing Colonies, come under the cognisance of that unique tribunal. From the Channel Islands, whose people boast that they were never conquered by England, are heard appeals, based on the _Grand Coutumier de Normandie_, unknown in France since the French Revolution. The French Law of Lower Canada, still administered under British authority, is lifeless and unknown in the Paris which gave it birth. Similarly the Roman Dutch Law of the United Provinces, now enforced in the former over-sea possessions of Holland, has long ago been swept away in Low Countries, surviving as the law of the land only in the British possessions, in South America, in Ceylon, and in South Africa. With one result, arresting the attention of the historical student, that in our own day British tribunals accept, as of the highest authority--in many matters most vitally affecting the status and property of British citizens from the Lion's Head to the Line, the recorded opinions of a Pretorian prefect of the Roman Empire in York--the brightest of the five stars of the _Loi des Citations_. The tribunals of the Empire constitute a museum of former systems of law, flourishing far from their parent springs. But every change is not necessarily progress. The marked liking of British colonists, born in the United Kingdom, for the Roman Law under whose sway they have passed is a very instructive phenomenon. Wisdom, they seem to think, did not die with the fashioners of that "codeless myriad of precedents, that wilderness of single instances" which, evolved according to imperturbable theory from the bosom of the English judiciary, is known as the Law of England. This preference is the more impressive, seeing that on many vital matters, not mere abstractions of jurisprudence, the Roman Dutch Law differs from the English systemless system. The personal status of all residents in the new British Colonies falls under rules quite different from the English rules as to capacity to enter into and to perform contracts, as to property rights, and as to family relations. Results of some importance may chiefly be expected from the fact that, since the annexation and the transformation of the Republics into British Colonies, the presumption in law that British immigrants intend to adopt a new domicile, and subject themselves and their property to a new legal system, must necessarily be stronger than when residence was being taken up in the territory, then foreign, of two Boer Republics. In the future, not alone, as hitherto, contracts of service and contracts as regards property, but the relationship, personal and as affecting property, of marriage and succession, will fall under the jurisdiction of a High Court administering primarily the Law of Rome. The Court will apply the Law of England to those latter conditions only in cases in which they consider that, in accordance with the principles of Private International Law, the English system is applicable--the presumption now being that, as a general rule, it is not applicable. [Illustration: Photo: Russell, London. RIGHT HON. SIR J. GORDON SPRIGG, K.C.M.G., Prime Minister of Cape Colony.] As regards the capacity of adults to enter into and be bound by contract, the most striking difference between the English and Roman Dutch systems is the survival, under the latter, of a modified form of the Roman Interdiction of the Prodigal. Under certain circumstances, on application of friends or relatives, such an order can issue. Again, contracts of service made out of South Africa are not binding unless entered into again before a public official in South Africa. In respect to the tenure of property, more especially of property in land, the differences which exist are all in favour of Roman Dutch Law. An admirable system of registering titles to land, whether of ownership or mortgage, exists in South Africa, as on the Continent of Europe, where that most valuable legacy from the Roman Empire has remained unchanged in principle to our day. No tedious scrutiny of documents attesting title to land is necessary, as it is in England. The official register is sufficient proof of ownership. Transfer is rapid and inexpensive. Again, unavoidable calamity, amounting to a condition of impossibility of beneficial occupation, excuses from the necessity of payment of rent of land. Such excuse is not known to the Law of England. Unlike the Law of England, but like the Law of Scotland, desertion by either party to a marriage furnishes ground for absolute divorce, with right of re-marriage. The system, flowing directly from the Roman Law, both in Scotland and South Africa, is understood to work satisfactorily, comparatively few divorces being sought for. II.--THE MODERN LAW OF SOUTH AFRICA Leaving the general principles of the law affecting personal status, family relations, and property rights, the difference between the Law of England and that of South Africa practically disappears as regards Europeans in social relations. In the whole field of Commercial Law, and in that of the Law of Crimes and Punishments, the Law of England has practically been adopted in all the States and Colonies. The origin of this state of the law is, of course, to be found in the fact that the Roman Law conceptions were out of harmony with modern commercial conditions and the competition of the World Market; and also that their code of Crimes and Punishments has become inappropriate to the later forms of European civilisation. Several features of South African legislation require more special notice. The Transvaal Law may be taken as typical of that of the other States, and political and economical conditions make the law of the late Republics of most importance and interest to the British public. The most salient topics are those dealt with by the Law of Mines, the law as to the natives, and the Law of Universal Military Service. The law as to minerals, including not alone gold and silver, but all precious metals and precious stones, is based on State ownership. It is expressly declared: "The right of mining for and disposal of all precious stones and precious metals belongs to the State." The State, however, does not undertake the work of mining, but grants, under certain conditions, that privilege to various classes in the community. The Government is authorised by law to proclaim a specified area to be public "diggings." Thereupon, certain rights are reserved to the owner of the farm wherein the area is situated. These rights are in effect to select certain portions of the proclaimed area as mining "claims" belonging to the owner, and to mark off these portions. The remainder of the area is then open to appropriation by the public, the first comer having the first right. Shortly before the war of 1899, in consequence of scenes of disorder attending the marking off of these "claims" by the general public, steps were taken to introduce a system of assigning the mining areas by lot among the residents in each district. The taxation of the mineral grounds was, and is, based on a dual system. The one is taxation, by means of levying a monthly due, called a "claim licence," in the mere possession of a mining area, called a "claim," whether or not the area is being developed. The other principle, superadded to the first, was that of taxing the profits of each mine. Before the war this latter tax amounted to five per cent. In relation to gold mining, in one very important respect the Law of the Transvaal, like that of Cape Colony, is in striking opposition to the rules of civilised law all over the world. The famous I. D. B. (Illicit Diamond Buying) enactments passed to protect diamond mining in Kimberley have a parallel in the I. G. B. (Illicit Gold Buying) provisions of the Transvaal Law. It is incumbent on the possessor of rough diamonds to prove his innocence. Similarly, under the Gold Law of the Transvaal, "Any one who is found in possession of amalgam or unwrought gold, or uncut precious stones, and can give no proof that he obtained possession of the same in a lawful manner," is punishable with fine and imprisonment. For a third offence, the amount of fine and imprisonment with hard labour is at the discretion of the Court, and forfeiture of the unwrought gold, or uncut precious stones, follows conviction. It is true that in England, for instance, a similar exception is in force with reference to the possession of explosives, a measure intended to prevent Anarchist outrages. But the difference is very great between the two classes of cases. The manufacture and sale of explosives is not the staple industry of England, as the production of gold and diamonds is in South Africa. The chief occupation of the industrial population of England is not affected; the provision remains only one of some inconsiderable exceptions to the general rule, that every one is presumed innocent until he is proved guilty. The law relating to natives, under which head are included all the coloured races, is equally strange to those familiar only with the Law of England. The so-called Pass Law provides that every native in districts or towns inhabited by Europeans--everywhere, in fact, except in the native villages--must be in possession of an official passport, showing he is registered in an official State registry. Other regulations limit the action of the native--the Curfew regulations, compelling Kaffirs in town districts to remain indoors after sunset. Municipal rules, prohibiting Kaffirs from walking on the footpath of the street, and special rules of the Criminal Law affect them. The lash is presented as the penalty for various offences. The death penalty is inflicted for Kaffir outrages on women of the European race. By the imposition of a Hut Tax, payable annually, the Kaffir is induced to labour; an occupation which, if left to himself, he prefers to leave to women. The Law of Universal Military Service, applying to all Europeans who are burghers--a law of all the States of South Africa--furnishes another point of divergence from the Law of England. In the Transvaal all burghers over the age of sixteen and up to the age of sixty are under the military command of the elected Field Cornet of the district. In time of war the age begins at fourteen and has no fixed limit for ending. This, be it noted, is not a case of conscription; it is a levy _en masse_, taken as a normal condition of life. Burghers on commando are exempt from civil process, and are exempt from the obligation of paying claim licenses for the period they are on commando. III.--RECENT BRITISH MODIFICATIONS It is, of course, in the present stage of our information impossible to state fully the various modifications which have been introduced in the new Colonies since the British annexation two years ago. Some changes worth noticing have, however, been published. In Private Law, the chief change of which we have information appears to have been the abolition of the Orphan Chamber of Roman Dutch Law--a State department concerned with the administration of infants' estates. The change, however, seems only to have been one of administration and title, the duties of the abolished Chamber being transferred to the Attorney-General's Department. As regards the Gold Law, an enactment by the late Republic of a war-tax on the gold output of from forty to fifty per cent. has been abolished. The British tax on the mines has been fixed by proclamation at ten per cent. on the profits of each mine. The system of claim licenses--taxation on the possession of mining areas--is continued. Minor modifications of the details of the Native Pass Law have also been announced, including the restriction of the number of cases, and of the power of magistrates to sentence Kaffirs to the punishment of the lash. The Law of Military Service appears to remain up to the present unmodified. Indeed, a recent decision in the newly established British High Court of the Transvaal has very rigidly construed a provision of the Gold Law, protecting burghers on commando from liability to pay license dues. The Court refuses to allow to Uitlanders the same privilege as that allowed to burghers in arms. The Uitlander, according to that decision, is liable to pay these arrears accruing during the war to the present British administration. IV.--PRINCIPLES OF IMPERIAL POLICY--OBSTACLES IN THE WAY OF THEIR BEING CARRIED OUT Before considering specific suggestions as to actual legislation required in the new Colonies, it is necessary to set clearly before us what are the objects to be aimed at by Imperial statesmen. Most of the errors of the past century of Imperial rule in South Africa are traceable to the fact that no steady and consistent policy has been adopted for any definite period. With every change of government in the United Kingdom the British policy in South Africa altered. As I have written elsewhere, it swung with bewildering inconsistency, according to whether an Imperialist or a Little Englander Government was in power, from an expansionist to a "retrenchment" policy. Alternately negrophilist and anti-Kaffir, alternately conciliatory to the Dutch and aggressively British. "Nothing more fixed than the certainty of Imperial change, unless, indeed, it were the cruelty of Imperial ingratitude." I shall take it, then, that consistency is the least we may expect as the result of the late war. The maintenance of the integrity of the world-wide Empire, plainly bound up with the retention of South Africa, involving the possession of the only secure sea-route to Australia and India; the upholding of the banner of European justice and humanity in Africa, the British portion of the mission of the European race the world over--to this end, the fusion of all strains of the European people in a new nationality to form a constituent part of the Empire--these I take to be the objects of Imperial statesmen in the United Kingdom and the Colonies, and of all loyal citizens of the Empire. Now, these principles being fixed, we have next to consider what are the dangers threatening the successful carrying out of a policy based on these principles. The first, and most formidable, danger is that arising from the existence in all the Colonies of South Africa of a Separatist party among the Boer section of the population, usually described as the Young Afrikander party. Its origin is due to many historic causes; among which not the least has been the unwise and vacillating policy of the Imperial Government. That party is by no means extinct as a result of the late war. No matter what professions are made in the Land of Diplomatists, it has to be reckoned with for our time and generation. It relies for the ultimate success of its policy of substituting a Boer-ruled independent State for British citizenship of the Empire on many causes. In the first place, the stubborn tenacity of the Boer people, and their slowness to abandon any long-held purpose. Again, on their military skill, their religious fanaticism, their conviction that they are the Lord's elect, and that His sword will smite not in vain. Yet again, and most of all, on the enormous birth-rate among the Boers--families of twelve sons being not uncommon. Boer ignorance of the power and purpose of the Empire--of the real character of that federation of freemen--figures also in their calculations; and as well the barrier against fusion of the European strains kept up by the use of that _patois_ of the Hollander tongue, the South African _Taal_. Lastly, their main reliance is on future inefficiency of the Imperial administration--marred by negrophilist British missionaries and English society nepotism and favouritism--on the see-saw of British party politics, and on the prospects of the Empire becoming involved in war with some great European Power. The next danger is that arising from the presence on the goldfields of the Transvaal of vast agglomerations of cosmopolitan finance owning most of the mineral wealth of the State. On many points, the interest of these groups is not the same as those of the Imperial Government and those of the rank and file of the British settlers. Taxation of the mines for Imperial purposes, such as those of State-aided British immigration and State-constructed irrigation works, cannot be in the interest of the mining groups. The lowering of the wages of the white miners is clearly in their interest; while opposed to the prospects of welfare of British miners and British merchants in the towns, to those of the professional classes, and, above all, to the interests of British agricultural settlers, whose occupation cannot be profitable for many years to come unless their market is at their door. Mining profits remitted to Berlin and Paris, instead of going to the pockets of resident British miners, cannot benefit the British agricultural settler. Again, the truck system, by which employers supply goods to their workers (a system illegal in England), while it may increase the profits of the mining groups, would be destruction of the trade of the British dwellers in the towns. This aspect of the question is rendered more serious by the fact that practically all the press of South Africa is owned or controlled by the financiers of the mining groups. Lastly, a danger which has existed for generations is that arising from the existence of a body of sentiment in the United Kingdom which, for want of a better word, is called negrophilism. This sentiment is usually voiced by British missionaries, and advocates an impossible black man and brother theory. Its effect on British legislation and administration in South Africa caused the first dissension of moment between Boers and British at the time of the abolition of negro slavery in 1836. The whole theory is felt by all Europeans of South African experience to be based on a flat contradiction of the facts of life and the teaching of the 250 years of European contact with the South African native--Bushman, Hottentot, or Kaffir. Allied with this is the colour-blindness of some Anglo-Indians, who favour the disastrous measure of flooding South Africa with Asiatics from India. V.--LINES OF LEGISLATION TO CARRY OUT THE IMPERIAL POLICY Having defined the Imperial policy in South Africa to be the maintenance of the integrity of that federation of freemen which is the British Empire, the upholding of the banner of European justice and humanity in the Dark Continent, and for the promotion of these ends the fusion of all strains of the European race in one community, let us now consider the general lines of State action requisite to carry out that policy. All parties loyal to the Empire are agreed that the first requisite from the standpoint of the Imperial welfare is the promotion of the immigration of British agriculturists to South Africa. The enormous birth-rate of the Boer people will prevent any prospect of fusion between British and Boers--anything, in fact, but the swamping of the British element--unless this immigration be organised by the State. The life of the gold and diamond mines cannot last longer--so those qualified to speak are agreed--than a few generations. With the exhaustion of the mines, the British population, if confined to the towns, would inevitably disappear. Again, the Boers being essentially country folk, could never have that close association with the British necessary for the coalition of a united people, unless the British are settled as agriculturists. A most encouraging precedent of the success of State-organised immigration of British settlers on the land is to be found in the State-aided immigration of 1820 into the Eastern Province of Cape Colony. Exactly as in Egypt and in India, agriculture, to be prosperous and to extend over large areas, is impossible in South Africa unless with the aid of State-constructed irrigation works. The water supply, both from rainfall and underground natural reservoirs, is ample; but engineering skill is required to enable these sources to be utilised all the year round. The recently published report of Mr. W. Willcocks shows what favourable prospects exist for the carrying out of a general system of State irrigation works. One word of warning is necessary. The general impression, so sedulously created for many years past, of the unsuitability of South Africa as a sphere for British immigration, is, as Mr. Rudyard Kipling has pointed out, only a part of a political propaganda, intended to exclude British influence. It may be entirely ignored. The next requisite of State action is the promotion, by legislation and administration, of the development of the present and future goldfields, and other mineral fields, in such manner as may tend to further the general ends of the Imperial policy as already described. The taxation of the mines should be so adjusted as to favour British immigration and the creation of a prosperous and loyal British community. The development of new fields should be encouraged; adequate sums should be raised for public objects; the minerals, expressly declared to be property of the State, should be primarily regarded as a fund for State purposes, not one for the creation of millionaires or the undue enriching of shareholders in Hamburg or Paris or Vienna. The welfare of the mass of British residents in the towns engaged in trade should be considered in legislation affecting the gold mines. In view of the presence of an overwhelming majority of the subject Kaffir race, all Europeans should be trained to arms, on the model of the laws already in existence in the two new Colonies. From an Imperial, as distinguished from a European standpoint, this measure is equally necessary. The Boers are born soldiers: a nation in arms. No reliance on a professional army or professional police can afford any assurance of stability for the Imperial rule. The Boers would regard such a régime as merely one of transitory military domination. An efficient system of education, from primary school to university, should be organised and carried out. In the new Colonies great progress has already been made in this direction, and a recently published address by Mr. W. Sargent, the Director of Education, shows that the principles to be kept in mind are clearly apprehended. A sane and consistent policy with regard to the status of the Kaffir and other non-European people should be adopted and adhered to. The Boer position, that the Kaffir is not in justice entitled to equality, social or political, with Europeans, should be upheld, as that plainly sanctioned by European experience of two centuries and a half. Efficiency should be insisted on as the test for appointment in the public service. Salaries on an adequate scale should be given, bearing in mind the standard of payment usually obtaining in gold-bearing districts. The obstacles in the way of making efficiency the test of appointment should be clearly understood, and as far as possible guarded against; the persistence of Young Afrikander Separatist ideals, and the readiness of the propagandists to accept office under the Imperial Government; the danger of undue weight being given to the influence of the great capitalists; the equal danger of the intrigue, favouritism, and nepotism of London society--of which so much was heard at the late Committee of Inquiry into the training of army officers--being brought to bear on appointments to office in the new Colonies. The language question--that of the degree of recognition necessary or expedient of the Dutch language in the courts and public offices--is so important that it is better to consider it separately. [Illustration: Photo: Russell, London. HON. SIR ARTHUR LAWLEY, K.C.M.G., Lieutenant-Governor of the Transvaal.] VI.--THE LANGUAGE QUESTION The question of the degree of recognition of the Dutch language in the new Colonies to be accorded by the new administration is one of the most difficult, and at the same time one of the most urgent and altogether inevitable, presented by the altered situation, the result of the late war. It is one of the cases where not to decide is to decide. Let us endeavour to understand the conditions of the problem, bearing steadily in mind the objects to be aimed at by the Imperial policy. No responsible statesman in the United Kingdom or in the Colonies can desire to take any step other than conciliatory to Boer sentiment, provided the main object of creating a united and prosperous European community is obtained. Anything like a persecution of the Boer tongue or traditions would not only be unjust, but most unwise. At the same time, Imperial statesmen must remember that British-descended citizens of the Empire in South Africa hold that their sentiment and their opinion is not to be taken as a matter to be ignored. Now, Imperialist sentiment in South Africa is united as to the desirability of having only one official language, and of doing away with the dual language system introduced in Cape Colony twenty years ago. Limiting any action of the Imperial Government, must necessarily be the conditions as to the recognition of Dutch agreed upon with the Boer generals as one of the terms of peace. These conditions were that the Dutch language is to be taught in the schools, in cases where the parents of the children desire it; and in the courts of law in cases where, in the opinion of the court, the ends of justice will be furthered by its use. The wish of the parents and the discretion of the law-courts are, therefore, to be arbiters. The peace terms, in this matter, seem wholly reasonable; but the main question of a dual language remains unaffected. Let us first deal with the cause of much misapprehension in the United Kingdom in this matter. Here I will quote from an article of mine published some time before the peace agreement:-- "There is no question here of the suppression of the language of a people. The language of the Boer people of South Africa is a patois called the Taal, based on the seventeenth-century Hollander Dutch, with a mixture of many strange words, Kaffir and English, and with the omission of most grammatical inflexions. In that happy tongue you are permitted to say: 'I is.' It is needless to say there is no literature in this patois, as there is in the Hollander Dutch of this century. Now, it is only to Hollander Dutch that it is proposed to accord equal audience as an official language. The official recognition of Hollander Dutch dates from 1882 in the Cape Colony, and is a result of the political propaganda of the Afrikander Bond. It was openly announced and hailed as the 'thin end of the wedge' to prevent the fusion of the Boer and British strains of the European people, and to drive the British into the sea. It is almost as grotesque a misrepresentation to call this claim for the official recognition of Hollander Dutch a popular demand, as if, in regard to modern Italy, we were told that the peasants of Umbria or the Marches were hungering and thirsting for the recognition of Augustan Latin as entitled to equal audience with Italian in the courts and public offices of Italy. "The veld Boer does not understand Hollander Dutch. He only hears the Hollander tongue, or, rather, the seventeenth-century predecessor of it, in the text from the seventeenth-century Dutch Bible read out in the churches on Sundays by the predikant, or in the hymns, once chanted by his forefathers of the Lowlands, who worsted Alva, persecutor of the Saints of the Lord. "It will clear the air greatly if people at home will realise what is the force behind this Hollander Dutch language movement. It is the Young Afrikander party. "For sixty years English was the sole official language in South Africa. The experiment of two official languages is one of only twenty years' duration, and has not been crowned with any conspicuous success, unless racial cleavage, political and social, be counted as such. "No other course can so speedily promote the fusion of all Europeans. Judging by the trend of events, the future among the European people belongs to one or two of the great languages. It is significant that, at the present moment of time, with a knowledge of English and French, one can travel the world. The fusion of European strains, so happily accomplished in the United States of America, is admittedly due to the determined enforcement of a single language as the sole official language of the Republic. Immigrants of all European nationalities learn to speak and write English--their children of the next generation become Americans. As a London Consul-General of the United States pointed out to me, the reunion of the European race, as a political measure on a vast scale, has been first accomplished in the American Commonwealth. Never since the pre-historic time of the root-origins of our language, never since the corporate unity of the Roman Empire, has there been so vast a breaking down of barriers between Europeans. "The matter is one of political expediency, not of æsthetics. The unity of the European people is a greater historic fact and present reality than any of those brief heritages of common life for a few short centuries of one or other sections of the race, giving rise to the national tongues. Personally, one may sympathise with the scholar's preference for a survival of Latin as the language of Europe, as it was during the Roman Empire, as it was during the Middle Ages, and as it would have remained but for the outburst of Nationalist particularism during the sixteenth century. One may lament, with a loyal European like Talleyrand, what that outburst has cost Europe; led by the ambition of the House of Capet in France, of the Tudor in England, and the princes of North Germany, plunderers of the Teutonic knights. No doubt it is true that thousands of millions of pounds and millions of lives have been wasted by that particularism--strange step-child of the unifying Renaissance. From the æsthetic side, it is vain to argue whether Keltic be a purer tongue, more passionately expressive, Spanish more majestic, or Italian liquid music. The sieve of the gods seems hitherto to let through, for the world of the European race, only two of the great tongues--French and English." In a word, for all æsthetic purposes, let the various harmonies of all the tongues of the European race continue to enrich the choir, enshrining memories of the past. But for the political field of action the trumpet of command and order should sound a note clear from its being single. Any incidental inconvenience, such as must arise to the first generation of immigrants to the American Commonwealth, must only be treated as transitory, and, as far as possible, provided against. Very few Europeans who do not know English have business in the law-courts or public offices. In the years preceding the late war, only five out of every hundred cases in the Transvaal law-courts were between people not conversant with English. For this small minority, in all the public offices and the courts, competent interpreters can be provided. VII.--LEGISLATIVE MEASURES It may be well that I should add some suggestions as to the measures which I at present hold should be taken to put into force the general lines of legislation, already sketched out as suitable for the carrying out of the Imperial policy as already defined. But it should be understood that these suggestions are only intended as furnishing material for discussion. In the absence of fuller information as to future needs and emergencies, it would be unwise to finally advocate concrete measures. What is, in my mind, of importance is not any specific measure, but the principles of Imperial policy on which I have insisted. If it can be shown to me, in the future discussions on these matters, in which I hope to take part on my return to South Africa, that other measures are better suited to carry out the consistent policy I have defined, I shall be prepared to advocate such other measures. In the first place, I think that in view of the wide divergence of opinion and interest, among the British residents quite as much as among the Boers, a consultative body, nominated by the High Commissioner, should be appointed to advise on any projected legislation. For some time, while the form of Crown Colony Government is continued, advice from such a body will be specially needful. Apart from the maintenance of law and order, the interests of the great mining groups, representation of shareholders resident in Europe is by no means necessarily the same as those of the rest of the British residents, or indeed those of the Imperial Government. Among such matters of divergence of interest may be enumerated the scale and method of taxation on the mines, no matter for what Imperial purpose--British immigration, State irrigation works, or university and general education. The maintenance of the present very high rate of wages of the European miners is another subject. British residents in the towns, shopkeepers, importers, professional men and their employees, are concerned in the maintenance of a high rate of wages for the miners, as the money is spent in the country, not in Paris or Berlin. Again, the introduction of the truck system, the supply of goods by the miners to their employees, European or Kaffir, while it would increase the profits of mining shareholders in Europe, would destroy the means of existence of the bulk of the British residents in the towns. Amongst the Boers, there is almost as great divergence of interest between the wealthy farmers, desirous of keeping together their vast cattle ranches of 6000 acres, and the class of Bijwoners (tenants at will on an over-lord's land), whose interest would be favoured by the dividing up of cattle ranches, and the encouragement of small farmers who would be agriculturists. For this reason, a consultation body should be thoroughly representative of all classes. Direct legislation favouring British immigration of agriculturists is plainly necessary, and as well the creation of State irrigation works. Such steps, it is reassuring to know, have already been taken. Personally, I am in favour of village ownership of agricultural lands being instituted, a system with which the Boers are already familiar, in connection with the cultivation of the lands owned by the towns. To promote the prosperity of British residents in the towns, and as well to secure a market for agricultural produce, the truck system should be prohibited by law; and the compound system, under which the Kaffir workmen in mines are not only supplied with goods but confined to barracks called "compounds," should also be prohibited. Neither system has hitherto been in force in the new Colonies. As regards the Gold Law, the new British administration has established a tax of ten per cent. on the net profits of each mine, and has retained the previous system as well, of taxing the possession of mining areas. It will require some time to see how the present method of levy affects the growth of the British population. Personally, I have not been convinced by the arguments in favour of the "claim license" system: it is held by its opponents that it tends to throw all the mining areas into the possession of the great mining groups, the areas being forfeited to the State in times of depression by poorer men who are unable to continue to pay. Suggestions deserving consideration have been made as to the advisability of the State developing gold areas already in the possession of the State. As regards the arrears of claim licenses accruing during the war against the expelled British inhabitants, I have strongly advocated in the London press their entire remission. The Boer burgher on commando is held to be exempted; it is difficult to see why the expelled British should not also be exempted. Another measure which I have supported is that of the arming of all British civilians, for reasons already enumerated. An essential to the measure being successful, being loyally supported, is that, on the Boer model, the officers of the corps should be elected by their men. British colonists, with their traditions of liberty and independence, will never submit to being compulsorily placed on military service and subjected to the orders of officers whom they have not chosen. No measure of greater political moment can be taken than the thorough organising of a system of education, from the university to the school. I am one of those who support the making of the Gold Reef city a great university centre. As regards the Native Law, I advocate as little as possible alteration in the laws already in force. The Boer theory of the position of the Kaffir--as not an equal, but entitled to justice, under tutelage to a government directed by European ideals--is the sound one.[2] Asiatic immigration in any form, whether of British Indians from India, or Chinese from Hong-Kong or elsewhere, would be a measure fraught with disaster to the future of European civilisation. With the exception of some employers of labour in Rhodesia and Natal, South African opinion--British, Boer, even Kaffir--is opposed to Asiatic immigration. Even the employers referred to only desire to encourage the importation of Asiatics as manual labourers, not as owners of the land or traders in the towns. FOOTNOTES: [2] In the _Fortnightly Review_, August 1902. Ideal with this subject: "Negrophilism in South Africa." THE AFRICANDER PARTY ITS ORIGIN, ITS GROWTH, ITS AIMS BY THE HON. A. WILMOT _Member of the Legislative Council, Cape Colony; Author of "History of Our Own Times in South Africa," &c., &c._ One of the greatest statesmen whose experience and ability have assisted the Imperial Government declares that it was only after two years' residence that he understood the political problems affecting South Africa. Hundreds rush in where Milners fear to tread, and the little knowledge which induces superficial views and rash judgment on a merely _primâ facie_ case are now at present, as they have been in the past, among the causes which impede the progress of a vast country which we hope will yet become a great federated dominion under the British crown. It is because of the vital importance of going to the root of the political questions affecting South Africa that this paper is written. The origin of the Africander party is traceable principally to discontent with British rule. The Cape Colony, as our readers know, was obtained by conquest in 1806, and by purchase from the Netherlands for six million pounds sterling in the year 1814. Mr. Paul M. Botha, Member of the Orange Free State Volksraad for Kroonstadt, states the case from the Dutchman's point of view, and tells us that as England said that South Africa was her country she ought to have governed it, instead of which she shirked responsibilities and was guilty of the most glaring inconsistencies. One day England blew hot and the next cold. "One moment she insisted on swallowing us, and the next moment she insisted on disgorging us." For example, the Orange Free State was declared British territory because a governor said, "You can never escape British jurisdiction." Then we were abandoned because the next governor said, "The country was a howling wilderness." The Transvaal was annexed, and Sir Garnet Wolseley declared: "The rivers will sooner run back in their courses than that England will give back the Transvaal." Shortly after that the Transvaal was retroceded, after Majuba, because the British Ministry said, "We have been unjust in annexing this country."[3] The slavery question, Mr. Botha tells us, was handled with astounding negligence and ignorance of the circumstances of the people. Although England was perfectly right in emancipating the slaves, yet the way it was done irritated, annoyed, and disgusted the people, and sowed seeds of distrust which have never been eradicated. England failed to carry out effectively her promises of compensation. On the minor grievances, such as Slagter's Nek and other so-called injustices of England, Mr. Botha lays no stress. "It was a rough period, and rough measures were used by all Governments." He significantly adds that what he has heard of the cruelty of the Dutch East India Company's officials makes him think that anyhow British rule was heaven to that of the Dutch. Whatever a well-educated man like Mr. Botha may say, we know that the rank and file of the Dutch throughout South Africa are taught to "Remember Slagter's Nek." Nothing can be more unjust than to blame the British power for executing rebels, caught red-handed and sentenced to death in perfect accord with both evidence and law by a competent Court, whose members were themselves of Dutch extraction. Nevertheless this is one of the heavy popular grievances. Mr. Botha says that England's weak and spasmodic policy in South Africa has made the Boer what he is to-day--distrustful and contemptuous of British statesmen. By further receding into the interior, and having to fight wild beasts and hordes of Kaffirs, the Boer became blown out with vanity at his own prowess, and more and more ignorant. Through this ignorance it is easier to mislead than to lead him. A man who plays upon his vanity and prejudices against England quickly obtains influence. A loud talker and blusterer gets a better hearing than a quiet reasoner. "I ascribe this to want of education and complete isolation on the veldt." As a marked illustration in support of Mr. Botha's view which has come under the present writer's observation, let us tell what occurred shortly before the war to a nephew of the Speaker of the House of Assembly who had to travel through the Transvaal to look after some landed property. This gentleman, who spoke the Taal perfectly, met at one place about two dozen Dutchmen who were, like the Laird of Cockpen, "greatly ta'en up with the 'fairs of the State." The first question, "Can we beat the British?" was answered by a unanimous "Yes, we have done so before, and can, of course, easily do so again." Second. "Tell me, Carls, could we beat England and France united?" "Certainly," said every one, "there can be no doubt about it." But now interposed a new speaker. "How if we had to fight England, France, and Germany?" The reply was unanimous. "We can beat them all three." No wonder that the people of the Lord, as they believed themselves to be, took the bit between their teeth at the time of the ultimatum. Not even Paul Kruger could then have stopped the war, for they felt perfectly assured of victory. With a religion which has not unfitly been described as a superstition based upon the Old Testament, there is profound ignorance accompanied by prejudice of the most deep-rooted character. Mr. Botha tells us that unfortunately the ministers of the Dutch Reformed Church, "greedy for the fat lamb, the fowl, and the purse," foster this ignorance. One Predikant had actually the audacity to tell his congregation that God _must_ help His chosen people, otherwise He would lose His influence. Mr. Botha defends his own people against charges of treachery, and gives it as his fixed opinion that a just and firm Government with uniformity of treatment will not only control and satisfy the Boers, but eradicate in time that feeling of distrust and fear which was engendered in their minds by the halting and unequal policy of England. He admits at the same time that it is to Britain that they owe peace, and that it was Britain that protected them from foreign invasion and saved them from continual civil strife. Then comes most important evidence. President Brand of the Free State recognised in the misgoverned Transvaal a subtle enemy. Indeed, it is scarcely remembered that in 1857 the burghers of the South African Republic invaded the Orange Free State territory and declared that it belonged to them. Paul Kruger was subsequently raised up, in the opinion of his followers, to be a Moses, whose mission was to deliver "De Africander Natie" from British bondage. Mr. Botha asks us to let him tear this veil of false romance away. "We know him," he tells us, "as an avaricious, unscrupulous, and hypocritical man, who sacrificed a whole people to his cupidity." Krugerism spread over South Africa, using the Bond, the press, and the pulpit to further its schemes. [Illustration: AT THE HEAD OF UMGENI FALLS, HOWICK, NATAL.] Let it be fully understood--the Bond was the _fons_ and _origo_ of the South African war--Krugerism powerfully co-operating. The idea of the Africander Bond took root at the Paarl in the Cape Colony in the years 1879 and 1880. Of course, as we have seen, there was abundant preparation, but events in the Transvaal hastened proceedings. Enthusiastic, educated men, such as Reitz, Te Water, and the students of the Theological Seminary at Stellenbosch felt patriotic desires wildly coursing in their veins, but the honour of formulating a definite plan of organisation belongs to the Rev. S. J. du Toit, who then edited _De Patriot_ newspaper at the Paarl. _De Transvaalse Oorlag_ was published by Messrs. D. T. du Toit & Co. of the Paarl in the year 1881. It was the retrocession of the Transvaal under the direction of Mr. Gladstone in the last-mentioned year that enabled the Bond to assume a very definite shape, and to obtain immense and widespread power. Carl Borckenhagen, editor of the _Bloemfontein Express_, and F. W. Reitz, who succeeded Sir J. Brand as President of the Orange Free State, and was subsequently State Secretary of the Transvaal, earnestly joined the Bond. The former was a German, whose honest and intense hatred of England was apparent in all his leading articles, while the life-dream of the latter was to see the establishment of the Dutch Republican United States of South Africa. Branches of the Bond were formed in the Cape Colony, the Transvaal, and the Orange Free State, and in 1882 the first Congress of the Bond was held at Graaff Reinet. A very astute and profoundly able plotter was already at work in the person of Mr. J. H. Hofmeyr, who had started "The Farmers' Protection Society" with the expressed purpose of watching over Dutch farmers, and stirring them up to take an interest in politics. Hitherto the Dutch bucolic mind had lain fallow. It was now to be cultivated in order that it might produce fruit at parliamentary elections, and, as a more powerful means to that end, "The Farmers' Protection Society" was amalgamated with the Bond in the year 1883. Mr. J. H. Hofmeyr then assumed the reins of management, and, as a Member in the House of Assembly for Stellenbosch, began to wield a power which at last developed into that of a colonial Earl of Warwick, or king-maker. Ministries were formed at his bidding, and cabinets accepted his control. Certainly Mr. Hofmeyr very wisely and astutely modified the ostensible objects of the Bond, and he was helped to do so by the fact that the Hollander party in the Government at Pretoria became stronger than the Africanders. Indeed, the Rev. S. J. Du Toit, the founder of the Bond, was worsted in the Transvaal by the men from the old country. But to make up for this, their march in the Cape Colony was so triumphant that the President of the Bond at the Paarl Congress in June 1900 was able to glory in the fact that since 1884 the Cape Colony had been ruled under responsible government almost exclusively by the aid of the Africander Bond. In 1885 there were twenty-five Bond Members of Parliament who held the balance of power, and there can be no doubt that Sir Thomas Upington, Sir Gordon Sprigg, and Mr. Rhodes sought and accepted their support. When Mr. Rhodes became Prime Minister in 1890 he was in harmony with the Bond, but certainly did not sympathise with its real object. Each party masked its idea, and each party thought that it was successfully using the other for its own objects. Objects diametrically opposite: Mr. Rhodes desired the supremacy of the British Imperial Power, and the Africander party really aimed at the formation of a Republican South Africa. The Bond, says Mr. Theo. Schreiner ("The Africander Bond," &c., p. 29) was for many years the only organised political body in the Cape Colony, and it exercised a political tyranny which crushed all true political life and thought under its iron heel. While it deliberately refused to take the reins of Government, it constantly aimed at increasing the number of its Members in Parliament, and at making it impossible for any Ministry to exist without its support. Arguing apparently from facts, Sir Hercules Robinson, in his farewell speech at Cape Town in April 1889, went so far as to say that there was no longer any permanent place in South Africa for direct Imperial rule. A Bond Congress was held at Kimberley in 1891, when Mr. Rhodes made a very bold but unsuccessful attempt to get the Dutch to join with the English of the Cape Colony against the iniquitous rule and anti-British policy of the South African Republic. Another Congress was held at Port Elizabeth, when there was an attempt made to capture the Bond by means of British friendship. Indeed the changed attitude of this Association deceived many people, as under the extremely able leadership of Mr. Hofmeyr it assumed the position of a great benevolent society, which desired all Colonists, both English and Dutch, to join it, in order to help forward the progress of South Africa. Nevertheless, it is very significant that the Rev. S. J. du Toit lost the high position he had previously held in consequence of his supposed anti-Transvaal sympathies, and at the same time the influence of the South African Republic greatly increased. "Blood is thicker than water." The close alliance of sympathy more and more knit together the Dutchmen of the States and of the Colonies. But the Jameson Raid of 1895 removed every estrangement. Just before this event President Kruger showed his hand by venturing on a dangerous step, which really meant an open breach of the Convention. He closed the drifts, or fords, by which goods carried on the Cape and Natal railways entered the Transvaal, intending by this act to force traffic over his own Delagoa Bay line. He was informed by a joint ultimatum from the Imperial Government and the Cape Colony that his action could not be permitted, and he rescinded his declaration. It is not necessary to give a history of the Jameson Raid. No event since Majuba had so much played into the hands of the party in favour of an "Africander Natie." Cromwell's words when General Leslie's army left its strong position, "The Lord has delivered them into our hands," clearly expressed the sentiment which on this occasion animated the minds of Bond members. The Transvaal enormously increased its armaments, preparations for war virtually commenced, and the entire sympathy of the Africander party in the Cape Colony went out to their brethren of the South African Republic. Mr. Hofmeyr was a leader who thoroughly deserved the title of "the mole," as he metaphorically burrowed under the political platform, and concealed his methods and aims with great subtlety. He saw the danger of pursuing openly the programme expressed in the motto of his party, and clothed the ideas of Africanderism in a constitutional garb. However, when considering the real aim of the Bond, we shall prove that this association never abandoned its original programme. It must be admitted that, in some respects, there is an analogy between Daniel O'Connell, as leader of the Irish National party, and J. H. Hofmeyr, the "Ons Jan" of Africanderism. Both ostensibly were in favour of working only on constitutional lines, and both were defeated by extremists, who saw no other way of obtaining success than by recourse to arms. In the case of the Young Ireland party, with such leaders as John Michell, Smith O'Brien, and Gavan Duffy, a very futile insurrection was quickly crushed; while, so far as J. H. Hofmeyr was concerned, a much greater conflagration resulted. The great fire was really lit by him--at least he constantly added fuel to it--and when too late made futile efforts to extinguish the flames. O'Connell was much more honest, as he openly opposed the Young Irelanders, and retired broken-hearted from the arena. Hofmeyr undoubtedly did not raise a finger to stop the furious onward march of his party. _Ons Land_ indeed encouraged this movement, and the editor, Mr. Malun, was completely under the great leader's influence. Certainly at the end, as will be seen if the correspondence ever comes to light, Hofmeyr tried to stop the mad career of the Republics. No one saw more clearly than he did that it was absolute folly to fight the British nation, but his interference came too late. O'Connell fought more straightforwardly. Never for a moment did he admit that the policy of force was justifiable; while, on the contrary, Hofmeyr had not the moral courage to step publicly into the arena and denounce it. He was always occult in his mode of fighting. Unfortunately, in posing as a friend, he became the most dangerous enemy of his own people. The policy of the Africander Bond in the Cape Colony pandered to mean interests and base prejudices. The corn farmers and brandy producers were banded together in an unholy compact. Heavy duties of five shillings per hundred pounds on flour and half-a-crown on wheat were levied, while excise was abolished on spirits made from the grape, in order that members of the Bond who grew cereals and made very bad brandy might be benefited. The shameful result was that bread became dear and bad alcohol cheap. As a Nemesis the producers got into the hands of middlemen, and their condition was rather injured than improved. In the case of both wines and spirits, careless, unscientific methods were generally adopted, quantity was preferred to quality, and in many cases acetous fermentation resulted. Although spirit produced from the grape paid not a farthing of excise, and was carried at a non-paying rate on the railways, it was so miserably full of fusel oil and dangerous in character as to be discarded generally by the white population, and sent broadcast among the aboriginal natives for their degradation, demoralisation, and destruction. In a shameful manner Mr. Hofmeyr and the Bond politicians persistently resisted every proposed law for the restriction of the sale of bad alcohol among aboriginal natives, and indeed by insidious methods did all in their power to remove every barrier between the native and the deadly poison made carelessly in thousands of "pot stills" in the Dutch districts of the Western Province. At the same time the true Phariseeism of this people was demonstrated by their fanatical observance of the Lord's Day, which they styled the Sabbath, and their absurd opposition to any Sunday trains, even when absolutely necessary in general public interests. Mr. Merriman, in one of his saner moments, reprobated this hypocrisy. [Illustration: Photo: Maull & Fox, London. SIR H. J. GOOLD-ADAMS, C.B., C.M.G Lieutenant-Governor of Orange River Colony.] In South Africa the Native Laws Commission, which comprised such men as Sir Thomas Upington, Sir Thomas Scanlen, and Sir Jacob Barry, took evidence in a very complete form in the early eighties, and as a result reported unanimously in favour of prohibiting the sale of intoxicants to the aboriginal natives. Accordingly by Act of Parliament this recommendation was given full effect to in the Transkeian Territories. Subsequently the Drink Commission reported in favour of this prohibition being extended to natives throughout the Colony. In Bechuanaland and Basutoland, as well as in Natal, the law was adopted long ago, and invariably worked well; nevertheless, to the shame of the Bond organisation, it persistently preferred Mammon to God, and in the strongest manner opposed any legislation whose result would be to save the black man from destruction. Eventually an Act introduced by Sir James Rose Innes was maimed before it was allowed to pass, so that licensing Boards were only empowered to pass restrictive regulations on the sale of alcohol to the coloured races "short of total prohibition." During the entire term of Bond rule in the Cape Colony not a sixpence could be obtained for the encouragement of emigration from the United Kingdom to the Cape Colony--nor would any land be ever granted for the purpose. "Africa for the Africanders" has a very real and exact meaning, and this was shown to demonstration when even the petty vote for granting assisted passages to domestic servants and artisans was objected to and refused. These people might in many cases come from England, and therefore must be shut out. The subtlety and diplomacy of the Bond were evinced in voting a grant for the British Navy, and Mr. Hofmeyr took many opportunities of posing as a loyal subject, but, as we shall prove in the context, the one great underlying principle of the organisation was to obtain the mastery in South Africa. All nationalities were invited to join. Africa must be made great by a union of all its people, but those who read between the lines and ascertained the real opinions of those who were guiding the movement knew perfectly well that although the Imperial power might be allowed at first to be a _faineant_ king, the Mayor of the Palace with real authority was to be the people of Dutch extraction--the Africanders--throughout Southern Africa. We now come to the last days before the war, when Lord Milner could have been easily checkmated if Mr. Hofmeyr had been able to influence the Republican Governments. As every one knew, Mr. Kruger had positively promised equal franchise rights to British subjects at the retrocession of the Transvaal, and this promise was shamefully broken. In a constitutional manner the Uitlanders vainly endeavoured to obtain redress, and now appealed to the Imperial Government. The High Commissioner merely did his evident duty, when at the Bloemfontein Conference he insisted that at least a portion of the franchise rights promised should be given. No doubt Mr. Hofmeyr would have seen his opportunity here, and have consented in such a manner, and with such a purpose, as to really render British interference nugatory, but the Dutch Republicans had now the bit between their teeth. They were the Lord's people, they had made all their preparations, and were perfectly sure of victory. Mr. Kruger himself could not now stop the war, and the astounding ultimatum came forth from the little Republic to the great Empire: "Recall your troops and send no more, or we will punish you." If this gage had not been taken up the United Kingdom would have been forced to take a back seat as a third-class power among the nations of the world. Having referred to the origin and growth of the Africander party, we must now consider its aims. It must be admitted that its originators were perfectly candid. We find them declaring in _De Patriot_ in 1882, when referring to Confederation, that "There is just one hindrance, and that is the British flag. Let them take that away, and within a year the confederation under the free Africander flag will be established. The British must just have Simon's Bay as a naval and military station on the road to India, and give over all the rest of Africa to the Africanders.... It is we on top or they on top. They must be under or we under.... Two things are wanted, artillery for the Transvaal ... to make their own ammunition and to be well supplied with cannon. Now that the war against the English Government is over (at Majuba Hill), the war against the English language must begin. By Anglifying the girls they infect the whole family life with the English speech." We must now put into the box witnesses of a very important character whose testimony, so far as the aims of the Bond are concerned, is perfectly unexceptionable. These witnesses are Mr. Burgers, President of the South African Republic, Sir John Brand, President of the Orange Free State, Mr. Reitz, State Secretary of the South African Republic and previously President of the Orange Free State, and Mr. Steyn, Attorney-General and subsequently President of the Orange Free State. In 1875 President Burgers stated at a meeting held in Holland to consider the Delagoa Bay railway scheme, that he hoped to see a New Holland eight millions strong in South Africa, whence England shall have been expelled. It was President Brand who said, "Bartle Frere dreams of United South Africa under the British flag; and so do I, but not under the same flag." And when conducting a controversy with Kruger on the subject of a Customs Union, Sir John Brand, disgusted with treachery, cried aloud, "The Bond seeks to raise a Republican flag in a country with which we are at peace."[4] Mr. Theo. Schreiner, whose honesty and truthfulness no man in South Africa will deny, furnishes us with a circumstantial account of an interview between himself and Mr. Reitz in the early eighties.[5] Then Mr. Reitz was a judge at Bloemfontein, and was one of that band of Africander patriots whose aspiration and conduct remind us naturally of the aims, objects, and aspirations of the Young Ireland party under Smith O'Brien. After in vain trying to enlist Mr. Schreiner as a recruit, Mr. Reitz asked him to state the reason of his refusal. The reply was, "Because the ultimate object aimed at was the overthrow of British power and the expulsion of the British flag from South Africa." "Well, what if it is so?" was the rejoinder, to which Mr. Schreiner replied, "You don't suppose, do you, that the flag is going to disappear without a tremendous struggle and fight?" "Well," said Mr. Reitz, "I suppose not, but what of that?" Mr. Steyn, of the Orange Free State, made the following statement to the Rev. W. Tees, Presbyterian Minister in Durban:-- "Great Britain has been completely taken by surprise." "Sir, this has been preparing since the year 1884."[6] "In both States?" asked the clergyman. "Yes," was the reply, "in both, and in the Colony also. The Transvaal has been the arsenal, but those in the know in the Free State and in the Colony have worked in unison with Kruger. The object was to oust the British from South Africa, but it was not intended to do it all at once. The first step was the consolidation of the two Republics as a Sovereign International State, and later on an Africander rising at the right moment." Mr. Tees then asked a very pertinent question. "Then do you mean to say that when President Kruger attended the Bloemfontein Conference he knew perfectly well that the proceedings were a farce, and that he really meant to fight?" Mr. Steyn's reply was "Yes." At a conference between the Governments of the South African Republic and Orange Free States held in 1887[7] relative to railways, we find Mr. Kruger declaring: "If you hook on to the Colony you cut our throat.... Let us speak frankly; we are not going to be dependent on England." Mr. Wolmarans, following, declared: "We have had much experience of her Majesty's Government, and we will and must shake ourselves free. We are still insufficiently prepared. We wish to get to the sea, especially with an eye to future complications--you know our secret policy." Subsequently the blunt soldier, General Joubert, said on the occasion of an Uitlander complaining to him of the constant breach of Article 14 of the 1884 Convention providing equality of treatment for the Uitlanders: "Equality! We don't want equality! We want to see who is to be boss in South Africa." Apropos to this subject it is not uninteresting to note from the debates in the Volksraad of the South African Republic (see the _Johannesburg Star_ of August 17, 1895) that the laws of the Transvaal were intended to make the acquisition of the franchise by Uitlanders morally impossible, and that at the end of one debate Mr. Otto merely became the mouthpiece of the Burghers when he said, without any rebuke from the chairman, "Come on and fight. I say, come on and have it out; and the sooner the better." We must now put in documentary evidence to prove the real aims and objects of the Africander Bond. The declaration of the Rev. S. J. Du Toit, Judge Reitz, and Carl Borckenhagen is perfectly explicit. They declare that "The object of the Africander Bond is the establishment of a South African Nationality through the cultivation of a true love of this our fatherland. This object must be attained by the promotion and defence of the national language, and by Africanders, both politically and socially, making their power to be felt as a nation." After the retrocession of the Transvaal the "Africander Natie" took a very definite shape, as we find the _Patriot_ newspaper declaring that "God's hand has been visible in a more marked manner than ever before seen since the days of the children of Israel. Proud England is compelled to give the Boers back their land after they had been defeated by a mere handful." The little respect which Africanders entertained for British troops had entirely departed. One of the articles of the Bond programme of principles contained the following words: "In itself acknowledging no single form of Government as the only suitable form, and whilst acknowledging the form of Government existing at present, it (the Bond) means that the aim of our national development must be a United South Africa under its own flag." With the subtlety which always distinguished the party, a change was made in this some years afterwards. The language of the Bond organ, _De Patriot_, is perfectly explicit, and shows very clearly the spirit and intentions of the party. The English must be boycotted. There must be no English shops, signboards, advertisements, or bookkeepers. Manufacture of munitions of war must be started in the two Republics. "At Heidelberg there are already 4000 cartridges made daily, and a few skilful Africanders have begun to make shells too. That is right; so we must become a nation." It must be considered a disgrace to speak English, and war must be waged in the Church against that language. "It is the Dutch Reformed Church. What has England to do with it?" In family life no quarter was to be given. [Illustration: THE LOW VELDT FROM BOTHA'S HILL Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen] As we have already said, the junction of the Farmers' Protection Society with the Bond exercised a moderating influence, but the spirit, intentions, and object of the party remained the same, although Mr. J. H. Hofmeyr attempted, in a manner as astute as it was dangerous, to unite the Dutch and English people in South Africa in a common antagonism to Great Britain's power, influence, and presence. Even Mr. Merriman saw through this trick, as he declared in a speech delivered at Grahamstown in 1885. "It is now the cue of the Bond to pretend to be loyal, and if it were not painful it would be ridiculous to hear the editor of _De Zuid Afrikaan_ cheering the Queen, and to hear Du Toit praying for her while resolutions are passed round to the branches in direct opposition to the honour of England.... Each one of you will have to make up his mind whether he is prepared to see the colony remain a part of the British Empire, which carries with it obligations as well as privileges, or whether he is prepared to obey the dictates of the Bond. From the very first time, some years ago, when first the poison began to be distilled in this country, I felt that it must come to this: Was England or the Transvaal to be the paramount force in South Africa?... What could they think of the objects of the Bond when they found Judge Reitz advocating a Republic of South Africa under one flag?... No one who wishes well to the British Government could have read the leading articles of the _Zuid Afrikaan_ and _Express_ and _De Patriot_, in expounding the Bond principles, without seeing that the maintenance of law and order under the British Crown and the object they have in view are absolutely different things.... My quarrel with the Bond is that it stirs up race difference. Its main object is to make the South African Republic the paramount power in South Africa." To do justice to the Bond, we must quote Mr. Theron, their secretary, who is reported by the _South African News_ of May 5, 1900, to have said:-- "One other question may be asked, 'What is the object of the Bond?' My reply is, its object, its only object, is expressed in sec. 2 of the General Constitution, which is worded as follows: 'The nearest object of the Bond is the formation of a South African Nationality by means of union and co-operation, as a preparation for the ultimate object, a united South Africa. The Bond tries to attain this object by constitutional means, giving to respective governments and legislatures all the support they are entitled to, and respecting everybody's rights.'" This was perfectly understood. It was a Dutch Nationality and a Dutch Republican South Africa that was aimed at, and the context fully proved this assertion when the vast majority of the Bond party fought against England, either as belligerents in the Republics or as rebels--active and passive--within the Cape Colony. Nine out of every ten ministers of the Dutch Reformed Church were rebels, according to the testimony of one of their own number--the Rev. Mr. Vlok of Piquetberg. In such circumstances it is impossible to come to any other conclusion than that the departure from the original, straightforward declaration of the aims of the Bond was nothing but a diplomatic effort to throw dust in the eyes of the enemy. Certainly such a man as Mr. Cronwright Schreiner was in no way deceived by this attitude, as we find him saying in 1893[8] that the Africander Bond is anti-English in its aims; its officers and its language are Dutch, and it is striving to gain such power as absolutely to control the Cape Parliament. It had "paralysed our political life." "In fact," he goes on to say, "the Bond has sacrificed the welfare of the country for years to the selfish attainment of one object, namely, the supremacy of the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of the Cape Colony, regardless of the rights of others; the imagined good of an ignorant clique of the Dutch has been preferred to the good of the country. These men must not have power; they are wholly unfit to have it. The Bond is a body striving solely for its own benighted ends, and founded and conducted on race lines." This was a correct judgment passed from the English Cape Colony farmer's point of view; men who, quite unlike the pro-Boers in England, perfectly understood their subject by means of adequate evidence obtained on the spot, as well as by bitter personal experience. Can anything be more significant than the following facts. The Hon. Mr. Bellingan, a Dutch member of the Legislative Council, in the session immediately previous to the war is reported by the _Cape Times_ to have said: "If the policy of annexation were adhered to, they (the Africanders) would take advantage of England's calamity;" while the Bond paper, _Ons Land_, reports the honourable member as saying that when the Queen came to die and storms burst over the empire the Africanders would not side with England if the Republics were annexed. Then the member himself, in a letter to the _Cape Times_, declared that what he said was: "He saw difficulty for the British Empire after the death of our beloved Queen. By giving the Republicans their independence England could reckon upon them as friends, but if the Republics were annexed she could not do so." The Bond undoubtedly during many years prepared the materials for a conflagration. The great never-dying, ever-present aspiration was fully expressed in its motto, "Africa for the Africanders." It was nothing if not diplomatic, and professed very loudly a loyalty which showed itself in its true colours when the Bond party was in power just prior to the war. Then we find its aims exhibited by the Bond party in Parliament, backed up by the Bond Congress, fighting most strenuously against the absurdly lenient provisions of the Treason Bill. As Mr. Theo. Schreiner aptly says, "Rebellion in fact is no rebellion in the eyes of the Bond so long as it be in accord with the Africander national ideal." The ministers of their political party allowed ammunition and guns to be carried to the Republics over the railways of the Colony in immense quantities, and the W. P. Schreiner ministry was split up rather than consent to the very mild punishment of deprivation of the franchise being inflicted on rebels. Then came the war, when a large majority of the Bond party were either active or passive rebels. But no one more clearly points out the real objects of the Bond than Mr. Reitz, one of its original founders, and to the end one of its principal leaders. He does not hesitate to say in his brochure entitled "A Century of Wrong," largely circulated in more than one language over the continent of Europe:-- "May the hope which glowed in our hearts during 1880, and which buoyed us up during that struggle, burn on steadily. May it prove a beacon of light in our path, invincibly moving onwards through blood and through tears until it leads us to a real union of South Africa.... Whether the result be victory or death, liberty will assuredly rise in South Africa ... just as freedom dawned over the United States of America a little more than a century ago. Then from Zambesi to Simonstown it will be 'AFRICA FOR THE AFRICANDER.'" A Bond object-lesson was really to be seen in a practical manner in the South African Republic under the rule of Dutch Africanders. There indeed the Transvaal portion of Africa was clearly ruled for one section of the population--the Africander--to the utter exclusion of the rights of the English population largely in a majority within Johannesburg. There was an election system leading to the corrupt and unjust rule of Boer Raads and a Boer oligarchy. Protection, Concessions, the Master and Servants Acts were all managed in accordance with Africander ideas. Bond views of native policy were carried out in such a way that no coloured person however civilised could vote, nor hold title to fixed property nor trade freely, nor even marry as white people might. All this found encouragement in the Cape Colony, and eventually the absurd fiction of Boers fighting for liberty in the Transvaal was proclaimed as a fact over all Europe, although literally they commenced a war in which they felt sure of success for the purpose of subverting liberty and obtaining complete freedom to carry on government by a section of the people purely for the interests of a section--the Africanders--ignoring altogether equal rights for all other men. When we consider clearly and definitely all the facts, remember that history repeats itself and that the Africanders are profoundly tenacious of their political opinions and have proved themselves to be a people who are able to wait, can we not see at once how desirable it is to suspend temporarily the constitution of the Cape Colony? The body politic requires a physician. No one better understands the subject or is more competent to prescribe than Lord Milner. Why do we not take his advice? Nothing is more significant than the fact that in the Cape Colony two years ago heated parliamentary debates and a violent political agitation, following immediately upon the suppression of the first rebellion, were in their turn succeeded by a second rebellion more ruinous than the former one. In asking for suspension there is no idea of defection from the principle of responsible government. The Imperial system requires local independence, and in due course this will be extended to all parts of South Africa. A necessary interregnum is required for purposes of true liberty and sound rule, in order that breakdown may be prevented and true constitutionalism take the place of the tyranny of any section of the population. The Imperial Government is no step-mother, and the federation of Southern Africa will doubtless be on similar lines to those of the Canadian Dominion. Certainly no system will be forced upon the people contrary to their wishes, but the resurrection of Bond power in the Cape Colony would absolutely prevent any well-considered and statesmanlike plan, in which all men would receive fair play utterly regardless of race extraction. In fact the British and the Africander Bond theories are diametrically opposed. The first makes every civilised man equal from the Zambesi to Cape Town, the other specially and always means "Africa for the Africanders." Heated discussions in Parliament, and the intense excitement connected with contested elections, cannot but accentuate race hatred in the Cape Colony. Surely South Africa should have a rest. As in the Transvaal and in the Orange Colony, so at the Cape, the great healer, time, ought to be allowed to do its work. But perhaps the strongest, because the most practical, argument in favour of "suspension" is based upon the fact that a re-distribution Act is absolutely necessary if fair play is to be bestowed on all nationalities, and the reign of the Bond be not allowed to again become supreme. The suspensionists are really fighting for liberty against the rule of a section. Their motto is that of the Union Jack--"Equal rights for all"--whereas, as we know, the Africanders will in the future, as in the past, demand "Africa for the Africanders." No delusion is greater than to imagine that they will change their purpose. Their plan is to adhere to their principles, consolidate their party, and wait for an opportunity. After spending more than two hundred millions of money, and much more than this--40,000 noble lives--for the sake of upholding British supremacy in Southern Africa, nothing should be done even to risk a recurrence of the trouble. This certainly was the opinion of Lord Milner, and of the great majority of the British people in the Cape Colony. The advice now referred to was not taken, and history must record the result. The real aims and objects of the Bond are as decipherable to-day as they were three years or ten years ago. The people who belong to it are thoroughly tenacious of these opinions, and to do them justice, make no pretence of having changed them. At the Paarl the popular General Botha has just declared that they are not vanquished, retain their traditions, and will yet conquer. They look with unutterable scorn on the men who joined the National Scouts, and entertain feelings of coldness and dislike for those who did not join the enemy either actively or passively. In the great Dutch Church of Cape Town, the Republican Generals received an unanimous ovation, and were carried shoulder high, in triumph, from the edifice. The truth is that the Bond exists, remains extremely powerful, and is only waiting and watching for an opportunity. British rule is now comparatively easy both in the Transvaal and Orange Colonies. Effective progress is being made under the rule of wise and firm Governments; but it is in the Cape Colony, where a treacherous and powerful enemy is allowed to plot with impunity, that the real danger to British Imperial interests lies. How history repeats itself! When the fatuous policy of abandoning 35,000 square miles of excellent territory styled the Orange River Sovereignty was pursued in 1853, there was only one man in the House of Commons who opposed it,[9] and subsequent circumstances amply justified his judgment. In 1902, Mr. Chamberlain would have found it absolutely impossible to obtain a majority in the House of Commons favourable to suspension of the Cape Colony Constitution. What is now to be done? Our answer is, "Accept with loyalty the decision of the Government, and show by wise moderation that we are most desirous to be friends with our fellow-subjects of Dutch extraction. No recriminations nor abuse should proceed from our side. Nothing will please us better than to find the Bond abandoned and all men cordially uniting as one free people under the British flag. If this be not done--and masses of the people have already declared that it will not--we will have to fight the Bond again at elections, on public platforms, and in the press, as well as in Parliament. It would have been well for both nationalities if this could have been avoided, but this is now impossible." LET GOD DEFEND THE RIGHT. FOOTNOTES: [3] See "From Boer to Boer and Englishman," by Paul M. Botha. London: Hugh Rees, 1901. [4] See _Macmillan's Magazine_, May 1900. [5] This is published in full in the _Weekly Times_ of December 1, 1899, and is fully referred to in Wilmot's "History of Our Own Times in South Africa." See also "The Truth about the Transvaal" and various other publications. [6] See _Daily News_ of May 10, 1900. [7] Reported in the _Times_ of May 24, 1900. [8] Paper read at the Cradock Farmers' Association in October 1893. [9] This was Mr. Norton. See the dramatic manner in which this is referred to in the second volume of "The Life of Sir Harry Smith." RHODESIA SOME PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS BY E. F. KNIGHT _Author of "Where Three Empires Meet"; "The Cruise of the 'Falcon,'" &c._ In all the long romantic story of the making of the British Empire, no episode more strongly appeals to the imagination than the foundation of Rhodesia. Well is it named Rhodesia; for the history of Great Britain's acquisitions on either side of the Zambesi, the 750,000 square miles of magnificent territories which lie under the sway of the British South Africa Company, is the history of the Englishman, Cecil John Rhodes: had it not been for whose foresight, statesmanship, untiring vigilance, determined but patient endeavour for years towards the accomplishment of his mighty schemes, the South African Plateau, with its gold-bearing reefs, its vast tracts of rich arable and pastoral lands, would have fallen into the hands of one or other of the foreign Powers which keenly contested with him its possession. It is a trite saying that when the time is ripe for great doings on the part of a nation the necessary man invariably appears. It is a saying hardly warranted by fact, for many a golden opportunity have nations, Great Britain as often as others, lost because the right man was not forthcoming. Happily it has not been so in South Africa. It is almost certain that, had it not been for the accident of Mr. Rhodes seeking the South African shores for his health when a lad, the Germans and the Boers would have cut off the Cape Colony from all possibility of expansion to the north. Those Powers had even found their right men. The Transvaal had her stubborn Kruger; Germany had her shrewd and energetic agents and explorers preparing the way to annexation in different portions of the Dark Continent; while even Portugal had her D'Andrade, a man who displayed much of the spirit and enterprise of the Portuguese discoverers and conquerors of olden days. Cecil Rhodes took his place in South African affairs but just in time. The Transvaal War had been followed by a period of extraordinary apathy both in England and in the Cape Colony. No one seemed to care in the least what became of the territory lying beyond our then limits. At home men were sick of the very name of South Africa. Many would have gladly abandoned all our possessions about the Cape of Storms, and abdicated an Empire which seemed to bring us nothing but futile wars, disaster, and disgrace. It was at this critical period that Mr. Rhodes came to the front to save our supremacy in South Africa--too late, indeed, to save for us much that should have been ours; too late, for example, to secure our sovereignty over Namaqualand and Damaraland, territories which had been long recognised as being within Britain's sphere of influence, which formerly had been annexed to the Cape, but which latterly had been totally neglected both by the Imperial and Cape Governments, so that the watchful Germans were left at liberty, first to establish their trading missions, and finally to assert their sovereignty over those extensive regions. [Illustration: FIVE-MILE SPRUIT ON MELSETTER ROAD, RHODESIA] The richness and beauty of the highlands, extending over an immense area both north and south of the Zambesi, had for many years been known to both English and Boer travellers. Mr. Rhodes, in his early days at Kimberley, met many an adventurous wanderer who had come from that wonderful region, and their glowing tales perhaps first inspired in him that ambitious dream of the creation of a great new British colony that should include all the finest country in South and Central Africa. As far back as 1882, having commenced to take an active part in Cape politics, Mr. Rhodes took the initial steps towards the attainment of the one absorbing purpose of his life. [Illustration: A HUNTER'S WAGGON, RHODESIA Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen] Of fascinating interest is the story--a story for the most part yet untold to the world--of Cecil Rhodes' long struggle with the Boers and Portuguese who attempted to keep the Empire-builder out of the Promised Land, and of his frequent forestallings of further German expansion at our expense. The first, the most critical and anxious period of all, was occupied with the contest for the very gate of the country, the right-of-way to the north, which we were so nearly losing, and without which our advance would have been hopelessly barred. The only outlet to the north from the Cape Colony lay through Bechuanaland, a vast region that was divided into several independent native kingdoms, and hemmed in between the Germans, then advancing from the west, and the Transvaal Boers on the east. This gateway to the north has been likened to the neck of a bottle; the narrow neck which, once passed, opens out into the broad and precious Zambesia. Kruger, clever and obstinate, commenced his career of attempted expansion by seizing this neck with the intention of thus cutting us off completely from the north. It was his ambition to extend the Boer rule westward to the German line, eastward to Delagoa Bay and the Indian Ocean, and northwards over the steppes of Zambesia. Pretorius had declared that the Transvaal had no boundary on the west, unless it were the Atlantic Ocean. The first struggle therefore between Rhodes and Kruger was for this vital point of vantage, the neck. Had Kruger grasped it the British flag would never have floated on the northern plateau, the Boers and Germans would have joined hands--there had been a talk of a German Protectorate over the Transvaal--and theirs, not ours, would have been the splendid prize. And what is more, seeing what a vast conspiracy had been organised against us, we should probably have lost the Cape Colony itself: the foundations of our Empire would have been shaken. Immense was the threatening peril to which we shut our eyes. The Transvaal War had left the Cape Colonists in a distinctly anti-British frame of mind. Disgusted at the follies of the Imperial Government, even those of British blood sympathised with the Transvaal Boers, and had no objection to the north falling into the hands of the Dutch Republicans. Indeed, the general feeling at the Cape at that time appears to have been republican. Cecil Rhodes had not only to out-manoeuvre Germany, the Transvaal, and Portugal, but had also to overcome the opposition of colonial prejudice, and the complete indifference of the English to all affairs South African. He stood almost alone, and had to create a party for himself. Not only man of action, but diplomatist and opportunist in the best sense of the word, he played his game with wondrous skill, and succeeded at last in winning over the reluctant colonists to his views. The very Africander Bond became his ally for a time. [Illustration: CAPE TO CAIRO RAILWAY. LAYING THE RAILS] That struggle for the neck of Bechuanaland is an interesting story that cannot be told here. First Kruger attempted to establish himself in Mankoroane's territory. Mankoroane, to protect himself, offered to cede his country to the Cape Colony, which point-blank refused it. Rhodes, in 1882, went himself to the chieftain, and so arranged matters that the Imperial Government found itself compelled to take over the district. Thwarted at this point, Kruger attempted to cut us off further to the north, and sent his agents to establish the freebooting republics of Goshen and Stellaland. Again Rhodes checked him. Going himself to Stellaland, he persuaded the Boers in possession to accept the British flag on the condition that our Government ratified their titles to the land they had occupied. The Warren expedition, despatched at last in consequence of the strong representations of Rhodes and his far-seeing ally, Sir Hercules Robinson, the then High Commissioner, resulted in the expulsion of the Boer freebooters from Montsioa's country, where Mafeking now stands, and the extension of our protectorate over the whole of Bechuanaland. Then Rhodes arranged for the taking over of Khama's land, and the gateway to the north was won. Foiled again, and thus hemmed in on the west, the stubborn Kruger sent his very able agent Grobler to Lobengula to obtain from him a Matabele concession to the Transvaal. Rhodes found that it was hopeless to attempt to bring the Imperial Government to a sense of the danger of the position, so now, before it was too late, he had to act promptly for himself. He sent Maguire Thomson and Rudd to Lobengula to obtain a concession from him before Grobler had carried out his mission. They were successful; the Governor ratified the concession. Dr. Jameson and Dr. Harris went to Matabeleland to deliver to the king the stipulated arms and ammunition; and despite the bitter opposition of the Cape statesman and consistently anti-British Englishman, Mr. Merriman, the deed of concession was sealed, and its validity was recognised by the Government. And thus in 1888, after years of patient endeavour, Cecil Rhodes at last had made the way clear for the realisation of his mighty scheme. The sinews of war had now to be found; and Rhodes, in anticipation, before the granting of the concession, had made his provisions. First he had brought about the amalgamation of the diamond-mining companies, and then, as head of the great De Beers Corporation with its rent-roll of four millions sterling a year, he, in 1887, effected the alteration of the De Beers Trust Deed by a liquidation of the Company, so as to give the De Beers directors power to apply the Company's funds to outside objects, that is, to the development of the North. Messrs. Barnato and Beit agreed to this on the condition of being made life governors, and ever since loyally co-operated with Rhodes in the execution of his scheme. The next step was the granting of the charter by the British Government in 1889, and the creation of the British South Africa Company. Then Rhodes sent out the famous Pioneer Expedition to Mashonaland, and the white men established themselves in Rhodesia. It must be borne in mind that at that time and for years afterwards Rhodes had to be ever closely watching and cunningly circumventing the German Boers and Portuguese, who spared no effort to keep us from the north. Bismarck's agent, Count Pffeil, was sent on a secret mission to South Africa and all but succeeded in anticipating Rhodes, and in winning for Germany a broad strip of territory that would have connected her eastern and western possessions, so forming a bar across Africa from ocean to ocean that would have effectually shut us out. Then there was the Boer trek into Mashonaland in 1891, when the Rhodesians guarded the drifts against the invaders--a scheme of Kruger's that was frustrated without the shedding of blood. Even when the Pioneer Expedition was on its way, the energetic Portuguese D'Andrade was distributing the flags of his country among the chiefs, and attempting to get concessions that would cut Mashonaland off from Matabeleland. To defeat his plans Rhodes entered into a treaty with Umtassa, and obtained the Gazaland concession from Gungunyana, a concession which would have extended the Chartered Company's possessions to the shores of the Indian Ocean had not Lord Salisbury refused to ratify it and acknowledged the claims of Portugal. Then again in 1889 Rhodes, whose Intelligence Department always supplied him in good time with information as to the doings of his rivals, hearing that Germany intended to cut us off at the head of Lake Nyassa, secretly sent Mr. H. H. Johnson to hoist British flags at Port Abercorn on Lake Tanganyika and other places, as proof of our occupation. The Portuguese also hoped to erect a wall against our expansion by connecting her eastern and western territories, and for this purpose an expedition set out from Angola to seize the Barotse country, but here Rhodes again forestalled them; his mission was the first to arrive in the country, and Barotseland was placed under our protection. The way these things were done by Rhodes' agents, the hardships endured, the perils incurred by these adventurous men who--unlike the Portuguese agents who were always accompanied by large bands of armed men--plunged alone into these savage regions to carry out their hazardous missions, makes a wonderful story indeed of British pluck and enterprise. The Pioneer Expedition set out in June 1890. The Pioneer Column, which had been enrolled by Major Frank Johnson, consisted of 187 men who had decided to try their fortunes in the new country, and it was accompanied by 650 mounted police, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Pennefather. The famous hunter, Selous, acted as guide. The ox-waggons carried provisions and other stores sufficient to supply the whole force for six months. For four hundred miles the Pioneers marched into Mashonaland, constructing a road as they went, and making drifts at the many rivers to enable the waggons to cross. Forts were built at intervals, and small garrisons were left in them. At last they came to their objective point, Mount Hampden; and hard by it they built Fort Salisbury, now the capital of all Rhodesia. The Pioneer Force was now disbanded, each man receiving, in addition to his pay, the right to peg out fifteen gold claims and 3000 acres of land. The men scattered over the country, prospecting for gold and pegging out their claims and farms. The first rainy season was a terrible one for them; it was an exceptionally bad year; all transport was interrupted, supplies fell short; the men had to live on native foodstuffs; great privations were endured; many died; and, as in every other part of our Empire, the ways of Rhodesia are strewn with the bones of the men who won the land for their country. But the men who go out as the pioneers of the Empire are not easily discouraged. The settlement and development of the country was at once undertaken with energy. Arrangements were made for the administration of the new State; a legal system was created; roads were constructed; mining plant was brought up; mining operations commenced; land was brought under cultivation; stores were opened; townships were surveyed, and rose rapidly from the wilderness, handsome brick buildings taking the place of the huts in which the pioneers roughed it at first. But the development of the country was much retarded by the difficulty of communication and the enormous cost of transport. Little could be done until Rhodesia was afforded railway communication with the coast; so Mr. Rhodes made arrangements for the extension of the Cape railway from its then terminus at Kimberley, and for the construction of a line to Beira on the east coast. The Chartered Company had not long effected its active occupation of Mashonaland before the Matabele impis resumed their murderous raids on the Mashonas, and in 1893 the Matabele war broke out, leading to the overthrow of Lobengula and the absorption of Matabeleland by the Chartered Company. Nearly every able-bodied white man in Mashonaland volunteered his services. Three columns, numbering nine hundred men in all, marched through the country, defeating the Matabele impis on the Shangani and Zambesi; Bulawayo was occupied, and with the gallant stand of Wilson and his little force, the war was brought to a conclusion. Then the white man's city began to rise from the veldt, hard by the burnt kraal of Lobengula. Towards the close of the war I travelled in an ox-waggon with some Boer transport riders from the Marico Valley in the Transvaal--about thirty miles from Mafeking--to Bulawayo. This beautiful valley ("the Granary of the Transvaal") was the old home of Moselekatse, Lobengula's father. It was a fat land; there is none so rich for a hundred leagues around; for tribes of Zulu blood will establish themselves in none but the best country, and they will trek far to find it. The rolling land of Marico is as fertile as it is beautiful. It is as green as Devon, and the pretty farmhouses of the prosperous people are scattered among rich pastures, great fields of corn, and fruit orchards. Fifty years ago the Boers and their Baralong allies drove Moselekatse and his raiding warriors out of Marico, and sent them trekking north to seek a new home. So northward they travelled, murdering and cattle-lifting as they went, traversing good country, but not such as would satisfy the Zulu, until at last, nearly five hundred miles from Marico, they came to a land even more favoured than that they had left, and settled down in what is now called Matabeleland. I followed their route, and could then understand their choice. Fair indeed to the eye appears the green, well-watered high veldt of Matabeleland as the traveller from the south opens it out on reaching the watershed between the Crocodile and the Zambesi rivers. Lieutenant Maund, who some years before had been sent to spy out Matabeleland, with justice reported that, "when compared to the country south of it, it was as Canaan after the wilderness." When I reached the place where Bulawayo, with its stately buildings, now stands, I found a few hundred white men occupying a little temporary settlement of native huts and tattered tents that had sprung up round the newly-constructed fort; the building of the modern city had not commenced. A little later I was present at the first auction of township stands. The alternate land lots bearing even numbers, lining one side of what was to be the chief street, were sold. They fetched about £50 apiece. A few months afterwards the alternate stands bearing odd numbers were sold by auction; they all fetched over £400 apiece, the highest price realised being £900. Some of the stands, that could have been purchased for £50 each in 1893, are at the present time worth six or seven thousand pounds apiece, and realise that price when put on the market. I quote these figures to show that whatever critics at home may think of the future of Rhodesia, those on the spot have confidence in it. The Matabele War was scarcely over before the volunteers, having received their mining, farm, and loot rights, scattered over the country to prospect and peg out their claims. It was wonderful to observe how quickly, under Dr. Jameson's able administration, everything was put in order, and Matabeleland began to assume the aspect of a settled country. Bulawayo was soon a fine city, having its water-works, electric lighting, hospitals, public schools, its imposing court-house and other handsome public buildings. Townships sprang up like mushrooms all over the high veldt in the vicinity of the gold-bearing reefs. The population rapidly increased. The Chartered Company, in the meanwhile, pushed on the railway from Mafeking towards Bulawayo, proceeded to construct the line from Umtali to Beira, and quickly placed Bulawayo into telegraphic communication with the outer world. And now there was every sign of prosperity; the development of the gold mines gave encouraging results; trade was good; the value of the land for farming was proved, and excellent crops were raised; Rhodesia's future seemed assured. But it was fated that its progress should be retarded by an extraordinary succession of disasters; surely no new country was ever so sorely tried. All was going well until the early part of 1896, when the first of its many scourges swept down on the unhappy land--the dreaded rinderpest came from the North, and despite every precaution that could be taken to prevent its spreading, it destroyed over 90 per cent. of the cattle in the country, and played like havoc among the wild game. It is difficult for one who was not in Rhodesia at the time to realise the magnitude of this misfortune. As this was a land then entirely dependent upon oxen for transport, a stoppage was put to agricultural and mining operations; and the cattle-owning native population suffered greatly. Before the rinderpest broke out the average price of an ox in Rhodesia was £6, and now, though it is over five years since the rinderpest was stamped out, the price is about £28. Transport rates rose from 10s. to £5 per 100 lbs., and all the necessaries of life went up to famine prices. These figures, which will be found in an interesting pamphlet written by Mr. P. S. Inskip of the British South Africa Company's service, will convey some idea of the situation. Absolute ruin faced the settlers; it is wonderful that the bulk of them did not abandon the country in despair, but pioneers are not easily disheartened, and they stubbornly struggled on, taking every possible measure to mitigate the effect of the plague. [Illustration: RHODESIAN NATIVES WASHING CLOTHES] But misfortune followed on misfortune. The rinderpest was raging when the Matabele rose, and the Rhodesians had to suppress a formidable rebellion, which was rendered the more difficult to cope with by the scarcity of oxen. The white settlers were massacred in outlying districts; there were heroic rescues, the rising spread to Mashonaland, and it was not until 1897 that the rebellion was crushed and peace for a little while came to the troubled land. Our total casualties were 690; and of the white settlers in the country alone 390 were killed and 150 were wounded, that is, 10 per cent. of the population. The Company spent £360,000 in compensating the settlers for the losses the rebellion had brought upon them. It had fortunately been discovered that the rinderpest could be stamped out by inoculation, but no sooner had this plague been conquered by science than a terrible outbreak of red-water decimated the remaining cattle. Locusts, too, came in unwonted numbers to devour the crops, and horse sickness was very destructive. Then, on the top of all Rhodesia's troubles, came the but just concluded Boer war cutting off this inland territory from its communications with its commercial and military bases on the coast, retarding its development, and once more calling on its manhood to abandon industry and take up arms for their country. The Rhodesians responded well to the call; twelve and a half per cent. of the population fought in the war, and it will be in the memory of all how well they acquitted themselves in the defence of Bechuanaland and the relief of Mafeking. Thanks to the foresight of Cecil Rhodes, Matabeleland was ours. Had it not been so, the Boers when defeated in war would have trekked north into the rough country--through which it would have been almost impossible for us to follow them--there to form new independent states, to intrigue against us as before. It would have been the old story over again; and after a few years we should have been plunged into another Boer war. But Rhodes had hemmed in the two Boer Republics. The quarrel had to be fought out within their boundaries. There was no outlet for them into the wilderness this time. [Illustration: THE OUTLET BELOW VICTORIA FALLS, ZAMBESI RIVER. After Photo by G. W. Wilson, Aberdeen.] Notwithstanding these successive disasters the Chartered Company and the settlers had done much during those few troublous years to develop the country. The rinderpest and the native rebellion made it all the more urgent to complete the railway system that was to open communication with the coast. The Company hurried on the construction. In November 1897 the line had been extended from Mafeking to Bulawayo, and in 1899 the line from Salisbury to Beira was completed. Then the line from Bulawayo to Salisbury was pushed on; this connection has just been completed, and one can now travel by rail without changing carriage from Capetown to Beira _viâ_ Bulawayo and Salisbury. Another line is being constructed through the Wankie coalfields which will cross the Zambesi near the Victoria Falls. How short a time ago it seems since the man who had visited the Falls was regarded as a great explorer! Other branches, too, will shortly open communication to the various goldfields. [Illustration: MACHECKIE RAILWAY BRIDGE ON THE SALISBURY LINE, MASHONALAND RAILWAY] It is worthy of notice that Rhodesia, though the most remote from the coast, was the one State in South Africa whose industries were kept going during the war, so that the conclusion of peace found her ready for an immediate expansion of her trade. This was due to the wise policy of the Company. Early in 1900 it was represented to the Administration that unless communication, which had been interrupted at the commencement of the war, was soon restored, work could not proceed on the mines; the native labourers would have to be discharged, and the mines would have to be closed down. The Administration realised that it would not only be disastrous to throw so many Europeans and natives out of work, but that the closing down of the mines would convince the Matabele that there was truth in the report which the Boer agents were diligently spreading to the effect that the English were being driven out of the country, and that the opportunity for rebellion had arrived. The Administration therefore came to the assistance of the mining community by making arrangements for the importation of sufficient necessaries for six months through Beira, at a fixed transport rate of £25 per ton from Port Elizabeth. The Company found itself about £5 a ton out of pocket by this arrangement, but great distress was saved. At the opening of the war the price of grain and meal rose 100 per cent.; but the Hon. Sir Arthur Lawley, the then Administrator of Matabeleland, warned the Chamber of Commerce at Bulawayo that if the cost of necessaries rose too high he would open the Government Stores--in which a large reserve of supplies had been laid up at the outbreak of the war--and sell to white men at a reasonable rate. This had the desired effect for a time, but later on the merchants took an unfair advantage of the situation, whereupon the Administrator carried out his threat, and so brought prices sharply down again. The result of this policy was excellent; the development of the mines proceeded, even if slowly; the crops were sown and there was a good harvest; the natives remained quiet and readily paid their hut-tax, which amounted to a larger sum than had been raised in any previous year. Considering all the disasters, from the rinderpest down to the Boer War, that have befallen the country, it is indeed wonderful that so much has already been done towards the development of the resources of Rhodesia. There are critics at home who maintain that the country is valueless, that there are no payable gold reefs in it, else the mines would by this time have been working at a profit. People in the old days spoke in the same way of the Rand. Now, it was not until 1897, when the railway reached Bulawayo, that the real development of the mines commenced, and since then the country has produced gold to the value of a million and a quarter sterling, and this with a very limited number of stamps running. The gold belt extends for about 500 miles. Out of the 114,000 claims that have been pegged out, only 737 have been worked at all. Some of the mines have already paid dividends. The future possibilities of these yet practically untouched goldfields no one can estimate. It had been naturally expected that so soon as the opening of the Rhodesian railways lowered the cost of transport rapid progress would be made in the working of the mines, and critics at home express their wonder that more has not been done; but the enormous increase in the cost of local transport due to the rinderpest has cancelled the advantage gained by the low railway rates from the south. Before the railway was constructed or the rinderpest appeared, the transport from Mafeking to Bulawayo, a distance of 500 miles, was ten shillings per 100 lbs. It costs as much as that now to transport mining machinery by ox-waggon from the Bulawayo railway-yard to a mine only 50 miles distant; and some of the mines are as far as 200 miles from a railway station. The branch lines that are being constructed will bring many of the mines within easy reach of the railway, but no great general progress can be made throughout Rhodesia until cattle become plentiful and cheap again. The Chartered Company is taking active steps to restock the country. The importation of cattle on a large scale, both by the various companies and by individuals, is now proceeding. Cattle of an excellent breed, suitable to the climate, are being brought from Angoniland, and will be crossed with Kerry or Jersey bulls. Importers of stock intended for breeding purposes can carry them over the Rhodesian railways at considerably reduced rates. Moreover, the Administration advances money to farmers on easy terms, on the security of their farms, to enable them to purchase cattle. With regard to the rinderpest, inoculation has proved successful, and the Government should be able to subdue any fresh outbreak by using the serum which is now manufactured at Kimberley. Now that peace has come to South Africa, all that Rhodesia wants to enable her to make rapid progress is cheap transport, which she will shortly have, and abundant and efficient native labour; for surely the sore trials of her youth, which she so pluckily endured and survived, are over at last. The gold is there; the majority of the reefs are permanent, and to quote from the report of the Chartered Company's Resident Consulting Engineer:--"What the future may hold it is impossible to say, but the most grievous pessimist must surely admit that the experimental stage has been safely passed, and that Rhodesia has been proved to be a valuable gold-mining country of which the possibilities are enormous." The recent discovery of valuable coal deposits will greatly assist the development of the country's resources, more especially benefiting the gold-mining industry, for the timber is becoming exhausted in the vicinity of the mines, and the price of wood fuel is ever advancing. A careful examination of one small section of the Wankie bed shows that it will yield 1000 tons a day of coal of excellent quality for the next hundred years. It is too early yet to discuss the value of the iron, copper, and other ores which exist in Rhodesia. To turn to agriculture. There seems to be no production of the temperate and sub-tropical zones that does not flourish on the favoured, well-watered soil of Southern Rhodesia. The area under cultivation is rapidly extending. The one great drawback is the locust. However, farming pays well despite occasional bad seasons. Here is a story that exemplifies the tenacity, under disaster, of the Rhodesian settler. In one year, when the successive locust swarms ate up the land, a certain farmer sowed his farm with mealies. The locusts devoured the crop: undiscouraged, he sowed his fields a second time: again he lost his crop. Yet a third time he sowed, and got his harvest in safely. Despite the two failures, he now realised a handsome profit. Happily, in the season of 1898-99 locusts almost entirely disappeared, and apparently they have never since invaded the country in their former numbers. It is claimed that this is due to the extensive use of toxine, with which for the last few years a campaign of extermination has, with apparent success, been carried on against these scourges of the land. The toxine has been distributed among the white farmers and the native chiefs, with instructions for its use, and satisfaction with the results has been generally expressed. An energetic farmer does well in Rhodesia, and finds among the mining communities an ever-increasing market for his produce. At present the principal products are mealies, barley, wheat, oats, forage, and potatoes, and excellent crops are raised. Market farming and dairy farming in the vicinity of the towns are industries that require little capital, and are exceedingly profitable. Boer tobacco is produced in large quantities, and experiments that have been tried with American seed have proved the suitability of soil and climate for the cultivation of the superior qualities of tobacco. Oranges, peaches, walnuts, apples, bananas, figs, cherries, vines, and other fruits do very well in Rhodesia. In the yet uncolonised north of this vast territory wild rubber of high commercial value covers large tracts of country. The Chartered Company is taking steps to protect the plant against the destructive native methods of extraction, and to make it a source of wealth to Rhodesia as well of revenue to itself. In several districts the cultivation of coffee and tea promises to prove successful. [Illustration: THE WANKIE EXPEDITION] As elsewhere in South Africa, the chief difficulty in the way of the development of the country is the disinclination of the idle natives to work on the mines or elsewhere, all the more so now that so many have been spoilt by the excessive wages paid to them by the military authorities during the war. The native of Mashonaland, for example, living in a country blessed with a fruitful soil and splendid climate, protected by our rule from the raids that used to devastate his lands, reaping his crops in security, assisted by the Administration in hard times of rinderpest or locust scourge, is now more than ever loth to work. He can earn as much as £3 a month with food and lodging. But for the protection which he enjoys, and which enables him to wax rich, he only contributes to the expenses of Government his hut-tax of ten shillings. An increase in his hut-tax might induce him to work for a few weeks in the year. If nothing will overcome his deep-rooted indolence, other labour must be imported. Arabs from Aden are already working in some of the mines. The pay of the skilled white miner is 30s. a day. Throughout Rhodesia the artisan earns good wages, the blacksmith and the bricklayer, for example, receiving respectively 30s. and 35s. a day in Salisbury. Detractors of Rhodesia are constantly asserting that the white population is outrageously taxed, each settler, they state, having to pay £40 per annum to the Chartered Company in the shape of taxes; and a well-known politician, beloved of Little Englanders, has publicly declared that this is the case. It appears that these ingenious people arrived at this conclusion by dividing the amount of the Company's revenue, £440,000, by the number of Europeans in the country, namely, 12,000, which certainly does give a result of nearly £40 per head. It is thus assumed that all the Company's revenue is derived from the taxation of the settlers. Now, in the first place, out of this £440,000 of revenue, £113,000 represents the amount of the native hut-tax, and is therefore not contributed by white people at all. Another £23,000 is derived from the sales and rent of land, the Company's property; and another £58,000 from the telegraph and postal services, which up till now have been worked at a loss. No one can maintain that these items fall under the head of taxation. To go further, another £86,000 of the Company's revenue is paid directly by the mining companies that have been floated--that is, by the shareholders in England, not by the people of Rhodesia. These figures added up amount to £280,000, which leaves a balance of £160,000--the taxation laid on the settlers, that is, about £13 per head. To go still further, of this £160,000, £73,000 is derived from the duties on wines, spirits, and tobacco. Therefore if one puts these luxuries out of the calculation the taxation amounts to only £7 a head per year, which is anything but high when one bears in mind that there are no paupers in Rhodesia, that women and children are few, and that the large bulk of the population are adult males in the prime of life earning high wages. [Illustration: RHODESIAN MINING. THE DOBIE MILL] The climate of the Rhodesian plateau is undoubtedly healthy and well suited to British colonists. It is a land where the white man can work in the fields. The British children reared here are as rosy of cheek and as sturdy of limb as those at home. There is, of course, malaria in the lowlands, but that will disappear before occupation and civilisation, even as it has done in once unhealthy districts of the Transvaal and the Cape Colony. It is the same with the diseases that affect domestic animals: thus horse-sickness once prevailed far to the south, and gradually has been driven north before advancing civilisation. The dreaded tsetse fly too, fatal to horses and cattle, can only exist where the larger wild beasts abound, and vanishes with the latter wherever the white man establishes himself. The rinderpest, in killing off the wild buffalo, did one good service: the tsetse disappeared with the buffalo, and now only frequents remote and unfrequented regions. From every point of view the future of Rhodesia now looks hopeful. The young State suffered from every calamity that can befall a new country, but was too vigorous to succumb. The Company and the Rhodesian community have displayed pluck, energy, and patriotism in the hour of Britain's danger, and every loyal Englishman must sincerely wish Rhodesia prosperity. As regards the prospects of the Chartered Company itself, I will conclude by calling attention to one point. Up till now the Company has been compelled to maintain a large and expensive military force, costing £276,000 a year. Now that the Boer war has been brought to a conclusion, the necessity for so large a force has ceased to exist, and Mr. W. H. Milton, the Senior Administrator of Southern Rhodesia, has recommended, as sufficient to meet the requirements of the country, the maintenance of a force of 400 Europeans and 400 natives, with a simple organisation on the lines of the Cape Police. The cost of this, he maintains, should not exceed £100,000 per annum. If his proposal is accepted, the revenue of the Chartered Company should balance its expenditure, and the corner will be turned. PROBLEMS AND POSSIBILITIES BY JAMES STANLEY LITTLE _Author of "South Africa," "The Progress of the British Empire in the Nineteenth Century," "The United States of Britain," &c. &c._ The magnificent vagueness of the subject the editor of this volume has, in his wisdom, thought fit to apportion to me might have its conveniences, were it not that such pregnant matters as emigration, federation, education, irrigation, and half-a-dozen subjects besides, all of which bristle with problems and possibilities of the most clamant kind, are ruled out of this paper, in that their consideration has been entrusted to highly competent and patriotic writers, upon whose preserves it would be unbecoming to poach. Nevertheless, it must be obvious to everybody that it will not be possible to attempt a comprehensive analysis of the problems and possibilities of the future, and to keep entirely clear of these all-important factors in the case; seeing that every political, ethnical, financial, and economic problem impinges on these special subjects of which one and all are a part. [Illustration: THE RESETTLEMENT OF THE TRANSVAAL A BOER FAMILY RETURNING TO THEIR FARM. Drawing by Chas. M. Sheldon.] As to the political situation to-day, it seems scarcely to be apprehended in this country that the lines of cleavage between parties and factions at the Cape, and indeed in the new colonies, are by no means simple ones. In South Africa generally it is not merely a case of Briton _versus_ Boer; it is not in Cape Colony simply a case of Dutch Africander _versus_ British loyalist. In the Transvaal the problem is not solely how to bring the Boers and English together, or how to conciliate and retain the loyalty of those men, largely of British origin, formerly known as Uitlanders. A labour party, championing a programme practically identical with that with which all students of later-day politico-social questions are familiar, is coming into existence, and is, I think, certain to make itself a power in the land as time advances. It has been frequently, if somewhat hastily, assumed that in South Africa generally parties will follow the lines of division common to most civilised communities, and range themselves in camps, the composition of which will be determined respectively by the place of residence and occupation of the units of the people; the interests, sentiments, and aspirations of the town dwellers being at variance with those of the rural inhabitants. In a sense, we may take the people of Johannesburg to represent what passes for the urban population of old-settled countries. Roughly speaking, the citizens of the older established and smaller towns were dependent for their existence, and are likely to continue to be so dependent, on the agriculturists, since outside the Rand the Transvaal had no industries, no manufactures worth considering: for some time to come she is not likely to have any. So the Rand stood and stands for the towns, and the Uitlanders for the townsmen. The rest of the State stood and stands for the country, and, the agriculturists being mainly Dutch, the Boers stand for the countrymen. In the future, however, the race question, which has practically overruled any dividing lines drawn on the basis of townsmen and countrymen in Cape Colony, should cease to govern, in quite the old way, the political antagonisms of the inhabitants of the Transvaal; in any case, if the various schemes for settling British farmers in the land are crowned with reasonable success, it will no longer be possible to regard the rural Transvaalers as simply Boers, and the townsmen as simply Britishers. At present in the Transvaal there exists, of course, the great and principal division of its people, the British and philo-British _versus_ the Dutch and philo-Dutch. But the interests of the great mining companies are not now, and never can be, on all-fours with those of the operatives; while the traders are likely to find their ideals at variance with those of the mining magnates and operatives alike. Obviously there will be no immediate community of interest and aim between the old Boer farmers and the new British elements introduced on to the land. The differences of the townsmen are likely to be more strictly economic than political; but they must necessarily take a political complexion in the process of their devolution. It would be rash to attempt anything in the shape of a precise forecast; but it certainly seems to me quite unlikely that the future divisions into parties of the citizens of the Transvaal can take the simple form of Briton _versus_ Boer. No doubt the existence of the two races, living side by side, with the remembrance of a century's differences between them, will continue to give a decided tincture to the parties to be formed in the future. It depends entirely on the kind of statecraft Great Britain brings to bear on the settlement of the new colonies and on its results, whether the progressive elements in the existing population--the population waiting for the gates to be opened to it may, for the purposes of this argument, be considered as entirely progressive--range themselves on the side of British imperialism, or whether they will join themselves to those forces, already existing, which openly or secretly aim at the establishment of a republican régime. It is quite a mistake to suppose that these forces--republican sympathies, that is to say--are at the moment entirely to be sought for in the Boer camp. It is, or it ought to be, common knowledge that the internal movement for reform on the Rand, and for the elimination of the Dopper-Hollander dominance of Pretoria, was not exactly inspired or sustained by men who wished to see the Transvaal an integral portion of the British Empire. At the same time, it is not denied that a great many sympathisers with this movement, and not a few of its active supporters--the late Mr. Rhodes, for instance--were above all things anxious that when the Transvaal flag was hauled down the Union Jack should be run up. Apart, however, from such considerations, matters of history, it may be allowed that whatever the nationality or preferences of respective Uitlanders at that time of day, a rough sense of justice would reconcile most of them now to the flag of the country, which at enormous sacrifice of treasure and men has procured their release from the bondage of Pretoria. It is equally certain, more so in fact, that their acceptance of the British flag, now and hereafter, is and will be contingent on the treatment they receive at the hands of the new Government. Already many voices are heard in the land declaring that, so far from the new Government having brought relief to the mining industry and to the Uitlanders--and it must be clearly understood by all Englishmen, however much they may resent the fact, that upon the prosperity of the mines not only the welfare of the Transvaal but of all South Africa depends--it has increased its burdens. The limits of space will not permit any exhaustive examination into the basis of this complaint. Mr. Chamberlain, before these lines are in the hands of the public, will doubtless be on the spot examining into the grounds of the complaint. It would be clearly impossible for any one to accuse me, of all persons, of favouring the millionaires, or of holding a brief for their views and interests. But this is not a millionaires', or a mining question; it is the question of the to be or not to be of South Africa as a British dependency. It may be said at once, that if, as Mr. Chamberlain at one time indicated, the somewhat contradictory and superficial report drawn up by Sir David Barbour, full of inconsistencies and injustices as it is, is to be accepted by the British Government, then I would not care to purchase at any price a seven years' repairing lease--a repairing lease with a vengeance--of British tenure of South Africa, much less the freehold of the property. Whether he be a financial expert or not, no man who possesses a sound working knowledge, personal knowledge, of South Africa and its affairs can study this report and preserve his equanimity. It fills one with fear and trembling. Sir David Barbour's proposals savour of the arbitrary confiscation of mining profits. This perhaps, standing alone, would not matter much from a South African point of view, since the loss would mainly fall on the hundreds of thousands of English and foreign shareholders interested in the mines; according to the _Statist_, the British public has something like £250,000,000 invested in the mines. However, it is not with such losses we are at present concerned. My contention is that if the Transvaal is taxed out of all proportion to its wealth--its immediate or permanent prospects even; if the new colonies, despite the heavy losses from the war, and the serious--for a long time to come it will be serious--dearth of labour contingent thereon, is burdened with taxation, the incidence of which is to be double, or in any case greatly in excess of the monstrous charges levied by Kruger and his advisers; if the Transvaal is to be saddled with a heavy war debt, then the financial, political, and economic ruin of South Africa in general, and the Transvaal in particular, must follow as an inevitable consequence, and this will happen even should a short respite be given. I have set forth again and again, in the columns of the _Times_ and _Post_, and in the Anglo-African journal I formerly conducted, that apart from the uneconomic and impolitic nature of these suggestions, they are morally unsound. He who calls the tune must pay the piper. The British people, by allowing themselves to be ruled and betrayed by men who persisted in blinding their eyes to the writing on the wall, though there were Daniels in abundance to interpret it to them; by allowing themselves to be served by an army wholly inadequate in numbers, and largely composed of inefficients, are responsible for the cost of a war which never would have taken place had British pro-consuls and colonists on the spot been trusted; their counsel listened to here, and their hands freed and actions upheld yonder. Moreover, all such heroic schemes of taxation in the interest of the British taxpayer, of which Sir David Barbour's report is a type, are based on proleptic statistics of an expansion which after all is problematical, and which in any case will not become solid fact if onerous conditions are imposed upon the Rand in advance of that expansion. The profits from the mines, great as they ought to be if we do not strangle the goose right away, are ephemeral profits--thirty to fifty years will see the last of them. Possibly the high-water mark of production will be reached twenty years hence, and from that time the decline will begin as in the case of the Australian and Californian mines. It is obvious, therefore, that a heavy war debt must press disastrously on the industry during its growth and during its decline. Taxation seems to have been proposed on the basis of the anticipation, as if it were already an accomplished fact, of the most prosperous days possible of attainment by the industry, and in entire obliviousness of the fact that no sooner is the zenith reached than gradual decline, ending in extinction, must supervene. Unjust taxation would be a suicidal policy; it would retard the flow of capital, render all but a few higher-grade mines unprofitable, with the result that the budgets of the new colonies would show deficits year after year. Not only would capital awaiting employment be frightened into other channels, but schemes of federation would remain sterile schemes; and the hope of a prosperous and united South Africa would continue a mere day-dream, impossible of accomplishment. I have put this question of the taxation of the Transvaal in the forefront of this paper, because it is of pressing importance and immediate interest. Scarcely less important, though the subject will probably be dealt with more fully by another pen, is the question of land settlement. We are approaching this matter too parochially and timidly. If the land companies and burghers will not part with suitable land to settlers on reasonable terms, they must be made to do so. The example of New Zealand must be followed. It is absolutely essential that we should plant out settlers on a large scale; especially is it essential in view of the fact that the loyalty of the dwellers in Johannesburg and other mining centres is not to be counted on confidently. With these men commercial considerations are certain to be dominant. Even if they are not given the solid reasons for discontent already foreshadowed, reasons, real and imaginary, in plenty are certain to crop up. Hence their loyalty will not be a matter of sentiment, but one of calculation. Further, every help and encouragement must be given to the right kind of settlers; the country which spent over two hundred millions sterling in making South Africa a possible place for Englishmen to live in, should not grudge another ten, twenty, or if necessary thirty millions to make the conditions of life sufficiently attractive to the emigrating English agriculturist. The conditions underlying land settlement have been carefully studied by Mr. Arnold Forster's Land Commission, and they were lucidly set forth in the report of that Commission. It remains for the Imperial Government to make them operative, by coming to the country for generous support. I can do no more here than record my absolute conviction, for what it may be worth, that if land settlement in the new colonies is to find its own level, so to speak; if we are trusting to men with the necessary capital, some £300 or more, to come forward in anything like sufficient numbers to affect appreciably the question of British _versus_ Boer in favour of the British, or the problem of self-seeking Cosmopolitanism (purely commercial interests) _versus_ sentimental and patriotic Imperialism, we are building our hopes on sand. The drawbacks to farming in Africa are many: absence of transport (and obviously without well-devised and speedily carried out railway schemes the internal development of South Africa is impossible); absence of navigable rivers; recurrent droughts (here again I may say that nothing less can avail than grand schemes of organised irrigation such as those favoured by Mr. Hedger Wallace and by Mr. Willcocks in his luminous report); cattle disease and locusts. The _ignis fatuus_ of the Rand, it must always be remembered, is ever present to lure away the settler when he has once been induced to settle. To the Englishman the love of isolation is not generally the strongly developed vice or virtue it is with the Boer. Consequently, we must go before the settler and prepare the way for him. Large and well-organised schemes of planting families on communal principles, freely scattered over the land in the midst of the Boers, both from an economic and political point of view, are absolutely necessary if we are to retain our hold on the country, or ensure its permanent prosperity. Under proper conditions and safeguards, generous schemes of female immigration must be initiated. It has been said, and I do not gainsay it, that South Africa requires almost immediately 70,000 more women. Also the Children of the State, the waifs and strays, the foundlings, those who are physically and morally fit, of course, should be sent out to South Africa, there to be carefully prepared in proper establishments for colonial life. In this matter we may well learn wisdom from the early Dutch settlers, who, under an arrangement with the Amsterdam authorities, received into their midst a number of foundlings. From these the present race of sturdy burghers has sprung. The subject is too vast for detailed treatment here; else much might be said about the policy of obliging all male settlers to bind themselves to a course of military training and contingent service, and as to the expediency of encouraging a respectable number of Canadians and Australians to make their home in South Africa. It is, in any case, obvious that no tentative tinkering with the question of land settlement can avail. The sooner we face this necessity the better; since the sooner it is in a fair way to being faced, mastered, and provided for, the sooner can those electoral and legislative concessions we have promised the Boers, and which honour, justice, and expediency oblige us to grant at the earliest possible date, be granted. As things now are, we have a British autocracy in power, alternating in turn between the desire to repress the clamant demands of the one great industry of South Africa--the gold mines, and dread of that powerful confederacy--the Rand magnates. The methods and example of the great financial corporations and financial princes are not, to write temperately, conducive to the elevation of public morals; nor do they tend to give to the public life of a colony a high or healthy tone. Students of Mr. Cecil Rhodes' career cannot fail to notice the disintegrating effect on that great patriot's manners, and on his public and private procedure, which resulted from his close association with, and inexplicable reliance on, men, most of whom (it would be invidious to specialise the exceptions) lived and moved and had their being on a plane infinitely lower than Rhodes' natural one. The destinies of the new colonies are for the moment nominally in the hands of British officials. These officials have practically nobody to go to for counsel but the mining and financial experts. This is not as it should be. The sooner there is a free play of interests and opinions between the Boers, British settlers, and Johannesburgers the better. These divergent classes, all colonial, however antagonistic their interests and prejudices, must fight out their differences among themselves as best they may. The British official, excellent as he is in dealing with subject races, is not seen at his best in controlling men of his own flesh and blood--men, I should say, of his own colour--when these men are in a position of political inferiority to himself. The mention of this subject reminds me, that one of the most effective arguments in favour of granting representative institutions to the new colonies as quickly as may be is to be found in the native question. In this matter, as indeed in every matter, colonial opinion asserting itself through the necessarily imperfect, but only possible, system of parliamentary institutions, must be respected. As to the native question, an enormous majority of British South Africans, though it may reprobate certain tendencies to undue harshness, brutality even, still observable in the conduct of Boers of the baser sort, is nevertheless convinced that the Dutch attitude toward the native is, in its essence, the only possible or safe one. There is not the smallest fear that anything in the shape of compulsory labour will be sanctioned by any legislature in South Africa. But that the principles and provisions of that most statesmanlike Act, the Glen Grey Act, will be further extended there can be no doubt. That the labour question throughout South Africa, and especially as it affects the mining industry, is among the more difficult problems of the future, most persons are aware. It is said that in five years' time 320,000 natives will be required at Johannesburg to work the mines, irrespective of enormous domestic requirements there. To this total we must add the hundreds of thousands needed for industrial and household work throughout South Africa. It is estimated that in five years' time there will be no more than 600,000 working Kaffirs south of the Zambesi. It is obvious that under the most favourable computation the supply is certain to continue to be totally inadequate to the demand. This is the more apparent when it is remembered, that it is only possible to get a small proportion of able-bodied Kaffirs to work at all, and that the average service of these willing ones is not more than four months a year, taking one year with another. Doubtless the new laws as to capitation tax, and the modifications in the direction of greater stringency in the hut tax, alterations which must have the effect of reducing the economic evil of polygamy, will effect some amelioration in the conditions now obtaining. But the lowering of wages and the prohibition of the liquor sale have retarded the immediate supply. I have had to listen before now to arguments in favour of the unrestricted sale of liquor to the natives, and in advocacy of establishing drinking booths from one end to the other of the Rand. This would be as suicidal, politically and socially, and in the long run as uneconomic a policy as could well be devised, to say nothing as to its cynical immorality. Of course, when schemes of organisation are perfected, and labour is largely drawn from Central Africa, the employers will enjoy some measure of relief; but in the end, unless relief comes from that highly debatable source--the importation of coolie labour--the prejudice against white labour in Africa will have to break down: a way out, I am sure, always provided the whites can be differentiated and segregated from the blacks, which cannot but be fraught with results of lasting benefit to the country, in procuring for it a solid substratum of Caucasian settlers who will become the industrial backbone of the country. The indirect advantages of such an innovation cannot be reaped, however, if schemes of heavy taxation are to be sanctioned. The margin between loss and profit in working most of the mines--they are what are called in city slang "low-grade propositions"--is so small, that a slight increase even in the price of labour would often make mining unprofitable. The employment of white labour would have the effect of disabusing the minds of the natives of the growing conviction that they are necessary to our well-being and existence. The truth is not so far short of this; but we must not make it apparent: we must try to make it less true than it is. During the war the native, spoiled by the military, did not gain respect for the Englishman. He is a shrewd fellow, and although our arms were victorious in the end, he cherished no delusions. Man for man, he has seen for himself how much more effective as a fighter the Boer was than the Briton. Enjoying special advantages--his knowledge of the country and his control over the Kaffirs--the Boer was enabled to make the best use of his superior marksmanship, tactics, and mobility; with the result that it was easy for him to inflict much greater damage on his opponents than that opponent, with all his courage and spirit, could inflict in return. The native has seen our men lying in ghastly, mutilated masses. He has seen few such spectacles on the Boer side. The native is no sentimentalist. He is much like a prevalent type of modern young woman--fond of laughing, enjoyment, gew-gaws and sweets, while viewing everything from the standpoint of self-interest. In brief, despite his jollity he is as hard as nails. It is perfectly right that we should show him some consideration as the descendant of tribes who conquered the land some century or so earlier than we conquered it; for, except so far as being an inhabitant of the continent is concerned, it is absurd to talk of the existing South African tribes as aborigines. But if the "nigger" will not work, he must in the long run give place to men who will, to British and Continental labourers and to other British subjects--the coolies of India, for instance--men who will work, and who are now starving, or are on the brink of starvation, for the want of it. That this step is not to be taken lightly I am free to admit. It is fraught with grave difficulties and dangers--political, economic, and ethnical--considerations which are by no means to be minimised even if for a larger good--South Africa cannot be allowed to languish for lack of labour--they will have to be ignored. [Illustration: LORD MILNER By Mortimer Menpes. From "War Impressions," by arrangement with Messrs A. & C. Black, London.] There can many, indeed in most directions, the civil administration of the new colonies, so far as it has been provided, is highly creditable to Lord Milner and the able men associated with him. So excellent and so thorough is the work accomplished--in education, in replacing the machinery of the higher civil administration throughout the colonies--that, without hyperbole, it may be said to fill one with admiration and wonder. If one could always be sure of getting such a man as Joseph Chamberlain at the Colonial Office, and such a man as Alfred Milner as High Commissioner, one would be strongly in favour of retaining permanently as much power as possible in the hands of the holders of these two offices. But it is not possible to count upon a succession of such ministers. It is noteworthy, and I would especially emphasise the point in view of what is to follow, that the appointment of Lord Milner and Mr. Chamberlain to their respective offices may be said to have been in defiance of precedent. Since the institution of the Colonial Secretaryship half-a-century ago, ministers appointed to the office have almost invariably been noblemen of little or no importance. Again, Lord Milner's earliest career was not official. He was quite out of the groove in which the men who become colonial governors usually run. It is regrettable, that the success of these two statesmen does not give the Government heart of grace to put appointments in the new colonies more largely into the hands of men of proved initiative and originality--men who have not had any good which may have been in them strangled by red tape and flummery in the public offices. The complaint as to the appointments made in the Transvaal--appointments of untried striplings and callow fledglings from the universities, is doubtless exaggerated; but it is well to remember that putting power into the hands of the "curled darlings of the nation" was one of the chief causes, among many contributory causes, of the failure of Sir Theophilus Shepstone's policy; the reason why the annexation of the Transvaal, with the tacit consent and approval of the majority of its people, was subsequently repudiated by them. However that may be, it is extremely regrettable that a country, possessing so many good men, men in every way indicated by their abilities and achievements as successful administrators _in posse_, is constantly at a deadlock for the lack of suitable public servants. I could mention spontaneously, without having time for reflection and for selection, a round dozen, probably a score, men of parts full of the sense of our imperial responsibilities, and certain to be able and zealous in the Empire's service: men accustomed to positions in which initiative and sound judgment are demanded of them, who, pining to be men of action, to play their part, however humble, in affairs of State, affairs of which they possess a firm grip, are condemned to enforced inactivity, buried away in country houses, or, let us say, wasting their energies in mere constructive synthesis or destructive criticism, for which, alas! no one is much the better. These men, the born administrators of our over-seas dominions, are lost to the Empire, because of the red-tape exclusiveness and jealousy of the ruling classes of this country. I have been betrayed for the moment into an academic consideration, and let me say here that I sorrowfully endorse--I might add that in a large measure I have publicly anticipated--most of the strictures on our system of misgovernment, corruption, and panoplied vice set forth in the letters of that sturdy Africander signing himself by his true initials "P. S." Under these abuses we groan, and it is difficult to continue to hope that we shall escape from their tyranny, and rise again to that full manhood of our race asserted in the spacious days of Elizabeth, and again when Napoleon threatened our shores. Our grand old country is sinking deeper and deeper into the morass of spiritual and intellectual indifferentism, sordid materialism, and time-serving opportunism. One sees scant justification for optimism, unless, indeed, Judgment should descend upon us and beneficently scourge us back to our nobler past. It is not, however, with these larger issues I am at this moment directly concerned. Despite the constant drains upon our best and most vital manhood the possession--protection and administration--of the most extensive empire of this or any age impose upon the United Kingdom, upon, that is to say, a small and no longer rapidly increasing nation, I do not believe that there would be any ground for the fear that we have annexed more territory than we can effectively administer, or that we have incurred greater responsibilities than we can sustain, if we had the presence of mind, the initiative and sense to utilise those latent sources of unexhausted supply we now wilfully neglect. The immediate bearing of these remarks reveals itself when the serious problem of the _personnel_ of the magistracy of the new colonies is mentioned. Every one knows that the landdrosts under the old régime, men for the most part rough and unlettered, were habitually underpaid and habitually corrupt. The inadequate salaries paid to these men are, it seems, now being continued to the new magistracy, and this despite the enormous increase in the cost of living, with the result that men of quite inferior parts are mainly available for the positions; while, when from stress of life and circumstance, men of the right stamp, men to whom Boer and Kaffir can look up as their natural superiors, chance to fill these offices, they are unable, by reason of their poverty, to live in a way or to comport themselves in a manner consistent with the dignity of their offices. In the Transvaal, and indeed in South Africa generally, it behoves us to welcome all comers from Europe and America, not being adventurers or wastrels--all and sundry who can contribute to the good of the country and who are willing to become loyal citizens. It will be madness to attempt to build up a South African nation from these islands alone. England is a small country and the English are gradually ceasing--and this tendency is certain to increase--to rear large families. In the past, in our own land as well as in our realms beyond the seas, our chief glory has been in our genius in amalgamating different strains, bringing them all into the fold as patriotic Britons. The British Empire is now more than ever a crucible wherein metals, precious and base, may be wrought into a fine amalgam. Whether as a limb of a great and regenerated British Empire, and therein my individual hopes lie, or as a powerful republic on the pattern of the United States, there ought to be no question as to the future of South Africa. Mr. Chamberlain said again only the other day that the prosperity of South Africa in the not far distant future would doubtless exceed the dreams of the most sanguine visionary. So let it be. Many shrewd Americans are of the same mind. No doubt the immediate expansion in South Africa's import trade is due to military requirements, while the shrinkage of its export trade may be attributed mainly to the war having put a stop to the recovery and exportation of gold. The cost of living throughout South Africa, at present extraordinarily high, is certain to be reduced to more reasonable limits when the railways are permanently relieved from the control of the military. It must be remembered, too, that while a fair proportion of favoured individuals among the colonists have reaped huge harvests by the war, a far greater number have been crippled and ruined outright by it. It is not for me to deal with the problems of trade; but I may say that even should some scheme of the favoured-nation kind be extended to British imports by the South African Realm to be, that in itself would not serve, nor will the spirit of patriotic preference for British goods suffice to preserve the trade of South Africa for this country. The matter rests with our manufacturers, exporters, and their agents; and no one, not being a self-deceived egoist, can pretend that the more alert, adaptive, and modern methods of American and German houses are not certain, unless our countrymen turn over a new leaf, to prove too much for our LAISSEZ-FAIRE, self-sufficiency, and careless indifference. In this matter the best men, be they English, German, or Yankee, will win. But this is a home rather than a South African question. In any case, we may expect soon to see a considerable influx of capitalists, farmers, and traders, and they cannot but give an impetus to South Africa's reviving fortunes, let political ineptitude do its worst. I have endeavoured to show wherein lie the chief obstacles to progress in the new colonies. In the old--Natal would in any case seem to have an era of immediate prosperity before her--the future is darkened by considerations all too apparent for the most optimistic or blind to overlook or ignore. The Africander Bond and the Dutch Reformed Church have not buried the hatchet. Throughout South Africa it is, of course, the duty of the loyal South African of British origin or British sympathies to endeavour to recognise at their best the many sterling qualities of the Dutch, and to forgive with what charity he may their besetting sins, condoning them as the resultants of environment and circumstance. It is also their duty to recognise that the past mistakes of Downing Street were chiefly due to lack of brain and thought, rather than to lack of heart, and to determine to work with all true patriots for the lasting good and welfare of South Africa. Unhappily there is ample evidence to show that the Dutch Reformed Church and the Africander Bond are as active for evil as ever. How great is the terrorism exercised by the COMMISSIE VAN TOEZICHT (the Secret Council of the Bond) is illustrated to-day by the abject recantation of the Rev. Mr. Botha, a pastor who, having counselled his countrymen to submit to the inevitable and accept British rule as far back as September 1901, now stands in the white sheet of repentance, and abjectly craves to be forgiven for what he calls his temporary weakness and backsliding! Undoubtedly disloyalty to the British Empire throughout South Africa has its _fons et origo_ not in the Transvaal but at the Cape. For the moment the Bond lies low. It has gained everything it can hope to gain for the present. This the most superficial student of Cape politics can see. The problem of how to reconcile divergent elements at the Cape, and to make the Cape Dutch as loyal to the Empire as the French Canadians to-day, not that their loyalty is unimpeachable, is an extremely complicated one. At the Cape it is by no means merely a question of Dutch _versus_ English or of Town _versus_ Country. Many of the most active enemies of Great Britain are to be found in the houses of the old Dutch families inhabiting the suburban districts of Cape Town--Wynburg, Rondebosch, and so forth. It is also true that among those old Dutch families no more loyal subjects of the king are to be found. Unhappily English associations, close intercourse with Government House, intermarriage with English families, and education at our universities or at the Temple here, do not always ensure that the Dutch Africander will be loyal to Great Britain. Even more to be regretted is the fact that many colonists of pure British descent, birth even, are merely nominally loyal to the Imperial connection, if as much as that. Their loyalty is of the opportunist kind. Because of their hatred of the Dutch propaganda, and because they fear that the Dutch, if left to themselves, would become "top dog," they tolerate British institutions. We cannot blame them over much for this attitude, when we remember how miserably we have deserted our countrymen in the past; how we have left them to the tender mercies of the Dutch; how we have neglected their warnings and advice, and brought ruin and misery upon them because of our short-sightedness and stiff-neckedness. Even now the British colonist has many substantial excuses for averring that loyalty does not pay. In view of these facts it behoves Great Britain to admit frankly her past errors and to resolve, if she means to retain her hold on South Africa, to order her footsteps differently in the future. It behoves Great Britain, if she would avoid future risks of triangular disloyalty and the grave disasters, local and international, which might supervene on another period of neglect and snubbing, to trust the men on the spot. It behoves her to govern South Africa firmly, consistently, and unemotionally; to have done with Majubanimity and all its works once and for all; all folly, such as paltering with the language and education questions, whereby the sentiments and interests of loyal British colonists are flouted and ignored. Great Britain must, however, do everything that she can consistently do to bring the two European races--English and Dutch--together. If she is to do this, if England is to retain a firm grip on South Africa, we must continue strong, let it be said rather we must renew our strength here in the centre of the Empire. Within the next half-century it is probable that the last ounce of gold will have been extracted from the Transvaal's deepest deep levels. Within half that time the impending struggle of the world Powers to establish themselves in unassailable positions will have taken place. Germany is forced by an inexorable law of self-preservation to find an outlet for her commerce and her people on the seas. Every thinking German, from the Kaiser downwards, tells us as much frankly. We can see it for ourselves. She must find employment, food, and raiment for her highly prolific people, for their own land is by no means rich in natural wealth. As to Africa, our hold on it depends entirely upon the strength of our national grip. If our hand is growing flabby and listless, and, alas! there are too many indications that such is the case; if France is to gain her ends in the Mediterranean; if sentimental views in regard to the natives are to prompt us to stand idly by while such organisations as the so-called Ethiopian Church of the United States working from the south, and the emissaries of a militant Mahommedanism from the north, conspire informally to undermine their loyalty, then our days in Africa are numbered. In the last event, our hold on that continent in general and South Africa in particular depends upon character, especially the character of our ruling classes. The possibilities of this country in Africa are magnificent; but the problems to be solved, if these possibilities are to be realised, must appal and finally overcome all but the stoutest of heart. The world, and South Africa with it, will fall to the nation which breeds and sustains the best men. THE FUTURE OF THE MINING INDUSTRY BY F. T. NORRIS The future prosperity of South Africa mainly depends upon the development of her vast and indisputable gold wealth, for, albeit she possesses other resources in undoubtedly lavish abundance, the means for the utilisation of these latter are dependent, in a large measure, upon the effective exploitation of her auriferous reserves. This fact was explicitly stated by Sir David Barbour, the financial expert appointed by the Imperial Government to report in 1901 on the resources of the Transvaal, and that this impartial official opinion is echoed by all competent observers prior to and since his investigations only confirms its correctness. As to the magnitude to which the mining industries in the Transvaal may ultimately attain opinions differ, but, says this authority, and this view is confirmed by experts, it is certain that the production of gold will continue to increase largely for some years at least; that there will be a corresponding growth in the production of coal, and it is possible, and perhaps probable, that valuable mines of other minerals, and especially of diamonds, may be opened. He therefore opines that, from an economic point of view, the prospects of the future for a considerable period are quite satisfactory, and it is unnecessary to speculate as to what may ultimately happen. Public opinion on the Rand is unanimous that absolutely vital questions for the mines' future are, for the moment, labour and taxation. A comprehensive and impartial view of the circumstances of the mines must force the conclusion that such contentions are perfectly sound. Naturally, however, the dimensions of the latter factor have less weight since the reduction of the customs tariff and the previous abolition of monopolies, and, with the pending solution of the question of dynamite, the mining industry is now not only in a vastly superior economic condition than it ever was, but has been placed in a position to sustain, not without some difficulty maybe at the outset, all the prospective burdens of projected Imperial taxation. In saying "not without difficulty," the crux of the present economic situation, as looked at by the leading and responsible section of the mining industry and competent individuals at large, is touched. For the judiciousness or otherwise of the immediately heavy incidence of the share of the cost of the war, which it may be contemplated to place on the Transvaal, is what causes the present misgivings; and, with the operative capacity of 1898 still some ten to fifteen months ahead, the immediate call for heavy contributions can only act as a drag upon progress. It is with this consideration in view that the Chamber of Mines, in a recent letter to Lord Milner, asked for a delay of five years before making a first payment, in order to allow time for the industry to recover its former level, and that other authorities have also entered their protests. [Illustration: PROSPECTING FOR GOLD: PANNING A SAMPLE] The inference that an immediate and heavy increase of taxation is to be made to meet the war debt obligations may possibly be gratuitous, and probabilities confirm this supposition, for it is at issue with the Government expert's special recommendations. From this point of view, Sir David Barbour's observations are worth reciting for their direct bearing. He says: "The sound policy for the Transvaal is to so frame its system of taxation as not to increase unnecessarily the initial capital expenditure, or enhance the cost of working. I shall take it for granted that it is not intended to impose excessive or crushing taxation on either of the Colonies, or to exact such a share of their revenue as would cripple or starve the Administration. Subject to these considerations, I shall assume that any surplus of revenue over expenditure, or any special assets that the Colonies may possess, can fairly be taken towards meeting a portion of the cost of the war." Further: "If the additional taxation which I recommend ... be imposed ... it may be anticipated that after two years from the conclusion of peace that Colony will be in a position to set aside a portion of its ordinary revenue towards meeting the cost of the war. I am unable at present to form an estimate of the amount which it may be possible to set aside in this way.... On the assumption that the contribution of the Orange River Colony and the Transvaal towards the cost of the war is to be limited to the amount which they can pay without imposing excessive taxation or starving the Administration, it will be obvious from what is said in the preceding portion of this report, and especially in paragraph 62, that it is impossible at the present time to specify any definite sum as that which ought to be paid. I suggest that the Imperial Government should fix the maximum sum which, under any circumstances, they would require to be paid. Such portions of the total amount of contribution, so fixed as it may be found from time to time that the Colonies can bear, should be made a charge against them. If, in the course of time, it is found that the Colonies are unable to pay the whole sum, under the conditions as to taxation and cost of administration which I have already specified, the balance should be written off." So far as the immediate incidence of war taxation is concerned, it is therefore highly probable that the Government, who have adopted their financial expert's views almost _in toto_ with regard to fiscal reform, will do the same with regard to the levy of the war contribution. [Illustration: WASHING PLANT OF DE BEERS DIAMOND MINES AT KIMBERLEY Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen] But another phase of the same subject is revealed in the extent of the contribution which the Transvaal should be called to bear compared with that of the other South African Colonies. In the thoughts of some, tinctured still perhaps with a touch of the recent bitterness of the war, the Transvaal should bear the heaviest share; but it is to be observed that this is not the opinion of the responsible heads of the mining industry, who, while admitting the justness of assuming their proper proportion of the proposed burdens, appropriately point out that both the Orange River Colony and the Cape Colony (for a part of the latter's population) were fellow-sharers in the beginnings and the conduct of the war, and should bear a due portion of the resultant financial burdens, while Natal, it is contended, cannot fairly be allowed to escape contribution to the extent at least of the valuable Transvaal territory which has been allotted to her. Pending formal announcements of the Government's intentions--and it is to be observed a contribution from the Orange River Colony is contemplated in Sir David Barbour's report--many huge lump sums have been mentioned, which it is proposed to levy on the Transvaal alone. Such reports naturally have not only alarmed the mining industry, but disturbed the confidence of international capitalists, upon whom the future development of the wealth of the goldfields in the first place rests. The extent of the alarm which is felt is shown by the Johannesburg Chamber of Mines as a body pleading in their recent communication to Lord Milner for a "reasonable sum" to be fixed, and by the rough estimates of this sum propounded by others, as, for instance, Mr. Freeman Cohen, chairman of the Potchefstroom Exploration and Gold Mining Company, who indicates £30,000,000 as the specific figure, while Mr. Bleloch adventures the sum of £35,000,000. This last gentleman's summing up of the situation is that the mines can pay, and are willing and forward to pay, provided the incidence at the first be made light, and that the burden of the £55,000,000 estimate of the Government's financial expert be shared by the other Colonies in the proportion, say, of £5,000,000 from each, to lessen the burden on the mining industry as much as possible, especially the low-grade section, and also as a matter of equity, and he advocates in addition--to augment the disposable revenue--the levy of a 5 per cent. tax on the profits of other industries (banks, &c.), the creation of death dues and of a land tax; also the beneficial reservation to the Government of portions of each new mining field to be opened. That the whole weight of the taxation of the Transvaal should not be made to fall upon one industry is, of course, consonant with reason, policy, and equity. Pending the pronouncement of its actual intentions, and in view of the alarmist rumours which are spread about, it behoves the Government, to allay the very natural apprehensions entertained, to give an early and explicit outline of its proposals, and in this connection the projected visit of the Right Hon. J. Chamberlain to the Colonies is of the best augury. From his place in Parliament that statesman has already disclaimed, on several occasions, proposals anent the immediate imposition of heavy taxes attributed to the Imperial Government, and the probabilities are that those recently published in London are as baseless as they are vague. The dependence, to a large extent, of the development of the mining industry on the fostering and assistance, or otherwise, accorded by the existing Government is a point too painfully brought home to the Rand mining industry by past experience to need demonstration; wherefore the sound common-sense statesmanship of those now responsible for the prosperity of the Empire is a valuable guarantee that the various problems now absorbing the attention of the industry will be treated in a fair, just, and liberal manner. The Rand mining industry, at the moment, is undoubtedly in the throes of one of those periodic waves of depression incident to all great gold-mining fields, though to the Rand in a less degree than to the others, on account of the certain results which may be reckoned upon from the stable nature of its geological formation. Capital required for its development is in many cases being withheld, investors looking askance at its demands with obvious misgivings. This attitude is undoubtedly due to impatience, and disappointment that progress has not been more rapid since peace has been declared. [Illustration: THE INFANCY OF A GOLD-MINE: WINDING QUARTZ WITH A WHIM] Apparently it was assumed that only a cessation of hostilities was needed for the mines to hurry up and resume their old-time rate of production and prosperity. Such an assumption ignores the real difficulties of reconstituting a country and its industries, devastated and disorganised for three years by war, and setting up an entirely new order of things. As a matter of fact, the progress actually achieved has been marvellous, and as much, or even more, than could have been expected in like cases. It has apparently been forgotten that civil government has only within a few weeks replaced the military in the main administrative channels. The railway network of the sub-continent has only been thrown open to the free transport of merchants' goods within the past month, and the limitation of transit to the Rand, and the interior generally, is a most serious matter, by reason of the fact that the trunk railways from the coast are only single lines. For the clearance at the ports of the accumulations of mining machinery, mining stores, building materials, foodstuffs, and general merchandise, months are required, and this clearance must take place ere the railway traffic can fall back into its normal grooves. Abundance of labour, too--always a crucial question with mining operations, whether they be on the Rand, in Rhodesia, or elsewhere in the sub-continent--is, for a variety of causes, not yet available, although measures have been taken by the Government and the mining industry, acting in concert, which have placed this subject on a more satisfactory footing than it ever enjoyed. Other advances have been made in the improvement of the status of the industry, such, for instance, as the reduction of the customs duties, which enormously improve the industry's chances of future remunerative working. Some desiderata are certainly unfulfilled, such as reduced railway rates; but the instalment of reforms made affords a fair basis on which working can be resumed with admirable chances of remuneration and profit. This being so, the unreasonableness of the show of impatience that progress has not been more rapid, and the undeservedness of the distrust with which the industry is professed to be regarded in some quarters, are obvious. A sober view of the situation of the Transvaal at the present moment must undoubtedly force the confession that the amount of solid work done in solving the many problems simultaneously surging up for solution in a new colony besides mining,--repatriation, resettlement, &c.--and in rebuilding generally the body politic, is of substantial volume, and that the progress hitherto made, in removing the difficulties which beset the mining industry, are sufficient augury that whatever remains unalleviated will receive its due and satisfactory attention in the near future. In an old (1876) edition of "Chambers's Encyclopædia," under the heading of "Africa--Productions," is the statement that "It would be hazardous to assert that Africa is deficient in _mineral wealth_, though, judging from our present imperfect knowledge, it does not seem to be extremely rich." Little did the compilers of this well-known work think that, in the space of less than twenty-five years, a town of about 150,000 inhabitants would spring up as the centre of a mining country which now takes rank as the first gold-producer in the world. The gold production of the Rand to date is indeed stated to equal one-ninth of the coined gold in circulation throughout the world, while its potential reserves are probably fourfold this amount. In 1887 the United States occupied first rank among gold-producing countries, Australia being second, and Russia third, the total gold production of the world being only £18,000,000. In 1898, South Africa occupied the premier position with 28 per cent. of the aggregate world's production, and her contribution, moreover, represented only 3-1/2 millions less than the world's aggregate in the first-named year. In 1899, owing to the war, it just managed to fall short of the headship. Since its start, the Rand gold-fields have produced gold to the handsome aggregate amount of £81,000,000 sterling. On the fortunes of South Africa, the influence exerted by this stupendous accretion to its wealth is past question, for the output of £20,000,000 of gold in 1898 formed 80 per cent. of the subcontinent's aggregate exports in that year, while 68 per cent. of it was disbursed in labour, foodstuffs, mining stores, and material in the course of its winning. It is only needful to glance back at the modest proportions of South Africa's trade movement before the discovery, first of diamonds and then of gold, to recognise how much it owes to its mineral wealth, and more particularly to that of gold, for its present-day prosperity. Its populations, its cities and ports, its railway network, its multifarious industries from agriculture upwards, and its merchant firms and commercial activity have each and all been stimulated and enlarged enormously by it. As in the case of Australia and other older gold-producing countries, the output of gold, primarily from the Witwatersrand fields, has acted like a perennial stream, fructifying and rendering teemful the arid wastes, and making the very wilderness to blossom as the rose. The gold-bearing quartz-pebble conglomerate beds, called by the Boers "banket"--the discovery of gold in the outcrops of which in 1883 started the Witwatersrand mining industry--form a series of strata going down at an angle of about 30 degrees to hitherto unknown depths--over 8000 feet have already been plumbed--and extending over a tested lateral distance of more than 50 miles. [Illustration: CYANIDE WORKS (NEW COMET MINE) AT JOHANNESBURG The tailings are run into the huge vats, and the cyanide of potassium a deadly poison percolates through, and carries off the gold in solution. Photo by Barnett & Co., Johannesburg] [Illustration: SECTION OF A GOLD MINE. (Photo by Horace W. Nicholls, Johannesburg)] These beds lie in series, that particular one which contains most of the gold being called the Main Reef series, comprising the Main Reef proper and a number of subordinate reefs or bands. The thickness of the Main Reef is from 3 to 12 feet, that of the Main Reef Leader 3 feet on the average, and the South Reef thinner than the latter, but having a richer gold contents than either. These are the beds chiefly worked, the gold being disseminated throughout the matrix mainly in crystals, visible gold being only occasionally seen, but in fairly regular quantities, so that the results of working, whether in the richer or poorer reefs, are capable of being accurately forecasted. The knowledge of the nature and extent of the beds has only gradually been brought together, and is still incomplete in parts even for the 15 miles section of the Rand which has been longest under working, and discoveries are of almost daily occurrence extending the sum of information regarding their composition and incidence. In the section situated between the Langlaagte Estate Mine in the west and the New Comet in the east, one profitable mine after another follows almost without a break. The eastern and western extensions are, for the main part, still _terra incognita_; but the several mines scattered along their stretch have confirmed the identity and value of the formation, which is held by experts to warrant the belief in the existence of wealth even exceeding the Rand proper. Knowledge as to the depth to which the reefs descend has been slowest in accumulating. When the outcrops were first worked in the central section, it was believed that there was little or no gold in the lower levels. Since 1898, however, deep and yet deeper depths have been explored, especially in following the richer reefs, and always with the similar result of meeting with the same, or a superior, grade of ore contents peculiar to the higher sections of the particular reef, so that the inference is strengthened to certainty that profitable exploitation is only limited to the ultimate depth at which modern mining can be carried on. The problem, therefore, is one for the engineers; for, apart from the increased temperature in the lower levels, which can be met by roomier shafts, and the occurrence of water, which is likewise capable of being dealt with, the only difficulty to be met with is that concerned with the hoisting appliances for such enormous depths. So recently as May last the London Chamber of Mines, and more recently the Johannesburg Association of Mining Engineers, were engaged on the solution of this question. It is needless to anticipate the results of their deliberations, the point turning upon the choice betwixt two systems, only so far as to state that means for solving the difficulties of the task are considered to be available, at least, to such depths as 5565 feet on the slope, and that the results of mining at these great depths can be made to show a substantial profit. It may be added, however, that in consequence of the increased cost to reach the ore, the need for the utmost reduction of working costs becomes paramount. The circumstances of gold-mining on the Rand have, therefore, features quite distinct from those of quartz-reef, alluvial, or other kinds of mining, and approximate to those of coal winning, especially in the matter of the depth and regularity of the conglomerate formation. Its peculiarities have created a method of mining, the outcome of costly experiment, experience, and skill, which will remain a lasting asset to future ages. The future gold production of the Rand mining industry is a subject which enchains the attention alike of the investor and the curious. In approaching the subject of the unexploited gold contents of the banket formation, figures are handled which simulate the fabulous, and almost excuse the disbelief with which all such estimates are received in some quarters. Confirmation of the approximate correctness of the computations may, however, be obtained in two ways: firstly, from the past yield of the gold-fields in the seventeen years since their start; and secondly, from the verification of former prognostications which subsequent outputs have furnished. So far as regards the former, the fact of the production of £81,000,000 of gold since the start of the industry up to now, under well-known circumstances is, in the first place, proof positive that the gold exists; and, in the second, affords inferential grounds for assuming that, given at all similar circumstances, mining operations will yield like results. This is, of course, taking the lowest ground, for it is indubitable that the circumstances will not be alike, but vastly improved, in which case the value of the results will be proportionately enhanced. As to the confirmation which results from the verification which later outputs have furnished, both of the trustworthiness of the bases on which former forecasts were made and of the prognostications themselves, there may be instanced the forecasts of such early computators as Mr. Hamilton Smith, Mr. C. D. Rudd, and others. The former, in 1892, in a report on the future production of the Rand fields, made by request of Messrs. Rothschild, adventured an opinion which is worth quoting textually. He said: "With the active and energetic men who have this industry in hand, and always supposing that the foregoing theories be correct, in _three or four years from now_ the producing power of the mines and their reducing works will, I think, be increased to an output of _five or six million tons of ore per annum_, worth a gross yield of over £10,000,000. At this rate the available supply of ore, as conjectured above, will last for more than thirty years." As an actual fact, in four years from the time of his writing the above, the Rand gold yield from 69 companies working amounted to 5,325,355 ozs., the total production being of the gross value of £10,583,616; so that, far from his estimate being too sanguine or exaggerated, it was a literal forecast of the actuality. He subsequently expressed the opinion that the full producing power of the Rand would be reached by the end of the century, when the output might be expected to exceed £12,500,000 per annum. As a matter of fact the total value of gold produced in the Transvaal in 1898 was over £15,000,000, most of which came from the Rand, and, had mining operations in 1899 not been interrupted by the war, the output in that year would have reached to over £18,000,000. Mr. Smith based his estimate on a working depth of 5200 feet, and on an area of the reef only 11 miles in extent, but since his time deep mining has been successfully prosecuted to 7000 feet. Inference and analogy, therefore, both afford strong support to the correctness of estimates, based on the results of past working, of the future gold contents of the Witwatersrand reefs, which estimates, as appears, are more likely to be under-reckoned than otherwise, from the sheer immensity of the subject, and from the necessarily imperfect knowledge of the potentialities of so huge a problem. The divergencies in the several estimates made from time to time in the past of the total gold available from the Rand banket beds have in part arisen from the sheer inability of those making the estimates to anticipate the striking developments which have successively been made. So far back as 1893, 325 millions, and subsequently 450 millions and 700 millions, have been adventured by various persons. The relative moderateness of these estimates, compared with more recent ones, is due, as in the case of that of Mr. Hamilton Smith, to the under-valuation of the potentialities of deep-level mining, which are only now becoming fully apparent. One of the more recent estimates--that of Mr. Bleloch--based on working depths of 3000 to 7000 feet, and taken over an area of fifty miles, embracing the district between Randfontein and Holfontein, computes an available gold yield of £2,871,000,000 sterling, or eight times as much as the estimate of 1893. Although so enlarged, the total actually understates potentialities by being exclusive of possible discoveries beyond these limits, and also by the estimates being framed on the older ratios of gold recovery to ore tonnage, thus ignoring the application of the latest scientific methods to the treatment of the poorest ore, which would tend to enhance the results considerably. Apart from these limitations, this estimate of 2871 millions is made in the most systematic manner, from careful calculations, area by area, according to the thickness of the reefs, the tonnage per claim, and the value per ton as they have been shown from past working. The total tonnage of payable ore available is estimated at 1,378,000,000. The average gold value per ton of ore in the figures works out at 41s. 7d., but in the actuality this varies from 78s. in the richest mines down to actual loss in the least paying of low-grade ores. In these stupendous figures are included the contributions of the great deep-level mines, the growing proportions of whose contributions to the aggregate output is already becoming a noteworthy feature, while the extent of their development cannot be foreseen. Mining engineers are indeed already considering the specifications of equipments for negotiating depths deeper than 7000 feet, and even in 1899 the possibility of mining at 12,000 feet was considered. Certainly the mining of minerals in other parts of the world has shown the feasibility of operations at much greater depths than those mentioned. [Illustration: MINES ON THE LINE OF REEF AT JOHANNESBURG Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen] The ascertainment of the proximate gold contents of the Transvaal mining area leads up to the question, How and when is this stupendous wealth to be rendered available? In other words, what is likely to be the gold production in the several years from now on, and how long will this rate of production continue? or what are the chances of the early exhaustion of the mining industry? To take the last item first, it is the growing conviction of Rand mining engineers that the amount of available gold is only limited by the extent to which mining operations can be prosecuted below the surface. Mining engineers had up till recently generally agreed to fix a depth of 8000 feet as the utmost limit to which mechanical appliances and other circumstances will allow them to follow the descent of the reefs, and the available gold yield is calculated on this basis. But there is no finality in this statement of depth, and already, as we have remarked, engineers are calculating for deeper delvings, and 9000 and even 12,000 feet have been spoken of. This latter increase of 4000 feet--from 8000 to 12,000 feet--would alone augment the gold estimate by 50 per cent. For the rest, and retaining the 8000 feet limit estimate as the measure of the exhaustion of the present Rand, this is naturally controlled by the rate of production per year, which itself is dependent on the particular circumstances of the industry during the period in question. The yearly production of gold from now onwards offers no insurmountable obstacle to a fairly exact appreciation. It is merely a rule of three calculation: if in the past, under given circumstances, working results have been as follows; in the future, with the same or like circumstances, the results will be such. Various computations from time to time have been made on these bases, among the most recent being those of Mr. Cooper-Key and Dr. Hatch in 1899, Mr. Goldring and Mr. Bleloch in 1901, and quite recently Messrs. Leggett and Hatch (on 47 miles of the Rand only, and working to depths of 4000 to 7000 feet). Mr. Cooper-Key's forecast, which was made in 1899, was for the output of the three following years, the war not having then been anticipated. The basis of his calculation, like that of Mr. Goldring's, was the number of stamps or the milling power employed. If in 1898, he argued, there were in work on the Central, Eastern, Far Eastern, and Western sections of the Rand 6000 stamps, at the end of 1899 this number would probably be increased by 165, or to a total of 6165; at the end of 1900 the increase made would be 1730 and the total 7895; at the end of 1901 the total would have risen to 9845; and at the end of 1902 to 11,785. On the basis of 1800 tons milled per stamp, of an average value of £2 per ton, and with an average number of stamps of 7000, 9000, and 10,500 in the three years, the output would have been: 1900, £25,200,000; 1901, £32,400,000; and 1902, £37,800,000. Mr. Goldring, who is the Secretary of the Johannesburg Chamber of Mines, likewise framing his calculation on certain yearly increases in the milling power, calculated that in the five years following the full resumption of mining operations, 17,000 stamps would be at work, or an increase of 11,000 on the number before the war. Allowing for a fall in the grade of ore milled, in consequence of cheaper methods permitting of a lower grade of ore to be dealt with, the 17,000 stamps, he considered, would produce at least £50,000,000 sterling a year. Writing before the war, and basing his estimate on observations made by Mr. Eckstein that in five years the number of stamps in working would be 12,000, Dr. Hatch, likewise following the milling power basis, calculated for a yearly gold production of £36,000,000. Mr. Bleloch's opinion, taking the production in the nine working months of 1899 of £20,000,000 as a basis, is that the rate of production would probably double itself after the war. "If this be so," he adds, "in fifty years' time the product of the Rand will have reached over £2,000,000,000, and if such an accelerated progress is made, the whole of the vast amount now estimated may be dug out of the Rand within sixty or seventy years." The latest estimate published, that of Messrs. Leggett and Hatch, going on the basis of the average increase of production of £4,000,000 per year in the three years before the war, and that the production in 1899--a broken year owing to the war--was £19,000,000, concludes that, allowing eighteen months from January 1, 1902, for the industry to be restored to the conditions existing in August 1899, a similar increase of production will bring the output to at least £30,000,000 per annum by June 30, 1906, and if this rate of production were to be maintained from then on, the total production of £1,233,560,700 would give a life from January 1, 1902, of forty-two years and a half. But as the production will decline gradually, instead of coming to a sudden stop, the life of the industry is likely to be prolonged for some considerable number of years beyond the period indicated. If, on the other hand, the annual output should exceed £30,000,000 for any considerable period, as is, perhaps, within the bounds of possibility, this would partially offset the extension of life due to the gradual decline of production. It is to be added, in explanation of Messrs. Leggett and Hatch's estimate, that it contemplates working along a strike of forty-seven miles only, and to the restricted depth of from 4000 to 6000 feet. The following tabulated comparison of these several estimates will assist their comprehension, it being explained that Mr. Bleloch's estimate is reduced to the extent of 25 per cent. as a set-off for probably barren sections, &c.:-- +-----+--------------+----------+------------+---------------+-----------+ | | | | | Messrs. | | |Year.|Mr. Cooper-Key|Dr. Hatch |Mr. Goldring|Leggett & Hatch|Mr. Bleloch| | | (1899). | (1899). | (1901). | (1902). | (1901). | +-----+--------------+----------+------------+---------------+-----------+ | | £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | |1898 | ... | ... | 20,000,000 | ... | ... | |1899 | ... | ... | ... | 19,000,000 | 20,000,000| |1900 | 25,200,000 | ... | ... | ... | ... | |1901 | 32,400,000 | ... | ... | ... | ... | |1902 | 37,800,000 | ... | ... | ... | 15,000,000| |1903 | ... | ... |} |} | 20,000,000| |1904 | ... |36,000,000|}50,000,000 |} | 25,000,000| |1905 | ... | ... |} each year |} |} | |1906 | ... | ... |} |} |} | |1907 | ... | ... |} |} |} | |1908 | ... | ... | ... |} |} | |1909 | ... | ... | ... |} |}35,000,000| |1910 | ... | ... | ... |} 30,000,000 |} each year| |1911 | ... | ... | ... |} each year |} | |1912 | ... | ... | ... |} |} | |1913 | ... | ... | ... |} |} | |1914 | ... | ... | ... |} |} | |1915 | ... | ... | ... |} |}40,000,000| |1924 | ... | ... | ... |} |} each year| |1925 | ... | ... | ... |} |}45,000,000| |1934 | ... | ... | ... |} |} each year| |1935 | ... | ... | ... | ... |}40,000,000| |1944 | ... | ... | ... | ... |} each year| |1945 | ... | ... | ... | ... |}30,000,000| |1954 | ... | ... | ... | ... |} each year| |1955 | ... | ... | ... | ... |}30,000,000| |1964 | ... | ... | ... | ... |} each year| |1965 | ... | ... | ... | ... |}15,000,000| |1974 | ... | ... | ... | ... |} each year| +-----+--------------+----------+------------+---------------+-----------+ These several estimates are of course to be looked upon merely as approximations, and they are, moreover, not framed on exactly the same bases. They, however, agree in the main that the 1899 output of roundly £20,000,000 will be increased to some point between £30,000,000 and £50,000,000 within a few years' time, and maintained thereat, more or less continuously, for periods varying over 45 and 65 years. The production of the several estimates for the whole period gives an average of £37,000,000, which is only slightly higher than that of Mr. Bleloch, which is £35,714,285. This, consequently, is the handsome yearly output which the Rand mining industry offers in the near future--an amount which alone equals the total production of the whole world in 1897--if the circumstances are at least equal to those which previously prevailed. [Illustration: HEAD-GEAR OF THE WITWATERSRAND GOLD-MINING CO. (Photo by Horace W. Nicholls, Johannesburg)] Having advanced the question of the future of the mining industry to the extent of showing a possible gold yield of at least 2,871 millions, spread over a period of seventy years at the rate of between 37 and 40 millions a year, at a moderate estimate, it is pertinent to inquire somewhat into the efficacy of the means for securing this return, the location of anything and its appropriation being two distinct matters. As implied previously, the realisation of this huge prospective gold yield depends upon the circumstances of the industry being at least equal to those of the past. If found to be superior, the ultimate realisation will only be made the more certain. These circumstances may be conveniently classified as external and internal. So far back as the Industrial Commission of 1897 it was recognised that the essentials for the development of the Rand were reduction of taxes and economy in working. The evidence of all the prominent heads of mining groups, both English and foreign, then tendered, in the sum amounted to this. Where the circumstances of a mine are such that they can only be worked at a higher cost than their returns, or with only an infinitesimal profit, either costs must be reduced or the mine compelled to close down. In many cases a reduction of working costs of so moderate an amount as 2s. per ton means the life of a mine, and less than this spells bankruptcy. Where mines had exhausted every effort to reduce working costs, it was also contended with justice that they had established a claim for moral and material assistance on the part of the Government, where it could be properly accorded; indeed, a personal interest, so to say, attached to Government interference, in that the national revenues were jeopardised when mines failed of successful working. The assistances asked for by the mining industry, and which the Government were able to accord, are now notorious, but are worth reciting for the bearing they have on our present subject. They were fiscal reforms conducing to cheapening of labour by reducing the cost of living both for whites and natives; increase in the effectiveness of native labour by the proper enforcement of the Liquor Law, the cancellation of the local spirit monopoly, and the withdrawal of the right of free imports of spirits from Mozambique and the Orange Free State; abolition of monopolies which tended to enhance the cost of materials used in the mines, including those of dynamite, cement, &c.; reduction of rail rates, and abrogation, by arrangement, of the transit dues levied by the coast Colonies, thus lessening first and working costs of mining equipments and materials; promotion of large public works directly or indirectly affecting the mines, such as provision of adequate water supplies, construction of railways, &c.; finally, an equitable and sympathetic attitude of the Governing Power to all and every question having relation to the country's staple industry. So far as these reforms were appraisable, they were reckoned to be equivalent to a saving of not less than 6s. per ton in working costs. What practical chance there was of gaining the relief sought under the old _régime_ is shown by the futile results of the Industrial Commission's labours. [Illustration: DRIVING AN "END" IN MAY CONSOLIDATED MINE, JOHANNESBURG In some places the holes for blasting are bored by Kaffirs, but as a rule the drives are made with the use of boring machines driven by compressed air. There are few accidents underground, as the rock is so hard that there is little fear of the "levels" falling in. The chief danger is from the gas after blasting ...] But the altered circumstances of the mining industry since the war are evidenced by the reforms already consummated and under weigh, comprising among them some of the leading demands of 1897. This fact is conclusive that, so far as external circumstances are concerned, the mining industry is not only in the enjoyment of equally favourable circumstances with those existing previously, but even greatly superior. By so much, therefore, is the perspective of the gold yield to which we have made allusion assisted towards becoming a reality. [Illustration: KAFFIR COMPOUND, NEW PRIMROSE GOLD MINE, JOHANNESBURG] As regards the internal circumstances on which the progress of the mining industry depends, these are the employment of the most improved methods and means of production. They comprise the most perfected machinery and appliances, and the latest processes of metallurgical and chemical science. Speaking generally, it may be said that on the Rand at the present time are employed the most up-to-date skill and technical knowledge, and the latest devised mechanical appliances. This, by the way, is only true of individual mines however. The equipment of the mass varies greatly, and necessarily so, since the conditions of one mine differ vastly from those of its neighbour; and distant and even contiguous localities require unlike treatment, according to the nature of the ore or reef worked and other local conditions. The improvement effected hitherto is evidence, however, of the initiation and energy which have been displayed by the heads of the mining industry in the past, and an earnest for the future, while the progress achieved abides as an invaluable guide for all future mining operations in like geological formations. The knowledge of how best to treat the peculiarities of the banket reef has, however, only been slowly gained, and at the cost of much money and many unavoidable blunders. For instance, the only metallurgical operation for the extraction of gold employed up to 1889 was the stamping mill, and fine gold and amalgam were necessarily abundant in the tailings which were cast away on the spoil heap. The cyanide process, and that of the treatment of slimes, were only applied in 1891 and 1898 respectively. Their use has added millions to the yearly output of gold. The amalgamation process, the chlorination treatment of concentrates, and the use of frue vanners are other innovations gradually introduced as results of experiment and experience, and which have likewise increased the efficacy of the extractive operations. Similar progress has been shown in the improvement effected in the mechanical equipment. At first the mining operations were confined to the primitive digging of a huge trench over the site of the outcrop, with the simplest delver's tools furnished by the locality. This method has advanced to the stage of sinking shafts to the enormous depth of a mile into the bowels of the earth, equipped with the most elaborate hoisting plant, with underground equipment lit and worked by electricity, and the complementary surface establishments, at a cost running into hundreds of thousands of pounds. There yet lies before the industry the general adoption, not only of these but of other improvements which experience has shown to be desirable, such as the practice of sorting of ore, the use of heavier batteries on the score of greater economy, &c., and their utilisation is merely a question of time. As, therefore, all these improvements and betterments have been successively made, and the mining industry is only now gradually--it is not yet, so far as a large number of them are concerned--entering into the full use of them, it is obvious that future mining operations must not only enjoy the same favouring circumstances as those which enabled the huge mining output of the past, but a very much better environment, through the more general use of all those methods which experience and science have shown to be advisable. As a consequence, and in the measure of the value of these improvements, will the effective output be ameliorated from now onwards. The value of the improved circumstances of the mining industry alluded to is convertible into figures in the terms of working costs and divisible dividends. The former may be said to be the barometer of the latter. In the past, in the early days of the mining industry, when the problems of mine equipment and gold extraction and winning were only imperfectly understood, the wasteful expenditure of money on inefficient methods and appliances swallowed up in many cases every vestige of profit. [Illustration: CYANIDE WORKS. WITWATERSRAND GOLD-MINING CO. (Photo by Horace W. Nicholls, Johannesburg)] It was incidental to the first operations on the then unknown geological formation of the Rand, when the very science of the goldfields had to be created. Costs of working on the Rand are now, through the excellent system devised by the Chamber of Mines, tabulated so that the outlay of individual mines, or of the mining industry in the aggregate, may be seen at any moment at a glance. For instance, taking the record for the eight years from 1890 to 1898 inclusive, for example, the working costs ranged from 80.8 per cent. of the total value of the gold produced by eighty-five companies in 1890 down to 68.1 per cent. in 1898, the last full year before the war, the decrease showing the extent of the progress made in reducing the working costs. Simultaneously the dividends increased from 19.2 to 31.9 per cent., testifying to the close kinship with the costs factor. These figures are a general average taken over the aggregate of the mines working, and do not represent the ratios of working costs of individual mines, which differ of course according to the greater richness of the ore, the fewer difficulties to be dealt with in winning it, and the methods employed to secure the end in view. This is exemplified by the fact that in a few of the best equipped mines costs have been brought down to as low as 17s. 6d. per ton, while on others they rise to 79s. 6d. and above. The Robinson mine is a case where, despite adverse circumstances, the enlightened employment of the latest appliances of science and mechanics has resulted in reducing costs to an extremely low level. In 1888 the working costs of the mine were 72s. 1d. per ton; in 1892 they were reduced to 46s. 5d., and in 1896 to 30s. 11d. They have subsequently been reduced to a still lower figure, and this despite the fact that the ore changed from an oxidised character to a pyritic, involving greater difficulty and cost to treat. This mine was the first to introduce frue vanners, the cyanide process and the treatment of slimes, expending as much as £80,000 in the last innovation. By means of these it raised its gold extraction from 65 to 90 per cent., and gave encouragement and impetus to all mining on these fields. The latest costs published for the month of September this year of thirty-six mines in working give an average of 26s. 3d. per ton, which shows that operating charges are now at about the same ratio as they were before the war. Although so reduced, however, they are still relatively higher than they may be expected to be when the mines settle back into their normal grooves. The reason for this is that only a few mines are now working up to their full battery power, and, while costs are on the full scale, results are less, surface dumps are being drawn upon for mill service instead of the mine itself, owing to lack of full supply of labour, &c. When, however, the effects of the important fiscal reductions just made have had time to exercise their effect in reducing the cost of imported mining stores, foodstuffs, and the smaller machinery and metal goods charged by the mines to the working account, further reductions in the working costs will be possible. Of the actual money value of this per ton of ore milled, various opinions have been ventured. It has been estimated by experts that it is possible under favouring circumstances to reduce the expense of working by some 10s. per ton, at which rate ore yielding over 5.6 dwt. per ton bullion could be made to yield a profit. The importance of this not only in improving the present position of all mining undertakings, but in stimulating the low-grade mines to come into the working stage, can hardly be overestimated. With the various difficulties besetting the mining industry removed, the future working cost level should be lower than at any preceding period, taking into account the benefit of the recent fiscal reductions and other governmental assistance in prospect. [Illustration: GENERAL VIEW OF THE SURFACE WORKS OF A RAND GOLD MINE (KNIGHT'S) Showing the head-gear at top of the shaft, the stacks locating the engine-rooms. A sloping tramway will be seen leading down from the shaft-head, and iron waggons bringing the crushed ore, and taking it away to the "battery" or "mill." The waggons are driven by an endless wire rope, and discharge automatically. Beyond, in the middle distance, may be seen the huge white heap of "tailings," the waste débris after the gold has been extracted. Each mine has its own electric-light plant. Photo by Barnett & Co., Johannesburg] Allusion has been made to the probable continuation of the Rand formation beyond its present area; but, as a matter of fact, the Witwatersrand series of reefs, or an amplification of them, has been more or less proved for a distance of nearly one hundred miles to the north and south. The strike of the reefs is not uniformly continuous--in fact, the reefs are intersected by quite a numerous series of faults, and in many places they have been subjected to extensive denudation, to the extent of complete obliteration of the outcrop in places. Nevertheless at various points very remunerative mines have been established, and although, on the whole, the character of possessing a low-grade ore is attributed to these reefs, this is probably due more to the very incomplete prospecting to which the area has been subjected than to any actual lack contrasted with the better known central section of the Rand. On this subject Mr. Bleloch makes the apposite observation that "it is not reasonable to think that only the richest portions of the Witwatersrand zones have been laid open on the surface, and that the sections which remain covered are poor. It is probable that many portions of these hidden areas contain reefs, if not rich at least payable, and this may especially be hoped for in that region where the reefs are completely hidden, and at the two ends of which, where they are exposed, they are found to be payable." [Illustration: GENERAL VIEW OF SURFACE WORKS. WITWATERSRAND GOLD-MINING CO. (Photo by Horace W. Nicholls, Johannesburg)] The eastern section of this greater Rand is about 30 miles in extent, or 140 miles if the contours of the outcrops be followed. In the western section the conglomerate may be followed for 90 miles as far as Klerksdorp, when the formation swerves back to the Vaal River. So far back as 1890 gold-bearing reefs on the banks of the Vaal River were known, and identified by experts as the south-western rim of the Witwatersrand basin; but lack of railway facilities and cheap coal then precluded their profitable working. This district is now surrounded by railways, and the circumstances are so improved that the possibility of creating a new Rand in the locality is regarded as feasible by both experts and capitalists, as, albeit only low-grade ore has as yet been met with, this is properly held to be hardly a fair index of what lies below, for experience in the Central Rand has shown that the reefs often improve lower down. The recently reported "new discoveries" of reefs actually refer to this particular district. The prospect before these outlying areas of the Rand is further authoritatively confirmed by a recent report of the Commissioner of Mines, in which he observes: "While the expansion of the Witwatersrand is certain, the future of mining in the outlying districts will largely depend upon the introduction of a mining law which will give greater facilities and hold out greater rewards to the individual prospector and small capitalist." This observation is true regarding many other mining fields in the Transvaal besides that of the Greater Rand. Although in speaking of gold-mining in the Transvaal the Witwatersrand is usually meant, it must not be lost sight of that the Transvaal possesses other gold-fields of great potentialities and of older date. The De Kaap fields in the Barberton district were the object of attention before those of the Witwatersrand were discovered, and at one time bulked hugely in the public eye. Unknown reserves, both of alluvial and quartz gold, exist, those reefs of the latter which have been worked yielding in many cases a much higher ratio of gold to the ton than do the famed banket beds of the Witwatersrand. The Sheba mine in this district, a case in point, is one of the most remarkable gold mines in the world, nearly 90 feet of ore having been taken out of some stopes. The quartz reefs extend over a distance of 30 miles, mainly in the hilly districts, while the alluvium occurs in most of the river valleys. The development of the district in the past has been hampered by a number of remediable causes, chief among which are unscientific working, monopolist concessions, excessive railway and customs burdens, and general governmental neglect. With the removal of these, gold-mining here is believed by experts to offer prospects not inferior, perhaps, to those of the Rand. The recent Government proclamation throwing open the district to pegging, with the contemplated modifications in the Gold Law favouring prospectors, are earnests that this splendid mineral reserve will at last have that justice done to it which is its due. Next in importance to the De Kaap gold-fields come those of the Lydenburg district. The gold exists here in a similar quartz reef formation, with, also, unusually rich alluvial tracts; but not one-tenth of its resources are known, although since the start of the workings an output valued at £2,000,000 sterling has been achieved. A number of paying companies are at work, but the drawbacks under which the development of these fields labour are very much those which prevail on the Barberton fields. The northern gold-beds, including the Zoutpansberg, Klein Letaba, Murchison, Selati, &c., are likewise of the quartz formation, and they have been worked to a limited extent over a longer period than either of the two preceding fields. The Murchison gold-belt is particularly noticeable among these fields. The principal or southern reef, 18 inches in thickness, is said to extend for 18 miles, and to be workable down to 1000 feet, and to contain a gold contents of £25,000,000 sterling. The northern reef is estimated to be capable of producing £20,000,000 of gold. Development waits, in all these auriferous regions, primarily on the provision of railway facilities to get up machinery and mining requisites; and the extension of the Pietersburg line, which has been promised, or the completion of the long-projected Selati railway from where it left off, would be as the breath of life to the mining industry here. Two other promising mining fields, generally separately grouped but really a portion of the De Kaap system, are the Komati or Steynsdorp and the Swazieland gold-fields. The former exists on the Swazieland border, not far from Barberton, and is rightly regarded as merely an outlier of the mineral formations of that district. The numerous reefs have, however, only yielded as yet low-grade and refractory ores. The Swazieland fields have only been prospected in the north-west of that territory, but the results have shown that a considerable body of ore exists. Its gold output in 1898 totalled 8256 oz. Minor fields are those of Malmani, on the western border near Mafeking, the Pretoria quartz reefs, and the banket beds of Vryheid (the last now incorporated into Natal). The prospects of all these fields are very large, and their requirements are alike. Conditions tending to lessen the cost of working, and facilities to induce the advent of the prospector and to justify the investment of capital, will reverse in their cases the dubious records of the past, while adding immensely to the wealth of the Transvaal's gold production resources. [Illustration: PRITCHARD STREET, JOHANNESBURG Photo by Horace W. Nicholls, Johannesburg] [Illustration: MAP SHEWING THE RELATIVE POSITIONS OF THE TRANSVAAL GOLD FIELDS. _From "South Africa," by permission._] The sum of the foregoing observations is that the future of the Transvaal mining industry presents a vista of incalculable prosperity. In the restricted area of the Central Rand alone there is a treasure of at least £2,871,000,000 awaiting appropriation; and, beyond this huge sum, there are reserves in the Greater Rand which, reckoned on the basis of mileage alone, would sixfold this amount. Moreover, as the confines of the Rand reef formation have not yet been determined, should they be found to stretch into Natal and Zululand on the one hand, or into Rhodesia on the other, as recent discoveries would seem to indicate, the productive possibilities of the future are enlarged proportionately. Apart from its banket reefs the Transvaal likewise possesses huge gold reserves in its quartz reef fields in the De Kaap, Lydenburg, Zoutpansberg, and other districts to the south-east, east, and north, not to speak of the already opened and promising grounds on the extreme west, which await development when the Rand conglomerate beds are exhausted, if they do not--as in all probability they will--receive attention beforehand. The value of these resources is attested by the best of all evidence--that of actual productive yield in the past. In the matter of circumstances, means, and paying results from mining, it has been shown, and it is incontestible, that the industry now stands, in every particular, upon a much more advantageous basis than it ever enjoyed. As regards processes and mechanical appliances, the new era opens with the substantial asset in hand represented by the accumulated skill and knowledge of past painful and costly experience and experiment, so that new mines making a start may lay down their equipments with the greatest practical certainty and economy and assurance of successful results, even on low-grade properties previously deemed unremunerative. In respect of external circumstances, the conditions are already so improved, or in course of improvement, that working costs have been--and will be more so in the future, when all the beneficent proposals contemplated by the Government, and the local advantages resulting from the new order of things have had time to come into operation--lessened to the extent of yielding substantial accretions to the dividends of the already paying mines, while facilitating the development of the deeper mines, and the multitude of minor low-grade concerns hitherto incapable of profitable working. Estimates have been adventured in the earlier part of this chapter of the amount of the saving of working costs to the extent of 10s. per ton, but this is a pure approximation, and the actual outcome is likely to be twofold or more. Similarly the yield of gold per year from the Rand central district of 37 to 40 millions is only a rough estimate, the production in the future, as in the past, being likely to be much above the forecasts, taking into view the beneficent circumstances which will henceforth rule, the full appraisement of which is at present impossible. [Illustration: A MAP OF THE RHODESIAN GOLD FIELDS. _From "South Africa," by permission._] Altogether, therefore, the outlook is one of undimmed brightness, for the misgivings entertained in some quarters regarding new taxation burdens to be imposed, calculated to hamper or hinder the progress of the industry, must be allowed to have no shadow of substance. The pronouncements of the Government hitherto, and the recommendations of their Transvaal adviser, are clear on this head. Taxation will naturally have to be borne, and the tax on profits was accepted in principle by the mining industry before the war. Its incidence, whatever be the amount, will only reduce to a fractional extent that portion of the yield set apart for dividends, which will bear the burden, whatever it be, with the greater ease in view of the accretion of dividends rendered possible by the new conditions. There are, indeed, grounds for assuming that a part of the agitation on foot is lacking in singleness of aim, and engineered by persons who have some secondary object to gain. The rank and file of the mining industry, as well as the best sense of the Anglo-Saxon community, has, however, confidence in the Government that it will do nothing harmful to the best interests of the new Colonies in general, and its staple industry in particular, and, moreover, will be true to the English principle of inviting the taxed to its councils. It is in this particular light that the visit of the Secretary of State for the Colonies to South Africa has such special interest at this juncture. [Illustration: MILL (OR BATTERY) OF A GOLD MINE (SALISBURY AND JUBILEE, JOHANNESBURG) The powdered ore is washed down over the plates. The deafening roar from the stamps sounds in quiet evenings, from a distance, like the roar of the sea on a rocky coast. Photo by Barnett & Co., Johannesburg] THE AGRICULTURAL OUTLOOK BY LOUIS CRESWICKE Almost the last message of that prophetic statesman Rhodes was characteristic: "Support Milner through thick and thin," he curtly and emphatically said. It is therefore Lord Milner's opinion of the future settlement of the country which should not merely be read, but marked and learnt and inwardly digested, by all who are anxious for the development of British interests in the new Colonies, and who shrink from a recurrence of the horrible scenes of the past, which owed their origin mainly to long years of vacillation on the part of Governments that "swallowed up" the Boers at one moment only to disgorge them the next. Lord Milner, as Mr. Chamberlain has put it, "is the most effective instrument in our possession." To his subtle yet gigantic brain, to his detailed yet comprehensive labours, we are indebted for a plan out of the chaos, a practical plan by which Briton and Boer may be efficiently planted side by side on the soil for the agricultural and political well-being of the newly-acquired Colonies. It must be remembered that the agricultural resources of the conquered territory have hitherto been inadequately developed. As it was half a century ago, so it remains to-day--a pastoral country importing its cereals, its dairy produce, and even its hay from foreign parts. The motto of the Boer has never been "Forward," nor has industry been his strong point. The happy farmstead of five thousand acres which served to keep his ancestor, served also to keep him comfortably till the date of the war. Progress lay not with him but with the British settlers in the region of the Rand, or with the crafty Hollanders who pulled the wires of the misguided autocrat whose ambitious aim was to "stagger humanity." The sole appreciable advance came from Great Britain. While mining hummed apace, agriculture crept laboriously; the country, teeming with promise, remained in parts entirely barren, in others overrun by the uncombatted yellow tulip or the incango, both weeds deadly to the soil. The veldt and the karroo, say the pessimists, offer no home for the Englishman. They moreover aver that only so long as the mines hold out will the settler remain in South Africa. But there are others, Lord Kitchener and Lord Milner among them, who see in the country the latent possibility of modern North America, or, at least, a great agricultural future which will endure long after the history of the mineral districts is a closed volume. The science of irrigation in its most modern development--"the foundation-stone on which can be built the permanent prosperity of South Africa"--is capable of transforming the profitless deserts into flowering gardens and fruitful orchards which in very few years will do more than pay their way. But to properly develop any scheme requiring eternal vigilance, industry, and foresight, it is necessary that a goodly sprinkling of the enterprising British population shall be dispersed all over the land, so that not in the towns alone will the characteristics of the dominant race be maintained. [Illustration: WELLWOOD FARM IN GRAAFF REINET DISTRICT (Mixed grass and karroo veldt)] Some one has said South Africa must irrigate or perish. This may be a truism; but it is also very certain that South Africa, while irrigating, must offer homes to a leavening mass of sound and desirable British settlers before the irrigation schemes under discussion can effect the agricultural transformation which, in British hands, might speedily come to pass. The nature of this settlement and the expedition of it, from an economic, social, and political point of view, is declared by Lord Milner to be of supreme importance. A new and progressive farming population must reinforce the old; for, it is most essential "that the old condition of things shall not be reproduced, in which the race division coincided almost completely with a division of interests, the whole country population being virtually Boer, while the bulk of the industrial and commercial population was British." The three great essentials of any successful scheme, according to Lord Milner's showing, are these: it must have magnitude, it must deal with land of good quality, it must attract settlers of the right kind. In the matter of magnitude there are many and intricate questions to be discussed. Land settlement must be undertaken on a large scale else it will be politically unimportant, the Boer States will remain Boer States in all but name, and any money advanced by the British speculator will be like the talent hidden in a napkin--just a talent and nothing more, till the end of the chapter! The Government must assert its paternity; it must control, it must assist. On all sides simultaneous effort must be made to march in time with the progressive note that, once struck, must be continuously and consistently re-echoed throughout the length and breadth of the new Colonies. The best quality of land must invite the best quality of settler, though regulations must be sufficiently elastic to meet the wants of the settler with capital, and also those of the settler with little more than practical experience. They must vary, too, with the varying character of the farms. The reason for this necessity has concisely been explained by Lord Milner: "Take only the broad distinction between dry and irrigated farms, familiar to every South African. Evidently a much larger area is required in the former than in the latter, while the experience needed by the farmer would vary greatly in the two cases. In the former he would be mainly employed in stock-raising, while in the latter in the cultivation of cereals; and in favourable neighbourhoods market gardening would be the most profitable industry. Australian ranchers seem peculiarly suited to the high veldt, while the corn lands of the 'Conquered Territory' could have no better occupants than young progressive farmers from the Scottish lowlands. And there are intermediate types of farms suited to settlers of the most varied experience and resources." A rough draft of the terms on which the Orange River Colony Government proposed to offer Government land to British settlers affords an insight into the big projects that are afoot. The draft was submitted to the British Government about the middle of 1902 in order that sanction might be given to the principle of the conditions set forth. Here--abbreviated--are the conditions of lease:-- "The settler shall pay the annual rent due by him to the Government in half-yearly instalments, the first of which shall be due six months after his taking possession. The settler holding under a lease shall have the right, with the approval of the Government, at any time after the completion of his first year's tenancy, to enter upon the system of purchase by instalments, by giving three months' notice to the Government of his intention to do so before the date when his next half-yearly instalment falls due. In that case his leasehold tenure shall be held to cease from the date of the payment of such instalment, and he shall be entitled to acquire the land on the same terms as a settler taking it on the purchase system, save and except that he shall not have a year's grace before beginning to purchase by instalments, but that the first of his sixty half-yearly instalments shall become due six months after the date of his last payment under the lease. Every lease shall be for five years, but shall be renewable at the option of the settler for a further period of five or ten years." The grounds on which the Government may cancel the lease shall be the following:-- "Failure to pay in full any half-yearly instalment of rent, or any sum due in respect of advances within three months of its becoming due. "Neglect to cultivate the land in a proper and husbandlike manner to the satisfaction of the Government, or to apply any money advanced by the Government for the purpose specified. "Conviction for any criminal offence punishable by death or by imprisonment without option of a fine." The Government will be prepared to make advances to the settler for such permanent improvements as the Government may approve, such as drainage, fencing, farm buildings, tree-planting, the sinking of wells, making of roads, reclamation of waste land, or any other work calculated to permanently enhance the value of the land, provided-- "That the sum of such advances shall not at any time exceed the capital which the settler has himself expended, or can satisfy the Government that he is prepared to expend, in connection with the cultivation of the land. "That the total outstanding amount at any one time shall not exceed five times the rent of the land." All advances made by the Government in accordance with the foregoing section shall be repaid by the settler with interest at £5 per centum within ten years by twenty equal half-yearly instalments. Among the conditions of purchase it is stated:-- "The settler shall acquire the freehold of the land by paying to the Government for the period of thirty years an annual sum amounting to £5, 15s. per centum of the purchase price. This annual sum shall be paid in two half-yearly instalments of £2, 17s. 6d. per centum of such price.... If the settler affix to his holding any engine, machinery, or any other fixture, or erect a building which he is not authorised by the Government to affix or erect, the said fixture or building shall be the property of the settler and removable by him within a reasonable time after the cancellation of his contract, provided that he first discharges all debts due by him to the Government, and that after the removals he makes good any unavoidable damage thereby occasioned. The settler must give one month's notice of his intention to remove such fixture or building, and on receipt of such notice the Government may elect to purchase such fixtures or building after a valuation as provided for." During the currency of the contract of purchase the settler will not be liable to pay any quit-rent or land-tax, or to make any other payment to the Government than those provided for by the contract. But from the time of the land becoming the freehold of the settler under any of the provisions it shall be subject to any quit-rent or land tax payable to the Government, to which any other freehold land may from time to time be subject, according to the laws of the Orange River Colony. The settler shall be liable, both before and after the acquisition of the freehold, to pay any rates which may be lawfully levied on the land for local purposes, but such rates shall not, during the period of thirty and a half years from the date of the settler's taking possession under the contract of purchase, exceed 1d. per £1 per annum of the purchase price of the land. In reply to the Colonial Secretary's telegram stating his belief that the settlement of farmers from England would not be successful unless the farms were close together, Lord Milner answered: "I quite agree that farmers from home should not be isolated. But we want farms of various characters. Dry farms, as you suppose, are much in demand by Australians. I have a number of excellent applicants of this class, and could to-morrow dispose of twice as many dry farms as we possess in healthy parts of the Transvaal to selected Australasians who have served in war and have agricultural experience and some capital. Generally speaking, I do not think it desirable to encourage agricultural settlers from home. It would be better to give the first chance to the men on the spot, whether oversea colonists or yeomen. This would not permanently exclude men from home, as a long time must elapse before we can deal with some of the land we have, and I hope to go on acquiring more. But land immediately available should be offered to those already here who cannot afford to wait." Everything mainly depends on the size of the settlement scheme. To be of use it must be rapidly pushed forward with all the vigour that the Government can bring to bear on the subject. The ball, once effectively set rolling, would then move by the force of its own impetus. First some three or four thousand settlers on land acquired by Government would set the example, and quickly, round them would flock private persons from the oversea Colonies or Great Britain who, discovering that the Government meant business, would follow suit, acquire land, and settle down in British constellations, so that the sharp social and political division between town and country would cease to exist and the past state of agricultural stagnation could never return. Thus, much would be done "to consolidate South African sentiment in the general interests of the Empire." [Illustration: A FARM IN THE KARROO PROPER (A typical stone-faced earth bank of a water dam in foreground)] In regard to the quality of the land, a very small quantity of the land available in the Transvaal is suited to British settlers, and but little, though excellent, Government land is to be obtained in the Orange River Colony. In both Colonies most of the land is privately owned. Much of this land may come into the market, and many farmers may be found willing to part with a portion of their property in order to obtain capital for the restocking of the other portion. But, thinks Lord Milner, unless the Government is armed with a general power of expropriation--not necessarily for use save in emergency--it will be impossible to get sufficient land, or even to make the best use of the land we already have or may hereafter acquire by voluntary purchase. For, knowing his Boer through and through, he rightly assumes that one or two recalcitrant owners might prevent an irrigation scheme for a whole district, or otherwise obstruct the distribution of a given area into farms suitable for settlers. But, far from wishing to dispossess the Boer farmer and create a class of landless and discontented men, Lord Milner expresses his belief that it is our duty and interest to preserve the Boer as a farmer though not as a large negligent landowner. Unless land is purchased and British settlers are speedily installed, an opportunity will be lost which will never recur, and neglect of the present may endanger the future peace and prosperity of South Africa. In fact, the key to the situation, the key to the gate which will let in a steady influx of agricultural immigrants, is made up of two things--powers of expropriation and money. There are naturally many quibblers belonging to the "Foreigners' friend and Britons' foe" party who look askance at these proposals, and, indeed, at any proposals which might endow colonisation with what they call a political, but which should properly be termed an Imperial, trend. The idea of outnumbering the Dutch inhabitants seems to them preposterous--even vindictive. They would prefer the British Government and the British taxpayers, in matters connected with their own policy and their own expenditure, to be out-voiced by the inhabitants of the territory they have spent blood and treasure to conquer. But to discuss the arguments of these quibblers would be sheer waste of time and of space. Obstructions ever have their value. As the impediment in the shell of the oyster brings about the growth of the pearl, so the obstruction in the bivalve of politics has brought forth the jewel of Imperial solidarity. But it may as well be mentioned that the expropriation suggestion which also excites the ire of Radicals, is by no means an invention solely directed against the Boers in the conquered States. The precedent is to be found in the legislation of New Zealand. The Land for Settlements Act, 1894, enables the Government of that Colony, if no private agreement can be arrived at, to take land compulsorily for settlement, subject to a price fixed by valuation and a certain compensation. As regards settlers--the third great essential of Lord Milner's scheme--the future looks rosy enough. There are many who served in the war and have a right to preference, who are eager to live on the land and farm it, and who do not seek to acquire it merely as a speculation or a makeshift. Hundreds of hale and hearty fellows, men of experience and resource, men who have the pluck to succeed, and men who have the courage to challenge failure, have already offered themselves and wait patiently till their turn may arrive. Were the land forthcoming, it would not be exaggeration to say that some 10,000 and more of our fellow-countrymen would be cultivating it within the twelvemonth. NATAL The progressive mood of Natal should afford sufficient encouragement to even the most wary speculators. Here, for the purpose of attracting tenant farmers, the plan is to form agricultural settlements resembling the close colonies of New Zealand, the settlements to be planted on areas irrigated by Government works. According to Sir Albert Hime, irrigation here intensifies cultivation tenfold, and so enables a farmer to get his living off one-tenth of the amount of land that would otherwise be required, and furthermore assures his crop. Owing to the broken nature of the country, the irrigable areas are small in size and suited mainly for supporting settlements of small cultivators. Such settlements, wherever started, however, have proved unmistakably prosperous, and it only remains for the Natal Government to introduce its scheme of close settlements to the notice of the right form of emigrant in order to render the "Garden Colony" eternally rich in green things upon the earth. At present sugar-planting, thanks to the system of central mills, is in a flourishing state. The same may be said of tea-planting, which owes much to the continuous efforts of Sir J. L. Hulett, whose "gardens" are the most important in Natal. The demand for the wattle bark is on the increase. This tree (_Acacia Mollissima_), originally brought from Australia, soon became acclimatised in Natal, where there are now 50,000 acres of wattle plantation. The wattle bark is exported to England, while the tree--stripped of its bark--serves for poles which are much in demand in the Rand mines. It is said that land for wattle-growing may be purchased at from eighteen to twenty-five shillings an acre, the cost of ploughing and planting may be estimated at from thirty-two to fifteen shillings an acre. It takes some six years before cutting down can be begun, but then, the probable net profits would be nearly half the gross returns. [Illustration: A KAFFIR VILLAGE.] With the development of the Rand the demand for timber will increase by leaps and bounds, and the market for wattle bark as a tanning material will advance proportionately. As an instance of the increase in the demand for bark, it may be stated that the exports were valued at £69,850 in 1901 as against £30,929 in 1898. Elsewhere, expansion and development will be the direct result of irrigation. To those interested in South Africa, the future, whether prospectively considered or practically discussed, must hinge on the water-supply and the cunning practice of water-storage. Mr. Willcocks (now Sir William Willcocks) of the Egyptian Irrigation Department, one of the most experienced men, indeed one of the greatest experts in irrigation in the world, when asked to contribute to this volume, said "it would indeed afford him much pleasure to co-operate," but, owing to the great pressure of affairs, he could not do credit to any other work he might undertake. But his report on South Africa is so admirable an exposition of the possibilities of the country, seen from the then standpoint, that merely to quote some of its most salient features were preferable to inviting the opinion of a lesser authority. Plainly, the expert tells us that, with the exception of the south-west corner of the Cape Colony, the "conquered territory" of the Orange River Colony, and the high veldt of the Transvaal, the agricultural development of the whole country depends on irrigation. The high-lying plateau of South Africa has by its situation a rainfall suited to tropical countries, and, owing to its altitude, a climate which belongs to a temperate zone. The autumn rains of February and March, which are monsoon rains, would in a country like India be of infinite value; but followed, as they are in South Africa, by a severe and biting winter, they are of little value for agricultural purposes. The long winter and spring drought, and the uncertain summer rains, absolutely prohibit agriculture of any advanced kind. In certain favoured tracts--such as a fifth of Cape Colony, half the Orange River Colony, and two-thirds of the Transvaal--Indian corn, potatoes, roots generally, and pumpkins for feeding stock in winter, can be grown with the aid of the rainfall, and matured in all but years of heavy drought. By means of crop rotations, suitable manures, and good tillage, agricultural development of no mean value could be accomplished within a decade, especially if taken in conjunction with stock-breeding, the principal industry of the country. But, in other parts of the colonies, water comes when it is of no value, and is absent when it would be worth untold gold. To avoid this inconvenience, Mr. Willcocks says, we have only to imitate nature and impound on the surface of the ground the same water which she stores in caverns and fissures; and for instance of what even inferior water may do with the rich soil of South Africa, he gives the Kenilworth Oasis (within a few miles of Kimberley), which is irrigated by the refuse water of the diamond mines. Generally speaking, the annual rainfall is sufficient to allow of the storage of water on a very large scale. Cape Colony with the aid of its rainfall, together with the Orange River, should be able to ensure the perennial irrigation of 1,000,000 acres, the Orange River Colony of 750,000 acres, and the Transvaal of 500,000 acres in the high-lying regions and 1,000,000 in the low tracts, which tracts Mr. Willcocks recommends should be thrown open to our fellow British-Indian subjects. [Illustration: VERMONT MERINO EWES] Seeing that agriculture without irrigation is generally impossible throughout the new colonies, it must be admitted that the secret of their development lies first and foremost in the ingenious storage of water. The rainfall is like the traditional Offenbachian policemen, "when wanted, never there," and when it is not wanted it is invariably present. Therefore it is necessary for the Government to proclaim the countries themselves as arid or semi-arid, and legislate accordingly. Italian irrigation laws may be taken as a model for all arid and semi-arid countries in the possession of Europeans. The Government of Cavour decreed the rivers and torrents as public property, and, as such, the property of the Government representing the people. Ancient and vague irrigation rights standing in the way of legislation were promptly disposed of, and the Government set itself to legislate for future concessions, to which wise and strong measure modern Italy owes much of its prosperity. It is decided that all important irrigation works should be carried forth by the State, and not, as in America, by individuals or concessionaire companies, for experience shows that private enterprise has often disastrous results, because of the difficulty in realising immediate returns from the investment. The slow and sure methods of a Government in the control of the works--their construction, ownership, and administration--is the only successful method. Such works, well conceived and well executed, bring in a direct benefit to the State if allowed to develop on slow and natural lines; they also bring in indirect benefits which a State reaps from increase of wealth of every kind. With the increased demand for agricultural labour, caused by the development of the country, the poor white problem will be solved. The sole kind of manual labour which appeals to the poor white is agricultural labour, since he cannot work in competition with black labour. Mr. Willcocks considers that, in order to save the country from dropping from the height of prosperity to poverty, part of the profits of the mines should be invested in irrigation works for the permanent development of the country. "The mineral wealth of the Transvaal is extraordinarily great, but it is exhaustible, some say in within the space of fifty, others within the space of a hundred, years. It would be a disaster, indeed, for the country, if none of this wealth were devoted to the development of its agriculture. Agricultural development is slow, but it is permanent and knows of no exhaustion." After recommending the adoption of the metric system of weights and measures--which is superior to all other systems--he takes the sections of the three colonies and describes them in detail. The technicalities of irrigation must be studied separately, but the characteristics of the country are interesting to all. THE SOUTH-WESTERN CORNER OF THE CAPE COLONY The abundant winter rains render this, one of the wheat districts of the Colony, independent of irrigation in winter. The farms, in size about 2000 acres, appear too large to be profitably worked by poor farmers. Ploughing is done perfunctorily, and no rotation of leguminous crops with serials is attempted, because it is believed that there is no market in Cape Town for beans and other legumins. Mr. Willcocks suggests as a remedy the construction of an agricultural railway through this district, so that the disposal of fodder would be simplified. He also proposes the exchange of seeds between Egypt, which is rich in legumins, and the Colony, which is rich in fodders capable of existing in conditions of extreme drought. He thinks the luscious emerald burseem (Egyptian clover), grown in rotation with wheat, might stock the soil with nitrogen and possibly destroy the rust in wheat which is universally complained of. Indeed he declares that legumins might be grown with cereals all over the Colony with great benefit to agriculture. Lentils are a wholesome and sustaining fare, and beans form the principal food of donkeys and poultry in Egypt. In India horses, sheep, and cattle, Mr. Willcocks says, are fed on "gram," another lentil; and the present writer can testify to more than that, for not only do the horses fatten, but so also do the families of the native "syces" employed to take care of them! This proves that gram, if properly used, is as nourishing for the biped as for the quadruped world. But the art of using the lentil is not generally known. The lentil worked into a purée, and diluted and warmed with curry gravy, makes one of the finest adjuncts to the breakfast-table imaginable. Served hot in a sauce tureen it can be eaten with fish, hard-boiled eggs, biscuits, or any other light food which may be at hand. This sauce supplies the stamina and flavour of a meal. To return. The Wynberg district is famed for its vineyards, which, lately, have suffered through phylloxera. Much of the grape-juice is converted into the brandy that works such havoc with the natives. Mr. Willcocks proposes as an alternative the introduction of the resinous firs common in Greece for the purpose of converting the grapes into the light wines which are manufactured by the Greek farmers; but it is to be feared that the native palate, tutored to the smack of more fiery fluid, will not approve the delicate flavour of the resinato wines. In regard to the Breede River Valley, expensive river and canal works will be needed to properly irrigate the district, but these will repay the expenditure. In the Touws River Valley, in years of ordinary winter rain, good wheat crops can be grown on the alluvium of the river, which crops might be made permanent by the construction of fifteen-feet high weirs at suitable sites, and the leading off of small canals from the up-stream sides. In the karoo veldt, in the Prince Albert district, the light rainfall, together with the violent slope of the country, renders numerous irrigation schemes impossible. But the karoo bushes need and are worth development, otherwise they will in time be exterminated. Our authority gives in detail a scheme by which this development may be accomplished, and declares that if the right method of preservation were adopted, it would probably be possible to feed three sheep where one can be fed to-day. [Illustration: TEA FARM, SHOWING COOLIES PICKING Reproduced by permission from the Natal Government Collection] The Oudtshoorn district is the garden of the Cape Colony. It enjoys a splendid climate and water-supply. The speciality of the Oudtshoorn Valley is ostrich farming. The birds in thousands feed in the lucerne fields on the banks of the Oliphants River. Crops of tobacco and potatoes, orange groves, vineyards and orchards are everywhere to be seen. There are still some 70,000 acres of land in the valley capable of development by irrigation if water could be found for them--and here many schemes are possible. "Unirrigated land in the valley, on which there falls annually from seven to ten inches of rain, is worth scarcely £1 an acre; while the same land, when irrigated, is worth from £30 to £100 per acre." It is impossible here to describe the practical remedies and improvement schemes suggested; the object of quotation is merely to give on authority, a concise outline of the rich vista that has been extended before us, and the perpetual prosperity that may be secured to the South African Continent if the Government should consent to adopt the measures suggested. In the advanced farms stock are watered from tanks fed by subsoil water raised by windmills. Wherever there are no permanent springs these mills, Mr. Willcocks thinks, might be made compulsory. He says: "I have seen stock drinking from shallow pools which contained mud rather than water, and in which dead sheep were festering. It might be possible to legislate that, if a reservoir is constructed, it must be fenced round and protected from entry by stock. The reservoir dam should be pierced by a pipe discharging into a trough, from which cattle should be given to drink." This would protect the water from pollution and save the cattle from contracting rinderpest and spreading it all over the country. The farms have a general area of some 12,000 acres each, with about twelve acres of cultivated land per farm. This means about one acre of arable land to a thousand acres of pastoral land. The cultivated area is divided thus--one acre of fruit or vegetable garden to about eleven acres under wheat, Indian corn, lucerne, and oat-hay. Here, the veldt will carry one sheep--these are principally merinos--or a goat, to four acres; or one ox to sixteen acres.[10] North of Britstown the pan and vale formation begins, a formation consisting of alternate ridges of rounded dolomite hills and flat depressions which are either vales or pans. Vales have outlets for the water which collects in them, pans usually have none. Some are natural reservoirs of great capacity. The pans, when not brack, are the natural reservoirs of the country. Mr. Willcocks has shown how both pans and vales may be dealt with to the best advantage, and how the direct storage of water and the indirect storage of it should be effected. Still touring in the Cape Colony, he turned his attention to the Kat, Kabossi, Keishma, Klipparts, and other streams near the sea, which have a perennial discharge with a minimum of about 100 cubic feet per second, yet which are scarcely utilised. On this subject he reported: "The value of this water near the sea will never be appreciated till the idea is abandoned that cereals are the only crops worth growing and that manures are not necessary. The attempt to grow cereals year after year without manure and without rotation of crops has made the wheat crops so liable to rust that agriculture is discounted everywhere near the sea. Wherever perennial water of any kind can be obtained in the important stock districts of the Eastern Provinces, lucerne, at least, might be planted to the utmost limits of the water." [Illustration: PURE NEGRETTI MERINO RAM] Locusts are ubiquitous; but these in the footganger stage might be easily destroyed before they could develop into the pest they now are. Mr. Willcocks thus describes a mode of dealing with them: "At the foot of some low hills in the karoo bush I came across great numbers of the footgangers. They were jet black, and were very easily distinguished. Indeed it appeared as though some giant had just walked over the veldt and sprinkled it with great splashes of jet-black ink. If I had been a Kaffir, and had known that a reward would have been given for the location of locusts in this stage, it would have been a simple matter to have gone to the nearest magistrate and reported the appearance of the footgangers. A few men, with washing soap and water and sprays could have killed many millions in a few hours." He proposes that the States should combine and annually devote £20,000 to the extermination of these creatures before they take wing and become uncombatable. The idea is an excellent one; but the method of carrying it into effect will need to be "slim" in its strictures, otherwise the remedy, in homeopathic fashion, may be productive of the disease! In India, for instance, where several annas are offered for every deadly snake destroyed, these pests are occasionally cherished and bred as a comfortable source of income. In the Deccan, a few years since, a nest of these reptiles was discovered near the writer's bungalow, and the farming process was explained by an Anglo-Indian friend. Every dead snake being worth three or four annas, it was to the interest of the enterprising native to rear as many as possible, so that when hard up he could slay one of his "stock" and receive the coveted reward! The Aliwal North, Herschel, and New England districts lie between 4500 and 6000 feet above sea-level, and have a rainfall of some thirty inches per annum. A good Indian corn crop may be counted on every year, and wheat in five years out of six. Only a third of the cultivable area is put under cultivation, though the grasses are good and one acre can support a sheep. Agriculture is generally backward, rotations of crops and manuring being unknown. Turnips and swedes for winter feeding of stock have been raised with success. BASUTOLAND Basutoland has a better rainfall than any part of South Africa, except Natal and the south-western corner of Cape Colony. The maximum fall per annum, save in years of drought, may be put at thirty-five inches, the minimum at twenty-eight. It is nearly always sufficient to allow of wheat being sown between July and August, and reaped in December without irrigation. About one-third of cultivated land is devoted to wheat, a third to Indian corn, and a third to millets. These last are sown between the middle of September and the middle of November, and are reaped in April. No rotations of cereals with leguminous crops are practised; no manure is used. Cultivation has been going on for thirty years, and the soil is by no means as productive as it was originally. According to the authority of Mr. Willcocks, if suitable manures were employed and careful cultivation gone in for, this country with its friable soil should be eminently suitable for all root crops, such as potatoes, onions, and turnips, while beetroot would answer admirably in the valley of the Caledon River up-stream to Ladybrand, and in the main tributaries of the Caledon. The denudation of the country--owing to the numerous ravines which cut it up--is serious, and, if allowed to continue, it will mean incalculable loss. The scouring action of the water is aggravated by the fact that the Basuto villages are built on the tops of the hills. The steeps are constantly worn into tracks by the women-carriers of water from the springs, and these tracks become during the rain a series of rivulets which contribute further to the general denudation. To save the land from the fate of Palestine, which, in somewhat the same way, became denuded by hundreds of years of cultivation and intense habitation, an ingenious arrangement for planting willow and poplar cuttings in damp ravines, and wattles and aloes in the dry ones, has been described by Mr. Willcocks--a remedy which at the outset seems costly, but will finally become self-supporting. The young trees will be pollarded and produce fuel, which is badly needed in this at present extraordinarily treeless region; and it is even possible that if the ravines were filled with trees it might result in an increased rainfall during the critical months of August, September, and October. Nothing in the way of irrigation can here be done without reservoirs, and these would pay nowhere but near the important centres. But more important than irrigation, and much less costly, would be a better system of cultivation, the introduction of leguminous crops and roots in rotation with cereals. Experimental ventures by means of model farms would soon prove what were the most suitable legumins and roots for the country, and the best manures. Once initiated, the intelligent Basutos would rapidly improve upon their limited experiences; but whether they would acquire a taste for a diet of pulses, on the cultivation of which the future development of the country depends, is another matter. Patriotically, it seems reasonable to demand the education of the appetite of a people in accordance with the output of their native land. The young of a nation should be taught to acquire a taste for healthy home-grown fare, and the women-folk should be instructed in the art of manipulating it to the profit of the household. What is applicable in Basutoland is applicable all over South Africa. The urban population must assist agriculture or it cannot be made to pay. The produce of the farms must find a market at its elbow, so to say; for there can be no profits if enormous charges for rail have to be met and the farmers are thrust into competition with the American and European markets. [Illustration: A SUGAR-MILL IN NATAL (CENTRIFUGAL ROOM) Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen] "THE CONQUERED TERRITORY" The south-eastern corner of the Orange River Colony, in the region of Harrismith, Ficksburg, Ladybrand, and Wepener, is considered the best suited for European settlers. Springs are numerous. Wheat and Indian corn are the principal crops. The flour-mills on the Caledon can be worked for nine months yearly, and the land on both sides of it is full of promise to the agriculturist. Improvements in the form of weirs, &c., are suggested, by which one-fourth of the area would be insured in nine years out of ten. "It would be possible to put some 50,000 acres under lucerne; 12,000 acres, or, if necessary, the whole 24,000 acres under beetroot, for which soil, climate, and seasons are most favourable." Thus would be introduced an important sugar industry into the country. In the north-eastern half of the Orange River Colony perennial irrigation would ensure as good crops, but at a greater expenditure of water. Here the value of perennially irrigated land to land depending on rainfall may be taken as £1 to one shilling in this district, on the high veldt of the Transvaal, and in the south-eastern corner of the Orange River Colony. In the south-western half of the Orange River Colony, it may be taken as £1 to sixpence; in the Eastern Karroo as £1 to threepence; and in the Western Karroo as £1 to a penny. In the north-eastern half of the Orange River Colony the good veldt may be taken as £1 per acre, and perennially irrigated land as £20 per acre.[11] After inquiry, observation, and comparison with other countries, Mr. Willcocks' estimate of the price which could be paid for perennial irrigation is as follows: In parts which lie below 1000 feet above sea-level, situated in the arid or semi-arid region, a water-rent of £2 per annum could be easily paid anywhere near a railway. In semi-arid regions, between 1000 and 2500 feet, a water-rent of £1, 10s. could be paid. Over 2500 feet in height, £1 per acre per annum could be paid. Near important centres the rent could be higher. THE TRANSVAAL The Transvaal, for agricultural purposes, may be divided into the dolomite region,[12] the high, low, and bush veldt, and the south-eastern tracts. The most important is the dolomite region, which, roughly speaking, covers the country within lines joining Vereeniging, Heidelberg, Bethel, Pretoria, Rustenburg, Zeerust, Lichtenburg, Klerksdorp, and the Vaal River from Klerksdorp to Vereeniging--an area of about 15,000 square miles. Johannesburg's rainfall--from twenty-eight inches per annum in the east to twenty-two inches in the west--is the best in the district. Though uncertain in September, October, and November, in January, February, and March rain can always be counted on. The country generally is capable of great agricultural development, an area of some 350,000 acres being capable of perennial irrigation, in addition to the areas irrigated by the existing springs. In addition to the agricultural value of perennially irrigated land, there is the land which without the aid of irrigation can be so cultivated as to give excellent yields, for it is proved that well-manured and tilled crops need only half the rainfall that ill-manured and untilled crops require. [Illustration: ANGORA GOAT (YOUNG EWE)] In the high veldt the rainfall, taken at twenty-one inches, occurs in January, February, and March. The veldt grass will support one sheep per acre. Mr. Willcocks thinks that in this region--it is enclosed by lines drawn from Vereeniging to Heidelberg, Pretoria, Belfast, Amsterdam, Vryheid, Volksrust, Standerton, and the line of the Vaal River--it would be more profitable to thoroughly develop the unirrigated crops than to go in for perennial irrigation. The higher the altitude in South Africa the less the value of perennial water, except under special conditions. Perennial irrigation should first be confined to centres such as Middelburg, Standerton, and other towns which, with this aid, would give handsome profits. The annual trek from the high to the low veldt in winter might be dispensed with if sufficient winter food crops were grown with the aid of the rainfall, and the stock herded in winter in cattle and sheep folds sheltered by groves of blue gum or pine trees. The practice of trekking from high to low veldt in winter, is due to the fact that winter frosts kill the grass in the high veldt, and the farmers, in default of other food-stuffs for flocks, are forced to travel to the regions where frost is unknown. Naturally, the trekking results in 10,000 acres of veldt having to do the work of 5000. To double the value of their holdings in the high veldt, and save the trouble of the trek, the farmers need only to plant a few belts of sheltering trees, and cultivate roots and feeding stuff for flocks and herds. The low veldt, being well supplied with water, could finally become a possession of great value. The climate being unsuited to Europeans, the place has remained undeveloped; but the land, if set apart, might be made self-supporting, indeed a source of appreciable revenue to the country, if British Indians and Kafirs were encouraged to produce rice, tropical plants, &c., which would in no way compete with the temperate and sub-tropical crops of the European farmers in the other regions. "If," says Mr. Willcocks, "Indians and Kafirs were confined to the tropical belts, and the Europeans to the temperate belts, we should not see the absurd spectacle which we see to-day of the best parts of the temperate zones being inhabited almost exclusively by Kafirs, while the Europeans with great jealousy are keeping the Indians and Kafirs out of the tropical belts." No wholesale improvements in arid or semi-arid regions can be carried forward without land and water taxes, for individuals that are exempt might neglect to improve the land with impunity, and the State would be powerless to interfere to prevent whole regions lying waste and barren. There is said to be scarcely a part of South Africa where agriculturists cannot afford to pay £1 per acre per annum for perennially irrigated land, and the system of irrigation as put before the Government shows that this uniform rate would enable extensive projects to be undertaken everywhere with profit. Land tax is another question to be considered. Land in Orange River Colony may be considered as having a mean value of 15s. per acre. The suggested tax is 6d. per acre per annum. The effect of such tax would be to weed the country of useless landowners, and replace them by industrious and progressive farming men. On a basis of 6d. per acre per annum, the Orange River Colony could pay £300,000 per annum. In the Transvaal the dolomite region, the high veldt, and the south-eastern corner--taken as worth 10s. an acre, and taxed at 4d. per acre--would bring in annually some £350,000. As in the Orange Colony, irrigation works would add materially to the revenue. There would at first be protests from all quarters, but eventually this systematic taxation would prevent worthless landlords from accumulating property to the detriment of progressive practical men. In order to protect and improve the position of the farmers, Mr. Willcocks recommends the formation of a Bureau of Agriculture after the pattern of the Agricultural Bureau at Washington. Its representatives collect information from far and near, and of every possible kind, sending to headquarters all manner of agricultural produce. Experimental farms are started in the various states, curious seeds are sown, and if any variety proves adaptable to any particular region, the farmers are promptly provided with seed corn, and thus assisted to keep at the head of the world in agricultural production. Such a bureau in South Africa would cause its agents to import legumins from Egypt, and labour-saving machines from America, which last would halve the expenditure on watercourses and earthwork of all classes. Taken all round, South Africa with the addition of 3,000,000 acres of perennially irrigated land (gained at an expenditure of £30,000,000, and valued at £100,000,000), and also with 10,000,000 acres of land under crops depending on rainfall (which might be valued at another £100,000,000), would be a very different country from that which it is to-day. In view of this immensely rich outlook, no South African statesman should rest content with the transitory mineral wealth of the moment, or the golden glories of a possible fifty years. Irrigation, and irrigation alone, can secure permanent wealth to any part of the South African continent, and the Government that refuses to recognise the vital importance of a sufficiently comprehensive land and irrigation scheme, and that hesitates while the land is ripe for regeneration--that Government will deservedly go down to posterity as the Government of lost opportunities. [Illustration: PEELING BARK ON A WATTLE PLANTATION IN NATAL After Photo by G. W. Wilson, Aberdeen.] FOOTNOTES: [10] Interesting details regarding the important industry of wool-growing have been furnished by Mr. Allen Davison, Chief Inspector of Sheep for the Cape Colony. See the following Chapter. [11] The conditions of Vaal River irrigation differ entirely from those on the Orange River; but irrigation could be provided at an expenditure of about £10 per acre, and a water-rate of £1 per acre would pay all expenses and five per cent. capital. To avoid trouble and ill-feeling, it is suggested that the three colonies should settle their claims in the respective rivers by the Cape Colony accepting the waters of the Orange River as its property; while the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony divided the Vaal between themselves. [12] The dolomite region consists of the high plateaux on which the rain falls, of the belt of dolomite in which the water is stored and out of which the springs have their birth, and of the sandstone and argillaceous rocks over which the water flows and where it is principally utilised. Owing to displacement, the older rocks lie highest, and the younger are less in altitude. WOOL-GROWING BY ALLEN G. DAVISON _Chief Inspector of Sheep for the Cape Colony_ The Cape Colony, including the Transkeian Territories, may, from a pastoral point of view, be divided into three parts: first, the grass country of the east and south-east, 37,722 square miles in extent; second, the mixed grass and karroo, in the north, centre, and south-west, comprising an area of 57,617 square miles; and third, the karroo proper, in the west and north-west, which includes 125,747 square miles. [Illustration: FLOCK OF FAT CROSS-BRED MERINO AND FAT-TAILED SHEEP (The stone walls of the kraal are coped with cakes of "mist," or dried sheep manure)] Of these divisions the smallest in extent--the Grass Country--is the most heavily stocked, some portions carrying as many as from four to five hundred sheep to the square mile. Although the natural pasture may not compare favourably with that of other stock-raising countries, it possesses advantages which cannot be surpassed elsewhere in the Colony. The flocks grazed in this locality are, generally speaking, superior in breed, and the wool is light, clean, and well grown, commanding the highest prices realised for Cape clips. Fencing has been systematically and extensively carried out, and with but few exceptions, every farm is enclosed, and subdivided into paddocks, at a cost of from £35 to £50 per mile. Along the coast, and for some miles inland, the grass grows rank and sour, and is only eaten by stock when in the young and succulent stage. Later in the season, when the pasture becomes dry and woody, it is quite unfit for grazing purposes. In these parts merino sheep are rarely found, the ravages of a disease named Heartwater having denuded the farms of all small stock, with the exception of the common or Boer goat, which thrives fairly well, and is kept in small flocks for milking and slaughter. The soil of the grass veldt being deficient in lime, the stock naturally crave for salt, and in the northern districts farming cannot be carried on successfully without a liberal supply being provided for large as well as small stock. The grass country is, as a rule, better supplied with water than any other part of the colony, the average annual rainfall being over twenty-seven inches. There are also numerous streams and springs which rarely fail even in the most severe droughts. The mixed grass and karroo country of the central districts is especially adapted for Angora goat-farming, though at the same time merino sheep are kept in large numbers. The pasture consists mainly of sweet grasses, interspersed with karroo bushes of various kinds, and dwarf trees, among which may be mentioned the Spekboom (_Portulacaria afra Jacq_), a fleshy, round-leaved, soft-wooded tree, which is a most valuable food for sheep, cattle, goats, and even horses. The thornless species of the prickly pear (_Opuntia Tuna_) is invaluable in seasons of drought; and both the wild thorn and the mimosa tree furnish food of a nourishing and sustaining nature. In the north and south-west, Angora goats do not thrive so well, but in these localities merino sheep and Boer goats are kept in large numbers. Steek grass (_Aristida congesta R and S_) grows in many parts of the mixed veldt, and is one of the greatest drawbacks to successful farming. The seeds of this grass do not readily fall when ripe, and are thus liable to be carried away by sheep and goats in their fleeces. Many clips are seriously damaged by this seed, which mats the hair and wool into hard solid masses, and often working through the fleece pierces the skin, causing intense irritation, and in some cases even death. The rainfall varies considerably. In the north and central districts the annual average is a little over sixteen inches, while in the south-west it is almost twenty-four inches. As a rule the former portion is but poorly watered, the farmers depending to a large extent on springs and the artificial storage of water. The karroo is well adapted for Angoras, as well as goats of the common type. More than one-half the number of the Cape sheep in the Colony is found in this region, which, owing to its vast extent and low rainfall, is better suited for animals of an active and hardy nature. In the karroo the bushes are short and stunted, but they nevertheless form most excellent grazing for small stock. When dry seasons set in, the plants, although denuded of every green leaf, retain nourishment for a remarkable period; and as long as water is procurable, stock maintain their condition fairly well by feeding on the bark and dry twigs. The most valuable bushes are: the Draaibosch (_Diplopappus filifolius_); the Schaapbosch (_Penlzia virgata_); the Gannabosch (_Caroxylon silsola_); and the Vygebosch (_Mesembrianthemum spinosum_). When rain falls, the bushes shoot into leaf, and in the course of two or three weeks, what appeared to be a barren and parched wilderness, is transformed into beautiful and highly nutritious pasturage. [Illustration: ANGORA GOATS (YOUNG RAMS)] The karroo is badly watered, the farmers depending chiefly on springs, wells, and dams for their supply. Underground water is found at various depths, the average being about sixty feet. In but few cases, however, does the supply rise to the surface, which necessitates the use of windmills and pumps. The average annual rainfall is over ten inches, though in some districts it does not exceed six inches. Given good seasons, there is no part of the Colony which is healthier for small stock than the karroo, and there is certainly no portion in which sheep and goats multiply more rapidly. One severe drought, however, will often sweep away the increase of several years, and leave the farmer on the verge of ruin. Throughout the Colony but few attempts are made to supply winter feeding for stock, or to make adequate provision for times of drought. Of late years the cultivation of lucerne has been on the increase, and in the north and north-east, where the winters are long and severe, turnips are grown, and these amply repay the farmers for the labour and expense incurred. The last reliable returns of the small stock in the Colony were taken in the year 1898, since which date the disturbed state of the country has prevented the collection of statistics of any value. At the close of 1898 there were: 10,565,844 woolled sheep; 1,560,439 Cape or fat-tailed sheep; 3,039,482 Angora goats; and 2,312,052 common or Boer goats. These figures, especially as regards sheep, will no doubt show a considerable decrease when the next census is taken, for the demands of the military, and the losses incidental to war, must to a certain extent have caused a marked reduction. Merino sheep from the Royal flock of George III. were first introduced at the Cape about the year 1793, but it was not until 1838 that any real progress in breeding was made. [Illustration: FAT-TAILED HAIRY AFRICANDER SHEEP (RAMS)] Of late years Australian merinos, Tasmanian and Vermont sheep have been largely imported; and there are many flocks in the Colony which have been bred up to a very high standard. The Vermont sheep, which are close, heavily-woolled animals, possess many advantages, which, by judicious crossing, are well suited to counteract some of the defects noticeable in the flocks of this country. At the present time a very large proportion of the woolled sheep are inferior in quality, and far below the standard of excellence which every breeder of stock should strive to attain to. The Cape or fat-tailed sheep is a leggy, active animal, with a hairy skin, bred solely for the butcher. These sheep are noted for their enormous tails, which weigh from ten to fifteen pounds, although in some cases this last weight has been considerably exceeded. Being active and free from wool, the animal is peculiarly adapted for the karroo, where long distances have generally to be traversed in the search for pasture and water. The skin of the fat-tailed sheep possesses a special value for glove-making, and good, sound skins readily fetch fifty shillings per dozen, and as much as seventy shillings when the quality can be guaranteed. The Angora goat was first introduced into the Colony from Asia Minor in 1838, and crossed with the common or Boer goat, the progeny of which formed the nucleus of the Angora industry of the present day. From time to time fresh importations have taken place, the last consignment arriving in 1895-96. These goats, however, proved disappointing, and although they realised high prices, were distinctly inferior to the best goats bred in the Colony. The Angora is a delicate animal, and as the shearing season usually commences in the winter months, success in farming depends in a great measure on the provision of suitable shelter, as a protection against cold and wet weather. The common or Boer goat is a large, well-made, active, and hardy animal, which thrives in every part of the country; especially in the dry and barren north-western districts. Large numbers of these goats are sold to the butchers, the carcasses averaging from sixty to sixty-five pounds in weight. In many localities they are kept for their milking properties, on which account they are extremely valuable, since they often supply milk for household purposes when it would be impossible for horned cattle to exist. Goat-skins are largely used for tanning, and supply the farmer and his family with materials for their boots and veld schoens. Cape wool, as a rule, takes the lowest place on the principal markets, and is the first to be effected by any downward tendency in prices. There are several reasons for this unsatisfactory state of affairs. These reasons have been brought prominently to the notice of the colonial farmer, but, in spite of their importance and interest, they have not as yet received the attention they deserve. Scab, the greatest enemy that stock farmers have to contend with, is prevalent in nearly every part of the country, and has proved so destructive to the flocks and clips generally that the annual loss to the country has been estimated at from five hundred thousand to one million pounds sterling. That this disease was a source of great trouble in the early days at the Cape is very evident, for placcaats or edicts were framed, as far back as 1693 and 1740, dealing most stringently with any man who neglected the cleansing of his flocks. These placcaats, however, in the course of time fell into desuetude, and it was not until 1886 that any serious attempt was made to cope with the disease. The law passed at this time was only enforced in a small portion of the Colony, but it proved of such service, that in 1894 another Act was framed, which was proclaimed over the whole country. Owing to certain defects in this legislation, the good results which were anticipated have not been effected; but, nevertheless, some advance has been made, as evidenced in the improved quality of the wool and skins which leave these shores. Until more stringent measures for the eradication of scab are introduced, the stigma attached to the wool products of the Colony will not be removed. [Illustration: ANGORA GOAT (RAM)] In 1838 the quantity of wool exported was 490,754 lbs., valued at £26,627. In 1891 the highest figures were reached, the record being 75,520,701 lbs., of the value of £2,264,498: this in 1901 had fallen to 65,209,699 lbs., valued at £1,489,246. Mohair, the name given to the fleece of the Angora goat, is peculiarly liable to variations in price, according to the fashions which may be in vogue. On a well-bred animal the fleece should hang in long wavy locks or ringlets of white, silky, lustrous hair; and when full grown, should touch the ground. The fleeces vary in weight according to the breed of the animal, and to the class to which it belongs--oily or non-oily. From a well-bred flock of Angora ewes the mohair should average about four pounds weight per animal. In the case of rams and kapaters, or wethers, there is a considerable increase, as much as from eight to fourteen pounds being sometimes clipped. A dry climate is essential to the growth of good mohair, and therefore the karroo and mixed grass and karroo country are admirably adapted for its production. Almost all the Angoras in the Colony are the progeny of rams imported from Asia Minor, crossed with the white Boer goat; and it is probably owing to this fact that in many flocks a considerable amount of kemp, or coarse white hair, is still to be found. Even in the most favourable circumstances Cape mohair realises less than the Turkish produce by from twopence to threepence per pound; this probably being on account of the lack of brightness and spinning properties possessed by the former article. At the present time the Cape produces about one-half of the world's supply of mohair. In 1857 the quantity exported was 870 lbs., which realised £10. These figures in 1897 had increased to 12,583,601 lbs., valued at £676,644; and in 1901 had fallen to 10,813,239 lbs., of the value of £502,605. The decrease in the exports of wool and mohair for the year 1901 is no doubt due to the effects of the war and the disturbed state of the country. At present, however, the outlook is more hopeful, and there is no doubt whatever that for the progressive and enterprising farmer the future is one of great possibilities. SOUTH AFRICAN RAILWAYS BY W. BLELOCH _Author of "The New South Africa"_ South Africa is a country of magnificent distances, with the centres of industry situated at points far apart in the wide interior; the country villages are dotted about with thirty to fifty miles of brown karroo or verdant veldt in between; even the homesteads of the Boers are planted at respectful distances from each other. In such a country a comprehensive, efficient, and cheap railway system is absolutely necessary; without railways the development of trade and industry could not be pushed forward on any large scale. The great staple products of the Cape--wool, skins, and hides--could not compete with the like products of Australia and the Argentine. The diamond mines of Kimberley, which support an industrial population of about 50,000, and the great gold mines of the Rand, which at the present stage of development supply the wherewithal to live to 200,000 people, white and black, would be able to work only on a restricted basis; the greater number of the Rand mines would have to shut down, and without railways it may be said that the stimulating production of wealth in the nearly indestructible form of gold and diamonds would practically cease. To meet the requirements which the circumstances demand, a far-stretching network of railways--with wide meshes it is true--is growing over the country. Instead of the old system of ox transport and coaches drawn by mules, which ten years ago were the only means of approach to the Transvaal and Rhodesia, there are now modern freight trains, drawn by heavy-type locomotives, hauling up the vast import traffic to the Rand, and running down return loads of wool and hides from the grassy uplands of the Orange River Colony, and the barren-looking, but wide and productive, karroo plains of the Cape. There are _trains de luxe_ with corridors and platforms to enable the passenger to stretch his limbs _en route_, or sit in comfort and view the scenery as the train plods on its twenty-five or thirty miles an hour. Twelve years ago Bulawayo was the head kraal of a bloodthirsty savage, and was approached only by a few adventurous spirits who recked little of danger and less of time. The journey from the coast to the inland centre took at least three months, and now it can be visited with comfort and despatch. Without alighting from the train the traveller can enjoy his morning bath; he can breakfast, lunch, and dine; he can press a button and call for cool, liquid refreshments at any hour of the day; and he can complete his journey of 1360 miles from Cape Town to the Rhodesian industrial capital in 3-1/2 days. The Cape Town-Johannesburg journey of 1000 miles is done just within 44 hours. These results may not be considered of much account by the English or American traveller accustomed to a speed of 50 miles an hour for long distances, but South African railways have been built to suit the special necessities of the country. The gauge is only 3 feet 6 inches, and on all the lines heavy gradients have to be negotiated. The interior of South Africa is a great plateau elevated from 4000 to 6000 feet above sea-level. The edge of the plateau runs round the sub-continent at no great distance from the sea, its bold escarpments looking over the 50 to 100 miles of broken, low-lying coast lands which skirt the continent. In consequence, all the railways to the interior, within the first 100 miles from the coast, begin climbing up steep inclines cut along the sides of one or other of the few passes which admit of ascent by railway trains. Whether the journey is made from Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, East London, Durban, or Delagoa Bay, the ascent has to be negotiated. The tedium of the uphill journey is compensated to some extent by the grandeur of the scenery in these initial stages of the routes to the interior. On the Cape line there is the magnificent view of the Hex River which, like Fair Melrose, can best be seen in pale moonlight as towards morning the night train from Cape Town winds along, gradually climbing up and up above the valley lying 1000 feet below. On either side grand brown mountains rise like sentinels to guard the pass. It has often been conjectured what would have been the upshot if the Boers had marched right south and seized this pass at the beginning of the war. It would have been Colenso over again, only worse. On the Port Elizabeth line, from Coerney to Cradock, the line passes up through rugged valleys in places bright with the sub-tropical evergreen bush of South Africa, and hemmed in with massive mountains forming the broken edges of the continent. The line through Graaf Reinet negotiates similar country, as does also the line from East London through King William's Town. The ascent from Durban is the most difficult of all. Natal is formed almost wholly of great fragments of the South African plateau which seem to have broken off, and now lie in long lines of broken mountain chains running north and south. These mountain ranges lie transverse to the route of the railway, so that ascents and descents have to be made time and again before the Transvaal high veldt is gained. From Durban to Charlestown the aggregate ascent is 12,600 feet. Altitudes of two, three, four, and five thousand feet are gained _en route_ and then partially lost again. Some of the scenery on this line is of surpassing interest and beauty. Near the coast there are fruit gardens, pine and banana plantations, and orange groves, with here and there fields of pasture fenced in. Farther up, mealie fields spread along the slopes of the hills and down the valleys. Then there follow stretches of open grass country alternating with bush. Herds of cattle, fat and sleek, graze on the rich grass lands. Above Pietermaritzburg the line ascends for three thousand feet to highlands to descend again two thousand to Colenso. [Illustration: BRIDGE OVER THE TUGELA, ZULULAND EXTENSION (1330 FEET LONG) CONNECTING NATAL AND ZULULAND] The next stretch of fifty miles has become one of the historic districts of the empire. In a winding of the Tugela lies Colenso. Then Pieters Hill is climbed, and the traveller can realise the desperate nature of the task set to General Buller's army. Then come Wagon Hill and Cæsar's Camp, with Bulwan on the right and Ladysmith lying in a hollow in the centre. Beyond Ladysmith the train climbs again to Elandslaagte, and begins in a succession of gradual ascents to climb to the crest of the Drakensberg, the final climb being made under the shadow of Majuba, and through the tunnel of Laing's Nek. Once at Charlestown the high veldt is gained for good. The ascent from Delagoa Bay is easier, in that there is not the same repetition of ups and downs as on the Natal railway. The line runs through the Komati Poort, and then up the Elands River Valley, a beautiful valley indeed, but a veritable valley of death to the builders of the railway. At Waterval Onder the final steep ascent is begun, part of the way being so steep that the cog-wheel system is required. At Waterval Boven the high veldt is gained, and the main difficulties left behind. The Beira railway to Salisbury has a similar ascent to make. Having described the approaches, some idea may now be given of the railway routes on the interior plateau itself. The Cape Town line to De Aar and Kimberley after gaining the plateau traverses the Great Karroo, a monotonous stretch of several hundred miles of parched brown, barren-looking plain with isolated, flat-topped mountains, and ranges which serve to give variety, and make a scene of widespread solitude, having a melancholy charm wholly its own. This barren-looking veldt, with its sparse vegetation of stunted shrubs, supports millions of sheep and goats, and however unpromising its aspect, it plays an important part in the railway and general economy of the country. The Midlands railway from Port Elizabeth to De Aar and Norval's Pont traverses similar country, but not so arid. The Eastern railway, from East London through King William's Town and Queenstown to Bethulie, traverses more undulating country covered with grass intermixed with karroo shrub. In some districts, notably round King William's Town and Queenstown, agriculture has made considerable headway. The western line continues from Kimberley through Vryburg (British Bechuanaland) to Mafeking, and on to Bulawayo through grass-covered country, with clumps of Kameeldoorn trees, presenting in many places the appearance of an English park. This is a great cattle country, and provides considerable traffic for the railway over and above the mining traffic of Kimberley and Rhodesia. All the Cape lines connect with one another with two necks which converge at Springfontein for the Orange River Colony and Transvaal traffic. From the Orange River northwards the railways are known as the Central South African Railways. The line through the Orange River Colony runs through flat grassy plains for a distance of 300 miles: plains which, after a devastating war, still hold over a million sheep and 160,000 head of cattle. In time of peace the whole country is one monotonous scene of pastoral prosperity. On entering the Transvaal at Vereeniging--the place of the declaration of peace--the railway enters at once into the rich gold-bearing region of the Transvaal. There is a gradual rise over open country to the Rand. On every side there is evidence of great industrial activity, and at many places along the line beginnings may be seen of Transvaal agriculture, beginnings which promise a great future. The south-eastern branch of the Central South African Railways connects with the Natal line at Volksrust, and proceeds along the high veldt viâ Standerton and Heidelberg to the Rand. The high veldt of the Transvaal has an average height of 5000 feet above sea-level. It is a vast open grass country with rocky ridges rising a few hundred feet above the ordinary level. A magnificent stock country, and rich in coal, iron, and gold. On the eastern line, the Central South African line connects with the Portuguese line at Komati Poort, and passes up the Elands River Valley already described. From Waterval Boven the railway continues to ascend to the summit of the high veldt at Bergendal, near Belfast. It was here where the last big pitched battle was fought before the break-up of the Boer army into guerilla forces. The line passes along the northern limits of the high veldt _viâ_ Middelburg to Pretoria. The country it passes through is equal in stock-raising capabilities and mineral riches to the south-eastern line. There are enormous areas of coal of good quality and abundance of iron ore, and limestone sufficient for the establishment of a great industry which itself will doubtless bring about and maintain great railway expansion in the future. From Pretoria, the Pretoria-Pietersburg line, formerly a private company, now taken over by the Central South African Railways, strikes north to Pietersburg into the heart of the tropical part of the Transvaal. The country it traverses is partly flat and partly hilly, at some places thick bush and at others wide grassy plains. In the northern district there is a large population of Kaffirs who cultivate the extremely fertile soil, and produce great quantities of mealies (maize) and Kaffir corn, which products, together with timber for the mines, form the principal items of traffic carried by the railway. The Beira railway to Salisbury, originally a narrow gauge, has now been widened to the standard 3 feet 6 inches gauge of South Africa, and carries all the traffic for the Mashonaland mines. [Illustration: JOHANNESBURG MAIL TRAIN AT THE FOOT OF MAJUBA] In all, South Africa possesses approximately 5000 miles of railway, having a capitalised value, including rolling stock, of about £50,000,000, or £10,000 per mile. The three important systems are the Cape Government Railways, the Natal Government Railways, and the Central South African Railways (Transvaal and Orange River Colony). The Cape system has a mileage of 2135 miles, and in addition it works 587 miles of the Rhodesian Railways, or a total of 2722 miles. The Natal system covers 612-1/2 miles, and the Central South African system 1312 miles. In addition to these there is the Beira Railway, already briefly described, and there are also several small privately-owned railways. The three chief systems own altogether 1239 engines and 27,806 waggons, and a large but still insufficient equipment of coaches for passenger traffic. Great attention has been given and much money expended in the past two years in bringing the rolling stock up to a state of efficiency for dealing with the greatly-increased traffic anticipated on the establishment of peace in South Africa. The Central South African Railways--the State Railways now owning and working the old Free State and Netherlands systems--have almost doubled the carrying capacity of these railways. Natal had 129 engines before the war; she has now 209. She had 3101 waggons before the war; she has now 6154. The Cape railways have also largely increased their stock. The enormous traffic now being handled, more or less successfully, will justify this provident policy. All these systems make large annual profits. In its best year, 1896, the Cape Government system showed-- Total Earnings. Total Expenses. Profits. £4,078,561. £9,921,809. £2,156,752. Or £10, 7s. 6d. per cent. on the then capital of £20,799,288. This included the Free State share of profit under the then working arrangement. Deducting the Free State share, the profit was at the rate of £8, 19s. 7d. per cent. In the same year the Natal Railway showed-- Total Earnings. Total Expenses. Profits. £1,136,213, 16s. 1d. £421,989, 14s. 2d. £706,224, 1s. 11d. Or £11, 9s. 0-1/2d. per cent. on the then capital of £6,236,555. In the same profitable year the Netherlands Railway returns showed-- Total Expenses, Total Earnings. Plus Interest on Capital. Total Nett Profits. £2,903,516, 0s. 5d. £1,197,841, 18s. 8d. £1,705,674, 1s. 9d. The profits of this railway in this year equalled 59 per cent. of the total earnings. In 1901, notwithstanding the state of war, the Cape Government Railways showed-- Total Earnings. Total Expenses. Profits. £3,852,871. £2,875,571. £977,300. Equal to £4, 8s. 4d. per cent. on the then capital of £22,125,085. In the same year the Natal Railways showed-- Earnings. Total Expenses. Profits. £1,650,355, 5s. 4d. £1,159,026, 7s. 9d. £491,328, 17s. 7d. Equal to £5, 15s. 2-1/2d. per cent. on the capital of £8,528,989. Included in the Natal Railway expenses is the sum of £159,328 expended on permanent work that should have been charged to capital, which, if added to the profits as it should be, would make an actual profit for the year of £650,656, 17s. 7d. There are no returns available to show the result of working the Central South African Railways, formerly the Imperial Military Railways, during the period of the war. Nor are there any available now, but considering the past results and the great volume of present traffic, and the maintenance of the old high rates for freight and passenger fares, it may be estimated that the earnings of the Central South African Railways in the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony will probably be between £5,500,000 and £6,000,000, and the profits between £2,500,000 and £3,000,000, a very important item in the revenues of the two new colonies. [Illustration: STATION YARD, DURBAN (The Tower of the Town Hall is seen in the background)] In comparison with other railways in the British Empire the South African railways hold an important position as regards mileage, and the average earnings per mile are more than double the average earnings of several important colonial and Indian railways. The combined earnings of all South African railways working 5000 miles may be taken at £11,000,000 for the year. The Canadian Pacific Railway, working 7000 miles, earned £6,002,061. The Grand Trunk of Canada, working 4179 miles, earned £4,407,016. The Victorian Railways, Victoria, Australia, working 3238 miles, earned £3,337,797. The Queensland Railway, working 2801 miles, earned £1,316,936. The Bombay, Baroda, and Central Indian Railways, with 2764 miles, earned £3,253,866. The Great Indian Peninsular and Indian Midland Railways, with 2800 miles, earned £3,063,066. Comparing with important home railways:-- +---------------------------------+------------+------+-------------+ | | Capital. |Miles.| Earnings. | +---------------------------------+------------+------+-------------+ |London and North-Western Railways|£118,126,653| 1941 |£13,812,000 | |Great Western Railway | 84,424,177| 2645 | 11,181,471 | |Midland Railway | 170,550,931| 2019 | 11,153,792 | |All South African Railways | 50,000,000| 5000 | 11,000,000 | | | | |(approximate)| +---------------------------------+------------+------+-------------+ These figures show that South African railways make high earnings as compared even with a great railway like the Canadian Pacific, a railway serving one of the most important trade routes in the world, and traversing a rich agricultural country, with a population of 5,000,000, as compared with South Africa's 700,000 whites and 2,000,000 blacks. The Queensland railways, with more than half the mileage, earn less than one-eighth the total earned by South African railways, while the enormous traffic of the famous London North-Western, with its large capitalised value, only brings in a matter of £3,000,000 a year more than the railways of South Africa, with their moderate capitalisation of £50,000,000. This comparison should bring home to investors the excellent opening which South Africa affords for safe and profitable participation in the reasonable railway expansion the country still requires, especially is this the case with the two new colonies. Another fifteen hundred miles could well be added. These new railways would have earning capacity little inferior to the existing lines, and the present margin of profits is so wide that a substantial reduction in rates would not materially affect the prospects, because such a reduction would inevitably result in a great increase in the volume of traffic. The comparison also leads to the conclusion that the present rates are excessive. They have been maintained at their high level through the system of the Colonial Governments looking to the railways for a large proportion of the revenue. The great pivot of South African industry is the Rand, with its goldfields, and both Natal and Cape Colony have for years past taken toll on the Rand traffic, and thereby swelled their own revenues. The old Free State and Transvaal Governments in a like manner determined to fleece the industrial workers, and so save their own burghers from bearing their due share of the cost of Government. While they were the greatest sinners themselves, they could not with reason ask the southern Governments to take the first step towards moderation. As a consequence, the Rand, dependent for the most part of its food and for the whole of its industrial equipment on over-sea supplies, became one of the most expensive places to live and work in that the wide world knows. Under the new _regime_ there is as yet no improvement; the Imperial Government is looking for revenue. To the despair of British loyalists the old high rates are maintained, with the effect of delaying and perhaps prohibiting the enormous industrial progress which the wealth of the country would under other conditions make possible. All classes feel the burden, and at the forthcoming Congress of the Associated Chamber of Commerce, which will meet at Kimberley, resolutions bearing on the question are to be submitted. The first affirms: "That the railways, being the highways of the country, should be worked solely with a view to furnishing the transit and traffic requirements of the country, and entirely dissociated from the revenual, political, or protective considerations;" and "That the policy of raising revenue through excessive railway rates is an objectionable method of taxation. It is unfair in its incidence, and bears with especial hardship on the inland wage-earner." These resolutions reflect the feelings of the whole inland community of South Africa. [Illustration: COMMISSIONER STREET, JOHANNESBURG Photo by Barnett & Co., Johannesburg] The Canadian Pacific Railway, with 7588 miles open, makes a net profit of £2,620,000 on a capital of £53,000,000 as against South Africa, with 5000 miles open, and net profits of over £5,000,000 on a similar capital. The Canadian Pacific Railway makes a net profit of £371 per mile against a net profit of Natal railways of £803 per mile, and an approximate net profit of £1800 per mile of the Central South African railways (Transvaal and Orange River Colony railways). New Zealand railway returns for 1902 show net earning of £280 per mile. The through rate for ordinary goods from Durban to Johannesburg is just over 3-3/4d. per ton per mile. The rate for ordinary goods on the Central South African railways (Transvaal railways) for fifteen miles is 9d. per ton per mile; for fifty miles, 6-2/3d. per ton per mile; for longer distances, approximately 6d. per ton per mile. The average rate for goods on the Canadian Pacific Railway is only one-third of a penny per ton per mile. Were this rate charged on a ton of goods brought from Durban--the nearest colonial port--to Johannesburg, the cost would be only 13s. 6d. as against £7, 13s. 4d., the present cost; that is, the South African through rate is ten times as much as the average rate in Canada; and the Transvaal rate for ordinary local traffic of 6d. to 9d. per ton per mile is twenty times higher than the average Canadian rate. The Canadian Pacific Railway is selected for comparison, because it is a railway built to develop new and sparsely-populated territory, its special work being essentially the same as that required of the railways of South Africa. The Canadian Pacific Railway has doubled its earnings since 1895. If its policy were copied in South Africa, where the whole industrial life of the country depends on railways, enormous developments could be looked for. In South Africa it is fully realised that, until the burden of excessive railway rates is got rid of, the costs of living must prohibit any great growth of population, and without growth of population the development of the natural resources of the country can only make the slowest of progress. The people are quite willing to provide the Government with revenue, but they wish to provide it by different methods than those which obtained in the past. Owing to exorbitant fares the people of Johannesburg are practically confined within the limits of the town and its immediate suburbs. They are compelled to pay high rents. £250 to £300 a year represents the present rent for an ordinary cottage. The passenger fares on the London and North-Western are from a 1-1/2d. to 1-3/4d. per mile first, 1-1/4d. second, and fractionally under a 1d. third. A great reduction is made on season tickets. Transvaal railway fares average 3d. per mile first, 2-1/2d. second, and 1-1/2d. third, and only a small reduction is made for season tickets. With high rents and high prices for food, rendered dear by cost of carriage, the workers, in order to live, must obtain high wages. High wages mean high-working costs for all industrial enterprises. Consequently only a few industries, and only the richer mines, can be worked at a profit. Ordinary industries which can carry only moderate working costs cannot be undertaken. Judging from the results of the past six years sweeping reductions are quite possible while still allowing for a paying railway revenue. Mr. Cooper-Key has shown, that the excess profits made by the Transvaal railways alone, after providing for reasonable interest on capital at the rate of 4-3/4 per cent., were:-- For 1896 £1,162,925. " 1897 1,111,964. " 1898 928,623. For the present year the excess profits on Transvaal railways, over a 4 per cent. interest on capital, will probably amount to not far short of £1,500,000. As might be expected after a consideration of the profits and earning capacity of South African railways, important extensions of the previous system are projected and in progress. In the Cape Colony there is a project to connect Saldanha Bay, the proposed new port, with the main line _viâ_ Hopefield. A southern line _viâ_ Oudtshoorn and Willowmore will bring Cape Town in closer contact with Mossel Bay and Port Elizabeth, and open up the southern districts of Cape Colony. Another line will join the Port Elizabeth midland line with the eastern system at King Williamstown. In the Orange River Colony the projected lines are from Springfontein to Koffyfontein; from Bloemfontein to Ladybrand and Ficksburg; from Harrismith to Heilbron or Vereeniging. The line from Bloemfontein to Ladybrand is already partly built. It will open up the wheat-growing section of the Orange River Colony. In the Transvaal the most important projected lines are: A line from Fourteen Streams to Klerksdorp, providing an alternative route from the Cape Ports to the Rand. A line from Krugersdorp to Rustenburg and thence probably to Zeerust and Mafeking, opening up a valuable agricultural country. A line from Springs to Machadodorp or Ermelo, through the best coal and iron districts of the Transvaal, and providing an alternative route from Delagoa Bay to the Rand. This line would greatly relieve the congestion which exists after the high veldt is gained on the present eastern line, owing to the coal traffic and the over-sea imports having to be carried over a single line of railway. A line from Pietersburg to Leydsdorp and thence probably connecting with the Selati railway at its present terminus. There is a private company formed to build a line from Machadodorp to Ermelo, and the Government is constructing a coal line for the mines along the south of the Rand, and another alternative line from Johannesburg to Vereeniging. In Natal it is a question of doubling the present main line or of constructing another single line of railway from Greytown to the Transvaal. The first plan would be cheaper, and would give more immediate help to Natal in the competition for Transvaal traffic, while the alternative Greytown route would open up new country to railway influence, and materially add to the prosperity of the agricultural population of that section of the colony. Natal is also about to construct a line from Maritzburg to Riverside on the Cape-Natal frontier. The Cape being under promise to connect this point with their eastern system, and thus provide direct railway communication with Durban and Cape Town. In Rhodesia the line connecting Bulawayo and Salisbury is approaching completion.[13] It is possible that Gwelo, a town on the railway, will be the junction or next starting-point of the "Cape to Cairo" railway, or it may be that the route by another new line from Bulawayo to the Wankie coalfields near the Zambesi may be chosen instead. A line is in course of construction from Bulawayo to the Gwanda goldfields, and a line is proposed from Salisbury north to Lo Maghonda. Altogether over 2000 miles of new railway are projected in South Africa. In the Transvaal the new lines proposed will have a length of over 800 miles, and at least 500 miles may be considered as lines whose construction is a matter of urgent necessity. This forecast of railway development in the immediate future in South Africa means the raising and spending of another £16,000,000, £8000 per mile being about the lowest figure that can be reckoned on to build the lines and provide rolling stock. Transvaal expenditure for new railways may be estimated for the period of the next three years at not less than £6,000,000. When built, however, these railways will be sound properties, thoroughly sure as to their dividend or interest-earning capacity. Lord Milner referred in a recent speech to what he called the governmental plant which he said was required before private enterprise could get to work on making the country productive. Chief among the governmental plant so referred to are railways, but alongside of the recognition of the necessity of railways it is to be hoped that governmental recognition will also be given to the fact that to be of real use the railways must be run at cheap rates, otherwise the looked-for benefit will never come. As regards over-sea traffic, it is hoped that rates may be brought down by encouraging competition between the various railways from the coast, and the Transvaal Government has a powerful lever in its eastern line. The distance from Delagoa Bay to the Rand is only 395 miles, of which only 56 belong to the Portuguese.[14] From Durban the distance is 483 miles; from Port Elizabeth, 785 miles, and from Cape Town, 1000 miles. The Transvaal Government has the whip in hand, and it is hoped that it will use it so that all South Africa will be brought into line on the question of moderate freight and passenger rates. At present goods are pouring into the Transvaal at the rate of 21,000 tons per week, and in addition there are 8000 tons being brought up weekly for the military, but if rates are not lowered, this great railway activity will prove only transient, because it is certain that at present the internal industries are making no progress, and consequently trade must fall off. [Illustration: MAP OF THE CAPE GOVERNMENT RAILWAYS, BASED ON THE MAP ACCOMPANYING THE GENERAL MANAGER'S REPORT (_Scale = 120 English miles to an inch_)] In conclusion, a word may be said of the important part played by South African railways in the late war. A German strategist predicted that with the existing railway systems of South Africa it would be impossible to feed an army of 250,000 men in the interior of the country. Yet it was actually done, and not for a brief period only, but for nearly three years. Besides bringing the food-stuff for this host, and for the civil population besides, the railways transported guns, ammunition, horses and men up and down, back and forward as the commander-in-chief required. The magnitude of this work can be imagined when it is stated that no less than 126 trains were required for the final concentration against Delarey at Klerksdorp. The working of the railways during the war reflects the greatest credit on the managers and employées of all South African railways. It was impossible to tell when a train would run through a band of snipers, one or more of its occupants paying the penalty of death, or when the engine might be hoisted by a hidden charge of dynamite, and the machine and its drivers turned to wreckage. During the war the railway service required qualities of endurance and courage equal to those possessed by the bravest soldier in the field. [Illustration: MORNING MARKET AT JOHANNESBURG Photo by Barnett & Co., Johannesburg] SOUTH AFRICAN INDUSTRIES At present South African industries (outside of agriculture and pastoral pursuits) may be said to consist of mining and railways. The railways, in spite of heavy rates, have made a great mining industry possible. What could they do in respect of other and ordinary industries? It is a question of rates. Given recognition of the principle that railways should be the most essential part of the governmental plant spoken of by Lord Milner--plainly to be used for developing the country, and not for the use of extracting revenue to which it is at present put, not gold-mining alone, but a hundred industries would presently flourish. On the Rand there are already great engineering works contending against many difficulties, and especially the cost of labour. These works execute repairs for the mines, make castings, and even manufacture new machinery. A great future industry, which for the present is impossible on account of want of railway facilities, is the exploitation of the rich iron ores of the Transvaal. It is stated that a syndicate with large capital has been formed to undertake this work on a large scale when the conditions are favourable, and within the next few years it is probable that the Middelburg district will have smelting furnaces, foundries, rolling mills, and all the varied works of a young iron and steel industry which may eventually take a leading place in the world. Mr. Carnegie recently stated that the iron ores of Britain will be exhausted in twenty-five years, and those of the United States in sixty years. The extensive deposits of the Transvaal should last for centuries. Another possible future industry is the distillation of oil from the shales of the Eastern Transvaal and the Orange River Colony. These deposits are at present being tested, and give promise of payability. Throughout South Africa there are many flour mills. The chief works being at Port Elizabeth and Cape Town and in the wheat district of the Orange River Colony. Other industries which have found a footing, and are now making steady progress, are leather-making, boot and harness making, wool-washing, jam-making, candle-making, waggon and cart building from colonial woods. All these industries are carried on chiefly in the Cape Colony and Natal. In the Transvaal there are pottery works, a cement factory, many breweries, and one distillery. In the Cape and Natal there are also several large breweries. One great industry which has arisen, owing to the mining wealth of the country, is the manufacture of explosives. There is a large dynamite factory at Cape Town owned by the De Beers Company, and another--the largest explosive factory in the world--at Modderfontein near Johannesburg. The Modderfontein factory cost upwards of three-quarters of a million to build. The works are spread over a large area, the property comprising 5280 acres. This factory was owned by a company with German, English, and French interests, formed to work the dynamite monopoly for the Transvaal Government. The high prices it charged, and the huge profits it made, being additional direct burdens on the already overloaded mining industry, were the causes of great discontent. Since the war the monopoly has been abolished. The company is now practically a British company, and its policy appears to be to meet its customers, and gain their goodwill. Prices have been reduced by 30s. a case The prices now being: blasting gelatine, 67s. 6d.; gelignite, 50s.; and dynamite, 50s. a case, as against 97s. 6d., 87s. 6d., and 77s. 6d. respectively before the war. These prices are fair, and it is stated are just sufficient to give a margin of profit. At present in the Transvaal it is a question of allowing free competition in explosives, or of just granting sufficient protection to the existing factory to enable it to live. As the factory finds employment for nearly 3000 hands, white and black, it would certainly be a national loss if it had to shut down. In the nature of things in South Africa all classes of industrial undertakings are difficult to establish, and probably a moderate protective tariff would be beneficial to the country in the long run, as in the initial stages it would serve to turn the balance between profit and loss. Every industry successfully established adds to the white population, and is therefore to be welcomed. A policy of moderate protection then for industries, which could be fed by the natural resources of the country itself, should be carefully considered by the Government. Such a policy, together with a thorough cutting down of the present industry-killing railway rates, would go a long way to make a speedy beginning in South Africa of the great industrial activity which is sure to come eventually. FOOTNOTES: [13] The British South African Company has decided to expend £2,000,000 on railways in Rhodesia--£1,000,000 to be expended immediately for work to be completed by the end of next year, and a like sum, towards the end of 1903, will probably be sanctioned for the purpose of carrying the Cape to Cairo line north of the Zambesi to the bend of the Kafue, a distance of 300 miles. When the proposed work is carried out Rhodesia will have over 2500 miles of railway.--ED. [14] It is interesting to note that Portugal has strengthened her position in Africa by granting to Mr. Robert Williams a concession for a railway from Lobito Bay, near Benguella (in Portuguese West Africa), to the eastern frontier of the Colony. Lobito Bay is four days' journey nearer to England than the Cape, and it is described as having one of the finest harbours in the world, and accommodation for larger vessels than Delagoa Bay.--ED. HEALTH RESORTS OF SOUTH AFRICA BY ERNEST GRAHAM LITTLE _B.A., formerly Porter Scholar, of the Cape University; M.D. University of London; Member of the Royal College of Physicians; Physician, with charge of the Skin Department, at St. Mary's Hospital; Senior Assistant Physician to the East London Hospital for Children and Dispensary for Women, Shadwell; late House Physician at St. George's Hospital and at the City of London Hospital for Diseases of the Chest_ In these days, when the physical methods of treating disease are so largely supplementing, and even supplanting, the methods of what may be termed chemical therapeutics, the question of suitable health resorts is one which must engage the attention of every medical man who is anxious to do his best for his patient. The opening up of South Africa by the success of British arms will be followed shortly, it is to be hoped, by a vigorous development of the country through colonisation and the investment of capital. Thus will be afforded a new and more extended field for the employment of the natural therapeutics of climate, soil, and environment, by which to combat the advance of many insidious diseases. We English people are too prone to bend the knee to foreign Baals, who but mock us as we worship. It should be an additional pleasure to every enlightened Imperialist to think that within the borders of our own empire, in lands peopled by those who speak our own kindly mother-tongue, we may find physical conditions in every way superior to those of foreign health-resorts, which have hitherto waxed fat and become insolent in their fancied monopoly. I write with the hope that many who are ignorant of these superior advantages possessed by South Africa may be guided by these pages to make their choice of a recreation-ground more intelligently, and consequently with better results, than is at present usually the case. It is true that at the moment invalids should be dissuaded from going to South Africa while the difficulties exist of transport and maintenance of so large and so sudden an increase of population. Supposing that our railway companies had not been able to run any extra trains for the last Coronation procession in London, we should have had a picture of congestion and discomfort not unlike what is happening in South Africa at the present time. But these difficulties are but of the moment and are passing hourly. When once things have settled down a little, normal methods will prevail; and it may confidently be predicted that travelling in South Africa will become increasingly comfortable and easy as the flow of population and wealth create a demand for increased facilities. Already far nearer approximation to our standards of comfort has been made than is dreamt of by stay-at-home Englishmen. The ox-waggon is not now the usual means of covering the distance between Wynberg and Kimberley, as was apparently thought by a medical lecturer not many years ago, since he gravely advised his audience to adopt that method of transit. We have only within the last few months seen in London electric trams as good as those that have been running for some years from Cape Town to Sea Point. The voyage to South Africa is one of the pleasantest and most healthful in the world. It is in itself a powerful factor in the restoration of mind and body. There are two routes by which one can travel, the East and the West Coast routes. The East Coast route, by which Mr. Chamberlain travelled, is of recent development, and the principal steamers running on it are German (the German East Africa Company). Passengers may join the boat at Hamburg, Antwerp, Marseilles, or Naples, and the voyage is broken at Port Said, Suez, Aden, Zanzibar, Delagoa, and is terminated at Durban. It is thus an interesting itinerary, and for those who fear sea-sickness may be recommended, as the vessel is never longer than five days continuously at sea. The pleasantest months in which to travel by this route are February, March, and April. At other times it is apt to be oppressively hot. The personnel of the fleet is very obliging and anxious to promote the comfort of passengers, but the German cooking is not to the taste of all English palates. The steamers carry a German medical officer. The time occupied is about six weeks, and the fares are from £48 for first-class, from £33 for second, and from £21 for third. The West Coast service is at present practically a monopoly of the Union-Castle Company, formed by the amalgamation of the Union and Castle lines, which formerly competed for the passenger traffic. The time occupied by this service, which carries the royal mails, is much shorter, being usually about sixteen days. The fares range from 35 guineas for first, from 23 guineas for second, and from 10 guineas for third class. The voyage is exceedingly pleasant at any time of the year, and but little rough weather is met with, the worst part of the buffeting being often in the English Channel and Bay of Biscay. After leaving Madeira, which is about four days out from England, the sea is usually smooth and the weather gloriously fine. The feeding and accommodation on these steamers are comparable with those of a European first-class hotel, and all of them carry a well-qualified medical man. Latterly, some competition with these lines has been introduced, and is to be welcomed. Messrs. Bucknall Brothers, Messrs. Rennie, the White Star Company, the German East Africa line, the Shaw-Savill Company, and others are now running frequent steamers to the Cape and Natal, and their fares are lower than those of the Union-Castle line, and the comfort and speed are not much less than obtain with this service. Where, however, time and not money is the important consideration, the Union-Castle steamers must be preferred. These steamers start from London and Southampton, and call at Madeira, Teneriffe, Grand Canary, and St. Helena (not more than two of these places on each voyage). The steamers remain three or four days at Cape Town, and proceed up the east coast, calling at Port Elizabeth, East London, and finally Durban, which is the end of the voyage. For many cases of nervous break-down, so common a feature of our over-strained civilisation, I regard the Cape trip as an invaluable restorative. Persons who have had a severe attack of influenza would regain their strength more surely in a holiday spent in going and returning from the Cape than in any other way. I particularise influenza for its frequency, but the benefit is equally great in many other affections in which the nervous system especially suffers. Thus I have seen extraordinarily good results follow in a case of persistent insomnia of many months' duration. The patient completely conquered his sleeplessness during the voyage out, and was perfectly free from it on his return, and has remained exempt for years. In another instance a gentleman whose symptoms pointed to the early nervous break-down of general paralysis, recovered his faculties of mental concentration and memory as a result of a visit of a few weeks' duration. In the case of phthisical patients, whose special desiderata I shall discuss throughout this paper, it would be well for the companies to arrange, where possible, for facilities for their sleeping under cover on deck, in order to avoid the unavoidable closeness of cabins during the night. This would be a matter of no difficulty or discomfort for three-quarters of the voyage. The wants of delicate infants are met by the carriage in most of the mail steamers of a cow, so that fresh milk can be obtained throughout the voyage; but a store of milk, adequately sterilised before leaving England, may with advantage be taken with them by anxious mothers to ensure proper supplies for their infants. The milk keeps perfectly, and a couple of dozen pint-bottles will last out the voyage, and be a security against lacking this essential nourishment. The ports of arrival in South Africa are usually Durban for the East Coast routes and Cape Town for the West Coast. The health-characteristics of these ports will be discussed after a general survey of the climatic conditions of the country has been made. It is a common mistake to send patients to South Africa with no detailed instructions as to the localities best suited for individual cases, and regardless of the fact that the physiography of the country is so varied that no general statement as to the climate is possible. Two broad features, however, may be immediately distinguished, if we regard South Africa as consisting of interior highlands surrounded by a narrow, low-lying coast belt, the width of the latter varying much, but seldom exceeding fifty miles. The largest towns, with the exception of Johannesburg, are comprised in the coast-belt, the uplands being for the most part sparsely inhabited. The climate of the seaboard is further conditioned by the prevalence of currents and winds, so that towns on the east coast have a materially different atmosphere from those of the west. It will, of course, be remembered that the seasons in the southern hemisphere are exactly reversed with respect to those of the northern. For the Cape the division of the year may be made as follows:-- _Spring_--September, October, November. _Summer_--December, January, February. _Autumn_--March, April, May. _Winter_--June, July, August. In South Africa, however, the matter is complicated by the fact that the rains occur, in some parts, mostly in the winter, as in England and northern countries generally, and in other parts are strictly confined to the summer. The humidity of the air is probably the most important factor in the healthiness or otherwise of a climate for many diseases, and this point must therefore be most carefully considered. For phthisis in particular moist warmth has long been condemned as only less harmful than moist cold. Madeira and the Riviera have consequently lost much of their former vogue as suitable resorts for phthisis, on account of their high degree of humidity. It is to be earnestly desired that the claims of the highlands of South Africa to be considered the most advantageous country in the world for all but the latest stages of this disease, should become more widely known, alike to patients and physicians. A further consideration, of the highest importance to non-wealthy consumptives, is that South Africa is a new and progressive country, in which there are good prospects that the change of environment will lead, not only to restored health, but to the means of earning a livelihood as well. [Illustration: BLOEMFONTEIN Drawing by Donald E. M'Cracken] It will be necessary now to examine more in detail the special characteristics of the several regions of South Africa and their relative fitness for receiving patients and visitors. Besides the question of climate many other factors must be considered, such as the accommodation for invalids, the possibility of obtaining comfort and suitable food, and the social conditions which form, from a psychological standpoint, an important element in the treatment. To take the last point first, I would earnestly deprecate the focal accumulation of a large number of invalids, especially of tubercular invalids, in one centre; not so much because of the infectivity of such an accumulation, but because of the deplorable mental depression which results from the constant contemplation of other sufferers from this disease. Any one who has had experience of large hospitals or sanatoria for phthisis must have been struck with the undesirability, from this point of view, of the aggregation of patients. Mind and body are so inextricably mingled that the intelligent physician will attach not less importance to factors concerning the first than to those affecting the second. Let the sick man, therefore, avoid his sick fellows, when this is possible, and mix by preference with the healthy and robust. Health, like ill-health, is contagious. But when the patient's forces are too far shattered to allow of this, sanatoria become necessary. I contend still that these should be small and disseminated, rather than central and on a colossal scale. This subject will be discussed in greater detail later. Accommodation and the obtaining of creature comforts for invalids are, of course, more practicable in the towns than in the sparsely-populated country districts, but, unhappily, the towns are mostly confined to the coast-belt, which is not the healthiest part of South Africa. The variations of climate within this coast-belt are great, and are influenced, as has been said, by the prevalence of winds and rains, and sea-currents. The eastern and south-eastern parts of the seaboard have heavy summer rains; the southern and south-western parts have in the first a rainfall somewhat evenly distributed through the year, with winter rains as one approaches the west. The imaginary approximate line between the summer and winter rains would divide the southern coast in the longitude of Grahamstown. West of this line the rainfall may be said to vary between ten and twenty-five inches; east of this line it is uniformly above the latter figure. The mean humidity of the coast-line is about 75 per cent. It may be said at once that for this reason none of the coast districts, as regards climate, is an advantageous resort for all-the-year-round residence for phthisical patients, but that the seaboard having winter rains is _ipso facto_ less suitable than that in which the rainfall is chiefly in the summer months. It is unfortunate that hitherto many circumstances have conspired to make the English visitor in search of health reluctant to live out of the towns, though these are often by no means the most suitable places for him. Political dissension between the two great occupying races has been the bane of South Africa and especially of the Cape Colony. It has come about that the progressive English have settled in the towns, while the unprogressive Dutch have kept tenaciously to the country. As a corollary from this, it is still the reproach of South Africa that, outside of a few towns, it is impossible to obtain good accommodation for the traveller, and still less for the invalid. It is earnestly to be hoped that the wider knowledge of the country, consequent upon the attention which has been concentrated upon it during the war, will lead to a large immigration of settlers who, eschewing the goldfields, will be content with the securer, if less considerable, competence to be obtained from agriculture, and will thus develop the country. It was a very wise and far-seeing plan of the late Mr. Rhodes to settle energetic English farmers in the midst of a stagnant Dutch district, and it is desirable in every way to break up the hard-and-fast racial division which has made so permanent an impress on the land. But this must be a matter of time, and for many years it must remain true that in the precious search for health the English invalid must be content to live in the midst of an alien majority, sometimes bitterly antipathetic to all things English. An even more important reason for keeping to the towns is that owing to the devastation of cattle caused by rinderpest and red-water, food, especially fresh meat, milk, and butter, has become dear and difficult to procure. To sum up, it may therefore be said that to the seriously ill, who are incapable of roughing it in any sense, the coast lands, though as regards climate not so satisfactory as the upper plateaux, are the only possible resource; but the sick man who is not yet so sick as to be laid up, is urged to quit the coast as soon as possible, and to take up his abode in the higher plains. HEALTH RESORTS IN THE COAST-BELT Cape Town, the capital of the Cape Colony, is the usual terminus of the voyage from England. It lies at the foot of Table Mountain, on the shores of Table Bay. Though an ugly town, it has natural surroundings of great beauty, and its suburbs are picturesque in the extreme. It has an excellent water-supply derived from Table Mountain, but its drainage is bad and the death-rate excessively high for a position of such natural advantage. Living is dear and at the present time exorbitant, owing to the large influx of persons wishing to go up to the goldfields, and unable to proceed on their way by reason of the congestion of the railway and the impossibility of finding house-room at their ultimate destination. The hotels are for the most part expensive, and leave much to be desired as regards cleanliness and comfort to the traveller fresh from Europe. There are numerous boarding-houses which are often comfortable and well managed, and in which the charges are about £12 per month for each person. The city itself, however, is not a pleasant place to live in, and most of the business community have houses in the suburbs, retaining only offices and shops in the town. The pleasantest residential district within the metropolis itself is the part called "the Gardens," at the top of Government Avenue, a fine shady walk not open to wheeled traffic, with a double row of oak trees on each side, some of them planted by Governor Van der Stell, between 1679 and 1699. The magnificent Parliament buildings, Government House (the residence of the High Commissioner), many of the Government offices, the Public Library and Museum, the South African College, are all in close proximity to this part of the town. The library contains the most notable collection of books to be found in any of our colonies, including, as it does, the great Grey collection and the Dessinian bequest. It is particularly rich in literature dealing with South African history. There is a large native quarter where the Malays congregate. It is overcrowded and insanitary to a degree, and contributes conspicuously to the high death-rate. The residential suburbs, which are very healthy, stretch east and west of the town, and are connected with it by rail and electric car. The former are the more fashionable, and have become familiar to English readers during the past three years. Rondebosch, in which is Mr. Rhodes's house, Groot Schuur (bequeathed to the High Commissioner), is five miles out. Claremont, a couple of miles eastward, has a large and excellent sanatorium which was of great value to the military. Wynberg, a mile further east, has a military hospital, and is a particularly healthy and pleasant district. It has an excellent independent water-supply. The Government wine-farm, Constantia, which gives the name to the well-known Cape liqueur, is situated in the neighbourhood. The suburban railway is continued to the east, passing by Muizenberg and Kalk Bay, favourite seaside resorts for holiday-makers, and terminating at Simonstown, the headquarters of the Cape and West Coast Imperial naval squadrons. To the west of the bay lie the suburbs of Green and Sea Point, separated from the town by a large expanse of flat open land adjoining the sea, and called "the Common," upon which a large military camp was located during the war. The fresh Atlantic breezes blow directly across the Point, and this is one of the healthiest spots on the coast-belt. A magnificent new road, the Victoria Road, has been made along the sides of the precipitous slope forming the western edge of the Cape peninsula, as far as Houts Bay. From this there is an inland carriage-drive to Wynberg. The Victoria road a little resembles, but is far more magnificent than, the celebrated Corniche road in the French Riviera. The late Lord Carnarvon, when he visited South Africa in 1887, called this "the finest drive in the world." January, February, and March are the hottest months of the year in Cape Town. The mean maximum temperature for these three months is 80°. June, July, and August are the coldest, with a mean maximum of 62°, and a mean minimum of 49°. Clothing as for the English summer and winter respectively is recommended, but it must be remembered that even in summer the nights are cool, a drop of over 20° between midday and evening temperatures being common. The mean humidity is 79. Fruit in the Cape peninsula is plentiful and good--grapes, oranges, tangerines, peaches, apricots, nectarines, strawberries, plums, apples, quinces, melons, pears, pomegranates, grenadillas, loquats, figs, guavas, tomatoes, are all procurable in season. The flora of the Cape peninsula is one of the most interesting in the world. Over 10,000 varieties of heath have been described as occurring in this small area. Mr. Chamberlain should be interested in the _Disa grandiflora_, the celebrated orchid to be found only on the summit of Table Mountain. It is well to give a caution as to the prevalence of venomous snakes which abound in the Cape peninsula and South Africa generally. The cobra and the puff-adder are the most dangerous of these fearsome things. A celebrated South African authoress has confided to me that her habit of looking at her feet when walking, a habit upon which she received much banter in Europe, was derived from her early timidity of snakes. Cautious observation of one's tread in tramping across the Cape plains is very necessary, and many fatal accidents have been due to carelessness in this respect. The visitor is strongly urged to carry with him on any such expedition a hypodermic syringe and a supply of Calmette's "Antivenene," which may be obtained from the British Institute of Preventive Medicine. Calmette's experiments go to show that the venom of all species of snakes and of scorpions is of a similar nature. His serum is obtained by the inoculation of horses with the poison of the cobra. The remedial injection should be made immediately upon the occurrence of the bite. The serum keeps well for months if retained in a cool dark place. The dose is about five cubic centimetres of the serum, to be injected hypodermically. It is curious that this late observation of modern science should have been in a measure anticipated by the natives, who have been accustomed for many years to eat snakes and swallow their venom, with a view to render themselves immune to the bites of these reptiles. An infective sore, occurring mostly on the hands and feet, is often contracted in walking on the veldt in South Africa, and it has been called veldt-sore. Its bacteriology has lately been thoroughly worked out, and it appears to be due to a specific micro-organism, though Professor Wright, of Netley, claims it to be the ordinary microbe of suppuration. I have had personal experience of this small ailment, and can vouch for the discomfort and intractability of the sore thus produced. Free drainage of the wound and antiseptic dressings are recommended. Another note of warning may be fitly included here. Domestic service being performed almost entirely by natives, it is often necessary to entrust young children to their care. Unhappily, venereal diseases are exceedingly common among the coloured population. I have seen deplorable instances of the infection of young children with gonorrhoea and syphilis derived from their native nurses. These should, therefore, be selected with the utmost circumspection. Durban, the second most usual termination of the voyage from Europe, is the seaport of the Colony of Natal. Cape Town and Durban have the distinction of being the only ports in South Africa at which landing can be effected direct from the ocean-steamers. The hottest months are January, February, and March, with a mean maximum of 84°, and a mean humidity of 76 per cent. Its dry season is the winter, and it is at its best then, and is a favourite winter resort for residents of Johannesburg, from which it is only twenty-four hours by rail. From April to September, bright, clear, sunny weather may be expected, and the climate is exceedingly enjoyable. The town is one of the most English in South Africa, and its hotels, boarding-houses, &c., are good, but woefully deficient in number for the present influx of settlers. Houses are extremely difficult to procure, and building is very expensive. The recent working of important coalfields near Durban has increased its value as a port and coaling station. The water-supply is ample and excellent, being derived from rivers several miles from the town, and being passed through filter-beds before distribution. A modern drainage system is approaching completion, and the town is being supplied with electric lighting. Mangoes, pine-apples, bananas, and custard apples are plentiful, in addition to many of the fruits previously enumerated as growing in the Cape Colony. There are large sugar and tea plantations in the vicinity, and rice, coffee, pepper, and tobacco are cultivated with success. To sum up, it may be said that although the summer humidity and heat make it not well suited for phthisical patients, the town is in the winter months one of the healthiest in South Africa, and one of the most progressive and pleasant to live in. Port Elizabeth, the third most important of the coast-towns, is not to be recommended as a permanent residence for invalids. Its rainfall is more evenly distributed through the year, and the humidity, which is remarkably constant, is about 75 per cent. The variations in summer and winter heat are also within a small range; the highest mean temperature for summer being 75°; the lowest mean for winter 48°. But the winds are trying, and render it unsuitable for invalids. Uitenhage, a small village three-quarters of an hour's run from Port Elizabeth, is far healthier, and is rapidly becoming a favourite suburb. It has an exceptionally good water-supply. In the near neighbourhood are the largest vineyards in the Eastern Province. These three towns may serve as types of the climatic conditions to be met with on the south-western, southern, and south-eastern coast-line respectively. It must be again emphasised that climatically none of the coast resorts are as beneficial for phthisis and chest affections generally as the uplands; but that other factors render them at the present time, and for the immediate future, the most suitable resorts for the seriously ill. And though climatically they are not the best that South Africa can afford, they are, nevertheless, better than most of the European resorts that have hitherto been frequented. For they all afford more prolonged sunshine, and purer air, and are more exempt from the infectivity of overcrowding than is the case with the fashionable recruiting places of Europe. But it is to the highlands of South Africa that we eventually look with confidence as promising the maximum of benefit, which will be available as soon as the difficulties of food and accommodation and social environment are adjusted. From the coast-line a series of terraces rise to the northward, with extreme regularity on the western three-fourths, with less uniformity on the eastern fourth of the southern continent, as far as the Zambesi. Four terraces may thus be distinguished, and are divided as follows:-- 1. The coast plateau comprising the land within fifty miles of the coast, and reaching a level below 1000 feet. 2. The Southern Karroo, the plateau between the Outeniqua and Langenbergen mountains to the south, and the Zwaartebergen to the north. Level from 1000 to 1500 feet. 3. The Great or Central Karroo, the plateau between the Zwaartebergen range to the south, and the Nieuwveld and Roggeveld to the north. Height between 2000 and 3000 feet. 4. The Northern Karroo, stretching north to the Orange River at a level of 4000 feet and over. The Transvaal and Rhodesia, though not commonly included as within the Karroo districts, are high tablelands with similar altitudes, and may be described under this heading. The climate of the coast plateau is similar to that of the seaboard, and much need not be added to the description given under that heading. Visitors to the higher plains of South Africa must be warned to go not unprovided with warm clothing, and to be careful of evening chills. The fall of temperature as night comes is very great. It has been observed that chills which in England usually result in nasal catarrh, in South Africa take the form of intestinal catarrh, and most visitors experience this discomfort soon after arrival. In the Southern Karroo is situated the important health-resort of Ceres, much frequented by the residents of Cape Town, from which it is distant only 84 miles. It is a pretty little Dutch town, 1700 feet above sea-level, with picturesque surroundings. It has a small sanatorium under very competent medical supervision. The water-supply is derived from mountain springs, and is very pure. The climate is drier than that of the coast plateau, and its ease of access from Cape Town enables supplies to be readily brought up. Being within the line of winter rains it is not recommended for phthisical patients in other than summer months, but during the latter, which may be taken as extending from October to March, the phthisical patient could live and sleep in the open air in properly-constructed sanatoria. It is much to be desired that further accommodation of this kind should be supplied, as Ceres forms a comfortable halting-place, where the phthisical patient may with advantage spend a few weeks on his road to the higher plateaux, and it would be an invaluable resort for delicate persons whom physicians are obliged to send out of England during the English winter, a time at which Ceres would be at its best. Grahamstown, though not properly in the Southern Karroo, is at nearly the same level, 1700 feet, as Ceres, and may be considered here. Its rains occur mostly in the summer, and it is consequently more to be recommended as a winter resort. It is one of the prettiest towns in South Africa and one of the most English, and it vies with the capital in educational facilities. It is best reached from Port Elizabeth, from which it is 100 miles by rail, but the journey occupies nine hours. Its climate is remarkably equable but somewhat damp. It has a public library, second only to that of Cape Town, and a magnificent museum. Sport is still to be procured in the neighbourhood, and the society is more cultured and intellectual than is the case in many colonial towns. It has long enjoyed the sobriquet of the "City of the Saints," and is a pleasant and healthy place for family settlement, the schools being numerous and excellent. It is not, however, so well adapted for the presence of sanatoria for phthisis as many other districts in South Africa, owing to its humidity. The Great or Central Karroo and the Northern Karroo may be considered together, as they have very similar climates, differing only in the greater height of the northern plateau with the consequent influences on temperature and dryness. It may be said to offer a crescendo of advantage as the elevation increases. Here is probably to be found one of the most perfect climates in the world for tuberculosis, and one of the most healthy and invigorating. I would defy the most miserable hypochondriac alive to remain uncheerful on a bright sunny day on these glorious uplands. His struggle to remain lugubrious would be as hopeless as Mr. Thompson's after his second glass of port, even when that gentleman's deference for Sir Austin Feverel urgently required the effort. Something of the same exhilaration may be felt in the higher Swiss altitudes, but unaccompanied by the vivifying influences of the sun. Sunshine and pure air, it must be remembered, are the strongest bactericidal agents known. Mr. Clinton Dent, lecturing at St. George's Hospital, gave expression to his astonishment at the surgical triumphs of healing, which he attributed to pure air, achieved under his observation during the war. The dryness, and consequent clearness, of the air are remarkable, and indeed incredible to the northern European. This feature explains the inferior shooting of our soldiers on their first arrival in South Africa; they would invariably sight their rifles too low, their targets being, in fact, far more distant than seemed possible by reason of the clearness. And this dryness makes it possible to tolerate extremes both of heat and cold which without this factor would mean serious discomfort. [Illustration: THE MORNING MARKET AT KIMBERLEY Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen] In fact, the moist warmth of our English summers is infinitely more oppressive and less easily borne than the far higher temperatures, but tempered by comparative absence of moisture, which prevail in the Karroo. The rarity of sunstroke throughout South Africa is a clinical observation which establishes the truth of the statements just made. In the records of a military hospital in the Northern Karroo during the months from August to April, including therefore the hottest time of the year, out of 3000 medical cases not a single instance of sunstroke was noted. The experience gained in this hospital has an additional value from the circumstance that the gifted physician, the late Dr. Washbourn, was the observer, and some of the results he records may be more eloquent than many pages of description. Of the medical cases (nearly 3000), 546 were enteric, 379 dysentery, 296 muscular rheumatism, 258 malaria, 187 "continued fever," 152 diarrhoea, 93 jaundice, 70 tonsilitis, 71 influenza, and only 43 bronchitis and chest affections. Dr. Washbourn acutely remarks, "From this list it may be roughly concluded that the air in South Africa is good; the food bad." It will be noticed that intestinal diseases form more than a third of the total. The dysentery was probably due to faulty ingesta and not to the specific organism usually associated with dysentery, since amoebæ coli could not be found in the stools. Malaria occurs only in limited areas in the northern Transvaal and parts of Rhodesia; the Karroo proper and the coast-belt are entirely free. The causation of malaria is now so well understood that it must yearly become a more and more preventable disease. But the great outstanding features of the list, the prevalence of intestinal diseases, the absence of respiratory troubles, merit closer examination. The intestinal diseases, under which the muscular rheumatism, (caused by toxines), the jaundice, and much of the continued fever, must be included, are due to ingesta, _i.e._ food and water. The difficulty of obtaining good food, and the absence of sanitation which is the main cause of the impurity of the water, are the obstacles which must speedily be overcome in order to make the second feature assume its proper value in the treatment of disease. The rainfall is everywhere adequate for the supply of pure water, but this must be properly stored and kept from contagia. The interesting experiments which Dr. Vivian Poore has made on the subject of rural hygiene are convincing as to the possibility of disposing of excreta with complete security to health, and material profit to the community, without the necessity of abundant water. He has found that in the dry-earth system of closets, followed by the application of the excreta to the soil and their superficial burial in the humus, with subsequent tillage, a perfectly successful system of drainage is obtainable. In an acre and a half of ground he has for many years disposed of the excreta of a hundred persons, and the crops he has raised upon this land have yielded a profit of £50 per annum per acre. It appears to me fortunate therefore that most of the South African towns (except on the coast) have not yet adopted the costly and wasteful methods of destruction of sewage which are the fashion of the moment and which entail an immense loss of water. An intelligent application of very simple methods, within the reach of the smallest community or of the largest town, will ensure proper destruction of excreta, increased fertility of soil, and security against contamination of water--the latter being by far the greatest danger in South Africa. The supplying of food is intimately bound up with the conservation of water. The soil of the Karroo is astonishingly fertile when watered, and irrigation should be widely adopted. In places where this has been done the most satisfactory results have been obtained. At Matjesfontein, for example, a small oasis in the midst of the dry Karroo has been created within recent years by intelligent methods of irrigation. It is to be hoped that more energetic and progressive settlers will ultimately, as farms change hands under the financial stress of the war, tackle these difficulties with modern methods of agriculture. When it becomes possible to obtain fresh food-stuffs at moderate cost, the country will be ripe for the multiplication of sanatoria and places of reception for invalids and visitors. The type of sanatorium to be recommended for phthisical patients is still much debated. The essay of Dr. Latham and Mr. West, of St. George's Hospital, who have lately won the King's prize, offered for the best solution of this question, will be published within a few weeks, and may go some way towards settling the model to be adopted. At the present time only a few sanatoria exist in South Africa, and it will be well to devote a few words to the localities in which they are to be found. Beaufort West, on the northern main line from Cape Town, and Cradock, on the northern main line from Port Elizabeth, are old-established health-resorts which offer fair accommodation for invalids. They are of nearly equal altitude, some 2800 feet, and are both in possession of a good water-supply. Their moderate elevation and ease of access from the coast render them particularly suitable for advanced cases of phthisis who are too ill to travel farther north, and for asthma and cardiac affections. Howick, on the main north line to the Transvaal from Durban, altitude 3500 feet, was much used as a convalescent military base during the war, and is a popular health-resort with adequate invalid accommodation. It has a good all-the-year-round climate, but is particularly recommended for the winter, which is its rainless season. Estcourt, a little farther north on the same line, is some 300 feet higher, with much the same climate. It has a sanatorium. Standerton, 5000 feet, near the Natal-Transvaal border, and on the Durban line, has a bracing winter climate, and is then much frequented by Johannesburg residents, anxious to escape the dust-storms of the Rand. Wakkerstroom, 6000 feet, a few miles east of Standerton, is an advancing health-resort, which has a sanatorium. It is best adapted for cases of early phthisis. Its altitude contra-indicates it for persons with heart affections. Middelburg, 4000 feet, in the Great Karroo, on the Port Elizabeth line, has a sanatorium, and opportunities of accommodation in farms in the neighbourhood. It has a summer rainfall, and is therefore more especially to be recommended as a winter resort. Kimberley, altitude 4000 feet, on the Great Northern Plateau, is the fourth largest city in South Africa, and is entirely unique in this, that it may be described as being run by a benevolent despotism, that of the De Beers Company, who own the diamond mines. This company has built at its own cost the best sanatorium in South Africa. The fierce heat and the dust-storms render it somewhat trying as a permanent residence. Bloemfontein, 4500 feet, in the Northern Karroo, the capital of the Orange River Colony, has long been a favourite resort for phthisical patients, and has a well-deserved reputation for the extreme dryness of its climate. It has summer rains of short duration but very heavy while they last. Its mean humidity is 58. December, January, and February are the hottest months, with a mean maximum of 85.° It has very fair hotel-accommodation at prices much lower than those ruling in Johannesburg, and has sanatorium establishments. It is on the main line of railway from Cape Town, from Port Elizabeth, and from East London. It has a good water-supply, and should become a most successful centre for the treatment of many pulmonary affections. The principal drawback to its healthiness is the prevalence of dust-storms in the late winter months. Johannesburg, 5700 feet, in the great northern plateau of the Transvaal, is the largest and busiest town in South Africa, and cannot, for these reasons, be recommended as a health-resort; moreover, for some time to come the scramble for accommodation and the general roughing that results must keep away all but the most active and robust. But it is in a very healthy position, and enjoys a splendid climate for ten months of the year. The later winter months (July and August) are spoilt by the severe dust-storms, and the wealthier Johannesburg residents usually leave it during these months. It is the centre towards which all railways converge, and may be reached from Cape Town (in 45 hours by mail train, once a week; in 60 hours by the ordinary daily service), from Port Elizabeth in 43 hours; from Durban in 24 hours. It has summer rains in heavy downpours, with clear, fine weather between the showers. The healthiest parts of Johannesburg are the Hill and Parktown, which are fashionable suburbs. There are numerous hotels, which at the present time are very expensive; a single room with board cannot be had under 25s. a day; servants' wages are high, from £6 to £10 per month; food-stuffs are dear and difficult to procure; fresh meat is unobtainable, all supplies being imported frozen; eggs are 11s. a dozen; milk 1s. a pint; house-rent, for a six-roomed house, averages from £20 to £30 a month. These details are mentioned to give the intending visitor warning what he may expect at the present moment; and the great rush which is continuing will doubtless keep up the prices and lack of accommodation, so that for a considerable time to come Johannesburg is a place for the delicate and the ill to avoid. Pretoria, the official capital of the Transvaal colony, is 30 miles north of Johannesburg, but it is 1760 feet lower, and is sheltered and shut in by mountains, which render it a pleasant resort from Johannesburg in its windy months. The winter climate is delightful. The sanitation, both of Johannesburg and Pretoria, is very imperfect and bad, and enteric and dysentery are in consequence very prevalent. Pneumonia is one of the scourges of Johannesburg, probably owing to the frequency of chills, the variation in temperature from the heat of the day to the cool of the evening being very great--as much as 70° at times. Water is not too plentiful, and there are seasons of scarcity which increase epidemic disease. Basutoland has been called the Switzerland of South Africa from its beautiful mountain-scenery. It is, however, not open to invalids, or indeed to travellers, owing to its being still a native reserve. Harrismith, 5250 feet, in the Orange River Colony, is probably the nearest available health-resort to Basutoland, and is an excellent place for consumption in earlier stages. A sanatorium is being provided. It is easily reached from Durban. I have known a case of phthisis with repeated hæmoptysis to be arrested by a visit of six months to Harrismith. Rhodesia is, as has been said, a continuation of the elevated tableland of the great northern plateau, and its climate is very similar to that of the higher Karroo, with the exception that malaria is found in some parts of the country, and is not present in the Karroo. The country is on the whole healthy, but is as yet too undeveloped to receive invalids. THE SPAS OF SOUTH AFRICA There are numerous mineral-springs in the country, but they remain for the most part but little used, and there is here an excellent opportunity for future development. A few words upon some of the better known of these may be useful. Caledon, altitude 900 feet, 80 miles from Cape Town, is the best known and most developed watering-place in South Africa. A line of railway, connecting it directly with the Cape main-trunk line, has just been completed. Its reputation dates from the times of the earliest Dutch occupation. It has ferruginous springs, both hot and cold, which offer a most successful treatment for gout, rheumatism, anæmia, and cardiac diseases and renal insufficiency. There is excellent and increasing accommodation in connection with the springs. The climate is very pleasant, and especially to be recommended in summer, as being drier than the coast towns, though within such a short distance of Cape Town. The rains are in the winter. Brandvlei, near Worcester, 100 miles from Cape Town, has some very hot sulphur-springs which have not yet been much used. Montagu, altitude 750 feet, near Robertson (140 miles by rail from Cape Town), has some hot mineral-springs which have been used with success in rheumatism and skin diseases, and there is an "établissement des bains" under progressive management. Aliwal North, 4500 feet, on the Orange River, best reached from East London, may be compared to the Swiss watering-place, Loêche, in the combination of hot sulphur-springs with a great altitude. The baths are excellent for rheumatism and skin diseases, and good accommodation is procurable. The climate is a delightful one, with short summer rains and bright dry winter. The altitude is unfavourable for cardiac affections, but good for phthisis, and this has long been a much commended resort for the latter disease. Warmbaths, altitude about 5000 feet, a thermal spring, connected by rail with Johannesburg and Pretoria (from the latter of which it is distant 70 miles), is rapidly becoming an important spa. The water issues at a very high temperature. It is ferruginous, sulphurous, and alkaline. Increased accommodation here is very desirable, and will no doubt be rapidly supplied. Rheumatic affections, anæmia, and skin diseases are benefited by this treatment, but heart disorders are aggravated by the high elevation. It is impossible within the limits assigned to me to go into further details about the magnificent opportunities for the health-seeker which this great country must offer in the near future. To those who have been bred under those kindly skies, and who have left them permanently, an incurable nostalgia often comes, when the burden of this murk-laden atmosphere of London seems indeed intolerable. I hope that these few pages may lead many a sufferer to find new vigour and new courage in that sunnier air. May it prove to them in very fact a land of Good Hope and pleasant memories, whether they remain in the country or whether they make but a fleeting visit.[15] FOOTNOTES: [15] I have obtained much help, for which I wish to make due acknowledgment, from the following works on South Africa, which I would commend to the inquirer on the subject:-- "John Noble's Hand-Book," published in 1887 by the Cape Government. "Health Resorts of South Africa." Dr. Arthur Fuller, 1898. Messrs. Brown's "Guide to South Africa," published by the Union-Castle Company, 1902. "South African Studies." Dr. Alfred Hillier. "The New South Africa." Bleloch. COMMERCIAL PROSPECTS BY WILLIAM EGLINGTON _Editor and Proprietor of "The British and South African Export Gazette"_ It is somewhat of an anomaly that of the scores of books which have been published of late years in connection with South Africa, not one has contained any direct reference to its commerce. This is the more remarkable when it is remembered how little is known, outside the circle of those associated with the trade, of its actual extent and importance. It is true that here and there in the daily press statements, more or less accurate, from time to time appear as to its trend, and of late quite a number of technical journals, somewhat tardily, appear to have only just awakened to the fact that the huge demands made upon British industries by South Africa's consumptive requirements are worthy of further investigation. But however admirable their intentions, the process of enlightening the public to which they set themselves would seem to have failed of its object, for the reason that, while each has done its best in its own particular groove, collectively they reveal nothing but what interests their own immediate circle of readers. In view of the wide publicity given to South African affairs in recent times, the ignorance of the average man as to the remarkable expansion which has taken place in South African trade since the Majuba scuttle is not a little astonishing. He doubtless has a hazy idea that it runs well into millions, but there his knowledge ceases. He has had it dinned into his ears that British manufacturers have been asleep and sacrificed the trade to the greater activities of their rivals, and while he may deplore this fact, and bewail the decadence of our erstwhile commercial supremacy in oversea markets, there his interest ceases. It is with the view of enlightening a wider public as to the extent and scope of our present trade with South Africa, together with its future prospects, that this article has reference, and it will also serve to show, despite erroneous assertions to the contrary, that we have nothing to fear from foreign competition. However lax our manufacturers may have been in the past in allowing their rivals to secure so firm a footing in a market where, until a few years ago, they were supreme, after a perusal of the facts herein adduced it will be conceded that their present position is one from which it will be a matter of extreme difficulty to dislodge them. Strange as it may appear, South African trade first began to show signs of expansion after the events which followed upon the retrocession of the Transvaal to the Boers in 1881. Until that year it was practically insignificant in its proportions and almost stationary in its volume, being mainly assisted by the activity shown in the diamond industry, gold not then having become a factor in quickening the commercial pulse. In the year named, the total imports into the country from all sources amounted to £11,140,027, of which the Cape Colony took, in round figures, all but two millions. After 1881, however, the imports steadily, if slowly, increased in bulk, which was due less to active developments in South Africa itself than to the gradual opening up of the country after the first Boer war. In 1891, in which year it may be said the fabulous wealth of the Witwatersrand first began to attract the attention of the civilised world, the value of the imports stood at £12,230,270, of which the Cape Colony took practically the same amount of goods as in 1881, while Natal had improved her position by taking about one-fourth of the total. After 1891 the imports increased with extraordinary rapidity in proportion as the gold industry made headway, until in 1901 they touched the high-water mark with £31,595,332, or practically three times what they stood at twenty years before. In 1881, the quantity of goods imported from countries other than England was so insignificant as not to be worth including in the official returns, and so far as the United States was concerned absolutely no trade with South Africa was done at all, and but very little with the European Continent. In 1892, however, Germany and America began to pay greater attention to the possibilities of what then showed signs of becoming an exceedingly promising market, the share of the former country in that year being only £231,172, while that of the latter was £418,126. How successful they were in their efforts is seen by the fact that with each succeeding year the value of the goods entering South Africa from those countries grew by leaps and bounds, until in 1901 the German share had increased to £1,118,010, and that of the United States to £2,640,193. Neither of these amounts was, however, the highest point reached by either Germany or America, their record years being 1896 and 1898 respectively. It is unquestionable that had British manufacturers paid sufficient attention to the possibilities of the South African trade in the period from 1881-91, and had realised how rapidly the country was developing, thereby quickening them to action, the foreigner would not have got the hold upon its commerce which he now has, the combined share of all the countries competing with Great Britain amounting in 1901 to £4,590,681, or 14.9 per cent. of the total imports. Although the purely British share was as much as 65.6 per cent., the balance being made up by the shares of our Colonies and non-competing countries (i.e. goods imported from countries that Great Britain cannot supply), much remains to be done to retain even that percental share; but it is satisfactory to note that the lessons of the past have not been lost upon us, and that with the general awakening to the foreign menace there is every likelihood that we shall more than hold our own in the future, provided our manufacturers are not handicapped by the exactions of labour, the excessive cost of which, and the general disinclination of the Trades Unions to adopt modern labour-saving machinery, being the two principal factors in determining whether competition with other countries shall be effective or not. [Illustration: CHURCH STREET EAST, PRETORIA Photo by Barnett & Co., Johannesburg] It may not be without interest to put on record the values of the principal articles imported into South Africa in 1901 from all sources. They were as follow:-- Animals, Live £71,771 Articles of Food and Drink 9,641,809 Articles of Personal Use 6,120,903 Builders' Materials 1,245,609 Drugs and Chemicals 437,610 Electrical Goods 136,964 Explosives and Weapons 119,379 Hardware, Cutlery, and Ironmongery 1,276,041 Household Requisites 1,969,724 Iron and Steel 596,928 Leather and Manufactures 394,525 Machinery, &c. 859,685 Paper, Books, &c. 689,216 Textile Manufactures 2,104,245 Vehicles and Vehicular Material 968,210 Other Articles 1,943,465 Goods by Parcels Post 520,265 Stores for Government 2,498,983 ----------- Total £31,595,332 =========== The purely British (_i.e._ the United Kingdom's) share in this trade was as follows: Animals, Living £29,306 Arms, Ammunition, &c. 143,697 Articles of Food and Drink 2,533,163 Articles of Personal Use 3,528,907 Builders' Materials, &c. 175,078 Drugs and Chemicals 423,190 Household Requisites 1,600,763 Ironmongery and Hardware 275,245 Leather and Manufactures 1,762,438 Machinery, Millwork, &c. 1,210,151 Metals and Manufactures 1,762,438 Oils, other than Essential 55,076 Paper and Stationery 577,228 Textile Manufactures 2,387,666 Vehicles and Parts 635,153 Vessels (Ships and Boats) 23,214 Wood and Timber 108,034 Miscellaneous Articles 965,655 ----------- Total £20,648,529 It is not without instruction to those who are unaware of the potential character of South Africa's buying capacity, the reasons for which will be more clearly set forth later on, to compare the amount spent on the purchase of oversea goods by the white and black population with those of our other colonies and India:-- +------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+ | |White |Native |Total |British | | |Population.|Population.|Population.|Exports to.| +------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+ | | | | | £ | |Australia | 3,577,000 | 200,000| 3,777,000| 21,329,965| |Canada | 5,170,000 | 201,000| 5,371,000| 8,153,815| |India | 275,000 |294,000,000|294,295,000| 39,753,348| |New Zealand | 767,000 | 52,000| 819,000| 5,601,979| |South Africa| 1,007,000 | 3,000,000| 4,007,000| 20,326,006| +------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+ +------------+------------+------------+------------+ | | Per Head | Per Head | Per Head | | | White. | Native. | Total. | | | | | | +------------+------------+------------+------------+ | | £ _s._ _d._| £ _s._ _d._| £ _s._ _d._| |Australia | 5 19 0 |106 12 0 | 5 13 0 | |Canada | 1 11 6 | 40 11 2 | 1 10 4 | |India |144 0 0 | 0 2 9 | 0 2 8 | |New Zealand | 7 6 0 |107 14 3 | 6 16 0 | |South Africa| 20 3 7 | 6 15 6 | 5 1 6 | +------------+------------+------------+------------+ In other words, with the exception of India, where the European population is not numerous, each white inhabitant in South Africa spends vastly more in proportion to its population than any of our other Colonies, or exactly £20, 3s. 7d. per head as against £7, 6s. for Australia, the next highest, and £1, 11s. 6d. for Canada, the lowest, or, with black and white combined, £5, 1s. 6d. per head of the total population, as against 2s. 8d. for India, £1, 10s. 4d. for Canada, £5, 13s. for Australia, and £6, 16s. for New Zealand. A reference to the above table clearly shows what an important customer the South African native is for oversea goods, his annual purchases amounting to £6, 15s. 6d., which it will be seen is even more per head than that of the Australian white population. This latter assumption is, of course, purely deductive, but it is in the main fairly accurate. Not only this, but it will surprise many to learn that of the total British exports to our Colonies and India, South Africa is our third best market. Moreover, in certain classes of goods, specified below, she is also far and away our most important customer. For instance, of the total exports from the United Kingdom to our Colonies and dependencies, there were shipped in 1901:-- _Boots and Shoes._ To South Africa £881,266 " Australia 223,516 " India 125,256 " New Zealand 105,671 Of these South Africa took one-half of the total British exports. _Apparel and Slops._ To South Africa £2,198,235 " Australia 1,353,878 " New Zealand 376,582 " Canada 281,100 " India 195,762 Of these South Africa took two-fifths of the total exports. _Haberdashery and Millinery._ To Australia £341,241 " South Africa 310,372 " India 142,341 " New Zealand 137,080 " Canada 125,401 Of these South Africa took one-fifth of the total exports. _Mining Machinery._ To Australia £129,704 " South Africa 108,365 " India 74,714 " New Zealand 11,272 South Africa took one-fifth of the total mining machinery exports, but had 1901 been a normal year, the exports would unquestionably have exceeded those of all our other Colonies and India combined. _Agricultural Machinery (excluding Engines)._ To Australia £30,829 " South Africa 26,833 " New Zealand 18,654 " India 14,294 _Manufactures of Steel, &c._ To India £268,377 " South Africa 108,187 " Australia 57,990 " New Zealand 20,189 _Locomotives._ To India £535,115 " Australia 311,616 " South Africa 281,158 " New Zealand 38,712 _Unenumerated Engines._ To India £274,257 " Australia 232,563 " South Africa 128,786 _Cast and Wrought Iron._ To India £848,857 " Australia 746,155 " South Africa 599,018 " New Zealand 202,451 " Canada 53,212 _Galvanized Sheets._ To Australia £730,952 " India 586,023 " South Africa 358,353 " New Zealand 125,828 " Canada 113,015 This brief digest will doubtless be sufficient to prove that South Africa, as a market, is to-day one of the best customers of the Motherland, and, as will be shown later, when dealing with the future outlook for Imperial trade with that country, bids fair to speedily overtop in her demands upon the United Kingdom and her Colonies and dependencies that of any single member of the Imperial family, India--of all our possessions at present our best customer--not even excepted. And what will readily be conceded is a satisfactory feature in our commercial relations with South Africa is the remarkable growth which has characterised the exports thither from British possessions and Protectorates other than the Mother Country itself, the total proportion in 1901 being £4,733,800, as against £4,590,681, the value of the combined trade with South Africa in that year of Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, and the United States. Why South Africa must, for many years to come, remain our best customer, ever increasing its demands upon our industries, is not difficult of comprehension to those who are acquainted with its circumstances. Although it is more than capable in proper hands and with the assistance of capital of being self-supporting, beyond its gold, diamonds, and coal, it produces little or nothing to speak of. It has one of the finest climates in the world; its soil is more than ordinarily fertile, and only requires water to yield a harvest more than sufficient for its consumptive needs, which could easily be obtained if the ample rainfall were properly conserved and irrigation resorted to on an intelligent principle. Incredible as it may seem, even the mealies or maize, which it could grow in sufficient quantity, without recourse to irrigation, to supply its own wants and leave a margin for export, are imported to the amount of something like £350,000 annually. Its iron deposits are probably unequalled elsewhere; its seas teem with fish, and its orchards and vineyards groan with the yield which nature lavishes with but little assistance from man. Yet on the shelves of every store throughout the country will be found imported canned fish and fruit, mainly from America; and while it is true that here and there jam factories are to be found, and the sugar cane grows almost wild in Natal, probably more than half a million yearly is disbursed on imported jams, confectionery, syrups, and the like. Tea likewise flourishes in Natal, but South Africa imports nearly £200,000 worth yearly; fresh and preserved vegetables, to its shame, are actually landed to the value of £80,000 annually, although, like most other foodstuffs, the soil grows them in luxuriant profusion; and of wine, despite the fact that the huge quantities made at the Cape, if properly treated according to European methods, would be unsurpassed in the world, the oversea product stands for nearly £300,000. Moreover, as a cattle country many parts of South Africa are probably unrivalled, notwithstanding which both live and dead stock are freely imported, and while it could support millions of sheep it prefers the frozen mutton of New Zealand and the Argentine. Whoever is to blame for this state of things, which, happily, under the new _regime_ and with the influx of population from European countries will gradually be altered, it is certain that, until the old order changes (and this will probably be a work of decades), South Africa must rely upon oversea goods for the maintenance of its growing population, as also for the means wherewith to extract its marvellous mineral wealth. According to Mr. W. Willcocks, C.M.G., if the irrigation schemes which are projected in the Transvaal and Orange River Colonies are ever carried into effect, they will add something like £200,000,000 to the value of the agricultural land, a consummation which, in its own interests as well as for our own industries, is devoutly to be wished. If it be true, as is repeatedly asserted by those most competent to judge, that South Africa's vast mineral deposits have only been "scratched," how much more does this remark apply to its agriculture, which, after all, is the staple wealth of all countries, and which has made the United States and Canada what they are to-day? Enough has probably been said of the South African trade of the past and present, although the subject is of such profound interest to the student that it deserves greater space than is possible within the scope of a single article. It is to the future that we have now to direct our attention, and it is in attempting to forecast the probable trend of the trade in the years to come that speculation becomes positively fascinating. In making this endeavour, it is well to bear in mind that assumption will be based upon such facts as are within our common knowledge, and therefore may be accepted as a reliable, although not infallible, guide as to what may safely be expected of South African commerce in the future. Setting aside for the moment the possibility of the soil being made to yield any greater abundance than is now the case, or that other than its existing insignificant industries will be promoted or developed, we will first of all confine our investigations to how far South Africa's mineral wealth will beneficially affect trade pure and simple. Altogether, irrespective of the Cape, Natal, Rhodesia, and the Orange River Colony, the mining, exploration, and investment companies at present in existence in the Transvaal alone, or connected therewith, number something like 350, representing a capital of £250,000,000, or about what the war has cost us. Many attempts have been made by competent experts in the past to forecast what the several sections of the Witwatersrand only will yield in gold as interest on this huge sum before the mines at present in working or in process of being worked are exhausted, but few approximate with such exactitude the recent estimates of Messrs. Frederick H. Hatch and T. H. Leggett, both of whom are authorities whose views are entitled to the greatest respect. They have had many years' practical experience of the Transvaal mines, and owing to the uniformity of the yield, tested at a depth of nearly 5000 feet, to which they limit themselves in their calculations, they are of opinion that the gold yet to be extracted from Randfontein on the west to Modderfontein on the east amounts to the almost incalculable total of £1,310,323,000, and that the life of this section is forty-two and a half years. Now, as it is indisputable that South African trade is in the main practically dependent upon the country's mineral wealth, it is not a matter of supreme difficulty to arrive at some definite conclusion as to what effect the extraction of this stupendous amount will have upon its consumptive requirements. Herein lies its supreme significance to manufacturers, and particularly to those who are our countrymen. The experts cited are of opinion that by June 1906 the annual output of gold from this section alone will amount to £30,000,000, which compares with £20,000,000, the estimated yield for 1899, had not the war intervened. According to figures taken from the reports issued by the Johannesburg Chamber of Mines, something like 75 per cent. of the yearly output of but seventy-four of the mining companies producing the £20,000,000 referred to has been spent in the past on machinery, stores, development, labour, &c., which would mean a local disbursement alone of £22,500,000 in 1906 to win the £30,000,000 estimated as the yield in that year by Messrs. Hatch and Leggett. But, according to Mr. A. R. Goldring, secretary to the Johannesburg Chamber of Mines, who bases his data upon information supplied by the leading Rand engineering experts, in 1907 no fewer than 17,000 head of stamps will be at work, being an increase of 11,000 on the number in operation just previous to the outbreak of the war. If the annual output of £20,000,000 involved the expenditure of £15,000,000 on stores, machinery, wages, &c., Mr. Goldring's estimate of the number of stamps that will be at work in 1907 means the disbursement of the gigantic sum of £42,500,000 as the total contribution which the Rand gold industry alone will expend for the benefit of the merchants and manufacturers of the Mother Country and the world at large. If to this estimate be added the expenditure necessitated by the numerous diamond and copper mines and collieries in the Cape Colony, Orange River Colony, Natal, and the Transvaal, coupled with that of the Rhodesian gold mines and collieries, as well as the gold mines in districts other than the Witwatersrand, such as Barberton and Zoutpansberg, &c., a reasonable estimate should place the total disbursements of the entire mining industry in South Africa in, say, five years at £50,000,000 sterling, which, added to the normal requirements of the country apart from those of mining, would mean an annual outlay of at least £60,000,000 for the benefit of commerce. It will be seen that no allowance is here made for possible developments in agriculture and kindred pursuits, which may not unreasonably be expected to ensue as the result of the fostering care of the administrations, under the Imperial Government, of the Transvaal and Orange River Colonies, although large disbursements might with perfect safety be placed to the credit of these and other industries which may safely be assumed to be promoted during the interval between the present and the year to which these estimates relate. That the Rand gold industry can never be checked again, short of another war, which is extremely improbable, is as certain as that the sun shines, and the same remark applies to the other mineral propositions. It is therefore well within the bounds of probability to predict that the total purchasing capacity of South Africa five years hence will be at least £60,000,000 sterling per annum (which is an exceedingly moderate computation in view of the fact that the estimated total in 1902 is £42,000,000), a sum which, assuming our other colonies and possessions do not advance in the same ratio, will make that country an easy first as Great Britain's best market. If Messrs. Hatch and Leggett be correct in their surmise that the life of the Rand is forty-two and a half years--and in the main they are supported by other competent authorities--excluding altogether the possibility of other discoveries of precious metals and minerals in that long interval, and eliminating for the moment, what is improbable, that the remainder of the three hundred and fifty mining and exploration companies above referred to remain idle meantime, or that their number is not hugely increased, we arrive at a total expenditure of _two thousand five hundred and fifty millions sterling_ as South Africa's contribution to trade in the period in question. As it would be futile to dilate upon what this overwhelming sum means to British industries, it must be left to the imagination. It is worth thinking about nevertheless. There is, however, always the pessimist to be considered in these matters. While no doubt he will content himself with the satisfactory outlook for British trade which is here unfolded, he may, in anticipation of time, begin to worry himself as to what will happen when the Rand is no more, and when its thousands of stamps are lying idle for the want of further quartz to crush. If one cared or dared to venture upon the hazardous ground of prophecy, one might easily foretell the possibility of other Rands being discovered meanwhile, with the practical certainty that a hundred years hence South Africa's gold yield, instead of showing diminution, will largely exceed even present anticipations; and here it is justifiable to intrude the remark that every expert, without exception, who is connected with its gold industry, is unanimous in asserting that mining has hardly been begun, and that the future will exceed the expectations of even the most optimistically inclined. But, granted that the pessimist be correct that in fifty years the gold will cease to yield and the Rand be a barren, silent waste, is it quite safe to conclude that meanwhile the country has remained at a standstill except for its mining activities? Are the £200,000,000 sterling which Mr. W. Willcocks, C.M.G., the distinguished irrigation expert, asserts will add to the value of the country as agricultural land if irrigation be resorted to, to be counted as nothing; and is there not the remote possibility of South Africa taking its natural place among the world's producers of other staples than gold? What of its vast coal and iron deposits, its saltpetre, its petroleum, and its countless other products which to-day are but waiting the advent of capital to bring into being, all of which, like its gold, have yet to astonish the world? Gold or no gold, the country must, as the years unfold, become a teeming hive of industry, the only approximation to which is that of the United States of America. South Africa, then, is no place for the pessimist, and the sooner that is understood, the greater the peace of mind of that misguided individual. As to the trend of the gigantic trade that is before South Africa, it has been incontestably shown that the proportion enjoyed by the Mother Country, and that of its colonies and possessions, is immeasurably in advance of that of all other nations combined, despite the ravings of the alarmists as to the alleged incursions of our rivals on what are pre-eminently our own domains. This fact must not, however, lull us into the false security of our peaceful slumbers of twenty, or even ten, years ago, when we had the field to ourselves, and which we might have retained even now but for our ignorance of its potentialities. The competition to be faced is a keen one; the trade is there and must remain there, in all human probability, for all time, in increasing quantity--for it can never retrograde; and only the alertness, the unceasing activity of those who are interested in retaining it, will preserve the major portion to our own industries. In endeavouring to show that the future outlook for South African trade is one which our manufacturers cannot possibly ignore, by reason of its incalculable vastness, it is reasonable to suppose that each member of the Imperial family, whether it be the Mother Country, its offsprings, or the humblest citizen of either, will strain every nerve to conserve to it the spoils for which such sacrifices in blood and treasure have been made, thus handing down to our children a heritage of wealth which is their right equally as it is our duty. [Illustration: Photo: Russell. London. THE COLONIAL CONFERENCE. The names, reading from left to right, are: Back row--Sir Alfred Bateman, Sir Francis Hopwood, Hon. W. S. Fielding. Sir M. Ommanney. Middle row--Mr W. Holderness, Sir J. Anderson, Sir J. Forrest, Sir W. Mulock, Lord Onslow, Hon. W. Patterson, Rear-Admiral Custance, Lord Selborne, Mr Gerald Balfour. Front row--Sir Robert Bond, Mr R. J. Seddon, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Mr Chamberlain, Sir Edmund Barton, Sir A. Hime, Mr Fuller.] Much might be written in confutation of the many alarmist reports as to the decadent condition into which British trade has fallen of late years, but, after all, is this worth while? Admitted that, inflated with our past prosperity, we have slumbered on undisturbed by the thought of what the to-morrow will bring, it would need greater imagination than the prospective garnering of the two thousand five hundred millions sterling which it has been shown is likely to fall into the lap of the world's traders as the result of the future expansion of South Africa in less than fifty years, to suppose that our manufacturers have suddenly become bereft of their senses not to seize the most of their opportunities. It is easy to decry their enterprise, to compare their alleged shortcomings with the activities and the asserted "pushful" tendencies of their competitors--thus advertising the latter at their expense--but how much of foundation is there in such reports? The brief statistics with which this article is accompanied--and they have been confined to the narrowest possible limits--conclusively show that, so far as South African trade is concerned, British manufacturers are more than holding their own; and there cannot be the least doubt that they will continue to do so in the years of prosperity and expansion that are before the sub-continent, provided they are assisted by the ungrudging efforts of labour. This is a matter which need not be intruded here, but it is one upon which the maintenance of our supremacy in the world's markets will depend, and it is one, too, which could be more profitably discussed by those whose apparent mission is to belittle everything that is British in favour of those who, in South Africa as elsewhere, are striving to wrest our commerce from us. As has been shown, the future outlook for trade in that country is of the brightest, and that we shall not prove equal to the task of maintaining our position there is a contemplation that does not come within the scope of probability. THE FUTURE OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONSTABULARY VIEWS OF MAJOR-GENERAL BADEN-POWELL Believing that a short account of the origin and object of the force known as the South African Constabulary for the Orange River and Transvaal would be interesting to those anxious for the prosperity of the new Colonies, General Baden-Powell, the originator of the highly-practical scheme, was invited to contribute to this volume a brief _resumé_ of his important work. The General in his reply said, "I am very sorry that it is quite impossible for me, under present pressure of work, to contribute an article;" but he kindly furnished an outline of his scheme, which serves to enlighten home-staying people regarding the importance of this irregular arm of the British service. In brief the General writes:-- "I can only say of the South African Constabulary that it is not formed on lines exactly identical with any other Police Force, although in many respects similar to some. "A Military Mounted Police is a bugbear to most administrators, as being an expensive luxury; but I think that it is rather like what a steam-engine is to a Boer farmer--once he knows how to apply it to the many uses of which it is capable, independent of what has been the practice of his predecessors--it will be found to be an economy in place of a luxury. "I have schemed the South African Constabulary to that end, viz., as the machinery for performing many duties not hitherto included in the province of Police; and my one hope is that it may be found effective for the purpose. "It is the best paid force of its kind, and by careful selection and elimination I expect it to be the best in quality. "It numbers at present 10,000 whites and 1000 natives, but these numbers will be liable to alterations as the country progresses. "It is divided into four separate self-contained Divisions carrying out the duties of District and Town Police in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, together with their subordinate departments of Criminal Investigation and Intelligence, and many minor and temporary duties, such as medical, agricultural, and veterinary, postal and customs, sanitary, public works, &c. &c. "With a good Reserve, as the Force will shortly have, of men settled in the country in civil situations, and with its married establishment of 600 families, the South African Constabulary will also take an important share in the development of the Colony, and will at the same time be in a position to supply a well-trained mounted force for military work should emergency arise." This force has been formed for the maintenance of order and public security in the Orange River Colony and the Transvaal, but is available for service in any part of British South Africa. It acts as a District Mounted Police in time of peace, and as a military force in time of war. At one period drafts of about 80 men per month were despatched from Great Britain and Ireland, but now, owing to the cessation of the war, recruiting is closed. From time to time new blood may yet be in demand. Candidates had to be good readers, writers, spellers, riders, and shots. Single men were preferred, and recommendations, particularly as to sobriety, had to be forthcoming. The term of engagement was for three years for those recruited in the British Isles, with the possibility, for non-commissioned officers and men, of re-engaging on increased pay. The term of service for men enlisted in South Africa (who had not been given a passage) was two years. Promotion by merit and commissions are obtainable from the ranks. The age of candidates is not under 20 nor over 35. The standard of height, without boots, is not over 6 ft. 2 ins. nor under 5 ft. 4 ins. The chest measurement, deflated, is not under 34 inches, and the weight, without clothes, is not over 13 stone 7 lbs. nor under 9 stone. The following is the scale of pay:-- _s._ _d._ Sergeant (Staff-Sergeant) 10 0 per diem. Sergeant 9 0 " Second Class Sergeant 8 0 " Corporal 7 6 " First Class Trooper 7 0 " Second Class Trooper 6 0 " Third Class Trooper 5 0 " Pay commenced from date of attestation in South Africa. Pay, as well as promotion, is largely in accordance with a man's efficiency and behaviour, troopers being divided into three classes, and non-commissioned officers into four, for this purpose. Promotion from one class to another among troopers depends on their qualifying in Constabulary duties, musketry, signalling, language, and other tests, and on their continuing efficient in these subjects. Men of all grades entered at the lowest pay of their grade. Men selected in Great Britain and Ireland joined as third-class troopers. Promotion in the non-commissioned officers' ranks will generally only be granted to those who qualify in colloquial Dutch. Men desirous of marrying while in the South African Constabulary need to obtain the sanction of the Officer Commanding Division to their doing so, they are then entitled to an allowance to cover lodging and other expenses, such as rations, fuel, light, &c., at the consolidated rate of 3s. a day. On completion of the first three years' service a man may, if approved by the Officer Commanding Division, re-engage for a further term of two years, at 3d. a day extra. On completion of his five years he may re-engage for further service by the year, if the Officer Commanding Division approves, at 6d. a day for every additional year, until the total increase of pay for re-engagement shall have reached 2s. per diem. Rations, horse, forage, clothing, equipment, arms, quarters, and medical attendance are supplied free. In exceptional circumstances, where rations cannot be supplied, a ration allowance will be made of 2s. per diem. A non-commissioned officer or man may be discharged at any time by order of the Officer Commanding Division with or without gratuity. Discharge may be purchased, with consent of Officer Commanding Division, for £20 during first year, £15 during second year, and £10 during third year. Any Non-commissioned Officer or Trooper may, with the approval of his Commanding Officer, be transferred to the Reserve, provided that there is a vacancy for him, at the end of his first engagement (three years), or if he re-engages, at the end of any period of re-engagement, up to the completion of five years from his first entry into the service. Every man transferred to the Reserve is required to remain in it and have his permanent residence in the Orange River Colony or the Transvaal, unless discharged, up to the end of seven years from the date of his first entry into the service. A man wishing to purchase his discharge from the Reserve may do so on payment of £12 at any period of his service in the Reserve. He will receive while in the Reserve pay at the rate of £1 per month. He will be liable to be called out annually for not more than ten consecutive days for training, and shall also be liable to be called out for active service at any time by the proclamation of the administrator, governor, or other person exercising for the time being supreme authority in the Transvaal or Orange River Colony, declaring the existence of a state of war, or of such serious menace to the peace as to render mobilisation necessary. While on training or on active service he will receive full pay at the same rate which he was enjoying when transferred to the Reserve. In addition to their pay, Reservists, if they desire to settle on the land, will receive special consideration in any Government-aided scheme of settlement. Proposals are at present under consideration, whereby suitable settlers may be assisted to acquire land, and be aided at starting by Government advances, the purchase price and capital advanced being repayable on easy terms. If any plan of this kind is found to be practicable, a certain number of farms annually will be offered in the first instance to members of the South African Constabulary, who, having borne a good character, may be desirous of being transferred to the Reserve with a view to actually settling on the land as farmers. Similar privileges will, if the opportunity offers, be extended to Non-commissioned Officers and men who may quit the South African Constabulary after five or more years' continuous service, bearing a good character. Any man having served at least five years continuously in the South African Constabulary (not including Reserve service) with a good character will be entitled, on retiring, to a gratuity of one month's pay for every year of service. Men on the Reserve may, with approval of Officer Commanding Division, be taken on to full pay again at any time for a term of two years at 3d. a day extra pay. Where a number of men joined from one place they were squadded together as far as possible in the South African Constabulary. Leave of absence will where possible be granted to all ranks for one month in each year, cumulative, on full pay, special conditions ruling shooting leave, and leave to England or out of South Africa. After four years without leave six months on full pay will be granted. Candidates were given a free passage in a transport to South Africa, and a free railway voucher from their place of residence to the port of embarkation. They were liable to further medical examination on arrival at the place of attestation. Any candidate found unsuitable was given a free passage back to England, provided that he was not rejected for any misrepresentation, misconduct, or serious fault of his own. After five years' total service a free third-class passage home will be granted to men recruited in the United Kingdom. The full strength of the Constabulary will in future be six thousand men: the four thousand enrolled for the war contingency will shortly be disbanded. These particulars serve to show the nature of the new Force, and give some idea of its value in preserving the future peace of the King's new dominions. APPENDIX MR. CHAMBERLAIN AND THE BOER GENERALS Soon after the conclusion of the war Generals Botha, De Wet, and Delarey, in the hope of making favourable arrangements with the Government on behalf of their fellow-countrymen, sailed for England. They were greeted by the British people with unusual cordiality, not because of any sympathy with the Republics they came to represent, but because it is a characteristic of the British people to honour brave men, even when they are defeated foes. General Botha was received by Mr. Chamberlain, and the Boer future was discussed. A few days later the public was startled to read in the daily journals the following manifesto entitled, "Appeal of the Boer Generals to the Civilised World." "It is still fresh in the memory of the world how the Boers, after a terrible struggle lasting more than two and a half years, were at last obliged to accept through their representatives at Vereeniging the terms of peace submitted to them by the Government of King Edward VII. At the same time the representatives commissioned us to proceed to England in order, in the first place, to appeal to the new Government to allay the immense distress everywhere devastating the new colonies. If we did not succeed we were to appeal to the humanity of the civilised world for charitable contributions. As we have not succeeded up to the present in inducing the British Government to grant further assistance to our people in their indescribable distress, it only remains for us to address ourselves to the peoples of Europe and America. "During the critical days through which we have passed it was sweet for us and ours to receive constant marks of sympathy from all countries. The financial and other assistance given to our women and children in the concentration camps, and to the prisoners of war in all parts of the earth contributed infinitely to mitigate the lot of those poor sufferers, and we take advantage of this opportunity to express in the name of the people of the late Republics our fervent thanks to all those who have charitably assisted us in the past. The small Boer nation can never forget the help it received in its dark hours of suffering. "The people of the Republics were ready to sacrifice everything for their independence, and now the struggle is over and our people are completely ruined. Though we have not had the opportunity of drawing up an exact inventory of the destruction done, we have the conviction, based on personal experience, that at least thirty thousand houses on Boer farms and a number of villages were burnt or destroyed by the British during the war. Our homes with their furniture were burned or destroyed, our orchards were ruined, all our agricultural implements broken, our mills were destroyed, every living animal was carried off or killed. Nothing, alas, remained to us. The country is laid waste. The war demanded many victims, and the land was bathed in tears. Our orphans and widows have been abandoned. Besides, it is needless to recall the fact how much will be needed in the future for the education of the children of the Burghers, who are in great distress. "We address ourselves to the world, with the prayer to help us by charitable contributions for our widows and orphans, for the maimed and other needy ones, and for the satisfactory education of our children. We allude to the terrible results of the war in order to bring to the knowledge of the world our urgent needs, by no means to inflame people's minds. The sword is now sheathed, and all differences are silent in presence of such great misery. The ruin caused by the war is indescribable, so that the small amount which Great Britain is to give us, in accordance with the terms of surrender, even were it multiplied tenfold, would be wholly insufficient even to cover the war losses alone. The widows, orphans, maimed, needy, and children, on whose behalf alone we appeal, will receive little of this sum, and in most cases nothing. "All contributions will be assigned to a fund to be called 'General Fund of Help for the Boers,' which will be devoted solely to supplying the wants of those for whom we are collecting, and to provide for their future. We solicit the hearty co-operation of the committees existing in the various countries of Europe and in America. We are now on the point of visiting these countries in succession with the object of establishing a satisfactory organisation. "BOTHA. "DE WET. "DELAREY." The lamentable representations of this manifesto naturally caused a profound impression--and the effect of them was not removed till late in the year when Mr. Chamberlain's correspondence in relation to the matter was published. This correspondence merits more than superficial study by those truly interested in the pacification of the new Colonies, for the evil done by the pronouncements of the Boer "appeal" will live after them, while the good effected by the tardy publication of the Colonial Secretary's refutation will probably be interred in the official mausoleum. To this end the opening despatch from Mr. Chamberlain to General Louis Botha, dated Downing Street, the 6th of November, is here appended:-- "Since the interview which you had with me at this office on the 5th of September an 'Appeal of the Boer Generals to the Civilised World' has been issued, many of the statements in which have, according to Press reports, been repeated and enlarged on in the speeches delivered by yourself and General Delarey and General De Wet during your tour on the Continent. "The appeal, I regret to say, appears to me to convey an incorrect and exaggerated impression of the circumstances to which it refers, and though I have no desire at this time to enter into controversy, I cannot allow it to pass altogether in silence. "In the first place I am at a loss to understand why the appeal should open with a statement that you have not up to the present succeeded in inducing the British Government to grant further assistance to your people. It is not, indeed, the intention of his Majesty's Government to ask Parliament to authorise any addition to the free grant of £3,000,000--a grant which is itself without any precedent in the history of the world--but the promise of further assistance by way of loan on very easy terms, as provided by Article 10 of the Terms of Surrender, has never been withdrawn; and I think you will agree, on again consulting the record of our conversation, that there is nothing in the language which I then used which indicates any intention on the part of his Majesty's Government to withdraw it. "Further, the expenditure on the Burgher camps which, since the conclusion of peace, have to a great extent been transformed into organisations for enabling the people to return to their homes, and the cost of which has been about £200,000 a month, is being borne by his Majesty's Government, and constitutes in effect a very considerable addition to the free grant. "The cost of the camps since their establishment has exceeded £3,000,000, and there is no room for reasonable doubt that they have been the means of preserving the lives of thousands of women and children, and of providing the latter with a better education than they ever had the opportunity of enjoying before. "I observe that in an article signed by you in this month's _Contemporary Review_ you make it a complaint that the concentration camps are still being maintained. "It must be self-evident that, on the score of expense alone, it is the interest of his Majesty's Government to abolish these camps at the earliest possible moment, and it is only in the cause of humanity that they continue to maintain this costly organisation. "If they were to accept the inferences to be drawn from your statement they would turn out into the veldt thousands of men, women, and children whom it has been impossible to return to their farms immediately on the termination of the war, owing to the absence of sufficient transport and the scarcity of stock. "They have, however, already provided for the return of large numbers of the population of the camps which had been reduced from 116,000 at end of May to about 34,000 in the last week of October. "I observe that you are reported in the Press to have suggested in a speech at Paris that the British military authorities deliberately used the sufferings of women and children to induce their relatives in the field to lay down their arms, and in the resolution passed at Vereeniging on the 31st of May the sufferings of the women and children were given as a reason for surrender. "No one deplores more than the British Government the high mortality in the camps during the epidemic of measles and pneumonia, but nothing was spared that money or science could afford to reduce it, and for the last six months the average total death-rate in the camps has been about 21 per 1000 per annum, a rate which must be much lower than any which obtained before the war in normal conditions. "It is, therefore, clear from the statistics that at the actual time of the surrender there could have been no cause for anxiety as to the condition of the women and children then in the British camps; and in confirmation of this view I may remind you that neither at the time of your conferences with Lord Kitchener in February 1901 nor in the discussions which preceded the acceptance of the Terms of Surrender was any request made for special provision for widows and orphans. "On the contrary, the request made on both these occasions was that the sums offered as a free grant by the British Government should be applied to the payment of notes and receipts for goods requisitioned by the Boer commandoes, in many cases from persons of considerable means. To this proposal his Majesty's Government objected, and while willing that these notes and receipts should be accepted as evidence of war losses, they stipulated that the grant should be applied for the benefit of the destitute, or, in the words of the Terms of Surrender, 'for the purpose of assisting the restoration of the people to their homes and supplying those who, owing to war losses, are unable to provide themselves with food, shelter, and the necessary amount of seed, stock, implements, &c., indispensable to the resumption of their normal occupation.' As at present advised, I believe that the sum allotted will be amply sufficient for the purpose; but, should more be required, there is one source from which a substantial addition may be fairly expected. "His Majesty's Government are aware that large sums were remitted from the Transvaal to Europe during the war to be expended in the interests of the South African Republic. "They have no desire to question the expenditure of this money so far as it was legitimately devoted to the purposes for which it was intended, but they cannot doubt that a large balance still remains which would properly come to them as the successors of the late South African Republic, and which they would be prepared to add to the fund provided for the relief of the distressed burghers and their families. I venture to think that in this matter your wishes will coincide with mine, and that you will give me any assistance in your power to discover the persons to whom the money was entrusted, and to obtain from them a statement of account showing the expenditure and the amount of the balance which remains over. "I may add, with regard to the camps, that the reference in the manifesto to the pecuniary assistance furnished by foreign sympathisers appears to rest on a misconception. It consisted in the Transvaal of 2646 bales and packages, chiefly containing clothing and miscellaneous stores, which were brought up from the coast at military expense, and in the sum of £562, 2s. 2d. received and distributed through the Burgher Relief Fund. I have not yet received exact information as to the money contributions to the camps in Orange River Colony, but it was on a similar scale, and provides no ground whatever for an unfavourable contrast with British liberality. "On the general question of your appeal for help for the widows and orphans, the maimed and the needy, and for assistance in the education of the children, I desire to say that the Colonial Government is making itself entirely responsible for the maintenance of all destitute orphans, including their food, clothing, supervision, and education. Large orphanages are already in existence at Irene in the Transvaal, and Brandfort and Springfontein in the Orange River Colony; and suitable provision is also being made for widows. "The Government have been, and are, making themselves responsible for the education of the children. In the last year of the war £100,000 was spent on education in the Transvaal, and £32,500 in the Orange River Colony. At the date of the signing of peace the number of children in Government schools in the Transvaal was 28,000, and in the Orange River Colony 14,500. As a contrast to these figures it may be mentioned that under the late Governments the total number of children being educated never exceeded 15,000 and 9000, in the South African Republic and Orange Free State respectively. "With regard to your statements as to the desolation caused by the war, I would point out that it was inevitable that much damage should be caused in consequence of the prolongation of hostilities long after there had ceased to be any reasonable doubt as to the issue of the war. Though the principal centres, such as Bloemfontein, Kroonstad, Winburg, Heilbron, Harrismith, Bethlehem, Ficksburg, Ladybrand, Thaba N'chu, Bethulie, Fauresmith, Jagersfontein, Koffyfontein, Boshof, in the Orange River Colony, and Johannesburg, Pretoria, Potchefstroom, Klerksdorp, Heidelberg, Standerton, Middelburg, Lydenburg, Pietersburg, Nylstroom, Lichtenburg, Zeerust, Rustenburg, in the Transvaal, are practically untouched, it is no doubt the case that a large number of farmhouses and buildings have been damaged or destroyed by one or other of the belligerents or by natives. The value of such buildings in South Africa is, however, in most instances not very great, and the pecuniary loss is probably more than compensated by the increased value of the land. The heaviest loss, and that temporarily pressing most hardly on the people is, no doubt, the loss of their stock; but the statement that every living animal was taken away or killed is a great exaggeration. A recent census taken in the Orange River Colony shows that, excluding animals belonging to the military and Repatriation Department, there are now in the colony over 120,000 head of cattle, 700,000 sheep and goats, and 27,000 horses. Similar figures for the Transvaal are not yet available, but the local government is spending very large sums to supply stock in both colonies. The Repatriation Department in the Transvaal is using 36,000 animals for transport alone. It has already issued some 20,000 head of stock to the farmers, and is in a position to issue another 35,000 by December 1. Assistance is being given in the Orange River Colony on a like scale, and ploughs and implements are being supplied as far as it is possible. So far, indeed, from being a desert the country will, if rain is abundant, be extensively cultivated at the end of the year; and it is the earnest hope of his Majesty's Government that the strenuous efforts now being made by the local governments, seconded by the co-operation of the people themselves, will result in bringing back a degree of prosperity in no way inferior to that existing before the war." This despatch satisfactorily disposed of many vexed questions, and comfortable corroboration of the statements made therein is to be found within the pages of General De Wet's account of the "Three Years' War." There, though the General complains of the hardships endured by women and children, he can offer no suggestion as to how these sufferings might have been averted. On May 16 General Botha is reported to have said:-- "Throughout this war the presence of the women has caused me anxiety and much distress. At first I managed to get them into the townships, but later on this became impossible because the English refused to receive them. I then conceived the idea of getting a few of our burghers to surrender and sending the women in with them." On the 29th of May, General De Wet, speaking in favour of continuing the war, said:-- "I am asked what I mean to do with the women and children. That is a very difficult question to answer. We must have faith. I think also we might meet the emergency in this way. A part of the men should be told off to lay down their arms for the sake of the women, and then they could take the women with them to the English in the towns." Later, General Botha said:-- "When the war began we had plenty of provisions, and a commando could remain weeks in one spot without the local supply running out. Our families, too, were then well provided for. But now all is changed. One is only too thankful nowadays to know that our wives are under English protection. The question of our women folk is one of our greatest difficulties. What are we to do with them? One man answers that some of the burghers should surrender themselves to the English and take the women with them." It is gratifying to note how the horrible charges of barbarity, brought by persons ignorant of the real state of affairs in South Africa at the time of the war, are disposed of by this one sentence from the mouth of General Botha, "One is only too thankful nowadays to know that our wives are under English protection." We owe General De Wet some gratitude for his book, bitter as it is, since he makes evident that a main reason for the surrender of May 31 was to ensure the safety of the women who were not in the concentration camps, and whom they feared could not be placed in those positions of security. It is plain that if the Boers could have charged the British Government with the protection of those women they would have held out for some time longer. In discussing the question of the destruction done, we have only again to turn to General De Wet's history to discover how necessary was the burning of certain farms which, worked by Kaffirs under the direction of the women, were provision bases of the Boers; and how imperative too was the shooting of horses, since, to quote the General himself, the Boer is only half a man without his horse. Indeed, though De Wet complains of the methods of the British in carrying on the war, his own narration of his exploits--the wrecking of trains, the destruction of railways, the burnings of the veldt, and the stripping of prisoners--offers the "best explanation yet published of the necessity for the measures of which he complains." To return to General Botha. In reply to Mr. Chamberlain he wrote from Horrex's Hotel, Norfolk Street, Strand, on the 12th of November, stating:-- "... That there were some misunderstandings as to the reasons which led to the appeal to the world on behalf of their fellow-countrymen, which he wished to try to remove. In the first place, however, he sincerely shared Mr. Chamberlain's desire to avoid controversy, the more so as there were some assurances in the Colonial Secretary's recent speech--which he (General Botha) was privileged to hear--of a kind to gratify all who had the fortunes of his destitute fellow-countrymen at heart. He wished also to say that he and his colleagues welcomed Mr. Chamberlain's decision to visit South Africa, and his determination to see the condition of their country with his own eyes, and form a first-hand judgment on its needs." Dealing then with the "misunderstandings" which he wished to remove, General Botha wrote:-- "We made no secret in accepting the Terms of Surrender that the compensation or assistance therein promised would be totally inadequate to enable the Burghers of the late Republics who remained in the field or were in the prisons and concentration camps to make a fair start in life again. On the contrary it was made clear by us that in the absence of further help from the British Government we would have at once to appeal to the charity of the civilised world for further help for the widows and orphans of our Burghers, and for those who had been rendered unfit for work by wounds or sickness during the war.... "It was only from your speech of November 5th that we learnt that the grant was intended entirely for all who are destitute, or who cannot make a fresh start in life without help. We always understood that the £3,000,000 were to be given in partial compensation for war losses, and that that was also understood by Lord Milner is clear from his despatch of June 11th (published in Blue Book, Cd. 1163, page 141), in which he expresses his intention of distributing it _pro rata_ to those who can prove losses through the war. "It therefore appeared to us that the free grant made no general provision for widows, orphans, and the destitute except in so far as they could prove war losses, and we distinctly gathered from your remarks that you could do no more for them. Under these circumstances we issued our appeal. We were, I need not say, highly gratified to learn from your recent speech that the Government would undertake a fuller responsibility for those needing their help, and particularly for the information that if more money than has been voted should be needed, the loan would be increased accordingly. We feel sure that it will ultimately be found that the £3,000,000 already assigned will by no means suffice to meet what is required as a free gift. Meanwhile, the needs of the sufferers are pressing, and we are glad to think that the sums which, through the generosity of the public, we have been able to collect, will to some extent minister to them without any delay, while they will also supplement what is being done by the Government. "In regard to the loan, the provision lately made and the promise that the amount would be augmented if necessary came as a great relief after the months of waiting and suspense, when we were continually being told of those who, from lack of timely assistance, were compelled to part with their property to meet the urgent wants of themselves and their families. Some further and more detailed information as to the terms and conditions under which loans will be obtainable would be gratefully welcomed by the people interested. "With regard to your reference to the free grant of three millions as something 'without any precedent in the history of the world,' I wish to say nothing that can excite or prolong controversy. You must only allow me to remark that the whole circumstances are unprecedented; that the gift of £3,000,000 was one of the conditions upon which the burghers laid down their arms; and that our view is, that having taken the assets of our Governments, you may fairly be expected to meet their liabilities, not in part, but in full. "In regard to the large sums of money alleged by you to remain unexpended in Europe out of sums remitted by the Transvaal to Europe during the war, I can only assure you that I have no knowledge of any such remittances, and should be surprised to find that any were made. There is no sum of money belonging to the late Government known to me over which I have any authority whatever. I can only say that should any such sums exist I personally should be very glad to see them devoted to the objects mentioned." Passing to the subject of the concentration camps, General Botha said it was not his intention in the references he had made to them to suggest that they ought to be broken up before the people could be brought back to their farms. He proceeded:-- "We recognise that towards the close of the war improvements were introduced into them, in consequence of which the death-rate fell to an ordinary figure; but we do not know on what grounds you asserted that a death-rate of 21 per 1000 was lower than that which obtained before the war in normal conditions, and we are not prepared to agree that that was the case. My remark at Paris about the sufferings of the women and children had reference more particularly to those remaining outside the camps, who had their dwellings, with the furniture, food, and all that they contained, burnt or destroyed by British troops; their herds killed or removed, and themselves left destitute on the veldt. These were certainly sufferings, and they did carry great weight with us, among other reasons, in inducing us to surrender." While admitting that the Government was making great efforts to carry on the work of education in the camps, General Botha said he could not help sharing with his colleagues many objections to the large orphanages which had been referred to. He also wished to point out with reference to the pecuniary and other assistance given to the Boers in their misfortunes by "foreign" sympathisers, that in cash and in kind they totalled a value more than a hundredfold what Mr. Chamberlain had been led to suppose. On the subject of the desolation caused by the war, General Botha continued:-- "You are about to proceed to South Africa yourself, and if--as I have no reason to doubt will be the case--you get some of our own people to go over the country of the late Republics with you, you will be able to judge for yourself whether the description of the ruin and desolation as given by myself and others of us was--nay, I might almost say, if it could be--exaggerated.... If your allusion to 'one or other of the belligerents' is meant to suggest that the destruction of houses was practised by us you have been misinformed. My orders were definite that no houses should be destroyed; I know of only four cases where the orders were contravened, and in those instances every endeavour was made to trace the perpetrators, and where known they were promptly punished." General Botha further stated that he had no definite information relative to the increase in the selling value of the land, but the figures quoted showed to any one who knew the country before the war the fearful loss which had taken place in cattle, sheep, and horses. He concluded:-- "I regret to have to dwell on these points, and have done so only to remove misunderstandings as to the grounds for our appeal for aid. I do not doubt your desire to restore peace and the elements of prosperity to our unhappy country, and I would wish that we might so far as possible avoid controversy as to the past, and address ourselves entirely to the necessities of the present." To this letter Mr. Chamberlain replied, on the 15th of November, as follows:-- "I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 12th of November, in reply to my comments on statements contained in the 'Appeal of the Boer Generals to the Civilised World,' and in their speeches on the Continent. "I appreciate the spirit of the last paragraph of your letter, and share the wish which you express therein, and in view of my approaching visit to South Africa I will not prolong the present correspondence. "I trust that during my tour I may gain much valuable information which will assist his Majesty's Government in their efforts to restore peace and prosperity to the countries which have suffered by the war." On the 18th of November, General Botha wrote the following answer:-- "I have to thank you for your letter of 15th instant, and wish only to say, in reply, that I cordially join in the hope that your visit to South Africa may be a step towards that restoration of peace and prosperity to our desolate country, which I am sure that it is your desire to promote." [Illustration] The above map shows the position of the three Powers mainly concerned with the future of South Africa. The total mileage of German territory is said to be about 931,460 miles; that of Portuguese territory about 790,240 miles. The British possessions include the following:-- Sq. miles Basutoland 10,293 Bechuanaland 213,000 Cape Colony 221,311 Central African Protectorate 42,217 East Africa 1,000,000 Zanzibar Protectorate 1,020 Natal 29,200 Nigeria 400,000 Orange River Colony 48,326 Rhodesia, Southern 144,000 Rhodesia, North-Eastern 120,000 Somaliland 68,000 Transvaal 119,139 Swaziland 8,500 Gold Coast 40,000 Lagos 28,910 Gambia 4,500 Sierra Leone 30,000 --------- Total area 2,528,416 These figures are taken from _The Statesman's Year Book_ for 1902. The areas of Barotseland, Adansi, and Ashanti are not included in the list, as the figures for these areas are not given. TRANSCRIBERS' NOTES General: Variable hyphenation of gold(-)fields, over(-)sea, food(-)stuffs and break(-)down as in the original text General: Variable accenting of regime as in the original text Page 8: millitary corrected to military Page 10: some corrected to same after "for South Africa generally," Page 60: hundered corrected to hundred Page 64: Winkie standardised to Wankie after "being constructed through the" Page 72: comphrehensive corrected to comprehensive Page 84: intercouse corrected to intercourse Page 101: The last part of the caption for the illustration of DRIVING AN "END" IN MAY CONSOLIDATED MINE, JOHANNESBURG is illegible and has been omitted. Page 125: Oliphants as in the original text Page 131: Kafirs as in the original text Page 147: Candian corrected to Canadian in "The Canadian Pacific Railway" Page 150: Machadadorp standardised to Machadodorp after "A line from Springs to" Page 154: employées as in the original text Page 159: Teneriffe as in the original text Page 162: redwater standardised to red-water Page 169: toxines as in the original text 
16494	----	THE TRANSVAAL FROM WITHIN A Private Record of Public Affairs BY J.P. FITZPATRICK AUTHOR OF 'THE OUTSPAN' LONDON WILLIAM HEINEMANN 1899 _Written August, 1896. Privately circulated June, 1899. Supplemented and published September 1899._ PREFACE It was originally designed to compile a statement of the occurrences of 1895-6 in the Transvaal and of the conditions which led up to them, in the hope of removing the very grave misunderstandings which existed. Everybody else had been heard and judged, the Uitlander had only been judged. It therefore seemed proper that somebody should attempt to present the case for the Uitlander. The writer, as a South African by birth, as a resident in the Transvaal since 1884, and lastly as Secretary of the Reform Committee, felt impelled to do this, but suffered under the disability of President Kruger's three years' ban; and although it might possibly have been urged that a plain statement of facts and explanations of past actions could not be fairly regarded as a deliberate interference in politics, the facts themselves when set out appeared to constitute an indictment so strong as to make it worth while considering whether the Government of the Transvaal would not regard it as sufficient excuse to put in force the sentence of banishment. The postponement of publication which was then decided upon for a period of three years appeared to be tantamount to the abandonment of the original purpose, and the work was continued with the intention of making it a private record to be printed at the expiry of the term of silence, and to be privately circulated among those who were personally concerned or interested; a record which might perhaps be of service some day in filling in a page of South African history. The private circulation of that work during June of the present year led to suggestions from many quarters that it should be supplemented by a chapter or two dealing with later events and published; and the present volume is the outcome of these suggestions. It is realized that much of what might properly appear in a private record will be considered rather superfluous in a book designed for wider circulation. For instance, a good deal of space is given to details of the trial and the prison life of the Reformers, which are of no interest whatever to the public, although they form a record which the men themselves may like to preserve. These might have been omitted but that the writer desired to make no alterations in the original text except in the nature of literary revision. The writer may be charged by the "peace" party with deliberately selecting a critical and anxious time as opportune to contribute a new factor to those already militating against a peaceful settlement. Two replies could be made to this: one an excuse and one an answer. It would be an excuse that the writer did not deliberately select the time of publication, but that the Transvaal Government in its wisdom chose to impose silence for three years, and that the project with which their action had interfered was resumed at the earliest possible moment. The coincidence of another crisis with the date of emancipation may be an unlucky coincidence, or it may be a result. But there is neither necessity nor intention to offer excuses. The responsibility is accepted and the answer is that a case so sound needs only to be understood, that a recital of the facts must help to dispel the mists of race prejudice and misunderstanding which are obscuring the judgment of many; and that a firm but strictly just and dignified handling of the question by the Imperial Government is the only possible way to avert a catastrophe in South Africa. It is essential therefore that first of all the conditions as they are should be understood; and this record is offered as a contribution to that end. Let the measure of its truth be the measure of its usefulness! The reader is not invited to believe that the case is presented in such form as it might have been presented by an impartial historian. It is the Transvaal _from within_, by one who feels all the injustice and indignity of the position. With the knowledge, however, that a good case is spoiled by overstatement and with the desire to avoid injustice to others an earnest attempt has been made to state the facts fairly. In how far that attempt has been successful the reader must decide for himself. J.P.F. _July, 1899._ NOTE It has been impossible to avoid in this volume more or less pointed reference to certain nationalities in certain connections; for instance such expressions as "the Boers," "the Cape Dutch," "the Hollanders," "the Germans," are used. The writer desires to say once and for all that unless the contrary is obviously and deliberately indicated, the distinctions between nationalities are intended in the political sense only and not in the racial sense, and if by mischance there should be found something in these pages which seems offensive, he begs the more indulgent interpretation on the ground of a very earnest desire to remove and not to accentuate race distinctions. General references are also made to classes--"the civil service," "the officials," &c. There are officials in the Transvaal service who would earn the confidence and esteem of the public in any administration in the world. It is hardly necessary to say that there is no intention to disparage them. CONTENTS PART I. CHAPTER I. EARLIER DAYS 1 CHAPTER II. AFTER THE WAR 44 CHAPTER III. THE ORIGIN OF THE MOVEMENT 117 CHAPTER IV. THE REFORM COMMITTEE 137 CHAPTER V. THE COMMITTEE'S DILEMMA 151 CHAPTER VI. THE INVASION 173 CHAPTER VII. AFTER DOORNKOP 200 CHAPTER VIII. ARREST AND TRIAL OF THE REFORMERS 222 CHAPTER IX. LIFE IN GAOL 251 PART II. CHAPTER X. THREE YEARS' GRACE 285 CHAPTER XI. THE BEGINNING OF THE END 333 APPENDICES. APPENDIX A. Pretoria Convention. 369 APPENDIX B. London Convention. 377 APPENDIX C. President Kruger's Affairs in the Raads. 385 APPENDIX D. Volksraad Debates. 387 APPENDIX E. Malaboch. 395 APPENDIX F. The Great Franchise Debate. 396 APPENDIX G. Terms of Dr. Jameson's Surrender. 404 APPENDIX H. Sir John Willoughby's Report to the War Office. 411 APPENDIX I. Manifesto. 422 APPENDIX K. The Case of the Chieftainess Toeremetsjani. 432 APPENDIX L. Report on the Letter written on a Torn Telegram Form signed "F.R.," by Mr. T.H. Gurrin, Expert in Handwriting. 438 PART I. CHAPTER I. IN EARLIER DAYS. When, before resorting to extreme measures to obtain what the Uitlanders deemed to be their bare rights, the final appeal or declaration was made on Boxing Day, 1895, in the form of the manifesto published by the Chairman of the National Union, President Kruger, after an attentive consideration of the document as translated to him, remarked grimly: 'Their rights. Yes, they'll get them--over my dead body!' And volumes of explanation could not better illustrate the Boer attitude and policy towards the English-speaking immigrants. 'L'État c'est moi' is almost as true of the old Dopper President as it was of its originator; for in matters of external policy and in matters which concern the Boer as a party the President has his way as surely and as completely as any anointed autocrat. To anyone who has studied the Boers and their ways and policy--who has given more than passing consideration to the incidents and negotiations of the present year{01}--it must be clear that President Kruger does something more than represent the opinion of the people and execute their policy: he moulds them in the form he wills. By the force of his own strong convictions and prejudices, and of his indomitable will, he has made the Boers a people whom he regards as the germ of the Africander nation; a people chastened, selected, welded, and strong enough to attract and assimilate all their kindred in South Africa, and then to realize the dream of a Dutch Republic from the Zambesi to Capetown. In the history of South Africa the figure of the grim old President will loom large and striking--picturesque, as the figure of one who by his character and will made and held his people; magnificent, as one who in the face of the blackest fortune never wavered from his aim or faltered in his effort; who, with a courage that seemed, and still seems, fatuous, but which may well be called heroic, stood up against the might of the greatest empire in the world. And, it may be, pathetic, too, as one whose limitations were great, one whose training and associations--whose very successes--had narrowed, and embittered and hardened him; as one who, when the greatness of success was his to take and to hold, turned his back on the supreme opportunity, and used his strength and qualities to fight against the spirit of progress, and all that the enlightenment of the age pronounces to be fitting and necessary to good government and a healthy State. To an English nobleman, who, in the course of an interview, remarked, 'My father was a Minister of England, and twice Viceroy of Ireland,' the old Dutchman answered, 'And my father was a shepherd!' It was not pride rebuking pride; it was the ever-present fact which would not have been worth mentioning but for the suggestion of the antithesis. He too was a shepherd, and is--a peasant. It may be that he knows what would be right and good for his people, and it may be not; but it is sure that he realizes that to educate would be to emancipate, to broaden their views would be to break down the defences of their prejudices, to let in the new leaven would be to spoil the old bread, to give unto all men the rights of men would be to swamp for ever the party which is to him greater than the State. When one thinks on the one-century history of the people, much is seen that accounts for their extraordinary love of isolation, and their ingrained and passionate aversion to control; much too that draws to them a world of sympathy. And when one realizes the old Dopper President hemmed in once more by the hurrying tide of civilization, from which his people have fled for generations--trying to fight both fate and Nature--standing up to stem a tide as resistless as the eternal sea--one sees the pathos of the picture. But this is as another generation may see it. To-day we are too close--so close that the meaner details, the insincerity, the injustice, the barbarity--all the unlovely touches that will by-and-by be forgotten--sponged away by the gentle hand of time, when only the picturesque will remain. In order to understand the deep, ineradicable aversion to English rule which is in the heart and the blood and the bones of every Boer, and of a great many of their kindred who are themselves British subjects, one must recall the conditions under which the Dutch came under British rule. When, in 1814, the Cape was finally ceded to England, it had been twice acquired and held by conquest. The colonists were practically all Dutch, or Huguenots who had adopted Dutch as their language, and South Africa as their home. In any case they were people who, by tradition, teaching and experience, must have regarded the English as their enemies; people in whom there must have been roused bitter resentment against being handed over with the land to their traditional enemies. Were they serfs or subjects? has been asked on their behalf. Had Holland the right, the power, over freemen born, to say to them, 'You are our subjects, on our soil, and we have transferred the soil and with it your allegiance to England, whose sovereignty you will not be free to repudiate.' The Dutch colonist said 'No.' The English Government and the laws of the day said 'Yes.' Early in the century the Boers began to trek away from the sphere of British rule. They were trekkers before that, indeed. Even in the days of Van Riebeck (1650) they had trekked away from the crowded parts, and opened up with the rifle and the plough new reaches of country; pioneering in a rough but most effective way, driving back the savage races, and clearing the way for civilization. There is, however, a great difference to be noted between the early treks of the emigrants and the treks 'from British rule.' In the former (with few exceptions) they went, knowing that their Government would follow them, and even anxious to have its support and its representatives; and the people who formed their migrating parties were those who had no or insufficient land in the settled parts, those who were starting life on their own account, or those whose families could not be located and provided for in the cramped circumstances of the more occupied parts. In the other case, rich and poor, old and young, went off as in the days and in the fashion of Moses or Abraham. They went without leave or help of the Government; secretly or openly they went, and they asked nothing but to be left alone. They left their homes, their people, the protection of an established Government and a rough civilization, and went out into the unknown. And they had, as it appeared to them, and as it will appear to many others, good reasons for taking so grave a step. For, although the colonists of South Africa enjoyed better government, and infinitely more liberty, under British rule, than they had under the tyrannical _régime_ of the Dutch East India Company twenty years before (against which the Boers had twice risen in rebellion) there were many things which were not as they should have been. A generation had grown up which knew nothing of the arbitrary and oppressive rule of the old Dutch Company. Simple folks have long memories, and all the world over injuries make a deeper and more lasting impression than benefits; and the older generation of Boers, which could recall a condition of things contrasting unpleasantly with British rule, also remembered the executions of Slagters Nek--a vindication of the law which, when all allowance has been made for disturbed times, and the need of strong measures to stop rebellion in a newly-acquired country, seems to us to-day to have been harsh, unnecessary, and unwise in policy, and truly terrible in the manner of fulfilment. The Boers have produced from their own ranks no literary champion to plead or defend their cause, and their earlier history is therefore little known, and often misunderstood; but to their aid has come Mr. George McCall Theal, the South African historian, whose years of laborious research have rescued for South Africa much that would otherwise have been lost. In his 'History of the Boers' Mr. Theal records the causes of the great emigration, and shows how the Boers stood up for fair treatment, and fought the cause, not of Boers alone, but of all colonists. Boers and British were alike harshly and ignorantly treated by high-handed Governors, and an ill-informed and prejudiced Colonial Office, who made no distinction on the grounds of nationality between the two; for we read that Englishmen had been expelled the country, thrown in gaol, had their property confiscated, and their newspapers suppressed for asserting their independence, and for trifling breaches of harsh laws. The following extract gives the best possible synopsis of the causes, and should whet an appetite which can be gratified by the purchase of Mr. Theal's book: Why, then, did these men abandon their homes, sacrifice whatever property could not be carried away, and flee from English rule as from the most hateful tyranny? The causes are stated in a great mass of correspondence addressed by them to the Colonial Government, and now preserved, with other colonial records, in declarations published by some of them before leaving, in letters to their relatives and to newspapers, and in hundreds of pages of printed matter, prepared by friendly and hostile hands. The declaration of one of the ablest men among them assigns the following as the motives of himself and the party that went with him: 'GRAHAM'S TOWN, '_January 22, 1837_ '1. We despair of saving the colony from those evils which threaten it by the turbulent and dishonest conduct of vagrants who are allowed to infest the country in every part; nor do we see any prospect of peace or happiness for our children in a country thus distracted by internal commotions. '2. We complain of the severe losses which we have been forced to sustain by the emancipation of our slaves, and the vexatious laws which have been enacted respecting them. '3. We complain of the continual system of plunder which we have for years endured from the Kaffirs and other coloured classes, and particularly by the last invasion of the colony, which has desolated the frontier districts, and ruined most of the inhabitants. '4. We complain of the unjustifiable odium which has been cast upon us by interested and dishonest persons, under the name of religion, whose testimony is believed in England, to the exclusion of all evidence in our favour; and we can foresee, as the result of this prejudice, nothing but the total ruin of the country. '5. We are resolved, wherever we go, that we will uphold the just principles of liberty; but, whilst we will take care that no one is brought by us into a condition of slavery, we will establish such regulations as may suppress crime, and preserve proper relations between master and servant. '6. We solemnly declare that we leave this colony with a desire to enjoy a quieter life than we have hitherto had. We will not molest any people, nor deprive them of the smallest property; but, if attacked, we shall consider ourselves fully justified in defending our persons and effects, to the utmost of our ability, against every enemy. '7. We make known that when we shall have framed a code of laws for our guidance, copies shall be forwarded to this colony for general information; but we take the opportunity of stating that it is our firm resolve to make provision for the summary punishment, even with death, of all traitors, without exception, who may be found amongst us. '8. We purpose, in the course of our journey, and on arrival at the country in which we shall permanently reside, to make known to the native tribes our intentions, and our desire to live in peace and friendly intercourse with them. '9. We quit this colony under the full assurance that the English Government has nothing more to require of us, and will allow us to govern ourselves without its interference in future. '10. We are now leaving the fruitful land of our birth, in which we have suffered enormous losses and continual vexation, and are about to enter a strange and dangerous territory; but we go with a firm reliance on an all-seeing, just, and merciful God, whom we shall always fear, and humbly endeavour to obey. 'In the name of all who leave the colony with me, 'P. RETIEF.' But formal declarations such as the above are not in all instances to be trusted. It is much safer to compare numerous documents written at different times, by different persons, and under different circumstances. For our subject this means of information is as complete as can be desired. The correspondence of the emigrants with the Cape Government was the work of many individuals, and extended over many years. The letters are usually of great length, badly constructed, and badly spelt--the productions, in short, of uneducated men; but so uniform is the vein of thought running through them all, that there is not the slightest difficulty in condensing them into a dozen pages. When analyzed, the statements contained in them are found to consist of two charges, one against the Imperial Government, the other against the agents in South Africa of the London Missionary Society. The Imperial Government was charged with exposing the white inhabitants of the colony, without protection, to robbery and murder by the blacks; with giving credence in every dispute to statements made by interested persons in favour of savages, while refusing to credit the testimony, no matter how reliable, of colonists of European extraction; with liberating the slaves in an unjust manner; and generally with such undue partiality for persons with black skins and savage habits, as to make it preferable to seek a new home in the wilderness than remain under the English flag. The missionaries of the London Society were charged with usurping authority that should properly belong to the civil magistrate; with misrepresenting facts; and with advocating schemes directly hostile to the progress of civilization, and to the observance of order. And it was asserted that the influence of these missionaries was all powerful at the Colonial Office in London, by which the colony, without a voice in the management of its affairs, was then ruled absolutely. In support of the charges against the Imperial Government, the emigrants dwelt largely upon the devastation of the eastern districts by the Kaffirs' inroad of December, 1834, which was certainly unprovoked by the colonists. Yet Lord Glenelg, who was then Secretary of State for the Colonies, justified the Kaffirs, and not only refused to punish them, but actually gave them a large slip of land, including the dense jungles along the Fish River, that had long been part of the colony; and made no other provision against the recurrence of a destructive invasion than a series of treaties with a number of barbarous chiefs, who had no regard for their engagements. This event is the most prominent feature in the correspondence of the emigrants; it is fairly recorded, and the language used is in general much more moderate than that employed by the English frontier colonists when relating the same circumstance. Next stands the removal of all restraint from the coloured population of the colony, without the protection to the whites of even a Vagrant Act. Several of the colonial divisions had been for ten or twelve years overrun by fugitives from the Basuto and Betshuana countries, who had been driven from their own homes by the troubles already recorded. These people were usually termed Mantatees or Makatees, from the supposition that they were all subjects of Ma Ntatisi. Towards the eastern frontiers Kaffirs, and after the war Fingos, wandered about practically wherever they chose. In the remainder of the colony Hottentots, free blacks, and mixed breeds came and went as they pleased. How is it possible, said the farmers, for us to cultivate the ground, or breed cattle, with all these savages and semi-savages constantly watching for opportunities to plunder us--with no police, and no law under which suspicious characters can be arrested and made to account for their manner of living? Much is said of the reproofs of Sir Benjamin D'Urban by the Secretary of State, and, after 1838, of the dismissal of that Governor, (1) The emigrants asserted that he was the best Governor the colony had had since it became subject to England; they dwelt upon his benevolence, his ability, his strict justice, his impartiality to white and black, his efforts to promote civilization; and then they complained, in words more bitter than are to be found when they referred to any other subject, that the good Governor had been reproved, and finally deprived of his office, because he had told the plain truth, regardless of the London Missionary Society; and had endeavoured to mete out to black criminals the same justice that he would have meted out had they been white. There is now no one in South Africa who does not agree with the emigrants in this matter. Nearly half a century has passed away since Sir Benjamin D'Urban was forced into retirement by Lord Glenelg; and during that period the principal measures which he proposed have been approved of and adopted, while the successors of those missionaries who were his bitter opponents are at present among the strongest advocates of his system of dealing with the natives. Sir Benjamin D'Urban remained in South Africa, after being deprived of office, until the reversal of his policy towards the natives was admitted by most people even in England to have been a mistake. He did not leave the Cape until April, 1846, just after the commencement of the War of the Axe. Concerning the liberation of the slaves, there is less in this correspondence than one might reasonably expect to find. Many scores of pages can be examined without any allusion whatever to it. Nowhere is there a single word to be found in favour of slavery as an institution; the view of the emigrants, with hardly an exception, being fairly represented in the following sentence, taken from a letter of the Volksraad at Natal to Sir George Napier: 'A long and sad experience has sufficiently convinced us of the injury, loss, and dearness of slave labour, so that neither slavery nor the slave trade will ever be permitted among us.' [The allusions to the emancipation of slaves, and to slavery as an institution, will be considered by many to need some modification or explanation. The Dutch even to-day speak of the emancipation as the real cause of the great exodus; and the system of indenture, and the treatment of natives generally by the Boers, cannot fairly be regarded as warranting the view expressed by Mr. Theal in connection with this letter to Sir George Napier.] It is alleged, however, that the emancipation, as it was carried out, was an act of confiscation. It is stated that most of the slaves were brought to the colony in English ships, and sold by English subjects; that when, in 1795, the colony was invited by English officers of high rank to place itself under the protection of England, one of the inducements held out was security in slave property; at the same time those officers warning the colonists that if France obtained possession she would liberate the slaves, as she had done in Martinique, thereby ruining this colony as she had ruined that island; that the English Government had recently and suddenly changed its policy, and required them to conform to the change with equal alacrity, whereas they were convinced that gradual emancipation, with securities against vagrancy, was the only safe course. The emancipation had been sudden, and the slaves had been placed upon a perfect political equality with their former proprietors. The missionaries applauded this as a noble and generous act of the Imperial Government, and they were told that by everyone in England it was so regarded. But at whose expense was this noble and generous act carried out? Agents of the Imperial Government had appraised the slaves, generally at less than their market value. Two-fifths of this appraisement, being the share apportioned to the Cape out of the twenty million pounds sterling voted by the Imperial Parliament, had then been offered to the proprietors as compensation, if they chose to go to London for it, otherwise they could only dispose of their claims at a heavy discount. Thus, in point of fact, only about one-third of the appraised amount had been received. To all slave-holders this had meant a great reduction of wealth, while to many of those who were in debt it was equivalent to the utter deprivation of all property. As regards the missionaries, a crusade was organized by some of these worthies, who had themselves married Kaffir women, and who spared no effort and showed no scruple in blackening the name of colonist. The views and interests of the colonists and of these men were so different that concord was hardly possible. The missionaries desired that the blacks should be collected together in villages: the colonists were unwilling that they should be thus withdrawn from service. 'Teach them the first step in civilization, to labour honestly for their maintenance, and add to that oral instruction in the doctrines of Christianity,' said the colonists. 'Why should they be debarred from learning to read and write? And as there can only be schools if they are brought together in villages, why should they not be collected together?' replied the missionaries. Then came another and a larger question. By whom should the waste places of the land, the vast areas which were without other occupants than a few roving Bushmen, be peopled? 'By the white man,' said the colonists; 'it is to the advantage of the world in all time to come that the higher race should expand and be dominant here; it would be treason to humanity to prevent its growth where it can grow without wrong to others, or to plant an inferior stock where the superior can take root and flourish.' 'By Africans,' said the missionaries; 'this is African soil; and if mission stations are established on its desolate tracts, people will be drawn to them from the far interior, the community will grow rapidly, those enlightened by Christianity here will desire in their turn to enlighten their friends beyond, and thus the Gospel teaching will spread until all Africa stretches out its hands to God.' Coupled with such arguments, which were constantly used by missionaries in the early part of this century, before their enthusiasm was cooled by experience, were calculations that appealed strongly to the commercial instincts of people in England. A dozen colonial farmers required something like a hundred square miles of land for their cattle runs; on this same ground, under missionary supervision, three or four hundred families of blacks could exist; these blacks would shortly need large quantities of manufactured goods; and thus it would be to the interest of trade to encourage them rather than the colonists. 'Already,' said they, 'after only a few years' training, many blacks can read as well or better than the ordinary colonists, and are exhibiting a decided taste for civilization.' There was thus a broad line of demarcation between the colonists and such of the missionaries as held these views, and the tendency on each side was to make it still broader. It was deepened into positive antipathy towards those missionaries who, following Dr. Vanderkemp's example, united themselves in marriage with black women, and proclaimed themselves the champions of the black population against the white. Everyone acquainted with South African natives knows how ready they are to please their friends by bringing forward charges against anyone whom those friends dislike. Unfortunately the missionaries Vanderkemp and Read were deceived into believing a great number of charges of cruelty made against various colonists, which a little observation would have shown in most instances to be groundless; and thereupon they lodged accusations before the High Court of Justice. In 1811 between seventy and eighty such cases came before the Circuit Court for trial. There was hardly a family on the frontier of which some relative was not brought as a criminal before the judges to answer to a charge of murder or violent assault. Several months were occupied in the trials, and more than a thousand witnesses were examined, but in every instance the most serious charges were proved to be without foundation. Only a few convictions, and those of no very outrageous crimes, resulted from these prosecutions, which kept the entire colony in a ferment until long after the circuit was closed. Thus far everyone will approve of the sentiments of one party or the other according to his sympathy, but in what follows no unprejudiced person who will take the trouble to study the matter thoroughly can acquit the anti-colonial missionaries of something more faulty than mere error of judgment. For years their writings teemed with charges against the colonists similar to those they had brought before the High Court of Justice. These writings were circulated widely in Europe, where the voice of the colonists was never heard, and they created impressions there which no refutation made in South Africa could ever counteract. The acts, the language, even the written petitions of the colonists, were so distorted in accounts sent home, that these accounts cannot now be read by those who have made themselves acquainted with the truth, without the liveliest feelings of indignation being excited. The colonists learned that in England they were regarded as cruel barbarians because they refused to permit Hottentot herds, swarming with vermin, to be seated in their front rooms at the time of family prayer. They found themselves pictured as the harshest of taskmasters, as unfeeling violators of native rights. And of late years it had become plain to them that the views of their opponents were being acted upon at the Colonial Office, while their complaints were wholly disregarded. Several causes of dissatisfaction, besides those above mentioned, contributed to the impulse of emigration, but all in a very slight degree. Judge Cloete, in his 'Five Lectures,' mentions the severe punishment inflicted upon the frontier insurgents of 1815 as one of them; and there is no doubt that it was so with some families, though no trace of it can be found in the correspondence of the emigrants. The substitution in 1827 of the English for the Dutch language in the colonial courts of law was certainly generally felt as a grievance. The alteration in 1813 of the system of land tenure, the redemption in 1825 of the paper currency at only thirty-six hundredths of its nominal value, and the abolition in 1827 of the courts of landdrost and heemraden, unquestionably caused much dissatisfaction, though all of these measures are now admitted by everyone to have been beneficial. The long delay in issuing titles to farms, the cost of which has been paid to Government years before, is mentioned as a grievance in some of the declarations. Two parties--men, women, and children--numbering ninety-eight in all, pioneered the great trek; of these twenty-six survived fever and fighting, loss of provisions, waggons, and cattle, and a long weary tramp from Zoutpansberg to Delagoa Bay, and were rescued and taken thence to Natal, and two children were carried off by the natives. The survivors were three women with their twelve children--seven orphan children and four youths. Not a single grown man escaped. During the winter of 1836 preparations for emigration were being made over the eastern and midland districts. The Governor was perfectly helpless in the matter. The Attorney-General, Mr. A. Oliphant, was consulted by the Governor, and gave his opinion that 'it seemed next to an impossibility to prevent persons passing out of the colony by laws in force, or by any which could be framed.' On August 19 Sir Benjamin D'Urban wrote to the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Andries Stockenstrom, that 'he could see no means of stopping the emigration, except by persuasion, and attention to the wants and necessities of the farmers.' In that direction the Governor had done all that was in his power, but he could not act in opposition to the instructions of the Secretary of State. Sir Andries Stockenstrom himself, in replying to an address from the inhabitants of Uitenhage, stated that 'he was not aware of any law which prevented any of his Majesty's subjects from leaving his dominions and settling in another country; and such a law, if it did exist, would be tyrannical and oppressive.' The story of the trekkers is one of surpassing interest, and must enlist for them the sympathy and unbounded admiration of all. By the middle of the year 1837 there were over one thousand waggons between the Caledon and Vaal rivers--truly a notable and alarming exodus; and the Boers then began the work of carving out new countries for themselves. Their history surpasses all fiction in its vicissitudes, successes, and tragedies. They fought and worked and trekked, onward, always onward--never returning--on beyond the furthermost outposts of civilization. And so the story rolls on, gaining pathos, but losing no whit of interest from its eternal sameness. They fought, and worked, and starved, and died for their land of promise, where they might hope to be alone, like the simple people of their one Book; where they might never know the hated British rule; where they might never experience the forms and trammels, the restlessness and changes, the worries, the necessities or benefits, of progressing civilization. Their quarrel had been with the abuses and blunders of one Government; but a narrow experience moved them to mistrust all but their own pastoral patriarchal way, moulded on the records of the Bible, and to regard the evidences of progress as warnings of coming oppression and curtailment of liberty, and a departure from the simple and ideal way. The abuses from which they suffered are no more; the methods which were unjust have been abandoned; the ignorance of the ruler has been dispelled; in place of despotism there is autonomy; justice rules where ignorance and bias sat; liberty where there was interference; protection for oppression; progress and civilization have increased as in no other epoch; and the nation and Government from which they severed themselves have taken their place in the very forefront of all. But the Boer sees with the eyes of sixty years ago! The ideal was impossible, the struggle hopeless, the end certain. They trekked, and trekked and trekked again; but the flag of England--emblem of all they hated--was close by; behind, beside, in front, or over them; and the something which they could not fight--the ever-advancing tide of civilization--lapped at their feet, and slowly, silently, and for ever blotted out the line where they had written, 'Thus far and no further.' The South African Republic had been in existence as an independent State for twelve years when it reached that condition of insolvency which appeared to invite, or at least justify, annexation, as the only alternative to complete ruin and chaos. And there are very few, even among the most uncompromising supporters of the Boers, who seriously attempt to show that the Transvaal had any prospect of prolonging its existence as an independent State for more than a few months when Sir Theophilus Shepstone annexed it in 1877. The following picture is from a book published by the late Alfred Aylward, the Fenian, more anti-British than the Boer himself, who was present at the time, and wrote his book in order to enlist sympathy for the movement then (1878) organized to obtain a cancellation of the annexation. The value of Aylward's testimony would not be fairly appreciated without some explanation. Sir Bartle Frere describes him (and quotes Scotland Yard authorities who knew him well) as one of the party who murdered the policeman at Manchester, and one of the worst and most active of the dynamiting Irishmen--a professional agitator, who boasted of his purpose to promote the Transvaal rebellion. Major Le Caron, too, stated on oath before the Parnell Commission that money was sent by the Irish Rebel Societies, through Aylward, to stir up the Transvaal rebellion. This is what Aylward says: All South Africa was for the moment at rest, with the exception of the district of Utrecht, where an old-standing grievance with Cetewayo was the cause of some little alarm and excitement (_i.e._, Cetewayo's threatened invasion). Still, the Transvaal was disturbed throughout its whole extent by the expectation of some pending change--a change coming from the outside, which had been invited by an active, discontented party, chiefly foreigners, dwellers in towns, non-producers, place-hunters, deserters, refugees, land-speculators, 'development-men,' and pests of Transvaal society generally, who openly preached resistance to the law, refusal to pay taxes, and contempt of the natural and guaranteed owners of the country in which they lived, in the distinctly expressed hope that foreign intervention would fill the country with British gold, and conduce to their own material prosperity. The Boers, spread over a country larger than France, were stunned into stupor by the demonstrative loudness of the party of discontent. In some districts they (the Boers) were poor, and could not readily pay the taxes imposed upon them by the wars and railway projects of the Government. Their Volksraad was in Session, but its every action was paralyzed by the gloom of impending dissolution. The Republic owed £215,000, which it had no immediate means of paying. Its creditors were clamorous; whilst the Executive, turn to which side it would, found itself confronted by threats, reproaches, accusations of slavery and cruelty based upon hearsay, and which, like the annexation that steadily approached, could not be met, because neither of them had yet assumed the evidenced consistency of actual fact. There was no public opinion to support the Government or to save the Republic. The Boers lived far apart from each other, whilst the annexationists and the party of disorder dwelt, in compact communities, in towns and mining villages. Into the midst of this confusion--into the capital of this bewildered State--entered Sir Theophilus Shepstone and his staff. He had not come to seize the country--he had come as 'an adviser, as a helper, and as a friend'; but his advent was a blight--an incubus which rendered additionally powerless the unfortunate President and his Council. The coming of Sir Theophilus Shepstone was, to the minds of nearly all, but too clearly the forerunner of change. In the face of this additional whet to the anticipations of the party of disturbance, something that has been described as anarchy prevailed. Everyone waited; all fell into a state of expectation; no one attempted to save the State, or repel the danger. At the same time, there was no anarchy in the proper sense of the word. Justice sat on her seat; criminals were arrested and brought to trial; actions at law were heard and determined; and in no one place, save the goldfields, was authority, even for a moment, defied. There the law vindicated itself without having used violence or shed one drop of blood. Not one single public outrage, not one unpunished crime, marked this period of suspense, which is described by partizan writers as a time of chaos and anarchy. Peace was granted to Secocoeni, and the quietness and gloom of the country became even more profound. Now, had a commission, royal or joint, been opened in Pretoria to inquire into the truth of the allegations made against the Government, history might perhaps be able to record that judgment, followed by justice, had overtaken the Transvaal. No commission was opened. There was a banquet and a ball. The suspense increased in intensity. Understrappers, and agents of the discontented faction, filled the country with rumours of impending annexation, and sometimes of impending conquest. The Boers, the inhabitants of the country, asked day after day what was the mission of the English Commissioner. They visited him in hundreds; but he knew the wonderful advantage to be gathered from the heightening of the mystery, and the intensifying of the excitement. He listened to everyone; but he maintained a gloomy and impassive silence, neither checking the aspirations of the annexationists, nor dissipating the forebodings of the farmers. News arrived that troops were marching towards, and massing on, Theophilus sought not to alleviate the anxieties of the Government, nor to quell the now rising alarm amongst the people; he simply sat still and listened, watching the writhings and stragglings of the doomed Volksraad, and awaiting a favourable moment to end its existence. At length someone determined to ask: 'Was it not possible to avert this annexation which loomed before every mind, brooding like a shadow upon the country?' He went to Sir Theophilus; he asked his question; and at length the oracle spoke. Without moving a muscle of his wonderfully impassive countenance, without even raising his eyes to look at the interlocutor, Sir Theophilus calmly murmured: 'It is too late!--too late!' And so, without the authorization of the home Government, without the consent of her Majesty's High Commissioner, without the concurrence of the Volksraad, against the will of thirty-nine-fortieths of the people, and in defiance of the protest of their Executive, as Mr. Anthony Trollope puts it, Sir Theophilus said: 'Then and from thenceforth the Transvaal shall be British property!' So he put up the Queen's flag. Now, it is impossible to conceive anything more admirable for its discretion, more wisely calculated as to the moment of its occurrence, or more suavely and yet firmly done than this act. There was not a blow struck, not a shot fired; and the first impulse of nearly every person in the country, whether in principle opposed to annexation or not, was to congratulate Sir Theophilus Shepstone on the skill, tact, and good fortune with which he had put an end to the excessive anxiety, the mental strain, the fears, hopes, and expectations by which the whole country was paralyzed. Whether the annexation be now held to be right or wrong, its execution, so far as regards the act itself, was an unparalleled triumph of tact, modesty, and firmness. It was not discovered at the moment, and it never entered into any man's mind to consider, that it was the presence in Pretoria of Sir Theophilus himself that had created the anxiety, and caused the paralysis; and that it was his arts and presence that had tightened and strung up into quivering intensity the mind of the country. He had broken the spell; he had introduced certainty in place of uncertainty; and he was congratulated, and very properly so, for the manner in which he had brought to a conclusion his hazardous mission. Sir Theophilus Shepstone's despatches record his negotiations with President Burgers, and the arrangement which allowed him to make a formal protest against the annexation, so as to satisfy his Irreconcilables, whilst he in reality not only assented to the measure, but even assisted the completion of it, and discussed the details with Shepstone, who in turn had revised President Burgers' 'protest.' On April 3, 1877, Shepstone had written to Frere: Mr. Burgers, who had been all along, as far as his conversation and professions to me went, in full accord with me, had suddenly taken alarm; he made impossible proposals, all of which involved infinite delay, and, of course, dangerous agitation. As far as I am concerned, leave the country, civil war would at once take place, as the natives would consider it the sunshine in which they could make hay in the Transvaal; the goldfields are in a state of rebellion against the Transvaal Government, and they are kept from overt acts only by my warnings and entreaties. And eight days later he wrote to Mr. Robert Herbert enclosing his letter under 'flying seal' to Frere: There will be a protest against my act of annexation issued by the Government, but they will at the same time call upon the people to submit quietly, pending the issue; you need not be disquieted by such action, because it is taken merely to save appearances, and the members of the Government from the violence of a faction that seems for years to have held Pretoria in terror when any act of the Government displeased it. You will better understand this when I tell you privately that the President has from the first fully acquiesced in the necessity for the change, and that most of the members of the Government have expressed themselves anxious for it; but none of them have had the courage openly to express their opinions, so I have had to act apparently against them; and this I have felt bound to do, knowing the state and danger of the country, and that three-fourths of the people will be thankful for the change when once it is made. Yesterday morning Mr. Burgers came to me to arrange how the matter should be done. I read to him the draft of my Proclamation, and he proposed the alteration of two words only, to which I agreed. He brought to me a number of conditions which he wished me to insert, which I have accepted, and have embodied in my Proclamation. He told me that he could not help issuing a protest, to keep the noisy portion of the people quiet--and you will see grounds for this precaution when I tell you that there are only half a dozen native constables to represent the power of the State in Pretoria, and a considerable number of the Boers in the neighbourhood are of the lowest and most ignorant class. Mr. Burgers read me, too, the draft of his protest, and asked me if I saw any objection to it, or thought it too strong. I said that it appeared to me to pledge the people to resist by-and-by; to which he replied that it was to tide over the difficulty of the moment, seeing that my support, the troops, were a fortnight's march distant, and that by the time the answer to the protest came, all desire of opposition would have died out. I therefore did not persuade him from his protest. You will see, when the proclamation reaches you, that I have taken high ground. Nothing but annexation will or can save the State, and nothing else can save South Africa from the direst consequences. All the thinking and intelligent people know this, and will be thankful to be delivered from the thraldom of petty factions, by which they are perpetually kept in a state of excitement and unrest, because the Government, and everything connected with it, is a thorough sham. This arrangement with President Burgers was a most improper compromise on both sides. Moreover, Shepstone received the protests of the Executive Council and of the Volksraad before he issued his proclamation. He had plenty of evidence to show that even if his action was approved by the majority, the Boers were sufficiently divided to demand some delay. He knew that the members of the Government and of the Raad would not face the responsibility of relinquishing the State's independence, although he received private assurances and entreaties encouraging him to act. He had representations and deputations from the Boers themselves, sufficient in weight and number to warrant his belief that a large proportion of the people desired annexation. He should not have allowed the 'hedging' that was practised at his expense. The Boer leaders were 'between the devil and the deep sea.' There can be no doubt whatever that they dearly loved and prized their independence, and would have fought even then for it had they been in a position to preserve and profit by it; but they were not. They dared neither ask for relief at the price of annexation, nor reject the proffered relief at the price of continuing the hopeless struggle. So they compromised. They took the relief, they accepted pay of the new Government, and entered a protest, so as to put themselves right with the records and stand well with untamed ones of the party. The Act of Annexation is so generally condemned by the friends and sympathizers of the Boers, and is so persistently quoted by them as the cause of the Boer War, that it is only right to show clearly what the opinion was at that time; and if it be deemed that overmuch space is given to this matter, the answer is, that it is quoted now as the crime which gave rise to the present hatred and mistrust of England, and it is all-important that the truth should be clear. This is what Mr. J.F. Celliers, the patriotic editor of the Boer newspaper, _De Volksstem_, wrote in reviewing the work of the special session of the Volksraad, convened to deal with the questions of Lord Carnarvon's Federation Bill, and the rescuing of the country from ruin and chaos:--'During the session we have repeatedly had occasion to comment on the doings of the Raad. These comments have not been favourable, and we regret to say that we have found in the closing scenes of our Legislature no reason to alter our opinions.' Then follows a scathing account of the 'work done,' in which occur such references as:--'With the exception of a couple of members, no one had the sense or manliness to go into the question of confederation'; and 'The most surprising feature of the whole affair was this--that most of the speakers seemed not to have the faintest conception of the desperate condition in which the country stood....' And again, under date of March 28: 'About three months ago we said we would prefer confederation under the British flag if the state of anarchy then threatening were to continue. We know that a good and stable Government is better than anarchy any day.' It is noteworthy that the writer of the above is the same Mr. Celliers who, two years later, was put in gaol by Colonel Lanyon on a charge of sedition, because he attacked the Administration for its failure to keep the promises made at the time of annexation. Three thousand out of eight thousand voters actually signed petitions in favour of annexation. In the Raad, President Burgers openly reproached members for proclaiming in public, and for improper reasons, views diametrically opposed to those privately expressed on the confederation and annexation questions; and refused to consult with three out of four members appointed as a deputation to confer with him on these subjects, because they had not paid their taxes, and had so helped by example, not less than by the actual offence, to cause the ruin of the country and the loss of independence. And on March 3 President Burgers read an address to the Raad, in which the following words occur: 'I would rather be a policeman under a strong Government than the President of such a State. It is you--you members of the Raad and the Boers--who have lost the country, who have sold your independence for a _soupe_ (a drink). You have ill-treated the natives, you have shot them down, you have sold them into slavery, and now you have to pay the penalty.' * * * * * * * 'We should delude ourselves by entertaining the hope that matters would mend by-and-by. It would only be self-deceit. I tell you openly, matters are as bad as they ever can be; they cannot be worse. These are bitter truths, and people may perhaps turn their backs on me; but then I shall have the consolation of having done my duty.' * * * * * * * 'It is said here this or that man must be released from taxes, because the Kaffirs have driven them off their farms, and occupy the latter. By this you proclaim to the world that the strongest man is master here, that the right of the strongest obtains here.' [Mr. Mare: 'This is not true.'] 'Then it is not true what the honourable member, Mr. Breytenbach, has told us about the state of the Lydenburg district; then it is not true either what another member has said about the farms in Zoutpansberg, which are occupied by Kaffirs. Neither is it true, then, what I saw with my own eyes at Lydenburg, where the burghers had been driven off their farms by the Kaffirs, and where Johannes was ploughing and sowing on the land of a burgher. These are facts, and they show that the strongest man is the master here. The fourth point which we have to take into account affects our relations with our English neighbours. It is asked, What have they got to do with our position? I tell you, as much as we have to do with that of our Kaffir neighbours. As little as we can allow barbarities among the Kaffirs on our borders, as little can they allow that in a state on their borders anarchy and rebellion should prevail.' * * * * * * * 'Do you know what has recently happened in Turkey? Because no civilized government was carried on there, the Great Powers interfered and said, "Thus far, and no further." And if this is done to an empire, will a little republic be excused when it misbehaves? * * * * * * * 'Complain to other Powers, and seek justice there? Yes, thank God! justice is still to be found, even for the most insignificant; but it is precisely the justice which will convict us. If we want justice, we must be in a position to ask it with unsullied hands.' * * * * * * * 'Whence has arisen that urgency to make an appeal for interference elsewhere? Has that appeal been made only by enemies of the State? Oh no, gentlemen; it has arisen from real grievances. Our people have degenerated from their former position; they have become demoralised; they are not what they ought to be.' * * * * * * * 'To-day a bill for £1,100 was laid before me for signature; but I would sooner have cut off my right hand than sign that paper, for I have not the slightest ground to expect that when that bill becomes due there will be a penny to pay it with.' * * * * * * * The President added, and his statements remained uncontradicted: The principal thing which had brought them to their present position was that to which they would not give attention. It was not this or that thing which impeded their way, but they themselves stopped the way; and if they asked him what prevented the people from remaining obstruction, owing to the inherent incapacity and weakness of the people. But whence this weakness? Was it because they were deformed? because they were worse than other people? because they were too few and too insignificant to occupy the country? Those arguments did not weigh with him. They were not true; he did not consider them of any importance. The people were as good as any other people, but they were completely demoralized; they had lost faith in God, reliance upon themselves, or trust in each other. Hence he believed they were inherently weak. * * * * * * * He did not believe that a new constitution would save them; for as little as the old constitution had brought them to ruin, so little would a new constitution bring them salvation. * * * * * * * The Great Powers, with all their greatness, all their thousands of soldiers, would fall as quickly as this State had fallen, and even more quickly, if their citizens were to do what the citizens of this State had done; if the citizens of England had behaved towards the Crown as the burghers of this State had behaved to their Government, England would never have stood as long as she had, not even as long as this State had stood. This State owed obligations to other countries; they knew that the fire which had nearly consumed this State would, if felt by them, very soon consume them also. * * * * * * * In several of the cities of Holland there were people who had subscribed for only one debenture, because they thought men of their own blood were living in South Africa. What was the consequence? The interest up to July last had been paid; in January of this year £2,250 was due for interest, and there was not a penny to meet it. * * * * * * * To take up arms and fight was nonsense; to draw the sword would be to draw the sword against God, for it was God's judgment that the State was in the condition it was to-day; and it was their duty to inquire whether they should immerse in blood the thousands of innocent inhabitants of this country, and if so, what for? For an idea--for something they had in their heads, but not in their hearts; for an independence which was not prized. Let them make the best of the situation, and get the best terms they possibly could; let them agree to join their hands to those of their brethren in the south, and then from the Cape to the Zambesi there would be one great people. Yes, there was something grand in that--grander even than their idea of a Republic--something which ministered to their national feeling. And would this be so miserable? Yes; this would be miserable for those who would not be under the law, for the rebel and revolutionist, but welfare and prosperity for the men of law and order. * * * * * * * They must not underrate their real and many difficulties. He could point to the south-western border, the Zulu, the goldfields, and other questions, and show them that it was their duty to come to an arrangement with the British Government, and to do so in a bold and manly manner. An hon. member on Saturday last had spoken with a fervent patriotism; but he had failed to appreciate the reference, because it amounted to this--that they must shut their eyes to everything, so as to keep their independence. President Burgers, who left the Transvaal broken-hearted, more by the cruel and mean intriguing and dissensions among, and disloyalty of, his own people, which made the annexation possible, than by the Act itself, when dying left a statement of the case. It is too long to reproduce in its entirety. He shows how the English faction worked for annexation, and how the Dopper party, headed by Kruger, allied themselves with the former in intrigue against the Government, thwarting all effort at reform and organization, and encouraging the refusal to pay taxes. He states plainly that this course was pursued by Kruger in order to oust him from power, and secure the Presidency for himself. He shows how he opposed 'that other element which had formerly worked in secret, viz., British interference, which got a strong support from the Boers themselves, and one of their chief leaders, P. Kruger, who had betrayed me, after promising me his and his party's support.' He gives the final scene as follows: The Volksraad had gone away, having done nothing but harm. The members of the Executive had gone home, as if all were safe, and I sat with a half-new Cabinet and part of an old one, half discharged. Yet I made one attempt more, and drafted a letter to Shepstone, intimating that I would oppose the annexation by force of arms, etc.; and showed this to two members of the Executive. The response to my appeal, however, was so weak (one of them being in league with the English) that I had to abandon the project, and try to prepare for the worst. When, therefore, Shepstone's announcement came--that he could wait no longer, that he had given us time enough to reform, and that he must issue his proclamation--I could do no more than advise a protest, and an appeal to foreign powers. This having been agreed to by my Government, I met Shepstone in presence of the Executive, and what could be saved for the country, such as its language, its legislature, the position of its officials, etc., was arranged. Before issuing his proclamation, Shepstone desired to see copies of both mine and the Government protest. This I promised, on condition he showed me his proclamation before publication: to which he agreed. To one clause I greatly objected, and protested--namely, the threat of confiscation of property for disobeying the proclamation. I pointed out that this was barbarous, and would be punishing a man's innocent family for his actions. The clause was omitted. This is the origin of the lie that I helped Shepstone in drawing up this proclamation. In justice to Shepstone, I must say that I would not consider an officer of my Government to have acted faithfully if he had not done what Shepstone did; and if the act was wrong (which undoubtedly it was), not he, but his Government, is to blame for it. Messrs. Kruger and Jorissen left within a month to protest in England against the annexation. Sir T. Shepstone wrote (May 9): 'Mr. Paul Kruger and his colleague, Dr. Jorissen, D.D., the Commission to Europe, leave to-day. I do not think that either of them wishes the Act of Annexation to be cancelled; Dr. Jorissen certainly does not.' And Mr. J.D. Barry, Recorder of Kimberley, wrote to Frere (May 15): 'The delegates, Paul Kruger and Dr. Jorissen, left Pretoria on the 8th, and even they do not seem to have much faith in their mission. Dr. Jorissen thinks that the reversal of Sir Theophilus's Act would not only be impossible, but a great injury to the country.' It is not necessary to seek hostile testimony to establish the fact that the Boers as a whole acquiesced in the annexation; the foregoing quotation from Aylward's book supplies all that is needed--unintentionally, perhaps. The Zulu menace, which Aylward so lightly dismisses, was a very serious matter; the danger a very real one. It has frequently been asserted by the Boers and their friends that the Zulu trouble was fomented by a section of the Natal people, and that Sir Theophilus Shepstone himself, if he did not openly encourage the Zulu King in his threats and encroachments on the Transvaal, at any rate refrained from using his unique influence and power with the Zulus in the direction of peace, and that he made a none too scrupulous use of the Zulu question when he forced the annexation of the Transvaal. It is stated that, in the first place, there was no real danger, and in the next place, if there were, such was Sir Theophilus's power with the Zulus that he could have averted it; and in support of the first point, and in demolition of Sir T. Shepstone's pro-annexation arguments, the following extract from the latter's despatches is quoted by Aylward and others: EXTRACT FROM DESPATCH, DATED UTRECHT, TRANSVAAL, JANUARY 29, 1878. _Sir T. Shepstone to Sir H. Bulwer_. Par. 12. 'Although this question has existed for many years, and the settlement of it has been long postponed, yet on no former occasion has it assumed so serious an aspect, or included so wide an area of territory; never before has there existed any bar to the farmers occupying their farms after an absence more or less temporary, caused by a temporary and local scare. Practically, the line of occupied farms has not been heretofore affected by the dispute about the beaconed boundary, but now the prohibition to these has become absolute by Zulu claims and action. Ruin is staring the farmers in the face, and their position is, _for the time, worse under Her Majesty's Government than ever it was under the Republic_.' Had Sir T. Shepstone's power been as great as represented, it is fair to suppose that it would have been exerted, and would have prevailed in support of his own administration; but it seems clear that he could do nothing; and as to the reality of the danger, nothing could better establish that than the unpleasant admissions in the foregoing extract and the initial disasters in the Zulu War a year later. The Boers' protective power was not lessened by the annexation--quite otherwise. It was supplemented by British money, arms, and soldiers, and the prestige of the British flag, and yet things happened as above described. What would they have been under the old conditions? The day before he issued the proclamation Sir T. Shepstone sent a messenger to Cetewayo, telling him that the Transvaal would be under British sovereignty, and warning him against aggression in that direction. Cetewayo replied: 'I thank my father Somtseu (Shepstone) for his message. I am glad that he has sent it, because the Dutch have tired me out, and I intended to fight with them once, only once, and to drive them over the Vaal. Kabana, you see my impis are gathered. It was to fight the Dutch I called them together. Now I will send them back to their houses.' (C. 1883, p. 19.) Colonel A.W. Durnford; R.E., in a memorandum of July 5, 1877, wrote: About this time (April 10) Cetewayo had massed his forces in three corps on the borders, and would undoubtedly have swept the Transvaal, country not been taken over by the English. In my opinion, he would have cleared the country to Pretoria. 'I am convinced,' wrote Sir A. Cunynghame, June 12, from Pretoria, 'that had this country not been annexed, it would have been ravaged by the native tribes. Forty square miles of country had been overrun by natives, and every house burned, just before the annexation.' And he wrote again, July 6: 'Every day convinces me that unless this country had been annexed it would have been a prey to plunder and rapine from the natives on its border, joined by Secocoeni, Mapok, and other tribes in the Transvaal. Feeling the influence of the British Government, they are now tranquil.' So much for the reality of the danger. As to the causes of it and the alleged responsibility of Natal, Sir Bartle Frere, in a letter to General Ponsonby, made the following remarks: The fact is, that while the Boer Republic was a rival and semi-hostile power, it was a Natal weakness rather to pet the Zulus as one might a tame wolf, who only devoured one's neighbour's sheep. We always remonstrated, but rather feebly; and now that both flocks belong to us, we are rather embarrassed in stopping the wolf's ravages. Sir B. Frere realized fully the dangers, and gave his testimony as to Boer opinion. On December 15, 1877, he wrote, concerning his policy towards the Zulus: My great anxiety is, of course, to avoid collision, and I am satisfied that the only chance I have of keeping clear of it is to show that I do not fear it. The Boers are, of course, in a state of great apprehension, and I have ordered those of the two frontier districts of Utrecht and Wakkerstroom to hold themselves in readiness, should I find it necessary to call upon them for active service. Sir T. Shepstone also wrote, concerning the reality of the danger, under date December 25: The Boers are still flying, and I think by this time there must be a belt of more than a hundred miles long and thirty broad, in which, with three insignificant exceptions, there is nothing but absolute desolation. This will give your Excellency some idea of the mischief which Cetewayo's conduct has caused. And again (April 30, 1878): I find that Secocoeni acts as a kind of lieutenant to Cetewayo. He received directions from the Zulu King, and these directions are by Secocoeni issued to the various Basuto tribes in the Transvaal. Sir T. Shepstone rushed the annexation. He plucked the fruit that would have fallen. He himself has said that he might have waited until the Zulus actually made their threatened murderous raid. That might have been Macchiavelian statecraft, but it would not have been humanity; and there was nothing in the attitude of the Boer leaders at the time of the annexation which foreshadowed the fierce and determined opposition which afterwards developed. The fact seems to be that the people of the Transvaal were either in favour of the annexation, or were overpowered and dazed by the hopelessness of the Republic's outlook; and they passively assented to the action of Sir Theophilus Shepstone and his twenty-five policemen. The Boers were quite unable to pay the taxes necessary to self-government and the prosecution of the Kaffir wars. The Treasury was empty--save for the much-quoted 12s. 6d. The Government £1 bluebacks were selling at 1s. Civil servants' salaries were months in arrear. The President himself--the excitable, unstable, visionary, but truly enlightened and patriotic Burgers--had not only drawn no salary, but had expended his private fortune, and incurred a very heavy liability, in the prosecution of the unsuccessful Secocoeni war. No amount of _ex post facto_ evidence as to the supposed feelings and opinions of the Boers can alter a single one of the very serious facts which, taken together, seemed to Sir Theophilus to justify the annexation. But it all comes down to this: If the passive acquiescence in the annexation coincided strangely with the Republic's failure to defeat its enemies and pay its debts, it is no whit less odd that Lord Carnarvon's anxiety for the Republic's safety synchronized with his attempt to confederate South Africa. The real mistakes of the British Government began _after_ the annexation. The failure to fulfil promises; the deviation from old ways of government; the appointment of unsuitable officials, who did not understand the people or their language; the neglect to convene the Volksraad or to hold fresh elections, as definitely promised; the establishment of personal rule by military men, who treated the Boers with harshness and contempt, and would make no allowance for their simple, old-fashioned ways, their deep-seated prejudices, and, if you like, their stupid opposition to modern ideas: these things and others caused great dissatisfaction, and gave ample material for the nucleus of irreconcilables to work with. During the occupation period Mr. Kruger took office under the British Government, as also did Dr. Jorissen and Chief Justice (then Judge) Kotzé, and indeed all the officials who had protested against the annexation, except Mr. Piet Joubert, who declined to do so, and who, if actions be the test and not words, was the only honest protestant. Mr. Kruger retained his office for some time after he had concerned himself in the Repeal agitation, but finally resigned his post on being refused an increased remuneration, for which he had repeatedly applied. There can be but little doubt that had this inducement been forthcoming, he would have remained a loyal British subject. The effect of the annexation was to start the wells of plenty bubbling--with British gold. The country's debts were paid. Secocoeni and Cetewayo would be dealt with, and the responsibility for all things was on other and broader shoulders. With the revival of trade, and the removal of responsibilities and burdens, came time to think and to talk. The wave of the magician's wand looked so very simple that the price began to seem heavy. The eaten bread was forgotten. The dangers and difficulties that were past were of small account now that they _were_ past; and so the men who had remained passive, and recorded formal protests when they should have resisted, and taken steps to show that they were in earnest, began their Repeal agitation. All the benefits which the Boers hoped from the annexation had now been reaped. Their pressing needs were relieved. Their debts had been paid; their trade and credit restored; their enemies were being dealt with. Repeal would rob them of none of these; they would, in fact, eat their cake and still have it. The Zulu question had been taken up, and could not now be left by the Imperial Government to settle itself. The debts discharged for them and the outlays incurred might, it is true, be charged to them. They could not be repaid, of course, for the same reason that you cannot get blood from stone; and the amount would, therefore, be a National Debt, which was exactly what they had been trying for years to incur, and the condition of their credit had made it impossible to do. The causes of discontent before given were serious, but the failure to fulfil promises was not deliberate. Circumstances combined to prevent Sir Bartle Frere from visiting the Transvaal, as intended and promised. Native wars (Gaika and Galeka), disagreements between the Colonial and Imperial authorities, the obstructions and eventual dismissal of the Molteno-Merriman Ministry--the first under Responsible Government--Natal and Diamond-fields affairs, and, above all, the Zulu War, all combined to prevent Sir Bartle Frere from fulfilling his obligations to settle Transvaal matters. In the meantime two deputations had been sent to England, representing the Boers' case against annexation. The active party among the Boers, _i.e._, the Voortrekker party, the most anti-British and Republican, though small in itself, had now succeeded in completely dominating the rest of the Boers, and galvanizing them into something like national life and cohesion again--a result achieved partly by earnest persuasion, but largely also by a kind of terrorism. Sir Bartle Frere, who managed at last to visit the Transvaal, in April, 1879, had evidence of this on his journey up, and in a despatch to Sir M. Hicks Beach from Standerton on the 6th of that month he wrote: I was particularly impressed by the replies of a very fine specimen of a Boer of the old school. He had been six weeks in an English prison, daily expecting execution as a rebel, and had been wounded by all the enemies against whom his countrymen had fought--English, Zulus, Basutos, Griquas, and Bushmen. 'But,' he said, 'that was in the days of my youth and inexperience. Had I known then what I know now, I would never have fought against the English, and I will never fight them again. Old as I am, I would now gladly turn out against the Zulus, and take fifty friends of my own, who would follow me anywhere; but I dare not leave my home till assured it will not be destroyed and my property carried off in my absence, by the men who call me "rebel" because I will not join them against the Government. My wife, brought up like a civilized woman in the Cape Colony, has had five times in her life to run from the house and sleep in the veld when attacked by Zulus and Basutos. One of our twelve sons was assegaied in sight of our house, within the last ten it was surrounded by Basutos, my wife had to fly in the night by herself, leading one child and carrying another on her back. She walked nearly fifty miles through the Lion Veld, seeing three lions on the way, before she reached a place of safety. It is not likely that we should forget such things, nor wish them to recur; but how can I leave her on my farm and go to Zululand, when the malcontent leaders threaten me that if I go they will burn my house and drive off all my stock? Assure me that we are not to be deserted by the English Government, and left to the mercy of these malcontent adventurers, and I and my people will gladly turn out to assist Colonel Wood.' _I find that this idea that the English Government will give up the Transvaal, as it formerly did the Orange Free State, has been industriously propagated, and has taken a great hold on the minds of the well-disposed Boers, and is, I believe, one main cause of reluctance to support the Government actively_. _They argue that what has been done before may be done again, and they have no feeling of assurance that if they stand by the English Government to-day they will not be left to bear the brunt of the malcontents' vengeance when a Republic is established_. And again on the 9th, from Heidelberg: _The idea that we should somehow be compelled or induced to abandon the country had taken great hold on the minds of some of the more intelligent men that I met_. It has been seduously written up by a portion of the South African press, English as well as Dutch. I marked its effect particularly on men who said they had come from the old Colony since the annexation, but would never have done so had they believed that English rule would be withdrawn, and the country left to its former state of anarchy.... _But there is great practical difficulty in conveying to the mass of the people any idea of the real power of Government_. It is not possible to pen a more severe and pregnant comment on the after-policy of England than that suggested by the italicized lines, written as they were by England's Plenipotentiary--an idea reported to headquarters, not as a feeler, but as a suggestion so absurd that it called for no expression of opinion. But he lived to find that it was not too absurd to be realized; and perhaps, after all, it was written as a warning, and the wise and cool-headed old statesman in his inmost soul had a premonition of what eventually occurred. Sir Bartle Frere met the Boers in their camp, and discussed with them their grievances. He informed them that he had no power to revoke the annexation, nor would he recommend it, as, in his judgment, such a course would be a reversion to chaos and ruin. The Boers pressed steadily for nothing less than repeal. Sir Bartle Frere reported the historical meeting at Erasmus Farm to Sir M. Hicks Beach: _April 14, 1879._ They were evidently much disappointed.... Our meeting separated with no more definite decision than that they must report to the 'people,' and be guided by their decision as to what was to be done. If I may judge from the gentlemen composing the deputation, and others of their class, whom I have had the honour of meeting since coming to the Transvaal, the leaders are, with few exceptions, men who deserve respect and regard for many valuable and amiable qualities as citizens and subjects.... Of the results of our meeting it is impossible at present to say more than that it must have cleared away misconceptions on all sides If they have learnt anything as to the finality of the act of annexation--that I have no power to undo it, and do not believe that it will ever be undone, in the only sense in which they will ask it--I have, on the other hand, been shown the stubbornness of a determination to be content with nothing else, for which I was not prepared by the general testimony of officials who had been longer in the country, and who professed to believe that the opposition of the Boers was mere bluster, and that they had not the courage of their professed opinions.... I feel assured that the majority of the Committee felt very deeply what they believed to be a great national wrong.... But my conviction is that the real malcontents are far from being a majority of the whole white population, or even of their own class of Boer farmers. I have no doubt whatever that if the Executive were in a position to assert the supremacy of the law, to put an effectual stop to the reign of terrorism which exists at present, the discontented minority would cease to agitate, and would soon cease to feel grievances which a very brief discussion shows to be in the main sentimental; not the less keenly felt on that account, but not likely to survive the prosperity and good government, with a fair measure of self-government in its train, which are within their reach under British rule. And, again, he wrote to Lady Frere: PRETORIA, _April 20, 1879._ My last letter had not been gone many hours by the mail express when Lanyon ran into my room, to tell me that the Boer camp was actually broken up and the Boers dispersing. I need not tell you how thankful I was. The one thing I dreaded was civil war and bloodshed, and had a single malcontent been shot, I should have considered it a greater misfortune than the death of a dozen Piet Retiefs, or Uys, dying like heroes in the field of battle for their country and brethren. So you may imagine how thankful I felt to the Giver of all good, who has guided and protected us through life. I am to see a deputation from the Boers' Committee again to-morrow, and then I hope we shall have done with meetings and grievances--for the present a phrase which they carefully put into all references to their breaking up, and which they evidently mean. _It was clear to me that it was not the annexation, so much as the neglect to fulfil the promises and the expectations held out by Shepstone when he took over the Government, that has stirred up the great mass of the Boers, and given a handle to agitators._{02} There it is in a single sentence! It was not the annexation which caused the war; for nine men in every ten admitted that it was welcomed and justified by considerations of general South African policy, or else simply inevitable. No! It was the failure to fulfil the conditions of annexation! In 'A Narrative of the Boer War,' Mr. Thomas Fortescue Carter has given with admirable skill and impartiality a full account of the causes which led to the outbreak. His history is, indeed, so determinedly just as to have met with considerable disapproval in quarters where feelings are hot on either side, and where plain truths are not palatable. Mr. Carter resided in the country for years before the annexation, and went through the war as correspondent of a well-known London daily, and this is his opinion: Anyone who knows the acquaintance Sir T. Shepstone had with the Boers of the Transvaal, years prior to the annexation, cannot doubt that, regarded as a friend and almost as one of themselves, no one better than he could have been selected for the task of ascertaining the desires of the people; and no one who knows Sir T. Shepstone will believe that he did not take sufficient evidence to prove to any man that the Boers were anxious to be extricated from the dilemma they were in, and really willing at that time that their country should be annexed. Men who during the late war were our foes were at the time of the annexation clamouring for it, welcoming Sir Theophilus Shepstone as the deliverer and saviour of the country. I mention Swart Dirk Uys, an eminent Boer, who fought against the English in 1880-81, as one amongst the hundreds and thousands who went out to meet Sir Theophilus Shepstone with palm branches in their hands. The natural aversion of the people to English rule was overcome for the moment by their greater aversion to being wiped off the face of the Transvaal by the blacks; that was a contingency staring them in the face, and yet not even that imminent common danger availed to secure unity amongst them, or would rouse men individually to take upon their shoulders the responsibility which rests upon every member of a State. The Boer Volksraad, after promising to appeal to their constituents on the subject of the new constitution proposed, almost immediately passed a measure, which was familiarly styled by the people the 'Hou jou smoel law.' The literal translation of this term is 'Hold your to discuss the question of either confederation or annexation. I come to the conclusion, then, that the cause of the annexation was England's historical greed of territory, especially rich territory; and that, however unworthy the motive on the part of the visiting power, the Boers did not at that time receive the visitor with other feelings than those of satisfaction, and practically surrendered their country voluntarily and gladly to the ruler of a greater power, under the impression that Sir Theophilus Shepstone would be permitted to carry out, and that he therefore would carry out, the promises he made them. As the programme was open before them, they had everything to gain and nothing to lose, except the loss entailed by nominal government by the British. No man, whether Boer or Britisher, who was living in the Transvaal, or knew the feelings of the Boers at the time of annexation, would in 1877 have given any other account of the feeling of the nation; and if I have formed too low an opinion of the motives of English statesmen at that time, and am not justified in attributing the annexation to greed instead of to the purer and nobler desire to protect England's colonies, or even the Transvaal itself, from the inroads of savages, then my excuse must be that the failure of England to send out at that time a force equal to the task of restraining those savages and maintaining peace, has helped materially to lead me to the unwarrantable conclusion.{03} And so came the war. The history of it is written that all may read; and it is not necessary here to refer at length to the details of it. The utterly unjust treatment of Bezuidenhout at Potchefstroom was the immediate cause of the outbreak. The armed interference of the Potchefstroom burghers with the Imperial officials followed on December 16, to be in turn succeeded by the battle of Bronkhorst Spruit on the 20th. The following account of the affair is taken from Mr. Carter's book: All went well on this day till about 2.30 p.m., when the following was about the order of march: One mounted infantryman in advance of the main body next the band; of F company, forty men; of A company, forty men; then followed the quarter-guard, thirteen men; and provost-escort and prisoners, twenty-three men. The remainder of the force was posted along the string of waggons, with the exception of the rear-guard of about twenty men, which were some distance behind. Colonel Anstruther, Captains Nairne and Elliott, Lieutenant Hume, and Adjutant Harrison were riding just in front of the band, when suddenly Boers appeared all round. The locality that the regiment had reached at the time was one where stood several farms, and the trees surrounding these homesteads afforded cover under which a hostile force could assemble without being perceived from a distance. On the right was a ravine with wood in it, and amongst that the Boers were lying in ambush. How unexpected was the appearance of a force of Boers to the English may be judged from the fact that the band of the regiment was playing at the time. Colonel Anstruther, immediately he caught sight of the enemy on the crest of a slight rise to the front, called a halt, and the order was passed to the rear for the waggons to close up. Before this could be done a messenger from the enemy, carrying a white flag, came forward and handed the Colonel a note signed by Piet Joubert, and countersigned by other Boer leaders, desiring him to halt where he was until a reply had been received from Sir Owen Lanyon to the ultimatum the Boers had addressed to him. The message also contained the warning that if the soldiers advanced beyond a small stream in front of them, it would be taken as a declaration of war. Colonel Anstruther, with Conductor Egerton, had ridden out in front of the advanced guard to meet this flag of truce; after he had read the message, the bearer of it informed him verbally that two minutes were allowed for his decision. Colonel Anstruther verbally replied that he should march on to Pretoria, and, to use his own words, as published in his despatch written just before he died, the Boer messenger 'said that he would take my message to the Commandant-General; and I asked him to let me know the result, to which he nodded assent. Almost immediately, however, the enemy's line advanced.' Whilst this short parley was going on, every effort was being made in the rear to get the waggons up, but without much good result, because when the Boers opened fire the rear-guard would be at least half a mile behind the head of the column. Even those who were guarding the waggons had not time to join the main body. When Colonel Anstruther saw the Boers advancing, he gave the order to his men to extend in skirmishing order, but before they could open out to more than loose files they were met with a murderous volley, and at the same time Boers on the right and left flank and in the rear, who had previously measured and marked off the distances, picked off every man within sight. Our men returned the fire as best they could, but in less than ten minutes 120 were either killed or wounded, besides a large proportion of the oxen in the waggons shot. The officers who exposed themselves were picked off almost immediately by the Boer marksmen. Captain Nairne, Lieutenant M'Sweeney, Lieutenant and Adjutant Harrison, Lieutenant Hume, Deputy-Assistant Commissary-General Barter, Conductor Egerton, Surgeon Ward, were all wounded, besides Colonel Anstruther himself, who was shot in two or three places. It was useless to contend against such odds, and the 'cease fire' was sounded, and handkerchiefs waved to denote submission. During this unequal struggle, Mrs. Smith, the widow of the bandmaster of the regiment, who, with the wife of Sergeant-Major Fox and some children, were riding in one of the foremost waggons, came fearlessly up to where the wounded lay, and, tearing strips from her clothing, helped the surgeon to bandage the wounds. The sergeant-major's wife was severely wounded, as was also Fox himself. There was no lack of heroism during those awful ten minutes, whilst men were being shot down like dogs. Lieutenant Harrison was shot through the head while cheering on his men; Lieutenant Hume was equally conspicuous for his coolness. An orderly-room clerk named Maistre and the Sergeant-Master-Tailor Pears quietly concealed the regimental colours in a waggon-box when they saw the danger of them falling into the hands of the enemy; and their work was not in vain, as Conductor Egerton managed subsequently to wrap them round his body under his tunic, and having obtained permission after the fight was over to walk to Pretoria for medical assistance, he carried them safely to the capital, as well as the disastrous news of the engagement. Forty-two miles traversed by a wounded man on foot in eleven hours is in itself a feat worth mentioning, and one the value of which can only be really estimated by those who know what South African roads are in the rainy seasons. As soon as our force surrendered, Franz Joubert, who had been in command of the Boers, and who, it is said, fired the first shot, with the exclamation, 'What is the use of waiting?' came forward with some of his men, and on finding poor Colonel Anstruther severely wounded expressed sorrow. Whether the affair of Bronkhorst Spruit can be called an act of treachery on the part of the Boers is rather a nice question. Colonel Anstruther's words--the words of a dying man--rather go to prove that he was unfairly treated, though he does not say so directly. He was given to understand by the messenger who came with the flag of truce that another communication would be made to him as soon as his reply to the request to halt had been reported to the Boer Commandant. The only reply given him was 'a murderous volley.' The Boers cannot lay claim to much bravery or superiority (except in numbers) over our soldiers in this fight. Theirs was a deliberately-planned ambush to entrap men who had no idea that they were marching in an enemy's country. Bronkhorst Spruit engagement is the one during the whole of the war which does not redound to the credit of the Dutch, even if it does not reflect great discredit upon them. If a reasonable time had been allowed Colonel Anstruther to give his reply, the 94th could not then say, as they do say and will say, that they were treacherously surprised. 'Two minutes' looks, under the circumstances, very much like an idle pretence of fair dealing to cover an intentional act of cowardice which subsequent conduct could hardly palliate. The Boers say that they had not more men than were marching with the 94th on that occasion; that statement is worth very little, considering the evidence of our officers, and, above all, the harsh evidence of the facts that the 94th was from advance-guard to rear-guard practically surrounded and outnumbered in every direction. The preparedness of the Boers and the precision of their fire may be gathered from the testimony of Dr. Crow, of Pretoria, who attended the wounded, and vouched for an average of five wounds per man. Dr. Crow also wrote: But as disastrous as the late war in the Transvaal had been to British prestige, thank God those at Bronkhorst Spruit did their duty and died like men, a noble example to any army. If any stain has been cast on the British flag in the Transvaal, the gallant 94th did all that was possible by their deeds at Bronkhorst Spruit to obliterate it. The news of this affair was received with horror, and the feelings roused by the details of it have never been allayed. Race-hatred may have its origin in a hundred little incidents, but in the Transvaal there were two which undoubtedly, whether justly or otherwise, gave a character to the Boers that has embittered feeling against them more than any which had occurred in generations previous. The second affair followed very closely on the Bronkhorst Spruit engagement--_i.e.,_ the infamous murder of Captain Elliott, the only surviving unwounded officer from Bronkhorst Spruit. Captains Elliott and Lambert were taken prisoners, and were offered the choice of two alternatives--either to remain prisoners of war during the hostilities in the Transvaal, or to be released on _parole d'honneur_ on condition that they should leave the Transvaal at once, cross into the Free State under escort, and not bear arms against the Republican Government during the war. The second alternative was chosen. They received an escort and free pass from Commandant-General Piet Joubert. The following is extracted from Captain Lambert's Report to Sir George Colley on January 5: We started about 1 p.m. from the Boer camp, passing through the town of Heidelberg. After going about six to eight miles, I noticed we were not going the right road, and mentioned the fact to the escort, who said it was all right. Having been 'look-out' officer in the Transvaal, I knew the district well. I was certain we were going wrong, but we had to obey orders. At nightfall we found ourselves nowhere near the river drift, and were ordered to outspan for the night, and next morning the escort told us they would look for the drift. Inspanning at daybreak, we again started, but after driving about for some hours across country, I told the escort we would stop where we were while they went to search for the drift. Shortly after they returned and said they had found it, and we must come, which we did, eventually arriving at the junction of two rivers (Vaal and Klip), where we found the Vaal impassable, but a small punt, capable of holding only two passengers at most, by which they said we must cross. I pointed out that it was impossible to get my carriage or horses over by it, and that it was not the punt the General said we were to cross. The escort replied it was Pretorius's punt that the General told them to take us, and we must cross; that we must leave the carriage behind and swim the horses, which we refused to do, as we then should have had no means of getting on. I asked them to show me their written instructions, which they did (written in Dutch), and I pointed out that the name of Pretorius was not in it. I then told them they must either take us back to the Boer camp again or on to the proper drift. We turned back, and after going a few miles the escort disappeared. Not knowing where we were, I proposed to Captain Elliott we should go to the banks of the Vaal, and follow the river till we came to the proper punt. After travelling all Monday, Tuesday, and up till Wednesday about 1 p.m., when we found ourselves four hours, or twenty-five miles, from Spencer's punt, we were suddenly stopped by two armed Boers, who handed us an official letter, which was opened, and found to be from the Secretary to the Republican Government, stating that the members were surprised that, as officers and gentlemen, we had broken our _parole d'honneur_, and refused to leave the Transvaal; that if we did not do so immediately by the nearest drift, which the bearers would show us, we must return as prisoners of war; that as through our ignorance of the language of the country there might be some misunderstanding, they were loth to think we had willingly broken our promise. We explained that we should reply to the letter, and request them to take it to their Government, and were prepared to go with them at once. They took us back to a farmhouse, where we were told to wait until they fetched their commandant, who arrived about 6 p.m., and repeated to us the same that was contained in our letter of that day. We told him we were ready to explain matters, and requested him to take our answer back to camp. He then ordered us to start at once for the drift. I asked him, as it was then getting dark, if we could start early next morning, but he refused. So we started, he having said we should cross at Spencer's, being closest. As we left the farmhouse, I pointed out to him that we were going in the wrong direction; but he said, 'Never mind; come on across a drift close at hand.' When we got opposite it, he kept straight on; I called to him, and said that this was where we were to cross. His reply was, 'Come on!' I then said to Captain Elliott, 'They intend taking us back to Pretoria,' distant some forty miles. Suddenly the escort (which had all at once increased from two to eight men, which Captain Elliott pointed out to me; and I replied, 'I suppose they are determined we shall not escape, which they need not be afraid of, as we are too keen to get over the border') wheeled sharp down to the river, stopped, and, pointing to the banks, said, 'There is the drift--cross!' I drove my horses into the river, when they immediately fell; lifted them, and drove on about five or six yards, when we fell into a hole. Got them out with difficulty, and advanced another yard, when we got stuck against a rock. The current was now so strong and drift deep, my cart was turned over on to its side, and water rushed over the seat. I called out to the commandant on the bank that we were stuck and to send assistance, or might we return, to which he replied, 'If you do, we will shoot you.' I then tried, but failed, to get the horses to move. Turning to Captain Elliott, who was sitting beside me, I said, 'We must swim for it'; and asked could he swim, to which he replied, 'Yes.' I said, 'If you can't, I will stick to you, for I can.' While we were holding this conversation, a volley from the bank, ten or fifteen yards off, was fired into us, the bullets passing through the tent of my cart, one of which must have mortally wounded poor Elliott, who only uttered the single word 'Oh!' and fell headlong into the river from the carriage. I immediately sprang in after him, but was swept down the river under the current some yards. On gaining the surface of the water, I could see nothing of Elliott, but I called out his name twice, but received no reply. Immediately another volley was fired at me, making the water hiss around where the bullets struck. I now struck out for the opposite bank, which I reached with difficulty in about ten minutes; but as it was deep, black mud, on landing I stuck fast, but eventually reached the top of the bank, and ran for about two hundred yards under a heavy fire the whole while. The Boers then invaded Natal and took up a position on Laing's Nek, four miles inside the Natal border, from which, on January 28, Sir George Colley endeavoured to oust them with a mounted force of 70 men and some 500 men of the 58th Regiment. The position is one difficult enough to climb unencumbered by military accoutrements, but the disposition of the little mounted force covered the approach. By some unexplained mistake, however, half of the mounted infantry charged and carried the Boer position before the 58th had climbed the hill, but were too weak to hold it and retired, leaving the 58th uncovered in a terrible ascent. But few of the exhausted men reached the top of the hill, and those, led by Colonel Deane, only to be shot down. Of the mounted men, 17 were killed and wounded; of the 58th, 73 were killed and 100 wounded. The result was absolute defeat of the British forces. The number of Boers engaged is not known, but the force behind the Nek consisted of several thousands, and no doubt a fair proportion engaged in the fight. On February 8 General Colley made a demonstration in force on the Ingogo Heights. The force consisted of under 300 men, with 4 guns and 38 mounted men. On the Boer side there were about 1,000 men, and the fight lasted from morning until after dark. It was a drawn fight, in which both parties left the battlefield at night. There cannot be any doubt, however, that the balance of advantage was with the Boers, since the loss on the British side was very severe: 76 men were killed and 69 wounded. On February 27 came Majuba, when Sir George Colley designed to retrieve his fortunes and strike an effective blow without the aid of his second-in-command, Sir Evelyn Wood, whom he had sent to hurry up reinforcements. The scaling of the mountain at night was a fine performance. The neglect to take the rocket apparatus or mountain guns, or to fortify the position in any way, or even to acquaint the members of the force with the nature of the position which they had taken up in the dark, and the failure to use the bayonets, were the principal causes of disaster. The Boers attacked in force a position which should have been absolutely impregnable, held as it was by a force of 554 soldiers. The Boer force is not known, but probably consisted of upwards of 1,000 men, since Christian Joubert after the fight offered to take a portion of the men, numbering, as he said, some 500, to attack a small British laager on one of the spurs of the mountain. The splendid feat of taking the hill-top, however, was accomplished by a small storming party of less than 200 men, the balance of the Boer forces covering the approach of their comrades by an accurate and incessant long-range fire. The result, as is known, was terrible disaster: 92 killed and 134 wounded, and a number taken prisoners, represented the British loss, whilst the Boers lost 1 killed and 5 wounded. No attempt had been made to occupy positions below the crown of the hill which commanded the approaches, and the Boers were able to creep up under good cover from place to place by the exercise of their admirable tactics. It is impossible to detract from the performance of the Boers, and a glance at the position leaves one more astonished than ever that a successful attack could ever have been made upon it. The Boers displayed on this day the finest fighting qualities. The generalship of their fighting Commandant, Nikolas Smit, was of the highest order. The cleverness of the attack, and the personal bravery and audacity of the storming party are beyond praise. By the time Sir Evelyn Wood had ranged his forces for an effective and extended attack on the Boers, and by the time Sir Frederick Roberts with the command of about 10,000 men had reached South Africa, the administration of Mr. Gladstone had awakened to the fact that the war was an unjust--not to say costly--one. An armistice was arranged and peace made without another blow. The terms of the settlement proposed by the Liberal Government fitly illustrate the generosity of their motives. They proposed doing 'simple justice' to the Boers, but at the same time retaining the districts of Lydenburg, Middelburg, Wakkerstroom, and Utrecht, not to mention handing back Zoutpansberg to the original native occupants. So anxious were the Boer leaders to effect a peaceful settlement, so fearful were they of the actions of their followers, that when they arranged the long armistice they did not announce to their party the intentions of the British Government regarding the above districts. General Joubert did not communicate to his army the terms of peace, but simply stated that a Royal Commission was to settle everything. A month later, when some inkling of the terms reached the Boers, a solemn protest and warning was issued, and when the Royal Commission actually sat, the British representatives were informed that any such curtailment of the territories would be followed by a resumption of hostilities. Needless to say the proposals were abandoned and the Boers got their way. So ended the war. Ingogo has been called a drawn battle. Bronkhorst Spruit was--such as it was. At Laing's Nek and Majuba the Boers beat us, as Mr. Carter fairly puts it, 'when they were on the top of the hill and we were at the bottom, and when we were on the top of the hill and they were at the bottom.' The narrative of these events is about as humiliating a one as an Englishman can read. Here and there it is redeemed by the heroic conduct of individuals in the midst of general disaster. In the smaller affairs, such as the particularly gallant defences of Standerton, Potchefstroom, and Rustenberg, where little garrisons held their own with conspicuous ability and courage, there is something to cheer the disheartened reader. The defence of Potchefstroom by Colonel Winslow should be read in full for several reasons. The siege of Standerton witnessed several acts of valour, but, above all, that of Hall the volunteer, who single handed deliberately engaged a force of over 300 Boers, drawing their fire on himself in order to warn his comrades of the danger of being cut off and to give them a chance of escape--a noble act in which the gallant fellow achieved his object but lost his life. It was in Rustenberg where Captain Auchinleck, with about seventy men armed only with rifles, held his laager against hundreds of the enemy, fighting day and night for weeks; and eventually drove off the Boers who were trenching towards his position by charging at night with from nine to fourteen of his men and clearing the enemy out of the trenches with the bayonet. This performance he repeated three times, himself badly wounded on each occasion. The impression created on the enemy by these tactics was such that they overcame their desire to get at close quarters with him, and left him severely alone. It is not necessary to refer in great detail to the settlement In effect it was that the Boers gained nearly all that they required, but not until the haggling and threatening had robbed concessions of all appearance of grace and justice. The natives were referred to in the conventional spirit. The unfortunate loyalists were left to take care of themselves. The men who had entered the Transvaal, and invested their capital and expended their energies there upon the most positive and sacred assurances of the British Government that the Queen's authority would never be withdrawn,--assurances given in public by the Conservative Government and confirmed by Mr. Gladstone's Government, assurances published by Sir Bartle Frere and Sir Garnet Wolseley, who said that 'as long as the sun would shine the British flag would fly over the Transvaal,'--were heartlessly abandoned, their protests were unheeded, the compensation allotted to them, namely, £1,400,000, was amended by the elimination of the million, their representations to Mr. Gladstone's Government were finally left unanswered--unless it be that the sneering reference made by that right honourable gentleman in the House of Commons to 'interested contractors and landjobbers' may be considered an adequate answer to a protest as moderate, as able, as truthful, and as necessary as Mr. Gladstone's remark was the reverse. In very truth, the position in which the British Premier had placed himself through his intemperate speeches in the Midlothian campaign, and his subsequent 'explaining away,' was an extremely unpleasant one. In Opposition Mr. Gladstone had denounced the annexation and demanded a repeal. On accession to power he adopted the policy of his predecessors, and affirmed that the annexation could never be revoked. On June 8, 1880, he had written to this effect to Messrs. Kruger and Joubert, the Transvaal deputation. Later on, in answer to an appeal that he should allay the apprehensions of the loyalists, who feared the results of the Boer agitation, he referred them to this very letter as a final expression of opinion, and authorized the publication of this message. When, however, peace had been concluded, and the loyalists, amazed and heartbroken at their threatened desertion, reminded him of his pledges and implored him to respect them, he answered them in a letter which is surely without parallel in the record of self-respecting Governments. The wriggling, the equivocation, the distortion of phrases, the shameless 'explaining away,' are of a character that would again justify the remark of Lord Salisbury (then Lord Robert Cecil) in another matter many years before, that they were 'tactics worthy of a pettifogging attorney,' and even the subsequent apology--to the attorney. But what answer could be made to a protest which reminded the right honourable gentlemen of the following deliberate and official expression of his Government's policy?-- In your letter to me (wrote Mr. White for the loyalists) you claim that the language of your letter does not justify the description given. With the greatest respect I submit that it does, and I will quote the words on which I and also my colleagues base the opinion that it does unequivocally pledge the Government to the non-relinquishment of the Transvaal. The actual words of your letter are: 'Looking at all the circumstances, both of the Transvaal and the rest of South Africa, and to the necessity of preventing a renewal of the disorders, which might lead to disastrous consequences, not only to the Transvaal, but to the whole of South Africa, _our judgment is that the Queen cannot be advised to relinquish the Transvaal_; but, consistently with the maintenance of that sovereignty, we desire that the white inhabitants of the Transvaal should, without prejudice to the rest of the population, enjoy the fullest liberty to manage their local affairs.' But your letter of the 8th of June not only contained this final and absolute announcement of the policy of England, but it gave the reasons for arriving at it in words which so aptly express the case of the loyalists that I quote them _in extenso_. They are as follows: 'It is undoubtedly matter for much regret that it should, since the annexation, have appeared that so large a number of the population of Dutch origin in the Transvaal are opposed to the annexation of that territory, _but it is impossible now to consider that question as if it were presented for the first time_. We have to do with a state of things which has existed for a considerable period, _during which obligations have been contracted_, especially, though not exclusively, towards the native population, _which cannot be set aside_.' In your speech in the House of Commons, on the debate on Mr. Peter Rylands' motion condemning the annexation of the country and the enforcement of British supremacy in it, which was defeated by a majority of ninety-six, on the 21st of January in the current year, you used words of similar import. You are reported in the _Times_ of the 22nd of January as saying: 'To disapprove the annexation of a country is one thing; to abandon that annexation is another. Whatever we do, we must not blind ourselves to the legitimate consequences of facts. By the annexation obligations entailed by the annexation, and if in my opinion, and in the opinion of many on this side of the House, wrong was done by the annexation itself, _that would not warrant us in doing fresh, distinct, and separate wrong by a disregard of the obligation which that annexation entailed_. These obligations have been referred to in this debate, and have been mentioned in the compass of a single sentence. First, there was the obligation entailed towards the English and other settlers in the Transvaal, perhaps including a minority, though a very small minority, of the Dutch Boers themselves; secondly, there was the obligation to the native races; and thirdly, there was the obligation we entailed upon ourselves in respect of the responsibility which was already incumbent upon us, and which we, by the annexation, largely extended, for the future peace and tranquillity of South Africa.' Nor was this all. The loyalists proceeded to remind him that Lord Kimberley, his Secretary of State for the Colonies, had telegraphed in May, 1880, 'Under no circumstances can the Queen's authority in the Transvaal be relinquished,' and had confirmed the telegram in a despatch following; and that his lordship had also stated in the House of Lords on May 24 that '... after a careful consideration of the position, we have come to the conclusion that we could not relinquish the Transvaal. Nothing could be more unfortunate than uncertainty in respect to such a matter.' (Hansard, cclii., p. 208.) The effects of the settlement, and the exposures in connection with it, and the attitude of the Imperial Government were most deplorable. No credit was given by the Boers to a Government which was clearly moved by the meanest considerations. No feeling but contempt, disgust, and even hatred, could be entertained by the loyalists for the Government which had so shamelessly deserted them. The settlement has left its indelible mark upon the sentiment of South Africa. The war, it will generally be admitted, was a most unfortunate occurrence. Only one thing could have been more unfortunate, and that was such a settlement as actually was effected--a settlement which satisfied no one, which outraged all, which threw South Africa into a state of boiling discontent. In some quarters the defeats of Majuba and Laing's Nek rankled deeply; yet they were fair fights, and Time can be trusted to allay the feelings of those who are worsted in a fair fight; but there were other matters which roused a spirit in the English-speaking people of South Africa that had never been known before. The former records of the Boers, favourable and unfavourable, are consistent with the records established in the War of Independence. None dare belittle the spirit which moved them to take up arms against the greatest Power in the world. Their ignorance may have been great, but not so great as to blind them to the fact that they were undertaking an unequal contest. It is not possible to say, with due regard to their records, that they are not a courageous people. Individual bravery, of the kind which takes no heed of personal risk, reckless heroic dash, they have not, nor do they pretend to have. Their system is entirely otherwise. They do not seek fighting for fighting's sake. They do not like exposing themselves to risk and danger. Their caution and their care for personal safety are such that, judged by the standard of other people's conduct in similar positions, they are frequently considered to be wanting in personal courage. It seems a hard thing to say of a people who have produced men like the first Bezuidenhout, who fought and died single-handed against the British troops; men like Piet Retief, as gallant a man as ever walked; men like Piet Uys, an example to all men for all time, and only one of many generations in one family of equally gallant Dutchmen; but it would truly seem that such examples do not occur with such frequency among the Boers as among nations with whom they have been compared. Where they have been able to choose their own positions, or where they have been stimulated by previous successes, they have done all that could possibly be asked of them; but their particular military system does not conduce to success under circumstances where men are suddenly and unexpectedly called upon to exhibit the virtues of discipline, to make what to the individual may appear a useless sacrifice of life, or, in cold blood and in the face of previous defeat, to attempt to retrieve a lost position. The Boer military power has been called the biggest unpricked bubble in the world. Whether this be so or not--whether the early conflicts between the British troops and the Boers in the Cape Colony and Natal justify the view that the Boers cannot take a beating and come up again--is a matter for those to decide who will give their impartial attention to the records. Whilst conspicuous personal daring among the Boers may not be proverbial, it must be remembered to their everlasting credit that they, as did the Southerners in the American Civil War, robbed the cradle and the grave to defend their country. Boys who were mere children bore rifles very nearly as long as themselves; old men, who had surely earned by a life of hardship and exposure an immunity from such calls, jumped on their horses and rode without hesitation and without provision to fight for their independence. There were, however, unfortunately, matters connected with the war which gave birth to a bitter and aching desire for revenge. Bronkhorst Spruit and the murder of Captain Elliott were among the earliest. Another was the shooting of Dr. Barbour (who was killed instantly) and Mr. Walter Dyas (wounded) by their escort under circumstances similar to those of the Elliott murder, with the exception that in this case the prisoners had been released on foot and in daylight, and were then shot down. But there were others too. There was the murder of Green in Lydenburg, who was called to the Boer camp, where he went unarmed and in good faith, only to have his brains blown out by the Boer with whom he was conversing; there was the public flogging of another Englishman by the notorious Abel Erasmus because he was an Englishman and had British sympathies; and there were the various white flag incidents. At Ingogo the Boers raised the white flag, and when in response to this General Colley ordered the hoisting of a similar flag to indicate that it was seen, a perfect hail of lead was poured on the position where the General stood; and it was obvious that the hoisting of the flag was merely a ruse to ascertain where the General and his staff were. There was the ambulance affair on Majuba, when the Boers came upon an unarmed party bearing the wounded with the red cross flying over them, and after asking who they were and getting a reply, fired a volley into the group, killing Surgeon-Major Cornish. under Commandant Cronjé were guilty of actions contrary to the usages of civilized warfare. They are matters of history, and can easily be verified. Reference is made to them elsewhere in this volume in connection with Commandant Cronjé's action on another occasion. And so the war left the country, as wars will, divided into two parties, with feelings towards each other that are deplorable enough in themselves, and not easily allayed. The curtain was rung down, and the scene was lost to the view of the world, but the play went on all the same behind the curtain. And this is what the new Government said to the world on August 8, 1881, when they took over the administration of the country: To all inhabitants, without exception, we promise the protection of the law, and all the privileges attendant thereon. To inhabitants who are not burghers, and do not wish to become such, we notify that they have the right to report themselves to the Resident as British subjects, according to Article 28 of the now settled Convention. But be it known to all, that all ordinary rights of property, trade, and usages will still be accorded to everyone, burgher or not. We repeat solemnly that our motto is, 'Unity and reconciliation.' Footnotes for Chapter I {01} Written in 1896. {02} Several of the letters and despatches given in this volume are quoted from Mr. Martineau's excellent 'Life of Sir Bartle Frere,' a portion of which book was lately published in cheaper form, under the title of 'The Transvaal Trouble and How it Arose.' {03} It is only fair to state that _at that time_ the Home Government believed the prestige of the Imperial authority to be sufficient for all purposes. CHAPTER II AFTER THE WAR In 1882 Sir Bartle Frere wrote, 'I have never been able to discover any principle in our policy in South Africa except that of giving way whenever any difficulty or opposition is encountered.' The remark is still as true as when it was penned, and South Africa--the 'Grave of Reputations,'{04} as it has long been called--must by this time be regarded with doubtful emotions by successive Colonial Secretaries. What is it about South Africa, one asks, that has upset so many men of capacity and experience? Who can say? Often--most often--it is the neglect to thoroughly study and know what are called the 'local conditions,' and to pay due heed to local experience. Sometimes it is the subordination of State policy to party considerations which has ruined the Proconsul: witness Sir Bartle Frere, whose decisive action, firm character, and wise and statesmanlike policy are now--now that he is dead--recognised universally, as they have always been in South Africa. Perhaps there is something in Africa itself which makes it a huge exception to the rules of other lands; the something which is suggested in the 'rivers without water, flowers without scent, and birds without song'; a contrariness which puts the alluvial gold on the top of mountain ranges and leaves the valleys barren; which mocked the experience of the world, and showed the waterworn gravel deposit to be the biggest, richest, deepest, and most reliable gold reef ever known; which placed diamonds in such conditions that the greatest living authority, who had undertaken a huge journey to report on the occurrence, could only say, in the face of a successful wash-up, 'Well, there _may_ be diamonds here, but all I can say is they've no right to be'; the something which many, many centuries ago prompted the old Roman to write, 'Ex Africâ semper aliquid novi affert,' and which is in the mind of the South African to-day when he says, 'The impossible is always happening in Africa.' There is this to be said for the Gladstone Ministry in 1881: that, having decided on a policy of scuttle and abandonment, they did it thoroughly, as though they enjoyed it. A feeble vote-catching provision, with no security attached, was inserted in the Pretoria Convention relative to the treatment of natives, but no thought or care was given to the unfortunate British subject who happened to be a white man, and to have fought for his Queen and country.{05} The abandonment was complete, without scruple, without shame. It has been written that 'the care and forethought which would be lavished on a favourite horse or dog on changing masters were denied to British subjects by the British Government.' The intensity and bitterness of the resentment, the wrath and hatred--so much deeper because so impotent--at the betrayal and desertion have left their traces on South African feeling; and the opinion of the might and honour of England, as it may be gleaned in many parts of the Colonies as well as everywhere in the Republics, would be an unpleasant revelation to those who live in undisturbed portions of the Empire, comfortable in the belief that to be a British subject carries the old-time magic of 'Civis Romanus sum.' The Transvaal State, as it was now to be called, was re-established, having had its trade restored, its enemies crushed--for Secocoeni and Cetewayo were both defeated and broken--and its debts paid or consolidated in the form of a debt to England, repayable when possible. For some time not even the interest on this debt was paid. Numbers of British subjects left the country in disgust and despair. Ruined in pocket and broken in spirit, they took what little they could realize of their once considerable possessions, and left the country where they could no longer live and enjoy the rights of free men. For some years the life of a Britisher among the Boers was far from happy. It is not surprising--indeed, not unnatural--that people unsoftened by education and the conditions of civilization, moved by fierce race prejudice, and intoxicated by unbroken and unexpected success, should in many cases make the vanquished feel the conqueror's heel. The position of men of British name or sympathies in the country districts was very serious, and the injustice done to those who had settled since the annexation, believing that they were to live under the laws and protection of their own Government was grave indeed. The Government of the country was vested in a Triumvirate with Mr. Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger as Vice-President during the period immediately following the war; but in 1882 the old form was restored and Mr. Kruger was elected President, an office which he is now holding for the third successive term.{06} Prior to the war the population of the country was reckoned by both Dutch and English authorities to be about 40,000 souls, the great majority of whom were Dutch. The memorial addressed to Lord Carnarvon, dated January 7, 1878, praying for repeal of the annexation, was 'signed by 6,591 qualified electors out of a possible 8,000,' as is explained in the letter of the Transvaal delegates to Sir M. Hicks-Beach dated July 10, 1878. The fact, already mentioned, that 3,000 electors had petitioned for the annexation only means that some of them changed their minds under pressure or conviction, and helped to swell the number of those who later on petitioned for repeal. The signatories to the above memorial would include practically all the Dutch electors in the country, and the remaining 1,400 or so would probably be the non-Boer party who preferred British rule, and could not be coerced into signing memorials against it. These figures are useful as a check upon those now put forward by the Transvaal Government to combat the assertion that the Uitlanders outnumber the Boers. Recognizing the fact that the Boers are a singularly domestic and prolific people, one may allow that they numbered 35,000 out of the total population, an estimate that will be seen to be extremely liberal. At the time that the above figures were quoted by the Transvaal delegates every Boer youth over the age of twenty-one was a qualified voter, so that it would seem that the qualified Boer voter had an _average_ of one wife and 4.3 children, a fair enough allowance in all conscience. These figures should be borne in mind, for the present Boer population consists of what remains of these 35,000 souls and their natural increase during eighteen years. There are other Dutch immigrants from the Cape Colony and Free State: these are aliens, who have the invaluable qualification of hating England and her sons and her ways and her works; but, as will be made clear when the Franchise Law is explained, the present Boer electorate consists-or, without fraud or favouritism, _should_ consist-of the 'possible 8,000' and their sons. Many a champion of liberty has lived to earn the stigma of tyrant, and the Boers who in 1835 had trekked for liberty and freedom from oppressive rule, and who had fought for it in 1880, began now themselves to put in force the principles which they had so stoutly resisted. In the Volksraad Session of 1882 the first of the measures of exclusion was passed. The Franchise, which until then-in accordance with Law No. 1 of 1876-had been granted to anyone holding property or residing in the State, or, failing the property qualification, to anyone who had qualified by one year's residence, was now altered, and Law No. 7 of 1882 was passed which provided that aliens could become naturalized and enfranchised after five years' residence, thus attaining the status of the oldest Voortrekker. The feeling was now very strong against the Annexation Party, as they had been called, that is to say, the men who had had the courage of their convictions, and had openly advocated annexation; and as usual the bitterest persecutors and vilifiers were found in the ranks of those who, having secretly supported them before, had become suspect, and had now need to prove their loyalty by their zeal. The intention was avowed to keep the party pure and undiluted, as it was maintained by many of the Boers that former proselytes had used their newly-acquired privileges to vote away the independence of the country. The view was not unnatural under the circumstances, and this measure, had it not been a violation of pledges, might have found defenders among impartial persons; but unfortunately it proved to be not so much a stringently defensive measure which time and circumstances might induce them to modify, as the first step in a policy of absolute and perpetual exclusion. It was the first deliberate violation of the spirit of the settlement, and, although there is no clause in the Pretoria Convention which it can be said to contravene, it was, as Mr. Chamberlain has since styled it, 'a violation of the _status quo_ as it was present to the minds of her Majesty's Ministers at the time the Convention was negotiated.' But the Gladstone Ministry, which had paid so heavily to get rid of the Transvaal question, was certainly not going to re-open it for the sake of holding the Boers to the spirit of the settlement. Another precaution was taken to keep all the power in the hands of the Boers. The various towns which had formerly been entitled to representation in Parliament were deprived of this right, and have remained disfranchised ever since. Mr. Kruger feared that the enlightened thought of the towns would hinder the growth of his 'national policy.' It was not too late even at this time to have bloodlessly settled the Transvaal question for ever by a fair but thoroughly firm attitude towards the restored Republic. No doubt British Ministers, conscious of an act of supreme self-restraint and magnanimity, believed that some reciprocal justice would be evoked. At any rate, it is possible that this was the reason which guided them, and not continued callous indifference to the fate of British subjects and the future of South Africa. In such case, however, they must have forgotten 'the fault of the Dutch'--which Andrew Marvell's couplet has recorded--of 'giving too little and asking too much.' The Transvaal Boers are very practical people, and no matter what they may receive or how they get it, whether by way of diplomacy or barter or the accident of good luck or deed of gift, they never neglect to press and scheme for more. It is an unpleasant feature in the Boer character, prominent alike in personal and general relations, begotten, mayhap, of hard life, constant struggle, and lack of education and its softening and elevating influence. It is a feature which is common to all uneducated peoples who have suffered great hardships, and it will no doubt disappear in time; but it is one which has to be reckoned with at the present day, and one which, when recognized at its true value, sustains the contention that the Boers, in dealing with those whom they regard as not of them, will recognise no right and do no justice unless compelled to do so. The considerations of a narrow and selfish policy are stronger than the sense of right and wrong. British Ministers and the British people when glowing with a mildly enthusiastic satisfaction at their tolerant and even generous attitude towards a weaker opponent may imagine that they have sown good seed which in time will bear ample fruit; but it is not so. Nothing but firmness and strict justice will avert a bloody day of reckoning. Nothing but prompt and effective veto on every attempt to break or stretch the spirit of past undertakings will bring it home to the Transvaal Government that all the give cannot be on the one side and all the take on the other; that they cannot trade for ever on the embarrassment of a big Power in dealing with a little one; and that they must comport themselves with due regard to their responsibilities. Almost the first use made by the Transvaal Government of their recovered power was one which has wrought much mischief to the State. The Triumvirate who ruled the country in 1882 granted numbers of concessions, ostensibly for the purpose of opening up industries or developing mining areas. The real reasons are generally considered to have been personal, and the result was the crushing of budding activities, and the severe discouragement of those who were willing to expend capital and energies in legitimate work. Favouritism pure and simple dictated these grants. It is hardly too much to say that the system and spirit then introduced rule to this day, for although the Volksraad has taken definite resolution condemning the principle of monopolies and contracts conferring preferential rights of any sort, the spirit of this resolution is violated whenever the President and Executive deem it fit to do so--witness, for instance, the monopoly granted in December, 1895, for the free importation of produce, which is disguised as a Government agency with a 'commission' to the agent; but it is really a monopoly and nothing else! The Boers were not satisfied with the Convention of 1881. They desired the removal of the Suzerainty, the cancellation of the clauses referring to natives, and the restoration of the title of the South African Republic in lieu of that of the Transvaal State. They also desired (but did not expect to obtain) complete freedom in regard to their external relations, and they lost no time in trying how far they would be allowed to go in the direction of stretching the spirit of the Convention. Nothing in that ineffectual and miserable document is clearer than the definition of certain boundaries, and the provision that no extension shall be allowed. This hemming of them in--or shutting them up in a kraal, as President Kruger has expressively put it--was intensely repugnant to them. It cut into one of the most deeply-rooted habits of the Boer. His method of trek and expansion has been, to begin by making small hunting excursions into adjacent native territories, to follow up with grazing his cattle there until he created in his own mind a right by prescription, and then to establish it either by force or else by written agreement, too often imperfectly translated. This was oftentimes varied or supplemented by helping the weaker of two rival chiefs, and so demolishing the power of a tribe. The expulsion of the native followed as a natural result. In the Transvaal itself there was, and still is, an immense quantity of unoccupied land, and the Boers were quite unable to properly control, utilize, and administer their own immense territory, but 'land hunger' is theirs as a birth curse. The individual cannot bear to see the smoke of his neighbour's chimney; he will not cultivate 50 acres, but wants 50,000; the 'nation' wants Africa--no less. They coveted Swaziland, Zululand, Bechuanaland, Matabeleland, Mashonaland, and Tongaland, and set to work by devious methods to establish claims to these countries. In Bechuanaland they took sides; that is to say, parties of freebooters from the Transvaal took up the cause of certain native chiefs against certain others. The London Convention in 1884 disposed of this quarrel by fixing the south-western boundaries of the Republic, and placing two of the disputing chiefs under the Transvaal, and the other two under British protection. Notwithstanding this, however, the new Convention was no sooner signed than the scheming was resumed, and before a year had passed a party of Transvaal Boers, several of them now holding high official positions under the Republic, raided the territory of the chiefs in the British Protectorate, and even attacked the chief town Mafeking. This was followed by a proclamation by President Kruger placing the territory under the protection of the Republic. Mr. Rhodes, who had already made himself conspicuous by his advocacy of holding the highway to the interior open, was instrumental in inducing the Imperial Government to make a determined stand against this. An ultimatum moved the Transvaal Government to withdraw the proclamation and forced the Boers to leave the country--only, however, when and because the demand was backed by the Warren expedition at a cost of over a million and a half to the British taxpayer! This expedition was sent by Mr. Gladstone, the Boer benefactor--notwithstanding all his anxiety to prove the Transvaal settlement a good one! The action of the Transvaal, and the most brutal murder of Mr. Bethell by the individuals above referred to as holding high official positions under the Republic, gave indications of the bent of the Boer authorities which people in South Africa did not fail to take note of. Bethell had been wounded in the invasion of the territory by the Boers, and as he lay helpless the 'prominent Transvaal official' came up and, seeing a repeating rifle lying beside him, asked him to show them how it worked. He did so, and the 'prominent official' taking it up under pretext of examining it shot Bethell dead with his own weapon. In Zululand similar tactics were resorted to by the Republic. Transvaal Boers invaded Zululand and (1884) took up the cause of Dinizulu, a son of the dead Cetewayo, and established him as king, upsetting Sir Garnet Wolseley's settlement. They then proceeded to seize the country, but the British Government intervening at this point, rescued some two-thirds for the Zulus. A glance at the map will show that the intention of the Boers was to get to the sea, and also that the unlucky Zulus, who had been broken by the British Government--and very rightly too--because they were a menace to the Transvaal, even more than to Natal, were now deprived of the pick of their country, plundered and harried by the very people who had been at their mercy until the Imperial Government stepped in. It is very noteworthy that, with the splendid exception of the lion-hearted Piet Uys and his sons, who fought and died (father and one son) in the Zulu war side by side with the Britishers whom he was keenly opposing on the annexation question, none of the Boers came forward to help in the Secocoeni or Zulu wars, although these wars were undertaken, the one entirely, and the other mainly, on their account. But a great many were ready to raid and annex as soon as the Zulu power was broken. Swaziland became in turn the object of the Boer Government's attentions. First, grazing concessions were obtained; and next, other concessions for the collection of Customs and Revenue dues, for telegraphs, railways, banking, surveying, and goodness only knows what. One individual applied for and obtained a concession for the balance of ungranted concessions, and another applied for a grant of the Chief Justiceship. What chance the unfortunate native had in such a condition of things can be imagined. The Transvaal bought up all the concessions necessary to make government of the country absolutely impossible, except with their cooperation. The secret service fund of the Republic provided means for making the representatives of the Swazi nation see things in a reasonable light, so that when the time came to investigate the title to concessions and to arrange for the future administration of the country the result was a foregone conclusion. The judge appointed by the Imperial Government on the Special Joint Commission to inquire into the concessions and matters in general let some light on the manner in which these concessions were acquired and granted, by pertinent questions to the concessionaires and interpreters. He asked, for instance, 'Do you swear that you interpreted this document verbatim to the king?'--'Yes.' 'Will you kindly tell to the Court what is the or how you interpreted and explained the significance of the "survey," "mint," "revenue," and "townships" concessions?' The picture of the obese and drunken chief surrounded by fawning harpies was a shameful and disgusting one. One example is sufficient to show how the thing was done. A concession for gambling was applied for. The man who interpreted knew a smattering of 'kitchen' Kaffir, and his rendering of the 'monopoly for billiards, card playing, lotteries, and games of chance' was that he alone should be allowed to '_tchia ma-ball_ (hit the balls), _hlala ma-paper_ (play the papers), and _tata zonki mali_ (and take all the money).' The poor drunken king nodded sleepily to the first two clauses, but to the bald proposition of taking all the money, which he _could_ understand, he violently objected. The concession was, however, subsequently granted on the representations of a more tactful interpreter. A very flagrant breach of the spirit of the London Convention, and a very daring attempt at land-grabbing, was the proposed last will and testament of the Swazi King Umbandine, which provided that the governing powers should be assigned to Mr. Kruger as executor of the King and trustee and administrator of the country. His project was defeated; but the aim of the Boer Government was ultimately achieved, nevertheless, and Swaziland has now been handed over to the control of the Republic in spite of the prayers and protestations of the Swazis themselves, who had proved in the past with very practical results to be useful, ready, and loyal allies of the British Government. While Swaziland was being entoiled the Transvaal Government were not idle elsewhere. Matabeleland was looked upon as the heritage of the Boer, because of the 'old friendship' with the Matabele,--whom they had driven out of their country, now the Transvaal; and Mashonaland was theirs because it was their ancient hunting-ground. That the Boers did not abandon their old schemes merely because they had agreed by treaty to do so is shown by a letter which was found at Lo Bengula's kraal by Mr. F. Thompson when he went up to negotiate for Mr. Rhodes. The stealthy grovelling of the Commandant-General before a savage native chief, the unctuous phraseology, the hypocritical assurances of an undying friendship between Boer and Matabele so long as there are living one of each race, throw a lurid light upon the conduct of Boer diplomacy with native tribes, and explain much of the ineradicable fear and distrust which are felt on the native side in all dealings with the aggressive Boer. The letter reads: MARICO, THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC, _March 9, 1882._ _To the great ruler the Chief Lo Bengula, the son of Umzilikatse, the great King of the Matabili nation_. GREAT RULER, When this letter reaches you, then you will know that it comes from a man who very much desires to visit you, but who, being a man of the people, cannot get loose to make such a long journey. Therefore he must now be satisfied with writing a letter to carry his regards to the son of the late King of the Matabele, our old friend Umzilikatse. When I say that I desire to see you, it is not to ask for anything, but to talk of something, and to tell Lo Bengula of the affairs and things of the world, because I know that there are many people who talk and tell about these matters, whilst there are but few who tell the truth. Now, when a man hears a thing wrong, it is worse than if he had never heard it at all. Now, I know that Lo Bengula has heard some things wrongly, and for this reason would I tell him the real truth. Now, you must have heard that the English--or as they are better known the Englishmen--took away our country, the Transvaal, or, as they say, annexed it. We then talked nicely for four years, and begged for our country. But no; when an Englishman once has your property in his hand, then is he like a monkey that has its hands full of pumpkin-seeds--if you don't beat him to death, he will never let go--and then all our nice talk for four years did not help us at all. Then the English commenced to arrest us because we were dissatisfied, and that caused the shooting and fighting. Then the English first found that it would be better to give us back our country. Now they are gone, and our country is free, and we will now once more live in friendship with Lo Bengula, as we lived in friendship with Umzilikatse, and such must be our friendship, that so long as there is one Boer and one Matabele living these two must remain friends. On this account do I wish to see Lo Bengula, and if I may live so long, and the country here become altogether settled, and _the stink which the English brought_ is first blown away altogether, then I will still ride so far to reach Lo Bengula, and if he still has this letter then he will hear the words from the mouth of the man who now must speak with the pen upon paper, and who, therefore, cannot so easily tell him everything. The man is a brother's child of the three brothers that formerly--now thirty-two years ago--were at Umzilikatse's, and then made the peace with him which holds to this day. He still remembers well when the first Boers, Franz Joubert, Jann Joubert, and Pieter Joubert, came there, and when they made the the peace which is so strong that the vile evil-doers were never able to destroy it, and never shall be able to destroy it as long as there shall be one Boer that lives and Lo Bengula also lives. Now I wish to send something to give Lo Bengula a present as a token of our friendship. I send for Lo Bengula with the gentleman who will bring him this letter a blanket and a handkerchief for his great wife, who is the mother of all the Matabele nation. I will one day come to see their friendship. The gentleman who brings the letter will tell you about all the work which I have to do here. Some bad people have incited Kolahing, and so he thought he would make fortifications and fight with us, but he got frightened, and saw that he would be killed, therefore I made him break down the fortifications and pack all the stones in one heap, and he had then to pay 5,000 cattle and 4,000 sheep and goats for his wickedness. Now there is another chief, Gatsizibe--he came upon our land and killed three people and plundered them--he must also pay a fine, or else we will punish him or shoot him, because we will have peace in our country. Now greetings, great Chief Lo Bengula, from the Commandant-General of the South African Republic for the Government and Administration. P.J. JOUBERT. A big trek (the Banjailand trek) was organized in 1890 and 1891 by General Joubert and his relatives and supporters to occupy a portion of the territory already proclaimed as under British protection and the administration of the Chartered Company. The trekkers were turned back at Rhodes's Drift, stopped by the firmness and courage and tact of Dr. Jameson, who met them alone and unarmed; and also by the proclamation of President Kruger, to whom it had been plainly intimated that the invasion would be forcibly resisted and would inevitably provoke war. The matter had gone so far that the offices of the Republic of Banjai had already been allotted. The President's proclamation instead of being regarded as the barest fulfilment of his obligations--very grudgingly done under pressure of threats--was vaunted as an act of supreme magnanimity and generosity, and was used in the bargaining for the cession of Swaziland. In Tongaland Boer emissaries were not idle; but they failed, owing to the fact that the Tonga Queen Regent, Zambili, a really fine specimen of the savage ruler, would have nothing to do with any power but England, whose suzerainty she accepted in 1887. Being shut off here, the Boer Government made another bid for seaward extension, and, through their emissaries, obtained certain rights from two petty chiefs, Zambaan and Umbegesa, whom they represented as independent kings; but Lord Rosebery annexed their territories in 1894, and so put a final stop to the Transvaal schemes to evade the Convention by intrigue with neighbouring native tribes. Nothing can better illustrate the Boers' deliberate evasion of their treaty obligations than their conduct in these matters. The Pretoria Convention defined the Transvaal boundaries and acknowledged the independence of the Swazis, and yet the British Government's delay in consenting to the annexation of Swaziland by the Republic was regarded for years as an intolerable grievance, and was proclaimed as such so insistently that nearly all South Africa came at last to so regard it. The Boers' consent to the Chartered Company's occupation of Mashonaland was looked upon as something calling for a _quid pro quo_, and the annexation of Zambaan's land is now regarded as an infamous act of piracy by England, and an infringement of the Republic's rights, which the Dutch papers denounce most vehemently. The Boer Government made it clear, not less in their purely internal policy than in these matters of extensions of territory, that they intended pursuing a line of their own. In 1882, the property known as 'Moodies,' consisting of a number of farms bearing indications of gold, was thrown open to prospectors. The farms had been allotted to Mr. G. Piggott Moodie when he was Surveyor-General, in lieu of salary which the Republic was unable to pay. This was the beginning of the prospecting era which opened up De Kaap, Witwatersrand, and other fields; but it was a small beginning, and for some time nothing worth mentioning was discovered. The Republic was again in a bad way, and drifting backwards after its first spurt. The greatest uncertainty prevailed amongst prospectors as to their titles, for in Lydenburg, at Pilgrim's Rest, and on the Devil's Kantoor, concessions had been granted over the heads of the miners at work on their claims, and they had been turned off for the benefit of men who contributed in no way to the welfare and prosperity of the State. It has been stated in the Volksraad that not one of those concessionaires has even paid the dues and rents, or complied with the other conditions stipulated in the contracts. district was practically locked up for fourteen years owing to the concession policy, and has only lately been partly released from the bonds of monopoly. In 1884 Messrs. Kruger and Smit proceeded to Europe to endeavour to raise funds, which were badly needed, and also to obtain some modifications of the Convention. The attempt to raise funds through the parties in Holland to whom the railway concession had just been granted failed, but the delegates were more fortunate in their other negotiations. They negotiated the London Convention which fixed certain hitherto undefined boundaries; and in that document no reference was made to the suzerainty of Great Britain. They also secured the consent of the British Government to the alteration of the title of the country. Instead of Transvaal State it became once more the 'South African Republic.'{07} During this visit there occurred an incident which provides the answer to Mr. Kruger's oft--_too_ oft--repeated remark that 'the Uitlanders were never asked to settle in the Transvaal, and are not wanted there.' Messrs. Kruger and Smit were staying at the Albemarle Hotel, where they found themselves, after some weeks' delay, in the uncomfortable position of being unable to pay their hotel bill. In their extremity they applied to one Baron Grant, at that time a bright particular star in the Stock Exchange firmament. Baron Grant was largely interested in the gold concessions of Lydenburg, and he was willing to assist, but on terms. And the _quid pro quo_ which he asked was some public assurance of goodwill, protection, and encouragement to British settlers in the Transvaal. Mr. Kruger responded on behalf of the Republic by publishing in the London press the cordial invitation and welcome and the promise of rights and protection to all who would come, so frequently quoted against him of late. By this time Moodies had attracted a fair number of people, and the prospects of the country began, for the first time with some show of reason, to look brighter. No results were felt, however, and the condition of the Government officials was deplorable. Smuggling was carried on systematically; in many cases officials 'stood in' with smugglers. They were obliged either to do that or to enforce the laws properly and get what they could by seizing contraband goods. There were two objections to the latter course, however. One was that the country was large and detection difficult with men who were both daring and resourceful; and the other was that the officials were not sure of receiving their share of the spoil from a Government so hard pressed as this one was, and whose higher officials also had difficulties about payment of salaries. In many cases salaries were six months in arrear; and other cases could be quoted of officials whose house-rent alone amounted to more than their nominal remuneration. Yet they continued to live, and it was not difficult to surmise _how_. Another significant fact was that goods subject to heavy duties--such as spirits, hams, etc.--could be bought at any store at a price which was less than original cost plus carriage and duty. Smuggling was a very palpable fact, and--quoth the public and the officials--a very convenient and even necessary evil. The principle on which the Customs officials conducted the business of their office was observed by other officials of the Republic, and in one department, at least, the abuses have had a very far-reaching and serious effect. The Field-cornets--district officials who act as petty justices, registering, and pass officers, collectors of personal taxes, captains of the burgher forces, etc., etc.--are the officers with whom each newcomer has to register. This is an important matter, because the period of residence for the purpose of naturalization and enfranchisement is reckoned from the date of registration in the Field-cornet's books. As these officials were practically turned loose on the public to make a living the best way they could, many of them, notwithstanding that they collected the taxes imposed by law, omitted to enter the names of new arrivals in their books, thus securing themselves against having to make good these amounts in event of an inspection of the books. Many of the Field-cornets were barely able to write; they had no 'offices,' and would accept taxes and registrations at any time and in any place. The chances of correct entry were therefore remote. The result of this is very serious. The records are either 'lost' when they might prove embarrassing, or so incorrectly or imperfectly kept as to be of no use whatever; and settlers in the Transvaal from 1882 to 1890 are in most cases unable to prove their registration as the law requires, and this through no fault of their own. In the country districts justice was not a commodity intended for the Britisher. Many cases of gross abuse, and several of actual murder occurred; and in 1885 the case of Mr. Jas. Donaldson, then residing on a farm in Lydenburg--lately one of the Reform prisoners--was mentioned in the House of Commons, and became the subject of a demand by the Imperial Government for reparation and punishment. He had been ordered by two Boers (one of whom was in the habit of boasting that he had shot an unarmed Englishman in Lydenburg since the war, and would shoot others) to abstain from collecting hut taxes on his own farm; and on refusing had been attacked by them. After beating them off single-handed, he was later on again attacked by his former assailants, reinforced by three others. They bound him with reims (thongs), kicked and beat him with sjamboks (raw-hide whips) and clubs, stoned him, and left him unconscious and so disfigured that he was thought to be dead when found some hours later. On receipt of the Imperial Government's representations, the men were arrested, tried and fined. The fines were stated to have been remitted at once by Government, but in the civil action which followed Mr. Donaldson obtained £500 damages. The incident had a distinctly beneficial effect, and nothing more was heard of the maltreatment of defenceless men simply because they were Britishers. Moreover, with the improvement in trade which followed the gold discoveries of 1885 and 1886 at Moodies and Barberton, the relations between the two races also improved. Frequent intercourse and commercial relations begot a better knowledge of each other, and the fierce hatred of the Britisher began to disappear in the neighbourhood of the towns and the goldfields. In 1886 the wonderful richness of the Sheba Mine in Barberton attracted a good deal of attention, and drew a large number of persons--prospectors, speculators, traders, etc.--to the Transvaal. Before the end of 1887 ten or twelve thousand must have poured into the country. The effect was magical. The revenue which had already increased by 50 per cent. in 1886, doubled itself in 1887, and then there came unto the Boer Government that which they had least expected--ample means to pursue their greater ambitions. But unmixed good comes to few, and with the blessings of plenty came the cares of Government, the problem of dealing with people whose habits, thoughts, ambitions, methods, language, and logic differed utterly from their own. Father Abraham on the London Stock Exchange would not be much more 'at sea' than the peasant farmers of the Volksraad were in dealing with the requirements of the new settlers. Agitations for reforms commenced early in Barberton. At first it was only roads and bridges that were wanted, or the remission of certain taxes, or security of title for stands and claims. Later on a political association named the Transvaal Republican Union was formed in Barberton, having a constitution and programme much the same as those of the Transvaal National Union, formed some five years later in Johannesburg. The work of this body was looked on with much disfavour by the Government, and it was intimated to some of the prominent members that if they did not cease to concern themselves with politics they would suffer in their business relations, and might even be called upon to leave the country. Many reforms were specified as desirable, and the franchise question was raised, with the object of getting the Government to make some reasonable provision in lieu of the registration clause, which was found in most cases to be an absolute bar. The discovery of the Witwatersrand conglomerate formation soon helped to swell the flowing tide of prosperity. In the middle of 1887 the regular output of gold commenced, and the fields have never 'looked back' since. Johannesburg--named after Mr. Johannes Rissik, the Surveyor-General of the Transvaal--was soon a far greater problem than Barberton had been. The shareholders in the mines soon found it necessary to have some organization to protect their interests and give unison to their policy, and to preserve the records and collect information for the industry. The Witwatersrand Chamber of Mines was then formed, a voluntary business association of unique interest and efficiency. The organization includes all the representative and influential men, and every company of any consequence connected with the mining industry; and it has, through its committee and officials, for eight years represented to the Volksraad the existence of abuses and grievances, the remedies that are required, and the measures which are felt to be necessary or conducive to the progress of the industry in particular, or the welfare of the State in general. The President, Executive and Volksraad, by neglect of their obvious duties, by their ignorance of ordinary public affairs, by their wilful disregard of the requirements of the Uitlanders, have given cohesion to a people about as heterogeneous as any community under the sun, and have trained them to act and to care for themselves. The refusal year after year to give a charter of incorporation to the Chamber, on the grounds that it would be creating an _imperium in imperio_, and the comments of Volksraad members on the petition, have made it clear that the Government view the Chamber with no friendly eye. The facts that in order to get a workable pass law at all the Chamber had to prepare it in every detail, together with plans for the creation and working of a Government department; and that in order to diminish the litigation under the gold law, and to make that fearful and wonderful agglomeration of erratic, experimental, crude, involved, contradictory and truly incomprehensible enactments at all understandable, the Chamber had to codify it at its own expense and on its own initiative, illustrate both the indispensable character of the organization, and the ignorance and ineptitude of the Government. The records of the Volksraad for the last ten years may be searched in vain for any measure calculated constructively to advance the country, or to better the conditions of the workers in it, with the few--very few--exceptions of those proposed by the Chamber of Mines. The country has, in fact, run the Government, and the Government has been unable to ruin it. Shortly after the discovery of the Rand conglomerates, it became clear that a railway would have to be built between the coalfields and the mines--some forty miles. But it was a fixed principle of the Boers that no railways (with the exception of the Delagoa Bay line, which, as the means of diverting trade from British channels, was regarded as a necessary evil) should be built, since they could compete successfully with the ox-waggon, and thus deprive the 'poor burgher' of his legitimate trade spoil; and great difficulty was experienced in getting the consent of the Raad. As a matter of fact, the permission to build it was only obtained by subterfuge; for it was explained to the worthy law-makers that it was not a railway at all--only a _steam tram_. And the Rand Steam Tram it is called to this day. The Delagoa Railway--the darling scheme of Presidents Burgers and Kruger in turn--was taken seriously in hand as soon as it was possible to raise money on almost any terms. The concession for all railways in the State was granted on April 16, 1884, to a group of Hollander and German capitalists, and confirmed by the Volksraad on August 23 following. The President's excuse for granting and preserving this iniquitous bond on the prosperity of the State is, that when the country was poor and its credit bad, friends in Holland came forward and generously helped it, and this must not be forgotten to them. As a matter of fact, friends accepted the concession when the State was poor and its credit bad, but did nothing until the State's credit improved to such an extent as to be mortgageable. _Then_ the friends granted certain favourable terms under their concession to other friends, who built the first section of the line at preposterous rates, and repaid themselves out of moneys raised on the State's credit. A well-known South African politician, distinguished alike for his ability and integrity, who visited the Transvaal during the progress of the reformers' trial, and was anxious in the interests of all South Africa to find a solution of the differences, put the position thus to some of the leading men of the Rand: 'You can see for yourselves that this is no time to ask for the franchise; for the time being, Jameson's invasion has made such a suggestion impossible. Now, tell me in a word, Is there any one thing that you require more than anything else, which we can help you to get?' The answer was: 'The one thing which we must have--not for its own sake, but for the security it offers for obtaining and retaining other reforms--_is_ the franchise. No promise of reform, no reform itself, will be worth an hour's purchase unless we have the status of voters to make our influence felt. But, if you want the chief economic grievances, they are: the Netherlands Railway Concession, the dynamite monopoly, the liquor traffic, and native labour, which, together, constitute an unwarrantable burden of indirect taxation on the industry of _over two and a half millions sterling annually_. We petitioned until we were jeered at; we agitated until we--well--came here [Pretoria Gaol]; and we know that we shall get no remedy until we have the vote to enforce it. We are not a political but a working community, and if we were honestly and capably governed the majority of us would be content to wait for the franchise for a considerable time yet in recognition of the peculiar circumstances, and of the feelings of the older inhabitants. That is the position in a nutshell.' [Netherlands Railway Company.] The Netherlands Railway Company is then a very important factor. It is unnecessary to go very fully into its history and the details of its administration. As the holder of an absolute monopoly, as the enterprise which has involved the State in its National Debt, and as the sole channel through which such money has been expended, the Company has gradually worked itself into the position of being the financial department of the State; and the functions which are elsewhere exercised by the heads of the Government belong here, in practice, entirely to this foreign corporation. Petitions for the cancellation of this concession were presented in 1888, when the progressive element in the first Volksraad consisted of one man--Mr. Loveday, one of the loyalists in the war. The agitation begun and carried on by him was taken up by others, but without further result than that of compelling the President to show his hand and step forward as the champion of the monopoly on every occasion on which it was assailed. During the years 1893-96 the President stoutly defended the Company in the Volksraad, and by his influence and the solid vote of his ignorant Dopper Party completely blocked all legislation tending to control the Company. Indeed at the end of the Session of 1895, on receiving representations from the business communities of the Republic as to the desirability of removing this incubus from the overtaxed people, the President stated plainly that the Netherlands Railway Concession was a matter of high politics and did not concern any but the burghers of the State, and that he would receive no representations from the Uitlanders on the subject nor would he permit them to discuss it. Very shortly after the granting of this railway concession came the appointment of Dr. Leyds as State Attorney for the Republic, he having been recommended and pushed forward by the gentlemen in Holland to whom the concession had been granted. It is stated that he was sent out as the agent of the concessionaires in order to protect and advance their interests, although at the same time in the service of the Republic. It is only necessary to add that Mr. Beelaerts van Blokland, the Consul-General for the Republic in Holland, is the agent of the concessionaires in that country, and the accord with which these two gentlemen, as railway commissioners at their respective ends, have always acted becomes intelligible. Several of the vital conditions of the concession have been freely violated, the first being that a certain section of the line (Nelspruit) should be completed within four years. It was not completed for eight. The concession really became void several times during the years prior to 1890, but always found a stalwart champion in the President, who continued to defend the concessionaires for some two years after they had failed to get their capital subscribed. The Company was floated on June 21 1887 on the most peculiar terms, the capital of £166,666 being in 2,000 shares of 1,000 guilders, or £83 6s. 8d. each. The shares were subscribed for by the following groups: German 819 shares, carrying 30 votes. Hollander 581 " " 76 " The Republic 600 " " 6 " The trust-deed, which limited the Republic to 6 out of 112 votes, although it subscribed about one-third of the capital, and gave to the smallest holders, the Hollanders, twice as many votes as all the others put together, was passed by Dr. Leyds, in his capacity of legal adviser of the Government, having previously been prepared by him in his other capacity. The sum of £124,000 appears to have been expended on construction ten months before any contract was given out for the same or any work begun, and fifteen months before any material was shipped. The contract for the construction of the first sixty miles compels admiration, if only for its impudence. In the first place the contractors, Van Hattum and Co., were to build the line at a cost to be mutually agreed upon by them and the railway company, and they were to receive as remuneration 11 per cent. upon the amount of the specification. But should they exceed the contract price then the 11 per cent. was to be proportionately decreased by an arranged sliding scale, provided, however, that Van Hattum and Co. did not _exceed the specification by more than 100 per cent._, in which latter case the Company would have the right to cancel the contract. By this provision Messrs. Van Hattum and Co. could increase the cost by 100 per cent, provided they were willing to lose the 11 per cent. profit, leaving them a net gain of 89 per cent. They did not neglect the opportunity. Whole sections of earthworks cost £23,500 per mile, which should not have cost £8,000. Close upon a thousand Hollanders were brought out from Holland to work for a few months in each year on the line and then be sent back to Holland again at the expense of the Republic. In a country which abounded in stone the Komati Bridge was built of dressed stone which had been quarried and worked in Holland and exported some 7,000 miles by ship and rail. These are a few instances out of many. The loss to the country through the financing was of course far greater than any manipulation of the construction could bring about. In the creating of overdrafts and the raising of loans very large sums indeed were handled. Three-quarters of a million in one case and a million in another offered opportunities which the Hollander-German gentlemen who were doing business for the country out of love for it (as was frequently urged on their behalf in the Volksraad) were quick to perceive. The 5 per cent. debentures issued to raise the latter sum were sold at £95 15s.; but the financiers deducted £5 commission from even this, so that the State has only benefited to the extent of £90 15s. This transaction was effected at a time when the State loan known as the Transvaal Fives--raised on exactly the same interest and precisely the same guarantee--was quoted at over par. What, however, was felt to be worse than any detail of finance was that this corporation of foreigners had gradually obtained complete control of the finances of the State, and through the railway system it practically dictated the relations with the other Governments in South Africa, by such measures for instance as the imposition of a charge of 8-1/2d. per ton per mile on goods travelling over their lines coming from the Cape Colony, whilst the other lines are favoured by a charge of less than half that. The burdens placed upon the mining industry by the excessive charges imposed for political purposes were, in the case of the poorer mines, ruinous. The right which the Company had to collect the Customs dues for account of the State, to retain them as security for the payment of interest on their shares and debentures, and to impose a charge for collection quite disproportionate to the cost, was another serious grievance. It was hopeless, however, to deal with the whole question. The Government had set its face against any reform in this quarter. It was not possible to obtain even ordinary working facilities such as any business corporation unprotected by an absolute monopoly would be bound to concede of its own accord, in order to catch a measure of trade. The Government have the right, under the agreement with the Company, to take over the railway on certain conditions, of which the following are the most important: (_a_) The Company shall receive one year's notice of the intention to take over. (_b_) The Company shall receive twenty times the amount of the average of the last three years' dividends. (_c_) The Company shall receive as a solatium for the unexpired period of the concession an amount equal to one per cent. of its nominal capital for each year up to the year of expiring (1915). The Government can take over the Krugersdorp-Johannesburg-Boksburg Tramway against payment of the cost of construction. If the Volksraad should not during this Session{08} decide to nationalize the railway no change can take place before 1898, so that the three years 1895 to 1897 would have to be taken as a basis and therefore the 6 per cent. for 1894, the only low dividend, would not come into the calculation. This would of course considerably increase the purchase price--_e.g._, 1895 9 per cent. 1896 14 " (estimate), 1897 14 " " -- Total 37 " That is to say an average distribution of 12.33 per cent. for the three years. The purchase price would thus be: 12.33 X 20 = 246.66 per cent. 17 years' premium 17 " ------ Total 263.66 " This has been clearly explained to the Volksraad but without avail, the President's influence on the other side being too strong. During the Session of 1895 it was made clear that agitation against the Company was as futile as beating the air. When the Hollander clique found that they could no longer convince the Boers as a whole of the soundness of their business and the genuineness of their aims, and when they failed to combat the arguments and exposures of their critics, they resorted to other tactics, and promulgated voluminous reports and statements of explanations which left the unfortunate Volksraad members absolutely stupefied where they had formerly only been confused.{09} The following is taken from an article in the Johannesburg _Mining Journal_, dealing with the burdens imposed by the railway company upon the industry: RAILWAY MONOPOLY. This is another carefully designed burden upon the mines and country. The issued capital and loans of the Netherlands Company now total about £7,000,000, upon which an average interest of about 5-1/3 per cent.--guaranteed by the State--is paid, equal to £370,000 per annum. Naturally the bonds are at a high premium. The Company and its liabilities can be taken over by the State at a year's notice, and the necessary funds for this purpose can be raised at 3 per cent. An offer was recently made to the Government to consolidate this and other liabilities, but the National Bank, which is another concession, has the monopoly of all State loan business, and this circumstance effectually disposed of the proposal. At 3 per cent. a saving of £160,000 per annum would be made in this monopoly in interest alone. The value represented by the Custom dues on the Portuguese border we are not in a position to estimate, but roughly these collections and the 15 per cent. of the profits paid to the management and shareholders must, with other leakages, represent at least another £100,000 per annum, which should be saved the country. As the revenue of the corporation now exceeds £2,000,000 a year, of which only half is expended in working costs, the estimate we have taken does not err upon the side of extravagance. By its neglect of its duties towards the commercial and mining community enormous losses are involved. Thus, in the coal traffic, the rate--which is now to be somewhat reduced--has been 3d. per ton per mile. According to the returns of the Chamber of Mines, the coal production of the Transvaal for 1895 was 1,045,121 tons. This is carried an average distance of nearly thirty miles, but taking the distance at twenty-four miles the charges are 6s. per ton. At 1-1/2d. per ton per mile--three times as much as the Cape railways charge--a saving upon the coal rates of 3s. per ton would follow, equal to £150,000 per annum. Again, by the 'bagging' system, an additional cost of 2s. 3d. per ton is incurred--details of this item have been recently published in this paper--and if this monopoly were run upon ordinary business lines, a further saving of £110,000 would be made by carrying coal in bulk. The interest upon the amount required to construct the necessary sidings for handling the coal, and the tram-lines required to transport it to the mines, would be a mere fraction upon this amount; and as the coal trade in the course of a short time is likely to see a 50 per cent. increase, the estimate may be allowed to stand at this figure without deduction. No data are available to fix the amount of the tax laid upon the people generally by the vexatious delays and losses following upon inefficient railway administration, but the monthly meetings of the local Chamber of Commerce throw some light upon these phases of a monopolistic management. The savings to be made in dealing with the coal traffic must not be taken as exhausting all possible reforms; the particulars given as to this traffic only indicate and suggest the wide area covered by this monopoly, which hitherto has made but halting and feeble efforts to keep pace with the requirements of the public. Dealing as it does with the imports of the whole country, which now amount in value to £10,000,000, the figures we have given must serve merely to illustrate its invertebrate methods of handling traffic, as well as its grasping greed in enforcing the rates fixed by the terms of its concession. Its forty miles of Rand steam tram-line and thirty-five miles of railway from the Vaal River, with some little assistance from the Delagoa line and Customs, brought in a revenue of about £1,250,000 in 1895. Now that the Natal line is opened the receipts will probably amount to nearly £3,000,000 per annum, all of which should swell the ordinary revenue of the country, instead of remaining in the hands of foreigners as a reservoir of wealth for indigent Hollanders to exploit. The total railway earnings of the Cape and Natal together over all their lines amounted to £3,916,566 in 1895, and the capital expenditure on railways by these colonies amounts to £26,000,000. The greater portion of these receipts come from the Rand trade, which is compelled to pay an additional £2,500,000, carrying charges to the Netherlands Company, which has £7,000,000 of capital. Thus, railway receipts in South Africa amount now to £7,000,000 per annum, of which the Rand contributes at least £5,000,000. The revenue of the company is now considerably over £3,000,000 per annum. The management claim that their expenses amount to but 40 per cent. of revenue, and this is regarded by them as a matter for general congratulation. The Uitlanders contend that the concern is grossly _mis_managed, and that the low cost of working is a fiction. It only appears low by contrast with a revenue swollen by preposterously heavy rates and protected by a monopoly. The tariff could be reduced by one-half; that is to say, a remission of taxation to the tune of one and a half million annually could be effected without depriving the Company of a legitimate and indeed very handsome profit. [Selati Railway.] The Selati Railway Scheme! 'Conceived in iniquity, delivered in shame, died in disgrace!' might be its history, but for the fact that it is not quite dead yet. But very nearly! The concession was obtained during the Session of 1890 by a member of the First Volksraad, Mr. Barend J. Vorster, jun., who himself took part in and guided the tone of the debate which decided the granting of the concession. The Raad resolved to endeavour to obtain the favourable opinions of their constituents, but before doing so the generous Mr. Vorster made what he was pleased to call 'presents' to the members--American spiders, Cape carts, gold watches, shares in the Company to be floated, and sums in cash--were the trifles by which Mr. Vorster won his way to favour. He placated the President by presenting to the Volksraad a portrait of his Honour, executed by the late Mr. Schroeder, South Africa's one artist. The picture cost £600. The affair was a notorious and shameless matter of bribery and the only profit which the country gained from it was a candid confession of personal principles on the part of Mr. Kruger himself, who when the exposure took place stated that he saw no harm in members receiving presents. Debentures to the amount of £500,000 were issued, bearing Government guarantee of 4 per cent. The Company received £70 for each £100 debenture. Comment is superfluous. A second issue of a million was made, nominally at £93 10s., but the Company only received £86--a commission to the brokers or agents of 8-3/4 per cent., at a time when the Company's previous issue of 4 per cents. were standing at £97 in the market. The costs of flotation were charged at upwards of £32,000; the expenses of one gentleman's travelling, etc., £6,000. But these are 'trifles light as air.' This Selati Railway Company, which being guaranteed by Government is really a Government liability, arranged with a contractor to build the line at the maximum cost allowed in the concession, £9,600 per mile. Two days later this contractor sub-let the contract for £7,002 per mile. As the distance is 200 miles, the Republic was robbed by a stroke of the pen of £519,600--one of the biggest 'steals' even in the Transvaal. During the two years for which Dr. Leyds was responsible as the representative of the Republic for the management of this affair, none of these peculiar transactions were detected--at any rate none were reported or exposed; but on the accession to office of an ignorant old Boer the nest of swindles appears to have been discovered without any difficulty. And it is generally admitted that Dr. Leyds is not a fool. This exposure took place at the end of the Session of 1894, and, inured as the Uitlanders had become to jobs, this was an eyeopener even for them, and the startled community tax-payers--who had to bear the brunt of it all. [Revenue.] Turning to the finances of the country, the following tables are as instructive as anything can be: REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC.{10} Fiscal period. Revenue. Expenditure. Remarks. £ £ Aug. 1, 1871 to July 31, 1872 ... 40,988 ... 35,714 " 1, 1872 " Jan. 31, 1873 ... 43,239 ... 41,813 Feb. 1, 1873 " " 31, 1874 ... 49,318 ... 45,482 Gold discovered in Lydenburg. " 1, 1874 " " 31, 1875 ... 58,553 ... 61,785 " 1, 1875 " " 31, 1876 ... 64,582 ... 69,394 " 1, 1876 " " 31, 1877 ... 62,762 ... 64,505 " 1, 1877 " April 12, 1877 ... 25,752 ... 17,235 April 12, 1877 " Dec. 31, 1877 ... 54,127 ... 70,003 Jan. 1, 1878 " " 31, 1878 ... 76,774 ... 89,063 " 1, 1879 " " 31, 1879 ... 93,409 ... 177,596 " 1, 1880 " " 31, 1880 ... 174,069 ... 144,943 " 1, 1881 " Oct. 14, 1881 ... 25,326 ... 186,707 British Govt. Aug. 8, 1881 " Dec. 31, 1881 ... 37,908 ... 33,442 Boer Govt. Jan. 1, 1882 " " 31, 1882 ... 177,407 ... 114,476 " 1, 1883 " " 31, 1883 ... 143,324 ... 184,344 " 1, 1884 " Mar. 31, 1884 ... 44,557 ... 18,922 April 1, 1884 " " 31, 1885 ... 161,596 ... 184,820 " 1, 1885 " " 31, 1886 ... 177,877 ... 162,709 Sheba floated. " 1, 1886 " Dec. 31, 1886 ... 196,236 ... 154,636 Rand proclaimed Sept. 8, 1886. Jan. 1, 1887 " " 31, 1887 ... 637,749 ... 594,834 Shares quoted Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Telegraph opened Johannesburg April 26, 1887. " 1, 1888 " " 31, 1888 ... 884,440 ... 720,492 Boom, Nov. 1888 " 1, 1889 " " 31, 1889 ...1,577,445 ...1,201,135 to Jan. 1889. Slump, Mar. 1889. " 1, 1890 " " 31, 1890 ...1,229,061 ...1,386,461 " 1, 1891 " " 31, 1891 ... 967,192 ...1,350,074 Baring Crisis. " 1, 1892 " " 31, 1892 ...1,255,830 ...1,187,766 Railway reached Johannesburg Sept. 15. " 1, 1893 " " 31, 1893 ...1,702,685 ...1,302,054 " 1, 1894 " " 31, 1894 ...2,247,728 ...1,734,728 " 1, 1895 " " 31, 1895 ...2,923,648 ...1,948,249 " 1, 1896 " " 31, 1896 ...3,912,095 ...3,732,492 " 1, 1897 " " 31, 1897 ...3,956,402 ...3,898,816 " 1, 1898 " " 31, 1898 ...3,329,958 ...3,476,844 " 1, 1899 " " 31, 1899 ...4,087,852 ...3,951,234 (Budget). The figures for the period from 1871 to the end of 1887 are taken from Jeppe's Transvaal Almanac for 1889. They represent the ordinary Revenue and Expenditure arrived at after the deduction of the items 'Special Receipts,' 'Special Deposits,' 'Deposits Withdrawn,' 'Advance Refunded,' 'Advances made' and 'Fixed Deposits' from the totals given in the Official Government Returns. The figures for the years 1888 to 1899 are those of the published Government Returns after the deduction of-- Fixed deposits from 1888 to 1893 inclusive. The sale and purchase of explosives from 1895 to 1898 inclusive. The owner's share of claim licenses from 1895 to 1899 inclusive. Delagoa Bay Customs Dues paid to the Netherlands Railway for 1898 and 1899. [Dynamite Monopoly.] The dynamite monopoly has always been a Monopoly very burning question with the Uitlanders. This concession was granted shortly after the Barberton Fields were discovered, when the prospects of an industry in the manufacture of explosives were not really very great. The concessionaire himself has admitted that had he foreseen to what proportions this monopoly would eventually grow he would not have had the audacity to apply for it. This, of course, is merely a personal question. The fact which concerned the industry was that the right was granted to one man to manufacture explosives and to sell them at a price nearly 200 per cent. over that at which they could be imported. It was found upon investigation after some years of agitation that the factory at which this 'manufacture' took place was in reality merely a depot in which the already manufactured article was manipulated to a moderate extent so as to lend colour to the President's statement that a local industry was being fostered. An investigation held by order of the Volksraad exposed the imposition. The President himself stated that he found he had been deceived and that the terms of the concession had been broken, and he urged the Raad to cancel it--which the Raad did. The triumph was considerable for the mining industry and it was the more appreciated in that it was the solitary success to which the Uitlanders could point in their long series of agitations for reform. But the triumph was not destined to be a lasting one. Within a few months the monopoly was revived in an infinitely more obnoxious form. It was now called a Government monopoly, but 'the agency' was bestowed upon a partner of the gentleman who had formerly owned the concession, the President himself vigorously defending this course and ignoring his own judgment on the case uttered a few months previously. _Land en Volk_, the Pretoria Dutch newspaper, exposed the whole of this transaction, including the system of bribery by which the concessionaries secured their renewal, and among other things made the charge which it has continued to repeat ever since that Mr. J.M.A. Wolmarans, member of the Executive, received a commission of one shilling per case on every case sold during the continuance of the agency as a consideration for his support in the Executive Council, and that he continues to enjoy this remuneration, which is estimated now to be not far short of £10,000 a year. Mr. Wolmarans, for reasons of pride or discretion, has declined to take any notice of the charge, although frequently pressed to take action in the matter. It is calculated that the burden imposed upon the Witwatersrand Mines alone amounts to £600,000 per annum, and is, of course, daily increasing. [The Franchise Laws.] The question of the franchise, which has achieved the greatest prominence in the Uitlander agitation, is one with which few people even in the Transvaal are familiar, so many and peculiar have been the changes effected in the law. Lawyers differ as to whether certain laws revoke or merely supplement previous ones, and the President himself--to the grim amusement of the Uitlanders--frequently goes astray when he speaks on franchise. The first law on burgher and electoral rights is No. 1 of 1876, which remained in force until 1882. By it the possession of landed property or else residence for one year qualified the settler for full burgher privileges. Law No. 7 of 1882 was the first attempt of the restored Republic to deal with the question. It was then enacted that an alien could be naturalized and enfranchised after five years' residence, such residence to be proved by the Field-cornet's books of registration. It has already been explained that these records in nine cases out of ten were either improperly kept or non-existent. In 1890 Law No. 4 was passed, creating the Second Volksraad and altering the Grondwet (or constitution) accordingly. By this law the franchise was indirectly altered without repealing those portions which may be at variance with or repugnant to the implied alterations, and this was done by simply defining what class of electors should vote for members of the First Raad, and what class for members of the Second. Thus, 'the members of the First Volksraad shall be elected by those enfranchised burghers who have obtained the right of voting before this law comes in force, or thereafter by birth in the State, and on having attained the age of sixteen years.' Secondly, all those who became naturalized and enfranchised after this law was passed could not vote for members of the First Volksraad, but a subsequent article in the law provides that the higher rights can be obtained by those who shall have been eligible for ten years for election to the Second Volksraad; and it is then explained that, in order to be eligible for the Second Volksraad, it is necessary to be thirty years of age, to be a member of the Protestant Church, to live and have landed property in the Republic, and to have been a naturalized subject for two years. Thus the full electoral privileges were only obtainable after fourteen years' residence in the State, and the possession of the other qualifications of religion, property, etc. Next came Law No. 13 of 1891, which was rather a codification than an alteration of previous laws. In 1892 another law was passed again explaining, but not materially altering the franchise. In 1893 Law No. 14 was passed as an amendment of previous laws: further juggling the position--further hedging in the sacred preserve. As the law was superseded in the following year it is unnecessary to go into details; but note how the measure became law! It was not published in the _Staats Courant_ for three months as required by law; it was not published at all; nor was any special resolution taken affirming that it was a matter of extreme urgency and therefore to be held exempt from that rule of procedure; so that the High Court ought to be able to declare it null and void. The circumstances of its introduction could not be considered to warrant the plea of urgency. On the 29th and 30th June, 1893, memorials upon the franchise question were laid before the Raad. From Johannesburg came one memorial bearing 4,507 signatures out of the grand total of 6,665 memorialists. It was in favour of _extension_ of the franchise. Another memorial from 103 Free State burghers was in favour of _extension_, another from Barberton from 40 burghers also for _extension_. Seven memorials, bearing 444 signatures, were _against_ extension. All the others concerned minor alterations in Law 13 of 1891, and did not affect the franchise. The Raad appointed a commission and on the 8th of September received its report, together with a draft law which had not before seen the light of day. After a discussion lasting part of one morning the law was passed provisionally; and to be of full force and effect until confirmed by the Raad in the following year. Thus again were the fundamental political conditions entirely altered by the passing of a law which _two hours before_ had not been heard of. Law No. 3 of 1894 purports to supersede all other laws. Therein it is laid down that all persons born in the State, or who may have established their domicile therein before May 29, 1876, are entitled to full political privileges. Those who have settled in the country since then can become naturalized after two years' residence dating from the time at which their names were registered in the Field-cornet's books. This naturalization confers the privilege of voting for local officials, Field-cornets, landdrosts,{11} and for members of the Second Raad. It is however stipulated that children born in the country shall take the status of their fathers. The naturalized subject after having been qualified to vote in this manner for two years becomes eligible for a seat in the Second Volksraad--_i.e._, four years after the registration of his name in the Field-cornet's books. After he shall have been qualified to sit in the Second Volksraad for ten years (one of the conditions for which is that he must be thirty years of age) he may obtain the full burgher rights or political privileges, provided the majority of burghers in his Ward will signify _in writing their desire that he should obtain them_ and provided the President and Executive shall see no objection to granting the same. It is thus clear that, assuming the Field-cornet's records to be honestly and properly compiled and to be available for reference (which they are not), the immigrant, after fourteen years' probation during which he shall have given up his own country and have been politically emasculated, privilege of obtaining burgher rights should he be willing and able to induce the majority of a hostile clique to petition in writing on his behalf and should he then escape the veto of the President and Executive. This was the coping-stone to Mr. Kruger's Chinese wall. The Uitlanders and their children were disfranchised for ever, and as far as legislation could make it sure the country was preserved by entail to the families of the Voortrekkers. The measure was only carried because of the strenuous support given by the President both within the Raad and at those private meetings which practically decide the important business of the country. The President threw off all disguise when it came to proposing this measure of protection. For many years he had been posing as the one progressive factor in the State and had induced the great majority of people to believe that while he personally was willing and even anxious to accede to the reasonable requests of the new population his burghers were restraining him. He had for a time succeeded in quelling all agitation by representing that demonstrations made by the tax-bearing section only embarrassed him in his endeavour to relieve them and aggravated the position by raising the suspicions and opposition of his Conservative faction. In 1893 a petition signed by upwards of 13,000 aliens in favour of granting the extension of the franchise was received by the Raad with great laughter. But notwithstanding this discouragement, during the following year a monster petition was got up by the National Union. It was signed by 35,483 Uitlanders--men of an age and of sufficient education to qualify them for a vote in any country. The discussion which took place on this petition was so important, and the decision so pregnant with results, that copious notes of the Volksraad debate are published in this volume (Appendix). The only response made to this appeal was a firmer riveting of the bonds. It is but just to say that the President encountered determined opposition in his attempt to force his measure through the Raad. The progressive section (progressive being a purely relative term which the peculiar circumstances of the country alone can justify) made a stand, state that two or three of the intelligent and liberal-minded farmers belonging to this progressive party, men who were earnestly desirous of doing justice to all and furthering the interests of the State, declared at the close of the debate that this meant the loss of independence. 'Now,' said one old Boer, 'our country is gone. Nothing can settle this but righting, and there is only one end to the fight. Kruger and his Hollanders have taken our independence more surely than ever Shepstone did.' The passing of this measure was a revelation not only to the Uitlanders, who still believed that reasonable representations would prevail, but to a section of the voters of the country who had failed to realize Mr. Kruger's policy, and who honestly believed that he would carry some conciliatory measures tending to relieve the strain, and satisfy the large and ever-increasing industrial population of aliens. The measure was accepted on all hands as an ultimatum--a declaration of war to the knife. There was only one redeeming feature about it: from that time forward there could be no possibility of misunderstanding the position, and no reason to place any credence in the assurances of the President. When remonstrated with on this subject of the refusal of the franchise, and when urged by a prominent man whose sympathies are wholly with the Boer to consider the advisability of 'opening the door a little,' the President, who was in his own house, stood up, and leading his adviser by the arm, walked into the middle of the street, and pointed to the Transvaal flag flying over the Government buildings, saying, 'You see that flag. If I grant the franchise I may as well pull it down.' It is seldom possible to indicate the precise period at which a permanent change in the feeling of a people may be considered to have been effected, but the case of the Uitlanders undoubtedly presents one instance in which this is possible. Up to the passing of this law quite a considerable section of the people believed that the President and the Volksraad would listen to reason, and would even in the near future make considerable concessions. A larger section, it is true, believed nothing of the sort, but at the same time were so far from thinking that it would be necessary to resort to extreme measures that they were content to remain passive, and allow their more sanguine comrades to put their convictions to the test. It is not too much to say that not one person in a hundred seriously contemplated that an appeal to force would be necessary to obtain the concessions which were being asked. It might be said that within an hour the scales dropped from the eyes of the too credulous community, and the gravity of the position was instantly realized. The passage of the Bill and the birth of the revolutionary idea were synchronous. In a brief sketch of events, such as this is, it is not possible with due regard to simplicity to deal with matters in chronological order, and for this reason such questions as the franchise, the railway, dynamite, and others have been explained separately, regardless of the fact that it has thereby become necessary to allude to incidents in the general history for which no explanation or context is supplied at the moment. This is particularly the case in the matter of the franchise, and for the purpose of throwing light on the policy of which the franchise enactments and the Netherlands Railway affairs and other matters formed a portion, some explanation should be given of President Kruger's own part and history in the period under review. Mr. Kruger was elected President in 1882, and re-elected in 1888 without serious opposition, his one rival, General Joubert, receiving an insignificant number of votes. The period for which he was now elected proved to be one of unexpected, unexampled prosperity, furnishing him with the means of completing plans which must have seemed more or less visionary at their inception; but it was also a period of considerable trial. The development of the Barberton Goldfields was a revelation to the peasant mind of what the power of gold is. The influx of prospectors was very considerable, the increase of the revenue of the State appeared simply colossal; and no sooner did the Boer rulers begin to realize the significance of the Barberton boom than they were confronted with the incomparably greater discoveries of the Witwatersrand. The President did not like the Uitlanders. He made no concealment of the fact. He could never be induced to listen to the petitions of that community, nor to do anything in the way of roads and bridges in return for the very heavy contributions which the little community sent to the Republic's treasury. In those days he used to plead that the distance was great, and the time required for coach-travelling was too considerable; but the development of the Witwatersrand and the growth of Johannesburg within thirty-two miles of the capital, while disposing of the pretexts which held good in the case of Barberton, found Mr. Kruger no more inclined to make the acquaintance of the newcomers than he had been before. Notwithstanding that the law prescribes that the President shall visit all the districts and towns of the State at least once during the year, notwithstanding, also, the proximity of Johannesburg, the President has only visited the industrial capital of the Republic three times in nine years. The first occasion was in the early days--a visit now remembered only as the occasion of the banquet at which Mr. Cecil Rhodes, then one of the pioneers of the Rand, in proposing the President's health, appealed to him to make friends with the newcomers, and to extend the privileges of the older residents to 'his young burghers--like myself.' That was before Mr. Rhodes had secured his concession, and long before the Charter was thought of. There is an unreported incident which occurred a year or two later, concerning the two strong men of Africa--it was a 'meeting' which didn't take place, and only Mr. Rhodes can say how it might have affected the future of South Africa had it come off. The latter arrived by coach in Pretoria one Saturday morning, and, desiring to see the President, asked Mr. Ewald Esselen to accompany him and interpret for him. Mr. Rhodes, knowing the peculiar ways of Mr. Kruger, waited at the gate a few yards from the house while Mr. Esselen went in to inquire if the President would see him. Mr. Kruger's reply was that he would see Mr. Rhodes on Monday. Mr. Esselen urged that as Mr. Rhodes was obliged to leave on Sunday night the reply was tantamount to a refusal. The President answered that this was 'Nachtmaal' time and the town was full of his burghers, and that he made it a rule, which he would violate for no one, to reserve the Saturdays of the Nachtmaal week for his burghers so as to hear what they had to say if any wished to speak to him, as his burghers were more to him than anyone else in the world. 'I do no business on Sunday,' he concluded, 'so Rhodes can wait or go!' Mr. Rhodes did not wait. When he heard the answer he remarked to Mr. Esselen, 'The old devil! I meant to work with him, but I'm not going on my knees to him. I've got my concession however and he can do nothing.' The second visit of Mr. Kruger to Johannesburg was the famous one of 1890, when the collapse of the share market and the apparent failure of many of the mines left a thriftless and gambling community wholly ruined and half starving, unable to bear the burden which the State imposed, almost wholly unappreciative of the possibilities of the Main Reef, and ignorant of what to do to create an industry and restore prosperity. This, at least, the community did understand, that they were horribly overtaxed; that those things which might be their salvation, and are necessary conditions for industrial prosperity--railways, cheap living, consistent and fair government--were not theirs. The President visited Johannesburg with the object of giving the assurance that railways would be built. He addressed a crowd of many thousands of people from a platform at the Wanderers' Club pavilion. He did not conceal his suspicions of the people, and his attempts to conceal his dislike were transparent and instantly detected, the result being that there was no harmony between his Honour and the people of Johannesburg. Later in the evening the crowd, which had hourly become larger and more and more excited and dissatisfied, surrounded the house which the President was occupying, and, without desire to effect any violence, but by simple pressure of numbers, swept in the railings and pillars which enclosed the house. Most fortunately the Chief of Police had withdrawn all the Boer members of the force, and the crowd, to their surprise, were held back by Colonial, English, and Irish 'bobbies.' This was probably the only thing that prevented a very serious culmination. As it was, some excited individuals pulled down the Transvaal flag from the Government buildings, tore it in shreds and trampled it under foot. The incident should have been ignored under the exceptionally trying conditions of the time, but the Government determined to make much of it. Some arrests were effected, and men thrown into prison. Bail was refused; in fact, 'martyrs' were made, and the incident became indelibly stamped on the memory of both Boer and Uitlander. The President vowed that he would never visit the place again, and without doubt made use of his experience to consolidate the feeling of his burghers against the Uitlanders. At a meeting of burghers several months after this incident, he referred to the agitation and constant complaining of the Uitlanders, and stated that they had only themselves to thank for all their troubles, and yet they would blame the Government. He then proceeded to entertain his hearers with one of the inevitable illustrations from life in the lower animal kingdom. 'They remind me,' said his Honour, 'of the old baboon that is chained up in my yard. When he burnt his tail in the Kaffir's fire the other day, he jumped round and bit me, and that just after I had been feeding him.' For five years Mr. Kruger was as good as his word. He would not even pass through Johannesburg when convenience suggested his doing so, but made circuits by road to avoid the place of detestation. It was on one of these visits to Krugersdorp, a township within the Witwatersrand Fields, twenty miles from Johannesburg, that the President, appreciating the fact that besides his beloved burghers there might, owing to the proximity of the fields, be some unregenerate aliens present, commenced his address as follows: 'Burghers, friends, thieves, murderers, newcomers, and others.' This was not ill-judged and laborious humour; it was said in absolute earnest. The references were repeated at various intervals in the address and here explained by allusions to the Scriptures and to the all-merciful God through Whom even the worst might hope to be redeemed, the inference clearly being that even the Uitlander, by the grace of God (and, no doubt, Mr. Kruger), might hope in time to approach the fitness of the burgher. In the meantime another affair occurred, which revived much of the old feeling expressed at the time of the flag affair. War was declared against Malaboch, a native chief with a following of a few hundreds, who had, it was alleged, refused to pay his taxes. Such wars are of frequent occurrence in the Transvaal, the reasons assigned being usually some failure to pay taxes or to submit to the discipline of the native Commissioners. In this case British subjects were commandeered--that is, requisitioned to fight or to find in money or in kind some contribution to the carrying on of the war. It was felt that the position of the Republic did not warrant at that time a resort to commandeering, a measure which no doubt was necessary in the early days when the Republic had no cash; but with a declared surplus of about £1,000,000 in the Treasury, it was deemed to be an uncivilized and wholly unnecessary measure, and one capable of the grossest abuse, to permit men of inferior intelligence and training, and of no education, such as the Field-cornets are, to use their discretion in levying contributions upon individuals. The Uitlanders were especially sensible of the injustice done to them. They had been definitely refused all voice in the affairs of the State, and they already contributed nine-tenths of the revenue. They received in return an infinitesimal portion in the shape of civil administration and public works, and they were distinctly not in the humour to be placed at the mercy of Boer officials, who would undoubtedly mulct them and spare the burghers. Protests were made; and five of the men commandeered in Pretoria, having point-blank refused to comply with the orders, were placed under arrest. The High Commissioner, Sir Henry (now Lord) Loch, was appealed to, and, acting on instructions from the Imperial Government, immediately proceeded to Pretoria. The excitement was intense. In Johannesburg a number of men were prepared to make a dash on Pretoria to effect the forcible release of the prisoners, and had any steps been taken to enforce the commandeering law within the Witwatersrand district, without doubt a collision would have taken place. The supply of arms in the town was, it is true, wholly inadequate for any resistance to the Boers, but in the excitement of the time this was not considered. Sir Henry Loch's visit had the effect of suspending all action; but the opinion in Pretoria was that should the High Commissioner proceed to Johannesburg there would be such an outburst of feeling that no one could foresee the results. Every effort was made to prevent him from going. Among other steps taken by the President was that of sending over for the President of the Chamber of Mines, Mr. Lionel Phillips, and requesting him, if he had the interests of the State and the welfare of the community at heart, to use his influence to dissuade the High Commissioner from visiting the town in its then excited state. Sir Henry Loch, in deference to the opinion expressed on all sides, agreed not to visit Johannesburg, but to receive deputations from Johannesburg people at his hotel in Pretoria. The High Commissioner's visit was successful. The Government agreed to absolve British subjects from the operation of the Commando Law; but the men who had been arrested and already sent under guard to the front were allowed to proceed and receive their discharge at the scene of war, and were compelled to find their own way back, receiving no consideration or compensation for the treatment to which they had been subjected. In this respect it is difficult to say that Sir Henry Loch achieved all that might have been expected from him. Possibly, to insist on more than he did would have left President Kruger no alternative but to refuse at all risks. The Volksraad being then in session, there may have been some diplomatic reasons for not pressing matters too hard. A trivial incident occurred which once more excited bad party feeling. The High Commissioner was met at the railway-station by the President in his carriage. The enthusiastic crowd of British subjects shouldered aside the escorts provided by the Government, took the horses from the carriage, and drew it down to the hotel. In the course of the journey an individual mounted the box-seat of the carriage with the Union Jack fastened on a bamboo, and in the excitement of the moment allowed the folds of England's flag to gather round the President. His Honour rose very excitedly and struck at the flag with his walking-stick; but in blissful ignorance of what was going on behind him the standard-bearer continued to flip his Honour with the flag until the hotel was reached. There it was understood that the President would leave the carriage with the High Commissioner, and under this misapprehension those who had drawn the carriage down left their posts and joined the cheering crowd the carriage with neither horses nor men to move him, and there he was obliged to wait until a number of burghers were called up, who drew his Honour off to his own house. The affair was wholly unpremeditated and almost unobserved at the time, but it was unfortunately construed by the President as a deliberate insult, and it increased, if possible, his dislike for the Uitlander. The difficulty of dealing with a man of Mr. Kruger's nature and training was further illustrated by another occurrence in these negotiations. During a meeting between the President and the High Commissioner in the presence of their respective staffs the former became very excited and proceeded to speak his mind very openly to his friends, referring freely to certain matters which it was undesirable to mention in the presence of the British party. Mr. Ewald Esselen, the late State Attorney, wrote in Dutch in a very large round schoolboy hand, 'Be careful! There is an interpreter present,' and handed the slip of paper to the President. The latter stopped abruptly, looked at the slip of paper, first one way and then another, and after a long pause threw it on the table saying, 'Ewald, what does this mean? What do you _write_ things to me for? Why don't you _speak_ so that one can understand?' Early in 1895 efforts were made by the Dutch officials in Johannesburg and a number of private individuals to induce the President to visit the place again, when it was thought that a better reception would be accorded him than that which he had experienced on his visit in 1890. Mr. Kruger steadily refused for some time, but was eventually persuaded to open in person the first agricultural show held on the Witwatersrand. Every precaution was taken to insure him a good welcome, or, at least, to avoid any of those signs which would indicate that Johannesburg likes President Kruger no more than he likes Johannesburg; and even those who were most conscious of the President's malign influence did all in their power to make the visit a success, believing themselves to be in duty bound to make any effort, even at the sacrifice of personal sympathies and opinions, to turn the current of feeling and to work for a peaceful settlement of the difficulties which unfortunately seemed to be thickening all round. The event passed off without a hitch. It would be too much to say that great enthusiasm prevailed; but, at least, a respectful, and at times even cordial, greeting was accorded to the President, and his address in the agricultural show grounds was particularly well received. The President returned to Pretoria that night and was asked what he thought of the affair: 'Did he not consider it an _amende_ for what had happened five years before? And was he not convinced from personal observation that the people of Johannesburg were loyal, law-abiding, and respectful to the head of the Government under which they lived?' Mr. Kruger's reply in the vernacular is unprintable; but the polite equivalent is, 'Ugh! A pack of lick-spittles.' In spite of a subsequent promulgation it seems clear that there is no 'forget and forgive' in his Honour's attitude towards Johannesburg. The result of this interview became known and naturally created a very bad impression. During his second term of office Mr. Kruger lost much of his personal popularity and influence with the Boers, and incurred bitter opposition on account of his policy of favouring members of his own clique, of granting concessions, and of cultivating the Hollander faction and allowing it to dominate the State. Outside the Transvaal Mr. Kruger has the reputation of being free from the taint of corruption from which so many of his colleagues suffer. Yet within the Republic and among his own people one of the gravest of the charges levelled against him is that by his example and connivance he has made himself responsible for much of the plundering that goes on. There are numbers of cases in which the President's nearest relatives have been proved to be concerned in the most flagrant jobs, only to be screened by his influence; such cases, for instance, as that of the Vaal River Water Supply Concession, in which Mr. Kruger's son-in-law 'hawked' about for the highest bid the vote of the Executive Council on a matter which had not yet come before it, and, moreover, sold and duly delivered the aforesaid vote. There is the famous libel case in which Mr. Eugene Marais, the editor of the Dutch paper _Land en Volk_, successfully sustained his allegation that the President had defrauded the State by charging heavy travelling expenses for a certain trip on which he was actually the guest of the Cape Colonial Government.{12} The party in opposition to President Kruger, with General Joubert at its head, might, for purposes of nomenclature, be called the Progressive Party. It was really led by Mr. Ewald Esselen, a highly-educated South African, born in the Cape Colony of German parentage, educated in Edinburgh, and practising as a barrister at the Pretoria Bar. Mr. Esselen was a medical student at the time of the Boer War of Independence, and having then as he still has enthusiastic Boer sympathies, volunteered for medical service during the war. He subsequently became attached to the President's staff, and finally, on completing his legal education, was appointed Judge of the High Court in the Transvaal. Relinquishing his seat on the Bench after some years of honourable service he returned to the Bar, and became an active factor in politics. Mr. Esselen, from being the closest personal adherent of Mr. Kruger, became for a time his most formidable opponent and his most dreaded critic. A campaign was organized for the presidential election and feeling ran extremely high. To such lengths, indeed, did the Boer partisans go that for some months the possibility of a resort to arms for the settlement of their differences was freely discussed by both parties. The election took place in 1893, and at the same time elections of members for the First Volksraad were in progress. Mr. Kruger made masterly use of his position in office and of his authority over the officials appointed during his _régime_, and for the time being he converted the Civil Service of the country into an election organization. Not even the enemies of the President will deny that he is both a practised diplomat and a determined fighter. By his energy, intrigue, personal influence, and intense determination, he not only compelled his party to the highest effort, but to a large extent broke the spirit of the opposition before the real struggle began. There are two stages in the Presidential election at which a fight can under certain circumstances be made. There were certainly two stages in this election. The first is at the polls; the second is in the Volksraad, when objections have to be lodged against candidates and a commission of investigation appointed, and the steps necessary for the installation of the new President have to be discussed. Mr. Kruger and his party took ample precautions. It has been stated openly and without contradiction, and is accepted in the Transvaal as an unquestionable fact, that at least three properly elected members of the Volksraad were 'jockeyed' out of their seats because they were known to have leanings towards General Joubert. A number of his supporters among the prominent officials of the Civil Service were disfranchised by the action of President Kruger because they had favoured his rival. In a country where the matters of Government have been so loosely conducted it is no doubt fairly easy to find flaws, and the President experienced no difficulty in establishing sufficient case against General Joubert's supporters to satisfy the persons appointed by him to investigate matters. On various pretexts newly-elected members were debarred from taking their seats. In one case, a strong supporter of General Joubert, who was returned by a majority of something like six to one, was kept out of his seat by the mere lodging of an objection by his opponent, the former representative of the constituency; there being a provision in the law that objections with regard to elections shall be heard by the Volksraad, and that, pending the return of a new member, the member last elected for the constituency shall continue to represent it. That the objection lodged in this case was ridiculous in the extreme had no bearing on the immediate result. The President, with admirable gravity, said, 'The law provides that all objections must be heard by the Volksraad, and that pending the decision the old member (a strenuous supporter of his Honour) shall retain his seat; and before all things we must support the law.' In the case of Mr. Esselen, who was elected member for Potchefstroom, the most flagrant abuses were proved to have been committed by the polling officer, the landdrost, dead and absent men having (according to him) rolled up freely to vote for the Krugerite candidate. Numbers of Mr. Esselen's supporters were disqualified on various pretexts, and the voting being conducted openly the moral suasion and close supervision of the official (Krugerite) party were very effective. Mr. Esselen was declared to have lost his seat by seven votes. Scrutinies were demanded and objections lodged, but without avail. The tactics above indicated were pursued in every case. The old Volksraad having been filled with Mr. Kruger's creatures, it was, of course, his interest to support the return of old members. He was thus enabled by the law above quoted to retain an old member in the Volksraad pending the decision in a case of dispute. Mr. Esselen's defeat was a crushing blow to the Joubert party, as the want of a leader in the House itself completely demoralized the General's followers. The election for President proceeded, and General Joubert was, without any doubt whatever, elected by a very considerable majority. The tactics already described were again followed, and the result was announced as: Kruger, 7,881; Joubert, 7,009. Objections were lodged by General Joubert, but, deprived of the services of Mr. Esselen in the First Raad, and overawed by the fierce determination of his opponent, the General, finding himself in for a struggle, lost heart as usual and collapsed. The difference between the two men is remarkable. Mr. Kruger, to his credit be it said, has not the remotest conception of the meaning of fear, and would not know how to begin to give in. Mr. Joubert, 'Slim (sly) Piet,' as he is called, possessing a considerable share of the real Africander cunning, is yet no match for his rival in diplomacy, and has none of his grit and courage. In later years this has been proved a score of times, and it is, therefore, the more interesting to recall that at the time of the annexation General Joubert refused to compromise his principles by taking office under Shepstone, whilst Mr. Kruger was not so staunch; and both before and during the war General Joubert refused to accept less than what he considered to be his rights, and steadily and frequently proclaimed his readiness to fight whilst Mr. Kruger was diplomatizing. The Commission appointed by the Raad to investigate matters was constituted chiefly of Mr. Kruger's supporters, and the result was a foregone conclusion. They confirmed the result of the election as declared; and Mr. Kruger, with the grim humour which upon occasions distinguishes him, seeing an opportunity for inexpensive magnanimity which would gratify himself and be approved by everyone--except the recipients--appointed the most prominent supporters of his rival in the Volksraad to be the official deputation to welcome the new President. The President did not neglect those who had stood by him in his hour of need. Mr. Kock, landdrost and polling-officer of Potchefstroom, who had deserved well of his patron, if for nothing more than the overthrow of Mr. Esselen, was appointed member of the Executive to fill a position created purposely for him. The membership of the Executive is expressly defined by the Grondwet; but his Honour is not trammelled by such considerations. He created the position of Minute Keeper to the Executive with a handsome salary and a right to vote, and bestowed this upon his worthy henchman. The Executive Council thus constituted consisted of six members; and here again the President contrived to kill two birds with one stone, the expression of his gratitude being by no means unprofitable. After so bitter a struggle and the resort to such extreme measures as he had been obliged to use, he anticipated no little opposition even within the inner circle, and, in any case, he as usual deemed it wise to provide against all contingencies. Dr. Leyds' vote he knew he could count on, the interests of the party which the State Secretary represents being such that they are obliged to work with Mr. Kruger. The appointment, therefore, of Mr. Kock gave his Honour one half of the Executive, and the casting-vote which pertains to his office turned the scale in his favour. Whatever, therefore, might be his troubles with the Volksraad when, by process of justice, reform, or death his adherents should be gradually removed from that Chamber, his position was, humanly speaking, assured in the Executive Council for the term of his office. The opposition to Mr. Kock's appointment was extremely strong, culminating in the formulation of charges of theft against him by Mr. Eugene Marais, the spirited editor of the leading Dutch paper, _Land en Volk_. The charge alleged against Mr. Kock was that during his term of office as landdrost at Potchefstroom he had appropriated the telegraph-wires in order to fence his own farm. Feeling ran so high ordinary courts was not permitted, but a Special Commissioner, one not qualified by legal experience or official position to preside in such a case, was selected. By a positively ludicrous exercise of discretion in the matter of admission of evidence Mr. Kock was cleared. Mr. Marais, nothing daunted, continued his exposures, challenging that action should be taken against himself for libel, and finally producing photographs taken by competent witnesses showing the _corpus delicti in situ_. The President and Mr. Kock were not to be drawn, however, and, secure in their newly-acquired positions, they declined the offer of battle and rested on their laurels. For some time the Opposition, now called the Progressive Party, was completely demoralized, and it was not until the following year that individuals again endeavoured to give cohesion to the party. Appeals were made by them to prominent individuals and firms associated with the mining industry for financial support in the manner in which it is contributed in England for electioneering purposes. A determined and well-sustained effort was made to educate Boer opinion to better things, and to bring such influence to bear on the electorate as would result in the return of a better class of men to the Volksraad. Newspapers conducted with this end in view were circulated throughout the country, and when the elections for the Volksraad took place, specially qualified agents were sent to ascertain the feeling of the districts, and to work up an opposition to the existing methods of Government. In every case endeavours were made to select a popular resident within a district of more enlightened views and higher character than his fellows. A good many thousand pounds were contributed and expended for this purpose. Absolutely no stipulation was made by the contributors to this fund, except that the aim should be for honest and decent government. The funds were placed unreservedly in the hands of well-known and highly respected men who were themselves burghers of the State, and the Uitlanders laid themselves out for one more effort to effect the reforms by peaceful means and pressure from within the State. The elections came off and were regarded as a triumph for the Progressive Party, which it was alleged had secured some sixteen out of twenty-six seats in the First Volksraad, and a similar majority in the Second. Hope revived and confidence was restored among the Uitlanders, but old residents in the country who knew the Boer character warned the alien community not to expect too much, as it was a question yet to be decided how many of those who were Progressives at the time of the election would stand by their professions when brought face to face with the President and his party in battle array. The warning was too well warranted. The Volksraad so constituted was the one which rejected with sullen incivility (to apply no harsher term) the petition of 40,000 Uitlanders for some measure of franchise reform. This Progressive Raad was also the one which passed the Bills curtailing the liberty of the press, and prohibiting the holding of public meetings and the organization of election committees, and which distinguished itself by an attempt to wrest from the High Court the decision of a matter still _sub judice_--the cyanide case. In this case the mining industry had combined to test the validity of certain patents.{13} In spite of attempts at reasonable compromise on behalf of the mines, and these failing, in spite of every effort made to expedite the hearing of the case, the question continued to hang for some years, and in the meantime efforts were being made during two successive sessions of the Volksraad to obtain the passage of some measure which would practically secure to the holders of the patents a monopoly for the use of cyanide, or an indefeasible title to the patents, whether valid in law and properly acquired or not. These attempts to evade the issue were in themselves a disgrace to a civilized nation. Failing the obtaining of an absolute monopoly, an endeavour was made to pass a law that all patents held without dispute for a certain period should be unassailable on any grounds. There was a thin attempt at disguising the purpose of this measure, but so thin, that not even the originators could keep up the pretence, and the struggle was acknowledged to be one between the supporters of an independent court of justice and honest government on the one side, and a party of would-be concessionaires--one might say 'pirates'--on the other. The judges made no secret of their intention to tender their resignations should the measure pass; the President made no secret of his desire that it should pass. His party voted as one man in favour of it, and the coffee meetings on the Presidential stoep were unanimously for it. The Raad was exactly divided on the measure, and it was eventually lost by the casting-vote of the chairman. No absolute harm was done, but the revelation of the shameful conditions of affairs in a Raad of which so much good was expected did as much as anything could do to destroy all hope. It was a painful exhibition, and the sordid details which came to light, the unblushing attempts to levy blackmail on those who were threatened with pillage by would-be concessionaires, the shameless conduct of Raad members fighting as hirelings to impose a fresh burden on their own country, sickened the overburdened community. The Bewaarplaatsen question also excited much discussion, but was not a subject of such close interest to the Uitlander community as others, for the reason that but few companies were directly concerned. Bewaarplaatsen is a name given to areas granted for the purpose of conservation of water, for depositing residues of crushed ore, etc.--in fact, they are grants of the surface rights of certain areas at a lower rate of license than that paid upon claim or mineral areas. This variation in the licensed areas was a wholly unnecessary complication of the gold law, the difference in cost being inconsiderable, and the difference in title affording untold possibilities of lawsuits. In some cases companies had taken out originally the more expensive claim-licenses for ground the surface only of which it was intended to use. They had been compelled, by order of the Government, to convert these claims at a later period into bewaarplaatsen. They were almost invariably situated on the south side of the Witwatersrand Main Reef, for the reason that, as the ground sloped to the south, the water was found there, the mills would naturally be erected there, and the inclination of the ground offered tempting facilities for the disposal of residues. After some years of development on the Main Reef it became clear that the banket beds, which were known to dip towards the south, became gradually flatter at the lower levels, and, consequently, it was clear that bodies of reef would be accessible vertically from areas south of the reef which had formerly been regarded as quite worthless as gold-bearing claims. The companies which owned these bewaarplaatsen now contended that they should be allowed to convert them into claims, as, by their enterprise, they had exploited the upper levels and revealed the conditions which made the bewaarplaatsen valuable. The companies had endeavoured to convert these bewaarplaatsen into claims when they first discovered that there was a possibility of their becoming valuable, and that at a time when the areas themselves were of extremely little market value to any except the holders of the surface rights. They were unsuccessful in this through some lack of provision in the law, and year after year the subject was fought out and postponed, the disputed ground all the time becoming more and more valuable, and consequently a greater prize for the concessionaire and pirate, and a greater incentive to bribery on all hands, until it came to be regarded by the worthy members of the Volksraad as something very like a special dispensation of Providence, intended to provide annuities for Volksraad members at the expense of the unfortunate owners. After a particularly fierce struggle, the Volksraad went so far as to decide that those companies which had been obliged to convert their original claim-holdings into bewaarplaatsen should be allowed to re-convert them to claims and to retain them. Even this was only gained after the Minister of Mines had, on his own responsibility, issued the claim licenses, and so forced the Volksraad to face the issue of confirming or reversing his action! In this matter the President again fought tooth and nail against the industry, and most strenuous efforts were made by him and his party to obtain a reversal of the decision, but without effect. This, however, only disposed of a small portion of the ground at stake. With regard to those areas which had never been held as claims, the issue lay between two parties known respectively as the companies, who were the surface-owners, and the applicants. The applicants, according to the polite fiction, were those who, having no claim superior to that of any other individual member of the public, had happened to have priority in order of application. As a matter of fact, they were Government officials, political supporters and relatives of the President, financed and guided by two or three of the professional concession-hunters and hangers-on of Mr. Kruger's Government. Notwithstanding the existence of a law specifically prohibiting Government servants from concerning themselves in other business and speculations, the parties to this arrangement entered into notarial contracts determining the apportionment of the plunder, and undertaking to use their influence in every way with the President and his party and with members of the Volksraad to secure the granting of the rights in dispute to themselves. With them was associated the originator and holder of another infamous monopoly, and it was stated by him in the Chamber of Mines, that should they fail to obtain these rights for themselves they were prepared to co-operate with another party and force the Government to put them up for public auction, so that at any rate the mines should not have them. The object of this threat was to compel the mining companies to come to terms with him and compromise matters. One of the notarial contracts referred to has been made public, and it contains the names of Mr. 'Koos' Smit, the Government Railway Commissioner, and one of the highest officials in the State; Landdrost Schutte, Chief Magistrate of Pretoria, and Mr. Hendrik Schoeman, one of the most prominent commandants in the Transvaal and a near relation of the President. Needless to say, all are members of the Kruger family party, and were most prominent supporters of his Honour at the time of the 1893 election. They claim that they were definitely promised a concession for the bewaarplaatsen as a reward for their services in this election. The precedent quoted on behalf of the companies in support of their claim is that of the brickmaker's license under the Gold Law. Brickmakers have privileges under their license similar to those granted with bewaarplaatsen, but in their case it is provided that should gold be discovered or be believed to exist in the areas granted under their licenses, the holder of the license shall have the right to convert his area into Law. The companies urged that this reveals the intention of the law, and that such a condition was omitted in connection with bewaarplaatsen simply and solely through oversight, and because at that time it never occurred to anyone to suppose that the gold-bearing deposits would shelve off and be accessible at such great distances from the outcrop as where the bewaarplaatsen are located. The companies moreover pointed out that these areas were in every case located in the middle of property held under mining licenses, that they themselves owned the surface of the property and therefore no one else could work on them, that the areas were in themselves too small and too irregular in shape to be worked independently of the surrounding ground, and that the granting of them to others could not be justified by any right on the part of applicants, and would merely be placing in their hands the means of imposing on the owners of the surfaces and the adjacent claims an excessive purchase price or the alternative of being blocked in the development of their own ground. After the Second Raad had decided in principle in favour of the surface-holders, action was taken by the First Raad, and a change of front was effected by a measure alteration, which hung the question up for another year. Everyone realized that this was secured by the influence of the President in the first place and by the pliability of Raad members in the second, on the ground that the matter was too profitable to them personally to be disposed of until it became absolutely compulsory.{14} One of the first concessions granted by the Boer Government after the restoration of the country to them was the liquor monopoly. Under this grant a factory established within a few miles of Pretoria has the sole right to distil spirits. Time and very considerable experience are in all countries necessary for the manufacture of good liquor, and the natural conditions are not more favourable to the industry in the Transvaal than elsewhere, consequently the product is not regarded with great favour. The enterprise, however, is a very prosperous one, being dependent almost entirely upon the sale of liquor to natives. For a number of years representations were made by the Chamber of Mines on behalf of the industry, by individuals and by public petitions, with the object of controlling the liquor trade and properly enforcing the laws which already existed. The following terse summary of the evils resulting from this sale of liquor is taken from the report of the Chamber of Mines for 1895. Unfortunately the remarks apply equally well to-day: There is, indeed, no doubt that one of the greatest difficulties with which local employers have to deal is the question of the liquor trade. In very many cases the liquor supplied to the natives is of the vilest quality, quickly inflaming those who take it to madness, and causing the faction fights which sometimes have fatal results, and always lead to the, at any rate, temporary disablement of some of the combatants, and the damaging of property. Accidents, too, are often attributable to the effects of drink, and altogether, as stated in the resolutions, a large percentage of the deaths among the natives here is directly due to drink. In its bearing on the labour question, drink also plays an important part. The shortness in the supply, as compared with the demand for labour, has been accentuated by it. Where possible more natives are kept in the compounds than are actually required for the work to be done, to make allowance for those who are disabled by drink. The granting of licenses to liquor houses was carried to such an extreme that at last the entire community rose against it, and the expression of opinion was so strong that the Government was compelled to make a show of deferring to it. Involved in the liquor question was the matter of police, and arising out of this, again, was the question of dealing with crime in general, including the gold and amalgam stealing that was known to be carried on on a considerable scale at the expense of the companies. The Attorney-General, or State Attorney, as he is called in the Transvaal, is the responsible head of the Law Department, and until lately was the departmental head of the police. The gentleman then occupying the position of State Attorney was peculiarly unfit--in the midst of that world of unfitness--for the duties which he was supposed to perform. He was removed from office, and after considerable negotiation Mr. Esselen was prevailed upon at a great monetary sacrifice to accept the position of State Attorney, he stipulating that he should have a free hand in reorganizing the detective and police forces. During the months in which Mr. Esselen continued in office admirable reforms were introduced, and a very appreciable influence was exercised on the condition of affairs in Johannesburg. It is inadvisable to state explicitly the nature of the objections which existed against some of the officials employed under the former _régime_; it is sufficient that they were proved to be participators in the offences which they were specially employed to suppress. Mr. Esselen's first step was to appoint as chief detective an officer borrowed from the Cape Colonial Government, Mr. Andrew Trimble, who in a very little while showed that courage and honesty of purpose could not only effect considerable reforms, but could provoke the undisguised and fierce hostility of a very large section of the community. The canteen keepers were up in arms; the illicit gold buyers left no stone unturned; the hangers-on of the Government lost no opportunity in their campaign against Mr. Esselen and his subordinate and their reforms. The liveliest satisfaction however was expressed by all those whose interest it was to have matters conducted decently and honestly, and who had no interest in crime except so far as its suppression was concerned. Representation was secured for the Chamber of Mines upon one of the licensing bodies, and here, too, a very appreciable result followed. During Mr. Esselen's term of office all went well as far as the public were concerned, but influences were soon at work to undermine the two reforming officials. It was represented to the President that Mr. Trimble had once been in the British army; that he was even then a subject of the Queen, and entitled to a pension from the Cape Government. The canteen interest on the goldfields, playing upon the prejudices of the Boers, represented that this was unfitting the dignity of the Republic. The President, who was too shrewd to be caught with such chaff, was perfectly ready to support them for the sake of the liquor interest, which for him constitutes a very useful electioneering and political agency throughout the country. Mr. Esselen was sent for, and it was represented to him by the President that the employment of a British subject in such a responsible office as that of chief detective was repugnant to the burghers. The reply was that it was competent for the Executive to naturalize Mr. Trimble at once and so remove the objection, the Government having power in special cases to dispense with the conditions of the Naturalization Law--a power frequently exercised in the case of their Hollander friends. The President, in reply, stated that it could not be done, and he appealed to Mr. Esselen to select a man of another nationality--'a Frenchman, German, or even an American'--this last being a concession wrung from him by Mr. Esselen's soothing suggestion that the Chief of Police should be familiar with the language of the criminal classes. The hitch was maintained for some months, but finally the influences on the side of the President became too strong, and when it became clear that the many months of laborious work and self-sacrifice which had been given in the interests of reform were to be nullified by the appointment of a creature who would connive at every breach of the law, Mr. Esselen decided to stand or fall by his subordinate, the result being a triumph for the President. In Mr. Esselen's place there was appointed as State Attorney Dr. Coster, a Hollander, who however declined to have anything to do with the organization of the police; and in Mr. Trimble's stead reappeared the individual whom he had superseded and whose services had been dispensed with.{15} The triumph of the back-door influences was again complete and the blow was a very nasty one to the mining industry. Small wonder that at about this time the Uitlander community stopped all agitation, and that a mood of sullen opposition and discontent took its place. Hope was absolutely dead as abuse after abuse and scandal after scandal were showered upon them during the Session of 1895. Some of the acts of the Volksraad cut at the foundation of all security. In the early days of the Republic the Volksraad members had taken it upon themselves to reverse several of the decisions of the High Court, and in one case where the Government was being sued for the fulfilment of a contract the Volksraad had passed a resolution absolving the Government from certain terms of the contract. The decision of the Court, delivered by Chief Justice Kotzé, was to the effect that if the Volksraad should take a decision in conflict with an existing law, that law became _ipso facto_ so far modified. In another case (the Dom's case) a resolution was passed disabling the aggrieved individual from taking action against the Government; in another, where the responsibility of the Government for the maintenance of roads had been indicated by a judgment for £1,000 damages, a law was passed in defiance of the conditions of the Grondwet, which stipulates for a period of notice and publication for proposed enactments, absolving the Government from all damages of this nature. More than once laws were passed with retroactive effect--truly one of the grossest abuses possible for a civilized Government. But perhaps the most startling case of all was that concerning the proclamation of the farm Witfontein. This farm had been proclaimed a public digging open for pegging on a certain hour of a certain day. An unprecedented rush of peggers took place. The Government, fearing a riot and ignoring their obvious duty in the matter of police protection and the maintenance of order, issued an illegal notice withdrawing the proclamation, and decided to give out the claims by means of lottery. Numbers of prospectors pegged out claims notwithstanding this, and the prospect of legal difficulties being imminent the Government submitted a measure to the Volksraad, passed also in defiance of Grondwet provisions, which was broadly to the effect that all persons who considered that they had claims for damages against the Government in regard to the farm Witfontein and the proclamation thereof, had none, and that the Government was absolved from all liability in this respect. This enactment was only passed after several persons had signified their intention to sue the Government. The Raad was in fact becoming familiar with the process of tampering with the Grondwet and members appeared ready to act on the dictates of their own sweet will without regard to consequences or laws. On several occasions the President and Executive had treated with contempt the decisions of the High Court, and had practically and publicly reversed them. There are many instances which it is not necessary to quote but among the best-known and most instructive ones are the two cases known as the 'Rachmann' and 'April' cases. Rachmann was an Indian and a British subject, well educated, far better educated indeed than the Boer of the country. In following a strayed horse he had trespassed on the farm of one of the members of the First Raad. He was arrested and charged with intent to steal, tried by the owner's brother, who was a Field-cornet (district justice), and sentenced to receive twenty-five lashes and to pay a fine, the same sentence being meted out to his Hottentot servant who accompanied him. Rachmann protested and noted an appeal, stating (which was the fact) that it was not within the power of a Field-cornet to inflict lashes, and at the same time he offered security to the value of £40 pending the appeal. His protests were disregarded and he was flogged. Not being a native in the sense in which the law uses the term--_i.e._, a member of the aboriginal races--he could plead that he was not within the jurisdiction of a Field-cornet, and there is no doubt that the punishment was inflicted with full knowledge of its illegality. Rachmann sued Mr. George Meyer, the Field-cornet in question, in the Circuit Court and obtained judgment and a considerable sum in damages, the presiding judge, Dr. Jorissen, animadverting with severity upon the conduct of the official. Meyer shortly afterwards obtained from Government the amount of his pecuniary loss through the affair, the President stating that he had acted in his official capacity and that they should protect him. The 'April' case was one in which an unfortunate native named April, having worked for a number of years for a farmer on promise of certain payment in cattle and having completed his term, applied for payment and a permit to travel through the district. On some trivial pretext this was refused him, his cattle were seized, and himself and his wives and children forcibly retained in the service of the Boer. He appealed to the nearest official, Field-cornet Prinsloo, who acted in a particularly barbarous and unjustifiable manner, so that the Chief Justice before whom the case was heard (when April having enlisted the sympathy of some white people was enabled to make an appeal) characterized Prinsloo's conduct as brutal in the extreme and a flagrant abuse of power perpetrated with the aim of establishing slavery. Judgment was given against Prinsloo with all costs. Within a few days of this decision being arrived at the President addressing a meeting of burghers publicly announced that the Government had reimbursed Prinsloo, adding, 'Notwithstanding the judgment of the High Court, we consider Prinsloo to have been right.' Actions of this kind have a distinct and very evil influence upon the supply of native labour. No attempt is made to supply the industry with natives, or to protect the natives whilst on their way to and from the mines. The position became so bad that the Chamber of Mines instituted a department with a highly-paid official at its head to organize supply. It would inadequately describe the position to say that the Government have rendered the Chamber of Mines no assistance. Indeed, it appears as though the officials in the country had of set purpose hindered in every way possible the work so necessary to the working of the industry on profitable lines. Agencies were established in all the neighbouring territories. Some of the tribes declined to work in the Transvaal on account of the risks of highway-robbery and personal violence which they ran _en route_. In one case an effort was made by certain mine-owners to meet the difficulty by importing a whole tribe--men, women, and children--from Basutoland and locating them upon an adjacent farm. There is however a law known as the Plakkerswet, or Squatters' Law, which, framed with that peculiar cunning for which the Transvaal Government have achieved a reputation, has the appearance of aiming at the improvement of the native labour supply whilst in effect it does the opposite. It provides that not more than five families may reside upon one farm, the 'family' being an adult male with or without women and children. Ostensibly the law purports to prevent the squatting together of natives in large numbers and in idleness. As a matter of fact however the law is not applied in the cases of Boer farmers. From the President downwards the Boers own farms on which hundreds of families are allowed to remain, paying their hut-taxes and contributing largely to the prosperity of the land-owner. In the case of the Uitlander however there seems to be a principle at stake, as the mine-owners above referred to found to their cost. No sooner had they located their tribe and provided them with all the conditions necessary to comfort than an official came down to them, Plakkerswet in hand, and removed all except the five allowed by law and distributed them among his friends and relations. The experiment has not been repeated. Early in 1894 the Chamber of Mines received assurances from the Government that if they would prepare a Pass Law which would include provisions for the protection of natives, for the regulation of their relations with employers, and for their right to travel within the country, the Government would give their support to the measure and would endeavour to have it adopted by the Volksraad. The Commissioner for Native Affairs, General Joubert, admitted his inability to deal with so complex an affair, and gratefully accepted the aid of the Chamber. Such a concession on the part of the Government was regarded as highly satisfactory; the law was prepared, everything was explained and agreed to, the support of the Government was promised to the draft law, and it was anticipated that it would come into force during the Session of 1894. Such was not the case. It remained pigeon-holed throughout 1894 and 1895, and in the last days of the latter Session the law was passed; but an important omission occurred. The Government forgot to create the department to carry out the law, so that by the end of 1895 the men were no nearer having a workable law than ever. But reforms when introduced by the Transvaal Government, are not usually without an object, although not necessarily the declared one. An opportunity was here presented to the President to recognize past services, and he appointed to an office which required the highest intelligence experience character and zeal an individual who had been implicated in two disgraceful charges and who, having failed to clear himself had been dismissed his office by the Boer Government not two years previously. There was but one explanation forthcoming. The individual in question was a political supporter of the President and brother of a member of the Executive Council. No department has yet been created; but a chief has been appointed at a good salary, and the Pass Law has been proclaimed in one district of the Witwatersrand out of several; so that a measure which was designed to effect an immense saving in expense and convenience to the mining industry was by the appointment of an improper man and the neglect to organize a department rendered quite useless, and by partial promulgation it was made even detrimental.{16} It has been aptly said of the Boers--and the present instance illustrates the truth of the remark--that reform with them seems to be impossible; because, in the first place, they do not know what to do; in the second place, if they did, they have not got the men to do it; and, in the third place, if they had the men, they show no conception of a duty higher than that of utilizing every opportunity for personal advantage.{17} To the uninitiated it may well be a puzzle that President Kruger should encourage a system aiming so directly at the strangling of an industry which is the mainstay of the country; but in order to appreciate his motives it is necessary to see things from his point of view. He and his party are not desirous of cheapening the cost of production. He does not aim at enabling the ever-increasing alien population to work lower-grade mines, and so double or treble the number of immigrants, even though it should profit the revenue of the country. A proposal was once made to proclaim as a public field the town lands of Pretoria--that is to say, to enable the public to prospect, and if results warranted, to open up mines on the lands--some thousands of acres in extent--surrounding the town. The President attended the debate in the Second Raad and violently opposed the measure. The appeal at the end of his address is perhaps as instructive as anything Mr. Kruger has said. 'Stop and think what you are doing,' he exclaimed, 'before you throw fresh fields open. Look at Johannesburg. See what a trouble and expense it is to us. We have enough gold and enough gold-seekers in the country already. For all you know there may be another Witwatersrand at your very feet.' In January, 1891, the average wage for native labourers was £2 2s. per head per month. In 1893 it had risen to £2 18s. 10d., in 1895 to £3 3s. 6d. In other South African States wages rule from 15s. to 30s. per month, and the failure to facilitate the introduction of natives from outside and to protect them is largely responsible for the high figures paid on the Rand. Unquestionably the ill-will of the Boer Government is to blame for the consistent neglect of this growing need of the mines. If decent protection and facilities were given, the wage could be reduced to £1 15s. per month. The Government has it in its power to give the mines labour at this price, but, as a matter of fact, there is no desire to see the lower-grade mines working. A reduction of £1 a month--that is, to £2 3s. 6d.--would mean an annual saving of £650,000, and the main reason why nothing has been done to obtain this reduction is that President Kruger holds that the gold fields are already big enough and that their further extension would be a calamity. Early in 1895 considerable suspicion and uneasiness were aroused by indications of the growth of the German policy. The commercial section of the community was disturbed by reports of secret arrangements favouring German importers. Facilities were given, and 'through rates' quoted from Hamburg to Johannesburg at a reduction which appeared to be greater than any economies in sea transport, coupled with the complete elimination of agency charges, would warrant. The formal opening of the Delagoa Bay Railway by the President furnished him with an opportunity to express with significant emphasis his friendliness for all things German. At a banquet given in honour of the German Emperor's birthday, January 27, 1895, the President, after eulogizing the old Emperor William, the present Emperor, and the loyalty of the Germans in the Transvaal, continued: The latter I experienced once again at the time of the Kaffir War. One day three or four Germans came to me and said: 'We are indeed not naturalized, and are still subjects of our Emperor in Germany, but we enjoy the advantages of this country, and are ready to defend it in accordance with its laws. If your Excellency requires our services, we are willing to march out.' And they marched. That is the spirit which I admire. They were under the laws, they worked under the laws, they obeyed the laws, and they fell in war under the laws. All my subjects are not so minded. The English, for instance, although they behave themselves properly and are loyal to the State, always fall back upon England when it suits their purpose. Therefore I shall ever promote the interests of Germany, though it be but with the resources of a child, such as my land is considered. This child is now being trodden upon by one great Power, and the natural consequence is that it seeks protection from another. The time has come to knit ties of the closest friendship between Germany and the South African Republic--ties such as are natural between father and child. The very considerable increase in the number of Germans, and the positive statement that a great many men of military training were coming out for service in the Transvaal, that officers were being employed to work up the artillery and to design forts, all tended to increase the feeling of intense dissatisfaction and uneasiness which culminated in the outbreak at the close of the year. Dr. Leyds, it was well known, went on a political mission to Lisbon and to Berlin, and it was stated that large sums had been withdrawn from the Treasury and charged to the secret service fund, the handling of which was entrusted to this gentleman. Dr. Leyds' personal popularity, never very great, was at the lowest possible ebb. He was regarded as the incarnation of Hollanderism--the 'head and front' of that detested influence. It was not credited to him in the Transvaal, as it has been elsewhere, that he designed or prompted the policy against the Uitlanders. There it is fully appreciated that there is but one man in it, and that man President Kruger. Dr. Leyds and others may be and are clever and willing tools. They may lend acidity or offensiveness to a hostile despatch, they may add a twist or two to a tortuous policy, but the policy is President Kruger's own, the methods are his own, all but the minor details. Much as the Hollander-German clique may profit by their alliance with Mr. Kruger, it is not to be believed that he is deceived. He regards them as handy instruments and ready agents. If they profit by the association, they do so at the expense of the accursed Uitlander; but there is no intention on Mr. Kruger's part to allow Germany or Holland to secure a permanent hold over the Republic, any more than he would allow England to increase hers. He has played off one against another with consummate skill. Early in his official career Dr. Leyds was guilty of an indiscretion such as few would have suspected him of. Shortly after his appointment as Attorney-General he wrote to a friend in Holland, giving his opinion of the Members of the Executive. His judgment was sound; except of one man. Unfortunately for Dr. Leyds, he quarrelled with his correspondent; and the letter was of such a nature that, when published, it made extremely unpleasant reading. Generals Joubert and Smit, who had been described with admirable truth and candour, were so enraged that they demanded the instant dismissal of the 'conceited young popinjay' who had dared to criticise his masters. The President, however, who had been described as an ignorant, narrow-minded, pig-headed, and irascible old Boer whom--with the others thrown in--the writer could play with and twist round his finger as he chose, was not disturbed by the criticism. In reply to appeals for forgiveness on the score of youth, and in spite of the opposition of his colleagues, President Kruger agreed to retain Dr. Leyds in office, remarking that he was a capable young fellow and would know better in course of time, and explaining to him personally that he would keep him there just as long as it suited his (the President's) convenience. The association has lasted for ten years, so it is to be presumed that Dr. Leyds has changed his opinion of President Kruger, and frankly realized his position. During the early part of 1896, when the question of the release on bail of the reform prisoners seemed to be of some moment, a well-known Pretoria man, friendly to the Government, called upon President Kruger and urged the advisability of allowing the prisoners out on bail, and with considerable lack of tact explained that it was well known that the President's humane nature inclined him to be lenient, but that the malign influence of others was believed to be swaying him in this matter. The old President jumped up in a huff and said, 'Ja, ja, ja! You always say it is somebody else! First, it was Jorissen who did everything; then it was Nellmapius; and then it was Leyds. Well, Jorissen is done for; Nellmapius is dead; Leyds is in Europe--who is it now?' The President's opinion of himself may be commended as food for reflection to those who think they know everything about the inner workings of the Transvaal. Dr. Leyds' reputation, unfavourable as it had been, was not improved by the Selati Railway exposure. Rightly or wrongly, in this matter, as in the jobs of the Netherlands Railway and several others of considerable magnitude, he has been held responsible in the public mind for the financial loss which the Republic sustained. When he left, ostensibly on a recruiting trip, few--very few--believed that the illness was a physical one. It is alleged that a gentleman on President Faure's staff, on hearing that Dr. Leyds had gone to Berlin to consult a physician, inquired what the ailment was? 'Mal de gorge,' was the reply. 'Ah,' said the officer, 'mal de gorge--diplomatique.' And that was the opinion in the Transvaal, albeit differently expressed. It is impossible within the limits of this volume nor is it at all necessary to review all the measures which have been passed by the Volksraad and pressed by the Government unnecessarily burdening the Uitlanders and unjustifiably assailing their rights; such for instance as the Election Law, which made it a crime to form Committees or do any of those things which are regarded everywhere as part of the legitimate business of elections--thus leaving Mr. Kruger the sole master of electioneering machinery, namely, the Government officials. The Public Meetings Act was another monstrous infringement of rights. By it a policeman has the right to disperse any gathering of more than seven persons, if in his opinion it be desirable. Imagine it! Liberty of Speech against the Discretion of a Transvaal policeman! But the list would be long, and the tale monotonous. And as long and equally monotonous would be the list of the measures proposed or threatened, but fortunately not carried. However, the review of the period prior to 1896, and the statement of the causes leading to the outbreak, may fitly be brought to a close by the recital of some of the measures under both the above headings which grace the records of the Session of 1895. As is well known, the Grondwet (the written constitution of the country) prescribes certain formalities for the introduction of new laws. In order to evade the law, and so avoid hostile criticism of proposed measures, in order, in fact, to prevent the public and even the Volksraad members from knowing and studying or explaining and digesting the intended legislation, it has become the practice of the Government to propose and rush through the most radical and important enactments in the form of amendments or explanations of existing laws. Prior to 1895 the Transfer Law imposed a tax of 4 per cent. upon the purchase-price of fixed property; and in the case of sales for shares a valuation of the property was made by the Government district officials, and transfer duty was paid on the amount of the valuation. This was universally done in the case of claims, which must of necessity in most instances be transferred several times before they become registered in the name of the company eventually working them. It was admitted that to pay 4 per cent. of full value on every transfer, or to pay 4 per cent. on the nominal value of ground on which years of work would have to be done and large sums of money expended before shareholders could reap one pennyworth of profit would be iniquitous. In 1895, however, the Raad thought otherwise, and amended the law by the insertion of the words 'in cash or shares' after the words 'purchase-price.' The result is, that owners who have acquired claims at great cost, who have paid licenses continuously on their claims, and who have paid full transfer duty on each nominal change of ownership, necessary to consolidation into workable blocks or groups, are now required to pay again in cash 4 per cent. on the total capital allotted in respect of these claims in the company formed to work them. Members of the Raad, in supporting this measure, did not hesitate to argue that it was a good law, because the burghers did not sell their farms for shares, but for cash, and it was right to tax those people who deal in shares. The sense of insecurity which obtains during the Sessions of the Raad is due scarcely less to the threats which are not fulfilled and attempts which do not succeed, than to what is actually compassed. A direct tax on gold has more than once been threatened; concessions for cyanide, jam, bread, biscuits, and woollen fabrics were all attempted. The revival of an obsolete provision by which the Government can claim a royalty on the gold from 'mynpachts,' or mining leases, has been promised, and it is almost as much expected as it is dreaded. With a monotony which is wearying, but which does not diminish the unfortunate Uitlanders' interest in the subject, the burden of every measure falls on the alien. One more instance will suffice. It illustrates the Hollander-Boer genius for fulfilling the letter and breaking the spirit of a covenant. It was notified that Government were about to introduce a war tax, and that this tax was to be one of £20 per farm, to be levied in event of war if in the opinion of the Government it should be necessary. Much surprise was felt that anything so unfavourable to the Boers as a tax on farms should be proposed. When the measure came on for discussion it was found to contain provisions exempting the owner who personally resided on his farm, and especially and definitely taxing those farms which are owned by companies, associations, corporations, or partnerships. The Boer, it is well known, takes no shares in companies, joins no associations, and has partnership with no one. This law was shelved in 1895, but has since been passed.{18} It is of a piece with the rest. Having sold his farm to the Uitlander, the Boer now proceeds to plunder him: and 'plunder' is not too strong a word when it is realized that the tax falls, not on the really valuable farms of the high veld, which are nearly all owned by individuals, and are all occupied, but on the undeveloped outlying farms, the rentable value of which would not on the average suffice to pay the tax! Indeed, one very large land-owner stated to the Government at the time, that if this law were passed and put in force, they might take all his rentals good and bad in lieu of the tax, as it would pay him better! These were matters which more immediately concerned persons of certain means. There is another matter, however, which very directly concerned every individual who had any intention of remaining in the country; that is, the matter of education. A dead set had always been made by the Transvaal Government against any encouragement of liberal education which would involve the use or even recognition of the English language. Indeed, some of the legislators have been known to express the opinion that education was not by any means desirable, as it taught the rising generation to look with contempt on the hardy Voortrekkers; and an interesting debate is on record, in which members pointedly opposed the granting of facilities for the education of their own women-kind, on the ground that presently the women would be found reading books and newspapers instead of doing their work, and would soon get to know more than their fathers, husbands, and brothers, and would, as a consequence, quickly get out of hand. It did not seem to occur to these worthy gentlemen that the proper course would be to educate the men. But it would not be fair to take this view as the representative one. On the point of the English language, however, and the refusal to give any facilities for the education of Uitlander children, the Boer legislature is practically unanimous. The appalling consequences of allowing the young population to grow up in absolute ignorance were realized by the people of Johannesburg, and efforts were constantly made to induce the Government to recognize the evil that was growing in the State. The efforts were so entirely unsuccessful that the Uitlanders found in this as in other cases that nothing would be done unless they did it for themselves. A fund was opened, to which very liberal donations were made. The services of a Director-General were secured, and an Educational Council was elected. A comprehensive scheme of education--in the first place for the Rand district, but intended to be extended ultimately for the benefit of the whole of the Uitlander population in the Transvaal--was devised, and it was calculated that in the course of a few years a fund of close upon half a million of money would be required, and would be raised, in order to place educational facilities within the reach of the people. Needless to say, this did not at all square with the policy of the Transvaal Government, and the scheme was looked upon with the utmost disfavour. In order to defeat it, the Superintendent-General of Education, Dr. Mansvelt, a Hollander, who for six years had degraded his high office to the level of a political engine, felt himself called upon to do something--something to trail the red herring across the too hot scent; and he intimated that more liberal measures would be introduced during the Session of 1895, and in his report proposed certain amendments to the existing law, which would (in appearance, but, alas! not in fact) improve the condition of the Uitlander. The following letter appearing in the London _Times_, on October 3, 1896, although dealing with a period some months later than that under review, explains the position with authority and clearness--a position which has not been materially altered, except for the worse, during Dr. Mansvelt's _régime_. It will be noted that the last-named gentleman coupled with his 'liberal' provisions the suggestion that all schools, except those of the State, should be suppressed. Such a suggestion reveals very clearly the aim of this 'Reform' measure. SIR, I trust you will allow me a little space with a view to enable me to correct, by the application of a little wholesome fact, the erroneous impression which has been created in England with reference to the education of Uitlanders in the Transvaal by recent crude and ill-considered expressions of opinion, notably by Mr. Reginald Statham and Mr. Chamberlain. Mr. ----, in a letter addressed to one of your contemporaries, informed the British public that in view of a liberal Government grant of £4 per head per annum, the Transvaal Uitlander had nothing to complain of in respect to education. As Mr. ---- claims to be completely informed on Transvaal politics, he can only have been guilty of a deliberate, if not malicious _suppressio veri_ when he omitted to say that, like most of the legislation of this country, which has for its ostensible object the amelioration of the condition of the Uitlander, this measure, which looks like munificence at first sight, has been rendered practically inoperative by the conditions which hedge it round. Take, for example, a school of 100 children. Strike out ten as being under age, ten as having been too short a time at school, twenty as suspected of being of Dutch parentage. Out of the sixty that remain suppose fifty satisfy the inspector in the Dutch language and history, and you have as your allowance for the year £200--a sum which is insufficient to pay the Dutch teacher employed to bring the children up to the required standard in that language. It is small wonder, then, that most teachers prefer to dispense with this Will-o'-the-wisp grant altogether, seeing that the efforts of some to earn it have resulted in pecuniary loss. The actual sum expended on Uitlander schools last year amounted to £650, or 1s. 10d. a head out of a total expenditure for education of £63,000, the expenditure per Dutch child amounting to £8 6s. 1d. Mr. Chamberlain considers the new educational law for Johannesburg as a subject for gratulation. I should have thought that his recent dealings with Pretoria would have suggested to him as a statesman that felicitations upon the passing of a vague and absolutely undefined measure might possibly be a little too premature. A Volksraad, which only rejected the forcible closing of private schools by a majority of two votes, is hardly likely to give the Executive _carte blanche_ to deal with Uitlander education without some understanding, tacit or declared, as to how this power is to be wielded. Be that as it may, nearly two months have elapsed since the passing of a measure which was to come into operation at once, and nothing has been done. In the meantime, we can learn from the inspired press and other sources that English schools which desire aid under the new law must be prepared to give instruction in Standard V. and upwards, and entirely in the Dutch language. So far, the Superintendent of Education, whether acting under instructions or on his own initiative, has been absolutely immovable on this point, and the much-vaunted law promises to be as much a dead letter as the 1s. 10d. grant. The Johannesburg Council of Education has exerted its influence to secure such an interpretation of the new law as would lead to the establishment of schools where Dutch and English children might sit side by side, and so work towards establishing a bond of sympathy and the eventual blending of the races. The Pretoria authorities however refuse to entertain the idea of meeting the Uitlander in a conciliatory spirit on anything like equal terms, but will only treat with us on the footing of master and servant. A curious and almost inexplicable feature of the situation is the fact that hundreds of Boers are clamouring for the better instruction of their children in English, but which is steadfastly refused them. I might enlarge on what I have written, and point out the injustice and the gross system of extortion practised by the Government in making Johannesburg pay something like £7 per head for the education of Dutch children, whilst it has to pay from £5 to £15 per annum for the education of each child of its own, meanwhile leaving hundreds growing up in the blackest ignorance and crime. Any comment would, however, lay me open to the charge of bias and partisanship, and I therefore confine myself to the simple statement of a few facts, which I challenge anyone to controvert, leaving the reader to draw his own conclusions. I am, sir, yours, etc., JOHN ROBINSON, _Director-General Johannesburg Educational Council._ Imagine it! £650 used for the children of those who contributed nine-tenths of the £63,000 spent on education! The succession of flagrant jobs, the revelation of abuses unsuspected, the point-blank refusal to effect any reasonable reforms had filled the Uitlanders' cup perilously full, and during the latter half of 1895 the prospect of any change for the better, except at the cost of fighting, was generally realized to be very poor indeed. Trouble came to South Africa with the end of 1895. It very nearly came earlier. Mention has been made that the Netherlands Railway Company practically dictates the relations of the Transvaal with the other States in South Africa by means of its tariffs. The competition between the Cape, Natal and Delagoa lines having become very keen, and the Cape service by superior management and easier gradients having secured the largest share of the carrying trade, attempts were made to effect a different division of profits. Negotiations failed to bring the various parties to terms, and owing to the policy of the Netherlands Railway Company, the Cape Colony and Free State, whose interests were common, were in spirit very hostile to the Transvaal, and bitterly resentful of the policy whereby a foreign corporation was aided to profit enormously to the detriment of the sister South African States. After all that the Colonial and Free State Dutch had done for their Transvaal brethren in days of stress and adversity, it was felt to be base ingratitude to hinder their trade and tax their products. The Cape Colony-Free State line ends at the Vaal River. Thence all goods are carried over the Netherlands Railway Company's section to Johannesburg, a distance of about fifty miles. In order to handicap the southern line, an excessive rate was imposed for carriage on this section. Even at the present time the tariff is 8-1/2d. per ton per mile, as against a rate of about 3d. with which the other two lines are favoured. Notwithstanding this, however, and the obstructions placed in the way by obnoxious regulations and deliberate blocking of the line with loaded trucks at Vereeniging, and also the blocking of Johannesburg stations by non-delivery of goods--measures which resulted sometimes in a delay of months in delivery, and sometimes in the destruction or loss of the goods--the Southern line more than held its own. The block was overcome by off-loading goods at the Vaal River and transporting them to Johannesburg by mule and ox waggons. Mr. Kruger and his Hollander friends were almost beaten when the President played his last card. He intimated his intention to close the Vaal River drifts against over-sea goods, and, by thus preventing the use of waggons, to force all traffic on to _his_ railways upon _his_ terms; and as the threat did not bring the Colony and Free State to the proper frame of mind, he closed them. This was a flagrant breach of the London Convention, and as such it was reported by the High Commissioner to Mr. Chamberlain, and imperial intervention was asked. Mr. Chamberlain replied that it was a matter most closely affecting the Colony, and he required, before dealing with it, to have the assurance of the Colonial Government that, in the event of war resulting, the cost of the campaign would be borne, share and share alike, by the Imperial and Colonial Governments, and that the latter would transport troops over their lines free of charge. Such was the indignation in the Colony at the treatment accorded it that the terms were at once agreed to--a truly significant fact when it is realized that the Ministry undertaking this responsibility had been put and was maintained in office by the Dutch party, and included in its members the best and most pronounced Africander representatives. But Mr. Kruger is not easily 'cornered.' His unfailing instinct told him that business was meant when he received Mr. Chamberlain's ultimatum to open the drifts. The President 'climbed down' and opened them! He has several advantages which other leaders of men have not, and among them is that of having little or no pride. He will bluster and bluff and bully when occasion seems to warrant it; but when his judgment warns him that he has gone as far as he prudently can, he will alter his tactics as promptly and dispassionately as one changes one's coat to suit the varying conditions of the weather. Mr. Kruger climbed down! It did not worry him, nor did he take shame that he had failed. He climbed down, as he had done before in the Stellaland affair, the Banjailand trek, the commandeering incident, and as he no doubt will do in others; for he may bluff hard, but it will take a great deal to make him fight. There is one matter upon which Mr. Kruger's judgment is perfect: he can judge the 'breaking strain' to a nicety. He climbs down, but he is not beaten; for as surely as the dammed stream will seek its outlet, so surely will the old Dutchman pursue his settled aim. War is war, and always bad; but sometimes worse; for the cause is still a mighty factor, as those may see who contrast the probable effects upon the people of South Africa of war on the drifts question with the actual results of the Jameson raid. Footnotes for Chapter II {04} Among the first notes which poor Colley--brave, wise, generous, and unlucky--wrote after taking office, was one containing these words: 'Whether I ... shall find that South Africa is to me, as it is said to be in general, "the grave of all good reputations," remains to be seen.' {05} See Appendix A for the full text of the Pretoria Convention. {06} In February, 1898, he was elected for the fourth time. {07} For full text of London Convention, see Appendix B. (July, 1899). A very extensive correspondence has passed on the subject of the suzerainty. The Transvaal Government now construe the omission of the Preamble to the 1881 Convention as the result of an agreement to abolish the suzerainty. Mr. Chamberlain points out that the London Convention contains specific and not implied amendments of the Pretoria Convention; that the direct request for abolition of the suzerainty was refused by Lord Derby; that the preamble as the fundamental declaration must be deemed to be in force; and that if not, the same reason which is adduced against the continued existence of the suzerainty would hold good against the independence of the Transvaal, for in the preamble of the 1881 Convention alone is any mention made of either the grant or the reservation. {08} Written August, 1896. {09} To those who are not familiar with the conditions of the country, it will seem incredible that the legislative body could be 'fooled' on such a subject. The extracts from the newspaper reports of the Raad's proceedings, printed in Appendix D of this volume, will help them to understand and believe. {10} The above has been brought up to date for publication, July, 1899. {11} Except on the goldfields, where the appointments are made by Government. {12} For Volksraad records on this subject see Appendix C. {13} The decision of the High Court was given in November, 1896, in favour of the combined companies on all points, and the patents were thus declared to be invalid! {14} During the session of '96 the Volksraad decided to put the bewaarplaatsen up for public auction, the proceeds of the sale to be divided equally between the Government and the original owners of the farms on which the bewaarplaatsen had been granted. The _alleged_ reason for this decision is that the areas in question are immensely valuable, and the State and the owners should profit by them, whilst the companies should be afforded an opportunity of acquiring them at a fair price. The _real_ reason is that the companies had refused to be blackmailed further; and the 'defence' funds not being forthcoming, the gentlemen of the back-stairs had introduced the ingenious arrangement safeguarding the original owners' rights, having previously 'arranged' with the same owners. The excuse that the areas are too valuable to be given away to the companies is as illogical and ridiculous as the excuse that the Uitlanders are too numerous to justify the granting of the franchise now. When the questions were first raised there were neither great values nor large numbers in existence. They were questions of principle and justice; and the fact that 'values' and 'numbers' have grown during the years of struggle in no way justifies the course taken, but rather shows very clearly the magnitude of the injustice done during the years of unjustifiable denial. This decision shows with admirable clearness how the Uitlander fares at the hands of the Government. There were, in the last stage of the affair, four parties concerned: the Government, who are by law expressly debarred from selling claims (except in case of overdue licenses), and are obliged to allot them for the consideration of specified license fees only; the owners of the farms, who are similarly debarred and are compensated in other ways for the throwing open of their farms; the 'applicants,' who have been described elsewhere; and the surface-owners, the mining companies, who were in possession. Only one of these parties had the slenderest claim to compensation--namely, the companies, who must inevitably be disturbed in the possession of the surface by allowing others to work on or under it. But they get nothing; whilst the Government and the 'owner' (both of whom had years before derived the fullest profit allowed by law from these areas in the form of licenses), and the 'applicants' (who have allied themselves with the 'owners'), divide as compensation the proceeds of the auction! {15} (July, 1899.) This individual has been again removed--this time by the present State Attorney, Mr. Smuts. {16} (July, 1899.) Provision was made for the costs of this department by doubling the pass fee. In the early days of Johannesburg as soon as it became evident that hospital accommodation was necessary, application was made to the Government for a site (which was granted on the hill then outside the town), and for some monetary assistance. A fund was also publicly subscribed and the hospital built. For the maintenance of the hospital two plans were adopted: one, the collection of funds once a year, _i.e._, Hospital Saturday, a source which has yielded steadily between £2,000 and £3,000; two, having in view the immense number of native cases which required treatment and the extent to which a native is responsible for unsanitary conditions, it was proposed to impose upon them a fee of 1s. per month for their passes, the proceeds of this to be devoted entirely to the hospital. For several years this continued to yield sufficient for the purpose. The Transvaal Government, although accepting the plan proposed by the Uitlanders and for a considerable time carrying it out faithfully, did not establish the right permanently but adopted the formality of voting the proceeds of the pass-fee year by year. There came a year when the Raad in its wisdom decided that this source of revenue was too precarious for so worthy an object as the hospital, and they decided to vote instead an annual subsidy of £30,000. It was then known that the fees of the past year had amounted to over £40,000 and there was every prospect of steady annual increase. This explains why a seemingly generous subsidy by the Government does not meet with that hearty recognition to which it is apparently entitled. When a Pass Department was proposed, the Government inquired how it was suggested to maintain it. The Chamber of Mines proposed to raise the pass fee from 1s. to 2s. per month, the extra shilling to be devoted entirely to the administration of the Pass Law. With the experience of the hospital shilling in mind particular care was taken to have the agreement minuted and confirmed in writing. Nevertheless, it transpired in the evidence given at the Industrial Commission that the department was being run at a cost of slightly over £12,000 a year, whilst the proceeds of the shilling reached the respectable total of £150,000 a year. The Government, therefore, by a breach of agreement, make £138,000 a year out of the pass fund, and £120,000 a year out of the hospital fund; and the mining industry suffers in the meantime through maladministration in the department, and are doubly taxed in the sense that the companies have been obliged to establish and maintain at their own cost other hospitals all along the reef. It is not suggested that the companies should not provide hospitals, the point is that having established a fund, which although nominally paid by the natives really has to be made up to them in wages, they were entitled to the benefit of that fund. {17} The story is told of two up-country Boers who applied to the President for appointments, and received the reply, 'What _can_ I do for you? All the important offices are filled, and you are not educated enough to be clerks!' {18} (July, 1899.) The law has been declared by the law officers of the Crown to be a breach of the London Convention. CHAPTER III. THE ORIGIN OF THE MOVEMENT. Having failed in their constitutional attempts to secure a reasonable voice in the government, or any redress of their grievances, there came the time when men's thoughts naturally turned to the last expedient--force. Up to and so late as the Volksraad Session of 1895 a constitutional agitation for rights had been carried on by the Transvaal National Union, a body representing the unenfranchised portion of the population. Of its members but few belonged to the class of wealthy mine and land owners: they had so far abstained from taking any part in a political organization which was viewed with dislike and suspicion by the Government and the great majority of the Boers. It has been asserted by a few Progressive members of the Raad that many of the Boers were themselves opposed to the policy adopted towards the newcomers; but, whilst this may be to some extent true, it is more than questionable whether any of the burghers were willing to concede a share in the power of government, although it is certain that great numbers would not have taken active steps against the Uitlanders but for the invasion by a foreign force. Any extending of the franchise means to the great majority of the Boers a proportionate loss of independence. When the matter of the Independence of the Republic is discussed it must not be forgotten that independence conveys something to the Boers which is radically different from what it means to anyone else. That the State should continue for ever to be independent and prosperous--a true republic--would be mockery heaped on injury if the absolute domination by the Boer party should cease; and when the parrot-like cry of 'The Independence of the State is threatened' is raised again and again _à propos_ of the most trivial measures and incidents, this idea is the one that prompts it. Instances innumerable could be quoted seemingly illustrating the Boer legislators' inability to distinguish between simple measures of reform and justice, and measures aimed at undermining the State's stability and independence. It is not stupidity! It is that the Boer realizes at least one of the inevitable consequences of reform--that the ignorant and incapable must go under. Reform is the death-knell of his oligarchy, and therefore a danger to the independence of the State--as he sees it. Until the European people who have lately become so deeply concerned in Transvaal affairs realize how widely divergent are the two interpretations of 'Independence,' they will not have begun to understand the Transvaal Question. The National Union did not represent any particular class in the Uitlander community. It was formed of men drawn from all classes who felt that the conditions of life were becoming intolerable, and that something would have to be done by the community to bring about reforms which the legislature showed no signs of voluntarily introducing. When it is said that it consisted of men drawn from all classes, the qualification should be made that the richer classes, that is to say, the capitalists of the country, were very meagrely if at all represented. Many efforts had been made to enlist the sympathies of the capitalists, and to draw them into the movement, but the 'big firms,' as they were styled, for a very long time refused to take any part whatever, preferring to abstain entirely rather than associate themselves with a definite agitation. They pleaded, and no doubt fairly, that in case of failure they with their vested interests would be the ones to suffer, while in the event of success they would not benefit in a greater degree than the individuals who had little or no material stake. One by one however they were drawn into the political movement to the extent of supplying funds for carrying on the reform agitation, or of giving monetary support to those who were stimulating and organizing the Progressive party among the Boers. There can be no doubt that prior to 1895 the wealthier men without exception refused to consider the possibility of violent measures. It was only when they realized that the Boer party were determinedly hostile--organizing very large encroachments upon the privileges of the Uitlanders and designing fresh burdens to be borne by them--and when it became clear that the dangers threatening as a result of their own supine attitude were worse than any disfavour with which they might be viewed on account of political action, that they began to take an active part with others in the agitation for reform. It was not until the Volksraad in the Session of 1895 revealed their real policy and their fixed determination to effect no reform that men began to talk of the possibility of revolutionary measures becoming necessary. The subject once mooted was frequently discussed, and once discussed became familiar; and the thing which a few months before had been regarded as out of the bounds of possibility came to be looked upon as a very probable contingency. The extraordinary boom in shares, land, and all kinds of property, which lasted throughout the year, no doubt operated against the maturing of this feeling, but it nevertheless continued to grow. The most dissatisfied section of the Rand was, naturally enough, that one which included the South African Uitlander. These men, born in South Africa, or having spent the best years of their lives there, felt extremely bitter against the Boer Government, and were moved by feelings which were not in any way connected with considerations of material gain. With them were closely associated men of all nationalities who had determined to make their homes in the Transvaal, and these formed the class which has been disparagingly referred to as 'the political element,' but which the experience of every country shows to be the backbone of a nation. They were in fact the men who meant to have a hand in the future of South Africa. After them came the much larger class whose interest in the reforms was based mainly upon the fact that they suffered from the abuses and over-taxation of the Government. For several years a very strong feeling against the capitalists had ruled in Johannesburg. Men who thoroughly knew the Boer had prophesied and continued throughout to prophesy that absolutely nothing would be done to improve the conditions, and that the capitalists might as well throw in their lot with the general public early in the day as be forced to do so later, after spending their thousands in fruitless efforts for reform, and after committing themselves to a policy which would be regarded as selfish, pusillanimous, and foolish. The moneyed men no doubt occupied a very prominent and powerful position. They were constantly besought by the Reform leaders to side with them; they were looked to by the Progressive Party in the Boer camp to aid reform by peaceful measures only, to exercise all their influence towards preventing rash or violent measures being taken by the more excited party, and to trust to time and patience to achieve those results which they were all honestly desirous of bringing about; and they were approached, as has been stated, by the President and his party when moments of danger arrived, and when it was felt that their influence could be used towards the preservation of peace,--as witness the Loch incident. 'It is no crime to be a capitalist,' said one commentator on the late events, and neither is it necessary to attribute to this section of the community motives of patriotism to justify their association with the Reform movement. It is not intended to suggest that the men who did associate themselves eventually with it were not moved by any higher consideration than that of protecting their interests--in many cases a far larger view than this was taken; but it may be asked,--assuming that the capitalists were not moved by higher considerations,--What is there in their position which should debar them from endeavouring to introduce the reforms which would benefit them only equally with every other honest man in the community? Most of the wealthy houses in the Transvaal are either offshoots of or have supporting connections with firms in England or on the Continent. Between them and their principals much correspondence had taken place on the political situation. As far as these houses were concerned, it was impossible for them to enter upon any movement without the consent of their European associates. For this reason the Reform movement, as it eventually took place, has in some ways the appearance of and has very frequently been stigmatized as an organization planned and promoted outside the Transvaal. The fact is that Mr. Alfred Beit, of the firm of Wernher, Beit and Co., London, and Mr. Cecil Rhodes, managing director of the Consolidated Goldfields, may be regarded as the chiefs to whom the ultimate decision as to whether it was necessary from the capitalistic point of view to resort to extreme measures was necessarily left. Each of these gentlemen controls in person and through his business associates many millions of money invested in the Transvaal; each of them was, of course, a heavy sufferer under the existing conditions affecting the mining industry, and each, as a business man, must have been desirous of reform in the administration. Mr. Beit acted in concert with Mr. Lionel Phillips, of H. Eckstein and Co., the Johannesburg representatives of Wernher, Beit and Co. Mr. Rhodes was represented by his brother, Colonel Francis Rhodes, and Mr. J.H. Hammond, of the Consolidated Goldfields Company in Johannesburg. Mr. George Farrar, another very large mine-owner, who joined a little later than the others, with the gentlemen above named, may be considered to have represented the capitalist element in the earlier stages of the Reform movement. The other elements were represented by Mr. Charles Leonard, the chairman of the National Union, and one or two other prominent members of that body. It is impossible to say with whom the idea of the movement, including the arrangement with Dr. Jameson, originated. Perhaps it germinated when Dr. Jameson read the life of Clive! Probably it was the result of discussion, and no one man's idea. At any rate arms and ammunition were purchased, and arrangements were made by which they should be smuggled into the country concealed in machinery or gold-mining appliances. During the month of November Messrs. Leonard and Phillips went to Capetown to see Mr. Rhodes, in order to assure themselves finally as to the course which was to be pursued. The position of Mr. Rhodes in the matter was recognised by them to be a difficult one. Whilst as the managing director of the Consolidated Goldfields he had as much right as any other man interested in the Transvaal would have to concern himself in a movement of this nature, his right to act in his capacity of managing director of the Chartered Company would depend entirely on the nature of the part which he professed to play; but his position as Prime Minister of the Colony made the already difficult position much more complicated. Realizing this, Messrs. Leonard and Phillips acting on behalf of the others determined to have a perfectly clear understanding and to ascertain from Mr. Rhodes definitely what were his objects in associating himself with the movement. The matter was discussed at Mr. Rhodes' house, and the report given by the two deputies to their colleagues on their return was that Mr. Rhodes frankly admitted that he had two objects in view: one was to obtain an amelioration of the conditions such as he was entitled to claim as representing an enormous amount of capital invested in the Transvaal; the other object is best described by Mr. Leonard. 'We read to him,' said that gentleman when reporting to his comrades the result of his visit, 'the draft of our declaration of rights. He was leaning against the mantelpiece smoking a cigarette, and when it came to that part of the document in which we refer to Free Trade in South African products he turned round suddenly, and said: "That is what I want. That is all I ask of you. The rest will come in time. We must have a beginning, and that will be the beginning. If you people get your rights, the Customs Union, Railway Convention, and other things will all come in time." He then added that we must take our own time about this movement, and that he would keep Jameson on the frontier as long as it was necessary as a moral support, and also to come to our assistance should we get ourselves into a tight place. We asked him how he hoped to recoup himself for his share of the expense in keeping Jameson's force on the border, which should be borne by us jointly. He said that seeing the extent of his interests in the country, he would be amply repaid by the improvement in the conditions which it was intended to effect.' It has since been suggested that the object of the movement was to 'steal the country' and to annex it to Rhodesia, in order to rehabilitate the Chartered Company. The suggestion is too ludicrous for serious discussion. It must be obvious to anyone that the persons most concerned in the movement, and whose interests lay in the Rand, would be the very last to consent to any such scheme. There appears to be no conceivable basis upon which such an arrangement could have been entered into, and it is quite clear that no sensible business man having interests in a rich country in a comparatively advanced state of development would consent to share that certainty with a new country such as Rhodesia, the value of which, however promising, has still to be proved. Notwithstanding the ludicrous nature of the charge, it is quite certain that the Boers have a deep-rooted conviction of its truth. The arrangements with Dr. Jameson were made with him in person. During the month of September he visited Johannesburg, and it was then agreed that he should maintain a force of some 1,500 mounted men fully equipped, a number of Maxims, and some field artillery; that he was, in addition to this, to have with him 1,500 spare rifles and a quantity of spare ammunition; and that about 5,000 rifles, three Maxim guns, and 1,000,000 rounds of ammunition were to be smuggled into Johannesburg. It was calculated that in the town itself there would be, perhaps, 1,000 rifles privately owned. Thus, in the event of a junction of forces being effected, Johannesburg would be able to command about 9,000 armed men, with a fair equipment of machine-guns and cannon. Nor was this all, for on the original plan it was intended to seize the fort and magazines at Pretoria. And circumstances favoured the plans of the Johannesburg men. The surrounding wall of the fort, a mere barrack, had been removed on one side in order to effect some additions; there were only about 100 men stationed there, and all except half a dozen could be counted on as being asleep after 9 p.m. There never was a simpler sensational task in the world than that of seizing the Pretoria fort--fifty men could have done it. But there was more to be done than the mere taking. In the fort there were known to be some 10,000 rifles, ten or twelve field-pieces, and 12,000,000 rounds of small-arm ammunition; and it was designed to seize the fort and the railway on the night of the outbreak and, by means of one or two trains, to carry off as much of the material as possible and destroy the rest. Association with Dr. Jameson as the leader of an invading force is the one portion of their programme which the Reform leaders find it extremely difficult to justify. As long as the movement was confined to the Uitlanders resident in the Transvaal the sympathy of South Africa and indeed of the world was with them. It was the alliance with the foreign invader which forfeited that sympathy. That the eventual intention of the Reformers was only to call upon Dr. Jameson in case they found themselves attacked by and unable to cope with the Boers is a fact, but it is only fair to Dr. Jameson to note that this was a modification of the original arrangement by which both forces were to act simultaneously and in concert,--when the signal should be given from Johannesburg. On the occasion of Dr. Jameson's second visit to Johannesburg, towards the end of November, the following letter of invitation was written and handed to him: _To Dr. Jameson._ JOHANNESBURG.{19} DEAR SIR, The position of matters in this State has become so critical that we are assured that at no distant period there will be a conflict between the Government and the Uitlander population. It is scarcely necessary for us to recapitulate what is now matter of history; suffice it to say that the position of thousands of Englishmen and others is rapidly becoming intolerable. Not satisfied with making the Uitlander population pay virtually the whole of the revenue of the country while denying them representation, the policy of the Government has been steadily to encroach upon the liberty of the subject, and to undermine the security for property to such an extent as to cause a very deep-seated sense of discontent and danger. A foreign corporation of Hollanders is to a considerable extent controlling our destinies, and in conjunction with the Boer leaders endeavouring to cast them in a mould which is wholly foreign to the genius of the people. Every public act betrays the most positive hostility, not only to everything English, but to the neighbouring States. Well in short the internal policy of the Government is such as to have roused into antagonism to it, not only practically the whole body of Uitlanders but a large number of the Boers; while its external policy has exasperated the neighbouring States, causing the possibility of great danger to the peace and independence of this Republic. Public feeling is in a condition of smouldering discontent. All the petitions of the people have been refused with a greater or less degree of contempt; and in the debate on the Franchise petition, signed by nearly 40,000 people, one member challenged the Uitlanders to fight for the rights they asked for, and not a single member spoke against him. Not to go into details, we may say that the Government has called into existence all the elements necessary for armed conflict. The one desire of the people here is for fair play, the maintenance of their independence, and the preservation of those public liberties without which life is not worth living. The Government denies these things, and violates the national sense of Englishmen at every turn. What we have to consider is, What will be the condition of things here in the event of a conflict? Thousands of unarmed men, women and children of our race will be at the mercy of well-armed Boers, while property of enormous value will be in the greatest peril. We cannot contemplate the future without the gravest apprehensions. All feel that we are justified in taking any steps to prevent the shedding of blood, and to insure the protection of our rights. It is under these circumstances that we feel constrained to call upon you to come to our aid,{20} should a disturbance arise here. The circumstances are so extreme that we cannot but believe that you and the men under you will not fail to come to the rescue of people who will be so situated. We guarantee any expense that may reasonably be incurred by you in helping us, and ask you to believe that nothing but the sternest necessity has prompted this appeal. CHARLES LEONARD. LIONEL PHILLIPS. FRANCIS RHODES. JOHN HAYS HAMMOND. GEORGE FARRAR. The letter was drafted by Mr. Charles Leonard, and was signed then by four out of the five signatories, the fifth signature being added some weeks later in Cape Town. It was not dated, and was to be used only privately and in case of necessity for the purpose of excusing Dr. Jameson to the directors of the Chartered Company and the Imperial authorities in the course which it was intended to take. Various plans were discussed, and even dates were provisionally arranged. The first arrangement agreed to was that Dr. Jameson should start two days before the intended outbreak in Johannesburg. This was agreed to for the time being, but subsequent discussion convinced the leaders that there were the gravest objections to such a course, and it was therefore decided that Dr. Jameson should be notified to start from his camp on the same night as the outbreak in Johannesburg. The dates of December 28 and January 4 were in turn provisionally decided upon, but the primary condition of these arrangements was that under no circumstances should Dr. Jameson move without receiving the word from the Johannesburg party. With reference to the question of going out to meet Dr. Jameson or giving him assistance, the only thing that was discussed was that an officers' patrol should be sent out to meet him, to escort him to his camp. There was no doubt entertained as to the ability of Dr. Jameson and the force which it was believed he would command to come in without assistance or the arrangement would never have been made. The idea of the association with him was, of course, that he should assist the Reformers--not they assist him; and the proposal regarding the officers' patrol was one to which he only consented after scouting the notion of any co-operation. During the weeks which followed the conclusion of the arrangement considerable dissatisfaction was felt at the very slow progress made in obtaining arms. The number originally agreed to was deemed to be sufficient but no more; and when it was first found that it would not be possible to obtain this number but that a few hundreds less would have to be accepted, doubts were freely expressed as to the wisdom of proceeding until a sufficient supply had been obtained. When on two subsequent occasions it was again notified that still a few hundred less would have to be accepted, some members of the Reform Party were very emphatic in their objections to proceeding any further until they should be satisfied that the undertakings upon the strength of which they had entered upon the arrangement would be faithfully adhered to. On the occasion of Dr. Jameson's last visit it had been extracted from him that instead of 1,500 men he would probably start with from 800 to 1,000. These discrepancies and alterations caused the liveliest dissatisfaction in the minds of those who realized that they were entering upon a very serious undertaking; but although the equipment seemed poor, reliance was always placed on the taking of Pretoria Fort. That at any rate was a certainty, and it would settle the whole thing without a blow; for Johannesburg would have everything, and the Boers would have rifles, but neither ammunition nor field-guns. Without doubt the Pretoria arsenal was the key of the position, and it is admitted by Boer and alien alike that it lay there unguarded, ready to be picked up, and that nothing in the world could have saved it--except what did! On or about December 19, Messrs. Woolls-Sampson and A. Bailey, two Johannesburg men concerned in the movement, who had been in communication with Mr. Rhodes and others in Cape Town, arrived in Johannesburg, and indicated clearly that the question as to which flag was to be raised was either deemed to be a relatively unimportant one or one concerning which some of the parties had not clearly and honestly expressed their intentions. In simple truth, it appeared to be the case that Dr. Jameson either thought that the Johannesburg reformers were quite indifferent on the subject of the flag, or assumed that the provisions for the maintenance of the Transvaal flag were merely talk, and that the Union Jack would be hoisted at once. Nothing was further from the truth. The Reform Party in Johannesburg included men to whom the Union Jack is as dear as their own heart's blood, but it also included many others to whom that flag does not appeal--men of other nationalities and other associations and other sympathies. It included--perhaps the strongest element of all--those men whose sympathies were naturally and most strongly all for British rule, which they believed to be the best in the world, but whose judgment showed them that to proclaim that rule would be to defeat the very objects they honestly had in view, and who would have regarded the change of flag at the last moment as an unprincipled deception of those comrades who had been induced to co-operate for reform and not for annexation. It had been repeatedly and emphatically stated that the object was not to deprive the Boer of his independence or the State of its autonomy, but to alter the system of government in such a way as, first to obtain betterment of the economic conditions which affect everyone, and afterwards to induce a policy more in accordance with the general South African sentiment--in fact to get the Transvaal into line with the other South African States, in the same way for instance as the Free State had shown itself disposed to go. It is but poor work explaining failure, yet it must surely be permissible that something should be said for those who alone have had no hearing yet. And it is in the minds of the Reformers that the professions of their 'real intentions' regarding the flag made by Dr. Jameson and Mr. Rhodes might appropriately have been made before the raid, instead of afterwards when all was over. The regard for definite pledges, which in the Reformers was described as merely an excuse for backing out, would, if it had been observed by all, have made a sickening fiasco impossible. No sooner had a doubt been raised on the subject of the flag than a trusted emissary was despatched to inquire from Mr. Rhodes the meaning of this tampering with one of the fundamental conditions of the agreement. The messenger returned on Christmas morning, and at a largely-attended meeting of the ringleaders stated that he had seen Mr. Rhodes, and had received from him the assurance that it was all right about the flag: no question or doubt had been raised on the subject. In returning to Capetown however in company with Dr. Rutherfoord Harris, he learned from that gentleman that it was by no means all right, and gathered that it was assumed that the provision about maintaining the Transvaal flag was so much talk necessary to secure the adhesion of some doubtful people. The announcement was received with the gravest dissatisfaction. Several of the leading men stated emphatically that nothing would induce them to take part in the movement unless the original arrangement was loyally adhered to. In consequence of this it was resolved to despatch Messrs. Charles Leonard and F.H. Hamilton to see Mr. Rhodes and to obtain from him a definite guarantee that in the event of their availing themselves of Dr. Jameson's help under any conditions the latter would abide by the arrangements agreed upon. It was then thought that a week would be sufficient time in which to clear up the flag question and complete preparations. It was decided to call a big public meeting for the night of Monday, January 6, not with the intention of holding the meeting, but as a blind to cover the simultaneous rising in Johannesburg and seizing of the arsenal in Pretoria on the night of Saturday, January 4. With this in mind it was arranged to publish, in the form of a manifesto,{21} the address which Mr. Charles Leonard had prepared for the meeting. Among the Reformers there had always been a considerable section who regarded the alliance or arrangement with Dr. Jameson as a very doubtful advantage. It was this section which strongly and successfully opposed the suggestion that he should start before an actual outbreak. The difference of opinion was not such as to cause division in the ranks, but yet sufficient to keep alive discussion as to how the common aim could be achieved without risk of the complications which external aid in the initial stages would be sure to cause. To this feeling of doubt was added a sense of distrust when Dr. Jameson's importunity and impatience became known; and when the question of the flag was raised there were few, if any, among those concerned in the movement who did not feel that the tail was trying to wag the dog. The feeling was so strong that many were prepared to abandon the whole scheme and start _de novo_ rather than continue an undertaking in which it looked as though they were being fooled. Hence the despatch of Messrs. Leonard and Hamilton on Christmas Day. Confidence in their power to control Dr. Jameson and direct the movement, as they considered they had the right and ability to do, had been so shaken in the reformers that as soon as Messrs. Leonard and Hamilton had been sent they began to discuss a complete change of plans, and awaited only the reply from Capetown before taking the first steps in the prosecution of the new programme. The plan most favoured was that the importation and distribution of arms should be continued as speedily and as secretly as possible, that, instead of an invading force, as many armed and trained men as could be obtained should be brought in, nominally as mechanics or men seeking employment on the mines, that the public meeting called for January 6 should be held and made as large and demonstrative as possible, and a demand made to the Volksraad to grant the redress of the grievances complained of, and, failing reasonable concessions, that they should rise in arms and at the same time appeal to England, as the paramount Power, or to the other South African Governments, to mediate and so avert civil war. It was believed, and with much reason, that the Boers, knowing, as they then inevitably would, that a considerable quantity of arms and ammunition had been smuggled in, and knowing also that the sentiment of South Africa, including the Free State, was all in favour of considerable concessions to the Uitlanders, would have hesitated to take the initiative against Johannesburg, and would either have yielded to the pressure of the general South African opinion and have accepted the mediation of the High Commissioner, or would have offered considerable reforms. The Kruger party, it was well known, would proceed to any extreme rather than concede anything to the Uitlanders; but at that time the majority of the Boers were opposed to the Kruger policy of favouring the Hollanders and Germans to the exclusion of all other Uitlanders, and this majority would not have consented to measures calculated to embroil them with the people who had made their country prosperous, and even to imperil the very existence of the State, whilst an alternative course so easy as the one presented lay open to them. On the day following the despatch of Messrs. Leonard and Hamilton to Capetown it was decided to send messengers to Dr. Jameson to emphatically prohibit any movement on his part, also to explain to him the position of affairs in Johannesburg with reference to the flag, and above all to impress upon him the condition of unpreparedness. Major Heany was sent by train viâ Kimberley, and in order to facilitate his travelling a telegram was sent to Mr. Rhodes in Capetown asking him to arrange for a special train, and acquainting him with the purpose of the trip. Captain Holden was sent on horseback across country to Pitsani. Both gentlemen carried the most definite instructions to Dr. Jameson on no account to move. Both gentlemen have since stated that they delivered the messages in word and in spirit absolutely as they were given to them in Johannesburg, and that they carried no private messages whatever from any individual member of the Committee in any way conflicting with the purport of the official message with which they were charged. On the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday telegrams and messages were received from Dr. Jameson, all revealing impatience and a desire if not an intention to disregard the wishes of the Johannesburg people. Replies were sent to him and to the Capetown agents protesting against the tone adopted, urging him to desist from the endeavour to rush the Johannesburg people as they were pushing matters on to the best of their ability and hoped for a successful issue without recourse to violent measures, and stating emphatically that the decision must be left entirely in the hands of Johannesburg as agreed, otherwise there would be certain disaster. Besides what would be regarded as the official expressions and messages of the Johannesburg people, several individual members of the party telegraphed to Dr. Jameson informing him of the position and adding their personal advice and testimony. The probability of achieving success without firing a shot was referred to in the sense of a most satisfactory prospect. It did not occur to any one among the Johannesburg party that it was this prospect that moved Dr. Jameson to start. That idea is of later birth. On Sunday morning, at about ten o'clock, two telegrams of importance were received. The first was from Messrs. Hamilton and Leonard, to the following effect: 'We have received perfectly satisfactory assurance from Cecil Rhodes, but a misunderstanding undoubtedly exists elsewhere. In our opinion, continue preparations, but carefully, and without any sort of hurry, as entirely fresh departure will be necessary. In view of changed condition Jameson has been advised accordingly.' Portions of this message were in code. It left Capetown at 2.20 p.m. on Saturday, the 28th, and was received on Sunday at about ten o'clock. The second telegram was one from Dr. Jameson to his brother, Mr. S.W. Jameson, and had been despatched at about the same time. It was in the Bedford-McNeil Code, and was much mutilated--so much so that it was thought to have been purposely done in the telegraph office in order to obscure the meaning. One expression was clear, however, and that was: 'I shall start without fail to-morrow night.' It concluded with the words: 'Inform Dr. Wolff--distant cutting. He will understand.' The words 'distant cutting' did not occur in any code-book. Dr. Jameson states that they were words privately agreed upon between him and Dr. Wolff. The telegram was shown to Dr. Wolff as soon as he could be found, but he declared himself unable to throw any light whatever upon it. It was however clear from the message that on Saturday afternoon it had been Dr. Jameson's intention to disregard the wishes of the Committee, and to start on Sunday night, and the telegram impressed the recipients more than ever with the wisdom of their action in sending the messengers to Capetown and to Pitsani to insist upon no further steps being taken. It is of little consequence what the words 'distant cutting' really meant, or whether they were, or should have been, understood by any of the parties. Major Heany and Captain Holden, it was known, could not have reached Dr. Jameson at the time the message was despatched, and therefore no more importance was attached to this than to the other impatient telegrams. It was assumed that, on receiving the emphatic messages sent through Major Heany and Captain Holden, Dr. Jameson would realize the seriousness of the position, and would, in fact, abide by the arrangements made with him. Nor was this all. It was also clear that the telegram of Mr. Rhodes to which it was inferred reference was made in the concluding words of Messrs. Hamilton's and Leonard's wire--'Jameson has been advised accordingly'--could not have reached Dr. Jameson at the time his telegram to his brother was despatched. It was part of the instructions to Messrs. Hamilton and Leonard that any communications which they might desire to make to Dr. Jameson should pass through Mr. Cecil Rhodes in order to ensure due regard being paid to them. There was therefore no doubt in the minds of the Johannesburg men that during Saturday afternoon--that is to say, more than twenty-four hours before he proposed moving--he must have received a wire forbidding him to move. The facts here given were sufficient to warrant the belief that all that was necessary had been done to prevent any movement. But more reassuring than all precautions was the conviction that Dr. Jameson, no matter how much he might 'bluff' in order to force immediate action, would never be guilty of so gross a breach of faith as to start in defiance of the wishes of the Johannesburg people. Extreme dissatisfaction of course prevailed in the minds of a good many when they learned of the efforts made by him to force their hands, and this feeling was intensified by the report brought in by Dr. Wolff, who had just returned from seeing Dr. Jameson at Pitsani. Dr. Wolff had arrived at Pitsani on the previous Tuesday, and was then greeted by Dr. Jameson with the remark that he had 'as nearly as possible started for Pretoria last night.' It was felt that this might appear to be a very fine and dashing thing for a party of men well armed and trained and able to take care of themselves, but that it betrayed great indifference to his pledges, as well as to the fate of his associates, who as he knew perfectly well had not even the arms to defend themselves from the consequences of any precipitate action on his part, and who had moreover the responsibility for the control and protection of unarmed Johannesburg. The feeling among the Reformers on Sunday, the 29th, was one of considerable relief at having found out in time the intention of their reckless colleague, and at having taken the necessary steps to control him. Secure in the belief that the messages from Capetown had duly reached Dr. Jameson, and that either Major Heany or Captain Holden had by that time also reached him, and that in the future the management of their affairs would be left in their own hands, they continued during Sunday and Monday, the 29th and 30th, to arrange plans on the basis before indicated, awaiting in the meantime further communications from Messrs. Hamilton and Leonard. In the meanwhile it became generally known in Johannesburg that some movement was afoot, and suppressed excitement and expectancy became everywhere manifest. On Saturday, December 28, the President returned from his annual tour through certain of the outlying districts. On his journey he was met by a number of burghers at Bronkhorst Spruit, the scene of the battle in the War of Independence, about twenty miles from Pretoria. One of the burghers, an old Boer named Hans Botha, who was the opponent of Mr. Woolls-Sampson in the 'duel' at the battle of Zwartkoppies, in addressing the President, said that he had heard that there was some talk of a rising in Johannesburg, and added that although he had many bullets in him (It is stated that he still has five!), he could find room for more if it was a question of tackling the Britishers. The President replied that he had heard of the threatened rising, and did not believe it: he could not say what was likely to happen, but they must remember this--if they wanted to kill a tortoise they must wait until he put his head out of the shell. In an interview with a representative of the press immediately after this the President said that the position was full of gravity and might lead to disagreeable consequences, especially to the mining industry and commercial enterprise generally; but he was still confident that common-sense would prevail in Johannesburg, and expressed the conviction that the law-abiding portion of the community, which included the greater part of the English and other nationalities, would support all measures for the preservation of law and order. He said that his endeavours hitherto to secure concessions for the Uitlander population had been frustrated by the public utterances and actions of irresponsible and unscrupulous agitators whose methods had often a detrimental effect on the Volksraad and on the burghers throughout the Republic. The first commotion created was by the flag incident some years before (1890), which caused a great shock to confidence; another sinister incident was the refusal of a portion of the British community to serve their adopted country in the Malaboch War, when the union of Boer and Briton against the common enemy was nearly brought about. 'If wiser counsels unfortunately should not prevail,' the President continued, 'then let the storm arise, and the wind thereof will separate the chaff from the grain. The Government will give every opportunity for free speech and free ventilation of grievances, but it is fully prepared to put a stop to any movement made for the upsetting of law and order.' On the same day the President was interviewed by a deputation of Americans from Johannesburg. They were men of the highest position and influence in the community and were earnestly desirous of securing reforms, but they were impressed with the idea that peaceful means had not yet been exhausted and that the President and his Executive would listen to reason if they were convinced that serious consequences would follow the neglect to reform. The President received them civilly, as he often does when he has a strong hand to play: it is generally when his cards are poor that he gives way to the paroxysms of rage and indulges in the personal abuse and violent behaviour which have earned for him so unenviable a reputation. He listened to all that had been advanced by the deputation, and then said that 'it was no time to talk when danger was at hand. That was the time for action.' The deputation represented to him that there was no danger at hand unless the President by his own act precipitated matters and caused the trouble himself, that matters were completely in his hands, and that if he would deal with the people in a liberal and statesmanlike way and grant the reforms which were universally acknowledged to be necessary there would not be anywhere in the world a more law-abiding and loyal community than that of Johannesburg. The President answered merely by the question: 'If a crisis should occur, on which side shall I find the Americans?' The answer was, 'On the side of liberty and good government.' The President replied, 'You are all alike, tarred with the same brush; you are British in your hearts.' In reply to another deputation, representing a section of the community which was not by any means at one with the reformers, but the leading members of which still urged the necessity for reforms, the President said, 'Either you are with me in the last extremity or you are with the enemy; choose which course you will adopt. Call a meeting to repudiate the Manifesto in its entirety, or there is final rupture between us.' The gentlemen addressed declared emphatically that on the Manifesto there could be no retreat. On that Johannesburg was absolutely at one. The President replied, 'Then, I shall know how to deal with Johannesburg,' and left the room. The various business associations of Johannesburg and Pretoria approached the President at different hours in these threatening times, and did all that was possible to induce him to make reasonable concessions. Although numbers of his followers and counsellors were strongly in favour of doing something to avert the coming storm, the President himself seemed inclined to fight until the last ditch was reached rather than concede anything. In reply to the Mercantile Association he said that he was quite willing to give the franchise, but that it would be to those who were really worthy of it--those for instance who rallied round the Government in this crisis and took no part in the mischievous agitation and clamouring for so-called reforms: all malcontents should be excluded. In fact he made it perfectly plain that the franchise would be treated as a huge bribery fund; and he himself was introducing the thin end of the wedge in the suggestion made to the Association with a view to splitting up the Reform Party in Johannesburg. He however added that the special duties on food-stuffs would be immediately removed pending confirmation by the Volksraad, that equal subsidies would be granted to Dutch and English schools alike, and that the Netherlands Railway Company would be approached with a view to having the tariffs reduced. The effect of this was however slightly marred by the concluding sentence in which he stated that 'as he had kept his former promises, so he would do his best to keep this.' In reply to a second deputation of Americans, the President in a moment of irritation said that it was impossible to grant the franchise to the Uitlander--American, British, or other; he would lose his power if he did; the Government would no longer be his. A member of the deputation said, 'Surely, if we take the oath of allegiance, you will trust us?' The President hesitated for a moment, and then said, 'This is no time to talk about these things; I can promise you nothing.' Footnotes for Chapter III {19} The date of 20th December, 1895, was filled in by Dr. Jameson when he decided to start and to publish the letter. {20} When this letter was published by Dr. Jameson and cabled to the London _Times_ the sense of it was very gravely--but doubtless unintentionally--altered by terminating this sentence with the word 'aid' and carrying the remaining words into the next sentence. (July, 1899.) At the Westminster inquiry it transpired that on December 20 Mr. Rhodes instructed Dr. Harris to wire for a copy of the letter. Dr. Jameson forwarded it after filling in that day's date. On December 30, Dr. Harris, again acting on Mr. Rhodes' instructions, telegraphed the letter to the _Times_, having altered the date to 28th, and prefaced it with the statement that the letter had been 'sent on Saturday (28) to Dr. Jameson, Mafeking.' {21} See Appendix I. for the full text of Manifesto. CHAPTER IV. THE REFORM COMMITTEE. On Monday morning Mr. S.W. Jameson (a brother of Dr. Jameson, who, although suffering acutely from rheumatic fever, insisted on taking his share of the work and worry during the days that followed) received a telegram addressed to Dr. Wolff, in his care. The latter being away on Monday Mr. Jameson translated the telegram and showed it at once to as many of his comrades as he could find. It was from Dr. Jameson, despatched from Pitsani at 9.5 a.m. on Sunday, and ran as follows: 'Meet me as arranged before you left on Tuesday night which will enable us to decide which is best destination. Make Advocate Leonard speak--make cutting to-night without fail.' Every effort was made to find Dr. Wolff, but he--in common with others--believing that there would be no move for a week, was away. This telegram was, to say the least of it, disquieting. It showed, so it was thought, that as late as Sunday morning Dr. Jameson could not have received the countermands by Messrs. Heany and Holden, and it indicated that it must have been a near thing stopping him before he actually crossed the border. As a matter of fact Major Heany reached Dr. Jameson at noon on Sunday; but Capt. Holden had arrived the night before. Shortly after noon Mr. Abe Bailey received and showed to others a telegram purporting to come from 'Godolphin,' Capetown, to the following effect: 'The veterinary surgeon says the horses are now all right; he started with them last night; will reach you on Wednesday; he says he can back himself for seven hundred.' By the light of subsequent events the telegram is easily interpreted, but as Mr. Bailey said he could not even guess who 'Godolphin' might be, the message remained a puzzle. That it had some reference to Dr. Jameson was at once guessed, indeed Mr. Bailey would not have shown it to others concerned in the movement did he not himself think so. The importance and significance of the message entirely depended upon who 'Godolphin' was, and it afterwards transpired that the sender was Dr. Rutherfoord Harris, who states that he took the first and safest means of conveying the news that Dr. Jameson had actually started in spite of all. Mysterious and unintelligible as it was the telegram caused the greatest uneasiness among the few who saw it, for it seemed to show that an unknown someone in Capetown was under the impression that Dr. Jameson had started. The Reformers however still rejected the idea that he would do anything so mad and preposterous, and above all they were convinced that had he started they would not be left to gather the fact from the ambiguous phrases of an unknown person. All doubts however were set at rest when between four and half-past four on Monday afternoon Mr. A.L. Lawley came hurriedly into the room where several of the leaders were met, saying, 'It is all up, boys. He has started in spite of everything. Read this!' and at the same time throwing on the table the following telegram from Mafeking: 'The contractor has started on the earthworks with seven hundred boys; hopes to reach terminus on Wednesday.' The Reformers realized perfectly well the full significance of Dr. Jameson's action; they realized that even if he succeeded in reaching Johannesburg, he, by taking the initiative, seriously impaired the justice of the Uitlanders' cause--indeed, put them hopelessly in the wrong. Apart from the moral or political aspects of the question there was the fact that, either through mistake or by fatuous impulse, Dr. Jameson had plunged them into a crisis for which as he knew they were insufficiently provided and prepared, and at the same time destroyed the one chance--the one certainty--on which they had always counted for arms and ammunition; by starting first he knocked out the foundation of the whole scheme--he made the taking of the Pretoria arsenal impossible. For a few minutes it was hoped that the chance of taking the arsenal still remained; but while discussion was still proceeding and several of those present were protesting that the news could not be true (among them Mr. S.W. Jameson, who stoutly maintained that his brother would never start in defiance of his pledges), authentic news of the invasion was received from the Government offices; and this was supplemented a few minutes later by the information that the Government had known it at an early hour in the morning, and that Pretoria was then full of armed burghers. The position then appeared fairly desperate. It is worth noting that even when Dr. Jameson decided to start in opposition to the Committee's wishes it was not deemed necessary to treat them with the candour which they were entitled to expect from a comrade. It is well known that Dr. Jameson never had 700 men, and that he started with less than 500, and yet the Reformers were led to understand from the telegrams above quoted that he was starting with 700, and not 800 as last promised. They were at first under the impression that the 700 men did not include the Bechuanaland Border Police who were to join him after starting, so that it was still thought that he had over 800 men. Before five o'clock messengers had been sent out in all directions to call together those who had interested themselves in the movement, or as many of them as possible, for several prominent men knowing only of the steps taken to prevent any movement on the part of Dr. Jameson, were not at hand. As many as possible however gathered together, and it was decided to take instant steps to put the town in a state of defence. In order that the subsequent actions and attitude of the Reform Committee may be properly understood it is necessary to explain somewhat fully the position of affairs on this Monday evening. As soon as it was realized that the news was beyond all doubt true the bitterest censure was expressed upon Dr. Jameson's action, and it was at first stated by many that either Dr. Jameson or Mr. Rhodes or both had deliberately and for the furtherance of their personal aims disregarded in treacherous and heartless fashion all their agreements. Soon however a calmer view was taken, and a consideration of all the circumstances induced the Reformers to believe that Dr. Jameson had started in good faith, but under some misapprehension. They recalled the various reports that had been in circulation in the press about conflicts between the Boers and Uitlanders at the Simmer and Jack and Jumpers mines, the reported arrest of Mr. Lionel Phillips and the demand of £80,000 bail--rumours which had been treated by those on the spot as too ridiculous to gain credence anywhere, but which they nevertheless thought might have reached Dr. Jameson in such guise as to induce him to take the step which he had taken. It was assumed that the telegrams sent from Johannesburg and Capetown to stop him had not reached him, and that Messrs. Heany and Holden had also failed to catch him before he started. Opinions however were still divided as to whether he had simply lost patience and come in regardless of all consequences, or had been really misled and had dashed in to the assistance of Johannesburg. The position was at best one of horrible uncertainty, and divided as the Committee were in their opinions as to his motive they could only give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that there was behind his action no personal aim and no deliberate disregard of his undertakings. In order to realize the perplexity of the position it must be understood that only the few who happened to meet on Sunday and Monday morning knew of the telegrams which had passed during the previous twenty-four hours, many did not know of them until Pretoria prison gave them time to compare notes; to some they may be news even now. There was no time to argue then! Knowing the poorness of the equipment of Johannesburg and the unpreparedness of the place and its inhabitants the more logical and cold-blooded course would have been to repudiate Dr. Jameson instantly and to have left him to his fate; but against this was firstly, the fact publicly admitted that he had remained on the border by arrangement with the leaders in order to help them should the necessity arise; next, that if he gave heed to the reports which were being circulated he might have thought that the necessity had arisen; and finally, that the leaders had taken such steps in the smuggling in of arms and the arming of men as would warrant the Boers, and indeed anybody else, in associating them with Dr. Jameson, so that they might confidently expect to be attacked as accomplices before the true facts could become known. They realized quite well that they had a big responsibility to the unarmed population of Johannesburg, and it was with the object of fulfilling that obligation that they decided to arm as many men as possible and to fortify and defend the place if attacked, but, in view of the impossibility of aggressive measures being successful, to take no initiative against the Boers. It would in any case have been entirely useless to suggest the repudiation of Dr. Jameson at that moment. The Johannesburg people would never have listened to such a suggestion, nor could anyone have been found to make it. In view of the fact that the Reform Committee have been charged with the crime of plunging the country into civil war with a miserable equipment of less than 3,000 rifles, it is only fair to give some heed to the conditions as they were at the time and to consider whether any other course would have been practicable, and if practicable, whether it would have been in the interests of any considerable section of the community. To the Committee the course to be taken seemed perfectly clear. They determined to defend and hold the town. They threw off all disguise, got in all the arms they possibly could, organized the various military corps, and made arrangements for the maintenance of order in the town and on the mines. Throughout Monday night all were engaged in getting in arms and ammunition and doing all that could be done to enable the town to hold its own against possible attack. During Monday night the Reform Committee came into existence. Those who had so far taken a prominent part in the agitation had been for convenience utilizing Colonel Rhodes' office in the Consolidated Goldfields Company's building. Many prominent men came forward voluntarily to associate themselves with the movement, and as the numbers increased and work had to be apportioned it became evident that some organization would be necessary. Those who had already taken part in the movement formed themselves into a committee, and many other prominent men joined immediately. The movement being an entirely public one it was open for anyone to join provided he could secure the approval of the already elected members. The body so constituted was then called the Reform Committee. The following is the first notice of the Reform Committee as published in the _Johannesburg Star_; and it indicates the position taken up: Notice is hereby given that this Committee adheres to the National Union manifesto, and reiterates its desire to maintain the independence of the Republic. The fact that rumours are in course of circulation to the effect that a force has crossed the Bechuanaland border renders it necessary to take active steps for the defence of Johannesburg and the preservation of order. The Committee earnestly desires that the inhabitants should refrain from taking any action which can be considered as an overt act of hostility against the Government. Telegrams were sent to the High Commissioner and to the Premier of Cape Colony informing them that owing to the starting of Dr. Jameson with an armed force into the Transvaal Johannesburg had been placed in a position of extreme peril which they were utterly unprepared to guard against, and urging the High Commissioner to proceed immediately to Johannesburg in order to settle matters and prevent a civil war. Sub-committees were at once appointed, partly chosen from members of the Reform Committee and partly from others who had interested themselves in the movement and had come forward to take part but had not actually joined the controlling body. The matters to be dealt with were: The policing of the town; the control of the natives thrown out of employment by the closing of the mines; the arrangements for the defence of the town; the commissariat for the men bearing arms and for others who were flocking into the town; the providing for the women and children who had been brought in from the mines and had neither food nor shelter. These matters were taken in hand on Tuesday morning, and before nightfall some 2,000 men had been supplied with arms; the Maxims had been brought in and placed in position on the hills surrounding the town; various corps had been formed; a commencement had been made in the throwing-up of earthworks around the town; and food-supplies and such field equipment as could be got together had been provided for the men. As regards the town, the Government police having disappeared, it was necessary to take energetic steps to prevent actual chaos reigning. Ex-Chief Detective Trimble was appointed to organize a police force, and the work was admirably done. Before nightfall the Reform Committee's police had taken entire charge of the town, and from this time until the withdrawal of the Committee's police after the laying down of arms, perfect order was maintained--indeed, the town has never before or since been so efficiently controlled as during this period. Numbers of the mines stopped work. In some cases the miners remained to protect the companies' property; in other cases the men came in and volunteered to carry arms in defence of the town. One of the most serious difficulties with which the Committee had to deal was that of supplying arms. There were under 3,000 rifles, and during the few days when the excitement was at its highest no less than 20,000 men came forward as volunteers and demanded to be armed. Not unnaturally a great deal of feeling was roused among these men against the Committee on account of their inability to arm them. It was believed for a long time that the Committee was wholly responsible for the incursion by Dr. Jameson; that they had precipitated matters without regard to the safety of the unarmed population, and had actually courted civil war with a paltry equipment of some 3,000 rifles. For several days a huge crowd surrounded the Committee's offices clamouring for guns. It is difficult to say what the feeling would have been and what would have been done had it been known then that there were less than 3,000 rifles. Not more than a dozen men knew the actual number, and they decided to take the responsibility of withholding this information, for they realized that panic and riot might ensue if it were known, whilst the only hope for a successful issue now lay in Johannesburg presenting a bold, confident, and united front. All the well-known medical men in the town came forward at once, and organized and equipped an ambulance corps which within the day was in perfect working order. Perhaps the most arduous task of all was that of the Commissariat Department, who were called upon to supply at a few hours' notice the men bearing arms in various positions outside the town and the various depots within the town which were organized for the relief of those who had flocked in unprovided for. It would have been impossible, except in a community where the great majority of men had been trained by the nature of their own business in the habit of organization, to cope with the difficulties which here presented themselves, and it is impossible to pay too high tribute to those who organized the relief of the women and children from the surrounding districts. Not less than 2,000 women and children were housed and fed on Tuesday night; offices were taken possession of in different parts of the town and converted into barracks, where sleeping accommodation was provided under excellent sanitary conditions; and abundance of food, as good as could be expected at an ordinary hotel, was supplied to these people who had come in expecting to sleep in the streets. In order to carry into effect the scheme of relief above referred to it was found necessary to form what was called the Relief Committee. A fund was opened to provide this Committee with the necessary means, and members of the Reform Committee subscribed upwards of £80,000 within a few minutes of the opening of the lists. The native liquor question also called for prompt and determined handling. A deputation from the Committee called upon the Landdrost, the official head of the Licensing Board, and requested the co-operation of the Government in dealing with this matter, and an order was obtained from him compulsorily closing the canteens until further notice. Armed with this the officials appointed by the Committee visited the various liquor-houses along the mines and gave due notice, with the further warning that if any breach of the new regulation took place it would be followed by the confiscation of the entire stock of liquor. The measure generally had a very salutary effect, but in the lowest quarters it was not sufficient. The Committee had realized in the very beginning that nothing but the removal of the liquor would prevent the Kaffir canteen-keepers from supplying the natives with drink, and patrols were accordingly sent out to seize the entire stock in those drinking-hells, to pay compensation at value agreed upon, and to destroy the liquor. The step was no doubt a high-handed one, and before it was taken notice was given to the Government officials of the intention. The Committee were warned that this action could not be authorized by Government, as it was both high-handed and illegal, but they decided to take the responsibility upon themselves. It is not too much to say that there were fewer cases of drunkenness or violence reported during the period of trouble than during any other fortnight in the history of the place. The following proclamation had been issued by the President at a very late hour on Monday night in Pretoria, and was received in Johannesburg on Tuesday morning: PROCLAMATION BY HIS HONOUR THE STATE PRESIDENT OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC. Whereas it has appeared to the Government of the South African Republic that there are rumours in circulation to the effect that earnest endeavours are being made to endanger the public safety of Johannesburg, and whereas the Government is convinced that, in case such rumours may contain any truth, such endeavours can only emanate from a small portion of the inhabitants, and that the greater portion of the Johannesburg inhabitants are peaceful, and are prepared to support the Government in its endeavours to maintain law and order, Now, know you that I, Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, State President of the South African Republic, with the advice and consent of the Executive Council, according to Article 913 of its minutes, dated the 30th of December, 1895, do hereby warn those evil-intentioned persons (as I do hereby urge all such persons to do) to remain within the pale of the law, and all such persons not heeding this warning shall do so on their own responsibility; and I do further make known that life and property shall be protected against which attempts may be made, and that every peaceful inhabitant of Johannesburg, of whatsoever nationality he may be, is called upon to support me herein, and to assist the officials charged therewith; and further be it made known that the Government is still prepared to take into consideration all grievances that may be laid before it in a proper manner, and to submit the same to the people of the land without delay for treatment. The Government in Pretoria were no doubt perfectly well aware of all that was going on; the Committee could not possibly observe any secrecy, nor did it appear desirable, since the position taken up and maintained by them to the end was that they were not responsible for Dr. Jameson's incursion and were simply prepared to defend the town against attack. During the four or five days preceding this the evidences of excitement in Johannesburg had been unmistakable, and on Saturday the 28th, the day before Dr. Jameson started, several prominent officials and two or three members of the Volksraad visited Johannesburg from Pretoria and openly discussed the seriousness of the position. At that time they were strongly of opinion that the Government had brought the trouble on themselves by their wrong-headed and corrupt action. The visitors were men who although officially associated with the Government were not at all in sympathy with the policy of the Krugerite party, and they were sincerely anxious for a peaceful settlement and desirous of liberal reforms, but their influence with the Government was nil. Unfortunately it has always been the case that intelligent and upright men associated with the Pretoria Government (and there are some as bright examples as can be found in any country) never have, and never will have, any weight with the party now dominating the State. Their services are not used as they might be, and their counsels are not regarded as they should be in times when they would be of value; in fact, it would seem that they are only used when it appears to Mr. Kruger and his party that they present opportunities for playing upon the credulity of the Uitlanders with whose progressive notions they are known to be in sympathy. It is unnecessary to say that these gentlemen do not consciously take part in the deception which is practised, but it is nevertheless a fact that whenever the Pretoria clique desire to trail the red herring they do it by the employment in seeming good faith of one or other of those gentlemen whose character and sympathies entitle them to the respect and confidence of the Uitlander. On Tuesday Mr. Eugene Marais, the editor of the leading Dutch paper _Land en Volk_, a gentleman who has worked consistently and honourably both for his people, the Transvaal Dutch, and for the cause of pure and enlightened government, visited Johannesburg, being convinced that there was serious trouble in store for the country unless prompt and decisive steps were taken to remedy the conditions under which the Rand community were suffering. No one in the country has fought harder against the abuses which exist in Pretoria nor has anyone risked more, nor yet is there a more loyal champion of the Boer; and Mr. Marais, having on his own initiative investigated the condition of affairs in Johannesburg and reported the result to some of the leading members of the Government, telegraphed to a member of the Committee on Tuesday morning beseeching that body to make a strenuous effort to avert bloodshed, using the words, 'For God's sake, let us meet and settle things like men!' and further stating that he and Mr. Malan, son-in-law of General Joubert, were bringing over a message from the Government, and that he hoped the Committee would meet them in a reasonable spirit. A full meeting of the Committee was at once called to receive the two delegates. The meeting took place at 9 p.m. and lasted until 12 p.m. on Tuesday night. Mr. Marais's evidence during the course of the trial detailed the events which led up to this meeting. He stated that in consequence of what he had observed in Johannesburg on Monday and Tuesday he returned to Pretoria, convinced that unless something was done by Government to relieve the position there would most inevitably be a civil war. He reported the condition of things to General Joubert, who deemed it of sufficient importance to have the matter brought before the Executive. Messrs. Marais and Malan were thereupon received by the Executive and authorized to meet the Reform Committee on behalf of the Government. With reference to the now famous 'olive branch' phrase, Mr. Marais states that the expression was first used by a member of the Committee in Johannesburg on Tuesday morning. The condition of things was being discussed and this member commented severely upon the action of the Government. Mr. Marais urged that things were not so bad as to justify a determined attempt to provoke civil war, and stated that he believed that the excitement prevailing would convince the Government that they had now gone too far and that when they realized the seriousness of the position they would be willing to make proper concessions, and he said in conclusion that the people of Johannesburg, if they were as good as their professions and desired reform and not revolution, would even at the eleventh hour be willing to meet the Government. The member of the Reform Committee replied that this was undoubtedly the attitude of the Johannesburg people, but that it was absolutely useless to keep on patiently waiting for the fulfilment of promises which were only made to be broken; that if Johannesburg had any evidence that the Government meant honestly by them they would of course treat and endeavour to avert bloodshed; that the Uitlanders had so far always offered the olive branch and sought to establish harmony. That however was all over, and let the Government now take the first steps if they were in earnest. Mr. Marais reported the whole of this conversation to the Executive Council and, upon his making use of the expression 'olive branch,' the President exclaimed excitedly, 'What are they talking about? What is an olive branch?' When this was explained to him he nodded and said, 'Yes, that is what we will do,' and Mr. Wolmarans another member of the Executive exclaimed, 'Go back to the Johannesburg people and tell them that we have already offered the olive branch by voluntarily withdrawing our police from the town in order to avoid conflict, thus leaving them in entire possession. It is for them to say whether they will accept it.' The meeting at which Messrs. Marais and Malan were commissioned to negotiate with the Johannesburg people was, with the exception of General Smit (then dying and since dead), attended by every member of the Executive Council, and there is no truth in the suggestion made on behalf of the Government that it was an informal meeting of a few men who were not acting on behalf of the State, nor is there any justification for the statement made by Judge Ameshof in the witness-box that Messrs. Marais and Malan were not officially authorized to negotiate with the Reform Committee. Messrs. Marais and Malan met the Reform Committee in the general committee-room, and both gentlemen addressed the meeting several times, going fully into the grievances complained of by the Uitlanders and explaining very fully the position of the Government and their attitude during the meeting of the Executive Council which they had been called upon to attend. They stated that they had been sent by a full meeting of the Executive to ask the Reform Committee to send a deputation to Pretoria in order to meet a Commission to be appointed by Government with a view to effecting a peaceful settlement and the redress of grievances; that the Commission would consist of Chief Justice Kotzé, Judge Ameshof, and another, probably a member of the Executive Council; that the Government were willing to consider and redress the grievances, and were, above all things, anxious to avoid conflict with their own subjects. Then came the much-quoted expression: 'We come in fact to offer you the olive branch; it is for you to say if you will take it; if you are sincere in your professions, you will.' A great deal of discussion took place, many members of the Committee maintaining that, although they placed full confidence in the gentlemen who had been sent by Government, they were nevertheless convinced that there was treachery at the bottom of it, and they stated in plain language what has become more or less an article of faith with the Uitlander: 'Whenever the Government are earnestly intent upon deceiving us they select emissaries in whose character and good faith we have complete trust, and by deceiving them ensure that we shall be misled.' Both gentlemen repeatedly assured the meeting that the Government were most anxious to remove the causes of discontent, and stated moreover that Johannesburg would get practically all that was asked for in the Manifesto. When asked what was meant by 'practically all,' they explained that there would be some minor points of course on which Johannesburg would have to give way in order to meet the Government, as their position was also a very difficult one, and there were in particular two matters on which there would be some difficulty, but by no means insurmountable. When asked if the two matters were the removal of religious disabilities and the franchise, one of the two gentlemen replied that he had been told that there would be some difficulty on these two points, but that they were quite open to discussion as to the details and he was convinced that there would surely be a means of coming to an understanding by compromise even on these two. Messrs. Marais and Malan also informed the meeting that the High Commissioner had issued a proclamation calling upon Dr. Jameson to desist from the invasion and to return to British territory at once; that the proclamation had been duly forwarded to him from several points; and that there was no doubt that he would turn back. Messrs. Marais and Malan both stated that they were themselves proceeding with the commando against Dr. Jameson should he fail to obey the High Commissioner's mandate, and stated also that although they were making every effort that was humanly possible to avert conflict it must be clearly understood that if from the unreasonable action of Johannesburg fighting took place between the Government forces and a revolutionary force from Johannesburg, they as in duty bound would fight for their Government, and that in the Government ranks would be found those men who had been the most arduous workers in the cause of reform. They were assured that there was no such feeling as desire for revenge actuating the people who had taken up arms, that it was simply a desire for fair treatment and decent government, that the present demand was what had been already detailed in the Manifesto, and that the Committee stood by that document, but would nevertheless accept as sufficient for the time being any reasonable proportion of the redress demanded. In spite of differences as to the motives of the Government in holding out the olive branch it was decided unanimously that the request as conveyed by Messrs. Marais and Malan should be complied with, and that a deputation should be sent over early on the following morning to meet the Government Commission. Under the circumstances it was quite useless to discuss whether the Government designed these negotiations merely as a ruse in order to gain time, or whether they were actually dealing with the Committee in good faith and intending to effect the redress promised. At that time Johannesburg itself had not been protected by earthworks, and the unpacking of the Maxims and rifles had only just been completed. Throughout Tuesday night and Wednesday earthworks were being thrown up, and every effort was being directed towards placing the town in a state of defence. CHAPTER V. THE COMMITTEE'S DILEMMA. With the best will in the world it would have been quite impossible to render any assistance to Dr. Jameson's forces, but apart from this there never was the slightest doubt of his ability to get into Johannesburg without assistance should he decide to attempt it. In conversation with the leaders of the movement he had always scouted the idea of requiring assistance from Johannesburg, nor would anyone have believed that with a well-equipped and perfectly trained force of 800 men (as it was believed he had) it was possible for the Boers to get together a force sufficiently strong to stop him in his dash on Johannesburg. In the absence of Mr. Charles Leonard, who had been recognized as the leader of the movement, Mr. Lionel Phillips was elected Chairman of the Reform Committee, and he and Messrs. J.G. Auret, A. Bailey, and M. Langermann were chosen as the Committee's deputation to proceed to Pretoria and meet the Commission appointed by the Government. They left at an early hour on Wednesday morning, and were given practically a free hand to act on behalf of the Reform Committee. The position having been so thoroughly discussed there was no possibility of misunderstanding; there was no division in the Committee as to the attitude to be taken up. The deputation were to negotiate with the Government for a peaceful settlement on the basis of the Manifesto, accepting what they might consider to be a reasonable instalment of the reforms demanded. They were to deal with the Government in a conciliatory spirit and to avoid all provocation to civil strife, but at the same time to insist upon the recognition of rights and the redress of the grievances, to avow the association with Dr. Jameson's forces so far as it had existed, and to include him in any settlement that might be made. It was impossible to lay down any definite lines on which to negotiate on behalf of Dr. Jameson, as the Reform Committee were still in complete ignorance of his reasons for starting; but it was considered fairer and more reasonable to assume that he had started in good faith and that the two messengers who had been sent to stop him had not reached him, and to act accordingly. However awkward a predicament he had placed the Johannesburg people in, they accepted a certain moral responsibility for him and his actions and decided to make his safety the first consideration. Late on Tuesday night the Collector of Customs at Johannesburg informed members of the Reform Committee that he had received a telegraphic despatch from the Pretoria head office notifying the suspension of all duties on various articles of food. It will be remembered that this relief was prayed for by the representative bodies of mining and commerce on the Rand several weeks before the outbreak and that the Government had replied that they were unable during the recess to deal with the matter as the legislative power and the power of levying and remitting duties had been taken from the Executive by the Volksraad some time previously. It will also be remembered that the Government acted on this hint as to the necessities of the community in a wholly unexpected way by granting a monopoly for the free importation of grain to a favoured individual of their party in Pretoria. It is not wonderful therefore that the notification conveyed by the Collector of Customs was received with considerable derision, and the opinion was expressed that it would have redounded more to the credit of the Government's honesty and intelligence had they remitted the duties when first petitioned instead of doing so at the last moment hastily and ungracefully--so to speak, at the point of the bayonet. On Wednesday morning, whilst the deputation were engaged in negotiations with the Government Commission, a telegram was received by the Reform Committee in Johannesburg from Sir Jacobus de Wet, the British agent, conveying the following proclamation of the High Commissioner: Whereas it has come to my knowledge that certain British subjects, said to be under the leadership of Dr. Jameson, have violated the territory of the South African Republic, and have cut telegraph-wires, and done various other illegal acts; and whereas the South African Republic is a friendly State, in amity with Her Majesty's Government; and whereas it is my desire to respect the independence of the said State; Now, therefore, I hereby command the said Dr. Jameson and all persons accompanying him to immediately retire from the territory of the South African Republic, on pain of the penalties attached to their illegal proceedings; and I do further hereby call upon all British subjects in the South African Republic to abstain from giving the said Dr. Jameson any countenance or assistance in his armed violation of the territory of a friendly State. A reply was immediately sent to the British Agent stating that the Reform Committee were not aware of the reasons which prompted Dr. Jameson to start, but that as he was coming to their assistance, presumably in good faith, they felt morally bound to provide for him, and they therefore urged the British Agent most strongly to spare no effort in forwarding the proclamation to Dr. Jameson so that he might be aware of the action taken by the Imperial Government and might turn back before any conflict should take place between his and the Boer forces. The Committee offered to forward the despatch themselves if facilities of passport were given. A full meeting of the Committee was immediately convened in order to consider this new complication of the case, and the following telegram was approved and sent at 11.15 a.m., addressed to the Deputation of the Reform Committee, care of Her Majesty's Agent, Pretoria: Meeting has been held since you started to consider telegram from British Agent, and it was unanimously resolved to authorize you to make following offer to Government. Begins: 'In order to avert bloodshed on grounds of Dr. Jameson's action, if Government will allow Dr. Jameson to come in unmolested, the Committee will guarantee with their persons if necessary that he shall leave again peacefully within as little delay as possible.'{22} The Committee well realized the fatal results of Dr. Jameson's invasion under the circumstances, and much as their position had been injured and complicated by his action, it was felt that it would still be better to get rid of the foreign element which he represented and to fight the battle out under such conditions as might arise without any assistance than to let things go from bad to worse through further action on Dr. Jameson's part. No reply had been received from the High Commissioner to the telegrams urging him to come up in person. Mr. Cecil Rhodes had telegraphed that he was urgently pressing the High Commissioner to come, but that he had received no assurances as yet from him. During Wednesday Messrs. Leonard and Hamilton telegraphed that the former had seen the High Commissioner, who had declined to move unless invited by the other side; they were using every effort to induce him to move but no reliance could be placed upon him. They further advised that in their strong opinion a reasonable compromise should be effected, and that it was most vital to avoid offence. Mr. F.H. Hamilton, who was one of the first associated with the movement, finding then that nothing more could be done and feeling that his proper place was with his comrades, refused to remain longer and returned to Johannesburg, arriving there after Dr. Jameson's surrender. Two and a half days had now elapsed since Dr. Jameson started, and the Committee were still without word or sign from him as to his having started or the reason which prompted him to do so. None knew better than Dr. Jameson himself the difficulties and magnitude of the task which he had set the Reform Committee when he struck his camp at Pitsani and marched into the Transvaal. None knew better than he that with the best luck and all the will and energy in the world it would hardly be possible to do as much as place the town in a position of defence. Every hour some explanation or some message was expected from him, something to throw a little light on his action; but nothing ever came, and the Committee were left to act in the dark as their judgment or good fortune might lead them. The deputation which had been sent to Pretoria met the Government Commission at noon on Wednesday. The Commission consisted of Chief Justice Kotzé (Chairman), Judge Ameshof, and Executive Member Kock. There was a Government shorthand clerk present. Before the business of the meeting was gone into, at the request of the Chief Justice the deputation consented to minutes of the interview being taken, remarking that as they were dealing with the Government in good faith they had nothing to conceal. It may be well to mention that at the meeting of Messrs. Malan and Marais with the Reform Committee the question was raised as to the attitude of the Government towards the deputation which it was suggested should be sent to Pretoria. Someone remarked that the Government were quite capable of inducing the deputation to go to Pretoria, having them arrested as soon as they got there, and holding them as hostages. Messrs. Marais and Malan both scouted the idea and stated positively that the Executive Council had formally acknowledged to them that they were negotiating with the Reform Committee in good faith, and that negotiations would of course be carried on in a decent manner as between two civilized parties in arms. These little incidents have a peculiar interest now in view of the treachery practised by the Government by means of the negotiations with the deputation. Mr. Lionel Phillips as spokesman detailed at length the position of affairs in Johannesburg, citing the grievances and disabilities under which the Uitlander population existed. He pointed out that year after year the Uitlanders had been begging and petitioning for redress of these grievances, for some amelioration of their condition, for fair and uniform treatment of all the white subjects of the State, and for some representation in the Legislature of the country, as they were entitled by their numbers and their work and their property to have; yet not only had a deaf ear been turned to all their petitions, but the conditions were actually aggravated year by year and, instead of obtaining relief, there was a marked increase in the burdens and disabilities imposed. He informed the Commission that the Manifesto fairly represented the views of the Reform Committee and the people of Johannesburg; that, whilst they were determined to have their rights, they recognised that it might not be possible to obtain complete redress at once, and they were prepared to accept what they might consider a reasonable instalment of redress. He stated that Dr. Jameson had remained on the borders of the Transvaal with an armed force by a written arrangement with certain of the leaders, and that he was there to render active assistance should the community be driven to extremes and require his assistance; but as to his present action the Committee could throw no further light upon it, as they were in ignorance of his reason for starting; they could only assume that he had done so in good faith, probably misled by rumours of trouble in Johannesburg which he thought he had sufficient reason to believe. He added that so far from being invited by the Committee, messengers had actually been sent to prevent him from moving, but that it was not known to the Committee if these messengers had reached him or if the telegrams which had been sent with a like purpose had ever been delivered to him, and that consequently the Committee preferred to believe that he had come in in good faith and thinking the community to be in dire need, and for this reason the people of Johannesburg were resolved to stand by him. In the course of the discussion, Executive Member Kock remarked: 'If you have erected fortifications and have taken up arms, you are nothing but rebels.' Mr. Phillips replied: 'You can call us rebels if you like. All we want is justice, decent treatment, and honest government; that is what we have come to ask of you.' Mr. Kock thereupon remarked that the deputation spoke as though they represented Johannesburg, whereas for all the Government knew the Reform Committee might be but a few individuals of no influence; and he asked if they could be informed as to who constituted that body. The deputation gave certain names from memory and offered to telegraph for a full list. The reply came in time to be handed to the Government and it constituted the sole piece of evidence ever obtained as to who were members of the Reform Committee. After hearing the statement of Mr. Phillips the Chief Justice informed the deputation that the Commission were not empowered to arrange terms, but were merely authorized to hear what the deputation had to say, to ascertain their grievances and the proposed remedies, and to report this discussion to the Government. Taking up certain points referred to by Mr. Phillips, the Chief Justice asked whether the Johannesburg people would consent to lay down their arms if the Government granted practically all the reforms that were asked. Mr. Phillips replied in the affirmative, adding that after enfranchisement the community would naturally be privileged to take up arms again as burghers of the State. The Chief Justice asked on what lines it was proposed that the franchise should be granted. The deputation replied that the community would be quite content if the Government would accept the principle, leaving the settlement of details to a Commission of three persons--one to be appointed by each party, and the third to be mutually agreed upon. The meeting was adjourned at noon until 5 p.m., and in the meantime the deputation telegraphed to the Reform Committee in Johannesburg the substance of what had taken place, stating among other things that they had explained the arrangements with Dr. Jameson. That such a message should be sent through the Government telegraph-office at a time when every telegram was read for the purpose of obtaining information as to what was on foot is further proof (if proof be needed) that the 'revelations' as to the connection between Dr. Jameson and the Reformers, which were brought out with theatrical effect later on, were not by any means a startling surprise to the Government, and were in fact well known to them in all essential details before the first encounter between the Boers and Dr. Jameson had taken place. The significance of this fact in its bearing upon Dr. Jameson's surrender and the after-treatment of the Reform prisoners should not be lost sight of. The adjourned meeting between the Government Commission and the Reform Committee deputation took place at 5 p.m., when the Chief Justice intimated to the deputation that they had reported to a full meeting of the Executive Council all that had taken place at the morning meeting, and that the Executive had authorized them to hand to the deputation in answer a resolution, the substance of which is given hereunder: The High Commissioner has offered his services with a view to a peaceful settlement. The Government of the South African Republic have accepted his offer. Pending his arrival, no hostile step will be taken against Johannesburg provided Johannesburg takes no hostile step against the Government. In terms of a certain proclamation recently issued by the State President the grievances will be earnestly considered. It is impossible to give the exact wording of the minute because the original document was inadvertently destroyed and all applications to Government for a copy were met at first by evasions and finally by point-blank refusal. The document was required as evidence in the trial of the Reform prisoners and every effort was made to secure an exact copy. As a last resource the above version, as sworn to by a number of men who had seen the original document, was put in. The Government were informed that if a true copy of the original resolution as recorded in the Minute Book of the Executive Council were not supplied for the purposes of evidence in the trial the prisoners would hand in the version given above. No reply was received to this, and the State Attorney acting on behalf of the Government admitted the version here given in the statement put in by the prisoners. It is clear therefore that if this version errs in any respect it cannot at all events be to the disadvantage of the Government or they would assuredly have objected to it and have produced the resolution itself. On receipt of the above resolution the deputation inquired whether this offer of the Government's was intended to include Dr. Jameson. The Chief Justice replied that the Government declined to treat about him as he was a foreign invader and would have to be turned out of the country. The deputation thereupon handed in the telegram from the Reform Committee, already quoted, offering their persons as security, and pointed out that this was the most earnest and substantial guarantee that it was possible to offer that the Committee had not invited Dr. Jameson and had no desire to destroy the independence of the State. The Commission in reply stated that the proclamation of the High Commissioner was being forwarded to Dr. Jameson from various quarters, and that he would inevitably be stopped. In reply to the statement by the deputation that they were not empowered to accept terms which did not explicitly include Dr. Jameson but would report to headquarters and reply later on, the Chief Justice stated that the Government required no answer to the resolution handed to them. This was in fact _their_ answer, and if the people of Johannesburg observed the conditions mentioned therein there would be no further trouble, but if they disregarded them they would be held responsible for whatever followed. The deputation returned to Johannesburg fully convinced that the grievances would be redressed and a peaceful settlement arrived at through the mediation of the High Commissioner, and that Dr. Jameson would inevitably obey the latter's proclamation and leave the country peacefully on ascertaining that there was no necessity for his intervention on behalf of the Uitlanders. Not only did the Government supply the deputation with the minute in writing already quoted, but they also instructed the local officers of Johannesburg to make public their decision to avail themselves of Sir Hercules Robinson's services. It will be observed that the notification published in Johannesburg is not so full as the Executive minute handed to the deputation in Pretoria, but the spirit in which it was given and accepted is shown by the following notice issued by the Reform Committee embodying the official statement: REFORM COMMITTEE. NOTICE. The Government have handed us a written reply this afternoon (January 1), stating they have agreed to accept the offer of the High Commissioner to go to Pretoria to assist the Government in preventing bloodshed, and then the representations of the Committee will be taken into serious consideration. The communication referred to is as follows: 'The Government of the South African Republic have accepted the offer of the High Commissioner to come to Pretoria. (Signed) J. L. VAN DER MERWE, _Mining Commissioner._ J. F. DE BEER, _Judicial Commissioner._ CARL JEPPE, _Member of the First Volksraad,_ _Johannesburg._ A. H. BLECKSLEY, _Commandant Volunteers._ Desirous as the Committee has always been to obtain its objects without the shedding of blood and incurring the horrors of civil war, the opportunity of achieving its aims by peaceful means is welcome. The Reform Committee desires that the public will aid them with the loyalty and enthusiasm which they have shown so far in the maintenance of its organization, and will stand firm in the cause of law and order and the establishment of their rights. By order of the Committee. This notice was published in the local press, and also distributed as a leaflet in Johannesburg. More than this! At one o'clock on Wednesday President Kruger had sent for Sir Jacobus de Wet and requested him to transmit to the Reform Committee the following message: 'I desire again to invite your serious attention to the fact that negotiations are going on between Mr. Chamberlain and His Honour the President. I am convinced the Government is prepared to meet any committee or deputation at any time to discuss matters. In view of this and of negotiations with Mr. Chamberlain I advise you to follow a constitutional course.' That telegram was framed at President Kruger's request and approved by him before being transmitted. A great deal has been said about the impolicy, and even the bad faith, of the Johannesburg people in concluding an armistice which did not include Dr. Jameson. From the above account it is clear in the first place that every effort was made to provide for his safety, and in the next place that no armistice was concluded. Certain terms were offered by the Government which it was open to the Committee to either accept or reject or ignore, as they might decide later on. In plain English, the Committee were as free after the negotiations as they had been before. They gave no undertaking to abstain from hostile action; they simply received the offer of the Government. Whether they complied with those conditions as a matter of cold-blooded selfish policy, whether they simply selected an easy way out of a difficult position, or whether they complied with the conditions solely because they were not in a position to do anything else, it is open to every man to decide for himself; but it does not seem fair, in face of the fact that they were _not_ able to do anything else, to impute the worst motives of all for the course which they eventually took. On the return of the deputation to Johannesburg a report of what had taken place was given to a full meeting of the Reform Committee. Divers opinions were expressed as to what was the right course to take, but eventually all were agreed that, as the first duty of the Committee was undoubtedly to protect the town and the unarmed section of the community, as they could not afford to send a single man out of the place, as there was no reason to suppose that Dr. Jameson required or would welcome any assistance, and as it seemed certain that he would be stopped by the High Commissioner's proclamation and turned back, it would be nothing short of criminal madness to adopt any aggressive measures at that stage. It does not appear to have occurred to many of the hostile critics of the Reform Committee to consider what might have happened when they are judging what actually took place. Dr. Jameson had invaded the country with less than 500 men. It must be clear from this that it was not his intention to conquer the Transvaal. It must have been and indeed it was his idea that it would be impossible for the Imperial Government to stand passively by and witness the struggle between its own subjects preferring legitimate and moderate claims and a corrupt and incompetent Boer Government. Intervention of one sort or another he certainly expected--either material help in the shape of British troops, or the intervention of the High Commissioner to effect a peaceful settlement. By the false step which evoked the High Commissioner's proclamation he had forfeited all claim to the support on which he reckoned. It was reasonable to suppose therefore that, on the receipt of the proclamation ordering him to return and calling on all British subjects to abstain from assisting him, he would realize the consequences of his mistake. He would also learn from the Reform Committee's messengers (that is, assuming that he did not know it already) that the Johannesburg people neither required nor wished for his intervention, and he would elect to leave the country in accordance with the High Commissioner's mandate rather than continue a course which, with the opposition of the British Government added to that of the Boer Government, must inevitably end in disgrace and disaster. This was the conclusion arrived at in the Reform Committee room; and it was then considered what would be the position of the Johannesburg people if, in defiance of the High Commissioner's proclamation and in violation of the terms offered by the Transvaal Government, they should adopt aggressive and wholly futile measures in aid of Dr. Jameson, only to find that he himself had obeyed the proclamation and had turned back. No man in his senses would have anticipated Dr. Jameson's continuing his march after receipt of the proclamation and full information as to the wishes and position of the Johannesburg people. But, apart from this, it was the opinion of military men, such as Colonel Heyman, who had been sent in by Dr. Jameson, and who were present at the meetings of the Reform Committee, that it would not be possible for the Boers to stop him, and that it would require a very large force indeed to cope with a body of men so well trained, well equipped, and well led as his were thought to be. It would moreover need extraordinary luck and management on the Boers' side to get together any considerable force in time to intercept him before he should reach Johannesburg. It may be added that the opinion expressed by these gentlemen is still adhered to. They say that, properly led, Jameson's force should have got in without firing a shot, and that, properly handled, they should not have been stopped by a much greater number of Boers. However this is as it may be. It has been stated, and the statement has gained considerable credence, that the very train which brought the deputation back to Johannesburg after their negotiations with the Government also brought a detachment of the State artillery with field-pieces and a plentiful supply of ammunition to reinforce the Boers, who were then in position to intercept Dr. Jameson, and it has further been suggested that the obvious course for the Reform Committee to have taken was to break up the line and to stop trains passing out towards Krugersdorp, also to seize the telegraph and railway offices. Such action would have been perfectly futile. As a matter of fact the artillery and ammunition were sent direct from Pretoria by waggon, and not through Johannesburg at all.{23} Any such action as the seizing of the telegraph and railway offices would have been useless in itself, if intended to aid Jameson's force, and would of course have been a declaration of war on the part of the Committee against the Transvaal Government, a declaration which they were not able to back up by any effective measures. A partially successful attempt was made to blow up the line between Johannesburg and Krugersdorp by individuals who thought that they would be rendering a service to the cause, and who did not stop to calculate the full effects of their action. During the afternoon of Wednesday, while the deputation were still engaged in negotiation with the Government Commission, the messenger despatched by Sir Jacobus de Wet, British Agent in Pretoria, to deliver the High Commissioner's proclamation to Dr. Jameson, arrived in Johannesburg, and applied at the Reform Committee rooms for an escort through the lines of defence, showing at the same time the passport given him by the Commandant-General to pass him through the Boer lines. It was immediately decided to take advantage of the opportunity in order to bring further pressure to bear upon Dr. Jameson to induce him to leave the country peacefully, and to make finally and absolutely sure that he should realize the true position of affairs. Mr. J. J. Lace, a member of the Reform Committee, volunteered to accompany the messenger to explain to Dr. Jameson the state of affairs in Johannesburg and to induce him to return while there was yet a chance of retrieving the position. On the return of the deputation this action of the rest of the Committee was cordially approved and was found to be in entire accord with the attitude taken up by them in their dealings with the Government. If any evidence were needed as to the sincerity and singleness of purpose of the Committee, the action taken by the deputation in Pretoria and the rest of the Committee in Johannesburg, whilst acting independently of each other and without any opportunity of discussing matters and deciding upon a common line, should be sufficient. If the Committee as a whole had not been following an honest and clearly-defined policy they would have inevitably come to grief under such trying circumstances. As a matter of fact, the steps taken during Wednesday by the two sections acting independently were wholly in accord. In the course of the day it became known that Dr. Jameson had caused to be published the letter of invitation quoted in another chapter, and from this it was clear to those who knew the circumstances under which the letter was given that he had deliberately started in violation of the agreement entered into, that he had thrown discretion to the winds, and decided to force the hands of the Johannesburg people. The result of this was that among the leaders it was realized that Dr. Jameson was playing his own hand with complete indifference to the consequences for others; but the vast majority of the Rand community could not possibly realize this, and were firmly convinced that the invading force had come in in good faith, believing the community to be in extreme peril. In sensational matters of this kind it is very often the case that a single phrase will illustrate the position more aptly than chapters of description. It is unfortunately also the case that phrases are used and catch the ear and survive the circumstances of the time, carrying with them meanings which they were never intended to convey. In the course of the events which took place in the early part of the year many such expressions were seized on and continually quoted. Among them, and belonging to the second description above referred to, is the phrase 'Stand by Jameson.' It was never used in the sense of sending out an armed force to the assistance of Dr. Jameson, because it was recognized from the beginning that such a course was not within the range of possibility. The phrase was first used in the Executive Council Chamber when the deputation from the Reform Committee met the Government Commission and Mr. Lionel Phillips explained the nature of the connection between the Johannesburg people and the invading force. After showing that the Rand community were not responsible for his immediate action, and after acknowledging that he was on the border with the intention of rendering assistance if it should be necessary, he said that the Uitlanders nevertheless believed that, owing to circumstances of which they were ignorant, Dr. Jameson had started in absolute good faith to come to their assistance, and for that reason they were determined to stand by him. For that reason they offered their persons as security for his peaceful evacuation of the country--a course which was then, and is still, deemed to be 'standing by him' in as effective and practical a manner as it was possible for men in their position to do. The reproach levelled at the Reform Committee by members of the Transvaal Government ever since the surrender of Dr. Jameson is that, whilst professing not to support hostile action against the State, and whilst avowing loyalty to the Republic, the people of Johannesburg did not give the logical and practical proof of such loyalty that the Government were entitled to expect; that is, they did not take up arms to fight against the invaders. It is scarcely necessary to say that such a preposterous idea never entered the minds of any of the Uitlanders. When all is said and done, blood is thicker than water, alike with the Uitlanders as with the Boers. The Boers have shown on many occasions that they elect to side with their kin on the promptings of their heart rather than support those whom their judgment shows them to be worthy of their assistance. Had the Uitlanders been sufficiently armed there can be no question that rightly or wrongly they would have sided with Jameson, and would have given him effective support had they known that he needed it. Had he ever reached Johannesburg the enthusiasm would have been wild and unbounded, and, however much the cooler heads among the community might realize that such a partial success might have proved a more serious misfortune than the total failure has been, no such considerations would have weighed with the community in general; and the men who were aiming at practical and lasting good results, rather than cultivating popular enthusiasm, would have been swept aside, and others, more in accord with the humour of the moment, would have taken their places. It is useless to speculate as to what would have happened had Dr. Jameson reached Johannesburg. The prestige of success might have enabled him, as it has enabled many others, to achieve the apparently impossible and compel the acceptance of terms which would have insured a lasting peace; but as Johannesburg had neither arms nor ammunition, especially the latter, commensurate with the requirements of anything like severe fighting, even for a single day, and as the invading force had not more than enough for its own requirements, it is difficult to conceive that anything but disaster could have followed. Throughout the troubles which followed the invasion it was not the personal suffering or loss which fell to the lot of the Johannesburg people that touched them so nearly as the taunts which were unjustly levelled at them for not rendering assistance to Dr. Jameson. The terms, 'cowards,' 'poltroons,' and 'traitors,' and the name of 'Judasburg,' absolutely undeserved as they were known to be, rankled in the hearts of all, and it was only by the exercise of much self-denial and restraint that it was possible for men to remain silent during the period preceding Dr. Jameson's trial. Extremely bitter feeling was roused by the tacit approval given to these censures by the officers of the invading force, for their continued silence was naturally construed to be tacit approval. 'Not once,' said one of the Reformers, 'has a single member of Dr. Jameson's party come forward and stated that the imputations on the Reformers were undeserved; yet we gave them the benefit of every doubt, and tried throughout to screen them, whilst all the time the Doctor and at least three of his companions knew that they had started to "make their own flotation." That is not cricket.' It has been urged on behalf of Dr. Jameson that he could not have been asked to state prior to his trial that he never expected or arranged for help from Johannesburg--that his case was already a sufficiently difficult one without embarrassing it with other people's affairs. Yet it was noted in Johannesburg that, when a report was circulated to the effect that he had started the invasion on the instructions of Mr. Cecil Rhodes, he and another officer of his force wrote jointly to the English papers to say that there was no truth whatever in the statement. The consequences of taking upon himself the responsibility for initiative in this way, while he had yet to undergo his trial, were far more serious than would have followed a simple statement to the effect that injustice was being done to the Rand community in the charges of cowardice laid against it. It was felt then, and the feeling has not in any way abated, that Dr. Jameson regarded the fate and interests of the people of Johannesburg with indifference, looking upon them merely as pawns in a game that he was playing. It was only Mr. Rhodes who took an opportunity to say that 'the Johannesburg people are not cowards; they were rushed.' The general public did not know the circumstances under which Dr. Jameson had agreed to remain on the frontier. They did not know that telegrams and messengers had been despatched to stop him, nor was it felt advisable to inform them of these steps at a time when matters had seemingly gone too far to be stopped. It was considered that any statement of that kind put forth at that particular juncture would simply tend to create a panic from which no good results could accrue, and that, as Dr Jameson had cast the die and crossed his Rubicon, as little as possible should be done needlessly to embarrass him. Suggestions were continually being made, and have been and are still being frequently quoted, to the effect that a force should be sent out to create a diversion among the Boer commandoes in Jameson's favour. Suggestions were made by men who had not the remotest idea of the resources at the command of the Committee, or who did not stop to think of what might have happened had Johannesburg been depleted of its armed force, and so left at the mercy of a few hundred Boers. There were always, as there will always be, men prepared for any reckless gamble, but this course was most earnestly considered time after time by the Committee when some fresh suggestion or development seemed to warrant a reconsideration of the decision already arrived at not to attempt any aggressive measures. Finally the matter was by common consent left in the hands of Colonel Heyman, an officer who has rendered distinguished service in South Africa, and whose reputation and judgment were acknowledged by all. This course was the more readily agreed to since Colonel Heyman was by none more highly thought of than by Dr. Jameson himself. The decision given by him was that the invading force, properly led, drilled and equipped as it was, was a far stronger body than the entire force enrolled under the Reform Committee, and that it would require a very large force indeed of burghers to stop it. If Dr. Jameson had thought that he would need help there had been ample time for him to send a fast mounted messenger to Johannesburg. He had not done so; and it was therefore to be presumed that as he had taken upon himself the responsibility of invasion he was prepared for all contingencies; but, apart from this, the force available in Johannesburg, which would be in a few days a very good one behind earthworks, was at that moment utterly unfit to march out in the open. It would in its then condition, and with no equipment of field-pieces, be liable to be annihilated by a relatively small number of Boers before it should reach Dr. Jameson. It was decided, however, that, should fighting take place within such distance from the town that men could be taken from the defences without endangering the safety of the town, a force should be taken out at once. Fault has repeatedly been found with the military organization in Johannesburg for not having been well served by an Intelligence Department, and for not knowing from day to day what the whereabouts and position of Dr. Jameson's forces were. The reply to this is that the Johannesburg people had only two days in which to look after themselves and protect themselves in the crisis in which Dr. Jameson's action had plunged them; that as a matter of fact strenuous efforts were made to establish communication with the invading force; that the Intelligence Department--which, considering how short a time was available for its organization, was by no means unsatisfactory--was employed in many directions besides that in which Dr. Jameson was moving; that some success was achieved in communicating with him, but that the risks to be taken, owing to the imperative necessity of saving time at almost any cost, were greater than usual and resulted in the capture of eight or ten of the men employed in the endeavour to communicate with Dr. Jameson alone; and finally, that since he had seen fit to violate all the arrangements entered into and dash into the country in defiance of the expressed wishes of the people, whom he was bent on rescuing whether they wished to be rescued or not, the least that could be expected of him and of his force was that they should acquaint themselves with the road which they proposed to travel and take the necessary steps to keep the Johannesburg people posted as to their movements. It has been urged by a prominent member of the invading force--not Dr. Jameson--that since the force had been kept on the border for some weeks with the sole object of assisting Johannesburg people when they should require assistance, the very least that they were entitled to expect was that someone should be sent out to show them the road and not leave them to go astray for want of a guide. To this it was replied that a force which had been, as they stated, on the border for several weeks with the sole object of invading the country by a certain road, had ample time, and might certainly have been expected to know the road; and as for relieving Johannesburg in its necessity, the argument might have applied had this 'necessity' ever arisen; but since the idea was to force the hands of the Reformers, the latter might fairly regard themselves as absolved from every undertaking, specific or implied, which might ever have been made in connection with the business. But at that time the excuse had not been devised that there had ever been an undertaking to assist Jameson, on the contrary it was readily admitted that such an idea was never entertained for a moment; nor can one understand how anyone cognizant of the telegram from Dr. Jameson to Dr. Rutherfoord Harris--'We will make our own flotation by the aid of the letter which I shall publish'--can set up any defence at the expense of others. By Wednesday night it was known that Major Heany had passed through Mafeking in time to join Dr. Jameson's force, and that, bar some extraordinary accident, Captain Holden must have met Dr. Jameson on his way, since he had been despatched along the road which Dr. Jameson would take in marching on Johannesburg; and if all other reasons did not suffice to assure the Committee that Dr. Jameson would not be relying on any assistance from Johannesburg the presence of one or other of the two officers above mentioned would enable him to know that he should not count upon Johannesburg to give him active support. Both were thoroughly well acquainted with the position and were able to inform him, and have since admitted that they did inform him, that he should not count upon a single man going out to meet him. Captain Holden--who prior to the trial of Dr. Jameson and his comrades, prompted by loyalty to his chief, abstained from making any statement which could possibly embarrass him--immediately after the trial expressed his regret at the unjust censure upon the Johannesburg people and the charges of cowardice and bad faith which had been levelled against them, and stated that he reached Pitsani the night before Dr. Jameson started, and that he faithfully and fully delivered the messages which he was charged to deliver and earnestly impressed upon Dr. Jameson the position in which the Johannesburg people were placed, and their desire that he should not embarrass them by any precipitate action. Before daybreak on Thursday, January 2, Bugler Vallé, of Dr. Jameson's force, arrived in the Reform Committee room and reported himself as having been sent by the Doctor at about midnight after the battle at Krugersdorp on Wednesday. He stated that the Doctor had supplied him with the best horse in the troop and sent him on to inform Colonel Rhodes where he was. He described the battle at the Queen's Mine, Krugersdorp, and stated that the force had been obliged to retreat from the position in which they had fought in order to take up a better one on higher ground, but that the position in which they had camped for the night was not a very good one. When questioned as to the exact message that he had been told to deliver he replied, 'The Doctor says, "Tell them that I am getting along all right, but they must send out to meet me."' He was asked what was meant by 'sending out to meet him.' Did it mean to send a force out? Did he want help? His reply was, 'No; the Doctor says he is getting along all right, but you must send out to meet him.' The messenger was keenly questioned upon this point, but adhered to the statement that the force was getting along all right and would be in early in the morning. Colonel Rhodes, who was the first to see the messenger, was however dissatisfied with the grudging admissions and the ambiguous message, and expressed the belief that 'the Doctor wants help, but is ashamed to say so.' Acting promptly on this conviction, he despatched all the mounted men available (about 100) under command of Colonel Bettington, with instructions to ascertain the whereabouts of Dr. Jameson's force, and if possible to join them. This was done without the authority of the Committee and in direct opposition to the line already decided upon. It was moreover considered to be taking a wholly unnecessary risk, in view of the fact that an attack upon the town was threatened by burgher forces on the north-west side, and it was immediately decided by a number of members who heard of Colonel Rhodes' action to despatch a messenger ordering the troop not to proceed more than ten miles from the town, but to reconnoitre and ascertain what Dr. Jameson's position was, with the reservation that, should it be found that he actually needed help, such assistance as was possible should of course be given him. As a matter of hard fact it would not have been possible for the troop to reach Dr. Jameson before his surrender, so that the action taken upon the only message received from the invading force had no practical bearing upon the results. At daybreak on Thursday morning Mr. Lace and the despatch rider sent by the British Agent to deliver the High Commissioner's proclamation and the covering despatch were passed through the Dutch lines under the authority of the Commandant-General, and they delivered the documents to Dr. Jameson in person. In reply to Sir Jacobus de Wet's appeal Dr. Jameson said, 'Tell Sir Jacobus de Wet that I have received his despatch; and that I shall see him in Pretoria to-morrow.' Mr. Lace briefly informed him of the position, as he had undertaken to do. The presence of a Boer escort and the shortness of the time allowed for the delivery of the messages prevented any lengthy conversation. Dr. Jameson made no comment further than to say, 'It is too late now,' and then asked the question, 'Where are the troops?' to which Mr. Lace replied, 'What troops do you mean? We know nothing about troops.' It did not occur to Mr. Lace or to anyone else that he could have meant 'troops' from Johannesburg. With the receipt of Dr. Jameson's verbal reply to the British Agent's despatch-carrier the business was concluded, and the escort from the Boer lines insisted on leaving, taking with them Mr. Lace and the despatch-rider. He offered no further remark. Footnotes for Chapter V {22} The telegram originally read 'within twenty-four hours,' but it was considered impossible to guarantee the time exactly, and the alteration as above given was made, the word 'within' being inadvertently left standing instead of 'with.' {23} Captain Ferreira, at one time in command of the guard over the Reformers, informed the writer that he had formed one of the cavalry escort. 'It is a good story,' he said, 'but what fools we would have been to send our guns shut up in trucks through a hostile camp of 20,000 armed men--as we thought--round two sides of a triangle instead of going by the shorter and safe road.' CHAPTER VI. THE INVASION. From the evidence on the trial at bar of Dr. Jameson and his comrades, it appears that about 20th October, 1895, orders were given to the Matabeleland Border Police to move southward. After this, further mobilization of other bodies took place and during the first week in December there collected at Pitsani Potlogo the body of men from whom Dr. Jameson's invading column was afterwards selected. For three weeks the men were continuously drilled and practised in all warlike exercises and thoroughly prepared for the enterprise which their leaders had in view. On Sunday, December 29, at about three in the afternoon, the little force was paraded and Dr. Jameson read to them the letter of invitation quoted in a previous chapter. He is alleged by certain witnesses to have said that he had just received this and that they could not refuse to go to the assistance of their countrymen in distress, and he confidently appealed to the men to support him. He said that he did not anticipate any bloodshed at all. They would proceed by forced marching straight through to Johannesburg, and would reach that town before the Boers were aware of his movements, and certainly before they could concentrate to stop him. It has been alleged by some witnesses that the men of the Bechuanaland Border Police who advanced from Mafeking under the command of Colonel Grey and Major Coventry were not so fully informed as to their destination and the reasons for the movement until they were actually in marching order to start. It would appear however from the general summary of the evidence and from the reports of the men who took part in the expedition, that they were informed that the destination of the force was Johannesburg, that the object was to render assistance to their countrymen in that town who were being grossly misruled by the Transvaal Government and were at that time in grievous straits and peril through having endeavoured to assert their rights and obtain the reforms for which they had so long been agitating, and that the immediate reason for marching was the receipt of an urgent appeal from Johannesburg citizens, which appeal (the letter of invitation) was duly read to them. In reply to questions as to whether they were fighting under the Queen's orders, they were informed that they were going to fight for the supremacy of the British flag in South Africa. A considerable proportion of the men declined to take part in the enterprise, and it is probably largely due to defections at the last moment that the statement was made that 700 men had started with Dr. Jameson, whereas it appears that only 480 ever left the Protectorate. The following is a portion of the Majority Report of the Select Committee on the Jameson Raid appointed by the Cape House of Assembly: On the 26th December there was a sudden check. On the afternoon of that day Colonel Rhodes telegraphs to Charter, Capetown, 'It is absolutely necessary to postpone flotation. Charles Leonard left last night for Capetown.' Messages to the same effect were sent from Mr. S.W. Jameson to his brother, and from Dr. Harris for the Chartered Company to Dr. Jameson, the latter concluding: 'So you must not move till you hear from us again. Too awful. Very sorry.' As to the nature of the hitch that occurred, there is some light thrown on it by the statement from Mr. S.W. Jameson to his brother that any movement must be postponed 'until we have C.J. Rhodes' absolute pledge that authority of Imperial Government will not be insisted on,' a point that is further alluded to in Telegram No. 6,537 of Appendix QQ of the 28th December. Whatever the exact nature of the obstacle was, there can be no doubt that some at least of the Johannesburg confederates were much alarmed and took all possible steps to stay proceedings. In addition to urgent telegrams special messengers were sent to impress on Dr. Jameson the necessity for delay. One of these, Captain Holden, made his way across country. According to Mr. Hammond's evidence Holden arrived at Mafeking on the 28th December, and went in with the column. The other messenger was Captain Maurice Heany, who left Johannesburg on the 26th December, and on the 27th telegraphed from Bloemfontein to Charter, Capetown, informing them that 'Zebrawood' (Colonel Rhodes) had asked him to 'stop "Zahlbar" (Dr. Jameson) till Heany sees him,' and asking that a special train might be arranged for him. Dr. Harris replied to Kimberley on the 28th informing him that a special train was arranged, and added, 'lose no time or you will be late.' It is in evidence that this special train was provided by the Chartered Company, that Heany left by it, caught up the ordinary train at Vryburg, and that he reached Mafeking at 4.30 a.m. on Sunday, the 29th. The evidence is that he was coming with an urgent message to stop Dr. Jameson; that on his arrival at Mafeking he waked up Mr. Isaacs, a local storekeeper, and purchased a pair of field boots and a kit-bag, and proceeded by special cart to Pitsani; and that he subsequently on the same evening accompanied Dr. Jameson on his inroad and was captured at Doornkop.{24} On the 27th, after receiving the discouraging telegrams mentioned above from Johannesburg, Dr. Jameson telegraphed to Harris, Charter, Capetown, 'I am afraid of Bechuanaland Police for cutting wire. They have now all gone forward, but will endeavour to put a stop to it. Therefore expect to receive telegram from you nine to-morrow morning authorizing movements. Surely Col. F.W. Rhodes advisable to come to terms at once. Give guarantee, or you can telegraph before Charles Leonard arrived.' This doubtless alludes to the necessity for guarantee mentioned in the message from S.W. Jameson, and the alternative suggestion was that authority to proceed should be given before the arrival of the Johannesburg delegate at Capetown. Two hours later on the same day he sends another message of the utmost importance. He informs Harris, Charter, Capetown, as follows: 'If I cannot, as I expect, communicate with Bechuanaland Border Police cutting, then we must carry into effect original plans. They have then two days for flotation. If they do not, we will make our own flotation with help of letter, which I will publish.' On the same day Dr. Jameson telegraphed to his brother in Johannesburg as follows: 'Guarantee already given, therefore let J.H. Hammond telegraph instantly all right.' To this Mr. Hammond sent a most positive reply absolutely condemning his proposed action. As bearing upon the attitude of the force at Pitsani, it may be noted that on the same day that the foregoing correspondence was taking place, Mr. A. Bates was despatched from Mafeking into the Transvaal with instructions from Major Raleigh Grey to collect information and meet Dr. Jameson _en route._ He was supplied with a horse and money, and seems to have done his best to carry out instructions. Early the next day Dr. Jameson telegraphed to Harris, Charter, Capetown: 'There will be no flotation if left to themselves; first delay was races, which did not exist; second policies, already arranged. All mean fear.{25} You had better go as quickly as possible and report fully, or tell Hon. C.J. Rhodes to allow me.' The reply to this was: 'It is all right if you will only wait. Captain Maurice Heany comes to you from Col. F.W. Rhodes by special train to-day.' And, again, two hours later, Dr. Harris for the Chartered Company telegraphs: 'Goold Adams arrives Mafeking Monday, and Heany, I think, arrives to-night; after seeing him, you and we must judge regarding flotation, but all our foreign friends are now dead against it and say public will not subscribe one penny towards even with you as a director--Ichabod.' Still on the same day two further telegrams to Dr. Jameson were sent from Capetown, almost together, of a strongly discouraging tenour. One of them concludes by saying 'we cannot have fiasco,' and the other informs Dr. Jameson that Lionel Phillips anticipates complete failure of any premature action. On the same day Dr. Harris informs Colonel Rhodes at Johannesburg that, 'Have arranged for Captain Maurice Heany; Dr. Jameson awaiting Capt. Maurice Heany's arrival. Keep market firm.' And later: 'Charles Leonard says flotation not popular, and England's bunting will be resisted by public. Is it true? Consult all our friends and let me know, as Dr. Jameson is quite ready to move resolution and is only waiting for Captain Heany's arrival.' A few hours later Dr. Jameson telegraphs to Harris, Charter, Capetown: 'Received your telegram Ichabod _re_ Capt. Maurice Heany. Have no further news. I require to know. Unless I hear definitely to the contrary, shall leave to-morrow evening and carry into effect my second telegram (Appendix QQ, No. 06365) of yesterday to you, and it will be all right.' On the next morning, Sunday the 29th, Heany arrived at Mafeking, and after making the purchases detailed above, left by special cart for the camp at Pitsani, where he probably arrived about eight o'clock a.m. At five minutes past nine Dr. Jameson telegraphed to Harris, Charter, Capetown: 'Shall leave to-night for the Transvaal. My reason is the final arrangement with writers of letter was that, without further reference to them, in case I should hear at some future time that suspicions have been aroused as to their intention among the Transvaal authorities, I was to start immediately to prevent loss of lives, as letter states. Reuter only just received. Even without my own information of meeting in the Transvaal, compel immediate move to fulfil promise made. We are simply going to protect everybody while they change the present dishonest Government and take vote from the whole country as to form of Government required by the whole.' The force took with them provisions for one day only, relying on the commissariat arrangements made on their behalf by Dr. Wolff _en route._ They were well mounted and armed with Lee-Metford carbines, and took with them eight Maxims, two seven-pounders and one twelve-pounder. In order to facilitate quick movement no heavy equipment was taken, and but little spare ammunition. The vehicles attending the column were six Scotch carts and one Cape cart. The total distance to be covered was about 170 miles to Johannesburg, or 150 miles to Krugersdorp. The start was made from Pitsani shortly after 5 p.m., and marching was continued throughout the night. The force consisted of about 350 of the Chartered forces under Colonel Sir John Willoughby, Major in the Royal Horse Guards; the Hon. H. F. White, Major 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards; Hon. R. White, Captain Royal Welsh Fusiliers; Major J. B. Tracey, 2nd Battalion Scots Guards; Captain C. H. Villiers, Royal Horse Guards; and 120 of the Bechuanaland Border Police under Major Raleigh Grey, Captain 6th Inniskillen Dragoons, and the Hon. C. J. Coventry, Captain 3rd Militia Battalion Worcester Regiment. The two contingents met at Malmani at about sunrise on Monday morning, December 30. They marched throughout that day and night and the following day, Tuesday. There were half-hour rests about every twenty miles for rationing the men and feeding and watering the horses, the fodder being ready for the horses at various stores. Provisions for the men consisted of tinned meats and biscuits. There was no lack of provisions at all; but the men complained afterwards that they were so overcome with fatigue from continuous marching that when they reached the resting-places they generally lay down where they dismounted, and slept, instead of taking the food which was ready for them. A serious fault in the conduct of the expedition appears to have been the lack of opportunity for rest and food afforded the men. It was contended that the same or a higher average of speed might have been attained by pressing on faster for spells of a few hours and allowing reasonable intervals for rest and refreshment. Only about 130 miles had been covered by the column during the seventy hours that they were on the march before they were first checked by any serious opposition from the Boers. On Monday, December 30, at about 1 p.m., Mr. F.J. Newton, Resident Commissioner at Mafeking, received the following telegram from the High Commissioner, Capetown, dated the same day: It is rumoured here that Dr. Jameson has entered the Transvaal with an armed force. Is this so? If so, send special messenger on fast horse directing him to return immediately. A copy of this telegram should be sent to the officers with him, and they should be told that this violation of the territory of a friendly State is repudiated by Her Majesty's Government, and that they are rendering themselves liable to severe penalties. Mr. Newton at once addressed to Dr. Jameson and each of the chief officers with him the following letter: SIR, I have the honour to enclose copy of a telegram which I have received from His Excellency the High Commissioner, and I have accordingly to request that you will immediately comply with His Excellency's instructions. Trooper J.T. White was despatched as soon as possible with the five letters, enclosed in waterproof, with instructions to ride until he caught up to Dr. Jameson and delivered the letters. He was stopped by a party of armed Boers and taken before Landdrost Marais at Malmani, where the despatches were opened and read. He was delayed for four hours, and then allowed to proceed with an escort. On Tuesday morning he crossed the Elands River and caught up the column at about 11 a.m. He had ridden all night, covering about eighty miles. He alleges that at first the officers would not take the letters, but eventually Sir John Willoughby accepted and read his and the others followed suit. He stated that he had been instructed to deliver the letters personally, and to get a reply. Sir John Willoughby sent a message by him stating that the despatches would be attended to. Shortly after this Dr. Jameson also received a protest from the Commandant of the Marico district against his invasion of the State, to which he sent the following reply: _December 30, 1895._ SIR, I am in receipt of your protest of the above date, and have to inform you that I intend proceeding with my original plans, which have no hostile intention against the people of the Transvaal; but we are here in reply to an invitation from the principal residents of the Rand to assist them in their demand for justice and the ordinary rights of every citizen of a civilized State. Yours faithfully L.S. JAMESON. White states that this was about noon, and 'then the bugle sounded and the column moved off.' The force continued advancing in much the same way throughout Tuesday, and at 6 p.m. a skirmisher of the advanced guard met Lieutenant Eloff of the Krugersdorp District Police, who had been instructed by his Government to ride to Mafeking, presumably for the purpose of getting information. He had come with a guard of nine men, whom he had left some distance off; advancing alone to meet the column. He states that when released after two hours' delay he left the forces, and passing along the Rustenburg road met a commando of some 300 Boers with whom he made a circuit to avoid the column, and reached Krugersdorp before it did. From this it is clear that the Boers were collecting in considerable numbers to meet the invading force, and were moving with much greater rapidity than their enemies. On Wednesday morning, at about 5.30, Messrs. Theron and Bouwer (despatch riders), who had been sent by Sir Jacobus de Wet, British Agent at Pretoria, at 1.30 p.m. on the previous day with a despatch for Dr. Jameson, reached the column and delivered their letters, and stated that they had been instructed to take back a reply as soon as possible. Dr. Jameson said, 'All right; I'll give you a reply,' and within a few minutes he handed to them the following letter: _January 1._ DEAR SIR, I am in receipt of the message you sent from His Excellency the High Commissioner, and beg to reply, for His Excellency's information, that I should, of course, desire to obey his instructions, but, as I have a very large force of both men and horses to feed, and having finished all my supplies in the rear, must perforce proceed to Krugersdorp or Johannesburg this morning for this purpose. At the same time I must acknowledge I am anxious to fulfil my promise on the petition of the principal residents of the Rand, to come to the aid of my fellow-men in their extremity. I have molested no one, and have explained to all Dutchmen met that the above is my sole object, and that I shall desire to return at once to the Protectorate. I am, etc., (Signed) L.S. JAMESON. At about 10.30 a.m. on the same day (January 1) two cyclists, Messrs. Celliers and Rowland, carrying despatches from members of the Reform Committee, met the column. The letters were received by Dr. Jameson, and taken with him as far as Doornkop, where, upon surrender of the force, they appear to have been torn up. With that good fortune which seems to have followed the Boers throughout this business, these torn fragments were picked up on the battle-field by a Boer official four months later, having remained undisturbed during the severe rain and wind storms of the wet season. Some portions were missing, but the others were pieced together and produced in evidence against the Reform prisoners. The letters are printed hereunder as they were written, as testified by the writers, and, in the case of the first one, by others who read it before it was despatched. The italics represent the fragments of the letters which were never found:{26} DEAR DR. The rumour of massa_cre in_ Johannesburg that started yo_u to_ our relief was not true. We a_re all_ right, feeling intense. We have armed a lot of men. Shall be very glad to see you. _We are_ not in possess_ion of the_ town. _I shall send out some_ men to _You are a fine_ fellow. Yours ever F.R.{27} We will all drink a glass along _o_' you. L.P.{28} 31st, 11.30. Kruger has asked for _some of us to_ go over and treat: armistice for _24 hours agreed_ to. My view is that they are in a funk at Pretoria, and they were wrong to agree from here. F.R.{27} DR. JAMESON. [Illustration. Caption: The above are reproductions of photographs of the documents now in possession of the Transvaal Government. For the report of the expert, Mr. T.H. Gurrin, as submitted to the Select Committee of the House of Commons, see Appendix L.] It may be noted that the tone of this correspondence does not appear to be in accord with the attitude taken up by the Reform Committee. The letters however were written on Tuesday the 31st, when there was a general belief that Dr. Jameson had started in good faith, misled by some false reports. In the second letter Colonel Rhodes expresses the opinion that it was wrong to agree to send in a deputation to meet the Government. This was written before the deputation had gone to Pretoria, and clearly implies that the moral effect of treating would be bad. The phrasing also shows that the so-called armistice was for the purpose of treating, and not the treating for the purpose of securing an armistice: in other words, that the armistice would expire, and not commence, with the treating. From the evidence given by the cyclist Rowland, it appears that he stated to Dr. Jameson that he could get 2,000{29} armed men to go out to his assistance; and Rowland in evidence alleged further that there was some offer of assistance in one of the despatches, and that Dr. Jameson, in reply, said he did not need any assistance, but that if 2,000 men should come out probably the Boers would draw off. This witness in his evidence at Bow Street also alleged that one of the despatches expressed surprise at Dr. Jameson's movement. There is now a complete record of these despatches. They make no allusions to giving assistance, and the Johannesburg leaders are very clear on the point that no promise or offer of assistance was ever made. The reply which Dr. Jameson caused to be sent was concealed in one of the bicycles, which were seized by the Boer authorities on the return ride of the despatch-carriers, and was not brought to light until the following March, when a mechanic who was repairing the broken bicycle discovered it. The much-debated question of whether assistance was ever promised or expected should be finally disposed of by the publication of two documents which have not heretofore appeared in print. They are _(a)_ the reply of Dr. Jameson to Colonel Rhodes' letters, and _(b)_ the report of Mr. Celliers, the cyclist despatch-rider who took the letter and received the reply, which report was taken down in shorthand by the clerks in the Reform Committee room as it was made verbally by him immediately on his return. Both these records dispose of Mr. Rowland's statement about 2,000 men; and apart from this it should be observed that Mr. Celliers was the messenger sent by Colonel Rhodes and not Mr. Rowland; the latter having been later on picked up 'for company,' was presumably less qualified to speak about the instructions and messages than Celliers, from whom indeed he learned all that he knew. The letter was written by Col. H. F. White in the presence of the cyclists, and partly at the dictation of Dr. Jameson. It was in the form of a memorandum from Col. H. F. White to Col. Frank Rhodes, and bore no signature; but the last line was in Dr. Jameson's handwriting, and was initialed by him. It ran as follows: As you may imagine, we are all well pleased by your letter. We have had some fighting, and hope to reach Johannesburg to-night, but of course it will depend on the amount of fighting we have. Of course we shall be pleased to have 200 men meet us at Krugersdorp, as it will greatly encourage the men, who are in great heart although a bit tired. Love to Sam, Phillips, and rest, L. S. J. Mr. Celliers' report--after detailing the incidents of the ride out--runs: ... I reached the column between 9 and 10 o'clock. I saw Dr. Jameson personally. He received us very well, and was very glad with the news I brought him. He read the despatch, and asked me for full details. I told him the strength of the Boers and the dangers he was in. I told him that they had no guns, and all that I saw and heard that they had during my travels. I explained to him everything in detail. The Doctor seemed to be very brave. He told me that he had two scrimmages, and that no damage had been done. I said to him whether it would not be well for him to halt until we got through and sent him some help. The Doctor said he did not think there was anything to fear, and at the same time he did not want to go to Johannesburg as a pirate, and it would be well for them to send some men to meet him. I also made inquiries as to whether I could return by any other road, but found it was impossible, and that we had to come back the same way. I got his despatch, shook hands with him, wished us well, and set on our journey back. The report, which is given above literally as transcribed from the shorthand notes, concludes with an account of the return journey. Mr. Celliers in a subsequent statement confirmed the above, and added: The impression which the Doctor gave me most certainly was that he had never expected help and did not want it.{30} The march continued on towards Krugersdorp. At one or two places a few shots were fired by Boer pickets, and on one occasion the Maxims of the invading force were turned on a party of some fifty Boers ensconced in a good position. No casualties however occurred until Krugersdorp was reached at 3 p.m. on Wednesday. A message was sent by Sir John Willoughby to the authorities at Krugersdorp that if he encountered any opposition he would shell the town, and he warned them to have their women and children removed. Shortly after mid-day positions were taken up on the hills pear Krugersdorp, and at three o'clock severe fighting took place which lasted well on into the night. An ambush at the crushing mill and works of the Queen's Mine was shelled and an attempt was made to storm it by a small party of the invaders. It was unsuccessful however, and after nightfall Dr. Jameson's force was obliged to retreat from its position and seek a more advantageous one on higher ground. They had suffered a reverse at the hands of a somewhat larger force of Boers who had selected a very strong position. Firing did not cease until 11 p.m. Here it is alleged the fatal military mistake of the expedition was committed. No precautions had been taken to ascertain the road. Instead of being well acquainted with the direction to be taken the force was dependent upon a guide picked up on the spot, a man who was never seen after the events of the following day and is freely alleged to have been a Boer agent. It is stated by competent judges that, had Dr. Jameson's force pushed on during the night on the main road to Johannesburg, they would have succeeded in reaching that town without difficulty. As it was however they camped for the night in the direction of Randfontein and in the early morning struck away south, attempting a big detour to avoid the road which they had tried to force the previous night. There is but little doubt that they were shepherded into the position in which they were called upon to fight at Doornkop. The following description of the Doornkop fight was written by Captain Frank Younghusband, the correspondent of the London _Times_, who was an eye-witness: Galloping over the rolling open grassy downs in search of Dr. Jameson's force which was expected to arrive at Johannesburg at any moment, my companion Heygate and myself saw between us two forces, both stationary. Then one began to move away and from the regularity of its movement we recognized that this must be Dr. Jameson's trying to round the opposing Boer forces. We found a Boer guard holding the only ford across the stream; so going up to the Commander we asked for news. He, after questioning us, told us all that had occurred. He was a field-cornet from Potchefstroom, and leader of one division of the Boers. He said that yesterday, January 1, Dr. Jameson had attacked the Boer force at the George and May Mine, two miles north-west of Krugersdorp, a small mining township twenty-one miles west of Johannesburg. Fighting took place from three in the afternoon to eleven at night, Dr. Jameson making three principal attacks, and doing great damage with his artillery, which the Boers, having then no guns, were unable to reply to. My informant, the Boer leader, said that both then and to-day Dr. Jameson's men behaved with great gallantry, and he also said that admirable arrangements had been made at Krugersdorp for nursing the wounded on both sides. This morning the Boers took up a position at Vlakfontein, eight miles on the Johannesburg side of Krugersdorp, on a circuitous road to the south by which Dr. Jameson was marching. The Boers in the night had been reinforced by men and with artillery and Maxims. Their position was an exceedingly strong one on an open slope, but along a ridge of rocks cropping out of it. It was a right-angled position and Dr. Jameson attacked them in the re-entering angle, thus having fire on his front and flank. To attack this position his men had to advance over a perfectly open gently-sloping grassy down, while the Boers lay hid behind rocks and fired with rifles, Maxims, and artillery upon their assailants. The Boers numbered from 1,200 to 1,500, Dr. Jameson's force about 500, and the position was practically unassailable. Dr. Jameson, after making a desperate effort to get through, surrendered, and as we stood we saw his brave little band riding dejectedly back again to Krugersdorp without their arms and surrounded by a Boer escort. We were allowed to ride close up, but were refused permission to see Dr. Jameson. It is therefore impossible to state his full reasons, but it is known that he was made aware that it was impossible to send assistance from here, and this may have influenced him in giving up the contest when he found the enemy's position so strong that in any case it would have been no disgrace to have been beaten by superior numbers of such a brave foe as that Boer force which I saw in the very position they had fought in. It was evident that probably no one had ever started on a more desperate venture than had this daring little force, and they gained by their gallantry the adoration, not only of the Boer burghers who spoke to me, but of the whole town of Johannesburg. These Boers--rough, simple men, dressed in ordinary civilian clothes, with merely a rifle slung over the shoulder to show they were soldiers--spoke in feeling terms of the splendid bravery shown by their assailants. They were perfectly calm and spoke without any boastfulness in a self-reliant way. They said, pointing to the ground, that the thing was impossible, and hence the present result. The total loss of Dr. Jameson's force is about twenty. Major Grey was, they said, the principal military officer, and they thought that no officer was killed, and that the report that Sir John Willoughby had been killed was unfounded. He and Dr. Jameson have been taken to Pretoria. At 9.15 o'clock the white flag was put up. Sir J. Willoughby, the officer in command of the force, then sent the following note addressed to the Commandant of the Transvaal Forces: We surrender, provided that you guarantee us safe conduct out of the country for every member of the force. JOHN C. WILLOUGHBY. A reply was sent within fifteen minutes, of which the following is a literal translation: OFFICER,--Please take note that I shall immediately assemble our officers to decide upon your communication. COMMANDANT. Twenty or thirty minutes later a second note was received by the surrendering force, addressed 'John C. Willoughby': I acknowledge your letter. The answer is that, if you will undertake to pay the expense which you have caused the South African Republic, and if you will surrender with your arms, then I shall spare the lives of you and yours. Please send me a reply to this within thirty minutes. P. A. CRONJÉ. _Commandant, Potchefstroom._ Within fifteen minutes of the receipt of this letter, Sir J. Willoughby replied, accepting the conditions in the following terms: I accept the terms on the guarantee that the lives of all will be spared. I now await your instructions as to how and where we are to lay down our arms. At the same time I would ask you to remember that my men have been without food for the last twenty-four hours. 'The flag sent with the first message (to quote the statement made on behalf of Sir J. Willoughby by his solicitor, Mr. B.F. Hawksley) was sent perhaps a little earlier than 9.15. Dr. Jameson's force ceased firing as soon as the flag was hoisted, except on the extreme right. Messengers were sent to stop that firing, and all firing ceased within five minutes. The Boers continued to fire for some ten minutes, and for some time after Jameson's force had ceased. After Sir J. Willoughby had received the first answer the State Artillery opened fire and continued firing for at least fifteen minutes. Sir J. Willoughby sent Colonel the Hon. H. White and Captain Grenfell to the Commandant with a note requesting to know the reason for firing on a flag of truce, and requesting that it might cease. Sir J. Willoughby has no copy of the letter he wrote accepting the conditions offered by Cronjé, but it was to the effect above given. 'Besides Cronjé, Commandant Malan was acquainted with the terms of surrender, for _after Jameson's force had given up their arms_ Commandant Malan came up and repudiated part of the terms, saying he would not guarantee the lives of Jameson and the leaders, and that they would be handed over to General Joubert, who would decide their fate.' The decision having been announced to the forces, and many of the men having stacked their arms and dropped off to sleep where they lay in the veld, several other commandants joined Cronjé, and an altercation took place in the presence of the surrendered officers, Commandant Malan of Rustenburg violently proclaiming that Cronjé had no right to spare the lives of the force, and that it lay with the Commandant-General and Krijgsraad (or War Council) to decide what should be done with the prisoners. Commandant Cronjé replied that they had surrendered to him upon certain conditions, and those conditions had been accepted by him. In the course of the discussion, in which several other prominent Boers joined, disapproval was generally expressed of Cronjé's acceptance of the terms and threats were used to Dr. Jameson in person. Eye-witnesses on the Boer side state that Dr. Jameson declined to discuss the matter further; he merely bowed and walked away. It may be remarked that it is not by any means unusual for the Boers to seek to stretch to their advantage terms which they have previously agreed upon. There can now be no question as to the conditions of the surrender. The officer in command on the field agreed to spare the lives of the entire force, and it was not competent for anyone to reverse that decision or to reopen the question. The incident is instructive, and also important since the lives of Dr. Jameson and his men were made to play a considerable part in President Kruger's game of magnanimity later on.{31} The Johannesburg _Star_ correspondent, describing the surrender, says: There were upwards of 400 altogether, and the poor fellows made a sorry sight--tired from their long march, their privations, and the tremendous strain of continuous engagements for nearly twenty-four hours. Some almost slept in their saddles as they were being escorted; and when they arrived on Krugersdorp Market Square the scene will not soon be forgotten. The Boers freely mixed with them and talked with them. Provisions were brought, and devoured with ravenous hunger. In many cases the Boers gave from their own scant stock of provisions to the starving men, for whom they expressed the utmost admiration for their pluckiness and determination. Dr. Jameson and his principal officers, including Sir John Willoughby, were brought in separately from the main body of the captured troops. Although the Boers treated most of the prisoners with consideration, they jeered somewhat when Dr. Jameson was brought forward; but this was promptly suppressed by the Commandants. Dr. Jameson and the officers were temporarily housed in the Court-house, together with the other officers captured previously. A mule-waggon was brought up, fitted with mattresses. The chief officers were despatched to Pretoria under a strong escort of Boers. About half an hour later the rest of the prisoners were also escorted out of the town to Pretoria, most of them on their own horses. Both men and horses were extremely emaciated. The burgher losses were reported to have been 4 killed and 5 wounded. The losses of Dr. Jameson's force were 18 killed and about 40 wounded. There were also taken: 400 magazine and Lee-Metford rifles, 8 Maxims (one spiked, or with the breach-piece gone), 4 field-pieces, 33,000 rifle cartridges, 10 cases of Maxim cartridges, 10 cases of projectiles, 2 sacks of projectiles, 300 cartridge-belts, 13 revolvers, 4 mule-waggons, 5 Scotch carts, 742 horses (in which were included the 250 horses which were captured in charge of two troopers near Blaaubank), a full-blooded stallion (the property of Dr. Jameson), 400 saddles, bridles etc., 38 mules with harness, 1 telegraph instrument (probably to tap wires with), harness and other accoutrements and instruments of war. The prisoners were treated with every consideration by their captors, with the exception perhaps of Dr. Jameson himself, who was threatened by some of the unruly ones and freely hissed and hooted, but was protected by the officers in charge. It must be said of the Boers that they acted with admirable self-restraint and dignity in a position such as very few are called upon to face. However politic their actions may have been in their fear of provoking conflict with Johannesburg and the Imperial Government, however the juggling with Dr. Jameson's life afterwards and the spurious magnanimity so freely advertized, may detract from what they did and may tend to bring ridicule and suspicion upon them, one cannot review the broad facts of the Jameson invasion, and realize a position which, if only for the moment, gave the aggrieved party unlimited scope for revenge upon an aggressor who had not the semblance of personal wrong or interest nor the pretext of duty to justify his action, without allowing to the Boers that they behaved in such a manner as, for a time, to silence even that criticism which is logically justifiable and ultimately imperative. In so far as the invading force are concerned, the words of Mr. A. J. Balfour aptly sum up the position: 'President Kruger has shown himself to possess a generosity which is not the less to be admired because it is coincident with the highest political wisdom.' With reference to the surrender of the force, it is reasonable to believe that the Transvaal Government, knowing how serious the complications would be if civil war actually took place, and believing as they undoubtedly did that Johannesburg contained upwards of 20,000 armed men, were quite willing--indeed anxious--to secure the surrender of Dr. Jameson's force on any terms, and that the conditions made by Cronjé were quite in accordance with what the highest Boer authorities would have accepted. It seems to be beyond question also that the conditions of surrender were purposely suppressed in order to enable the President to bargain with Johannesburg; and, as has already been stated, such action materially detracted from the credit due to the Transvaal Government. This is their characteristic diplomacy--the fruit of generations of sharpening wits against savages; and the same is called Kaffir cunning, and is not understood at first by European people. But when all such considerations are weighed, there is still a large balance of credit due to the Boers for the manner in which they treated Dr. Jameson and his invading force. It is difficult to conceive of any people behaving better to a foe vanquished under such conditions; indeed, it would be quite impossible. The Boers when under control of their leaders have generally behaved in an admirable manner. It is only when the individuals, unrestrained by those in authority, are left to exercise their power at the dictates of their own uncurbed passions, that the horrible scenes have occurred which have undoubtedly blemished their reputation. In connection with the Jameson raid there was one such incident--the shooting of Trooper Black. The unfortunate man fell into the hands of the Boers while out scouting and was taken as a prisoner to a farmhouse near Blaaubank. There he was tied up and beaten, and it is stated by a woman who gave him water when he was half mad with thirst, that his face had been smashed by a blow from a rifle butt. When unable to bear the treatment any longer Black stood up and, tearing his shirt open, cried out, 'Don't shoot me in the back! Shoot here! My heart's in the right place.' He was then untied and (as alleged by Dutch witnesses) given an opportunity to escape. He mounted his horse, but before he had gone far was shot dead. On the appeal of Sir Jacobus de Wet the Government consented to investigate the matter; but the Commandant in charge, Piet Grobler, when questioned on the subject, merely replied, 'Oh, he [Black] was a very insolent fellow. We could do nothing with him.' The man who fired the shot despatching Black, a half-caste Boer named Graham, stated on his return from Pretoria that he was asked no questions at the so-called inquiry. A somewhat similar incident took place, but fortunately with less serious results, on the way from the battle of Krugersdorp. A well-known resident of Johannesburg had ridden out to ascertain news of Dr. Jameson, and, arriving as the surrender took place, thrust his way among the Boers until he reached the Doctor, where he was arrested by the Boer authorities as a spy. Being a burgher of the State who had been resident in the Transvaal for some sixteen or seventeen years, he was recognized and rather harshly treated. He was attached by a leather thong to the saddle of one of the Boer Commandants and made to run, keeping pace with the horse. After a spell of this treatment he was released, and the Commandant in question offered to make a bet with him that he would not be able to race him on horseback to the ambulance waggons a few hundred yards off, the prisoner to take a short cut across a swamp and the Commandant to ride round by the road. The prisoner thereupon replied, 'No, thank you, Commandant. I was in the Boer War myself and saw several men shot by that dodge, on the pretence that they were escaping.' The worthy Commandant thereupon drew his stirrup from the saddle, and thrashed his prisoner with the stirrup end. After some ten days' imprisonment under exceptionally hard conditions the gentleman in question was released without trial. The complete success of the Boer forces against Dr. Jameson's band has been accounted for in many ways, but undoubtedly the one reason, if one can be selected, which enabled them to deal with the invaders, was their ability to mobilize at short notice. And in this connection arises the question: Did the Boers know beforehand of the intended invasion, and were they waiting until Dr. Jameson should walk into the trap? On behalf of the Boers it is strenuously maintained that they had not the remotest notion of what was brewing, and that had such an idea occurred to them they would of course have reported matters to the High Commissioner. The President's unyielding mood before he heard of Dr. Jameson's start, and his change afterwards, the state of demoralization in Pretoria, the unpreparedness of the State Artillery, and the vacillation of General Joubert, the condition of alarm in which the President was during that night of suspense before the surrender, when Chief Justice Kotzé sat with him to aid and cheer, and when the old white horse stood saddled in the stable in case Johannesburg should attack Pretoria; all point to the conclusion that it was not all cut and dried. With a singular unanimity, the Boers and their friends and the majority of the Uitlanders in the Transvaal support this view; but there are on record certain facts which are not to be ignored. Apart altogether from the hearsay evidence of telegraphists and Boer officials in different parts of the country, who state that they were under orders from Government to remain at their posts day and night--that is to say to sleep in their offices--a fortnight before the Jameson raid took place, a significant piece of evidence is that supplied by the Transvaal Consul in London, Mr. Montagu White, who in a letter to the London Press stated that on December 16 he received information as to the plot against the independence of the Republic, and that he on that date cabled fully to President Kruger warning him of what was in contemplation, and that the President took the necessary precautions. Now, on December 14 it was announced in Pretoria that the President, being greatly in need of a rest and change, was about to undertake a tour through the country to visit his faithful burghers. Perusal of the newspapers of the time shows that among the Uitlanders no significance was attached to this visit. Indeed, the Uitlander press agreed that it had become painfully evident that His Honour required a change in order to restore his nervous system. As nothing can better represent the opinions of the time than the current comments of the Press, the following extracts from the Johannesburg _Star_ are given: In short, His Honour is developing an ungovernable irritability and a tendency to choleric obsessions, when the word 'Uitlander' is barely mentioned in his presence, that are causing the greatest concern to those around him. Only on some such grounds are explicable the raging exclamations he is reported to have permitted himself to lately use towards Johannesburg and the cause of reform upon which it is so earnestly engaged. That His Honour should have been generally credited with indulging in unconventional vernacular terms concerning the pronouncedly loyal and hearty reception accorded to him on his visit to the Rand Agricultural Show, seems to argue a lapse into the habits of his youngest days, which has a direct significance in the case of ordinary individuals, and is known by a very familiar name. That he should tragically declare that only across his bleeding corpse will the Uitlander ever come into his own, is merely the extravagant and regrettable melodrama of an overheated mind. The general desire is quite averse to encountering any stepping-stones of that kind, and most of all averse to Mr. Kruger's taking any such place. Our quarrel is with principles and systems, and never yet has a note of personal vengeance been sounded whilst we have endeavoured to compass their destruction. It is quite obvious that a little relaxation from the cares of State, or reversion to more primitive conditions, a freer communion with Nature--viewed from an ox-waggon--are eminently desirable to restore His Honour's shattered nerves.--_December 14, 1895._ AT HIS POST. His Honour the President has returned to the seat of Government. The itinerary appears to have been somewhat prematurely cut short; but no one is likely to so ridiculously underestimate the sterling qualities of His Honour as to conceive the possibility of his absence when difficulty and danger imperatively command his presence at the head of public affairs. The conclusions which Mr. Kruger has derived from converse with his faithful burghers are likely to remain buried in his own breast. The outward and ostensible object of his recent tour has been fulfilled in much the accustomed manner; that is to say, he has discussed with apparent interest the necessity for a pont here or a bridge there; the desirability of Government aid for tree-planting, the trouble which the farmers experience in getting native labour, and so forth, and so on; but we must not derive from all this peripatetic fustian the erroneous impression that His Honour has been vacuously fiddling on the eve of a conflagration. The real business which took him to Lydenburg and Middelburg has no doubt been satisfactorily accomplished. Boer sentiment has been tested in secret, and the usual professions of fervid patriotism and of readiness for target practice with the Uitlander as the mark have been profusely evoked. This sub-official aspect of the itinerary has been discreetly veiled in all the reports which have been permitted to transpire, and the censorship thereof has been more than normally exacting and severe; but we are from private sources left in no manner of doubt that Mr. Kruger has been canvassing and stimulating the Boers to be ready for any emergency, and has been metaphorically planting a war-beacon on every hill. All scrutiny and inquiry fail to discover that he has uttered one single word which can be described as an emollient to the present critical situation. He has pandered rather to the worst racial passions of the Boer, instead of using the enormous responsibility resting upon him in the direction of mediation. Old patriarchs--whom we cannot but respect and admire whilst we deplore their immitigable and hopeless rancour against the cause of the newcomer--have been permitted, apparently without rebuke, to show their wounds to the younger and more malleable generation in His Honour's presence, and to boast of their readiness to receive as much more lead as they can conveniently find room for. The tour, indeed, has been a _wapenschouwing_, with oratory of the most dangerous and pernicious type for its accompaniment. His Honour's contribution to this interesting display of martial ardour has been couched, as usual, in the enigmatic form. He has spoken another parable. A mind so fertile in image and in simile cannot have lost much of its wonted vigour. The one he has chosen to employ on this occasion is full of instruction, and is derived, as Mr. Kruger's images frequently are, from the arena of natural history. When you want to kill your tortoise, he must be artfully induced to imprudently protrude his head beyond his thick and impregnable shell, and then the task becomes a very easy one. This little parable was considered good for use on more than one occasion, varied by the addition that, if the tortoise be up to the trick, it is necessary to sit down and wait until he does make the fatal mistake. The only drawback to our profound intellectual delight in the parable is the question, 'Who will be the tortoise?'--_December 27, 1895._ A perusal of the German White Book shows that On December 24 the German Consul in Pretoria telegraphed to the Foreign Office that 'news from Johannesburg points to the preparation of disturbances by the English party there, and the Government is taking precautionary measures.' Baron von Marschall communicated this to Sir Frank Lascelles, and, after pointing out the possible consequence of bloodshed, emphasized once again the necessity for maintaining the _status quo_. In reply to the German Consul in Pretoria, the Secretary of State telegraphed a similar statement, adding: 'Impress energetically upon the Transvaal Government that it must most scrupulously avoid any provocation if it wishes to retain German sympathy.' Another little light on the inside history is that afforded by Mr. J.C. Bodenstein, Field-cornet of the Krugersdorp district, who in the course of an interview accorded to the _Standard and Diggers' News_, the Johannesburg Government organ, stated how he came to know of Jameson's intended invasion. He heard that a certain young lady who resided at Luipaardsvlei, near Krugersdorp, whose _fiancé_ occupied a good position in the Bechuanaland Border Police, had received a letter from him at Mafeking to the effect that he intended paying her a visit about the New Year, and that he would not be alone, as the whole force was coming to Johannesburg. The lady proved no exception to the alleged rule concerning secrets, and Field-cornet Bodenstein personally assured himself of the authenticity of the report he had heard. On Friday, December 27, a German gentleman from the Free State also informed the Field-cornet that Dr. Jameson and his troopers might be expected at any time. 'On hearing this confirmation of the letter,' said Mr. Bodenstein, 'I went at once to Pretoria. I arrived there at eleven o'clock at night, and early the next morning I saw the President and informed him about the letter and what I had been told. He remarked quietly: "Yes, I have heard all about it" The General (Joubert) then said: "All right; I will send you the ammunition you require."' In the report of the Select Committee of the Cape House of Assembly (Blue Book A 6 of 1896, page 76) there is the evidence of the Hon. J.A. Faure, M.L.C., which shows that he and Sir Thomas Upington, the Attorney-General of Cape Colony, were on a visit to Johannesburg on December 27, and heard it publicly stated that Dr. Jameson with 800 men was on the border for the purpose of invading the Transvaal. Mr. Faure testifies that he learned this from a very prominent Free State Dutchman. Among others, one would suppose that the Transvaal Government must also have heard something of it. Dr. Veale, a well-known Pretoria doctor, states that at daybreak on Thursday, January 2, Commandant Hendrik Schoeman called on him to secure his professional attendance for a member of his family who was very ill. The Commandant said that he had been sent out on Monday to watch the invading force and to ascertain their numbers, and also stated that he had been following the troop with others for a considerable time and that he was sure Jameson had not 800 but between 450 and 500, as he had repeatedly counted them; that the force was being delayed by small parties drawing it into useless fighting and so losing time; that he himself had been obliged to come on ahead, having been recalled on account of his wife's serious illness, but that it made little difference as there were others to take his place, and they had arranged not to tackle Jameson until they had drawn him among the kopjes at Doornkop, where it would be quite impossible for him ever to get through. This statement it should be noted was made in Pretoria some hours before the Jameson force surrendered at Doornkop. So certain do the Boers appear to have been, and so confident of their ability to carry out their plans, that they stated to a reporter of the Government newspaper that they intended to stop Jameson at Rietspruit (Doornkop), and this statement was published in a Johannesburg paper on the morning of January 1, but was of course regarded as mere gossip of a piece with that which flooded the newspapers at the time. It is only right to add that there were numbers of other announcements at the same time which by no means agreed with this one, and it is stated that the editor was as much surprised as the public to find that he had been right. In reviewing the whole of the circumstances of the raid, not the most biased and most interested of persons can withhold a tribute of admiration to the President's presence of mind, skill, and courage in dealing with circumstances wholly without precedent; and in quiet moments, when recalling all that has happened, if human at all, his Honour must indulge in a chuckle now and then to think how completely he jockeyed everybody.{32} Not the least amusing recollection must be that of the 'great trek' (Banjailand Trek), which his burghers threatened to make into Mashonaland viâ Rhodes' Drift when Sir John Willoughby gained his first experience of Oom Paul. The military commander of Dr. Jameson's force had called on the President to add weight to the remonstrances which were being made against the action of the burghers in invading the Chartered territory, and the President, playing his cards for a favourable settlement of Swaziland, had replied that he had done all that he could, and events must take their course. 'Tell him,' said Sir John to Dr. Leyds who was interpreting, 'that if the trek is not stopped of course the result will be war!' 'If it must be, let it be,' the old gentleman answered quietly. 'Then tell him,' Sir John replied, 'that in that case he will have to reckon with the British Army.' 'And tell _him_', said the President, pointing placidly at his interviewer with his big pipe, 'that I have reckoned with the British Army once before.' If the recollection occurred to both men on January 2, it must have been with different emotions. In dealing with President Kruger's personal attitude it is not perhaps pertinent but, it is interesting, to recall an incident of his earlier career--a parallel between the prisoner and the President. Oddly enough President Kruger was a rebel and a filibuster himself in the days of his hot youth, and one of his earliest diplomatic successes was in securing the release and pardon of men who, in 1857, stood in exactly the same position as the Uitlanders whom he imprisoned. The story of the Potchefstroom revolt is little known in England, but it is told in Theal's 'Standard History of South Africa,' and very instructive reading it is. Dr. Hillier, of Johannesburg, one of the Reformers, called attention just before the outbreak to the extraordinary parallel between the revolt of Potchefstroom in 1857 against the dominance of Lydenburg and the condition of Johannesburg in 1895 under the despotism of Pretoria. Dr. Hillier in his pamphlet said: In 1857 the Republic north of the Vaal attained its twentieth year. It had increased in population, and had taken on, to some extent, the habits and mode of life of a settled community. Mr. Pretorius and his followers began to feel that in the altered circumstances of the State the time had arrived for a remodelling of the Constitution. Among these followers of Pretorius, these advocates of reform, it is interesting to find was Mr. Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger. Mr. Theal says: 'During the months of September and October, 1856, Commandant-General M. W. Pretorius made a tour through the districts of Rutsenburg, Pretoria and Potchefstroom, and called public meetings at all the centres of population. At these meetings there was an expression by a large majority in favour of immediate adoption of a Constitution which should provide for an efficient Government and an independent Church.' And again, later on, we have in the words of South Africa's historian the gist of the complaint against the then existing state of things: 'The community of Lydenburg was accused of attempting to domineer over the whole country, without any other right to preeminence than that of being composed of the earliest inhabitants, a right which it had forfeited by its opposition to the general weal.' Such was the shocking state of things in this country in 1856. It was a great deal too bad for such champion reformers as Mr. Pretorius and his lieutenant, Mr. S.J.P. Kruger, as we shall see later. Shortly after these meetings were held, a Representative Assembly, consisting of twenty-four members, one for each field-cornetcy, was elected for the special purpose of framing a Constitution and installing the officials whom it should decide to appoint. On January 5, 1857, the Representative Assembly appointed Mr. Martinus Wessels Pretorius President, and also appointed members of an Executive Council. The oaths of office were then taken, the President and Executive installed, and the flag hoisted. When intelligence of these proceedings reached Zoutpansberg and Lydenburg, there was a violent outburst of indignation. At a public meeting at Zoutpansberg the acts and resolutions of the Representative Assembly at Potchefstroom were almost unanimously repudiated, and a manifesto disowning the new Constitution and everything connected with it was drawn up. Mr. Pretorius then issued a proclamation, deposing Commandant-General Schoeman from all authority, declaring Zoutpansberg in a state of blockade, and prohibiting traders from supplying 'the rebels' with ammunition or anything else. This conduct on the part of the new Government under Mr. Pretorius appears to me distinctly adroit. Having taken upon themselves to remodel the entire Constitution of the country, they turn round on the adherents of the older Government, whom, by-the-by, they had not thought it worth while to consult, and promptly call them 'rebels.' And so you have this striking political phenomenon of a revolutionary party turning on the adherents of the Government of the State, and denouncing them, forsooth, as 'rebels.' The 'Republic of Lydenburg' then declared itself into a sovereign and independent State. And thus two Republics, two Volksraads, two Governments, were formed and existed simultaneously in the Transvaal. And all this without a shot being fired, each party finding sufficient relief to its feelings by calling the other party 'rebels.' In order to strengthen its position, the party of Pretorius now determined on a bold stroke. They sent emissaries to endeavour to arrange for union with the Free State. The Free State Government rejected their overtures, but Pretorius was led to believe that so many of the Free State burghers were anxious for this union that all that was necessary for him to do, in order to effect it, was to march in with an armed force. He therefore placed himself at the head of a commando, and crossed the Vaal, where he was joined by a certain number of Free State burghers. But Pretorius, with whom was Paul Kruger, found, like Dr. Jameson, that he had reckoned without his host. When intelligence of this invasion reached Bloemfontein, President Boshoff issued a proclamation declaring martial law in force throughout the Free State, and calling out burghers for the defence of the country. It soon appeared that the majority of the people were ready to support the President, and from all quarters men repaired to Kroonstad. At this stage the Free State President received an offer of assistance from General Schoeman, of Zoutpansberg, against Pretorius, in which object he believed Lydenburg would also join. On May 25 the two commandoes were drawn up facing each other on opposite banks of the Rhenoster River, and remained in that position for three hours. Threatened from the north as well as the south Pretorius felt his chance of success was small, and he therefore sent out Commandant Paul Kruger with a flag of truce to propose that a pacific settlement should be made. Here indeed is a very close parallel, but the climax is still to come. The treaty arrived at was practically an apology on the part of the South African Republic. Many citizens of the Free State who had joined the northern forces moved over the Vaal after this event. Those who remained and those who had been previously arrested were brought to trial for high treason. One man was sentenced to death, but the sentence was mitigated subsequently to a fine; others were fined. These fines were again still further mitigated at the solicitation of Messrs. Paul Kruger and Steyn, until it came to little more than a ten-pound note apiece. There we have the story of President Kruger and his friends playing exactly the part Dr. Jameson and the Johannesburg Reformers tried to do. As Potchefstroom rose under Mr. Kruger against the oligarchical rule of Lydenburg, so Johannesburg was to rise against Pretoria. The Potchefstroom Republic under Pretorius and Kruger made a raid _à la_ Jameson into the Orange Free State for political purposes, to encourage those who were believed to be anxious to effect a union. And just as Jameson failed against the Government of Pretoria, so Pretorius failed against the Government of the Orange Free State. In 1857 it was Paul Kruger not Dr. Jameson who hoisted the white flag. The Free Staters who had tried to help Kruger's raid were arrested just as the Johannesburgers were; but although one of them was condemned to death all of them were released, by the intervention of Mr. Kruger himself, on paying a slight fine. History has repeated itself indeed; but the offence of Dr. Jameson is surely less than that of Mr. Kruger, if we are to pay heed to the records of the Free State Volksraad, wherein it is written that on a certain day the President stated in open Raad that proof had been obtained of a proposed combined attack on the Free State by the Transvaal Boers, led by Pretorius and Kruger on the one side, and the Basutos under Moshesh on the other--a horrible and unnatural alliance which was not effected only because Moshesh could not trust his professed allies. The Raad thereupon publicly gave thanks to the Almighty, Who had revealed and frustrated this 'hideous complot.' Footnotes for Chapter VI {24} In the Report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons the following questions and answers occur, Mr. Blake questioning and Major Heany replying: 'Having got the message you went off with it and you got in, as we see by the evidence, as quickly as you could, and you just gave the message as accurately as you could to Dr. Jameson?--I read the message from my note-book absolutely accurately to Dr. Jameson. 'And he did not lose much time in making up his mind?--No; he went outside his tent. He was in a bell-tent when I arrived and he went outside and walked up and down for about twenty minutes, and then he came in and announced his determination.' {25} In the course of the Inquiry at Westminster, Dr. Jameson himself took occasion to explain this reference, when answering a question put by Mr. Sidney Buxton. Knowing what you do now of the position at Johannesburg, do you think it was within their power to send out 300 mounted men?--I cannot give an opinion upon that; I think all their actions were perfectly _bonâ fide_. There is one telegram here which has been brought up against me very unpleasantly, which I wish I had never sent, where 'fear' is imputed in the telegram as it stands here. My explanation is that I was irritated at the time at the trouble going on, and that I used it inadvertently, or possibly there is a mistake in deciphering the code word; as to that I cannot tell, but I am sorry that it should appear so in the telegram, because I never imputed fear or cowardice to anyone in connection with anything. {26} July 1899. The originals have since been photographed and are here reproduced. {27} Colonel Francis Rhodes. {28} Lionel Phillips. {29} (July, 1899.) Is it not probable that the deleted figures '2,000' in Colonel Rhodes' letter (see photograph) may account for some of the talk about 2,000 armed men? {30} After the arrival in England of the officers of Dr. Jameson's force, a report dealing with the military aspect of the expedition was sent by Sir John Willoughby to the War Office. It has been printed and--to a certain extent--circulated, and cannot therefore be regarded as private. But apart from this it is a document so peculiar--so marked by mishandling of notorious facts--that it deserves no consideration other than it may earn on merits. It is printed _in extenso_ with notes by a member of the Reform Committee. See Appendix H. {31} See Appendix G. It will be noted that in his declarations Commandant Cronjé modifies his terms very considerably. It was impossible for any reasonable person to accept the explanation preferred by him, that the promise to spare the lives of the surrendered force was only to hold good until they could be handed over to the Commandant-General. In fact, it is well known that Commandant Cronjé only took up this attitude after an extremely acrimonious discussion had taken place between him and Commandant Malan--a quarrel in which they went the length of making charges against each other in the public press of treachery and neglect of duty whilst in the field. The Commandant Cronjé referred to here is the same gentleman who commanded the Boer forces at Potchefstroom in the War of Independence, and his record is an extremely unpleasant one, his conduct of operations having earned for the Potchefstroom commando the worst reputation of any. Apart from the execution of several British subjects who were suspected and, on wholly insufficient grounds, summarily shot as spies, there are the unpleasant facts that he caused prisoners of war to be placed in the forefront of the besieging operations and compelled them to work in the trenches in exposed positions so that they should be--and actually were--shot by their own comrades. There was also the incident in which he refused to allow one or two of the ladies who were among the beleaguered garrison, and who were then in extremely bad health, to leave the fort to obtain such food and medical attendance as would enable them to live. One of the ladies died in consequence. But the incident which has more bearing on Jameson's surrender than any other is that connected with the armistice, when Commandant Cronjé, in defiance of treaty obligations, withheld from Colonel Winslow and the besieged garrison the news that an armistice had been arranged between the Boer and British forces, and continued the siege until the garrison, in order to save the lives of the wounded and the women and children refugees, were obliged to surrender. It will be remembered that this incident was too much even for Mr. Gladstone, and that on its becoming known after the terms of peace had been settled, the Transvaal Government were required by Sir Evelyn Wood to allow a British force to march up from Natal and re-occupy Potchefstroom as a formal acknowledgment of Cronjé's treachery. Mr. Kruger and his party, who were in the greatest fear that the settlement would not be effected, and that Sir Evelyn Wood's action might provoke a renewal of hostilities, agreed to the terms, but with grave apprehensions as to the results. However, no _contretemps_ occurred. {32} Once when out hunting on foot--a young man then--Mr. Kruger, after climbing to the top of a kopje, found that he had been seen by a number of hostile natives who were then running towards him, some to climb the hill, others branching out to surround it. He knew that those on the flat could cut him off before he could descend and that his only chance lay in 'bluff.' Stepping on to the outermost ledge in full view of the enemy he calmly laid down his rifle, drew off first one and then the other of his velschoens (home-made hide shoes, in those poorer days worn without socks) and after quietly knocking the sand out of them drew them on again. By this time the natives had stopped to observe him. He then picked up his rifle again, and turning to an imaginary force behind the kopje waved to the right and then to the left, as though directing them to charge round each end of the hill. The next instant the Kaffirs were in full retreat. CHAPTER VII. AFTER DOORNKOP. The news of Dr. Jameson's surrender was received in Johannesburg towards mid-day, at first with derision, but as report after report came in, each confirming and supplementing the other, no room for doubt was left and a scene of the wildest excitement ensued. It is not too much to say that not one person in a hundred, no matter what his political leanings were, had doubted for a moment Dr. Jameson's ability to force his way into Johannesburg. There is not the slightest indication in the newspapers of the time, which without doubt reflected every varying mood and repeated every rumour which it was possible to catch from an excited people, that there was in any man's mind a suspicion that the Boers would be able to stop the invader. In the first place no one believed that they could mobilize sufficiently quickly to oppose him, and in the second place, he was understood to have a force of 800 men so admirably equipped and trained that it would not be possible for 5,000 Boers hurriedly called together to intercept him. All this, however, was forgotten when it came to accounting for the disaster; or rather, the previous convictions only added strength to the rage of disappointment. The public by that time knew of the letter of invitation; it had been taken on the battle-field and news of it was telegraphed in, and apart from this the writers had made no secret of it. But what the public did not know, and what, if they had known it, would not have appealed with similar force, was the efforts made to stop Jameson and the practical withdrawal of the letter before he had started. It was sufficient for them during the few remaining hours of that day to recall that Jameson had come in, that he had fought against great odds, and that when almost reaching his goal he had been taken prisoner for want of assistance. It is perfectly true that in their rage of grief and disappointment men were willing to march out with pick-handles to rescue him, if there were not rifles enough to arm them. While the excitement lasted this was the mood, and the Reform Committee were the scapegoats. The attitude of the crowd was due to ignorance of the circumstances and natural emotion which could not be otherwise vented. The excitement had greatly abated by the following morning, and it was realized then that the position was practically but little worse than that which the Reform Committee had offered to take up when they tendered their persons as security for the evacuation of the country by the invading force, and had proposed to continue the struggle without their aid. The reports received by the Johannesburg people were to the effect that the surrender had been conditional upon the sparing of the lives of the force. Indeed the first reports agreed that Jameson upon receipt of the High Commissioner's proclamation, had laid down his arms; but upon the return of Mr. Lace (whose mission has been explained) it was realized that this was not the case. A later account showed that Jameson had surrendered to Commandant Cronjé on the condition that the lives of all should be spared, and this version of the surrender was published in the Johannesburg newspapers. When further accounts were received from Pretoria and Krugersdorp, stating that the surrender had been unconditional and that there was grave doubt as to what would be done with Dr. Jameson, it was surmised as an explanation that he had declined to bargain for his own life and had merely stipulated that those of his followers should be spared. On Friday the news that it was contemplated to shoot Dr. Jameson caused a frenzy of horror and excitement in the town. Every effort was made by the Reform Committee and its supporters to maintain strictly the position which the Government had suggested through their Commission on Wednesday, lest some untoward incident should turn the trembling balance against Dr. Jameson and his men; nor were the Committee alone in the desire to maintain that position. On Friday and on Saturday communications were received from the local Government officials, and from Commandant-General Joubert through the British Agent, drawing the attention of the Committee to alleged breaches of the arrangement. The allegations were satisfactorily disproved; but the communications clearly indicated that the Government were most desirous of maintaining the position in relation to Johannesburg which they had laid down before the first battle with Dr. Jameson's forces. Information was received on Thursday that the High Commissioner would leave Capetown for Pretoria at 9 p.m. that night. It had been a matter of surprise that, the arrangement having been entered into with him early on Wednesday, he had not found it convenient to start for some thirty-six hours. Considering how seriously he had interfered with the movement--first by his proclamation, and next by concerted action with the Government for a peaceful settlement--it had been naturally assumed that he would not lose a moment in leaving Capetown for the scene of trouble. Such however was not the case. It has been alleged that the arrangement made between the Transvaal Government and the High Commissioner with a view to a peaceful settlement bore only upon Dr. Jameson's action, and that it was not contemplated that there should be any interference between the Government and its own subjects in Johannesburg. In answer to this it may be noted that the High Commissioner had in the first place offered his services, and that those services had been declined by the Transvaal Government; but that the latter, on realizing the seriousness of the position which they were called upon to face, and acting, it is stated, upon the advice of Mr. J.H. Hofmeyr, the recognized leader of the Dutch Africanders in the Cape Colony, reconsidered this refusal and urgently besought the High Commissioner to go up to Pretoria and use his influence to effect a peaceful settlement. This arrangement, together with the promise of the redress of grievances, had been made known to the deputation of the Reform Committee by the Government Commission in Pretoria, as has already been stated--the Government well knowing that Johannesburg was in arms and a party to the arrangement with Dr. Jameson. Dr. Jameson surrendered at 9.30 a.m. on Thursday. The High Commissioner did not leave Capetown until 9 p.m. the same day. There had therefore been ample time for the Government to intimate to him their opinion that matters had been satisfactorily settled and that they did not need his services any longer, had they held such an opinion. As a matter of fact, that was by no means their opinion. They considered that they had yet to deal with 20,000 armed men in Johannesburg, and that they had to do that, if possible, without provoking a civil war, which would inevitably result in the long-run to their disadvantage, however great their success might be over the Johannesburg people in the meantime. They not only allowed the High Commissioner to proceed to Pretoria on the understanding originally effected, but they took steps to remind the Reform Committee on several occasions that they were expected to adhere to the arrangement entered into. And such was the position when the High Commissioner arrived on the night of Saturday, the 4th. Sir Hercules Robinson proceeded direct to Pretoria, but did not transact any business until Monday, abstaining, in deference to the feelings of the Boers, from any discussion of business matters on the Sabbath. On Sunday, however, he received information from the Reform Committee as to the arrangements entered into with the Government. He was also informed that threats had been made by persons who without doubt were speaking the mind of the Government, that if any trouble should take place with Johannesburg Dr. Jameson and probably many of his comrades would be shot. It was not stated that the Transvaal Government or authorities would officially countenance any such act or would authorize it even as the result of a trial; but the statement which was made by everyone from the President downward was that, in the event of any fighting in Johannesburg, the burghers would be so much enraged and so beyond control that the prisoners who had caused all the trouble would inevitably be shot. It is a part of Boer diplomacy to make as much use as possible of every weapon that comes to hand without too great a regard for the decencies of government as they occur to the minds of every civilized people, and it is not at all unusual to find the President proclaiming at one moment that some course must be taken to prevent disaster, for the reason that he cannot be answerable for his burghers in their excited state, and at another moment indignantly repudiating the suggestion that they would be guilty of any step that could be considered unworthy of the most civilized of peoples. In fact such exhibitions were repeatedly given by him at a later stage when dealing with the Reform prisoners. Before any communication was received from the High Commissioner on Monday messages had been received by the members of the Reform Committee to the effect that the laying down of arms would be absolutely necessary to ensure the safety of Jameson and his men. The Reform Committee had then learnt that the two messengers sent to stop Dr. Jameson--Major Heany and Captain Holden--had reached him, and had come in with him, and were at that moment prisoners with him in Pretoria. They had also heard of the reception accorded to Sir Jacobus de Wet's despatch and the High Commissioner's proclamation, so that it was abundantly clear that the incursion had been made in defiance of the wishes of the leaders, whatever other reasons there might have been to prompt it. But the public who constituted the movement were still under the impression that Dr. Jameson was a very fine fellow who had come in in a chivalrous manner to help those whom he had believed to be in distress. There was however no division of opinion as to what should be done; even those who felt most sore about the position in which they had been placed did not hesitate for a moment. The first and for the time being the only consideration was the safety of Dr. Jameson and his comrades. The events and negotiations of the days preceding the arrest of the Reformers have been the subject of so much discussion and so much misunderstanding that it will be better as far as possible to compile the history from original documents or the published and properly authenticated copies. In Blue Book [C. 7,933] the following is published: SIR HERCULES ROBINSON (Pretoria) to MR. CHAMBERLAIN. (_Telegraphic. Received 1.8 a.m., 6th January, 1896._) _5th January_. No. 3.--Arrived here last night. Position of affairs very critical. On side of Government of South African Republic and of Orange Free State there is a desire to show moderation, but Boers show tendency to get out of hand and to demand execution of Jameson. I am told that Government of South African Republic will demand disarmament of Johannesburg as a condition precedent to negotiations. Their military preparations are now practically complete, and Johannesburg, if besieged, could not hold out, as they are short of water and coal. On side of Johannesburg leaders desire to be moderate, but men make safety of Jameson and concession of items in manifesto issued conditions precedent to disarmament. If these are refused, they assert they will elect their own leaders and fight it out in their own way. As the matter now stands, I see great difficulty in avoiding civil war; but I will do my best, and telegraph result of my official interview to-morrow. It is said that President of South African Republic intends to make some demands with respect to Article No. 4 of the London Convention of 1884. MR. CHAMBERLAIN to SIR HERCULES ROBINSON. (_Telegraphic. January 6, 1896._) _6th January_. No. 3.--It is reported in the press telegrams the President of the South African Republic on December 30 held out definite hopes that concessions would be proposed in regard to education and the franchise. No overt act of hostility appears to have been committed by the Johannesburg people since the overthrow of Jameson. The statement that arms and ammunition are stored in that town in large quantities may be only one of many boasts without foundation. Under these circumstances, active measures against the town do not seem to be urgently required at the present moment, and I hope no step will be taken by the President of the South African Republic liable to cause more bloodshed and excite civil war in the Republic. These are followed in the same volume by No. 89: SIR HERCULES ROBINSON (Pretoria) to MR. CHAMBERLAIN. (_Telegraphic. Received 7th January, 1896._) _6th January_. No. 2.--Met President South African Republic and Executive Council to-day. Before opening proceedings, I expressed on behalf of Her Majesty's Government my sincere regret at the unwarrantable raid made by Jameson; also thanked Government of South African Republic for the moderation shown under trying circumstances. With regard to Johannesburg, President of South African Republic announced decision of Government to be that Johannesburg must lay down its arms unconditionally as a precedent to any discussion and consideration of grievances. I endeavoured to obtain some indication of the steps that would be taken in the event of disarmament, but without success, it being intimated that Government of South African Republic had nothing more to say on this subject than had been already embodied in proclamation of President of South African Republic. I inquired as to whether any decision had been come to as regards disposal of prisoners, and received a reply in the negative. President of South African Republic said that, as his burghers, to number of 8,000, had been collected, and could not be asked to remain indefinitely, he must request a reply, 'Yes' or 'No,' to this ultimatum within twenty-four hours. I have communicated decision of South African Republic to Reform Committee at Johannesburg through British Agent in South African Republic. The burgher levies are in such an excited state over the invasion of their country that I believe President of South African Republic could not control them except in the event of unconditional surrender. I have privately recommended them to accept ultimatum. Proclamation of President of South African Republic refers to promise to consider all grievances which are properly submitted, and to lay the same before the Legislature without delay. On January 7 Mr. Chamberlain replied: No. 1.--I approve of your advice to Johannesburg. Kruger will be wise not to proceed to extremities at Johannesburg or elsewhere; otherwise the evil animosities already aroused may be dangerously excited. And on the same day Sir Hercules Robinson telegraphed: No. 1.--Your telegram of January 6, No. 2. It would be most inexpedient to send troops to Mafeking at this moment, and there is not the slightest necessity for such a step, as there is no danger from Kimberley volunteer corps or from Mafeking. I have sent De Wet with ultimatum this morning to Johannesburg, and believe arms will be laid down unconditionally. I understand in such case Jameson and all prisoners will be handed over to me. Prospect now very hopeful if no injudicious steps are taken. Please leave matter in my hands. On Monday Sir Jacobus de Wet, acting under the instructions of the High Commissioner, telegraphed from Pretoria to the Reform Committee, Johannesburg, informing them that the High Commissioner had seen the President and Executive that morning, that he had been informed that as a condition precedent to the discussion and consideration of grievances the Government required that the Johannesburg people should lay down their arms; and that the Government gave them twenty-four hours--from 4 p.m. that day--in which to accept or reject that ultimatum. The Committee replied that it would receive their earnest consideration. Notwithstanding the fact that such a condition had been anticipated the ultimatum was very unfavourably received, a large number of those present protesting that the Uitlanders were being led little by little into a trap, that the Boers as was their wont would never keep faith with them, that in the end they would find themselves betrayed, and that it would be better at no matter what cost to make a fight for it and attempt to rescue Dr. Jameson and his party. The last suggestion was a mad one, and after some consideration, and hearing the representations of Sir Sidney Shippard and Mr. Seymour Fort, who had been in communication with the High Commissioner on the previous day in Pretoria and were used by him as unofficial agents, the matter was more calmly considered by the Committee. It was very well realized that a struggle between Johannesburg and the Boer forces would have been an absolutely hopeless one for those who took part in it, but there was a determination to secure the objects for the attainment of which the agitation had been started, and it was believed that if a firm stand were taken, such was the justice of the cause of the Uitlanders that the Government would not be able to refuse definite terms as to what reforms they would introduce, besides assuring the safety of Dr. Jameson. While the discussion was proceeding another telegram was received from the British Agent saying that, under instructions from the High Commissioner, he was proceeding in person to Johannesburg to meet the Reform Committee and explain matters to them. The meeting took place on the morning of Tuesday, and Sir Jacobus de Wet pointed out to the Committee the perilous position in which Dr. Jameson and his comrades were placed, owing to the hesitation of the Uitlanders to accept the ultimatum of the Government. He read again and again the following telegram from the High Commissioner, which had been despatched from Pretoria early that morning and received by the British Agent in Johannesburg when on his way to meet the Reform Committee: _Urgent_.--You should inform the Johannesburg people that I consider that if they lay down their arms they will be acting loyally and honourably, and that if they do not comply with my request they forfeit all claim to sympathy from Her Majesty's Government and from British subjects throughout the world, as the lives of Jameson and the prisoners are now practically in their hands. In reply to remarks about grievances, Sir Jacobus de Wet stated that the Uitlanders could not expect under the circumstances anything more favourable than the discussion and consideration of the grievances with the High Commissioner, as had been promised, and added that, if there were any spirit of reason in the community at all, they would be content to leave their case in the hands of so experienced a statesman as Sir Hercules Robinson, a man whose instinct and training were towards fair and decent government. In the course of a very long discussion, Sir Jacobus de Wet was asked if he did not consider the Boer Government capable of an act of treachery such as disarming the community and then proceeding to wreak their vengeance upon those whom they might consider responsible for the agitation. According to the evidence of a number of those who were present, his reply was that 'not a hair of the head of any man in Johannesburg would be touched.' The discussion was resumed at various times and in various forms, when different groups of men had opportunities of questioning the British Agent themselves. When questioned again more definitely as to whether this immunity would be extended to the leaders--those who had signed the letter--Sir Jacobus de Wet replied again in the affirmative. To another member, who had asked the same question in another form, he said 'Not one among you will lose his personal liberty for a single hour. John Bull would never allow it.' In reply to the remark, 'John Bull has had to put up with a good deal in this country. What do you mean by "John Bull"?' he answered, 'I mean the British Government could not possibly allow such a thing.' It would have been an easy and no doubt a proper and reasonable precaution had the Reformers insisted upon a statement in writing of the terms upon which they laid down their arms. There were however two considerations which weighed against any bargain of this sort. The first was the overwhelming and paramount consideration of insuring Dr. Jameson's safety; and the other was the belief (not seriously shaken by suggestions to the contrary) that the Government would be obliged to abide by the spirit of the terms arranged on January 1, because the High Commissioner would insist upon it as the vital condition under which he was endeavouring to effect the disarmament of Johannesburg. That Sir Hercules Robinson well realized his responsibility to the Uitlander, but found it inconvenient or impossible to accept it at a later stage, is shown by his own reports. On January 7 he telegraphed to Mr. Chamberlain as follows: _Your telegram No. 3 of January 6. I need now only say that I have just received a message from Reform Committee resolving to comply with demand of South African Republic to lay down their arms; the people placing themselves (? and) their interests unreservedly in my hands in the fullest confidence that I will see justice done to them. I have received also the following from British agent, dated 7th January:_ _Begins:_ I have sent the following telegram to His Honour the President: I have met the Reform Committee. Am gratified with the spirit shown in the discussion of the all-important present position. The Committee handed me the following resolution--_Begins:_ The Reform Committee in Johannesburg, having seriously considered the ultimatum of the Government of the South African Republic communicated to them through Her Majesty's Agent at Pretoria, in a telegram dated 6th instant, to the effect that Johannesburg must lay down its arms as a condition precedent to a discussion and consideration of grievances, have unanimously decided to comply with this demand, and have given instructions to the citizens employed by this Committee for maintaining good order to lay down their arms. In coming to this determination, the Committee rely upon the Government that it will maintain law and order, and protect life and property in this town at this critical juncture. The Committee have been actuated by a paramount desire to do everything possible to ensure the safety of Dr. Jameson and his men, _to advance the amicable discussion of terms of settlement with the Government, and to support the High Commissioner in his efforts in this respect_. The Committee would draw the attention of the Government of the Republic to the presence of armed burgher forces in the immediate vicinity of this town, and would earnestly desire that these forces be removed in order to avoid all risk of any disturbance of the public peace. _Resolution ends_. I wish to add to my above remarks that I feel convinced there will be no further difficulty in connection with the laying down of their arms. I would suggest that the Government co-operate with the Reform Committee for a day or two for the purpose of restoring the town to its normal state. This will only take a day or two, and those who are excited among the people will by that time have calmed down, and the police can resume their ordinary duties. The Committee will co-operate in this matter. This course will very much facilitate the task of your Government if it meets with your approval. _Ends_. The High Commissioner concluded the above telegram with the following significant sentence: _I hope now to be able to confer with President of the South African Republic and Executive Council as to prisoners and the redress of Johannesburg grievances_. On the 8th he again telegraphed: Referring to your telegram of the 7th inst., No. 1, I consider that so far throughout this matter Kruger has behaved very well. He suspended hostilities pending my arrival, when Johannesburg was at his mercy; and in opposition to a very general feeling of the Executive Council and of the burghers who have been clamouring for Jameson's life, he has now determined to hand over Jameson and the other prisoners. If Jameson had been tried here there can be no doubt that he would have been shot, and perhaps some of his colleagues also. The excitement of the public is now calmed down. I shall try to-day to make arrangements with Kruger as to taking over the prisoners, and _I will confer with him as to redressing the grievances of the residents of Johannesburg on the basis of your telegram of the 4th inst. I have given Kruger a copy of that telegram._' And later on the same day: Since my telegram No. 1 of this morning, matters have not been going so smoothly. When the Executive Council met, I received a message that only 1,814 rifles and three Maxim guns had been surrendered, which the Government of the South African Republic did not consider a fulfilment of the ultimatum, and orders would be immediately issued to a commando to attack Johannesburg. I at once replied that the ultimatum required the surrender of guns and ammunition for which no permit of importation had been obtained, and that onus rested with Transvaal Government to show that guns and ammunition were concealed for which no permit had been issued. If before this was done any hostile step were taken against Johannesburg, I should consider it to be a violation of the undertaking for which I had made myself personally responsible to the people of Johannesburg, and I should leave the issue in hands of Her Majesty's Government. This had a sobering effect, and the order for the attack on Johannesburg was countermanded, and it was arranged that the Transvaal officials should accompany Her Majesty's Agent to Johannesburg and point out to him if they could where arms were concealed. Her Majesty's Agent left at 1 p.m. to-day for Johannesburg for this purpose. The explanation of the change, I take it, is that Kruger has great difficulties to contend with among his own people. The apparent object is to prove that people of Johannesburg have not fulfilled the conditions which were to precede the handing over of the prisoners and consideration of grievances. I should not be surprised if, before releasing the prisoners or redressing grievances, an attempt were now made to extort an alteration of the London Convention of 1884, and the abrogation of Article No. 4 of that instrument. _I intend, if I find that the Johannesburg people have substantially complied with the ultimatum, to insist on the fulfilment of promises as regards prisoners and consideration of grievances_, and will not allow at this stage the introduction of any fresh conditions as regards the London Convention of 1884. Do you approve? The Reform Committee published the following official notice on Tuesday afternoon: The Reform Committee notify hereby that all rifles issued for the defence of life and property in town and the mines are to be returned at once to the Central Office in order to enable the Committee to carry out the agreement with the Government, upon the faithful observance of which so much is dependent. The Committee desire to make it known that late last night they received an intimation from Her Majesty's Agent in Pretoria to the effect that the decision of the Government was that Johannesburg must lay down its arms as a condition precedent to the discussion and consideration of grievances. The Committee met this morning to consider the position, and it was unanimously resolved to accept the ultimatum of the Government for reasons which the following communications sufficiently explain: Here followed the High Commissioner's telegram to Sir Jacobus de Wet, urging disarmament, already given, and the following memorandum: Sir Jacobus de Wet, Her Majesty's Agent at Pretoria, has notified to the Committee that he has been officially informed by the Government in Pretoria that upon Johannesburg laying down its arms Dr. Jameson will be handed over to Her Majesty's High Commissioner. By Order. Johannesburg, _7th January._ The above is correct. J.A. DE WET, H.B.M. Agent. The Committee can add nothing to the above, and feel that there will not be one man among the thousands who have joined the Reform movement who will not find it consistent with honour and humanity to co-operate loyally in the carrying out of the Committee's decision. By order of the Committee. On Wednesday the investigations effected by the Government, with the aid of the Reform Committee, established the fact that the ultimatum had been complied with; but the juggling with Dr. Jameson's life continued for some days. On Thursday the 9th the High Commissioner received a communication from the President in which occurred the following sentence: 'As I had already caused your Excellency to be informed, it is really my intention to act in this sense (_i.e._, hand over Dr. Jameson and men), so that Dr. Jameson and the British subjects who were under his command may then be punished by her Majesty's Government, and I will make known to your Excellency the final decision in this matter _as soon as Johannesburg shall have reverted to a condition of quietness and order_.' In the face of this and many other significant messages and expressions which reached Sir Hercules Robinson, it is not to be wondered at that he considered Dr. Jameson's life to be in peril, and that he regarded, as he distinctly said he did, disarmament by Johannesburg as the only means of saving him; but what is less pardonable is, that he did not pin President Kruger to this, and demand an explanation when it became known that Jameson and his men were secured by the conditions of the surrender. The truth is that the wily old Boer President, by a species of diplomacy which does not now commend itself to civilized people, managed to jockey everybody with whom he had any dealings. He is much in the position of a certain financier who, after a vain effort to justify his proceedings, turned at last in desperation upon his critics and said: 'Well, I don't care what view you hold of it. You can have the morality, but I've got the cash.' Late in the evening of the 9th the following proclamation was published: Whereas by resolution of the Government of the South African Republic, dated Monday, the 6th of January, 1896, whereby to all persons at Johannesburg and suburbs twenty-four hours were granted to hand over and to lay down to the Government unconditionally all arms and ammunition for which no permit could be shown, and Whereas the said period of twenty-four hours has already expired on Tuesday, the 7th of January, 1896, and whereas the so-called Reform Committee and other British subjects have consented and decided to comply unconditionally with the resolution of the Government, and Whereas sundry persons already have laid down their arms and ammunition, and have handed them over to the Government, and Whereas the laying down and giving over of the said arms and ammunition is still proceeding, and Whereas it is desirable and proper that this be done as soon as possible, and in a proper way, and that a term be fixed thereto, Now I, Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, State President of the South African Republic, with the advice and consent of the Executive Council, by virtue of Article 5 of their minutes, dated 9th January, 1896, proclaim that further time will be given for that purpose until FRIDAY, the 10th JANUARY, 1896, at 6 p.m. All persons or corporations with whom, after the expiration of that period, arms or ammunition will be found, for which no permit granted by Government can be shown, will be dealt with according to law; and Whereas the laying down and handing over of the said arms and ammunition should have been effected unconditionally, Now I further proclaim that all persons who have already laid down and given over the said arms and ammunition, or who shall have done so before Friday, the 10th January, 1896, at 6 p.m., shall be exempted from all prosecution, and will be forgiven for the misdeeds that have taken place at Johannesburg and suburbs, _except all persons and corporations who will appear to be the chief offenders, ringleaders, leaders, instigators, and those who have caused the rebellion at Johannesburg and suburbs_. Such persons and corporations shall have to answer for their deeds before the legal and competent courts of this Republic. I further proclaim that I will address the inhabitants of Johannesburg to-morrow by a separate proclamation. _God save Land and People._ Given under my hand at the Government Office at Pretoria on this Ninth Day of January, in the Year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Ninety-six. S.J.P. KRUGER, _State President_. C. VAN BOESCHOTEN, _Acting State Secretary_. The grim, cautious method of the President was never better illustrated than by these proclamations and the concurrent actions. In no part of his diplomatic career has he better stage-managed the business than he did here. To the world at large these addresses commend themselves no doubt as reasonable and moderate, and they establish a record which will always speak for him when the chronology of events is lost; but the true worth of it all is only appreciated when one realizes that the first proclamation extending the time for disarmament, and promising amnesty to all except the leaders, was not issued until two days after the Government had satisfied themselves that the disarmament had been completed, and that it was deliberately held back until the police and burghers were in the outskirts of the town ready to pounce upon the men with whom they had been treating. It is an absolute fact that the Reform Committee-men, who had offered to effect the peaceful settlement seemingly desired by all parties, who had used every means in their power to convince the Government that disarming was being effected in a _bonâ fide_ and complete manner, and who had themselves supplied the Government in good faith with any documents they had showing the number of guns and the amount of ammunition which had been at the disposal of the Reform Committee, had not the remotest suspicion that an act of treachery was in contemplation, nor any hint that the Government did not regard them as amnestied by virtue of the negotiations; and it is a fact that when the proclamation of the 9th was issued the detectives were waiting at the clubs, hotels and houses to arrest the members of the Reform Committee, and that the Reformers did not know of the proclamation exempting them from the 'Forgive and Forget' until after they had been seized. On the 10th the address promised to the inhabitants of Johannesburg duly appeared. After reviewing recent events, it concluded with this appeal: Now I address you with full confidence! Strengthen the hands of the Government, and work together with them to make this Republic a country where all inhabitants, so to say, live fraternally together. For months and months I have thought which alterations and emendations would be desirable in the Government of this State, but the unwarrantable instigations, especially of the Press, have kept me back. The same men who now appear in public as the leaders have demanded amendments from me in a time and manner which they should not have dared to use in their own country out of fear of the penal law. Through this it was made impossible for me and my burghers, the founders of this Republic, to take your proposals into consideration. It is my intention to submit a draft law at the first ordinary session of the Volksraad, whereby a municipality with a Mayor at its head will be appointed for Johannesburg, to whom the whole municipal government of this town will be entrusted. According to all constitutional principles, such a municipal council should be appointed by the election of the inhabitants. I ask you earnestly, with your hand upon your heart, to answer me this question: Dare I, and should I, after all that has happened, propose such to the Volksraad? What I myself answer to this question is, I know that there are thousands in Johannesburg to whom I can with confidence entrust this right to vote in municipal matters. Inhabitants of Johannesburg, make it possible for the Government to appear before the Volksraad with the motto, 'Forget and Forgive.' (Signed) S.J.P. KRUGER, _State President_. One would think that anyone gifted with even a moderate sense of humour would have been restrained by it from issuing a second proclamation on top of the elaborate fooling of the first. Is it possible to imagine any other community or any other Government in the world in which the ruler could seriously set to work to promulgate two such proclamations, sandwiching as they did those acts which may be regarded as the practical expression--diametrically opposed to the published expression--of his intentions? In the meantime the negotiations concerning Dr. Jameson were dragging on. After securing the disarmament of Johannesburg and getting rid of the troublesome question of the disposal of Jameson, and after refusing for several days (to quote the gist of the High Commissioner's telegram, Blue Book No. 125 [C-7933]) to allow the necessary arrangements for the deportation of the men to be made, Mr. Kruger suddenly called upon the High Commissioner to have them removed at once, intimating at the same time that it was the decision of the Executive that all the prisoners, except the Transvaal and Free State subjects, whom he would retain, should be sent to England to be tried according to English law. It was pointed out that it was only contemplated to send the officers for trial. To this Mr. Kruger replied: 'In such case the whole question must be reconsidered.' The High Commissioner at once telegraphed for the decision of Her Majesty's Government, stating that it was the opinion of Sir Jacobus de Wet and Sir Graham Bower, who had represented him at the interview with the Transvaal Government, that, if the whole lot were not sent home to be dealt with according to English law, they would be tried in Pretoria, with a result which he feared would be deplorable. To this Mr. Chamberlain replied: Astonished that Council should hesitate to fulfil the engagement which we understood was made by President with you, and confirmed by the Queen, on the faith of which you secured disarmament of Johannesburg. Any delay will produce worst impression here, and may lead to serious consequences. I have already promised that all the leaders shall be brought to trial immediately; but it would be absurd to try the rank and file, who only obeyed orders which they could not refuse. If desired we may however engage to bring to England all who are not domiciled in South Africa; but we cannot undertake to bring all the rank and file to trial, for that would make a farce of the whole proceedings, and is contrary to the practice of all civilized Governments. As regards a pledge that they shall be punished, the President will see on consideration that although a Government can order a prosecution, it cannot in any free country compel a conviction. You may remind him that the murderers of Major Elliott, who were tried in the Transvaal in 1881, were acquitted by a jury of burghers. Compare also the treatment by us of Stellaland and other freebooters. The result of this communication was that the President drew in his horns and agreed that if the prisoners were deported to England he would be satisfied to let the British Government decide which of them should be prosecuted. The success of his diplomatic methods had whetted his appetite, it would appear. He was not content with the conditional surrender of Dr. Jameson, nor--having suppressed the fact that it was conditional--with having used him for the purpose of disarming Johannesburg; but, having achieved both purposes, Mr. Kruger was still desirous of keeping him in hand. This however was a length to which the British Government did not see fit to go; but there is no evidence in the correspondence which has passed tending to show that even then Sir Hercules Robinson perceived how he was being made use of and played with by the President. On the night of the 9th and the morning of the 10th, the members of the Reform Committee to the number of about sixty were arrested and lodged in gaol; and from this moment the High Commissioner appears to have erased them from the tablets of his memory. On January 14 he telegraphed to Mr. Chamberlain as follows: I have received a letter from Government of South African Republic, stating that, in their opinion, every reason exists for assuming that the complications at Johannesburg are approaching to an end, and that there need be no longer any fear of further bloodshed. The President of the South African Republic and Executive Council tender to me the warmest thanks of the Government of the South African Republic for the assistance I have been able to render in preventing further bloodshed, and their congratulations on the manner in which my object in coming has been fulfilled. They tender also their cordial acknowledgment of the services rendered by the British Agent at Pretoria, which I think is fully deserved. The Volksraad met yesterday, and adjourned until May, the only business transacted being a vote of thanks to the Orange Free State and the High Commissioner for their efforts in promoting a peaceful settlement, which was carried by acclamation. I now only await settlement of prisoners' difficulty to leave for Capetown, where my presence is urgently needed in consequence of change of Ministers. Governor of Natal and General Cox are here, to whom I will give instructions as to reception and disposal of prisoners as soon as I hear from you. To this Mr. Chamberlain telegraphed a most important reply on January 15: I am left in great perplexity by your telegram No. 3, of the 14th inst., and fear that some previous telegrams must have miscarried. (Here follow directions to refer to a number of telegrams in which Mr. Chamberlain had indicated the settlement which he anticipated, the nature of the reforms which Sir Hercules Robinson was to secure, and many inquiries as to the reason for the arrests of the reformers as reported in the English papers.) I have received no reply to any of these telegrams, but have assumed that negotiations were in progress between the President and yourself. There can be no settlement until the questions raised by these telegrams are disposed of. The people of Johannesburg laid down their arms in the belief that reasonable concessions would be arranged by your intervention; and until these are granted, or are definitely promised to you by the President, the root-causes of the recent troubles will remain. The President has again and again promised reform, and especially on the 30th December last, when he promised reforms in education and franchise; and grave dissatisfaction would be excited if you left Pretoria without a clear understanding on these points. Her Majesty's Government invite President Kruger, in the interests of the South African Republic and of peace, to make a full declaration on these matters. I am also awaiting a reply respecting the alleged wholesale arrests of English, Americans and other nationalities, made after the surrender of Johannesburg. It will be your duty to use firm language, and to tell the President that neglect to meet the admitted grievances of the Uitlanders by giving a definite promise to propose reasonable concessions would have a disastrous effect upon the prospects of a lasting and satisfactory settlement. Send me a full report of the steps that you have already taken with regard to this matter, and of the further action that you propose. In the meantime Sir Hercules Robinson left Pretoria, satisfied that he had done all that was necessary, and telegraphed to Mr. Chamberlain as follows: FROM THE HIGH COMMISSIONER _en route_ TO CAPETOWN. _15th January_, 1896. No. 1.--Your telegram 13 January, No. 1, only reached me last night, after I had left Pretoria. I could if you consider it desirable, communicate purport to President of South African Republic by letter, but I myself think such action would be inopportune at this moment. Nearly all leading Johannesburg men are now in gaol, charged with treason against the State, and it is rumoured that Government has written evidence of a long-standing and widespread conspiracy to seize government of country on the plea of denial of political privileges, and to incorporate the country with that of British South Africa Company. The truth of these reports will be tested in the trials to take place shortly in the High Court, and meanwhile to urge claim for extended political privileges for the very men so charged would be ineffectual and impolitic. President of South African Republic has already promised municipal government to Johannesburg, and has stated in a proclamation that all grievances advanced in a constitutional manner will be carefully considered and brought before the Volksraad without loss of time; but until result of trials is known nothing of course will now be done. Mr. Chamberlain replied to the above: _15th January_. No. 5.--Referring to your telegram, No. 1, of the 15th January, see my telegram No. 1 of to-day, which was sent before receipt of yours. I recognize that the actual moment is not opportune for a settlement of the Uitlanders' grievances, and that the position of the President of the South African Republic may be an embarrassing one, but I do not consider that the arrest of a few score individuals out of a population of 70,000 or more, or the supposed existence of a plot amongst that small minority, is a reason for denying to the overwhelming majority of innocent persons reforms which are just in themselves and expedient in the interests of the Republic. Whatever may be said about the conduct of a few individuals, nothing can be plainer than that the sober and industrious majority refused to countenance any resort to violence, and proved their readiness to obey the law and your authority. I hope, therefore, to hear at an early date that you propose to resume discussion with President of South African Republic on lines laid down in my previous telegrams. I do not see that the matter need wait until the conclusion of the trial of the supposed plotters. I am anxious to receive the information asked for in my telegram No. 1 of the 14th January. Please communicate at once with the President on this matter. The following is the telegram to which allusion is made above: _14th January_. No. 1.--Press telegrams state numerous arrests of leading residents on the Rand, including many Americans, Germans, and other nationalities. Fear that number of these arrests of active managers, representatives, may disorganize industry on the Rand. Wish to know of what accused, when brought to trial, whether bail allowed, and what penalities prescribed by law. Shall be glad to learn from President of South African Republic what his intentions are in this matter, which affects the subjects of so many States. Propose to communicate President's reply to American and Belgian Governments, which have already asked us to take charge of interests of their respective citizens. Sir Hercules Robinson, replied: _15th January_. No. 2.--Your telegram of 14th January, No. 1. The accused are between fifty and sixty in number, and are mostly members of the Reform Committee. They have been arrested on charge of treason, and of seeking to subvert the State by inviting the co-operation and entrance into it of an armed force. The proceedings are based, I understand, on sworn information, and the trials will take place before High Court. The accused are being well treated, and are represented by able counsel. It is alleged that Government has documentary evidence of a widespread conspiracy to seize upon Government, and make use of the wealth of the country to rehabilitate finances of British South Africa Company. On taking leave of President of South African Republic, I urged on him moderation as regards the accused, so as not to alienate the sympathy he now enjoys of all right-minded persons. Bail is a matter entirely in the hands of Attorney-General. The Government seem acting within their legal rights, and I do not see how I can interfere. Mines are at work, and industry does not seem to be disorganized. While still on his way to Capetown, the High Commissioner telegraphed to Mr. Chamberlain again in a manner indicating his complete abandonment of the position taken up by him in relation to Johannesburg--in fact, his repudiation of what his own words have recorded against him: _16th January_. No. i.--Your telegram of 15th January, No. 1, received. I cannot at this moment follow the complications arising from supposed missing and crossing telegrams, but can only say that no telegram which has reached me from you has remained unanswered. No promise was made to Johannesburg by me as an inducement to disarm, except that the promises made in the President's previous proclamation would be adhered to, and that Jameson and the other prisoners would not be transferred until Johannesburg had unconditionally laid down its arms and surrendered. I sent your long telegram of 4th January to President; _but the question of concessions to Uitlanders has never been discussed between us_. Pending result of coming trials, and the extent to which Johannesburg is implicated in the alleged conspiracy to subvert the State is made clear, the question of political privileges would not be entertained by Government of the South African Republic. He justified the change of policy in another communication addressed to Mr. Chamberlain before he reached Capetown: _16th January_. No. 3.--Your telegram of the 15th January, No. 5. If you will leave the matter in my hands, I will _resume_ advocacy of Uitlanders' claims at the first moment I think it can be done with advantage; the present moment is most inopportune, as the strongest feeling of irritation and indignation against the Uitlanders exists both amongst the Burghers and Members of Volksraad of both Republics. Any attempt to dictate in regard to the internal affairs of South African Republic at this moment would be resisted by all parties in South Africa, and would do great harm. I have already replied in my telegram of 15th January, No. 2, in answer to your telegram of 14th January, No. 1, and I do not think it possible to obtain further information at this stage, the matter being _sub judice_. Sir Hercules Robinson left Pretoria on the 14th, having resided within a few hundred yards of Dr. Jameson and his comrades for a week, and of the Reform prisoners for four days, without making any attempt whatever to ascertain their circumstances or story. During that time his military secretary called upon Dr. Jameson for the purpose of finding out details of the prisoners and wounded of the force, but made no further inquiries. Dr. Jameson's solicitor wrote to the Colonial Office on March 5: MY DEAR FAIRFIELD, You have probably seen the cable that has come to the _Diggers' News_, giving the lie direct to Sir John Willoughby's statement respecting terms of surrender. I have seen Sir John again, and am authorized by him to state, with regard to the criticism that it is incredible that nothing should have been said by the officers when in prison at Pretoria to anybody about the terms of surrender, that it must be remembered that from the time of the surrender until they left Africa none of them were allowed to make any communication. While in gaol they were not allowed to see newspapers or to receive any news of what was going on in Pretoria or elsewhere. Sir J. Willoughby made a statement to the head gaoler and other officials at the time of his arrival at the gaol when he was searched and all his papers taken from him. He requested to be allowed to keep the document signed by Cronjé, as it contained the terms of the surrender, but received as answer that all papers must be taken and that they would be returned afterwards. They were in fact taken and only returned when the officers were removed from the gaol to go to Durban. My clients did try to get a note through to Johannesburg concealed in a matchbox. They paid twenty-five pounds to get it through, and sent it within thirty-six hours of their arrival in gaol, but they have never been able to ascertain whether it reached its destination. The gist of it was that they were all right. It never occurred to the prisoners that neither the British Resident nor the High Commissioner would be informed of the terms of the surrender, or that they would not satisfy themselves on this point. Sir Hercules Robinson might urge, in so far as Dr. Jameson's affair is concerned, that he could not be expected to suspect a deception such as was practised upon him; yet it does seem extraordinary that, being in Pretoria for the purpose of negotiating for the disposal of Dr. Jameson and his comrades, he should not have taken steps to ascertain what there was to be said on their behalf, especially as on his own showing it was for the greater part of the time a question of life and death for the leaders of the force. It is even more difficult to understand why no effort should have been made to communicate with the Reformers. The High Commissioner was thoroughly well aware of the negotiations between them and the Government on January 1. He had received communications by telegraph from the Reformers before he left Capetown; he came up avowedly to settle their business; he negotiated on their behalf and induced them to disarm; he witnessed their arrest and confinement in gaol; yet not only did he not visit them himself, nor send an accredited member of his staff to inquire into their case and conditions, but Sir Jacobus de Wet alleges that he actually, in deference to the wish of the President, desired the British Agent not to hold any communication whatever with the prisoners during his (Sir Hercules Robinson's) stay in Pretoria. Truly we have had many examples of President Kruger's audacity, and of the success of it; but nothing to equal this. That he demanded from Sir Hercules Robinson information as to the objects of the Flying Squadron and the movements of British troops in British territory, and succeeded in getting it, was a triumph; but surely not on a par with that of desiring the High Commissioner not to hold communication with the British subjects whom he, as the official representative of their sovereign, had travelled a thousand miles to disarm, and on whose behalf--ostensibly--he was there to negotiate. CHAPTER VIII. ARREST AND TRIAL OF THE REFORMERS. About half of the members of the Reform Committee were arrested and taken through to Pretoria on the night of the 9th. Others were arrested at various times during the evening and night, were detained in the lock-up at Johannesburg as ordinary felons, and escorted to the Pretoria gaol on the following morning. The scene on their arrival at Pretoria railway station and during their march to the gaol was not creditable to the Boers. A howling mob surrounded the prisoners, hustling them, striking them, and hurling abuse at them incessantly. The mounted burghers acting as an escort forced their horses at the unfortunate men on foot, jostling them and threatening to ride them down. One of the prisoners, a man close on sixty years of age, was thrown by an excited patriot and kicked and trampled on before he was rescued by some of his comrades. Once within the gaol, the men were searched and locked up in the cells, and treated exactly as black or white felons of the lowest description. In many cases four or five men were incarcerated in single cells 9 feet long by 5 feet 6 inches wide, with one small grating for ventilation. At night they were obliged to lie on the mud floor, or in some cases on filthy straw mattresses left in the cells by former occupants. No provision was made by which they could obtain blankets or other covering--indeed at first it was not necessary, as the overcrowding and lack of ventilation very nearly resulted in asphyxiation. With an inhumanity almost incredible, in one instance one of the prisoners, suffering from fever and dysentery, was locked up for twelve hours with four others in such a cell without any sanitary provisions whatever. Friends in Pretoria induced the authorities, by means not unpopular in that place, to admit a better class of food than that allowed to the ordinary prisoners; and it is stated that the first meal enjoyed by the Reformers cost close upon £100 for introduction. Day by day fresh concessions were obtained in a similar manner, with the result that before long the prisoners were allowed to have their own clothing and beds and such food as they chose to order. Nothing however could alter the indescribable sanitary conditions, nor compensate for the fact that the cells occupied by these men were in many cases swarming with vermin. The climate in Pretoria in January is almost tropical, and the sufferings of many of the older and less robust men under such circumstances were very considerable. On the eleventh day of incarceration the majority of the prisoners were let out on bail of £2,000 each; in the cases of two or three bail of £4,000 each was required; but bail was refused to Colonel Rhodes, Messrs. Phillips, Farrar, Hammond (the signatories to the letter), and J.P. FitzPatrick, the secretary of the Reform Committee. These five continued to occupy the undesirable premises for four weeks more, at the end of which time, owing to the serious effect upon their health which imprisonment under these conditions had produced, and owing to the repeated representations within the Transvaal and from the British Government as well, an alteration was made under somewhat novel conditions. It was notified to the public that the Government had graciously consented to admit the prisoners to bail. The terms, however, were not at the time publicly announced. First and foremost it was required of them that they should deposit £10,000 in sovereigns each as security that they would not break the conditions of their altered imprisonment. They were to reside in a cottage in Pretoria under strong guard, and they were to pay the whole of the costs of their detention, including the salary and living expenses of the officer and guard placed over them. The cost, including interest upon the money deposited, was upwards of £1,000 a month. The preliminary examination into the charges against the Reformers began on February 3, and lasted about a month. It resulted in the committal for trial, on the charge of high treason, of all those arrested. The Imperial Government having decided to send a representative to watch the trial on behalf of the British, American and Belgian subjects, Mr. J. Rose Innes, Q.C., the leader of the Bar in Cape Colony, attended on their behalf. It was intimated to the Transvaal Government that Mr. Innes would represent the Imperial Government; but objection was made to this on the grounds that he had been admitted to the Pretoria Bar during the British administration, and had failed to comply with a subsequent rule of Court which required some sort of registration; and permission was refused to him to address the Court. The objection was maintained, and Mr. Innes was obliged to limit his participation in the affair to sitting at the counsels' table and consulting and advising with the Pretoria barristers employed to defend the prisoners. The examination was, as Dr. Coster the State Attorney announced, of the nature of a fishing examination, and he claimed to be permitted to conduct it in a manner which, he alleged, is popular in Holland, but which is entirely unknown in the Transvaal, and certainly does not obtain in any British possession. The chief feature of this system appears to be a total disregard of the rules applying to evidence. A few instances will suffice. One of the first witnesses called was Judge Ameshof, who with Chief-Justice Kotzé and Mr. Kock formed the Government Commission appointed to meet the deputation from the Reform Committee on January 1. Judge Ameshof was duly sworn, and was asked to identify a list of the members of the Reform Committee. He did so. He stated that it was the list supplied to the Government Commission at the meeting of January 1 by the deputation of the Reform Committee, and he regarded it therefore as authentic. The deputation had stated to the Commission that it was so. This was the first revelation of the tactics about to be pursued by the Government, in using information which had been given under privilege and in good faith by the prisoners themselves, when negotiating with the Government prior to any question of arrest being raised. Mr. Wessels, counsel for the accused, rose to obtain from Judge Ameshof the official account of the meeting, desiring to prove this very important negotiation by means of witnesses on the Government side. He got no further however than saying to the witness, 'You said you were a member of the Government Commission?' when Judge Ameshof replied, 'Yes, but if you are going to ask me about anything that took place at that meeting, I cannot answer, because the meeting was a privileged one.' Mr. Wessels did not lose his opportunity, 'You have stated,' he said, 'that you are a Judge of the High Court?' The witness signified assent. 'And you mean to tell me,' Mr. Wessels continued, 'that you feel yourself free to divulge so much as it suits the Government to reveal, but that as soon as I wish to prove something to my clients' advantage the interview becomes privileged?' The witness did not answer, and Mr. Wessels appealed to the Court. Judicial Commissioner Zeiler, however, upheld the witness's contention. Mr. Wessels urged in reply that if it was a privileged interview he objected to any evidence whatever being given in connection with it, and protested vehemently against the admission of the list of members just sworn to. The objection was overruled, and it was thus laid down that the interview was privileged as far as the Government was concerned, but not in so far as it could benefit the Reformers. Another case was that of Mr. Schumacher, a witness who testified, _inter alia_, that he did not know what the objects of a certain Development Syndicate were. His evidence showed that he had not been informed upon this point. He was very hard pressed by the State Attorney, but he adhered to his first answer. Dr. Coster then altered his tactics and asked, 'Had you no opinions on the subject? Did you not guess at all?' The witness replied that he might have thought and conjectured at various times, but that he had nothing in the nature of information or knowledge on the point. This did not satisfy Dr. Coster, who then pressed the question, 'Well, what did you think? What were your thoughts?' The witness objected to state what his thoughts were, as they could have no bearing on the fact, and might be absolutely wide of the mark. He could only repeat that he had no knowledge. The witness appealed to the Bench for protection. Mr. Wessels urged that it was an unheard-of proceeding to compel a witness to state what he thought and to use it as evidence. The objections were again overruled, and the witness was ordered by the Court to answer. His reply afforded no satisfaction to the Government, being to the effect that he could not then remember what his thoughts were at various times. On the application of the State Attorney the Judicial Commissioner sent him to gaol for twelve hours for contempt of court. Mr. Wessels strenuously objected to the decision and applied to the Court to stay imprisonment to enable him to appeal to a judge in chambers, but even this was refused. Mr. Wessels in the course of his address received a reprimand from the Bench for stating that he now recognized the force of the State Attorney's contention that the law of evidence as obtaining in South Africa was not sufficiently wide; for, he added, he thought it would suit the purpose of the Government better if they reverted to an older system under which racks and thumbscrews were popular. The witness was sent to gaol. Some hours later an appeal was heard by Judge de Korté in chambers, and the decision of the Judicial Commissioner was reversed, but the prisoner had already completed seven hours' imprisonment in a dirty cell. Judge de Korté stated that he had reversed the decision after consultation with Chief Justice Kotzé, and it was felt that something at least had been achieved by Mr. Schumacher, and the rights of a witness would be recognized. But the end is not always in sight in dealing with the Transvaal Government. The State Attorney in turn appealed from the single judge's decision to the full Bench. Judge Morice, a Scotchman, many years a judge of the High Court, supported the decision of Judge de Korté. The Chief Justice, who had advised Judge de Korté in his decision however in a most extraordinary judgment now reversed it, and in this view he was supported by Judge Ameshof--himself a witness in the case against the Reformers. Thus the majority judgment of the High Court against the Reformers on this principle of evidence happened to be formulated by the two judges who had been appointed to negotiate with the Reformers' deputation on behalf of the Government. The impossibility of obtaining justice in the Courts of the Transvaal under the then conditions was thus brought home to the prisoners. An appeal from the decision of the Lower Court on Judge Ameshof's interpretation of privilege, which had been seriously discussed, was then abandoned as being worse than useless, and calculated only to provoke more extreme measures against the prisoners by placing the Bench in a ridiculous position. It could not be expected that the Chief Justice, who was himself a member of the Government Commission which Judge Ameshof had claimed to be privileged, would take any other view than that favouring the policy and convenience of the Government which he showed himself so ready to befriend. In the Schumacher appeal case before the full Court, Dr. Coster had made no secret that he intended to disregard the rules and precedents governing the treatment of witnesses, and even claimed that he should receive no opposition from the prisoners' counsel, since he was only '_fishing_' for evidence and not actually accumulating it against the prisoners, and had no intention of using the evidence given at this examination. Mr. Wessels asked him whether he would pledge himself to this effect, and what, for instance, would be done in case a witness who had been heard at the preliminary examination should die before the main trial came off. The reply was, that in such a case of course the Government would be bound to use some of the evidence, but would use it with discretion and not unfairly. This undertaking provoked smiles even in court. The wisdom and fairness of Mr. Wessels' contention were fully justified when the trial actually did take place, for the whole of the evidence of the preliminary examination was handed in for the guidance of the judge in determining his sentences against the accused. It may be added that each witness was called upon to sign the notes of his evidence as taken down in Dutch. When required, the official reporter read a free translation of the notes to the witness before they were signed. At the conclusion of the examination all the prisoners were committed on the same charge--that of high treason--no distinction whatever being made in the references to them from the Bench. By this time Mr. Hammond, who had been ill, was released on bail of £20,000 in order to go to the seaside. Application was made on behalf of Colonel Rhodes, Messrs. Phillips, Farrar, and FitzPatrick for release on bail, upon the grounds that no distinction whatever had been made between them and the other prisoners who had already been released, but this was refused after the point had been reserved for consideration by the State Attorney in consultation with the Chief Justice, and the four men returned to their former conditions of imprisonment. Mr. Chamberlain continued to make representations on behalf of these men, and at one time it appeared as though the restrictions would be removed, Dr. Coster having pledged himself to accept bail, and having actually drawn out the bail-bonds and submitted them to the solicitors of the accused for approval, and every arrangement having been completed--even to the finding of the additional security. They were however at the last moment curtly informed that bail would not be allowed. On this being reported to Mr. Chamberlain, he at once replied to the effect that he could not believe that a Government would revoke a promise made on their behalf by the State Attorney. Dr. Leyds, on behalf of his Government, stated that the matter was in the hands of the State Attorney alone and did not concern the Executive, and that on inquiry he found that no such promise had been made and no undertaking given. The incident is more or less trivial, but again shows the readiness with which the Boer Government repudiate a promise when it is to their convenience to do so. Dr. Coster on his side admitted with expressions of regret that there had been a breach of undertaking, and stated that it had been done by order of the Executive Council. Communications between Mr. Chamberlain and the Pretoria Government were of great frequency during this period. The phantom of Mr. Kruger's visit to England was chased with great assiduity. The wily old President seized on Mr. Chamberlain's suggestions as an excellent pretext for delay to enable him to spread his nets, and he used the time to great advantage. But this was not the worst! Mr. Chamberlain's new diplomacy and his stupid or treacherous advisers led him into blunders; as when, for instance, he tried to bounce without the intention of making good his implied threats; and when he sent his 4th of February despatch (publishing it in London before it reached Pretoria), strongly and ably reviewing the position, but spoiling all by a proposal which, whilst it had not been suggested to or discussed by the Rand people, and would not have been acceptable to them in lieu of what they had demanded, was also an interference in the internal affairs of the Transvaal. It gave the Pretoria Government an opportunity, which they did not miss, of severely snubbing Mr. Chamberlain. When the latter in turn peremptorily refused their demands, he was informed that the cancellation of the London Convention would not be pressed '_at present_,' but might remain in abeyance. Throughout the period prior to the main trial, President Kruger continued to use with great effect 'the wishes and intentions of his burghers.' When bail was first refused to the leaders this course was justified on the grounds that the burghers were strongly against it, and that the President could not act against their wishes. When at a later stage a petition was presented by a number of burghers more or less in touch with the Uitlander community, who felt that the treatment of the leaders was having a bad effect, counter petitions came in within a day or two urging the Government on no account to extend the privilege of bail to these men. Oddly enough, these petitions were got up and signed by relatives and near connexions of the President himself. During this period another petition was presented which is surely without parallel in a civilized state; but it illustrates admirably the Boer idea of right and liberty. Fifty burghers in the district of Standerton addressed the Government, pointing out the undesirability of allowing a 'certain Advocate Wessels to defend the Jameson rebels,' and praying that the Government would put him over the border, 'which is the slightest punishment that can be inflicted upon him.' The receipt of this petition was announced in the Government organ, the _Press_, on March 25. At about this time another incident occurred which excited considerable feeling. Commandant Henning Pretorius, one of the most prominent Boer officials, having paid a visit to his native district in the Cape Colony shortly after the Jameson raid, purchased from the owner of a farm at Cookhouse Drift the beam from which the five Boers had been hanged at Slagter's Nek for rebellion in the year 1816. Reference has already been made in the first chapter to this deplorable affair. The beam (which had been built into the house) was brought up by the purchaser to Pretoria. He states, and no doubt truly, that he obtained the historical relic for the purpose of adding it to the National Museum; but it must be added that the time was not well chosen unless the intention was to rouse feeling. The _Volksstem_, the Hollander-Boer organ, in an extremely violent article, described in detail the Slagter's Nek executions, and called upon the burghers to avenge on the persons of the Reformers their murdered countrymen; and it is a fact vouched for by persons by no means friendly to the Uitlander that certain Boers approached President Kruger, intimating to him that the beam had arrived, that it would not be necessary to bother about a trial, but that the four men should be hanged out of hand from the same scaffold which had served for their compatriots. It is but right to say that President Kruger's reply was a severe reprimand, and a reminder that they were not a barbarous people, but should comply with the law. The matter having been brought to the notice of Mr. Chamberlain, strong representations were made upon the subject, to which the Transvaal Government replied (forgetful apparently of the fact that the President had frequently urged his inability to control his burghers) that the Transvaal was a civilized State, that the burghers were law-abiding and peaceful people, and that their Government was at all times able to control them. It was interesting to see the argument of the burghers getting out of hand, which was used with such effect in the case of Dr. Jameson and quoted by Sir Hercules Robinson, recoil upon the head of its originator. A final effort was made by the people of Johannesburg to obtain the release on bail of the four prisoners. A petition bearing the signatures of 20,000 persons was presented; the gentlemen bearing the petition were informed that it could not be received; that they must call again. Having called again and again, the petition was at last accepted and placed before the Government; but no reply was ever vouchsafed. The treatment of this memorial is in sharp contrast with that accorded to the one presented by a score or so of the President's relatives and supporters--objecting to the release. From the time of the arrests until just before the trial speculation was rife as to which judge would preside. The Chief Justice and Judge Ameshof could hardly sit (even allowing for the precedents already established by them), since they had both acted on the Government Commission in negotiating with the prisoners, and one of them had already given evidence against the accused. There remained Justices Jorissen, De Korté and Morice. Mr. De Korté was then threatened with suspension owing to pecuniary embarrassments, and would evidently not be allowed to preside. The fifth judge, Mr. Jorissen, had expressed himself so violently against the Reformers that he had himself recognized the impossibility of attaining an impartial attitude, and had refused to sit. The only judge available was therefore Mr. Justice Morice, against whom there was no valid objection whatever. Moreover, in the ordinary routine it so happened that it was his turn to preside at the forthcoming trial; but he was known to hold Liberal views and to be strongly in sympathy with internal reform. At this time Chief-Justice Kotzé undertook several journeys to the Free State and Cape Colony, ostensibly to rid himself of insomnia, but in reality, as results proved, in order to employ a judge for this trial. His choice eventually fell upon Mr. Gregorowski, formerly a judge in the Free State, and at that time State-Attorney to that country. Mr. Gregorowski was noted on the Bench for the peculiar severity of his sentences on all except Boers. He had moreover expressed openly in Bloemfontein his wish that he might have the trying of 'those Reformers; he would give them what for.' These things were not known at the time of the trial; nor had the fact yet come out that before taking the oath of office he had endeavoured to borrow from at least one of his colleagues a black cap for the forthcoming trial. His attitude at the time is sufficiently indicated by what he wrote shortly after the trial, in defence of his action, '_I came up to put down rebellion._ I have done so with a strong hand, and I believe that my judgment will bear good fruit in the future.' The prisoners could not but contrast the action of the Government in employing and appointing, on approval, a judge who had no status whatever in the country, with their action in declining to allow Mr. Rose Innes to appear at the Bar on the pretext of his previous qualification not being in order; and it was felt to be ominous that an independent and upright judge, against whom there could be no objection, should be passed over, and another specially imported for the occasion. The trial was at last fixed to take place on April 27, and the indictments were served upon the accused six days before that date. The following is the list of those who were committed for trial: Lionel Phillips Colonel F.W. Rhodes George Farrar J.H. Hammond J.P. FitzPatrick S.W. Jameson G. Richards J.L. Williams G. Sandilands F. Spencer R.A. Bettington J.G. Auret E.P. Solomon J.W. Leonard W.H.S. Bell W.E. Hudson D.F. Gilfillan C.H. Mullins E.O. Hutchinson W. van Hulsteyn A. Woolls-Sampson H.C. Hull Alf. Brown C.L. Andersson M. Langermann W. Hosken W. St. John Carr H.F. Strange C. Garland Fred Gray{33} A. Mackie Niven Dr. W.T.F. Davies Dr. R.P. Mitchell Dr. Hans Sauer Dr. A.P. Hillier Dr. D.P. Duirs Dr. W. Brodie H.J. King A. Bailey Sir Drummond Dunbar H.E. Becher F. Mosenthal H.A. Rogers C. Butters Walter D. Davies H. Bettelheim F.R. Lingham A.L. Lawley W.B. Head V.M. Clement W. Goddard J.J. Lace C.A. Tremeer R.G. Fricker J.M. Buckland J. Donaldson F.H. Hamilton P. du Bois H.B. Marshall S.B. Joel A.R. Goldring J.A. Roger Thomas Mein J.S. Curtis{34} The indictment served on all alike was as follows: H.J. Coster, State Attorney of the South African Republic, who, on behalf of the State, prosecutes, brings to the notice of the Court: That they (citing the accused), all and each or one or more of them, are guilty of the crime of High Treason: Firstly: In that in or about the months of November and December in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-five, the exact dates being unknown to the State Attorney, they, the said accused, at Johannesburg, Witwatersrand Goldfields, South African Republic, being citizens of, or residing in, this Republic, all and each or one or more of them wrongfully, unlawfully, and with a hostile intention to disturb, injure, or bring into danger the independence or safety of this Republic, treated, conspired, agreed with and urged Leander Starr Jameson, an alien, residing without the boundaries of this Republic, to come into the territory of this Republic at the head of and with an armed and hostile troop, and to make a hostile invasion and to march through to Johannesburg aforesaid. Secondly: In that they (the said accused), being citizens of, or residing in, this Republic, all and each or one or more of them, there and then in conjunction with Charles Leonard and Dr. H. Wolff, now fugitives, and other persons unknown to the State Attorney, appearing and acting as a committee, by them named the 'Reform Committee,' after the above-mentioned Leander Starr Jameson, on or about December 29, in the year aforesaid, had come from without the Republic, at the head of and with an armed and hostile troop, in the neighbourhood of Ottoshoop, district Marico, into the territory of this Republic, and had made a hostile invasion, and had violently attempted to penetrate through to Johannesburg aforesaid, wrongfully, unlawfully, and with a hostile intention to disturb, injure, or bring into danger the independence or safety of this Republic, gave, or attempted to give, the aforementioned Leander Starr Jameson during his hostile invasion aforesaid information about the state of the defences at Johannesburg, and had armed troops ready to assist, and sent assistance to him, and subsequently by seditious speeches made, or caused to be made, in public, with the object to persuade and induce the people there to stand by the aforementioned Jameson in his hostile invasion, and further have assisted him, the aforementioned Jameson, during his hostile invasion above mentioned, by providing him with provisions, forage, and horses. Thirdly: That in or about the month of December, in the year aforesaid, and in the month of January in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-six, exact dates not known to the State Attorney, at Johannesburg aforesaid, they (the said accused), being inhabitants of, and residing in, this Republic, all and each or one or more of them, then and there, in conjunction with Charles Leonard and Dr. H. Wolff, now fugitives, and other persons unknown to the State Attorney, appearing and acting as a committee named by them the 'Reform Committee,' wrongfully and unlawfully, and with a hostile intention to disturb, injure, or bring into danger the independence or safety of this Republic, have distributed, or caused to be distributed, amongst the population there, and in the neighbourhood thereof, Maxim guns, other weapons, arms, and ammunition; further, have enrolled men, or have caused them to be enrolled, and have formed them, or have caused them to be formed, into military corps; have erected there, or caused to be erected, earthworks and other fortifications. Fourthly: In that in or about the month of December and the month of January, the exact dates being unknown to the State Attorney, and at Johannesburg aforesaid they (the said accused), being citizens of, and residing in, this Republic, all and each or one or more of them, then and there, in conjunction with Charles Leonard and Dr. H. Wolff, now fugitives, and other persons unknown to the State Attorney, appearing and acting as a committee called by them the 'Reform Committee,' wrongfully and unlawfully, with hostile intention to disturb, injure, or bring into danger the independence or safety of this Republic, have arrogated to themselves, and have exercised and caused to be exercised, the functions, and powers belonging to the authorities of this Republic; by violence, or by threats of violence, have compelled, or caused to be compelled, the police of this Republic stationed at Johannesburg aforesaid to leave the public squares and streets; have formed, or caused to be formed, their own police corps, and have provided that corps, or caused it to be provided, with guns and other arms; and further have appointed, or caused to be appointed, as head of that corps, Andrew Trimble, and have entrusted him with jurisdiction in police cases, in virtue whereof the aforementioned Andrew Trimble has passed sentence and caused it to be carried out. In consequence of all which acts abovementioned the independence of this country was brought into danger, and its safety disturbed and impaired. Wherefore the State Attorney, after due proof and conviction thereof, requests the judgment of this Court against said accused, according to law. The general opinion based upon the character of the evidence adduced at the preliminary examination was that it would be impossible to sustain the charge of high treason; but the disclosure of the documents in the possession of the State Attorney put a different complexion upon the case. Then for the first time the members of the Reform Committee became aware of that factor in their case which has since become famous as 'de trommel van Bobby White'--Major Robert White's despatch-box--a veritable conjurer's hat, from which Mr. Kruger produced to an admiring and astonished world the political equivalents of eggs and goldfish, pigeons and white mice. In this box (which was taken with the invading force at Doornkop) it appears Major White had brought as much of his previous correspondence as he could conveniently carry, together with diaries, notebooks, code-books, cipher-keys, etc. Nor was this all. He had brought a copy of the letter of invitation, certified by himself as magistrate in the Bechuanaland Protectorate. Revelations at and subsequent to the trial show that the State Attorney, on discovering this copy and finding that as a copy it would not be admitted and that he might experience some difficulty in proving it, prevailed upon Major White while in the Pretoria gaol to confirm his previous certificate, and to make an affidavit to the effect that he had compared the letter with the original, that it was a true copy, and that he had examined the signatures, and believed them to be the signatures of the persons indicated. The State Attorney alleges that he bargained with Major White for this affidavit, and in return surrendered to him certain private documents which had also been taken in the despatch-box. Major White on the other hand stated to the writer and to another member of the Reform Committee--Mr. H.C. Hull--that there is no truth in the allegation that he received a _quid pro quo_; but has no excuse to offer for making the affidavit, except that he--_'does not remember having done it.'_ The Reform prisoners, who, animated by a desire not to give any of their comrades away, had for a period of close upon four months borne all the abuse which could be heaped upon them, and had abstained from making any defence in public, or any of those revelations such as have since been made through the exertion of the Transvaal authorities, the Select Committee of the Cape House of Assembly, and the Bow Street officers, found to their inexpressible disgust that the efforts which they had made were rendered futile by the capture of these documents; and they were highly incensed at the action of one of the very men whose lives they believed they had saved by surrendering on January 7. The affidavit was looked upon as unpardonable, and the unnecessary statement regarding the genuineness of the signatures was interpreted in a very unpleasant sense. Consultations now took place between Mr. Advocate Wessels and Mr. Richard Solomon, Q.C., of Kimberley, who had also been retained on behalf of the accused; and endeavours were made to obtain from the State Attorney details of the evidence which it was proposed to bring, but with only partial success. From the facts already known to them it was clear that the Government were determined to stretch every point in law to their own advantage and to indulge in few scruples as to the means to be employed to secure a conviction. The Judge, it was known, had been specially imported for this trial, and provisionally appointed to a seat on the Bench. As the confirmation of his appointment was to take place when the Volksraad should meet, or at any rate at some period subsequent to the trial, it was not unnatural to regard his as a case in which a judge was appointed on approval, the appointment to be either confirmed or cancelled according to the satisfaction which he should give. Appeal to the full bench of the High Court had already been proved to be entirely useless; since the only judges to whom appeal could be made were those who had in the earlier stages associated themselves with the Government against the Reform Committee, and later on in their judicial capacities confirmed the attitude taken up by them as patriots. The options before the prisoners were therefore three in number. One course would be to enter upon a protracted trial before a Boer jury and a specially-appointed judge, with the certainty for the majority of an adverse verdict in any case. In such a trial numberless occasions would arise for the exercise of discretion in the admission or rejection of evidence, and any defence of the prisoners must necessarily partake of the character of an indictment against the Government and the faction which both judge and jury avowedly represented, and tend only to aggravate the penalty. They would moreover have to face that trial as a body of over sixty men, many of whom could have reasonably set up special defences, many of whom were not even mentioned in any evidence which the Government had yet secured (with the exception of course of Judge Ameshof's _privileged_ list), and could therefore reasonably expect to be discharged on making individual defences. The second alternative was to decline to plead at all, on the ground that they had negotiated with the Government in good faith, and that a treacherous arrest and breach of understandings arrived at would not be recognised in any way by them--in fact, to refuse to condone treachery or take a hand in a farce. The third course was to plead guilty, and take a short cut on the best terms possible to what was realized to be a pre-arranged conclusion. The second alternative was rejected, because it was found to be impossible to secure unanimity of action. In the course of the discussions upon the other alternatives, certain negotiations took place between the State Attorney Dr. Coster and Mr. Wessels, the result of which was that Dr. Coster made the following offer: If the leaders (the signatories to the letter of invitation) would consent to plead guilty to count 1 of the indictment, he would agree to withdraw as against them counts 2, 3, and 4; and in such case he would agree that the rank and file should plead guilty to counts 3 and 4 only, he withdrawing as against them counts 1 and 2. The matter was discussed by the prisoners, and objection was taken to that part of the indictment in which it was stated that the Reform Committee had acted 'with a hostile intention to disturb, injure or bring into danger the independence or safety of this Republic.' Another meeting took place between the State Attorney and Mr. Wessels, at which Dr. Coster agreed to eliminate from the indictment against the rank and file the words objected to, provided that the leaders would plead guilty to count 1. Having arrived at this--to him--satisfactory conclusion, Dr. Coster remarked that they (_i.e.,_ all except the four) were now charged with a merely nominal offence. Mr. Wessels endeavoured to obtain the same alteration in the indictment of the leaders, but this was refused on the ground that it would make the indictment ridiculous; and, _apropos_ of the concession to the rank and file, Dr. Coster even expressed doubts as to whether, if the hostile intention were eliminated, any crime could be said to remain under the indictment. He however agreed to allow the four leaders to qualify their plea by a statement in writing which they were to put in at the same time. He stated that he would have _pro forma_ to put in some evidence of the offence, but undertook not to press for exemplary punishment, and moreover promised that he would not dispute or question the statement to be put in, provided that it contained no material error in fact. A discussion then followed as to the law under which the trial would take place. Mr. Wessels urged that, as there was specific provision in the statute law for cases of this nature, the statute law would of course apply in preference to Roman-Dutch law. Dr. Coster said he presumed that this would be the case, but that he was not quite sure whether Roman-Dutch law would not apply. He added however that anything he could say would not be binding upon the judge, who could alone decide as to the question of law. Mr. Wessels's report to his clients induced the rank and file to agree under the altered circumstances to the third alternative, namely, pleading guilty, and they agreed to this under the impression, which without doubt had been suggested and deliberately fostered by the Government, that they were pleading guilty to a nominal offence, and would incur a monetary penalty in proportion. In consultation with the leaders, Mr. Wessels reported the discussions with Dr. Coster as above given. Both he and Mr. Solomon represented to them the gravity of the plea, and said that there was the possibility that the judge would invoke Roman-Dutch law and ignore the laws of the country, in which case it would be in his power to pass sentence of death. In their opinion, they added, and in the opinion of Mr. Rose Innes and others, this would be a monstrous straining of the law, yet they felt bound to indicate the possibility. The course before the prisoners was not indeed an attractive one, but it was not without its recommendations. It would have been infinitely preferable to fight it out had there been a chance of a good fight, if even a losing one; but, apart from a verdict of guilty being an absolute certainty, the circumstances were against any possibility of effecting anything like a strong impeachment of the Government. Moreover, the course now proposed would prevent any 'giving away' of Dr. Jameson, who had yet to be tried, and of others; and it also removed the necessity for individual defences by those among the prisoners who had been involved in a less degree than others. The matter at that time appeared in one way to concern the leaders only. If they were willing to take upon themselves the burden of the charge and secure the acquittal of others by accepting the full responsibility, it could only be regarded as a chivalrous act. But there were some among the other the prisoners--'Irreconcilables,' as they were called--who considered themselves equally responsible with the leaders, who strongly objected to shifting any portion of their responsibility upon others, and who desired to stand with those who were prepared to bear the brunt of the charge. To them the suggestion to plead guilty was as gall and wormwood, and was regarded as another humiliation which they were required to endure, another climbing-down similar to the disarmament, and attended, like it, with exasperating and baffling complications and involvements that made refusal an impossibility. The one call to which these men would respond was the call to stand together and have no divisions--a cause for which they were still to make many sacrifices. The irony of it was that in order to 'stand together' they had to agree to segregation. Dr. Coster would accept no further modification or variation of his terms--there was no option to individuals to plead not guilty and fight it out, except at the cost of involving all the others, nor was there any option to them to plead with the leaders. One other factor in the determination of this policy remains to be noted. The communications already recorded as having passed between some of the members of the Reform Committee and Dr. Jameson, after the latter had actually invaded the country, and some evidence as to the arrangements made for the reception and camping of his force, were in the hands of the Government, and these were sufficient to convict every member of the Reform Committee under count 2 of the indictment in a trial before a Boer jury and by a special judge. Conviction under count 1 was assured by the letter of invitation and the admissions in the 'privileged' meeting with the Government Commission. Conviction under count 2 would be a distinct aggravation of the position of the four--or so it seemed then--whilst it would be a most serious thing for the rank and file; and it was finally decided to plead in accordance with the suggestion of the State Attorney. The decision was conveyed to this gentleman and by him to the President, who expressed his 'satisfaction' at a course which would enable him to 'deal magnanimously with the prisoners,' no doubt in pursuance of the policy of 'Forget and Forgive.' When, as a convincing proof of the wisdom of the decision to plead guilty, the 'satisfaction' of the President was made known to the Irreconcilables, they remarked that this was the worst sign that they had yet detected, but others were more hopeful. As to the soundness of the advice on which the prisoners pleaded, it may be observed that Messrs. Gregorowski and Coster have both since then expressed the opinion that there was sufficient evidence to convict one and all of high treason, and they should know what would have been considered 'sufficient.' The latter added that the prime movers were of course guilty; but they at any rate had tried to stop Jameson, whilst those who joined the Reform Committee in the later stages were morally worse, since they had only joined when and because they knew that he had invaded the country. Mr. Gregorowski, at a later stage, defended his sentence on the leaders, but feared he had been 'far too lenient with the others.' It would be unfair therefore to suggest that the advice on which the prisoners had decided to act was other than sound wise and proper in the circumstances. That it should afterwards appear that the other parties to the arrangement had acted with deliberate duplicity and bad faith cannot be laid as a charge against the gentlemen who gave this advice, and whose only fault, if fault it be, was that their instincts, their principles, and their training precluded the suspicion of treachery. The trial commenced on April 24, when the prisoners were arraigned, after which an adjournment was made until the 27th, in order to allow three of the prisoners who were then travelling up to take their trial to arrive. On the latter date, all being present, and pleas of guilty having been recorded, the State Attorney put in the cipher telegrams, the minutes of the 'privileged' meeting between the Government Commission and the deputation of the Reform Committee, none of which had been produced in evidence, and the record of evidence taken at the preliminary examination. Mr. Wessels then read and put in the following statement of the four leaders: For a number of years endeavours have been made to obtain by constitutional means the redress of the grievances under which the Uitlander population labours. The new-comer asked for no more than is conceded to emigrants by all the other Governments in South Africa, under which every man may, on reasonable conditions, become a citizen of the State; whilst here alone a policy is pursued by which the first settlers retain the exclusive right of government. Petitions supported by the signatures of some 40,000 men were ignored; and when it was found that we could not get a fair and reasonable hearing, that provisions already deemed obnoxious and unfair were being made more stringent, and that we were being debarred for ever from obtaining the rights which in other countries are freely granted, it was realized that we would never get redress until we should make a demonstration of force to support our claims. Certain provision was made regarding arms and ammunition, and a letter was written to Dr. Jameson, in which he was asked to come to our aid under certain circumstances. On December 26 the Uitlanders' Manifesto was published, and it was then our intention to make a final appeal for redress at the public meeting which was to have been held on January 6. In consequence of matters that came to our knowledge we sent on December 26 Major Heany (by train via Kimberley), and Captain Holden across country, to forbid any movement on Dr. Jameson's part. On the afternoon of Monday, December 30, we learnt from Government sources that Dr. Jameson had crossed the frontier. We assumed that he had come in good faith to help us, probably misled by some of the exaggerated rumours which were then in circulation. We were convinced, however, that the Government and the burghers would not in the excitement of the moment believe that we had not invited Dr. Jameson in, and there was no course open to us but to prepare to defend ourselves if we were attacked, and at the same time to spare no effort to effect a peaceful settlement. It became necessary to form some organization for the protection of the town and the maintenance of order; since, in the excitement caused by the news of Dr. Jameson's coming, serious disturbances would be likely to occur, and it was evident that the Government organization could not deal with the people without serious risks of conflict. The Reform Committee was formed on Monday night, December 30, and it was intended to include such men of influence as cared to associate themselves with the movement. The object with which it was formed is best shown by its first notice, viz.: 'Notice is hereby given that this Committee adheres to the National Union Manifesto, and reiterates its desire to maintain the independence of the Republic. The fact that rumours are in course of circulation to the effect that a force has crossed the Bechuanaland border renders it necessary to take active steps for the defence of Johannesburg and preservation of order. The Committee earnestly desire that the inhabitants should refrain from taking any action which can be construed as an overt act of hostility against the Government. By order of the Committee, 'J. PERCY FITZPATRICK, '_Secretary_.' The evidence taken at the preliminary examination will show that order was maintained by this Committee during a time of intense excitement, and through the action of the Committee no aggressive steps whatever were taken against the Government, but on the contrary, the property of the Government was protected, and its officials were not interfered with. It is our firm belief that had no such Committee been formed, the intense excitement caused by Dr. Jameson's entry would have brought about utter chaos in Johannesburg. It has been alleged that we armed natives. This is absolutely untrue, and is disposed of by the fact that during the crisis upwards of 20,000 white men applied to us for arms and were unable to get them. On Tuesday morning, December 31, we hoisted the flag of the Z.A.R., and every man bound himself to maintain the independence of the Republic. On the same day the Government withdrew its police voluntarily from the town and we preserved perfect order. During the evening of that day, Messrs. Marais and Malan presented themselves as delegates from the Executive Council. They came (to use their own words) to 'offer us the olive branch,' and they told us that if we would send a deputation to Pretoria to meet a Commission appointed by the Government, we should probably obtain 'practically all that we asked for in the Manifesto.' Our deputation met the Government Commission, consisting of Chief Justice Kotzé, Judge Ameshof, and Mr. Kock, member of the Executive. On our behalf our deputation frankly avowed knowledge of Jameson's presence on the border, and of his intention, by written arrangement with us, to assist us in case of extremity. With the full knowledge of this arrangement, with the knowledge that we were in arms and agitating for our rights, the Government Commission handed to us a resolution by the Executive Council, of which the following is the purport: 'The High Commissioner has offered his services with a view to a peaceful settlement. The Government of the South African Republic has accepted his offer. Pending his arrival, no hostile step will be taken against Johannesburg, provided Johannesburg takes no hostile action against the Government. In terms of a certain proclamation recently issued by the President, the grievances will be earnestly considered.' We acted in perfect good faith with the Government, believing it to be their desire, as it was ours, to avert bloodshed, and believing it to be their intention to give us the redress which was implied in the 'earnest consideration of grievances.' There can be no better evidence of our earnest endeavour to repair what we regarded as a mistake on the part of Dr. Jameson than the following offer which our deputation, authorized by resolution of the Committee, laid before the Government Commission: 'If the Government will permit Dr. Jameson to come into Johannesburg unmolested, the Committee will guarantee, with their persons if necessary, that he will leave again peacefully as soon as possible.' We faithfully carried out the agreement that we should commit no act of hostility against the Government; we ceased all active operations for the defence of the town against any attack, and we did everything in our power to prevent any collision with the burghers--an attempt in which our efforts were happily successful. On the telegraphic advice of the result of the interview of the deputation with the Government Commission, we despatched Mr. Lace, a member of our Committee, as an escort to the courier carrying the High Commissioner's despatch to Dr. Jameson, in order to assure ourselves that the despatch would reach its destination. On the following Saturday, January 4, the High Commissioner arrived in Pretoria. On Monday, the sixth, the following telegram was sent to us: 'Pretoria, _January 6, 1896._ '_From_ H.M.'s AGENT _to_ REFORM COMMITTEE, _Johannesburg._ '_January 6._--I am directed to inform you that the High Commissioner met the President, the Executive, and the Judges to-day. The President announced the decision of the Government to be that Johannesburg must lay down its arms unconditionally as a [condition] precedent to a discussion and consideration of grievances. The High Commissioner endeavoured to obtain some indication of the steps which would be taken in the event of disarmament, but without success, it being intimated that the Government had nothing more to say on this subject than had already been embodied in the President's proclamation. The High Commissioner inquired whether any decision had been come to as regards the disposal of the prisoners, and received a reply in the negative. The President said that as his burghers, to the number of 8,000, had been collected and could not be asked to remain indefinitely, he must request a reply "Yes" or "No" to this ultimatum within twenty-four hours.' On the following day Sir Jacobus de Wet, H.M.'s Agent, met us in committee, and handed to us the following wire from his Excellency the High Commissioner: 'HIGH COMMISSIONER, _Pretoria, to_ SIR J. DE WET, _Johannesburg._ '_Received Johannesburg 7.36 a.m., January 7, 1896._ '_Urgent_--You should inform the Johannesburg people that I consider that if they lay down their arms they will be acting loyally and honourably, and that if they do not comply with my request they forfeit all claim to sympathy from Her Majesty's Government, and from British subjects throughout the world, as the lives of Jameson and prisoners are practically in their hands.' On this, and the assurance given in the Executive Council resolution, we laid down our arms on January 6, 7, and 8; on the 9th we were arrested, and have since been under arrest at Pretoria, a period of three and a half months. We admit responsibility for the action taken by us. We frankly avowed it at the time of the negotiations with the Government, when we were informed that the services of the High Commissioner had been accepted with a view to a peaceful settlement. We submit that we kept faith in every detail in the arrangement with the Government; that we did all that was humanly possible to protect both the State and Dr. Jameson from the consequence of his action; that we have committed no breach of the law which was not known to the Government at the time that the earnest consideration of our grievances was promised. We can only now lay the bare facts before the Court, and submit to the judgment that may be passed upon us. (Signed) LIONEL PHILLIPS. FRANCIS RHODES. GEORGE FARRAR. Pretoria, April 24, 1896. I entirely concur with the above statement. (Signed) JOHN HAYS HAMMOND. Pretoria, April 27, 1896. An incident which occurred during the reading of this statement enabled the prisoners to realize how poor would have been their chance of a fair trial before a Boer jury. On the right hand of the judge seats had been reserved for higher officials. Several members of the Executive were present in this quarter, and amongst them in a very prominent position and facing the quarter reserved for the burghers sat Mr. Wolmarans, a member of the Executive Council. When Mr. Wessels came to that portion of the statement referring to the negotiations with the Executive Council, Mr. Wolmarans at first smiled superciliously, then turned and addressed a remark to one of his colleagues, shrugging his shoulder at the same time, and at the conclusion of the reference looked across the room to where the jurymen sat, still smiling and shaking his head slowly and continuously for half a minute. To men accustomed to the decencies of British Courts of Justice this incident was rather revolting. When it is remembered that the Government refused to produce the minute referred to, and that through their representatives they claimed 'privilege' for the interview at which it was given, in order to absolve themselves from appearing in Court, and that Mr. Wolmarans himself sent the message to the Rand that the Government by the withdrawal of its police gave practical evidence of holding out the olive-branch, his conduct appears the more unprincipled. The State Attorney in a purely formal address, in consonance with his promise to Mr. Wessels not to seek exemplary punishment, asked for punishment according to law. Mr. Wessels in reply made an eloquent appeal on behalf of the accused and recited the circumstances which led to their seeking redress in the manner in which they did. He referred to the negotiations with the Government, to the part played by the Reform Committee in the maintenance of order, to the fidelity with which they had fulfilled their undertakings with the Government, and to their attitude towards Dr. Jameson. His references to the Government and to the existing abuses were made as judiciously as possible. He referred candidly to the relationship with Dr. Jameson, especially alluding to the efforts made to protect him from the results of his own action and to stand by him even at the cost of personal sacrifice, and claimed that such action towards their former colleague within the limits set by them did not necessarily imply treason against the independence of the State, but should fairly entitle the prisoners to sympathy for their efforts to save a quondam colleague, however wrong he might have been. On the point of law, Mr. Wessels claimed that the Thirty-three Articles formed the basis of the State's law, that there was specific provision for such cases as this in those Articles, and that the punishment to be meted out to the prisoners should be in accordance with these statutes, modified as the Court in its judgment might deem fit. No sooner had Mr. Wessels resumed his seat than Dr. Coster, as was then thought, repenting the fulfilment of his promise and casting off all disguise, or, as is more probable, carried away by an over-mastering excitement and strong personal and racial feeling and stimulated by concentration upon one aspect only of the case, claimed the right to address the Court again after the advocate for the defence had spoken. Dr. Coster has the reputation among those who know him of being a thoroughly honourable and straight-forward gentleman. As a Hollander no doubt he felt deeply in a matter in which Hollanderism was the _casus belli_; as public prosecutor it was his duty to prosecute, not to judge; and one prefers to think that in peculiar and trying circumstances he forgot the pledge he had given and remembered only the cause of his party. In a short but very violent speech he depicted in the blackest terms the actions of the men against whom he had agreed not to seek exemplary punishment, and pointing out the provisions of the Roman-Dutch law, claimed that the Court should apply it in this case in preference to the statutes of the country, and demanded from the Court the severest possible penalty which could be imposed under that law and under the Thirty-three Articles and the Gold Law as well. With reference to the last-named, Dr. Coster having mentioned the provision regarding the confiscation of property, said that upon this point he would not speak but would leave the matter to the judgment of the Court. The Court was then adjourned until the morning of the 28th, ostensibly in order to enable the judge to consider the evidence and make up his mind. The majority of the prisoners, utterly unsuspicious of what lay before them, made all necessary arrangements to return to their homes and avocations upon the conclusion of the trial, believing that a nominal fine would be the penalty imposed. Many of them had taken return tickets from Johannesburg available for two days. The public throughout the Transvaal and South Africa anticipated nothing more than a nominal punishment upon the majority and a fine of a few thousand pounds upon the signatories to the letter of invitation. Some of the prisoners however were better informed. News had been obtained some days before the trial commenced that extra accommodation was being prepared in the gaol, avowedly to provide for the Reformers. Two of the accused visited the gaol and verified this. Others of the accused, few in number, were informed by personal friends who had special means of getting information in Pretoria that imprisonment would be the lot of all and that the punishment on the leaders would be extremely severe; and they provided for this contingency accordingly. The manager of the Government newspaper in Pretoria informed two or three of those interested that the sentence of death would be passed upon the four leaders, as this had been arranged; and men closely associated with the leaders themselves had been confidentially informed beforehand that it was the intention of the Government to pass sentence of death, and that the matter was a cut-and-dried one. The information was given with a view to preparing the prisoners for what awaited them. On approaching the temporary Court-house (the Pretoria Market Buildings having been altered for this purpose) on the morning of the sentence, it was perfectly evident that some serious development was afoot. The town was thronged with mounted burghers, State artillery, and mounted and foot police. Every approach to the Court was guarded and the streets were patrolled. Most of the population of Pretoria were gathered in the Market Square, endeavouring to gain admittance to the Court. The prisoners were arranged in their former places in a special quarter of the building railed off for the purpose, with the exception of Messrs. Phillips, Farrar, Rhodes and Hammond, who were separated from the rest and placed in a special movable dock, which had been carried in over the heads of the people after the hour appointed for the sitting of the Court. The appearance of this dock was recognized by all to be ominous, but some relief from the feeling of foreboding was experienced when Judge Gregorowski after taking his seat was observed to smile several times and to make some jocular remark to one of the officials of the Court. The faces of the officials however damped any hopes that were built upon the judge's genial appearance. Many of these gentlemen were personal and intimate friends of the prisoners: some were connected by closer ties; and one of the most trying experiences for the prisoners was to witness the complete breakdown of the minor officials employed in the carrying out of this tragic farce. The judge's first order was for the removal of all ladies. The wives and relatives of many of the prisoners had been warned by them beforehand of what was likely to happen and had accordingly absented themselves, but there were nevertheless a good number of ladies present. Judge Gregorowski then took the case in hand, passed in review the circumstances, and dealt with much of the evidence, including that taken at the preliminary examination and the documents put in by Government which had not yet been seen by the prisoners' advisers. He made no reference to the statement of the principal accused, subject to which their plea of guilty had been made and accepted. He reviewed the law, and by a method of reasoning which has not commended itself to others he justified himself for setting aside special statutes and applying the Roman-Dutch law instead. In conclusion, he stated that he held the signatories of the letter to be directly responsible for the shedding of the burghers' blood at Doornkop, that he would therefore pass upon them the _only punishment possible_ under Roman-Dutch law--namely death, and that whatever hope there might be in the merciful hearts of the Executive Council and in the President's great magnanimity, they should remember that in no other country would they have the slightest grounds for hope. The usual question as to whether there were any reasons why sentence of death should not be passed upon them having been put and the usual reply in the negative having been received, in the midst of silence that was only disturbed by the breaking down of persons in various parts of the hall--officials, burghers, and in the general public--sentence of death was passed, first on Mr. Lionel Phillips, next on Colonel Rhodes, then on Mr. George Farrar, and lastly on Mr. Hammond. The bearing of the four men won for them universal sympathy and approval, especially under the conditions immediately following the death sentence, when a most painful scene took place in Court. Evidences of feeling came from all parts of the room and from all classes of people: from those who conducted the defence and from the Boers who were to have constituted the jury. The interpreter translating the sentence broke down. Many of the minor officials lost control of themselves, and feelings were further strained by the incident of one man falling insensible. Sentence was next passed upon the other prisoners. They were condemned to suffer two years' imprisonment, to pay a fine of £2,000 each, or as an alternative suffer another year's imprisonment, and thereafter to be banished from the State for a period of three years. It was added that the question of confiscation of their property would be one for the Executive to deal with. The action of Mr. Gregorowski has been variously described, but at no time more graphically than at the time of the sentence, when a sergeant of police who was guarding the prisoners exclaimed in the peculiar Dutch idiom: 'My God! he is like a dog: he has bitten and chewed and guzzled!' After passing the minor sentences the judge gave a short address to the burghers, in which he thanked them for their attendance and made allusion with evident signs of satisfaction to the manner in which the trial had been brought to a conclusion. A long delay followed during which the judge proceeded to note his judgments. Once his attention was drawn by a remark of an official to which he replied promptly, at the same time breaking into a broad smile, but suddenly recollecting the circumstances and the presence of the men sentenced to death, placed his hand over his mouth and wiped the smile away. The incident was of course noticed by many people in Court and helped to strengthen the impression which a limited but sufficient experience of Mr. Gregorowski had already created. If the belief which now obtains, that the Reformers were enticed to plead guilty and misled as to the probable consequences of that plea, should outlive personal feelings and leave a permanent mark in South African history, it will be because it survives a searching test. In South Africa--as in many other countries--it is the invariable practice of the Courts to decline to accept the plea of guilty to a capital charge. The prisoner is informed that as the plea involves capital punishment it will not be accepted; and a formal trial and sufficient evidence of the crime are required by the Court. That is done even in cases where the prisoner knows what the punishment will be! In the case of the Reformers the State Attorney had, it is true, informed Mr. Wessels that he would be obliged _pro forma_ to put in certain evidence, but the reason was not given, and Mr. Wessels regarded it merely as the _quid pro quo_ for accepting unquestioned the written statement of the four accused! Mr. Gregorowski in defending his sentence has stated that under Roman-Dutch law he had no option but to pass sentence of death. Yet contrary to the custom with which seventeen years' practice had made him familiar he accepted the plea of guilty--and accepted it without a word of explanation or of warning! Is it surprising that people should want to know why? The men were removed from Court under very heavy escort, the condemned men being conveyed in a closed carriage and the rest of the prisoners being marched through the streets to the gaol, the whole party moving at a foot pace. A little incident at the start did not fail to attract attention. The officer commanding a section of the guard having issued his orders in Dutch and some confusion having ensued, the orders were repeated _in German_, with a satisfactory result. One more incident--trifling perhaps in itself but leaving an ineffaceable impression--occurred during the march to the gaol. As the prisoners slowly approached the Government buildings, Dr. Leyds accompanied by one friend walked out until within a few yards of the procession of sentenced men (a great proportion of whom were personally well known to him) and stood there with his hands in his pockets smiling at them as they went past. The action was so remarkable, the expression on the State Secretary's face so unmistakable, that the Dutch guards accompanying the prisoners expressed their disgust. His triumph no doubt was considerable; but the enjoyment must have been short-lived if the accounts given by other members of the Executive of his behaviour a month later are to be credited. The man who stood in safety and smiled in the faces of his victims was the same Dr. Leyds who within a month became seriously ill because some fiery and impetuous friend of the prisoners sent him an anonymous letter with a death's head and cross-bones; who as a result obtained from Government a guard over his private house; and who thereafter proceeded about his duties in Pretoria under armed escort. It is stated that the death sentence was commuted the same afternoon, but no intimation of this was given to the prisoners and no public announcement was made until twenty-four hours later. In spite of the vindictive urgings of the Hollander newspaper, the _Volksstem_, few could believe that the death sentence would be carried out and most people recognized that the ebullitions of that organ expressed the feelings of only a few rabid and witless individuals among the Hollanders themselves and were viewed with disgust by the great majority of them. At the same time the scene in court had been such as to show that the Government party--the officials and Boers then present--had not regarded the death sentence as a mere formality, but had, on the contrary, viewed it as a deliberate and final judgment. In such circumstances therefore it can be believed that the prisoners themselves were not without misgivings. Footnotes for Chapter VIII {33} Died in prison. {34} Unable, owing to illness, to stand trial with the others. On recovery, Mr. Curtis returned to the Transvaal, and decided to plead 'not guilty,' whereupon proceedings were dropped. CHAPTER IX. LIFE IN GAOL. In the Transvaal no distinction is made between ordinary criminals and those who in other countries are recognized as first-class misdemeanants. Consequently the Reformers, without regard to the nature of their offence, their habits, health, age, or condition, were handed over to the gaoler, Du Plessis, a relative of President Kruger, to be dealt with at his kind discretion. For two days the prisoners existed on the ordinary prison fare. The majority being men in the early prime of life and in excellent health, suffered no ill effects, preferring to do with little or no food rather than touch that which was doled out to them; but to the others it was a rather serious thing. There were several men between fifty and sixty years of age whose lives had been spent under favourable conditions. There were some suffering from consumption, one from diabetes, one from fever, one from dysentery, and several others from less dangerous but sufficiently serious complaints. All alike were compelled to sleep upon the floor, with two thin blankets for protection. They were locked in at 6 p.m., and allowed out at 6 a.m. Sanitary accommodation was represented by the presence of a couple of buckets in the sleeping room. The air-space per man worked out at 145 cubic feet as against 900 feet prescribed by English prison regulations. Ventilation was afforded on the one side by square holes cut in the corrugated iron walls of the shed,{35} and on the other (the buildings being lean-to's against the permanent prison buildings) by grated windows opening into the native cells. Needless to say, these grated windows were originally intended to afford ventilation to the native cells, but the buildings to accommodate the Reformers had been erected against the side-walls of the Kaffir quarters. The stench was indescribable. At 6 a.m. the prisoners were allowed out into the yard, where they had the option of exercising throughout the day. The lavatories and bathing arrangements consisted of a tap in the yard and an open furrow through which the town water ran, the lower end of which was used as a wash-place by prisoners, white and black alike. Within a foot or two of the furrow where alone washing of the person or of clothing was allowed stood the gaol urinals. There was neither adequate provision in this department nor any attempt at proper supervision, the result being that through irregularities, neglect, and defective arrangement the ground on both sides of the water-furrow for six or eight yards was horribly stained and saturated by leakage. Many of the prisoners could not approach this quarter without being physically ill. Without further detail it may be stated that there were at that time over 250 prisoners, about 100 of whom were white. There were three closets and six buckets for the accommodation of all, and removals took place sometimes once a day, sometimes once in every four days. Nothing but the horror of such conditions, and the fact that they prevail still in Pretoria Gaol, and presumably in other gaols more removed from critical supervision, could warrant allusions to such a disgusting state of affairs. At 6.15 breakfast was served. A number of tin dishes, containing one pound of mealie-meal porridge (ground maize) each were placed in a row on the ground in the yard in the same manner as a dog's food might be set out. A bucket near by contained some coarse salt in the condition in which it was collected in the natural salt pans, the cubes varying from the size of peas to the size of acorns. No sugar, milk, tea, or coffee, was allowed. In order to utilize the salt the prisoners were obliged to crush it with rough stones on the cement steps. Needless to say, but few partook of this food. To those who had not tasted it before in the course of prospecting or up-country travelling where conditions are sometimes very hard, it was no more possible to swallow it than to eat sawdust. Dinner was at twelve o'clock, and it consisted of coarse meat boiled to that degree which was calculated to qualify the water in which it was boiled to be called soup, without depriving the meat of all title to be considered a separate dish. With this meal was also served half a pound of bread. Supper, which was provided at five o'clock, was exactly the same as breakfast. Two days of this fare told very severely upon those whose physical condition was not of the best. By the third day several of the older men and those in ill-health had broken down and were placed on hospital fare. Matters were sufficiently serious to induce the authorities to allow gradual amelioration of the conditions, and by degrees food of a better class was introduced. Mattresses and other articles of bedding were allowed, but stretchers although provided for in the prison regulations were denied to the men until a few hours before their release a month later, when the prisoners were permitted by the gaoler to purchase them, no doubt with an eye to reversion to him in the course of a few hours. From time to time the regulations as to food were varied at the whim of the gaoler. On one day only cooked food would be allowed in; on another only raw food; on a third nothing but tinned stuff; on a fourth all was turned back at the gates with the exception of that obtained by a few individuals at a heavy premium. A day or two after the passing of sentence representations were made to the prisoners, excluding the four death-sentence men, that it would be advisable to appeal to the clemency of the Government for some mitigation. In that case, it was stated, there was every reason to believe that the sentence of imprisonment would be entirely remitted and that the sentence of banishment would also be commuted. The individuals from whom this suggestion first came were of the class which habitually trades between the Government and the public--the gentlemen of the backstairs. For this reason some of the prisoners gave considerable credence to the reports, whilst others for the very same reason would have nothing whatever to do with them. Hence arose a condition of things very like a deadlock among the prisoners themselves. It was represented by these agents that it would be worse than useless for some of the prisoners to petition if many others refused to do so and stood out. Some of the prisoners did actually petition--a course of action which was strongly condemned by others; but it should be borne in mind that there were among the prisoners many men who were in bad health and poor circumstances, who had heavy responsibilities in private life, and who were not only unable to pay their fines, but even unable to make any provision for their families during incarceration. Such conditions would tend to shake the nerve of most men. With this nucleus to work upon the Government through their agents began a system of terrorism by which they hoped to establish conditions under which their 'magnanimity by inches' would appear in the most favourable possible light. The first petition presented for the signature of the prisoners was one in which they were asked to admit the justice of their sentences, to express regret for what they had done and to promise to behave themselves in the future. The document closed with an obsequious and humiliating appeal to the 'proved magnanimity of the Government.' The reception accorded to this was distinctly unfavourable, copies of the petitions being in some instances torn up and flung in the faces of those who presented them. The great majority of the prisoners refused to have anything to do with them, and on representing the view that any appeal so couched was not consistent with their self-respect, they were informed that the petition had already been shown to the President and members of the Executive Council and had been approved by them and that it would not look well to alter it now. Every effort was made for some days to induce the prisoners to sign this document, but they refused. A certain number of the men were opposed to signing anything whatever, even the most formal appeal to the Executive Council for a revision of sentence. They based their refusal upon two reasons: 1st, that they had been arrested by an act of treachery and tried by a packed Court, and if the Executive recognized the injustice of the sentence they might act spontaneously without petition from the prisoners; 2nd, that they believed that any document however moderate which they might sign would only be the thin end of the wedge by which the Government hoped to introduce the principle of individual statements and pleas--that is to say each one to excuse himself at the expense of his neighbour, and thus enable the authorities to establish by the prisoners' own confessions the extent of the guilt and complicity which they had been unable to prove. Under such conditions an appeal was made to Messrs. Rose Innes, Q.C., and Solomon, Q.C. These gentlemen had remained in Pretoria and devoted their time and energies to obtaining some amelioration of the conditions of imprisonment and some mitigation of the sentences imposed upon the Reformers. The petition as presented by the Government was shown to Mr. Innes, who indignantly rejected the suggestion of signing any such document. As the strongest reason adduced in favour of signing petitions was the statement that according to law and custom it was impossible for the Government to take cognizance of the prisoners' case even with every desire to mitigate the punishment unless it was brought before them by direct appeal, Mr. Innes undertook to see the President and Chief-Justice Kotzé on the subject. By this time further suggestions had been made on the subject of petitions, and the prisoners were being urged among other things to name in plain terms the extent and manner in which they would like their sentences commuted. This proposal was regarded as a preposterous and ridiculous one; but nothing is too ridiculous for Pretoria and it was necessary to deal seriously with it. In these circumstances, Mr. Rose Innes interviewed the Chief Justice, in order to get the highest authority in the country as a guide. Mr. Kotzé would not at first express an opinion as to whether petitions should be sent in, but he was evidently inclined to recommend them as politic, 'But,' said Mr. Innes, 'it is not a question of policy; it is a matter of law. Is there anything in the law which renders it necessary for a prisoner to petition before his sentence may be revised by the Executive--anything which debars the Executive from dealing with his case if he does not petition?' Mr. Kotzé's answer was clear: 'No, certainly not--nothing whatever!' In the interview with the President which took place immediately after this Mr. Innes was brusquely informed that petitions from the prisoners were of no value, and would receive no consideration; that the President did not want any of their petitions; and that he was guided solely by his burghers, who had already petitioned in the matter. 'I would pay more heed,' said Mr. Kruger, 'to a petition from fifty of my burghers than to one from the whole of Johannesburg.' At the conclusion of an unpleasant interview, which called for all the tact and good temper at the command of the gentleman who was interesting himself on behalf of the prisoners, the President added in an offhand manner, 'The petitions can do no harm and might strengthen my hands in dealing with the rest of the Executive; so they can send them in if they like.' With this answer Messrs. Innes and Solomon returned to the gaol, and after informing the prisoners of what had taken place advised them, under the circumstances, to make a formal but respectful appeal for a revision of the sentences. It was their opinion, based upon the information which they had at great pains gathered, and it was also the opinion of the Chief Justice, that no petition was necessary, and that the sentences would be brought under the consideration of the Executive by the memorials of the burghers; but they considered that as interested persons or indiscreet friends had already suggested the idea of petitions, and as a refusal now to sign anything might have a very unfavourable effect upon persons with the disposition and character of those with whom they had to deal, it would be advisable to make an appeal so worded as to formally comply with the requirements of the extreme party in the Executive; one which would satisfy those of the prisoners who were in favour of appealing, and would not be offensive to those who were against petitions at any cost. The strongest reason for urging this was to preserve unanimity of action among the prisoners. The course was in fact a compromise designed to satisfy those who considered a petition of some sort to be necessary, and those who would not as they expressed it 'sacrifice their self-respect' by asking for anything from the people who had treated them in what they deemed to be a dishonest and treacherous manner. All the prisoners except Messrs. A. Woolls-Sampson and W.D. (Karri) Davies agreed to this: many did so much against their own wishes because of the appeal to stand together, and because it was strongly urged that their obstinacy would affect not only themselves but would prevent the liberation of others whose circumstances were almost desperate. They yielded--it is true--but remained unconvinced. To Messrs. Sampson and Davies the answers of the Chief Justice and the President are now of considerable importance, since the reason given for their detention involves the repudiation of the assurances given by the President and Chief Justice. Those who had not signed any other form of appeal now made a formal application to have their sentences brought into review by the Executive Council. They stated then their belief that it was only the beginning of the petition business that it would be wholly ineffective and that it was to be understood that they would sign no more under any circumstances. This application was deemed by the emissaries of the Government to be sufficient to comply with the requirements, and promises were conveyed to the prisoners that the sentences would be at once taken into consideration and commutations announced. In the course of a day or two however further demands were made, and the prisoners were informed that they would be dressed in prison garb under severer regulations specially passed for them unless they at once petitioned against this course. Again Mr. Innes represented their case to the Government at the dictate of his own feelings of humanity, and not prompted thereto by the prisoners themselves, most of whom would have been glad to see the Government wreak their vengeance in petty and vindictive provisions. The proposed alterations were however abandoned without protest from the prisoners after the supply of convict garb had been sent up to the gaol. So matters went on day by day, each day bringing its fresh instalment of threats promises and cajoleries, each morning its batch of disappointments. It was at first difficult to say what object the Government had in view in endeavouring to compel the Reformers to sign petitions, unless it were the unworthy one of desiring to humiliate men who were already down, or the perhaps more contemptible one of forcing them to turn informers by a process of self-excusing and thus enable them to differentiate in the commutations. The fact remained that repeated efforts were made and pressure brought to bear upon the men to induce them to sign. One pretext after another was used. Finally the naked truth came out: the Government required each man to state in an individual declaration the extent of his guilt the extenuating facts and the circumstances under which he became associated with the Reform movement. This was exactly what had been foretold by men who understood Boer methods. The means resorted to by the gaol officials to enforce this petition-signing were characteristic. The gaoler (Du Plessis) is one of the most unfavourable specimens of his race. Unscrupulous and brutal in his methods, untrustworthy as to his undertakings, and violent and uncertain in his temper, he singled out those among the prisoners whom he considered to be the leaders of the 'stiff-necked' party as he termed it, and treated them with as much severity as he could. These men found themselves unable to obtain those facilities which were regarded as the right of all the prisoners. Upon occasion their food was stopped at the gates, and visitors--their wives and families--were refused admission, although provided with permits from the proper authorities and complying with the gaol regulations; and on more than one occasion he informed individual members of this party that the 'petitions would have to be signed,' that they would have to 'go down on their knees to the Government,' otherwise they would 'rot in gaol.' All this undisguised eagerness to obtain the signatures naturally only strengthened the resolution of the men who stood out. They had already against their wishes and judgment signed one application, and more than that they refused to do. When it was found to be impossible to induce the men to inform against each other, some modification was made in the demands of the petition-hunters and some prisoners were asked and induced to make statements concerning their own part in the late movement, making no allusion to the part played by others, and, for reasons which it is impossible to divine unless it was designed to lead to something more, this was regarded by the Government as a desirable step. The suspense and disappointment added to the original sentence upon a man who was never even mentioned in evidence and who took no part in the Reform movement, beyond associating himself with the organizations for the protection of property in Johannesburg, told so severely upon one of the prisoners that his mind became unhinged, and in the course of the following period he developed marked signs of homicidal and suicidal mania. His condition was so serious that strong representations were made to all the officials connected with the gaol--the gaoler himself, the district surgeon, the commissioner of police, and the landdrost of Pretoria. The prisoners themselves organized a system of guards or watches over their comrade, pending the result of their representations to the officials. On the fourth day however the unfortunate man, driven out of his mind by the constant and cruel disappointment of purposely raised hopes, eluding the watchfulness of his friends took his own life. The news of this event was received with horror throughout South Africa, the more so as for some days previously the newspapers had hinted at some such impending catastrophe. In the course of the inquiry which was held evidence was given showing that the gaol surgeon had reported the state of affairs to the proper authorities some days before, but in a formal and half-hearted way. Evidence however was forthcoming that four of the prisoners (themselves medical men) had forcibly represented the extreme seriousness of the case to the gaoler, the gaol surgeon and the landdrost of Pretoria, and had induced the assistant-gaoler and warders to support their representations, but all without avail. The result of the inquiry was to lay partial blame upon the doctor and to acquit everybody else--a result which the public have been used to expect in the Transvaal. It is somewhat difficult to see how the decision was arrived at, seeing that in the offices there was the record of a special pass granted to the unfortunate man's wife to visit him and remain with him for a considerable period on the previous day in order to cheer him up and avert serious consequences. The incident told severely upon the nerves of those who were not themselves in the best of health, and it was found necessary immediately to release or remove others among the prisoners for fear of similar results. The Government seemed to realize that it was incumbent upon them to do something in order to allay the feeling of indignation which was being roused throughout South Africa at their manner of treating the prisoners, so a further instalment of magnanimity was decided upon. On the day of the unfortunate affair the manager of the Government newspaper, _The Press_, was authorized by President Kruger and other members of the Executive to inform the prisoners that they would have to make modified personal statements of the nature previously indicated, and if these petitions were presented to the Executive Council by 8 a.m. on the following Monday (the prisoners would then have been three weeks in gaol) orders for their release would be issued by Monday night. In order to secure a favourable reception of this suggestion it was arranged that the clergyman who was to conduct Divine service on Sunday in the gaol would deliver this message from the President to the prisoners at the conclusion of the service, and urge the men for their own sakes and for the sake of their families and of their friends to abandon the position which they had taken up and to sign declarations of the nature required, and so secure their release. Nor was this all. Outside the gaol the wives of those men who stood out against the petition movement were informed by Government officials that unless the demands of the Government were complied with by their husbands they would serve the full period of their sentence. Pressure was brought to bear upon these ladies and special facilities were given them to visit the gaol, avowedly in order to bring about the desired end. Eleven of the prisoners--apart from the four whose punishment in substitution for death had not been decided upon, and who were therefore not concerned in the petitions--declined to reconsider their decision, and elected rather to serve their term of two years; and they expressed the conviction at the same time that these promises of the President would not be kept any more than others had been. The result justified their judgment. After a postponement of two days on some flimsy pretext the official intimation of the commutations was given to the prisoners on Wednesday, May 20. Instead of the release positively and definitely promised the term of imprisonment was reduced in the following degree: Ten men were released, twenty-four men were condemned to three months', eighteen to five months', and four to one year's imprisonment; and the clemency of the Government towards the four leaders was indicated by a sentence of fifteen years each. Even a short period of imprisonment under the existing conditions meant certain death to a proportion of the men sentenced, and it is not to be wondered at that the 'magnanimity' displayed by the Government after the disappointments and delays seriously affected the health of a number of the men, following as it did closely upon the tragic affair already alluded to. With regard to Messrs. Sampson and Davies no decision was announced, it being intimated by Dr. Leyds that, as they had made no petition, their case had not been brought before the Government, and the Executive had therefore no official knowledge of their existence. But the extent of the Government's magnanimity was even then not fully known. On the following day it was announced to the prisoners that they had been misinformed with regard to the five and twelve months' commutations--that the intention and resolution of the Executive was merely to grant these men permission to appeal at the end of the periods named to the aforesaid magnanimity. Some prominence has been given to the cases of those prisoners who were unable for physical or other special reasons to withstand the strain; and it should therefore be made equally clear that in many cases the men regarded with contemptuous amusement the cat and mouse policy and the stage-managed magnanimity displayed towards them. They were perfectly well able and willing to endure the sentence passed upon them, and they were not misled by Boer promises in which they had never had any faith at all. There are good reasons to be assigned for the willingness of many of the men to make appeals to the Government: sheer hard necessity and the sufferings of those dependent upon them were among these reasons; and it is unfair to consider these appeals to have been due to loss of nerve. There were among the prisoners twenty-three Englishmen, sixteen South Africans, nine Scotchmen, six Americans, two Welshmen, one Irishman, one Australian, one Hollander, one Bavarian, one German, one Canadian, one Swiss, and one Turk. This variety of nationalities should receive due consideration when questions such as for instance that of the flag are considered. In this matter of petitions it was not to be expected that men whose associations with the country had been limited to a few years should experience the same depth of feeling and bitterness of resentment as the South Africans born who look upon the country as their native land and who view with keen resentment the attitude of the Boers towards them in the Transvaal, so much at variance with their attitude towards the Boers in the neighbouring colonies. Nothing could illustrate this difference in feeling better than the fact that of the eleven men who throughout declined to sign petitions eight were South African born, one Australian, one English, and one Scotch. There is nothing discreditable to others in these figures; they simply indicate the difference of feeling which did and indeed naturally must exist. The South African born men consider themselves to have been robbed of a portion of their birthright; the others have not the same reason for thinking this. With men of so many nationalities the position of the British Resident would in any case have been one of difficulty, especially after the part played by the High Commissioner. In the case of Sir Jacobus de Wet very little satisfaction was given. What caused the most comment and annoyance among the prisoners was that official representatives of other countries appeared to have unusual facilities offered them to visit the subjects of their Government--at least, they could command the ordinary courtesies--whereas in the case of the British Agent nothing of this sort existed. Frequently he was observed standing outside the gaol in the worst of weather without shelter, patiently waiting until the gaoler would deem fit to see him. In the meantime that official would stroll through the yard, making remarks to his subordinates indicative of the satisfaction he experienced in keeping the representative of Her Majesty outside in the rain and mud. Upon occasions when he was afforded admission he was hustled through the yard by a warder and not allowed to hold private conversation with any of the prisoners. On several occasions he complained that he was refused admission by order of the gaoler, and the spectacle of England's representative being turned away by an ignorant and ill-conditioned official like Du Plessis was not an edifying one. It is only necessary to say that upon an occasion when Du Plessis adopted the same tactics towards the Portuguese Consul that gentleman proceeded at once to the Presidency and demanded as his right free admission to the gaol whenever he chose to go, and the right was promptly recognized although there was no subject of his Government at the time within the precincts. Indeed the Portuguese Consul stated openly that he called for the purpose of visiting as a friend one of the Reform prisoners, giving the name of one of the recalcitrants most objectionable to the Government. The American Consul too carried matters with a high hand on the occasion of his visit to Pretoria, and it seemed as though the Paramount Power was the only one which the Transvaal Government could afford or cared to treat with contempt. The period of gaol life afforded the Reformers some opportunity of studying a department of the Transvaal Administration which they had not before realized to be so badly in need of reform. The system--if system it can be called--upon which the gaol was conducted may be gathered from the gaoler's own words. When one of the prisoners had inquired of him whether a certain treatment to which a white convict had been subjected was in accordance with the rules of the gaol and had received an answer in the affirmative, he remarked that he did not think many of the Reformers could exist under such conditions. Du Plessis replied: 'Oh no! Not one of you would be alive a month if the rules were enforced. No white man could stand them. Indeed,' he added, 'if the rules were _properly_ enforced, not even a nigger could stand them!' Some subsequent experience of gaol-life induced the Reformers to accept this view as tolerably correct. It is known for instance that after the Malaboch war sixty-four of the tribe were incarcerated in Pretoria Gaol. Some twenty were subsequently released, but of the remainder twenty-six died within the year. Bad food vile sanitary arrangements and want of clothing and shelter contributed to this end. Malaboch was a petty chief against whom an expedition was organized, ostensibly because he had refused to pay his taxes. The expedition is chiefly notorious on account of the commandeering of British subjects which led to the visit of Sir Henry Loch already described. It resulted--as these expeditions inevitably do--in the worsting of the natives, the capture of the chief and his headmen, and the parcelling out of his tribe as indentured servants among the Boers. Considerable sympathy was felt with Malaboch among the Uitlanders, not because of his refusal to pay taxes but because the opinion prevailed that this refusal was due only to the tyrannical and improper conduct of the Boer native commissioners; and a number of Johannesburg men resolved in the interests of the native and also of the native labour supply on the Rand to have the matter cleared up at the forthcoming trial of the chief. Funds were provided and counsel employed, nominally to defend Malaboch, but really to impeach the native commissioners, who in many cases were and continue to be a perfect curse to the country. No sooner had this intended course of action become known than the Government decided to treat their prisoners under the provisions of martial law--to treat them, in fact, as prisoners of war, who were liable to be indefinitely detained without further trial. Under these conditions they were placed in the Pretoria Gaol, and with the exception of a few subordinates there they have lived--or died--since. The offences of these natives, for all anyone knows, may have been similar to those of Langalibalele, Dinizulu, Secocoeni, Cetewayo, and other native chiefs whom the British Government have also disposed of without trial. But it is urged that these men are entitled to a trial, because it is well known that the provocation under which they committed their offences against the law--if indeed any were committed--was such as, in the minds of most people, would justify their action.{36} The position of a native in the Pretoria Gaol is indeed an unhappy one. Sleeping accommodation--that is to say, shed accommodation--is provided for about one-quarter of the number confined there. During fine weather it is no hardship upon the natives to sleep in the open yard provided that they have some covering. The blankets doled out to them are however in many cases such as one would not allow to remain in one's kennels; and in wet or cold weather (and the fact is that during at least one quarter of the year the nights are cold, whilst during the five months' wet season rain may fall at any time) the sufferings of these unfortunates many of whom have no blankets at all are very severe. Of course the stronger fight their way into the shed, and even fill the little covered passage-way; the others crouch or lie about in the open yard like wild beasts without a vestige of shelter. On behalf of the native political prisoners representations were made by the gaol doctor that they were dying in numbers from scurvy and fever, for want of vegetable food. A special effort on his part secured for a few days some allowance of this nature, but the matter having been brought to the notice of General Joubert, the Superintendent-General of natives, peremptory orders were issued to discontinue this; and this although the wretched creatures might have been sufficiently supplied from the gardens attached to the gaol which are cultivated by the prisoners, and the product of which was used by the gaoler to feed his pigs. For a little while longer the doctor continued the vegetable diet at his own expense, but being unable to afford this it was discontinued and the former death-rate was resumed. Floggings are quite common. In many instances white men have been flogged there. It is not intended to suggest that this should not have been done, but cases occurred in the Pretoria Gaol which are surely difficult to justify. Du Plessis stated to the Reform prisoners that he had with the sanction of the Landdrost inflicted upon one prisoner named Thompson, who was undoubtedly refractory and disobedient, _upwards of eighty lashes within three weeks._ He added that this was as good as a death-sentence, because neither white nor black could stand two inflictions of twenty-five lashes, as they were given in Pretoria Gaol, without permanent injury to the constitution. The effect, he observed, of this severe punishment upon the back was to cause the blood to rush and settle on the lungs, and in every case it resulted in fatal lung mischief. During the period of imprisonment the Reformers witnessed a considerable number of floggings. These when inflicted by the assistant-gaoler or warders were usually marked by some kind of moderation and consideration for the prisoner's physical condition, and some regard for official decencies. The same cannot be said of those in which Du Plessis himself took a prominent part. Upon one occasion when a native had been released from the triangle, after twenty strokes from the cat had been borne without a murmur, Du Plessis suddenly became infuriated at the stoicism of his victim, and stepping towards him knocked the released man down with his fist and spurned him with his foot. Upon another occasion a boy of ten or twelve years of age (under what circumstances is not known) was taken by Du Plessis into the open yard, stretched in mid air by two warders gripping his wrists and ankles, and flogged with a cane by Du Plessis himself. The screams of the child were heart-rending and the sight caused one lady who happened to be visiting in the gaol to faint. When the wretched urchin was released by the two warders and stood cowering before Du Plessis the latter repeated his former performance of knocking his victim down with his closed fist. Mr. Du Plessis it should be remembered is a sample of a certain class only of the Boers--not by any means of all. He is a man with a treacherous and vindictive temper, distinctly unpleasant in appearance, being coarsely and powerfully built, and enjoying an expression of countenance which varies between cunning and insincerity on one hand and undisguised malevolence on the other. Some idea of the general kindliness of his disposition may be gathered from his actions. On one occasion, when special relaxation of the rules was authorized by the Landdrost of Pretoria in order to enable a number of the Johannesburg friends of the prisoners to see them, and when about one hundred permits had been issued by that official to men travelling over from Johannesburg specially for the purpose, Du Plessis devised means to defeat this act of consideration, and issued orders to his guards to admit only three visitors at a time to the gaol. As a consequence, more than half failed to gain admittance. Nor was he satisfied with this; he informed the prisoners themselves that he wished the Landdrost had issued two hundred passes instead of one hundred, so that he might let those Johannesburg people know who was 'baas' there. Possibly the fact that on the previous day he had been severely rebuffed in his petition campaign may have provoked this act of retaliation. Another instance of Mr. Du Plessis' system was afforded by the case of an old schoolmaster, an Englishman named Grant. He had been a teacher upon the farm of a Boer near Pretoria. Through some difference with his employer he was dismissed; and his own version of the affair indicates that he suffered considerable injustice. From the evidence given in the case in which he subsequently figured it appeared that in order to urge his grievance he returned to the Boer's farm and even re-entered the house which he had formerly occupied. He was arrested and charged with trespass, or threatening to molest his late employer and members of his family, and was bound over to keep the peace for six months and to find £50 surety for the same, failing which he should go to gaol for that period. This seemed to be rather a harsh sentence to pass upon a man who was over fifty years of age, entirely destitute of means, of very inferior physique, and who had been charged at the instance of an individual who could certainly have protected himself against five such men as Grant. No doubt the accused was an eccentric man, and probably a nuisance, and it is even possible that his conduct left the magistrate no alternative but to pass the sentence which he did: it is not intended to question the justice of this part of the affair. Having been sent to gaol, however, because he could not deposit £50, Grant was treated as the commonest malefactor in all respects but one--he was allowed to retain his own clothing. The unfortunate old man made a pathetic picture with his seedy clothes, tail coat, tall white hat, and worn gloves, which he punctiliously wore whenever called upon to face the authorities--and it happened rather frequently. He objected to being classed and herded with the thieves and murderers and others whose crimes were even more repulsive. He protested against the class of food that was served to him. For these remonstrances he at first received solitary confinement and even poorer diet; and later with a brutality which one can surely only find in a Du Plessis the unfortunate old man was placed in the Kaffir stocks, thrown out in the middle of the yard that he might be humiliated in the sight of all, and kept there in the fierce heat of a tropical sun for half a day. The sole excuse for this was that he had been unruly in protesting against the treatment which he was receiving. The spectacle excited the pity of the Reform prisoners to such an extent that even with the certainty of an insulting rebuff from the gaoler they endeavoured to represent the man's case so as to have him released, but without success. It need only be added that the unfortunate man did not serve his entire term, the first act of the first released Reformers being to pay up the surety required and provide him with funds to leave the country. Grant may have been as guilty and offensive as eccentricity can make a man, but nothing can justify the manner in which he was treated. The stocks in the hands of Du Plessis were not the mild corrective instrument which they are sometimes considered to be. According to this authority the stocks can be made to inflict various degrees of punishment. Du Plessis states that when he took over the gaol he found that the custom was to place men in the stocks within a cell and to trust to the irksomeness of the position and the solitary confinement to bring about a better frame of mind; but he soon found that this system was capable of improvement. His first act was to place the prisoners white or black in the stocks in the middle of the yard, so that they should be exposed to the observation and remarks of all the officials and visitors and their fellow-prisoners. In explaining the reasons for this change, he said that he found that in a cool cell a man could be tolerably comfortable and that even the most hardened of them preferred not to be seen in the stocks by others; whereas in the yard they were obliged to sit on the uneven gravel and to endure the heat of the sun as well as being 'the cynosure of every eye.' But this did not satisfy the ingenious Du Plessis. The yard of the Pretoria gaol inclines from south to north about one foot in four, and Du Plessis' observant eye detected that the prisoners invariably sat facing down the slope--for of course they were not allowed to lie down while in the stocks, this being too comfortable a position. Upon studying the question he found that in this way much more ease was experienced owing to the more obtuse angle thus formed by the body and the legs. This did not suit him and he issued further orders that in future all prisoners in the stocks should be obliged to sit facing uphill, and that they should not be allowed to hold on to the stocks in order to maintain themselves in this position but should have to preserve the upright posture of the body by means of the exertion of the muscles of the back alone. Needless to say the maintenance of such a position for hours at a time caused an agony of aches which many prisoners were quite unable to endure, and frequently the men were seen to throw themselves back and lie down at the risk of being kicked up by the vigilant Du Plessis and confined in the stocks for a longer period than was originally intended. Nor did this complete the list of Mr. Du Plessis' ingenuities. The stocks had been built to accommodate several persons at the same time, and he found that by inserting the legs in the alternate holes, instead of in the pair as designed by the architect of the stocks, the increased spread of the legs caused still greater strain upon his victim. This was reserved for special cases--say one in every four or five. The incidents here given illustrating the methods of this delectable individual were all witnessed by the Reformers. The account of Du Plessis may serve the purpose of showing the methods practised under a Government whose officials are appointed whenever possible from the family circle and not because of fitness. It is more especially designed to show the character of the man in whose hands the prisoners were placed with almost absolute discretion; the man who enjoys the privilege of discussing with his relative President Kruger, at any hour at which he may choose to visit the Presidency, the treatment to be accorded to his victims; the man who is retained in his position in spite of repeated exposures by his superiors, and who is credited with exercising very considerable influence with Mr. Kruger; but, above all, the man in whose charge remain up to the present time{37} the two Reformers, Messrs. Sampson and Davies, who declined to sign any petition, and concerning whom Du Plessis stated openly: 'Wait until the others have gone, and if the Government leave them in my hands, I'll make them ready to sign anything.' Sufficient has been said concerning this individual to warrant the description publicly given of him by Colonel Rhodes{38}--'A brutal and inhuman wretch!' Like most bullies the man is also a coward. When he witnessed the outburst of feeling among the prisoners in consequence of the death of their comrade, he would not venture into the precincts of the gaol for two days, until assured that the men had again become capable of self-control. So much for the details of gaol life. In the meantime sympathy with the prisoners began to take practical form, and the unanimity of feeling on their behalf throughout South Africa, which was quite unexpected and which greatly embarrassed the Boer Government, tended to bring matters to a head. Mr. Rose Innes, who had so generously and constantly exerted himself in Pretoria in order to obtain some amelioration of the condition of the prisoners, and who had in his official capacity as watching the case for the Imperial Government made a very strong report to the Colonial Office, did not content himself with these exertions. Upon his return to Capetown he suggested and organized the getting up of a monster petition to the President and Executive, urging upon them in the interests of the peace of South Africa to release the imprisoned men. The petitions were to represent the views of every town and village in South Africa, and were to be presented by the mayors or municipal heads of the communities. In this movement Mr. Rose Innes was most ably seconded by Mr. Edmund Garrett, the editor of the _Cape Times,_ and other prominent men. A movement of this nature naturally excited considerable attention in Pretoria; but the success of it was wholly unexpected. The President and his party had played to the South African gallery, and they had not yet realized that they had in any way overdone the theatrical part. They had no suspicion of the real feeling with which the sentences were regarded, nor of the extent to which they had alienated sympathy by that and the subsequent 'magnanimous' action. 'Magnanimity by inches' had been placarded throughout South Africa, and the whole game was characterized as one of cat and mouse, in which the President was playing with his victims with indifference to the demands of justice and humanity, partly with a view to wringing concessions from the British Government, and partly from a mistaken idea that by such a course he would obtain credit at each step afresh for dealing generously with those who were at his mercy. The movement had been well organized. The resolution had been passed in every town in South Africa, even including the towns of the Free State. The mayors (over 200 in number) were on their way to Pretoria, when the President, with his back against the wall, realized for the first time that he had overshot the mark and that unless he released the men before the arrival of the deputies he would either have to do so apparently at their instance, or refuse to do so and risk rousing a dangerous feeling. He chose the former course; he released all the imprisoned men with the exception of the four who had been sentenced to death and the two who had refused to appeal. Pretoria and Johannesburg were already full of deputies and visitors from Cape Colony, Natal, and the Free State, all bound on the same errand of mercy. The feelings of these men, brought many hundreds of miles from their homes, sacrificing their own business and personal convenience in order to approach the President and to support a measure which they felt to be imperatively necessary to the allaying of feeling in South Africa may be imagined, but were not expressed, when they heard that they had been allowed to undertake this journey as part of the President's game, only to receive a slap in the face from His Honour by the carrying out of the measure before they were permitted to interview him. This at least was what was felt to be the case upon the release of the majority. Absolute proof of it was forthcoming within the week, when the President refused to receive the deputations and kept them waiting in Pretoria until he had released the four leaders as well, without allowing the delegates the satisfaction of a courteous recognition of their mission. He admitted them it is true to an informal interview, in the course of which he managed to insult and outrage the feelings of a good many by lecturing them and giving vent to very candid opinions as to their personal action and duties; but he would not receive their representatives officially. On May 30 the prisoners with the exception of the six already referred to were released, the terms being that their fines should be paid at once, and the unexpired term of imprisonment remitted. Each one as released was required to bind himself for the term of three years, reckoned from the 30th day of May, 1896, neither directly nor indirectly to meddle in the internal or external politics of the South African Republic, and to conduct himself as a law-abiding citizen of the State. In some cases the provision was added that if in the opinion of the Executive Council the terms of this undertaking should be broken, the sentence of banishment which was held in suspense would come into force, and the men were required to sign this addendum to the above undertaking. The resolution of the Executive Council, which deals with the mitigation of the sentences, states that the imprisonment portions of the sentences are remitted; that the fines (£2,000 in all cases) must be paid at once; and that the banishment shall remain in abeyance subject to the faithful observance of the above undertaking; but that should any action be taken by any of the prisoners constituting in the opinion of the Executive Council a breach of the above undertaking, the sentence of banishment shall come into force. There is no definition of the phrase 'meddle in politics,' nor is there any indication of what in the opinion of the Executive Council constitutes politics. There is of course on record the President's own statement in public that he would not permit any discussion on the dynamite and railway questions because they are matters of 'high politics'; and if haply the Executive should also hold this view, it is difficult to see how any of the prisoners will be able to follow their ordinary business and attend to those commercial affairs in which they are concerned without committing some breach of this ridiculous provision. No answer was received to the many representations made on behalf of the four leaders, except that the Government were busy with the matter. Upon the release of the other prisoners it was suggested to them by friends outside that it would be a proper and politic course to proceed in a body to the Presidency and thank the President for the action he had taken in their respect, and at the same time to beg of him to extend a similar clemency to the four leaders who were still left in gaol. Most of the men were dead against taking any such action. They held very strongly to the opinion that they had been arrested by treachery, condemned by arrangement, and played with as counters in an unscrupulous manner. They recognized no obligation towards the President. They could see no magnanimity in a policy which had secured their arrest under the circumstances described which inveigled them into pleading guilty to a nominal offence, and which imposed upon them a sentence such as that passed. They considered the enormous fine which they were then called upon to pay to say nothing of the imprisonment which they had already suffered wholly disproportionate to the offence, and their natural impulse was to avoid the man who was directly responsible for it all, or at least not to meet him under circumstances so unequal, when they would be sure to be insulted, and would be obliged to suffer the insult in silence. Some of them however yielded to the representations of their friends, who considered that it should be done for the sake of the men who were not yet released; whilst there were others who expressed the view that they would rather go back and do their imprisonment than suffer the humiliation which it was proposed to inflict; that they would not do it for themselves, and they could not bring themselves to do it for anybody else. A considerable number of the prisoners called upon His Honour; and this was the 'dog' interview. After hearing the address of the men the President proceeded to pat himself and his people on the back, saying that he knew he had behaved with great magnanimity and moderation, and that he hoped that such generosity would not be entirely thrown away. 'You must know,' he said, 'that I sometimes have to punish my dogs; and I find that there are dogs of two kinds. Some of them who are good come back and lick my boots. Others get away at a distance and snarl at me. I see that some are still snarling. I am glad that you are not like them.' Those among his hearers who could understand His Honour's remarks, although they had been prepared for much, were certainly not prepared for this. The interpreter stood for a moment without rendering into English the metaphor chosen by the worthy President, and even His Honour--slow to perceive where he has transgressed the limits of etiquette and good breeding--gathered from the expressions upon the faces that something was wrong, and turning to the interpreter, said: 'Oh, that's only my joke! Don't interpret that to them.' But those who witnessed it say that there was no joke in his voice or his eye as he said it. Proceeding then with more circumspection he walked out his dog in another form, and said that it was very well to punish the little dogs as he had punished them, but somebody should also punish the big dog--evidently referring to Mr. Rhodes--and in the course of a homily he again mixed his parable, sticking all the time to his dog however, remarking in conclusion that it was very well to punish the dogs, but what was to happen to the owner of the dogs, who stood by urging them on and crying 'Tsaa!'? Throughout the week His Honour continued to make the homely dog work to good purpose, but the interview with the released Reformers was, it is believed, the first occasion upon which he made use of it. Certainly on no other occasion did the President do such ample justice to his reputation as a finished diplomat. In the mean time negotiations had been proceeding for obtaining the release of the leaders. The friends and representatives of the four prisoners had become subject to all manner of attentions from numbers of people in Pretoria; near relations of the President himself, high-placed Government officials, their relatives, hangers-on, prominent Boers, and persons of all sorts and descriptions, all offered their services and indicated means by which the thing could be arranged. All wanted money--personal bribes. The prisoners themselves were similarly approached, and they who a month previously had been condemned to death witnessed with disgust a keen competition among their enemies for the privilege of effecting--at a price--their release. Day after day they were subjected to the disgusting importunities of these men--men who a little while before had been vaunting their patriotism and loudly expressing a desire to prove it by hanging these same Reformers. The gaoler Du Plessis, representing himself as having been sent by the President, suggested to the four men that they should 'make a petition.' They declined to do so. Du Plessis was then reinforced by the Chief Commissioner of Police, and the two officials again urged this course but stated that they did not wish it to be known that they had been sent by the Executive and therefore could not consent to their names being used. Upon these terms the prisoners again declined. They said that if they were to hold any communication with the Government they required to have it on record that they did so at the suggestion of the two responsible gaol officials who represented themselves as expressing the wish of the Executive Council. After further delay and consultations with the President and others the two officials above named consented to allow their names to be used in the manner indicated. Not content with this the prisoners demanded that they should be allowed to send an independent messenger to the President to ascertain whether he really required a written appeal for revision of sentence. Having received confirmation in this manner the four men addressed a letter to the Executive Council. In this letter they stated that they had been sentenced to death; that the death-sentence had been commuted; and that they understood--but had received no authoritative information on the subject--that they were to suffer instead a term of fifteen years' imprisonment. They suggested the imposition of a monetary penalty in place of the imprisonment; they stated that they held and represented important interests in the State and that they believed their release would tend to the restoration of confidence and favourable conditions in the business community of the Rand; and they concluded by saying that, if the Executive saw fit to adopt this suggestion, they the prisoners would return to their business in good faith. It had frequently been intimated to these men that it would be impossible for the Government to impose a fine in place of the death-sentence because money so obtained would be blood-money. Reference had been made in the Executive Council to Biblical precedents, notably the case of Judas, and the opinion was held that if blood-money were taken the Lord would visit His wrath upon the people. The Boers are in their way a very religious people. But they are also essentially practical; and it is difficult to find an instance in which the religious principle has operated to their commercial disadvantage. This at any rate was not one. The train of reasoning which led them to justify the imposition of a fine was somewhat in this wise: To _impose a fine_ would be to take blood-money, and would be immoral and iniquitous: to _accept the offer of a present_ on condition that the sentence should be entirely remitted however would be quite another thing. So negotiations were set on foot to induce the prisoners to make the necessary offer; and the prisoners, as has been shown, did so. This satisfied the religious scruple of the Boer, but the terms of the offer were not satisfactory to his commercial requirements. It became necessary to make a definite offer. Further negotiations followed, and the prisoners gathered that an offer of £10,000 apiece would be viewed with favour by the President and his advisers; and it was stated by members of the Volksraad and prominent officials who were in the confidence of and in communication with the Government that, in the event of such a contingency arising as the prisoners making an offer of cash, the Executive would not take the money for the benefit of the State but would accept it for charitable purposes--an educational institute or a hospital or some such object. This was communicated to the prisoners by the personages referred to, and an offer was accordingly made of £10,000 apiece. The matter was discussed in the Executive Council, and the Boer, true to his instinct and record, perceived an opportunity to improve his position. The religious gentlemen who would not take blood-money now objected that the amount proposed was altogether too small, and the President with that readiness so characteristic of him observed that he thought the prisoners must have made a mistake, and meant £40,000 apiece instead of £40,000 for the lot. Another delay ensued, and in the meanwhile more and more deputies flocked to Pretoria, and stronger grew the feeling, and more angry, disappointed, and disgusted grew the communities of Johannesburg and Pretoria. The President, however, played his game unmoved by any such considerations. The next announcement from the Executive was a wholly unexpected one. It was that they felt it necessary to consult Judge Gregorowski as to the amount of money which ought to be taken as a donation to charities. The matter of assessing the value of a death-sentence in cash might perhaps be deemed a perplexing and a difficult one from lack of precedent, yet nobody supposed the Executive Council to be unequal to the task. It might also seem unfair to impose this further burden of responsibility upon a judge; but Mr. Gregorowski had proved himself superior to precedent and untrammelled by custom; and there was much to be said in favour of continuing an association which had worked very satisfactorily so far. When however the President, with that resolute determination to be generous which was so well advertised, at last overcame all obstacles and succeeded in holding a meeting of his advisers to receive Mr. Gregorowski's report, and when it was found that that gentleman assessed capital punishment at £25,000 per head, the Executive Council with one accord avowed themselves to be so utterly taken by surprise by the announcement that they required time to think the matter over and decide upon a course of action. No doubt this opinion of Mr. Gregorowski's took them quite as much by surprise as did his original sentences. However in the course of a day or two they had recovered sufficiently to intimate to the prisoners that, if they would amend their first offer of £40,000 for the four and make it one of £40,000 apiece, the Executive would decline to accept so large a sum, as being greater than they considered equitable and would reply that in the opinion of the Government £25,000 apiece would be sufficient. It was quite plainly intimated that this procedure presented certain attractions to the President, who desired for political purposes to exhibit further magnanimity. The prisoners who by this time had gained some insight into Mr. Kruger's methods, who knew from past experience the value of his promises, and who could find no record in history to encourage them in participating to this extent in the confidence trick, point-blank refused to have anything to do with it. They agreed to make a formal offer of a 'reasonable' fine, leaving the interpretation of this to the Government, but only on the distinct understanding that the amount should not exceed £25,000 each. They had learned that Mr. Gregorowski had fixed this amount and that the Executive had agreed to accept it, and they would not offer a penny more for magnanimity or anything else. They stated in plain terms that they looked upon this matter simply as a bargain; that if they should get out they were paying their way out, and that in so far as their release from the position was concerned the transaction was closed upon business terms and there should be no question afterwards as to gratitude or magnanimity. The fines were paid,{39} and on July 11 the leaders were released. Messrs. Phillips, Farrar, and Hammond, who were compelled through their business ties to continue their association with the Transvaal, signed the same undertaking concerning politics as that given by the rest of the prisoners--with the difference that in their case it operates for a period of fifteen years. Colonel Rhodes however declined to give the required undertaking and elected to take his sentence of fifteen years' banishment. On the night of June 11 therefore he was sent across the border under escort, and passing through the Free State proceeded at once to Matabeleland to render what assistance he could to his brother in the suppression of the rebellion. As though the excitement of the past few months had not been sufficient, it may be added that in the first engagement in which he took part on his arrival at Buluwayo his horse was shot, and he narrowly escaped the same fate himself. From time to time adverse comment has been made on the subject of this undertaking of the Reformers to abstain from further participation in politics. The position of the Reformers was this: They had entered upon the movement to obtain the redress of certain matters closely affecting their feelings as men and their interests and business as settlers in the country. They were disarmed and placed at the mercy of the Boer Government by the action of England's Representative. To decline to give the pledge required would entail banishment, which would in many cases mean ruin to them and in all cases would remove them from the sphere in which they might yet contribute to the attainment of the ends they had in view. The only compensating consideration possible in such a course would be that the redress desired would be effected through the influence of the Imperial Government; but since the Imperial Government had shown that under the circumstances they were neither willing nor able to maintain to a logical conclusion the position which they took up when they secured disarmament, the Reformers concluded that their obvious course was to give the required undertaking. It is true that several among them did decline to give this undertaking, saying that they would prefer to serve their terms of imprisonment; but they received the answer that after the term of two years' imprisonment the Government would still require the undertaking or enforce the banishment clause, so that it appeared to them there was no way out of it but to sign what was required and wait patiently. It is perfectly obvious that one of two alternatives will present itself. Either the Government will come to regard this provision as a dead letter, and wholly ignore it; or some of the men, in the course of their business and in dealing with economic questions such as they are morally entitled to discuss will fall foul of the 'opinion of the Executive.' The issue will then be a very clear one, and many of those who were strongly opposed to the Reformers on the premisses on which they started will find themselves in cordial agreement with them in later developments.{40} The Reform movement closed for the time being with the release of the leaders. Sixty-four men had been committed for trial. From four of them the Government had received £100,000, and from fifty-six others £112,000. One was dead; one had fallen so seriously ill before the trial that he was unable to present himself with the rest, but on recovering and announcing his intention to plead 'Not guilty' and fight it out, the case against him was withdrawn. There remained two men, Messrs. Sampson and Davies, whose case the Government had refused to consider because they declined to appeal. They had been sentenced on April 28 to two years' imprisonment and £2,000 fine, or failing payment to another year's imprisonment, and to three years' banishment; and under that sentence do they lie at the present moment in the Pretoria gaol, at the mercy of the Boer Government and its very competent representative Mr. Du Plessis.{41} Much _kudos_ has accrued to Mr. Kruger for his magnanimity and much profit for his astuteness! Great credit is also given to Mr. Chamberlain for his prompt impartiality. And surely some day a tribute of sympathy and admiration will go out from a people who like pluck and who love fair play to two Englishmen who hold that a solemn pledge is something which even a Boer should hold to, whilst self-respect is more than liberty and beyond all price. Footnotes for Chapter IX {35} This was done on the second day--after a night without any ventilation at all. {36} See Appendix E. {37} (July, 1899.) They were released in June, 1897. {38} Du Plessis' threats regarding Messrs. Sampson and Davies were made so openly and vengefully that Colonel F.W. Rhodes deemed it to be his duty as soon as he was released to report the matter to the High Commissioner, with a view to ensuring some measure of protection for the two gentlemen above referred to. After the release of the other prisoners, Du Plessis was for a time suspended, owing to charges laid against him by the Inspector of Prisons. No investigation appears however to have been made, and the man was reinstated. During the month of September, after Messrs. Sampson and Davies had already done five months of their sentence in Pretoria Gaol, this man, finding himself unable to break their spirit by other means, made a proposal to the Government to separate the two and to place them in two small country gaols at wide distances apart and far removed from the friendly offices and watchful eyes of their friends, and thus deprive them of such benefit as they may be able _in the future_ to get from proximity to the official representative of England. In the past they have certainly derived none. {39} It seems like reflecting on the reader's intelligence to add that nothing more has been heard of the 'charities.' {40} (July, 1899.) A clear indication of the Government's disposition towards the Reformers was given by the treatment accorded to Mr. Lionel Phillips. In consequence of a publication by Sir John Willoughby of an article on the subject of the Raid, which failed to accurately represent the facts as they were present to the minds of the Reformers, Mr. Phillips wrote an article in the _Nineteenth Century_ magazine, which was purely historical, moderate in tone, and obviously designed only as an answer to the allegations which had been made. The Executive Council arrived at the conclusion that it was a breach of his undertaking to abstain from interference in politics, and they issued a decree of banishment against him. As Mr. Phillips had taken up his residence permanently in Europe, and as it was well known that it would be extremely inconvenient for him to return to South Africa in order to dispute this action it was generally considered that the object of the move was to establish a precedent, so to say, on the cheap, and in the same spirit to intimidate others among the Reformers who were believed not to have lost their interest in the cause of reform nor to have abandoned their intention to begin again as soon as they were free to do so. It is no exaggeration to say that scarcely a week could have passed during the last two and a half years in which some or all of the half dozen Uitlanders most prominent in the cause of reform have not been in receipt of a warning of one kind or another, ranging from apparently friendly advice not to take too keen an interest in certain matters, up to the giddy eminence of being black listed in the Dutch papers as one of those to be dragged out and shot without trial as a traitor and a rebel. Such are the conditions under which the unarmed Uitlanders labour for reform. {41} (July, 1899.) Du Plessis was promoted to be Chief Inspector of Prisons shortly after the release of Messrs. Sampson and Davies, and still holds that post! PART II. A POSTSCRIPT. CHAPTER X. THREE YEARS' GRACE. Very seldom has any community been in a position so unsatisfactory as that in which the people of Johannesburg found themselves in the year 1896. Judgments passed in the heat of the moment upon matters which had not been properly explained, and which in many cases were completely obscured by deliberate misrepresentation, had incurred for the community dislike contempt and mistrust which were wholly undeserved. Those who knew the facts and who were able and willing to speak, the Reformers themselves, were bonded to abstain from politics for three years under penalty of banishment. Betrayed, deserted, muzzled, helpless, hopeless, and divided, no community could have been in a more unsatisfactory condition. It was abundantly clear that the time had been allowed to pass when the Imperial Government might have insisted upon reforms and the fulfilment of the President's promises--not in the spirit in which they had been made, but in the spirit in which the President himself had intended the world to construe them. The impact of the revelations was too great to permit of public judgment quickly recovering its balance. It was realized that Mr. Kruger's effects had been admirably stage-managed and that for the time being, and possibly for a very considerable time, the Uitlanders were completely out of court. There were a few--but how few!--whose faith was great and whose conviction that the truth must prevail was abiding, who realized that there was nothing for it but to begin all over again--to begin and to persevere upon sound lines; and they took heart of such signs as there were and started afresh. It has been an article of faith with them that Mr. Kruger missed his supreme chance at the time of the trial of the Reformers, and that from the date of the death-sentence his judgment and his luck have failed him. He abused his good fortune and the luck turned, so they say; and the events of the last three years go to support that impression. To his most faithful ally amongst the Uitlanders the President, in the latter days of 1896, commented adversely upon the ingratitude of those Reformers who had not called to thank him for his magnanimity; and this man replied: 'You must stop talking about that, President, because people are laughing at you. You made a bargain with them and they paid the price you asked, so now they owe you nothing.' But his Honour angrily repudiated that construction: nothing will convert him to that view. It has been said that Dr. Jameson is the best friend Paul Kruger ever had, and with equal truth it may be said that, in 1896, President Kruger proved himself to be the best friend of the Reformers. Not even the most sanguine of his enemies could have expected to witness the impolitic and unjust acts by which the President revealed himself, vindicated the Reformers, and undermined a position of unparalleled strength in an incredibly short time. The bargaining and the bad grace which marked the release of the Reformers had prepared the world to view Mr. Kruger's action and attitude a little more critically than it had hitherto been disposed to do. The real conditions of Dr. Jameson's surrender had also become known, and although the action of the Boer leaders was regarded as far too trifling a matter to be seriously considered as against the Raid itself, nevertheless a residuum of impression was left which helped to form opinion at a later stage. There followed, too, an irritating correspondence between the Transvaal and Imperial Governments, in the course of which Dr. Leyds successfully established his skill as a smart letter writer and his limitations as a statesman. The Municipal Law, the first product of the 'forget and forgive' proclamation--which proclamation, by-the-bye, had already begun to prove itself an awkward weapon placed in the hands of his enemies by President Kruger himself--had been exposed and denounced as farcical, and it now required but little to convince the once admiring world of the President's real character and intentions. That little was forthcoming in a touch of ridicule more potent than all arguments. The Transvaal Government formulated their demand for damages for the Raid in a form which made everyone smile--£677,938 3s. 3d. for actual outlay, and £1,000,000 for 'Moral and Intellectual Damages.' What with the fines of the Reformers, and the seizure of the provisions of all sorts acquired by them for the purposes of the Reform movement, which latter must have exceeded £50,000 in value, the Boer Government had already received upwards of a quarter of a million, and had, in fact, made a profit on the Raid; so that this demand came as a surprise even to the Uitlanders, as much perhaps due to the extraordinary phrasing of the demand as to the amount claimed. It may be wondered why, under provocation so great as that of complete abandonment by the country whose representative had placed them in their then hopeless position, no distinct movement took place--no tendency even developed itself--among the Uitlanders generally to unite with the Boers in favour of a Republican movement throughout South Africa, to the exclusion of the Imperial power. In answer to this it must be said that such an idea undoubtedly did take strong hold of the non-British portion of the Uitlander population, as witness the manner in which the Cape Colony Dutchmen, Hollanders, Germans, and individuals of other European nationalities associated themselves with the Boer party, almost invariably by open declaration, and in many cases even by naturalization, thus forfeiting their own national rights and obtaining nothing but vague promises and the liability to military service in return. But the Republican movement made no further headway than this because British subjects formed the large majority of the Uitlanders. They had, it is true, a great grievance against the Imperial Government; but against the Transvaal Government they had one greater still; and it would take a great deal to kill the passionate loyalty of the British South African. It would be idle to discuss what might have happened had Mr. Kruger seized his opportunity and let in a considerable section of the then unenfranchised to strengthen the ranks of the Republican party; that can only be a matter of individual conjecture. What is certain, however, is that he did not do so and never intended to do so; wherein his lack of statesmanship is again made manifest. Mr. Kruger has carried out in its fullest (its best or its worst) the characteristic principle of his people already referred to, that of giving too little and asking too much. It is doing only bare justice to the determination with which he adheres to the policy of his life to say that he gives nothing to anybody. From the most distant to the nearest he deals alike with all. With the people of Europe, he has taxed their investments, disregarded their interests, and flouted their advice; but nevertheless he has for years commanded their moral support. In his dealings with the British Government, pushed as they have been some half a dozen times to the very verge of war, he has invariably come off with something for nothing. In his dealings with the Uitlanders he has bartered promises and in return--_circumspice_! In the matter of the events of 1895-6 he came out with a quarter of a million in cash, a claim for £1,677,938 3s. 3d. odd (including Moral and Intellectual Damages), and a balance of injured innocence which may not be expressed in figures. In his dealings with Cape Colony he has taxed the products of their land and industry, he went to the verge of war to destroy their trade in the case of the closing of the Vaal River drifts, he has permitted the Netherlands Railway to so arrange its tariffs as to divert traffic from them to other parts, he has refused to their people (his own flesh and blood, among whom he was born) the most elementary rights when they settle in his country! And yet in his need he calls upon them, and they come! His treatment of the Orange Free State has been exactly the same. Their grievance against him is incomparably worse, because of their liability to become involved in the consequences of a policy which they are not allowed to influence. But President Kruger is, above all things, practical. Everything is gauged by the measure of the advantage which it can bring to him; and his treatment of the Free State is determined by their utility to him and his power over them, and is not influenced by their moral claims upon his good will. Natal and Portugal have their experience of broken agreements and strained interpretations, of intrigues with native subjects and neighbours for the extension of rights or boundaries, all designed to benefit the Transvaal and to undermine them. All, all with the same result! Something for nothing! Within the borders of the Transvaal the policy is the same. Moral rights and the claims of justice are unrecognized. For services rendered there may be some return; a privilege, a contract, an appointment. But this cannot be properly regarded as a neglect of principle upon Mr. Kruger's part, for after all the reward is at the expense of the Uitlanders. It is usually the least price at which the service could be secured; and it is generally in such form as to give the recipient a profit in which the members of the Government party largely share, but it never confers a power to which the President himself is not superior; indeed, it is almost invariably hedged about by such conditions as to make its continuance dependent upon the President's good will. If any one should think this description of conditions in the Transvaal and of the President's policy to be unduly harsh, let him satisfy himself by an investigation of those matters which appear on merely superficial examination to support opinions contrary to those expressed by the writer. Let him examine the terms of the closer union with the Free State, the circumstances leading to the closing of the Vaal River drifts, the condition of the Dutch subjects of Cape Colony and of the Orange Free State in the Transvaal, the Netherlands Railway tariffs as they operate against Cape Colony and the Free State, the Railway Agreement with Natal, the disputes with Portugal, the attempts to acquire native territory on the East Coast, the terms of the Netherlands Railway Concession, Selati Railway Concession, Dynamite Concession--in fact, all other concessions, monopolies, contracts, privileges, appointments, and rights, made, granted, or entered into by President Kruger to or with his friends. Let him recall the treatment and the fate of some of those to whom ampler reference will be made later on; for instance, Chief Justice Kotzé and Judge Ameshof, who in the dealings with the Reformers rendered valuable--but perhaps injudicious and unjudicial--service, as already sufficiently described; the treatment of Dr. Coster, the State Attorney, who also deserved better of the President; the public repudiation of Mr. J.B. Robinson, whose friendship for President Kruger had been frequently and amply evidenced to the grave dissatisfaction of the Uitlander population; the public and insulting repudiation of Sir Henry de Villiers, the Chief Justice of Cape Colony, after he had served his purpose! The result of any such inquiry must confirm the conclusion that 'something for nothing' is the President's policy and achievement. A policy or a movement which is to involve the cooperation of thousands of intelligent men cannot be carried out upon such terms, and this may be regarded as the main reason why the spirit of Republicanism did not generally itself develop under circumstances apparently so favourable to it. The President's policy may be considered astute or unwise according to the point of view from which it is regarded. Viewed from the standpoint of the State itself, undoubtedly it fails lamentably in statesmanship. In the interests of the Boer party, however, or of the man Paul Kruger, it may well be doubted whether the policy may not be a token of remarkable sagacity. He knows his own limitations and the limitations of his people. He knows that to freely admit to a share in the Government a number of intelligent people, would make a continuance of himself or his party in absolute power for any length of time a matter of utter impossibility. In these circumstances the problem which President Kruger had set himself was a remarkably difficult one. To republicanize South Africa, to secure the support of the majority of the white inhabitants, and yet to yield no whit of power to those by whose aid he would achieve his object, would indeed be carrying to sublime heights the policy of 'something for nothing.' Many years before the Raid Mr. Kruger had a well-defined policy to republicanize South Africa, and the Uitlanders of the Transvaal were quite alive to it, as may be gathered by reference to their newspapers. But the voice was as a voice crying in the wilderness in those days, and, as has been said, it required the Jameson Raid to advertize the conditions in the Transvaal and to direct attention to what had been proclaimed unheeded for many years. Immediately prior to the Raid Mr. Kruger was floundering in a morass of difficulties. The policy of 'something for nothing' had been exposed, and it was seen through by all the Dutchmen in South Africa and was resented by all save his own little party in the Transvaal; but the Jameson Raid gave the President a jumping-off place on solid ground, and he was not slow to take advantage of it. It is not too much to say that the vast majority of people in Europe and America are indebted to Dr. Jameson for any knowledge which they may have acquired of the Transvaal and its Uitlander problem. Theirs is a disordered knowledge, and perhaps it is not unnatural that they should in a manner share the illusion of the worthy sailor who, after attending divine service, assaulted the first Israelite he met because he had only just heard of the Crucifixion. A number of worthy people are still disposed to excuse many things in the Transvaal because of the extreme provocation given by the Jameson Raid. The restrictions upon English education are considered to be 'not unnatural when one remembers the violent attempt to swamp the Dutch.' The excessive armaments are held to be 'entirely justifiable considering what has happened.' The building of forts is 'an ordinary precaution.' The prohibiting of public meetings is 'quite wrong, of course, but can you wonder at it?' Many of these worthy people will, no doubt, learn with pained surprise that all these things were among the causes which led to the Reform movement of 1895-6, and are not the consequences of that movement as they erroneously suppose. The Press Law and Public Meetings Act had been passed; arms had been imported and ordered in tens of thousands; machine guns and quantities of ammunition also; forts were being built;{42} the suppression of all private schools had been advocated by Dr. Mansvelt--all long, long before the Jameson Raid. So also had the republican propaganda been at work, but it had not caught on outside the two Republics. Difficult as his task might appear, Mr. Kruger had now command of the two great persuasive forces--money and sentiment. With the money he pushed on the forts, and imported immense quantities of big guns, small arms, and ammunition--far in excess of what could possibly be used by the whole of the Boer population of the Transvaal after making every allowance for spare arms in reserve; and such an extraordinary supply was not unnaturally believed to be designed for the use of others outside the Transvaal. More than this, an army of emissaries, agents, and spies in the pay of the Transvaal Government were spread about the Free State, Cape Colony, and Natal. Newspapers were supported in different parts of South Africa and a considerable amount of money was spent upon the Press in France and Germany. It would be absurd to suggest and it would be unjust to let it be inferred that all those who were drawn into sympathy with the Boers supported or were even cognizant of President Kruger's ultimate aim. It is an everyday experience that the scope of work and ambition expands as one progresses. Whether the strong man really sees his ultimate goal and tackles with magnificent courage the innumerable and seemingly insurmountable obstacles which lie between him and it, or whether in the wisdom and mercy of Providence there is such an adjustment of courage and foresight as prevents him from seeing more than he is able to face, who can say? But what is beyond all doubt is that, given the one strong man who does know his mind, he will lead as the Pied Piper led, and there is no thought in his following to ask the whither and the why. Given the sympathy and the means, the difficulty of President Kruger's self-imposed task was not so great as at first appeared. To some it was advisable to do no more than point to the Jameson Raid and say: 'We only wish to live in peace and to be left alone.' To some again that act is construed as a sign that the British people wish to upset the two Republics, therefore they must strengthen and be prepared. To others the appeal is made: 'We Dutch are the settlers and owners of the country, we wish for peace, of course, but we must dominate--you under your form of government, we under ours.' To others again it is further advanced: 'Let us negotiate the elimination of the Imperial power; we do not suggest fight, but if we present a united front they must retire peacefully and concede our demands.' And lastly comes the appeal to those who are in sympathy with the advanced republicans: 'Arm and prepare. Some day we shall find England in a difficulty, divided by party or hampered by external complications; it has often happened before and we have always profited. That will be our time to drive them out.' It would be very unjust to some of the most prominent men on the Dutch side in Cape Colony to leave the slenderest grounds for the inference that they are to be associated with the extreme and actively disloyal aim. All that it is intended to do is to indicate the fine gradations in arguments by which a number are drawn together--under a leadership which they do not realize, and going they know not where! The strongest of these arguments and appeals are particularly popular with the younger generation of Dutch South Africans who entertain a visionary scheme of independence suggested by the history of the United States. But there is something more serious in it than this, as may be deduced from the fact that in December, 1896, the writer was approached by Mr. D.P. Graaff, formerly a prominent member of the Cape Legislative Council and now as always a prominent Afrikander Bondsman, with the suggestion that all the South African born should combine in the effort to create the United States of South Africa, 'upon friendly terms with England, but confining the direct Imperial right in South Africa to a naval base at Simonstown and possibly a position in Natal.' This concession--from South Africa to England--would not, it was argued, involve disadvantage to the former, because for a considerable time it would be necessary to preserve friendly relations with England and to have the protection of her fleet for the coast. It is of course quite easy to attach too much importance to the opinions of individual politicians of this class, who are as a rule merely shouters with the biggest crowd; but the prominent association of such an apostle of republicanism with the Bond, and the fact that he should have gone so far with a Reformer of known strong British sympathies seem to warrant the attaching of some importance to the suggestion.{43} A similar suggestion was made to several of the Reformers at the time of the judicial crisis by one of the judges of the Transvaal High Court, when it was hoped to enlist the sympathies of the Uitlanders with a movement to curtail President Kruger's power and to establish republicanism on a firmer basis in South Africa. In order to forestall an obvious comment, it may be said that discussion was in both cases declined on the ground that it would be participating in politics in the sense forbidden by President Kruger's three years' ban. The year 1896 was a very bad one for the whole of South Africa. Besides the Raid and the suspense and disorganization entailed by the prolonged trial, the terrible dynamite explosion in Johannesburg,{44} the still more terrible rebellion and massacre in Rhodesia, and the crushing visitation of the great cattle scourge, the Rinderpest, helped to produce a deplorable state of affairs in the Transvaal. Then there was another thing which rankled badly: Messrs. Sampson and Davies were still in gaol.{45} The feeling throughout South Africa was reflected in the monotonous announcement which appeared in the _Cape Times_ week by week for thirteen months:--'To-day Messrs. Sampson and Davies complete the--week of their imprisonment in Pretoria gaol for the crime of not signing a petition.' It seemed scarcely credible that the President should still harbour any illusions about his magnanimity; nevertheless, for some weeks before the celebration of the Queen's Record reign it was rumoured that the two prisoners were to be released upon that occasion as a mark of his Honour's sympathy. Opinion had not been unanimous upon the attitude of either the President or the prisoners; but an ugly incident silenced most of the President's apologists. Gold stealing and the purchase of stolen gold were being carried on such a scale and with such impunity that at last, in desperation, the directors and officials of one of the big mining companies (the City and Suburban G.M. Co.), at the risk of being shot by desperadoes, took upon themselves the functions of the detectives and police. They caught 'red-handed' two notorious characters and delivered them over, with the gold in their possession, to the authorities. The thieves actually boasted then that nothing would happen to them as they had 'made it all right;' and a few days later one of them was allowed to escape out of the Court-house buildings which stand in the middle of a large square. The other was convicted and sentenced to six months' imprisonment. He was a criminal of a bad and dangerous type, the head of a gang known to be concerned in gold stealing and burglary as a profession. The penalty was regarded by all parties as most inadequate and the judge himself commented adversely upon the drafting of the law which tended to screen the prisoner. Not one mitigating circumstance was forthcoming! And yet, whilst ignoring a fresh outburst of protest against the detention of Messrs. Sampson and Davies, and whilst the Industrial Commission was exposing the gold thefts and denouncing the complicity of the police, Mr. Kruger decided to remit three-fourths of the sentence and to discharge the thief unconditionally. Is it to be wondered that such ill-advised action called to mind the prisoners' boast, and that it was contrasted prominently with the treatment of the two Reformers? Three events of importance marked the year 1897 in the history of the Transvaal. The first was the High Court crisis in February; the second, the appointment of the Industrial Commission of Inquiry; the third, the Queen's Record Reign celebration. The High Court crisis arose out of the case of Brown _v._ The State, already referred to.{46} Brown had acted within his legal rights according to the terms of a proclamation. That proclamation had been illegally withdrawn, and the Government realizing that they would have to stand the consequences of their action in the courts of the country, introduced a law which was immediately passed by the Volksraad, absolving them from all liability, and practically non-suiting all claimants. Mr. Kotzé in his judgment declared this law to be improper and in conflict with the Constitution, and gave judgment in favour of Brown, but left the amount of damages to be determined later after hearing further evidence.{47} The first Volksraad was then in special session, and the President promptly introduced a law known as Law 1 of 1897, which empowered him to exact assurances from the judges that they would respect all resolutions of the Volksraad as having the force of law and declare themselves not entitled to test the validity of a law by its agreement or conflict with the Constitution; and it further empowered the President in the event of his not being satisfied with the character of the replies to summarily dismiss the judges. The judges protested in a body that they would not submit to such treatment. The High Court was adjourned and all legal business was stopped. Particularly emphatic was Mr. Justice Gregorowski. He stated that no honourable man could possibly sit upon the Transvaal Bench as long as Law 1 of 1897 remained upon the Statute Book. At this juncture Sir Henry de Villiers, Chief Justice of Cape Colony, came to Pretoria for the purpose of effecting a compromise and averting a crisis. The compromise was practically an armistice. The judges promised not to exercise the testing right pending the speedy introduction of a measure safeguarding the independence of the courts. Mr. Kruger on his side promised to refrain from enforcing the provisions of Law 1 of 1897, and undertook to introduce as speedily as possible the required new law. The position in which the President found himself was undoubtedly one of some difficulty, but he chose a very bad way out of it. High-handed arbitrary methods cannot effect a permanent and satisfactory solution of a question of that character, but Mr. Kruger was unwilling to go to the root of the evil and to admit what Mr. Kotzé's judgment had brought home with perhaps too sudden force, namely, that the laws and system of Government were in a condition of complete chaos. The sequel can be told in a few words. In February, 1898, Mr. Kotzé considered that ample time had been allowed by him for the fulfilment of President Kruger's promise. Sir Henry de Villiers thought it proper to allow more time. The point of difference between Mr. Kotzé and Sir Henry de Villiers was the interpretation to be placed upon the expression 'this session,' which had been used in the previous February when the President had said that if he did not introduce the proposed measures this session, the judges might consider that he had failed to keep his promise. Mr. Kotzé contended that as the Raad was then in session it meant _that Session_, and that in any case that session and another had passed, and a third was in progress and there was still no sign of the promised measures. Sir Henry de Villiers stated that in his opinion the reasonable construction would be that Mr. Kruger meant the following _ordinary_ session, and that only ordinary sessions could be considered (for in each year there are one special and one ordinary session), so that the President might be entitled to claim the whole of the year 1898 within which to fulfil his promise, but that this would be the extreme limit of forbearance, after which failure could only be regarded as a breach of faith. Sir Henry de Villiers in fact defended Mr. Kruger. Mr. Kotzé, however, held to his opinion; he wrote to the President reminding him of the undertaking, charged him with failure to keep his promise and withdrew the pledge which he had given. The President promptly exercised his right under Law 1 of 1897, and dismissed Mr. Kotzé, who had served the country as judge and chief justice for over twenty years. Whatever the merits of the particular case may be it appeared to be a shocking exhibition of arbitrary power to dismiss without compensation, pension, or provision of any sort, a man no longer young, whose services had been given for nearly a quarter of a century, who in the extreme dilemma of the Raid had stood by the President, and who, from some points of view, must be admitted to have served him 'not wisely but too well.' Mr. Kotzé was not at that time popular among the Uitlanders on account of his action in the matter of the Reformers, and especially because he had acted on behalf of the Government in securing the services of Mr. Gregorowski for the Reform trial; but the circumstances of his dismissal and the fact that he was known to be dependent upon his salary as judge, taken in conjunction with the courageous stand which he had made against the President's arbitrary will, enlisted public sympathy on his behalf, and a purse amounting in all to about £6,000 was presented to him as a mark of appreciation for his past services. But then followed the 'most unkindest cut of all.' Mr. Gregorowski, who had resigned a judgeship in order to fill the post of State Attorney when Dr. Coster, in consequence of an insulting reference of the President's to his countrymen, relinquished it,--Mr. Gregorowski, who had been foremost to declare that no honourable man could possibly accept the position of judge while Law 1 of 1897 stood on the Statute Book, became Chief Justice _vice_ Mr. Kotzé dismissed. And by way of finally disposing of the subject, the President when questioned in the Raad as to the explanation of his apologist, denied that he had ever made any promise of any sort or description to Sir Henry de Villiers or anybody else! Mr. Justice Ameshof, who with Mr. Kotzé had made a stand against the President in this matter, was also obliged to relinquish his judgeship. Thus it will be seen that at one swoop Mr. Kruger disposed of three reputable intermediaries whom he had used to great advantage at one time or another. 'Something for nothing,' for Mr. Kruger! Whether Mr. Kotzé acted in haste or whether Sir Henry de Villiers' plea for more time was justified are questions which it is no longer necessary to discuss, not alone because Mr. Kruger denied ever having made the promise out of which the disagreement arose, but because even up to the present time no measure safeguarding the High Court has been introduced or foreshadowed in the legislature. And Law 1 of 1897, which according to Mr. Gregorowski made it impossible for any honourable man to sit upon the Bench, is still upon the Statute Book and Mr. Gregorowski sits as Chief Justice subject to its provisions. No one disputes that the position of the High Court as determined by Law 1 of 1897 is a very unsatisfactory one, but the apologists for President Kruger frequently say that there has been no actual case of hardship, and that the Uitlanders are crying out before they are hurt. They maintain that it was a measure passed under great provocation for a particular purpose, and that the power granted under it, although very undesirable in principle, has never been used. This is incorrect; the power has been used, and injustice has been suffered. Two cases of actual hardship are those of Brown _v._ Government, the case out of which the whole matter arose, and the case of the Pretoria Waterworks Company. But there are other cases too which have never been brought into court having been either compromised or abandoned because of the hopelessness of the position, for it is obvious that there would be great reluctance on the part of business men to make a fight merely for the purpose of showing that they suffered under a disability when the result of such a fight would inevitably be to antagonize the only tribunal to which they could appeal. The case of the Pretoria Waterworks Company is rather a bad one. The Government in 1889 gave a contract for the water supply of Pretoria. It was a permission, but not an exclusive right, to supply the town from springs on Government ground. The President, finding that the contractor was not in a position to undertake the work, requested certain business houses to form a company to acquire this right and to supply the town with water. After inquiry into the local conditions and the probable costs, these people represented that unless they received the exclusive right they would be unable to undertake the work, as the cost of importing pipes and machinery transported from Natal by bullock waggon and the then expensive conditions of working would make the work so costly that at a later period, after the introduction of railways, it would be possible for competitors, such for instance as the projected Municipality of Pretoria, to establish a system of water supply at probably half the cost of the first one and thus compete to their disadvantage. For these reasons the contractor and his friends declined to proceed with the formation of the company. The President, however, was very desirous of having a good water supply, and after some months of negotiations the original contract was supplemented by a grant from the Executive Council, who then held plenary powers from the Volksraad, giving the proposed company the exclusive right. Immediately after the receipt of this grant the company was formed, the capital subscribed and the machinery and other material purchased. In 1898, after nine years of work, during which shareholders had received dividends averaging 2-2/3 per cent. per annum, some differences occurred between the Company and the consumers, and the latter combined and subscribed the necessary funds to take action in the High Court, the object being to challenge the exclusive right and to enable the town through its Municipality to provide its own supply. At the same time the Government at the instance of the townspeople opened negotiations with the Company with a view to expropriation in accordance with the terms stipulated in the original contract. While matters were in this position, however, certain members of the Volksraad prominently concerned in the action against the Company, introduced a measure in the Volksraad cancelling the second or exclusive grant made by the Government nine years before and recommending that the Government should either buy out the Waterworks Company upon suitable terms or should give the necessary facilities to the Town Council to introduce another system of supply. The application of the Company to be allowed to state its case was ignored, and after a short discussion the resolution was passed and the measure became law. By the action of the Volksraad the Company was deprived of that principal asset upon the security of which the capital had been subscribed, and the Government were rescued from an awkward position. The Government took no steps to defend their action in granting the right or to protest against the action of the Volksraad, and became, therefore, parties to an act of piracy. The Company were thus placed entirely at the mercy of the Government, for under the provisions of Law 1 of 1897, the Volksraad resolution put them out of court both as to upholding their title and claiming damages. All doubts as to the Government's complicity in this action were removed when upon negotiations being opened for the expropriation of the Company the Government refused to follow the procedure prescribed in the contract on the ground that as the Company had now lost the exclusive right they must accept a less sum in compensation, otherwise the Government would authorise the rival Municipal scheme. Under these circumstances the shareholders having no other power to appeal to adopted the common-sense course of taking what they could get. The result can only be expressed in figures. The shares, which had been purchased at over 40s. at the time of the Volksraad's action were worth less than 28s. in liquidation. The inquiry into the Raid by the Select Committee of the House of Commons, early in 1897, was productive of a result which is not always traced to its real cause. The greatest dissatisfaction was expressed in the Transvaal and among all the Boers in South Africa with one feature of the Westminster inquiry, viz., the investigation of the causes which made the Raid possible. Mr. Kruger and his friends had enjoyed such a run of luck and so much indulgence, and had been so successful in presenting their side of the case only, that it seemed to them improper that anyone should wish to inquire into all the circumstances. It would even appear from what followed that the President had convinced himself that there were no grievances, that he was an entirely innocent party deeply injured by the Reformers and the British Government, and that the Westminster inquiry had been authorized and conducted for the sole purpose of exposing him and justifying the Reform movement. As the months dragged on and no improvement in the conditions of the Uitlanders took place, as indeed the complaints grew louder and the state of affairs grew worse, the President again began to hear the voices calling for reform. Timid whispers they were, perhaps, and far between, for the great bulk of the Uitlanders were in a morose and sullen mood. Having tried and failed on stronger lines they were incapable as yet of returning with any heart to the old fruitless and already rejected constitutional methods. The suggestions for reform, consequently, came principally from those who were on friendly terms with the Boer party and believed themselves to carry some weight. They have by this time learned that nobody carries weight with President Kruger unless he has power to back his suggestions. Many years before, the late Mr. W.Y. Campbell as spokesman of a deputation from Johannesburg, addressing President Kruger, stated in the course of his remarks that the people of Johannesburg 'protested' against a certain measure. The President jumped up in one of his characteristic moods and said: 'Protest! Protest!! what is the good of protesting? You have not got the guns! I have.' And Mr. Campbell, in reporting this in Johannesburg, remarked: 'That man is sensible; he knows the position. I claim to be sensible also, and I know he is right: you can take my name off any other deputations, for we'll get nothing by asking.' It is stated, and the statement comes from one who claims to have been the father of the suggestion, that the President was induced to appoint a commission of inquiry by the argument that if, as he believed, the wretched state of affairs in Johannesburg was due not to the action of the Government but to the greed, machinations, and mismanagement of the capitalists, nothing could suit the latter worse than to be taken at their word and to have a commission appointed to take evidence on oath and to publicly inquire into the state of affairs; in fact to copy the Westminster inquiry. It is conceivable that the resolute refusal to investigate matters or to listen to complaints or explanations which the President had throughout maintained may have been the means of preserving a blissful faith in the strength of his own case and the rottenness of the Uitlanders'; at any rate, it seems to be an undoubted fact that the Industrial Commission of Inquiry, which was appointed by the Executive at the request of the President, was appointed in the confident belief that it would shift the burden of responsibility from his shoulders to those of the capitalists. This construction of his motives may appear to be severe and perhaps even unfair, but it is entirely borne out by the manner in which he dealt with the report of the Industrial Commission, fighting against its acceptance, ignoring the recommendations of relief, and even imposing fresh burdens. There is, nevertheless, one thing to be deduced which is in a manner to Mr. Kruger's credit, and that is that he really must have believed that the case would--from his point of view--bear inquiring into. The members of the Commission with power to vote were Messrs. Schalk W. Burger, Member of the Executive Council (Chairman); J.S. Smit, Government Railway Commissioner; Christiaan Joubert, Minister of Mines; Schmitz-Dumont, Acting State Mining Engineer; and J.F. de Beer, first special Judicial Commissioner, Johannesburg. Mr. Thos. Hugo, the General Manager of the National Bank, was appointed financial adviser, and certain advisory members were arbitrarily selected by the Government. The complete exclusion of all those who had had any direct or indirect association with the late Reform movement or with those in any way connected with it strengthened the conviction that the Government designed the Commission to be a whitewashing one; but whatever the design may have been it would be doing an injustice both to the Government officials and to the advisory members to have it supposed that they were parties to such an idea. They were not; they did their work admirably, and no inquiry could have been conducted in a better spirit. This, however, was not foreseen, and it was with the greatest difficulty that the Uitlanders were induced to view the thing seriously and to realize that, no matter how it had occurred, this was a supreme opportunity for proving to the world the soundness of their case. The report and proceedings are published by the Witwatersrand Chamber of Mines in a volume containing over 700 pages of printed matter and a number of diagrams. The whole constitutes a damning indictment of the Government, as the following extracts from the report of the Commission testify:-- Your Commission are pleased to state that at present there exist all the indications of an honest administration, and the State, as well as the Mining Industry, must be congratulated upon the fact that most of the mines are controlled and directed by financial and practical men who devote their time, energy, and knowledge to the mining industry, and who have not only introduced the most up-to-date machinery and mining appliances, but also the greatest perfection of method and process known to science. But for these a good many of the mines now producing gold would not have reached that stage.... To avoid such a calamity (viz., the closing down of the mines) your Commission are of opinion that it is the duty of the Government to co-operate with the mining industry, and to devise means in order to make it possible for lower-grade mines to work at a profit, and generally to lighten the burdens of the mining industry. This and the development and equipment of the new mines are a few examples among others where it is desirable that the Government shall take an active part, especially when the fact is taken into consideration that up till now the mining industry must be held as the financial basis, support, and mainstay of the State. The question, therefore, becomes one of national economy, and it is incumbent upon the Government, considering the rapid growth and progress of the country, to so alter its fiscal laws and systems of administration as to meet the requirements of its principal industry.... Your Commission entirely disapprove of concessions, through which the industrial prosperity of the country is hampered. Such might have been expedient in the past, but the country has now arrived at a state of development that will only admit of free competition according to republican principles. This applies more especially to the gold industry, which has to face its own economical problems without being further burdened with concessions that are irksome and injurious to the industry and will always remain a source of irritation and dissatisfaction. As to white labour:-- Your Commission are of opinion that wages are not excessive, regard being had to the high cost of living at the mines. In fact, they are only sufficient to satisfy daily wants, and, consequently, it cannot be expected that white labourers will establish their permanent abode in this Republic unless conditions are made by which their position will be ameliorated.... Your Commission are of opinion that as long as the cost of living cannot be considerably reduced it will be almost impossible to reduce the wages of white labourers, and they would strongly recommend that, as far as possible, necessaries of life should be imported free of duty and conveyed to the mines as cheaply as possible. As to the sale of liquor:-- It has been proved to your Commission that the Liquor Law is not carried out properly, and that the mining industry has real grievances in connection therewith, owing to the illicit sale of strong drink to the natives at the mines, and they wish especially and strongly to insist that the stipulations of article 16 of the law shall be strictly enforced. The evidence given on this point proves that a miserable state of affairs exists, and a much stronger application of the law is required. Following this there is a long criticism with recommendations in detail. As to import duties:-- With reference to this matter, your Commission can only recommend that, if possible, foodstuffs ought to be entirely free from taxation, as at the present moment it is impossible to supply the population of the Republic from the products of local agriculture and consequently importation is absolutely necessary. As to explosives:-- Before entering on this subject, we wish to put on record our disappointment with the evidence tendered on behalf of the South African Explosives Company, Ltd. We expected, and we think not unreasonably, that they would be able to give reliable information for our guidance respecting the cost of importation, as well as of local manufacture, of the principal explosives used for mining purposes; but, though persistently questioned on these points, few facts were elicited and we regret to say that they entirely failed to satisfy us in this important respect.... That the principal explosives used here can be purchased in Europe, and delivered here at a price far below the present cost to the mines, has been proved to us by the evidence of many witnesses competent to speak on the subject, and when we bear in mind that the excess charge of 40s. to 45s. per case does not benefit the State, but serves to enrich individuals for the most part resident in Europe, the injustice of such a tax on the staple industry becomes more apparent and demands immediate removal. After showing that the dynamite monopolists make a profit of 47s. 6d. per case on No. 1 dynamite, and 55s. on blasting gelatine, over and above the price at which the mines could buy explosives if there were no monopoly or protection, the report goes on:-- The Mining Industry has thus to bear a burden which does not enrich the State or bring any benefit in return, and this fact must always prove a source of irritation and annoyance to those who, while willing to contribute to just taxation for the general good, cannot acquiesce in an impost of the nature complained of.... Your Commission inspected the factory at Modderfontein, and it must be admitted that the construction of the works and general equipment are in many respects admirable, and it appears to us greatly to be regretted that so much money should have been invested in an undertaking for the manufacture of any article whereof the ingredients have to be imported at a great cost, four tons of raw material being required to produce one ton of the manufactured article. It has been proved to our satisfaction that none of the raw material used is found in this country, or only in such small quantities as to make it practically valueless for the purpose required.... All these drawbacks, which make it almost impossible to establish a bonâ-fide industry, fall on the mines and render their task, especially that of the low-grade mines, extremely difficult and discouraging. Another point that has been brought to the notice of your Commission is the prejudicial effect exercised by this monopoly in practically excluding from the country all new inventions in connection with explosives, and, in view of the numerous dynamite accidents that have taken place from time to time, it is to be regretted that it is not possible to make satisfactory trials of other and less dangerous explosives for the working of the mines. These questions have received the careful consideration of your Commission, who are forced to the conclusion that the factory has not attained the object for which it was established, and that there is no reasonable prospect of it doing so. Further, that there are good grounds for believing that the contractors have failed to comply with the conditions of their contract. For the aforesaid reasons, and in view of the opinion expressed by the Volksraad Dynamite Commission, that the legal position of the Government against the contractors is undoubtedly strong, your Commission desire to recommend that the case be placed in the hands of the legal advisers of the State, with a view to ascertaining whether the contract cannot be cancelled. Meanwhile your Commission recommend that the Government avail itself forthwith of its right under Article 15 of the Regulations, to take away the agency of trading in gunpowder, dynamite, cartridges, and other explosives from the above-mentioned persons and at once take into its own hands the importation of dynamite and other explosives for the benefit of the mining industry, subject to a duty of not more than 20s. per case or such other less sum as may be determined from time to time. This protective duty, while considerably increasing the revenue of the State, will at the same time offer ample protection to any industry of this description in the Republic. In the event of cancellation being advised to be possible, free trade in explosives to be at once established, subject to a duty of 20s. per case or such other less duty as may be determined upon from time to time, and manufacturing of other explosives in the Republic to be allowed, and also to be protected by the same import duty.... Your Commission desire further to observe that it is not clear to them, judging from the published accounts of the South African Explosives Company for 1895 and 1896, that the Government receives the proportion of surplus profit secured to it under the contract, viz., 20 per cent., and would strongly recommend, in accordance with Article 6 of the contract, an immediate investigation of the Company's accounts by qualified accountants, in conjunction with the financial adviser of the Commission, in order to find out what amount is still due to the Government under this head. As to railways:-- Your Commission have followed with great attention and interest the evidence and statistics submitted on this point. From those it appears that not only are the tariffs charged by the Netherlands Railway Company such that by the reduction of the same the industry would be considerably benefited, but that such a reduction would necessitate that the neighbouring States and Colonies would also have to reduce their tariffs considerably. Your Commission have come to the conclusion that, taking into consideration the evidence submitted to them, and taking the gross revenue of traffic of goods at about £2,000,000 (as in 1896) it would be desirable to recommend so to regulate the tariff that the gross revenue for 1896 would have been reduced by £500,000, equivalent to an average reduction of 25 per cent. Further, your Commission deem it desirable that the Government shall make such arrangement as will secure to them in the future a voice in the fixing of the tariffs of the N.Z.A.S.M., and express their confidence that as soon as prosperous times will warrant such a course a further reduction in tariffs will be effected. Your Commission wish to recommend that the reduction will be chiefly applied to traffic of coal, timber, mining machinery, and foodstuffs, according to a scale to be agreed upon between the Government and the N.Z.A.S.M. Your Commission are of opinion that in this manner the industry will be met in a very fair way. Your Commission wish to express the opinion that it is absolutely necessary that the reduction in all local tariffs will be brought about as speedily as possible, while they express the hope that where the co-operation of the neighbouring States and Colonies is required, negotiations will be initiated and carried out so speedily that the reductions to be so initiated will come into force not later than 1st January next. Several witnesses and some of the Commission have urged the expropriation of the N.Z.A.S.M. by the Government. Your Commission, however, for several reasons known to them, and after same have been communicated to those members of the Commission who wished to urge the expropriation of the N.Z.A.S.M., do not at the present moment desire to urge expropriation provided by the other means terms can be secured from the Company so as to obtain the reduction at present urgently required on the basis as above set forth. Your Commission have been informed that the Company have proposed to adopt the dividends of the three years 1895, 1896, and 1897 as a basis for the expropriation price, and your Commission can agree to such proposal. The expropriation price being thus fixed, the Company will have all the more reason to co-operate towards the lowering of the tariffs. Further, it appears from the evidence of the managing director of the N.Z.A.S.M., that in consideration of the reduction of tariffs, he wished to have secured to the Company a certain period of existence. Your Commission cannot recommend this course, because they do not deem the same to be in the interests of the State, and it would be contrary to the wishes of the public. As to gold thefts:-- According to the evidence submitted to your Commission, gold thefts are on the increase, and although the Volksraad has given the matter their favourable consideration, and have, at the instance of the Mining Industry, so amended the Gold Law as to provide for the punishment of the sale and being in possession of raw gold, still it has been stated to your Commission in evidence, that the gold thefts amount to about 10 per cent. of the output, equivalent to an amount of £750,000 per annum. It follows that the administration of the law must be faulty, because there are only very few instances where the crime has been detected and punished. If those figures are not exaggerated, and your Commission have no reason to suppose so, then this matter deserves the serious consideration of the Government. The suppression of this crime can be considered as a real saving to the industry, and this amount of three-quarters of a million would, especially in times of depression, exercise a large influence on the yield and financial position of the mines. The industry ask that the penal clauses regarding this matter shall be eliminated from the Gold Law, and that a separate law be passed, more or less on the basis of the I.D.B. Law of Kimberley, Cape Colony, and that measures shall be taken by which the injured parties shall be enabled to exercise control, and have supervision over any department to be established for the detection and suppression of thefts of new gold. Your Commission are of opinion that the Government could grant this request without injuring their dignity, on the basis hereinafter mentioned. On the contrary, it would remove the blame from the present administration, viz., that these thefts can be practically carried on with impunity. As to the Local Board:-- The evidence which has been laid before your Commission has contained suggestions to establish a Board on which Government nominees and representatives of the mining industry and of the commercial community of the Witwatersrand should sit, so that the Government representatives should have the benefit of the experience of men whose daily occupation it is to look closely into all the affairs appertaining to the mines, &c. Your Commission is of opinion that it is advisable that these suggestions should be acted upon. The scope of this Board should consist of the supervision of the administration of the following laws, viz.:-- The Liquor Law as far as it concerns the proclaimed goldfields, the Pass Law, and the Law relating to Gold Thefts; and the Board will further have an advisory voice in the supply of natives to the mines, which your Commission has recommended your Government to take into its own hands. The area under the surveillance of the Board should include the Heidelberg, Witwatersrand, and Klerksdorp districts, and other goldfields as may be found desirable hereafter. Your Commission suggests that the Board consists of the following: Five members to be appointed by the Government, and four delegates to be appointed by the following bodies, with the consent of the Government, viz., one delegate of the Chamber of Mines, one of the Association of Mines (or in case of an amalgamation, two representatives of the new Chamber), a nominee of the Mine Managers' Association, and a nominee of the commercial community of Johannesburg. Your Commission would advise that a separate detective force be placed under the department, whose duty it should be to detect any infringements of the above-mentioned laws, and to bring the offenders to justice in the ordinary course of law. It should also be in the sphere of the Board's work to report to the proper authorities any laxity on the part of the officials who have to administer the above-mentioned laws. The Board is to report to the Executive Council upon the working of the laws referred to, and to suggest alterations. It must be well understood that the power of this Board must in no way clash with the sphere of the Minister of the Mines department and the Licensing Board, but co-operate with the same. We should adduce as a reason the more for the creation of such a Board that Government could depute to them the right to receive deputations, hear their arguments, and report to the Government on the subject, whereby a great saving of time would be the result. We would recommend that the Commission be appointed at once, and that they shall frame their proposals for regulations and submit them at once to the Government. The establishment of a local mining board has been strongly urged by witnesses. From an industrial and financial point of view this country must be considered as still in its infancy, and, without loss of dignity or prestige, the Government may accede to the above request. Experience in these matters can only be attained after the lapse of long years, and by coming in contact with experts from other countries the State will reap the benefit of the knowledge obtained in their country, where these problems have for decades exercised the minds of their leading citizens. In conclusion, your Commission fervently hope that they have truly and faithfully interpreted the object of the inquiry, and that their suggestions and recommendations, if acted upon, will confer a lasting benefit on the country and people. The evidence, as has been stated, was all given on oath, and some very interesting details came out. In one case Dr. Leyds's system of misrepresentation was exposed. Whilst the Commission was actually taking evidence the then State Secretary in an interview with the Paris _Temps_ strongly supported the dynamite monopoly, and stated that the price charged, namely, 90s. per case, was the same at which the Chamber of Mines had offered to enter into a sixteen years' contract with Nobel's factory. A witness questioned on this point explained that this was quite true as regards price, but that Dr. Leyds had suppressed the essential fact that whereas out of the 90s. paid to the monopolists the Government only receive 5s. by way of duty, they would out of the 90s. which it was proposed to pay for Nobel's dynamite receive no less than 38s. per case as duty, and that if the contract proposed by the Chamber had been made the Government would have profited during the previous four years to the extent of £1,200,000 instead of £150,000. Upon another occasion light was thrown on dark places in a rather disconcerting fashion. Mr. Christiaan Joubert, Minister of Mines, took one of the witnesses in hand with the object of showing that the people of Johannesburg had only themselves to thank for the loss of confidence in this business. The following questions and answers are from the official report:-- Should not the Chamber of Mines co-operate with the Department of Mines to get a law protecting European shareholders from being defrauded by swindlers?--I don't know if such a law could be framed without interfering with what, in other countries, is considered to be personal liberty. You have to come to the point whether the man intended to swindle, and that can only be settled by the Court, as a matter of personal judgment. If a good law could be devised it would be beneficial. Is there no possibility for the Chamber of Mines to work with the Department for the passing of such a law?--I don't know if laws exist in France, Germany, England, or America, to that specific effect; but if so, I would be guided by the wisdom and immense experience of the law makers of those countries, otherwise we might be rushing in where angels fear to tread. Is it then possible? Are you willing to discuss the matter with us?--Oh, yes; but I do not think that that is exactly what is wanted in order to restore confidence. Lots of things combine to shake the confidence of investors. For instance, to deal with some small and homely matters, I was told by a member of the Sanitary Board yesterday that an application for the underground rights of the Market Square, had been made by Mr. Jan Meyer, a leading member of the Volksraad. That does not help to restore confidence. The Sanitary Board applied for a portion of the Telephone Tower Park in order to erect a Town Hall. They were refused. Now, some one has made an application for the right to erect swimming baths. That does not restore confidence. I hope the mere publication of these things will prevent them from succeeding. The Sanitary Board applied for the Union Ground, also for public purposes, but it was granted to private applicants on the quiet. They have hawked it about and borrowed money on it. It was offered to many of the big capitalists here, but they would not touch it. The Sanitary Board are told that a building is to be put up, in which fifty rooms will be set aside for them, but they are not satisfied that the authorities should do good by stealth and blush to find it fame. I cannot understand how mere applications can shake confidence?--Well, they do, because they are only made when there is a chance of their being granted. But, if you want facts, I will tell you what shook the investor's confidence as much as anything that has happened for years--that was the Ferreira claim-jumping raid, which it was sworn to in Court had been suggested by you yourself, Mr. Joubert. Not 'suggested' by me-- The Chairman said the witness was straying away from the original question. Witness said that the Minister of Mines had wanted examples of what shook confidence, so he was obliged to give them. The report of the Commission created a very favourable impression. The majority of people believed that although it might not be entirely acted upon, yet it would be quite impossible for the President and the Volksraad to disregard suggestions made by so influential a group of officials as those forming the Commission, and that at any rate most of the recommendations would be accepted. The unbelieving few who knew their President Kruger, however, waited for something to be _done_. Presently ominous rumours went round about differences in the Executive. Then came the scenes in the Volksraad, when the President revealed himself and charged Mr. Schalk Burger with being a traitor to his country for having signed such a report, followed by the usual fight and the usual victory for the President, and the usual Committee constituted mainly of extreme Conservatives appointed to report upon the other Commission's report; and then the usual result: Something for nothing. The Netherlands Railway made an inconsiderable reduction in rates, which it appears was designed to buy off, and did succeed in buying off, further scrutiny of its affairs. With regard to the two big monopolies, Dynamite and Railway, it appears that the Volksraad Commission accepted the private assurances of the monopolists as sufficient warrant for reversing the conclusions of the Industrial Commission. The proposed Local Board for the goldfields was promptly ruled out as an unthinkable proposition, a government within a government, and was so denounced by the President himself. But the report of the Volksraad Committee contained one supreme stroke of humour. It adopted the recommendations of the Industrial Commission to remit the duties upon certain articles of consumption so as to make living cheaper, but as a condition it stipulated that in order that the State revenue should not suffer, the duty upon other articles of consumption should be increased so as to rather more than counterbalance the loss. That was one result which the Uitlanders had in the beginning confidently expected: Something for nothing. But the other result upon which they had also calculated was a valuable one. They had put their case on record and for the future the task of justifying the Uitlanders' cause was to be reduced to the formality of pointing to the Industrial Commission's report. The third event of importance, and an event of much greater importance than has generally been recognised, was the Queen's Record Reign celebration in Johannesburg. 'Britons, hold up your heads !' was the watchword with which the late Mr. W. Y. Campbell started to organize what he eventually carried out as the biggest and most enthusiastic demonstration ever made in the country. No more unselfish and loyal subject of her Majesty ever set foot in South Africa than Mr. Campbell, whose organization and example to 'Rand Britons,' as he called them, did more to hearten up British subjects in the Transvaal than has ever been fully realized or properly acknowledged. The celebration was an immense success in itself, and besides restoring the hopes and spirits of British subjects it promoted generally a better feeling and a disposition to forget past differences. One of the consequences of the Raid and Reform had been a split in the Chamber of Mines caused by the secession of a minority who held views strongly opposed to those of the Reform party. It has always been the policy of the Government to endeavour to divide the Rand community. This is no vague general charge: many instances can be given extending over a number of years. The accidental revelations in a police court showed that in 1891 the Government were supporting from the Secret Service Funds certain individuals with the object of arranging labour unions to coerce employers upon various points. The movement was a hopeless failure because the working men declined to have anything to do with the so-called leaders. When the split took place in the Chamber of Mines, it became the business of Dr. Leyds and the President to keep the rift open. This was done persistently and in a very open manner--the seceders being informed upon several occasions that a fusion of the two Chambers would not be welcome to the Government. Both before and since that time the same policy has found expression in the misleading statement made on behalf of the Government upon the compound question (namely, that the companies were aiming at compounding all the natives and monopolizing all the trade of the Rand), a statement made to divide the mercantile from the mining community. The fostering of the liquor industry with its thousands of disreputable hangers-on is another example; the anti-capitalist campaign carried on by the Government press another. And the most flagrant of all of course is the incitement to race hatred. _Divide et impera_, is a principle which they apply with unfailing regularity whether in their relations with other countries, in the government of their own State, or in their dealings with private individuals. Happily for the Rand community the effort to settle their internal differences was successful; towards the end of 1897 the fusion of the two mining chambers took place, and the unanimity thus restored has not since been disturbed. By this time even the most enthusiastic and sanguine friends of the Government had to some extent realized the meaning of the 'something for nothing' policy. They began to take count of all that they had done to please Mr. Kruger, and were endeavouring to find out what they had got in return. The result, as they were disposed to admit, was that for all the good it had done them they might as well have had the satisfaction of speaking their minds frankly as the others had done. The Raad's treatment of the Industrial Commission report had estranged all those who had taken part in the deliberations of the Commission, and as Mr. Kruger had been careful to select only those whom he believed to be friendly to him he suffered more in the recoil than he would otherwise have done. He fell into the pit which he had himself dug. Mr. Kruger was fast losing his friends, and another affair which occurred about this time helped to open the eyes of those who still wished to view him in a favourable light. Mr. Chamberlain in the course of some remarks had stated that the President had failed to fulfil the promises which he had made at the time of the Raid. His Honour took an early opportunity to denounce Mr. Chamberlain to Mr. J. B. Robinson and the manager of the then Government newspaper in Pretoria. 'I would like Mr. Chamberlain to quote,' he said, 'any instances of my failure to keep my promises, and I will know how to answer him.' The challenge was published and Mr. Chamberlain promptly cabled instructions to the British Agent to ask President Kruger whether he had said this and if so whether he really did desire a statement by Mr. Chamberlain of the character indicated. Mr. Kruger took his own peculiar way out of the dilemma; he repudiated the intermediaries, denounced the statement as untrue, and said that he was not in the habit of conveying his requests through irresponsible nobodies. The result was the immediate resignation of the newspaper man and final rupture between the President and Mr. Robinson. Thus were two more thick-and-thin supporters cast off at convenience and without an instant's hesitation, and thus were provided two more witnesses to the 'something for nothing' policy. This incident was the immediate cause of the fusion of the Chambers. It had all along been realized that while Lord Rosmead continued to act as High Commissioner in South Africa there would be no possibility of the Uitlanders' grievances being again taken up by her Majesty's Government. The High Commissioner had committed himself to the opinion that it would be unsuitable and indeed improper to make any representations on the subject for a considerable time. Moreover, his age and ill-health rendered him unfit for so arduous a task. Many hard things have been said and written about the late High Commissioner, but it must be admitted that with age and infirmity weighing him down he was confronted by one of the most desperate emergencies which have ever arisen to try the nerve of a proconsul. It is true that the responsibilities of Government are not to be met by excuses: the supports of the Empire must stand the strain or be condemned. But it is also true that those who regard themselves as victims may not lightly assume the functions of independent judges: and thus it was that in a mood of sympathy and regret, with perhaps some tinge of remorse, the news of Lord Rosmead's death was accepted as evidence unanswerable of the burden which in the autumn of his days he was called upon to bear. When the name of Sir Alfred Milner was mentioned as the coming High Commissioner all South Africa stood to attention. Seldom surely has a representative of the Queen been put through such an ordeal of examination and inquiry as that to which Sir Alfred Milner's record was subjected by the people of South Africa. Not one man in a thousand had heard his name before; it was as some one coming out of the great unknown. The first feeling was that another experiment was being made at the expense of South Africa; but almost before the thought had formed itself came the testimony of one and another and another, representing all parties and all opinions in England; and the Uitlanders in the Transvaal began to hope and finally to believe that at last they were to have a man to deal with who would exhibit those qualities of intelligence, fairness, and firmness, which they regarded as the essentials. Every word that was said or written about the new High Commissioner was read and studied in South Africa. Every reference made to him by the representatives of the various political parties was weighed and scrutinized, and the verdict was that it was good! Fair firm and able. There had not been a discordant note nor a voice lacking in the chorus which greeted the appointment; and the judgment was, 'They have given one of England's very best.' The impression had somehow gained ground in South Africa that the first act of Sir Alfred Milner would be to visit the Transvaal and endeavour to arrange matters. The hearts of the Uitlanders sank at the thought of even the ablest and best-intentioned of men tackling so complicated a problem without any opportunity of studying the local conditions and the details. It was therefore with undisguised satisfaction that they received the new High Commissioner's assurance that as the representative of her Majesty he had plenty of work before him in visiting and making himself acquainted with the conditions and requirements of her Majesty's dominions in South Africa, the people of which had the first call upon his services. The statement cleared the political atmosphere and had a distinctly cooling effect upon the overheated brain of the Boer party, who had by this time convinced themselves that Pretoria was firmly established as the hub of the universe and that an expectant world was waiting breathlessly to know what President Kruger would do next. Mr. Conyngham Greene, an experienced member of the Diplomatic Corps, who had been appointed towards the end of 1896 to succeed Sir Jacobus de Wet as British Agent in Pretoria, had by this time gained some experience of the ways of Pretoria. Probably few servants of the Crown have been called upon to perform a service more exacting or less grateful than that which fell to the British Agent during the period in which Mr. Conyngham Greene has held the post. Conscious that his Government was prevented by the acts of others from vindicating its own position, hampered by the knowledge of immense superiority of strength, dealing with people who advanced at every turn and under every circumstance their one grievance as a justification for all the acts of hostility which had preceded that grievance or had been deliberately perpetrated since, he was compelled to suffer snubs and annoyances on behalf of his Government, with no relief but such as he could find in the office of recording them. A good deal had been done by Mr. Conyngham Greene to establish visible and tangible evidence of the desire of her Majesty's Government to interest themselves in the condition of British subjects and--as far as the exigencies of a very peculiar case would for the time permit--to protect them from at least the more outrageous acts of injustice; but the strength of the chain is the strength of the weakest link, and it was always felt that until the link in Cape Town was strengthened there was not much reliance to be placed upon the chain. Very frequently surprise has been expressed that, after the fortunate escape from a very bad position which the Jameson Raid afforded to President Kruger's party, the Boers should not have learned wisdom and have voluntarily undertaken the task of putting their house in order. But having in mind the Boer character is it not more natural to suppose that, inflated and misled by a misconceived sense of success and strength, they should rather persist in and exaggerate the ways which they had formerly affected? So at least the Uitlanders thought and predicted, and their apprehensions were amply justified. In each successive year the Raad has been relied upon to better its previous best, to produce something more glaring and sensational in the way of improper laws and scandalous measures or revelations than anything which it had before done. One would imagine that it would pass the wit of man to devise a means of exploiting the Uitlanders which had not already been tried, but it would truly appear that the First Volksraad may be confidently relied upon to do it. In the year 1897 some things were exposed which appeared, even to the Uitlanders, absolutely incredible. What is now known as the 'donkeys and mealies scandal' was one of them. For the ostensible purpose of helping burghers who had been ruined by the rinderpest the President arranged for the purchase of large numbers of donkeys to be used instead of oxen for draught purposes, and he also arranged for the importation of quantities of mealies to be distributed among those who were supposed to be starving. Inquiries instituted by order of the Volksraad revealed the fact that Volksraad members and Government officials were interested in these contracts. The notorious Mr. Barend Vorster, who had bribed Volksraad members with gold watches, money, and spiders, in order to secure the Selati Railway Concession, and who although denounced as a thief in the Volksraad itself declined to take action to clear himself and was defended by the President, again played a prominent part. This gentleman and his partners contracted with the Government to supply donkeys at a certain figure apiece, the Government taking all risk of loss from the date of purchase. The donkeys were purchased in Ireland and in South America at one-sixth of the contract price. The contractors alleged that they had not sufficient means of their own and received an advance equal to three-quarters of the total amount payable to them; that is to say for every £100 which they had to expend they received £450 as an unsecured advance against their profits. It is believed that not 10 per cent. of the animals were ever delivered to the farmers for whom they were ostensibly bought. An attempt was made in the Volksraad to have the matter thoroughly investigated and to have action taken against the contractors, but the affair was hushed up and, as far as it is possible to ascertain, every penny payable under the contract has been paid and lost. In the matter of the mealies (maize, the ordinary native food), large quantities were bought in South America. It was alleged in the Volksraad that the amount was far more than was necessary and that the quality was inferior, the result being that the Government were swindled and that the State, being obliged to sell what it did not require, was entering unfairly into competition with the merchants and producers in the country. But the real character of this mealie swindle can only be appreciated when it is known how the contract originated. The contractors having bargained to deliver donkeys, approached the President with the explanation that donkeys being live-stock, would have to be accommodated upon an upper deck where there was ample ventilation; the result of which, they said, would be that the ship would be top-heavy and would be obliged to take in ballast. Surely, it was argued, it would be folly to carry worthless ballast when good mealies, which were in any case badly needed in the country, would serve the purpose of ballasting equally well and would, of course, show a very large profit. A contract for mealies was therefore entered into. When the inquiry was instituted in the Volksraad certain awkward facts came to light, and it devolved upon Mr. Barend Vorster to explain how it happened that the mealie 'ballast' arrived and was paid for before the donkeys were shipped. That worthy gentleman may still be thinking out the explanation, but as the money has been paid it cannot be a cause of great anxiety. In order to preserve a true perspective the reader should realize that the President defended both these affairs and that the exposures took place while the recommendations of the Industrial Commission were being discussed in the Raad and fiercely combated by the President himself. The matter of the Selati Railway was again brought into prominence in 1897. It is quite impossible as yet to get at all the facts, but it is very generally believed that a swindle of unusual dimensions and audacity remains to be exposed, and that a real exposure would unpleasantly involve some very prominent people. At any rate the facts which became public in 1898 would warrant that suspicion. The Selati Railway Company alleged that they had been unjustly deprived of their rights, and the Government admitting repudiation of contract took refuge in the plea that in making the contract they had acted _ultra vires_. It was, in fact, an exemplary case of 'thieves falling out' and when the case got into the law courts a point of real interest to the public came out; for the Company's lawyers filed their pleadings! The following account of the case is taken from the newspapers of the time. The plea of the Selati Railway Company states that-- the Government was very desirous that the railways should be built, and that for the purpose the business should be taken in hand by influential capitalists, and that, having full knowledge of the sums asked for by the original concessionaires they insisted upon the said capitalists coming to an agreement with the concessionaires and paying them the amounts asked; that it was thus understood between the said capitalists and the Government of the South African Republic that the sum named in the concession as the price to be paid to the concessionaires for the formation of the Company was wholly insufficient under the altered conditions, and that further sums had to be expended to cover not only the increased amount demanded by the original concessionaires, but _also other sums of money which were asked by and paid to different members of the Executive Council and Volksraad of the South African Republic and their relatives and friends as the price for granting the concession._ The matter came before the High Court, and several of the exceptions put forward on behalf of the Government were sustained. Regarding the accusation mentioned, Mr. Advocate Esselen, who was counsel for the State, excepted that names and particulars should be inserted, and also that the State was not bound by the action of the Government or Executive. He quoted the Volksraad resolution or _besluit_ upon which the concession was granted, showing that £10,000 was mentioned as the sum to be received by the concessionaires, and then proceeded:-- 'Now, I say that the Government could not contract with the Company at a higher figure than is above set forth. The measure of authority granted to the Government is set forth in the Volksraad _besluit_ which I have read, and the Government could not exceed its authority. Second, the defendant Company makes allegations which are tantamount to fraudulent dealing on the part of the agents of the State. But it will be said that it is the State which sues, and that it cannot be heard to avail itself of the wrongful acts of its agents. In this matter, however, it is the State Secretary who sues on behalf of the State. The State is not bound in any event by the acts of individual members of the Government. It was the Government which was entrusted with a power of attorney on behalf of the State.' This doctrine, so fatal to concessionaires and their methods, led to the following interesting colloquy:-- Mr. Justice JORISSEN: Do you persist in this exception, Mr. Esselen? Mr. ESSELEN: Certainly I do. Mr. Justice JORISSEN: You have been very fortunate in succeeding on two exceptions. Without pressing you in the least, I am inclined to suggest that you withdraw this exception. Mr. ESSELEN: I cannot possibly withdraw it, but I am willing to allow it to stand as a special plea and to argue it at a later stage. Mr. Justice JORISSEN: As I said, I don't wish to press you, but it seems to me that this is a very dangerous question. Mr. ESSELEN: It is a very important question. Mr. Justice JORISSEN: It is not only an important but a perilous question. In an amended plea filed by the Selati Railway Company they give the names of persons to whom the Company had to pay certain sums of money or give presents--in other words, bribes--in order to obtain the Selati contract. The following are the names filed by Baron Eugene Oppenheim:--To W.E. Bok, then member and minute keeper of the Executive Council, on August 12, 1890, in cash £50; the late N.J. Smit, sen., then Vice-president of the South African Republic, and member of the Executive Council, on August 12, 1890, in cash, £500; F.C. Eloff, son-in-law of the President and then Private Secretary to his Honour, on August 12, £50 in cash. By De Jongh and Stegmann, on behalf of Baron Oppenheim, to C. van Boeschoten, then Secretary of the Volksraad, on October 6, 1893, in cash, £100. By B.J. Vorster, jun., one of the concessionaires, on behalf of Eugene Oppenheim, on or about August, 1890, the following: To Jan du Plessis de Beer, member of the Volksraad for Waterberg, £100; Schalk W. Burger, member of the Volksraad for Lydenburg, now member of the Executive Council, £100; P.L. Bezuidenhout, member of the Volksraad for Potchefstroom, £100; J. Van der Merwe, member of the Volksraad for Lydenburg, £100; A.A. Stoop, member of the Volksraad for Wakkerstroom, £50; F.G.H. Wolmarans, member of the Volksraad for Rustenburg, £50; J.M. Malan, member of the Volksraad for Rustenburg, Chairman of the first Volksraad, £50; N.M.S. Prinsloo, member of the Volksraad for Potchefstroom, £50; J.J. Spies, member of the Volksraad for Utrecht, £70; B.H. Klopper, Chairman of the Volksraad, £125; C. van Boeschoten, Secretary of the Volksraad, £180. By J.N. de Jongh, on behalf of Baron Eugene Oppenheim, about the end of 1892 or the beginning of 1893, to the late N.J. Smit, sen., then Vice-President of the South African Republic, and member of the Executive Council, shares in the defendant Company to the value of £1,000; F.C. Eloff, son-in-law of and then Private Secretary to the State President, shares in the defendant Company to the value of £2,000; P.G. Mare, then member of the Volksraad for Utrecht, now Landdrost of Boksburg, shares in the defendant Company to the value of £500. By B.J. Vorster, jun., on behalf of Baron Eugene Oppenheim, about July or August, 1890, to C.C. van Heerden, member of the Volksraad for Wakkerstroom, one spider; A.A. Stoop, member of the Volksraad for Wakkerstroom, one spider; F.G.H. Wolmarans, member of the Volksraad for Rustenburg, one spider; B.W.J. Steenkamp, member of the Volksraad for Piet Relief, one spider; J.P.L. Lombard, member of the Volksraad for Standerton, one spider; H.F. Grobler, member of the Volksraad for Middelburg, one spider; W.L. de la Rey, member of the Volksraad for Bloemhof, one spider; D.W. Taljaard, member of the Volksraad for Standerton, one spider; J.C. van Zyl, member of the Volksraad for Heidelburg, one spider; J.P. Botha, member of the Volksraad for Pretoria, one spider; H.P. Beukes, member of the Volksraad for Marico, one spider; J.F. van Staden, member of the Volksraad for Vryheid, one spider; J.M. Malan, member of the Volksraad for Rustenburg, one spider; N.M.S. Prinsloo, member of the Volksraad for Potchefstroom, one cart; T.C. Greyling, member of the Volksraad for Heidelberg, one cart. Total value, £1,440. Twenty-one members of the First Volksraad out of twenty-five! The Vice-President! The son-in-law and Private Secretary of the President! The Secretary of the Volksraad and the Minute Keeper of the Executive! The Volksraad, one would think, would be bound to take cognizance of such a statement and to cause an investigation to be held. They did take cognizance of it after the manner peculiar to them. But the last thing in the world to be expected from them was an impartial investigation: nothing so foolish was ever contemplated. There were too many in it, and an investigation into the conduct of officials and Raad members would be establishing a most inconvenient precedent. Some members contented themselves with a simple denial, others scorned to take notice of such charges, and others tried to explain them away. No opinion need be expressed upon the methods of the concessionaires; nor does it matter whether the company, by its neglect or default, had justified the act of the Government. The point which is offered for consideration is that the indisputable fact of bribes having been taken wholesale was ignored, whilst the disputed question of liability to cancellation was arbitrarily settled by the Government in its own favour. The crop of scandals in 1897 was as the rolling snowball. It is unnecessary to refer to them all in detail. The Union Ground, one of the public squares of Johannesburg, was granted to a syndicate of private individuals upon such terms that they were enabled to sell the right, or portion of it, at once for £25,000 in cash. The Minister of Mines, in his official capacity, strongly recommended the transaction, and was afterwards obliged to admit that he himself had an interest in it. The Volksraad however refused to confirm it, and the purchaser of the concession fell back upon the President for protection. The latter advised him to remain quiet until the presidential election, which was about to take place, should be over, and gave the assurance that then he would see that the grant was confirmed by the Raad. In the session of 1898 his Honour strongly supported the proposal and it was duly carried. The Eloff location scandal was another which greatly disturbed even the Volksraad. Mr. Frickie Eloff is President Kruger's son-in-law and enjoys the unsavoury reputation of being interested in every swindle which is worth being in the Transvaal. A piece of ground lying to the north-west of Johannesburg close up to the town had originally been proclaimed as a goldfield, but no reefs having been found there and the ground not having been pegged, it was afterwards withdrawn from proclamation. The Mining Commissioner of Johannesburg in the course of his duties discovered some flaw in the second or withdrawing proclamation. He advised the head office in Pretoria of this discovery and stated that it might be contended that the de-proclamation was invalid, and that great loss and inconvenience would follow if the ground were pegged and the title upheld. Within twenty-four hours the ground was pegged by Mr. Eloff, but it is not known whence he derived the inspiration. His claim was strongly opposed by the local officials. They reported that the ground was known to be of no value, and advised that as the cost of licenses would be very considerable the obvious policy of the Government would be--if the title could not be upset--to wait until Mr. Eloff should tire of paying licenses on valueless ground. The Government, however, decided otherwise: they converted Mr. Eloff's claims into residential stands; that is to say, they made him a present of an immensely valuable piece of property and gave him title under which he could cut it up into small plots and readily sell it. This action of the Government, however, required confirmation by the Raad. The matter came before the Volksraad in due course and that body deliberately revoked the decision of the Government and refused Mr. Eloff any title except what he could claim according to law. But Mr. Kruger is not so easily beaten. He soon discovered that the piece of ground acquired by Mr. Eloff was exactly the piece which it was necessary for the Government to have for a coolie location, and without more ado the Government bought it from Mr. Eloff for £25,000. The ingenuity of the Boer mind in getting the last possible fraction of value out of any transaction, is well exemplified in this matter. One would naturally conclude that a deal so profitable would satisfy anybody. But not so! The piece of ground commands the approach to many valuable private plots and residences, and it was soon found that apart from intrinsic worth it might have a blackmailing value; thus towards the end of 1898, after the deal had been completed, the owners of these residences and estates were privately approached with the information that the coolie location, consisting of shelters built of scraps of iron, paraffin tins, and old pieces of wood, was to be removed to this site (probably to facilitate the transference of the present location site, which is also very valuable, to some other favourite), but that if sufficient inducement were offered by landowners in the neighbourhood, the decision would be reconsidered! The grant of a Municipality to Johannesburg has often been quoted as an example of something done by Mr. Kruger in the interests of the Uitlanders. The principal conditions of that grant are that all burghers of the State, whether they have property or not, shall be entitled to vote for the election of councillors; that each ward shall be represented by two councillors, one of whom must be a burgher; and that the chairman, or burgomaster, shall be appointed by Government and shall have the right of veto. The elections in at least two of the wards are completely at the mercy of the police and of the poor Boers who have no interest whatever in the town. The burghers in Johannesburg--police, Boers, and officials--who may number a couple of thousand, including the naturalized lot, have therefore a permanent and considerable majority over the Uitlanders, who probably number over 40,000 adult white males. The scope and value of this grant were made manifest when the now notorious sewerage concession came under discussion. The Municipality had upon several occasions endeavoured to get the right to introduce a scheme for the disposal of the sewage of the town, and had applied for authority to raise the necessary funds, but had been refused. Suddenly a concession was granted by the Government--they called it a contract--to Mr. Emmanuel Mendelssohn, the proprietor of the _Standard and Diggers News_, the Government organ in Johannesburg. He said that he got it for nothing--possibly a reward for loyal services; but he also stated that he was not the sole owner. The value of the grant was estimated by the concessionaire himself to be about £1,000,000 sterling, and in the lately published proposals which he made to one of the big firms interested in the Transvaal he indicated how a profit of £100,000 a year could be made out of it. The Town Council unanimously and vigorously protested; but the Government took no notice of their protest. They then decided to apply to the Court for an order restraining the Government from making this grant, on the ground that they had no power to alienate a right which belonged to the town itself. In order to make the application to Court it was necessary, in terms of the constitution of the municipality, to obtain the signature of the Burgomaster. That official as representing the Government refused point blank to authorize the council to dispute the Government's action in a Court of Law, and the council were obliged to apply for an Order of Court compelling the Burgomaster to sign the documents necessary to enable them to contest in the Courts of the country the validity of an act of the Government which was deemed to be infringement upon the rights of the town. In the face of this the President capitulated for the time being; but neither he nor the concessionaire makes any secret of the determination to find a _quid pro quo_. The year 1898 brought in its turn its full share of fresh encroachments and exactions. The bare enumeration of the concessions, privileges, and contracts, proposed or agreed to, is sufficient to indicate what must be the condition of mind of one whose interests are at stake under such a _régime_. Not all 'concessions,' 'contracts,' and 'protected factories' confer exclusive rights, but many might easily in effect do so and all are infringements upon the rights of the public. Here are some from the official list of 1899;--Dynamite, Railways, Spirits, Iron, Sugar, Wool, Bricks, Earthenware, Paper, Candles, Soap, Calcium Carbide, Oil, Matches, Cocoa, Bottles, Jam, &c. A large loan had been constantly talked of throughout the year, but no one knew for what purpose it could be required. The Government vouchsafed no information at all but negotiations were carried on both in Pretoria and in Europe. Month after month went by, but the millions were not forthcoming, and the Government believed or affected to believe that their failure was due to a conspiracy among the capitalists, and in retaliation they directed and subsidised a fierce anti-capitalist campaign in their press. The explanation of failure, which did not occur to them, may have been that investors believed that the course pursued by the Transvaal Government must inevitably lead to conflict with the paramount power, and they had no faith and no assurance that in the event of such a conflict taking place the British Government would take over loans which must have been contracted only for the purposes of war against England. The juggling with the dynamite question continued throughout the year. The President had successfully defeated the aim of the Volksraad, and the investigation and reports which had been ordered by that body in 1897 to be made by lawyers and auditors, although duly handed into the Government, were suppressed by the President and not permitted to be shown to the Raad. On the contrary, the astounding proposition was made that in return for a very inconsiderable reduction in the cost of dynamite (half of which was to be made up by the Government sacrificing its share of profits) and a possible further reduction of 5s. per case under certain conditions, the monopoly should be renewed for a period of fifteen years, all breaches in the past to be condoned, and cancellation on the ground of breach of contract in the future to be impossible. This proposal, it was publicly notified, would be laid before the Raad during the first session of 1899. The existence of the dynamite monopoly was at this time costing the industry £600,000 a year, and on every possible occasion it was represented to the Government that, if they really did need further revenue, in no way could it be more easily or more properly raised than by exercising their undoubted right to cancel the monopoly and by imposing a duty of such amount as might be deemed necessary upon imported dynamite. It was also pointed out that the proposed reduction in the cost of dynamite would offer no relief whatever since it was far more than counterbalanced by the taxes upon mynpachts and profits which were then being imposed. During this year the Volksraad instructed the Government to enforce their right to collect 2-1/2 per cent. of the gross production from mynpachts (mining leases). All mynpachts titles granted by the Government contained a clause giving the Government this power, so that they were acting strictly within their legal rights; but the right had never before been exercised. For twelve years investors had been allowed to frame their estimates of profit upon a certain basis, and suddenly without a day's warning this tax was sprung upon them. It was indisputably the right of the Government, but equally indisputably was it most unwise; both because of the manner in which it was done and because there was no necessity whatever for the doing of it, as the revenue of the country was already greatly in excess of the legitimate requirements. Immediately following this came a resolution to impose a tax of 5 per cent. upon the profits of all companies working mining ground other than that covered by mynpacht. The same objections applied to this tax with the additional one, that no clause existed in the titles indicating that it could be done and no warning had ever been given that it would be done. The proposal was introduced one morning and adopted at once; the first notice to investors was the accomplished fact. These measures were particularly keenly resented in France and Germany. The grievance of hasty legislation was in these cases aggravated by the evidence that the taxes were quite unnecessary. President Kruger still fought against cancellation of the Dynamite Monopoly, by which the State revenue would have benefited to the extent of £600,000 a year, if he had accepted the proposal of the Uitlanders, to allow importation of dynamite subject to a duty of £2 per case--a tax which represented the monopolists' profit, and would not therefore have increased the cost of the article to the mines. He still persisted in squandering and misapplying the public funds. He still openly followed the policy of satisfying his burghers at the Uitlanders' expense; but the burghers have a growing appetite, and nothing shows the headlong policy of 'squaring'--nothing better illustrates the Uitlanders' grievance of reckless extravagance in administration--than the list of fixed salaries as it has grown year by year since the goldfields became a factor. TRANSVAAL FIXED SALARIES. £ s. d. 1886 51,831 3 7 1887 99,083 12 8 1888 164,466 4 10 1889 249,641 10 10 1890 324,520 8 10 1891 332,888 13 9 1892 323,608 0 0 1893 361,275 6 11 1894 419,775 13 10 1895 570,047 12 7 1896 813,029 7 5 1897 996,959 19 11 1898 1,080,382 3 0 1899 (Budget) 1,216,394 5 0 That is to say, the Salary List is now twenty-four times as great as it was when the Uitlanders began to come in in numbers. It amounts to nearly five times as much as the total revenue amounted to then. It is now sufficient if equally distributed to pay £40 per head per annum to the total male Boer population. The liquor curse has grown to such dimensions and the illicit liquor organization has secured such a firm hold that even the stoutest champions of law and order doubt at times whether it will ever be possible to combat the evil. The facts of the case reflect more unfavourably upon the President than perhaps any other single thing. These are the facts: The law prohibits the sale of liquor to natives; yet from a fifth to a third of the natives on the Rand are habitually drunk. The fault rests with a corrupt and incompetent administration. That administration is in the hands of the President's relations and personal following. The remedy urged by the State Secretary, State Attorney, some members of the Executive, the general public, and the united petition of all the ministers of religion in the country, is to entrust the administration to the State Attorney's department and to maintain the existing law. In the face of this President Kruger has fought hard to have the total prohibition law abolished and has successfully maintained his nepotism--to apply no worse construction! In replying to a deputation of liquor dealers he denounced the existing law as an 'immoral' one, because by restricting the sale of liquor it deprived a number of honest people of their livelihood--and President Kruger is a total abstainer! The effect of this liquor trade is indescribable; the loss in money although enormous is a minor consideration compared with the crimes committed and the accidents in the mines traceable to it; and the effect upon the native character is simply appalling. Much could be said about this native question apart from the subject of drink, for it is one which is very difficult of just appreciation by any but those who have had considerable experience of and personal contact with the natives. It is one upon which there is a great divergence of views between the people of Europe and the people of South Africa. South Africans believe that they view it from the rational standpoint, they believe also that Europeans as a rule view it more from the sentimental. The people who form their opinions from the writings and reports of missionaries only, or who have in their mind's eye the picturesque savage in his war apparel as seen at Earl's Court, or the idealized native of the novelist, cannot possibly understand the real native. The writer holds South African views upon the native question, that is to say that the natives are to all intents and purposes a race of children, and should be treated as such, with strict justice and absolute fidelity to promise, whether it be of punishment or reward: a simple consistent policy which the native mind can grasp and will consequently respect. With this in mind it will, perhaps, be believed that the recital of certain instances of injustice is not made with the object of appealing to sentimentalism, or of obliquely influencing opinions which might otherwise be unfavourable or indifferent. The cases quoted in this volume are those which have been decided by the courts, or the evidence in support of them is given, and they are presented because they are typical cases, and not, except in the matter of public exposure, isolated ones. The report of the case of Toeremetsjani, the native chieftainess,{48} is taken verbatim from one of the newspapers of the time. The woman is the head of the Secocoeni tribe, whose successful resistance to the Transvaal Government was one of the alleged causes of the annexation. A good deal could be said about the ways of Native Commissioners in such matters. Much also could be said about the case of the British Indians and the effect upon the population of India which is produced by the coming and going of thousands of these annually between India and the Transvaal, and their recital of the treatment to which they are subjected, their tales of appeals to the great British Government, and their account of the latter's inability to protect them. Much also could be said of the Cape Boy question, but sufficient prominence has been given to these matters by the publication of the official documents and the report of the inquiry into Field-Cornet Lombaard's conduct, which was held at the instance of the British Government. It is not suggested that if the Government in the Transvaal were influenced by the vote of the white British subjects, or if it were entirely dominated by such vote, any encouragement would be given to the Indian hawkers and traders, or that there would be any disposition whatever to give voting rights to coloured people of any kind, but it _is_ suggested that a more enlightened and a more just system of treatment would be adopted; and in any case it is to be presumed that there would be no appeals to the British Government, involving exhibitions of impotency on the part of the Empire to protect its subjects, followed by the deliberate repetition of treatment which might become the subject of remonstrance. The untutored mind is not given to subtleties and sophistries; direct cause and effect are as much as it can grasp. These it does grasp and firmly hold, and the simple inferences are not to be removed by any amount of argument or explanation, however plausible. There is scarcely an Uitlander in the Transvaal who would not view with dismay the raising of the big question upon such grounds as the treatment of the natives, the Cape boys, or the Indians; and the fact that the Transvaal Government know this may account for much of the provocation on these questions. It is nevertheless undeniable that white British subjects in the Transvaal do suffer fresh humiliation and are substantially lowered in the eyes of the coloured races, because appeals are made on their behalf to the British Government, and those appeals are useless. The condition of affairs should be that such appeals would be unnecessary, and would therefore become--in practice--impossible. Such a condition of affairs would obtain under a friendly and more enlightened government, and the only security for the voluntary continuance of such conditions is the enfranchisement of the Uitlander population. In the midst of all that was gloomy unfavourable and unpromising there came to the Uitlanders one bright ray of sunshine. Dr. Leyds who had been re-elected State Secretary on the understanding that he would resign immediately in order to take up the post of plenipotentiary in Europe, and whom the Boers with a growing anti-Hollander and pro-Afrikander feeling would no longer tolerate, relinquished his office. In his stead was appointed Mr. F.W. Reitz formerly President of the Free State, a kindly, honourable, and cultured gentleman, whose individual sympathies were naturally and strongly progressive but who, unfortunately, has not proved himself to be sufficiently strong to cope with President Kruger or to rise above division upon race lines in critical times. Shortly afterwards Mr. Christiaan Joubert, the Minister of Mines, a man totally unfit from any point of view to hold any office of responsibility or dignity, was compelled by resolution of the Second Volksraad to hand in his resignation. His place was filled by a Hollander official in the Mining Department who commanded and still commands the confidence and respect of all parties. The elevation of the Acting State Attorney to the Bench left yet another highly responsible post open and the Government choice fell upon Mr. J.C. Smuts, an able and conscientious young barrister, and an earnest worker for reform. An Afrikander by birth and educated in the Cape Colony, he had taken his higher degrees with great distinction at Cambridge and had been called to the English Bar. But there came at the same time another appointment which was not so favourably viewed. There was still another vacancy on the Bench, and it became known that, in accordance with the recommendation expressed by the Raad that all appointments should whenever possible be first offered to sons of the soil, _i.e._, born Transvaalers, it was intended to appoint to this judgeship a young man of twenty-four years of age lately called to the bar, the son of the Executive Member Kock already referred to in this volume. The strongest objection was made to this proposal by all parties, including the friends of the Government; the most prominent of all objectors were some of the leading members of the bar who, it was believed, carried influence and were in sympathy with the Government. A delay took place and it was at one time believed that President Kruger had abandoned his intention, but it is understood that pressure was brought to bear upon the President by a considerable party of his followers, and in the course of a few days the appointment was duly gazetted. The selection of educated and intelligent Afrikanders, sincerely desirous of purifying the administration, for such responsible offices as those of State Secretary and State Attorney, was gratefully welcomed by the Uitlander community, who believed that only through the influence of such men consistently and determinedly exerted could a peaceful solution of many difficult questions be found. It is but bare justice to these gentlemen to state that never were they found wanting in good intention or honest endeavour, ready at all times to inquire into subjects of complaint, anxious at all times to redress any legitimate grievances. To them and to many other less prominent but no less worthy officials of the Transvaal Civil Service, whom it is impossible to name and to whom it might prove to be no good turn if they were named, is due an expression of regret that they may perhaps suffer by references which are not directed against them but which are justified by a rotten system and are called for by the action of others over whom these men have no control. Nobody but one intimately concerned in Transvaal affairs can appreciate the unpleasant and undeserved lot of the honest official who necessarily, but most unjustly, suffers by association with those who deserve all that can be said against them. It is very well known that the gentlemen above referred to would, if it were in their power, readily accord the terms asked for in the franchise memorandum recently submitted by the Uitlanders, but they are unfortunately entirely without influence over the President and his party. It is true that--although British subjects by birth--they have chosen to associate themselves with the Transvaal Government and are now uncompromising republicans; but there is no fault to be found with that. It may be true also that they aspire to republicanize the whole of South Africa, and free it of the Imperial influence; that would be a cause of enmity as between them and those who desire to preserve the Imperial connection, but it is no ground for reproach. There is one point, however, upon which they in common with nearly all the enlightened Afrikanders throughout South Africa may be adjudged to have fallen short in their duty; it is this, that whilst nine times out of ten they divide upon sound principles, they will not follow that policy to a conclusion; for upon the tenth occasion they will subordinate principle and, at the call of one who may use it unscrupulously, will rally upon race lines alone. It is only too true of only too many that they cannot be got to see that if they would really divide upon principles all danger of conflict would disappear and the solution would be both speedy and peaceful; for it is the division upon race lines that alone raises the distracting prospect of war. For those who are in this position in the Transvaal it may be allowed that their difficulties are great. They cannot, it is true, complain of lack of warning. They did not, it is also true, after trying their influence and finding it of no avail, cut adrift when they might have done so, and by their example have so stripped the reactionaries of all support that there could now be no question of their standing out; but they may have honestly believed that they would in time succeed, whilst the Uitlanders, judging from a long and bitter experience, felt that they would not and could not. They may say that this is no time to part from those with whom they associated themselves in times of peace. Such reasoning may provide an excuse in the Transvaal, but no such plea will avail for those without the Transvaal who have let the day of opportunity go past, and who cry out their frightened protest now that the night of disaster is upon us. Footnotes for Chapter X {42} That President Kruger always contemplated controlling the Uitlander population by arbitrary methods was proved by the choice of the site for the Johannesburg fort. This site, on a hill commanding the town, had been reserved by Government from the commencement, and when the accommodation in the old gaol proved insufficient and a new gaol was required it was located on this spot, then a favourite residential quarter of the town. A deputation of officials waited upon the President to urge the placing of the new gaol in a more convenient locality elsewhere. His Honour replied, 'that he did not care about the convenience. He was going to build the gaol there, because some day the town would be troublesome and he would want to convert the gaol into a fort and put guns there before that time came.' That was at least four years before the Raid. {43} The writer has since learned from Mr. Alfred Beit that the same proposal was made to him by Mr. Graaff in January, 1896, immediately after the Raid, and that it was baited with the promise that if he and Mr. Rhodes would agree to support it the threatened 'consequences' of their association with the Raid would be averted. But they preferred the 'consequences.' {44} About the middle of 1895 a bad explosion of dynamite occurred in Germany under circumstances very similar to those of the Johannesburg accident. An inquiry held by the German authorities resulted in the finding that the explosion must have been due to some fault in the dynamite, and an order was issued to destroy the remainder. The officials charged with this duty found, however, that the owners, anticipating some such result, had removed it. It was eventually traced as having been shipped from Antwerp to Port Elizabeth and thence consigned to the Transvaal in November, 1895. The Johannesburg explosion occurred in February, 1896. No competent or independent inquiry was held, although about 100 people were killed and many more injured. {45} The gaoler--Du Plessis--in the fulfilment of his promise lost no opportunity to harass them into submission, by depriving them of one thing after another, knowing that they would ask for nothing except as a right. As an instance, the spirit-lamp with which they made their tea was taken from them on the pretext that no combustibles were allowed under the prison regulations, and upon a remonstrance being made by Mr. Conyngham Greene to Dr. Leyds the latter replied that it was necessary on account of the risk of fire. For about eight months, therefore, water was to be--and of course was--their only drink. Only once during the thirteen months did Du Plessis appear to 'get home.' It was when he proposed that the two should be separated and sent to out-of-the-way gaols, widely apart and distant from all friends. Without doubt the conditions told seriously upon their health, but as both men were endowed with exceptional physique and any amount of grit they were still able to take it smiling. {46} It is described as the Witfontein case. See page 100. {47} When the case came up again in due course a decision was given by Mr. Gregorowski, the new Chief Justice, which was regarded by the plaintiff's advisers as a reversal of the first judgment, and the practical effect of which was to bring the case under the operations of Law 1 of 1897--that is to say, to put the plaintiff 'out of court.' Mr. Brown has appealed to the United States Government for redress. {48} See Appendix K. CHAPTER XI. THE BEGINNING OF THE END. So the year dragged on with its one little glimmer of light and its big black clouds of disappointment, and it was Christmas-time when the spark came to the waiting tinder. What a bloody bill could the holidays and holy days of the world tot up! On the Sunday night before Christmas a British subject named Tom Jackson Edgar was shot dead in his own house by a Boer policeman. Edgar, who was a man of singularly fine physique and both able and accustomed to take care of himself, was returning home at about midnight when one of three men standing by, who as it afterwards transpired was both ill and intoxicated, made an offensive remark. Edgar resented it with a blow which dropped the other insensible to the ground. The man's friends called for the police and Edgar, meanwhile, entered his own house a few yards off. There was no attempt at concealment or escape; Edgar was an old resident and perfectly well known. Four policemen came, who in any circumstances were surely sufficient to capture him. Moreover, if that had been considered difficult, other assistance could have been obtained and the house from which there could have been no escape might have been watched. In any case Edgar was admitted by the police to have sat on the bed talking to his wife, and to have been thus watched by them through the window. It is not stated that they called upon him to come out or surrender himself, but they proceeded immediately to burst in his door. Hearing the noise he came out into the passage. He may or may not have known that they were police: he may or may not have believed them to be the three men by one of whom he had been insulted. There is not a word of truth in the statement since made that Edgar had been drinking. It was not alleged even in defence of the police, and the post-mortem examination showed that it was not so. A Boer policeman named Jones (There are scores of Boers unable to speak a word of English, who nevertheless own very characteristic English, Scotch, and Irish names--many of them being children of deserters from the British army!) revolver in hand burst the door open. It is alleged by the prisoner and one of the police that as the door was burst open, Edgar from the passage struck the constable on the head twice with an iron-shod stick which was afterwards produced in Court. On the other hand Mrs. Edgar and other independent witnesses--spectators--testified that Edgar did not strike a blow at all and could not possibly have done so in the time. The fact, however, upon which all witnesses agree is that as the police burst open the door Constable Jones fired at Edgar and dropped him dead in the arms of his wife, who was standing in the passage a foot or so behind him. On the following morning, the policeman was formally arrested on the charge of manslaughter and immediately released upon his comrades' sureties of £200. As gunpowder answers to the spark so the indignation of the Uitlander community broke out. The State Attorney to whom the facts were represented by the British Agent in Pretoria immediately ordered the re-arrest of the policeman on the charge of murder. The feeling of indignation was such among British subjects generally, but more especially among Edgar's fellow-workmen, that it was decided to present a petition to her Majesty praying for protection. British subjects were invited to gather in the Market Square in order to proceed in a body to the office of the British Vice-Consul and there present the petition, but in order to avoid any breach of the Public Meetings Act they were requested to avoid speech making and to refrain in every way from any provocation to disorder. Some four or five thousand persons gathered together. They listened to the reading of the petition and marched in an orderly manner to the office of the British Vice-Consul where the petition was read and accepted. This was the first direct appeal to her Majesty made by British subjects since the protests against the retrocession eighteen years before. Not very many realized at the time the importance of the change in procedure. There could be no "As you were" after the direct appeal: either it would be accepted, in which event the case of the Uitlanders would be in the hands of an advocate more powerful than they had ever proved themselves to be, or it would be declined, a course which would have been regarded as sounding the death-knell of the Empire in South Africa. The time was one of the most intense anxiety; for the future of the Uitlanders hung upon the turn of the scale. It was late one night when those who had been called to Pretoria to receive the reply of her Majesty's Government returned to the Rand. The real reply then was known only to three men; it was simply, point blank refusal to accept the petition. There were no reasons and no explanations. It was done on the authority of Sir William Butler, the Commander-in-Chief in South Africa and acting High Commissioner; for Sir Alfred Milner was at that time in England, as also was Mr. Conyngham Greene. But the faith was in these men that it could not be true, that it could not have happened had Sir Alfred Milner not been absent, and thus came the suggestion to 'explain it away.' On the following day British subjects on the Rand learned that a breach of diplomatic etiquette had been committed, that the petition should never have been published before being formally presented to her Majesty, and that thus it would be necessary to prepare and present another in proper form. The petition was redrawn and in the course of the following weeks upwards of 21,000 signatures were obtained by that loyal and enthusiastic little band of British subjects who form the Johannesburg branch of the South African League. In the meantime other things had been happening. Messrs. Thomas R. Dodd and Clement Davies Webb had been arrested under the Public Meetings Act for having organized an illegal meeting in the Market Square, Johannesburg, for the purpose of presenting the petition to the British Vice-Consul. They were released upon bail of £1,000 each. Whether this was a fair example of the judicial perspective in the Transvaal, or whether it was a concession to the feelings of the Boers it is impossible to say, nor does it much matter. The fact is that for the crime of killing a British subject the bail was £200; and for the crime of objecting to it the bail was £1,000. This action only added fuel to the fire and a public meeting was immediately convened to be held in a circus building known as the Amphitheatre. Meetings are permitted under the Act provided they are held in an enclosed building. The object of the meeting was to record a protest against the arrest of Messrs. Dodd and Webb. A great many of the more ardent among the British subjects were of opinion that the time for protests and petitions was past, and they would not attend the meeting. A great many others feeling that it was more or less a formality leading to nothing else, did not trouble to attend. Not one of those who did attend had the least suspicion of any organized opposition. The following dispatch from the High Commissioner to the Secretary of State for the Colonies sufficiently describes the sequel:-- GOVERNMENT HOUSE, CAPE TOWN, _April 5, 1899_. SIR,--I have the honour to forward herewith the certified and attested copies of affidavits which form an enclosure to Mr. Wyberg's letter, transmitted to you in my dispatch of the 28th March, but which did not reach me in time to catch the last mail steamer. From these affidavits, the number of which and the manner in which they confirm one another seem to me to leave no doubt of their general trustworthiness, it appears: 1. That early on the morning of Saturday, the 14th January, the foremen in charge of the various camps along the Main Reef Road were instructed to tell a certain number of their workmen to be at the Amphitheatre in Johannesburg at 2 p.m., where they would be addressed by an official of the Public Works Department, Mr. P.J. Malan (Hoofd van Afdeeling Wegen). 2. That the affair had been planned beforehand, and that Acting Road Inspector Papenfus and others systematically visited the various camps on that morning in order to beat up recruits, and that inquiry was made in some cases to ensure that the persons sent should be 'treu,' _i.e._, Boer or Afrikander workmen who might be expected to take the side of the Government. The Russian workmen were not asked to go. 3. That the men were paid two hours earlier than usual, and that those men who were ordered to go were told, if they could not get Government carts, they should hire and recover afterwards. 4. That in some cases, as that of the Boksburg section, the men were conveyed the greater part of the way by Government carts. 5. That when the men arrived at the Amphitheatre, about 2 p.m., a man who was either Mr. Bosman, Second Landdrost's Clerk, or Mr. Boshof, Registrar of the Second Criminal Court, and perhaps both of them, told them to go to the Police Station. 6. That on arriving at the Police Station, they were addressed by Mr. Broeksma, Third Public Prosecutor, and told they were there to break up the meeting when he gave them certain signals. 7. That they then went into the Amphitheatre, and that there were present, besides Mr. Broeksma, Mr. Papenfus, Mr. Jacobs, Special Road Inspector, Mr. de Villiers, Second Public Prosecutor, and Mr. Burgers, also an official, as well as several prominent members of the Town and Special Police in plain clothes. 8. That the different sections of the Road party men were placed in various parts of the building, under their respective foremen, and that several Government officials assisted in locating them. 9. That a number of the men did not understand what they were there for. 10. That the proceedings on the part of the promoters of the meeting, which, as you are aware, had been sanctioned by the Government, were perfectly regular. 11. That on the first appearance of the promoters of the meeting there was a concerted disturbance, which rendered it totally impossible to go on with the proceedings. 12. That in the riot which followed several people were seriously injured, the sufferers in every case being _bonâ fide_ sympathizers with the object of the meeting, and the aggressors being persons who had come there with the object of breaking it up. 13. That the Police did not make the smallest effort to check the disturbances though it would have been easy to do so, and that, when appealed to, they maintained an attitude of indifference. 14. That Broeksma, Third Public Prosecutor, and Lieutenant Murphy, of the Morality Police, actually assisted in breaking chairs, and encouraged the rioters. I have, &c., A. MILNER, _Governor and High Commissioner._ With affairs of this kind stirring up race hatred and feeling among the class from whom the juries have to be selected, what chance was there of securing an impartial trial of the policeman charged with the murder of Edgar? The Acting British Agent Mr. Edmund Fraser in his dispatch of December 23 tells what he thought of the prospect before these affairs took place. 'As to the ultimate charge to be brought against the policeman, the State Attorney was doubtful whether the charge had not better be one of culpable homicide, for the reason that in the presence of a Boer jury his counsel would have a much easier task in getting him off under a charge of murder than for culpable homicide. But the chances of a Boer jury convicting him at all are so small that I said I should not assent to either charge until I had seen what rebutting evidence the Public Prosecutor brought.' But this was not all. Immediately after the murder of Edgar, Mr. J.S. Dunn the editor of the _Critic_ newspaper, recited the facts of the case as they were known to him and passed some severe strictures upon Dr. Krause, the First Public Prosecutor, who was responsible for determining the charge against policeman Jones and fixing his bail in the first instance. The steps now taken by Dr. Krause no doubt were within his legal rights, but they do not appear to a layman calculated to ensure justice being done. Before proceeding with the murder trial Dr. Krause took criminal action against Mr. Dunn for libel, and in order to prove the libel he, whose duty it was to prosecute Jones for murder, entered the witness-box and swore that under the circumstances as known to him he did not consider that Jones had been guilty of murder, and had therefore faithfully performed his duty in charging him with the minor offence and releasing him on bail. Further, he called upon the Second Public Prosecutor to testify in a similar strain; and finally he directly and deliberately associated with himself as witness on his side the man Jones himself who was charged with the murder. All this ostensibly to prove a paltry libel which could have been dealt with quite as effectively and infinitely more properly after the trial for murder had taken place; indeed it is incontestable that the verdict in the murder trial should properly have been relied upon to a large extent to determine the gravity of Mr. Dunn's offence. It had appeared to the British population that the chance of an impartial trial, with the jury drawn exclusively from the burgher class, was sufficiently remote without any proceedings so ill considered as these. The result fulfilled anticipations. In due course the constable Jones was indicted for culpable homicide and acquitted; and the presiding judge (Mr. Kock, who as already described had claimed a judgeship as a 'son of the soil') when discharging the prisoner said, 'With that verdict I concur and I hope that the police under difficult circumstances will always know how to do their duty.' After the preliminary examination of Jones the Acting British Agent had written to the Acting High Commissioner (December 30, 1898): 'I will only remark that the enclosed report ... seems to show that the Public Prosecutor (Krause), who has been deeply offended by the slur cast upon his judgment through the orders from Pretoria to keep the accused in prison instead of out on bail, was more inclined to defend than to prosecute and showed an extraordinary desire to incriminate either the British Vice-Consul or the South African League for what he termed contempt of court in connection with the publication of certain affidavits in the _Star_.' That was indeed the position. In this as in the Cape Boys case (the Lombaard inquiry) the aim of the prosecution appeared to be to prove that the British Vice-Consul had investigated and reported cases of injustice suffered by British subjects; and the establishment of such proof seemed to be considered a sufficient and triumphant answer to the original complaint. Such action drew the following spirited protest from Mr. Emrys Evans to the British Agent: 'He (Krause) seems generally to suppose that I have no right to do anything in the way of assisting British subjects, and that my action as Vice-Consul is nothing more nor less than officious meddling.' That well describes the position of Great Britain's representative in the Transvaal, and it has been the same for so many years that among the Uitlanders it creates no feeling of surprise; but imagine the representative of--let us say--the United States being so treated! While these matters were proceeding an opportunity occurred to raise fresh funds for the Uitlander Education Council. The scheme had been perilously near collapse on several occasions, but by a little generous and timely help actual abandonment had been averted. The possibility of a return of better times had been foreseen by some of those interested in education, and the appeals which were made in the months of February and March resulted in raising a fund of over £100,000. The companies were also applied to for assistance in the form of annual grants for maintenance; and guarantees were given amounting in all to about £16,000 a year. A final effort was made by the Government party and the allies of Dr. Mansvelt, the Superintendent of Education, to show that the Government had made ample provision for the education of English-speaking children, and that the Uitlanders' scheme was unnecessary. Even Mr. Reitz, the State Secretary, it is to be regretted, undertook a public defence of the system which he has frequently expressed his disapproval of; but the more favourable construction which he endeavoured to place upon the law was immediately removed by a plain statement from the President to the exact contrary effect. The Uitlanders consider that, if the intentions of the Government were as good as they desire them to be thought, firstly, they should not object to have the conditions permanently established and not leave them liable to alteration at the sweet will of the Superintendent, as they are to-day; and secondly, as there has been nothing to hinder the carrying out of benevolent intentions--had they existed--there is no reason why there should be five or six thousand Uitlander children without any facilities for education in their own language except such as are provided by private enterprise or charity. And this is so; notwithstanding the expenditure by the State of nearly a quarter of a million per annum, ostensibly upon education, nine-tenths of which sum is contributed by the Uitlander population. The spirit in which the State aid is given and the aim which the Government have in view are entirely revealed in the conditions, a brief reference to which will be sufficient. The Government capitation grant of £4 per annum may be earned on the conditions:-- (a) That the child be over six years of age. (b) That it shall have a sufficient knowledge of the Dutch language and South African history. (c) That it be not the child of Dutch or Hollander parents. (d) That a qualified Dutch teacher must be retained by the school. The first condition excludes all the children of the kindergarten schools, and also a class who form a considerable percentage in the elementary schools. The third condition excludes all those who have in early years any chance of satisfying the inspectors under the second condition. Obviously the amount earned by the few who would satisfy all the conditions could not possibly pay for the salary of a Dutch teacher. It was an actual experience in several schools that the acceptance of State aid involved a direct loss; a good example of the 'something for nothing' policy. English is permitted to be the medium of instruction in Government schools on the conditions, among others-- That Dutch be taught for one hour a day during the first year, two hours a day during the second year, three hours a day during the third year; and that in the fourth year Dutch shall become the sole medium of instruction. The characteristic trickery and cunning which mark so many of the Boer-Hollander enactments are again apparent here. The proposal is made to appear reasonable, but it is clearly impossible for a child to attain within the time named such proficiency in a foreign language as to be able to receive all instruction in it. The effect and the design are to place English-speaking children at a grave disadvantage compared with Dutch-speaking children; either they would have to devote a great deal more time to the study of Dutch in the first three years so as to be able to receive all instruction in that tongue, or they would suffer in the higher standards through their imperfect knowledge of the medium of instruction. It was not to be supposed that the Uitlanders, after an experience extending over a decade and a half of all sorts of promises, not one of which had been kept in the spirit in which it was intended to be construed, would consent to abandon their scheme at the behest of Dr. Mansvelt and the misguided few who judged his proposals by appearances. President Kruger speaking at Rustenburg as lately as March last laid particular emphasis upon the stipulation in the Law that in the fourth year Dutch should be the sole medium of instruction, and explained that his determination was to make Dutch the dominant language. In the month of February the Transvaal Government received a dispatch from her Majesty's Government with reference to the dynamite concession. It referred to the announcement already recorded, that in the course of the coming session of the Raad a proposal would be submitted for the extension of the monopoly for fifteen years. Mr. Chamberlain pointed out that her Majesty's Government were advised that the dynamite monopoly in its present form constitutes a breach of the Convention; he expressed the hope that the Transvaal Government might see its way voluntarily either to cancel the monopoly or to so amend it as to make it in the true sense a State monopoly operating for the benefit of the State; and he suggested that in any case no attempt should be made to extend the present concession, as such a proposal would compel her Majesty's Government to take steps which they had hitherto abstained from taking in the hope and belief that the Transvaal Government would itself deal satisfactorily with the matter. It was with this despatch, so to say in his pocket, that the President introduced and endeavoured to force through the Raad the proposal to grant a fifteen years' extension of the monopoly. That representations had been made by the British Government on the subject of the dynamite monopoly, had been known for some time before the Peace Negotiations (as they have been called) between the Government and the Capitalists were proposed. On February 27{49} Mr. Edouard Lippert, the original dynamite concessionaire, who it was known would receive the further sum of £150,000 if the monopoly remained uncancelled for five years, opened negotiations on behalf of the Government with certain representatives of the capitalist groups on the Rand; and it was immediately seen that the main--one might almost say sole--object of the negotiations was to safeguard the dynamite monopoly. The Government had, in fact, been placed in a very awkward position. One of the excuses for not expropriating the monopoly had been that the State had not been successful in raising a loan. In order to deal with this objection the Chamber of Mines had, in the month of February, 1899, made an offer, guaranteed by all the principal firms on the Rand, to provide the sum of £600,000 to compensate the monopolists for their actual expenditure up to date upon buildings, plant, machinery, &c., so that there should be no semblance of injustice in the treatment meted out to them. The conditions of the offer were that the dynamite monopoly should be cancelled and importation of explosives permitted under an import duty which would give the State a very large revenue at once and which in the course of a few years would provide a sinking fund sufficient to extinguish the loan of £600,000. The offer was so favourable to the State that it placed the Government in a quandary.{50} The attitude of the Volksraad, too, was distinctly hostile to the dynamite monopoly; and on top of all came the representations of the Imperial Government upon the subject. It became necessary to do something to save the threatened 'cornerstone'; hence the Peace negotiations between the Government and the capitalists. This was another and one of the clearest examples of the 'something for nothing' policy, for it will be observed that of all the things mentioned dynamite alone was the matter to be definitely settled--and that to the satisfaction of Mr. Kruger. Long years of experience had taught the Uitlanders to examine any proposals coming from the Government with the utmost care; and the representatives of the mining industry were soon of one mind in regarding these negotiations as nothing but a trap. Of the five men who represented the Government, viz., the President, the State Secretary (Mr. Reitz), the State Attorney (Mr. Smuts), the Foreign Plenipotentiary (Dr. Leyds), and the 'disinterested intermediary,' Mr. Lippert, it was easy enough to account for three. The President had frequently pledged himself to maintain the monopoly, and always referred to it as the corner-stone of the independence. Dr. Leyds had chosen to associate himself with the defence of the concessionaires upon all occasions, and had even gone so far, as evidence given at the Industrial Commission showed, as to misrepresent the facts in their defence. The difficulty was how to explain the association of the State Attorney and State Secretary, in whose good intentions and integrity there was a general belief. The solution was to be found in the illusory promises of reform under the heading of franchise and reorganization of the finances and other matters. These proposals, it was believed by Mr. Kruger and his party, would secure the support of the two above-named officials, as well as entice the capitalists into the trap set for them. But there were other points of advantage for Mr. Kruger. The whole scheme was in accordance with the _divide et impera_ policy. The first impression, if the scheme were accepted, would be that the capitalists had secured something for themselves by bartering away the rights of the public; so there would have been a division in Johannesburg. Another effect to be brought about by the proposed action regarding the Indians would have been to divide the Uitlanders from the Imperial Government, and the net result of it all would have been that neither the public nor the capitalists would have got anything but illusory promises and Mr. Kruger would have secured his dynamite; for had he been able to extract from the Industry an expression of approval or acquiescence, it would have given him his majority in the Volksraad in favour of the monopoly. The following is the correspondence which passed:-- JOHANNESBURG, S.A.R., _27th March, 1899._ _To the Honourable the State Secretary, Pretoria._ HONOURABLE SIR, Before communicating to you and the representatives of the Government whom we met the expression of our opinion and that of our London friends on the proposals submitted to us by Mr. Lippert on behalf of the Government of the S.A.R., we deem it advisable to recite shortly how we have arrived at the present position. On the 27th of February Mr. E. Lippert called together Messrs. A. Brakhan, E. Birkenruth, and G. Rouliot, to whom he submitted a certain programme concerning the settlement of some pending questions forming the subject of grave differences between the Government of the S.A.R., on the one part, and the whole Uitlander population and the mining industry on the other part, with a view to ascertain whether these gentlemen were willing to open negotiations on the basis suggested, in order to try to come to a settlement. Upon the affirmative answer of these gentlemen, Mr. Lippert obtained an equal expression of approval from Dr. Leyds, the State Secretary, the State Attorney, and also of President Kruger. The preliminary programme at Mr. Lippert's request was then communicated by cable to our London friends. Upon receipt of a reply to the effect that our London friends were in favour of any arrangement which would produce harmony and secure administrative and financial reform, which was communicated to Mr. E. Lippert, a meeting was arranged with Dr. Leyds, Messrs. Reitz, Smuts, and Lippert, as representing the Government, on the 9th of March; but as Messrs. Brakhan, Birkenruth, and Rouliot had repeatedly mentioned that they did not consider themselves qualified to discuss matters on behalf of the general body of Uitlanders, and seeing that the programme submitted was to be considered as a whole, and either adopted or rejected as such, therefore it would be necessary to obtain the views, on the franchise question, of prominent citizens more able to express the wishes of Uitlanders on this subject; Mr. Lippert, on behalf of the Government, invited in addition Messrs. Pierce and Pistorious to be present at the meeting. At this meeting several points were discussed, but as no definite proposal regarding franchise could be submitted, no decision was arrived at, it being made clear, however, that this was only a preliminary conversation with the object of exchanging views, and that in any case the opinion of the Uitlander population, and also that of our friends in Europe, would have to be fully ascertained. On the 12th instant, at the request of Mr. Lippert, Messrs. Brakhan, Birkenruth, Rouliot, Pierce, Pistorious and Fitzpatrick met, and Mr. Lippert communicated to us the definite proposals of the S.A.R. Government, which were duly cabled the same day to our friends, requesting a reply before the end of the week, as the Government would have to submit the whole matter to the Raad, and we were requested to sign an agreement with the Government, and a declaration binding on ourselves and our London friends. Their answer, suggesting a further conference with Dr. Leyds in London, was duly communicated to his Honour the State President. His Honour's reply, stating that the exchange of views had better take place here, was communicated to our European friends. Now they have cabled us a full _précis_ of the proceedings and resolutions passed at the meeting held in London on the 16th instant, and the following is therefore the expression of our opinion as well as that of our European friends, upon the subjects which have already been discussed between the representatives of the S.A.R. Government, and ourselves. It having been stipulated by the Government that the various matters herein dealt with shall be taken as parts of one whole plan, we have bowed to that decision, and we beg now to reply under the various heads on the understanding that no one portion may be judged as apart from the whole. BEWAARPLAATSEN. In furtherance of the general settlement, those of us directly concerned in the mining industry would be prepared to recommend a modification of the claims of the surface holder and a final settlement of the question on the lines suggested as preferable to the continued uncertainty, on the understanding that the basis for valuation should be arrived at by fixing, after consultation, a maximum price upon the best situated bewaarplaatsen or water-right, and that the price of all other mining rights under bewaarplaatsen, machine stands or water-rights be valued by competent engineers on the basis and in relation to the above maximum value, taking into consideration the comparative value of the outcrop claims and the diminishing value in depth; the surface holder having the preferent right to acquire the undermining rights at the price thus arrived at. FINANCIER AND AUDITOR. The appointment of a suitable man with efficient control and assured status would undoubtedly meet one of the most serious of the grievances, and would be universally accepted as satisfactory. The financier, in order to enjoy the confidence of all concerned, and with a view to avoid as far as possible ulterior discussion of his recommendations, should be approved of by some person belonging to a firm of well-known independent standing, such as Lord Rothschild, for instance. The financier to be a member of the Executive Council, and to formulate and approve every scheme of taxation should further or other taxation become necessary. LOAN. Any loan offered at reasonable rates and approved by the Finance Minister for the common good would undoubtedly receive our support; we understanding, on the other hand, that no new taxation will be imposed on the general population or the mining industry pending the appointment of the financier. PRESS AGITATION. There having been, as far as we know, no organized press agitation, it is impossible for us to deal with this matter, but it is clear that the criticism which has been provoked by a certain condition of affairs here would necessarily cease upon the causes of complaint being removed, and we would be prepared, in case of our coming to a settlement with the Government, to declare that the solution of the questions arrived at meets with our approval as a whole, so as to discourage further agitation in newspapers on these subjects. POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS. We shall at all times be willing to publicly discourage and repudiate any political organization having for its object the stirring up of strife or promoting dissension between the different nationalities inhabiting this State, and we would and will in any case do this freely and upon principle, and entirely apart from other considerations connected with this Conference, but it should be clearly understood that this declaration must not be construed as repudiating or deprecating any legitimate representations which the community or any section of them may see fit to make in matters which concern them as inhabitants of this State. COOLIE QUESTION. We well appreciate the dangers of uncontrolled, indiscriminate immigration of the lower class Indians, Chinese, and other coloured races, and the necessity for provision for sanitary control, and shall be most willing to aid the Government in the above objects; but we consider it impossible for us to intervene in this matter, which is governed by the London Convention with the British Government. We suggest that for the purpose of guarding against the dangers above referred to, this matter be explained to the Imperial Government as part of the whole scheme for the settlement of differences, and claim therefore an especially favourable consideration, for, in the success of this scheme, all who desire peace and prosperity in this country must be deeply concerned and willing to co-operate on generous lines. We suggest that this representation be made in such manner as may be deemed less calculated to provoke unfavourable comment, or offend susceptibilities in any quarter, and that the suggestion be viewed by all parties in its true proportions as one part of the whole scheme of settlement. Unless so viewed we should be unable to put ourselves forward in a matter at issue between the two Governments, nor of course could the proposals of the Government be taken to suggest this. DYNAMITE. With the principle of granting a monopoly to individuals, agencies, or corporations it is impossible for us to agree, and whatever arrangement be effected, we should have to make it clear that in this instance we are viewing the question solely as a burden--a tax which the mines are asked to definitely accept in order that an amelioration of the general conditions affecting the whole Uitlander population may be secured. The difference between the cost at which dynamite could be imported (exclusive of Transvaal duty) and the price we are now compelled to pay amounts to over £600,000 per annum on the present rate of consumption, a sum which will increase steadily and largely in the immediate future. Whether the mining industry should voluntarily accept such an immense burden as a set-off against terms which, whilst they would doubtless eventually favourably affect the industry, are in their immediate effects designed to satisfy the Uitlander population in their personal rights as distinct from the mining industry as a business, is a matter which would in the first place have to be submitted to the recognized elected representatives of the mining industry, and would in the second place depend upon whether the people in whose interest such sacrifice is required would accept the terms which the Government would be willing to concede as satisfying their reasonable aspirations. It is also a matter of grave and general concern that a sum so enormous, when compared with the revenue requirements of the State, should be taken annually from the mines with little, if any, benefit to the country, when it might be utilized in part or entirely in supplementing the State revenue, and thus afford relief in other directions to every taxpayer in the country. Notwithstanding the above considerations, however, we feel that a great monetary sacrifice might be made to secure a peaceful and permanent solution of vexed questions, and that the subject of dynamite should be submitted to the Chamber of Mines and discussed in that spirit. Whilst we are willing, in order to bring about a general settlement of all pending questions, to recommend such a heavy sacrifice to be made, and adopt the proposal made by the Government, it would be a condition that there shall not be any extension of the concession, and that the terms of the contract shall be rigidly enforced; that the Dynamite Company shall reduce the price of dynamite to 70s. per case, giving to the Government the 5s. per case and the share of the profits to which it is entitled; and that at the end of the present agency the factory shall be taken over at a valuation which shall not include compensation for goodwill or for loss of future business. FRANCHISE. This is the vital point upon which a permanent and peaceful settlement must hinge, and if a satisfactory solution can be arrived at on this point, as well as on the others raised, we shall be prepared to recommend to the Industry to make the sacrifices involved in accepting the Government proposals. We note that-- _(a)_ the proposals do not include a substantial recognition of past residence; _(b)_ that the period is seven years; _(c)_ that it is proposed that those who acquire citizenship under the law, if changed as proposed, shall not have the vote for the office of President, and that the oath of allegiance would be required seven years before the acquisition of limited burgher rights; _(d)_ that the proposed new law would have to be published for a year and receive the assent of two-thirds of the enfranchised burghers of the Republic. Whilst declaring ourselves willing to accept and recommend the acceptance of any fair scheme on constitutional reforms, we consider that such a scheme must first be laid before, and approved by, the unenfranchised community, as the rights, liberties, and privileges of the community would depend absolutely on the nature of the reform. We have repeated on many occasions that business houses are not qualified to discuss this question on behalf of the general body of Uitlanders, and that we would not presume that we were appointed by the whole community to discuss it on their behalf. It will therefore be necessary to find means to bring the whole question before those directly affected, who are the only ones entitled to finally dispose of the matter, their acquiescence to the scheme having to be first obtained before we recommend the sacrifices which we contemplate in order to ensure a general permanent and peaceful settlement. For your guidance we enclose an expression of opinion which has been furnished to us by some of the most prominent Uitlanders, and places before you the views of a very large and influential section of the community. The above subjects are only those which have been discussed between the Government representatives and ourselves, but, in order to arrive at a final permanent settlement, we think that we ought to endeavour to remove all other causes of disagreement, and treat as well several other important questions left untouched; and we would beg that the Government will take the necessary steps, as far as lies in their power, to assist the industry by bringing native labourers to the goldfields, and to this end will be willing to confer with the Chamber of Mines as to the best means to be adopted; that the law relating to the sale of intoxicating liquor at present in force shall be maintained and strictly enforced. We may further state that we have every confidence in the probity and honour of the Judges of the S.A.R., and wish to place on record our desire that the independence of the Bench should be assured and maintained inviolate in the highest interests of all the inhabitants of the Republic. We enclose copy of the cable which we sent, embodying the proposals of the Government of the S.A.R. as communicated to us by Mr. Lippert, and copy of the _précis_ and resolution passed at the meeting held in London, when the above cable was considered. This letter conveys to you our opinion as well as that of our friends in Europe, and we should be most happy to arrange a meeting with you and any other representatives of the Government to consider and discuss the points contained therein. We beg to assure you once more that we, as well as our European friends, are most sincerely desirous to arrive at a satisfactory settlement, securing a peaceful future and promoting the welfare of the country and the people, and trust that you will regard the expression of our opinion in that light. We remain, honourable Sir, Yours obediently, G. ROULIOT. H.F.E. PISTORIUS. E. BIRKENRUTH. JOHN M. PIERCE. A. BRAKHAN The foregoing embodies our views as well as that of our London houses. (Signed) J.G. HAMILTON. W. DALRYMPLE. The following memorandum--the one referred to in the above letter--was prepared by well-known Uitlanders whom the Government, owing to the refusal of the capitalists to deal with the franchise, had been obliged to select in order to get some pronouncement upon that question. The little ironies of life have two properties: the humour for the winner, and the hurt for the worsted. The Uitlanders had for three years enjoyed a singularly monotonous experience in ironies, but a turning came in the long lane when it became necessary for the President to suspend the operation of his three years' ban on two of the Reformers in order to get their advice upon the franchise question. JOHANNESBURG, S.A.R., _24th March, 1899._ GENTLEMEN, In response to the invitation from the Government of the South African Republic conveyed to us by Mr. E. Lippert, we beg to submit the enclosed memorandum upon the franchise question. Yours faithfully, J. PERCY FITZPATRICK. H.C. HULL. W. DALRYMPLE. W.A. MARTIN. THOS. MACKENZIE. R. STORE. J.G. HAMILTON. T.J. BRITTEN. H.R. SKINNER. _To Messrs. G. Rouliot, E. Birkenruth, A. Brakhan, J.M. Pierce, H.F.E. Pistorius Johannesburg_. MEMORANDUM _RE_ FRANCHISE. After such investigation as the restrictions imposed have permitted, we are of opinion that it would be quite useless to approach the Uitlander population with the Government proposal in its present form, chiefly for the following reasons:-- 1. No consideration is given to the term of residence already completed. 2. The alteration of the franchise law according to lately prescribed procedure, whereby two-thirds of the burghers must signify approval, is a practical impossibility,--witness the fact that at the last Presidential election, surpassing in excitement and interest all other occasions of general voting, with the three recognized leaders in the field, and every agency at work to stimulate activity, less than two-thirds of the burghers on the register recorded their votes. 3. The present form of oath would be regarded as humiliating and unnecessary, in support of which view we instance that quite recently the Volksraad of the Orange Free State rejected upon the same grounds the proposed introduction of the same oath of allegiance. 4. The period of disqualification, during which the Uitlander would have given up his own citizenship by naturalizing and have acquired nothing in return, would be found most objectionable--especially with the experience that rights have in the past been legislated away as they were on the point of maturing. 5. In view of the unique conditions of this country, extension of the franchise without some approach to equitable redistribution of representatives would be regarded as no solution of the question and might even provoke doubts as to the _bonâ fides_ of the proposal, which would be a deplorable beginning, yet one easily to be avoided. Regard being had to the points raised in paragraphs 1, 2, 3, and 4, we consider that as restrictive franchise legislation, apparently designed to exclude for ever the great bulk of the Uitlander population, dates its beginning from the Session of 1890, and as the various enactments bearing upon this question have been passed by successive Volksraads exercising their power to alter, add to, or revoke, previous enactments, and as the same powers are to the full enjoyed by the present Volksraad, it would be both possible and proper for the present Volksraad to annul all the legislation upon this subject from that date, and to restore and confirm the status prior to 1890, and thus satisfy the indisputable claims of those who settled in this country under certain conditions from the benefits of which they could not properly be excluded. With regard to paragraph 5, a moderate proposal designed to give a more equitable distribution of representatives in the Volksraad would be necessary. The above suggestions are not put forward as the irreducible minimum, nor are they designed for public use, nor intended as a proposal acceptable to the eye but impossible in fact, and thus sure of rejection. They are put forward in good faith as indicating in our opinion the lines upon which it would be possible to work towards a settlement with a reasonable prospect of success. If the difficulties appear great the more reason there is not to put forward an unalterable proposal foredoomed to failure, but rather to try and find points of agreement which, however few and small to begin with, would surely make for eventual and complete settlement. In any case it is clear that the mere fact of a proposal to extend the franchise having been made by the Government, thus frankly recognizing the need to deal with the subject, will be hailed as a good omen and a good beginning by all fair-minded men. The determination of the negotiators to have the position clearly stated in writing, and their fear that the use of intermediaries would end in the usual unhappy and unpleasant result--namely, repudiation of the intermediary in part or entirely--were not long wanting justification. The following is a translation of Mr. F.W. Reitz's reply:-- PRETORIA, _8th April, 1899._ _Messrs. G. Rouliot, H.F.E. Pistorius, A. Brakhan, E. Birkenruth, and John M. Pierce, Johannesburg_. DEAR SIRS, I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 27th March last, referring to certain proposals to the Government from representatives of the mining industry. In order to understand the natural position it is necessary to state the facts more extensively than given in your letter. It is wrong to say, as you do in the first paragraph of your communication, that Mr. Lippert came to you with certain proposals from the Government. It appears also from the second paragraph of the same that Mr. Lippert came to you _suo motu_ with the object, as he informed me afterwards, to see 'if it was not possible to obtain a better understanding between the Government on the one side and the mining industry on the other.' He acted in no wise as the agent of the Government, or in the name of the Government, to make any proposals to you, but only as a friendly mediator to see how far unnecessary differences and misunderstandings could be removed. When Mr. Lippert came to Dr. Leyds and myself, and informed us that you and other gentlemen were agreeable to his mediation, we at once agreed with his plan, being aware that there was a warm desire and continued struggle on the part of this Government to remove out of the way all friction and trouble, and that in this case especially it was our object to leave no stone unturned to get all differences settled. We were the more anxious to meet you, because his Honour the State President had decided to lay before the Volksraad certain proposals of law, which are of great importance not only for the people of the Republic, but especially for the mining population and industry. We gave Mr. Lippert to understand that should the leaders of the mining industry have no objection to his mediation, we would not be unwilling to make use of his good services in this matter. Mr. Lippert then went to Johannesburg, and returned to us with the assurance that there was no objection to his acting as mediator, and gave us some of the subjects on which it appeared to him that it was possible to arrive at a friendly understanding. In consequence of this, and acting on our own initiative, and not as representatives of the Government, Dr. Leyds, Mr. Smuts, and myself, met some of your leading men, as set forth in your letter. At this meeting we informed you of the intention of the President to alter certain laws for the general good. Only with reference to the franchise we gave you no definite proposal, the matter being then still under consideration. From your side we requested only a more friendly attitude from the Press, as we were convinced that the excessive Press campaign carried on by the newspapers, which are generally considered to be owned by you, or influenced by you, however much they may forward certain interests, still, in the end, did infinite harm to the existing interests of all sections of the population. Through the continual and incessant agitation and creation of suspicion on the part of the papers, the public mind was constantly in a state of insecurity, and the fanning of the race hatred made it impossible for the Government as well as the legislature to improve the relations between the so-called Uitlanders and the old population. We requested your friendly assistance also in the settlement of the coolie question, not because we wanted to cause friction between you and other foreign governments, but only because the policy which refers to the native and coloured questions is of the utmost importance to South Africa. Mr. Lippert had in his programme the granting of a promise on your side that you would support the Government in the obtaining of a loan which the Government may deem necessary, and that you should bind yourselves in writing to abstain from all political organizations inimical to the Government. These matters we did not discuss, as we considered them unnecessary and inadvisable. From your side you deemed it necessary, before answering us, first to receive the instructions of your foreign principals. Before you could give us the result the President explained his intentions at Heidelberg, and afterwards at Rustenburg and Johannesburg. Your letter, now under consideration, contains practically a definite answer to our communication to you. I shall now consider the points of your answer separately. BEWAARPLAATSEN. With reference to this matter, we think that the undermining rights under bewaarplaatsen, machine stands, and water-rights should be valued on a reasonable basis, independently by the Government, and by the owner of the surface rights (should there be a difference which cannot be settled amicably, then the value can be fixed by arbitration), and that the surface owner shall have the preferent right to purchase the affected under-mining right at such a valuation. From your communication I understand that you suggest a special method of valuation. That is a detail which can be settled when the valuation is actually commenced, and which experts are better able to judge over than I am. Therefore I shall say no more on this subject. FINANCIER AND AUDITOR. On this subject our opinion was that the auditor should be independent of the Government, and alone responsible to the Volksraad to appoint as financier a man of standing, with a seat in the Executive Council, to advise on all matters affecting finances. I am glad to see that you are with us, and that it gives you great satisfaction. I must express my surprise, however, over your proposal that previous to the appointment this Government must first get the approval of Lord Rothschild or any other capitalist. I can only answer that it is in no wise the intention of the Government to frame the future financial policy of this State on a capitalistic basis, and thus your request cannot be agreed to. It is quite possible to make such an appointment which will carry general approval without being subjected to such a mutual condition. LOAN, PRESS AGITATION, POLITICAL ORGANIZATION. With reference to these matters, I have already made it plain to you that in following the proposals of Mr. Lippert by cabling to your principals, you acted under a misunderstanding. We requested no binding declaration from you, only a moral understanding, which would be easy for you to maintain, if it was in the interests of the Uitlanders as well as the burghers of the Republic. I regret that the mistake has arisen, otherwise I cannot see that any objection can come from your side to approve of the plans of the President. DYNAMITE. On this question there is a small difference between the proposed policy of the President and your answer. I only wish to add that his Honour goes further than you do, as he has declared his readiness to expropriate the Dynamite Company, under agreement with its representatives, as soon as possible. If the expropriation takes place after the expiration of the present concession then it will naturally not be on the basis of a going concern. FRANCHISE. On this subject I can well understand that you do not wish to take upon your shoulders the responsibility of speaking and acting for the whole of the new population. It was more your personal opinions as men of position that we wished to know. Then again, according to your assurance at the aforementioned meeting, you do not take any personal interest in the franchise question, and that you would rather leave the question to the public; your answer is therefore perfectly fair. His Honour has therefore already acted in accordance with your idea, for he has brought the question of the franchise very prominently before the public, not only at Heidelberg and Rustenburg, but also at Johannesburg. In conclusion, I wish to refer to one matter which has caused me much pain. It was clearly and distinctly agreed and understood by you all as well as by us that both sides would treat this matter as confidential and secret, as discussions of such important matters cannot be carried on with any results on the tops of houses. What has happened? On the 28th of March I received your letter, and on the 3rd of April, whilst I was yet giving it earnest consideration and had taken all the measures to keep it secret, the contents of the same appeared in the London _Times_, while some days later your answer appeared in full in the _Cape Times_, the _Diamond Fields Advertiser_, and other papers under the influence of the capitalists. The manner in which these papers favourable to you, or controlled by you, have dealt with me in this matter has caused me (I admit it with regret) to doubt for one moment your good faith. Thinking, however, of the great interest as it were in the balance, and believing, moreover, that you never for private or party purposes intended to play with the true and lasting interests of all sections of the community, I cannot help thinking that the reply has been published through one of your subordinates, and regret that the publication has not been immediately repudiated by you publicly as a grave breach of faith. I would regret it, while there exists so few points of difference between us, that these things should bar the way through careless and wrong tactics to a permanent understanding, and trust that the hand extended to the Industry in absolute good faith will not be slighted purposely and wilfully. Owing to the publication of your reply, there exists no further reason for secrecy, and I shall hand my reply to the press. Your obedient servant, F.W. REITZ, _State Secretary_. The repudiation of Mr. Lippert's "official" character; the contention that the State Secretary, State Attorney, and Dr. Leyds could divest themselves of all responsibility in negotiations such as these, and claim to have been acting in their private capacity only; and the extraordinary anxiety to keep secret matters which deeply affected the public, and to the settlement of which the Government designed that the public should be committed, compelled the negotiators to produce evidence that the statements and conclusions of the Government were not warranted by the facts. The following letter, which was formally acknowledged but never answered, practically concluded the negotiations:-- JOHANNESBURG, S.A.R., _April 14, 1899._ _To the Honourable the State Secretary, Pretoria._ HONOURABLE SIR,-- We have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 8th April, 1899. Certain of our statements being doubted and described as erroneous in your letter, we deem it advisable to go more fully into the facts which have preceded and led to this correspondence. It may be that communications exchanged through an intermediary have been transmitted in a manner liable to convey a different impression from what was actually meant, and in order to clear any possible misunderstanding, we beg to enclose copies of all documents supplied to us by Mr. Lippert, whom we, at all times, considered as your authorized agent. From these it will be apparent that during the negotiations we acted in perfect good faith, communicating and discussing what we justly considered were the wishes and proposals of the Government, and it will also be clear to you that every one of our statements is based on documents which we had every reason to believe were approved of by the Government. On February 27th Mr. Lippert called together Messrs. E. Birkenruth, A. Brakhan, and G. Rouliot, to whom he stated that a settlement of certain pending questions could probably be arrived at. He said that he had ascertained the views of Dr. Leyds, Messrs. Reitz and Smuts, who had agreed to a certain programme, and he wanted to know whether we would be willing to open negotiations on that basis, in which case the three officials mentioned would see the State President and ascertain whether he would be prepared to adopt their views. If the State President's approval could be obtained, Mr. Lippert suggested that a conference should be held to discuss the subjects mentioned in his memorandum. This memorandum (Annexure 'A'), as explained to us by Mr. Lippert, enumerates under Clauses 1 to 5 inclusive the points which the Government expected us to concede, and the other clauses are what the Government proposed doing in return. We were then informed that the programme must be considered as a whole, and either adopted or rejected as such, no question being considered separately, and that the matter must be kept absolutely secret. Upon our statement that we personally would be willing to open negotiations on the basis suggested, Mr. Lippert went to Pretoria and informed the high officials above-named. On March 1st Mr. Lippert informed us that the State President was viewing the matter favourably, and requested us to acquaint our friends by cable. Our replies having been communicated to Mr. Lippert, a meeting was arranged on March 9th, as recited in our previous letter, at which, Mr. Lippert informed us, no new subject outside of those mentioned in his memorandum could be discussed. Messrs. Pistorius and Pierce, being invited by Mr. Lippert to attend the meeting, were each supplied by him with a list of the questions to be discussed, forming part of the proposed settlement (Annexure 'B'). On March 12th Mr. Lippert communicated to us what he termed the definite proposals of the Government of the S.A.R., which were duly cabled to our friends in Europe (a copy of this cable has already been sent to you). He also read to us the declaration, which he suggested we should sign on behalf of ourselves and our European friends (Annexure 'C'). A speedy reply to our cable was asked for, as Mr. Lippert had informed us that, if any settlement could be arrived at, the agreement had to be submitted to the Honourable the First Volksraad before the closing of the extraordinary session which was drawing near. We beg to point out to you that by cabling these proposals to Europe, we could not possibly conceive that we were acting under a misconception, as the day on which they were made to us, the 12th of March, being a Sunday, the Telegraph Office was specially kept open for the purpose of dispatching the cables, which were duly received and forwarded upon production of an order from Mr. Lippert. In our letter of March 17th to his Honour the State President, conveying the nature of our friends' reply, we mentioned the fact that the communication made to us by Mr. Lippert on behalf of the Government had been fully cabled; we stated that our friends no doubt based their suggestion to further discuss the whole of the proposals with Dr. Leyds upon the fact that the Government had stipulated that they should become parties to the proposed settlement. In your reply of March 18th, no exception is taken to these statements; you tell us, on behalf of his Honour the State President, 'that the exchange of views can best take place direct with the Government, and here, within the Republic,' pointing out the fact 'that the session of the Volksraad was close at hand, and that therefore further delay is undesirable.' You will thus see that we were perfectly justified in thinking that the communications made to our European friends, embodied the proposals of the Government of the South African Republic, were cabled with the knowledge and approval of the Government, and that we were requested to sign a declaration on behalf of ourselves and our friends, which declaration had to be made public. Our letter of the 27th March conveyed to you our opinion and that of our friends, upon the subjects comprised in the programme which was submitted to us, and it is unnecessary to go over them in detail again. We beg only to offer a few remarks upon certain points raised in your letter of 8th April:--Bewaarplaatsen: We suggest a basis for the valuation of bewaarplaatsen, machine stands, and water-rights, which in our opinion ought to be adopted, in order to have a uniform and easy method of valuing these places. Financier: Being fully aware of the complexity of financial problems and questions of taxation in this State, we are anxious that the financier appointed should be of such a standing as to command the confidence of all, so that his recommendations cannot raise any ulterior discussion. For that reason we expressed the opinion that, before making the appointment, the Government should be guided in its choice by someone belonging to a firm of well-known independent standing. We have no desire to see this Government base its future financial policy on any particular line, in the interest of, or directed against, any special section of the people. We only wish to see the financial policy established on sound recognized economic principles, with fair and equitable taxation calculated according to the proper requirements of the State. Press Agitation--Political Organizations: We have already informed you, that so far as we know, there has been no organized press agitation, and that we should be willing at all times to deprecate the stirring up of strife between nationalities caused by any agency whatsoever. We consider it desirable to see that feeling more general, as we are convinced that exaggerated press campaigns conducted by newspapers generally reported to be influenced by the Government, and tending to create dissension amongst the various classes of the community, are calculated to cause an infinite amount of harm to the vested interests of all sections of the population. Dynamite: In your letter of the 8th April, you appear to have lost sight of the fact that the proposed settlement was submitted to us as a whole. Mr. Lippert made it clear that, in consideration of the Government granting the measures enumerated in his memorandum, it was expected that we should abandon our present contentions, and declare ourselves satisfied with the settlement proposed by the Government. Under ordinary circumstances this would be far from meeting our desires, but we intimated to you that we should be willing to recommend to the mining industry the adoption of the proposals made to us on this subject, if by so doing we could promote a permanent satisfactory solution of all pending questions. In conclusion, we beg to refer to the publication of our previous letter to you. It took place here on the 6th inst., in the afternoon; we immediately instituted an inquiry, and on the 8th inst., in the morning, we wrote that we were in a position to assure you that we could in no way be held responsible for the publication. We never for a moment doubted your good faith, nor that of the other gentlemen for whom the letter was meant, but thought that possibly the communication could have been made through one of your subordinates. However, not being certain of the fact, we merely repudiated any responsibility on our part, and regret that you should have publicly laid the blame on our side, without having communicated with us, asking for an explanation, if you had any suspicion. We beg to assure you that we are as willing as ever to co-operate with you in arriving at a settlement of all pending differences in order to secure peace and prosperity in this country, and we shall be ready at all times to meet and discuss with you, or any other delegates of the Government, any matter likely to bring about a speedy and permanent solution of all questions, still bearing in mind what we mentioned in our previous correspondence, that we are not qualified to speak on behalf of the whole community. As you have informed us that you have no objection to it, we shall give a copy of this letter to the press. We have the honour to be, honourable Sir, Your obedient servants, G. ROULIOT, JOHN M. PIERCE, A. BRAKHAN, E. BIRKENRUTH. (Mr. Pistorius, being absent from town, could not sign this letter.) ANNEXURE 'A' MR. E. LIPPERT'S MEMORANDUM. 1. Cessation of press agitation here and in Europe. 2. Support on the coolie question. 3. Settlement of the dynamite question. 4. Loan (if required). 5. Severance from the S. A. League. 6. Appointment of State Financier and State Auditor, of European reputation, with a seat and vote on the Executive in all questions of finance. 7. No new taxation of mines until submitted by Minister of Finance. 8. Moderate valuation of bewaarplaatsen. 9. Burgher rights--five years--property test. ANNEXURE 'B.' Cessation of press agitation here and in Europe. Support to the Government in its treatment of the coolie question. Settlement of the dynamite question. Deprecate the objects of the S.A. League. Support the placing of a loan if Government wishes it. Appointment of a financial adviser to the Government, of European reputation, and of an Auditor, both with seats and votes in the Executive Council on all financial matters. (This has been amended by the Government, so far as the Auditor is concerned, to retain the present Auditor, and to give him, _re_ dismissal, the same status as a Judge, and to make him directly responsible to the Volksraad.) No fresh taxation to be levied on the mines until the Financial Adviser has laid his proposals before the Government. Sale of the undermining rights to the holders of surface rights (bewaarplaatsen, &c.), at a moderate valuation. Extension of the franchise by granting burgher rights after ... years of registration, coupled with a property test. ANNEXURE 'C.' DRAFT OF DECLARATION TO FOLLOW PROTOCOL EMBODYING THE RESOLUTIONS AGREED UPON. ... Thereupon the subscribed parties from Johannesburg, for themselves, and for the parties they represent here and in Europe, declared:-- 'The passing by the Volksraad of the laws to be submitted by the Government during this session,-- 'For the appointment during the present year of a Financial Adviser to the Government, of European reputation, who shall have a seat and a vote in the Executive Council on all financial matters. 'For placing the Auditor-General on the same status _re_ dismissal as the Judges, and for making him responsible directly to the Volksraad, it being agreed that until such Financial Adviser has laid his budget proposals before the Government, no fresh taxation shall be laid upon the mining industry, nor any other direct taxation. 'For granting the undermining rights under bewaarplaatsen, machine stands, and water-rights, to the present holders of the licences, covering such reserved areas at a moderate valuation; such valuation to be arrived at in the following manner: The Government to appoint a valuator, with instructions to value these rights at a fair and moderate valuation, the holder of the surface licence to appoint a valuator; if they agree, then the surface licence holder shall have the first right to the undermining rights at such valuation; if the two valuators cannot agree about a valuation, they shall appoint together an umpire; if they cannot agree about an umpire, the Chief justice of the High Court shall be asked to appoint an umpire; the decision of such umpire shall be final as to the value of the area under arbitration. If the holder of the surface licence refuses to purchase at the said valuation, the Government shall be at liberty to dispose of it elsewhere. 'For a permanent settlement of the dynamite question on one or the other bases following, namely, that the _status quo_ remain in force till the end of the contract period, the Government making use of its right to revise the prices under the terms of the agreement or that the Dynamite Company reduce the price by 5s. to 70s. for No. 1 and to 90s. for blasting gelatine, the Government undertaking to take over the works of the Dynamite Company at the end of the agreement at a valuation as provided by the offer now before the Volksraad. 'For an extension of the franchise to all white aliens in this State, in the following manner: That naturalization be granted to all seeking it, who have resided in the State for two years and who are of good behaviour and who have not suffered any dishonourable sentence by any Court, upon taking the oath of allegiance as prescribed by the existing law; upon such naturalization he shall be entitled to elect a member to the Second Volksraad, and two years after shall be entitled to be elected as a member of the Second Volksraad. A period of seven years having elapsed after naturalization, he shall by virtue of that lapse of time and without further hindrance obtain full burgher rights, the Government, however, reserve to themselves the right (in order to secure the passing of such law through the Volksraad of this and that of the session of 1900) to extend the period of naturalization for the right of voting for the election of a President. Children of naturalized aliens, who attain their majority when their father has obtained full burgher rights, have _ipso facto_ the same rights as the father. The Government shall also have the right to attach a moderate property qualification to the obtaining of these extended franchise rights. It is understood that by the laws of the State, this extended franchise can only finally be granted by the Volksraad in session 1900, after the law has been submitted to the people for twelve months, but that the period of 9 resp. 7 years shall date from the passing of the resolution to be passed by the Volksraad now in session. will be hailed by us with great satisfaction as removing all obstacles to a friendly and peaceful development of mutual understanding and co-operation; it is our wish, and in the interest of those we represent, that the public in Europe and in South Africa be made fully aware hereof by means of the press, and that hostile agitation by means of the press here and elsewhere shall be avoided in future. 'We deprecate all attempts that may be made by political agencies to stir up strife between the different nationalities inhabiting this State, and shall not be parties to any such organizations. 'Seeing the many evils springing from indiscriminate immigration of coloured races, and having been assured that the Government will do all in its power to facilitate in other ways the supply of labour, we support the Government in its contention that the regulations concerning the treatment of "coolies and other coloured races" had best be left to them as a matter of internal concern. 'We will support the placing of a State loan recommended by the Financier in the European markets at reasonable rates, if the Government should desire us to do so in the common interest. 'Seeing the great value the Government evidently sets upon a friendly and permanent settlement of the dynamite question, which has contributed so much to disturbing the good relations, we declare ourselves satisfied with the final settlement arrived at. 'And should, after the passing of the above proposals of law as a whole by the Volksraad, the Government desire us to give publicity to this our declaration for the promotion of peace and goodwill, such publicity as the Government may desire shall be given thereto.' While the negotiations were actually in progress, and while the Imperial Government were awaiting a reply to their dispatch, the President made two determined attempts to rush the confirmation of the dynamite monopoly through the Raad. The first proposal was for the fifteen years' extension, and the second provided for condonation of all breaches of the concession in the past and for compensation upon the expiry of the concession. The Uitlanders had not failed to perceive that the pit dug for them might conceivably serve another purpose. They ignored these two breaches of faith on the part of the President, and pursued the negotiations; and Mr. Kruger overreached himself. Having failed with Johannesburg, and having failed in the Raad, he appealed to his burghers with the scheme of mock reform. His hope was to get such support in the country that the Volksraad in its May session would have to spare the monopoly. He did not realize that he would have to make good the things which he had offered as shams. His greed had given the opening: his hand had provided the weapon. It is not good to be too clever; and the luck had turned. The publication of the correspondence between the Government and the capitalists created a profound impression. The series of speeches delivered by the President in support of his sham reforms only deepened that impression by providing more and more convincing evidence as to who the real intriguers and mischief-makers were. To the Uitlander public one thing became quite clear, and that was that it was the Government who wished to barter their rights away and the capitalists--the abused capitalists--who refused to do so. An attempt was immediately made to hold a large public meeting for the purpose of endorsing the attitude taken by the negotiators, but the Government refused permission to hold an open-air meeting. In their attempt to hold a meeting indoors, the Uitlanders were defeated by the building being condemned as unsafe. The Government yielded, however, before the storm of disapproval which followed their prohibition, and the State Secretary, Mr. Reitz, suggested that the Uitlanders should hold a series of small indoor meetings in different localities. The meetings were accordingly held, and they provided unmistakable evidence of the gravity of the position. By their numbers, their unanimity, their enthusiasm, and their moderation, the Uitlanders carried conviction to some and roused the grave apprehension of others. Among the latter, it is fair to infer, were President Kruger and his sympathizers in the Free State and Cape Colony. There is one disability the existence of which the advocates of the Uitlander cause are always painfully conscious of. They know as well as any of their critics that it is no picture which is all black--that you get no perspective, no effects, without contrasts! Yet it has not been believed that they were willing to acknowledge the good that there was, and that a politic instinct no less than a sense of justice prompted a diligent effort to discover and make much of the genuinely hopeful signs. The monotony was none of their making; it was in the nature of the facts, and not of the recital; but monotony there was, and it was productive of one very bad result. The conditions, admittedly bad, came to be regarded by a good many as being only as bad as they had for a long time been known to be, leaving little hope except through the long slow influence of time, but causing no immediate anxiety or alarm. Someday a grubbing historian may read the back files of South African newspapers and marvel that such warnings should have passed unheeded, but the fact is that the Transvaal Government and its sympathizers had become indifferent to warnings followed by no results and accustomed to prophecies unfulfilled. To say that they were 'fiddling while Rome burned' is to a great extent true of those of the South African Dutch who were sincerely desirous that the Transvaal Government should reform its ways and who were not consciously aiding in the republicanizing movement; but even of them it is not an adequate description,--as the answers given to two questioners by the most prominent and one of the most prominent Bondsmen indicate. Both of them had in private conversation on different occasions acknowledged the soundness of the Uitlander cause. To the suggestion, 'Then why not say so publicly?' the less important of the two replied, 'People would only say that I am climbing down and ratting on my party.' And the more important of the two, answering a similar question, said, 'Yes, the Rev. S.J. Du Toit did that. He was the founder of the Bond; and to-day he is--nothing! If I did it, I should fall as he did.' 'Then,' said his British friend, 'what is influence worth if it cannot be used for good? Can there be said to be influence when it cannot be used at all?' 'No,' was the reply, 'I have no influence as against the cry of race: blood is thicker than water; and I have no influence at all with Kruger.' The answer to this contained the crux of the question. 'Indeed you have; but you have not the courage to exercise it. The influence of advice has failed, dare you try the influence of repudiation?' The answer was a shake of the head and 'Blood is thicker than water.' That is it! The Piper pipes and the children follow. It is too much to believe that the conference between the High Commissioner and President Kruger was a suggestion to which the latter had to be won over either by President Steyn or Mr. Hofmeyr. It is, indeed, well-known that the idea of a meeting for the purpose of discussing matters at issue between the two Governments had been considered in Pretoria for some months before it actually took place.{51} The news that, upon the invitation of President Steyn, the High Commissioner and President Kruger had agreed to meet at Bloemfontein, was received by the Uitlanders with relief; not hope, because it was believed that the President's object was to get something, not to give something; but sheer relief, because, come what might, the position could never again be the same as it was before the conference. Something must change; someone must yield; the unbearable strain must cease. Sir Alfred Milner--wise and just and strong--commanded the entire confidence of the Uitlanders. It was not hoped that he would succeed in effecting a settlement at such a meeting, because in the circumstances such an achievement was believed not to be humanly possible; but it was not feared that he would fail in his duty to his country and to his trust. It is no part of the object of this volume to deal with the negotiations which took place at Bloemfontein or with the terms of settlement at the present moment under discussion; the object is to recite the circumstances and conditions which made these negotiations necessary, and which, if they fail, must lead to bloodshed. With a barrier of insurmountable race feeling before them, the Uitlanders are hopeless of effecting a peaceful redress of their grievances except by the aid of the Suzerain power. The President and his party will not yield one iota except upon the advice of those who have the will and the power to see that that advice is followed. Such power rests in two quarters. It rests with the progressive Dutch of South Africa. They have the power, but unfortunately they have not as yet the will or they have not the courage to use it. Time after time have they been stultified by rallying to the cry of race and defending Mr. Kruger's attitude on certain points, only to find the President abandoning as untenable the position which they have proclaimed to be proper. To them have been addressed most earnest and most solemn appeals to be up and doing whilst there was yet time. From them have been extracted--in times of peace--the amplest admissions of the justice of the Uitlander case. But there is a point beyond which they will not go. They will not say to the President and his party: 'We cannot extol in you what we would condemn in ourselves. The claim of kindred cannot for ever be the stalking-horse for injustice.' That they cannot do; and thus are they bonded to the one who will raise the race cry without scruple. There is no more hopeless feature for the peaceful settlement of the Transvaal question from within than the unanimity which marks the public utterances of those who are claimed as representing Afrikander sentiment in the present crisis. Those expressions, ranging from the most violent denunciations by politicians and ministers of the gospel down to the most illogical and hysterical appeals of public writers, all, all are directed against the injured. Not a warning, not a hint--not a prayer even--addressed to the offender. They have not the sense of justice to see or they have not the courage to denounce the perpetrators of evil, but direct all their efforts to hushing the complaints of the victims. Truly it would almost appear that there is some guiding principle running through it all; something which recognizes the real sinner in the victim who complains and not in the villain who perpetrates; the something which found a concrete expression when bail was fixed at £200 for the murder of a British subject and at £1,000 for the crime of objecting to it. No civilized body of men ever had more just cause for complaint than the Uitlanders of the Transvaal have, but they carry on their reform movement under very difficult and discouraging conditions. Those who have petitioned their Sovereign to secure for them some amelioration of their lot are branded by the head of the State as rebels for so doing, and his example is followed by all his party. Those men who organized or addressed the public meetings which were suggested by Mr. Reitz, the State Secretary, and held for the purpose of discussing a proposal publicly made by the Government, are the men whom Messrs. Dieperink and Viljoen, the members representing Johannesburg in the First and Second Volksraads, denounced as traitors who should be summarily dealt with by the Government. British subjects associated with the Uitlander cause who venture to call upon the British Agent in Pretoria or the High Commissioner in Cape Town are regarded as conspirators and are watched by spies and all their movements are reported to the Transvaal Government.{52} The recognized leaders among the Uitlanders are black-listed in the Dutch press, their names, addresses, and occupations given so that they may be identified,--marked down in the newspapers supported by the Government--as men to be dragged out and shot without trial. Uitlander newspapers have been suppressed for mere political reasons, without even the allegation that there was incitement to violence or disorder, and it is therefore not unreasonable that the impunity with which the Dutch newspapers continue this campaign month after month should be taken as the measure of the Government's complicity. It is in these circumstances that appeal has been made to England, the only other quarter in which there rests the power to see that justice shall be done. It is an appeal which might well be based upon the broad and acknowledged right of a subject to claim in case of injustice the good offices of his own Government. But here it is based upon a special right. It is the _spirit_{53} of the Pretoria Convention which the Uitlander has invoked for many years, only to be told that the spirit is as it may be interpreted from the letter. But it is not so! Will it be suggested that the British Government contemplated such license when they granted the charter of self-government to the Transvaal or that they would have granted it had they foreseen the interpretation? Can it be said that Mr. Kruger and his colleagues contemplated it or would have dared to avow the intention if it were ever entertained? No! And he will be a bolder man than Mr. Kruger who will dispute that answer; for the President's own defence is, not that he had the intention or has the right to differentiate between races and between classes; but--that he does not differentiate. So that the issue is narrowed to this, that it is merely a question of fact! But the appeal of British subjects in the Transvaal will claim a hearing for other reasons too! Only the blindest can fail to realize how much is at stake, materially and morally, or can fail to see what is the real issue, and how the Mother Country stands on trial before all her children, who are the Empire. Only those who do not count will refuse to face the responsibility in all seriousness, or will fail to receive in the best spirit the timely reminder of past neglect. If the reproaching truth be a hard thing to hear, it is, for those whose every impulse jumps towards championing the great Home Land, a far, far harder thing to say. Unpleasant it may be, but not without good, that England's record in South Africa--of subjects abandoned and of rights ignored, of duty neglected and of pledge unkept, of lost prestige and slipping Empire--should speak to quicken a memory and rouse the native sense of right, so that a nation's conscience will say 'Be just before you are generous! Be just to all--even to your own!' Footnotes for Chapter XI {49} It is stated that President Kruger, ever since the signing of the London Convention on Majuba Day--February 27--1884, has believed in certain lucky days, and has a kind of superstitious regard for anniversaries. If that be so, the incidence of events has given him something to ponder over during the last three years. Three notable schemes conceived by himself and carefully designed to strengthen his position, have by a curious coincidence matured upon dates of certain interest in Transvaal history. All three have failed disastrously. The first anniversary of the Reformers' sentence day was the occasion of the Reformers giving evidence before the Industrial Commission, which so strongly justified their case. The Peace Negotiations with the Capitalists were opened by Mr. Lippert upon the anniversary of Majuba. The Bloemfontein Conference was opened upon the Reformers' emancipation day, the expiry of the three years' silence. That his Honour really attaches importance to these things was shown when over two hundred ministers representing the Dutch Reformed Church in the Transvaal met in Pretoria to urge upon him the suppression of the Illicit Liquor trade. In all innocence they had chosen May 24 on which to present their address. Their astonishment was great when Mr. Kruger, passing lightly by the liquor question, gave the assembled pastors a thorough wigging for finding fault with his administration at all, but chiefly for their unpatriotic conduct in selecting the Queen's birthday of all days on which to expose internal differences in their country. {50} In addressing a meeting of burghers in Heidelburg three months later the President showed to what lengths he was prepared to go in defending the monopoly when in reply to a question he denied that any such offer had been received '_by the Executive.'_ The explanation, which he did not give, is that the _Government, i.e.,_ the President and State Secretary, had received it--and withheld it from the Executive! {51} In March the writer made the suggestion to a representative of the Pretoria Government in the hope of getting rid by a 'square talk' of the many and ever-increasing differences, and was informed that the idea had often been discussed and as often abandoned, because it contained the objectionable feature of establishing a precedent for England's interference in internal affairs. {52} When on a visit to Cape Town in April, the writer called several times upon the High Commissioner, and learning by private advice that his movements were being reported in detail through the Secret Service Department, he informed Sir Alfred Milner of the fact. Sir Alfred admitted that the idea of secret agents in British territory and spies round or in Government House was not pleasant, but expressed the hope that such things should not deter those who wished to call on him, as he was there as the representative of her Majesty for the benefit of British subjects and very desirous of ascertaining for himself the facts of the case. {53} Since this was written, Mr. Chamberlain, speaking in the House of Commons on July 28, 1899, has thus disposed of the question:-- 'It has been broken in the spirit more than it has been broken in the letter. The whole spirit of the convention is the preservation of equality as between all the white inhabitants of the Transvaal, and the whole policy of the Transvaal has been to promote a position of inferiority on the part of certain classes. There is something even more striking than that. The conventions were, of course, the result of a previous conference. At that conference definite promises were made which made it impossible to doubt with what object the convention was signed. On May 10, 1881, at a conference between representatives of her Majesty and representatives of the Transvaal the President, Sir Hercules Robinson, asked this question:-- '"Before annexation had British subjects complete freedom of trade throughout the Transvaal? Were they on the same footing as citizens of the Transvaal? '"Mr. Kruger replied: They were on the same footing as the burghers. There was not the slightest difference in accordance with the Sand River Convention. '"Sir Hercules Robinson: I presume you will not object to that continuing? '"Mr. Kruger: No. There will be equal protection for everybody. '"Sir Evelyn Wood: And equal privileges. '"Mr. Kruger: We make no difference so far as burgher rights are concerned. There may, perhaps, be some slight difference in the case of a young person who has just come into the country." (Cheers.) 'Now, there is a distinct promise given by the man who is now President of the Transvaal State that, so far as burgher rights were concerned, they made and would make no difference whatever between burghers and those who came in. The root of the difficulty which I have been describing lies in the fact that this promise has not been kept.' APPENDICES. APPENDIX A. PRETORIA CONVENTION. CONVENTION FOR THE SETTLEMENT OF THE TRANSVAAL TERRITORY. _August, 1881._ PREAMBLE. Her Majesty's Commissioners for the Settlement of the Transvaal territory, duly appointed as such by a Commission passed under the Royal Sign Manual and Signet, bearing date the 5th of April, 1881, do hereby undertake and guarantee on behalf of Her Majesty that, from and after the 8th day of August, 1881, complete self-government, subject to the suzerainty of Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, will be accorded to the inhabitants of the Transvaal territory, upon the following terms and conditions, and subject to the following reservations and limitations:-- ARTICLE I. The said territory, to be hereinafter called the Transvaal State, will embrace the land lying between the following boundaries, to wit: [here follow three pages in print defining boundaries.] ARTICLE II. Her Majesty reserves to herself, her heirs and successors, (_a_) the right from time to time to appoint a British Resident in and for the said State, with such duties and functions as are hereinafter defined; (_b_) the right to move troops through the said State in time of war, or in case of the apprehension of immediate war between the Suzerain Power and any Foreign State or Native tribe in South Africa; and (_c_) the control of the external relations of the said State, including the conclusion of treaties and the conduct of diplomatic intercourse with Foreign Powers, such intercourse to be carried on through Her Majesty's diplomatic and consular officers abroad. ARTICLE III. Until altered by the Volksraad, or other competent authority, all laws, whether passed before or after the annexation of the Transvaal territory to Her Majesty's dominions, shall, except in so far as they are inconsistent with or repugnant to the provisions of this Convention, be and remain in force in the said State in so far as they shall be applicable thereto, provided that no future enactment especially affecting the interest of natives shall have any force or effect in the said State, without the consent of Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, first had and obtained and signified to the Government of the said State through the British Resident, provided further that in no case will the repeal or amendment of any laws enacted since the annexation have a retrospective effect, so as to invalidate any acts done or liabilities incurred by virtue of such laws. ARTICLE IV. On the 8th day of August, 1881, the Government of the said State, together with all rights and obligations thereto appertaining, and all State property taken over at the time of annexation, save and except munitions of war, will be handed over to Messrs. Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, Martinus Wessel Pretorius, and Petrus Jacobus Joubert, or the survivor or survivors of them, who will forthwith cause a Volksraad to be elected and convened, and the Volksraad, thus elected and convened, will decide as to the further administration of the Government of the said State. ARTICLE V. All sentences passed upon persons who may be convicted of offences contrary to the rules of civilized warfare committed during the recent hostilities will be duly carried out, and no alteration or mitigation of such sentences will be made or allowed by the Government of the Transvaal State without Her Majesty's consent conveyed through the British Resident. In case there shall be any prisoners in any of the gaols of the Transvaal State whose respective sentences of imprisonment have been remitted in part by Her Majesty's Administrator or other officer administering the Government, such remission will be recognized and acted upon by the future Government of the said State. ARTICLE VI. Her Majesty's Government will make due compensation for all losses or damage sustained by reason of such acts as are in the 8th Article hereinafter specified, which may have been committed by Her Majesty's forces during the recent hostilities, except for such losses or damage as may already have been compensated for, and the Government of the Transvaal State will make due compensation for all losses or damage sustained by reason of such acts as are in the 8th Article hereinafter specified which may have been committed by the people who were in arms against Her Majesty during the recent hostilities, except for such losses or damages as may already have been compensated for. ARTICLE VII. The decision of all claims for compensation, as in the last preceding Article mentioned, will be referred to a Sub-Commission, consisting of the Honourable George Hudson, the Honourable Jacobus Petrus de Wet, and the Honourable John Gilbert Kotzé. In case one or more of such Sub-Commissioners shall be unable or unwilling to act, the remaining Sub-Commissioner or Sub-Commissioners will, after consultation with the Government of the Transvaal State, submit for the approval of Her Majesty's High Commissioners the names of one or more persons to be appointed by them to fill the place or places thus vacated. The decision of the said Sub-Commissioners, or of a majority of them, will be final. The said Sub-Commissioners will enter upon and perform their duties with all convenient speed. They will, before taking evidence or ordering evidence to be taken in respect of any claim, decide whether such claim can be entertained at all under the rules laid down in the next succeeding Article. In regard to claims which can be so entertained, the Sub-Commissioners will in the first instance afford every facility for an amicable arrangement as to the amount payable in respect of any claim, and only in cases in which there is no reasonable ground for believing that an immediate amicable arrangement can be arrived at will they take evidence or order evidence to be taken. For the purpose of taking evidence and reporting thereon, the Sub-Commissioners may appoint Deputies, who will, without delay, submit records of the evidence and their reports to the Sub-Commissioners. The Sub-Commissioners will arrange their sittings and the sittings of their Deputies in such a manner as to afford the earliest convenience to the parties concerned and their witnesses. In no case will costs be allowed to either side other than the actual and reasonable expenses of witnesses whose evidence is certified by the Sub-Commissioners to have been necessary. Interest will not run on the amount of any claim, except as is hereinafter provided for. The said Sub-Commissioners will forthwith, after deciding upon any claim, announce their decision to the Government against which the award is made and to the claimant. The amount of remuneration payable to the Sub-Commissioners and their Deputies will be determined by the High Commissioners. After all the claims have been decided upon, the British Government and the Government of the Transvaal State will pay proportionate shares of the said remuneration and of the expenses of the Sub-Commissioners and their Deputies, according to the amount awarded against them respectively. ARTICLE VIII. For the purpose of distinguishing claims to be accepted from those to be rejected, the Sub-Commissioners will be guided by the following rules, viz.:--Compensation will be allowed for losses or damage sustained by reason of the following acts committed during the recent hostilities, viz.: _(a)_ commandeering, seizure, confiscation, or destruction of property, or damage done to property; _(b)_ violence done or threats used by persons in arms. In regard to acts under _(a)_, compensation will be allowed for direct losses only. In regard to acts falling under _(b)_, compensation will be allowed for actual losses of property, or actual injury to the same proved to have been caused by its enforced abandonment. No claims for indirect losses, except such as are in this Article especially provided for, will be entertained. No claims which have been handed in to the Secretary of the Royal Commission after the 1st day of July, 1881, will be entertained, unless the Sub-Commissioners shall be satisfied that the delay was reasonable. When claims for loss of property are considered, the Sub-Commissioners will require distinct proof of the existence of the property, and that it neither has reverted nor will revert to the claimant. ARTICLE IX. The Government of the Transvaal State will pay and satisfy the amount of every claim awarded against it within one month after the Sub-Commissioners shall have notified their decision to the said Government, and in default of such payment the said Government will pay interest at the rate of six per cent, per annum from the date of such default; but Her Majesty's Government may at any time before such payment pay the amount, with interest, if any, to the claimant in satisfaction of his claim, and may add the sum thus paid to any debt which may be due by the Transvaal State to Her Majesty's Government, as hereinafter provided for. ARTICLE X. The Transvaal State will be liable for the balance of the debts for which the South African Republic was liable at the date of annexation, to wit, the sum of £48,000 in respect of the Cape Commercial Bank Loan, and £85,667 in respect of the Railway Loan, together with the amount due on 8th August, 1881, on account of the Orphan Chamber Debt, which now stands at £22,200, which debts will be a first charge upon the revenues of the State. The Transvaal State will, moreover, be liable for the lawful expenditure lawfully incurred for the necessary expenses of the Province since the annexation, to wit, the sum of £265,000, which debt, together with such debts as may be incurred by virtue of the 9th Article, will be a second charge upon the revenues of the State. ARTICLE XI. The debts due as aforesaid by the Transvaal State to Her Majesty's Government will bear interest at the rate of three and a half per cent., and any portion of such debt which may remain unpaid at the expiration of twelve months from the 8th August, 1881, shall be repayable by a payment for interest and sinking fund of six pounds and nine pence per cent, per annum, which will extinguish the debt in twenty-live years. The said payment of six pounds and nine pence per £100 shall be payable half yearly in British currency on the 8th February and 8th August in each year. Provided always that the Transvaal State shall pay in reduction of the said debt the sum of £100,000 within twelve months of the 8th August, 1881, and shall be at liberty at the close of any half-year to pay off the whole or any portion of the outstanding debt. ARTICLE XII. All persons holding property in the said State on the 8th day of August, 1881, will continue after the said date to enjoy the rights of property which they have enjoyed since the annexation. No person who has remained loyal to Her Majesty during the recent hostilities shall suffer any molestation by reason of his loyalty, or be liable to any criminal prosecution or civil action for any part taken in connection with such hostilities, and all such persons will have full liberty to reside in the country, with enjoyment of all civil rights, and protection for their persons and property. ARTICLE XIII. Natives will be allowed to acquire land, but the grant or transfer of such land will, in every case, be made to and registered in the name of the Native Location Commission, hereinafter mentioned, in trust for such natives. ARTICLE XIV. Natives will be allowed to move as freely within the country as may be consistent with the requirements of public order, and to leave it for the purpose of seeking employment elsewhere or for other lawful purposes, subject always to the pass laws of the said State, as amended by the Legislature of the Province, or as may hereafter be enacted under the provisions of the Third Article of this Convention. ARTICLE XV. There will continue to be complete freedom of religion and protection from molestation for all denominations, provided the same be not inconsistent with morality and good order, and no disability shall attach to any person in regard to rights of property by reason of the religious opinions which he holds. ARTICLE XVI. The provisions of the Fourth Article of the Sand River Convention are hereby reaffirmed, and no slavery or apprenticeship partaking of slavery will be tolerated by the Government of the said State. ARTICLE XVII. The British Resident will receive from the Government of the Transvaal State such assistance and support as can by law be given to him for the due discharge of his functions; he will also receive every assistance for the proper care and preservation of the graves of such of Her Majesty's forces as have died in the Transvaal, and if need be for the expropriation of land for the purpose. ARTICLE XVIII. The following will be the duties and functions of the British Resident: _Sub-section_ 1.--He will perform duties and functions analogous to those discharged by a Chargé d'Affaires and Consul-General. _Sub-section_ 2.--In regard to natives within the Transvaal State, he will (_a_) report to the High Commissioner, as representative of the Suzerain, as to the working and observance of the provisions of this Convention; (_b_) report to the Transvaal authorities any cases of ill-treatment of natives or attempts to incite natives to rebellion that may come to his knowledge; (_c_) use his influence with the natives in favour of law and order; and (_d_) generally perform such other duties as are by this Convention entrusted to him, and take such steps for the protection of the person and property of natives as are consistent with the laws of the land. _Sub-section_ 3.--In regard to natives not residing in the Transvaal, (_a_) he will report to the High Commissioner and the Transvaal Government any encroachments reported to him as having been made by Transvaal residents upon the land of such natives, and in case of disagreement between the Transvaal Government and the British Resident as to whether an encroachment had been made, the decision of the Suzerain will be final (_b_) the British Resident will be the medium of communication with native chiefs outside the Transvaal, and, subject to the approval of the High Commissioner, as representing the Suzerain, he will control the conclusion of treaties with them; and (_c_) he will arbitrate upon every dispute between Transvaal residents and natives outside the Transvaal (us to acts committed beyond the boundaries of the Transvaal) which may be referred to him by the parties interested. _Sub-section_ 4.--In regard to communications with foreign Powers, the Transvaal Government will correspond with Her Majesty's Government through the British Resident and the High Commissioner. ARTICLE XIX. The Government of the Transvaal State will strictly adhere to the boundaries defined in the First Article of this Convention, and will do its utmost to prevent any of its inhabitants from making any encroachment upon lands beyond the said State. The Royal Commission will forthwith appoint a person who will beacon off the boundary line between Ramatlabama and the point where such line first touches Griqualand West boundary, midway between the Vaal and Hart rivers; the person so appointed will be instructed to make an arrangement between the owners of the farms Grootfontein and Valleifontein on the one hand, and the Barolong authorities on the other, by which a fair share of the water supply of the said farms shall be allowed to flow undisturbed to the said Barolongs. ARTICLE XX. All grants or titles issued at any time by the Transvaal Government in respect of land outside the boundary of Transvaal State, as defined, Article I., shall be considered invalid and of no effect, except in so far as any such grant or title relates to land that falls within the boundary of the Transvaal State, and all persons holding any such grant so considered invalid and of no effect will receive from the Government of the Transvaal State such compensation either in land or in money as the Volksraad shall determine. In all cases in which any native chiefs or other authorities outside the said boundaries have received any adequate consideration from the Government of the former South African Republic for land excluded from the Transvaal by the First Article of this Convention, or where permanent improvements have been made on the land, the British Resident will, subject to the approval of the High Commissioner, use his influence to recover from the native authorities fair compensation for the loss of the land thus excluded, and of the permanent improvement thereon. ARTICLE XXI. Forthwith, after the taking effect of this Convention, a Native Location Commission will be constituted, consisting of the President, or in his absence the Vice-President of the State, or some one deputed by him, the Resident, or some one deputed by him, and a third person to be agreed upon by the President or the Vice-President, as the case may be, and the Resident, and such Commission will be a standing body for the performance of the duties hereinafter mentioned. ARTICLE XXII. The Native Location Commission will reserve to the native tribes of the State such locations as they may be fairly and equitably entitled to, due regard being had to the actual occupation of such tribes. The Native Location Commission will clearly define the boundaries of such locations, and for that purpose will, in every instance, first of all ascertain the wishes of the parties interested in such land. In case land already granted in individual titles shall be required for the purpose of any location, the owners will receive such compensation either in other land or in money as the Volksraad shall determine. After the boundaries of any location have been fixed, no fresh grant of land within such location will be made, nor will the boundaries be altered without the consent of the Location Commission. No fresh grants of land will be made in the districts of Waterberg, Zoutpansberg, and Lydenburg until the locations in the said districts respectively shall have been defined by the said Commission. ARTICLE XXIII. If not released before the taking effect of this Convention, Sikukuni, and those of his followers who have been imprisoned with him, will be forthwith released, and the boundaries of his location will be defined by the Native Location Commission in the manner indicated in the last preceding Article. ARTICLE XXIV. The independence of the Swazies within the boundary line of Swaziland, as indicated in the First Article of this Convention, will be fully recognized. ARTICLE XXV. No other or higher duties will be imposed on the importation into the Transvaal State of any article the produce or manufacture of the dominions and possessions of Her Majesty, from whatever place arriving, than are or may be payable on the like article the produce or manufacture of any other country, nor will any prohibition be maintained or imposed on the importation of any article the produce or manufacture of the dominions and possessions of Her Majesty, which shall not equally extend to the importation of the like articles being the produce or manufacture of any other country. ARTICLE XXVI. All persons other than natives conforming themselves to the laws of the Transvaal State (_a_) will have full liberty with their families to enter, travel, or reside in any part of the Transvaal State; (_b_) they will be entitled to hire or possess houses, manufactures, warehouses, shops, and premises; (_c_) they may carry on their commerce either in person or by any agents whom they may think to employ; (_d_) they will not be subject in respect of their persons or property, or in respect of their commerce or industry to any taxes, whether general or local, other than those which are or may be imposed upon Transvaal citizens. ARTICLE XXVII. All inhabitants of the Transvaal shall have free access to the Courts of Justice for the protection and defence of their rights. ARTICLE XXVIII. All persons other than natives who established their domicile in the Transvaal between the 12th day of April, 1877, and the date when this Convention comes into effect, and who shall within twelve months after such last-mentioned date have their names registered by the British Resident, shall be exempt from all compulsory military service whatever. The Resident shall notify such registration to the Government of the Transvaal State. ARTICLE XXIX. Provision shall hereafter be made by a separate instrument for the mutual extradition of criminals, and also for the surrender of deserters from Her Majesty's forces. ARTICLE XXX. All debts contracted since the annexation will be payable in the same currency in which they may have been contracted; all uncancelled postage and other revenue stamps issued by the Government since the annexation will remain valid, and will be accepted at their present value by the future Government of the State; all licenses duly issued since the annexation will remain in force during the period for which they may have been issued. ARTICLE XXXI. No grants of land which may have been made, and no transfer of mortgage which may have been passed since the annexation, will be invalidated by reason merely of their having been made or passed since that date. All transfers to the British Secretary for Native Affairs in trust for natives will remain in force, the Native Location Commission taking the place of such Secretary for Native Affairs. ARTICLE XXXII. This Convention will be ratified by a newly-elected Volksraad within the period of three months after its execution, and in default of such ratification this Convention shall be null and void. ARTICLE XXXIII. Forthwith, after the ratification of this Convention, as in the last preceding Article mentioned, all British troops in Transvaal territory will leave the same, and the mutual delivery of munitions of war will be carried out. Articles end. Here will follow signatures of Royal Commissioners, then the following to precede signatures of triumvirate. We, the undersigned, Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, Martinus Wessel Pretorius, and Petrus Jacobus Joubert, as representatives of the Transvaal Burghers, do hereby agree to all the above conditions, reservations, and limitations under which self-government has been restored to the inhabitants of the Transvaal territory, subject to the suzerainty of Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, and we agree to accept the Government of the said territory, with all rights and obligations thereto appertaining, on the 8th day of August; and we promise and undertake that this Convention shall be ratified by a newly-elected Volksraad of the Transvaal State within three months from this date. APPENDIX B. LONDON CONVENTION. A CONVENTION BETWEEN HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND AND THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC. _February, 1884._ Whereas the Government of the Transvaal State, through its Delegates, consisting of Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, President of the said State, Stephanus Jacobus Du Toit, Superintendent of Education, and Nicholas Jacobus Smit, a member of the Volksraad, have represented that the Convention signed at Pretoria on the 3rd day of August, 1881, and ratified by the Volksraad of the said State on the 25th October, 1881, contains certain provisions which are inconvenient, and imposes burdens and obligations from which the said State is desirous to be relieved, and that the south-western boundaries fixed by the said Convention should be amended, with a view to promote the peace and good order of the said State, and of the countries adjacent thereto; and whereas Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, has been pleased to take the said representations into consideration: Now, therefore, Her Majesty has been pleased to direct, and it is hereby declared, that the following articles of a new Convention, signed on behalf of Her Majesty by Her Majesty's High Commissioner in South Africa, the Right Honourable Sir Hercules George Robert Robinson, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, Governor of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, and on behalf of the Transvaal State (which shall hereinafter be called the South African Republic) by the above-named Delegates, Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, Stephanus Jacobus Du Toit, and Nicholas Jacobus Smit, shall, when ratified by the Volksraad of the South African Republic, be substituted for the articles embodied in the Convention of 3rd August, 1881; which latter, pending such ratification, shall continue in full force and effect. ARTICLES. ARTICLE I. The Territory of the South African Republic will embrace the land lying between the following boundaries, to wit: Beginning from the point where the north-eastern boundary line of Griqualand West meets the Vaal River, up the course of the Vaal River to the point of junction with it of the Klip River; thence up the course of the Klip River to the point of junction with it of the stream called Gansvlei; thence up the Gansvlei stream to its source in the Drakensberg; thence to a beacon in the boundary of Natal, situated immediately opposite and close to the source of the Gansvlei stream; thence in a north-easterly direction along the ridge of the Drakensberg, dividing the waters flowing into the Gansvlei stream from the waters flowing into the sources of the Buffalo, to a beacon on a point where this mountain ceases to be a continuous chain; thence to a beacon on a plain to the north-east of the last described beacon; thence to the nearest source of a small stream called 'Division Stream'; thence down this division stream, which forms the southern boundary of the farm Sandfontein, the property of Messrs. Meek, to its junction with the Coldstream; thence down the Coldstream to its junction with the Buffalo or Umzinyati River; thence down the course of the Buffalo River to the junction with it of the Blood River; thence up the course of the Blood River to the junction with it of Lyn Spruit or Dudusi; thence up the Dudusi to its source; thence 80 yards to Bea. I., situated on a spur of the N'Qaba-Ka-hawana Mountains; thence 80 yards to the N'Sonto River; thence down the N'Sonto River to its junction with the White Umvulozi River; thence up the White Umvulozi River to a white rock where it rises; thence 800 yards to Kambula Hill (Bea. II.); thence to the source of the Pemvana River, where the road from Kambula Camp to Burgers' Lager crosses; thence down the Pemvana River to its junction with the Bivana River; thence down the Bivana River to its junction with the Pongolo River; thence down the Pongolo River to where it passes through the Libombo Range; thence along the summits of the Libombo Range to the northern point of the N'Yawos Hill in that range (Bea. XVI); thence to the northern peak of the Inkwakweni Hills (Bea. XV.); thence to Sefunda, a rocky knoll detached from and to the north-east end of the White Koppies, and to the south of the Musana River (Bea. XIX.); thence to a point on the slope near the crest of Matanjeni, which is the name given to the south-eastern portion of the Mahamba Hills (Bea. XIII.); thence to the N'gwangwana, a double-pointed hill (one point is bare, the other wooded, the beacon being on the former) on the left bank of the Assegai River and upstream of the Dadusa Spruit (Bea. XII.); thence to the southern point of Bendita, a rocky knoll in a plain between the Little Hlozane and Assegai Rivers (Bea. XI.); thence to the highest point of Suluka Hill, round the eastern slopes of which flows the Little Hlozane, also called Ludaka or Mudspruit (Bea. X.); thence to the beacon known as 'Viljoen's,' or N'Duko Hill; thence to a point north-east of Derby House, known as Magwazidili's Beacon; thence to the Igaba, a small knoll on the Ungwempisi River, also called 'Joubert's Beacon,' and known to the natives as 'Piet's Beacon' (Bea. IX.); thence to the highest point of the N'Dhlovudwalili or Houtbosch, a hill on the northern bank of the Umqwempisi River (Bea. VIII.); thence to a beacon on the only flat-topped rock, about 10 feet high and about 30 yards in circumference at its base, situated on the south side of the Lamsamane range of hills, and overlooking the valley of the great Usuto River; this rock being 45 yards north of the road from Camden and Lake Banagher to the forests on the Usuto River (sometimes called Sandhlanas Beacon) (Bea. VII.); thence to the Gulungwana or Ibubulundi, four smooth bare hills, the highest in that neighbourhood, situated to the south of the Umtuli River (Bea. VI.), thence to a flat-topped rock, 8 feet high, on the crest of the Busuku, a low rocky range south-west of the Impulazi River (Bea. V.); thence to a low bare hill on the north-east of, and overlooking the Impulazi River, to the south of it being a tributary of the Impulazi, with a considerable waterfall, and the road from the river passing 200 yards to the north-west of the beacon (Bea. IV.); thence to the highest point of the Mapumula range, the water-shed of the Little Usuto River on the north, and the Umpulazi River on the south, the hill, the top of which is a bare rock, falling abruptly towards the Little Usuto (Bea. III.); thence to the western point of a double-pointed rocky hill, precipitous on all sides, called Makwana, its top being a bare rock (Bea. II.); thence to the top of a rugged hill of considerable height falling abruptly to the Komati River, this hill being the northern extremity of the Isilotwani range, and separated from the highest peak of the range Inkomokazi (a sharp cone) by a deep neck (Bea. I.). (On a ridge in the straight line between Beacons I. and II. is an intermediate beacon.) From Beacon I. the boundary runs to a hill across the Komati River, and thence along the crest of the range of hills known as the Makongwa, which runs north-east and south-west, to Kamhlubana Peak; thence in a straight line to Mananga, a point in the Libombo range, and thence to the nearest point in the Portuguese frontier on the Libombo range; thence along the summits of the Libombo range to the middle of the poort where the Komati River passes through it, called the lowest Komati Poort; thence in a north by easterly direction to Pokioens Kop, situated on the north side of the Olifant's River, where it passes through the ridges; thence about north-north-west to the nearest point of Serra di Chicundo; and thence to the junction of the Pafori River with the Limpopo or Crocodile River; thence up the course of the Limpopo River to the point where the Marique River falls into it. Thence up the course of the Marique River to 'Derde Poort,' where it passes through a low range of hills, called Sikwane, a beacon (No. 10) being erected on the spur of said range near to, and westward of, the banks of the river; thence, in a straight line, through this beacon to a beacon (No. 9), erected on the top of the same range, about 1,700 yards distant from beacon No. 10; thence, in a straight line, to a beacon (No. 8) erected on the highest point of an isolated hill, called Dikgagong, or 'Wildebeest Kop,' situated south-eastward of, and about 3-1/3 miles distant from a high hill, called Moripe; thence, in a straight line, to a beacon (No. 7) erected on the summit of an isolated hill or 'koppie' forming the eastern extremity of the range of hills called Moshweu, situated to the northward of, and about two miles distant from, a large isolated hill called Chukudu-Chochwa; thence, in a straight line, to a beacon (No. 6) erected on the summit of a hill forming part of the same range, Moshweu; thence, in a straight line, to a beacon (No. 5) erected on the summit of a pointed hill in the same range; thence, in a straight line, to a beacon (No. 4) erected on the summit of the western extremity of the same range; thence, in a straight line, to a beacon (No. 3) erected on the summit of the northern extremity of a low, bushy hill, or 'koppie,' near to and eastward of the Notwane River; thence, in a straight line, to the junction of the stream called Metsi-Mashware with the Notwane River (No. 2); thence up the course of the Notwane River to Sengoma, being the poort where the river passes through the Dwarsberg range; thence, as described in the Award given by Lieutenant-Governor Keate, dated October 17, 1871, by Pitlanganyane (narrow place), Deboaganka or Schaapkuil, Sibatoul (bare place), and Maclase, to Ramatlabama, a pool on a spruit north of the Molopo River. From Ramatlabama the boundary shall run to the summit of an isolated hill called Leganka; thence, in a straight line, passing north-east of a Native Station, near 'Buurman's Drift,' on the Molopo River, to that point on the road from Mosiega to the old drift, where a road turns out through the Native Station to the new drift below; thence to 'Buurman's Old Drift'; thence, in a straight line, to a marked and isolated clump of trees near to and north-west of the dwelling-house of C. Austin, a tenant on the farm 'Vleifontein,' No. 117; thence, in a straight line, to the north-western corner beacon of the farm 'Mooimeisjesfontein,' No 30; thence, along the western line of the said farm 'Mooimeisjesfontein,' and in prolongation thereof, as far as the road leading from 'Ludik's Drift,' on the Molopo River, past the homestead of 'Mooimeisjesfontein,' towards the Salt Pans near Harts River; thence, along the said road, crossing the direct road from Polfontein to Sehuba, and until the direct road from Polfontein to Lotlakane or Pietfontein is reached; thence, along the southern edge of the last-named road towards Lotlakane, until the first garden ground of that station is reached; thence, in a south-westerly direction, skirting Lotlakane, so as to leave it and all its garden ground in native territory, until the road from Lotlakane to Kunana is reached; thence along the east side, and clear of that road towards Kunana, until the garden grounds of that station are reached; thence, skirting Kunana, so as to include it and all its garden ground, but no more, in the Transvaal, until the road from Kunana to Mamusa is reached; thence, along the eastern side and clear of the road towards Mamusa, until a road turns out towards Taungs; thence, along the eastern side and clear of the road towards Taungs, till the line of the district known as 'Stellaland' is reached, about 11 miles from Taungs; thence, along the line of the district Stellaland, to the Harts River, about 24 miles below Mamusa; thence, across Harts River, to the junction of the roads from Monthe and Phokwane; thence, along the western side and clear of the nearest road towards 'Koppie Enkel,' an isolated hill about 36 miles from Mamusa, and about 18 miles north of Christiana, and to the summit of the said hill; thence, in a straight line, to that point on the north-east boundary of Griqualand West as beaconed by Mr. Surveyor Ford, where two farms, registered as Nos. 72 and 75, do meet, about midway between the Vaal and Harts Rivers, measured along the said boundary of Griqualand West; thence to the first point where the north-east boundary of Griqualand West meets the Vaal River. ARTICLE II. The Government of the South African Republic will strictly adhere to the boundaries defined in the first Article of this Convention, and will do its utmost to prevent any of its inhabitants from making any encroachments upon lands beyond the said boundaries. The Government of the South African Republic will appoint Commissioners upon the eastern and western borders, whose duty it will be strictly to guard against irregularities and all trespassing over the boundaries. Her Majesty's Government will if necessary appoint Commissioners in the native territories outside the eastern and western borders of the South African Republic to maintain order and prevent encroachments. Her Majesty's Government and the Government of the South African Republic will each appoint a person to proceed together to beacon off the amended south-west boundary as described in Article I of this Convention; and the President of the Orange Free State shall be requested to appoint a referee to whom the said persons shall refer any questions on which they may disagree respecting the interpretation of the said Article, and the decision of such referee thereon shall be final. The arrangement already made, under the terms of Article 19 of the Convention of Pretoria, of the 3rd August, 1881, between the owners of the farms Grootfontein and Valleifontein on the one hand, and the Barolong authorities on the other, by which a fair share of the water supply of the said farms shall be allowed to flow undisturbed to the said Barolongs, shall continue in force. ARTICLE III. If a British officer is appointed to reside at Pretoria or elsewhere within the South African Republic to discharge functions analogous to those of a Consular officer, he will receive the protection and assistance of the Republic. ARTICLE IV. The South African Republic will conclude no treaty or engagement with any State or nation other than the Orange Free State, nor with any native tribe to the eastward or westward of the Republic, until the same has been approved by Her Majesty the Queen. Such approval shall be considered to have been granted if Her Majesty's Government shall not, within six months after receiving a copy of such treaty (which shall be delivered to them immediately upon its completion), have notified that the conclusion of such treaty is in conflict with the interests of Great Britain or of any of Her Majesty's possessions in South Africa. ARTICLE V. The South African Republic will be liable for any balance which may still remain due of the debts for which it was liable at the date of Annexation--to wit, the Cape Commercial Bank Loan, the Railway Loan, and the Orphan Chamber Debt--which debts will be a first charge upon the revenues of the Republic. The South African Republic will moreover be liable to her Majesty's Government for £250,000, which will be a second charge upon the revenues of the Republic. ARTICLE VI. The debt due as aforesaid by the South African Republic to Her Majesty's Government will bear interest at the rate of three and a half per cent, from the date of the ratification of this Convention, and shall be repayable by a payment for interest and Sinking Fund of six pounds and ninepence per £100 per annum, which will extinguish the debt in twenty-five years. The said payment of six pounds and ninepence per £100 shall be payable half-yearly in British currency at the close of each half-year from the date of such ratification: Provided always that the South African Republic shall be at liberty at the close of any half-year to pay off the whole or any portion of the outstanding debt. Interest at the rate of three and a half per cent, on the debt as standing under the Convention of Pretoria shall as heretofore be paid to the date of the ratification of this Convention. ARTICLE VII. All persons who held property in the Transvaal on the 8th day of August 1881 and still hold the same, will continue to enjoy the rights of property which they have enjoyed since the 12th April, 1877. No person who has remained loyal to Her Majesty during the late hostilities shall suffer any molestation by reason of his loyalty; or be liable to any criminal prosecution or civil action for any part taken in connection with such hostilities; and all such persons will have full liberty to reside in the country, with enjoyment of all civil rights, and protection for their persons and property. ARTICLE VIII. The South African Republic renews the declaration made in the Sand River Convention, and in the Convention of Pretoria, that no slavery or apprenticeship partaking of slavery will be tolerated by the Government of the said Republic. ARTICLE IX. There will continue to be complete freedom of religion and protection from molestation for all denominations, provided the same be not inconsistent with morality and good order; and no disability shall attach to any person in regard to rights of property by reason of the religious opinions which he holds. ARTICLE X. The British Officer appointed to reside in the South African Republic will receive every assistance from the Government of the said Republic in making due provision for the proper care and preservation of the graves of such of Her Majesty's Forces as have died in the Transvaal; and, if need be, for the appropriation of land for the purpose. ARTICLE XI. All grants or titles issued at any time by the Transvaal Government in respect of land outside the boundary of the South African Republic, as defined in Article I, shall be considered invalid and of no effect, except in so far as any such grant or title relates to land that falls within the boundary of the South African Republic; and all persons holding any such grant so considered invalid and of no effect will receive from the Government of the South African Republic such compensation, either in land or in money, as the Volksraad shall determine. In all cases in which any Native Chiefs or other authorities outside the said boundaries have received any adequate consideration from the Government of the South African Republic for land excluded from the Transvaal by the first Article of this Convention, or where permanent improvements have been made on the land, the High Commissioner will recover from the native authorities fair compensation for the loss of the land thus excluded, or of the permanent improvements thereon. ARTICLE XII. The independence of the Swazis, within the boundary line of Swaziland, as indicated in the first Article of this Convention, will be fully recognized. ARTICLE XIII. Except in pursuance of any treaty or engagement made as provided in Article 4 of this Convention, no other or higher duties shall be imposed on the importation into the South African Republic of any article coming from any part of Her Majesty's dominions than are or may be imposed on the like article coming from any other place or country; nor will any prohibition be maintained or imposed on the importation into the South African Republic of any article coming from any part of Her Majesty's dominions which shall not equally extend to the like article coming from any other place or country. And in like manner the same treatment shall be given to any article coming to Great Britain from the South African Republic as to the like article coming from any other place or country. These provisions do not preclude the consideration of special arrangements as to import duties and commercial relations between the South African Republic and any of Her Majesty's colonies or possessions. ARTICLE XIV. All persons, other than natives, conforming themselves to the laws of the South African Republic _(a)_ will have full liberty, with their families, to enter, travel, or reside in any part of the South African Republic; _(b)_ they will be entitled to hire or possess houses, manufactories, warehouses, shops, and premises; _(c)_ they may carry on their commerce either in person or by any agents whom they may think fit to employ; _(d)_ they will not be subject, in respect of their persons or property, or in respect of their commerce or industry, to any taxes, whether general or local, other than those which are or may be imposed upon citizens of the said Republic. ARTICLE XV. All persons, other than natives, who established their domicile in the Transvaal between the 12th day of April, 1877, and the 8th August, 1881, and who within twelve months after such last-mentioned date have had their names registered by the British Resident, shall be exempt from all compulsory military service whatever. ARTICLE XVI. Provision shall hereafter be made by a separate instrument for the mutual extradition of criminals, and also for the surrender of deserters from Her Majesty's Forces. ARTICLE XVII. All debts contracted between the 12th April, 1877, and the 8th August, 1881, will be payable in the same currency in which they may have been contracted. ARTICLE XVIII. No grants of land which may have been made, and no transfers or mortgages which may have been passed between the 12th April, 1877, and the 8th August, 1881, will be invalidated by reason merely of their having been made or passed between such dates. All transfers to the British Secretary for Native Affairs in trust for natives will remain in force, an officer of the South African Republic taking the place of such Secretary for Native Affairs. ARTICLE XIX. The Government of the South African Republic will engage faithfully to fulfil the assurances given, in accordance with the laws of the South African Republic, to the natives at the Pretoria Pitso by the Royal Commission in the presence of the Triumvirate and with their entire assent, (1) as to the freedom of the natives to buy or otherwise acquire land under certain conditions, (2) as to the appointment of a commission to mark out native locations, (3) as to the access of the natives to the courts of law, and (4) as to their being allowed to move freely within the country, or to leave it for any legal purpose, under a pass system. ARTICLE XX. This Convention will be ratified by a Volksraad of the South African Republic within the period of six months after its execution, and in default of such ratification this Convention shall be null and void. Signed in duplicate in London this 27th day of February, 1884. HERCULES ROBINSON. S.J.P. KRUGER. S.J. DU TOIT. N.J. SMIT. APPENDIX C. PRESIDENT KRUGER'S AFFAIRS IN THE RAADS. 1889. PRESIDENT. _July_.--His Honour accepts a loan of £7,000 from the State funds at 2-1/2 per cent. interest (current rate being about 6 per cent.). 1890. _July 4_.--The PRESIDENT said: Mr. Taljaard yesterday threw in my teeth that I took advantage of my position to benefit my own relations. I assure you that I have not done anything of the kind. Unfortunately, one of my relatives who is a speculator has got a concession, which I am in duty bound to carry out. But I am deeply grieved that Mr. Taljaard said what he did say. In future, I can assure you not a single member of my family shall receive a single office. I will not even make one of them a constable. I have children myself, but I have left them on the farm rather than put them in office to draw money from the State. 1891. _May_.--In answer to a request that President Kruger would allow his name to be used as patron of a ball in honour of Her Majesty's birthday: SIR, In reply to your favour of the 12th instant, requesting me to ask His Honour the State President to consent to his name being used as a patron of a ball to be given at Johannesburg on the 26th inst., I have been instructed to inform you that His Honour considers a ball as Baal's service, for which reason the Lord ordered Moses to kill all offenders; and as it is therefore contrary to His Honour's principles, His Honour cannot consent to the misuse of his name in such connection. I have, etc., F. ELOFF, _Pr. Secretary._ 1892. FIRST RAAD. PRESIDENT. _May 24_.--It was resolved that a dam be constructed on the President's farm 'Geduld' at a cost of £4,500, at the expense of the Treasury. SECOND RAAD. The Public Works Department report that the road across the President's farm 'Geduld,' estimated to cost £1,500, had actually cost £5,000. Mr. MEYER stated that this road was of absolutely no use to anyone but the owner of the farm! FIRST RAAD. _June 15_.--Letter from Mr. Mare, Deacon, on behalf of the United Church, Pretoria, complaining that of the twelve erven given by Government to the Church, they had been deprived of four, which had been handed over to the President's Church, the Gerevoormede or Dopper, and two of these had again been transferred to the President himself. _June 16_.--After a lengthy discussion it was resolved that the President is entirely exonerated. The Raad further expressed its disapproval of this conduct of a Christian Church, whose duty it should be to foster Christian love, and set an example to the burghers. FIRST RAAD. _August 2_.--A memorial was read from Lichtenburg, praying for a stringent investigation into the Report of the Estimates Committee of 1890, in which it was stated that of £140,000 spent on the Pretoria streets, vouchers for £22,000 were missing. The Raad decided on the President's stating that nothing was wrong with the accounts to send the memorialists a copy of the resolution of last year. 1893. _July 17_.--The PRESIDENT said it was simply murdering the erection of factories to say there should be no concessions. He denied that factories could be erected without concessions. If the Raad wished to throw out all concessions, well and good. That simply meant the fostering of industries in other countries. STANDS SCANDAL.{54} _August 3_.--The PRESIDENT said that speculation, when fairly conducted, was justifiable, and the Government had acted according to the circumstances, and in the interests of the State. The Government had no private interests in view, but thought the sale was quite justifiable. The Minister of Mines was then attacked for granting stands to Raad officials when higher offers had been made. Footnote for Appendix C {54} By this name is known the series of transactions in which Government land in Johannesburg was sold out of hand to certain private individuals at a nominal figure, many thousands of pounds below the then market value. APPENDIX D. VOLKSRAAD DEBATES. _Extracts from the Published Reports._ 1889. _May 8_.--On the application of the Sheba G. M. Co. for permission to erect an aërial tram from the mine to the mill, Mr. GROBLAAR asked whether an aërial tram was a balloon or whether it could fly through the air. The only objection that the Chairman had to urge against granting the tram was that the Company had an English name, and that with so many Dutch ones available. Mr. TALJAARD objected to the word 'participeeren' (participate) as not being Dutch, and to him unintelligible: 'I can't believe the word is Dutch; why have I never come across it in the Bible if it is?' _June 18_.--On the application for a concession to treat tailings, Mr. TALJAARD wished to know if the words 'pyrites' and 'concentrates' could not be translated into the Dutch language. He could not understand what it meant. He had gone to night-school as long as he had been in Pretoria, and even now he could not explain everything to his burghers. He thought it a shame that big hills should be made on ground under which there might be rich reefs, and which in future might be required for a market or outspan. He would support the recommendation on condition that the name of the quartz should be translated into Dutch, as there might be more in this than some of them imagined. REDUCTION OF IMPORT DUTIES ON EATABLES. _June 20_.--Mr. WOLMARANS said the diggers simply did not want to buy from the Boers; there was plenty of meat and bread in the land, and the Boers could not get good prices for their cattle. Mr. VAN HEERDEN could not see how the inhabitants of the State would benefit in the least by lowering the tariff. Messrs. LOMBAARD and WOLMARANS both declared that when duties were at their highest groceries etc. were at their cheapest. Mr. TALJAARD thought that members who were in favour of lowering the tariff did not act for the benefit of the country. 1890. _May 29_.--A discussion of considerable length took place on a petition from burghers of Gatsrand, Potchefstroom district, praying that at least two-thirds of the Government money now lying idle in the banks should be given out to agriculturists as loans, and the remainder for other purposes. _July 2_.--His Honour was asked why he did not suppress all sweepstakes and races. The PRESIDENT said gambling and lotteries were in conflict with the Word of God, but it was also the duty of man to have exercise and to exercise his horses. For that reason an exception had been made in the Bill as to horse-races, etc. INCREASE OF OFFICIALS' SALARIES. _July 7_.--The PRESIDENT supported the increase. He promised the Raad--and he had done this before--that whenever there was a falling off in the revenue, he would at once reduce the salaries. He had said this before, and if members did not believe him let them call him a liar at once. 1891. SECOND RAAD. _June 5_.--Mr. ESSELEN objected to minutes not being full enough. Mr. TALJAARD accused Mr. Esselen of insulting the Raad. A discussion ensued on minutes, in which certain proposals which had been rejected had not been incorporated. Several members said that the incorporation of proposals that had been rejected would entail some members being held up to the scorn of the public. ESTIMATES. _June 24_.--Two hundred vouchers were found to be missing from the yearly accounts, and no explanation could be given. Also £13,000 had been given on loan to the Boeren Winkel (Boer General Store--a private mercantile venture). _July 27_.--Mr. MARE maintained that the Public Works were badly administered. The PRESIDENT dashed down the papers in front of him and stalked out of the Raad, after emphatically denying that money had been wasted. _July 27_.--At the debate on the question of appointing a State financier, who could among other things be held responsible for the disappearance of vouchers, the Auditor-General said that he did not want an official of that nature, who would be always snivelling about his books. CLAUSE TWENTY-THREE OF THE GOLD LAW. _August 5_.--The PRESIDENT said that owners of properties had quite sufficient privileges already, and he did not want to give them more. Mr. LOMBAARD said the Gold Fields wanted too much. The revenue from the Gold Fields was already less than the expenditure. He was of opinion that the best course would be to let the Gold Fields go to the devil and look after themselves. 1892 SECOND RAAD. _May 6._--Protracted discussion arose on the Postal Report, the Conservatives being opposed to erecting pillar-boxes in Pretoria on the ground that they were extravagant and effeminate. OOM DYLE (Mr. TALJAARD) said that he could not see why people wanted to be always writing letters. He wrote none himself. In the days of his youth he had written a letter, and had not been afraid to travel fifty miles and more on horseback and by wagon to post it; and now people complained if they had to go one mile. FIRST RAAD. _May 21_.--On the question of abolishing the post of Minute-Keeper to the Executive the President fell into a passion with Mr. Loveday who thought a Minute-Keeper unnecessary, and left the Raad in a temper. _June 13_.--The PRESIDENT said the reason why he did not subsidize some papers by giving them advertisements was that they did not defend the Government. It was the rule everywhere to give advertisements to papers which supported the Government. PRESIDENT AND GENERAL. _July 21_.--General JOUBERT tenders his resignation as Chairman of the Chicago Exhibition Committee. He had written again and again to the President and State Secretary for an intimation of the Government's intention with regard to the amount on the Estimates, but his communications were treated with silent contempt. The PRESIDENT made a long speech, in which he said he felt great grief at being thus falsely charged by the General, who was also a member of the Executive. Still he would only bless those who spitefully used him and would not blacken the General. SECOND RAAD. _July 21_.--After the resolution had been taken on Mr. Van Niekerk's proposition regarding compensation for claims not yet worked out (Clause 60 of Gold Law), the PRESIDENT was still speaking, and objecting to the recording of Van Niekerk's objection to the passing of the Gold Law Clause Amendment, when Mr. ESSELEN called 'Order, Order!' several times. The PRESIDENT said he was insulted by Mr. Esselen and would withdraw unless he apologized. The Raad adjourned, as Mr. Esselen refused. FIRST RAAD. LOCUST EXTERMINATION. _July 21_.--Mr. Roos said locusts were a plague, as in the days of King Pharaoh, sent by God, and the country would assuredly be loaded with shame and obloquy if it tried to raise its hand against the mighty hand of the Almighty. Messrs. DECLERQ and STEENKAMP spoke in the same strain, quoting largely from the Scriptures. The CHAIRMAN related a true story of a man whose farm was always spared by the locusts, until one day he caused some to be killed. His farm was then devastated. Mr. STOOP conjured the members not to constitute themselves terrestrial gods and oppose the Almighty. Mr. LUCAS MEYER raised a storm by ridiculing the arguments of the former speakers, and comparing the locusts to beasts of prey which they destroyed. Mr. LABUSCHAGNE was violent. He said the locusts were quite different from beasts of prey. They were a special plague sent by God for their sinfulness. _July 26_.--Mr. DE BEER attacking the railways said they were already beginning to eat the bitter fruits of them. He was thinking of trekking to Damaraland, and his children would trek still further into the wilderness out of the reach of the iron horse. _August 16_.--Mr. DE BEER said he saw where all the opposition to duties came from. It was English blood boiling to protect English manufacture. 1893. _June 21_.--A memorial was read from certain burghers of Waterberg about children beating their parents, and praying that such children should not be allowed to become officials of the State or sit in Volksraad! Mr. DE BEER--the Member for Waterberg--who in the days of his hot youth is said to have given his father a sound thrashing, and is the one aimed at by the memorialists, denied all knowledge of the memorial. CHARLESTOWN EXTENSION. _August 24_.--Mr. WOLMARANS opposed the line, as it would compete with the Delagoa Bay Railway, for which the State was responsible. Mr. LE CLERQ maintained that the Cape Free State line was against the interests of the burghers, as a tremendous number of cattle were brought into the State from outside countries. Mr. MALAN said he would never vote for this line. Mr. ROOS referred to the sacred voice of the people, which he said was against railways. The extension was eventually approved of. 1894. FIRST RAAD. _May 14_.--A debate took place upon the clause that members should appear in the House clad in broadcloth and having white neckties. Mr. JAN DE BEER complained of the lack of uniformity in neckties. Some wore a Tom Thumb variety, and others wore scarves. This was a state of things to be deplored, and he considered that the Raad should put its foot down and define the size and shape of neckties. JAM CONCESSION. _August 28_.--The PRESIDENT said he was against concessions generally speaking, but there were cases where exceptions should be made. There was for instance the Jam Concession. The manufacture of jam ought to be protected. REDUCTION OF POSTAGE FROM TWOPENCE TO ONE PENNY THROUGHOUT THE REPUBLIC. _August 22_.--Mr. WOLMARANS opposed the reduction, saying the Postal Department would probably show a deficit at the end of the year. And besides who would benefit? Certainly not the farmers. Mr. LOMBAARD also was against the reduction. Mr. DE LA REY said speculators could afford to pay the present rates of postage, and as the reduction would only benefit the townspeople, let matters remain unaltered. If he resided in a town and speculated he would be able to pay twopence. Mr. SCHUTTE said the Postal Department was run at a loss at present, and if they further reduced the tariff things would go very badly with them. Reduction rejected, 13 to 9. INCREASE OF REPRESENTATION. _September 6_.--The PRESIDENT throughout the debate maintained that there was no advantage to be gained by increased representation, and that business could be more quickly transacted with a small number of members. He disagreed with those members who wished to give big towns representatives as the Raad would be swamped with town members. After the rejection of various proposals the PRESIDENT rose and pointed out it would mean ruination to the country if the Raad resolved to increase the number of the members, and amidst some confusion he left, declining to occupy the Presidential chair, muttering that the Raad was large enough already and if it were increased it would be a shame. EDUCATION QUESTION. _September 7_.--The Committee reported that a number of memorials had been received, praying that more hours weekly should be devoted to the English language. Counter memorials had also been received. The Committee advised the Raad not to grant the request of more hours for English. Mr. LOMBAARD thought the Raad was bound to refuse the request, and it would be useless to discuss the matter. Mr. DE BEER could see no harm in granting the request, in fact it was their duty to do so. Mr. SPIES considered there was no necessity to teach English in the State. Trade did not require it, and they could get on very well without English. Let the English remain in their own country. The PRESIDENT was opposed to extending the hours. He did not object to English being taught, but then it must not interfere with the language of the country to the prejudice of the latter language. He had schools upon his farm, and parents objected to their children being taught English in those schools. After a very little while they could write English as well as or better than their own language, and neglected Dutch for English. _The Dutch language could not be maintained against English in competition._ Mr. WOLMARANS also spoke against the English language saying that if they went through the list of those who had signed the memorial for the annexation of the Transvaal by the English, they would find without exception that those who signed were English-speaking. He was against children being taught English so early, as when they were taught young their minds became poisoned with English views. Mr. OTTO agreed with the spirit of the Committee's report. This was a Dutch country, with Dutch laws, and why should they be asked to exchange the Dutch language for the English? What had the English done for the country that this should be asked? The CHAIRMAN thought many members made too much of the English language already. One language was sufficient, and if a man was properly educated in his own tongue that should suffice. Mr. LE CLERQ and Mr. PRINSLOO both cautioned the Raad against foreign languages in their schools. Mr. LOVEDAY pointed out the absurdity of saying that the National Independence depended upon one language only being used, and pointed to the American and Swiss Republics as examples. Mr. LOMBAARD in the course of a violent speech said those people who wanted English taught in the State-aided schools were aiming at the independence of the State. They wanted to bring dissension in the midst of the burghers by teaching new and wrong ideas, and they became indignant because the burghers would not allow it. He was ashamed that members should argue in favour of injuring their independence: English should not be taught in the State-aided schools. The law remained unaltered by 12 to 10. 1895. _July 26_.--The matter of purchasing diamond drills cropping up, the PRESIDENT said it was true that the two industries mining and agriculture went hand in hand, but it must be remembered that every fresh goldfield opened meant a fresh stream of people and extra expenses. He hoped the Raad would excuse him referring to it, but the Raad took away the revenue and still asked for money. There was the reduction of postage; now it was asked to spend money on boring machines, when each new field meant so much extra expense. Machines for water boring were cheap and not fitted with diamonds like those for mining, which required to be handled by experts. It must be remembered that money voted for agricultural purposes was spent here, while for the gold industry it was sent away. The Raad must be careful how the money was voted. FIRST RAAD. FIRING AT THE CLOUDS TO BRING DOWN RAIN CONSIDERED IMPIOUS. _August 5_.--A memorial was read from Krugersdorp praying that the Raad would pass a law to prohibit the sending up of bombs into the clouds to bring down rain, as it was a defiance of God and would most likely bring down a visitation from the Almighty. The Memorial Committee reported that they disapproved of such a thing, but at the same time they did not consider they could make a law on the subject. Mr. A.D. WOLMARANS said he was astonished at this advice, and he expected better from the Commission. If one of their children fired towards the clouds with a revolver they would thrash him. Why should they permit people to mock at the Almighty in this manner? It was terrible to contemplate. He hoped that the Raad would take steps to prevent such things happening. The CHAIRMAN (who is also a member of the Memorial Commission) said the Commission thought that such things were only done for a wager. Mr. ERASMUS said they were not done for a wager but in real earnest. People at Johannesburg actually thought that they could bring down the rain from the clouds by firing cannons at them. Mr. JAN MEYER said such things were actually done in Johannesburg. Last year during the drought men were engaged to send charges of dynamite into the clouds. They fired from the Wanderers' Ground and from elsewhere, but without result. Then some one went to Germiston and fired at a passing cloud; but there was no rain. The cloud sailed away, and the heavens became clear and beautifully blue. He had reported the matter to the Government. Mr. DU TOIT (Carolina) said he had heard that there were companies in Europe which employed numbers of men to do nothing but shoot at the clouds simply to bring down rain. It was wonderful that men could think of doing such things; they ought to be prohibited here. He did not consider that the Raad would be justified in passing a law on the subject, however; but he thought all the same that they should express their strongest disapproval of such practices. Mr. BIRKENSTOCK ridiculed the idea of people forcing rain from the clouds. In some of the Kaffir countries they had witch-doctors who tried to bring down rain; whether they succeeded or not was a different matter. Still, if people were foolish enough to try and force the clouds to discharge rain, the Legislature ought not to interfere to prevent them. He did not agree with the idea of firing at the clouds, but did not consider that an Act should be passed to prevent it. The CHAIRMAN said if such things were actually done--and he was unaware of it--those who did it ought to be prevented from repeating it. After a further discussion, Mr. A.D. WOLMARANS moved: 'That this Raad, considering the memorial now on the Order, resolves to agree with the same, and instructs the Government to take the necessary steps to prevent a repetition of the occurrences referred to.' SECOND RAAD. BARMAIDS. The article for the abolition of barmaids was dealt with. Mr. WATKINS declared himself strongly against such an article. He could not see why females should be prevented from dispensing liquor. Such a clause would prevent many respectable young women from making a living. Mr. PRETORIUS said there were many memorials on this subject, and in compliance with the wish expressed therein the article was inserted in the Liquor Law. Of course, it was for the Raad to decide. Mr. RENSBURG spoke strongly against the clause. According to it the proprietor's wife would be prevented from going behind the counter. He would not deny that there were some barmaids who were not strictly virtuous, but to accuse them as a class of being dangerous was going too far. Many of the memorials were signed by women. These memorials were drawn by men whom he considered were hypocrites, and they ought to be ashamed of themselves for their narrow-mindedness. Mr. VAN STADEN said he did not like to take the bread out of the mouths of a great many women. Mr. KOENIG suggested that they could become chambermaids. APPENDIX E. MALABOCH. _September 4_.--An Executive resolution was read, stating that the Executive had decided to deprive Malaboch of his rights of chieftainship, and keep him in the custody of the Government, and that his tribe be broken up and apprenticed out to burghers, each burgher applying to have one or two families upon payment of £3 per family per annum. The Executive wished the Raad to approve of this; the Government had the right to do this according to law. This was without prejudice to the trial before the High Court. Perhaps when the Krijgsraad assembled it would be decided to try him before the High Court on charges of murder and rebellion. Mr. JEPPE thought this was a matter for the High Court, and counselled the Raad to adopt that course, giving the chief a public trial. The PRESIDENT said the Executive acted strictly in accordance with the law; it was not necessary for the Government to send the case to the High Court, as it had the power to decide native cases. For instance, in the case of Lo Bengula and his headmen, they were not tried by any High Court. Mr. MEYER thought they should give Malaboch a fair trial. Finally Mr. MEYER moved, and Mr. JEPPE seconded, that Executive resolution be accepted for notice. APPENDIX F. THE GREAT FRANCHISE DEBATE. The following extract is made from the Report of the great Franchise Debate, published in the Johannesburg _Star_, August 17, 1895: EXTENSION OF THE FRANCHISE.--MONSTER UITLANDER PETITIONS.--WHAT THE BURGHERS WISH. Petitions were read praying for the extension of the franchise. The petitioners pointed out that they were all residents in the Republic, that the increase of the wealth of the country and the status of the country were due to their energy and wealth, that the number of the non-enfranchised far exceeded the number of the burghers, that taxation was so arranged that the non-enfranchised bore four-fifths of the taxes. The memorialists pointed out that one of the Republican principles was equality, but that notwithstanding the numerously signed memorials the Raad decided last year to make the Franchise Law so stringent that a new-comer could never obtain the franchise, and his children could only obtain it under severe conditions. They pointed out the danger of this, and prayed for admission under reasonable conditions. The petitions came from every part of the country, including all the Boer strongholds, and some were signed by influential officials. One petition from Johannesburg was signed by 32,479 persons, and the total signatures amounted to 35,483. Memorials to the same effect were read from a large number of farming districts, signed by 993 full burghers, who were anxious that the franchise should be extended to law-abiding citizens. These memorials contained the names of prominent farmers. There were nineteen of these last-named memorials, four of which came from different parts of the Pretoria district and three from Potchefstroom. A memorial was read from Lydenburg, suggesting that ten years' residence in the country and obedience to the law be the qualification. This was signed by about a hundred burghers. A number of memorials were read from Rustenberg, Waterberg, Piet Retief, Utrecht, Middelberg, Zoutpansberg, and Krugersdorp, signed by about 500 burghers, stating that while they valued the friendship of the peace-abiding Uitlanders they petitioned the Raad not to extend the franchise or alter last year's law. A memorial from Krugersdorp was to the effect that the franchise should not be extended until absolutely necessary, and then only in terms of Art. 4 of the Franchise Law of 1894. This was signed by thirteen persons. One was read from the Apies River and Standerton, praying that the children of Uitlanders born here should not be granted the franchise. Memorials from other places, with 523 signatures, prayed that the existing Franchise Law should be strictly enforced. Several petitions against the prohibition of the Election Committee were read. A further memorial from the Rand was read, containing 5,152 signatures, pointing out that they objected to the memorial issued by the National Union, and they wanted the system of one-man-one-vote and the ballot system adopted before they asked for the franchise. THE COMMITTEE'S RECOMMENDATIONS. The Memorial Committee recommended that the law remain unaltered, because the memorials signed by full burghers requested no extension to take place. Mr. LUCAS MEYER, who was chairman of the Memorial Commission, submitted a report, stating that he was in the minority and differed from his fellow-committeemen. There was not a single member of the Raad who would use his powers more towards maintaining the independence of the country than himself, but he was fully convinced that the Raad had as bounden duty to propose an alteration to last year's law. Proposals to do so had to emanate from the Raad. A large majority of memorialists who prayed for the extension were not burghers, but even those burghers who petitioned the Raad against the extension asked the Raad not to do so at present. That showed that they were convinced that sooner or later the extension would have to take place--cautiously perhaps, but the extension would come. Even the committee, the majority of whom were against him, recognised this. He repeated that it was his opinion that the time would come. Let the Raad then submit the proposal to the country, and if the majority of the burghers were against it, the Raad would have to stand or fall with the burghers; but at any rate they would be acting according to the will of the country, and could not be blamed for possible consequences. Recently the President said something had to be done to admit a portion of the people who were behind the dam, before the stream became so strong that the walls would be washed away and the country immersed in water. He hoped the Raad would favourably consider his proposal. Mr. TOSEN said that when the proposals came to extend the franchise, such proposals had to come from old burghers, and so far the old burghers had not signified their willingness that this should be done. On the contrary, a large number of them were against it. They did not wish to exclude the new-comers for all eternity, but just now they should make no concession. It stood to reason that the new-comers could not have so much interest in the country as the old inhabitants. He cautioned the Raad against accepting the recommendations of Mr. Meyer. _It would be contrary to Republican principles_. Yes, he repeated it would be contrary to the principles of Republicanism, and were newcomers admitted to the franchise the old burghers would be deprived of all their rights. They would not dare to vote or exercise any of their privileges. Those persons who signed the petition for the franchise said they were peaceful and law-abiding citizens, _but they gave a sign that they were not law-abiding, because they were against the law. The Election Law was there, and they should abide by it._ The CHAIRMAN called the speaker to order and advised him to keep to the point, whether it was desirable to extend the franchise or not. Mr. TOSEN said he was cut short, but in a few words he would say that he would resist to the bitter end any attempt to alter the law as it at present stood. He spoke on behalf of his constituents and himself. Mr. JEPPE, in the course of his speech, said: Who are the people who now demand from us a reasonable extension of the franchise? There are to begin with almost a thousand old burghers who consent to such extension. There are in addition 890 petitioners, also old burghers, who complain that the franchise has been narrowed by recent legislation. There are 5,100, chiefly from the Rand, who ask for extension subject to the ballot, the principle of which has already been adopted by you, and there is lastly a monster petition, bearing 35,700 names, chiefly from the Rand goldfields: and in passing I may mention that I have convinced myself that the signatures to it, with very few exceptions perhaps are undoubtedly genuine. Well, this petition has been practically signed by the entire population of the Rand. There are not three hundred people of any standing whose names do not appear there. It contains the name of the millionaire capitalist on the same page as that of the carrier or miner, that of the owner of half a district next to that of a clerk, and the signature of the merchant who possesses stores in more than one town of this Republic next to that of the official. It embraces also all nationalities: the German merchant, the doctor from Capetown, the English director, the teacher from the Paarl--they all have signed it. So have--and that is significant--old burghers from the Free State, whose fathers with yours reclaimed this country; and it bears too the signatures of some who have been born in this country, who know no other fatherland than this Republic, but whom the law regards as strangers. Then too there are the newcomers. They have settled for good: they have built Johannesburg, one of the wonders of the age, now valued at many millions sterling, and which, in a few short years, will contain from a hundred to a hundred and fifty thousand souls; they own half the soil, they pay at least three-quarters of the taxes. Nor are they persons who belong to a subservient race. They come from countries where they freely exercised political rights which can never be long denied to free-born men. They are, in short, men who in capital, energy and education are at least our equals. All these persons are gathered together, thanks to our law, into one camp. Through our own act this multitude, which contains elements which even the most suspicious amongst us would not hesitate to trust, is compelled to stand together, and so to stand in this most fatal of all questions in antagonism to us. Is that fact alone not sufficient to warn us and to prove how unstatesmanlike our policy is? What will we do with them now? Shall we convert them into friends or shall we send them away empty, dissatisfied, embittered? What will our answer be? Dare we refer them to the present law, which first expects them to wait for fourteen years and even then pledges itself to nothing, but leaves everything to a Volksraad which cannot decide until 1905? It is a law which denies all political rights even to their children born in this country. Can they gather any hope from that? Is not the fate of the petition of Mr. Justice Morice, whose request, however reasonable, could not be granted except by the alteration of the law published for twelve months and consented to by two-thirds of the entire burgher population, a convincing proof how untenable is the position which we have assumed? Well, should we resolve now to refuse this request, what will we do when as we well know must happen it is repeated by two hundred thousand one day. You will all admit the doors must be opened. What will become of us or our children on that day, when we shall find ourselves in a minority of perhaps one in twenty, without a single friend amongst the other nineteen, amongst those who will then tell us they wished to be brothers, but that we by our own act made them strangers to the Republic? Old as the world is, has an attempt like ours ever succeeded for long? Shall we say as a French king did that things will last our time, and after that we reck not the deluge? Again I ask what account is to be given to our descendants and what can be our hope in the future? Mr. DE CLERCQ opposed the extension. Mr. JAN DE BEER said he could not agree to the prayer for extension. The burghers would decide time enough when the dam was too full, or when fresh water was wanted. He had gone through the memorials, and some that wished an extension were unknown to him, even those who signed from his district. Very few persons were in favour of the extension. If the burghers wished it he would give it, he would agree to it. The people coolly asked the Raad to extend the franchise to 80,000 persons, men who were not naturalized and had nothing to lose. He did not mind extending the franchise to a few. When it was a small case he did not object, but when it came to giving away their birthright wholesale he kicked. He did not object to give the burgher right to _persons who shot Kaffirs_, or he had better say, persons who went into the native wars on behalf of the Transvaal, because they shed their blood for the country; but people who came here only to make money and that only did not deserve the franchise. Let them look at that book of signatures on the table with the 70,000 names. Who were they? (Laughter, and cries of 'Too much.') Well, 38,000 then. He had 'too much.' They were the persons, the millionaires side by side with mining workers whom Mr. Jeppe spoke of, but where did they find these people side by side? Nowhere! No, he would not grant an extension of the franchise. The PRESIDENT said he wished to say a few words on the subject, and the first thing he had to say was that those persons who signed the monster petition were unfaithful and not law-abiding. Mr. JEPPE: I deny that. The PRESIDENT: Yes--I repeat unfaithful. Mr. JEPPE (excitedly): I say they are not! The CHAIRMAN: Order, order! The PRESIDENT then endeavoured to qualify his remarks by reasserting that these people were disrespectful and disobedient to the law, because they were not naturalized. 'Now,' asked His Honour triumphantly, 'can you contradict that? No, you cannot. No one can. The law says that they must be naturalized, and they are not.' Speeches had been made that afternoon, His Honour proceeded, urging that the rich should be made burghers and not the poor. Why not the poor as well as the rich, if that were the case? But he was against granting any extension, saving in cases like that he mentioned the other day. Those who went on commando were entitled to it, but no others. Those persons who showed they loved the country by making such sacrifices were entitled to the franchise, and they should get it. These memorials were being sent in year by year, and yearly threats were made to them if they did not open the flood-gates. If the dam was full before the walls were washed over, a certain portion of the water had to be drained off. Well, this had been done in the case of commando men. They were the clean water which was drained off and taken into the inner dam which consisted of clean water, but he did not wish to take in the dirty water also. No, it had to remain in the outer dam until it was cleaned and purified. The Raad might just as well give away the independence of the country as give all these new-comers, these disobedient persons, the franchise. These persons knew there was a law, but they wished to evade it; they wished to climb the wall instead of going along the road quietly, and these persons should be kept back. He earnestly cautioned the Raad against adopting Mr. L. Meyer's proposal. Mr. D. JOUBERT said excitement would not avail them. They had to be calm and deliberate. Now, what struck him was first who would give them the assurance, were they to admit the 35,000 persons who petitioned them for the franchise, that they would maintain the independence of the country inviolate and as a sacred heritage? They had no guarantee. He could not agree with the request of the petition (here the speaker became excited, and gesticulating violently, continued), and he would never grant the request if the decision was in his hands. Mr. A.J. WOLMARANS said that his position on this question was that he would not budge an inch. Mr. JAN MEYER impugned the genuineness of the petition, and said he had represented Johannesburg in the Raad for some time, and could tell them how those things were worked. They were nearly all forgeries. He stated that as there were only 40,000 people in Johannesburg it was impossible that 38,000 of them signed. Therefore they were forgeries. The speaker concluded by saying that as long as he lived he would never risk the independence of the country by granting the franchise, _except in accordance with the law_. It was unreasonable to ask him to give up his precious birthright in this thoughtless manner. He could not do it--he would not do it! Mr. PRINSLOO said that he had gone through the petitions from Potchefstroom, and certainly he had to admit that many of the signatures were not genuine, for he found on these petitions the names of his next-door neighbours, who had never told him a word about their signing such petitions. Mr. OTTO again addressed the Raad, endeavouring to prove that memorials from Ottos Hoop contained many forgeries. He said that he did not consider the Johannesburg people who signed in that wonderful and fat book on the table to be law-abiding, and he would have none of them. The Raad had frequently heard that if the franchise were not extended there would be trouble. He was tired of these constant threats. He would say, 'Come on and fight! Come on!' (Cries of 'Order!') Mr. OTTO (proceeding): I say, 'Come on and have it out; and the sooner the better.' I cannot help it, Mr. Chairman, I must speak out. I say I am prepared to fight them, and I think every burgher of the South African Republic is with me. The CHAIRMAN (rapping violently): Order, order! Mr. OTTO: Yes, this poor South African Republic, which they say they own three-fourths of. They took it from us, and we fought for it and got it back. The CHAIRMAN: Order! Mr. OTTO: They called us rebels then. I say they are rebels. Loud cries of 'Order!' Mr. OTTO: I will say to-day, those persons who signed the memorials in that book are rebels. The CHAIRMAN: Will you keep order? You have no right to say such things. We are not considering the question of powers, but the peaceful question of the extension of the franchise to-day; and keep to the point. Mr. OTTO: Very well I will; but I call the whole country to witness that you silenced me, and would not allow me to speak out my mind. The PRESIDENT said they had to distinguish between trustworthy persons and untrustworthy, and one proof was their going on commando, and the other was their becoming naturalized. People who were naturalized were more or less worthy, and if they separated themselves from the others who would not get naturalized, and petitioned the Raad themselves, the Raad would give ear to their petition. He strongly disapproved of the Raad being deceived in the manner it had been by the forged signatures. Mr. R.K. LOVEDAY, in the course of an address dealing exhaustively with the subject, said: The President uses the argument that they should naturalize, and thus give evidence of their desire to become citizens. I have used the same argument, but what becomes of such arguments when met with the objections that the law requires such persons to undergo a probationary period extending from fourteen to twenty-four years before they are admitted to full rights of citizenship, and even after one has undergone that probationary period, he can only be admitted to full rights by resolution of the First Raad? Law 4 of 1890, being the Act of the two Volksraads, lays down clearly and distinctly that those who have been eligible for ten years for the Second Raad _can_ be admitted to full citizenship. So that, in any case, the naturalized citizen cannot obtain full rights until he reaches the age of forty years, he not being eligible for the Second Raad until he is thirty years. The child born of non-naturalized parents must therefore wait until he is forty years-of age, although at the age of sixteen he may be called upon to do military service, and may fall in the defence of the land of his birth. When such arguments are hurled at me by our own flesh and blood--our kinsmen from all parts of South Africa--I must confess that I am not surprised that these persons indignantly refuse to accept citizenship upon such unreasonable terms. The element I have just referred to--namely, the Africander element--is very considerable, and numbers thousands hundreds of whom at the time this country was struggling for its independence, accorded it moral and financial support, and yet these very persons are subjected to a term of probation extending from fourteen to twenty-four years. It is useless for me to ask you whether such a policy is just and reasonable or Republican, for there can be but one answer, and that is 'No!' Is there one man in this Raad who would accept the franchise on the same terms? Let me impress upon you the grave nature of this question, and the absolute necessity of going to the burghers without a moment's delay, and consulting and advising them. Let us keep nothing from them regarding the true position, and I am sure we shall have their hearty co-operation in any reasonable scheme we may suggest. This is a duty we owe them, for we must not leave them under the impression that the Uitlanders are satisfied to remain aliens, as stated by some of the journals. I move amongst these people, and learn to know their true feelings, and when public journals tell you that these people are satisfied with their lot, they tell you that which they know to be false. Such journals are amongst the greatest sources of danger that the country has. We are informed by certain members that a proposition for the extension of the franchise must come from the burghers, but according to the Franchise Law the proposition must come from the Raad, and the public must consent. The member for Rustenberg says that there are 9,338 burghers who have declared that they are opposed to the extension of the franchise. Upon reference to the Report, he will find that there are only 1,564 opposed to the extension. Members appear afraid to touch upon the real question at issue, but try to discredit the memorials by vague statements that some of the signatures are not genuine, and the former member for Johannesburg, Mr. J. Meyer, seems just as anxious to discredit the people of Johannesburg as formerly he was to defend them. The CHAIRMAN advanced many arguments in favour of granting the franchise to the Uitlander, but nevertheless concluded by stating that as the Raad with few exceptions were against the extension, he would go with the majority. He was not, he said, averse to the publication of Mr. Meyer's proposition, because the country would have to decide upon it; still he could not favour the extension of the franchise in the face of what had been said during the debate. Let the Raad endeavour to lighten the burden of the alien in other respects. Let the alien come to the Raad with his grievances, and let the Raad give a patient ear unto him, but he really was not entitled to the franchise. The PRESIDENT again counselled the Raad not to consent to the publication of Mr. Meyer's proposal. He did not want it put to the country. This business had been repeated from year to year until he was tired of it. And why should they worry and weary the burghers once more by asking them to decide upon Mr. Meyer's motion? There was no need for it. There was no uncertainty about it. The burghers knew their minds, and their will, which was supreme, was known. The way was open for aliens to become burghers; let them follow that road and not try to jump over the wall. They had the privilege of voting for the Second Raad if they became naturalized, and could vote for officials, and that was more than they could do in the Cape Colony. In the Colony they could not vote for a President or any official. They were all appointed. They could only vote for Raad members there. And why should they want more power here all at once? What was the cause of all this commotion? What were they clamouring for? He knew. They wanted to get leave to vote for members of the First Raad, which had the independence of the country under its control. He had been told by these people that 'if you take us on the same van with you, we cannot overturn the van without hurting ourselves as well as you.' '_Ja_,' that was true, '_maar_,' the PRESIDENT continued, they could pull away the reins and drive the van along a different route. Mr. JEPPE, again speaking, said there was one matter he must refer to. That was his Honour's remarks about the petitioners, calling them disobedient and unfaithful. The law compels no one to naturalize himself. How then could these petitioners have disobeyed it? Of course we should prefer them to naturalize. But can we be surprised if they hesitate to do so? Mr. Loveday has told you what naturalization means to them. The PRESIDENT agreed that these people were not obliged by law to naturalize, but if they wanted burgher rights they should do so, when they would get the franchise for the Second Raad; and upon their being naturalized let them come nicely to the Raad and the Raad would have something to go to the country with, and they would receive fair treatment; but, if they refused naturalization and rejected the Transvaal laws, could they expect the franchise? No. Let Mr. Jeppe go back and give his people good advice, and if they were obedient to the law and became naturalized they would not regret it; but he could not expect his people to be made full burghers if they were disobedient and refused naturalization. Let them do as he advised, and he (the President) would stand by them and support them. Mr. JEPPE said: His Honour has again asked me to advise the people of Johannesburg what to do regarding the extension of the franchise. He says they must first naturalize and then come again. Then he holds out hopes that their wishes will be met. Why then does he not support Mr. Meyer's proposal, which affects naturalized people only? What is it I am to advise the people of Johannesburg? I have had many suggestions from different members. You, Mr. Chairman, seem to support the hundred men from Lydenburg who suggest ten years' residence as a qualification. Mr. Jan Meyer suggests that those who came early to the goldfields should memorialize separately, and he would support them. Others say that only those who are naturalized should petition, and that if a few hundreds petitioned instead of 35,000, their reception would be different. Well, we have had one petition here wherein all these conditions were complied with. It was not signed by anyone who had not been here ten years, or who is not naturalized, or who could at all be suspected of being unfaithful, nor could any exception be taken to it on the ground of numbers, since it was signed by one man only, Mr. Justice Morice, and yet it was rejected. Gentlemen, I am anxiously groping for the light; but what, in the face of this, am I to advise my people? Mr. JAN DE BEER endeavoured to refute Messrs. Jeppe's and Loveday's statements, when they said a man could not become a full member until he was forty. They were out of their reckoning, because a man did not live until he was sixteen. He was out of the country. In the eyes of the law he was a foreigner until he was sixteen. (Laughter.) The member adduced other similar arguments to refute those of Messrs. Jeppe and Loveday, causing much laughter. Mr. LOVEDAY replied to the President, especially referring to his Honour's statement that he (Mr. Loveday) was wrong when he said that a person would have to wait until he was forty before he could obtain the full rights. He (Mr. Loveday) repeated and emphasized his statements of yesterday. The CHAIRMAN said there was no doubt about it. What Mr. Loveday said regarding the qualifications and how long a man would have to wait until he was qualified to become a full burgher was absolutely correct. It could not be contradicted. The law was clear on that point. There was no doubt about it. Mr. JAN DE BEER: Yes; I see now Mr. Loveday is right, and I am wrong. The law does say what Mr. Loveday said. It must be altered. The debate was closed on the third day, and Mr. Otto's motion to accept the report of the majority of the Committee, to refuse the request of the memoralists, and to refer them to the existing laws, was carried by sixteen votes to eight. APPENDIX G. TERMS OF DR. JAMESON'S SURRENDER. _Sir Hercules Robinson to Mr. Chamberlain._ Received April 6, 1896. _Government House, Capetown, March 16, 1896._ SIR, I have the honour to transmit for your information a copy of a despatch from Her Majesty's Acting Agent at Pretoria, enclosing a communication from the Government of the South African Republic, accompanied by sworn declarations, respecting the terms of the surrender of Dr. Jameson's force, a summary of which documents I telegraphed to you on the 12th instant. At my request, Lieutenant-General Goodenough has perused these sworn declarations, and informs me 'that,' in his opinion, 'Jameson's surrender was unconditional, except that his and his people's lives were to be safe so far as their immediate captors were concerned.' I have, etc., HERCULES ROBINSON, _Governor and High Commissioner._ Enclosed in above letter. _From H. Cloete, Pretoria, to the High Commissioner, Capetown._ _Pretoria, March 11th, 1896._ SIR, I have the honour to enclose for the information of your Excellency a letter this day received from the Government, a summary of which I have already sent your Excellency by telegraph. I have, etc., H. CLOETE. _Department of Foreign Affairs, Government Office, Pretoria, March 10, 1896._ Division A., R.A., 1056/1896, B., 395/96. HONOURABLE SIR, I am instructed to acknowledge the receipt of the telegram from his Excellency the High Commissioner to you, dated 6th instant, forwarded on by you to his Honour the State President, and I am now instructed to complete with further data my letter to you of 4th instant, B.B., 257/96, which I herewith confirm, containing the information which the Government then had before it respecting the surrender, and which was furnished in view of your urgent request for an immediate reply. In order to leave no room for the slightest misunderstanding, and to put an end to all false representations, the Government has summoned not only Commandant Cronjé, but also Commandant Potgieter, Commandant Malan, Field-Cornet Maartens, Assistant Field-Cornet Van Vuuren, and others, whose evidence appears to be of the greatest importance, and places the matter in a clear and plain light. The information which the Government has found published in the papers is of the following purport: 'THE DOORNKOP SURRENDER: ALLEGED CORRESPONDENCE. '_London, Monday,_ 11.15 _a.m._ 'Mr. Hawksley, the Chartered solicitor, who is defending Dr. Jameson, published the following letter to-day, which passed between Sir John Willoughby and Mr. Cronjé, the Dutch Commandant at the time of the Krugersdorp surrender: '_From Willoughby to Commandant._ '"We surrender, providing you guarantee a safe conduct out of the country for every member of the force." '_From Cronjé to Willoughby._ '"Please take notice, I shall immediately let our officers come together to decide upon your communication." '_From Cronjé to Willoughby._ '"I acknowledge your letter. The answer is, If you will undertake to pay the expenses you have caused to the Transvaal, and will lay down your arms, then I will spare the lives of you and yours. Please send me reply to this within thirty minutes."' I have now the honour to enclose for the information of His Excellency the High Commissioner and the British Government sworn declarations of: 1. Commandant Cronjé, substantiated by Field-Cornet Maartens and Assistant Field-Cornet Van Vuuren. 2. Commandant Potgieter. 3. Commandant Malan. 4. J.S. Colliers, substantiated by B.J. Viljoen, and the interpreter, M. J. Adendorff. These sworn declarations given before the State Attorney agree in all the principal points, and give a clear summary of all the incidents of the surrender, and from the main points thereof it appears, _inter alia_: That the second letter, as published above, and which is alleged to be from Cronjé to Willoughby, was not issued from Cronjé, but from Commandant Potgieter, who has undoubtedly taken up the proper standpoint, and has followed the general rule in matters of urgency, such as the one in hand, and where the Commandant-General was not present in person on the field of battle, first and before treating wishing to consult with his co-commandants in as far as was possible. That a note such as appears in his declaration was sent by Commandant Cronjé. That neither Commandant Malan nor Commandant Potgieter were present at the despatch of it. That the reply thereon from Willoughby was received by Commandant Cronjé, as appears in that declaration. That Commandant Cronjé then, in compliance with the note sent by Commandant Potgieter, as well as the other commandants and officers mentioned in the declaration of Cronjé, rode up. That Commandant Cronjé then explained his own note. That thereupon also Commandant Malan joined his co-commandants and officers, and at this time Commandants Malan, Cronjé, and Potgieter were present. That after consultation, and with the approval of Commandants Cronjé and Potgieter, Commandant Malan, by means of the interpreter Adendorff, had the following said to Dr. Jameson: 'This is Commandant Malan. He wishes you distinctly to understand that no terms can be made here. We have no right to make terms here. Terms will be made by the Government of the South African Republic. He can only secure your lives to Pretoria, until you are handed over to Commandant-General at Pretoria.' That Dr. Jameson agreed to these terms and accepted them. That thereupon by order of Dr. Jameson the arms were then also laid down. That Commandant Trichardt then appeared with the orders of the Commandant-General to himself. It now appears that these orders are those which were contained in the telegram of which I already sent you a copy by my above-quoted letter of the 4th March, 1896, and which, after the final regulation of matters such as had then taken place, was not further acted upon because as regards the surrender negotiations were in fact carried on in accordance with the orders of the Commandant-General. While putting aside the question of the surrender there is little to be said about the other points contained in the telegram under reply, there is one which is considered of sufficient importance by this Government to even still draw the attention of His Excellency the High Commissioner thereto. His Excellency says: 'I may therefore explain that an armistice had been agreed to pending my arrival.' The Government here can only think of one other misunderstanding, they having at the time of the disturbances at Johannesburg never recognized any acting party, for which reason therefore the concluding of an armistice was an impossibility. In conclusion, I have to tender thanks both to His Honour the Secretary of State and His Excellency the High Commissioner for the unprejudiced manner in which they, as against insinuations of a low character, have made known their feelings with respect to the good faith shown by His Honour the State President in his negotiations in connection with the question of the surrender of Dr. Jameson's force. I have, etc., C. VAN BOESCHOTEN, _Acting State Secretary_. _His Honour H. Cloete, Acting British Agent, Pretoria._ _Appeared before me,_ HERMANUS JACOB COSTER, _State Attorney and ex-officio J.P. of the South African Republic_, PIETER ARNOLDUS CRONJÉ, _Commandant of the Potchefstroom District, who makes oath and states:_ I was, together with H.P. Malan (Commandant of the Rustenburg District), and F.J. Potgieter (Commandant of the Krugersdorp District), one of the commanding officers of the burgher forces in the fights against Jameson. When I noticed the white flag, I instantly ordered De la Rey to approach the enemy. Instead of De la Rey, Hans Klopper, one of the men of Commandant Potgieter, went. He brought back a note from Willoughby to me. The contents of the note were that if we left them to themselves he promised to withdraw over the boundary. In reply I sent him per Hans Klopper the following note: 'John Willoughby,--I acknowledge your note, and this serves as reply, that if you guarantee the payment of the expenses which you have occasioned the South African Republic and surrender your flag together with your weapons I will spare the life of you and yours. Please send reply within thirty minutes.' When this reply was written by me neither Malan nor Potgieter were present. Thereupon he answered that he accepted the terms, and surrendered himself fully with all his arms into my hands. After receiving Willoughby's answer, I rode to Jameson's troops in order to meet the other commandants, in accordance with a note sent by Commandant Potgieter to the enemy. I went with Field-Cornets Maartens and Van Vuuren to Jameson's troops, and met Jameson. When I met him I gave him to clearly understand our agreement namely that he must plainly understand that the last clause was that I guaranteed his life and that of his men until I had handed him over to General Joubert. Thereupon I asked him if he was willing to lay down his flag and his arms, to which he replied, 'I have no flag; I am willing to lay down my arms.' Thereupon I asked him if he could declare upon oath that he had no flag, whereupon he declared under oath that he had no flag. Then Commandant Malan arrived, and then the three commanding officers, Malan, Potgieter and I, were present on the spot. Before I began speaking to Malan, Jameson called Willoughby to be present. Thereupon Malan and I spoke together about the surrender of Jameson. Whereupon Malan said, 'We can't decide anything here. Jameson must surrender unconditionally, and he must be plainly given to understand that we cannot guarantee his life any longer than till we have handed him over to General Joubert.' I fully agreed with Malan, and the interpreter Adendorff was then instructed by the three commandants jointly to convey plainly in English to Jameson what the three commandants had agreed upon. After this had been done, Jameson bowed, took his hat off, and said in English that he agreed to the terms. Thereupon he issued orders to Willoughby to command the subordinate officers to lay down their arms. Then the arms were laid down. Later on, after the arms had been laid down, Commandant Trichardt arrived with orders from the Commandant-General, and his terms were the same as those we had already laid down. P.A. CRONJÉ. Sworn before me on this 7th day of March, 1896. H. J. COSTER, _State Attorney and Ex-officio J.P._ * * * * * * * We, the undersigned, Jan. Thos. Maartens, Field-Cornet of the Ward Gatsrand, District Potchefstroom, and Daniel Johannes Jansen van Vuuren, Assistant Field-Cornet of the Ward Bovenschoonspruit, declare under oath that we were present at everything stated in the foregoing sworn declaration of Commandant P.A. Cronjé, and that that declaration is correct and in accordance with the truth. JAN. MAARTENS, D.J.J. VAN VUUREN. Sworn before me on this the 7th day of March, 1896. H. J. COSTER, _State-Attorney and ex-officio J.P._ * * * * * * * _Appeared before me_, HERMANUS JACOB COSTER, _State Attorney and ex-officio J.P. of the South African Republic_, FREDERICK JACOBUS POTGIETER, _Commandant of the Krugersdorp District, who makes oath and states:_ On the morning of January 2, I received a written report from the enemy in which was stated that he would surrender, but that he must be allowed to go back over the line. I answered thereon in writing that I would call the officers together and would then immediately notify him. The report received by me I immediately transmitted to Commandant Cronjé. A short time after I saw Commandant Cronjé with the burghers going towards the enemy. I thereupon also went towards the enemy and met Commandant Cronjé there. I then attended the discussion as set forth in the declaration given by J.T. Celliers, dated March 6, 1896, and confirmed by Messrs. Michiel Joseph Adendorff and Benjamin Johannes Vilgoen. The purport of that discussion is correctly rendered. F.J. POTGIETER, _Commandant, Krugersdorp_. This sworn before me on this the 6th day of March, 1896. H.J. COSTER, _State Attorney and ex-officio J.P._ * * * * * * * _Appeared before me_, HERMANUS JACOB COSTER, _State Attorney and ex-officio J.P. of the South African Republic_, HERCULES PHILIPPUS MALAN, _who makes oath and states:_ I was together with P.A. Cronjé, Commandant of the Krugersdorp District, one of the commanding forces in the fights against Jameson. On the morning of January 2, a despatch rider from Commandant Potgieter came up and informed me that Jameson had hoisted the white flag, and that I must quickly attend a meeting with the other commandants. When I came up to Jameson I found Cronjé and Potgieter there; and, as I saw that Cronjé had been speaking to Jameson, I asked Cronjé 'What is the subject you have been speaking about? I also wish to know it.' Cronjé told me that he had agreed with Jameson that Jameson would pay the expenses incurred by the State, and that he (Cronjé) would spare the lives of Jameson and his people till Pretoria was reached. Thereupon I answered, 'We cannot make any terms here. We have not the power to do so. Jameson must surrender unconditionally, and we can only guarantee his life until he is delivered over by us into the hands of the Commandant-General. Then he will have to submit to the decision of the Commandant-General and the Government.' When I had said this, Commandant Potgieter answered, 'I agree with that.' And Commandant Cronjé said, 'So be it, brothers.' Thereupon the interpreter (Adendorff) was instructed to translate to Jameson what had been spoken. He did so. Jameson thereupon took off his hat, bowed, and replied in English that he agreed thereto. Jameson then ordered Willoughby, who was present from the moment that I arrived, to command the subordinate officers to disarm the men, and thereupon the arms were given up. H.P. MALAN, _Commandant._ Sworn before me on this the 9th day of March, 1896. H.J. COSTER, _State Attorney and ex-oficio J.P._ * * * * * * * _Appeared before me_, HERMANUS JACOB COSTER, _State Attorney and ex-officio J.P. of the South African Republic_, JAN STEPHANOS CELLIERS, _of Pretoria, who makes oath and states:_ I came up to Jameson and his troops on the second of January (after Jameson had hoisted the white flag), together with B.G. Viljoen, Krugersdorp, and another Viljoen, whose place of residence is unknown to me. I asked one of Jameson's troopers where he was. He showed me the direction and the place where Jameson was. Jameson thereupon approached me, and I greeted him. While this took place Commandant Cronjé, the interpreter (Adendorff), and another man whose name is unknown to me, came. Cronjé was thereupon introduced by Adendorff, who spoke English, to Jameson. Thereupon Cronjé said to Jameson, 'I understand that you and your men will surrender yourselves with your flag and everything you possess?' Jameson said thereupon, 'I fight under no flag.' Cronjé then replied, 'Then I must believe you upon your word that you have no flag?' Jameson then said, 'I declare under oath that I possess no flag.' This conversation was interpreted word for word by Adendorff. Shortly afterwards Commandant Malan also arrived there. He asked, 'What is up here? Tell me the news also.' Then Cronjé told Malan that Jameson would surrender conditionally, whereupon Malan said in effect, 'There can be no question of a conditional surrender here, because we have no right to make terms. The surrender must take place unconditionally. If terms must be made, it must take place at Pretoria. We can only guarantee his life and that of his men as long as they are under us, and until the moment when they are handed over to the Commandant.' General Cronjé answered thereupon, 'So be it, brother.' Then Adendorff asked if he had to interpret this to Jameson, whereupon Malan said, 'Yes,' and thereupon said in English to Jameson, 'This is Commandant Malan. He wishes you to distinctly understand that no terms can be made here. We have no right to make terms here. Terms will be made by the Government of the South African Republic. He can only secure your lives to Pretoria, until you are handed over to the Commandant-General at Pretoria.' In reply, Jameson took off his hat, bowed, stepped backwards and said, 'I accept your terms.' Thereupon Jameson ordered Willoughby to command the subordinate officers that the troopers should lay down their arms. The arms were then laid down. J.S. CELLIERS. Sworn before me on the 6th March, 1896. H.J. COSTER, _State-Attorney and ex-officio J.P._ We, the undersigned, Benjamin Johannes Viljoen and Michiel Joseph Adendorff, the persons mentioned in the preceding declaration, declare under oath that the facts stated therein, which we witnessed, as stated above, are true and correct. B.J. VILJOEN. M.J. ADENDORFF. Sworn before me on the 6th March, 1896. H.J. COSTER, _State-Attorney and ex-officio J.P._ * * * * * * * COLONIAL OFFICE TO WAR OFFICE. _Downing Street, April 21, 1896._ SIR, I am directed by Mr. Secretary Chamberlain to request that you will lay before the Marquis of Lansdowne the undermentioned papers on the subject of the surrender of Dr. Jameson's force to the Boers. 1. A despatch from Sir Hercules Robinson, enclosing sworn declarations taken by the Government of the South African Republic. A telegraphic summary of these declarations was laid before Dr. Jameson, whose observations are contained in-- 2. A letter from the solicitor for Dr. Jameson and his fellow defendants. 3. A despatch from Sir Hercules Robinson, enclosing a sworn statement. Lord Lansdowne will observe from Sir H. Robinson's despatch of the 16th March that the declarations taken by the Government of the South African Republic were submitted to the General Officer commanding at the Cape, who gave his opinion that the surrender was unconditional. Mr. Chamberlain would be obliged if Lord Lansdowne would submit these papers to his military advisers, and obtain from them their opinion as to the terms of the surrender, which Mr. Chamberlain thinks was completed on Sir John Willoughby's acceptance of Commandant Cronjé's terms, and was therefore subject to these terms and conditions. I am, etc., R. H. MEADE. * * * * * * * WAR OFFICE TO COLONIAL OFFICE. Received April 28, 1896. _War Office, London, S.W., April 27, 1896._ SIR, I am directed by the Secretary of State for War to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 21st inst., on the subject of the surrender of Dr. Jameson's force to the Boers. In reply, the Marquis of Lansdowne, having consulted with his military adviser, desires me to observe that, whatever position Mr. Cronjé may hold in the Transvaal army, he decidedly on the occasion in question acted as an officer in authority, and guaranteed the lives of Dr. Jameson and all his men if they at once laid down their arms. The terms prescribed were accepted by Dr. Jameson's force, and they surrendered and laid down their arms, and no subsequent discussion amongst the Transvaal officers could retract the terms of this surrender. I am therefore to acquaint you, for the information of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, that the Secretary of State for War concurs with Mr. Chamberlain in considering that the surrender was completed on Sir John Willoughby's acceptance of Commandant Cronjé's terms, and was subject to these terms and conditions. I am, etc, ARTHUR L. HALIBURTON. APPENDIX H. SIR JOHN WILLOUGHBY'S REPORT TO THE WAR OFFICE. The subjoined document is printed in the form in which it was supplied to the author by a journalist, to whom it had been given as a fair statement of the case. The marginal remarks are the notes made by a member of the Reform Committee to whom it was shown. OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE EXPEDITION THAT LEFT THE PROTECTORATE AT THE URGENT REQUEST OF THE LEADING CITIZENS OF JOHANNESBURG WITH THE OBJECT OF STANDING BY THEM AND MAINTAINING LAW AND ORDER WHILST THEY WERE DEMANDING JUSTICE FROM THE TRANSVAAL AUTHORITIES. By SIR JOHN C. WILLOUGHBY, BART., Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding Dr. Jameson's Forces. [After they had dated the 'urgent' letter, and had wired to Dr. Harris (December 27): 'We will make our own notation by the aid of the letter which I shall publish.'] On Saturday, December 28, 1895, Dr. Jameson received a Reuter's telegram showing that the situation at Johannesburg had become acute. At the same time reliable information was received that the Boers in the Zeerust and Lichtenburg districts were assembling, and had been summoned to march on Johannesburg. [The same time as he got the telegrams from Johannesburg and messages by Heany and Holden on no account to move.] Preparations were at once made to act on the terms of the letter dated December 20, and already published, and also in accordance with verbal arrangements with the signatories of that letter--viz., that should Dr. Jameson hear that the Boers were collecting, and that the intentions of the Johannesburg people had become generally known, he was at once to come to the aid of the latter with whatever force he had available, and without further reference to them, the object being that such force should reach Johannesburg without any conflict. [Twaddle--in the face of Hammond's, Phillips's and Sam Jameson's wire not to move] At 3 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, December 29, everything was in readiness at Pitsani Camp. The troops were paraded, and Dr. Jameson read the letter of invitation from Johannesburg. He then explained to the force _(a)_ that no hostilities were intended; _(b)_ that we should only fight if forced to do so in self-defence; _(c)_ that neither the persons nor property of inhabitants of the Transvaal were to be molested; _(d)_ that our sole object was to help our fellow-men in their extremity, and to ensure their obtaining attention to their just demands. Dr. Jameson's speech was received with the greatest enthusiasm by the men, who cheered most heartily. The above programme was strictly adhered to until the column was fired upon on the night of the 31st. Many Boers, singly and in small parties, were encountered on the line of march; to one and all of these the pacific nature of the expedition was carefully explained. [Start from Pitsani.] The force left Pitsani Camp at 6.30 p.m., December 29, and marched through the night. At 5.15 a.m. on the morning of the 30th the column reached the village of Malmani (39 miles distant from Pitsani). [Junction effected at Malmani with B.B.P.] Precisely at the same moment the advanced guard of the Mafeking Column (under Colonel Grey) reached the village, and the junction was effected between the two bodies. For details of the composition of the combined force, as also for general particulars of the march to Krugersdorp, see sketch of the route and schedule attached (marked A. and B. respectively). [Defile at lead-mines passed.] From Malmani I pushed on as rapidly as possible in order to cross in daylight the very dangerous defile at Lead Mines. This place, distant 71 miles from Pitsani, was passed at 5.30 p.m., December 30. I was subsequently informed that a force of several hundred Boers, sent from Lichtenburg to intercept the force at this point, missed doing so by three hours only. [Letter from Commandant-General.] At our next 'off-saddle' Dr. Jameson received a letter from the Commandant-General of the Transvaal demanding to know the reason of our advance, and ordering us to return immediately. A reply was sent to this, explaining Dr. Jameson's reasons in the same terms as those used to the force at Pitsani. [Letter from High Commissioner.] At Doornport (91 miles from Pitsani), during an 'off-saddle' early on Tuesday morning, December 31, a mounted messenger overtook us, and presented a letter from the High Commissioner, which contained an order to Dr. Jameson and myself to return at once to Mafeking and Pitsani. [Reasons for not retreating.] A retreat by now was out of the question, and to comply with these instructions an impossibility. In the first place, there was absolutely no food for men or horses along the road which we had recently followed; secondly, three days at least would be necessary for our horses, jaded with forced marching, to return; on the road ahead we were sure of finding, at all events, some food for man and beast. Furthermore, we had by now traversed almost two-thirds of the total distance; a large force of Boers was known to be intercepting our retreat, and we were convinced that any retrograde movement would bring on an attack of Boers from all sides. It was felt, therefore, that to ensure the safety of our little force, no alternative remained but to push on to Krugersdorp to our friends, who we were confident would be awaiting our arrival there. Apart from the above considerations, even had it been possible to effect a retreat from Doornport, we knew that Johannesburg had risen, and felt that by turning back we should be shamefully deserting those coming to meet us. [They could not possibly _know_ it, because the rising--_i.e._ the public arming and moving of men--only began at the very hour they claim to have _known_ it, and because the first news from Johannesburg only reached them 24 hours later by the two cyclists 'Oh what a tangled web we weave, when--'] Finally, it appeared to us impossible to turn back, in view of the fact that we had been urgently called in to avert a massacre, which we had been assured would be imminent in the event of a crisis such as had now occurred. [_Vide_ the telegrams and messages to stop! How noble!] [Boer scouts.] Near Boon's store, on the evening of the 31st, an advanced patrol fell in with Lieutenant Eloff, of the Krugersdorp Volunteers. This officer, in charge of a party of 15 scouts, had come out to gain intelligence of our movements. He was detained whilst our intentions were fully explained to him, and then released at Dr. Jameson's request. [First skirmish New Year's Eve.] At midnight (New Year's Eve), while the advanced scouts were crossing a rocky wooded ridge at right angles to and barring the line of advance, they were fired on by a party of 40 Boers, who had posted themselves in this position. The scouts, reinforced by the advanced guard, under Inspector Straker, drove off their assailants after a short skirmish, during which one trooper of the M.M.P. was wounded. At Van Oudtshoorn's, early on the following morning (January 1), Dr. Jameson received a second letter from the High Commissioner, to which he replied in writing. At 9.30 a.m. the march was resumed in the usual day formation. After marching two miles, the column got clear of the hills and emerged into open country. [10.15 a.m.] About this time Inspector Drury, in command of the rearguard, sent word that a force of about 100 Boers was following him about one mile in rear. I thereupon reinforced the rearguard, hitherto consisting of a troop and one Maxim, by an additional half-troop and another Maxim. [11 a.m.] About 5 miles beyond Van Oudtshoorn's store the column was met by two cyclists bearing letters from several leaders of the Johannesburg Reform Committee. These letters expressed the liveliest approval and delight at our speedy approach, and finally contained a renewal of their promise to meet the column with a force at Krugersdorp.{55} The messengers also reported that only 300 armed Boers were in the town. This news was communicated to the troops, who received it with loud cheers. When within two miles of Hind's store, the column was delayed by extensive wire-fencing, which ran for one and a half miles on either side of the road, and practically constituted a defile. While the column was halted and the wire being cut, the country for some distance on both sides was carefully scouted. By this means it was ascertained that there was a considerable force of Boers (1) on the left front, (2) in the immediate front (retreating hastily on Krugersdorp), (3) a third party on the right flank. The force which had been following the column from Van Oudtshoorn's continued to hover in the rear. Lieutenant-Colonel White, in command of the advanced guard, sent back a request for guns to be pushed forward as a precaution in case of an attack from the Boers in front. By the time these guns reached the advanced guard, the Boers were still retreating some two miles off. A few rounds were then fired in their direction. Had Colonel White, in the first instance, opened fire with his Maxims on the Boers, whom he surprised watering their horses close to Hind's store, considerable loss would have been inflicted; but this was not our object, for with the exception of the small skirmish on the previous night, the Boers had not as yet molested the column, whose sole aim was to reach Johannesburg if possible without fighting. [1.30 p.m.] At this hour Hind's store was reached. Here the troops rested for one and a half hours. Unfortunately, hardly any provisions for men and horses were available. [3 p.m.] An officers' patrol, consisting of Major Villiers (Royal Horse Guards) and Lieutenant Grenfell (1st Life Guards) and six men, moved off for the purpose of reconnoitring the left flank of the Boer position, while Captain Lindsell, with his permanent force of advanced scouts, pushed on as usual to reconnoitre the approach by the main road. At the same time I forwarded a note to the Commandant of the forces in Krugersdorp to the effect that, in the event of my friendly force meeting with opposition on its approach, I should be forced to shell the town, and that therefore I gave him this warning in order that the women and children might be moved out of danger. [Friendly!] To this note, which was despatched by a Boer who had been detained at Van Oudtshoorn, I received no reply. At Hind's store we were informed that the force in our front had increased during the forenoon to about 800 men, of whom a large number were entrenched on the hillside. [4.30 p.m.] Four miles beyond Hind's store, the column following the scouts, which met with no opposition, ascended a steep rise of some 400 feet, and came full in view of the Boer position on the opposite side of a deep valley, traversed by a broad "sluit" or muddy water course. Standing on the plateau or spur, on which our force was forming up for action, the view to our front was as follows: Passing through our position to the west ran the Hind's store--Krugersdorp Road traversing the valley and the Boer position almost at right angles to both lines. Immediately to the north of this road, at the point where it disappeared over the sky-line on the opposite slope, lay the Queen's Battery House and earthworks, completely commanding the valley on all sides and distant 1,900 yards from our standpoint. Some 1,000 yards down the valley to the north stood a farmhouse, surrounded by a dense plantation, which flanked the valley. Half-way up the opposite slope, and adjacent to the road, stood an iron house which commanded the drift where the road crossed the above-mentioned watercourse. On the south side of the road, and immediately opposite the last-named iron house, an extensive rectangular stone wall enclosure with high trees formed an excellent advanced central defensive position. Further up the slope, some 500 yards to the south of this enclosure, stretched a line of rifle-pits, which were again flanked to the south by 'prospecting' trenches. On the sky-line numbers of Boers were apparent to our front and right front. Before reaching the plateau we had observed small parties of Boers hurrying towards Krugersdorp, and immediately on reaching the high ground the rearguard was attacked by the Boer force which had followed the column during the whole morning. I therefore had no further hesitation in opening fire on the Krugersdorp position. [4.30 p.m.] The two seven-pounders and the 12-1/2 pounder opened on the Boer line, making good practice under Captain Kincaid-Smith and Captain Gosling at 1,900 yards. [It must have been here that the waggon-loads of dead Boers weren't found.] [5 p.m.] This fire was kept up until 5 p.m. The Boers made practically no reply, but lay quiet in the trenches and battery. Scouts having reported that most of the trenches were evacuated, the first line consisting of the advanced guard (a troop of 100 men), under Colonel White advanced. Two Maxims accompanied this force; a strong troop with a Maxim formed the right and left supports on either flank. Lieutenant-Colonel Grey, with one troop B.B.P. and one Maxim, had been previously detailed to move round and attack the Boers' left. The remaining two troops, with three Maxims, formed the reserve and rearguard. The first line advance continued unopposed to within 200 yards of the watercourse, when it was checked by an exceedingly heavy cross-fire from all points of the defence. Colonel White then pushed his skirmishers forward into and beyond the watercourse. The left support under Inspector Dykes then advanced to prolong the first line to the left, but, diverging too much to his left this officer experienced a very hot flanking fire from the farmhouse and plantation, and was driven back with some loss. Colonel Grey meanwhile had pushed round on the extreme right and come into action. [5.30 p.m.] About this time Major Villiers' patrol returned and reported that the country to our right was open, and that we could easily move round in that direction. It was now evident that the Boers were in great force, and intended holding their position. Without the arrival of the Johannesburg force in rear of the Boers--an event which I had been momentarily expecting--I did not feel justified in pushing a general attack, which would have certainly entailed heavy losses on my small force. [When Celliers and Rowlands left them at 11 a.m. they had not expected anyone. _Vide_ Cellier's report and Colonel H.E. White's letter.] [6.15 p.m.] I accordingly left Inspector Drury with one troop and one Maxim to keep in check the Boers who were now lining the edge of the plateau to our left, and placed Colonel Grey with two troops B.B.P., one 12-1/2 pounder, and one Maxim to cover our left flank and continue firing on the battery and trenches south of the road. I then made a general flank movement to the right with the remaining troops. Colonel Grey succeeded in shelling the Boers out of their advanced position during the next half-hour, and blew up the battery house. [Flank movement.] Under this cover the column moved off as far as the first houses of the Randfontein group of mines, the Boers making no attempt to intercept the movement. Night was now fast approaching, and still there were no signs of the promised help from Johannesburg. I determined, therefore, to push on with all speed in the direction of that town, trusting in the darkness to slip through any intervening opposition. Two guides were obtained, the column formed in the prescribed night order of march, and we started off along a road leading direct to Johannesburg. At this moment heavy rifle and Maxim fire was suddenly heard from the direction of Krugersdorp, which lay 1-1/2 miles to the left rear. We at once concluded that this could only be the arrival of the long-awaited reinforcements, for we knew that Johannesburg had Maxims, and that the Staats'-Artillerie were not expected to arrive until the following morning. To leave our supposed friends in the lurch was out of the question. I determined at once to move to their support. [Long awaited! Why, this was only 6 hours since the cyclists left.] Leaving the carts escorted by one troop on the road I advanced rapidly across the plateau towards Krugersdorp in the direction of the firing, in the formation shown in the accompanying sketch. After advancing thus for nearly a mile the firing ceased, and we perceived the Boers moving in great force to meet the column. The flankers on the right reported another force threatening that flank. Fearing that an attempt would be made to cut us off from the ammunition carts, I ordered a retreat on them. It was now clear that the firing, whatever might have been the cause thereof, was not occasioned by the arrival of any force from Johannesburg. [This is really magnificent!] Precious moments had been lost in the attempt to stand by our friends at all costs, under the mistaken supposition that they could not fail to carry out their repeated promises,{56} renewed to us by letter so lately as 11 a.m. this same day. It was now very nearly dark. In the dusk the Boers could be seen closing in on three sides--viz., north, east, and south. The road to Johannesburg appeared completely barred, and the last opportunity of slipping through, which had presented itself an hour ago when the renewed firing was heard, was gone not to return. [Bivouac, January 1.] Nothing remained but to bivouac in the best position available. But for the unfortunate circumstance of the firing, which we afterwards heard was due to the exultation of the Boers at the arrival of large reinforcements from Potchefstroom, the column would have been by this time (7 p.m.) at least four or five miles further on the road to Johannesburg, with an excellent chance of reaching that town without further opposition. I moved the column to the edge of a wide vley to the right of the road, and formed the horses in quarter-column under cover of the slope. The carts were formed up in rear and on both flanks, and five Maxims were placed along the front so as to sweep the plateau. The other three Maxims and the heavy guns were posted on the rear and flank faces. The men were then directed to lie down between the guns and on the side; sentries and cossack posts were posted on each face. Meantime the Boers had occupied the numerous prospecting trenches and cuttings on the plateau at distances from 400 to 800 yards. [9 p.m.] At 9 p.m. a heavy fire was opened on the bivouac, and a storm of bullets swept over and around us, apparently directed from all sides except the south-west. The troops were protected by their position on the slope below the level of the plateau, so that the total loss from this fire, which lasted about twenty minutes, was very inconsiderable. The men behaved with admirable coolness, and were as cheery as possible, although very tired and hungry and without water. We were then left unmolested for two or three hours. [Midnight.] About midnight another shower of bullets was poured into the camp, but the firing was not kept up for long. Somewhat later a Maxim gun opened on the bivouac, but failed to get our range. [Thursday, January 2.] At 3.30 a.m. patrols were pushed out on all sides, while the force as silently and rapidly as possible was got ready to move off. At 4 a.m. a heavy fire was opened by the Boers on the column, and the patrols driven in from the north and east sides. Under the direction of Major R. White (assisted by Lieutenant Jesser-Coope) the column was formed under cover of the slope. Soon after this the patrols which had been sent out to the south returned, and reported that the ground was clear of the Boers in that direction. The growing light enabled us to ascertain that the Boers in force were occupying pits to our left and lining the railway embankment for a distance of one and a half miles right across the direct road to Johannesburg. I covered the movements of the main body with the B.B.P. and two Maxims under Colonel Grey along the original left front of the bivouac, and two troops M.M.P., under Major K. White on the right front. During all this time the firing was excessively heavy; however the main body was partially sheltered by the slope. Colonel White then led the advance for a mile across the vley without casualty, but on reaching the opposite rise near the Oceanic Mine, was subjected to a very heavy long-range fire. Colonel White hereupon very judiciously threw out one troop to the left to cover the further advance of the main body. This was somewhat delayed, after crossing the rise, by the disappearance of our volunteer guide of the previous night. Some little time elapsed before another guide could be obtained. In the meantime, Lieutenant-Colonel Grey withdrew his force and the covering Maxims out of action under the protection of the M.M.P. covering troops, and rejoined the main body. [5 a.m.] At this juncture Colonel Grey was shot in the foot, but most gallantly insisted on carrying on his duties until the close of the action. Sub-Inspector Cazalet was also wounded here, but continued in action until he was shot again in the chest at Doornkop. While crossing the ridge the column was subjected to a very heavy fire, and several men and horses were lost here. I detailed a rearguard of one troop and two Maxims, under Major R. White, to cover our rear and left flank, and move the remainder of the troops in the ordinary day formation as rapidly forward as possible. In this formation a running rear and flank guard fight was kept up for ten miles. Wherever the features of the ground admitted, a stand was made by various small detachments of the rear and flank guard. In this manner the Boers were successfully kept a distance of 500 yards, and repulsed in all their efforts to reach the rear and flank of the main body. In passing through the various mines and the village of Randfontein we met with hearty expressions of goodwill from the mining population, who professed a desire to help if only they had arms. [8 a.m.] Ten miles from the start I received intelligence from Colonel Grey, at the head of the column, that Doornkop, a hill near the Speitfontein mine, was held by 400 Boers, directly barring our line of advance. I repaired immediately to the front, Colonel White remaining with the rear-guard. On arriving at the head of the column, I found the guns shelling a ridge which our guide stated was Doornkop. The excellent dispositions for the attack made by Colonel Grey were then carried out. The B.B.P., under Major Coventry, who I regret to say was severely wounded and lost several of his men, attacked and cleared the ridge in most gallant style and pushed on beyond it. About this time Inspector Barry received the wound which we have learnt with grief has subsequently proved fatal. Chief-Inspector Bodle at the same time, with two troops M.M.P., charged, and drove off the field a large force of Boers threatening our left flank. The guide had informed us that the road to the right of the hill was impassable, and that there was open and easy country to the left. This information was misleading. I afterwards ascertained that without storming the Boer position there was no road open to Johannesburg except by a wide detour of many miles to the right. [8.30 a.m.] At this moment Dr. Jameson received a letter from the High Commissioner again ordering us to desist in our advance. Dr. Jameson informed me at the same time of the most disheartening news, viz., that he had received a message stating that Johannesburg would not or could not come to our assistance, and that we must fight our way through unaided. Thinking that the first ridge now in our hands was Doornkop, we again pushed rapidly on, only to find that in rear of the ridge another steep and stony kopje, some 400 feet in height, was held by hundreds of Boers completely covered from our fire. This kopje effectually flanked the road over which the column must advance at a distance of 400 yards. Scouting showed that there was no way of getting round this hill. Surrounded on all sides by the Boers, men and horses wearied out, outnumbered by at least six to one, our friends having failed to keep their promises to meet us, and my force reduced numerically by one-fourth, I no longer considered that I was justified in sacrificing any more of the lives of the men under me. [Wonderfully considerate! seeing how they deliberately risked the lives of thousands in Johannesburg when they started.] As previously explained, our object in coming had been to render assistance, without bloodshed if possible, to the inhabitants of Johannesburg. This object would in no way be furthered by a hopeless attempt to cut our way through overwhelming numbers, an attempt, moreover which must without any doubt have entailed heavy and useless slaughter. [9.15 a.m.] With Dr. Jameson's permission, I therefore sent word to the Commandant that we would surrender provided that he would give a guarantee of safe conduct out of the country to every member of the force. To this Commandant Cronjé replied by a guarantee of the lives of all, provided that we would lay down our arms and pay all expenses. In spite of this guarantee of the lives of all, Commandant Malan subsequently repudiated the guarantee in so far as to say that he would not answer for the lives of the leaders, but this was not until our arms had been given up and the force at the mercy of the Boers. I attribute our failure to reach Johannesburg in a great measure to loss of time from the following causes: (1) The delay occasioned by the demonstration in front of Krugersdorp, which had been assigned as the place of junction with the Johannesburg force. (2) The non-arrival of that force at Krugersdorp or of the guides to the Krugersdorp-Johannesburg section of the road, as previously promised by Johannesburg. (3) The delay consequent on moving to the firing of the supposed Johannesburg column just before dark on Wednesday evening. [How is it that nothing was said of this to Celliers and Rowland; nothing in the Letter of Colonel White and Dr. Jameson which they wrote at 11 a.m. Wednesday; nothing in the message sent by Bugler Vallé, who was despatched on Thursday before daybreak _after_ the Krugersdorp light? How is it that if the forces were to meet at Krugersdorp Dr. Jameson telegraphed to Dr. Wolff to meet him _en route,_ so as to decide whether to turn off _20 miles before reaching Krugersdorp_ and march direct on Pretoria or go into Johannesburg first?] I append (1) a sketch-map of the route from Pitsani to Krugersdorp, marked A. This distance (154 miles) was covered in just under 70 hours, the horses having been off-saddled ten times. The 169 miles between Pitsani and Doornkop occupied 86 hours, during 17 of which the men were engaged with the Boers, and were practically without food or water, having had their last meal at 8 a.m. on the morning of the 1st January at Van Oudtshoorn's, 17 miles from Krugersdorp. The average weight carried by each horse was 16 stone. (2) List of officers engaged in the expedition and composition of the force marked B. From this it will be seen that there was a total of 494 men and officers (exclusive of staff). (3) Plans of engagements at Krugersdorp and Doornkop, and of the bivouac on the night of January 1st. I cannot close this narrative without testifying to the very great gallantry and endurance of all officers, non-commissioned officers, and troopers under my command in the field and on the march under most trying circumstances. COMPOSITION OF FORCE. Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John Willoughby, Royal Horse Guards Commanding. Major Hon. Robert White, Royal Welsh Fusiliers Senior Staff Officer. Major C. Hyde Villiers, Royal Horse Guards Staff Officer. Captain Kincaid-Smith, Royal Artillery Artillery Staff Officer. Captain Kennedy, B.S.A.C.'s Service Quartermaster. Captain E. Holden, Derbyshire Yeomanry Assistant Quarter-Master. Surgeon Captain Farmer, B.S.A. Co. } Surgeon Captain Seaton Hamilton, late 1st Life } Medical Officers. Guards } Lieutenant Grenfell, 1st Life Guards Remount Officer. Lieutenant Jesser-Coope, B.S.A. Co. Transport Officer. Captain Lindsell, late Royal Scots Fusiliers In charge Scouts. Major J.B. Stracey, Scots Guards } Major Heany, B.S.A. Co. } Officers temporarily Captain Foley } attached to Staff. Lieutenant Harry R. Holden, late Grenadier } Guards } OFFICERS OF MASHONALAND MOUNTED POLICE. Lieutenant-Colonel Hon. H.F. White, Grenadier Guards Commanding. Inspector Bodle (late 6th Dragoons) 2nd in command. Inspector Straker, commanding A Troop. Inspector Dykes, commanding B Troop. Inspector Barry, commanding C Troop. Inspector Drury, commanding D Troop. Sub-Inspectors Scott and Cashel, A Troop. Sub-Inspectors Tomlinson and Chawner, B Troop. Sub-Inspectors Cazalet and Williams, C Troop. Sub-Inspectors Murray and Constable, D Troop. Artillery Troop--Inspector Bowden and Sub-Inspector Spain. Regimental Sergeant--Major Abbott. BECHUANALAND BORDER POLICE. Lieutenant-Colonel Raleigh Grey, 6th Dragoons Commanding. Major Hon. Charles Coventry 2nd in command. Captain Gosling, commanding G Troop. Sub-Lieutenants Hoare and Wood, commanding G Troop. Captain Munroe, commanding K Troop. Sub-Lieutenant McQueen, commanding K Troop. Medical Officer Surgeon Garraway. Veterinary Surgeon Lakie. M.M. Police officers and men 372 Pitsani Staff 13 camp. Colony boys (leading horses, etc.) 65 Horses 480 Mules 128 One 12-1/2-pounder, 6 Maxims, 6 Scotch carts, 1 Cape cart, 2 grain waggons. B.B. Police officers and men 122 Mafeking Staff 1 column. Drivers and leaders 10 Horses 160 Mules 30 Two 7-pounders, 2 Maxims, 2 Scotch carts, 2 Cape carts. Officers and men 494 Totals. Staff 14 Drivers, leaders, etc. 75 Horses 640 Mules 158 M.H. Maxims 8 12-1/2-pounder 1 7-pounder 2 Scotch carts 8 Cape carts 3 AMMUNITION. Rounds. Carried by men and natives 50,000 Lee-Met. Carried in Scotch carts and Cape carts 54,000 rifle. ------- Total 104,000 ======= On the guns 17,000 Maxim. In carts 28,000 ------- Total 45,000 ======= On limber 44 12-1/2 On one Scotch cart 80 pounders. ------- Total 124 ======= On limbers 70 7-pounders. In Scotch carts 172 ------- Total 242 ======= The rifle ammunition used was that supplied by the Maxim firm for their guns and also pellet powder. The powder used with the 12-1/2-pounder was that known as 'ballistite.' Rocket signals and limelights were carried, but not used. EQUIPMENT CARRIED. On the Person. (a) Rifle (10 rounds). (b) Bandolier (60 rounds). (c) Haversack (1/2 day's ration). (d) Water-bottle filled. On the Saddle. (a) Nosebag (5 lb. grain). (b) Cloak on wallet. (c) Rifle bucket. (d) Patrol tin (with grocery ration). (e) Leather axe-holder (every fourth man). Near-side wallet, 30 rounds and 1/2 day's rations. Off-side wallet, 20 rounds, tin dubbin, hold-all, and towel. Average weight carried by horse = 16 stone. Average weight carried by Scotch carts = 1,600 lb. Footnotes for Appendix H {55} The letters are published in their proper place, and readers can satisfy themselves as to whether they justify the above inference. {56} Note. July, 1899. In the Report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons (No. 311 of 1897), page 298, are the following:-- Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman: "Did you understand that you were to meet a considerable force at Krugersdorp coming from Johannesburg?" Sir John Willoughby: _Not when we started_ from Pitsani, but certainly after the letters received from the cyclists. APPENDIX I. MANIFESTO. If I am deeply sensible of the honour conferred upon me by being elected chairman of the National Union, I am profoundly impressed with the responsibilities attached to the position. The issues to be faced in this country are so momentous in character that it has been decided that prior to the holding of a public meeting a review of the condition of affairs should be placed in your hands, in order that you may consider matters quietly in your homes. It has also been decided that it will be wise to postpone the meeting which was to have taken place on the 27th December until the 6th day of January next. On that day you will have made up your minds on the various points submitted to you, and we will ask you for direction as to our future course of action. It is almost unnecessary to recount all the steps which have been taken by the National Union, and I shall therefore confine myself to a very short review of what has been done. THE THREE PLANKS. The constitution of the National Union is very simple. The three objects which we set before ourselves are: (1) The maintenance of the independence of the Republic, (2) the securing of equal rights, and (3) the redress of grievances. This brief but comprehensive programme has never been lost sight of, and I think we may challenge contradiction fearlessly when we assert that we have constitutionally, respectfully, and steadily prosecuted our purpose. Last year you will remember a respectful petition, praying for the franchise, signed by 13,000 men, was received with contemptuous laughter and jeers in the Volksraad. This year the Union, apart from smaller matters, endeavoured to do three things. THE RAAD ELECTIONS. First we were told that a Progressive spirit was abroad, that twelve out of twenty-four members of the First Volksraad had to be elected, and we might reasonably hope for reform by the type of broad-minded men who would be elected. It was therefore resolved that we should do everything in our power to assist in the election of the best men who were put up by the constituencies, and everything that the law permitted us to do in this direction was done. DISAPPOINTED HOPES. The result has been only too disappointing, as the record of the debates and the division list in the Volksraad prove. We were moreover told that public speeches in Johannesburg prevented the Progressive members from getting a majority of the Raad to listen to our requests, that angry passions were inflamed, and that if we would only hold our tongues reform would be brought about. We therefore resolved in all loyalty to abstain from inflaming angry passions, although we never admitted we had by act or speech given reason for legislators to refuse justice to all. Hence our silence for a long time. THE RAILWAY CONCESSION NEXT. We used all our influence to get the Volksraad to take over the railway concession, but, alas! the President declared with tears in his voice that the independence of the country was wrapped up in this question, and a submissive Raad swept the petitions from the table. THE FRANCHISE PETITION. Our great effort however was the petition for the franchise, with the moderate terms of which you are all acquainted. This petition was signed by more than 38,000 persons. What was the result? We were called unfaithful for not naturalizing ourselves, when naturalization means only that we should give up our original citizenship and get nothing in return, and become subject to disabilities. Members had the calm assurance to state, without any grounds whatever, that the signatures were forgeries; and, worst of all, one member in an inflammatory speech challenged us openly to fight for our rights, and his sentiment seemed to meet with considerable approval. This is the disappointing result of our honest endeavours to bring about a fusion between the people of this State, and the true union and equality which alone can be the basis of prosperity and peace. You all know that as the law now stands we are virtually excluded for ever from getting the franchise, and by a malignant ingenuity our children born here are deprived of the rights of citizenship unless their fathers take an oath of allegiance, which brings them nothing but disabilities. THE BITTER CRY OF THE 'UITLANDER.' We are the vast majority in this State. We own more than half the land, and, taken in the aggregate, we own at least nine-tenths of the property in this country; yet in all matters affecting our lives, our liberties, and our properties, we have absolutely no voice. Dealing now first with the legislature, we find taxation is imposed upon us without any representation whatever, that taxation is wholly inequitable, _(a)_ because a much greater amount is levied from the people than is required for the needs of Government; _(b)_ because it is either class taxation pure and simple, or by the selection of the subjects, though nominally universal, it is made to fall upon our shoulders; and _(c)_ because the necessaries of life are unduly burdened. ABUSE OF PUBLIC EXPENDITURE. Expenditure is not controlled by any public official independent of the Government. Vast sums are squandered, while the Secret Service Fund is a dark mystery to everybody. But, essential as the power to control taxation and expenditure is to a free people, there are other matters of the gravest importance which are equally precious. The Legislature in this country is the supreme power, apparently uncontrolled by any fixed Constitution. The chance will of a majority in a Legislature elected by one-third of the people is capable of dominating us in every relation of life, and when we remember that those who hold power belong to a different race, speak a different language, and have different pursuits from ourselves, that they regard us with suspicion, and even hostility; that, as a rule, they are not educated men, and that their passions are played upon by unscrupulous adventurers, it must be admitted that we are in very grave danger. TRIBUTE TO THE MODERATES. I think it is but just to bear tribute to the patriotic endeavours of a small band of enlightened men in the Volksraad who have earnestly condemned the policy of the Government and warned them of its danger. To Mr. Jeppe, Mr. Lucas Meyer, the De Jagers, Mr. Loveday, and a few others in the First Raad, leaving out the second Raad, we owe our best thanks, for they have fought our battle and confirmed the justice of our cause. But when we look to the debates of the last few years, what do we find? All through a spirit of hostility, all through an endeavour not to meet the just wants of the people, not to remove grievances, not to establish the claim to our loyalty by just treatment and equal laws, but to repress the publication of the truth, however much it might be required in the public interest, to prevent us from holding public meetings, to interfere with the Courts, and to keep us in awe by force. THE POWERS OF THE EXECUTIVE. There is now threatened a danger even graver than those which have preceded it. The Government is seeking to get through the Legislature an Act which will vest in the Executive the power to decide whether men have been guilty of sedition, and to deport them and confiscate their goods. The Volksraad has by resolution affirmed the principle, and has instructed the Government to bring up a Bill accordingly next session. To-day this power rests justly with the courts of law, and I can only say that if this Bill becomes law the power of the Executive Government of this country would be as absolute as the power of the Czar of Russia. We shall have said goodbye finally to the last principle of liberty. PRESIDENT KRUGER INDICTED. Coming to the Executive Government, we find that there is no true responsibility to the people, none of the great departments of State are controlled by Ministerial officers in the proper sense, the President's will is virtually supreme, and he, with his unique influence over the legislators of the House, State-aided by an able if hostile State Secretary, has been the author of every act directed against the liberties of the people. It is well that this should be recognized. It is well that President Kruger should be known for what he is, and that once for all the false pedestal on which he has so long stood should be destroyed. I challenge contradiction when I state that no important Act has found a place on the Statute-book during the last ten years without the seal of President Kruger's will upon it; nay, he is the father of every such Act. Remember that all legislation is initiated by the Government, and, moreover, President Kruger has expressly supported every Act by which we and our children have been deprived by progressive steps of the right to acquire franchise, by which taxation has been imposed upon us almost exclusively, and by which the right and the liberty of the Press and the right of public meeting have been attacked. THE JUDGES AND THE LIBERTY OF THE SUBJECT. Now we come to the judicial system. The High Court of this country has, in the absence of representation, been the sole guardian of our liberties. Although it has on the whole done its work ably, affairs are in a very unsatisfactory position. The judges have been underpaid, their salaries have never been secure, the most undignified treatment has been meted out to them, and the status and independence of the Bench have on more than one occasion been attacked. A deliberate attempt was made two years ago by President Kruger and the Government to reduce the bench to a position subordinate to the Executive Government, and only recently we had in the Witfontein matter the last of the cases in which the Legislature interfered with vested rights of action. The administration of justice by minor officials, by native commissioners, and by field-cornets, has produced, and is producing, the gravest unrest in the country; and, lastly, gentlemen, THE GREAT BULWARK OF LIBERTY, the right to trial by jurymen who are our peers, is denied to us. Only the burgher or naturalized burgher is entitled to be a juryman; or, in other words, anyone of us is liable to be tried upon the gravest charge possible by jurymen who are in no sense our peers, who belong to a different race, who regard us with a greater or lesser degree of hostility, and whose passions, if inflamed, might prompt them, as weak human creatures, to inflict the gravest injustice, even to deprive men of their lives. Supposing, in the present tense condition of political feeling, any one of us were tried before a Boer jury on any charge having a political flavour about it, should we be tried by our peers, and should we have a chance of receiving even-handed justice? THE SECRET SERVICE FUND. When we come to the Administration, we find that there is the grossest extravagance, that Secret Service moneys are squandered, that votes are exceeded, that the public credit is pledged, as it was pledged in the case of the Netherlands Railway Company, and later still in the case of the Selati Railway, in a manner which is wholly inconsistent with the best interests of the people. SQUANDERING THE PUBLIC REVENUE. The Delagoa Bay festivities are an instance of a reckless disregard of a Parliamentary vote; £20,000 was voted for those useless festivities--about £60,000 was really expended, and I believe certain favoured gentlemen hailing from Holland derived the principal benefit. It is said that £400,000 of our money has been transferred for some extraordinary purpose to Holland. Recently £17,000 is said to have been sent out of the country with Dr. Leyds for Secret Service purposes, and the public audit seems a farce. When the Progressive members endeavoured to get an explanation about large sums of money they were silenced by a vote of the majority prompted by President Kruger. The administration of the public service is in a scandalous condition. A CORRUPT LEGISLATURE. Bribery and corruption are rampant. We have had members of the Raad accepting presents of imported spiders and watches wholesale from men who were applying for concessions, and we have the singular fact that in every instance the recipient of the gift voted for the concession. We have the President openly stating that such acceptance of presents was wholly moral. We have a condition of affairs in which the time of the meeting of the Volksraad is looked upon as the period of the greatest danger to our interests, and it is an open secret that a class of man has sprung up who is in constant attendance upon the members of the Volksraad, and whose special business appears to be the 'influencing' of members one way or the other. It is openly stated that enormous sums of money have been spent, some to produce illegitimate results, some to guard against fresh attacks upon vested rights. The Legislature passed an Act solemnly denouncing corruption in the public service. One man, not an official, was punished under the law, but nothing has ever been done since to eradicate the evil. AND A TAINTED CIVIL SERVICE. I think thousands of you are satisfied of the venality of many of our public servants. I wish to guard against the assumption that all public servants are corrupt. Thank God there are many who are able and honourable men, and it must be gall and wormwood to these men to find the whole tone of the service destroyed, and to have themselves made liable to be included under one general denunciation. But there can be no health in an administration, and the public morals must be sapped also, when such things as the Smit case, and the recent Stiemens case, go unnoticed and unpunished. TWO GLARING CASES. I think it right to state openly what those cases are. N.J. Smit is the son of a member of the Government. He absented himself for months without leave. He was meantime charged in the newspapers with embezzlement. He returned, was fined £25 for being absent without leave, and was reinstated in office. He is now the Mining Commissioner of Klerksdorp. He has been charged in at least two newspapers--one of them a Dutch newspaper, _Land en Volk_, published within a stone's throw of the Government Office--with being an 'unpunished thief,' and yet the Government have taken no notice of it, nor has he thought fit to bring an action to clear himself. In the Stiemens case two officials in the Mining Department admitted in the witness-box that they had agreed to further the application of a relative for the grant of a piece of public land at Johannesburg on condition that they were each to receive one quarter of the proceeds. A third official, the Landdrost of Pretoria, admitted that he had received £300 for his 'influence' in furthering the application; yet no notice had been taken by the Government of their scandalous conduct, and sad to say the judges who heard the case did not think it their duty to comment strongly upon the matter. I have in my possession now a notarial deed which proves that the Railway Commissioner, the Landdrost, and the Commandant of Pretoria are members of a syndicate whose avowed object is, or was, to wrest from the companies their right to the 'bewaarplaatsen.' This shows what is going on, and what is the measure of safety of title to property. Those who should guard our rights are our worst enemies. In a law introduced by the present Government, the Government, instead of the Courts, are the final judges in cases of disputed elections. No Election Committees are allowed. This operates against candidates opposed to the Government, because the Government has virtually a vast standing army of committee men, henchmen, officials being allowed openly to take part in swaying elections, and the Government being in a position, by the distribution of contracts, appointments, purchase of concessions, the expenditure of Secret Service money and otherwise, to bring into existence and maintain a large number of supporters who act as canvassers always on the right side in times of elections. NATIVE AFFAIRS. The administration of native affairs is a gross scandal and a source of immense loss and danger to the community. Native Commissioners have been permitted to practise extortion, injustice, and cruelty upon the natives under their jurisdiction. The Government has allowed petty tribes to be goaded into rebellion. We have had to pay the costs of the 'wars,' while the wretched victims of their policy have had their tribes broken up, sources of native labour have been destroyed, and large numbers of prisoners have been kept in goal for something like eighteen months without trial. It was stated in the newspapers that, out of 63 men imprisoned, 31 had died in that period, while the rest were languishing to death for want of vegetable food. We have had revelations of repulsive cruelty on the part of field-cornets. We all remember the Rachman case, and the April case, in which the judges found field-cornets guilty of brutal conduct to unfortunate natives; but the worst features about these cases is that the Government has set the seal of its approval upon the acts of these officials by paying the costs of the actions out of public funds, and the President of the State a few days ago made the astounding statement in regard to the April case, that, notwithstanding the judgment of the High Court, the Government thought that Prinsloo was right in his action, and therefore paid the costs. The Government is enforcing the 'plakkerswet,' which forbids the locating of more than five families on one farm. The field-cornets in various districts have recently broken up homes of large numbers of natives settled on 'Uitlanders'' lands, just at the time when they had sown their crops to provide the next winter's food. The application of this law is most uneven, as large numbers of natives are left on the farms of the Boers. Quite recently a well-known citizen brought into the country at great expense some hundreds of families, provided them with land, helped them to start life, stipulating only that he should be able to draw from amongst them labour at a fair wage to develop his properties. Scarcely had they been settled when the field-cornet came down and scattered the people, distributing them among Boer farms. The sources of the native labour supply have been seriously interfered with at the borders by Government measures, and difficulties have been placed in the way of transport of natives by railway to the mines. These things are all a drain upon us as a State, and many of them are a burning disgrace to us as a people. THE EDUCATION SCANDAL. The great public that subscribes the bulk of the revenue is virtually denied all benefit of State aid in education. There has been a deliberate attempt to Hollanderise the Republic, and to kill the English language. Thousands of children are growing up in this land in ignorance, unfitted to run the race of life, and there is the possibility that a large number of them will develop into criminals. We have had to tax ourselves privately to guard against these dangers, and the iniquity of denying education to the children of men who are paying taxes is so manifest that I pass on with mingled feelings of anger and disgust. RAILWAYS. This important branch of the public service is entirely in the hands of a corporation domiciled in Holland. This corporation holds a concession, of course under which not only was there no adequate control over expenditure in construction, but it is entitled to charge and is charging us outrageous tariffs. How outrageous these are will be seen from the admission made by Mr. Middelberg that the short section of 10 miles between Boksburg and Krugersdorp is paying more than the interest on the cost of the construction of the whole line of railway to Delagoa Bay. To add these to its general revenue, of which 10 per cent, is set aside as a sinking fund, and then to take for itself 15 per cent. of the balance, the Company reports annually to the Raad from Amsterdam in a language which is practically foreign to it, and makes up its accounts in guelders, a coinage which our legislators I venture to say know nothing of; and this is independence. We are liable as guarantors for the whole of the debt. Lines have been built entirely on our credit, and yet we have no say and no control over these important public works beyond the show of control which is supposed to be exercised by the present Railway Commissioner. The Company in conjunction with the Executive Government is in a position to control our destinies to an enormous extent, to influence our relations internally and externally, to bring about such friction with the neighbouring States as to set the whole of South Africa in tumult. Petitions have been presented to the Raad, but the President has constantly brushed these aside with the well-worn argument that the independence of the State is involved in the matter. It is involved in the matter, as all who remember the recent Drifts question will admit. I have been told that it is dangerous for the country to take over the railway, because it would afford such an immense field for corruption. Surely this is the strongest condemnation of the Government by its friends, for if it is not fit to run a railway, how can it be fit to manage a whole State? The powers controlling this railway are flooding the public service with Hollanders to the exclusion of our own people, and I may here say that in the most important departments of the State we are being controlled by the gentlemen from the Low Country. While the innocent Boer hugs to himself the delusion that he is preserving his independence, they control us politically through Dr. Leyds, financially through the Netherlands Railway, educationally through Dr. Mansvelt, and in the Department of Justice through Dr. Coster. CUSTOMS AND TRADE. The policy of the Government in regard to taxation may be practically described as protection without production. The most monstrous hardships result to consumers, and merchants can scarcely say from day to day where they are. Twice now has the Government entered into competition with traders who have paid their licences and rents and who keep staffs. Recently grain became scarce. The Government were petitioned to suspend the duties, which are cruelly high, in order to assist the mining industry to feed its labourers. The Government refused this request on the plea that it was not in a position to suspend duties without the permission of the Volksraad, and yet within a few days we find that the Government has granted a concession to one of its friends to import grain free of duty and to sell it in competition with the merchants who have had to pay duties. I do not attempt to deal with this important question adequately, but give this example to show how the Government regards the rights of traders. MONOPOLIES. It has been the steady policy of the Government to grant concessions. No sooner does any commodity become absolutely essential to the community than some harpy endeavours to get a concession for its supply. There is scarcely a commodity or a right which has not been made the subject of an application for the grant of a concession. We all remember the bread and jam concession, the water concession, the electric lighting concession, and many others, but I need only point to the dynamite concession to show how these monopolies tend to paralyse our industries. There may be some of you who have not yet heard and some who have forgotten the facts connected with this outrage upon public rights. STORY OF THE DYNAMITE CONCESSION. Some years ago, Mr. Lippert got a concession for the sole right to manufacture and sell dynamite and all other explosives. He was to manufacture the dynamite in this country. For years he imported dynamite under the name of Guhr Impregne duty free. He never manufactured dynamite in the country, and upon public exposure, the Government was compelled to cancel the concession, the President himself denouncing the action of the concessionnaire as fraudulent. For a time we breathed freely, thinking we were rid of this incubus, but within a few months the Government granted virtually to the same people another concession, under which they are now taking from the pockets of the public £600,000 per annum, and this is a charge which will go on growing should the mining industry survive the persistent attempts to strangle it. How a body charged with the public interests could be parties to this scandalous fleecing of the public passes comprehension. Then, the curious feature about the matter is that the Government gets some petty fraction of this vast sum, and the concessionnaires have on this plea obtained enormous advances of public moneys from the Government, without security, to carry on their trade. Shortly, the concessionnaires are entitled to charge 90s. a case for dynamite, while it could be bought if there were no concession for about 30s. a case. It may be stated incidentally, that Mr. Wolmarans, a member of the Government, has been for years challenged to deny that he is enjoying a royalty of 2s. on every case of dynamite sold, and that he has up to the present moment neglected to take up the challenge. Proper municipal government is denied to us, and we all know how much this means with regard to health, comfort, and the value of property. The Statute Books are disfigured with enactments imposing religious disabilities; and the English language, the language spoken by the great bulk of the people, is denied all official recognition. The natural result of the existing condition of things is that the true owners of the mines are those who have invested no capital in them--the Government, the railway concessionnaires, the dynamite concessionnaires, and others. The country is rich, and under proper government could be developed marvellously, but it cannot stand the drain of the present exactions. We have lived largely upon foreign capital, and the total amount of the dividends available for shareholders in companies is ridiculously small as compared with the aggregate amount of capital invested in mining ventures. Some day the inevitable result upon our credit and upon our trade will be forced upon us. HATRED OF THE SAXON. There is no disguising the fact that the original policy of the Government is based upon intense hostility to the English-speaking population, and that even against the enfranchised burgher of this State there is the determination to retain all power in the hands of those who are enjoying the sweets of office now, and naturally the grateful crowd of relations and friends and henchmen ardently support the existing _régime_; but there are unmistakable signs, and the President fears that the policy which he has hitherto adopted will not be sufficient to keep in check the growing population. It seems the set purpose of the Government to repress the growth of the industry, to tax it at every turn, to prevent the working classes from settling here and making their homes and surrounding themselves with their families, and there is no mistaking the significance of the action of the President when he opposed the throwing open of the town lands of Pretoria on the ground that 'he might have a second Johannesburg there,' nor that of his speech upon the motion for the employment of diamond drills to prospect Government lands, which he opposed hotly on the ground that 'there is too much gold here already.' THE POLICY OF FORCE. We now have openly the policy of force revealed to us. £250,000 is to be spent upon the completing of a fort at Pretoria, £100,000 is to be spend upon a fort to terrorize the inhabitants of Johannesburg, large orders are sent to Krupp's for big guns, Maxims have been ordered, and we are even told that German officers are coming out to drill the burghers. Are these things necessary or are they calculated to irritate the feeling to breaking point? What necessity is there for forts in peaceful inland towns? Why should the Government endeavour to keep us in subjection to unjust laws by the power of the sword instead of making themselves live in the heart of the people by a broad policy of justice? What can be said of a policy which deliberately divides the two great sections of the people from each other, instead of uniting them under equal laws, or the policy which keeps us in eternal turmoil with the neighbouring States? What shall be said of the statecraft, every act of which sows torments, discontent, or race hatred, and reveals a conception of republicanism under which the only privilege of the majority of the people is to provide the revenue, and to bear insult, while only those are considered Republicans who speak a certain language, and in greater or less degree share the prejudices of the ruling classes? A STIRRING PERORATION. I think this policy can never succeed, unless men are absolutely bereft of every quality which made their forefathers free men; unless we have fallen so low that we are prepared to forget honour, self-respect, and our duty to our children. Once more, I wish to state again in unmistakable language what has been so frequently stated in perfect sincerity before, that we desire an independent republic which shall be a true republic, in which every man who is prepared to take the oath of allegiance to the State shall have equal rights, in which our children shall be brought up side by side as united members of a strong commonwealth; that we are animated by no race hatred, that we desire to deprive no man, be his nationality what it may, of any right. THE CHARTER OF THE UNION. We have now only two questions to consider: _(a)_ What do we want? _(b)_ how shall we get it? I have stated plainly what our grievances are, and I shall answer with equal directness the question, 'What do we want?' We want: (1) the establishment of this Republic as a true Republic; (2) a Grondwet or Constitution which shall be framed by competent persons selected by representatives of the whole people and framed on lines laid down by them--a Constitution which shall be safe-guarded against hasty alteration; (3) an equitable franchise law, and fair representation; (4) equality of the Dutch and English languages; (5) responsibility of the Legislature to the heads of the great departments; (6) removal of religious disabilities; (7) independence of the courts of justice, with adequate and secured remuneration of the judges; (8) liberal and comprehensive education; (9) efficient civil service, with adequate provision for pay and pension; (10) free trade in South African products. That is what we want. There now remains the question which is to be put before you at the meeting of the 6th January, viz., How shall we get it? To this question I shall expect from you an answer in plain terms according to your deliberate judgment. CHARLES LEONARD, _Chairman of the Transvaal National Union._ APPENDIX K. THE CASE OF THE CHIEFTAINESS TOEREMETSJANI On the reports which have appeared the case or cases of Toeremetsjani _v_. P.A. Cronjé, Jesaja _v_. P.A. Cronjé and D.J. Schoeman, Segole _v_. P.A. Cronjé and J.A. Erasmus, have attracted, as well they might, a good deal of attention. The following _résumé_ and commentary were compiled by a legal gentleman who was present during the trial, but not professionally employed in it. The facts revealed in the evidence (writes our correspondent) speak pretty well for themselves, but they were brought out into lurid prominence in the cross-examination of Commandant Cronjé by Mr. Justice Jorissen. In order to make the case quite clear, it is as well to state for the benefit of those who are not intimately acquainted with things in the Transvaal that this Mr. Cronjé, who is now the Superintendent-General of Natives, is the same Cronjé concerning whose action in regard to Jameson's surrender there was so much discussion. After the Jameson Raid, President Kruger, pursuing his policy of packing the Executive with his own friends, decided to put Cronjé upon the Executive, for which purpose he induced General Joubert to resign his position as Superintendent-General of Natives. The President's intention becoming known to Raad members, the strongest possible objection was expressed to this course as being wholly unconstitutional and in direct conflict with the Grondwet; the President in the first place having no right to add to the number of Executive members and no authority for appointing any person to fill a vacancy if there were one. Notice of motion was promptly given in the Raad to instruct the Executive not to take the proposed course, as the Raad felt that the privilege and power of appointing members on the Executive rested with them alone. Twenty-four hours' notice was requisite to bring a matter up for discussion before the Raad. President Kruger hearing that notice had been given promptly called a meeting of the Executive and appointed Mr. Cronjé in defiance of the notice of motion, so that when the motion came on for discussion on the following day he replied to the Raad's instruction that it was too late to discuss the matter, the appointment having been made. Mr. Cronjé, therefore, appears on the scene on this occasion without much to prejudice the unbiassed reader in his favour. The circumstances of the surrender of the Potchefstroom garrison, which was secured by treacherously suppressing the news of the armistice between the two forces (a treachery for which public reparation was afterwards exacted by Sir Evelyn Wood), the treatment of certain prisoners of war (compelled to work for the Boers exposed to the fire and being shot down by their own friends in the garrison), the summary execution of other prisoners, the refusal to allow certain of the women to leave the British garrison, resulting in the death of at least one, are matters which although sixteen years old are quite fresh in the memory of the people in the Transvaal. The condition of Dr. Jameson's surrender revived the feeling that Mr. Cronjé has need to do something remarkable in another direction in order to encourage that confidence in him as an impartial and fair-minded man which his past career unfortunately does not warrant. Commandant Trichard, mentioned in this connection as a witness, was one of the commandants who refused to confirm the terms accorded by Cronjé to Jameson. Mr. Abel Erasmus is a gentleman so notorious that it would be quite unnecessary to further describe him. He is the one whom Lord Wolseley described as a fiend in human form, and threatened to "hang as high as Haman." Abel Erasmus is the man who had desolated the Lydenburg district; the hero of the cave affair in which men, women, and children were closed up in a cave and burnt to death or suffocated; a man who is the living terror of a whole countryside, the mere mention of whose name is sufficient to cow any native. Mr. Schoeman is the understudy of Abel Erasmus, and is the hero of the satchel case, in which an unfortunate native was flogged well-nigh to death and tortured in order to wring evidence from him who, it was afterwards discovered, knew absolutely nothing about the affair. The Queen, or Chieftainess, Toeremetsjani, is the present head of the Secocoeni tribe and the head wife of the late chief, Secocoeni. This tribe, it will be remembered, was the one which successfully resisted the Boers under President Burger and Commandant Paul Kruger--a successful resistance which was one of the troubles leading directly to the abortive annexation of the Transvaal. The Secocoeni tribe were afterwards conquered by British troops, and handed over to the tender mercies of the Boer Government upon the restoration of its independence. It is necessary to bear these facts in mind in order to realise the hideous significance of the unvarnished tale. Now to the trial. Mr. Advocate WESSELS, who acted for the natives, gauging pretty accurately what the defence would be, called two witnesses to prove the _prima facie_ case. Jesaja, one of the indunas flogged, whose case was first on the roll, proved that he was flogged by order of Commandant Cronjé without any form of trial, and without any charge or indictment being made against him, and that he received twenty-six lashes, the extra one being given because he declined to say 'Thank you' for the twenty-five. Commandant Trichard next gave evidence, and from him Mr. WESSELS elicited that Cronjé had gone through no form of trial, but handed over Jesaja and the other twelve indunas to be flogged by Erasmus and Schoeman. Advocate: Do you positively swear that Commandant Cronjé specified the sentence of twenty-five lashes each? Witness: Yes. Which answer was quite in accordance with the pleas of Erasmus and Schoeman, who stated specifically that they administered the lashes in accordance with the orders and sentence given by Commandant Cronjé. The Court held that a sufficient _prima facie_ case had been made out by the plaintiff, and that the onus now lay on the defendants to prove their case. The witnesses called were Commandant Cronjé and Mr. Stiemens, secretary to the former. Mr. Stiemens in his evidence fully corroborated Trichard's evidence as to the passing of the sentence by Cronjé upon the indunas and the absence of any form of trial; and nothing more need be said about this witness. With Mr. Cronjé's evidence, however, it is necessary to deal at length. Mr. Cronjé admitted under cross-examination that he had not observed any particular form of trial, although, as was pointed out, the law dealing with native trials stated specifically 'that the rules which govern procedure in civilized courts shall be followed as closely as possible.' He stated that as regards the Chieftainess, he called her up and read over to her 'point by point' 'the indictment under which she was charged,' which indictment, however, as he admitted, consisted merely of a letter of complaint written by Field-cornet Schoeman to him as Superintendent-General of Natives. He claimed that no form of trial was necessary, inasmuch as he acted under the authority of the President, who has supreme power over natives, and was not obliged to observe any particular form of trial. 'Point by point I read the charge,' to use his own words, 'against the woman, and point by point I could see by her demeanour that she was guilty.' As regards the thirteen indunas, Mr. Cronjé admitted that he did not know whether these were indunas. He considered them guilty, not because they had done anything, but because in their position as advisers of the Chieftainess they ought to have advised her better than they appeared to have done. Instructions had therefore been given to arrest these indunas, and they had caught as many as they could. There was no evidence to show that they were indunas, or that they were ever in a position to advise or had advised the Chieftainess; in fact, it was admitted that they were a lot of thirteen caught out of a tribe as one might catch so many sheep out of a flock. Mr. Cronjé denied that he had sentenced these men, and repeatedly stated that he had handed them over to Erasmus and Schoeman, to be dealt with according to law. Mr. WESSELS cross-examined the witness upon this point as follows:-- Advocate: I believe Commandant Trichard accompanied you on this commission? Witness: Yes. Advocate: He was present throughout the whole proceeding? Witness: Yes. Advocate: He had every opportunity of knowing what took place and what was said? Witness: Yes. Advocate: You will be surprised to hear that Mr. Trichard states that you actually passed sentence upon the thirteen indunas in such words as, 'I hand you over to the Native Commissioner and Field-cornet to be dealt with according to law. And you instigators will get twenty-five lashes each between the shoulders.' Do you positively deny that you said anything about twenty-five lashes? Witness: Yes, I deny it. Advocate: Do you deny that you gave any indication or opinion as to what ought to be done with these men? Witness: Yes. Advocate: Well, Mr. Cronjé, I want to know which of you two the Court is to believe, you or Commandant Trichard? Witness: Commandant Trichard has made a mistake. Advocate: No, no, no, Mr. Cronjé, that won't do; there are no mistakes in this business. I want you to tell the Court which of you two men under oath is lying and which is telling the truth. Witness: Commandant Trichard is lying. (At this point there was some commotion in Court caused by Commandant Trichard jumping up and making use of some expressions towards the witness. The matter ended in a rather fierce altercation after the Court adjourned.) It is only necessary to add that Mr. Stiemans, who followed Cronjé, fully corroborated Trichard's evidence. There were many other interesting points brought out by Mr. WESSELS in his cross-examination, but it is unnecessary to further detail this part of the proceedings, as the same ground was covered by Mr. Justice Jorissen, who took the witness in hand and whose cross-examination brought out the salient features of the case with extreme vividness and dramatic effect. The Judge first dealt with that portion of the evidence relating to the so-called 'trial' of the Chieftainess. Judge: Mr. Cronjé, in your evidence just now you said that you read over to this woman the charge that was laid against her. 'Point by point' you say you read it to her, and 'point by point you could see by her demeanour that she was guilty.' Is that so? Witness: Yes. Judge: Very well, Mr. Cronjé, I will take the indictment, 'point by point,' as you did. Point the first, Mr. Cronjé. (The Judge here read the first of the seven clauses in Schoeman's letter which formed the indictment.) Now kindly explain to me what there was in the woman's demeanour which conveyed to you the idea that she was guilty on this point. The witness became considerably embarrassed and did not answer. Judge: No answer, Mr. Cronjé? Well, we will take point No. 2. (The judge dealt with all the seven clauses in a similar manner, the witness failing to make any answer throughout. After the last point had been dealt with and remained unanswered, the Judge addressed the witness again amid a most impressive silence in Court). Judge: Mr. Cronjé, 'point by point' I have read to you the indictment as you read it to the woman; 'point by point' I have asked you to give me certain information; 'point by point' you have failed to make any answer. Well, Mr. Cronjé, I can only tell you this, 'point by point' I shall set that down in my notes. (After an interval, during which the Judge filled in his notes, the examination was resumed.) Judge: Now, Mr. Cronjé, as I understand it, it was in consequence of Field-cornet Schoeman's complaint to you as Superintendent-General of Natives that you were sent by the Government to investigate the matter? Witness: Yes. Judge: You called the woman up before you and read to her the charges. Witness: Yes. Judge: You brought no evidence against her? Witness: No. Judge: You did not call upon Schoeman to produce any evidence against her? Witness: No. Judge: His letter of complaint to you seemed sufficient? Witness: Yes. Judge: You did not give her any opportunity to bring evidence? Witness: It was not necessary. Judge: Oh, dear no; I quite understand that 'you could tell from her demeanour that she was guilty.' But as a matter of form you did not hear any evidence on her behalf? Witness: No. Judge: You just sentenced her out of hand. Witness: I sentenced her to pay a fine. Judge: And then as regards the thirteen indunas, if they were indunas, as you deny sentencing them we need not refer further to that point, but I put this to you--there was no evidence brought against them? Witness: No. Judge: There was nothing to show that these men had ever advised the woman or were in a position to advise her; in fact, as far as the evidence goes, there was nothing to show that they even belonged to the tribe, but in your opinion they ought to have advised her differently, and you therefore sentenced them to twenty-five lashes each. Witness: I did not sentence them, but handed them over to the proper authorities to be dealt with according to law. Judge: Oh, no, Mr. Cronjé, that is not how the case appears to me. You came up to these people in the capacity of Judge, to do justice as between man and man according to your lights, to follow the procedure that is observed in civilized courts, to represent the strength, the rights, and the responsibilities of this Republic, and if we are to accept your evidence as true, you did not try the men whom you were to have tried. You heard evidence neither for nor against them, but you handed them over to--to whom, Mr. Cronjé? Not to the proper authorities, but to Erasmus and Schoeman, the other parties in the case which you were sent up to try. It seems to me, Mr. Cronjé, that this is a case without parallel. There was no answer from the witness. Judge: One point more, Mr. Cronjé, and I have finished. When you handed over these men to be dealt with, did you notify them that they had the right of appeal from any sentence that might be imposed upon them? Witness: Yes, I did. Judge: Right! Now, Mr. Cronjé, did you notify Erasmus and Schoeman that they should stay execution of the sentence pending the hearing of any appeal? After considerable pause the witness was understood to say "No." Judge: You did not tell these officials to stay execution? Witness: No. Judge: Then you merely gave these natives the right to appeal against the sentence of lashes after they should have received the lashes? There was no answer from the witness. Judge: That will do, Mr. Cronjé. I do not think that these people have much reason to thank you for the leave to appeal. Cronjé was followed in the witness-box by Stiemens, whose evidence is already referred to, and the Court then adjourned. The next morning, shortly before the opening of the Court, the State Attorney came down on behalf of the Government and arranged with Plaintiffs' Counsel to adjourn for the day to enable parties to try and settle the three cases out of Court. The Court thereupon adjourned at the request of parties, and during the day the three cases were settled on the following basis: The Government refunds Toeremetsjani the £147 10s. with interest at 6 per cent, from the date of payment by her to Erasmus, and pays her costs, to be taxed as between attorney and client. The Defendants Cronjé, Erasmus, and Schoeman, pay each of the thirteen indunas who were flogged £25 as compensation, and pay the costs of Jesaja and Segole, to be taxed as between attorney and client. POSTSCRIPT. One last touch of irony is needed to complete the story of the suits brought by the Chieftainess Toeremetsjani and her indunas against Messrs. Erasmus, Schoeman, and the rest. It seems that these same gentlemen have actually been appointed by the Government to 'investigate matters' in the district where these Kaffirs live. Poor Toeremetsjani and the unfortunate indunas, as a contemporary remarks, may be expected to give a grovelling welcome. No more High Court for them. The natives, by the way, interviewed since their return to the kraals, state that they have not yet received the settlement arranged. In connection with the above sample of justice to the natives it is as well to recall another recent incident which has lately taken place. Some natives being severely mishandled by the local authorities, and being in consequence destitute of means to proceed against them in law, applied to Court for leave to sue _in forma pauperis_. This leave was granted. Immediately upon this becoming known petitions were got up among the Boers, with the result that the Volksraad some six weeks ago took a resolution instructing the Government to immediately bring in a law forbidding the judges to grant such leave, and making it impossible for a native to sue Government or any white person _in forma pauperis_. Comment (concludes the correspondent who sets out these various facts) is superfluous. APPENDIX L. 59, HOLBORN VIADUCT, LONDON, E.C. _6th May, 1897._ REPORT ON THE LETTER WRITTEN ON A TORN TELEGRAM FORM SIGNED "F.R.", BY MR. T.H. GURRIN, EXPERT IN HANDWRITING. Mr. THOMAS HENRY GURRIN, of 59, Holborn Viaduct, London, E.C., is a professional expert in handwriting, recognized and employed by the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Home Office, and the authorities at Scotland Yard, and is constantly engaged by them in that capacity. He is also frequently engaged in the same capacity by the Bank of England and other public bodies. He has acted as handwriting expert in a very large number of civil and criminal cases at sessions, assizes, and before the High Courts, for over twelve years past, and can conscientiously say that his experience in the identification of genuine handwriting and the detection of forged and altered documents is very extensive. Mr. Gurrin begs respectfully to submit the following report:-- 'Having been instructed by Mr. Braunstein, solicitor, of 27, Great George Street, Westminster, I have examined a photograph of torn portions of a letter written on a telegram form of the South African Republic. 'My attention has been directed to the evidence of Major Sir J.C. Willoughby, appearing at page 302 of the Minutes, in which he has given his version of the missing portions of this document. 'I have compared this version of the missing words with the vacant spaces, and I find that the words supplied in question 5,571 would occupy, as near as can be estimated, the missing spaces, judging from the other writing in the document. 'I read the first portion of the document as follows:-- '"Dear Dr., "The rumour of massacre in" "Johannesburg that started you to our" "relief was not true. We are all right;" "feeling intense; we have armed" "a lot of men. Shall (not 'I shall') be very glad" "to see you. We are not in possession of" "town." 'Major Sir J.C. Willoughby reads line 6, "We (or the Boers)." It cannot possibly be "the Boers," as the first letter is clearly a portion of a capital "W," and corresponds with the first portion of the "W" as made at line 3; and further, there would be no room for the two words "the Boers," between the portion of the letter "W" and the word "not." 'Again, I am of opinion that the last word in line 6 was "of," as there is still visible an ascending curved stroke corresponding to that with which the writer terminates the letter "f." 'With reference to the rest of the version as contained in question 5,573, I respectfully submit that the missing words supplied are absolutely inconsistent with the spaces which these words would occupy if written naturally by the same writer. 'The words "I will bring at least three hundred" do not correspond with the still existing marks on line 7. The portion of a letter appearing in the middle of the line would not, as far as I can judge, be a part of any of the words suggested which would come at the centre of that line. It might be a part of a capital "W," or an initial "p," or it might be a final "d" turned back to the left, and the last letter in the line looks as though it was intended for an "e." In support of this theory, I compare it with the "e" at the end of the word "true" in line 3, and the "e" at the end of "intense," line 4. The writer, when making a final "d," makes the latter portion of the letter something like this, but in the instances in this document he exerts more pressure than we find here, see, for instance, the "d" in "started," at line 2, the "d" in "glad," in line 5, and "d" in "armed," line 4. Besides, I cannot think that this can be the end of the word "hundred," as, judging from the length of the word "started," the word "hundred" would have occupied from the third vertical line, and this would certainly leave no room for the other words suggested in the version given by Major Sir J.C. Willoughby, viz.: "We will bring at least, or about three." If the words "will send out some," or "we will send out some," are written in line 7 after the word "town," adopting, as nearly as possible, the space that would have been occupied by the writer for these words, they will just fill the line. In like manner, with regard to line 8, there is just room after the words "men to" for the two words "meet you," and the small mark appearing before the full stop might have been the terminal of the letter "u," but it would have been impossible to get into this small space the words "meet you at Krugersdorp," and even if the words "meet you at" were omitted, and if it be assumed that the word which originally stood there was "Krugersdorp," then the mark appearing before the full stop could not by any theory be construed as having been a portion of the letter "p," as I have examined various specimens of Colonel Rhodes' handwriting, and have seen him write specimens containing the letter "p" and find that he does not terminate a "p" with any stroke of this description, but that he terminates it inside the oval portion of the letter near the downstroke. With regard to the rest of the line, the last two letters appear to have been "ne," and there is a dot just in the position that would apparently have been occupied by the dot had the previous letter been "i." Consequently, I am of opinion that the theory that the words "will send," or "we will send out some men to meet you," "you are a fine fellow," is perfectly consistent with the spaces left in the torn document, but that the theory that the words which were originally in the spaces were "I will bring at least or about three hundred men to meet you at Krugersdorp, you are a gallant fellow," is not only inconsistent with the amount of space available, but does not fit in with the letters and portions of letters still visible. 'T.H. GURRIN.' Contents of the letter according to a statement signed by Dr. Jameson, Sir John Willoughby, Major Robert White and Colonel Raleigh Grey:-- 'The rumour of massacre in Johannesburg that started you to our relief was not true. We are all right, feeling intense. We have armed a lot of men. I shall be very glad to see you. We (or the Boers) are not in possession of the town. I will bring at least, or about, 300 men to meet you at Krugersdorp. You are a gallant fellow.' According to Colonel Francis Rhodes and Mr. Lionel Phillips, the contents are as follows:-- 'The rumour of massacre in Johannesburg that started you to our relief was not true. We are all right, feeling intense. We have armed a lot of men. Shall be very glad to see you. We are not in possession of the town. We will send out some men to meet you. You are a fine fellow.' 'We, the undersigned, were present in the Reform Committee's room when Colonel Rhodes despatched the letter to Dr. Jameson, which commences, "Dear Dr.--The rumour of massacre." We read the letter, but cannot now recall the exact words on the missing fragments; but we do hereby declare on oath that there was no offer of 300 men, nor of any other specific number of men, nor was the word Krugersdorp mentioned. The spirit of the letter was to suggest that a few men should or would be sent in the character of a complimentary escort to show Dr. Jameson his camp. 'GEO. W. FARRAR. 'S.W. JAMESON. 'As witness-- 'J. Percy FitzPatrick. 'Johannesburg, _10th April, 1897_.' 
47132	----	[Illustration: CROSSING THE KOMATI RIVER. Drawing by Donald E. M'Cracken.] SOUTH AFRICA AND THE TRANSVAAL WAR BY LOUIS CRESWICKE AUTHOR OF "ROXANE," ETC. WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS VOL. VII.--THE GUERILLA WAR. FROM FEBRUARY 1901 TO THE CONCLUSION OF HOSTILITIES. THE DEVELOPMENT OF PEACE NEGOTIATIONS FROM FEBRUARY 23, 1901, TO MAY 31, 1902 MANCHESTER: KENNETH MACLENNAN 75 PICCADILLY Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. At the Ballantyne Press CONTENTS--Vol. VII. PAGE CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE viii COMPOSITION AND STRENGTH OF COLUMNS xiv THE SITUATION--FEBRUARY 1901 1 CHAPTER I CONTINUATION OF THE DE WET CHASE, 1ST TO 10TH MARCH--ACROSS THE ORANGE RIVER 7 LYTTELTON'S SWEEPING MOVEMENT--10TH TO 20TH MARCH--THABANCHU LINE 9 CHAPTER II CAPE COLONY--PURSUIT OF RAIDERS--MARCH AND APRIL--CHASING KRUITZINGER 14 CHAPTER III THE OPERATIONS OF GENERAL FRENCH IN THE EASTERN TRANSVAAL, FROM 27TH JANUARY TO 16TH APRIL 1901 19 CHAPTER IV IN THE WESTERN TRANSVAAL--JANUARY TO MAY 31 APRIL, ORANGE RIVER COLONY--OPERATIONS OF GENERAL BRUCE-HAMILTON AND GENERAL RUNDLE 40 CHAPTER V COMBINED MOVEMENT FOR THE CLEARANCE OF THE NORTHERN TRANSVAAL--MARCH AND APRIL 43 LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR BINDON BLOOD'S OPERATIONS NORTH OF THE LINE MIDDELBURG--BELFAST--LYDENBURG 45 COLONEL GRENFELL AT PIETERSBURG 48 CHAPTER VI GENERAL ELLIOT'S OPERATIONS FROM KROONSTAD 50 GENERAL ELLIOT'S OPERATIONS--SECOND PHASE 52 CHAPTER VII GENERAL BRUCE-HAMILTON'S OPERATIONS, ORANGE RIVER COLONY (SOUTH) 55 MAJOR-GENERAL C. KNOX, ORANGE RIVER COLONY (CENTRE)--MAY AND JUNE 57 CHAPTER VIII LORD METHUEN, TRANSVAAL (SOUTH-WEST)--MAY AND JUNE 59 CHAPTER IX OPERATIONS BETWEEN THE DELAGOA AND NATAL LINES--MAY AND JUNE 66 BRIGADIER-GENERAL PLUMER IN THE EASTERN TRANSVAAL 68 MAJOR-GENERAL BEATSON'S OPERATIONS 70 LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR BINDON BLOOD, EASTERN TRANSVAAL 71 ACTIVITIES AROUND STANDERTON AND HEIDELBERG 73 CHAPTER X LIEUTENANT-COLONEL GRENFELL'S OPERATIONS, TRANSVAAL, N. 75 SITUATION AND SKIRMISHES IN CAPE COLONY--MAY AND JUNE 77 CHAPTER XI ORANGE RIVER COLONY, S.--MAJOR-GENERALS BRUCE-HAMILTON AND C. KNOX--JULY 82 ORANGE RIVER COLONY, N.--MAJOR-GENERAL ELLIOT 84 ORANGE RIVER COLONY, E.--LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR L. RUNDLE 90 ORANGE RIVER COLONY, N.--COLONEL RIMINGTON--BRIGADIER-GENERAL BULLOCK--BRIGADIER-GENERAL SPENS 92 TRANSVAAL, S.W.--OPERATIONS OF GENERAL FETHERSTONHAUGH--CLEARING THE MAGALIESBERG--JULY 93 TRANSVAAL, E.--LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR BINDON BLOOD 94 STANDERTON-HEIDELBERG--LIEUTENANT-COLONEL COLVILLE 97 CAPE COLONY--JULY 98 THE SITUATION--AUGUST 100 CHAPTER XII ORANGE RIVER COLONY--AUGUST 105 ORANGE RIVER COLONY, S.--BRIGADIER-GENERAL PLUMER 107 ORANGE RIVER COLONY, E.--MAJOR-GENERAL ELLIOT--AUGUST 107 SWEEPING THE KROONSTAD DISTRICT--BRIGADIER-GENERAL SPENS 109 OPERATIONS NEAR HONING SPRUIT AND THE LOSBERG--LIEUTENANT-COLONEL GARRATT 110 SCOURING THE MAGALIESBERG--COLONELS ALLENBY AND KEKEWICH 112 TRANSVAAL, S.W. 114 THE PIETERSBURG LINE--LIEUT.-COLONEL GRENFELL 116 THE TRANSVAAL (NORTH-EAST)--GENERAL BLOOD'S OPERATIONS 116 LIEUTENANT-COLONEL COLVILLE'S OPERATIONS 120 NATAL--LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR H. HILDYARD 121 CAPE COLONY--LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR J. FRENCH 122 CHAPTER XIII NATAL AND THE EASTERN TRANSVAAL--SEPTEMBER 1901 127 TRANSVAAL (WEST) 131 OPERATIONS ON THE VAAL 133 OPERATIONS IN THE ORANGE RIVER COLONY, N. 133 MAJOR-GENERAL ELLIOT--ORANGE RIVER COLONY, E. 133 EVENTS IN CAPE COLONY 136 CHAPTER XIV PROGRESS IN OCTOBER 1901 140 TRANSVAAL (EAST) 140 TRANSVAAL (WEST) 144 OCTOBER IN THE ORANGE RIVER COLONY 145 OPERATIONS IN CAPE COLONY 146 CHAPTER XV THE CLOSE OF 1901--PROGRESS IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER 149 TRANSVAAL (EAST) 149 TRANSVAAL (WEST) 150 ORANGE RIVER COLONY 151 THE SWAZI BORDER 153 NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER 153 TRANSVAAL (EAST)--DECEMBER 154 IN THE NORTHERN TRANSVAAL 157 TRANSVAAL (WEST) 158 ORANGE RIVER COLONY 158 CAPE COLONY 162 THE SITUATION--JANUARY 1902 163 THE LOYALISTS OF THE CAPE COLONY 171 THE SOLDIERS' CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 176 CHAPTER XVI THE NEW YEAR--JANUARY 1902 178 TRANSVAAL (EAST) 178 TRANSVAAL (NORTH) 179 TRANSVAAL (WEST) 180 ORANGE RIVER COLONY 180 A BIG TRAP FOR DE WET 181 CAPE COLONY 183 CHAPTER XVII THE EVENTS OF FEBRUARY AND MARCH 1902 184 TRANSVAAL (EAST) 184 TRANSVAAL (WEST) 185 ORANGE RIVER COLONY--MAJUBA DAY 189 THE CAPE COLONY 190 CHAPTER XVIII THE CLOSE OF HOSTILITIES--MARCH, APRIL, AND MAY 1902 192 TRANSVAAL (EAST) 192 FINISHING CLEARANCE OF THE ORANGE RIVER COLONY 193 TRANSVAAL (WEST)--MARCH 194 CAPE COLONY--MARCH 196 THE SITUATION--APRIL AND MAY 199 APPENDIX--THE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS. COMMENCED MARCH 12, 1902; CONCLUDED MAY 31, 1902 201 OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE AFTER THE BATTLE OF COLENSO, DECEMBER 15, 1899 210 RECIPIENTS OF THE VICTORIA CROSS 212 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS--VOL. VII. 1. _COLOURED PLATES_ PAGE CROSSING THE KOMATI RIVER _Frontispiece_ CECIL J. RHODES AT GROOTE SCHUUR 32 AN ARMY DOCTOR AT WORK IN THE FIRING LINE 64 DELAGOA BAY 100 CHURCH SQUARE, PRETORIA 104 BULLOCK WAGGON CROSSING A DRIFT ON THE UMBELOSI RIVER, SWAZILAND 120 DE WET'S ATTEMPT TO CROSS THE RAILWAY 160 A DUTCH VILLAGE NEAR EDENBURG 176 2. _FULL-PAGE PLATES_ DEFENDING A TRAIN DERAILED BY THE BOERS 24 CHARGE OF THE BUSHMEN AND NEW ZEALANDERS ON THE BOER GUNS DURING THE ATTACK ON BABINGTON'S CONVOY NEAR KLERKSDORP 36 DEFEAT OF A NIGHT ATTEMPT TO CROSS THE RAILWAY 44 THE CAPTURE OF DE WET'S CONVOY AT REITZ 52 THE ENGAGEMENT AT VLAKFONTEIN 60 THE MISHAP TO THE VICTORIANS AT WILMANSRUST 72 BOERS CAUGHT IN THE ACT OF CUTTING THE TELEGRAPH WIRES 96 NIGHT ATTACK ON A BOER CONVOY BY MOUNTED INFANTRY UNDER COLONEL WILLIAMS 112 THE DEFENCE OF FORT ITALA 128 THE GALLANT BUGLER OF FORT ITALA 132 THE FIGHT AT BAKENLAAGTE 140 MISHAP TO THE SCOTS GREYS AT KLIPPAN 184 LORD METHUEN RALLYING HIS BROKEN FORCES AT TWEEBOSCH 186 BRILLIANT DEFENCE BY NEW ZEALANDERS AT HOLSPRUIT 188 THE TRAIN CONVEYING THE REMAINS OF MR. RHODES SALUTED BY THE BLOCKHOUSE GUARDS 196 SURRENDERED BOERS AT BELFAST ANXIOUS TO JOIN THE NATIONAL SCOUTS 206 3. _FULL-PAGE PORTRAITS_ MAJOR-GENERAL CHARLES KNOX 8 MAJOR-GENERAL SIR H. H. SETTLE 16 BRIGADIER-GENERAL THE EARL OF ERROLL 68 MAJOR-GENERAL BRUCE-HAMILTON 80 MAJOR-GENERAL WALTER KITCHENER 88 LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR BINDON BLOOD 148 MAJOR-GENERAL ARTHUR PAGET 152 MAJOR-GENERAL BABINGTON 168 4. _MAPS AND ENGRAVINGS IN THE TEXT_ MAP--DE WET'S RUSH IN CAPE COLONY 4 MAP--DE WET'S ESCAPE FROM THE ENVELOPING CORDON 6 MAP--OPERATIONS IN SOUTH-EAST OF ORANGE RIVER COLONY 10 MAP--REORGANISATION OF TROOPS IN ORANGE RIVER COLONY 12 MAP OF OPERATIONS IN EASTERN TRANSVAAL 20 MAP--POSITION OF FORCES AROUND ERMELO 23 COLONEL BENSON 36 MAP OF COMBINED MOVEMENT TO CLEAR NORTHERN TRANSVAAL 47 COLONEL DE LISLE 53 A TYPICAL BLOCKHOUSE 56 MAP OF OPERATIONS BETWEEN DELAGOA BAY AND NATAL LINES 67 COLONEL COLENBRANDER 76 GENERAL ELLIOT'S SWEEP SOUTH OF THE VAAL 89 CONCENTRATION CAMP AT NORVAL'S PONT 99 GENERAL ELLIOT 110 LIEUT.-COLONEL GORRINGE 123 COLONEL BETHUNE AND HIS BRIGADE STAFF 134 MAP OF EASTERN PORTION OF CAPE COLONY 147 COLONEL PILCHER 151 GENERAL BEATSON 156 MAP OF THE BLOCKHOUSE SYSTEM 163 MAP OF WESTERN PORTION OF CAPE COLONY 172 COLONEL CREWE 191 COLONEL H. T. LUKIN 193 COLONEL DOUGLAS HAIG 193 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE--VOL. VII. JANUARY 1901. 1.--"Call to arms" at Cape Town. General Charles Knox and others continued the pursuit of De Wet. 2.--Arrival of Lord Roberts at Osborne. He is created by the Queen an Earl. 30.--De Wet breaks through the Bloemfontein-Ladybrand line going south. FEBRUARY 1901. 1.--General French continued to operate against Botha in the Eastern Transvaal. 6.--The War Office decided to reinforce Lord Kitchener by 30,000 mounted troops beyond those already landed in Cape Colony. "Call to arms" at Cape Town. 9.--"Call to arms" at Cape Town. 10.--"Call to arms" at Cape Town. 22.--Extraordinary proclamation signed by Steyn and De Wet published. 23.--Accounts of Boer atrocities published. "Call to arms" at Cape Town. Severe defeat of De Wet by General Plumer, who captured two guns, fifty prisoners, and all De Wet's ammunition. De Wet's attempt to invade Cape Colony completely failed. General French gained several victories over Botha in Eastern Transvaal, with capture of guns, ammunition, and waggons. 28.--Further great captures from the Boers by General French, and heavy Boer losses. MARCH 1901. 2.--De Wet was forced over the Orange River with the loss of his guns and convoy. Sir Alfred Milner proceeded north from Cape Town to take up the duties of the Governor of the Transvaal and Orange River Colonies. 26.--Victory by General Babington over Delarey at Ventersdorp. Nine Boer guns captured. APRIL 1901. 6.--General French, in his sweeping operations in the Eastern Transvaal, captured all the enemy's guns in that district. 8.--Colonel Plumer captured Pietersburg, the terminus of the railway running due north from Pretoria. 10.--Civil administration resumed in the Transvaal. 15.--Smuts' commando defeated near Klerksdorp. Two guns captured. 18.--Sir A. Milner obtained leave of absence on account of the state of his health. 19.--Generals Plumer and Walter Kitchener co-operated with General French in clearing the Eastern Transvaal and Lydenburg district. 30.--General Blood discovered documents and banknotes of Transvaal Government at Roosenekal, from which place Mr. Schalk Burger fled. MAY 1901. 8.--Municipal Government started in Johannesburg. 24.--Sir A. Milner arrived in London and had a peerage conferred upon him by the King. JUNE 1901. 1.--Severe engagement between General Dixon and Delarey at Vlakfontein, in the Magaliesberg. Enemy repulsed with heavy loss. Our casualties also heavy. 6.--De Wet severely defeated near Reitz by General Elliot, who made large captures. 9.--Lieut.-General Sir John French assumed command of the troops in Cape Colony. 12.--General Beatson surprised near Middelburg (Transvaal). Loss of two pom-poms. JULY 1901. 5.--In reply to Botha's inquiries about ending the war, Kruger telegraphed to Botha to continue fighting. 6.--A train wrecked on the Pretoria-Pietersburg line. 15.--Capture of the so-called "Orange Free State Government" at Reitz. Important Boer papers seized. Steyn alone of the members of his "Government" escaped--in his shirt. 16.--Important success by General French in Cape Colony. 19.--Publication of Lord Kitchener's despatch embodying contents of important documents seized at Reitz. Death of Mrs. Kruger. AUGUST 1901. 2.--More murders by Boers officially announced. One of the murdered men was an Imperial Yeoman. 8.--Commandant de Villiers and two Field Cornets surrendered at Warmbaths. 10.--Lord Kitchener by proclamation called upon the Boer leaders to surrender on or before the 15th of September. 13.--Lord Kitchener reported the largest return of Boer losses yet sustained in a week. More than 800 prisoners, 700 waggons, and 33,000 cattle. 27.--Lord Kitchener received letters from Steyn and De Wet protesting against his proclamation. 28.--Lord Milner arrived at the Cape from England. SEPTEMBER 1901. 2.--Another case of train-wrecking on the Pretoria-Pietersburg railway. 7.--Lotter and his entire commando captured in Cape Colony. 20.--Reverse to Major Gough near Utrecht. Severe fighting in Cape Colony. 21.--Reverse at Vlakfontein, near Sanna's Post. Two guns lost. (Afterwards recovered.) 23.--The camp of Lovat's Scouts rushed by Kruitzinger near Herschel. Koch's commando captured near Edenburg. The Carolina commando captured by Colonel Benson. 26.--Ten Boer leaders banished under Lord Kitchener's proclamation. Attacks on Fort Itala and Fort Prospect. Boers repulsed with very heavy losses at both places. The attempt of Botha and De Wet to invade Natal foiled. 29.--Proclamation issued in Pretoria providing for the sale of the properties of Boers still in the field, in accordance with Lord Kitchener's proclamation. 30.--Great attack by Delarey and Kemp on Colonel Kekewich's camp near Magato Nek, in the Magaliesberg. Boers repulsed. Severe losses on both sides. The Scottish Horse especially distinguished themselves and sustained severe loss. OCTOBER 1901. 6.--General Walter Kitchener and General Bruce-Hamilton engaged Botha's forces in the south-east of the Transvaal. Botha escaped to the north. 9.--Martial law extended to the whole of Cape Colony. 11.--Commandant Lotter sentenced to death. Death sentence on five members of his commando was commuted to penal servitude for life. 13.--Lieut.-Colonel Hon. J. Byng attacked laager at Jackfontein and captured eighteen prisoners. 15.--Major Damant took prisoner Adjutant Theron. Colonel de Lisle surprised laager at Wilge River and captured fifteen prisoners. 16.--Colonel Rawlinson returned to Standerton with twenty prisoners and many prizes. 21.--Colonel Lukin surprised Vander Venter's laager near New Bethesda. 22.--Colonel Benson captured laager at Klippoortje. 23.--Gallant attack on laager in Pongola Bosch. 24.--Colonel von Donop's brilliant defeat of 1000 Boers at Kleenfontein. 25.--Botha's farm surrounded at Schimmelhoek. His papers captured. 26.--Colonel Benson repulsed attack on his rearguard on the Steenkool Spruit. 27.--Colonel Williams' force occupied the Witnek Pass and routed a strong body of Boers from the position. 30.--Attack on Colonel Benson's force at Bakenlaagte. Colonel Benson and Colonel Guinness killed. Colonel Kekewich captured a laager at Beestekraal. NOVEMBER 1901. 2.--Patrol under Captain Walker captured twenty-one prisoners near Wolvekop. 7.--Attack on Piquetberg repulsed by garrison under Major Wilson and Town Guard. General B. Hamilton commenced operations against Botha in the Eastern Transvaal. 8.--Major Wiggin (26th Mounted Infantry) surrounded laager near Mahamba. Fourteen prisoners secured. 9.--Line blown up at Myburg Siding by Fouché. 11.--Major Pack Beresford and detachment of South African Constabulary captured laager at Doornhoek. 13.--Squadron Imperial Yeomanry detached from Hickie's force surprised and surrounded. Rescued by reinforcements. 14.--Rearguard of Colonel Byng's column attacked near Heilbron by 400 of the enemy under De Wet. Boers repulsed. British loss considerable. 16.--Further captures by Major Wiggin within Swaziland border. 18.--Lieutenant Welshman with patrol of West Yorkshire Regiment surprised party of Boers and captured eight prisoners. 20.--Engagement with Buys near Villiersdorp. Major Fisher killed. Buys captured by Colonel Rimington. Captain Elliot successfully engaged Boers in Griqualand. Captain Elliot killed. Three officers wounded. 24.--General Dartnell, with Highland Light Infantry, engaged Boers near Harrismith. Captured twelve and killed two. Offer of Canadian Government to raise 600 more troops for service in South Africa accepted. 25.--General Dartnell's force surprised Boers near Bethlehem and took twelve prisoners. 26.--Lord Basing engaged Joubert in Orange River Colony. Joubert wounded and captured. Major Pack Beresford attacked convoy near Paardeberg. 27.--Imperial Light Horse under Colonel Mackenzie took twenty-four prisoners, &c. Attack on Colonel Rimington's rearguard by De Wet repulsed. Many prisoners taken. 28.--Van Rensburg and thirteen burghers captured by Colonel Lowry Cole in Wepener district. DECEMBER 1901. 1.--General Elliot reached Kroonstad with 15 prisoners, 114 waggons, 89 carts, 2470 cattle, and 1280 horses. 3.--Colonel Colenbrander broke up Badenhorst's commando, and took fifteen prisoners and all the waggons. 4.--Laager surprised at Oshoek (twenty miles from Ermelo) by Spens' and Rawlinson's columns. Ninety-three prisoners taken. 7.--Colonel C. Mackenzie, in night march towards Watervaal (Eastern Transvaal), took sixteen prisoners. Colonel Holland surprised Brand's laager and took six Boers. 11.--Badenhorst and twenty-two burghers secured by Colonels Colenbrander and Dawkins, near Zandriverspoort. 13.--Brilliant surprise of Boers by General B. Hamilton at Witkraus. Laager broken up. One of Benson's guns recovered. 15.--Secretary of State for War congratulated General Bruce-Hamilton on his brilliant achievements. 16.--Haasbroek killed in encounter with Colonel Barker's men in the Doornberg. Capture of Kruitzinger by Colonel Dorans' and Lord Charles Bentinck's columns. 18.--Colonel Steele, with South African Constabulary, captured thirty-six Boers in the region of the Magaliesberg. Four hours' fighting between De Wet and General Dartnell. Boers driven off. Lord Methuen reported capture of thirty-two Boers. 19.--Colonel Allenby captured thirty-two of the enemy near Heidelberg. 20.--Colonel Damant attacked by 800 Boers. Two officers killed, three wounded. Boers repulsed. 21.--Capture of Smuts' convoy, near Bothwell, by Colonel Mackenzie. 22.--Seven hundred Cape raiders attacked columns of Colonels Wyndham and Crabbe. Were driven off with loss of five killed and twenty wounded. 23.--Successful attack on Grobelaar's laager by General B. Hamilton. 24.--Colonel Du Moulin surprised laager near Jagersfontein. Captured two Field-Cornets and twenty other Boers. 25.--Colonel Firman's camp at Tweefontein rushed by huge force under De Wet. 28.--Successful engagement near Burghersdorp by Colonel Price. Field-Cornet Jan Venter killed. JANUARY 1902. 3.--Capture of General Erasmus by General Bruce-Hamilton. 10.--Surprise of laager near Ermelo by Colonel Wing and capture of forty-two prisoners. 12.--More captures by General B. Hamilton. 13.--Fight for a convoy by De Villiers. Gallant charge of Munster Fusiliers. 16.--Capture of laager and twenty-four prisoners by Lord Methuen. 18.--Execution of Scheepers on various charges of murder at Graaff Reinet. Night expedition to Witbank. General Hamilton secured more prisoners. 21.--Colonels Park and Urmston engaged party of Boers under Muller and Trichardt, occasioning stampede of Boer Government from Houtenbek. 24.--Important captures by General Plumer's troops. Thirty burghers secured by Colonel Fry, West Yorkshire Regiment. Attack on Pietersburg repulsed. Volunteer Town Guard distinguished itself. 25.--Capture of Viljoen near Kruger's Post by detachment of Royal Irish under Major Orr. 26.--Successful engagement on the Modder by Major Driscoll's column. Huge laager at Nelspan dispersed by General Bruce-Hamilton's force. 27.--Colonel Du Moulin killed in a night attack on his camp. Enemy repulsed by Major Gilbert (Sussex Regiment). 30.--Colonel Rawlinson's troops after tremendous march surprised Manie Botha's laager and made valuable captures. 31.--Capture of convoy at Groothoop by Colonel Rimington. FEBRUARY 1902. 2.--De Wet's commando gallantly charged by New Zealanders, Queensland Imperial Bushmen, and South African Light Horse. Enormous captures. 4.--Capture and destruction of British convoy by Boers in Cape Colony. Major Crofton killed. 5.--Surprise and capture of Commandant S. Alberts' laager by Scottish Horse under Major Leader. 6.--Major Vallancey dispersed Beyers' commando. Gigantic movement to entrap De Wet started. 7.--De Wet, by brilliant manoeuvre, ruptured the British cordon and escaped. 8.--Big capture from Potgieter's laager by Colonel von Donop's force. 13.--Bouvers' laager in Cape Colony rushed by Colonel Kavanagh's men. 18.--Capture of Judge Hugo in Cape Colony. Boers cut off and surrounded a portion of squadron of Scots Greys south-east of Springs. 20.--Two laagers surprised by Colonel Park's troops; 164 prisoners taken. 21.--Capture of laager at Buffelskloof by Colonel E. Williams' column. 24.--Some East Griqualand rebels surrendered to Colonel Stanford. 25.--Determined attack on Colonel von Donop's convoy by Delarey and Kemp. Waggons lost. Escort, which made gallant defence, overpowered. Five British officers and fifty-three men killed; six officers and 123 men wounded; others taken prisoners. 26.--Jacob's laager captured by Colonel Driscoll. 27.--Anniversary of Majuba. Combined operations for driving Boers against Harrismith-Van Reenan's blockhouse line. Manie Botha killed; 600 Boers killed, wounded, or prisoners. Splendid defence by New Zealanders under Major Bauchop and New South Wales Mounted Infantry under Colonel Cox. 28.--Capture of Boers near Steynsdorp by Captain Holgate (Steinacker's Horse). MARCH 1902. 6.--Colonel Ross (Canadian Scouts) made valuable captures in a cave near Tafel Kop. 7.--Successful attack by Delarey on Lord Methuen's force at Tweebosch. Lord Methuen seriously wounded and taken prisoner. 11.--Close of big drive in Orange River Colony; 127 Boers taken. Commandant Celliers wounded. 12.--Many prisoners captured by Colonel Ternan and Colonel Pilcher. 13.--Little garrison of fifty men at Fort Edward surrounded by Beyers' commando. 15.--Attack on laager near Vryheid by General Bruce-Hamilton. General Cherry Emmett captured. 16.--Rebels at Sliphock captured by Captain Bowker. 17.--Some of Bezuidenhout commando captured in Cape Colony by Colonel Baillie. 18.--Lieutenant Williams, a notorious train-wrecker, captured by National Scouts. 21.--Colonel Harrison sent out from Pietersburg small force under Colonel Denny to relief of Fort Edward. Advance opposed by Boers. 23.--Arrival at Pretoria of so-called Acting Transvaal Government to discuss the terms of peace. 26.--Death of Cecil John Rhodes. 28.--Colonel Colenbrander from Krugersdorp moved to Pietersburg and from thence accomplished relief of Fort Edward. 29.--Total defeat of Beyers and dispersal of investing commando. 30.--Serious railway accident at Barberton. 31.--Delarey defeated in engagement with Colonels Keir and Cookson. R.H.A. Rifles, Canadian Rifles, and 28th Mounted Infantry distinguished themselves. APRIL 1902. 1.--Laager surprised by 2nd Dragoon Guards near Springs. Four officers wounded. 3.--State funeral of the late Mr. Rhodes at Cape Town. 4.--Ookief invested by Commandant Smuts. 8.--Successful attack on Beyers' laager near Pietersburg by Colonels Colenbrander and Murray. 9.--Conference between Transvaal and Orange Free State leaders at Klerksdorp in regard to negotiations for peace. 10.--Burial of Cecil John Rhodes in the Matoppos. "They left him alone in his glory." 11.--Meeting of Boer representatives at Klerksdorp in relation to Peace movement. Colonel Kekewich defeated Boers in Western Transvaal and captured two guns and a pom-pom. 12.--Laager at Schweizerreneke surprised by Colonel Rochfort. Fifty-five prisoners taken. MAY 1902. 1.--Relief of Ookiep by British troops under Colonels Cooper and Caldwell. 2.--Lieutenant Murray (District Mounted troops) killed at Tweefontein by Boers in kharki. 6.--Pieter de Wet sentenced by Treason Court to pay a fine of £1000 or undergo two years' imprisonment. 9.--Patrol attacked by Boers near Middelburg, Cape Colony. Captain Hinks killed. 15.--Members of the late Governments met together to discuss Peace proposals. 17.--Surrender of Hinton, the notorious train-wrecker. 20.--Delegates of late Governments arrived at Pretoria to arrange terms of surrender. 27.--Malan mortally wounded and captured by Jansenville District Mounted Horse (under Major Collett), and Lovat's Scouts. 30.--Peace Agreement signed. COMPOSITION OF COLUMNS COMPOSITION AND STRENGTH OF COLUMNS ENGAGED IN MAJOR-GENERAL BRUCE-HAMILTON'S OPERATIONS IN SOUTHERN ORANGE RIVER COLONY.[1] LIEUT.-COLONEL DU MOULIN'S COLUMN. 30th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (31-32). 31st Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (153-177). 39th Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. "N" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. 1st Royal Sussex Regiment (436). COLONEL ROCHFORT'S COLUMN. 9th Bn., Imperial Yeomanry (302-274). 17th Mounted Infantry (331-358). 17th Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. "G" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. 28th Co., Army Service Corps (11). LIEUT.-COLONEL BYNG'S COLUMN. 5th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (129-109). 23rd Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (123-75). 66th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (104-95). 32nd Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (91-93). South African Light Horse (503-642). 17th Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. Pompom Section, 1 pompom. 3rd Brigade Field Hospital (5). 13th Brigade Field Hospital (11). LIEUT.-COLONEL W. H. WILLIAMS' COLUMN. 1st Mounted Infantry (203-241), 1 M.G. 50th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (120-91). 60th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (121-110). 43rd Battery, R.F.A., 1 5-inch Howitzer. "D" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. 20th Bearer Company (8). COLONEL MONRO'S COLUMN. (Afterwards in Cape Colony.) Bethune's Mounted Infantry (273-500), 2 M.G. 56th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (80), 3 M.G. 57th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (92-95). 58th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (71-56). 59th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (77-80). 39th Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. "Z" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. LIEUT.-COLONEL A. MURRAY'S COLUMN. (Afterwards in Cape Colony.) Lovat's Scouts (152-182). "M" Battery, R.H.A., 2 guns. LIEUT.-COLONEL WHITE'S COLUMN. 28/6/01. (Since broken up.) 16th Lancers (469-329). 29th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (132-114). 49th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (141-100). 39th Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. "X" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. 9th Bearer Company (8). COLONEL HENRY'S COLUMN. 22nd Mounted Infantry (446-325). 24th Bn., Imperial Yeomanry (373-270). 82nd Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. Pompom Section, R.F.F., 1 pompom. 2nd Gloucestershire Regiment (271), 1 M.G. 23rd Bearer Company (9). KIMBERLEY COLUMN. 74th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (125-135). Kimberley Light Horse (94-99). Dennison's Scouts (81-85). Mounted Infantry, Royal Welsh Fusiliers (20-24). Vol. Northumberland Fusiliers (102). 3rd Leinster Regiment (100). 38th Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers (38). Diamond Field Artillery (13-19), 1 M.G. COLUMNS ENGAGED IN MAJOR-GENERAL CHARLES KNOX'S OPERATIONS IN CENTRAL ORANGE RIVER COLONY. COLONEL PILCHER'S COLUMN. 7th Corps Mounted Infantry (891-860), 2 M.G. 6th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry (642-582). MAJOR PINE COFFIN'S COLUMN. Mounted Infantry, Suffolk Regiment (119-112). Mounted Infantry, South Wales Borderers (105-107). Mounted Infantry, Berkshire Regiment (88-116). Mounted Infantry, West Riding Regiment (114-117). "O" Battery, R.H.A., 2 guns. 14th Battery, R.F.A., 4 guns. "M" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. 36th Co. Army Service Corps (37). 13th Brigade Bearer Company (8). LIEUT.-COLONEL THORNEYCROFT'S COLUMN. 21st and 22nd Sqds. and 18th Battalion. Imperial Yeomanry (740-780). Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry (168-339). Burmah Mounted Infantry (185-230). 76th Battery, R.F.A., 4 guns. "X" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. Royal Army Medical Corps (14). COLONEL HENRY'S COLUMN. KIMBERLEY COLUMN. COLUMNS ENGAGED IN MAJOR-GENERAL ELLIOT'S OPERATIONS IN NORTHERN ORANGE RIVER COLONY. BRIGADIER-GENERAL BROADWOOD'S COLUMN. 7th Dragoon Guards (581-584), 1 M.G. 6th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (123-126). 42nd Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (29-105). 44th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (107-122). 46th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (108-102). 78th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (59-70). Gun Section, Imperial Yeomanry (17-23), 2 M.G. 82nd Battery, R.F.A., 4 guns. 20th Brigade Bearer Company (21). 86th Co., Army Service Corps (17). 17th Co., Army Service Corps (11). Royal Engineers (7). COLONEL BETHUNE'S COLUMN. 1st Dragoon Guards (384-510), 1 M.G. 3rd Dragoon Guards (317-390). 7th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (99-98). 8th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (99-87). 28th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (92-90). "Q" Battery, R.H.A., 4 guns. Elswick Battery, 1 gun. "K" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. 2nd Somerset Light Infantry (196). 4th Field Troop, Royal Engineers (39). 19th Co., Army Service Corps (29). Royal Army Medical Corps (19). LIEUT.-COLONEL COLVILLE'S COLUMN. 2nd Division Mounted Infantry (300-340). 2nd Johannesburg Mounted Rifles (106-130). 63rd Battery, R.F.A., 4 guns. "O" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. 2nd East Surrey Regiment (345), 1 M.G. No. 1 Auxiliary Co., Army Service Corps (13). 2nd Brigade Field Hospital (16). 2nd Brigade Bearer Company (4). COLONEL RIMINGTON'S COLUMN. 3rd Regiment, 5th Contingent, New South Wales Mounted Rifles (734-854), 4 M.G. 41st Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (106-113). 77th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (91-96). 106th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (102-115). Prince of Wales Light Horse (501-504), 2 M.G. "G" Battery, R.H.A., 4 guns. "G" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. "R" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. 30th Co., Army Service Corps (14). 20th Brigade Field Hospital (23). LIEUT.-COLONEL DE LISLE'S COLUMN. 6th Regiment Mounted Infantry (392-457), 2 M.G. South Australians (326-398). 62nd Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. "A" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. 2nd Co., Army Service Corps (16). COLONEL E. C. KNOX'S COLUMN. 10th Hussars (566-668), 1 M.G. 12th Lancers (663-771), 1 M.G. 21st Bn., Imperial Yeomanry (259-316). "A" Battery, Royal Australian Artillery, 4 guns. 2nd East Surrey Regiment (274). "U" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. 17th Co., Royal Engineers (7). 40th Co., Army Service Corps (15). 4th Brigade Field Hospital (25). LIEUT.-COLONEL WESTERN'S COLUMN. No. 1 Co., Royal Irish Rifles Mounted Infantry (103-130). No. 2 Co., Royal Irish Rifles Mounted Infantry (99-137). Mounted Infantry, Royal West Kent Regiment (61-76). Driscoll's Scouts (422-489). 62nd Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. "M" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. 1st Oxfordshire Light Infantry (120). 1st Royal Irish Fusiliers (120). 2nd Division Field Hospital (17). 17th Co., Army Service Corps (15). COLUMNS ENGAGED IN LIEUT.-COLONEL WESTERN'S OPERATIONS ON THE VAAL RIVER. BRIGADIER-GENERAL G. HAMILTON'S COLUMN. 5th Dragoon Guards (373-340), 1 M.G. 13th Hussars (544-578), 1 M.G. "Q" Battery, R.H.A., 2 guns. 64th Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. "F" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. 1st East Lancashire (363), 1 M.G. 7th Co., Army Service Corps (7). 3rd Field Troop, Royal Engineers (29). 2nd Brigade Bearer Company (27). LIEUT.-COLONEL WESTERN'S COLUMN. COLONEL ALLENBY'S COLUMN. 6th Dragoon Guards (475-488), 3 M.G. 2nd Dragoons (506-533), 1 M.G. "O" Battery, R.H.A., 4 guns. 83rd Battery, R.F.A., 1 gun. 87th Battery, R.F.A., 1 5-inch Howitzer. "E" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. 1st Inniskilling Fusiliers (683), 1 M.G. 1st Field Troop, Royal Engineers (27). 6th Field Hospital (10). 6th Bearer Company (13). COLONEL HENRY'S COLUMN. COLUMNS ENGAGED IN CLEARING THE EAST OF THE ORANGE RIVER COLONY. MAJOR-GENERAL B. CAMPBELL'S COLUMN. 1st Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (134)} 2nd Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (160)} Total 3rd Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (114)} horses, 4th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (139)} 536. 2nd Battery, R.F.A., 4 guns. "T" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. 2nd Scots Guards (688). 1st Leinster Regiment (402). COLONEL HARLEY'S COLUMN. 36th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (142-153). 53rd Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (138-138). 62nd Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (82-35). Unallotted Imperial Yeomanry (343-121). Mounted Infantry, Manchester Regiment (96-114). Tempest's Scouts (38). 36th, Southern Division, R.G.A., 1 5-inch. 77th Battery, R.F.A., 4 guns. "T" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. 1st South Staffordshire Regiment (787). 2nd Manchester Regiment (645). 2nd Grenadier Guards (62). COLUMNS ENGAGED IN OPERATIONS IN THE SOUTH-WEST TRANSVAAL. LIEUT.-GENERAL LORD METHUEN'S COLUMN. 13th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (128). 14th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (130-154). 15th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (140-162). 16th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (130-141). 100th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (36-35). 101st Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (142-148). 102nd Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (105-116). Gun Section, Imperial Yeomanry (15-24), 2 M.G. 37th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (99-115). 38th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (96-105). 39th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (119-124). MAJOR-GENERAL BABINGTON'S COLUMN. 14th Hussars (98-105). Mounted Infantry, Royal Welsh Fusiliers (29-35). Imperial Light Horse (162-229). 4th New Zealand Rifles (216-280). 6th Imperial Bushmen (193-260). 103rd Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (135-144). 107th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (145-153). 37th Battery, R.F.A., 1 5-inch Howitzer. 68th Battery, R.F.A., 4 guns. Elswick Battery, 1 gun. Pompom Section, R.F.F., 2 pompoms. Signallers, R.F.F. (7). 1st Royal Welsh Fusiliers (522). 11th Co., Royal Engineers (9). 7th Co., Army Service Corps (21). 9th Brigade Field Hospital (20). 12th Bearer Company (11). COLONEL SIR H. RAWLINSON'S COLUMN. 2nd Mounted Infantry (352-439). 8th Mounted Infantry (375-428). "P" Battery, R.H.A., 2 guns. 38th Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. 37th Battery, R.F.A., 1 5-inch Howitzer. 40th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (95-91), 1 M.G. 43rd Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (113-116). 73rd Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (105-153). 51st Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (81-106). Mounted Infantry, Bedfordshire Regiment (63-72). Bechuanaland Rifles (64-90). 4th Battery, R.F.A., 6 guns. 37th Battery, R.F.A., 2 5-inch Howitzers. R.F.F. Artillery, 2 guns. "H" Section Pompoms, 2 pompoms. Pompom Section, R.F.F., 2 pompoms. 1st Northumberland Fusiliers (146). 1st Loyal North Lancashire (334). 3rd South Wales Borderers (146). LIEUT.-COLONEL HICKIE'S COLUMN. "P" Battery, R.H.A., 2 guns. 78th Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. Pompom Section, 2 pompoms. 103rd Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (108-113). 107th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (99-109). Kitchener's Horse (29-51). Roberts' Horse (114-118). Imperial Light Horse (369-439). 2nd Cheshire Regiment (182), 1 M.G. 11th Field Troop, Royal Engineers (7). 7th Co., Army Service Corps (24). 29th Co., Army Service Corps (6). 9th Brigade Field Hospital (14). 12th Bearer Company (10). BRIGADIER-GENERAL DIXON'S COLUMN. 7th Bn., Imperial Yeomanry (151-164). 1st Scottish Horse (451-543). 8th Battery, R.F.A., 4 guns. 28th Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. 37th Battery, R.F.A., 1 5-inch Howitzer. "G" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. 1st King's Own Scottish Borderers (469), 1 M.G. 1st Derby Regiment (411), 1 M.G. "B" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. "Z" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. 2nd Cheshire Regiment (179). 2nd Field Troop, Royal Engineers (14). LIEUT.-COLONEL E. C. WILLIAMS' COLUMN. 2nd New South Wales Mounted Rifles (526-536). 3rd New South Wales Bushmen (229-244). 21st Bn., Mounted Infantry (432-415). 78th Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. Elswick Battery, 1 gun. "A" Batt., Royal Australian Artillery, 2 guns. "B" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. "D" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. 2nd Cheshire Regiment (192). Australian Medical Corps (23). 7th Co., Royal Engineers (7). 10th Co., Army Service Corps (24). 12th Field Hospital (32). 10th Bearer Company (12). 7th Co., Royal Engineers (4). BRIGADIER-GENERAL G. HAMILTON'S COLUMN. COLONEL ALLENBY'S COLUMN. GENERAL BARTON'S COLUMN. 108th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (100). Mounted Infantry (200). 81st Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. 1st Cameron Highlanders (700). MAJOR G. WILLIAMS' COLUMN. 11th Bn., Mounted Infantry (323-403). COLUMNS ENGAGED IN OPERATIONS BETWEEN THE DELAGOA AND NATAL LINES. BRIGADIER-GENERAL PLUMER'S COLUMN. 5th Queensland Imperial Bushmen (340-361). 6th New Zealand Mounted Rifles (419-406). 18th Battery. R.F.A., 4 guns. "Q" Section Pompoms, 2 pompoms. 1st Royal Munster Fusiliers (264). 2nd and 11th Cos., Royal Engineers (37). 13th Brigade Field Hospital (18). 14th Brigade Field Hospital (16). Elswick Battery, 1 gun. 2nd Dorset Regiment (500), 1 M.G. 26th Co., Royal Engineers (20). 11th Field Hospital (9). 18th Field Hospital (10). 20th Co., Army Service Corps (20). 45th Co., Army Service Corps (16). LIEUT.-COLONEL GREY'S (afterwards LIEUT.-COLONEL GARRATT'S) COLUMN. 6th Queenslanders (307-302). 7th New Zealanders (489-504), 1 M.G. 9th Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. 73rd Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. "C" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. 1st East Lancashire (309). 15th Field Hospital (22). 91st Co., Army Service Corps (22). MAJOR-GENERAL W. KITCHENER'S COLUMN. 5th West Australian Mounted Infantry (160-194). 6th West Australian Mounted Infantry (195-186). BRIGADIER-GENERAL BULLOCK'S COLUMN. 5th Corps, Mounted Infantry (758-894). Gough's Mounted Infantry (590-742), 3 M.G. Johannesburg Mounted Rifles (318-366). Commander-in-Chief's Bodyguard (182-310), 2 guns and 1 pompom. 74th Battery, R.F.A., 4 guns. "J" Battery, R.H.A., 6 guns. "F" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. 2nd Imperial Light Horse (138-170), 1 M.G. 53rd Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. 16th Southern Division, R.G.A., 1 5-inch. 10th Mountain Battery, R.G.A., 1 gun. "S" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. 1st Devonshire Regiment (833), 2 M.G. 24th Bearer Company and Field Hospital (9). 23rd Co., Royal Engineers (10). LIEUT.-COLONEL PULTENEY'S COLUMN. 1st Royal Dragoons (345-349), 1 M.G. 6th Inniskilling Dragoons (370-400), 2 M.G. 66th Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. "P" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. 1st Scots Guards (854), 1 M.G. Royal Engineers (48). 11th Field Hospital (19). 9th Bearer Company (21). COLONEL RIMINGTON'S COLUMN. COLONEL ALLENBY'S COLUMN. COLONEL E. C. KNOX'S COLUMN. COLUMNS ENGAGED IN BRIGADIER-GENERAL PLUMER'S OPERATIONS IN SOUTH-EASTERN TRANSVAAL. BRIGADIER-GENERAL PLUMER'S COLUMN. COLONEL E. C. KNOX'S COLUMN. COLONEL RIMINGTON'S COLUMN. MAJOR-GENERAL BEATSON'S OPERATIONS. MAJOR-GENERAL BEATSON'S COLUMN. 5th Victorian Mounted Rifles (740-721). 9th Battery, R.F.A., 4 guns. 2nd Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (366). 2nd Seaforth Highlanders (178). 26th Co., Royal Engineers (23). 20th Field Hospital (26). 84th Co., A.S.C. (18). COLUMNS ENGAGED IN LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR BINDON BLOOD'S OPERATIONS IN THE EASTERN TRANSVAAL. MAJOR-GENERAL BABINGTON'S COLUMN. 19th Hussars (279-268), 1 M.G. 83rd Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. 10th Mountain Battery, R.G.A., 1 gun. "J" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. 1st King's Royal Rifle Corps (637), 1 M.G. 43rd Co., Army Service Corps (16). 12th Field Hospital (21). 9th Co., Royal Engineers (12). LIEUT.-COLONEL BENSON'S (R.A.) COLUMN. 18th Mounted Infantry (466-513). 19th Mounted Infantry (362-430). 2nd Scottish Horse (503-647). 21st Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. 81st Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. 61st Battery, R.F.A., 1 5-inch Howitzer. 10th Mountain Battery, R.G.A., 1 gun. "C" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. "R" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. 1st Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (724). 23rd Co., Royal Engineers (23). 8th Bearer Company (22). 31st Co., Army Service Corps (19). BRIGADIER-GENERAL SPENS' COLUMN. 5th Lancers (153-132). 4th Mounted Infantry (457-534). 4th Mountain Battery, R.G.A., 2 2.5-inch. 10th Mountain Battery, R.G.A., 1 12-pr. "S" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. 2nd Royal Berkshire Regiment (570), 3 M.G. 19th Co., Royal Engineers (23). 19th Bearer Co. (29). COLONEL CAMPBELL'S COLUMN. 18th Hussars (543-470). 53rd Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. 14th Southern Division, R.G.A., 1 5-inch. Pontoon Troop, R.E. (10). 2nd Rifle Brigade (587), 1 M.G. 12th Brigade Field Hospital (30). Army Service Corps (10). COLONEL PARK'S COLUMN. 4th Division Mounted Infantry (123-137), 1 Krupp gun. 53rd Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. "P" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. 1st Royal Irish Regiment (613), 1 M.G. 40th Co., Army Service Corps (8). 4th Division Field Hospital (4). LIEUT.-COLONEL DOUGLAS' COLUMN. 3rd Mounted Infantry (349-446). 84th Battery, R.F.A., 4 guns. "L" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. 1st Royal Scots (704), 1 M.G. 23rd Co., Royal Engineers (17). 19th Field Hospital (22). 19th Bearer Company (11). MAJOR-GENERAL W. KITCHENER'S COLUMN. LIEUT.-COLONEL PULTENEY'S COLUMN. MAJOR-GENERAL BEATSON'S COLUMN. LIEUT.-COLONEL COLVILLE'S COLUMN. COLONEL GARRATT'S COLUMN. COLUMNS ENGAGED IN OPERATIONS ON THE PIETERSBURG LINE. MAJOR MCMICKING'S COLUMN. 20th Bn., Mounted Infantry (374-317). 75th Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. 2nd Lincoln Rifles (179). LIEUT.-COLONEL WILSON'S COLUMN. Kitchener's Fighting Scouts (417-399). Bush Veldt Carabineers (21-22). 12th Mounted Infantry (13-13). 2nd Gordon Highlanders (104). LIEUT.-COLONEL GRENFELL'S COLUMN. Kitchener's Fighting Scouts (364-361). 12th Mounted Infantry (193-194). 2nd Wiltshire Rifles (363). 85th Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. "A" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. OPERATIONS IN THE STANDERTON-HEIDELBERG DISTRICT. LIEUT.-COLONEL COLVILLE'S COLUMN. LIEUT.-COLONEL GREY'S COLUMN. COLUMNS ENGAGED IN OPERATIONS IN CAPE COLONY. COLONEL DORAN'S COLUMN. (Late LIEUT.-COLONEL HENNIKER'S.) Warren's Mounted Infantry (181-191). 11th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (134-131). 23rd Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (141-148). 24th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (125-94). "M" Battery, R.H.A., 2 guns. Cape Colony Cyclists (4). LIEUT.-COLONEL CRABBE'S COLUMN. P. A. Guards (193-205). Marshall's Horse (120-139). 99th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (53-63). 104th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (58-60). 105th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (53-69). 111th Sqdn., Imperial Yeomanry (47-53). 85th Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. 2nd Royal Fusiliers (78). Cape Medical Staff (13). LIEUT.-COLONEL GORRINGE'S COLUMN. Cape Defence Force (263). Cape Police (212). Tasmanian Imperial Bushmen (92). 5th Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. "O" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. Total horses (1401). LIEUT.-COLONEL CREWE'S COLUMN. Kaffrarian Rifles (301-374), 2 machine guns. Queenstown Volunteer Rifles (78-137). 44th Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. "Y" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. CAPTAIN LUND'S COLUMN. 9th Lancers (132). Brabant's Horse (209). Imperial Yeomanry (278). "A" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. Total horses (828), and 1 machine gun. LIEUT.-COLONEL SCOBELL'S COLUMN. 9th Lancers (303-332). Cape Mounted Rifles (203-356). Cape Mounted Royal Artillery, 3 guns. Cape Cyclists (9). Royal Engineers (2). LIEUT.-COLONEL WYNDHAM'S COLUMN. 17th Lancers (387-412), 1 machine gun. LIEUT.-COLONEL HON. A. D. MURRAY'S COLUMN. COLONEL MONRO'S COLUMN. NOTE.--Where two figures appear, the first refers to effective men, the second to effective horses. FORCE EMPLOYED AT VLAKFONTEIN (584) ON MAY 29TH. (_a_) Left (afterwards rear), under MAJOR CHANCE, R.A. 28th Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. "G" Section Pompoms, 1 pompom. 7th Bn., Imperial Yeomanry (230). 1 Co., 1st Derbyshire Regiment. (_b_) Centre, under BRIGADE-GENERAL DIXON. 8th Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. 37th Battery, R.F.A., 1 5-inch Howitzer. 2 Cos., 1st King's Own Scottish Borderers. 1 Co., 1st Derbyshire Regiment. (_c_) Right, under LIEUT.-COLONEL DUFF. 8th Battery, R.F.A., 2 guns. 1st Scottish Horse (200). 2 Cos., 1st King's Own Scottish Borderers. MAJOR-GENERAL BEATSON'S COLUMN (on 12th June). 5th Victorian Mounted Rifles (780-806). 9th Battery, R.F.A., 4 guns. "B" and "E" Sections Pompoms, 2 pompoms. 1st Royal Munster Fusiliers (347). 26th Co., Royal Engineers (23). 20th Field Hospital (26). 84th Co., Army Service Corps (20). Of which the following were detached to Wilmansrust (22) under MAJOR MORRIS, R.F.A.:-- 5th Victorian Mounted Rifles (350). Pompom Section, 2 pompoms. FOOTNOTES: [1] This table represents the columns as they were disposed at Midsummer 1901. SOUTH AFRICA AND THE TRANSVAAL WAR PEACE "On her knees, before the glory of the Lord, Britannia sheathes the lightnings of her sword; Once again, to utmost ends Of the Red Line it defends, She hath peace."--SIR EDWIN ARNOLD. THE SITUATION--FEBRUARY 1901 The reign of His Majesty King Edward VII. began in clouds! There was no denying that the last half-year had been one of retrogression. In June 1900, from the Orange River southwards, there had been comparative quietude. The southern and eastern half of the Orange River Colony had become fairly settled, while even in some districts of the Transvaal--towards the south-western area especially--the inhabitants gave indications of a willingness to accept British rule, and of a desire to return to their agricultural and peaceful avocations. But with the end of the year came a deplorable change. The enemy, broken up into a large number of desultory gangs, commenced raiding and wrecking, consequently the British forces, in order to cope with and pursue these vagrant bands, had to be broken up to correspond. The area of hostility and destruction grew larger daily and the difficulty of fighting more extreme. The lack of supplies now drove the Boers, who lived entirely on the country through which they passed, to spend their time in looting, in pouncing on the farms and small villages, and in seizing everything they might need. Stores, clothing, horses, cattle, all were grabbed at the point of the rifle, if not, as in some cases, delivered up on demand. To frustrate the tactics of the enemy, the British forces were compelled to denude the country of every movable thing, and to place whatever could be conveyed there in refuge camps which were established at points along the railway lines. But in this operation great loss was entailed, owing to the difficulty of finding sufficient grass for the number of collected animals, and of keeping them alive _en route_. The loss of crops and stock became a still more serious matter than even the destruction of farm buildings--a measure which had almost entirely been abandoned. Having regard to the inexpensive character of these structures, this measure, to quote Sir Alfred Milner, was a "comparatively small item" in the total damage caused by the war to the agricultural community. But, he said, the wanton and malicious injury done to the headgear, stamps, and other apparatus of some of the outlying mines by Boer raiders was a form of destruction for which there was no excuse. It was a vandalism unjustified by the requirements of military operations and outside the scope of civilised warfare. Directly or indirectly, all South Africa, including the agricultural population, owes its prosperity to the mines, and, of course, especially to the mines of the Transvaal. To money made in mining it is indebted for such progress, even in agriculture, as it has recently made, and the same source will have to be relied upon for the recuperation of agriculture after the ravages of war. The damage done to the mines Lord Milner estimated was not large "relatively to the vast total amount of the fixed capital sunk in them. The mining area," he said, "is excessively difficult to guard against purely predatory attacks having no military purpose, because it is, so to speak, 'all length and no breadth'--one long thin line, stretching across the country from east to west for many miles. Still, garrisoned as Johannesburg now is, it was only possible successfully to attack a few points in it. Of the raids previously made, and they have been fairly numerous, only one has resulted in any serious damage. In that instance the injury done to the single mine attacked amounted to £200,000, and it is estimated that the mine is put out of working for two years. This mine is only one out of a hundred, and is not by any means one of the most important. These facts may afford some indication of the ruin which might have been inflicted, not only on the Transvaal and all South Africa, but on many European interests, if that general destruction of mine works which was contemplated just before our occupation of Johannesburg had been carried out. However serious in some respects may have been the military consequences of our rapid advance to Johannesburg, South Africa owes more than is commonly recognised to that brilliant dash forward, by which the vast mining apparatus, the foundation of all her wealth, was saved from the ruin threatening it." The events of the last six months promised to involve a more vast amount of repair and a longer period of recuperation, especially for agriculture, than would have been anticipated at the commencement of hostilities. Still, having regard to the fact that both the Rand and Kimberley were virtually undamaged, and that the main engines of prosperity, when once set going again, would not take very long to get into working order, the economic consequences of the war, though grave, did not appear by any means appalling. The country population it was admitted would need a good deal of help, first to preserve it from starvation, and then, probably, to supply it with a certain amount of capital to make a fresh start. And the great industry of the country would require some little time before it would be able to render any assistance. But, in a young country with great recuperative powers, many years would not elapse before the economic ravages of the war would be effaced. Still, the moral effect of the recrudescence of the war was lamentable. Everywhere after the occupation of Pretoria the inhabitants had seemed resigned to the state of affairs--the feeling in the colony had been one of acquiescent relief. The rebellious element was glad of the opportunity to settle down. Had these people been shut off from communication with the enemy they would have maintained their calm, and engaged themselves with their former peaceful pursuits. As it was, while the great advance to Pretoria, and subsequently to Delagoa Bay, demanded the presence of the British troops in the north, the country was left open to raiders, who daily grew more audacious as the small successes of their guerilla leaders appeared to give promise of a turn of fortune's wheel. And now came the real tug of war. These raiders, both on the brink of the Orange Colony and the Southern Transvaal, kept the peaceable inhabitants of the colony in an unenviable quandary. These, and many others, on taking the oath of neutrality, instead of being made prisoners of war, had been permitted to return to their farms. But under pressure from their old comrades, they now wavered between the obligations of their oath and the calls of friendship--and many of them fell. Men who had been exceptionally well treated were again in arms, sometimes justifying their break of faith by the poor apology that they had not been "preserved from the temptation to commit it." Naturally, on the return of the troops to again quell a rising in the south, their conduct was not marked by the same leniency which had characterised the original conquest. Still, these parole breakers were not punished with the severity which might have been meted out to them in the same circumstances by other nations. Though we were by the rules of war entitled to shoot men who had broken their parole, we had not availed ourselves of the right. We remained as humane as the exigence of discipline would permit. Efforts were made to check the general demoralisation by establishing refuge camps for the peaceable along the railway lines, but these camps were mainly tenanted by the women and children of burghers who still determined to flout us. Lord Milner, in speaking of the situation in the new territories and the Cape Colony, described it as possibly "the most puzzling that we have had to confront since the beginning of the war." On the one hand there was the outcry for greater severity and for a stricter administration of martial law. On the other hand, there was the expression of the fear that strict measures would only exasperate the people. He himself was in favour of reasonable strictness as the proper attitude in the presence of a grave national danger, and he further affirmed that exceptional regulations for a time of invasion, the necessity of which every man of sense could understand, if clearly explained and firmly adhered to, were not only not incompatible with, but actually conducive to, the avoidance of injustice and cruelty. He went on to say:-- [Illustration: DE WET'S RUSH IN CAPE COLONY _VI�_ ZAND DRIFT, 10TH FEBRUARY 1901] "I am satisfied by experience that the majority of those Dutch inhabitants of the Colony who sympathise with the Republics, however little they may be able to resist giving active expression to that sympathy when the enemy actually appear amongst them, do not desire to see their own districts invaded or to find themselves personally placed in the awkward dilemma of choosing between high treason and an unfriendly attitude to the men of their own race from beyond the border. There are extremists who would like to see the whole of the Cape Colony overrun. But the bulk of the farmers, especially the substantial ones, are not of this mind. They submit readily enough even to stringent regulations having for their object the prevention of the spread of invasion. And not a few of them are, perhaps, secretly glad that the prohibition of seditious speaking and writing, of political meetings, and of the free movement of political firebrands through the country, enables them to keep quiet, without actually themselves taking a strong line against the propaganda, and, to do them justice, they behave reasonably well under the pass and other regulations necessary for that purpose, as long as care is taken not to make these regulations too irksome to them in the conduct of their business, or in their daily lives." He suggested that the fact that there had been an invasion at all was no doubt due to the weakness of some of the Dutch colonists in tolerating, or supporting, the violent propaganda, which could not but lead the enemy to believe that they had only to come into the Colony in order to meet with general active support. But this had been a miscalculation on the part of the enemy, though a very pardonable one. They knew the vehemence of the agitation in their favour as shown by the speeches in Parliament, the series of public meetings culminating in the Worcester Congress, the writings of the Dutch press, the very general wearing of the Republican colours, the singing of the Volkslied, and so forth, and they regarded these demonstrations as meaning more than they actually did. Three things were forgotten. Firstly, that a great proportion of the Afrikanders in the Colony who really meant business, had slipped away and joined the Republican ranks long ago. Secondly, that the abortive rebellion of a year ago had left the people of the border districts disinclined to repeat the experiment of a revolt. Thirdly, that owing to the precautionary measures of the Government the amount of arms and ammunition in the hands of the country population throughout the greater part of the Colony is not now anything like as large as it usually was, and far smaller than it was at the onset of the war. In regard to the "call to arms" that took place on the 1st of January, and the vehement response it had met, Lord Milner stated that it had always been admitted, by their friends and foes alike, that the bulk of the Afrikander population would never take up arms on the side of the British Government in this quarrel, even for local defence. The appeal therefore had been virtually directed to the British population, mostly townspeople, and to a small, but no doubt very strong and courageous, minority of the Afrikanders who have always been loyalists. These classes had been already immensely drawn on by the Cape Police, the regular Volunteer Corps, and the numerous Irregular Mounted Corps which had been called into existence because of the war. There must have been 12,000 Cape colonists under arms before the recent appeal, and as things were going, as many more promised to answer that appeal--a truly remarkable achievement under a purely voluntary system. [Illustration: POSITION OF TROOPS AFTER THE ENGAGEMENT OF 23RD FEBRUARY. DE WET'S ESCAPE FROM THE ENVELOPING CORDON, 28TH FEBRUARY 1901] How gloriously the system worked throughout the year 1901 has yet to be seen, for peace was still a great way off. All yearned for it, all were fairly sick of carnage and ruin and sacrifice, but, nevertheless, it was agreed that to endure and fight to the bitter end were preferable to an ignoble compromise, which must inevitably bring about a recurrence of the terrible scourge in the future. All were determined that South Africa should become one country under one flag, and that the British; and this once accomplished, they would be ready to bury racial animosities for ever. But, in order to bring about that happy, that inevitable end, all decided that a vigorous prosecution of the war, at whatever cost, was an imperative duty. CHAPTER I CONTINUATION OF THE DE WET CHASE, 1ST TO 10TH MARCH--ACROSS THE ORANGE RIVER On the last day of February, as we know, De Wet and Steyn, with a bedraggled, hungry commando of some fifteen hundred Boers, precipitately crossed the Orange River at Lilliefontein, near Colesberg Bridge. They were seen by some few men of Nesbitt's Horse under Sergeant-Major Surworth, and promptly fired upon as men and horses strove to battle with the current. This unlooked for attack caused considerable dismay, so much so, that many Cape carts and some clothing were left on the south bank, while several fugitives were seen to be galloping off in Garden of Eden attire. Many Boers were left in the neighbourhood of the Zeekoe River, and of these some thirty-three were captured by Captain Dallimore and sixteen Victorian Rifles. The retirement becoming known to General Lyttelton, who was directing the operations, the pursuing columns were ordered to converge on Philippolis. General Plumer, Colonels Haig and Thorneycroft, entering Orange River by Norval's Pont, operated from Springfontein to the river, while General C. Knox and Colonel Bethune at Orange River Bridge mounted guard there, and threatened such marauders as might retire in their direction. On the arrival of General Plumer at Philippolis, on the 3rd, he discovered that De Wet was fleeing to Fauresmith, and Hertzog, with 500 men, was making for Luckhoff. He therefore, with almost inexhaustible energy, instantly pursued the great raider, and after a rearguard action on the 4th at Zuurfontein, reached Fauresmith on the 5th, only to find the bird flown _viâ_ the Petrusburg Road. On and on then went the troops, past Petrusburg--De Wet ever twenty-four hours ahead--till they reached Abraham Kraal Drift on the Modder River. By this time (the 7th) the Boer flock had dispersed over the enormous track of country with which they are so intimate, and De Wet himself vanished, as usual, into "thin air." The 8th was spent in recuperation, replenishing stores, and gaining information. On the following two days the northerly march was continued in search of De Wet, who was reported to have crossed the line (on the night of the 8th) on the way to Senekal. But, as the redoubtable one trekked at the rate of some five miles a day more than the best column, General Plumer gave him up as lost, and marched to Brandfort, and thence proceeded under orders to Winburg. The chase had been far from stimulating, for heavy rain had fallen, causing much inconvenience to man and beast, and hindering transport operations. The veldt, however, soon assumed a rich green garb, which rendered all the English horses independent of the Commissariat Department. Meanwhile Colonel Haig, in conjunction, had moved to Philippolis on the 4th, only to learn that General Plumer was on the track of De Wet. He therefore turned his attention to Hertzog, caught him on the 5th at Grootfontein, ten miles north-west of Philippolis, engaged him and forced him westward. He then waited orders at Springfontein lest a more speedy movement by rail might be directed. Colonel Bethune, in his position near Orange River Bridge, spent this time in fighting and dispersing large bodies of raiders, passing at length _viâ_ Petrusburg, on the 6th, to the line Abraham's Kraal, Roodewal, on the 8th. Here he halted. An empty convoy returning from him to Bloemfontein was attacked by the Boers, but the escort tackled the enemy, and, with the assistance of the Prince of Wales' Light Horse, put them to flight. General C. Knox's columns (Colonels Pilcher and Crewe, moving by way of Kalabas Bridge and Koffyfontein respectively), advanced at the same time, reaching Bloemfontein on the 10th and 11th, the astute Pilcher having captured a Boer laager by the way. He had three killed, eleven wounded, three missing, and his captures included twenty-four prisoners, 1500 horses, and some cattle. Colonel Crewe engaged in a smart tussle with Brand's commando at Olivenberg (south-west of Petrusburg), and reached his destination _plus_ five prisoners, twenty-one waggons and carts with teams complete, and 2000 horses. During March, Major Goold-Adams, the Deputy-Administrator of the Orange River Colony, in whom the burghers placed much confidence, bent his mind to the organisation of the civil administration of the colony. Mr. Conrad Linder, an ex-official of the late Government, was provisionally appointed registrar. A scheme of education, based on the Canadian principle, was drawn up, and the organisation of the civil police taken in hand. The Imperial authorities were engaged in a scheme for restocking the country after the war by establishing stock depots on the Government farms in both the Transvaal and Orange River. [Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL CHARLES KNOX. Photo Elliott & Fry, London.] LYTTELTON'S SWEEPING MOVEMENT--10TH TO 20TH MARCH--THABANCHU LINE The enemy, under the direction of Fourie, in many small gangs of from two to four hundred, still hovered in the region between the Orange River and the Thabanchu-Ladybrand line. With the object of sweeping them up, General Lyttelton organised a combined northward movement which began on the 10th of March. General Bruce-Hamilton's columns, under Lieutenant-Colonels Monro, Maxwell, and White pushed up from Aliwal North, Colonel Hickman and Lieutenant-Colonel Thorneycroft moved out from Bethulie and Springfontein respectively, prolonging the line on the left to the railway, while Colonel Haig's troops advanced from Edenburg. Later on, as the columns swept upwards, Colonel Bethune's Brigade took its place in the scheme, filling the gap between Leeuw Kop and Boesman's Kop, with its right flank resting on the Kaffir River. While these were marching up, the line of posts from Bloemfontein _viâ_ Thabanchu to the Basutoland border was temporarily reinforced by Colonel Harley, who, with some 200 mounted men, two guns, and a battalion, had been detached from the portion of General Rundle's force which was holding Ficksburg. The road still further north, near Houtnek, was watched by Colonel Pilcher to guard against hostile movement in that region. The combined advance, though there was little fighting, was decidedly successful. Heavy stocks of grain were found, and such as could not be accommodated in the British waggons were destroyed. Though, as usual, the Boers were dispersed in driblets and most of the farms were deserted and the property abandoned, some of their number got caught in the meshes of the military net. Colonel Pilcher's men succeeded in securing some thirty-three Boers and about 3000 horses, and the total haul of the columns on reaching the Thabanchu line on the 20th amounted to 70 prisoners, 4300 horses, and many trek oxen. After this date General Bruce-Hamilton's force and that of Colonel Hickman disposed themselves between Wepener and Dewetsdorp, while Colonel Haig was ordered to keep his eye on rambling raiders from Cape Colony, in the region of the Caledon. Colonel Bethune's Brigade, marching north _viâ_ Winburg and Ventersburg, soon swelled the mounted force of some 7000 men, being organised at Kroonstad (under the command of General Elliot), and Colonel Thorneycroft, now under orders of General C. Knox, took up a position at Brandfort. This place at that time was somewhat harassed by meandering marauders, who were in the habit of taking up a nightly post on a hill near by. These were surprised by the mounted infantry and burgher police, and their number considerably thinned. [Illustration: OPERATIONS IN THE SOUTH-EAST OF THE ORANGE RIVER COLONY] From all points the clearance of the Colony was pursued with vigour. On the 24th Colonel White, in the Thabanchu region, surprised parties of Boers, capturing six waggons, thirty-four horses, and some cattle, and on the 25th some smart work was done by a detachment of Lancers, Yeomanry, and Rimington's Guides, who drove off and dispersed various portions of Fourie's commando without loss to themselves. At this time Fourie, Joubert, Pretorius, and Coetzee had been all hanging about the neighbourhood of Dewetsdorp, and on the 25th and 26th some spirited encounters took place between them and Captain Damant, who, with some of Rimington's Scouts, engaged in many perilous excursions. On the 27th General Bruce-Hamilton, with Hickman's column and Rimington's Scouts, moved out with a view to clearing off the snipers that fringed the surrounding hills. The Scouts and the Lancaster Mounted Infantry routed the Boers from one position after another, chasing them for miles as far as Blesbokfontein, where they dispersed. Meanwhile on the left, near Byersberg, our troops had discovered the Boer laager, whereupon Rimington's Scouts rode round the position, driving the enemy, who scampered from their concealment in the ridges, in a south-westerly direction. Owing to the exhaustion of the horses the pursuit could not be continued, but the troops returned to camp with a goodly show of horses, cattle, and Cape carts as a prize for their endurance. Concurrently with the activities in the south-east of the Orange River Colony, in the region of Winburg and Heilbron, good work had been going forward. Colonel Williams and Major Pine Coffin, working in combination, had cleared the Doornberg, a supply depot, which, owing to De Wet's absence, was but weakly guarded. All stock was removed, and during the operations General P. Botha and seven Boers were killed and many were taken prisoners. Colonel Williams and the combined forces, reinforced by Major Massy's column from Edenburg, now took up a position near the Vet and Zand Rivers, in order to catch De Wet should he break northward. But as this leader was now in hiding, "taking a breather" for fresh nimbleness in future, it was found unnecessary to wait there, and the column moved on towards Heilbron. Here, accompanied by a detachment from the garrison under Major Weston, Colonel Williams continued his work of clearance, fighting betimes, and capturing grain, forage, foodstuffs, and ammunition in great quantities. Colonel Williams then moved to the north of Heilbron, performing the same task of clearance between the Wilge River and the main line of rail. This occupation took him well into April, of which month more anon. * * * * * During the middle of March Lord Kitchener engaged himself with the rearrangement of the mobile columns in the Orange River Colony, dividing the place into four military districts. Each district was placed under the control of a General Officer, whose duty it was to deal with any encroachments of the enemy, to prevent the concentration of commandos, and to clear the country of horses and cattle, and any supplies which might stimulate the marauders to new exertion. The southern district, bounded on the south by the Orange River, on the north by the line Petrusburg-Ladybrand, on the west by the Kimberley Railway, on the east by Basutoland, was entrusted to General Lyttelton, his force including the columns of General Bruce-Hamilton and Colonels Hickman and Haig. The central district, bounded on the south by General Lyttelton's command, on the north by the Bultfontein-Winburg-Ficksburg line, extending to Boshof, was assigned to General C. Knox, with whom were the columns of Colonels Pilcher and Thorneycroft. The northern district, including part of Orange River Colony north of General C. Knox's command, bounded on the east by the Frankfort-Reitz-Bethlehem line, was allotted to General Elliot, whose troops consisted of Colonel Bethune's Cavalry Brigade, Colonel de Lisle's Column (withdrawn from Cape Colony), and General Broadwood's Brigade, composed of 7th Dragoon Guards, three battalions Imperial Yeomanry, and six guns. [Illustration: REORGANISATION OF TROOPS IN THE ORANGE RIVER COLONY] The eastern district, as before, remained in charge of General Rundle, who, with the original 8th Division and some Mounted Infantry and Yeomanry, protected the line Frankfort-Reitz-Bethlehem-Ficksburg. By the end of March recruiting for General Baden-Powell's Police ceased. The work of training, clothing, mounting, and equipping was carried on with all speed, and the recruits who arrived from England promptly displayed their grit and their zeal by withstanding the assaults of the Boers, who invariably attacked such districts as they fancied were in charge of the "raw" element. The new-comers were no fledgelings, however, for the members of the Constabulary were mostly gentlemen or farmers of a high class, selected with a view to making good colonists. CHAPTER II CAPE COLONY--PURSUIT OF RAIDERS--MARCH AND APRIL--CHASING KRUITZINGER While the pursuit of De Wet was going forward, our troops under General Settle, and subsequently under Colonel Douglas Haig (Colonels Henniker, Gorringe, Grenfell, Scobell, and Crewe), worked unceasingly against the Boer raiders who were making themselves obstreperous in various parts of the Colony. Pearston was occupied by seven hundred of the enemy with two guns, who captured sixty rifles and 15,000 rounds of ammunition, in spite of the gallant defence of the tiny garrison. The invaders, a part of Kruitzinger's commando, were promptly swept away by Colonel Gorringe, who reoccupied the place on the 5th, and caused the fugitives to be pursued. Accordingly the commando broke into three parties and fled eastward over the railway. About the same time one hundred raiders, under Scheepers, made a desperate attack upon the village of Aberdeen--an attack which happily failed owing to the smartness of the garrison. This consisted of a portion of the 4th Derbyshire Militia, Town Guard, and twenty men of the 9th Lancers, under Colonel Priestly. The Boers, however, succeeded in penetrating into the town, and releasing some of their compatriots who were in gaol. They further tried to loot the stores, but were not given the opportunity, so promptly did the Town Guard send them to the right-about. Colonel Parsons arrived on the scene in the afternoon, followed, the next day, by Colonel Scobell and some Colonials, and soon, though not without sharp fighting, the kopjes surrounding the place were purged of the raiders. The sharpshooters of the Imperial Yeomanry under Major Warden were untiring in the energy of their pursuit of the enemy from hill to hill, and the detachment of the 6th Dragoons under Captain Anstice helped in the discomfiture of the foe. These escaped by means of the thick bush and dongas, which afforded them timely cover. It was now necessary to prevent Scheepers and his Boers from entering Murraysburg. To circumvent him, Colonel Scobell--commanding a force of Cape Mounted Rifles, Cape Police, Diamond Fields Horse, and Brabant's Horse, with some guns--marched hot foot at the rate of fifty-nine miles in less than twenty-five hours. Meanwhile Captain Colenbrander, commanding the Fighting Scouts, moved promptly from Richmond towards Murraysburg, located Scheepers' hordes in an adjacent village, and attacked them. The enemy were repulsed with the loss of five of their number, while the British party had no casualties. Kruitzinger's commando, continuing its depredations, seized Carlisle Bridge with a view to pressing towards Grahamstown, but the activity of Colonels De Lisle and Gorringe frustrated all effort to get to the sea. The invaders gave a vast amount of trouble, however, burning farms and securing horses, and several encounters took place. In one of these, a few miles from Adelaide, Captain Rennie and some of the Bedford detachment of the Colonial Defence Corps gave an excellent account of themselves. The Boers lost one man killed, one taken prisoner, and three wounded, together with six horses. The raiders were routed from Maraisburg, which was reoccupied by the British on the 8th; but in the interval the magistrate had had a somewhat uncomfortable experience, having been imprisoned in his own house. The enemy reaped a certain reward of their exertions in the form of some horses, saddles, and a revolver. They afterwards broke into small gangs, and were hunted by Colonel Donald's column. The 15th found Colonels Scobell and Colenbrander's columns still in pursuit of Scheepers, who, having caused some commotion by burning the house of a British scout named Meredith, was now hiding in the mountains around Graf Reinet. Colonel Gorringe at the same time was dodging about the neighbourhood of Kruitzinger (who had abandoned the hope of going south, and was now making for Blinkwater) and keeping him perpetually on the move. Space does not admit of a detailed account of these continuous activities, but in an engagement on the 15th some smart work was done by Captain Stewart, assisted by Gunner Sawyer (5th Field Battery). While the guns were being hauled up a precipitous slope, and most of the gunners were dismounted, they were assailed by a furious fire from the ambushed foe. With admirable presence of mind, Sawyer took in the situation, and, with the assistance of Captain Stewart, unlimbered one of the guns and gave the Boers a _quid pro quo_. This considerably damped their ardour, and afforded time for the rest of the guns to come into action. The position was finally stormed by the Albany defence force under Captain Currie. In the engagement nine Boers were killed and nine wounded. On the 17th, after a sharp action, the Boers, abandoning seventy excellent horses and saddles, besides losing some forty of their number, were driven across Elands River. Kruitzinger got across the Elands River in safety, but, while turning an angle of the main road towards Tarkastad, on the morning of the 18th, he came suddenly in collision with Colonel de Lisle, who, by night, was marching--a memorable march in a terrific storm!--from Magermansberg to Tarkastad. The British force, as surprised at the sudden encounter as that of the Boers, promptly sprang to action, and succeeded in shelling the rearguard, while the Mounted Infantry started off in pursuit. From ridge to ridge went hunted and hunters, the Irish Yeomanry, under Captain Moore, with Mounted Infantry, under Colonel Knight, doing splendid work; but at last the wily quarry, through some of the troops having lost direction, succeeded in getting away through the loophole of Elands Poort. Kruitzinger, still maintaining a north-easterly direction, was next traced across the railway at Hemming Station on the 21st. Scheepers, Fouché, and Malan, who had growing forces, and had been beaten, with the loss of nine killed and seven wounded, by Major Mullins on the 15th, were proceeding east from Marais Siding. Other detached parties gave trouble elsewhere. Some, on the 16th, attacked at Yeefontein, near Steymburg, a patrol of Prince Alfred's Guards under Major Court, but left behind them two killed, three wounded, and three prisoners, while the Guards lost one killed and two seriously wounded. Fighting was taking place in various other places daily. On the 20th and 21st Colonel Scobell's force, increased by Colonel Grenfell's, skirmished in the region north of Jansenville with excellent effect. Kitchener's Fighting Scouts, under Captain Colenbrander, Major Mullins, and Colonel Gorringe converged from their various positions, while the main body made for Blaankrantz. On the 20th, by 9 A.M., a hammer-and-tongs engagement had begun, Captain Doune's two guns being met by a blizzard from the foe in the surrounding ridges. The assailants were, however, rapidly silenced and forced to retire, the British party taking up the vacated position, and "speeding the parting guest" with a salvo from pom-poms, rifles, and field-guns. But the enemy could not be entirely netted, for in ones and twos they squeezed through the bushes and made their escape. Four, however, were left on the veldt, and four were taken prisoners, while about one hundred sound horses came in handy at a time when they were much in demand. The British force lost three killed and four wounded. [Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL SIR H. H. SETTLE. Photo Elliott & Fry, London.] Kruitzinger at this time was being gradually pressed towards the Orange River (which was known to be unfordable) by Colonel de Lisle's column, which formed part of a cordon, composed of the columns of Colonels Gorringe, Herbert, and Major Crewe on one side, and Colonels Crabbe, Codrington, and Henniker on the other. Nearly all the commandos which had invaded the Colony were retracing their sorry steps after the failure of their expedition. The fact that they had been able to keep the field so long was attributed to the persistent way in which they avoided fighting, and their mode of hugging the sheltering kopjes and bushes, and never emerging from those beneficent harbours of refuge. According to good authority, the raiders succeeded in gaining certain recruits among the Colonial Dutch, but not nearly so many as they had expected. They were amply supplied with food from the sympathetic rural population, however, and received on all sides timely information of the movements of the pursuing columns, which enabled them to double like hares at the very moment when the pursuers seemed about to pounce on them. Train-wrecking continued, and of necessity the running of night trains had to be suspended. Some of the raiders began to drive over the less known drifts of the Orange and disappear, while certain rebels contrived to hide themselves in the mountain fastnesses so as to escape both the Boer bands and the British pursuit. On the 30th of March a skirmish took place between some of Henniker's troops (Victorian Bushmen) and a large force of Boers, during which the Colonials again showed their tenacity and grit. An advanced party of four only, under a splendid fellow, Sergeant Sandford, were set upon by the foe in the vicinity of Zuurberg. The enemy succeeded in wounding a Bushman, who fell beneath his dead horse, and was there pinned. His companions, under a perpetual sleet from the marauders' Mausers, with great coolness engaged in the immensely difficult task of moving the dead animal and drawing out their comrade from his perilous position. They then managed to mount the rescued man on Sergeant Sandford's horse and all got away in safety. Reinforcements arriving now frightened off the Boers, who had lost four of their number. * * * * * On the whole, things were progressing wonderfully. At the headquarters of General Baden-Powell's Constabulary at Modderfontein 2000 more recruits were now expected to join the 1000 already on duty there. Australian and Canadian drafts were to follow. The clerical staff of the Rand Mines' Corporation was about to proceed from the Cape to Johannesburg, a sure sign of approaching settlement. A warning to colonists was soon published stating that acts of rebellion committed after April 12 would not be tried under the Special Tribunals Act of last session, but by the old common law, the penalties under which include capital punishment or any term of imprisonment or fine which an ordinary court may impose. On the 6th of April a post, ten miles north of Aberdeen, consisting of one hundred men of the 5th Lancers, thirty-two Imperial Yeomanry under Captain Bretherton, and Brabant's Horse, was assailed by a horde of 400 Boers. After fighting vigorously from dawn till 11 A.M. the force was overpowered. Twenty-five of the number only escaped--one was killed and six were wounded. On the 11th, Colonel Byng surprised a laager near Smithfield, captured thirteen tatterdemalions, who were not loth to rest, and some horses and stores. Colonel Haig, on the 12th, reached Rosmead and took command of all the columns operating in the midlands, and he soon began the hunting of Scheepers' and Malan's commandos with his flying columns. According to Reuter's correspondent, the Boer forces in the midlands at this date comprised Scheepers, with 180 men, in the Sneeuwberg; Malan, with forty men, reported to be breaking northward; Swanepoel, with sixty men, near New Bethseda; and Fouché, with a force estimated variously at several hundreds, in the Zuurberg. On the 14th of April Colonel Gorringe returned to Pretoria after three months' of exceptionally hard work and incessant trekking over some of the worst country in South Africa. His Colonial column had done on an average a daily trek of some thirty-one and a half miles. On one occasion, when rushing to the succour of Pearston[2] when it was overpowered by raiders, these hardy troopers, with guns and equipments, covered seventy-four miles in forty hours, crossing the frowning heights of Coelzeeberg by a bridle path. General MacDonald now proceeded to England in order to take up command of an important post on the Afghan frontier, and General Fitzroy Hart succeeded him in command of the 3rd Brigade. Sir Alfred Milner made preparations to go home on leave. On the 24th the Dordrecht Volunteer Guard and Wodehouse's Yeomanry gave an excellent account of themselves. They were attacking raiders for the most part of the day, and sent the Dutchmen to the right-about, capturing their horses and forcing them to make good their escape on Shanks' pony. On the 29th Major Du Moulin's column, accompanied by Lovat's Scouts under Major Murray, arrived at Aliwal North from Orange River Colony, bringing with it 30 prisoners, 60,000 sheep, 6000 head of cattle, 100 waggons, 800 refugees, and 300 horses. FOOTNOTES: [2] See page 8. CHAPTER III THE OPERATIONS OF GENERAL FRENCH IN THE EASTERN TRANSVAAL, FROM 27TH JANUARY TO 16TH APRIL 1901 It may be remembered that at the close of 1900 the Boer chiefs, De Wet and Botha, had invented a concerted scheme of some magnitude. They had arranged that Hertzog should enter Cape Colony and proceed to Lambert's Bay to meet a ship which was said to be bringing from Europe mercenaries, guns, and ammunition. De Wet was to follow south _viâ_ De Aar, join hands with Hertzog, and together, with renewed munitions of war and a tail of rebels at their heels, attack Cape Town. General Botha at the same time was to keep the British occupied in the Eastern Transvaal and prevent them drawing off troops to the south, and, so soon as the plans of De Wet and Hertzog were being carried out, he was to enter Natal with a picked force of 5000 mounted men and make for Durban. Having seen how the parent scheme, the invasion of the Cape Colony, was frustrated, it is necessary to turn to scheme two, and follow General French in the remarkable operations which defeated Botha's designs. A considerable concentration of Boers, under the Commandants Louis Botha, Smuts, Spruyt, and Christian Botha, had taken place in Ermelo, Carolina, and Bethel, which districts constituted depôts for the supply of the enemy's forces. The Commander-in-chief therefore decided to sweep the country between the Delagoa and Natal Railway lines, from Johannesburg to the Swazi and Zulu frontiers, and to clear it of supplies and families. With this object in view, on the 28th of January the following columns were concentrated from the meridian of Springs: Major-General Paget, Brigadier Alderson, Colonel E. Knox (18th Hussars), Lieutenant-Colonel Allenby (6th Dragoons), Lieutenant-Colonel Pulteney (Scots Guards), and Brigadier-General Dartnell (Commandant of Volunteers, Natal). The troops--the southern columns under the command of Lieutenant-General Sir John French--were to form a north and south line between the railway, and thus drive the enemy before them to Ermelo. They were commanded from north to south in the order shown above. While this line was advancing, Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell and Lieutenant-Colonel Spens, moving a march south from Middelburg and Wonderfontein, were to act as side stops, while Major-General Smith-Dorrien, with a force 3000 strong, was to advance from Belfast _viâ_ Carolina to Lake Chrissie, for the purpose of preventing the Boers from breaking north-east. A weak column, under Lieutenant-Colonel Colville (Rifle Brigade), was to work south of Colonel Dartnell to cover the movement of supplies, first from Greylingstad to the north, and then from Standerton to Ermelo. [Illustration: MAP SHOWING THE OPERATIONS AND DISPOSITIONS OF TROOPS IN THE EASTERN TRANSVAAL] Eventually, owing to the movements of De Wet, General Paget was recalled from this sphere of action, and his place was taken by Colonel Campbell. General Alderson's and Knox's lines of advance were slightly diverted to the north, and the line between them was filled by Lieutenant-Colonel Pulteney, who originally was to have been held in reserve. The first two marches took the western troops to a line north of Greylingstad to Vangatfontein, in the valley of the Wilge River, where there was a two days' halt till the 31st. The march was not without excitement, for Beyers was found to be ensconced in a strong and extended position stretching north and south, and covering the approach to the valley of the Wilge River. Bushman's Kop, fourteen miles east of Springs, was strongly held, and the advanced troops of Knox and Allenby were assailed with fierce artillery from the surrounding heights. But when Allenby's mounted men had wheeled round the south of the position, the Boers thought it high time to retreat, leaving behind them two dead. This was on the 29th. Two days were spent in receiving supplies from Greylingstad and sending the emptied waggons full of Boer families to the rail and clearing the country of supplies. The Boers, holding a chain of sloping hills some twenty-three miles west of Bethal, were again encountered on the 1st of February. While Colonel Rimington (commanding Colonel Pulteney's mounted troops) worked round the north of the position, Colonel Allenby and the rest of Pulteney's troops held them in front. But the wily Dutchmen, now rapidly becoming demoralised, instantly they found their flank threatened, were off to the east before they could be cut off. The commanders on the right had also met with slight opposition. The operations of the 2nd of February much resembled those of the previous day, for some 2000 Boers, who had planted themselves about ten miles west of Bethal, ceased their opposition to Colonel Allenby, when they found Pulteney's cavalry sweeping round to their north, and they made such haste to depart that they left behind them an English 15-pounder gun, with damaged breech. The village of Bethal was reached by General French on the 4th, all Boers, save a few women and children, having fled. The troops were now hurriedly pushing forward with a view to surrounding Ermelo. Their position was as follows: Allenby on the south-east; Dartnell on the south and south-west; Pulteney on the west; Knox on the north-west; Anderson and Campbell on the north; and Smith-Dorrien on the north-east and east. The enemy, seeing security at this place thus threatened, split into two factions. Louis Botha, with a following of some 3000 men, scurried to the north toward Komati without impediment, in the form of families and stock, while the rest, protecting their waggons, retreated toward Piet Retief. Botha, while scurrying as aforesaid, discovered on the 5th that Smith-Dorrien's force, about 3000 strong (with a big convoy for his own, Campbell's, and Alderson's columns), had reached Bothwell, north of Lake Chrissie. Here was a fine chance! and the Boer leader speedily availed himself of it. He determined to attack the British column before the troops of Campbell and Alderson, moving from the west, could get in touch with it. Accordingly, dividing his force into three, and rising betimes, in the thick mists of daybreak, on the 6th, he delivered a vigorous semicircular attack upon the camp. This was successfully repulsed. The Boers lost heavily, General Spruyt and several field-cornets being among the slain. The British had one officer and twenty-three men killed, three officers and fifty-two men wounded. Some 300 horses were killed or stampeded during the surprise. The Boers, owing to the heavy fog of the morning, got away to the north. At the moment Botha was making his attack on the camp, the officer bearing orders from General French for General Smith-Dorrien, after an exciting and hazardous ride, reached Bothwell. Owing to the fight these orders--to move on the 6th to a position E.N.E. of Ermelo--could then not be executed. General Smith-Dorrien therefore remained at Bothwell. Meanwhile, in the south, fighting went forward. Colonel Allenby, who had been rapidly pushing east, came on the enemy's rearguard, which was occupying a ridge south of Ermelo. With infantry and artillery, and supported by Dartnell's Brigade, he engaged them, holding them on the west while the mounted troops endeavoured to wheel round the southern flank and surround them. But the Boers, who had had a long start, nimbly made good their escape over the Vaal at Witpunt before Allenby's troops could possibly reach that point, and consequently the brilliant attempt to cut off their retreat proved a failure. Ermelo was occupied on the 6th, and thus the first phase of the operations was accomplished. * * * * * It was now necessary to sweep the country from Ermelo to the Swazi frontier, which movement occupied from the 9th to the 16th of February. To this end the flanks were immediately opened out again, and the line Bothwell-Ermelo-Amersfoort taken. From this line the force wheeled half-right, the left flank (rationed on reduced scale up to the 20th) beginning to extend east towards Swaziland on the 9th. The whole force was now so ordered as to form a complete cordon for the purpose of hemming in the enemy and their belongings in the south-eastern corner of the Transvaal. The troops were here to converge on Amsterdam and Piet Retief from north and south-west, and, with the escort to the convoy from Utrecht, were to form a line from Utrecht and the Natal frontier to the Swazi frontier north of Piet Retief. On the 9th General Smith-Dorrien, moving east-north-east, encountered the Boers, and Colonel Mackenzie and his gallant men, with the assistance of the 2nd Imperial Light Horse, succeeded in capturing a convoy and putting twenty-one Boers _hors de combat_ by a brilliant charge. Affairs were somewhat hampered by lack of supplies, but at last (on the 10th) a convoy from Standerton having come in, the right wing (Dartnell and Allenby) were provided for. On the following day General French moved on, while Colville's emptied waggons started back with a pathetic load of Boer families and prisoners and British sick. [Illustration: POSITION OF FORCES AROUND ERMELO] On the 12th, the Boers offered some opposition to the advancing troops of Pulteney and Allenby, and near Klipfontein they, for a wonder, made a stand, and gave Colonel Rimington and the Inniskilling Dragoons an opportunity for smart work. A dashing charge, magnificently led, cleared the ground, and five dead Boers and some wounded were left to tell the tale of the encounter. On the 13th Dartnell, who had taken up a position at Amersfoort, moved from thence steadily in line with the whole force, which proceeded with insignificant opposition to clear away stock and destroy supplies. Amsterdam was occupied by Smith-Dorrien on the 14th, and on the 16th General French, with the troops of Knox and Pulteney, made his entry into Piet Retief, where the landdrost at once surrendered. Rains had now made the already almost impassable country into one mighty morass, and the mists, fogs, and torrents rendered the position of the troops a critical one. Great consternation prevailed as to the fate of Colonel Burn-Murdoch, on whom all hopes were set. He had been charged by the General Officer Commanding in Natal with the duty of conveying, from Utrecht, food to the force, and had apparently got lost in the mists and bog, for not a sign of his anxiously awaited convoy could be discovered. This convoy had left Newcastle on the 12th, but it was not till the 27th that its welcome supplies reached the famishing troops, who, from the 20th, had had to subsist entirely on the country, while the horses ate grass only. The rivers had by this time become raging torrents, and the roads, quagmires. The Boer farms had already been cleared out, and only by offering a sovereign for a 200-lb. bag of mealies could the natives be prevailed upon to unearth their buried treasure. The ration during this lean period sounds distinctly unpleasing: three-quarters of a pound of mealie meal (ground in the steam mill at Piet Retief), and an ounce of mealie coffee (an infusion of the same meal roasted and ground), made the sole variation to a diet of saltless meat. The men nevertheless maintained their health and cheeriness, their constant hauls conducing much to their enlivenment, and the number in hospital was abnormally low. Still there was vast annoyance in the fact that they were unable to be up and doing. A new line of supply was opened on the 28th, when Colonel Bullock started from Volkrust to Piet Retief with a convoy of ninety-one waggons. Though this reached its destination in safety on the 5th of March, it was not till he returned with a second load, on the 21st of March, that sufficient oats could reach Piet Retief to enable the force to move. Despite the inconvenience of delay a tremendous amount of work was carried on, the troops pushing continually into Swaziland and tackling Boers who struggled to slip through the British line, and many captures were made both north and south of the border. The surrounding country was thoroughly cleared, and many guns and much ammunition were brought to light. The Engineers also worked like Trojans, improving the roads and bridging the numerous, now swollen, rivers and spruits that abounded in the district. As an instance of the force of the unceasing floods between the 6th and 13th of March, it may be mentioned that the Assegai, which is normally fordable, averaged 12 feet in depth, and on the 12th rose to 18 feet. [Illustration: A NIGHT ATTACK: DEFENDING A TRAIN DERAILED BY THE BOERS Drawing by Frank Dadd, R.I.] The position of the forces on the 1st of March stood thus:-- General Smith-Dorrien (who had moved south from Amsterdam on the 25th of February) was now eight miles north of Piet Retief, while his mounted troops, under Colonel Henry, had penetrated into Swaziland. At Piet Retief was General French, with Colonels Knox and Pulteney, some of whose mounted troops, under Colonel Rimington, were covering the road south-west of Luneberg as far as Schihoek, whence Colonel Burn-Murdoch carried on the line to Utrecht. Colonels Campbell and Allenby were twelve and seventeen miles south-east of Piet Retief respectively, Colonel Alderson was at Marienthal, and General Dartnell at Intombi River. Colonel Bullock was at Wakkerstroom. Soon the Utrecht-Luneberg line was abandoned as a line of supply, and the troops were based on Utrecht. On the 18th of March General Dartnell occupied the village of Paul Pietersburg, and Colonel Rimington seized the stone bridge over the Pivaan River running south of it, while Colonel Alderson built a pontoon bridge over the Pongola River at Yagd Drift. On the 21st General French, with Colonels Knox and Pulteney, moved on, leaving General Smith-Dorrien in command north of the Pongola. Here the latter, with the columns of Colonels Campbell and Allenby, held a line from Langdraai Drift, in the Lower Pongolo, by Platnek, Mahamba, Zaudbauk, and Piet Retief, to Yagd Drift, so as to prevent Boers from breaking north and north-west. Colonel Knox now set about clearing the country to the east, between the Pivaan and Pongola Rivers, to prevent the Boers breaking back south of the Pongola, while General French, continuing his march with the columns of General Dartnell and Colonel Pulteney, moved on Vryheid, where he established his headquarters on the 25th of March. Here General Hildyard had accumulated a large reserve of supplies for the whole force, thus materially facilitating the progress of further operations. The movement to clear the angle between the Swazi and Zulu frontiers began on the 27th of March and terminated on the 15th of April. General Dartnell, with ten days' supplies, moved east from Vryheid, with Pulteney east-south-east on his right rear, and Alderson (who started two days later from some four miles south of the Pivaan Bridge) on his left rear. Colonel Pulteney speedily came in contact with Grobelaar's commando, drove it north, where it came in collision with General Dartnell, who, after some skirmishing, killed and wounded some twenty Boers. The General was now forced to push on with mounted troops and a few guns only, for the country was impassable for wheeled transport, and therefore it had to be left behind in charge of the infantry. He formed a depôt some thirty miles east-south-east of Vryheid, while Colonel Alderson formed his about twenty-five miles north-east of Vryheid. More fighting took place on the 31st between the Boers and General Dartnell some twelve miles north of his depôt, in which engagement four Boers were slain, ten taken prisoners, and waggons, cattle, and sheep were captured. Their pom-pom--previously destroyed to prevent it being of service to us--was thrown over a precipice by the flying foe. The troops moving on east through the low-lying bush veldt came on more Boers on the 2nd, engaged them, cleared the country, returned to Toovernsaarsrust on the 4th, and moved on the 5th and 6th to Vryheid, where General Dartnell for five days took a well-earned rest. Colonel Alderson had meanwhile taken a prodigious share in the work. He had sped hot foot after a party of Boers that had broken northwards, caught them on the 3rd near the junction of the Pivaan and Pongola Rivers, and succeeded in effecting the capture of their cattle, waggons, and mules. On the following day he rested at Nooitgadacht, a place six miles east of Vryheid. He then (on the 6th) passed Vryheid, and proceeded, in three columns, to sweep the country south of that place, while General Dartnell acted as a stop on the line Vryheid-Toovernsaarsrust. By the 13th Colonel Alderson had fulfilled his mission, and "accomplished all that was feasible." He then returned to Vryheid, and the difficult and fatiguing operations were practically concluded. The various columns now left from this part of the theatre of war in the following order: Colonel Pulteney, being urgently needed by the Commander-in-Chief for use in the north of Middelburg, left Vryheid on the 1st, and entrained from Glencoe on the 4th. General Dartnell on the 12th, from Vryheid, marched _viâ_ Newcastle to Volkrust, there to rest and refit. General Alderson passed through Vryheid on the 13th, reaching the rail at Glencoe on the 16th, and General Smith-Dorrien with his own, Colonel Campbell's, and Colonel Allenby's columns, marched north from Piet Retief on the 14th towards the Delagoa Railway. The results of the prodigious energy of General French's force during the two and a half months, from the 27th of January to the 16th of April, were amazing. These zealous and untiring warriors had entirely swept the country between the Delagoa and Natal railway lines, from Johannesburg to the Swazi and Zulu frontiers, travelling across the most difficult country, rendered doubly so by tempest and flood, and living almost on starvation fare. Nevertheless 1332 Boers had been placed _hors de combat_ (369 killed and wounded, 233 taken prisoners, 730 surrendered), while an incalculable amount of supplies had been removed or destroyed, including 11 guns, 1280 rifles, 218,249 rounds of ammunition, 2281 waggons and carts, and 272,752 head of stock (7303 horses, 377 mules, 7653 trek oxen, 42,328 cattle, and 215,089 sheep). How much farther the work might have proved successful had it not been for the negotiations between Botha and the Commander-in-Chief which took place during the movement, cannot be stated. Certain it is that General French was much hampered by the palaver which ended in air, for Botha's ruse or so-called negotiations enabled the Boers to slip northwards unmolested. As the pacific nature of the negotiations has been the subject of much comment, it is as well to append the origin and substance of them. On February 23 a telegram was received by Sir Alfred Milner from the Commander-in-Chief, Pretoria, which stated, under date of the 22nd February, that Mrs. Botha had come back from meeting her husband, bringing from him an answer to a verbal message from the Commander-in-Chief, that if he desired it, he (General Botha) would meet him as to the means of bringing the war to an end, but on the express understanding that the question of the independence of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony should not be discussed in any way. The meeting would probably take place at Middelburg. This telegram was sent to Mr. Chamberlain, who replied, February 23:-- "I am glad to hear of Botha's desire to treat, and I hope that it is genuine. He will find us most anxious, in that case, to meet him on all points affecting individual position. We have already made clear the policy we intend to pursue as to future government." On March 1 Lord Kitchener telegraphed:-- "I have had a long interview with Botha, who showed very good feeling, and seemed anxious to bring about peace. He asked for information on a number of subjects which he said that he should submit to his Government and people, and if they agreed he should visit Orange River Colony and get them to agree. They should all then hand in their arms and finish the war. He told me that they could go on for some time, and that he was not sure of being able to bring about peace without independence. He tried very hard for some kind of independence, but I declined to discuss such a point, and said that a modified form of independence would be most dangerous and likely to lead to war in the future." Lord Kitchener then detailed the points upon which Botha required information. These points were noted by the Commander-in-Chief, and his suggestions were embodied in a telegram of March 3 from Sir Alfred Milner to Mr. Chamberlain. The Colonial Secretary replied on March 6, suggesting modifications which his Majesty's Government desired should be made in the letter to Botha. A telegram from Sir Alfred Milner of March 9 reported that he and Lord Kitchener were both opposed to the assistance to burghers being limited to loans, but that the amended message was sent to the Commandant on March 7. Lord Kitchener, in a telegram to Mr. Brodrick on March 20, detailed the terms of his letter to Commandant Botha:-- "With reference to our conversation at Middelburg on 28th February, I have the honour to inform you that in the event of a general and complete cessation of hostilities and the surrender of all rifles, ammunition, cannon, and other munitions of war in the hands of the burghers or in Government depôts or elsewhere, his Majesty's Government is prepared to adopt the following measures:-- "His Majesty's Government will at once grant an amnesty in the Transvaal and Orange River Colonies for all _bona fide_ acts of war committed during the recent hostilities. British subjects belonging to Natal and Cape Colony, while they will not be compelled to return to those colonies, will, if they do so, be liable to be dealt with by the law of those colonies, specially passed to meet the circumstances arising out of the present war. As you are doubtless aware, the special law in the Cape Colony has greatly mitigated the ordinary penalties for high treason in the present cases. "All prisoners of war now in St. Helena, Ceylon, or elsewhere will, on the completion of the surrender, be brought back to their country as quickly as arrangements can be made for their transport. "At the earliest practicable date military administration will cease and will be replaced by civil administration in the form of Crown Colony Government. There will therefore be, in the first instance, in each of the new Colonies a Governor and an Executive Council, consisting of a certain number of official members, to whom a nominated unofficial element will be added. But it is the desire of his Majesty's Government, as soon as circumstances permit, to introduce a representative element, and ultimately to concede to the new Colonies the privilege of self-government. Moreover, on the cessation of hostilities a High Court will be established in each of the new Colonies to administer the law of the land, and this court will be independent of the Executive. "Church property, public trusts, and orphans' funds will be respected. Both the English and Dutch languages will be used and taught in public schools where parents of the children desire it, and allowed in Courts of Law. "As regards the debts of the late Republican Governments, his Majesty's Government cannot undertake any liability. It is, however, prepared, as an act of grace, to set aside a sum not exceeding £1,000,000 to repay inhabitants of the Transvaal and Orange River Colonies for goods requisitioned from them by the late Republican Governments or, subsequent to annexation, by commandants in the field being in a position to enforce such requisitions. But such claims will have to be established to the satisfaction of a Judge or Judicial Commission appointed by the Government to investigate and assess them, and if exceeding in the aggregate £1,000,000, they will be liable to reduction _pro rata_. "I also beg to inform your Honour that the new Government will take into immediate consideration the possibility of assisting by loan the occupants of farms who will take the oath of allegiance to repair any injury sustained by destruction of buildings or loss of stock during the war, and that no special war tax will be imposed on farmers to defray the expense of the war. "When burghers require the protection of firearms such will be allowed to them by licence and on due registration, provided they take the oath of allegiance. Licences also will be issued for sporting rifles, guns, &c., but military firearms will only be allowed for means of protection. "As regards the extension of the franchise to Kaffirs in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, it is not the intention of his Majesty's Government to give such franchise before representative government is granted to these Colonies, and if then given, it will be so limited as to secure the just predominance of the white races. The legal position of coloured persons will, however, be similar to that which they hold in Cape Colony. "In conclusion, I must inform your Honour that if the terms now offered are not accepted after a reasonable delay for consideration, they must be regarded as cancelled." To this Botha replied:-- "I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your Excellency's letter stating what steps your Excellency's Government is prepared to take in the event of a general and total cessation of hostilities. I have advised my Government of your Excellency's said letter; but, after the mutual exchange of views at our interview at Middelburg on 28th February last, it will certainly not surprise your Excellency to know that I do not feel disposed to recommend that the terms of the said letter shall have the earnest consideration of my Government. I may add, also, that my Government and my chief officers here entirely agree with my views." Botha's private opinions are to be found in an address to the burghers, which was subsequently discovered among papers captured by Sir Bindon Blood at Roos Senekal. He said:-- "The spirit of Lord Kitchener's letter makes it very plain to you all that the British Government desires nothing else but the destruction of our Afrikander people, and acceptance of the terms contained therein is absolutely out of the question. Virtually, the letter contains nothing more, but rather less, than what the British Government will be obliged to do should our cause go wrong. Notice that they will give us a Legislative Council consisting of their own officials and members nominated by themselves. The voice of the people is thus totally unrecognised.... The more we are aggrieved by the enemy the more steadfastly we ought to stand for our good and lawful rights. Let us, as Daniel in the lions' den, place our trust in God alone, for in His time and in His way He will certainly give us deliverance." On April 19th Mr. Chamberlain telegraphed to the High Commissioner as follows:-- "As our terms have been refused by Botha, they are of course withdrawn, and his Majesty's Government do not think it advisable that you or Kitchener should reopen negotiations. Should Botha or other leaders make any further suggestions of their own accord Kitchener will, of course, forward them to us without expressing any opinion upon them to those who make them. But neither Mrs. Botha nor any one else should be led to suppose that we could consider terms more favourable to the Boers than those which have been rejected. The Secretary of State for War will send a copy of this to Kitchener." That the negotiations were looked upon with disfavour by all parties concerned is undoubted. A letter written by one of Reuter's correspondents expresses the very general view taken by the British in the field:-- "The Parliamentary paper giving particulars of the peace negotiations has been eagerly read by all ranks of the Army. It is impossible to shut one's eyes to the fact that the British forces now operating in South Africa are profoundly dissatisfied with them. On all hands, and from all ranks, the same complaint is heard, that they are too lenient, and are not calculated to bring permanent peace to South Africa. There is no bitterness against the Boers; that feeling has long ago died out, but when the men came to read the terms of peace proposed by the British Government, they remembered their dead comrades whose graves mark the line of march, and asked themselves: 'Is it for this that they have died?' The Army, which has undergone countless hardships and dangers, is less articulate than a municipal body in England, but surely it should have its say. The regular Army, perhaps, is expected not to think or to express its thought about politics, but to fight, and only to fight; but the South Africans, the Canadians, and the Australians will give expression to their sentiments. They declare that in the terms of peace offered by the British Government there are all the elements of future rebellion and unrest. 'Give the Boers,' they say, 'even more than we have promised them, but let it be as a free gift after surrender, and not as a condition of surrender.' Curiously enough, these sentiments are shared entirely by the Burghers who have surrendered, and who are only waiting for the end of hostilities to take their places as British subjects, determined to do their utmost for the peaceful development of a country which, under British rule, will be as much theirs as anybody else's. One of them, speaking to me the other day, put forward his view of the case. 'If the British grant terms to those burghers now under arms,' he said, 'they at once establish for all time a confession of weakness. We shall tell each other and our children that we have never been beaten, and, as we increase in numbers, the tales of former prowess and invincibility will perpetuate a national feeling. If you allow burghers to carry rifles after surrender you will have petty revolts for the next ten years. There is no need of a Mauser or a Lee-Metford to defend the burgher against the native. Give him a shot-gun or a revolver, and no native will molest him. The demand for the retention of arms is nothing more nor less than the result of a determination on the part of the Boers to use them against you at the very slightest provocation. To give them rifles is suicidal.'" CHAPTER IV IN THE WESTERN TRANSVAAL--JANUARY TO MAY In the early part of the year we find Lord Methuen busily occupied in dealing with an incursion of the enemy from the south-western part of the Transvaal into Griqualand. Operating from Vryburg and Taungs, he, with his mobile columns, performed an incalculable amount of work. He withdrew the garrison from Schweitzer Reneke, routed the Boers that were surrounding Daniel's Knil, provisioned the garrison of Kuruman, and eventually hunted De Villiers' hordes into the Transvaal. That done, he marched in the beginning of February, _viâ_ Wolmaranstad, to Klerksdorp, following up and dispersing the aforesaid hordes as he went. At Hartebeestefontein he came very violently into collision with them, and though they made a stout effort to resist his advance, he forced them to give way. His captures during these proceedings amounted to forty prisoners and many thousand head of stock. Lord Methuen reached Klerksdorp on the 19th of February and went on to Potchefstroom, where he commenced co-operating with the sweeping movements of Generals Babington and Cunningham. These officers, on General French's departure from the western side of the Transvaal, held a line from Oliphant's Nek to Ventersdorp and Potchefstroom, and kept an eye on the machinations of Delarey and other malcontents in these regions. In spite of their vigilance a concentration was effected in the Gatsrand on the 31st, and a small force at Modderfontein was overwhelmed by superior numbers before General Cunningham could come to its relief. Two more small columns, the one under Colonel Shekleton, South Lancashire Regiment, the other under Colonel Benson, R.A., were now placed at the disposal of General Cunningham to help in the work of clearing the ground between the western railway line and the Vaal. * * * * * At the end of February Lord Methuen's force, together with the small column under Colonel Benson, was actively engaged in hunting bands of marauders in the triangle--Klerksdorp, Potchefstroom, Ventersdorp. On the 4th of March the troops marched from Klerksdorp towards Hoopstad, thence to withdraw the garrison. _En route_ they, having left their convoy under strong escort on the road to Commando Drift, made a night descent on Wolmaranstad with the intention of liberating the British and Boer State prisoners who were known to be detained there. But at dawn when they arrived they discovered that the place was deserted! The sole, though not unimportant, result of their exertions was the capture of the Landdrost, Pearson, a person who had rendered himself notorious in connection with the cases of Messrs. M'Lachlan and Boyd, who with three burghers were shot at Wolmaranstad. The particulars of the dastardly murder of these men must be recorded, as they serve to show the innate brutality of the Boers, which in the earlier part of the war had been suppressed in hope to seduce the sympathy of the Powers. The news of the execution of five British subjects--so-called rebels--by Delarey's commando was brought to Klerksdorp by Mrs. M'Lachlan, whose husband, father, and brother-in-law had been among the victims. Most of them were burghers who had surrendered or left the country prior to the war, while the others were alleged to have taken up arms. The man Boyd, a British subject, had been detained in jail since July 1900 by the Landdrost, who induced him, with two others, to indite a message to the English praying them to come to their rescue. This was afterwards made the plea for sentencing the three to death. Among others sentenced were two burghers named Theunissen, well-known farmers of Klerksdorp, who had surrendered with General Andreas Cronje's commando in June, and had taken the oath of neutrality and refused to break it. Mrs. M'Lachlan, the daughter of the elder Theunissen, gave an account of her loss, narrating how she had taken coffins to the place of execution to bury the bodies of her father, brother, and husband, to whom she had been married only two years, while another lady made the following statement:--"The Boers have forty of our men prisoners there. Eight or ten have been condemned to be shot. They were tried by the late Landdrost of Klerksdorp, a man named Heethling, in conjunction with other members of the Court. The sentences were confirmed by Generals Smuts and Delarey, who sent men to carry them out. The four who were shot were Mr. Theunissen, his son, his son-in-law, Mr. M'Lachlan, and Mr. Boyd. From first to last they were most brutally treated. The execution was a sad spectacle. The prisoners, on being taken out of jail, grasped one another's hands. They were placed in a row and shot down one by one. Mr. Boyd received three bullets, but was still alive when put into the grave. The Boers then fired again, and all was over. It was nearly being my husband's fate, but, thank God, he escaped. Mr. George Savage was also condemned to be shot, but he has been insane since his trial. His wife has gone with Mrs. Pienaar to try to get the sentence commuted. Mrs. Pienaar being with her may possibly have some influence." From all accounts it appeared that the man Pearson, who was captured by Lord Methuen, was prime actor in the barbarous drama, and, handcuffed, he was removed to await his trial. [Illustration: CECIL J. RHODES AT GROOTE SCHUUR. A Memory. From "War Impressions" by Mortimer Menpes, by arrangement with Messrs A. & C. Black]. The column while returning to the convoy was attacked by a commando of some 400, under Du Tot and Potgeiter, from the hills, who paid for their presumption by losing eleven killed and wounded to our seven--a price seldom paid by these bands of "artful dodgers." Finding the river impassable at Commando Drift, the troops marched along the right bank of the Vaal in hopes to cross lower down. The drifts, Bloemhof and Christiana, were also not negotiable, and finally the force moved to Fourteen Streams and crossed by the railway bridge. Brigadier-General the Earl of Errol now assumed command of the force, as Lord Methuen was placed on the sick list. Here it must be noted, that after the departure of Lord Methuen for Hoopstad, Colonel Benson continued to operate to the south of the railway in the Gatsrand, and along the right bank of the Vaal. His small yet active column was ever in touch with the Boers, and many of them had hair-breadth escapes, yet, in spite of all, they secured many prisoners, 1090 head of cattle, and forty-five waggons. On the 4th of April Colonel Benson left his troops to be merged into the force of General Dixon (who had succeeded General Cunningham in command of the column south of the Magaliesberg), while he assumed a more important command on the eastern line. To return to Lord Methuen's force. As the Hoopstad garrison had yet to be withdrawn, the troops now under Lord Errol started thither on the 28th of March, a simultaneous movement being made by a mobile column from Kimberley. The object of the expedition was achieved and the garrison removed to Warrenton by the 7th of April, but not without a skirmish on the way with Badenhorst's commando at Steenbokpan. Lord Methuen soon recovered, and on the 23rd of April, resuming command, transferred his force to Mafeking in order to move early in May on Lichtenburg. This town, at the beginning of March, had been an object of attention to Delarey, Smuts, Celliers, and Vermaas and their bands. The garrison (200 Yeomanry, 300 1st Northumberland Fusiliers, and two guns) commanded by Colonel C. G. Money, had been vigorously attacked on the 3rd, the assault beginning at 3 A.M. and continuing with unabated vigour till midnight. The enemy, numbering some 1500, with one gun, found that there were two sides in the game of annoyance, and that the defenders were ready and willing to give as much as they got. Indeed they gave considerably more, for while our casualties amounted to two officers (Major W. Fletcher and Second-Lieutenant H. D. Hall) and fourteen men killed, and twenty-six wounded, the Boers left behind them sixty killed and wounded and seven prisoners. General Babington now marched to the rescue from the north-west of Krugersdorp _viâ_ Ventersdorp. Here Colonel Shekleton was to have met him with supplies, but owing to the terrific weather, and the difficulty of moving wheeled transport in an incessant deluge, the arrangements of both forces were delayed and considerable inconvenience caused, and General Babington was unable to reach Lichtenburg till the 17th. By this time the bands of Delarey had, of course, made good their escape. But they were hunted to Hartebeestefontein and deprived of many waggons and teams, while sixty-two prisoners were netted, and eight killed. Delarey, with 500 men and three guns, on the 22nd attacked a strong patrol of the 1st Imperial Light Horse under Major Briggs at Geduld. The Boers made a sudden swoop on the party and endeavoured to cut them in two, but this gallant 200, with a solitary "pom-pom," fought doggedly for two and a half hours till reinforcements could arrive, when they defeated the Dutchmen absolutely, killing eleven and wounding thirteen. Unfortunately two gallant officers were lost. Commandant Venter was among the Boer slain, and Field-Cornet Wolmarans among the wounded. The report of an eye-witness was as follows:-- "The Imperial Light Horse made another fine performance some time ago, on two successive days, when they knocked the stuffing out of Delarey near Klerksdorp. Delarey tackled a hundred and sixty men of the 1st Light Horse and a "pom-pom" with eight hundred men. Our fellows had a warm time of it, but being well handled by Major Briggs beat off the attack. The following day, reinforcements having come up, they pushed forward, and after a stiff engagement utterly routed Delarey, taking ten guns and his convoy, besides killing and wounding a hundred and sixty-seven Boers and taking a lot of prisoners. This was done almost entirely by Volunteers and the Suffolks. The Boers in the first fight charged right through the Imperial Light Horse, whose ammunition was exhausted, but were driven back by the fire of about twenty-five men who were holding the horses." General Babington on the 22nd commenced the task of sweeping the enemy to the north, while Colonel Shekleton operated against Delarey's right flank. With mounted troops and guns only the commander dashed after the Boers and overtook their rearguard, which was driven in near Ventersdorp. Again Colonel Grey's New Zealanders and Bushmen distinguished themselves, for on the 25th, while the enemy attempted to take up another position to cover the withdrawal of their convoy, the dashing Colonials, under Major O'Brien, closed in from both flanks and fairly "mopped it up." The result of the exciting march was the capture of 140 prisoners, two 15-pounder guns, one pom-pom, six Maxims, 160 rifles, 320 rounds 15-pounder ammunition, 15,000 rifle ammunition, 53 waggons, and 24 carts. Twenty-two dead and 32 wounded Boers were left on the field, while General Babington's loss was only two killed and seven wounded. These summary actions, in which the officers and men of the Imperial Light Horse, the 4th New Zealand Regiment, and the 6th Imperial Bushmen played so prominent a part, were most disconcerting to the foe, who now, owing to want of horses, guns, and supplies, had their wings clipped, and were unable to evade the pursuing columns. Much of the success of the proceedings was due to the excellent service rendered by Colonel Grey, Major Gossett (Cheshire Regiment), Major Burrows (38th Battery R.F.A.), Major O'Brien (6th Imperial Bushmen), Lieutenant Kinton (Royal Welsh Fusiliers), Captains Walker and Arthur (4th New Zealand Regiment), Lieutenants Thomas and Doyle (6th Imperial Bushmen), Captains Norman, Brierley, and Donaldson, and Lieutenants Dryden and Holbrig (Imperial Light Horse), Captains Stanton, R.A., and Logan, and Major Cookson (I.S.C.). From the 2nd to the 6th of April there were more Boer-hunts towards Tafelkop, and many small collisions with Smuts' marauders at Rietpan and elsewhere. General Babington now returned to Ventersdorp, and from thence made for Smuts' main laager at Goedvooruitzicht. Marching by night across the swampy country and over the hills, Colonel Rawlinson, with the men of Roberts' and Kitchener's Horse, prepared a little surprise for the slumbering Dutchmen. At daybreak on the 14th April the laager was rushed by the dashing British band, while the enemy in consternation took to their heels. Five or six hundred fled, leaving six killed, ten wounded, twenty-three prisoners, one 12-pounder gun, one pom-pom, two ammunition waggons, eighteen rounds 12-pounder ammunition, 500 rounds of pom-pom ammunition, 12,000 rounds of rifle ammunition, twelve waggons and carts, and a large number of cattle. Only three of the British party were wounded. Operations still continued against Delarey, who had concentrated his commando (numbering 2000) in the hilly country around Hartebeestefontein, and from thence proceeded hungrily to pounce on a convoy passing from General Babington's camp at Syferkuil to Klerksdorp. But the escort, admirably handled, succeeded in frustrating the designs of the enemy, whose exploit cost them twelve killed and six wounded. [Illustration: COLONEL BENSON (Photo by Russell & Sons, London)] Lord Methuen, who had resumed command of his force, now marched from Mafeking to Lichtenberg to co-operate in the movement for surrounding the aggressive commandos that were now rendered abnormally adventurous by famine and ferocity. General Dixon moved from the Krugersdorp district to arrest the rush of them to north-east, while Colonel E. Williams, with a fresh column of mounted Australians, stood in readiness at Klerksdorp to reinforce General Babington. On the 4th of May Generals Methuen and Babington tackled the desperadoes between Kaffir's Kraal and Brakpan, and after a brisk engagement one 12-pounder gun, seven prisoners, and five waggons were captured. The enemy were hunted, till, after their usual custom, they dispersed in ones and twos into the shadow of the hills. [Illustration: CHARGE OF THE BUSHMEN AND NEW ZEALANDERS ON THE BOER GUNS DURING THE ATTACK ON BABINGTON'S CONVOY NEAR KLERKSDORP, MARCH 24, 1901 Drawing by R. Caton Woodville] An account of the interesting operations was given by a trooper of the 10th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry, which regiment had been over a year on service with Lord Methuen, and was now thinking of home:-- "Lord Methuen's advance troops left Mafeking at daybreak on May 1, and the whole column entered Lichtenberg on the 3rd, bringing along with it a huge convoy of supplies. Lichtenberg was not looking so picturesque as it did four months ago. The recent stormy times there, and in the immediate vicinity, had necessitated the removal of a great many trees; moreover, extra trenches had been dug and other strong barricades built. Winter is now upon us, and the parched and worn herbage as well as the changing tints in the foliage seemed to harmonise, so to speak, with the melancholy surroundings. However, the cheery strains of music which greeted us as we entered the town and rode along a little avenue of weeping willows made us forget our troubles for awhile. It was the fine band of the Northumberland Fusiliers playing in a desolate orchard. "At 3 A.M. the following morning two squadrons of Yeomanry marched out as mounted escort to the convoy. The column followed in its wake an hour or so later. It was about an hour after daylight when four men of the 37th, who were riding in advance, had the good fortune to capture two prominent Boers--Messrs. Lemmer and Viljoen. One of them was riding a 'jibber,' and in order to get the animal along had tied it to that of his comrade. Consequently, when the gentlemen were taken by surprise, their capture was easy. We saw several Boers scampering away from some farmhouses just before we bivouacked, but, happily, they did not molest our outposts during the day. Next morning the general had his fighting column well on the march quite an hour before daybreak. The convoy left half-an-hour earlier. Smoking was strictly prohibited as long as it was dark. As soon as it grew light the 37th Squadron were sent out in advance. Half-an-hour later the Boers attacked our rearguard, but were repulsed after a short though severe fight, in which Paget's Horse lost one killed and two wounded. Meanwhile the 37th had pushed forward and gained some kopjes in front. Here they came in touch with General Babington's column. Thus the two columns practically met, and then Delarey, Smuts, and De Camp drew up the bulk of their forces on highly advantageous ground on Methuen's right front and Babington's left. Wheeling his mounted troops round into position, Lord Methuen began to attack the enemy without delay, but the position in front was deemed almost impregnable. I saw swarms of mounted Boers on the hillside, and several rode down to try to draw us on to the attack. The general quickly ordered Colonel Meyrick, who was in command of the Yeomanry, to execute a flank movement on the right, leaving General Babington to take the matter in hand on the other side. Hereabouts the 37th rejoined the main body after a long gallop, and again took up their original position at the head of the regiment. Colonel Meyrick led his men along at a smart pace, and as we breasted a rise in the road we viewed several Boers breaking away across the open. Soon afterwards the brigadier sent the 5th out on the right, whilst he himself led the main body to the left with the idea of driving the enemy from his positions in front. The Boers, however, did not show much inclination to fight. "All the time Colonel Meyrick was being seconded by Colonel Lawson of the 10th, who now dismounted his men and led them to the attack. A few volleys sufficed, however, for at this moment a pom-pom made its appearance on the scene, and after waiting long enough to receive a few well-directed shells from it the Boers gave way and galloped off in little parties as hard as they could go. In a few minutes the Yeomanry were in hot pursuit of the enemy. 'Ware hole' was a constant cry all day long, and casualties occurred from the treacherous state of the ground. Now before us lay a vast plain, beyond which was a long straggling range of kopjes. Thither the Boers had retreated in haste. The 5th were still on our right, and I saw a body of mounted men on our left. All the troops Colonel Meyrick had with him were Colonel Lawson and four broken squadrons of the 10th. But there was no drawing rein. Four men were sent forward to scout the country on the left front and four somewhere else. The remainder galloped to the left flank. Hereabouts some troops were detached from the main body in order to capture some waggons; and a few minutes later two men of the 37th--Nichols and Brown--who had been sent forward to reconnoitre, captured a gun (a twelve-pounder, O Battery, Royal Horse Artillery, lost at Colenso). Three Boers were in charge of it, but one immediately took to his heels and escaped, and the other two--two beardless boys--were too much out of breath with their efforts of whipping up and shouting at the jaded team of mules to do anything but throw up their arms. One of the youngsters burst into tears when he was disarmed. "Notwithstanding all this, the two colonels still kept up the pursuit, and came across some more waggons four miles ahead. Here, however, the enemy were in strong numbers, and a few of our men fell foul of some Boers in a mealie field, but miraculously escaped. Soon afterwards the officer commanding received a message from the General recalling him, but it was not till then that Colonel Meyrick led back his scanty followers to escort the plunder into camp. It was a curious procession that wended its way across the veldt. Jolting along in front were several captured waggons with a slender escort. Then came Colonel Meyrick, on his good dun horse, with his injured arm still in a sling, followed by his orderlies. Next in order a pom-pom and the captured gun, which was being driven along by the two ragged Dutch boys; two waggons, a Cape cart, and an ambulance waggon, the officers and the remnant of the 10th bringing up the rear. Just before we reached camp we passed Lord Methuen, sitting on the ground, writing his despatches. The troops bivouacked near Paarde Plaats (where Methuen captured Sellers's laager a short time ago), after having been in the saddle or on foot for twelve hours. "Next morning the mounted troops marched as far as Hartebeestefontein, and the men took advantage of a brief halt in the picturesque village to loot oranges, of which there were any quantity in the orchards and gardens, though mostly green ones. Eventually the troops bivouacked about six miles from the village. The General ordered a rest on the next day; but afterwards the men did some very heavy marching in order to keep in touch with the other columns. Although Babington made another big haul and Rawlinson shelled the Boers, Methuen did not get another chance of having a smack at the enemy. The column reached Mafeking on Sunday, 12th inst.--a cold, dusty morning. "Lord Methuen's old yeomen entrained at Mafeking _en route_ for the south at 1 P.M. yesterday, 14th inst. The General himself paid his 'old comrades-in-arms' the high compliment of coming down to the station in order to see them off. He met with a splendid ovation, and was carried shoulder-high and safely deposited on a temporary platform amidst rounds of applause. Then every yeoman pressed eagerly forward to shake the outstretched hand of their gallant leader. Lord Methuen seemed deeply impressed with the enthusiastic reception accorded him. But it was the only way we had of expressing our gratitude and admiration. There was no speech." The above letter describes not only the last operations but the last farewell of the "Old Yeomanry." Before parting with them, some statistics regarding the brave and serviceable men who were leaving the scene of their activities may not be out of place. According to the official record of the casualties in South Africa during the twelve months ending March 27, the Imperial Yeomanry losses had been 185 killed, 642 wounded, 388 died of disease, 49 died of wounds, 571 invalided; deaths from accidents, 20; missing, 205; prisoners, 497--total, 2557. The majority of the missing had reappeared, and the prisoners were released. At the end of July 1900, the strength of the Yeomanry in South Africa was: 536 officers, 10,195 men--total, 10,731; in February, before the reinforcements had arrived, the strength had been reduced to 495 officers, 7500 men--total, 7995; on May 1 the figures read 800 officers, 22,304 men--total, 23,104. The Imperial Yeomanry Hospitals had also done invaluable work. Both Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener eulogised the scheme, and the most eminent surgeons endorsed the opinions of the military authorities. The movement, it may be remembered, was started by Lady Georgiana Curzon (now Countess Howe), and an influential committee was appointed to carry out the work. The total record of patients treated at Deelfontein, Mackenzie's Farm (now taken over by the Government), Pretoria, and Bloemfontein, and by the Field Hospital up to the middle of May was 17,070. During April, May, and June, the whole of the original force (together with the Australian and New Zealand contingents) was withdrawn from the country and their places, in course of time, were taken by 16,000 new yeomen and new Colonial contingents, but these, though apt and willing, were naturally incapable of filling at once the huge gap made by the loss of these trained and seasoned men. * * * * * To resume. During April, energetic measures were set on foot in Namaqualand by Colonel Smith and Colonel Shelton. Colonel Shelton had now organised a field column to work in the arid district, Bushmanland, the first contingent of sixty men and three officers, commanded by Captain Montagu, having started to reinforce the advance post at Agenthuis, which was held by Lieutenant Rich and a small patrol. These, meanwhile, were attacked by the enemy, and fought with them for five hours. They then had to evacuate the place. Zeerust was still in a state of siege, but the North Lancashire Regiment and some Yeomen engaged the raiders and gave them a warm day, fighting being pursued with unabated zeal from daylight till dusk. The New Zealanders next shelled the Boers' meeting-place and disturbed their little plans, and showed them that the inconvenience of the besieged might be shared by the besiegers. A party of the North Lancashires surprised the Boers and wounded three of their number, and later, on the 29th, driven desperate by want of sufficient provisions, the scouts made a grand sortie, and captured a plentiful supply of oxen. Everywhere in the west there was unrest, owing to the damage created by the desperadoes. Belmont Station was attacked and the telegraph instruments damaged, and in the Montzani district Captain Tupper, Liverpool Regiment, and twelve men had an unpleasant time near Taaiboshpan, but gained the day after three hours' fighting. Elsewhere Lieutenant Barton (Bedfordshire Regiment) found himself surrounded in a farm. A day of tussle was spent there, but in the night the British escaped. Colonel Walford thereupon set himself to work to scour and purge the district. APRIL. ORANGE RIVER COLONY--OPERATIONS OF GENERAL BRUCE-HAMILTON AND GENERAL RUNDLE Now that the Boers, in small bands, were being forced northward from Cape Colony and from Kruitzinger's hunting-ground, preparations were made near Bethulie and along the Orange River for their reception. To this end General Lyttelton moved the troops of General Bruce-Hamilton and Colonel Hickman from Dewetsdorp and Wepener, and these--in conjunction with Colonel Haig's columns--were so ranged by the 5th April, as to defeat any great incursion of marauders into the Orange River Colony. But, save for the clever capture by Colonel Munro, with 150 Bethune's Mounted Infantry and a pom-pom, of a convoy and eighty-three prisoners (including Commandant Bester and Lieutenant Lindigne of the Staats Artillery), little took place, and General Bruce-Hamilton was enabled to return to his position at Dewetsdorp. On the 13th of April he succeeded General Lyttelton in his command, as that officer was leaving for England, and Colonel Haig moved to take charge of operations in Cape Colony. On both sides of the river the sweeping up of stores and capture of Boers proceeded apace, and the total result of General Bruce-Hamilton's April activities was the capture of ninety-five prisoners, 300 horses, and an abundance of live stock. The raiders, ragged and starving, were continually active. Kruitzinger made an ineffectual effort to cross on the 4th, but was frustrated by finding the troops of General Bruce-Hamilton in possession of the river banks. Colonel White and Colonel Munro so actively scoured round and about Springfontein that such Boers as there were quickly vanished till a more opportune period. Others tried to sneak across at Oudefontein Drift, but Major Murray's men discovered them in the act and disposed of them. From the region of Brandford came the news of the capture of a laager on the 2nd by the prowess of Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry, who, by night, had surrounded the camp of Bester and caught him napping. On the 7th of April, Colonel Thorneycroft moved towards Winburg to deal with a minor concentration of the enemy in that neighbourhood. The rumour of his approach served to defeat the Boers' object and disperse them, and he consequently returned to Brandfort. * * * * * General Sir Leslie Rundle remained indefatigable. In March he was still firmly holding his line--Ficksburg, Harrismith, Bethlehem, and Vrede. But he was minus the mobile column under General Campbell, which had temporarily reinforced the troops under General Wynne, and was furnishing an escort under Colonel Inglefield on the Utrecht-Luneberg line, whence General French (in the important operations which have been described) drew his supplies. General Campbell, after trying experiences (fighting perpetually in marsh and morass, floating waggons across rivers, and crossing on rafts, &c.) which delayed all his undertakings, returned to Harrismith on the 10th of April. Later, General Rundle, finding the Boers had again buzzed about Fouriesburg, left Harrismith for Bethlehem, reaching there on the 24th. The enemy, some 300, dogged his footsteps and hung round his flanks till it was necessary to whisk them off, which was accomplished after four days' fighting. He was then able to move on _viâ_ Retief's Nek, which he passed on the 29th, entering Fouriesburg unopposed on the 2nd of May. He afterwards set about scouring the country in its remotest valleys with flying columns, while Colonel Harley from Ficksburg made similar excursions. These united activities were fraught with considerable excitement and corresponding success. On the 31st of May, Colonel Harley left Fouriesburg and seized the Slaapkrantz position without serious opposition, sending the Boers who were fleeing before him into the arms of General Campbell. This officer was moving from the direction of Bethlehem, and by a forced march managed to reach Naauwpoort Nek in time to intercept the enemy's convoy. From this date to the 8th of June, when they joined hands at Elands River Drift, Colonels Harley and Campbell traversed the rugged region north and south of the Roodebergen range, while a small column from Harrismith watched the country to the east of Elands River Drift. The results of these difficult operations and excursions against Prinsloo's, Rautenhach's, and other commandos were as follows: 7 Boers killed, 19 wounded, 101 Krupp shells, 4800 rounds of ammunition, 21 rifles, 43 vehicles, and 1450 horses. Foodstuffs, stores, and forage in great quantities were captured or destroyed. The rest of June was spent in clearing the Langeberg, the only district south of the Harrismith-Bethlehem road which remained to be dealt with in the new scheme of operations. The enemy hung mosquito-wise around the flanks of the scouring columns, but they pursued their work and accounted for 15 Boers killed or wounded, 2770 horses, 56 vehicles, 4000 rounds of ammunition, 7 rifles, and quantities of stores and stock. On the conclusion of these operations, General Rundle returned to Harrismith, where he remained till he started to co-operate with General Elliot's march from Springfield Drift to Frankfort. Of which anon. During June, Generals Rundle and Campbell bade farewell to the "Old Yeomanry." The chief took the opportunity to express his especial satisfaction with the excellent work done by them, saying that when they joined he was without cavalry, and did not know what he should have done without them. An interesting incident, showing that the pluck and value of the Imperial Yeomanry cannot be overrated, may here be quoted. On the 23rd of June, the Harrismith Volunteer Light Horse and a few of the Imperial Yeomanry visited a farm and captured 1500 horses, sheep, and goats. While these were being driven in, Sergeant-Major Reid (11th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry), who with two men was handling a flock, was assailed by a party of twelve Boers. Reid promptly sent on the men with the animals and lay down alone in the open and covered their retreat. CHAPTER V COMBINED MOVEMENT FOR THE CLEARANCE OF THE NORTHERN TRANSVAAL.--MARCH AND APRIL Lord Kitchener now engaged himself in preparing a new and immense combined movement for the clearance of the country to the north of Pretoria. The so-called seat of government of the Boers had been removed from Pietersburg to Roos Senekal, and its presence there naturally attracted all the Boers who, in consequence of General French's clearance of the Swaziland border, had been forced into the difficult country of the Tautesberg and Bothaberg. In planning a movement against these bands from the line of Middelburg-Belfast-Lydenburg, precautions had to be taken to prevent the escape of the enemy into the Zoutpansberg and Waterberg districts. It therefore became necessary to hold Pietersburg and the drifts over Olifant's River, and to chase the Boers from their snug retreats in the vicinity. Accordingly, General Plumer was moved from Orange River Colony and directed to hold Pietersburg, and prepare to co-operate in the combined movement just described. At this time, 26th March, Pienaars River was the most advanced garrison on the Pietersburg line. For this place General Plumer started, there to be joined by the 2nd Battalion Gordon Highlanders and "C" Section Pom-Poms. Beyond Pienaars River repairs to the line had to be effected, which caused delay, then the troops advanced from Warmbad, Nylstroom, to Piet Potgietersrust over a clear line. Here the enemy meant mischief, for they had blown up one of the smaller railway bridges, but this was soon repaired, and on the 8th of April the advanced troops reached Pietersburg, the average distance covered being fifteen miles a day. The town had been evacuated in the night. Here provisions, supplies, and remounts had to be collected, in order that the attack, once begun, might be carried on without a hitch, and that the Boers, chased from one quarter, might not be sent trekking into Rhodesia, but be enveloped and swept up _en masse_ as they had been at Paardeberg and at Fouriesburg. The projected advance was full of difficulties and the preliminaries were endless. It was impossible to begin till men, horses, and supplies had been deposited at Pietersburg by rail from Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban, or Delagoa Bay. It must be remembered that the columns were preparing to march some 150 miles across the veldt, where the greatest of all enemies, the tsetze fly, harassed every inch of the road. In addition to this deadly foe to horses, there were now the wintry nights, following grilling days, to be encountered, and chilly shocks which bring enteric and other diseases in their train. At Pietersburg forty-six Boers voluntarily surrendered, and the following captures were made:--one Krupp gun, thirty rifles, 1000 rounds 7-pounder ammunition, 210,000 small-arm ammunition, 8300 lbs. gunpowder, 480 lbs. dynamite. Two truck-loads of ammunition had been blown up by the Boers on their departure. The occupation of the place now made the scheme for the opening of railway communication from the Cape to Cairo (hitherto thought to be a visionary's dream) perfectly feasible. The line from Warmbaths to Pietersburg was now placed in charge of Colonel Hall, the posts being occupied by the Northamptonshire and Wiltshire Regiments, together with the 12th Battalion Mounted Infantry. This left General Plumer's mounted troops free to hold the line of the Olifant's River. Having established an adequate garrison at Pietersburg, General Plumer proceeded to post Major Colvin's column to secure the drift at Bathfontein, while to Colonel Jeffreys was assigned the task of occupying a lower drift at Blaauwbloemje's Kloof. General Plumer himself was at Commissie Drift. Schalk Burger at this time was said to have deposited himself at Tolesburg, west of Middelburg, where he still endeavoured to carry on the parody of government. Colonel Jeffreys on the 18th, while operating with his mobile column along the Olifant, came on a party of Boers east of Druehoek. He captured eleven and seized their ammunition. Soon after, Lieutenant Reid (Imperial Bushmen) with some twenty Australians, who had been detached from General Plumer's post at Commissie Drift, performed a valiant act. While in charge of his patrol he located a Boer laager some fifteen miles east of the drift. Under cover of night he and his handful of Colonials crept towards the camp, surrounded it, and at dawn on the 24th boldly attacked it. The enemy, doubtless imagining that young Reid's hardihood was backed by a large reserve at his elbow, promptly surrendered, and the gallant British band had the honour of recording a haul of forty-one prisoners, including the commandant, Schroeder, and one excellent Maxim, together with horses, mules, waggons, and ammunition. The Boers, on their side, scored slightly elsewhere. On the day following this brilliant episode, while Major Twyford, with a small escort, was moving from Machadodorp to Lydenburg, there to join the Royal Scots, the enemy lay in ambush near Badfontein, a valley on the Crocodile River. Their plans were successful, for it was not difficult in this shelving and dipping region to surprise a small party moving over a vast tract of difficult country. The tussle that followed was a tough one, the men fighting desperately and refusing to surrender. At last Major Twyford was killed and his band overpowered. [Illustration: DEFEAT OF A NIGHT ATTEMPT TO CROSS THE RAILWAY Drawing by Allan Stewart] The results of General Plumer's operations between the 14th and 28th of April were ninety-one prisoners, twenty surrendered, one Maxim, 20,360 rounds ammunition, twenty-six waggons and carts, and forty-six mules. LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR BINDON BLOOD'S OPERATIONS NORTH OF THE LINE MIDDELBURG--BELFAST--LYDENBURG On the day (14th April) that General Plumer, having garrisoned Pietersburg, left there to seize the drifts on the Olifant River, and thus close the avenues of escape leading towards the north-west, Sir Bindon Blood disposed his force in the following manner. The columns of Colonel Park and General Kitchener occupied Lydenburg, with those of Colonel Douglas at Witklip (south of them). Colonel Pulteney was stationed at Belfast, while at Middelburg were Colonel Benson and General Beatson. The columns of Colonels Pulteney and Benson were commanded by General Fetherstonhaugh. These columns, admirably placed for the work in hand, now began to move, so that the enemy in this difficult region might no longer plume himself on being secure from attack. Column One, under Colonel Park, moving round into the Waterval Valley, joined hands with Column Two under General W. Kitchener near Rietfontein. In this region Colonel Park remained, so as to check any attempt on the part of the Boers to move north from Roosenekal, while General Kitchener continued his advance across the Steelport River to Fort Weber, which was reached on the 18th of April. Column Three, under Colonel Douglas, moved to Dullstroom (_viâ_ Zwagershoek and Palmietfontein), which was reached on the 17th of April. On the following day Colonel Pulteney, with Column Four, arrived there from Belfast, but pushed on _viâ_ Witpoort to occupy Roosenekal. On his approach Mr. Schalk Burger and his Government, in hot haste, bolted to Leydsdorp, leaving papers of the South African Republic and many banknotes behind. Some of the documents captured at Roosenekal by the forces under Sir Bindon Blood consisted of (1) a circular issued by the Boer Commandant-General as to the treatment of burghers who have surrendered; (2) a letter of representatives of the Central Peace Committee, Pretoria, urging surrender; and (3) a certificate of the execution of M. de Kock, a member of that committee. In the letter from the Central Peace Committee, one of the signatories of which was M. de Kock, there occurred, after a reference to the strong position of Lord Kitchener, the following words:-- "What is submitted to you is a well-meant offer from a powerful man, who is sure of his case, and a person who is willing to do everything to restore peace and prevent further bloodshed and destruction of our dear country, and to remove the sufferings of our wives and children; and when I submit this verbally to you, you will be convinced that this is truly the act of a strong man, who knows his own strength and might, and can thus hold out the olive branch. Oh, I trust that you and your fellow-burghers will accept it as such, and not do as we Afrikanders generally do, when such representations are made to us, to consider it a sign of weakness, because the Lord knows that he (Lord Kitchener) is doing so from pure nobility of soul, and the wish of the British people to prevent further bloodshed." The foregoing was evidently issued after M. de Kock had met Lord Kitchener in Pretoria. Then followed a circular by Commandant C. R. de Wet denouncing Lord Kitchener's terms, and a circular issued by Commandant Botha giving his account of the negotiations. De Wet stated:-- "Finally, I wish to observe that if I and our Government were so foolish as to accept the proposals of Lord Kitchener, I am convinced that the great majority of our people, if not all, who are now fighting, would not agree, for to accept those proposals means nothing less than the complete subjection of the Afrikander people, and the subjection of a people is more bitter to think of than the death of every single burgher." To Roosenekal Colonel Benson, with Column Five, also directed his steps, marching by Bankfontein and Klupspruit and Blinkwater, clearing the surrounding country as he went. He and Colonel Pulteney having come in touch with each other, they now scoured the valley around Steelpoort, unearthing Boers and capturing burghers innumerable. General Beatson, with Column Six, was engaged in a prodigious task. Besides sweeping the country--Avontuur, Laatste Drift--through which he marched, to Brakfontein, he was instructed to hold both Wagon and Crocodile Drifts on the Olifant River, and to push out patrols to connect with General Plumer's troops on the lower reaches of the river. Later, General W. Kitchener, from Fort Weber, moved south to Paardeplaats, in the vicinity of which place he operated for some days making captures of prisoners and stock, and then proceeding farther south to clear the Bothaberg before going to Middelburg. To Middelburg _viâ_ Blinkwater also went Colonel Pulteney from Roosenekal, while Colonels Benson and Douglas (who for some time co-operated at Dullstroom) marched to Belfast. Thus the country was completely weeded of the enemy, and though some few effected their escape through the rugged region east of the Steelpoort Valley, 1081 Boers surrendered. Other captures included a 1-pounder quick-firing Krupp gun complete, with one hundred rounds of ammunition, one pom-pom, 540 rifles, 204,450 rounds of ammunition, 247 horses, 611 waggons and carts. One Long Tom, one 4.7-inch gun (captured at Helvetia), one 15-pounder gun, one 12-pounder Krupp gun, two pom-poms, and two Maxims were blown up by the enemy to avoid capture. Unfortunately a gallant Victorian, Lieutenant Beatty, lost his life. [Illustration: MAP ILLUSTRATING THE COMBINED MOVEMENT TO CLEAR THE NORTHERN TRANSVAAL] The combined operations thus satisfactorily concluded, General Plumer concentrated his troops and marched by the line of Elands and Kameel Rivers to Eerste Fabrieken. General Blood, still co-operating, directed General Beatson to move his force from Wagon Drift along the left bank of the Wilge River to Bronker's Spruit Station. Colonel Allenby (who had returned from assisting General French's operations) moved from Middelburg to Witbank, and thence, in conjunction with General Beatson, began to clear the angle of the Wilge and Olifant Rivers. The enemy was now dispersing in every direction. Only one party driven westward by General Beatson was caught. This, in full flight, was overtaken by a detachment from General Plumer's force. Major Vialls and the 3rd Victorian Bushmen, after an exciting chase over the rugged wilds, brought in twenty-seven prisoners, eighteen rifles, thirty waggons, and 1000 head of cattle. General Plumer reached his destination (Eerste Fabrieken) on the 4th of May. COLONEL GRENFELL AT PIETERSBURG Concurrently with the activities of General Plumer and Sir Bindon Blood, events of some importance took place near Pietersburg. No sooner had General Plumer turned his back on the place than the Boers, some fifteen miles to the north, began to collect. A reconnaissance conducted by Mounted Infantry scented out a big commando, said to be under the command of Van Rensburg, at Klipdam. Accordingly Colonel Grenfell, with his column (Kitchener's Fighting Scouts), was sent by rail to Pietersburg "to clear up the situation." The clearing up process was highly effective. Moving by night (on the 26th of April), the troops came on the laager at Klipdam a little before dawn, and with the first streak of day delivered their attack. The fight was short, sharp, and brilliant. Seven Boers were killed. Only one of our men was wounded. Forty-one Dutchmen were captured, together with their camp, twenty-six horses, ten mules, waggons multifarious, and 76,000 rounds of ammunition. This dashing exploit was soon followed by another, less showy but decidedly practical. Report having declared that the last Long Tom of the enemy was ensconced somewhere twenty miles east of Pietersburg, Colonel Grenfell directed his energies towards its capture. He marched hot foot _viâ_ Doornhoek--which he reached on the 30th--to Berg Plaats. But the enemy was on the _qui vive_. They determined that Long Tom should show fight till his last gasp, and opened fire at over 10,000 yards range. Still Colonel Grenfell's men pushed on and on, determined to capture their prize, while the horrible weapon snorted derisively. At last, after firing sixteen rounds, and while Kitchener's Fighting Scouts were steadily bearing down on them, the Boers blew it up and scudded to the north-east to save their skins. The great object, therefore, of the splendid rush was defeated, but ten prisoners were secured, together with thirty-five rounds of ammunition for the defunct Long Tom. Two of the British party were wounded. While proceeding to search for further spoil, 100,000 rounds of Martini-Henry ammunition were unearthed at a neighbouring farm and destroyed. Kitchener's Fighting Scouts, under Colonels Colenbrander and Wilson, were now ever on the move, and, working from Bergvlei as a centre, were continually bringing in wandering Boers. A detachment of the 12th Mounted Infantry under Major Thomson, too, did splendid work, and succeeded, in the midst of a dense fog, in capturing Commandant Marais and forty of his followers. Beyers, who had fled from Pietersburg on the approach of the British, was still at large, however, and in the Waterberg district was doing his best to intercept such commandos as were on the way to surrender. Munnik, a former landdrost of Pietersburg, and somewhat of a firebrand, together with his son, an ex-state mining engineer, had been captured during General Plumer's march, by Major Kirkwood and the Wiltshire Regiment. The total "bag" made by Colonel Grenfell, during his move from Pietersburg till his return there on the 6th of May, was 129 prisoners, fifty voluntary surrenders, and 240,000 rounds of ammunition, which were destroyed. Seven Boers were killed. On 10th May Botha forwarded to Lord Kitchener another letter:-- "As I have already assured your Excellency, I am very desirous of terminating this war and its sad consequences. It is, however, necessary, in order to comply with the Grondwet of this Republic and otherwise, that, before any steps are taken in that direction, the condition of our country and our cause be brought to the notice of his Honour State President Kruger in Europe; and I therefore wish to send two persons to him in order to acquaint him fully with that condition. As speed in this matter is of great consequence to both contending parties, and as such despatch without your Excellency's assistance would take a considerable time, I should like to hear from your Excellency whether your Excellency is prepared to assist me in expediting this matter by allowing such person or persons to journey there and back unhindered, if necessary by the traffic medium within your Excellency's control." On 16th May Lord Kitchener replied to the application as follows:-- "I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Honour's letter of the 10th instant, and, in reply, beg to state that I can only deal with you and your superior officers in the field in regard to the cessation of hostilities, and that I do not recognise the official status of any other persons in the late Republics of the Orange River and Transvaal. If, however, your Honour desires, with the object of bringing hostilities to a close, to consult with any person in Europe I will forward any telegram your Honour desires on the subject and let you have the reply. Should, however, your Honour still desire to send messengers, and will inform me of their names and status, I will refer the matter to his Majesty's Government for decision." CHAPTER VI GENERAL ELLIOT'S OPERATIONS FROM KROONSTAD It will be remembered that during the middle of March Lord Kitchener engaged himself with a new scheme of redistribution, and that General Elliot's force was arranged to operate from Kroonstad in the northern district of the Orange River Colony. By the 10th of April this force was ready to take the field. In consequence of a seeming recrudescence of activity of the enemy in the north-west of the Colony, and certain signs of a possible junction between them and their confederates of the south-west of the Transvaal, General Elliot directed his energies to the sweeping of the district about Reitzburg and Parys. Here supplies in some quantities served as an attraction to the hungry commandos. These were satisfactorily disposed of by the 20th of April, when the force returned to Kroonstad. But it remained not long idle. General Elliot proceeded to scour the districts beyond the Wilge River, where the Dutchmen were again beginning to hoard their goods for further activity. Lord Kitchener's plan was as follows:--A movement was to be made by parallel columns on a wide front eastward beyond Heilbron; the left or northern column, when past that point, was to halt, while the other columns wheeling to the left should clear the country, the right passing east of Frankfort. The whole division, moving north in line, was then to press the Boers and their stock back on the Vaal River. In order to drive as many dispersed Boers as possible into General Elliot's net, General C. Knox, concurrently with General Elliot's first move, was to send a column towards Reitz. A force was also stationed on the north under Colonel Western, who had succeeded to the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Williams' column on the lower drifts of the Wilge River. At the same time the columns of Colonels E. Knox and Rimington were to move from Heidelberg and Standerton respectively towards the junction of the Vaal and Waterval Rivers. In accordance with this scheme, General C. Knox occupied Senekal on the 25th of April, sending, as directed, Colonel Pilcher (who had been doing magnificent work at Clocolan, Mequatting's Nek, and the Korannaberg) to Reitz on the 28th. The town was found to have been evacuated on the previous evening, and report spoke to General Elliot's presence on the north of it: consequently, Colonel Pilcher's part in the scheme being accomplished, he rejoined General Knox at Senekal, and with him moved to the railway. General Elliot's force at this time was moving east, and by the 7th of May the troops were disposed along the line Villiersdorp-Frankfort-Tafel Kop. On the 9th the General, who was at Cornelia, despatched a force to Vrede, and sent off forty prisoners, 5000 horses, and a large number of waggons and cattle to Standerton. The Boers (since Colonel Western was guarding the Wilge River Drift) were now threatened on all sides. Flying in despair to the hilly cover south of Greylingstad, they jumped into the open arms of Colonels E. Knox and Rimington, who were lying in wait for them. Those who were smart enough to escape scurried across the river, but 34 prisoners, 4000 cattle, 284 waggons and carts, and 5400 rounds of ammunition were secured, and the haul served as a successful finale to the first phase of these well-directed operations. Colonel Western's share in the movement being completed, he went from the Wilge River Drifts to Heilbron. Here he became aware that Steenkamp's laagers were situated some seventeen miles to north of him. Quick as lightning he was off again, marching stealthily by night in the direction of the quarry, and rushing the camp at dawn on the 9th of May. It was a splendidly conceived and splendidly executed affair, and thirty-two prisoners, with horses, waggons, and carts, were the prize of the undertaking. June opened with more dexterous swoops, and after clearing the ground from Vereeniging to Parys, and thoroughly sweeping Venterskroom and Vredefort, the force returned eastward to the rail, bringing with them nine prisoners, 16,000 rounds of ammunition, and many waggons. After refitting at Rhenoster, Colonel Western scoured the country between the junction of the Vaal and Rhenoster Rivers and Coal Mine Drift, but the enemy vanished, having now every reason to reserve their ammunition, or to spend it only on forces inferior to their own in number. They were not in all cases successful in their disappearance, for a convoy was caught on the 23rd of June, and the guerillas had to fight for dear life; six prisoners and all the waggons and stock were captured. Colonel Western then marched to Klerksdorp to replenish his supplies, after which he co-operated with General Gilbert Hamilton and Colonel Allenby--attacked the enemy in the mountain fastnesses of Hartebeestefontein, and captured more prisoners, horses, and rifles. He finished up the month by moving towards Hoopstad to meet Colonel Henry's column, on its way from Christiana, hustling Boers wherever he found them, and then returning to Klerksdorp, plus six prisoners, thirteen rifles, seventy-one horses, fifteen waggons and carts. Two Boers were killed. GENERAL ELLIOT'S OPERATIONS--SECOND PHASE General Elliot, his left column following the course of the Klip River, his right extended to the south (beyond Vrede), meanwhile marched towards the Natal border. At the same time Colonel Colville's force moved up the right bank of the Klip River on General Elliot's left, searching the country around Verzammelberg. Troops from General Hildyard's force were posted to close Almond's (or Alleman's) Nek and guard Botha's and Muller's Passes. Beyond an engagement with some 300 of the foe, who were found on his right flank some twenty miles below Vrede, General Elliot met with slight opposition. He reached Botha's Pass on the 19th of May, and forwarded to Natal some 2000 horses and stock, the fruits of his labours since leaving the Vaal. The Boers by this time had found for themselves a new and naturally strong position some twenty-five miles to the south, and from this rugged and honeycombed region it was imperative to rout them. On the 21st they were attacked and without much difficulty driven off, as their resistance was mainly intended to cause a diversion while their convoy got away in safety to the cover of the broken country along the banks of the Wilge River. General Elliot, accompanied by Colonel De Lisle's column, now marched to Harrismith, collecting nearly 2000 horses on the way, and returning afterwards to Vrede. There, at the end of the month, he was met by Colonels Bethune and Lowe, who had remained behind to operate north and west of Witkoppies--the position south of Botha's Pass whence the Boers had been dislodged. [Illustration: THE CAPTURE OF DE WET'S CONVOY AT REITZ, JUNE 6, 1901: THE ATTACK UPON THE BOER WAGGONS BY COLONEL DE LISLE'S FORCE Drawing by R. Caton Woodville] On the 3rd of June General Elliot, having replenished his supplies from Standerton, moved from Vrede towards Kroonstad _viâ_ Reitz and Lindley. It was on the way to Reitz that one of the most exciting conflicts of the march took place. A night swoop on Graspan had been planned for the purpose of intercepting a Boer convoy (said to be De Wet's), which had been located in the neighbourhood. Accordingly, in the small hours of the 6th, Major Sladen, with 400 Mounted Infantry of Colonel De Lisle's force, made his way to the laager. The movement was executed with the utmost secrecy, and before they knew of the coming of the troops the Boers in their slumbers found themselves surrounded. All that could get away bolted precipitately, but forty-five prisoners were secured. Then Major Sladen, after sending some forty of his party to communicate with Colonel De Lisle, took up a defensive position and awaited reinforcements. During the interval the fleeing Boers had a chance to draw breath; they calculated the smallness of the British party by which they had been attacked, and knew that, weighted with prisoners and waggons, it would be impossible for them to move on. They presently came on Fouché, who was marching in this direction with 500 men, and with him returned to the rescue of their comrades of the laager, and made a vigorous struggle to regain the convoy. The small and fatigued British party remained gallant as ever. Captain Finlay (Bedford Regiment) and Captain Langley (South African Bushmen) and their men met the attack with immense energy, but in the course of the action the Boers succeeded in getting away some of the waggons which were parked outside the position. [Illustration: COLONEL DE LISLE (Photo by J. Edwards, London)] They nevertheless (though egged on by De Wet and Delarey, who chanced to be on their way to the Transvaal) failed to make any impression on Major Sladen's superb defence, which was doggedly sustained till 3 P.M. By this time the first reinforcement from De Lisle's force was seen to be advancing, and the enemy in hot haste tore off, taking with them such waggons as they had secured. But they were swiftly pursued. Fighting recommenced with ferocity--hand-to-hand combats on all sides--and the waggons, all but two, were recaptured. Among the deeds of valour which were numerous on this memorable occasion, was the dashing exploit of young Ashburner, who, at the head of a few men, plunged into the thick of the fray, and at point of bayonet effected the recapture of the leading waggons. Poor Lieutenant Cameron of the Gordon Highlanders, who had many times before been notable for conspicuous gallantry, was killed. A gallant young officer, White of the Gordon Highlanders, escaped by a marvel. He was taken prisoner during the first fight, and stripped by the Boers; but when the second attack commenced he succeeded in escaping, and, further, managed to run six miles and bring up reinforcements. But such hard fighting was not carried on without heavy cost--that of 3 officers and 17 men killed, and 1 officer and 24 men wounded. The enemy lost 14 dead, 6 wounded, and 45 taken prisoners, in addition to a number of injured which were carried away in carts. The captures included 10,000 rounds of ammunition, 114 waggons and carts, 4000 cattle, and a quantity of foodstuffs. More captures were made later, near Lindley, and the force, heavily weighted, arrived at Kroonstad on the 14th and 15th of June. From thence, on the 22nd, they swept eastward, between Lindley and Senekal, towards the line of the Wilge River. On the 2nd of July, at Springfield Drift, some twenty miles north of Harrismith, they received supplies sent out by General Rundle. This officer was now preparing to co-operate with General Elliot, and to march north, on his right, through the country east of the Wilge River, while General Bullock should traverse the country from Standerton to Frankfort _viâ_ Villiersdorp, and thus serve as a stop for any Boers who might be swept that way. CHAPTER VII GENERAL BRUCE-HAMILTON'S OPERATIONS, ORANGE RIVER COLONY (SOUTH) General Bruce-Hamilton, as we know, succeeded General Lyttelton in his command on the 13th of April, and proceeded to spend the rest of the month in clearing the Orange River Colony, the Smithfield, Zastron, and Rouxville districts, on the east of the railway. Engaged in this work were Colonels Hickman, Monro, Maxwell, and White. Hearing that the enemy was massing in the hills round Philippolis, he directed Colonel W. Williams to move with three columns from the railway to the western border. From the 10th to the 19th of May was spent in marching through the Philippolis district, mopping up Boers, horses, and stock. Thirty-three prisoners were taken, including Commandant Bothma. About this date a brilliant little piece of work was performed by Major Gogarty and four squadrons of the South African Light Horse. A gang of raiders was known to be hovering in the region of Luckhoff, therefore this officer, with his dashing party, was ordered to surprise and, if possible, seize them. The affair was managed with consummate skill, the troops marching by night and surrounding the marauders. Of these, armed, they captured thirty-one, together with their horses. Colonel Byng now remained behind to hold Philippolis, while Colonel Williams returned to the railway at Prior Siding. At this time a new system of blockhouses was inaugurated for the defence of the railway, which had the effect of releasing for active operations some six thousand of the troops previously required to guard it. The whole of these blockhouses were constructed of wood and iron. The walls consisted of two skins of corrugated iron (six inches apart) filled with sharp sand. On the _complete_ filling of these skins the proof of the blockhouse against rifle fire entirely depended. The filling was done from the inside at the eaves and through holes in the sills of the loopholes, and was kept complete from time to time by order of the officer in charge by working new sand through the holes in the sill by means of a shovel and piece of wood. To prevent blockhouses from being seen through from one loophole to another, screens of blankets or sacking were suspended at right angles to each other crossing the centre of the blockhouse. A barbed wire spiderwebbing and fence surrounded the blockhouse, the entrance to which was firmly closed at night. A 200-gallon bullet-proof cased tank for water (rain water or that brought by water-carts) was kept outside the house, but on emergency water could be obtained by digging a few feet deep within the wired area round most of the houses. These preparations and precautions were none too many, as the Boers were constantly at mischief, and on the 18th they managed to derail a train at America Siding--an incident which cost the life of Major Heath (3rd Battalion South Lancashire Regiment). [Illustration: A TYPICAL BLOCKHOUSE] About the 19th of May, owing to the villainous activities of the guerillas in the north of Cape Colony, Colonel Monro moved to join the troops operating near Steynsburg, and subsequently Colonel Murray crossed into the Cape Colony. Colonel Maxwell (R.E.), to the deep regret of his colleagues and of all who knew of his distinguished services as leader of the Colonial Division under General Brabant, succumbed to the serious injuries received by being thrown from his horse. Early in June Colonel White proceeded to Aliwal North to act in combination with Colonel Haig, who was still chasing Kruitzinger. At this time, in accordance with General Bruce-Hamilton's plan of scouring the country towards Petrusburg, his force was split into seven small columns. More columns, co-operating, advanced from the line of Kaffir River, Jagersfontein Road, Luckhoff, and Koffyfontein, so as to converge on Petrusburg; while Colonel Henry's force co-operated through Wolvekop (near Luckhoff), and the Kimberley column moved near Koffyfontein. Another force, moving from Bloemfontein, operated westward from Kaffir River Station. To block retreat to the north, the South African Constabulary occupied posts along the line of country between Bloemfontein and Petrusburg; and higher up, the Modder River drifts, between Abraham's Kraal and Paardeberg, were guarded by General Knox's troops. The movement took from the 5th to the 8th of June, during which time many laagers were surprised (one by the Burgher Police under Lieutenant Bayley), and 268 prisoners with various stores and effects secured. These activities were followed by others of a similar nature against roving gangs--under the Commandants Brand, Kolbe, and Joubert--which infested the country east of the railway, between the Caledon River on the south, and the line Edenburg-Reddersburg-Dewetsdorp on the north. Fights and skirmishes and snipings continued almost daily, and the columns of Colonels Rochfort, White, and Du Moulin had no reason to complain of lack of excitement. On the west of the railway, Colonels Williams and Byng continued to sweep the districts of Fauresmith, Jacobsdal, and Philippolis. MAJOR-GENERAL C. KNOX, ORANGE RIVER COLONY (CENTRE) General Charles Knox, in accordance with the scheme of General Elliot's operations, remained in the Senekal district till the 10th of May, when he arrived on the railway. On the 13th his force was again on the move in the direction of Bothaville, in order to frustrate some parties of Boers who were seeking to evade the troops then operating near Klerksdorp, and to return to the Orange Colony. It was not long before the advance column under Colonel Pilcher came in touch with them. At a place called Allettasdraai, on the Valsch River, they were discovered, dealt with smartly and decisively, and driven south-west towards Zandspruit before Colonel Thorneycroft and his nimble band. After this period General Knox concentrated his force, and marched back to the railway with a view to acting in co-operation with General Bruce-Hamilton's enveloping movement before described. During this movement Colonel Pilcher was continually engaged with either Commandants Jacob or Erasmus, emerging from the various frays with waggons, stock, and prisoners. Colonel Henry, who moved his force from Jacobsdal to Christiana at the conclusion of General Bruce-Hamilton's operations, was now placed under General Knox's orders. Together with the Kimberley column he operated in the region between Bloemhof and Hoopstad, with the result that between the 2nd and 7th of July 52 prisoners, 50 horses, 64 vehicles, and over 7000 cattle were captured, 2 Boers were killed, and 55 surrendered. Colonel Pilcher from Boshof moved to Bultfontein on the 18th of June, Colonel Thorneycroft taking simultaneously the same direction. During the advance Colonel Pilcher came in for hot work. On the 19th, while watering his cattle, he was attacked by 400 Boers, who, under cover of the smoke of a veldt fire, attacked the rearguard. These retired in good order, firing by sections. They were then relieved by the Mounted Infantry, who sent the guerillas flying, leaving seven of their number behind. The next day from a small kopje the fugitives became aggressive, and were charged by a detachment of Yeomen, who routed them, but on the morrow they were again found in some strength near Badenhorst Farm. The East Yorkshire Mounted Infantry, therefore, charged their position and dispersed them. While Colonel Thorneycroft escorted prisoners and stock to Brandfort, Colonel Pilcher moved on in the direction of Hoopstad. Colonel Thorneycroft then searched the bed of the Vet River (west of Smaldeel), unearthing waggons and cattle which were hidden there. Towards the end of June the columns of both Pilcher and Thorneycroft were concentrated at Brandfort in order to recuperate before fresh undertakings in the easterly direction, which began on the 1st of July. CHAPTER VIII LORD METHUEN, TRANSVAAL (SOUTH-WEST) The Boers (who had been concentrating for a month at Hartebeestefontein), before the enveloping columns of Lord Methuen and General Mildmay Willson, now left their strong positions and scattered to the west. On the 8th of May some were brought to a stand at Leeuwfontein by General Babington with his smart New Zealanders, Bushmen, and Imperial Light Horse, while others were driven into General Dixon's net at Putfontein. Thus many captures were effected. Besides the fight of the 8th there was another near Korannafontein on the 10th with a detachment of Colonel Williams' force. Lord Methuen and Sir Henry Rawlinson, after chasing the enemy in the west, moved to Mafeking and Maribogo respectively. General Babington and Colonel Williams by a southerly route returned to Klerksdorp, and General Dixon on the 25th took up his old position at Naauwpoort (south of the Magaliesberg). Seventy prisoners, twenty-six surrenders, 102 vehicles, and much stock were the results of these combined operations. Attention next turned to Wolmaranstad, where Delarey was reported to be, and which place was now called by the Boers their capital. Rawlinson from the west, and Williams, accompanied by General Fetherstonhaugh (who had relieved General Babington) marched thither from Klerksdorp, while Lord Methuen guarded the exits towards the north. Colonel Rawlinson entered Wolmaranstad without opposition, joined hands with General Fetherstonhaugh, and proceeded towards Klerksdorp, after having marched (since the 6th of May) 387 miles. By way of interlude he captured a small laager near Cyferkuil, thus making his haul consist of 17 prisoners, 3000 head of cattle, 29,000 sheep, and 400 horses. Forty Boers and many families were also brought in. At the same time Lord Methuen, working from Korannafontein, chased a roving commando which was trekking towards Lichtenburg. The fruit of the united activity represented 56 prisoners, 40 horses, and over 100 vehicles, besides stock in abundance. An animated fight took place on the 23rd, over a convoy moving from Potchefstroom to Ventersdorp. The Potchefstroom convoy got as far as Witpoortje, where it was met by the Ventersdorp section. This section was about to leave Witpoortje on its way to Ventersdorp when it was attacked by 300 Boers, who fought the fight of the famished. Instantly the Potchefstroom section returned to the rescue, and reinforced the Ventersdorp force with fifty men of the Welsh Fusiliers and twenty of the Imperial Light Horse. The Boers driven off, the convoy then proceeded, but again at Rietfontein Drift the guerillas, some 400 of them under Liebenberg, made a desperate rush upon the coveted supplies, three waggons of which had broken down in the scrimmage. The escort were hard pressed--losing four men killed and two officers and thirty-one men wounded--but their endurance and gallantry stood every test. The garrison of Ventersdorp sent out fifty men to clear the front of the convoy, and finally brought it back in safety. At one time it seemed as though the convoy was lost, but it was recaptured by dint of hard fighting. Captain Purchas (2nd Battalion South Wales Borderers) especially distinguished himself, Captain Hay (Royal Welsh Fusiliers) was wounded, and Lieutenant Wells (Loyal North Lancashire Regiment), Lieutenant Bankes (Imperial Yeomanry), and Second-Lieutenant Smith (78th Battery R.F.A.), who were in the thick of the fray, had narrow escapes, owing to the prodigious energy with which they tackled the marauders. The work of clearing the right bank of the Vaal towards Klerksdorp was next undertaken by General Fetherstonhaugh and Colonel Williams. A successful action on the 24th against Van Rensburg's banditti enabled the force to march into Klerksdorp with twenty-four prisoners, 6200 rounds of ammunition, and thirty ox waggons. Thirty-five Burghers surrendered in course of the march. General Dixon, veering west from Naauwpoort, made a search for guns and ammunition, which had been buried in the neighbourhood. From his camp at Vlakfontein[3] he moved on the 29th of May to Waterval, where, on a farm, he found the spot where the guns had been buried. The weapons themselves had been removed. Near here ammunition was found, but it was too late in the day to attempt to unearth it. The enemy was hovering all round the region, and it was deemed advisable to return to camp before making a lunge at them. The camp in the absence of General Dixon was well guarded, and in a good defensible position, and there was no reason to believe that the hovering Boers could quickly mass in any large number. [Illustration: THE ENGAGEMENT AT VLAKFONTEIN: THE DERBYSHIRES RE-TAKING THE GUNS AT THE POINT OF THE BAYONET Drawing by R. Caton Woodville] As the centre (with which was General Dixon) was crossing the valley towards camp, the firing which had all day been going forward in the direction of the rearguard[4] became louder and louder. Then suddenly the hilly ground on which was the rearguard became apparently enveloped in fire, the veldt blazing and smoking, and seeming to impose a flaming curtain between one portion of the force and the other. The rolls of artillery now increased, and presently a messenger from Major Chance reported that he was hard pressed. The Boers, under cover of the smoke, had come up in great numbers, rushed upon and surrounded the guns, killing the gun teams and--after a desperate struggle--most of the section in charge. According to the much-contested statement of Reuter's Correspondent: "A lieutenant and a sergeant-major were made prisoners, and on their refusing to give information as to the working of the guns they were shot. Their gallant conduct undoubtedly saved many lives, for the enemy actually turned the guns on our troops, but the shells failed to explode, as the pins had not been withdrawn." This statement could not be corroborated, as those concerned were dead, but support for it is found in the assertion of a private, who stated: "They asked the officer in charge to surrender, but he replied, 'A British soldier does not know the meaning of surrender, and if you want guns you will need to shoot me and my gunners!' Thereupon the enemy shot the officer and gunners, and captured the two guns, and then turned them on us." At this juncture General Dixon, who had sent off Colonel Duff and his troops to the succour of Major Chance, and himself had been galloping across the valley to the scene of action, came to the rescue. On arrival at the west picket of the camp, he found the situation was critical in the extreme. The two guns and howitzer which had been with him were in action west of the picket, and these, together with the company of the Derbys which had been on picket and the details left in camp, were hotly engaged. Some of the enemy were within 800 yards of the picket, while others at 1600 yards range were shelling the British camp and guns. It now became evident that the guns of the rearguard were captured! Colonel Duff, advancing with two guns (8th Battery), 200 Scottish Horse, and two companies of the King's Own Borderers with a Maxim, now hastened across the valley, and a general advance was made. The Derbyshires were ordered to retake the guns, and this was brilliantly accomplished. By successive rushes they swept on and on, till the Boers, hearing the roar and seeing the red flash of bayonets in the firelight, took to their steeds, mounted and galloped off as hard as legs would carry them. The guns were recaptured, but the ground was littered with wounded and dead, some of whom had met their fate at the hands of the Boers after they were stricken helpless on the veldt. A trooper of the Imperial Yeomanry, writing of this, said: "It was an awful affair; I thought every one of us was going to get killed. There were dozens of poor fellows murdered after they were wounded. I expect the newspapers have told all about it. I hope, please God, I shall never see anything like this again. It was an awful sight. We had been on the trek all last month with General Dixon's column.... The night after the fight we had to saddle up in quick time and do a night flit, as the Boers were surrounding our camp. We got away quite safe without the Boers knowing it. We left all the tents standing, so as to make them believe we were still there, but we had to leave our wounded." General Dixon marched from Vlakfontein on the night of May 30 to Naauwpoort, leaving the hospital, which contained many serious cases, to be moved by daylight on May 31 along a good road leading to Krugersdorp. Several notable acts of gallantry were performed, among them that of Captain Field (Scottish Horse), who went back at the risk of his life to extricate two men who were unable to retire from the flames. It was a day of many heroes--McDougal, a noble fellow who gave his life; West, another splendid officer of Field Artillery; Captain Browne of the Border Regiment; young Manby, who charged with the dashing "Derbys"; and Willyams of the Imperial Yeomanry, who was among the missing--these are only some of the number who made themselves distinguished in this bloody hour. The officers killed besides Lieutenant McDougal (28th Battery R.F.A.) were Captain Armstrong, 7th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry, and Lieutenants Laing, Noke, Campbell, Campion (Imperial Yeomanry). Among the wounded were Captain Sadler, Lieutenants Gibson, Armstrong, Rimington (Derbyshire Regiment), Surgeon-Captain Welford, and Lieutenant Hern (Imperial Yeomanry). Of the men, forty-four were killed and seventeen succumbed to their injuries. The total wounded was 115. A trooper wrote the following description of the day's fighting: "About midday the Boers fired the veldt, and we were stationed just in front and could not see. Suddenly the enemy rushed through, after giving us a volley. Dozens of our men and horses went down, and I had the worst two hours of my life. Just as we had the order to retire a chap close to me was thrown from his horse. I caught the animal with the intention of taking it back to the owner, but a bullet passed through my coat and grazed my horse, making the animal turn sharply, with the result that the other horse pulled me clean out of the saddle and knocked the wind out of me. I lay there with our men being shot down by dozens. The sights I saw were beyond description. Boers shot our fellows down in cold blood. Dozens of them were simply murdered. They threw down their arms, and the Boers walked up to them and shot them in cold blood. I lay for some time as if dead, but eventually I joined some foot soldiers and we captured our guns again. An awful thing was that many wounded were burned to death in the veldt fire. The devils used explosive bullets, and some of the wounds were dreadful." One of the Scottish Horse said: "We rushed up the ridge and shot down any one who came in front of us, and managed to recapture the guns. It was a most bloodthirsty and murderous battle. The enemy were not content with wounding our men, but they started shooting and clubbing our wounded." On this subject Lieutenant Duff (Imperial Yeomanry) collected the evidence of various officers and privates of the Yeomanry and the Derbyshire Regiment, who were eye-witnesses to the acts of atrocity committed by the Boers. He provided Lord Kitchener with the following information. The day after the fight at Vlakfontein, on May 29, he was conversing with Lieutenant Hern, also of the Imperial Yeomanry, who had been badly wounded in that engagement and has since been invalided home to England. Lieutenant Hern told him that while he was lying wounded on the ground he noticed about twenty yards from him Lieutenant Spring and Sergeant Findlay, both of the Imperial Yeomanry. They were both slightly wounded, and were binding up each other's wounds, when a young Boer, wearing a pink puggaree round his hat, came close up to them and shot them both dead. This Lieutenant Hern saw himself. He lay quite still, and the Boers, thinking him dead, contented themselves with taking his spurs and leggings. Lieutenant Hern also said that the same day others of our wounded were deliberately shot by the Boers. The enemy, numbering 1500, were under the command of General Kemp. * * * * * On receipt of the news of this engagement General Fetherstonhaugh, with the columns under Colonels Sir H. Rawlinson, Williams, and Hickie, hurriedly pushed north from Klerksdorp so as to deal with Commandant Kemp's barbarians, while General Gilbert Hamilton's force moved by rail from Greylingstad to Krugersdorp, and General Methuen marched from the neighbourhood of Zeerust towards Doornkop. But on the approach of the troops the Boers began flying westward. Subsequently it was reported that Kemp and Beyers intended to join hands in the Waterberg district, consequently General Dixon proceeded through Olifants Nek to block the passes north of Rustenburg, while General Fetherstonhaugh continued to scour the rugged region west of the Magaliesberg. Near Roodeval on the 9th of June he caught them, seized seventeen prisoners, thirty-three waggons and a quantity of ammunition, and sent the rest scudding northwards. Still scouring the country he dispersed Boers right and left, and finally returned to Klerksdorp with Colonels Rawlinson and Hickie, while Colonel Williams was directed to Krugersdorp to refit. Curiously enough, in the course of these operations over country which had for some months been unexplored by the British, Boers in certain regions were discovered peacefully ploughing and sowing on their farms. They effected to believe the war had ended in their favour, but made no demur on being invited to surrender. Reuter's Correspondent gave the following sample of a conversation which ensued when the Magistrate announced his intention of administering the oath of allegiance to Burghers of the conquered territories desirous of taking it. Does taking the oath render military service against our own people compulsory?--No; but British subjects are expected to defend their town in case of attack. What difference is there between the oath of neutrality and the oath of allegiance?--The first effaces a man's nationality; the second renders him a British subject. Will the oath prejudice any claim against Great Britain?--No. Will the oath confer the full rights of a British subject?--Yes. (Here the Boer could study the policy of the British _versus_ that of the late South African Government. Political equality on the one side, and long years of apprenticeship as subject of the Republic on the other!) The next question was:-- Will those taking the oath now have any advantages over those taking it later?--No. If a Burgher takes the oath now, and his property outside is destroyed by the enemy, will he receive any compensation?--Great Britain repudiates legal liability, but invites claims, which will be brought before a commission. To resume. Colonel Allenby and General G. Hamilton had meanwhile been clearing the Hekpoort Valley and Breedts Nek in the Magaliesberg. That work successfully accomplished, they moved _viâ_ Tafel Kop and Ventersdorp to Klerksdorp. The rest of June was spent in operations against Kemp's guerillas in this region, and the month ended with the breaking up of a commando which had gathered in the Hartebeestefontein Hills. Lord Methuen, after the dispersal of the enemy, employed his troops in escorting convoys to Zeerust.[5] Early in July he attacked, on the north-east of Zeerust, a gang of Boers, with stock and waggons, captured forty-three prisoners, thirty-seven rifles, and forty-six waggons. His casualties were two wounded. The Boers lost three killed, while three surrendered. [Illustration: A NON-COMBATANT HERO--AN ARMY DOCTOR AT WORK IN THE FIRING LINE.] At this time, 7th July, Colonel Allenby was moved to the north of Krugersdorp for the purpose of sweeping, in co-operation with General Barton and Major C. Williams, the line of Crocodile River, which was harassed by Boers, who were doing their best to oppose the establishment of posts which were to be occupied by the South African Constabulary. FOOTNOTES: [3] For composition of force see beginning of volume. [4] Two guns 28th Battery, one pom-pom, 230 Imperial Yeomanry, one Company Derby Regiment 100 strong, under Major Chance, R.A. [5] The siege ended about the 22nd of May, when Lord Methuen arrived with a large convoy and dispersed the Boers from the neighbourhood. As an instance of the change which was taking place may be quoted the resolutions passed by some ex-Burghers in regard to the attitude of the leaders of the Bond and of the Dutch Reformed Church towards the peace delegates. "Considering the magnitude of the suffering which has already occurred from the war, the fearful loss of life and treasure, the thousands of prisoners in exile in other lands or in bondage in South Africa, and the multitude of refugees, both British and Boer, whose homes have been broken up and who are surely being reduced to penury, and considering further the loss and ruin in ever-increasing measure falling on the country, this meeting thanks the Peace Committee for its benevolent efforts, and trusts that it will endeavour to continue them, expressing at the same time its deep regret and indignation at the attitude of Messrs. Andrew Murray, Theron, Sauer, and Merriman towards the peace envoys and the future of the war. Their conduct must tend powerfully in the direction of further bloodshed and increasing misery, and this meeting urges the military necessity of absolutely suppressing all sedition by all the force which martial law affords, and of using the utmost firmness to end this long protracted war, believing that peace alone can bring true prosperity." CHAPTER IX OPERATIONS BETWEEN THE DELAGOA AND NATAL LINES General Bullock, early in May, engaged in the task of chasing Boers who had been dispersed by the operations of General Blood. Round Ermelo and Bethel the scattered commandos of Botha attempted to collect, but General Bullock, advancing through Amersfoort, attacked and drove them from Ermelo on the 9th of May. At this time General Blood's columns under General W. Kitchener and Colonel W. Pulteney were approaching Ermelo from the north, therefore General Bullock disposed his troops along the line Ermelo-Lake Chrissie, closed the road leading north-east, and connected his right with General Blood's force. Simultaneously Colonel Rimington marched to join hands with General Plumer, who was approaching Bethel from the west. General Plumer, who had left Silverton, near Pretoria, on the 14th of May, to work in conjunction with Colonel Allenby (from Whitbank) and Colonel E. Knox (from Greylingstad) against Boer laagers near the source of the Wilge River, joined hands with both the above-named officers at Krondraai, on the 16th and 17th of May. At the rumour of British approach, the Boer laagers at once broke up, their occupants dispersing towards south and east. Colonel Allenby, on his way to Springs, encountered the Boer rabble near Leeuwkop, and drove them south-east, while General Plumer and Colonel E. Knox proceeded to join Colonel Rimington at Bethel. Considerable opposition was met with _en route_, but large numbers of prisoners were taken, together with a goodly amount of stock, and gradually the Boers, who had made this district a centre for their operations, found themselves empty and shelterless. General Plumer now extended the three columns at his disposal on the line Bethel-Middelplaats, for the purpose of sweeping the country down to the Vaal, and clearing the region between Leeuwspruit and Kaffir Spruit. The Boers at this period managed to collect in sufficient quantity to make a violent lunge at a convoy proceeding between Whitbank and Mooifontein, on its way to Standerton. The escort under Colonel Gallway, consisting of detachments of Somerset and Munster Fusiliers, 10th Hussars, and Queenslanders, suddenly found themselves attacked by 400 desperadoes, who made violent rushes to get to close quarters. The resistance of the British band was fierce as it was valiant, and, after a running fight lasting six hours, the Boers were routed, with a loss to them of six killed and thirty wounded. One British officer lost his life, and one was wounded. Five men were killed and twenty-four wounded. [Illustration: MAP ILLUSTRATING THE OPERATIONS BETWEEN DELAGOA BAY AND NATAL LINES, MAY AND JUNE, 1901] General Plumer and Colonel Knox halted near Standerton, and Colonel Rimington at Platrand, their columns, since leaving Bethel, having secured 37 prisoners and 650 horses. General Bullock, who on the 25th of May was joined by Colonel Grey (from Standerton), now commenced a series of night raids on various farmhouses along the banks of the Vaal, south-east of Ermelo--excursions which were full of dash and daring, and resulted in the capture of many armed burghers. June found both columns at Standerton. Five days later Colonel Grey started on an adventurous hunt for a Boer gun, said to be with a commando at Kaffir Spruit. On the 11th the force surprised a Boer laager at Rietvlei, and after a vigorous fight nine prisoners were secured. One Boer was killed and two wounded. Colonel Grey, having thoroughly searched the district between Ermelo and Bethel without finding a trace of the required gun, returned to Standerton. From the 10th of June to the 4th of July, General Bullock continued his clearance of the country, dispersing Boer gangs east of Elandsberg down to the valley of the Assegai River. He was then called in to the railway and returned to Standerton. BRIGADIER-GENERAL PLUMER IN THE EASTERN TRANSVAAL General Plumer, as soon as he had refitted his troops at Standerton, was again off to engage in further sweeping operations against Boer knots in the region between Amersfoort and Piet Retief. General Plumer, with Colonel Rimington on his right flank and Colonel Knox on his left, advanced on the 1st of June on the line Platrand-Springbokfontein-Uitkyk. By the 8th, all three columns had reached the line Driefontein-Breda-Waterval Drift, and thus, on the following day, the columns of Plumer (centre) and Knox (left) were able to swoop from the north upon Piet Retief, while that of Rimington (right), making a night détour, wheeled round the south of the town and blocked all southerly exits therefrom. But, warily, the Boers had made off, and the place was deserted. Colonel Rimington, however, contrived to cut off a Boer convoy which was hastily lumbering along towards the Vryheid Road, accompanied by the escaping Landdrost of Piet Retief and William Emmett, who were forthwith taken prisoners together with twenty-eight more of their compatriots. Twelve waggons and 100 horses were also secured. Colonel Rimington then stationed himself south-east of the difficult peaks of the Slangapiesberg, while they were traversed by Colonel Plumer's troops, who, having moved from Piet Retief towards Wakkerstroom to meet a convoy, were now proceeding over the dangerous heights. The whole force having cleared "as far as practicable" this gibbose and frowning region, moved to Paul Pietersburg, which was also found deserted. Near Elandsberg Nek, however, Colonel Gallway, with some 300 Bushmen, two companies of Munster Fusiliers, and some Sharpshooters, with two guns of Q Battery, were assailed by 300 Boers, who were strongly entrenched there. The enemy were speedily dispersed, but Lieutenant Rudkin, R.H.A., was wounded in both knees, and narrowly escaped death, as a Boer bullet passed through the litter while the wounded man was being carried from the field of action. The columns finally converged on Utrecht. The prize of their labours after leaving Piet Retief amounted to 21 prisoners, 232 horses, and 100 waggons. Twenty-six Burghers surrendered. [Illustration: BRIGADIER-GENERAL THE EARL OF ERROLL. Photo Elliott & Fry, London.] Action was now taken by Colonels Rimington and Wing against the enemy to north of Utrecht, in the valley of the Pongola River. Colonel Rimington, on the night of the 26th of June, marched towards Tiverton, while Colonel Wing made a détour over the Elandsberg Pass to Schuilhoek. There, the latter attacked the wandering hordes, driving them before him up the valley, where they soon found themselves unpleasantly warmed and welcomed by Colonel Rimington's guns, which took them in the rear. Away they went helter-skelter, leaving behind them nine vehicles, 6500 rounds of ammunition, horses and cattle in plenty, and six dead Boers. Three were captured. Colonel Rimington, after immense activity around Wakkerstroom, returned independently to Platrand, while General Plumer and Colonel Knox from Utrecht marched towards Amsterdam and Carolina, reaching Bothwell, near Lake Chrissie, on the 7th of July. In the meantime, on June 20, the Boers published the following notice, dated Waterval, Standerton District, signed S. Burger and Steyn, which showed they were still truculent:-- "As his Honour the State President Kruger and the Deputation in Europe have not heard anything direct from our Government since the conference between Commandant-General Botha and Lord Kitchener at Middelburg, and as the Government of the South African Republic deemed it advisable that they should be acquainted with the state of affairs here, therefore, at request of the Commandant-General, and with the kind compliance [?] of Lord Kitchener, a private telegram was sent to them, in which the entire state of affairs was fully described and intentionally put in the worst light, for the means of making the advice of his Honour and the Deputation the more weighty. On this his Honour informed us that he and the Deputation have still great hopes of a satisfactory end of the long struggle, that after material and personal sacrifice we should continue the struggle, and that on their part all steps are already taken and will still be taken for proper provision for the captive women and children and prisoners of war. For discussing and considering this answer of his Honour a conference of the Governments of both Republics was arranged, at which were present Chief Commandant C. R. de Wet, Commandant-General L. Botha, and Assistant-Commandant J. H. Delarey. After a full revision of the condition of military affairs represented by these chief officers, and thorough discussion of our whole cause by both Governments, the following resolution was taken by both Governments, with the advice of the said chief officers:-- "The Governments of the South African Republic and Orange Free State, with the advice of the said chief officers, and taking into consideration the satisfactory report of his Honour State President Kruger and the Deputation in the foreign country, and considering the good progress of our cause in the Colonies, where our brothers oppose the cruel injustice done to the Republics more and more in depriving them of their independence, considering further the invaluable personal and material sacrifices they have made for our cause, which would all be worthless and vain with a peace whereby the independence of the Republics is given up, and further considering the certainty that the losing of our independence after the destruction already done and losses suffered will drag with it the national and material annihilation [?] of the entire people, and especially considering the spirit of unbending persistence with which the great majority of our men, women, and children are still possessed, and in which we see with thankful acknowledgment the hand of the Almighty Protector, resolve that no peace will be made and no peace conditions accepted by which our independence and national existence, or the interests of our colonial brothers, shall be the price paid, and that the war will be vigorously prosecuted by taking all measures necessary for maintenance of independence and interests." MAJOR-GENERAL BEATSON'S OPERATIONS While General Plumer was at Bethel, General Beatson, who had been watching the Middelburg-Bronkers Spruit line, moved to Brugspruit. He then (with Colonel Allenby's column from Springs) marched south, on the 25th of May, towards the junction of Olifants River and Steenkool Spruit in order to catch such Boers as had escaped General Plumer. (Major Garratt, with a few of Allenby's men, during the advance from Springs, made good use of his time, and secured, besides rifles and ammunition, eight prisoners and waggons, a Colt gun, and forty mules.) General Beatson, on the right bank of Olifants River, soon came in contact with Trichard's commando, which was strongly entrenched on Vaalkrans. The Boers were hard pressed, and had to run for it, leaving behind them, as usual, waggons and stock. After this Allenby's column, temporarily commanded by Colonel Hippisley, searched the region of Brugspruit, found no signs of the foe, and consequently returned _viâ_ Wilge River Station to Pretoria. General Beatson continued his operations in the direction of Bethel. A small force of the enemy was reported to be at Boschmansfontein, consequently the General, then encamped at Van Dycks Drift, detached a force to deal with them. Major Morris, with four companies of Victorian Mounted Rifles and two pom-poms, marched towards the laager and found it deserted. On the 12th of June he was instructed to combine with the General in an attack on the marauders to be made on the 13th at Elandsfontein. Therefore the detachment the night before bivouacked at Wilmansrust. No sooner had darkness fallen than the enemy, evading the outposts, crept up to the bivouac, and within very short range poured a deadly fire in on the astonished force. A scene of turmoil followed. Rifles blazed, horses stampeded, and soon the guerillas had rushed the camp and captured the pom-poms. The struggle was desperate, and two officers and sixteen men were slain, four officers and thirty-eight men wounded, while many men were made prisoners. Only two officers and fifty men escaped to General Beatson's camp, though such as had been made prisoners were afterwards released. Promptly to the rescue rushed the General, leaving his baggage under guard of his infantry, but though he arrived soon after daybreak on the 13th, the desperadoes had made off, and not a vestige of them was to be seen. He therefore concentrated his force at Koornfontein. The column later, sweeping east, came in touch with General Blood's force north of Ermelo on the 19th, and from thence proceeded, clearing the ground as they went, to Middelburg to refit. The total result of the operations were, 16 Boers killed and wounded; prisoners, 23; rifles, 160; ammunition, 10,850 rounds; 58 vehicles, and some stock. LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR BINDON BLOOD. EASTERN TRANSVAAL In the middle of May General Bullock, as we are aware, was holding a line from Lake Chrissie southwards. To co-operate with him came General Blood on the conclusion of his operations north of the Delagoa line. By the 17th of May the columns of General W. Kitchener and Colonel Pulteney were in touch with General Bullock near Ermelo, and General Blood occupied Carolina with his cavalry. Finding the enemy had scampered, operations were set on foot to clear the country towards the East. Colonel Benson, marching south from Belfast, crossed the Komati Valley, while Colonel Douglas, moving from Machadodorp, _viâ_ Uitkomst, operated between Komati River and the railway. To stop the guerillas from fleeing north, and also to check them attempting to fly south from the column of Colonel Park (which was scouring from Lydenburg and the difficult ruggedness of the Mauchberg towards Nelspruit), General Spens kept a watchful eye at Nelspruit. General Blood at this time had accounted for four Boers killed, eighteen captured, and nine burghers surrendered, and the number was greatly augmented by the combined movement which followed. General Spens then proceeded (on the 10th of June) to operate in the mountainous districts surrounding Machadodorp, Lydenburg, and Nelspruit. He and Colonel Park swept north-west of Nelspruit, while Colonels Benson and Douglas cleared the country north-east from Machadodorp. The reward of the combined efforts, which were quite herculean in view of the region traversed, was 17 Boers killed, 48 prisoners captured, 107 rifles, 38,700 rounds of ammunition, 266 vehicles. Large quantities of stock were seized. In consequence of the attack before mentioned on Major Morris and the Victorians at Wilmansrust on the 12th, General Blood moved west from Carolina with all available troops. He formed two columns, composed of General Babington's cavalry and the 1st King's Royal Rifles under Colonel Campbell, and directed General W. Kitchener and Colonel Pulteney, who by this time were at Amsterdam, to follow in all haste. General Blood made his headquarters a few miles north of Ermelo, and established signalling communication with General W. Kitchener and General Beatson. On the 19th of June General Beatson reached headquarters, and the column, accompanied by General Blood, from thence proceeded to Middelburg (which was reached on the 25th) to be reorganised. Meanwhile the column of Colonel Pulteney went to Carolina to draw supplies, following afterwards in the wake of General Babington, Colonel Campbell, and General W. Kitchener, who were moving west to the line Middelkraal-Uitgedacht, north of Bethel. These columns were soon joined by General Blood with a convoy. On the 31st the troops moved from Middelkraal towards Springs in the following positions: Campbell on the right marched on Kleinkoppie, Babington on Roodepoort, and Kitchener on Grootpan. The last officer on the 3rd of July opened up communication with the columns of Colville and Garratt (the last had relieved Colonel Grey), which were moving up from Standerton and Greylingstad respectively. Vigorous measures were being taken to prevent Viljoen and other Boer leaders from escaping to the east. The dispersed hordes were collecting in their numbers near Middelburg, and to be beforehand with them Colonel Benson hurried from Machadodorp to Dullstroom, Colonel Park from Lydenburg turned westwards so as to hem in the enemy from the north, while General Spens' column hovered at Wonderfontein ready to pounce as circumstances might suggest. [Illustration: THE MISHAP TO THE VICTORIANS AT WILMANSRUST, JUNE 12, 1901 Drawing by R. Caton Woodville] On the north-west of Machadodorp Colonel Benson soon came in touch with the foe; caught him at Vlakfontein, twelve miles out, handled him vigorously, and killed six of his band. One prisoner was taken. The British lost three men, and eight wounded. This was on the 3rd of July. On the 7th Viljoen, with the Johannesburg and Middelburg commandos, again attacked the column at Dullstroom, but got the worst of it, and had to flee, followed up hill and down dale, through ravine and bush, by the dashing little force. General Spens from Wonderfontein now took up the chase, but Viljoen, intimately acquainted with the country, contrived to become as slippery an eel as De Wet, and to make off on the now proverbial Boer principle of those who fight and run away live to fight another day. ACTIVITIES AROUND STANDERTON AND HEIDELBERG May in the district between Standerton and Ermelo was opened by a smart affair which resulted in the capture of eight prisoners, a Maxim Nordenfeldt machine gun, fifteen rifles, twelve waggons, and fifteen horses. The force under General Clements had for some little time been engaged in Boer-hunting in the region north-east of Standerton on the right bank of the Vaal. On the 4th May a laager was located, and while troops detached from Standerton and Platrand blocked the roads leading south from the river, Colonel Colville with his column made a night march towards it, along the Standerton-Ermelo road. The surprise was complete, and the Boers opened their eyes to dawn and desperation at one and the same moment. Those who were sufficiently nimble scattered to the four winds, the remainder were seized. Pursuit was impossible, owing to the already fatigued state of Colonel Colville's men. This column, which was composed of 2nd Division Mounted Infantry, 2nd Johannesburg Mounted Rifles, 63rd Battery R.F.A. (4 guns), "O" Section pom-poms, 2nd East Surrey, 1st Auxiliary Company A.S.C., 2nd Brigade Field Hospital, and 2nd Brigade Bearer Company, was now strengthened by four squadrons of regular cavalry. Colonel Colville, commanding this entire force, then spent the remainder of May in operations in conjunction with General Elliot, who was moving through Vrede to the Natal Border. Colonel Colville's route lay from De Lange's Drift up the right bank of the Klip River through the Verzammelberg. On nearing the junction of the Klip and Ganzvlei, Colonel Colville crossed into Orange River Colony, fought more Boers, captured more stock, and after having made an enormous haul, retraced his steps to his starting-point, De Lange's Drift. The early part of June was spent in sweeping down the right bank of the Vaal towards Villiersdorp, clearing farms and denuding the district of supplies. On the 22nd Colonel Colville marched north from Val Station to act on the left flank of Colonel Grey's column, which was operating against the enemy between Standerton and the west of Bethel. Towards Watervalshoek the two forces converged, and from here, on the 25th, Colonel Grey's Queenslanders and New Zealanders drove off some 400 of the enemy. After this dashing exploit Colonel Grey moved to Greylingstad to fill up with supplies, and Colonel Garratt (as has been said in the narrative of General Blood's movements) took over command from Colonel Grey. Colonel Colville remained near the scene of the fight, so as to connect with General Blood's columns which were due from the north-east. Colonel Garratt, keeping west of Colonel Colville, and in communication with him, moved north viâ Boschmankop to Springs. Colonel Colville at Watervalshoek got in touch with General W. Kitchener, who, as we know, reached Grootpan on the 3rd of July. CHAPTER X LIEUTENANT-COLONEL GRENFELL'S OPERATIONS--TRANSVAAL, N. While Colonel Grenfell was occupying Pietersburg at the extreme limit of the northern line, news came in that small hordes of Boers were moving in the Zoutpansberg district. It was decided to head off this northern trek, consequently Colonel Grenfell with 600 of Kitchener's Fighting Scouts, 12th Battalion Mounted Infantry, two guns and four companies of the 2nd Battalion Wiltshire Regiment, made an expedition into the bush veldt to the north of him. His destination was a small township called Louis Trichard, some hundred miles off. Here Colonel Colenbrander, commanding the advance force (Kitchener's Fighting Scouts), arrived on the 9th of May. From this time, after disarming the Boers in the town and clearing the surrounding country, Colonel Grenfell was engaged in the pursuit of marauders who were pushing east towards the Portuguese frontier. Yzerberg was reached on the 17th. On the 19th the dashing Scouts, who had continued their way successfully, skirmishing with and dispersing Boers, performed a feat more smart even than was their wont. Colonel Colenbrander, hearing that a laager was comfortably ensconced at Klip Spruit, planned a midnight excursion to the locality, and surprised Field-Cornet Venter and seventy-two burghers who imagined they were sleeping the sleep of the just. Before they could awake from their delusion their persons, waggons, rifles, and ammunition were at the mercy of the adventurous British scouts. This same party on the 21st seized on a smaller laager and swelled their number of captured vehicles. On the 23rd, at the request of Commandant Van Rensburg and Field-Cornet Du Preeze, Colonel Grenfell met them, accepted their surrender, and that of some 1500 of their followers, and in a short time marched them back to Pietersburg. With them came seventy waggons and quantities of forage and ammunition and stock. This was a highly satisfactory and pacific termination to the operations in this quarter, and Colonel Colenbrander was now able to turn his attention to roving gangs which were hiding in the direction of Buffels. Several of these groups were encountered, and in various skirmishes seven Boers were disposed of and a Maxim gun captured. Major Knott, with a detachment of the Scouts, pursued and fell upon a commando under Barend Viljoen, made seventy-nine prisoners, and secured 13,000 rounds of ammunition. Thus the work of pacification in northern districts was progressing favourably, and the Boers in the vicinity were learning that resistance was useless. The grand total results of the Zoutpansberg excursion included 9 Boers killed, 150 prisoners, many hundred voluntary surrenders, 550 rifles, 200,000 rounds of ammunition, a Maxim gun, which had belonged to the Jameson raiders, 175 waggons, and much stock. While these activities had been going forward, General Beyers, who had watched Colonel Grenfell's departure for Louis Trichard, decided that "while the cat was away the mice could play." He accordingly collected his playful burghers for purposes of mischief around the Pietersburg line. To frustrate him, Colonel Wilson, commanding the 2nd Kitchener's Scouts, with two guns and two companies of the 2nd Battalion Gordon Highlanders, concentrated at Naboom Spruit, while from Pretoria Major M'Micking, with 400 Mounted Infantry and two guns, was moved to Nylstroom. The combined operations began on the 19th of May over terrible country, which in some places was without roads and in others was seamed with ruts, obstacles, and bush. The Boers, however, were overtaken some twenty miles north-west of Nylstroom by Colonel Wilson, who succeeded in capturing Field-Cornet Oosthuisen and 79 burghers, 100 rifles, 33,500 rounds of ammunition, 66 waggons, a quantity of dynamite, and a vast amount of cattle. [Illustration: COLONEL COLENBRANDER] Certain remnants of the Dutch gangs continued to hang about, but these were promptly pursued to westward, and caught on the 21st. While Major M'Micking's force demonstrated in front of the Boer position, that of Colonel Wilson made an ingenious détour and caught the enemy napping. The Dutchmen, however, made a stubborn effort at combat; but finally, when Kitchener's Scouts pressed home the attack, they broke and fled, leaving 18 prisoners, 48 rifles, 9000 rounds of ammunition, and 44 waggons as trophies of the fight. So much for the month of May. June began auspiciously, for a detachment of the Scouts, moving from Warm Baths towards Rooiberg, caught and sharply handled some 500 Boers under Nys and Pretorius, and pressed them into the arms of Colonel Wilson, who on the following day polished them off. There was a good deal of resistance and some warm fighting creditable to both parties, but in the end 40 prisoners were captured, 70 rifles, 48 waggons, 8000 cattle, and ammunition in plenty. Thus the enemy was gradually becoming bereft of transport and supplies, their capacity for conflict becoming weaker day by day. Still Colonel Wilson and Major M'Micking relaxed not an iota of their activity and vigilance, and spent the remainder of June in scouring here and hunting there, and protecting the Pietersburg line from any forces which might congregate in the west. Meanwhile arrangements were made to collect an additional force (Colonel Grenfell's) at Potgieter's Rust, so that a combined attack on General Beyers' commando in the Zand River Valley might be begun. On the 21st of June these arrangements were complete. Colonel Grenfell marched south-west from Potgieter's Rust, menacing the enemy's rear, while Major M'Micking proceeded direct from Nylstroom. But owing to the terribly complicated nature of the country which had to be traversed by Colonel Grenfell's force, Beyers' bandits were able hurriedly to scuttle to cover in the north-west. Colonel Grenfell, making Zandriverspoort into his advanced base, then proceeded to sweep the surrounding country with his troops. These, after numerous skirmishes and surprises, made a magnificent march of forty miles, "rushed" a Boer laager at Hopewell (at dawn on the 1st of July), and secured nearly 100 prisoners, besides 2000 cattle, 2000 rounds of ammunition, and 100 horses! SITUATION AND SKIRMISHES IN CAPE COLONY The exciting series of chases between rushing Boer gangs, followed or headed by small British columns, continued with undiminished animation. The Boer leaders still in the field (if field it can be called, while burrow would be the more appropriate term) were Scheepers, Malan, Fouché, Kruitzinger, Lotter, Myburg, Smits, Van Reenan, Lategan (a Colesberg rebel), Maritz, and Conroy. Each of these was engaged in independent freebooting excursions--the total number of their followers being now about 1200. They were unharassed by a fixed base of operations, and lived from hand to mouth on such prizes as they could secure, or such hospitality as they could receive from sympathetic "loyalists." Early in May Colonel Henniker attacked Scheepers, and drove him north from Daggaboers Nek with considerable loss. The remnant, however, broke back and hid in kloofs and ravines in the difficult region around the Koetzeesberg. From their burrows they were eventually dislodged, only to collect again on the 25th of May in the Camdeboo Mountains, situated to west of Graf Reinet. Though their number was materially thinned in course of their hair-breadth escapes from Henniker's pursuing Victorians, they were soon refreshed with new blood, some seventy raiders (Commandantless, owing to the death of Swanepool) having flocked to Scheeper's banner. These now secreted themselves, offering very little fight, and remaining cabined in their warrens, choosing a policy of mischief rather than one of open aggression. Meanwhile Colonel Scobell was tackling Malan and his followers, who had remained to impede traffic west of Cradock. These made themselves perpetually offensive, and, on the 2nd of May, coming on Lieutenant Matthews and twelve men of the Diamond Fields Horse, they attacked, and after having shot down their horses, captured nearly all the party. Colonel Scobell came quickly to their rescue, and eventually effected their release. So ingeniously had this officer applied himself to the raider's tactics that he now succeeded in giving the wily ones a surprise. On the night of the 19th he marched in the direction of their laager, and before dawn captured it, killing four marauders, and capturing the horses of forty--while those who escaped did so on shanks' pony, or rode barebacked. Malan himself fled to the west and amused himself for the rest of the month in evading the chasing columns of Major Mullins and Captain Lund. By the 25th of June he had gathered to himself a sufficient commando to make it possible to attack Richmond, but he met with stout resistance, and the next day, on the approach of Captain Lund's column, was glad to make himself scarce. On the 27th Major Mullins, with some of Brabant's Horse, caught Malan's commando between Cradock and Maraisburg, and succeeded in wounding one of the leaders (Lieutenant Cloete) who was carried into hospital at Cradock. Colonel Haig at this time was busily engaged in directing operations against Kruitzinger, Lotter, and Fouché, whose forces were now swelled by some 500 Dutchmen who had been collected by Kruitzinger during a hurried rush into the Orange Colony. They occupied the neighbourhood north of Steynsburg, and so as to enmesh them, if possible, Colonel Haig arranged a converging movement of Cape Mounted Rifles, and the columns under Colonels Munro, Gorringe, Crabbe, Scobell, and Murray. But the raiders were too wily to show fight. They slowly dribbled away in the surrounding country, most of them making towards Maraisburg. But they were promptly headed off by the British troops, and took refuge in the Bamboes Mountains, where--as a trooper expressed it--they "lay doggo," hoping to live by looting and to wear out the vigilance of their pursuers. In June, Kruitzinger, Lotter, Myburg, and Fouché succeeded in dashing across the Molteno railway, and moving eastward from Cyphergat. Van Reenan broke north-west into the Steynsburg district. The main body was followed by the British troops, but they were not in time to save the strongly entrenched village of Jamestown, which was captured on the 2nd of June. This _contretemps_ to ourselves was of splendid value to the enemy, for, in addition to much-needed horses to the tune of 150, and ammunition in quantities, they secured food and clothing at a time when they were internally and externally bare, owing to the effective sweeping operations which had denuded the country. To pit against the Boer score came a signal success on the part of Captain Lukin, who, with the brilliant Cape Mounted Rifles, had been indefatigable in the work of pursuit, surprise, and skirmish, that filled day and night during Colonel Scobell's operations. On the evening of the 5th, Colonel Scobell's force (9th Lancers and C.M.R. with three guns) moved out from Roodenek for the purpose of hunting out a laager which was known to be somewhere in the vicinity. With numbed fingers and quaking frames--the thermometer stood below freezing-point--these gallant troopers marched and clambered. Over rugged roads and precipitous paths they went for miles and miles--on foot mainly, in order to keep themselves warm--hunting and exploring around the north-west of Barkly East, and ascending at last a mountain so high that it seemed impossible to get the guns up. Then, near the summit came the split and spurt of rifles, and the advance party knew that the object was attained, the lair of the marauders was discovered. The shots came from the picket, who, having made their protest, fled. Now came the search for the laager itself, but whether it was in the valley some 400 feet below, or whether close at hand, it was impossible to say. A squadron of Cape Mounted Rifles, under Captain Lukin, wheeled to the right, one under Captain Purcell moved to the left. In the light of the moon, brilliant, but casting deep shadows, it was impossible to detect any movement. But the shuffle of hoofs could be heard in the valley. On went the C.M.R., Captain Lukin ahead of them, when suddenly this officer found himself in the thick of a volley. The enemy, alarmed by the picket, had upsaddled and were alert. But the heroes of Wepener were "all there," as the saying is. A shout from their commanding officer was enough, and with a rush as of the wind, the C.M.R. (Captain Goldsworthy's squadron) had galloped on the foe. The Boers were off. Blankets, baggage, rifles, clothing (much of the spoil captured from Jamestown), horses, ammunition, all were left. Three wounded rebels fell into our hands, and fourteen other Dutchmen. The enemy, from a distant hill, again endeavoured to show fight, but their fire was eventually silenced by a few shells, and the Boers in full retreat were pursued as far as was feasible by the Lancers. A few days later, in the neighbourhood of Ladygrey, this smart column came in for further triumphs. A detachment of the C.M.R., which had been persistently sniped at by the enemy during their moonlight march, showed that two could play at the game of annoyance. They charged the hiding-place of the miscreants, and surprised them by the shouts of "Hands up!" before they were aware of their proximity. The result was that the dashing Colonials returned to camp, after a quarter of an hour's gallop, plus twenty prisoners and 13,000 rounds of ammunition. On the 9th of June, French, the magnificent, the indefatigable, came once more to the scene of his first triumphs in the days before the great _coup_ made by the relief of Kimberley. He took but a few weeks' holiday after his wholesale dispersal of Botha's hordes on the Swaziland border, and was again to the fore. Now, as Lieutenant-General Sir John French, K.C.B., he directed the operations of all the mobile columns extended over the face of Cape Colony. Widened movements were necessitated owing to the scattered state of the commandos which were now here, there, and everywhere picking up rebels, and needing each to be separately hunted by a detached column. On the 17th, Kruitzinger and Lotter were caught in the first instance by Colonel Munro, with Lovat's Scouts and Bethune's Mounted Infantry, and later by Crabbe, some twenty-five miles south-east of Maraisburg. Four Boers fell, twelve were wounded, twenty-five horses were left on the field, and fifty captured alive. Other captures included eight prisoners and a quantity of ammunition and saddles. It was reported that Kruitzinger's mongrel force at the time consisted of 276 whites, 10 armed natives, and 18 armed Hottentots, many of whom rode barebacked colts in the last stage of emaciation. Four days later sixty of the Midland Mounted Rifles, a Colonial corps which had done good work in the district, were surrounded by Kruitzinger's band and captured, after the loss of two officers and nine men killed, and ten men wounded. [Illustration: GENERAL BRUCE HAMILTON. Photo Russell & Sons, London.] Colonel Munro spent the remainder of June harassing raiders under Myburg, north of Jamestown, and others under Erasmus, east of Rayner Station. Colonel Scobell still chased Kruitzinger, and strove to drive him into the arms of Colonel Crabbe, who was engaged in hunting Van Reenan among the Bamboes Mountains. Colonels Crewe, Doran, and Wyndham combined in operations against Scheepers and Hugo, who were still dodging among the Camdeboo Mountains, while Captain Lund flew after errant gangs which had endeavoured to take Richmond and been repulsed by the gallantry of the North Stafford Militia, under Captain Hawkshaw, and by the Town Guard. More troops were also engaged in blocking the passes of the Drakensberg, through which Fouché had gone east towards Maclear in the fond hope of gathering recruits and fresh horses, and returning reinforced; but Colonel Dalgety, with Cape Mounted Rifles and East Griqualand Rifles, frustrated him. In the Calvinia district two gangs under Maritz and Conroy had made themselves troublesome for some weeks, but eventually Conroy, after being too warmly handled, particularly in an engagement which lasted five hours, when Captain Ramsbotham and Lieutenant Beresford of the Border Scouts tackled him near Kenhardt, fled north across the Orange. CHAPTER XI ORANGE RIVER COLONY, S.--MAJOR-GENERALS BRUCE-HAMILTON AND C. KNOX--JULY Great success having attended the construction of the line of defensible posts extending across the Orange River Colony, from Jacobsdal to Ladybrand, a gradual development of the blockhouse system was kept up in order to maintain the security of traffic and form a barrier to the encroachment of roving bands. A continuous line of blockhouses at intervals of a mile apart, following the course of the river from Aliwal North to Bethulie, and running from thence along the railway _viâ_ Stormberg, Rosmead, Naauwpoort Junction, de Aar, to Kimberley was commenced in July, and another (starting northward from Frederikstad to the source of the Mooi River, Breedt's Nek along the Magaliesberg) for the purpose of maintaining the connection with the garrison at Commando Nek was begun at the same time by two battalions under the command of Colonel Mackenzie, Suffolk Regiment. Colonel Pilkington, with the South African Constabulary, engaged in like activities to the east of the Pretoria-Vereeniging line, his line of posts extending from Eerste Fabriken, by Springs and Heidelberg, to the Vaal River. It was thus hoped that between the Vaal and Modder Rivers, by means of a converging number of columns, the Boers would be swept from all sides against the British barriers and driven to surrender. To this end the two forces of Generals Bruce-Hamilton and C. Knox were operating in the Orange River Colony during the last half of July. The former had thus disposed his troops. At Jacobsdal and Luckhoff were Colonels Williams and Dawkins respectively, and moving on Edenburg _viâ_ Wepener, were Colonels Rochfort and Du Moulin. Edenburg was reached on the 17th of July, after which all the columns were moved west of the railway, to act as a support to the barrier of police posts along the Modder from Bloemfontein to Jacobsdal, garrisoned by South African Constabulary, and also as stops to the enemy when pressed southward from the Vaal River. To Colonel Rochfort was allotted the region around Petrusburg; farther west (at Blaauwbank and Negdraai Drifts on the Riet River) came Colonel Williams, while the line of the Orange River (between Norval's Pont and Ramah) was guarded by the columns of Colonels Du Moulin and Dawkins. Colonel Rochfort very speedily reaped the reward of many days and nights of vigilance. Rumour told of a burgher gang under Commandant Myburg which, with a view to rushing into the Cape Colony, was encamped on the Riet, and to defeat this programme he made an arrangement as smart as it was successful. On the night of the 27th of July, acting in concert with Colonel Lowry Cole (who was under his orders in the vicinity), he marched in the small hours to the spot--between Dassiespoort and Jagersfontein Drift--where the laager had been located. Dawn found the enemy surrounded. There was the usual rush, and roar, and scrimmage, in the course of which Myburg was dangerously wounded. The commandant was secured, together with his Field-Cornet, Kock, twenty-four of his men, 100 of his horses, and many carts. Not less energetic was Captain Going with a detachment of Mounted Infantry, who at the same time was engaging Van den Bergs' gang in a laager close by. A few days later (on the 30th) more prisoners and stock were secured in the regions of Fauresmith by the combined efforts of Majors Bogle Smith and Damant. Meanwhile, from the 1st to the middle of July, General C. Knox's columns (Pilcher and Thorneycroft) scoured the country between Brandfort, Senekal, and the Basutoland border, and, finding but few of the enemy, Colonel Pilcher betook himself to Thabanchu, while Colonel Thorneycroft went to Ladybrand. After the 17th the troops, divided in four small columns and sprayed fan-like, were sweeping toward the Orange, in search of straggling marauders, Colonel Pilcher's troops, under Major Kean and Colonel Taylor, moving, _viâ_ Reddersburg and Dewetsdorp, upon Bethulie (reached 26th July); while Colonel Thorneycroft's columns (under Major Copeman and Colonel Minchin) marched by the Smithfield Commissie Drift, and Wepener Rouxville roads, to Aliwal North, where they arrived on 28th. A not insignificant haul was the result of this sweep, for, though little opposition was encountered, some prisoners, 2300 horses, 1800 cattle, and 126 vehicles were secured. These troops, at the end of the month, extended their operations to the west of the line, into the area between the railway and the Philippolis-Fauresmith Road; and, while Colonel Thorneycroft, from Aliwal North, passed _viâ_ Jagersfontein Road Station and Kruger's Siding towards Jagersfontein, Colonel Pilcher marched West from Bethulie along the right bank of the Orange, to Philippolis and northwards to Fauresmith. All the troops of General Knox had reached the Fauresmith-Edenburg Road by the 8th of August, Colonel Thorneycroft plus 28 prisoners, 1000 horses, 69 waggons, and much stock. They then were marched south of the Riet River to act in conjunction with General Bruce-Hamilton's columns. These columns, in August (minus that of Major Damant detached to help in General Knox's operations of that period), continued, in various portions of the south-west of the Orange River Colony, to harass the commandos of Hertzog, Lategan, and Nieuwhoudt. A brilliant surprise was prepared by Colonel Lowry Cole for Hertzog on the night of the 24th. The enemy--his laager sheltered by a protecting kloof--was reported to be comfortably ensconced near Vaalhoek. Consequently the British band, marching in the small hours and with the utmost secrecy _viâ_ Liebenberg's Pass, Slaghtkraals, and Nitkomst, came at dawn to a point which commanded the guerilla's lair. The success of the manoeuvre was complete--there was the usual roar and rampage, the usual scurry and hurry, the ringing of rifles and of hoofs, and, finally, 14 prisoners, 29 rifles, 54 saddles, 43 horses, and all the goods and chattels of the foe were secured. The remainder of Hertzog's crew of eighty bolted towards Zootenberg. ORANGE RIVER COLONY, N.--MAJOR-GENERAL ELLIOT While the sweeping operations were taking place in the south of the Orange River Colony, General Elliot pursued his activities in the north of it. From Springfield Drift on the Wilge River, his three columns (under Brigadier-General Broadwood, Lieutenant-Colonel De Lisle, and Colonel Bethune) moved between the Wilge River and Liebenberg's Vlei, while General Rundle's force acted in co-operation to the east of the Wilge. Beyond a rush on the rearguard of the central column--De Lisle's--shortly after it had left Reitz, little opposition was met with. The troops then moved towards Heilbron, the right column (Broadwood's) passing through Frankfort. During this march some brilliant episodes made the 12th of July eventful. In the first place Colonel Harrison, who had energetically been hunting the enemy for some time past, planned a night excursion which was so successfully carried forward that his 300 Imperial Yeomanry returned with 12 prisoners, 9 carts, and 60 horses! In the second, General Broadwood, warily backing on Reitz to discover if the enemy, according to custom, had sought refuge by closing in behind the line of march of the troops, had some exciting and profitable adventures. He, indeed, almost landed the big fish, Steyn, in the net which hauled in a shoal of government officials of the late Free State. General Broadwood's plan was to surround the town of Reitz before daybreak, but owing to the necessity of making a forced march of thirty miles to rear of the other two columns and the unavoidable delay occasioned by loss of touch by a connecting file during the night, three-quarters of an hour were lost, and the troops, instead of approaching the town at their ease, were forced to gallop straight at it. The result was that, owing to the fatigue of the horses, the biggest prize, Steyn, got safely away; but his departure was ignominious. Seizing the first pony he could find, coatless, bootless--a dilapidated picture of embarrassed somnolence--he made off, carrying with him just his skin and his beard, but leaving behind £11,500 (mostly in Orange Free State notes), 800 sovereigns, and £32 in his waistcoat pocket, his official papers (some remarkable and enlightening correspondence with the leaders of the Transvaal Boers), his guerilla government officials, together with Generals A. P. Cronje and T. B. Wessels, Commandant Davel and Field-Cornet Steyn (his brother). Pursuit on jaded horses was useless, therefore General Broadwood had to rest content with the magnificent results he had already obtained. He then returned to join his brigade--skirmishing by the way, but suffering only two casualties--and took his place in General Elliot's line after having, during the short period of absence, covered sixty miles of country. General Elliot, with only three of his force wounded, reached the railway _viâ_ Heilbron on the 16th of July without further adventure, his total haul being 8 Boers killed and wounded, 61 prisoners, 4000 horses, 3600 cattle, 5400 rounds of ammunition, and many vehicles! Before proceeding further, it is interesting to inspect the following letters found in Steyn's baggage, as they serve to throw light on the situation at this time from the Boer point of view:-- FROM STATE SECRETARY REITZ, DATED MAY 10, 1901, TO STEYN "Meeting held of Transvaal Government with Commandant Botha, Commandant Viljoen, and General J. C. Smuts, considered condition of our country and following facts:-- "First.--Numbers of our Burghers are continually surrendering. This means more and more to unsuccessful termination, as Government and officials left without Burghers entails heavy responsibility on Government. "Secondly.--Supply of ammunition so nearly exhausted that we shall be unable to engage enemy in another big fight, we shall be brought to a state of helpless flight unable to protect stock. In immediate future we shall be unable to feed our commandos. "Thirdly.--On account of above, Government becoming weaker, losing support, becoming disorganised. "Fourthly.--Not only our nation will be destroyed, but it will also be considered that leaders have erred, and all hope of continuation of national sentiment will be lost. "Fifthly.--Hitherto nation and Government awaited result European complications and mission of our deputation. Government feel most strongly their duty obtain definite assurances. "Having considered above points Government has determined-- "1. To obtain permission to send messenger to President Kruger point out terrible condition country. "2. If request refused we will ask for armistice to obtain opinion both nations of future policy to put an end to present state of affairs. We leave it to you to suggest other solutions, but you must carefully consider that this Government is convinced that the time has passed for us to let matters drift on as at present, and that the time has come to take the final step." Usual ending. (Signed) "REITZ." President Steyn's reply (dated 15th May) acknowledges receipt of letter; continues letter:-- "Great blow to me. Month ago discussed matters with your Government, agreed not to ask for armistice until things reached utmost extremity. Shall we obtain armistice? I think nothing has happened entitle us to armistice to obtain opinion of our nations. It is true Boksburg commando lost laager; General Viljoen was obliged to burn his, and blow up his Long Tom; but in spite of this we have not come to last extremity. "Free State been four months without cannon. I also know of men laying down their arms, officers becoming cowardly. Our ammunition has long been scarce enough, still [some] left to continue. You ask what prospect of successful termination. I ask what chance was there for two small Republics when they declared war against mighty power of England? You will answer, 'We have trusted in God's help and foreign intervention. What reason have we for refusing to place further reliance on God?' I have seen last European papers; I firmly believe complications will take place in Europe within next few months, which will gain our good fortune. Knowing leaders of our deputation, I cannot believe they would sit here without hope of intervention, knowing how we struggle and strive, for I know they love their Fatherland sufficiently to frankly ask the British to end the war if in their opinion intervention is hopeless. The fact that these men remain in Europe convinces me that our case is not hopeless. When armistice comes I shall ask opinion of my nation. If they refuse to give in their determination will be mine also. I do not approve of sending messenger to Europe, it shows our hand. I am deeply hurt you having taken this determination without asking my advice and have acted so hurriedly. If you have not despatched messenger do not do so until I can call my advisers. I have sent for General De Wet; he will be here next week. I will then send you opinion. "In your letter you say you are afraid your officers will be left alone on commando. "Here officers may surrender, but Burghers will remain steadfast. I must point out that the Orange Free State has not only spent blood and money, but will have lost its freedom by trying to help the sister Republic, and all reliance of one Afrikander on another will be destroyed for ever. It is ridiculous to think that when flooded with scum of Europe, Afrikander spirit will remain. If we wish to remain a nation now is the time to struggle. Hope you received Natal newspaper, stating Milner going nominally on leave; truth being he not allowed a free hand. In later English paper I have seen Kitchener and he cannot pull together. "I enclose cutting _Natal Witness_--'Public mind in England getting very uneasy about South Africa. There are possibilities which we are not at liberty to mention, and would, if we were, we could not (_sic_).' "All these things convince me we shall be destroying all hope for our nation if we now surrender. Brothers, stand fast--take courage to your disheartened Burghers. I have received verbal information that Commandant Hausbrock had engagement with English, drove them back three times. As soon as I can call a council I will send a reply; do not take any further steps till you have heard from me." Usual ending follows. (Signed) "STEYN." Further activities were pursued between the 16th and 24th of the month, when the troops were concentrated at Klerksdorp, activities which had the twofold object of intercepting Boers who might be fleeing before General Fetherstonhaugh's force (which was sweeping the area between Lichtenburg and Klerksdorp), and of taking up assigned positions for the contemplated drive southward from the line of the Vaal to the Modder. Here again the force marched not empty-handed, 15 prisoners, 120 horses, 25 cases of dynamite, stock, vehicles, and ammunition being the prizes of numerous smartly-executed surprise visits by patrols. Viewing the number of captures in the way of horses, it seemed difficult to comprehend why more mobility could not be secured to the troops, but in reality only 20 per cent. of the prizes were fit for remount purposes, the remainder being brood mares, foals, &c. While General Elliot was placing his force in the position above described, precautionary measures had to be taken against a recrudescence of mischief in the direction of Kimberley. Report spoke of a contemplated reinforcement of the guerillas in the Cape Colony by recruits from the Orange River Colony and the Transvaal. General Smuts was associated with the movement, and the swelling hordes were to join and pass through Hoopstad on their career of devastation. Accordingly Colonel Henry, who was moving between Bloemhof and Christiana, was appointed to keep an eye on the Hoopstad district. On the 16th of July he crossed the Vaal at a point some twenty-three miles south-west of Hoopstad, and promptly secured some prisoners, waggons, and horses that were doubtless about to form part of the reinforced commando. On the 24th, in this district, he was joined by Major Paris, R.M.A., with the Kimberley column, which he had summoned from Warrenton. This officer on the way had come in collision with some 150 of the enemy, and had succeeded, through the gallantry of Dennison's Scouts, in routing them from a strong position. The day after, effecting a juncture with Colonel Henry's force, he again came on the enemy under Commandants Badenhorst and Erasmus, and Field-Cornet Van Aswegan. The Boers were in some strength, but Major Paris's little force (consisting of 230 mounted men, 2 guns, a pom-pom, and 30 infantry, carried in carts) was equal to the occasion. The Boers were surrounded and attacked from three sides, and after a running fight, in which the 74th Squadron Imperial Yeomanry, the Kimberley Light Horse, and Dennison's Scouts distinguished themselves, the enemy dispersed with amazing celerity, leaving seven burghers on the field and their field-cornet a prisoner. One of the British party was killed and three were wounded. Brigadier-General Gilbert Hamilton's column was also on the track of the raiders, he having moved from Klerksdorp to Wolmaranstad (on the 21st) in order to fulfil his share of the hunt. At Wolmaranstad he remained not long inactive, for the news of slinking Boers in the neighbouring kopjes came to his ears, and he quickly determined on a surprise visit to their haunts. The dawn of the 26th found Commandant Potgieter and his hardy crew surrounded in their laager at Blinklip, and General Hamilton, at the cost of only two men wounded, succeeded in putting eleven Boers out of action and securing ten more, together with waggons, horses, and supplies. Farther to the east on the line of the Vaal, Colonel Western--who also had been at Klerksdorp--spent his time in reconnoitring along both banks of the river to Venterskroom and back to Coalmine Drift, where he was in a position to join the columns of Colonel Henry and General Elliot, which were ranging themselves in readiness for the main sweep south from the Vaal, on the west of the main line. General Elliot's force was now swelled by the column--from Klerksdorp--of Colonel Sir H. Rawlinson, and that--from Reitzburg--of Colonel Garratt. From these three columns he organised a fourth, consisting of 1st Dragoon Guards and two guns under Colonel Owen. * * * * * Of Colonel Garratt's movements prior to his operations in connection with General Elliot at the end of July, a word must be said. On the 9th of July he moved to the junction of the Wilge and Vaal Rivers in order to demonstrate to the west of General Bullock, upon the right flank of General Elliot's troops as they marched through Frankfort and Heilbron to the railway. Here, on the right bank of the Vaal, he came on a Boer laager, captured it, and made several prisoners. Later on, on the 21st, having filled up with supplies, his mounted troops chased two Boer convoys which were trekking on either bank of the Vaal near Lindique Drift, and succeeded in securing twenty-five Dutchmen, together with their waggons, carts, and cattle. Eleven of the enemy were killed and wounded in the fray. Smuts was engaged on the following day, but he and his gang fled to the hills, whence it was impossible to dislodge them. Finally, with the assistance of Colonel Rawlinson from the north and General Cunningham from Vereening, the Boers were routed from their snug positions and forced to take to the plains. Eighteen, however, were captured, and more waggons, horses, and cattle. Colonel Garratt then took up his assigned position on General Elliot's left. To better understand the comprehensive nature of the general sweep which followed, reference to a map is now desirable. In General Elliot's position on the 29th of July we have the Vaal River at our back, the main railway line on our left, the Kimberley-Mafeking line on our right. The various columns were disposed so that the right rested on the Vaal south of Wolmaranstad, and the left (Rawlinson) at Vredefort. On the extreme right came Colonel Henry at Hoopstad; in rear of the left on a wide front came Colonel Garratt, for the purpose of netting fugitives who might break north. In due time, as stops on the east (simultaneously with the advance of Colonel Rawlinson), issued Major Pine Coffin and Colonel Barker (from Kroonstad and Vet River Stations respectively), and as stop on the west (to carry on and lengthen, as it were, Colonel Henry's right arm) came General Plumer, in the region between Boshof and Modder River Station. [Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL WALTER KITCHENER. Photo London Stereoscopic Co.] All the bristles being prepared, the great military broom commenced operations on the 29th of July. The events of the end of the month would make a volume of adventure of themselves. A night march by General Broadwood to Bothaville--which was found deserted--caused the fleeing Boers to rush helter-skelter into the net spread for them by Colonel de Lisle, who, with his smart South Australians, had the satisfaction of taking possession of eighteen prisoners and twelve waggons. A grand raid on a farmhouse on the 30th of July was accomplished by Colonel Lowe and the 7th Dragoon Guards, who, as reward of their enterprise, secured eleven armed prisoners, together with their rifles, bandoliers, and horses. [Illustration: JULY 29, 1901.--GENERAL ELLIOT'S SWEEP S. OF THE VAAL] Then, on the 2nd of August, followed a smart capture of a laager near Graspan by some of Colonel Owen's men (King's Dragoon Guards) under Captain Quicke. This distinguished and now deeply lamented officer pursued the convoy for fourteen miles, and though he had but seven men with him succeeded in capturing it, though a large force of the enemy was at hand! His "bag" consisted of 4000 cattle and 65 waggons. A dashing affray also took place between 200 South Australians (under Major Shea, 15th Bengal Lancers) and Smuts' commando near Vet River. The Colonials, splendidly led by Major Shea, Captain Watt, and Lieutenant M'Farlane, surrounded the farm in the dead of night, and pressing forward on foot, with fixed bayonets, made a rush on the commando. But the Boers had enmeshed their stronghold with a wire network which served to delay the troops, during which period most of the hostile gang were able to escape. But five fell, and eleven were secured, including Field-Cornet Wolmarans of Potchefstroom, who was taken by gallant Shea himself. On the following day (3rd) General Broadwood swept up 7 waggons and 2000 cattle, while Colonel Lowe, after undertaking an eighteen-mile march, surprised a laager, secured 13 of its inhabitants, 86 waggons, and 56 horses. Tremendous hauls on the 6th and 7th of August put Colonel Lisle in possession of 40 prisoners, 147 waggons, 600 horses, and 2000 cattle; and on the 8th Colonel Henry and Lieutenant-Colonel Carr-Ellison (commanding 250 of the 4th Imperial Yeomanry) succeeded in capturing two laagers and a goodly knot of prisoners. Meanwhile General Plumer, moving from the Modder River Station on the 4th, had proceeded to effect a junction with Colonel Henry. (How General Plumer came to be at Modder River at this period must be explained. After his return from Carolina to Bloemfontein in the second week of July, he had moved viâ Bains Vlei, Kruger's Drift, Poplar Grove, Koodoosrand, and Pandamfontein, skirmishing often by the way, and reaching Modder River plus 11 prisoners, 200 cattle, and 62 horses.) Here his troops, divided in two columns under Colonels Colvin and Sir John Jarvis, completed the encircling cordon to the west. During the movement, Sir John Jarvis, be it noted, after a twenty-five mile march, succeeded in securing, near Botha's Hoek, 15 Boers. The details of General Elliot's march are full of savour, of heroism, and of activity; but the story of swoops, surprises, and surrenders of raiders would outrun the limits of a volume. It is only possible therefore to record the results, which, early in August, showed that 17 Boers had been killed and wounded and 326 captured; 2600 horses, 20,000 cattle, 377 waggons, 371 other vehicles, and 12,500 rounds of ammunition had also been secured. General Elliot, on the conclusion of his operations between the Vaal and the Modder, withdrew his columns to east and west to the railway to refit. He himself reached Truter's Drift on the 9th of August. General Plumer returned to Modder River Station; Colonel Henry moved back to Boshof, and from thence to Luckhoff, where he operated during August; and Colonels Rawlinson and Western betook themselves to Glen and Bloemfontein respectively. General Elliot's programme was now to prepare at Glen for a fresh advance to the north-east, of a line Ladybrand, Sannah's Post, Glen. But of this anon. ORANGE RIVER COLONY, E.--LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR L. RUNDLE General Rundle, as we know, had marched north from Harrismith simultaneously with General Elliot's advance from Springfield Drift on the 4th of July. Till the 12th, the force, marching in three columns, moved uneventfully to the line Tafel Kop-Maidstone-Driespruit. But, on the 12th, the very day that Colonel Harrison in one place and General Broadwood in another were trouncing the enemy and putting them to flight, the Imperial Yeomanry came in for some exciting experiences. It so happened that forty men of the Yeomanry under Lieutenant Edgell left Colonel Harley's (centre) column to communicate with that of General Campbell (right). Promptly Commandant Charles Botha got wind of the movement of the small party and attacked them. But the plucky band, though young Edgell, the sergeant, and four men were wounded at the first volley, held their own, and finally the enemy was routed, leaving their leader dead on the field. The following account of a yeoman's experiences serves to show how Charles Botha met his death: it fails, however, to describe the gallantry and resource of Corporal F. M. Grove, 53rd Company Imperial Yeomanry, who, when the officer and sergeant were wounded, took command, fortified a post, and kept off the Boers till relief came:-- "The 12th of July I shall never forget. It was the worst day I have ever had. We had reached camp and had done a good day's work, having captured tons of mealies. It was found that we could not heliograph to Rundle, who was sixteen miles on our right; so they had to send a despatch, and our lieutenant with forty men had to take it. As we were rounding Bothasberg we came face to face with fifty or sixty Boers. There was absolutely no cover, and as it was too late to dismount there was only one thing to do--to charge. That we did, splitting them in all directions. Had we been a cavalry regiment with swords and known how to use them, we could have cut them to pieces. Our lieutenant, the Hon. Wyatt Edgell, led us, whip in hand, and was the first to go down with a bullet in his leg just above the knee. Shots were coming like hail. Charles Botha, who was at the head of the commando, kept shouting, 'Surrender! surrender!' but he was shot dead with one bullet behind the ear and another in the shoulder. Six of his men stuck to him like glue, but he was too big for them to get away, being about six feet one inch in height and weighing seventeen stone. It is a marvel to me that we were not annihilated. We built a breastwork of stones, being fired on all the time. When it was dark the guide made his way back to camp for help, but the groans of the wounded throughout the night were horrible. In the morning we were relieved, and the Boers came out under a flag of truce for half-an-hour to bury their dead. We went to Vrede next, and after a day's rest left that place in a shocking state. We killed thousands of sheep and put them in every house. The stench in a week will be horrible; it is to prevent the Boers from returning." The following day, in order to clear the line of advance from Boers who were scurrying eastwards, General Rundle directed Colonel Harley to close towards General Campbell in order to strengthen the right flank, and on the 14th the hills south-east of Vrede were occupied, and communication with Colonel Rimington (who had marched to the latter place to catch the scattered hordes that might be pushed towards him) was established. General Rundle, with his own and Colonel Rimington's prizes, proceeded over the Klip River to Standerton and was joined by Colonel Reay (left), who had crossed the Vaal at Robert's Drift. His total haul, irrespective of the prisoners handed over by Colonel Rimington, amounted to 13 prisoners, 7000 horses, 35 vehicles, and 1000 tons of forage. Twelve Boers were killed and wounded. The British force lost four men, while one officer and fifteen men were wounded. From Standerton, having refilled with supplies, General Rundle marched south on the 20th. Starting from Bothaberg, south-west of Vrede, he moved to Witkoppies, some thirty miles south-west of that town, and finally scoured the hilly country lying between the Natal border and the Vrede-Harrismith Road. The Boers, gnome-like, popped and "potted" from their hiding-places, but cautiously kept from open battle; nevertheless, General Rundle returned to Harrismith with 6 prisoners, 3590 horses, 679 trek oxen, and 4760 cattle. Twelve Boers during the march had been killed and wounded. On the 8th of August General Campbell marched with a column (Grenadier Guards, Leinster Regiment, 1st Battalion Imperial Yeomanry, and four guns and a pom-pom) through Retief's Nek in connection with a movement of General Elliot's, which should have driven the enemy into the Brandwater Basin, where General Campbell would have secured them; but the Boers knowingly made for the north, and thus General Campbell's captures were limited to waggons, carts, and horses. Colonel Harley meanwhile was employed in escorting supplies from Harrismith to Bethlehem, which at this date became the centre for a new column under Brigadier-General Sir John Dartnell. This force consisted of two regiments of Imperial Light Horse, specially equipped to ensure increased mobility. ORANGE RIVER COLONY, N.--COLONEL RIMINGTON--BRIGADIER-GENERAL BULLOCK--BRIGADIER-GENERAL SPENS Of Colonel Rimington's activities prior to his meeting with General Rundle we barely know the outline. On the 13th of July his troops displayed an immense amount of dash in a smart set-to with some Boers who, with their convoy, were on the north-east of Gambokshoekberg. The enemy's rearguard covering the march was forced from its position by the rapid rush of the mounted troops, who scattered the band, killed six of the foe, took ten prisoners, and 2000 head of cattle, which prizes were handed over to General Rundle on the occasion of the meeting near Vrede, of which we know. His hands free, Colonel Rimington then proceeded from Vrede to Heilbron, skirmishing by the way. From this time till August he operated in the triangle between Heilbron, Lindley, and Kroonstad, engaging in the same energetic system of night marching and surprise which was being everywhere vigorously carried forward, with first-rate results. Fourteen Boers killed, 36 prisoners, 24 voluntary surrenders, 68 ox-waggons, 52 vehicles, 5300 cattle was an excellent sum-total to bear witness to the work accomplished at that time. General Bullock meanwhile, in July, had been sweeping the neighbourhood of Villiersdorp and Cornelia for the purpose of brushing Boers into the arms of General Elliot during the move of that officer from Springfield to Heilbron. But these wary Dutchmen were wide-awake and not to be entrapped. He therefore returned to Heidelberg, where General Spens took over command. Flying columns under Colonel Jenner and Major Gough now went to work with a will, and each column had the satisfaction of arriving at Heilbron in August, having captured a convoy apiece with the total loss of one man killed and four wounded. In the course of General Spens' sweep from Heidelberg to Heilbron his troops brought in 42 prisoners, 110 carts, 5600 cattle, and the supplies before named. In August he left Heilbron and renewed his activities in the direction of Kroonstad. TRANSVAAL, S.W.--OPERATIONS OF GENERAL FETHERSTONHAUGH--CLEARING THE MAGALIESBERG--JULY In July Major-General Fetherstonhaugh's force (in four columns, under Brigadier-General Dixon and Colonels Sir H. Rawlinson, E. Williams, and Hickie) operated from the Magaliesberg to Zeerust (reached on the 10th), and from thence back to Klerksdorp. The early part of the march was highly eventful, particularly for Colonels Williams and Hickie, who were repeatedly assailed by the enemy from almost inaccessible hiding-places. They nevertheless assisted in producing excellent results, and Roberts' and Kitchener's Horse highly distinguished themselves. In the end 13 Boers were killed and wounded, 26 were taken prisoners, 47 voluntarily surrendered, and 13 burghers, who had been imprisoned by their own men, were released. Waggons and cattle in plenty were secured. Nearer Zeerust all seemed placid; farmsteads and agriculture showed little sign of a state of war. On the return movement (begun on the 12th) General Fetherstonhaugh marched his right centre column through Lichtenburg, his own three columns being on the right, and that of General Dixon on the left. Thus the enemy, fighting continually, was driven day by day before him towards the region shortly to be swept by General Elliot's fan of troops. Large quantities of stores (unearthed from caves in the hills or discovered bricked up in the houses) were destroyed, 10 Boers were killed or wounded, and 22 prisoners taken. Klerksdorp was reached on the 21st of July after a particularly hard march, in which Colonel Hickie's column especially suffered from the scarcity of water in the district. General Dixon ere this had returned to Krugersdorp. General Fetherstonhaugh, after a brief rest, set out on the 27th along the Taung-Vryburg line, where the enemy was reported to be active. On his right now moved Lord Methuen (from Lichtenburg), while Colonel Von Donop of Lord Methuen's force swept from Kraaipan and Geysdorp on the west of the hills, and Colonel Scott with a small column co-operated from Vryburg. The area was soon denuded of foodstuffs, and 58 prisoners of war were taken. Six of the enemy were killed. While these energetic movements were going forward General Gilbert Hamilton was scouring the Klerksdorp Ventersdorp district, and Colonel Allenby was searching some almost unassailable positions round the Magaliesberg. His columns nevertheless scored some successes. On the daybreak of the 9th of July they surprised some Boers who were laagered at Zeekoehoek, and though many of them made good their escape to the hills, their field-cornet and twelve comrades were seized. On the 11th the enemy was again discovered in an almost inaccessible position on the Magaliesberg, but what the mounted men failed to accomplish the artillery achieved, and soon the mountain heights were ablaze with the flames of the burning laager and two waggons of dynamite and ammunition which had been blown up. Later, in conjunction with Colonel Kekewich (who at Krugersdorp had taken over command of General Dixon's column), Colonel Allenby set about a further clearance of the Magaliesberg passes; but by the 7th of August the whole region had become too hot for the Boers' liking, and they evacuated it, enabling the British to occupy Breedt's Nek and establish a post on the summit. To thoroughly protect this favourite haunt of the Boers from their future visits two other columns were also engaged. Major-General Barton moved with a force from Pretoria to west of Commando Nek, clearing the country of supplies and establishing the network of posts to be occupied by the South African Constabulary, while Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Basing (with the Royal Dragoons, two guns and a pom-pom) covered the construction of the Frederikstad-Breedt Nek line of blockhouses, and kept up communication from thence to General Barton's column. TRANSVAAL, E.--LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR BINDON BLOOD General Viljoen's commando being still to the fore, north of the Delagoa line, the operations of July were mainly directed against him. General Blood, taking command of General Babington's column, and followed by General W. Kitchener, moved on the 10th of July from Springs to Middelburg. Here, later, he was joined by Colonel Campbell, who had been engaged in conducting a reconnaissance north of the line from Elands River Station towards Wagen Drift. Though the utmost energy and activity prevailed on all sides, the results were disappointing. Owing to the vast expanse of country and the Boers' intimate acquaintance with all its nooks and crannies, they were able to play the game of hide-and-seek with impunity, taking care never to be caught in the open, and to avoid every chance of a collision. Colonel Benson in his operations, however, had better luck. Moving from Dullstroom on the 9th of July, with Colonel Park on his right, he soon managed to discover the whereabouts of Viljoen's commando. Promptly the Dutchman was routed from his position at Middelkraal by the 2nd Scottish Horse, a glorious set of "irregulars," many of them hailing from Australia, who were first and foremost in every "ticklish" exploit. Indeed there was no end of their pluck; and on this occasion a mere handful of them, under their smart leaders Major Murray and Captain Lindley, contrived to keep at bay the hostile herd till the arrival of supports. Having dispersed the guerillas, Colonel Benson dealt in an equally effective manner with Muller's men on the west, a party of raiders who were now driven north from the neighbourhood of Witpoort. Reports presently said that Viljoen was still lingering somewhere in the west, consequently the 18th Mounted Infantry pushed off in pursuit, and succeeded in catching and capturing the tail of his convoy and some fifteen waggons. While the Colonel moved his main body--on the 11th--in the direction of Paardekloop, the 2nd Scottish Horse circled around towards the Tautesberg, unearthing and capturing prisoners and horses by the way and discovering vehicles hidden in the kloofs, which Viljoen had evidently deposited there for a "rainy day." This notable leader was discovered on the 15th of July at Laatstedrift, on the right bank of the Olifant River, whither Colonel Benson had moved after the arrival of a convoy brought by General Spens from the railway to Brinkwater. An inspiriting feature of this discovery was the wonderful tenacity of Lieutenant Kelly of the Scottish Horse, who, though wounded in the stomach at the onset, had no sooner located the enemy than he crawled under heavy fire to inform the officer commanding! A smart engagement followed--an engagement creditable to both sides--and after some close fighting both the enemy's flanks were turned, and they were sent scuttling across the river into the thick bush country on the west. In the course of these varied operations 20 Boers were captured and 17 killed or wounded; 110 horses, 64 waggons, and a large quantity of ammunition were secured. More prisoners had also been seized by General Spens in the course of his move with the convoy to Brinkwater and back to Middelburg, where he arrived on the 20th. Soon after this date he proceeded to take command of another column. General Beatson meanwhile, on the night of the 7th of July, had done some highly effective work. His surprise visit to the laager of Commandant Trichard, which was located some twenty-five miles north of Middelburg, resulted in the breaking up of the marauding gang and the dispersal of them into the rugged country round Olifant River. The commandant himself merely escaped by "the skin of his teeth." Further pursuit being useless, the General returned to Middelburg and assisted in the hunt for Viljoen, who was not to be caught, however, for he had warily doubled back to his friendly kopjes on the right bank of the Olifant. Returning to Bronkerspruit Station along the Wilge River General Beatson, while searching in all the adjacent kloofs, came on twenty-five waggons containing ammunition and clothing. As the duties of most clearing columns were very much alike, some quotations from an officer's letter may serve to show the nature of the work and of the country to be cleared of Boers and supplies:-- "The usual proceeding is as follows: On the first day we occupy the high ridges on each side of one of the huge valleys, or kloofs, as they are called. This the Boers, with the exception of a few 'snipers,' who wound or kill one or two of our advanced scouts, do not attempt to oppose. Then begins the difficulty. From each side the ground slopes down very steeply--in many places it means recourse to hands and knees--for about a mile; then comes a sheer precipice about 100 feet deep, and at the bottom a valley about 100 to 500 yards broad, with a stream in the middle and very thickly wooded. On each side of the main valley the cliffs are broken by smaller kloofs running up them, and they contain any number of caves and huge boulders. On the whole, one of these valleys makes about as difficult a bit of country to clear as any you could imagine. The Boers lie hidden among the rocks and in caves, and 'snipe' from them heavily at any man attempting to climb down the precipitous sides. We generally spend a day or two in shelling and advancing as far as the edges of the precipices, and then on the night before we send our infantry down into the valley most of the Boers escape. They dispute every inch of the way until they see that the position is untenable for them. Then off they go." The writer of the letter mentioned a particular instance of this kind of work, in which the Boer women hung white flags all over their laager, and some Boers took advantage of the fact that the British gunners duly respected the flags to hide among the rocks round the laager, and to "snipe" the troops as they advanced. He continued:-- "We slept out at night; it was fearfully cold; we had no blankets, and only half rations. We were ordered on the next morning to get the guns down a long spur jutting out into the valley. This appeared to be impossible, as the ground was fearfully steep and stony, and there was no road. However, with the aid of 50 Highlanders and a lot of rope, we managed to get down after two hours' hard work. The position was a beautiful one, being only 1700 yards from the place occupied by the Boers on the previous day. We would probably have had some casualties from rifle fire, being on exposed ground, but the Boers appeared to have left during the night. Our infantry entered the kloof from both sides, and spent two days in collecting cattle and in blowing up 50,000 rounds of Boer rifle ammunition. The Boer families were brought in, and made more comfortable than they had ever been before. The Boers all say that they do not mind deserting their wives, as they know that we look after them, and make them more comfortable at Middelburg than they were when living on the veldt." In the course of General Beatson's operations on the 11th of July he had the misfortune to lose his intelligence officer, Lieutenant Anderson, R.E., a brilliant and zealous soldier, who was shot while galloping ahead with an advance party of Victorians and Mounted Infantry in hot chase after a gang of Boers. [Illustration: BOERS CAUGHT IN THE ACT OF CUTTING THE TELEGRAPH WIRES Drawing by Wal Paget] With troops refitted, General Kitchener and Colonel Campbell now sped north from Middelburg, bent on getting in touch with the quarry. General Kitchener was successful. At Blaauwbank, on the 29th, a brisk engagement--a brilliant chase by the 19th Hussars, followed by the 18th in support, and a rush with fixed bayonets--resulted in the recapture of the two pom-poms taken from the Victorians on the 11th of June, and the seizure of 32 prisoners and 20 waggons of Viljoen's commando. The commandant himself made haste to withdraw to north and north-west of the Olifant. On this day (29th) General Sir Bindon Blood, with Colonel Benson's column, moved from Wonderfontein to Carolina. The march was not without incident, for by night, at Mooitley, the troops of Colonel Benson made a smart swoop upon a Boer laager, and possessed themselves of 17 prisoners, 50 horses, and 10 waggons. A few days later another descent on the marauders in the same neighbourhood swelled the list of captures by 29 prisoners (five of whom were Botha's despatch riders), 70 horses, and 5 carts. August opened with more surprises, skirmishes, and surrenders in other directions. At Diepkloof, on the Kruis River, General Kitchener, on the 3rd, dispersed a small commando, leaving two dead Boers on the field, and taking 13 prisoners. Colonel Park, between Lydenburg and Dullstroom, had also some exciting tussles, after which he proceeded to scour the country between Roos Senekal and the Tautesberg. STANDERTON-HEIDELBERG--LIEUTENANT-COLONEL COLVILLE Lieutenant-Colonel Colville, from Greylingstad, spent the end of July in scouring the district north of the railway line between the Waterval River and Leeuwspruit, and defeating the mischievous activities of gangs under Alberts, Mears, and Pretorius. It must be remembered that these guerilla chiefs were paid £25 a month by the Boer Government for their services, and that they had this to gain and nothing to lose by adhering to their policy of resistance. The Boer Government, according to rumour, had now formed a new seat (its seats were so many and so portable that it is difficult to remember them!) at Watervalshoek, about twenty-six miles north of Greylingstad, consequently it was decided that this hotbed of disorder must be assailed without delay. Thereupon, on the 4th of August, three forces were moved out--Colonel Colville's and Colonel Stewart's (Johannesburg Mounted Rifles) to Rooipoort (ten miles west of Bethel), while Colonel Bewicke-Copley marched from Springs towards Watervalshoek. From Rooipoort Colonel Stewart searched the northern road through Drefontein and Saltpeter Krantz, while Colonel Colville exerted his vigilance along the southern route to Watervalshoek. He reaped his reward. At the junction of the Waterval River and Klipspruit he suddenly spied a Boer convoy--the convoy of General Alberts--on the march. Immediately all was excitement. Away went his gallant men, racing and galloping over a good seven miles, never ceasing their rush till the convoy was hounded down, till the whole bunch of guerillas, with 28 loaded waggons, 12 carts, 55 horses, 1400 cattle, and 2000 rounds of ammunition were seized. Meanwhile, the Boer Government had again vanished into thin air! Colonels Colville and Stewart moved to Standerton, while Colonel Bewicke-Copley hustled bands of flying Dutchmen, who disappeared into the valley of the Wilge. CAPE COLONY--JULY General French, in the middle of July, organised a big combined movement to dislodge the raiders from the Camdeboo Mountains near Graaf Reinet. The activities of the troops, brilliant as they had been, had not entirely purged the Cape Colony of the offensive element, and gangs of guerillas were still popping out here and there, in their mischief assisted by traitors, whose Janus faces it took some time to unmask. General French's efforts were now directed against rebels and raiders, and in a particularly successful series of hunts several Boers were killed and wounded, and 31 prisoners, mostly Cape rebels, were captured. The combined commandos of Fouché and Myburg made an unusual demonstration on the 14th of July, and actually attacked the Connaught Rangers, under Major Moore, who, while escorting a convoy, were camped in a position between Aliwal North and Jamestown. It took some hours of determined fighting to beat off the ferocious enemy, who were splendidly posted on high hills, and were only defeated by dusk. Three officers and 17 of our wounded were left to tell the tale of stubborn resistance. The enemy were pursued by Colonel Munro, and caught after a wearing chase south-west of Jamestown. Some of their number were killed and some were forced to retreat upon the "Connaughts," who, as may be imagined, received them in passing with considerable warmth. By the end of the month, Fouché, owing to the incessant vigilance of Colonel Munro and Major Moore, found the Colony too hot to hold him. He therefore betook himself across the Orange near Aliwal North. But Kruitzinger kept up the excitement by dodging in the mountains south of Cradock. From thence he pounced, on the 21st of July, upon Colonel Crabbe and his column. The sudden outburst of musketry at close quarters, as it were from the bowels of the hills, caused the horses to stampede, and the loss of 200 horses at a critical moment was found to be no trifling matter. A horrible tussle ensued, but luckily at the end of the day Colonel Crabbe was able to withdraw to Mortimer Station with his force, five of whom were wounded. [Illustration: CONCENTRATION CAMP AT NORVAL'S PONT] Colonel Scobell's encounter with the enemy on the 23rd was more happy in its results. He formed part of the cordon which was pushing the enemy towards the Orange, and during the operation the indefatigable Colonel Lukin and 90 Cape Mounted Rifles under Captain Cosgrove made a grand swoop upon Lategan's laager, fought and defeated 150 of the foe, captured 10 prisoners (including a field-cornet, Buys by name) and 105 saddles and horses. But it was what may be called a "touch-and-go" affair, for at one time Lieutenant Welby with only twelve men was surrounded by forty Boers, whom he withstood for an hour till rescued. Not less successful were the columns of Colonels Doran and Wyndham and the energetic Captain Lund. (This officer, on the 19th, secured a waggon containing the rifles of Smits' commando.) But such of the enemy as got away now dispersed under cover of darkness into the remote bridle-paths, and bided their time in their well-chosen coigns of vantage, where in ones and twos they were unassailable. General French was therefore obliged to arrange a backward and southward movement of the fan of columns from a line Vlakfontein, Richmond, Middle Mount, Middelburg, Schombie, Steynsburg, Stormberg, so as to force the scattered bands northwards again. From the 29th of July to the 3rd of August was passed in this manoeuvre, wearing but remunerative, for by the end of this time the raiders slipped through the loopholes intentionally made by the columns, which had been ordered to contract their fronts for this purpose, and once more the troops (extended laterally on a line Beaufort West, Pearston, Drennan Station, Cameron's Glen, Cathcart) had the satisfaction of pressing the enemy north towards the line of blockhouses on the Steynsburg-De Aar line. The only big commando that remained south was Scheepers', which a detached force of 10th Hussars, 12th Lancers, and two guns proceeded to chase. The process of attrition was going forward slowly and surely. The numbers of captures were monthly increasing, but the organised system of intimidation pursued by the Boer leaders against both burghers, who, if left to themselves, would have surrendered, and natives, who went in fear of their lives, and became informants, made the work of settlement exceedingly harassing. In these circumstances, Lord Kitchener "considered it advisable to form some specially mobile columns for independent and rapid action in different parts of the country, generally at some distance from the operations of other troops." These columns were given a free hand in respect to their movements, and acted at any time on intelligence gained by themselves in addition to such as might be received from headquarters. [Illustration: DELAGOA BAY. Drawing by Donald E. M'Cracken.] THE SITUATION--AUGUST In May Sir Alfred Milner paid a visit to England, and his reception in Great Britain left no doubt in the mind of people at home and abroad regarding the determination of the Government to adhere to their South African policy. The King conferred on him the dignity of a Baron, and both in the City of London and in that of Cape Town there were rejoicings at the honour done to one who had served the cause of Great Britain with such skill and unswerving devotion. In August Lord Milner returned to his duties as High Commissioner for South Africa and Administrator of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, much benefited by the brief rest from his labours. As it was found necessary to adopt sterner measures to crush the lingering guerilla warfare, Lord Kitchener issued, on the 7th of August, the following Proclamation:-- "Whereas the late Orange Free State and the late South African Republic have been annexed to his Majesty's dominions; "And whereas his Majesty's forces are and have for some considerable time been in complete possession of the seats of Government of both the aforesaid territories, with their public offices, and the whole machinery of administration, as well as of all the principal towns and the whole of the railway lines; "And whereas the great majority of the Burghers of the two late Republics, to the number of thirty-five thousand, exclusive of those who have fallen in the war, are now either prisoners or have submitted to his Majesty's Government, and are living peaceably in towns or camps under the control of his Majesty's forces; "And whereas the Burghers of the late Republics still in arms against his Majesty are not only few in numbers, but have lost almost all their guns and munitions of war, and are devoid of regular military organisation, and are therefore unable to carry on regular warfare or to offer any organised resistance to his Majesty's forces in any part of the country; "And whereas those Burghers who are still in arms, though unable to carry on regular warfare, continue to make isolated attacks upon small posts and detachments of his Majesty's forces, to plunder or destroy property, and to damage the railway and telegraph lines, both in the Orange River Colony and the Transvaal and in other portions of his Majesty's South African Dominions; "And whereas the country is thus kept in a state of disturbance, checking the resumption of agricultural and industrial pursuits; "And whereas his Majesty's Government is determined to put an end to a state of things which is aimlessly prolonging bloodshed and destruction and inflicting ruin upon the great majority of the inhabitants, who are anxious to live in peace and to earn a livelihood for themselves and their families; "And whereas it is just to proceed against those still resisting, and especially against those persons who, being in a position of authority, are responsible for the continuance of the present state of lawlessness, and are instigating their fellow-Burghers to continue their hopeless resistance to his Majesty's Government; "Now therefore I, Lord Kitchener, &c., under instructions from his Majesty's Government, proclaim and make known as follows: "All commandants, field cornets, and leaders of armed bands, being Burghers of the late Republics, still engaged in resisting his Majesty's forces, whether in the Orange River Colony and the Transvaal or in any other portion of his Majesty's South African Dominions, and all members of the Governments of the late Orange Free State and the late South African Republic, shall, unless they surrender before the 15th of September next, be permanently banished from South Africa; the cost of the maintenance of the families of all Burghers in the field who shall not have surrendered by 15th September shall be recoverable from such Burghers, and shall be a charge upon their property movable and immovable in the two Colonies." The Proclamation was the result of correspondence which had taken place between Sir H. E. M'Callum, Governor of Natal, and Mr. Chamberlain. The Governor's telegram, dated 24th July, ran thus:-- "I sent you by last mail long minute submitted to Ministers containing following suggestions: "Protracted continuance of hostilities vitally affecting interests of Natal is viewed with grave concern. Raids into the Colony frequently render it impossible for loyalists to return to farms and avocations. Feeling of unrest among natives created by raids, revenue suffering, trade paralysed, railways monopolised by military, towns overcrowded with refugees and persons awaiting return to Transvaal, stock being affected with disease due to introduction of captured stock from the new Colonies, famine prices prevailing, Colony still subject to censorship and martial law. "Under these circumstances Ministers advocate sterner measures to crush present guerilla warfare. They point out that Boers still fighting have little to lose, that their women and children are protected and well treated, and that their farms are safe from confiscation, therefore Boers free from anxiety and encouraged to continue in the field, growing accustomed to life of pillaging and looting, and communicate frequently with refugee camps which thus are source of danger. Those who are not rebels know that if captured they will be treated as prisoners of war and released at the conclusion of hostilities. "Ministers believe that excellent effect would be produced if it were made generally known that if Burghers now in the field do not surrender by given date, say, within one month, cost of maintenance of all women and children will be chargeable against immovable property of Burghers in the field; also that Boer generals and leaders in the field should be informed that unless they and their commandos surrender by date specified they will be banished from South Africa for life when captured. "In making these observations and recommendations Ministers disclaim intention of appearing to reflect on military operations, of which they realise the immense difficulties. They will continue to render the Imperial Government every assistance to secure settlement and pacification." A telegram followed from Mr. Chamberlain to Lord Kitchener containing the draft of the Proclamation, which was to be issued with the least possible delay. Lord Kitchener was desired before issuing it, however, to communicate its terms to the Governors of Cape Colony and Natal, and ascertain whether their governments agreed to them. The proposal was approved by the Colonial governors, the document received a few emendations, and was issued as above. There was, naturally, an outcry at all sterner measures that were proposed, by what may be called the "Prolong-the-War Party"--the pro-Boer orators who were daily, by their excited utterances, betraying the Boers into the belief that their showy sympathy would bring about practical results. But in reality the stern measure was intended as a merciful measure to save desperate men from a suicidal policy of resistance to the inevitable, the country from devastation, and women and children from suffering. Their territories were annexed, their leaders, most of them, were exiles or prisoners, hostilities had developed from guerilla warfare to simple brigandage and outrage, and the British were keeping up the supply of troops with the determination of "fighting to a finish." Indeed, by the middle of 1901, there were 138,000 regulars, 58,000 Colonials, 23,000 yeomen, 20,000 militia, and 10,000 volunteers--a total of 250,000 men under arms in South Africa. With this ever-increasing multitude bearing down upon them, the days of the belligerents were numbered, but this they doggedly refused to believe, or, even if they believed the worst, they decided--like the wasp who parts with his sting only to die--on leaving behind them the largest legacy of pain and trouble the circumstances would admit. The South African Constabulary by the middle of the year had grown into an effective force, and were operating from the vicinity of the railways and occupying fortified posts, and thus rendering themselves exceedingly valuable in checking the efforts of the enemy to pass through the cordon around the cleared districts. The Boers, by the loss of their ox-waggons, were seriously impeded in regard to their supply arrangements, and the series of captures which took place in all parts of the country made a considerable drain on their numbers in the field. Still, small gangs of three to four hundred men roving loosely over the country could, in cases of emergency, concentrate and cause vast trouble and annoyance and even danger to the small mobile columns, broken up as they were, in order to operate over vast areas in search of the scattered hordes. Viewing the intense labour and increasing strain suffered by the Commander-in-Chief at this time, it is pleasing to quote the letter of an officer competent to speak regarding the magnificence of the steady if slow work that was being accomplished:-- "We are eleven hours a day in the saddle on patrol duty, and good solid work is being done by mobile columns. You will not get much of our movements through the Press, as the policy of secrecy is really the only safe one with the Cape Colony now undermined by rebels from north to south. It would be difficult to over-praise Lord Kitchener for his remarkable power of self-control and ability to keep his own counsel. His ceaseless efforts to get the right men into the higher and brigade commands are recognised by all of us who have suffered in the past from incompetent leaders. In spite of the clap-trap that is being talked in Parliament by ignorant and vain knights of the shires, I can assure you that a more humane and pacific general never directed a force on active service, and this testimony is from Boer and British alike." Considerable stir was created in England among the so-called humanitarians regarding the mortality of children in the concentration camps, where the Boer families had of necessity to be housed and cared for. The mortality was certainly high, but on strict inquiry it was found that mainly through the ignorance, listlessness, and idleness of the Boer mothers the sick infants were treated wrongly or neglected. Dr. Jane Waterston, late President of the Women's Rand Relief Committee, in a letter to the _Cape Times_, with level-headed brevity discussed some points which the Boer sympathisers had carefully ignored. She pointed out that-- "Ordinary colonial women who have been through the stress and strain of the last two years are not very favourably impressed by the present stir in England over the assumed privations of the Boer women and children. If looting, flogging, ruining, and train-wrecking can be dignified by such a name as war, they hold that in all matters of supply our fighting men, who, as well as fighting our battles, guard our women-folk or our sick men, injured by wounds or disease in our service, come first and foremost; after them come our own civilian population; and lastly come our prisoners, or those Boers who have surrendered or been brought in." Again she said:-- "Large as was the sum collected in Great Britain by voluntary subscriptions, at no time did the women and children of the loyal colonial refugees of the poorer classes receive more than mere sustenance. Judging, however, by some of the hysterical whining going on in England at the present time it would seem as if we might neglect or half starve our faithful soldiers, and keep our civilian population eating their hearts out here as long as we fed and pampered people who have not even the grace to say 'thank you' for the care bestowed on them. "As we see it, the problem before our military men is, how to manage, feed, and care for large numbers of women and children, and yet not feed the enemy and so prolong the war, or rather existing brigandage. If the women are left on the farms with food, that food will be promptly handed over to the commandos, who would lightly take it all, and trust to British soft-heartedness not to let their women and children die of starvation, but to replenish all the empty larders by means of scattered convoys, which would give them at the same time grand chances of loot and first-rate practice in sniping. To obviate this the military have had to make up their minds either to let the women and children starve on their farms or else gather them into large concentration camps. This war has been remarkable for two things: first, the small regard that the Boers, from the highest to the lowest, have had for their womankind; and secondly, the great care and consideration the victors have had for the same, very often ungrateful, women. "It is the fault of the Boer men, not ours, that their women and children are in concentration camps. The task of our _pro tem._ rulers is not made easier by the fact that no consideration of the stuff on a supply train being partly meant for their own wives and children would hinder Boer husbands and fathers from wrecking the train and destroying the food. They comfort themselves with the thought that the soldiers may have to go on half rations and tighten their belts, but 'these fools of English will serve out as usual the daily ration to the refugee camps.' At present there is the danger that the Boers will waken up to have a care for their womenfolk, and will go on fighting for some time so as to keep them in comfortable winter quarters at our expense, and thus our women and children will lose a few more of their husbands and fathers." In corroboration of Dr. Waterston's statements it may also be noted that the Government, while spending hundreds of thousands of pounds monthly on the Boer refugees, had devoted only £50,000 towards the Imperial Relief fund for helping the loyalists. Naturally, among the British sufferers, the continual attempts to propitiate an irreconcilable enemy were looked upon with disgust and even suspicion, and very rejoiced were they to find that steps were taken to arrest and remove Boer sympathisers in Johannesburg and elsewhere, who were known to be assisting in a widening conspiracy to get surrendered burghers to return to their commandos, and so reproduce a recrudescence of hostilities. On all sides the lying tongues of the Boer party, who had declared war and quitted the field, strove to urge the remnants towards further resistance by declaring that Great Britain was divided against itself, and that it had not sufficient endurance to see the matter through. [Illustration: CHURCH SQUARE, PRETORIA. Drawing by Donald E. M'Cracken.] CHAPTER XII ORANGE RIVER COLONY--AUGUST At this time, as we know, the troops of Generals Bruce-Hamilton and C. Knox were engaged in clearing operations to the south of the Riet River, but, in consequence of a recrudescence of activity in the south-eastern districts of the Orange Colony, the operations were somewhat curtailed, and attention was directed to the offending quarter. The activity showed itself firstly on the 12th of August, when some 250 Boers under Boshoff, fleeing from the trap that Elliot had prepared for them, burst through the line of blockhouses near Sanna's Post. Secondly, another marauding gang of the same size, under Kruitzinger, in evading French's hunters, east of Norval's Pont, had penetrated the Springfontein-Bethulie line near Providence Siding, on their way to Boesmans Kop--an old and favourite haunt. Finally, a similar party under Smuts and Dreyer, on the 15th, had succeeded in squeezing past the line of police posts on the Modder, to the north of Petrusburg. These three movements suggested the possible concentration of the raiders in the now clear area between Wepener, Rouxville, and Smithfield, and consequently General Knox at once directed his attention to this quarter, in order to prevent any fresh junction of forces, and the entry of swelled commandos into Cape Colony. He therefore moved his troops from west to east of the railway, so as to interpose them between the enemy and the river line. Major Damant's column was detached from General Bruce-Hamilton's command, and the Royal Dragoons, under Lord Basing, were brought by rail from the Transvaal to Springfontein, while Colonel Western moved from Bloemfontein to Bethulie to join General Hart, who with Col. the Hon. H. D. Murray's column, the Connaught Rangers, was guarding the river west and east of Aliwal North. Nor was this all. Colonel Sir Henry Rawlinson was ordered to pursue Boshoff's guerillas, who were scurrying through the Bloemfontein-Ladybrand line, but these nimble ones, bent rather on flight than fight, knowingly avoided contact with the pursuers. Kruitzinger, gathering the bedraggled remnants of commandos as he went, veered towards the Basuto border, hugged it gingerly, and stealthily crept towards the river, so that, on the morning of the 4th of September, he succeeded with 300 men, despite the vigilance of our troops, in effecting a crossing into Cape Colony at Kiba Drift. The Boers did not, however, escape Major Damant, who was hunting for them in the neighbourhood of Spitzkop. He scented them out at Oudam, to the west of Boesmanskop, and was off with 300 mounted men, 2 guns, and a pom-pom to attack them. The marauders were on the alert, and they, on the 14th, galloped off as fast as their mounts would carry them. For a good ten miles galloped hunters and hunted, till at last the quarry, dispersing, sought almost inaccessible refuge in the Marsfontein Hills. But 4 prisoners, 20 horses, 6 mules, 5 rifles, a heliograph, and the Commandant's despatch-box fell into Major Damant's hands. From the prisoners it was discovered that they formed part of Delarey's gang, who were moving under Dreyer to reinforce Kruitzinger at the Cape. Meanwhile, Lord Basing was hunting around Boesmanskop, and Colonel Thorneycroft's two columns, under Colonel Minchin and Major Copeman, were working their way (from Reddersburg and Smithfield respectively) towards Zandfontein, twelve miles east of Rouxville, where they met at the end of August. The enemy, ensconced in the kloofs, crannies, and kopjes between Zastron and the Orange River, succeeded in evading them, not a very marvellous feat considering their intimate acquaintanceship with the geographical features of this locality. Colonel Pilcher's two columns of General Knox's force, under Colonel Taylor and Major Lean, now marched from the west into Bloemfontein and Edenburg, and from thence south to Bethulie, while Colonel Pilcher pushed up the valley of the Caledon towards Smithfield, thus freeing the troops of Colonel Thorneycroft and Lord Basing, who were able to scour further east. About this time, 25th of August, Colonel Sir Henry Rawlinson, marching south from Dewetsdorp, encountered a detached bunch of Smuts' men scuttling east of Reddersburg. A brilliant chase to the north-east followed, the mounted troops under Major Gosset pursuing with such dash that 25 prisoners out of the party of 120 were secured, and 30 of their horses captured. In September, after the column had obtained supplies at Edenburg, further activities all along the Basuto border were engaged in, and, on the 8th the mischievous hordes were driven north from a position they had taken up in the vicinity of Elandsberg. But Smuts and his following, despite the close proximity of Colonel Thorneycroft, were successful in finding a loophole at Kiba Drift, and escaped into Cape Colony on the 4th. There he was quickly "spotted" by General Hart, who pursued him towards Ladygrey. Both General Hart and General French had now their hands full. Kruitzinger's and Smuts' men, who had effected a crossing, required to be dealt with, so, in order to reinforce General French, Colonel Pilcher moved from the Caledon Valley to Burghersdorp on the 7th of September. ORANGE RIVER COLONY, S.--BRIGADIER-GENERAL PLUMER We left General Plumer, on the 11th of August, surrounded by the prizes won during his expedition to block the exits to the west during General Elliot's sweep from the Vaal to the Modder River (see Map, p. 89). These prizes included 32 prisoners, 346 horses, 566 cattle, 28 waggons, and 39 carts. Four days later he was off again on fresh Boer-hunting adventures. On his right moved Colonel Colvin, _viâ_ Doornhoek and Roodepan to Zoutpans Drift on the Orange River; on his left marched Colonel Sir J. Jarvis through Koffyfontein and Luckhoff. The place between the Kimberley-Luckhoff line was a desert. Not a Boer showed his nose. Only some cattle, which were captured, betrayed his recent haunts. General Plumer concentrated his force at Zoutpans Drift on the 21st, and on the 23rd began a new move. The Orange River Valley to the east and all its mysterious kloofs were thoroughly searched, and the loopholes, whence the hunted might evade the vigilance of General French's troops on the other side, were watched with lynx eyes. But the Boers were not to be caught napping in this way. At last, however, a commando under Lategan, which had been forced to run from the Cape Colony before Colonel Byng's men, came plump upon Plumer, who was then on the look-out, south of Philippolis. A spirited chase ensued, and the fugitive band was relieved of 8 comrades, 4 rifles, 46 horses, and 11 vehicles. General Plumer's force reached Prior's Siding and Springfontein on the night of the 30th of August, and, one may almost say, without waiting to draw breath, was off again to join in the hunt for Kruitzinger. ORANGE RIVER COLONY, E.--MAJOR-GENERAL ELLIOT--AUGUST After a brief rest at Glen, General Elliot, on the 18th, spread his troops on the line Glen, Sanna's Post, Ladybrand, with the intention of making a sweep to the north-east and a final wheel towards the Wittebergen Mountains. The object of this wheel was to drive such Boers as might be lurking about into the arms of General Campbell, who, it may be remembered, was waiting at the Brandwater Basin to mop them up. On General Elliot's left were Colonel Barker and Major Pine Coffin, working from Winburg to co-operate towards the Tabaksberg and Doornberg; while in the Senekal district was an outstretched net--composed of the troops of General Spens, Colonel Rimington, and Colonel Wilson--ready to haul in any interlopers that might be driven north by General Elliot's activities. Haasbroek, whose laager was reported to be somewhere in the vicinity, was now the main object of the hunt. Report said that he, with 300 men, was on the Korannaberg; consequently this eminence was surrounded on three sides by the Mounted Infantry from Thabanchu and Ladybrand working one way, while Colonel Baker and Major Pine Coffin so disposed themselves that the enemy, retreating toward Doornberg, would meet with a warm welcome. But Haasbroek had bolted. When, after a long and weary night march, Colonel Lowe's doughty men scaled the ridges, they found on the summit only some twenty Boers, two of whom were killed and one wounded. This was especially disappointing, as on the 22nd a commando, said to be under De Wet, cropped up most unexpectedly, and pounced upon a small party of the Black Watch Mounted Infantry, which had been detached from Ladybrand to Modderpoort for the purpose of driving such Boers as they might find towards General Elliot's right front. And this commando--their superiors in numbers and in point of position--was not to be overpowered, and eventually, after a fierce tussle, in which five of the enemy were killed, including the field cornet, the party was captured. Hearing of the disaster, General Broadwood, who was on General Elliot's right at Maquatlings Nek, rushed at once to the rescue, making a forced march throughout the night of the 22nd, but without avail. The enemy and their British prize had disappeared. The prisoners were afterwards released--the Boers having already too many mouths to feed and no means of securing their haul. From this time to the 26th the Division halted in the region of the Korannaberg, and the time spent in awaiting supplies was occupied in completely scouring the surrounding country. On the 26th the march towards Wittebergen was resumed. Of course, Haasbroek and his friends Froneman, Koen, and Hermanns Steyn were soon aware of the direction taken by the troops, and were not slow in vacating the position that they had taken up at Wonderkop, and moving north. By the 30th the columns were spreading out on a line--Retief's Nek, Commando Nek--hunting as they went in valley and kloof, in ridge and ravine, for signs of the marauders. Tiring and fatiguing were the explorations, and often unremunerative; indeed, as a total, the results of so much energy were disappointing. Horses, cattle, and waggons were found in good quantities, but only 13 Boers were killed, 11 wounded, and 21 prisoners taken after numerous exciting expeditions. The rest of the guerillas were driven either in the direction of General Campbell's troops or towards the north. General Elliot moved to Winburg on the 6th, where he was joined later by Colonel Barker and Major Pine Coffin, who pursued their investigations of the country some days longer. SWEEPING THE KROONSTAD DISTRICT--BRIGADIER-GENERAL SPENS--AUGUST The columns of General Spens, moving from Heilbron to Kroonstad between the 6th and the 12th of August, performed a prodigious amount of work, Major Gough and his Mounted Infantry alone securing 12 prisoners, 900 cattle, 30 carts, 2 waggons, and 186 horses. On the 16th the General again made a grand effort, which, however, was not crowned with brilliant results such as those just chronicled. The mounted troops of Colonel Jenner and Major Gough, with four R.H.A. guns, made a laborious night march of 35 miles from a farm north of Welvart, in order to surround Lindley before dawn. The thing was splendidly managed, but to no purpose. The town was vacated. The "slim" ones had slunk off in a manner as disappointing to us as it was commendable in them. So, on the 18th, General Spens was joined six miles north-west of Lindley by his worn and disgusted band. Little rest did they get. On the 20th they were again on the move, for it was necessary that the rolling stone of the Boers should not be allowed anywhere to pause and gather moss in the form of recruits and roving raiders. The country north of the Lindley-Reitz road, as far as Lovedale, was diligently searched. From Stryfontein on the 21st Colonel Jenner and Major Gough were despatched in the direction of two farms on the Lindley-Bethlehem road, which were known to be hotbeds of hostility. A brilliant night march brought the troops to their destination, but the Boers were on the alert, and in the grey of the morning put spurs to their horses, and fled wildly in the direction of the valley of the Valsch River, followed by salvoes from the pursuing force. General Spens continued his sweep, and at last at Olievenfontein (on the Lindley-Kroonstad road) came in touch with the enemy. Here, his left flank guard had 200 to tackle--a desperate band who came, for a wonder, to close quarters, and fought with dogged valour. It was with no little difficulty that the foe were eventually driven off, and that with the loss of gallant young Wallis (Royal Irish Fusiliers) and 2 men, while 13 of the men were wounded. The force neared Kroonstad by the 29th August, about which time a splendid officer, Captain Dick (Royal Irish Fusiliers), succumbed to wounds incurred while gallantly leading his men. Colonel Rimington meanwhile had relaxed none of his efforts. A smart little affair on the 15th, in which he caught a Boer convoy trailing along near Doornkloof, some seventeen miles north-west of Lindley, helped to swell his "bag." Then on the 17th, at Vechtkop, he dashed into a knot of 200 Boers under Waude, Mentz, and Boshoff, and sent them spinning, following hot foot for full eight miles till they dispersed in the mists of the south-east. That done he turned his attention to Trommel, near Reitz. Here he pounced on a small laager--secured 16 prisoners and some fat cart-loads of provisions, beside waggons and horses. He was back again at Kroonstad by the 28th. But two days later, he was to the fore taking his place in the scheme of General Elliot's operations, which have been described, and, later, co-operating with General Spens and Colonel Wilson in their endeavours to intercept the roving bands. His activities were unending. On the 31st of August he "spotted" the commandos of De Vos and Lategan, chased and dispersed them, and secured the best part of their belongings; later, near Senekal, he made a dash on another convoy, chased it, and, after a good ten miles' rush and a smart fight, killed 4 Boers and took 10 whole, together with 61 loaded waggons, 25 carts, horses, mules, and 2000 cattle. This with the loss of only 4 men wounded. On the 6th of September, after reconnoitring towards Blitzberg, Colonel Rimington returned, heavy with the spoils of war, to Kroonstad. [Illustration: GENERAL ELLIOT] Here he was followed two days later by Colonel Wilson, who had been following an identical plan of pounce and pursuit on the right. He too had skirmished with good effort, first engaging some of De Vos' men and sending them to the right-about, and secondly attacking Haasbroek's commando, midway between Senekal and Ventersburg, and handling it somewhat roughly. Seven Boers were killed, 3 prisoners were taken, together with carts innumerable, full and empty, and cattle to the tune of 2000. The central column under General Spens, which all this time was moving direct on Senekal, worked brilliantly and scored some success, the total result being 5 Boers killed, 3 voluntarily surrendered, 11 prisoners, 34 Cape carts, and 1800 cattle captured. OPERATIONS NEAR HONING SPRUIT AND THE LOSBERG--LIEUTENANT-COLONEL GARRATT In August, Colonel Garratt, who was following in rear of General Elliot's movement on the Modder (see p. 89), marched from the junction of the Vet and Zand Rivers to Bultfontein. Here, on the 12th, he encountered a band of guerillas, took two and killed two, and pursued the rest as far as the banks of the Zand River. Here he lost them, for horse flesh could do no more. Turning, he veered north towards Honing Spruit. In this direction, near the junction of the Rhenoster and Honing Spruit, was said to be the laager of Spanneberg, and consequently a force under Colonel the Hon. H. White (300 mounted men and 30 Burgher Police) was detached to deal with him. Through the night of the 18th the troops marched warily yet rapidly towards their prey, fearing that at any moment rumour of their approach might render the expedition--as these expeditions were so likely to be--futile. But no; by dawn the sleeping gang was surrounded; they opened their eyes to the consciousness that a small forest of British rifles had grown up around them, and that efforts of defence were useless. They had to deal with men who were more than their match--Simpson of the New Zealand Regiment, Quintal of the New South Wales Bushmen, and other splendid fellows before whom they were only too glad to run! One Boer lost his life in the scrimmage, twenty-five were made prisoners, and Steyn, late Landdrost of Vredefort, was among them. Carts, waggons, horses, cattle too, were taken possession of, and the smart little force, after having covered 56 miles in 36 hours, returned to headquarters, duly elated with their prize. It was now necessary to search in the region of the Losberg for fugitive bands, and to this end Colonel Garratt on the 21st crossed the Vaal at Lindique Drift. The mounted troops were eternally spying and scouring hither and thither, and their activity was not in vain. In the distance on the morning of the 24th loomed what appeared to be a convoy--a convoy moving towards Buffelshoek. In an instant the trackers were after it, and before long the hostile gang was caught, dispersed, their precious freight taken, and with it eight prisoners, carts, oxen, cattle, and horses. With this extra burden on their hands, the party, fatigued after the chase, were, as may be imagined, almost at the mercy of fate. Fate, as it happened, was capricious. Such of the Boers as had contrived to escape gave warning of the perilous position of the British force, and at noon returned with a party of 300 of their fellows, who had been collected from the skirts of the Gatsrand. A vigorous fight ensued. The Boers, doughty always, were now grown dashing, the spur of famine driving them to the valour of despair. Between both was the prize--the prize to be held by those who had won it; by now, infinitely more precious than in the winning--the prize to be recaptured by those who had all the calls of the flesh to prompt the spirit to battle and retaliation. This was indeed a tug of war. Till five of the afternoon--from noon till five--fought those men. The Boers, fresh from the hills, hungering with a mighty hunger for their precious convoy--the British, worn with the long rush since daylight and the previous fight, but holding on, like the never-say-die fellows they are, till the desperadoes were at length driven off in the direction of the Vaal. But this engagement was costly, for one officer and one man were killed, and two men were wounded. This brilliant little force, which was covering the establishment of posts by the South African Constabulary, two days later made another successful night march from the Losberg to Leeuwpoort. More prizes of horses, mules, cattle, and prisoners--numbering thirteen--were the fruit of their pluck and perseverance, and in the net they had the satisfaction of discovering a nephew of General Delarey, a person who counted for considerably more than the poor tramps who had joined the guerilla proceedings for reasons of mere bellicose vagrancy. On the 2nd of September Colonel Garratt marched to Meyerton and Vereening, and from thence moved by rail to Paardekop Station on the Standerton line. This was a precautionary measure, for rumour now pointed to possible raids on the Natal border, and to frustrate any concentration of hostile bodies Colonel Garratt was to commence working from Paardekop towards Wakkerstroom. SCOURING THE MAGALIESBERG--COLONELS ALLENBY AND KEKEWICH We left Colonel Allenby in the occupation of Breedt's Nek, which the Boers had evacuated. [Illustration: NIGHT ATTACK ON A BOER CONVOY BY MOUNTED INFANTRY UNDER COLONEL WILLIAMS Drawing by John Charlton from a Sketch by a British Officer] On the 7th of August a movement was made to obtain possession of the Damhoek and Pampoen Kraal Passes. At the latter place a gang of forty Boers was effectively tackled by the Volunteer Service Company and the King's Own Scottish Borderers under Major Mayne. The whole bunch was most skilfully surrounded and secured, and with them Mr. F. Wolmarans, chairman of the late Volksraad. The passes were occupied, and from the 10th to the 12th of August stray Boers were unearthed by Colonel Allenby in the southern slopes of the Magaliesberg, between Nooitgedacht and Grobelaar's Pass. Nine Boers were brought in, fourteen rifles, some waggons, carts, and dynamite. About this time Major Butler (in command of the Carabineers) was detached from Colonel Allenby's column to co-operate with General Gilbert Hamilton, who had been engaging in the incessant harrying of Liebenberg's commando and other raiders east of Lichtenburg. Marching by night and by day, he had hunted and tracked, worried and pursued, but had never succeeded in bringing the enemy to open fight. Now, on his return to Ventersdorp on the 11th, he arranged, with the assistance of Major Butler's men from the north, for a simultaneous attack upon Koperfontein and Basfontein. The attack was splendidly managed, and on the morning of the 14th, after some vigorous fighting, in which Lieutenant Till (6th Dragoon Guards) and one man lost their lives and 5 men were wounded, 10 prisoners, 27 waggons, and 100 cattle were captured. Three Boers were killed. Major Butler and the Carabineers rejoined Colonel Allenby at Damhoek, while General Hamilton reconnoitred towards Tafel Kop and made more prisoners. General Barton now watched the establishment of posts eastwards over the hill from Breedt's Nek, while Colonels Kekewich and Allenby, having completely effected their sweeping operations, moved to Commando Nek for supplies. But of course the dispersed Boers were forced to hide somewhere, so, going north, they chose Zwartkopies, whence after some skirmishing they were driven by Colonel Allenby. Meanwhile Colonel Kekewich, moving at the same date (19th) from Commando Nek, ferreted along the bed of the Crocodile River and effected the capture of fourteen of the enemy together with their horses. So vigorous were the operations of both these officers that the Boers in the district began to feel that their days were numbered, and that they had better surrender with a good grace. This twenty-nine of them did at Beestekraal, where Colonel Allenby was operating, on the 23rd, while on the 25th sixteen more (including T. Kruger, a nephew of the ex-President) surrendered to Colonel Kekewich, who was then at the junction of the Crocodile and Elands Rivers. As most of the remaining raiders had now betaken themselves to the rugged and almost inaccessible country on the north, where pursuit would have been useless, Colonel Kekewich veered south, while Colonel Allenby moved west, with a view to watching the west of Magaliesberg in the direction of Rustenburg. September found them posted at points where they might work in combination against Kemp's commando--Colonel Allenby at Bashoek (a northern fringe of the Magaliesberg) and Colonel Kekewich near Magato Pass. At this date, owing to the unceasing exertions of General Barton, Colonels Kekewich and Allenby, and Lord Basing, together with the extension of the system of Constabulary posts, excellent results had been obtained in the area bounded on the north by the Magaliesberg, on the south by the Vaal, on the east by the Pretoria line, and on the west by the Frederikstad-Breedt's Nek line of blockhouses. Scarcely a Boer was to be seen. The raiders were forced to the extreme limits, east and west, north and south, and against their safety in these outskirts, further operations were soon to be directed. TRANSVAAL, S.W. Their work over in the Marokani range and the valley of the Harts River, Lord Methuen and General Fetherstonhaugh by parallel routes moved to Klerksdorp. General Fetherstonhaugh marched (on the 9th) his two columns along the right bank of the Vaal, searching in every hole and cranny for nests of marauders and destroying such supplies as he found. Colonel Hickie unearthed few Boers; but Colonel Williams, by a knowing dodge worthy of De Wet himself, set a trap which enclosed a whole convoy plus eighteen prisoners, cattle, and vehicles. His manoeuvre was this. Report spoke to the fact that the convoy of Commandant Vermaas on the 19th was trekking towards Katdoornplaats, north of Wolmaranstad. Accordingly, he sent off his convoy under escort towards Leeuwfontein, thus giving the effect that he was on the march in that direction. Meanwhile he reserved his alert Colonials (the New South Wales Mounted Rifles and Bushmen) for an enterprise after their own heart. In the dead of night they were ordered to proceed towards their goal, and at early dawn when they reached Katdoornplaats they traced the tale of Boer departure and the direction of it by the wheel-tracks in the soil. Not a moment did they lose. Off on a gallop of twelve miles they went, lessening, as they plunged onward, the distance between themselves and the lumbering convoy. At last they were even with it; the ping of bullets told the Boers that their flight was a failure and that they had met their match. And so it came to pass that this mettlesome force, after an expedition during which they covered sixty miles in twenty-seven hours, returned to headquarters with the spoil before named, every one of the captured vehicles being brought away with them. Among the prisoners was the late Landdrost of Bloemhof and a telegraphist with complete tapping apparatus. While these columns were moving on Klerksdorp, which they reached on 22nd and 23rd of August, Lord Methuen, on the left, had been skirmishing his way along, fighting both with the gang of Delarey and with that of Vermaas, fights of no limp nature, for he came into Klerksdorp on the 22nd with 13 prisoners, 23 voluntarily surrendered Boers, 400 trek oxen, 1848 cattle, 43 waggons, 19 carts, 76 horses, and 8 mules. He had lost one man, and one officer and eight men had been wounded in the various frays. In addition to these commandos which were trounced on the journey, report said that General Kemp with some 800 followers was flitting between the kopjes and crevices on the south-west of Olifant's Nek. An effort therefore had to be made to meet this hostile multitude, and to this end the various troops moved by the 1st of September to situations which were supposed to enclose the marauders and afford them no loopholes of escape. Unfortunately, Lord Methuen's men were covering a wide expanse of ground, and were forced to move to block a reported attempt to escape towards Lindley Poort; and through the gap thus created between the columns of Lord Methuen and those of Colonel Hickie, the Dutch leader contrived to bolt. But in his dashing feat only his mounted men could follow him, and consequently a large body of Boers with waggons, carts, ammunition, indeed all his effects, were left behind, and by degrees were unearthed from their burial-places in the kloofs and taken possession of. Lord Methuen, on the 2nd of September, marched from Brakfontein to Roodival (on his return journey to Zeerust), and while proceeding to the north-west he suddenly espied a convoy in the distance. A mad chase ensued, followed by a brisk fight, in which 6 Boers were left dead on the field. Of prisoners 22 were taken, together with waggons, carts, cattle, and ammunition in enormous quantities. Passing on, Lord Methuen spent the following days in capturing more vagrants; but on the 5th his troops came in for stiff work. They were now in the country of scrub and jungle in the Marico Valley, and round them on their right were Delarey and Field-Cornet Van Tonder, whose convoy had been captured, while on the left were Commandants Botha and Liebenberg. In addition to these was the Marico commando under Commandant Lemmer and Field-Cornet Louw, who attacked the rearguard. A stirring action followed, the brunt of which was sustained by the 5th Imperial Yeomanry and the Welsh Squadrons. Eleven Boers were killed, 8 wounded, and 11 prisoners, while 10 waggons and 5 carts were captured. This haul was somewhat increased by the contributions of Colonel Von Donop, who with his detached column had taken a more southerly route through Quaggashoek and the lead mines, where he collected 3 Boers, 39 vehicles, and some cattle. The total British casualties on the march between Brakfontein and Zeerust were 1 officer and 12 men killed, and 2 officers and 28 men wounded. While Lord Methuen returned to Zeerust and General Hamilton marched to Kaffir's Kraal (fifteen miles north-west of Klerksdorp), General Fetherstonhaugh remained for a few days trapping the stragglers from Kemp's force, in which operation he was assisted by Colonel Kekewich, who afterwards (on the 7th) retraced his steps _viâ_ Middelfontein towards Naauwpoort. Colonel Allenby on the 9th got back _viâ_ Rustenburg to Commando Nek, having indulged, as he went, in various exciting exploits. At Schaapkraal he scented out a Boer laager and by night surrounded it so cautiously and so cleverly that the Boers, though they made an effort at fight, had not the ghost of a chance. Unfortunately in the skirmish two men of the Scots Greys fell. Of the enemy, 22 were made prisoners and 2 were killed. Rifles, carts, loaded waggons, and ammunition swelled the total. THE PIETERSBURG LINE--LIEUT.-COLONEL GRENFELL Colonel Grenfell spent July and the better part of August in operating against General Beyer's gang, which still hovered around the west of the Pietersburg line. These marauders in small numbers were captured occasionally, but they were more inclined for manslaughter than for war, and seldom came out into the open, contenting themselves merely with train-wrecking. On the 4th of July, taking advantage of the thick cover that surrounded the line north of Naboom Spruit Station, Commandant Lys and his party lay in wait for a train for which a mine had been previously prepared. The mine exploded to time and the train with its escort of Gordon Highlanders was brought to a standstill. Then from their comfortable ambush the enemy proceeded to fire, killing Lieutenant Best and 9 Gordon Highlanders, an artillery-man, 2 Engineers, the driver, fireman, guard, and 4 natives. The success of this scheme so delighted the ruffians that they tried the same game again and again, and on the 31st of August a still more tragic affair took place. The train was travelling between Waterval and Hamanskraal Stations, and had descended a deep cutting when an explosion occurred. Before the victims could recover the shock of derailment the Boers hiding on the banks rained bullets among their number, killing and wounding at their pleasure. Colonel Vandeleur (Irish Guards), a valuable young officer of great promise, fell; with him among the dead lay 13 men, 1 traveller, and 2 natives. Four officers were wounded, besides 20 men and a woman. The mail-bags were seized by the marauders, who were well pleased with their murderous success. To effect their chastisement and secure the line in future from further assaults, General Barton quickly despatched from the Hekpoort Valley, by Zilikat's Nek, to Waterval, a flying column. The force (250 men and two R.H.A. guns), under Colonel Hacket Thompson, pursued the enemy, and near Wagon Drift caught them. A brisk fight ensued, four of the gang were killed and a portion of the captured mails was recovered, after which the column moved back to Eerste Fabriken, and from thence to Waterval by the 8th of September. THE TRANSVAAL (NORTH-EAST)--GENERAL BLOOD'S OPERATIONS The first exploit of General Walter Kitchener in August was the surprise of a convoy near Diepkloof, some thirty-five miles north of Middelburg, where he was encamped. Colonel Park meanwhile searched for the remnants of Viljoen raiders in the rugged region of the Tautesberg, and that done, marched to Paardekloof. A week later, as a larger and more rapid swoop upon the enemy was contemplated, General Kitchener from his own, Colonel Campbell's, and Colonel Park's columns organised a flying column consisting of the 18th and 19th Hussars, 4th Mounted Infantry Battalion, two guns of the 81st Battery R.F.A., a pom-pom, and sixty "Devons," who were to be carried in carts. With this column he left Diepkloof at 4 A.M. on the 10th for Krokodil Drift on the Olifants River, while Colonels Campbell and Park, with the remainder of the infantry (in waggons), proceeded to Rooikraal and Holnek. General Kitchener now scoured the valley of the Blood River, and finding it clear of guerillas, and hearing that Viljoen's horde had betaken itself to the banks of the Moos stream, he pushed thither with his cavalry, over the stream and on towards the valley of Elands River, leaving the Mounted Infantry with the pom-pom to guard Krokodil Drift. Up to this time no vestige of the quarry had been sighted. But now from the low banks fringing Elands River, dust in the distance, some seven miles off, seemed to hint of a moving convoy. The vision was tantalising. But an almost impregnable jungle stretched between the dust-cloud and the British troops, and the General decided that a cut across country would be futile. From his observations he calculated that this convoy moving down the left bank of the river towards Commissie Drift might be headed off at that point; therefore the column was soon pushing along the right bank towards the drift in expectation of a fight. But the Boers were wary. By the time the British force gained the drift, they discovered to their dismay that the enemy had retraced their steps and were off to the south-west. After this disappointment the column moved to Uyskraal, and from thence on the 16th they pushed up the Elands Valley to Vrieskrall. The 19th Hussars, who were in advance, soon found to their cost that the dense jungle in that region was populated with Boers, and at midday the officer commanding sent back word that he was being hard pressed. The Boers, indeed, were on all sides, and as fast as the officers advanced, they found themselves surrounded. The predicament threatened to be disastrous, for four of the officers and nineteen of the troopers had been seized when the 18th Hussars and guns, which had been pushed forward in support, turned the scale of events. Fighting, fast and furious, in the thick of a dense mass of scrub and tangle was carried on, the enemy sticking to the bush with fierce tenacity, the Hussars steadily pushing them back and back to the region of some kopjes where, in the shadow of the night, they sought refuge. Fortunately, during the scrimmage the foe were forced to let loose the officers and men whom they had captured, but five gallant troopers were lost. The Boers made use of the darkness to effect their escape, and by the morning the whole of their position was evacuated. General Kitchener now rejoined Colonel Campbell at Roorikraal, the flying column was broken up, and the 4th Mounted Infantry returned to Colonel Park. From this date till the end of the month the columns moved slowly down to the railway, those of General Kitchener and Campbell by Blinkwater to Wonderfontein (which was reached on the 4th September), and that of Colonel Park by Roosenekal and Welpoort to Bankfontein (five miles north-east of Middelburg), which was reached on the 8th. The combined "bag" contained 53 prisoners, 22 voluntarily surrendered burghers, 2072 cattle, 76 horses, 60 waggons, and 24 carts. Sixteen Boers were killed. A 15-pounder gun and three Maxims were found by Colonel Park, the enemy having first taken care to destroy them. Colonel Benson meanwhile had been untiringly sweeping the district between Carolina and Ermelo, causing the Boers to live in a state of sleepless anxiety lest he, in one of his midnight swoops, should catch them snoring. On the 15th he arranged another of these expeditions, the direction being Warmbaths, some thirty-four miles north-east of Carolina, where he then was. He moved first to Nooitgedacht. Here he dropped his encumbrance in the form of waggons, &c.; and thus lightened, he stole with his brilliant little band, Colonel Wools-Sampson leading them, across the pitch-black veldt towards the enemy's camp. For thirty-four miles they crept on their errand of surprise. The stratagem was successful. A good number of Boers escaped, but they went horseless and cattleless. Fifty-two prisoners were taken, the majority of whom were captured in a dashing rush by the Eastern Transvaal Scouts under Major Young. Among the captives was a captain of scouts for the Carolina districts, and also the father-in-law of Mr. Schalk Burger. Colonel Benson now returned to Carolina, where he remained till the 21st of August. Of the activities of Colonel Benson's force the correspondent of the _Morning Post_ reported enthusiastically. He said:-- "The intelligence officers of the column, for some time under Colonel Wools Sampson, did their work in a most efficient manner. By various clever tactics they would locate bodies of the enemy, perhaps twenty and sometimes even fifty miles away from the camp. On their information a sudden swoop would be planned, and carried out, as a rule, successfully. On occasion the whole column would march several miles in the opposite direction to that of the object of attack. Then after the camp was formed, the horses fed, and the men about to turn in for the night, sudden orders would be given for the mounted men to march. The plans were not known generally, even by the officers, till within an hour of marching. Then the camp would be left in charge of the infantry, and the mounted men would proceed as silently as possible on their night march of from twenty to fifty miles. If guns were taken the wheels would be muffled, and every possible precaution would be taken to keep the movement secret. Through the intelligence officers knowing the roads thoroughly very few mishaps have occurred. The march was usually done in column of fours until the point was reached whence the attack was to be made. Even on the darkest nights, when it was difficult for a trooper to see his horse's head, only very rarely has a man got off the road and lost the column. After a couple of months' practice the men became adepts at the work. "When the point was reached from which the attack was to be made the force would be divided into several independent squadrons and sent round the position occupied by the enemy, each squadron leader being carefully instructed about what he had to do, whether his part in the plan was to hold a nek over which the enemy would probably attempt to escape, or whether it was to rush the position at a given time. The usual plan was to make the attack just as daylight began to appear. The leading squadrons detailed for the work, as a rule with Colonel Benson at their head, would gallop for the farmhouse or laager and be right among the Boers before they were properly awake. Latterly the Boers have been taking greater precautions, and some of the commandants have made it a rule to be saddled up by three o'clock every morning. The districts operated in--Carolina, Ermelo, Middelburg, and Lydenburg--have become noted during the war for the stubborn resistance they have made. In these districts there are still considerable numbers of the enemy about, mostly split up into small lots of ten, twenty, or perhaps fifty men. There are many farms which have not been visited by any column. These are situated away from the main roads, and hidden in kloofs and valleys among the hill ranges. These contain stores of food and serve as resting-places for the enemy. The work of destroying these food depôts is steadily prosecuted, but is necessarily a slow process. The Boers, however, obtain abundant supplies from the Kaffir kraals, mealies, meat, and salt being the principal food, and, judging from the condition of the prisoners taken, the Boers thrive on it." While the Eastern Transvaal Scouts, under Major Young, were making their reputation for dash in this district, the South African Constabulary and Morley's Scouts, under Captain Wood, had been doing splendid service patrolling the region of Bronkers Spruit. Boers were known to be in the valley, and the Constabulary posts were threatened by the dangerous contiguity of snipers sheltered in networks of dongas beyond them, but the strength of the Boers was not determined till the 17th, when the small British force came suddenly upon a gang of some 800 marauders which had halted at Middelburg. There was nothing to be done but to attack, and that with rapidity, and before the sudden and really splendid rush of Constabulary and Scouts the great Boer mass gave way--their horses stampeded--and many were wounded, while 11 were taken prisoners. But alas for the tide in the affairs of men! It turned at the most critical moment. The Boers, becoming suddenly aware of the small number of their assailants, made haste to rally their forces and boldly lunged back on the British party. Hand-to-hand fighting, ferocious and sustained, followed, during which Captain Morley of the Scouts was dangerously wounded. Back and back went the Constabulary, on and on came the Boers, till they had recovered the 11 prisoners that had been taken from them and secured 14 of the British to boot. In the fierce fray five of our men were wounded and one killed. On the following day an effort was made by Colonel Bewicke Copley to catch the guerillas and punish them, but without avail. He made a forced march from Springs towards Middelburg, but the commando which had wrought such havoc among Captain Wood's men was nowhere to be seen. Report said it had disappeared towards the south-east, so after dispersing such stragglers as were found hanging about the line of march preparing to locate themselves in the comfortable sniping-places of spruit and donga, he proceeded to Olifantsfontein, whence he sent for further supplies from Springs. At Olifantsfontein he stayed a week, then went to Springs for the purpose of co-operating with Colonel Benson. This officer, owing to some misunderstanding regarding the urgency of the orders calling him west, and being ignorant of the Boer concentration that had been effected on the 17th, moved from Carolina only on the 21st of August. He marched by Vaalbank to Middelkraal; from thence he veered northwards; drew supplies from Middelburg, and again proceeded on his course towards Brakfontein, near the sources of the Wilge River. Here Colonel Bewicke Copley, after a twenty-mile march, had arrived, and here at dawn on the 31st he came in collision with 450 Boers; fought them; wounded Lieutenant Roos of the Staats Artillery and some others; took 7 prisoners, some horses, cattle, and waggons, and sent the rest scattering to the south. Colonel Benson, too, was doing his share of the Boer-hunting. Hearing that the enemy had gone south towards the upper part of the Waterval Valley, he decided on another of his night marches for the surprise of the foe. Leaving his waggons in charge of the infantry, he led his mounted troops towards the laager at Kroomdraai (west of Ermelo). The pickets were "rushed," and before the startled Boers could reach their horses, the gallant Scottish Horse plunged in among them. Fourteen prisoners were taken. The late Landdrost of Heidelberg, and Brink, a member of the Special Government Court for the trial of prisoners, were of the number. At the conclusion of the adventure--in which he captured 12 waggons, 17 Cape carts, 80 horses, 514 cattle, 11 mules, and some supplies--and in consequence of the Boers having escaped beyond pursuit to the south-east, Colonel Benson proceeded early in September to the Delagoa line (Witbank Station), while Colonel Bewicke Copley returned to Springs. [Illustration: BULLOCK WAGGON CROSSING A DRIFT ON THE UMBELOSI RIVER, SWAZILAND. Drawing by Donald E. M'Cracken.] LIEUTENANT-COLONEL COLVILLE'S OPERATIONS In August Colonels Colville and Stewart, who had been operating north of Greylingstad, moved to Standerton. On the 10th the last officer entrained for Dundee to reinforce the troops on the north-east frontier of Natal, while Colonel Colville crossed the Klip and established an entrenched camp at Brakpan. He now, with mounted troops and guns, scoured the Upper Klip Valley, penetrated Natal by Muller's Pass in the Drakensberg, and deposited at Newcastle his stock and prisoners captured during the march. This march was by no means a triumphal progress, for the district was fringed with Boers who sniped by day and brewed mischief by night. The dongas, spruits, and hills afforded them excellent cover, and the men needed nerves of iron to play a livelong game of hide-and-seek with death, which peeped cunningly from every nook and cranny. Colonel Colville returned _viâ_ Botha's Pass to De Lange Drift minus many of his gallant men who were wounded in the course of the ordeal, and proceeded to Standerton on the 6th of September. NATAL--LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR H. HILDYARD On the Natal frontier affairs had become somewhat unsettled. The Boers who had been swept off from the Standerton line were dribbling across the frontier, and others round about Vryheid and Utrecht seemed to be waiting an opportunity to effect a concentration. At the end of July it became certain that the foe was gathering in good numbers to the east of Nqutu, and that many more might be creeping through the long grass to other parts of the country which had become more or less settled. On the 28th of July things came to a climax. Major F. A. Henderson (8th Hussars), who with 200 mounted men (8th Hussars and Natal Volunteer Composite Regiment) was scouring the locality around Nqutu, came on the foe and engaged them. The marauders were more than usually strong and more than usually tenacious. They launched themselves, in a mass of 400, with great dash against the small British force, in the hope to intercept the troops if possible during their retirement to Nondweni; but through the skill of the commanding officer and the dash of 20 men of the Natal Volunteers, who raced them for a kopje and won, the Boers were frustrated. The fighting lasted the whole day, and the Boers made frantic efforts to capture a gun of the 67th Battery R.F.A., but with great energy the piece of contention was galloped off under a brisk fusillade from the foe till it was safely out of their range. Doggedly both parties battled together, with the result that Major Jervis-Edwards, a gallant officer whose loss was much deplored, and three men were killed, and five were wounded. Soon after this, the Boers becoming still more obstreperous, it was arranged that Lieut.-General Sir H. Hildyard's command should be strengthened by the addition of the column of Colonel Stewart, whose departure for Dundee we may remember, and another under Colonel Pulteney. This column consisted of the Victorian Mounted Rifles (moved from the Delagoa line), a squadron of the 8th Hussars, the Dublin Fusiliers Mounted Infantry, and two guns. While this mobile column was sweeping from Utrecht to Kambuladraai, Colonel Stewart was marching from Dundee through Vryheid towards the same destination. A junction was effected on the 23rd of August, on which date a brisk encounter took place between Colonel Pulteney's men and the Boers who were sneaking in the west of the Schurveberg. In the engagement two of the Victorians were killed and five wounded. On the following days both columns retraced their steps to Vryheid and then, united under the command of Colonel Blomfield, moved to the junction of the Pivaan and Manzaan Rivers. The march over rugged and tormenting ground was one trying to the patience of man and beast, particularly as gangs of Boers under Scholtz at intervals prevented any chance of monotony by variations in the art of sniping and "potting." The force returned to Vryheid on the 31st, little having been accomplished owing to the impracticable nature of the country. But two Boers were killed. Early in September Colonel Blomfield began a new scouring expedition, moving down the valley of the Umvalosi on to Bethel and Brakfontein. Here again, on the 4th September, he had a smart tussle with the enemy, and having dispersed them, moved to Nondweni and thence to Dundee. CAPE COLONY--LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR J. FRENCH Early in August the troops of General French were found on the line Beaufort West, Pearston, Drennan Station-Cameron Glen-Cathcart. They now began pushing steadily northwards, sweeping the enemy before them. Kruitzinger, thus pressed, was forced to retire in the direction of Middelburg and Steynsburg. His gang--dispersed by various frays with the British columns, and divided in desultory knots which succeeded in passing through the line of British blockhouses--reassembled north of the Zuursberg at Langedrift (fifteen miles north-west of Steynsburg). Here their number was swelled by bands under Erasmus, Wessels, and Pypers. There was now a somewhat formidable army of guerillas, and these on the 13th were encountered by Colonel Gorringe at Rooifontein. The gang were attacked, driven back past Venterstad into the Orange River, and in their retreat were so effectively hustled by Captains Nickalls and Sandeman, that they lost many of their number, among them Commandant Cachet, while the redoubtable Erasmus, together with Kruitzinger's secretary, were captured. Colonel Hunter Weston about this time had also been engaged with Theron and had driven him and his to the right-about with characteristic despatch. While these frays were going forward, Lategan's raiders, who had been pressed into the Orange River Colony, were there being forcibly tackled by Colonel Byng and General Plumer. So far so good. But there were other gangs that buzzed mosquito-like in a circle; and these, under Lotter and Botha, after being flicked northward from the Rhenosterberg (south-west of Middelburg), veered round and contrived to break through the pursuing columns and re-establish themselves in the hilly region of Spitzkop (thirty miles south of Middelburg). Smit's gang, after being routed from the Rhenosterberg, scurried across the rail towards the north-west of Deelfontein, afterwards infesting the country between Carnarvon and Fraserburg; Lotter and Botha shifted to the Cradock district, while another troop of marauders under Theron created havoc and consternation between Aberdeen and Willowmore. Still, though the mosquitos continued to draw good British blood occasionally, they paid a fair price for it, and in the series of attacks which whisked them north 19 of the number were killed, 43 wounded, and 17 captured. [Illustration: LIEUT.-COL. GORRINGE] It must here be noted that on the 17th of August, at Graaff Reinet, three of the rebel leaders, Van Rensburg, Fourie, and Pfeifer, who were captured at Camdeboo in July, were executed. Ten others were sentenced to penal servitude for life in the Bermudas. It was impossible to feel commiseration for these men, in view of the numbers of British homes they had robbed by the insane folly of resistance after the annexation of the Boer territories, and it was felt that unless some severe measures were adopted the system of lawlessness would continue for ever in the Colony. It was now necessary to make new dispositions in order to guard against the return of the raiders who had been driven north, and to pursue those who had succeeded in scuttling to the south. Accordingly Colonel Wyndham followed the tracks of Smit to the west, and Colonels Crabbe and Hunter-Weston and Captain Lund converted themselves into a three-headed Cerberus to guard the Zand Drift (west of Colesberg) against the reappearance of Lategan. Colonel Gorringe's column, with the 17th Lancers, kept a vigilant watch on the Orange between Norval's Pont and Bethulie, while Colonels Doran, Scobel, and Kavanagh, working to the south, followed the spoor of Lotter, Botha, and Theron. So stood affairs towards the end of August. Then a rumour came to the effect that Smit and Scheepers were brewing mischief, the first at Fraserburg, the latter near Laingsburg. Therefore, most promptly, the column of Colonel Crabbe was shifted to Matjesfontein. Two days later, on the 5th of September, Colonel Scobell, who was chasing Lotter, scored the biggest success of the guerilla campaign. At Petersburg, some forty miles west of Cradock, he succeeded in surrounding his man and in capturing not only him and his whole commando, but an additional gang under Breedt! The whole affair was most brilliantly conceived, and reflected credit on so many for their pluck and gallantry, that some of the names of the heroes who contributed to the success of the affair are scarcely known. Firstly, much of the kudos is due to a party of Midland Mounted Rifles, who, on the 2nd of September, held with such tenacity a pass that Lotter hoped to push through, that the career of the Boer leader was arrested and it became possible for Colonel Scobell to effect his checkmate! Among the splendid supporters of the Colonel who were notable for exceptional gallantry were Captain Lord Douglas Compton, 2nd Lieutenants Wynn and Neilson, Captain Purcell (9th Lancers), and Lieutenant Bowers, Cape Mounted Rifles; while all the men of the 9th Lancers so distinguished themselves that it is impossible to cite the names and the deeds done by those glorious fellows without devoting pages to the task. Unfortunately Lieutenant Theobald, who had been killed earlier in the month, lost the finale, to which he, with his comrades, had so perseveringly and so gallantly contributed. The list of prisoners included Commandant Lotter and Field-Cornets J. Kruger, W. Kruger, and Schoeman, and among the dead were two notorious rebels named Voster. The booty consisted of 200 horses, 29,000 rounds of ammunition, and all the vehicles and supplies of the commandos. Our casualties included Lieutenant Burgess, Cape Mounted Rifles. In other parts of the Colony the columns were almost equally active, if not equally successful. The remnant of Fouché's party, after his departure across the Orange, gathered themselves under the banner of Myburg and took up positions in the triangle Ladygrey, Dordrecht, and Burghersdorp. Colonel Munro spent his time in hustling them, and on the 29th of August had a spirited engagement some twenty miles north-east of Dordrecht, which resulted in the defeat of the hordes, who were driven over the Drakensberg into Transkei territory. His columns, together with the local troops, then took up positions in the defiles and passes, so as to block them effectually and prevent a chance of the return of the marauders. General Beatson, who was now assisting in General French's operations, was actively chasing Scheepers in the south--first below Willowmore, then to Aventour, then to the west in the direction of Klip Drift; thence to Oudtshoorn and Ladysmith. Here the young Boer leader was set on by the local troops, whereupon he shifted his course to Barrydale. This rush took him till the 31st of August, during which time the hunt was vigorously carried on by Colonel Alexander and the 10th Hussars. Scheepers made an attempt on Montague, and was baulked by a detachment of the Berkshire Regiment. He then made various plucky but futile efforts to get across the rail, his object being to effect a junction with Smit, who was on the other side of Matjesfontein. He came in collision several times with the troops of Colonel Alexander, who, in the course of their gallant efforts to frustrate the Boer designs, had 2 officers and 10 men wounded, and lost 4 men. In the south-west, Maritz was meanwhile being hunted by Colonel Capper, who kept the raiders perpetually on the move, and forced them to break into an aimless, rudderless gang, glad of hiding-places in the Roggeveld Mountains. While all this ferreting and hunting was going forward in the south, some brilliant deeds were taking place in the Kimberley district. De Villiers and Conroy, with a strong force, made a lunge upon Griquatown, the garrison of the place being only 100 in number. The force, though small, was determined, and the aggressors were sent to the right-about. This was on the 12th of August. On the 24th the hostile hordes made a vigorous dash on a convoy, for which they doubtless hungered with a hunger that lent heroism to their attack. Certain it is that they came to very close quarters, and that fighting between them and the escort (74th (Irish) Squadron, Imperial Yeomanry), under Captain Humby, was carried on more stubbornly and fiercely than usual. The Boers--400 of them--surrounded the convoy, and it seemed at one moment as though they must inevitably annihilate the little British force; but the men stood their ground like rocks, or, rather, like fervid volcanoes spouting fire, and fighting with such daring and determination that eventually, at nightfall, the enemy were forced to withdraw. The gallantry of the officers and men of the Yeomanry was superb--Lieutenant Despard and Lieutenant Kidd (Diamond Fields Artillery) performed splendid work, and the magnificent manner in which Captain Humby extricated his convoy from the hellish vortex and succeeded in getting to his destination without the loss of a waggon is a tale that needs pages to tell. Nine men of the escort, however, paid with their lives for their grand tenacity, and 2 officers and 21 men were wounded. The captures from and losses of the enemy during August were 186 killed, 75 wounded, 1384 prisoners, 529 voluntary surrenders, 930 rifles, 90,958 rounds of ammunition, 1332 waggons, 13,570 horses, and 65,879 cattle--a sum-total which makes a really wonderful and practical testimonial to the ceaseless energy and zeal of the British troops. Before closing the record of the events of August 1901, reference must be made to the visit paid by the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York to the Cape. Their Royal Highnesses, who had been on a tour round the world, landed at Simonstown on the 19th of August, and thence proceeded to Capetown. The demonstration made by the Cape loyalists was enthusiastic beyond words, the weather was superb, and the scene--the brilliant decorations, the British cheers, the massed bands, the Kaffir war-dances and whoops--was one never to be forgotten by those who took part in it. The Prince, in his reply to the loyal addresses, made this memorable allusion to the heartiness of the Colony's reception:-- "We are glad to have this opportunity to give public and grateful expression to our feelings of profound satisfaction at the very enthusiastic and hearty welcome accorded us on our arrival here to-day. The fact that during the last two years you have been passing through such troublous times, and that in addition to your other trials the Colony has suffered from an outbreak of plague, from which it is not yet entirely free, might well have detracted from the warmth of your greeting, but, in despite of all your trials and sufferings, you have offered us a welcome the warmth and cordiality of which we shall never forget. I should also like to express our admiration of the appearance the city of Capetown presents to-day. Apart from their tasteful decoration, the principal streets through which we have passed offer an aspect very different from that which they possessed twenty years ago when I visited your Colony. I congratulate you on the abundant evidence of the progress achieved during that time, and notably on your trade and commerce and the development of your harbours and railways. I greatly deplore the continuance of the lamentable struggle which has so long prevailed within South Africa, and for the speedy termination of which the whole community fervently prays. During this time you have had to make grievous sacrifices. Numbers have personally suffered trials and privations, while many of the flower of your manhood have fallen in the service of their King and country. To all who have been bereaved of their dear ones by the war we offer our heartfelt sympathy and condolence. May time, the great healer, bring consolation. That South Africa may soon be delivered from the troubles which beset her is our earnest prayer, and that ere long the only struggle she knows will be eager rivalry in the arts of peace and in striving to promote good government and the well-being of the community." CHAPTER XIII NATAL AND THE EASTERN TRANSVAAL--SEPTEMBER 1901 At this time the war entered on a new phase. The Boer generals felt the necessity of tiding over the 15th of the month, the date fixed by the Proclamation of the 7th August as the limit of time within which, by voluntarily surrendering, the leaders might avoid certain penalties threatened by that proclamation. And by dint of unusual activity they succeeded. There were few surrenders, it is true, but the tactics adopted by the enemy cost them, in the end, more heavily than their previous evasive methods. They broke out in the Ermelo and Vryheid districts about the middle of the month. Their harassing rushes and their escape into the Ermelo district had been difficult to arrest owing to the unfinished state of the blockhouse line then being built from Wakkerstroom to Piet Retief by the 2nd Battalion Scots Guards and 2nd Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment under General Bullock. At Belfast, on the 16th, the garrison was attacked by Grobelaar and 100 men evidently in need of supplies. They were handsomely repulsed, and only one of the garrison was wounded; but bullets that fell in the refuge camp caused the death of a woman. General Lyttelton had now assumed command in Natal in place of General Hildyard, who, after a long spell of brilliant service, had gone home on leave. The new chief at once turned his attention to the rumour of assembling commandos, and to frustrate concentration Major Gough's Mounted Infantry with Colonel Stewart and the Johannesburg Mounted Rifles moved from Dundee to De Jager's Drift. Meanwhile Pulteney's troops were at Volksrust, and those of Garratt moving, _viâ_ Wakkerstroom, on Utrecht. The enemy were reported to be near Scheepers Nek. Colonel Stewart and Major Gough, on the 17th, decided to push on towards Blood River to get in touch with them, the last marching about an hour in advance of the first. Major Gough, as he neared the river, sent a message requesting Colonel Stewart to remain at Rooi Kop, in readiness to support him should he hear the sound of guns in action. Half-an-hour later, seeing Gough's men galloping towards Blood River Poort, the Colonel pressed forward his mounted men in support. It was then he heard that the Major had met with a reverse--a serious reverse. Quickly appreciating the ticklish position in which he himself was placed--it being imperative to protect not only his own guns but Major Gough's baggage at Rooi Kop--he decided to retire to De Jager's Drift and thus cover Dundee, which, as it turned out, was menaced by a gang of great strength. The tale of the misfortune to so magnificent an officer as Major Gough is hard to write, for a series of services more gallant and brilliant than his it is scarcely possible to find. The circumstances were these. With characteristic dash he no sooner "spotted" the enemy than he pressed forward to seize a ridge which appeared to command their position. He had galloped into a well-arranged ambush. Instead of 300 as he supposed, there were 1000 Boers in front of him, and these speedily overwhelmed his right flank and assailed his guns from the rear. There was fighting of the hottest description at very close quarters, in which Lieutenant Lambton, 1st Durham Light Infantry, and Lieutenant Blewett, 1st Rifle Brigade, with great bravery sacrificed their lives; but the gallant little force (consisting of two guns 69th Battery R.F.A. and three companies of mounted infantry), terribly outnumbered, was eventually captured. The breech-blocks and the sights of the guns were destroyed before they fell into the enemy's hands. The circumstances of the capture of Second Lieutenant Stormonth-Darling (2nd Scottish Rifles) serve to show the manner of the British repulse. He commanded the escort to the guns, and in spite of the Boers being upon him continued to fire and encourage his men till he was overpowered and the rifle snatched from his hands. Major Gough and Captain Cracroft, Royal Irish Rifles, escaped during the night and joined Colonel Stewart at De Jager's Drift. Captain Mildmay, 3rd Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps, and 14 men were killed in action. Captain Dick, 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers, was severely wounded. Lieutenant Furnell, 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers, Lieutenant Lambton, Durham Light Infantry, Lieutenant Price-Davis, King's Royal Rifle Corps, and about 25 men were wounded, and 5 officers and 150 men made prisoners. Troops were at once concentrated on the threatened point, and the Boers--said to be commanded by the Bothas, Opperman, Britz, and Henderson--finding the line of the Buffalo bristling with British, were forced to seek access to Natal by a wider détour to the south. This led them to the fortified posts of Itala and Fort Prospect, north-west of Melmoth, on the Zululand frontier. At Itala the garrison consisted of two guns of the 69th Battery R.F.A. and 300 men of the 5th Division Mounted Infantry under Colonel A. J. Chapman, Royal Dublin Fusiliers. At midnight of the 26th, Botha, Scholtz, Opperman, Potgieter, and their following of some 1500 men, in groups, began an attack on this post from west, south-east, and north. The advance post of 80 men was first rushed, and many of the party were killed or forced to surrender, while others succeeded in escaping down the hill to assist in the fighting that was to come. For nineteen hours without intermission the enemy continued to assail the camp, though doggedly kept at bay by the defenders. The whole area was swept by blasts of bullets, and the British force at last, foodless and waterless, were confronted with the fear that even the ammunition might not hold out. The guns, under Lieutenant Herbert, R.F.A., which had been valuable during the night while the moon gave light and the shadows shelter, became in the daytime targets for the foe, and consequently when Lieutenant Herbert and four gunners were wounded the rest were ordered to take cover. But fortunately young Trousdale, after both his men were killed, pluckily stuck to his Maxim and worked like a Trojan. At last under cover of dusk the enemy, repulsed on all sides, withdrew in a north-easterly direction, taking with them, assisted by natives, their wounded and dead in great numbers. Many deeds of gallantry were performed, and Lieutenant Lefroy, 1st Battalion Dublin Fusiliers, who with Lieutenant Kane at first rumour of assault was sent to occupy the highest point of the Itala a mile from the camp, distinguished himself by shooting with his revolver Commandant H.J. Potgieter. Commandant Scholtz and about 270 Boers were also killed during the vigorous repulse. The British lost a smart officer, Lieutenant Kane (South Lancashire Regiment), and 21 men killed: 5 officers and 54 men wounded. Colonel Chapman, owing to the complete exhaustion of his force and lack of ammunition, then decided to evacuate Itala, leaving Lieutenant Hislop and twenty unarmed men and Chief Veterinary Surgeon Probyn to look after the wounded. Lieutenant Fielding (R.A.M.C.), who early in the day had valiantly gone up hill to attend the wounded in the advance post, had been captured, but was subsequently released and came into camp after the column had marched off to M'Kandhla. This place was reached without molestation. [Illustration: "NO SURRENDER!" THE DEFENCE OF FORT ITALA ON SEPTEMBER 26, 1901 Drawing by R. Caton Woodville] At Fort Prospect the British post was equally tenaciously held by thirty-five men of the 5th Division Mounted Infantry and fifty-one men of the Durham Artillery Militia under the command of Captain C. A. Rowley, 2nd Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment, who contrived with the small force at his disposal to send the 500 attacking Boers to the right-about with considerable aplomb. He, fortunately, was warned as to the coming commandos, and made haste to prepare for them a warm welcome; providing also extra food, water, and ammunition for his men in the trenches. At 4.30 A.M. the Boers made a violent lunge on the west and north of the position, directing the main fury of their attack at the two laagers held by the Durham Company of Artillery. They penetrated the wire around the laagers and got to within twenty yards of the defenders, but Lieutenant R. G. M. Johnson and his splendid companions were too much for them, and finally the Boers were driven off. They then fought wildly in the rear of the camp, but again met with the same dogged resistance. The defence lasted about thirteen hours and reflected credit on all concerned, especially on Captain Rowley, whose foresight had averted great loss of life. In addition to the splendid work done by the Militia Artillery and the Dorsetshire Regiment, the Zululand Native Police distinguished themselves. Gallantly led by Sergeant Gambi, thirteen of them came four miles from their own post to reinforce the garrison. The British loss was only 1 killed and 8 wounded, a small total considering the thirteen hours' risk run by the little party. The necessity of combing this difficult and at times almost impenetrable country of Boers caused General Lyttelton to direct a movement which occupied the tempestuous close of September and the early days of October, in which Generals Bruce-Hamilton, Clements, and Walter Kitchener vigorously engaged. Despite the unfavourable elements they succeeded, if not in striking them when concentrated, at least in forcing the Boers gradually to retreat north to Boschoek, Kromellenbog, and Leeuwnek. Here they were held for a time by General Kitchener, but on the night of the 5th of October, at the cost of their baggage and waggons, they succeeded in rushing round the left flank and retreating in the direction of Piet Retief. General Kitchener followed and had a smart engagement with the rearguard, which--in a strong position--covered the flight of the main body. On the 11th the enemy was moving through Swaziland by Mahamba, and this news caused Colonel Colville adroitly to arrange a plan which resulted in the intercepting of a convoy belonging to the Ermelo and Amsterdam commandos. The Colonel's column at the time was covering the construction, by General Bullock's troops, of the blockhouse line from Wakkerstroom. He pushed on hurriedly from Piet Retief and pounced on the Boers' much needed convoy, harassing Botha and his burghers, who scurried to escape before the British advance. By now the blockhouse line was sufficiently advanced to be a serious impediment to the enemy's movements: it not only forced him to abandon his waggons but also the two guns of 69th Battery which were lost during Gough's reverse at Blood River Poort. Brigadier-General Reeves (temporarily commanding in the absence of General Blood, who had left for India), with Colonels Park and Benson, continued to operate north and south of the Delagoa Railway. Colonel Benson, on the 10th, made a splendid march on an extremely dark night and surprised a party of Boers at Pullen's Hope (south of Middelburg), where he took 33 prisoners, 73 horses, together with cattle-carts and ammunition. On the 15th he, with two squadrons of the 2nd Scottish Horse and 19th Battalion Mounted Infantry, repeated his adventurous tactics, again surrounded and surprised the enemy at Tweefontein, and, though some made good their escape, added 10 Boers to his roll of prisoners and 250 oxen to his herd of cattle. Still indefatigable, he and his doughty band on the 17th, after a forty miles' march from Carolina, fell on the foe. The early mist was lifting round two laagers full of slumbering Boers at Middeldrift and Busby, when with a rush and a yell the British troops covered the scene. The usual rout, the usual stampede, and finally 54 prisoners--among them P. Botha, late Landdrost of Pretoria, and Commandant Nieuwhondt were captured, together with vehicles, horses, and cattle. Colonel Benson then pushed on and on--a triumphal progress--for he gleaned Boers wherever he went; 12 on the 28th near Bethel, and 7 early in October at Driefontein, in addition to horses, mules, and cattle, thus compelling those who evaded him to scuttle north denuded and demoralised. In the course of their chasing, this intrepid British band covered over fifty miles in nineteen hours. The Boers seldom spent a night in one place, and saddled up regularly at 3 A.M. in readiness for flight, therefore the captures made were the result not only of alertness and dash, but of indomitable perseverance. Colonel Park had been engaging in like adventures, and had taken many prisoners. With six companies of Mounted Infantry and two companies of the Manchester Regiment, he began October by a search between Kruger's Post and Ohrigstad. He secured some armed burghers, and destroyed such ammunition and forage as could not be removed. On his return journey he came in collision with Viljoen at Rustplaats, and after an engagement covering hours the Boers withdrew. On the 7th of October he attacked a party of Boers at a farm at Rosenkrans, captured their ammunition, mealies, and waggons, but not their persons. The Constabulary posts running from Eerste Fabriken, _viâ_ Springs and Heidelberg, to the Vaal River were pushed forward by Colonel Pilkington (S.A. Constabulary) to the line Wilge River Station, Greylingstad, and the junction of Kalk Spruit with the Vaal, thus enabling a more vast tract of country to be cleared. Sir Henry Rawlinson cleared the front of the Constabulary between Standerton and the Vaal River with increasing vigour, chasing Boers westward and southward before him. On the 3rd of October, at Greylingstad, he organised a night patrol to Barnard's Kop, which resulted in the capture of three armed burghers, and subsequently, on the 5th, he surprised Field-Cornet Botha at Kaffir Spruit, captured 7 of his men, 20 of his carts, and 250 cattle. Pretorius, whose laager was near by, though followed with zest, made good his escape. Colonels Hacket Thompson and Bewicke Copley also engaged in the work of protecting the Constabulary, but came in collision with few of the enemy, who were now moving south. TRANSVAAL (WEST) Lord Methuen may be said to have carried on existence to a rippling accompaniment of Boer bullets. All along the Marico valley to Zeerust his rearguard was followed and engagements were frequent. September was spent in passing convoys from Lichtenburg and Zeerust and preparing for an advance to cover the collection of ripening corn in the Marico district, the establishment of a line of blockhouses between Zeerust and the lead mines, and the clearance of the country of scattered bands. On the 4th of October an affair of patrols at Witgeboom Spruit resulted in five burghers being killed. General Fetherstonhaugh and Colonel Kekewich continued to hunt dismounted stragglers of Kemp's force south-west of Olifant's Nek. Kemp had escaped the British cordon towards the north-east, and was said to be about to work his way south. Colonel Kekewich, after depositing his prisoners at Naauwpoort, left there on the 13th of September to clear the northern slopes of the Magaliesberg. He operated for some days in conjunction with Colonel Mackenzie (1st Battalion Suffolk Regiment), who was employed in the construction of blockhouses south of the Magaliesberg, and removed from the creeks and crannies of the hills various impediments, in the form of Field-Cornet Klopper and thirty-six of his countrymen. After this haul of prisoners, Colonel Kekewich returned to Magato Nek to co-operate with General Fetherstonhaugh against Kemp's party, who were reported to be hanging about the Toelani River. On the 24th, by the way, he surrounded the laager of one Van Rooijan at Crocodile Drift (Elands River), and secured the commandant and thirty-five of his gang. Kemp, as yet, was not to be found. But he was not long inactive. At dawn on 29th, he and Delarey (who had evidently followed Colonel Kekewich from the Valley of the Toelani) made a lunge at the British camp near Moedwill. From three sides they, some 1200 of them, turned a blizzard of lead on Colonel Kekewich's force. The Derbyshire Regiment, with 1½ companies, held the drift to left of the camp. The mounted troops (Imperial Yeomanry and Scottish Horse) extended round the right and front of the camp, and joined up with the Infantry outpost on the drift. Firing was heard at 4.40 A.M. on the north-west, and subsequently it was found that a patrol going out from the southerly piquet, furnished by the Devonshire Imperial Yeomanry, had been attacked. Then closer and closer came the enemy upon the Yeomanry piquet. Every gallant fellow dropped. Soon the Boers were established to east of the river and commenced an attack on another Imperial Yeomanry piquet. The officer in command fell, and nearly all his men around him. The enemy, ensconced in the broken and bushy ground near the bed of the river, continued the aggressive, while all in camp rushed to reinforce the piquets except a small party of the Derbyshire Regiment, which remained to guard ammunition, &c., the Boers having annihilated two piquets. The Boers now pushed up the river, outflanking the Derbyshire piquet holding the main drift, and, in spite of really superb resistance, occupied the position. For this reason: but one man of the gallant number remained whole! The camp now was flooded with bullets, and all ranks under various officers made for the open, while the guns strove to keep the enemy, indistinguishable from British in the dusk of the morning, at a distance. Captain Watson, Adjutant Scottish Horse, who was mortally wounded, announced the arrival towards the east of the enemy, whereupon Major Watts with a strong body of the Derbyshire Regiment moved out to confront them, while Major Browne (Border Regiment) with a number of men--servants, cooks, orderlies, and any one who came to hand--prepared with fixed bayonets to charge the enemy in the bushes. The Boers had given up the east, however, and continued to file from the north till the Imperial Yeomanry and Scottish Horse, under Captains Rattray, Dick Cunyngham, and Mackenzie, joined in the general advance and threatened to outflank them; then, seeing their danger, they fled to their horses and galloped madly to the north, under fire of the British guns. Colonel Duff, with two squadrons, had been prepared for pursuit, but owing to the heavy losses sustained, especially among the horses, the project was impossible. This fierce, determined, carefully-planned attack lasted two hours, and the success of the repulse was mainly due to the amazing gallantry of all ranks, especially of the 1st Battalion Derbyshire Regiment. Some brilliant deeds were done, notably by 2nd Lieutenant Mills, whose splendid disregard of danger cost him his life; Lieutenant Persse (7th Imperial Yeomanry), who fought persistently at his post though wounded in three places; and by Captains Dick Cunyngham and Rattray, and Lieutenants Symonds, Rattray, Cameron, Loring, and Stuart-Wortley, of the Scottish Horse. A fine officer, Captain Laird, R.F.A., was among the killed, and Lieutenant Duval was wounded, and Captain Wheeler escaped merely by a miracle. The medical officers, Major Lavie (R.A.M.C.) and Mr. Kidd, Civil Surgeon, pursued their deeds of mercy, utterly regardless of their lives and of their own wounds. The Colonel, himself wounded, paid dearly for his triumph. Of his force 1 officer and 31 men were killed; 127 men were wounded and 26 officers, among whom were:-- _Scottish Horse._--Major Blair, Captain Field, Lieutenant Loring, Lieutenant Stuart-Wortley, Surgeon-Captain Kidd, Lieutenant Jardine, Lieutenant Edwards, Lieutenant Prior, Lieutenant Cameron, Lieutenant Flower. _Royal Artillery._--Captain Baldwin. _1st Derby Regiment._--Captain Keller, Captain Anley. _Imperial Yeomanry._--Captain Seymour, Lieutenant Whyte. Out of a party of twelve of the Derbyshire Regiment which was guarding a drift, 8 were killed and 4 wounded; and some idea of the severity of the fire and the doggedness of the fight may be gained by the fact that three piquets were practically annihilated, thus enabling their comrades to get under arms. Among others of the Scottish Horse whose persistent and gallant services contributed to Lord Methuen's success, may be mentioned Captains Field and Ian Mackenzie, and young Lieutenant Jardine, who was wounded. Command of the column was afterwards temporarily assumed by Colonel Wylly (Derbyshire Regiment), but Colonel Kekewich, recovered, soon returned to duty. General Fetherstonhaugh had meanwhile driven before him many Boers. On the 21st he captured a position at Winkelhoek, and after searching further turned back to Waterval and thence to Kwaggafontein. On hearing of the Moedwill fight he sent Colonel Williams to Colonel Kekewich's support, and followed himself with all haste. But of course the Boers had flown, scattering among the farms in the Rustenburg Zeerust road. General Fetherstonhaugh finally moved south, and Colonel Wylly to Rustenburg. [Illustration: THE GALLANT BUGLER OF FORT ITALA Drawing by R. Caton Woodville] OPERATIONS ON THE VAAL By October the line of blockhouses from Kopjes Station to Potchefstroom was built by the 2nd Battalion Scots Guards and 1st Oxfordshire Light Infantry, and that between Heilbron and Frankfontein occupied by the Railway Pioneer Regiment under Colonel Capper. Meanwhile Colonels Byng and Dawkins (from the south of Orange Colony) chased and ran down Boers as they sought to escape the blockhouse cordon, and thus thoroughly cleared the region. Colonel Byng made an effort to attack a concentration of 300 he had heard of at Bothaville, but on his approach they dispersed into the river valleys. Still, in the course of their operations and the return along the Valsch River to Kroonstad, &c., Colonels Byng and Dawkins secured eighty-one prisoners of war. General Mildmay Willson organised a small smart force, under Colonel Hicks (2nd Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers), consisting of 250 mounted infantry, 2 field guns, and 5 companies of Infantry, to establish and provision constabulary posts and hunt Boer snipers. In the course of their operations and afterwards between Potchefstroom and Venterskroon they, with the assistance of co-operating constabulary troops, secured 42 prisoners (including Field-Cornets George Hall and Vander Venter), and a 7-pounder gun which had been taken from the post at Houtkop. OPERATIONS IN THE ORANGE RIVER COLONY, N. Colonel Rimington's column worked incessantly during September, and to good purpose. On the 14th, marching from Leeufontein (six miles south of Heilbron), they made a surprise visit to a laager, which resulted in the capture of six Boers, waggons, carts, horses, and mules. Later, on the 22nd, still hunting and hustling, he overtook Strydom's commando, made a tremendous haul of impedimenta, and secured thirteen prisoners. He then finished the month by marching to Oploop (between the Klip and Wilge Rivers) to watch for an opportunity to co-operate with Colonel Rawlinson, who, as we know, was aiding the constabulary north of the Vaal, and who, by now, had driven Buy's commando to the south of the river. On this band Colonel Rimington promptly pounced, and October found him enriched by 24 prisoners, 2000 cattle, 30 horses, 14 loaded waggons, 22 Cape carts, and 20 mules. Later, on the 7th, he moved from Standerton (whence he had drawn supplies) to co-operate with General Broadwood and Colonel de Lisle from Harrismith. To reinforce Colonel Rimington went Colonel Wilson (Kitchener's Fighting Scouts) from Kroonstad to Heilbron on the 1st of October, and scarcely were they under way before they were attacked by the enemy. But the scouts, true to the name they bear, gave such good account of themselves that the enemy scattered, but considerably thinned in their numbers. The troops afterwards covered the line of blockhouses from Heilbron to Frankfort. MAJOR-GENERAL ELLIOT.--ORANGE RIVER COLONY, E. On the 10th of September General Elliot started to again sweep and glean in the Wittebergen district. Colonel Barker and Major Pine Coffin operated from Winburg to west of the line of advance. General Campbell remained on the Wittebergen slopes, and General Dartnell, with the Imperial Light Horse (from Bethlehem), assisted in blocking the Retief and Stabberts Nek passes. The movement itself commenced in four columns, Lowe and De Lisle in the centre, with Broadwood and Bethune to right and left respectively. In the course of the march Colonel de Lisle brilliantly descried and ran down a convoy then trekking towards Korannaberg, but not without infinite dash and corresponding fatigue: 15 prisoners, 47 waggons, 22 carts, 250 horses, and 2500 cattle were the prizes of the adventure. Colonel Bethune, too, had his innings, for on the 12th he routed seventy of the bandits from their lair near Wonderkop, and the next night, after an exciting march to Rietolei, caught and again engaged the foe. [Illustration: COLONEL BETHUNE AND HIS BRIGADE STAFF] The combined movement continued to yield good results. The mountain kloops disgorged large quantities of supplies and vehicles, and from these regions General Campbell ferreted out seventeen Boers. The hunters held their lives in their hands, for the game of hide-and-seek had to be played with desperate men sniping from every coign of vantage. In consequence of the development of events connected with General Botha's enterprise in Natal, some of the troops of General Elliot pushed north from Harrismith. General Dartnell with the 2nd Imperial Light Horse had preceded them, and he, together with Colonel Bethune and 600 men, moved on to Eshowe in Zululand. From Harrismith towards the frontier, near Vrede, Colonel de Lisle and General Broadwood marched at the end of the month, and their presence soon warned the Boers, who had been contemplating encroachments into Natal, to take themselves off. On the 5th of October an effort was made to get in touch with them, but they were far too knowing to be entrapped. While these operations had been going forward, General Rundle had been doing his share, passing supplies into Bethlehem and generally blocking the passes leading to Natal, and relieving garrisons on the line which had hitherto been furnished by the Natal command. The 1st Imperial Light Horse, under Colonel Briggs, acting independently from Bethlehem after the departure of General Dartnell for Zululand, came in for some thrilling experiences. This excellent force was well suited for exploits of a daring kind and long-distance raids such as had to be undertaken. On the 28th they made a circuitous night march of thirty-eight miles from Bethlehem, and dawn found them surrounding the town of Reitz. It was a brilliantly conceived and brilliantly carried out affair, and the prize of twenty-one prisoners (including Landdrost Piet de Villiers), nine Cape carts, two waggons, twenty-four horses, 250 cattle, and some ammunition, was well deserved. The Boers, on Colonel Briggs' way back, made many night attempts at reprisals, but the Imperial Light Horse was not to be caught napping. The troops in the Wepener, Dewetsdorp, Bethulie, and Zastron districts were now sprayed out to catch the dispersed stragglers of Kruitzinger's commando: Colonel Thorneycroft at Quaggafontein, guarding the river south of Zastron; Lord Basing patrolling from Jurysbaken to Commissie Bridge on the Caledon; Sir Henry Rawlinson moving south from Elandsberg to Aliwal; and General Plumer at Smithfield. Major Damant had returned to Springfontein. General Plumer, from Smithfield, detached Sir John Jervis upon Wepener in pursuit of guerillas, himself hunting with Colonel Colvin's column along the Basuto border. On the 15th the force reassembled at Wepener, where they learned that Kruitzinger had doubled back towards Elandsberg. While Colonel Colvin scurried thither to co-operate with Colonel Thorneycroft, the General and Sir J. Jervis moved towards Smithfield. Sir John's men, under Captain Knight of the Buffs, had an exciting affray on the 19th, and succeeded in landing big fish, Adjutants Brand and Joubert, and eight prisoners in all. Colonel Smithson and the 13th Hussars engaged Boers at Lemonfontein on the 11th. They covered eighty miles in two days, surprised the enemy, and made a splendid haul of prisoners and effects. Colonel Colvin had also his success, for on the 22nd a party of New Zealanders, under Major Tucker, engaged the enemy on the Elandsberg and secured Field-Cornets Hugo and Bothma, and several other prisoners. Unfortunately the effect of the squeezing operations which were taking place caused the enemy to be driven to the Thabanchu line, and here, as though history was bound to repeat itself, the unfortunate U battery met with a mishap. On the 19th a small force of 160 mounted men under Captain Tufnell, and two guns of U Battery, R.H.A., under Lieut. Otter-Barry, which had been detached by the officer commanding at the Bloemfontein Waterworks, were surrounded and captured at Vlakfontein (eighteen miles south-west of Sanna's Post) by a superior force under Commandants Coetzee and Ackermann. Lieutenant Barry, R.H.A., lost his life in the gallant defence of his guns. All efforts were now made to hem the enemy against the Thabanchu line, and General Plumer and Colonel Rochfort (commanding General Bruce-Hamilton's force during his absence in Natal) worked hard to this end. It was a question of fight, fight, fight, and hustle, hustle, hustle on all sides. At the end of the month (the 29th) Colonel Lowry Cole had the satisfaction of hauling in Commandant Drezer and Field-Cornet Van Vunren, with their followers, whose laager he had surprised. At the same time some sharp fighting took place between two hundred New Zealanders[6] under Major A. W. Andrews, a smart officer of the Indian Staff Corps, who were holding Mokari Drift on the Caledon, and some 300 or 400 Boers who were in the act of crossing. The Boers, after a severe mauling, fled westward, leaving six dead and seven wounded on the field. Colonel Thorneycroft also had had stiff work with a marauding gang near Corunna on the 20th. After this date the columns on the east of the main line of rail had each assigned to them an area with a centre from which to work. They acted independently, yet as required could combine against any formidable gathering of the enemy. In the south-western portion of the Orange Colony the situation was improving so remarkably that first the columns of Colonels Byng and Dawkins were able to withdraw towards the Vredefort district; then those of Major Damant were removed to Heilbron; while the rest, under Colonel Rochfort, were transferred to the more disturbed area of the east of the railway. Colonel Henry maintained his operations in the district, but the verb "to blockhouse" having been so liberally conjugated throughout the region, his duties were comparatively light. EVENTS IN CAPE COLONY The early part of September was spent in chasing Commandant Smuts, who had burst from the Orange Colony into the Jamestown-Dordrecht district. Here he was tackled on the 12th by Colonel Monro, but succeeded in evading our columns. The raiders then rushed in the night across the line towards Tarkastad. To the south in all haste followed Colonels Gorringe and Doran and the 17th Lancers, while the west was guarded (at Cradock) by Colonel Scobell. Smuts, when some eighteen miles north-west of Tarkastad, in desperation decided to attack a squadron of the 17th Lancers under Major Sandeman. These seeing a force dressed in kharki approaching, accepted them as comrades till too late. The enemy was almost upon them before they discovered their mistake. But the "Death or Glory Boys," even in these circumstances, fought valiantly, and though three officers and twenty men fell, and Major Sandeman and thirty men of the squadron were wounded, all brilliantly maintained the traditions of their regiment. The approach of Major Nickalls and another squadron of the Lancers forced the Boers to cease fighting and continue their bolt to the south. An interesting report of the smart engagement was published by the _Midland News_. The correspondent wrote:-- "Smuts' commando rushed a squadron of the 17th Lancers, under Captain Sandeman, on Tuesday morning, the 17th inst. The squadron was posted at Modderfontein, guarding the southern exit from Elands River Poort, and another pass towards the north-east, known as Evans Hoek, to prevent the Boers from coming south-west into the Cradock district. The surprise was due chiefly to the Boers being dressed in kharki, and being thus mistaken for Colonel Gorringe's men, who were expected to arrive from Soude Nek in the course of the day. A mist which hung over the low ground till late that morning also favoured the approach of the enemy, as in the case of Colonel Scobell's capture of Lotter's commando. "On receipt of a report that a small picket in advance of the camp had been rushed, a troop quickly mounted and rode towards the poort. The officer in command saw some kharki-clad men about two miles from camp, and thinking they were some of Colonel Gorringe's column, rode forward to meet them. When about two hundred yards distant, seeing them levelling their rifles, he shouted out, 'Don't fire! we are the 17th Lancers.' The only answer was rapid rifle fire, which emptied several saddles. "During this time another body of the enemy had worked up the donga running past the camp, and approached it from the rear. These men were dressed in kharki, and were taken for friends. Major Nickalls was encamped at Hoogstude, about three miles distant, and, having been informed of the attack on Captain Sandeman's camp, he was coming up to its support. Consequently the order was given not to fire on this party. "The camp was placed on the southern slope of a gentle rise, which is encircled on the west by a spruit running generally north-west, and joining the main river about two miles distant. About three hundred yards from the spruit the ground on which the camp stood rises into a rocky kopje about a hundred yards long at the crest. This was defended with great determination, and most of the casualties occurred here. "The Boers, too, suffered very severely in the attack on this position, and it was not until the enemy attacked the hill from the rear that any impression seemed to have been made on the defenders. A perfect hail of bullets appears then to have been poured in from the rear, which killed or wounded all of its defenders. Finally Captain Sandeman tried to reach the kraals in the vicinity of the camp, but most of the men with him were shot down, and he himself was wounded. "The Boers then rushed the camp, but not a single man surrendered, the enemy levelling their rifles and firing on any man they saw. "On Major Nickalls's squadron coming up the enemy retired quickly in the direction in which they had come. "The Boers, on entering the camp, went straight for the supplies, but were able to take away only a few biscuits and hardly any ammunition, the Lancers having emptied their bandoliers, as the hundreds of empty cartridges found on the kopje eloquently testified. "The enemy's casualties were extremely heavy. The dead and wounded were carried off by the commando when it retired." From Bank View to Mount Prospect, then across the Mancazana, along the Fish River and over the Port Elizabeth line near Sheldon Station the raiders went, followed with unrelaxing energy by Colonels Gorringe, Doran, and Scobell. Colonel Gorringe succeeded in catching them in the Zuurberg Mountains and caused them to split their force in two, one half fleeing south, the other west. Early in October they reunited south of Darlington and were again attacked and trounced by the indefatigable Colonel, who drove them north with the loss of three of their number killed and five wounded. Meanwhile Myburg and Fouché had been flitting around the northern borders, while Colonels Monro, Pilcher, Western, General Hart, with Colonel Murray's troops and the Connaught Rangers, guarded the river line from Bethulie to Herschel. The residency at this place was attacked on the 4th, but Major Hook and the local police sent the foe to the right-about with considerable celerity and the loss to them of twenty-nine horses and three men. Everywhere small gangs of Boers made themselves obstreperous, and some made an attempt on Ladygrey, which was promptly repulsed. On the 20th of September, however, Kruitzinger, north of Herschel, endeavoured to force a passage over the Orange, and came into collision with some eighty of Lovat's Scouts under Lieutenant-Colonel Hon. A. D. Murray. The gallant Scotsmen, small in number but large in courage, held on grimly to their post, and the attempt to cross was fiercely resisted, but unhappily with the loss of the brilliant commander, who had led them throughout the campaign with gallantry and distinction. He fell shot through the heart while shouting, "Fix bayonets!"[7] His adjutant, Captain Murray, also fell, and sixteen of his brave men, while one officer and thirty-five men were wounded. A gun was carried off under cover of darkness, but it was promptly followed up and recovered in a smart engagement in which the Boers lost two killed and twenty prisoners. The end of the month, the enemy having withdrawn into the Transkei, was spent by Colonels Monro and Pilcher in watching the passes of the Drakensberg; but later they, with Colonel Western--leaving Colonel Monro and local troops in charge of the area--were recalled to the south-east of the Orange Colony. Commandant Scheepers at this time was making himself obnoxious in the region of the line near Matjesfontein, and to circumvent him General Beatson despatched Colonel Crabbe's column from Waggon Drift on a night march, which helped materially to break down Scheepers strength. The force completely surprised the enemy under Van der Merwe (in a place where they had outspanned some twelve miles east of Laingsburg), killed the commandant--a sporting youth of eighteen, who was considered by his friends as a De Wet in embryo--and one of his followers, wounded many of the burghers, and took thirty-seven prisoners, including Field-Cornet Du Plessis. This was on the 10th. From that time to the 20th Scheepers was kept on the move, and finally after much veering and dodging reached Klip Drift on the 20th. He continued to evade the pursuing columns of Colonels Crabbe, Atherton, and Major Kavanagh till the 5th of October, when this last officer almost captured him. He was attacked at Adams Kraal, twenty miles south-south-west of Ladysmith, and only succeeded in saving himself "by the skin of his teeth." Commandant Theron, hoping to join Scheepers, was fleeing before Colonel Capper in the Ceres district. This officer was assisted by Colonels Alexander and Wyndham, who, when they had driven the enemy well away to the north-west, continued in the chase after Scheepers. Colonel Sprot and Major Lund were persistently engaged in tussles with Lategan's gang, which had reappeared south of the Orange, and in a brilliant encounter on the 23rd of September Major Lund succeeded in securing an influential rebel, Louw by name, together with seven of his followers. Colonel Hunter-Weston, in a smart engagement with Lategan, secured Coetzer and other rebels and drove the rest northwards. * * * * * Sad was the fate of a gallant fellow, Lieutenant M. Gurdon Rebow, who, with nine men of the 3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards, while searching a farm, was attacked by the enemy at Cyferkuil, near Riet Siding, on the 17th. Some thirty or forty Dutchmen burst suddenly upon the small party, whose gallant stand against this overwhelming majority was one of the most striking episodes of desperate valour on record. A summons to surrender was refused, and it was not till Gurdon Rebow himself had been shot down and one of his men had been killed and two dangerously wounded that the remaining few Grenadiers, after a fight of three hours, were captured. The sergeant of the patrol lost his life in a gallant effort to swim the Carolus River in search of help. As a proof of the herculean labours of the columns during this month, in spite of the prevalence of rinderpest among the cattle and the consequent reduction in the efficiency of the ox transport, the sum total of achievement may be quoted: 170 Boers killed, 114 wounded and prisoners, 1385 unwounded prisoners, 393 surrendered burghers, 11,000 horses (practically useless), 41,500 cattle, 798 rifles, 119,000 rounds small arm ammunition, and 770 waggons. At Pretoria the month closed with the execution of Broeksma, formerly the Public Prosecutor of the Transvaal, whose trial, begun on the 12th of September, lasted three days. He was charged on the four counts of breaking the oath of neutrality, treachery, high treason, and inciting to break the oath of neutrality, and the evidence showed that the police found in his house treasonable pamphlets and documents, including copies of letters addressed to Mr. Steyn, Mr. Reitz, "Dr. Williamson," and Mr. Kruger. Other letters were produced in court which purported to have come from Dr. Krause. On the concluding day of the trial the Crown Prosecutor stated that "Dr. Williamson" was in reality Dr. Leyds. Sundry other burghers and Netherlanders were tried for treachery and on other charges, while some were found guilty of high treason and murder and sentenced to death. This sentence in most cases was commuted to penal servitude for life, or reduced to terms of imprisonment. FOOTNOTES: [6] This corps (the 6th New Zealand Mounted Rifles) greatly distinguished itself in many ways. On one occasion (the 16th September) Lieutenant Tudor, with only twelve men, crossed the Caledon and kept in touch with 200 Boers for three days, afterwards holding a position for three hours against fifty Boers with exceptional gallantry. A young hero, Lieutenant Caskey (5th Queensland Imperial Bushmen), lost his life during the dashing exploit. Captains Findlay (The Buffs) and Knight with the New Zealand Mounted Rifles, also performed notable service in command of detached troops during this period. [7] Colonel the Hon. Andrew David Murray was the brother of the present Earl of Mansfield, and was born in 1863. He entered the army in 1884 as second lieutenant in the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, became lieutenant in 1893, and brevet-major in 1898. He served in the Nile Expedition, 1884-85, with the Soudan Field Force, 1885-86, with the Nile Expedition, 1898, and was present at the battles of Atbara and Omdurman, for which he was mentioned in despatches. He was appointed commander of Lovat's Scouts last year. CHAPTER XIV PROGRESS IN OCTOBER 1901 It may be remembered that on the 15th of October Colonel Colville pounced on a convoy that was moving after the Boers in their flight towards Swaziland. On that border he remained while General Plumer's force (released, as we know, from the south-east of the Orange Colony owing to the state of quietude there) acted on the, by now, almost impassable blockhouse line between Wakkerstroom and Colonel Colville's column. Meanwhile General Walter Kitchener's troops, with those of Colonels Campbell, Garratt, and Stewart, moved like a big broom sweeping up the stragglers south of the line, till news came in that Botha, instead of taking the Swazi direction, had veered north and was with a small column hanging around Amsterdam. To catch the Boer general Colonels Rawlinson and Rimington pushed on from Standerton on the 19th of October. They reached Amersfoort on the 21st, and on the 25th, after a perilous night march over ground seamed with small posts of protecting Boers, he succeeded in surrounding the farm near Schimmelhoek, where the Boer chief was reported to be. Colonel Rimington's men were ordered to make for the farm, avoiding the main laager and posts, while those of Colonel Rawlinson moved between Ermelo and the farm--but though the movement was admirably carried out and Colonel Rimington's troops rushed the farm, the enemy had been forewarned and was on the alert. Botha had but a moment to bolt in, but that moment he used. Though he and all but four of his men got away in safety, his personal property and some papers, very enlightening to the British, fell into their hands. The main laager having retreated north towards Lake Chrissie, pursuit was abandoned, and Colonels Rawlinson and Rimington returned at the end of the month to Volksrust and Zandspruit respectively. General G. Hamilton and Colonel Pulteney were meanwhile moving, in continuous torrents of rain, around Utrecht and Vryheid in order to block all Boer attempts to break through northern Natal into the Orange Colony; and further south General Bruce-Hamilton, with the troops of General Spens and Colonel Allenby, hunted the Vryheid and Ngomi region with incessant activity, despite all the impediments of fog and bog and downpour. Scrimmage and skirmish varied the monotony of the hard work, and in the end 21 killed, 11 wounded, and 160 unwounded Boers, together with carts, ammunition, cattle, and foodstuffs, bore testimony to the pluck and endurance of the troops engaged. [Illustration: THE FIGHT AT BRAKENLAAGTE: BOERS CHARGING Drawing by John Charlton] TRANSVAAL (EAST) Colonel Benson was at this time continuing his system of midnight annoyance, which was telling on the nerves of the enemy and causing Botha to rack his brains to arrange a plan of getting quit of so ubiquitous and "slim" an antagonist. Moving from Middelburg on the 20th--with 3rd and 25th Mounted Infantry, three squadrons of Scottish Horse, 4 guns 84th Battery, two pom-poms, and the Buffs--Benson began moving to the south. He surrounded a laager south of Brugspruit on the 22nd, captured 37 prisoners, and marched next day to Bethel and on towards Rietkuil. During this march, on the 25th, the rearguard was heavily engaged by some 700 Boers under Groblaar, Trichardt, and Erasmus, who hoped to stop the night manoeuvres for a bit. But the Dutchmen were quickly repulsed (with the loss of Civil Surgeon Robertson and one man), and Colonel Benson moved on, impeded by many thunderstorms, towards Brugspruit _viâ_ Bakenlaagte. At this place there was considerable sniping, while the enemy on all sides, in the mists and fogs and rains, collected under Botha and Groblaar in order to effect a junction and at last bring things to a crisis. Colonel Benson, who hoped to halt at Bakenlaagte, found the place on the 30th already in possession of the enemy. Some fighting followed and the Boers took themselves off, and the columns moved gradually into camp covered by the rearguard, composed of 2 companies of Mounted Infantry, 2 squadrons 2nd Scottish Horse, 2 guns 84th Field Battery R.A., and one company of the 2nd Battalion the Buffs, the whole under the command of Major Anley, 3rd Mounted Infantry. The guns, a company of the Buffs, and 50 Mounted Infantry took up a position on an irregular ridge some 2500 yards from the camp, screened by posts of Mounted Infantry and the Scottish Horse on either flank and south of the ridge. The enemy meanwhile, in the wind and sleet and rain, taking advantage of the fact that the storm was bursting in the face of the British columns and of the vast expanse of rolling downs and the convenient hollows with which they were familiar, were creeping and congregating ant-like round flanks and rearguard. No sooner had the column and baggage got into camp and arrangements been made for defence than they began to advance in formidable array. Major Anley at noon, while about to carry out an order for the screen of Mounted Infantry and Scottish Horse to fall back on the remainder of the guard at Gun Hill, suddenly found himself in close contact with the foe. They were continuing to advance in great numbers, galloping and shouting and firing. He at once commenced to retire on Gun Hill, but, in the very act, the Boer force appeared over the rise, and absolutely regardless of the British guns came on and on and stormed through Scottish Horse and Mounted Infantry, many of whom were killed before they had time to fire. The Boers then dismounted and formed up on dead ground whence they could work their way to a position within close range of the guns on the crest, while themselves in comparative safety. The original escort, the company of Buffs posted to the front of the guns on the south side of the ridge, was captured and the Mounted Infantry Company of the Yorkshire Light Infantry and the squadron of Scottish Horse who promptly formed up on the flanks of the guns, despite their gallant efforts, found themselves unable to offer serious resistance to the terrific volleys of the foe. With the exception of the western end of the ridge, which was held by a party of mounted infantry till dark, the whole gradually fell into the enemy's hands. When Colonel Benson became aware of the nature of the attack he ordered two more companies of the Buffs to reinforce the rearguard on the ridge, but these could not succeed in reaching a position whence their fire could be brought to bear. He himself was one of the first to fall, hit in three places.[8] Referring to the death of this hero and the doings of his warlike band at the critical moment when the Boers made their fierce onslaught on the defenders of the ridge, Mr. Bleloch of the _Morning Post_ wrote:-- "A squadron of Scottish Horse had just gained the edge of the ridge to defend the guns when the Boers charged. Colonel Benson and his staff were stationed near the guns. When the Boers got to the ridge they shot down, almost in the first few minutes, the greater number of the defenders, and it was the stubborn defence of the survivors which checked their further advance and prevented them at the time from rushing the ridge first, and possibly the camp afterwards. The defence of the ridge saved the column from imminent disaster, and inflicted on the Boers a heavy penalty for their daring attack. Unfortunately it was only done at the cost of many valuable lives. "Shortly after Major Murray was killed several Boers approached, shouting 'Hands up!' Corporal Bell, the son of Sir James Bell, shouted back 'No surrender!' and kept on firing. He killed one Boer, and immediately afterwards another Boer shot him from a distance of twenty paces. Other Boers then fired at him, and he was killed. A man named Bradshaw Smith, who was found lying dead near Corporal Bell, carried on his duty in the same spirit. He had a pile of empty cartridge cases by him, and wounded survivors state that he killed or wounded thirty Boers with his own rifle before he received a fatal shot. Lieutenant Kelly, who had received his commission only three weeks before the fight, fell near the same spot. He came from Australia, and was advanced rapidly to the rank of sergeant and then to that of lieutenant. He was one of the best fighting men in the regiment. He cheered and rallied his men in the most fearless manner, being wounded many times before he fell for good. When picked up he was found to be literally shot through and through. "These are conspicuous examples among a band of heroes. To the men of the Scottish Horse, the Yorkshire Mounted Infantry, and the artillerists is due the credit of maintaining the defence when it appeared to be almost hopeless. Knowing full well that only a few were left they held on, firing or selling their lives dearly, and keeping it up until almost the last man fell. The latest accounts show that out of 92 men of the Scottish Horse on the ridge, 88 were killed or wounded. Scotland may well be proud when at the end of a wearisome war she can send out men who die willingly and fearlessly in the performance of their duty." Colonel Guinness[9] also fell by the guns, having fired the last shot of case on the advancing enemy before he was killed. Captain C. W. Collins (Cheshire Regiment), who died of his wounds, Lieutenant Jackson (King's Own Royal Lancashire Regiment), Lieutenant Sloan (R.A.M.C.), Lieutenant Robertson (Scottish Horse), played glorious parts in this melancholy scene, and Lieutenants Bircham and Crichton (King's Royal Rifle Corps) distinguished themselves by remaining gallantly in command of their respective units though severely wounded early in the fight. The attack on the camp itself was easily driven off, but no further reinforcements could be sent to the ridge, nor were guns in camp able to materially assist the defence with the rearguard. All hands in camp worked hard to entrench the position which, before night, was rendered so strong that no subsequent attack was made. Colonel Wools-Sampson took command of Colonel Benson's column, and on the 31st the columns of Colonel Barter and General G. Hamilton went hot foot to his support. The bulk of the enemy with the captured guns had, however, disappeared beyond the reach of the British force. Of the losses on both sides Mr. Bleloch wrote:-- "Of Colonel Benson himself every voice proclaims him a hero. Though grievously wounded, he sent back to Major Wools-Sampson, telling him not to send out the ambulances because the Boers would take the opportunity of removing the guns, but to continue bursting shrapnel just on and over the ridge to prevent any further advance of the enemy. Major Wools-Sampson acted on these orders, and it was in imminent danger from our own gun and Maxim firers, as well as from the enemy, that some of the survivors of the Scottish Horse and Yorkshires moved about helping their wounded and dying comrades. Dr. Sloane, of the Scottish Horse, is praised by every one. The fire from the camp and from the other positions commanded by Major Wools-Sampson checked any further advance of the enemy. The Boers had paid dearly for their bravery, and their enthusiasm died down, though they continued a heavy fire all round the position. Major Wools-Sampson had taken every measure for the safety of the camp. He reinforced the southern positions held by the 25th Mounted Infantry, under Major Eustace, and called up all the Transport Commissariat officers and men to aid in defending the camp proper. When Colonel Benson was brought in about nine o'clock at night he told Major Wools-Sampson to see to his defences, because Botha had stated that unless he surrendered he would attack in the morning with 1400 men. The men were put to work entrenching, and by daylight the position was impregnable. The heroism on the ridge and the clever dispositions of the determined soldier commanding the camp had baulked the Boers, and Botha admitted that the fight was a failure. Between 200 to 300 Boers are known to have been killed and wounded. Man for man the losses were about equal on each side, but we have suffered the greater loss in the death of the gallant leader of the column and his equally brave associates. Men like Benson, Guinness, Murray, Lindsay, and Thorold, and the other officers who fell are difficult to replace. Lieutenant Straker, of the Scottish Horse, who was thrown from his horse and stunned, while retiring to the ridge, was taken prisoner, and remained with the Boers next day. Being conversant with the taal, he learned many things from the Boers which confirm their disappointment at the result of the fight." Among the forty-four Boers killed was General Opperman. General Chris Botha and 100 of his men were wounded. The British casualties in addition to Colonel Benson were:-- KILLED. Royal Artillery--Lieut.-Col. E. Guinness, Lieut. Maclean. Scottish Horse--Major F. D. Murray, Capt. M. W. Lindsay, Capt. Inglis, Lieut. Kelly, Lieut. Woodman. Yorkshire Light Infantry (3rd Mounted Infantry)--Capt. F. T. Thorold, Lieut. E. V. J. Brooke, Lieut. R. E. Shepherd. East Kent Regiment--2nd Lieut. A. J. Corlett. WOUNDED. Coldstream Guards--Capt. Eyre Lloyd (since dead) Cheshire Regiment--Capt. C. W. Collins, severe. Northamptonshire Regiment--Capt. A. A. Lloyd, D.S.O., slight. King's Royal Rifle Corps--Lieut. H. F. W. Birchan, severe; Lieut. T. G. Dalby, severe; Lieut. R. Seymour, severe. Scottish Horse--Capt. Murray; Lieut. W. Campbell, severe; Lieut. C. Woodman, dangerously; Lieut. Firns, dangerously; Lieut. A. T. Wardrap, severe. East Kent Regiment--Capt. Ronald, slight; Second Lieut. L. H Soames, severe; Second Lieut. W. Greatwood, slight. Yorkshire Light Infantry--Lieut. L. H. Martin, severe. Killed--Fifty-four non-commissioned officers and men. Wounded--One hundred and sixty non-commissioned officers and men (four since dead.) Colonel Park at this time worked in the Heidelberg district, Colonels Hacket-Thompson and Bewicke Copley in support of the Constabulary Posts, and Colonel Rawlinson in Heidelberg. Colonel Hacket-Thompson on the 14th of October routed a Boer gang that threatened the Pietersburg line, and on the way north Major Ross (Canadian Scouts) surprised and broke up Field-Cornet Jan Visagie's commando at Kranspoort. So much opposition did the Boers offer in the rugged country near Tweefontein, that Colonel Williams with 600 Australians was sent from Klerksdorp to reinforce Colonel Hacket-Thompson. On the 26th, while moving by Kameelpoort to Wolvekraal, a Boer picket was driven in, and fifty prisoners with their effects were taken. On the 27th the difficult Witnek defile--a pass six miles long--was forced by Col. Williams, in spite of the Boers, who held it in great strength and brought a pom-pom to bear on the troops. The splendid advance of the Australians eventually forced the enemy to give up his hold and take to his heels, leaving five dead on the ground and four prisoners in our hands. Colonel Colenbrander's men (Kitchener's Fighting Scouts) between the 6th and 21st scoured the hitherto untraversed region between Warmbaths and Magalapyi on the Rhodesian Railway. They visited Boer haunts which had been carefully located beforehand and pounced on various Boer supply depots, with the result that on return, on the 2nd of November, they showed a bag of 45 prisoners, 10 voluntary surrenders, 67 rifles, 4000 rounds of ammunition, and a large number of waggons and cattle. Colonel Hawkins (commanding Colonel Wood's column) displayed rival activity in the region west of the rail between Nylstroom and Geelhout, and his captures amounted to 97 prisoners, among whom were Field-Cornets J. J. Van Staden, J. P. Botha, J. Duverhage, Captain G. Coetzee, Adjutant Muller, and C. Schutte (former Landdrost of Pretoria), besides rifles, ammunition, waggons, cattle, and horses. TRANSVAAL (WEST) Colonel Kekewich from Rustenburg and Lord Methuen from Zeerust engaged in a converging movement for sweeping up Boers in the direction of Lindley's Poort, but Boers being shy, these officers returned to their original posts. While Lord Methuen was marching from Zeerust towards Lindley's Poort, Colonel Von Donop from Zeerust moved in the direction of Tafel Kop. On his way back, on the 24th, at Kleenfontein (between Wonderfontein and Wilgeboom Spruit), he was confronted by over 1000 Boers under Generals Delarey, Kemp, and Celliers. These had taken advantage of the thick scrub through which the British were moving to gallop to close quarters and set upon the little force. Fighting was ferocious, particularly round the two guns (4th Battery R.F.A.), and the heroism shown by one and all, particularly by the gunners, it is scarcely possible to exaggerate. One officer, 17 men of the gun detachments, 26 escort of the Northumberland Fusiliers (some 60 strong), were either killed or wounded in this desperate and successful defence. All distinguished themselves in one way or another; notably young Lieutenant Hill (R.F.A.), who sacrificed his life, two gunners, Neil and Murphy, and drivers Divers and Platt. Lieutenant Hobbs (R.E.), a prodigy of valour; Captain Laing (R.A.M.C.), 5th Imperial Yeomanry, who tended the wounded regardless of the heavy fire; Lieutenant Baldwin, who fought like a lion; and Lieutenant Caird, who was killed, were a few of many who behaved nobly. The men were heroic as their officers. Sapper Ryder, for instance, hearing the guns were in difficulties, galloped alone to them and joined in their defence, subsequently fetching reinforcements under heavy fire. Sergeant Roland (Bechuanaland Rifles), too, in the same deadly hail, collected men and carried messages with the daredevil courage for which he is notable. Sergeant Browning (4th Battery R.F.A.) kept his gun in action till the Boers were upon him, when he endeavoured to remove the breech screws and got wounded in the act. Sergeant Miller (1st Northumberland Fusiliers), whose splendid services have been noted on many occasions, collected men and set them to hold an important position, and Sergeant Baily of the same regiment distinguished himself by his determination and bravery. The Boers, repulsed on all sides, eventually drew off, leaving 40 dead and 5 wounded, including Commandant Oosthuyzen (since dead), on the field. Colonel Kekewich had also some noteworthy adventures. On the 28th he marched to attack a laager at Beestekraal on the Crocodile River. Having concealed his troops in the hollows around Hartebeestspruit, he, on the following day, resumed his march. At night his mounted troops, under Colonel Duff, moved towards Beestekraal, while his infantry moved to Klipplatt. The western approaches to the Boers' camp being unguarded, they fell victims to the surprise prepared for them. Resistance they soon found to be futile, and Colonel Kekewich marched back to Rustenburg plus 78 prisoners (including B. A. Klopper, former chairman of the Volksraad) and many waggons and horses. OCTOBER IN THE ORANGE RIVER COLONY Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon. J. Byng from Kroonstad spent the best part of October pouncing on commandos. On the 13th he attacked a laager at Jackfontein and captured 18 prisoners, and later in the month (the 25th) he surrounded Spanneberg's laager at Huntersolei, securing, with Field-Cornets Spanneberg and Oosthuyzen, 20 burghers; 11 extra prisoners were captured near Plessis Rush. On the 2nd of November he moved to Heilbron to take up his position for combined operations in the direction of Reitz. At Heilbron was Colonel Wilson (Kitchener's Fighting Scouts), who with Major Damant at Frankfort continued to cover the completion of the blockhouse line in that region. Major Damant on the 13th caught and engaged 300 Boers near Naudesdrift on the Wilge, and two days later handled somewhat vigorously a gang of 500 whom he drove to the Bothersberg, capturing Adjutant Theron in the course of the operation. More prisoners were secured before the end of the month. General Elliot's columns, under Broadwood, with the energetic Lowe and De Lisle, continued to operate north of Harrismith, but they were much hampered both by rinderpest and by incessant rains. Nevertheless Colonel De Lisle, working independently, surprised a Boer laager on the 15th, in the neighbourhood of the Wilge River, and made a fine haul of vehicles and cattle, in addition to the fifteen prisoners taken. General Broadwood, with 700 of his own men and some detachments of General Rundle's force, made an expedition to the eastern extremity of the Brandwater Basin, which resulted in the capture of a few prisoners and much ammunition. General Campbell remained in the region constructing forts, in order to baulk the enemy at important points. From Bethlehem Colonel Briggs (1st Imperial Light Horse), with his dashing men, carried on a series of exciting raids, thus clearing the country for twenty-eight miles round. Major-General C. Knox and Colonel Rochfort, under the general control of Lieutenant-General Tucker, engaged in operations for the completion of the clearance of the south-eastern portion of the Orange Colony, where Commandants Brand, Ackerman, and Coetzee still struggled to make themselves baneful. They gave considerable trouble, as their intimate acquaintance with the country made their deft dodges for prolonging the game of hide-and-seek highly successful. Still, in spite of their evasive tactics, 125 were taken and seven killed or wounded. OPERATIONS IN CAPE COLONY General French, whose headquarters were at Middelburg, by his vigorous measures to check the invasion, had so far swept the central districts of the Colony that a large number of troops were freed to hunt the south-western and north-eastern areas. On the 11th Lotter was executed, and curiously enough on the same date the arrant raider and desperate rebel Scheepers was captured by a patrol of the 10th Hussars under Captain Shearman, at Koppie's Kraal, where he had been left too ill to proceed. On his recovery he was tried on various charges, and sentenced to death. As his case aroused considerable interest, a short report of the trial is appended. The Court sat at Graaff Reinet on December 18, 1901, and there were sixteen charges brought against the prisoner--seven of murder, one of attempted murder, one of placing prisoners in firing line, one of ill-treating prisoners, three of flogging (one being a British subject and two natives), one of destroying railways, one of train-wrecking, and one including fifteen charges of arson. The one charge on which the finding of "Not guilty" was returned was the fifth, which related to the case of two scouts named John Jackspan and Johannes Rooji, who were shot in September at Wildepaardefontein, Montagu district. These men were shot, but the evidence went to show that it was by the order of Commandant Van der Merwe, Scheepers being on the farm at the time lying ill in a cart. The first charge of murder on which a verdict of guilty was returned was that of shooting two natives named Jacob Fillis and Kiedo, captured when scouting in September at Secretaris Kraal; the second was a charge of shooting a Kaffir policeman named Moycwka at Brakwater in January 1901; the third was that of shooting a native, name unknown, at Uitkomot, in March; the fourth was that of shooting a native scout named James at Brighton in August; the sixth was the shooting of a native named John Kennedy in the Worcester district in September; and the seventh the shooting of Zederas, a native, at Kruis River, the victim being first sjamboked. This was also in September. The other charges were fully proved. In all fifty-two witnesses were called for the prosecution. Apart from two witnesses whom he called, Commandant Scheepers gave evidence himself. He said his name was Gideon Jacobus Scheepers, that he was a Free State Burgher, and head of the Heliographic Department at Bloemfontein. "I surrendered on the 10th October 1901, and at that time I occupied the position of commandant in the combined forces of the late South African Republic and Orange Free State. I was promoted to the rank of commandant in the month of March last, but through some cause which I do not know of the formal appointment only reached me in August last. Previous to this I held the rank of captain. On 15th November 1900, I and the troops to which I belong came into the Cape Colony under General De Wet's command, but General De Wet did not himself come into this colony at that time. While we were with Commandant Kruitzinger he was in chief command, but as soon as the forces divided I was in chief command of my division. Before I came into the Cape Colony, on above date, there was a council of war held in the Free State, composed of all the chief officers in command. At this council of war propositions were made and carried that a letter should be written to Lord Kitchener drawing his attention to the destruction by fire and otherwise of property in the Free State and Transvaal, saying that if this destruction did not cease the officers in command of troops invading the Cape Colony would after a while receive instructions to proceed with destruction in the colony of all properties belonging to persons not friendly to the Republics. Prior to this letter, one to the same intent and conveying the same information had been written to Lord Roberts. In March last proclamations issued by General De Wet and signed by ex-President Steyn reached me, and the contents thereof was an instruction to the officers in the Cape Colony to treat all persons not on friendly terms with the Republics to the same destruction of property as had been done by the British in the Free State and Transvaal. I saw a copy of this proclamation in one of the Graaff Reinet newspapers. My instructions and proclamations I have handed over to my successor." The prisoner then dealt with the various charges in detail, declaring in respect of some that he had given no orders, as to others that the men were shot after sentence by courts-martial, and that they were spies. As to the destruction of railways, the train-wrecking, and the burning of farms, he pleaded that he was only carrying out the instructions of his superior officers. He vehemently denied having ill-treated his prisoners. [Illustration: GENERAL MAP OF THE EASTERN PORTION OF CAPE COLONY] In the course of the trial the following telegram was received by the president: "_December 21st, 1901._ "Can fact that Scheepers spared my son's life--Grant, 12th Lancers--in time of great excitement, September twenty-third, be pleaded in mitigation of sentence if sentenced? Please forward this to confirming office. GRANT, Monymusk." In reference to this telegram, Scheepers said:-- "Lieutenant Grant, 12th Lancers, as far as I have seen, has done the bravest deed ever done by a British officer. It was south-east of Oudtshoorn, along the Commanassie River, after having wounded two and captured eight of my men, as he was crossing the river I came upon him with four men. I shouted to him, 'Hands up!' He was in the water on the point of crossing the river, and as I shouted to him 'Hands up!' he paid no attention. When I shouted to him a second time, 'Surrender, or I'll shoot you down,' the four men with me pointed their guns at him, when he dropped his gun and revolver and surrendered. The men with me wanted to shoot him down, as he had wounded two of my men; I ordered them not to do so. I ultimately captured him and took him to a house and gave him a bed, and liberated him." He also claimed that the one thousand three hundred prisoners he had taken had been treated well. Scheepers was found guilty, after five days' trial, on all charges except the one of murder mentioned, and sentenced to death. The sentence was confirmed by Lord Kitchener about a fortnight later, on January 14, 1902, and the prisoner was shot at Graaff Reinet on January 18, 1902. Colonels Crabbe and Kavanagh hunted from Oudtshoorn to the north-west Smuts', Bonwer's, and Pyper's rovers. Colonels Haig and Lukin engaged in an animated chase, here, there, and everywhere, after Van der Venter and his band of marauders, and at last the vigilant Lukin, on the 21st of October, had the happiness of surprising the quarry six miles south-west of New Bethesda. Fourteen prisoners were taken, and one Boer lost his life in the affray. The rest of the party, as they escaped westward on the 24th, were engaged by Colonel Scobell, who had been chasing Smuts out of the Aberdeen district. The month ended with combined operations for purging the place of the commandos of Maritz, Smit, and Theron, and driving these undesirable elements into the remote districts beyond Calvinia. In these lively proceedings Colonels Capper and Wyndham and Captain Wormald were engaged, and by the end of October they had reached the line Lambert's Bay, Clanwilliam. Colonel Monro's column, after covering the construction of a line of blockhouses from Stormberg to Queenstown, commenced, in conjunction with a force under Colonel Scobell, to hunt the enemy north of Dordrecht. Meanwhile another line of blockhouses from De Aar to Beaufort West was concluded, thus adding materially to the security of the main line. The Proclamation of Martial Law at Cape ports was now deemed necessary, and regulations were made by the Colonial Government and the Commander-in-Chief with a view to minimising interference with legitimate trade, preventing inconvenience to law-abiding persons; adequate powers were secured for the military authorities to enable them to deal with the plots and intrigues of Boer spies, sympathisers at seaport towns, and to close to them this source of supply of munitions of war. The previous non-existence of Martial Law had enabled the enemy and his agents to carry on in security the introduction of foreign recruits and communications with Europe. [Illustration: GENERAL SIR BINDON BLOOD. Photo Elliott & Fry, London.] FOOTNOTES: [8] Colonel Benson, who has died of the wounds received in the attack, had played an active part in the present campaign, and had accomplished much good work. He belonged to the Royal Artillery, served in the Soudan, and was present in the engagement of Hasheen, where he was slightly wounded, and at the destruction of Tamai. He also took part in the expedition to Ashanti under Sir Francis Scott in 1895, and went with the Dongola Expedition under Lord Kitchener in 1896 as brigade-major of the mounted corps. He was twice mentioned in despatches, and was granted several decorations. [9] Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Davis Guinness, R.A., was the eldest son of the late Mr. Thomas Hosea Guinness, who married Mary, heiress of Mr. Charles Davis, of Coolmanna, county Carlow. He was educated at Eton, became lieutenant in the Royal Artillery February 18, 1880; captain on January 19, 1888; and major on September 23, 1897. He married in 1889 the Hon. Lucy Matilda, eldest daughter of the sixth Lord Massy, and leaves a son, Hugh Spencer, who was born in 1890. CHAPTER XV THE CLOSE OF 1901--PROGRESS IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER The establishment of constabulary posts from the Valley of the Modder towards Bultfontein and Boshof was being carried out simultaneously with the completion of a blockhouse line from Kroonstad to Coal Mine Drift on the Vaal. A blockhouse line from Kroonstad by Lindley, Bethlehem to Harrismith, and another by Heilbron and Frankfort towards Tafel Kop (a favourite Boer haunt and signalling station) and beyond it by Botha's Pass, promised to curtail the enemy's scheme of operations and push him into remote corners whence he would be unable to interfere either with the proposed extension of the rail from Harrismith to Bethlehem, or with another line working from Bloemfontein to the Waterworks and thence to Ladybrand. TRANSVAAL (EAST) General Bruce-Hamilton at the end of October assumed the direction of operations in the Eastern Transvaal, and the columns under his command were those of Colonels Allenby and Campbell at Standerton, of Colonel Barter at Leeukop (forty-six miles west of Bethel), of Colonel Mackenzie (late Benson's) at Brugspruit. Colonels Williams and the Hon. C. G. Fortescue were moving west of Middelburg. Under the auspices of these troops and of those of General Spens, the Standerton-Ermelo line of blockhouses was constructed, and the constabulary posts to the line Brugspruit Station, Waterful Station, were established. At the conclusion of these useful operations General Bruce-Hamilton, having forced the enemy in a corner as it were and prepared for the further advance of his columns to the east, made Bethel his headquarters. A concentration was afterwards arranged for the purpose of hemming the guerillas against the Eastern Transvaal Frontier, and consequently some of these struggled to break through the sweeping columns and the constabulary posts, while others, in knots, returned and pervaded the Delagoa Railway. They had of course to be dealt with, and Colonel Wools-Sampson, whose services had been invaluable to the lamented Colonel Benson, again applied himself to the locating of the offensive intruders. His information was brief and to the point. General B. Hamilton, with portions of General Spens' and Colonel Sir H. Rawlinson's columns, surprised the marauders at dawn on the 4th of December at Oshoek, twenty miles south-west of Ermelo. Owing to the dash and enterprise with which the 8th Battalion Mounted Infantry closed with the enemy and prevented their escape, the captures amounted to 93 prisoners, 116 horses, 26 waggons, 29 Cape carts, besides ammunition and telegraph and signalling apparatus. While this exciting affair was going forward between Ermelo and Carolina, Colonel Williams was chasing some Boer banditti under Viljoen, Prinsloo, and Erasmus, who were fleeing westwards in the direction of Knapdaar. The pursuit was carried to Welte-Vreden, where the enemy (in a strong position and numbering some 500) commanded the passages over the Olifants River. Colonel Williams' small force was unequal to a decisive engagement, therefore he drew off, having killed 5 and taken 12 Boers, 8 waggons, and 3500 rounds of ammunition in the course of his westerly pursuit. On the 7th, Colonel Rawlinson made a grand night march from Ermelo (General B. Hamilton's headquarters), and took 8 prisoners, while at the same time Colonel C. Mackenzie, moving from Carolina to Waterval, vigorously chased the enemy towards the Komati Valley, capturing 16, together with their horses, mules, and cattle. While Botha's bands were kept in hourly dread of being driven east against the Swazi border, or west between the troops and constabulary posts, where they would have been more than ever isolated and doomed to destruction, Colonel Urmston, with a small column, played the Cerberus, watching the line of constabulary posts in case of attack by such desperate Boers as might have become wedged between the posts and the columns, and keeping General B. Hamilton well informed as to their whereabouts. Viljoen, hovering between Pilgrims' Rest and Dullstroom, engaged the attentions of Colonel Park, while on the northern line Colonels Dawkins and Colenbrander hunted and hustled the enemy. By the 13th of November Dawkins had secured 124 prisoners, and by the 19th (when he had returned to Warmbaths by the Mafeking-Rhodesia route) Colenbrander had captured 54 prisoners of Beyer's commando, including Field-Cornets Ross and Louw and Adjutant Pretorius, with their horses, waggons, and stock. Colonel Colenbrander then devoted himself to the chase of Badenhorst's commando, a spirited and an exhausting affair which lasted some days, during which Kitchener's Fighting Scouts pushed perseveringly, through an almost waterless and decidedly uninviting region, on the tracks of the enemy. Eventually the column, almost spent with their prodigious activities, came suddenly on the quarry, and the 3rd of December found them in possession of all the waggons of the commando, and fifteen prisoners. Badenhorst and sixty followers tore into the jungle fringing the Poer Zyn Loop River, and thus escaped; but not for long. A large quantity of stragglers were driven up into the hills, and there seized by the 12th Mounted Infantry of Colonel Dawkins' column, who displayed considerable prowess in the achievement. The total results of these "well-planned and carefully-executed operations were 104 prisoners, 50 horses, 50 mules, 500 cattle, 6 waggons, 6000 rounds of small arm ammunition, and the serious discomfiture of the enemy in a district in which he had long considered himself immune." TRANSVAAL (WEST) Lord Methuen and Colonel Kekewich continued with unabating zeal their co-operations in the Rustenberg-Zeerust region, capturing many prisoners during their various marches. On the 13th of November, owing to a squadron of Imperial Yeomanry of Colonel Hickie's force having been surrounded near Brakspruit, both officers moved by different routes to Klerksdorp to disperse the commandos threatening Colonel Hickie. But these rovers had quickly made off to the west. Still hunting them, Lord Methuen, with Hickie and Kekewich on his right, left Klerksdorp to operate to west of Hartebeestefontein and Kaffirs Kraal. He got in touch with the foe, chased him towards Wolmaranstad, and "doubled him up" at Rooiport. Liebenberg's adjutant, his horses, stock, waggons, and twenty-six prisoners were the rewards of a fatiguing excursion. Lord Methuen returned to Klerksdorp on the 4th of December. Thus Colonel Hickie, whose column was covering the construction of the Schoonspruit blockhouse line, was relieved of the unwelcome attentions of the Boers, and the work on hand terminated without further interruption. [Illustration: COLONEL PILCHER (Photo by Robinson, Dublin)] ORANGE RIVER COLONY A magnificent programme for the sweeping up of infesting marauders in the region of Vrede and Reitz was planned out early in November. The difficulty and the extent of its plan may be gauged by the fact that the rendezvous and starting-points of the outermost columns engaged upon it were roughly at the angles of a parallelogram, whose diagonal was 175 miles in length, and of which no side was less than 100 miles, marked by the points Standerton, Harrismith, Winburg, and Heilbron; but of the details of this enormous movement, the energy and precision with which it was carried forth, nothing can here be said. It was arranged like an enormous and intricate game of chess, with tortuous and well-designed curves to keep the enemy from detecting the object of the manoeuvres, but the whole thing was a failure. The weather, firstly, was atrocious, and highly favourable to such Boers who might wish to straggle and draggle to cover; secondly, the immensity of the converging movement rendered it impossible to entirely fill all gaps, and these gaps the Boers were naturally "slim" enough to discover and to make use of. Thus, when all the splendidly managed and patiently executed marches concluded by the arrival of the columns at their objective, they found most of the birds flown. But the Boer stock and transport had to be left behind, and there was some consolation in knowing that the machinations of the marauders would be hampered for want of supplies for some time to come. Ninety-eight prisoners were taken and twenty-two of the enemy were killed, and horses and cattle in large quantities were secured. The troops returned to their original points of departure without incident, save in the case of Colonels Byng and Wilson. On the 14th of November a party of 400 Boers, who had evaded the cordon before it was drawn, attacked the troops near Heilbron. Two hours of stiff fighting ensued, and the enemy, said to be commanded by De Wet, was successfully repulsed on all sides by Colonel Byng's rearguard, which was brilliantly handled by Colonel Wilson of Kitchener's Fighting Scouts. The Boers left eight dead on the field. Lieutenant Hughes was killed and three other officers of Kitchener's Fighting Scouts were wounded. Colonel Rimington and Major Damant continued to pursue their special guerilla tactics from Frankfort to the Valley of the Vaal with a diamond-cut-diamond agility which was highly disconcerting to the Boers. Many captures they made, the most satisfactory of all being that of Commandant Buys, who, wounded in a skirmish with the "Railway Pioneers," fell afterwards into the hands of Colonel Rimington, who had gone to their assistance. The skirmish took place near Villiersdorp. Major Fisher's small patrol was attacked north and south by some 350 of the enemy. The British were overpowered; Major Fisher was killed, and Captain Langmore was dangerously wounded. General Dartnell and the Imperial Light Horse Brigade--real veterans by now--were perpetually on the move in the Bethlehem and Harrismith region, but the Boers were wary, and, at the rumour of their coming, seemed to evaporate! The 2nd Imperial Light Horse, however, caught them napping on the 24th of November between Elands River Bridge and Bethlehem. In the attack they killed two of the enemy and captured twelve more. The bag was furthered replenished on the 27th by the addition of 24 prisoners, 150 horses, and 800 cattle, which were the prizes of a dashing raid of the combined force of the 1st and 2nd Imperial Light Horse under Colonel Mackenzie. The end of November was spent in sweeping and hunting, surprising and night-raiding by General Elliot, who with three columns (Broadwood, De Lisle, and Lowe) moved gradually upward from Harrismith to Kroonstad. Here he arrived on the 1st of December with 15 prisoners, 89 carts, 2470 cattle, and 1280 horses (most of them worn-out). Colonel Barker from Bethlehem engaged the enemy frequently, thus protecting Broadwood's left flank and inflicting considerable damage. Colonel Rimington having effected a junction with Colonel Wilson (Kitchener's Fighting Scouts), south-west of Frankfort, on the 28th had some exciting experiences with the enemy, who pursued certain buzzing tactics for the purpose of drawing off attention to a proposed lunge by De Wet on the baggage and rearguard. The attack when delivered was brilliantly repulsed. The troops made a dashing charge on the enemy, during which Lieutenant Oliver (Inniskilling Dragoons) lost his life. Field-Cornet Klopper and 2 burghers were killed and 4 wounded, and 13 prisoners captured. Colonel Rimington then returned to Heilbron. [Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL ARTHUR PAGET. Photo J. Russell & Sons, London.] Various groups of columns under General Knox and Colonel Rochfort harassed and hunted the remnants of the commandos of Brand, Ackerman, and Loetzee, which still hung and clung to their ancient haunts. The work was fatiguing and monotonous in the extreme, but the clearance of that part of the country was accomplished. One hundred and seventy prisoners were swept up in the course of the month. West of the rail the establishment of constabulary posts between Boshof and Bultfontein went on apace, while Colonel Henry watched the country and kept the Boers at a distance. THE SWAZI BORDER The troops clearing the east in the Piet Retief region and on the Swazi border were hard at work to press back the desperate and almost refugeless Boers. Major Wiggin, with a detached force of the 26th Mounted Infantry Battalion (Colville's column), surrounded a laager at a farm eight miles south of Mahamba (near Piet Retief), and captured Landdrost Kelly and Field-Cornet Van Rooijen, with fourteen of their party; and then this same officer, with another detached force, proceeded on the 16th to repeat his success. At Plat Nek (within the Swazi border) he pounced again on the foe, caught twelve of them, and secured nineteen waggons with teams and a number of Krupp cartridges. General Plumer meanwhile worked considerable havoc among the scattered bands that hung south of the Wakkerstroom-Piet Retief blockhouses. After the 20th he was joined by Colonel Pulteney, and together they scoured the Randberg neighbourhood till the torrents should subside, and General Bruce-Hamilton, in his advance on Ermelo, could be assisted by them. NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER As before said, General French's operations in Cape Colony were making substantial progress, and small commandos only continued to rove about the south-east and south-west fringe of the colony. These were harried and worried by the troops, but their presence was now described as a serious inconvenience rather than as a menace of vital consequence. They confined their annoyance to the Barkley East district and the country to the west and north of the Cape Town-De Aar line. In the former area Monro and Scobell continued their hunts after Myburg, Fouché, and Wessels, who now and then skirmished, but who, owing to their losses, preferred to give the British a wide berth. The astute and indefatigable Hunter-Weston spent his time in chasing a gang of Boers under Naude, who, after shifting and doubling, finally burrowed into the Karee Kloof hills north-west of Philipstown. More columns under General Stephenson had the wearisome task of chasing dispersed gangs over a vast tract of country; and December found Colonel Crabbe at Lambert's Bay, General Stephenson with Colonel Kavanagh at Clanwilliam, Colonel Capper at Piquetberg, Captain Wormald at Wagon Drift (north of Ceres), Major Lund south of Sutherland, and Colonel Doran between the last place and Matjesfontein. As a result of the month's united operations of these forces, 29 of the enemy were killed, 21 wounded, and 45 captured. The rinderpest continued to work havoc, but the process of inoculation and the care taken to prevent the spread of the disease prevented the movements of the troops from being seriously impeded. As regards the troops, despite the heavy rains, the incessant marching, the harassing and ticklish nature of outpost work in exposed and isolated positions, the perpetual calls on their patience, their pluck, their sagacity, and their cheerfulness; despite the wet bivouacs and the monotonous food, and sometimes the scarcity of it, the dangers they ran and the meagre amount of publicity their heroism received--despite all these inconveniences, they remained true as steel and full of grim determination "to see the thing through," or, as the Commander-in-Chief expressed it, "to relax no effort until the campaign had been brought to a successful issue." The Boers now, at the end of 1901, found themselves cooped by blockhouse lines into four definite areas: Botha's attenuated force hovered on the borders of Swaziland and the Brugspruit-Waterval line. Delarey and Kemp hung around the difficult country between the Mafeking Railway line and the Magaliesberg range. Steyn and De Wet with some dauntless desperadoes did their worst in the north-east districts of Orange River Colony, and various bands of rebels and adventurers clung to the north-west regions of the Cape Colony. Elsewhere were only insignificant knots of worn-out and listless stragglers. There was a gratifying increase of voluntary surrenders, and during the month three of the most trusted leaders--Kruitzinger, Opperman, and Haasbroek--disappeared from the fighting scene. TRANSVAAL (EAST)--DECEMBER General Bruce-Hamilton, for the purpose of protecting the constabulary posts, was now operating in the country that had been so effectively cleared by General French in the beginning of the year. On the 9th of December he engaged in a brilliant converging movement over the old ground (see map, p. 20), with the result that 130 prisoners, 4000 cattle, and a large convoy fell into his hands. Briefly the tale is this: the General discovered that a large force of Boers had collected north of Bethel, and were moving south with a view to escaping round his left flank. Quickly, he summoned Colonels Wing and Williams (who were moving upon Kalabasfontein) to join him at Spioenkop, and by night the whole force made a secret march on the lair of the enemy at Trigaardtsfontein. The movement was magnificently carried out, and the laager was rushed by the troops at dawn. In the scrimmage seven Boers were killed, and many who escaped pursuit were mopped up by Colonel Allenby, who was moving from Middelkraal to Onverwacht. General Hamilton's force after this successful action marched into Bethel, having covered sixty miles in the previous forty-eight hours. His repose was short-lived. The Boers who had escaped from the pursuit of his force gathered now, under Viljoen, twenty-five miles north-east of Bethel. He determined to secure them. With the troops under Colonels Sir H. Rawlinson, Wing, and Williams, he started on the 12th on another exciting march. He neared his destination in darkness, and then in the dim dusk of the morn galloped upon the objective. It was a splendid achievement, and seventy Boers, including Field-Cornets Badenhorst and Swanepool, closed their military career. Sixteen were killed in the engagement, and one of the two 15-pounder guns taken from Benson's force at Brakenlaagte was recovered. The other gun had been disabled by the enemy. The scattered remnants of this commando fled north, and were tackled by Colonels Mackenzie and Fortescue, who were operating in that direction. These officers captured more prisoners and stock. On the 19th of December General Bruce-Hamilton left Ermelo, marching towards the east, while Colonel Mackenzie simultaneously moved from Carolina upon Lake Banagher (twenty-two miles north-east of Ermelo). Colonel Mackenzie on the night of the 19th made a forced march and attacked, at Schalk Meyer's farm, Smits' laager, and inflicted upon the enemy a loss of six killed. He took sixteen prisoners. He afterwards moved on Bothwell, and pursued for thirty miles a convoy which turned out to be Smits, and after a stiff engagement (on the 21st) secured 17 prisoners, 44 vehicles, and 2000 cattle. General Plumer and Colonel Pulteney co-operated in the vicinity of Spitzkop, and near there at dawn on the 23rd these officers engaged a gang of 500, and captured 6 prisoners. On the same day General Bruce-Hamilton's troops attacked Grobelaar's laager at Maryvale (fifteen miles north of Amsterdam). Owing to the denseness of the morning mist the majority of the Boers got off scot free, and only four were killed and eleven captured, but 700 cattle and a number of waggons fell into British hands. The captures were mainly due to the leading of Lieutenants Rendall and Huddleston, who, in spite of every obstruction, dashed in among the enemy before they could gather themselves together for more than flight. General Hamilton returned to Ermelo, and on the 29th pushed again to Maryvale. Again he repeated his manoeuvres, again he pounced on the Boers and thinned their numbers by twenty-two (taken prisoners), capturing also their waggons and cattle. This was on the 1st of January. On the following day, with the columns under Colonels Simpson and Scott, General Hamilton followed the spoor of the Pretoria commando up hill and down dale, over circuitous bridle-paths and into deep kloofs in the sides of the hills north-east of Amsterdam, hunting, and chasing, and burrowing. As reward of his dogged patience and perseverance forty-nine Boers were hemmed in and taken (among this number General Erasmus and Mr. Custer, late J.P. of Amsterdam). Colonel Wing, who was at the same time engaged in identical exploits, brought in twenty prisoners and five waggons. While these activities were going forward in the east, Generals Spens and Plumer, and Colonel Colville, on a line Beginderlyn-Rotterdam-Derby, watched the surrounding districts, and here on the 3rd of January Plumer's New Zealanders encountered the enemy at Twyfelaar. Fighting fast and furious, during which the commanding officer and twenty Colonials were wounded, resulted in the discomfiture of the foe and a loss to them of 300 cattle and a waggon-load of ammunition. Another fierce engagement took place on the following day, when Major Vallentin with fifty mounted men were following up the band which had attacked the New Zealanders. Suddenly, upon the small party rushed some hundreds of the enemy, galloping at full speed. There were about a hundred in the first line, while about fifty were thrown back on each flank, the movement being covered by heavy fire from a crowd of dismounted riflemen in the background. Thus outnumbered, the British band realised that there was nothing for it but to sell life dearly, and in the desperate hand-to-hand conflict Major Vallentin and 18 men fell, 5 officers and 28 men were wounded, and indeed the small company would have been utterly annihilated but for the timely arrival of reinforcements under Colonel Pulteney, who forced the enemy to retire. But the Boer loss was considerable, for General Opperman, the leader of the eastern group of commandos, perished, together with nine others. Three wounded were left on our hands. The enemy also had given considerable trouble to General Spens, who spent December working between Standerton and Ermelo. On the night of the 18th, the General detached the 14th Mounted Infantry under Major Bridgford to search the farms dotted around the junction of the Vaal with the Kaffir Spruit. After a long night's march he encountered at dawn a gang of Boers. These he chased with the utmost zeal, but while, as result of the pursuit, the troops were scattered on a wide front, they were assailed by a vastly superior force under Commandant Britz. The engagement was desperate and our losses were lamentable, many men being taken prisoners. These were fortunately recovered later, but the enemy escaped punishment. Lieutenant Stirling, Dublin Fusiliers, and the remainder of the party fought their way doggedly through the enemy, and returned to the nearest point on the Standerton-Ermelo blockhouse line. Among the wounded were Captain G. F. W. Brindley, 2nd Manchester Regiment (since dead); Captain B. H. H. Cooke, Rifle Brigade; Lieutenant P. S. Fryer, 2nd West Yorks Regiment; Lieutenant B. A. W. C. Moeller, 2nd Middlesex Regiment; Second Lieutenant L. P. Russell, 2nd West Yorks Regiment (since dead). [Illustration: GENERAL BEATSON (Photo by Russell & Sons, London)] At the end of the month combined action was taken to dispose of Commandant Britz's guerillas, and to commence the pursuit the troops of General Plumer, Spens, and Colonel Pulteney assembled at Amersfoort on the 28th. Promptly some seven prisoners were captured near Schuilplaats, and Britz sent scurrying towards Platrand. Here General Spens came upon him again, and relieved him of twenty-four of his followers. The rest broke up into small knots running the gauntlet of the blockhouses, and some of them dropping wounded from their fire, while others sought shelter in the north along the Vaal River. Some Boers at this time had succeeded in bursting into the protected area to the east of Springs, and the pursuit of them occupied Colonel Allenby's troops and General G. Hamilton's Cavalry Brigade. These succeeded in capturing sixty, while others surrendered to the Constabulary. In the securing of these interlopers some very exciting and interesting adventures are related. Major Butler and the Carabineers on the 18th accounted for thirty-four who were running riot south-west of Brugspruit, and on the 5th of January, north of Bethel, the 13th Hussars, under Major Williams, brilliantly effected the surprise of Breytenbach's laager, taking 11 prisoners, 200 horses, 600 cattle, 50 mules, and 6 carts. The Commandant himself in the midst of the scrimmage made off with true Boer velocity, but Captain Tremayne (13th Hussars), who was better mounted than his men, spied the fugitive and engaged in a neck and neck race with the Dutchman and, single-handed, secured him. Colonels Park and Urmston, in the midst of atrocious weather, made vigorous efforts to locate the so-called Boer Government, which was reported to be hidden north of the Delagoa line. Colonel Park on the night of the 19th was attacked in his camp at Elandspruit by a strong force under Muller, Trichardt, and Krieger. A tremendous amount of hard fighting took place before the guerillas were repulsed, and the losses on both sides were heavy. Of the British one officer and seven men were killed, and five officers and twenty-four non-commissioned officers and men were wounded. Of the Boers eight dead and three wounded were left on the ground. The number of those removed could not be ascertained. Among the slain were Commandant Krieger and Field-Cornet Malan. From the 21st to Christmas Day the two columns co-operated, skirmishing with and chasing the foe, who in small bodies flitted hither and thither in the dense mists that hung around Dullstroom. On the 22nd Colonel Urmston's efforts were almost crowned with success. He occupied a Boer laager some miles north of Dullstroom from whence the Boer Government _in a Cape cart_ some hours previously had fled. IN THE NORTHERN TRANSVAAL To west of the Pietersburg line Colonels Colenbrander and Dawkins' co-operative system worked splendidly. Boers who evaded the one fled into the open arms of the other! In this way Commandant Badenhorst with twenty-two of his party was secured on the 11th December. Fleeing hot foot from the Fighting Scouts he dropped into the maw of the Mounted Infantry, who had been vigilantly preparing to "welcome the coming guest." Later in the month Colonel Dawkins started for Harrismith to reinforce General Rundle's command, while Colonel Colenbrander moved to Rooiberg, and from thence pursued Boers to Jericho, a place near the Crocodile River, where sixty prisoners and much stock were secured. Early in the year he passed on towards the neighbourhood of Waterval, made a brilliant night march on the Magato's Nek in the small hours of the 4th of January, and surprised the enemy at dawn. A stiff engagement ensued, in which five of the enemy were killed and twenty-nine made prisoners. Not many days after Colonel Colenbrander was fortunate enough in delivering from the hand of the native Chief, Linchwe, a number of Boer women and children. The Chief with a following of 2000 had started forth vowing vengeance on the Boers for having stolen his stock, and determining to recapture his property. He was prevailed on by the Colonel, however, to retire to Pilansberg, and thus, much to the relief of the families of the enemy throughout the district, an awkward and probably disastrous complication was averted. TRANSVAAL (WEST) Lord Methuen and Colonel Kekewich continued operations from Klerksdorp. The former on the 13th December sighted a Boer convoy, gave chase with all available mounted troops, and after covering seven miles as hard as they could go, secured all the waggons. These were the property of Van Rensburg's men, and there was grim satisfaction in the knowledge that for a few days at least the marauders would be on short commons. A dash was made on the 16th for Potgieter's laager, which was comfortably posted on the southern slopes of the Makwassie range (near Wolmaranstad). The night march was splendidly managed, and dawn found Lord Methuen in possession of a tremendous haul of prisoners, horses, and cattle. His success was materially assisted by the operations of Colonel Kekewich at Korannafontein, who kept the commandos of Celliers and Vermaas engaged, prevented them going to the assistance of the captured laager, and blocked the roads to the north. Further operations were continued south-west of Klerksdorp at the end of the month. Early in the year Lord Methuen's force engaged in an animated chase westwards after a convoy which unfortunately had had a long start of them. The chase appeared to be a failure, but subsequently it was discovered that Lord Methuen's tactics had caused the convoy to seek safety by a sudden double to the south, with the result that it ran straight upon the Kimberley column of Major Paris, who joyously took possession of 40 waggons and over 1000 head of cattle. Thus did one man sow and another reap! Colonel Kekewich ended the month in keen pursuit of Potgieter's men. He had some exciting adventures, and made many small but useful captures. Colonel Hickie's column covered the extension of the new blockhouse line from Ventersdorp to Tafelkop, which point was occupied, much to the discomfiture of the Boers, who had made it a _pied-à-terre_ for some time past. ORANGE RIVER COLONY The Orange Colony was gradually becoming too peaceable for De Wet's liking. The great chief, after some deliberations at a Kriegsraad held on the 11th December, determined on a new plan. Finding that the system of scattering his forces resolved itself into a steady decrease of their numbers in consequence of the energy of our mobile columns, and discovering also that evasive and defensive tactics ended in his gang becoming hemmed in by the advancing blockhouse lines, he decided on concentration. He meant with his force to avoid direct collision with British columns, but decided to choose his own times and seasons for pouncing on and overpowering odd detachments on duty bound, whom he might chance to entrap. This new system brought about some unfortunate surprises and defeats of the British, but as our small but gallant little parties were not overpowered without deadly cost, there was every chance that the system would ensure an earlier collapse of the enemy's power to prolong the struggle. A clever combined movement of the division under General Elliot, with the columns of Rimington, Byng, Damant, and Wilson, began on the 8th December. The enemy were given the impression that the six columns were bound for the east, consequently they made an attempt to break back through the columns in small parties to the west. But a complete countermarch of the British troops on a given date (the 11th) ended in their being driven to the west quicker than they intended, and hemmed into the angle marked by the main line of railway and the Wolvenhoek-Frankfort line of blockhouses. Of course many of them were "slim" enough to see in time the threatened danger and evade the bristles of the British broom, but the troops captured 43 prisoners, 780 horses, 3000 cattle, and 187 vehicles. It was now evident that a concentration of Boers was taking place at Kaffir Kop, north-west of Bethlehem. General Elliot's division from Kroonstad, General Dartnell's men from Elands River Bridge, and Colonel Barker's men from Winburg co-operated so as to close in on the Kop from west, north-west, and north-east. But unfortunately the Boers, smelling menace in the air, dispersed even as the troops approached. Still the action was not without results, for Colonel Barker at Vaalbank, in an engagement with 500 Boers on the 16th (Dingaan's Day), killed the Boer leader Haasbroek, and disposed of a formidable foe. General Dartnell on the 18th, in the last stage of his return journey to Elands River Bridge, came into collision with De Wet, who, from a strong position along the Tygerkloop Spruit, disputed his further advance. Furious fighting followed, the Boers assailing General Dartnell's flank and rearguard, the Imperial Light Horse, spirited as ever, holding their own gloriously. Finally to their succour came General B. Campbell from Bethlehem (he had established signalling communication during the fight), and the Boers were forced to beat a hurried retreat in the direction of Reitz. Nothing daunted, De Wet made a new effort, and, alas! a successful one. On the 25th, in the direction of Tweefontein (nine miles west of Elands River Bridge), he turned up again where a covering force was watching the construction of the Harrismith-Bethlehem blockhouse line. This force, temporarily commanded by Major G. A. Williams, 1st South Staffordshire Regiment, consisted of the 34th, 35th, 36th, and 53rd Companies Imperial Yeomanry, and one gun of the 79th Battery and a pom-pom. It lay that night on the slope of a lonely kopje; the outpost line held the crest, the camp being situated on a gentle slope to north. The south side was steep. From this steep and apparently unprotected side the Boers by night, at 2 A.M. on the 25th, delivered their attack, scrambling up the heights exactly in the swift and silent way they had mounted Wagon Hill on the 6th of January 1900, and rushed the piquets in overwhelming numbers. The ridge secured, there followed a dash through the camp, and so swift was the movement that many of our officers and men were shot down before they had become aware of what had happened. It was a deplorable affair, and Major Williams paid for what mistakes he may have made with his life. Five other officers were killed and also 51 men; 8 officers and 81 men were wounded. Lieutenant Harwich himself fired with the pom-pom, and was shot through the heart in the act. Lieutenant Watney (Imperial Yeomanry) was killed as he headed the gallant charge on the enemy. A Boer prisoner gave the following account of the fight: Commandant Mears on the previous day spied round the camp, noting the exact positions of the guns. After sunset De Wet assembled over six hundred men and moved on Colonel Firman's camp, arriving within a thousand yards at two o'clock on Christmas morning unobserved. The Boers marched to the foot of the hill on which the camp was. There they left their horses, and scaled the precipitous height. When the sentry challenged them the Boers yelled madly, hoping thus to create confusion, and rushed into the British camp, shooting our men down point-blank as they came out of their tents. Our gunners, who were firing the guns at a range of forty yards, were overpowered, and the camp was captured after a fierce hand-to-hand conflict. Some Boers who lagged behind when the enemy charged the hill were sjamboked along by De Wet and Brand. The official casualty list of the Boers was fourteen killed, including Commandant Oliver, of Bethlehem, and Field-Cornet Lawrence, and thirty-two wounded. At this time General Rundle, with a small column, was encamped some 2½ miles to the east of this lonely hill. Hearing the firing he despatched Colonel Tudway, D.A.A.G., and his Mounted Infantry to ascertain the cause, and at the same time summoned two regiments of Imperial Light Horse from the neighbourhood of Elands River Bridge. Quickly the Boers discovered their peril, and made off into the Langeberg, carrying with them the gun and pom-pom they had captured in their attack on the camp. General Elliot, on hearing of this unfortunate affair, promptly started off on a series of chases after De Wet, which chases were fraught with much fatigue and considerable danger; but they failed in their main object, though many captures of more insignificant kind were made. As an idea of the distances covered in a week by General Elliot's columns, the following table was given by Lord Kitchener:--On December 29, marched seventy miles in close pursuit of De Wet; on 31st December, twenty miles; on 4th January, sixty miles. Before De Wet enjoyed the short-lived triumph of Christmas day, Wessels, in the neighbourhood of Tafel Kop, had distinguished himself on the 19th. The troops of Colonels Rimington and Damant were moving by night in a fierce thunderstorm by parallel roads three miles apart to cover an extension of the blockhouse line. Damant's advance guard beheld suddenly a force approaching. This force was kharki clad, and affected the formation usual with regular mounted troops. They also, as they advanced, fired volleys in the direction of some Boers who were escaping across the front of two British forces. Naturally our men were deceived, and this clever ruse enabled the Dutchmen to seize the crest of a kopje which commanded the whole field and also the guns and the main body of our troops. But even in their inferior position Damant's gallant fellows fought nobly and tenaciously to save the guns which accompanied the advance guard--so nobly, indeed, that every officer and man, except four, of the leading troops were shot down before reinforcements from the main body and Colonel Rimington's column came to the rescue. When these loomed in the distance the Boers wisely relinquished their attack, and fled over the Wilge pursued for many miles by Colonel Rimington's troops. Colonel Damant himself was wounded in four places, and many of his staff were killed and wounded as they fought gallantly with their revolvers till shot down. The casualties among officers were: Lieutenant R. G. Maturin, 39th Battery Royal Field Artillery (wounded); Captain H. J. P. Jeffcoat, Royal Field Artillery Pompoms (killed); Captain C. L. Gaussen, 91st Company Imperial Yeomanry (killed); Captain G. A. C. Webb, Royal Munster Fusiliers (attached Damant's Horse) (wounded); Lieutenant C. H. A. Wilson, Damant's Horse (wounded); Lieutenant W. J. Shand, Cameron Highlanders (attached Damant's Horse) (wounded, since dead); Lieutenant L. W. Armstrong, 91st Company Imperial Yeomanry (wounded). Out of a total force of ninety-five in action, we had seventy-five killed and wounded, while of three officers and forty-two men of the 91st Yeomanry, one officer and fourteen men were killed, and one officer and sixteen men wounded. Some truly heroic deeds were performed. Captain Jeffcoat, D.S.O., continued gallantly to work his gun under close and heavy fire till he dropped dead. Lieutenant Maturin, although wounded, collected some men and got the limbers out of fire; while Captain Webb and Lieutenant Shand charged boldly forward to a ridge, which they held till all save two of their men were killed or wounded. Captain Gaussen (91st Company Imperial Yeomanry) and Lieutenant Diving, who commanded the escort to the guns, displayed almost reckless gallantry, and the same may be said of Lieutenant Clive Wilson. Dr. Wedderburn pursued his deeds of mercy to the wounded, regardless of the rain of bullets that overtook him. [Illustration: DE WET'S ATTEMPT TO CROSS THE RAILWAY. Blockhouse and Armoured Train at work.] The following particulars of this gallant fight were obtained from the men engaged in it by the correspondent of the _Central News_:-- "The columns under Colonel Damant and Colonel Rimington left Frankfort on the 19th inst. and proceeded in the direction of Vrede. The force trekked all night through a most severe thunderstorm, during which three of our men were struck by lightning and killed. "On reaching the neighbourhood of Tafelkop, Damant rushed a Boer piquet, killing one man and capturing Commandant Gyter. "At daybreak the transport waggons were laagered, and were left behind in charge of a small escort, while Damant with two guns of the 39th Battery, and one pom-pom and ninety-five men all told, rushed forward. The little force deviated on the left flank, where a number of Boers had been located. "On reaching a ridge Colonel Damant observed a party of seventy men dressed in British uniform busily engaged driving cattle in his direction. The strangers were at first taken to be a part of Rimington's column which had gone out on the right flank. The mistake was soon discovered, however, and almost immediately another body of the enemy was located further to the left of the British laager. "Our guns were speedily unlimbered, and quickly came into action. We had only been able to fire two shots when the Boers in charge of the cattle abandoned them and galloped boldly forward towards the British position. "The enemy opened a galling fire on the gunners at a range of two hundred yards, and simultaneously another party of 150 Boers who had remained carefully concealed in ambush in the long grass at the foot of the ridge enfiladed the position. "A large number of the gallant defenders fell at the first few volleys, but the survivors fought tenaciously, and the enemy were only able to rush and capture the position after all the men on the ridge had been either killed or wounded except three. "Previous to this, however, some of the gallant gunners and the escort had succeeded in getting away the limbers of the guns, notwithstanding the heavy fire. The only gunner who had escaped the bullets then effectually destroyed the breech-blocks of the guns and rendered them utterly useless to the enemy. Out of a total force of 95 in action we had 75 killed and wounded, while of the 91st Yeomanry, one officer and 14 men were killed and one officer and 10 men wounded. "The Boers, who were under Commandants Wessels, Ross, and M. Botha--the latter the son of the Commandant-General--also lost heavily. They had Commandant Vandermerwe and 30 men killed. Three of the Boer dead were buried by our men, and the remainder were carried away. "Later in the day a Boer came in under a flag of truce and asked for an armistice in order to allow the enemy to attend to their wounded and bury their dead. "The survivors on our side state that the Boers behaved badly to our wounded on the ridge after the position had been rushed. Every one who made a movement while lying on the ground was fired at. An officer of the Yeomanry asked permission from a Boer dressed in kharki to get water for our wounded. For reply the Boer discharged his Mauser point blank at the officer's head, but fortunately missed him. "Several more of the enemy robbed and stripped our wounded and dead, and were only restrained from perpetrating further outrages by their commandants, who used sjamboks freely. "The Boers were terribly angry when they discovered they were unable to move or use the guns which they had captured. "Meanwhile Captain Scott had got together a small force and came up to the assistance of Damant's men. "Scott prepared to charge the position, when the enemy, mistaking his men for Rimington's column, hastily retreated. The fleeing Boers, however, fell right into the arms of Rimington's force, which was coming up to Damant's support. Rimington opened fire, and the enemy lost a few killed, while five were captured. "Rimington, with the remainder of Damant's force, chased the flying enemy across the Wilge River. "There appears to have been lately a large concentration of the enemy under De Wet at Tafelkop. Large parties of determined fighters under the immediate command of M. Botha, Meintjes, Tallvaard, Steenkamp, and Bucknill are now laying in ambush about the district, waiting to attack small columns." In the south-western parts of the Orange Colony the process of clearance continued, the troops bringing to the monotonous labour the utmost patience and cheeriness. In the north-western portion the troops under Major Pack Beresford (South African Constabulary) did a remarkable amount of work. At the end of December they made a dashing raid on Bothaville, which led to the capture of 36 prisoners, 80 horses, and 29 vehicles; and early in the new year, in Ukenaimer, they secured the whole of Field-Cornet Theron's laager and transport, with 35 prisoners, among them Field-Cornet Le Roux. CAPE COLONY In the Cape Colony Major-General Sir H. H. Settle assumed command in succession to Major-General Wynne, who returned to England. Affairs otherwise remained as before, though the bands of Fouché and Myburg were disorganised and broken up by the excellent and continuous work of Colonel Munro and Scobell, and Lovat's invaluable Scouts. The guerillas were now fewer and farther between, spending their time lurking in the hills around Dordrecht, Jamestown, and Ladygrey, and indulging in acts of brigandage according to the state of their appetites. The great incident of the month was the capture of Kruitzinger. This was effected on the 16th of December. The raider, returning to the Cape Colony with an escort of one hundred men, came into contact near Hanover with the blockhouses held by the Grenadier Guards on the Naauwpoort-De Aar line of railway. The collision was sharp and short, and the commander and twelve of his men were wounded and finally captured. The rest of the escort escaped to the south, and were pursued into the Aberdeen district by troops under Colonel B. Doran and Major Lord W. Cavendish Bentinck. A gradually widening line of blockhouses running 200 miles (from Lambert's Bay to Calvinia and Victoria West) threatened shortly to limit the raiders' sphere of operation, but till this was complete the chases continued. Colonel Doran, on the 9th, surprised and buffeted Nesser's rebels near Brandwagt, thirty miles east-north-east of Calvinia. One Boer was killed and eight were captured. The rest scuttled in small parties to the Clanwilliam district, in hope to reassemble and pounce on the next convoy coming their way. This much-desired prize at last appeared, and was attacked with intense energy at dawn on the 22nd. It was escorted by columns under Colonels Crabbe and Wyndham, who, despite the strength and desperate determination of the foe, managed to repulse them. But the next day the enemy, hungering after the tantalising supplies, betook themselves to a high ridge commanding the line of advance and there lay ensconced awaiting the precious convoy. But after all they went empty away, for the 16th Lancers, with tremendous dash, rushed the entrenchments and drove them at full gallop into space. THE SITUATION--JANUARY 1902 [Illustration: THE BLOCKHOUSE SYSTEM] Over a year had passed since Lord Kitchener had embarked on the duties of Commander-in-Chief, and it was now possible to examine the system on which the war had been conducted, and the extent of progress made. The great and most important part of the work, which was still continuing, was the dividing of the settled from the unsettled portions of the country. The development of the blockhouse system, which effectually blocked the inroads of the marauders, went on apace, and already some 14,700 square miles of the Transvaal, and 17,000 square miles of the Orange River Colony were entirely shut off from their incursions. The area protected in the Transvaal was bounded on the north by a line from Zeerust to Middelburg, on the east from Middelburg to Standerton, on the south from Standerton to Klerksdorp, on the west from Klerksdorp to Zeerust. The Orange River Colony protected area went right across the colony south of the line from Kimberley to Winburg, Winburg to Bloemfontein, and Bloemfontein to Ladybrand. Within these boundaries the Boer could not exist, and beyond them the task of clearing the country and hunting down the enemy was pursued by means of small mobile columns. The work and activity of these columns throughout the year had been enormous. Though about 10,000 Boers remained sprinkled in the field, some 53,000 (half of which number had been accounted for during the last year) had been either killed, wounded, imprisoned, or protected in concentration camps. In regard to these camps a great deal had been said by the enemies of the Government for the purpose of raising a cry of inhumanity against the Ministers, but in a speech made by Mr. Brodrick he lucidly and concisely examined and disposed of these charges. "So long," he said, "as every house in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony was used at once as a telegraph station, a recruiting office, and a refectory for the enemy, it became impossible for Lord Kitchener to ignore the necessity of relieving the country of the population which was rendering futile the exertions of our troops. Under these circumstances you have to consider not what their condition is now as compared with what it would be in time of peace, but what their condition is now as compared with what it would have been if they had been left on their farms. You have not got to consider the difference between luxury and privation, but between starvation and great suffering, and the less suffering we can arrange for." He further showed that to a large extent the disease in the camp was due to the fact that the majority of persons who came in (some compulsorily, but the greater number voluntarily) were already half-starved, their resources being at an end, and half-clothed, with their bodies in a condition fitted for the reception of disease. Under those circumstances a large death-rate was certain. But, he asked, what nation engaged in war has at any time, in any country, or under any conditions, endeavoured to feed, clothe, house, nurse, doctor, and educate 150,000 persons, who have been left on their hands by the enemy, whom they had called on--as Lord Roberts did on two occasions--to take over and maintain their own belongings, but who said they would leave them on our hands. And again, he explained that far from any inhumanity being shown the enemy, many of the troubles had been prolonged by excessive leniency to men who, on many occasions, had violated the rules of civilised warfare. For the last year and before it there had been instances of firing on ambulances, professing to surrender and opening fire again, or firing on the wounded, breaches of parole and treachery, which had provoked no retaliation, no deviation from the usages of the civilised warfare on our part. He put forth reasons which accounted for the abnormal death-rate in the concentration camps, showing in the first place that a death-rate in a camp whence all the healthy males have been removed, cannot be looked on as an ordinary death-rate. He said: "If you look only at infants, it has been pointed out that in the thirty-three great towns of the Kingdom the mortality is 248 per 1000. Birkenhead goes up even to 362 per 1000. Therefore, those who compare the death-rate in these camps with the ordinary death-rate of the great towns are, of course, speaking wrongly. I have heard of people who think that measles cannot have much effect on the death-rate. But what of the _gardes mobiles_ of Paris during the siege, whose death-rate was 40 per cent. in measles cases?" The critics who had discussed the camps had not taken the trouble to acquaint themselves with the ordinary statistics of Boer farm life, for, had they done so, they might have taken into consideration the fact that though many Boers had families of twenty children, as a rule, owing to the neglect, ignorance, or apathy of the parents, only two to a family survived. For this reason their population has not been equal to that of other nations in the same conditions. It is only by a study of the habits of life of these people prior to the English rule that it is possible to judge whether they had in the camps the comfort they were accustomed to. Luxury is but comparative, and, as has been shown, the luxury of soap and other sanitary precautions were ignored by the lower classes of Boers from earliest times. In regard to the matter of diet, that these persons received food at all was a marvel, considering that every convoy had to be protected from their marauding relatives by the lives of our own valiant men, men who themselves were not without anxiety as to how their own wives, mothers, and babes were faring at home in their absence, and who themselves, after a long career of hazard and usefulness, might share a less enviable fate. In addition to the accusations regarding the concentration camps, invented by traitors to the country that housed and sheltered them, there were other arguments to be met. "How is it, if you send this vast number of horses--if you have your columns--if you have good leaders who are well equipped--that our men cannot catch the enemy? Is your intelligence defective; is your system at fault?" The explanation given by Mr. Brodrick, one which showed a serious development of the war, was this: "The system of our country and people with regard to the Kaffir is different from the Boer system. The Boer columns have only too frequently in the last few months eluded our columns by hiding their tracks, by murdering the Kaffirs behind them. It is a serious charge, and I make it only for this reason, that I had occasion to notice that in the secret intelligence reports so many cases were mentioned of the murder of Kaffirs that I telegraphed to Lord Kitchener to ask whether this was a general practice, or whether it was the occasion of isolated persons. His reply was: 'Cold-blooded murders by the Boers have been frequent of late. It was only on the 10th inst. two dead infants were found with their hands tied behind them down a main shaft at Freylingstadt.' The leader of a column, whose letter I saw not long ago, mentioned that he was within two or three hours of a column of the enemy whom he had been pursuing for a considerable number of hours--that was at a Kaffir kraal--and he found the place deserted, but in one of the houses he found four little Kaffir boys, all under twelve, all with their heads battered in two or three hours before." Mr. Brodrick proceeded to explain that he did not bring this forward with the intention of making an impeachment against the whole Boer nation. Indeed, the statement was forced from him by friends of the enemy who at one time jeered at the Government and our Military Commanders for not beating the Boers, and at another complained that negotiations and blandishments were not substituted for the slow system of physical pressure that was found by the Commander-in-Chief to be the surest means to the end--the peaceable end. Both Lord Kitchener and Lord Milner decided that it was of no use either to threaten or to wheedle, the one and only thing was imperturbably to squeeze, reserving the policy of clemency for the proper season, when the surrendered Boers should have become our fellow-subjects. Accordingly we still continued to pour fresh regiments into the country. Four thousand trained mounted troops were now on their way out to replace those that needed rest, and India was providing four battalions and two more cavalry regiments in return for other troops which would take their place there. Some militia regiments were also being sent to the front, and further Colonial contingents, so that thus reinforced the tired veterans would receive a fillip for future operations. For reference in the future, when the resources of the Empire are studied, the following return of troops and horses sent out to South Africa between January 1, 1900, and December 31, 1901, may be found interesting:-- +-----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+ | | | | | From Home and India. | | During +-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+ | | | Warrant | N.C.O.'s | | | | Officers. | Officers. | and Men. | Horses | +-----------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+ | 1900. | | | | | |January | 1,099 | 45 | 28,072 | 10,229 | |February | 1,362 | 47 | 32,356 | 5,701 | |March | 1,130 | 63 | 26,539 | 5,501 | |April | 480 | 18 | 11,692 | 4,522 | |May | 321 | 4 | 7,020 | 2,481 | |June | 271 | 7 | 10,092 | 2,649 | |July | 120 | 6 | 2,107 | 1,277 | |August | 93 | 7 | 3,137 | 832 | |September | 128 | 3 | 4,644 | 1,187 | |October | 113 | 4 | 2,337 | 2 | |November | 125 | 18 | 2,331 | 895 | |December | 106 | 9 | 1,080 | 591 | | +-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+ | Total for 1900 | 5,348 | 231 | 131,407 | 35,867 | | +-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+ | 1901. | | | | | |January | 288 | 12 | 3,333 | 2,471 | |February | 275 | 3 | 5,225 | 1,495 | |March | 782 | 9 | 21,591 | 2,328 | |April | 366 | 12 | 4,498 | 2,724 | |May | 304 | 15 | 3,509 | 2,801 | |June | 287 | 11 | 5,532 | 2,481 | |July | 99 | 3 | 2,055 | 2,314 | |August | 179 | 13 | 3,546 | 1,672 | |September | 197 | 4 | 1,958 | 2,128 | |October | 191 | 13 | 1,466 | 2,401 | |November | 270 | 7 | 5,350 | 2,856 | |December | 619 | 16 | 11,686 | 5,024 | | +-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+ | Total for 1901 | 3,857 | 118 | 69,749 | 30,695 | | +-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+ | Grand Total | 9,205 | 349 | 201,156 | 66,562 | +-----------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+ -----------------+-----------------------------------------+--------- During | Colonial Contingents. | Remounts +----------+----------+----------+--------+ from | Officers.| Warrant | N.C.O.'s | Horses.| Abroad. | | Officers.| and Men.| | -----------------+----------+----------+----------+--------+--------- 1900. | | | | | January | 134 | 2 | 2,080 | 2,145| 840 February | 69 | 3 | 1,313 | 1,384| 2,703 March | 149 | 1 | 2,739 | 3,065| 10,341 April | 45 | | 834 | 880| 7,879 May | 81 | 1 | 1,349 | 1,690| 7,761 June | | | | | 12,551 July | | | | | 3,305 August | | | | | 5,293 September | | | | | 8,680 October | | | | | 2,213 November | | | | | 1,120 December | | | | | 5,272 +----------+----------+----------+--------+--------- Total for 1900 | 478 | 7 | 8,315 | 9,164| 67,958 +----------+----------+----------+--------+--------- 1901. | | | | | January | 17 | | 567 | 580| 4,224 February | 77 | 1 | 1,424 | 1,391| 5,991 March | 162 | 6 | 3,806 | 2,722| 9,022 April | 86 | 3 | 1,672 | 1,951| 4,850 May | 3 | | 2 | | 4,384 June | | | | | 4,742 July | 9 | | 7 | | 9,130 August | 21 | 2 | 324 | | 7,800 September | | | | | 7,550 October | | | | | 10,728 November | | | | | 8,099 December | | | | | 15,463 +----------+----------+----------+--------+--------- Total for 1901 | 375 | 12 | 7,802 | 6,644| 91,983 +----------+----------+----------+--------+--------- Grand Total | 853 | 19 | 16,117 | 15,808| 159,941 -----------------+----------+----------+----------+--------+--------- +--------------+-------------------------------------+ | | Totals. | | +---------+---------+--------+--------+ | During | |Warrant |N.C.O.'s| | | |Officers.|Officers.|and Men.| Horses.| +--------------+---------+---------+--------+--------+ | 1900. | | | | | |January | 1,233 | 47 | 30,152 | 13,214| |February | 1,431 | 50 | 33,669 | 9,788| |March | 1,279 | 64 | 29,278 | 18,907| |April | 525 | 18 | 12,526 | 13,281| |May | 402 | 5 | 8,369 | 11,932| |June | 271 | 7 | 10,092 | 15,200| |July | 120 | 6 | 2,107 | 4,582| |August | 93 | 7 | 3,137 | 6,125| |September | 128 | 3 | 4,644 | 9,867| |October | 113 | 4 | 2,337 | 2,215| |November | 125 | 18 | 2,331 | 2,015| |December | 106 | 9 | 1,080 | 5,863| | +---------+---------+--------+--------+ |Total for 1900| 5,826 | 238 |139,722 | 112,989| | +---------+---------+--------+--------+ | 1901. | | | | | |January | 305 | 12 | 3,900 | 7,275| |February | 352 | 4 | 6,649 | 8,877| |March | 944 | 15 | 25,397 | 14,072| |April | 452 | 15 | 6,170 | 9,525| |May | 307 | 15 | 3,511 | 7,185| |June | 287 | 11 | 5,532 | 7,223| |July | 108 | 3 | 2,062 | 11,444| |August | 200 | 15 | 3,870 | 9,472| |September | 197 | 4 | 1,958 | 9,678| |October | 191 | 13 | 1,466 | 13,129| |November | 270 | 7 | 5,350 | 10,955| |December | 619 | 16 | 11,686 | 20,487| | +---------+---------+--------+--------+ |Total for 1901| 4,232 | 130 | 77,551 | 129,322| | +---------+---------+--------+--------+ |Grand Total | 10,058 | 368 |217,273 | 242,311| +--------------+---------+---------+--------+--------+ Owing to the efficacy of Lord Kitchener's slow but sure efforts the railway disasters became fewer. In October 1900 the railway was cut thirty-two times, or more than once per day. In November thirty times, in December twenty-one times, in January sixteen, in February (after De Wet's incursion into Cape Colony) thirty, in March eighteen, in April eighteen, in May twelve, in June eight, in July four, in August four, in September two, and in October not at all. Thus it became possible for more than a hundred refugees per week to resume work at Johannesburg. The supreme authority throughout the Transvaal rested with Lord Kitchener. Civil considerations had of necessity to give way to military exigency. The work of the civil authorities was naturally restricted and subject to limitations from which on the return to normal conditions it would be freed. Nevertheless they acted with foresight, preparing such seeds as would ensure a good harvest in time to come. In a report made to Mr. Chamberlain in December, Lord Milner spoke hopefully of this happy era: "We have come into possession of a magnificent estate, which has been woefully mismanaged. As far as local administration is concerned--I am not speaking of the political development of South Africa as a whole--it requires no extraordinary statesmanship, it simply requires ordinary decent government and reasonable liberality in public finance to ensure not only a great advance in material prosperity, but in all the essentials of civilisation." Lord Milner also expressed the opinion that, terrible as had been the ravages of the war, the great fact remained that the Transvaal possesses an amount of mineral wealth virtually unaffected by the war which will ensure the prosperity of South Africa for the next fifty years, and other resources, both industrial and agricultural, which, properly developed, should make it a rich country, humanly speaking, for ever. Before constructing the blockhouse lines Lord Kitchener determined that the enemy must be deprived of his guns. His efforts in that direction were speedily rewarded. By June 1901 nearly the whole Boer artillery was captured or had been destroyed by the Boers themselves. General French was responsible for the capture of guns in the Eastern Transvaal, and we know how effectively his work was carried out. General Babington deprived Delarey of nine guns, two were taken by Rawlinson and more by Dartnell and others. In all twenty-seven guns were reported to have been taken during the year; twenty-six of them during the months of February, March, April, and May. They included half-a-dozen pom-poms, seven or eight Maxims, several 15-pounders, Krupp guns of varying calibre, Creusot, Hotchkiss, and quick-firing guns. In addition to these armaments, more than half-a-dozen of our own guns taken from British positions at various times were recovered. Of rifles 7993 were captured, and during the year it was estimated that 8589 vehicles had been taken by the British. In fact the process of the gradual depletion of the enemy's resources had been most effective. The number of prisoners taken was about 27,000. The surrenders prior to Lord Kitchener's proclamation in August had averaged about 500 a month. During the later months the surrenders decreased, while the number of prisoners captured increased. Naturally at the close of the year there was a decline in the number of Boer casualties, for the continued attrition of the Boer resistance necessarily reduced the number of antagonists accounted for. [Illustration: GENERAL BABINGTON. Photo Charles Knight, London.] In an intercepted letter from Mr. Schalk Burger to Mr. Steyn, dated Tautesberg, March 21, 1901, stating that the condition of the Boers at that time was becoming very serious, the Acting President said:-- "The question is, what must we, what shall we do? May we, can we, continue the struggle further? I pray the Lord day and night to give us wisdom and light hereon, and cause us not to sin against His will, but also not to fall into disbelief. If we are convinced that our last resources are exhausted, our last strength broken, we must bow down and surrender ourselves to the power of the enemy, no matter how bitter this cup may be to us. I can, however, not yet decide upon this latter course. My hope and trust is still that we shall be delivered and saved; the sacrifices of lives, prayers, and misery, are too great not to be crowned with our hopes and expectations, according to our belief. As you will see for yourself, from the correspondence between Lord Kitchener and Commandant-General Botha, there is no mention of terms which meet us in any way, therefore I keep to the decision to surrender unconditionally if this must happen, which I trust God forbid. No, let us keep our nation unsullied, to receive no favour from our enemy, that the gulf which exists through former years and this cruel war remains and still widens. 'Where there is a will there's a way,' and if we are not exiled, we can, by exerting our strength, form committees, and supported by loving gifts from Europe, again build up our country and people, to advance our language and religion, to educate our children, and to keep alive our oppressed national spirit and cause it to come to life again. This is my ideal." Many months had now elapsed since the penning of that letter, and the condition of the Boers had gone from bad to worse. Their hitherto stubborn resistance was now little more than suicidal lunacy. A rough estimate of their losses for the year, so far as could be judged, is shown in the following table:-- +-----------+---------+----------+------------+-------------+--------+ | 1901. | Killed. | Wounded. | Prisoners. | Surrenders. | Total. | +-----------+---------+----------+------------+-------------+--------+ | January | { Killed and | Prisoners and | } | | February | { wounded, | surrenders, | }2,844 | | March | { 670 | 2,174 | } | | April | { | | } | | May | 153 | 90 | 1,512 | 535 | 2,290 | | June | 223 | 109 | 1,074 | 504 | 1,910 | | July | 147 | 111 | 1,045 | 367 | 1,670 | | August | 202 | 86 | 1,504 | 549 | 2,341 | | September | 170 | 114 | 1,379 | 393 | 2,056 | | October | 425 | 368 | 980 | 197 | 1,970 | | November | 233 | 269 | 1,156 | 93 | 1,751 | | December | 164 | 97 | 1,106 | 121 | 1,488 | +-----------+---------+----------+------------+-------------+--------+ Total | 1,717 | 1,244 | 9,756 | 2,759 | 18,320 | +-----------+---------+----------+------------+-------------+--------+ Lord Milner, in reviewing the situation at the end of the year, commended the marked change which had come to pass:-- "Six months ago the enemy were everywhere, outside the principal towns. It is true they held nothing, but they raided wherever they pleased, and, though mostly in small bodies, which made little or no attempt at resistance when seriously pressed, they almost invariably returned to their old haunts when the pressure was over. It looked as though the process might go on indefinitely. I had every opportunity of watching it, for during the first two months of my residence here it was in full swing in the immediate neighbourhood. There were half-a-dozen Boer strongholds, or rather trysting-places, quite close to Pretoria and Johannesburg, and the country round was quite useless to us for any purpose but that of marching through it, while the enemy seemed to find no difficulty in subsisting there. To-day, on the other hand, a great quadrilateral, bounded roughly as follows: on the east by the Wilge River and a line drawn from its head-waters to Villiersdorp on the Vaal River; on the south, by the Vaal River from Villiersdorp to about Klerksdorp; on the west, by an irregular line drawn from Klerksdorp to the centre of the Magaliesberg Range; and on the north, by that range and the Pretoria-Delagoa Bay Railway, is virtually denied to the enemy. This area is more important, economically, politically, and strategically than all the rest of the Transvaal. It contains not only Pretoria and the whole of the Rand mining area, but one of the most important coalfields and a large extent of the best agricultural land. Similarly, a great improvement is manifest in the southern part of the Orange River Colony--the districts lying south of a line drawn from Ladybrand to Bloemfontein, and thence westward through Boshof to the colonial border. It would not be true to say that this region is entirely clear of the enemy, but great progress has recently been made in clearing it. Strategically this is a very important region owing to its central position, and to the fact that it connects the northern states with the 'friendly and allied' districts of Cape Colony." In discussing the Cape rebels he declared that-- "If the enemy now find this region difficult to live in, and impossible to traverse in any considerable numbers, the circumstance is both militarily and politically important, for it means that their dwindling numbers in the late Republics are now deprived of that reinforcement from the south, which has all along been of such immense assistance to them. For even holding, as I do (though competent opinions differ on the subject), that the number of colonial rebels who have actually crossed the border during the past twelve months has not been large, it would be hard to overestimate the moral support which Colonial information, sympathy, and encouragement, and the touch with the outside world maintained by free communication with Cape Colony, has hitherto afforded to the enemy. Such communication is now greatly hampered, and may soon become absolutely impossible." On the 25th of January a Peace Movement was made by the Dutch Government, in which it was proposed that the British Government should give safe conducts to three Boer delegates in order that they might go from Europe to induce their fighting compatriots to conclude a treaty of peace. Since a treaty is a compact between two Governments, and since one of the Governments--the Boer Government--ceased, with the annexation of the Boer territories, to exist, there was only one reply possible to the British Government, and this reply was given. The following is the text of the document:-- "THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE TO BARON GERICKE. "FOREIGN OFFICE, _January 29, 1902_. "SIR,--You were good enough to lay before me on the 25th instant a communication from the Netherland Government, in which it was proposed that, with the object of bringing the war to an end, his Majesty's Government might grant a safe conduct to the Boer delegates now in Holland for the purpose of enabling them to confer with the Boer leaders in South Africa. It is suggested that after the conference the delegates might return to Europe with power to conclude a Treaty of Peace with this country, and the Netherland Government intimate that, in this event, they might at a later stage be instrumental in placing the Boer Plenipotentiaries in relation with the Plenipotentiaries who might be appointed by his Majesty's Government. "The Netherland Government intimate that if this project commends itself to his Majesty's Government, they will inquire of the delegates whether they are prepared to make the suggested visit to South Africa. "It may therefore be inferred that the communication which I received from you was made on the responsibility of the Netherland Government alone, and without authority from the Boer delegates or leaders. "His Majesty's Government have given it their best consideration, and, whilst they entirely appreciate the motives of humanity which have led the Netherland Government to make this proposal, they feel that they must adhere to the decision, adopted and publicly announced by them some months after the commencement of hostilities by the Boers, that it is not their intention to accept the intervention of any foreign Power in the South African War. "Should the Boer delegates themselves desire to lay a request for safe conduct before his Majesty's Government, there is no reason why they should not do so. But his Majesty's Government are obviously not in a position to express an opinion on any such application until they have received it and are aware of its precise nature, and the grounds on which the request is made. "I may, however, point out that it is not at present clear to his Majesty's Government that the delegates retain any influence over the representatives of the Boers in South Africa, or have any voice in their councils. They are stated by the Netherland Government to have no letters of credence or instructions later in date than March 1900. His Majesty's Government had, on the other hand, understood that all powers of government, including those of negotiation, were now completely vested in Mr. Steyn for the Boers of the Orange River Colony, and in Mr. Schalk Burger for those of the Transvaal. "If this be so, it is evident that the quickest and most satisfactory means of arranging a settlement would be by direct communication between the leaders of the Boer forces in South Africa and the Commander-in-Chief of his Majesty's forces, who has already been instructed to forward immediately any offers he may receive for the consideration of his Majesty's Government. "In these circumstances his Majesty's Government have decided that if the Boer leaders should desire to enter into negotiations for the purpose of bringing the war to an end, those negotiations must take place, not in Europe, but in South Africa. "It should, moreover, be borne in mind that if the Boer delegates are to occupy time in visiting South Africa, in consulting with the Boer leaders in the field, and in returning to Europe for the purpose of making known the results of their errand, a period of at least three months would elapse, during which hostilities would be prolonged, and much human suffering, perhaps needlessly, occasioned. "I have, &c., (Signed) "LANSDOWNE." Thus the situation remained much the same as before, save that the British more than ever realised the necessity of bringing home to the Boers the fact that the death-blow to their independence had been struck by Kruger's insolent ultimatum of October 1899. THE LOYALISTS OF THE CAPE COLONY [Illustration: MAP OF THE WESTERN PORTION OF CAPE COLONY] Regarding this remarkable and long-suffering set of men, it would be possible to write a volume. Space limits us to a few lines. Yet, after all, deeds like theirs are best sung in the finest song of all--the song that has no sound. Some one has asked, What constitutes a State? The answer applies to those, the loyal and true, who have fought and suffered in the cause of home and country. "Men who their duties know But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain, Prevent the long-aimed blow And crush the Tyrant while they rend the chain: These constitute a State." And these bulwarks of Great Britain's might were to be found in great strength in South Africa. Other colonies had contributed most generously in men and money, but no other colony had been called on to endure what the Cape Colony had endured, and thus enduring, to act and to pay as this colony had acted and paid. Almost from the commencement of hostilities the Colonial forces--the Cape Mounted Rifles, Cape Police, South Rhodesian Volunteers, and others[10]--had shown their grit and usefulness in the field and covered themselves with imperishable glory. If the burden of their maintenance had fallen hard on the resources of the country, the laurels they had won had clothed the harshness with an evergreen beauty, for the country must be eternally proud of the men who saved Wepener and of those who struggled and helped to save Mafeking. The outlines of Wepener's story have been given, and a little has been said of the Rhodesia Regiment that was raised by Colonel Plumer to protect the border in case of war, and in looking back over their operations it is difficult to say whether by their usefulness or their dash the Colonial "Irregulars" rendered themselves most conspicuous. During the war, of the Rhodesians Colonel Spreckley, Captain Crewe, Captain Butters, and Lieutenant Anderson lost their lives, but the borders of Rhodesia were protected. During the siege of Wepener the Cape Mounted Rifles fought in more engagements than an ordinary General will count in a lifetime--yet they saved the place and came out of it to fight a renewed set of battles! It must be admitted that all the Colonial troops entered into their work with the same cheeriness and military ardour, though all had not the same chance to win fame. The Tabaksberg engagement on 29th January afforded the Kaffrarian Rifles an opportunity of distinguishing themselves, and the following quotation from a letter from Colonel Crewe (commanding the Colonial Division in the Field) to the Mayor of East London serves to show how they availed themselves of it:-- "I am sure you will be pleased to hear of the gallant conduct of the Kaffrarian Rifles at the recent engagement at Tabaksberg on 29th January last, when the force under my command, some 700 in all, were engaged by the forces of De Wet and Steyn. With odds of 2500 to 700 against us, we were able to successfully maintain our position owing to the extreme bravery of the men I have the honour to command. Where all did well, the Kaffrarian Rifles did especially fine service. To Major Price and Captain Fairweather much of this success is due, and amongst the non-commissioned officers and men it is difficult to pick out names for special mention where all did so well. I am sure East London will be prouder than ever of her gallant sons. Both General C. Knox and Lord Kitchener have expressed their admiration of the behaviour of all ranks on that day." It seems unfair to make special mention of any single branch of the Colonial Volunteer Service, when all the Cape loyalists behaved in some way like "trumps" or veterans. The permanent forces of the Cape Government were grandly supported almost from the very first by the Cape Garrison Artillery, the Duke of Edinburgh's Own, and the Cape Town Highlanders, and these, when the "call to arms" came, were finally backed up by the Town Guards, the Peninsula Horse, and other irregular forces that had been raised practically at a moment's notice--drawn straight from the hearth and home to throw in their lot with the soldiers in the field. It was thanks to these that the colony was saved, and thanks to the Town Guard that the regular and irregular forces and volunteers were freed to push on to the front. Indeed, at one period of the war, the Cape Town Guard (which enrolled for three months and hung on to the end) were left almost entirely alone for the protection of the towns. Lord Milner, who was greatly impressed by the conduct of the volunteers, thus expressed himself on the subject: "It is indeed calculated to exercise a most important and, I believe, beneficial influence upon the South African politics of the future. Among the principal causes of the trouble of the past and present was the contempt felt by the Africander countryman, used to riding and shooting, and generally in possession of a good rifle and plenty of cartridges, for other white men less habituated to arms than he was himself. That feeling can hardly survive the experience of the past twelve months, and especially of the last six weeks. The splendid fighting of the despised Johannesburgers, of the Imperial Light Horse, and of the other South African Colonial Corps has become a matter of history, and the present levee _en masse_ of the British people, including the townsmen, of this Colony, is proof positive that when the necessity is really felt they are equal to the best in courage and public spirit. In this respect the events of the past few months, unfortunate as they have been in many ways, have undoubtedly their brighter side. The mutual respect of the two principal white races is the first condition of a healthy political life in the South Africa of the future. It is possible that if the extreme strain of the most recent developments of the war had never been felt throughout Cape Colony the British inhabitants would never have had the opportunity of showing that they were inferior to none in their willingness to bear all the burdens of citizenship, including that of personal service." It may be remembered that on the 6th of February 1901 Brigadier-General Brabant was appointed to the command of the force which was then being raised for the defence of the Cape Colony, with Colonel Girouard as his chief staff officer. His headquarters were at East London, where the organisation proceeded, expanding eventually northward and westward, taking in district after district, so as to enable the Imperial military forces ultimately to concentrate in the Orange River and Transvaal Colonies. Colonel H. Cooper, C.M.G., A.D.C., commanded the Cape Town District, and Major Coke took a prominent part in the organisation of the irregular corps. The towns which provided guards were mentioned in a previous volume, but particulars were not then available. The Stellenbosch Town Guard contained some of the smartest members of the Colonial Defence Force. Like one man they enrolled themselves, only too proud to assist in the national cause. Very soon there were collected over a hundred of them under the following officers: Captain Harry Beyers, Lieutenant H. P. Shepherd, Lieutenant J. L. Scott, Hon. Surgeon-Captain J. W. C. Macpherson. On the 15th January 1901 the Commandant read the proclamation of Martial Law in the Stellenbosch Court-house. From that date, thirty members of the Town Guard were called out to do permanent duty. At first some difficulty arose as to where the men were to be housed, &c., but eventually the Masonic Building was placed at the disposal of the Permanent Guard. "In this building," wrote a colonial correspondent, "Captain Harry Beyers, the officer in command of the Guard, has his office, where all permits and passes are issued; the Commandant of the District, who, by the way, lives at the Remount Station about five miles out of the town, comes in three times a week to transact any military business. The barrack-room is a fine and large hall where the men have their meals and also sleep. The rifles are all in racks at the further end of the hall; these racks are all numbered, and every man knows his number. The place and its surroundings are kept scrupulously clean, and a sentry, who is always to be seen at the gate, stops any loiterer from entering the parade ground, where every morning at seven o'clock and every afternoon at six o'clock the men are properly drilled by the popular 'Jimmy' Hills, the Colour-Sergeant Major, who is, like his captain, an old hand at the game." In the beginning of July, when the Commandant of No. 7 Area, Colonel Helme, inspected the Guards, he was surprised to note the efficiency and smartness of the men. In an address to them he complimented the commanding officer for the work done; he also mentioned that the Stellenbosch Town Guard was the best turned out Guard in his area. A brief description of the Civil Service Company of the Cape Town Guards serves to give a general idea of the nature of these valuable protectors of the city. The Company was under the command of Captain Callcott Stevens, of the Civil Commissioner's Office, Cape Town, who had previously seen active service with the Duke of Edinburgh's Own Volunteer Rifles in the Basuto Campaign of 1880-81. The section commanders of the Company were Lieutenant Frank W. Waldron, A.M.I.C.E., of the Department of the Commissioner for Public Works; Lieutenant William A. Collard, Deputy-Assistant Treasurer, Treasury Department; Lieutenant Arthur A. Beck, of the Colonial Secretary's Department; Lieutenant Bertram E. Shepperson, of the Treasury; and Lieutenant Charles Murray, of the Department of Public Education. The nominal strength of the Company was 142 members. It was raised in one afternoon--immediately the ministerial authority for its enrolment was obtained. A similar degree of rapidity was manifested in many other companies of the Guards at the time of the crisis, and this martial impetuosity reflected immense credit on the manhood of the city--on its patriotism, its disinterestedness, and its pluck. The Civil Service Company consisted of five sections, and was fully representative of the Departments of the Prime Minister, the Commissioner for Public Works, the Treasury, the Colonial Office, and the Attorney-General, together with all the offices and sub-departments controlled by these ministerial divisions. An excellent spirit was manifested throughout by all ranks; and much laborious work was done in the way of guards mounted over important arsenals, magazines, and valuable stores. The original period of three months for which the Guards enrolled passed only too quickly, but their services were still urgently required, and they continued to be called upon for further periods of service, to which an excellent response was made--thus the military authorities were enabled to release many men of the regular forces for service in the fighting line, where they were much needed. Among the various companies of the Town Guard were many prominent Government officials and business and professional men, whose names are familiar in the colony. It would be impossible to reprint the rolls of all the companies, but a list of names of some of the well-known persons who appeared in the new character of defenders of the Empire is here quoted:-- A. Allen, G. T. Amphlett, Kitchener Andersen, H. J. Andrews, H. Arderne, Robert Armour, R. H. Atwell, R. J. Austin, R. E. Ball, F. C. Berrangé, F. L. Bishop, J. J. Bisset, G. Bolus, W. H. Bond, J. Brydone, W. P. Buchanan, J. C. Carstens, J. D. Cartwright, M.L.A., J. H. Clark, Wm. Cleghorn, W. F. Colman, Sydney Cowper, C.M.G., Peter Davidson, A. Dawson, Theo. De Marillac, R. Dickson, Dennis Edwards, E. J. Edwards, W. A. Fairbridge, Dr. E. B. Fuller, J. Garlick, C. M. Gibbs, J. Gillett, C. G. Goodison, C. R. Goodspeed, W. Hanson, W. Hare, A. T. Hennessy, J. W. Herbert, T. Herbert, Dr. J. Hewat, J. J. Hill, Norman Hilliard, J. Hodgson, C. F. Hoffman, B. Hogsett, J. W. Honey, Alf. S. Hosking, J. W. Irwin, W. H. Johnstone, Howel Jones, Sir H. H. Juta, K.C., J. M. King, J. R. Lancaster, R. A. Lambart, H. G. Legg, E. B. Lewis, Alex. Lipp, J. E. Lloyd, W. B. Low, D. A. MacDonald, Walter Marshall, A. H. Mathew, Rob. M. Maxwell, D. E. McConnell, A. M'Corkindale, D. McKee, C. S. Meechan, Donald Menzies, Stavros Mitchel, R. H. C. Montague, E. J. Moore, W. E. Moore, J. Barry Munnik, C. S. Neave, E. T. M. Notcutt, A. Palmer, D. S. Pargiter, J. Parker, Dr. T. L. Parry, J. O. Paterson, W. I. Perrott, F. Plant, A. Plint, R. H. Pritchard, A. Ransome, P. Raphael, A. B. Reid, J. Richards, H. P. B. Rigby, A. J. Robb, H. D. Robertson, G. Crosland Robinson, D. D. Ross, Pierce Ryan, J. Sandersen, P. J. Savage, A. D. Scott, G. Scott, M. W. Searle, K.C., Fred. Wm. Smith, J. H. Smithers, C. E. Solomon, Will. G. Sprigg, W. Stableford, James M. Stephen, Calcott M. Stevens, P. Stewart, F. L. St. Leger, R. Stultaford, D. Tennant, N. P. Thesen, A. W. Townshend, Geo. Trill, T. Upington, E. H. Von Witt, Joseph Walker, G. B. Williams, J. Wilson, G. Lavibond Windsor, M. Woodhead, T. J. Woodhead, J. Wyllie, R. O. Wynne-Roberts, J. A. Yallop. Among the number were many men of independent means who were contented to fill any place assigned to them, to take their share of duty as mere privates, and go through the same drudgery of drill as the ordinary raw recruit. In February 1901 it was computed that 11,000 South African irregulars had been raised during the foregoing three months, and that of these Cape Town itself had contributed 5000, but finally, when, owing to the extension of the area of rebellion and the invasion of the Boers, a large augmentation of the defence force became necessary, further assistance was cheerfully given, the number of District Mounted troops and Town Guards amounting in a short time to over 18,000 men. This number out of a male (white) population of 114,000 speaks for itself. It is impossible in a few lines to do justice to all the 18,000 members of this remarkable Colonial army, this goodly band of loyalists, English and Dutch, who stood at attention, ready, every man of them, to shed his heart's blood in the defence of his home and the maintenance of the prestige of the Empire. Noble work was done by them in various districts, work sometimes of the quiet and unostentatious kind that looks for and meets with no reward. But for these men various small towns in different parts of the Colony must have fallen into the enemy's hands, and have made stepping-stones to still further conquest: but for them the country might have become chaos--looting and ruin would have spread wider and wider afield--but for them the idea of driving the British into the sea might have been more than an empty boast. _They_ helped to turn the scale at a critical moment--the weight of their unanimous loyalty proved to the Boers the vanity of their dream! British supremacy has been well maintained. The period of warfare is nearing an end, and all are thankful that a policy of generosity will be extended to the Boers. But there is an old proverb which advises us to "be just before we are generous," and it is hoped that in the coming by-and-by the great debt that the Empire owes her Cape loyalists may not only be ever remembered but adequately rewarded. THE SOLDIERS' CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION The work done by the Soldiers' Christian Association in South Africa has been so incessant and far-reaching that it deserves special recognition. In no previous war has so much interest and sympathy been manifested in its multifarious operations, and it is difficult to define exactly how far the ramifications of this commendable undertaking extended. Innumerable War Funds, Comforts' Committees, Soldiers' Work Committees, Soldiers' Home Committees, and various bodies of a similar nature were organised and set to work with the best results, whilst officers and men were united in their praise and gratitude for the splendid efforts which were made in order to ameliorate their lot in the field, in camp, and in hospital. The Soldiers' Christian Association--the Military Department of the Young Men's Christian Association--was one of the first organisations in the field, and on the 9th of November 1899 the following notice appeared in "Orders":-- LINES OF COMMUNICATIONS. _Notice._ Permission has been given to the Soldiers' Christian Association to send out tents and writing materials for the troops. Facilities are to be accorded to the Association to put up tents at fixed stations as far as military requirement will permit. THE CASTLE, CAPE TOWN, _November 9, 1899_. About the middle of December 1899 a fully-equipped and specially-qualified band of eight workers was sent to South Africa from the head office in London, Mr. A. H. Wheeler (who has since died) being in charge, and during the campaign thirty workers were employed on the staff of the Association, many of these signing on in South Africa. [Illustration: A DUTCH VILLAGE NEAR EDENBURG. From "War Impressions" by Mortimer Menpes, by arrangement with Messrs A. & C. Black.] As far as was possible and practicable, workers were attached to the main columns, having with them large green canvas marquees, each capable of seating 250 men. In the daytime the marquees were utilised for reading, correspondence, and recreative purposes, and in the evening gospel meetings were conducted by the representatives of the Association, many of the soldiers taking an active part in the proceedings. Reading matter and stationery, and goods of that nature, were at all times freely supplied to the troops, it being an object of the Association to grant everything to the men free of cost. In addition to the eight marquees in the country, there were also four wood and iron buildings, with a seating capacity for 300 men. These were placed at fixed camps along the lines of communication. The building at the Woodstock Hospital Camp proved of immense benefit to the multitudes of invalided troops at that large and well-known military depot. During the campaign several thousands of pounds sterling were contributed towards the work, whilst the Soldiers' Christian Association was directly represented at the following camps:--Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Orange River, Enslin, Kimberley, Dronfield, Sterkstroom, Dordrecht, Arundel, Boshof, Hoopstad, Bloemfontein, Kroonstad, Pretoria, Eerste Fabriken, Estcourt, Frere, Dewdrop, Ladysmith, Elandslaagte, Ingagane, and Newcastle, where active operations were carried on by the staff of thirty workers. The main base of operations was Cape Town, whence supplies to the numerous representatives were despatched all over South Africa by the officials at headquarters, supplies being sent from the London office at Exeter Hall at regular intervals to the Cape Town depot, and thus throughout the many months of the Association's work in the field every camp where the work has been conducted was kept fully supplied with goods for the troops. Gratifying expressions of appreciation were received from several of the Generals and many of the officers regarding the good work of the Association, while the men were at all times profoundly grateful for all the pains expended for their comfort and welfare by Mr. W. Gordon Sprigg and his devoted colleagues. Before leaving South Africa for England, the Commander-in-Chief, Field-Marshal Earl Roberts, sent the following letter to Mr. Will Gordon Sprigg, F.R.G.S., General Secretary of the Cape Town Young Men's Christian Association, and Honorary Secretary in South Africa of the Soldiers' Christian Association, expressive of his lordship's interest in, and appreciation of, the work:-- "CAPE TOWN, _11th December 1900_. "I am desired by Field-Marshal Lord Roberts to assure you of his lordship's high appreciation of the good work done by the Soldiers' Christian Association in South Africa. Lord Roberts has watched your work with much interest, and feels sure that the success which has attended your efforts in the past will continue in the future. "His lordship wishes me to ask you to tender to all the members of your staff and co-workers his best thanks for their excellent services, and, in leaving South Africa to-day, he wishes you all good-bye and God-speed. (Signed) "W. V. COWAN, _Lieut.-Colonel, Military Secretary._" FOOTNOTES: [10] See vol. iii. p. 161. CHAPTER XVI THE NEW YEAR--JANUARY 1902 TRANSVAAL (EAST) The troops of General Botha, weakened and disintegrated, still continued a species of opposition which was met by the persistent activity of the British commanders. The blockhouse system developed, enclosing vast areas which were first carefully swept by the British troops, and subsequently occupied by a network of Constabulary Posts. With the continued extension of the blockhouse lines, the strain of night duty, and the arduous labours of constructing fences, trenches, and ramparts, fell heavily on the lessening garrisons of individual blockhouses. Yet these overworked, fatigued troops never failed to respond with spirit and cheerfulness to every fresh call made upon them. General B. Hamilton, after the capture of General Erasmus, returned to Ermelo. Knowing that a Boer laager was located in his vicinity, he directed Colonel Wing to make a night raid upon Witbank, some twenty-two miles to north-west of him. Simultaneously Colonel Mackenzie arranged a descent on the same objective from the neighbourhood of Carolina--a co-operative movement which acted splendidly and resulted in the capture of 42 prisoners, including Major Wolmarans, Captain Wolmarans, and Lieutenant Malan (all of the Staats Artillery), together with ammunition and camp equipment. Not completely satisfied with the haul, and suspecting that the Boers, scattered for the nonce, would return to their old haunt, General Hamilton, with great wiliness, planned a second night raid in the same locality. His surmises proved correct. The stragglers had returned, but, luckily for them, their outlying pickets gave the alarm in time, and enabled them to escape in hot haste. They secured a fair start, and though a spirited chase after flying burghers was carried on for seven miles, some of them managed to get off. Others were ridden down, and 32 prisoners were secured. Mules, cattle, and vehicles swelled the bag. On the 18th General Hamilton made a third night expedition in deplorable weather and over atrocious ground, and captured 27 prisoners. And yet another dash (on the 24th) from Ermelo towards Boschmansfontein put him in possession of twelve more of the enemy. The greatest triumph was achieved on the 26th, Colonel Wools-Sampson and his Intelligence Staff being mainly instrumental in procuring the success of the affair. Picked men and horses were drawn from the columns under General Spens, Colonels Allenby, Mackenzie, and Stewart. These, in ignorance till the last moment of the nature of their mission, were suddenly directed on Tafel Kop (ten miles north-west of Ermelo). It was now found that the Boer tracks forked in two, and therefore the force divided. General B. Hamilton's party proceeded one way in the pouring rain, and sure enough found a huge laager at Nelspan. This they charged grandly, and in a few moments a swarm of Boers fled through the tempest, followed for miles by the troops with ardour little damped by the nature of the weather. The other way was taken by a party under Major Pratt (Durham Light Infantry), who drove the Boers towards the Ermelo-Standerton line of blockhouses, where the luckless Dutchmen were forced to surrender. Other bands were also run to earth, and in all 82 prisoners--among them Field-Cornet de Villiers, Corporal de Jager (Staats Artillery), and Mr. de Jager, formerly of the First Volksraad--were the reward of this brilliant enterprise. General Hamilton by these dashing exploits (during the last his troops covered fifty-two miles in twenty-four hours) had considerably unnerved the enemy, who now, both by night and by day, lived on tenter-hooks, and consequently evaded as much as possible all contact with the British troops. In his operations the General was materially assisted by the activities of the columns under General Plumer, Colonels Pulteney and Colville, who effectually barred all exits to the south, and kept the enemy within range of General B. Hamilton's schemes. General Plumer scored on the 25th. Then, 24 prisoners were hemmed in and taken in the kloofs between Spitz Kop and Castrols Nek. Colonel Fry (West Yorkshire Regiment) seized thirty more straggling burghers who had run their heads against the Piet Retief-Wakkerstroom blockhouse line. Colonel Mackenzie was meanwhile guarding the northern avenues of escape leading across the Delagoa Railway in order to frustrate plans for a junction between Botha and Viljoen, but the last ruffian remained north of the railway at a farm between Boschoek and Kruger's Post, where, on the 25th, he was cleverly captured by a detachment of the Royal Irish under Major Orr. Thus the enemy lost one of his most prominent and trusted leaders, one who nursed a supreme hatred for the British. The weather continued deplorable--fogs, mist, and incessant rain baulked the best enterprises of the troops--but on the 21st 300 Boers were encountered by Colonels Park and Urmston, and in spite of the elements some captures were made. On the 24th, near Houtenbek, another guerilla gang, with whom the Boer Government was said to be, was encountered. But this will-o'-the-wisp disappeared at the first shot into the broken country north of Roosenekal. January closed with the departure from Lydenburg of Colonel Urmston, who escorted General B. Viljoen and other prisoners to the railway at Machadodorp. Early in February, east of Springs, the columns under General G. Hamilton and Colonel Wing made an important haul. The Boers had broken back to the west of the constabulary posts, and clung tenaciously to their ground--most probably in fear of facing, in their efforts to escape, the fire-swept region of the blockhouse lines. They were exceedingly wary, and the reward of very hard labour on the part of the British columns was meagre until the 3rd February, when, at Grootpan, 31 burghers with their transport were captured, and 3 killed. TRANSVAAL (NORTH) Operations here were handicapped by horse sickness. Colonel Colenbrander, having moved to the south, gave General Beyers the leisure to conceive a neat little plan for an attack on Pietersburg, and the simultaneous removal of such peaceably-minded burghers as occupied the refuge camp there. The attack on the town began at 4.20 A.M. on the 24th January, and continued hotly for some twenty minutes, after which Beyers was repulsed with the loss of three of his band, while three others lay dangerously wounded within 300 yards of the defence. The Dutchman succeeded under cover of darkness, however, in getting away a certain number of "neutral" burghers, who doubtless were acting in collusion with him. In the engagement the Volunteer Town Guard, who had turned out to the assistance of the troops, displayed grit and steadiness of a remarkable order. His attack having failed, Beyers retired to the south-east, but some eleven of his band were caught on the 6th of February by Major Vallancey and a small force, hunting from Pietersburg. TRANSVAAL (WEST) Colonel Colenbrander was now assisting (with Lord Methuen and Colonel Hickie) in the clearance of the western regions. Of Lord Methuen's raids and repeated successes it would be tedious to write, though each was carried out at the risk of life and limb, and with consummate dash and endurance. On the 16th of January a Free State laager, with twenty-four burghers, and mules, horses, carts, cattle, and waggons, was captured on the way from Vryburg to Lichtenburg. Near here, while a detachment of Yeomanry were reconnoitring, the Boers got their revenge. Celliers, with 200 men, pounced on the small British party, who, though they fought bravely, had 40 of their number captured: 8 were killed and 5 wounded. On the 30th, after a brisk engagement, Celliers was sent flying to the west by Lord Methuen, who returned to Klerksdorp on the 1st of February. His troops after a rest proceeded, under Colonel Von Donop, towards Wolmaranstad. On the way they effected the capture of 36 prisoners, 49 horses, 25 waggons, and 15 Cape carts by means of a neatly-contrived surprise for Potgieter, who narrowly escaped falling into their hands. By night they surrounded his laager, which was found at Rhenoster Spruit, and also an adjacent farm, and at dawn on the 8th came into possession of the prizes already enumerated. Colonel Kekewich spent his time in night raids of the same nature, some profitable, some disappointing. Boers were growing scarce as a natural consequence of the effective operations for netting them. In February a smart expedition was arranged for the capture of Delarey, which failed in its main object, but was yet highly successful in other ways. Starting from Leeuwfontein on the 4th of February, Major Leader, with mounted men (from Kekewich's and Hickie's columns), proceeded north by night, taking a circuitous route towards Roodepan (fifteen miles north-east of Lichtenburg), where Delarey was reported to be. After the capture of a Boer piquet, he learnt that the Dutch general had moved his camp, but the laager of Commandant Sarel Albert was in the vicinity. A bird in the hand being worth two in the bush, this laager was surrounded just before daybreak. With a rush and a roar the Scottish Horse dashed on the Dutchmen, causing a scene of dire tumult, which was enhanced by the stampeding of the Boer horses, who had become alarmed at the fire of the British pom-pom. Brilliantly the attacking force, inspired by the gallant major and his spirited subalterns, Lawless, Selby, and Wallace, fought for their prize, and in the end they had the satisfaction of securing Sarel himself, with his adjutant, Landdrost Potgieter, Field-Cornets Jan du Plessis and Jan du Toit, two assistant Field-Cornets, and ten corporals. They took in all 132 prisoners (11 wounded), 130 rifles, 2800 rounds of ammunition, with horses, mules, and cattle in great number. Unhappily the gallant Scottish Horse paid for its triumph. Two officers and six men were wounded. ORANGE RIVER COLONY General Elliot and his troops spent the early part of the new year in chases around Reitz after De Wet, but that skilful personage smartly evaded them. In spite of all efforts it was impossible to wedge him against either the Drakensberg or the Harrismith-Bethlehem blockhouses. Colonel de Lisle, at Kaffir Kop, to the west of Lindley and Bethlehem, kept an eye on Prinsloo, who threatened the safety of the blockhouses in course of construction. Colonel Byng's force was constantly engaged with parties of the enemy between Lindley and Reitz, while Colonel Rimington operated in the country south of Frankfort. (At Groothoop, on the 31st of January, he performed useful work by capturing a convoy and twenty-two prisoners, with their "effects.") Colonel Dawkins, with his own column and two regiments of Imperial Light Horse, joined Colonel Rawlinson (who had moved from Standerton after De Wet), and marched south on the left of Colonel Rimington's line of advance. On the 29th Colonel Rawlinson, with a portion of his force, doubled back from near Kaffirstad to Achalia (near the junction of Cornelis and Wilge Rivers), and at dawn on the 30th pounced on one of Mamie Botha's laagers. This night march and raid was a feat of remarkable endurance and dash, for the fighting force in the previous thirty-four hours had marched sixty-seven miles, the 2nd Battalion Mounted Infantry doing eighty-two miles in the same interval of time! The captures amounted to 11 prisoners, 120 horses, 2900 cattle, 20 waggons, and 25 carts. A BIG TRAP FOR DE WET Meanwhile wheels within wheels of the military machine were revolving, and preparing a carefully arranged plan for the enclosing of De Wet should he, on approach of the columns, which were pressing him towards the Harrismith blockhouses, endeavour to break back to the west. Troops were quietly being passed to east and south-east of him in readiness for a general sweep to the west. It was hoped by the maintenance of perpetual close contact, with patrols and outposts along the whole front of the British line, to drive the smart Dutchman into the strongly held angle formed by the Wolvehoek-Kroonstad railway and the Wolvehoek-Heilbron-Frankfort blockhouse line. De Wet, as was expected, did break back. He ran within the cordon. He appeared to be doomed. He was first promptly pursued on the night of the 2nd of February by Colonel Byng, who on Liebenberg's Vlei (west of Reitz) had lain in waiting for him. Quickly flew the British troops in pursuit, and some fifteen miles to the east they came upon a convoy of De Wet's commando. The New Zealand and Queensland Imperial Bushmen brilliantly dashed into the rearguard, while the South African Light Horse as gallantly charged the centre, and with complete success. Such of the enemy as escaped tore off westwards, but twenty-six prisoners (among them Captain Muller, O.F.S. Artillery, Captain Villiers, and Field-Cornet Wessels, who was mortally wounded) fell into our hands. Many vehicles, cattle, horses, and mules were secured, and also a 15-pounder gun and two pom-poms. Nine Boers were killed and eight wounded in this brilliant engagement, which was a tug-of-war creditable to the stamina of both parties. De Wet himself had yet to be dealt with. Now began the working of the great plan for his capture. By the 5th of February our columns formed a continuous line of men (a movable chain of outposts in fact) extending along the west bank of Leibenberg's Vlei from Frankfort as far south as Fanny's Home and thence to Kaffir Kop (west of Lindley). Rawlinson's men on the right were flanked along the Frankfort-Heilbron blockhouse line by the troops under Wilson (Kitchener's Fighting Scouts) and Keir (Royal Artillery), and thence, in order from right to left, came columns under Rimington, De Lisle, and Major Fanshawe. From the south, Marshall and Holmes (detached from Colonel Knox's command) moved up to the Lindley-Kroonstad line, gradually connecting General Elliot's left with the Kroonstad railway line. This, from Kroonstad to Wolvehoek, had been specially strengthened for the occasion. In addition to the normal garrisons, the 2nd Battalion Seaforths were distributed along the line. Four armoured trains were also in readiness. The Wolvehoek-Heilbron branch line had, moreover, been reinforced by the 2nd Battalion Leinster Regiment and three armoured trains. At Wolvehoek itself General Cunningham held the 28th Mounted Infantry in readiness to pursue such marauders as might be driven across the railway! Here was a gigantic chain--every link firmly united to its fellow! On the 6th it began to move west. By night a British line was held from Holland, on the Heilbron-Frankfort blockhouse line, to Doornkloop, on the Kroonstad-Lindley line. This gigantic line was held by entrenched outposts fifty yards apart. Fires were lit in advance, to give the effect of a double position. Men were pushed along the flanking blockhouse line to watch for attempts to break through. Nothing could be more complete, and at every post were British eyes on the alert and British hearts beating with anxiety lest their part in the programme should be weakly performed. At daybreak a further general advance was made. The line now reached the Heilbron-Kroonstad road, the left moving up, joined at America Siding on to the Kroonstad-Wolvehoek blockhouse line. The last night's arrangements were repeated, and every officer and man in the force remained on outpost duty. The piquets were constantly attacked, and Boers, struggling to escape and caught in the toils, caused a perpetual ripple of bullets to break the stillness of the night. In one case there was a desperate rush at the Heilbron line of blockhouses, which was bravely repulsed. The Boers lost ten killed and several wounded. At this time De Wet--finding himself cornered as it were--ordered his men in small parties to make each, independently, his dash for safety, leaving him and a few others to trust to their native wit for a means of escape. His well-known sagacity came to his aid. Riding with an immense herd of cattle, he made for Kroonstad-Lindley blockhouse line. Here, in the intense darkness, he gathered himself together for a desperate plunge. Racing full speed in the midst of the herd, he charged the line, breaking the wire entanglements and simply sweeping every obstacle before him by sheer weight of the impact! Thus he got away. Three of his followers were killed, and the mob of horses and cattle that had shielded him was shot--but his end was achieved! He had outwitted the British. He was free. But though his freedom as an individual was maintained, the loss to his party and the wreck of his hopes were considerable. Two hundred and eighty-five of his band were either killed, wounded, or prisoners, the last having been gleaned from among the rushes and reeds in the bed of the Rhenoster, where they had sought refuge after carefully divesting themselves of compromising articles of kharki uniform. These were found lying on the banks! To the west of the railway, Colonel Rochfort spent January and February in tussling with commandos under Nieuwhoudt and Pretorius. On the 26th of January, Major Driscoll came in touch with the former leader. He pursued him to the Boshof road, about eight miles north of the Modder, and in a short, sharp engagement secured seventeen prisoners (including Field-Cornets Venter and Grobelaar), some waggons, carts, and riding horses. Nieuwhoudt, however, doubled back and joined Pretorius and 150 burghers, and then prepared to attack Colonel Du Moulin's column, which had been searching for him in the Jagersfontein region. On the 27th, Du Moulin's force was bivouacked on the south bank of the Riet, at Abraham's Kraal. The Dutchmen crossed the Riet from the north and rushed the piquet that was holding a kopje, behind which the camp was sheltered. Once in possession of this commanding point their success seemed assured. At the first sound of alarm Du Moulin, a brilliant leader who had done incessant and excellent service, dashed to repel the attack, and was instantly shot. Many of his men dropped by his side. Major Gilbert (Sussex Regiment) assuming command, set to work to repulse the enemy, and by 1.45 A.M. had so effectively reoccupied the defences that a second bold attempt on the part of the guerillas to carry a position held by one of the piquets proved a complete failure. But, besides the valiant Colonel, ten of our men were killed and six wounded in the hardly-fought engagement. Colonel Sitwell spent January in covering the passage of convoys in the Kimberley district. This, always a risky undertaking, on the 13th of January became more exciting than pleasant. De Villiers with 400 rebels held an entrenched position midway between Campbell and Griquatown, completely commanding the line of advance. Despite the energy and dash of the 22nd Battalion Mounted Infantry, who managed to establish themselves within a comparatively short distance of the defences, the foe was not to be routed. Finally on the scene came a small detachment of the Munster Fusiliers, and these, by a well-executed bayonet charge, carried the position. The engagement cost us 1 officer and 5 men killed, and 6 men wounded. The Boer loss was great, but they succeeded in removing their wounded, leaving 50 dead horses and 18 live ones behind them. CAPE COLONY The operations of the raiders were gradually becoming confined to the comparatively waterless and inaccessible districts where, though politically less menacing, they were, in matters of transport and supply, decidedly obnoxious. The columns at this time were chiefly employed in covering the Lambert's Bay-Victoria Road blockhouse line, and in escorting convoys to supply depots now being established at Calvinia, Williston, Fraserburg, and Carnarvon. CHAPTER XVII THE EVENTS OF FEBRUARY AND MARCH 1902 TRANSVAAL (EAST) General B. Hamilton's three months' effective efforts resulted in the departure of Botha, and the complete clearance of the enemy from the district. It was now impossible to locate bodies of Boers in any part of that region. Rumour said that Botha had betaken himself to Vryheid to seek rest and change of scene for himself and his hunted horde. So, on his track went the British sleuth-hounds. The movement began on the 25th, and early in March they located their man in the neighbourhood of Vryheid. Meanwhile General Plumer, Colonel Pulteney, and Colonel Wing, in the angle formed by the upper waters of the Vaal River and the Standerton-Volksrust Railway, gleaned remnants from Botha's sheaf of Boers, Plumer's Queenslanders bringing in twelve, and Wing's men eight. General Gilbert Hamilton, during his operations east of Springs, was sharply attacked on the 18th of February, and a lamentable incident occurred. Boers, estimated to number 500, had been hanging around Klippan (twenty miles S.E. of Springs), seeking an opportunity to take vengeance. A portion of the Scots Greys, detached to one flank, was cut off, surrounded, and partially captured. They made a gallant fight for it, during which Major Feilden and Captain Ussher were mortally wounded, while Lieutenant Rhodes and two men were killed, and six men wounded. The Boers lost eight killed, and Commandant Van Niekerk was shot in the knee. After this sorry affair General Gilbert Hamilton was joined by the 28th Mounted Infantry, and from Springs he proceeded to hunt down the commando which had caused the trouble. To make up for the mishap two successes were reported during the operations of General Fetherstonhaugh north of the Delagoa line. On the 20th February Colonel Park's column with 300 National Scouts, after a tedious night march, swooped down on two laagers at Nooitgedacht and Grootrievlei. Among the prisoners taken--164 in all--were Field-Cornets Du Toit, G. Joubert, H. de Jager, Lieutenant A. J. Vilgoen. Hinton and Trichardt, two pernicious guerillas, succeeded in escaping. But there was a goodly haul of horses, waggons, mules, cattle, &c. Colonel E. Williams' men on the southern slopes of the Bothaberg secured some more prisoners, and on the 21st they surprised a laager at Buffelskloof and captured twenty more. [Illustration: MISHAP TO THE SCOTS GREYS AT KLIPPAN, FEBRUARY 18, 1902 Drawing by H. W. Koekkoek] A co-operative movement was now organised for the purpose of making a descent on Langkloof (near the junction of the Olifant and Wilge Rivers), where the Boer Government was shortly expected to arrive, but owing to the nature of the rocky and intersected country, the arrangements were impeded. The said Government, by the time the troops surrounded the place, had got some hours' start and were well on their way to Pietersburg. Colonel Park, who was unavoidably prevented from reaching his assigned position in time, proceeded to investigate the kloofs on the western side of Rhenoster Kop, and unearthed seventeen prisoners and many oxen, horses, and vehicles. TRANSVAAL (WEST) Operations continued in February as before, save that Colonel Von Donop at Wolmaranstad had succeeded temporarily to the command of Lord Methuen's mobile troops. On the 23rd an empty convoy of over one hundred waggons was despatched to refill at Klerksdorp and bring back supplies to Wolmaranstad. The escort was composed of 5th Imperial Yeomanry, three companies 1st Northumberland Fusiliers, two guns and a pom-pom, under Colonel W. C. Anderson (Imperial Yeomanry). Till the 25th all went well. Then, before dawn, as the convoy was moving from its bivouac ground ten miles south-east of Klerksdorp, a furious attack was made on the advance guard from the darkness of dense bush on the left. Flashes and forks of flame only showed where the enemy plied his rifles, but on this point the guns and pom-pom at once opened fire. The waggons of the convoy, which had stampeded back to the old camping-ground in the midst of the first shock of attack, were again closed up as rapidly as possible from the rear. A second and a third attack upon the rearguard were boldly and indeed brilliantly repulsed. Then Colonel Anderson, fearing the increased pressure on his rearguard, ordered the convoy to proceed towards Klerksdorp, instructing his transport officer to try and trot the waggons clear of the fire. He then made noble efforts to extricate his force, supporting the hard pressed rearguard, as it struggled to cover the retirement, with his guns and such troops as could be collected from the front. But without avail. The enemy under Delarey and Kemp, old and accomplished hands, kept the advantage. They had had the first word in the darkness; they were superior in numbers; they pressed triumphantly forward and caught the convoy where they had expected to catch it--in crossing the Jagd Spruit. The difficulty of the operation, the terror and stampede of natives and beasts in the hail of bullets that fell on them, contributed to the disaster. The convoy was lost. The escort, gallant and stubborn, was overpowered; 5 officers and 53 men fell, 6 officers and 123 men were wounded. The remainder, with the exception of 3 officers and 106 men, who reached Klerksdorp, were captured. They were subsequently released. Though the pursuit of the Boers was at once taken up, little could be done. The empty waggons were burnt, and the captors had dispersed as rapidly as they had assembled. In order to intercept, if possible, the captured guns, and prevent Delarey from moving to the Marico district, Lord Methuen resumed the vigorous pursuit of him in which he had for sometime previously been engaged. To this end the column started from Vryburg on the 2nd of March. Colonel Kekewich was directed to send a column from Wolmaranstad towards Rooirantjesfontein, there to meet the column under Major Paris (R.M.A.), from Vryburg, while Colonel Rochefort was directed to cross the Vaal from Orange River Colony and drive Delarey towards the columns heading for Rooirantjesfontein. [Illustration: LORD METHUEN RALLYING HIS BROKEN FORCES AT TWEEBOSCH Drawing by C. M. Sheldon] The movement seemed excellently planned, and every precaution to avert surprise taken, but nevertheless Delarey and Kemp made an overwhelming and successful attack on Lord Methuen, with the result that this commander, who has worked with indefatigable zeal throughout the war, was dangerously wounded and taken prisoner. Since the details of this unfortunate affair have not yet been fully sifted, it is best to satisfy ourselves with reading Lord Methuen's own report of the events connected with the Tweebosch disaster:-- FROM LIEUTENANT-GENERAL LORD METHUEN TO THE CHIEF OF STAFF. "KLERKSDORP, _13th March 1902_. "SIR,--I have the honour to inform you that, with the object of preventing the force under General Delarey from moving northwards to the Marico district through the gap between Lichtenburg and Mafeking, I sent orders to Colonel Kekewich, C.B., at Wolmaranstad, to send a column towards Rooirantjesfontein, where he would meet a column under Major Paris, Royal Marine Artillery, from Vryburg. I, at the same time, directed Colonel Rochefort to cross the Vaal from Orange River Colony, and to move northwards by the Bamboo Spruit, or the Harts River, and thus drive General Delarey towards the columns which were heading for Rooirantjesfontein. 2. Colonel Kekewich informed me, on the 2nd March, that he was sending a column, consisting of 1600 mounted men, lightly equipped; while Colonel Rochefort wired that the command would contain about 1000 mounted men. 3. The column, under Major Paris, which I accompanied, consisted of the following units:--5th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry, 184 men, under Captain Jennings; Cape Police (including Special Police), 233 men, under Major Berangé; Cullinan's Horse, 64 men, under Captain Cullinan; British South African Police, 24 men, attached to Cullinan's Horse; 4th Battery, Royal Field Artillery, one section, under Lieutenant Venning, D.S.O.; one pom-pom 'GG' Section, under Captain Geoghegan, Royal Field Artillery. These units did not belong to Major Paris's column, but were an addition, placed under his command. Major Paris's column before the fresh units were placed under his command at Vryburg:--86th Company Imperial Yeomanry, 110 men; Diamond Fields Horse, 92 men; Dennison's Scouts, 58 men, under Captain Browne; Ashburner's Light Horse, 126 men, under Captain Ashburner; 38th Battery, Royal Field Artillery, one section, under Lieutenant Nesham; one pom-pom, 'D' Field Artillery; 1st Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, 200 men, under Captain Montagu; 1st Battalion Royal North Lancashire Regiment, 100 men, under Lieutenant Paul. The infantry were attached to the columns at Vryburg. 4. My written instructions to Major Paris were that I should give him daily the direction of the march, and the time of starting for the following day; in case of any fighting, that he should look after the mounted brigade, and that I would stand by the guns and infantry, and give him general instructions. The mounted troops were the best horsed force that I have yet had under me, added to which the Cape Police, under Major Berangé, held an exceptionally high reputation, as did also the local corps. I remarked to Major Paris, on leaving Vryburg, that I could not believe in the numbers given to me. He again made inquiries, and satisfied himself that the numbers were correct. 5. I informed Colonel Kekewich, by wire, that I should reach Rooirantjesfontein on 7th March. 6. 2nd March.--The column under Major Paris left Vryburg at 5 A.M.; the Supply column consisting of 39 ox waggons, and the baggage of 46 mule waggons; owing to heavy rains which had fallen during the night the last waggon did not reach O'Reiley's Pan, a distance of thirteen miles, till 5 P.M. I therefore at once sent a message to Colonel Kekewich to inform him that I should be one or perhaps two days late at Rooirantjesfontein. I had previously informed him that the position of the enemy had rendered it necessary for Major Paris's column to bear more to the north-west towards Polfontein (254). 7. 3rd March.--Owing to the animals being exhausted by the previous day's trek, the column was only able to reach Grootpan (Bestersfarm), a distance of six miles. During the march the Police, forming the advance guard under Major Berangé, killed three local rebel Boers, by name Steyn, Bester, and 'Janson.' 8. 4th March.--At Grootpan I heard that large droves of cattle and Van Zyl's (rebel) commando had moved eastwards towards Doornbult (197). That morning Major Paris's column marched to Graspan, two miles beyond Mooiplatz (244 B), a distance of thirteen miles, where there was plenty of water. As there had been no rain in these parts it was very doubtful whether, if I trekked by Klipdrift (188), as I had told Colonel Kekewich I intended to do, I should find water at Vaalkop (183), or Rietvlei (279). 9. 5th March.--I therefore moved to Boschpan (68) in the morning, which I found all but dry, and in the afternoon to Barberspan, a distance of twenty-one miles, where there was plenty of water. Here I was informed that there had been rain at Leeuwkuil (95), and that there certainly was water at Leeuwkuil (23). 10. 6th March.--The column moved off at 5 A.M., the ox convoy having moved at 4 A.M. The whole force reached Leeuwspruit (232) about 7.30 A.M. Here I sent on a detachment of Cape Police to Leeuwkuil (95) to make certain of the existence of water. There had been some sniping at the rearguard by about 100 of Van Zyl's commando, and seeing some confusion, I went back myself, sending at the same time for a section of the 38th Battery. I found the men forming the rear screen, which consisted of the 86th Company Imperial Yeomanry, very much out of hand and lacking both fire discipline and knowledge of how to act. There seemed to be a want of instructed officers and non-commissioned officers. Van Zyl's commando being accurately shelled by the section Royal Artillery, eventually retired and moved round our right flank to Tweebosch (247), while the column halted at Leeuwspruit (232). On receiving information that there was no water at Leeuwkuil (95), I decided to move to Tweebosch (247), where Van Zyl's commando had taken up a good position in the bed of the Klein Harts River. Major Berangé with the Police, the section 4th Battery, and the pom-pom 'GG' Section, were ordered to move straight on Tweebosch (247), while Dennison's Scouts, supported by Cullinan's Horse, were to move round the enemy's left flank. The commando retired rapidly, the Police under Major Berangé working with the greatest quickness. Much praise is due to Major Berangé for the way in which he handled his men. Our casualties were one killed and two wounded. As the day was hot, and it was then 11.30 A.M., I decided to remain at Tweebosch (247). 11. 7th March.--At 3 A.M. the ox convoy moved off towards Leeuwkuil (23) with an escort of 1 squadron Cape Police; 86th Company Imperial Yeomanry; 200 men 1st Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers; 100 men 1st Battalion Loyal North Lancashire Regiment; 1 section 4th Battery Royal Field Artillery; 1 pom-pom 'GG' Section. The whole was under command of Captain Montagu, 1st Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers. The main column moved off at 4 A.M. as follows:--_Advance guard_:--1 squadron Cape Police; Ashburner's Light Horse; 1 pom-pom Diamond Fields Artillery. _Main body_:--Cullinan's Horse; British South Africa Police; Detachment 5th Regiment, Imperial Yeomanry; 1 section 38th Battery, Royal Field Artillery. _Rearguard_:--Diamond Fields Horse; Dennison's Scouts. Thinking there was a likelihood of an attack in rear, I had called Major Paris's attention to the necessity of putting thoroughly reliable troops in the rearguard. The country through which we passed was flat and without brush. At daybreak (about 5 A.M.) a heavy fire was opened on the rearguard. The fire was so intense that the rear screen was at once reinforced by the section of the 38th Battery, and one pom-pom Diamond Fields Artillery. A portion of Ashburner's Light Horse, and the detachment of the 5th Imperial Yeomanry, were extended on either flank, round which the enemy seemed intent on galloping. At this time (5.30 A.M.) the ox convoy was about a mile in front of the baggage, which was moving in four lines well closed up. I therefore ordered the ox convoy to halt, and the baggage to join it. Major Berangé was directed to move, with the police that were with him, towards a fresh body of the enemy, who now appeared on our right rear. The time was about 6 A.M. I joined the ox convoy about this time, and found Captain Tilney, D.A.A.G., assisting Captain Montagu, 1st Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, Commanding the Infantry, to extend the men to meet the attack on our right flank. The section 4th Battery Royal Field Artillery and the pom-pom 'GG' Section had already taken up a position to meet this attack. I could see no mounted men available, and could only assume that they had all gone to reinforce the rear screen, so I ordered the baggage to continue to advance, it being impossible to move the ox convoy, as the native drivers were lying under the waggons and refused to move. I would here like to draw attention to the orderly manner and complete control exercised by Lieutenant Hartley, Transport Officer to Major Paris's column, over the mule waggons during the fight. The Boers, attacking the rearguard, had come on with great determination right amongst the rear screen, but the support to the screen having been reinforced by Ashburner's Light Horse, Cullinan's Horse, and some of the 5th Imperial Yeomanry, held them in check till about 6.30 A.M. A heavy attack then developed on our rear and right flank, which caused, as far as I could see, all mounted troops then in rear (some of them which had originally been there had moved off towards the flanks to meet threatened attacks) to break, and they galloped in complete confusion past our left flank. The section 38th Battery was thus left unprotected, but continued in action until every man, with the exception of Lieutenant Nesham, was hit. I am informed that this officer was called upon to surrender, and on refusing to do so was killed. The attack on our right flank was pressed home to within six hundred yards of the gun of the 4th Battery. I then gave orders for a kraal about one mile along the road to Leeuwkuil to be occupied, and sent orders to rally the mounted men on the rising ground beyond the kraal. The kraal was occupied by Major Paris and Major Berangé with some forty men. The mounted troops in the meantime continued their retirement. I remained with the guns, 4th Battery, and Infantry until my horse was killed, and my thigh fractured by a bullet. They held out in a most splendid manner until about 9.30 A.M., when all the men round the guns had been shot down and Lieutenant Venning, commanding the section, had been killed. In the meantime the two guns and a pom-pom with Commandant Cellier's commando had rendered the kraal untenable, when the men at the kraal and those remaining with the baggage surrendered. The Boer Commandants present were--Delarey, Vermaas, Cellier, Kemp, Van Zyl, D. Botha, and Lemmer. It is difficult to estimate the number of Boers on the field, but I should say about 1500. General Delarey treated myself and the prisoners with the greatest kindness, and left General Cellier to look after our wounded on the ground; they buried eleven of their own men at Kareelaagte, and, from what I can learn, their losses were heavy. I beg to draw attention to the good work done by Major Paris in endeavouring to keep the mounted troops in hand, and to the promptitude with which Captain Tilney, 17th Lancers, D.A.A.G., assisted in placing the Infantry round the convoy. I would also call attention to the gallant manner in which Lieutenants Nesham and Venning, Royal Field Artillery, stuck to their guns. Captain Montagu, commanding detachment 1st Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, and Lieutenant Paul, commanding detachment 1st Battalion Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, held on until further resistance was impossible. Civil Surgeon Prentice, with the rearguard, and Captain Thurston, Royal Army Medical Corps, with the guns, continued bandaging the wounded throughout the engagement. Colonel Townsend, C.B., my Principal Medical Officer, remained in the fighting line until he had received three wounds; he has, from the commencement of the campaign, always acted most gallantly. Captain Fernyhough did good work with the rearguard during the action. He has been of very great value to me ever since he has served under me. A large number of the Boers were dressed in khaki, many of them wearing the chevrons of non-commissioned officers. This, in several instances, led to misapprehension by our troops, and to losses by death, wounds, and capture among us. Owing to having been wounded and taken prisoner, I am unable to give any list of casualties. This report is, for the same reason, based solely on what came under my own observation and what I have been able to gather from the few officers with whom I have had the opportunity of speaking on the subject." Lord Methuen concluded by saying that should he have omitted to bring to notice some who had distinguished themselves during the action Major Paris would supply the deficiency. Of the General's staff of six, five were wounded. Lieutenants Venning and Nesham, Royal Field Artillery, were killed while gallantly serving their guns with case. Lieutenant Hartley, Steinacker's Horse, also lost his life. Among the wounded were Colonel Wilson, 3rd York and Lancashire Regiment, Captain Outram, 3rd Highland Light Infantry, Lieutenant Dennis, Yeomanry, Lieutenant Nash, Cape Police, and Lieutenant Logan, Yeomanry. Lord Methuen was taken to the Boer laager, but was subsequently allowed by Delarey to proceed with Colonel Townsend, who was also wounded, to the hospital at Klerksdorp. [Illustration: BRILLIANT DEFENCE BY NEW ZEALANDERS AT HOLSPRUIT, FEBRUARY 23, 1902 Drawing by Allan Stewart from Sketches supplied by a New Zealand Officer] ORANGE RIVER COLONY--MAJUBA DAY After some days' rest, the troops which had formed the cordon to enclose De Wet's force were engaged in a new and far-reaching scheme of operations. This was divided into two phases, in the first of which two simultaneous movements were to be made to the east, one between the Heidelberg-Standerton Railway and the Wolvehoek-Frankfort-Tafel Kop blockhouse line; the other, from the line Kroonstad-Ventersburg-Doornberg up to the blockhouses between Lindley and Bethlehem. For the second phase, it was arranged that whilst the northern columns, then on a line between Standerton and Tafel Kop, made a right wheel on to Botha's Pass-Tafel Kop blockhouses, with Tafel Kop as a pivot, the southern columns should move east to the Wilge, and in conjunction with the troops at Harrismith, hold the line of the Wilge between Strydpoort and Majoor's Drift. Finally, with the line of the Wilge so held to the west, and the passes of the Drakensberg closed to the enemy from the east by the troops from the Natal command, the northern line of columns was to move south from the Tafel Kop-Botha's Pass position, right down to the blockhouses between the Van Reenan's Pass and Elands River Bridge, near Harrismith. These brilliant operations, on the principle of previous "drives," began about the middle of the month, and culminated on Majuba Day in the capture of 728 Boers, 25,000 cattle, 2000 horses, 200 waggons, and 50,000 rounds of ammunition. Various efforts were, of course, made to break through the encircling cordon, but none so violent as that which took place at the last stage of these proceedings. At dawn on the 23rd a general advance to the south was made towards the Van Reenan's Pass-Elands River Bridge blockhouses. It was timed to take four days. At night, at the close of the first day's march, another dashing attempt on the same principle as the last was made by De Wet to escape the net into which he had been driven by the advancing columns. In darkness, eighteen miles south of Vrede, at the point where Byng's right and Rimington's left joined, the noted chief, with his mob of cattle rapidly driven by natives, attempted his gallant rush. The New Zealanders of Garratt's column, commanded by Major Bauchop, with characteristic dash, gallantly resisted and repelled the attack made, and the 3rd New South Wales Mounted Rifles brought heavy fire to bear on the enemy, but De Wet and Steyn themselves succeeded in breaking through the toils. Still, the whole of the Boer cattle and vehicles were captured, and thirty-one Boers, while 160 horses were killed at the place where the gallant Colonials made their notable resistance. Our own casualties were severe, two officers and eighteen men were killed, five officers and thirty-three wounded, the majority of whom belonged to the New Zealand contingent. On the 26th Colonel Nixon repulsed a like attack made upon the line of the Cornelis River, but on the 27th the sweep down to Harrismith closed with the surrender to Colonel Sir H. Rawlinson of Commandant Truter and 650 men. Colonel Lawley and Major Du Cane made more captures in the vicinity of the Doornberg, and Colonel Barker's troops groped for Boers in the kloofs and caves of the western slopes of the Wittebergen. Before the 25th, owing to Colonel Barker's various activities, he collected 30 prisoners, 725 cattle, and 280 horses. The Boers, as may be imagined, began to accept these convincing proofs that further resistance to the British was little else than suicide. THE CAPE COLONY On the 2nd of February the general disposition of troops in the Cape Colony stood thus: Those under Crabbe, from Beaufort West, and those under Capper and Lund, from Sutherland, converging towards Fraserburg, where a concentration of the enemy had taken place; those under Haig and under Kavanagh and Wyndham moving from Clanwilliam upon Calvinia; the intervening space watched by Doran, forty miles north-east of Clanwilliam, and by Callwell near Sutherland. Crewe's Colonial troops occupied both the Elandsvlei and Sutherland. On the 30th January Colonel Crabbe's column (acting as a screen to a convoy of donkey waggons which, under its own escort, was some distance in the rear) was suddenly menaced by a swarm of Boers. Their attitude and their numbers warned the Colonel to take up a defensive position at Rietfontein (twenty-five miles east of Fraserburg). That done, he there fought tenaciously, determined to hold his own till Colonel Capper and Major Lund could arrive from Sutherland to his support. Foiled in their effort to overpower Crabbe's men, the Boers promptly decided to assail the convoy. This, guarded by 60 District Mounted Rifles and 100 men of the 4th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment, under Major Crofton, was halted on the night of the 4th some forty miles south-east of Fraserburg. The Boers in great strength rushed on the British prize. All through the night fighting was fierce and sustained, and in the end the Boers were triumphant. They secured and destroyed the waggons. Though Colonel Crabbe promptly rushed to the scene he was unable to act. The waggons were wrecked, and the assailants too strong to be handled by his column unaided. He awaited the troops under Colonel Capper and Major Lund, and with them proceeded to trounce and disperse the rebels, and hunt them north-east of Fraserburg. The losses during these engagements were considerable, Major Crofton, another officer, and 11 men being killed, and 1 officer and 47 men wounded. On the 5th of February there was a tussle at Calvinia between Theron's men and Colonel Haig's, when the Boers were driven north with the loss of two killed and two wounded. Considerable loss on our side was sustained on the 6th. Colonel Doran, with 100 men, then on the hunt for Gelhenhuis, a rebel leader, was assailed by the enemy during his return march to Calvinia. In the pitch darkness his little band had to fight a prolonged rearguard action to cover their withdrawal over the mountains. This conflict led to the loss of 3 officers and 7 men killed, 17 men being wounded. The main body of rebels--some 600 of them--heartened by their capture of the convoy on the night of the 4th, assembled on the 16th thirty miles east-north-east of Fraserburg, with a view to earning fresh laurels. But their hopes were nipped in the bud. General French had his eye on them. The congregating evil must be arrested, and the columns under General Stephenson were disposed upon a general line from Nelspoort Station, by Beaufort West, to Rhenosterfontein (fifteen miles north-west of Beaufort West), Colonel Doran on the right, Colonel Capper and Major Nickalls in the centre, and Colonel Crabbe and Major Lund on the left. An advance to north-west towards Williston was begun on the 17th--but the Boers were shy. No sooner did they come in contact with our troops than they dispersed. Some were wounded and some captured on the 18th, among them being Judge Hugo, who subsequently died of his injuries; but the rest got off. Malan's group doubled round Doran's right flank and scuttled over the rail towards the midlands, another gang fled north-west, and one J. T. Smith, with a rebel crew, broke through the blockhouse line, with some loss, to the north and then to the north-east of Victoria West. The pursuit of Malan to the east now occupied the column under Major Wormald and two squadrons of the 9th Lancers. This force had already chased the remnants of Kruitzinger's band, under Wessels, out of the midlands well to the west. Colonel Haig, with Colonels Kavanagh and Williams, skirmished and hunted in the Calvinia and Van Rhynsdorp districts, and on the 13th Bouwer's laager was rushed by Kavanagh's braves, and eleven prisoners, with horses, rifles, and ammunition, &c., were secured. In the midlands the enemy straggled about on the hills for the most part of the month. The rebels daily found an increasing difficulty in procuring food and necessaries from their quondam sympathisers, and their diminished popularity served somewhat to damp their activities; but early in March Fouché and Myburg made a dash across the East London Railway, whither they were chased to the south of Steynsburg by Colonels Price and Baillie. [Illustration: COLONEL CREWE] CHAPTER XVIII THE CLOSE OF HOSTILITIES--MARCH, APRIL, AND MAY 1902 TRANSVAAL (EAST) General B. Hamilton, as we know, over mountainous country followed Botha to the neighbourhood of Vryheid. The Boer force consisted of a concentration of some 800 men who had been hustled from other districts of the Eastern Transvaal. A laager was located east of Vryheid on the 10th of March, and General Bruce-Hamilton having blocked all exits in the Ngotsi valley, proceeded to attack it. The manoeuvre was rewarded. General Cherry Emmett, Botha's brother-in-law, and seventeen prisoners were taken, and Botha merely escaped by concealing himself in a kloof near the spot where his relative was seized. Eighteen more prisoners, some of importance in the fighting roll, were secured on the 18th. On the 1st day of April, near Springs, a laager was suddenly discovered by a party of Queen's Bays and some National Scouts under Colonel Fanshawe of Colonel Lawley's column. Immediately the Boers in great strength attacked the small British force, and in the close and spirited fighting, which lasted from dawn till dusk, Major Walker was killed, and Captains Herron, Ward, and Lieutenant Hill were wounded. As an instance of the hand-to-hand nature of the combat it may be mentioned that the butt-ends of rifles as well as the blades of swords came into play. Two squadron leaders and ten non-commissioned officers and men were killed and five officers and fifty-nine men were wounded. This concentrated body of the enemy was commanded by Alberts and Pretorius. Commandant Prinsloo, who was with them, was wounded. The Boers lost twelve killed and forty wounded. The middle of the month was spent by General B. Hamilton in sweeping from Middelburg to Standerton between the blockhouse lines. The hard-worked columns of Park and Williams and Spens were engaged in the undertaking, which was, though always hazardous, fatiguing as it was monotonous. One hundred and forty-five Boers were killed, wounded, or captured in the course of the operations. Beyers, a troublesome personage, had betaken himself to a fertile valley in the region of Pietersburg. He then proceeded to invest Fort Edward, a fortified post near Louis Trichardt, placing the small garrison of fifty souls in an unenviable quandary. To their rescue went Colonel Denny (Northamptonshire Regiment) with some 500 men, but he was so strongly opposed at various points that he had to fall back on Dwars River without effecting his purpose. Colonel Colenbrander, hurrying from Klerksdorp however, succeeded. He completely surprised the enemy on the 29th and effected the relief of the Fort. Then Beyers himself had to be dealt with, and on the 8th of April Colonel Colenbrander and his warlike scouts, with the Inniskilling Fusiliers under Colonel Murray, started to ferret him out and attack him. Through the difficult and exhausting country, a wilderness of crags and steeps, the troops moved carefully, exercising the utmost perseverance and sagacity in stopping up all poorts or points of exit. They then secured a commanding position--one which the Boers had imagined to be inaccessible--and systematically delivered the attack. Their determination and dash and dexterity were marvellous. By night the Boers were driven out of their mountain stronghold, but only with great loss on both sides. Colonel Murray was seriously, Lieutenant Thompson slightly, wounded. Lieutenant Lincoln was killed. The enemy's loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners was 106. But Beyers himself escaped. Operations against him were continued in this region till May with excellent results, for though the Boer leader was not caught, his following was considerably reduced, and thus his power to be mischievous crippled. FINISHING CLEARANCE OF THE ORANGE RIVER COLONY [Illustration: CAPTAIN H. T. LUKIN] [Illustration: COLONEL DOUGLAS HAIG (Photo by J. Edwards)] After the Majuba Day successes the lower part of the Orange Colony remained clear. Colonels Du Cane and Rimington in the region of Tafel Kop made some important captures. Among the prisoners were Adjutant Labuschaque and Viemann. Elsewhere, in the caves of the river bed, a large Boer supply depot was discovered by Major Ross (Canadian Scouts). A Krupp, a pom-pom, a Nordenfeldt, ammunition, heliographs, and other valuable supplies were taken possession of or burnt. Another of Lord Kitchener's big drives took place, the troops and tactics being the same as before. The columns were encamped in the neighbourhood of Harrismith, and the impression was given that they would sweep towards the northern blockhouses. De Wet, finding that Elliot and Rimington pushed him north, consequently flew west round Elliot, and in the very direction desired. By the night of the 9th there was a complete line of troops from Lindley to Frankfort, De Wet and Steyn being enclosed. Stray parties made rushes at Dunlop's and Scott's lines but were repulsed, and some Boers were made prisoners. On the 10th, all keeping touch, the advance continued. It was scorching weather, but the British stalwarts, under the blazing sun, maintained splendid courage and cheeriness. As an example of their endurance, it may be noted that Rawlinson's men on the 10th and 11th covered sixty miles. On the 11th the drive concluded, but not with the capture of the redoubtable one. De Wet and Steyn, it appeared, had escaped west of the main Orange Colony Railway by crossing the Heilbron-Frankfort line at night at an hour when some of the British troops were expected to cross. Mentz, to escape Colonel Cox and Rimington's Australians, adopted the same tactics as De Wet's former ones. He rushed the Heilbron-Wolvehoek line on the night of the 10th of March by furiously driving a herd of horses against the line held by the Leinsters near Gothenburg. Though these leaders got off, in the course of the operations, 127 Boers were taken and Commandant Celliers was wounded. De Wet and Steyn remained west of the railway line endeavouring, it was presumed, to get into communication with Delarey. That some Boers had evaded the big drive was evident by the fact that a convoy was attacked between Kronspruit and Frankfort. The enemy was, however, beaten off by the Mounted Infantry, who had some of their number wounded. The members of the so-called Acting Transvaal Government--Messrs. Schalk Burger, Reitz, Lucas Meyer, Krogh, and Vanderwalt--proceeded on the 22nd of March, under flag of truce, from Balmoral to Kroonstad to interview Mr. Steyn, with Lord Kitchener's consent. The interview had reference to possible peace proposals. The delegates travelled by special train accompanied by Captain Marker, A.D.C. to Lord Kitchener, Major Leggett, Assistant Director of Railways, and four other staff officers. The meeting concluded a few days later, apparently without practical results. The commandos in the district were now much scattered and reduced, but on the last day of April, near Frankfort, Colonel Barker had the good fortune to capture Mamie Botha (a smart and resourceful ally of De Wet), his adjutant, and eleven Boers. Early in May (the 6th) another rapid drive took place. A continuous line of columns left Frankfort-Heilbron-Vredefort Road line quite unimpeded by wheel transport, and drove swiftly to Kroonstad-Liebenberg-Vlei line, which was reached in the afternoon. The British casualties were nil. The prisoners taken were 208. Ten Boers were killed. From opinions drawn from prisoners it was obvious that these "drives" were heartily dreaded, and the fact of being thus chased from their own district was a fruitful source of surrender. TRANSVAAL (WEST)--MARCH A new and original combined movement against Delarey was now conceived by Lord Kitchener. The Boers were dotted about recuperating in farms near Hartebeestefontein, and these had to be mopped up somehow before they had time to concert or to concentrate. The district was too vast for the usual cordon process, and there was great difficulty in arranging a plan which would dispose sufficient troops on the west. There, there were no blockhouse lines, but a line ran from the Vaal to Klerksdorp and thence up the Schoenspruit till it joined the Lichtenburg-Ventersdorp line. The programme was most concise. No wheeled transport and no guns were to be taken. The thing was to be accomplished "in the blink of an eye," so to say, at the rate of nearly eighty miles in twenty-four hours at most. On the night of the 23rd of March every one was to be under way, silent and secret as burglars, bold and resolute as lions. Kekewich, from Vaalbank, was to march west. Rawlinson, from Klerksdorp, with columns of Scott, Briggs, and Dawkins, was to march south of Hartebeestefontein straight through the enemy's lines--a thing the enemy would be at a loss till too late to understand--and arrive at dawn at a point thirty-nine miles to west. General W. Kitchener (with Keir, Lowe, and Cookson's columns) was to continue the line and march south of Rawlinson to a point some forty miles distant. Lord Basing, from south of the Vaal, was to fill in the more southerly place, and Colonel Rochfort was to form up to the south of him with his right resting on the Vaal. Thus working on the 24th in a line drawn from north to south, the columns were to start forth and then drive back the enemy against the Schoenspruit blockhouse line.... The midnight march was admirably executed under the brilliant rays of the moon, and a Boer convoy was even chased and captured by Dawkins' men by way of interlude! By dawn on the 24th, after a forty-mile march, the machinery was set in the appointed position. With sunrise the required revolution took place. The whole force turned right-about face and marched swiftly back again. It was not till 10 A.M. that Boers were discerned. Then, preparations were promptly made to welcome them, and Rawlinson's men, in spite of their sore and aching frames, advanced with alacrity. But the Dutchmen made haste to retreat. By arrangement a signal was fired to inform the British line that the quarry in force was sighted. Excitement prevailed. All got into the semi-crescent position--the military equivalent for "open arms." There were necessary gaps, however, before the troops could extend into touch on so vast an area, and these the Boers made for. But owing to the splendid activity of our men, the 2nd and 8th Mounted Infantry, the Scottish Horse, and others, the enemy failed to get away either their waggons or their guns. Lieutenant Herd (2nd Mounted Infantry), with the remnant of his company, pursued the fleeing band and expedited their race for the north, forcing them also to leave their valuables behind. They were now in the position of the traditional Derby dog--rushing helter-skelter, first north then south, not knowing where to find a loophole of escape. Finally, however, some of them abandoning everything did find it, and scurried towards Klerksdorp. The total results of this cleverly arranged movement, which concluded on the 25th, were 185 prisoners, 12 Boers killed; two 15-pounders, one 12-pounder, two pom-poms, a quantity of ammunition, over 1000 head of cattle, about 60 vehicles, and a lot of horses and mules captured. That more of the enemy were not taken was accounted for by Reuter's correspondent, who stated:-- "One commando was disturbed very early near a spot where two columns had not yet extended into touch. One of these columns saw what appeared to be the next column getting into position on its flank, and pressed on in order not to be outdistanced, but the column on its right acted strangely, and soon it was discovered that the strange column was a Boer commando seeking to escape. As a pursuit would have resulted in making a larger loophole the enemy got away. "In another place a large body was observed passing along our front, and it was greeted with a volley, whereon an officer in British uniform, complete in every detail, with 'K.F.S.' on the shoulder-straps, rode up and reported that it was a British column passing along to take up its allotted place in the line. The force was accordingly allowed to proceed on its way. The 'K.F.S.' officer, however, was a Boer and the column a Boer commando." It was discovered after all that Delarey had not been within the radius of the big movement, and therefore General W. Kitchener, in hope still to entrap him, set to work to reconnoitre towards the Hart River. On the 31st of March Cookson and Keir struck track of guns, and presently they were attacked with great determination. A long running fight was continued for eight miles through the bush and scrub of the region. A position in the open was taken, and both parties set to work. Delarey, Kemp, and some 1500 Boers fought brilliantly, but were outmatched by the dogged courage of the newly raised R.H.A. Rifles, who let them advance within 200 yards, and then repelled them with steady gusts of rifle fire; by the staunchness of Colonel Evans' Canadian Rifles, of which one party under young Bruce-Carruthers held their ground till every man was either killed or wounded; and by the dash of the 28th Mounted Infantry, Damant's Horse, Kitchener's Fighting Scouts, and the 17th and 27th Mounted Infantry. The enemy after losing tremendously refused to continue the conflict, in spite of being frantically urged forward by their leaders. The columns of Von Donop and Grenfell under General Kekewich on the 11th of April, in the region of Rooival, had a hot fight with the enemy. These eventually were repulsed by the Yeomanry, Scottish Horse, and South Africa Constabulary, who fought with their accustomed coolness and brilliancy. Forty-four Boers were left dead on the field and thirty-four wounded. Twenty prisoners were taken. Captain Salter (7th Imperial Yeomanry) and five men were killed and fifty-two wounded. Lieutenant Bull, 3rd Inniskilling Fusiliers, died of wounds. The pursuit of the band was vigorously taken up, and General Kekewich had the satisfaction of securing two guns, a pom-pom, ammunition, and waggons. Among the Boer dead was Commandant Potgieter of Wolmaranstad, one of Delarey's right-hand men. About this time Colonel Rochfort's column made a night raid on a laager at Schweizerreneke, and secured fifty-five prisoners, with waggons and stock. The columns under General Ian Hamilton continued their systematic sweeping of the Western Transvaal, and after clearing the central area to east of Harts River they formed a line, and in conjunction with Colonel Rochfort from Bloemhof, moved west on the 7th of May. They reached the railway on the 11th plus 357 prisoners and practically all the waggons and stock of the commandos in the district. The total reduction, therefore, in Delarey's forces since his success at Tweebosch amounted to 860 men. The process of exhaustion had been steady and sure. CAPE COLONY--MARCH A spirited engagement took place at Buffelshoek between Fouché's commando and Colonel Price's men, with the result that Commander Odendaal and Captain Vanderwalt were killed and two Boers wounded. Major Wormald's and other columns meanwhile hunted Malan and Fouché in the region of the Camdeboos Mountains, where pursuit is difficult, sometimes impossible. [Illustration: THE TRAIN CONVEYING THE REMAINS OF MR. RHODES SALUTED BY THE BLOCKHOUSE GUARDS ON ITS WAY TO THE MATOPPO HILLS Drawing by Ernest Prater] And then, when negotiations for peace were being made between the two nations, while all the sad events of the last three years were apparently coming to a happy conclusion, the British nation lost a man whose like, one may safely say, will never be found again. On the 26th of March, at Muizenburg, Mr. Cecil Rhodes breathed his last. He had long been ailing, therefore this misfortune was not unexpected, and the effect of his loss on public affairs was minimised by the fact that with characteristic foresight he had arranged all his business matters, so that in his absence they might proceed without a hitch. His Will, when opened, proved to be a document for all time, one which might be studied with advantage by every British boy whose hope it is to leave his country greater than he found it. To this man's life-work we have already alluded. Of his influence in the future it is impossible at present to write. Certain it is that his name is writ large wherever the glory of Great Britain's greatest finds a place. He gave minute directions regarding his last resting-place. Neither St. Paul's nor Westminster Abbey were wide enough for his free spirit. "I admire the grandeur and loneliness of the Matoppos in Rhodesia, and I therefore desire to be buried in the Matoppos, on the hill which I used to visit and which I called the 'View of the World,' in a square to be cut out in the rock on the top of the hill, covered with a plain brass plate with these words thereon, 'Here lie the remains of Cecil John Rhodes,' and accordingly I direct my executors at the expense of my estate to take all steps and do all things necessary or proper to give effect to this my desire, and afterwards to keep my grave in order at the expense of the Matoppos and Buluwayo fund hereinafter mentioned. I direct my trustees, on the hill aforesaid, to erect or complete the monument to the men who fell in the first Matabele War at Shangani in Rhodesia, the bas-reliefs for which are being made by Mr. John Tweed, and I desire the said hill to be preserved as a burial-place; but no person is to be buried there unless the Government for the time being of Rhodesia, until the various states of South Africa, or any of them, shall have been federated, and after such federation the Federal Government, by a vote of two-thirds of its governing body, says that he or she has deserved well of his or her country." His wishes were carried out with reverence and to the letter. His body was conveyed to Groote Schuur, where it lay in state till it was removed to the Houses of Parliament in Cape Town, where it lay all night. Next day the procession started for the Cathedral. All business was suspended. The streets were draped with black--the thoroughfares were lined with troops and sorrowing crowds. A more wonderful service, a more impressive ceremony, has never been seen in South Africa. Finally the remains started on their last voyage. Of this melancholy journey the correspondent of the _Standard_ wrote:-- "Not the least striking feature was the reception given to the train by the garrisons of the blockhouses as we passed them in succession. As we glided slowly out of a station away ahead of us would stretch the long vista of the line, dotted here and there with the little fortresses. We would gather speed, and the sun glinted on steel as the garrison of the nearest blockhouse began to fix bayonets and fall in. Then as we swept swiftly forward the little squad of men came abreast of us, and the bayonets rose and fell symmetrically amid the solemn solitude. Then the blockhouse was whirled away behind us and lost to sight. So it went on for mile after mile, the fireman busy at his duties and the driver, one of the oldest servants of the railway department, steady and watchful at his post. Down into De Aar we swept at such speed that as we passed the blockhouses the saluting rifles seemed to rise and fall mechanically and without intermission." Buluwayo was reached on April 8th, and the coffin placed in the Drill Hall and guarded by two Rhodesian volunteers with drawn swords. Finally it was borne, on the 10th, to its lonely bed in the almost inaccessible steeps that he loved. Early in April the trial of Kruitzinger was concluded, and the prisoner was acquitted of the charges of murder or train-wrecking that were brought against him. He therefore fell into the category of prisoners of war. From intercepted despatches forwarded by the commandant to Scheepers it was discovered that he had seriously condemned the inhuman practices of his countrymen. The raiders continued their mischievous activities, the columns their incessant chases and hunts. Lovat's Scouts engaged Bezuidenhout at Kaal River on the 26th of April, and in the scrimmage two of the rebels were wounded. On the 1st of May the town of Ookiep (in north-west of Cape Colony), which for some time had been invested by the Boers, was practically relieved by the appearance of reinforcements from Namaqualand under Colonels Cooper and Caldwell. These relieved the column at Klipfontein (fifty miles from Ookiep), and thus took the pressure off the neighbouring places. Further particulars were given in the _Morning Post_:--"General Smuts demanded the surrender of Ookiep on 4th April. Colonel W. Shelton refused to entertain any terms whatever, saying that he would hold out to the bitter end. He must, however," the letter proceeded, "have a relief column if the place is to be saved, as he has 6000 people to feed and provisions for only three weeks. Colonel Shelton brought in the Mesklip and Nababeep garrisons with all their arms and ammunition successfully. Nababeep has since been looted. Springbokfontein made a gallant fight, but had to surrender to overwhelming numbers, our casualties being four killed and six wounded. It is reported that Concordia surrendered without firing a shot. Colonel Shelton ordered the Concordia Town Guard to Ookiep, but they refused to go. The Boers seem to be bent on doing as much damage as they possibly can. They have destroyed miles of railway and are burning the sleepers as they take them up. The dynamite which they seized at Garrakop, eight miles from Ookiep, they are now using to destroy the blockhouses by dropping charges on the roofs from the kopjes above. Colonel White and his column are at or entrenched near Gassies, and cannot get out. Anenous, Kookfontein, Steinkop, Ooboop, and all outlying stations are deserted. Two trains of refugees arrived at Port Nolloth this morning during a heavy shower of rain. Lilliesfontein refugees are also here, making the number over fifteen hundred. The inhabitants of Port Nolloth are feeling very uneasy, for they greatly fear that an attack will be made on the port; but our defences are perfect, and with the assistance of his Majesty's ship _Barracouta_ we mean to give the Boers a warm reception. During a thunderstorm that broke over Ookiep a few days ago a party of Boers was seen on the mountain to the east of Ookiep making a blockhouse in good position, but Major Edwards with a small patrol soon put them to flight." A member of the garrison of the Springbokfontein blockhouse, commanded by Lieutenant Dorrington, reported as follows: "The Boers were gallantly kept at bay for twenty-four hours, when they succeeded in making a rush on the village. They first made a raid on the Civil Commissioner's house, which they found locked, the magistrate, Mr. J. A. Van Renen, being at Ookiep at the time on his way back from Port Nolloth, where he had been to fetch his family. Lieutenant Dorrington, seeing a fire at the Residency from the blockhouse, thought the Boers were setting fire to the house. He ordered his men to open fire on them, whereupon the Boers rushed the kopje on the top of which the blockhouse was built, and demanded its immediate surrender. When Lieutenant Dorrington refused to surrender he was greeted with charges of dynamite. The Boers then crept under the hill, making it quite impossible for our men to fire on them, and began to place dynamite underneath the blockhouse. They again sent to tell the officer in command that if he did not surrender he and his men would be blown up. A message was sent back to them to say that he would surrender on condition that they did not harm his men. This was agreed to, and the men came out. They were all promptly lodged in prison. The same informant states that Mr. Stuart, the resident magistrate's clerk, Mr. Van Coernden's son, and two others were killed by charges of dynamite thrown on the top of the blockhouse from a kopje." A second letter, which was dated 12th April, announced that transports had arrived at Port Nolloth and that reinforcements were pouring into the town. A third letter was written on the following day, and it said: "Lieutenant Meyrick, with his party of N.B.S., has so far gallantly defended the viaducts and the mountain pass above Anenous. A native who has just come in reports that the Boers have, however, come round the mountain and destroyed the railway on this side of Anenous as far as the 37th mile. Mr. F. Phillips, of Concordia, son of the superintendent, arrived at Port Nolloth yesterday, having obtained a pass from the Boer Commandant Smuts. He states that the Boers who have got possession of Concordia are mostly Transvaal men. Ookiep is evidently giving the Boers a warm time, for many wounded are brought into Concordia, others going back to take their place. They say that they are quite determined to take Ookiep at any cost, and seem to have quietly settled down at Concordia. They have their doctor and chaplain, and hold services twice daily. The Commandant Smuts lives in the doctor's house, the doctor being absent in Cape Town. He has his secretary with him, a Frenchman, whom they have nicknamed 'Roberts,' and who has a great reputation for ability among them." On the 27th of May Major Collett, with the Jansenville District Mounted Horse, encountered the Boers, who thought this a fine opportunity for attacking raw material. But the local force was tougher than they thought, and moreover Lovat's Scouts, who had been pursuing Malan for a long time, were at hand. These promptly came to the rescue, upon which the enemy fled, leaving Malan--one of the best of the Boer leaders--in their hands. Malan was one of the "irreconcilables," and he had rejected the offer of a safe conduct to attend the Vereeniging conference, which at this time was taking place with a view to the signing of peace. THE SITUATION--APRIL AND MAY It was officially computed that by May 1902 the British forces had been reduced through the South African war by 1055 officers and 20,520 men who died in South Africa, 1 officer and 131 men returned as missing and prisoners, 7 officers and 487 men who died after having been sent home as invalids, and 5531 invalided men who left the Service as unfit. These figures represent a total of 27,732. The following figures, taken from a table published by Colonel Henderson, Professor of Military Art and History at the Staff College, in his "Life of Stonewall Jackson," may be found interesting for purposes of comparison with the British losses:-- Strength. Killed and wounded. Percentage. Talavera, 1809 20,500 6,250 30 Albuera, 1811 8,200 3,990 48 Barossa, 1811 4,400 1,210 27 Salamanca, 1812 26,000 3,386 13 Quatre Bras, 1815 12,000 2,504 20 Waterloo, 1815 23,991 6,932 29 Firozshah, 1845 16,000 2,415 15 Sobraon, 1846 15,500 2,063 13 Chillianwallah, 1849 15,000 2,388 15 Alma, 1854 21,500 2,002 9 Inkerman, 1854 7,464 2,357 31 Of the Boer losses no exact total could be arrived at. In April, a careful computation of the strength of the enemy in the field put it at about 10,000 men. The commando of Delarey and Kemp was the largest, their following being about 900 men; but concentration was marvellously quickly accomplished, and near at hand on the west were odd bands of perhaps a hundred, commanded by Potgieter, Klassen, and Cronje. Beyers, with less than four hundred, hung about Zoutpansberg, and other leaders near Lydenburg were practically dependent on fragments from their master's table, otherwise the escaped ones and twos from Botha's and De Wet's hunted forces. In the Eastern Transvaal, east of Springs, were Alberto, Opperman, and Van Niekirk, with small yet enterprising gangs. Klassen and Badenhorst were fairly well supported at Ermelo, and 200 Boers hung occupationless about Piet Retief. Minor leaders were sprinkled about the Orange Colony, clinging mostly to the sheltering region of the Brandwater Basin. In the Cape Colony they were equally scattered. Malan and Fouché north of Murraysburg, Maritz and Bowers near Garees, Theron north of Calvinia, Van Reenan north-east, near Fraserburg, had each a small trail of troublesome rebels at his heels. Raking and combing was taking place everywhere. Since the 22nd of March, when the question of peace came to be discussed, the Boer forces had been reduced by about 860 in killed, wounded, and prisoners. A conference between Lord Kitchener and Lord Milner was held in Pretoria, the result of which was digested on the 20th by the Boer leaders, who then took themselves off to rejoin their commandos. Meanwhile Lord Kitchener maintained his vigilant tactics, knowing that the wily ones if given an inch would take an ell, and General Ian Hamilton in the west, General Bruce-Hamilton in the east, and Colonel Colenbrander in the north, continued their sweeping operations. It was now decided that the Boer leaders, who had again met together at Klerksdorp on the 11th of April, were to reassemble on the 15th of May to deliberate among themselves and arrive at a decision as to the terms of surrender they would be prepared to accept. The conference, which opened at Vereeniging in due course, included the representatives of all the bodies of Boers throughout the two colonies. The delegates chosen by the conference at Vereeniging arrived at Pretoria on the 20th May. They were six in number, consisting of members of the two "Governments," with Generals Delarey and De Wet, accompanied by their secretaries. They were lodged in the house next to that occupied by Lord Kitchener. Lord Milner also arrived. There was an interval of great suspense, which was shared by the whole civilised world. All parties watched the telegraph wires with bated breath, then on Saturday, May 31st, the great Boer War came to an end. The conference at Vereeniging had brought forth good results! The Peace Agreement, long anxiously looked forward to by both belligerents, was signed! APPENDIX THE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS--COMMENCED MARCH 12, 1902--CONCLUDED MAY 31, 1902 The following is the text of the draft agreement signed by the Boer representatives in Pretoria on the 31st of May after it had been approved by his Majesty's Government:-- His Excellency General Lord Kitchener and his Excellency Lord Milner, on behalf of the British Government, and Messrs. M. T. Steyn, J. Brebner, General C. R. De Wet, General C. Olivier, and Judge J. B. M. Hertzog, acting as the Government of the Orange Free State, and Messrs. S. W. Burger, F. W. Reitz, Generals Louis Botha, J. H. Delarey, Lucas Meyer, Krogh, acting as the Government of the South African Republic, on behalf of their respective burghers, desirous to terminate the present hostilities, agree on the following articles:-- 1. The Burgher forces in the field will forthwith lay down their arms, handing over all guns, rifles, and munitions of war in their possession or under their control, and desist from any further resistance to the authority of his Majesty King Edward VII., whom they recognise as their lawful Sovereign. The manner and details of this surrender will be arranged between Lord Kitchener and Commandant-General Botha, Assistant Commandant-General Delarey, and Chief Commandant De Wet. 2. All Burghers in the field outside the limits of the Transvaal or Orange River Colony, and all prisoners of war at present outside South Africa who are Burghers, will, on duly declaring their acceptance of the position of subjects of his Majesty King Edward VII., be gradually brought back to their homes as soon as transports can be provided and their means of subsistence ensured. 3. The Burghers so surrendering or so returning will not be deprived of their personal liberty or their property. 4. No proceedings, civil or criminal, will be taken against any of the Burghers surrendering or so returning for any acts in connection with the prosecution of the war. The benefit of this clause will not extend to certain acts contrary to usages of war which have been notified by Commander-in-Chief to the Boer generals, and which shall be tried by court-martial immediately after the close of hostilities. 5. The Dutch language will be taught in public schools in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony where the parents of the children desire it, and will be allowed in courts of law when necessary for the better and more effectual administration of justice. 6. The possession of rifles will be allowed in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony to persons requiring them for their protection on taking out a licence according to law. 7. Military administration in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony will at the earliest possible date be succeeded by civil government, and, as soon as circumstances permit, representative institutions, leading up to self-government, will be introduced. 8. The question of granting the franchise to natives will not be decided until after the introduction of self-government. 9. No special tax will be imposed on landed property in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony to defray the expenses of the war. 10. As soon as conditions permit, a commission, on which the local inhabitants will be represented, will be appointed in each district of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, under the presidency of a magistrate or other official, for the purpose of assisting the restoration of the people to their homes and supplying those who, owing to war losses, are unable to provide themselves with food, shelter, and the necessary amount of seed, stock, implements, &c., indispensable to the resumption of their normal occupations. His Majesty's Government will place at the disposal of these commissions a sum of £3,000,000 for the above purposes, and will allow all notes issued under Law 1 of 1900 of the South African Republic and all receipts given by officers in the field of the late Republics, or under their orders, to be presented to a judicial commission, which will be appointed by the Government, and if such notes and receipts are found by this commission to have been duly issued in return for valuable considerations, they will be received by the first-named commissions as evidence of war losses suffered by the persons to whom they were originally given. In addition to the above-named free grant of £3,000,000, his Majesty's Government will be prepared to make advances on loan for the same purposes free of interest for two years, and afterwards repayable over a period of years with 3 per cent. interest. No foreigner or rebel will be entitled to the benefit of this clause. The correspondence relating to the last stage of the South African War was published as a Parliamentary Paper. As the future policy of South Africa will be directed by the considerations which influenced the wording of the final agreement, the important part of the correspondence is quoted in its entirety. A series of brief despatches passed between Lord Kitchener and the Secretary of State for War between March 12 and April 11. The first despatch announced the desire of Mr. Schalk Burger, after receiving from Lord Kitchener a copy of the correspondence connected with the Dutch Government's negotiations, to obtain safe conduct in order to meet Mr. Steyn with a view to making peace proposals. The meeting of the Boer commanders, as is known, was arranged, and it took place at Klerksdorp. On April 11 Lord Kitchener received permission from the Secretary of State for War to accede to a request from the Boer representatives for permission to lay certain proposals before him. This Boer request was addressed to Lord Kitchener in the following terms:-- "After quoting at length the correspondence between his Majesty's Government and the Netherlands, they are of opinion that it is a suitable moment to do everything possible to put a stop to the war, and therefore decide to make certain propositions to Lord Kitchener which can serve as a base for further negotiations in order to bring about the desired end. They further decide that, in their opinion, in order to accelerate the desired aim and prevent misunderstanding, Lord Kitchener be requested to meet them personally, time and place to be appointed by him, in order to lay before him direct peace proposals, which they are prepared to submit, and in order to settle at once, by direct communication with him, all questions that may present themselves, and thereby to make sure that this meeting will have the desired result." PRELIMINARY OVERTURES. Then followed the succeeding telegraphic correspondence. FROM LORD KITCHENER TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR. PRETORIA, _April 12, 1902_, 9.22 P.M. All Boer representatives met to-day and wished the following telegram sent:-- "The Boer representatives wish to lay before his Majesty's Government that they have an earnest desire for peace, and that they consequently decided to ask the British Government to end hostilities, and to enter into an agreement by which, in their opinion, all future war between them and the British Government in South Africa will be prevented. They consider this object may be attained by providing for following points:-- "1. Franchise. "2. Equal rights for Dutch and English languages in education matters. "3. Customs Union. "4. Dismantling of all forts in Transvaal and Orange River Colony. "5. Post, Telegraph, and Railways Union. "6. Arbitration in case of future differences, and only subjects of the parties to be the arbitrators. "7. Mutual amnesty. "But if these terms are not satisfactory they desire to know what terms the British Government would give them in order to secure the end they all desire." I have assured them that his Majesty's Government will not accept any proposals which would maintain independence of Republic, as this would do, and that they must expect refusal. FROM THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR TO LORD KITCHENER. WAR OFFICE, _13th April 1902_, 2.30 P.M. His Majesty's Government sincerely share the earnest desire of the Boer representatives for peace, and hope that the present negotiations may lead to that result; but they have already stated in the clearest terms, and must now repeat, that they cannot entertain any proposals which are based upon the continued independence of the former Republics, which have been formally annexed to the British Crown. FROM LORD KITCHENER TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR. PRETORIA, _14th April 1902_, 6.10 P.M. The High Commissioner and I met the Boer representatives this morning, when I communicated to them the substance of your telegram. We then endeavoured to induce them to make fresh proposals, but President Steyn, who throughout acted as their leading spokesman, immediately took the line that while the Boer Governments were competent to make peace they were not competent to surrender the independence of their country; that only the people could do this--the people, as explained, meaning the Burghers still in the field. If he was to suggest anything involving the abandonment of independence, it would be a betrayal of their trust. Schalk Burger and General Botha took precisely the same line. As no progress could be made the meeting was adjourned by mutual consent till this afternoon. The Boer representatives then suggested an armistice in order to consult their people; but I pointed out, with Lord Milner's full concurrence, that we had not got nearly far enough in the direction of agreement to justify such a course. Finally it was agreed that I should send you the following message, which was read over several times, and fully agreed to by the representatives, to whom I have given a copy of it:-- "A difficulty has arisen in getting on with proceedings. The representatives state that constitutionally they have no power to discuss terms based on the surrender of independence, inasmuch as only the Burghers can agree to such a basis; therefore, if they were to propose, it would put them in a false position with regard to their people. If, however, his Majesty's Government would state the terms that, subsequent to a relinquishment of independence, they would be prepared to grant, the representatives, after asking for the necessary explanations, without any expression of approval or disapproval, would submit such conditions to their people." THE QUESTION OF INDEPENDENCE. FROM THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR TO LORD KITCHENER. WAR OFFICE, _April 16, 1902_, 2.20 P.M. We have received with considerable surprise the message from the Boer leaders contained in your telegram of April 14. The meeting was arranged at their request, and they must have been aware of our repeated declarations that we could not entertain any proposals based on the renewed independence of the two South African States. We were, therefore, entitled to assume that the Boer representatives had relinquished the idea of independence, and would propose terms of surrender for the forces still in the field. They now state that they are constitutionally incompetent to discuss terms which do not include a restoration of independence, but request us to inform them what conditions would be granted if, after submitting the matter to their followers, they were to relinquish the demand for independence. This does not seem to us to be a satisfactory method of proceeding, or one best adapted to secure, at the earliest moment, a cessation of the hostilities which have involved the loss of so much life and treasure. We are, however, as we have been from the first, anxious to spare the effusion of further blood, and to hasten the restoration of peace and prosperity to the countries afflicted by the war, and you and Lord Milner are therefore authorised to refer the Boer leaders to the offer made by you to General Botha more than twelve months ago, and to inform them that, although the subsequent great reduction in the strength of the forces opposed to us and the additional sacrifices thrown upon us by the refusal of that offer would justify us in imposing far more onerous terms, we are still prepared, in the hope of a permanent peace and reconciliation, to accept a general surrender on the lines of that offer, but with such modifications in detail as may be agreed upon mutually. You are also authorised to discuss such modifications with them, and to submit the result for our approval. Communicate this to High Commissioner. FROM LORD KITCHENER TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR. PRETORIA, _April 17, 1902_, 6.40 P.M. I communicated your telegram to the Boer representatives this morning. They immediately asked for adjournment to consider it. We met again at 2 P.M., when they pressed for the return of the Boer delegates and for an armistice to enable them to consult their burghers. I refused both on military grounds, but promised facilities for them to hold meeting of their Burghers. Lord Milner impressed on them necessity of coming back with definite powers and determination to make peace at once, which they promised to do. The meeting then broke up, and I had a short meeting with Generals Botha, De Wet, and Delarey, to arrange details of how they are to carry out meeting. These were settled satisfactorily, and they will probably leave to-morrow to get vote from their people. FROM LORD KITCHENER TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR. PRETORIA, _April 18, 1902_, 10.55 A.M. Have now arranged with the generals all details as to holding meeting, and representatives of both States will leave here to-night to carry out the arrangements. FROM THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR TO LORD KITCHENER. WAR OFFICE, _April 19, 1902_. Yours of yesterday. We fully realise the necessity of giving the Boer leaders all due opportunity of consulting their commandos, but we trust that no arrangements will be come to which will make it necessary for you to suspend operations until some definite arrangement is in view. We are continuing to send reinforcements. SURRENDER OF INDEPENDENCE. FROM LORD KITCHENER TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR. PRETORIA, _April 19, 1902_, 11.40 A.M. The Boer representatives have all left. The meeting of elected representatives from commandos is arranged to be held at Vereeniging on 13th or 15th May. I did my best to hasten, but it was found impossible. I am not allowing facilities for meeting of commandos in Cape Colony, and none will be there. I have arranged with Boer leaders that foreigners serving with them shall have no vote, and that votes will be by ballot. Each commando will be represented by two Burghers. It is thought probable that the meeting at Vereeniging will take two days, after which, if favourable decision is arrived at, Boer representatives will come here to arrange final settlement. FROM LORD KITCHENER TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR. PRETORIA, _May 17, 1902_, 6.55 P.M. Following telegram just received:-- "From State Presidents Burger and Steyn to Lord Kitchener. "We have the honour to communicate to your Excellency that, as a result of the Burghers assembling here, a commission has been appointed by our Governments to negotiate with your Excellency with a view to finishing the present hostilities. This commission consists of Louis Botha, Christian De Wet, Hertzog, Delarey, and Smuts. If your Excellency is agreeable to meet this commission we request you to appoint time and place of meeting." After consultation with Lord Milner I have sent following reply:-- "I have the honour to acknowledge your communication, and should be glad to be informed if the commission you announce have plenary powers to agree to terms for the cessation of hostilities. If so, Lord Milner and I will be prepared to receive them here. Colonel Henderson will arrange to put a train at their disposal directly they inform him when they wish to start." FROM LORD KITCHENER TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR. PRETORIA, _May 18, 1902_, 2.15 P.M. Following is reply from Burger and Steyn:-- "In reply to your Excellency's telegram of this morning, we have the honour to inform you that commission, appointed in accordance with instructions by the Burghers assembled, has power to negotiate with your Excellency, subject to ratification by the Burghers." After consultation with Lord Milner, I have informed the Presidents we will be glad to meet the commission here to-morrow. LORD KITCHENER TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR. PRETORIA, _May 19, 1902_, 7.20 P.M. Meeting took place at 11.30, and Boer commission made following proposals:-- 1. We are prepared to surrender our independence as regards foreign relations. 2. We wish to retain self-government under British supervision. 3. We are prepared to surrender a part of our territory. Lord Milner and I refused to accept these terms as basis for negotiation, as they differ essentially from the principles laid down by his Majesty's Government. After a long discussion nothing was decided, and it was determined to meet in the afternoon. Commission met again at 4 P.M., when Lord Milner proposed a form of document that might be submitted to the Burghers for a "Yes" or "No" vote. There was a good deal of objection to this, but it was agreed finally that Lord Milner should meet Smuts and Hertzog with a view of drafting as far as possible an acceptable document on the Botha lines. They will meet to-morrow for that purpose. Lord Milner stipulated for the assistance of Sir Richard Solomon in the preparation of the draft documents. FOR A "YES" OR "NO" VOTE. FROM LORD KITCHENER TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR. PRETORIA, _May 21, 1902_, 4.50 P.M. Commission are prepared to submit the following document to the Burghers assembled at Vereeniging for a "Yes" or "No" vote if his Majesty's Government approves of its terms:-- "His Excellency General Lord Kitchener and his Excellency Lord Milner, on behalf of the British Government, and Messrs. M. T. Steyn, J. Brebner, General C. R. de Wet, General C. Olivier, and Judge J. B. M. Hertzog, acting as the Government of the Orange Free State, and Messrs. S. W. Burger, F. W. Reitz, Generals Louis Botha, J. H. Delarey, Lucas Meyer, Krogh, acting as the Government of the South African Republic, on behalf of their respective Burghers desirous to terminate the present hostilities agree on the following articles:-- "1. The Burgher forces in the field will forthwith lay down their arms, handing over all guns, rifles, and munitions of war in their possession or under their control, and desist from any further resistance to the authority of his Majesty King Edward VII., whom they recognise as their lawful Sovereign. The manner and details of this surrender will be arranged between Lord Kitchener and Commandant-General Botha, Assistant Commandant-General Delarey, and Chief Commandant de Wet. "2. Burghers in the field outside the limits of the Transvaal or Orange River Colony, on surrendering, will be brought back to their homes. "3. All prisoners of war at present outside South Africa who are Burghers will, on their declaring their acceptance of the position of subjects of his Majesty King Edward VII., be brought back to the places where they were domiciled before the war. "4. The Burghers so surrendering or so returning will not be deprived of their personal liberty or their property. "5. No proceeding, civil or criminal, will be taken against any of the Burghers surrendering or so returning for any acts in connection with the prosecution of the war. "6. The Dutch language will be taught in public schools in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, where the parents of the children desire it, and will be allowed in Courts of Law when necessary for the better and more effectual administration of justice. "7. The possession of rifles will be allowed in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony to persons requiring them for their protection on taking out a licence according to law. "8. Military administration in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony will at the earliest possible date be succeeded by civil government, and, as soon as circumstances permit, representative institutions, leading up to self-government, will be introduced. "9. The question of granting the franchise to natives will not be decided until after the introduction of self-government. "10. No special tax will be imposed on landed property in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony to defray the expenses of the war. "11. A judicial commission will be appointed, to which Government notes issued under Law No. 1 of 1900 of the South African Republic may be presented within six months. All such notes as are found to have been duly issued in the terms of that law, and for which the persons presenting them have given valuable considerations, will be paid, but without interest. All receipts given by the officers in the field of the late Republics, or under their orders, may likewise be presented to the said commission within six months, and, if found to have been given _bonâ fide_ for goods used by the Burgher forces in the field, will be paid out to the persons to whom they were originally given. The sum in respect of the said Government notes and receipts shall not exceed £3,000,000 sterling, and if the total amount of such notes and receipts approved by the commission is more than that sum there shall be a _pro rata_ diminution. Facilities will be afforded to the prisoners of war to present their Government notes and receipts within the six months aforesaid. "12. As soon as conditions permit, a commission, on which the local inhabitants will be represented, will be appointed in each district of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, under the presidency of a magistrate or other official, for the purpose of assisting the restoration of the people to their homes, and supplying those who, owing to war losses, are unable to provide for themselves with food, shelter, and the necessary amount of seed, stock, implements, &c., indispensable to the resumption of their normal occupations. Money for this will be advanced by the Government, free of interest, and repayable over a period of years." MR. CHAMBERLAIN'S EMENDATIONS. FROM MR. CHAMBERLAIN TO LORD MILNER. COLONIAL OFFICE, _May 27, 1902_, 3.45 P.M. I have to inform you that his Majesty's Government approve of the submission to the assembly at Vereeniging for a "Yes" or "No" vote the document prepared by the commission, and forwarded by Lord Kitchener on 21st May to the Secretary of State for War, subject to the following alterations:-- Clauses 2 and 3 should be put together, and will run as follows:-- "All Burghers in the field outside the limits of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, and all prisoners of war at present outside South Africa, who are Burghers, will, on duly declaring their acceptance of the position of subjects of his Majesty King Edward VII., be gradually brought back to their homes as soon as transport can be provided and their means of subsistence ensured." The object of this alteration is to make clear that Burghers in the field outside the two States will, like the Burghers inside and the prisoners of war, declare their acceptance of the position of subjects. It was clearly not intended that they should be in any different position to their countrymen elsewhere. We have also inserted words to explain that return must be gradual. Clause 5. We add at end of clause the words:-- "The benefit of this clause will not extend to certain acts contrary to usages of war which have been notified by Commander-in-Chief to the Boer generals, and which shall be tried by court-martial immediately after the close of hostilities." Clauses 11 and 12 must be omitted and the following clause substituted:-- "As soon as conditions permit, a commission, on which the local inhabitants will be represented, will be appointed in each district of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony under the presidency of a magistrate or other official, for the purpose of assisting the restoration of the people to their homes and supplying those who, owing to war losses, are unable to provide themselves with food, shelter, and the necessary amount of seed, stock, implements, &c., indispensable to the resumption of their normal occupations. "His Majesty's Government will place at the disposal of these Commissions a sum of £3,000,000 for the above purposes, and will allow all notes issued under Law 1 of 1900 of the South African Republic, and all receipts given by officers in the field of the late Republics, or under their orders, to be presented to a judicial commission, which will be appointed by the Government, and if such notes and receipts are found by this commission to have been duly issued in return for valuable considerations, they will be received by the first-named commissions as evidence of war losses suffered by the persons to whom they were originally given. "In addition to the above-named free grant of £3,000,000, his Majesty's Government will be prepared to make advances on loan for the same purposes free of interest for two years, and afterwards repayable over a period of years with 3 per cent. interest. No foreigner or rebel will be entitled to the benefit of this clause." In making this communication to the delegates you must inform them that if this opportunity of an honourable termination of hostilities is not accepted within a time fixed by you the conference will be considered at an end, and his Majesty's Government will not be bound in any way by their present declarations. Lord Kitchener should have a copy of this telegram. [Illustration: SURRENDERED BOERS AT BELFAST ANXIOUS TO JOIN THE NATIONAL SCOUTS AFTER BEING ADDRESSED BY LORD KITCHENER Drawing by F. de Harnen from Photographs] THE SUBJECT OF BANISHMENT. FROM MR. CHAMBERLAIN TO LORD MILNER. COLONIAL OFFICE, _May 27, 1902_, 5.10 P.M. We understand that the terms of surrender offered in my telegram of to-day are confined to Burghers of the Orange Free State and South African Republic at the date of the outbreak of the war. His Majesty's Government are unable to make any pledges on behalf of the Governments of the Cape or Natal as to the treatment of rebels. You have no doubt kept in mind that any favourable terms accorded by either of these Governments will have to be sanctioned by the Legislature of the Colony. His Majesty's Government must place it on record that the treatment of Cape and Natal colonists who have been in rebellion and who now surrender will be determined, if they return to their colonies, by the Colonial Governments and in accordance with the laws of the colonies, and that any other British subjects who have joined the enemy will be liable to trial under the law of that part of the British Empire to which they belong. The Cape Government have informed his Majesty's Government that the following are their views as to the terms which should be granted to British subjects of Cape Colony who are now in the field, or have surrendered, or have been captured since the 12th April 1901:-- "With regard to rank and file, Ministers advise that upon surrender they shall all, after giving up their arms, sign a document before Resident Magistrate of district in which surrender takes place acknowledging themselves guilty of high treason, and that the punishment to be awarded to them, provided they shall not have been guilty of murder or other acts contrary to usages of civilised warfare, shall be that they shall not be entitled for life to be registered as voters or to vote at any Parliamentary, Divisional Council, or Municipal election. Legislation will be required to give effect to this recommendation. With regard to Justices of the Peace and Field-Cornets of Cape Colony and all other persons holding an official position under Government of Cape Colony, or who may occupy post of commandant of rebel or Burgher forces, Ministers advise that they shall be tried for high treason before the ordinary tribunal of country or such special court as may be hereafter constituted by law, the punishments for their offence to be left to the discretion of court, with this proviso, that in no case shall penalty of death be inflicted." The Natal Government are of opinion that rebels should be dealt with according to the law of the colony. FROM MR. CHAMBERLAIN TO LORD MILNER. COLONIAL OFFICE, _26th May 1902_, 6.50 P.M. Have any promises been made to Boers by you with regard to the leaders liable to banishment under the proclamation of 7th August, some of whom have been specially named in notices issued subsequently? This proclamation, you will recollect, was the result of a strong representation from Lord Kitchener, and supported by minute of Natal Government of 25th July. The exact terms were finally settled by you. If you now think that this proclamation should be disregarded I have no objection to make. FROM LORD MILNER TO MR. CHAMBERLAIN. (Received Colonial Office 3.30 P.M., _27th May 1902_.) Referring to your telegram of 26th May. No promises have been made or asked for. The Boers are no doubt aware that legislation is required to give effect to banishment, and feel that we would not introduce such legislation if Article 3 of proposed agreement is accepted. This is obvious, and it follows that if surrender comes off banishment will be tacitly dropped. I was in favour of banishment proclamation, and was prepared to go even further, as I thought, and I still think, that resistance of Boers had ceased to be legitimate at that stage, and that it was our duty to impose special penalties upon those responsible for adoption of guerilla methods by which the country was being ruined and by which alone the struggle could be kept up at all. So far from regretting the proclamation I believe it has had great effect in increasing the number of surrenders, and in inducing the Boers still in the field to desist from further fighting. That has certainly been Kitchener's opinion, as he has always pressed and given the greatest publicity to the lists of banished leaders. But it would be a mistake if the Boers now give in in a body and live as British subjects to continue a prescription which would only keep up bitter feelings and tend to prevent the country from settling down. Kitchener agrees entirely. FROM LORD MILNER TO MR. CHAMBERLAIN. (Sent 7.55 P.M. Received Colonial Office 7.45 P.M., _27th May 1902_.) My telegram of to-day, No. 1. I made it clear, I hope, that what I said applied only to banishment, not to sale of farms. Smuts did allude to this point in committee, though not to banishment, but I gave him an emphatic negative, and the subject was then dropped. THE FIRST DRAFT AGREEMENT. FROM LORD MILNER TO MR. CHAMBERLAIN. (Despatched 11.10 P.M., _May 28_. Received Colonial Office 5.5 A.M., _May 29, 1902_.) Referring to your telegram No. 1 of May 27. Commander-in-Chief and I met the Boer delegates again this morning, and I communicated to them the alterations and additions to their draft contained in your telegram under reply, and informed them that his Majesty's Government approved of the draft so altered being submitted to the Burghers at Vereeniging for a "Yes" or "No" answer. I added that if this opportunity of an honourable termination of hostilities was not accepted within a time fixed by us the conference would be considered at an end, and his Majesty's Government would not be in any way bound by the present declarations. I handed them at the same time a copy of draft agreement in accordance with your instructions. There was no discussion of it. Commander-in-Chief stated that before fixing definitely the time by which we must receive an answer he would like to know their opinion. He thought forty-eight hours would be ample, but he did not wish to rush them. The delegates, who it was agreed should return to Vereeniging this evening, asked for an adjournment before giving an answer as to time. To this we agreed. Before they left I read to them a statement based on your telegram of 27th May, No. 2, and was obliged to modify slightly your message in order to bring it into harmony with the latest communication I have received from the Cape Government on the subject, according to which fresh legislation will not be necessary; but essential points, viz., the degree of punishment to be awarded and the classification of rebels, were given absolutely in your words. The delegates asked for a copy of my statement, which I handed to them. The meeting then adjourned. This afternoon we met delegates again for a few minutes. They asked us to give them until Saturday night for their answer, to which we agreed. We then shook hands and parted. They returned at 9 P.M. to Vereeniging. FROM LORD MILNER TO MR. CHAMBERLAIN. (Despatched 6.5 P.M., _30th May_. Received Colonial Office 8.30 A.M., _31st May 1902_.) After handing to Boer delegates a copy of draft agreement which his Majesty's Government are prepared to approve with a view of terminating the present hostilities, I read to them the following statement and gave them a copy:-- His Majesty's Government must place it on record that the treatment of Cape and Natal Colonists who have been in rebellion and who now surrender will, if they return to their colonies, be determined by the Colonial Governments and in accordance with the laws of the colonies, and that any British subjects who have joined the enemy will be liable to trial under the law of that part of the British Empire to which they belong. His Majesty's Government are informed by the Cape Government that the following are their views as to the terms which should be granted to British subjects of Cape Colony who are now in the field, or who have surrendered, or have been captured since April 12, 1901:-- "With regard to rank and file, they should all, upon surrender, after giving up their arms, sign a document before the Resident Magistrate of the district in which the surrender takes place, acknowledging themselves guilty of high treason, and the punishment to be awarded to them, provided they shall not have been guilty of murder or other acts contrary to the usages of civilised warfare, should be that they shall not be entitled for life to be registered as voters or to vote at any Parliamentary, Divisional Council, or Municipal election. With reference to Justices of the Peace and Field-Cornets of Cape Colony and all other persons holding an official position under the Government of Cape Colony, or who may occupy the position of commandant of rebel or Burgher forces, they shall be tried for high treason before the ordinary court of the country or such special court as may be hereafter constituted by law, the punishment for their offence to be left to the discretion of court, with this proviso, that in no case shall penalty of death be inflicted." The Natal Government are of opinion that rebels should be dealt with according to the law of the colony. THE SIGNING OF THE TERMS. FROM LORD KITCHENER TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR. PRETORIA, _May 31, 1902_, 5.15 P.M. It is now settled that the Boer representatives will come here immediately, and also the High Commissioner from Johannesburg. It is possible that the document will be signed to-night. I have received from them a statement saying that they accept and are prepared to sign. FROM LORD KITCHENER TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR. PRETORIA, _May 31, 1902_, 11.15 P.M. Negotiations with Boer delegates. The document containing terms of surrender was signed here this evening at 10.30 P.M. by all Boer representatives, as well as by Lord Milner and myself. FROM LORD MILNER TO MR. CHAMBERLAIN. PRETORIA, _June 1_, 10.15 A.M. The agreement, as amended by his Majesty's Government in your telegram of May 27, was signed just before 11 P.M. last night by Lord Kitchener and myself and ten Boer delegates, six representing the Transvaal and four Orange Free State. A resolution of Burgher assembly at Vereeniging authorising them to sign was put in by them before signing it. Names of signatories are the same as those in original draft sent in Lord Kitchener's telegram, except that the initials had been corrected in some cases and Mr. Steyn's name was omitted. He was too ill to come up, and had already taken his parole. The order of signatories is chiefly the same, except that De Wet signed first of the Orange River Colony delegates, Hertzog next, and then Brebner, the reason being that De Wet was nominated "Acting President" by Steyn on retiring. * * * * * OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE AFTER THE BATTLE OF COLENSO, DECEMBER 15, 1899 Since the conduct of General Sir Redvers Buller in regard to the Relief of Ladysmith has been much discussed, it seems necessary for the sake of the completeness of this Record of the War to reproduce, without comment, the Official Correspondence which followed the defeat at Colenso. General Buller himself forwarded the Despatches to the Press Association, accompanied by the following letter:-- "17 LOWDNES SQUARE, W., _July 7, 1902_. "I send you the enclosed document in the exact form in which it has been supplied to me by the Secretary of State for War for publication, and I shall be much obliged if you will kindly circulate it to all newspapers, together with this letter, as I wish to supplement the document by the remark that I was delighted to receive the answer of the Secretary of State for War of the 16th December 1899, because it assured me that forces which I had been apprehensive were pledged in another and less important direction would be at my disposal for operations in Natal. Thanking you in anticipation, I am, sir, yours faithfully, "REDVERS BULLER, _General_." FROM SIR R. BULLER TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR. "CHIEVELEY CAMP, _December 15, 1899_. "A serious question is raised by my failure to-day. I do not now consider that I am strong enough to relieve Ladysmith. Colenso is a fortress which, if not captured by a rush, could, I think, only be taken by a siege. Within the eight miles from the point of attack there is no water, and in this weather that exhausts infantry. The place is fully entrenched. I do not think we saw either a gun or a Boer all day, but the fire brought to bear on us was very heavy. The infantry were willing enough to fight, but the intense heat absolutely exhausted them. I consider I ought to let Ladysmith go and to occupy a good position for the defence of South Natal, and so let time help us. But I feel I ought to consult you on such a step. Twenty thousand men, I consider, faced us to-day; both in arms and in position they had the advantage. They admit, indeed, that they suffered severely, but my men are dispirited because they have not seen a dead Boer. My losses have not been very heavy; much heavier, indeed, I could have made them, but the moment I failed to get on the run the result would have been the same. I was beaten. I now feel I cannot say that with my available force I can relieve Ladysmith, and I suggest that for me to occupy a defensive position and fight it out in a country better suited to our tactics is the best thing that I can do." FROM THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR TO GENERAL SIR R. BULLER. "WAR OFFICE, _December 16, 1899_. "The abandonment of White's force and its consequent surrender is regarded by the Government as a national disaster of the greatest magnitude. We would urge you to devise another attempt to carry out its relief, not necessarily viâ Colenso, making use of the additional men now arriving if you think fit." FROM SIR R. BULLER TO SIR G. WHITE. "_December 16, 1899_. "I tried Colenso yesterday but failed; the enemy is too strong for my force, except with siege operations, and these will take one full month to prepare. Can you last so long? If not, how many days can you give me in which to take up defensive position? After which I suggest you firing away as much ammunition as you can and making best terms you can. I can remain here if you have alternative suggestion, but unaided I cannot break in. I find my Infantry cannot fight more than ten miles from camp, and then only if water can be got, and it is scarce here." NOTE.--In his subsequent message of 17th December Sir R. Buller said the above message had been signalled correctly, but asked to make the following corrections:-- "Strike out from 'If not how many' down to 'after which' inclusive, and substitute 'How many days can you hold out?' Add to end of message, 'Whatever happens recollect to burn your cipher, decipher, and code-books, and all deciphered messages.'" Message of 16th December, as altered by that of 17th December 1899:-- "I tried Colenso yesterday but failed; the enemy is too strong for my force, except with siege operations, and these will take one full month to prepare. Can you last so long? How many days can you hold out? I suggest you firing away as much ammunition as you can and making best terms you can. I can remain here if you have alternative suggestion, but unaided I cannot break in. I find my Infantry cannot fight more than ten miles from camp, and then only if water can be got, and it is scarce here. Whatever happens recollect to burn your cipher, decipher, and code-books, and all deciphered messages." FROM SIR G. WHITE TO SIR R. BULLER. "_December 16, 1899_. "Yours of to-day received and understood. My suggestion is that you take up strongest available position that will enable you to keep touch of the enemy and harass him constantly with artillery fire, and in other ways as much as possible. I can make food last for much longer than a month, and will not think of making terms till I am forced to. You may have hit enemy harder than you think. All our native spies report that your artillery fire made considerable impression on enemy. Have your losses been very heavy? If you lose touch of enemy, it will immensely increase his opportunities of crushing me, and have worse effect elsewhere. While you are in touch with him, and in communication with me, he has both of our forces to reckon with. Make every effort to get reinforcements as early as possible, including India, and enlist every man in both colonies who will serve and can ride. Things may look brighter. "The loss of 12,000 men here would be a heavy blow to England. We must not yet think of it. I fear I could not cut my way to you. Enteric fever is increasing alarmingly here. There are now 180 cases, all within last month. Answer fully; I am keeping everything secret for the present till I know your plans." RECIPIENTS OF THE VICTORIA CROSS (_Continued_) King Edward VII. was pleased to confer the decoration of the Victoria Cross on the following officers, non-commissioned officers, and men, whose claims were submitted to his Majesty's approval, for their conspicuous bravery in South Africa, as stated against their names:-- =Captain H. N. Schofield=,[11] Royal Field Artillery.--At Colenso, on December 15, 1899, when the detachments serving the guns of the 14th and 60th Batteries Royal Field Artillery had all been killed, wounded, or driven from them by infantry fire at close range, Captain Schofield went out when the first attempt was made to extricate the guns, and assisted in withdrawing the two that were saved. =Private C. Ravenhill=, 2nd Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers.--At Colenso, on December 15, 1899, Private Ravenhill went several times, under a heavy fire, from his sheltered position as one of the escort to the guns, to assist the officers and drivers who were trying to withdraw the guns of the 14th and 66th Batteries Royal Field Artillery, when the detachments serving them had all been killed, wounded, or driven from them by infantry fire at close range, and helped to limber up one of the guns that were saved. =Lieutenant (now Captain and Brevet-Major) J. E. I. Masterson=, 1st Battalion Devonshire Regiment.--During the action at Wagon Hill on January 6, 1900, Lieutenant Masterson commanded, with the greatest gallantry and dash, one of the three companies of his regiment which charged a ridge held by the enemy and captured their position. The companies were then exposed to a most heavy and galling fire from the right and left front. Lieutenant Masterson undertook to give a message to the Imperial Light Horse, who were holding a ridge some hundred yards behind, to fire to the left front and endeavour to check the enemy's fire. In taking this message he crossed an open space of a hundred yards which was swept by a most heavy cross fire, and though badly wounded in both thighs managed to crawl in and deliver his message before falling exhausted into the Imperial Light Horse trench. His unselfish heroism was undoubtedly the means of saving several lives. =Privates R. Scott and J. Pitts=, 1st Battalion Manchester Regiment.--During the attack on Cæsar's Camp, in Natal, on January 6, 1900, these two men occupied a sangar, on the left of which all our men had been shot down and their positions occupied by Boers, and held their post for fifteen hours without food or water, all the time under an extremely heavy fire, keeping up their fire and a smart look-out, though the Boers occupied some sangars on their immediate left rear. Private Scott was wounded. =Sergeant W. Firth=, 1st Battalion West Riding Regiment.--During the action at Plowman's Farm, near Arundel, Cape Colony, on February 24, 1900, Lance-Corporal Blackman, having been wounded and lying exposed to a hot fire at a range of from four to five hundred yards, Sergeant Firth picked him up and carried him to cover. Later in the day, when the enemy had advanced to within a short distance of the firing line. Second Lieutenant Wilson being dangerously wounded and in a most exposed position, Sergeant Firth carried him over the crest of the ridge, which was being held by the troops, to shelter, and was himself shot through the nose and eye while doing so. =Corporal J. J. Clements=, Rimington's Guides.--On February 24, 1900, near Strijdenburg, when dangerously wounded through the lungs and called on to surrender, Corporal Clements threw himself into the midst of a party of five Boers, shooting three of them with his revolver, and thereby causing the whole party to surrender to himself and two unwounded men of Rimington's Guides. =Captain N R. House=, New South Wales Medical Staff Corps.--During the action at Vredefort on July 24, 1900, Captain House went out under a heavy cross fire and picked up a wounded man and carried him to a place of shelter. =Sergeant H. Hampton=, 2nd Battalion Liverpool Regiment.--On August 21, 1900, at Van Wyk's Vlei, Sergeant Hampton, who was in command of a small party of Mounted Infantry, held an important position for some time against heavy odds, and when compelled to retire saw all his men into safety, and then, though he had himself been wounded in the head, supported Lance-Corporal Walsh, who was unable to walk, until the latter was again hit and apparently killed, Sergeant Hampton himself being again wounded a short time after. =Private E. Durrant=, 2nd Battalion Rifle Brigade.--At Bergendal, on August 27, 1900, Acting-Corporal Wellar having been wounded, and being somewhat dazed, got up from his prone position in the firing line, exposing himself still more to the enemy's fire, and commenced to run towards them. Private Durrant rose, and pulling him down endeavoured to keep him quiet, but finding this impossible he took him up and carried him back for 200 yards under a heavy fire to shelter, returning immediately to his place in the line. =Private C. Kennedy=, 2nd Battalion Highland Light Infantry.--At Dewetsdorp, on November 22, 1900, Private Kennedy carried a comrade, who was dangerously wounded and bleeding to death, from Gibraltar Hill to the hospital, a distance of three-quarters of a mile, under a very hot fire. On the following day, volunteers having been called for to take a message to the commandant across a space over which it was almost certain death to venture, Private Kennedy at once stepped forward. He did not, however, succeed in delivering the message, as he was severely wounded before he had gone twenty yards. =Farrier-Major W. J. Hardham=, 4th New Zealand Contingent.--On January 28, 1901, near Naauwpoort, this non-commissioned officer was with a section which was extended and hotly engaged with a party of about twenty Boers. Just before the force commenced to retire Trooper M'Crae was wounded and his horse killed. Farrier-Major Hardham at once went under a heavy fire to his assistance, dismounted and placed him on his own horse, and ran alongside until he had guided him to a place of safety. =Sergeant W. B. Traynor=, 2nd Battalion the Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regiment).--During the night attack on Bothwell Camp on February 6, 1901, Sergeant Traynor jumped out of a trench and ran out under an extremely heavy fire to the assistance of a wounded man. While running out he was severely wounded, and being unable to carry the man by himself he called for assistance. Lance-Corporal Lintott at once came to him, and between them they carried the wounded soldier into shelter. After this, although severely wounded, Sergeant Traynor remained in command of his section, and was most cheerful, encouraging his men till the attack failed. =Lieutenant F. B. Dugdale=, 5th Lancers.--On March 3, 1901, Lieutenant Dugdale, who was in command of a small outpost near Derby, having been ordered to retire, his patrol came under a heavy fire at a range of about two hundred and fifty yards, and a sergeant, two men, and a horse were hit. Lieutenant Dugdale dismounted and placed one of the wounded men on his own horse; he then caught another horse, galloped up to a wounded man and took him up behind him, and brought both men safely out of action. =Lieutenant F. W. Bell=, West Australian Mounted Infantry.--At Brakpan, on May 16, 1901, when retiring through a heavy fire after holding the right flank, Lieutenant Bell noticed a man dismounted and returned and took him up behind him. The horse, not being equal to the weight, fell with them. Lieutenant Bell then remained behind and covered the man's retirement till he was out of danger. =Sergeant James Rogers=, South African Constabulary.--On the 15th June 1901, during a skirmish near Thabanchu, a party of the rearguard of Captain Sitwell's column, consisting of Lieutenant F. Dickinson, Sergeant James Rogers, and six men of the South African Constabulary, was suddenly attacked by about sixty Boers. Lieutenant Dickinson's horse having been shot, that officer was compelled to follow his men on foot. Sergeant Rogers seeing this, rode back, firing as he did so, took Lieutenant Dickinson up behind him, and carried him for half a mile on his horse. The sergeant then returned to within four hundred yards of the enemy and carried away, one after the other, two men who had lost their horses, after which he caught the horses of two other men, and helped the men to mount. All this was done under a very heavy rifle fire. The Boers were near enough to Sergeant Rogers to call on him to surrender: his only answer was to continue firing. =Lieutenant W. J. English=, 2nd Scottish Horse.--This officer with five men was holding the right of a position at Vlakfontein on July 3, 1901, during an attack by the Boers. Two of his men were killed and two wounded, but the position was still held largely owing to Lieutenant English's personal pluck. When the ammunition ran short he went over to the next party and obtained more; to do this he had to cross some fifteen yards of open ground under a heavy fire at a range of from twenty to thirty yards. =Private H. G. Crandon=, 18th Hussars.--On July 4, 1901, at Springbok Laagte, Privates Berry and Crandon were scouting towards a kopje when the Boers suddenly opened fire on them at a range of one hundred yards. Private Berry's horse fell and became disabled, and he was himself shot in the right hand and left shoulder. Private Crandon at once rode back under a heavy fire to his assistance, gave up his horse to the wounded man to enable him to reach shelter, and followed him on foot having to run for one thousand one hundred yards, all the time under fire. =Sergeant-Major Alexander Young=, Cape Police.--Towards the close of the action at Ruiter's Kraal, on the 13th of August 1901, Sergeant-Major Young, with a handful of men, rushed some kopjes which were being held by Commandant Erasmus and about twenty Boers. On reaching these kopjes the enemy were seen galloping back to another kopje held by the Boers. Sergeant-Major Young then galloped on some fifty yards ahead of his party, and closing with the enemy shot one of them and captured Commandant Erasmus, the latter firing at him three times at point blank range before being taken prisoner. =Lieutenant L. A. E. Price Davies. D.S.O.=, King's Royal Rifle Corps.--At Blood River Poort, on September 17, 1901, when the Boers had overwhelmed the right of the British column, and some four hundred of them were galloping round the flank and rear of the guns, riding up to the drivers (who were trying to get the guns away) and calling on them to surrender, Lieutenant Price Davies, hearing an order to fire on the charging Boers, at once drew his revolver and dashed in among them, firing at them in a most gallant and desperate attempt to rescue the guns. He was immediately shot and knocked off his horse, but was not mortally wounded, although he had ridden to what seemed to be almost certain death without a moment's hesitation. =Driver F. G. Bradley=, 69th Battery Royal Field Artillery.--During the action at Itala, Zululand, on the 26th September 1901, Major Chapman called for volunteers to carry ammunition up the hill. To do this a space of about one hundred and fifty yards swept by a heavy cross fire had to be crossed. Driver Lancashire and Gunner Bull at once came forward and started, but half-way across Driver Lancashire fell wounded. Driver Bradley and Gunner Rabb without a moment's hesitation ran out and caught Driver Lancashire up, and Gunner Rabb carried him under cover, the ground being swept by bullets the whole time. Driver Bradley then, with the aid of Gunner Boddy, succeeded in getting the ammunition up the hill. =Private W. Bees=, 1st Battalion Derbyshire Regiment.--Private Bees was one of the Maxim-gun detachment which at Moedwil on the 30th September 1901 had six men hit out of nine. Hearing his wounded comrades asking for water he went forward, under a heavy fire, to a spruit held by Boers about five hundred yards ahead of the gun, and brought back a kettle full of water. In going and returning he had to pass within one hundred yards of some rocks also held by Boers, and the kettle which he was carrying was hit by several bullets. =Lieutenant L. C. Maygar=, 5th Victorian Mounted Rifles.--At Geelhoutboom, on the 23rd November 1901, Lieutenant Maygar galloped out and ordered the men of a detached post, which was being outflanked, to retire. The horse of one of them being shot under him, when the enemy were within two hundred yards, Lieutenant Maygar dismounted and lifted him on to his own horse, which bolted into boggy ground, causing both of them to dismount. On extricating the horse, and finding that it could not carry both, Lieutenant Maygar again put the man on its back and told him to gallop for cover at once, he himself proceeding on foot. All this took place under a very heavy fire. =Surgeon-Captain T. J. Crean=, 1st Imperial Light Horse.--During the action with De Wet at Tygerskloof, on the 18th December 1901, this officer continued to attend to the wounded in the firing line, under a heavy fire at only one hundred and fifty yards' range, after he had himself been wounded, and only desisted when he was hit a second time, and, as it was at first thought, mortally wounded. =Surgeon-Captain A. Martin-Leake=, South African Constabulary.--During the action at Vlakfontein, on the 8th of February 1902, Surgeon-Captain Martin-Leake went up to a wounded man and attended to him under a heavy fire from about forty Boers at a hundred yards' range. He then went to the assistance of a wounded officer, and while trying to place him in a comfortable position was shot three times, but would not give in till he rolled over thoroughly exhausted. All the eight men at this point were wounded, and while they were lying on the veldt Surgeon-Captain Martin-Leake refused water till every one else had been served. FOOTNOTES: [11] See Author's remarks, Biographical Record, vol. vi. TRANSCRIBERS' NOTES General: Corrections to punctuation have been made but not individually noted General: Variable hyphenation of pom(-)pom and women(-)folk as in the original text General: Variable accenting of depôt and bonâ as in the original text Page iv: Arril corrected to April in first section of chapter XVII Page v: Klersdorp standardised to Klerksdorp Page vii: Herschell standardised to Herschel Page x: Ookief standardised to Ookiep Pages 9, 105, 106: Variable spelling of Boesman's Kop/Boesmans Kop/ Boesmanskop as in the original Pages 19, 148: Lambart's Bay standardised to Lambert's Bay Pages 31, 34, 113: Venterdorp standardised to Ventersdorp Page 39: prisioners corrected to prisoners Page 41: Commandant Brester corrected to Bester; Luneburg standardised to Luneberg Page 45: Steelport standardised to Steelpoort Page 72: Lydenberg standardised to Lydenburg Page 82: Luckkoff standardised to Luckhoff; Frederickstad standardised to Frederikstad Page 85: Presidents corrected to President Page 91: Bothasberg as in the original. Left as part of a quotation Pages 95, 120: Middlekraal standardised to Middelkraal Page 101: livlihood corrected to livelihood Page 109: spendidly corrected to splendidly Page 114: maurauders corrected to marauders Page 123: sevitude corrected to servitude Page 135: splended corrected to splendid Page 138: Laingsberg standardised to Laingsburg Page 145: neigbourhood corrected to neighbourhood; Lieuentant-General corrected to Lieutenant-General Page 162: Colonel corrected to Colonels after "by columns under" Page 189: Cornelius River standardised to Cornelis River Page 194: columus corrected to columns